After several agonising seconds, the Doctor disappeared, only to be replaced by Clyde. We all stared at him in shock as he seemed to grasp what was going on around him. When Clyde seemed to get that he was back on Earth, he started talking. "But I was on a planet..." "No, no, never mind that! RUN!" Sarah Jane screamed. I ran down the corridor, turning corners and through door until we reached a semi-safe room to stop in. The Doctor slammed the door and started giving orders. "Right! Now we need to lock it. Come on! Use the sonic lipstick!" He clapped. "Haven't you got the screwdriver?" "They took it." Sarah Jane sighed, but did as he said, locking the door from the inside. Jo was thrilled to see the sonic. "Wow! They do sonic lipsticks now!" She exclaimed, looking closely at it. "Now, we're running out of time. I need you, Sarah, and you, Jo." The Doctor said, grabbing their hands as he continued talking. "Need us for what?" Jo asked. She sounds far too excited, given the circumstances. "Remember the old days, when we'd go zooming off to far away worlds?" and with that, the three of them disappeared, only to be replaced by Clyde. He groaned as he recovered from the switch. "I'm getting space-sick." He moaned. rani laughed, throwing her arms around his neck and just hugging him for a few seconds.
The reunion was interrupted by the Colonel. She knocked on the door. "I'm sorry, can I help?" She called through the door. "Is there something wrong?" She asked again when she got no answer. Santiago went to open the door, but I grabbed his arm to stop him. "She's on our side, isn't she?" He asked me. "Almost definitely not." I argued. "What?" I rolled my eyes. "Given how heavily she's been involved with the Doctor's funeral, for example, she's the one who's been contacting the former companions to notify them about his death. She's been managing the base during the building of the rocket and the delivery of what I'm gathering is an empty coffin. She stopped Sarah Jane seeing the body earlier. Why? Because she knew the entire time. She's not with us, she's with them." I tell him. He's the only one who seems shocked that this is happening this way. Honestly, I would say our desensitisation to authority betraying us is concerning, but given how often it ends up saving us, I'm just going to be grateful that it no longer hurts that much. We start searching for a safe way out of the wing we're in. "See. We're slap bang in the middle of the base. There's gotta be a way of getting help." Rani says as she shows us the layout of the base that she was able to pull up on the screen. We all jump when the sirens go off. I groan when various sections of the screen go red. "What's that mean?" Santiago asked, showing how little he gets into these sorts of situations. "She's locked down the entire wing. She's trying to trap us." I tell him, examining the grate. I pull it off just as our Groske friend goes to push it. "Ah, you! Hurry, hurry!" I blink in shock before shrugging and following him. I hear my friends follow behind me as I crawl through the vents again.
The Groske leads us through the vents to a little den, filled with little lights. "Hey! You've got a nice den! But what's all the hurry for?" Clyde exclaimed as we all piled into the den. "Pizza! Go cold!" The Groske held up a pizza box. Clyde freaked out. "What?! I thought you had a plan!" He yelled. The Groske was unbothered by this. "Shansheeth too scary. We hide." He said, grabbing a slice of pizza and shoving it in his mouth. Clyde grabbed the box and slammed it down. "No! We've got to do something!" I rolled my eyes. "Clyde, you can't do anything until we know that the Doctor doesn't still need you for the switcheroo thing he's got going on. I'm sorry about him." I tell the Groske, sitting down in one of the corners of the den. Clyde still isn't impressed. "Yeah, yeah, stuck in Groskeville." He snarks at me. I shrug at him, taking a slice of pizza when I'm offered. "I can't believe you get to do this all the time." Santiago laughs as he drops down on the floor. "Like, aliens and chases and stuff!" I laugh. "Yeah, it's fun. Mostly." "You can talk, Santiago. You're off to Paraguay and Monut Everest." Clyde jokes back. "Dude, you just zapped to another planet!" Santiago reminded him. "Yeah, that was pretty cool." Clyde confessed. "Illegal, for you, but cool." I laughed. "Wait, what? Why?" Santiago sat up, leaning forwards to hear the story. "I'll tell you later." I promised. "I mean, we've been to parallel times, dream dimensions, limbo, then we go home for tea!" Rani laughs. "Yeah, we see all this, and then my mum's like, 'What did you do today?' and I'm like 'Nothing much.'" Clyde says. "Went to the library." "Watched Star Wars with my mates." I added. "Played a bit of footie." "Stayed behind after drama club." "Oh, yeah, and I fought off a platoon of Judoon in my spare time!" I noticed Santiago got sadder as we joked around. "I've not seen my mum in six months now." He confessed quietly. "How come?" Rani asked him. "She's in Japan, organising a rally. I mean, that's great, really good work." He sounds like he's trying to convince either us or himself that he's not hurt or upset by this. "Before that, she was in Africa, finding shell-flower plants. my father's with the Gay Dads organisation, hiking across Antarctica. we haven't all been together since about...February?" "When are you going to see them next?" Rani asks sadly. "Soon. I dunno. Soon though." I really hope so.
The door slides shut behind us, scaring the living daylights out of me. We all get up. "What's that? What's happening?" Clyde asks, trying to push on the panel. "Trapped." The Groske replies. "We're trapped!" Rani exclaims, pointing out the obvious. I groan when the room turns red and starts heating up. The Groske points this out, and Rani cries that they're trying to boil us. She and Clyde start banging on the panel, to no avail. I try and calm myself down before I start panicking. I need to stay focussed so I can help. Not gonna lie, though, it's really too hot to think. Rani starts screaming for Sarah Jane, but I'm not entirely sure that's going to help, as we don't even know if they're back from wherever they went. Clyde joins in, yelling for the Doctor. I start yelling as well when I hear the clattering of someone crawling through the vents. I hear a muffled "Hold on, we're coming!" so I start yelling the exact way we took to get to the den. A minute later, the Doctor has found us. "I'm right outside! Gimme a minute!" He yells through the panel. A few moments later, and he's got it open. "Blimey! You really have changed faces, haven't you? I couldn't see you before, I saw too busy swapping." Oh yeah, Clyde's the only one to have not met him yet. "As lovely as this is, I'm trapped right on top of a vent, please get a move on!" I call from the back. "Yeah, we're still cooking here!" Rani yelps. "Where's my gran?" Santiago asks. "Right, yes, sorry...uh, she's in danger, so we'd better..." He tries to turn around. "Uh, can't turn round..." He mumbles to himself. "You have to shuffle." Clyde tells him. "Oh, yes, okay, thank you, Clyde." The Doctor thanks him, beginning to shuffle backwards. We start all crawling back through the vents.
I'm the last out of the vent. Just as I roll out, the building starts pulsing. "They've started." The Doctor says, taking off in one direction. None of us question it, we all start running after him. The Doctor leads us to the room where we had the remembrance service. The door was locked, predictably. "They've sealed it off, Jo! Sarah! Can you hear me?" The Doctor yells, slamming his hand against the door. "They want the key! They've got the TARDIS and a memory weave!" Sarah Jane yells through the door. The Colonel's voice is muffled, but I could make out the fact that she's ordered someone to activate something, probably the memory weave Sarah Jane mentioned. I started messing with the computer thing next to the door, annoyed when I wasn't able to do much with it. "Doctor, this isn't working!" I said, still trying to get my idea to work. The Doctor tried fiddling with the wires, only to get distracted by Clyde saying we'd need a bulldozer to get through. He moved to the door and pulled out a key to the TARDIS. "I've got the original here! You can have it if you let them go!" He yelled through the door. There's muffled talking, and some loud buzzing coming from inside, but they clearly don't want to take the Doctor up on his offer for the actual key. I slammed my hand on the screen in frustration. Clyde grabbed a fire extinguisher and used that as a battering ram. An ineffective on, but A for effort. "It's not shifting!" Clyde yelled in frustration. "Clyde, we'd need the Hulk for that idea to work, that room is supposed to be able to withstand the mountain collapsing on it." I snapped at him. I heard cries of pain from Sarah Jane and Jo, which just made everything worse. "What do we do, Doctor?! What do we do?" Clyde turned to the Doctor. I did too, hoping he has some semblance of a plan. the Doctor suddenly froze. "Yes...because the Shansheeth are making them remember." I rack my brain to try and work out where he's going with this. "I know!" Clyde yelled. I was suddenly struck. "What if they overloaded the system? Fried the circuits!" I exclaimed. "Asha Yamamoto, you are brilliant. Opening comms, Sarah, Jo, can you hear me?" he shouted into the unit I had moved away from. "The key! It's almost ready!" Sarah Jane cried out, her voice shaking in pain. The Doctor moved so he was pressed against the door. "Listen to me, both of you. I want you to remember." He tells them quickly. "We are doing, that's the trouble!" Jo yelled back. "No, no, no, no, no. I want you to remember everything. Every single day with me. Every single second." He clarifies. "What is he doing?!" The Colonel demands, forgetting that no one in that room had a single clue.
"Because your memories are more powerful than anything else on the planet. Just think of it, Sarah. Remember it, Jo. But properly! Properly! Give the memory weave everything. Every planet, every face, every madman, every loss, every sunset, every scent, every terror, every joy. Every Doctor. Every me." he encourages them gently. "I remember!" Sarah Jane gasps out. "NO!" The Colonel shrieks. "Memory Weave overloading." A computerised voice rings out. There are several explosions inside the room. "I remember!" Jo gasps out, just loud enough for us to hear. We can hear the Colonel screaming inside. Sounds like she's losing control of the situation. We can hear the Shansheeth exclaiming about there being too many memories. I grin at Clyde and Rani as we hear that the plan is working. "Come on, all of you! Tell them, tell them!" The Doctor crowds us closer to the door so we can start yelling through it. "Think of us, Sarah Jane!" Clyde begins yelling. "Remember Maria, and her dad, and all the stuff we did, like the Gorgon!" "And the clowns, and the zodiac, and the Trickster! Oh, and the Mona Lisa!" Rani joined in. "Remember Luke, and Peter! Remember the slitheen, and the Bane!" I yelled to her. "Just think, Gran! All the countries you've been to!" Santiago calls out as well. There was a final bang before the announcement system started telling us that the weave was starting to self-destruct.
"Now we're in trouble. The weave's gonna blow up...and we can't get them out." The Doctor admits, pacing a little bit. "What?!" Rani shrieks. "Sarah Jane! Use your sonic!" I scream through the door. "We've drained it. Doctor! Doctor, we can't get out!" Sarah Jane cries out through the door. I've never heard her sound so defeated. The Doctor leans his head against the door. "I can't open it." He confesses gently. It doesn't mask the fear or the sorrow. "No sonic screwdriver." Sarah Jane says, calmly. "It's inside the TARDIS." The Doctor confirms. "And we can't get in, cos guess what? We stopped ourselves getting the key. Oh! That was clever!" Sarah Jane snipped at him. "I just want to say, I'm so glad I saw you again. I waited all this time. And it was worth it. Every second. Funny thing is though, your funeral turned out to be ours." Jo's saying goodbye. I looked to the Doctor, silently begging for some clever way out. That's like, his signature move...the clever way out. Right? His face suddenly lights up. "My funeral?" He asks quickly. "Doctor, all of you, Asha particularly, look after Luke for me, please!" Sarah Jane's begging now. I silently wipe away a tear. "No, no, no, no, but listen. My funeral! Don't you see? It's my funeral!" I finally caught on the same time as Sarah Jane and Jo. "With a lead lined coffin!" They exclaimed. "Yes! How much time have they got?" He turns to the Groske. "Big bang? 10 seconds." The Groske tells us. "Well, come one!" The Doctor yells, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the door. We all run and duck around the corner. I scream and cover my ears as door gets blown off its hinges.
It takes a couple of seconds for me to notice the panic attack setting in. I clench my eyes and lean back against the wall. I start trying to count my breathing, but I keep getting stuck when trying to draw breath. The smoke doesn't help at all. I flinch when someone touches me. "Asha, what do you need?" The voice feels a million miles away. "Go...away...please!" I choke out. "Okay, I'm just going to find Sarah and Jo." Oh, Doctor. I feel something slip into my hand. I roll it between my palms, and I'm guessing it's my ball again. After several minutes of silence, I finally feel the adrenaline leave, so I open my eyes and get up. I track down everyone in the room, helping Sarah Jane and Jo out of the coffin. "Right, now I've got the TARDIS again, I can take you lot home." The Doctor says, opening the doors with a flourish. "We still need to grab our bags." I remind him. He gives us ten minutes to grab everything, then we're piled into the TARDIS.
I can feel myself getting overwhelmed, so I walk away from everyone, trusting the TARDIS to get me back when it's time to go. I don't know how long I'm wandering around, but I come to a room. I push the door open and peak inside. I gasped. It was a bedroom, but it was literally my dream bedroom. Star Wars posters covered the walls, the bed was a bunk bed with a desk underneath it. One wall was just a bookshelf, filled with books ranging from Percy Jackson to the Hunger Games, with other books that might be from the future. I was so lost looking around I didn't notice when the Doctor joined me. "So, you found it, then." I jumped. "Sorry, I was just..." I trailed off. He just smiled at me sadly. "The TARDIS built this room for you the day we met. Donna found it shortly after we left you." I didn't know how to respond. "You mean...the TARDIS was planning to make you take your promise seriously?" He shrugged. "Maybe. But I never needed her to. I was always going to come back for you. I promised, didn't I?" I couldn't look him in the eye anymore, so I just turned to the bookcase. "Asha, are you okay? Honestly?" I was suddenly fighting back tears. "No. I thought you were dead. And I was angry, because it meant you lied to me, but I didn't have anyone to talk to about it, because I'd only met you twice, maybe three times? And I know you called me your friend, at Sarah Jane's wedding, but I..." I blinked furiously, trying to fight the urge to cry. "Hey, no, stop it. Asha, I am your friend. I've been keeping tabs on you, ever since we met, because I could tell that you were special. I'm sorry I scared you. I sincerely hope that this kind of situation doesn't happen again. Have you got your phone on you?" Emotional whiplash, that's the only way I could describe that. "My, my phone?" "Yep. Can I borrow it for a second?" I cautiously handed my phone over, only for him to start zapping it with the sonic. He then opened the contacts and entered something. I was then presented with my phone back. "There. Now, you've always got a way to contact me. Just shoot me a text, or a call, and I'll come running." He promised. "Also, you'll now have signal, wherever you go. At no extra cost to your phone bill!" I hugged him tightly. He hugged back before he led me back to the main section of the TARDIS. I slipped out and joined my friends and watched him leave. This time, I knew he'd be back for me, eventually.
Clyde, Rani, Santiago and I went outside while we waited for Santiago and Jo's taxi to the airport. Santiago got a kick out of the fact that Rani lived across the road, I lived right next door, and Clyde lived round the corner. "It's exactly like you said! You live over there, and you..." I laughed as Clyde finished his sentence. "You save the world, and you just come home!" I feel bad for him. His life is dedicated to improving the world, just a little bit, but he doesn't have a home he can just come back to. "Thing is though, you could probably do with a bit of that." Rani points out. "See, we're fighting the Slitheen and the Trickster and you're fighting oil barons and factories, but at the end of the day, who's waiting for you?" Santiago averted his eyes. "I think you should start another protest, mate. Except this time, at your mum and dad. Or they might find that relations with Santiago get decidedly 'Chile'!" Oh Clyde. "That was bad, Clyde. Even for you." I groaned. We all laughed. "Let's pretend I never said that." Clyde agreed. "That was horrific." "I'm ashamed of myself." Oh, Clyde. Never change. "You're right though." That's a first. "Yeah, I think it's time we made some changes." Santiago said. "Good for you. Hang on, I've got an idea." I opened my contacts list and handed it to Santiago. He quickly wrote his details down. I promised I'd get him Clyde and Rani's. Just as I saved his information, we heard laughter coming towards us. "Oh, you!" Jo chuckled, grabbing Clyde by the cheeks. "You're so beautiful and so gorgeous." She declared, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "And you, oh, you are so willowy! Yes, you are! Do you know, you are sensational!" She told Rani in the adoring manner that only grandmothers can achieve. She gave her a hug before turning to me. "And you, darling, you shine like a star!" I blushed as she kissed my forehead before ruffling Santiago's hair. "And you, you're so handsome! And we're so late, come on! We're off to Norway by hovercraft. Should be fun!" Santiago pulls a face. "Easier said than done." Santiago slid into the back of the taxi as Jo turned to say goodbye again. "Goodbye, everyone. Oh, Sarah Jane." They hugged for a few seconds before Jo pulled back. "Find yourself a fellow." She instructed. I laughed as Jo, in a burst of chaos had to find her glasses, conveniently perched on her head. She then got in the taxi, and we moved back to let them go.
"Do'ya think there's lots of Jo Grants out there? You know, like the Doctor's old companions?" Rani asked, leaning against Sarah Jane's car. "Definitely. I mean, Martha and Mickey Smith, Donna Nobel, and that's just recently." I shrugged. "Well, I do a little search, sometimes." Sarah Jane winked at me. "What'd you google? TARDIS?" Clyde asked sarcastically. "Hey, it works! Well, no, I can't be sure, but there's a woman called Tegan in Australia, fighting for Aboriginal rights. There's a Ben and Polly, in India, running an orphanage there. There was Harry. Oh, I loved Harry. He was a doctor. He did such good work with vaccines. He saved thousands of lives. Oh, and there's a Dorothy something. She runs that company, A Charitable Earth. She's raised billions." "McShane. She prefers to be called Ace." I shrugged. "What? This can't still be surprising." I shrugged. "Right, her. There's also this couple in Cambridge. Both professors. Ian and Barbra Chesterton. Rumor has it, they haven't aged. Not since the 60s. I wonder." Sarah Jane gave us a cheeky grin. We all turned to wave as the taxi pulled out of Sarah Jane's driveway. "That'll be us one day." Clyde predicts. "Still out there, fighting." Rani agrees. "Running far more than most people would ever consider normal." I joke. "Echos of the Doctor, all over the world. With friends like us, he's never going to die, is he?" Sarah Jane threw her arms around us, hugging us close.
An: I don't own SJA. That's the BBC.