Hey this story is about when Emma meets the Tenth Doctor, enjoy
I tugged on my skirt as I exited the auditorium with the rest of the band. I almost tripped again.
"Man! I miss the eighth grade uniform," Maddie exclaimed as she caught up to me.
"I know! I feel amish!" I complained.
"Well, you look amish too," Maddie said childishly.
"Your face looks amish!" I answered and we burst out laughing. Mr. Peters shushed us with a stern look and we held it in until we reached the band room. I packed up my flute while cringing at Eve's chromatic scales and the blaring trombones. I peeled off the vest and skirt and tossed them into my band locker with my music folder.
"Do you always wear jeans under your skirt?" Maddie questioned.
"I don't like skirts," I answered as I stashed my flute in the locker and grabbed my jacket. I didn't have homework tonight so I was allowing myself to stall. Kemery was off at college so it's not like she was waiting for me. I talked with Yasmin and Maddie until we were pretty much the only ones left in the band room.
Yasmin checked the clock, "I gotta go, see you Monday!"
"See ya," I waved as she walked out. I slumped against the chair with a sigh. "I should probably getting go too."
"Yeah," Maddie agreed. "Hey, you still up for the Marvel marathon tomorrow?"
"Heck yeah!" I exclaimed. We walked down the hall together talking about Tom Hiddleston and Andrew Garfield and quoting some of the best Fitz lines. We were half way across the catwalk when my phone rang.
"Hey," I answered.
"Emma! Are you still at the high school?" it was Dallin.
"Yeah, why?" I asked.
"I need you to get my homework," he requested. "I left it in my orchestra locker."
"Kay what's your com?" I asked.
"8-16-2, oh and it's locker number 4," he said. "Thanks."
"Bye," I muttered even though he'd already hung up.
"What was that about?" Maddie asked.
"My brother, he forgot his homeword," I answered.
"Want me to come with you?" she offered.
"Nah it's fine, I'll see to tomorrow," I said as I started down the hall. Maddie waved as she went the other direction. The hallway was mostly dark by now which was a little creepy. I repeated Dallin's com over and over in my head until I reached the orchestra room. The door wasn't locked which was convenient. I found locker 4, twisted the combination lock and grabbed his homework. I closed the locker and made my way towards the back door.
A loud clang echoed down the hallway and I stopped in my tracks. It's nothing, keep walking, I told myself. The clang sounded again, a bit more frantic this time. I gave in to curiosity and ran off in the direction of the noise. I opened the door to the backstage part of the auditorium and peeked inside. I cautiously stepped inside and looked around. I shrugged and was about to head back when I heard the clang again.
"Oh! Hey! Hey you! I may require some assistance!" a British accented voice spoke up. I looked around and saw a man inside the weird cage thing back stage. He was a rather crazy looking skinny man wearing a suit, trench coat, and white converse. He had wild brown hair that stuck straight up and had been banging against the chain-link wall of the cage.
"What? How did you get in there?" I asked as I ran over and examined the lock.
"Long story," he said with a sigh. "Better question is why does your school have a cage in the first place! I mean really, what the heck? You know what, never mind you need to hurry!"
"Jeez, I can't pick locks okay," I muttered.
"You don't need to I've got a screwdriver, it's around here somewhere," he said. "Silver, blue on the end." I looked around and saw the device he'd described under a cart of chairs. I laid flat on the ground and reached under. I guess it never really occured to me that a screwdriver wouldn't help in this situation nor that this didn't look at all like a screwdriver. "Not to pressure or anything, but you seriously need to hurry, like really!" the man pressed.
"If you're in such a rush you shouldn't have gotten yourself locked in a cage," I answered as I grabbed hold of his screwdriver.
"It wasn't my fault!" he defended. "Quick all you do is point it and-" Before he finished his instructions I activated the screwdriver. It lit up blue whilst emitting a buzzing sound and the lock popped open. "How did you know to do that?" he asked as he opened the door. "Actually, never mind RUN!" He grabbed my hand and practically dragged me out the door. I tried to catch up as he dashed down a few hallways.
"Wait! Why are we running?" I questioned.
"No time to explain! Well there probably is time to explain but now's not the best time just keep running!" he called back. He skidded to a stop at the stairs and looked around frantically. "Wait no, . . Which way's the science lab?"
"What? There's one down that hall," I pointed and he took off again. He smashed into the door and honestly looked a little surprised that it was locked. He looked around and took the screwdriver from my hand. He opened the door and barged in. I caught my breath as he ran around opening cabinets and shifting through supplies whilst muttering to himself.
"I'm the Doctor by the way," he said. "Oh and before you ask, it's just the Doctor, no who no what no Smith or whatever. That's my name, just the Doctor, I'm the Doctor, Hello!"
"Um, hi, I'm Emma," I answered. "So you gonna explain what's going on?"
"It's a long complicated story involving a creepy kid and an angry Isolus," the Doctor sort of explained. "Wait, what am I doing in a science lab? We need the art room, actually it's probably there, okay so um, . . .How good's you're drawing?"
I cocked my head, "What?"
"Can you draw cos I can't, well not really that is, and we could really use someone who can draw at this moment," he answered.
"Yeah. I love drawing," I said.
"Good, oh I do need a science lab I don't want to kill it!" the Doctor exclaimed as he continued searching through the cabinets. "Okay so an Isolus is this little flowery alien thing, they're actually quite lovely but this one was separated from it's family when a star went super nova so it's like super mad, which is bad because they're empathic and have these ionic powers. Oh and it's possessing this kid."
"Okay," I said simply. "So like a doodle battle is that what you're saying? I can do that."
"Great, wait you understood that?" the Doctor paused and turned to look at me. Suddenly the door burst open and a freshman (I think I've seen in the hall before) walked in. "Nevermind go now!" The Doctor shouted and tossed me an expo marker.
"I don't like you," the kid (aka the Isolus) said. He raised his hand and the Doctor disappeared.
"Doctor!" I shouted though it didn't do much. I turned to the Isolus, "What did you do, where is he?"
"I didn't like him," it responded. "So I sent him away."
"Where!" I pressed.
"In my own world where he'll never get out," it told me. Oh of course, their ionic powers allow them to make their own imaginary worlds to play in, I remembered. How did I know that? I shook my head, it doesn't matter right now.
I reminded myself that the Isolus was just a kid and took a deep breath, "You may not like him, but he's my friend. Can you bring him back?"
"No!" it shouted. "I don't want to!"
"Please?" I tried.
"NO!" man this thing was really angry.
"Okay, okay. How bout instead we play a game," I offered off the top of my head. It calmed down a bit and seemed to be interested. "Let's play a drawing game. If I win then you bring the Doctor back, okay?"
It nodded, "Okay. But when I win, you have to stay and draw with me forever!"
"Okay," I agreed. "Promise?"
"Yes," it said excitedly. "You can't beat me. I am the Supreme Art Lord!"
"Well I'm Emmadoodle!" I shot back though it wasn't very impressive. Note to self, I thought, thank Emily for the ridiculous nick-name. Art Lord closed his eyes and we were transported to what I'm guessing is one of his fantasy worlds.
He looked excited now, "How do we play?"
"This is called the scribble game," I explained, thinking back to the pass time I'd made up with my cousin. "First you draw a scribble and I turn it into a picture. Then I draw a scribble and you turn it into a picture. You're not allowed to turn it into a mountain, a snake, or a tornado."
"And whoever can't make a picture loses!" he added in. "Me first!" A pen appeared in his hand and he drew on what seemed to be thin air. I walked over and studied the scribble. I uncapped the expo marker and added to the random lines. It ended up as a squirrel holding a balloon.
"There," I finished. "My turn." I randomly swiped the marker across the invisible wall or whatever. Art Lord stared at it for a while before changing it into a fire extinguisher. I turned the next scribble into a duck. I soon acknowledged that this game could literally go on forever. It didn't take the Isolus long to notice this either.
"Let's play a new game. My turn to chose," he demanded. "Drawing battle!"
Without a second thought he sketched a tiger which came to life and started charging at me. I jumped and hurriedly drew a bear trap. The tiger was caught in it and silently snapped its jaws at me in anger before both drawings disappeared. My turn. I drew a T-rex which was soon defeated by a knight in shining armor. This time the knight didn't vanish. He began running towards me. I sketched a dragon to fight him off. They engaged in a battle before they disappeared. Supreme Art Lord laughed with delight (which was creepy) then drew a cannon. I quickly drew myself a shield to block the attacks. That gave me an idea. While sheltered from the cannonballs, I drew a mini Captain America. Apparently, the Isolus had his own share of nerd-ism because he drew Superman to counter my attack. Well this will be easy enough, I thought to myself as I doodled a gem of Kryptonite. As Superman faded away, Art Lord drew a robot armed with blasters. Thinking fast I drew myself a lightsaber. To my surprise, I could actually pick it up.
"Awesome!" I exclaimed to myself. I sliced the robot in half and both drawings disappeared. Art Lord frowned. He drew a bigger robot. This time I drew a phase-shifter on my wrist and gave myself rocket boots. I leapt up and ghosted through the robot pulling out a jumble of wires in the process. I watched in satisfaction as it toppled to the ground. Art Lord then somehow managed to draw up an entire army of robots. I drew the Death Star with it's exploding planet gun. Next the Isolus launched some sort of giant monster at me. I raked my brain for something to defeated it. I smiled to myself as I sketched out an image of the Colt. I cocked the gun and felt awesome as I fired a supernatural bullet at the beast. I don't know what this guy was complaining about. This place was awesome! Art Lord growled in frustration and conjured millions of robots and monsters at once. The army began making it's way towards me and I got desperate. I drew a black hole. I stood back as the army was sucked into the swirling vortex.
While the Art Lord struggled to find something to contradict the black hole, I ran through my options. This game could continue for a long time too. There's not much else to be done. I need to find the Doctor and get out of here. Experimenting, I drew a door in front of me. I opened it and step through. The scenery had changed but I was definitely still inside the fantasy world. The Doctor had to be in here somewhere. I wandered about calling his name with no luck.
With no warning, the Isolus appeared in front of me. He scowled, "You cheated."
I hurriedly drew myself another door and ran through it. I repeated the action again just to make sure I wasn't followed. Stepping through this door took me to a spacious room that was empty aside from a trap door. I ran over to it and found it was locked. I drew a key and tried it. The door swung open and I smiled. I jumped in and found myself falling for what seemed like miles. It was totally pitch black and I didn't even notice when I landed.
"Doctor?" I whispered. I had some how managed to hold on to the marker. I blindly drew a flashlight and turned it on. I did a full circle and saw a ladder. "Great."
I held the flashlight between my teeth and climbed the ladder which was shorter than I'd thought. When I reached the top I stepped onto what looked like a sidewalk. The moment my feet touched the ground it began to move. It was almost like a giant conveyor belt. Or those pointless, random moving walkways at airports. It took me through a tunnel and to another door. This one wasn't locked but I had to draw the doorknob.
I stepped into a light blue space. I was getting tired of this. I drew another door and stepped through it into a grass colored round room. I drew another door and then another and another. I finally reached a small blank space. I drew another door and when I passed through, I hadn't moved. I guess I'd gone as far as I could. I sighed and sat down. What was I supposed to do now? I guess just hope the Supreme Art Lord doesn't find me.
Bored, I doodled my flute. To my surprise, it literally came to life. It actually was my flute, like it had teleported or something. That was enough to spark some ideas. I'd only seen him for a little while but I did the best I could to draw the Doctor. I stood back and stared at my work as the real Doctor appeared in its place.
"Emma!" he cheered and grabbed me in a hug. "How did you do that?"
"Well, I don't know I just drew you," I answered. He looked around curiously. He pulled out his screwdriver and waved it around.
"How did you get here?" he questioned.
"I drew a bunch of doors," I answered.
"Well, okay so apparently every time you went through a door you went through a layer of subconscious fantasy fabric," the Doctor explained.
"What like Inception?" I question.
"Yes, well, sort of, not really, but in that sense, we're in limbo," he finished. "That's why when you drew me it transported me here."
I nodded, "Okay, so how do we get out?"
"With my Tardis," he pulled out a pen and began drawing a box.
"You're what?" I questioned. Strangely enough, the word sounded sort of familiar.
At that moment, Art Lord burst through the door I'd made earlier, "You can't hide from me!"
"Emma do something!" the Doctor demanded as he continued to draw.
"Like what?!" I said in panic.
"I don't know, anything, we're in limbo for crying out loud," he pointed out.
I uncapped the marker, my head racing. Isolus, isolus come on come on think! I screamed in my head. Then I remembered what the Doctor had said earlier. This Isolus had been separated from it's family.
"Doctor, what do Isolus actually look like?" I questioned.
"What?" he turned to look at me.
"Just show me!" I demanded. He handed me his wallet which had a single piece of paper inside that looked like it would usually be an ID. At the moment it held the image of a flowery looking thing. I copied the image as many times as I could as fast as I could. Man I really hope this works!
Art Lord stopped in his tracks as they came to life. The host body opened his mouth and a small flower thing floated out of it to greet the others. The kid it had been possessing looked around confused.
"There done!" the Doctor exclaimed as a blue box labeled Police Public Call Box appeared. "Get inside! You too." He called to the freshman as he pushed me into the box. He closed the door behind him and ran up to a junky console. He threw some levers and the whole room shook like crazy. I opened the door and found we were now in the school parking lot.
"What's going on?" the kid asked.
"Nothing, you fell asleep in class, time to wake up now," I said as I pushed him out the door. I turned to the Doctor who was beaming at me. "So, is this your spaceship?"
"Time machine actually," he confirmed. "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. You like it?"
I looked around, "It's pretty. I like the whole retro thing."
"Anything else you notice, nothing you want to say or point out?" he asked.
"No not really," I answered giving him a questioning look.
"Nothing like: 'it's bigger on the inside?'"
I looked around, "Oh yeah." How did I not notice that? I shrugged it off. "So are you like a space cop? Or an alien vigilante or something?"
"No, but I like that, more like a freelancer," he corrected.
"Freelancing time traveler."
"That's me," he grinned. "You seem to be taking this very well."
"Are you kidding me, it's awesome! I'm a totally nerd when it comes to time travel, especially paradoxes! And then aliens too!" I exclaimed. I laughed as I looked around the Tardis again. "So are you from the future or another planet? Or both?"
"I'm a timelord," he answered. "From a planet called Gallifrey. 906 years old, two hearts twice the cool."
I smiled though I got a bit of a head splitting migraine, not fun. "So is this what you do then, run around in a magic box saving the world from aliens without anyone ever knowing?"
"That pretty much sums it up," he confirmed. "Nice job back there by the way."
"Yeah, pretty much saved your life," I remarked.
"I know, so what do you say," he grinned sort of mischievously. "Wanna ride?"
I just smiled with response, "Does that question really need answering?"
"Nope, home then?" he asked.
"Giving my address to a time travelling alien," I mused. "So much for stranger danger." I gave him the coordinates and he began to fly his ship again. I stepped out into my bedroom and turned on the light.
"So this is your room?" the Doctor inferred.
"Another creepy sentence," I pointed out.
He smiled, "Yet still, you trust me."
"Well you saved my life too. I'd still be stuck inside isolus limbo if you hadn't been there," I answered. I plopped down on my bed while the Doctor examined the drawings that hung on my walls.
I sat up a bit, "So does it use wormholes?"
He turned to me, "What?"
"I mean if you had enough power you could theoretically bend space-time to form a wormhole, you know like an einstein-rosen bridge, that was always one of my favorite theories," I rambled. "And then there's the bigger on the inside thing. I mean, it could just be a magic Hermione's bag type of thing but I'm guessing it's another dimension layer, you know like a this far away but this close at the same time."
The Doctor just stared at me for a while before he laughed, "When you said nerd you really meant it."
"You should see my friends when I try to explain the difference between a grandfather paradox and a hitler paradox," I replied. "No but seriously though what is it?"
"Sure let's take all the fun out of it," he said sarcastically.
"Come on, I find out alien life and time travel exists and I'm never gonna be able to tell anyone, if I'm gonna be sitting on this my whole life I'm gonna want to know what really happened," I urged. "Especially since I'm probably never gonna see you again."
"Yeah that, or," he paused and smiled, "you could just come with."
I sat up completely, "What are you serious!?"
"You wouldn't be the first," he smiled. "It would be nice to travel with someone I don't have to explain everything to."
"Really!? Now?" I asked.
"Pack a bag. Allons-y!" he replied simply.
"Ach ja! Wir gehen, jetzt! Schneller! Du fliegst durch zeit, Ich will zu komm mit!" I answered.
The Doctor smiled and unlocked the Tardis door, "Molto Bene!"