S2 Chapter 49 - Swimming With The Fishies

Author's Note ~ Reminder that for this arc, any FULL sentences done in fully slanted/italicized text will be dialogue spoken by either Ray Ramirez, Zesti Champion, Sam Penningberg, or Ronnie Everst spoken in the present day. If the dialogue doesn't mention who is saying the line, then you can assume it was whoever said the last fully italicized dialogue. 

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"That night was the night that truly started 'The Era of The Beast'." Ray admits.

It doesn't take long for Penningberg to interject, "The Era of The Beast? Since when was that ever a thing?"

"Oh it was a thing, people called it that all the time," Ray remarks.

"I don't think I've heard a single person but you call it that," Zesti admits.

"Well you wouldn't know them they're too unknown for you to hear about," Ray sweats.

"Uh huh," Zesti rolls her eyes.

"So uh, can you continue the story? I promised my mom I was gonna be home soon," Ronnie offers.

"Okay okay, so it was just two days after that night when I was sent out on my first job," Ray details.

The sun shines down on a surprisingly chilly September day as Ray Ramirez chows down on a large helping of a burger.

"I think I lost my appetite," Casey says as he pushes his deconstructed burger away from him while Ray continues to devour his burger.

"Maybe it's because you got that deconstructed shit. That's the price you pay for being a fresa," Ray retorts.

"Do you really have to talk about the meal you had beforehand?" Sam Penningberg questions.

"Yes and you should know why!" Ray adds.

"No I think it's because I saw your jaw unhinge in a way no jaw should," Casey answers as he pokes his patty with his fork, "Is your grandpa doing better?"

"Y-yeah, they're saying he should be all ready to go home tomorrow," Ray remarks, "He got a pacemaker now so the doc says he shouldn't be falling over like that again,"

"I see," Casey remarks before looking down the street, "Oh hey, looks like your coworker finally showed up."

"Coworker?" Ray questions.

Ray turns to see a figure approaching them. They have a slim figure, green eyes, long messy brown hair, white skin, black painted nails, a black choker, and black wristbands. The outfit they have on is an oversized grunge t-shirt that's over a long-sleeved red-black striped t-shirt, black denim pants with a gold chain in one of the pockets, and black boots.

"You never told me about having a partner," Ray says before looking at his coworker, "And who's this goth chick?"

"Goth chick?" Casey questions before laughing.

Ray is confused as his new coworker introduces themself by grabbing onto their shirt.

"Hey you Northern prick, I'm not Goth I'm Emo!" The Goth- sorry I mean Emo teen vents, "And I'm not a chick, I'm a dude!"

"Considering that's when we first met Pennies!"

THE MIRACLE CLINIC: THE TALE OF THE BEAST

"Mister Penningberg, you were goth?!" Ronnie asks, surprised.

"Y-look, I thought we weren't going to bring up my 'phase' Ray," Sam Penningberg remarks.

"And miss out on talking about your long locks? Please!" Ray laughs.

The very emo looking teenaged Sam Penningberg glares at Ray while sipping on a confetti cupcake sprinkle surprise shake with a cherry on top.

"Ray, this is Sam Penningberg. Sam, this is Ray Ramirez," Casey Burns introduces the two as they sit at the outdoor table of a restaurant, "Now that we all got that out of the way let's-"

A loud sipping noise erupts from Sam's straw as he reaches the end of his shake. He sets it down before pointing at Ray.

"You wanna tell me how this good-for-nothing from the North Side got jumbled up in this? I thought you said only the strong were able to work with you!" Sam Penningberg demands.

"Oh god did I really talk like that?" Sam wonders aloud.

"Yeah," Ray & Zesti both answer.

"Bosses orders, if you don't like it you can always quit," Casey offers, "But those MCR tickets aren't going to pay themselves y'know."

Sam stops for a minute before he relaxes a bit in his chair.

"I didn't say I was going to quit, I just wanted to know why he was here."

"You took the job for some concert tickets?" Ronnie asks.

"Not everyone needs a deep reason to get a job, sometimes you get one in order to afford luxuries," Sam Penningberg remarks.

"Well, from what Mister Jenksin told me he's good at fighting in a different way from you," Casey says before explaining to Ray, "This is Sam Penningberg. He's someone the boss managed to recruit over from The East Side. So with introductions out of the way let's-"

"Ah, so he's from The East Side," Ray smirks, "Now it makes sense why he's had a stick up his ass."

Infuriated, Sam leans forward and glares at Ray, "I knew someone like you deserved the ol' traditional Eastern Greeting."

Angry, Ray too leans forward and glares at Sam, "What's that? Is it where you fall to the ground and beg for mercy?"

"Nah, it's where I beat you to a pulp-"

"ENOUGH!" Casey yells.

Sam & Ray stop their bickering as they look toward Casey.

"I swear to god you fuckers are going to give me a headache," Casey groans, "Now are you toddlers done throwing a tantrum? You are? Good."

Casey reaches into his jacket's breast pocket to pull out his chopsticks before using them to take out two manilla folders hidden on the inside of his coat. One for Sam, the other for Ray.

"The first target we're going after owes over half a mill' to Mister Jenksin," Casey explains, "He's the coach of a swimming team over at a school here in the central district, so all we need to do is find him and 'remind' him to pay back what isn't his."

"A swim coach? Why did he take out a loan for half a million? Did he need to build a pool or something?" Sam questions as he examines the contents of the manilla folder.

"Well he isn't exactly someone with a 'squeaky clean' record, now is he Ramirez?" Casey questions with a coy smirk as he looks toward Ray Ramirez.

Ray's eyes are filled with shock as he looks at the contents of the manilla folder that reveal the identity and information of their current target is… Frankfurt Schulz.

"Surprised?" Casey asks the fellow teen.

"¿Dónde está ese pinche pendejo?" Ray demands as he crushes the papers into a tiny ball.

"If you read that you would've found the answer," Casey responds before adding a brief, "dumbass."

"Oh."

Ray carefully unfolds the wad of paper and looks at the crinkled sheet to see on it is a note mentioning that he coaches his swim team every Thursday after school. 

"Well I don't know if you've seen a calendar lately but it's Thursday," Casey begins, "So what do you guys say, wanna crash a swim meet?"

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The Kennedy Private Academy is a large private school built in the central district of the city and is home to well-off or well-gifted students ranging from Kindergarten all the way to 12th grade. However as Casey, Ray, & Sam peep into the school from the open gate they realize there's a problem here.

Everyone in the school is wearing school uniforms.

"Why are there so many people still here? Isn't school out for the day?" Sam asks.

"In this school practically everyone is in a club," Casey groans, "But we can't exactly go in with how we're dressed. From what I've been told, there's a student here who could be quite the problem for us if we cross paths."

"So we gotta go undercover, huh?" Ray questions, "How much do the uniforms cost?"

"$2,000," Casey answers as he reads the student handbook.

"$2.000?!" Sam and Ray both yell in shock.

The two glare at each other for a moment before Casey continues.

"That money will be pocket change for you soon enough, but I think there's another way for us to get in without raising suspicion," Casey smirks as his eyes spot a nearby building.

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Entering the premises of the school courtyard, the students all look to see three teens their age entering the courtyard. But not just any teens. Teens wearing the red caps and aprons one could find at the nearby "Papa Patriarch's Pippin' Hot Pizza", with them holding several pizza boxes to boot.

"Woah! Who's club is that for?!" A student shouts as they all begin to surround the three teens in hope of getting a slice.

"Is it pepperoni? Sauasage?!"

"Can I please get a bite!"

The three teens who are Ray, Sam, and Casey in disguise, try to brush off the hungry students.

"Sorry but we've been instructed to take this to the pool," Casey says, "You know where we can find it?"

"Y-yes! It's down the main hall then go into Hallway B, then Hallway G, and then it'll be across the glass podiums," a student instructs.

"I-I see, thanks," Ray whispers as he and his two partners in disguise enter the school.

With the students not following them inside, the three have time to breathe.

"I thought they weren't ever going to leave us alone!" Sam exhales.

"Just be thankful they didn't open the boxes to see they were empty," Casey says, "You ready to finally face your first 'client'?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Ray confirms.

"I've been itching for a fight for a while now," Sam Penningberg grins.

"Well good, because I have to take care of a few other things," Casey says as he turns around and walks off, "I'll make sure you two don't cross paths with that problem student so try and make sure that you aren't noticed by Frankfurt until he's by himself."

As Casey leaves, Ray and Sam continue down the hallway as they glare at one another.

"Why's your hair so long?" Ray asks.

"I don't know, why's your hair so short?" Sam rebuttals.

"I didn't mean to be rude, I was just being curious, pendejo."

"O-oh, well I don't know. I guess to make a statement? Everyone wants you to be a certain way or dress a way that fits in the norm, but being able to just deny that is nice in a way."

"I see."

"You thinking of growing your hair out?"

"What? No! That sounds like such a hassle."

"True, I've given up on making it look nice to be honest."

The two get closer to the pool.

"What did that last word mean by the way? I don't speak Spanish."

"Oh 'pendejo' it means….," Ray says while thinking of a way to not bring the conversation back into arguing.

"Is it a swear word?"

"What? No, no. It- uh… it means 'friend'."

"I see, thanks for letting me know 'pendejo'," Sam says only to have his shirt grabbed by Ray.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" Ray says as he readies an attack.

"I KNEW IT WAS A SWEAR WORD!" Sam shouts back as he readies a fist.

"WAY TO GO DETECTIVE, YOU FIGURED IT OUT!" Ray yells as he swings his fist toward Sam.

Sam ducts out of the way causing Ray to punch the door behind him, having it swing open. The two stumble into the room as they begin to properly fight.

"Say, I bet if I kicked your ass here and now, they'd probably consider a Northern scum like you a bad fit for the gig," Sam says as he gets in a fighting stance Ray is unfamiliar with.

"Oh yeah? And how do you plan on knocking me out?I've seen twigs with more muscle than you," Ray rages as he rolls up his sleeves, "If it wasn't for those luscious locks distracting everybody it'd be obvious how weak you are!"

"WHAT IS WITH YOU AND MY HAIR?!"

"WHAT IS WITH YOU AND LOOKING EXACTLY LIKE THAT TWIG STUCK UP YOUR ASS?!"

"THAT'S IT, TAKE THI-"

Ahem.

Ray and Sam both stop fighting as they take a look around their surroundings to see that the area they just stumbled into is….the pool room. 

Y'know, the room where Frankfurt Schulz, their target is in.

The same target they were told not to be spotted by until he was all alone.

"R-Ray?" Frankfurt says shocked as he stands on the other side of the pool, "What are you doing here?!"

Ray and Sam look around, throughout the whole room are several skinny white highschoolers in speedos and/or swim trunks who have all stopped doing whatever they were doing and just staring at the two newcomers.

"Mister Jenksin told us to-" Ray begins to say before Sam swoops in and covers his mouth.

"No you idiot! You can't tell him we're here to collect all that money he owes Jenksin!" Sam yells before turning to Frankfurt and saying just as loudly, "We're working at the pizza place and we're told to bring you guys pizzas for being such good customers!"

"You idiot, those pizza boxes are empty, you think they're gonna fall for that?" Ray retorts, also very loudly.

"LET'S SEE YOU COME UP WITH A BETTER LIE!"

"OKAY FINE I WILL!" Ray yells before looking at Frankfurt, "I have to do a presentation on waterboarding and figured you'd be a great help!"

Before Sam can talk about how awful Ray's lie was, Frankfurt lets out a resounding laugh that reverberates throughout the room. 

"So that old geezer is getting back into the game after all these years," Frankfurt laughs as he runs his hand through his hair, "And he's got my dog and his chew toy to do his dirty work! Well, I'd be!"

"Ch-chew toy?!" Sam repeats in disgust.

Frankfurt grabs the whistle tied around his neck and blows it. As soon as he does, all of the club members save for one who's resting by the bleachers begin to approach and surround Sam & Ray.

"What's all this?" Ray asks.

"What, you kids thought you were the only ones who could do some dirty work?" Frankfurt laughs, "Y'see, as the coach of the Boys Swim & Dive team here, I've managed to make a 'gang' for myself too. One that's untouchable. Isn't that right boys?!"

"Yeah, you tell 'im!" One of the swimmers says.

"You better get ready to be swimming with the fishies!" Another swimmer shouts.

"We're The Boys Swim & Dive Team! Get in the water with us and we'll swim while you DIE!" Yet another swimmer roars.

Hearing that last part, Ray & Sam before burst out into laughter.

"H-hey! Don't make fun of us!" One of the members of the Boys Swim & Dive Team yells.

"Sorry, I just-," Sam laughs, "I can't take any of you seriously!"

"I've seen toddlers with more menace than you lot!" Ray cackles.

As Ray & Sam continue to laugh at the very – and I do mean very – unintimidating Boys Swim & Dive Team, the pasty white members get more and more enraged. This causes Sam & Ray to laugh even harder which just feeds into a vicious cycle of laughter and rage.

"I give you one fucking task," a voice echoes out into the room.

Everyone stops to see that the person who spoke is a figure sitting at the very top of the bleachers, in his hand is a piece of freshly baked sourdough bread. It doesn't take long for everyone in the room to recognize the figure.

"I-it's Casey Burns!" One of the club members shouts.

Casey, who was getting ready to enjoy some more sourdough bread, sighs as he sees just how badly the two newbies fucked up.

"I swear to god you two have got to be the most dumbest mother fuckers on this god forsaken planet because holy shit how did you mess up such basic instructions so badly?" Casey exhales confidently, "Well, I guess now's a good time as ever to see just how strong you two really are."

With that said, Sam & Ray look to each other as they both get into a fighting stance.

"Truce?" Ray offers as he lifts his fists up.

"Truce," Sam takes as he gets in an unusual stance.

As the fight is about to properly begin, Ray points toward Frankfurt.

"Don't worry, once I'm done with your 'boys', you're next!" Ray promises.

See You Next Chapter!~