The Ninth Doctor walked towards the labyrinth he had seen from the top of the slope by the lake 'seriously I've never known a place like this on this planet before, but then is this even Earth? It doesn't feel like it, this place just has the wrong feel to it-…' he said as he thought out loud as he stepped along before his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of crashing and trees being smashed aside. Looking to his right the Doctor saw a large lion-tiger like beast stop at the edge of the line of trees through which it had just charged it way through leaving splintered and fallen trees and stumps behind it. The Doctor just looked at it with an "oh, blimey" look 'well, I've never seen you before' he said. It didn't long for the beast to spot him and when it did it began to run at full speed towards him 'blimey time to run!' the Doctor said as he too burst into a run towards the entrance to the labyrinth. With each running step towards the labyrinth the Doctor could hear the beast closing in on him and with his two hearts pounding in his chest with adrenaline surging through him he put his hand into the internal pocket of his leather jacket, brought out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the double doors at the entrance to the labyrinth. The sonic screwdriver bleeped away as the Doctor soniced the double doors which then started to open. With the beast only metres behind him the Doctor focused every ounce of the burst of energy he had received when he first broke into a run to evade the beast, his legs moving and pumping as fast as he could get them to move. With only steps to go till he reached the only narrowly open doors that were still parting as they continued to open the Doctor prepared himself to ease through the small gap between the two doors. Upon reaching them the Doctor slid his body through the gap without stopping and immediately turned back to the doors with his sonic screwdriver in hand and soniced the doors shut as fast as they would close leaving the beast outside the labyrinth as it attempted to reach its paw through the gap between the double doors to reach the Doctor inside. He wasn't going to bet on the beast's strength. Though with the gap between the double doors closing the beast had no choice but to withdraw its paw before it would be crushed.
Exhaling in relief and with his two hearts still pounding away and the adrenaline flowing the Doctor took up to a minute to regain himself before turning to find himself standing before a long and wide passageway with light grey walls on either side standing up to two feet higher than him in what was supposedly the labyrinth 'well I can't go back that way, only way is through this place now' he said. The Doctor began to make his way into the labyrinth, and seeing the small fortress in the not-so-distant distance AND remembering the sight of the place from before by the lake 'seriously, did they have make this place a maze?' he said out loud as he went along.
Sometime later as he strode along through the passages of the maze that was the labyrinth he stopped short in his tracks as he rounded a corner. Ahead of him were long stakes...no, steel rods coming out of the walls on either side. The Doctor slowly stepped toward them, stopping just a couple of feet before them 'is this supposed to be one of the spike traps you get in some movies?' the Doctor said quietly to himself. He began to get into position to make his way through the steel rods when he heard a sparking sound and immediately drew back, and just in time as bolts of electricity snaked across the steel rods for a few seconds, seconds apart from each other, before they then began to hum as electricity streamed and coursed through them.
Bringing out his sonic screwdriver from his internal jacket pocket the Doctor scanned the now-electrified steel rods to find out where the power source was coming from, turning to his right at the sonic screwdrivers indication to look at the wall. The Doctor then pointed his sonic screwdriver at the wall and soniced it in the shape of square to which a square glow in the wall appeared for a split second before fading, the resulting square panel then receded into the wall and slid away to the side to reveal an electronic circuit of the same shape and size. The Doctor put his hand into the wall to fiddle with and adjust the wires a bit before he soniced the circuit again and closed it off, the panel sliding back into place and sealing itself and rendering the wall exactly as it was before he tampered with it.
It was while it did so that the humming of the electricity through the steel rods slowly died and ceased. Now the Doctor could proceed through them. The Doctor manoeuvred, stepped over and under every steel rod in the way, however when he got half way he heard something spark behind him and looked back. It was as he did so that bolts of electricity began to snake their way along the steel rods again starting from near the hidden circuit panel, with concerning and alarming speed! This caused the Doctor's hearts to skip beats as he began to scramble his way through the rest of the steel rods. He made the conscious mistake of looking back and kicked himself for doing so as it cost him precious seconds he needed to get clear of the rods. The electricity began to slowly catch up to him and was now only a few feet behind him.
The Doctor was now going as fast as his limbs could possibly manage, even to the point where they were beginning to cramp, but that didn't matter, not if it meant he avoided a painful electrocution, and possibly death for the sake of a bit of muscle pain and strain. He wasn't prepared or ready to regenerate again...yet, not in this case anyway. As far as the Doctor was concerned he only ever chanced and risked and put himself in the line of fire, and potential regeneration, and stared death in the face when it was very, VERY, really, absolutely necessary for the sake of someone else or others. But not today, to do so would be just silly and pointless. Despite what he had been through, with the Last Great Time War...he still had a lot of life left in him yet and wasn't prepared to squander his remaining lives, unlike a former friend-turned nemesis of his he knew.
The Doctor was just a few feet from the other side and being clear of the rods, the electricity electrifying the rods almost hot on tail to the point where he could clearly feel and smell the energy and taint of it in the air.
The Doctor stumbled over the last rod and fell forwards hard, but considering what had almost happened by a hair it didn't matter and he just laughed with gratefulness, to still be alive 'blimey, that was close' he said before he picked himself up off the ground and proceeded onward. Rounding another corner the Doctor slowed his stride to a stop as he saw a wooden slated door several meters away ahead to which he then continued towards. The Doctor got within a few feet of the door before he stopped short when a grey haired elderly man in a dark blue coat lined with red with a waistcoat and white shirt buttoned up to the collar which was folded down neatly appeared from around the corner of an alternate pathway also leading to the door...