"Now I know I'm dreaming…" The Doctor mutters bitterly. "Or having a one very nasty nightmare."

"I know what your thinking Doctor." The Master soon says as he ends his laughing, a smile remains on his face as he strokes his chin looking at his nemesis. "You're thinking that this my doing…that I brought you here to one of my 'deranged illusions'. Having fun with you one last time…or…that I haven't really left your mind at all. That a part of me is still inside you, en echo of my former self tormenting you till the day you die."

The Doctor's face twinges as he turns to look away from the smiling madman. The Master, lifts up his chin with pride as he notices the quirky Timelord's reaction to his comment and points to him in arrogance.

"Yes. You think that very thought…I'm still in your mind, playing games and trying to destroy you…to drive you utterly insane. Isn't that true, Doctor? Tell me I'm right!"

"YES!" The Doctor says forcefully as he turns back in anger. "End this, Master! I'm tired of trying of your stupid riddles and meaningless banter…END IT!"

The Infinite Guardian steps between the two and looks deep at the Doctor.

"He can't end it, Doctor. For he is not really here…this is not the Master, nor the left over of his essence inside your mind. When he left your body he took all that he was with him, but he also took some of your life-force in order to survive the transfer."

"Then why is he standing there and mocking me?" The Timelord shouts. "What does this have to do with my destiny?"

The Master now remains silent as he just stands there grinning at the Doctor, the Guardian circles around the Doctor again as he tries to help him understand the meaning of this path.

"The Master is just an example of who you may turn out to be. You feared, for a long time that you would end up like him. In fact you met yourself during your trial on Galifrey during your sixth self…is this not so?"

The Doctor nods hesitantly as the man continues to slowly pace around him.

"Yes…my final regeneration." The Doctor shamefully admits. "I was as perverse and corrupt as the Master himself, trying to put myself on trial for crimes against the laws of time. It would have very nearly ended my life…he…I…that thing I'm destined to become will try to destroy my previous selves."

"Complicated is it not, child of Galifrey." The guardian snickers as he stops in front of him.

"It is indeed." The Doctor stares back.

"Then you know that is the road you can only take. If you go to rebirth…you will not know which life you will be born into. A varied other species that will take you…but to be a Timelord…or as a Galifreian…no more. And since the path of the empty void will be a meaningless choice…you cannot go there either. The path of your true destiny is where you must ultimately go."

Sighing at the prospect of being as bad as his rival, the Doctor looks over and notices the Master has disappeared, but a faceless, dark clothed figure now stands in his place and waits for him.

"If I must…I will really miss being me. Strange that all my good deeds and morals would turn to bitterness and apathy in the end."

As the Doctor begins to take a few steps to the main lane ahead, a voice cries out from the distance behind him, one that has a familiar sound to the Doctor's ear.

"STOP! Don't take one more step…it's a trap!"

Even the Infinite Guardian was surprised by the man's voice and turned to look at him as he ran up to the both of them.

"This is my domain. Only I command others in here…who are you?" The Guardian says to the intruder.

The man finally stops running and gasps for breath. He is about the same height as the quirky Timelord, with close cut brown hair and young face, the man sports a leather jacket and a pair of jeans, a rather trendy look that looks more human in design.

"My god that was a long way…" The man says comically. "Have you ever thought about renting a motor car service or something? Cause if this is how you greet strangers, I have to tell you...its no wonder nobody travels here."

"Who are you?" The Guardian demands again at this joker.

"Me? I'm the Doctor!"

The Guardian looks back at the other Doctor as he now walks over and looks at the man claiming to be him. Both give a slight nod to one another and the leather clad Doctor points at the Guardian.

"And I'm here to tell you…WE are not going anywhere!"

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The Time Chamber is a flurry with action as the Timelords scurry about with various devices and checking computers along the walls of the room. The Lord President watches with Andrea and Megan as they notice a shift in color in the Doctor's body lying on the table.

"He's glowing…he's glowing red! What does that mean?" Andrea says anxiously.

"Something has entered his temporal stream…I think the machine is having some effect on his stability."

Megan runs over to one of the workers taking a quick gaze at the computer.

"What is going on? Is it really working?"

The young male Galifreian keeps working away on the various knobs and flickering lights as he tries to answer Megan's questions.

"There was a spike in the time flux, I think the Doctor is trying to focus his mind, the center call has been sent out."

"Center call?" Megan asks again.

"When a Timelord is in trouble…in need of help and there is no one else to aid him…he can send out a distress call with his mind."

The young man looks up at her and finishes the explanation.

"He's sending in reinforcements…his other selves."

Megan still doesn't have a clue as to what that means or what is happening, but from the man's serious tone and wide eye expression, it's something that must be very monumental to witness. Looking back at the Doctor on the table, his body continues to shift in color and still reflects the vortex spinning within him.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"What generation are you?" The red bearded Guardian asks.

"Eighth…although, if we're actually counting by lives…then I would be the Ninth." The familiar sounding Timelord replies.

"You are not supposed to be here." The robed man calmly states. "This is his decision and not yours."

"Poppycock!" The ninth Doctor refutes. "I've got just as much right to be here as he does…seeing how we are one and the same. Isn't that right my chubby cheeked friend?"

The leather jacket wearing Timelord looks at the latest version of himself and stares at him curiously.

"My god man…I've put on a lot of pounds. Still…the nose looks about the same."

The Doctor nods at his other self. "Yes…I noticed that too. Must be a flaw in the regenerative cycle. Wait a moment! I'm not chubby! Just very…well…healthy."

The ninth Doctor rolls his eyes and scoffs at that answer. He notices the dark figure standing in the pathway ahead and gawks at it with interested gaze.

"My word…is that supposed to be the last me? I'm so drab…"

"Well at least he's not dressed in leather." The Tenth Doctor snickers. "Its bad enough I'm having a crisis of the soul…but a crisis in my fashion choices is really too painful to re-live."

The man spins around at the others remark and points his finger at him bitterly.

"I'll have you know that this is much more presentable then the garb you've got on now. In fact, I'm much more in focus then you'll ever be!"

"Enough!" The Guardian screams with irritation. The two Doctor's quarreling is grating on his nerves as he watches them stare one another down. "Get to the point of your being here…I grow weary of this incessant chatter."

"Very well." The Ninth version of the Doctor utters. "I was summoned here."

"Summoned?" The Infinite Guardian scoffs sarcastically. "By whom?"

The Doctor points to his latest incarnation standing in front of him.

"By my cheeky friend here. Center signal and all you know…Timelords do tend to stick together…even amongst themselves."

The pompous smirk the two Doctors make causes the Guardian to scrunch his face in frustration. He can see the men both clearly have the same ego and the same annoying habit of acting like an arrogant brat. The red robed man slowly stepped towards them both and clasped his hands together as he tried to calm himself.

"I see…" He breathes out as he thinks about the situation. "So you would call upon previous forms to fight for your survival? Futile Doctor…very, very futile. Drawing in the others of yourself will only speed your energy level to its bitter end."

"Then I will fight you…" The Ninth version says defiantly, giving a slight glance to his other self. "I mean…WE will fight you. All of me…us…whatever…well you get the idea."

The Guardian shakes his head negatively for a second and then gives out a boisterous laugh. Walking away from the two men looking confused at his reaction, he continues to chuckle away as he stands in the middle of the four way road and turns his head to view them again.

"Truly Doctor…you are the most stubborn Timelord I've ever come across. But you fail to simply grasp the one fundamental concept in this place."

"And that is?" The Tenth Doctor inquires.

Turning back to face them, the Infinite Guardian loses his smile and gives a serious gaze.

"I rule here."

With one quick pass of his hand, he sends the Ninth Doctor away as the man gives a quick scream and blinks out of sight. The Tenth Doctor gasps in horror as the shocking quick demise of his former self sends a chill through his body.

"Fight me all you want Timelord…it won't change a thing. Death is here for you."

The Doctor stares up at the man who slowly begins to grin and gives another deep booming laugh as he points over to the darkly dressed man fading in the background.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Twitching on the table in convulsions, the Doctor's body begins to fluctuate violently as the Timelords and his two companions look on. The energy beam begins to create a spectrum of various colors as the machine overhead tries to control his life force. The Lord President of Galifrey rushes over to the computer operators as they frantically try to correct the problem.

"What's happening?" The President demands.

"Feedback my Lord President." The busy young man replies. "There is a surge coming back through as if it is trying to re-direct the beam back to us."

"What?" Megan gasps as she quickly joins in the conversation. "Is that possible?"

"No." The young man says in frustration. "I don't understand how this could happen…there shouldn't be any feedback whatsoever."

Andrea kneels to the ground in desperation as tears roll down her cheeks, seeing her friend in such pain is overwhelming and frightening to witness, she folds her hands together and brings them up to her lips as she cradles back and forth.

"No…no Doctor...don't give up! Please…please…please…fight it!"

Megan also finds the whole experience too much to bear and pounds on the console in anger at the two men.

"For god's sake…fix it! Turn it off…do something!"

The President grabs the over emotional woman and shouts at her.

"We are! We are trying! Grab hold of yourself child!"

The man then turns back to the operator and leans down to his face.

"Turn it off…"

"We can't my Lord."

"Why can't you damnit?"

The young man stares directly at him. "Power is at maximum…and too dangerous to switch off now. He'll die if we attempt that!"

"Then reverse the polarity and feed the energy back into him." The President demands again.

"We can't do that either!" The young Timelord screams.

"Why! Why bloody hell can't you!"

"A re-direction will pump not only him with too much energy, but it will flood this entire room and the whole of Galifrey if we do. Sir, we'll not only kill just him, but all of us as well."

Megan puts her hands over her face as she weeps in terror for the poor Doctor. The President looks over and sees his body shaking continuing to get worst. Struggling to think of what to do next. The leader of the Timelord planet balls his fist in anger for what he is forced to command next.

"Turn it off."

"Sir?" The young man gasps.

"I said turn it off. If it means the safety of Galifrey and the universe at large…then the Doctor must DIE!"