Well, I never expected this story to be popular!!! ^_^ Time for my traditional reviewer replies...
Kawaii Elf Girl; Wow, what a lovely long review! ^_^ Yup, I'm English! And I have the typical English sense of humour as well! ^_^ I like the sound of most of Philadelphia, I knew it was a city, but that was about it... in fact (I dunno if you've got it over there) but here in the UK we have a type of spreadable cheese called Philadelphia... not that it's really related... ^_^ It's v. nice too! Thanks for the review!
Elven Kitten; Thanks for the review! Doesn't matter how long they are, I just love them! ^_^
Mellaithwen-Elven Maiden; Hi Amy! ^_^ The Back to the Future series is my fave series of films after LOTR and Lethal Weapon... you ever seen them? Yeah, that's Quantum Leap... Red Dwarf = Classic British Comedy!!! ^_^ It's just great!!! The other fics are coming along great thank you! Thanks for the review!
BURN THE R.U.M; I adore Red Dwarf!!! It's hilarious! Do they have a category for it here? Probably not... Gimli is one of my fave characters now, behind Legolas and Aragorn. He's funny! ^_^
Estel Elven Enchantress; You trying to hint at something there Jo?! ^_^ Yeah, I wanted to do it nice and subtly... you seem to be the only one that noticed! ^_^ Well done! Maybe it takes English POV to see it... who knows?
Spades; Hello there Spades! Nice to see you! ^_^ Ah, about Sauron adapting to the 31st Century... I have a few surprises up my sleeve, so don't worry! I just wanted to keep it a secret for a while, until the time comes to it...
Anmras; Thank you very much! I try to keep my stories simple enough for my readers to follow, so I'm glad it's working!
Irish QT; Oh stop! (No don't really!) You have no idea how much your reviews make me smile! I'm sittin here like a Cheshire Cat!!! ^_^
KnowInsight; ^_^ Thanks!
So, without any further ado... the story...
.: Chapter Two :.
Aragorn looked out on the great city of Minas Tirith with pride. The clouds rolled high above Middle-Earth in fluffy groups, the Sun slowly trekking across the sky, casting shadows in the streets below. People bustled about their busy lives, market keepers, bakers, farmers, women and children... The King sighed, smiling. He had grown to love the city very much.
As he cast his gaze towards the Pelennor Fields, he noticed a very small dark spot thundering towards the City, kicking up dust in a large cloud as it went. He frowned, shielding his grey blue eyes from the Sun with his hand.
Squinting, he was barely able to make out a few flashes of gold, and a white horse. A wide smile broke across his face. He turned to a guard who stood nearby.
"Send down a call to the main gates," he told the man. "Tell the guards to open them!"
~*~*~*~
Gandalf hobbled up to the door of the Hobbit hole, passing the red and yellow flowers that had been lovingly tended by expert hands.
"Samwise Gamgee," he thought, remembering the young Hobbit with fondness. Without him, the Quest probably would never have been fulfilled.
The smile upon his elderly features faded. No, the Quest had not been fully completed. Sauron was still causing misery, even though it didn't affect them directly. They had to finish what they started...
He rapped lightly on the door with the top of his white staff, and waited. He could hear a muffled commotion inside, and wondered what was going on. All of a sudden, the door flew open and there stood Peregrin Took, a gently smoking pipe in his mouth and a book in the other.
"Gandalf!" he cried, his eyes brightening immensely in a moment and a wide beam spreading across his face. Gandalf smiled back.
"Hello there Pippin," he said. "Fancy seeing you here at Bag End!"
Pippin's face fell slightly. "Yes, well..." he sighed. Gandalf wondered at this change when a small Hobbit with bouncing curls in her hair and rosy cheeks clamped itself onto Pippin's leg.
"Uncle Pippin, come on and read the story!" she pleaded sweetly, batting her eyelids so her eyelashes fluttered like butterfly's wings.
Gandalf chuckled heartily. "Ah! So this lovely little lady is our own Elanor, am I correct?" The girl looked up and saw the white Wizard, and shocked, hid behind Pippin, peering out and eyeing him suspiciously.
Pippin exhaled noisily. "What on Middle-earth were Sam and Rosie thinking?! If this is what it's going to be like, I'm banning Diamond from even considering about children..."
~*~*~*~
The thunder clapped ahead of time in 3003 AD. Tumbling shadowy clouds spread out like wildfire across the sky, with the rain pelting down in sheets. Things had gotten so bad out on the streets that no one ever went out anymore.
The hover cars had been grounded by the speeding Vero-bots that zoomed about the sky. A Vero-bot was a powerful invention by one of Sauron's right hand beings, but that person shall come into this tale later. These swift machines would thunder after anyone trying to escape from Sauron's reign, to take down any flier who was not part of 'The Shade' with their bright red lasers; their own way of oppressing the peoples of Earth further.
'The Shade' was the rather large group of Earthling followers that Sauron had built up through unfulfilled promises and propaganda. It may be said that they shouldn't have believed the Dark Lord, but times were so dark, they wanted to cling onto any hope, even if it was surrounded by evil.
Now the only lonely ones to walk on the practically deserted streets were the members of this sinister organization.
A man ran across the road, pulling his long black coat around him further to try and conserve the little heat he had. The lashing rain plastered his dirty blonde hair to his forehead, the water sometimes running in a large fat drop down to the end of his slightly pointed nose. He ran faster and faster, his breath coming in gasps as he did... he had to get away...
Behind him, the Machine swooped out from the alley it had chased him down. Red infrared scanners shone out of spaces hammered out to serve as 'eyes'. They flickered around for a moment, before settling on the man's panting sweating form.
A loud whirring ensued, and it launched itself on clanking metal 'legs' towards the now screaming man. Even though he tried to claw himself out of its devastatingly strong grip of its 'hand', the effort was fruitless. The Machine picked him up and, boosting up jets concealed on the inside of its back, and with only a whoosh, it fired up like a rocket into the air, carrying the terrified man with it up into the sky...
The man would never return...
~*~*~*~
Gandalf was sat awkwardly on the little wooden chair. Pippin sat next to him, his hairy little feet hanging slightly off the ground. Frodo, now pouring tea for all from a small blue teapot, had welcomed the Wizard delightedly when he walked into the Hobbit hole, stepping over toys of Elanor's that were strewn about the floor. Sam, beaming, had shaken his hand warmly and was currently sitting opposite Gandalf, and Merry, who was also visiting, had found the time to put his pipe down and greet the Istari and now munched quite happily on shortbread biscuit.
However, the occasion was far from happy. Gandalf had just told them of Sauron's destructive powers in the future, and now four heroic Hobbits stared at him in wide eyed disbelief.
"You mean Sauron has taken over the world?" asked Sam, his mind numb.
Gandalf nodded grimly. "Now it is up to you to save them."
Frodo shook his head. "Gandalf, wait. What can we do against Him?! He has already found almost absolute power... we can't help the people of Earth."
Merry nodded, agreeing. "What can four Hobbits do against a whole entire army in the end?"
Gandalf smiled. "Ah, you see, that's the beauty of it. It will not just be you four."
Sam brightened slightly. "Oh good! Who else is coming?"
Gandalf looked at the Hobbit who cradled his little girl on his knee. "Who do you think?"
"Not Aragorn!" said Pippin suddenly. Gandalf nodded. Pippin was shocked. "B-but he can't!" he blurted out. "He has a kingdom to care for now!"
"When you leave," Gandalf told him. "Time will practically stop here. Compared to how fast you are going, one week in the future equals about a day here. You'll barely be gone any time at all if everything goes according to plan."
"And since when do things involving Sauron go 'according to plan'?" said Frodo. "When the Ring had to be destroyed, the Fellowship was supposed to stay together. And what happened?"
"We split," finished Merry. Gandalf looked a little annoyed. Merry swallowed hard. "Erm... I think, what Frodo means, Gandalf... I think... well..."
"Just because Aragorn is coming as well doesn't mean we'll succeed." said Sam.
"So you don't think that because he's also going to ask Legolas and Gimli to join us as well that you'll not be able to do this?"
"Gandalf, listen," said Pippin. He wanted the Wizard to see some sort of sense. "Even if all seven of us go, we'll be no match for the Army of the Red Eye!"
"I know that Peregrin," said Gandalf. "I'm not asking you to fight. I'm asking you to get this." He pulled out a bit of parchment and opened it out. On the slightly yellow surface was a detailed coloured drawing of what looked like a ball. It was mostly black, but inside it held a purple flame.
Pippin shuddered; it reminded him of the PalantÃr of Saruman... "What is that?"
Gandalf rolled up the parchment again. "It is the Gothal." he said simply. "The tool that Sauron now uses to control his minions. You must retrieve it and return it here so we can destroy it."
The Hobbits sat in silence for a moment, before it was broken by Pippin.
"Well, that doesn't sound too hard..."
~*~*~*~
Please R&R! ^_^