Eleven dusted himself off. Once he was sure that all of his limbs were working correctly, he calmly straightened his bowtie with a flourish.
"Doctor!" Barbara called him over. Ian had somehow caught his foot in between the brambles, and was now stuck. Every time Barbara tried to clear some thorns away, he grimaced in pain.
"Here, let me help," Eleven said. He crouched down and whipped out his sonic screwdriver. It buzzed for a few seconds before the brambles retreated. It looked almost like the plants were annoyed by the sound and were straining to get away. The Doctor and Barbara pulled Ian away the moment it looked as if he could be liberated without hurting himself horribly.
"Where is everybody else?" Ian asked the Doctor, who was looking at the plants strangely.
"Everybody else?" he sounded distracted.
"Yes, like Susan, and all of your other selves," Barbara said.
"Oh, I bet that they're all on the other side of this hedge here," said Eleven. He pulled the screwdriver out of his pocket again. "Mind your ears!"
Ian and Barbara barely had any time to cover their ears when tery heard a terrible, high-pitched noise. It was coming from the screwdriver. After a few seconds of the hedge violently pulsing, Eleven lowered his device.
"Impenetrable," he whispered to himself.
"Doctor," Ian began. "I have a few questions."
"Go ahead. Unless these plants try to force us to keep moving, we're not going anywhere until your leg stops hurting. Don't deny it, I'm the Doctor, and your leg definitely hurts, Chesterfield. Now, what are you asking?"
"What is that?" Ian pointed to the sonic screwdriver.
"Oh, this?" Eleven held it up for his first two companions to see. "It's a screwdriver, and it's sonic. It can do everything except wood, which is highly annoying!" he looked ruefully at the plants, as if trying to scold them for not parting.
"And these plants?" Barbara ventured.
"Oh, they're Gallifreyan."
"Gallifreyan?"
"My home planet," Eleven did not seem to want to elaborate. "Well, how are you feeling?" he asked Ian.
"Better, thanks," Ian pulled himself up, with Barbara's help, and stood gingerly on his foot. "I don't think that I'll be running any marathons, but I'll be fine."
"Doctor?" Amy called. Only a few moments before, this hedge had sprung up, separating her from her Doctor.
"Professor?" Ace echoed, a little ways away. The First Doctor dabbed at his forehead with his handkerchief as he approached the two girls.
"Hmm? Yes, what is it?" he asked.
"Where- what…?" Amy was at a loss for words.
"Where is everybody?" One asked for her. "On the other side of this hedge, of course!"
"Yeah, but how do we get back to everybody else?" Ace asked.
"We go around, " One said this as if it were obvious.
"Around an endless fence?" Amy scoffed.
"We could make an end," Ace smiled devilishly as she extracted a deodorant can from her backpack. Seeing the Doctor and Amy's uncomprehending faces, she explained. "This isn't deodorant; it's nitro!"
"And what does that mean?" One asked.
"Means you want to stand back!" With that, Ace pulled the top off the can, threw it at the hedge, and ran back.
"Eight, seven, six," she counted under her breath. As she reached "four," the explosive went off.
"You might want to work on your timing," Amy said once the shock of seeing a simple little can explode with that much force wore off.
"I am," Ace replied a little bit defensibly.
The First Doctor walked towards the blast zone to inspect the damage.
"Yes, just as I thought," he muttered.
"What?" Ace jumped forward eagerly.
"Nothing. You know what that means, yes?" One looked at his two young companions.
"Around," they sighed.
Five stooped in front of Nyssa and Susan.
"Are you two alright?" he asked gently.
"Yes, Grandfather," Susan whispered, and Nyssa nodded mutely. Five suddenly sprang up.
"Well, these are certainly new," he said as he inspected his new shrubbery.
"Grandfather, don't you recognise them?" Susan said, drawing a little closer to him. Five looked at her, a confused expression taking over his features.
"Recognise them?" he looked back at the plants, and smiled after a moment. "Oh, yes!"
"What?" Adric asked. Five grabbed his shoulder and turned him so he was facing the hedge too. Nyssa followed.
"They're Gallifreyan thornbushes," Five said, in the manner of a man who had finally discovered something new. "Temporalium spinis, they're formally called. Nasty things. I've always wondered why those Ceruleans loved plants, after seeing these," catching Susan eying his celery, he stood up and straightened his beige cricket jacket. "Allergies," was all he said before striding off down the corridor made by the two hedgerows.
"Gallifreyan thornbushes…" Nyssa said thoughtfully. "I assume that there's only one place where you'd find these…"
"We're on Gallifrey!" Susan looked shocked.
Adric had already started to follow Five. "Come on!" he called.
Seven and Tegan stood alone on their side of a hedge-fence.
"What is this?" Tegan asked, not bothering to hide how shaken up she was.
"I don't know," Seven responded, staring, like his other selves, at the hedges.
"We've got to get back to the group," Tegan decided.
"Yes," Seven agreed. "But not now."
"Why not?"
"Because something's coming."
"Oh, now you're just being melodramatic, Doctor!"
"No, really, listen!" Seven insisted. Tegan shut up for a moment. She could hear footsteps coming from where they had entered the maze. Unlike the other teams, Seven and Tegan's entrance was not blocked off.
"What is it, Doctor?" Tegan whispered.
"I'm not sure, and I'm not eager to find out!" Seven grabbed Tegan's hand and took off down through the maze. She got a quick glimpse of a something shrouded in mist behind them.
The two reached a fork. Seven slowed slightly.
"Why are you slowing? If we hurry up we can lose it!" Tegan asked, panting.
"How about, I go left and you go right," Seven offered. "That way, if there's only one, it can chase one of us and the other can escape."
"And if there's more than one?"
"I'll figure it out. Now go down your end, quickly!"
"But what about you?"
"I'll distract it! Bring it down my end!"
"And if it catches you?"
"Maybe it's friendly. Go find the others, now!" Seven practically shoved Tegan down her fork. "Don't argue!"
"Why not?" Tegan was being what she was best- stubborn.
"Because whatever is happening, it's got the makings of a paradox. If anything happens to you, that may make it worse because you've got to keep on travelling with me. At least try to make it to Heathrow."
"Doctor?" Tegan asked.
"Yes?"
"Don't die. Ace needs you."
"I won't. Now don't waste time! We haven't got much of it to start with, and Five, Nyssa, and Adric need you too." Seven shooed Tegan away, and with a look of great reluctance, she finally obeyed. The footsteps were much closer now. As Tegan disappeared down another bend, Seven could see that she was right- the footsteps weren't coming from just one being, but several dozen.
They looked like military men; marching in perfect sync. They were dressed in all black, with visors covering their faces so that all were identical. Seven put on a smile, and tipped his hat to them as they approached.
"Good morning, how do you do?" he asked. Getting no response, he continue,. "Beautiful weather we're having, but I'm not to fond of what's grrrowing here." To prove his point, he poked his finger on a thorn and winced. "Anyway, what can I do for you?"
The soldier at the front indicated for his troop to stop, and pointed down Tegan's alley. A few men broke off to search for her. Seven stopped his idle chattering and stared at the leader.
"What is it you want?" he asked it. The leader took a sharp step towards him, and Seven bounced back.
"Well, you know what they say," Seven said. The leader stopped advancing and tilted its head, as if confused.
"He who hesitates loses the chase!" With that, Seven turned on his heel and bolted down the corridor. The leader motioned for the rest of his men to pursue, and the chase was on.
Seven weaved through different alleyways and corridors, all while hearing the stomp, stomp sound of the soldiers behind him. He hoped that they had lost Tegan. He remembered liking Tegan, if being a little annoyed with her occasionally. He took a right, and suddenly found himself looking at a blank wall with nowhere to run.
"Oh, dear," he said to himself. As he turned around to face the soldiers, he could almost see Ace. She was nearly invisible, almost like a projection, but despite not being able to hear or clearly see her, Seven knew that she could see him too. She seemed to be shouting his nickname over and over: "Professor! Professor!"
The leader of the soldiers thrust out his hand, but instead of having his men rush forward, the ground underneath Seven's feet grew less and less stable, and he found that he could not move. Ace was near hysterics at not being able to do anything, but Seven was glad to see that the red-haired Scottish girl and his First self were with her. As the floor beneath him disappeared, Seven thought, "Goodbye, Ace," and disappeared at the exact same moment Donna and Two did.
Tegan did not have any better luck.