Ziggy's Corner: chapter two, The Wager. I do want to point out, to the more knowledgeable Munk fans, that it does indeed appear that the girls did NOT yet live with Ms. Miller during the events of the movie, and thus, would not TECHNICALLY get into trouble with her as the boys did with Dave. One point a purist might make to this, is that if the girls had lived with Ms. Miller, why did they not travel with her to stay at the Seville place at the beginning of the movie? Since they didn't, it could be strongly assumed, that during the film, they were still living in their plush tree. Also, it could be pointed out, that why was she not concerned with their disappearance for so long, if they were living with her at this point? So there is that, no need to tell me I have to get my facts straight on that, lol. Okay, now that, that is out of the way, on with chapter two!

They walked for two blocks before a black car pulled up, and a man with bright blonde hair, along with a woman with raven black hair and blue eyes got out. They smiled at the children, who backed up, watching each other and then back at the adults. The kids quivered, they're eyes wide.

"I thought the six of you looked familiar," the woman said looking at the two music groups. She smiled, causing the children to shiver.

"We're not really supposed to talk to strangers," Lisa said. "I don't think our parents would be happy about that." The woman looked at her for a moment, as if realizing that she, and two other human children were there also for the first time. Her frown made Lisa give a little eeping noise and edge further into the group.

"A good rule to adhere too," the man said, his voice thick with a European accent. "But there is a bit of business to talk about, something to help each your families out."

"What are you talking about?" Brittany asked.

"I'm speaking about a contest, a little game," the man said. The children looked around the streets, hoping that there might be help coming. Cars were driving by and going away just as quickly. If help was going to come, it wouldn't be by the people on the road. "Let me introduce myself…"

"No thank you," Simon said, urging the kids away.

"Let me finish," the man snapped. The kids jumped, and might have taken off, had not three guards slipped out of the car and watched the scene. "I am Baron Eric Von Straugton, and this is my wife, Alicia." The woman bowed and smiled.

"There is no need to fear us," Alicia said with a smile. "They're harmless, just making sure we aren't swamped by autograph hounds."

"Yeah, that's what it looks like they're used to doing," Simon said, slipping further from the adults.

"What kind of fans do you have?" Adam asked quickly. "The mutant body building kind?"

The adults looked at the boy, and he turned his head to his feet. The baron turned to the Chipmunks and Chipettes. "What we are proposing is a race of sorts. My wife and I heard you children talking about your adventure around the world, and how it seemed to be unresolved."

"We'd like to see who would actually win such a contest," Alicia said.

"We've been down that road before," Jeanette said.

"So we have heard, but we promise this is on the up, and up," the baron said.

"The answer, is still no," Simon said. The children began inching their way past the two adults and their guards, the chill in the air stronger than anything the Chipettes' had encountered in the Artic.

"Not even with a reward of five million dollars?" Alicia asked. She smiled, the chipmunk in red, the young auburn female chipmunk, and one of the human girls stalled, and turned back.

"How much?" Marie asked slowly, almost as if she were a machine programmed to say each word per every five minutes.

"Not enough for me to be interested," Adam said, snatching his older sister's sleeve and yanking her back toward the group.

"Stop and think about this," the baron called, a desperate shudder attacking his frame. "We are giving you Chipmunks and Chipettes a chance to finish that competition you were so rudely interrupted from, and legitimately this time. And we're willing to pay you a much more handsome sum of money for the win!"

"Very handsome," Brittany said with a dreamy look in her eyes. Her sisters' voices snapped her name in unison, snapping her out of her dreams.

"Are you serious?" Alvin was harder to break from his enthusiasm. He was practically shaking with the thought of what he could so with so much money. And the fact that he would be able to show up Brittany and show of to Lisa would be a bonus. "What do we have to do?"

"Nothing, because we're not agreeing to anything they ask," Simon growled.

"Yeah, yeah," his older brother said, waving off his book smart sibling. "But out of curiosity, what would we have to do?"

The husband and wife looked at each other and smiled. They truly had hoped only to drag the hybrid animals into this affair, not any other child, but the events lead them down the road they were on now. And three voices encouraging a group were stronger than two. "Its not really a world affair," Alicia said. "Just a trip around the country, perhaps with a stop or two in Canada and Mexico as well."

Alvin's excitement lessened, but only just barely. After all he had seen the world only recently, so that wasn't too bad. "Okay," he said, goading them to continue.

"The contest we propose is that two teams, one of boys, and one of girls, will race around the three countries, looking for certain items, a scavenger hunt," the count said. The team who brings back all of the items on their list, or at the very least, the most wins the five million dollars."

"Just to be fair, there are five girls here, so the boys will be allowed to recruit another member, and each member of the team gets a million dollars for his or her own," his wife added, running her fingers through her hair.

"And what's the point of all of this?" Simon asked, crossing his arms. It was going to be useless to drag Alvin away from such a promise of 'easy' wealth, not to mention the excitement he could see in the eyes of Brittany and Marie. He had a very bad feeling about this, and his guard hadn't dropped one bit. A few of the other's had, he could tell, just by watching their bodies. But if he was reading this situation right, even if they completely turned down the adults' offer, and he'd make sure he would do everything he could to do just that, the group wouldn't be in danger of being attacked. At least not here. The minutes that were passing away were guaranteeing that more drivers were slowing down and keeping an eye on the situation, something he knew the count and his wife were aware of as well.

"We've told you, we just felt bad you were ripped off the chance for a fair finish of your race," Alicia said, her eyes flashing. All eyes were on Simon, and she sighed. "I will be honest, I intend to sponsor the girls and my husband, the boys. We are very close in marriage, but to be honest rivals in business, and the hunt will bring us more interest in clients." She smiled. "Who better to be billboards than a famous rock group or two?"

"And for your classmates, what more of a thrill, than to be part of such an enterprise, and be paid for it as well?" Baron Von Straugton said with a wink.

The sky was now almost completely dark. Whenever the kids finally all got home, there would be no doubt a few harsh words from the adults in charge of raising or watching over them. The smell of soft pine and oak trees filled the sky, and they could hear people talking and walking through the streets.

"I don't like it," Adam said, pushing his glasses to their proper place.

"You shouldn't," Simon said. "And we're going to be late." He looked at his watch. "Clair's not going to be happy when we come home late."

"Neither will my mom or dad," Lisa said, squeaking as she realized just how late it had gotten. Her despair of her situation was the much needed punch in the gut Alvin needed to snap him from his dreams.

"Maybe we should be going," he said, looking at the human girl, and smiling. "I'd hate to see poor Lisa get into trouble."

"Oh, I am so sure," Brittany said, glaring at the girl and back at Alvin. The thought of five million dollars, even one million dollars, filled the young Chipette's mind with mansions, parties, fancy wardrobes. However; Ms. Miller's disappointment in her and her sisters' being late also helped snap her out of her dreams completely… at least for now. "To be honest, I don't want to get into trouble either."

The baron and his wife frowned in unison, their heads snapping towards each other as if they had been programs for such an action. Or perhaps it had been rehearsed, to win the sympathy of the children. "I do apologize in keeping you from your curfews," the baron said. "Perhaps if you'd like, we can drive you all home, and explain to your parents?"

"That's definitely not necessary," Simon said, nearly spewing the words from his mouth. The reaction of the other children to his concerned tone, and the offer of the baron's offer brought a look of combined panic and fear from the kids.

Alicia glared at her husband, throwing daggers right at his very soul. "That's a good response, its not smart to accept rides from strangers, however…," she reached into her purse, and pulled out a pen and paper, writing down something, and then tore the page into three pieces, handing each to Alvin, Brittany, and Marie. "… if you are interested in our offer, we'd be thrilled to have you. Please call me by next weekend, and let me know one way or the other." The woman blew a kiss at the children, and she and her husband slipped into their vehicle, along with their guards, and drove off.

The interior of the car was lined with the finest black leather that could be found. The exterior windows were tinted, so no one could see in, but it wasn't a hassle to look out for those inside. A small television slid down and played the latest in the stock market in America and Europe, as classical music filled the passengers compartment. Sitting opposite of her husband, Alicia fingered her hair rapidly. The air in the vehicle was thick, and heavy as her fingers worked. The driver seemed to feel it, and was twitching in his seat, as were the big, bad, guards across from them.

"What was that?!" she snarled, her blue eyes focusing on her husband. "Offering them a ride home?!" Her painted lips snarled, and before he could answer, she turned her head. "We had them, for god's sakes!"

Eric Von Straugton's only reply was a smile. "We still do," he chuckled finally. He picked up a glass of vodka and sipped it. "Alicia, do you really think that any of those children will say anything about strangers offering them a ride home?"

"You are naïve if you think not," she hissed.

"If they were normal, perhaps, but the situation we presented them with is too much like the faced with Claudia and her brother, if the chipmunk, what is his name… Alvin, that's it. If Alvin were to speak up, his father might consider the fact that the boy had agreed to our offer, or at best, be upset that none of the children even left us when they had the chance."

"But the boy's father isn't there at the house, if I understood right, sir," one of the guards spoke out of turn. The baron turned and stared at the much larger man, putting him in his place.

"You must be out of your mind or drunk," she grumbled under her breathe. "Those children, those… freaks, had been kidnapped once, do not forget. If you think they'd hesitate to speak out about a strange man offering them a ride…," she looked at her husband, sighing. "Even if not, the human children might."

"Perhaps, but I think that the girls were very intrigued by the offer. The older one is much like Alvin and the girl chipmunk. She had the eyes of desire, and of adventure. And the other girl wants to experience things past her white picket fences. No, trust me Alicia, the lure of gold and adventure will bring them to us. And, the fear of grounding or any other sort of trouble from their parents will keep them silent… at least long enough that if they did say something, it would be too late."

"What if one of the other children…," she began.

"Alvin, Brittany, and that other girl are headstrong, and willing to bribe or talk their siblings out of doing such a thing." Baron Straugton smiled again, and sipped his drink, his head thrilling with success and Mozart.

"You intentionally said you'd give them a ride, just to alienate them from their parents?" Alicia asked, stroking her chin.

"But of course," he replied with a renewed predatory grin.

"You didn't believe they'd ever accept the offer on face value right away, did you?" she asked, a dark grin spreading across her face. She reached up, and sipped from her own drink.

"Offer a doe a field of grass in the open, during the middle of hunting season, and you lose the doe," he said, his eyes twinkling darkly. "But lead it to patches of grass here and there, until it is out in the open and not away of where its at," he smiled as he put his glass down, and then formed an imaginary gun in his hand. He 'cocked' it, and 'fired', going through the motions. He looked at his wife, and laughed, seeing she understood.

"And my mother was worried when I married you," she laughed. She finished her drink in a long, hard swallow. "You, my dear, are a genius."

His eyes were still hard and dark as he looked at her, "Whatever gave you the impression, dear Alicia, that I was not?"

Okay, this is one of the creepiest scenes I have ever written. And Baron Von Straugton is definitely the creepiest dudes I've ever come up with! Not the most, there are a few more twisted than him. Anyway, chapter three is next, and is entitled, "To Trick a Babysitter."