AN: hello again! sorry this took so long, hopefully updates will be more regular now though :) we came 12th out of 25 in our class, and 14th out of 69 in the whole tall ships race :D back in hk now, so time zones will be a bit mad,but hopefully we'll all manage.

This chap's quote:

"Pains of love be sweeter far Than any other pleasures are." ~

Right so- bat creatures, led by Grigatri, are actually a group of renegades looking for the elixir of life. Meanwhile they've been poisoning humans to make them edible. They tried to poison Amy, it didn't work.

However they kidnapped the Doctor- and it turns out a Time Lord's blood is a pretty good ingredient for a chemical soup of immortality. They were about to drain his blood when Amy (ginger eskimo) turned up with three other monks- a martial arts master, gyatso, the monastery 'boss, and sonam, gyatso's adopted son. She tried to pour the poison into the bat's elixir, but it fell and smashed when she was grabbed by a strange, bat like creature from behind...

Hopefully that's caught you up- ok, enjoy!

Amy's eyes widened as she swung her head round to stare into the creatures half human face. And she could sort of see it- the features of the first monk she and the Doctor had met- the one who meant so much to Gyatso- twisted almost beyond recognition.

"Sonam?" She breathed. The thing hissed, and she recognized the rasping voice from that of the one in her bedroom the night before, offering her the poisoned goblet.

"My brothers could not convince each one of you as I could- could not hide in the monastery, picking out the weak. But I, half human and able to change my shape- I could poison each of you. One. By. One."

Amy frowned, shaking her head, unable to believe his betrayal- though in a way his explanation made sense.

Suddenly Anil looked around. "Wait. Where's Gyatso?"

The Sonam Bat hissed. "I killed him."

Anil's eyes widened. "No. No- you wouldn't! You were like a son to him!"

The thing nodded. "Yes, an easy position of power- to remain on the good side of the old man. He is no longer of use."

Anil shook his head, pale, still clutching his bleeding hand. "No." He whispered in disbelief.

"Well Doctor- it seems your friend has failed." Grigatri said, smugly, as the three on the other side remained still, Amy and Anil frozen in shock more than anything else.

The Doctor sighed, then smiled at Amy bravely. "You're never a failure to me." He said. She smiled back.

"Nor you. Though you at least seem to succeed more often in daring rescues."

The Doctor looked up at Grigatri. "Is there truly no way I can make you let us go?"

Grigatri shook his head. "Not in a billion millennia."

The Doctor grimaced. "Well then, I'm sorry."

Grigatri cocked his head to the side, eyes flashing. The Doctor raised his voice.

"Because some bats on this planet drink blood. Animal blood, human blood…Those bats need it to survive, it's an essential part of their life. But it would seem, for bats not of Earth, that the opposite would be the case. That a healthy human's blood may be exactly what they don't need to survive."

He nodded to Anil, and, eyes wide, the monk held his bloody arm over the vat, letting the blood trickle into a drop.

"NO!" Grigatir screeched, climbing into the air. But he was too late.

Sonam went to grab Anil, letting go of Amy, and Anil saw him. He smiled at the Doctor, and bowed his head to Amy. "It was an honour."

Then he leapt into the vat. Grigatri, in the air, tried to catch him, but he was too late. Anil went below the surface of the mixture, his blood mixing with the silvery substance, and he didn't come back up.

The Doctor managed to get away from the Kelelawar holding him, which were too distracted by the vat. He went round to Amy, pointing his screwdriver at Sonam and knocking him out.

Amy threw her arms around the Time Lord, tears in her eyes at Anil's unexpected sacrifice. The Doctor flinched as she jolted his broken ribs and she looked up at him. He nodded to the vat.

The mixture inside had turned a weird mauve colour, and now it was being sent to the bats still sleeping the cave. A high pitched beeping started, and the bats screeched, all of them climbing into the air.

Amy and the Doctor crouched as the creatures flew past, in a rush, out of the cave.

"Why are they flying away?"

Amy shouted over the flapping of wings and the ever increasing beeping. The Doctor peered over the edge of the vat where the mauve substance was starting to bubble.

"It's reached critical- it's gonna blow!"

Amy's eyes widened and she grabbed the Doctor's hand as they made their way down the Doctor limping heavily.

They got to the floor and started to run, the Doctor gritting his teeth against the pain. Suddenly Amy was lifted off her feet by a screaming Grigatri.

"NO! WE HAD NEARLY WON! NOOO!"

Amy pounded against the talons holding her. Around them the tubes started to burst, the bats screaming in their sleep. Mauve liquid sprayed onto Girgatri and he screamed as if he'd been burnt, dropping the scot.

She got up and started to run, catching the Doctor's hand again, together they stumbled out onto the path, running down- the height the least of their worries.

Outside, the bats hovered in the air, watching the cave, flapping their great wings.

BOOM!

The cave exploded, showering Amy and the Doctor in mauve liquid. They threw their arms over their heads as a cascade of rock and chemical, metal and softer things they'd rather not thing about bounced off their bodies, accompanied by the screams of the bats trapped inside.

Moments later, there was silence once more, only the slow beating of the bat's wings.

Slowly, Amy and the Doctor looked up.

One of the bats flew over. "We apologise for Grigatri's actions."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Yeah? Didn't seem that sorry when he was trying to kill us."

The creature hissed. "Grigatri was mad, but smart and powerful- a good leader. Perhaps his plan could have worked. But it did not- and we are sick of fighting."

The Doctor cocked his head to the side. 'Why are you telling me this?"

The creature smiled. "We will take you back to your ship, Time Lord, for a favor."

The Doctor frowned, but he was smiling as he eyed the valley that would be impossible to cross any other way that wouldn't take days, if not weeks. "What kind of favor?"

X

Amy and the Doctor waved to the bats, then stepped back into the TARDIS.

Amy smiled. "I guess they just wanted to start fresh."

The Doctor shrugged. "I think most creatures do at some point."

Amy grinned, then frowned when she noticed the way he was clutching his ribs and leaning against the TARDIS doors.

"What's wrong?"

The Doctor shook his head. "N-nothing. Guess I'm just not used to-"

He broke off as he collapsed onto the ground, out of exhaustion and the pain from his injuries, which had got worse after being flown across the valley.

Amy made a little sound of surprise, shaking him. "Doctor! Doctor? Wake up!"

She slapped his face and the Doctor opened his eyes, frowning. "Ugh, thanks Amy, that helps." He said, weakly.

Amy bit her lip. "Sorry. What do I do?"

The Doctor leaned back on the floor of the TARDIS. "Gimme a sec."

Amy dug around in her pockets, withdrawing packet of aspirin- she popped two into her hands and held them to the Doctor's mouth.

"Here. Swallow." The Doctor opened his mouth, and she dropped them in.

He went to swallow, then his eyes widened as he tasted the chemicals on the tablets.

Quickly he turned his head, spitting them out and choking violently, coughing and coughing until blood flecked his lips whilst Amy watched in astonishment.

Finally he collapsed back, exhausted.

Amy put a hand on his forehead. "Are you alright? I'm sorry- what did I…?"

The Doctor stopped her. "Aspirin is poisonous to me!"

Amy frowned. "What, you're allergic?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, the pain and exhaustion starting to get to him.

"No, Amy. It's poison to me. As much as you'd like to believe otherwise, I'm not human. And I never will be."

Awww, poor doc is pretty beaten and exhausted... (plus, Rain, aspirin!)

So maybe they've defeated one enemy, but their difficulties are far from over, and will the Doc be ok? what's next?

I can tell you it will involve homicidal roses...

Ok, please do review, 5 reviews should get you next day update (it'll be a bit slower while I catch up) and if you guess the quote, please let me know how many points you're on, having read the reviews but been unable to reply I can tell you all guesses have been right- sorry to be unfair and make you count, but I just want to concentrate on catching up if that's ok.

Thanks, as ever for reading, I hope you're all still enjoying it,

Kat