A/N: This was written after 1, 2, and 4. Honestly, I couldn't think of anything to put in here. I almost started writing 5 before I wrote this one, and I don't know why it was so hard. Hopefully, it won't be crap. If it is, maybe that'll give you more initiative to review.
Chapter 3: Laboris Gloria Lubi (Work Hard, Play Hard)
Pole woke early to find Navi on the floor. He didn't move from his bunk, but spoke to her from there. "Listen, Navi... I thought about it all night... are you certain you want to go with them?" She only partially looked over her shoulder, throwing him an insulted look from behind her ribbon. He chuckled. "Alright. I had to make sure... because you are going back with them." It was instantaneous. Navi screamed and jumped into her father's arms, and he gave her the biggest hug he could.
"Thank you, Dad." She whispered, holding him as closely as she could. Pole wanted to shove a thousand life lessons into what little time they had left.. but he had to trust she could handle being on her own without him there to protect her. He held her a while longer, only managing to tell her how proud he was of her, and how happy he was that she stuck to her values. She smiled behind his back. Her father had been hardened by the military and the harsh words left with them by her mother. Through all of that, he never treated her any differently. She was a free spirit in a world of order... and her bright rays of light were usually welcome. Navi knew that it may be a long time before she saw her father ever again, so she put everything she had into that hug. As well as... "I was gonna go, even if you said no." She blurted out.
He pulled her away, looked her straight in the eyes, and smiled. "I know. That's why I said yes." Her grin was shy and together, they climbed off the bed, meeting Skipper at the door.
Navi scooped him up and hugged him, obviously giddy. "I get to go back with you guys, isn't it great!?" She said, running out, probably to tell the rest of the penguins.
"I didn't know she wasn't. That was an option?" He asked the General, who looked very stern at the time. Leaving his daughter, his one and only cub in the hands—flippers—of someone who just got finished being a cub—hatch-ling—himself wasn't very reassuring. In fact, it was downright scary. So when General Pole swore to him that if anything ever happened to his daughter... if she even got a boo-boo on her littlest finger... Skipper would pay for it for the last five minutes of his life, he thought he was within his right. After all, he thought as he walked away, the guy needed to be put in his place. This outbreak caused Skipper to stand there for several seconds, trying not to burst out crying, or do anything unmanly and wimpish. It wasn't until his flock called him that he was able to break out of his stupor and slide to meet them.
The doctor was talking in hushed tones with Kowalski while Navi and Private celebrated the fact that she would be staying with them. Soon after he appeared, so did Marlene, being lead out by Rico, who looked happy to have his friend back. The otter simply looked... and watched... and stared... and listened. She had never been outside the medic van before. At least, not that she could remember. And the penguin named Rico was nice enough to take her out. It was nice out here. Another penguin slid up to her, and Marlene swore she heard something, a voice, inside of her head. He is nice, it told her, and his name is Skipper. You can trust him, too. Just like Rico. On the inside, she nodded. Okay, she told the voice, and allowed Skipper to introduce himself to her. It seemed odd for him, the female realized, to be introducing himself to her... again.
Navi and the General said a few last minute goodbyes, and both were told to be careful by the other before realizing that they'd be okay. They both had friends where they were going, and they'd be okay in the end. The General stayed with the medic vans and saluted his goodbye to the penguin troop. They were good birds, he knew they would take care of the girl. Meanwhile, he would be on the ocean with the vans in cargo ships they'd sneak aboard at the harbor, before docking in Maine to get reinforcements for this predicament. The HumEx threat was still very real, as Doctor Blowhole and Hawkins were running around somewhere, plotting, planning, waiting for their moment. They'd get it too, of this there was no doubt. So Pole had to go, and find them... and finish what he, the penguins, his daughter, and Marlene had started.
The car was started almost noiselessly, and everyone loaded in. Rico and Kowalski in the front, Skipper, Marlene and Private in the back, and Navi riding shotgun in her wagon. They all waved a final goodbye to the doctors and the General, and headed back up the sewers to get home.
…..............................
Maurice wasn't certain he could take much more of this. Being a polar bear and having to pretend an otter toy is real was harder than he thought. But it was better than what Mort had to do. Silly wobbles and using three other stuffed toys as friends was harder than just one. And the humans (especially Alice) were getting suspicious. He could only hope the penguins were going to get back soon. Meanwhile, Julian was becoming intolerable! The ring-tailed lemur got less and less amused with his subjects being away and more and more bored and needy. Those penguins needed to get back and soon, or else he'd... well, he'd do something.
He walked back into the otter habitat just in time to see Marlene being helped up by Skipper, the other penguins and Navi nearby. "You're back! Oh, thank goodness! I couldn't take this for another day!" He said, pulling off his polar bear outfit. Navi just laughed, commenting on how it only looked easy. He broke down and told them about a set of kids who wanted to see 'cute' constantly, and wouldn't leave him alone, much to everyone else's amusement. Marlene just watched, curious as to what a lemur was doing in her more aquatic habitat. It was her habitat, correct? That's what Skipper told her. The lemur finally left to go get Mort, and Kowalski, Rico and Private went with him, to make sure everything was in order. Skipper said that it would be like nothing changed, except they would be working on finding Blowhole, and keeping an extra eye out for Marlene.
Navi seemed excited to have to help take care of her, and wanted to do her best to make sure Marlene was alright. But all Marlene wanted to do was relax and take it easy. "Okay, Marlene." Skipper said, patting her on the back. "Well, whatever makes you happy." She smiled up at him, offering her thanks, and he blushed. "I... it's no problem." With that, the penguin left the girls alone. It was quiet then for a while, as the young polar bear removed her ribbon and stretched out. This whole excursion left her exhausted, and she couldn't wait to get back to a normal day job of entertaining tourists and locals alike with her adorable charades. Unfortunately, today wouldn't be that day, as the zoo was closed on Sunday's. In the time it took her to look back at what Marlene was doing, the otter had already pulled out a small portable radio from somewhere, and was setting it to a channel. The strange thing was the way she was doing it: almost mechanically, systematically, with a set station in mind. But... how could she know?
The room was soon full of music, and Marlene was staring at the radio, as if it held some great truth for her. Navi wasn't sure if this was normal for her, or if this was a recent development, but she watched too, interested. Kowalski did say that they had to keep a close eye on her, and make sure any and all unusual behavior was documented. She didn't write it down, she just... watched. A new song came on, one Navi didn't recognize, but she very much liked after a while. It seemed to bother Marlene, and after a couple of verses, Navi knew why. "How can one song so accurately portray current feelings?" She asked the bear, startling her. "Do they know? What happened, I mean." The younger animal shook her head no, explaining it's just the song they chose to play at the time. "But... That's what happened to me, isn't it? That's..." She didn't go any farther as the song faded away, and another one started to play.
It was a sadder song, which made Navi cringe. She wasn't sure if this was what Marlene needed right now. Of course, the otter didn't look like she was having any sort of problem with the song, so she let it go on. That is, until she reached the end of the second verse, when Marlene's eyes began to tear up a bit. "How sad..." She muttered, reaching up to wipe her own eyes. The other female began to panic a little. Marlene wasn't supposed to get stressed, because of what happened last time. She looked at her face, and by this time, big, heavy tears were dribbling out of her eyes. "Why didn't he just tell her how he felt before... why?" It was a sadly funny and adorable sight, however not very helpful to Marlene. The next song Navi KNEW was a sad one, and as quickly as she could, she switched off the music and suggested they check on the penguins, to which Marlene tearfully agreed.
They got outside, and it was bright and sunny, still fairly early in the morning, and Navi was glad to see the penguins outside, practicing with ken-do sticks. She turned to Marlene, who, it looked like, was chewing a large wad of gum. Several awkward seconds of watching her chew, the otter finally... hmm... Even though Navi was watching it right then, it was hard to describe, really. She didn't spit it out, more like... she opened her mouth a crack and pushed it out with her tongue, it being a clam, still in the shell, covered with saliva. It landed with a sick plop in Marlene's open hands, so she could examine it further. "My food is problematic." She mumbled to a very disgusted Navi.
For a while, it was all the polar bear could do to just watch her struggle with the slimy clam and not make any noises or throw up. Finally, she took the clam from her, shivering from head to toe. "Why don't we just, ah... aaahh..." She groaned. Holding the spit covered thing was more than gross, but she swallowed everything she would normally do, and smashed the clam on the ground, where it broke into two very nice halves, one of which had the meat inside. Marlene scooped it up and pulled out the mussel, before slurping it down. 'Never again. NEVER again.' Navi thought, not hiding the shiver that rattled her bones.
Marlene over at her, her eyes strange and almost empty, it nearly freaked the bear out. "What's never again?" Navi started, and looked around. She could have sworn she thought that... She shook her head and told her it was nothing, before taking her hand and bringing her to the penguin habitat, where she could see Mort and Maurice yelling at Julian to shut up. Navi smiled; they were right, of course. They had a long 24 hours or so, it must have been very rough to pretend to be a polar bear, otter, and a group of penguins. When they got there, the penguins greeted Marlene heartily, and she seemed to respond well to it, waving back a bit. They continued with the rest of the exercise for that day, and when they were done, each penguin handed back their ken-do stick to Rico.
Each, except for Private and Skipper, who held onto theirs when Rico came around to them. "Actually... Maybe we should have Marlene give us a lesson in what she knows." Kowalski immediately objected, stating that it would be a terrible and maybe even life threatening mistake. As per normal, however, Skipper didn't listen. Well, he did, but he did what he wanted to anyway. "And besides," He said, handing Marlene his stick so that she could spar off with Private. "Maybe this could bring a little bit of before-Marlene back to us." It was a long shot, but if now-Marlene could still remember how to fight, maybe she'd remember other things about herself too.
They looked at Marlene, who was examining her stick very carefully, like it was something to be treasured. Navi and Rico went to stand beside Skipper and Kowalski, and waited to see what was going to happen. The lead penguin had to show Marlene exactly how to hold it before they started, and on his mark, they got into their ready positions.
Private made a passive thrusting motion at her, which she dodged and spun out of the way of, looking at him with the same big brown eyes she had when she first walked up to them, curious and wide. He looked a little put off, but proceeded forward with another jab and thrust, which she both dodged and blocked, respectively. The boy frowned. He was one of the best sword-fighters there, and he was losing to Marlene. Somehow, that didn't sit right with him. He began throwing out more and more rapid attacks, each she either got out of the way of, or blocked, throwing him back. She, however, never made an offensive move.
When Marlene blocked one of his more difficult moves, he became even more frustrated. Not at the otter, or the fact that he was losing, but the fact that she wasn't really fighting back, and he was losing to a shield. He made a quick sweep with his stick at her feet, which she jumped over, then made a swipe at her side. Marlene was just fast enough to push it away with her stick, but he ended up hitting her on the shoulder anyways. Up until that point, Marlene had been having a good time. It was almost like a learning experience. Not to mention... It was strange, she could hear everything that Private was about to do. It was like a cheat, yes, but... she didn't ask the voices to tell her, and she didn't attack back. Well, she hadn't been planning on it, anyway. Until the hit.
It didn't hurt, was the strange thing, but the fact that he had even done that... struck her like that... it was … Angering. Enraging. She swiped back, and Private jumped away. How could she miss... Try again... don't miss. A different voice told her. It sounded angry at her, and she was angry at her, as well. She jabbed, then thrust... and he blocked both of them. DON'T MISS! HIT HIM! Get him! She roared out, and the peanut gallery gasped, shocked at her sudden attitude change. Private had to work double time just to keep up with her, and when she heard the first voice telling her he was going to fall, she took advantage of it.
In the moment it took him to get his balance, she had slid behind him and whacked him hard in the back, causing him to yelp in pain. She then jumped back, and, with a mighty yell, she hit his waist, and the back of his legs, causing him to fall over. It was all he could do to roll over onto his back with a weak moan... and then to see Marlene hovering above him, a murderous, very much NOT Marlene look in her eyes... it was scary. She raised the stick high above him, and just as it looked as though he was going to be a penguin kabob, another stick came in and halted hers, albeit just barely.
It was Skipper, using both of his flippers to stop her one paw. "Marlene... don't you think you've done enough?" She growled at him, and backed up... then quickly started throwing swipes and jabs at Skipper. "I guess not..." He fought back with increasing vigor, matching her hit for hit. She was starting to get more angry, the penguin noticed, and he had to stop this soon. After stumbling a little bit once, he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. A loud scream alerted him to her next attack. She was going to try and jump him and attack from above. He threw himself onto his back and kicked her up and over to the other side of the plastic ice burg they called home.
Navi rushed up to Marlene, checking her out. "She's out cold." She glanced up the lead penguin, who was waddling up to the pair slowly. "Skipper... what just happened? Did Marlene just go crazy?" He looked at her curiously and shrugged his shoulders, allowing Rico to take the two ken-do sticks, and Kowalski to help get Marlene into their headquarters. They'd deal with the rest of this there.
Brown eyes opened to see five sets of blue ones varying in tone looking at her. "Hey guys... what's up?" Marlene asked, sounding like she did before the tests happened. Skipper and Kowalski wasted no time in telling her everything that happened, much to Navi and Private's disapproving looks. She stared blankly until the story was finished, then raised an eyebrow. "Okay, guys... very funny. That doesn't even sound like something I'd do. Private." He squirmed a little when she looked at him, and the otter grew concerned. "Private! I wouldn't do something like that. W-would I?" She thought back... back as far as she could.... to the voices that told her what to do... the ones she obeyed without question. "I did something bad... didn't I?"
Now-Marlene was back, and she sounded more scared than anything. Rico patted her on the back, causing her to jump a little bit, but she stayed where she was. Then the room was quiet. Skipper couldn't believe what had just happened. It was because of Blowhole that all this was even going on. And as soon as he found out what he did... He would have that dolphin's dorsal fin. The lead penguin watched Kowalski talk to Marlene, asking her if she wouldn't mind giving him a blood sample to run some tests on. She said no fearlessly, and the scientist of the outfit took out a small needle (Skipper closed his eyes) and drew a good bit of blood. It looked like a strange dye experiment of red and purples. Kowalski would run some tests on it that day, and Marlene would be free to relax at home for the rest of the day.
The otter bowed her head and almost ran out of the penguin hidey-hole, leaving the scientist to do his analytic work, Rico to watch some TV with Private, and Navi glared at Skipper, who, when he looked over at her shifted in shock. "What!? I didn't do anything. Why are you looking at me like that?" Navi pushed a paw at his chest and nearly knocked him over.
"You know what. You hurt her feelings." He rolled his eyes and scoffed, expecting her to just drop it. But she didn't. "Skipper, you've got to know that no matter which Marlene it is, she still has feelings. And as none of us know what's wrong with her, you might need to go and... you know. Talk to her. Apologize. Make amends." She yammered on about it, but Skipper wasn't having it.
It's too bad that Private decided to join in. "She's right, you know, Skipper. S'not like she meant to do anything bad. It just... happened, right?" Rico even joined in with a few yeahs of his own.
Everyone was getting on his case about this! He didn't even do anything. But fine. Since it was such a big deal, and since it was SO important, he decided that he could talk to her. Tomorrow. Which, he told his troops, in the mean time would give Kowalski plenty of time to work on an antidote for Marlene's condition, and Rico and Private to work on whatever fighting moves they needed to practice on. He sat down with the others, and Navi, after a fashion, to watch TV, until the polar bear had to go to sleep. On her way out, she elbowed a "friendly" reminder to the back of his head, making sure he wouldn't forget what he had to do in the morning. He waved her off, his assurance that he wouldn't forget. Waiting until morning would clear his head of what had happened that day.
It would also give him time to think of what to say.
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A/N: The next chapter is my very very very VERY VERY VERY favorite chapter. Out of this story anyways. I love it, and if I could post it today, I would. But if you're nice, and leave lots of reviews, then maybe I'll post it sooner than later. Questions, comments, reviews, pancakes... all are welcome. Also, I'll be leaving to visit my parents, so I won't be able to post anything for another few days yet. However, if I find lots of reviews... or even pancakes, then I'll update this sooner, and you'll get to see the greatest chapter thus far... sooner!
