Chapter 21
The next day, at the big soccer game, Alvin and Cash stood ready with the rest of the team. "Alright, guys, listen up." Coach Ortiz said. " Now, I hate to drop a bomb on you last minute, but, I just found out that this is a championship qualifier match." "A qualifier? Right off the bat? No way! What's going on, Coach?" Jason asked. "Well, as I'm sure you'll remember Jason, we had a strong very showing in the last season." "Yeah, we ended up in third place among the division." "Precisely. That's exactly why we get a qualifier right off the bat. Basically, we've been seeded, boys. And that means that, if we win this match, we automatically jump straight to the quarter finals of the championship tournament and then all we do is wait for our opponents for that match to be decided." "Man, this is cool! " Alvin shouted. 'Yeah, really cool." Cash agreed. "But, it's also a lot to take in. I'm well aware of that. But, please guys, don't let the burden get to you. Despite the ramifications, this is just like any other match we've had with these guys. We can do this." "Yeah, Coach is right. We've pounded these guys into the ground before and we can do it again." One of the team members said. "Yeah and this should be easy with my boys here waiting in the wings." Tony said, looking down at Alvin and Cash. "Right, Jason?" "…Hmmm, yeah! Now that I've had to think about it, I think so. Hmph! Alright! This match is in the bag, boys. So let's get out there and book this thing, so we can go home already!" "Yeah!' The whole team shouted. "alright, everybody, hands in." Coach Ortiz called. The team layered there hands. 'One, two, three!" "Eagles!" "Let's do this! Go, go, go!" Coach Ortiz yelled. And with this cry, the team charged out onto the field. Cash and Alvin took their places on the bench, awaiting their turns. Meanwhile, the West Eastman Eagles soccer team lined up against their opponents. They were called the Tigers and they hailed from a school called Northvale academy. The eagles and Tigers lined up and the ref laid down the rules. Then, he put the ball in play and the game was on. It didn't take long for the Eagles to score their first goal, but the Tigers didn't allow themselves to lag behind. They quickly scored the next goal. And this was how the rest of the game went. Despite the absolute best of showings from both teams' goalies, the back and forth just kept going. Finally, the Eagles used a time out to regroup. "Man, these guys brought their A game today." Tony said. 'Yeah, they sure did. You don't think they got seeded too, do you, Jay?" One of the team members asked. "I don't know. All I know is that they've definitely gotten a lot better. But, we're still ahead. We just need one more goal, and there's only enough time for one for play. Okay, time to bust the secret weapons. Hunter, Chris, you guys swap with Alvin and Cash. "Jason said. "You got it, Jay." Hunter said. "Good luck guys." Chris said. 'Guys, I want you both to smash that ball. I don't care how you pull your special move off, just get it done fast!" Jason said. "You got it, Jason! Come on, Al! Let's go kick some tail!" "Right behind ya, brother!" Cash and Alvin ran out on the field and the game clock started up again. Tony quickly set up and took the shoot. Alvin ran down the field, met with the ball and applied his own kick to it. This increased it's speed drastically, but not enough for Cash. He could see the look in the goalie's eyes. He was in some sort of zone and at this rate, he would catch the ball. So, Cash ran as hard as he could. He summoned every bit of speed he had and quickly caught up with the ball. He jumped into the air and used a back-flip style kick on the ball. This made the ball move even faster. Faster than the goalie, even while zoned in, could catch. The ball slammed into the net and the buzzer signaling the end of the game sounded. "We won! We're in the running for the championship!" Jason yelled. "this could be our! Finally, we may just win the championship." Coach Ortiz said as he looked on. Alvin ran to Cash. "We did it, bro!" "I know! This is awesome!" The rest of the team came running up and huddled around the brothers. They lifted them both into the air and began chanting "Chipmunks, chipmunks, chipmunks!" The Seville family, who were in the stands, began celebrating as well. They began to make their way down the stairs to the field. However, everyone's celebration suddenly got cut short when a player from the Tiger's angrily kicked a spare soccer ball in frustration. The ball went flying and slammed into Alvin. It knocked him to the ground with a sickening thud. Cash quickly had the rest of the team set him down so he could rush to his brother's side. "Alvin! Alvin, are you okay?" "My back! Ah, man, my back!" "He's hurt! Somebody get some help!" Jason called. "It was an accident!" The Tigers team member who had kicked the ball yelled. By this time, the Seville family had made it to the field and rushed to Alvin's side. 'Alvy? Alvy, are you okay?" Brittany yelled. "Ah, my back!" Alvin cried out again. "This sounds bad. Dave, we need to get him to the vet, right now!" Eleanor said. "No argument here, Eleanor. Come on, let's go!" Dave carefully picked up Alvin and took him to the car, followed closely by the other munks. They quickly rushed him to the same veterinary clinic that had run their blood tests for them. They were in luck, as Dave's friend Cora happened to be on duty today and she quickly took Alvin into the back. The family waited nervously for the next thirty minutes. Finally, Cora came back out. "How is he, Cora?" Dave asked. "Well, he's got some cracked ribs." "Cracked ribs?" Brittany yelled. "Yeah. According to the x-ray, he's got three of them. Right around in here." Cora said, pointing out the locations of Alvin's injured ribs using her own ribs. "I see. So that's why he was yelling about his back. Those cracks are so far back on his ribs, they pretty much are in his back." Simon said. "Yes, indeed they are." "So, Cora, how long do you think it'll take him to heal?" Dave asked. "Well, I'm not totally sure. You see, I don't know whether or not Alvin's, how shall I say, uh, 'uniqueness' plays a role in his healing time. If it does, let's all pray that it's role is to shorten his healing time. But, to give you a rough estimate, without thinking about his uniqueness, I'd say a about a week." "A week?" Theodore asked. "Yes, but, that's just a guess based on a past experience of mine. You see, when I was still studying for my degree, I conducted an experiment. I was interested to see just how long it would take animals to recover from injuries you usually only hear about humans getting. My first subject was an injured, normal chipmunk. It had cracked ribs as well. And it took that chipmunk a whole week, all seven days, to heal. So, I'd say your probably looking at about a week for him." "Oh, poor Alvin." Eleanor said. "And he wanted to go on to the next round of the competition so badly." Jeanette said. 'Competition?' "We're in a talent competition, trying to raise money for our school. The next round is this coming Tuesday." Simon said. 'I see. Well, I guess you'll have to change your plans. Because, I'm telling you that Alvin is not to do anything strenuous until his ribs have healed. No sports, no singing, no nothing. Just rest." "Well, I'm sure Alvin wants us to go on, so we'll just have to think of something." Cash said. "I guess you will. Well, I'm gonna go bandage him up, so you can take him home." "Okay, Cora. Thanks." "What are we gonna do now?" Theodore asked. "I don't know, Theo. But, like I said, we'll think of something. We have to. For Alvin's sake, the show must go on."