Chapter 10! I've reached the midway mark in my opinion and soon everything will be revealed.

So now let's get going!

Chapter 10: Doctor, Remember Thyself

As the booming roar of General Belagar faded into the darkness, Rachel tried to step forward, but she couldn't lift her feet, raise her arms or even swish her tail.

"Don't even struggle," Colonel Falarx growled behind her. "You and the Doctor are trapped in a restraint field, and you will remain there until our forces are ready for the invasion."

"What invasion?" Rachel spluttered.

"There'll be time for explanations later," Belagar growled. "For now, we have more important issues to discuss…"

"Who are these little rats?" shouted a figure Rachel recognized as Cendo, leader of Team Fangs. "Why are they not part of our armies?"

"A very good question, Sergeant Broodam," Belegar snarled. "The one known as Raichu is an unknown detection as yet. But the Pikachu is in fact our salvation for our cause."

"How do you mean?" came the response from a Blastoise who Rachel remembered was a member of Team Bubblebeam. "It looks like an ordinary Pikachu to me…"

"My fellow Prozonites," the possessed Dialga cried, "this Pikachu is not as ordinary as you think. He is in fact the only survivor of the Great Time War, the last of the Time Lords, known to many as… THE DOCTOR!"

A gasp rang out from the crowd, followed by yells of confusion.

"That's the Doctor?" asked a Froslass.

"He doesn't look like a Time Lord to me," said a Snorlax.

"It's true, my soldiers," Belagar replied. "My form bumped into his ship when he entered the Time Vortex to shake me off and the Doctor followed. Knowing about his legendary TARDIS, I sent our servant in to trap him in this world and steal his ship, but his key could only respond to Time Lord DNA and we couldn't enter. So we've sent a search out to find any Pokémon with a binary vascular system and-"

"Hold on a moment," the Doctor interrupted. "I'm sorry but I'm a little confused here. You know my name and somehow heard of me, but me, a Time Lord? I don't even know who you lot are supposed to be, though the name does sound a little familiar…"

"WHAT?" Belagar snapped. "You mean you don't know who you really are?"

"No," the Doctor replied.

"WHERE IS THAT INCOMPETENT DARKRAI?"

"Darkrai?" Rachel gasped.

"You bellowed, my Lordship?" a voice rang out. Out of the shadows came a figure that sent shivers down Rachel's spine. It was the Dark Pokémon, Darkrai. In his hands, he held an Espeon with a red bag, an Ambipom with a black eye patch and a Bulbasaur.

"You," she breathed.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed. "I've seen you before…"

"Yes I bellowed, you stupid shadowy fool," Belagar growled. Then he noticed the Pokémon in Darkrai's hands. "What are they doing here?"

"My lord, I saw these Pokémon wandering around the passageways," Darkrai replied. "This Espeon is particularly interesting, as she knows about the Doctor."

"Really?" Belagar pondered then asked the Espeon, "Who are you and how do you know the Doctor?"

"My name is Sarah Jane Smith," the Psychic Pokémon answered defiantly. "I know the Doctor because he's my friend. I traveled with him and seen things I'd never thought possible. He sent me home years back, but my life had changed because of him." Then she glared at Belegar. "But now I've been brought to your world to find and rescue him."

The Doctor stared open-mouthed. "You know who I am?"

"Enough of this senseless talk," the Ambipom cried. "What have you done with our kids?"

"And my father?" the Bulbasaur added.

"Very well," Belagar roared then he spoke into an intercom set in a nearby bank of controls. "Major Stranton, bring up that shiny Eevee and Aipom from our arena."

"What arena?" Rachel asked.

"Our special training ground for Pokémon who still have some evolving to do," Falarx explained. "Once the Pokémon have evolved, our soldiers come and take control."

"Is that where you took Ignatius?" the Doctor snapped.

Falarx nodded then turned as some figures emerged from the shadows. Rachel saw a Scizor, a Toxicroak and an Armaldo step into view. She didn't recognize the Scizor or the Armaldo, but she knew the Toxicroak as the same one they'd fought on Mt. Bristle two days ago.

"Forgive the intrusion, General," the Scizor buzzed, "but we found some Pokémon with unknown information in the forest."

"Show them in, Captain Varbalos," Belagar commanded.

The Pokémon stepped aside to allow four strange figures to enter. They looked like black starfish with three legs, two for walking and one for grasping prey. They each carried a Pokémon in their clutches. Rachel could see a Buizel with a grey coat and a Swellow then she gasped as she saw two familiar figures: the Treecko and Growlithe from this morning!

"Well, well," Belagar sneered. "This is quite a surprise. But what's that Swellow doing here?"

"He was scanned and deemed unsuitable," Varbalos explained, "but he returned with the Buizel. We had to detain them both before scanning the other two and claiming the Armaldo."

"So you're the ones responsible for these disappearances, huh?" the Buizel asked in an American drawl.

"Indeed I am," the Dialga growled before introducing himself and his senior officer. "And who are you three?"

"Name's Captain Jack Harkness," the Buizel replied. "The green girl is Martha Jones and the dog's Mickey Smith. We're here looking for our friend, the Doctor."

Sarah gasped in alarm. "Oh my… it's you; the ones who helped me in the Crucible and the girl from that Osterhagen thing…"

"When the Daleks stole Earth," Martha finished.

"Oh my God, it's you, Sarah," Mickey cried out.

The Doctor gasped as he felt the words ringing in his head. Crucible… Daleks… Osterhagen… Captain Jack Harkness… Martha… Mickey… Sarah… Time Lord… TARDIS…

"Doctor!"

He looked round and saw Rachel staring at him. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Those names," he whispered. "Where have I heard them before?"

Just then another figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a Venusaur with a black blob on its side and its vines wrapped around a shiny Eevee, an Aipom with a flower behind one ear and a Glameow.

"Ah, Major Stranton," Belagar beamed. "You've brought the prisoners. But what's the Glameow doing here?"

"Your pardon, Sir," Stranton growled, "but she was giving me trouble. I was about to destroy her and the Aipom when you called me up."

"Luke!" Sarah called out.

"Mom!" the Eevee replied.

"Minka!" the Ambipom shouted.

"Daddy!" the Aipom answered.

"Eliza!" cried Jack and the Swellow.

"Jack, you're alive! And Feathers, you're here too!" the Glameow responded.

But the Bulbasaur gasped in horror. "Oh no… Dad!"

Sarah turned and also gasped. "Dendron… what have you done to him?"

"He's not himself anymore," Luke yelled. "See that blob on its side? Those things have taken possession of him!"

"WHAT?" Rachel, Sarah and the Doctor cried.

"That's right," Belagar roared in triumph. "Soon our forces will be ready and the Doctor will lead us into victory!" Then he realized something. "That reminds me… Darkrai, did you remove the Doctor's memories when you changed him?"

"You mean like you changed me?" Rachel gasped.

"Well, yes," Darkrai mumbled sheepishly. "I did sort of remove his memories… because I thought you didn't need him anymore…"

"YOU IMBECILE!" Belagar boomed, making the room shake. "I can't believe I ever thought you would be useful to me! Very well; since you obviously failed the task more dismally than I originally thought, let's see how you'd fare as one of us. Prozonites, take him. Take him!"

At once, the black starfish that held Martha released its grip on her and lunged at Darkrai. With one swipe of its arm, it knocked Sarah and her friends loose and then grabbed the Dark Pokémon in a mighty embrace. With a scream of pain, Darkrai dropped to the floor and held his head in his hands. Seconds later, he stood up and turned round. Rachel gasped as she saw that Darkrai's eyes were glowing red and the starfish had completely bonded with its host.

"Thank you, General, for this new body," Darkrai said in a deep growling voice. "I look forward to our great victory."

"Soon, Lieutenant Feslar," Belagar growled. "Even now, our special forces are nearing their targets and once the Doctor remembers who he is, we'll be ready for the invasion!"

"What kind of targets are these 'special forces' looking for?" Rachel asked, struggling against her invisible bonds.

"As you can see," Falarx growled, gesturing down his stolen body, "we already control the Pokémon of Time and Space. But we need the powers of the natural forces: Land, Sea and Sky."

"We have sent agents out to find these Pokémon," Belagar continued. "And once we control them, we will become the most powerful army in the universe! Nothing will be able to stop us, NOTHING!"

"It's worth a try though," Martha cried, jumping to her feet. "BULLET SEED!" She opened her mouth and launched a volley of glowing seeds straight at Falarx. But then the blob on his chest began to glow and the seeds were absorbed into the black mass.

Rachel, the Doctor and all the other non-possessed Pokémon let out a gasp of horror. But the Toxicroak lashed out a fist and knocked Martha down. Just then, another black starfish emerged from the shadows and stomped towards the stunned Treecko.

"Leave her alone, you bully," the Bulbasaur yelled, charging towards the black mass and bashing his head into one of its legs.

Rachel didn't expect much from that simple Tackle, but amazingly, that attack had quite an effect for the leg suddenly buckled under the impact of the Bulbasaur's Tackle and the starfish fell backwards onto the one holding Mickey and they both tumbled to the ground.

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!" the wounded starfish cried out. "Severe injury to lower appendage!"

"What did I just do?" the Bulbasaur breathed.

"I don't know," said Mickey as he wriggled out of his captor's grip, "but this is an opportunity for us all. BITE!" He ran up to the starfish that held Jack and sank his teeth into the creature's leg.

"EMERGENCY!" the starfish yelled, dropping Jack and falling back in alarm.

Martha got to her feet and swung her tail out into the centre of the starfish holding Feathers. The glowing jewel shattered under impact and with a burbling scream, the starfish dissolved into a bubbling puddle of slag and the Swellow flew out of reach.

"QUICK ATTACK!" Jack yelled and he charged into Major Stranton's side. With a cry, the Venusaur stumbled back and his vines loosened, dropping Luke, Minka and Eliza and allowing them to slip away to safety.

In the confusion, Feathers swooped over to the controls and pushed a button at random. At once, Rachel and the Doctor found they could move and they ran over to Martha and Mickey.

"We don't have much time, Doctor," Martha cried as she pulled out a small round object from her pocket. "Take this and look at it. Remember who you are."

The Doctor took the object and held it up to his face. The object had strange swirly symbols on its cover and when he pushed the knob on top, it opened out to reveal a clock face. The Doctor stared at the watch and then took a deep sniff and his eyes seemed to sparkle. "I know this smell…"

But then, Belagar let out a roar of anger. "Enough of this," he bellowed then turned his head down to look at them. "Tell me, Doctor. We've given you an opportunity to aide our cause for battle; what do you say?"

"Well, general," the Doctor replied, pocketing the watch, "having given this matter a little thought, and in such a short amount of time, I've only got one thing to say…" Then he turned to the others and grabbed Rachel's paw. "RUN!" And they did.

Down the passages they ran, the Doctor and Rachel leading the way; Jack, Martha, Mickey, Eliza and Sarah were following after them; Feathers flying overhead and Alcazar carrying Luke, Minka and Leander in his smaller arms right behind.

"Where are we going exactly?" Eliza panted.

"For the moment," the Doctor called back, "we're trying to stay ahead of General Belagar's troops."

"And then?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I think I'm making this up as I go along…"

"That sounds like our Doctor," Martha beamed.

Then Feathers called out overhead, "I see some stairs up ahead! They might lead us out of here."

"Come on," Jack cried. "Let's get going!"

The group raced up the stairs and came up to a large area very like the familiar Dungeon floors from earlier. But in one of the rooms, there stood a large blue box very familiar to Sarah, Luke, Mickey, Sarah and Jack. "It's the TARDIS!" they cried.

The group ran up and pushed against the doors… but they wouldn't budge.

"Why won't the door open?" Martha cried.

"It's locked," Jack growled, "and those Prozonite bastards have the key!"

"Now what do we do?" Sarah sighed.

"Why don't you ask your friend?" a gentle voice called out.

Sarah turned to see a familiar Pokémon emerging from the trees followed by two almost similar figures. "Mesprit," she breathed.

"Hey, Uxie," Jack beamed.

"Oh, Azelf," Martha murmured.

"Well done, Children of Time," Azelf said. "You have found the Doctor and located his ship. Now he can stop the dark force of this world."

"How?" Mickey asked. "We can't even get into the TARDIS."

"You can," Mesprit replied. "It's just that the Doctor has a more simple method than just pushing on the door, don't you, Doctor?"

At once, the Doctor lifted his paw and clicked his fingers… and with a creak of hinges, the doors opened.

The group stared in amazement as the Doctor bounded into the TARDIS, and moments later, Mickey, Sarah, Luke, Mickey and Jack dashed in after him. Rachel was confused at how such a small looking box could hold a large group of Pokémon, but she dashed in to have a look… she stared in amazement and dashed out again, shaking her head in confusion… she ran around the box before running inside again… and took in the impossibly huge room within. Seconds later, Alcazar, Minka, Leander, Eliza and Feathers went inside and had a look themselves, followed by the Legendary Sprites.

The Doctor meanwhile had reached the towering console up ahead and was running his paw up and down its base. "I need to get closer," he decided and pointed to the group. "Jack, would you mind giving me a boost up?"

"Sure thing, Doctor," Jack replied, running up. He picked the Doctor up and lifted him up to the control bank where he turned and looked down at the Pokémon standing at the back. "So where do you want to start?" the Doctor asked

Rachel stared in amazement. "This place… it's bigger on the inside…"

The Doctor nodded.

"What is this place?" Alcazar breathed.

"And who the Blazikens are you?" Feathers demanded.

"Both good questions and ones that until recently I had no answer to," the Doctor replied. "Alcazar's question first: this is my ship. It's called a TARDIS; it stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Next is Feathers' question – it is Feathers, isn't it?"

"Answer the question, will you?" Eliza demanded.

"Now I'm not sure how to correctly respond to that one," the Doctor admitted, "but I think my friends can help me with that one."

"He's the Doctor," Sarah answered. "He's the most incredible person we've ever known. He's seen the whole universe's history: the creation of the planets, the many wars, right up to the end of the universe…"

"He's the last one of his kind," Martha took up the reply. "He's met all kinds of aliens and vanquished all kinds of foes many times in their history…"

"He's the only survivor of a war that destroyed his people," Jack added. "And yet whenever there's any kind of trouble in the universe, he's there to put things right…"

"But the one thing that makes him special," Mickey continued, 'is the friends he's made over his journeys. We've all been with the Doctor when our world needed help the most…"

"And right now," the Doctor finished. "This man standing before you… this 900 year old last of the Time Lords… this Doctor, which is who I am, is your world's only chance against the dangers that threaten your very existence. So listen up, because once I've told you about these beings, the choice will be up to you; will you surrender to them or stand against them?"

And breathe! Well that was a good place to stop anyway. So next time, the truth of the Prozonites will be revealed.

See you around