DISCLAIMER:

Disney owns Finding Nemo and its characters, so I do not own anything from that movie.

FINDING MARLIN

Chapter 1: Bedtime

In the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, it was a peaceful night, as everyone was already asleep, except for one clownfish named Marlin, along with his son Nemo and their friend, an amnesiac blue tang named Dory. Marlin and Nemo are heading to their anemone, while Dory is heading to her brain coral.

"All right, guys. It's time for bed," said Marlin, who was really tired. It had been already two months since Dory found her parents, Jenny and Charlie, near the Marine Life Institute. "Yeah, I'm getting tired, too, Marlin," said Dory.

As Marlin and Nemo already entered their anemone, and as Dory already entered her brain coral, Nemo asked Marlin, smiling, "Dad, can you tell us a bedtime story please?"

"Yeah, Marlin, and maybe this time, it could be about what happened to Nemo's mom!" said Dory, in a light-hearted mood, as she went up to the anemone. Marlin said, "Are you sure about this, guys? I don't think we have enough time for a bedtime story."

"Yes, dad," said Nemo. Dory, proudly said, "Come on, Marlin. We're curious."

Marlin took a deep breath and sighed. Answering to their request, he replied, "All right..."

Nemo and Dory cheerfully said, "Yay!"

"All right... we lived very happily right next to the open ocean, and it was just perfect," said Marlin. "We were expecting to have 400 kids."

"Really, and what did I look like?" asked Nemo.

Marlin stated, "You weren't even born yet. Your egg was so little, I could hold you in my fin."

"Well, I remember someone seeing me in an egg," Nemo said. "And what did mommy look like?"

"Your mother was very beautiful, she was the most beautiful clownfish I met in my entire life," said Marlin. "Everything was perfect... until a barracuda attacked and took away almost everything and everybody I really loved."

Marlin continued to explain, "And that night, I found the last of these eggs, and that egg was you, Nemo, I was the only one who saw you in the egg."

"That was sad. The loss of Nemo's mom, the predator taking away everything and everyone you loved, it's just sad," said Dory, who had assumed that Coral was killed too in the incident.

"Of course it was, Dory. I came to the conclusion that I never should've decided to live at the drop-off, so I chose to live in this anemone to raise Nemo," said Marlin.

"I understand, Marlin. Wait, what did I understand?" Dory suddenly forgot.

Marlin sighed. "Never mind, Dory. Let's just go to sleep, we got to get ready tomorrow."

"Sure thing, dad," Nemo said, as he and Dory swam to their homes respectively.

"Goodnight guys!" said Dory, as she already entered her coral cave, while Nemo swam into his anemone as well.

"Goodnight, guys..." Marlin said, as he swam to his anemone too. Realizing that Nemo and Dory had just fallen asleep, Marlin lays down in his anemone and closes his eyes, as he falls asleep.

No sooner when Marlin popped his head out of the anemone, that he soon noticed some rather unusual activity going on from outside their house. As a matter of fact, there seemed to be little activity at all. The whole drop-off seemed completely empty, except for last fish finding shelter in one of the bits of coral, as if some strange force was coming after them. Marlin just didn't know what to make of this.

He then spotted Coral, who was motionless, staring into the water at a hungry barracuda.

It was barely seen against the dark waters, as its navy-blue scales were like metal, cold and smooth. Its piercing dark-blue eyes were powerful enough to spot any unsuspecting fish, as they were sharply locked on Coral. If Marlin or Coral were to make a single move, the barracuda will eat them within seconds. It can move fast, too fast for anyone to notice.

"Coral, get inside the house. Coral," Marlin whispered.

But Coral's eyes shifted down at the grotto, noticing a few of her eggs. She didn't want to leave her babies exposed.

"No, Coral, don't!" warned Marlin, for the second time. He knew that if she moved, it would be game over for the both of them.

"They'll be fine. Just get inside, you - right now!" Marlin insisted again.

Coral darted to the grotto as fast as she can, but she wasn't fast enough - the barracuda charged against her as if it were a torpedo.

"No!" shouted Marlin, as he swam down and attempted to save Coral, but instead slammed against the barracuda. As it attempts to eat Marlin, he dodges and slams against the barracuda again, trying desperately to save his wife. But with a quick swish of its tail, the barracuda batted Marlin against some rocks. Unconscious, Marlin floated down into the anemone.

"NO!" Marlin shouted, as he woke up and swam out of the anemone, only to realize that it was all just a bad dream. But then, Nemo and Dory woke up and swam to Marlin. "What's wrong?" Nemo asked with concern.

"Are you okay?" asked Dory.

"I'm fine, guys. There was nothing wrong," said Marlin. "Anyway, you guys need to go back to sleep," he said, politely.

"But why, dad? We were wondering where the shouting was coming from," said a curious Nemo.

"Look, guys, it's the middle of the night. You need some beauty sleep if you don't want to be tired tomorrow," suggested Marlin.

Nemo and Dory sighed, as they swam back to their homes. "Sure thing," said Nemo, as he got inside anemone. "Goodnight," said Dory, as she swam inside her coral cave. "Goodnight, dad," said Nemo, as he rested his head down and closed his eyes peacefully. Nemo and Dory had gone back to sleep.

Marlin swam back into his anemone and layed his head down, about to go to sleep. Looking at the night sky, Marlin sighed and said, "I hope that you might be out there someplace, Coral, I really miss you more than anything in the entire ocean."

A special message from the author:

The idea started out on wikis such as Fanon Wiki, Idea Wiki, Movie Fanon Wiki, and I made the first copy of it after I watched Finding Dory in cinemas with my family. If you want to check out my idea on Wikia, look up "idea wiki finding marlin" on Google or something. I made Finding Marlin because I enjoyed watching Finding Dory, and also because Finding Nemo is my favorite film from the beginning, so I decided to make the idea.

There is something that I want to tell you all: I have autism, meaning that I have poor communication skills. So, I would have to use other sources to help me when typing stuff in this fanfiction, such as the junior novelizations for Finding Dory and Finding Nemo, as well as using the Essential Guide for Finding Nemo, and Debbie Dai-chan's "Finding Nemo: the Fangirl Novelization" from 2004.

Chapter 2 will be coming at the very end of the year, as I have school and I need to do my work. See ya later, folks!