The cloud was as dark as night now. Due to all of the Doctors' insistence that they not return to the TARDIS, the group was huddled in a small hollow a slight ways away.
The Cyberman from earlier had gone away, but Daleks, Sontarans, and Sea Devils had also been spotted.
Jack wanted to go out and explore. "We can't just keep sitting here, can we? We landed here for a reason; we've got to find out what it is!"
Jamie, Clara, and Sarah Jane nodded in support.
"But what about the Cybermen, and everything else out there?" Ben argued.
"Doctors," Rose cut across them. "You're all being unusually quiet. What do you think?"
The Doctors looked at each other.
"Well," Two began.
"There's obviously something out there-" Twelve added.
"That's bent on something malicious-" Nine said.
"So malicious, in fact, that it can take control of a TARDIS-" Four added his input.
"And bring it wherever it wants-" Twelve spoke.
"And it brought us here, where dangerous creatures are," Two looked slightly annoyed that he had been interrupted, but pressed on. "So what does that mean? Does it want to hurt us-"
"Or simply scare us?" Four said.
"At any cost, I think that moving around would be good," Twelve said. "Not necessarily exploring, but if we move then whatever that thing is and everything else around here has less of a chance of finding us and trapping us. Is all of me in agreement?"
All Doctors consented, and the group moved out.
By now, the cloud had blocked out any and all sunlight that might have ever existed. The night that was created was now so black that the team could barely see each other. Some Doctors, like Two and Four, had flashlights in their expansive pockets. They took these out and turned them on. The beams of light only illuminated a few feet to the front.
"Be careful," Two said quietly. They crept forward, flashlight beams waving through the darkness. Jamie pulled on Two's sleeve.
"Doctor," he whispered. "It looks as if the darkness is eating up the light!"
The Second Doctor peered ahead, at the end of his light. "Yes, yes, you're very right. Oh dear! This can't be good!"
"What do we do?" Jamie asked.
"We try to stay with the group, for now," the Second Doctor answered. "Come on; they're leaving without us."
Meanwhile, Rose was chatting with her Doctor.
"This cloud," she was asking. "What do you think it is?"
"Dunno. Bit refreshing, not knowing what it is, if you ask me," Nine said as picked his way over some loose rocks. Rose laughed.
"I am asking you!"
"Well alright, then," Nine stopped and helped Rose over some annoying pebbles that kept trying to trip her. "Whatever it is, it is not natural."
"Obviously," she responded. Somewhere in the dark, Jack's voice was heard.
"I'm getting really strange readings, Doctor," he said.
"What do they say?" Clara asked, walking slowly towards Jack's voice. Then she stubbed her toe on a rock and decided to grab onto Four's scarf with Ben, Polly, and Sarah Jane instead.
"That's the weird thing," Jack's face was scrunched up in confusion, and lit up by the light of his Vortex Manipulator. Jamie pulled Jack's arm closer to himself and the Second Doctor, trying to see what was wrong. Jack pointed to his device. "If you see here, the readings are fluctuating. One second the cloud's here…"
"And the next it isn't," Jamie finished. "Like now."
Jack nodded. "And the thing is definitely still here, so-"
"So either something's wrong with your Manipulator, or this cloud is altogether impossible. Unnatural, like Nine said," Four cut him off.
"Doctor!" Polly pointed to something way off in the darkness.
The Second Doctor left Jamie and ran over to Polly. "What is it?"
"Do you see that?"
"See what?"
"Over there, in the darkness!"
Two strained to make out what Polly was seeing. "Oh- oh, yes. I do see it!"
"See what?" Sarah Jane asked. She, Ben, and Nine were wearing identical expressions of confusion.
"It's kind of a- what do you think it is, Doctor?" Polly tried to explain.
"I don't know," he answered.
"Doctor, Polly, come back," Jack cautioned. Two and Polly turned around. They had walked forwards a few yards. Out of the jet black darkness, an inky blob, not unlike the one that had been found in Six's TARDIS, slithered forwards. Rose noticed this.
"Come on back!" she called. "Hurry!"
By now, the other members were beginning to notice the hostile force.
"Oh my giddy aunt!" Two exclaimed as the inky coils wound around his legs. "Go, Polly! Just run!" The Doctor made to follow her, but he could not move his legs. He was stuck. Ben and Jamie ran out to try and grab him, Nine grabbed the back of Jamie's shirt. As Ben grew nearer to the Doctor, he could see that the coils had thickened, forming something of a shell that the Doctor was now nearly wholly encased in.
"Go back, Ben!" the Doctor shouted, just before he was completely swallowed. Polly had reached Ben, and they slowly made their way back to the others. Sarah Jane looked as if she was on the brink of tears, and Rose looked utterly in shock. Jamie had stopped struggling against Nine, and was staring in horror at the spot where Two had been.
All of a sudden, Four exclaimed in pain. A few moments later, all color drained from Nine's face, and Twelve screwed up his face and pressed his palms to his forehead.
"Past… changing!" was all Twelve could manage before passing out.