Dark times lead to light
The full story of Chip’s Past in C.N.A (Upcoming Story)

	We, the writers of stories like these, have to come up with pasts for characters. Some characters already existing, some not. And those who do not have a past, shall have one be made. Chip, from Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers is one of those characters who need a bit of a backstory. This is my version of his past before the rivalry with Donald Duck and before the Rescue Rangers. This story will give a reason to some on why Chip goes as far as to hide his last name from his new friends, and why his parents have never been mentioned, and how he and Dale became friends. But like any good person, Chip has a good early life but a dark and painful event will change everything.

	(june 12th, 1972 ) Chip was 6 years old, he had developed a lot of his personality. He wasn’t exactly like his older self. While he was brave, adventurous, loyal and a quick thinker. He wasn’t as serious, or as responsibly obligated as we came to know him. He didn’t have the bomber jacket and fedora but instead had a patterned button up long sleeve shirt  But at this very moment, Chip was in his room, writing in his journal about the week so far, a habit he will continue on to his later life. He had a small desk lamp to help him see in the dark encarved oval in the tree which was his room. Nothing but the consistent pater of the rain and the few thunder claps could be heard outside. To his right was his bed a single bed with a orange designless blanket, a coat rack for winter clothing and a white wooden dresser that had all of his daily clothes, above that was a window that had a lovely view of the hill they were on along the grass and flower laden field which was now shined on by the moon light and the flashes of the lightning. To his left was the rectangle brown orange tinted door and a 3 step tall bookshelf that had all of the books made by sherlock holmes and other books his parents recommended to him. -6/12/74, ~7:30 Pm: Nothing more than doing the dishes and going out to grab some groceries. Atleast, so far. Mom and Dad are out in the rain for some crazy reason saying they had an urgent call from a old friend. This could be something important, but I doubt it. There hasn’t been a single case my parents could teach me about in a week or so and everything’s been boring.- Chip wrote an entry in his journal. 

	Chip methodically closed his journal along with setting the pencil he just used next to it. He slouched in the chair and propped his head up with his right arm which was on the arm of his leather padded wooden chair. Chip stared blankly at the journal. Somehow expecting it to give him more ideas as if it was some genie. He usually wouldn’t be this bored since he was an only child and his parents would tell him about the criminals they stopped every so often and how to apply that to his life. They also home schooled him, and while they where away he’d do the chores around the house. Which weren't many since he was the only one living in there most of the day. All of this boredom drove Chip crazy and felt like he had to do something. But then his ear twitched to the sound of the main door being unlocked and then opening. He smiled with glee and jumped from his chair to the door in merely a second, he swung his room door open and ran down the spiral stairs and found himself in the living room.

	In the doorway stood both of his parents. His dad had the very bomber jacket Chip would wear later, however he had a black undershirt to go with it. And instead of a fedora he wore a baseball cap that had his police department symbol and number on it. Chip’s Dad was similar looking to Chip but had light brown fur but was taller and a little and rounder, He tufted hair at the top of his head but was combed and he was also working man and a man of action rather than words.  His job pertained to working as a sergeant in the local animal police department. Chip’s Mother was a tough lady, and as so wore black jeans a navy blue shirt and had a trench coat along with wearing sunglasses practically everywhere outside of home, however that didn’t stop her from wearing makeup and her orange fur and light blue eyes accommodated that. She also worked as a detective in her husbands department which took her a lot of talking to do. 

	But as they came through the doorway, Chip noticed how his mother was holding hands with somebody who Chip couldn’t see. She had to encourage the person to stop hiding around the corner. Meanwhile his father put his cap on a coat hook near the door and spoke up. “Hey buddy, at the other place we ran into some uhh, complications. So you know how my best friend has a family right? *Chip nodded* Well something happened and well, there’s somebody we’d like you to meet.” Chip’s Father then guestered for Chip’s Mother to hurry up. Upon refusing once more she leander over and spoke to the person behind the door. Chip slowly walked ever closer to see who it was. But then the figure came out of hiding and stood in the doorway next to Chip’s mother. To Chip he looked weird, he had a big burgundy nose, droopy eyelids, a clump of ruffed hair on his head, and had two teeth sticking out of his mouth. This other kid that was Chip’s age had a red hawaiian shirt that seemed way to big for him. Then Chip’s Mother spoke up. “Can you say hi to your new roommate?” Chip froze upon hearing the words ‘roommate’ then the other chipmunk nervously spoke. “H-hi, I-I’m Dale, w-what’s your name?” The Chipmunk said with a very distinct accent. As much as Chip wanted to not like his new roommate, he felt kinda bad for him. Since whatever his Dad was suggesting happened, it was probably pretty bad. So Chip put on a smile and kindly walked up to Dale and held out a hand for a handshake. Dale at first flinched but found out it was just a handshake. He accepted the greeting and gave back a smile. “Nice to meet you Dale, I’m Chip, maybe we’ll get along well and maybe become friends. But I would be lying to you if I said I’m excited to share my room, kinda used to just me being there.” Chip said with honesty. The two looked into each other's souls with a smile and both had the feeling this friendship would be permanent. But their stare was broken by Chip’s father clearing his throat. “Heather, you should probably show Dale his room while me and Chip talk for a sec.” Chip’s Dad suggested. Heather, Chip’s mother nodded and guided Dale to Chip’s room. Chip’s Dad then sighed and knelt down in front of Chip and put a hand on his shoulder. “I know, you’re not comfortable with the change, but he just had his parents killed by a couple of crooks. And since the Oakmonts are my friends, I have to help them. But, you’ve got to give the kid some slack, he just went through a lot. Can you do that Chipper?” Chip’s father encouraged. Chip nodded trying to smile, he knew there’s nothing he could do about it. Nor did he want to since he did feel bad for the chipmunk. Chip’s Father gave him a quick nod and went go help Heather with the new child. Chip stood in the living room, both feeling guilty for his new roommate and poised by the aspect of having a roommate.

	After a couple of minutes of prancing around the living room, Chip decided he would go check up on what his parents were doing to his room and how the new roomate was. While heading up the stairs, his parents left his room and closed the door. Once Chip reached the top of the steps, Heather turned to him and said: “We made some quick changes to your room, their not permanent. But where else is he going to sleep, right?”  She asked with a shrug. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Chip half effortly said. Chip’s father gestured for Heather to go down the stairs. Heather gave him an annoyed stare and quickly turned back to Chip. “Herald wants to go watch a movie with me. So I expect you be nice to your new brother-” “Brother?! How is he my brother, he’s nothing like me” Chip interjected. Heather sighed and took a short deep breath. “Yes, he’s your brother, and to say he’s not when you don’t even know what his personality is like is not ok in this household. You still have to be nice, and if you aren't then there will be consequences. Got it?” She stated as a final. “But-” “No buts. That is something I expect of you Chip. Now you do as we say or well give you a paddlin.” Heather said putting her hands on her hips. Chip sighed in defeat. “Yes, mother.” Heather smiled and used one arm to tousle Chip’s head. Chip didn’t mind the unexpected affection and was a bit needing of it actually. Then she stopped and went downstairs. Chip’s father gave him a ‘good luck’ nod before following Heather, leaving Chip to deal with whatever his parents left behind in his room.

	Chip opened the door to his room. He saw that there was now a bunk bed, almost nothing else was changed, but Dale was now reading a book in the top bunk. Chip finished entering the room and closed the door behind him. “What book is that?” Chip asked cautiously, and feeling as if his new roommate was taking his personal things. “Says ‘Mysteries of the deep’ Ya don’t mind if I read it do ya?” The chipmunk asked kindly. “Oh, that old book. Yeah you can read it.” Chip said, Dale smiled and turned his attention back to the book. Chip walked to his desk and took a seat where he was merely 20 or so minutes ago. He grabbed his journal out and a pen and began to write again. “Say, that’s pretty cool. Do ya write everyday in that?” Dale asked with curiosity since he’d never met somebody who did that. Chip propped his chin on his hand. “Yeah, but it isn’t everyday. Just whenever I feel like it or every 3 days.” Chip said sounding rather annoyed from all of his new roommates questions. “It’s not like a diary is it?” Dale questioned once again. Chip set down his pen and gave Dale a look as if he was crazy. “What, no. It’s just something to look back on in later life. That’s like saying a photo album is picture horing.” Chip said in a shocked manner. Dale only rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the celing. Chip’s mind then randomly drifted and he asked: “Hey, you don’t snore, do you? Since we’re going to be bunkmates for a while.” Dale looked at Chip, perplexed. “How did ya get a question like that? *Chip shrugged* Well. I don’t think I snore. Say, we should get to know eachother if we're gonna be buddies for a while.” Dale suggested. Chip closed his journal and turned sideways in his chair. “Well, I have nothing else to do. So that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. So, what are you interested in?” Dale closed the book he was reading, sat up, and swung his body around so his legs were hanging over the side of the bed and he was facing Chip. Then the two chipmunks continued their conversation until 10:00 Pm. Chip quickly found out that he and this new roommate are alike in many ways but different in some, and that having somebody to talk to wasn't so bad. But one thing he regret finding out was how Dale snored. But he managed to block it out and go to sleep eventually. But nothing would prepare him for the next day. 

	Chip opened his eyes. He found himself half way over the bed with one arm almost touching the floor and a little bit of drool leaking out of his mouth. The sunrays bursted through the window and onto his half awake face. He tried sitting up by using his left arm, but in vein as he fell back onto the mattress. -Must’ve slept on it weird.- he thought.  Chip rolled onto his back and allowed his left arm to regain proper circulation again. He sat up looking around his room, nothing was changed still. Then a snore came from above him. -How is he still asleep?! I went to bed after he did.- Chip questioned in his mind. Chip’s arm was now awake again, so he got out of bed and climbed up onto the bed frame above so he could wake up Dale. “Hey, get up. Its- *Looks at the clock behind him, and then looks back to Dale* It’s 8:19 Am. And about time we get breakfast here.” Chip said while shaking the chipmunk in his slumber. Dale slowly opened his eyes and yawned. He looked at Chip with confusion. “Did ya have to wake me up? We don’t eat at our house till ten atleast.” Dale tried to argue. Chip crossed his arms. “Well, this is our house. And if you want to eat, you’ll have to follow our rules.” Dale sighed and rolled his eyes. “Oh alright. I’ll get up.” Chip Smiled in victory as he watched his roommate fully get up and out of bed before he himself jumped down from the top bunk and headed downstairs. 

	(3 minutes later) As Chip was enjoying a nice bowl of cereal in the living room as Dale showed up in the doorless doorway between the staircase and the very room he was in. The living room itself was a large box with a high ceiling with a homemade chandelier as the proud jewel. A little table stand to the right and a little bookshelf to the right of a black leather couch with 3 seats, all in front of a tv that the family made from scraps. A wonderful round brown and black striped rug sat just behind the couch. Along with an entire mini kitchen with counters, cabinets, a mini fridge, and a sink just below a window in the back left corner and the main or ‘front’ door in the back right corner. “Oh, and uh. If you want something simple we have a mini kitchen over here. I can point out where stuff is to you if you need help.” Chip said from the coffee table in the mini kitchen. Dale finished taking in the scenery of the living room before walking to the mentioned mini kitchen. Dale’s first thoughts where to check things for himself. Chip finished munching on a spoons worth of cereal and rose an eyebrow. “You looking for something specific or-?” Dale shut a cabinet door and looked back to Chip. “No, just seeing what interests me. Say dontcha have eggs or somethin?” Chip put down his spoon and stood up, then walked over to a little fridge next to the sink, then opened it while grabbing two eggs from a 12 egg carton container. He handed the eggs to Dale. “Uhh, thanks.” Dale said feeling dumb that he didn’t check the fridge. “Like I said, if you need help. Just ask.” Chip said as a reminder before sitting back down to enjoy the remains of his breakfast. “Hey uhh, Chip?” Chip looked up with a mouthful of cereal and rose an eyebrow to tell him to go on with the question since he couldn't talk. “Do ya know where I could get a pan?” Dale asked feeling a bit stupid. Chip pointed to a corner piece cabinet and went back to his breakfast. Dale opened the cabinet to find a few small pans on a rack stacked neatly on top of eachother. Dale knew he only needed a smaller pan since it was only two eggs.

 Dale tried pulling the pan in the middle, the stack refused to move. So Dale put more effort into it, and then it still refused his efforts, then he tried even harder. Chip looked up once more from his cereal to see Dale struggling to get the pan out. “Dale, you have to pull up then out!” Chip tried saying with a mouthful of cereal. But Dale didn’t hear nor stop. Chip forcibly swallowed the clump of cereal and got up out of the chair while saying: “Dale! Stop you’re gonna-” Dale’s grip on the pan was lost and he flew back, hitting his head on the table corner behind him, the table was then pushed back making it run over Chip’s foot. “YOWCH!” Chip yelled as the un-smoothened table leg ripped at Chip’s foot. Chip didn’t waste anytime moving the table off of his foot. Chip pulled out the chair he just sat at and fell onto it while coroasing his bleeding foot. Chip watched in awe as his middle toe bled, why they didn’t finish sanding the table legs Chip didn’t know, what he knew now was that he would have to clean up his foot to not risk infection. His mind then drifted to Dale. “Dale, you alright?” Chip asked with concern in his voice. Dale groaned a little before stumbling onto his feet. “No, I think I hit my head.” Dale said rubbing the back of his head, then he checked his hand for blood. But to his luck there wasn’t any. Chip stood up and limped his way to the open cabinet, then pulled out the exact pan Dale struggled to get out and handed it to him. “Next time, don’t do something stupid like that. Ask for help. It could’ve saved my foot.” Chip lectured with a hint of anger before limping his way to the bathroom to clean up his injury. 

	
	Chip washed his foot in the sink. Once all of the blood was off of his toe he could see how much the table had really done. There was 3 paper thin but deep gashes and the table leg had scraped away a lot of top layers of skin. Chip questioned why a table leg could do this, but continued to clean up his injury. Chip then wrapped toilet paper around his torn up toe and then tied it off. Chip opened the bathroom door and turned right to go into the living room. “What are you doing!?” Chip called out to Dale who had managed to set the pan on fire. Chip ran next to the door opened a little door which had a homemade fire extinguisher. He ran over to the now half on fire stove and let the fire extinguisher loose. A white foam/water like substance was sprayed all over the stovetop until there was no sign of fire. Chip set the fire extinguisher down, then he scowled at Dale. “What’s the big idea!? To burn the who tree down?” Chip said angrily. Dale looked down in shame knowing that he’d messed up, again. Chip sighed and crossed his arms. “Well, you can still have breakfast, just-.. Here, I’ll give you some left over omelets, alright?” Dale smiled and nodded. Chip walked over to the fridge and pulled out a plate with leftover omelets with ceramic wrap covering the plate, Chip handed it to Dale and said: “They’re a bit cold, but better than burning the whole place down.” Dale nodded in agreement before sitting down at the table across where Chip was. Chip looked to the cereal bowl only to find the 1/4th that remained of the cereal all soggy. Chip picked up the bowl and looked at it for a second. Even though the cereal itself was soggy, that didn’t stop Chip from drinking the milk that was left since it was a tradition in his family to waste almost nothing. Upon finishing whatever was left, Chip put the bowl in the sink and wiped his mouth to remove any possible milk mustaches. “Well Dale, I have chores to do, and now that I have a roommate. I think you’ll be helping me, so when your done, clean up the mess right here. I’ll be sweeping the place and doing some laundry.” Dale was shocked and looked at Chip with confusion. “Why do I have tah clean up the place?” Dale wasn't used to doing chores since he always had a parent home to help him out, but he got the general idea. “Because this is your mess after all.” Chip said while grabbing the collapsible broom from under the sink. Dale grunted, rejecting the idea he had to the adult's jobs, and went back to eating the leftovers. Then unexpectedly Chip playfully whacked Dale on the head with the broom and asked: “Hey after we’re all done, do you want to play cards?” Dale was confused, but shrugged it off. “Sure, cards aren't my kinda thing. But what else is there to do.” Dale said with a mouth half full of omelets. Chip only shrugged back. “Well, there's a lot you can do If you can put your mind to it.” Chip said while walking downstairs to start sweeping. Dale mocked Chip before going back to his breakfast.

	“Well. That was the last of it.” Chip said as he threw the last shirt in the dryer and shut the door, then started the drying cycle. Chip he rubbed his hands together to signify he was done and went to the staircase to go upstairs and check on how Dale was doing. As Chip walked step by step up the stairs he thought to himself. - I hope he’s not burning the whole place down again. But he can’t be that clumsy, can he? I mean, he is new here after all, and as far as what he told me his parents took care of him for the most part. Whatever it is about him, I’m sure he’ll work it out, he just needs some time. You can’t change overnight, so why should he.- Chip was now at the top of the stairs and about to enter the living room. “Well, let’s see how much he di-d…” Chip froze, Dale sat on the couch watching tv. What show he was watching Chip didn’t know. But what Chip did know was that there were wrappers on the floor, books tossed about and in the kitchen was very mess he told Dale to clean up nearly an hour ago, and it wasn’t even touched. Chip was furious, his face turned a red gumball and balled up his fists. If he did this and his parents saw what he did, he would be grounded for 4 months or so. And to see somebody not just lazy but a slob angered him. His parents always reminded him to look down on people who stole, lied, killed and those who couldn’t live by themselves. Dale fitted 2 of those 4 or 5 things.

 Chip stormed his way over to the unaware chipmunk couch potato, he then stood directly between him and the tv with hands on hips, his eyes coldly staring at Dale. Dale took a look at the now infuriated Chip, then he checked over his shoulder and saw that he’d done nothing to clean up the mess and he had made more of one just recently. Once Dale figured out what he did wrong, he grew nervous and turned his attention back to Chip.  He gulped before speaking: “Oh yeah, that. I-I forgot about it, I-I was planning to-to do that, h-honestly.” Dale said tugging at his t-shirt collar while sweating. Chip pinched the bridge of his nose before jabbing Dale with his index finger. “Your *Jab* excuses are good to nobody!” Chip stated coldly. “Hey what’s your prob-” Dale tried saying in defence. “I don’t care where you come from. In this house you do as your told and not only have you not Cleaned, *Jab* but you’ve also managed to make more of a mess! Now tell me why you think that was a good idea?!” Chip finished assaulting Dale. Dale didn’t answer, but instead looked down at the floor in shame. Chip wasn’t in the mood to be wishy-washy and felt like it was his job to fix Dale before his parents stepped in and actually punish Dale. “Well, are you going to tell me or what?” Chip asked impatiently. Dale continued to stare at the wooden floor. This only gave Chip the wrong idea that he was being ignored, so Chip grabbed Dale by his collar and lifted him up onto his feet. “Ignoring me either isn’t going to help you! Now tell me why you did this!” Chip demanded. Dale flinched at Chip’s anger. “I-I don’t know, why are you being so mean over somethin like this?” Dale asked nearly in tears. “What do you mean you don’t know?! And don’t even start crying, you’re not a baby!” Chip demanded once more. This only made Dale cower even further, he’d never been yelled at like this before. “Hey! What’s going on here?” A voice shouted from the door. Chip let go of Dale and the two chipmunks looked to see Chip’s father in the doorway and now walking up to them. “Why are you home so early?” Chip asked sounding a bit nervous on what his father might do. Seeing that what was going on was pretty bad. But once he saw his father looking around the place, then brought a dead stare onto Chip. He knew he was in trouble. “That’s nothing you need to know. Now, would you like to explain why Dale looks like he’s going to cry, and why this place is a disaster?” Chip was internally panicking and his first reaction was to call out Dale for what he did. “He made this mess! I did my chores, but he almost set the kitchen on fire and threw all of these wrappers all over the place. I was just yelling at him to-” Chip’s father then smacked Chip upside the head and ordered: “Go to your room, you don’t do that to family members! You understand!?” Chip was stunned, his father had never hit him like that before. The only thing he could do was rubbed the side of his head and did as he was told. As Chip went up the stairs to his room he could hear his father lecturing Dale, but not yelling at him.

Chip was both infuriated and jealous. He didn’t understand why Dale could get away with being not only lazy, but making a mess and not even be yelled at. Let alone with the fact he got Chip in trouble, even though Chip did everything he was supposed to, and was trying to only help Dale, since he thought if Dale couldn’t take being yelled at by him, he could only imagine his parents, but apparently the world has lost all of its logic in Chip’s eyes. Today was the day that Chip lost almost all his patience for Dale and learned what he was really like. The bad part is that these two would be living together for another 5 years atleast. Chip was now at his room door, opening it switfley with anger and then lightly slamming the door, making sure his parents didn’t hear it. Chip stomped his way over to his desk before yanking the chair from under the desk and plopped his rear onto the chair. He then reached to one of the cabinets with his journal and pen and began to write. But then he paused, he didn’t know how to write what just happened, Or why he should. The inability to think clearly and write something made Chip irrational and angry, so he stood up before hurling the pen onto the floor making it explode into 4 pieces, then he kicked the chair. Chip immediately stumbled backwards in pain back into the desk behind him, he held his foot up with his arm and was reminded that just an hour ago it was ran over by a table. His foot was now bleeding again since the kick displaced the clotted portions on his foot. “Oh great. I might as well just let it bleed for now. Stupid chair.” Chip remarked. Just as Chip set his foot back on the floor the door opened with Dale now in the doorway. He didn’t look angry or happy but apologetic. Chip changed his stance to look relaxed and neutral as if nothing happened. “I’m uhh, sorry about me gettin’ you in trouble. I shoulda’ never made that mess and not do as ya asked. Can you forgive me, Chip?” Dale said rubbing his arm out of shame.

Chip stood there, conflicted on whether or not to forgive Dale or tell him what he really thought. He knew this very moment would judge how the two interact between eachother for the upcoming years, and if he was going to be stuck with this guy for that long. It’d be in his best interests to atleast have a friend. So Chip let out a sigh and said: “Alright, I forgive you. But don’t do that again or next time I won't forgive you. Got it?” Dale nodded and then turned to close the door before heading over to Chip’s bed and sat down. Chip sat on the desk he was leaning on and unfolded his arms. “So, what did Dad tell you?” Chip asked. Dale twiddled with his thumbs and darted his eyes across the room, unable to make long-term eye contact with Chip. “Well, he said I should call him by his first name, Mark. But he told me to be more responsible and all of that stuff, but I heard him askin’ himself what got into you. Sayin’ you’d never do anything like that. He didn’t like hurtin’ you like that, but he said he had to.” Chip understood that Mark would never intentionally hurt him without a reason, but why he did it so quickly perplexed Chip. “I mean, he isn't usually like this. But ever since you’ve been here he’s been a bit. Irritable to say the least.” Chip said with a shrug. “Are you sure Chip? Should ya really say that after Mark hit ya once?” Chip extended his arms and shook his hands. “No no no. Not just that, but they haven't been teaching me for awhile now, and they haven't been talking about their jobs for a while. They’ve been tired this entire month. Something’s got to be wrong.” Dale rolled his eyes. “Do you always think somethin’s wrong? I mean, your parents seem fine… And what’s all the rush for? We’re gonna be in here for a while until Mark says we can come out of ours rooms again. That’s why I’m gonna go to sleep until he does.” Dale said climbing up to his bunk. Chip shook his head at Dale, thinking he was being just ignorant. Then Chip grabbed the very chair he kicked earlier and set it infront of the desk before sitting down, resting his head on a hand and tapping the desk with his other hand.

	(September 10th,1978) “Look what you made me do, now we’ve got to get another remote because of you!” Chip blamed Dale while pointing to the now shattered remote on the floor just in front of the tv. “It’s not my fault you can't hold on to the thing!” Dale defended himself while pointing to himself with his thumb. “Is too!” “Is not!” “Is too-” “Hey, stop it boys! Your father is having issues.” Heather yelled from across the room by the coffee table. Chip and Dale looked at eachother with confusion then decided to listen in on what was going on. “Look, I can’t give this thing away. It’s an ancient family item. You don’t get rid of those things Heather.” Mark explained while rubbing his temples and blew stress out of his mouth. “Well, what else are you going to do with it. You can’t change the fact it’s been shrunk from the washer and dryer.” Heather pointed out. Mark threw out his arms and let them audible slap his sides. “Well, what’s your idea.” Mark asked. “Well, you could give it to Chip. He does need some new clothes. It would fit him quite well actually.” Heather suggested with the I-don’t-know gesture. Mark sighed and shrugged. “I guess that isn’t a bad idea. *Pivots his head to Chip* Hey Chipper, buddy. Come over here, I’ve got something you’ll like.” Mark gestured to Chip to come over to him. Chip climbed over the couch and stood in front of his father with his hands behind his back. Mark then picked up the bomber jacket he used to wear on his left and brought it over the table and held it out in front of Chip. “It’s yours now, I can’t use it anymore since the fool at the laundromat put my jacket in the washing machines instead of air dry. Just be careful with it, it’s and old family possession that came from your great grandfather.” Chip slowly grabbed the jacket and brought it in front of his face to observe it. Without much thought Chip put on the jacket and then grew one of the biggest smile ever.“Well, I guess you’re right Heather. It does look nice on him, and he’s still got a little room for growing. Kind of makes you seem like an adult almost buddy. Well, you almost are an adult” Mark commented while picking up a coffee mug and taking a sip of the freshly made coffee contained in it. “Well why don’t you look at that, somebody is admitting they’re wrong for once.” Heather said with a smirk. “Ah shut-up, you caught me off-guard.” Mark said jokingly. Heather shook her head with a smile before returning back to the book she was reading from earlier. “What was great grandpa like, and what happened with the jacket?” Chip asked. Mark set down his coffee mug and pulled out a chair next to him. Chip got the idea and sat at the chair just right of his father.

	“Well for starters, he was a brave man. Not the brightest, but funny and hell of a good storyteller. Your great grandpa got that jacket from a human who made it for him, after that he vowed to help other animals that were in Europe during WW2. Flying all over the place to get people out of harm's way, he didn’t always succeed but that’s what happens during war. Then he got a couple of his friends and people trying to do the same thing like the- uh-, oh the Hackwrench family. With their success as a team, they became well known and so good at their job, that the U.S government provided support and funding but kept them secret. And during the later years of the war, he along with a couple hundred other pilots gather information for the U.S to make sure the tyranny of our enemies ended quicker. After the war, he retired and married your great grandmother. They had a kid which was my grandfather. But sadly, when your great grandfather tried getting a job at a local factory. He was shot dead by people who conspired with our enemies of the war. That left your grandfather to deal with a dead dad and a mother going through harsh times. Whatever police us animals had to offer, we managed to track the guys down and send them to jail. In the process they managed to recover that bomber jacket and your grandfather was the proud wearer of it until I was born. Then he stow it away to keep the past from the future, eventually my nosy self found it. And I asked him if I could take it, he didn’t mind and so I did. And now it’s here. That jacket’s got a lot history to it buddy, it’s best you keep it safe.” Mark said occasionally pointing to the old jacket Chip was wearing. “Wait, so who are the Hackwrenches?” Chip asked while raising an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t know. It’s a mouse family and the only correlation they have with our family is that your great grandfather served with a couple of their family members. Something like that. But that was one of the hundreds he served with. They were just a family I could think of the top of my head.” Mark shrugged while picking his coffee mug back up.

	“I wonder if they can fix a remote.” Dale remarked accompanied with a sigh. Mark nearly spat out the coffee he just drank and put the mug on the table. Chip froze, knowing that Dale just got them in trouble. Mark quickly turned and stared at Dale with both anger and confusion. “I’m sure they could. But why would they need to?” Dale realized his blunder and became nervous.  “I-I didn’t do it, it was Chip!” Mark brought his cold hearted stare to Chip. Heather set her book on the table and gave Chip a disappointed look. “I was just walking and he tripped me, thinking it would be funny.” Chip explained trying to defend himself. Dale vaulted over the couch and walked over to Chip. “You started it cause ya didn’t let me watch my show!” Dale said while pointing at Chip. “I didn’t start it!” Chip said while standing up. “Did too!” “Did not!” “Did too!” “Enough you two!” Mark ordered and slammed his fist on the table. The two Chipmunks flinched and looked to see their parents looking right at them with disappointment. “So the remote is broken. Isn’t it.” Mark asked in a semi-calm voice. Both of the Chipmunks answered with a quiet: “Yes.” Mark pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Standing up and walking over to the remains of the remote, he took a good look at it and shook his head. He looked back over to the two trouble makers with a stern look. “It’s bad enough that the remote is destroyed by the two of you, you don’t need to destroy your friendship aswell.” Chip and Dale looked to eachother with shame. “W-What are ya gonna do to us?” Dale asked with fear. Mark shrugged and shook his head. “Well, I was going to paddle the both of you. But I’ve made my mind up. You two don’t get to watch Tv for the next month, and that’s final. Chipper, come clean this up since you were the one holding it.” Mark pointed to the remote before walking back to the table. Chip did as he was told and began picking up the destroyed electronic rectangle.

	Once Chip had the broken pieces in his hand he looked back to Dale, who only stuck his tongue out. Chip didn’t dare say a word for the fear of getting in more trouble, but instead stood there enveloped in his own anger. “Dale, you can take out the trash once Chip is done throwing it away.” Heather said while continuing to look at the daily newspaper. Dale crossed his arms and pouted, Chip on the other-hand had a smirk of victory as he dropped the broken remote pieces into the garbage can, then looking to Dale waiting for him to start doing his part. But the chipmunk continued to stand where he was in attempts to keep his dignity. Chip cleared his throat before asking Dale: “Dale, could you throw this away. It is your job after all.” Dale looked to Heather, who gave him a sweeping motion with her hand saying to go do what Chip said. Out of anger Dale sighed, rolled his eyes, unfolded his arms and walked over to the trash can while trying to ignore Chip. Dale grabbed one corner of the plastic bag and then the opposite, tied the two together and threw it over and onto his shoulder. 

	“Oh hey, guys. We forgot to grab some milk on our way back. So can you go get it for us?” Mark said holding out a 5 dollar bill folded to his size. Chip saw this as an opportunity to one-upsman Dale in good deeds and rushed to grab it. Mark pulled the bill back with a smile and held out a hand. “Wo-hoah. Not so fast buster, you know the drill right?” Chip nodded before rehearsing what his parents told him every time he went out to get groceries. “Don’t talk to strangers, go to isle 10 where that lady works there around this time. Say I’m the son of Heather Maplewood, ask for milk, and come back within an hour or two.” Mark swapped the held out hand with the one that had the 5 dollar bill. “Good. Don’t give us a heart attack buddy. So just do as we said, you should be fine. And don’t forget Dale, you guys are a team and going alone is dangerous. Especially now that there are criminals out there we haven't caught and are out to get us.” Chip nodded once more and took the dollar bill from his father’s hands. Mark looked back to the newspaper on the table and picked up his coffee mug. 

Meanwhile Chip walked back over to Dale who watched and heard the whole thing. “Ya heard what he said right? So no treatin’ me like dirt.” Dale remarked as he followed Chip out the front door. “Atleast dirt doesn’t talk.” Chip said while closing the front door. Dale stood next to Chip, debating hitting him with the trash bag full of probably heavy stuff since it was getting hard to carry. “You can go put the trash over in the dumpster, while I plan our route.” Chip said reaching under his jacket and into a front pocket of the button up shirt he still had on, then he pulled out a map of the state they were in along with a pencil. Chip got on the ground and laid on his stomach while drawing a few lines, using his hand as a straight edge to mark his path on the map. Then he noticed that Dale was still standing there. “Are you going to throw out the trash anytime soon?” Chip asked looking up to Dale who stood with his arms behind his back, Dale smirked before showing his empty hands. “Wait, what?! How did you-” “I guess I’ma lot faster than ya think.” Dale said in a egotistical manner. Chip was a bit inquisitive, but knew Dale could’ve done it. “You better not have just thrown everything off the tree, because if you did, you’re going to be the one to clean it up.” Chip admonished.  Dale only rolled his eyes, but then he noticed how Chip looked weird wearing a long sleeve button up shirt and a leather jacket at the same time. “Uhh Chip, are ya sure you should be wearing your jacket on top of a button up shirt?” Chip took a look at himself and felt a bit embarrassed. “Maybe you’re right. I’ll go back inside real quick and put it on my bed, you stay here.” Chip ordered Dale before going back inside. Nearly a minute later Chip came back out without the jacket, he quickly gestured to Dale to follow him and the two left for the store.

	(20 minutes later)  Chip and Dale stood in front of a walmart, amazed by the size and scale of what human engineers could do, and to their surprise it was pretty calm and quiet. They had always thought the city was busy and a noisy life, which couldn’t be farther than the truth in their case as they lived in a smaller town in Illinois and it was after the first rush hour. Once he was done in his wandering mind, Chip reminded Dale of why they were here. “Alright before we go in there. NO horseplay, that’s the last thing I need when we’re in a place like this, we’re here only to get milk and that’s it.” Chip said sternly to Dale. Dale halfway ignored his friend and continued looking at the grouped up birds on a streetlight, the birds looked back at him in curiosity. Suddenly out of nowhere Chip bonked Dale on the head and grabbed the back of Dale’s collar before turning him around to face him. “Pay attention stupid! now no messing a-” “Yeah yeah, I heard ya, no playin’ around.”  Dale said rubbed his now aching head. Chip froze but then rolled his eyes and walked to the north side of the building to the cart tunnel with Dale following him. Once they were inside Dale was busy taking the sight of everything that was there, from all of the toys and food to the clothes, it all dragged his attention from reality. He felt like a child once again as he thought of everything he could get or do in this place. Chip while going to the checking isles had to constantly check over his shoulder to see if Dale was still following, along with the occasional ‘Encouraging’ words. Once at isle 10 which happened to be empty Chip looked around for the lady that was on shift, only to find her coming from the bathrooms after a bathroom brake. She was a larger set lady in her walmart uniform with brown hair and brown eyes along with a pearl necklace. Chip smiled and walked up to her.

 “Hey, you work at Isle 10 right?” Chip asked. The lady stopped and looked around but couldn’t find who was talking. “I’m down here.” Chip said once more, the lady looked in front of her on the floor to find Chip patiently standing there. “Oh hi there, and yes isle 10 is my current shift do you need anything?” The lady kindly asked. Chip pulled the 5 dollar bill from his pocket, unfolded it and, held it out in front of him. “I’m the son of Heather Maplewood, she sent me to get some milk and ask from you in particular.” The lady seemed to brighten up for a second and have a ah-ha moment. Then she took the bill and walked over to her stand, grabbing a few smaller sized milk jugs from the drawer there. “So your the boy she keeps on telling me about. Say, don’t you have a brother?” The lady asked putting the money in the cash register and summing up the change she owed him. “I wouldn’t say he’s my brother, just a friend who got stuck in my family… Wait, when did you learn to understand chipmunkese?” Chip inquired. The lady chuckled a little and smiled as she shuffled the coins in her hand. “Well it all started 2 years ago when your mother saved my child's life, specifically in a house fire, but we met eachother again a-couple of months ago while I was here in walmart and I thought I could return the favor by helping with groceries. So ever since then your mother and I hung out from time to time, and with the whole language thing It’s just something you get overtime. I mean it’s the same for you to understand me speaking english, sure you can’t speak it, nor can I speak chipmunk, but we can understand eachother in a way.” Chip reflected on what the lady had said, he’d never thought that a human being around a so called ‘animal’ would result in learning something that was so alien to them.  

The lady then grouped all of the change in her hand and gave it to Chip who then managed to find room in his clothes to carry it. Then the lady handed over 3 milk cartons his size, Chip took the cartons in one hand and turned around to Dale. “Here Dale you can carry these--.” Dale wasn’t there, Chip started frantically swiveling his head to find him, but he was still nowhere to be found. “Are you ok?” The lady asked with a sliver of concern in her voice. Chip looked back to the lady and asked. “You’re taller so can you see if you can see Dale from here? He’s a chipmunk my height and wearing a hawaiian t-shirt.” Chip began to stray a little from the Isle, the lady started looking around from where she was. Chip still couldn’t find Dale, he turned to the lady with a look of question to see if she had found him, but the lady shook her head. The only thing Chip could think of is that Dale was either in deep trouble or fooling around, hoping it was the latter of the two.  Chip couldn’t waste anymore time and started running around the place to find Dale. He checked the clothes section, the refrigerated area, and even the utilities and toy sections. Each place had one thing in common, no Dale. It was at this point Chip knew something was very wrong and had become desperate to save his friend. So knowing the Walmart was out of the picture Chip ran as fast as he could outside.

Upon exiting the massive indoor box, Chip was momentarily blinded by the light from outside causing him to squint a little. He quickly scanned the horizon in front of him but no sign of Dale. He became lost and was losing hope he’d find his friend, but then, “HEEEEELP!” A voice called out to his right. Chip immediately looked to the origin of the callout to see Dale fighting for his life, a guinea pig wearing common day clothes had a knife in hand and was struggling to subdue his victim. Chip immediately dropped the milk carents and bolted over to go help Dale, the hundred meters or so separating Chip from Dale was shortened to a couple feet in a few seconds. Dale tried desperately to get the upper hand, but then the guy pinned him to the floor. And just as he rose his knife in the air, Chip took his arm and wrapped it around the assailants neck while pulling him off of his friend. The attempted murder began to thrash around trying to get loose, but in vain as Chip had firm hold of him while Dale slowly stumbled onto his feet. After Thinking for a second, the attacker reversed the knife in his hand then drove it backwards into Chip’s intestinal area and twisted the knife while it was still inside of Chip. It’s as if the world suddenly stopped, and was filled with nothing but panic and terror Chip could feel his guts being twisted and cut like it was in some meat grinder. He could only let out a cry and unintentionally loosened his grip on the guinea pig. Then the attacker turned around and gave Chip a powerful shove. Being stunned, Chip lost his balance and fell onto the concrete in agony. Chip began to roll around slowly on the floor to try and help with the pain. He then placed a hand on the wound and around the knife that was still in him. As he looked back up from the knife to the sky, he could see out of the bottom of his eye Dale ferociously punching the attacker followed by a few kicks. To Chip’s luck it looked like Dale was going to win as Dale managed to get the guy on the ground and was still beating him up. Chip looked from the fight, back to his wound, and it daunted him. The area around the knife was drenched in blood, along with the terrible feeling of the warm blood oozing out and running from his chest to the ground. He was somewhat glad to be wearing a button up shirt as the wound itself was hidden from view and wouldn’t have to see how much the metal stick had done to him. As time carried on and seconds went by, he started to feel himself slip away into a slumber. the warm, tingling, pulsating feeling started to run from his head to his toes. His heart beated ever so slower, and his worries disappeared along with some of his senses. Chip had never felt so peaceful in his life until now, he closed his eyes and became limp as he lost consciousness.				(He’s fine, dont worry.)

	It was dark and blank in Chip’s mind, but very muffled voices from the outside world could be heard. As minutes went by he regained more scenes. One of the first was the aching of the wound, then came the feeling of his parched mouth, and then the smell came. But it was not of outside, nor anyplace unfamiliar, but his room. As he slowly opened his eyes he was greeted by Heather who looked distraught. “Mark he’s waking up, come, quick!” Heather called out. Chip could hear footsteps getting nearer and the face of his father came into the room. “Sorry honey I was helping Dale out.” Mark spewed out with no pause. Then Chip’s father saw his beloved son awake once again. He calmly walked to the left side of the bed before kneeling down to talk to him. “Hey buddy, we were starting to get really worried for a moment. Even Though you only passed out because you fainted. But since you’re awake we know you’ll recover just fine… But hey, we’re proud of you taking a blow like that for Dale, who by the way is just fine. He just has a few bruises and 3 broken knuckles.” Chip took a second to relax himself, but then he asked: “Why did that guy attack Dale? And did he get away?” Mark looked to Heather for a second before looking back to Chip. “He was more than likely one of the criminals that we detained and escape from prison. And he more than likely wanted to get revenge on us. As for the escaping part, Dale beat the life out of him... Quite literally.” Mark said looking a bit on edge. Chip on the other hand was in disbelief, He never knew Dale would end up killing somebody to save his life. That is unless he did it unintentionally.  “Can I talk to him?” I asked politely. Mark looked confused for a second. “Wait, who. Oh, yeah I’ll set what I can do buddy. He’s kinda traumatized by the whole thing so we’ll see how it goes.” Mark stated while he got up and headed out of the room to get Dale.

	“To elaborate on what your father said about your injury. He got you pretty bad, but the blood loss was more visually terrifying than it actually was. But that doesn’t mean it’s the prettiest either. It looked like he had made mince meat out of you so we had to give you over a hundred stitches for your intestines. It sure scared the heck out of your brother, in fact you passing out back there scared him enough.” Heather casually filled in. Chip mentally flinched at the word ‘brother’ once again, but he knew it was technically correct and would have to accept it. Then the room door opened with Dale and Mark entering, Dale immediately noticed Chip was fine and awake so he walked over with a smile to where Mark stood moments ago. But before Dale spoke, Mark needed to tell his wife something: “Dale said he wanted to talk to Chipper alone dear.” Mark told his wife with a tap on the shoulder. Heather nodded and stood up before walking out of the room with Mark and quietly closed the door. Now that the room was almost empty, Dale spoke up. “Thanks for savin’ me back there. But, this is my fault… I shoulda never left your side over some stupid chocolate…” He said guitfully. Chip was puzzled, but yet again he didn’t know exactly what happened, but then something clicked in his head.  “Wait, that’s what this is all about? You left me because of chocolate? I told you not to screw around and look where that got us! Now I have to sit here in this stupid bed for atleast a week and you outright killed somebody!” Dale rubbed his right shoulder and looked to the floor in shame. “I didn’t mean to kill him, I was scared, and I thought he had killed you so I-” “You wouldn’t have to kill him if you stayed as a team! Your actions have consequences Dale. You’re just lucky that we didn’t pay the ultimate price for your mistake.” Chip explained. Dale took it a bit too harshly and began to tear up a little. “I think I’ll go downstairs so I don’t bother you…” Dale whimpered with his head down. As Dale opened the door Chip realised he probably should've been so harsh. Dale was just doing the wrong thing and the wrong time and place, not only that but he did just kill somebody to save his life and had to bear the guilt of taking a life. Once the door was closed and Dale was nowhere in sight, Chip went back to thinking about the past events and sought out to do better if this happened again via mental preparation. And with this came a more developed and adult like mentality. 

	In the months following Chip recovered and began to wear his hand-me-down jacket in honor of his family heritage and a symbol of who he was. Dale had gotten over the event and was becoming only more in-mature and dumber over the course of the year. However that didn’t stop him from learning practical skills like Chip, and had instead focused on unorthodox methods of dealing with problems. Chip and Chip’s parents viewed this as only something that made Dale worse and needed to be fixed, but with no avail. With the stress of Dale and their jobs becoming more dangerous ever since, Chip’s parents decided to take the family on a little vacation on the rocky mountains in Colorado. 

	(November 17th 1979) Black inc flew across a small square yellow paper in a line. It covered a word that read ‘Canned Food.’ And just above it were more crossed off words but below it remained uncrossed. Then the figure holding it looked up from the sheet of paper to Dale who laid down on the top bunk of a bunk bed, facing the ceiling with a comic book in hand and legs crossed. “Dale, are you’re sure you don’t want to go. The view is nice, I can’t imagine being up that high and seeing the world. Plus it’s something you can put on your long list of stuff you’ve done in your life.” Chip asked. “I’m not interested in some dumb ol’ mountain. And it’s dangerous up there, so I’m stayin’ right here where it’s safe.” Dale declined with certainty. Chip sighed and shook his head. “Alright, your loss.” He said putting the next thing on his list in a backpack. Once Dale finished turning a page he looked down to Chip who was hunched over trying to fit stuff into the backpack in neatly. Chip’s neat and OCD like behavior was puzzling to Dale, he thought he had never needed to be organized to certain things and it was a waste of time. “What’s all that stuff for anyway. Aren’t ya going to be gone for only a week? Plus i'm sure your parents will have almost everythin’ ya need.” Dale asked inquisitively. Chip zipped up the bag and straightened his back. “Because I don’t want to go there unprepared. You don’t know what it’s like and neither do I, so it’s best to prepare for the worst.” Chip lectured. Dale only rolled his eyes and went back to reading the comic book. Then a voice called out from the living room. “Hey are you done packing up yet buddy?” Mark yelled. Chip picked up the bag and put it on his back and held onto the straps like a hitchhiker and ran downstairs to the living room where his parents waited. 

	Mark was standing in front of the couch looking at a map and tracing a path with his finger. Heather sat on the couch just beside him and was pointing a few things out. Then their attention turned to Chip who just came down the stairs. “Alright, seems like your ready. We’ve already loaded the prop plane so all that’s left is to climb aboard and head to colorado.” Mark stated while folding up the map and putting it in a jacket that the police department he worked for gave to him. Heather leaned forward to get eye-contact around Mark and to Chip, then she asked: “Did you convince Dale to come along?” Chip shook his head. Heather in return sighed and accepted the fact that Dale wasn’t coming. With that she stood up and went outside to start up the little plane they owned. Mark on the other hand grabbed a sword off the couch and held it in his left hand. “What’s that for?” Chip asked. Mark looked to Chip and smiled. “Oh, it’s for any animals that we encounter that would, well. Eat us. It’s great isn’t it? Made it myself.” Mark bragged slightly and handed the sword to Chip to let him hold it. Chip accepted the offer and held with one hand. “Huh, I thought this thing would be a lot heavier.” Chip commented. “Yeah, It is if it’s not made right. Good weight balance is key in a good sword buddy, not just the cutting. Which it can also do, I’ve gotten that thing to be a razor blade practically.” Mark replied with a little laughter. Chip then handed the sword which was still in its scabbard. Mark patted Chip on the shoulder before heading outside and Chip followed suit naturally. 

Once they were outside he was greeted with the plane his parents rented for the time being. It was a scaled down cessna 172 with only a carrying capacity of 4 to 6 people and had a small space in the back for cargo. But notably it was on some sort of catapult. “What’s the catapult for?” Chip asked out of curiosity. Heather turned around from fiddling with the catapult and answered: “We don’t have the necessary room to take off, but when we come back we’ll be landing in where we got it since they have an airfield there. So I made this catapult to help us get to 60 knots to take off.” Heather then went back to setting up the catapult. Chip shrugged and walked over to the plane. “I’m allowed to board right?” Heather nodded. Without much more time Chip opened the passenger door and threw his backpack in the back before sitting down and putting a seat belt on. After a few minutes Heather and Mark also boarded with Mark being in the pilots seat. “You do know what your doing right?” Heather asked Mark. Mark wave a hand of dismissal. “Of course I do, just takes some getting used to.” Heather rolled her eyes and put her seatbelt on. Then Mark started up the engine. After a minute or so going through the flight checklist Mark flipped the tow rope release switch to release the lock on the catapult to let it do its job. The catapult launched the plane with a woosh and sent the plane flying at around 60 knots, and the plane did the rest of getting them to a airspeed of 80 nots, once they got well above stall speed Mark set the heading to colorado and prepared for a long flight. Chip enjoyed the first 2 hours of flight looking down below him to see from a new perspective, he saw everything from the gray concrete to the blue of lakes to the green of the trees and the tan and brown boxes that were the fields used for farming. He had never seen half of this stuff from above before and it was anything but boring. However after the 4 hour mark it was all starting to get really boring. But that quickly changed when they flew into a wind storm and their little plane was going through some medium turbulence winds. During the whole ordeal Chip thought the plane would crash but his parents knew better and explained to him that turbulence has almost never caused crashes in mid flight, as much as he wanted to believe them he couldn't overthrow his instincts. The event lasted a good 35 minutes and they came out of there alive and fine. Then finally after 7 hours or so of flying they made it to an area close to the Twin Lakes and at the base of Mt Elbert. 

The family landed the plane in a field a distance away from the lake incase of rain increasing the height of the lake, but didn’t land to far away from it or else they would have to land in forestry or a town. Upon touchdown Chip handed out the necessary bags to his parents before taking the bag he packed for the trip out of the storage compartment. Chip then pushed open the rear left passenger door and jumped out. He saw that his parents had laid out all of their packed equipment to do a checklist. Chip on the other hand took a moment to observe the terrain around them. And surprisingly in this cold weather were still green trees.  He had never seen such a tree where he lived as the trees by now where a nice warm spectrum of red, yellow, and orange or brown. He then moved to the sky to see the sun a bit higher in the sky than back at home. However what didn’t surprise him was the fact the grass had started sucking nutrients in the roots for a long winter along with practically dead shrubbery and less humid air, although everything looked a bit clearer. 

“Enjoying the scenery a bit too much Chipper?” Mark called out from behind Chip. The surprised rodent turned around and looked at his father with a slight blush. “Ha, wait till you see the view up on the mountain. It’s a good 5,000 feet up from the ground, even though they say it’s 14,000 feet high.” Mark commented with a smile. Heather shook her head with her own smile before returning to going through the bags to check everything. “What, I was just getting him excited for the trip.” Mark attempted to defend himself with an I-don’t-know gesture. “Oh please, you’re just doing it for attention.” Heather said with an eye roll. “I’m pretty sure I give you plenty of attention back at home.” Mark smugly said. Heather rose an eyebrow and grew a smirk, then the couple gazed at eachother for a few seconds. Then Chip decided to say something before the conversation got too dirty. “Get a room you two. I’m not going to have this vacation ruined by any of that.” Chip jokingly said. Because of this Heather elbowed Mark and pointed a finger. “Hah, even your son knows better.” Heather teased while still keeping a smile on her face. Mark then held up open hands in front of him. “Alright, alright, I surrender.” Heather only playfully stuck her tongue back at Mark. Mark decided to ignore it for now and get back to the task at hand. 

After sorting everything out Mark looked up to see where Chip was. Chip was busy looking at the lake on the west side of the little land bridge they were on. Mark put two fingers in his mouth and blew to whistle. Chip swiveled his head to his 4 o'clock and saw his father gesturing to come over. Without much thought Chip ran over to his father, which gave him some instructions: “Alright buddy, since I don’t have enough room on my back and neither does Heather. You can carry the food bag and the sword, but I expect you to be careful with it. And remember it’s not a weapon until you use it like one, so if you get caught in rope and cant get a knife, use that, alright?” Chip only nodded. Mark then handed Chip a backpack half full of food and then the sword which was still in its scabbard. Chip in turn slung the backpack on his back so it shared the space with his other bag, then he decided that putting the sword in his jacket via a little cut out strap which was inside. “You good? It’s going to be a 9 mile hike so be sure you can carry all of that.” Mark asked out of concern. “I’ll be just fine, nothing wrong with a little workout.” Chip stated in confidence. Mark then patted his son on the shoulder before pulling out a map and compass.

“According to this colored slice of tree with stuff on it, and this metal cylinder with a spinny pointer. The mountain is that-a-way.” As Mark pointed to the North and began walking. Chip followed just behind him and Heather in last. It was only now that Chip realised how much he actually put on his back, and he knew this was partially going to suck. But step by step he carried on and observed the scenery while paying attention to where he stepped once and a while. 

Once they were in a forest still at the base of the mountain, Chip began to think about things other than the trip, or the plane, or nature. Instead he pondered on what he has been trying to conclude for an entire year now. Because over this year Chip had slowly goten more and more suspicious of his parents. They had always told them they worked as the police and a detective, however ever since last year when Dale was attacked. Chip had been trying to snoop his nose around to find and solve the biggest case he had ever done. And that was to find out what his parents really did. But he didn’t know what, and the evidence of them being who they say they are is quite heavy. Mark did bring Chip to his workplace once and showed him his colleagues and everything, and Heather had shown him one of the cases she worked on which included fingerprints and all of the cool forensics associated with the job. While he had suspicions, there was no concrete evidence of them lying to him, even if they had been lying to him they could be at worse not as good as they say or doing a different job but with the same environment. But one thing was certain in Chip’s mind, he was going to follow in the footsteps of his parents and become somebody who fought for the greater good of others. He did have a particular bias towards Heather’s job as it required a lot of skilled planning and thought and was something that interested him more than Mark’s job. 

Chip then put his mind back to reality and suddenly found himself a the edge of the forest along with his parents. Mark stopped for a moment and with an extended arm and open hand pointing, presented the mountain slope. “Well crew, this is Mt Elbert, tallest mountain in the rockies. Now as you can see, we’ve got quite a ways. I’d say maybe 4,000 feet to climb. But this shouldn’t be a problem for the Maplewoods, we can probably scale this down and back in 2 days.” He said with high hopes. Heather then folded her arms over her chest. “I wouldn’t be to sure about that. I’ve had my experiences of nature somehow screwing everything up, and to be cocky like that is only going to get your behind slapped hard when something bad happens.” She suggested. Mark only waved a hand of dismissal. “Nahhh, we’ve got this.” Mark said in a cocky tone once more. “Well, we’re only wasting time don’t you think?” Chip asked with a raised eyebrow. Mark paused for a second before quickly nodding his head once. “Right. We should be going. Alright team let’s get moving again. We’ll take a break once it gets dark.” Mark gestured with his arm to follow once more. And not too long before they started going up the mountain slope. Halfway to the top they came across a cliff which Mark gladly packed a high power grappling hook launcher. And began to try and get it to the top of the cliff. 

“Alright, let’s try a 87.4 degree tilt instead. What do you think Heather?” Mark asked while untightening a knob and manually moving the tube till the angle meter read 87.4. “Well you did put it almost flush against the darn thing. So yea, I think it will.” Heather started with a little confidence. Then before Chip could give his input mark pulled the lever to release the compressed air which made a loud poof sound and launched the grappling hook upwards. As the family watched it go into the air, they saw the hook go over the edge of the cliff and then a wave made moved from the top down to the bottom, ground signifying it got caught on something was in a good spot. Taking the proper safety precautions Mark took a hold of the rope and pulled it as hard as he could down. With no luck of pulling it down, Mark let go and turned back to his family members. “Well, we’re in business. I’ll start climbing first, then Chip and then you Heather.” Mark instructed as he once again took a hold of the rope and began to climb. Chip followed in second and Heather in last. After 10 minutes of climbing to the top. Chip Looked back down over the edge and became a little dizzy and nauseous, so in response he toppled backwards onto his rump. Mark then looked back at first in concern but then noticed what happened and laughed. “Yeah, that’s a long way down Chip. Maybe 300 feet or so.” Mark said while pulling Heather up the last stretch of rope and then took the hook from between two rocks and started to wrap it back up and put it in his bag. Chip then stood back up and looked around the place, then back to the sun. “I think this is a good place to stop, we’ve got a flat area here and It is getting dark.” Chip commented. Mark looked over his left shoulder and saw the area Chip was talking about. “Yeah, actually, that isn’t a bad idea buddy. Plus I’m a bit tired after all of that. But good thing is that was one of the hardest parts of the mountain. Its a general 50 ish degree slope from here to the summit, and we’ve only got what, 1,800 feet or so left. So I agree, that can wait till tomorrow.” Mark agreed while dropping the bag just behind him and sat on a rock a few feet from him. Chip walked a little aways from the cliff edge before he also dropped the two backpacks on his back. And the moment he did it he began to rub his shoulders as the backpacks had made his shoulders all tender and sore. Then Chip took a plastic water bottle from the food backpack and opened it before drinking half the bottle. As Chip closed the water bottle and looked up, he saw that Mark had already pulled out the tent and the supports for it. Then he asked for everybody to come help secure it down, which they did in a short time and put all of their stuff in the tent and rested for the night. But only after a few jokes were told and a few books were read, and then of course refreshments and a canned dinner.

(Next morning at 8:00 AM) Chip awoke to a bright white tint outside of the tent. And just as he pulled himself out of his sleeping bag he noticed how cold it had gotten, and just yesterday it was in the 60 degree fahrenheit range. Then Chip noticed that both of his parents were still sound asleep. So being the adventurous Chipmunk he was, Chip got out of his white knight gown and into his bomber jacket and then slowly unzipped the tent door open and took a step outside. As he looked around there was nothing but snow, and in the middle of november. Sure it was only 2 inches deep or so, but it was still only fall. Chip not knowing what else to do headed back into the tent and awoke his parents. “Hey, it snowed outside. And it’s about 8 am right now.” Chip said shaking both of the sleeping adult chipmunks. They both slowly opened their eyes and looked around. Mark in particular cleared his eyes of eye crust and then nodded. “Alright, can you wait outside for a second Chipper, me and your mother have to get dressed. Also, you should grab a scarf since you didn’t bring along any winter jacket.” Mark asked of his son. Chip then grabbed the scarf out of his bag and left the tent. But as Chip looked back at the sky to the north west he could see a large cloud formation, it seemed to reach outwards endlessly, and judging by the wind momentarily blowing into his face it was heading their way. As Chip poundered on what those clouds were there for and why they were there, Mark and Heather emerged from the tent with winter clothing. “Mind if you help us pack everything up buddy?” Mark asked while bringing the bags inside to outside. Chip said nothing but went over and started pulling the support nails out of the ground and handed them to Heather. 

It took 5 minutes to pack everything up and then the family was back on their way up the mountain. As minutes rolled by the clouds only got closer and closer, but the family also got closer to the summit. And just as Mark said, it was a much easier time than the first half. But the most rewarding part about this whole thing was when they reached the summit 4 hours after they left their tents. It was a sight to behold for any chipmunk. The view of the mountain landscape was almost endless, and what seemed like the horizon reached on forever. It was only more satisfying when Chip looked back from where they came, to know he scaled this mountain was another thing. But to see the trees and the area they started at so small was so satisfying. And unlike what he first thought the summit wasn’t one point, but rather a little plateau. But all in all Chip enjoyed every moment knowing that he was more than likely up higher than any other chipmunk in the world. So high in fact he felt like he could touch the clouds, which were 10,000 feet or so above him. But then he was reminded once more of the clouds to the north west. And as he looked to check back on them he knew something was up, it seemed as they were only minutes away from him and they had only grown more ominous than before. Then suddenly Chip heard the sound of a shutter opening and closing from a camera. As he looked to the source he found that his father took a picture of him looking at the sky in awe. “I think this one you can keep. But I want a family photo, so crew let’s take a group photo so I can put it on the fridge.” Mark said while pulling Heather to his side and held the camera out in front of him and slightly above, looking to the valley behind them and down the mountain. Chip join in the fray and posed with a smile and both hands behind his back. Once Mark to the picture everybody broke the composure and huddled around the camera to see what it looked like. The image then slid out of a slot on the camera and at first it was a black image, but as a second went by it lightened up and became a visible image. It was a great image, and a memorable one if that. “Well, only one thing left to do. Get off this rock.” Mark commented while putting the camera back in his backpack, but gave the photo to Chip. Then the family started heading back down the mountain.

(20 minutes later) As Chip stepped on a rock and then another, making sure not to lose balance. A sudden white flake came from nowhere in front of him. He watched it majestically fall onto the ground right before his feet. Then less then a second later came another one. And the next second there was even more. Chip paused and then realised what the cloud was. “Guys… I think we’re going to be in a blizzard.” Chip called out to his parents just feet before him. They looked back and looked at the sky. Then a single freezing cold breeze brushed past the family. Chip could then only hear Mark curse under his breath. “Alright. We need to get off this mountain, this snow is picking up by the minute and the faster we get off this rock the better chances we have of finding some natural shelter, because these tents won't protect us from a storm like that.” The worried father stated with great concern for the future. “We should pick up the pace Mark, it would get us off of here faster.” “That’s what I was thinking dear.” Mark quickly said, and he began to jog down the slope of the mountain. Chip followed suit without having to many issues. But they could only go so fast and a minute later the snow had picked up to a normal snowfall pace. Which the family picked up the pace still in attempts to atleast get to where they were last night. However after only 2 minutes the blizzard set in and the family was slowed to a crawl pace as it was hard to see a few feet in front of them. Chip in particular was freezing his butt off and had to use his scarf as more of a baclava than anything. After searching for a safe place in the blizzard for a good 20 minutes, Mark managed to find a rocky dugout that would shield them for the most part from the wind. Once they reached the outcrop Mark immediately tried to start a fire while Heather attended to Chip who was uncontrollable shivering. 

	“Does he have hypothermia?” Mark asked with great concern. Heather shook her head but then responded with: “No, but he’s definitely got something wrong with him. Are you done with that fire yet?” Mark grunted in annoyance and went back to lighting the fire. “Ok Chip, are you feeling sick or dizzy at all?” Heather asked while still examining his fingers or toes for frostbite. “N-n-no. I-I don’t t-think so.” Chip said in a very shaky voice. Heather sighed in relief to know Chip didn’t have frostbite, but she grabbed a thermometer from her bag and stuck it in Chip’s mouth. “Hold it under your tongue while I go help your father with the fire. If you feel anything abnormal don't be afraid to call out for help.” Heather said before going to help Mark with the fire. As he watched his parents get the fire going, he could see their stress got the better of them as they started to argue to the point which he could hear. “What do you mean I don’t know how to start a fire!? Not my fault some stupid snow melted in my bag and made the firewood wet!” Mark yelled while still trying to light the wood with a lighter. Heather then flipped one of the wood pieces over and tried drying it with a cloth. “Well we wouldn’t be in this crap if you took it slower, and I don’t know payed attention to the weather of the state we’re going to!?” Heather argued. Mark then kicked a rock next to him in anger. “You need to find a way to get this damn fire going or he’s going to end up dead! And don’t you blame me for something you didn’t do either princess!” Heather set down the log and attempted lighting it on fire. But with no avail. “One don’t call me a princess. And two, you were the one responsible for checking out this kind of stuff, but you never do anything like that unless it’s for stupid money!” Heather said while pointing a finger at Mark. Mark slapped Heathers hand out of the way and pointed at her himself. “It’s not my fault the police department crapped on my paycheck! Neither is it yours for your own paycheck. You know we take what we need, it’s not like the bank is going to notice 50,000 was stolen when it’s run by millionaire bureaucrats!” Mark shouted. Heather then slapped Mark in the face to get it through to him. “You don’t do it for the family you prick, you only do it for saving your hide when the boss asks for money we’ve taken! You don’t even lie to him how much you take, and none of it goes to the family! You’re just concerned about how much butt sucking you can do to get your way!” Heather yelled back. Mark paused and remained quiet knowing very well Heather was right, so he went back to lighting the fire. Meanwhile Heather stomped her way back over to Chip to check his temperature. “Ok, you’re not doing too bad. Just hold on there Chip, we’ll get you warmed up sometime soon. Worst case we’ll have to momentarily give you our coats.” And just as Heather said that the fire was lit on the stack of logs just feet away. Heather then took a rag out of her bag and a metal bucket and a water bottle, she then walked over to the fire and poured the water into the metal bucket and put the rag in there. Meanwhile Mark walked over to Chip and sat next to him. 

	“You doing alright buddy?” Mark asked. Chip was busy thinking to himself, thinking about what he just heard. Was this really what the lie was, they were doppelgangers? People who worked for the police and did crime themselves? “Chipper, buddy, cmon talk to me.” Mark was starting to get concerned. But then Chip blinked once and looked up this father who sat just next to him. “Y-yeah I’m fine…” Chip said in a little depressed tone. He was in a state of emotional distraught, not only had he been actually lied to, but they did it in the sneakiest and most cruel way ever, like they where a bunch of rats. Chip could only wonder what they had done, but he could only ever find out if he asked. “You don’t seem alright. Something upsetting you?” Mark asked with curiosity. Chip then looked away from his father then asked the question: “I don’t know what’s more upsetting. Being lied to for 13 years, or almost freezing to death. So why did you guys lie to me for all of this time?” Mark froze and realised what Chip was talking about. He didn’t know Chip had overheard their little conversation, and they had maybe gotten to carried away by the stress of ending up in a blizzard during their supposed vacation. “So, you heard about the stealing. Didn’t you?” Mark asked in a soft and quiet voice. Chip only remained quiet since he wasn’t in the mood to talk to them right now. “Look, buddy. We’re still your parents, and we’ll take care of your and love you, even if we do all of these bad things. We’re still your parents, this is just another part of our lives.” Mark tried explained wholeheartedly. Chip was disgusted by the fact they would use an excuse and refused to listen to them. “For my entire life you guys told me how bad those types of people are. And how much you hated them. Why should I be dragged into your crap!? Did Dale deserve to be attacked? What about me being stabbed? What about if tomorrow the police showed up and took us away from you guys, do we deserve to be punished for your actions?” Chip asked with a hint of anger. Mark remained quiet, knowing he was deeply wrong about the whole thing. “And I asked a question. Dad. What else are you keeping in the dark from me? How much have you lied?” Chip asked once more. Mark then looked to his angered son and sighed. “We can talk about this once I tell Heather about it. Since we’re both in this.” He said getting up and walking over to Heather. 

	Chip suddenly became frightened as there were a lot of things going through his  head at that moment. He was even considering the fact his parents might try to kill him and tell Dale he was killed in the blizzard by hypothermia. Then keep his death a secret like they do so often with their lies. But if that was the case, there was nothing Chip could do. He wasn’t in the position to defend himself nor run. But those questions would shortly be answered once Chip’s parents approached with not anger nor fear, but sorrow plastered on their faces. Heather was the first to talk once she kneeled down in front of Chip to speak to him eye to eye. “We’re really sorry for keeping you in the dark like this Chip. We should’ve known this was going to happen. But we did this to ensure you had a good life, so you didn’t have to worry about money, or crime. But keep in mind that our first jobs were in fact what we say we do. And this whole criminal thing only began when you were born and our boss of this organisation reached out to us and guaranteed good pay if we joined. And since we’ve been screwed over by our departments, we had no other choice...” At this point Chip didn’t care whatever worthless excuses they had, he couldn’t forgive them. Heather spoke up once more:  “Sure in the short run we did some bad things. We’ve had to steal, kidnap and even kill. But it was for the long run knowing we would never have financial problems again, and we knew no criminal would do harm to you or us since we’re in the business. But this is all the rule of nature, survival ofthe fittest and we decided to put ourselves at the top. So, don’t hate us for what we’ve done. We did it out of a good will, and we do save people in our actual jobs. However I understand your not going to like this. But now that you know about this and you are of age, we will have to get you involved. Which means we’ll sign you up for possible recruitment once we get back.” Chip was now in shock, he couldn’t believe they were going to force him into this. He refused to let himself become them, there was no way he would end up like them. Then Mark spoke up: “Don’t question what you’re doing when we get you in there, just do what’s necessary and carry on. As for Dale we might just finish the job we started with 7 years ago.” Mark finished saying in a sort of dark tone. Chip looked up from his lap with only one question left. “What do you mean ‘finish the job?’” Heather didn’t dare to respond but Mark took a deep breath and answered: “We were supposed to kill the entire Oakmont family. But we felt bad for Dale since he looked so innocent and not like his parents. So and we brought him into the family, and then he made all of us suffer. He was no good was he? All he ever did was read stupid comic books, so he had his chance to prove to us that he was different than the Oakmonts, and he failed. So we’ll also dispose of him when we get back. Now, don’t worry, this might seem really bad at first buddy, but everything will fix itself as time goes on.” Mark said patting Chip’s shoulder. Chip didn’t know what to say. But he sure as hell knew what he had to do. He had made it clear at this point that his parents while they raised him well, and were nice, and they had their reasons for all of this. He concluded that they were just broken and evil inside. They even openly admitted they were willing to go to the point of killing a integrated family member for their stupid criminal organisation. And if they were willing to go that far, what’s to say they won't ‘dispose’ of him later, as if he and Dale are tissues. So there was only one thing left to do, and that was to ‘dispose’ of his parents like they are going to do to Dale. But he had to let them get away with it until he got better.

	“Alright. I’ll be with you guys every step of the way. Go Maplewoods right?” Chip said in a very exhausted and quiet way. Both of his parents in turn smiled back with glee that they had Chip’s side. Atleast that’s what they thought. “I knew you’d see our way Chipper. We’ll talk more about what it’s like working there so you can prepare yourself.” Mark said with a bit of excitement. Then Heather walked a foot or two to the fire before pulling the rag out of the pot and giving it to Chip to warm up his hands. As Mark spoke to Chip. Chip however, ignored most of everything and only responded when he needed to. Because no matter what they said at this point. There was only one path for the last name of Maplewood, and that was to be erased from existence.

	(19 hours later) “Alright Chipper, you ready to go the final stretch and get off this dang rock?” Mark said hiking the backpack onto his back. Chip nodded before also picking up his backpack. And making sure he had the sword in his jacket. His parents had been considerate enough to share insulate his jacket a bit more to keep his core body temperature warm for a bit. Then out of the corner of his eyes, Chip saw Heather kicked snow onto the fire and proceed to follow Mark back down the mountain, Chip followed last and stayed wary of all of his parent’s actions. It was still a blizzard, even if it wasn’t as bad, and it was still hard to see 10 feet in front of you. But they managed to within 10 minutes get to the cliff from the day before yesterday. “Alright, Heather can you grab the grapple from my backpack.” Mark said while backing up to allow Heather to grab the grappled and rope. Heather then wiped snow off a large area and stuck it between the two rocks from earlier and threw the rope down over the side of the cliff. “Alright, as usual. I go first, then Chip and then you Heather.” Mark ordered as moved his way to the cliff edge and began to descend. The only thought that went through Chip at this moment was that this, right here and right now was going to be the moment to strike. His Father was already on the rope so all he had to do was deal with Heather first then cut the rope. Once Mark was a little away from the top of the cliff, he stopped for a second and looked up to find Chip still standing there. “Do you need help buddy?” Mark asked. Chip didn’t respond. Mark began to get a little concerned, but that changed when he saw Chip reach for the sword he began to panic. Chip in one motion Pulled out the sword and backed up into Heather, causing her to fall backwards. Then he turned around and in one swing cut her legs almost clean off so she couldn’t move. Once she was on the ground in agony, Chip moved to the cliff and looked over edge to see Mark climbing tying up, then Chip raised the sword in the air with both hands, he prepared himself to cut the rope and finish the job. “Wait, Chipper, What are you doing!?” Mark freightendly asked. Upon the question being thrown at him, Chip took a deep breath brought the weight of the sword onto the yellow and black rope causing it to split into two pieces. All Chip could hear after that was Mark falling to his death and then a thud after 10 seconds or so. “What have you done!? Have you lost your mind!?” Heather said in outrage. Then Chip turned back around to Heather who only after yelling at him looked terrified. “Wait! don’t do this! I-I was dragged into this by Mark, it’s all his fault! Look, maybe we can start over. You don’t have to kill me, please.” She begged. Chip did nothing other than put the sword back in it’s scabbard knowing she was to eventually die anyway. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll let nature take care of you. As you said, ‘survival of the fittest’ right?” Chip said darkly. Heather took a second to realise what Chip meant by that. “No, look. We’re a family Chip, you can’t do this!” Heather pleaded once more. Chip only turned away and walked off into the distance away from his guaranteed dead mother. After a 5 minutes went by Chip was finally isolated from the cries of his mother stranded with no way out. Then he found a way around the cliff and down to Mark to grab the equipment and keys he still had on him. To Chip’s luck Mark was found laying on the ground with a blood splatter along  on a rock just above his lifeless body, Mark himself laid in red stained snow face first. Chip grabbed the keys from one of Marks jacket pockets and took some important family possessions he felt like taking as a reminder of who his parents used to be. After a minute breather to say a final goodbye, Chip left Mark’s lifeless body and went back to the plane. 

	Chip walked to the snow covered plane, slowly and poised by guilt, but yet a slight hint of pride knowing what he had done was right in a way. As he looked from the pure white ground to the lake he once stared across 2 days ago, he was reminded of how things have changed over the years. It broke his heart to know the ones he held so close to him for 13 years where dead. He remembered the times they helped him out, or how they’d care for him and give him emotional support when he needed it. The same support he wished he had right now. But this was for his future to not end up like them, and for Dale who had even in times of danger been on his side thick and thin. This was for the people who his parents violently murdered, the ones who they stole from, and the one innocent guinea pig a year back who as his parents told him was trying to get revenge, just like Chip did right now. Then a cold breeze interrupted Chip’s thought, Chip looked back from the lake to the plane. He had remembered it still needed gas to go back. But if he remembered correctly there was some left to see if it was still operational. Chip walked up to the plane dropped the backpacks right next to the plane and pulled the cabin door open, then he jumped in to start it up. Then Chip realised that he had no idea how to start the thing. He immediately began to look through all of the compartments for a manual, he managed to find it under the seat and began to read off the directions presented. After what seemed like a whole 6 minutes, Chip finally managed to get the plane started and running. Then he turned it off and grabbed the large gas can for the plane and went to the gas station, put a twenty in the gas pump and filled the can all the way to the top, went back and filled the fuel tank. Chip ended up repeating this process 3 or 4 times in order to get all of the gas he needed.

Once finished Chip packed whatever he could in the back and started the plane up once again. And got up to an acceptable airspeed before taking off and for his first time he flew through the wind from the blizzard without much trouble just as long as he watched what his plane was doing at the time, constantly referring to the speed meter. After an hour of flight Chip was feeling a little more confident flying and was finally out of the cloud cover from the blizzard. Hours went by and Chip thought to himself, the more he thought the more his guilt plagued him. He knew he could’ve prevented all of this if he just kept his mouth closed, but at some point this was going to happen. He was just lucky enough to catch then when they were isolated from society for a bit. It still got to him no matter how justified it was, because he knew deep down that they were still good parents, and they did so for his sake. However he understood that his family wasn’t the only people in this world and that others were suffering because of his parents existence, and that had to end. After flying the same way they came from and only after another 7 hours of emotional torture, Chip finally came to the area they lived. He circled a few times looking for a good spot and decided to land in the field about 250 meters away from his house. It may have been a rough landing, but this plane was no longer his problem as it was under his parent’s name. Chip kicked the cabin door open and grabbed the bags from the back, he began his final trip of this long voyage, and maybe the hardest part, he was going home. But this came with explaining everything to Dale.

	(15 minutes later) Chip opened the door that once was their families until now. After pushing the blocky like barrier open. He was once again reminded of his home and the ones he left behind. The room was filled with furniture and bookshelves with stacks of what seemed endless amounts of books existing in this very room. There was a makeshift chandelier dominating the ceiling with it’s bright yellow glow. A nice red and blue striped rug to accommodate the all natural wooden floor of the tree. At the back of the room sat Dale. He was reading a comic book on the leather couch along with a little table stand to its right and a small bookshelf to the couch’s left. And then the hand made Tv that sat in front of the couch, it was black square with a grey painted wooden cover to cover the internal pieces, along with a dial attached to the side to allow switching channels. 
	
	Chip quietly shut the door behind him and walked up to the occupied couch. Every step he took felt like a leep across a building, or as if someone had attached lead blocks to his legs and filled them with pure guilt. Step after step, Chip finally reached the couch with his so to say ‘brother’ sitting on it. “*Taps Dale’s shoulder* Hey, Dale?” Chip asked nervously. His best friend turned around with an annoyed look. “What do ya want, Can’t ya see I’m reading here? Say, where’s Mom and Dad? Shouldn’t they be home by now?” Dale asked in his typical annoyed voice. “About that…” Chip paused for a second to take off his hat and started to wring it out of guilt. “What? Are ya supposed to be apologising for something. Cause if you are, that serves ya right.” Dale shunned Chip and turned back to his comic book. “Look, Dale. I.. I-” “Ya what? Cat got your tongue? Just say ‘I’m sorry’ Ain’t that hard ya big dumm-” “Mom and Dad are dead!!! There, I said it!” Chip yelled.  Dale locked up in emotional terror. Chip started to tear up a little, he was just as scared and sad as Dale was. But he was plagued with the guilt of committing murder. “No, that can’t be true, are they really dead, Chip?” Dale asked sadly nearly breaking into tears. “They are... And I know because. Because, I’m the one who killed them.” Chip admitted as he stared at the floor in guilt and shame. Dale’s emotions built up into pure hatred and rage towards Chip. “WHY I OUTTA KILL YOU!” Dale yelled while balling up his fists and jumped over the couch, face to face with Chip. Chip held out his hands and tried to explain: “Wait, Dale. I can expla-” Dale punched Chip straight in the nose. Chip tried to back off but fell onto his rump, he covered his mouth with his hand. But blood soon began to start steaming out of his nose, along with that came the sensation of tasting blood from the bruised and torn gums in his mouth. Dale stood over Chip and was about to strike him again but he needed to know what happened. “Yah better have a good reason!” Dale demanded from Chip. Chip collected most of the blood in his mouth and spat it out next to him. “Dale. Mom and Dad weren't the people we thought they where, they lied to us our entire lives-” Dale kicked Chip in the face. “How dare you say that! They’d never do that, and you kill them over it!? Why I outta strangle you to death for lyin!”  Chip sat back up, trying to recover from Dale’s kick. Dale then picked up Chip by his jacket and threw him onto the table Right of the couch. Dale held Chip in place, his eyes radiating anger, he had one hand holding onto Chip’s jacket and the other balled into a fist ready to strike if need be. “Tell me how they lied to us. If ya don’t I’ll make sure this is your last time you open your mouth!” Dale ordered. Chip was truly scared of Dale, he has never heard Dale be this serious, or actually hurt him in a fight. Usually it was just wrestling, but this was beyond a different matter. “Ok, ok! Just listen, please… It was on the Rockies. We, we ended up in a blizzard. Once we were in a outcrop they had an argument and I overheard that they were criminals. I at first questioned them, but then they told me some of the stories. After the things they did to people and the people they were, I couldn’t forgive them. So, so when we started hiking back down the mountain, during the same blizzard, I killed them. So I didn’t do it out of-” Dale punched Chip straight in the throat and threw him onto the ground. Chip laid on the ground struggling to breathe correctly. Dale continued to stand where he was, stunned. He never knew his parents were criminals. Dale didn’t know what to do, he was taught his whole life that his parents were good. As much as Dale loved his parents, he himself couldn’t forgive them for lying to him and Chip for so long, along with hiding their crimes right under their noses. Along with the fact he knew Chip had good reasoning. So whatever they did, it must’ve been pretty terrible. His anger and confusion subsided and turned into sorrow. Dale waited a minute or so for Chip to breathe right before asking: “What did they do?” Dale asked disheartedly. Chip sat up and coughed a few times while still held his throat like he was out of air. “They told me. *Cough* That they one time peeled a person's skin off to interrogate them. They eventually died *Cough, Cough* Another time they cut someone up and kept them alive until they gave them the gold and money they asked for. Then they killed him since he was going to be unable to *Cough* Provide anymore ‘goods’ for the organisation their in. That was only half of what *Cough* they did. Not to mention what their organisation did. And worst of all, they were the ones who killed your parents. And, they were going to come back with me to ‘dispose’ of you since you failed to prove to them something.” Chip answered in a raspy voice. Dale signed out of stress, and depression. “Alright, Chip.. I forgive you. But ya still deserve what ya got for killin them.” Chip nodded as he understood that it wasn’t the best way to deal with his parents. “Thanks.” Chip said Thankfully. “So, what do we do now?” Dale asked. Chip looked over to Dale and knew that they would have to change. While he and Dale often got in little squabbles, they were very  good friends, and would die for eachother if it came to it.  “Well, we’ll have to get whatever we can, and live our own lives. And we’ll stick together. And never, tell this to anybody. Not even our last names will be mentioned. People can’t know about our parents. We don’t know how many hate my last name because of my parents. And if they find it out we’re their sons. We might not be living the next day, you got that Dale?” Chip said sounding dead serious. Dale nodded, but he had his own questions: “You’ll promise we stay together as friends? No matter what?” Dale deeply asked his long life friend. Chip mustered some of his strength to get up and walk up to Dale. “Friends forever doesn’t sound like a bad thing.” Chip then held out a hand. Dale gladly accepted. “Friends forever.” Dale remarked as the two shook hands with a smile. Assuring their mutual friendship forever. 

	The next month Chip and Dale left everything behind and started a new life all around the U.S. They from time to time stumbled on people who considered them enemies like that one duck, and the pet dog of a mouse. And for 7 or 9 years they spent their lives out in the wild with one goal, to live. They of course had a few love interests but nothing beyond dating, and with life getting old and them being tired causing trouble. Chip and Dale decided that they needed to do something of importance. Thus they decided to get into what they left behind so long ago. Chip grabbed his old jacket, and Dale grabbed his shirt, the duo then headed off to New york city in search of a purpose or place in society, but leaving their last names and their past absent from who they were, and instead identified off the 9 years they spent in the forest. By the year 1989, they had found their place amount a small group of friends they called the Rescue Rangers. With their hidden story being kept secret, until today. 

Story of Chip Maplewood: - 4.8.2008    :End:

(Actual Author: Erich Westhoven. Started February 23rd 2018, Finished May 3rd 2018 )
How many words you just read: 18,903

-Authors note: Welcome to the unofficial part of the story, so if you don’t care what I have to say, the you might want to skip this… Now, those of you who do want to see my note, welcome. This is my first published writing, and a bit of character development for another story I am writing called C.N.A (Chip’s new adventures) This is used mainly for some well needed feedback, as a new writer I require feedback to get better. I am fine with almost all criticism. That is if it has a purpose or a reason. I accept that This isn’t the pinnacle of writing and I understand I this may be sub-par. But all I need to know is a where my skill lies right now, and I will continue to work my way from there. Thank you for those who have read my story and thank those again who can give me constructive criticism. It helps me as a writer and you as a reader to have an overall better experience. Now I wish the best of luck to everybody and may life go well for all of you. Erich Westhoven, writing-out.