"Quick, Annabeth, get back into camp!" Percy shouted, uncapping his lethal ballpoint pen, Riptide. It grew from an innocent writing utensil, to a long, sharp, Celestial Bronze sword. He, Chiron and Clarisse were stood just inside the Camp's borders.
Percy's deep, sea-green eyes glared unwaveringly at the towering monsters that stood not a few metres in front of him. His black hair was ruffled and untidy, as usual, and he was wearing simply his jeans and orange Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt.
Clarisse had changed her hair colour – jet black, darker than Percy's, but streaked with scarlet-red; it gave her an almost punkish look. She was wearing her Camp T-shirt as well, but she sported black jeans and leather boots. She was holding her new spear with both hands, threatening to electrocute the creatures.
Chiron had one hand on his bow, the other resting at his side. He had risen to full Centaur form, and he too was shooting daggers with his eyes at the monsters.
Annabeth Chase was stood just outside the camp borders, her knife poised at the tall, ugly green creature stood before her. She was also wearing jeans and a Camp T-shirt, but her blonde hair was untidy, not unlike Percy's.
"What is that?" she shouted behind her, too scared to move. She glanced at its huge, sharp claws, as long as her arm. The disc-like black eyes, with eyelids that shut vertically, not horizontally. She whimpered as it rasped and gargled. It was surrounded by a few more that looked almost exactly the same.
"I don't know, Annabeth," Chiron said. They had all stayed inside the camp, because the creatures had warned that if any of them moved, they'd be ripped apart. "I've never heard or seen of a creature like it, before!"
"Can't you do something?" she shouted back. Chiron never got to put in an answer.
"Be quiet, human," the creature rasped. It grabbed Annabeth by the throat, and raised a claw. "Any closer and I'll end her sorry little human life," it cackled. The creatures behind it laughed evilly. Percy was having none of it.
"You let her go. Now!" he shouted, stepping forward. He raised his sword slightly higher, and it just caught the edge of the Sun's rays.
The creature said nothing, but tightened its grip. Percy gulped. Nobody spoke, and all was quiet. When they'd attacked, they'd somehow managed to break through the Camp's magical borders. The other Campers had been ordered to retreat to their cabins by Chiron, after the creatures had grabbed Annabeth and blackmailed him.
"And if I don't?" it snarled. The other two creatures stepped to its side, as if daring Percy to make a reply.
"I'll show you," he muttered under his breath. It went unheard by all but Clarisse, who was, for once, standing by his side.
"Don't!" Annabeth shouted, if that. It 's quite hard to shout when you have the fist of a monster wrapped tightly around your throat.
"Percy," Clarisse warned, cautiously. Percy glared at her for a second – he was already worried about what they might do to Annabeth, and he didn't want Clarisse ordering him about.
Chiron stepped forward, taking a dangerous risk. "Let her go," he threatened, pointing his bow. The creature made a tsk sound.
"It's times like these I could use a Pandimensional Surfboard," it said to itself. It's expression and tone of voice sounded almost casual.
"A what?" Percy asked, deeply confused.
"Oh," it chuckled, "don't worry. I wouldn't expect a human to know, anyhow."
"I'm not exactly human," Percy replied. The creature bared it's teeth for a second, making a rattling noise deep in the back of it's throat.
"Would you prefer Tribophysical Waveform Macro-kinetic Extrapolator?" it rasped.
"Uh," Percy muttered, with a look of confusion on his face. What did those words even mean?
The creature smiled, as though amused. "Pandimensional surfboard it is."
It stepped back, holding a strange gadget between its clawed hands; it was gold in colour, shaped almost like a + sign with rounded edges, but it was quite fat, with an emerald-green button acting as a centre-piece. Annabeth strained as she was pulled backwards, and Percy noticed that the other creatures had similar devices.
"Stay there," Percy threatened. He gripped his sword tighter – to the point where his knuckles turned white – and stepped forward, to the apparent annoyance of Clarisse. The creature smiled.
"Or what?" it replied. But before he could answer, they all activated their devices, and disappeared in flurries of golden light.
"No!" Percy shouted in frustration. Chiron sighed, lowering his bow. The other campers stayed silent.
***
"What are we going to do?" Percy asked Chiron. They were in the Big House, and Chiron was pacing around, at a loss of what to do as much as Percy. His hooves clopped noisily on the wooden floor, but neither of them noticed.
"I don't know, young Demigod. I've never seen creatures like that before," he replied. Percy wondered what kind of things they could've been – he'd never known any monster to be unknown by Chiron.
"We shouldn't have held back," Percy cursed. "We should've just attacked, there and then."
"No, dear child," Chiron reasoned. "Had we done so, Annabeth would most likely not be alive now – that is, assuming she still is."
Percy cursed, slamming his fist on the table. A stack of Pinochle cards tumbled meekly into an untidy pile, and a runaway spoon rattled.
"I want to go and find her. I won't leave her," he stated, stubbornly. Chiron was about to get a word out, but was interrupted. Clarisse ran into the room, looking alarmed.
"Chiron, you'd better come outside. There's something, uh," she stammered, unable to finish the sentence. She left with a dainty flap of the hand and an "oh, you'll see!" and. Chiron raised an eyebrow, and they both ran – or speedwheeled, in Chiron's case – outside.
Campers were surrounding a blank spot in the air when they came outside. It was shimmering, distorted almost. There was a faint ringing sound, that got louder and louder.
Then, all of a sudden, an impossibly bright light flared. They all put up their arms in front of their faces.
"What is that?" Percy asked, squinting in the harsh light.
A guttural, yet ancient grating sound filled the air, and slowly, a big wooden box materialized. The sound faltered, before it completely stopped and the box simply stood. The campers waited in a tense silence, until a tall man in a long brown coat came running out, followed by a woman with ginger hair. The first thing Percy noticed was their British accents.
"...almost there!" the man shouted, looking around at the people surrounding him. The woman came to a halt, also noticing the Half-bloods. "Oh," he said, surprised. "Hello."
"Who are you?" Chiron asked, stepping forward. Luckily he was in his Wheelchair "form", so he didn't startle the newcomers too much.
"Uh...um. I'm... Smith, John Smith. Yep, that's me," he said, smiling. He stowed his hands into the pockets of his brown pinstriped suit. Percy noticed he was wearing red converse shoes and raised his eyebrows – somehow, it worked. Silena Beuregaurde frowned.
"He's lying," she said, studying his face. The man frowned, before giving in.
"Oh all right. My name's The Doctor," he explained.
"And I'm Donna, Donna Noble," said the woman, smiling nervously. Her red hair was ever-so-slightly curled at the end, where it rested lightly on her shoulders. She was wearing a grey jumper, with a brown belt, and a knee-length leather brown coat, grey trousers and black boots.
"What's that?" Percy asked, pointing behind the Doctor. The Doctor looked at him, as though noticing him for the first time.
"That?" he asked, looking around. He then noticed. "Oh that! That's the TARDIS," he explained, grinning.
"What's a TARDIS?" Percy asked.
"It's complicated."
"Try me."
The Doctor frowned, trying to find the right words. "It's a Time Machine. Well, Time-Space Machine, but whatever. It's T, A, R, D, I, S, stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space," he explained.
"Creative," Percy remarked.
The Doctor smiled. "Thank you." Donna tapped him on the shoulder.
"Doctor, they've got spears," she whispered.
"I noticed," he said, nodding.
"And swords."
"I'm working on it," he said, looking nervously at the edge of a sword, which caught the Sun's light a gleamed.
"And—"
"Donna!" he protested.
"Sorry," she apologised, and went back to standing by his side. Percy smirked.
"More importantly, what are you doing here? And how did you get into camp?" Chiron asked. The Doctor frowned.
"Camp?" He looked around, seeing the cabins, and the archery ranged. "Hang on a minute," he said. He noticed their Camp Half-Blood t-shirts. "Is this Half-Blood hill?!" he exclaimed happily.
Percy and Travis exchanged looks.
"Oh that's brilliant!" he exclaimed, grinning wildly. "I haven't been here for years! Where's Hercules now?" he asked. Donna whispered something in his ear. He frowned, again. "Oh."
"You've been here before?" Percy asked. The Doctor nodded.
"Aye, I have. Good job, two. That fight with the Sycorax wouldn't have gone down half as well otherwise," he explained.
"What's a Sycorax?" Percy asked, again.
"Never mind."
"Okay campers," Chiron announced. "Disperse to your daily routines, Percy, stay with me."
The campers groaned, unhappy at being deprived of their newfound entertainment.
"Now!" Chiron ordered. They sighed, and walked away. It was clear that they didn't like it.
While the Campers extricated themselves from the scene, Donna and the Doctor got into a deep conversation. Percy leaned towards Chiron, eyeing them.
"Don't you think it's a bit strange?" he asked. "First those creatures and Annabeth, now this? Them?"
Chiron nodded, gravely. "I do find it hard to believe they're unconnected. Mind you, if it's the same Doctor as I knew..." he said, trailing off.
He wheeled forward, an inquisitive look on his face.
"Doctor? I'm sorry, my memory is somewhat unreliable today, but is it the Doctor? You said you'd been here before?"
The Doctor looked at him, deep in thought, before realisation swept across his face.
"Chiron? Chiron, is that you?! Oh, it's been a while!" he exclaimed. Percy couldn't help but smile.
"Oh, Doctor! It has! You look different. How many times has it been?" Chiron asked.
"Ooh," the Doctor said, curling his tongue in thought. "About five? I think?"
"Stick of celery," Chiron reminded.
"Yeah, five. You should know that I've never forgotten those sword-fighting skills," he remarked cheerily. Then he turned to Percy. "And who's the young man?"
"Percy," Percy introduced himself, shaking the Doctor's hand. For a skinny man, The Doctor had a surprisingly strong grip. The Doctor started talking to Chiron, so Donna stepped over to Percy.
"Hi, I'm Donna," she said, shaking Percy's hand.
"Hi," Percy replied. He blushed, and stopped himself from smiling too much over her accent. She caught on.
"What's funny?" she asked, smiling.
"Nothing, nothing," Percy said, diverting his eyes. Donna sighed.
"Let me guess. The accent?" she asked. After a few seconds, Percy gave in and nodded. They both laughed out loud. "I thought so."
"So, er," Percy started, "what happens in there, then?" he asked, pointing at the TARDIS. "I mean, it looks a bit small, how'd you both fit?"
Donna glanced both ways, before leaning in, not wanting anyone else to hear the TARDIS' secret.
"It's bigger on the inside," she whispered. Percy's eyes widened.
"No way!" he exclaimed. Donna's eyes lit up with shared excitement.
"Yes way!" she said, laughing.
Percy grinned. "Can I see it?" he asked, hopefully.
Donna shrugged. "Dunno. It's not mine, it's the Doctor's. I'm just sort of his companion, really."
Percy nodded. "Does it really travel through Space, and uh, Time?" he asked. Donna smiled.
"Oh yeah," she replied. She didn't bother concealing her glee. "I've been to all sorts of places; you wouldn't believe the people I've met. Mind you," she said, nodding at him, "son of Poseidon, you're not doing too bad."
"How did you know?" Percy asked, shocked. Donna smiled, knowingly.
"Well, one, I'm brilliant, two, being in the TARDIS does this thing, it kinda gets in your brain... it translates things – any language, and writing. I could go to Spain and speak English, and they'd hear Spanish," she explained. Percy grinned at the excitement.
"How does it—"
"Don't ask," she intercepted, before he could ask her to explain. "Anyway, that pen you're holding. That's Anaklusmos, otherwise known as Riptide. I might not be a Greek-geek, but I do know stuff about pens. Best temp in Chiswick, that's me. From what I know the only weapons like that on Earth belong to gods and their kids – well, that's what the Doctor says – and thirdly, you kinda smell of Seawater. Not that that's a bad thing, mind."
Percy grinned and nodded, genuinely impressed. "Where's Chiswick?" he asked.
"Oh," Donna replied, flicking her hand nonchalantly, "it's this little place back in London, you probably wouldn't know of it." Percy nodded, but before he could get a word out, The Doctor walked in on their conversation.
"Donna, they were here," he explained. She sighed.
"Do you mean those creatures?" Percy asked, unknowing.
The Doctor furrowed his brow. "What did they look like?" he asked.
"Um," he said, thinking, "big, green. Black eyes," he said, recalling what details he could.
The Doctor nodded, obviously recognising the description. "That's them."
"What are they?" Percy asked. "I've never heard of them before, not even Chiron has, and he knows everything!" From behind them, Chiron smiled, modestly.
"They're Slitheen," The Doctor explained.
Percy frowned. "What's a Slitheen?"
The Doctor sighed. "Not a Slitheen, that's their family name. They come from a planet called Raxicoricophallapitorious, in the Dagmar Cluster, I think. Near Clom. Anyway, when they got here, what did they do?"
Percy gulped, avoiding their eyes. "They took Annabeth."
The Doctor smiled reassuringly, before asking, "Where were they?"
"Just up here," Chiron said, wheeling away to show The Doctor where Annabeth had been kidnapped.
Donna sighed, putting a sympathetic hand on Percy's shoulder.
"Who's Annabeth," she asked, "your girlfriend?"
Percy's eyes widened, and he blushed wildly.
"No!" he protested. Donna laughed, knowingly.
"You sure?" she asked, raising a suspecting eyebrow.
"No! I mean yes! I mean no, she's not my..." he sighed, unable to get out a sentence. He was still blushing, which Donna found quite cute. "I don't know. Maybe," he conceded.
Donna grinned. "Don't be embarrassed, it's all part of teenage-ness," she said.
"I'm fifteen!" he protested. "I know about... teenage-ness. It's just girls... they're different," he explained. Donna smiled sympathetically.
"Ah, don't worry," she said, looking past him for a moment.
"But what if we can't find her?" Percy asked, worriedly.
"Don't worry, the Doctor should be able to trace their teleportation coordinates and relay them into the TARDIS, and we'll just, I dunno, follow them."
Before she could get another word, The Doctor shouted from the top of the hill.
"Donna, I've got a trace!"
She turned around, before finding where he was standing. The Sonic Screwdriver was in the air, making repetitive beeping noises whilst the tip glowed electric-blue.
"Do we know where they've gone?" she asked.
"I think I do," he said, his face grim, "and it's not looking good."