Chapter 8

The hunt had gone particularly well, considering that the Dwarves had never actually hunted in their shifts before. Bilbo had given points to Nori and Dori for their teamwork and quick thinking; Nori had decided to go after a rather large buck on his own in his bobcat shift, which proved to be a bad idea as bobcats were on the rather small side and he would have been trampled, had Dori not shifted to his caracal shift and, though another small cat, the two felines worked together and, rather remarkably, were able to bring down the buck between the two of them. After that, they hunted for rabbits, which Bilbo left Nori to supervise as he taught Dwalin and some of the others how to fish. When asked why, Bilbo simply replied

"You and Dori worked together quickly and efficiently, so I think you deserve a chance to supervise this particular hunt while I try to teach this lot how to catch fish without drowning. Besides, in case you haven't noticed; you're speaking almost perfect Westron to me as a fox and I'm still in my tiger shift!" Nori was surprised as he hadn't realized that for the rabbit hunt, he had indeed changed back to his fox shift, but Bilbo was still a tiger to go fishing in. Nori couldn't quite explain it, but Bilbo's comment made him feel pretty proud, especially when Ori was looking up at him with his very cute pika eyes filled with pride at the thought his big brother was picking up on his instincts faster than anyone else (hell, even Dori looked proud). They had managed to catch a handful of rabbits and had a very good laugh as Bilbo's team returned with a number of fish and a soaking wet tiger.

"You suck at fishing Thorin Oakenshield; I've seen oxen with more grace in water than you." Bilbo addressed an almost equally soaking wolf who growled at Bilbo, only to be knocked over by a very smug bear as he came through. They all shifted back and Ori exclaimed

"Wow! You all caught a lot of fish!" Bilbo noticed Dwalin blush a bit, and remembered a few instances along the trip and decided to play at something that was entirely out of his depth; matchmaking.

"Actually Ori, it was mostly Dwalin who caught the fish; as I was saying, Thorin has yet to grasp any sense of balance on his paws in the water (honestly, I think it would have been better if he had changed into a badger and tried; at least I wouldn't be quite so wet), Fili and Kili were more intent on splashing about (further contributing to my soaked appearance) and I was busy trying to help Thorin. So, to put it in a nutshell, the Line of Durin are rotten fishermen!" Bilbo said and the others all laughed at Bilbo's comments and Dwalin blushed a little at Ori's adoring look. Bilbo then sighed and took off his shirt to exchange it for a dry one, when all the laughing stopped and Bilbo realized he had yet to put the full glamor back on his body.

"Bilbo, who did that to you?" Gandalf asked in a voice that was both very sad and promised horrible retribution. The Dwarves had to admit, they wouldn't mind giving him a hand in that retribution.

"What are you talking about?" Bilbo tried to play dumb as he went to his pack to get another shirt, only to be stopped by Dori, who turned Bilbo around and displayed Bilbo's chest to the rest of the camp.

"He's talking about the fair amount of scars littering your chest lad." Dwalin said and the others nodded, many sickened at the amount of cruelty that had been placed into each wound and what was worse, someone had used Bilbo's skin as though it were parchment, and wrote/burned the word 'Abomination'.

"Some Men caught me running in my Warg shift whilst I was with Radagast."

"But didn't you explain-" Balin tried to ask, but Bilbo's eyes, which had held a fair amount of amusement before, burned with the hatred that was present when he fought the Orcs.

"Why do you think they wrote 'abomination' on my torso? I changed back as soon as they caught me, but it didn't make a difference; they cut into me, trying to make me change back so they could boast about killing a silver Warg. And the Warg was screaming at me 'Let me out, I will rip them to shreds, I shall tear apart these fools!' but I wouldn't do it. All the shifts were screaming at me 'We are so small; they will never catch us as we flee!' 'We must fly away or they will kill us!' 'These fools are no match for a tiger! Release me and they will face the beauty of an enraged tiger!' 'These little men are no match for my beak and claws let me out and they will know how it feels to be the defenceless ones!' They were all screaming so loud, the Men didn't realize that the reason I was screaming so loud was because I was fighting how much each shift wanted to come out and either flee or destroy." Bilbo looked very old as he admitted what happened to him.

"What finally happened?" Gloin asked and Bilbo's eyes had a haunted look before simply saying

"They burned." No one had to ask what Bilbo meant; they could imagine Bilbo manipulating the very fire those Men had built to heat their weapons to torture Bilbo with to kill them. Bilbo then grabbed his dry shirt and ran off. Kili tried to follow, only for Bofur to say

"Let him go lad, he'll be back before long; he's been thrown for a bigger loop than any of us. After all, we all knew that Bilbo hated Men, we just didn't know the full reason as to why."

"And what, pray tell, is a bigger loop than finding out a comrade and friend was brutally tortured for something he can't control, not to mention something that has saved his life and ours?!" Dwalin asked, dutifully ignoring the voice that viciously whispered in his head 'You've changed your tune about the Halfling since Rivendell, haven't you?' 'Shut up!' Dwalin whispered back harshly 'So I'm weary of strangers, not even Bilbo faulted me for that! And Bilbo is no Halfling!'

"He's got friends who care enough about him that they'd hunt down those who hurt him like what? Twenty years ago?"

"Longer than that, my dear Bofur; Bilbo lost his parents when he was twelve, he left the Shire about three months after that and he returned when he was seventeen. I believe he spent a year and a half to two years with Radagast, and three years and five months with the Elves. Bilbo is currently about fifty years old." Gandalf explained and they all went rather pale as they realized it was closer to forty years ago that it had happened.

"Why would they do such a horrible thing? How could they?" Ori asked and it was Dori who replied in a saddened voice

"Men and others are terrified of what they don't understand, and what scares them makes them angry because they don't like admitting they're afraid to something, so they try to destroy it. Only, Bilbo turned out to be the one doing the destroying." Dori said and the others nodded, and proceeded to skin they're kills, putting them in the sacks Bilbo had enchanted so they would stay fresh for as long as they needed. They did a bit of scavenging and were able to find a large amount of edible apples, nuts and berries that they could throw in the sacks as well. They had just finished doing all this when night fell and a silver Warg cautiously came into camp carrying a large amounts of dead rabbits on his back. No one said anything as they ate, until Nori asked, in an effort to lighten the mood

"Bilbo, you said that shifts in the same family can talk to each other, so, does that mean you can talk to wild animals as well?"

"To an extent; it wouldn't sound like Westron to someone who isn't trained, but you could get a general gist if you tried."

"Do you think you could show us?" Gloin asked and Bilbo nodded before he threw his head back and let out a long, loud howl. They all waited but there was no other sound, so Bilbo tried again. This time, as Bilbo finished, a few more howls joined in and everyone had to admit that it was pretty impressive, whilst those with canine forms could get the general idea that Bilbo had asked if this land was safe, and the wild canines all responded that the land was indeed safe because their host patrolled the land at night.

"Wow, that's really cool. What did they say?" Ori asked and Thorin replied

"We may rest easy tonight; our host guards these lands fiercely." Bombur nodded then asked

"Gandalf, you described this Beorn as a skin-changer, what's the difference between a skin-changer and a shifter?"

"Well, Bombur, to put it simply, you are all shifters, but Bilbo here is a skin-changer when he is in his Warg shift."

"As usual, the Wizard is as clear as mud." Gloin mumbled, but Bilbo intervened and explained

"I think what Gandalf is trying to say, is that a shifter is someone who changes their shape and personality; while in one shift, that mind takes over, man's mind in a man's body and dog's mind in dog's body for example. Then, there are skin-shifters, which is what I am for the most part, along with the Elves; we change our skins, but are so in tune with both the animal and human minds, that they keep hold of themselves without fighting their instincts. Then, there are skin-changers who sometimes have trouble controlling their animal instincts, especially in the heat of battle or a particularly good hunt." Gandalf simply hummed as Bilbo explained before he said

"I'm not overly tired so if no one minds, I'll take the first shift." The others knew there would be no arguing with Bilbo, so they set off to sleep. As they all nestled into sleep, Bilbo saw that Thorin had yet to even lie down, and instead actually came over and sat beside him.

"Something the matter?"

"When you were the Black Eagle, why was I the only one who could get near you?" Bilbo gave Thorin a strange look before saying

"How should I know? Maybe the giant turkey finally calmed down and let you near him."

"No, I don't think that's it; Bombur was the last one to try just moments before me, and you were certainly fonder of Bombur than you were of me, even if you were still of the opinion he had betrayed your confidence."

"Well then, I don't know."

"I think you do; you always know what you're doing on some level even in your shifts. You know and whatever it is, you're either ashamed or, more likely, embarrassed."

"And tell me, oh fearless leader, exactly what would I have to be embarrassed or ashamed about?"

"I think you had another flashback that night, when Azog attacked, and I think it was made all the more real by the fact that, like your mother, I have a badger shift and Azog was using a mace." Thorin saw Bilbo stiffen before angrily getting up and moving to the edge of their camp ground where Thorin followed and watched for a few minutes as Bilbo paced back and forth (very like a tiger pacing in a cage) before saying

"You, you don't know anything about my mother, so don't you even begin to dare-"

"I know she loved you a great deal, enough that she hid part of who you are so that you could survive. I also know that you return that love ten-fold, and the reason you hate your race with such a passion, one that almost matches your hatred of Men I'd wager, is because they blame her for your father's and her own deaths."

"It wasn't her fault! I was the one who wanted to go out that day! True, she helped convince my father of the idea, but why should she be blamed for something like that?! And of course, people love to say that if my father had married somebody respectable, his son wouldn't have been so reckless as to have made such a request as to be so far from home on his birthday!" Thorin watched as Bilbo's breath seemed to be catching fire, so he simply said, nonchalantly as possible,

"My mother hated my father when the first met." At Bilbo's confused look, Thorin nodded and carried on with

"It's true; she thought he was a pompous, arrogant, pig headed, annoying ass of a Dwarf."

"So, in other words, a lot like you." Bilbo said with a smirk but Thorin refused to rise to the bait and only answered with

"Prat. Anyways, he didn't think much of her either so whenever they ran into each other, they would fight like cats and dogs. Until one day, my father happened to see another Dwarf chatting her up and he described the feeling he felt as if dragon fire was coursing through his blood. He then realized that he was madly in love with her, and he wore her down until she agreed to marry him. My sister Dis and her husband Vili were the same way." Thorin finished and Bilbo simply asked

"What happened to your mother and Vili?"

"My mother died when Smaug attacked and Vili was killed at Khazad-dum."

"I'm sorry, for both you and your nephews. However, I now see a further reason to make sure you survive this mad quest; I have no doubt in my mind that, in order to get your final revenge on me from the grave, you would leave wingus and dingus in my care just so they could drive me nutters." Thorin chuckled before saying

"Master Baggins?"

"Hmm?"

"I think that it's a little late for that." Thorin saw Bilbo's smirk transform into a grin, though he wondered why Bilbo didn't at least chuckle.

"You don't laugh or cry much, do you?" Bilbo kept the grin, though it took on a touch of sadness as he replied

"I haven't laughed or cried since my parents died. Truthfully, there were times when I wished I had taken Arwen's request to heart and stayed in Rivendell; at least there, I would be able to run free instead of almost always being lock up in my skin."

"Well, I must confess I am rather glad you declined her request."

"Because if I had you would not have a decent burglar?"

"No, because upon getting past our differences, I find that there is actually very little of you that is not in one way or another likable. Once you get past your grouchy and grumpy demeanor of course."

"Careful Oakenshield, you almost made a joke there."

"Goodnight, Bilbo."

"Goodnight…Thorin." Thorin, however, was not able to fall asleep right away and stayed awake until Dwalin relieved Bilbo of his shift. He saw Bilbo change into his tiger shift, feeling a moment of relief that the fur was still bright orange and not quite yet fading into white, before settling down. Part of him was irritated that Bilbo still slept away from the group, but he was happy to note it wasn't as bad as it had been before; he was a bit closer. He was made even happier when Bilbo was joined by a lion, a panther, a hyena, an elk and a moose. The last thing he saw however was a pika running over and curling in between Bilbo and Bofur. The next morning, they wasted no time in arriving at Beorn's, only to find out something rather disheartening; Beorn did not like Dwarves.

"You did not tell me that your 'friends' were Dwarves." Beorn said and even if Bilbo was deaf, you could feel the hatred in his voice as much as hear it.

"My friend, we only need a few hours to rest and then we shall be out of your hair." Gandalf said, trying to win him over, but they could see he was not budging.

"Dwarves have no respect for the lives they deem beneath them, they are also greedy and have no respect for the earth that give them life and so much more." As Thorin opened his mouth, and no doubt was about to say something very insulting that would kill any chance they could possibly have of receiving assistance, a small noise stopped him and drew Beorn's attention. Bilbo's hand was covering his eyes and he appeared to be fighting back tears. Beorn went over and kneeled before Bilbo.

"Why are you so sad?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry; I don't mean to behave so horribly. It's just, we've had a long journey and we barely get two minutes to breathe between the Orcs, Trolls, Goblins and Stone Giants. I'm afraid that it has all finally come to a head. I'll be fine in a moment though." Bilbo said as he sniffed and looked up at Beorn.

"It sounds like you have a good story to tell; I will trade you a night of safety for the story." A look of utter relief washed over Bilbo's face before he appeared to compose himself and said

"Thank you."

"What is your name, little bunny?" Everyone saw Bilbo's eye twitch at the nickname, and made sure to never call him that name; Bilbo would probably break their noses.

"Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins, at your service." The Dwarves all saw Beorn's eyes widen before saying

"You are the son of the badger and the bunny?" A confused look crossed over Bilbo's face before he cautiously asked

"You knew my mother and father?"

"It would appear, Little Bunny that you and I will have a few stories to share between the two of us." As Beorn led the way back to his house, the Dwarves all heard Bilbo say to Thorin

"You owe me so big for that one, Oakenshield; I've never had to act so pitifully in my life before this moment!" Thorin only nodded before moving with the others. It was strange, but for the brief moment in which it had looked like Bilbo was actually crying, each of the Dwarves had felt a surge of protectiveness, as if wanting to get rid of that which made their burglar cry. Later that night, after Bilbo had spent all day telling Beorn about their adventure so far, and Beorn told him about the adventures he had had with Bilbo's mother, Bilbo rejoined the Company.

"Because we are so exhausted, and I wove a good story we may stay for the night; because I am my mother's son, we may stay for three days to fully regain our strength. He also had quite a bit to say about his adventures with my mother." The others wanted to talk to Bilbo, but thought that he may want to keep such things to himself, so Bofur asked

"Well, we were just talking about what each of us fancies, so why don't you tell us what you fancy?" Bilbo looked confused before asking

"What I fancy?"

"You know, blonde hair or brown hair, crystal clear blue eyes or deep, warm brown eyes, big breasts or small breasts, big co-" Bofur went on, with Ori getting redder and redder before Bilbo interrupted

"Alright! Alright! I get the point!" Bilbo listened as the others all laugh at his apparent discomfort (even though it was more for Ori), but he did not notice how three Dwarves listened very intently to what he had to say.

"Not that I see it as any of your business, but I have no true preference; I like blondes and brunettes, blue eyes and brown eyes."

"Same for breasts?" Nori asked with a chuckle, to which Bilbo simply shook his head and said

"I never really thought about size in those respects, but breast size would hardly matter to me; I've always found the women in the Shire to be harping busy bodies that only wish to spread gossip, and while my position might appear appealing, my general attitude and complete disinterest in changing who and what I am for anyone makes most of the females uninterested in carrying on my 'soiled blood'. Any who might be willing to overlook my demeanor and attitude are my Took cousins as well as the Brandybucks, and they're all either married, engaged or too young for me to see them as anything else than little girls." They had all frozen when Bilbo said 'soiled blood', but none made any comments.

"Well, what about males then?" Dori asked, and though he knew he had surprised the others by joining such a conversation, he couldn't abide the thought of Bilbo being all alone for over thirty years.

"Same general thing, but if I ever did wish to find someone to have as a constant companion, it probably would be a male, if only so they didn't keep screaming every time I took out my weapons to polish and sharpen them." Bilbo said and many of the older ones were upset he thought of it as companionship, not love.

"Well, uh, what about, you know, what you like?" Nori asked, trying to distill the tension in his usual manner with Bofur.

"What are you talking about now? I told what I physically like and you can probably tell what kind of mind set I like."

"Yeah, yeah, but do like to give or receive, be tied down or tie your partner down, do you-"

"If you are asking how I like to fuck, I don't know; I've never had sex and before you ask, no, I have not even been kissed."

"Not even once?" Bombur asked in surprise and Bilbo just shook his head before replying

"You remember, I was seventeen when I eventually returned to the Shire; Hobbits come of age at 33 and all that was simply another 16 years of me solidifying my reputation as 'Mad Baggins' something that would hardly have them lined up out the door of the Hobbit with a claymore in the house. And as I said, I would hardly mate with someone I didn't at least find attractive and, more importantly, tolerable."

"And there aren't tolerable beauties in the Shire?" Dwalin asked to which Bilbo shrugged and said

"There are, but nothing like say Fili, Kili or Thorin." Everyone was silent as Bilbo said this and the shock was almost tangible.

"You think my nephews and I handsome, Master Burglar?" Thorin asked, finally joining the conversation, and Bilbo looked at him like he was mental.

"Yeah; I'm a virgin, not blind and certainly not dead yet, though that dragon may change things when we get there. I can admit when I believe someone to be attractive." Before anyone could say anything, Kili stood, walked over to Bilbo and said in a melodramatic voice

"Well, to be your age and never even kissed is a crime too great for this beauty to let stand!"

"Don't you d-" Before Bilbo could finish; Kili sealed his mouth over Bilbo's and kissed him with just the tiniest bit of tongue. When he finally ended the kiss, Kili could feel the death glares on the back of his neck given to him by his brother and uncle, but they didn't seem half as frightening as the evil smirk that suddenly appeared on his face.

"Make your peace with your God Kili."

"Why?" Kili asked nervously as he started to back up, away from Bilbo.

"Because I'm going to kill you!" Bilbo said as he jumped and changed into a tiger while Kili twisted his body whilst shifting into his new panther shift and running off.

"Remember to stay inside the house! Gandalf told us Beorn patrol these grounds in his bear shift and we don't know how he'd react to a strange tiger and panther wandering his grounds!" Balin said as the two big cats chased each other, with Kili staying out of Bilbo's reach with his more slender and flexible body. After the third time around, Bilbo stopped mid chase, switched to his weasel shift and ran up a pole to get to the rafters above and waited for Kili to come back, which he did not ten minutes after Bilbo had climbed up. As Kili changed back, he said

"I guess I was lucky enough to lose the pissed off tiger; I hope I'm right in believing he has too much honor to strangle me in my sleep. Ah!" Kili screamed as Bilbo suddenly dropped on him from above and as Bilbo kept Kili disoriented in his weasel shift, he quickly shifted back and held Kili in a secure headlock.

"Ever kiss me again without my permission Kili, son of Vili, and I will put you through such a training exercise that Dwalin's will look like a bloody tea party. Do I make myself clear?"

"Transparently." Kili wheezed out before he was let go.

"By the way, as my father always told me, no tongue on the first date, and you kiss on the lips on the second date." Bilbo said with a grin that bordered on flirtatious before going off for the night.

"Well now, isn't he really starting to come out of his shell at last?" Bofur said and the others all nodded before they too went off to sleep, though Thorin, Balin and Dwalin stayed up for a bit longer to talk about what Bilbo had done and said.

Next Day After Breakfast

"Last night, after you all went to sleep, Balin, Dwalin and I were talking about a few things, one of the most important being how dangerous Bilbo is in a fight."

"Not to be rude or anything, Thorin, but we already knew that." Gloin said and the others all nodded before Dwalin said

"Yes, but last night Bilbo showed his resourcefulness; when he saw that he could not catch Kili in his tiger shift, he changed tactics in the blink of an eye, switched to his weasel shift, and ambushed Kili. Therefore, we've decided to see full on just what Bilbo can do, in all his styles."

"Wait a minute, you want me to fight all thirteen of you, at the same time?!" Bilbo asked, looking quite shocked.

"Aye; you incorporate many different styles of fighting; you use your weapons, you use your hands and feet, magic, your shifts. Fighting against you is like fighting against at least five different people." Balin explained but Bilbo said

"Well, thank you for your vote of confidence, but if I'm going to be ambushed by you lot all at once, please allow me an hour to prepare." Bilbo said and the others all nodded before Bilbo continued with

"I'm also going to put a spell on all of our weapons so that we can use our weapons without any of us getting seriously injured; the most any of us will get are cuts that will barely break the skin. However, I think we should agree that if I am able to land a blow that would kill you without the spell, you stay down; we are still healing and I would prefer not using too much energy on Dwarves too stubborn to stay down. Can we agree to this?" Bilbo asked and it was Thorin who said

"Acceptable; once Bilbo puts you sufficiently on the ground, you stay on the ground, out of the way until either he is on the ground or we all are. Bilbo, go make your preparations; rest assured, no one will bother you." Bilbo nodded before leaving the house.

"So, who wants to bet how many of us will be needed to take down Bilbo?" Fili asked, but Bofur, Bifur and Nori all looked a little uncertain.

"I don't know Fili; when the three of us took him on, none of us landed so much as a scratch, and that was without any spell work on Bilbo's part." Nori explained and Bifur reached for his nose as Bofur cradled his head as the three remembered the last time they took on Bilbo.

"Well yeah, but that was only three of you, not to mention it was before any of us had seen Bilbo fight. All thirteen of us, and knowing his tricks? We'll be fine." But only some shared Fili's confidence; last night just proved to them that Bilbo could adapt very quickly, and they hoped they could adapt as quickly.

One Hour Later

Bilbo was doing his best to keep all thirteen Dwarves in his sight as they formed a loose circle around him, trying to box him in. He had a pretty good feeling that the younger ones and those who hadn't gone up against him would try and rush him, whilst the older, more experienced warriors would wait and see just what he did. He took a deep breath, cleared his mind, and listened as Ori tried to sneak up on him with Dwalin's second hammer, Keeper. Without so much as a by-your-leave, Bilbo grabbed the slingshot Ori himself had given him earlier, grabbed a stone out of a pouch attached to his hip, took aim and hit Ori square in the head. As Ori was disoriented, Bilbo punched him hard in the stomach before grabbing his arm and hurling him over his shoulder.

"You Dwarves should leave sneaking about to Elves and Hobbits." The others each had a go, but Bilbo brought each of them down, but it wasn't until Dori and Nori that it looked like Bilbo really had to try; Dori threw his bolas at Bilbo, hoping to ensnare him, and as Bilbo jumped to avoid it, he found Nori's mace at his back, which had him doing a summersault straight towards Dori who now had his sword out. However, just before Bilbo landed in front of Dori, he regained control, and used the momentum he had gained to tackle Dori to the ground, before jumping off of him, again knocking the wind out of Dori. As Bilbo turned, the grin on his face was one that screamed of how much fun he was having, he drew his twin hooks and said

"Now that's more like it! Dori, I hope you will show me how to make a bolas; it really seems like my kind of weapon." Thorin and Dwalin, at Balin's advice, along with Balin himself had yet to join the fight, just watching Bilbo as he weaved and dodged as he lost some of his weapons such as his targe, his daggers, his hammer and his spear. They then watched as Bilbo successfully disarmed both Dori and Nori and they then watched as the two fell into a pitfall, knocking both out. There was now only the three of them, along with Fili and Kili, though those two did not last much longer; they tried charging as a pair, only to be tripped as Bilbo tossed a lasso around their legs and tightened it. As the boys tried to regain their balance, Bilbo shifted to his tiger shift, grabbed his end of the rope in his mouth, and then used the rope to tie up the boys. He then nudged the boys over into the pitfall, where they landed on Nori and Dori. He then shifted back and faced the three remaining Dwarves.

"It would appear you have a new weapon, Master Baggins. You were very productive in the hour we gave you; maybe that was a mistake."

"Well, you never said that I could not lay some traps. The odds weren't exactly favourable at 13:1; I just evened them out a bit." Bilbo was obviously sizing them up, as they had been sizing him up, and neither side was certain on what should be done; Bilbo had been able to take down each who had gone up against him, but they were not the seasoned warriors that Dwalin, Balin, and Thorin were. Bilbo knew now he was going up against warriors that were the muscle, the brains, and the heart respectively, of the company, even though Dori was physically stronger, Dwalin was the one who could last longer. Bilbo again took another deep breath, cleared his mind and acted with a few tricks he had never done before, but he knew the principles behind them; he and Arwen had talked about them whilst he was in Rivendell. Whilst he had been preparing for battle, he had pulled some of his loose feathers out and coated them in some of his venom (which had turned out to be a very powerful paralytic, as he had found out when he shifted back from his black eagle shift the day before yesterday). He had also used a trick he had learned from Legolas all those years ago when they had both been in Rivendell; a weapon referred to as a Black Egg, something that was usually a hollowed out bird egg, but he had used a spell to make a fragile kind of clay and then filled it with ground up sand and gravel. He knew that he wanted to face Thorin last, so he was trying to decide if it would be better to take out Balin or Dwalin first, brain or brawn; no brainer. He took two of his feathers and launched them too fast for anyone to see and one hit Balin near his throat, who then dropped like a stone.

"Burglar, what did you do to my brother?" Dwalin asked as he and Thorin took offensive positions and ran towards Bilbo who went on the defense as soon as their swords/axes hit his hooks.

"He'll be fine in a few hours; I took a few of my feathers and coated them in my snake shift's venom." He said as he blocked a blow from Thorin, who thankfully wasn't using Orcrist just yet.

"You just gave him some of your venom?!" Dwalin shouted as he tried to hit Bilbo who dodged.

"Relax; I watered it down so that all he experiences is the paralysis; if I hadn't, he would actually be in a lot of pain." Bilbo said Dwalin tried to hit Bilbo only to be blocked by the long side of the blade, he then pulled out one of his Black Eggs, crushed it in his hand and blew it in Dwalin's face. Then, as he was distracted, he used the hook part to trip Dwalin and, as Dwalin flailed, he finished with a nerve attack. As he stood however, he cried out as Thorin slashed his arm with his axe.

"Damn but I'm glad I did that spell; that could have taken my arm off!" Bilbo said as he held the arm, dropping his hooks; now he was in trouble with his only close range weapon being the Elf blade.

"As it is only the two of us left, and it is thanks to you that I have my own shield, I will allow you to retrieve your shield whilst I get my nephews, along with Dori and Nori, out of your pitfall trap, as I know they will want to see this. However, you shall only use your Elf blade and shield; no daggers, hammers, magic or katars."

"You're a hard man to deal with Thorin Oakenshield, but I really need my shield if I'm going to be using that infernal letter opener against Orcrist, so I agree." Bilbo said as he got up to get his targe and Thorin got his family out of the hole, who then moved Balin and Dwalin off the field.

"Ready, little scorpion?"

"I guess Nori regained consciousness, huh?"

"That would be correct. Now, ready?" Bilbo took a breath, and then entered his stance; it was an interesting match to watch as the two went up against each other. Thorin was older, had fought in an actual war and was much stronger with a greater reach, but Bilbo was light on his feet, cunning and was quick in the head. Another thing Thorin appreciated with Bilbo was that Bilbo was not afraid to strike him with everything he had; as a Dwarf of royal blood, some were afraid to strike him with everything they had. Truth be told, ever since the Great East Road, Thorin had wanted to pit his strength, reach and experience against Bilbo's grace, finesse, and instinct. With them both using their shields, they were lasting quite well, but Thorin could see Bilbo was starting to feel the fights from earlier weighing down on him.

"You appear to be tiring, little warrior but you shouldn't feel too bad; you have taken down twelve warriors and stood a long time against me, there is no shame in admitting defeat." Thorin said as the two were slammed against each other, but Bilbo was showing his stubbornness.

"I'm not done yet; I still have a few tricks left."

"I doubt that; we are at a current stalemate where you are pitting your inner sense of balance against my strength, but I am not as tired as you are. Your stamina is indeed impressive, but I think that thinking up so many different strategies has finally taken its toll on you. Quite frankly, I would say it's a safe bet that you are out of ideas." Bilbo then activated his shield and watched as the spike went as far as it could into the oak shield, then used the momentum to heave Thorin over his head. After Thorin landed on his back, Bilbo was quite certain that he had paid him back for his own arm (which for Thorin, he was quite certain, was dislocated), though his own was a great deal more sore now thanks to his little bout of heavy lifting.

"Not quite, I'm afraid." Bilbo said as he threw both shields to the ground, out of the way and Thorin stood up as he regained his sense of balance.

"You truly are stronger than you look."

"Actually, it was a matter of using your weight against you; a trick Lord Elrond taught me." Bilbo and Thorin circled each other, trying to find a weakness to the other, but Thorin knew them to be about equal; they each had a wounded arm, and whilst Thorin felt more comfortable with Orcrist than Bilbo did with his blade, Bilbo's little maneuver showed he could easily match him in hand-to-hand combat. Bilbo then remembered something and shifted into his Warg shift, hoping he could trick Thorin as he said

"You said that this rather exhausting exercise was to test my fighting skills in all forms, so it seems only fair that we fight all ways. Not to mention, you never said anything about our shifts when we started our fight." Thorin contemplated for a moment and Bilbo was glad Thorin could not read animal expressions. Thorin then nodded before he shifted into his wolf shift and the two charged at each other, snapping at each other before Bilbo broke away and appeared to run from the fight. If Thorin had been in his right mind, he would have found this strange, but Thorin still had trouble separating his feral mind from his logical one, and so followed Bilbo. The next sound anyone heard was a loud yelp before they heard Thorin yell. They all went running towards the sound and found Thorin dangling from a snare that kept him high above the ground.

"Neither did you say I couldn't lead you to a trap I had set up earlier." Bilbo said as he came back into everyone's line of sight.

"Ugh, I don't know just how well you would do in a war, but it's obvious that if your opponent wishes to see the next dawn, they should give you no warning before hand or they will have their arses handed to them. Now, let me down." Thorin ordered and Bilbo came closer, but not close enough to let him down and the others didn't dare interfere; not when Bilbo was so large, had such strong claws, and teeth so big.

"Surely you could ask a bit more nicely than that?" Bilbo asked as he circled, and grinned as Thorin twisted his body to glare at Bilbo.

"Will you kindly let me down, you impertinent Hobbit?" Thorin growled, though many became nervous when Bilbo smirked at Thorin before saying

"Better, but if you had said please I could have let you down more gently." Bilbo said before he reared back and bit the rope in two, letting Thorin down; whilst landing smack dab on his head. Everyone was laughing, but they soon quieted as the heard a sound they had never heard; Bilbo was laughing!

"Oh, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun!" Bilbo said and they all believed him whilst agreeing; the fight had indeed been fun for them as well.

"I see Little Bunny has made good use of the rope I gave him." Beorn said as he and Gandalf appeared.

"Rope you gave him?" Thorin asked as his nephews helped clean him of the dirt he had gathered. Beorn nodded as everyone gave Bilbo his weapons back.

"When I saw him preparing for a battle against thirteen seasoned opponents, I decided to see how well he would do with a weapon his mother would often use. It was quite the joke between the two of us how she finally 'caught' her husband. I also gave him permission to plant little traps so long as he fixed them when he was done."

"And I will I promise, just as soon as I catch my breath." Bilbo said as he did indeed try to catch his breath, though it was hampered by the fact that whenever he looked at the Line of Durin, he broke out laughing again. That night, after Bilbo fixed everything and gave everyone potions for pain and any lingering nausea, Bilbo looked a great deal younger as, though his smiles were not as big as the ones he had given earlier, they were far bigger than the ones they had received so far.