Rose and The Doctor followed Marceline into a clearing. She floated in the middle while the two time travelers sat on a log.

"Never getting used to the way things look around here," Rose muttered to The Doctor.

"What, seen the world, but a cartoon's too much for ya?" He smiled at her, and Rose closed her eyes from happiness. The animation didn't know what to do with The Doctor's eyebrows, but it sure got his smile right.

"Save it for later, kids. We've got a mystery to solve." Marceline perched herself a foot from the log and crossed her legs mid-air.

"Kids? I bet I'm older than you," The Doctor said, giving the vampire a full glance.

"Heh, you don't want to start this, Doctor."

"No, really, he's older than you," Rose added. The Doctor closed his eyes and raised his eyebrows—trying to appear wise, probably. Rose smacked him on the shoulder. "That only makes you look like a child." She turned to Marceline as The Doctor frowned at her. "So you're saying people are getting taken."

"In the night, they disappear. The cameras get all fuzzy and blank, and when they come back…" She paused for effect. "…they don't remember a thing. They don't say a word. Their souls are empty, taken by something we haven't even seen." She ended her story with a nod that rivaled the Doctor's—eyes closed, a small frown on her face. Rose shook her head. Two people several times her age were having a chat and she was the one acting like an adult. Marceline cracked an eye open and checked her audience's response. "What, not even scared?"

"Oh no. We're here because we've seen things like this before and we don't let it bother us." He stepped off the log. "We've seen the enemy and we've chased it."

"'O…K, but what do you know?"
"Nothing as of yet!" He helped Rose off the log and started pacing around her. "Think…if people are being taken, gutted for their memories, and returned, someone is searching for something particular. A fact, an idea! Something like that."
"It has to be the Daleks. Why else would we be here?"

"All we know is that the TARDIS has locked onto the Daleks' ship for some reason. It could've been sabotaged, accompanied…"
"You're not gonna convince me they're working with someone else."

"No, of course not." He looked at her. "But discrepancies beget even bigger ones. Like how you're with me. You're brilliant, and so am I!" Rose grinned. She was brilliant, humanly brilliant, observing the world through a lens of imperfect morals and untempered emotion. She overflowed with confidence as she walked toward him—The Doctor needed her, just as she needed him.

"Then we should start looking."
"Right." The Doctor spun around. "Marceline, any leads? You're being rather quiet."

"Doctor!" Rose pointed at the edge of the clearing. Marceline struggled silently, frozen in a teleport, her limbs curled in the fight to break free.

"Come with me," she choked out, and The Doctor looked at Rose, wildness turning his eyes wide. He pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver and tossed it to Rose, who caught it against her chest.

"You'll need this!" He ran to Marceline and put a hand in the teleportation field. "Fighting against a summon…oh, you are old." With his last expression of relish, The Doctor was gone.

"Why do you always give me this?" Rose asked, conscious of how loud her voice sounded against the sounds of the forest. "And why do you always have to leave?" She curled her fingers around the tool and pressed it to her lips. She was getting to The Doctor, fast, if for no other reason but to demand he stop abandoning her.

The Doctor landed in an enclosure and found himself alone. Marceline had wriggled out of the teleport midway through. He winced for her. She'd probably landed in a swamp somewhere, muck clinging to her hair. The yellow dog from earlier curled up in the corner of the room, shivering in his sleep.

"Well, this is…quaint." He turned around and found himself eye to eye-piece with a Dalek. "Hello!" The Doctor waved to The Dalek and gave it a charming smile. He raised his left foot just in case he had to step back. "You look funny!"

"The Doctor is in The Pit. We did not summon The Doctor."

"But The Doctor is who you got!" He clicked his tongue. "Take it or leave it."

"Initiating full scan."

"Full scan!" He stepped back now, leading the Dalek away from Jake. "The last time I heard the words 'full scan' was when someone was trying to read my personality and take it for themselves. Not trying to do that, are you? You wouldn't be prepared for the likes of me."

"We will not give up."

"Sorry?" The Doctor stopped antagonizing his enemy and looked at it, squinting with surprise. "Daleks have no concept of giving up.

"We will not give up," the Dalek repeated. "Initiating full scan."

Before the beam could make contact, The Doctor took something from his suit and placed it in front of his hearts.

I'm sorry, he thought, looking down sadly at the snail that just wanted an adventure. But if this world wants to stay the way it is, it needs me complete.

"Hey, you're that girl who was with the science dude. What's—"

"We need to get to the Daleks! Where are they taking people? The stolen ones, where are they going?" Finn held up his hands in surrender. He looked sad, Rose noticed. Lonely and a little unsure of himself, but far from defeated.

"I need to find Jake. He got taken, too." Rose put her hands on Finn's shoulders.

"Alright, Finn—that was your name, wasn't it?" Finn nodded. She stood up and started into the sky, her hand tightening around the Sonic Screwdriver. "We're going to find our friends."

Marceline landed right outside the candy kingdom. She braced one shoe against the unsteady ground and tried to push herself up. With this last effort, her legs collapsed and she fell, her arms twisted under her head. She kept her eyes closed. She needed energy, but the only red things around here were candy eyes and peppermint stripes. Marceline might've been barely holding onto consciousness, but she wasn't about to kill her closest friend's subjects.

"Marceline!" The vampire girl heard the princess's footsteps come closer. She tried to say something, but her mouth could only manage to hang open on one side. "Guards! We need to get her inside." Princess Bubblegum curved her arms around the vampire and picked her up. "We have test results, Marcy. I know what they want."