9.1 (OathToOblivion, Alex Prior, Bardic_Knowledge, Scorntex)
Most people, when they suddenly find themselves back in their youth after having died, then transformed into a robot they had fought for a good chunk of their career would panic. But for Brigadier Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, there was only one thing he could say.
"Doctor, I have no idea what you have done to Time this time, but I must ask you to fix it."
The Doctor blinked as he heard those words. They had been discussing his recent foray into that parallel universe where Britain was a fascist republic, when the Brigadier had simply stopped for a moment before saying that rather bizarre sentence. "My dear fellow, what exactly are you talking about?" he asked in confusion. He hadn't even restored control over the TARDIS yet!
"You know what I'm referring to. The last thing I remember was dying and becoming a Cyberman, and now I'm back at UNIT? Clearly, you must have broken something," the Brigadier stated stoically.
The Doctor blinked for a moment. It took a while for what his friend had said to sink in. "Good heavens! Brigadier, you're Looping?!" he said in shock. Unbidden, a smile crept up his face as he realized what this meant.
"Looping?" the Brig repeated in confusion. Of course, it could have also been because of that strange smile on the Doctor's face. It was honestly starting to unnerve him.
The Doctor managed to snap himself out of the shock after a bit. "It'll take some time to explain, I'm afraid. I might as well start with the basics, though. You see, underlying all of reality is this computer. Most people who are caught in this phenomenon typically use a tree as a metaphor..."
"I see. So that's what happened," the Brig said to himself after hearing the Doctor's explanation. "Tell me, Doctor, is there anyone else from our universe caught in this mess as well?" he questioned.
"Aside from us, there's Sarah Jane, as well as three of my traveling companions from later in life that you've never met: Clara Oswald, Donna Noble, and Jack Harkness."
"And there's nothing we can do to help fix things?"
"My dear fellow, our very existence helps fix the damage to reality."
"Right, well that's all well and good, but what exactly are we supposed to do then?" the Brigadier insisted on asking.
"Well, Brigadier, I find that one must have a hobby. There's a lass from another Loop with time travel who has taken to inventing devices and techniques that can ease her adventures. Another, a unicorn, in fact, seeks to prove to herself that most difficult of things: that she really is a good person deep down. Then there's those Overlords and those like them. They're evil, dastardly folk, but they still have fun even when their plans are being foiled."
"I imagine you do quite a bit of that foiling yourself."
"What sort of man do you take me for, Brigadier? Of course I do, when I meet them."
"Are there any other military men 'Looping,' as you put it?"
"Oh, yes, quite a few. For example, there's the Imperium of Man, almost their entire upper echelons are Looping at this point; there's also Shining Armour. I think you'd like him."
The Brigadier waited for the Doctor to explain who (or knowing the Doctor, what) these names were. Instead, the man smiled and went back to poking his vehicle. Against long-ingrained training, Alistair found himself just briefly smiling in satisfaction.
"Well, that's one thing about you that hasn't changed, I see."
"Oh?" the Doctor asked.
"You still talk utter nonsense."
The Doctor turned back sharply to look at the Brigadier, his expression shifting between several extremes at once, before he conceded. "True. But I do a rather splendid job of it, don't you think?"
9.2 (masterofgames)
The Doctor paused mid step as he passed by the student's lounge, once more undercover as a teacher. Taking a single step back, he gazed through the door at the Dalek lounging on the couch, watching TV and reading a comic, a backpack of textbooks lying to it's side.
After a moment, the Dalek slowly turned its top to face him.
"...Don't you have midterms tomorrow?"
The Dalek almost seemed to shrug, as it turned back to the TV. "PRO-CRAS-TIN-ATE!"
9.3 (Gym Quirk)
King Claudius took one more look around his private office to ensure that he was alone.
Alone, except for his nephew, Prince Hamlet, who stood patiently waiting for his uncle to explain why he wanted this private conversation.
Satisfied that they were in private, Claudius eyed his brother's son. "Well, Doctor, this could prove to be more than a little inconvenient for at least one of us."
"I must admit, Captain Picard, that this is a new one for me. I am, of course, familiar with the source material, but I gather that you have some first-hand experience with the setting."
9.4 (katfairy)
She'd been looking forward to this. She'd had Fused Loops before, but this was her first solo Loop as a visitor. And in this Loop she was only eighteen. Donna Noble, established coordinator from Alto Mare (well, that was one way to get to Venice), was Awake and ready to be magnificent. Her Loop memories told her that she was just beginning the Contest circuit in Sinnoh, and her first Contest was in two days. She was already in Softsands Village, she had her Contest pass, and she had time to practice with her Pokémon beforehand. She only had two with her, and one was a recent capture, but she still felt she could do this. Between Looping and not being in danger of her head exploding her confidence had increased a lot, but she hadn't had a chance to really test herself yet. There was always that small, nagging voice (which sounded so much like her mother, and wasn't that a shock) that insisted that she couldn't hack it without the Doctor backing her up. Time to prove it wrong.
But first, she was going to take the time to do some serious ogling. Back home she'd have shrugged him off as too young, not without regret, but she was just enough older than him that she'd have felt like a cougar. Here, he was at most six years older; fair game, in her book. Of course, he might be gay, but if he was, well, she could still enjoy the view. Tall and slim; not like that ancient scarecrow she usually palled around with, but almost graceful, and with an arse you could bounce a sixpence off. Long, glossy black hair dipping over one blue eye. Serene smile that was the real thing, not just pretending; after so many Loops, she could tell at a glance. Dressed straight out of a romance novel, in shades of green. Yeah, likely gay, but there was still no harm in asking. Besides, if they hit it off they could have fun bloke-watching together.
"Hey, sailor, buy a girl a drink?" She never had been very patient; might as well make her interest known from the start. The hottie raised an eyebrow at her, smile increasing slightly.
"I'm afraid I am not a sailor, and the drinks here are free." He also had a dead sexy accent and a sense of humor; no way was she ever that lucky. Hope did spring eternal, though.
"Then I'm buying." She headed over, got new drinks, and returned; the fact that he hadn't used that to escape was a good sign. "So, I'm Donna from Alto Mare. Coordinator. Single."
"I am Nando, a Pokémon Bard. I have recently chosen to attempt both Gyms and Contests. And I also am single." There was a gleam in his eye that she recognized from long experience; the man was actually interested. She couldn't believe her luck. "This does make us rivals, but that need not make us enemies."
"More fun to be friendly anyway."
"Yes, indeed."
It was, too; they spent the afternoon together, and while Nando deflected anything beyond getting-acquainted moves, it was with a hint of deferred gratification, not rejection. She was good with that; she wouldn't say no to a nice romp on occasion, but she liked having someone who would stick around even more. And as much as she hated to admit it, holding off until after the Contest was sensible; she wasn't sure how she'd react if she lost to him, or vice versa. Waiting was the right thing to do. Dammit.
There wasn't much time for flirting the next day, although they met for both lunch and dinner. Donna spent both morning and afternoon making sure she could actually do what her Loop memories told her, running not just her Pokémon through their paces, but herself. She was glad that this was one of the first Contests of the season, and nobody was expected to do anything very elaborate yet; in fact, her Loop memories indicated that it coordinators who did tended to find themselves looked at as showoffs and that it tended to backfire in the long run, as they were expected to build to something much more spectacular for the Grand Festival. No, she'd stick to simple but effective for her first-ever Awake Contest.
The evening was given to grooming the Pokémon, which unlike the practice session tended to be a group effort, with Coordinators trading tips while assessing the competition. It wouldn't always be like this, she knew, but this was a friendly group; Donna wanted to win, but wouldn't feel bad if any of them turned out to be better than her. They were all good kids, not like some in her Loop memories. Although she still thought it was worth forfeiting that ribbon for the pleasure of slapping Harley's face. Good thing she wasn't likely to run into him for a while; now that she was Awake, there were all sorts of dirty tricks she could remember and it would be way too tempting to use them on the prat.
In the green room the next morning, the camaraderie was still there, although with an edge of nerves attached. Donna was worried about making an ass of herself, and she'd bet the others were feeling the same. Nando did a good job of hiding his nerves, but Donna knew better; he was being a little too careful about his outfit, repinning the feather in his hat one too many times and polishing his harp every few minutes. Donna wasn't so worried about her own outfit: a simple, draped purple dress with matching pumps. A heavy silver necklace and bracelets set it off nicely, and to top it off she tucked a peony, white with flecks of deep red, in her hair, right where the rolled sides merged into the herringbone braid. She looked damn good, and she knew it. Now she just needed to remember her routine. She sat next to Nando, guiltily enjoying the slight jump he gave; he'd been so ridiculously calm that she'd been wanting to ruffle his feathers. On many levels.
"You look lovely," he said, smiling.
"You're not half-bad yourself," she replied. "Nervous?"
"No," he said, but when she raised an eyebrow at him and gave a significant glance to the hands that had started polishing his harp again, laughed quietly. "Perhaps a little. I have performed often, but this is my first Contest. In the past, I have done Gym battles, which is not the same, and while I had considered trying my hand at Contests, it was only a few weeks ago that I finally made up my mind to do so."
"Wouldn't have guessed you for the indecisive type."
"It was less that than simply not having sufficient motivation. It looked interesting, but I enjoy making the rounds of Gyms and studying the various Gym Leaders. I was unsure if I wished to give that up."
"So what changed your mind?"
"I met some children traveling together: a breeder, a trainer, and a coordinator. The trainer and the coordinator were both so passionate in their views that I decided that there was no good reason not to do both. I have been trying not to second-guess myself ever since. Once this Contest is over, I should regain my equanimity, whether I win or lose."
"So, a bit nervous about facing something completely new, then. Nothing odd about that. Honestly, this one feels like the first for me too." He didn't need to know why, although she'd bet he wouldn't even blink if she told him why. Maybe she would later; he was calm, sensible, and intelligent, and might be able to help her reason out a few things. Oh, she'd had some lovely chats with Sarah Jane, and some of the visiting Loopers had been helpful, but they were all either so used to it that they'd forgotten what it was like at first or their experiences were just too different. And then there was Derpy. Yeah, she'd love a chance to talk with someone who wasn't going to flip out, or talk down to her, or talk to her like she already knew what was going on, or… Well, she'd just talked herself into it, assuming that there were no hard feelings after the Contest.
There wasn't any more time to talk; Nando had to go make his Contest debut. She watched him on the screen, issuing polite commands to his Roselia, who followed them flawlessly; he showed no sign of any second thoughts. He came back with his usual serene smile, and only Donna heard his faint sigh of relief as he sat next to her. She grabbed his hand, giving it a quick squeeze before she headed off for her own entrance.
She'd never thought of herself as a performer, but the second she stepped on stage, all her nerves vanished. She knew what to do, and so did her Eevee, and they both did it. She was rather proud of her idea for it to use Shadow Ball, then Quick Attack to bounce it back and forth as though it was playing tennis with itself. The crowd certainly enjoyed it, and the judges gave her full props (including the expected "Remarkable!") before she headed backstage. A few thumbs up greeted her, and Nando nodded approvingly as she sat by him again.
The battles were a rush. She wasn't much for fighting (well, physical fighting, at least), but this was more like a cross between a football scrum and a beauty pageant. She and her Shinx swept her first two opponents, and the third gave her some trouble but she managed to squeak by. That put her in the finals—facing Nando. Because the universe—multiverse—just loved screwing her out of the opportunity to get with a decent bloke. Nando raised an eyebrow at her, and she returned it with a what-can-you-do grin. Then, because she was long past the stage where she'd try to let the guy win to bolster his fragile male ego, she called out Shinx.
"Well, at least it was close."
"Thank you for not holding back."
Donna and Nando walked back to the Pokémon Center together, admiring Nando's Softsands Ribbon. Donna couldn't say she regretted anything beyond not winning; she hadn't screwed up, and Nando wasn't being a jerk about winning. Not that she'd really expected that last, but she had experience with people not handling victory well.
"A long time ago—another person ago—I might have done," Donna said. "Impressing you would have seemed more important."
"Then I am glad that I met this you," Nando said, meeting her eyes. "I prefer honesty, even when it is not in my best interests."
Well, that didn't make things too awkward. She hadn't had time for any second thoughts about discussing the Loops with a non-Looper, and besides, she'd done it often enough with Gramps without crashing the Loop; maybe that was Yggdrasil's way of telling her to get on with it. Problem was, they were almost back to the Pokémon Center, and she didn't want to discuss it there where others might overhear. Time for a long shot.
"Nando? Would you mind a… well, a companion, for a while? I've got something I need to talk to someone sensible about, and while that's not why I approached you—I saw that smirk, mister, don't think I didn't—I think you're just what the Doctor ordered." True on so many levels. She'd tried to talk to different versions of the Doctor, but his third face had finally admitted that he was probably the worst one to give her advice. She liked that one, silly velvet jacket and all; of all the Doctors, he was the most willing to be both blunt and as kind as he could be under the circumstances, and had fewer qualms about admitting when he couldn't handle a situation than any of his selves except the young blond guy. And that one was a bit scared of her, not that any of him would ever admit it.
"If I can be of assistance, then I shall. I travel alone because that is simply how life is at the moment; I enjoy traveling with others when our roads are the same. And I can cook."
"Marry me." Thankfully he didn't take her seriously. She wasn't bad in a kitchen, but even her Loop memories had her eating a lot of cold meals while camping. "I'm good at setting up tarps, though, in case of rain, and I can build a fire that doesn't smoke."
"Then I shall let you build the fires."
They entered the Pokémon Center together, handing over their Pokémon to Nurse Joy and accepting her congratulations and praise. The next few hours were filled with chats with the other coordinators as well as trainers who had watched the Contest; there would be no chances to be alone until they left the next morning. She took the time to organize her thoughts, realizing that simply knowing that she was going to be able to talk to someone was helping ease a lot of her worries. She slept better than she had in a while, waking up ready for anything. She and Nando headed out of town, easily keeping pace with each other.
"We heading anywhere in particular?" She watched a Mothim flutter across a field, debating if she should catch it for a second before deciding not to.
"There is a Gym in Eterna City, as well as a museum I wish to visit. My Sunflora is fond of art, although it is quite nervous in crowds."
"Eterna City." Donna nodded, a mental image forming of a place holding onto its past so tight nothing new or exciting was allowed to poke its head up. "We're probably going to need a nice peaceful museum visit by then."
9.5 (Grunkle Stan)
The doors to the TARDIS opened and the Doctor stuck his head out. He was greeted to the sight of Daleks...in a diner. It wouldn't have been the most unusual thing he'd ever seen, if they weren't firing nerf darts at all the people trying to eat. Before the Doctor could make up his mind on what to do, a Dalek noticed him.
"IT IS THE DOCTOR!"
"IRRITATE!"
"IRRITATE!"
"IRRITATE!"
The Doctor slammed the TARDIS doors closed as fast he could. Standing with his back to the doors, he started to wonder if he should go back to help the people in the diner, when a nerf dart fell to the floor. Judging where and how the dart fell, it must have been attached to his forehead. After staring at the dart for a bit, he had his answer. "Nope!"
9.6 (masterofgames)
The Doctor sat at a table in a bar, slightly raising his head off the table a few inches, then letting it drop back down with a thunk. Across from him, Clara made no attempt to hide her smirk. "Oh come now, Doctor, I'd think you would appreciate one of them learning the value of a hard day's work."
Across the room, the Dalek behind the counter paused from cleaning a glass and looked up at them. "IN-TOX-I-CATE?"
Clara raised her pint with a grin. "Still a bit left, no need for refills just yet."
The Dalek nodded and returned to cleaning.
9.7 (Scorntex)
It was a rare moment in the strange Loop he found himself in, where no-one was attacking the Doctor and his friends, or chasing them, or trying to incarnate them. And with that came a near sense of boredom, as they all lounged about the massive beach-house they'd found themselves on. Finally, desperate to do something that wasn't practicing his stances, the Doctor had decided to go for a walk. On the way, he'd found something that piqued his interest, and decided to bring it up with his associates.
"Hey," he said, shaking the group out of their malaise, "Look what I found."
The look on the local Anchor's face, as well as that of his sister, was interesting. A mixture of fear, surprise and annoyance. From the other side of the courtyard there was an annoyed groan from their princely associate as he saw the poster the Doctor was holding.
"Ah," Sokka enunciated. "That."
The Doctor looked at the poster, then back to Sokka. "You've seen this before?"
Sokka nodded, with the air of wisdom only an Anchor could provide. "Yes. First time through, I was the one who suggested going to that play. I thought it'd be fun."
Katara placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "You couldn't have known."
"Known what?" The Doctor asked, intrigued. He didn't see what the harm was. He'd met enthusiastic devotees more than once. What could possibly have been wrong with seeing an In-Loop play about himself?
"It's bad," Toph helpfully supplied, from the shade of the porch. "Really bad. And I say that as the only one present who remotely likes it."
"Under-acted and over-acted at once, not to mention under-budget. Basic details ignored, characters warped completely..." Zuko said, with no small air of personal offense, before trailing away into angry muttering.
"Even when we've tried giving the people behind it pointers," Katara added, "It's still pretty awful. And it always ends with the Fire Lord killing the Avatar, then burning the world to the ground."
With that, there was a gloomy silence. The Doctor rolled up the poster, then looked back to the other Loopers. "Probably for the best," he murmured. "Usually when I got to theatres bad things happen."
"Pretty sure that play counts as a "bad thing"," Toph supplied.
The other Loopers looked at the Doctor. "If you want to go see it yourself," Sokka offered, hesitantly, "You can. Just to let you know, it will be bad."
The Doctor looked down at the poster, to the other Loopers, then up at the brilliant blue sky, as strange birds circled lazily in the warm sea air. "Maybe not. I'll find something else to do."
Not even a second later, he realised what he'd said wrong, when Toph sprang up.
"Hey," she said, "If you're looking for something to do, you could practice your Bending."
"But, I-"
As he tried to come up with an explanation as to why not, she marched over towards him. "No excuses. Your Earthbending needs work."
Sokka and Katara watched as their teammate effortlessly dragged the Doctor across the courtyard, shaking their heads. "Wanting to watch the Ember Island Players," Sokka said, mournfully.
"Always the same," Katara sighed.
The two watched as Toph started "instructing" the Doctor, before glancing at one another. "You still wanna go see what it's like this time, don't you?" she asked, already having a good quess as to his answer. Sokka hung his head in shame.
"Yeah."
9.8 (OathToOblivion and Crisis)
Well, when whatever was done to Amy at Demon's Run didn't remove her ability to have other children in this Loop, he didn't see this coming.
The Doctor tried to prevent himself from laughing as he saw how Amy and Rory's youngest child, still a baby, squirmed as they tried to feed him. A few snickers escaped his mouth regardless, drawing the baby's attention. The baby gave him a death glare and made to say something. Normally, that would end in failure, but good thing the Doctor spoke Baby.
"If you ever tell Rock about this, I will kill you!" Bass Williams, normally known as Bass Wily, snarled. Unfortunately, since he had opened his mouth to do that, Amy was able to finally able to stick a spoonful of baby food into it.
The Doctor had to steady himself to remain standing as the baby Bass made a disgusted face and tried to spit the baby food back out.
"Repeatedly!"
9.9 (Scorntex)
He Awoke to the familiar sound of his TARDIS touching down again. With the expectance forged of however many Loops it had been, he stepped out on to the unsuspecting soil of planet Earth.
The Master grinned to himself, as he began going over the plans he had prepared, and which ones he would use for the current Loop.
"Fancy meeting you here," a voice said from behind him. The Master stopped dead, and his veins turned to ice. Reaching into his pocket, he prepared to bring out whatever weapon he had lying arou-
A fist collided with his jaw, and everything instantly went black.
Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (CMG, CBE, DSO) stared down at the unconscious Master, and nodded with both the satisfaction of a job well done, and no small amount of personal satisfaction. He turned to the grinning collection of mad men standing behind him, one or two of whom were taking photographs. The rest had just decided to film the incident.
"Now then, gentlemen, might we try and find a way of keeping this maniac imprisoned for more than a few minutes?"
At this, one of the War Doctor's eyebrows raised. "Oh," the man said, "I'm sure we can think of something..."
9.10 (frozenLake and OathToOblivion)
The Doctor, locally known as Doctor Whooves for this loop, groaned on the ground, his present body drained by Tirek, who had already left to go after the Unawake Twilight Sparkle. He was currently contemplating the current loop he was in. In this loop, he had hailed from a planet known as Gallopfrey, which appeared to be a variant of his home. His loop memories had supplied him with the knowledge of multiple regenerations, up to his current form, which appeared to be a pony variant of his eleventh incarnation, the "Tenth" Doctor. After Awakening, he had picked up his current companion, Derpy Hooves, who seemed to be Awake for the loop. Where she was right now, the Doctor didn't exactly know. She had requested to be dropped off at Ponyville a little bit after the incident with the vines coming from the Everfree, and he had been popping around by himself since, which wasn't all that long, for both personal and worldly time frames.
As he was pondering the present loop, the Doctor's thoughts were interrupted by the light flowing through his body. Ah yes, regeneration. Perhaps he would be able to get a second shot at Tirek after all. It would be rather awkward, as the incident with him losing his hand-er, hoof-had not been repeated in this variant, but at least he would still be recognized, due to the matching form of the regeneration.
Moments later, after the energy from the regeneration had passed, the Doctor stumbled for, catching his hand on a nearby street lamp. Wait, hand?
Zurvan stared. And stared. And stared some more. There was an oncoming headache as he attempted to make sense of what he was seeing.
The in-Loop form of the Doctor was equinoid. Therefore, he should have remained equinoid upon regeneration. Instead, he had regenerated into his usual humanoid Time Lord self from baseline.
Which was not supposed to happen!
Apparently, fixing the "Meta-Crisis Regeneration Patch" was going to be even trickier than he had assumed. Maybe he should get some professional-?
No. He'd done this, so he'd fix this. That was that, and he wouldn't consider anything else.
9.11 (Scorntex and KrisOverstreet)
"CARD-IN-AL JAAST! FETCH THE COM-FY CHA-AAA-IR!"
"Why would Daleks have chairs?"
"... WE WILL EX-PLAIN LA-TER!"
Prisoners of the Holy Inquisition, the Doctor and Donna stood and awaited their sentence, to be handed down by the Pope Dalek:
"EX-COM-MUN-I-CATE!"
9.12 (Scorntex)
The Master, or more accurately, the Mistress, awoke to a splitting headache. A splitting headache and a lack of any means to kill anything within shooting distance. Whatever Loop she had wound up in, it wasn't off to a great start.
And why everything was so washed out, she'd no idea. Maybe it was a local thing. Maybe it was her, since she could've sworn everything was getting more colourful by the minute.
She decided to go over her Loop memories. She moved past the unimaginably dull memories of who she was the minute she got a good look at the world behind them. One human would-be scientist was the same as any other.
What she found didn't impress her. Earth, but not Earth. Several hundred years before she usually first wound up there, with very little in the way of centralised governments. Some kind of war a few decades back, missing heroes, anarchy all over, one lone figure trying to forge a new government out of the ruins. Technology was leaps and bounds ahead than it should otherwise have been.
However, amidst the piles of utterly boring trivia, there was one thing that stood out to the Mistress. A phrase that kept repeating itself.
Mad science rules the world. Badly.
And she could feel the beginning of it in her mind, the irresistible compulsion to build something, anything, and fast. Increasing, moment by moment. And she didn't have the hearts to fight it.
The former Mitzi Clay grinned in the typically unhinged fashion of a Spark deep in thought. It felt like a very good day for science.
9.1: Readers! A salute for the Brigadier! A-TEN-SHUN!
9.2: They never really do get around to exterminating everything, do they?
9.3: Actor Allusions, go!
9.4: Donna enjoys travelling with the Doctor, but she does want so time alone every now and then.
9.5: The Daleks can be so annoying at times.
9.6: There are no bar fights in a Dalek Bar.
9.7: A different Loop than the previous Doctor-Avatar, but the first time the Doctor wasn't quite playing baseline.
9.8: The Ponds/Williams tend to name their kids after music. So do Doctors Light and Wily.
9.9: The Brigadier has a history of cold-cocking the Master.
9.10: Buggering Buggy Bugs!
9.11: NO-ONE EX-PECTS THE DA-LEK IN-QUI-SI-TION!
9.12: The Master has need. The Need to INVENT! The Wulfenback family should be warned...