Skipper's log. 01:00 Hours on August the twenty ninth.

"I killed a penguin today.

"I knew it was inevitable, like some sneaking shadow that was eventually going to catch up to me. I knew that following Manfredi and betraying the Penguin Army meant that it was only a matter of time. The moment I charged out of that base I knew I was throwing my life into turmoil. I knew that Sarge and his army wouldn't stop looking for me until I was dead. I knew that meant I was going to have to shoot first eventually.

"It was a young cadet. He wasn't much unlike that one guard we knocked out when we escaped the fortress for the second time. He was obviously much younger than Johnson and still had some of his down feathers. Eric Waddlefoot was his name, according to what was inscribed on his rifle.

"He was just a scout, sent out into the woods to look for us. He didn't have any real combat training and only wanted to avoid confrontation. I spotted him looking at us through some trees at our camp. He looked scared when I noticed him, then aimed his rifle directly at me. I could tell his flippers were shaking, but he didn't pull the trigger.

"That's when I grabbed my rifle and shot first. The bullet ricocheted off of the tree he was hiding behind. He got scared and bolted away from us. Manfredi shouted at me to gun him down. I already knew that I had to, though. If I didn't, he'd get back to base and tell Fishslader exactly where we were.

"I remember thinking I'd just try to get him in the leg, or maybe the flipper. Something non-vital, but enough to get him to stop running. I watched in horror as he fell to the forest floor, though. My shot had passed directly through his chest.

"When I went over to him, he tried to say something to me with his last breath, but it had only come out as a gurgle. There was blood pouring from his wound, and I'm sure I had to have gotten him directly in the heart. His eyes fell empty after that, and he went silent. I felt sick.

"I am a killer.

"We all stood around after that, like nobody knew what to say or do. We just watched the blood soak into the soil. After some time Manfredi tried to comfort me. He told me that if I had not have shot first, I would have died. Manfredi didn't understand, though. Eric Waddlefoot was a scout. You don't shoot at scouts. Besides, it's not like Manfredi was the one who pulled the trigger.

"Johnson was terrified by the whole incident. It was a wake up call to him, I'm sure. His preconceptions about war have probably just been burnt down into a smoldering heap. Even after all we had been through, it was like it took the actual sight of death to wake him up.

"Manfredi encouraged us to move as fast as we could after that. It would only have been a matter of time before more penguins came looking for the source of the gunshots. Besides, we were on our way to hitch a ride on a research vessel. I'm sitting on it now. We need to get to Antarctica as fast as possible, and this is our only option.

"I can't get the image of that young penguin's empty eyes out of my head, though. He probably had a family – older brothers or sisters, mom and dad. Sarge probably convinced him to run away from home and enlist. The boy still had his down feathers, for crying out loud!

"And I killed him. How many more penguins will I have to kill before this is over?"

The Speed of Darkness
Chapter 34 – Training

Marlene looked across the deck at Rico and Private. They were sparring, getting ready to confront Sarge in Antarctica. Rico had a bulky, wooden plank in his hands and was swinging it wildly at Private, who was easily dodging the blows. Rico swung high, Private ducked. Rico swung low, Private jumped. Rico swung from the side, Private rolled. It was almost as if the entire act was choreographed, Rico and Private being dancers up on the stage. Private seemed to know Rico's next move before the maniacal penguin even began to swing the plank. It was only a matter of time before Private found an opening to kick the plank out of Rico's hand.

"Yack, yack!" exclaimed Rico, clapping his flippers. Private beamed. Rico wasn't done, though, and Private looked just in time to block a powerful chop from the weapons expert. Just like that the two were off again, flipping around the deck, kicking and punching.

Marlene redirected her attention to Julien, who was sitting on the far side of the deck from her. He was also watching the two penguins train. They hadn't spoken much in the few days that had passed since their conversation in the captain's cabin.

She was still having trouble comprehending Julien's words. He loved her? She was scared by the idea, and she didn't want to believe it. At the same time, however, she was intrigued by the idea s well. She wanted to know how long Julien had had feelings for her. She wanted to ask him more about what he thought about her. She also wanted to know more about him. She wondered what it was like to have been king of an entire lemur society on Madagascar. She also pondered why Julien had given it all up to come to Central Park Zoo.

Julien looked up from the penguins and their gaze met for only a moment. Marlene pretended to be looking at something in the distance behind the lemur before redirecting her attention back to the penguins. Rico managed to land a big hit on Private, which sent him flying back. The small penguin was back on his feet in no time, though.

She didn't understand why she felt so awkward looking him in the eyes now. She never remembered being intimidated by the ring-tailed lemur. Maybe she didn't feel as comfortable around him now that he had confessed his feelings for her? Each time they had made eye contact, though, she had felt her cheeks grow warm and he had always tried to pretend she was looking at something else. She felt as though she wanted to look him in the eyes, but she didn't want to get noticed when she did. Was that why Julien had been spying on her for weeks?

She shook her head. Once again, she had let her mind run loose. It was time to focus on what she had come up here to do in the first place.

"Hey, guys!" she called to the penguins. They stopped sparring at once and looked at her.

"Oh, hey, Marlene," returned Private, "What's new?"

"So," she began, "since we're all going to Antarctica to battle off Sarge and his men and what-not, I was wondering if you guys could give me the basic combat training rundown? You know, like hand-to-hand stuff."

Private nodded. "Skippah probably wouldn't normally approve of us teaching our techniques to anyone, but I think we have a bloody right reason now."

Rico nodded vigorously. "Julien," he wheezed, pointing to the lemur.

"Good call, Rico," agreed Private. "You should probably learn some our tricks too, Julien."

"Me?" said Julien, pointing to himself. "Well, uh... you see..."

"Get your butt over here, Julien," interrupted Marlene. "You know darn well that if we don't get any training we'll be entirely useless when we get to Antarctica." Without another word Julien joined the three in the middle of the deck. He lined up across from Rico whereas Private was lined up across from Marlene.

"Okay," said Private, beginning the lesson, "First things first: fighting stances." Private and Rico simultaneously brought their flippers in front of their faces, arched their backs slightly, and bent their knees only a touch. It made them look intimidating; like a collaborative unstoppable force. However, they still looked flexible enough to do flips and agile maneuvers.

"Try to model yourself directly after us," instructed Private. Marlene nodded and then brought her paws up in front of her face, balling her paws into fists. She bent her knees a little bit, and furrowed her brow in determination.

"Try to relax a bit, Marlene." Private instructed. He lowered her paws a little and raised her chin with his flipper. "You need to be able see, as well, over your own arms. Oh, and try to breathe a bit, it's like you're holding your breath." Marlene let loose the breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Loose knees!" came Rico's instruction to Julien. Marlene looked over at the lemur to see the maniacal penguin attempting to push Julien's shoulder's down and get him to bend his knees a bit.

"Nothing is being wrong with my knees!" argued Julien, attempting to swat Rico's flippers away.

"humph!" replied the scarred penguin, taking a few steps back from the lemur. "Fighting stance," he then instructed, and Julien raised his paws in front of his face. He had a slightly confused look on his face. Without warning, Rico charged Julien and pushed him hard, knocking him to the planks.

"Ow!" cried Julien, dazed.

"Gravity, center of stance. No gravity!" explained Rico, who then laughed.

"If you keep your knees straight, your center of gravity will be too high," clarified Private, "making you very easy to knock over. Let's see if you can stay standing, Marlene."

"What? Okay..." responded Marlene worriedly. She went back into the stance and clenched her fists tightly.

Rico lined up across from her and then charged. She tried to focus on keeping her knees loose, but she wound up flinching as the penguin extended his flippers and locking up. She fell to the ground and hit hard, just like Julien had.

Private offered her a hand to get back up. "It's okay," he said, "Rico's strong. Sometimes he even still gets me."

"This might be harder than I thought," complained the Asian otter, rubbing her bottom. Private chuckled.

"You should have seen our first few days of training with the Skippah. I don't think he realized there was such a thing as a rookie!"

"Was he really hard on you guys for the first few days?" asked Marlene.

"Oh yeah," answered Private, "it was like he was expecting far more out of us right from the beginning than we could. Thankfully over time he learned that we had a lot to learn, so he slowed down a bit."

"Hmm," wondered Marlene, scratching her head. "D'you maybe think he was trying to prepare you for something really fast? Like, if this 'Sun' thing ever cropped again, you'd be ready to help?"

Marlene heard a grunt from her left. She glanced over and saw Julien on the floor again, with Rico chuckling. The ring-tailed lemur hopped up again and took his position.

"C'mon," he taunted, "you won't be knocking me down this time!"

Rico charged again, but Julien ducked under his push. Before Julien could even smile about his victory, however, a webbed foot collided with the side of his face and he flew sideways.

"No, no!" wheezed Rico, "not good stance. Easy target!" Julien grumbled.

"That might be true, Marlene," answered Private, finally. He had also been watching the pair. "Now that you bring it up, Skippah always had a strong sense of paranoia about him when we first came to the zoo. I mean, he still has it now, but back then it was just ridiculous. It makes me wonder why he's so unwilling to let us help now."

"That's true," agreed Marlene.

"Mostly when he went in ran away from the zoo after Manfredi. It seems like if he was training us to help him when Sarge came back for the Sun, he'd want us to help find Manfredi."

"Yeah."

Marlene watched Rico charge at Julien again. Julien took the blow this time, and though he stumbled a few steps backward, he remained standing. Rico smiled towards him, and he smiled back.

"We should probably get back to training," instructed the round penguin. "Skippah says we've only got about ten days until we reach Antarctica."

Marlene nodded. "Any little bit will help."

Private took his fighting stance, and Marlene knew that he was signaling her to do the same. She complied and prepared herself for the blow she knew Private was about to deliver. Private charged, and though she tried her best to remain upright, she toppled like a tower of cards.

Private laughed.

~Author's Note: Hope everyone is enjoying the new year. This chapter was more of a transitional one, so it was a tad short. Should be enjoyable enough, though.

Big thanks to long-term loyal readers TheSkySpritsTalentShow, Sarahbelle Saunders, and Penguinsfan19. You guys are the ones that keep me going with your awesome reviews!