Word count: 7149
Warnings: Drugs? I guess?
Standing by a fire with Xander, Cordelia, and Willow we were at a beach party for the swim teams victory "All I'm saying is, it's a stupid idea to have a victory party at the beach. It's officially nippy" Xander says as he looks down at himself "So say my nips".
"I think it's festive. A party with nature" Willow says as she smiles at us, I nod along as I bring the red cup I'm holding to my lips "Well, it's the team's choice. It was their victory" Cordelia tells us as Xander sniggers at her.
"Team? Swim team. Hardly what I'd call a team. The Yankees. Abbott and Costello. The 'A'. Now, those were teams" He argues vigorously "Jealous?" I ask him with a grin as he shakes his head fervently "No. Y-yes, but 'no' more than 'yes'" He replies as a member of the swim team staggers by with a girl under each arm.
Xander sighs "I mean, look at that. Dodd McAlvy. Last month he's the freak with Jicama breath who waxes his back. He wins a few meets and suddenly inherits the cool gene?" he scathes looking envious.
"Well, all I know is, my cheerleading squad wasted a lot of pep on losers. It's about time our school excelled at something" Cordelia tells us as I looked up with a smirk"You're forgetting our high mortality rate".
Cordelia gives a small laugh as Xander pumps his fist "We're number one!" He gets a few positive responses from nearby students making us girls laugh when he looks confused.
"Somebody help me!" I look over to see Jonathon's face gets pushed into the water and shaken around by Dodd who pulls Jonathon's head back out of the tub and holds him back by the hair.
"Come on, Jonny, you gotta hold your breath longer than that if you ever wanna make the team! Hey, somebody time him!" Dodd shouts at Jonathon, I drink more of my drink before making my way over to where Buffy had come out of nowhere and pulled Dodd away.
"Nice tat. What, they ran out of Tweety bird?" Buffy sarcastically asks as she shoves him down to the ground revealing his shark tattoo "Hey, what's your problem?" Dodd shouts at Buffy "You had it coming to you, bro" Cameron Walker tells him with a laugh.
Dodd gets up and starts to confront Buffy but Gage Petronzi gets between them "Chill, dude. A bunch of us are gonna take a little night dip down on the beach. You in?" Dodd looks at Buffy then the rest of us "Whatever".
Buffy turns her attention to Jonathon " Hey, let's, let's get you a towel" she tells the smaller boy gently but he gets up angrily "No. Why don't you mind your own business? I can handle this without your help" he shouts before running off.
Buffy sighs and faces Cameron "See? It's fun to hang out with me" I let out a laugh "hear hear" Buffy takes the red cup out my hand "I think that's enough now sweetie" I just smile at her and let her take the cup "hear hear" I whisper to her again making them all laugh.
Dodd and Gage walked further down the beach with Dodd still feeling annoyed from Buffy embarrassing him in front of everyone "I can't believe Buffy. man, that girl gives me the creeps".
Gage nods with a smirk "but her sister's hot man" he laughs until he smells something and stops in his tracks he takes another sniff of the rank-smelling air "Oh! Dude! What is that foulness?" He looks behind him and sees that Dodd has disappeared.
"Hey, Dodd!" Gage shouts as looks around the other way "Dude!" looking around again he finally gives up "Huh" he goes on to the group of people gathered under the pier, hoping to see Nikki Summers again.
Standing outside the computer room I was waiting for Willow to finish her lesson, I'd skipped class I was so not in the mood to learn today, my Slayer instincts were screaming at me it felt like I was being warned about something.
Groaning at the sound of the shrill ring of the bell I put my hands to my head as it pounded "Hey Summers" I looked up to see Gage leaning against the door frame of the computer room suavely "Hey Gage" I replied rubbing my head.
I looked up to see him looking down at me with a smile "What?" I snapped as he laughed shaking his head and walked away, I jumped when Snyder appeared from behind him "You should be more thankful that someone like Gage has shown interest in you Summers" he sniped as he looked at me cockily.
"Well tell me when he cures the world of cancer and I might take an interest," I told Snyder sarcastically as he glared at me before entering the computer room where Willow was finishing up.
"Uh, hi there, sir, Nikki" Willow greets us "Rosenberg. How's the class? Everything in order?" Snyder asks with a tone of no real care "Well, actually..." Willow starts looking very worried.
Snyder interrupts her with a grin "Great. I've been talking to the board. We've been having trouble finding a competent teacher this late in the term. Do you think you could continue subbing through finals?".
"Oh! Sure! I like teaching" I smile at Willow's excited bounce "Isn't that nice. You're a team player, and I like that. A team player wants everyone on the team to succeed. Wants everyone to pass" Snyder tells her with an edge of sneering.
"Well, yeah. Sure." Willow agrees as goes to her desk with Snyder following her "I understand there's a problem with Gage Petronzi" He stops at one of the PC's and looks at it with his back to Willow "You don't say" I mutter as Snyder's head snaps to me with a glare.
I do the zipping mouth motion "Oh, good, then you know. Well, yeah. Besides the behavior problem, he won't do homework, and his test scores are..." Willow rambles as Snyder looks up exasperated.
"Well, actually, he doesn't have any test scores because he never shows up when we have..." Snyder turns to her and interrupts "I'm not interested in any of that. I'm interested in why, when this school is on the brink of winning its first state championship in fifteen years, you slap a crucial member of that team with a failing mark that would force his removal. Is that how you show your school spirit?"
Willow looks up flustered "Yes. Well, I mean... no. I'm just trying to grade fairly" Snyder nods sarcastically "Gage is a champion. He's under more pressure than the other students. And I think we need to cut him some slack" Snyder tells us giving me a look at the last bit of his sentence.
I see Willow considering his words "You're asking me to change his grade?" she asks him meekly as he stops and turns back "I never said any such thing" he says as he steps over to her "All I'm suggesting is... that you recheck your figures, and I think we'll find a grade more fitting to an athlete of Gage's stature. Perhaps something in a 'D'".
"Oh, he's a D alright... D.I.C" I look up to see Snyder glaring at me again "Shutting up" I mutter when he turns and leaves "You ok?" I ask Willow who nods looks visibly shaken "Gage isn't the only D around here," I tell her as we walk out of the room.
"What? Oh now I get it" she says with a small laugh before her face drops in horror "You can't call the principal that!" she says looking shocked "I think we've learned that Nikki can pretty much call anyone anything by now" Xander says as he and Cordelia catch up to us and walk beside us.
"Call who what?" Cordelia questions confused "Nothing. Anyway, Snyder asked Willow here to keep the swim teams grades up and ordered her to change Gage's grade to a D" I tell the other two as we walk through the school halls.
"Just like that? He actually told you to alter his grade?" Xander asks as we walk downstairs to the bottom floor.
"Exactly except for actually telling me to but he made it perfectly clear of what he wasn't telling me" Willow confirmed with a nervous stutter still shocked by the conversation.
"That is wrong, a big, fat, spanking wrong. It's a slap in the face to every one of us who studied hard and worked long hours to earn our D's" Xander argues outraged.
"Xander, I know you take pride in being the voice of the common wuss, but the truth is, certain people are entitled to special privileges. They're called winners. That's the way the world works" Cordelia tells him in a knowing voice.
Xander turns to her shocked "And what about that nutty 'all men are created equal' thing?" Cordelia laughed and shook her head "Propaganda spouted out by the ugly and less deserving" Xander looked annoyed and muttered, "I think that was Lincoln".
Cordelia exhales "Disgusting mole and stupid hat" I laughed with her knowing she'd have something to say about his appearance "Actually, it was Jefferson" Willow informed us and Cordelia turned to her "Kept slaves. Remember?".
"You know what really grates my cheese? That Buffy's not here to share my moral outrage about swim team perks. She's too busy being one of them" Xander groans annoyed.
"She's just trying to pretend her problems aren't real," I tell them and they look at me shocked "We're you supposed to tell us that?" Cordelia asks looking at me shocked, I shrug my shoulders and walk away "Probably not".
After leaving Cordelia in the lounge Willow, Xander and I go to the library were Giles tells us about Dodd's untimely death last night, we're all researching and looking through Giles' stack of books when Buffy comes storming through the doors looking pissed off.
"So I'm treated like the baddie just because he has a sprained wrist and a bloody nose and I don't have a scratch on me, which, granted, hurts my case a little on the surface, but meanwhile he gets away with it because he's on the 'aren't we the most' swim team..."
We all look up at her uncaring "...who, by the way, if no one's noticed, have been acting like real jerks lately..." Buffy stops when she notices our expressions.
"So" She giggles nervously "anything new with you guys?" Buffy questions as she sits with us "Thank you for taking an interest. Apparently, some remains were found on the beach this morning. Some human remains" Giles explained to her.
"Dodd McAlvy's remains," I tell her annoyed, we were at the beach last night we could have helped him or at least find the thing that did this to him "Vampire?" Buffy sits forward suddenly interested.
Giles shook his head "No. No, he was eviscerated. Nothing left but skin and cartilage" he explained opening another book "In other words, this was no boating accident" Xander joked lightly.
"So something ripped him open and ate out his insides?" Buffy questioned with a grimace "Like an Oreo Cookie" Willow explained with a happy smile "Well, except for, you know, without the chocolatey cookie goodness" she corrects when she realizes what she said.
"Yes. Um, Principal Snyder has.. has asked the faculty to keep the news quiet for now, um, so as not to unduly upset the students" Giles told us shifting his glasses.
"For 'students': read 'swim team'" Xander says to Buffy and I nodded a little, I would be shocked to find anyone outside Dodd's family and the swim team to be upset about his death but being a Slayer I had to try and be neutral, no matter how much of an idiot he was.
"So, we're looking for a beastie" Willow explained to Buffy who was beginning to look confused "That, uh, eats humans whole... except for the skin" Giles added as he looks into his book trying to find something that fits this.
"This doesn't make any sense," Buffy tells us frowning deep in thought "Yeah. The skin's the best part" Xander exclaims making me laugh before turning to Giles "Any demons with high cholesterol?".
Giles slowly turns and gives me a look even though the others are smiling to themselves, I point at Giles with a smirk "You're gonna think about that later, mister, and you're gonna laugh".
Knowing we were in for a long day of researching Xander left to get us all some sodas only to come running back screaming and shouting "Xander! What's wrong?" Willow shouted as he stopped.
"The monster it got Cameron" Xander exclaimed as he struggled to breath "What!" Buffy shouted getting up but Xander grabbed her "It's gone" he explained as Buffy turned to Willow "I've got an idea come on".
Buffy and Willow walked over to the doors "Nikki" I looked up at Buffy "Draw that thing if Xander saw it we need to see it" I nodded as Buffy walked out with Willow following her.
Opening my bag I pulled out my sketchbook "Okay Xan-man start explaining" I directed as he started firing things at me, Cordelia walks into the library seeing Xander pacing "Ohh what happened here?".
I looked up from my drawing and huffed "Xander saw a monster and now I'm having to draw it" Cordelia nodded and sensed my annoyance.
"No, no, no! The mouth's a lot bigger! And downward. Like this" Xander exclaims when he looks at the sketchpad in my hands I look up and see him make a face with the corners of his mouth turned down "With more teeth!" he yelled again making me grit my teeth.
I stood up and slammed my sketchpad down on the table and walked over to Giles "I'm doing the best I can with your crappy explaining skills" I growl at him as Giles takes off his glasses and looks up from his book over at Xander "Is that what you saw, Xander?".
Xander picks up and looks at the sketch "Y... yeah!" he tells us before he looks back down at the book "I think so" he says again before considering it some more "Pretty much".
Giles looks at him skeptically "Aaaaare you sure?" we all turn to face Xander and he looks sheepish "Well, it was dark! And the thing went through the window so quick, and I was a... little shocked when I saw it, and..."
Cordelia crosses her arms and huffs "Go ahead. Say it. You ran like a woman" she teases with a grin when Xander starts to protest "Hey, if you saw this thing, you'd run like a woman, too".
Willow and Buffy walk back in "Buffy was right. According to the statistics, Dodd and Cameron were the best swimmers on the team" Willow explained to us and hands Giles the figures.
"First and second, actually. Which means if my theory's correct, Gage Petronzi, the third-best swimmer on the team, would be the next item on the menu" My head shot up when Buffy said Gage was the next one on the list.
"God, this is so sad" We all looked over to Cordelia shocked "We're never gonna win the state championship. I think I've lost all will to cheerlead" she moaned out with a pout "Raise your hand if you feel her pain" Xander says sarcastically.
"If you're saying these killings aren't random, it would suggest someone's out for revenge," Giles says as he looks up from the papers Willow gave him.
"And raise the possibility that someone brought forth this sea monster from whence it came to exact that revenge," Buffy says looking at me when I laugh "From whence it came'?" I say coping her as everyone smiles.
"I'm spending way too much time around you," Buffy tells Giles "Who would hate the swim team that much, though?" Xander says deep in thought before he sees us all looking at him "Besides me, I mean".
Willow suddenly gasps and raises her hand "Ooo!" I look at the small redhead next to me who was waiting to be called on "Willow?" I say questioningly as she grins at me and puts her hand down "Jonathon! He was bullied by Dodd the other day on the beach, remember?".
"He did say he could take care of things himself," I say aloud before looking at Buffy who nods, I turn to Willow "It's a good call. You should question him" I tell her making her light up like a Christmas tree "Really? Me?" Willow exclaims before looking at us menacingly "I'll crack him like an egg".
"Meanwhile, I think, uh, swimmer number three might benefit from your... watchful eye and protection. Discreetly, of course" Giles says pointing to both Buffy and me "We're on it" I say saluting Giles turning to Buffy with a grimace "Let's hope he's not become a monsters delicacy yet".
Getting home Buffy and I changed into different clothes ready for our patrol over Gage, knowing he hung around the bronze a lot we changed into something that wouldn't make him suspicious or smell like school.
"Ready B?" I call through her door as I give it a small knock "Yeah" she opens the door giving me a nod "let's do this" I smiled and followed her out of the house "So what do we do if we come across this thing?" I ask Buffy noticing our lack of weaponry.
"We send it back where it came from," She tells me seriously as we see the lights of the Bronze, walking closer I suddenly get the feeling of something bad, my instincts were nagging me "Hey I'll just be a sec," I tell Buffy who continues into the Bronze.
Looking around I see the side alley and slowly make my way over to it being cautious of any human eating monsters, I see nothing, but that doesn't mean that something's not here "Whose out here?" I call out dangerously and I was met with silence "I know you're watching me".
Not being able to find anything I sigh deeply and back out of the alley and go into the Bronze where I see Buffy sitting at the bar "Where is he?" I mouth from next to the pool table when I don't see Gage, Buffy starts making hand gestures but I can't tell what she's saying.
"Summers" A deep voice called from behind me and I turn to see Gage getting up from behind the pool table, whoops "Gage" I greeted giving him a smile as he looks me up and down.
"Didn't think I'd see you here" he says as he chalks the top of his cue as I raise my eyebrow "Pool?" Gage asks offering me the cue making me grin.
"Ooh I would but I don't want to embarrass you" I tell him smiling when he laughs "I knew I'd like you" he says as I break before standing back up and handing him the cue "and why's that" I question as he pots two balls and missed the next "You're different from your sister" Gage mutters in almost disgust.
"What's wrong with my sister" I ask confused as Gage looks back at me "well come on you must have heard the rumors plus she broke Cam's nose for no reason" I look up at him in surprise "What rumors" I whisper wondering what people could be saying about Buffy she was so popular at Hemrey.
"Well she's always being really weird and acting like she's something special" Gage tells me looking annoyed, I had no idea people felt this way about my sister "Oh and she's been staring at me ever since she came in here" Gage almost growls as he throws the cue down on the table.
"Gage, wait!" I call as he walks over to the pillar Buffy was hiding behind "This me-and-my-shadow act? It's getting old. What do you want from me?" Gage spits out looking at Buffy angrily.
Buffy looks at Gage nervously "Well, um... It's a little embarrassing. You see, I'm a swim groupie" I close my eyes forgetting Buffy sucked at lying "Aha" Gage muttered unconvinced as he glances my way.
"Oh, yeah. You know, there's just something about the smell of chlorine on a guy. Oh, baby" Buffy tells Gage who just nods stiffly obviously knowing Buffy was lying to him and turns to leave.
Buffy runs around him and jumps in front of him making Gage stop "Uh, okay, okay, okay. Obviously, my sex appeal is on the fritz today, so I'll just give it to you straight. There's something lurking out there, and it's making fillets of the populace, and I think you might be next" I looked at Buffy shocked.
Gage looks down and gives me a look obviously taking my shock as me being shocked by Buffy's weirdness and whispers to me "See what I mean" Buffy looks at me confused until Gage looks back at her patronizingly "Uh-huh. And you think that because?".
"Well, it's already attacked. It's already killed some people" Buffy tells him "You're one twisted sister, you know that? Cam told me about your games. Go find someone else to harass. See you at school Nikki" Gage mutters to me before he bumps Buffy as he walks past her.
Buffy sighs and looks down in defeat "Come on we can't let him go" I tell her as we make our way out of the Bronze "Ah! Somebody! Help! Ah! Help! Ah! Ah! Get him off me! Help! Ah!" my eyes widen at the sounds of Gage's scream.
Rushing into the side alleyway I expected to see some green ugly looking monster attacking Gage but instead, I see Angelus feeding off of Gage, seeing us Angelus drops a whimpering Gage.
Buffy does a roundhouse kick to his face but he isn't fazed, and just looks at her with a smirk, she pulls out the stick holding her hair up and holds it ready to stake him as her hair falls down around her face "Why, Miss Summers! You're beautiful!" Angelus growls at Buffy before winking at me.
Buffy takes her eyes off Angelus as she looks at me, Angelus takes this momentary lapse and quickly bends down, picks Gage up and throws him at us knocking all of us to the ground.
Angelus spits a few more times and leaves smiling as Buffy and I get to our feet and watch him go, Gage gets up also and rubs his neck "Oh. Was that the thing that killed Cameron?" Gage asks aloud.
"No. That was something else" Buffy whispers as I rub her back comfortingly "S-something else?" Gage stutters looking very confused "Yeah. Unfortunately, we have a lot of something elses in this town. Good night" I tell Gage linking arms with Buffy as we start to walk away.
"Hey!" Gage shouts to us and we turn back to look at him as he walks over to us with a nervous laugh "Walk me home?" I laugh at his change of tune not even 5 minutes ago he was practically calling my sister crazy now he wants us to babysit him, Buffy nods and motions for him to follow.
"If you need me to hold your hand just let me know" I whisper to him sarcastically as he still breathes heavily from fright, Gage just looks over to me smiling thankfully and grabs my hand making my eyes widen "I was being sarcastic" I told but he just ignores me and holds on tighter.
Next day at school Buffy insisted that we all go to the pool and stakeout the swim team just in case the monster strikes at school, so I'm sat with Buffy, Cordelia and Willow watching the guys swim.
Six members of the swim team are on the starting blocks "Swimmers! Take position!" Coach Marin shouts out loudly, they all bend down and coach blows his whistle, and they all dive in swimming as soon as they hit the water.
In the middle of the pool, I notice Gage stops, stands up and lifts off his goggles "Keep the stroking up. Alright. Keep it going, keep it going all the way to the end. All the way to the end. Breathe deep" Coach Marin shouts to all the team as they swim.
Gage sees us in the stands and waves as coach blows his whistle, I wave back to Gage discreetly but Willow notices and gives me a smile, I quickly put my hand down and pretend that I hadn't waved to him.
"Gage! You with us or not?" Coach shouts to Gage who was still looking over to us, Gage just smiles and swims off "C'mon, let's go!" Coach Marin shouts again as the team does another length in the pool.
Cordelia leans over to us "So he spit it out? I thought Angel liked blood" she whispers as Buffy shrugs "He used to" Willow looks at us thoughtfully "Maybe his eyes were too big for his stomach," She says with a small laugh in a way only Willow can without sounding mean.
"Or maybe there was something in Gage's blood that Angel didn't like. Say, for example, steroids." Buffy theorizes as we all look back at the swims team as they glide through the water "That would explain all their behavioral changes" Willow adds as we remember how temperamental the team has become lately.
"And their winning streak" Cordelia muses and I nod this school hasn't won any championships in years "So maybe whatever is in their blood is what's attracting this creature to them," I say to them as they all nod in agreement with me.
"Any luck researching our fish monster?" Buffy asks the girls but they both shake their heads "Zippo. We couldn't find any sea demon that matched the description that Xander gave, Not that Chicken Little's much of a witness, but..." Cordelia's eye is caught "Oh".
We all looked at Cordelia confused "Oh! Oh, my! Now, that, girls, is my kind of..." Willow, Buffy and I turned to see who Cordelia was staring at "Xander?" We all shout in shock seeing our friend stood dripping wet in speedos.
"Xander?!" Cordelia shouts out in shock when she finally realizes the guy she'd be drooling over was Alexander Harris when Xander hears our voices he scrambles over to a pile of kickboards grabbing the one off the top and hides behind it.
We come down from the stands as Xander scrambles over to us "What the hell are you doing here?" Cordelia shouts at him when Xander puts his hand up to shush her "Shh! I'm undercover" he tells us looking around in case anyone had heard him.
"Not under much" Buffy jokes with a grin as Xander just looks up at her his eyes happy but doesn't say anything "Get out of here before someone sees you impersonating a member of the swim team!" Cordelia shoos him away but Xander doesn't move.
"I don't do impersonations. I tried out for the team last night. I made it" Xander informs Cordelia who looks at him surprised "Really?" Xander's cool meter must have gone up a few notches in Cordelia's book.
"Yeah. I figured I can keep an eye on Gage and the others when Buffy and Nikki can't" Xander says quietly as he nods to Buffy and I "When you're nude?" Willow asks wide-eyed until I nudge her "I-I meant to say 'changing'".
"Harris! You can flirt on your own time!" Coach Marin shouts from behind us as Xander looks at him nervously "Okey-dokey, coachie" He backs away and goes to join the rest of the team, covering his butt with his free hand.
"I'm dating a swimmer from the Sunnydale swim team!" Cordelia tells us proudly "You can die happy" Buffy jokes as we watch as Xander gets up on a starting block "What about Jonathon? Is he involved?" I asked Willow who shakes her head "Oh, no. He just... sort of... peed in the pool".
I nod not really thinking about it "Oh" I look back at Xander to watch as he dives in, we all look on in wide-eyed shock as we realize what he just dove into "Oh!".
After practice, Buffy and I go and wait outside of the locker room for Xander and Gage to come out, a moment later Xander comes out with a towel over his head, rubbing his hair dry "You gotta love this undercover deal. Twenty minutes in a hot room with a bunch of sweaty guys...".
I frown at Xander's words "Where's Gage?" I ask him impatiently "I don't know. He was right behind me, putting his sneakers on but it's not the Velcro kind, so give him a couple of extra minutes" Xander tells us tapping both of our shoulders as he walks by "Tag. You're it".
I sigh as Buffy gives me a look, suddenly I hear a scream come from the locker room "OH, MY GOD!" I waste no time running into the locker room looking for Gage.
"Help me! Help me! Ah! Help me!" Gage screams again just as we get to him, I push him away from the monster and he falls to the ground, I get into a defensive stance but the monster just stands there and doesn't move to attack us.
I spin around hearing Gage's agony filled screams and I see him writhe on the floor in pain "Gage?" I say concerned as Buffy moves forward to stand next to me, Gage reaches out to us for help but can't get up and continues to convulse.
I take a step closer but stop when Buffy grabs my arm and pulls me back as she stares at him in shock, I watch as he gets to his knees and pulls open his shirt grabbing at his chest and begins to tear open his skin.
Beneath his skin is the chest of another monster, Gage holds up his hand and watches as the skin tears along the back and a green, clawed hand emerges "Oh my god, Gage" I whispered sadly.
I took a quick look at the other monster, but it's not advancing, so I turn back to Gage and watched dumbfounded as the monster that was Gage now stands up, and what's left of Gage's clothes and skin fall away from him.
Buffy and I stare up at it in horror backing away as it roars and advances on us taking a swipe at us with its sharp claws, the first monster advances on us from behind now and we suddenly find ourselves trapped between them.
"I'll take Gage, you take... whoever that is" I whisper to Buffy who nods and turns into a roundhouse kick to the one behind us as I jump up with a high kick knocking Gage to the floor.
Grabbing a mop leaning against the wall I thrust it at Gage as he gets up, I spin around with it to hit the first one in the face, knocking it down and then jab Gage in the side.
Gage is momentarily stunned, and Buffy follows up with a kick to its chest, making him fall to the floor, the first creature is back up, grabs Buffy from behind, turns her around and sinks its sharp teeth deeply into her arm making her scream out in pain.
The monster shoves her into me making us both fall back into a bank of lockers and then to the floor, Coach Marin suddenly appears and quickly helps us both up to our feet but the two monsters give up the fight and launch themselves across the floor and slide one after the other into the open grate.
Coach Marin takes Buffy to the nurse's office and I run to get Giles from the library telling him about the swim team being monsters along the way "So the monsters are inside the boys" Giles gathers as we reach the nurse's office "Yeah not sure why though" I tell him as I push open the door as Nurse Greenleigh finishes bandaging Buffy's arm.
"I don't think that this is going to need stitches, but you might wanna have your family physician take a look at it," Nurse Greenleigh tells Buffy as she walks off "How are you?" Giles asks making Buffy looking down at her bandage "I'm definitely feeling the burn".
Giles turns to Coach Marin who walks up behind us "Well, the, uh, good news is that it would appear that none of your team actually died" Giles starts telling him "But the bad news is... they're monsters" I finish looking at Coach who doesn't seem so upset.
"How could this happen?" Coach asks Giles who looks at Coach in shock and anger "Are you saying you don't know?" Coach looks down at Giles' words but his face still doesn't seem like you would expect from a man who just found out his swim team was turning into monsters.
"Well, you work so hard, you start to win suddenly, you think it's just you. You're inspiring the boys to greatness but in the back of your mind, you start to wonder" Coach narrates to us "You never asked any of the boys if they were taking anything?" Giles angrily whispers to him.
Coach Marin just looks up at Giles his face serious "Maybe I was afraid to" Buffy, Giles and I exchange a look we need to figure out what is turning these boys into monsters and we need to do it before more of the swim team start pulling their own flesh off.
Sitting in the computer lab with Xander, Buffy, Willow we all crowd around Willow's desk as she surfs through the school medical files "There" Buffy says as she points to the screen.
"Dodd McAlvy: torn tendon. Gage Petronzi: fractured wrist, depression, headaches" Willow reads off the screen "It's all there in the school medical records" Buffy sighs in recognition.
"All symptomatic of steroid abuse" Willow muses as we all look from the screen "But is steroid abuse usually linked with, 'hey, I'm a fish'?" Xander asks us with humor in his voice.
"There must be something else in the mix. But the point is, these boys were obviously drugged" Willow tells us as I look at the screen again with a sigh "And Nurse Greenleigh treated every one of them. She must have known".
"If steroids are that dangerous, why would they do that to themselves?" Willow questions looking up at us from her chair "They needed to win and winning equals trophies, which equals prestige for the school. You see how they're treated." I say aloud the swim team was like royalty.
"Sure. The discus throwers got the best seats at all the crucifixions" We all roll our eyes at Xander but ignore him "Meanwhile, I'm breaking my nails every day battling the forces of evil, and my French teacher can't even remember my name" Buffy mutters as I smirk at her "She would if you actually showed up".
"So what's the drill? Get Nurse Greenleigh?" Xander asks us as Willow stands up sternly "Let's throw the book at her!" she yells furiously as I put my hand on her shoulder.
"She probably went home for the day. I think it can wait. Xander, why don't you see if you can find out what these boys are taking, or at least how they're taking it? Powders, pills, syringe?" I say as Xander nods "I'm Lookin'-Around Guy".
"What about you?" Willow asks looking worried "Giles loaded up the tranquilizer gun. We're going fishing" Buffy answered as she looked over to me "You're quiet" she noted as I looked up a gave a small smile "I'll just man the fort see if I can find anything else on the steroids and our fishy friends".
Buffy nodded as everyone left to their own devices "So what's the deal?" Buffy questioned sitting down next to me "What are you talking about?" I said with a laugh but Buffy didn't join in "it's nothing" I mumbled to her.
"Is it about Gage, you seemed upset when he well..." Buffy started and put her hand on mine as a I let out a heavy sigh "I mean he's been flirting with me since I came here" I started as Buffy laughed "Along with the rest of the male population".
Rolling my eyes at my sister I carried on "I know he was a jerk but he was funny and sweet when he wasn't with his band of jocks" I admitted knowing Gage was one of two guys I had considered dating.
"And now he's gone" I gritted my teeth feeling a little pathetic "Well we live in a place where the guys are either monsters, vampires or total dorks" Buffy acknowledged as I let out a laugh "So true" Buffy wrapped her arm around me "I'm sorry he's gone but we can focus on catching whoever did this to him".
I nodded with a new focus I couldn't bring Gage back and I couldn't lose the guilt I felt about not saving him or the others but I can always do what I do best, kicking ass and taking names.
After Xander runs back into the library with the others saying that the steroids were in the steam that the swim team sits in, Buffy had gone to talk to the coach, if it was in the steam he had to know about it.
Willow, Cordy, and Xander had gone to speak to the nurse and round up the others in the swim team in case any of them feel the urge to start shedding their skin.
Watching Giles usher the swim team into his cage I felt another pang when I remembered he wouldn't be with them "Everyone's accounted for except Sean" Willow says as she comes back into the library as Xander and Cordelia run in behind her "I think we can safely say we've found Sean. He was in the pool skinless-dipping".
Xander looks at me confused "Where's Buffy?" I frown when I realized something "She hasn't come back yet" leaving the library to find my sister I walk to the pool knowing that's where Coach usually hung out.
I looked around the pool carefully in case Sean was hiding out getting ready to attack or eat me, I noticed Coach was in the equipment room standing over a hole.
"What's up Coach," I say as he jumps looking at me startled "Oh! Summers. Uh..." he chuckles nervously as I look around "Where's Buffy?".
I notice the coach's eyes focus on a gun laying on a barrel just beside me, Coach makes a grab for his gun but I seize his arm and hit it into the barrel making him drop the gun.
Sending an elbow to Coaches face he falls over unconscious "Idiot" I seethed stepping over to the hole and looking down to see my sister fighting with the monsters "Buffy, hurry! Your hand!".
Buffy looks up and crouches down into the water and leaps up to grab my hand "Hold on!" I instructed as I began to pull her up "Pull!" Buffy screams at me as I hear the monsters begin to shriek angrily.
Pulling Buffy up further she climbs out of the hole and drops to the floor, coughing and panting "Thanks" she said sliding herself against the lockers regaining her senses "Now what kind of sister would I be if I let you become tuna?".
"Nikki" Buffy shouts and I turned to see coach has regained consciousness and is carrying pipe wrench, he starts to take a swing at me with it but I put my leg out and trip him making him roll into the hole.
Leaping forward I grab his ankle before he falls in "Don't let go! Don't let go of me! Hold me!" Coach screams but just before Buffy can help me pull him up he falls down into the water below.
Coach stands up in the water, shaking it out of his face and coughing, Buffy reaches down to him "Grab my hand!" but he was too busy being worried about his sea monsters surrounding him to listen to what Buffy is saying.
"Boys! Boys, uh, now, now, boys! No! I..." Coach tries to talk to them but they all jump on him "No, boys!" he screams and struggles as they pull him under, Buffy pulls her arm back up "Those boys really love their coach".
Sitting in the school lounge with Willow, Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia we were talking about the monsters and yet again Xander was complaining about something "Let's see. I gotta take a make-up chem test at three and then I'm meetin' some of the guys for plasma transfusions at five. It's turned into quite the busy afternoon".
"The fun never stops with you, does it?" Buffy replies sarcastically as we all smile "Giles seems pretty confident that the treatments are gonna work" Willow tells us as she munches on her popcorn as Xander nods seriously "Well, turning into a creepy-crawly wasn't on my top ten list of things to do before I turn twenty"
"Don't worry Xand I'm sure there will be a lot more things you'll turn into or we'll have to fight before then, I mean twenty is such a long time away" I laugh as Xander turns to glare at me "It's always me" he pouts putting his foot up on the table.
Cordelia turns to Xander "I want you to know that you've really proven yourself to me. And you don't have to join the new team next year if you don't want. I'd be just as happy if you played football".
Buffy, Willow and I exchange an amused look as Giles comes up the steps to us "The... people from animal control have just left. Our creatures have apparently made a, a dash for it. Um... so to speak" he says keeping his voice low.
Willow look put out "Does that mean we're gonna have to hunt them again?" we all look at Giles before Buffy talks "No, I don't think so. I don't think we'll be seeing them anymore".
"Where do you think they'll go?" I ask my sister as my mind once again goes back to Gage wondering what he'll do now as a monster, Buffy gives a small smile and puts her hand on mine comfortingly "Home".