Dory tumbled through the water and bumped into the glass enclosing an undersea exhibit. She blinked her big eyes and saw a group of children on the other side. They stared at her as their tour continued.

"Our next guest has been here a very long time. She's a whale shark," said the tour guide. "Her name is Destiny."

"Destiny?" said Dory with surprise. "Really?"

"You'll notice she's extremely nearsighted and has trouble navigating¹ her environment — Oh! Here she comes now!" said the guide, turning toward the glass.

A giant whale shark entered from the other side of the pool. She weaved uneasily, this way and that, as she swam toward Dory with squinted² eyes. "Destiny!" said Dory. "You're a fish?"

"Wait ... what?" Destiny said and swam haphazardly³ through the tank as she strained even harder in an effort to see. She swerved⁴ at the last minute to avoid hitting Dory and the glass.

"Can you help me?" Dory asked. "Whoa," she said when Destiny nearly crashed into her. "All right, I'll go with you." She followed Destiny and tried to get her attention while Destiny zigzagged⁵ around the tank. "Excuse me? Hi. Can I just speak to you for a sec?"

Unfortunately, Destiny was distracted. She continued to twist and contort her face, trying to see clearly enough to avoid the walls. She was always crashing into them. "I got it .... I got it .... I got this .... I ...," Destiny said. But she quickly lost confidence and began to panic. "Where's the wall? Where's the wall?" Destiny asked frantically⁶. She was headed straight toward the viewing glass! The tourists on the other side began to panic, too!

At the last moment, Dory took Destiny's fin⁷ and righted her. Dory smiled and waved as Destiny opened her eyes, sighing with relief. With Dory's help, she'd avoided the crash.

"Excuse me —" said Dory.

"Who is that?" asked Destiny, squinting⁸. "Is that blue blob talking?"

"Can you help me? I lost my family and —"

"You lost your family?" Destiny asked.

"Well, it's a long story, and truth be told, I don't remember most of it," Dory admitted.

"Oh, that is so sad! You poor —" Destiny rammed⁹ into a wall. "Sorry. I'm not a great swimmer. Can't see very well."

"Oh, I think you swim beautifully," said Dory. "In fact, I've never seen a fish swim like that before."

"ThAAnkyooOoou!" she said, speaking in whale.

"Yooooouuuuuuu'reweeeeeeeelcooooooooome!" Dory answered in whale.

"Wait. Say that again," said Destiny.

"You're welcome!" Dory repeated.

Destiny paused for a moment. "Dory?" she asked, her eyes growing wide. She recognized this fish! "You and I were friends!"

"You know me?" asked Dory. She swam close to one of Destiny's eyes so the whale shark could take a closer look.

"Aw, you're so pretty!" Destiny said. Then she lost her balance and sank toward the bottom of the pool. But Dory stayed with her. "Of course I know you!" Destiny continued. "We'd talk through the pipes when we were little. You from your exhibit, me from here. We were pipe pals¹⁰!"

"We were?"

"It was so much fun, because I'd tell you a story, and then you'd completely forget about it. And then I'd get to tell it to you over and over again. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"No. Well," Dory's eyes shifted downward. "I mean ... I don't remember."

Destiny reached the bottom of the pool upside down and stayed there, chatting with Dory. "Yes! See, that's what I'm talking about! Oh, it's so great to finally meet you!" said Destiny happily.

"So you know where I'm from?" Dory asked anxiously.

"Yeah," answered Destiny. "The Open Ocean exhibit."

Dory was thrilled! "Can you take me there?" she quickly asked.

"Uh ... kinda tough for a whale to travel around here," said Destiny. She started to look around and realized she was upside down. Dory offered Destiny her fin again, and helped the big fish turn right-side up.

"So you're a whale?" asked Dory. "Uh ... whale shark, to be exact. But let's be honest, who likes sharks?"

Suddenly, Bailey, a beluga whale, appeared at a gate that divided the two pools. "Can you please keep it down over there?" complained Bailey. "My head hurts."

Destiny sighed. "That's my neighbor, Bailey," she whispered. She explained that he had been brought to the Institute because of a head injury.

"I know you're talking about me, Destiny," snapped Bailey.

Bailey tried to move around to get a better view, but Destiny raised and lowered her fins¹¹, blocking him. "He thinks he can't use his echolocation, but I've overheard the doctors talking. There's not a thing wrong with him."

"I'm right here. I hear every word you're saying," said Bailey.

"What's echolocation?" asked Dory.

Destiny turned and faced Bailey. "Well, Bailey's head is supposed to put out a call, and the echo helps him find objects that are far away. Oh, but apparently¹² he's still ‘healing,'" Destiny said.

"Now I know you're talking about me," said Bailey. "I really can't echolocate."

"Oh, I cannot have this conversation again. I just can't," said Destiny with a sigh.

"I hit my head very hard out there. See how swollen¹³ it is?" said Bailey, showing off his bulging¹⁴ head.

"Your head is supposed to be big! You're a beluga!" said Destiny.

"Echo-lo-cation," said Dory, puzzling over the word. "Oh! Like the world's most powerful pair of glasses?"

"What?" asked Destiny.

"What are glasses?" asked Bailey.

"It's sort of like you go ‘OoooOOOoooOooh' and then you see things," Dory said, pretending to echolocate. She paused for a moment. "Why do I know that?" she asked herself.

"Oh, that's interesting," said Bailey stiffly. He whispered to Destiny, "Your friend is weird¹⁵."

A pool toy splashed into the water, catching¹⁶ their attention. The toy unexpectedly transformed right before their eyes into ... Hank! He swam over to Dory. "There you are!" he shouted. "You and I are square," he said firmly.

"Hank —"

"I took you to the map —"

Dory excitedly told Hank that she'd found out where she was from.

"Open Ocean?" said Hank. "I know where that is. That's the exhibit located right next to" — he leaned in and whispered — "I don't care."

Destiny told Dory she could get to the Open Ocean exhibit through the pipes. "Take two lefts, swim straight, and you'll hit it."

"Oooh, that's a lot of directions," said Dory nervously¹⁷. "Did you get that, Hank? All that?"

But Hank wasn't interested. "I'm not going with you," he said. "I won't fit. You have to go by yourself."

Dory was afraid. She didn't trust herself to remember the right way to go. "I'm not so good with directions."

"Well, that's too bad," said Hank. "A deal's a deal. You want to get to your parents — that's how you get to ‘em," he continued, sticking out a tentacle¹⁸ and pointing toward the pipes. "Now give me your tag!"

"But, Hank, I can't go into the pipes alone. I'll just forget where I'm going," Dory pleaded.

"Not my problem," said Hank. He jutted¹⁹ out another tentacle and yelled, "Tag!"

"But I can't get in that way!" yelled Dory.

"Well, I'm sorry, but there's no other way!"

"There's no other way," said Dory quietly.

FLASH! Another memory popped into her head.

She could see the grass entrance outside her childhood home as her younger self tried to pull up a shell that was buried deep in the sand.

"There's no other way," little Dory said, ready to give up.

"Don't panic," said Charlie, swimming over to her.

"It's okay," said Jenny. "Not everything in life is easy to do. Isn't that right, Charlie?"

"That's right. When something's too hard, Dory, you should just give up," said Charlie.

Jenny was startled. "Charlie! How can you —?"

"A joke. I'm kidding! Just a joke ... Caution! Joker at work!" he said, chuckling²⁰.

"Oh, honey. Oh, a joke ... I got it," said Jenny, relieved.

Charlie used his tail to wiggle the shell and pry²¹ it out of the sand. It popped right out, and little Dory joyfully²² plopped inside. Charlie pushed Dory and the shell back toward their coral cave house, lining²³ it up with a bunch of others. "See, kelpcake," said Charlie, smiling. "There's always another way."

Charlie hugged little Dory tightly as she giggled²⁴.

The memory vanished when Dory opened her eyes. She was hugging Hank's tentacle as Hank tried to sneak²⁵ the tag off her fin!

"Nope," said Dory. "My father said, ‘There's always another way.'" She quickly headed for the surface as Hank chased after her. Dory scanned the area, and Destiny pointed²⁶ out the Open Ocean building over the hill.

"Open Ocean. It's that building right there. The one that looks like Bailey's head."

Bailey surfaced. "Wait, what?"

Then Hank surfaced. "There is absolutely no other w —"

Dory pointed to a rack of baby strollers in the distance, across from Destiny's pool. "There!" she shouted, interrupting Hank. "We're gonna use one of those and take it across the park to locomotion," said Dory.

"Open Ocean," said Bailey and Destiny, correcting her.

"Exactly," said Dory.

 

多莉在水中翻腾着撞上了环绕海底展厅的玻璃围墙。她眨了眨大眼睛，看见玻璃墙的另一边有一大群孩子。他们正一边游览一边盯着她看。

“我们的下一位来宾在这里待了很长时间。她是一头鲸鲨，”导游说，“她的名字是‘运儿’。”

“运儿？”多莉惊诧地说道，“真的吗？”

“大家请注意，她近视得特别厉害，在这个环境中游动起来也有些困难——噢！现在她过来了！”导游说着转向玻璃墙。

一头巨大的鲸鲨从池子的另一端游了过来。她眯起双眼朝多莉游去，摇摇晃晃地迂回行进，一会儿这边一会儿那边。“运儿！”多莉说，“你是一条鱼？”

“等等……什么？”使劲眯着眼想要看个清楚的运儿边说边胡乱地游过水池。就在最后一刻，她突然闪避，躲开了多莉和玻璃墙。

“你能帮帮我吗？”多莉问。“哇噢，”就在运儿快要撞上她时，她说道，“好吧，我跟着你好了。”在运儿曲折前行时，她跟在其身后，想要引起她的注意。“打扰了？嗨，我能跟你说会儿话吗？”

不幸的是，运儿毫不理会。她继续扭扭歪歪，皱着张脸，竭力地想看得清楚一些，以躲避四周的玻璃墙。她总是往墙上撞。“我能行……我能行……这个我能行……我……”运儿说道。可是她很快就失去了信心，恐慌起来。“墙在哪里？墙在哪里？”运儿发疯似的问道。她朝着观景玻璃径直游了过去！另一边的游客也惊慌起来。

就在最后关头，多莉抓住运儿的鱼鳍，纠正了她的方向。运儿张开双眼如释重负，多莉微笑着挥鳍致意。在多莉的帮助下，她躲过了这一次的撞击。

“打扰了——”多莉说。

“你是谁？”运儿眯起眼睛问道。“是那团蓝色斑点在说话吗？”

“你能帮我吗？我跟我的家人失散了——”

“你跟家人失散了？”运儿问。

“啊，这个说来话长，不过老实说，大部分我都不记得了。”多莉承认道。

“哦，那可真不幸！你这可怜的——”运儿猛地撞到了墙上，“对不起，我不是一位好的游泳选手，我看不太清。”

“噢，我觉得你游得很美，”多莉说，“其实，我以前从没看过像你那样游的鱼。”

“谢——谢——你——！”她用鲸语说道。

“不——客——气——！”多莉用鲸语答道。

“等等。你再说一遍。”运儿说。

“不客气！”多莉重复道。

运儿停顿了一会儿。“多莉？”她缓缓地睁大双眼问道。她认得这条鱼！“我们以前是好朋友！”

“你认识我？”多莉问。她朝运儿的一只眼游近，好让这头鲸鲨能看得更清楚些。

“哇噢，你可真漂亮！”运儿说。接着她失去平衡，朝着水池底部沉了下去。不过多莉也跟在了一起。“我当然认识你了！”运儿继续说道。“小时候，我们就是通过这些管道聊天的。你在展厅那边，我在这边。我们是管道伙伴！”

“我们有吗？”

“那会儿可真有意思，因为我会给你讲故事，可你会忘得一干二净。然后我就一遍又一遍地讲给你听。我刚才说的你都知道吗？”

“不知道。好吧，”多莉垂下了眼睛，“我的意思是……我记不住。”

运儿沉到水池底部倒立起来，停在那里和多莉聊起天来。“对的！你瞧，我刚才说的就是这个！啊，没想到居然能见到你，真是太棒了！”运儿开心地说道。

“那你知道我是从哪里来的吗？”多莉焦急地问道。

“是的，”运儿道，“深海奥秘展区。”

多莉激动不已！“你能带我去那里吗？”她急忙问道。

“呃……对鲸鱼来说，想在这里四处游览可有些困难。”运儿说。她四处打量起来，发现自己居然是倒立的。多莉又伸出了鱼鳍，帮助这条大鱼转正了方向。

“所以你是头鲸鱼？”多莉问。“呃……准确地说，是鲸鲨。不过说实话，有谁会喜欢鲨鱼呢？”

突然，贝利，一头白鲸出现在了两个水池之间的隔门中。“请问你们那边能不能小声点？”贝利抱怨道，“我头痛。”

运儿发出一声叹息。“那是我的邻居，贝利。”她轻声说道。她解释说他因为头部受伤而被带到了研究所。

“我知道你在聊我，运儿。”贝利呵斥道。

贝利想要游过去看得更清楚些，可运儿上下摆动着鱼鳍，挡住了他的视线。“他觉得他的回声定位不能用了，可是我无意中听到了医生们的谈话。他根本就没有毛病。”

“我就在这里呢。你说的每一个字我都能听见。”贝利说。

“什么是回声定位？”多莉问。

运儿转身面对着贝利。“嗯，据说贝利的头部应该能发射出一种声波，然后这个回声定位可以帮助他发现远处的物体。哦，不过他显然还在‘治疗’当中。”运儿说。

“现在我知道你们是在谈论我，”贝利说，“我确实是不能回声定位了。”

“哦，我不想再说这个话题了，不想说了。”运儿叹气道。

“我的头部在外面受到了严重的撞击。你瞧瞧这里有多肿？”贝利说着展示了一下自己凸出的脑袋。

“你的脑袋本来就该这么大！你是白鲸！”运儿说。

“回声——定位，”多莉说，她对这几个字感到困惑不解，“噢！是不是就像那副世界上最厉害的眼镜？”

“什么？”运儿问。

“什么眼镜？”贝利问道。

“就好像是你说着‘喔哦喔喔哦喔哦’然后就能看到东西了。”多莉边假装在回声定位边说道。她停了一会儿。“我怎么会知道这个？”她自言自语道。

“啊，那可真有趣，”贝利生硬地说道。他对运儿悄声说：“你的朋友可真古怪。”

一只泳池玩具突然飞溅到水中，引起了他们的注意。这个玩具出乎意料地在他们眼前展开变形……变成了汉克！他游向多莉。“你在这里啊！”他喊道。“我们两清了。”他坚定地说道。

“汉克——”

“我带你去看了地图——”

多莉激动地告诉汉克她知道自己是来自哪里了。

“深海奥秘展区？”汉克说。“我知道在哪里。那个展厅正好邻近”——他倾身上去低语道——“我才不关心呢。”

运儿告诉多莉她可以通过管道去深海奥秘展区。“向左转两次后一直向前游，然后你就能看到了。”

“哦，方向可真多啊，”多莉紧张地说道，“你听到了吗，汉克？刚才那些？”

可是汉克毫无兴趣。“我不会跟你一起去的，”他说，“我不适合。你得自己去。”

多莉很害怕。她不相信自己能记住正确的路线。“我的方向感不是很好。”

“啊，那可太糟糕了，”汉克说，“谈好的交易就是这样。你想去找你的父母——那你就得这样去找。”他伸出一只触角指着那些管道，继续说道：“现在把你的标签给我！”

“可是，汉克，我不能独自进入那些管道。我会忘了我要去哪里。”多莉恳求道。

“与我无关。”汉克说。他伸出另一只触角喊道：“标签！”

“可是我不能那样进去！”多莉喊道。

“嗯，我很抱歉，可是没别的办法了！”

“没别的办法了。”多莉轻轻地说道。

刹那间！又一段记忆涌入了她的脑海之中。

她看见了儿时家门口的那丛海草，而小时候的自己正使劲地去拉一个深埋在沙地里的贝壳。

“没别的办法了。”小多莉说着打算放弃。

“别慌。”查理说着，向她游了过来。

“没事的，”珍妮说，“生活中不是事事都那么简单。对不对啊，查理？”

“没错。如果有些事情太困难的话，多莉，你就只有放弃了。”查理说。

珍妮大吃一惊：“查理！你怎么可以——？”

“开玩笑的。我在说笑！只是个玩笑……注意！骗到你们啦！”他咯咯笑道。

“噢，亲爱的。噢，只是在开玩笑……我明白了。”珍妮如释重负地说道。

查理摆动尾巴，将贝壳从沙地里撬了出来。贝壳砰的一声弹了出来，小多莉开心地扑通一声跳进里面。查理推着多莉和贝壳，回到了他们的珊瑚洞穴小屋，与其他贝壳摆在一起排成了一条直线。“瞧，小宝贝，”查理微笑着说道，“总会有办法的。”

查理紧紧地抱住了吃吃娇笑的多莉。

多莉睁开双眼，记忆随之消失。她正抱着汉克的触角，而汉克正试图偷偷摘下她鱼鳍上的标签！

“不行，”多莉说，“我爸爸说过，‘总会有办法的。’”她快速地朝着水面游去，汉克紧随其后。多莉扫视了一下周边，运儿指了指小山那边的深海奥秘展区楼。

“深海奥秘展区。就是那幢楼。看起来像是贝利脑袋的那个。”

贝利浮出水面，说道“等等，什么？”

这时，汉克浮出了水面。“肯定没有别的办——”

多莉指着远处运儿水池对面的一堆轻便婴儿车。“那里！”她喊道，打断了汉克的话，“我们就用那个，坐那个穿过园区去运洋展厅。”多莉说。

“是深海奥秘。”贝利和运儿齐声纠正道。

“没错。”多莉说。

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