Darryl, Leo, and The Doctor entered the crime scene and approached what used to be the corpse. Now it was nothing more than a pile of dust and bits of bone that were slowly collapsing. The Doctor knelt down and picked up some of the dust, sniffed it, tasted it. Darryl and Leo both looked at him a bit disgusted.
"What are you doing?" Darryl asked in an offended tone. "This is a crime scene! Th-That's a dead body!"
"Investigating." The Doctor responded as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the body. After scanning the body, The Doctor put his sonic screwdriver away and placed his 3d gasses on. "It appears that the entire spectrum of energy was drained from this man's body…and I don't think it was caused by my query." He stated as he scrunched his nose and looked at the body through his 3d glasses.
"His entire spectrum of energy?" Leo asked for clarification.
"More simply put," The Doctor obliged as he removed his 3d glasses, "It effectively sucked out his soul."
"That doesn't sound good." Darryl observed nervously.
"No, that is very high level magic," Leo responded, rather perturbed.
"Is it just me?" The Doctor queried as he looked down at his legs in bewilderment, "Or are our legs paralyzed?"
Leo and Darryl both tried to move their legs to no avail. "This isn't good!" Leo exclaimed as he struggled to move his legs.
The Doctor replaced the 3d glasses on his face and looked around.
"What is that thing?" Darryl exclaimed. Leo and the doctor twisted around to see a large eyeless and limbless creature, with pink tentacles around its mouth and two large fins running down each side of its body.
"Darryl, Doctor, grab my hand!" Leo yelled.
The two obliged, and after a blue flash, they were teleported to the Halliwell manor's living room, Darryl and Leo breathing heavily.
The Doctor looked around, smiling. "Nifty trick." He stated as he removed his 3d glasses and placed them in his pocket.
"Oh my god!" Piper exclaimed bolting up from the chair. "What happened? Are you ok?"
Phoebe, Cole, and Paige rushed into the room.
"Yeah," Leo answered as he caught his breath. "Whatever that was, it wasn't a demon, Doctor. Are you sure it isn't what you're looking for?"
"That was a fendahleen." The Doctor informed Leo and started pacing, deep in thought, "no, no…no…"
"What is a fendahleen?" Piper asked, her interest piqued. "I've never heard of…"
"Yes!" The Doctor excitedly exclaimed in Piper's face, snapping out of his deep thought. "Of course I didn't detect any void stuffs, the fedahleen was probably created after it arrived!"
"Oh my god, would you focus!" Piper snapped at the jovial Doctor. "What arrived?"
The Doctor came back down to earth and looked over a Piper's angry glare with a hint of sorrow. "The fendahl core." He responded with a bit of unease.
"Fendahl core?" Piper reiterated in a quizzical tone.
"A fendahl, as they are called, is the ultimate predator organism." The Doctor explained pragmatically. "It is a gestalt creature that exists in two parts, the fendahl core and the fendahleen. It can create up to thirteen fendahleen, and if it does, it could be powerful enough to consume all life on the planet."
After a short silence, Darryl nervously inquired "So, it can create those things pretty fast?"
"No, well yes, if it has a genetically prepared stock I suppose." The Doctor answered "But, that would be almost impossible in this environment." The Doctor paused for a moment in thought. "No, its only option would be to create the fendahleen from pure energy…no small task." The Doctor paced around erratically as he explained. "It takes a tremendous amount of energy, ninety megajoules per one microgram to be precise…Not to mention the energy required to maintain the link between universes, I'm surprised to see one so soon, really."
"Does the fendahl core look like a skull with a pentagram on its forehead?" Phoebe asked as she approached The Doctor, Cole following her watchfully, seeming mildly protective.
The Doctor paused and looked at her inquisitively, then responded, "Yes, how did you know that?"
"I had a premonition about it earlier this morning, and also when I touched your psychic paper." She answered, then turned to her sisters. "I think it's allied with The Source, I saw them together in my premonition."
"No." The Doctor interjected, "The Fendahl don't ally themselves with anything, they consume. They've devoured their own kind to get their fill."
"That's just what I saw." Phoebe retorted becoming increasingly distressed.
The Doctor looked into Phoebe's eyes. "Well, alright." The Doctor accepted. "Who is this Source?"
"The Source of All Evil, he is a being of immense power." Cole interjected, stepping forward and looking intensely at the Doctor. "The strongest of the demons and ruler of the underworld. Not somebody to be taken lightly."
"Oh, well he sounds scary, doesn't he?" The Doctor quipped cheekily.
"I think you need to take this more seriously, Doctor." Cole retorted vehemently.
The Doctor suddenly donned a very stern expression and glared at Cole. "I am taking this very seriously." He assured Cole. "My own people sealed the fendahl's home planet in a time loop and erased their memory from history for the protection of the entire universe. I once tried to destroy a fendahl core by dropping it in a supernova and it came out stronger than before. I understand the severity of the situation, do you?"
Cole stood in silence for a long moment stunned and staring into the doctor's eyes. Phoebe wrapped her arms around Cole and broke the silence. "Ok, so the situation is pretty bad, let's try and figure out what we can do."
"Yes, salt." The Doctor responded, stepping past Cole and Phoebe and fishing through his coat pockets, "We'll need a good supply of salt…ah" He pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket and smiled, then placed them in his inner pocket.
"Ok, salt's in the kitchen." Piper abetted, "What is it for?"
"If ingested by the fedahleen, it will affect its internal conductivity," The Doctor explained, "ruining the overall electrical balance and prevent control of the localized disruption of the osmotic pressures."
"I'm going to assume that's fancy talk for 'it kills it'?" Paige supposed in a wily tone as she approached The Doctor.
The Doctor paused and looked Paige over. "That would be correct." He answered. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced, I'm The Doctor." He continued, appearing delighted.
"My name is Paige." She replied, pleased to have been acknowledged. "So, I guess the question now is, how do we get to the core?"
"Leo should take me to the underworld." Cole suggested almost immediately. "A bit of spying should tell us what The Source is up to."
"Are you kidding me?" Phoebe snapped, removing her arms from around Cole and taking a step back. "That's way too dangerous! If you're seen, you'll be killed, and if not, you'll at the very least be back on the demonic radar."
"We all know this is the best way to find out what's going on." Cole countered.
"It's out of the question!" Phoebe commanded.
"We may have to travel to your underworld out of necessity eventually anyway." The Doctor interrupted. "If the fendahl core resides there, that's most likely where it's going to stay until it's complete."
"So, we might as well go see what we're up against and plan accordingly." Cole continued from The Doctor's reasoning.
Phoebe glared at Cole and let out a long sigh while shaking her head. "Fine, but be careful."
"That goes double for you, mister." Piper said to Leo, then kissed him.
"Ok, we'll be back as soon as we can." Leo reassured Phoebe and Piper as he grabbed Cole's shoulder and orbed them away.
"Umm, I need to get my car back," Darryl spoke up, the sisters seemed to forget he was there. "and there's going to be a butt load of paperwork for me to do to cover this thing up."
"Oh, right." Piper responded, "But you can't go back there with that thing lurking about."
"I should probably go subdue it before it gorges itself, actually." The Doctor pointed out. "Does anybody but Leo have that nifty teleportation trick?"
"Yeah." Paige answered.
"Ok, you go with them, me and Phoebe will brew something up here." Piper proposed as she hurried into the kitchen, then popped back out tossing The Doctor a container of salt. "Don't forget the salt."
The Doctor glanced at it, then nodded at Piper.
Paige took a breath and leaned forward on her toes briefly. "All right, let's do this." She stated, a little nervously, as she grabbed their hands and orbed them to the alley where Darryl's car was parked.
"You guys got this?" Darryl asked as he approached his car. "I really don't know how much help I'll be."
"Yeah, we're good." Paige answered, looking around the alley carefully.
"Ok." Darryl whispered as he got into his car, started the engine and drove off.
"So, what's this thing going to look like?" Paige asked as she observed the shadows meticulously.
"You'll know it when you see it." The Doctor answered as he pointed his sonic screwdriver in various directions. "Most likely," he continued, "it will sneak up on us and freeze our legs in place with its telekinetic abilities and try to devour us."
"Great." Paige sarcastically proclaimed and rolled her eyes.
The Doctor stopped moving his sonic screwdriver around and fixated on a direction, then slowly started walking in that direction, keeping his sonic screwdriver pointed forward.
"Did you find something?" Paige whispered as she scuttled up behind the doctor and looked astutely in the direction they were walking.
"Uh oh." The doctor indicated as he suddenly stopped.
Paige felt her legs anchor to the ground. "Oh crap!" She exclaimed as she struggled to move her legs. As the fendahleen approached, Paige was taken aback by its appearance and struggled harder to move.
The Doctor grabbed the container of salt from his pocket, poured some into his hand and flung it at the fendahleen. It squealed and retreated slightly, but continued its advance after The Doctor lost his grip on the container and it fell to the ground, rolled down the alley and stopped, spilling a small pile onto the ground. "Not good!" The Doctor observed as he fell over trying to reach the salt container.
"Salt!" Paige shouted as she extended her hand, orbing the small pile that spilled onto the ground into her hand and then into the fendahleen's mouth.
The fendahleen shrieked and gargled, then fell over with smoke rising out of its mouth.
Paige and The Doctor regained control of their legs, then took a moment to catch their breath and process what just happened. "Ha ha!" they both exclaimed to each other as they jumped up and down and embraced in a hug.
The Doctor grabbed both of Paige's hands and smiled at her. "That was brilliant!" He praised. As they calmed down, she smiled back. The Doctor let out a short, happy sigh as he let go of Paige's hands and bent over to retrieve the salt container. "We certainly have the fendahl's attention now." He advised. "I wonder what its next move will be." He put on his thick rimmed glasses and looked the creature over.
Paige gazed over at The Doctor slightly disappointed that he had already moved on from their small moment. "Grab some flesh from the fendahleen, I can use it to scry for others." She suggested as she knelt down and observed the creature.
"Right then." The Doctor obliged as he pulled a tentacle off the creature.
"Well," Paige began, then paused as she looked into The Doctor's eyes for any indication of the look she saw when he held her hands. There was none that she could see, so she continued, a little defeated, "I guess we should go back to the manor."
She grabbed his hand, and after a flash of blue they appeared in the Halliwell manor living room. The air was thick with the pungent aroma of potion brewing.
The Doctor scrunched his nose and reeled back. "It smells like a high-rise around supper time." He remarked.
Paige stopped in her tracks as she was walking to the kitchen. "Umm, what?" She asked for clarification.
"You know," he explicated, "When everyone is cooking, and the smells all mix together."
"Oh, just come with me." She insisted as she turned around and once again headed toward the kitchen.
They entered the kitchen to see all burners of the stove topped with pots of boiling liquid and thick vapors pouring over the sides.
The Doctor looked around the kitchen a bit surprised. "Well, when you said you were going to 'brew something up' I certainly didn't envision the literal interpretation." He asserted as he put his face close to a pot and sniffed, reeling back immediately after. "Where do you want this?" He asked holding the fendahleen tentacle out toward Paige.
"Is that from the fendahl?" Piper asked, rushed and distractedly.
"Yeah." The Doctor responded.
"Good." She affirmed as she grabbed it from his hand, cut a slice from it, and dropped it into one of the pots before immediately ducking and covering her head. The pot just continued to boil as everyone looked over at Piper as she stood up awkwardly. "That didn't work." She stated in a puzzled tone.
"And what exactly were you hoping to happen?" The Doctor asked, staring at Piper intently.
"I'm trying to create a potion to vanquish or weaken the core." She answered, stirring the pot and looking into it carefully.
The Doctor adopted an amused look. "You're not going to be able to affect the fendahl core with mundane household spices or, or cleaning solvents." He explained in a haughty tone.
"Well, excuse me for trying." Piper snapped back completely unamused. "Phoebe's Power of Three Spell will have to do then."
"Power of Three Spell?" The Doctor asked looking over his glasses.
"A spell that combines the powers of me and my sisters." Piper clarified giving a stern look to The Doctor.
"I think I've figured it out." Phoebe announced as she entered the kitchen carrying a note pad. "Fendahl in name go back whence you came. This magical place is not for your race. To send you back to your original seat, the power of three shall cause your retreat."
"No," The Doctor groaned in disbelief after hearing the rhyme. "You won't be able to generate enough psychic energy to make that pneumonic block transfer work." He explained in an almost critical tone.
"Look, I'm getting really tired of your 'no can do' attitude." Piper snapped at The Doctor very irately. "Besides, you're completely wrong about us. First off, we aren't psychic, we're witches. We use magic, spells, and potions to vanquish evil, and together, we are stronger than you know. Second, at least we are trying to address the problem, I haven't heard a single suggestion from you except 'get the salt'" She finished, trying to imitate an English accent with the last three words.
The Doctor paused and gave Piper a look of reciprocated understanding. "Look," he began, "You can call heightened psionic abilities and an instinctual understanding of quantum pneumonics magic if you would like, but unless your magic can generate the energy equivalent of, at least, a dying star, you won't be able to even open a window to another universe, much less transport one of the most powerful organisms I've ever encountered there." He finished explaining and hopped up to sit on the counter.
Paige sheepishly spoke up, "Well, if throwing it into a supernova would make it stronger, then maybe instead of throwing powers at it, we should try to drain its power."
"Ah!" The Doctor exclaimed jumping up off of the counter and wagging his finger at Paige, "You are a clever girl." He placed his hand under his chin and began pacing. "If we can find a way to deplete its energy past a certain point, I can remove the skull from the host, with the use of gloves of course, NEVER touch a fendahl core without gloves on, and then cut off its psychic radiation by placing it in a lead box."
"A lead box?" Phoebe asked in a rather flavorless tone giving The Doctor a bland look.
"Yes," The Doctor replied, his excitement having waned slightly, "with proper handling procedures, the fendahl's remains can be rendered fairly harmless."
"I'll start on a new spell I guess." Phoebe complained as she sat at the table and started tapping her pen on her notebook.
"I'll finish these potions, we'll at least need them against the demons if we have to go to the underworld." Piper stated as she went back over to the stove.
"Do you mind if I park my T.A.R.D.I.S. in your back garden?" The Doctor asked as he gazed out the window. "I need a few things from it."
"What's that, your 'space ship'?" Paige asked half in jest.
"More or less." The Doctor answered in complete seriousness.
"Oh, well sure." Paige answered a little flabbergasted by his answer. "Where is it now?"
"It's in a little alley off Agnew Road and Lafayette Street." He answered.
"Ok." She grabbed his hand and orbed them from the kitchen to the corner of Agnew and Lafayette.
The Doctor looked around for a moment "This way." He stated and started walking down the street, Paige followed. After a short walk, they turned into an alley and approached a blue police call box.
Paige looked it over in bewilderment. "This is it?" she asked, running a hand down one of the panels.
"Yeah." The Doctor replied, beaming with pride.
"It's a bit bizarre." Paige observed, backing up to take a look at the light on top.
The Doctor unlocked the door and stepped inside. He popped out his head and called to Paige, "Well, come on."
"It looks a bit cramped." She professed, cocking an eyebrow and donning a look of disapproval.
"Oh, just come take a look." The Doctor insisted as he disappeared back into the T.A.R.D.I.S.
Paige reluctantly obliged. As she stepped inside, her eyes widened in disbelief. "It's a bit bigger on the inside." She observed in awe.
"Yeah, a bit." The Doctor smiled as he kicked levers and pushed buttons. "I do need to make one stop before we go back you your garden." He hit the T.A.R.D.I.S. with his hammer and it activated, screeching and whirring
"Umm, sure." Paige responded halfheartedly, still in awe of the T.A.R.D.I.S. "Where exactly do we need to go?" She asked, looking over the control panel.
"Well, there is no way the fendahl could have made it here himself." The Doctor explained. "We're going to see how he did it firsthand." The T.A.R.D.I.S. started quieting down and eventually stopped. The Doctor walked over to the door and opened it.
"Wait, so this is a time machine?" Paige slowly walked to the side of The Doctor and peered out into space. "oh, wow." She gasped, barely able to make a sound as she spoke.
The Doctor grinned widely as he observed her first sight of deep space. "Yeah," he put his hand in his pockets and fell back onto his heels, then excitedly pointed downward. "That's your sun! right there!" He proclaimed.
She looked to see a large ball of fire, drifting very far away, but its size made it seem closer. "Amazing…" She seemed to snap out of her thoughts suddenly. "Wait, how are we breathing?"
"Oh, the T.A.R.D.I.S. is protecting us." The Doctor answered as he looked around intently. "My calculations seem to have been slightly off." He smiled a bit and started reminiscing. "One time, my calculations were so far off that I ended up in the middle of a primitive sontarian fleet. They thought I was a rutan scout and chased me over nine parsecs trying to shoot me down."
Paige looked over at The Doctor with amusement and smiled.
Suddenly there was a flask of blue and a tunnel formed in space in front of the T.A.R.D.I.S. a good distance away. "Ah, here we are." He remarked, studying the hole intently.
Out of the hole, a large metallic sphere emerged. The top half of the sphere started sliding back, and as it opened two daleks emerged with a skull held between them in stasis. "Drop it here!" one declared then continued "it can't escape this universe."
"Indeed." The second responded. "It cannot threaten us any longer." They then flung the skull in the direction of the sun, closed their sphere and retreated back through the hole.
"So that's how it got here." The Doctor understood, a look of worry clearly on his face. "Even the daleks couldn't devise a way to exterminate it."
"What's a dalek?" Paige asked, finally coming out of awe enough to find her words again.
"They are my people's greatest enemy." He answered with a sense of dread in his voice. "And I had been under the assumption that they were all wiped out." The Doctor looked off at the sun for a moment, then closed the door and hurried to the control panel. "We should head back." He stated as he activated the T.A.R.D.I.S.