It's been a long time in the waiting and you've been demanding it and so now, I'm pleased to say that Chapter 3 is now here! If been working on my other stories for a while but now that my schedule is a bit less crowed, I was able to put some serious work into this.
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As the rough ride finally came to a halt, Doof gagged and fell to the floor as he vomited onto the lower floor of the control room.
"Ugh… are you quite finished?" he asked in annoyance. Doof slowly got back up and walked over to his canister to see if it was installed correctly. As he gripped the metallic cylinder the TARDIS responded by opening the doors and flinging him out of them, in a similar manner to if he was being pulled out of an airlock. Before he was cast out of the TARDIS, he managed to dislodge the canister, taking the energy of the TARDIS with him. He fell to the floor hard, causing the canister to fly out of his hands.
"Oh man, what was that?" he said groaning while he began to stand up. He looked at the TARDIS with disdain and saw that the doors hadn't closed and the lights had gone out. As he reached the doors, he kicked the side of the TARDIS.
"Stupid thing. We're still in Danville!" He turned around and picked up the canister. "I aint plugging you back in anywhere. I install you in my building; you trash the place! I plug you back where you came from; you throw me about and fling me out the doors! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, also shame on you. If you fool me thrice, it's also shame on you because I'm unshameable! Well, that's how my school teacher put it." He sighed and looked at his surroundings. Everything was pretty much the same. "I suppose I should get back home and get norm to clean up your mess."
"No, no no no no no no" the Doctor began to mutter to himself. The rest of the group caught up to him.
"Doctor, what is it?" said Clara climbing over the fence. "W… where's the TARDIS!?" The Doctor began to look all around him frantically.
"I… I don't know."
"What's happened?" asked Phineas.
"My… my TARDIS, it's gone… I'm stuck… on Earth" the Doctor began to talk to himself as he collapsed to the floor.
"Is… is he okay?" asked Isabella.
"He's just a bit… alien" replied Clara, seemingly embarrassed. As she walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder, he spun around quickly and grabbed her.
"I can't do it… I just can't do it! A house… a job… meals around a table, I just can't do it! Just… just take that car and run me over until I'm gone, just… just snuff out all my regeneration's, okay!?" As the Doctor continued to ramble, Clara held nothing back and slapped him across the face.
"Doctor, you're hysterical. Just calm down." The Doctor held his hand to his cheek where a big red mark was beginning to appear.
"One thousand years of time travel and twelve faces and that still…" he looked at the group of kids behind her and then back to Clara. "… Hurts."
"Sorry, you were being… wait did you just say twelve?" As the Doctor was about to answer her, he felt something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, which was blinking.
"It… it's still working? It's still working!" he exclaimed with joy jumping up back to his feet.
"What is?" asked Candace.
"The sonic, it's… it's still following the TARDIS's energy. It's… a bit displaced through time but… Oh, that's good!" The Doctor ran back to the car and opened the doors. "Come on, everyone in!"
"Doctor, where are we going?" asked Clara.
"Yeah, you aren't making sense!" yelled Candace.
"Excuse me, young lady, but I'm making perfect sense. Come on, you'll see when we get there!"
"Man, I don't remember there being this many 'news… papers' around" Doof said walking down the street. "And where are the flat screen televisions? And w… what are these?" he said, looking in the window of a local shop. "What's 'VHS'?"
"The museum?" asked Buford. The Doctor turned around to the kids, a huge smile on his face as he was struggling to cope with how great he thought he was.
"Yes, isn't it obvious!?" he said with excitement.
"Oh, I see. You are going to use the time machine to follow your machine in time" Baljeet deduced.
"I… No, I was going to get a job as a night guard" the Doctor replied, somewhat confused.
"Why would you want to do that?" Isabella asked.
"We… Doesn't everything in the museum come alive at night?"
"You mean like that movie? That was fictional!?" stated Candace.
"It wasn't fiction; it was just… reworked so it humans could relate to it."
"You mean there's a place where the museum exhibits come to life?" Phineas asked.
"I think the better question is; your exhibits don't?"
"Aren't you going to use the time machine to go back in time and get your machine back?" The Doctor turned back around and thought for a second before returning to the kids.
"Oh, I've just had a brilliant idea!"
"What?"
"I can use the time machine you guys mentioned to go back and save my TARDIS, oh I'm good!" Before any of them could reply, the Doctor shot out of the car and ran towards the museum. The gang then turned to Clara with looks of confusion and annoyance.
"He's just a bit…" Clara began.
"Alien" replied the gang, all looking sternly towards her. Embarrassment once again sat in. Clara felt as though she was the Doctor's mother. How and when did she become responsible for this thousand year ten year old.
"Come on, we better find him before he does something stupid."
"Ah, and now it's time for an establishing shot of my building" he said, turning the corner. As the giant, purple structure came into view, Doof stood proud, waiting for his jingle to be played. He must have stood there for around half an hour before giving up. "Okay, what's going on!? This is becoming more than an annoyance now! Ugh, maybe Norm tripped over a power cord or something…" Doof's head was beginning to hurt as everything was the same but, he could put his finger on what was wrong.
"Doctor? Doctor!?" yelled Clara entering the museum. Everyone inside promptly began to shush her as the rest of the gang caught up to her. "Where's the time machine at?"
"Over here. Follow us" said Phineas as the gang ran and turned the corner.
"Are they always this enthusiastic?" asked Clara to Candace who had just caught up with her.
"Yes. It's sickening" she replied bluntly before following them around the corner with Clara. They followed the kids for a few minutes before reaching the 'Gadgets through the Ages' exhibit. They soon saw the gang all over the machine. "PHINEAS! And to a lesser extent, FERB! What are you guys doing!?"
"We're fixing the time machine" Phineas replied.
"Why?" asked Clara. "Doesn't it already work?"
"Well it did but to stop any mishaps, we returned it to its unfinished state."
"We wouldn't want anyone using it and accidentally tearing a hole in the fabric of space and time" added Ferb.
"Good thinking. Now, where's the Doctor? He has to be around here somewhere."
"You go and find him, I'll make sure these five don't destroy the universe" stated Candace, giving the gang a stern look.
"Candace, we've repaired this thing before and, plus, this time, we know what we're doing. Go help Clara find the Doctor. It'll be less ground for her to cover."
"Ugh, you're sure you won't blow us up into non-existence?"
"Pretty sure, yeah" Phineas replied chuckling.
"Fine! But as soon as this whole quantum boogaloo is over, I'm telling mom and you are so busted!" yelled Candace before she departed with Clara before, then, splitting up.
"Hey, speaking of finding things, where's Perry?"
Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated!
Perry flew in on his jetpack and crashed in through the room of DEI, landing in the middle of the room. As Perry was ready to face his nemesis in another battle for the fate of the Tri-State Area, he noticed that something was… off. There was a distinct lack of… hospitality in the air. Also there was the destroyed laboratory, the lack of any -inators, traps or Doof himself. Perry slowly took off his jetpack and laid it down on the floor next to him. He then carefully began to walk around the room to investigate.
As Clara turned the corner, she saw the Doctor, standing in the middle of a large room, staring at a statue.
"Doctor! Found you. Phineas and his friends are working on the machine and… are you alright?"
"You remember what I was saying about museums earlier?" the Doctor replied in a monotone voice, his gaze never drifting from the statue.
"N… no, why?"
"I said that it was strange when none of your exhibits move at night…"
"Oh yeah, but…"
"…or when they're being observed." Clara was obviously confused. This stature the Doctor was looking at was clearly making him uncomfortable. The statue was that of a man… or a woman. It was hard to tell because most of the rock had eroded and had been broken. The stature looked like it was frozen while it was melting. It had an orange, almost rust-like colour covering it and the statue was posed as if it was upset with something. Clara looked at the Doctor again who had still not taken his eyes off the statue. Confused, she bent down and looked at the plaque drilled onto the platform the stature was standing on.
"Ah… 'Found in Pompeii… believed to be a stone carving of… someone important, last owned by merchant Lucius… Caecilius… Iucundus before Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD'." Clara got back up and stood next to the Doctor. "I hope they didn't really look like that" she said, jokingly.
"No… I don't suppose they did."
"Come on, if they're as good as you say they will be they'll have finished the time machine by now" she said, tugging on the Doctor's arm.
"Hold on, one sec." He freed himself from her grip and continued looking at the statue.
"Okay, what is it with that statue? You haven't taken your eyes off it for even a single second."
"Just. One. Second" replied the Doctor, sternly. He slowly reached in his pocket and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver.
"Clara, I want you to do one thing for me. Just look at the statue. Don't take your eyes off it and don't look into its eyes… and don't blink" he said, still focusing on the statue.
"Why?"
"Just do it." Clara shrugged her shoulders and looked at the statue while the Doctor took that time to look at his sonic. After what must have been mere seconds, the Doctor spun her around. "Okay, time to go" he responded in an upbeat tone.
"Wha… wha… what was that?"
"What was what?"
"That. 'Look at the statue. Don't look at the eyes. Do not blink.' That" she replied, angrily.
"Oh… that was nothing. Come on, just because it's a time machine doesn't mean we can dilly dally" he said pushing her down the hall.
Perry, continuing with his search for answers at DEI, had found a large metal machine that had only been scorched and not completely destroyed like everything else. Perry thought this was strange and pulled out a set of patented O.W.C.A anomaly detecting goggles from his fedora. After putting them on and activating them, everything was now coloured in a faded blue, however, anything strange or bizarre was highlighted in a bright colour ranging from yellow to red, the stronger the anomaly was. Perry could immediately see a yellow trail emerging from the machine and leading out the door. Perry was about to follow but was stopped in his tracks by a small squirrel who was looking pleadingly into his eyes, holding a small photo of an acorn. Perry lifted up his goggles to roll his eyes and let his arm down and the squirrel ran up it onto his shoulder and the two were soon off to investigate what happened to DEI.
"Found him. He was staring at a statue" said Clara, as she led the Doctor to the gang who were just about finished on fixing the time machine.
"Yes, but it was a… security measure" the Doctor stuttered.
"What does that even mean?
"It… Oh, I'll tell you another time. So, what's the status on the time machine?"
"Done" replied Buford, bluntly.
"Just like that?" asked Clara.
"Just like that" replied Isabella, proudly.
"Okay then, good… um, where is it?" the Doctor asked. Everyone looked at the machine and then each other in confusion.
"Ri… right here" answered Phineas.
"That's not a time machine" the Doctor scoffed.
"Um… yes it is. It travels in time" replied Isabella, defending Phineas somewhat.
"Excuse me, that's not time travel. Put it this way, it's like I've got a sports car, you've got a Space Hopper" the Doctor explained.
"Hey, way to make them feel bad" replied Clara. "Will it be enough to get us where we need to go?"
"It should do but this thing runs on electricity so, preferably, no further than the 1800's" explained Phineas.
"Doctor?" The Doctor pulled out his sonic again and examined it once more.
"That… shouldn't be a problem. Now you can show me how this thing works." The gang got seated in the back of the machine while Phineas sat up front with the Doctor and Clara.
"Well, you simply pull that lever and… that's it." The Doctor face turned blank as he rested his hand over the lever.
"So… you just pull this and… that's it?" asked the Doctor having trouble contemplating what he just heard.
"Yup."
"Bbbb but… bbbb but… bbbb but… My machine… with the running…. And switches and… and…"
"Doctor, just pull the thing" said Clara, having enough of the Doctor's 'quirks' for one day.
"Okay, okay alright" he said, snapping out of his confused state.
"Wait, shouldn't we wait for Candace?" Phineas asked.
"No time. I'll leave her a note" replied the Doctor before pulling the lever. As the time machine was soon surrounded by a purple aura, Candace returned after being 'side tracked' by talking to Jeremy for twenty minutes.
"What the… Oh no, you don't!" she yelled, sprinting towards the machine and leaping towards it. As soon as her whole form entered the aura, both she and the time machine disappeared as if they were never there. As it did, the janitor, while cleaning up a spillage on the floor, spotted it.
"Eh, they don't pay me to keep track of that thing anyway" he said before returning to his work.
"… and that's why Aardvarks never eat Penguins at zoos" finished Doof to his canister as he reached his apartment. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys. As he put them in the lock, he noticed something wrong. They wouldn't fit in. "Huh? What's g… Oh great, now this thing is screwy. Man, this is embarrassing." He tried for two whole minutes before giving up. "What is going on today!? You're more trouble than your worth!" he yelled at the TARDIS' energy in the canister. As he was slouched down beside the door, he noticed the floor number on the elevator lit up meaning someone was on their way up. Embarrassed that somehow he got locked out, he picked up the canister and ran down the end of the hall and hid. The elevator stopped on two floors before stopping on the top floor. As the doors opened, Doof poked his head around the corner and saw a most remarkable sight.
"And this is the penthouse here on the right" said the man on the right.
"Man, this building is so huge. I was wondering, why is the price so low?" asked Doof standing next to him.
"Oh right, this was when I was thinking of buying this pla… Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?" yelled an astonished Doof as he watched on while his younger self was led into his future apartment.
Thank you for all your reviews and make sure to keep 'em comin'! Seriously, I appreciate your feedback!