Munks Meet More Mutants

About This Story: While the Chipmunks are taking a spring break concert tour, they spend a few days in New York City, where they meet a group of their unlikely fans - the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Age-wise they are 11. I don't own any part of the Chipmunk franchise, just borrowing them from Nickelodeon, Janice Karman, & Ross Bagdasarian, their family, & their company. I also don't own any part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, just borrowing them also from Nickelodeon, as well as Mirage Studios (Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird & their entourage) who founded them.

About This Chapter: Rated PG, for adolescent humor, discussions of dating

Pairings: Alvin/Brittany, Raph/Brittany, Raph/Alvin (Bromance)

10. One Phone Call

Leo was sitting in the lotus position across from Splinter in the dojo. Suddenly, his T-phone started ringing. At first, he felt apologetic at Splinter's raised eyebrow as he picked up the phone to turn it off. "Sorry, Sensei, I forgot to turn off my phone before we started meditating." But he got a better look at the screen of the phone once he held it in his hand. He gasped excitedly, "It's a video chat from David Seville! I bet I know why he's calling, too..."

Once Leo pressed the "Accept" button, Dave's face appeared onscreen. "Hi, Leo. Is this a good time for a video chat, or should I call back some other time?"

Leo smiled. "No, Dave, this is actually a great time for you to call. I would've called you earlier, but Alvin said you might be out in public somewhere. Where are you right now?"

"In our hotel room." Dave replied. "And I take it you know the reason I'm calling...since you apparently have Alvin in Raph's body, while we have Raph in Alvin's body. They just told me during lunch today. How long have you known about them switching minds?"

Leo thought for a moment. "Umm, since this morning, a little after Raph - I mean, Alvin - woke up and said he wasn't Raph. And I believed it, since Raph has switched minds with a Kraang before. At least Alvin isn't one of our enemies. But I had also never heard Raph scream so much and act so dramatic in the morning. He's alright now, though."

Splinter chimed in, "Is Raphael alright?"

Dave nodded. "Sure. He was the one that said to call you for a video chat as soon as we got back to our hotel room. He's here in the room, along with my other five kids."

Leo chuckled. "Oh, I almost forgot... Dave, this is our father, Master Splinter..." he turned the phone around so they could see each other. "And, Master Splinter, this is our new friend, Alvin's father, David Seville."

"Nice to meet you, Master Splinter." Dave smiled warmly at the phone. "Your boys have told me a few things about you."

"Hello, Mister Seville." Splinter bowed at the phone with a friendly smile. "Alvin has told me a few things about you."

Leo turned the phone back around so he could speak to Dave. "Right now, it's just Splinter and myself in the room. Donnie and April were working on something in Donnie's lab. I think they said they were gonna try contacting our friend John Bishop, who is familiar with Kraang technology, and he may know of a way to reverse the mind-switch. And Alvin is currently with the others practicing in the garage band hall, or getting a tour of the Lair. The others have been great about helping him get used to being in the body of a mutant turtle for most of the day."

Dave chuckled nervously. "I hate to ask, but has he been much trouble?" He quieted the other chipmunks as they scoffed and giggled sarcastically at his question.

Leo laughed. "Actually, he's been with Mikey for most of the day. Mikey and I included him in a session in the dojo to help him practice a few moves so he could get used to moving as a turtle - but without weapons this time. He was getting the hang of it - not that he'd be ready for a battle against trained ninjas, but enough evasive maneuvers to keep him out of trouble for now. Alvin was a bit disoriented when he first woke up today. But he's been better since then. And we've been getting to know him better as Alvin, and not as Raph. So for us, it's almost like having another Mikey."

"It also helps that I know some pressure points where I can help calm him when he gets agitated." Splinter added.

Dave blinked. "Wow, you may have to teach me some of those moves with the pressure points, Master Splinter."

"Oh, I know about pressure points, too, Dave. I could also show you some time." Jeanette piped up.

Dave giggled. "And you've been withholding this information from me this whole time, Jeanette?"

She giggled in return. "Well, I'm still an amateur, and I've forgotten to tell you until now. I really only know them for massage purposes rather than self-defense purposes. Sorry about that, Dave, but you also never asked me, either."

Splinter interrupted them. "What about Raphael? Is he alright?" Leo handed the phone to his concerned father. "Have you had any problems with him?"

Dave handed the phone to someone smaller than himself. "Oh, sorry about that. Here he is, if you want to talk to him."

Onscreen appeared a young boy chipmunk with auburn hair tucked under a red backwards baseball cap. "Master Splinter, I can explain..."

"Raphael?" Splinter blinked in surprise at hearing a chipmunk voice.

Leo suppressed a laugh. "Raph? Is that really you?"

The chipmunk's eyes rolled. "Hey, Leo, I know I don't look it, but it's me, Raph. Yeah, I'm still getting used to this chipmunk voice, too."

Splinter smiled. "Sorry, Raphael, so are we. I don't think your voice was that high and squeaky, even when you were about twelve."

Raph laughed. "I know, it's weird for me, too."

Splinter sighed. "But I am relieved to know that you are alright, and that the Seville family is taking care of you, and that you are being a good guest."

Raph bowed. "Hai, Sensei. They are a wonderful family. Uh, look, Dave and I both wanna talk to Alvin, if he's around." He glanced over at Dave. "Obviously for different reasons. He wants to check on his son just like you wanted to check on me, and I want to see..." he sighed with a slight shudder, "...if he's done anything to - or with - my body that I need to worry about."

Leo stood to his feet as he accepted the phone back while he helped his father to his feet. "Oh, no problem, Raph. We'll talk while we walk with the phone to the garage band hall. I know it's sound-proof, but I hope we can still get a good signal in there..."

Raph thought for a moment, then replied, "Pretty sure the signal still works in there. I mean, we've texted each other in there all the time."

In a few minutes, Leo entered the garage band hall, where the bandmates were all practicing. Most of them were playing their usual instruments - Casey on the bass guitar, Angel on the harmonica, Karai on the keyboards, Shini tweaking the sound system - only now Mikey was on the drums, while Alvin in Raph's body was on lead guitar.

From the screen, Raph looked a little uneasy at the sight of his Turtle form wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, faded jeans with holes at the knees, black high-top sneakers, and a red do-rag style bandanna instead of his mask. He was really getting into rocking on the guitar.

The other chipmunks gathered around the phone to get a glimpse of Alvin in the Turtle's form. "Wow, can you believe that's Alvin?" They whispered among themselves.

Once the music seemed to fade enough to signal the end of a song, Splinter loudly tapped his staff on the ground to get the bandmates' attention. The Chipmunks and Chipettes even went quiet in their hotel room. It was loud enough that the others in the band, even though they were about fifty feet away on the other side of the room, quietly stood at attention. Except for Alvin, who just merely turned his head to see what was happening.

Splinter cleared his throat. "Alvin, you have a phone call - your father David, and my son Raphael both want to talk to you on a video chat."

Alvin set down the guitar and gulped nervously. But he approached Splinter and Leo, and accepted the phone Leo offered to him. He managed to smile at the screen. "Dave! Raph! Everybody!" He and Raph marveled at each other in their different forms, sharing an awkward laugh.

"Alvin! It's you, alright." Dave chuckled. "I recognized the bouncy way you walk, even in a different body."

Raph sighed with relief. "Good, that's just the way Alvin walks. At first I thought maybe Leo had given me another limp during practice in the dojo. After all, he knows about my weak knees, but I wasn't sure if you knew about that, Alvin."

Alvin laughed. "Yeah, he told me and showed me during practice. But Leo was good about helping me wrap my knees - er, your knees - so they wouldn't get damaged more than usual. I'm still sure my 'Munk Swagger' looks different in your body."

Raph smiled. "Yeah, your chipmunk knees are definitely in better shape than mine."

Alvin blinked. "What happened?"

Raph shook his head. "Oh, a combination of a lot of things - accidents and sports-related injuries when I was younger, then just wear-and-tear as I got older. Pretty sure Donnie is gonna have to make me a bionic knee or two for total knee-replacement surgery by the time I'm thirty. So, anyways, other than the bad knees, how is it living in a different body?"

Alvin laughed. "Well, I'm not used to playing the guitar with just three fingers, but I'm getting the hang of it. What about you?"

Raph chuckled nervously, "Well, for me I still feel naked without a shell, even though I'm wearing clothes. And I'm definitely not used to fighting without a shell."

Alvin gasped. "Whoa! I know you like to fight, Raph, and you are quite the scrapper. But please be careful while you're renting out my body. I have a concert coming up, so please don't mess up my face. The public wants to see my beautiful face! And why would you need to be fighting anyway? I mean, we're a family of rockstars!"

Dave turned to look at Raph. "Yeah, why would you need to fight, especially in Alvin's body?"

Splinter groaned, "Raphael..."

Raph looked nervous for a moment, but then explained, "Well, there were...circumstances. You see, the public wants to see Brittany's beautiful face, too. I had to defend her from getting mugged while she stepped out this morning. Before she even knew about the mind-switch situation. And FYI-this hotel is in Purple Dragon territory!"

Brittany added, "In Raph's defense, he told me all this stuff after he saved me this morning. I didn't even know about the gang activity before then."

Alvin's eyes narrowed at her. "So, Brittany, this is all your fault for wandering off alone like that and endangering my face! Why doesn't that surprise me? You're always trying to keep me down so that you stay on top. I should've known...you were always jealous of my success as a rockstar, and always wanted to outdo me."

"Excuse me?" Brittany blinked. "Alvin, I'm sorry..." She looked shocked and near tears. Sure, she was used to arguing with Alvin, but it somehow hurt more when Alvin yelled at her in a louder, gruffer voice. She could feel some tears forming, but was afraid to let Alvin see them fall.

Raph saw this, and placed a comforting hand on Brittany's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Brittany..." he let her rest her head against his shoulder and catch her breath while he patted her back.

"Don't you dare let the paparazzi see this, Raph." Alvin rolled his eyes. "Like I need another picture in the tabloids telling the world that Brittany and I are dating."

When Brittany caught her breath and shared a brief smile with Raph to let him know she was OK, Raph glared at Alvin through the screen. "Hey, Hot Shot, go easy on her! Her life is more important than your vanity. It's not all about you, ya know." He took a calming breath and explained to Dave, "You see, she got sick after breakfast, and went to a convenience store to get stuff, not knowing it was deeper into the gang territory. It's not her fault that no one told her about the local gang activity." He gave Brittany another reassuring smile. "I mean, I don't blame her for any of it."

Dave blinked as he pulled Brittany into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Brittany. Are you OK, now? I forgot that your stomach problems flair up when traveling, so I may have forgotten to pack extra medication or extra snack foods for you. Is your stomach OK now?" He saw Brittany nod. "And are you OK after getting mugged? Why didn't anyone tell me earlier? Oh, wait, I've been so busy all morning with business phone calls. I am so sorry I wasn't as attentive to you, or any of you other kids today."

"I'm OK, Dave." Brittany hugged him, throwing a reassuring nod to Raph. "Thanks to Raph!"

Dave patted Raph on the shoulder. "I must admit, too, I'm not used to hearing Alvin's chipmunk voice sticking up for Brittany."

Raph looked at Alvin through the screen, realizing that some of the other band mates had gathered around him to hear the phone conversation. "Sorry, man. It's kinda weird yelling or arguing with myself, or someone else in my body, you know how it is..."

Alvin smiled. "Thanks, Raph. I'm sorry, too. It is weird arguing with...myself." He glanced over to Dave, who still held Brittany in his lap. "And I'm sorry, Dave, I know you've been dealing with a lot during this trip, and I appreciate that you aren't running us ragged, like Ian Hawke used to do. You're the best dad I could ever ask for. And, Brittany, I'm sorry for accusing you of...all that undermining and backstabbing me. I know you really just show your love by giving people like me a hard time. You deal with a lot, too, and you have overcome a lot since I've gotten to know you, so you have a right to be proud of what you have accomplished. And I'm sorry if I get jealous when you get successful. Instead, I should be happy for you and proud to call you my friend."

Dave and Brittany looked at each other in surprise at Alvin's maturity. Brittany blinked. "Thank you, Alvin. Apology accepted, but I'm still not so sure if you're the real Alvin after that." She added a wink.

Alvin laughed as he glanced over to the other band mates. He glanced back at Raph. "Oh, speaking of apologies...a certain Hot-Head owes one to his sister." He placed his arm around Karai's shoulders before explaining to Raph, "You see, Karai here, who never knew her mom - much like you and me - says you still treat her like an outsider or like an enemy when you guys are not bandmates."

Raph blinked in shock. "Karai...I never realized that I still did that, or still made you feel like that. I'm not particularly good at apologies, but I'm sorry if I've made you feel that way. I almost wanna say, please don't take it too personally, since I shut out everyone and everything in the world, not just you. I'm sorry if you feel like I was discriminating specifically against you in any way. But you're cool, and it's been nice having you around as another sister in my family. I mean, brothers get on my nerves after a while, but sisters are kinda fun in their own way. You, April, Shini, and Angel are definitely a God-send, when I need relief from my brothers, you girls are there."

Karai suppressed a laugh for a moment. "Sorry about that, Raph. I accept your apology, and I could tell it was very heartfelt and stuff. And I'm also sorry I haven't been the most trustworthy family member. With my background, being raised by your enemies and all, I totally understand that it's hard to see me as someone on the same team with you. I'm not as used to being a Hamato as you and your brothers and the rest of your extended family." A brief giggle escaped her. "Sorry about that, I am being sincere, it's just...harder to take you seriously with that voice, Raph."

Raph joined the others in a moment of laughing. "I can't take myself seriously either, with this chipmunk voice. But in some way, it's nice to be laughing with you about something like this, Karai. And in the future, maybe I can look for some other ways we can hang out or something. I mean, we're practicing in the band hall or training in the dojo, but maybe we could find some way to just hang out as siblings, rather than as bandmates or as ninjas. And others are still welcome to join us."

Alvin's eyes lit up. "Yeah! You should take her to a concert, a movie, a football game, a hockey game, a soccer game, a basketball game - like the Knicks. Or a baseball game. Do you Turtles like the Yankees or the Mets better?"

Raph chuckled. "We're kinda divided on that, to the point where we might occasionally have a family feud. Leo and Donnie kinda prefer the Yankees, more because of their history than anything else. And Mikey and I prefer the Mets - Mikey, because of the orange, and me, because I keep up with sports more than the others, and I think the Yankees are overrated. But Yankees games are still a lot of fun to see in person if you like the atmosphere."

Karai smiled. "You know, Raph, for the first time I may actually agree with you on that. Sure the Yankees are world-famous, and when I first heard about them back in Tokyo, I was curious about going to see an American baseball game in person. But now that I've lived here with you guys and seen other teams, I've come to think they are overrated. Not that I would turn down a chance to go to their stadium and see one of their games."

Raph nodded. "Cool. We'll definitely have to do that sometime in the later spring or summer. But this time of year, we could try going to a Knicks game. My brothers and other extended-family members might also wanna come, since we all like the Knicks, so it doesn't have to be like a 'date', unless we want a double-, triple-, or quadruple-date."

Karai laughed. "That actually sounds like fun, Raph. I think I'd like that."

"Oh yeah?" Raph smiled at her before he turned to Alvin. "And, Alvin, you should do the same with Brittany sometime."

Alvin blinked. "Really? The paparazzi would go crazy if they saw just us together."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Who cares what they think? Isn't your family more important to you than your public image? I mean, if you're that worried about being caught in public, maybe just watch a movie with her at home or something. You know, just to get to know her as a person and hang out with her. You don't have to think of it as a 'date', just as a...a chance to get to know your long-lost sister, like I'm getting to know mine." He glanced over to look at Brittany. "How does that sound to you, Brittany?"

Brittany shrugged, but she started smiling. "I wouldn't mind a chance to hang out peacefully and get to know Alvin better. Especially if we weren't trying to outdo each other as rivals, just getting to know each other as friends."

Alvin started smiling too. "I suppose I still owe you another date after messing up that time Mrs Havisham tested our manners for meeting Princess Kate."

Brittany blinked. "Wow, I'm pretty sure I was the one who messed up that date, since I was trying to make you fail from within the first five minutes of meeting Mrs Havisham. But before we fight about that, I just want to say that it's very big of you to accept responsibility."

Alvin chuckled. "Oh yeah... Well, I think we at least owe the universe a do-over date after that fiasco. We can keep it simple at first, like share a snack at home while we watch TV. I mean, sometimes I like hanging out with you, Britt, as long as we aren't trying to kill each other."

Brittany smiled at him. "That sounds nice. And if we ever wanted to do that do-over date in a public setting, without Mrs Havisham chaperoning, we could always play 'Are They Or Aren't They' with the paparazzi." She threw in another wink.

Alvin laughed before glancing at Raph again. "OK, Raph, it looks like Brittany and I accept your challenge to hang out peacefully and get to know each other as friends instead of rivals. It's a deal. I'd shake your hand or hug you, but I almost forgot this is a phone."

Brittany put her arms around Raph in a hug. "Here, Raph... I guess it's the next best thing to hugging you as Alvin, anyways."

"Aww, the world underestimates your sweetness, Brittany..." Raph smiled at Alvin onscreen as he returned Brittany's hug.

Alvin smiled back at Raph as he embraced Karai. "And, Raph, I'll hug your sister for you."

Karai smiled. "Thank you, Alvin." As she returned the hug, she sighed contentedly, "It sure feels good to say that!"

"Aww..." Mikey cooed as he watched Alvin and Karai for a moment before he announced, "Group hug!" The others in the garage band hall complied as they enveloped Alvin and Karai in a warm hug.

Dave picked up Raph and Brittany to hug them while they sat in his lap. "Raph, I'm sorry if you aren't used to being picked up like this."

Raph chuckled and included Dave in the hug. "It's cool, Dave, I'm barely getting used to it. I mean, I haven't sat in my dad's lap since I was about six or seven."

The other four chipmunks all crawled onto Dave's lap to join in hugging Raph and Brittany. Theodore noted, "Oh, Raph, your hugs are as warm as Alvin's."

Raph chuckled and ruffled Theodore's hair. "That's probably because I'm using Alvin's arms. And you are fun to hug too, Theo. It's like being hugged by Mikey, but with smaller, softer arms." Theodore giggled as Raph pulled him into a hug.

After a few moments of both families hugging, Alvin cleared his throat. "Hey, Dave, I wanted to ask you something else... Did you guys hear any of the garage band playing? You know, about the time Leo and Splinter got here?"

Dave nodded. "Yes, I could hear the band playing earlier. I thought you guys sounded great - what little I could see and hear of them from on the screen."

Alvin smiled. "That's great to hear! Since I was wondering... What about featuring them, or including them, at least for a few songs, in our upcoming concert?"

The other chipmunks all started gasping and smiling. Dave quickly glanced at them before answering his son, "Well, the others seem to like that idea. I was going to try to get backstage passes for them, but I'm starting to like this idea of yours even more. I'll talk to the stage managers and see if we can work something out..."

"Hello? Are you guys all in here?" April called out at the doorway to the garage band hall. She looked back over her shoulder. "Yes, they are, Donnie."

Donnie shrugged. "I keep telling them - this room is only sound-proof when the door is closed." He waved to the others. "Oh, sorry for interrupting this family moment, but the two of us just ended another phone conversation with our friend Bishop. We told him about the situation of Raph and Alvin switching minds, and he says we should meet over at his place. He does have access to the kind of technology that can switch them back. And as we wrapped things up with him, we heard him telling Miss Campbell, 'Make preparations, since this day finally came after eleven years of waiting.' We're not sure what he meant by that, but maybe things will make sense once we meet up with him."

A/N: There was an episode during the 2k3 TMNT cartoon series where we learned that Bishop's first name was John (it's either in "Aliens Among Us" or "Outbreak"). Splinter uses pressure points to "calm" Raph in the Nickelodeon cartoon episode "Slash And Destroy".

I imagine that if this were a movie, that Sean Astin would do the voice of Raph (just like in the current Nickelodeon TMNT cartoon), but his voice gets "chipmunked" while he is in Alvin's body. And maybe Justin Long would do the voice of Alvin (like in the live-action AATC movies, even though it's animated like the Nickelodeon cartoon), only using his more natural voice while he's in Raph's body.

Alvin has a bouncy way of walking, and it's more apparent in the episode "Wacky Wednesday", when he switches minds with Jeanette. I got the idea to call it his "Munk Swagger" from the episode "Don Juan Theodoro". Ian Hawke wore out the Chipmunks with a hectic touring schedule in the 2007 live-action movie. Mrs Havisham was in the episode "Mister Manners".

Back in Chapter 7, I mentioned my Nickelodeon TMNT episode references for Raph's history of knee problems. In various TMNT cartoon episodes, we also learned that Raph has a difficult time with apologies ("The Good, The Bad, And Casey Jones"), and that Karai has a difficult time saying "Thank you" ("Vengeance Is Mine"). I'm going out on a limb with where the Turtles stand in the "Yankees vs Mets" debate. I realize I could start wars over this, which is why I went with the idea of the Turtles being divided themselves on this issue. I personally don't keep up enough to care, so I am not endorsing or dissing either team (although I had the idea for Raph's position from my dad). I liked how the Turtles went to a Knicks game in the live-action movie "Out Of The Shadows".