Chapter Text
From the moment the events of the day began, there seemed to be signs in Umi City that a great tragedy would soon occur. The wind whipped up harder, its icy chill penetrating the hearts and homes of all that dwelt in Umi City. The snow seemed to fall harder and faster too, until at some point or another it was difficult to see one’s own hands in front of their face. The sunlight was near-blocked out by the white clouds above, and the whipping wind and piles of snow on the ground seemed to either muffle or exaggerate every single sound that one could hear.
No birds sang in the trees, no dogs barked in the alleys, and even the fish lay still underneath the ice and the water that had not yet frozen. Somehow, it was as if the world knew that trouble, the very, very bad kind-was on the horizon. Nobody knew what it would be, just that it would be, and that nobody could have done any kind of preparation for it.
Absolutely none of this occurred to Geo of Team Umizoomi, who was currently sliding down the bannister of one of the staircases of the Fountain Headquarters. He had just finished a very nice and relaxing session of colouring in, covered by a blanket due to the slight chill in the air, when he remembered an important duty he had to attend to-feeding Finn, his pet seahorse.
He felt it especially important because recently Finn had been seeming a bit “perky” (as Bot had put it), swimming and eating less, and sinking and being stationary more. The vets of Umi City had said, more or less, that Finn wasn’t sick or anything, but Geo had forgotten what they had said after that. Finn would be fine! Food solved everything, right?
“Hey Bot!” Geo said to Bot as he entered the kitchen. Bot was writing a letter to someone or other. “Oh! Hey Geo!” Bot greeted him. “Where’re you off to in such a hurry?”
“I’m off to feed Finn!” Geo replied. “Hopefully he’ll be feeling better soon?” Bot seemed to become surprised yet distant for half a second, before he turned back to Geo. “U-Uh…sure! I’m sure he will, Geo! Lemme know if there’s anything wrong, okay? By the way, where’s Milli?”
“She’s up in her room reading a book. And thanks Bot! I will!” And with that, Geo skated off towards the pet room. Bot sighed. It was as if he and Milli alone knew what was really going on, but Geo seemed to have forgotten it already. Somehow, he knew that Geo was soon to be very, very disappointed.
And given how he had told Geo to “Lemme know if there’s anything wrong”, he also knew that, sooner or later, he would have quite a bit of explaining to do. The very, very bad kind.
At his speed, Geo soon made it into the Pet Room. Actually, it wasn’t really a “room”, rather, it was multiple “rooms”, connected by a central chamber splitting off into multiple passageways and rooms, which helped the team keep their pets separated. And right now, Geo was heading towards the blue room containing Finn, his pet seahorse (and, by no coincidence, his favourite pet).
Geo turned on the light of the room containing Finn, illuminating the blue walls and the central tank, where Finn lived. It was a very nice habitat for a tiny orange seahorse-seaweed and rocks to hide in, a thermometer for checking water temperature (Geo had been paying extra special attention to this given Finn’s apparent deteriorating state), and some very playful owners!
“Good morning, Finn!” Geo exclaimed as he skated right up next to the tank, looking to see if Finn would come swimming over as he usually did. But nothing happened. “I got you breakfast!” Geo waved and shook the tube of seahorse pellets that he kept in the room. But still nothing occurred. Not even a wiggle of a fin.
“Finn? Where are you? Are we playing hide-and-seek?” Geo looked into the tank again, now a little concerned. He skated around the tank a little more, hoping for signs of seahorse movement. But nothing occurred until he looked around the back of the tank and finally, finally saw Finn lying there, looking as if he was in a deep, deep slumber!
“Hey, there you are!” Geo exclaimed with renewed happiness. “It’s time to wake up! I brought you breakfast!” But Finn didn’t stir, not even rolling around. In fact he seemed to be so fast asleep that he didn’t even seem to be breathing.
“C’mon, wakey wakey!” Geo tried again, this time even resorting to tapping on the glass (JUST A LITTLE BIT!) to see if he could get Finn to wake up. But again, even with Geo’s voice and the (tiny bit of) tapping, Finn didn’t seem to wake. Or move. Or…breathe.
Geo felt a pang of fear penetrate his heart and a drop of sweat begin to trickle its way down his forehead. Something was wrong.
“Uh…H-Hang on, Finn! I-I’ll go get Bot!” Geo exclaimed, tossing the tube aside and racing back into the kitchen. He knew that whatever the problem was, Bot would be able to solve it. Bot could solve anything!
Right? I mean, he’s gotta be able to…
“Bot! Bot!”
Bot practically jumped out of his metal shell as Geo came charging back into the room, at such speeds that if there had been a wall there instead of a door, he would’ve skated right through it. “It’s Finn! It’s Finn! Something’s wrong!”
“Gyah!” Bot stumbled for a second, before getting down from his seat. “Finn? What’s the problem?”
“He doesn’t seem to be waking up! He won’t respond to my voice, or breakfast, or anything!” Geo sounded more and more worried by the syllable. “I think he’s actually sick now, or something! Could you please go check it out?! He’s at the back of the tank.”
Bot released a sigh that he could only half-hide, though Geo didn’t seem to notice. He had a feeling that he knew what was going on.
“...Sure thing, Geo. I’ll go check on him. You stay right here, okay?” Geo nodded, and Bot headed down into the Pet Room.
Please let this just be a fluke, please let my guess be wrong… Bot found himself internally praying as he made his way towards Finn’s chamber. Yet he knew that he was rarely wrong about matters like these, so somehow he knew that his prayers would not be answered. He entered the chamber, and Finn was still lying, lying right where Geo had said he would be. Unmoving. Unblinking. Unbreathing.
“Finn?” Bot asked, seeing if he could stir anything. No answer. So Bot decided to use his special scanners to scan Finn to see if there was anything wrong. There seemed to be nothing wrong, but…oh no.
Heartbeat? Stopped.
Brain activity? Dead.
Muscles? Only twitching a little bit, but not in any way certain of activity.
Nerve signals? Silent.
Body temperature? Almost completely cold.
That confirmed it. Bot took a deep breath in, and breathed out a long, loud, low sigh, pressing his face and hands against the glass. He was right. So he knew that he would take this moment to grieve for Finn, and to mentaly prepare himself for what he would know have to tell Geo-for at this moment, he was the only person in all the world who knew the ultimate truth.
“Goodbye, Finn…” Bot found himself whispering and sighing simultaneously, his movements silent and near-still. Then, reaching into his compartments, he pulled out a glass fishbowl. Then reaching into the tank with hardly a disturbance of the water itself, he used the bowl to scoop Finn into the bowl, filling it with water in the process. Again, Finn lay still.
With movements slowed down by his emotions, Bot headed out of the chamber, but not before turning back to the tank one last time. “Goodbye…” he repeated, before turning the light off, and heading out of the chamber and the Pet Room.
It was time to break the bad news to Geo.
Geo was exactly where Bot had left him, more or less. He had been skating in figures-of-eight, loops, on the ceiling (how had he done THAT?), and in some areas he had worn out and somehow burnt the carpet with his frantic skating. At some point he had been biting his own nails, and his little whimpers of anxiety had never ceased, plus his anxiety had shot through the roof. But then, Bot came back into the room.
“Bot! You’re back!” Geo skated over. “Is Finn okay? Why is…why have you brought him with you? Does he need to see the vet again?”
“No, Geo, it’s…” Bot sighed. “Can we…can we go into the lounge for this part? It’s kind of difficult to explain.”
“Uh…okay.” Geo replied in a somewhat hushed voice, not liking the sound of where this was going. Usually stuff like this only happened when Geo was in trouble. But from the look on Bot’s face, or something or other along those lines, Geo felt that it wasn’t him in trouble this time.
The wind and chill were picking up outside when Geo and Bot, the latter still carrying Finn in the bowl, entered the lounge. This time it had even managed to penetrate Geo’s heart, slowing even the speedster of Team Umizoomi down. Bot cleared his throat.
“Listen, Geo. There’s no easy way to say this, but Finn is…well, he’s…”
“He’s what, Bot?”
“...he’s dead.”