As the first round of the battle of the bands got ever closer, the band rehearsed harder.

One day at rehearsals, The Ghost appeared. He still had just an acoustic guitar.

"Hi! Sorry about the other night."

"Well, at least no one got hurt, kid," said Jimmy, who was starting to wonder how many other stray rocking animals would turn up on his doorstep.

"I checked what was left of the wiring after the firefighters left. The lighting was set up to start the fire,"

The Ghost explained.

"What? Who would do that?" asked Hammy.

"David Meowie gave me the lighting and suggested I should do an audiovisual extravaganza at Hades," answered The Ghost.

"I knew it! I know we couldn't trust that fat cat." Said Jimmy.

"He wasn't so fat," commented Suzie Squirrel, "Quite thin really,"

"The fat cats control the music business down here in Sewerville" explained Jerry's father patiently.

"So, I figured you might need a lighting and sound guy you can trust," the Ghost said.

"Do you know anybody?" asked Hammy innocently.

"I think he means him, kid," said Jimmy.

"Well it's only fair we used your speakers when you left to break Tina out of the aquarium, what do you think Jimmy? " asked Jerry.

"Sure, it'll be safer and Francis will have more help. Ok kid, but ya got to keep playing on the acoustic when you've got the time and no beeps n' bops, this is a rock band."

"Safer?" said Hammy "Jimmy, Meowie tried to kill us!"

Jimmy looked at Hammy, "Yeah, kid, You're right the truth is that I got so caught up in all this, I mean we played a great show, I'm so doggone proud of all a ya" said Jimmy.

Suddenly, a black car pulled up to Jimmy's shack in the dump, and two mice got out. The first one who was short and round and dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and matching black tie and hat was eating the remains of what smelled to Jerry like roast chicken and the other mouse who was tall and thin and dressed in exactly the same manner as the other was eating what sounded like a dry piece of toast.

"Agent Jake," said the short mouse flipping open a wallet with his identity and a shield which said MAC in big letters.

"Agent Elwood," said the other in a voice that suggested that everything in the world was incredibly serious and not be joked about.

"We're on a mission from MAC" continued the tall serious one.

"What's MAC?" asked Jerry.

"Mice against Cats, we're a special unit of the police, we investigate cat-related crime in the mouse and rat community" answered Agent Jake.

"We have reason to believe that you have had contact with the Fat cat music producer David Meowie," continued Agent Elwood.

"Yeah, he burnt the Hell club down, and almost took us out with it," said Tina.

"Can you prove this?" asked Agent Elwood. Kev showed the wiring to the agents and explained what had happened.

Agent Jake screwed up his face in frustration after hearing the story. "It's not enough to pin anything on him, it'll look too much like an accident in court. We've been following David Meowie closely over the last few months. We suspect foul play on his part."

"What foul play?" asked Jimmy.

"I'm afraid we can't disclose that sir, it's highly confidential, although we know it involves the battle of the bands." Said Agent Jake.

"We know it's risky but we need to find out what he's up to and you guys are on the inside. We need your help" said Agent Elwood.

The rodents looked at each other a while, as though trying to read each other's minds.

Jerry broke the silence.

"I say we keep on rocking. Jimmy's our friend and it's obvious that Meowie wants to get him and will never leave him in peace. If we take this fat cat down our friend will be safe. Are we rockers? Isn't that what rocks about? Standing up for the downtrodden, the underdog, the outcast, the freaks, and the different. What do you say Rocking Rodents? Are we with Jimmy or what?"

He looked at his bandmates and friends, who looked back and cried

"Rock ON!"

Jimmy looked unusually sheepish.

"Thanks, guys," was all he said.

With the final decision made by Jimmy, the band went back to work and The Ghost took his place at the sound desk and began pressing buttons and toggling switches and all manner of things on the sound system and monitors.

The first concert was to be above ground (humans often talk of rock being "an underground" music, something that went against the norm, that had to be hidden from prudish eyes in cellars and smoky basements, for the rodents the surface was their underground.)

However, this time it was to be far, far above the ground, in a round tower.

Scattered around Ireland are medieval round towers. These tall circular buildings only have an entrance at the top of the tower which monks would have scaled up the wall with a rope ladder with as many valuables as possible before the Viking raiders stole the lot. Jerry's mother had explained all this to him (she was a human studies teacher and eleven times champion of the local Pub trivia quiz).

This particular tower was in an abandoned churchyard.

The rodents had built a theatre at the top of the tower, Jerry's dad drove the van onto a wooden lift at the base of the tower and a pulley attached to a fan motor which hoisted them slowly and shakily up to the top.

Tina Turtle stared over the side down at the gravestones below before a wave of vertigo made her look up.

"Maybe I should have stayed in the aquarium," she said to herself.

Overhearing her Suzie who was sitting beside her turned to and said

"Come on, we're going to play a great show and bring the house down."

"That's what I'm worried about," said The Ghost tapping the stone wall as they went up, to check how solid it was.

"Don't worry, The" Hammy tried to reassure him "this tower's like us, made of solid rock." He made a horned head shape with his fist as he finished speaking.

"Did you just call me The?"

"Yeah, that's your first name, isn't it? The" then he paused for dramatic effect "Ghost. Shame really, it'd be a great name for a band," Hammy suggested hopefully.

The rodents half groaned, half laughed at Hammy's determination to change the band's name.

"Actually, my name's Kevin, although my friends call me Kev," the artist formerly known as The Ghost confessed sheepishly, as the lift reached two-thirds of the way up.

Suzie Squirrel who had climbed the walls ahead of the slow-moving lift to make sure David Meowie hadn't tried any sneaky business with the rope, reappeared; having made sure everything was okay up above.

She smiled her buck-toothed smile at him and said "Kev; I think I like that better than The Ghost... it's more ... more, substantial."

Tina winked at Jerry. They had all noticed that the squirrel had taken a shine to the new mouse in the group.

If it was possible to blush through fur somehow The Ghost... Sorry, I mean Kev managed it.

Despite the occasional lurching in the wind, the lift got them to the top without a scratch. Francis parked the van and they all unloaded the equipment and got ready to set up.

Torches scattered around burned in the space, which was simple but as the sound of their footsteps attested, had wonderful acoustics.

Three levels ran around the room in circles, acting as seating for the public, who were beginning to enter and fill up the place. If Jerry's mother were there she would have pointed out the similarities to a Roman amphitheater.

The bands would play in the center, with the public all around them.

There was a balcony with three seats, the one in the middle, which was notably bigger and more elegant than the others, was empty, but on one side was Simon Fowl. He was a famous chicken music producer of catchy pop hits. Although now he was better known as a Judge on talent shows and on the other was Huey Lewis the mouse who presented the News.

Jerry saw David Meowie's different colored eyes in the shadows before he saw him emerge into the light.

"Ladies and gentleman, rats, mice, and animals of all shapes and forms! Tonight we see history in the making. The gods of Mount Olympus have come down to play for us mortals. We sit on the cusp of opportunity, the moment before a rock show, the moment that changes the world and saves our lives from the boring and the square. ARE YOU READY? Are you ready to be entertained?" he screamed at them, raising his paws in the air. The audience burst into applause and cheering.

"I give him one thing, he knows how to warm up a crowd," said Jimmy as he looked at the rodents so eager to rock and then caught David Meowie's bicolor stare focused on him like a laser beam. Jimmy returned the stare and gently tipped his eagle feathered cowboy hat at him, mockingly.

David Meowie hushed the crowd with a gesture.

"Tonight, the other judges and I will decide by a vote which groups will go through to the next round."

"Hey! That's not fair! David Meowie's sure to vote against us" protested Jerry.

"Na, no worries kid, I know Meowie. He'll follow the crowd. All we gotta do is get them rocking, and he'll have no choice to vote for us," Jimmy reassured the gang.

"let's hope the opening act doesn't upstage you guys," said Uncle Eddie who had come along, as with Kevin bringing more equipment, Francis needed help.

"To open tonight! A band from my own label, Fat Cat Records, The one! The only! The Hive Mind." David Meowie declared with a flourish.

The lights went out. Dim scarlet red lighting rose softly, yet no musicians emerged from the wings, or at least that's how it seemed to everyone.

Suddenly, screens flickered on, showing a view of the stage. Two unseen guitars started in an ascending melody, before joining a bass and drums in a distorted riff. They could still see none on the stage or on the screens either. The cameras quickly zoomed in so close that all the detail of the stage disappeared and the audience could finally see who was playing, just as their tiny cricket lead singer starting screaming the words of a song in a way that at first seemed like just noise to the rocking rodents.

As Jerry listened more, he realized that actually what they were playing was, well, brilliant! He was amazed at how the band played together, especially how quickly they played in different complicated timings. He noticed Tina's eyes get as wide as cymbals as she watched the cockroach on drums, his six legs beating against at a speed she could barely follow.

As the song ended the crowd cheered and roared.

"Yeah!" Shouted Eddie who was a big fan of Insect metal, which apart from the use of tweezers, was very easy to roadie for.

"Eh, guys. We might be in trouble," said Hammy, as they looked around at the other animals going crazy.

A spotlight shone on the judge's balcony with all three of them pressing a button for a thumbs-up symbol to appear on the screens above showing three votes for the Hive mind.

"They even have a great name," said Hammy despondently.

Again, David Meowie addressed everybody.

"I believe we have a local musician and old friend of mine, Jimmy Haloumi is here tonight."

Another spotlight of cold blue-toned light picked Jimmy out from the rest of the rocking rodents.

"Jimmy is famous for his guitar duels at the dump," Meowie gave the last word a condescending twist as he said it.

"Perhaps he would like to take on Adam Ant, the resident shredder on guitar in The Hive Mind. Unless of course, he's scared of a teeny, tiny ant." The fat cat mocked.

"Rocking Rodents! Let's rock!" was Jimmy's reply and the band made for the stage. Jerry and the others who had expected Jimmy to go up on his own followed him with surprise.

The band took their places on stage and the screens showed both the rodents and the insects, even though from the seats it looked like the Rocking Rodents were on their own as the insects were just too small.

In fact, the insects were so much smaller than the rodents that they had to communicate through the microphones just to be heard.

"Hi, Jimmy! Long time no Jam, mouse," said the ant that Meowie had put forward as a rival to Jimmy.

"Hi Adam, that's quite a band you've got there, real tight."

"Thanks!" replied the insect-heavy metal band.

"So, some fat cats think music is all about competition, animal against animal, but we're the Rocking Rodents and as the name says we're just interested in one thing, Let's rock!" said Jimmy, and the crowd cheered.

Jimmy began playing a riff from one the Rodent's songs, Jerry's song. Soon the rodents began playing along with him and the Hive mind start playing too and brought a new fusion of music into existence. Something the audience had never heard before.

When the solo came up all three guitarists began echoing each other. Not in the flashy "I'm better than you" way from the duels before. This time they complimented each other, the ant and grasshopper, bouncing melodies off one another, the notes stretching and intertwining with Jimmy's. Adam jumped up on Jimmy's tail and Billy Hopper the grasshopper jumped and leaped until he was playing on top of Jimmy's hat. The cameras followed them so it seemed they were all playing a part, but up on stage they couldn't have been closer.

As soon as they finished, the crowd went wild. The lights switched people's attention back to the judges once more.

"I must protest, we can't judge this performance as the Rocking Rodents haven't played alone! They must play another song!" said David Meowie who winced as the crowd started to boo him, in fact, the other judges had already pressed their giant thumbs up.

"That's alright with us" shouted Suzie into her microphone.

"Hello Seattle!" she said to the crowd even though they were in Dublin.

"We are the rocking Rodents!" and with that Hammy started up with a pounding bass line, soon the rest of the band joined in for peace in a pizza box.

The Hive mind got off stage, so as not to risk any underfoot pogoing accidents as Jerry started jumping up and down energetically as he played.

Soon the crowd was jumping with him too. Jerry looked out for a moment and saw the people jumping up and down to the music like a wave of the sea. As they sang along on the chorus the second time around, Suzie stretching out with her microphone, encouraging them to sing harder and louder, Jerry could feel his heart swell with delight. This was what he had always wanted, to be rocking in a great band at a great show.

David Meowie looked at the scene below him, his paws clenched in rage, he hadn't expected the Rodents to get so good so quickly. The other judges had left their thumbs-up signs lit. As far as they were concerned the Rodents were fantastic. As the band finished and the cameras and lights focused everyone's attention back on the Judges, he had no choice but to push the thumbs up button. He could feel the crowd surge in appreciation below him. The air felt electric with the energy of the animals.

As the Rocking rodents came off stage, they hugged each other and jumped for joy. Kevin came down from the sound and light booth and as he went to give Suzie a hug she kissed him on the mouth. The rest of the band wolf-whistled and laughed.

The band decided to spend the rest of the concert enjoying the rest of the bands and their music.

Two young mice brandishing backstage passes bumped the Rocking Rodent's

"Wayne and Bill" Jerry shouted on seeing his friends.

"Mouse, that was so amazing!" said Bill.

"Yeah! Mouse, that had soul," said Wayne.

"Stilton!" yelled the three young mice as they air guitared together.

As the young mice partied on, Alice Looper slithered up beside Francis. In his powerful jaws, he held an ice-cold bottle of cider, which he put down right in front of Jerry's dad.

"Why not have a cold one to celebrate, Francis? You know like the old times?" Alice Looper's tongue flickered in and out tasting the smell of the air around the delicious mouse.

Francis looked at the bottle, droplets of condensation running down the sides. His mouth was dry, and he felt an incredible thirst.

He looked back over at Jerry, he could tell his son was having the time of his life.

"No thanks, I've got all I need," he said and walked away from the snake to get the band together to leave, he knew Jerry's mom would start to worry if they were out too late.