The next day, everyone sat in the council of Elrond. It was the day that the fate of the ring was to be decided. Carolyn, Katie, and Caitlin were all dressed in their normal 'earth' clothes again. Carolyn and Caitlin had both argued over who got to sit next to Legolas, but while they'd been bickering, another elf got the seat. The three friends were now sitting next to Frodo. He was looking nervous and fiddling with the ring.

"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old..." Elrond announced. Everyone fell silent. "You've been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this one fate, this one doom. Bring forth the Ring, Frodo."

Frodo stood up and placed the ring on a small pedestal in the center of the gathering. Boromir's eyes lit up at the sight of it.

"So it is true... The doom of men... It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor! Why not use this ring?" He smiled. "Long has my father, the Steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the Enemy. Let us use it against him!"

"(cough)CRAZY!(cough)" Katie yelled as she tried to cover it up with her coughs.

"Bless you." Carolyn said.

"You cannot wield it!" Aragorn said interrupting him. "None of us can. The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master."

Boromir turned and glared at him. "And what would a RANGER know of these matters?"

"This is no mere Ranger!" Legolas called out, jumping to Aragorn's defense. "He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance."

Boromir stared openmouthed at him. "Aragorn? This is Isildur's heir?"

"And heir to the throne of Gondor!"

"(Sit down Legolas.)" Aragorn said calmly. Legolas sighed and sat back down.

"Gondor has no king; Gondor needs no king." Boromir snapped.

"Aragorn is right." Gandalf added. "We cannot use it."

"You have only one choice. The Ring must be destroyed." Elrond stated.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Gimli yelled out suddenly. Before anyone could stop him, he ran forward and brought his battle-ax down on the small ring. The moment the weapon made contact, there was a flash of light and Gimli was thrown backwards. His ax had shattered, but the ring was unharmed.

"That…was…so…BITCHIN'!" Caitlin cheered.

Suddenly, Carolyn, Katie, Caitlin and Frodo felt a burning pain in their foreheads. A huge flaming eye flashed through their mind's eye.

"The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli son of Gloin, by any craft that we here possess. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this."

"One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep, and the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly!" Boromir shouted.

"Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond has said?!" Legolas yelled. "The Ring must be destroyed!"

"And I suppose you think YOU'RE the one to do it!" Gimli snarled. Legolas shot him a dirty look.

"And what if we fail, what then?!" Boromir demanded, "What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?!"

"I WILL BE DEAD BEFORE I SEE THE RING IN THE HANDS OF AN ELF!" Gimli roared.

"And here comes the prejudice…" Carolyn, who (along with Katie and Caitlin) hates racism in all forms, sighed.

The whole council seemed to explode into arguments. The elves were yelling at the dwarves, the dwarves were trying to slug the elves and all the humans were trying to hold them each back.

Suddenly, Frodo, Carolyn, Caitlin, and Katie all heard a terrible voice emitting from the ring.

"Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul! Ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul!" The three girls covered their ears and closed their eyes in an attempt to block it out.

"I will take it!" Frodo shouted. No one seemed to hear him, so he stood up and yelled louder. "I WILL TAKE THE RING!" Everyone stopped and stared at him. "I will take the Ring to Mordor." He sighed. "Though… I do not know the way…"

"I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins," Gandalf said smiling weakly, "As long as it is yours to bear."

"If by life, or death, I can protect you, I will!" Aragorn added. "You have my sword!"

"And you have my bow." Legolas said.

"And my axe!" Gimli added.

Boromir smiled and turned to Frodo. "You hold to fate of us all, little one. If this is indeed the will of the council, then Gondor will see it done."

"HE CAN'T GO! HE DIDN'T NAME A WEAPON!" Katie protested. This remark was met with more punches from her friends.

"Hey!" A voice rang out. Sam hurried up to Frodo's side. "Mr. Frodo's not going anywhere without me!"

"No indeed." Elrond said smiling. "It is hardly possible to separate you, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not."

"Hey!" Pippin yelled as he and Merry ran up to Frodo and Sam. "We're coming too!"

"You'd have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!" Merry added.

"Anyway," Pippin added, "You need people of intelligence on this sort of mission... quest... thing."

"Well that rules you out Pip." Merry said rolling his eyes.

"Nine companions." Elrond whispered. He nodded. "So be it. You shall be The Fellowship of The Ring."

"Great!" Pippin said grinning broadly. "Where are we going?"

Everyone face-faulted.

"Why not ask your three human friends?" Elrond said calmly, "They are gifted with foresight, are they not?"

Carolyn gulped. "Err…well…"

"Or perhaps…" Elrond said icily, "You can explain to the council why you lied about your powers and why you wear such strange clothing? Spies from Mordor perhaps?"

"NO!" Caitlin said quickly as the council exploded into angry shouts. "We're not spies from the enemy! We're just…um…" She didn't know what to say without giving themselves away.

"We bought these clothes at Hot Topic!" Katie chimed in before anyone could silence her.

"I see… And where would that be?"

"Back in our own world!" She said. Carolyn and Caitlin both punched her on the head again, but it was too late. 'Madam Moron' had sold them out.

Elrond looked like someone he trusted, had just swung a heavy bag of bricks into his face…hard. "Y-You…came from another world?" He gasped.

Everyone turned and stared at them. The council exploded into murmurs. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin were staring at them like they'd never seen them before.

"Well…" Caitlin sighed. "Looks like we're busted…"

"You lied to us." Frodo whispered.

"We had to Frodo." Carolyn said sadly. "If we had told you we were from another world, you'd would've thought we were nuts."

He shook his head and looked away. He refused to meet her gaze.

"It seems that the ancient prophecy has finally come true." Elrond said scratching his chin.

"What prophecy?" Carolyn said frowning.

"Yeah dude! Give us some answers!" Katie said doing her surfer-guy impression at the wrong time, as always.

"Katie!" Caitlin snapped. "You do not say DUDE to an elvish king! You call him 'sir'!"

"(Are they always like this?)" Elrond asked Aragorn in elvish.

"(Pretty much, yeah.)" Aragorn responded. Every elf except for Legolas and Elrond snickered.

"Fate works in mysterious ways." Elrond sighed. "You see; there is a legend in this land, that in a time when Middle-Earth falls into chaos three young maidens from another world will come to aide the chosen warriors in their quest to save our world. The three maidens will be gifted with the powers to travel between different worlds, and to aide the chosen warriors of THOSE worlds as well."

"YOU'VE GOT IT ALL WRONG!" Carolyn cried. "We're just a couple of high school students who were reading 'Return of the King' and landed in your world by mistake!"

"This book you were reading… Does it talk about Middle Earth?" Aragorn asked.

"Yeah…" Caitlin said frowning.

"Then perhaps the author of THAT book, had a psychic connection to this world, and wrote down what he saw."

"So… 'The Lord of the Rings' is based off an actual dimension?" Katie asked in shock.

"Yes." Elrond replied. "But let's get back to the point. Will the three of you protect our world?"

Carolyn, who was eager to find out more about this, spoke up. "What do we have to do?"

"You must go with the fellowship." Elrond explained. "You must aide Frodo, and help him get the ring to Mount Doom."

"Sounds pretty dangerous." Caitlin said with concern in her voice.

 "You may or may not live through it." Legolas chimed in.

"Well, your majesty, I am INTO this!" Carolyn yelled. Carolyn was a true warrior, who had always yearned to go on a real adventure. "When do we leave?! When do we leave?!"

Elrond looked over at Carolyn. "I suppose you must be the leader of this little club."

 "I wouldn't really call this a club." Carolyn said shrugging. "But I guess I'm SORTA the leader. Caitlin has absolutely NO common sense, and Katie's…well…Katie. So I'm really more of a peacemaker, who keeps them from doing something unbelievably dumb, than a leader."

"I forgot what we were talking about." Katie said stupidly. "Sounds important."

"I shudder to think what would happen if those two had no one to guide them!" Gimli said pointing at Caitlin and Katie.

"In a nutshell: everyone would die." Gandalf sighed.

"No, no, no. Everyone ELSE would die." Caitlin corrected him.

"Well then I have a gift for you." Elrond said. He motioned for Carolyn to come closer. She stepped up to him. He reached into his robes and pulled out a glass sphere. It was perfectly clear and glittered in the sunlight. He placed in her hand.

 "You want ME to have this?" Carolyn said frowning, "What's it for?"

"You'll find out soon enough. I daresay you'll find it very useful. Keep it with you Carolyn, you are the leader of the three girls."

"How come SHE gets to be leader?" Katie whispered to Caitlin.

 "Cause she the only one writing this story anymore."

"Why don't you just tell me what this sphere is for?" Carolyn asked Elerond.

"You'll find out eventually."

 "Why don't you just tell me now?!"

 "You'll have to learn how to use it on your own!" Elrond yelled angrily. He was starting to look pissed off.

Carolyn smiled and nodded towards the sphere. "And what if I decide to just SELL this thing?" Carolyn then learned that you can only push an elven king so far.

'Cause that's when Elrond lost it.

Five minutes later…

Katie, Caitlin, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir walked out of the courtyard. Katie was carrying Carolyn's sphere, she had a large black eye. Caitlin was carrying a frog that had recently been Carolyn. The frog looked ROYALLY pissed.

"Why'd he hit me anyways?" Katie asked. Her black eye was so swollen it covered her eye.

"One, because you're Katie, two, because you deserved it, and three, I think he was testing if he could give it to you in the first place. Who knew someone that looked so weak could give off such a strong fighting aura." Caitlin said as a matter-of-factly.

"But you're the bitch of the group! Why didn't you get hit?!"

"Because I ducked."

"I hate you… And besides that was completely unrealistic!" Katie yelled, "Elrond doesn't even HAVE the power to change people into frogs!"

 "Don't worry Carolyn!" Merry cried to the frog, "We'll get you the best doctor money can buy!"

"The best one we can AFFORD anyway." Caitlin sighed.