Fishy's Adventures

Chapter Thirty - What Has To Be Done

„«Tonight, right in front of the IIIrd LO, just you and me. F.» What kind of fool does he think I am?" - Goldy said, tossing the piece of paper he had just read aloud into the trash can.
„Fighting an honorable duel is the best way to end up with a sword through your neck." - Vantami scoffed, busy training his aim in a computer simulator.
Goldy got off his chair, straightened his back and went to the chest, located in the corner of his room. It contained valuable items, „borrowed" from Fishy's study during the time of his absence. As he was leaning to open it, Goldy heard a loud, blunt noise of something hitting the window. Luckily it didn't break. He quickly went outside only to discover a small package. A bomb from Fishy? Quite likely. Ever since the headmaster allied himself with that explosion-obsessed witch.. Inspecting the package, Goldy saw an unusual „wheelchair" mark in one of the corners.
„Mr Fishy Sr?" - Goldy thought, as he took the risk and opened the package. Inside, under many layers of bubble foil, he discovered a revolver of exquisite design: pearl grips, chrome-plated barrel, apparently an original model from 1946, as the documents laying next to it stated. Goldy also found a letter written in an archaic-looking, yet calligraphic-like handwriting:

„Young boy,
You thought this will be the last you hear of me, but I like to surprise people. Ever since I have so much money left over after subtracting all the „house-moving" costs, I have decided to gift you this humble package. You may be wondering why you are being gifted with this weapon. The reason is simple: I was sure you and my dear brother would fall out with each other. Two ambitious spirits cannot exist among each other for too long. So now, my final request, for you to return the favor, I ask you to beat Ian in combat, be it fair or unfair, and point this revolver at the subdued man's head, right between the eyes. So that he finally sees clear and immediate death right in front of him for the first time in his long life. A valuable lesson he never had a chance to learn. The decision whether to pull the trigger or not is yours to make. I have ceased to care about this husk of a man, whom I once loved as a brother. And handle the gun responsibly, son, as with legal paperwork that I had remembered to provide, it's worth a small fortune. Stay safe and happy. And come visit me in Colombia one day to tell me how it went!
¡Para siempre!
Gregory Fishy"

Goldy stopped for a while, astonished both by the generosity of the gift and the cold vengeance of its gifter. He gathered all the package's contents and took them home, his heart beating like crazy.
„Vantami, come take a quick look at what I have here..."

Meanwhile, at the IIIrd LO, the moods were cheerful, as it was the first day of the Very Long Weekend (lasting from Saturday to the next week's Sunday, to be precise). There were only two people at school, Fishy and Counter, who happily planned out the entire confrontation, preparing traps in an amount that would definitely prove Goldy's theory about Fishy's „fairness".
„And so here we are going to have spilled gasoline, and a flaming candle hung right above it." - Counter said.
„Brilliant, yet a bit clichéd. What else do we have?" - Fishy asked, not quite sure if he wanted any fire to happen outside of smoking.
„We also have a cage full of ravenous rottweiler hounds, trap holes and Waldeck with immobilizing molasses bombs stationed on the roof." - Counter smiled and straightened her back.
„Okay, but what if the boys take the fight to us and barge into the school? Also, Waldeck is absent as I told him to go and rethink his behavior, after he danced with twenty female students on the latest prom.."
Suddenly, Agatha Counter trembled:
„Mein Fuehrer... ...the school... ...the school hasn't been booby trapped. We've had too little time to take care of this possibility as well."
Fishy took off his glasses, his hand shaky as if he had Parkinson's. He finally said:
„If you still want to be part of the whole plan, stay in this room for the next ten seconds."
Having counted to ten and seeing Counter still standing where she was, Fishy shouted:
„It's all about the building! How am I supposed to win when you haven't taken care of the building? Who are you, thinking you can prepare a duel properly? You're just an useless piece of trash just like that loser Froggy!"
„Ian, what you say is outrageous!"
„Then why haven't you thought of such a simple thing, you imbecile?!"
„Fishy, I'm about to seriously lose my temper!"
„I! Don't! Fucking! Care! It was your one and only job to secure the building as well, it was the one thing I asked of you, to prepare the place for the fight!" - Fishy has just discovered that throwing a fit helps when you hadn't smoked weed for quite some time. - „If you think that your overlook can be corrected, it's over. The war is lost." Fishy calmed down.
„Oh you know it isn't! I have just one more trump card down my sleeve." - Counter seemingly understood that Fishy was just referencing a movie when throwing that scene. She pulled out a safely-corked test tube, made from thicker-than-usual glass. - „This is the Unbelievably Explosive Solution. It will basically nuke anyone you throw it at. Does this look better to you?"
„Oh sure it does." - Fishy betrayed no trace of his former anger. He felt like he could overcome Goldy's amateur fencing skills without anyone's help. However having gained many valuable „assets", he was even less concerned about the upcoming fight.
The sun was setting on the quaint city of Cufthill and people were going about their own business as usual. A few hours later, though, the streets became deserted and a familiar figure approached the IIIrd LO.
„FIIIISHY!!! FIIIIIISHY! FIIIIIIIIISHY!" - Brad Pitt, uhh, I mean Goldy was hoping to summon his adversary. The shouting was also the sign for Vantami (safely entrenched on the high ground) to get ready.
Fishy stepped out of the darkness, unsheathing and waving a sword glowing with green lights.
„Gay" - Goldy thought, revealing his own weapon: a simple, standard-issue sword.
As the two duelists were standing next to each other, Vantami put on the infrared goggles he had stolen from his older sister. He clearly saw the heat signatures of the battlefield, put the gun to his arm and began aiming for Fishy. He was about to pull the trigger, preventing the stand-off whatsoever, but as he was about to do that, a loud „whoosh" right next to his ear interrupted him.
„Someone's firing at me!" - he thought and tried spying with the enhanced sight. He could recognize the shooter: Agatha Counter! He repositioned slightly and took careful aim at Counter from behind cover (made easy by the Infra-sight). The swordsmen were still standing down there, apparently having a contest of who'd display more military discipline. Vantami sprang up, pulling the trigger - his shot didn't find its mark. On the other hand, he saw a weird sparkling shape floating through the sky towards him...
Boom. Splash.
Vantami tried moving, but was totally immobilized. The explosion smelled disgustingly sweet. Molasses?! What clever son of a bitch could come up with such a devious idea...? He fired another shot at where Counter was entrenched, to let her know she's still not in a good position to shoot at will.
Meanwhile, Goldy and Fishy have heard the two shots, and charged at each other, unsure about how did the sniper duel turn out. After a few parries from Goldy, the two men locked blades. Fishy was pushing with excessive force, which Goldy used to his advantage by controllably letting Fishy do just that, simultaneously dodging the blow by hopping to the left. Fishy stumbled forward, briefly revealing a weak spot in his defense. Goldy was already swinging his sword to deal his adversary a wound, but Fishy didn't try to keep standing up, and simply fell to the ground. He rolled a short distance, then stood back up, all in less than a second. He was about to raise his sword again, but suddenly a shot was fired from somewhere on the high ground and Fishy nearly dropped his weapon to the ground. His left thumb was absolutely in pieces. Goldy was about to charge at the weakened enemy, but Fishy was faster and so he scurried towards the IIIrd LO. He disappeared in the school's corridors immediately, having jumped there through one of the windows.
Goldy rushed to check out Vantami. His friend has been lying on the vantage point he had been on from the very beginning of the fight. He was lying in a pool of molasses, completely incapable of moving from this position.
„Stupid sticky ooze, how am I supposed to join you now, Goldy?"
„Easy, man. I'll draw them to one of the classrooms the windows of which overlook your position. They think you're out of the fight, you'll prove them wrong. I can see you can still aim in your.. ..state..?"
„Yeah. Now go and kick some ass for me, man!"
Goldy turned around and jumped into the school. He deftly jumped over the suspicious-looking part of the floor, and throwing a tiny rock on it revealed a trap hole. Truly devious. As he was trying to scale the stairs and go to the next floor, he saw tiny bomblets drop from aboveground. They emitted a debilitating stench, and Goldy had to hold his breath to rush through the stairs. He barely had time to catch his breath when he saw a massive rottweiler hound dashing at him. Goldy held his sword steady, and the beast was so blinded by its hunger that it didn't notice the blade. Its crazily-high momentum became its demise the second the blade pierced its skull.
Goldy rushed to the school library, which he knew had the positional advantage which he mentioned to Vantami. Much to his surprise and dismay, he saw Fishy and Counter waiting for him there, the former still putting bandage on his left thumb. Our hero had only a split second to make a deft dodge to the right, avoiding a large projectile that nearly snapped him in half.
„How do you like my razor-blade launcher, fool?" - Counter laughed and took aim for another shot, only to scream in pain and stumble to the ground, lifeless. Vantami finally made himself useful, apparently. Fishy, seeing how he's at a disadvantage, rushed at Goldy before he could pull out his weapon and literally threw him out of the room to the corridor. Vantami had no way of aiming here. Goldy did a roll on the floor, carefully losing the momentum he had gained a few seconds beforehand, stood up and drew his blade. This was it.
„I beat you before, and I won't let my guard down this time either!" - Fishy said, locking blades with Goldy. His wounded thumb was hurting like hell, however it wasn't like he needed it very much for fighting with his other, healthy hand.
The two duelists locked their blades again, and this time Fishy was pressing for advantage furiously. Goldy knew this wouldn't be an easy fight. He pushed his opponent's blade away and jumped back, giving a bit of ground to his enemy. Fishy, on the other hand, made an elegant and dangerous pirouette across the corridor, and Goldy had to dodge the blow and parry another one right after. The combat lasted for what seemed like hours. The blades clanged and Goldy found Fishy's defense to be practically impenetrable. It was then, that he heard a shot. Fishy turned around quickly and spotted Vantami, standing in a heroic pose right at the edge of the stairs, aiming at him with his rifle. Realizing how outnumbered he was and knowing how hard it would be to keep track of two enemies at once, he unexpectedly kicked Goldy, who was sent flying across the corridor before landing on a wall. Seeing that Vantami was reloading, Fishy used his opportunity: he took out his cigarette case, with just a single blunt in it. Having put it in the mouth, the weed became ablaze in an instant, with a familiar bright blue flame. Fishy felt power overwhelming him, and in just three quick leaps, he reached Vantami and punched him right in the chest with all the momentum he had gathered. The poor shooter was sent flying down the stairs, and Goldy thought he heard bones cracking upon the impact, too. Vantami landed two meters below Fishy, incapable of any movement at all. Seeing how his friend ended up, Goldy took out the Book of Weed® that he had kept in his bag all this time, and threw it up high. As it was falling, he quickly cut it in half with one swift swing of his sword. „How do you like your treasure destroyed like that, huh?!" - Goldy said, cackling ironically.
„Hraaaaaaaaugh!" - Fishy grabbed his blade and rushed straight at Goldy, having gone absolutely berserk at the sight of his property's destruction. He seemed strangely similar to the rabid dog from before... Goldy simply held his blade up, trying not to acknowledge the terror that was running at him with an incredible speed, easily matching Husain Bolt and being quite literally blinded with both rage and chemicals.
One stab later, a person slumped to the ground, subdued. Blood was everywhere. Who'd have thought that the headmaster who overcame everything life threw at him simply impaled himself on a steadily-held blade? As he wailed in despair, he felt cold steel being put to his forehead.
„Hah! You don't have the balls to pull the trigger, do you?" - Fishy said, trying not to look down at his violently-bleeding wound.
„This is the fate your brother has desired for you. No trigger pulling. However, I wish to rid this school of the insanity that has been plaguing it ever since you took office. There's only one way of accomplishing that." - Goldy shrugged. And then Fishy's lights went out once and for all.
Having wiped the dust off of his arm, Goldy went downstairs to check on Vantami. All his friends' clothes were torn, there was blood on his face and he could barely breathe, likely a result of a crushed ribcage.
„I..i..iiI..wWant to die, f-friend."
„What?!" - Goldy could not believe what he just heard.
„p-Parents are never ...g-gonna let me back in... ..a-and I would h-have to live with... the, the b-burden of having *cough* killed a person... *sigh* Release me from this.."
Goldy looked at his suffering comrade, then he looked at the pearl grip revolver, still red from Fishy's blood. And he leaned to his friend, saying:
„No."
Then he went out of the school, and walked off into the sunrise, calling the ambulance to pick up the injured Vantami. The janitor showed up one last time and cleaned up the corpses before the school day began.

***

Goldy returned home and never spoke of his education again. He got into Med School and had an even harder battle to fight.
Vantami survived the injuries and came to live with Goldy for their university years. He was right about his parents' rejection, though.
The Janitor left his job and started his own funeral services company.
From his locker, the Unbelievably Explosive Solution has been stolen by Vantami, who earned international recognition for the invention.
Mr. Waldeck became the new school headteacher, by popular vote.
And everything went back to normal, once and for all.

______
A word from the author:
This chapter marks the end of the third tome Fishy's Adventures (with the title: „The Inside Job"), and the end of the whole series whatsoever. To everyone who read this, know that Fishy has been inspired by a real, living Math teacher, and the story is full of inside jokes and references, understood only by his students (from the years 2015-2018, by the way). It has been a fantastic ride and I'm thankful to Wattpad for giving me a place to unburden myself from the weight of this story. Now that it's all done - I can move on with my life. Thank you all for making it this far (if such people exist at all).
Peace out.