Riddles in the Dark

I don't own Digimon or the Hobbit

Daisuke groaned as she slowly opened her eyes and found Bilbo was also waking up and both found themselves in the bushes and looked at each other, before they got to their feet their heard something and Daisuke held a finger to her lips and Bilbo nodded as they hid in the bushes and heard a thud and saw that an ugly looking creature had somehow fallen down the same tunnel they did and laid on the ground barely moving. "Yes. Yes." They heard a voice, what they saw shocked them as it resembled what they thought was a Hobbit or human but horribly mutated and now had only a few strands of sickly looking hair, a loincloth, very few teeth in its mouth and big wide eyes. "Gollum…Gollum," it choked out before grabbing the creature and dragging it off.

The creature began moving again and the other creature yelled and grabbed a stone and began hitting the creature's head until it stopped moving. "Nasty Goblinses!" it shouted dragging the now unconscious Goblin away. "Better then old bones, precious. Better than nothing."

"What the heck was that?" Daisuke whispered once the creature and dead Goblin were gone.

"I don't know," Bilbo whispered getting to his feet and he grabbed his sword which was still glowing blue, Daisuke meanwhile noticed a gold ring on the ground and she picked it up and looked at it almost transfixed by it.

They heard the creature moan and Daisuke put the ring in her pocket and crept quietly towards the sound with Bilbo behind her. "Too many boneses precious, not enough flesh. Shut up! Cut its skin off. Start with its head." They heard the creature talking to itself, they saw it on a rock beating a rock into the Goblin and it began singing.

"The cold hard lands,
They bites our hands,
They gnaws our feet.
The rocks and stones
Are like old bones
All bare of meat.
But stream and pool
Is wet and cool:
So nice for feet!
And now we wish…" he was cut off when the Goblin regained consciousness and began moving again before he grabbed the rock and began hitting it again. Bilbo saw his sword was still glowing so he hid it behind his back until the Goblin was killed by the creature and the sword stopped glowing blue and both Bilbo and Daisuke sighed in relief.

"We need to get out of here," Daisuke whispered and Bilbo nodded as they looked over the rocks they were hiding and saw the creature was gone. Both looked up and saw it above them before it jumped down and grinned.

"Oh yes precious, they'll be meaty mouthfuls," it said before Bilbo pressed his sword against its chest and it coughed again. "Gollum, Gollum."

"Back. Get back. I'm warning you, don't come any closer," Bilbo warned the creature standing up holding his sword in both hands.

"It's got an Elfish blade. But it's not an Elf." The creature said crawling away from Bilbo looking at the blade in disgust as Daisuke pulled out her sword as well just in case. "What are they, precious? What are they?" it asked itself.

"My name is Bilbo Baggins," Bilbo told the creature who raised an eyebrow.

"Bagginses?" it asked. "What is a Bagginses, precious?" it asked itself again.

"I'm a Hobbit from the Shire," Bilbo answered and the creature grinned.

"Oh, we like Goblinses, batses and fishes. But we hasn't tried Hobbitses before." it said before looking at Daisuke. "And we hasn't tried girlses before, are they soft, are they juicy?" it asked licking its lips as it approached them both before Daisuke held her sword up in front of its face.

"Not one more step, or I'll remove your head from your shoulders," she threatened trying to maintain her composure but the sight of the creature looking at her hungrily was having an effect, oh how she wished Veemon was by her side, she hoped he and the Dwarves were ok.

"We don't want any trouble. Just show us the way out of here, and we'll be on our way." Bilbo told it as it moved behind a rock.

"Why? Are they lost?" it asked with a smirk.

"Yes. And we want to get unlost as fast as possible, so stop fooling around and tell us the way out." Daisuke demanded.

"But we don't know the way girlses." The creature said before its eyes widened. "Yes, we do, safe paths for girlses and Hobbitses, safe paths in the dark. Shut up!" it growled hitting itself in the head.

"We didn't say anything," Bilbo told it.

"We wasn't talking to you," it snapped. "Oh, yes, we was, precious. We was." It said.

"Look I don't know what your game is…" Bilbo began before the creature jumped over the rock happily.

"Games! Oh we love games, doesn't we, precious?" it asked. "Does it like games? Does it, does it, does it like to play?" it asked Daisuke and Bilbo.

"Um yes, we love to play games. How about hide and seek?" Daisuke suggested.

"Bah, we don't knows that game girlses." The creature growled before it smiled. "What has roots as nobody sees? Is taller than trees? Up, up, up it goes, yet never grows?" it asked.

"The mountain," Bilbo answered and the creature cheered.

"Yes, yes. Let's have another one, come on ask us," it told Bilbo and Daisuke who blinked.

"You want us to ask you riddles?" Daisuke asked and it nodded. "And if we win this game of riddles, you'll show us the way out?"

"Yes, but if you lose, Gollum eats you," it answered with a smirk and both gulped.

"Fair enough." Daisuke replied putting her sword back in that scabbard. "Always running never walking. Often murmuring never talking. Has a bed but never sleeps. Has a mouth but never eats." She said and Gollum blinked and began thinking to itself while muttering the riddle to itself as it walked around the rock.

"What're you doing?" Bilbo whispered.

"Trust me, I know a few riddles that'll work and keep this guy occupied." She whispered back with a grin and Bilbo frowned. "Relax Bilbo, I don't think he'll figure this one out."

"River." Gollum said with a smirk.

"Okay maybe this'll be harder than I thought," Daisuke muttered as Gollum looked at her.

"Thirty white horses on a red hill, first they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still," he hissed and Daisuke blinked and began thinking of the answer.

"Is it teeth?" she asked and Gollum groaned.

"You are good at this game girlses, teeth it is, but we only have nine," Gollum said showing his rotting teeth and gums covered in blood. "Your turn."

"My life can be measured in hours. I serve by being devoured thin, I am quick, fat I am slow, Wind is my foe, What am I?" Daisuke asked him and Gollum glared at her before he began thinking of the answer.

"Wind is my foe…fat I am slow…a candle!" he shouted joyfully and Daisuke and Bilbo groaned. "Does girlses gives up?" he asked Daisuke.

"No way. This is getting interesting." She said. "Each morning I appear at your feet all day. I will follow no matter how fast you run, yet I nearly perish in the mid-day sun." Bilbo was impressed by how complex her riddles were and Gollum growled as he began walking around until looking at his shadow and he laughed.

"A shadow. Now it's our turn," he said gleefully. "I'm always hungry, I need to be fed. The finger I touch, will soon turn red."

"A fire. That was too easy," Daisuke answered quickly with a smirk. "Are you running out of riddles Gollum?" she taunted.

"Shut up." He growled at her before he said his next riddle. "What is it that's so fragile, even saying the name can break it."

"One second," she said walking off to think with Bilbo keeping his sword pointed at Gollum in case he tried to sneak up on Daisuke while her back was turned. "Its…silence," she whispered and Gollum growled at having her answer correctly again. "A box without hinges, keys or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid." She said and Gollum began muttering to himself and opened his mouth several times to answer before stopping when he began thinking again.

"This is getting us nowhere, how are we going to get out of here?" Bilbo whispered and Daisuke shrugged before she put her hand in her pocket and felt the ring and her eyes lit up as an idea came to her mind.

"Do you give up?" she asked Gollum who was hitting the wall.

"Give us a chance precious, give us a chance!" he told her closing his eyes tightly and he looked almost constipated until his eyes widened in realisation. "Eggses!" he screamed joyfully making Daisuke groan. "Wet crunchy little eggses, grandma taught us to suck them dry she did. We have one for you." Gollum said as he crawled off and vanished making Daisuke and Bilbo look around for him. "It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after. Ends life, kills laughter." He said his voice echoing around the cavern.

"Oh that's a tough one," Daisuke admitted and Gollum chuckled.

"Does it give up, can we eats girlses and Hobbitses?" he asked.

"Now hold on, we gave you a chance just now so return the favour Gollum," Bilbo answered and Gollum growled in anger.

"It's darkness." Daisuke said with a smile.

"One more, give me one more," Gollum demanded as he appeared crawling out from behind some rocks.

"Ok you can ask us another riddle," Daisuke replied making Gollum smirk.

"This thing all things devours: birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal; slays king, ruins town, and beats high mountain down." He said and Daisuke looked at Bilbo who shrugged.

"Oh come on, how hard can this one be, I know I've heard it before," she muttered scratching her head looking around the cavern before she pulled out her D-3 once she was away from Bilbo and Gollum and saw it somehow still had life in it despite her being in Middle Earth for months when she saw the time on the D-3 was still the same as when she and Veemon ended up in Middle-Earth, her eyes widened as she found out the answer. "It's time!" she exclaimed and Gollum glared at her and Bilbo who had a look of relief on his face.

"Last question, last chance," Gollum growled as Daisuke could see her was holding a sharp rock in his hand and Daisuke felt the ring in her pocket again.

"What's in my pocket?" she asked making Gollum and Bilbo look at her and Gollum pouted.

"That's no fair. It's against the rules!" he shouted tossing the rock to the ground. "Ask us another one," he demanded.

"No. You said ask me a question. That was my question, now answer it." Daisuke replied and Gollum closed his eyes in frustration.

"Three guesses, precious, it must give us three," he told her jumping onto a rock and Bilbo and Daisuke moved away from him as he began throwing old bones and other body parts of animals and Goblins he killed around trying to think.

"Three guesses it is, ask away." Daisuke told him.

"String?" he asked looking at her but she shook her head. "Knife! Oh, shut up!" he scolded himself.

"Wrong again, one last guess Gollum," Daisuke told him.

"Handses, or nothing," he said.

"Two guesses at the same time and both are wrong." Daisuke said and Gollum growled and began sobbing.

"Come on then you said you'd show us the way out," Bilbo told him.

"Did we Hobbitses? Did we really?" Gollum asked coldly standing on both feet. "What has girlses got in her pocketses?" he asked.

"That's no concern of yours. You lost," Bilbo answered and Gollum chuckled.

"Lost, lost?" he asked before putting his hand in his loincloth before his expression changed to one of horror. "Where is it?" he asked himself as he began looking around for something throwing bones everywhere. "No!" he wailed in despair as he continued to search. "Lost!" he screamed splashing the water to see if it had fallen into the water. "Curse us and splash us! My precious is gone!" Daisuke quickly took the ring out of her pants pocket and placed it in a pocket on her coat.

"What have you lost?" she asked.

"Mustn't ask, not its business!" Gollum answered. "NO! Gollum! Gollum!" he then looked at his reflection in the water and he snarled. "What has the girlses gots in its pocketses. She stole it." he glared at Daisuke and Bilbo. "She stole it!" he screamed throwing rocks at Daisuke and Bilbo who took that as their cue to run. "Thieves!" he shouted chasing after them, Daisuke and Bilbo ran through a passage that they found and kept running as Gollum leapt onto Daisuke.

"Get off me!" she screamed as Gollum bit into her shoulder and she screamed in pain as he ripped into her flesh.

"Hold on!" Bilbo shouted swinging his sword at Gollum striking him across the chest and he howled in pain as a thin line of blood began flowing down his chest.

"It stings! It stings!" Gollum screamed retreating for now.

"Sting," Bilbo whispered looking at his blade with a smile before he heard Daisuke hiss and hold her shoulder. "Daisuke are you ok?" he asked.

"I'll be fine, he didn't get anything major, let's get the hell out of here and find the others." Daisuke answered and he nodded and both ran off.

The end of the chapter

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