'It's time for you to meet the rest of us,' said Galumph.

'Wait, the rest of you?' asked Oober in surprise.

'Yes,' said Galumph. 'I'll bring them.' He disappeared out the mouth of the cave.

Oober was surprised, but not displeased at this new development. He had thought that it would just be him and Galumph; but the thought of more did not bother him very much. Perhaps they'd be nice, like Galumph. Or Wormtongue…

He didn't have long to cogitate on this, though, for Galumph returned in a moment with several companions.

It was an odd assortment, really, and would have been rather disturbing for most people. But Oobilong, you will remember, had seen a lot in his lifetime, and was used to disturbing things.

There was a spider. That was the first thing he noticed. It was hard not to, for it was very large, and very scary. It was about twice his height. Then there was a strange, green, translucent man. He bore a sword. There was also another man, dressed in red and gold with a black scarf wrapped around his neck. Oobilong recognized him as a Haradrim, one of the men from Harad who served the dark Lord. A warg also made an appearance, and a barrow wight. There were also two more Uruks. And all of them were bigger than Oober.

'This is my division,' said Galumph proudly, standing in front of them with his hands on his hips.

'H-hello,' said Oober, shyly looking down at his toes.

'Division, this is Oobilong. He's one of us now,' Galumph continued.

There was a silence.

'But it's nothing but a Snaga,' observed the barrow wight. He was promptly thunked on the head by the translucent green man.

'Shut up,' he said.

The spider stepped forward. Oobilong resisted the urge to back away. 'Hello,' it said. 'I'm Facetwerp.'

Oobilong's eyebrows went up inspite of himself.

'It's a strange name, I know,' said the spider. 'But it's what I've always been called.'

'Give a bit of your background history,' commanded Galumph.

'Why?'

'Because. He's one of us. He needs to know who we are.'

'Oh, all right,' humphed Facetwerp. 'When I was little I was captured by elves in Mirkwood. I was saved, though, by a Nazgul. Then I decided to disobey him. So I kind of had to run away.'

'Oh,' said Oobilong. 'What did you do?'

'I refused to go to Mordor,' she said, shrugging.

'These are Healunk and Dipmuck,' said Galumph, motioning towards the other Uruks. 'They come from Mordor.'

'We pranked the Witch-King,' said Headlunk, 'so we got chased out.'

Oober gulped. He said that as if it was nothing to prank the Witch-King.

'I'm Ksamkiru,' said the Haradrim, stepping forward and holding out his hand. 'I come from Harad.'

'What did you do bad?' asked Oobilong.

'I didn't do anything bad,' said the Haradrim, looking rather offended. 'That's why they wanted to kill me.'

'Letztat,' said the warg. 'How do you do?'

'Well. Good. I mean,' stuttered Oobilong. It would take him a while to get used to these people. And creatures.

'Letztat is allergic to goblins,' the barrow wight volunteered. Ksamkiru thunked him on the head.

'Silence!' bellowed the green man. 'Hello, Oobilong,' he said, turning to him and speaking in an altogether different voice. 'I'm Galoadith, and I'm from Gondor. My long and involved background is this: a long time ago I didn't...'

'Skip to the important part,' snapped Letztat.

'Oh, all right,' said Galoadith reluctantly. 'I was cursed. Then I ran away because I didn't like being cursed. So now I'm always dead.'

'Dead?' asked Oobilong dubiously.

'Yup.'

'I'm Gling,' said the barrow wight.

'Nobody asked you!' said Dipmuck, bonking him on the head.

'He's got issues,' explained Facetwerp. 'He's the only one of us, other than Yerakor, who was kicked out rather than running away.'

'Who is Yerakor?' asked Oober.

'He's another Uruk-hai. You'll like him,' said Ksamkiru. 'Right now he's hunting.'

'So what is your story?' asked Facetwerp curiously.

'I come from Mordor-' began Oober.

'Oh?' said Dipmuck.

'Is it very different?' asked Headlunk.

'From what?'

'From what it was.'

'I don't know.'

'Oh.'

'Stop interrupting,' said Galumph. 'I want to hear what he has to say.'

'I was sent to Isengard,' continued Oober timidly. 'Saruman experimented on me. It didn't work. So he wanted to kill me. Wormtongue told me to jump in the mud. I did. I was there a long time. I came out, but I wasn't any different. So he wanted Wormtongue to kill me. Wormtongue saved me instead.'

The cave was silent for a moment. Galumph had a horrified look on his face. So did the rest of the division who had faces.

'That's horrible!' said Facetwerp, choking. 'You poor thing.' She sounded as if she might cry.

'In the mud?' cried Galumph, recovering his ability to speak. 'You too?'

'Oh, dear,' said Galaodith.

There was a moment of sympathetic silence again.

It was interrupted by the entrance of an Orc. It was an Uruk-hai. He had a white hand on his face, but it had almost worn completely off. He was carrying some sort of animal over his shoulders, and he plopped it down on the floor.

'Hello, everyone,' he said, straightening up.

'Bieg!' screeched Oobilong. He gulped. 'Bieg, is it you?'

'Oobilong?' asked Bieg, his eyes widening. Oobilong squealed.

'I thought you were dead!' he said. He didn't cry. Not in front of the others.

'I thought you were dead!' Bieg said. They stood and looked at each other for a moment.

'Filthy maggot,' said Bieg, walking up and pushing him.

'Yourself,' said Oobilong, pushing him back. He bit his lip. 'Take that.' He stomped on his foot. 'I missed you.'

'Me too,' said Bieg.

'You know each other?' asked Gling.

'Um, I think that's rather obvious,' said Galaodith, thomping him on the head. 'Whether they're friends or not is harder to discern.'

'We were in the war together,' said Bieg. 'Of course we like each other! What makes you think we don't?'

'I thought he died,' said Oober.

'I thought I did, too, for a while,' said Bieg. 'Oober, here I'm known as Yerakor.'

'All right,' said Oobilong. 'Why did you change your name?'

'I didn't. Saruman did when I became an Uruk-hai.'

'Oh.'

'Nazgul!' screamed Gling. 'Nazgul coming in!'

'Curses!' yelled Galumph. 'All the way out here? Stay away from the entrance everyone!'

:D Finally the next chapter. Please review!