Hey everyone! It's started! I've begun taking the original The Universe Challenge and converting it into 3rd person, with a little more detail. Tell me what you think of it, if I should continue doing it like this or go back to 1st person. Personally, I think I write better like this, but you may have a different opinion. Either way, I hope you enjoy the first chapter to The Universe Challenge Remake :)
Phoenix was running for dear life, hearts beating fast, breath becoming shallower. They were chasing her. The Toclafane. She had always thought they were a story, but now they were here. Chasing her. This wasn't possible, but it was happening. Maybe she had gone crazy, or insane. But she kept running across the red glistening grass, through the silver trees, over the crystal ponds. It probably hadn't been a good idea to wear heels on her walk. She kept tripping over things, like stones, steps, roots, leaves even. It didn't help that she had a clumsy background, and was always tripping over thin air. The one thing Phoenix was immensely confused about though was why there were chasing her. She wasn't special, she didn't have any certain artifact, she was just a normal timelady. So why? She slowed down slightly, weighed down by her thoughts. Of memories of times she had with her friends.
Phoenix, Theta, and Koshcei were running down the red grassed hill away from the academy they were taught at. They had just pranked all of the teachers, only moments ago, making them sprout a tail of some type of alien. Once they got far away enough, they all burst out laughing. It had been the funniest thing ever, seeing one of the teachers sprout a tail of an earth animal, commonly known as a fox. It had ended up getting the whole school laughing. Then, of course, they figured out it was them, and that's when they started running. "Best…. Prank….. Ever…!" Phoenix gasped out, grinning. They couldn't stop laughing. When they finally calmed down, they were all grinning evilly. " We have got to do something like that again! That was hilarious!" Koshcei said. Theta and Phoenix nodded enthusiasticly. They were all going to be in big trouble with their parents later, but they didn't care. That prank had been one of the best they had ever done.
Phoenix smiled at the memory. She remembered that well, because she had gotten grounded for a year after that. A worthy price to pay for that laugh, of course. They all had done so many pranks after that, like spray painting the academy pink, or somehow finding a Dalek eyestalk and bringing it to school, but none compared to the shock on the teacher's faces as they sprouted tails of foxes and rabbits and bears and birds. One teacher's face was priceless! She had a look of complete horror as she sprouted a crocodile tail! And they were set to the teacher's personalities too. That, was a genies idea on Phoenix's part. She had thought of that after reading a book about personality types and how to find them.
Phoenix had been so lost in thought that, regretting this immensely later, she wasn't paying attention to her surrondings, so she didn't notice the obvious. There was a massive black hole in the ground, big enough to fit millions of timelords inside. She, being the crazy dream girl she was, didn't notice it, and she fell straight into it, screaming as she fell deeper and deeper into the darkness. Then, she blacked out.
Phoenix quickly jerked up straight, sweating. She continued to have the same dream over and over again. A weird monster chasing her, supposed 'memories', and falling into a dark pit. She sighed, squinting at the bright light erupting in her room. She stuck her hand out to the side toward her nightstand and grabbed her glasses, soon putting them on so she could see clearly.
Her room was dark but bright at the same time. Her walls were painted a dark shade of red, and her floor was black wood. Her nightstand, bookshelf, wardrobe, and desk were all made of the same black wood, and luckily it didn't clash at all. On the bookshelf were hundreds of books, ranging from history to fantasy. Scattered on her desk, nightstand, and even the floor, was her Doctor Who items. Figurines, T-shirts, stuffed animals, journals, sonic screwdriver. She smiled at that one. She had spent days at a Doctor Who convention making her own sonic screwdriver perfectly. It was similar to 10's, except it was black instead of silver, and had a redish orange tip. It was also a point-and-think sort of sonic, so she didn't have to find the right settings or whatever. God knows how annoying that would be.
She pulled the covers off herself, instantly shivering at the hit of cold air. God, she hated the cold. Never had good experiences with it, you know? She scooted off the bed, her feet hitting the cold wood of the ground. Why did it have to be so cold in the mornings? She slowly shuffled toward the wardrobe, pulling the door to it open with a creek, and looking inside at the outfits. Black, blue, green, black, black, blue. She had a lot of black. It was her favorite color besides blue after all. She looked through the outfits, looking for something good to wear. Well, most things were okay to wear, just something she wanted to wear today. Which was a hard decision to make most days. But not today, as she noticed an amazing outfit that she just had to wear. It was cute, and Doctor who themed. Bonus! She quickly grabbed the outfit and stepped over to the door. She opened the door, checking both sides of the hall, before walking into the bathroom only five feet away.
Phoenix came out wearing a black tanktop with a Tardis blue sweater over it, a black skirt going down to mid-thigh, Tardis blue flats, a silver watch, and a Doctor Who necklace that said 'wibbly wobbly timey wimey' in a swirl on it. She twirled slightly, smiling brightly. She rather liked this outfit. She checked the watch on her right wrist, to see it said seven o'clock. Good, she could watch an episode before going to work! She walked out of the hallways and into the main room, where the TV happened to be. The walls were a darker shade of grey, and the floors were the same black wood. There were two windows on the right wall, showing the road outside of her house. There were black couches scattered about, and a glass coffee table in the middle. All the chairs were facing the black fireplace on the wall to the front, and above that was her flatscreen TV. The perfect place to watch Doctor Who.
She walked into the kitchen quickly, to grab a donut she always had only supply. Yes, she was a foodie, but you have to admit, it all tasted too good to pass up! Her kitchen was much different than most of her house however. It was white or crème basically all over. The walls were a light grey, and the floor was a crème tile. There were two windows over in the corner, where there was a little seat to sit next to it. She had piled up pillows and blankets on it, and it was her favorite place to read. The cupboards were crème colored, and the counters were a nice marble color. There was a white microwave, dishwasher, oven, and stove. This just happened to be the brightest room in the house. You could probably see why.
She walked back into the main room, and fell back down onto the couch, grabbing the remote as she did. Time for Doctor Who! She turned the TV on, letting load and all of that as she ate her chocolate donut. Yum, she loved chocolate donuts. Even if they were ninety percent sugar.
Netflix turned on finally, and she selected the show Doctor Who on her most recently watched. Of course, it was first on the list. Now, which episode should she watch? She scrolled through the Doctor Who episodes, trying to decide on one to watch. If it kept count on how many times these episodes had been watched, the numbers would probably be off the charts. She ended up deciding on one of her favorite episodes, Rose. She was an avid Rose times Doctor shipper of course. But before she selected the episode, Phoenix jumped up suddenly. Her watch! She scrambled through the hall and back into her room, sighing in relief as she grabbed her pocket watch and drop it into her jacket pocket. It was completely silver, with an intricate design carved into it with red and orange jewels wielded into it. For some reason she just felt… connected to it. She always had to have it with her, or within a one mile radius, else she just felt sad and depressed. Like some part of her was missing. It had been a horrible day at work the one time she had forgotten it.
Phoenix walked back over to the couch, slowly sitting on the couch again. For some reason she felt more paranoid at the moment. It was a weird feeling, considering she was in a locked house with barely any windows. She grabbed the remote and selected the episode, smiling slightly as she did, already feeling better. The episode started with the beeping of Rose's alarm clock. But then, Phoenix got a slight headache, which she paid no mind. Small headaches were nothing, really. But then, it starting to get worse. It went from feeling like one person was knocking on her skull to millions of people knocking. Tears streamed down her face at the pain. What had brought this on? The alarm in the TV show wasn't that loud!
Soon, it felt as if one thousand drums were pounding in her head. Her hands gripped the side of the couch, and more tears streamed down her face. Phoenix squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold in the sobs of pain that threatened to erupt. But instead of those that come out, it was a bone chilling scream of pain. It had just gotten much worse. It had spread to her whole body. It felt like her limbs were being torn apart, her bones being crushed, her heart being ripped out.
But then, a brilliant golden light filled her vision, similar to the color of her own eyes. It felt warm and inviting in a way, like she belonged in it. She had stopped screaming, but tears were still falling from the pain. But then, darkness invaded her vision and everything went black.
For the second time that day, Phoenix jerked up suddenly, sweating. This time though, she wasn't on her bed. Instead, she found herself on concrete, in the middle of a bustling street. In London. She quickly stood up, her legs wobbling slightly from blacking out before. There were so many people around her that she couldn't tell exactly where she was now, but there were a lot of tall buildings, a lot of people, quite a few red double-deckers, and something blue out of the corner of her eye. Tardis blue to be exact. She quickly turned around, glancing in the direction of the blue color she saw, and what she saw made her gasp.
Standing right there, in the middle of London, was the Tardis. Or, a 1960's police public call box. It was probably just the second one. She was probably just getting her hopes up. But then, something brushed her mind with laughter telepathically. But only… a Tardis could do that. Did that mean this blue box was actually the Tardis? She slowly walked forward through the crowd toward it, the humming of the ship getting louder as she got closer. There wasn't any mistaking of it now, it was defiantly real. But the Doctor and the Tardis were fake… right? Phoenix wasn't sure what to think anymore.
She slowly put her hand on the handle of the Tardis door. It was almost certainly locked, and this probably wouldn't work. But you know, might as well try anyways, right? She took a deep breath, and slowly pulled, finding the door actually opened! Either the Tardis really liked her already or The Tardis already knew her. Time travel, never meet people in the right order. Maybe that's what she did? Phoenix peeked inside, her heart pounding faster than ever. This is the Tardis we're talking about. THE Tardis. God, she was already getting giddy.
Inside, well, it was amazing. The walls were a golden brown color, with little round lights coming off of it. The floor was a metal grating of sorts, and there were stairs going down to under the console and a walkway connecting the middle with the console to the door, and railings outlined the edges so people didn't just fall off. There were huge tan beams reaching up toward the ceiling in a weird squiggly shape. Then, the console in the middle was quite cool. It was roundish in shape, with millions of little buttons and levers and rotating things. Going up out of the middle was the time rotor, shining green light over the console. If this old girl was flying, that part would be moving up and down.
Phoenix's mouth was open wide in awe. She was just still shocked at the size of it. It's scary how much of a difference there was. It really was bigger on the inside! She slowly walked toward the console, and skirted around it, her hand stroking pieces of the Tardis as she went. The Tardis brushed her head with happiness, and she smiled. She had always wanted to do that, ever since she saw the Doctor do it on the show. It just seemed kind of funny, and something she would do.
Phoenix felt breathing on her neck, and turned her head to see the 10th Doctor standing right behind her. She almost jumped out of her skin. God dammit Doctor… But then, something else filled her thoughts. The Doctor leaned in and kissed her.
She was shocked, to say the least. But she… sort of liked it, you could say. She slowly started to kiss back cautiously, not really sure what she was doing. She'd had one kiss years ago. Never really found anyone to love, you know? The kiss now though felt sweet, joyful. He was kissing pretty hard, as if he hadn't seen her in a long time. But how could he know her? She had never been here before! No… it was one of those jumping fanfictions, wasn't it? Phoenix cursed inside her head. Well, there goes her friends and family. She put that on the freak-out-later list.
She broke the kiss as she noticed her glowing golden hands. Another one of these… Well, it might be fun. And it would probably be depressing. But hey, she would get to go on adventures with the Doctor! That was her oldest dream, well, besides becoming a writer. Obviously that one wasn't coming true now though.
She waved goodbye slightly. "Bye Doctor. See you soon, yeah?" She said, smiling brightly at him. He didn't know she was on her first jump, and he didn't have to, if she didn't want to.
"Bye Phoenix. Oh forgot to ask, what number is this?" The Doctor asks, cocking his head to the side slightly. She resisted the urge to laugh slightly. Well, now he asks after kissing her. Smart move Doctor, smart move.
She smiled sadly. "First." Phoenix replied softly, then her surroundings disappeared into the darkness. She didn't know where she was going, but she did know one thing. Well, probably not the most comforting thing, but still something kind of funny. The Doctor loved her. From the kiss, it was pretty obvious. So, no matter where she went, she knew someone would know her.
That was a relief.
Was it good? It felt weird, in a way, to rewrite this. I was looking at my old writing while doing this, and cringing as I did. Personally, I think I've improved. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)