Ninja Buddy

"What? He looks like a ninja, and he's my little buddy!"

- Ryan to Gordon regarding Ninja Buddy's name in Despair

**Ninja Buddy** is a Mini that looks like a ninja. He was pseudo-adopted by Ryan, to the chagrin of Gordon.

## **History**

While living in the Magic Railroad's sanctuary for Minis, Ninja Buddy was selected by Ryan to accompany them on their journey. He was seen with them, where he returned to Sodor with Ryan and Gordon.

## **Role in Plot**

### **Magic Railroad Arc**

When Ryan is trying to pick a mini to take home with him, he has a hard time deciding until he spots a small black one with a face that resembles a ninja mask, Ryan chooses him to take home and names him "Ninja Buddy".

For most of the journey, Ninja Buddy is sleeping in Ryan's cab, after Defect is shot by King Lowercase, the group hide in a dark room, Defect leaves to face the enemy head on and act as a distraction for the rest of the group to flee.

While on the run, Ryan and Gordon decide to stop and rest, Ninja Buddy plays around in a little part of the room, after witnessing Defect's execution, the group run for the exit. Just as they're about to escape through the buffers, Lowercase appears and is about to kill them, Gordon hands Ryan a strange tool, Ryan then activates it, revealing that it's a cannon capable of firing out minis like projectiles, Ninja Buddy explodes on impact, throwing Lowercase into a wall and knocking him unconscious, Ryan asks how he was able to fit in the cannon, but he doesn't answer and jumps back into his cab.

The group eventually end up on Sodor in front of a decrepit shed, they then proceed to restore it to act as a new home.

### **The Great Filler Race**

Ninja Buddy appears on the tracks in front of Knapford Station, interrupting the race, but is shooed away by an annoyed Ryan for embarrassing him. He's later seen heading inside Toby's Disco Shed, leaving Ryan infuriated.

### **Unwanted Guests Arc**

Ninja Buddy is present when Ryan returns to the shed, he tells the mini that he's heading to the waste dump soon, and wants him to gather anything he doesn't need to be disposed of, when they arrive there, Gordon picks up Ninja Buddy and attempts to bury him, Ryan notices however and Gordon is forced to dig him back up.

When the engines arrive home, Ryan finds a note from a mysterious sender asking them to go the container yard, they then head out to meet the anonymous sender. Once they arrive, they are knocked unconscious by a wagon full of knockout gas disguised as a lemonade tanker.

Ryan and Gordon are taken to Duck's lair, where it's revealed he kidnapped them, he offers to release them and give them anything in return for keeping Ninja Buddy to experiment on him, Ryan isn't fond of this idea and decides to destroy the laboratory with several sticks of dynamite he found laying around. Ninja Buddy is sent flying towards Ryan and hands him the Mini cannon.

When Duck confronts the group at the entrance, Ryan attempts to shoot him with the Mini cannon, Ninja Buddy, surrounded by lightning, is then shot out at Duck, but the latter blocks with his flame sword and receives no damage. The two tank engines then charge at each other, but are stopped by Gordon, who proposes they make a deal.

Duck is taken to the Magic Buffers, where he is then pushed in by Ryan, he returns to the shed now the same size as Ninja Buddy.

When the Culdee Fell Railway engines showed up, Duck and Ninja Buddy were organising trucks, but they were rudely interrupted. Ninja Buddy was later knocked off the ledge when Alaric pushed some trucks into him.

## **Personality**

Ninja Buddy for the most part acts like a little child, hyper actively jumping around and he will cry if he's scared, he does act brave when he needs to though, and is full of determination and pride when he gets his opportunity to be utilised to his full potential: as a devastating weapon of mass destruction.

## **Abilities**

* **Cannon** - Ninja Buddy is able to go inside a Mini Cannon and be shot out acting like a missile creating a massive explosion on impact which is shown to be very powerful and effective against enemies. As to how he survives these explosions is unknown.
* **Ninja Buddy: Super Charged Mode** - Ninja Buddy is surrounded by bright yellow lightning and his power is increased.

## **Appearances**

### **Episodes**

* **Magic Railroad Arc** - Despair and Defect
* **The Great Filler Race**
* **Unwanted Guests Arc** - The Twat in the Hat, Fifty Shades of Purple, Operation #8000800 and Gordon
* **South Eastern Railway Arc** - Ryan's New Friend (mentioned)
* **Jīnlóng Training Arc** - TBA

### **Specials**

* **ZERO**
* **Sudric Legends 89**

### **Web Videos**

* **Scarlet Fire's announcement** (mentioned in YouTube comment)

## **Trivia**

* In the credits of every episode, Ninja Buddy is listed as being voiced by a famous actor/voice actor. The list is as follows:
	+ Morgan Freeman (Defect)
	+ Yuri Lowenthal (The Great Filler Race)
	+ Jackie Chan (The Twat in the Hat)
	+ David Tennant (Fifty Shades of Purple)
* Ninja Buddy's model is a Minis Super Hiro, Ryatron 12 wanted to use the Mini because he thought it was cute.
* Reina was expecting Ninja Buddy to be disliked, to their surprise however, he turned out to be a fan favourite.
* Ninja Buddy was revealed to be non-binary in a livestream done by Reina for Pride Month 2021. The character primarily uses he/him pronouns, but also uses she/they interchangeably.