Chapter Nine:

Truck Chase

JASPER AND HORACE'S POV

Still locked in the control room, Horace continued to whack the silver door, while using various objects. Among these objects were a blow horn and a sledge hammer that, unfortunately, proved useless. He nearly gave up when he heard a loud click coming from the doorknob. At once, Horace rammed into the door, stumbling on his way over the threshold and down the steps, where he collapsed on the cement floor a brief moment later. After he stood up and brushed himself off, Horace barked at the worker to go back to work. Brashly, Horace rushed towards the large enchanted book. In the passing seconds, Horace leapt into the book's pages, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

o-o-o

As Jasper parked his Ford Transit MkII truck on the side of the road, letting other cars pass, he turned towards the front passenger seat in surprise as Horace appeared out of a bright light, crashing hard onto the passenger's seat. Happily, Jasper faced Horace and said, "Good work. You've come just in time." Sarcastically, he added, "However, there's one problem you haven't solved…" in a serious tone, he barked, "why didn't you stay at the warehouse, as you were told?"

"Why did you follow Miss DeVil, mate?" asked Horace, fighting back.

A little stunned, Jasper replied, "I was helping Miss DeVil with the Halfling! Now, if we don't get to Suffolk and dispose of this runt at the DeVil Mansion, then we won't…" he was cut off by a groaning sound in the back of the truck. Opening the sliding window, Jasper barked in a harsh response, "Ain't that right, Halfling? You're better off whipped, than you are free! That responsibility is left for more superior beings."

"Jasper, you know what I think?" asked Horace, worriedly.

"What?" Jasper asked, frustrated.

"I think that Halfling cleverer than us," he answered with a nervous expression written across his face. "I'm amazed he followed us all the way to the warehouse."

"Do you think so?" asked Jasper, sarcastically.

"Right," said Horace, focusing more on a different matter. "So what's the plan? Who is that?" He then pointed out a blond-haired woman in their mid-thirties.

Straightening up his jacket, Jasper replied, slickly, "I'll handle this." He sped down the road a ways until he came across the same woman, who was jump-starting her blue-green car. A moment after he stopped his truck, Jasper asked the woman, "Hello miss. You look like you need help from a bunch of…"

"I don't need your help," said the woman, frustrated.

"Please miss. It would only be charitable if we…"

"Jasper really likes you. He would trade anything to have…"

"Horace," muttered Jasper, furiously. Returning his gaze to the woman, Jasper apologized, "Sorry about him. Horace doesn't know when to stop rambling."

Just then, the woman heard a loud crash coming from the inside of the truck. "What have you got in the back?"

"Nothing," said Jasper and Horace in unison. The two Baduns then heard movement in the back of Jasper's truck. They faced the woman again with guilty smirks across their face.

ALVIN, SIMON, AND THEODORE'S POV

While riding on Kipper's back Alvin, Simon, and Theodore reached an intersection. Before Simon had time to think and sniff out which road Jasper drove on, Kipper barked and ran down the road across the way. It had been hours since Alvin, Simon, and Theodore lost the cab and Cruella's Panther car.

After another mile or two, Kipper stopped a few yards away from Jasper's truck, where he and the chipmunk trio watched in delight as a blond-haired woman whacked Jasper and Horace hard across their faces with her fist. This display made the chipmunks laugh merrily, but it also gave Theodore a chance to clap his hands several times in excitement.

Upon seeing the woman walk towards them, Simon whispered to his brothers, "Act natural."

"How do we act natural, Simon? We already are a part of nature," asked Theodore, confused.

"Shh!" Simon muttered loudly, silencing his youngest brother. "Quiet! Here she comes."

At once, the woman asked the three chipmunks, "You three chipmunks can talk? That is unusual."

Alvin addressed the issue, as he chuckled deliberately, "Actually miss, this terrier we're riding on – Kipper – cannot say two words to us. All he can do is bark, whine, and wag his tail. As for us three chipmunks, we can speak English perfectly."

Simon gave Alvin a stern look. "Alvin, manners," he muttered.

Theodore stepped into the conversation, facing the woman as he asked, "Um… you wouldn't know where we can find our friend Frodo Baggins? He's a Halfling in this world, small as a child. We were wondering if you had seen him. He was captured by those two Badun!" He shrieked, pointing out Jasper and Horace who were still unconscious.

The woman shook her head. "No, I'm sorry but I haven't yet seen a Halfling. When I do find your friend, I'll look for you three chipmunks. Otherwise…" she whirled around as the two Baduns stirred. Facing the chipmunk trio, the woman told them, "Look inside the back of their truck. You might find some luck there, but I'm not sure who they've captured."

"We should hide now. Thank you anyway," said Simon as he, his brothers, and Kipper fled behind a large bush pile.

The three chipmunks and Kipper watched from a short distance as the woman sped off in her blue-green car. All the while, the four animals watched in horror as Jasper and Horace stepped inside the front of the truck, and then sped down the road.

As he and his brothers fled from their hiding place, Theodore asked in a childish response, "Now what do we do?"

"Simon?" asked Alvin, facing his brother with the blue sweater.

Simon, after briefly thinking over his plan, explained to Alvin and Theodore, "The first thing we should do is find…" Just then, Kipper barked at him and his brothers. Deliberately, Simon told Theodore and Alvin, "Come on. I think Kipper also has a plan."

"How do you know?" asked Alvin, confused.

"I don't, Alvin. Now come on, slowpoke," said Simon, as he and Theodore climbed on top of Kipper's back.

In frustration, as he joined Simon and Theodore, Alvin fought back, "I am not slow! I happen to be a quick and…" he was cut off, as Kipper rushed down the road.

o-o-o

Kipper chased the truck for at least another few miles. Then Alvin, Simon, and Theodore saw the exact same structure as the Airedale terrier: a stone mansion with wide towers and shingled rooftops. Upon seeing the mansion, Kipper charged down the road towards a forested area. Inside the woodlands, Kipper barked loudly to both rouse the animals and to sound the alarm for an emergency meeting.

Once they arrived at a small opening, Kipper and the three chipmunks briefly told the animals, in as much detail as possible, about what they saw and Simon's plan for rescuing Frodo from Cruella DeVil and her three henchmen. Soon enough, all the animals were in agreement and, as the sun breached high noon, the birds fled in large flocks towards other wooded areas. Some of the flocks reached London Zoo, where they warned many caged animals of Simon and Kipper's plans to stop Cruella and her three henchmen for good.