A/N: Sorry for the delay. Crazy things have been happening.
Disclaimer: I'm sure you know who's mine and who isn't.

Rose immediately pounced on the Doctor again, snapping her fingers in front of his face and pleading him to talk with her. He didn't respond. Nor did any of the others.

"What was that roll for?" She demanded, turning to each of the boys.

"Initiative." Replied Greg, shortly, on his knees and riffling through a large pile of paper. "That means they're finding out who goes first in a fight."

This statement brought chaos. Rose demanding more information about the game and two of the boys demanding to know what their friends were fighting, and which adventure it was filled the small space with clamour, until one by one, they all noticed the change in the sphere. Instead of a glowing lemony yellow, it now appeared to be a gargantuan soap bubble, clear but glistening with oily rainbows. It was darker inside than it was out, and the four tiny figures inside were stood on a flat floor, littered with slivery puddles. Gaping, Rose knelt.

"That's them!" She gasped. "But look, their hair! Their clothes..."

"That's their characters," Rob told her. "They really are inside the game!"

"Oh, my god, he's got a tame hawk! Whose character is he?"

"Mine," Jimmy told her. "Want me to tell you about him while Greg figures out which adventure they're in?"

Rose considered it for a second. He wasn't patronising her, which was her first thought. He was being genuinely nice. He seemed understanding, too. She smiled at him.

"Thanks. I just wanna know what they're about to fight, first."

"Trogs." Reported Robbie from his place peering into the sphere.

"What?" Confused as Rose was, the three boys were all heaving sighs of relief. She too stooped to look into the bubble and saw five or six ugly lizard like creatures creeping up on the characters.

"Trogolodytes," Greg explained. "Very weak, very stupid, smell terrible. The only thing they have going for them is a chance to attack while their enemies retch because of the stench."

"Why're they attacking?" Rose asked. "This lot haven't done anything to provoke them."

"Cuz they're so blood thirsty, and love the taste of human flesh."

"Two of them are elves." Robbie pointed out.

"Yeah, but Trogs are stupid." Jimmy reminded him, as Rose flapped her hands for quiet, and in the bubble weapons were drawn.

They'd worked out they were stuck in the game, and guessed it had something to do with the sphere. What was to be done about it, however, was a subject of much debate. Tim abruptly ended the bickering by drawing their attention to a more pressing matter.

"What's that smell?" He asked suddenly, sniffing deeply and nearly retching. The others reacted similarly, and Hideoshi managed to choke out:

"Trogolodytes!" Before they all heard the hissing behind them.

Spinning to face the source of the noise, they drew weapons, and with a grunt, Khan swung one of his axes at the nearest attacker. He caught it across the stomach, and bleeding horribly, it staggered back hissing evilly. Another rushed at Kohl, but she dodged to one side and instinctively lashed out with a boot as it stumbled. As her kick landed squarely on the thing's ribcage, and it tried to remain upright, she seemed to remember she was carrying a sword and stabbed at it, but managed only a graze. Hideoshi and Khan had made short work of four opponents, and Tim had dropped another with his sling. One by one, they turned and watched as she ducked past the remaining Trogolodyte's next attack and plunged her rapier into it's chest, nearly to the hilt. She froze for a second, eyes wide, as sticky, pungent liquid gushed from the wound, then yanked back sharply, pulling the sword out and letting her enemy hit the floor. Numbly, she turned to face the others.

"Is it still a game if we kill them?"

In the living room, they'd found that if they placed something with a speaker under the bubble, they could hear what was going on. Currently, Robbie was working on the theory that if they placed a microphone there too, they might be able to communicate with the inside of the bubble. Greg had found an adventure that started with a Trog fight, and was slowly amassing more paper as he worked his way through it, trying to calculate every eventuality. Rose and Jimmy were deep in conversation as he explained everything he knew about the game, and his character, and the others characters.

"What does 'chaotic neutral' mean?" She asked, having briefly peered at Genie's sheet.

"Mean's she isn't quite a good guy, but isn't a bad guy either," Jimmy started, then clarified: "She's loyal enough, especially if she's getting paid, but she'll steal, fight, even kill for a good reason without losing any sleep. Why'd you ask about her specifically?"

Rose told him what the girl had said after stabbing the Trogolodyte.

"Well that's weird," Greg interjected, looking up from his papers. "She killed a man out of spite once, because he'd left her in a magic bubble until…."

"No she didn't." Robbie was sorting through various wires and cables, and didn't look up.

"Yeah, she did, it was when…" Greg began again, but was again interrupted by his friend.

"Kohl did. Genie won't even let me kill spiders."

There was a pause as they all digested this thought.

"So…" Rose hopefully tried a new theory. "They're only physically their characters? Their minds are still the same?"

"It would… seem that way, unless…" Greg paused. "Maybe they get more like their characters as they go along."