Disclaimer: Lord of the Rings is not mine. Jurassic Park is not mine. There. I also borrowed the title from The Hobbit.

Chapter Six

Legolas jerked his head up. "That was Pippin!"

The scream came again, louder. They all ran off in the direction of the sound.

"Pippin! Pippin!" Merry shouted as the sound grew louder.

"Merry!" Pippin called back. "Help!"

Suddenly, the shouting stopped. They ran on for a little ways, following the squeaking of the small dinosaurs.

Legolas, Aragorn, and Ian reached him first, with Boromir and Merry close behind. While everyone else waited to decide what to do, Ian grabbed two of the Compys and threw them off the young Hobbit. He was joined first by Merry, and then by everyone else, all of whom had by that time arrived.

Soon, the Compys grew tired of being thrown against trees and hopped off, a good many of them awkwardly.

Merry was kneeling by Pippin, looking up at the others as they finished scaring off the Compys. He had only one question in his mind: was his best friend okay?

All of a sudden, it didn't matter to him why Pippin had wandered off, how he had gotten this far without noticing he wasn't with the others, how the others hadn't noticed he wasn't there. Scaring off what remained of the little dinosaurs wasn't important.

The only thing in the world that mattered to him now was his best friend.

Everyone was gathered around Pippin. The youngest Hobbit lay on the ground. "Fool of a Took," Gandalf mumbled.

"No, just a little too careless," Ian said. "He isn't the first to get hurt here because he was a little too careless. He seems like the youngest of you."

"He is," Frodo nodded.

"Will he be okay?" Merry asked. His friend looked terrible, all scratched up and bloody.

"He should be," Gandalf nodded. "He probably fainted purely out of surprise."

Pippin groaned softly and opened his eyes. "Merry?"

"It's okay, Pip. We're all here."

"Those . . . things. They were everywhere."

"They won't come back," Boromir said gently.

"My arm hurts."

"Not surprised," Gandalf nodded.

"Can you walk?" Aragorn asked.

"I don't know." As the ranger helped him up, the Hobbit winced in pain. He whimpered a little.

"We'll travel faster if we carry him," Boromir said.

Ian sighed. These people were in such a hurry to get moving. "Sit down, Pip," he said, gathering up bits of the Hobbit's clothes the Compys had torn off. When the Hobbit was seated, he used them to bandage Pippin's left arm, which had been bitten pretty badly. Then the mathematician wrapped his coat around him; it was surprisingly cold for an island so far south, he realized. "A little better?" Ian asked, well aware that it wouldn't help everything.

Pippin nodded gratefully. "Is there any food here? I'm hungry."

Gandalf rolled his eyes. "This Hobbit is fine."

"As much as I'd like to agree with you in this matter, Gandalf," Ian said quietly, "no, he's not."

"Ian Malcolm, I have seen people recover from injuries far worse than –"

"Not without rest! Your departure won't be harmed by a delay of ten minutes! Now sit down, all of you. Rushing headlong into danger you don't know a thing about is a bad enough idea. Doing it hurt and without rest is suicide!"

"We need to get back."

"I know how urgent your Quest is; you spent all the time since you've found me explaining how urgent it is, short of the last maybe ten minutes. But it will do you no good dying trying to get back as fast as you can. I want to get off this island, too, but our first priority is survival."

Pippin was amazed. It was the first time he had seen anyone stand up to Gandalf. Everyone else was equally shocked. Including Gandalf. When he spoke, he spoke slowly. "The fate of Middle-Earth may rest in our hands. A day, or even an hour, may make the difference. Frodo, the choice is yours, but I urge you not to think too long."

Frodo kept his eyes lowered. "I, at least, should go back. It is a slim chance that we will even be able to get off this island, but it is a chance, a risk, that I believe I have to take." He stood. "I'm going with Gandalf."

"Frodo," Ian said. "I urge you to reconsider. Not for your sake, but for theirs." He motioned to the group. "If you push them too hard, beyond their limits, they may not make it."

"I do not ask them to come," Frodo said. "My question is: Who will?"

Oooooh, Fellowship splitting up already. :)

Lady Moofin – Well, as you've seen, Pippin is not dead. There's a Q in James Bond? I'm lost.

Zammy – Will put that on list of things to do: find Elves in Space and read it. Um . . . is that under Star Trek or Lord of the Rings?

xWhit3staRx – :) Yay! I split up the Fellowship! Again! Somehow I find them easier to write in smaller groups so I can focus on everyone's personalities. :) Such as a now-obvious clash of personalities between Gandalf and Ian. :)