14 Attack!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Attack! The Grimwood Players were halfway through their second act. Willow was in the middle of her grand speech. 'Because I realize, Mr Hathersage, that it is you I have loved all along. From the moment I saw you, I knew that we were going to be together, for ever!' And then she collapsed dramatically into Ted's arms. 'Aaah!' said the audience. 'ATTACK!' came a cry from the darkness. As if from nowhere, an army of cats rose from the undergrowth and ran towards the stage. There were gasps and screams from the audience, apart from Titus, who clapped his hooves together and said, 'Ooh, ooh, is this part of the show?' The cats leapt onto the stage and pinned Ted and Willow to the floor. This was not part of the show. 'Oh, crumbs,' said Ted.

Willow was thumping cats away with her hind legs, but there were just too many of them. 'Take the fox to the electricity pylon!' shouted Denise, who had grabbed Willow by the ears. 'OI! You're not taking anyone anywhere,' said Willow, kicking Denise in the face. Denise growled. She flexed her claws and prepared to give Willow's face a scratching… 'NO!' shouted Ted. 'Leave the bunny alone! It's me you want, not her.'

And Ted gingerly stood up, with two cats holding his paws firmly behind his back. 'Fine,' said Denise. She let go of Willow, who plopped to the floor, and grabbed Ted instead. 'You can't do this!' quacked Ingrid. 'He's part of the closing act! You'll be hearing from my agent!' A cat hissed and swiped at her diamanté turban. As the feral felines swarmed the stage, Titus knew he needed to do something. When Grimwood was being attacked, it was up to him to defend it. He stood up, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "TREEBONK!" he bellowed. Until now, the Grimwood animals had mostly been frozen in shock. But with Titus's rallying call, they knew what to do. Almost without thinking, they scampered to

the trees. And then a hundred cries of 'TREEBONK!' filled the air. They began to fling themselves off the branches. 'Treeeeeeebonk!' They zoomed through the sky. 'Treeeeebooooooonk!' The cats who were holding Ted dropped him and ran for cover. Ted looked over and found Willow. 'You saved me!' she cried, throwing her arms around him and untying his paws. 'Now, quick, start treebonking before you get caught again.' 'But I don't know how to treebonk!' said Ted. 'Just bounce around the trees as fast as you can and try not to hit the ground. GO!' shouted Willow. 'TREEEEEEBOOOOOOONK!'

Ted grabbed onto a nearby pine tree and clambered up it, going as high as he could. He tried very hard not to think about how scared of heights he was. Animals were whizzing past his nose at high speeds, and Princess Buttons' cat gang looked very confused indeed. But then one of them– a big, gnarly one with half an ear– spotted Ted nestled in the pine tree. 'The fox!' it yelled, 'I see him!' And the cat started to climb up the tree trunk. Ted gulped. It was now or never. 'TREEEEBONK!' he shouted, and leapt as high in the air as he could manage. He was about to collide with a silver birch, and put his tail out to cushion the fall– and then he joyfully BOINGED off it. 'Treebonk!' he cried again, using his tail to push off the second tree and… it worked! His big, bushy, foxy tail turned out to be the perfect treebonking paddle. The animals of Grimwood thwacked into as many of the cats as they could manage, while boinging and twirling and spinning through the air. Not all of them were natural treebonkers– it was a squirrel thing, really. And yet, it was like a beautiful, extremely dangerous furry ballet.

'Treeebooooooonk!' The cats were terrified. They yowled in panic and dashed for cover. Acorns, branches and squirrels rained down on them, and the cats realized they were massively outnumbered. Denise looked at her watch. If they piled into the car and drove without stopping, the cats could be back in the Big City by teatime. 'Retreat!' she shouted. 'Retreat!'