Whoo, Chapter 1! Time for some comic relief! ^^ By the way, I was too lazy
to come up with humanoid names for the three kid's dads, so... oh well.
Disclaimer: I don't own Finding Nemo, bla bla bla, and all that jazz.
~.~.~
Niro wo Motomete
Chapter 1: First day of School
The morning sunlight filtered in through Marion's window, filling the room with a warm peaceful atmosphere. Not too far away, a small high-pitched voice came flying into the room. "First day of school! First day of school!"
The smiling face of a little boy with flaming orange hair suddenly appeared above Marion. It was his six year old son, Niro. "Wake up, wake up! First day of school!" the little boy chanted excitedly, bouncing up and down on his father's bed.
"I don't wanna go to school," Marion grumbled, still halfway asleep, "Five more minutes."
"Not you, dad, me!" Niro said, "Come on, get up!"
"Alright, I'm up, I'm up." Marion sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"First day of school!" Niro chanted, running down the hallway, "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy-- whoa!" In his excitement, the little boy tripped and stumbled out of sight.
"Niro!" Marion exclaimed, jumping out of bed. He took off down the hallway to his son.
Niro was lying upside down in the trash can, his feet sticking out the top. Nevertheless, Marion could still hear his voice echoing from inside, "First day of school! First day of school!"
"Niro, don't move!" Marion said, "You'll never get out of there yourself! I'll do it..." Marion grabbed his son's ankles and hoisted him out of the trash can. He lowered him onto the couch, and sat him upright. "Okay, where's the break? Do you feel a break?"
"No," Niro answered simply.
"Sometimes you can't tell 'cause fluid is rushing to the area. Now, any rushing fluids?" Marion asked.
"No."
"Are you woozy?"
"No."
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"I'm fine!" Niro said.
"Answer the question!"
"Three," Niro replied, rolling his eyes.
"No, see? Something's wrong with you, I have one... two... three... I am?" Marion looked at his hand and saw that he was, indeed, holding up three fingers. He sighed. "Oh, you're okay. How's your lucky arm?"
"Lucky!" Niro replied, waving his right arm in the air for emphasis. It was noticeably shorter than his left arm, and slightly malformed. But Marion didn't want his son to be considered a cripple, so he just called it Niro's 'lucky' arm.
"Let's see," Marion said, holding out his hand. Niro smiled and gave his dad a high-five. Marion kneeled down and looked his son in the eye. "Are you sure you want to go to school this year? 'Cause it's no problem if you don't! I can home school you for another five or... six years..."
Niro rolled his eyes and tugged on his dad's sleeve. "Come on, dad, it's time for school!"
"Ah, ah, ah! Forgot to brush!" Marion said.
Niro sighed. "Oh..."
Marion put his hands on his hips. "Do you want the landlord to throw you out?"
Niro paused for a moment in thought. "... yes!"
"Brush."
Niro sighed again, and ran into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. A few seconds later, he reemerged and ran for the door. "Okay, I'm done!"
Marion grabbed him. "You missed a spot!"
"Where?"
"There!" Marion smacked Niro playfully. Niro giggled. "And here, and there, and here!"
~.~.~
Marion and Niro stepped outside. "Okay, we're excited. First day of school, here we go, we're ready to learn to get some knowledge!" Marion said enthusiastically, "Now what's the first thing we have to remember about the city?"
"It's not safe," Niro recited.
"That's my boy," Marion smiled. "So, before you cross the street, look both ways. First look right, then look left. Then look right, and look left. And then one more time, look left, and look right... And sometimes, if you want to do it four times..."
Niro rolled his eyes and started to walk. "Daaad..."
"Okay, come on boy!"
Niro ran ahead of his dad, skipping excitedly. "Dad, maybe when we go into the city, I'll see a gangster!"
Marion smiled nervously. "I highly doubt that."
Niro turned around and ran backwards. "Have you ever met a gangster?"
"No, and I don't plan to!"
"How old are surfers?"
Marion blinked. "Surfers?" he repeated, "I... I don't know."
"Sadie Pleakton from next door, he says that there's this group of surfers, and some of them are eighty years old!"
"Well, if I ever meet a surfer dude, I'll ask him," Marion said, "Right after I'm done talking to the gangster, okay? Ah, ah, ah! Wait to cross!"
The two had just reached a crosswalk. When the light turned red, Marion grabbed Niro's wrist. "Hold my hand, hold my hand..."
"Dad, you're not going to freak out like you did at the petting zoo, are you?"
"Hey, that duck was about to charge."
Father and son walked down the sidewalk to the schoolyard. Parents and their children mingled in the park, talking and playing. Not too far away, two kids were playing catch with a third boy's hat. "Come on you guys!" the smaller boy said, "Stop it! Give it back!"
"Maybe we should try over here," Marion said, heading toward the school building.
Three men were standing not too far away, laughing with each other. One was tall and skinny with curly brown hair, and he was wearing cowboy boots. The second was shorter, his hair a vivid blonde. The third was on the chubby side, with dark skin and short light-pink dreadlocks. Marion walked up to them. "Excuse me, is this where we meet his teacher?"
The tall man with the curly brown hair looked Marion up and down. "Well, look who's out of the apartment."
Marion smiled. "Yes, shocking, I know."
"Marty, right?"
"Marion," he corrected.
"Bob," said the curly-haired man.
"Ted," added the chubby one.
"Phil," finished the blonde. "Hey... hey, you're that guy who used to be on that comedy show! Hey, tell us a joke!"
Marion smiled sheepishly. "Well, I'm retired now..."
"Aww, come on!" Phil said.
"Yeah, do somethin' funny!" added Ted. Bob nodded.
"Well, I do know one joke... um..." Marion thought for a moment. "There's a mollusk, see? And, and he walks up... well, he doesn't walk up-he swims up. And then the sea cucumber... well they... I'm mixed up. There was a mollusk and a sea cucumber. None of them were moving so forget that I said..."
Marion was cut off by Bob, who yelled suddenly, "Sheridan! Get out of Mr. Johnson's yard now!"
Marion turned around to see three kids running around in front of a little white house. An old grumpy-looking man with a cane rose to his feet. He was hunched over to the left, and his mouth seemed to be stuck in a permanent frown.
"Alright you kids," he grumbled, turning to face the three tiny intruders. Laughing, they simply hid to the right side of the old man. "Ehh, where'd ya' go? Where'd ya' go?" Mr. Johnson grunted, turning around in circles trying to catch the kids. "Where, where'd ya' go?"
Niro nudged Marion. "Dad, dad, can I go play too? Can I?"
Marion smiled nervously. "I'd feel better if you'd go play over on the trampolines."
Over in the playground, there were several small trampolines, each with little toddlers bouncing up and down. One kid, who couldn't have been older than two, tripped and fell. There was a dramatic silence, and then he started crying.
Niro looked up at Marion with a 'you can't be serious' look.
Marion smiled. "That's where I would play."
Just then, the three kids came up to Niro. A little girl with dark skin and pink cornrow braids looked at Niro's right arm. "What's wrong with his hand?" she asked innocently.
A boy with bright yellow hair and a purple t-shirt added shamelessly, "He looks funny!"
Bob smacked the third boy upside the head. "Ow!" he yelled. Like his father, he too had short curly brown hair. "What'd I do? What'd I do?"
"Be nice," Bob scolded, "It's his first time at school."
Marion patted Niro's head. "He was born with it, kids. We call it his lucky arm."
Niro blushed. "Daaad..."
The little pink-haired girl, Pearle, tilted her head to one side. "See this pigtail?" she asked, pointing to one of her braids, "It's actually shorter than all my other pigtails, but you can't really tell. Especially when I twirl them like this!" The little girl proudly spun herself around.
The curly-haired boy, Sheridan, was next to introduce himself. "I have really bad allergies." Right on cue, he sneezed loudly and fell backwards.
The third boy, Ted, put his face right up in front of Niro's and boasted, "I'm obnoxious!"
Just then, singing became audible in the distance as a gray van pulled up in front of the school. "Oh, let's name the zones, the zones, the zones... let's name the zones of the open sea!" sang the driver.
"Mr. Raymond!" the kids exclaimed in unison, rushing over to greet their teacher.
"Come on, Niro," Sheridan said.
Niro started to follow, but Marion held him back. "You'd better stay with me."
"...mesopolagic, bathyal, abyssalpelagic. All the rest are too deep for you and me to see!" Mr. Raymond stopped his van in front of the kids, and stepped out onto the other side of the street. He was tall, and he had thick ear- length dark grayish-blue hair, with the exception of a long thin braid in the back. He wore small rectangular glasses and a white scientist's coat. "Huh. I wonder where my class has gone."
The kids appeared from behind the van. "We're over here!"
"Oh, there you are!" Mr. Raymond exclaimed. "Climb aboard, explorers! Oooh, knowledge exploring is oh so lyrical when you think thoughts that are empirical!"
After all the students had piled into the van, Niro followed behind. Mr. Raymond stopped him. "Well, hello! Who is this?"
"I'm Niro," Niro replied.
Mr. Raymond smiled at his new student. "Welcome aboard, explorer!"
Niro smiled and sat down in the van. Marion leaned toward Mr. Raymond. "Just so you know," he whispered, "He's got a crippled arm. I find if he's have problems with dexterity, let him take a break. Ten, fifteen minutes..."
"Dad, it's time for you to go now!" Niro said.
"Don't worry," Mr. Raymond said, winking, "We're gonna' stay together as a group." He shut the van door and began to drive. "Okay, optical orbits upfront. And remember, we keep out supraesophogeal ganglion to ourselves. That means you, Jimmy..."
"Bye Niro!" Marion called.
"Bye dad!" Niro replied.
"Bye, son!" Marion yelled again, and added quietly, "Be safe..."
Bob, Ted, and Phil appeared behind him. "Hey, you're doin' pretty well for a first-timer," Bob commented.
"Well, you can't hold onto 'em forever, can you?" Marion replied.
"Yeah, I had trouble with my oldest one out of the drop-off," Phil added.
"They just gotta' grow up someda-the drop-off!?" Marion exclaimed, "They're going to the drop off!? What are you, insane!?" The couldn't go to the drop- off! That was where his and Carol's old house had been... that was where she'd been killed... that was where he'd vowed to always protect his only son! In a mad panic, Marion turned and ran off after the van.
"Hey, Marty, calm down!" Bob said.
"Don't tell me to be calm, pony boy!" Marion yelled back before he disappeared in the distance.
Bob cocked an eyebrow. "'Pony boy?'"
Phil glanced at him. "You know, for a comedian, he really isn't that funny."
Ted nodded. "Pity."
Disclaimer: I don't own Finding Nemo, bla bla bla, and all that jazz.
~.~.~
Niro wo Motomete
Chapter 1: First day of School
The morning sunlight filtered in through Marion's window, filling the room with a warm peaceful atmosphere. Not too far away, a small high-pitched voice came flying into the room. "First day of school! First day of school!"
The smiling face of a little boy with flaming orange hair suddenly appeared above Marion. It was his six year old son, Niro. "Wake up, wake up! First day of school!" the little boy chanted excitedly, bouncing up and down on his father's bed.
"I don't wanna go to school," Marion grumbled, still halfway asleep, "Five more minutes."
"Not you, dad, me!" Niro said, "Come on, get up!"
"Alright, I'm up, I'm up." Marion sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"First day of school!" Niro chanted, running down the hallway, "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy-- whoa!" In his excitement, the little boy tripped and stumbled out of sight.
"Niro!" Marion exclaimed, jumping out of bed. He took off down the hallway to his son.
Niro was lying upside down in the trash can, his feet sticking out the top. Nevertheless, Marion could still hear his voice echoing from inside, "First day of school! First day of school!"
"Niro, don't move!" Marion said, "You'll never get out of there yourself! I'll do it..." Marion grabbed his son's ankles and hoisted him out of the trash can. He lowered him onto the couch, and sat him upright. "Okay, where's the break? Do you feel a break?"
"No," Niro answered simply.
"Sometimes you can't tell 'cause fluid is rushing to the area. Now, any rushing fluids?" Marion asked.
"No."
"Are you woozy?"
"No."
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"I'm fine!" Niro said.
"Answer the question!"
"Three," Niro replied, rolling his eyes.
"No, see? Something's wrong with you, I have one... two... three... I am?" Marion looked at his hand and saw that he was, indeed, holding up three fingers. He sighed. "Oh, you're okay. How's your lucky arm?"
"Lucky!" Niro replied, waving his right arm in the air for emphasis. It was noticeably shorter than his left arm, and slightly malformed. But Marion didn't want his son to be considered a cripple, so he just called it Niro's 'lucky' arm.
"Let's see," Marion said, holding out his hand. Niro smiled and gave his dad a high-five. Marion kneeled down and looked his son in the eye. "Are you sure you want to go to school this year? 'Cause it's no problem if you don't! I can home school you for another five or... six years..."
Niro rolled his eyes and tugged on his dad's sleeve. "Come on, dad, it's time for school!"
"Ah, ah, ah! Forgot to brush!" Marion said.
Niro sighed. "Oh..."
Marion put his hands on his hips. "Do you want the landlord to throw you out?"
Niro paused for a moment in thought. "... yes!"
"Brush."
Niro sighed again, and ran into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. A few seconds later, he reemerged and ran for the door. "Okay, I'm done!"
Marion grabbed him. "You missed a spot!"
"Where?"
"There!" Marion smacked Niro playfully. Niro giggled. "And here, and there, and here!"
~.~.~
Marion and Niro stepped outside. "Okay, we're excited. First day of school, here we go, we're ready to learn to get some knowledge!" Marion said enthusiastically, "Now what's the first thing we have to remember about the city?"
"It's not safe," Niro recited.
"That's my boy," Marion smiled. "So, before you cross the street, look both ways. First look right, then look left. Then look right, and look left. And then one more time, look left, and look right... And sometimes, if you want to do it four times..."
Niro rolled his eyes and started to walk. "Daaad..."
"Okay, come on boy!"
Niro ran ahead of his dad, skipping excitedly. "Dad, maybe when we go into the city, I'll see a gangster!"
Marion smiled nervously. "I highly doubt that."
Niro turned around and ran backwards. "Have you ever met a gangster?"
"No, and I don't plan to!"
"How old are surfers?"
Marion blinked. "Surfers?" he repeated, "I... I don't know."
"Sadie Pleakton from next door, he says that there's this group of surfers, and some of them are eighty years old!"
"Well, if I ever meet a surfer dude, I'll ask him," Marion said, "Right after I'm done talking to the gangster, okay? Ah, ah, ah! Wait to cross!"
The two had just reached a crosswalk. When the light turned red, Marion grabbed Niro's wrist. "Hold my hand, hold my hand..."
"Dad, you're not going to freak out like you did at the petting zoo, are you?"
"Hey, that duck was about to charge."
Father and son walked down the sidewalk to the schoolyard. Parents and their children mingled in the park, talking and playing. Not too far away, two kids were playing catch with a third boy's hat. "Come on you guys!" the smaller boy said, "Stop it! Give it back!"
"Maybe we should try over here," Marion said, heading toward the school building.
Three men were standing not too far away, laughing with each other. One was tall and skinny with curly brown hair, and he was wearing cowboy boots. The second was shorter, his hair a vivid blonde. The third was on the chubby side, with dark skin and short light-pink dreadlocks. Marion walked up to them. "Excuse me, is this where we meet his teacher?"
The tall man with the curly brown hair looked Marion up and down. "Well, look who's out of the apartment."
Marion smiled. "Yes, shocking, I know."
"Marty, right?"
"Marion," he corrected.
"Bob," said the curly-haired man.
"Ted," added the chubby one.
"Phil," finished the blonde. "Hey... hey, you're that guy who used to be on that comedy show! Hey, tell us a joke!"
Marion smiled sheepishly. "Well, I'm retired now..."
"Aww, come on!" Phil said.
"Yeah, do somethin' funny!" added Ted. Bob nodded.
"Well, I do know one joke... um..." Marion thought for a moment. "There's a mollusk, see? And, and he walks up... well, he doesn't walk up-he swims up. And then the sea cucumber... well they... I'm mixed up. There was a mollusk and a sea cucumber. None of them were moving so forget that I said..."
Marion was cut off by Bob, who yelled suddenly, "Sheridan! Get out of Mr. Johnson's yard now!"
Marion turned around to see three kids running around in front of a little white house. An old grumpy-looking man with a cane rose to his feet. He was hunched over to the left, and his mouth seemed to be stuck in a permanent frown.
"Alright you kids," he grumbled, turning to face the three tiny intruders. Laughing, they simply hid to the right side of the old man. "Ehh, where'd ya' go? Where'd ya' go?" Mr. Johnson grunted, turning around in circles trying to catch the kids. "Where, where'd ya' go?"
Niro nudged Marion. "Dad, dad, can I go play too? Can I?"
Marion smiled nervously. "I'd feel better if you'd go play over on the trampolines."
Over in the playground, there were several small trampolines, each with little toddlers bouncing up and down. One kid, who couldn't have been older than two, tripped and fell. There was a dramatic silence, and then he started crying.
Niro looked up at Marion with a 'you can't be serious' look.
Marion smiled. "That's where I would play."
Just then, the three kids came up to Niro. A little girl with dark skin and pink cornrow braids looked at Niro's right arm. "What's wrong with his hand?" she asked innocently.
A boy with bright yellow hair and a purple t-shirt added shamelessly, "He looks funny!"
Bob smacked the third boy upside the head. "Ow!" he yelled. Like his father, he too had short curly brown hair. "What'd I do? What'd I do?"
"Be nice," Bob scolded, "It's his first time at school."
Marion patted Niro's head. "He was born with it, kids. We call it his lucky arm."
Niro blushed. "Daaad..."
The little pink-haired girl, Pearle, tilted her head to one side. "See this pigtail?" she asked, pointing to one of her braids, "It's actually shorter than all my other pigtails, but you can't really tell. Especially when I twirl them like this!" The little girl proudly spun herself around.
The curly-haired boy, Sheridan, was next to introduce himself. "I have really bad allergies." Right on cue, he sneezed loudly and fell backwards.
The third boy, Ted, put his face right up in front of Niro's and boasted, "I'm obnoxious!"
Just then, singing became audible in the distance as a gray van pulled up in front of the school. "Oh, let's name the zones, the zones, the zones... let's name the zones of the open sea!" sang the driver.
"Mr. Raymond!" the kids exclaimed in unison, rushing over to greet their teacher.
"Come on, Niro," Sheridan said.
Niro started to follow, but Marion held him back. "You'd better stay with me."
"...mesopolagic, bathyal, abyssalpelagic. All the rest are too deep for you and me to see!" Mr. Raymond stopped his van in front of the kids, and stepped out onto the other side of the street. He was tall, and he had thick ear- length dark grayish-blue hair, with the exception of a long thin braid in the back. He wore small rectangular glasses and a white scientist's coat. "Huh. I wonder where my class has gone."
The kids appeared from behind the van. "We're over here!"
"Oh, there you are!" Mr. Raymond exclaimed. "Climb aboard, explorers! Oooh, knowledge exploring is oh so lyrical when you think thoughts that are empirical!"
After all the students had piled into the van, Niro followed behind. Mr. Raymond stopped him. "Well, hello! Who is this?"
"I'm Niro," Niro replied.
Mr. Raymond smiled at his new student. "Welcome aboard, explorer!"
Niro smiled and sat down in the van. Marion leaned toward Mr. Raymond. "Just so you know," he whispered, "He's got a crippled arm. I find if he's have problems with dexterity, let him take a break. Ten, fifteen minutes..."
"Dad, it's time for you to go now!" Niro said.
"Don't worry," Mr. Raymond said, winking, "We're gonna' stay together as a group." He shut the van door and began to drive. "Okay, optical orbits upfront. And remember, we keep out supraesophogeal ganglion to ourselves. That means you, Jimmy..."
"Bye Niro!" Marion called.
"Bye dad!" Niro replied.
"Bye, son!" Marion yelled again, and added quietly, "Be safe..."
Bob, Ted, and Phil appeared behind him. "Hey, you're doin' pretty well for a first-timer," Bob commented.
"Well, you can't hold onto 'em forever, can you?" Marion replied.
"Yeah, I had trouble with my oldest one out of the drop-off," Phil added.
"They just gotta' grow up someda-the drop-off!?" Marion exclaimed, "They're going to the drop off!? What are you, insane!?" The couldn't go to the drop- off! That was where his and Carol's old house had been... that was where she'd been killed... that was where he'd vowed to always protect his only son! In a mad panic, Marion turned and ran off after the van.
"Hey, Marty, calm down!" Bob said.
"Don't tell me to be calm, pony boy!" Marion yelled back before he disappeared in the distance.
Bob cocked an eyebrow. "'Pony boy?'"
Phil glanced at him. "You know, for a comedian, he really isn't that funny."
Ted nodded. "Pity."