Amphibious Apples

Prompt: "Amphibious Apples"

From: KI (guest)

Words: 470

"Doctor, hurry up!" Donna yelled through the TARDIS doors.

"Perfection doesn't happen by itself!" he replied, just as loudly, from inside.

"Why are you taking so long?" Donna groaned quietly. "It's going to be dark by the time we actually reach the beach."

She leaned against the ship, looking at her nails from boredom. A whine from the TARDIS made her stand straight and turn to face the doors, which immediately opened. Donna raised and eyebrow at the emerging Doctor.

"What?" he asked defensively, seeing her expression.

He was dressed in a pair of garish swim shorts. They were a bright lime green and were sprinkled with cartoon clowns. On his feet were a pair of purple flip-flops, large flowers decorating the straps. Over his beach clothes the Doctor had on his trench coat. It looked awkward over his thin and half-naked body.

"Maybe you want to put something else on?" Donna offered carefully.

"These flip-flops are perfectly acceptable," the Doctor defended, wiggling his toes in them.

"They're a bit. . ." Donna paused, searching for the right word, "Loud. Don't you think?"

"I think they're superb," the Doctor brushed past her and walked towards the water. "Come on. We want to get there sometime today, right?"

"Right," Donna sighed as she followed him.

A bright sun lit up the surroundings from high in the sky. The clear, blue, almost Earth-like water sparkled invitingly. The Doctor stuck his umbrella into the sad, then discarded his flip-flops, coat, and towel next to it and ran towards the water. Donna followed him soon after.

The water was warm, perfect for splashing and swimming, which was precisely what they were doing. Hair was off-limits, but other than that, both had a field day.

"What's that?" Donna said suddenly, pointing a bit away from them. "Is it a jellyfish?"

"Where?" the Doctor asked, following her hand, then seeing what she was indicating, shook his head.

"What is it then?" Donna demanded, moving closer to him.

If the Doctor noticed the change in her demeanor, he didn't comment on it, instead saying, "It's like a guard dog."

"In the ocean?" Donna frowned. "Why would there be a guard dog in the ocean?"

"They needed them a long time ago," the Doctor explained. "Against invaders. The people here genetically modified various inconspicuous items, like sticks, plastic, fruits, so they can ambush those who would do the colony harm."

"So that's. . . what? A red flower?" Donna asked, her fears of jellyfish attacks alieved.

"I think it's an apple, actually," the Doctor replied. "But, look, it's swimming away."

Donna nodded, and soon they got out of the water and got back to their umbrella. There, the Doctor got out a grill from one of his pockets, followed by a bag of fruits.

"Ever had fried bananas?"

I was picturing the little apple thing sort of like the strawberry from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.