Chapter 9: The Sea Dragon

"Who are you and what are you doing on this ship?" Hook asked Regina.

Regina had her own agenda and was not answering to pirates. Instead, she gave him a warning. "I see that this is actually Eric's ship and your ship as parked alongside it. I suggest you and your crew get back to it and sail away."

"Or what?" The pirate captain pondered.

Regina did not respond verbally. She was going to let magic do all the talking for her. She looked at one of the other pirates who had held his word in his hand, as if he was ready to fight the Evil Queen. So, Regina held out her hand and summoned a magic puff of gray mist. She then blew the mist at the pirate. Within seconds, the gray cloud consumed his entire body. Then, when it cleared, the pirate had been completely turned into stone. He was now a statue.

"Go." Regina ordered.

Hook merely stared at her. He wanted to fight, but knew that not only would his crew be slaughtered, but so would he. So he turned around to the rest of his crew.

"Get back to the Jolly Rodger," he ordered. "and prepare to set sail."

"A wise decision." Regina remarked and then turned her attention towards the large mast at the center of the ship.

Prince Eric and Clara Oswald were tied up to it. Killing them would be easier than taking Ariel's voice. However, once the pirate crew had retreated, she noticed that Captain Hook remained standing on deck.

"I thought you were leaving." Regina angrily stated.

"There's one piece of treasure I'd like to take with me if you don't mind." He replied and then walked over to Eric and Clara. "The lady goes with me."

"No she does not." Clara rapidly fired back.

"For once I agree with her. She's staying here." Regina said.

"And what will be her fate if she remains on this ship?" The pirate queried.

"The same fate as yours." The Evil Queen replied.

Then, Regina raised her hand and, simultaneously, Hook started to levitate off of the ground and into the air. Before he could speak, Regina pulled her fingers in as if to crush something small like a heart. Then, the pirate captain suddenly felt the sensation of being choked. Regina was magically strangling him to death.

Suddenly, there was another puff of purple smoke that appeared on the ship behind Regina. The Evil Queen then released her grip on Hook and let him fall, still alive, to the ground while she turned to see what was going on behind her. Then, Regina saw the Dark One himself. Rumplestiltskin had boarded the ship.

Hook quickly got to his feet and ran to the edge of Eric's ship that was closest to the Jolly Rodger. He made eye contact with William Smee and began to speak to him.

"Smee. Get this ship out of here." Hook ordered.

"Well get on and let's go." Smee responded.

"No. I've finally found the crocodile. I've got to kill him."

"But Captain, you could die."

"My life doesn't matter as long as he is killed, but your life and the lives if my crew are very important to me. You will not get hurt because of my quest. Leave now Smee. That's and order."

William Smee silently nodded and turned around to help the crew prepare to set off. While this was happening, Regina and Rumplestiltskin were having their own confrontation, completely oblivious to Hook and Smee's conversation.

"What are you doing here?" Regina asked her former magic instructor.

"I'm here to kill Clara dearie." He responded.

"Well I'm sorry to put a damper on your plans, but that's what I'm here to do." The Evil Queen fired back.

"But what reason do you have?" The Dark One pondered. "You are seeking revenge. I have a purpose. The Doctor made a deal with me and he did not come through. So now I get to kill his little friend. You can still kill the Prince if you like. He's no use to me."

"Oh I intend to. But I also intend on killing Clara. You're welcome to try and stop me." Regina hissed.

"Don't start a fight you can't win, dearie."

"What are you going to do?" The Evil Queen asked sarcastically.

Then, Rumplestiltskin disappeared in his magic puff of purple smoke. Hook then ran over to Regina as the Jolly Rodger started to depart.

"Where did he go?" The pirate asked.

"I thought I told you to leave?" Regina said.

Regina then thrusted her hand at Hook and magically sent him flying back and landing hard on his back right next to the tied up Clara and Prince Eric. With Rumplestiltskin gone, Regina could now focus her sights in what she came here to do. However, something strange was happening in the waters below them. The entire ship started to rock violently from side to side. The mermaid corpses fell into the ocean. Regina tried desperately to keep her balance, but failed and fell right on the deck of the ship, yet managed to say on and not fall into the water. Eventually the rocking stopped.

"What was that?" Clara asked.

No one answered. Hook and Regina slowly got back on their feet. Then the two turned around to see something coming out of the water. They saw a gigantic green snake slowly rise from the depths of the ocean. It halted once it's head was at least a hundred feet above the ship. The large beast then stared hungrily at Clara, Eric, Regina, and Hook. Just the head of the snake had to be the same size if not bigger than Eric's ship. Hook was thankful that he sent the Jolly Rodger away. His ship was nowhere in sight and was therefore safe from this monster.

Now Hook was a pirate who enjoyed a fair fight. So, he rushed over to the mast and cut the ropes that connected Clara and Eric to the mast with his hook.

"What are you doing?" Regina yelled.

"We can fight each other later after we get away from this monster." Hook replied.

Then, Rumplestiltskin appeared and was standing on the head of this massive snake.

"You asked me what I was going to do Regina. How does death by a fire breathing snake sound?" The Dark One taunted.

"It breathes fire?" Eric questioned.

"Yes" Hook replied. "It's no snake. It's a dragon that looks like a snake. It's a truly evil creature. It's a monster worse than mermaids."

"Alright we get it. It's bad." Clara interrupted.

Then, when all hoped of survival had died, a gust of wind suddenly blew across the ship. It didn't make sense as there had been almost no wind all afternoon.

"Where's that wind coming from?" Regina asked.

Then, a loud wheezing sound filled the ears of everyone, including the evil snake.

"What's that noise?" Hook asked.

Everyone else had heard that noise at one point or another. It was the sound of the TARDIS. Soon enough, the magic blue box started to materialize on the deck of the ship to everyone's surprise. Then, when the box finished forming, the Doctor stepped out with a face full of confidence. Ariel remained in the TARDIS. She was too frightened to come out.

"So what's all this then?" The Doctor shouted at Rumplestiltskin.

"You didn't follow through with the deal." The Dark One responded.

"Yes I did." The Doctor corrected. "Look. I've brought the TARDIS to you."

"Oh it seems you did. But I'm still gonna kill you anyway." The Dark One said with a huge, evil smile.

The colossal snake then opened its mouth. It was going to breath fire on the ship and destroy everyone on it. As the fire started to form in the snake's mouth, Regina took action to protect herself. She quickly conjured up a magical force field that surrounded the entire ship. When, the snake then shot a vast amount of fire at the ship like a giant flamethrower, the ship itself remained untouched. The force field had successfully kept the fire out, but it wouldn't last forever.

"I think I'll just let the snake deal with you." Regina said and then disappeared in her signature puff of magic, purple smoke.

"Now what do we do?" Eric asked.

The snake then stopped its attack on the ship. Rumplestiltskin needed to destroy the force field first and then let the snake kill all life below. So, the Dark One extended his hand to the sky. Within seconds, magical storm clouds started to form directly over the protected ship. Then, magic blue lightning shot out of the clouds and collided with Regina's force field, resulting in its destruction. The boat was now completely defenseless.

Rumple wanted to have a little bit more fun with the Time Lord and the pirate before they were killed. So, he sent a powerful wave of water to come and attack the ship. Clara spotted this wave.

"Everyone grab onto something!" Clara yelled.

The Doctor, Clara, and Hook held tightly to the mast and awaited for the oncoming wave. Eric tried to find something else to grab on to. However, he was too late. The wave flooded onto his ship and swept him away into the ocean while everyone else was powerless to save him. Ariel watched this from the screen in the TARDIS.

"No!" She screamed.

The heartbroken mermaid then ran at full speed out of the TARDIS onto the deck. She then ran over to the edge of the ship and tried to spot Eric in the water.

"Who's that?" Hook asked.

"Her name's Ariel." The Doctor responded.

"What's she doing?" Clara asked.

"What she does best." The Doctor replied.

Ariel then jumped off of the boat to try and save Eric. As she was falling through the air, he legs were consumed by the magic mist and turned back into her green, aquatic tail just in time for her to dive into the water.

The mermaid then scoured under the sea, trying to find her fallen Prince. Then, she found him sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean. Ariel used her incredible speed to swim down to Eric and pull him back up to the surface. The two then bobbed in the water underneath the night sky. The Doctor and Clara cheered from the ship as they saw that Ariel had rescued Eric. However, the Prince was barely conscious. Ariel couldn't take him back to the ship that was being attacked by a fire breathing snake. So, she started carrying his body safely back to the shore where he could get some medical attention.

Rumplestiltskin's attack was still far from over. The Doctor, Clara, and Hook returned their attention to the Dark One and the giant snake.

"Fire!" Rumple ordered.

The snake then opened its mouth once again and let the fire start to form.

"What the hell do we do now?" Hook shouted.

"Into the TARDIS!" The Doctor yelled in response.

"The what?" Hook questioned.

"Just get in the box!" Clara ordered.

Without anymore question, Hook followed the Doctor and Clara into the TARDIS and locked the door behind him. The snake then projected a storm of fire at the ship. Prince Eric's ship was then completely destroyed and the fiery ship sank deep into the ocean. However, the TARDIS had de-materialized and retreated back into the time vortex before the destruction carrying the Doctor, Clara, and a pirate.