Chapter 14: Finally! A Fight!

"This isn't good!" Legolas exclaimed worriedly. "The bad feeling I have is getting worse."

"Maybe it's the smell," Roku said.

"What?"

"I smell mud, old blood, drool and some kind of slime. It's not a good smell. Maybe that's what's bothering you."

"I don't smell anything," Legolas said testily, "I just feel like something's not right. We shouldn't stay here. Gimli, let's go after Aragorn. We need to cross the lake now."

"You elves are a twitchy lot, but sometimes your instincts are good," Gimli conceded. "I think I'm with you on this one."

The two of them trotted off in the direction Aragorn had taken, their weapons at the ready.

Quatre frowned. "Roku, go find the source of that smell. Gimli may be right that Legolas is twitchy, but he's sensed stuff none of the rest of us have before."

"Ok, Mama." Roku bounded away into the trees, taking a direction no one else had.

Quatre turned to the others. "All right. Let's operate on the assumption that something is about to go hideously wrong. Heero, Wu-Fei, and Trowa, take the perimeter. Treize, go back up Zechs. Hadeya, stay here and keep an eye on the hobbits. Duo, can you hear anything?"

Duo frowned, his brow wrinkled in concentration. "I think there's something coming this way, but it's still too far to pick up anything other than a general sense of creepiness." He turned in the direction Roku had gone. "But I think it's coming from that direction."

"All right. See if you can communicate that to Aragorn. And try to find Frodo. I'm going to fly after Roku. Let's go!" He shifted into falcon form and swooped away. The others dashed off, leaving Hadeya alone with Merry, Pippin and Sam.

"Shouldn't we go after them?" Merry asked anxiously. "Frodo might be in trouble!"

"No, we're staying right here," Hadeya said. "We can retreat in the boats if necessary."

"But what if orcs can swim?" Pippin fretted. "They'll just tip over the boats and drown us!"

Hadeya rolled his eyes. "Very well, let's hide." He led them into the trees to find a safe place to hunker down. "You two hide there," he ordered, directing Pippin and Merry into a crevice in some rocks overgrown with bushes. "We'll be over here," and he caught Sam by the shoulder and shoved him into another crevice, wedging himself in next to him.

"I really think we should go look for Mr. Frodo!" Sam said worriedly.

"Try not to worry, Sam," Hadeya said patiently. "Duo is looking for him. He'll be fine."

"Um…" Sam stammered. "Forgive me for saying it, but Mr. Duo doesn't seem the most reliable member of the group."

Hadeya chuckled. "Usually that's true, but when it comes down to a fight, there aren't many people you can trust more at your back. Duo comes through when it counts, trust me."

Farther up the hill, Alexa pointed across the leaf strewn, boulder covered slope. "There he is. Frodo is with Boromir." As she, Jett and Zechs watched, Boromir suddenly jumped on Frodo and knocked him down. Alexa blinked. "I didn't know Boromir liked boys."

Zechs frowned. "I don't think that's it, Alexa."

Suddenly, Boromir yelped in pain and fell back. In the same instant, Frodo vanished.

"Dammit!" Zechs exclaimed. "He put the ring on! How are we supposed to find him now without Roku or Duo?"

Jett craned her neck, looking up the hill. "He went that way," she said.

Zechs smacked his forehead. "Why do I keep forgetting that? You can find anyone, Jett." He picked her up. "Show me the way, please." He started up the hill, but they hadn't gotten very far when there was a shout behind them.

"Zechs!"

They all turned to watch Treize bounding up the hill behind them.

"Quatre thinks there's going to be trouble!" Treize reported when he caught up with them. "He's put us on alert. Where's Frodo?"

"He just put the ring on and ran up the hill." Zechs hooked a thumb at Boromir, who was sitting morosely on the ground where Frodo had pushed him. "Boromir there lost it and tried to grab the ring. Frodo took off. I was about to have Jett take me to him."

Treize nodded. "Ok. I'll deal with Boromir. You three get Frodo and take him back to the boats."

"Right." Zechs hurried off with Alexa and Jett while Treize walked over to Boromir.

"So, Boromir," Treize said casually, "couldn't resist the lure of the ring anymore?"

Boromir wiped a shaking hand across his face. "I could do so much for my people with that ring," he whispered. "We could cast down Sauron once and for all."

"And then rise up in his place, twisted into an evil parody of yourself." Treize sat down next to him. "Really, you're better off without it."

Boromir looked around. "Where do you suppose Frodo went?"

"Don't worry about it," Treize replied. "You need to think about yourself. Do you honestly think you can continue to be around the ring?"

"No." Boromir shuddered and shook his head. "It calls out to me. Even in my sleep I can hear it. It taints my dreams with visions of conquest and power."

"That sounds like a Zero System," Treize muttered. He patted Boromir's hand. "I understand that we are not all that far from your home."

"That's right. It's just a few days downriver from here, once you get down the waterfall."

"Maybe it would be better if you went home. You could tell your father about our plan to destroy the ring."

Boromir shook his head. "I'm not sure Father would approve. He is positive that we men of Gondor are the only ones who can withstand the might of Sauron. He will insist that I bring the ring to him." He sighed. "Maybe I should go look for my little brother. It seems like the only time I'm happy is when we're together, even if it's in the middle of a bloody fight."

"You could do that," Treize said. "But right now, let's head back to the boats. Hadeya is alone with the hobbits and he probably wouldn't mind some backup. We think there's trouble coming."

"Very well." Boromir pushed to his feet and accompanied Treize back down the slope.

Up the hill, Duo caught up with Zechs and the girls. His face was grim. "Zechs! Take the girls back down right now! There's some evil shit heading this way! I'll get Frodo." He bounded past them as Zechs scooped Alexa up in his other arm and sprinted back down the hill.

At the top of the slope, on a hilltop studded with stone ruins, Aragorn had found Frodo. Their heartfelt conversation was interrupted by two things: one, Aragorn noticed that Frodo's sword was glowing blue, and two, Quatre the falcon swooped down beside them, shimmering back into human form as he landed.

"Look sharp!" Quatre shouted. "There's a mothering big force of monster soldiers heading this way!"

Aragorn snatched his sword from its sheath. "Run, Frodo!"

Frodo dashed down the hill, sprinting past Duo, who raced up to stop beside Aragorn and Quatre.

"I keep hearing the name Uruk-hai," Duo said breathlessly. "That must be what they are. From the feel of their thoughts, they're a better quality orc, I think. They sound smarter. But there sure are a lot them."

"There's a shitload of them," Quatre responded. "I saw them from the air."

Roku came bounding up to them. "They're on my tail! Can I attack them now?"

"Yes!"

The Uruk-hai broke from the trees, overrunning the hilltop. Roku tore into them with a fury, bashing open heads and disemboweling stomachs with mighty swipes of his paws. Quatre blasted them with balls of fire and Aragorn dove in with his sword, hacking off limbs indiscriminately. Duo plunged into the fray as well with a knife in each hand, and then they were joined by Legolas and Gimli, each applying their weapons with grim efficiency.

"Where are the others, Duo?" Quatre shouted.

"Heero and Wu-Fei have their hands full over that way!" Duo waved a hand wildly to his left. "Trowa's over there somewhere and he's pretty busy, too!" He pointed off to the right. "Everyone else is out of the fight at the moment."

Crouched in their hiding places, the hobbits and Hadeya saw Frodo dash by, sliding haphazardly down the slope in a desperate attempt to both stay out of sight and stay ahead of the Uruk-hai. Without thinking, Merry and Pippin popped out of their hiding place. Hadeya slapped his forehead as hoarse shouts indicated they had been seen.

"Run!" Merry shouted, and the two of them dashed away, purposely going in a different direction than Frodo had gone.

"Those idiots!" Hadeya snapped. "Don't move, Sam!" he ordered and slid out of the crevice, racing after the other two hobbits.

Sam stayed where he was for a good heartbeat and then slithered off down the hill after Frodo.

Skittering along just ahead of their pursuers, Pippin threw a frightened look behind them. "I don't think this was a good idea, Merry! They're catching up!"

"Just keep running!" Merry shouted.

But just when it looked like they were going to get caught, Treize and Boromir appeared with drawn swords, slashing at the pursuing Uruk-hai savagely. Relieved, Merry and Pippin skidded to a halt and joined the fight, applying their recently acquired skill in swordsmanship. There were a lot of Uruk-hai, though, and Treize started to get worried.

"We could use some backup!" he called to Boromir.

Boromir immediately lifted his horn to his lips and blew three quick blasts.

Hadeya appeared almost right away. "Sorry, I got held up after those fool hobbits took off on me!" He jumped into the fight without hesitation, but the sheer number of Uruk-hai soon forced the group apart, with Hadeya and Treize getting split off from Boromir and the hobbits.

"Dammit!" Treize exclaimed when Boromir's horn sounded again. "I can't see the others anymore!"

Trowa arrived, bashing in heads with his staff. "Man, there are a lot of these things! I couldn't hold the perimeter!"

Roku came bounding through the trees with Aragorn right on his tail, but he didn't stop to help. He blazed past, going toward where they'd last heard Boromir's horn. Then a flood of Uruk-hai suddenly streamed by, with Heero and Wu-Fei in hot pursuit.

"Quit running, you cowards!" Heero shouted. "A bunch of you still have heads!" He managed to whack off a head as he said this, but the remaining Uruk-hai put on more speed, slowly outdistancing them.

"They're going to where Boromir and the hobbits are!" Treize cried and they all ran after the Uruk-hai.

But the Uruk-hai were much too fast. The Gundam pilots could keep up with them, but not catch them. However, after chasing them just a short way, they stopped, because they came across Boromir lying on the ground with arrows sticking out of his chest. Aragorn crouched over him, murmuring words of encouragement.

"That's not good," Trowa said. "Where's Roku? He could fix that."

Legolas, Gimli, Quatre and Duo arrived, all of them smeared with black Uruk-hai blood.

"I think Boromir is dying," Trowa said to Quatre. "Can you do anything about it?"

"I don't know." Quatre knelt down beside Boromir and Aragorn. "Roku's better with near death than I am. Duo, can you get him?" He put a hand on Boromir's chest and murmured under his breath in Latin.

Duo nodded. "Already done. He's on his way back."

"Where are Merry and Pippin?" Treize looked around worriedly.

"They took them!" Boromir gasped. "They took the little ones!"

Roku came bounding back, sliding to a stop next to Boromir. "Sagitta apage!" he cried and the arrows disappeared from Boromir's body. Then he touched his nose to Boromir's chest. "Bene corpus."

Boromir gasped loudly. "What…?" he wheezed. He put an incredulous hand on his chest. "What did you do?"

"I fixed it, mostly," Roku said. He looked up. "Mama, the Uruk-hai have Merry and Pippin. I couldn't catch up with them on foot. We'd have to fly."

Quatre scowled. "Just the two of us wouldn't be enough. Who wants to be a bird?"

Everyone regarded him in complete silence.

Quatre snorted. "I figured as much. Well, you lot can run. I'm flying. Where's everyone else?"

Duo closed his eyes. "Well, that's inconvenient."

"What now?"

"Sam and Frodo are crossing the lake. Zechs just got there with Alexa and Jett. He doesn't want to go after them with the girls or leave the girls alone on the beach."

"We must go after them!" Legolas said. "We can't let the Fellowship fail!"

Aragorn shook his head. "We can't go with Frodo anymore. The ring is too powerful." He glanced at Boromir, who closed his eyes with a deep sigh. "We will have to trust them on their own. And I do not want to leave Merry and Pippin in the hands of the Uruk-hai."

"I'll go after Sam and Frodo," Hadeya said. "I was supposed to watch the hobbits and I managed to lose all four of them." He frowned unhappily. "I'll make sure they get to Mordor safely."

"Thank you, Hadeya," Aragorn said. "We should go get the rest of our supplies and gear from the beach. Then we will go after Merry and Pippin. The Uruk-hai will go to Isengard. If we run without stopping, we should be able to catch them before they get there."

"That's a good plan," Heero said. "Let's go."

"Just how far is it to Isengard from here?" Duo asked Legolas as they hurried back to the beach.

"Two hundred leagues, maybe."

"That's pretty far. He expects us to run there without stopping?"

"We can do it," Legolas said, puffing his chest out confidently.

"You sleep too much anyway," Heero said. He smacked the back of Duo's head. "Quit whining."

"I wasn't whining! I was just stating a fact."

Back at the beach, Boromir, breathing heavily, sat down next to his shield which he had, inconveniently, left behind. "I'm sorry," he gasped, "but I'm already winded! I don't think I'll be able to go with you."

"That's understandable," Quatre said. "You did just have a couple of arrows puncture your lungs. We'd have to spend more time to fix all the damage properly."

Boromir sighed. "Maybe I will take Treize's advice and make my way home."

Aragorn patted his shoulder. "Good idea. We will meet up with you there later, for I think it likely that we will find ourselves battling before the gates of Minas Tirith ere this is over."

Hadeya snagged a few supplies and climbed into one of the canoes. "I'll keep in touch through Duo. I think if we are focused on each other, you should be able to here me even over a great distance."

Duo winked and nodded. "I think so. We do know each other pretty well."

"Too well!" Heero growled under his breath.

Hadeya pushed his boat into the water, hopped in and paddled away.

"Well then," Aragorn said, "we have our task cut out for us and it won't be easy. But I think we are equal to it. Let us make haste." He sprinted away with Legolas and Gimli close behind.

"This whole quest is ridiculously haphazard," Wu-Fei complained. "At least the last quest we went on had a plan of sorts."

"Oh yeah," Heero rolled his eyes. "Trekking across country to answer a riddle so we could trek across country somewhere else and do it again. That was a great plan."

"It worked, didn't it?" Wu-Fei retorted. "We found the Grail."

"But we didn't know that until it turned up among Roku's playthings!"

"That still counts. But my point is that we don't even have that much on this quest. We're just running around blundering from one disaster to the next."

"So you two should quit arguing so we can get on to the next disaster," Trowa chuckled.

"Yeah, Aragorn and the others are really booking," Duo added. "We should probably get moving before we really have to push to catch up with them." He dropped to one knee. "Hop on Jett. Your legs are a little short for this kind of running." The little girl climbed onto his back and he hooked his arms under her legs as he stood up.

"You, too, Alexa," Zechs said and he knelt down so she could climb on.

"I'll make sure you guys stay on track," Quatre said, and he shimmered into his falcon form and flew away.

"Oh, like Roku couldn't do that with his nose," Duo said. "He's just too lazy to run."

"Flying's hard work," Roku said. "I'd rather run."

"Let's go," Treize said, and the group raced off in the direction Aragorn had gone.

When they caught up, Trowa pointed Quatre out to Aragorn. "Quatre is going to watch them for us and keep us on the right path."

"That will help," Aragorn said. "I won't have to stop and track them if we lose the trail."

"If he can see them," Gimli panted, "can he tell if the hobbits are still being held captive?"

"I'll ask," Duo said. His eyes lost focus for a moment. "He says yes, he can see them. He doesn't want to get too close because some of the Uruk-hai have bows, though, so he can't tell if they're conscious or not."

"The Uruk-hai won't kill them," Aragorn said, his voice grim. "The enemy knows a hobbit has the ring. Saruman is trying to recover it, undoubtedly without telling his minions what the hobbits are carrying."

"Maybe we should have let him have it," Treize said.

"What?!" Aragorn exclaimed, so surprised he stumbled for a few steps.

"Think about it," Treize said. "The ring is incredibly good at corrupting people and Saruman has already turned to the dark side, so to speak. If the ring were in his possession, what is the likelihood he would return it to Sauron rather than claim it for himself? And if he did that, wouldn't that force Sauron to turn his forces on Saruman, rather than on Gondor and the other countries of the West?"

"Um…" Aragorn blinked several times.

"That is a likely scenario," Legolas said, "but Saruman could never stand against the forces of Mordor, and when he fell, Sauron would recover the ring."

"Aye," Gimli nodded. "While it's always a good option to let one's enemies destroy each other, I think the elf is right on this one."

"Perhaps you're right," Treize said. "You know this world better than I do."

At sunset, Quatre came gliding in for a landing. Aragorn called a halt when he shimmered back into human form.

"Do they show any sign of stopping for the night, Quatre?" Aragorn asked.

"No," Quatre shook his head. "They're running just as hard now as when they took off. You haven't gained on them at all."

"What of the hobbits?" Gimli asked worriedly.

"I think they're all right. I saw one of them moving. Anyway, I don't see as well at night, so we'll have to rely on Roku's nose until morning."

"We should keep moving," Legolas said. "We don't want to give them any more of a lead than they already have."

"I agree," said Zechs, "but we still need to be able to fight when we catch them. We can't run ourselves into the ground."

"It's all in the pacing," Wu-Fei said. "A nice steady lope will eat up the miles without tiring us. Of course, they'll still outnumber us when we do catch up."

"Yeah, but now I'm mad," Heero growled. "They won't be running off to avoid getting slaughtered next time."

"That's the spirit!" Gimli cried. He lumbered off at a shambling run.

"That isn't much of a lope," Trowa remarked.

"He's got short legs," Legolas snickered. "I think that's the best we're going to get."

The rest of the group broke into a run and within strides, everyone had passed Gimli.

Far behind them, Hadeya, Sam and Frodo stood on top of a craggy ridge, staring across jagged slopes and sheer canyons toward the distant mountains of Mordor, tinged red beneath a perpetual overcast of soot from Mount Doom.

"That volcano is where we're going?" Hadeya asked.

"Yes," Frodo replied solemnly.

"That's quite a long way," Hadeya noted.

Sam heaved a sigh. "We may as well get started. It's going to take days to get across these ridges." He sniffed. "And I reckon there's a nasty bog beyond them, judging by that reek."

Hadeya sighed as well. "I think I'm going to be wishing for a battle with ice giants before this is over."

The three of them started down the slope on the long walk to Mordor.

-o- The End -o-

And thus ends the first part of the Lord of the Gundams trilogy! Part 2, The Two Gundams, will chronicle the exciting middle filler section of the Lord of the Rings with more filler! Stay tuned!