“Come on, Doctor! You don’t want to miss the film, do you?” a giddy voice asked, being heard as the doors to a blue police box opened partially.
“I don’t really want to go in the first place, so yeah, I’m good with missin’ it,” the Doctor replied.
“Don’t be so grumpy.” She giggled and the doors swung open fully. The blonde haired woman stepped out into the alley, a man following her.
“I’m 900 years old, I think I can be grumpy when I feel like it.” The Doctor gave Rose a look and she grinned, biting her lip. He couldn’t resist smiling in the end, so he gave in, grabbing her hand in his.
“Ooh, look who can’t be grumpy anymore, huh?” Rose teased as they walked along.
The Doctor glanced down at his companion is mock seriousness. “Oi, I could be grumpy anytime I want.”
“Alright you, come on. Let’s go quick. It’s been forever since I went to a film in a regular theater and not some alien place.” The couple strolled along the street, hands swinging back and forth as they walked. They chatted about random things until they reached their destination.
“This is going to be horrible. I can’t stay still for two hours. I’ll be dying by the end of this,” the Doctor breathed as he looked at where they were at.
“Stop that!” Rose exclaimed, lightly hitting the Time Lord in the chest. He furrowed his eyebrows and glanced down at her. “You’re not going to die.”
“With this one, I just might.” He rolled his eyes.
“Shush up now. I’ve wanted to see this film for a while now.”
“But it just came out!” He threw his free hand up at the title of the movie, which was on a poster outside of the theater.
“Yes, I know, but I’ve known about it for months. Transformers 4 is supposed to be amazing!” Rose argued, pulling her companion inside.
“But the facts in this series are so off! I mean, they’re totally wrong about the living metal! I would know, the TARDIS is proof,” the Doctor retorted. He raised his eyebrows at her as they waited in line to get tickets.
“Oh shut up.” Rose laughed at the expression on his face.
“Ugh, fine, but then we do something really entertaining after this.”
“And what’s that then?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“I—alright, you got me. I don’t have anything.” He straightened out his leather jacket with a quick tug.
“That’s what I thought,” Rose smirked, winking.
Rose held onto the Doctor’s arm, giggling as they emerged from the theater. She put a hand over her mouth, trying to contain her laughter.
“Did—did you think that fat one was as funny as I did?” the blonde woman asked, still laughing.
“I think they had no good scientific facts, that’s what I think,” the Doctor replied, grinning as well.
“Of course you’re still griping about that.” She let out another string of giggles. “You should’ve seen your face during that movie! You looked so outraged!” She threw her head back in mirth, blonde hair swinging from her head. The Doctor just gave a few laughs and grinned. The two walked arm-in-arm down the streets to the TARDIS. It was getting rather late, as they had taken a later Showtime. The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket for the key to his beloved time ship. It was then that a huge blast knocked him off his feet, sort of like a strong wind, sending him completely backwards. Rose let out a shriek as she was nearly pulled off her feet as well, but she let the Doctor go just in time.
As she was about to help the Time Lord up, she heard a loud crash from beside her. She jumped in fright, screaming into her hands. The TARDIS was lying on her side, slightly smoking. The air smelt of burnt wood and Rose shivered, mouth open.
“Doctor! Doctor!” she yelled, dropping down onto her knees. She put her hands on one of the Doctor’s leather clad shoulders and shook him from his woozy state.
“Ugh, Rose-? Oh, thank goodness you’re alright,” the Time Lord mumbled, lifting his shoulders from the ground. He shook his head violently, trying to clear his mind.
“Doctor, what happened?” Rose latched onto his arm and helped him get to his feet. He stumbled slightly as he stood up, but regained his balance quickly.
“An, uh. . .” he started woozily, holding his head. “An explosion. Inside the Time Vortex. Blast of radiation,” he explained quickly, nearly falling over again.
“Hold on, hold on,” Rose stammered, letting him lean against a brick wall. “There ya go. Now, clear your head. Just regain—regain your senses.” She was quite shaken by this; she’d never seen anything like it. Although Rose had seen her fair share of the Doctor beat, bruised, and out of action, she’d never seen him completely knocked off his feet from seemingly nowhere. Taking a swift glance around them, just to make sure no one had seen anything they might find as suspicious, Rose dug her key to the TARDIS out of her pocket. She bent down to the cement and stuck the key in, though it was rather awkward as it was now sideways, and unlocked the door.
“Oh my god,” Rose gasped, seeing the interior of the TARDIS. Wires and supports were all over the place. “Doctor, I thought the TARDIS had her own gravity!”
The Doctor, still leaning against the wall, heaved in a breath, holding his side in pain. “Yes, she does. But the extreme amount of radiation outside of the vortex that blew through here knocked her good. She’s only scrambled; it’d take but a moment to fix her.” He managed a small, halfhearted smile as Rose looked up at him from where she was still crouched on the ground.
“But how long will it take to fix you?” Rose stood up and let the Doctor lean onto her for support, as he was slightly limping from the blast.
“A bit longer than my ship, but I’m of no concern. Basically we were caught in the ‘blast zone’, and since you’re human, it didn’t affect you. Only the TARDIS and I would—were—affected by it.” He gave a long, outgoing breath. He stiffly reached into his jacket pocket for his sonic screwdriver. He aimed it inside at the console. A few levers pulled on their own and a small fire broke out. It was quickly extinguished, however, as the inside began switching. Panels flipped and some got destroyed completely, but soon the interior of the spacecraft looked good as new.
“Alright, now for getting the outside to match the inside,” the Time Lord sighed. He unhooked himself from his companion and got to the top of the TARDIS. The light glowed dimly. Rose quickly got into position right beside him, placing her hands underneath the very edge. “Okay, on the count of three.” He gave a small huff. “Three!” The two strained, using all their strength to push the little blue box back into correct position. It may have been wood, but it was still a spaceship. Soon enough, the TARDIS was standing upright again.
Rose wiped a bit of sweat off her forehead. “Oof, she might need to lose a few pounds, yeah?”
“Oi!” the Doctor exclaimed, looking with surprise at his companion. “She’ll get you for that.” He grinned and entered his ship. Rose followed after him.
“Are you good now?” she asked.
“Yup, just need to get my breath. That was a lot of radiation at one time. Drained me a bit.” He blew out his nose, tilting his head back as he leaned against the console, hands gripping the edge of it. “Boy, wonder what hit the vortex so hard it ruptured like that.”
“I guess we’ll have to find out, won’t we?”
“Yep! Into the Vortex!” He danced about the console, gracefully and purposely flipping switches. “And, off we go!”
Silence.
Rose turned to the Doctor. “Um, Doctor?”
The Doctor frowned, then turned to Rose, a sheepish and regretful smile on his face. “The vortex is overrated anyways.” Rose raised an eyebrow at him. “Ah, you see, we can’t get into the Time Vortex. We’re trapped here.”
The Doctor finished polishing what used to be tarnished wood. He lifted his goggles off his head and observed the shining new exterior of his TARDIS with a wide smile, showing his teeth. He lovingly patted the side of the spacecraft, exhaling through his mouth in a content sigh.
Rainbow Dash stuck her multicolored head out of the TARDIS door, glancing around. She set her sight upon the Doctor. “So, you done yet?”
The Doctor grinned. “Yep, I’m done. Looks great, doesn’t she? Like a brand new TARDIS,” he commented, running a hand along the side panels. There was a small purr as the spacecraft agreed with him, obviously loving the paint job.
Dash beamed, feeling the wood vibrate underneath her fingers that gripped the doorframe. “Seems like she likes it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy.”
“And so she should like it. I spent 3 hours and seven minutes working on ‘er.” He stroked the wood. “Isn’t that right, dear?” Another rumble told him all he needed to know. “So, now that she’s done and right side up, I say we go check this hole out. We’ll need to get on it right away.” The Doctor scooted past his companion standing in the doorway. She eagerly followed him up to the console, unfurling her wings.
“Alright, sweet! I wonder what it could be. I’ll teach them to mess with time,” Dash growled, throwing mock punches at the air as she hovered over the railing.
“Hold your . . . ponies,” the Time Lord said, getting them ready for flight. “We don’t want any trouble. It could’ve been some careless time agent that damaged it for all we know. And if it is dangerous, we don’t want to provoke them if unnecessary.” He pulled the final lever with a strong stroke of his arm. Nothing happened. The Doctor paused. He glanced around, meeting concerned eyes with Rainbow, who had stalled in her wing beats.
“Uh, maybe I did something,” the Doctor choked. He pulled at his tie nervously. He quickly checked and rechecked all the settings.
“Don’t tell me we’re stuck here,” Rainbow said, flaps slow and careful.
“We aren’t.”
“Then why aren’t we going?”
The Doctor rubbed the back of his head. “You said not to tell you.”
“Don’t play that game with me.” She furrowed her brow at the Time Lord.
“Heh, game—what game?” He looked away quickly.
“Doctor. . .”
“Okay, so we’re stuck here.” He gripped at his hair. “We can’t get into the Time Vortex.”
A screeching, groaning sound echoed through the abandoned building. The reflection of a blue box slowly appeared in a puddle. The words shining at the top shed an eerie glow upon all the space around it, illuminating the otherwise darkened warehouse. As the Time Rotor at the center of the spacecraft dropped, sending out the final thud and signaling the last sequence of landing, the wind that had picked up faded out. The few leaves that had managed to get inside the destroyed building settled down; the puddle nearby lost its ripples.
A single head popped out of the shining blue doors. The short brown hair that covered his right eye bounced as he spun his head around. The bright grin that always accompanied him became known as he surveyed the area.
“Move it, Chin Boy,” a female’s voice ordered playfully from the TARDIS. In a matter of a few seconds, the Doctor was pushed out of the way by a short brown haired woman in a purple dress that only went down to the middle of her thighs accompanied by a black pair of leggings and flats.
“Oi, Clara, don’t be rude,” the Doctor admonished, dusting off his jacket. He straightened his bowtie and continued inspecting where they were. He then twisted his arm around like he always did to check the time. The complicated circles that no one else in the universe could read told him exactly when they were. “Present day—well, year, anyways. 2014. But a might off. . .” He lowered his arm, the observing face on.
“What do you mean, ‘a might off’?” Clara asked, looking nearly straight up at the goofy Time Lord.
“It’s probably nothing,” the Doctor replied quickly. Better to stay silent for now. . . “Besides, don’t we have stuff to do?” He gave her a false smile.
“No. . . and you better tell me what’s going on. I can read you like a book.”
“Now that you’ve said that, I have the strangest feeling I’m going to do something ridiculous involving books later today.”
“When aren’t you doing something ridiculous?” Clara joked.
“Oi!”
“Strike! That’s another turkey for the Doctor!” the Time Lord yelled, throwing his hands up. Clara, sitting nearby, rolled her eyes as she stood up to grab the purple bowling ball that was making its way up out of the machine.
“How are you so good at this game?” she asked, holding her ball up. The Doctor grinned at her.
“Maybe you shouldn’t roll like a granny then.” He quickly ducked under the bowling ball that she chucked at him as he was standing right in front of the lane.
“There—not a granny roll.” She gave him a smirk as he pouted at her. Clara turned around with that usual sass in her step. As soon as she rolled her second ball, the Doctor stepped up again.
“You are so mean.” He took his blue (what other color did you expect?) ball. “You really could’ve hurt me.” He rolled his ball down the lane, getting another strike as Clara blew air out her nose at seeing that she got a gutter ball. “And I think I win.” He smirked as their game ended. 264 to 73.
“Come on Chin, let’s go. I feel like a nice warm bath,” Clara said, untying her bowler shoes. The Doctor began doing the same, putting his black boots on as his companion got her flats back upon her feet.
“I really don’t need to know that, Clara,” the Time Lord responded, wrinkling his nose.
“I suppose not. But hurry up anyways.” She put her hands on her hip as he laced his boots.
“Right, let me return the shoes and we’ll go.” He quickly did that and they headed back to the TARDIS.
As they were walking, the Doctor suddenly stopped. A few people that had been walking behind him growled and muttered angrily under their breath as they nearly rammed into him, but continued on their ways. Clara took a step back and narrowed her eyes at the Time Lord.
“Doctor?” Clara asked, voice raising in pitch just barely.
“It’s, it’s nothing. It’s fine. Fine. But let’s, um, let’s just hurry on to the TARDIS,” he muttered, quickly starting off again, getting himself into a swift jog. Clara, having short legs compared to the Doctor’s slim, long ones, had to practically run to keep up.
“Doctor! Tell me!” she demanded, yanking on his arm as soon as she caught up. She huffed angrily when he didn’t respond. “I’ll tell the TARDIS on you!” she threatened finally, seeing he had no intentions of stopping.
“Not now Clara. I promise, I’ll explain when we get back to the TARDIS, but right now, we really need to get in and get out of here.” He sounded very worried as he rushed along.
“But—ah!” Clara let out a shriek as the Time Lord was thrown forward, stumbling onto the sidewalk and landing on his chest. Several passerby glanced over, mutterings of ‘Is he drunk?’ passing through the crowd. The short woman quickly got down on her hands and knees, resting right beside his head. She was about to poke him, see if he was conscious, when he groaned—a long, choked out groan, a mix between pain and annoyance. He lifted his head, hair sticking up in different directions.
“That was unpleasant,” the Doctor grumbled, eyes wide. He swiftly pushed himself back up, nearly stumbling backwards as momentum carried him, but he managed to stay balanced. His arms pin wheeled before stopping up near his head, making him look like a clumsy ballerina.
“What is going on?” Clara exclaimed as the two raced off once again.
“Time stuff! Lots of time stuff!” he yelled, coat flapping behind him, arms pumping at his sides, “and something big is going to happen! We need to stop it!”
“What big stuff?”
“Um, like past, present, and future all coming together at once because there’s been a big boooom in the vortex.” They slowed down as they neared the abandoned warehouse and the Doctor prepared to snap his fingers. Luckily, when he saw the wonderful blue box, it wasn’t laying on its side, as he thought it would be. “Thank goodness. Maybe being inside has had some sort of effect on the radiation. She’s not dama”—the Doctor wrinkled his nose—“not demolished.”
“Wait, is the TARDIS burning?” Clara gaped, plugging her nose as they reached their destination. The Time Lord rubbed off some melted paint, grimaced, and wiped it off on Clara as she stood next to him. She growled but did nothing, just settling instead for giving the Doctor the evil eye.
“And yes,” the Doctor replied, entering his ship, “the TARDIS is burning. It’s not hurting her, it’s just because there’s been a massive intake of radiation so suddenly that she couldn’t absorb it all. ‘s the same thing that knocked me down. It’s great, really, but bad.” He then waved his hands. “No, it’s not great, and it’s not bad, well, it is bad, wait—”
“Shush. It’s either good or bad,” Clara said, silencing him and stopping his hands from doing so many motions she couldn’t keep up with them.
“Bad. It’s bad.”
“And why is it bad?”
“The Time Vortex has ruptured.”
“So time is all wacked up?”
“Precisely!” the Doctor yelled, clapping his hands together. “We’ll have to go into the vortex to fix it.” He swung around, coat swinging, and bolted around the TARDIS control room as fast as he could.
Is everything a game to him? Clara thought as she watched him. Suddenly, he stopped, puzzled.
“Uh oh,” he muttered.
“Uh oh,” Clara repeated, getting in closer to him, “uh oh?”
“Yes, seems as though we’re stuck on Earth. The TARDIS can’t enter the vortex.”