"Be honest with me, Jeanette. Do you... do you find Brittany... well, you know... annoying?" Simon asked dryly, clearing his throat once again.

Jeanette looked around before answering, as if somehow, Brittany would hear her.

Simon placed the warm palm of his hand on her shoulder.

"Jeanette. It's just me. You can talk to me! Britt's not here, so... you can speak your heart now..."

"But, she's our sister..." she replied softly. "How... how could I speak about her like that?"

Simon clicked his tongue. He was slightly aggravated by Jeanette's kindly temperament, but found it adorable all the same.

"Alright," he said. "Consider it as a-"

And before Simon could finish his sentence, Jeanette went off on a number: "Brittany? BRITTANY? Oh my, WHERE do I even start? S-S-She's SO self-centred and clueless... She LOVES taking advantage of me... I sometimes don't know WHAT TO DO! I have to solve all of her problems when she doesn't even TRY to figure them out herself, and even when I help her, she doesn't appreciate it! She's always criticising me... about my clothes, my fashion, my make-up, AND my love of science. I... I-I-I don't know what to do, Simon! I just don't! It's so unfair that I..."

Jeanette took a deep breath, despite the fact that beads of annoyed and upset tears trickled down her face.

Simon was slightly taken aback by her sudden outburst, but then felt relieved that Jeanette had FINALLY spoken her mind freely, without that voice inside her head stopping her like always.

"J-J-Jeanette... I can totally relate. The feeling's mutual, you know. With Alvin, mainly. But, we can't let this whole situation continue like this. W-we've got to, you know, team up. Team up against them. I mean, we ARE the oldest siblings, after all."

"They can't push us around like this!" she agreed.

Simon couldn't help but smile at her sudden surge of confidence.

"Who are you?" he joked. "And what have you done with Jeanette?!"

Jeanette returned the grin. "From now on, you'll see a new me."

After what seemed like a day, they had finally reached the power circuit box.

"Alrighty!" said Simon as he reached for the circuit.

"Ugh... ugh... can't... reach..." He was too short.

"Here, Simon. Let me help you up." Jeanette cupped her hands, ushering Simon to step onto them to reach for it.

"Really? You sure you can take my weight?"

"Positive. Besides, we have no choice. You heard Alvin, we've GOT to solve this problem!"

"If Brittany was in your place, she'd probably say something like-"

"Changing my mind in three, two," Jeanette mocked.

They both broke out into fits of laughter before Simon carefully inserted his trainer into her hand. He grabbed onto the house wall and used it to push himself up. He grunted as he rose up to the box.

"D-don't you need a screw driver to-"

"No need, Jeanette. The cover's already broken off thanks to Alvin bouncing his football against it."

He carefully removed the cover, before scanning the tangled wires.

A deafening sound came from behind the two Chipmunks.

"What was that?" gasped Jeanette.

"I-I... I'm sure it was nothing," he comforted her before returning back to the power socket.

"Eww... there's so much gunk in here."

A twig snapped from the same place they had first encountered that noise.

"M-m-maybe... maybe this is a bad idea. I mean, it is nighttime, after all."

"Nearly done..." he mumbled as he unscrambled the coloured cables. "What the- there's a half-eaten apple lodged into the socket... is THAT what's causing the power outage."

An eerie silhouette loomed over the two. Jeanette just watched the shadow cast on the wall in horror, while Simon obliviously tampered with the power. She daren't turn around, or warn Simon. What if he messed it up, if he was suddenly scared?

The figure gave a quiet cough, loud enough for Jeanette's hands to tremble and soon after, let go of Simon.

"Aaahh!" Simon yelled as he toppled over Jeanette.

They were both breathing short, raspy breaths, too scared to investigate who or what the thing was behind them.

Simon finally found the courage to speak up: "Whatever you are! Please, leave us alone! Leave JEANETTE alone! You can take me, but don't you DARE lay a finger on my sister!"

Jeanette was touched by his heartwarming words, but had no time to smile or react in any such way.

Beads of sweat seeped down their faces as they awaited the creature to capture them.

"What do you mean?" a familiar voice asked.

After what seemed like a decade, Simon and Jeanette looked up to see who it was.

"Dave?" they said in unison. "Dave!"

He took the two scared Chipmunks into his arm, and embraced them lovingly in a big hug.

"What are you guys doing out here?" he said.

"What are YOU doing here?" Simon responded, checking his watch. "Aren't you supposed to be going to your business trip right about now?"

"The train's delayed. So I've been hanging round for a while till it runs again."

"Oh, Dave! We're SO glad to see you!"

"Yeah! We thought you were some sort of creature..." Simon reluctantly admitted.

"Simon and I were trying to fix the power circuit, since the power's out in our treehouse."

"That's why I was here, too," Dave replied.

"Seems like one of Theodore's green apple's been causing the problem," explained Simon, shaking his head in anger.

Jeanette spoke up: "So, um... problem solved?"