Disclaimer: I don't own Marlin, Nemo, Dory, etc. But I think I'll make up some.

Rating: G

Review: I gratefully except comments and corrections, but please no flames!

As Big as the Ocean

Marlin woke up one morning with Nemo bouncing on him.

"Get up! Get up! We're going to be late!" Nemo screamed. Marlin got up in a flash! He remembered that it was the first day of the second school year! Marlin grabbed Nemo's fin as they swam off.

Mr. Ray was just about to leave with his class until Nemo came swimming as fast as he could.

"Wait for me!" Nemo called right before he climbed aboard. But he wasn't the only fish late. Suddenly, a whole bunch of clown fish came swimming aboard Mr. Ray. Mr. Ray almost fell down trying to carry them all, and while singing a little off key.

Right at that moment, Marlin recognized the clown fish. "Coral?"

Coral turned around to find Marlin with an amazed look on his face.

"How do you know my name?" She asked, confused.

"Remember me? I'm Marlin! Your old husband! I thought you were eaten by the shark!"

"MARLIN?" They both smiled big as they hugged each other, then bouncing around and cheering. Coral stopped when she saw three sharks coming towards them. Suddenly, a blue fish swam towards Marlin then waved goodbye to the three sharks.

"Bye! Thanks for dropping me off!" After the sharks had left, the fish noticed Coral. "Oh, Hello! I'm Dory!" She stuck out her fin for Coral to shake it. Coral just stood there staring in outer space. Dory waved her fin in Coral's face. "Hello? Is anybody in there?"

"Dory, this is Coral, Coral, this is Dory."

"Hi Dory!"

"No, Dory, you're Dory, that's Coral." Marlin exclaimed to her.

"Oh, well then, hi Moral!" Marlin slapped his fin on his forehead.

"Coral? Are you alright?" He changed the subject. Marlin just bumped into Coral, which made her snap out of it.

"Wha? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Coral shivered as she started to swim towards the direction Mr. Ray had gone.

"Coral, where are you going?" Marlin asked her.

"I just can't leave my children out there with three, THREE sharks in the area!" Coral exclaimed, still swimming. Marlin and Dory charged after her. She had led them into a bumpy road, which caused trouble for two to behind her.

"Wait! You don't under- OW!- stand! They're really- Oomph! - nice guys- AH! I BROKE A NAIL!" Marlin paused.

"Dory, you don't have any nails! [Scoffs] Short term memory lost." Marlin hurried to catch up.

Once he had caught up he found himself at the drop off, with Coral fighting to bring her 399 from daring each other to go out there. Nemo just stood silently, watching them go out there and remembering the scuba divers, fish tank . . . and Gill. He missed him very much and wondered where they were, what they were doing. It almost seemed as if he wanted to swim out into the ocean, face the challenges that his father had. But then a scream snapped him back into reality.

"MARLIN JR. NUMBER 99!" Coral cried.

"Impressive." Marlin thought out loud. He spot Dory swimming out into the ocean, trying to distract the diver. The diver followed Dory, not taking a glance at Marlin Jr. Number 99, which left a chance for Marlin Jr. Number 99 (How about I call him Marlin 99, it'll be easier) to escape. Marlin 99 dashed out of the bag and swam quickly out to his mother, hugging her tightly.

Meanwhile, Dory was swimming around in circles, confusing the diver and making him dizzy. Finally, Dory stopped swimming in circles and hid behind a rock down under. The diver gave up and swam back up to the surface. The class, Marlin and Coral, the 399 and Nemo all cheered. Marlin swam up to Dory, amazed.

"How did you do that? How did you distract the diver?"

"Well, you see, when I was a kid, a paper fell down deep, deep into the water, it said something like "Dews Burial" (News Journal) or something. Anyway, so, I read it, and it says that a diver from a dentist loves to catch fish so he could put him in his pig bank (fish tank). But he especially loves to find Blue tang fish! So I recognized him from a picture beside it, and the mask that we found on our way to . . . P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. Hey! I remembered it!" Dory exclaimed.

"You so totally rock dude!" Squirt exclaimed to Dory as all of the kids in Mr. Ray's class were crowding around her.

"Marlin!" Coral called. Marlin and half of the 399 replied.

"Yes?" They all said together. Coral swam over to Marlin and pulled him to a private spot.

"Marlin, who is that girl? And why did you just let our son-"

"Nemo." Marlin exclaimed.

"Nemo, go out here with a big class, especially when there's 399 newcomers, come here to this drop, when he could be killed!" Marlin chuckled.

"It's a long story." Marlin said with a smile. "But I think they should homeschool."

"Homeschool? What about Nemo?" Coral asked him.

"Well . . . it's just that he loves to go to school, he likes to go play with his friends, he loves to learn. I just can't take that away from him."