Hey, everyone! Awesomo3000 here! Well, here's the fourth chapter to Chip-Wrecked. Hope you enjoy reading it! I am terribly sorry about the long update (again!). This time, I was at my Nan's house and she didn't have Wireless internet connection. And my Internet's been down. Anyway, read & review!

Chapter 4: The Trouble Begins

In the end, after climbing a lot of stairs, Dave, Claire, the Chipmunks and the Chipettes finally came up onto the middle deck of the cruise chip. They all couldn't believe their eyes; the Carnival Dream ship was just like paradise.

There was an unbelievably long line of deckchairs going down the even longer deck as far as the eye could see. At the very end of the deck, there were three long lines of deckchairs with sun umbrellas out in the sunshine, going around the edge of the ship.

There were also tables where people could sit down and eat their lunch, and long streamers with lights hanging from them stretched across the deck. There were also three long lines of bunting with different coloured flags hanging from them, connected from the deck above to the rail of the ship.

Nearly all the people on the ship were dressed in shorts, two-piece bikinis, trunks, and holiday clothes, lounging on the deckchairs in the hot sun wearing sunglasses. Some of them were wandering around, carrying drinks or going to the pool on the top deck.

The eight passengers all gazed in wonder at their new surroundings.

"Whoa." was all Alvin could say.

"This looks absolutely amazing!" said Jeanette, unable to contain her excitement.

"You can say that again." Replied Brittany, staring in amazement.

"I have to admit, this looks like paradise." Said Simon, as he straightened his glasses.

"Okay, guys. Me and Dave are going to find the room we're staying in." said Claire, interrupting their comments of awe, "We'll take your luggage with us." With that, Dave picked up the six chipmunk's suitcases, and balanced them on top of his wheelie suitcase.

"Now, Simon, I'm putting you in charge while we're gone." He said. Simon looked surprised, while Alvin's bottom jaw dropped in shock.

"What? But, Dave, I'm the oldest! Why do you always put him in charge?" he complained, "Put me in charge for a change!"

"Because he's more responsible than you, Alvin." Replied Dave, "Now, you can all have a look around the ship. Meet us back here in the next fifteen minutes." He then picked up his suitcase and turned to go.

"And remember, no going off on your own or causing any trouble." He added. He looked at Alvin sternly when he said this.

"Aw, don't worry, Dave." Alvin replied, hiding his sneaky grin, "You can count on me." Dave just stared at him with a distrusting look in his eyes. He then turned his head away from the furry troublemaker and looked at Simon.

"Simon, I want you to keep a close eye on Alvin. Make sure he stays out of trouble." Said Dave, "As far as I'm concerned, he might cause trouble." Simon nodded in reply.

"You got it, Dave." he said. Dave and Claire then turned and began to walk away with the luggage.

"Oh, and one more thing," said Dave, turning around, "Try not to draw too much attention to yourselves. We're on vacation."

"Okay, Dave." Theodore replied, "We won't."

"Alright, guys, we'll see ya in fifteen minutes." Called Claire, "Have a good look around!"

"And remember, best behaviour!" Dave added. With that, he and Claire both disappeared into the sea of vacationers. As soon as they were gone, Simon spoke up.

"So, where should we go first?" he asked. The Chipmunks and Chipettes thought for a few seconds.

Suddenly, their thinking was interrupted by an extremely loud and deep noise. The six chipmunks all held their delicate little ears as the ship's horn blared deafeningly.

"Ouch. That's loud." Muttered Theodore, when the obnoxious noise had finally stopped.

"I think that means we're leaving now." Said Brittany.

"She's right. Look!" called Eleanor. The Chipmunks and the Chipettes all ran and looked over the edge of the ship's safety rails.

Slowly but surely, the humungous ship was beginning to turn around and move away from the pier and out into the ocean. The cruise ship glided gently through the water, splitting the waves apart and leaving a white frothy trail of bubbles in its wake.

"Vacation, here we come!" said Jeanette happily. Then, Simon looked around, confused.

"Wait a minute, where's Alvin gone?" he asked, breaking the silence. The others looked around in shock. Simon was right; Alvin was missing. Then, they all heard a familiar noise.

"Whoo-hoo!" They turned around to see Alvin standing on the top of the safety rails. He had his little arms spread out to the sides and he was yelling at the top of his high-pitched voice.

"I'm the king of the wooorld!" Alvin cried, "Whoo-hoo!" He almost fell off backwards, but he managed to grab onto the rail just in time.

"Ugh. I'm going to puke." Simon muttered to himself, adjusting his black glasses. Theodore looked at Alvin, then at Simon.

"Alvin, what are you doing? Get down from there!" called Brittany.

"Aw, come on, Brittany. Lighten up!" Alvin called back.

"Alvin, get down." said Simon firmly. Alvin frowned and jumped down from the rail.

"You're no fun." he grumbled, "Now I know why they say the smart one in a trio's always the boring one." Simon tried to ignore this remark.

"Alvin, Dave put me in charge." he replied through clenched teeth, "And I have to look after you." He then turned away from his annoying brother and looked at the others.

"So, as I asked before, where should we go and have a look first?" he asked calmly. The six chipmunks all thought for a few seconds.

"Ooh, why don't we go and visit the top decks, check out the pool?" Eleanor said at last. Simon smiled at her suggestion.

"That's quite a good idea." he responded, "What do you think, guys?" His question was met with simultaneous answers of agreement.

"Well, alright then, what're we waiting for?" said Alvin, "Let's go!" With that, he turned around and dashed off like a rocket.

"Alvin, wait!" called Simon. But Alvin had already gone. The blue clad chipmunk sighed in a mixture of frustration and exhaustion.

"Come on." he said to the others, "We'd better make sure he doesn't cause any trouble." With that, Simon, along with the four other chipmunks, scampered after Alvin.

0o0o0o0

They quickly all ran up the stairs that lead to the decks above, until they finally reached the third top deck of the ship.

The five little chipmunks couldn't believe their eyes; this deck was even better than the other decks put together.

The top deck was at the end of the ship and quite long. Right in the end of the luxurious deck was a big rectangle-shaped swimming pool with white edges. It was in the middle of a circle-shaped area with bizarre multi-coloured seats around the edge of the pool. Loads of people were in its cool blue water, either swimming around or relaxing on inflatables.

Around the edge of the pool circle were long lines of deckchairs with umbrellas. Loads of holidaymakers were resting and sunbathing peacefully on the cosy deckchairs in the hot sun. Most of them were wearing sunglasses, shorts, and bikinis.

And on the top deck, looking down at the pool was a tall yellow and black waterslide. It had two long slides that each went in different directions downwards. They curled and twisted down from the top of the slide, finally ending in a long roofless slide at the bottom filled with water for a splashing finish.

"Wow! This is even better than I thought it would be!" cried Brittany excitedly.

"Er, yeah. This looks… great." replied Jeanette nervously, staring at the tall waterslide. To her, from where she was standing, it looked absolutely ginormous.

"Come on, guys! Let's go have a look around!" said Theodore eagerly. He began to run off to have a look, but someone stopped him by grabbing him by his tail. He turned around to see Simon gripping onto his bushy tail.

"Slow down there, Theo." he said gently, "I know you're excited about this, but remember, no running off on your own." Theodore's smile disappeared.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, Simon." he said, feeling slightly guilty for forgetting what Dave had told them. Simon smiled kindly at his younger brother.

"That's okay, Theo." he replied, "And besides, we have to keep a low profile. We're on vacation, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

"We'll have no problem with that." said Eleanor, "It's Alvin we have to worry about." Simon frowned at the mention of his delinquent brother's name.

"Yeah, and we still have to find him. Wherever he is." he responded.

"There he is!" cried Brittany suddenly. The five chipmunks all toward where the Chipette was pointing.

Through the jungle of deckchairs, they all saw a small familiar red figure standing on the edge of one of the coloured seats by the pool, getting ready to jump into the water.

"Alvin!" called Simon angrily. The red clad chipmunk stopped for a second and noticed Simon. He then turned back towards the pool and prepared himself for the dive. Simon began to run along the slippery wet floor towards the pool.

"Alvin, what the hell are you doing?" called Simon as he ran toward his brother.

"What does it look like I'm doing, genius?" Alvin called back, "I'm diving!" He then readied himself to jump.

"Alvin, you're in your clothes!" Simon yelled, "And Dave told me to make sure that you don't get into any troubbblllllllllleeeee!" His sentence was interrupted by him skidding across the wet tiled floor. Simon flailed his little arms about helplessly, trying to regain his balance. At the same time, Alvin finally took a flying leap off the seat.

"Cannonball!" he yelled, tucking his arms and legs into his chest, while Simon uncontrollably skidded off the edge and into the pool.

The two brothers collided with each other in a chipmunk-sized tidal wave of pool water. When they came to the surface, they were soaked. Alvin looked like he was having a great time; Simon looked the exact opposite.

"Aah, you landed on my head, Alvin!" he said irritably, as he rubbed his head.

"Oh, hi, Simon." said Alvin, completely oblivious to what had just happened, "Glad you decided to join me." Simon responded with an annoying growl. Jeanette meanwhile saw the whole thing.

"Simon, are you okay?" she cried, rushing to help her counterpart. The other three chipmunks quickly followed her. Jeanette was so focused on checking if Simon was alright, she didn't notice a woman walking across the deck, holding a big tray of food.

Jeanette jumped through the woman's legs, her tail brushing against her ankle. At the sudden touch of her furry tail, the woman screeched in shock. She was so surprised, she accidently dropped the tray, the food scattering all across the wooden deck. Some people looked up from their deckchairs to see what all the commotion was about.

"Oh, my God! I am so sorry! I didn't mean to! God, I'm so clumsy!" cried Jeanette embarrassedly, feeling like a complete idiot.

Things didn't appear to be going well for the others either. Theodore managed to avoid the tray incident, but then he found himself in a predicament too.

Two children, a boy and a girl, were playing on the deck, kicking a multi-coloured beach ball to each other. Finally, the girl, without meaning to, kicked the ball straight towards Theodore. The chubby little chipmunk saw it coming in his direction and, realising he was right in its path, panicked. Without thinking, he swung his little fist at the oncoming ball. Surprisingly, his tiny paw managed to smack the beach ball away from him. He watched in amazement, as it flew through the air.

"Whoa! I didn't know I could do that." he thought out loud. His mood soon changed though.

A fat man was lying on his deckchair, sunbathing and minding his own business. Feeling thirsty, he reached down and picked up his drink. He lifted it to his mouth, and was about to take a sip, when all of a sudden, the beach ball hit him square in the face. The jolt caused the man to spill his drink all over himself and his magazine that was resting on his belly.

"What the heck?" he yelled angrily, "Who threw that at me?" Frightened, Theodore quickly hid behind one of the colourful seats by the pool, clearly not wanting to be spotted.

Meanwhile, Brittany ran over to the edge of the pool, Eleanor lagging behind. Brittany stopped and glared down at Alvin and Simon who were still in the pool.

"Simon, what are you doing?" she yelled, "This is no time for fooling about!"

"I wasn't!" protested Simon, "I skidded into the pool!" Brittany sighed, and turned her attention to Alvin.

"Alvin, get out of the pool!" she said crossly, "What's Dave gonna say?"

"Aw, come on, Brittany." Alvin responded, "Cheer up! Have some fun!" Then, he grabbed onto the hem of Brittany's spotty pink skirt, trying to pull her into the pool.

"Alvin, get off me! I don't wanna get wet!" she cried, trying to pull away. She didn't notice behind her that Eleanor was beginning to catch up with her. Suddenly, she began to skid wildly across the slippery tile floor. Then she saw that she was heading straight towards Brittany. Eleanor panicked and desperately tried to stop, but she couldn't.

Eleanor crashed right into Brittany, and they both fell in the water with a splash. They reappeared above the water, gasping for breath. Alvin was laughing his head off; he clearly found it hysterical.

"Thanks for the help, Eleanor!" he joked. Brittany shot Alvin a dirty look. Then, the people in the pool finally noticed the four chipmunks.

"Hey, everybody, look! It's the Chipmunks and Chipettes!" cried a nosy teenage girl. In an instant, the message passed around to nearly all the people on the deck.

"Uh-oh." muttered Eleanor.

"Oh, nice going, Alvin." Simon murmured to his brother.

"RUN!" cried Brittany. With that, they all quickly jumped out of the pool and made a run for it. They grabbed Theodore and Jeanette and ran straight through the doors, the rabid fans stampeding behind them.

0o0o0o0

At last, the six chipmunks, after loads of running, finally managed to escape the holidaymakers. They stopped for a minute to catch their breath.

"That was close." said Theodore.

"Alvin, you idiot!" yelled Brittany, giving him a shove, "What the heck were you thinking?"

"What? What did I do?" he asked defensively.

"Don't play stupid, Alvin." said Simon, drying his glasses off, "You know exactly what you did. You ran off, jumped right into a pool with your clothes on, caused me, Brittany, and Eleanor to get wet, got us into trouble, and drew attention to us!"

"Hey, calm down, Simon! I'm sorry, okay?" Alvin replied, putting up his paws in defence. Jeanette interrupted the argument.

"Hey, err, guys?" she asked, "What time is it?" The others stopped fighting for a second and looked at the clock down the hall. It had just gone 1.20pm.

"Oh, no, Dave!" cried Eleanor, "He'll be wondering where we are!"

"Whoa, time sure flies when you're having fun." said Alvin. Simon rolled his eyes at this comment.

"Come on, let's go!" Brittany said.

"Wait, what about the top deck?" asked Alvin, "I hear they have a golf course up there!"

"There's no time for that now, Alvin! Now come on!" Simon responded, grabbing his brother by the arm. Quick as a flash, they all ran down the hall and down the stairs, back down to the deck they were staying on. Dave and Claire were waiting by the bottom of the stairs.

"Guys, where have you been?" asked Claire.

"We've been waiting here for you for, like, five minutes." Dave added, pointing to his watch. The six chipmunks looked down at their toes, guiltily.

"Sorry, Dave." said Brittany.

"Yeah. We were having so much fun, we lost track of time." Theodore added ashamedly. Dave pinched the space between his eyes and sighed deeply.

"That's alright, Theodore. I understand." he replied.

"Guys, why are you all wet?" Claire asked curiously. Brittany, Simon, Eleanor, and Alvin's eyes widened slightly; they had almost forgotten they were still soaking wet.

"We got all sweaty from running back here!" Eleanor answered. The others all nodded in agreement. Dave looked at them sceptically.

"I see." he said. He then turned his attention towards Simon.

"And what about Alvin, Simon?" he asked, "Did you make sure he didn't cause any trouble?" Simon struggled to think of what to say. He couldn't let Dave know that he let accidently Alvin cause trouble; then he would think that Simon was unreliable.

"Yeah, of course, Dave!" he said at last, "Yep, I made sure he was on his best behaviour the whole time." Dave sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness for that." he said to himself, "I didn't want to hear any complaints from the captain."

"Come on, Dave." Claire interrupted, "Let's go and find some deckchairs." So Dave followed Claire and they both went off to find some free deckchairs to sit on.

"Phew, that was a close shave." said Jeanette. Simon turned around and glared at Alvin.

"Don't you ever do that again, Alvin." he hissed, "We almost got into trouble with Dave."

"Oh, don't worry, Simon." Alvin replied, a cheeky grin spreading across his face, "I assure you, there's plenty more where that came from."

Uh-oh, what's Alvin gonna do next? Hope you liked it! Sorry for those of you who have been on the Carnival Dream if I got some of the descriptions wrong. I've only been looking at pictures of it. Read & review!
Just so you know, I'm gonna replace Holiday with Wouldn't Change a Thing for one of the songs in this story. I decided this when I saw the lyrics of Holiday like "pulverise the Eiffel Towers" and "kill all the f*gs".
So, until the next chapter, Awesomo3000 out!