Chapter 12.
The repetitive beat of marching feet echoed along the stark cold corridors on board the Eggscalibur, (Eggman had finally named his newest flag-ship in the Egg Fleet) they stopped at a T- junction, quickly scanned the surrounding area and then continued on, moving away and slowly getting fainter.
It might have been just dumb luck, or it may have been planned, but at that moment there was another sound that softly echoed in the walkways. When the sound had died down a familiar blue box stood in one of the alcoves that lined it. The doors of the TARDIS creak open a bit and blue eyes peered out of the crack. After checking the coast was clear the two occupants of the time machine walked out and into the empty hallway. The taller of the two reached into his pocket, withdrawing a red tipped silver tube with a wooden handle, pointing it behind his shoulder, pressing a button on the tubes' side. The red tip glowed brightly, there came a familiar high-pitched whine and the TARDIS flickered out of existence. The shorter of the two glanced back, pulled back the hood of her cloak and grinned.
"Nice touch, putting it a second out of sync, Doctor." She looked closely at the sonic, "Never seen one with a wooden handle before. How does it feel?"
The Doctor tossed the device between his hands, "Not sure. A bit bulky for my taste, but it will do for now." He led her down the corridor, stopping at the T-junction and peeking around the corners. He reached back for her hand, clasping it tightly. "Stay close, Amelia." Taking the sonic he did a quick sweep, checked the results and headed down the left walkway. "I'm getting high readings of unusual energy. The Chaos Emerald, by any chance?"
Amelia nodded, "If we stand any chance of saving the day we need as many Emeralds as we can get. Seven would be amazing, but two is just as good and with that regeneration energy stuff we might pull it off."
The Doctor shook his head; his cropped mahogany curls waving, "I said it before and I'll say it again: this is very dangerous. The sooner this is all over the better." They rounded a corner, the sonic leading the way, passing a room sealed with large double doors. "Hold on, I'm getting another signal…Faint, like the readings I got from the Lost Library. I wonder…"
"You don't think… But why leave it here?" Amelia gave him a confused look. "Doesn't Celosia need it to carry out the ritual?"
The Doctor thought for a second, "No. Awakening the Nazo Serpent is really, really easy. Just insert the Eyes of Elements and ta-dah! An unstoppable galaxy eater. The book just shows the way to the Eyes and the home of the Serpent. Once she's found the temple it won't be long."
"But we've still got some time, right? The Goddess has only three of the four Eyes. The other you has the Eye of Gaia-"
"And how long do you think he'll be able to hold on to it? Amelia, you know me, you know my weaknesses. If any of my companions are in danger I'll do anything, give anything to keep them safe." His expression was hard to read, "Even if it means…"
"Stop right there!" Amelia reached up, grabbing his arms and tugging him down so he was crouching on one knee in front of her. Blue eyes met jade. Amelia cupped his cheek softly; the Doctor's eyes widened a little, "Stop talking like that. Nobody is going to die; the universe isn't going to end. You'll come up with a brilliant plan and save the day."
The Doctor wasn't convinced, "What makes you so sure?"
"Because…" The hand on his cheek tightened, drawing him closer. "You're the Doctor." Amelia closed the remaining inches with a gentle kiss. The Doctor's eyes had widened to comical proportions when she pulled away. She nuzzled his nose playfully. "OK?" He nodded mutely. "OK." She let go, watching him straighten himself out and grinned, "So? Your plan, Doctor?"
"Dinner after this. I know a great zero-G restaurant. You'll need a bib if you order ribs though, can get a bit messy."
A playful eye-roll, "I meant the plan for saving the day. Not your dinner plans, Doctor."
The Doctor flushed a bit, "OH! Well… I think we should split up. Now I know you're gonna complain but hear me out. You know a lot more about these Emeralds then I do. I don't want to set them off and… cause a space-time explosion or whatever." He handed her the sonic, "Take this, and let it lead you to its hiding place. There might be guards so be careful." Amelia nodded, continuing on along the corridor, holding the screwdriver very gingerly. "And try not to press any buttons." He hissed loudly.
"Oh, I won't." She hissed back rounding the corner. "By the way…" Her head popped back into view, "Dinner after this? You're on." With a cheeky wink she disappeared again leaving the Doctor standing in front of the Throne Room with a bemused look on his face.
"An odd girl. Wonder if my other self has had similar moments." Suddenly remembering why he was on board the Eggscalibur, the Doctor took a deep breath and readied himself for what-ever dangers were behind the sealed doors. With a great shove and very loud creak, the doors slowly opened to reveal… "Nothing? No guards, no trap. Nothing!" He frowned. "I'm insulted. Don't you know who I am?" A cold chill flickered across his neck and down his spine. "Ooohhh… Evil is here. Where are you hiding?" Making his way further into the grand Throne Room, his eyes scanned every inch. They fell onto the full-length mirror in the corner, "Oh…" Standing in front of it he took a long look at his reflection and sighed turning this way and that, "getting a little worn around the edges," he tugged the fraying lapels of his deep green coat, pulling aside the hem at the knee to fruitlessly wipe away some dry dirt on his wrinkled trousers before bending and retying a pair of faded Army issue boots. Once done he ran fingers through messy short curls that fell over his forehead. Another sigh escape his lips. "Not great, but it will do…for…" His eyes widened seeing another reflection, thinking it was a sign of his ever-growing fatigue, the Doctor looked behind him, faced the mirror again and blinked a couple of times. The second person in the mirror didn't go away; in fact…they were smiling at him.
"Hello?" The image in the glass grinned even more. "You look like my Amelia. Are you family?" The reflection shrugged and made a So-So gesture. "But you know her or…" His brows furrowed working it out, "You know of her." The image's green eyes lit up, they gave him a thumbs up and a wink. "It's you, isn't it? The one who braved the Void and risked his life and sanity to save the multiverse. " The Time Lord bowed his head in respect, "It's an honour to meet you, Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic bowed his head in return and then folded his arms with a raised brow in question. The Doctor smiled, "I'm looking for a book. Do you know where it's hidden?" Sonic stopped tapping his foot at the word 'book'; wordlessly he pointed towards the throne and mimed dragging something along the floor. The Doctor nodded in understanding. "Ah… I see." Following Sonic's directions he made his way over to the decorated chair, knelt and reached under the gap between the feet and pulled. "A hidden drawer. Nicely done, hedgehog." He picked up the ancient novel and, clutching it to his chest, swiftly moved to the double doors. Before he left he turned to the mirror again: the after image of Sonic was standing right up against the glass, one hand on the surface and a haunted look in his eyes, "We'll find a way to save you, Sonic. This I promise as a Time Lord of Gallifrey." Sonic didn't look too convince but gave a shaky nod anyway, lowering his hand and slowly walking away into the depths of the mirror. The Doctor nodded to himself, pulled the doors open and…
"INCOMING!"
…Ducked as an Egg-Knight head whizzed past, sparks flying from the neck. The corridor was littered with many fallen bodies that fizzed at the joints. In the midst of the tangled and twisted metal Amelia brought down a large wooden mallet; it caught an advancing EK in the chest, punching a hole right through and sending it to the floor with an electrical gurgle. Once the coast was clear she stepped back, the hammer disappearing from her gloved hands in a cloud of golden glitter. Reaching into her back pocket she withdrew a large yellow gem stone and grinned into it.
"That's some jewel." Amelia started; fists raised but relaxed spying the Doctor who was grinning, "I guess we're two for two." He nodded to the book at his feet, he'd dropped it while avoiding losing his own head, the pages had fallen open revealing a chapter that wasn't there before. Curious, he lifted it up and quickly scanned its contents. "Oh…no. No-no-no…"
"Doctor? What's wrong?" Scrambling over the wrecked EK's to his side, her eyes widened at the new edition. "What the heck is that?"
The Doctor nibbled his lower lip-reading the foot-note, "That, Amelia is the real Nazo."
"But it's…"
The rest of her sentence was drowned out by the following announcement: "ALL AVAILABLE UNITS REPORT TO THE ASTERIODS SURFACE. THE DOCTOR AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS HAVE BEEN SPOTTED AT THE TEMPLE ENTRANCE. THEY MUST BE CAPTURED AT ALL COSTS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL…REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
The Doctor closed the book and shoved it under his arm. "Explanations will have to wait. We have other things to do. C'mon!" Taking her hand in his again they managed to sneak past patrolling EKs and return to the TARDIS with-out any further incidents. He pushed the book into her arms while he fished out the sonic, bringing the TARDIS back into the correct time-line. "C'mon, Miss. While everyone's going after the other me, and making a fracas of it, we can sneak on board the other TARDIS and…whatever." Opening the door he quickly ushered her inside and started pulling levers and flipping switches. "Any idea where the other TARDIS is on that rock?"
Amelia looked up from where she was; a thin wire in one hand and the Emerald in the other. "The Emerald will show us the way."
The Doctor looked uncertain, fingers poised over the hand-brake, "I hope you're right or this could get very messy."
A second later and the control room gave a final groan as the TARDIS materialised on the asteroid's surface. The Doctor glanced at the read-out and nodded, "Well…We're here."
Amelia glanced at the console, "Doctor I'm scared. What if…" She frowned at a strange noise. "Doctor!" She whispered, "I think…there's someone…at the door?"
The Doctor followed her gazed, shrugged and went back the fiddling with the console. The sound came again. Yep. Someone was definitely knocking on the TARDIS's doors. He huffed in annoyance, "Tell them to go away!"
"But…" The Doctor glared at her. She held her hands up in defeat. "OK, I'm going, I'm going." On the way to the entrance she wondered why the TARDIS brought them here and what had happened in the micro-second of landing to make her Doctor start acting like a right pain in the butt. With a sigh she pulled open the door, looked up and then gasped loudly in surprise.
Standing there, in a blue pin-striped suit and red trainers, with a silver briefcase at his feet and a slumbering pale blue hedgehog in his arms was the 10th Doctor. The two stared at each-other; brown meeting jade. The other Doctor took one look at Amelia, her simple attire of a red pinafore dress, white blouse, matching white tights and big red boots and knew this was the woman who had asked him for help, who had started it all. "Help me." He whispered.
Not really happy with it but so close to the end...Meh.
Need to get this done so Amelia can feature in a story I have planned for next year. Any-way R+R if you want and get your hankies ready…it's gonna be a tear-jerker!