Speedy stood there frozen, his eyes big and glassy, his mouth hanging open. "No..." he whispered again. "No...NO.. not Polly...NOT POLLY!!!!! NO, NO, YOU CAN'T TELL ME SHE'S DEAD!!!! NO, YOU CAN'T TELL ME THAT!!!!" He grabbed the doctor by his shirt collar. "YOU'RE LEING!!! WHY ARE YOU LIEING, ARE YOU WORKING FOR CHEESE, IS HE MAKIG YOU SAY THIS?!?! POLLY'S A FIGHTER, SHE'S NOT DEAD, I DONT BELIEVE IT!!!! YOU CAN'T TELL ME THAT!!!"
"SPEEDY!!"Al cried, gentily prying his hands off the doctors collar. "I'm sorry," he said.
"That's all right, I can't tell you how many times that's happened to me!" The doctor sadly shook his head. 'I'm used to it, believe me." he turned to go. "Sometimes a doctor like me feels useless!"

Speedy by this time had lost his footing and collasped on the ground. Guido and Good Bird gasped and helped him up, but Speedy shook them off. "Not Polly..." he said again. "NOT Polly!" His whole body shook with grief and rage...and before anyone could say anything he threw open the door of the hospital and ran out into the street.
"CHEESE!!!!! CHEESE! COME AND GET ME TOO, CHEESE!!" he threw down his swords and pulled off his helmit. ""CHEESE!!!! COME KILL ME TOO, GET ME TOO, CHEESE!!!! GET ME TOO!!!"

Cheese and Jerry had hidden themselves behind some bushes just in time to hear Speedy's outburst. By this time he was running down the road yelling. "KILL ME TOO!!!! COME AND KILL ME YOU ROTTEN RODENT, YOU WANNA!!! I GOT NOTHING TO LIVE FOR ANYMORE, COME ON!!!!!"
"Should I take aim now, Cheesy, he's asking for it!" Jerry said, grabbing the gun. But a slow smile crossed Cheese's face.
"No, Jerry...let's let him live for now. What's he's going to go through is punishment enough!"
"Let him live?"
"Isn't it obvious, Jerry? he's miserable, he can't live without her! Let;s just sit back and watch him try!"

"CHHESE, WHERE ARE YOU?!?! LET'S SETTLE THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!"
"Speedy, what are you doing?" a voice cried out. Speedy turned around
"Who's that?"
"Me, Meowzma," he came into view. "I can hear you all the way across town, what are you doing?"
"Get out of here!!! CHEESE, COME AND GET ME, DAMN YOU!!!'
"Speedy, what happened?!?! What's going on?!"
"Just leave me alone!"
"But what's going ON?!"
"SHE'S DEAD!!!!! POLLY'S DEAD, ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!?! SHE'S DEAD!!!!" he ran on, not even noticing the shocked expression on Meowzma's face. Speedy reached an empty park and raced through the fence. "CHEESE...I'M GUNNING FOR YOU CHEESE...THERE'S NOBODY HERE BUT ME, COME ON!!!!! Please, will ya!" he sank to his knees. "Please...I want you to...I'm not gonna fight you...just come do it..." he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Al and Guido standing there.
"Go away...please..."
"Come on, Speedy," Al said gentily, helping him up. "We need to go back to the hospital and make a statement...then someone has to tell her parents..."
"I'll do it..." Speedy said standing up. "I should be the one to let them know..."
"Both of us will," Al said. " As captain of the Samurai I should do this with you."

Princess Vi was walling down the street, taking in everything she saw. "Wow, what a beautiful day!" she said happily. "I think this day is one of the nicest in Little Tokyo, wouldn't you say?" she asked one of her handmaidens.
"Oh yes, Princess, just lovely!" she quickly agreed, causing Vi to smile ear to ear. She came across Francine, walking with her head close to the ground, obviously in complete shock, clutching a pastic bag to her chest.

"Good day, Francine! What have you got there, pizza supplies.?"
Francine didn't even look up. as she sat on a nearby bench. 'Yes yes. pizza supplies," Francine said absently, settling them between her knees.
"Hey, I said good morning, you're supposed to bow to me!" she looked into Francine's face. "Francine...is something wrong?"
"OH GOD!!!" Francine said, bursting into tears. "Oh God, she's dead, she's dead!!!!" We're ruined, Princess, she's gone!!! Oh, she's gone!!"
"What?! Someone died?!" she turned to her servants. "WHY WASN'T I INFORMED OF THIS?!" She turned to Francine. "Who died?"
"I was at the hospital, I saw the wound, right on her tail, I saw it with my own eyes! She's a corpse now, nothing more than a corpse, pale as ashes! This morning I said hello to her, she was so happy and bubbly and so in love...and a few hours later she's a corpse!!!"
"WHO IS A CORPSE?!?!"
"OH, POLLY, POLLY!!!! ONE OF THE DEAREST FRIENDS I HAD!! THAT I SHOUD LIVE TO SEE HER DEAD!!!"
"WHAT?! POLLY?! POLLY ESTHER IS DEAD?!"
"YES, YES!!!" Francine cried hysterically...and Vi put her arm around her as her eyes were teary too.
"Polly Esther? No...not possible...'
"Yes, I saw the corpse, I saw her!!!"
Princess Vi stood up. "I solumnly swear this foul murder will NOT go unavenged! Get Al Dante, fetch him! Obviously poor Speedy and Guido are in no condition to deal with this so we'll need backups, the rescue tea, any volenters to find out who did this.."
"I KNOW who did this, is was Big Cheese!!!"
"BIG CHEESE?! Seymour is back?!"
"Yes!"
"Track down this murderer, he must be found! THIS time he's gone too far! Servents, prepare a declaration to be given in an hour. Seymour Cheese, 9,000 yen to anyone with any information we could use to track him. 12,000 yen for his capture dead or alive. That rat will be EXECTUTED IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE FOR THIS!!!" She turned to her Handmaiden. "When we get to the Palace, summon my goldsmiths, I have a project to commission. In honor of Polly Esther, our fallen heroine, let a golden statue be made of her, to be set up in the middle of town so she and her bravery in protecting our fair city will NOT be forgotten!"

Spritz was sitting on the cold stone steps of the Pizza Cat Pizza Parlor, staring at his hands. Next to him Carla was sobbing. Francine had closed the restaurant after coming back to identify the body...and had summoned the Rescue Team. Meowzma already knew the tragedy, but it was still a shock. They had all gathered outside on the steps, unable to believe what had happened. Spritz himslf felt isolated and cold. They were all a team, had saved each other numerous times. Just yesterday he had come into the parlor to wish them both congradulations on their engagement. Now...just like that, his friends, the bride-to-be, was dead. It didn't make any sense at all.
"Where's Francine?" BatCat asked, looking around.
"In the building," Spritz explained. "She wanted to be alone for a few minutes." They all nodded.
Meowzma looked at his watch. "It's 3:00. How long do you think it'll be before the Cats come back?"
"No one can say for sure. " he choked back tears, thinking of the grief and horror they must be feeling, especially Speedy. Meowzma had told him of Speedy going crazy though the streets...hard to believe SPEEDY would do that...but at the same time not too surprising, considering the cirumstances. Heavy footsteps were heard coming up the walk, and they jumped to their feet. Lucielle was running toward them, and Spritz sat down again, suddenly feeling very heavy.

Lucielle stopped short when she saw their faces and her body started to tremble. She buried her head in her hands. "Then it's true about Polly?" she whispered tightly.
Spritz couldn't even talk so Genral Catton answered for him. "Yes, it's true."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" she screamed, sinking to her knees on the sidewalk as her missles went off. Seeing Lucielle lose her composure was almost more than Spritz could stand. He felt he should comfort her, but he was too numb to move. Batcat stepped forward and put his arm around her. "Does anybody know what happened?" Lucielle choked on tears. "All we heard on the radio was that Big Cheese somehow shot something at her..."
"That's what we heard too," General Catton said. "She was poisoned."
Lucielle's sobbing grew louder. "She was only 25!" Carla couldn't watch them, couldn't watch any of them. She just stared on the ground.
"Where's Francine?" Lucielle asked.
"She'll be back in a minute," Carla said.
"The Cats might be back soon," General Catton said. "We have to all calm down, they need us to be strong for them now."
"I don't know if I can," Francine said, coming out of the Palor just then. Carla took her hand.
"How are you holding up? Francine just shook her head. Carla could see the anguish in her eyes.
"We should all go to the hospital," Lucielle said. "We should all be there to help them.."
"Al asked us not to," Francine said. "He said to all gather here instead of causing a mob scene at the hospital."
Lucielle stared at the ground. "Polly was so happy these past few days," she said, remembering. "wasn't she, Francine? Talking non stop about her wedding. She said she knew it was going to be the best year of her life!"
"And now it's gonna be the worst year of Speedy's life," Spritz finished. He saw big wet spots on the sidewalk, but he didn't know it was his own tears until Francine Put her arm around him.