Rating: PG -> PG-13

Warnings: [violence] [language] [het] [shounen-ai]

Pairings: Takeru/Ken, Ruki/Legolas, Daisuke/Juri, Lee/Takato, Ryo/Hikari & Iori/Shuichon

Notes: I've been having some trouble thinking of how to bring the rest of the Fellowship into the story... anyway, I've finally managed it but it was interesting. ^.^;; For some reason I had a brain block when it came to that. So...

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or Lord Of The Rings. If I did, I'd be rich, and I can tell you right now- *pulls pockets inside out and shows you nothing but lint, a half a pack of cherry flavored gum and a tube of toothpaste* Huh. *Looks at the gum* Now how'd that get in there? Hm? *blink, blink, blink* -as you can see, I most certainly am not rich. Mmm... toothpaste... (The opinions previously expressed are the product of my demented psyche, I do not endorse or condone the eating of toothpaste in any way.)

Digital
Chapter Four: Orodoki (Surprise)
by Senashenta

<This bow string is too tight, this bow string is too loose, this bow string is juuuust right...> Takeru couldn't keep his mind from singsong-ing the bastardized fairy tale as he, Ken and Ruki rummaged through the Archery Club's storage room. They all knew from experience that a bow had to be right for you if you wanted to use it correctly. So they were testing them, each picking the one that suited them best. Twenty-six bows to go through, and all of it in utter silence. The tension was getting to him. <What the hell was that? 'This bow string is too tight' -- I sound like Dai. Shit.>

"Would you three hurry the hell up, already?!"

<Why couldn't we have left him with the others?>

Daisuke leaned against the wall near the door, watching them work with an extremely bored look on his face. In reality, though, all of the others -- Tamer and Chosen alike -- had come with them to their school; the reason was that, when deciding on a place where they could all fit, the school cafeteria had came up.

But they had all had the presence of mind not to tag along into the Archery storage room.

Everyone except the goggled redhead.

And so they were stuck with a very bored, very aggravated, very frustrated (because no one was bothering to answer his rather demanding questions) and very, very, terribly annoying (in ever sense of the word) Daisuke Motomiya.

"Look, Daisuke," the blonde snapped, "why don't you go back with the others? We've got this in hand, okay?"

"Not until you tell me how you're a fucking Elf."

"We're not sure, we told you that already." Ken sighed, testing the tension of the bow he was currently working on; "once we figure it out, we'll let you know." And at Daisuke's impatient look; "Dai, please, you're not helping, here. You're just making Takeru develop a twitch."

The redhead looked at Takeru for a moment, then grinned. "You need to take it easy."

"Daisuke! Get out!"

"Okay, okay. Throw a fucking fit, why don't you? I'm going." Pushing himself from the wall, he disappeared out the door, muttering to himself about Takeru's lack of patience. Since when did the Child of Hope freak out like that? When did he start acting like his brother? What was his problem, already? They were just picking bows, after all... and so on, and so on, and so on...

"He talks more than in the show." Ruki commented flatly. "And he's twice as annoying."

"I know."

"Guys," Ken shook his head, "you're not being nice."

"Yeah, well," Ruki's eyes flicked toward the bluenette, "you try being dragged out of your world for the second time in so-many-months and not have an attitude. What a pain in the ass."

"Ruki, how'd you get here, anyway?"

"...a Digital Field appeared and when we all went to investigate we got sucked in and ended up here. The stupid thing just dropped us in the street like stones and vanished. Hn. We had no idea what was happening -- hell, your Tokyo looks the same as our Tokyo so all we saw was our city with no one in it." A pause and she slung the bow she had been testing over her shoulder. "This is the one I'm taking. It seems to have the best grip for me." She eyed the rest of the racked archery equipment with distaste. "People on Earth have no idea how to make a well-balanced bow."

"Hm." Takeru agreed, hefting the bow he had decided on. "I'd give anything for a good Elven archery set. Then we wouldn't have to carry all these arrows, either." His eyes went to the piles of aluminum arrows that they had gathered together. "What a pain."

"But we don't have the luxury of Elven equipment." Ken reminded them, "so this will have to do." He worked while he spoke, setting about strapping a full quiver to his back over the grey shirt he was wearing. "Anyway, Ruki, what were you saying? You just saw Tokyo city with no one in it-?"

Ruki snorted, "the only reason I knew something was really up was because of my ears. Takato pointed them out. Then I sensed the Orcs and we went to see what was going on; you guys were in trouble and we came up with a very last minute plan. We're lucky it worked at all." She eyed Takeru; "and why the hell did you let your mind wander like that with the Orcs coming up behind you? You damn jackass, you almost got yourself killed!"

"Look, I was worried about the others and-"

"You know how dangerous Orcs are, Doofus!"

"Well excuse me for wanting my friends to-"

"Guys!" Ken interrupted before the argument could turn into a full-fledged fistfight, which was a distinct possibility with the two of them. "Fighting right now isn't the best idea. We have a lot of things to figure out and if we're arguing we won't get anywhere." His eyes went from Takeru to Ruki. "How did the Orcs get here, anyway?"

There was a long silence as they all thought; all of them were thinking basically the same thing. However the Orcs had gotten there, chances were that it had something to do with where and how all the citizens of Tokyo had vanished.

<Is it just Tokyo, just Japan, or the whole world?>

Takeru was still worried, naturally. There were a lot of things for him to be worried over; Orcs in Tokyo, the Tamers having arrived, and then there were the other Chosen... not the younger ones (and Taichi, of course) who were currently seated in the cafeteria, but the ones they hadn't been able to contact.

Koushirou was -- or had been -- busy working on his small-but-rapidly-growing software company (he was still trying to decide what to name it. Koushirou Co., using his given name, or Izzy Inc., using his childhood nickname) in a city several miles away.

Jou was still studying to be a doctor, twitchy as he was, and giving nearly every teacher he had a nervous breakdown from his questions. Several of them -- teachers were saying this -- thought that he took too many notes and took his classes too seriously...

What else was new?

Mimi was in the process of shooting her first magazine cover. Vogue or some other huge name; she'd been modeling for some time and it was a big deal. And she had invited Sora to visit and share the experience with her. With Yamato gone she had less-than-nothing to do, and she hadn't seen Mimi in some time, so Sora had readily agreed.

And Yamato himself, of course, was on tour in France.

There was no way to get in contact with them, if the D-Terminal couldn't reach them...

<Damn it, I wish we knew they were alright.> The Child of Hope thought darkly, <oi....>

"A Digital Field," Ruki said finally, "chances are that if that's how I got here, that's how the Orcs got here. Stupid things. They've never been anything but trouble."

"-Digital Field-?"

"The Fields transport digimon from the Digital World to the Real World." The orange-haired girl explained impatiently; "or, they do -- did -- in our reality. Except the one that grabbed us, that is. They used to be a problem for us when we all first became Tamers; the evil digimon we fought were all brought to Tokyo by Digital Fields."

"Oh."

"The strange thing is our digimon..."

"Huh?"

Ruki looked at Ken, "what's the problem?"

"What was so strange about your digimon?"

"Renamon, Guilmon, Terriermon... they shouldn't be with us."

"Ruki, what the hell are you talking about?" Takeru snorted, "you're making no sense."

"Nothing I could say would make sense to you, Takeru. It'd all be too complex for your simple brain to grasp."

"Why you-"

"Got a problem, Hope Boy?"

"I could ask you the same-"

"Stop it, you two!" Ken snapped, finally losing his temper because of their bickering. "We have more important things to do, as I said before! Have you picked your bows? Good, because I have mine here. Grab all the arrows you can carry and we can go and try to figure things out with the others."

There was a long silence as Ruki and Takeru attempted to get used to the idea of the normally soft spoken Child of Kindness having shouted at them. Ken never lost his temper. Not since his stint as the Kaiser. But here he was, glaring at them (okay, so glaring was a little harsh. It was more of a 'Look') and tapping his fingers against his arm in agitation.

Finally Takeru shook his head with a stifled grin. "You're too cute when you're mad."

A blink from Ken. "Huh?"

"Oh brother." Ruki rolled her eyes and snatched up as many full quivers as she could manage before stalking out of the room. "Like it wasn't bad enough before? Now I've got to deal with them again and they're not even trying to hide the fact that they're together..." her voice trailed off as she continued down the hall, still muttering to herself.

"Well," Takeru shrugged, strapping a quiver onto his own back and then stooping to pick up the remaining full ones. <It's going to be a pain, but at least there are a bunch of extra people to carry the arrows until we need them.> He straightened and looked at Ken, "she just gets to me. Sorry."

"...me too, I guess. I didn't mean to snap like that."

"You guess?"

"Yeah, well, you deserved it."

"Maybe."

"Definitely."

"Huh. Fine, be that way."

Ken rolled his eyes at the tone on Takeru's voice and simply headed out the door after Ruki, not believing the other boy's feigned-hurt for a second. The blonde was always trying things like that to get his sympathy, and usually had a less-than-honorable reason for it...

"Hey Ruki, wait up!"

The orange-haired girl paused near the end of the hallway and glanced back over her shoulder, an irritated look on her face. "We don't have all day, Ichijouji. Will you and Takeru hurry your slow asses up and stop with the flirting, please? The whole sexual innuendo thing you two are doing is very annoying."

Ken blinked, flushing. "Uh, sure."

"Good."

Without waiting any longer, she quickly turned on her heel and began to leave again, making Ken scramble to catch up. Takeru's footsteps could be heard echoing on the tile of the hall as he walked after them both.

It was strange to be back together again, the three of them.

<Very big with the deja vu today, it seems.>

But it wasn't an uncomfortable deja vu. On the contrary; given the circumstances, Ken couldn't think of anyone he would rather have been with, considering the Orcs and everything else. It was odd having the others there, though, and it worried the bluenette. The rest of the Chosen hadn't dealt with the creatures of Middle Earth before.

They had no idea...

A deep breath as they stepped outside into the main schoolyard and the Child of Kindness sighed when the cool air hit his lungs. It was still early in the morning... very early in the morning. He couldn't help the yawn. It was so damned early...

"Tired, hm?"

"Shut up, Takeru."

The blonde stepped op behind him and playfully rested his chin on his shoulder. "You're so not a morning person."

"Neither are you." Ken felt the need to point out. "Remember?"

Takeru straightened up and walked around to stand beside him. "That's not the issue."

"And what is the issue, then?"

"None, really. Just making an observation."

"Yeah. Thanks for that."

The Child of Hope chuckled and looked around, shaking his head; "bright blue sky, perfect white clouds... sunny and warm... a perfect day. Not the kind of day I want to spend hiding from Orcs, in any case." A sigh. "Not that we have much of a choice in the matter."

"Perfect day..." Ken mused, then; "ne... isn't it a little foggy for the morning?"

"I guess..." Takeru nodded, considering, and looked around.

It was rather foggy...

...and what was Ruki's problem?

The girl had stopped walking halfway across the courtyard and was standing stock still, tensely, and glancing around somewhat nervously. Her hands clenched around the straps of the extra quivers that she was carrying. "Renamon." She said, eyes narrowing as she continued to look around her with a slightly-paranoid expression on her face. "Renamon!"

The digimon appeared at her Tamer's side in a blur. "Yes?"

"Look around."

Renamon did as Ruki told her, and a frown graced her face. "A Field."

"Hn."

"A Field?" Ken wondered from where he and Takeru were standing, "she means a Digital Field?"

"Like I know?"

The bluenette gave Takeru a dry look. "Let's go."

"Fine, fine..."

They were only halfway across the yard from Ruki, but as they walked the fog thickened and it suddenly seemed like farther... then a feeling... worry... nervousness... was this what a Digital Field did..? Ken shivered unconsciously, even as Ruki was slipping a pair of sunglasses from her pocket and quickly putting them on.

"Ruki!"

She turned, her eyes landing on them. "Go. Renamon and I can handle this."

"But-"

"You don't have your digimon here anyway, damn it!" She snapped; "this is a Field, which means a digimon. You have no way to defend yourselves, so just get out of here before it-"

Too late.

A bright light began to glow from the center of the Field...

The reason for Ruki's sunglasses.

Ken and Takeru both had to squint as the fog enveloped the entire area, leaving them without an exit. Or... they could get out, but they couldn't see to find their way... in either case, they were stuck where they were.

Which left Renamon two more people to fight to protect.

<We should have left when we had the chance! First Orcs and now digimon? One we can handle, but I don't think we can deal with both!> The Child of Kindness unslung his bow without thinking, clutching it tightly in his hands. <We need help if we're going to make it through whatever's going on... anyone would be good... Aragorn or Legolas... or Boromir or Gimli, or even Pippin and Merry!>

A sound from the middle of the Field.

Scuffling...

<We need our digimon! Wormmon and Patamon...>

"Get ready." Ruki stated.

"Yes." Renamon's tensed, preparing.

More scuffling...

...too much? The noises were coming from more than one place. It was obvious to their Elven ears...

"Ruki! There's more than one-"

"Of course." The girl snorted, "naturally!"

"You leave." Renamon addressed her Tamer; "take them and go, and I will fight."

"No way!"

This was Takeru, who ran a handful of steps ahead of Ken, already readying his bow. The blonde didn't like to run from anything, not anymore; his experiences in Middle Earth had toughened him, and he insisted on fighting his own battles. Besides that, he had too much respect for Renamon to leave her on her own.

He loaded an arrow; "I don't know about you two, but I'm staying."

"Are you kidding me?" Ruki demanded.

"Not about this."

"You want to get killed?"

"Of course not." Ken responded for the other boy. "But we don't want you to get killed, either."

"You're staying, too?"

"Yes."

"Hn."

"Shh!" A hiss from Renamon and they all fell silent. "They're coming-"

Footsteps... scuffling... muffled whispers... what digimon whispered like that? It didn't matter. More soft and -- confused? -- whispers....both Chosen and the singular Tamer had to wonder about the muttering...

...the shing of metal...

...almost like...

...a sword?

It sounded like a sword being drawn.

"A Knightmon?" Takeru murmured, "or a Ninjamon?"

But Ken wasn't sure it was even a digimon. Something was different-

-and hadn't Ruki said she was brought there by a Digital Field?

"Takeru, I don't think-"

Thwack!

Something hit the ground just beside the bluenette, skimming his shoe. An arrow?

"Takeru, I don't think it's-"

But the blonde was ignoring him. The arrow he had ready was already whirring out and into the fog.

A muffled curse; "what the hell is this?"

The voice was terribly familiar.

"Hey!" Ken shoved past Takeru and ran toward the voice. "It sounds like-!" He skidded to a stop suddenly when a glimmer off sharpened metal accosted him from onto a few inches away. He was staring down the point of a sword...

<Naturally. But I think it's...>

"Identify yourself." A voice growled. "Now."

"Ken!" Takeru shouted from a few yards away; "are you okay?"

"I think..."

"Ken..." the unidentified voice muttered, and the sword lowered. "And Takeru-?"

"Um... yeah..." the bluenette blinked when a half-dozen shadowed figures began to materialize from the Field. His heart jumped into his throat. What if it wasn't what he thought-? And then there was a blur of yellow, and Renamon was standing between him and the approaching figures, poised to defend him.

He could hear both Takeru and Ruki running toward him.

"Renamon-?" The voice sounded surprised and at that moment a very familiar face appeared through the haze, followed by several other very familiar faces. "...is Ruki..." eyes landed on the Child of Kindness, who was staring in shock. "Ken?"

A shellshocked blink. "Aragorn-?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Me: *sad sigh* Aw, man, I really had to force this chapter out, can you tell? I'm not very fond of it...

Ken: The rest of the Fellowship is here now?

Renamon: Or at least Aragorn.

Takeru: Yeah... what's going on..?

Me: Can't tell ya'! I said that before!

Takeru: Jerk.

Ruki: Hn.

Me: Sorry this chapter was kinda' mediocre. I'll try to make chapter 5 better, k?