Deep down in the ocean, in the multi-coloured coral reef, a small white and orange fish swam in and out of an anemone’s tentacles.
“This is fun!” Clownfish cried, shimmying between Anemone’s turquoise tentacles. “Can’t catch me!”
“”Oh, yes I can,” laughed Anemone, wriggling with delight. “Just watch me!”
Clownfish and Anemone had been playing hide and seek all morning. It was a game they had played every day ever since Clownfish had been tiny.
Clownfish had started life as an egg, dropped within Anemone’s central tube. One day, he had hatched, and had decided to shelter amongst her tentacles ever since. Anemone’s stinging cells could hurt any other creature in the ocean, but Clownfish was perfectly safe, covered in a layer of mucus to protect him.
Every day, Anemone protected him from any passing predators. In return, Clownfish feasted on the parasites irritating her jelly-like body.
Today, for some reason, their normal chase game just didn’t seem as much fun as usual. In fact, Clownfish was bored of it. What he wanted to do was to get out and explore the exciting world beyond Anemone’s reach. He wiggled his fins, trying to escape her grip, but Anemone dragged him back, squashing him between two long tentacles.
“Ouch!” he cried. “Be careful!”
Anemone squeezed tight before letting go. “I’m just keeping you safe, little friend.”
I’m not little anymore, Clownfish thought, crossly. He dived down into Anemone’s long middle tube and then bounced, catapulting up and out into the dark water surrounding them.
“Ow!” cried Anemone. “Watch out! Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“Out for a look around,” Clownfish called back, wriggling just beyond her reach.
“A look around? What for? There’s not much to see out there,” said Anemone. “Water and fish and more water, that’s all.”
“How do you know?” Clown fish retorted. “You never go anywhere.”
Anemone jerked upright, her tentacles slapping the water. “I go as far as I need to,” she said. “It’s dangerous out there.”
Clown fish rolled his eyes. “Dangerous? There’s nothing dangerous out here, just a million more anemone getting in my way.”
“A million?” Anemone snorted. “Didn’t they teach you anything at school? I can see twenty at most.”
Clownfish blushed. He’d never paid that much attention at school, and he wasn’t very good at counting any number past ten, especially when Anemone kept waving her tentacles at him in a threatening manner.
He turned his back on her, swishing his tail. “I know a lot more than you think!”
Anemone laughed. “What do you know, little fish?”
Clownfish puffed his cheeks out. “I know I’m a big fish now.”
“Oh, Clownfish. I’ve met far bigger fish than you,” Anemone said, laughing. “There are plenty more fish in this sea.”
“And I want to meet them all!” cried Clownfish.
With one swoop, one swish of a tail, one blink of an eye, he swam away, as fast as his little body could go.
The ocean teemed with plant and animal life. Clownfish blew excited bubbles as he raced with bright yellow seahorses, swam in and out of seagrass, tickled some tiny pink shrimp and dodged past some very angry-looking black and white damselfish.
“This is great!” Clownfish cried, his voice echoing through the ocean.
At last, he paused, taking cover between a rock and a sea cucumber. It was colder than he was used to out here, and suddenly a lot darker. There were no colourful anemone here. Mountains of grey sea-ash littered the surface of the ocean and black shadows swayed, making Clownfish’s fins shiver.
Clownfish gazed upwards, trying to spot the distant sun far above the water, but the light did not reach this far.
A shoal of silver fish shot past, their rapid movement sending Clownfish flying on an underwater current. He span in rapid circles, his tail brushing his snout, his eyes bulging, as he was flung left and then right, up and away, past the rocks, past the sea cucumbers and past the sea snakes sliding out of the ocean’s surface, sensing it was dinnertime.
“AHHHH!” Clownfish cried. “HELP ME!”
He suddenly wished he was home, with Anemone.
***
Back home in the colourful coral reef, Anemone slumped against a rock, limp and exhausted. Nasty parasites were busy irritating her tentacles, and they didn’t seem to care about her stings. There was nothing she could do about it. The other anemone were no help at all, busy playing their own games with their own clownfish guests.
“Where are you, Clownfish?” she cried. “I need you!”
But Clownfish was no-where to be seen. Anemone sent an explosive sting into the ocean, sending a few passing shrimp flying. They squirmed, screeched and scuttled away. No-one wanted to stick around a grouchy anemone for long.
***
At last, Clownfish stopped spinning, banging into a huge metal lump, covered in seaweed and algae.
“Wow!” he whispered. “What is that thing?”
He brushed his gills against the cold metal, “That doesn’t belong down here,” he said, shuddering as a large, black shadow swept over him.
“And neither do you!” boomed a voice.
Clownfish whipped round, banging his head against metal. His mouth opened and shut but he couldn’t say a word. In front of him was the longest creature he had ever seen. Two beady eyes peered at him from a snake-like head. Its mouth gaped, revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth, If Clownfish had been able to count past ten, he would have counted hundreds.
“HELP!” whispered Clownfish. He shot upwards, just avoiding the snap of Moray Eel’s hungry mouth.
“I want to go home,” Clownfish murmured. “I want Anemone.”
“And where’s home?” asked an even deeper voice.
Clownfish whirled round, staring into a huge, pointed face. Dark stripes and spots marked a long body, with a black, triangular fin on top. Its dark eyes flashed white as it peered at Clownfish. Then it opened its mouth, revealing an enormous, tooth filled cavern.
“AHHH!” screamed Clownfish.
“Relax! I’ve had my dinner already,” said Tigershark. “”Anyway, you’re far too small to bother with.”
Clownfish puffed his cheeks angrily, about to say how big he was, but then he thought better of it. “I am really, really small,” he agreed. “Probably the tiniest thing you’ve ever seen. I really want to go home, please.”
Tigershark swirled round, sending a strong wave along the ocean’s floor as he jetted away.
The wave took told of Clownfish and sent him flying, past shipwrecks, buried treasure, rocks and a startled stingray, past shoals of fish and algae all the way back to the coral reef.
Anemone lay her grey, itchy tentacles down, sighing. Then, suddenly, something rushed between her tentacles, swimming round and round in circles so fast, she felt dizzy. Jerking upright, she spotted a flash of orange, a flicker of white and her tentacles transformed back into beautiful turquoise.
“Clownfish! You’re back,” she cried.
“I’m back,” he agreed. “And I never want to go anywhere else again.”