2.1
The Doctor looked up as Miss Hartigan's Cyberking towered over London. He looked over to Jackson Lake and grinned.
"I've been waiting a while for this, you know."
Jackson just looked at him in bafflement. "You have? Why?"
"Because my last Fused Loop had giant robots too. And my pocket had finally gotten big enough to keep one in."
When retrieving pocketed items, most Loopers reached behind their back or simply let the item they needed (and maybe a few they didn't) appear in their hand. The Doctor liked to use his actual cloth pockets, to give the illusion of being even bigger on the inside than they really were. And so his temporary companion was treated to the sight of a hundred foot tall humanoid machine get pulled out of a four-inch square coat pocket.
The Doctor was surprised to find that time didn't quite snap back to normal after that event, as it had in the original timeline. He had apparently impressed the people of London so much that it changed the course of human technology towards the creation of robotics a few decades early. This created a few ripples through his timeline, including the lovely sight of Daleks getting crushed like tin cans in the grips of giants.
There was a slight issue of the occasional robot uprising, but he was somehow always there to calm things down again.
2.2
It had been a year since Tegan Jovanka had left the Doctor, running from the terror and carnage that had followed him. She never really regretted the decision to leave then, though she did occasionally miss the safer trips, like their time on the Eye of Orion. So it came to some surprise when she heard the distinctive sound of the TARDIS materializing. She didn't have to look far to find out where, as a strangely colourful room appeared around her, replacing the living room she had been sitting in.
"Tegan Jovanka," said a voice. "It's been a long time. Longer for me than you, but then that's to be expected sometimes, eh?"
Tegan was only mildly confused at the bow-tie and tweed wearing man before her. "You've regenerated again?"
"A few times, yes. I was wondering, would you like to go on an adventure again? Don't worry, this one is purely for the fun of it. I know almost everything that's going to happen in it."
Tegan thought it over. "You're absolutely sure?"
"Cross my hearts," the Doctor replied, drawing "x"s over his hearts with his fingers. He then started running around the console, much more active than her Doctor- either of them. "There might be a little danger, because of dinosaurs, but the only one who should die is the bad guy. He committed genocide, so he kinda deserves it."
Tegan paled slightly. "But why are you asking me?"
"Well, I was thinking I didn't really have a gang before this adventure, until I remembered I did once. You, me, Nyssa, Turlough. We were a bit of a gang, weren't we?"
Tegan smiled at the thought of Nyssa, one of her dearest friends. "A bit. Is that who we're going to pick up next?"
"Nyssa, yes. We should arrive not long after she's finished completely curing Lazar's Disease. Turlough, I don't know. We are, however, going to pick up the Ponds, my companions for this regeneration."
"If they're your companions, why aren't they here already?"
"They have a life outside the TARDIS. Have for a while. Also, they had some rougher times than you, plus it can be a bit "eugh" to watch them make out. Rory's been dead a few times. Coming back every time gave him a bit of a reputation as a certified badass, too." With a clunk, the TARDIS finished materializing. "Well, shall we pick up Nyssa, then?"
Tegan stood up from her living room's easy chair. "I'll get her. It'll be good to see her again."
A short trip later and the Ponds (plus Brian Williams) were on board as well.
"Rory, Amy, Brian, I'd like you to meet Tegan and Nyssa. They used to travel with me. I hope you get along with them. Sarah Jane certainly got along well enough with Rose."
Amy looked at the Doctor askance. "Do you always travel with girls, Doctor? Young, pretty ones?"
"No, not always. There have been plenty of men along. Jamie McCrimmon, Vislor Turlough, Ian Chesterton - always had fun messing up his name, Captain Jack Harkness." The Doctor hesitated. He had only just Awoken while crashing into Amy's back yard this Loop. "Adric." Tegan and Nyssa looked at each other and shared a fond thought of the otherwise insufferable genius.
"So, what are we doing today, Doctor?" asked Rory.
"Very special treat. Dinosaurs on a spaceship. Wanted to have a gang for this adventure, so I got half the old gang to meet with half the new gang."
"Half? Is there someone else you're travelling with when you're not with us?" asked Amy.
"Nah. Baseline I have Queen Nefertiti and Riddell as the other half of the gang. This time, I thought I'd bring in some dear old friends instead. Maybe next Loop I'll mix things up a different way. Might even try to pick up companions out of order. That ought to make things interesting." Everyone not the Doctor shared a confused glance. Especially Brian, who still hadn't gotten an explanation for where he was.
2.3 (Detective Ethan Redfield)
The Eleventh Doctor rubbed his hands together with Amy and Rory standing behind him as his mouth formed a mischievous grin. "Question, do you want to see the most dangerous creature in the entire multiverse?"
Amy nodded. "Sounds like fun!"
Rory seemed more skeptical. "Is that wise, Doctor? I mean, why would you actively take us into a Dalek stronghold?"
The Doctor chuckled. "No, no, no, no, no. The Daleks are easy to fool. No, this creature has collapsed an entire universe."
Rory raised his hands to protest, only for the Doctor to twist a knob on the control panel and lift a lever. The TARDIS started vibrating violently. Amy slipped and tumbled to the ground. "Should it be doing that?"
Eleven fiddled with several more buttons and knobs. "No problem! We have to head back in time 2000 years ago, then forward to bypass the Dwarf Star Alloy. Everything is perfectly fine!"
Rory managed to get his protest out. "Doctor, I don't think this is such a good idea."
"Not to worry, you have nothing to fear as long as I'm around."
With those reassuring words, the TARDIS came to rest. The Doctor raced to the door and turned to face Rory and Amy, who stopped mid-stride in surprise. The Time Lord's excited demeanor turned serious. "Now, Amy, you especially, must never, ever under any circumstances agree to do anything he says. If he asks for a contract, refuse immediately. Nothing good ever came from his contracts. He can teleport across the universe if he escapes this prison. I spent an entire regeneration to catch this creature and seal it up. Do...you...understand?"
Amy nodded, her eyes wide. She had never seen the Doctor this serious before. In the face of Daleks he laughed as he easily outmaneuvered them and seemed bored when being locked up in the Pandorica. She wouldn't let him down. With her clearly understanding the severity of the situation, the Doctor seemed jovial again, "Right, as I always say, Geronimo."
With that, he pushed the door open to what could only be described as a kitten-like creature. "Hello, Doctor. Come to free me?"
The Doctor's smile disappeared immediately. Amy looked the creature over with a disbelieving stare, "Is...this the creature that caused an entire universe to be destroyed?"
The creature's eyes shifted from the Doctor to her. "Hello, do you want to become a magical girl?"
The Doctor said with a small growl, "Hello, Kyubey. Madoka sends her regards."
Kyubey suddenly disappeared, only to reappear, smashed against what seemed to be an invisible wall. The Doctor's frown shifted for the slightest moments into a smirk, "You're not getting out through my TARDIS. It's shielded against creatures that can distort the fabric of reality."
Dazed, Kyubey didn't notice the Doctor go on to describe the creature in a low tone of voice, filtering out anything related to the time loops, "Kyubey is an alien from another dimension. He contracts typically with young girls or women at their weakest moment, offering them a wish, any wish, in exchange for them becoming magical girls to fight witches that pop up throughout the universe. What he fails to mention is being a magical girl is unstable. Should the magic girl fall into despair, her essence would become corrupted, turning her into the witch she ultimately fights. One girl wished to become a god, and the wish was more than her universe could take. It collapsed, now only existing in the form of a bow, the one with arrows, not the one on her head."
He turned to exit the prison in his TARDIS and spoke with authority. "Let that be a lesson, Pond. Even the most harmless creatures can end up destroying entire universes. Now, to somewhere more exciting. How about a trip to a delightful town called Mercy in the Old West?"
With that, the TARDIS doors closed behind Rory and Amy's backs, leaving Kyubey trapped within his prison.
2.4 (crossoverpairinglover)
It wasn't the first time in the loops Ahsoka Tano had decided to go out with the younglings again on their crystal hunt, and it probably wouldn't be the last.
Ahsoka, one of only two non human, organic life forms looping in her verse at the moment (the other being Chewbacca), had over time found several events of her baseline she could avoid if she did the right things.
If she used her foreknowledge to its fullest effect, she would always manage to break the blockade of Ryloth in the first try, making things all the better for the Republic and the Twi'Leks alike.
If she did not stop Awake Anakin from flying off on his own and causing mass amounts of damage on Zygerria with one of his giant robots, the Separatist attack on Kiros did not occur, the colonists did not end up being captured by slavers, and she did not have to dress up as a slave girl.
If she talked to Barriss in just the right way, she did not go crazy, and Ahsoka did not have to go on the run from Tarkin and the Jedi Order.
It was easy to not be the one taking the younglings out hunting for force crystals. She just had to say no, and in fact she did so several times in the start. However, in her earliest loops she made bad calls and viewed things the wrong way.
This resulted in her displaying Sakura Syndrome, and a lot of things she would rather not discuss occurred, among which was the origin of Anakin's feud with the Joestar loopers.
She had, of course, recovered from that long ago, and stayed that way in part because of loops like this one.
Being able to see the joy in children's happiness, so simple and unclouded by hate and violence, did her heart good after many loops dealing with monsters such as Palpatine, Ragyo and Ghetsis.
It was refreshing, at least when Anakin was anchoring reality. The time that a different anchor was around...well she had to think about how to remove said younglings from the temple at the end of the clone wars if she was not able to get Palpatine away from Anakin, which was easier said than done.
Of course, the chilly part of the job was over. The Younglings had collected their crystals, and now they were going to visit Huyang, the droid who was responsible for constructing light sabers who bore a striking resemblance to the Tenth Doctor in more ways that one.
The Doctor...
Ahsoka and Anakin had met him a couple of times in various incarnations, and found him likeable. It wasn't that easy to find a non looper who matched them in eccentricities, after all.
It was sad he wasn't a looper though. It was always hard to end up feeling like he was a friend, then have to do it all over again the next fused loop. At least if she continued to work on being Barris's friend, she could eventually start looping.
Though not anytime soon, the current bets on who would be the next looper was generally set for either Padme, Yoda, Rex or Bail Organa. Though Han did put a decent bet on Fives while C-3PO had the oddest belief that Corran Horn would start looping for some reason Ahsoka could not fathom.
"...Place your crystals on the table, your lesson begins now", Ahsoka began with a big smile on her face as the younglings did as she asked equally eagerly. "Allow me to introduce..."
Turning around to properly introduce Huyang, she stopped mid sentence, as what stepped out was not the robot she was expecting.
"Oh, hello there. I don't think I introduced myself, I am The Doctor, master maker of Light Sabers, and I just recently woke up and found myself in a loop to find this place again after I got a little lost." Somehow, it was the 10th Doctor who she found on this ship "I do believe we haven't properly met yet."
Ahsoka subtly pinched herself to make sure she was not hallucinating this.
"A Wookie!"
Still in shock, Ahsoka watched the Doctor, the Freakin, not supposed to be looping, Doctor, lecture her personal little tribe of younglings slash minions when it suited her in that eccentric way of his.
"You know, I always was fond of Wookies. So few of your kind are Jedi, yet the few who are are brilliant paragrims of good and justice. Why, I feel as if a Jedi without a wookie friend is hardly a Jedi at all."
Meanwhile, the anchor of the Prequel branch sneezed before he resumed his watch for his wife's 408th assassination attempt this year.
"Er..."
Noting the human Petro trying to not be rude, yet also wanting him to hurry up, the Doctor got back on track.
"Oh yes, the lightsaber." Using the Force, the Doctor drew their lightsaber crystals to him and had them begin to orbit around him like moons.
"From the battles of Bellatrix and Trenzalore to peacekeeping after the Babel Crisis, the lightsaber is a Jedi's greatest weapon and his one true ally bar The Force itself." The Doctor began the speech Ahsoka had heard Huyang a hundred thousand times, though spiced with his own experiences (and apparently Federation history, he had apparently run into Starfleet already) "The lightsaber is a weapon known far and wide, beyond even the Jedi themselves, but how do they work you may ask? What makes them so special, as opposed to something everyone has? You may have the crystals, but they still need to be given life."
With the force, he returned the crystals to the spellbound younglings, as he began walking towards the holo projector
"You see my eager younglings, you must awaken the Force within your crystals. Now, as I am pretty sure none of you have a clue about how this is done, I will show you. There are few questions after all, that I cannot answer, and here is one thing I can, how to build a lightsaber"
With that, the Doctor activated a hologram showing diagrams to build a powerful hand held weapon. "I'm sure you can follow..."
He absently noticed Ahsoka looking at him in some level of annoyance "Oh, is there a problem, Miss Tano?"
"Master...those are the wrong plans," she deadpanned, causing the Doctor to scratch his head.
"Wrong plans, what do you-?" The Doctor turned and realized the hologram he set up was in fact not that of a lightsaber, but a sonic screwdriver.
"Oh...my bad." The plans quickly changed to those of an actual lightsaber. "Please take no note of what you just saw."
"But..."
"You didn't see anything."
"So, I take it you know me already?"
While the little kids worked, and failed, at building lightsabers with the force (without even looking Ahsoka had corrected Petro at least 4 times before he took his own eye out or set off an explosion), the two loopers found themselves in the corner, the sound of their conversation muffled by a Muffliato charm to discuss looping things where small, inquisitive younglings could not hear.
"Yes" Ahsoka quietly told him "We met you several times...Anakin and me, just me, me and Anakin and R2...you've met most of us at least once. Not sure if you met Revan..."
The Doctor lightly frowned. "Not sure if I could tell you if I had." The Doctor gave Ahsoka an even look. "Were we friends?"
"Friends..." Ahsoka sounded a bit startled at this, but quickly composed herself. "Yes, by the end of our loops there we always were friends of yours. We were friends, allies and mutually despised enemies of the Daleks together, many times over."
The Doctor lightly chuckled at the last one. "I'd hate to find someone looping who wouldn't be despised enemies of the Daleks. I do have one thing to ask of you," he trailed off as Ahsoka's eyes went wide.
The Doctor extended his hand to her with a large grin. "I hope to be friends with you are for real now that I am properly looping."
After a moment's shock, Ahsoka extended her own hand, affirming her own desire to see that happen.
"Splendid," the Doctor grinned. "So,what happens now? Do I just get to watch the Rugrats this loop before being left alone with a bunch of lightsaber parts for years on end again?"
Ahsoka frowned at the last one, not exactly sure why that was the case, but she did have an answer for him.
"Well, Hondo's pirates are going to attack soon, so we should be ready for them before they rob us blind and..."
"Pirates?! That sounds fun!" The Doctor seemed a bit too interested in meeting alien pirates in Ahsoka's opinion. "Oh, I do hope they are non-humanoid ones!"
Before Ahsoka could ask him exactly what he meant by that, an explosion shook the ship.
"Oh, an alien pirate on a flying saucer. I could have sworn it would have been more imaginative looking," The Doctor commented to Hondo's invading Weequayan pirates. Behind him, Ahsoka facepalmed in immense irritation. "You really just look like humans in suits...which a lot of aliens do for some reason, have you ever noticed that?"
Really, they just looked like humans with leathery skin, no lips and some bony frill things.
It wasn't even just here, he noticed the same thing when he was over with the Federation, and his own 'verse for that matter, where many species resembled humans or humans in suits.
Hondo just stared at this Jedi's odd remarks, before he turned his gaze to Ahsoka and asked, in complete seriousness, "You there, Skywalker's Pada-whatsit! Did I just board a Jedi cruiser filled with Khyber Crystal, or did I just board a Jedi cruiser filled with your crazies?"
Ahsoka, idly checking to make sure the Younglings were behind her, ignited her lightsabers in response. "Why don't you come over and find out?"
Hondo laughed at that. "You Jedi are so weird. But my men have taken down Sith Lords, what do two Jedi and a bunch of Younglings think they can do against a crew of Pirates?"
The Doctor's response was to simply wave his hand in front of them, with a face that was actually curious to see exactly how this would work. "Why don't you go leave this place and go bother someone else?"
Hondo laughed. "Oh ho ho! The Jedi Mind Trick? Silly clearly-off-in-the-head Jedi, I'm not so weak as to allow that to affect me. Now, men, let us plunder this ship of its riches..." he stopped talking as he noticed that the rest of his men had in fact left.
Hondo promptly sighed. "Damn. Why can't you get good, obedient minions who can't be messed up by your Jedi hocus pocus? Well, apparently I have to go rob someone else, have fun with your war."
Hondo promptly ran for his life after his mind altered men.
The Doctor grinned as his gaze returned to Ahsoka, who just shook her head.
"This, younglings, is why only droids should be left on ships alone for extended periods of time," she snarked, though she knew his...eccentricities were not caused by that alone.
Force help her when she thought of the question of what he'd be like in a few thousand more loops.
2.5 (novusordomundi)
Cthulhu leaned back into his chair with a smile that could only be compared to the feline devouring a avian. When the Doctor Who loops had finally been started, a lot of processing power that had originally been needed was now freed up for other uses in fixing the multiverse. Even the Admins probably didn't know how much. Which made it easy to divert a little of it for themselves.
Of course, one could not take too much, or Hephaestus might notice. But enough to power a few projects he had in mind, plus a couple of things for Yog-Sothoth to create things in. There was even enough power to make a new playground for the Thousand Young. (Glitch-proof, of course. Zero Day kept going through swings like nothing.)
Cthulhu stood out of his chair and went to grab his coat. He didn't dare risk spreading the news on Soggoth-Chan (the Admins DID keep track of it), and that meant going in person. But hey, he needed to meet with some of them anyways to discuss the day's events. And besides, a computer was a lousy friend to have at a pub anyways...
2.6 (Scorntex)
That Dalek.
That Dalek.
That. Bloody. Dalek.
Looping hadn't really changed the Doctor's opinion about Daleks, on the whole. Oh, Daleks Caan and Sec were usually alright (-ish), but those two were two examples spread across a two-thousand year long lifetime.
But the Doctor really, really hated That Dalek.
He was pretty sure it wasn't the same Dalek, not every time, which was why it'd gained the capital letter.
Because every time, every single Loop, during the Reality Bomb incident, That Dalek shot him.
Didn't matter where he was. London, Boston, Germany, New York, Shanghai, St. Petersburg, Glasgow, even in the middle of nowhere Utah, there was a Dalek waiting for him and Rose.
And it always hit him, no matter how hard he tried to avoid it. And Jack always arrived just a few seconds too late.
One Loop he'd even brought along Jack's Sonic Blaster, to see if that would work. He'd aimed, pulled the trigger... and the battery had made a sad little noise and fallen out. He was still impressed at how quickly he'd managed to roll out of the way of the first blast. The second one had grazed his leg.
And the worst part was that he'd been doing so well this Loop, too. He'd not ruined Harriet Jones's career, meaning the Master's take-over of Great Britain hadn't happened the same way, and Martha's family hadn't been traumatised. He'd managed to get Reinette on-board the TARDIS, which had almost worked, despite Rose's repeated objections, though she'd left a while before he met Martha. He'd avoided getting possessed by that sun, or arrested for unpaid parking tickets. He'd managed to save most of the crew of the Titanic this time. He'd even avoided being banished by Queen Victoria (though Torchwood had still been founded, only they'd been like a corporate version of LINDA. He still had nightmares about that one). And he'd even managed to save Jenny from Cobb.
Of course, he'd had to show off his sword-fighting skills this time, meaning there wasn't going to be a handy spare hand waiting inside Sexy.
He woke up as Jack and Rose finished dragging him inside the TARDIS.
"He's dying," he heard Jack say, "and you know what happens next."
He stood up. Jenny and Donna just looked confused and terrified. Jack looked mostly calm, and Rose... well, Rose was looking like Rose.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Donna demanded. He felt it coming, tried to fight it back just for old time's sake. But it was coming. That chin was coming.
"It's too late," he managed to get out, eventually. "I'-"
He promptly exploded in a blaze of golden light.
'Oh, that's not fair!' he thought to himself. 'You can't cut me off mid-sentence!'
And he'd really wanted to keep this face for more than five years, just once.
He was going to kill That Dalek next time.
The light dimmed, the pain stopped, and he turned to look at the completely blank looks on everyone's faces. He looked down at his hands, which were still the same manly hairy hands they were before.
"Um..." The Doctor declared, caught more than a little bit flat-footed. "Okay. Am I-?"
"Yeah," Jack said. The still-the-Tenth Doctor paused a second to take that in.
There was a strange feeling in his pocket, as something fell out of it. He quickly checked, and found a small letter.
For: The Doctor.
Might have forgot to mention this, but your regenerations remain constant in the Loops.
Meaning your eleventh and twelfth incarnations keep the same face."
Zurvan.
The Doctor stared at the note for several minutes, ignoring the TARDIS lights turning off, and the feeling of being pulled up by the Dalek's beams.
"Well, that would've been nice to know before I let the Sycorax chop my hand off... over a dozen times..."
2.7 (OathToOblivion)
Ash Woke Up just as he was about to go into Professor Oak's lab to pick up his first Pokemon. Sending out a ping, he immediately got two back from inside the Lab, as well as one from the general direction of the Orange Islands. As the one from the Islands was no doubt Tracey, he decided to focus on the ones from the Lab. One obviously had to be Pikachu, but that there was another was only moderately surprising. 'I guess that means Professor Oak is Awake,' he thought to himself, walking in.
As he did so, he couldn't help but notice a few strange changes. For one thing, it was a bit more ornate than he remembered it being. For sure, Professor Oak was the world's leading Pokemon expert, but that didn't really translate into money. Besides which, the Professor liked living humbly, and spent most of his money on the Ranch to expand the habitats for the Pokemon who lived there, as well as the lab equipment.
There were also an almost disturbing number of clocks all over the place. Either the Professor was doing something time-related (Had he Awoken in the past during the thing with Celebi?) or somebody had replaced him. Truthfully, Ash was betting on the latter. 'Probably Doc Brown again, what with all the clocks,' he thought as he walked in.
The person he saw was decidedly not Emmett Brown though. No, he was a fair bit shorter than him. He was wearing plaid pants, a white jacket and hat, and a sweater with an almost absurd amount of question marks on it.
"Well, you're definitely not Professor Oak," Ash commented as the other noted his appearance.
"No, I'm not. This is an interesting Loop though. And my Loop memories have revealed something interesting. This is the Pokemon Loop, isn't it? Are you the Anchor?" he asked in an accent Ash recognized as Hub-standard Scottish.
"Well, it's one of them. And no, I'm not the Anchor. He's in there," Ash said, motioning to the machine that kept the Pokeballs for the Starter Pokemon.
"Ah, the fourth Pokemon I had ready. Very well then," the other said, going to open it. As he tried to remember how to do so, Ash decided to say something.
"So who are you anyway? I've never seen you around," he noted in curiosity.
"Oh, I'm a fairly new Looper. My Loop just activated, with me as its Anchor," the other said.
Ash grinned. "Always nice to meet someone new. I'm Ash Ketchum," he introduced.
"Well met, Ash. As for myself, my name is a bit of a secret. I'd give you my usual alias, but I've actually been called Professor before, so you can just keep referring to me as that," the Professor offered.
"Alright. So, Professor, what's your Loop like?" Ash asked.
"Oh, pretty standard compared to most Loops. I go about righting wrongs, and traveling around. I've been called a bit of a chessmaster in the past, and quite frankly, I understand why. I have a bit of a knack for manipulating people," the Professor said, opening the center that contained Pikachu's (hated) Pokeball.
Ash raised a brow. "Isn't it a bad idea to tell me that then?" he wondered.
"On the contrary, the best manipulators can be known as such and still get people to do what they want. It's best you watch out for those types, Ash," the Professor advised, handing over Pikachu's Pokeball.
Ash immediately opened it...and got shocked as Pikachu came out. As he fell to the floor, he couldn't help but ask, "Why do you keep doing that, Pikachu?"
"Tradition," Pikachu replied. "I got the Ping, is the Professor Awake?" he wondered, turning around to find the other Looper in the room. Upon noticing him, he immediately went deadpan. "Ash, why is the Doctor standing right there where I got the other Ping?" he questioned.
"Because he's the visiting Looper?" Ash said rhetorically, getting off the floor and putting his hat back on. "I guess that's your normal alias then?" he asked.
"Yes. I understand you've met me before, Pikachu?" the Doctor asked in clarification.
"Yeah, it was a while ago, and the Daleks were trying to use some Tentacruel to...Hey! Don't change the subject! How can you be Looping?! You've got more time travel trouble in your Loop than 500 Dialgas!" Pikachu exclaimed.
"Well, obviously, it was patched. Zurvan, my Admin, received some rather generous help from Jormungandr and managed to get my Loop off Read-Only," the Doctor said.
"I don't believe this. Twilight said that you were Looping last time she was here, but I thought she was just trying to prank me," Pikachu muttered.
"It was a shock to me as well when I found out about the Loops. Even more so when I started. Still, I think it's been a pretty interesting experience. It's refreshing, being the inexperienced one. Makes me almost feel young again," the Doctor reminisced.
"Anyway, what are you going to do this Loop, Doctor?" Ash asked.
"Well, I consider myself a bit of a polyglot-" he started, before Ash interrupted.
"A what?" he asked in confusion.
"Someone who can speak a lot of languages. We're polyglots, Ash," Pikachu pointed out.
"Oh."
"Anyway, as I was saying, I was hoping to take this Loop to, while I'm not doing my in-Loop job, learn the Pokemon language," the Doctor summarized.
"Don't look at us, we're not sticking around for long," Pikachu stated.
Ash had a better idea though. "I got a ping from the Orange Islands that was probably Tracey. He's Professor Oak's lab assistant. I can ask him to come over here," he offered.
"Stupid Pokeball…" Pikachu grumbled. Pokeballs in some variants tended to muffle far-off Pings, and it looked like this is one of them.
"I would be very appreciative if you would," the Doctor graciously said.
Ash grinned. "Don't mention it."
2.8 (Blazingen1, edited by OathToOblivion)
"Well, this is strange. No one's glaring at me. Guess it's not a baseline Loop then."
A young Uzumaki Naruto, Anchor of the Narutoverse, walked down his usual path towards the Hokage Building.
"Nope, there's some glares, but no real actions there. Earlier, I was not overcharged for buying my breakfast, no one threw me out of their stores and no parents pulled their children away. All I could find out from them with my negative emotion sensing, is that they all fear someone, just simply not me. Whoever did this to them must have them really scared if they're fully willing to abide by the rules."
It was then that he looked down at his stomach, where the seal was. "And a certain someone isn't really being as chatty as normal," he commented.
"I'm catching up on my sleep. Last Loop was in Ichigo's Loop, remember? You pretty much spammed Bankai the entire time, so guess who had to pick up the slack?" Kurama grumbled, before curling up in a ball and returning to sleep. Naruto rolled his eyes, but decided to leave him alone for now.
Now Naruto, as one of the Original Seven, has had many normal baseline loops and variant loops. He can easily tell the difference between them.
It seemed like a baseline loop, because no one had hurt him yet or do anything other than ignore him. Yet, Naruto still felt that something was amiss. 'Maybe someone's been replaced. I sent out a ping earlier, and the response came from the Hokage Office.'
As he walked past a shopkeeper, he overheard the conversation that two men were having.
"Whatever you do, do not treat that boy with nothing less than respect. If you don't, who knows what might happen to you. We've all been warned by the former civilian council."
"Why would I respect that-?"
"SSSHHHH! Don't you dare call him that. Ever. Don't you remember what the Hokage did to those who beat him? He was simmering with anger, yet he never raised his voice. That was the scariest thing. He didn't shout, he didn't command, he just asked the offenders to stop. When they didn't, he mercilessly beat them bloody, healed them, and then beat them over and over again. Anyone who has caused any kind of harm to him, mentally or physically, it's said that the Hokage will make you feel it ten times worse. As expected of the man feared as the War Doctor."
Naruto's eyebrows shot above his hairline. Alright then, definitely not a baseline loop. Also, the only War Doctor he knows is from the Doctor Who loops. But that's not possible, unless…
Upon entering the office, everyone there stopped for a moment, took a bow, and then continued from where they stopped.
Still puzzled, he walked up to the third floor, and entered the Hokage's office.
"Hey! Old man, have you been feeling loopy today?"
"Oh yes, I Awoke earlier feeling just a bit dizzy, that's all."
The person sitting on the chair was in fact not the usual figure of Sarutobi Hiruzen, but that of the man he fought side by side as they protected the Elemental Nations from the threat of the Daleks. It was the freakin' War Doctor.
He swept his hand and commanded the ANBU to stand guard outside, then, in a series of hand-signs, sealed the room totally. Naruto, feeling like he should contribute, took out two seal tags and flung them at opposite sides of the wall. The seal tags activated and large black characters surrounded the room.
"There. Now we should be safe to talk," they both said simultaneously.
"So you're the guy who pinged in earlier. I've been through over countless loops, but I haven't been this surprised since…I forget. But I definitely haven't been this surprised in a very long time-ttebayo."
"Oh, so you do recognize me. Well then, do you recognize this then?" He took out a pen-like device and pushed a button, making it emit a high frequency sound. There was also a red light on top.
"That's a sonic screwdriver. How'd you get your hands on that? It shouldn't be possible, unless…"
"That's right; my universe has just started Looping too. Allow me to introduce myself," he said as he stood up and put his hands behind his back. "I am the Doctor. Are you the Anchor?"
Nodding, the Doctor continued, "Now, as to how I can Loop, well, I'll be brief because I heard from the staff that you have a tiny attention span in your current body."
Naruto just pouted at that comment.
"Basically, I can loop due to a modification to the Ouroboros Patch with the help of Jormungandr, making other loop aware beings in my universe outright ignore the Loops. They know they're happening, but they just don't care enough to fix it and allow the Loops to fix themselves. Some items like Vortex Manipulators and my dear TARDIS were made Read-Only, with some others made to function at limited capacity, like my Sonic Screwdriver."
He took out his sonic and pressed the button. The red light was noticeably much dimmer. Pocketing the device, he continued, "Finally, I can Awaken as any of my regenerations at any point in a single Regeneration Cycle, preventing any Doctor prior to the Awakening from being Awake. Should I loop into another world in that regeneration, then if I am not at the very least some analogue of Gallifreyan, I will stay in that form until the loop ends."
"I see," Naruto said as he tried to understand what was just told to him. "By the way, I heard what you did with the offenders."
"Yes, well, apparently I heard from others that baseline Sarutobi lacked a bit of backbone. Not only did he fail to properly quell the anger of the citizens by providing a proper explanation of the sealing of Kurama, he failed his successor by failing to provide more for you. He lacked the courage to stand up to the cruel and corrupt civilian council. He didn't even tell you what happened to your parents in fear of you outright hating him. At least, that was what this variant's loop memories tell me."
Naruto really couldn't counter that, as much as he wanted to defend his grandfather figure. He knew both variant and baseline versions of Old Man Hokage had made plenty of mistakes in the past, notwithstanding himself and everyone around him.
"So, once I found out I looped into your world, I decided to formally punished those involved. Trust me, neither the civilian council nor Danzo could ever bother us for the rest of the Loop.
Naruto felt something drop in his belly. Nervously he asked, "What exactly did you do to them?"
"They were greedy people. These politicians would most definitely not stop trying to usurp power from me. So I took their power instead. When they protested, I made them fear me."
There were angry outbursts coming from all the civilian council members. He didn't respond to any of them. All he heard was the squabbling of angry, selfish children. It was only when he ordered one of the ANBU members to pick up one member of the civilian council and send him to Ibiki that the hall became deathly quiet.
"You all seem to be forgetting where your positions lie." It was obvious the Doctor was angry. "You civil servants are meant to serve the people, not yourselves. Mataoki Hideo, the man I just sent away, has been pillaging the village finances just so he could fill his already full cup of riches. The man to the right over there was the main instigator of the Naruto Lynch Mob, and I know everyone here has tried overtaking their positions, haven't they? Everyone here has crimes that they have committed, and I have all the evidence. You children really don't know who you're talking to do you?"
To the civilian council, he was scarier than any Tailed Beast. He didn't even release any killing intent, he never raised his voice, and yet he was so scary that one even peed his pants.
He continued speaking in that same tone. "I give you two options. One is that you leave this village. Your family will be safe, I will assure it. You may only take food, water and some money with you. You will be given seals placed on your necks that will induce death upon attempting to reveal secrets of the village."
Now they were really scared. "The second, well, why don't I show you."
ANBU appeared before the terrified civilians, and whisked them off in a shunshin to Ibiki's torture room.
"It's alright; I can take it from here." He walked into the room. The captured civilians could only watch in horror at what happened to their fellow mate, as they were all pulled in to see a realistic genjutsu of him being pulled into a black hole, not that they knew what it is. The screams made the watchers pale.
"Soon, rumors of what happened spread, and then after that, no one tried to kill you anymore, nor did they decide to break anymore laws. I convinced them, that I am scarier than any bijuu that they may see. With that, people started giving you a chance, before finally realizing that they had made a very big mistake by making biased opinions of you. Some of the smarter ones has realized the connection between you and your father soon after, but they understood why you must be kept hidden lest your enemies find out who you really are. That's how I did it."
"And Danzo?"
The Doctor stood still for a bit before answering. "Unlike the civilians that still could be saved from their own greed, that man is completely irredeemable. I won't go into details, because it still spooks even me. To be brief, I gave him total sensory deprivation. All his soldiers and his recruits were sent to the Yamanakas for mental treatment. I destroyed all the implanted eyes, his good arm, made him deaf, blind and dumb. He no longer has proper nerves to feel, move, use chakra, or any of the six senses. He's totally isolated in a room where no one will ever find him. Ever."
Naruto couldn't really help but to gulp. The 'Fury of the Time Lord', no normal person would want to see that.
"Speaking with experience, the price for peace, in this world at least, is certainly a hard target to achieve, isn't it?"
Naruto could only look back at the multiple loops he had attempted to make everlasting peace in his universe. It was more tolling than any other attempts in some other worlds. The true Naruto, the old man who has lived longer than anyone should, could only sigh and nod in agreement.
"Well, now that the gloomy part is over, could you help me with all this paperwork? I heard from the others you have a secret way of defeating it."
Naruto could only chuckle, put his hands up onto his head and say, "Shadow Clones."
The Doctor widened his eyes before smacking his hands over his temple. "Four Hundred loops and I have already forgotten what they told me."
Full out laughing, Naruto reached out his hands and said, "Welcome to the Naruto loops, Doctor Who!"
"That's not my real name," said an annoyed but smiling Doctor, as they shook hands.
2.9 (Scorntex)
It was an interesting Loop he found himself in now. One where mankind had apparently left Earth at some point, as they were so fond of doing, and wound up finding a great big system to live in, and fight over, and get into trouble over. He'd woken up in a spaceport, travelling around looking for somewhere to be, looking for the local Loopers. Then he'd met that nice young lady with the bright smile, the one who'd said very confidently he was going to end up on "her" ship.
And while he wasn't sure it had been the safest idea, the local Loopers, who lived on said ship, had certainly been inviting, in their own way, their apparent familiarity with him notwithstanding. He decided not to ask them about that one. And he couldn't really fault them for the thefts, given his own murky history of borrowing without permission.
Which is why he'd been unable to argue against joining them on their current caper.
It had been easy enough, use the psychic paper to fake a way into a heavily guarded hospital to take medical supplies that his fellow Loopers needed. The young doctor, and he was going to reluctantly admit the young man was definitely clever given the plan had been his, had warned him that there was a good chance that their unAwake crewmember was likely going to betray them for money, and the situation was going to get worse from there.
They were betrayed and arrested, and his new friend's non-Looping sister had begun mumbling something. And she was frightened.
The Doctor, presently stuck looking like his Tenth incarnation, looked over towards the young man at the other end of the bench (which wasn't easy with a clearly nervous gorilla of a man sitting between them).
"Is she-?" he asked. There was a look of fear on the young doctor's face he did not like.
"She gets like this, when there's danger coming. Sometimes," Simon Tam's eyes darted towards the edgy looking gorilla in their midst, "sometimes it's like she knows what's about to happen."
"Ain't no such gorram thing," Jayne growled.
"Then why's she so worried?" The Doctor asked. Suddenly the girl stopped shaking, and mumbling, and stared straight at the Doctor, or more accurately at the pocket where he was keeping his screwdriver.
Any further conversation was interrupted by their being dragged onto their feet and marched away into another room. The Doctor looked toward Simon, who just looked exceedingly calm.
A few minutes later, and with a handy application of some Venusian aikido, followed by a brief bout of sonicing, they were free. Only River was mumbling again.
"Didn't need no help from you," Jayne growled, cradling the gun he'd stolen from one of the guards, as he began walking towards the door they'd come through.
"Not that way," Simon said. Jayne turned to look at him, looking irritated and annoyed.
"There are going to be more of them coming," he said, glancing toward the Doctor again. He wished they'd explained exactly what it was they were so afraid of. They'd explained only in the briefest terms that "bad people" were coming, even when Jayne wasn't around. Which meant they either didn't know, or didn't want to talk about it. And all the admittedly headstrong Captain Reynolds had said was not to ask.
So naturally the Doctor was growing increasingly curious.
"I kin take 'em" Jayne said, "only eight of 'em."
"Gun's broken," The Doctor noted. Jayne stared at him, the Doctor nodded at the gun.
"Landed pretty hard when its last owner fell down. You'll probably get one shot, maybe two. Might actually be easier to use it as a club, if you can't get close enough."
"Know a lot 'bout guns for a man of learning" Jayne grunted. The Doctor shifted.
"Well," he sighed, "had a lot of them pointed at me."
There was a sudden, loud horrible scream. It was River, who was clutching her head. Simon grabbed her. "We have to go, now!"
River was muttering something to herself. Jayne looked at the door, then to River, then to the gun. He muttered something foul under his breath and started running. The Tams and the Doctor followed suit.
"So," the Doctor asked, once he was certain Jayne was just far enough ahead not to be listening. "What's after us?"
Simon glanced back briefly. "Men."
The Doctor tried not to pout in disappointment. "Men? Is that it?"
"They have something," Simon said. "I don't know what, but it causes a lot of screaming. They'll kill those soldiers just for seeing River, and follow after us."
"So we run?" The Doctor said. Simon nodded, to which he grinned. "Well, you go on and run then. Nice and healthy, fresh air and exercise, I'll just..." he stopped. "Be a minute."
"They'll kill you," Simon said, emphatically.
"Oh," the Doctor shrugged, "I'll be fine. Really. I do this all the time."
"Regeneration is still disabled outside home-Loop," River murmured. Simon gave the Doctor a meaningful glance.
"Don't worry," he said, "I've got a lot of experience in not-dying."
Simon paused, looking over toward the stairs, and heading the sound of Jayne trying to smash his way through the door at the bottom.
"Have you got a weapon?" he asked. The Doctor grinned.
"My brain, my mouth and my screwdriver. Three deadliest things in the world."
"Failed basic theoretical engineering," River murmured, "Destroyed spare manual."
"Only a bit," the Doctor said reflexively, before catching himself. "Anyway, more escaping." Before Simon could add anything else, he lifted out his screwdriver and pointed it at the door. There was a brief pause before they heard Jayne inform them that the door was open. Simon looked at the Doctor intently for a moment, before shaking his head and hurrying down the stairs with River.
The Doctor turned, and marched backwards, trying to ignore the screaming that he could still hear. He walked back into the room and waited. Shortly after the screaming stopped, two men calmly entered the corridor. Both of them were dressed immaculately, and their hands were covered with what looked like gloves. They stared at him dispassionately, as if they were calculating whether he needed killing or not.
The Doctor paused, wondering if some of the local language was beginning to rub off on him.
"Okay," he declared, "Guessing from the posh suits and total lack of concern, I'm guessing government. Because if you've got something you want hidden you send two people to murder everyone involved, very subtle. You could teach Torchwood a thing or two."
The two men just kept staring. Slowly, one started to reach into his pocket. The Doctor quickly drew out his screwdriver.
"Don't," was all he said. The arm quickly fell to the side.
One of the men blinked for a moment, their eyes focused entirely on the screwdriver. "What... what is that?"
"I'm thinking it's the girl. You're after her. Government experimenting, that would explain why you-"
The man's arm hurried back to the pocket. He withdrew a small something, and it began to make a noise. From the look of it, tiny and bright blue and innocuous, the Doctor decided not to take his chances, especially with the odd sound it was beginning to make. There was a small spark as the screwdriver did its work, and the remains of the object dropped to the floor.
"Sonic weaponry," he said, trying not to let his rising anger show. "Horrible way to kill someone. Not very subtle, though. But then I'm armed with a screwdriver, what do I know about subtle?"
The two men turned to look at one another. In an instant, their hands rushed to another pocket, drawing guns this time. The Doctor pressed again, the guns also sparked and dropped to the floor. Now the men in suits were glowering at him. In fairness, he had broken what looked like some very expensive guns.
As they approached, he shifted slightly, readying himself to run at a moment's notice.
Instead, the two men suddenly found themselves being riddled with gunfire, and dropped to the floor. The Doctor whipped around to see a content-looking Mal Reynolds and Zoe Washburn walking into the room holding guns.
"That never gets old" Mal said, walking past the outraged Doctor and over to the remains of the men. He kicked one of them, before turning to look at the Doctor.
"Yeah, Zoe and me usually deal with these two early on, Doctor. The replacement's a lot easier to deal with."
A dark look briefly crossed Mal's face. "Usually."
"But," the Doctor sputtered, "you-"
"These men were gonna try their level best to kill you, me and mine, Doctor," Mal said calmly. "And while you and I may have our differences, you are on my crew for this Loop. Now, c'mon, we gotta get going."
The Doctor nodded, staring at the two men lying prone, before glowering at the backs of Mal and Zoe. Gritting his teeth, he followed after them.
2.10
The Doctor sat hunched over the bar, not saying a word to anyone. The patrons were somewhat used to mopers, but one in particular knew him, and knew this wasn't normal behavior for his friend.
"Doctor."
There was no reply.
"Doctor, it's me, Jack. You look horrible."
"It never works," he slurred slightly. "No matter what I do, it doesn't change."
"Well doesn't that sound ominous. C'mon, tell your old buddy Jack Harkness what's wrong."
"I'm looping through my lifetime. I've done so much, helped so many I failed before. Susan, Adric, Traken, Peri, Rose, Jenny... But not her. Every time, even when I've managed to not lose my hand, something makes me lose Donna."
"Donna? Donna Noble? But I thought she was back home after we beat Davros."
"Oh, this time she is. I played it out the same as the first time because even if she can't remember, at least she's alive. I've tried so much. So many different ways, but they've all failed. Reverse Chameleon Arch, modified Lazarus Project, but always she's lost."
Jack wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't claim to be an expert on the Doctor, but he had known him in two lives, and had met a few others in his incredibly long life. And he'd never seen any like this.
"You know what she calls me?" the Doctor said rhetorically. "'The One Who Regrets.' The rest of my lives have other titles. 'The Young One,' 'The One Who Plans,' 'The One Who Shouts.' But all I do is regret."
"What about what Rose did to me? Make her immortal, too."
"Didn't work. She just kept burning up and coming back only to burn again. I couldn't let her stay in that torturous state, so I crashed the Loop. Eiken was almost a paradise compared to her screams." The Doctor slammed back his drink and signalled for another. "I'm sorry, Donna. I'm so, so sorry."
And all Jack could do was sit down and give the Doctor, who had always seemed so strong, so powerful, a shoulder to cry on.
2.11
"Grandfather? Is everything alright?"
The Doctor glanced up at Susan. It was rare for him to Awaken this early, not that he really changed much before going to Totter's Lane to meet Barbara and Chesterton again. "Yes. Yes, my dear. I'm just rather lost in thought." He looked at the rows of Time Capsules, all Type 40, and mused on how much of an understatement that was. While he felt it most strongly during his tenth incarnation, the crushing loneliness of repeating the same stretch of two thousand years over and over with no one to share it with was starting to get to him. "Now, then. I believe we were going to take this one, hmm?"
And as he stepped towards the doors of she-who-would-be-Sexy (he barely paid any attention to the "Great Intelligence"'s attempts to waylay him anymore), he heard her voice. Clara's voice.
"Doctor? Is that you?"
Wait. That's not what she was supposed to say. He looked back, and saw her, every inch a Time Lady to his senses, looking at him incredibly confused.
"I only ask, because the last thing I remember is being in the TARDIS and you, a new you, complaining about the colour of your kidneys."
Susan looked incredibly confused. "Grandfather? Who is this? And what's she talking about?"
Joy blossomed in the young Doctor's old heart. "An old friend, child. One I am very glad to see. Clara, my dear, this is my granddaughter Susan." The Doctor giggled cheerily. "Would you like to come with us? Hm? We have so much to talk about! Oh, And I'll explain everything to you, as well, Susan."
The other Loopers had said there would be a Loop like this.
He was so glad they were right.
2.1 There are some opportunities that can only happen in the Loops.
2.2 Meeting with old friends
2.3 Kyubey can be delayed quite easily. The hard part is catching it.
2.4 Cosmetic similarities can lead to interesting encounters.
2.5 The Cthulhu Mythos is well integrated with the Expanded Whoniverse
2.6 Multiversal constants
2.7 Now, are you a boy or a girl?
2.8 If you thought Ten's punishments in The Family of Blood were bad...
2.9 Ten's always had a bit of an issue with guns
2.10 Another title held by the Doctor (Ten, at least): The Lonely God
2.11 Not so lonely anymore