Chapter 3.

Rouge clung to the Doctor, trembling uncontrollably. "Please tell me you've got a plan." A whimper left her lips as the beast, that was the Dark Were hog, lumbered forward. "Doctor?"

"Not right now. But don't worry, something always turns up to save me in the nick of time." He grinned down at her, though deep down he wasn't too convinced himself about his statement. "Well, when I say… Well, what I mean is…"

"Duck!"

"Where?" They said together and then, "Did you? It wasn't me. Then who?"

"Duck, you idiots!" Behind them came loud clattering foot falls and then something black and fuzzy shot over their heads, barrelling into the giant monster and bringing it to the ground. The Doctor and Rouge stood still, too stunned to move as the two furry shapes rolled on the floor, hissing and spitting, scratching and clawing. The Were hog roared and flung the smaller shape off. It skidded along the wooden floor, stopped at the Doctor's feet and lifted their head with an abashed smile. " So, how do you think the rescue is going so far?"

" Oh, just great." Rouge said dryly. "Good job, Sola."

The Doctor was more sympathetic, " You tried, and that's all that's matters. Up you get." He lent a hand and helped the cat to her feet. Taking out a clothes brush from his voluminous coat pockets he quickly dusted her down. " Is everything A-OK? All systems secured? You look …"

"A little winded. I'll be fine in a second." She took a moment to get her breath back and then grinned. " I come bearing good news. We might have a lead. Shadow found a book about old space monsters but some of it's in hieroglyphics, even I can't translate them with Carla's big brain. We need the TARDIS."

The Doctor took this in and turned to Rouge, " Must be the book Celosia's after." He turned back to Sola, " Where's everyone now?"

"Waiting for you two by the TARDIS. EK's came out of nowhere so we had to hide, they're now standing guard and we can't get near it." She shrugged. " Celosia made an appearance, gave out some orders and then transported away muttering about you and your furry comeuppance. I slipped away to help and get some pay back."

Rouge tugged on the Doctor's sleeve , "Speaking of furry…" she jabbed behind her with her thumb, " What do we do about, Dog face? No offence, Sola." She added quickly, the cat waved it off.

While they had been talking, the Were hog had righted himself and was now sitting crossed-legged, watching them with a blank expression. He cocked his head in thought and then, quite surprisingly, curled up and fell asleep.

Sola blinked in astonishment, "What's wrong with him? I mean, me?"

The Doctor edged forward, withdrew the sonic and quickly waved it over the Were hog's sleeping form. Nodding at the results, he looked at his watch, " As I thought, it's day time on this side of the moon. Dark Gaia takes its power from the night. When it possessed your body, Sonic, it wasn't up to full strength. That fight between you tired him out so much he needs to recharge."

"So what do we do? We can't just leave him here."

" Already on it." He stood, raised the screwdriver above his head and activated it. Its tip blinked a brilliant blue for a couple of seconds and then he replaced it back into his pocket. " There. I've just told the EK's where we are. We'll be long gone when they arrive to take him back to Eggman. Hopefully, we'll be able to sneak past ,board the TARDIS and be spinning in the Time Vortex before they know what's happened."

"That's so devious." Rouge smiled, " I'm impressed."

The Doctor beamed, " I thank you. We've got a few minutes, so get ready to run."

Sola smirked, " Doc, I was born to run."

Safely on board his war ship, Eggman waited for the others to return. Sitting in his chair ,he tapped on the armrests waiting for news. Growing impatience, he gave his computer a whack. "Computer, report!"

"EK's 20 to 30 are still on the moon's surface. Her Highness and the Dark Were-hog have parted ways,"

"What! She left him on his own? Send more EK's to recover him at once! We mustn't let that other Doctor get too close. The time's not right, not yet."

" EK units 48,79 and 13 are en route, Doctor."

Eggman sat back, "Good, good. As soon as they come back get that … thing to the Vault to recover. And notify me when Celosia-"

" Detecting a surge of Chaos energy." The doors of the Bridge slid open and Celosia strolled in, calming stroking the glowing red orb, that was the Eye of Iblis, on top of her staff. " Doctor, Celosia has teleported on board and the Dark Were-hog is safely in the Vault. All EK units are back in the holding bay."

" I can see that, you fool!" He smacked the screen, and then to her, " You took your time. Did you get the book?"

"No. Unfortunate events called for my hasty retire. But do not fret my soft, boiled one. I might not have the book but soon we will have the next Eye. It came to me by a vision." She sat beside him, " Computer, set course for the planet Marina."

" Yes, your Highness. Course is plotted for the water planet Marina. Chaos Control in 3…2…1…"

The Freedom Fighters had managed to sneak past the Ek's and were now back on board the TARDIS. Inside the control room the Doctor was hunched over the controls trying to decipher the passage in the book they had taken from the Lost Library. He was making slow progress because the TARDIS did not recognise the writing, and therefore, could not translate it. With a frustrated growl he kicked the base of the central podium. Instantly, he regretted it as pain shot up from his foot all the way up his leg. He grabbed the throbbing limb and jumped all over the control room, swearing under his breath.

The doors to the inner sanctum opened and Amy walked in carrying two steaming mugs and a packet of cookies under her arm. " Tea's up." She said cheerfully, then she spotted the hopping Doctor, " No…The Doctor's up, and down, and then up again. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, I'm…Ooh ,tea!" Hobbling over, he took one of the cups and snatched the packet, "Aw, choc-chip!" Ripping it open, he stuffed two biscuits into his mouth and quickly washed them down with a swig of tea." Mm, much better."

"How's it going?" Amy asked as she parked herself on the battered pilot seat. Peeking at the screen under his arm, the swirling symbols made her eyes go funny. " It looks like gibberish."

"That's because it is gibberish!" The Doctor sighed, perched on the consoles edge and sipped his tea thoughtfully. " The TARDIS can't translate it which means it old writing. I'm not sure how old, but it's definitely old." He glanced around at the empty room, " Where is everyone? I though this was going to be a team effort."

Amy cupped her mug, "They're unwinding after our narrow escape. Tails is in workshop…A? Second down the stairs to the right. Right?" The Doctor nodded, "Says he's working on a top secret surprise. Don't ask me, I don't know." She added when he raised his brows in question. " Um, I found Rouge in the wardrobe room. She's strutting around wearing a long, stripy scarf." The Doctor smiled into his cup, "I couldn't find Sola or Shadow anywhere."

"I know where Sola might be," He set down his cup and fiddled with some controls, the screen with the unreadable passage changed to one with more strange symbols on it. " I got her! She's in the medi-bay." Quickly he opened a channel on the TARDIS' newly installed inter-com, " Hello, medi-bay! Sola, can you hear me?"

There was a load of static and then a voice came through, but it wasn't Sola, " Shadow here. Sola's feeling a little under the weather,"

"Nothing serious is it?" Amy voice had a worried edge to it.

"No, just doing a routine diagnostic. Once we're done, we'll join you in the control room." In the medi-bay Shadow switched the inter-com off and turned to face the bed. " How are you feeling?" He asked.

Despite being strapped down by her wrists and ankles, Sola managed to give him a lazy smile, " I'm tied to a bed. How do you think I feel?"

"I should have brought grapes."

"Aw, Shads," She teased, "I didn't know you cared."

"Ha,ha," he pushed aside the flaps of her waistcoat, unclipped her chest plate and connected a series of multi-coloured wires between her and a terminal near by. " All set, Sonic. This might tingle."

"You know," she mumbled, " if anything goes wrong, Amy will kill you with her bare hands. Right?"

"I know. Hold still." He started the programme, soon the screen was filled with rows of nonsense numbers and unreadable charts. " Hm. It seems ring energy is down a couple of points, that would explain the tiredness, but apart from that everything checks out." Looking over his shoulder at her, he caught her gaze and knew something didn't check out. " You're worried about something."

" I'm sure it's nothing, but just to be on the safe side…"

"We'll print off these readings and give them to Tails." Approaching the bed, Shadow made quick work of the straps holding her down. Once she was free, he pulled out the wires and replaced her chest plate. He was about to leave when she suddenly sat up and grasped his hands tightly. "What is it?"

"I know why ring energy is down. According to my internal clock…" She forced herself to look directly into his eyes and bit her bottom lip , " I've got just over 4 days until complete system shut down."

"You can't be serious! The Doctor said-"

" Then he was wrong! Putting me in here was a short term solution. If I'm not back in my own body in 4 days, then…" she drew a invisible line across her throat. " I buck the kicket." She corrected herself, "I mean, kick the bucket."

"You're not going to die, Sonic." He squeezed her hands gently and leaned forward until their foreheads brushed against each other, a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. " I won't let you… I can't."

" Shadow…"

The moment, if there was one, was broken as Amy burst through the door. They quickly jumped apart. Amy beamed at the couple, their guilty glances going unnoticed. "Hey, you two. Guess what?" She bounced across the room, hugged Shadow around the waist and planted quick peck on his cheek.

Sola watched as a deeper blush crossed the black hedgehogs cheeks and had to hide her grin. " I'll bite, Amy. What?" she asked, her tail swishing with excitement as she caught a familiar gleam in the pink ones eyes.

Amy giggled, " Well, I was with the Doctor and all of a sudden the Chaos Emerald started blinking like crazy! He's says the TARDIS is being pulled towards Marina and everybody needs to be in the control room. It might be a bumpy landing."

"When's it not?" Sola led the way out down one of the many corridors of the time machine. "So…planet Marina, eh? Did the Doc say anything about it?"

"Well…yeah. He let something slip."

Sensing her friends' uneasiness, the cat draped an arm around her shoulders, " Come on, Ames, spill it. What did the Doc tell you?"

Amy mumbled something, cleared her throat and tried again, " Marina's a water planet."

" WHAT! I. Hate. Water!" She moaned, weeping as Shadow and Amy dragged her to the control room, kicking and screaming.

Up-date soon.