Dreamlord Dilemma!
"Good, Pond. You learn very quick indeed for a starter. You might even better me one day." The Doctor's voice came gleefully. Amy was practising flying the TARDIS with the Doctor, while Rory watched jealously from the one of the seats. "Doctor. Why can River Song fly the TARDIS better than you?" Rory interrupted, hoping to stir a proper conversation, other than listening to the Doctor instruct Amy on how to fly the TARDIS. The Doctor ignored Rory and smiled at Amy, who was always defeated by the goofy smile he pulled. The Doctor slumped over to one of the chairs and felt his whole body shutting down to sleep, which he hadn't done in decades. The Doctor's eyes widened in horror to what he was hearing. "I'm coming for you Doctor... Surely you can remember me... Well, when you fall asleep, then wake up again, you will trapped in the Void in yourself where you trapped me... I will make it painful... My mental image swapping to form a real body." the voice hissed. The Doctor quickly got up, mortified and in fear and Amy walked up to him. "Doctor, you look like you've just seen a ghost. Sit down and rest." Amy consoled and guided him back to the seat. The Doctor sat down again, his pulse slowing down, but his eyes wide awake. "Sweet dreams, Doctor." Birdsong filled the air which caused the Doctor to finally fall asleep earning a restless snooze.
"Where am I?" the Doctor said, whilst scanning the area cautiously and thoroughly. "Surely you know where you are..." A figure which the Doctor recognised immediately. The Dreamlord. Your body's in a lot of pain and Amy and Rory are wondering what's happening to you. You'd better wake up soon..." said the Dreamlord. "I won't wake up." the Doctor refused angrily. "I'm afraid you have no choice." the Dreamlord hissed menacingly. "Doctor... Are you alright?" Amy whispered with worry as she and Rory stared at him, watching him cringe and scream in pain, whilst he was uncomfortably crouched down on his haunches. The Doctor's body stood up, his eyes snapped open, changing colour from calm green to electric blue and a menacing chuckle that only Rory and Amy knew escaped his lips and vocalised through out the entire TARDIS. The Doctor's possessed body started glowing orange and the Dreamlord used the Doctor's voice to lie to the pair. "I'm sorry! I'm regenerating!" The Doctor's body was glowing vibrantly, his hands thrown to the side, both arms and head glowing, exerting the regenerative energy and his body transformed explosively into the Dreamlord's body. "Amy... Why wouldn't I be okay?" the Dreamlord replied after the fake regeneration had finished. Rory pulled Amy away from the TARDIS console where the Doctor had originally been uncomfortably crouched down in pain. As Rory dragged, fascinated to what happened to the Doctor, Amy freed herself from his tight grip, and launched herself for the Time Phone. This device could call from any time and she rang for the one person who could deal with the Dreamlord-Doctor. River Song...
Within seconds of calling, River materialised inside the TARDIS using her Time Manipulator and as soon as she arrived she was darkly greeted by the Dreamlord who called out to her "Hello sweetie!" "That's my line... Sweetie. So... What's happened up to this point?" River spoke loudly with an angry edge. So Amy told River the story, while Rory used an Intrinsic Field Creator that the Doctor taught him to use, to repel the Dreamlord. "Basically, the Doctor told us it was a mere reflection of his self hate that came from the physic pollen that got blown into the TARDIS' engines and we kept getting stuck in dre-" Amy explained thoroughly, but got interrupted by her husband. "Yeah, Amy, the Doctor didn't exactly tell me how long the field would stay up, but told me not to use it too long or it might blow." Rory bellowed under the time machines engine roaring. "Rory. Put the field down so I can get to the console. River calmly said. I know only one thing the Doctor can't resist taking over..." River sprinted to the console and started to fly the TARDIS on her own. The Doctor, who was trapped inside his own void inside was shouting "Get off my girl!" and for five seconds the Doctor told Amy to find him. River was still pressing the buttons until she yawned. "Wait... Does the Doctor have birds?" River yawned drowsily, as birdsong drowned out her words and they collapsed without warning onto the TARDIS' floor sleeping soundly.
Five minutes later... Amy, Rory and River all awoke on sharp grass when something even more worrying than the Dreamlord distracted River. A figure that was walking very much similar to zombies if they existed. A figure that had plants covered the entire body. No face, no features and only three fingers. Panic struck the trio as soon as River Song shouted "RUUUUUUN!" "What on Earth are they!" as Rory's face contorted with panic and grasping Amy tightly. "Krynoids! They take over unsuspecting humans, leech and grow onto their unsuspecting victims until they are big enough to destroy entire cities." River replied back. They stopped and hid themselves behind a wall and watched the krynoids burst into flames randomly.
Once again, they heard the Dreamlord's menacing laugh and Amy heard the Doctor's voice trying to console her. "Amy... the Doctor's ghostly voice came. I want you to find me. The real me. Okay? The Madman in the Blue Box if you want to call me that. Search your memories of me to find my persona. Bye Amy." The saddened voice disappeared. His voice sounded exactly like the time when she got an Angel in her eye. "Wait Doctor..." and Amy fell to the floor sobbing.
"I will give you a choice. Out of all these versions of the Doctor, which is the real one? Guess right and I will return to the Void of the Doctor's self hate. Guess wrong... Well he'll be staying in the Void and you must challenge me a second time if you wish. You only have ONE choice. The Dreamlord chuckled gleefully at their misery. And it's Amy's Choice."
Amy stepped forward. Her strength diminishing with every step, whimpering that she may lose her best friend and crystal tears glistened in her eyes. Three hundred Doctor's and only one was the real one. The soft voice came again "Use your instincts, like you have on many of my journeys that I have taken you on. Look in your heart." The voice faded again "DOCTOOORRRRR!" Amy shouted feebly and watched as every one of them turned their heads toward her. She felt a strange urge from deep inside to say all of them. But her mind had agreed on the Doctor she thought she knew. She carefully stepped over the Timelords' feet and chose a Doctor. A maniacal cackle filled the air as the one she had chosen was a fraud, who had tears trickling down his face and burst into flames. "Do you wish to do the challenge a second time? Or will you give up on your precious Doctor and be left in this daunting dream world for all eternity?" Came the shadowy Dreamlord.
"I accept the re-challenge Dreamlord and now I know how to pick by a friend of mine, River's and Rory's. By using my heart. Rory and River stared in bewilderment at the upstart she was causing. Rory and River ran towards her, stood by her side and comforted her, praying to themselves with all the hope that they could muster.
"The Doctor out of all three hundred is all of them!" Amy shouted with glee. The Dreamlord's more weakened figure appeared in front of the trio and all the Doctor's personalities melted into the Dreamlord, causing the Doctor's features to reappear as his body was morphing into the Doctor they all knew far too well. Sighing with relief, the Doctor spoke for the first time in his normal timelord body. "Well done Amy..." "W-well done! Is that all you can say to me!" Her startled tone growing angrier. The reply came back: "Well you did a decent job I can tell you that!" He chuckled like his old self. "Well! Have to go now! Places to run, people to escape!" River triumphantly smiled. "You know I still think that is the worst method of time travel ever!" the Doctor smiled weakly while River Song set her Time Manipulator to leave and she dematerialised. "Well I think that worked out quite well to be honest." he begun. "What went well?" Rory retorted. "Well, ummm..."
~BBBBBZZZZZT! VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEM MALFUNCTION BBBBBZZZZZT! ~
"Sheesh! Why does this thing always do this?" A timelord muttered indistinctly whipping out the Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket. Rory and Amy awoke in shock on the comfy chairs that the Doctor had fallen asleep on in the dream. "DOCTOR! Do you mind not barging in on our privacy and doing that virtual what ever it's called on us? That's the third time you've done that!" Rory shouted in a rage. "Well like I always say come prepared for the worst because you-know-who could come back again" The Doctor protested in amusement. "Doctor. Do you think that that dream may have been real or maybe we could still in the dream?" Amy chuntered. "Well there's only one way to find out Pond's!" the Doctor laughed at the dawning of reality. "Here we go again! Geronimo!" the Doctor shouted playfully. "Doctor... No! Don't you dare do that self destruct thing again! We've been at that stage before." Rory opposed and clinging to the handlebars of the TARDIS. "Too late for that!" The TARDIS exploded, the whining of the engines lost in space.
"Doctor... We're alive. We survived didn't we." Amy gasped picking herself up from the TARDIS floor. "Yeah! That was fun even though we shouldn't really keep blowing up the TARDIS in our dreams." The Doctor sprang up from the chair, set the coordinates on the console of the TARDIS and noticed his reflection of self hate and whispered four words to him. "Until the next time..." The Doctor shuddered, then continued setting the coordinates. "Where we going this time Doctor?" Amy sighed. "Where ever you want..." replied the Doctor in an excited but distant voice.