Chapter 15- Breaking the fuse

If this is the latest chapter, know that the one before it is also new.

A few moments ago...

Back at the entrance, Ms. Miller and Jeanette were waiting patiently for everyone else to arrive. The bespeckled chipette managed to find a gift for her best friend, and it was clearly long and heavy. Jeanette did struggle to hold her gift, but she managed. She even got it wrapped up in atom pattern wrapping. It had been a while since either of them had seen the others, and they were beginning to get a bit antsy.

Fortunately, a familiar face did show up, because Brittney came strolling with two big bags of clothes. "Hey Ms. Miller! Hey Jeanette!" the auburn haired girl greeted "Though I didn't buy much, I sure feel happy about my new dresses"

Jeanette rolled her eyes at her sister's lack of awareness of her shopping spree, but when she studied the contents of the bag some more, one article of clothing did stick out, and it was the red varsity jacket. "Um Brittney" the purple teen began to ask "What's with the jacket?"

The pink chipette then blushed as she stuffed the jacket even further into the bag "None of your business"

"Oh okay" Jeanette responded sheepishly, though she didn't like her sister's tone, she wasn't the type to get into disputes "By the way, have you seen the others anywhere? Simon and DJ were supposed to meet back with us here"

"Actually I have seen them" Brittney exclaimed "Apparently they were looking for Dave. So of course I recommended that they find Alvin first, he's practically a Dave magnet"

Just then Theodore and Eleanor showed up, also carrying big bags, but the contents were a complete mystery.

"There you two are" Ms. Miller spoke "Why y'all practically disappeared! Where the heck were ye' anyway?"

The two small chipmunks started to sweat, even gulping a little. "Oh me and Teddy just went shopping for new cooking supplies together" Eleanor lied.

"But Ellie" Theodore said, confused to why his girlfriend gave that answer "We didn't…"

The blonde saw her boyfriend's potential slip up a mile way, and proceeded to cover his big fat mouth (I'm not being mean, that's just an expression). "Say" Eleanor pondered "Where's everyone else?"

And it was at this moment that a certain red capped chipmunk started to rock out on the PDA. "Guess they found Alvin" Brittney smirked.

Jeanette was surprised by her friend's bold action "Jeez, do you think Dave is going to be mad?"

And right on cue, Dave did what he does best, and unfortunately it was picked up by the PDA. Everyone in the mall covered their ears in pain as the man yelled his son's name. "Does that answer your question?" Brittney sarcastically quipped.

It didn't take long for Alvin and the others to appear in view, as Dave continued to drag Alvin with him while DJ and Simon followed.. The red teen continued to struggle "Come on, Dave" Alvin cried "I can't be kicked out on opening day!"

But it was all in vain, as the man dragged his son outside. "Oh this can't be good" Theodore sighed. Everyone went outside as well, and Dave stopped dragging Alvin, instead he just glared down at him.

"Alvin" he said through his teeth "How could you already be banned from the mall in a couple of hours?"

"I was just helping Simon and DJ" Alvin defended "They wanted to find you"

"You could've just, you know, looked for me!" Dave yelled "Instead you decided to cause chaos and get banned!"

"Come on Dave" Alvin said blankly "It's clear that it works"

"And it's clear that you're grounded for the rest of the day!" Dave fired back, which Alvin simply responded by heavily groaning "Sorry guys, but we have to go home now"

The rest of the Chipmunks and Chipettes sadly groaned as well. "But I wanted to visit the food court" Theodore whined.

"Well, you have Alvin to blame for that" Dave answered blankly "Let's go"

But right before they could head back to the car, Ian showed up out of nowhere "Hey guys, where are you going?"

DJ and Simon shot glares at him, and this time Ian returned them. "Well Ian" Dave responded "Someone managed to get banned from the mall, and grounded for the day". He then gave Alvin a scolding look, who looked away nervously.

"That's Alvin for you" Ian joked, putting on a friendly face "The performance was a PR success, we should perform at events more often"

"Oh that reminds me," Dave remarked as he turned to everyone's attention "There's some unfortunate news I want to inform you all." He then took out the flyer about the fundraiser for the orphanage, and everyone (except Ian) began to frown.

"How awful" Eleanor proclaimed.

"Those poor, poor children" Ms. Miller shook her head sadly.

"I know" Dave said boldly "That's why I think we should do something about it. Ian, I want the Chipmunks and Chipettes to perform at the fundraiser"

Strangely enough, Ian seemed to feel sorry as well "Couldn't agree more, Dave. Kids, how does that sound?" The teens all responded in a resounding "Yes", as they also wanted to help. "Well it's settled" the producer exclaimed as he turned to Dave, "How about giving me the number and I give the place a call?"

"Thank you, Ian" Dave smiled "Glad to see that you are changing for the better"

"That talk you gave me really woke me up" Ian nodded as he placed a hand "Once I call, I'll tell you all about the details, see you tomorrow"

"Bye, Uncle Ian!" most of the teens waved.

They started to follow the other adults to the car, but Ian leaned over to DJ's ears as he passed bye. "This isn't over" the bald man whispered in a dark tone, which sent chills down the 21st century teen's spine. Ian then gave DJ an evil smirk and continued to walk away.

Simon saw the whole thing and walked over to his nephew "What did he say?"

"It's not over" DJ answered in a serious tone "And he's right. We're only getting started"

After stuffing the trunk with their newly bought goods, the crew drove back home in a short amount of time. Once they arrived home, Dave parked the car by the road. Everyone exited out and then proceeded to take their respective items out of the trunk.

"Oh Jeanette" Simon turned to his best friend as he held his gift in his hands "I feel bad for how I treated you yesterday, I should be giving you more attention, instead of closing myself off"

"Oh Simon" Jeanette responded in a saddened voice "If anything I feel bad about how I treated you. I should've known that you still care about me, especially after you saved me"

"Yeah" Brittney then interjected "You guys did save us. Even after I got mad at Alvin, he still came for me"

Alvin then interjected himself "Brittney, you were totally justified. I was using you"

"Wait a minute" Theodore began to realize "Alvin and Simon feel guilty about Brittney and Jeanette, and vice versa?"

The realization hit the four aforementioned, also. They looked into their respective counterpart's eyes and started to laugh. "Man, we should've just talked" Simon noted, even feeling relieved "Well regardless, I did buy you a present, Jeanette". He then handed the purple outfitted teen his gift, who cooed softly. She unwrapped it and smiled when she saw it was the sci-fi novel Jurassic Park.

Alvin scoffed "You bought her a book?"

"Oh Simon, I love it!" Jeanette cheered as she hugged the tall chipmunk, who proceeded to blush. "Oh" the tall chipette remembered "I also got you something." She then went over to the trunk and dragged out her present.

Simon was surprised to see how big it was "Whoa, what is that?"

Jeanette then proceeded to explain "DJ didn't tell me what your experiment was, but he did mention that it runs on electricity; so I got you this!" She then handed Simon her gift, and he then unwrapped it.

"Great Scott!" Simon cheered "A lightning rod, you don't know how perfect this is!"

Jeanette blushed at her best friends gratitude, but was also filled with joy "Oh wonderful! I'm glad I got to help you in someway"

Alvin and Brittney, however, quite disapproved their sibling's gifts. "Nerds!" Alvin teased.

"Yeah" Brittney scoffed "Don't worry Alvin, I got you a real gift." She then took out the red varsity jacket out of her bag, she had even managed to sow the yellow A onto the heart.

Alvin lit up once he saw the jacket "Oh my god Brittney, it's amazing!" He then threw off his sweater onto the ground and swiped the jacket out of the pink chipette's hands. He put in on, and immediately he was pleased to see how he looked. "I look so cool!" the red teen cheered.

"What can I say" Brittney said all smug "I'm the goddess of fashion… So did you get me anything?"

Alvin gulped, realizing that his gift was no longer valid after getting banned. He began to sweat as he quickly thought of what to say. "Um… It's a secret" he chose to say.

"What, a secret?" Brittney said in an annoyed tone "Or did you just not get me anything?"

"I did!" Alvin rebutted "It's just… won't be ready until tomorrow"

Brittney rolled her eyes, not completely buying it "Whatever. If I don't see it by tomorrow, then you owe me two gifts!"

"Don't worry Britt" Alvin tried to be nonchalant "I promise I have your gift"

Just then Dave interjected, "Okay Alvin, it's time for your punishment." He then pointed to the house.

"Alright…" Alvin responded as he slumped over "See you guys tomorrow." He hung his head as he walked back home. He was a little annoyed, but luckily his new look did cheer him up a bit.

"Well I'll talk to you later, Jeanette" Simon began to say "We should hang out tomorrow before the performance"

"I would love to" Jeanette smiled back "Thanks for the book!"

"Of course" Simon nodded. Right before he headed back, he walked over to his nephew "DJ, if you don't mind, shall you assist me?"

"Um… okay" DJ answered, following his uncle back to the house.

"I better go call Ian" Dave said "Theodore, do you want to sleep at home tonight?" The green chipmunk hid behind Eleanor and shook his head. Dave let out a big sigh "Theodore, what are you scared of?"

"Nothing!" the short teen blurted "I just like hanging out with the girls"

Dave wasn't buying it, but he decided to drop it for now "Alright, but this is the last time this week. Alright Theodore?"

"Okay" his son responded softly.

"Good, now I'll see all of you tomorrow" Dave proclaimed. He waved his son and the Millers goodbye as he too, went home.

They started to head home as well. Once they entered the house, Brittney felt like making a comment. "As long as you're staying again, Theodore, you have to make dinner," she said in a sassy tone. And before the boy could even answer, she strutted upstairs to her room.

"Oh don't mind her" Ms. Miller assured Theodore as she patted him on the head "We'll just take your company as payment." The old woman gave him a smile and walked away.

Meanwhile, Jeanette couldn't help begin to read her new book "Ooo… Um, I'm going to read in the living room." She then left the two short chipmunks alone as she went to get some private reading time.

Eleanor looked left and right to see if anyone else was around, and opened up the bag her and Theodore brought. "Okay, Teddy" she began to whisper "It's time to alien proof the house." The bag then revealed to have various anti-alien products, all looking pretty fake. But the two naive teens believed they worked all the same. And so they proceeded to make the Miller residence a fort against their 'nemesis' DJ right under the other Millers noses.

Over at the Seville house, DJ helped Simon bring the lightning rod into the garage. The blue chipmunk gestured his nephew to remove tarp and prop the rod onto the back of the car. The geek examined the rod, feeling quite pleased "This rod will be perfect to catch the lightning on Saturday!"

DJ eyes widened "Oh god, after these past couple of days trying to get my parents together, I forgot the part of physically getting me Back to the Future"

"Well of course" Simon chuckled "Did you think you would be magically transported back after hooking up your mom and dad?"

"No!" DJ defended himself "If you don't mind me asking, what are going to do Saturday night?"

"Glad you brought that up" Simon smiled as he went over to a cabinet. To DJ's surprise, his uncle took out an unpainted model of the school, it was very well put together. "Sorry about the model" Simon mentioned as he placed it on a table "I haven't had time to put the whole school up to scale." DJ rolled his eyes at the perfectionist. The tall teen then pulled out jumper cables and plugged one side into the fuse box for the house. "You see this metal wire?" Simon then pointed to the side of the model, which depicted lamp posts with a metal wire tied between them, and the top of the clocktower of the school. DJ nodded, though he was still confused to what his uncle was doing. Simon then took out a wind up toy car, with a little lightning rod on it "You see on Saturday, 10:04pm, lightning will strike the clocktower, channel through the wires we set up, and the Tesla will catch the lightning while going 88 miles per hour! Activating the flux capacitor and sending you 30 years to the future!"

"Wow Uncle Simon, you really thought this through" DJ remarked, feeling quite impressed "But are you sure I'll be able to catch the lightning in time?"

"That's why we're going to practice!" Simon exclaimed "Windup the car, I'll set up a timer for 20 seconds, and release it. I'll use these jumper cables to act as the lightening bolt and hopefully it will catch it." He then took out a kitchen timer and winded it up as DJ did the same with the car. DJ held the car in place while Simon prepared to link the cables onto the wire. When Simon saw there was 5 seconds left, he yelled "Now!" DJ then released the car, and once the timer went off, Simon connected the cable. And though the car made it in time, the small victory was short as it caused the fuse box to go out. The two boys looked at each other in fear for what they just done. Then they heard two pairs of footsteps coming down the stairs and they quickly covered the time machine again.

Dave and Alvin then came bursting in. "What the hell is going on here?!" Dave demanded.

"Sorry Dave" Simon answered nervously "I was showing DJ a demonstration and it caused the fuse box to go out"

"Are you kidding me?!" Alvin yelled angrily "I can't watch TV in my room because of your dumb science experiment?!"

"Hey it's not dumb!" Simon fired back.

"Yes it is!" Alvin shouted "Why do you even bother with this science stuff anyway?"

"Because I want to be a scientist when I grow up, you moron!" Simon spat.

"Simon, that's ridiculous!" Alvin snapped "How are you going to have time being a scientist when you're already in a band?"

"Because the band will be done!" Simon exclaimed "I want a life outside of music, you know?!"

Alvin seemed shocked by what his brother just said. He couldn't believe Simon would rather be a scientist than a rockstar. "Come on, Dave" Alvin cried as he turned to his father "Tell Simon he can't quit the band!"

Dave winced, not knowing how to answer his son. Then sighed and said softly "Alvin, you do know that the Chipmunks is not going to last forever"

Both Alvin and DJ were both shocked, Alvin saddened by his adopted father's words, while DJ felt bad for his own father.

"What do you mean, Dave?" Alvin said softly, beginning to tear up.

"Bands don't last forever" Dave said blankly "Both of your brothers want to pursue interests outside the Chipmunks. Simon wants to be a scientist, and Theodore wants to be a chef. And once all of you go to college, the band will cease to be"

The room was dead silent, DJ watched as his father slowly broke down. "That's not fair" Alvin wept "I love being a rockstar, it's my calling"

Simon frowned "And science is my calling, Alvin. I mean me and Theo enjoy performing, but in the end we don't want to stay rockstars forever"

"WELL I DO!" Alvin screamed "STOP BEING SO DAMN SELFISH, SIMON!"

"ALVIN!" Dave yelled back "YOU'RE THE ONE BEING SELFISH!"

"BUT I WANT TO BE A ROCKSTAR FOREVER!" Alvin fired back.

"WELL YOU CAN'T!" Dave put his foot down "NOW GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM, LAST TIME I CHECKED, YOU'RE STILL GROUNDED!"

"SCREW YOU, DAVE! I HATE YOU!" Alvin finally screamed, leaving everyone speechless. And the red chipmunk didn't go back to his room, instead he ran out of the house. Dave was completely frozen, his heart shattered hearing what his son told him.

DJ, however, was horrified. He was so scared that his father was going to hurt himself, that he ran after him "ALVIN, WAIT!"

Once DJ ran out, Dave and Simon continued to stand in the darkness. The man collapsed to his knees, while his remaining son went to comfort him. It was going to be a long night.

Jeez that was a long one. I knew Tuesday was going to take the longest to write (Mostly because of writer's block), but I seriously underestimated how long it was going to be. Well happy holidays to those who catch my updates, and now that I'm on break for a week and a half, hopefully I can get a lot of writing done. Next time we'll dig into another relationship, but one between father and son.