Hi, all! I decided to update a little early this time because I've been doing it so late recently. I hope that you enjoy!
"Are we almost there?" Simon whispered.
"Yes," Theodore whispered back. "I can see him. He's just down there." He pointed into the pure, absolute darkness that no one else could see through.
"He's just standing there in the dark?" They could hear the frown in Eleanor's voice.
"No, there's a cave at the end of the hallway," Theodore whispered back, sounding surprised. "Can't…can't you see it?"
"No," Brittany said flatly. "I can't do anything weird like that. My power's gone."
"We're getting our gems back, Britt," Eleanor said firmly to her sister. "Don't worry."
Brittany fidgeted slightly and tried to see farther.
Then they heard Adam.
"These are the gems, then?" His voice was sneering.
"Yes, sir," a guard said.
"Hmm…the powers have been depleted, though…all except this red one."
"I believe that one's Alvin's, sir."
"I don't care whose it is," Adam snarled. "I care whose is missing!"
"As far as we can see, sir, there are only two you didn't get."
"The dark green one," Adam muttered, "and the purple one. The green one must belong to that fat one."
Theodore scowled.
"And the purple one…oh, yes." They heard horrible anger curling through his voice. "Yes, that one belongs to our friend Jeanette."
Simon clenched his fists.
"Why aren't you going after them, sir?"
"Because I'm going to lure them here," Adam replied. "Of course they'll come after their jewels. Of course. And when they do, they will be eliminated."
"Which ones, boss?"
"Well, the two fat ones, certainly." Eleanor and Theodore gritted their teeth. "I may keep Alvin or Brittany…they could be useful if they were forced to obey."
Brittany and Alvin smirked at that.
"Our friend Simon, certainly. He's been left alive for too long. We will find the antidote to the cure without him."
"And Jeanette?"
"Do whatever you want with her to apprehend her, but she must be kept alive. Do you get that? Alive. I don't care if she's damaged, but she has to be alive."
Simon had to hold himself back.
"Oh, yes," Adam said in a softer tone. "I have plans for little miss Jeanette." Menace was thick in his voice, and all the chipmunks shivered.
They all edged closer until the others could see the light from the cave. They waited until they were right next to it.
"Hey, sir, did you hear something?"
"NOW!" Simon yelled, and they all sprang into the room.
Adam was there with only four guards. Adam held the jewels in his paw, and he looked absolutely astonished to see the five chipmunks springing into the room. Simon instantly lunged for Adam, but Adam pulled up a sword out of nowhere and knocked him to the ground again.
His brothers helped him to his feet again, and he grinned and held out a pink gem that he had managed to grab from Adam. Brittany shrieked and lunged forward, grabbing it. As soon as her fingers touched it, it turned into a ring again. She let out a sigh of relief and slipped it quickly onto her finger.
Adam's eyes slid over the chipmunks again and again, and his fists clenched when he saw who was missing.
How on earth did he get her to stay behind?
Well…he probably just asked her nicely. She'd do anything for her precious Simon.
"All right, wise guy," Alvin snarled. "We're only gonna ask you once. Give us our gems back now. Or we'll take them."
Adam laughed and tauntingly dangled the three remaining gems in front of him. "Come and get them," he sneered.
Alvin made a grab for them, but that's what Adam had been waiting for. He dodged easily and Alvin fell to the floor. Then Adam advanced, sword raised.
He would've brought it down on Alvin, too, if he hadn't been hit with a water ball square in the face.
SMACK!
He sputtered and spluttered, dropping the sword as he staggered backward. He dropped the red gem by mistake.
"Take THAT!" Brittany yelled. "No one touches my boyfriend!"
"Oh, yeah. I forgot that you can do the thing with the water balls, too," Alvin realized, quickly snatching up his gem. As soon as he did, he pushed it into place on his hat, smiling as it stuck there firmly.
Adam snarled as he wiped his face off with his sleeve. He still firmly clutched Eleanor's and Simon's gems in his hand.
Brittany pelted him with three more water balls, one after another, right in a row, and he went down again. He almost dropped Eleanor's gem, and Alvin saw an opening and slammed into him, hard. Ellie's gem fell to the ground.
Brittany sprinted forward and ducked low, scooping it off the ground. She turned to run back to her sister, but the guards instantly closed in on her from every side.
Brittany thought fast. She balanced the gem on the top of her finger and then made water spurt out of her fingertips. The water catapulted the gem through the air, and it soared up and then down, landing smack dab in the middle of Eleanor's palm.
"Bulls-eye!" Eleanor cheered, quickly slipping the bracelet back onto her wrist and motioning to the plants in the corner. They wrapped around the ankles of the guards surrounding Brittany, and they went down, too.
"Yeah!" Brittany cheered, throwing her hands in the air. But she didn't see Adam creeping up behind her.
With a sword.
Adam began to bring the sword down, and Brittany turned and saw him. Her expression changed almost instantly from excitement to terror. Alvin saw all this in slow motion.
"NOOOO!" he screamed, and it was then that his gem began to grow hot.
The silvery things in it burst out and slipped into his body much faster than the others had, and he found that he was glowing and shaking. The lights inside his gem faded, and it was just ordinary and red again.
And then he was running toward Brittany.
Everything still looked like it was happening in slow motion. He didn't understand that.
"Is my power to make everyone else go in slow motion?" he wondered as he ran. He got to Brittany in plenty of time, with the sword still a foot or two over her head, scooped her up, and continued to run until he got to the far wall and stopped.
Then everything began to speed up again until it was normal.
Then he realized as everyone gawked at him that they hadn't been moving slowly. He was moving faster. Much, much faster.
"I've got superspeed!" he cheered, pumping a paw in the air and holding onto Brittany with the other. "Yes!"
"Alvin, you saved my life!" Brittany cried, hugging him tightly.
"Of course I did," Alvin said cockily, and she smacked him.
He grinned at her and set her on her feet again.
Then a guard ran at them. Alvin pulled his fist back and slammed it into the guard's stomach.
And the guard flew all the way across the room, slammed into the rock wall, BROKE it, and flew into the next room.
Alvin stared at his fist in astonishment, and then back at the guard.
"I think you have superstrength, too," Brittany said after an awkward pause, and Alvin laughed in delight.
Adam scrambled to his feet and ran for the door.
"Theo, make it dark!" Alvin yelled. Theodore concentrated as hard as he could, and instantly, all the torches in the room flickered and went out. There was still a bit of light left from the weak sunlight that filtered in through one or two holes in the ceiling, and Theodore focused more. The beams of light filtering in just…vanished, and darkness flew over all of them like a blanket.
Alvin heard a thud and smiled. Adam couldn't see, and he had run into the wall.
"Light on Adam!" Alvin yelled to his brother, and Theodore made a single beam of light fall on Adam so that Alvin could see where he was. Alvin used his new superspeed to dart across the room and snatch Simon's blue gem from Adam's hand.
Then Theodore made the light reappear. The torches flickered back on and everyone could see again. Alvin zipped over to Simon faster than his brother could blink and handed him his gem back. Simon leaned down and it was reattached to his ankle.
"Rocking powers, bro," Simon said with a grin, throwing his hands out and extending the force field to cover them all.
They quickly grouped in the center of the room.
"'Bye, now, Adam," Simon smirked at him. "Take care."
"Get back here!" Adam roared.
Simon laughed at him as the chipmunks ran for the exit, the force field still surrounding them. "Jeanette says hi!" he yelled over his shoulder as they vanished into the passageway.
Fury washed over Adam like he'd never felt before. He lunged for Simon, but Simon was already gone.
"I'll get you, Simon," Adam growled, visibly shaking and trembling from head to toe. "I'll get you and your precious Jeanette. Just you wait."
"Shouldn't we go after them, sir?" asked one of the guards.
"No," Adam said with a smile. "I've got a plan. It's already in action."