Doctor and Assistant, Chap. 23
Chapter 23: 3 Lives But 2 Hearts
/the Doctor\\
A sudden jolt grabbed him from his surprisingly deep sleep, beginning to sit up before freezing, as he felt something in his arms. And, when he looked down, he saw his beautiful assistant asleep next to him.
Realizing his mistake, he simply laid back down and cradled her closer against him. She exhaled softly, curling around him.
His hearts exploded at the sight of her. She was absolutely beautiful. He kissed her cheek and shut his eyes, although he knew sleep wouldn't come. Derpy smiled in her sleep, draping her arm over his stomach and burying her face in his chest.
/Lilly\\
Lilly yawned, her head finally hitting her pillow, when it began buzzing.
She paused. "Rachel, are you doing this?" she asked quietly.
"No."
"Then what is this?"
"...Sugar rush?"
"At 4 A.M.?"
Rachel paused. "Still. Never know."
Lilly groaned, stepping out of her bed. "Might as well check it out."
"I wouldn't," Rachel said quickly, appearing and blocking her door.
"Why? I can't get this out of my head and I need to see and comprehend the cause for it to stop. That's what I've been doing, anyways."
She began stammering. "See, see, er, Lilly, um, see, it's coming from the Doctor and Derpy's room, and, and..."
Lilly paled, grabbing her phone and earbuds and sitting back on her bed. "...I see."
"Yeah," Rachel exhaled, now sitting on the edge of her bed.
A thought hit Lilly, and she tried her best to contain her laughter. "Rachel, I'm hoping you didn't watch. You can break every dimensional law and I'm hoping, praying that you didn't teleport inside while still invisible."
Rachel paled and nervously wrung her fingers together.
Lilly gasped out of disbelief. "No you did not!" she giggled.
"I tried my best, I swear! I didn't mean to!"
Lilly laughed sincerely, wiping away a tear. "Oh, this is priceless, absolutely bloody priceless!"
Rachel laughed embarrassedly. "Sure - it is to you."
"Oi, loosen up!" Lilly grinned. "Just don't make a habit of watching people do... that. Then it'd be weird."
"Correction: weirder."
Lilly laughed again before hitting "play" and listening to her music.
/Scarlet\\
Scarlet flew down the TARDIS hallway thinking broodingly on one sole fact:
She had betrayed Derpy and the Doctor.
It hadn't hit her fully until now, now, as she somewhat romped through the TARDIS. She had worked for the Master the entire time. Derpy was only a target because the Master needed the Doctor. Caraphernelia was only killed so the Doctor would surrender.
But laughter pulled her out of her 4 A.M. brood when she passed Lilly's bedroom. Pausing before knocking, Scarlet walked inside.
Lilly hardly noticed her come on because she was so wrapped up in her phone, but when she waves her arms around hurriedly she looked up.
"Oh, hey!" Lilly smiled, patting a spot on the edge of her bed. "What's up?"
Scarlet realized Lilly wanted her to s it, and upon doing so she asked what the Master had wanted her to ask.
"What have I missed?"
/Lilly\\
"Oh, it was somewhat fairly active. After you died - or, whatever you did - Hydran's family died. He then turned good, and now he travels with us. Derpy and the Doctor got to see some sights yesterday on their date but were confronted by witches, you walked in on my semi-birthday party, and we saved Earth from burning due to solar energy."
"Oh, 'somewhat fairly active', I see," Scarlet murmured.
Lilly giggled, but it was soon cut short. "There's one thing I can't wrap my head around, though. The same name has been repeated now over and over again, and it fazes the Doctor every time." She paused. "Who's 'the Master'?"
Scarlet frozen completely. "Don't know," she shrugged in a try to play it cool, flying away.
/the Doctor\\
After they had both showered and redressed, the Doctor sat on the ground in front of the bed and pulled his psychic paper out of his inside breast pocket.
"Mmm," he murmured thoughtfully at the writings. "Derpy, dear, come take a look at this."
His assistant perched herself on the top of the bed. "Yeah?"
"Someone's sending me mail," he grinned widely. "Oh, how exciting! This is new, oh yes, this is new!"
"Doctor, you're adorable when you're excited, but you're also crazy. Have you always been like this?"
He laughed. "Of course! You never change - unless you regenerate."
Derpy grabbed the psychic paper. "It's from Jordan."
"'Jordan'?"
"Jordan, age: 13. Resides in 'Pennsylvania'?"
The Doctor took the psychic paper from her and studied the fluorescent light blue letters.
"I could be wrong. Read it aloud. I can't read," Derpy suggested to remind him.
The Time Lord cleared his throat. "'They're gone. All of them. In a flash. They picked up a controller and then disappeared without a trace. No body. No evidence. And the only reason in saying this, is because'... She's stopped writing. And you were right about the name, age and location. It's on the top corner. Oh! Will you look at that, Derpy, she's written. 'Because I've played it too. We need help. All of us. Every single one.'"
The words died away into darkness, fading into black. Derpy paused before speaking. "Alright. I suppose we got an agenda for today?"
"Allons-y, mon amour," the Doctor grinned, kissing her cheek and running out of the room with his hand clasped in hers.
/(NEW!)Jordan\\
Jordan collapsed against her bed in a fit of anxious anger. How could she be so stupid?! Her mother told her not to play it!
Her television was on and blaring the news channels she hated with a burning passion, but she listened to the anchor tell his story.
"Hello and good morning, viewers. Today is December 27, 2014. It's 33°F in our area and it's currently 9:37 A.M. Our first story for today: one sole abductor or serial-suicides? Another person goes missing as the search for the truth becomes of a greater and fiercer need. Over to our anchor, Samuel Willis, who has the story. Good morning to you."
"Why, yes, hello, and thank you. Good morning to you too. I'm standing outside of our 19th victim's house. No one is home so no family interviews were filmed, but I did get some word on who this victim was and how he acted before this terrible tragedy.
"A friend of the victim tearfully says 'he was the most caring and nerdy of us all. He loved video games so much he would skip school to buy or play one, and he didn't care about the suspensions he had gotten in school from it because he'd be home and able to play. He went to every event, every cosplay, and if there was a chance to LARP he'd be there in a flash with a well-thought costume. He was our role model.' Alan Murphy, 17 years old, disappeared from his home this morning at an unknown time. Our only lead was an opened box with a missing disc, that when found read Soul Rider. If you know anything about Alan or the game, please feel free to..."
Jordan tuned them out from that point. Nothing mattered. Not anymore. She would go missing by the next 24 hours, never to be seen from again.
And she didn't even mean to play the game. The TV started it up, and she hadn't. Then she was drawn in.
/the Doctor\\
The TARDIS materialized inside of a living room, the gusts of wind the time machine had created making a large mess.
"Is this the right house?" Hydran asked.
"The psychic paper never lies," he grinned. "Jordan! Don't be alarmed! We are here to help!" he then shouted.
Lilly hummed a song the Doctor didn't know, walking upstairs into the second floor to lead the group. After checking each door to only find them without Jordan (or any other human), they were about to give up. The only other door was locked, and they didn't want to break-and-enter anymore than they already had.
The Doctor did, however, spot a dog trotting through the hallways.
"Ello!" he said softly, petting her head and kneeling next to her. "Does a Jordan live here?"
"Don't tell me he is asking the pug," Scarlet muttered.
"Oi! Don't diss my multilingual intelligence of talking!" the Doctor shot back. "Now, you cute little doggie, where's Jordan?"
"She's in the attic! That's where she sleeps," the dog barked and yipped happily in response.
"Upstairs? Anything else?"
Lilly giggled. "Her name is Elizabeth."
"Right, sorry. Elizabeth, anything else?"
"Nope!" Elizabeth barked.
The Doctor left, sonicing the attic door open. Lilly led them upstairs.
"Are you the party that'll come and make me disappear forever?" a girl asked in a monotone. She looked young, about Lilly's age. She light brown half straightened to her shoulders and hazel eyes. Her room contained a small bed pressed against the wall, a large television that was about the size of her dresser, and shelf after shelf of video games and devices. Pokémon posters littered her wooden walls and the floors were a white carpet.
"No," Lilly said soothingly, sitting next to her. "I'm Lilly, that's my mum, Derpy, my dad, the Doctor, and our friends Hydran and Scarlet. Mind Hydran's appearance."
"Hydran?" the girl repeated. "And I'm Jordan. And Hydran just looks like a mix between Charmeleon and Pidove."
"Actually," Hydran said in confusion to the given names. "Call me Mercer." (Author's Note: Merr-sir.)
"What?" the travelers asked.
"Okay, never mind. I'll tell you later. Call me Hydran."
Jordan laughed a bit and the Doctor changed the subject. "So, what's the problem in it's entirety?" he asked.
"They're missing."
"Okay, but who is missing?"
"A lot of people. I'll show you."
/Jordan\\
Jordan opened up her desk drawer, pushing aside her binders for school and retrieving a golden one labeled "theories".
"The name of the binder explains it all. I have theories for everything - video games, stories, and, most importantly, life.
"Lately something has been happening," she explained, sitting on her bed between Lilly and the Doctor. "Kids have been going missing. No trace, no evidence, no note, no body. Just vanishing into thin air. Now, for someone as theoretical as me, this doesn't just go unnoticed.
"I've done enough research to get biographies and backgrounds of every victim. See?" She flipped a page for every new person. "The first one. Name: Katherine Veil. Born May 4, 2004. 10 years old. Second. Name: Dakota Bryd. Born April 14, 1998. 14 years old. I have all but the most recent, the nineteenth. Now, a lot of similarities; they all have 4-lettered last names, and a 4 somehow in their birth date. But in their hobbies, which I found by Googling, I saw the same game under their favorites.
"It's a one-player videogame called Soul Rider. You play as a human that can possess others, and you try to ride-the-souls to the top of the government to get rid of the unfairness of the city. It's so addictive - everyone has it. It's like a drug. But lately, starting on the date it was released, people have been going missing. And if it's because of the game, it's only recently been sold world-wide."
The Doctor nodded. "And you have played this game?"
"Yes, but against my will. And, my last name and birth date have 4 somehow tied into it."
"Wait, against your will?" Scarlet asked.
"It... Somehow, the disc got into the player and my TV projected it. Before I knew it I had chosen the characters name and I was in the city."
"So you're worried you'll go missing too?"
"Completely," Jordan admitted. "Doctor, there seems to be a countdown. 24 hours after you play it, and you're gone."
/the Master\\
"Yvette (Author's Note: Ih-Vet)," the Master called out, "it's almost time to shine!"
Yvette stood tall, her long brown pigtails flying behind her. She wore a green dress and black heels. "Yes, Master," she nodded with an American accent. "I'm ready to take Jordan."
"But, my girl, you must wait, for we have at least 14 hours."
/the Doctor\\
The Doctor hurriedly skimmed through the binder and reading it all in an instant, humming thoughtfully. He then speechlessly stood up, approached the TV, and pulled out his sonic screwdriver.
"If that was the last game you played, it should be in the disc slot and playable, yeah?" he asked uncertainly. "I need everyone to look away."
Derpy shook her head while everyone else did as asked, walking to him and holding his hand. "Don't think you can get away that easily."
He kissed the top of her head. "I would never."
And so the Doctor, with a cry of "Allons-y!", slammed his thumb against the button of his sonic screwdriver.
The screen zapped to life and gave a blue screen after a few waves of static, like a computer signifying an error. Then, an awkward mix of the Sonic The Hedgehog theme song and random blurbs of music rang out.
"I thought it was Soul Rider?" Lilly asked Jordan.
"It is! That and the graphics are why it is so addicting. And we all wanted to know if it were a crossover!"
The Doctor turned to them again. "Just for precaution's sake, don't look at the screen. Derpy and I are jumping in."
"Not without me," Hydran argued, flying over to them.
"Or me," Lilly agreed. "Because I am not 'only 12' anymore."
The time traveling couple nodded, grinning.
"Scarlet, you and Rachel tag team Jordan. If she disappears, Rachel will make sure to tell me," Lilly ordered.
Scarlet saluted them, lowering her hand in unison of an eye roll. "Any other last requests?"
"Don't do anything stupid," Hydran reminded her.
Scarlet glared at him. "Right back at ya."
Derpy bit on her lip to hold back a giggle, turning back to face the blue screen.
They jumped into the game in unison.
/Lilly\\
***Space-Jump(1.7 Meters (66.929 Inches))***
The music loudened temporarily before it was merely in her head, like she was listening to music with ear buds without the ear buds, but the music wasn't coming from the speaker of the phone - like her brain was the music source. It was a steady beat of 4 surrounded by natural sounds of a forest.
1, 2, 3, 4; 1, 2, 3, 4...
The second thing Lilly noticed was that they were no longer in Jordan's room. Instead, they were in a forest with 40+ ft. tall trees and short grasses. A stream warbled in the distance.
They all groggily stood up from their fallen positions on the ground, the Doctor making it to his feet first.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked, rushing to help everyone else up.
"I'm good," Lilly insisted.
"Ditto," Hydran agreed.
Derpy laughed when she stood before he got to her. "The first to help others, aren't ya, Doc?"
"Great, calling me 'Doc' now, are we?" he chuckled sarcastically. "Who'll be the third Scarlet?"
Derpy kissed his cheek. "Thanks, dear," she said sarcastically.
"Doctor, have you turned your poor girlfriend British?" Hydran asked with a laugh.
"Mercer?" the Doctor and Lilly shot back in a surprising unison.
The two began laughing as Hydran blushed embarrassedly.
Derpy was bewildered over the unison. "You two...? How?"
Lilly punched her adoptive father's shoulder lightly and playfully. "Us Brits gotta stick together nowadays," she giggled.
"But what's with 'Mercer' anyways?" the Doctor asked.
Hydran sighed. "You want to do this now?"
"Well, there aren't any distractions or dangers,
so, yeah," the Time Lord shrugged.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Lilly murmured.
/Derpy\\
Derpy's right eye raised in confusion. "What?" she asked.
A few twigs snapped and leaves crunched from behind them. They spun around to see 4 clones of one person, a somewhat muscular, dark-skinned, brunette man.
"What do you idiots think you're doing?! This is private property you're trespassing on!" he shouted.
"Oi!" the Doctor called out evenly. "We come in peace!"
"'We'? Oh, w-w-wait, 'oi'. That's Brit-t-tish. I thought we'd gotten rid of y-you all."
"I'm not from Britain, lots of places have a north," he shot back. "And whatchya mean, 'gotten rid of you all'?"
The cloned man narrowed his eyes. "How long have you lived here?"
"Merely less than 4 years," the travelers all said in an automatic unison.
"They p-p-put it into a p-p-proclamation 2 y-years ag-g-go. And how old are you?"
"22 years," they said again in unison.
They all looked around confusedly, the same thoughts in their minds.
"Sir, may I ask of a name?" the cloned man asked.
"Who's asking?" Lilly shot back.
The man, although Lilly had spoken, stared at the Doctor as if he had said it. "Officer. Short and sweet," the man said, tapping the police he had on his bulletproof vest 4 times.
"Okay, then, 'Officer'. How many people are you seeing in front of you, as in beside me?" the Doctor asked.
"I a-a-asked for your n-name f-first," Officer shot back.
Their vision went black, the only thing visible being white dashes, the numbers 0-9, and the English alphabet.
"Please insert your name using the given keyboard and 14 dashes. If not chosen in 60 seconds, or you would not want to pick a name in it's entirety, the identification of 'Anonymous' shall be your title," an American and invisible woman said as if they were on a telephone helpline.
"Let it choose 'Anonymous'," the Doctor murmured. Lo and behold, the name appeared one letter at a time upon the dashes.
"The name 'Anonymous' has been chosen with 0:56.17 seconds left. Last chance to change it, player. Press 'start' to play on."
The Doctor held out a hand. "Nobody say it. I need to think for a few seconds."
Derpy looked around and found that in every direction away from the white that they'd look blackness would block her vision, and her eyes weren't able to adjust.
"Now, think, think... Lilly, you spoke, you said something but Officer kept looking at me like I had spoken instead. What's with the unison? And why were there 4 of him? And why is the number 4 used so abundantly?" the Doctor rambled quickly to himself in one breath. "Okay. Fine. Start."
A whoosh of air was heard yet not felt and they soon found themselves again in the forest. Officer eyed the Doctor suspiciously.
"Anonymous," the 4 travelers said together.
"So, Anonymous, I d-d-don't know w-why you'd ask me a q-question as s-s-stupid as that. There's o-o-only one of me, like how there's o-o-only one of you and e-everyone else."
"But there's 3 copies of you...?" Hydran hazily asked.
"3 o-o-others of m-m-me?!" Officer gasped with a hearty laugh. "Must be h-h-hell."
"Now, what was that 'proclamation' 2 years back? And what's today's date?" Derpy asked to change the subject.
"I-it's 4-4-04, 4:44 P.M., just li-ike always. A-a-a-anyways, the proclamation issued only licensed citizens could liv-v-ve here in the city," Officer explained.
"Why?" Lilly asked.
"The President 's w-w-wife was m-m-murdered! It w-w-was the talk of the t-t-town! And you say y-y-you've been here for 4 y-y-years," he grumbled. "Anyways, I got to go. G-g-good l-luck s-surviving."
Officer disappeared into thin air, leaving the 4 time travelers to themselves.
Derpy paused, turning to face everyone and meeting their gazes. "What in the name of Celestia just happened?"
Hydran sighed at the Doctor's blank stare. "I don't know, but apparently there's only one of us."
The Doctor gasped, exiting whatever solemn stage he had been in.
"Idea?" Lilly asked.
"Idea," he agreed, his madman grin returning.
/the Doctor\\
"Soul Rider is a one player video game, right? But there's 4 of us who traveled into it. The software is used to only one protagonist, and we doubled it - twice. These characters are only used and-slash-or programmed to one protagonist, so they only acknowledge one," he ramblingly explained. "As for why it only acknowledged me, I think it's because I spoke first rather than anyone else."
"Now, about the 4 Officer clones?" Derpy asked.
"Easy - 4 of us, 4 of him," he said.
Lilly watched Derpy in a bewildered manner. The Doctor, realizing she was probably reading his assistant's aura, began slowly walking towards the direction of where Officer had come from.
/Lilly\\
White, sparkling flashes in her aura. That could only mean one thing...
/the Doctor\\
The Doctor moved aside some branches and saw a bustling city that resembled a mixture of New York's buildings and London's noise and vehicles, lacking their red double decker buses.
"Land, ho," he said to himself, turning to face his group of companions.
Lilly blinked and, along with everyone else, turned to face him. "Well, then what are we doing just standing here?"
Derpy paled noticeably.
"Mon amour, are you alright?" the Doctor asked worriedly.
She shook her head, covering her mouth.
"Well, then what's wrong?" Hydran asked.
"I don't feel too good," she admitted.
Derpy coughed and then ran to a bush, throwing up into the plant. The Doctor knelt beside her, rubbing her back soothingly to calm her down.
/Lilly\\
If what Rachel said about what had happened between the Doctor and his assistant, Derpy's aura and her throwing up could only mean one beautiful and horrifying thing.
Derpy was going to soon find herself pregnant - with the Doctor's child.
Author's Note:
ALL RIGHTS TO THEIR OWNERS. I SHOULD SAY THIS MORE OFTEN BUT SPECIFICALLY I WILL BECAUSE OF THE VIDEO GAME REFERENCES.
Well, welcome to the party, unnamed-baby. But who else is extremely excited for the child?
Sorry for the late upload (about 6 days?) again, guys. I'm hoping this chapter was worth it. Now, I am not a buff of the Pokémon fandom, so if I got those names wrong I'm sorry. Jordan is a friend of mine who heard of the video game plot, and immediately asked for a role. So, thanks for the character, if you're reading this!
And to my readers, thank you for the continued support. 5 favorites and 4 alerts for Doctor and Assistant, and 1,107 views!
Thank you for reading,
-GothicPegasister