CHAPTER TEN: THE BIG CHEESE THROWS A TANTRUM

Days passed uneventfully. The cats returned to normal life at the pizzeria. Dr. Purple could not figure out where they had gone, for he had not discovered the secret of the Pizza Cats' hidden in plain sight routine anymore than any other villain (at least permanently) aside from the now reformed Bad Bird. Thus in fairness the good doctor planned to wait a few days or so before he decided to play again. The Big Cheese had not been seen for a while either — not that anyone missed him enough to wonder what had happened to him, except the Rude Noise who had to put up with his orders in exchange for treasure, and the Flying Skull Clan had no orders at all, and remained as silent as the grave hidden in their sheltered village.

However, the silence fooled no one. It was only the calm before the storm, a temporary retreat in which all parties had to digest the situation, and some of them were trying to recover from a little heartburn caused by it, for it was a lot to take in at once. This especially became true of the ninja master hunkering down in his hut low and angry and miserable.

With a snowy brow heavier than a January dump Jerry knelt moodily, drinking his tea as he brooded about all the very recent and quite unfortunate events. His conversation with the Big Cheese was almost as bad as the one he had had with Bad Bird earlier and he tried desperately to forget his lovely meeting with Bad Max and his ilk. He was thinking about revenge mostly, as villains do, whenever he managed to think past the thought: It's not fair!

As he knelt with his tea in this manner, forgetting his posture and hunching over his table with the sulkiest pout he had made since his ninja partied it up in New York, his thoughts were prematurely interrupted with the sound of a quake.

He lifted a brow. He heard nothing more.

But as he placed his cup back onto the table the liquid inside the cup started to ripple much in the same way Speedy's cup had not long ago.

The old ninja stiffened quite alarmed as the quakes became louder and the hut started to shake violently with each boom outside.

"Master Jerry!"

This was Nick.

Slamming open the door in a panic he just barely managed a bow before he cried, "A giant robot of the Big Cheese is coming this way!"

"What!?"

Jerry stood up.

The quakes were getting louder still, and the meager foundations of his hut seemed liable to give way at any moment as a result.

More ninja crows came up behind Nick.

"What should we do, master!?" they asked.

"Jerry!" called a voice echoing like a horror film outside.

Jerry knew that that fox was coming for him for revenge first before he could think of anything else.

"Oh!" he moaned. "The whole world's against me!"

He shook. Whether from frustration or the quaking of his hut is uncertain.

"Should we fight, Master Jerry?!" cried Nick at last, sword held high with determination.

The other crows joined him.

Well, at least his weak followers still loved him.

"No! We evacuate the village!" commanded Jerry. "Round up everyone and evacuate!"

"But our village," protested the ninja crows.

"Do as I say! The Big Cheese will destroy us all if we don't! Our clan must survive!"

The crows did as bidden, and some of them were actually quite eager to, for most of them were honestly cowards. Only Nick looked back once at his master sadly, but then flew quickly away.

After they had gone, the hut began to show signs of crumbling splinters, which soon came flying from the walls. With a wary eye behind him Jerry sneaked out the back door of his hut behind Nick, but just as he closed the door behind him with the slightest squeak the quakes stopped. Jerry held his breath and a horror film's silence held him in suspense for only a few seconds before a gargantuan blast of fire power and blinding light.

Without knowing what had hit him Jerry blew away himself from this giant burst and tumbled into half-destroyed trees. Nothing remained of his hut — hardly a pile of ash remained.

#

This explosion did not go unnoticed. The whole of Little Tokyo heard it. Some wondered if it was Mount Kuchi blowing its top; others thought it may be an earthquake, or at least another one of those horrible robots that kept appearing lately. Citizens leaped to their windows and shouted in the streets pointing towards the smoke cloud in the distance.

The cats too immediately leapt outside to see what had happened, and looking up at the smoke they knew something had to be done!

"It must be Dr. Purple!" said Speedy, "I knew he would show up again sooner or later. Quick! To the cannon! The Samurai Pizza Cats will put an end to him once and for all."

"Yeah!" cried Polly and Guido in agreement.

"Call the rescue team too, Francine! We need all the help we can get," said Guido.

She barely had enough time to assure him she would before they ran off into the restaurant again.

"Hey, wait for me!" cried Nobu appearing from nowhere. He refused to be left behind this time.

Dashing into his own restaurant he geared up quick as a flash. But it did not help that a prick in the back of his mind told him that the smoke cloud seemed to be coming from the direction of the ninja village.

#

A pile of rubble lay in place of the ninja village. Not a sound could be heard. Not a squawk in the empty war zone as it now looked after that explosion. One would think no life survived it with how the eerie silence dominated all.

Then from out of the slowly clearing smoke of the destroyed remains, Jerry lifted his eye lids. His aching head throbbed, and he moaned as he rubbed it with care.

"Oh, Jerry!" a sinister voice sang, and it changed quite suddenly to a passionate shout: "You old stupid ninja!"

The old ninja's eyes shot open out of his skull.

"Oh, no," he squeaked.

Laughter crackled from the speakers of the Big Cheese robot; the fox's true self was hidden within the giant mechanical shell.

"So, Jerry, whaddya think of my new robot? I call it 'The Mega Cheese.' Much better than anything your useless ninja crows could make," said the Big Cheese, and another burst of laughter came from the huge emotionless robot. "Now you wish you still had me as a partner, huh? Well guess what? I wouldn't be partners again with you even if you begged me!"

Jerry growled at the thought of himself begging as he suggested but said nothing.

"I'm going to make you take back all those things you said to me! My plans are brilliant! And I don't need you to fulfill my plans anymore! I can get along just fine without you! You—you old crabby old dink!" he said, sputtering at the end.

At this Jerry stood up in a rage himself. "Rr-r-r-r-r! You know I'll never take it back! Never! You're just upset because I tricked you for eighteen years, and you were too stupid to see it!"

A loud piercing growl came from the speakers which made Jerry cover his ears. With a giant hand, the fox reached to snatch the old bird. Plucking him from the ground like a grub the arm pulled him up to face the giant ugly face of the Big Cheese and finally when he reached the height of the outstretched arm, the red shield lifted from the eyes to reveal the real Mr. Cheese inside.

"Not so stupid now that I have the upper hand," he said pointing upwards to Jerry trapped above him, and he chuckled at his joke, and crossed his arms importantly. "Now, admit that I'm right and COOL or I'll squeeze the rest of the miserable old life out of ya!" He shook his fist at him and spit so much in anger that it splattered all over himself.

"No," said Jerry simply.

"Take it BACK!" After this deafening scream he squeezed Jerry with his mechanical hand at the flip of a switch.

Jerry tried to struggle free but the grip was too great.

"I would rather die," growled Jerry.

The Big Cheese only squeezed him harder.

"You will …" said the Big Cheese between his teeth.

It would not have taken long to crush Jerry like a beetle under a rock. His chest and spine already began to feel as though they would snap, but just before he thought the end had come, a quick swish passed faster than either fox or crow could perceive, and the giant arm was neatly cut off. Both the arm and Jerry fell to the ground with a great clang.

"Wha—?" The Big Cheese blinked. "What the—? My arm!" he wailed.

Another familiar chuckle arose and it echoed everywhere. It belonged to none other than the hero cat Speedy Cerviche.

"Huh, didn't expect to see you two alone the cause of this destruction," said the unseen Guido Anchovy in his usual smooth tone.

"Not that we wouldn't like you two disposed of. Again!" added also the invisible feminine voice of Polly Ester, who emphasized the last line with clenched teeth.

Lastly, the third unseen voice of Speedy in all triumphant glory sounded: "All villains will pay the price for their sinister villainous ways so long as us three are alive!"

"The Rescue Team will see it done as well," said General Caten boldly. The rest of the team agreed.

Jerry groaned, "Oh, great. The cats I don't need."

The next voice shocked him so that he nearly molted from his forward jolt.

"Me too! I will see to it you'll never succeed!" said Nobu quickly. He still wanted to be part of their dramatic entrance.

With a flash of a spotlight and a heroic musical cue they finally revealed themselves.

"There's no way you'll get away this time," added Speedy. "Not with my friends by my side."

"The Samurai Pizza Cats!" cried Guido and Polly

The Big Cheese roared, "You Pizza Cats ruin everything!" (He was too mad to notice that Bad Bird was among them.) He stomped his foot as he continued, "Why!? Why!? Why me!? It's not fair! Why must you always come and ruin my plans!? Why?! Even when I'm trying to torture Jerry!"

"Give up, Big Cheese. There's no way out," said the general, ignoring his adversary's rant.

"You're out numbered," said Bat Cat.

"Yeah," shouted Polly, "you have no choice but to surrender."

Guido shrugged. "Unless you want us to kick your butt for the millionth time," he said sarcastically.

Like a cauldron ready to boil the Big Cheese, who could literally consider himself once quite big and rather dangerous could hardly control himself, and he was a lot to control right now with fifty feet of metal surrounding him. He might have blown himself up then like he usually did when he became this angered. Yet he managed a focus enough to think that as he possessed such a beast at his command he should use it rather than blow up and destroy it — far more focused than he ever had been in the old days. He did not wait for three years on that crazy scientist's island to be stopped now!

A sickening smirk curled his lips.

"They think I'm a big joke, do they?" the Big Cheese muttered. "I'll show 'em. I'll prove just how threatening I can be."

"Ha! You think I came alone?" he then shouted through the microphone to the cats, "I'm not that stupid!" And he pushed a button on the controls. "Rude Noise, attack!"

At the push of a button, the giant Big Cheese robot's mouth opened and his minions were shot out of it.

With flare and the sound of an electric guitar, they landed in front of the cats in all egoistic glory.

"Miss me, Pizza Cats?" said their leader rather haughtily.

"Oh, great. Not you too," said Speedy rolling his eyes.

"We'll take care of the Rude Noise; you go for the robot," General Caten announced to Speedy.

Speedy nodded, "Right."

Then the general stepped forward. "You wanna mess with us, we'll give it to ya!" he declared and turned to his three companions called, "Rescue Team, attack!"

After a cry of agreement, the team leapt dramatically toward Bad Max and his gang. A furious battle between them took place when they clashed in a confetti display of fur, feathers, and dirt.

Speedy turned to Polly and Guido. "Come on, let's go guys."

They nodded.

Nobu suddenly felt forgotten, and leaping forward calling to Speedy, "Wait! What do you need me to do?"

Speedy stopped rather surprised somehow to find himself in a position to command his once bitter enemy. True it had been three years since Bad Bird reformed as Nobu, but that gap in time seemed to have closed in together in the heat of what Speedy might have considered an old-school battle. Yet turning to the crow with a face that hid this awkward thought Speedy called in full seriousness and rather quickly, "You help the Rescue Team!"

The three cats sped off.

#

"Right," Nobu answered; though Speedy had been too far removed now to hear him.

He tried to ignore his own awkward feeling. Although quite capable of hiding sensitivity in the heat of battle Nobu found himself for a second or two between the contrasting gratefulness that he could help the Pizza Cats at last and make up for his bad deeds and the fact that he was about to fight his brothers, as weird as they were, Crow-Magnum and Cannonball.

The seconds at an end, Nobu put all thought from his mind save for the fight, and he went quickly to assist the Rescue Team.

General Caten's missiles soared. Drills and saws of Meowsma sparked up at the enemies' metal armor if any of the crows got too close. Spritz scalded with his water hoses (he brought a tank of water with him before he had left). They fought their enemies with high spirits and their usual good humor, but their enemy had lost none of their gusto either. In the air Bat Cat found himself caught quite unaware in a chase after Mojo Rojo as Bad Max stuck out a leg and tripped him in mid flight. Taking full advantage he shoved the flying cat to the ground where he crashed.

Cannonball Battery laughed, "Poor pussy cat didn't land on his feet."

Bad Max landed close by. "Shut up. We agreed no repartee."

"Okay," Cannonball answered a little disappointed.

Bat Cat struggled to get himself up as Bad Max swooped down for the kill. He pulled out his sword, "Bye, cat," he hissed. Just as the katana was about to slice the cat, a clash of steel halted his swing.

Nobu's sword.

"Wha the―?" said Bad Max.

"Nobu…?" said Bat Cat in shock by his sudden appearance.

"Move!" growled his rescuer, for their swords were still locked, the intensity in his face as sparks ready to fly.

Bat Cat scurried out.

In contrast with Nobu, Bad Max only wrinkled his beak and made a face that showed nothing more than a little annoyance as though having been interrupted from eating a last bite of chocolate ice cream from the voice of a pest. It was he who after a moment of belittling the situation and an indifferent sniff, finally released the locked swords. Though, he knew well enough that Nobu was the better swordsman.

"Hmph, you're working for the cats now as I thought," he muttered.

"Just take your own advice: shut up and fight!" Nobu shouted back. He was in no mood for such playful banter.

And the battle raged on, especially as many of the ninja crows that were not too hurt by the initial explosion arrived on the scene — not that they were much help to either side, but they did cause confusion, for they found it difficult to decide whose side they were on. Nick was busy trying to find out what happened to his master, and they were leaderless.

A maniacal laugh escaped the Big Cheese. Lightning might have flashed behind him in all melodramatic flare, but a laser beam was good enough. Firing one of these he aimed for Speedy, but his aim was not nearly good enough of a threat against the agility of the Pizza Cats! The mechanical arms were better at causing a few bruises than the laser fire posed as a threat.

However the Big Cheese's spirits were hardly dampened. In fact aside from the ninja crows, Jerry and Nobu, most everyone in the fight seemed to enjoy it more than they should have perhaps. Yet could any of them be blamed for not having to be under the thumb of Dr. Purple's reign on either side?

"Oh, boy! I haven't had this much fun in three years!" the old fox cried gleefully hugging his sides in congratulating himself for almost crushing Guido in the surviving massive robot fist.

Hey, he missed, but he had knocked the wind out of the cat with the back of the robot's hand.

Polly rushed to the rescue and pushed him out of the way from the oncoming clutches of that great metal hand once again.

"You okay?" asked Polly helping him up.

Guido rubbed his head and grinned, "Uh, yeah. Never better."

"Think I'm a joke now?" mocked the Big Cheese. "I'm not the same as I was before. No more hiding! I'll kill you all without the ninja crows!" and he laughed ever more at his triumph (such as it was).

The Pizza Cats glared at the emotionless machine.

"Sad, isn't he?" Guido said with a smirk to Speedy.

But Speedy was too fired up to answer him.

Face brimming with resolve he looked up at the huge fox robot and called, "Alright, Cheesy boy, if that's how you wanna play? Fine! Time to feel the wrath of my sword of justice!"

Speedy readied his Ginzu sword to unleash it but was suddenly interrupted by a sudden shake and a shadow which cast itself over the Pizza Cats.

"Huh?"

Another sickeningly familiar outburst of laughter echoed over the ninja village. The trio and everyone else in the battle looked now to see its unwanted source.

The fun and games were over in the form of another giant metal machine, this time in the shape of a rhino. It landed in front of the Big Cheese robot with a deafening thud. The impact of its landing caused Speedy and the other two to be swept away by it, tumbling into a splintered hut.

"Now what?" the Big Cheese demanded voicing the question of just about every wide-eyed blinking face on the battlefield.

The rhino stood in silence for a moment until a hatch on its head was opened. Inside was none other than Dr. Purple just as everyone had feared.

"Well, well," said the doctor with some amusement as he looked up the Big Cheese, "I had a feeling it was you causing all the ruckus. You've been gone awhile. I've been wondering what you've gotten yourself into these past few days."

A little perplexed at first, the Big Cheese regained himself. Throwing out his fist he barked, "What do you think!? I'm about to destroy the Pizza Cats! So get lost!"

Dr. Purple placed a thoughtful finger on his chin. "All by yourself? Where's your ninja master friend?" he asked with insincere concern.

Mr. Cheese let out a roar, "No ninja's a friend of mine! Especially Jerry! Don't ever mention him again!" He stomped the floor of his control room and shook violently.

Dr. Purple pretended to be taken aback, "Does that mean your father-son relationship is over? Well, well. What a pity."

"So what!?" Seymour raged, "You wouldn't like that manipulative old geezer freak either if you lived with himfor eighteen years of your LIFE!"

The unmoved doctor shrugged. "And I thought you were so cute together."

"Now go away!" said the Big Cheese, "Take your pathetic excuse of a robot somewhere else!" he snarled, pointing out toward Little Tokyo.

"'Pathetic' Hmm?" Dr. Purple snorted as he crossed his arms haughtily. "Well! As if your robot is any better?"

"Of course it is," the Big Cheese replied with merrily pride. "Check out this gun."

He presented the object in question at the push of button: huge laser cannon which came forth from the back as though to fire at Dr. Purple.

"Hmph! That's it? Ha! Don't make me laugh!" The good doctor chuckled despite himself and pressed a button on his control panel. "Now this is a laser cannon." He presented his own monstrous weapon that came from the chest of his rhino that made the Big Cheese's look minuscule in comparison.

"Aww, look at your baby gun!" Big Cheese scoffed clasping his hands together as though admiring a puppy dog.

"baby gun?!"

"Not like this one," and with a ballet-like pose Mr. Cheese pushed another button to reveal an extra large laser gun that did make Dr. Purple's look rather puny.

But Dr. Purple waved a hand aside, "Oh, trifling."

He brought forth another cannon more massive still!

"Where'd ya get that? The toy store?"

"I made it, you parasite!"

"Pathetic! This is bigger!"

"No way! Mine is much larger and has more fire power!"

So this arguing went on revealing more and more laser cannons; though after a while they were really pretty much the same size. The Pizza Cats watched hardly believing their eyes as the machines had the most ridiculously massive cannons which never seemed to stop becoming more absurd by the gun.

"They sure have been doing that for awhile," said Guido.

"How are we supposed to beat both of them?" asked Polly.

"If only we had the Catatonic," Speedy growled pounding his fist into his hand.

"But that was destroyed by the comet, Speedy," Guido reminded him sadly.

Speedy sighed, "I know. I didn't think it would come to this where we would need it again."

But he did not reminisce long as a quite different thought entered his mind.

"Hey," he said with a point, "isn't that Jerry over there?"

The others followed his finger to the old bird struggling to crawl away from the robotic rubble. It was a pathetic sight really.

Jerry did not notice their approach until a cat foot blocked his path. His eyes bugged out startled.

"Hmm, look what we have here," said Guido.

Jerry looked up at the giant-looking cat.

"A worm that forgot he was a bird. How sad," he finished with a shrug.

Polly stepped forward with her angry fist, "Alright you ninja! Tell us about Dr. Purple's plans! We know you two are in cahoots with that maniac even with your drama!"

"Yeah," said Speedy crossing his arms, "so you'd better start cracking. There's no way you can escape us so don't even try."

Jerry started to boil, but he knew they were right. He was too weak to escape.

"What would be the point," he answered, shaking his head, "No matter what I tell you, you're going to send me to prison anyway."

The pink cat pushed both Speedy and Guido out of the way and faced Jerry revealing very sharp teeth.

"You'd better start spilling, pal, or I'm gunna give you something worse than prison to worry about!"

Polly was upset, but she did this mostly to scare him into talking. With a wink at the boys they understood her method.

Guido placed his hands on his hips. "You'd better do what she says. She means it. Once she gets started there's no stopping her."

"Don't make Polly do it," warned Speedy.

Polly made herself look very deranged and hovered over the old bird. "First will be the feathers!"

Jerry gulped. "You cats are crazy! K―keep away from me!"

But they would not get anything out of the ninja for at that moment Dr. Purple and the Big Cheese came to the close of their argument:

"Okay then, prove it! Your lasers can't be that good!" raged the fox.

The hawk snickered, hunched shoulder bouncing like a pair of old toads, "Oh, on the contrary, if I did prove it as you say, then there would be nothing left of you but a pile of rubble."

The Big Cheese pounded the board gleefully proud of himself, "Fine then! I'll prove that mine's better!" And after this last snarl the eyes of the robot finally shut.

Dr. Purple huffed, "How are you going to do that?"

"He's gunna do it," muttered Jerry.

Just after this, Dr. Purple cringed at the sound of all the Big Cheese's cannons starting to light up with the sound of it charging fire.

"Oh, crud," and Dr. Purple quickly closed his hatch on the top of the mechanical rhino.

A great blast was heard, and all present in the area jumped out of their skin as the Mega Cheese shot all the absurdly powerful lasers directly at Dr. Purple's rhino. The fireworks were a thing of legend, and beyond description, save that it is believed that a flash seen in California across the sea had been the glow of that explosive fury.

The Big Cheese was delighted throwing hysterical outbursts of laughter again. "Yes!" he cheered. "Told ya mine was better!"

The cats were astonished and their mouths hung open, their faces black with soot.

"Did he…?" Guido began.

"Just off Dr. Purple?" finished Speedy.

Polly squinted and saw a shape in the smoke.

"Wait!" she cried pointing upward, "Look up there."

And they all looked up. The Big Cheese's celebration was cut short, for through the clearing smoke he saw the pod of Dr. Purple far from the pile of ash that had once been his rhino.

"Humph!" the hawk's voice came from within the pod. "The only reason why you won is because you are mentally challenged."

Mr. Cheese was horrified to see him still alive.

Now the Big Cheese could not hold it in. "How did you DO THAT!? I was only a few feet in FRONT OF YOU!"

He was so angry and frustrated that not only was he glowing red to explode, but even the Mega Cheese imitated his fury and started to glow red as well.

"He's gunna blow!" shouted Ronnie.

"Take COVER!" commanded General Caten to his team.

They were already burnt enough as it was.

All fled. Speedy and his friends forgot about interrogating Jerry who was left to save himself. The Rude Noise flew far away.

Meowsma quickly drilled a hole in the ground. "Hurry! In here everyone!" he called.

The good guys all jumped in fast.

Except Nobu and Bat Cat who did not reach the hole in time. The crow snatched the cat's arms (his propeller was broken so he could not fly himself) and they reached the safety of the sky.

Jerry could hardly stand up much less run away. But just before the Mega Cheese blew, Nick came to his master's aid. "I've got you, master." And the ninja crow assisted his escape.

Dr. Purple did not quite escape the blast as it caused his pod to fling off into the night.

Bat Cat and Nobu helplessly watched from above, as whatever was left of the village transformed into a wasteland within a second.

The Mega Cheese was burnt to a crisp. And after a few moments of silence, it collapsed into a heap of scrap metal. The Big Cheese pulled himself out also blackened.

The fox coughed out a cloud of smoke.

"Told you mine was better."

And in exhaustion he dropped like a stone onto the chest of his destroyed Mega Cheese.

Bad Max and his gang found him in his heap.

"Y'know, you don't look so good, Mr. Cheese," Cannonball Battery told the Big Cheese.

Bad Max snorted. "Come on. Let's get him outta here."

Elsewhere, the cats poked their little dirty heads out of their hole.

"Is it over?" muttered Spritz.

Guido the dust from his eyes and replied, "Looks like it."

"Hey," said Meowsma suddenly, "The Big Cheese and the Rude Noise are getting away!"

They looked and saw the band with an X-eyed fox's face downward toward them.

Bad Max paused to hover a moment and called, "You won't be so lucky next time, Samurai Pizza Cats!"

Cannonball Battery threw his fist at them, almost dropping the Big Cheese. "Yeah! Next time I'll kick your BUTT!"

The gang quickly snatched their boss up before he fell to the ground.

"Watch it!" shouted Ronnie, "You almost dropped—!"

Bad Max cut him short, "Like I said," he told the cats smugly, "We'll be back."

They swooshed off into the clouds, laughing rather moronically.

Speedy growled at their disappearing figures. "Fine! But next time you'll lose like you always do! You cowards!"

Guido sighed. "Save your breath, Speedy. They're gone."

Speedy groaned. "They still got away. Even Dr. Purple." He pounded the dirt.

"Don't worry," Polly said, "We'll get them. We just have to— uh— plan our strategies better. "

"But I really thought we had them his time," Speedy vented. "If only―if only we had the Catatonic. Things would've been different."

Polly could not think of a comeback so said nothing. She looked down in defeat.

For a few minutes, no one spoke but sat in their hole feeling rather defeated.

Then General Caten spoke, "You know, Speedy, many things would have been different these days but that doesn't mean we should lose hope."

Speedy sighed, "I know. But I almost wish we could go back and do it right."

"Oh, Speedy," said Polly sadly.

"Hey!" said Spritz, "Where's Bat Cat?"

Speedy woke up and looked around to notice something else, "And Nobu! He's not here either!" he cried.

"Yeah, you're right. Where are they?!" said Polly in a panic.

"You don't think…" muttered Guido but could not dare to finish his thought.

Speedy leaped out of the hole in horror of Guido's words. "Bat Cat! Nobu!" he called.

The others joined in. Their search did not last long because they heard a familiar voice.

"Guys?" it was Bat Cat. "Guys, I'm over here!"

They saw his waving figure in the clearing smoke.

"Bat Cat!"

"You're okay!" exclaimed General Caten.

"Boy, are we glad to see you," said Meowsma.

"We were so worried," said Polly.

"How did you escape?" asked Guido.

"Don't' worry guys, I'm fine," he assured them.

"Yeah but how?" Guido asked again.

"Nobu picked me up and we flew to safety. Unfortunately my propeller's broken," the cat explained to them. "I thought I was a goner for sure."

"Speaking of that crazy bird, where is he?" asked Speedy looking around.

"Oh, Nobu's fine." Bat Cat told Speedy, "He's just…"

"He's what?" Speedy asked in alarm.

Bat Cat motioned behind him. The smoke was clearing in a melancholy breeze and they saw Nobu's form slowly appear.

"Oh, there he is," said Speedy in relief, and he began to bound toward his friend.

"Hey, Nobu!" he called. "I was worried about ya, buddy. I'm glad to see you're not hurt! Bat Cat told me how you saved him! Quick thinking. It's funny! In the past I never would've thought I'd be thanking…"

A confusion like the bong of a gong fell upon Speedy then as he realized that Nobu remained motionless and did not react to Speedy at all. Through the still lifting smoke, he looked a little like a statue, and for a split second Speedy found himself wondering if it was, but the slow blink of Nobu's large yellow eyes would have reassured Speedy even if he had not thought right before that it would be impossible that any statue would have survived the explosion, and he doubted the ninja crows would have a statue of Bad Bird anyway.

"Uh … Nobu?" Speedy asked, taking a hesitant step forward, his tail swishing with a natural feline curiosity.

A heavy sigh escaped Nobu's beak, and he lowered his head in the atmospheric manner in which only a reformed ninja could.

"We should go …" he said rather emotionless in tone.

He walked past Speedy without a glance.