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 6
Theodore heard Remy's yell from the cabin door, and he noticed that all the pirates started waking up at the sound of the two yells that came from the cabin. That sent a wave of fear through him, and he had to cover his mouth to keep himself from calling out. He did so with one hand, while the other gripped the outer rim of the ship from where he looked on with a curious fear.
At first Theodore saw Remy, carrying a large object under his arm as he scooted like a snail away from the door - his back arching and his arms propelling his body quickly against the smooth wood of the ship's floor. But then Remy disappeared among a number of crates. Theodore tried to strain his eyes to tell if his friend was okay, but the shouts of pirates set Theodore on edge.
"Stowaway! Stowaway! It's a merboy!"
"He's stealing the trident, you fool! Don't just stand there, find him!"
Theodore saw the points of swords through the door, and the once sleeping pirates throw the door open, searching frantically around the area. Their heavy boots clattered against the deck. The pirates that were once inside the cabin tried to retrieve their swords from the splintered wood, some with success, while others tumbled backward after straining themselves from the effort.
The pirates themselves were really clumsy. If the situation were different, Theodore was sure he'd laugh at them the way they stumbled over each other, some pointing at each other and laughing, while others scolded them for being stupid and resuming the search for Remy.
One thing Theodore knew for sure, their swords were pointy and he really didn't like pointy things. He'd been squirming even when Dave took him, Alvin and Simon to the doctor to get their shots. He didn't want to even think about what those pirates planned to do with those swords if they found him or Remy.
Theodore shifted his position outside the ship to have a better look at what was going on.
"Well, where is he? He was just here!" A large, burly pirate with a long, thick black beard that reached his chest searched the area as he spoke. Theodore grimaced watching the pirate - he was so tall and scary, especially with the way he wielded his sword over his head. Theodore figured, from the fancy way he dressed compared to the other pirates, that he must be the captain of the ship.
"He can't have gone far, sir!" one of the other pirates shouted. But the captain didn't seemed reassured.
"Search the area," he ordered, his voice resounding through the air like thunder. "Find that trident and the boy. Do whatever you can to..."
Theodore saw the captain was interrupted by a yell and a streak of golden light waving around the air and through the crowd of pirates, whose angry expressions suddenly transformed into fear, scrambling to get out of the way of the blazing light.
Sure enough, the golden light source, Theodore saw, was Remy, riding the trident like a witch rode a broomstick, only with not as much confidence. It looked like it was completely out of control. Remy barely gripped it with both hands as it went spiraling around and over the ship's deck.
"Whoa! Theodore, I need a little help here!" Remy cried out.
Theodore knew he had to do something fast, and angled himself on the railing. The trident was going too fast for him to try to grab on the edge of it with his hands, so he decided he'd use the power of his octopi legs to hold it when it came by.
Even as the crowd of pirates raced to get out of the way of the trident, Theodore knew he only had one shot to grab Remy and the trident.
"Remy, this way!"
Remy saw Theodore waving his arms. While he couldn't exactly control the trident's power or the way it was propelling him, Remy threw his body in a way that angled over towards Theodore's direction, and it zoomed toward the chipmunk.
Theodore used his legs to grab ahold of the trident on its edge, just before the forked end. But instead of stopping, the trident didn't just lift Theodore, it sped even faster and took him on a ride he didn't want to go on.
Theodore shouted as it lifted him, and the pirates seemed to follow the speeding trident around the ship with a mixture of awe and fear.
"I don't think that helped much!" Remy said. "Any ideas on how to stop this thing?"
"I don't...whoa!" The trident sped through part of the ship's sail, tearing the fabric, and somehow Theodore ended up with a piece of it in his mouth. He spat it out, and tried to get himself upright on the trident.
"It just kinda started on its own when the pirates were chasing after me," Remy continued, as he helped Theodore get a tighter grip on the trident.
Theodore heard the ship's captain yell angrily at his crew. Theodore couldn't make out what they were saying because they were circling higher around the mast and crowsnest of the ship. Several pirates were climbing to try to corner the two, or at least grab ahold of the trident to stop it, but a few ended up falling off the rope ladder leading to the crowsnest in the process, and taking their fellow crewmen with them.
"Okay, this is starting to make me dizzy," Theodore said, shaking his head from side to side.
"Me too, but at least it's starting to slow down. We need to find a place to...oh no!"
Theodore and Remy yelled as the trident started plunging straight down to the middle of the ship, then spun and shot parallel with the length of the ship's deck. Several of the pirates barely scrambled out of the way of the speeding trident.
Theodore realized he had a better chance of trying to grab ahold of the ship with his hands, and keeping his octo-legs wrapped tightly around the trident's handle. So as they sped to the side of the ship, he used his hands and held on as tight as he could.
It stopped abruptly, dangling dangerously over the side of the ship. Remy hung at the end of the trident, which went over the ship's railing. Theodore was bent at the waist, holding the trident in his octopi limbs while holding onto the ship with his arms. Remy looked like he had a good grip on the trident, which made Theodore exhale in relief.
"Thanks. That was close." Remy said, heaving a sigh of relief of his own. Theodore grinned, but then Remy's face went pale, eyes widening.
"Behind you!"
Theodore turned and saw the black bearded pirate standing over him, his sword raised and prepared to strike.
"I'll never let a couple of sea beasts and magic get the best of me!" the pirate shouted.
Theodore let out a gasp, but before the pirate could bring the sword down, Remy used his hands to move closer to the ship along the trident, then used the end of his tail to slap the pirate straight in the face. The trident shifted, and Remy allowed one of his arms to grip the railing of the ship and release the trident completely to Theodore.
The captain was startled by the blow, staggering back and groaning while holding his face with one hand. The other hand loosely gripped the sword he'd tried to swing.
Remy turned to Theodore, who hung over the ship's edge with the trident. "Take the trident and go overboard, Theodore."
"But Remy..."
"Go, now!"
Theodore angled his body and prepared himself for the long drop to the waters below. It was weird how he only remembered then how afraid of heights he was, and yelled as he plummeted to the water.
"NO!" The bearded pirate cried out.
"Serves you right for taking something that isn't yours." Remy snapped, gripping the railing for support, even as his tail and body were on the outer edge of the ship. He was ready to let go, but he lingered behind just to make sure Theodore made the descent okay. It looked like he did, so Remy could judge hitting the water too and know that his friend would be okay.
"Do you realize how much work it took to get that trident?" the captain sneered.
Remy clicked his tongue. "Shouldn't have had it out for anyone to take it, then."
"You little..." The pirate swiped his sword in Remy's direction, but Remy managed to avoid it, using his arms to grab areas in the railing of the ship to avoid the blows. The sword was a weird looking one, not like most of the other pirate swords Remy had seen. It had a jagged blade that curved up, and the hilt of it was purple with aquamarine jewels made into it.
Remy knew he didn't want to get hit by that thing, no matter how cool it looked. He gripped the rail of the ship, and was a fair enough distance from the captain to know that the angry pirate was half tired from the pursuit, but also very, very angry.
"Any person who'd work for a guy like Siran deserves it," Remy taunted.
The captain appeared startled, but sniffed in disgust. "How would you know anything about Siran?"
Remy started to explain what'd happened with him and Theodore, but realized there wasn't any point. "The fact you're working for him just makes you a moron."
"I work for no one, boy. I make my own rules," the captain hissed.
Remy raised an eyebrow. "You're just saying that because you don't wanna admit it."
The captain laughed heartily. "Well, I'll have no trouble getting rid of a pesky fish like you, without Siran's word!"
Remy knew what the pirate was about to do, and knew he had to let go of the railing before the bearded leader brought down his sword.
But Remy's timing was a little late. Even as Remy threw his body back and released the railing, the edge of the pirate's sword swung and swiped across his left arm he fell to the water. Remy cried out in pain, even as he disappeared under the waves.
The bearded pirate frowned as he watched the merboy disappear. One of his crewmen gripped the railing and looked down towards the water.
"They escaped with the trident, captain?"
"What do you think?"
The younger pirate flinched at the captain's tone and twisted sneer, but then the anger melted away just as quickly as it'd come.
The captain looked away, out toward the seas. "No matter. It isn't the first time we've had thieves aboard our ship, and it certainly won't be the last."
"But aren't we gonna go after them?"
"Of course we are, but I'm no fool to chase them blindly in the dark seas. We'll have to cut them off at the pass. I know exactly where they're headed. We're sailing north to meet them," the pirate captain said.
"Aye, but do they know...?"
The pirate captain cut his underling crewman off with a growl. "That trident will find it's way to its owner, so we'll have no problem with them finding their way. If we're lucky," he paused, examining the blade of the sword that had struck Remy, "we'll only have one of them to chase now. Siran was right, this sword did come in handy. And there's no way to free the sea god if there aren't at least two to do it."
The captain let out a thunderous laugh to the clear night sky.
"Okay guys, this is getting us nowhere. Maybe we need to split up and search again," Alvin said, exasperated as they'd walked a good bit around the water park. All of them had stayed close together, alternating between calling out to Theodore in hushed tones.
While they'd covered the usual attractions - the aquarium, the area around the palace tower, the courtyard fountain, the water wheel (which was like a giant, blue-greenish ferris wheel, only water powered), and the slip and slide, but there was no sign of either Theodore or the boy named Remy.
Simon rolled his eyes. "Like I said..."
"Simon, not another lecture, okay?" Alvin said, running his hand over his face. "How was I supposed to know this place was this huge?"
"I think they might've added a lot to it since you guys saw it. I mean look, some of the tents and booths weren't here before, even looking from the outside." Eleanor pointed out.
"I wonder if they're planning to sell more food and stuff here. Maybe have more live entertainment or something." Jeanette added.
"Probably. They had so many complaints that they had to consider expanding to open back up to the public." Simon noted.
"Well, if they figure out Theodore went missing too, I don't think Neptune's Palace is gonna be open for much longer," Brittany said, sighing. "There's too many bad things happening around it."
"We're not gonna let that happen, Brittany." Alvin said, his lips pouting. "We're gonna keep this place open, figure out what happened to Theodore, and find Remy too."
"I really admire your enthusiasm," Simon said dryly. "But you're forgetting that we still have no idea where Theodore would go."
"We already covered all the places that could possibly offer food," Brittany said. "Too bad none of them were open."
Jeanette shook her head. "The park's closed, Brittany."
"I know that!" Brittany snapped, even as Jeanette flinched. "I'm just saying that maybe we could've found Theodore in the popcorn machine or something."
Eleanor giggled. "That sounds like something Theodore would do, get himself stuck and have to eat his way out. He'd probably be so full he couldn't move!"
That made them all laugh, but then Simon hushed them when they thought they heard some guards passing. When the figures had passed, all of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"What would Sherlock Holmes do in this situation?" Alvin said, putting his forefinger and thumb under his chin.
"I believe that he would return to the scene of the crime first and foremost, see if there's any evidence he missed," Simon said.
Alvin's eyes shot over towards the Hall of the Deep Rivers. It wasn't very far from where they hid, which were behind a stony statue of a happy pair of dancing fish. "Well, I think there is one place that we need to go back to."
"We've already searched, Alvin. There wasn't anyone there," Jeanette said.
"Maybe not back then, but there are now. Look. Those guards just walked in."
"Guards?" Simon took Alvin's night vision binoculars from around his brother's neck and looked over where Alvin pointed.
"Alvin, those weren't guards. They look like park employees. Like business people. Why would be here this late?"
"Good question," Alvin said, his eyebrows narrowing.
Simon frowned when Alvin snatched back his binoculars. "I didn't say they were doing anything wrong."
"No, I think Alvin's right. Something doesn't look right about those guys," Brittany said.
Eleanor sighed. "Normally I wouldn't say let's check it out, but maybe they might know something we don't about Theodore and Remy disappearing."
"Now you're talking!" Alvin said, the grin on his face wider than it'd been all night.
Theodore had the trident gripped in his limbs, but for all the strength they had, it was like he swam while trying to carry a huge boulder.
He was trying to keep himself afloat, even as the weight of the trident edged him closer to the ocean floor. Why had it suddenly gotten so heavy? Was it because the weight felt heavier under the water? Was he just that tired? Or was it something else? He didn't really know.
But seeing Remy drop into the water from above, holding his arm and looking like he was in trouble, Theodore realized keeping a handle on the trident wasn't as important. He saw Remy fall faster through the water towards the ocean floor.
"Remy!" Theodore called out, dropping the trident and swimming down to where Remy landed on the sand below. Remy lay on his back, opening his eyes and looking up and down his arm once he recovered his breath.
"That pirate cut me with his sword when I dived." Remy said, wincing. He uncovered his upper arm, revealing a red cut that didn't look much deeper than a common papercut, edging from the middle of the upper part of his arm to just above his elbow.
"It doesn't look that bad, I guess, but it hurts."
Theodore frowned. "Are you okay?"
Remy nodded slowly, but spoke through his teeth. "Where's the trident?"
"It just over..." Theodore began, pointing to the place where he'd let the trident fall, but he realized it was rising in the water on its own, showing off in a pulsing, bright glow above the milk white sands.
Remy sat up, watching the trident along with Theodore.
"What's it doing?" Theodore asked.
"I don't know." Remy said. "It's like it's acting on its own or something."
The trident hovered for a moment longer before it suddenly shot up over Remy and Theodore's heads and sped off in the opposite direction from where they were.
"You've gotta be kidding!" Remy said, exasperated.
"We can't lose it now after all the trouble we went through." Theodore said. "We gotta go after it!"
Without a second thought, the two of them took off after the glowing trident.
Dave wasn't expecting Miss Miller to call him in the middle of the night, just after he'd been sleeping for a good hour or two after having trouble falling asleep. He figured it was just his busy schedule keeping him more on edge than usual.
But even in his sleepy stupor, Miss Miller's frantic voice rang in his ears like an alarm clock. Kind of an angry alarm clock now that he thought about it.
"David! David, are you awake?"
Dave wasn't sure what the real answer of that question was, considering he was ready to crawl back into bed, even as his bare feet walked along the cold tiles of the kitchen floor. But he figured he'd give the most convenient answer. "Yes, Miss Miller - what seems to be the problem?"
"Are Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette with you? I have half a mind to scold those girls for not telling me they were going to stay over with the boys tonight. Not even so much as a note; they left the karaoke machine on and everything. Gave me such a start to realize they weren't in bed when they were supposed to be, but then I figured to call you when I found they were gone."
Dave walked over to the kitchen table, rubbing his eyes as he did with one hand. "No, I didn't. I thought Theodore and the girls were over there for tonight. They must have came over here for..."
Dave suddenly stopped talking when he saw a handwritten note on the kitchen table. Dave picked it up and began to read.
Dave, went over to Miss Miller's house with Simon to get Theodore. We're staying over for the night. Your most awesome chipmunk, Alvin.
Dave groaned. "No, I'm just finding out that Alvin and Simon headed over to your house, and they didn't tell me they were going. It's the middle of the night."
"Well they aren't here at all, David! None of them!"
Any trace of sleepiness that Dave had in him left at that moment, as his eyes widened and he gripped the note tight in one hand. "Well, where the heck are they?"
Brittany nearly crossed the point in the Hall of Deep Waters where "Oceania's Breath" would've played automatically, but Alvin and Simon yanked her back before she could do so. Brittany was about to protest (very loudly in fact), but both Alvin and Simon covered her mouth before she could.
"I don't think you want us all to get caught," Alvin warned.
Brittany used her elbow to strike Alvin in the gut, which made him double over. "I know, but you didn't have to stop me like that. You boys need to learn a little manners in how to treat a lady."
Alvin scowled at her, but didn't say anything.
"Hush guys - I hear them in the next room," Jeanette said.
"We can't go past this point, or they'll know we're here," Simon said. "There's a sensor that plays music everytime people walk into the attraction."
Eleanor and Jeanette nodded.
The Chipmunks and Chipettes fell silent, and watched from the darkness of the hall into the next room where three men stood.
"I don't think anyone's going to suspect those kids went missing here. Their tracks have all been wiped from this place other than through us. And I'm sensing in the other world that one of them will be out of our way soon enough."
"Siran, you're crazy. Ditching a couple of kids in another dimension like that - do you really think they were gonna tell anyone what we were doing?"
Siran glared at Reed, who ran his finger on the inside of his collar nervously. "You getting cold feet?"
"What about us sticking together for the plan? For the payoff - the fall of Neptune's Palace?"
That prompted a low gasp from the Chipmunks and Chipettes.
"I don't take well to those who suddenly want out of a plan. Just know if you start walking, you'll be the one who's all wet."
Reed backed away, laughing nervously. "Don't worry, I'm not. I want this place as much as you do. I just want to know how you know what those brats are up to."
Siran shook his head. "I have a way of sensing things through water. Let's just say it's something I learned from my old man."
"Your father?"
Siran turned around to face Reed, his expression cold. "Yeah. I don't like him very much, to say the least."
"But he did teach you how to do all that magic with water, didn't he?"
"He didn't have to teach me. I learned it all on my own." Siran snapped. His hands started to liquify, which nearly made Eleanor cry out, but Brittany and Jeanette covered her mouth before anything came out.
Reed winced, while Lex clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"You're getting on Siran's bad side tonight, Reed. I'd steer clear if I were you. Speaking of which, why are we meeting here? We already got rid of those two, including the Chipmunk."
Alvin nearly gasped aloud, but swallowed against it rising in his throat, opting for a harsh whisper. "All right, that does it. They were definitely talking about Theodore!"
Simon grabbed Alvin before he could take another step forward. "We can't just march up in there, Alvin."
"Well what are we supposed to do, then? Our brother's in trouble and those guys definitely had something to do with it! I think we should go in there and..."
"We go in there now, we won't learn where he is and how to help him."
"Simon's right. We need to see if they say anything about where they are," Jeanette said, though her lip trembled.
"Isn't it obvious? That guy said that they're in another dimension - and I bet where Theodore is, Remy is too. We need to hurry, because both of them could be in really big trouble!"
Alvin forgot himself for the moment, his voice rising above the whisper in his last statement.
The guy named Siran emerged from the other room, staring at the group with pure disgust, his teeth clenched and eyes narrowed.
"I think you'd better be more concerned about yourselves, because the way I see it, you are the ones in trouble now."