Rose and Eleven are trying to track down a shapeshifting species unfortunately, they just so happened to land on Halloween...


"So where are we exactly?" Rose asked, looking about herself upon stepping out of the TARDIS onto a suspiciously average street.

There didn't look to be any kind of emergency to her but that's what the TARDIS had told them upon returning from their trip to the Victorian era. She was still dressed for the occasion, not having had time to change as they ran from one adventure to the next. Once she may have worried about standing out but she'd been travelling for decades now and it wasn't as if she dressed up for alien planets most of the time. And of course, the Doctor never changed from his staples so she'd long since stopped worrying about it, dressing up only as she saw fit.

"Glasgow!" The Doctor chirped as he stepped out of the TARDIS in all his tweed-wearing glory already spinning about as he waved a device he'd cobbled together through the air, floppy brown hair falling into his eyes with the motion. "Shame we couldn't bring Amy."

The Ponds were at home with their infant daughter Melody trying to recover from the trauma of Madame Kavarian. The time travellers visited every now and again, more frequently for the Ponds in their timeline than it was for them. They'd been named godparents of the little girl and they were unfortunately smitten. Between Sunday lunches with all their friends - or as many that could make it that week - at Sarah-Jane's and godparent duties at the Ponds they'd spent more time on Earth in the last decade than they had in the nearly century that they'd been travelling together.

Rose turned to frown at her husband in confusion, "Amy's not from Glasgow."

The Doctor shrugged dismissively, "Well it's still Scotland."

"No, that's like saying Kent is the same as London." Rose scowled.

"It's still just one tiny corner of one island, on one little planet, in one solar system in a whole universe of places! In the grand scheme of things they're close enough."

Okay yeah, he had a point there. She knew Amy wouldn't take kindly to the implication of Inverness and Glasgow being the same thing. But it wasn't as if they generally learnt the geopolitics of alien planets so Rose supposed she couldn't fault the Doctor there.

"Fair enough." Rose conceded. "What are we looking for again?"

"Ikiri. A known invasive species on seventeen planets, highly adaptable to most all environments they find themselves in, they out-compete the local inhabitants nine out of ten times. The TARDIS picked up a trace of them here which if true, could be bad news."

"What sort of invasive species? What are they likely to replace here on Earth?" She still couldn't see anything but perhaps knowing what they may replace would help her know what they looked like or at least what to be wary of.

"Generally bigger predators. Bears maybe." The Doctor answered distractedly, still spinning and weaving around as he tried to get a signal.

Rose frowned at her husband once more. While she wasn't sure exactly when they'd landed, she knew it was near enough to the Pond's time based on the cars lining the street to take issue with that comment.

"Scotland doesn't have bears anymore."

"What? Since when?" The Doctor asked now frowning at his device. Whether it was because of the readings he was receiving or because of the lack of bears in Scotland, she didn't know.

"I don't know. Probably around the same time they got rid of wolves."

"Humans," The Doctor scoffed, "I don't know why I'm even bothering with the Ikiri, might be good for you lot."

"Oi! Not my lot, this was well before I was born."

Rose had more than come to terms with the fact that she wasn't entirely human now thanks to Bad Wolf, often felt a little detached from the people of her own time period as she was there so rarely but none of that changed the fact that she was human at her core and her husband occasionally needed the reminder.

The Doctor made a non-commital noise in response, still distracted by his readings or lack thereof by the looks of it. Rose huffed, hands coming to rest on her hips startled for a moment by the presence of her corset before she remembered why it was there. Honestly, she probably could have changed with how non-urgent this was turning out to be. Turning away from her husband she looked around them at the street again. There was still nothing in sight, maybe a handful of people a few streets away but that wasn't surprising. She was well accustomed to the TARDIS' poor navigation and inconvenient landing spots by now even when the ship insisted it was an emergency. Fickle old girl.

"What are we even looking for?" She asked when she grew tired of standing around, so much for an emergency.

"Not sure, they're shapeshifters so they could look like anything but just slightly off. But they emit a certain chemical that we can pick up with this." He wiggled the device in demonstration.

Rose's shoulders slumped, "We don't know what they look like?"

Because really she should have figured that out when the Doctor was being vague but it was still irritating to learn. Couldn't the TARDIS have given them some help for this supposed emergency that needed dealing with right this second, regardless of the fact that she was a time machine.

"Well, they'll be eating the local inhabitants so look for creatures covered in blood that look a little odd. They won't be able to mimic other organisms completely faithfully."

Rose shook her head in exasperation before her attention was captured by the handful of people getting closer. Her hands fell away from her hips as the reality dawned on her. Wasn't that just bloody typical? Well, at least she wouldn't have to worry about standing out now.

"Doctor what's the date?" She asked tiredly.

The Doctor looked up from his device with a frown, "I don't know mid-autumn, why's that relevant?"

Rose turned towards him with a stony expression, "It's Halloween." She gestured to the approaching trick-or-treaters.

The Doctor turned to look to where she'd gestured his own expression falling away at the sight.

"Oh bother."

Odd-looking creatures covered in blood, indeed.


A/N: The bears bit is based off an actual conversation I had with an American friend that was worried about dangerous wildlife, like bears. Anyway was thinking about how Jodie had every other kind of special except christmas before deciding that halloween and new years special are perhaps more fitting for a show like dw particularly halloween. Think of the potential of aliens - particularly shapeshifters - hiding in place sight on halloween ohhh... and thus this happened

Lemme know your thoughts in the comments, they make my day :)