Author's Note ~ Hey so, I know it has been a very long time since the last chapter release and I'm very sorry for that. Issues with my job, a bunch of classwork at the end of the semester followed by exams, some personal stuff, and some extra class assignments I had to do after the semester ended on top of a bunch of other stuff prevented me from fully returning to this series. Though despite that I have still been working on this series in the background, and hopefully the fruits of that labor can become apparent soon. I don't want to promise anything just yet as there's some things I'd like to get all situated but trust me when I say there's a lot going on in the background. Now since it's been a while here's your reminder that 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. With all that said hope you enjoy season 2's 50th chapter!
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Inside the Kennedy Private Academy's pool room, almost all of the Boys Swim & Dive members have surrounded the teenaged Ray Ramirez & Sam Penningberg. Overlooking them on the bleachers is Casey Burns and a sleeping member of the Swim & Dive Team.
"Truce?" Ray offers as he lifts his fists up.
"Truce," Sam takes as he gets in an unusual fighting 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.
"GET THEM!" Frankfurt yells.
The swimmers all begin to rush toward the duo, however as they do, some begin to slip and fall due to the wet floor. As one member slides toward Ray, Ray responds by pulling his leg behind him and then slamming it into the swimmer's face.
Two more skinny white swimmers slip-n-slide on over to Ray, which allows him for an easy opportunity to jump into the air and slam both of his elbows down into their stomachs. Before they even have a chance to let out a painful gasp, the beastman uses the two as shields for some oncoming attacks done by the members of the Swim & Dive Team which didn't slip.
As Casey watches Ray continue to fight, his eyes take note of the 'coworker' he didn't take seriously up until now. His strength is nothing to sneeze at, but what sets him apart from the others is his unpredictability.
There wasn't any thought behind his attacks. Every punch, kick, strike, and bite were all decided upon on a whim. It didn't matter if there were five other opponents in his way, if he felt like attacking someone, he'd make sure to do just that. And worst of all?
When he did get hit, when someone did finally land a punch on him. He'd just smile and laugh as this primal urge for violence raging inside him showed no signs of slowing down.
And yet, Ray Ramirez wasn't the only fighter that caught Casey by surprise.
"Go after the weaker link!" One of the club members shouts as they rush toward Sam Penningberg.
"Weaker link?" Sam questions.
As the club member's hand reaches out toward Sam, the long haired teen quickly steps closer to the foe. Grabbing onto his foe's collarbone with one hand and his tricep with the other, Sam then proceeds to bring his left leg forward before snapping it back down on his opponent's leg and throwing the foe down onto the ground.
"You're just saying that because I haven't given you a proper East Side Style Greeting!"
When another foe tries to grab at Sam from behind, he wraps his arm around them and throws them forward. The moves may look simple but that's because he doesn't need to do anything fancy. Those fancy moves require energy and stamina, which wouldn't be a problem if this was a one-on-one fight, but when severely outnumbered you need all the energy and stamina one can get.
Making sure he keeps his feet grounded on the dry parts to the wet pool room floor, only using throws that follow his opponent's momentum, and avoiding being too surrounded – he isn't attacking based on natural instincts or impulses, he's attacking based on precise calculations.
"Still," Casey laments as he rips a piece of the sourdough bread off to eat, "It's a shame the situation doesn't allow me to see his real skills."
Sam throws a swim member over toward Ray who he proceeds to slam his fist into. Ray punches an opponent so hard they stumble backward toward Sam, which allows Sam to throw them into the pool atop another Swim & Dive member.
"Where'd you learn how to fight so brutally?" Penningberg asks as he tosses a very frail looking swim member over toward Ray.
"Who cares, how are you doing all those throws?" Ray questions as he grabs onto the very frail looking swim member and punts him over toward the bleachers.
The bleachers shake as the member loudly crashes into them, though as Ray looks over to his accomplishment, another swim & dive member tries to rush up on him.
"Oh no you don't!" Sam yells as he manages to sweep his legs out from under him, causing him to land hard on the ground.
As Sam goes to knock out the opponent, another figure goes to slam a pool noodle on his back.
"I don't think so!" Ray announces as his fist finds its way onto the attacker's neck.
As more and more swim & dive members come to face the two, more and more get added to the piles of unconscious clubmates. Frankfurt watches on in disbelief. Those two were just at each other's necks not even a few minutes ago, and now they're working together better than most trained fighters would. But their teamwork isn't entirely out of camaraderie. They're violently shoving each other out of the way of attacks, trying to compete on who gets the final decisive hit in against an opponent, and even in some instances using the other as a weapon or wall to slam their opponents into.
This is no longer a fight between two outsiders against a large group that outnumbers them. It's a competition to see who can get the highest score.
And with the final member that tried to fight them knocked out, Sam & Ray's attention turns to Frankfurt.
"Thanks for the meal Coach," Sam begins.
"But I think it's time we move onto the dessert!" Ray finishes.
Hearing that Frankfurt can't help but let out a loud laugh.
"Oh please, that was just the appetizer," Frankfurt chuckles, "You want the main course? Then go ahead and face him!"
"Him?"
Ray & Sam look around to see that on the metal bleachers rests one final member of the Boys Swim & Dive Team. A copy of Volume 7 'The Crap-Geezer' covers their face from the harsh light as they try to rest.
Casey looks curiously at the member as he begins to raise himself up off the bleacher. He lightly sets the book down as he makes his way forward. The figure pulls off an all-black swimming cap revealing a messy set of light brown messy hair. His white hands go to unclip his fancy looking black earrings before tugging off his black swim goggles revealing a pair of tired amber eyes.
"Allow me to introduce you to the Ace of The Boys Swim & Dive Team," Frankfurt details in glee, "Parker Duggar!"
The teenaged Parker Duggar has some drool falling down from his mouth onto his all black rash guard swim shirt. His neon orange swim trunks seem to shine a bit too brightly under the pool room's heavy lights.
"So Coach, these boys giving you trouble?" Parker comments, "I might be able to take care of them but you better go easy on our next swim meet."
"Just shut up and beat them!" Frankfurt scolds.
"All right, all right," Parker yawns before he glances over to his two opponents, "So who's up first? Or would you like to go all at once? I'm not picky."
Sam goes to step forward but Ray raises his arm up.
"This one's all mine," Ray declares.
"Well I'd be damned," Parker remarks as he leans forward to look at Ray, "We got the same colored eyes. You wouldn't happen to be my uglier evil twin?"
THE MIRACLE CLINIC: THE TALE OF THE BEAST
The weekend prior, Parker Duggar stands surrounded by several other Boys Swim & Dive members as they begin to prepare for a 50 meter freestyle race across the pool. Watching eagerly is a young student at the academy who is standing next to a not-as-eager teenaged lifeguard.
"I can't believe we're gonna be seeing Parker swim!" the 13 year old kid remarks in excitement.
The teen is wearing an all black swim shirt & swim pants, has brown eyes, short black hair, and is of Chinese descent.
"Say uh-," the lifeguard begins to say.
"Li-Wei," the teen answers.
"Li-Wei. I think you'll be bored watching this race, I know I sure am."
As all of the swimmers get in position, Parker spots the lifeguard and winks at her. She grimaces at the sight.
"What? How would I be bored, isn't that dude the ace of our team?"
"That's the thing, calling him the team's 'ace' is underselling him," The lifeguard explains.
The coach, Frankfurt, raises up the starting pistol toward the roof before firing the blank out, starting the race. And before the shot even has a chance to reverberate around the room, Parker lunges into the water. His body shooting forward at a speed parallel to nobody else on the team. Before anyone else can get to the halfway mark, Parker has finished the race.
"He's a god damn cheat code," the lifeguard finishes.
As Parker lifts himself out of the pool, he goes to chat to the lifeguard but she quickly tosses a beach towel into his face so he can dry off.
"Oh come on, can't you be nice to me?" Parker teases.
"Maybe when you get that ego of yours in check," the lifeguard teases.
Before Parker can retort back, Li-Wei heads over to him to gush, "That speed was incredible! When I try swimming it's like I shoot forward like an arrow, but the way you exploded forward was like a-"
"Firecracker?" Parker finishes Li-Wei's sentence, "Yeah, all the others here may be good and all, but I'm in a whole different ball park in all of my skills."
"All?" the lifeguard questions, "Don't you rememb-"
"B-Besides that one exception, I'm sure there's nobody around my age who can give me any trouble!"
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Back in the fight, Parker keeps his promise as he immediately fires off his fists into Ray. Every time he tries to get away or turn the fight in his favor, Parker immediately blocks the attempt with his speed. Sometimes even stopping Ray from attacking before Ray even can figure out how he was going to counter.
What makes it worse is that the wet floor the two are fighting on has only gotten wetter after Ray tossed a few people into the pool. Since Ray's closer to the pool than Parker is, the safe ground he can move around on is much less than what Parker has to work with.
"You really thought you were hot shit after beating up those little fishies, huh?" Parker smirks as he crashes his knee into Ray's stomach, "I don't get why you're here, but if I were you I'd give up."
With the force of the blow and the wet surface not allowing him to move, Ray ends up falling into the pool, the huge splash that comes from him falling rises up before falling down behind the fiery Parker.
"So, who's next?" Parker asks.
"Atta boy Parker! Now get that long haired freak!" Frankfurt celebrates.
"Damn it! If you were gonna lose then why did you act so eager-" Sam begins to ask before being cut off by Casey.
"Who said the fight's over?" Casey questions as he finishes the last of his sourdough bread.
Parker tries to move forward only to stand still? But how? He's trying his hardest to move forward but there's an insurmountable weight around his ankle.
"Oi," a voice growls from behind him.
Parker looks to see Ray rising up from the pool, his hand around Parker's ankle.
"You wanna go for a swim?" Ray taunts before swinging Parker by the ankle into the pool, "THE WATER'S WARM!"
As Parker falls submerged in the water, he sees Ray's fist going toward his face. He tries to move out of the way but the fist lands perfectly. Flabbergasted, Parker tries to break through to above water but Ray pushes him down onto the floor. As Parker struggles to move he then starts to feel Ray's hands tightly wrap around his neck.
While Parker begins to kick and scream under the water, he begins to realize how badly he fucked up. For starters, water is much more dense than air, causing any movement in water to be much more sluggish and exhausting than it would be on land. Ray at least is still partially above water while Parker is fully underneath, so he has the advantage in speed currently. However, if that was the only issue here Parker would still have been able to escape from Ray's clutches.
The real issue he's facing is that for the first time in a while, he's exhausted. He'd always end up finishing any race and any fight quickly due to his explosive nature, which means he never once had to worry about his stamina.
Until now that is.
Still defiant of losing, Parker screams out one final battle cry as his arms reach for something nearby.
"Sorry I don't speak blub blub blub," Ray laughs as he continues to choke Parker underwater.
Though that's when Ray feels himself begin to be choked out as Parker used the last of his speed to grab onto the nearby pool lane line, and wrap it around Ray's neck tightly.
Parker smiles to himself as he sees Ray struggle to breathe. Once his grip loosens he can finally get above water and catch his-
He's not loosening his grip?! Parker looks to see the person above him morphing into a smiling primal beast, one who's given up any notion of civility as only one thought is left on his mind.
"Kill or be killed."
After choking each other out for a long while, Parker's grip on the rope loosens before breaking entirely as his consciousness comes to one realization before fading. All this time he was nothing more than a big fish in a tiny pond. One that never once had to face off against a true predator.
With his unconscious body floating to the surface of the pool, Ray lets go of Parker's neck.
"Have a nice float down the river styx, 'kay?" Ray remarks as he climbs out of the pool, "And as for you."
Frankfurt's face has morphed into one of shock as standing before him is a sight he thought he'd never see. Just three teens having not only taken out all of his swim & dive members, but their ace too. As Frankfurt gets up and tries to run away, Sam gives chase.
"I don't think so!-" Sam tries to shout before Frankfurt slips on the wet floor and falls, "Well that was easy."
As Frankfurt tries to recover, he feels three shadows start to loom over him.
"So now what?" Ray questions.
"Don't worry, I'll handle this," Casey Burns remarks as he crouches down.
Frankfurt, infuriated at the sight, begins to shout, "Th-this isn't over! I'll never pay you back!"
"Pffft."
Frankfurt's body goes from defiant to stunned as he sees Casey Burns begin to break out into a near hysterical laughter. Sam & Ray are equally as stunned before Casey violently lifts Frankfurt's head up by his hair.
"Do you seriously not understand how fucked you are right now?" Casey questions as his once jovial nature turns into a venomous onslaught of words, "You tried to fuck over people like Ray here by forcing them into loans you knew they could never pay back, and you did so using Mister Jenksin's money."
Corrumpo uses his spare hand to take off his sunglasses and stare right into Frankfurt's eyes- no, his very soul.
"And that's not even getting into what you've been doing here, training this club to be your own personal little gang all the while using their acts of violence as extortion toward their parents, asking them for large sums of money in exchange for not going public with their 'precious baby boys' criminal acts."
"How do you know all tha-" Frankfurt tries to ask only for Casey to let go of his head.
"Oh we know plenty about you Schulz," Casey utters, "If you keep this up, keep biting the hand that fed you, then we'll just have to get rid of all those disgusting fangs of yours. You got all that?"
Frankfurt fearfully nods in response. Casey stands up, puts his sunglasses back on, and turns to face his companions.
"You better have 1 million by the end of this month. It'll be a shame to have to start wearing dentures when you're oh so young. The again, dentures won't be the least of your worries if you don't pay us back," Casey remarks as he walks away, "Oh, and don't even think about trying to get money from all those people you loaned to, if we catch you doing that then we might just have to double your monthly payments."
"H-how could you-" Frankfurt tries to ask.
"What, did you think you guys were the only bad guys out there?" Casey laughs as a crooked grin creeps onto his face, "I'm a villain too y'know."
Casey flicks Mister Jenksin's business card behind him that falls on top of the sniveling Frankfurt Schulz.
"You'll know where to find us and if you don't, we'll know where to find you," Casey waves goodbye, "After all, birds of a feather tend to flock together."
While Sam starts to follow Casey, Ray stands there looking down on the shivering pile of sweat he calls Frankfurt.
"I couldn't exactly figure out why but in that moment, a pit formed in my stomach," Ray remarks, "Despite how much fun I got out of defeating all those opponents, when I looked down at Mister Schulz….I felt….shame."
Frankfurt's shaky eyes lock with Ray's, the two not saying anything to each other for a moment.
"See ya around, wey," Ray Ramirez laments as he walks away, joining his 'coworkers' and exiting out of the pool room.
"And with that, the nightmare that had been plaguing my life vanished, and I couldn't have felt more conflicted."
As Frankfurt lays there, defeated, he begins to try and think of what to do as he hears the door to the pool room open once more.
"But that day would also mark a new beginning."
"Yo boys we got you some- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?!"
Frankfurt looks to see two people having entered the pool room, the lifeguard who's still in her school uniform and the young student obsessed with their club Li-Wei Zhang. The lifeguard looks around at all of the unconscious boys swim & dive members before realizing something.
"Those brats were coming away from here, it's gotta be them!" The lifeguard realizes before running toward the door, "You stay here I'll show them a thing or two you'll see!"
As Li-Wei is left by himself he looks around at all of the carnage before spotting a beaten Parker floating in the pool. He rushes over to the poolside.
"Who did all this to you?" Li-Wei asks the now conscious Parker Duggar.
"Me? Hate to admit it but it was just one man," Parker sighs, "No that's not the right thing to describe it, he was-"
"A beast," Li-Wei remarks as he starts to faint due to the shock, "A beastman."
"It would mark the day where the whole city would be introduced to The Beastman."
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As Ray, Sam, & Casey walk away from the private academy, their backs against the setting sun, they can't help but snicker to one another.
"By the time we exited the school, I was able to push that feeling to the side and just enjoy the sense of relief that the fresh autumn breeze brought."
"I didn't think I'd see something more blinding than the sun," Ray laughs, "But those swimmers sure showed me wrong."
"I don't think I ever want to go near a pool again after this," Sam laughs as he twirls his fingers through the end of his long hair, "Say, you aren't so bad for some Northern Scum."
"You ain't too bad yourself," Ray agrees.
"You two did good, I'm sure Robert will be impressed with the end results," Casey states as he pockets the chopsticks into his jacket's breast pocket.
As the three continue down the street, they all were prepared for whatever the future held for them next-
"HEY YOU FUCKERS!!"
Or maybe not.
"Though my thoughts quickly turned to whoever it was that was coming our way."
The trio look back to see a figure running toward them. They're a girl around their age wearing a short-sleeved white button-up, navy blue skirt, and beige sneakers. She has white skin, green eyes, long dirty blonde hair in a ponytail, and a pair of light blue glasses she's holding in her hand.
"YOU THINK YOU COULD ATTACK SOME POOR DEFENSELESS SWIMMERS AND GET AWAY WITH IT!?" The girl screams.
"Uh, they were the ones who threw the first punch-" Sam tries to correct but is gently interrupted by the girl's fist slamming into his jaw.
"Well think again!" The girl shouts as she delivers several more jabs into Sam.
As Ray & Casey watch, Casey's face lightens in recognition.
"Ah, I didn't think we'd be meeting again so soon," Casey says as he interrupts the girl's swings by handing her his business card, "It's nice to see you, Zesti Champion."
"That was our first meeting."
Zesti Champion's body slowly fades from one of anger to one of confusion.
"How do you know my name?" Zesti asks before recognition fills her face, "Aren't you the one who asked me for that sourdough bread- wait was that just a way to keep me busy and not get to the pool room!? YOU JERK I'M GONNA!-"
As Zesti continues to throw punch after punch at Sam, Casey takes the time to introduce her to Ray, "Ray, I'd like you to meet that troublesome student I warned you about before. The Guardian Angel of The Academy, Zesti Champion."
As Zesti finally gets tired of having her fists find their ways into Sam's face, she takes a look over at Ray, the two locking eyes.
"Who're you?" Zesti asks.
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Inside Robert Jenksin's office at the preschool, Zesti is sitting in a chair look at the old man and his three coworkers. Her body has gone from being full of rage to one of happiness.
"Oh so that's why you were there at the school! Man that asshole had it coming," Zesti laughs before looking at Ray, "And hey, anyone that can put that fucker Parker in his place is a friend in my book. We already got something in common too by kicking that bitch's ass!"
"You were pretty vulgar back in the day," Penningberg reminisces.
"I was a teen! Besides, it's nothing compared to all I hear from the high schoolers nowadays," Zesti groans, "Ronnie, do you kids know we can hear you talking in the halls, right?"
"I think everyone does, I just think they don't care," Ronnie sighs.
"Miss Champion, what is it that made you decide to meet me?" Robert Jenksin asks.
"Simple," Zesti remarks, "Lemme join in on whatever it is you guys got going on."
"Oh? And why should I?"
"Well I'm at least on par with those two when it comes to fighting, and you'll need someone with a wide skillset," Zesti says, "That's where I come in. As someone who's a member of 123 and a half clubs, I'm sure I'll be of much use anywhere you throw me."
"A HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE?!" Ronnie remarks shocked.
"I wasn't lying when I said I got through most of my grades by being in a lot of clubs," Zesti says, "And don't forget the half."
Robert takes a moment to consider it before looking at Casey, Sam, & Ray. Casey shrugs, Sam seems a bit pissed from all the punches, and Ray seems eager to let her join.
"Welcome aboard, I'll get the contract ready for you to sign soon," Robert Jenksin remarks, "Just don't come crying back to me if you bit off more than you can chew."
"You won't need to worry about that!" Zesti smirks.
Despite the bravado Zesti is giving off, Ray can still feel a sense of sadness coming from her that day.
"That's how we began," Ray remarks.
"Woo! C'mon let's celebrate!" Zesti says as she looks toward the three 'coworkers'.
"Sure, I got some time to kill," Casey remarks.
"Only if you're paying," Sam exhales.
"I will, I will," Zesti accepts, "You coming too Grandpa Jenksin?"
"I still have some work to attend to," Mister Jenksin admits, "And I'm not your grandpa, that right only belongs to one lucky little girl."
"Okay fine."
As the group all continues chatting, Ray looks at the clock and begins to make his way out of the office. However before he fully can, he feels two hands be placed on his shoulders.
"Where you think you're going RayRay?" Zesti asks.
"Uh- I gotta get stuff ready for tomorrow," Ray explains.
"You're invited too y'know."
"Yeah, besides if you head out now next time we see each other I might really give you a proper East Side Style Greeting!" Sam remarks.
"You wish," Ray remarks before agreeing to join the four.
"At the time, we were just kids with no real idea as to what the real world was like, just doing things out of the want to enjoy the youth we had."
As his new recruits finally exit his office, Robert Jenksin sighs. Now that he's by himself the old man reaches toward an old landline phone, spins the number wheel, and calls someone.
"None of us would have been able to guess at the time…"
The phone rings for a while before the other line finally answers.
"No need to be so formal with me boy," Robert Jenksin smirks, "I was wondering if you wanted to catch some dinner again soon. I know you're a very busy man now but I wanted to hear that business plan you pitched to me before. I think I might have the kennel capable enough to put it into fruition."
"The tangled web we managed to find ourselves walking into."
As Robert continues to chat with the caller, he takes one more look at the two miniatures on his desk.
One of a man dropping the sun.
And another of a man lifting up the moon, and in doing so being placed in its shadow.
See You Next Chapter!~