Goshdangit, it’s high time the Professor shows back up and relieves Mopey of command! At the rate she’s going, she’ll end up revealing all of his secrets of good leadership! X(
Obviously, the identity of the deus-ex-machina was pretty much determined by the nature of the threat. Everyone knows that pirates are the natural enemies of ninja, and of course our protagonists have a pair of pirates among their larger network of friends and allies: Father John Captain McKenzie and El Lightning Blue. Fighting for good and against global warming wherever their (slightly erratic) navigation takes them. Originally I wanted to show them standing on their ship in the last panel, but then I felt that just showing their personal and characteristic version of the Jolly Roger would be enough for identification. And it’s a lot more piratical this way.
More on Tharrrsday!