CHAPTER 29
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"Let her go!" Rose shouted at The Black Guardian as he stood before her with his hand around Jenny's throat.
The Black Guardian sneered at this, and began to lift Jenny off of the ground with one hand. Jenny struggled to get free as her face began to turn blue and her eyeballs began to roll into the back of her head. Rose could see that she was being strangled right in front of her!
Rose held the Key out in front of her and commanded, "Take away his power!"
Nothing happened.
The Black Guardian laughed long and hard as Jenny continued to struggle. Her attempts to break free were getting weaker and weaker, however.
"Idiot! The Key doesn't affect a Guardian!" He shouted in delight.
Rose frowned in frustration. It was worth a try she thought.
Suddenly, The Master started to blast The Black Guardian with bursts of his life force from his hands.
The Black Guardian laughed at this constant bombardment and merely smirked at the man before him.
"That might impress the stupid apes that inhabit this world, Time Lord; but it means nothing to me! Let me show you what true power is!" He shouted as his body glowed with dark energy.
The Black Guardian began to drain the life energy out of The Master all by himself without the Time Lord having to blast him with it. He drained it faster and faster by the moment causing The Master to fall to his knees with a gasp of pain!
"Soon, you will be drained completely; and you will turn into dust!" The evil being screamed at the renegade Time Lord.
The Master screamed in pain as he fell on his face on the ground. He was fading fast.
"What's the matter? I thought that you wanted to give me your life force!" The evil Guardian laughed.
Suddenly, The Master was back on his feet as he was filled with renewed energy. He turned to see that Rose was gesturing at him with her eyes glowing brightly through her hood. He could feel that he was somehow different now. He wasn't dying anymore. His body was stabilized! Better than that, the drums were gone! He was free!
"Thank you, but I don't want you to die for me! I think that you do deserve a reward though for the attempt," Rose said with a smile.
Rose was then all business as her eyes glowed yet again, and Jenny was teleported out of The Black Guardian's hand and into her arms. She hugged the Time Lady and whispered, "It's going to be okay, sweetheart!"
As Rose's eyes glowed again, The Doctor, Jenny, and everyone else suddenly found themselves inside the TARDISes. Rose then clenched her hand into a fist and the TARDISes dematerialized and entered the Vortex. They would not be allowed to return until Rose willed it.
"Impressive! You are learning more and more, little girl. It still won't help you though. I've had eons to practice my abilities. You can't beat me!" The Black Guardian taunted her.
The evil Guardian gestured and suddenly the two combatants found themselves on the barren world of Kembel.
"What better place to settle this. Nothing lives here anymore since The Doctor destroyed this world with the Daleks' own superweapon, The Time Destructor. There is nothing and no one here to distract us. It's just you and me alone at last! The two of us to the death! That is the only way that you can stop me! You will have to kill me! I know that the Old White Guardian told you to do it, and he was right. So do it! End me if you can, or I will certainly end you!" The Black Guardian shouted in fury at Rose.
Rose began to glow with power, and she fired at him with blasts of energy from her hands. She expected him to go flying like he did before back at Donna's house. To her surprise, though, he just laughed!
"You caught me off guard before with the level of power that you possess, little girl. This time though I'm ready for you! You won't find me such an easy foe this time!" The Black Guardian sneered.
Rose began to increase her power output, and she was hitting him with everything that The Old Guardian had given her. The Black Guardian was unfazed by this as he began blasting her with his own power. Rose could soon tell that they were too evenly matched. She needed The Bad Wolf!
"We are too equal in power, my dear. I'm afraid that old age and treachery are going to win the day here over youth and inexperience!" The evil Guardian taunted her.
Kembel began to shake violently as earthquakes suddenly started shaking the planet. Rose was quickly knocked off her feet and distracted. The Black Guardian took this opportunity to blast her in the head with twin bursts of the dark energy from his hands. In her distracted state, the energy broke through her force field and hit her right in the temple with full force!
Rose fell to the ground with a heavy crash and was flung around like a rag doll as she fell prey to the merciless earthquakes that were ravaging Kembel. If she weren't a Guardian, her body would have been turned into pulp a long time ago.
She struggled to come back to her senses as she was thrown about without direction and was slammed by flying rocks and debris over and over again. She was totally helpless amidst this unnatural disaster and felt terror begin to grip her heart as she began to fear that everything was lost.
She began to think about The Doctor, Jenny, Susan, Lily, and everyone else that she cared about. If she fell, then they would be at the mercy of The Black Guardian. The universe would become a place of nightmares without end. She had to stop him. She had to summon the wolf!
She began to hear the voices of the Ood singing in her head. One in particular spoke to her.
"You must not fall this day, Rose Tyler! We remember your kindness to our kind back on Krop Tor. The Ood there died that day, but not before passing on stories of you to the rest of us in their songs. The brave girl that stood up to the Beast and survived! The Valiant Child! Your song will be coming to an end soon, but it will change into another. An old familiar song not sung in ages. A duet of four hearts beating in unison once more! This time the old song will have new lyrics added and a new beat. Two soulmates constantly running hand in hand throughout time and space! They fix the universe where it breaks and mend lives and hearts as they travel throughout eternity together and beyond. And they will run . . . forever! The song will never end! That song will die before it is even born though if you do not fight back right now. We will show you what will happen if you fall now," Ood Sigma said to her in her mind.
Images of burning and broken worlds filled her mind now. The stars were dying, and the universe was dark and cold. Time was shattered and filled with rips, tears, and cracks. Entire timelines had been ripped apart, and there were lives unlived and people that never were. Universes lay in ruins and galaxies had been dissolved into clouds of dust floating through space.
Then, she could see Earth. It had become a burned out, cold empty husk . It was now a mockery of itself. In the middle of this monument to devastation, there was a throne made out of rubble. On the throne sat The Black Guardian. He laughed continuously without stopping as lives were constantly being destroyed around him. The human race had been reduced to eternal slavery and was bound in chains as they were whipped, tortured, and killed for the evil Guardian's amusement only to be brought back to life in order for the whole cycle to start all over again.
Next to the evil Guardian's throne sat the Doctor. He was constantly being blasted by the dark one's power over and over again as he was killed by him in different ways every time! Rose watched in horror as The Doctor died over and over again without regenerating while The Black Guardian continued to laugh and enjoy every minute of it. Then, Rose heard the Doctor speak; and her heart shattered into pieces. The Doctor could only say one word over and over again as if it were all that was left of him, and it was the only thing that was keeping him from shattering to pieces. She could hear him keep saying it over and over. The Doctor slowly and silently continued to whisper, "Rose!"
Rose only thought that she had known anger before, but she had never felt this kind of pure rage ever!
The Ood stopped singing to her as they realized that The Wolf was coming. Their job was done. They had unleashed her at her full power for the first time ever. They shuddered in fear and hoped that the anger of Rose Tyler did not rip the universe apart because they knew full well that it could if she wanted it to!
The Ood broke contact with Rose and wished her well in her battle through their songs.
Rose floated off of the shattered and broken surface of Kembel and transformed into The Bad Wolf. This time though was different. Rose felt power like she had never known before crack and ripple across her fingertips as she was filled with the pure energy of the Vortex.
The Black Guardian seemed to sense the difference in her as his arrogance and overconfidence turned to fear.
He cowered before her and said, "No, you're making a mistake! Stop!"
She pulled closer to him and was about to strike him down when she thought about the people she loved. Would what they say if they could see the thoughts in her heart? What kind of an example was she setting for them, in particular Jenny? Was killing to be the solution to all problems? She didn't care what the Old Guardian had told her. She wouldn't do it. She would find another way. She already had one in mind.
Before she could implement this solution though, she suddenly realized that her surroundings had changed. She was now in the Meeting Chamber of the Guardians. The other Guardians looked down on her in anger and fear. They began to scream and shout at her to leave the man in front of her alone.
She looked down at where The Black Guardian had been, and now she saw that the man that she been about to strike down was the Old White Guardian!
"He tricked you," The Old Guardian said in a low voice.
He looked like he had been through the ringer. He was broken and beaten. Rose could only guess about what had been done to him.
Then, she saw The Black Guardian standing to the side of her with a triumphant grin on his face.
"Do you see now, gentlemen? Do you see the threat that I have brought to your attention? See it now in its true evil! It wasn't enough for this mysterious female to steal the power and identity of one of our own and pretend to do his bidding whilst simultaneously keeping her identity secret and waging her own little secret war on the loyal beings who serve under us. Oh no! Now she has to finish the job. She has beaten the one that she kidnapped and replaced to within an inch of his life. Now, you have seen for yourselves as she advanced on him with the intention of killing him in cold blood while he pleaded for his life!" The Black Guardian with all of the showmanship of a ringmaster at a circus.
Rose could kick herself! She realized now that she had been set up. The Black Guardian had switched himself out for The Old White Guardian while she was lying on the rubble of Kembel. He had tried to trick her into killing him right in front of the other Guardians!
She also realized that The Black Guardian must have kidnapped the Old White Guardian right after she made her deal with him. He had obviously tortured him for her identity, but he had not given it up.
So, he had tried a new tactic. It had been The Black Guardian disguised as The Old Guardian who had asked her to kill. That was why the conditions of their deal had suddenly changed. He had been trying to trick her into doing the very thing that she had almost done today. If he had succeeded, she would have lost the power of the Guardian immediately because she would have been unworthy of it for killing an innocent being.
Now that he had failed to corrupt her, The Black Guardian was trying another new tactic. He was trying to turn the other Guardians against her and to frame her for something that she did not do. She could really see just how crafty her foe was now. He had had backup plan after backup plan lying in wait for her to catch her in a trap. As soon as she had escaped one trap, he had laid another one!
"I believe that I will now take this! You have proven that you are unworthy of it, pretender!" The Black Guardian said as he grabbed ahold of The Key To Time.
Amazingly, she was still holding onto it even after all that she had been through. She now struggled to keep it away from him.
"Surrender The Key now, or we will kill your friends! " The Black Guardian screamed.
Suddenly, The Doctor and all of her friends appeared behind her. They were bound in chains and unable to move.
"These traitors have helped the imposter in her quest to steal the Key out from under your very noses! Perhaps they should be executed along with her. What do you say?" The Black Guardian shouted to the assembled Guardians.
The Guardians began to call for her friends' blood.
"Give The Key to me willingly, or I will let them be torn apart by the others. Give it to me now, and I will convince them that you fooled them into helping you," The Black Guardian whispered in her ear.
She realized that The Black Guardian had lied and manipulated the facts about her so much that the others would never believe that she was innocent. She had only one thing left to do now.
She surrendered The Key to The Black Guardian as he laughed at her in triumph!
"Now it begins, my friends! Let me lead you and the universe into a new era! Now begins the Time of The Guardians. We have seen enough of this folly called free will. Let us drop it into the dustbin of history where it belongs. We will guide the universe into a new era of prosperity!" The Black Guardian proclaimed amid a chorus of cheers!
He had won at last. All of time and space now belonged to him! He thought.
He had not counted on just how powerful Rose Tyler really was, however.
Rose vowed to herself that it wasn't over yet. If she was going to go down, then she would take all of the Guardians with her! She would not let what the Ood had showed her come to pass.
Today, The Bad Wolf was going to howl! She was going to huff and puff and bring the house of the Guardians crashing down around their ears!
Next: As a wise man once said, it's not over until Rose Tyler says it is! Or at least a wise man should have said it anyway!
