Chapter 2
Pollybia and the Doctor dashed out of the room, that's when Pollybia smashed into a railing and fell down. "Pollybia!" The Doctor peered down, but he couldn't see her. He looked around. There were two directions he could go, straight would lead him down the cliff with Pollybia, and the fact was he doubted he'd be able to find his way through the labyrinth.
He started down the left path anyway. He had just turned the corner when he heard a noise behind him. He turned around. No one was there, but there was still a noise. He peered around the corner. "Hello?"
A very familiar person looked toward him. "Doctor?"
"The Corsair." The Doctor breathed. "Wait, you're Corsair. The actual Corsair?" Something was wrong of course. He knew it in the back of his mind because the Corsair still had the same appearance as the last time he saw them, and logically the Corsair should've regenerated by now.
"Well of course it's me. Now where are we? And why can't I find Gallifrey? I've been looking for it everywhere."
"Oh. Oh you don't know." The Doctor stepped back a little, no longer focusing on the Corsair.
"Don't know what?" The Doctor looked up. That's when the Corsair got shot, and disappeared.
"EXSTERMINATE!" A dalek had been behind them. "EXSTERMINATE!"
The Doctor spun around and ran for it, the dalek following and firing off shots. He was so busy running he didn't even pay attention to the turns he was making. Then he reached a door. He opened it and dashed inside, only to smash into someone on the other side. They both hit the ground and that's when the Doctor noticed who it was. "Clara!"
"EXSTERMINATE!" The dalek shouted.
Clara kicked the door shut. "How did you get here Clara?" the Doctor asked.
"You didn't show up. I looked into my own ways to travel."
"What? That's impossible. I have a time machine I could come get you anytime."
"Well you didn't, and I thought you might be in trouble. But apparently you're just tired of traveling with me." Clara got up and headed for an exit on the other side of the room.
"Clara wait!" The Doctor called out. That's when a theory popped into his head, one that might explain what was going on. "Did you make something that can actually travel through time?"
Clara shrugged. "Don't know, I haven't actually tried time travel yet, just place travel."
"But even if it doesn't travel through time, to build a device that can take you into a video game would take a lot of time. And you haven't aged at all." The Doctor told her. "And Corsair didn't look different either, and you're both acting a bit off."
"EXSTERMINATE!"
The Doctor turned to face the door. "And there is no way, a dalek could get in here."
"What are you trying to say here Doctor?" Clara asked.
"That none of this has been real. It's all an allusion."
"I am real." Clara insisted.
"Well we'll see about that." The Doctor took out his screw driver. "This effects technology. In theory everything part of this game should turn to coding when I turn it on." And then that's what he did. Sure enough, everything in the room turned to coding, but Clara's was weaker than everything else and it soon fizzled out entirely. He turned off his screw driver. Clara was no longer there and he could no longer hear the dalek on the other side of the door. The Doctor let out a huge sigh and leaned against the door. Allusions or no, that was not one of his happier experiences.
The Doctor walked through the halls. He still had no idea where he was.
He passed a room with an open door, only to backtrack to it again. There was a fez inside, sitting on a little stand like the ones they used for trophies. He walked into the room and looked around. That was the only thing in the room. "Okay!" He called out. "I know this is an allusion!"
There was a slow clapping from behind the stand. Then Pollybia came out from behind it. She was small enough she could be back there without being seen. "Oh good job Doctor. But what are you going to do now?"
"You." The Doctor breathed. "You're the one who's been casting the allusions?!"
"Yes of course. I allusions myself too, so no one sees the glitching." Pollybia hopped up onto a table that hadn't been there a moment before. "I must say you're fairly easy to work with. Poor Doctor, the last of his kind in the entire universe." She gave a sly smile then. "Of course we both know whose fault that is."
"How, how did you know about that?"
"I collect data on people. Usually the data comes in once they've touched the game, but in your case I just grabbed you directly." The Doctor looked down at his sleeve where she had touched him. "And let me tell you Doctor, I had time to collect a lot on you. Including, your name. I could destroy the entire universe right now."
"You'd die too." The Doctor pointed out. "And you're a game character. What could you possibly have to gain from destroying the universe?"
Pollybia shrugged. "Just the way I'm programmed Doctor. The only way I can ever feel anywhere near happy is when others feel . . . negative emotions. Usually I go with fear but, with a weakness like Gallifray to go off, well, I had to give it a try. If I destroyed the universe I'd die, but I'd die happy, which I don't think is going to happen any other way."
For a moment the Doctor was worried, because he didn't have a clue what to do next and Pollybia wouldn't wait long before just spouting off his name. Then he realized something and gave a sly smile of his own.
"What?" Pollybia questioned. She was no longer standing on the table.
"If you're only happy when others are miserable, then it must work in reverse." The Doctor said. "That's why we saw you glitch, even when you claim you can use allusions to cover it up."
"Liar!" Pollybia shouted.
"Then why'd the table disappear when I stopped panicking?"
Pollybia spun around to where the table used to be. She turned back to him. "You can't make yourself happy, not enough to stop me. Your life's been misery."
"But not all of it." Then the Doctor proceeded to think of as many happy things as he could. It wasn't the easiest thing, but not as impossible and Pollybia seemed convinced it was.
"Stop it!" She shouted. Then she visibly started glitching. "S1op –t!"
"Thank you for the lovely evening." The Doctor backed away. "Now you won't mind if I show myself out." With that he left the room, shutting the door on her.
"Well where's the Doctor?!" Aggie demanded, glaring at Virro.
"I don't know, honest." Virro put his hand to his heart. "Look, Pollybia will get him here, I promise."
Aggie narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not sure what's going on here, but believe me, I'm only staying near you to find out."
So the 2 waited, and waited. Aggie sat on the railing and kicked her legs. There was more maze below her and a space ship, probably for Paul, above, but no sign of the Doctor.
Then a buzzing came from the wall. "Just a moment." Virro told her. He pressed the button on the wall. "What? Little busy here." He whispered.
Aggie leaned forward a bit, straining to hear the answer.
"Virro, I can't do it." Pollybia panted on the other end. "The Doctor's figured out my weakness, and he has a lot more happy memories than I realized. I need you to do something about him."
"Like what?" Virro wanted to know.
"I don't know, get . . . creative." Virro knew what she meant about 'creative', and so did Aggie. She leapt off the railing and ran off. She missed Pollybia adding, "I'll take care of Aggie."
Aggie ran through the halls of the maze "DOCTOR!" She shouted as loudly as she could. She had been quiet at first, but when it was clear Virro wasn't coming after her she'd gotten loud again. "Doctor you're in danger!"
That's when someone jumped on her and she toppled to the ground. Aggie let out a shriek and kicked the person. Aggie wasn't the strongest person around, but apparently in this situation it was enough. The person fell off her and Aggie saw who it was. "Pollybia." Pollybia got back up. Aggie's eyes widened at the smile she had. "Oh. Oh that's not a good sign." She started backing up, still on the ground.
"I must say Aggie, you have a very standard fear." Pollybia stated. "You're afraid of being alone."
Aggie moved her head back, but that's when the ground disappeared. She let out a scream as she fell down, landing in what looked like a prison cell. For the most part it was black, except for the light coming in the barred window. And Pollybia was right, she was alone and she hated it. Her breathing started getting heavier. Then she made the mistake of setting her hand down without checking again. It touched something wet and sticky. Aggie screamed and drew her hand up. She looked at what it had touched. Words, written in blood. She'd smeared them, but there were more next to it. They all said something along the lines of 'kill Aggie' or 'die.'
Aggie finally got to her feet and ran towards the prison door. For some odd reason it was unlocked, and that should've raised a white flag. As soon as she opened the door something in the back of the cell shifted. It was too dark to figure out what it was, but it was a big monsterous shape, and it was growling. Aggie spun out of the cell, slamming the door behind her.
She was back out in the maze, only the railings had gotten taller so they were more like traditional stone maze walls. She ran off down the path, not caring. As soon as she had turned a corner she heard the door come flying off and roar. The creature was loose in the maze with her. Aggie screamed, then covered her mouth. She couldn't scream, or it would hear her.
Aggie kept moving, but she could hear the creature getting closer and closer and she was getting more and more panicked. "Doctor! Doctor please help me!" She finally called out. She whipped around a corner and there was the Doctor, head towards his knees so she could only see his hair. She didn't care though. "Doctor!" She reached out and grabbed his arm. That's when she saw his hand was a skeleton hand. The head lifted up to reveal nothing but skull. Aggie let go and screamed again. She bumped into the opposite wall and dropped down, barrying her own head in her lap, and started crying.
She heard someone else doing so too and lifted her head. The Doctor's body was gone. Pollybia was there now. She lifted her head up. "Oh I do like imitating other people's cries. Not sure why, but it is satisfying." Then she pulled out a knife.
Aggie eyes widened as more of them, all looking exactly the same, appeared out of nowhere and came flying towards her. Aggie put her hands up to her face. All the knives disappeared except one, which clattered to the ground beside her.
"Only real one in the bunch." Pollybia informed her.
"Then why didn't you kill me with it?" Aggie breathed.
Pollybia laughed. "Why would I want to kill you when your misery brings me so much joy? No, I'm going to keep you here forever, alone. No I won't let anyone else see you. And every once and a while I'll set up another allusion to send you running through the maze."
Aggie stared to Pollybia in horror. Then her gaze drifted towards the knife. "No. I won't let you."
"I'm sorry what?"
Aggie stooped lower and picked up the knife. "Good bye Pollybia." She said.
"No!" Pollybia cried, realizing what she was going to do.
BANG!
"What have you done?!" Pollybia demanded, standing over Aggie. "You killed her!"
"I-isn't that what you wanted?" Virro questioned.
"No! I wanted her to live! At least I think so, but either way it looks like you saved her that effort!"
"Oh. I thought, with the knife, she was attacking you."
Pollybia face palmed. Virro had shot Aggie in the head. "It missed her brain, she's still alive. Shame there's no way to keep her alive. Only game characters can come back." She seemed to realize what she'd just said. "Oh."
The Doctor ran through the maze, getting considerably lost. Virro had never found him, but he hadn't been able to find Aggie either. He rounded a corner and smashed into some very familiar people. He, Felix, Calhoun, and Vanellope all fell down on impact. "You 3!" The Doctor shouted. "You're alright!"
"No, we're not alright!" Vanellope argued. "Because Ralph's not! He's being the bad guy!" She started to cry. "He's gone."
"No, he's being controlled by Paul." The Doctor corrected.
"Yes he is." They all turned around to see Paul standing in the hallway, Ralph behind him.
Calhoun raised her gun and shot Paul. "What?" She asked when she saw the look the Doctor was giving her. "It's his game, he'll regenerate." Sure enough Paul was coming back. Calhoun put her gun against his head. "I wouldn't try anything if I were you."
Ralph meanwhile rubbed his eyes and looked around. "Umm, how did we get out of the dinning room?"
"Ralph!" Vanellope cried. "You're alright!" She glitched up to hug him.
"Okay . . . what happened?"
"This guy here hypnotized you apparently." Calhoun summed up, pointing her gun closer to Paul.
The Doctor dropped down to Paul. "So, where's Aggie?"
Paul shook his head. "No idea. Probably still with Virro."
The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver. "What's that?" Vanellope asked.
"My screwdriver. I need to keep this guy busy while I look for Aggie, this should do the trick." He turned his screwdriver on. Everyone in the room burst into coding. He plunked his screwdriver into Paul's helmet then shut it. Everything in the room except Paul settled back down to normal. "Right then." The Doctor stood up. "You can go back to your games now."
"Oh no sir. We're going to help you find Aggie." Felix argued.
They did indeed find Aggie, in the code room. Virro was guarding the open entrance, holding Pollybia's rope, but Calhoun just shot him too. "Tie him up." She ordered the other 3.
The Doctor raced past them and used a rope of his own to enter the code room. There he saw Aggie, shame she had a hole on the side of her head and was unconscious if not dead. "No! Aggie." He gave himself enough slack to end up next to her. "No, you can't be dead. This . . . it's not even possible."
"I don't know why you're so upset about this." The Doctor turned around at the familiar voice. "It's not like it hasn't happened before, and you didn't even know Aggie that long." Standing there without need of a rope talking to her was Amelia Pond, but not her usual self. This was the Amelia who'd waited a second time and no longer existed.
"I know you're an allusion." He told her.
She shrugged. "Pollybia's always been bad at aging people, game characters don't age after all."
"Well you can tell Pollybia it doesn't matter if she brings you, or any other companion I've ever had, it's not going to work again."
"Oh? Tell me raggedy man," She leaned down so they eye level, "If it's not going to work, why are you backing up?"
The Doctor looked down to see he had indeed loosened his grip on the rope was drifted backwards. He let go completely, mostly in surprise. He fell backwards much faster than, until he bumped into something. Or someone was more appropriate. "Aggie." At that, Amy disappeared and Pollybia popped up. "And here I thought you'd killed her. Another allusion I suppose."
"No, Aggie's really dead." Pollybia growled. "That one's a game character." The Doctor looked up. There was a box above the uninjured Aggie that had a loading sign on it. "Her memories and appearance are being uploaded, but the real Aggie's dead!"
The Doctor was worried about this for a moment, but only a moment. He gave a sly smile.
"Oh now what is it?" Pollybia groaned.
"You're wrong, she is the real Aggie. I have several reasons to believe it, and an even better one, on why I should take her with me." He grabbed the loading Aggie and drifted over to Pollybia's character box, touching it to open it.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Pollybia questioned. She was clearly worried, but she was too far away to do anything.
The Doctor laughed. "Well you're right Pollybia, your emotions do depend on other people's. But you can only pick up emotions from people in your game or playing it. Not surprising really. If you could pick up emotions in the entire arcade you'd be drowned out by how happy everyone is around here. So let's just extend your range. . ." And with that he expanded it to include the whole arcade.
Pollybia gave a scream and put her hands to her ears. At least she tried to, she had started glitching so heavily it was almost impossible to move. Then her coding burst away entirely, bouncing around the room. Of course if enough people were unhappy she'd recover, but the Doctor wasn't sticking around long enough for that to happen. He went back to his TARDIS with a still unconscious Aggie. There was something that had to be done.