Searching Science - An Octonauts Story Book 3 (complete)

Chapter Three - Reef

Dashi hopped out of the Gup as Shellington drove it to a stop, and stared around with a bright smile at the even more brightly coloured coral making up the reef. It was now late afternoon, and the two scientists had been studying and giggling at opportune points all day so far, Dashi now feeling she couldn't cram much more knowledge about coral into her head without something falling out of the other ear. Knowing her so well, at that point in their study session Shellington had tactfully offered an experience of the other half of being a scientist: field work out researching the environments that you study. Dashi didn't point out that they already did this together all the time anyway, but she sensed Shel was enjoying being under the pretence of teacher for the day!

"This is a barrier reef, correct?" she called over to the biologist as he left the Gup E floating by a particularly vibrant piece of green coral, a couple of crabs looking at the vehicle suspiciously and snapping their claws.

Shellington grinned as he swum faster to catch up to his girlfriend. "You're right, Dashi! And how can you tell?"

She pointed a paw right across the reef to where a large area of unoccupied water lay, gleaming blue in the dappled spots of sunshine. "Well, there's a coast somewhere over there, and in between the land and the reef there's a lagoon, so it has to be a barrier reef since it's not circular with a lagoon in the middle like atoll, or attached to any land like fringing would be."

"That's right!" Dashi - realising she had babbled that scientific monologue almost as fast as the Octonauts' usual scientist tended to - was rewarded by Shellington's warm, delighted smile as he registered that his protegee had picked up all the knowledge he had taught her this morning. "You learn fast."

"Good teacher," countered Dashi teasingly. "Bestow upon me more of your wisdom, please do!"

Shellington laughed and they swum closer to the reef in companionable silence, Dashi snapping the occasional photo as she waved to shoals of fish going about their afternoon swim through the calm waters of the lagoon. It was idyllic, the peace here; she had always loved going diving in the lagoon near her coastal home when she had been a pup getting her first diving lessons. You got such a good view of all the pretty coral from above, and sometimes the sea creatures weren't in too much of a rush like the ones you tended to find in the speedy currents of the open ocean, so you often got to have a chat to the friendly ones.

"The next step in becoming a scientist for the Octonauts is going out on missions like this," the sea otter explained once they were hovering next to a patch of sea anemones that yellow fish darted in and out of, blinking shyly at the two Octonauts. "As you know, this can often include days out to study a particular sea creature in its habitat - remipedes in deep sea caves, for example, or baby sea snails in kelp forests."

"Oh yeah," Dashi giggled somewhat ruefully as she remembered one of their previous missions together: getting completely tangled up in free strands of kelp while trying to study some tiny snails. "Being a scientist maybe isn't the safest occupation at times."

"But worthwhile," he pointed out.

"Oh yes." She shared his warm smile as they both thought back to when they had stayed together down in the OctoLab, making amazing discoveries in a habitat that no-one else had ever properly got the chance to study before. It was one of Dashi's most treasured memories, those two weeks with her boyfriend - though they had just been close friends back then. Still, worthwhile was definitely the word for it.

"Anyway, let's get to some more science," she announced after a moment, Shellington still looking dreamily at her in a way that did always seem to make her heart skip.

The sea otter shook himself alert with an embarrassed chuckle. "Yes, we had better, shouldn't we? Or the Captain might wonder why we headed out today."

"Tweak'll cover for us," Dashi commented.

"That she will," he agreed. "Anyway, I got you something that should help you feel a little bit more the part." Shellington reached into his own satchel - which Dashi noticed for the first time was looking a little more stuffed than usual - and pulled out something pink, which of course captured her interest immediately!

The dachshund smiled widely as he shyly passed it to her. "A present, for being my new scientist assistant," he explained. "A satchel, just like mine - perfect for carrying around textbooks for a bit of research or just light reading!"

Dashi swung the bag around her shoulder. Of course, since Shellington knew her far too well, so the shade, instead of the usual Octonauts blue, was a light pink. "I love it!" she commented, feeling something firm inside and unlatching it. Inside was a little magnifying glass and a notebook with the Octonauts logo on it, doubtlessly Tweak's doing.

"A magnifying glass and notebook," summarised Shellington somewhat unnecessarily. "For all your examining and sketching needs."

Dashi hugged the sea otter so tightly that he momentarily forgot that he was supposed to be treading water and sunk a little towards the reef, before blushing and coming back up. "Thank you, Shelly!" she beamed. "Now I feel like a real scientist."

"I mean, you already were a real scientist," murmured a somewhat flustered Shel. "It's just you look the part now, that's all."

A group of fish cooed meaningfully as they swum past, and both Octonauts blushed bright pink as they realised their little present exchange had drawn quite a crowd. "Better get to studying some coral, yes," agreed Shellington quickly.

Dashi followed him readily down to the sea floor. "Yes, we better had," she laughed, both scientists putting their magnifying glasses (new or otherwise) up to their eyes and looking closely at the coral to hide their embarrassment. "What are we looking for?"

A crab scuttled past Shellington's nose, making him jump. "Well, this coral looks pretty healthy," he remarked. "You can tell by its bright colour, but of course you've seen sick coral before. Other than that it's just our normal, checking what sea creatures are on this reef, and seeing if it has normal amounts of what we'd expect to be here."

The tech-expert pulled one of Tweak's Octo-Tablets from her belt. "We can check exactly what should be here from the Octopod's map," she offered.

He shot a smile at her. "That's a good idea, Dashi. Let's see, we're near the east coast of India, so..."

Dashi lost track of time, as she did so often when out with Shellington, chatting about anything that came to mind, and saying hi to sea creatures as they swum around the small reef. At one point Shellington got excited - "Fascinating!" - at a group of what he insisted were a rare species of sea fan, and Dashi obligingly took a set of photos of them, before they both settled down into a patch of sand to sketch said smiling coral in their notebooks, some fish watching over their shoulder as they worked. Dashi was fairly sure Shellington's sketch was a lot more scientifically accurate than hers was, but when they held them up to show their muse what they had drawn, they seemed quite a 'fan' of it, needless to say!

The marine biologist continued his commentary while they swum back towards the Gup E, the Captain having contacted them a minute ago to tell them the Vegimals were making kelp pancakes for tea so they had better hurry back before they were all gone! While an enthused Shellington explained to her that sea fans were not a plant at all, but a type of animal, and his protegee asked interested questions which he was all too happy to answer, Dashi couldn't help but think that this couldn't be any more perfect.

A/N) I'm weak for Dashton dating cuteness - and reef research, gotta admit! :D