A/N: Because I'm nice :D Don't expect a rapid update after this...

Chapter 4 – Time Catcher

GAME OVER

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Rose blinked, suddenly a whole lot more confused then she had been with this entire thing to begin with. She had a mother of a headache and yet all she could see were those words typed in gold prominent on a black background, stars flying towards her eyes like a very old version of an arcade game.

"Wha…what?" she said, reaching up to her eyes but instead was surprised to find she was wearing some kind of helmet. Aswell as that, her arms were confined too in something heavy and cold.

In a swift movement, she whipped off her helmet and blinked repeatedly, blurry surroundings starting to sharpen into distinct shapes.

There were people staring back at her, seated in a half circle around the black tilted Dentist-like chair she was sitting on, staring intently at something to her left.

"Hey…what's…?"

"S'okay, you can get disoriented on leaving the game," someone was saying from beside her – looked human besides the five eyes. Short black hair and striking green eyes with a fat, middle-aged-computer-geek like face. "Mind you, you still got one credit left, wanna go back in?"

"What the hell is goin' on?" she asked, severely confused.

"You were in a game," the man whispered, voice low as the spectators intently looked straight through her.

"…This is reality?" she asked dumbly. He nodded. "But…"

She looked up at the billboard across a wall of the huge theatre like room, seeing for the first time the name of the game, 'Time Catcher' and a giant cartoon picture of the Doctor looking forward into space, arms folded, back-to-back with a shadow of a human figure – a red question mark in its centre. 'You be the companion!'print declared under the picture. There was a small logo in the bottom right – a company named Жemnas.

Did that mean the Doctor was…just a figment of someone's imagination? Was he just a group of pixels? Was he no more than a character devised in the middle of the night on a piece of paper in someone's basement?

Man, she knew he was too damn perfect. She should have expected something like this. It was all a mighty bit too strange, meeting the perfect man and not even trying to get off with him.

"The Doctor?" she asked, fearing the worst. The man gave her a small, half-warm smile.

"He's really something isn't he? Anyone that goes in fall in love with him."

She tried to laugh with him, but she was far too shocked to actually take what he had said seriously. She began to undo herself from the tons of metal clad onto her entire body like a suit of armour; she felt more like a Cyberman.

If they even existed…or were another Жemnas creation.

"Thank you," she managed to say as she climbed out of the chair, glancing around the complex nervously. No one was watching her however; instead they were staring almost hypnotically at something behind her. Turning back she saw a giant cinema screen, split in two: one side for the Doctor, one side for Rose. In the top left of the Doctor's screen was a health bar, currently just a little off its peek.

Along the bottom was a list of items the Doctor had in his possession, currently four slips of paper, each with a letter written on. 'G', 'O', 'M' and 'R'. Her own screen just displayed the message she had first seen when she had woken up. But in the centre screen of the Doctor's was exactly what the Doctor was doing in-game that all these people seemed to be transfixed to.

She couldn't comprehend this. It couldn't be real.

"What happens to the game now I've left?" she asked in a low whisper, addressing the man she'd first met upon waking.

"It plays on until he solves the tasks, or unless you re-enter, then it reincorporates you," he answered, "if we tried to cut the game off it would damage the components."

"Oh. So…I can come back?"

He nodded. "Unless the game's already over, in which case you gotta wait your turn again."

"Okay, thank you."

She walked to the exit, her mind exploding with confusion.

As she stepped out of the door into a space age like arcade, she spotted a 3D plastic replica of the youthful, brown haired brown-eyed Doctor standing proudly with his sonic screwdriver clutched in one hand, his other hand brushing back through his hair. He always did that. She found it, frankly, bloody well sexy.

Okay, so she was in love with a group of pixels. Pixelphillia.

For just a second, amidst the hustle and bustle of game addicts wasting money on machines, she was alone in the room with this plastic incarnation of the man she loved.

She couldn't remember hardly anything of her life. Post-game amnesia? Either way, she'd have to work hard to find out who exactly she actually was, and where she had come from.

Unconsciously she reached out a hand to the plastic replica's, stroking it gently. Everything was so accurate. Every single detail of his hand was all on there.

"I know you're real," she whispered to the handsome plastic face of the Doctor, which unsurprisingly, did not respond. "I know you are."

The model didn't seem inclined to nod reassurance, so instead she let go of his hand, letting her own drop limply to her side.

So had no proof he did exist, no memories to guide her and no reassuring voice whispering in her ear. But she was fuelled by her love for him, envisioning exactly who he was. So, had everything that had happened from the Autons just been part of a bloody video game?

If so, what kind of person was she that wanted to spend an eternity in a video game with a man that didn't even exist? What was she trying to run away from? How long had she been in that video game? People had been watching her every step of the way? Was her life nothing but a lie?

No. The Doctor wouldn't do this to her. He couldn't be…imaginary.

She looked once more at the plastic model's beautiful brown eyes, smiling reassurance.

"I'll find you no matter what," she whispered.

Then fled.