"Good; now you're getting the hang of this" Slade praised him. Skipper smiled; now it had been about a month since he and Hans had had that first actual combat practice; now they had it almost every day; and Skipper was greatly improving. It was now hard to tell who would win the combat exercises but it was obvious Slade expected Skipper to win; this worried him; but also made him extremely happy. The few moments when he wasn't burning with anger was when he was training. Currently he was battle training with Slade while Hans looked on nearby; the puffin was seething with jealousy that much was clear to Skipper; mainly because despite having started training after Hans, he was the first to actually combat train with Slade one on one. Slade struck first and flung a punch at Skipper's mid-section; he responded instantly and caught the punch with his flipper and kicked out at the eagle's legs trying to trip him. Slade leapt back avoiding the trap and lunged at Skipper; whom threw several punches and blows at the eagle whom just kept coming; and counter attacking. Skipper quickly realized that Slade was backing him into a corner so he did a back flip off a wall and flew over the eagle's head and landed gracefully behind him. Both spun around to face the other and circled each other slowly.
"Hey thought you guys might be here" a female voice said from the training room's entrance. Skipper and Slade flung themselves at the source who stumbled back several paces to stand near Hans; who hadn't moved.
"Oh; it's just you Harley" Slade said; relaxing.
"Um yeah" the cat said; "just came to see how Skipper was settling in"
"It's great here" Skipper said cheerfully; though he could already feel the anger returning as it always did when he wasn't fighting.
"Yeah; he's already stealing the spot light too" Hans added; his eyes narrowed darkly.
"Aw come on Hans; you'll always be the better fighter" Skipper put his flipper on his friend's shoulder and smiled trying to cheer him up. For some reason Hans had been very moody lately; despite the fact that he was never picked on by Slade; which Skipper was every day. Despite Slade at first seeming to be cold and careless; Skipper had finally he figured out it was because he didn't give out trust as much as he had at one time; due to Deadshot. Deadshot, At the thought of the name's owner; he felt seething fury flood his veins making him want to punch something or make the stupid lemur suffer the way he had made Skipper suffer; only worse.
"Maybe; it seems Harley likes you more though" Hans shrugged Skipper's flipper off.
"So; what's that supposed to mean?" Skipper asked as the puffin walked away.
"Nothing you would understand Skipper" Hans said heading back up into the main casino.
"Give him space Skipper; it's about the time he would have left his parents had they lived" Harley said gently.
"You rescued Hans too" Skipper asked the cat. Harley nodded.
"I sent her on a mission to a classified area and she found him; luckily; sometimes the kids are killed by Deadshot returning to finish the job before we can get there" Slade shrugged.
"Who is Deadshot?" Skipper asked; hoping Slade's good mood and Harley's arrival might finally bring some answers.
"No one you should concern yourself with" Slade snapped.
"It does concern me! He killed my family! Right in front of me!" Skipper snarled; once again they were fighting over stuff like this.
"That doesn't mean you need to go after him for the sake of revenge" Slade spat; his feathers ruffled.
"What's revenge?" Skipper asked suddenly; he had never heard the word before and his curiosity was stronger than his anger.
"Nothing you need to know about; just go upstairs; it's almost dinner time anyway" Slade replied shortly.
Ooh; someone's learning quickly and Hans doesn't seem too happy about it. Will Skipper learn what revenge is in the next chapter; you'll have to wait and see!