Attack of the Ninja Kittens! (8 page)

When the dogs had finished, the servant looked like a tatty white cat. He was still bald in places, but as Poppy moved round him with a mirror the Spacemutts all agreed that the main bits were
covered.

Baldy gasped when he caught a glimpse of his own reflection and, forgetting himself entirely, stroked his new fur lovingly with a paw. It was only when he turned to flick his fluffy tail
playfully that he saw his mistress watching him.

‘Well, look at
you
all dressed up,’ growled Lady Fluffkins, stalking up to the bars and into the light. Her coat was now short and patchy with a few tufts of long hair
sprouting from her head. ‘So
very
pretty at my expense.’

Baldy swallowed hard and was about to beg for forgiveness when Rocket announced that it was time to leave and quickly ushered him outside the ship. Butch and Poppy then followed close behind,
closing the cargo doors on the seething empress.

‘Now, you know what you have to do,’ Rocket said to Baldy as they made their way across a pink landscape studded with diamond mountains, towards Magenta Forest. ‘Just act all
snooty and don’t say a word.’

Baldy nodded, though he was much more concerned about the wrath of his mistress than what the dogs would do if he disobeyed them. The Spacemutts were the enemy, but Lady Fluffkins would be much
more terrifying if she ever escaped from her prison.

Magenta Forest was a sprawling mass of spindly trees with puffy pink tops like candyfloss. Rocket stayed up front as they headed for the exchange point, while Poppy and Butch
guarded the fake Lady Fluffkins.

When the strange trees eventually thinned out, the Spacemutts stepped into a clearing to find Princess Puss waiting for them. Duke was nowhere to be seen, and as the dogs moved forward, the
bushes rustled around them.

They had walked right into a trap!

Princess Puss grinned at the Spacemutts as an army of black ninja kittens sprang from the bushes, kicking and punching the air as they surrounded the dogs on all sides. The kittens were not very
big, but they were armed with swords and daggers made from sharp diamond shards.

‘Where’s Duke?’ Rocket demanded.

‘You expect me to keep my end of the bargain when you bring me that monstrosity?’ laughed Princess Puss, frowning at the scruffy servant who was peeping out from behind Poppy and
Butch.

‘We still have Fluffkins,’ said the captain.

‘Are you sure about that?’ smiled Princess Puss.

The captain quickly swiped his collar, making the chrome spikes glow around his neck. ‘This is Rocket calling the
Dogstar
,’ he whispered. ‘WOOF, can you give me a status
report?’

‘The cargo doors have been breached, Captain,’ said WOOF. ‘The ninja kittens arrived soon after you left. I tried to keep them out, but they swarmed on to the ship and somehow
managed to cut through my security circuits.’

‘And the empress?’ asked Rocket, already knowing the answer.

‘Gone,’ said WOOF.

‘Diamonds,’ chuckled Princess Puss, fanning herself with a lazy pink paw. ‘They really are a girl’s best friend because they can cut through anything. Metal, wires
– even the bars of a maximum-security cat basket!’

‘So where is she?’ growled Rocket, stalling for time while he worked out how to hurdle the huddle of spiky ninjas and get back to the ship. ‘I’ve never known Lady
Fluffkins pass up a chance to gloat.’

‘Oh, I think I hear her now,’ said the cat, sitting up and tilting her head at the sound of distant trotting. ‘After having such a bad hair day, my sister insisted on a
dramatic entrance.’

The Spacemutts all looked up as Duke slowly appeared through the trees. The Great Dane was wearing a harness and saddle, and perched upon his back was Lady Fluffkins in a fluffy a matching
fluffy hat long black riding boots.