(A/N: EleanorChipette4, thank you. I just the reviews again and noticed your's again. I am now encouraged. It's review like those that make an author post as many chapters as she can.

It took me a long time to write but I hope you like it. It's kinda long... ish.

Anyways, enjoy and review!

-Kairiaka)

Chapter 8: The Chipmunk Hunter

"WHAT'S GOIN' ON!?" demanded Lee as he came into the room.

He still had his gun on him, which made the chipmunks screech to a halt, frozen in terror. The twins were still screaming and standing chairs. Lee saw the chipmunks, raised his gun, let out a war-cry and charged.

Nikki was in her room, doing her homework and wondering if her uncle had gone off the deep end, when she heard here sisters scream.

She jumped. "What on Earth!?" she thought.

BANG! A gun being fired could be heard all through the house. Nikki, totally out of instinct, ran downstairs. Lee was firing off his gun, trying to shoot at the three chipmunks, who were now getting chased by Cookie Chomper and Lee. The chipmunks knew Cookie Chomper wouldn't be as harmful as Lee's bee-bee gun, but they couldn't take any chances on being caught.

"Hold still, you rats!" roared Lee as he fired off his gun.

At this, Alvin stopped running to give Lee a death glare, as if daring him to shoot him or his brothers. This sorta took Lee by surprise. He had never witnessed anything like that before. He was for only for a second before his started firing off his gun again. Alvin ducked and dodged the pellets and started running again.

Cookie Chomper had stopped chasing and had fallen asleep. It had been a long day for her and she was tired from all the chasing.

During the second of silence from Lee, Nikki had gotten a good look at Alvin.

"Chipmunks?" she thought.

(Nikki's POV)

I will never quite understand how it happened or why I did it. I still look back on that day with amusement. All I know is my insane uncle was trying to kill the three chipmunks. I admired the one who'd startled Uncle Lee. He, I was guessing it was a he because of his body seemed more of a male type, which compared to a …. Good grief, I'm starting to sound like Reanne…. getting back to the point he was either pretty brave or pretty stupid. I'm gonna say he was pretty brave. I remember thinking that chipmunk reminded me of Alvin Seville from "The Chipmunks". Boy, was I in for a shocker later.

The smallest chipmunk fell down flat on his face and even though the twins were screaming their heads off (which we have gotten calls from the neighbors on the end street, yelling for us to shut up, it is that loud), I thought I heard a faint cry from his brothers.

"Theodore!" they both cried. They managed to dodge pellets, help the little one to his feet, and commenced the chase again.

Uncle Lee was having a hard time. "WHY -WON'T -YOU -DIE!?" he boomed as he fired and reloaded.

This was one of the craziest scenes I had ever witnessed.

I must have been standing there, gawking, because Uncle Lee turned to me and shouted."DON'T JUST STAND THERE! CATCH THEM!"

Uncle Lee was chasing and firing at the poor chipmunks all around the house. I didn't know what to do. I just sat on the stairs and watched in shock. The twins still hadn't stopped screaming, so it was hard for Uncle Lee to concentrate. Finally, the terrified chipmunks half jumped, half flew into the cabinets and slammed the doors behind them.

"YOU'RE NOT ESCAPING THAT EASILY!"shouted Uncle Lee as he flung open the cupboard.

While he was searching, I noticed the cabinet that hung over the refrigerator slowly open. The chipmunks ran out quickly and quietly, not that you could tell this because the twins were still howling their heads off. No one saw them escape except me. They were about to run upstairs, but in the confusion, had totally forgotten I was there. They stopped and looked around. There was no way out of escape unless they came up the stairs. CeCe, or Cookie Chomper, depending if you and her are close, was sleeping in front the pet door in the kitchen. Uncle Lee was in the kitchen, so they couldn't have escaped through the garage door either.

I got up quickly and pointed up the stairs. "Go!" I mouthed. "Hide!"

The chipmunks got the message and bolted up the stairs. I thought I heard one say "Thank you!" as it ran by. Uncle Lee must have figured out the chipmunks weren't in the cabinets. He turned to me. By that time, I had resumed sitting on the steps.

"WHERE'D THEY GO!?" he bellowed.

I tried to play innocent. "I haven't the slightest idea what you mean," I lied.

"THEY RAN UPSTAIRS!" cried Erica. "SOMEBODY CATCH THEM!"

"DON'T LET THEM GET IN OUR STUFF!" wailed Ginger.

Uncle Lee let out a triumphant war-cry and charged up the steps. I shot the twins an dirty look and took off after him.

He was in the twins' room when I got up there. He seemed pretty determined, though, personally, I think he was wasting his time. You couldn't find an adult elephant in their room, let alone three tiny chipmunks. Clothes and toys overflowed on Ginger's side (she's the sloppy one) and Erica's side was pouring with toys, books, and certificates (Erica's the overachiever). Her stuff was placed neatly on her side (or as neat as a four-year-old can) . My uncle didn't seem to care how clean it was because he was flinging everything to the floor. I rolled my eyes and went into my room, shutting the door behind me. I sunk to the floor and that's when I saw them. They were sitting on the floor, quivering and staring at me with large eyes. They had been trying to open the door to my balcony. I stepped forward, intending to help. At once, the brown- eyed chipmunk leaped in between me and his siblings, showing his fangs and growling menacing. It was hard to take him seriously though due to the fact he was more cute than scary.

"It's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you!" I said, trying to get closer.

"AH-HA!"exclaimed Uncle Lee as he burst through the door. "SO HERE'S WHERE THEY BEEN HIDING!"

He pointed the gun at the chipmunks. "It's rare when I get chipmunks and these have very nice coats." he observed. "I think I'll stuff these!"

The blue- eyed chipmunk stood next his fierce-looking brother. The littlest was behind both of them. I realized what they were doing. When Uncle Lee fired, there was no doubt those pellets were going to hit their mark. The two brothers ... were protecting their little brother. But those pellets would kill them! And once that happened, there wasn't any protection for the little one.

I quickly did the most sensible and the most stupidest thing I have ever done in my life. I jumped between them and my uncle.

"WAIT!" I cried, tearing up. "You can't kill them!"

"And why not?" demanded my Uncle.

"Because...because..."

"Oh," said Uncle Lee. "I get it!"

I slowly put down my arms and an eyebrow rose. "You do?"

"Of course," he said, in an understanding sort of way. "You want the bodies after I get them taxidermied."

WHAT!? That wasn't what I wanted at all.

"I'll tell you what. You can have the runty one. Now get out the way Nikki." he aimed his gun again.

My arms shot up again. He could kiss my wrist if he thought I was going to move. He'd have to kill me first.

"You can't kill them!"

"Why not!?" his voice sounding a bit whiny.

"Because... because...," I stammered, staring at the chipmunks.

I noticed the tallest chipmunk's arm was bleeding. "Poor little guy," I thought.

I suddenly got a spark of inspiration. "Because... they're mine."

I was hoping Uncle Lee would believe me. Anyone could usually pull a fast one Uncle Lee. I mean, this was the guy who believed in aliens who come to Earth to steal cheese and believed Open Season was a prophecy for hunters. You'd think he would've snapped his gun in half and burned it, but no. He believed he should never hunt during the 1st week of hunting season and kill as much as possible after the first week... I guess that would be the solution, wouldn't it?

Anyway, the point was I wasn't going to let him shoot anyone. I was really beginning to hope he would believe me.

"No they're not," said Uncle Lee.

Maybe he wouldn't.

"Yes they are!" I shot back with no hesitation.

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!" I cried, feeling like I was fighting with one of the twins.

Uncle Lee folded his arms impatiently. "Then what are their names?"

"ALVIN, SIMON, AND THEODORE!" I declared without hesitation.

It came out a whole lot weirder than I expected. Uncle Lee was not fazed.

"Call them by their names!" he ordered, smiling a little too smugly.

I gulped and tried to think up a way to stall, but decided against it. So I sighed and looked at the chipmunks on the floor. Everyone stared at other. Uncle Lee cocked his gun, thinking he won. I opened my arms as I kneeled.

"Alvin, Simon, Theodore," I called.

They all raised an eyebrow. Uncle Lee pointed the gun.

"Alvin, Simon, Theodore." I repeated, doubtfully, already knowing if the chances of them surviving.

I shut my eyes. I already knew what was going to happen and I didn't wanna see it.

... Okay, why didn't I hear the bang? Did Uncle Lee missed and shoot me? No, that couldn't be right. I still would've heard the bang. And I know I would've felt the pain.

I opened my eyes. The chipmunks were in my arms. They must've figured out they had to play along to live. I smiled and turned to my uncle.

"See, I told you." I smirked, I couldn't help it." They're mine!"

He looked like he wanted to still shoot, but at a different target. But he put the gun away and left the room. The chipmunks and I had smiles plastered to our faces as he left. But the moment he left, "Alvin" hopped out of my arms. He gave me fierce look and, in short, looked like a kitten with its hair standing on end.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, trying really hard not to die laughing.

Even though I couldn't take him very seriously, I got the picture. I opened the opened the balcony door and turned back to them.

"Okay," I said. "You're free to go!"

"Tha-!"chirped "Theodore". Or at least I think that's what he was trying to say. "Alvin" covered his mouth.

I blinked and stepped out the way. The chipmunks proceeded through the door. "Simon", unfortunately, crashed into the door. He fell back. His brothers turned. He got back up and tried to walk out, but he was wincing. That's when I remembered his arm.

I gently lifted him up. "You can't go with your arm like that." I said, sort of timidly.

I went and got a bandage. It wasn't the kind we use now with that stick. It was the kind they used in the olden days. I wrapped it around his wound as quickly as possible. Then I set him on the balcony. He crashed in one of the beams and fell over again.

"'Simon' has bad luck," I thought.

I must've said that aloud without realizing. But I so wasn't expecting what happened next.

'Alvin' turned to me, smirked, and said, "Tell us something we don't know."

I did what any 8-year-old girl would do in this situation. I screamed and ran backwards, hand over my mouth. I crashed right into the bookcase. I know, I know. It was rude of me to do that. But he scared me, that's all. Anyway, one thing I must comment about my bookshelf, it has too many heavy books on it. My parents always told me not to put those books on the top shelf. Up till that point, I never understood why they told me this. I found out a few moments later. A heavy volume of a Cartoon & Anime Encyclopedia, along with a ton of other books, fell on my head. The next second, I was seeing stars and blacking out.

Oh yes. I know why my parents told me that. They told me that for cases like this.

(End of Nikki's POV)

Secret Bonus Story: Spring Break

I can't believe my spring break is over!

Alvin: It's been over for a week now and you're still moping!?

*nods* and I'm tired from school!

Theodore: Well, at least there's summer break to look forward to!

Simon: Right. You got the summer holiday to indulge in and...

*Me, Alvin, and Theodore have fallen asleep*

Simon:*stares at us and then turns to the audience* Well, since they're asleep, I'll say it.

Thank you for reading this story so far and please review!

-Simon Seville

*wakes up and looks around in confusion* Huh? What?