Narrator: Dark shapes
move in the night. Two slight figures, barely perceptible amongst the
darkness of the long shadows cast by the moon, make their way through
a sleeping camp of Rohirrim towards some secret goal.
Muffled Voice: Hehe—
Muffled Voice: Shhh, shhh!
Narrator: Having attained their prize, the two furry
footed pranksters plot their next course of action.
Pippin: Oh, I know! Let's call for Mr. I. P. Freely
this time.
Merry: Nah, too obvious... how 'bout Ben Dover?
Pippin: Heh... good one! Or what about having Sauron
ask if anyone has seen Primrose Hill?
Merry: Been UP Primrose Hill you mean. Ha
ha—yes! That should be even better than when you got him to ask
if anyone had seen Mike Rotch last night!
Pippin: Hehe, oh yeah! I'll bet his flamin' red eye
is still smoldering over that—
Gandalf: ALRIGHT, WHAT'S ALL THIS THEN?!?
Merry and Pippin: Nothin'!
Gandalf: Reeeeaaally?! That wouldn't happen to be my
bag containing a certain Palantir that you are hiding behind you, would
it?
Pippin: N—nooo, of course not!
Gandalf: A seeing-stone of Eldamar is not a toy, using
it would be disastrous!
Merry: Using it... would... oh no—
Pippin: Easy now Merry! Heh. So let's just suppose,
Gandalf, say, that someone did use it...
Merry: Yes... just suppose, by accident, maybe—
Pippin: Yeah, right, by accident, of course!
Gandalf: Then I should say one would have to suppose
that they have alerted the most powerful evil presence in Middle Earth
to exactly where they are and what they are doing.
Merry: Oh.
Pippin: Oh...
Gandalf: And, let's just suppose, that this certain
someone has in any way annoyed a dark lord capable of sending
a horde of several hundred thousand orcs after them... well, that's
just "supposing" of course.
Merry: Right, just supposing...
Gandalf: We should also suppose that if Sauron made,
even as unlikely as it is, any "threats" to the poor unfortunate individual
who "accidentally" annoyed him... let's just say that wretched pitiful
fool can count on each and every one of them being carried out in excruciating
detail.
Pippin: Ummm... you know... I'm really not feeling
so well all the sudden...
Merry: What a coincidence, Gandalf, that you found
us! We had just discovered this bag that looks like yours... and—and
we were going to take it straight to you.
Pippin: Oh! Yes, yes, of course we were! We thought
you might get some silly idea that we had somehow had something to do
with having it appear over here, though, and—
Merry: Yes, naturally, and we were just discussing
what the best way to return it to you would be when you walked up—
Pippin: Right!
Merry: Right!
Gandalf: Oh, really?
Merry and Pippin: Oh yeah, of course!
Gandalf: Splendid! And here was I worrying needlessly.
Pippin: Don't be silly, here let me just get it for—AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!
(Pippin's hand comes into contact with the crystal surface of the Palantir)
Sauron: Ah-hah! Got you, you two-timing trickster!
Pippin: AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Sauron: Yes, you little git now I'm going to—Holy
Hell's Grannies!!!
Pippin: AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Sauron: You're a ruddy—a ruddy HOBBIT! And you're
with that meddler Mithrandir?!?
Pippin: AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Sauron: Then you must be1must have—WHERE IS MY
RING?!??!
Pippin: AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHH!!!
Sauron: Tell me where it is! Say it!!!
Pippin: AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Sauron: Tell me or—
[thud]
Narrator: Thinking quickly, Gandalf knocks Pippin away
from the seeing-stone. Slowly, the fire from within the Palantir fades
to an impenetrable black once more. A crowd of anxious Rohirrim, roused
from uneasy slumber by Pippin's screams, gather around the scene of
the commotion.
Merry: Pippin!!!
Pippin: AARGH—AAALBATROSS!
Gandalf: What?
Merry: Pippin, speak to me!
Pippin: Albatross!
(Gandalf looks closely into Pippin's eyes)
Gandalf: It's to late... Sauron has fried what passed
for his furry little brain.
Pippin: Albatross!
Merry: Noooooooo!!!
Gandalf: I'm afraid so.
Pippin: Albatross!
Gandalf: All that is left of our dear friend and companion
is but an empty shell—
Pippin: Albatross!
Gandalf: An empty husk with a fixation most fowl, it
would seem.
Merry: Pippin, please! Talk to me!
Pippin: Albatross!
Merry: Do you not recognize me? It's me, Pip... It's
your ol' pal Merry. Remember the good times... remember back when we
used to go and get ice creams with Estella
and Diamond on a hot summer's day?
Pippin: Albatross!
Gandalf: It's no use, Merry...
Merry: Please, Pip! You must remember how Estella used
to tease you by running her tongue around the tip of the cone—
Pippin: Albatross—you
don't get ice cream from it, it's a ruddy sea bird! Albatross!
(a dark shadow seems to pass from Pippin's eyes)
Merry: Pippin! Yes! Come back to us!
Pippin: Wha—why am I screaming "albatross?"
Gandalf: How can this be?!
Merry: Something happened when you touched the stone
ball, Pip.
Pippin: Give me half a moment... I think I'll be okay.
Gandalf: Peregrin Took, how could you have survived
having every cell in your mind imploded?!
Pippin: But I didn't, somehow I got away at the last
minute.
Gandalf: How?!
Pippin: Well, I'll tell you.
[music]
Gandalf: Not like that! Not like that! No! Stop it!
Rohirrim: (singing) He's going to tell! He's going
to tell!
Gandalf: Shut up!
Rohirrim: (singing) He's going to tell!
Gandalf: Not like that!
Rohirrim: (singing) He's going to tell! He's going
to tell! He's going to tell! He's going to tell!
Gandalf: Stop it!
Rohirrim: (singing) He's going to tell!
Gandalf: SHUT UP!
Rohirrim: (singing) He's going to tell about his great
escape.
Gandalf: Not like that! No!
Rohirrim: (singing) Oh, how Sauron had him by the nape.
Gandalf: Now shut up I say! Not like that! No! Stop
it!
[crash]
Gandalf: Right. That's just too silly. Besides, Pippin's
vocal number isn't until scene 6!
Rohirrim: (whining) Awwww...
Merry: What do we do now, Gandalf?
Gandalf: Well, suffice to say that Sauron is sending
everything he's got after Pippin. Orcs, Nazgul, telemarketers... the
whole lot.
Pippin: Ugh! Why does my mouth taste like... albatross?
Gandalf: I am therefore going to take Pippin and the
Palantir with me on Shadowfax and ride like hell for Gondor. Perhaps,
the Valar willing, behind the stout walls of Minas Tirith I can keep
our infamous Took out of trouble for more than 5 measly minutes!
Merry: Don't worry, Pip. I promise you that you will
see the Shire again some day!
Pippin: No worries, Merry, except maybe for the fact
that I've never had albatross.
You wouldn't happen to have a mint, would you?
Merry: You know, maybe it's just that you didn't have
any brains for Sauron to cook.
Gandalf: Enough! Farewell and follow fast—Away
Shadowfax!
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