THE SCAVENGER HUNT
Chapter Seventeen “I think we’ll go down this corridor next,” the Doctor said, beckoning to Rose. They walked into the hallway. There were numerous doors on either side of it. The Doctor scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm, perhaps we should split up in this hallway. I’ll take this side and you take the other,” he said, pointing to his right. Rose nodded and she walked to the first door while the Doctor headed to the one directly across from her. She opened it and peeked inside. She saw a small room with three more doors on the other side, all with gold plaques affixed to them. She glanced back and noticed the Doctor had already gone in the other room so she went in and closed the door behind her. She went to each of the doors in turn and read the plaques. RUMPLESTILTSKIN. THE FROG PRINCESS. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES. “What the hell is this?” Rose muttered. She walked to the Rumplestiltskin door first and opened it. The dingy little room had a mound of straw in one corner and a large spinning wheel and a little wooden stool in the middle of it. On the other side of the room by the straw was another wooden door. Rose entered and shut the door behind her. “What’s this supposed to be, Doctor? Some kind of fairy tale museum exhibit?” she muttered to herself as she looked around. Her head jerked around when the other door opened and her mother came into the room dressed as a peasant woman. “Mum?” Rose said, “what are you doin’ here?” “She’s in here, your highness,” Jackie said, ignoring her. Rose’s eyes boggled when Jack entered the room dressed as a medieval king. “What the hell is goin’ on?” Rose muttered. She watched while Jack walked over and examined her closely. She noticed his skin looked all rubbery and she suddenly realized that these were more of the robots the Doctor had spoken of. “So, this is the girl that can spin straw into girl, eh?” he said, peering at her. “Yes, that’s right. She can spin straw into gold, I swear it,” the Jackie bot said. “Really?” the Jack bot asked her. Rose frowned. “Um, yeah, I can…I guess.” “Really? Well, prove it then!” Jack said haughtily. “Spin all this straw into gold and make sure you get every last bit of it or I’ll put you to death.” “Excuse me?” Rose said. “You heard me, Blondie, make with the straw into gold bit or off comes thy head.” He made a slashing motion across his throat and turned to Jackie. “And you, you better not be lying about this or you’ll join her on the chopping block, you social climbing parasite!” Rose’s mouth dropped open. “Social climbing what?” she said angrily. The bots ignored her while they walked to the door. “Remember, make with the gold or I will be forced to chop off your head and rip you limb from limb and scatter your body parts to the four corners of my kingdom and all that jazz.” They stepped through and he slammed the door behind him. “Screw that, I’m not stayin’ here and spinning straw into gold,” Rose said. She turned to go out the way she came but the door was gone. “Oi!” she screamed as she ran to it. She pounded on the wall while she called the Doctor’s name. “DOCTOR! DOCTOR, LET ME OUT! HELP!” she screamed as she pounded frantically. “Hello there.” Rose stopped pounding when she heard a familiar voice behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh Doctor, thank God it’s…” She turned and stopped short. On the stool was a little shrunken man with huge doe eyes that was wearing a tiny version of the Doctor’s suit and who looked suspiciously like Dobby from Harry Potter. Rose frowned. “Um, hi, I guess…” she said. The elf bowed. “I am Doctorstiltskin, fair maiden and I have come to help you.” Rose stared at the little creature. “Uh-huh, well you can help me by bringin’ the bleedin’ door back so I can leave here.” “You wish me to spin all this straw into gold?” “No, I want you to make the door appear so I can get out.” “Very well, I shall spin the straw into gold so your life may be spared but first you must give me something as payment.” Rose sighed. “I don’t want to do this, alright? I…” A gold necklace suddenly appeared and hovered in mid-air in front of her nose. She grabbed it and immediately Doctorstiltskin leaped off the stool. “I will take that pretty necklace in exchange for spinning the straw into gold.” “Here then,” Rose said, shrugging as she handed it to him, “it’s not mine anyway.” Doctorstiltskin took the necklace and deposited it in his tiny pocket while he leapt back up on the stool and sat down. He waved his arms and spun the wheel while the straw magically flew into the wheel and came back out as gold coins. Rose folded her arms over her chest and leaned up against the wall watching while he made a small pile of money. After five minutes, the work was done and Doctorstiltskin leapt back up. “There you are, fair maiden, the work is done.” “Good, now bring the door back and…” She let out a frustrated sigh when Doctorstiltskin vanished in a ball of light. She turned back to the wall and resumed her beating and calling for the Doctor hoping he would hear and get her out. “Excellent work!” Rose turned back around and saw the Jack bot staring at the pile of gold. “Great, I can take my partner Prince Ianto out for a nice hockey game. But you, you will stay here because I need to buy Prince Ianto a nice holiday in Spain since I forgot his birthday the other day. You will spin me the money necessary so we can go on this little trip.” “No! For the last time, I want out and…” An even bigger pile of straw appeared in the corner. “Oh, give me a break,” Rose muttered. “Remember, come the morn this bigger pile of straw must be spun. Because if Ianto doesn’t get to go to Spain, you will be in a lot of pain…and lose your brain…so don’t go insane…okay, I’m leaving now, bye.” Rose threw up her hands when he went out the door. She ran to it and tried it and let out a string of curses when she found it locked. “Hello again.” She turned and saw Doctorstiltskin on the stool. “Let…me…out!” she snarled at him. “I will spin this straw into gold again, but first you must give me something.” A ring appeared in front of Rose’s nose. Sighing, she grabbed it and slammed it down into his open palm. “There, spin the soddin’ straw then!” she said. She shook her head and walked back to the other wall. While Doctorstiltskin spun the straw, she stood there and bellowed the Doctor’s name at the top of her lungs. “All finished.” She turned her head and noticed there was an even bigger pile of gold by the spinning wheel. “Yeah, lovely, thanks,” Rose muttered. Doctorstiltskin bowed and disappeared in the same ball of light. Rose sighed and folded her arms across her chest waiting for King Jack to appear. Sure enough, the door opened up and he entered and stared at the pile of gold. “Oh, you are good,” he said, pointing at her. “This is more than enough for a sunny holiday in Spain. But it’s still not enough!” “Well, of course it isn’t,” Rose muttered. “I need to build Prince Ianto a small summer castle because he’s a very fussy man and my castle is too drafty for him. So now you must spin enough for me to hire the workers and get it done.” Half the room was now filled with straw. “All this or your little head goes rolling cross the floor.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rose muttered. He turned and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Rose put her hands on her hips and waited for the gnome to return. Sure enough, thirty seconds later… “So, once more you need me to spin straw into gold!” “I guess so, yeah,” Rose said, rolling her eyes. “Payment please.” Rose waited for something to appear in front of her nose but nothing happened. “Payment…” Doctorstiltskin said. “I don’t have anything but I s’pose when I have my first born I’ll give ya that,” she said, annoyed. “Your first born? I was just gonna ask you to buy me a new watch since mine is broken but okay, first born it is.” Rose sighed while she watched Doctorstiltskin spin the straw into an enormous pile of gold. When he was finished, he bowed and disappeared. The door opened almost immediately and King Jack came in. “Wow! You are good! That settles it, I can’t let a money spinning babe like you get away! I will marry you straight away!” “Gee, won’t Prince Ianto get angry?” Rose said. “Nah, he and I have an open relationship,” he said, shrugging. “So, how ‘bout it, Blondie? Will you marry me?” “If it gets me out of the room, I’ll do anything,” Rose said. “Splendid!” There was a flash of light and the dingy room was replaced by an elegant bedroom. Rose looked around in shock, stunned at the sudden change in scenery. She heard a faint crying and noticed a bassinet in the corner. “Oh look, I got a kid,” she said, dryly, “that can only mean one thing.” “Hello again,” said a voice behind her. “Yup.” She turned and saw Doctorstiltskin sitting on her bed peering at her with his huge watery anime-like eyes. “I believe that’s mine,” he said, pointing to the bassinet. Rose sighed, figuring if she played along she would get out and get back to the real Doctor faster. “No, you can’t have him. I’ll give you anything but please don’t take my child,” she said in a flat monotone voice. “Aha!” Doctorstiltskin said, leaping to his feet, “but the child was promised to me!” “Oh, what must I do to prevent you taking my child?” Rose muttered under her breath. “There is only one thing that can save your child from my clutches! You must…GUESS MY REAL NAME!” “Rumplestiltskin.” Doctorstiltskin stared at her. “No, whatever possessed you to think up an idiotic name like that?” he said. Rose sighed. “John Smith.” “Nope.” “The Oncoming Storm.” Doctorstiltskin giggled. “No,” he said gleefully. “Dobby.” “Nope, you’ll never guess it, not in a zillion, trillion years! I shall give you one day to guess though. You must guess my real name by tomorrow morning or I shall take your child and you’ll never see it again.” “Yeah, that’d be really heartbreaking, all right,” Rose muttered. The elf vanished in a ball of light. Rose rolled her eyes and muttered. “Come on, hurry up and take the kid so I can get outta here.” Just then, the door at the far end creaked open a bit. “Oh! Thank God, a way out!” she said running to it. She opened the door and paused when she noticed Doctorstiltskin was dancing around the room singing at the top of his lungs. She folded her arms across her chest, leaned against the doorway and listened while the little elf danced and sang and gloated. “I JUST PULLED THE WOOL OVER ROSE’S EYES AND NOW I’M ABOUT TO GET MY PRIZE. OH MY, MY WHAT AN AWFUL SHAME CAUSE ROSE TYLER WILL NEVER, EVER GUESS MY NAME! BUT BECAUSE I FEEL THE NEED TO SCREAM AND SHOUT. HERE’S MY NAME AND I’M GONNA SPELL IT OUT! F…L…U…F…F…Y…B…O…O…T…Y, OH MY!” Rose raised her eyebrow. She turned, walked out and closed the door behind her. She walked back over to the far wall and waited. Sure enough, there was a flash and the little elf sat smugly on the bed. “Okay, just try and guess my name, Rose Tyler!” he gloated. “Fluffy Booty.” There was an enormous pause and then a huge CLANG when the robot’s lower jaw fell down and hit the stone floor. Rose rolled her eyes when he sat there staring at her in shock with his jaw on the floor. “Yeah, I guessed your name, now open the door and let me out,” Rose said. The robot gathered up his jaw and put it back in its proper place. “But, but you can’t have guessed my name! No one knows my true name! There’s…there’s only one time I would tell anyone my name, there’s only one time I could!” Rose had enough. She walked over and seized the puny shriveled Doctor bot by its tiny lapels. “Let…me…OUT!” she yelled. “Fine, you want out, be my guest,” Doctorstiltskin said, waving his hand. Rose looked around and let out a yell of relief when the door reappeared. She dropped the bot back on the bed and ran to it, anxious to get the hell out of the room and get back to the real Doctor.
Back Home Doctor Who Main Page Next