"Hit the floor!" The Doctor shouted at me. Seeing as though I was already falling, that didn't really matter. The Doctor and I both fell backwards onto the floor.
I wasn't sure how much later, but when the Doctor and I regained consciousness, (meaning when we hit the floor we must have passed out or gotten knocked out somehow.) I looked at the Doctor in shock. Just recently, meaning a few weeks ago, I had gotten used to his new regeneration. I knew that whatever had just happened was going to take quite a lot of getting used to.
The Doctor was much younger than he had been before. He wasn't just a few years younger; he was hundreds of years younger. He went from 903 to what- 18 years old? He appeared to be about 18 years old, which wasn't much younger than me, or so I thought.
"Rose, you look like you've lost a few years of age! You must be about 17 now!" The Doctor exclaimed. He looked just as shocked when he saw me as I must've looked when I saw him.
"You've lost more years than I have, Doctor! You look to be about 18 now!" I explained to him.
The Doctor immediately ran over to the TARDIS's console. He pressed a few buttons and something on the TARDIS's console scanned him. On the small screen in front of him, it showed his age, 18 years old. He then motioned for me to come over to him. The TARDIS scanned me as well and said I was 17 years old. Apparently, we had been rather accurate on our guesses.
"How could this have happened?" I ask the Doctor.
"For once, Rose, I have no idea how this happened." The Doctor said. "Well, we might as well see what's outside." He continued. Rather than looking on the screen on the TARDIS's console, he opened the doors of the TARDIS and we looked at the sight before us. We saw industrial buildings and equipment, along with a variety of factories. We stepped outside of the TARDIS and all of a sudden, the doors closed behind us and the TARDIS vanished.
"That's not good, is it?" I asked the Doctor rhetorically. He answered anyways.
"No, I guess it's not." He responded.
"We don't even have the correct clothes to fit in! Heck, mine are much too big on me and you look like you're having the same trouble." I say as the Doctor pulls up his trousers a little more because they had been falling down a bit.
As soon as I said this, a young girl with fiery red hair and striking blue eyes came up to us. She looked to be about 14 years old.
"Are you two lost? I heard you talking and saw you come out of that blue box. You're not supposed to be here, are you?" The girl questioned us. "I'm Blaire Kaplan. Who're you?" She continued.
"I'm Rose Tyler." I responded.
"John Smith." The Doctor responded, introducing himself with a smile. We both put out a hand towards the girl known as Blaire. She shook hands with each of us.
"It's nice to meet you." She said.
"The same to you." I responded.
"It's a pleasure." The Doctor responded to Blaire with another smile.
"I heard you saying you needed some smaller clothes. I might have some back at my house if you'd like some. Follow me." Blaire said, motioning at us to follow her. The Doctor nodded and we followed her along to her house. It was about a mile walk. Once we got there, we noticed it was a rather small house. It seemed even smaller for the amount of people that lived there. She lives there with her mother, father and three sisters. Blaire told us that her family always kept their old clothes around unless they are completely un-wearable, just in case someone in the family or one of their friends needed something to wear or if something went wrong and they needed them for anything else. This was something the Doctor and I were very grateful for.
When Blaire gave me some clothes to change in to, I was surprised as to what she gave me. It was a knee length, semi-formal pink dress. I asked her why she gave me this to wear, seeing as though it wasn't anywhere close to everyday clothing. She then explained the Hunger Games to me. She explained that a boy and a girl from the ages of 12 to 18 from each of the 12 Districts would be chosen to fight to the death on live television. She explained this to the Doctor as well. After she was done with the explanations, she asked me something.
"Can I talk to you in private, Rose?" Blaire asked me. I looked over at the Doctor for confirmation and he nodded. I followed Blaire to another room. I assumed the room was either hers or a guest room. Blaire sat down in a pink beanbag and I sat down in the blue one across from her.
"Listen, Rose. Your friend will be picked in the reaping, and if you want to keep him safe, you'll have to volunteer as the female tribute. You two together could survive the 10th annual Hunger Games and not only bring honor to this District, which is District Three, but you would also be able to get your blue box back and get out of here. I know why you need the box. She's called the TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. The TARDIS can travel anywhere through time and space. How do I know this you may ask? She- the TARDIS- used to take me places before your little friend came along. Trust me, you won't get your age or your precious TARDIS back until you win the Hunger Games." Blaire explained to me. I stared at her in a mixture of shock and horror. I headed back out to meet up with the Doctor. He saw the worry on my face.