Chapter One - A Rift to Remember
Earthdate:
February 29, 2024.
Nearly four months since he and the Fifteenth Doctor defeated the Toymaker.
The TARDIS
Somewhere in space.
The Doctor was working on a mysterious new addition to the TARDIS that he thought would be able to cross the sealed boundary between universes. Now having his tenth face restored as part of his fourteenth incarnation, he thought he'd pay his old friend Rose Tyler a visit.
"There. Just a few more…here…Molto bene!" proclaimed the jolly Time Lord as he finished constructing the large device. The Doctor looked over the schematics he had designed with some friends at UNIT, codenamed "Dimension Cannon", a device both Donna and Rose once used years ago to save the Tenth Doctor. Everything seemed to be in order, and the metal behemoth blinked and beeped, almost happy to be there.
The Gallifreyan war hero smiled gracefully. "Well, better be off. Mustn't keep Rose waiting. Blimey, I hope this thing works…Allons-y!"
The Doctor plotted a course to Earth and proceeded to activate the machine. The Dimension Cannon's main mechanism began whirring and spinning, energy pouring out from its insides. The Doctor began to smile as the TARDIS began to shake and rumble. Light began to engulf the TARDIS outside. Finally, the now-relieved Time Lord pulled the control lever on the TARDIS' console. Immediately after, a loud FWOOSH crackled across the vastness of space as a column of energy charged towards the TARDIS, the little blue box vanishing from space as a result.
Inside the faithful old timeship, the Doctor, visibly shaken by what had just transpired, walked to the TARDIS doors and opened them, intending to verify he was no longer in his outer space.
"Well, looks like Pete's world, as far as the stars are concerned. Best get to Earth and find out for certain," declared the legendary Gallifreyan as he pulled the lever that he hoped would bring him to the woman he loved most in the universe…
February 29, 2008.
The parallel universe.
Bad Wolf Bay.
It was a sunny, cold winter morning when the TARDIS materialized on the beaches of Bad Wolf Bay in Norway, also known as Dårlig ulv Stranden. The Doctor stepped out of his blue police box and sighed in relief as he saw that he had landed on the very place where his tearful farewell to Rose had taken place.
Immediately focused on seeing Rose, the now-hopeful Time Lord pulled his cell phone from a pocket on his long, swishy coat. When the Doctor looked at the date, he found himself in utter shock as he realized he had somehow traveled 16 years in the past.
"Peculiar, that. The Dimension Cannon isn't a time machine the last time I checked," said the surprised Time Lord.
The Gallifreyan largely ignored the date and he dialed Rose's phone number. Before he could speak to her, however, a subspace rift opened up, pulling the Time Lord and his TARDIS towards it.
"No, no, no, no! This can't be happening!" cried the exasperated Doctor, as he tried in vain to hold onto a nearby signpost. The TARDIS slowly inched towards the massive rift, until it was finally lifted up and disappeared into the rift. Soon after, the fearful Gallifreyan lost his grip on the sign post and began hurtling into the rift. As soon as the Doctor went through the rift, his faithful companion Rose Tyler teleported onto the scene using a modified version of one of the dimensional teleporters that saved her life during the Battle of Canary Wharf.
"Doctor?! Where are you?" exclaimed the young woman as she, too, was drawn towards the rift. She quickly grabbed onto the same signpost the Doctor grabbed onto — but this was in vain, as the sign broke, and the Time Lord's companion was almost instantly pulled into the rift, which then vanished as soon as it appeared on the beach.
Los Angeles, California.
March 1, 1986.
The mysterious rift ejected the Doctor, Rose, and the TARDIS out in Hollywood, on a sidewalk near the famous Walk of Fame. The puzzled Time Lord looked around for a bit before noticing Rose getting up off the ground beside him.
"Rose! But, how…" questioned the Doctor as he embraced the girl and gave her a passionate kiss. "I missed you and… I love you, Rose Tyler. Been waiting to say those words since Canary Wharf. I love you…" declared the love struck Gallifreyan. The Doctor quickly took stock of his surroundings, including checking out the TARDIS. "Looks like we've landed in Los Angeles. Fine city, the City of Angels." He turned his attention towards Rose. "For now, we're safe, but I want to make sure my TARDIS is okay."
The Doctor looked at his beloved Rose. "The old girl seems to be as fit as a fiddle. Care to join me inside?" asked the grinning Time Lord. He proceeded to take a key out of his pocket, and unlocked the TARDIS doors. The couple walked inside the blue box, and the Doctor went immediately to inspect the type-40 machine.
Rose looked around the interior and smiled. "It's good to be back in the TARDIS," commented the faithful 22-year-old. The Doctor looked lovingly at his companion in response. The lustful Time Lord's attention then returned to the TARDIS. As he fiddled with various controls and buttons on the sentient timeship's console, the Gallifreyan hero discovered something to be amiss, and soon realized that the famous blue police box was not going anywhere…
"NO! Blast! Come on, you can do it, old girl! Come on!" exclaimed the furious Doctor as he tried in vain to get the old TARDIS to cooperate. The Time War veteran looked towards his Rose in dismay and sighed disappointedly. "Something's wrong. She seems to be afraid of something." After checking out the TARDIS, The Doctor immediately stepped away from the console and turned towards Rose.
"I guess we're stuck here," said the young companion in reply.
The defeated Time Lord replied, "Yeah. But I don't think standing around here will get anything done. Care to have a look?"
Rose replied, "I'd go anywhere with you, I love you…" as the two embraced.
"Well, now that's settled, let's go see what the City of Angels has in store. Allons-y!" boasted the now-cheerful Time Lord. The happy couple proceeded out the door and, as soon as the pair stepped out of the door, they heard a vwoorp, vwoorp that they could only mean one thing. The Doctor tried in vain to open the doors of the TARDIS, but the police box vanished into time and space.
"No, no, NO! Poor girl…what happened to you?" questioned the bewildered Doctor as he and his beloved companion tried to make sense of what just happened. "Something must have really terrified the TARDIS, yeah?" said Rose, replying to the Doctor's rhetorical question.
The dynamic duo ventured out into the legendary Hollywood. The movie Mecca was booming in 1986, with the likes of films such as Labyrinth and the sci-fi/horror classic Aliens dominating at the box office. The Doctor and Rose strolled down the iconic Walk of Fame on the Sunset Strip, marveling at the celebrities immortalized in its path.
As they walked down the star-studded path, the Doctor and Rose found themselves enthralled. "(gasp) Harrison Ford! Gary Coleman! This is fantastic!" exclaimed the geeky duo, as they spotted some celebrities walking down the street. The couple continued down the famous path until the Doctor noticed a star with a name he'd never heard before. The pair looked at the star together.
"Who's — what?" said the puzzled Time Lord. The brownstone star seemed to be brand new, apparently just installed. Rose discovered a strange band poster attached to a nearby wall that neither she or the Doctor had ever seen before.
"Doctor, look at this," said the young girl to the confounded Gallifreyan. The Doctor looked at the poster, which talked about some up-and-coming rock band named 'Jem and the Holograms' and a Battle of the Bands that would take place between them and a band called 'the Misfits'.
"Well, things just got a lot more interesting," replied the intrigued Time Lord. As he and Rose walked back towards where the TARDIS used to be, a group of four women, each sporting rather flashy outfits and brightly colored hair to boot, approached them. Their leader, who wore a bright pink wrap dress, silver tassel belt, unique red earrings, pump heels and hair that had an unusual shade of pink, stepped up.
"Hello, Doctor. You probably don't know us anymore, but we know you," said the woman. "What?" he responded, bewildered.
"I'm Jem, and these are the Holograms," replied the superstar.
"What?!" replied the Doctor, even more confused.
"You might not remember this either…Show's over, Synergy!" she declared, holding onto one of her red ruby earrings.
The Time Lord became speechless as a flash of bright light enveloped Jem and subsided to reveal that her hair had become much shorter blonde, and she now wore a loose beret over it. Her dress turned to a pink and purple striped frock with a plain pink belt.
"My name is Jerrica Benton. We need your help to save Synergy."
"What?!" the perplexed Doctor gasped, completely flabbergasted by everything he just saw…
