The subterranean chamber was quiet, so quiet that you could here dirt drop.  The chamber wasn't some dark, cluttered, clammy hole in the ground, no, it was made by ants, so it was clean and orderly, and was the main meeting hall of the colony.  And today it was full of anxious ants, all gathered to witness an important decision by the colony council. 

Flick paced nervously since he was excited about the idea he had proposed to the council.  He was certain it would work, and as a result, he would make up for the latest of his many mishaps.  His spilling of the food needed by the colony for its yearly "offering" to the gang of grasshoppers was perhaps his greatest blunder.  He had to fix it - somehow.

The council suddenly resumed their positions and Princess Atta stepped up to the dais and raised her hand to gain everyone's undivided attention.

"Flick, it is the decision of the council to allow you to go on your proposed quest to find bigger bugs to help us," pronounced Princess Atta in as dramatic and a regal voice as she could muster.   Her announcement was met with immediate and thunderous applause, which Flick mistook as cheers of encouragement.

"You leave in the morning," she added, and the volume of the applause exploded.  Flick in his naivety turned around to face the cheering colony and waved, placing his gratitude and ignorance on full display.

That evening, as Flick prepared his equipment and organized his backpack, he heard a knock at the door of his cell, and truth be told his heart lept as he hoped it was Princess Atta come to wish him luck.

"Sam?" what are you doing here, Flick said in obvious disappointment.

"I'm going with you Mister Flick, so that's that and there are no two ways about it," stated Samwise as he adjusted his enormous backpack.  Flick smiled in return, knowing he wouldn't be able to change Sam's mind, because frankly, Sam just wasn't very smart.

***

Meanwhile, at a faraway place, a Grey Wizard discovered something important about a metal ring.  It was a discovery that would trigger a series of actions that would forever change the insect world and the lives of two little ants.

***

The morning came and the two long-time friends and newly anointed adventurers stepped out into the bright sunlight.  They had a quest, but not a destination, and although no other ants were there to see them off, they had faith in each other.

The journey was long and arduous, yet even though they encountered chasms of concrete, puddles of water, and preditors, they pushed on, hoping for a sign that would lead them to the assistance they sought.  It had been hours, and they were tired and losing hope when Sam stopped.

"Mister Flick, look there's - a sign!" chirped out Sam excitedly as he pointed to a colorful notice.

"Mmm let's see, it says 'Get your kicks in Bree',"  read Flick, and there was a large red arrow pointing down a small pathway.

***

The city of Bree was larger than anything they could have imagined.  There was so much to take in, the sights, the lightning bugs, the brightly colored boxes and cans, and the smells of things that could be food.

Flick and Sam looked around, bewildered at where to start, antennae on stimulus overload.  So, shrugging his pack up, Flick started to walk the streets hoping for another sign that would lead him to the warriors he sought.  Later, they found themselves in a dark section of the city, where the air was sour, larvae lay about the streets and the insects were much more dangerous looking. 

"Mister Flick, I think I may have just seen a mosquito!" excitedly whispered Sams.

"Don't be silly, you know that bloodsuckers are a myth to scare young children," replied Flick, as he suddenly started to look around with a bit more fear.  Up ahead was a large can turned on its side, with only the faintest traces of light flickering from its shadowy interior.

"And stay out you bum!" said an angry hornet to a disheveled pill bug that he had just tossed out of the can.

"Holy smoke! He's a tough bug, maybe we can find some more tough bugs in there!" said Flick with unabashed enthusiasm. 

Flick ran ahead to the cavernous opening of the large can of Pixar Lard but stopped at the entry, pausing to read the sign hanging in the entrance:  Shelob's Lair, Pub and Grubs.  Sam caught up and together they looked into the dim light of the cavern, fearfully taking note of the long whisps of what appeared to be spider webbing.

"Oh, this is sooooo the place," said Flick.

Together, they slowly walked down the dark tunnel, toward the dim light and echoed sounds of muffled conversation and faint music.

"Hang on you two," came a voice from the dark, and a long spindly leg reached out in front of them, blocking their passage.  The two ants reflexively grabbed onto each other in their surprise and fear and turned towards the sound of the malevolent voice.

Then out of the dark, a huge spider appeared at the end of the leg blocking their passage.  Large and black, it leaned in towards them, its eyes, round and faceted, reflecting the faint light like jagged pieces of dark ice.

"What do you want" spat out Flick in his terror, unsure of what to do, other than simply ask the obvious.  Neither Flick nor Sam had seen a spider this close before, as there were not many bugs more fearful than the eight-legged terrors.

The arachnid brought another two legs forward and said "say, have either of you got a light."

"A light?  What do you mean?" replied Flick.

"You know, fire, a light?" and the spider held out a smoking pipe.

"N-n-no, we don't, I'm sorry," replied a relived Flick.

"Que sera sera" replied the arachnid who slunk back into the dark.

The two ants quickly hurried up the tunnel and found themselves in a dimly lit room that contained a rough mixture of scattered tables and patrons.  Looking around, Flick spied a counter where some bugs were standing in line, apparently for drinks. 

"Sam, let's go to the front, it looks like we can get some water," and without waiting for a reply, Flick started toward the bar.  He never made it.  He had taken two steps when he was kicked out of the way, flew two centimeters through the air, and landed in a heap at the foot of an occupied table.

"Hey watch it small fry!" yelled out the offending Stag Beetle, who staggered back to the party being thrown in his honor.

A clawed hand reached out and helped Flick to his feet, then sat him down at the table.

"Be careful little one, this no place for the weak or the faint-hearted," said the house fly who sat him down.

"Mister Flick, Mister Flick, are you alright Sir?" said Sam as he came galloping up to the table.

"Yes, Sam I'm quite alright, and let us show our thanks to the gentleman for helping me - Sir may we purchase you another drink?"

"Not now, what brings you here?" replied the house fly, as he slowly drew on his smoking pipe.

"I am looking for warriors, bugs who can help my colony fight a gang of grasshoppers who take our food," said Flick rather cautiously.

"Uruk-hai orcs!" spat out the fly.

"Excuse me?" responded Flick, unsure if the fly had replied or just thrown-up.

"Grasshoppers... we call them Uruk-Hai," replied Strider.  "But, I may be able to help you with the Uruks, little one.  You can call me Strider... I'm a Ranger House Fly."

"I'm Flick and my companion is Sam,"  replied Flick.  Sam nodded to the Ranger - whatever that was.

"The name Flick has a nasty connotation, may I call you Frodo instead?" asked Strider.

"Wait - what? Why Frodo?" replied Flick with a bit of incredulity.

"I had an uncle named Frodo and well, I like it."

"Yea and now you want an Ant Frodo huh?" interjected Sam, unaware of his own humor. 

"Nevermind," exhaled Strider, who picked up his gear and prepared to leave.

"Where are you going?" cautiously asked Flick.

"We are going to a secret meeting, where I will introduce you to some warrior bugs," replied Strider with a chuckle. 

"A secret meeting!" screamed Flick who never has secrets entrusted to him because he couldn't keep them.

"But we have a long journey ahead of us, for we are bound for the House of Elrond Mantis."

***

Seated in a beautiful valley, full of tall grasses,  and a trickle of water from nearby leaky lawn sprinklers, stood the House of Mantis.  The Mantis were an older, exotic race of insects, full of wisdom, and Elrond Mantis was the head of their house.  He had arranged the secret meeting, inviting leaders from the various insect species to help him chose a solution to a very big problem.

Strider and company arrived just in time and were shown to some vacant seats within a large circle of insects.  A large and wise-looking mantis sat at one end of the group, and after everyone settled down, he stood and made introductions.

"I am Elrond Mantis, and thank you for coming.  A terrible problem endangers all insects, and that is why you are here, to offer solutions, then to go and solve it." 

"Amongst us are, Legolas Green-Mantis of the Woodland mantis, Gimli Termite of Erebor, Boromir Blow Fly of Gondor, Strider House Fly, and Gandalf Grey-Moth.  But we also have some uninvited guests brought by Strider, so I'll allow them to introduce themselves," and with that Elrond folded his claws, sat down, and appeared to pray.

"Greetings, I am Flick Underhill and this is my friend and companion Samwise," stated Flick, who was visibly shaking with nervousness.

"I thought you ants traveled in fours" shouted Gimli the termite, but Flick decided to ignore that old ant-stereotype.

"Enough, we are here to decide on what to do about the ring and the Floating Mountain of Fire," stated Gandalf Grey-Moth.  Flick was struck by the appearance of the Moth, who had a pointy hat like a wizard and a walking stick that was actually a walking stick.

"Well it's not really a mountain is it, and certainly we can't call what comes out of it fire," stated Gimli, ever quick to correct.

"Yes, it's more like a purple glowing, zapping thing, than a burn-you-up fire type of thing," offered Legolas.

"Regardless, the prophecy says that we have to throw the ring of metal into the mountain to destroy it," shot back Elrond.

"Destroy the ring or the mountain?" asked Gimli.

Frustrated, Boromir interjected, "this is pointless, we can't even get to the Floating Mountain of Fire, no one can, because one does not simply walk up to Mordor's Auto Repair.  It is surrounded by a sea of craggy, hot black dirt called asphalt, and huge machines that roll over bugs, pressing them into the ground, and birds and predators."

"Then, there is the actual floating mountain that is so high in the sky only a flier can reach it, and we all know the stories about what happens to fliers when they get close to the fire - ZAP!" added Boromir. The group sat quietly and contemplated the "Zap!"

"The ring must be thrown into the fire.  One of you must do this," flatly stated Elrond.

The circle of prospective heroes remained quiet, lost in their own thoughts or fears.  But Flick wasn't thinking negatively about what couldn't be done, and he suddenly realized that this problem was an opportunity, a chance to accomplish his quest and save the colony.

"I'll take it!  I'll take the ring to the Floating Mountain!" shouted Flick as he jumped up with enthusiasm.

"You little ant... you want to take the ring?" asked Elrond.

"Yep, I will, if you agree to help me with my problem afterward," stated Flick with the conviction of a prophet.

***

The fellowship of companions started off full of enthusiasm and certainty, as their shared preparation altered their outlook on their chance for success.  They were traveling alongside a water trickle when Legolas stopped and looked into the sun off on the horizon.  He held up his claw to shield his eyes when he abruptly turned and yelled to his companions.

"Wasps!"

They all broked for cover, into the nearby weeds, or underneath craggy clumps of soil, as the wasp was one of the most dangerous hunters in their world.  The small but lethal group of wasps swooped down toward the fleeing adventurers.  Flick and Sam lost track of their companions as they dove under some stones on the shore of the water trickle.  They lay quiet and still as a huge wasp landed on the ground near their hiding spot.  Frozen with terror, they watched the partially visible creature quickly walk around the path, its antennas working furiously to locate the sent of its prey. 

Then suddenly, the wasp took flight and they could no longer see it.  They continued to lay quiet, trying to manage their heaving breaths, conditioned to remain in their place of concealment.  But that was when they heard it.

A low distant rumble, but quickly gaining in volume and nearing in proximity - and it was oddly familiar.  Flick and Sam looked at each other when it dawned on Flick was it sounded like.

"Oh no - its rain!" he hissed.  Sam looked back at Flick terrified and immediately scrambled out from their hiding spot. 

"No Sam!" shouted Flick, but Sam was gone.  Flick quickly wriggled out of the hole and out into the sun where he stood next to Sam looking at the sky.

"It's not raining Mister Flick."

"No it's not, then what is that sound," responded Flick with trepidation as he knew in his heart danger was near.

Then they saw it, a wall of water coming down straight for them, turning what had been a small trickle of a stream into a raging river.  It was too late, they couldn't run fast enough to get out of the path of the water, so the two friends locked arms and looked at one another, and then they were washed away.

***

"Mister Flick, Mister Flick... wake up, we're alright.  We made it, we're alright."

Flick opened his eyes and looked at a fuzzy world filled with the face of his friend Sam.  He felt sore and cold, but he knew that he was alive.  The two ants were saved by a round white paper cylinder that Sam had managed to climb aboard, pulling Flick up with him as they floated down the smooth concrete river.  Eventually, the paper "boat" ran aground as the water dried up.

"Sam, where are we?" asked Flick who was now slowly shaking off his near-drowning.

"I don't know Mister Flick, but we have to get off of this 'Marlboro' before the water comes back" replied Sam.

"Oh what's the use, Sam, we're separated from the group, we're lost, and have no idea where the mountain is - its over," sighed Flick.

"Don't talk like that Mister Flick, lets just take things one step at a time," smiled Sam.

And the two little ants crawled off their paper boat and up the walls of the smooth concrete canyon.  They reached the top just as the sun was going down, and looking around, saw that they were surrounded by flat black dirt, with no sign of grass or growing things insight.  But off in the distance, in the failing daylight, seemingly floating high in the air was a bright, humming, purple glow.  As they stared in awe, it suddenly flashed brightly and emitted a distinct Zap!

***

Boromir was right, crossing this much black dirt was dangerous, but it was now night, so the two ant friends decided to chance it.  Flick led, and Sam followed his trail, forming an ant line of two.  Painstakingly slowly, but ever so surely, the two little ants made their way across the treacherous dark ground until they stood below the Floating Mountain of Fire.

"Alright, Mister Flick, we made it to the Floating Moutain, but now what do we do, we can't fly, so how do we throw the ring into the fire," asked an exhausted, but undaunted Sam.

Flick sat down, looked up at the Floating Mountain, and thought that he can solve this problem, just like he had almost solved many problems back at the colony.  They couldn't fly up to the fire, and he had no idea of how to bring the mountain down to them, but he realized that they don't have to reach the fire, only the ring did!  All they needed was a way to get the ring to the fire!

Then it hit him, the very thing that had gotten him in this predicament in the first place was what was going to destroy the ring and save the colony!

"Sam, I have an idea, but we need a good hiding place where we can spend the day working," excitedly said Flick.

***

And that's what the two friends did, they found a nice shady, protected spot, and got to work.  Sam snuck out and collected what Flick required, and Flick started building the machine that was going to save the colony.  All through the heat of the day, pausing only to share a grass seed and a drop of water, the two ants did what ants do best: work.

The sun sank, and the two ventured out into the darkness, with the bright purple glow of the Floating Mountain of Fire and its periodic flashes and Zaps! interrupting the quiet.  Flick completed the assembly of his machine and had Sam help him get strapped into it.

"Mister Flick, what is it and what's it do?"

"It's my grain harvesting machine Sam; its what I made that accidentally dumped the grasshopper's food offering, but NOW it's going to launch the ring into the fire!"

Flick quickly explained how it worked and said they needed to figure out the range to the fire.  So Sam collected some small rocks that weighed about the same as the ring, and one at a time, loaded them into Flick's harvester as Flick fired them up toward the fire.  The first shots fell well short, so Flick made adjustments to the grass-stalk-spring tension and kept at it, and shot by shot, he got ever closer. 

"Tink!" was the sound made when Flick's first rock finally hit the mountain.  Exhausted, their exoskeletons banged up and scratched, the two friends continued to work, buoyed by their small success.  Then finally, Flick's stones started to hit the fire.

"Sam, the grass springs are starting to weaken, they may snap and we would have to re-build the harvester - we have to try now."

Sam opened his pack and removed the ring of metal.  He carefully placed it into the harvester's launch cradle and stood back.  One of his antennae was bent and his thorax didn't feel right, but this would work, and the suffering would be worth it.

Flick looked up at the fire and gauged the wind with his antennae, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.  The harvester lurched as the springs released their tension and he felt the cradle slam forward.  Looking up, he saw the ring flying up into the sky, higher and higher, up towards the purple light of the Floating Mountain.

***

After Queen Atta had finished her speech of thanks for their victory over the grasshoppers and had lain gifts at the feet of the heroes and there were much cheering and singing, it came to the time of parting.

"So, this is goodbye my friends," solemnly said Gandalf.

"Ants don't say goodbye Gandalf, we say 'until you rejoin the line'," replied Flick as he nodded to his friend the wizard.

"That's a good saying little one, a saying worthy of inscription," said Strider, or more correctly, King Elessar of Gondor.

Then Flick and Sam exchanged goodbyes with Legolas and Gimli and bowed low to their old friend the King of Gondor, and a new friend King Èomer, Lord of the Horse Flies of Rohan.

But King Elessar bid them stand, and said, "my friends, you bow to no one," and the group of companions bowed to the two little ants, named Flick and Sam.  Then, Queen Atta and the rest of the colony bowed low in grateful thanks to the smallest heroes who possessed the largest of hearts.

***

Note: this was my first attempt at a cross-genre story like this, so comments will be greatly appreciated and votes would be a blessing.  Thanks for reading.