Author's Note: The usual disclaimer: All Alvin and the Chipmunks characters are copyright to their original creators. But the story, and my original characters are all my own work.
Neptune's Palace - Part 4
Theodore believed that the four pairs of suction type limbs attempted to grab him from below. He swiftly swam upward to escape, until he realized those limbs attached to him. When he stopped, they stopped. When he moved, they moved. Sometimes they would drift when he was still, because of the water shifting around him. Still, even with that revelation, he uttered another startled cry in response. Where were his legs? Why could he breathe underwater (though practically speaking, he was glad that he didn't have to swim up to get air while being this far underwater)? And where exactly was this place?
He looked around with jolted movements of his head, taking in the scene around him. On one hand, he had to admit the scene around him was...well, breathtaking. Patches of light shimmered along the ocean floor, contrasting with dark patches of the smoothest sand. The many coral and marine plants he saw in rainbow shades were enough to make him rub his eyes to see if it were real. The way the light streamed down to the ocean floor reminded him of the special lights in the Hall of Rivers, in perfect, undulating rhythms shifting upon the sands.
Much to his mixed sense of awe and chagrin, it was very real. Theodore remembered what Siran had told him - the place he'd go to was one he might like, but he'd never be able to leave.
But what about Alvin and Simon? And Dave? Would he never see his family again, his home? And what were the three men discussing in their plan - a way to take down Neptune's Palace? And they were responsible for a kid disappearing?
Operation Facing Fear definitely failed, and Theodore wasn't just afraid of something little now - these were many questions with huge weights, as if barbells dangled from each of the eight limbs now stretching out below his waist. Add to that fact that he wasn't a just a chipmunk now, he was...
Theodore shook the thought from his head. Something about the term "octimunk" didn't sound right, and he didn't know whether to feel surprised or freaked out that he was now, at least in part, a creature of the sea...wherever that sea might be.
But something that Theodore heard sent a chill up his spine so quick that one would think the water crystalized to ice around him.
"Please...Please..."
He recognized it immediately - the same whispered, or at least as he heard it now: louder and muffled - voice that spooked him in the hall of mirrors. He felt like his throat had several gumballs stuck in it that he couldn't swallow against, and one more just decided to pop out of the machine to land in his gaping mouth.
The voice was faint enough that Theodore it came from a distance, but not too far away. His first instinct was to swim as far away as he could get from it, but he hadn't swam but only a few strides when he realized something.
"W-wait a minute...maybe it might need some help. I-I-I've got to find out where it's coming from, even if it is a m-m-monster or something..." Theodore said aloud, and straightened up his posture, as if the motion would give him a courage he knew he didn't have, and swam towards the direction of the sound.
It wasn't far along before he reached a mountainous chasm, darker than from where he'd arrived, but oddly peaceful and eerie at the same time. The calls were louder now, still muffled, and came from area of boulders that blocked off the entrance of several caves.
"Um...H-hello? I-Is anybody there?" Theodore called out.
Instead of the same message he was expecting, the voice stopped abruptly, and silence fell across the area, before it resumed again with a different message - "Here! Here! Please...let me out!"
Theodore hovered for a moment, startled, before swimming toward the voice. So there was someone in some kind of trouble.
"W-where are you? I can't tell where you are."
"Here..Here!" The voice continued, and Theodore found the place where the voice was loudest, behind a boulder completely covering a small cave. It was a huge rock, and Theodore looked around it to see if he could look inside the cave. He couldn't, it was too dark, and it looked like the boulder sealed just about every corner of the opening.
Except for one. It was just enough for Theodore to place his hands within and try to tug at the rock, but when he tried, it wouldn't budge. It was far too heavy for him to move on his own.
"Hey...can...can you push against this rock while I pull? I can try to get you out that way."
After a long pause, Theodore heard, whatever it was, grunting with an effort against the rock, so much that it shifted a little, but didn't budge much. Whatever was behind the rock, couldn't really move it by itself either. Theodore tried to pull against the rock at the same time, but it wouldn't move that way, and he had to stop to catch his breath. There had to be an easier way than this, or so the thought ran through Theodore's mind.
Then he had an idea. He remembered one time that Simon had told him it was far easier to push something than it was to pull it, and he saw a few sturdy areas above the cave, enough to wrap his octopi legs around. He positioned himself above the cave and placed his hands above the rock. He pushed as much as he could, and heard the voice grunting still with effort.
It took a few tries, but the big boulder finally budged, rolling out with a great speed down a stretch of the ocean floor, before falling into a deep split in the chasm that Theodore didn't want to know how deep down it went.
It wasn't until he saw a dark, indeterminable shape fly through the water out of the cave, and finally stopped along a stretch of rocks, breathing heavily and collapsing upon them. Theodore couldn't make out what it was at first, and nearly freaked out at how quick it flew out of the cave, so much that he thought it was really a monster. But when he recovered, and focused his eyes in the darkness, Theodore saw the figure for what it was, and finally felt the fear and nervousness that seized him once before leave abruptly.
The monster was nothing more than a boy, and not just a boy - a merboy, probably somewhere close to Theodore's age. Theodore couldn't see his face from where he floated above the entrance of the cave, but his dark brown curls, pale skin, and long green tail stretched out on the rocks as he seemed to lift his body up with some measure of recovery, looking around his surroundings.
"A-are you okay? I never met someone like you before." Theodore began, and the boy turned to look at Theodore, the boy's eyes a deep sea green that looked like pebbles under a patch of light streaming down to the ocean floor.
"What do you mean...someone like me? I'm...AHH!" The boy began, his voice wavering a little as his breaths slowed, but when he saw Theodore for what he was (presently a octimunk, or something like that), he yelled in surprise. Theodore yelled at almost the same exact time.
"W-who are you? What are you?" The boy said.
"Um, I-I'm a chipmunk."
"Not with those eight legs you're not." The boy's eyes quickly darted over Theodore as the chipmunk floated towards the boy, but slowly. The boy braced himself, somewhat fearfully, against the rock he lay upon.
"B-but I am a chipmunk." Theodore argued. "Really, I am. I'm not really sure how I got like this, though."
The boy relaxed a little. "I guess you're like me then. Not from around here, I mean."
"How did you get behind that big boulder in that cave?"
"I don't know. I just woke up behind it, and I found out that I could breathe underwater. But everything was dark, and I couldn't see, and I couldn't get out of that place. It was so scary." The boy paused. "I mean, one moment I'm in an amusement park, and the next I'm underwater. I'm not sure what that weird magician did to me or where he sent me, but I...I..." The boy's eyes caught sight of his tail drifting in front of him, paused for a moment, and then let out a yelp. "A fish? He turned me into a fish!"
"Not exactly - y-you're kinda a mer...a merkid or something like that." Theodore pointed out.
"Maybe...but it doesn't change the fact that he turned me into something I'm not! I'm just a boy, and...no...my mom...my dad..." The boy's face fell in recognition of something that Theodore could understand, and it suddenly made sense why the boy reacted that way. He had to be the missing kid that the men were talking about. And by the boy's reference to a "he", Theodore realized that "he" had to be Siran.
"You met Siran?" Theodore asked. The boy's face, which grimaced and lowered at the revelation, snapped back up to face Theodore, his green eyes blazing and narrowed.
"Yeah, it was Siran, he tricked me! When I get my hands on that jerk, I'll...wait, you know him?"
Theodore frowned. "He sent me here too."
"I guess that means we're both stuck here then." The boy said in a low voice, crossing his arms across his chest. The two of them fell silent, as if there weren't really much to say for either of them in the present situation - how to get out of there, or even recognizing where they were.
Theodore took a deep breath and sat beside the boy. "M-my name's Theodore. What's yours?"
The boy nodded to Theodore. "Remy. Remy Turant. Wait a minute...You said your name was Theodore, and you're a chipmunk? Are you a part of Alvin and the Chipmunks?"
"Yeah!" Theodore beamed at the recognition. A small smile crept upon Remy's face.
"That's awesome! But how did someone like you end up all the way out here? And like...that?"
Theodore took the time to tell the whole story - about how he, Alvin and Simon snuck into the water park, how he'd heard the voice (Remy's voice, in fact), how he came across the strange men, and finally how he ended up there. Remy sat with full attention throughout the whole story, and by the time Theodore was finished, his smile remained on his face.
"So someone did hear me! I called out for so long I didn't know if anyone would come. I guess it's a good thing I didn't give up." The smile disappeared though, as Theodore saw Remy grimace and close his eyes. "Siran tricked me into the Hall of Rivers after I left my family behind. I told my mom and dad that I wanted to go back in the park for a little while, but they told me I couldn't because my sister wanted to leave. And I ran away from them because I was angry..." He trailed off.
"You'll see them again." Theodore said.
"...They're probably angry at me, and maybe they don't want to see me again." Remy opened his eyes, and they were a little clouded over.
"I don't think your parents are mad at you Remy. But they're probably really worried about you now. When we find a way out of here, they'll be glad you're okay." Theodore said, putting a hand on Remy's shoulder. Theodore wasn't sure of how long he'd been in this place either, and probably by now - Dave, Alvin, Simon, maybe even the Chipettes are probably wondering where he was. At least he hoped.
Remy sighed. "I hope you're right. There's gotta be a way out of...wherever we are right now."
Theodore nodded. "How about we look for it together, and see what we find."
"Sounds good to me." Remy said, his small smile returning.
Brittany collapsed on the throw pillows behind her after singing the last karaoke song. It was definitely time for them to sleep now.
"That was awesome."
"That was long." Jeanette said, her glasses crooked on her nose, but she didn't bother to adjust them.
"That was fun." Eleanor added with a sigh. "Great idea, Brittany."
"I always have brilliant ideas." She said with a wide grin. "By the way, weren't you going to call the guys?"
"Oh no, I forgot! Do you think they're still up?"
"Probably not Theodore, but you could probably call Alvin - he's probably watching some monster movie again. But you could wait to call him tomorrow - aren't they supposed to be coming over to our place while Dave goes to work?"
"I think so. But I think I'm gonna call anyway just to make sure the boys are okay."
Eleanor dialed the number for the Chipmunk's place, and waited for one of them to pick up.
Alvin jumped up from the living room couch to run to the phone, just as Simon grabbed the remote and changed off a monster movie to one of the educational program channels that currently showcased the first satellite to orbit the moon.
"I'll get it!" Alvin announced and picked up the phone on the third ring. "Hello, Seville residence?" He answered cheerfully.
"Hey Alvin, it's Eleanor."
"Oh hey, Eleanor, what's going on?"
"Um, I just wanted to ask you if Theodore made it back home okay. He's probably sleeping by now, but I was kinda worried about him after he left here. I should've called earlier, but the girls and I were having a karaoke session."
Alvin scowled, knowing if he'd had the chance, he would have been able to go several rounds of karaoke. Brittany had upstaged him the last time they had a karaoke session and he felt willing to go for a full rematch. He secretly envied Theodore for being over at Miss Miller's house on that very note, though he didn't think Theodore would stay up so long to sing with the girls, nor by himself usually. "Uh, no, he's not here. I thought he was still with you guys. Did he just leave Miss Miller's? I know you just live right across the street, but still...Eleanor...hello?"
Eleanor had fallen silent on the other end of the phone, and Alvin raised a curious eyebrow, wondering if the phone suddenly went dead. He shook it vigorously in one hand, as if it were a video game cartridge that had dust or something clogged in it. Simon gave Alvin a crude glance out of the corner of his eye, but Alvin nervously laughed it off, while Simon groaned and turned his attention back to the TV.
Alvin put the receiver back to his ear when he heard Eleanor give a startled cry. It nearly exploded in his ear.
"What? Alvin, Theodore left our place more than an hour ago! Oh, no. I knew something was wrong, I just knew it!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. If he's not with you, then where is he?"
"He went to Neptune's Palace to tell the people there about the strange sounds he heard there when you guys went. He told Jeanette and me everything. He was supposed to go straight from there and back home, but...Alvin...Alvin, hello?"
The sound of the receiver clattering to the floor made Simon wince and made him glare at Alvin.
"Okay, first of all, if you break that phone, Dave's going to make you pay for it. And second, who are you talking to at this hour and why are you being so rude to them by dropping the phone?"
When Simon saw Alvin's horrified face turn to him, however, he raised a brow from behind his glasses.
"Simon, I think Theodore is in mega, mega trouble."
"Well, looks like this didn't do us any good." Remy concluded, looking around his surroundings wearily as his damp curls clung to his face. At Theodore's suggestion, they swam quite a distance to go to the surface of the water, but all that they saw when they reached above the waves was a long stretch of water in all directions under a bright moonlit sky and stars.
"How are we supposed to get home if we don't know which direction land is?" Theodore asked in a worried tone.
"I have no idea. Even if we found land, we still wouldn't be able to walk as we are. I don't think...wait a sec, Theodore, look over there!"
Theodore strained his eyes, peering through the mists and waves to see something upon the water a distance away from them. And it was only by the several different lanterns that hung around it that Theodore saw it for what it was.
"Hey, it's a ship."
"Yeah, and look at the flag...Can you see it? It's a pirate ship!" Remy's voice was full of awe. "Let's go to it! They might be able to help us."
"Um...I-I don't know...I don't think it's such a good id..." Before Theodore could finish his sentence, Remy leapt in and out of the calm waves, heading straight toward the ship. Theodore sighed, audibly and worriedly, before swimming as fast as he could after his new friend.