The Prophecy Fulfilled
"You think you terrify me, do you?"
"Donna."
"I'm not frightened of ghosts!"
"Donna."
"Don't you float away from me! I am talking–"
"Donna!"
"What!?"
"They can't hear you," the Doctor began to explain in his best 'look at how smart I am' voice, "A distortion in the molecules in the air that disable digital language from communicating with biological signals. Basically I created a barrier that allows us to be hidden from these digital creatures."
"Digital? Like from a computah?" the red-headed companion questioned, "They look real to me. And they're still bloody abductin people out there. Are we just going to hide in here and do nuthin?"
"Donna, remember how there are fixed points in time? Well this is one of those. And unlike Pompeii, we don't have to get involved. None of these people are going to die."
The Doctor in his brown pinstriped suit, stalked over the open doorway. The door which used to hang on the hinges, now lay on the floor in pieces, destroyed by the ghost-like creatures in search for humans. He pulled a pocket watch from his blazer, flipping it open and looking from it to the sky and back.
"We need to get back to my TARDIS before dark."
"T'still morning though, Doctor. Plenty of time tah send those ghosts back where they crawled out of."
The Doctor stepped out from the apartment to the sidewalk.
"Come on," he said as he began walking confidently in a seemingly random direction, "As I said, we don't need to do anything. It's being dealt with. There's a prophecy and everything."
"Prophecy?"
Waving off Donna's question, the Doctor approached an information kiosk. He retrieved his sonic screwdriver from his breast pocket. Pointing the small, small, silver device at the screen, he pressed a button and a blue light glowed from the end as it mad a slight whirring sound. As he did that, the screen of the kiosk scanned through a series of maps.
"Doctor! What are we doing here? What is going on?"
"Well, it looks like we landed about four years later than I intended."
"You bettah answer me Doctor."
"Donna, I will explain everything when we're back in the TARDIS."
A ruckus erupted down the street. People were screaming and children were crying. Donna and the Doctor glanced toward the scene. From around the corner a group of people were being ushered past by two large ghosts. They looked like large floating sheets with mouths and eyes. Following behind was a cloaked figure. It carried a scythe and was also floating above the heads of the citizens. Before the Doctor could react, the scythe wielding specter's green eyes fell upon them.
"Donna," the Doctor turned, "time to run."
The two sprinted down the street and around a corner.
"What about that molecular disruption thingy?"
"Can't. It requires a foundation. The flat we were in provided the framework for the barrier to form from. Not to mention the time it takes to set up something that sophisticated."
Donna groaned in anguish and irritation, but the Doctor didn't hear it. A louder sound drowned it out. From a portal down the next alley roared a large green dinosaur with red stripes and tusks piercing from its back.
The Doctor aimed his sonic at a door and by the time he reached it, it was unlocked. He rushed in and Donna followed, then he aimed at the window in the back and opened into the alley. They repeated the process from building to building. From behind them, the dinosaur monster came through each building, except by removing the building itself by stomping it to rubble.
In one alley, the Doctor altered their direction. They ran almost a block before the building they had just got out of started to crumble. Ducking into an open storefront, Donna and the Doctor hid until the dinosaur passed, destroying the next building and the next. The Doctor checked around the corner; he didn't see the phantom or the ghosts. The dinosaur didn't seem smart enough to think that it wasn't still on their trail, so he decided this would be a good chance to whip up a new barrier.
"You're gonna tell me what the heck is going on alien boy."
"Since we're stuck here for a while, I suppose I can explain."
The Doctor finished preparing the barrier and then used his sonic screwdriver to release two fizzy drinks from a vending machine near the front of the store. He offered the second to Donna, who accepted it, the took a seat at the counter. Popping the ball in the bottle, he began his explanation.
"This is Japan in 1999. The monsters that have been abducting people are from the digital world. Anything that uses a digital signal is a connection to the digital world. Phones, computers, television. They all make up the other world.
In 1995, two of those digital monsters, digimon as they're called, appeared and fought here in Hikarigaoka. In 1999, seven children who were present for the previous incident were brought into the digital world in order to defeat a great evil. Right now that evil is here in our world, searching for an eighth child, because only with all eight chosen children, or digidestined, together can they possibly defeat him."
"Then we should help the children."
"Donna. When I say I know the whole history of Earth, I don't just mean of the North West. This exists as part of history. This happens with or without us here. The eighth child is found and she and her digimon help the rest defeat Myotismon. Then, they return to the digital world for their final battle. Besides, we can't do anything against digimon without having digimon ourselves."
He finished his drink and tossed the bottle into the recycling. Donna did the same.
"We can go now," he said, having checked his pocket watch, "the eighth child should be found now, so no one will be around searching for her."
In no rush, without any immediate danger, Donna and the Doctor simply walked to their destination. Outside the shop the two were alone. They were able to walk in the street since traffic was nonexistent. If there were any people still left around from the digimon abductions, they weren't taking chances by revealing themselves.
"That dinosaur then. That was a digimon?"
"Tuskmon, a champion level digimon. One of Myotismon's minions. A fierce creature."
"And the ghosts?"
"Bakemon. Not very smart. They're led by Myotismon's minion Phantomon."
"That's the one with the scythe."
"That's right."
It took almost an hour to reach the train station. To get to the TARDIS, they needed to get back to Odaiba, where they had landed two days earlier. No traffic meant no public transportation such as buses or taxis. The trains weren't running either, but the Doctor led Donna down to the platform. Using the sonic, the Doctor opened the lead car's doors and stepped into the cab. When Donna entered, he closed the doors and then began activating the systems on the dashboard. Pretty soon, the train began to pull away from the station.
Donna still had more questions for the Doctor about what was going on, but before she could continue the conversation, she passed out in one of the conductors' chairs. It was still early in the day, but with all of the craziness, she was plainly exhausted. She didn't even notice when the Doctor transferred them to a second train. Unfortunately, her rest was disturbed when the Doctor shook her frantically.
"What's all the fuss about?"
"Donna," the Doctor stated, opening the cockpit to the next car back, "we have a problem, follow me."
The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the far door and it opened to the third train car. He began running, followed by Donna and, by using the same trick he used when they were being chased by Tuskmon, proceeded to dodge from compartment to compartment.
"You're gonna tell me what we're running for!"
"No talking. Put your energy into running."
Ten cars through the train, Donna could feel the speed of the train decreasing. She still wanted to know what was happening, but with how determinedly the Doctor was running, it would be too difficult to chat and run at the same time. Only a few cars later, they reached the end of the train. Its speed was maybe half of what it was when Donna had been awoken.
The Doctor opened the last door and the two looked out at the streamline railing speeding beneath them.
"What are we doing out here, Doctor?"
"Well, it won't be fun, but I can alter the electrical current running through the rails," he said, taking aim at them with his screwdriver, "Normally, the current pushes against the train to make it run. With my sonic, I can change it to an electro-magnetic wave that will act as a cushion for when we jump."
"Are you tellin me that you want me to jump off this train?"
The Doctor didn't respond right away.
He replaced his sonic in his pocket, "Whenever you're ready."
"Doctor."
"Best go before we reach the end of this bridge."
"We're not on a bridge."
"Oh, Donna, come on," he grumbled, grabbing Donna's wrist and jumping first, practically dragging her along with him.
The electro-magnetic wave did its job. Donna and the Doctor were slowed down with the last half meter of their fall and then slid to a stop after another fifteen. As they slid, the train that they had jumped off of screeched as it grated over the edge of the railway. One by one, the train cars toppled into the Tokyo Port.
The Doctor stood, brushing off and straightening out his suit.
Scrambling to her feet, Donna shouted, "What was that?"
"That was why we needed to get off the train."
"And you couldn't have just stopped it like a normal person? We had to leap off of it?"
"I didn't have time to figure out how to work the brakes. I just shut it off to let friction and gravity slow it down, but we were still too close to the ledge that it wouldn't stop in time. We had to jump or we'd be in the ocean with it."
"We needed to get across that bridge to get to the TARDIS, then?
"Yep."
"And without the bridge we–"
"Take the long way around. We walk."
"Brilliant. And how long will that take us?"
"Don't worry, we'll get there before the fun starts. Before it gets dark."
"Doctor. It won't be dark for hours."
"Six hours to be exact," the Doctor took another look at his pocket watch, "the digital energy is denser over there."
Donna looked toward Odaiba. About halfway across the port, a thick fog obscured the city from view.
She asked, "Is that where those children are fighting against the digimon?"
"Against the evil digimon, yes. With their own partner digimon," he responded as he began walking back to where the railway met natural ground, "Well, not now. The first part should be over, but the prophecy has yet to be fulfilled."
"You keep yapping about some prophecy. What kind of mystical mumbo jumbo determines when you get involved in a crisis?"
"It isn't mumbo jumbo. It's documented. It happened."
The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to detach a piece of fence that guarded the railway from trespassers. They made their way back onto the street and continued north. Donna noticed a motorbike with a side-carriage that was still running. She approached it and checked its fuel level. The TARDIS's influence still intact, she was able to read what would normally be a foreign language to her; though she didn't think it would be hard to understand that the vehicle was full whether she could read Japanese or not.
"Doctor, we can drive. Hop on and take us to the TARDIS."
Looking at the bike, the doctor got a solemn look on his face.
"Maybe we could find something else."
"What?" Donna huffed, "What's wrong with this?"
"It's," the Doctor started, "It just..."
How could Donna know that the reason he didn't want to take the motorbike was because it reminded him of someone. Of someone he'd lost. Of a previous companion that he hadn't been able to save. Of Rose.
"I just don't think–"
"Get on. Now."
There was no arguing with Donna on the subject. Especially when the Doctor didn't actually have a reasonable excuse. Yes, he had lost Rose, but that didn't mean he was allowed to make Donna suffer. She was still tired from the events that had already happened. Running from Bakemon, running from Tuskmon, walking to the train, running again in order to then jump off the train. And now he wanted her to walk for another two hours?
He sighed in defeat.
"Does it have helmets?"
Donna checked the sidecar. To their good fortune, there were two helmets tucked into the foot of the car. Donna's fit perfectly, but the Doctor's was a little large. He grimaced. An ill-fitting helmet was nearly as unsafe as no helmet at all. Nearly, yet not completely, and definitely not a good enough reason to skip the motorbike. He climbed on, hit the gas, and they were in motion.
What would have been a two hour walk turned into just a twenty minute drive. When the travelers got close to the edge of the fog, the Doctor removed his pocket watch and pressed it onto the bike's dashboard. Pushing the button to open the watch revealed that it didn't tell time at all, the device was a gauge. Below the gauge were two buttons labeled mode and power. He pressed the power button.
Remembering that the Doctor had used the device previously, Donna had to ask what it was.
"This is an energy sensor. I was using it to track the whereabouts of the digimon after I realized we weren't when I expected to be. It can also be used to disrupt energy signals. This fog is a digital signal created by Myotismon. Without this, we wouldn't be able to get inside the fog's perimeter until he is defeated."
Like the Doctor explained, the device allowed them to pass through the fog as if it were a typical atmospheric disturbance. Within the barrier, the fog seemed to hang higher in the air. Their line of sight was barely even obstructed. It was more like a dry mist than a thick fog.
Turns out the Doctor did remember where he parked the TARDIS, because only a few minutes later Donna could see it in the distance. The Doctor pulled up to the blue box and flung himself off the bike.
"Oh, it's so good to be back. Conventional travel can be so tedious."
He opened the door inward and stepped inside, beckoning Donna to follow. She did.
"You should get some rest, Donna. In about five hours, I'm gonna show you something spectacular."
Donna agreed with the first part. She clearly needed some sleep. The nap on the train was nice, but it was too short and ultimately left her more tired. She found her way to the room the Doctor had picked out for her when she decided to travel with him. Collapsing on the bed, Donna disappeared into the dream scape.
An alarm was going off. VEEP! VEEP! VEEP! Donna awoke and stretched. Confused and slightly annoyed by the sharp noise, she got up to find the Doctor. When she passed the doorway to the room, the alarm went silent.
"Ah, good, you're up," the Doctor's voice sounded over an intercom, "Come on then, I want you to see this."
Donna made her way to the control bridge of the TARDIS. The Doctor had the doors open and was looking out at something. He stepped back inside and motioned for her to approach.
"Come and look," the Doctor said, pointing toward the doors.
Outside, Donna noticed that the TARDIS had changed locations. Before it had been in the parking lot of some hotel, but now it was on top of a building. Whether it was the hotel they were by before or a new building, she wasn't sure. Other than the locale, there was another thing Donna noticed. In the distance she could she could see a rainbow rising straight into the sky in a way no rainbow would. The sky itself was dark and lined with randomly colored stripes.
"That rainbow's a bit odd, innit?"
"But it isn't even a rainbow at all. Brilliant isn't it? It's an small scale interdimensional portal. And above. That's the digital world we're seeing. Honestly, I'm surprised you don't remember seeing that. August 4th, 1999, the digital world could be seen from all over the world."
"August 4th? I had a root canal."
"How can you possibly–" the Doctor started, but he knew better.
"What do you mean by small scale?"
"Oh, yeah. Its design is such that it can only be activated by the devices the digidestined carry with them. Without that handicap the portal would transport anything and everything from this world to the digital world. Also, it isn't a portal to a world parallel to our own, but a world within. What affects our world affects the digital world and vice versa."
The Doctor skipped over to the TARDIS control console and pulled one of the many levers.
"Let's take a closer look, shall we?"
The doors closed as the TARDIS slowly climbed into the air. On the outside, the blue box spun faster as it made its way toward the rainbow pillar. After spinning a dial on the console and flipping the first lever back to its default position, the Doctor skipped right back to the entrance. The TARDIS stopped spinning and the doors reopened and the Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the digital portal.
"What are you doing now, Doctor?"
"Gathering as much data as I can. It's not every day you get to see a digital portal in action."
When the Doctor felt he had gathered the data he wanted, he put his sonic away.
"Do you want to get another look at it before we leave?" he asked, returning to the console.
Donna approached the entrance as the Doctor made preparations to travel through time and space. She didn't completely understand what the rainbow was exactly. One rarely knew anything when the Doctor was the one explaining it. Even though, she did think it was beautiful. It wasn't a rainbow in the normal way, not just because it wasn't caused by rain or curved from one end of the horizon to another. It was a pillar of light containing all the colors of the rainbow in a perfectly blended gradient. From red on one end to blue in the center and then red to blue from the center to the other end. As she watched, she saw it disappear with the children and their digimon inside.
"Was that them?" she asked, "The digidestined?"
"You saw them, eh? They're returning to the digital world for their final battle. For them it will feel like days, but for us... I estimate their return to be in just a couple of hours," the Doctor pulled up an input screen on the TARDIS computer, "Where to now, Donna?"
"After all that runnin around, I'm well deservin of a spa-day."
"Splendid idea! I know just the place. It's a tourist planet with retreats, attractions, and tours."
As the Doctor finished inputting the coordinates to the TARDIS system, a white light flew in through the open doors and deposited itself in Donna's coat pocket. Putting the finishing touches on, the Doctor flipped the final switch and the TARDIS began to enter the Time Vortex. VWORP, VWORP, VWORP. Donna noticed the bump in her pocket and fished out a small, octagonal shaped, digivice.
"Doctor? Did you put this in my pocket?"
"What?"
Before Donna could show the Doctor the digivice, it glowed bright red. The sudden digital signal interfered with the TARDIS piloting system and she lurched sideways, knocking Donna out of the still open doors.
"Doctor!"
"Donna!"
It was too late, the light from the digivice enveloped Donna and she was quickly digitized. The Doctor was left on his knees, mouth agape as he watched his companion disappear. The TARDIS began to rock and the Doctor knew he had to resume control of his ship before he found himself landing in the center of an acidic planet. He closed the doors and returned to the console, tossing levers, twisting dials, and a couple of times hitting parts with a mallet.