Chapter 3: A Very Valid Concept

"A school trip? Ah, I heard about it. Okinawa, right?" Said the young girl, her long red hair tied up in pigtails by a pair of black ribbons. She crossed her legs as she looked over the holographic monitor before her. On board the bridge of the Fraxinus, the young girl sat in a chair high above the busy crew below.

"No, the planned location was changed in a hurry. The destination is now Arubi Island."

The tall woman responded, dressed in an army style uniform; heavy bags hung under her eyes almost like shadows.

"A change?" The young girl questioned. "Right now? Why's that?"

"Ah, one month ago a travelling company called Cross Travel contacted the school authorities; it would seem they said that for the sake of PR sightseeing, they would randomly pick a school, and give them invitations to the island. Although there is a condition of them taking photos for their pamphlet, it looks like all the school trips expenses are paid by the company's funds."

"Ha, how generous…" The young girl replied. "But no matter how good the conditions are, is it okay for them to suddenly change the location last moment like that?"

"It would seem that the inn that the school booked was destroyed. Due to that incident, it was an easy choice for the school."

"Destroyed?" The red-haired girl frowned doubtfully.

"Mm." The older woman replied with a nod. "I don't know the full details… but I have a hunch that it was due to aging."

"Well, that timing is pretty suspicious, if you ask me." The young girl replied. " Oh well. You can go and release some stress, Reine." The little girl said with a shrug.

Murasame Reine, an analysis member of Ratatoskr organization, and at the same time a vice-homeroom teacher at Raizen High School. It was part of their plan that she would be attending the trip with the students. Reine's expression shifted as she turned her gaze downwards.

"What's the problem?" The young girl asked.

"I may be thinking too much into it, but… It seems that Cross Travel is affiliated with DEM industries."

"What did you say?" Kotori exclaimed, her face distorting with suspicion.

DEUS. EX. MACHINA Industries. A world leading corporate giant set up in the United Kingdom. If Asgard Electronics-the company behind the creation of Ratatoskr-was removed from the picture, it would be the only company in the world capable of manufacturing realizer technology. Unlike Asgard Electronics, however… DEM had no intentions of sealing or saving the spirits.

"It smells suspicious, somehow." Kotori spoke. Many students of Raizen high were attending the school trip, Shido and Tohka included. Kotori was doubtful that they were prepared for an encounter with DEM.

"Coincidence or not, I'll have the Fraxinus match its schedule to the trip on that day just in case." Kotori said. "Better to have it ready in the case of a crisis, right?"

"Hmm, that's true." Replied Reine. "If anything happens, I'll make sure to contact you from the ground. There should be no problems with you remaining on standby."

"How many days is the school trip again?" Kotori asked.

"From the 17th of July, it'll be 3 days and a 2-night stay."

"Heh." Kotori laughed. "Is that so? Right as I'm heading back to HQ; how unfortunate." As this was said, a young man with long, blond hair appeared behind them, giving a bright smile as he made his entrance. Kotori paid him no mind as Reine began to speak.

"Can't we just change the schedule?" Reine asked.

"Unlikely." Kotori replied. "The Rounds only gather once a year." Just as Kotori finished speaking, the blonde-haired man took another step forward.

"Then I guess there's no choice but to leave it to someone in the ship." Kotori muttered. "Normally, I'd ask you, Reine, but… It will also be bad if the contact personnel were gone from the area." Kotori sighed. In the midst of her muttering, the joyous blonde all but danced out in front of Reine and Kotori.

"You're annoying." The red head said, an icy glare directed at the blonde in question. In a flash, Kotori's fist flew forward and slammed into the man's gut, dropping him to his knees with the force of her blow. A gasp of pure pleasure left his mouth, earning a disgusted look from Kotori as Reine watched on.

"What is wrong with you, prancing about wherever you please." Kotori scolded. "If you're practicing an original dance, go do it somewhere else!"

"No no no, what are you saying?" The man, Kannazuki, exclaimed from the ground. "From what I have heard from the conversation, the commander is currently looking for a substitute to look after while Shido-kun is on his school trip." With a confident smile, he stood back to his feet and threw his arms wide.

"That heavy responsibility… are there any more suitable than I!? The answer is not a one!" He said with an ear to ear grin.

"… As expected, it should be Mikimoto or Kawagoe." Kotori said, avoiding all eye contact with Kannazuki.

"I wonder…" Said Reine. "Although they are excellent crew members, would they be able to lead in your place?" Reine said as she looked down at her notes.

"Ah, acting like I don't even exist! What a wonderful form of pain!" Kannazuki said, waving his arms once more alongside panting excessively. Of course, this soon began to irritate the red-haired girl. With a click of her tongue, she stared down the blonde with an annoyed glare.

"I heard the last time I was gone, you made quite the mess, Kannazuki." Kotori spoke.

"It's okay! Because at that time I only went PigBang towards commanders! Oink! There is no problem this time! I will show you, that I will certainly make sure to see Shido-kun's one page of youth through!"

"…Reine?" Kotori said as she massaged her temples.

"…Well, I'll be nearby. It'll probably be fine." The older woaman replied with a nod of her head. Even still, Kotori couldn't help but sigh in an attempt to release the anxiety building up in her chest.

"Now on to the other matter at hand." Reine spoke, earning Kotori's attention. "Shin's state is worsening." Reine said, looking down at the young commander.

"Trance-like dispositions: Earlier today, he walked straight into traffic, ignoring everyone calling out to him as he went." She started to hand out the medical statistics to Kotori as the young girl read the papers aloud.

"80 BPM, blood pressure 110/80… Oh that's new. The serum iron test indicates he has slightly higher iron levels than usual. Is that all?" Kotori asked.

"Yes, the other reports and findings indicate that he's perfectly healthy." Reine replied. Kotori sighed as she looked straight ahead.

"It's the same story over and over again." Kotori muttered. "Keep a close eye on him during the trip, he's likely to worsen over time."

"I shall see to it." Reine replied.

"I'll try my hand at contacting more specialized practitioners of the medical arts in the meantime." Kotori continued. "Hopefully, they'll know what has been going on with him." She looked closely at her brothers' medical statistics. After a moment, she handed them back to Reine, having been unable to find anything more.

"Anything else?" Kotori asked.

"Commander we're picking up the distress signal again." A new voice spoke, a crew member from down below.

"Oho? Where is it this time?" Kotori asked, turning to her screen as the holographic display switched to that of a man of Tengu City.

"10 meters since last notice." The crew member answered.

For the last few days, the crew members have been receiving a distress signal every 3 to 9 PM. Said signal originated in area south outside the city, and has been moving with each passing day. However, any attempts to locate the source of the signal were futile; each time they reached it, there was nothing there to be found. The strangest part, however, was that each signal was accompanied by one word each, gathered together to say: Help-Save-The.

Save who? Save them from what? Why couldn't the Fraxinus, even with all the wonders it could accomplish, find out who and what was making these signals? Maybe today was the day they get their answer, Kotori thought as she rapped her fingers on the chair.

"The 4th word has been decrypted, commander!" One of the crewmates called out.

"Well, don't keep me waiting! What's the word?"

"…Doctor."

At very last, a proper phrase was born from that final revelation. 'Help Save The Doctor.' …And yet, Kotori found herself with more questions than answers. It wanted someone to not just save "A" doctor, but "The" Doctor, the definite article one may say. Kotori furrowed her eyebrows as she spoke aloud the one question everyone was thinking.

"Help Save the Doctor? Doctor Wh-"

Fire burned in the control room as another coral-like support beam crashed down onto the control panel. Sparks fell to the ground as a hand emerged from the wreckage.

A muffled noise could be heard from underneath the damaged electronics and broken metal plates. Was it a cry for help or the sound of a determined struggle?

It was soon revealed to be the latter, as the hand grabbed onto the control panel and lifted the rest of the body that came with it. The old man, now bloodied as he was weary, stood up and grit his teeth, nearly grinding them as he brushed himself off.

"Thousands of years, travelling the entire universe and back, learning its secrets and solving its mysteries and still it finds new ways to make my life a living hell." He complained to himself as he grabbed a lever.

"Did you mean to remove the gravity restraints?" A voice echoed from within the console room, serene yet robotic.

"Of course not-" The man replied.

Just then, the room lurched upside down as if it fell over, and with it fell the old man as he landed on the ceiling… alongside all the flaming debris, nearly crushing him underneath.

"Oh for god's sake! Where is the sonic…?" He grumbled to himself, searching the ceiling until he eventually spotted a strange metal device in the wreckage beside him. The small thing was no larger than a screwdriver, almost wand-like in its shape.

"Finally! Come on, now-!" He said, as he reached out to grab the device.

"It's times like this I truly miss my companions." Finally, unlike Tantalus, the old man grabbed what he truly desired and held up his prize, the screwdriver-like device. With his fingers he pulled back its casing to reveal a glowing red tip, accompanied by a sonic whirring noise as it shined to life.

"Got that down, still working. Now, what's the next disaster?" He said, before pointing the sonic device over to the malfunctioning control panel and activated it once more.

"Come on now, where and when the hell am I?" The monitor glitched as it started back up, to the point that hardly any words or numbers could be made out from the mess of data. All the old man could see from it was-

"July, Two-thousand and-… eh, it still works out. Japan, Tengu city… Wait, missing archives- the Validum is gone? Of course, it's gone." He groaned before climbing back to the control panel. There, he pressed more buttons, pulled plenty more levers and spun even more wheels to no avail.

"Why is there never just a big red button that solves the problem." He complained, before he aimed his sonic device at the monitor once more. Several sparks started to fly out from the cracks in response to the device.

"I can't believe I have to do this. Initiate emergency landing protocol, land at the nearest available rift, scan for any life-forms and enter stasis and lockdown mode."

"Are—are—are-are you sure of this command sir?" The A.I asked, glitching as it spoke.

"Yes!"
"Activating emergency landing protocol and scanning all incoming life forms." With that, he found himself sighing yet again, as the entire room reverted to its original position. The old man cried out as he, and the wreckage, once more fell to the ground. However, a different noise could be heard within the room.

It sounded like the grinding of keys upon old piano strings put on speaker. It was a strange, unearthly noise, soon followed by noises and sound effects that could only be found in cheap 1960s sci-fi shows.

The lights in the room slowly died down, and and the fires were slowly doused until eventually, the room was left with a single light source in the form of the control panel's monitor. Said monitor managed to identify a single being outside, but just before the old man could see, it shut off.

He stood up, and within the rubble he dusted off his brown coat once more. He then shook his head and grumbled at the infuriating machine, his grip on the screwdriver tightening in frustration.

"What will it be this time: Cyberman, Silurian, Zygon, Elder god, regular god or would you be so kind and give me a break?" He complained, before making his way over to the double doors and preparing himself for whatever lied on the other side.

However, as he opened the doors and took his first look at the outside world, he noticed a few things. It was evening time, dark streets with lights without a sign of life. Seems to be around 7. The old man decided, taking in further detail. It seemed he had landed around a small park, a playground of sorts designed for children. For the most part, it was empty… bar the single lifeform his Tardis had detected..

It wasn't a monster, an alien or even an evil god who wears tacky suits and looking like something a 4th grader would dream up, but instead something far worse. A highschool boy. At the very least, he was passed out in the dirt.

The old man looked around to see if anyone else would show up. Once he confirmed that the only beings within the park were him and the young man, he walked out of the room. If there was anyone who did manage to see the old man, they would find that he walked out of a blue British police box, a sight one would not normally expect in Japan or even modern-day London. But even then, there was nothing to worry about as the blue box faded out of sight.

The old man focused his attention on the highschool boy, taking note of his sickly condition. Spazzing, panting, sweating: From the looks of things, he was in the midst of a nightmare..

"Now then, what's wrong with you?" The grizzled man muttered as he positioned his sonic device over the young man, holding it like a flashlight over his unconscious form. The red light flicked on as the old man activated the screwdriver.

"16 years old, blue hair, brown eyes, 58 kilograms, 170 centimeters. Perfectly normal, from the looks of it." He took a glance at his screwdriver, as if reading some invisible information that only he could see. "Blood type A… iron levels are higher than standard…"

He placed his hand on the temple of the young boy and closed his eyes as if he were concentrating. Images flashed in his mind: the young boy, younger and unconscious in the middle of a burning village, then the lad fighting some blonde girl with a sword.

More and more memories started to pile on. However, these were no ordinary memories: these would be what others would refer to as "visions", the powerful foresight only told in myths or stories. They were forecasts of what is to be, what has been, what can be and possibly what should be. The old man could tell it was due to several factors: the most prominent was that he himself was in them. The old man saw himself with the boy working together on an unknown project and idea, several numbers and names came into his head as he continued to probe the boy's mind and finally learned of his name.

"Shido, huh… what's with all the Kabbalah references? Those usually never end well." He said as he removed his hands. There was no mistaking it: Shido was suffering not just from fainting or blackouts, but madness-inducing foresight that was eroding his mind.

He didn't pry much else into his past or into his present; whatever was causing the foresight was also blocking off most of Shido's mind. The old man could feel that there was another force present within the boy… but at the moment, he didn't care. What did bother him, however, was that this seemingly ordinary boy, with seemingly nothing remarkable about him, had such a peculiar condition. The only thing physically showing were those other previously stated symptoms and slightly higher iron levels in his blood system.

He thought quickly, using his trusty sonic device to seemingly stab Shido on his neck. He then removed the device, leaving behind a dim, red, pulsating light where the device had touched the young man. It was a device akin to a chip, developed by the old man's people to help further study organic life without the need of dissection or other such things. After a moment, his sonic device beeped like a sonar; he inspected the device, reading the information discovered. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw.

"Trace amounts of Validium found. Of course… That explains why it has gone missing, and the temporal foresight…and why his body can't respond. It probably slowly took over the iron in his system, it has the ability to adapt and give off the same properties of iron, so it probably found the boy one day and infiltrated his body." He spoke with a sigh.

This just opened a whole new set of problems. He couldn't just remove it from the boy's body: Validium was no ordinary metal. No, it was special, it was made and born, grown even, and it was sentient. It could not be easily destroyed or extracted, especially in liquid form and certainly not in this situation. It was not meant for a frail race such as humans..

He needed a way to get it out of Shido's body, and fast. The longer it remained, the worse things would get. He was clearly already experiencing the symptoms. Unfortunately, he was no Doctor, not anymore. For now, he could surpress the symptoms, at least for a short amount of time. However, the real job was keeping him under surveillance until he had all the tools ready to completely remove the metal from his system. That meant keeping a low profile. Thankfully for the old man, he's done so thousands of times before.

First and foremost, he needed to suppress the Validium; he was going to power up Shido's immune system with artron energy, a sort of special radiation that can be used for healing and boosting immune systems when need be. All he needed to do was concentrate the energy into something like a pill and force it into the young man's body.

He walked back into his box and grabbed a blue leather first aid bag alongside a bottle of water before returning to the boy. Opening the bag, he revealed a box full of pills glowing with golden light, from which he took a capsule. He then opened Shido's mouth and placed 2 on his tongue before slowly helping the boy swallow them down, being careful to make sure he didn't choke or spit them out.

"This should do the trick." The old man said. "Time Lord and human anatomy are somewhat compatible, after all." He said as he packed up the kit, before taking a moment to ponder his next set of moves. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a groan from the young man, however.

"Ugh… where am I?" The young man spoke. "What am I doing here in…the park?" Shido had awoken.

"Ah, you're finally awake, Shido." Said the old man. "Your head should be feeling better any second now, don't you worry."

"…H-how do you know my name… Who are you!?"