A PITTED ASTEROID ORBITING THE EARTH'S TALE
Chapter 9: Debating Destiny
A Sailor Moon/Lord of the Rings crossover… and perhaps a bit stereotypical?
SUMMARY: Serena Usagi Tsukino is tired with the plans of Fate and Destiny and rebels, paving a path of her own filled with many uncertainties. A SM/LOTR Xover
DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon and Lord of the Rings belong to Naeko Takeuchi and J.R.R. Tolkien respectively. sigh do not harass me for claiming ownership on anything but the characters of my own creation. If you do then you are stupid and shall be thrown into the fiery depths of Mordor and be banished for all time.
LAST TIME ON PITTED ASTEROID:
The figure looked up at the sound of Sailor Moon's voice. It appeared as if it were taking notes of some kind. Looking at its surroundings, it appeared a bit surprised that they were now alone. Obviously, it hadn't been paying attention and was severely concentrated on the task at hand. Nearly dropping whatever it was writing on in the process, the figure muttered a few undecipherable words and melted into the ground.
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"Do not thank us, child. You would come to curse our name should you know what is expected of you. But that is beyond our power to disclose. Know you this: Times are changing, nothing is as it was. The future is uncertain and all things hang in a balance."
"But what does this have to do with me?"
Usagi had the brief image of a bright light and heard a fading voice that whispered, "Can you keep it?"
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"Endymion? Is that you, my prince?" Usagi called out, finding herself still in her white dress. The figure that spoke stood against the shadow of the tree, all but his face revealed in the soft light. His face was encased in shadow.
"Everything as it was before.
Back to the beginning.
Back to before."
- -your eyes are being wasted, reading these words. Stop looking and proceed to the story, where they can feast on the delightful images woven between the lines!!- -
A Pitted Asteroid Orbiting the Earth's Tale
Chapter 9: Debating Destiny
The bartender watched from his post behind the counter of the bar as the peculiar pair made their way to a solitary table, half encased in shadow. Best be left alone, they be, he wisely thought to himself. Over his long years as a trusty bartender, he had learnt a few tricks of the trade that had kept his place a nice, user friendly environment. His motto being: Best leave each to his own, and there be no trouble for none o' ya. He was particularly proud of his slogan, thinking it a stroke of profound genius on his part. So infatuated was he with his witty way of words that he had gotten it engraved just under the sign that read Prancing Pony, so that all potential customers could see what sort of business he meant.
Returning back to the current situation, the bartended swished the towel a bit more on the already spotless counter just for good measure. Eyeing in the direction of the odd duo one last time, the bartender returned his attention to other customers at hand. Best leave all to 'er business, that's what.
A heated conversation, oblivious to the curious stares of nearby bystanders was meanwhile taking place from the aforementioned mysterious pair dark corner.
"Tell me, Gandalf. What brings you here? What news do you hold that causes you to hasten so?"
"'Tis not news, but more of a feeling, Aragorn."
At this, the seasoned ranger couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. As much as he trusted Gandalf, he still had his qualms about relying on ominous feelings of doom. Moreover, he was more than a bit wary of Gandalf's reckoning that something bad was coming. But for now, the best plan would be to follow along with the old Istari, for he was a force he wished not to reckon with.
"And, well, what type of feeling would this exactly be, Gandalf? Is there sufficient need to rally the other rangers?"
"I see you are skeptical of my instincts," Gandalf replied with a knowing chuckle and his trademark twinkle of his eye, "Fear not, for such are the ways of you young people. Ever reliant on fact and realistic accounts, you are. Do not worry Aragorn. Have I led you astray yet?"
Aragorn at once felt ashamed for doubting the wise wizard. Tilting his head in slight shame, he replied, "Forgive me, friend. Your guidance is something I value and I do not doubt it now, nor shall I ever in the future."
"Worry not, young ranger. Now, to matters more pressing at hand. I assume you were about to ride off to Rivendell and consult Lord Elrond of the recent increase in Orc attacks?"
"Yes, it has been an ever-growing concern, and last night's attack only further steeled my desire to inform my foster father of these recent events."
The Istari nodded in agreement, taking out his pipe and lighting it. He then sat back in deep thought, as he puffed little holes of smoke that wafted about the area before dissipating completely. Aragorn took a sip of the ale he had requested and left Gandalf to his thoughts. He knew better than to interrupt the wise wizard in moments like this.
"What do you intend to do about these attacks, Aragorn? What do you think of them?"
At this Aragorn paused. Why would Gandalf seek his counsel? Nevertheless, he answered the question to the best of his abilities, with the knowledge that everything Gandalf did in life was with some distinct purpose, and this matter was certainly no less. Although what the purpose may be, he had yet to find out.
"It disturbs me that these attacks have grown more frequent. The evil in these lands is growing, Gandalf. I fear that it may overcome Middle Earth, should we not rally our forces in retaliation."
It was now Gandalf's turn to raise his eyebrow at the ranger's astute observations. Prodding a bit further, he questioned, "Do you not feel that such calls for war are a bit extreme? For the whole of Middle Earth to be in danger? What brings you to such a drastic conclusion, friend? And why do you call for war so easily and eagerly? It is not such a light matter to discuss, and a much more serious issue that affects the lives of many."
Again Aragorn paused before replying, only this time he spent it preparing and adequate response.
"War is something I would wholeheartedly wish to avoid. Yet if it is brought upon Middle Earth, then I wish for her to be swift and ready for its defense. It is in my opinion that should these Orc attacks increase, given their current numbers and at the rate they are attacking now, in just a few short years, we could very well find ourselves against massive forces of Orcs. I feel that it would be wise to find the source, the ringleader of these Orcs and eliminate that threat while it has yet to flourish."
Aragorn was confused. He felt as if whatever he was saying was already known to the Istari and that Gandalf sought something else in his answers. Pausing for a minute, Aragorn allowed all this to sink in before quietly adding, "Forgive me, Gandalf, but your questions puzzle me. What is it that you seek from me?"
Gandalf chuckled heartily. "Nothing Aragorn. Nothing but your trust." Puffing once more on his pipe, Gandalf proceeded to make one last conclusion,
"But you bring up an interesting point. I would agree with your keen observations, friend. Some unknown, outside central force must indeed control the Orcs. But by who, and how? Who would have the power and the darkness to entice such creatures to obey them willingly and carry out their orders? And what exactly is the ultimate gain of such destruction? These, Aragorn, are the questions that need to be answered, should there exist such a threat."
This statement was left to sit in the air, wafting around the two, much like the smoke of Gandalf's pipe, binding them in a very serious predicament.
"What is happening, Mithrandir?" Aragorn timidly asked, lips barely moving to produce the sound. He used Gandalf's elvish name, as he did often as a child in Rivendell, fascinated by the stories of Gandalf's travels.
Gandalf heard the ranger's question and took his time in answering.
"Nothing now, but soon, perhaps. Go to Rivendell to consult your foster father. I shall meet up with you shortly thereafter, to seek Lord Elrond's recommendation as well. But for now, I have other business to attend to." With that, the old Istari picked up his pointed wizard hat that he had set aside and placed it precariously on his head. He grabbed his traveling cloak and staff and turned to Aragorn. With a soft tip of his hat, and right hand placed over his heart as a farewell salute, he was gone, leaving the lone ranger in the dark and smoke filled corner to think of their discussion.
My, thought Aragorn, does the old man move fast. Sighing at the wizard's cryptic and unfathomable words, Aragorn downed the rest of the ale and picked up his traveling cloak as well. He had best be headed to Rivendell now if he wanted to make it within the week.
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Meanwhile, in a dimension and an age away…
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-Flash-
A blonde child in pigtails was running through a field towards a cave, playing an impromptu game of hide and seek. "Dear, where are you?" the woman called out, while child giggled and continued to run towards the cave. 'Playing is so much fun, although mother isn't the best seeker,' she thought to herself. Clouds gathered as the weather turned gloomier and the child slightly slowed her race through the woods and to her hiding spot. She hated thunder. 'It's so loud and bright!' She had complained to her mother once, curled up in her lap during a particularly terrible storm. A crash of thunder and lightning sent her yelping at a faster pace to the cave, wishing that she was back in the safety of her mother's lap. "Who's there?" she called out, getting a familiar sense of being watched, "Who's there?" she called out again, this time in the confines of the cave. A dank hand unexpectedly clamped over her small mouth. 'Mother!' was her last thought, before succumbing to the darkness.
With a start, Usagi jerked her head up for the third time that day, to see a very upset Haruna sensei [Teacher] staring back at her, arms crossed in frustration.
"Glad to see you joined the world of the conscious, Ms. Tsukino. That will be detention today, after school," she snapped, before resuming her lecture on the history of samurais.
Groaning once again, Usagi settled her head back into her arms, as her mind wandered off again, oblivious to the snickers of the rest of the classmates. Rei's going to murder me! She silently thought to herself. This was the tenth scout meeting she would be late to in a row!
Sniffing in annoyance, Usagi delved further into her musings, disregarding the lesson entirely. The only way Usagi ever learnt the material was if she read it herself. Listening to Haruna sensei drone on and on was just one huge waste of time. She wasn't stupid, contrary to popular belief. Just more of a self-learner.
Settling once more into the warm depths of her arms, Usagi reflected back on that dream, and many of the others that had plagued her head as of late. They've got to all mean something, but what?
Blinking her eyes, Usagi continued her thoughts in that direction, while trying to look as if she was paying attention to the lesson, when the bell rang, signaling the end of class and the beginning of her detention. The rest of the students eagerly rushed out of the classroom, eager for the upcoming weekend, leaving one exasperated teacher and jaded student in their wake.
Usagi opened up her binder and began her homework, what she usually did during her detentions. She had picked up her study habits, ever since the end of Chaos, realizing that she would have to start being more concerned with her future, in order to ever become a successful NeoQueen.
Scowling at that thought, Usagi once more harrumphed at the thought of her set destiny: Marry Mamoru, have Rini, rule the world. All in all, it certainly wasn't the worst deal in the world. I mean, she'd be filthy rich and have immense power, and be with the love of her life. Wouldn't she?
Yet still, Usagi wasn't satisfied. As of late, the lack of choice she had been given in life, in her path as Sailor Moon and as the Princess, had made itself more and more apparent, serving to remind her of the childhood she had never had and of the freedom she longed to experience. It was beginning so that it unnerved her to no end. She wouldn't mind doing all that was expected of her if it all ended up that way. If that was the path that ended up being laid out for her as a result of her own choices and actions then it was just fine. But instead, as Pluto had explained time and time again, this was her future. And that was that.
So here she was, having become a much more improved person than her fourteen-year old self was, two years ago. Usagi was much more serious about battles, and trained herself privately on a regular basis, using the crystal to simulate training programs for her. And this, she found, had become a hobby. Usagi had discovered a fondness for weapons, the more deadly and damage-causing, the better. This hobby, perhaps, was one of the highlights of being Sailor Moon as it granted her access to the crystal, and as Princess, access to different forms, shapes and styles of weaponry.
Her favorite form of weaponry were the twin katana swords she'd gotten and pretty much mastered as a gift from her foster mother, Queen Serenity, for her sixteenth birthday. (AN: Think of the twin swords Trunks had in DBZ, if you are familiar with that). It had been hers on the moon as Princess Serenity, which Pluto had presented on behalf of the Princess' deceased other.
To train, Usagi simulated the crystal, practicing with weapons such as swords, daggers, the crossbow and knives. To her delight, she had found a hidden compartment in her sub dimensional space pocket, which, once unlocked by a simple spell, allowed her to store any weapon she wanted to, and to call upon it with the mere thought of its image in her head. Because the hidden space pocket had originally belonged to Princess Serenity during the Silver Millenium, it had been used by the Princess herself to store a variety of foreign looking weapons, tools that hadn't been used since her death, thousands of years ago. This discovery was like Christmas all over for the young warrior, and for a few moments, Usagi didn't terribly mind being bestowed with such a Destiny if it came with perks like this.
Then her communicator had gone off and reality came crashing down. No play for Usagi, just another fantastic demon slayage. But that was then, and this is now.
Nonetheless, Luna had been very proud, as of late, to be the guardian of the budding queen. She was pleased that her charge had finally decided to take life seriously and accept her destiny.
Little did she know that Usagi was thinking quite the other way. Usagi smirked internally, thinking back to Luna's praise at her last training session. She had been the only one that knew of Usagi's steady progress, and Usagi wanted to keep it that way. No sense in making a big fuss out of things, wasn't it? No sense at all.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: WooT! Another chapter finished! Wowz! I have to say it's taking a much different turn then I originally planned, but good all the same. And I know this wasn't major at ALL in the way of plot movement, but it did set some major background for her shift to Middle Earth. And sometimes you need that in a story.
AND THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! Grins It boosts my pitiful ego. I've actually found that the longer I wait, the more reviews I get. Meaning I had this whole plan where I update every two weeks, but I've found that I should at least wait a month, get the satisfactory amount of reviews that I want, and then also juice up the latest chapter accordingly. Works, ne? Also, you may or may have not noticed a few discrepancies in the chapter such as missing symbols, random symbols and quirky quotation marks. I tried to get them all, but they weren't on Word when I uploaded it. But then, as I previewed this when I uploaded it, all these random symbols came, courtesy of ff.net's new system. It's really cool, but very troublesome. So you guys are gonna have to live with strange quotation symbols, no asterix or squiggly signs and some random insertion of symbols. Hopefully this will be fixed.
On that note, I've got to tell you guys an amusing story. Wanna hear? Read on!
Okay, so I log in to check some stories, and here I get a notice that I have a review! (This was about two days ago, mind you, days since my last update!) Delighted, I take a look, and well, the words look foreign. Because, hey, what do ya know, they're in French! So here I am thinking, what sort of brainless nincompoop writes a review in French? I look at it closely and notice that it can't be a good review. So yes, you guys, I think I received my first flame. does happy dance in the background
It had the words f you in it, or something to that extent. Anywhoo, I actually don't even think this person read my story as I think they responded merely to a scathing review I gave to one of their story. And it was on an anonymous account, which spells CHICKEN in flashing neon pink lights. I mean, if I'm going to leave a flame to someone (and yes I have, to extremely poorly written and garbage worthy stories) not only do I leave my actual log in name (as a means of some ID) but I actually suggest what they could do better. If I don't like a story, I'll tell you, and if you can't take my opinion, then tough. And it's your loss. I mean, it really says something if the computer-typed words of a person half way across the world offend you. I mean, really. But hey, to that specific reviewer, I will gladly keep my mouth, err, typing hands to myself, and not waste any more energy on you.
May you write terribly in peace.
So anyway, if anybody can read French, please take a look at the review left by Blaiser merde and translate it for me please? If nobody can translate it, then it was a good laugh. I literally burst out into giggles when I discerned the words lecture and f you from it. I'm just curious as to what they could possibly complain about! I'm sure you will all share my amusement upon reading that review. (Which I have left for all to read and have NOT taken it down, like some authors). But thanks anyway to that reviewer. I just wish I could read it and learn from my mistake, ya know? Isn't that what flames are for? To keep you warm and toasty??
So anywhoo, thanks for bearing with that rant. Sometimes I feel the need to let certain oddities of society be noticed. Now on to personal comments:
Princess Silver Serenity: Thanks so much! I really do take forever with my chapters because I have read some darn good stories out there which have given me uber satisfaction from reading them, and I only want to do the same. Haha. Your review made me feel inspired to write a whole thousand more words to the chapter! So review again!
ElvenSailorGirl: You are such a cool reviewer. I love how you ran through each point you liked! I wish more people would do that often. It lets me know what kinds of things are noticed and what aren't! Glad you saw the whole thing with Pluto and Chronos, and for noticing the Catch-22 reference! And also, I'm delighted you pointed out the LotR reference! But you thought the end of chapter 8 was a bit confusing? Great to know! I took a look back at it, and totally agree with you. But unfortunately, I cannot clarify it because it's part of the cliffhanger! But I do promise it will ALL be cleared up at some point in the story. Gosh, I hate being so vague. Anywhoo as for your Silmarillion question, well, funny you should ask, because I'm in the middle of reading it right now. It's part of the reason why I'm taking forever to update because I want to finish it first. And then I can add in all these old age prophesy-ish stuff and it would sound wicked awesome. But naah, I'm not that good. I would love to include some of the stuff from there, but I don't think I have reached that level of Tolkien-ness to tamper with such greatness. But I will draw from the trilogy, and as much as I don't want to, the movie version. Some aspects of the movie do fit astonishingly well with the moods I've been creating with my story, much to my dismay. (I liked the movie, but I don't like mixing it with Tolkien). But such is life, can't have what you want, right? And as for the title, well… I really really wanna tell you, so don't tempt me. All I can say is look at it as words strung together. And that's that. If you haven't figured it out by the time I finish this story, then I'll tell you. So think of it as a reward for everything! Stick with me. And thanks for all your wonderful reviews. I look forward to reading each one of them!
Sere Star: Soon, my friend, all in good time.
CosmosAngel1: Congrats on finshing your story. And here's my update! Yes it's a bit late, but better late than never, right? And better good and long then short and terrible! REVIEW!
Blaiser merde: Parlay voo Englais? That and oui, oui monsieur/madam and Francais is as much French as I know. Mind telling me what irked you in plain old, dumpy English? Muchas gracias. Domou arigatou gozaimas. San quu. Shukriya. (that's thanks in various languages. Don't tempt me) lol.
To DarkAngelPearl, and PrincessSerenaXavier THANKS FOR REVIEWING! LOVED IT! REVIEW AGAIN!
To all: Review! At the very least, let me know you are reading it, and if you are feeling particularly generous, what your thoughts are, even if it's a complete load of cow dung. Just glad to see people care enough about the story to reply and let me know they are reading it! Thanks!
Ja ne minna!