"Whoa, there's a whole legion of you here!" the Doctor exclaimed upon the sight of little people coming out of everywhere. But that wasn't the fact that surprised him most. The main matter that made his eyes pop was that all of these tiny beings were familiar to him - both in appearance and behaviour. The Doctor suddenly felt like a school teacher among first-formers.
All the little people preferred to keep distance between them and their sudden guest (no wonder, the Doctor was times and times larger than every one of them), and even Jamie and Leela returned to the crowd when the Doctor, feeling better, attempted to stand up, but felt slightly dazed and remained in sitting position.
"Hey, little guys, I'm not going to hurt any of you", the Doctor smiled. "I'm just interested in what took place here. Have you been here for a long time?"
The little people discussed something for some seconds (it seemed as if they were unable to give any sounds except meeping and eeping out), and then the girl with short black hair and brown eyes, wearing a striped purple shirt, made two steps towards him. The Doctor felt something warm emerging inside when he recognized her.
"Susan! Oh man, is there every single one of you?"
Immediately, the tiny man with chin-length silver hair, carrying a crooked walking stick, hurried to Susan, standing in front of her protectively.
"Oh-ho-ho! Looks like they - whoever they are - managed to make tiny copies of all my versions", the Doctor assumed upon this sight.
The tiny First Doctor knitted his brows together:
"Meep?"
The Doctor held a snort of laughter in and went on:
"Yes. I'm the Eleventh one. Don't you have tiny this me here? I see Amy, and Rory... ooooh, and River!" No wonder, those three could be spotted in any kind of crowd. In a moment eight more little people pushed their way to the front, and the Doctor beamed even broader. "Yeah... Almost all together... Hey, wait. One of you... one of ME... is missing. Or he isn't here?"
One more little person showed himself out of the crowd - the one dressed in indigo business-styled pants and burgundy tee, with dark hair sticking up.
"There you are", the Doctor assumed, but the tiny Tenth Doctor shook his head, and less than in a moment something whizzed over the Doctor's head, having nearly hit him. It appeared to be a shoebox-sized copy of the TARDIS (while the real one calmly remained in the corner), twirling between floor and ceiling as if dangling from a string, just like a true one. And it seemed to be as mischievous as the true one... It was drawing curved spirals in the air, so the Doctor caught the moment and grabbed it with both hands, having caused a reaction - something (or someone) inside it hit the walls (no wonder if this tiny TARDIS was also bigger on the inside) with noise sounding like "whump-whomp-meeeeeeep!"
The Doctor opened the tiny TARDIS's doors, holding it in vertical position, and one more scruffy head showed itself from the inside, its brown eyes completely out of focus. One more tiny Tenth Doctor. But if so, one of them should be the Metacrisis one, the Doctor thought. Preferably the one on the floor... And he was right. The wee Doctors, as if hypnotized, raised their hands, each showing a different quantity of fingers.
"Ah! You mean I can call you by your numbers?" the Doctor guessed. "And what about you?" This was addressed to the tiny Metacrisis Doctor, who replied with gestures: showed ten fingers, pointed at his twin, then at himself and nodded. "Ten... You... Ten... too?" Eager nodding. "Tentoo? Okay. Now..." The Doctor carefully lowered the still-dizzy Ten onto the floor (the tiny blond girl - obviously Rose - immediately rushed to support him) and opened the mini TARDIS's doors. "Hmm... Looks like it has a console room, but nothing more. No good..."
This time the small girl dressed in red shirt and pink overalls walked over to him and tugged on his trouser sleeve, then lifted her little arms up, like a little child who wants to be picked up.
"Eep?"
"Sarah Jane! I just knew it!" the Doctor beamed and lowered his hand onto the floor. Despite the meeped warnings and small yelps, she climbed onto it and in some moments was sitting on the Doctor's shoulder. A bit later he was taken aback again, because as soon as tiny Sarah Jane began speaking into his ear, he heard not meeping and eeping, but a clear little voice which spoke fine human - or any other - language. Perhaps it depended on distance.
"You know so many things", she said. "I believe that you're the Doctor. The real and true one, but others doubt. Amy, Rory and River... and Craig too... say that you are truly Eleventh, but..."
"I understand. Tell me, for how long have you been here?"
"Forever".
"Forever?.."
"Or it seems so. I just woke up here and remembered nothing except who I am", Sarah Jane went on. "Together with all of them. And now you appeared here".
"Didn't you try to come out?" The Doctor nodded at the rectangular patch of the wall which was slightly darker than the rest - the only thing which looked like a door here. No windows and no lamps, but the room was full of pleasant soft light.
"Many times. But it didn't work".
The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out, but - what's that? - it didn't work. It didn't even light up or buzz. It's time for some serious actions, he thought.
"I'm going to check something in my TARDIS", he informed. He had better not done it.
As soon as the real TARDIS doors were open, he was nearly knocked off his feet again by a wave of very determined little people.
