Hey! Not dead after all!
To anyone who's read my other stories: I have not forgotten about them! However, they are on an indefinite hiatus. RL has kept me busy, and on top of that I haven't been in the mood to write for those fandoms recently. I'll get back to them someday, but I don't know when that'll be.
Anyways, enjoy the prologue. Hopefully I will manage to finish this story- I've got most of it planned out already, it's just a matter of finding time to write the thing.
Set right after Doctor Who S1E11 "Boom Town" and during One Piece episode 630 "Explore! a Kingdom of Love and Passion- Dressrosa!"
Standard disclaimer: Don't own One Piece or Doctor Who. I do, however, own a pretty slammin' faux cat skeleton. His name is Nosferatu.
Edit: Prologue updated on 2/22
"Rose! Jack!" The Doctor called out, dashing excitedly around the control room, pulling levers and flipping switches.
The TARDIS lurched, nearly sending her occupants, wherever they may be, crashing to the ground. The Doctor white-knuckled his grip on the console and used his momentum to swing himself around to the other side to check the tachyon output levels.
So far within normal range. Good. Recharging was always much more complicated now after the war…
Rose walked carefully into the console room, doing her best to keep her balance amidst the constant shaking that had become commonplace while traveling with the Doctor. The TARDIS pitched again. Reflexively, Rose latched onto one of the coral support columns, keeping her legs under her as she rode out the aftershocks of the particularly violent roll.
Thank goodness she had lots of practice like this by now, otherwise she would have been thrown straight into the railing that surrounded the main platform.
The Doctor glanced at her briefly out of the corner of his eye as he continued to work. He held down the Red Button with one hand and did his best to stretch to reach the Inertia Dampener's lever under the main viewscreen. The tip of his middle finger barely brushed the handle.
He wiggled his fingers, hoping to get just that much closer, then he would get it. He hadn't had this problem during his last Regeneration, Eight could reach everything just fine. Oh no, but he was stuck with Nine and his statistically-below-average arm length.
Though that being said, he did have a good pair of legs on him this time around. Well actually, he considered the lever again, that might work. Without further ado he swung his leg up and onto the console. To the Doctor's delight the heel of his boot caught on the lever's handle and he pushed it down, engaging the Inertia Dampener.
Parking brake firmly in place, the Doctor could now turn his attention to his companions, well, companion. "How would you two like to visit Cryllis?" He asked, not caring that Jack had yet to arrive or whether or not he would object to their destination choice. This was mainly for Rose anyways; Jack could handle himself.
Besides, who could object to Cryllis? It was gorgeous and mainly a tourist planet, so there weren't many dignitaries they could piss off, and the worst security could do would be to ban them from the planet, and really, how often did that happen?
...Alright, so fairly often, but that wasn't the point.
"It's a planet that rains diamonds, Rose. Diamonds!" The Doctor shot her a massive grin, eager to hear her thoughts on his choice of destination. He rocked back on his heels in anticipation. Rose always got so excited when he talked about new places for her to see, and as long as he could pull off a safe-yet-fun trip every so often, then all the longer she'll stay before the danger of traveling with him scared her off for good.
Leaving the Doctor was the farthest thing from Rose's mind at the moment, and she laughed from her spot by the coral column. The Doctor's obvious glee in getting to show off only fed her own excitement and she made her way over to where the Doctor leaned against the console absentmindedly toying with a strange looking crank.
"Real diamonds?" She asked, unable to mask the interest in her voice, not that she'd have wanted to. "Not like that fake stuff Mum's necklaces have?"
"Cubic zirconia- that's what the fake stuff's called. And no, they're real diamonds." he confirmed. Rose started to ask another question, but the Doctor cut her off. "We're not gonna bring any back for Jackie either." The Doctor interrupted firmly.
Rose pouted. "Oh come on, Doctor. It's the least I can do for her, being gone all the time and everything. She worries you know." Well that was just not fair, Rose trying to guilt him into things.
He tried not to give in, he really did. "Oh alright." He huffed, crossing his arms. "But only one, got it?" His hearts gave a jolt when she beamed up at him, and stuttered again when she threw her arms around him and gave him a quick hug.
"Thanks Doctor," she breathed, elated.
He was about to add the condition that she could only keep a small one for Jackie when another alarm blared. He abandoned Rose to dash around the console, trying to locate the source of the problem.
He disengaged the Inertia Dampener, hoping that would reduce the temporal pressure of remaining (somewhat) stationary in the timestream. That seemed to do the trick, as soon as he threw the lever, the TARDIS shook and the alarms died off.
"Well," the Doctor cleared his throat, "as I was saying, the best time to visit Cryllis is at sunset right after a rainfall, so of course that's where we're heading." He said, very assuredly for someone who had a bad habit of not always landing where they aimed. "The way the light reflects off of the fresh diamonds- makes the whole area look like a sea of rainbows and fire. It's said to be one of the most beautiful sights in the universe." He trailed off wistfully, letting out a soft sigh as he imagined it. Things like this were what kept him traveling despite everything.
"It sounds lovely Doc, but I don't think it could hold a candle to our Rosie. Don't you agree?" Drawled Jack, who had finally made his way into the console room.
"Right." The Doctor agreed wholeheartedly, crawling halfway on top of the console to hold down a large green button while stretching as far as he could to press a bright yellow one. Too far. "Rose, could you-," he wiggled his fingers in the direction of the button. Rose, Rassilon bless her, understood what he needed immediately and move to get the button for him. "Just a press." He told her. She complied, and he was able to let go of the green button. "Fantastic job, Rose." He said with a wide grin.
Behind him, Jack sulked. "How come you never ask me to help, Doc? I'll start thinking you like Rose better if you keep that up." Jack tried to whine, but with most things Jack did it also sounded a bit like a flirt. "Besides, I'm a Captain you know. I've flown a lot of ships in my time, and you've never flown with me before." Jack shot him a slick smile. That last bit was definitely a flirt.
"Oi, down boy!" The Doctor said sharply. "Hands off."
"You or the ship?"
"Both!"
Rose covered her mouth to try and stifle her giggles, but to no avail. She shook her head. She would have to break them up, or else they'd go at it all day, and then they'd never get to Cryllis. "Jack," she interrupted them, "what took you so long?" She smirked, an idea forming in her head. "Did you get lost?" She asked teasingly.
Jack spluttered indignantly. "No!" That was a yes then. "This ship just hates me! I swear the rooms keep moving!"
Rose winced. "Yeah, the TARDIS does that sometimes." Jack fit so well into their little group, she had actually forgotten he hadn't been with them for very long, and that there were still things about the Doctor and the TARDIS he didn't know.
Jack was shocked. "What? What kind of ship does that?" He waved his arms about, as if somehow hoping to catch the words he needed to say exactly how strange the idea was to him.
The Doctor huffed. "Oh calm down. She's just having a bit of fun." He said in defense of his ship. He pulled down a keyboard out from one of the monitors and typed some commands into it. "I was telling Rose we're heading for Cryllis."
The TARDIS shuddered as she prepared to exit the timestream. "I'm thinking to aim a bit early. Once the tourist industry came to Cryllis the lines just became ridiculous, not to mention the smuggling business. The influx of diamonds from Cryllis on the market nearly ruined their galaxy's economy." He shook his head. "You apes got to stick your nose in everything don't you?" He said, somewhat teasingly. "Anyways it took centuries for them to recover. Cryllis diamond movements are heavily monitored now, so we're going to avoid that." He said, surprisingly cheerful for such a heavy subject.
The TARDIS suddenly lurched, catching them all off guard as the klaxons blared. Rose nearly lost her balance, catching herself on the railing before she could fall on top of Jack.
Jack, who was not as quick as Rose, ended up lying flat on his face, cheek smushed into the grating. Rose felt a pang of sympathy for him as he struggled to right himself. Jack brushed off his shirt, trying to act unaffected by his slip, but Rose knew better even with his smooth smile already back in place. His arm was firmly latched onto the rails in a death grip, giving him away.
Pretty soon he'd get his TARDIS legs and would grow used to the sudden jerks the TARDIS made during every trip, but for now she relished in being the more experienced one for once.
But the Doctor still hadn't silenced the klaxon alarm, and a cold thread of worry and fear settled in Rose. "Doctor!" She shouted, trying to make herself heard over the din. "What's going on?" The TARDIS gave another concerning shake, causing more alarms to wail.
The Doctor moved about frantically, pulling levers, pushing buttons, turning cranks, seemingly doing everything possible to get the TARDIS back under control. He paused only occasionally to type into one of the computer terminals on the console.
The Doctor grimaced. "It seems that turning Blon back into an egg did a number on the TARDIS's energy reserves. We don't have enough to reach Cryllis." He yelled back to them.
There was beat as he read the readings off the console. "We don't have enough power to reach anything." He added, sounding slightly surprised.
"What are you tryin' to say, doc?" Jack shouted from behind Rose. "What's going on?" He strained his voice to be heard over the ever-growing alarms.
The Doctor turned to them, a manic grin splitting his face. All other sounds seemed to fade as he exclaimed, blue eyes glittering with excitement, "We're going to crash."
