"I'm Hysol by the way," the boy in the blue bubble said to the Doctor as he rolled up beside him. "That's my son Gerg in the other bubble. Which one of you is the parent?"

"I'm the adult," the Doctor said, puffing out his chest. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Sarah Jane. And I'd say we aren't beginners, so that's about right."

"Then you already know that on this level you have to roll, bounce, and avoid the water jets," said Gerg with a smug grin.

"Well, I'd say that'd be obvious, wouldn't it," the Doctor said, never taking his eyes off Hysol.

The four of them jumped into their bubbles, and with four of them now playing, the edges of the game expanded, slowly changing color and texture, new peaks and obstacles growing into place. Within a few moments, dramatic music played and the game started.

This time, rather than two, eight droids appeared, two of them targeting each of the bubble players. Sarah Jane and the Doctor tried the same tactics they'd used in the first round, but quickly found themselves stymied by obstacles on the field. Almost at the same time they figured out how to jump over the obstacles, but that still left them dealing with the water jets that would periodically pop up, spray water, and drop back down.

Sarah Jane and the Doctor managed to hold their own at first. The Doctor managed to knock down one of the droids that was after him and avoid a water jet at the same time, and Sarah Jane almost got one, but she had to jump over an obstacle before she could knock it down. Before long the Doctor had figured out the water-jet pattern, and he zipped around the field, trying to help Sarah Jane by engaging the androids.

Seeing that the Doctor and Sarah Jane were able to handle the field fairly well, Hysol looked over at Gerg and nodded to him. Gerg nodded back and the two of them suddenly changed their tactics, turning towards Sarah Jane. Together, the two of them started blocking her every move and bumping her towards any droid on the field as well as the obstacles and the water jets.

The Doctor quickly realized what was happening; this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment tactic, it was a strategy they'd obviously used before. First occupy the weaker opponent, so that the droids leave him or her alone and go after the stronger player. Then, once Sarah was eliminated, they could join the droids and gang up on him. While it wasn't against the rules, it was definitely poor sportsmanship.

Worried now, he tried to get to Sarah Jane to help her, but every time he turned around, he was blocked by a droid or an obstacle.

In no time at all, poor Sarah was outflanked and outmaneuvered. While there were no droids bothering her, the constant hits from the boys and from seemingly every single obstacle on the course were thinning her bubble every moment, and finally, just as Hysol propelled her quite deliberately toward one of the obstacles, her bubble popped and she hit the ground hard, her knee and the palms of both hands scraping against the rough stone playfield as she broke her fall.

The Doctor saw her go down and pushed straight through the group of droids, moving instead directly towards her. Immediately he was blocked by Hysol and Gerg. "Stop," he said, "she's hurt!"

But they didn't stop; they were too determined to win. "She'll be OK, she's just scraped up a little. Common, let's finish the game, then you can go get her. She can just sit it out for now," said Gerg as he pushed the Doctor nearer to one of the droids.

The Doctor tried once more to get around them, but when they didn't let him by, he furiously launched himself at them, and a few moments later all of their bubbles were history and he was sprinting toward Sarah Jane.

Sarah was holding her knee and crying, and didn't see the Doctor heading towards her.

The Doctor didn't see Gerg and Hysol heading towards them.

And none of them saw the attendant heading straight for all them.

"Hey," shouted Hysol. "You didn't play by the rules." He pulled on the Doctor's suit as he turned him around. He picked his fist up to hit him. "Watch this, kid," he said to Gerg, "this is the way to win a fight."

"Sarah, run!" the Doctor said, keeping his eye on Gerg.

Sarah did run. She ran right up to the Doctor and gave Hysol the hardest kick in the shin she could give him just before his fist reached the Doctor's face. Hysol fell down clutching at his shin and screaming in pain. Sarah didn't see Gerg reaching for her though, and he pushed her down.

The Doctor leapt between Sarah and Gerg, who looked like he was about to slap her. He grabbed him by the shirt. "You lay one hand on her and I swear..."

Before he could finish his sentence the attendant arrived and helped Sarah Jane up. "I saw the whole thing, but you started fighting before I could get here. I was all the way at the other end of the exhibit and I ran all the way," she said, breathing hard. She turned to Hysol and Gerg. "There's someone coming right now who is going to escort you two out off of this area. As for you two," she said, turning to Sarah Jane and the Doctor, "you will come with me right after they leave."

The two of them looked at each other, worried.

"This is not the sort of day we want our birthday girl to have," the attendant said, smiling at Sarah Jane. "So, we're going to fix up those bruises of yours and see if we can't find something special for you to do while you're our guest."

The Doctor let out the breath he'd been holding and smiled at Hysol and Gerg. "No hard feelings," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small packet. "Gum?"

They each took a piece, scowling at him.

"My how polite you are, young man," said the attendant. "You two should learn a lesson from him."

The boys popped the gum in their mouths almost spitefully as the escort came to take them to another section of the planet. They looked back at the Doctor and stuck their tongues out at him.

Both tongues were jet black and so were their teeth.

Sarah saw them and gasped. "Doctor, what happened to them," she whispered as they were led to a big building in the center of the play area.

"I always knew that trick gum would come in handy one day," he chuckled. "I just wasn't sure how. Anyway, it proves one thing. You should never take candy from strangers."