The China Dolls

Chapter One

"China!"

Amy Pond stepped out of the TARDIS and glanced up at the Doctor, who was rubbing his hands together, a half crazed grin shining on his pale face.

He was standing just in front of the TARDIS, which had been parked on the side walk of a rather normal looking street. Behind the Doctor, Amy could see a long row of warehouses stretching in either direction. Plain, simple and boring.

Slightly confused, Amy was about to step out to join the doctor and ask why they were here when a scent hit her nose. It was salty, cold almost, and Amy instantly knew what it was. The sea! It only took a short walk around the police box to see she was correct. Stretching out behind them was the ocean. Well, something like the ocean anyway, because Amy was sure she had never seen the ocean such an electric blue. In fact, it was so blue that it hurt to look at it for too long. Averting her eyes, she jumped suddenly as she noticed the Doctor standing next to her, still grinning his head off.

"China!" he exclaimed again, waving his arms up and down to exaggerate his point, "Well.... technically in the language of the first creatures to set foot on this earth it's called Hadkkoag ewkndka asjdhkj, but since you probably can't pronounce that I think we'll stick to the human version. Anyway, China! What a beautiful country. Full of art, religion, industry and thousands of different ethic groups. Did you know that China invented a dancing robot? Imagine that! A dancing robot! I love humans! You know what I don't like through? The Great Wall of China. I mean I love the structure, but the name? Come on, try to be at least a bit original! It's the same with the Egyptian Pyramids or the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Imagine if the Great Wall of China was called Harold? Or Gertrude? I've always liked the name Wane! It's –"

"Are you just going to go on like that till I interrupt you?" Amy asked raising her eyebrows.

" – called Unam. Imagine naming your ship Unam! What an ugly name! I swear the moment I –"

Amy sighed and looked out into the ocean briefly again. She could hear the Doctor blabbering on in the background. In fact, he seemed to be blabbering more than usual, and he had been very pushy on the way here. It was almost as if something was wrong, but he would tell her if something was up, wouldn't he?

Trying to keep the thought out of her head, she turned the Doctor and asked forcefully, "Why is the sea such an electric blue?"

" – and that is why you should never fly into a vortex without checking all the safety measures. Wait! What? The sea? Why shouldn't it be electric blue? Do you have something against that colour?"

"Well, no, but it's not meant to be that colour is it? I mean, isn't the sea usually much less....bright."

The Doctor frowned slightly and raised a hand to scratch his head.

"Well, it can be yellow, black, grey...... I think once I saw it turn rainbow."

Amy leaned against the barrier that separated them from the sea and sighed again.

"Are we even on earth?"

"Of course we're on earth! Haven't you been listening to a thing I've been saying – "

"What year is it?"

"Well, I was aiming for 3694, but seeing as the sea colouring is a bit off, I think it's around 3392 instead. Which is rather a coincidence, because I seem to remember this is the year when that big plague hit Europe, but don't worry we should be perfectly safe in China....speaking of safe in China, is it just me or is this place pretty deserted. I mean at this time in history with over a google people living on earth you would think there would be someone around."

Amy turned away from the sea at the Doctor's words and scanned the warehouses. He was right. There was nothing. Not a car. Not a hovercraft or whatever people used these days. Not a soul. Wait. Something had flashed in the corner of her eye. She turned to look at it and gasped.

"Doctor! I thought you said there was no one! Who's that?"

The Doctor turned and frowned harder.

"Who's what?"

"There!"

"There's no one there."

"What! Are you blind?! There!"

The Doctor couldn't see anything, but he knew better than to treat these things lightly.

"Take me to it."

Amy grabbed his arm tightly and lead him across the street, forcing herself not to run. Once on the other side of the street she stopped at a fence that enclosed one of the warehouses and pointed to the corner of one of the buildings.

"What can you see," demanded the Doctor.

"There's a little girl there...she...she...looks like a doll. Doctor....she doesn't look quite right. There's make up all over her face and she's crying. I need to go to her....I need to help her...."

"Wait! I can't see her...why can't I see her..."

"It doesn't matter! Maybe you've got some Time Lord disease thing! I don't care! We need to help her! She's sick!"

"What! You said she was crying before – "

"Oh look! She's so cute and happy! Let's play with –"

"Amy!"

The Doctor grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him, giving her a little shake.

"Stop it!"

Amy struggled in his arms for a few seconds, trying to turn her head back towards the warehouse corner, but finally relaxed.

"Who?...What?...I...."

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. Amy seemed to have snapped out of it. Whatever had been on that corner, it definitely wasn't their friend.

"Come on. Let's go and find someone, maybe they can tell us about the girl."

"The girl.....we need to....what?"

It was the Doctor's turn to grab her by the arm and drag her back to the TARDIS. He let go of her for a moment to close the door of the police box, but then came right back.

"Allon-y..."

He had managed to lead her around the corner and down a promising looking side street when she finally seemed to completely pull together.

"Where to now?" she asked, slowly moving her arm so that the Doctor would released it.

Author's Note: This is my first story! Please review.

Disclaimer: Doctor Who does not belong to me....but I wish it did :D