THE SCAVENGER HUNT

Chapter Thirty Seven

Rose quickly pulled the cord out of the hole in the console. It slid back up inside her and she slammed the door while Nine walked up in front of her and tensed his muscles. The Doctor watched with fascination while the two robots stared each other down and then suddenly Nine threw a punch, knocking Rose Cybomat backwards. Rose Cybomat howled at him and the two robots began fighting furiously, throwing punches and grappling with each other. Nine decked Rose Cybomat and she slammed down onto the grate while Nine followed her down and tried to wrench her head off her body. Rose Cybomat managed to throw him off her but he recovered and pulled her back down to the grate as she was trying to get up. While they were fighting, Ten looked over at the back door, caught Rose's eye and beckoned to her. He held up three fingers, pointed to her and then beckoned. Rose, understanding, told Martha and Donna to follow her and all three of them slowly walked into the console room, their eyes on Nine and Rose Cybomat while they continued to punch and grapple with one another. Rose Cybomat spied them, kicked Nine off her body and tried to get at them. But Nine leapt up and grabbed her from behind.

"Oh no, you don't!" Nine said, punching her face. "Get by her quickly."

The three companions sprinted around her and ran towards Ten.

"Help me, we need to stabilize the TARDIS and undo what that thing did to her. I need help doing the sequence and the four of us can do it faster," the Doctor said to them.

He quickly arranged them around the TARDIS in key spots.

"Okay, girl, direct us to undo what she did to you," Ten said aloud.

The TARDIS telepathically directed him and the Doctor directed his companions, each of them working the controls while Nine tried to subdue Rose's counterpart. Donna gasped when during their fight, the Cybomat slammed Nine up against the console inches away from her.

"Watch it, will ya?" Donna said to Nine.

"Why are you yelling at me? I'm on the receiving end of this!" Nine yelled back before he shoved Rose Cybomat away from him and punched her face.

The Doctor sighed and asked the TARDIS to send some help for his robot counterpart so they could finish the fight faster. The TARDIS grunted. There was a flash and a Jack robot suddenly appeared in the room. Nine looked at him.

"Jack, help me!" he yelled.

"Asskicking coming right up!" Jack yelled as he rushed over to the combatants.

Rose Cybomat growled at Jack and flung herself away from Nine just before Jack could punch her. Nine and Jack looked at each other and ran towards her as she tried to run towards the back door.

"What about the other Cybomats?" Martha said as they finished up the sequence. "Doesn't that mean the others might come to help the Rose robot?"

"Maybe, but I have a feeling the other Cybomats are mostly likely dispatched or nearly so. I think Rosie there is the last to go and…"

He giggled when Rose Cybomat let out a scream the moment she ran through the door followed by a roar.

"Oh, sorry, forgot to mention there's a dragon back there, darling! Sorry about that!" Ten yelled while the three women snickered.

He laughed with his companions when Rose Cybomat ran screaming into the room while Lungwei stuck his head through the doorway and roared at her. Then the TARDIS opened the door wide enough to let the dragon in and Nine and Jack watched gleefully while Lungwei zoomed to the robot and caught her in its powerful jaws. The Doctor finished pushing a button and breathed a sigh of relief when the cloister bell stopped and room fell silent.

"There we go, good as new," the Doctor said, patting the console. "Thank you, my companions for your assistance."

The three women nodded and followed him as he stuck his hands in his pockets and walked towards Lungwei.

"And you, you seem to be in a bit of a bind," the Doctor said as he came up to the dragon's head.

"You won't get away with this. You haven't heard the last of the Cybomats," she said as his companions and Nine and Jack came up behind him.

"Probably not, but I've heard the last of you and your friends in here. Lungwei, do the honors, will you?"

Rose Cybomat let out an enraged scream as Lungwei bit down on her. There was a crunching of metal and several sparks as the robot was severed in two. Lungwei opened his jaws and the two halves fell to the floor. The Doctor patted the dragon's head fondly.

"Good to have a dragon around," he said.

He asked the TARDIS if the other Cybomats were dead and smiled when he received an affirmative grunt.

"Good. You can go back to your room then," he said to Lungwei.

Lungwei roared and flew out of the room. The Doctor turned to Nine and Jack.

"Thank you for your assistance. You can go back to your rooms as well," he said to them.

"If you don't mind me asking," Nine said. "What life are you?"

"I'm the Tenth Doctor, the one after you," the Doctor said.

Nine made a disgusted face.

"I become a naff little beanpole?" he said. "Ugh!"

"Okay, that's quite enough of that," the Doctor said while his companions snickered.

"What possessed you to pick that outfit?" Nine said, gesturing to his bathrobe.

"This isn't what I normally wear and I'm getting out of it as soon as possible."

"Can I watch that?"

The three women laughed harder when Jack said that and the Doctor shot him an annoyed look.

"Just…go, both of you, back to your places," he said to them.

"Gladly," Nine said. "And once I'm there, I'm altering my memory so I'll remain blissfully unaware of what I'm going to turn into."

"Oh, I don't know, he doesn't look that bad," Jack said.

"Jack, you'd boink a lamppost if it chatted you up," Nine said. "Anyway, I'm off."

He paused a moment and gave Rose a kiss on the cheek. The Doctor felt a flush of jealousy for a moment but he quickly suppressed it when Nine walked off. He looked at Jack who was still standing beside Martha.

"And you…" the Doctor prompted, gesturing to the back door.

"Why can't I stay? I'm a companion too," Jack said.

"Go!" the Doctor said while the three women laughed.

"But, I can help and quite frankly, you look quite stunning."

"Go or I'll call Lungwei back and you'll end up like her," the Doctor said pointing to the Cybomat.

"Alright, alright, sheesh, can't a boy gaze at a little eyecandy now and then. Ladies, I'm in room 453 if you ever want to come and see me…and that goes for you too, Doctor."

"Yeah, yeah, go!" the Doctor said.

Jack waved and walked off. The Doctor sighed and shook his head.

"Sometimes, I think I programmed my robots a little too realistically," he said. "Now, TARDIS, take this thing to the laboratory for me so I can examine it later."

There was a flash and the Cybomat vanished from view. The Doctor slapped his hands together.

"So, back to the Scavenger Hunt then?" he asked.

"NO!" the three women said while he chuckled.

"Aw, come on, we gotta find out who won," the Doctor said.

"You win, game over," Donna said.

"Oh! I won! Horray for me!" the Doctor said while the three women shared a look. "Love winning. So…what do we do next then?"

"Next," Donna said, stepping up to him. "You're gonna explain to me why there is a poster in the gift shop of that scream painting where I'm the screamer."

The Doctor feigned innocence.

"There is?" he said.

"Yeah, buster, there is. What's the meaning of that?" Donna said.

"Dunno, I have no control over what goes in the gift shop," the Doctor said.

Donna gave him a dubious look while Rose and Martha stepped up beside him.

"Thought you said you were the one who designed all the attractions," Rose said.

"Attractions, Rose, not the gift shop," the Doctor said.

"Oh, pull the other one," Donna said. "You get that poster out of there before I make you scream."

"Fine," the Doctor said, shrugging. "Still had nothing to do with it though."

"Oh and Martha, he also has a poster of you as a rat slathered with cheddar cheese," Donna said to her.

"What? You made a poster of that?" Martha said to the Doctor.

"I had nothing to do with it."

"Really? What about me then?" Rose said to Donna.

"He had several things with you in it but most of them were corny, soppy romance things."

"Really? How interesting," the Doctor said.

The Doctor listened while his three companions started trading stories about their experiences and the hell they'd been through during the scavenger hunt. The Doctor couldn't help but smile and eventually he began to giggle and his companions did the same when they heard how ridiculous some of the scenarios had been.

"Doctor Badass, eh?" Rose said when they finished trading their stories.

The Doctor shrugged and grinned.

"Wasn't one of mine," he said to her. "Sounds amusing though and the silent film as well. Like I said, those Cybomats are very creative; I'll have to steal some of their ideas."

The three women groaned at that.

"Yeah, I'm going to have a long lie down now," Donna said. "I'm spent after experiencing all the creativity."

"Same here. I'll see you later."

The Doctor nodded. Donna and Martha walked off and the Doctor stared at Rose with wide eyes when she remained where she was.

"Something wrong?" he said to her.

"Yeah, I want Wubby before I go," she said, holding out her hand.

"Whatever for?"

"Cause I wanna play with him in my room."

"You can't."

"Why?"

"Because I had the bleeder incinerated."

"Right, Doctor," Rose said.

"I did. The little git said too much and he had to pay the ultimate price in the flames of death. No one gets cocky in front of me and lives to tell about it."

He smiled and kissed her cheek when she rolled her eyes. Rose patted his cheek before she walked out of the room. The Doctor stood there, hands behind back, watching while she left. He waited till she was gone before he reached into his pocket and pulled out Wubby.

"Come on, Wubby, you can worship me in private," he said, holding it to his chest as he walked out of the room so he could change his clothes.

THE END.

Back                         Home                              Doctor Who Main Page

Your Name or Alias:      Your E-mail (optional):

Please type your review below. Only positive reviews will be posted! Constructive criticism will e-mailed to the author.