Chapter Text
Eyes fluttering open Impulse frowns. This is not Hermitcraft. Moving to sit up he freezes as his ribs twinge with pain.
“You stay laying down,” A voice calls from another room, “We didn’t take all that time patching you up just for you to break your stitches that moment you get up.”
“Where am I?” Impulse asks slowly, eyes darting around the room, “h-how did I get here?”
“You’re in the Shire, and you fell out of the sky. Almost landed on the ponies…”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“You’re the one that fell,” The speaker finally steps in the room, she’s short, if Impulse was standing, she would only come up to his waist, “My name is Bell, what’s yours?”
“Uh, Impulse…”
“Good to meet you, I’ll have someone come around with breakfast for you.”
“Thank you,” Impulse shrugs slightly. He has no idea what the shire is supposed to be, or what these people are, they aren’t human.
A few minutes later someone else walks in with a bowl of soup. They handed him a spoon and set the bowl down on a table. “Do you need help?”
“Uh,” Impulse moves around a bit, “I think I’ve got it.”
“Alright, any questions?”
“Yeah, uh, could you explain to me where I am and who you guys are? I don’t know anything about this world…”
“Oh, uh, you’re in the Shire…”
“What do you call the world?”
“Arda…” The Hobbit blinks for a moment, “The world is called Arda. The shire is where we hobbits live. We don’t get out of our lands much, but someone might have some books.”
“Thank you,” Impulse grins.
“I’ve got to go now, enjoy your soup.”
A few weeks pass. Impulse regains his strength, and he starts helping out in some of the Hobbits' gardens. It’s nice work and it helps him take his mind off of the dawning realization that he’s stuck in a world with no one else. No way to get home. He’s stuck.
The hobbits think he’s human. Which is half true, he is in human form. He’s actually a dragon.
He would tell the hobbit’s he’s just a bit too scared of getting thrown out. So he keeps quiet.
One day he meets one Bilbo Baggens. A rather respectable hobbit. They hit it off and a few days later Impulse is invited to stay at Bag-end.
He takes the offer and does everything he can to pay Bilbo back for letting him stay with him. Working in the fields, helping carry things and the like.
The hobbits he’s stuck here with are quite nice, and Impulse has noticed a pretty big difference between them and most players. Beyond their height, they have shocking quick metabolism, needing seven meals a day. It’s a bit shocking compared to the general three meals a day that players tend to follow. Of course that goes out the window with code foods and eating to regain health.
Life continues. Impulse helping out, waiting for the watchers to find him. Although it's been a few months now… He has a sneaking suspicion that it’ll be up to him to get back to hermitcraft. There could be a difference in time between the worlds, but that’s pretty rare. So it's probably not that.
One night when Impulse returns to the hobbit hole he finds a rather concerned looking Bilbo.
“What happened?”
“I had a rather unexpected visitor…” Bilbo sighs, “I fear what that could mean for me.”
“Who was it?” Impulse asks.
“Gandalf…”
Impulse nods slowly, he has no idea who this Gandalf could be.
“He wants me to go on an adventure,” Bilbo laughs sharply, “Me an adventurer, i could never.”
As night falls a harsh knock comes from the door. As Bilbo opens the door a dwarf grins at him, “Dwalin at your service.”
He enters the hobbit hole and sits down.
Bilbo gasps.
Another knock at the door. And once that dwarf was let in more follow.
Balin, Ori, Nori, Dori, Gloin, Oin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombu. And of course Gandalf the Gray.
Then Fili, and Kili arrive and the flow of strange people entering his house has stopped. Until a few hours latter when the leader of the band of dwarfs arrive, Thorin.
Then they start eating him out of house and home. Bilbo huffs and attempts to stop them. Impulse does what he can to help, years of wrangling Tango and Zedaph paying off. Gandalf catches his eye and Impulse freezes. Feeling like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar he waves to the wizard.
After a few hours of the chaos Impulse turns in and heads to sleep.
The next morning Impulse wakes as the dwarfs leave. They invite him to come along but he declines.
Once Bilbo wakes, Impulse can tell he’s itching to go. Whatever happened last night clearly left an impression on the hobbit.
“Do you want to go?”
“Yes.”
“Let's go then.” Impulse holds out a letter.
𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒞𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝐵𝓊𝓇𝑔𝓁𝒶𝓇 𝐵𝒾𝓁𝒷𝑜 𝑔𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔!
𝐹𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒽𝑜𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓉𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑜𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒻𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒶𝒸𝒸𝑒𝓅𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒. 𝒯𝑒𝓇𝓂𝓈: 𝒸𝒶𝓈𝒽 𝑜𝓃 𝒹𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎, 𝓊𝓅 𝓉𝑜 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑒𝓍𝒸𝑒𝑒𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒽 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝑜𝓉𝒶𝓁 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒻𝒾𝓉𝓈 (𝒾𝒻 𝒶𝓃𝓎); 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝑒𝓃𝓈𝑒𝓈 𝑔𝓊𝒶𝓇𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉; 𝒻𝓊𝓃𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝑒𝓃𝓈𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒻𝓇𝒶𝓎𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝓊𝓈 𝑜𝓇 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓇𝑒𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓈, 𝒾𝒻 𝑜𝒸𝒸𝒶𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓇𝒾𝓈𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓌𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇.
𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝓃𝑒𝒸𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒶𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓇𝒷 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑒𝓈𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝓅𝑜𝓈𝑒, 𝓌𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒸𝑒𝑒𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝒹𝓋𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓅𝒶𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒢𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒟𝓇𝒶𝑔𝑜𝓃 𝐼𝓃𝓃, 𝐵𝓎𝓌𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇, 𝒶𝓉 𝐼𝐼 𝒶.𝓂. 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓅. 𝒯𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝓅𝓊𝓃𝒸𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓁.
𝒲𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓃𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝒶𝒾𝓃
𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈 𝒹𝑒𝑒𝓅𝓁𝓎
𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓃 & 𝒞𝑜.
They barely make it to the Green Dragon in time. The dwarfs are waiting with some of the ponies and a horse for Impulse. So they set off for advencher. Impulse isn't fully sure what's going on but he’s more than happy to help them.
After a few hours of travel Gandalf shows up and then the stories start. Impulse listens as the dwarves swap stories and legends. Then they ask him for some stories. So he tells them of the watchers, of legends that have passed, how some of herobrine’s descendants still live and have powers beyond the average player.
Then one day after nearly a week of travel they stop for the night. As they set up camp Impulse slinks off into the night to think. By the time he returns the camp is empty and another campfire is burning. A ways away but he can smell it and something else…
Tracking the scent he finds a group of trolls, “oh.”
The trolls are arguing over what the best way to eat the dwarves and hobbits is. Staying silent Impulse watches, at this rate the trolls would argue for far too long and Gandalf would find them before they would get eaten. Bilbo’s doing a great job distracting them. Stirring them up and keeping their fight going.
Even so, Impulse prepares to shift if need be. Like this with no weapons or armor he has no chance of taking on four trolls. As a dragon the size of a barn… he’s got a pretty good chance.
Impulse waits, perfectly poised to shift and attack if he needs to. Bilbo starts to run out of things to say to keep them riled up. It’s clear that the trolls are preparing to just eat him, possibly raw. But of course Gandalf arrives just in time, and along with the sunrise. He uses some magic to sway the trees so the rays of sunlight hit the trolls and turn them to stone. Surprised Impulse jumps out of his tree and starts freeing the dwarfs.
“Hey,” Bilbo yeps, “Were you in that tree the whole time?”
“Uh, yes… I would have helped but you were stalling them and I couldn't have fought them off.”
“I suppose that's true,” Bilbo murmurs.
“For the record, if they were about to eat you I would have jumped in and distracted them so you would have a chance to get out,” Impulse explains, shrugging slightly.
“Fair enough.”
“You guys did save my life, I can't not repay that.”
Bilbo laughs, “It was the right thing to do.”
“Exactly.”
“Oh…”
Looking down Bilbo spots a key, calling over to Gandalf and the dwarfs he holds it up, “I found a key.”
Gandalf smiles, “The trolls must have a cave around here somewhere.”
“Let's find it then.”
The cave is found relatively quickly, the door is unlocked and the stench coming from the cave forces them to look away and back off.
“Oh that is vile…”
After a moment they slowly creep into the cave, it’s filled with stuff, food on the shelves, pots and pans on the floor, and gold coins scattered across the floor. A pile of daggers and swords are looted and they all leave the cave with some sort of loot.
Bilbo gets a small knife that’s the perfect size for a short sword, since he’s a hobbit, it would be a dagger for anyone else. After everyone has the loot they want they move on.
As they continue on they meet plenty of interesting characters.
A few of them; Beorn and Radagast, can definitely tell that Impulse is not what he says he is. Beorn pulled him aside to help him with something and questioned him about it. While Radagast is a little more subtle, although he is clearly a bit nervous when some of his rabbits get too close to Impulse.
Reaching the Elves in Rivendell makes Impulse’s head spin. That’s the place Scott had made on empires wasn't it… apparently this place has one as well.
The guy in charge of Rivendell's name is Elrond. He’s letting the dwarfs stay even though it is clear he is disgusted by their manors. Impulse hears the tiniest snippet of conversation pass between Gandalf and Elrond, talking about him, and inhuman traits he’s shown.
Soon after they leave the elves they get captured by goblins and taken deep inside a mountain. When they try to escape they all get thrown into finding a different way out of the goblins home.
Since he’s alone, Impulse shifts his eyes into the glowing yellow reptile eyes made for seeing in the dark, the amount of times he had scared Tango and Zed… his heart aches for them. Blinking tears out of his eyes he presses forwards. ‘Feel sorry for yourself once you get out of here’ he grumbles softly to himself. A goblin runs towards him and Impulse growles. The goblin turns and bolts away from him.
Laughing to himself, Impulse makes his way out of the mineshaft.
He can smell the dwarfs, returning to his fully human form he rejoins the group.
“We’re still missing Bilbo?”
The dwarfs nod, “We’re camping for the night if he’s not here by morning we’ll look for him.”
Bilbo does show up a few hours later. Impulse can smell a curse lingering on him. Gandalf can tell it’s there as well. But since he’s not doing anything, Impulse isn’t going to say anything.
Orks chase them out of that area. Then they run straight into Mirkwood forest. Giant spiders attack. Impulses grins to himself. Almost feels like home.
The elves of the woodland realms aren’t too happy at their arrival and lock them up. Bilbo creates a plan and they make it out alive. Floating in barrels down the river.
Then they make it to Laketown. They stay there for a few days then make the comparatively short walk toward the lonely mountain.
They spend hours trying to find the way in. A secret door on the side of a clif. They’re about to give up when Bilbo spots the keyhole.
Now they wait for Bilbo to get out. As they sit, Impulse catches a whiff of something that makes his spine tingle with scales, “Dragon…”
“What?” Thorin asks, furrowing his brow.
“There’s a dragon down there.”
Impulse doesn’t have time to explain since at that moment Bilbo pops back out and waves everyone in.
Creeping down into the hall under the mountain Impulse tenses as the scent of another dragon fills his nose. He’s trespassing.
All hell breaks loose a few minutes later. The dwarfs and Bilbo scattering as Impulse is flung off his perch.
Smaug steps down pinning Impulse to the ground, “I thought I was the last of my kind…” He purrs, “Tell me what you are doing here and I might spare your friends.”
“I’m not from here. I’m from an entirely different universe.” Impulse shudders and he tries to wiggle free from the red dragon’s grasp, “I didn’t mean to trespass.”
“Trespass?” Smag rolls the new word around his mouth.
“Intrude into your territory,” Impulse whispers.
Snapping his head towards where the others ran, Smaug flairs his wings out, “Leave here, now.”
Impulse is gone in a heartbeat. Gold coins sleeping under his feet. He meets the others back in lake town. Where there was a lot of crying and being overjoyed that no one died.
Hours later, the dragon attacks the town, fire and screaming. Houses burning. Winds blowing everything around.
One of the boatmen, a man called Bard, is using the ballista shooting special arrows made to break dragon scales.
He hits Smaug but the dragon doesn’t fall, quite yet.
Impulse runs down the street and Smaug’s gaze lands on him.
Fire blazes around and Impulse falters. He screams as the heat blisters around him. Scales forming to protect himself.
As the red dragon falls a new sound fills the air. Bilbo rounds the corner to see wings burst from Impulse’s back.
In moments a new yellow and black dragon has replaced the red dragon.
Picking himself up, Impulse crawls to his feet and limps away, setting away from the town. He can hear the town’s whispers. Is he a threat… or is he still Impulse. The settle on sending Bilbo out to ask him.
Struggling Impulse reaches for his human form. It's gone… So he does the next best thing. Shrinking. It makes people more comfortable and while he still towers over the hobbit he’s not the size of a barn. Good, but not even remotely human.
The people decide to let him go.
Not like they could force him to do anything anyways…
He returns to the shire with Bilbo. The other hobbits are clearly scared but once both Impulse and Bilbo explain they let him stay. Besides, he does a wonderful job of keeping foxes out of the chicken coops.