Hello thanks for everyone who has reviewed SJ and ENA I owe you both...
Slowly, they walked out of the Tardis onto the surface of Mandrivus, the planet's surface now resembled the great dust bowl of America, but, there was no atmosphere, so the only thing that could be seen overhead was a littering of billions of stars in the vast darkness of space, the occasional white dwarf and amazing comets that even made the Doctor stare for a moment.
Despite the site in the sky, the air was biting with cold. The freezing air was enough to take Rose's breath away. There was a cold chill and the planet was extremely windy, Rose's hair was flying around her face madly, it was like a heavy gale on earth.
"It's like a moon, but not rocky…" Mickey said.
Rose and Mickey cuddled together to preserve warmth, the tenth doctor looked awkwardly at the ninth.
"I'm not hugging you…" the tenth doctor said quickly.
"I'm not offering." The ninth finished abruptly. He looked at Mickey and Rose and then commented sarcastically.
"Rose… seriously you're going to freeze to death… and Mickey feeling you up isn't going to change that…" the ninth doctor said bluntly.
Rose looked at Mickey accusingly. Mickey awkwardly looked else where trying to avoid Rose's gaze.
"…Sarcasm aside…you should really put a coat on…" the tenth doctor said. "Jackie will kill me if you catch a cold while we are away…" the tenth doctor smiled. "You should wear a big jacket… like me…" he flapped his long coat around smiling.
"Err, no way! You look like Columbo!" Rose said distastefully.
The tenth doctor looked extremely defensive in quite a playful manner. "Not as bad as him…" he turned to the ninth doctor and pointed at him "…you look like Blade!"
"And you look like a disaster waiting to happen." The ninth doctor turned to face Mickey.
"Can we please leave out the hurtful sarcasm?" Mickey said bluntly.
Rose looked around, she then looked to the north of that planet there seemed to be a collection of structures, buildings… well they were probably buildings once, they now looked to be covered in dust, so much so that they hardly resembled buildings, she squinted a little, she could make out the occasional shop sign and advertisement. It was quite eeriy, it was like a huge shopping centre after 100's of years of neglect.
"Doctor…" she pointed over into the distance. "That looks like a shopping centre… or something…"
The ninth and tenth doctor both looked at the structure. They both had a flicker of recognition in their eyes, however the tenth doctor quickly looked away, and the ninth began to kick the dust on the floor.
"it was once…" The ninth doctor said. "It hasn't always been like this…"
"Once upon a time, Mandrivus was a thriving planet… with an extremely cultured centre… full of life…" the tenth doctor elaborated.
"Well it don't look very lively now does it?" Mickey said looking around at the barren wasteland.
"It was though…"
"Mandrivus Peri!" The sixth doctor said, his head sticking out from beneath the Tardis console. "Isn't that superb? Much better than going to any holiday planet…"
"DOCTOR!" Peri said, all set in her short shorts, and her sunglasses, sun cream and sandals.
"Peri must you whine so?" the sixth doctor said irately, with a cord hanging around his shoulders. "You know you could always try and maintain a positive attitude. It will do wonders for your general demeanour!"
"I can't help it doctor I just want to go on holiday!" Peri shouted incessantly. "What is Mandrivus?"
"Mandrivus…" the sixth doctor pulled the large red lever and the Tardis and put his hand out in an over exaggerated manner. "Into the dark abyss, aye Peri?"
Peri rolled her eyes "Whatever…" she then walked out of the Tardis dragging her feet lethargically, making sure her sandals scraped along the floor.
However her attitude soon changed once she saw the bustling life on Mandrivus, the hundreds of people crowding around, with different colourful bags, all races, colours and types. There were so many people coming and going, bartering, buying and just talking to each other, in such a positive way. It was a hive of activity, one where Peri for once, felt extremely pleased to be.
"Doctor! You didn't tell me this place was going to be fun!" Peri said accusingly.
"No Peri you assumed that I had gotten lost… which is a very bad assumption to make…" the sixth doctor said staring at her, in an attempt to make her feel guilty.
"Can you blame me?" Peri said sounding tired. "After that dreadful mess in Killingworth in England…"
"You got to meet Robert Stephenson! How many people from your time can say that! You are without doubt one of the hardest people to satisfy in the entire galaxy. And I should know… I've met most of them." He snapped.
"Hey! I was helpful! If I hadn't made that sleeping draught then the Rani would have-" Peri started.
"Let's not go into that unpleasantness…" the sixth doctor said cringing, trying to avoid the issue. He led Peri through the busy roads and streets. "Welcome to Mandrivus entertainment complex over seven thousand shops and amusements on your door step! This is also the financial district, with over 700 different banks!"
"I keep finance and entertainment as far apart as possible myself… but I guess you can't have one without the other…" Peri said looking at the oversized shops. "Doctor why don't we go to places like this more often?"
"Because Peri… a doctor doesn't cure those who are well…to coin a popular phrase…" the sixth doctor said with a smile. He then walked over to her and smiled. "Actually I'll have you know that I am a very important person on this planet…" he then raised an eyebrow and looked confidently at her.
"Prove it." Peri said, not believing him in the slightest.
"I beg your pardon?!" the sixth doctor said sounding incredulous.
"Prove that you're a V.I.P…" Peri said with a smile, folding her arms looking dubiously at the doctor.
"Be surprised Miss Brown." He said with a smirk. And walked over to a random person and tapped them on the shoulder.
"Excuse me sir…" the sixth doctor said, sounding as confident as ever.
"Yes?" the man said looking quizzical at the doctor. The doctor's multicoloured attire, fascinated him, but at the same time, he wasn't overly phased, there were many strange sellers and travellers on Mandrivus.
Peri let out a slight laugh. The sixth doctor didn't seem too concerned yet, he looked quite relaxed "I believe that you know me…" he now had a smug expression on his face
"I don't believe we've met…" the man said.
"I am the Doctor… perhaps you've heard you've heard of me…" the sixth doctor said knowingly. "Also known as…Defender of the universe…"
"Never seen you…" the man shook his hand "It's a pleasure all the same…" he said and took a photograph, he then walked off.
Peri began to laugh. "That was V.I.P treatment?…" and raised an eyebrow in an unimpressed manner.
The sixth doctor, not only looked incredulous but looked disappointed and shocked to the core. "He mustn't be from here…" he said quickly, skirting over the issue "Or maybe he didn't recognise my startling good looks… I do look different from the last time I came here…"
Peri rolled her eyes. "That's what you said last time…"
The sixth Doctor caught a glimpse of someone familiar in his eye.
"Calador!" the sixth doctor ran through the busy streets, being an intrepid crowd parter (as always.)
The Calador was the president of Mandrivus, a long time friend of the doctor, he had met him originally in his first incarnation. He had always been an upstanding type, always for the people of Mandrivus, he was a selfless and amiable character.
"I do know you young man?" the aged Calador said.
"Calador. It's me the Doctor!" the sixth doctor said loudly and energetically.
"My goodness," the old man squinted and blinked to make sure that his eyes were serving him correctly. "Doctor… You have returned?!"
"Yes my dear friend." The sixth doctor stood close to the man and gave him a fond embrace.
"High President of Gallifrey or so I hear? You have come all this way to see us, we are truly blessed Doctor!"
Suddenly a crowd of people began to buzz the word Doctor. And before Peri could even say anything people had crowded around the Doctor chatting excitedly. "Show off…" she smiled.
The tenth doctor stiffened. Seeing the decay of such a wonderful planet seemed to grieve him more than usual. It seemed to be everywhere he went… He couldn't stop staring at the place he had been in the past which had been so lively and active.
The ninth doctor on the other hand was trying to be more pragmatic. Looking at the sky squinting a bit, as if trying to gauge what time of day it was.
"How can you tell if it's day or night?" Mickey asked.
"It use to have a synthetic atmosphere, it didn't have it's own atmosphere so they created one for themselves … and my home planet Gallifrey… was like a sun…" the ninth doctor said, stumbling over the work 'Gallifrey' slightly. "Like on earth… you see the sun and moon, Mandrivus use to see Gallifrey in the sky… but no generators… no atmosphere…no night or day."
"Awww that's a shame… I bet it use to be a really nice place…" Rose said, looking a little mournful at the now messed up planet, which looked more like a desert than the bustling city it was once claimed to be.
"It was… and in the fabric of time it still is… there you see? I was being positive…" the ninth doctor said. "See the way I did that?"
"Wow… I fink I'm having palpitations…" Mickey said sarcastically.
"Mickey!" Rose smacked him "Shut up! Sometimes you're an idiot!"
She felt at Mickey sometimes, he just didn't understand the Doctor, then Rose realized neither did she, she looked at the two regenerations stood next to each other and then realized how alien the doctor really was.
'Just thinking there's two Doctor's is too weird…'
But she didn't care, it didn't matter what he was, she would always be there for him, just like he would be there for her.
"Come on… the citadel was this way… or at least I remember it being…" the ninth doctor said, striding in one direction impulsively.
"Yeah you never were so good with direction's were you doctor?" Rose said harshly.
"I've have two hearts… and they are bleeding because of that hurtful comment." The ninth doctor said with the slightest hint of sarcasm.
The tenth doctor was still stood frozen looking at the sky, looking at the black space in the sky, the only empty patch in this star filled galaxy, straining his eyes to see something that wasn't. Mickey walked next to him. "I don't see anything Doctor…"
He snapped out of his catatonia "No… neither do I…"
"Are you looking for something?" Mickey asked, trying to be helpful.
"Looking for something that isn't there Mickey…" the tenth doctor said quickly, trying to tear himself away from the big gapping space.
Nine different pairs of eyes had seen that planet. His home planet Gallifrey, every pair of eyes his own. The Doctor has seen that planet so much, he use to be sick of the sight of it.
He could see the ghost image of Gallifrey was burning in his mind, in his mind's eye it was still there, but his waking eyes, couldn't see it, not a trace.
He had always been the renegade, the one Time lord who hated the planet; he was always off on adventures getting away from home. He'd always been better alone… or with 'normal' people.
"What's that they say about Karma?" Mickey said.
"What?" the tenth doctor snapped defensively, it was almost as if Mickey had read his mind.
"I was always pretending to be off in a spaceship when I was a little boy in school, and now I've grown up and realized that was stupid… I'm actually doing it…" Mickey said.
The tenth doctor tried to lighten up and smile "One small step for man kind one giant leap for Mickey Smith…"
"I never did like your glib tongue doctor…"
"Rani?" the tenth doctor immediately zoned out of the discussion with Mickey and followed the sound of the voice.
The ninth doctor was showing Rose the sonic screwdriver impressively which was now making an extremely high pitched noise, he was half shouting because it was really loud. "You see Rose, I can configure the sonic screwdriver to give an anti aliased pulse which will locate the signal that we have been drawn to-" the ninth doctor was just about to finish his word when the tenth doctor walked straight past them. They both watched as the sonic screwdriver began to make a beeping noise toward the tenth doctor's direction.
"Lucky guess." The ninth doctor said turning off the screwdriver peevishly.
"Doctor…"
The ninth doctor's posture then became erect, he looked around quickly, as if something had suddenly caught his attention. "That sounded like…"
Rose then looked quizzically at him.
"Did you hear that?" the ninth doctor said to Rose.
Rose shook her head. "I didn't hear anything…" she said
"Let's follow him…" the ninth doctor said.
"Wait for me!" Mickey shouted, catching up with Rose and the Doctor. "You were just going to leave me there weren't you?"
"Would I do that to you Mickey?" The ninth doctor said.
The tenth doctor was at least a hundred yards ahead of Rose, Mickey and the other Doctor. Something or someone was not only drawing the Tardis but drawing him closer.
"Finally Doctor… you are so close… I can sense you… and I will be free at last…"
The Rani did just make into this chapter! I promise she will be in the next chapter more! You have my word (Please don't be mad) or I will get the Carrionites to seek you out.