URGENT! GREAT HELP NEEDED!

Hello there everyone. Look, I need your help. I'm thinking of possibly paring a male OC of mine with one of the girls, in another book in this series. One problem though…I have no idea which of the girls I'm going to pair him with! Please help me…I call out for your friendly guidance! Which one of the girls would you like to see fall in love? The most popular answer will be the one I have. I WILL BE HINTING AT THAT GIRL WANTING LOVE, IN PARTS IN THIS BOOK, SO PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR THOUGHTS ASAP!

Thank you all in advance for all your help! I love you all so much!

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Chapter 5

Skipper rose from his sleep at the break of dawn the next morning. He had managed to deal with the noise of the lemur's music, because the earphones had managed to stifle the sound after a while.

Private rubbed his eyes, "Sir, do we really have to wake up so early?" he asked.

The leader replied, "Absolutely! We need to be on our game if we want to be successful in today's training." We aren't going to be shown up by a bunch of girls.

The team assembled quickly on the ice-flow, and Private could not help but lean on Kowalski's shoulder in fatigue. He had only seconds to relax, before his superior hissed, "Private! Pay attention!"

The small penguin bolted upright, instantly saluting him, "Yes sir! Sorry sir!" he answered.

Rico looked around, and looked at his leader, and babbled something in gibberish, his tone one of confusion.

Skipper answered, scratching his beak, "No Rico, I don't know where the girls are."

Meanwhile, Mina awoke, lying on the park bench outside the zoo. She had spent the night there, with Faith and Leah. They were used to sleeping in unusual places, and knew that they had to stay close to the penguins.

The vampire gazed at her sleeping friends, and smirked. Being a vampire, she only needed a few hours of sleep, and always made it her jobs to watch over her friends as they slept. Mina tapped Leah on the shoulder, "Hey. It's time to wake up" she whispered.

The black haired girl nodded, and slowly opened her eyes. She yawned, and replied groggily, using Faith's nickname, "Well, we better wake up the wolf-girl."

Faith slept peacefully next to her, and as soon as she was touched, she awoke. The half-breed yawned, stretched, and scratched her hair. Still half asleep, she asked, "What time is it?"

Mina replied after glancing at the sky to confirm, "Dawn."

The hybrid whispered, "For God's sake, do we really have to get up so early?"

The vampire looked around, searching for someone. She inquired to no one in particular, "Where's Genevieve?"

Leah snarled, "Hopefully far away from us."

Faith looked at her, "What was up with you yesterday?!" she questioned, referring to her tension with the fox. She added, throwing her hands up, "You were ferocious with her! I've never seen you like that before."

The black haired girl stood and, not making eye contact, replied, "We need to get going. The penguins will be waiting for us."

They arrived at the penguin habitat soon after, and Leah instantly stiffened. She suppressed a growl of rage, and her look of surprise. She's here!? I was almost confident that she would ditch us!

Mina looked at her, "Could you just forget about the fact that you seem to hate her guts for just five minutes, Leah!?" she asked.

"Nope. Not possible" she answered. But, she followed her friends closer to the habitat anyway.

Genevieve, who was inside the habitat, greeted them politely, "Good morning" she said sweetly. The fox was dressed in her cloak as usual, but the hood was drawn back.

Faith smiled, "Morning Gen" she replied.

Leah only responded by scowling so coldly at the fox, that she actually lost her composure for a few seconds. But, the fox regained it quickly and cleared her throat, turning to the penguins, who were standing at attention. "Alright, the most important thing to remember when fighting The Illusion," she narrowed her eyes, "Never let your guard down, not even for a second" she said.

Private raised a flipper, "Excuse me, but is that possible?" he asked.

Skipper smacked him on the back of the head, "Of course it is! Don't ask such stupid questions, Private" he reprimanded.

"Sorry sir" answered the young penguin, rubbing the back of his head.

Mina clenched her fists. Don't tell them. Don't. Let Genevieve train them. They can't know about you. You'll lose their trust.

Faith, noticing her friend's distress, put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Her gaze softened, "It's okay. We don't have to tell them anything" she said.

Genevieve did not seem to notice the exchange between the two girls, and continued speaking. "The Illusion aren't like anything else you penguins would have encountered. They don't fall just by being kicked and punched. They need to be slain with special devices."

Skipper questioned, turning his attention to the three girls, "Why haven't you just dealt with them?"

Leah replied, "'Cause there are way too many for us to fight alone."

Genevieve nodded, and continued, "We need your help, penguins. The Illusion have not been a problem for many years, but now things have gotten out of hand. At first, they simply refused to keep supernatural happenings secret, but now they have started killing people."

Kowalski inquired, "The Death-Wolf that we encountered was one of The Illusion?"

The fox answered, "Yes," she turned to Skipper, "You and your team will be working alongside us, to vanquish The Illusion for good." She reached into her cloak, and added, "To do that, you'll need to be trained in using specific items." Genevieve pulled out what looked like a small silver dagger that was exactly the correct size for an animal to use, "This is a Guardian Sword. It was once used by Guardians," she paused for a minute, "To slay Death-Wolves" she explained.

Rico babbled something in gibberish, and Private translated, "He asked what a Guardian is."

The fox was about to answer, when Leah did so. Taking a deep breath, the girl answered, "A Guardian is someone, usually a superhuman of sorts, who is trained to fight and kill Death-Wolves."

Kowalski scoffed, "Alright, this is getting ridiculous. There is no scientific evidence of super-humans in the world" he countered.

She replied, "There are super-humans Kowalski. But no, they're not born with their powers like in the movies. The only real way you can become a super-human is if you chose to become one," she glared at Genevieve, "or if,"

The fox interrupted hastily, "That's not really relevant. Look, I need to teach you about all available weapons, as quickly as possible." She gestured to the dagger, "Now, you're probably thinking that this doesn't really look like a sword. Well," she snapped her wrist, and the dagger extended to the size of a sword, that was the right size for her, with black engravings on it, "As you can see, it is. Guardians carry the weapon in the small size of a dagger, but extend it when it needs to be used. That way, it's easy to carry, and inconspicuous" she clarified.

Skipper smirked, "Sweet! When are we gonna get to use that!?" he asked enthusiastically.

Faith matched his expression, "You'll love it. It's freaking awesome. We've had to use one to kill a few Death-Wolves" she added.

Private raised an eye ridge, "How have you used them? It's animal sized" he said.

She answered, "It's normally big enough for a person, but Genevieve must have shrunk a few down so that you could use them to."

The fox took a deep breath, "Alright penguins, let's see what you've got. Practice with the Guardian Swords" she instructed, tossing one to each penguin.

That night, Mina was awake on the park bench, when she suddenly heard a rustling sound in the trees. Alarmed, the vampire used her enhanced speed to race up to the tree, snatch the stranger, and pin them to the grass. Upon seeing a familiar face, she question in shock, "Private! What the bloody hell are you doing?!"

The little penguin answered, trembling, "I…I want to know something, M-Mina."

She replied, "What?"

He took a deep breath, "Why were you so quiet in today's training? You looked afraid" he responded.

Mina let him go, and stood up. "Promise me something, first. Promsie you won't tell anyone unless you have to" she said.

"Sure" Private answered.

The vampire nodded, and did not meet his gaze. She sighed, and confessed,

"Private…I…I used to be one of The Illusion."