There was an unbelievable amount of tension in the TARDIS. It was so thick it was nearly suffocating, and it centred in on The Doctor. We all watched silently as the man paced around the main console in a slow, almost robotic march, his face shrouded in shadow. Though the very dark frown was just faintly visible.

It was difficult to get a word in. Occasionally, someone would open their mouth to say something, but then would close it up right after. Either because of the aforementioned tension, or Who shooting them a deadly glare. It was impossible not to want to melt into the floor. It was suffocating. But we all knew why. A few days ago, after we finished up with the Dalek Asylum, The Doctor told us about it.

The Time War.

Time Lords vs. Daleks.

How Gallifrey was destroyed, taking everyone but Doctor Who with it.

That evening was filled with an air of sombreness, but after a while we all bounced back, sucked back into our chaotic happiness. But now… Now we were at a breaking point. Dry Bowser was at the one place The Doctor feared to ever step foot on again. The red sands that rested under the burnt orange sky.

With another tired sigh, The Doctor continued to circle the console, muttering under his breath. It was really depressing to watch, as I knew we were on a ticking clock.

"Doctor", I suddenly said firmly. Everyone, even the man in question, jumped and faced me. "I get this is not ideal, and where Dry is just makes this all the more difficult, but you need to calm down. It's time to just push aside all of that turmoil and anguish. Time is collapsing in on itself, so it might not be the same Gallifrey. We need to do this."

The Doctor gave me a long hard look, everything falling into silence once again. Then, Galacta spoke.

"Doctor, he's right. We have seen so much, and I have done things I deeply regret. But if I was forced to go back to a place that I viewed as a shattered memory, I wouldn't hesitate. You need to do the right thing. Confronting the past, the ghosts you left behind, is sometimes required to do the right thing."

The Doctor gave the knight a long, hard look. Silence was set on staying in control. But then, Who's eyes watered a bit as he flashed a small, yet meaningful smile. "You're right. You are right. It's just hard. There's a reason I left it behind, but if I have to face it… Then what the hell!"

We all sounded off with gentle cheers and words of encouragement, and The Doctor finally met us all in the eyes fully, clapping his hands together as he finally returned to his normal self. "Now, we're heading into something big. I'm gonna be dealing with the riff-raff we're bringing along, so all the rest of you have some time to do some final preparations."

We all nodded, and with our goal getting closer and closer, we all broke off. I found myself heading to the kitchen with Gladius, Izzy and Merida, our moods mixed. Merida was determined, I was worried, Izzy was obliviously happy, and Gladius was silently stoic.

Izzy sat down on the counter, crossing her legs as she watched Merida reach into the cupboard.

"What are you doing Merida?" I asked innocently, leaning back on the counter and looking at her curiously.

"Making tea", the princess answered. "My mum taught me when I was… seven? It's just been in my head since then."

"Tea is very popular with royal families", Izzy stated matter-of-factly. "I might be wild, but I'm not stupid. Tea means a lot of things to different people."

"That is very insightful, Isabela", Gladius said calmly with a nod.

The Psycho Hose Beast beamed, making Merida huff out a laugh. She finally found the tea bags, and rested them on the counter as she began to search for a kettle. "Before you ask, while you were dealing with the dinosaurs, Izzy taught me how to use this."

I closed my mouth, not even realising I had it opened.

Merida shot me a smirk over her shoulder, and pulled out the kettle. She filled it with water, and set in on one of the burners. "Honestly, all this modern technology is really easy to get. Probably helps we found a time traveller." She began to look for some cups. "He helped tell me everything I wouldn't get, and I guess seeing a witch with magic similar to this stuff helped a lot too." She set the cups down.

I nodded absentmindedly, looking between both redheads. "So… you two seem really close. I'm guessing you two have been getting to know each other while we've been here?"

They both shared a look, then gave me a shrug. "Eh, Merry's fun to be around", Izzy explained. "And we're both redheads! We've got to stick together!"

Merida let out a bubbly laugh. "Yeah, I guess that's a good reason. But honestly, I like Izzy. She's… she's wild. And I like that."

"Plus, we both love archery and the woods!" The Psycho Hose Beast said happily. "So yeah, we have been." Her smile faltered a bit. "I feel like I can count on her more than my friends back home."

All three of us gave her a worried look. "What do you mean by that, Izzy?" Gladius asked in concern.

Izzy sighed. "Like I said, I'm not stupid. I just like to… ignore the problem. And I usually can, because I was just on a show to have fun. But being out here, with all of you, and especially after Merry and me buddied up… I don't know… I guess I'm seeing how shallow things are.

"Like, Noah and Eva. The three of us are Team E-Scope! But I feel like they just tolerated me, more than anything. And Owen, as much as I love him… I still haven't forgiven him for sacrificing me during the slasher challenge back in season one. Also, he really needs to grow a spine. Plus, I was eliminated from season two because the scripts were swapped! That wasn't my fault!"

"Is that why you told me you wanted to be called Kaleidoscope?" Merida asked.

Her friend nodded sombrely. "I had it as a crutch so I could save myself from elimination. I didn't think I'd go that early…" Her face twisted into rage, clenching her teeth. "And I know it was because DJ and Chef had an illegal alliance! I lost because Chef had to be a jerk!" She suddenly sighed, slumping forward a bit. "But whatever. It happened, and there's nothing I can do about it."

I gave Izzy a sad look, and hugged her. "I gotcha', Iz. It's hard, and seeing all of this can really shift one's perspective. But once you get back home, I bet it'll be just like old times!"

She smiled and hugged back, lifting me off the ground and setting me in her lap. "That's right, CC!"

Merida gave her a weird look. "CC?"

"Cool Caleb! Or Caleb Cat. Because he's super cool, and acts like a cat! Star told me that second one." She looked at me, only for her shining smile to morph into horror when she saw my face drenched in tears. "Did I say something wrong?"

I shook my head and wiped my face. "N-No. Just… no one's called me CC in years."

Merida cocked her head curiously as Gladius hovered closer. "Who last called you that, Caleb?"

"My-" the word caught in my throat as it tightened again. Then, in such a shattered whisper, I said it.

"My brother…"

Both redheads shared a look, but said nothing. In silent understanding, Izzy hugged me closer as Merida returned her focus to the tea. That was good, because the steam had just started to sound off as it whistled out of the kettle. Carefully, Merida poured the water into the three cups, let the tea sit, then stirred.

As she handed the finished cups out, I gratefully accepted mine and took a big sip. The tea instantly helped calm me down, and I leaned into Izzy more as the aroma calmed my frayed nerves. I smiled up at the Psycho Hose Beast, and she grinned right back.

"Well, whatever happens, Caleb", Merida spoke up as she sat next to Izzy on the counter. "We're all here for you, ya' wee devil." She playfully ruffled my hair, and I smiled.

In my head, I was thinking something…

And at the thought, I smiled as I took in the love of my new-found sisters.

~X~

An hour later, we were all back in the centre room of the TARDIS. My tears had long since tried, and I wore a determined look as The Doctor and Zomboss worked away on the main console. Looking around, I carefully watched as Steve checked his inventory, Jenny adjusted her pigtails, Majima twirls his knife between his fingers, the Powerpuffs quietly talk between each other, and Galacta flexes his wings. Ralph rested a hand on my shoulder, and I leaned into his touch as The Doctor spun around to address us.

"Alright! I sent the coordinates to our allies, and they're moving out. If Dry Bowser has any ships waiting, they'll draw fire away as we slip in."

"Once we've landed", Zomboss continued, "we'll hunt down Dry and corner him. Regardless if he has an army, fights back or both, we do not back down. We have a whole universe at risk, and we cannot fail."

"I'll lead the charge", Galacta said. "Majima and Jenny will be right behind me, and then the rest of you. If you start to feel overwhelmed, run to cover and make it back to the TARDIS."

"I'll be sure the shield is up", The Doctor stated, quickly facing the console again and getting back to work.

"So that's the plan?" Flowey asked. "That seems like a crap plan."

"It's the best we got considering the situation." Blossom spat, glaring at the flower.

Barranco hopped on top of Dave, standing up straight with his arms behind his back. Despite the Minion struggling to stay balanced, the Rabbid stood tall. "Alright troops!" We all gave him flat looks, but he continued. "We're gonna be facing a powerful enemy, and we all need to be in peak condition! We will charge in a V formation, Galacta in the front. We will then-"

Manolo swatting him away and into a wall shut him up.

We all laughed sans Galacta and Dave, the latter more relieved he didn't have the Rabbid on his head anymore. After that little blip of joy, things became serious again as The Doctor fired up the TARDIS, and we were off. As the ship shook throughout the whole trip, I would look over my friends.

They all looked determined, but all except Galacta looked just the tiniest bit terrified. Understandable, considering the circumstances. Occasionally, when I would lock eyes with Maria, her eyes would glint with motherly love that would help me relax just a bit. Gladius constantly being by my side was also a big help, but even with all of that I was still nervous.

Suddenly, things got a lot more rocky as the TARDIS began to shake violently. Outside, I could hear a multitude of explosions and laser cannon fire.

"We're here!" Zomboss shouted.

"Caleb!" The Doctor barked. I snapped my head in his direction. "Can you do what you did last time? Just to help clear a path for us. We'll keep the TARDIS heading straight, but there's a lot more ships above Gallifrey then expected."

I nodded, and rushed over to the chair of Zomboss' custom part of the console. Activating all the weapons again, I waited till the screens blinked to life. Seeing the space above the surface of the Time Lord home planet locked in a massive ship based war, a variety of ships all blasting at one another. I could make out Dalek ships, Cybermen ships, and so many more. On the other side, closer to the planet, was a swarm of the Goombalek ships we saw earlier.

Stretching the muscles in my neck a bit, I got to work and used the two side cannons to blast apart any and all Goombalek ships that rested in our way. It was honestly really easy, especially with the shield keeping us safe. When I destroyed the last ship in our path, I shut the controls off as The Doctor and Zomboss brought the TARDIS into the atmosphere of the red sand planet.

None of us really knew what was happening, but when the ship settled after landing, we knew it was time. One by one, we filed outside and stepped onto the rustic dirt that covered the planet.

I squinted, shielding my eyes as the twin suns rested frozen to the west, just barely above the mountain range on the horizon. The whole planet looked like Mars in a way, only with a tint of orange filtered over everything. It was bizarre.

"I'm not seeing Dry Bowser anywhere, Doc", Majima said, looking around at the sandy landscape.

"I had to land a good distance away from him", Who explained. "He should be just over that hill." He pointed to a raised mound that rested just before us.

Majima grumbled, but we all ignored him and shovelled on. Even though it was a short walk, the suns already felt like they were killing me. I groaned as we reached the peak of the hill, and we all proved and carefully looked over the peak. The first thing we noticed was a large city off to the left.

I noticed The Doctor eyed the city in anguish. "That's your home, isn't it?"

He nodded solemnly as everyone turned to face it. "It was. I don't t… I don't think I have the heart to face everyone."

Jenny hummed and extended her eyes out like telescopes. "Well, I got some… I guess good… news for you, Doc. The city is completely empty."

We all looked at her in horror. "What?" Steve whispered.

"I'm not seeing a lick of life anywhere. It's all in one piece, but no one is home."

I was silent for a moment. "Oh!" Everyone looked at me. "It's because Dry and his timeline fusing. He's fused two points: One, where Gallifrey as a planet is together in one piece, but then combined it with a point after the Time War. So all the Time Lords aren't missing, they're… just…" I trailed off as an uneasy sense of realisation and horror slowly washed over us.

"Considering this shithead, I don't put it past him", Majima spat. "Jenny-Chan, can you see that bastard anywhere?"

Jenny resumed scanning the landscape, and soon froze when she looked at a particular spot. "There." She pointed at the spot, and even from here we could all see the red box. A vague grey blob was in front of it, and I narrowed my eyes.

"He's alone", The teenage robot finished, returning her eyes to normal.

"He knows we're coming", Galacta said darkly. "It's like when we were at the Torchwood facility. He knows we're coming, so he's prepared to strike when we finally show up."

"All the more reason to smash that stupid smirk off his face", Flowey said in sadistic glee. Ralph huffed and rolled his eyes, then looked down at me. I looked up at him, and silently nodded.

The wrecker set me on his shoulder, and with Gladius glued to my side, he slid down the steeper side of the hill towards our opponent. Everyone else followed after us, each with varying degrees of success, but luckily no one tumbled when we reached the bottom.

I jumped off Ralph's shoulder and stared at Dry Bowser, the skeleton turtle's back to us and he worked on his TARDIS.

Galacta, Jenny and Majima moved to the front of the group, defensively blocking us from Dry's line of fire.

"I was wondering when you'd all show up…" The undead koopa king started in a low tone. "I knew coming to this backwater place wasn't going to stop you. You're all too tunnel visioned on a single goal."

"What, stopping you?" Merida spat. "I say that's a good goal to have, you bloody pile of bones!"

Dry Bowser paused his work, looking ever so subtly over his shoulder. "You say stop, but I know how this will go. I've seen all possible outcomes, and only one do you all win against me." He fully turned to us, raising his wand high above. "I will make sure you never-" He was silenced when The Doctor used his screwdriver, and the door to the red TARDIS closed and locked.

"Try us, bitch", Majima snarled.

Dry faced his ship, eyes wide in shock, then whirled to us in a burning rage. "You might have slipped past my army above, but I am a king! I command all!" He cast a spell into the ground, and slowly but surely CyberKoopas and Goombaleks rose from the sand. Behind us, I looked to see Weeping Boos emerging from the hill, faces frozen in sadistic glee.

"We're surrounded!" Alfur cried fearfully.

"Just as I expected!" Barranco roared. "Dave, secret weapon!"

The Minion nodded, and he pulled out a small device. It was a rubber ducky, adorned with an odd Rabbid logo.

"Fire in the hole!" Dave called out. He chucked the ducky over towards the army amassing in front of Dry, and after a few bounces (with a squeak on each landing), the duck rested still…

Then exploded, ripping a massive chunk of the army apart.

I gripped onto Gladius' handle tightly. "Let's do this, guys! Charge!"

Everyone let out battle cries as we charged at the undead koopa king, The skeleton glaring at us in boredom.

Then he let out an ear shattering roar, and charged right at us.

Meeting in the middle, we clashed…

And thus began the second Great Time War.

~X~

I ducked behind a rock as Dry Bowser let out a stream of blue fire in my direction, the flames just barely licking past my messy mop of hair. I heard a grunt and the flames stopped, and peeking over the rock I saw Ralph and Dry Bowser locked into a wrestling match. The skeleton still had his wand tight in his grasp, and used it to blast the wrecker off of him.

Ducking back behind the rock, I shared a glance with Gladius. "We need to get that wand. We get that, and Dry Bowser will be powerless."

Gladius peeked at the wand for a moment, then looked at me again. "You are right! There's just the issue of getting to that point."

I ducked under a stray Goombalek laser. "Well, we'll worry about that later. C'mon!" I dashed out into the open, right into the middle of the utter chaos. All my friends were battling Dry Bowser's monstrous fusions, and it was spearheaded, surprisingly, by Izzy.

Why? She had hotwired a Goombalek, and was flying around raining hell on our enemies.

Jenny and Galacta were helping Ralph with Dry, and everyone else was just doing whatever they could.

As I dodged and duck passed hammers and laser blasts, I was suddenly pulled by the shirt collar behind a rock.

"Bloody hell, Caleb!" Merida hissed, her bow drawn. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"I was doing that so something like this could happen", I smugly said back.

Merida glared at me, protectiveness flaring in her eyes. The Doctor, who was on her other side, scoffed. "Keep that up, Caleb, and you'll be wishing you were like Jack."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. But I need your guy's help."

"Help with what?" Merida asked, quickly shooting an arrow at a Weeping Boo.

"I need help getting Dry's wand. If we get it and destroy it, it'll make him much less powerful. Plus, I have a hunch that it being destroyed will make all of these things disappear."

The Doctor gave me a look. "It's not a sound theory, but it's the best we got."

"Alright, fine." Merida shot a determined glare at the fire-breathing turtle skeleton. "Stay close to me, you wee' devil. Got it?"

I nodded, and the four of us were off. Gladius was reflecting back and stray blasts away, and Doctor Who was using his sonic screwdriver to scan our target. Merida made a move to fire an arrow at Dry, which easily got his attention.

Snapping his fire filled eyes at us, he tossed Ralph aside and blasted Jenny and Galacta away effortlessly so he could focus on us and us alone.

"Finally deciding to challenge me, boy? Well, bring it on!" He tucked his wand away and pulled out two bones, one in each hand. Standing up straight, he tossed them, and they bounced over me and Merida.

"Jump!" The princess and I just barely dodged as the bones travelled along the ground back at us. Dry Bowser then pulled out two more bones, this time holding them up.

After he tossed them, I barked the same order, and me and Who jumped over as they bounced along the ground. Finally, the skeleton detached his head and tossed it forward. As blue flames left his nostrils, I jumped on the skull, and dodged the burst of flame that shot out. I finally retaliated by grabbing Gladius and walking the skull back to its body like a golf ball.

The skull smashed into the body, sending the turtle dragon flying backwards.

"Nicely done, Caleb!" The Doctor cheered. With the undead koopa king separated from the main battle, the four of us faced him in determination. I gripped tightly onto Gladius' handle as Dry Bowser recovered, and glared us down.

"So… this is it? You four against me?" The skeleton let out a sarcastic laugh. "Please, those pathetic plumber brothers are far more intimidating than you ever could be."

"Try me, Dry Bowser!" I snarled, my expression darkening.

The skeleton snorted, then smirked. "You have the idiocy to compare to that pathetic excuse of a Magikoopa that's glued to my living counterpart. But so be it." He pulled out his wand. "If you wish to die by my hand, be my guest!"

The spell he cast out was so sudden I nearly didn't avoid it, but luckily Gladius pulled me out of the way. Merida countered by firing a barrage of arrows, and each one hit their mark, what looked to be a damage indicator popping into existence after each hit.

"What is that about?!" The Doctor cried.

"LIke I said!" I explained over the chaos. "Dry Bowser was a secret boss in the RPG. He can be defeated." I pointed my sword companion at the skeleton. "Don't let up! Not for a second!"

Merida smirked. "On it!" She began to unleash a massive bombardment of arrows, most burning up when Dry Bowser tried to defend himself, but some others did hit. The Doctor started using his sonic screwdriver, aiming the device at Dry's rib cage. The bones shook unnaturally, and Dry roared in pain as the cage suddenly buckled and snapped closed.

I charged forward and unleashed a series of slashes on the dragon. Each one dealt a crazy amount of damage, and Dry had to push me away when it became too much. He growled, then let out a roar. Two swirling purple opened in the floor, and rising up from them was…

My mind crashed.

It was Roy and Wendy Koopa. Only Roy looked like Sontaran, and Wendy looked like a Zygon. Sontaran Roy rushed off and came back over, carrying a massive rock above his head. He stood in front of me, and tossed the rock up.

"Not on my watch!" Gladius barked. He smacked the boulder back up, and it came back down towards Sontaran Roy. He smacked it back up, and for a little bit Gladius and Roy kept up the game of back and forth. But when Roy smacked the rock at one point, it was destroyed and a bit of rubble bounced back and damaged Wendy.

Zygon Wendy went next, and started shooting off massive energy rings. She danced in front of each of us, forcing us to jump constantly. After a moment, it ended, and Dry Bowser moved to attack again. He raised his wand above, and three Thwomps appeared in portals above us.

"Oh dear…" The Doctor whispered.

"Whack them when they fall!" I barked in panic, passing a brief glance with Dry Bowser. He was charging up a blast of fire, and I knew it was going to be big.

The Thwomp above Merida was the first to fall, and she effortlessly knocked it with a fired arrow. It l;added in front of her, shielding her from Dry. The Doctor was next, and he succeeded by using his screwdriver. Gladius swatted the one above me, and we all braced as Dry Bowser fired off his blast of fire.

Comically, it torched the Thwomps, and that peeved them off enough they hopped over one by one and crushed their summoner.

"Doc, Gladius, I got an idea", I whispered. The Doctor, in silent understanding, buzzed the sword with his screwdriver, and when Gladius was vibrating heavily, I tossed him forward. Gladius, like a coked-up boomerang, bounded relentlessly between the three opponents, racking up huge damage.

When he returned to me, Roy and Wendy simultaneously started to glow, light bursting from their bodies. Then, they both erupted into a plethora of harmless, multicoloured stars. And like that, they were both defeated.

Dry Bowser looked at the now empty space. His eye twitched, and he let out an ear-shattering, ground-quaking roar. As he did, his body tinted red as smoke erupted from his head.

"We're getting closer, guys!" I cheered.

Dry Bowser silently moved onto his next attack, which involved him attempting to suck us up. As we tried to run away, spiked balls and bob-ombs came at us. Gladius, quick as a flash, started knocking both hazards into the air, which meant there was a barrage of stuff crashing onto the skeleton's head.

He stopped when he couldn't take anymore, and roared after a moment to regain his bearings. Another two purple portals opened in front of him, and up rose Ludwig Von Koopa and Larry Koopa. Ludwig looked scarily similar to Dravos, and Larry looked very much like… like The Master. The Doctor's eyes widened at Larry's appearance, but I gave him a look to collect himself and focus on the task at hand.

He nodded, and we returned to the battle. As Dry Bowser cycled through the attacks we survived and used his wand for other spells, all while supported by the two Koopaling Fusions, the four of us didn't let up our own assault.

The Doctor and Merida relentlessly attacked the two Koopalings until the burst into stars much like the two before them, and Dry Bowser was clearly getting much more desperate.

"You can't win!" He roared. "No matter what you do, I will get what I want! I will destroy this universe! I will finish what I started!"

"As if!" I roared back, smashing Gladius against him repeatedly. "I've come too far to have some freak like you keep me from going home, from destroying the home of my friends!" I slashed the skeleton, and he dropped the wand as he flew back.

He looked and saw me aim the tip of Gladius' blade at the orb of the wand. "NO!"

"NO MORE, DRY BOWSER!" I stabbed my friend down, and the orb shattered.

Suddenly, all fell silent, and looking over at my friends and Dry's army, I watched as one by one the fusions exploded into small bursts of stars. I shot one last glare at Dry Bowser, picked up his wand, and threw it at him hard.

It smashed into his forehead, completely shattering.

And then Dry Bowser froze.

The surrounding area was bathing in white as purple beams shot out from the skeleton. He roared as more of the purple shot out, and was silenced when he exploded into a swarm of purple stars. They flew out in all directions, most of my friends dodging them out of worry, and soon Dry collapsed onto the ground as a pile of bones.

There was a few more moments of silence before we all broke out into joyous cheers, all of this horrid ordeal behind us.

"Caleb, you are something else", Merida said, ruffling my hair as she came up next to me.

I beamed up at her. "I had some help."

"You most definitely do, you amazing boy!" Gladius cheered as he wrapped me in a hug.

I returned it carefully, only to freeze when I saw Dry Bowser reassemble himself. All my friends stood defensively in front of me, but Dry Bowser didn't move. He eyed us all with this… hollow look, and wordlessly he stomped away.

We all watched him leave silently until Hilda spoke up. "We can't leave him here."

"So what, we do the same thing we did with Galacta and Flowey?" Buttercup spat, making those named share a look. "Fat chance. I'm cool letting him eat it."

I sighed. "I'll go talk to him. You guys figure out how to set everything back to normal."

I walked off from the group, slowly approaching the undead koopa king. He was sitting on a rock, looking towards the Time Lord capital. Carefully, I took a seat next to him, and joined him in the city watch.

"I just don't get it…" Dry bowser spoke in a pained whisper after a few silent minutes. "I had everything I needed to succeed, to prove I'm better than… my living counterpart. But…" He fell silent and looked down.

I gave him a concerned glance. "Well, how can you say actually winning with all of this would make you better than Bowser? No one would have known."

"It was the idea", Dry admitted. "I just wanted some sort of accomplishment. I know who I am, because of all the sports and karting that's around in my world. There's no cohesion, no order. I… after my introduction, I was just 'the clone of Bowser' and that was it."

My eyes were locked onto him for a while, my expression sad. I then looked back at the city. "You know, sometimes getting away from everything is the best idea. You're away from Bowser, out in a place he'll never get to experience. That's something you have over him."

He looked at me blankly, and I continued as I stood up. "Plus, you can have a group of people who you can count on." I offered him my hand. "We can help with everything. One whole point about this trip for all of you guys is to find your true selves. Be the people you want to be without masks."

Dry Bowser gave my hand a firm look, then gazed into my eyes. His height made it silly, but I stood bravely.

After a few silent moments, Dry Bowser chuckled and took my hand, standing back up. "You've got a way with words, kid. Plus, you are right…" He smiled down at me. "I've got one thing Bowser never will."

I beamed up at him, and let out a surprised laugh as the skeleton dragon lifted me and set me on the top of his shell. I held onto the rim as he stomped over to the others, Zomboss leaving the red TARDIS as everyone crowded around The Doctor's TARDIS.

They all looked over at us, and Dry sighed from all the wary looks he was getting.

Zomboss ignored that, and dusted his hands as he came over. "Alright. So, I've rigged Dry Bowser's TARDIS so that when it's destroyed, everything will go right back to normal. Only all of us in the TARDIS will remember." The zombie gave Star a grateful look. "Thank you for the help, Butterfly."

"No problem!" The princess beamed for a moment, then returned to looking at Dry.

The Skeleton set me down, gazing at his TARDIS. "You rigged it to explode?"

Zomboss nodded firmly. "Yes, I did."

Dry kept staring at it. "All of you get inside. I'll handle this." He started to suck in air, blue flames building up in his rib cage. We all immediately understood, and rushed inside the TARDIS. I stayed at the door, watching as Dry sucked in more air, then let it rip as this explosive cone of blue fire. He slowly backed up into the TARDIS as the flames consumed the red box, and once he was inside, he stopped, I closed the door, and we were off.

The Doctor flipped the main switch on the console, and we were off as time reset with a deep boom.

~X~

In the backyard of Amy and Rory's house, the sun was high in the sky as we all prepared to get going.The TARDIS rested as everyone helped the Ponds pack their stuff into the blue box, Dry Bowser at the forefront. He was set on wanting to make the others warm up to him, even if it was a slow process. But considering how things were with Flowey and Zomboss, I had a feeling it wouldn't take long.

I watched everyone talk and help from the sidelines, Gladius hovering next to me and Maple on my shoulder.

"Well, that was one heck of an adventure", I said wistfully. "Despite being extremely dangerous, and such a chaos-filled nightmare… I had fun in the end."

Gladius let out an airy chuckle. "I suppose that's one way to put it. But even if we nearly died… The reward was worth it."

Maple gave him a questioning look, and I snorted. "A time traveller with two hearts, a married couple, and an undead fire-breathing dragon turtle? Yeah, I'd say that was worth it all."

Gladius hummed happily. There was a few minutes of silence between before he spoke again. "I'm surprised Amy and Rory decided to tag along, considering everything they've been through."

"I am too, honestly. Even after asking them in Mercy, I felt like they'd want to stay home."

"I guess that's the pull of The Doctor. Well, that, and the prospect of seeing the impossible. More than what was possible in their world."

I nodded, watching as everyone filed inside. Smiling, I walked over and poked my head into the box. "Are you guys all ready to get going?"

In response, everyone sounded off in excitement, and I stepped outside again. With the TARDIS, I decided we could use it for this trip, just to see how it was.

Steeling myself, I swung Gladius and cut open another portal. Beaming proudly, I stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door behind me.

Sending The Doctor a thumbs up, he hit a lever, and we were off through the portal.

~X~

And it is over. Dry Bowser is defeated, and now he and the trio of Doctor Who, Amy and Rory join our ever growing group of misfits on this incredible adventure. This arc was very fun to write, especially the final battle against Dry Bowser. That was one of my prouder moments.

Now that this chapter is done, the next one will mark a huge milestone: I'll be 3/5 ways through this story. And it makes me want to burst into happy tears on that alone. I have come so far…

Anyway, hope y'all enjoy this chapter. And Happy Halloween!

Up next: The group finds themselves at a beachside city where, surprisingly, danger is non-existent. Thus begins a much needed session of R

~Caleb~