Okay. I've actually been wanting to do this for a while. But never really put my mind on it.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Doctor Who or Robin Hood. Not even one little random piece of mercandize...
It was really wonderful being back. Rose Tyler couldn't remember the last time she'd been as happy as she was now; sitting in the captain's chair on the TARDIS, practically her second, if not primary, home. It wasn't the scenery there was the main reason for her happiness though, it was the company: the man who currently was prancing around the console, apparently pulling levers and pushing buttons at random. Rose, knew better, she knew that he was actually setting the coordinates for their next trip, their first trip since being re-united.
"So." She asked "What's our destination?"
"I don't know!" the Doctor announced with his trademark smile. "I'm putting it on random. It will take us to a completely random place in both time and space. With only the slight safety measurement that we won't end up meeting ourselves. That would make a mess!"
Rose couldn't help laughing at the thought of the TARDIS being put on random. Not that it would seem necessary, with the Doctor's lacking ability to control his machine. She didn't get much time to dwell on it, however, for in the next moment he pulled another lever and the TARDIS whirled through the vortex. It was a familiar feeling Rose had very much missed. Not long after she'd been trapped in Pete's world she'd gone to a local amusement park with Jake and Mickey, they'd dragged her into the craziest rollercoaster they could find, clearly in an attempt to cheer her up, but compared to the mad dashes through the vortex even that rollercoaster, with all its loops and twists, had seemed to her like a children's rollercoaster. This was the real deal.
With a loud thud the TARDIS landed, sending both Rose and the Doctor sprawling on the floor.
"What do you say Rosie? Shall we go checking were we are?"
As if he had to ask. Smiling Rose let the Doctor pull her to her feet and hand in hand they ran out of the TARDIS, only to find themselves in a big room with a four poster bed in the middle of it. A four poster bed occupied by a short, bald man dressed in a black silken pyjama. Suddenly the man sat up and, upon noticing the intruders, started yelling at top of his lungs:
"GUARDS! HOOD! CATCH HIM!"
Quickly Rose and the Doctor dashed out of the room and ran for it. There was no doubt that they'd ended up at some sort of castle, medieval judging on the architecture and the clothing of the few people they came across. The man had talked about a 'Hood' whatever he meant by that. Just as they were about to leave the castle through a small door they once again heard the man's voice:
"A big, blue box! WHAT'S A BIG, BLUE BOX DOING IN MY ROOM?"
They ran as fast as they could. Somehow, miraculously, evading all the guards. They dashed through the town and out through the gate, on towards the great woods. Not that they needed to, seeing as everybody seemed to almost ignore them. They wanted to. Running was an important part of their adventures together.
Reaching the wood they left the road and continued in between the trees. Jumping over roots and stones, ducking under branches, dashing around trees and large rock. Just running until they, with no warning, found themselves dangling upside down, each with a leg suspended by a loop hanging from a tree. The sonic screwdriver fell out of the Doctor's pocket and landed on the forest floor with a small thud. No matter how hard they tried they couldn't reach the rope and free themselves.
Kate saw the two oddly clad strangers running through the woods and raced back towards the camp to warn Robin and the others. She'd hardly entered the camp, still trying to catch her breath, when the alarm indicating that their trap had been sprung sounded.
Quickly the gang ran out to see who, or what, there had made the alarm go off, to Kate's surprise it was the two strangers she'd seen before.
"Oi!" said the man, in between at the same time attempting to swing up and reach the rope and trying to reach something on the ground. "Do you care to set us free?"
"If you'll give one tenth of your belongings to the poor!" Robin said, matter-of-factly.
"And don't try to trick us." Much said, warningly. "Because if you do,"
"We take it all!" John finished the sentence.
"We don't have our belongings with us." The blond girl had been silent until then. "They're in the TARDIS, which happens to be at the castle, last seen in the room with the short, bald, yelling man."
It took a few seconds before the gang realized who she was referring to by 'short, bald, yelling man' but when the truth dawned upon them, that she in fact was talking about 'dear old Vaysey' they couldn't help laughing. The description 'short, bald, yelling' clearly was fitting.
"Okay." Robin said when they'd all stopped laughing. "I guess we can trust you."
"Good! Will you let us down now?" asked the man.
Quickly Will turned around a pulled a hidden lever, making the rope loosen up so the two people fell to the ground. They jumped to their feet, the man grapping the thing on the forest floor he'd been trying to reach.
They agreed that it would be best to return to the camp and come up with a plan.
"What are your names." The girl asked when they were back at the camp.
"I'm Robin Hood. That's Much, Tuck, Little John, "a bemused look crossed the two strangers faces when they heard the all-but-little John being called 'little'. "Marian, Djaq, Allan A-Dale, Will Scarlet and Kate Scarlet. Will and Kate are cousins. And you are?"
"I'm the Doctor. And that's my girlfriend Rose Tyler."
Kate couldn't help smiling when she noticed that the girl, Rose, blushed slightly upon being called the Doctor's 'girlfriend'. She's never heard the word before but she was almost certain that the relationship between those two were the same as between her and Allan.
"I'm not being funny but 'Doctor' isn't really a name!"
"It isn't his real name. He doesn't tell anybody his real name. Not even me."
Kate was very sure she could detect a faint edge of something, disappointment, jealousy of something, in Rose's voice.
"Does that really matter?" Marian, like Kate, had noticed that Rose apparently didn't like to talk about why the Doctor kept his real name a secret, so now she, ever the diplomat, had decided that it was best to change to subject. "After all, we need to come up with some kind of plan. If you two want to get you TARDIS back. Are you still going to give a donation to the poor by the way?"
"Of course we are!" the Doctor said smiling.
Together they sat down and tried to come up with a plan of how to break into the castle, get to the so-called TARDIS and give the Doctor and Rose long enough time to go inside and find their donations. Never one second did any of the gang come with any suggestions that their two guest might as well just leave as soon as they found the TARDIS, the Doctor had briefly explained how it was their method of transportation, the two of them seemed to be honest, trustful people.
After a while Tuck came up with a plan:
"It's Easter tomorrow. That means there'll be held a midnight service tomorrow night. I've been communicating with the abbey of the monastery; a group of monks will be attending the service, taking care of the chanting. If you two," he pointed towards Rose and the Doctor. "Mingle with the other church-goers then I'll join with the other monks. They're friends of mine so they won't give me away. The rest of you must find other places to hide. When the mess is over we use the crowed streets as a cover up."
"Wouldn't it be easier to just use the fact that the castle will be deserted as a cover up?" Kate couldn't help asking. Ingenious as Tuck's plan was it seemed a little over the top, making something simple more difficult than it had to.
"It would. But we'd risk wasting a lot of time searching for the TARDIS. We might risk that the mess would be over before we find it."
"And we won't be wasting time hanging around in the church?" even though she didn't say it Kate wasn't in doubt that Djaq didn't like the thought of attending the mess, even if it would be hidden, after all, it wasn't her religion.
"You're right Djaq." Robin said. "So, if you, Will, Allan and Kate go to the castle and try to find the TARDIS then Marian, Much and I will be waiting outside the church. John, you go with them to the castle and wait for us outside."
They spent the rest of the day trying to put the plan to perfection.