A/N – I Don't own Doctor who

Chapter Three: A Trek Through the Jungle

"Bloody jungles," muttered the Doctor. He had been wandering around in circles for the last hour and was still no closer to finding Rose. The Doctor was starting to feel an impending sense of urgency, Rose would not be able to survive in this jungle more than another three or four hours. Even he was starting to feel the effects of the toxins in his lungs.

Coughing the Doctor headed the nearest batch of foliage which looked like it might give way. A voice rang out behind him, "Hey you, whatcha doin'?"

Startled the Doctor whirled around to find he was facing a young boy holding a rather menacing machete. The boy was wearing a variety of greens which made him almost impossible to see if you didn't know he was there, he was also wearing a gas mask across his face so only his eyes were visible. Across his back was slung a huge pack, it looked as if you gave him a solid push he would fall over.

"Looking for someone, a friend, I lost her," the Doctor replied uneasily, he didn't think that someone so young could have whisked Rose out from the TARDIS but one never could never be completely sure. "Have you seen a blonde girl, about two feet taller than yourself wandering around here? She would have been confused and disorientated."

"Nah, no blonde girls wanderin' 'round here. Just us in the bunker you passed 'bout a mile back. We saw you wander by and thought that we might be of service, we rarely get visitors to our planet, it being a tropical paradise an' all," He grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling up, indicating a smile behind the concealing gas mask. The Doctor had the sudden impression of a third glowing eye on the boys forehead. A pain lanced through from behind his eyes causing all the colors around him to blur into indistinct shapes. Shaking his head he looked at the boy again relieved to see a humanoid boy with somewhat confused eyes staring at him.

"You okay?" the boy said, looking concerned at the Doctor's glazed expression.

"Yeah, just the toxins getting to me. Listen I have to find my friend, she has been stuck out here for a few hours now and I don't know how long she can last in this," he waved a general hand at the greenery around them, "Can you help me find her and then we can go back to this bunker of yours." He coughed out, his desperation for Rose overcoming any trepidation he had about this boy.

"Sure, always happy to help. Hold on, I think I have another mask in here, it will 'elp with the toxins," He pulled the pack he was carrying off his back and began to rummage around in side. "Ah-ha, got it." He exclaimed, pulling a rather battered mask from the recesses of his pack.

Turning he handed it to the Doctor. Gratefully he took it. After a moment fiddling with the straps the Doctor took a deep breath. "Much better, now lets go find Rose." He took two steps forward before a wave of pain lancing across his head caused him to drop to his knees. Cradling his head he heard from somewhere far away the boy crying his name, "Doctor! Doctor! Hold on, I'll go get help."

Through the fog of pain he realized, he had never told the boy his name, only Rose's. Then how did he know it? Another wave of pain pushed all thoughts out of his head, the only sense he had left was that of endless waves of agony washing over him.

The world blurred and he thought he could see the hallway of the TARDIS behind the running greens of the jungle. With a snap, the world righted itself and the pain was gone. Before him stood the jungle, whole in its horrible glory, he rose somewhat unsteadily to his feet calling out after the boy, "Wait, I am alright."

Turning at the sound of the Doctor's voice the boy stopped his headlong dash toward the edge of the clearing. "Ya sure? I can go get help, you could go back to the bunker and we can look for Rose for ya."

"No, that is alright, my priority right now is to find her. I can hold on until then, I must have ingested more of the toxins than I thought and it is taking my body a longer time to process them," he said, hoping that was it. He could deal with toxins, but if this was part of the trap…well he would think of that when he came to it.

"Okay if you are sure," the boy said hesitantly, "then which way is this girl of yours?"

Pulling out his sonic screw driver he held it up searching for the signal, "By magnetic measurements of this planet she is two degrees off north," registering the boys confused face he sighed, "She is that way." He pointed off to their right.

"Okay follow me, there is a path that goes in that general direction, heading to the old city. We can take that," The boy bounded off.

"Wait," the Doctor called after him, coughing softly through the mask, following him somewhat more sedately, "I never asked your name."

The boy turned back and grinned, "I am called Vash."

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Half an hour later the Doctor and Vash came stumbling out onto a broken road. Both were breathing heavily from their trek through the jungle. "She should be around here," The Doctor panted through the mask, "within three hundred feet or so."

He straightened from his bent over position to see a broken city lying before him. Towers that once would have stretched thousands of feet in the air lied broken and shattered in the streets. Within that three hundred foot radius several smaller ruined buildings stood. "We should split up, cover more ground that way," the Doctor said, striding towards the nearest broken building, "Yell if you find her, by now she is probably unconscious."

Holding up the sonic screwdriver he attempted to pinpoint her location more exactly, but something in the atmosphere was throwing it off, he would have to search for her the old fashion way. Jogging forward he entered the ruined building; wires and pipes hung from the ceiling and the wall were soggy with water and moss.

Heading towards the back of the building the worst the condition became. By the time he reached the stairs he wasn't sure that they could hold his weight. "Well if she is up there I have to look," he told himself, eyeing the stairs dubiously.

Placing one careful foot on the stairs he winced as the entire stair case rattled and groaned. The Doctor decided that it was probably best if he did this all at once and he dashed up the stair case as it shook underfoot. Surprisingly it held his weight to the top. Turning he saw that the second floor was in no better condition than the first. Whatever had caused the people to abandon this city it had been long ago, probably something to do with the toxins in the air. Humanoids were always ruining the world around them.

The Doctor was almost ready to dare the stairs again in decent when a glint caught the corner of his eye. In the moss built up in the corner something metal was resting. Metal didn't last long in type of atmosphere, so what ever it was had to be recently put there. Walking over the corner of the room the Doctor felt his hearts quail. Taking off his mask he knelt confirming what he already knew. It was Rose's ring, resting innocently on the pad of moss, and Rose herself was not insight.

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