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 discussion about complicated romantic relationships.
Pairings: Alvin/Brittany, Raph/Brittany, Raph/Alvin (Bromance)
5. Calling For Back-Up
"Well, thanks for the great breakfast, guys." As Raph finished his breakfast he smiled over at Theodore, who was finishing what was on his own plate. He glanced over to Simon, who had finished his meal a few minutes earlier, and was now pacing around nervously and muttering to himself.
"A Kraang 'mind-switching device'...?" Simon mumbled. "How do they make one? How would they make it work? How could I try to work it, so that Alvin and Raph can go back to normal?"
Raph chuckled and called over to him, "Relax, Donnie, you nerd! This isn't the first time I've been hit with a Kraang brain-switching device. And I must say, being in the body of a chipmunk is better than being in the body of a Kraang. I may not be much taller, but at least I can walk around without the help of a robot body."
Simon stopped and took a deep breath. "Sorry, Alvin, you know I'm just a nervous pacer. Oh, and I just called you Alvin again. Sorry, Raph."
"It's cool, Simon." Raph chuckled. "I realized I just called you 'Donnie'. And I know I also called you a 'nerd', too. But I meant that as a compliment, I mean, I call my brother Donnie a nerd all the time - and just about anyone else who seems more book-smart and techno-savvy than me."
Simon chuckled. "Well, it's not like Alvin has never called me a nerd before. And, how did you get switched back from the first time with the Kraang brain-switching device? Would Donatello remember how to work that and switch you back? Maybe if Jeanette and I get together with Donnie and April, we could work something out." Simon went over to the bedroom wall and started knocking on it.
"What are you doing, Simon?" Raph blinked.
"Knocking in Morse Code to see if Jeanette is in the girls' room. Their suite is right next door." Simon whispered as he listened for a reply. When he heard one, he knocked a few more times before he stopped and announced to Theodore and Raph, "OK, Jeanette said 'we'll be right over in five to ten minutes'."
"So, uh, Simon," Raph began, "if you don't mind me asking... Uh, are you and Jeanette...just friends, or more than friends, or what?"
Simon blinked. "Well, currently we are close friends, and we've been close since Kindergarten. And, I'll admit that I often like her as more than just a friend. But, hey, I'm only eleven, and not ready for all the emotional and social drama that comes with a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship." He added in a whisper, "For the record, this still doesn't leave the room, right?"
"Oh, right, totally..." Raph nodded his head dismissively. "You at least have a more level head about it than Donnie still does about April. Right now, I kinda have a similar...thing...for Casey's little sister Angel." He started rubbing the back of his neck. "Hey, it's cool if 'just friends' is all we ever are, but, you know, once in a while it would be nice to hang out as more than that, or even take her out sometime on an actual date."
Theodore sighed. "I guess we've all been there..."
Raph glanced over at Theodore. "So, you and Eleanor?"
Theodore teetered his right hand horizontally for a few moments. "Kinda. We've been close friends since Kindergarten, too." He leaned over and whispered to Raph, "And for some reason, I've even occasionally had a milder crush on Jeanette, while Simon has a smaller thing for Brittany, and Alvin even has a small thing for Eleanor."
"Whoa, you Chipmunks sure are complicated!" Raph chuckled. "Especially for eleven-year-olds."
"What is Theo telling you now, Raph?" Simon rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Is it that all three of us Seville brothers have crushed on all three of the Chipettes at one time or another?"
"Basically, yeah..." Raph shrugged.
"Well, it's not like regular chipmunks in the wild mate for life or anything." Simon admitted with a small shrug. "They're a lot like most humans, where they common-law 'marry' and 'divorce' at will."
Raph sighed. "Yeah, I think Donnie told me that regular turtles are the same way. 'Til death do us part'? My shell! It's more like 'til divorce do us part'... Long story short, even if my brothers and I actually have the same set of biological parents - we still don't know for sure, but we really don't care, we've just always thought of each other as brothers - but those parents may be 'seeing other turtles' by now for all we know."
"At least there's a chance that your turtle parents may still be alive." Simon added. "I mean, regular chipmunks don't usually live that long. Ours were probably long gone by the time we really started wondering about them - near ages five and six."
"Sorry to hear that." Raph sighed. "Since my brothers and I hatched from eggs, we may have never really seen or met our turtle parents. But once in a while I have weird recurring nightmares about a large adult male turtle with golden-green eyes dragging me in his beak around on my back by my tail when I was just a hatchling. I don't know if he was my biological father trying to have his own kinda fun with me or if he was some other male who was trying to kill me to get to my mother. Funny thing is, I actually have scars on my tail that I've had since we were mutated - Splinter told me I had them by then - but I don't know how I got them. Freaky, huh?" He waited for Simon and Theodore to react. They both chuckled a little as they listened to his story. "Do you guys remember much about your chipmunk parents?"
"First of all," Simon said, "fascinating story. And second...I know we've all tried to think about and remember our biological chipmunk parents, but we were all so young when we got separated from them, that none of us really remember them. Dave is really the only parent I've known, not counting the time when we lived with Uncle Ian for eight months. The Chipettes have a similar story, but really only Jeanette may have memories of life before Ian when they were about four. She's very imaginative, and she often confuses her dreams with reality, so even she doesn't know for sure."
At that moment, there was a series of three knocks on the bedroom door. "Simon." Jeanette's voice called from the other side of the door. She knocked three times again before her second time calling, "Simon." As Simon walked over to answer the door, there were three more knocks, followed by, "Simon."
Before opening the door, Simon explained to Raph, "Yes, we have keys to each other's suites for emergencies, and yes, we religiously watch 'The Big Bang Theory'."
"So do we! Especially Donnie and April." Raph laughed.
Simon opened the door. "Hey, Jeanette! Hey, Eleanor! Come on in." He shut the door secretively behind the girls.
After a quick "good morning" hug to Simon, the two girls rushed over to Theodore and Raph. They both gently sandwich-hugged Theodore and asked, "Theodore, how is your leg this morning?"
"It's OK, still hurts a little. But thanks for asking." Theodore smiled as he returned the hugs.
The girls then gently sandwich-hugged Raph as they asked him, "Oh, Alvin! So glad you're up this morning! How do you feel?"
"Better, now that I've had hugs from you lovely ladies!" Raph smiled and returned the hugs. "But I must admit I'm literally not myself today..."
Simon elaborated, "Girls, we have a problem...that's actually not Alvin, it's Raphael the Ninja Turtle, somehow in Alvin's body."
"Now, you're just messing with us, Simon." Eleanor rolled her eyes.
"No, it really is me, Raph." Raph defended. "Last night when the Kraang attacked us, sometime during the battle they activated their mind-switching device, and Alvin and I switched places. This sort of thing has happened to me before, only last time I switched with a Kraang instead of a chipmunk, so this is more of an improvement."
The sisters looked at each other with wide eyes, then looked at Simon, who nodded toward them with an "I'm-afraid-so" expression, and then they looked back at Raph.
Jeanette finally spoke. "So, if you aren't Alvin, where is the real Alvin?"
Raph shrugged. "At best, he's probably in the Lair with my family. Donnie will know how to work the Kraang brain-switching device, since he's dealt with this kinda thing before. But the Kraang were transferring it from one van to another last night, so who knows which Kraang facility has the device right now."
"It may take some time to locate the device." Simon pointed out. "But I thought if Jeanette and I could work with Donnie and April, we would be able to come up with a solution in a much faster time-frame."
"Sure." Jeanette nodded in Simon's direction.
Theodore spoke up. "But what happens if you guys can't find that device in time? I mean, we have a Chipmunks and Chipettes concert coming up in two days at Radio City Music Hall. If you guys can't find and work that device by then..."
"Right, right..." Eleanor nodded. "Raph, if you need to be Alvin at our concert, can you play the guitar or the harmonica?"
Raph teetered his hand horizontally for a moment. "I have a little experience with the guitar." He glanced at his teetering hand. "But I'm only used to playing it with three fingers and not five. I have no experience on the harmonica, since that's Angel's turf. I'm more of a drummer in our garage band."
"What did Dave say when you guys told him that Alvin is really Raph?" Jeanette asked.
"That's another problem - we still haven't had the chance to tell him." Simon explained.
"You know, Brittany can also do lead guitar..." Eleanor offered.
"Yeah!" Theodore chimed in. "Maybe she could help you practice with five fingers." He and Eleanor seemed to look at each other and wince for a moment.
"What's wrong?" Raph asked them. "I'll need all the help I can get."
"Well, it's just that..." Eleanor began, "Alvin and Brittany don't always get along..."
"At best, they're frenemies." Theodore explained. "Sometimes they get along OK, but it could change in five minutes. They are very complicated."
Raph chuckled. "Oh yeah...well, since I'm not really Alvin, I don't have a problem working with Brittany."
"Yeah, true..." Eleanor shrugged. "It's just that, since you look like Alvin, Britt may not be willing to work with you, and she may not give us enough time to explain that you're Raph and not Alvin. Especially if she and Alvin had a recent argument or something, we never know for sure with them."
"Like a 'lovers' spat'?" Raph laughed. "Don't tell them I said that, or Brittany really won't wanna help me."
The two little chipmunks looked at each other and laughed along with Raph. Eleanor rolled her eyes, "Yeah, we know and joke behind their backs that they love each other and are secretly crazy about each other."
Theodore giggled, "But we try not to say anything about it to either of them."
Raph chuckled. "I knew it! I gave Alvin a hard time about it last night as he showed me the pics on his phone. I told him that he sure has a lot of pics of Brittany, and himself with Brittany, for someone who claims that he's a free-wheelin' bachelor!"
"How typical of them, too..." Theodore noted. "For someone who also claims he doesn't scare easily, he sure is afraid to admit his true feelings."
"Britt is pretty much the same way..." Eleanor sighed.
"So, Brittany is still the one I need to talk to about helping me practice on the guitar with five fingers, and on the harmonica." Raph summarized. "But where is she right now, if you girls didn't bring her with you? Is she still in your hotel room?"
"No." Jeanette spoke up. "She actually left the hotel earlier this morning to find a local convenience store, since she said the continental breakfast didn't agree with her."
Raph sat up, concerned. "And you let her go alone? Or is she with Dave?"
Eleanor shrugged. "She insists she's a 'strong, independent woman' who can take care of herself. We tried to talk her out of going alone, to maybe wait for us to get dressed and ready, and we would all go together. But she insisted that her sensitive stomach 'couldn't wait that long'."
Jeanette added, "And I'm pretty sure Dave has been in and out of the lobby all morning."
Raph tried to stir the remaining chipmunks into action. "But this neighborhood is still within the western border of the Purple Dragon gang's territory. We should go out and find her!"
"I'll at least text her to make sure she's on her way back." Jeanette pulled out her phone. "And I also want to let her know that we're in the boys' room instead of our room."
Simon pulled out his phone as well. "OK, I've located her. She is at a convenience store three blocks to the east of this hotel."
"That's not too far, but still more into Purple Dragon turf." Raph pointed out. "I'll even go look for her, since I'm more used to this neighborhood."
Eleanor sighed. "It's still quite a distance for us in what we call 'chipmunk miles', since we're so much smaller than humans. And now that you're our size, that rule applies to you, too, Raph."
"And you'll probably wanna change clothes first." Simon suggested. "Since you're still wearing Alvin's pajamas."
"We'll just hang out in the living room of your suite for a while." Jeanette stated as she and Eleanor stepped out of the room, closing the door behind them.
"Thanks, girls. Although I already feel naked without my ninja gear and my shell." Raph waved to them as they laughed. When they were gone, he turned to Simon and Theodore. "And, since I'm not used to wearing human or chipmunk clothes...I, uh, might need some help gearing up."
Simon glanced at Theodore before saying, "Oh, no problem, Raph. It wouldn't be the first time we've helped Alvin get dressed. Here, I'll show you his luggage, so you can find something to wear."
A/N: Raph's recurring nightmare was derived from a springboard for another fanfic idea I had years ago. Simon and Theodore saying they've been close friends with the Chipettes since Kindergarten, also currently underway in my fanfic "Chip-ergarten".
