Dragon Who: Three and the Rani
Prologue:
Paperwork. The arch nemesis of any government official who actually wanted to get things accomplished. The Brigadier sighed through his moustache and pulled the next stack over. It was late now, the majority of the staff had gone home, still reeling from the loss of all those fine brave young men who would never be going home again thanks to these 'Autons' as the Doctor had named them.
Speaking of the Doctor, this lot of confounded forms concerned the enigmatic alien. The Brigadier was delighted to have him on board the team of course; his knowledge and skills would be an incalculable asset. But you couldn't deny he was rather difficult to actually work with. Even before he'd changed he'd been fiercely independent and eccentric, and becoming a tall, frilled dandy seemed only to have heightened his anti-authoritarian and arrogant streaks. The Brigadier could foresee many many arguments with his newly minted scientific advisor down the road. Picking up a fountain pen he began on the necessary paperwork.
Name? Well, can't call him the Doctor, not on official paperwork; John Smith will have to do. Can't imagine where he picked that pseudonym up. Age? No idea, I'll have to ask. Hopefully it will be something believable, if he can change bodies at will who knows how old he could really be! Address? UNIT HQ I suppose, that's where the TARDIS is anyway. Wage? None, just a clothing allowance and that silly car he wants. What's wrong with a good sturdy jeep, that's what I'd like to know? National Insurance Number? Does he even exist? Legally at least? Medical Information? Well, I'll need him to fill that out, he's got two hearts I know that much. Wonder what else…Previous Occupation? Cosmic hobo. No, can't write that. I'll just put 'none'. Parents names and address? Next of kin? Insurance? Heavens, I can't complete any of this! I best go find 'John Smith' and see if he has any answers that will satisfy Whitehall pen pushers without casting doubts on either his sanity or mine!
So decided; Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart collected the paperwork in question, rose from his desk and went to find his enigmatic new member of staff. The light in the laboratory was on when he arrived, the white haired Doctor bent over a microscope and talking distractedly to a tired but intrigued looking Liz Shaw. The Brigadier pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Miss Shaw? I thought you went home hours ago?"
"Was I ordered to?"
"Of course not. It's just been a long day that's all." The woman was just so prickly he thought glumly.
"Liz has been helping me, Brigadier." The Doctor commented absently, reaching out a hand without looking. Liz placed a fresh slide in it and picked up the discarded one from the work bench.
"Right. Anyway, Doctor I need to have a word with you."
"Hmmm?"
"It's the paperwork again, I'm afraid. I need some details or, failing that, some creative truths to keep Whitehall happy."
"Hmmm?"
"Previous Occupation for example."
"Traveller."
"Well, I can hardly put that Doctor!"
"Why not? It's the truth."
"Oh, very well. Parent's names and address?" The Doctor snorted at that.
"Unlikely to get an answer you'd believe. Make something up."
"If I must. Medical details? I know you look human Doctor, but we know there are several differences internally, is there anything else the medical teams need to know about?" Liz cut in before the Doctor could respond.
"What are the odds of humans and your species looking so similar Doctor? Is it convergent evolution? Biological engineering? Or something else perhaps?" The Doctor raised his head from the microscope at last, fixing Liz and the Brigadier with an expression of mild surprise.
"Look like a human? I don't look anything like a human!" The Brigadier frowned.
"Of course you do. If it weren't for the clothes you could pass unnoticed on any street in London." The Doctor favoured him with a slightly patronising smile.
"Well that is rather the point of looking like this Brigadier. If I went around in my true form I'd never get anything done. Nobody would stop to listen."
"Your true form?" Liz put in, leaning forward interestedly. "Are you a shape-shifter?"
"Well, not exactly." He rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. "It's more a mixture of technology and dimensional transcendentalism coupled with psychic projects and focus. Not really shape-shifting as it's popularly understood."
"So what do you look like then? Really?"
"Oh, very different to this! Well, certain characteristics carry over between forms but still, very different."
"Don't tell me you're actually a little green man, Doctor." The Brigadier said despairingly.
"Nothing of the sort! My true form is much more practical than these bipedal bodies half the universe seems to insist on."
"How many legs do you naturally have then?" Liz asked.
"Four."
"Four! Can you show me? Oh, that's not a rude question is it?"
"No my dear, not rude. Yes, I could show you but not here."
"Why not?" The Brigadier asked.
"Too many tables and pieces of equipment, I need a bit of space." He frowned thoughtfully. "I haven't been in my natural form in this regeneration yet, I'm not entirely certain what size I'll be."
"Size? You change mass? But that's impossible!" Liz exclaimed.
"Is it? How interesting." The Doctor replied cheerfully. "Come along then, I'll show you what a real Gallifreyan looks like. Are you coming too Brigadier?"
"Hmm? Oh, absolutely."
The Doctor led them down to the empty gymnasium where the men practised and exercised. The Brigadier was impressed by how quickly the Doctor had learnt his way around. He was also very curious as to this 'true form' of the Doctor's. It was so easy to pass him off as just another, slightly odd, human; it would be good to have a reminder of his scientific advisor's alien nature. They reached the gym and Liz and the Brigadier stood slightly uncertainly by the wall while the Doctor paced to the middle of the empty space.
He stood there for a moment, focussing then made a sudden odd move of his neck and stretched, reaching his arms above his head. And kept on stretching. Impossibly, magnificently growing and changing until his front feet thumped back onto the ground with an impressively loud crash. The Brigadier dropped the paperwork he was still carrying in shock. Liz took an automatic step back. The Doctor, or the thing where the Doctor had been, looked at them and grinned, displaying an impressive array of wickedly sharp teeth.
A Dragon! His scientific advisor was a bloody dragon! The Brigadier stared in horror at the apparition before him. Enormous, majestic and terribly dangerous looking, the Doctor was exactly like the storybook images of dragons he'd seen as a child. He stood between five and six foot high at the shoulder but the thickly muscled neck added a good extra foot onto that. His hide was scaled and beautifully patterned, dark green with red markings down his back and white ruffs of fur around his neck. The head was broad and powerful, with two blunted horns and small ears. His tail whipped around, displaying a thick ridge of scales towards the end, rendering it a perfect weapon to bludgeon someone with. No wings though. That was a relief at any rate. The Brigadier stepped forwards again, trying to catch the creature's eyes. The dragon looked at him. His eyes were still exactly the same; that odd dark shade, still bright with intelligence and enthusiasm.
"Doctor?" He breathed.
"Yes?" The Brigadier felt his jaw drop open in shock. Liz squeaked in surprise and slapped a hand over her mouth.
"You can talk!?" She exclaimed.
"Of course I can." It was very odd to watch the dragon speak, especially when he was using the slightly patronising and superior tone the Brigadier had already come to associate with the new Doctor. "I'm not an animal. I'm a Gallifreyan." He raised his snout in the air slightly as he spoke, the tail twitching proudly.
"You're magnificent!" Liz said, approaching in awe. "I've never seen anything like it!" The Doctor's ears flicked back smugly and he turned his head on the flexible neck to examine himself.
"I'll admit I've never been quite this richly patterned before. Makes a change."
"A dragon. You're a bloody dragon." The Brigadier said flatly.
"I am not a dragon!" The Doctor declared haughtily. "A common mistake of your species. I am a post-evolutionary conditional hexapod if you must know the correct term."
"A what?"
"Of course he's not a dragon!" Liz said laughingly, "He doesn't even have wings!"
"Oh really?" The Doctor replied. He flexed his shoulders and impossibly, began to unfold a pair of enormous, beautiful wings from nowhere. No matter how the Brigadier squinted he couldn't tell where the wings were coming from, but they joined comfortably to the dragon Doctors body and, once fully unfurled, looked as though they'd always been there.
"How on earth did you do that!?" Liz cried, "Where did they come from? But! No…They join so smoothly!" She darted forward and peered intently at the newly revealed wings. The Doctor smiled indulgently at her astonishment. The Brigadier felt another headache coming on.
"Can you fly on those things Doctor?"
"Well there wouldn't be much point in having them if I couldn't now would there?"
"Point taken."
"But this is impossible!" Liz exclaimed. "Utterly impossible!"
"Perhaps by your science. I'm happy to say that the Time Lords have developed a bit further."
"Right, well. If you could switch back to your human form Doctor, I for one would be grateful. I don't think Whitehall would accept a mythical creature as a scientific advisor no matter what references you gave!"
"I am not a mythical creature." The Doctor said huffily, but he made that odd move of the neck again and seemed to slide down into himself until the tall, distinguished looking man stood again before the Brigadier.
"Much better."
"For you perhaps." The Brigadier chose to ignore that comment. Hopefully the Doctor wouldn't spend too much time in his other form; heavens knew what the men would make of it!
"Now. About this paperwork…" The Doctor gave the soldier in front of him a look of deep despair.
"Alistair? Have you no sense of wonder?"
"Not when the paperwork still needs doing."
"Oh, very well. But I plan to go out flying tonight, as I said, I haven't had a chance to test my Gallifreyan regeneration yet."
"Flying? But Doctor!"
"Mmm. The wings are much larger and the tail's heavier, it should make a good counterbalance!" He said cheerfully, walking back towards the laboratory, a stunned looking Liz following on behind. The Brigadier thought about protesting further, remembered the size of the Gallifreyan's teeth and decided not to press the issue. As long as he finished the paperwork first anyway.
Authors Notes:
Okay, this is set in the Dragon Who universe created by laurelhach on Tumblr. In it, the Gallifreyans are all natural dragony lizard things. The wings are added on in later life. They can switch between human form and dragon. Other than that, everything is exactly the same. Look her up on tumblr to see some of her amazing dragon designs and headcanons. All credit for the universes creation goes there!