Disclaimer: I do not own 'Doctor Who' or any of the characters in it. All rights belong to the BBC, though I would love to own it myself. Sigh.
A/N: Something ironic happened to me today. The Doctor swallowed his bubblegum last chapter, and I swallowed some this morning, which I told some of you earlier when I was replying to reviews. Odd.
Oh, and a point was raised in a review. This story will have action and drama, but at the moment, I'm trying to build up Amy and the Doctor's relationship. This is an AU of Series 5, so eventually it will follow the cracks in time and reach the climax of the series. But because I am adding my own ideas, this story will probably be about 60 chapters. Haha. Oh dear!
Also, Amy and the Doctor in this AU of Series 5 are a couple. Or rather, they will be.
So yeah, I felt I had to clear that up.
Enjoy the chapter :D
After Amy had finished laughing at the Doctor's sadness about his lost bubblegum, they walked away from the Oblooga, both excited about exploring the mechanical alien zoo.
They walked arm in arm towards a large booth that the Doctor said would give them maps. Amy expected there to be lots of paper maps stacked in piles, but instead, there was only a large bowl of an aqua liquid.
"What's that?" She whispered to the Doctor, who rolled his eyes at her, exasperated.
"I told you, it's a map!" He sighed, reaching forward to dip his finger in the liquid. After swirling his finger around, he removed it and stuck it in his mouth.
Amy gave him a playful shove. "That's disgusting Doctor! Someone could have spat in that!"
The Doctor took his finger out and stuck it back in the bowl. "It's illegal to spit in the 32nd century. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to brush your teeth in this era!" He told her, swirling his finger around again. "Anyway, you're supposed to do this."
"But it's still—" Amy was cut off by the Doctor sticking his finger in her mouth. Suddenly she knew where everything was in the zoo, including the rubbish dump and security toilets.
The Doctor removed his finger and grinned at her. "See? I told you. A map."
Amy peered curiously into the bowl. "But how did a drop of liquid tell us the layout of the park?"
"It's otrophenique liquid, grown only on this planet. Comes from the otrophenique plant, naturally, and contains a substance called syhpicilus. It takes over the sensory neurons in the brain for a split second to give the cells information, hence why we now know the layout of the park." The Doctor explained, taking Amy's hand to lead her away from the bowl.
"You could do anything with that liquid!" She whispered in awe. "Like put the answers to an exam in there, and then let students drink it!"
The Doctor chuckled. "You could. But it's illegal to use the otrophenique liquid for circumstances like that."
"Of course it would be." Amy sighed. "I guess the Law still sucks in this century."
But the Doctor wasn't listening to her anymore. "Amy, look at those Heartreeps!" He exclaimed, pointing to a large tank of fish. Except they weren't normal fish.
Each Heartreep was about ten metres long, and they reminded Amy of the story about a rainbow fish. Every scale was a different colour, and she could only watch them swim around the tank in amazement, watching their skin shimmer in the blue water.
"They're beautiful Doctor!" She breathed, squeezing his hand tightly.
"They are," He murmured, and Amy was surprised to see him looking wistful. "But they're only mechanical. This species died out long ago."
"That's so sad," Amy said quietly. "I can't believe that creatures like that are dead. It's so hard to believe."
"I know," The Doctor agreed, before his mood brightened. "Tell you what Amy, after this trip, I'll take you to the Fountain of Hartraphilia, where the Heartreep lived before they became extinct. You'll love it! We can go swimming with them!"
"They're not harmful?" Amy asked, surprised.
"Of course not, they're old softies!" The Doctor replied fondly, resting his hand on the glass. "We'll have a blast!"
Before Amy could reply, a loud voice boomed: "Sir, hands off the glass!"
The Doctor jumped back from the tank, waving sheepishly at a tall purple alien who had told him off. "Sorry, won't happen again!" He called to the alien cheerily.
Amy tugged on his hand, indicating that they should walk away. The Doctor understood her hint, and they carried on with their exploration.
"I knew you'd get into trouble!" Amy laughed, nudging the Doctor with their entwined hands. "Honestly, I can't go anywhere with you!"
The Doctor looked surprised at that. "Me? I'm very good at staying out of trouble!"
Amy gave him a stern look, and he hastened to correct himself. "Okay, I can stay out of trouble. Badly." He admitted. "But it won't happen again! At least, not for this trip."
"Is that another bet?" Amy asked him playfully.
A grin spread across his face. "I believe so."
"Fine. If you get into trouble again, then you have to take me to an Earth zoo…in the 21st century." Amy told him.
"That's a boring prize," The Doctor remarked, but quickly backtracked at Amy's glare. "I mean, that's a lovely idea! We can…uh…go and see…a monkey!"
Amy couldn't help but giggle at his lack of knowledge about zoos.
"Not that we'll be seeing that monkey, because I'm not going to get into trouble again." The Doctor finished assertively.
"We'll see." Amy remarked, her tone just as confident as his.
~I~
Amy and the Doctor spent the next couple of hours exploring the rest of the zoo. Amy screamed at the large gorilla-like aliens, known as Tusfurians, when they repeatedly banged the glass to get her attention. The Doctor joked that she'd gained another alien admirer, though a few minutes later, he had gained one too.
There was an open pen full of sprinkybass, aliens that looked like small green cats, though they had eight eyes. Amy thought that they were adorable, and she immediately scooped one into her arms to hold. The Doctor did the same to another one, except this alien was a lot friendlier. It rubbed its face all over the Doctor's, so he quickly put it down.
However, when he did that, the sprinkybass rubbed itself against his legs so the Doctor ran out of the pen to escape, but it was right on his heels. Amy could only laugh at the spectacle, especially when the Doctor tripped over.
Finally they arrived at the cage of Tisfizzles, mechanical aliens that the Doctor had been really looking forward to seeing. Amy couldn't help but 'awww' over them, they were even cuter than the cats.
Each Tisfizzle was bright pink, and they reminded Amy of 'Kirby' from the Nintendo games.
"Oh Doctor, I want one!" She gushed, tugging on the sleeve of his tweed jacket.
When the Doctor didn't reply, she glanced up at him, only to see him frowning at the cage. "What's wrong?" She asked him curiously.
The Doctor leant forward so that his nose was pressed against the glass. "I can't hear anything." He muttered.
Amy was confused. "Are we supposed to be hearing anything?"
"Every counterfeit alien we've seen today has been ticking. But these aren't."
"They're real?" Amy guessed, returning her gaze to the Tisfizzles.
The Doctor stepped back from the glass. "No. It just means that their mechanical system is miniature. I have to see what it looks like. I've never seen something like that before." When he'd finished speaking, the Doctor began to circle the cage, looking for a way in.
Amy was about to discourage him, when she remembered their bet. And she really wanted to visit an Earth zoo. "Okay, so how are you going to look at it?" She asked him, following him around the cage.
He shot her a grin over his shoulder. "Take the Tisfizzle apart, of course!"
"Of course!" Amy agreed, returning his smile.
The Doctor found the entrance then, and he punched in a code into the lock. "There!" He announced, as the door sprung open. "The password was the name of the species. What idiots."
He stepped carefully into the cage, and held out his hand for Amy. "Come on then Pond, let's get this absolutely-harmless dissection done!"
Amy shook her head and backed away from the cage. "No way Doctor. I couldn't bear to see you take one of those things apart. I'll just be out here, waiting for you."
That was a lie. She didn't want to go in the cage just in case she got into trouble too, as the Doctor wouldn't count that as winning the bet. He had to get into trouble alone.
The Doctor scowled at her. "Spoilsport." He grumbled. "You've helped me fight the weeping angels and the daleks, yet you're too scared to watch me take apart a mechanical alien. Unbelievable!"
Amy smiled innocently at him, and the Doctor sighed before turning away. "Fine! I'll just have to do this alone!" He called through the glass. "All by myself…don't wanna be…all by myselfffffffffffffff!"
"Jeez Doctor, you're killing me!" Amy yelled, clamping her hands safely over her ears.
"Note to self, number eleven can't sing." The Doctor mumbled from inside of the cage. "Now, where did I put my Sonic Screwdriver?"
Amy's hand flew to her jacket pocket, where she'd put the screwdriver before they'd left the TARDIS. She knew that the Doctor had dropped it under the console earlier, before he'd kissed her. She also knew that the Doctor would forget it was there, so she had picked it up for him. She was surprised that it had taken him this long to notice it was missing.
"I left it in the TARDIS!" The Doctor realised. "Oh this is very not terrific. Let's just hope I don't need it if—"
"Sir, step out of the cage with your hands in the air!" A loud voice boomed, and Amy spun around to see the tall purple alien from earlier, holding what looked to her like a laser gun.
The Doctor stepped out of the cage with his hands raised, eyeing the gun warily. "Ah, so I guess you still laser people in public places. Haven't got myself in a very good situation here."
The alien placed its finger on the trigger, and the Doctor hastily shut up. "You too Miss, hands in the air!" The alien barked, and Amy quickly raised her hands.
Two Oblooga suddenly appeared next to them, and Amy recognised the one that had grabbed her earlier. It recognised her too, and began to slither towards her.
"Don't even think about it!" The Doctor growled protectively, and he stepped in front of her.
But the Oblooga simply scooped him up with its tentacles and tossed him to the other Oblooga. "I'm getting my legal representative on you for this behaviour!" The Doctor thundered. "650 year old Grindleward from the Suruksia Universe. A beauty of a lawyer!"
This angered the Oblooga, and it shook the Doctor harshly, making Amy fear for him.
"I think I should shut up now." The Doctor mumbled, and now Amy truly was scared.
The Doctor never kept his mouth shut.
The other Oblooga picked up Amy, and once again the Doctor was astonished at the tenderness. "So not fair!" He cried, and now the Oblooga had had enough.
It laid the Doctor on the floor, and picked up his legs, dragging him along the floor. Amy followed them from the arms of the other Oblooga, cursing herself for not stopping the Doctor in the first place from going into the cage. All for a stupid bet!
The purple alien called after them, "Lock them up in torture chamber DSX. Keep the man chained, but leave the girl free."
The Doctor and Amy both exchanged wide-eyed glances. That didn't sound good.
Next chapter is a huge turning point for the Doctor and Amy.
Anyone want to have a guess at what's going to happen between them? ;D
Hayley x