DISCLAIMER:

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

Chapter 2: Field Trip

The following day, the sun rose to a beautiful morning, giving off whitish-golden rays to play among the waters. The reef is a teeming metropolis, a great city of coral under the sea, where all the most weird and wonderful creatures get together and eat, work, and swim. Life may look chaotic on the reef, but really it's a well-organized society.

All was quiet inside the cozy, yellow-tentacled anemone, until Marlin began to awaken. Noticing that Nemo is still asleep, Marlin says to him, "Time to get up, Nemo! Time for school! Time for school!"

Nemo opened his eyes and got up, now fully awake and said, "Sure thing, dad."

Marlin then swims towards Dory's brain coral, where Dory is sleeping peacefully. "Dory, get up. We have to drop off Nemo at school," said Marlin, in an attempt to wake up Dory. Her eyes were slowly opening, as she noticed Marlin. Finally awake, Dory got up and said, "If you say so, Marlin..."

While Dory swam out of her brain coral, Nemo got out of the anemone as well. Together, the three fish swam from their homes, following the winding path that often led to Nemo's school, the Sandy Patch School. Nearly everytime they swim to the school, they always reminisce about their two great adventures across the entire ocean.

"So, there we were, at that shipwreck, escaping from that giant squid," said Marlin.

"And it tried to eat me," Nemo pointed out.

"Man, that was the most dangerous part of our last adventure," said Dory.

"Of course, it was. At least it was not as scary as that encounter with the scary fish or the sharks on our first adventure," Marlin stated.

"So, what are we going to do today? I forgot what it was," asked Dory.

"We're bringing Nemo to school, like we always do on school days," Marlin pointed out.

"I see," said Dory.

As Nemo slightly swims closer to Marlin, he asks, "Speaking of school, there's going to be another field trip. You wanna come with us, dad?"

"Just a question, Nemo: what is it going to be about?" asked Marlin, as he was a little anxious after what had happened last night.

Nemo was really excited. He pointed out, "Today, the whole class is going to learn about reefs!"

"Uh, Nemo? We already live in a reef, so we pretty much know everything about it," said Marlin.

"Not everything. We're going to learn how the reef works," said Nemo.

"Hmm. Maybe I'll think about that," said Marlin, as he now understands what Nemo meant.

"So... can I come with Nemo on the field trip?" Dory asked again.

"I'm terribly sorry, but after what happened last time, no, Dory," said Marlin, calmly.

"Okay, if you say so, Marlin," responded Dory.

When the three fish got to Sandy Patch School, Marlin saw that many parents were already at the school yard, sending their kids off to school. Even some of Nemo's friends, including Pearl, Sheldon, and Tad said goodbye to their parents as they are heading off to school. After all these years, he had been raising Nemo ever since the barracuda incident. Marlin's eyes also glanced at the sponge beds, where mothers are watching their infant children. This made Marlin's heart painfully beat in guilt, recalling that his decision of living at the drop-off caused the loss of Coral, as well as being responsible for Nemo's withered fin.

"Dad, what's going on?" asked Nemo.

Marlin looked at Nemo, as he answered, "Look, Nemo, I really miss Coral more than anything in the ocean. She was the most beautiful fish I've ever met."

"Yeah, and wish I could meet her as well," said Nemo.

Ever since last night, Marlin was traumatized by his nightmare about losing Coral, and he is not so sure if he is ready to tell Nemo about what happened. Choosing to do so, Marlin says, "Well, remember what happened last night, when I yelled and you asked me why?"

"Yeah?" asked Nemo.

"Well, I had a terrible dream about losing your mom in the past," said Marlin.

"Don't worry about it, Dad, it's just a dream, you'll get over it eventually," Nemo pointed out.

"Yeah, but what if it affects me in life?" asked Marlin, sarcastically.

"Who knows what could happen? Anyway, have you decided if you want to come with me on the field trip?" asked Nemo.

Marlin responds, "Sure thing, Nemo."

As Marlin, Nemo, and Dory rounded the corner, Mr. Ray swam toward them. "Just in time for the field trip again!" said Mr. Ray, excitedly.

"Hey, Mr. Ray, guess what: my dad is coming with me on the field trip," said Nemo.

"Hey, that sounds really good, Nemo," said Mr. Ray.

Mr. Ray then turned to Marlin and told him, "Come on, Marlin, just get on my back with the students and we'll go to a different part of the coral reef for the field trip,"

"Sure," said Marlin, who then turned his head to Dory, still there, and told her, "Bye, Dory."

"Bye, Marlin," said Dory, as she began to swim toward her friends, Destiny and Bailey.

Marlin then swam towards Nemo and the other students as he got onto the back of Mr. Ray, as he says in excitement, "And now, I feel like I have a song coming on!"

"Uh, Mr. Ray... do you always have to sing? I mean, maybe you need a break from singing during field trips this time," asked Marlin.

"Maybe you're right, Marlin, I do need a break from singing. Now, let's go!" said Mr. Ray, as he begun to flap his fins up into the water and left this area of the reef.

As Mr. Ray swam for a different part of the reef, the kids were wowed by the reefs, as they were very colorful and beautiful to look at. Marlin, though no longer protective of Nemo, was not so sure about this. There were so many dangers hidden, potentially waiting to attack anyone. But since Mr. Ray is a spotted eagle ray, even though he is gentle and kind to everyone who he is friends with, he has a tail that would paralyze anyone who would dare attack him or his close friends. No wonder the students, especially Nemo, looked up to him.

Eventually, Mr. Ray landed on a sand bed, where he dipped his wing down, allowing everyone to swim off of him, as he said, "All right, everybody, we're here."

"Mr. Ray, why did we have to go to this part of the reef instead of staying at the schoolyard for the field trip? There's reefs there, too," asked Marlin.

"Well, there's much more coral out here, so I thought it would be the right place to teach the class about how the reef works. Also, since you are a grown-up, maybe you can guide the class, teaching some things about the reef," said Mr. Ray.

"Okay, I guess..." said Marlin.

Marlin is not so sure about teaching the class. Although he is a great father, as he has been raising Nemo for the past six years, he is not sure if he'd be a great teacher for any class, even Mr. Ray's class, since he doesn't exactly know how to teach students.

I'm not so sure about this... I mean, what if I'm a terrible teacher? Although I've been raising Nemo for a long time now, I don't think I can handle a dozen of students, Marlin thought to himself. Oh well, I'll give it my best shot...

Taking a nervous breath, Marlin then went up to the kids and told them, "Okay, kids, I'm going to be the guide for this field trip, as you will learn how the reefs work. And our number one rule is for you to stay together at all times, and if I'm gone, go to Mr. Ray immediately. Do any of you have questions?"

Then, Pearl's tentacle raised, as if she was going to ask a question.

"Yes?" asked Marlin.

"Why do you have to be our guide?" asked Pearl.

Pearl, the little flapjack octopus, is one of the most popular students at the Sandy Patch School, and is the star soccer player. Her friends enjoy scaring her because octopuses squirt ink, but Pearl really hates inking in public.

"Mr. Ray thought it was best if I was the guide for today," responded Marlin.

"Oh," said Pearl.

Marlin knew that there were more questions to be asked by the children, and as he began to remember something, he asked, "Now, where were we?"

"You were going to guide us on the field trip," said Sheldon, the H2O-intolerant seahorse.

"Oh yeah, now let's learn about how the reef works," said Marlin, now remembering what he was doing.

The class then swam off with Marlin, as they were wondering about how the reef works.

"...And coral reefs protect coastlines from the damaging effects of wave action and tropical storms, as well as provide habitats and shelter for many marine organisms," explained Marlin.

"Is that all that we're going to learn?" asked Tad, the obnoxious butterfly fish.

"No, it's not. And coral reefs are a big source of biodiversity, so without the reef, many of these plants and animals would die," explained Marlin.

"Excuse me, Nemo's dad?" asked Jimmy.

"Yes?" asked Marlin, in response.

"Did you ever have a wife?" asked Jimmy.

"And if you did, what happened to her?" asked Kathy, the chickenfish.

"And who was she?" asked a young parrotfish.

All the students, except Nemo, had questions about who Coral was, or what happened to her, or even if Marlin ever had a wife. Marlin, looking back at what happened to Coral during the barracuda incident, was not sure about this. Although Nemo knows about what happened to Coral, Marlin is not sure wherever or not the rest of the class should know about it, especially since they're kids.

Do the kids really need to know about this? I mean, sure, Nemo knows about the barracuda incident, but does the class need to know. I only told Nemo because he is my son and I trust him, but the class is full of kids... never mind, let's see how this turns out, Marlin thought to himself.

Marlin decided to do so, as he explains to the class, "All right, fine. We were expecting to raise 400 kids, but then a hungry barracuda showed up and took everything and everyone I loved, even my family. However, the only other survivor at that area of the reef was Nemo, whose egg had been damaged. Thoughts?"

"Aw, that's so sad," said Sheldon.

"No wonder Nemo's mom isn't here," said Kathy.

"Hey, dad, you really need to see this," said Nemo, as he swam off.

As Marlin swam towards Nemo, he looked at the class and told them, "Class, I'll be right back,"

Over the next few corals, Marlin noticed Nemo, who was looking at something: small broken pieces of coral.

"Hey, Nemo, what do you need?" asked Marlin, in curiosity.

"Dad, I was just looking at these broken pieces of coral," said Nemo.

"Let me see," said Marlin.

As Marlin began to look at the broken coral pieces, his attention slowly drifted towards them, as if they looked familiar.

"Wait a minute..." said Marlin. Looking closer and closer, and all of a sudden, Marlin realized something: these were clues that Coral used to leave him when she was alive on the sea bed.

"Nemo, I know what this is!" said Marlin.

"What is it, dad?" asked Nemo.

"This is evidence that Coral used to leave me when she was alive," said Marlin.

"Really?" asked Nemo.

"Yes!" replied Marlin.

After realizing that the coral pieces were clues, Marlin began to realize something: Coral may still be out there.

"And this might prove one thing..." said Marlin, in realization.

"Hey, Nemo's dad, what are you doing here?" asked one of the students.

Turning around, Marlin saw Mr. Ray and the class, hiding behind the coral.

"Class, I told you that I'd be right back," said Marlin.

"Well, Marlin, you did tell the class that they'd have to stick together at all times, and that if you're gone, they'd go to me immediately," responded Mr. Ray.

"Mr. Ray, I mean that if I got lost, then they'd go to you," said Marlin.

"Then why didn't you say so?" asked Kathy.

"Because... well... you know what, never mind. Anyway, have a look at this," said Marlin, as he showed the class the broken pieces of coral.

The class and Mr. Ray took a look at the coral pieces, and quickly, they were all wowed.

"What's this?" asked Mr. Ray.

"These are pieces of evidence that my wife, Coral, might still be alive," responded Marlin.

"I thought she died," said Mr. Ray.

"Same," said Marlin.

Later that day, when they got back from the field trip, all the kids went back to their families. On the way back to the anemone, Marlin suddenly ran into Dory, and greeted her.

"Hey, Dory, you won't believe what I found at the field trip with Nemo today," told Marlin.

"What is it? And wait, you had a field trip today?" asked Dory, as she couldn't remember Nemo's field trip.

"Well, Dory, we found these pieces of coral that made me think of something..." explained Marlin.

"Can you tell me what it is?" asked Dory.

"These are clues that involve Coral, and I was thinking that we'd go on another adventure," said Marlin.

"Why, dad? You told Dory two months ago that we wouldn't have to go on another one again," Nemo pointed out.

Nemo still remembered that from their last adventure, Marlin told Dory that they've done their ocean travels and that they wouldn't have to travel again, but over the past few months since, Marlin had changed to the same person he was after his first adventure.

"Well, Nemo, since the last adventure, I've changed to the father I was between our two adventures. I'm not crazy or overprotective again, and the reason we're going on a new adventure is to find Coral. I know, we don't know if she's alive or not, but we'll see," explained Marlin.

"Oh, okay," said Nemo.

"However, this will be the last one we'll be going on, okay?"

Marlin knew that there were dangers across the ocean, especially in the last two adventures. He didn't want to risk his life losing Nemo or Dory again, wherever it's by divers or even people who work at an aquarium.

"Yep," said Dory.

"Sure thing, dad," responded Nemo.

"Good," said Marlin. "Anyway, I need to do a few errands while you guys do your own things,"

"That sounds like a good idea," said Dory.

"Yeah," said Nemo.

Nemo and Dory swim off, as Marlin was heading to his anemone. As he swam inside, he thought to himself, We'll see...

Another special message from the author:

I forgot to tell you on the previous chapter that I'd be getting some help from other sources, including the junior novelizations of Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, as well as Debbie Dai-chan's "Finding Nemo: the Fangirl Novelization," which was made way back in 2004, as well as the Finding Nemo Essential Guide. The reason I'm doing this is because I'm having a little trouble describing stuff in this fan fiction due to my autism.

Also, the sole purpose of Finding Marlin is to finish Marlin's arc once and for all, since some people consider that Finding Dory is kind of unnecessary, as Marlin's arc was completed in Finding Nemo. I didn't like the idea of Marlin being overprotective again, as it sort of copies Finding Nemo and reverses his arc, so I realized that Finding Marlin could finish it forever.

I will be adding the next chapter in a few months' time, because I'll be going back to school. See ya later, folks!