Author's note: Hello, sorry for the late update. I've been up to a lot lately, but I'm back. Anyway, thanks for all the OCs so far, and although it may take a bit of time for them all to show up-especially the evil one- they will all feature for a lengthy time in this story.
I do not own Alvin and the chipmunks, but I do own the plot and any OCs that are not listed as other authors'.
"You're sure this is American?"
It had only taken Alvin a few minutes to completely destroy James' perception of America. Apparently, every boy dresses in pink and runs around shouting random numbers all the time. Of course James had been about the block before and knew that either radioactive poisoning had reshaped America or Alvin was pulling his arm-or in this case tail. Though he knew he should simply ignore Alvin or tell him he wasn't falling for it, James had thought of a much better idea.
"Of course it is. Downing a bottle of chili sauce is the most Mexi-I mean American thing a guy can do!" Alvin strenuously replied as though he was holding back a laughing fit. Theodore and Connor watched on, amazed at the fact that James might actually fall for it, while Simon, for once, didn't know what to do. Should he rat Alvin out or watch what was sure to be the funniest reaction to Alvin's pranks he would ever see? Considering it didn't kill anyone, and for the sake of lightening up, he settled with the latter.
"Ok then, máistir, I'll do it-if you do one Irish thing after this," James replied. This small crowd of relatives and friends was beginning to get greatly interested, with what was bound to be a dare war coming up on the stupid channel. Normal life was continuing around them with people sitting down to enjoy the food they had ordered from the quaint restaurant they sat outside of. A few old people gave them odd looks; everyone else, though, didn't give the odd group a second thought but instead watched the plasma TV in the corner of the restaurant.
"Deal!" Alvin said while smirking at his slightly larger opponent and bodyguard. 'What's the worst that can happen?' he thought whilst getting ready to laugh his tail off at James' soon to be horrified face. While the others were gripped by what was going to happen, Tom had simply sat at the top of the bench laughing and shaking his head at what was going to happen.
"Here we go," the bodyguard said whilst unscrewing the lid of the chili sauce bottle. Gently he lifted it above his head and got ready to chug it. The others leaned in, waiting for the sauce to slip out. One more small lift and the sauce trickled gently like a flowing stream into his mouth before it suddenly began gushing down his throat quicker than most would have liked. The chipmunks watched the twisted face of the chugger as more and more went down his small throat. Simon began to consider the possibilities of the sauce drowning James, before, with one last tilt, the now red-brown chipmunk downed the last of the sauce. Alvin had a paw covering his mouth as though his laughing might choke him, Connor and Simon looked on in disgust, Theodore almost seemed to envy his new friend, while Tom simply held up three fingers and gently whispered a countdown. Three…..two…..one.
Suddenly an eruption of flames burst erratically from James' mouth in the direction of Alvin. Connor, Simon and Theodore stood in shock as they witnessed Alvin's face become charred. His eyebrows gently singed after the flame had stopped and all that was left was a shocked Alvin and a bemused James.
"So, American tradition number one-always drink chili sauce, and burn the face off your friend."
As Alvin slowly turned round, in one of the most awkward ways possible, the others got a full view of his face. The charred, singed and basically black face caused three of them to drop to the ground. Getting over the shock, and general fear of chili sauce he now gained, Alvin wiped his face clean of the dust and gave a hard glare to his brothers. They, however, didn't care and continued to laugh and roll all over the place.
"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, Mr. I am so funny," Alvin spitefully said. The others had gradually rolled to a stop and jumped back up to the table. Their small booth was now blocked by people in front of them, staring at the TV with even less notice than before of the children.
"You really shouldn't try and outsmart people you don't know. It may come back to bite you-or in this case burn you!" Tom said before the others started laughing again. Alvin had had enough and decided to quickly end it.
"Well, you guys still suck in every other department, like, dancing. Who thinks they're better than me at that then, hm? Come on all you smart people whose better?" Alvin boasted as he went up close and personal in each of their faces. James simply rolled his eyes and was about to speak, before he noticed the amount of people gathered around the restaurant. It was suspicious, but humiliating Alvin was more fun at the moment.
"That's alright Alvin, we all know you're the best dancer," James said, while receiving curious looks from the others-including Tom, "That's why, my dare is for you to perform river dance, right here, right now, in front of all these people."
Simon was the only one to catch on to what this dance was, and after imagining what Alvin would look like performing it, he began to gently chuckle at his brother's doom. The others simply missed the point and lacked the knowledge of what the dance was, thereby forcing them into a very curious state.
"River what?" Alvin asked.
"River dance," James replied, "One of my native dances, generally performed at céilís or parties. Effectively, all you have to do is run around, lifting your legs up and twisting and turning. It's quite simple-and mainly a girl's dance."
At the word girl, Alvin's face dropped and his eyebrows seemed to grow back fast enough to allow him to glare at this foreigner. Quietly muttering curses to himself, he walked outside of the booth, having to squeeze past very distracted adults the whole way, until he was standing in the aisle of the restaurant, clear of human presence. Looking up at his oppressor, and barely holding back the need to hit him, he began to perform what looked like ballet.
The sight of their brother twirling about in the most ungracious fashion was too much for Simon and Theodore and all they could do to stop themselves dying of a laughing fit, was grip onto the soft fabric of the seat and bite down hard on their bottom lip. The average river dance lasted five minutes and James wasn't willing to spare Alvin any of it. By the time Alvin collapsed on the ground from exhaustion, Connor and Simon were dying in the corner of the booth, Theodore was turning away to stop himself laughing and hurting his brother's feelings and James and Tom were hung over each end of the seat as though they may pass out at any second.
To watch a pop star perform dreadful river dance in front of the public was not only disturbing but downright scary and within two minutes everyone had run away from Alvin-or so the group thought.
"Oh shut up you bunch of wussies," Alvin shouted up, before jumping back into the booth. The others weren't going to stop, until an elderly man told them to shut up. Feeling that it was quite rude, James was about to remark back when he noticed the huge crowd around the TV in the restaurant. Looking at his watch he thought to himself 'Surely the Great British Bake Off isn't that interesting?' before pushing past the numerous bodies to the front of the crowd. Connor was too large to make it through but the others arrived next to him, on a small table just in front of the TV. What was on the TV sent of a jolt of fear up their bodies and caused all in the restaurant to quiet down.
Pictured in the middle of the screen, was an airplane sitting destroyed in a suburban housing estate. The wings were pulled straight off the sides and thick electrical lines stuck out from the main body's previous arms. The tail was destroyed with what appeared to be large gashes running from the cockpit all the way to the tail, as though some hungry God had attempted to grab it and eat it-but this was not the worst. Around the plane lay dozens of houses completely eradicated from the force of the apparent crash landing. Fuel leaked from the plane and was dripping perilously close to a blaze that had begun next to what was once a garage. The cameraman, who was filming this all, looked around at the wreckage and destruction. Many people lay on the ground, either injured and crawling or dead and buried under dust and bricks. The few who seemed alright, sat next to dying relatives crying out for help from God.
The reporter must have been one of the first on the seen, with police not arriving for another five minutes. Silence resounded around the small building inside the much larger shopping complex as everyone watched the ensuing chaos. What had once seemed unreal eventually began to unravel in reality. Police began pulling people out with the help of firefighters, whilst pushing free people back from the scene. One officer began pushing the cameraman back, while shouting at him to clear out. The officer's face was the only thing to be seen before a gigantic eruption of flames pierced the ever blue sky and the wailing noise of an explosion followed soon after. The blaze had caught on the fuel and all had been flung away even further.
The camera flew out of the man's hands and rolled for a moment before gently coming to rest. It came to view a large building now in ruins, with several bikes and toys lying in the now smoke filled garden. Some looked away from the TV, others could not. A reporter's voice could be heard shouting a man's name and suddenly the camera was lifted up by an unknown source. As it was raised, it came closer to the house, and as though the cameraman was as shocked as everyone else, he came to view a small arm gently lying on the ground. The body covered in fifteen tones of concrete and brick was crushed and this tiny hand and arm, which could belong only to a small child, lay still with its fingers gently grasped around a small bear.
The cameraman stood solid, as did his camera until a man ran over to him screaming at him to move and pulling him away from the rubble. Both began to run, passing by the burnt bodies of police officers and the ordinary public. They ran until they came clear of the smoke, ending up along side shocked homeowners. The camera tilted awkwardly towards the ground as though the man was humped over, until it rose again to face a woman standing next to it. The shocked expression was seen all round but suddenly it changed to fear, a fear matched by none other. Following her gaze, the camera turned to the smoke and fire covered housing estate, finding what could only be described as two red spheres of disgust, disgrace and death.
"Fhaigheann tú bás deartháir, ar fad agat!"a voice screamed, as the two spheres disappeared into the smoke once again. The camera cut out, and the broadcast was brought back to the newsroom, only to find two psychologically scarred news readers. After finally coming out of hypnosis and giving very strained and fearful expressions the anchorman jumbled with words.
"Our, reporter Jeff, is um, fine. He'll be, back later from downtown, San Francisco. We're-," the reporter was cut off mid-sentence by an ad for Colgate toothpaste. The crowd still stood in silence, no one daring to break it with noise for fear of a stampede. Simon began to look around the room as though it was a bad dream and watched as James' head gently fell, looking to the ground in silence. All were still present in the room, with some fainting or bursting into tears. The manager eventually switched the channel to another news programme airing, but the same images were to be found, with the news team commenting on the odd way in which the plane crashed, as though it did a nose dive.
Simon suddenly felt a firm hand being placed on his shoulder and looked down from the TV to find James staring at him with a determined glare.
"Time to go," he said and began pushing the three of them through the crowd. None of the boys could understand why he was so anxious to leave. Did the event disturb him that much? It didn't matter anyway, as they were already heading toward the centre of the complex. All around them people stood rooted to their spot in front of the TV giving the place a very eerie feel. When they reached the information office and the pushing finally stopped, the three boys turned round to a very anxious looking chipmunk and a scared Connor.
"Do you have your brother's number?" James asked, before receiving a nod from Connor, "Good. Tell him to meet us outside with the car and Luke in fifteen minutes. Tom and the others should be back by then."
Theodore only realized that Tom was missing now and began to worry for his new friend. Realistically there was nothing really to worry about, but it was Theodore's nature to be afraid and worry for others. The group was seriously confused, and Simon would have become the quizmaster 6000 had it not been for the others' arrival. The chipettes and Charlotte looked as gobsmacked as the others had, but Tom and Nicole wore the same look as James-fierce and angry.
"Everyone here?" James asked, to which he received a small yes from Charlotte, "Let's go then." The group began walking slowly towards the front entrance, with only fear now pushing them forward. Tom had grabbed Nicole's hand as soon as he had seen her, but his grip hardened when he felt the presence of World War three dawning. A large helicopter and an unknown vehicle flew over the glass roof of the complex, and gained the attention of everyone within half a mile. They didn't appear to be stopping, but one thing that did stop was James' feet. The others grinded to a halt next to him, passing through the automatic doors and looking to the clear blue sky in search of the previously seen vehicles. They had vanished into the unknown, with no trace in sight.
It appeared as though statues had replaced them and had it not been for Toby's obnoxious beeping from the now parked car, it may well have been true. Silently making their way over to him, the group simply got in without a word.
"So, how'd it go? Catch any bargains girls?" Toby questioned as he turned around to face his sister in the passenger seat. She didn't reply through words, but simply turned over the radio to the news. After a few minutes of listening, Toby's face lost all happiness and his body language rank of fear. Without another word he turned away from his sis' and drove off.
Luke and Connor stared out each window, whilst the others held back tears. Eventually, Jeanette couldn't hold it, and without thinking, buried her face in Simon's chest. Even with all that had happened, Simon was still left shocked by this and threw his arms up in fright, before bringing them gently down and caressing her head. Nicole had already begun to lean on Tom's shoulder, with Tom wrapping his arm around her protectively, though neither lost their determined gazes. Eleanor and Theodore curled up into balls next to one another for comfort and support. Only Alvin and Brittany tried to remain strong and held the nerve not to help one another through the journey.
The radio was the only thing most could hear, but Theodore could hear small whispers coming from the back seat of the car where Tom, Nicole and James sat.
"Jammie…she's secure?...don't risk it…I saw it….they're back."
Dun, dun, dun. Big, scary ending, whoa! Anyway, until next time. Go raibh maith agat!
