BETTER WITH FOUR

Chapter Twenty Six

Rose panted as she ran for her life, away from the man she loved who was now trying to kill her and possibly devour her. She didn't know if these snake people ate live prey but she wasn't about to stop and ask the Doctor that. She was hoping that maybe he'd come to his senses and see her for who she really was but at that moment, that wasn't happening so she tried to get far enough ahead that she could find somewhere to hide.

Just when she felt like all hope was lost and she might have to surrender and possibly die, she saw Marth and Donna speeding towards her. For a moment, relief washed over her and then she remembered that the Doctor might hurt them as well and she held out her hands, trying to warn them to stay away.

Martha stopped a few feet from her but Donna kept on going, right towards the Doctor as she held the pokeball out in front of her.

"Donna, wait, he's not in his right mind," Rose gasped as Donna got in front of her.

By this time, the Doctor was nearly there but he stopped short when Donna yelled at him to halt. The power and command in his voice made Cobra Doctor freeze but he still hissed at her from several feet away while Donna sneered at him.

"Well come on, Doctor, do something," she spat at him.

Martha stood beside Rose and both of them watched in amazement as Cobra Doctor seemed unsure about whether to attack Donna.

"See, can't do it, can ya?" Donna said smugly. "Still scared of me, Alien Boy? Thinking I'm gonna thump ya if you try something? Well, you're right! I'll thump ya if you try to attack me!"

She inched closer to Cobra Doctor and to Rose and Martha's surprise, Cobra Doctor backed away from Donna, hissing in anger.

"Come on, Doctor, into the ball like a good mutated snake," Donna said.

She suddenly lunged at him and pushed a button on the back of the ball. The middle of the ball split open and a large glowing light shot out of it and enveloped Cobra Doctor for a moment. Then the light drew back into the ball and it snapped shut and to Rose's horror, Cobra Doctor was gone.

"Wait, what'd you just do?" she asked as she ran up to Donna.

"He's safe. He's in here, I hope," Donna said, tapping the top of the ball. "I think the light shrank him and put him in here."

Rose took the ball from her and ran her hand over it, imagining a tiny Cobra Doctor inside it fighting to get out.

"We have two," Martha said, walking up and showing her the second ball. "We thought we might need one for you."

"Yeah, well, Banes apparently had other ideas and decided to make me the Doctor's dinner instead," Rose said.

"So, we can capture Banes with the second one then," Donna said.

"And then what?" Rose said. "How do we restore the Doctor?"

"The TARDIS gave these to us, maybe she has a way of reversing it," Martha said.

"But we have to get close enough to capture Banes," Donna said. "A few feet or so, otherwise it won't work."

Rose tapped the top of the pokeball with her finger while she thought it over. She looked around but couldn't see Banes.

"I'll do it," she finally said, giving the pokeball back to Donna. "Give me the empty ball and take this one back to the TARDIS so she can fix the Doctor."

"Are you sure?" Martha said. "I could come with you and Donna can go back to the TARDIS.

Rose thought for a moment.

"Alright, one of you come with me but hide nearby, I'm going to confront Banes in his own house and try to get close enough to catch him with the ball.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Donna went inside the TARDIS by herself and shut the door. She had hurried back to it while Rose and Martha went on to Bane's house.

"Right!" Donna said, looking up at the ceiling when she got to the console, "the Doctor's in here and you thought up the idea of the ball trap so you must have a way to cure him. So tell me what to do!"

There was a flashing light in the corner and the moment Donna's eyes were drawn to it, a doorway opened up in the wall. Donna walked through it and into the medbay and the wall closed up behind her. Then she felt a tickle inside her mind and felt that the TARDIS was telling her to open the ball up. Hoping her instincts were correct, Donna pushed the button and the ball snapped open. The light poured out and Donna dropped the ball and ran to the door of the medbay as she heard angry hissing coming from the light. When the light faded, Cobra Doctor was fully formed and enraged, his snake eyes focused squarely on Donna. But when he tried to run to her, a blue light came down from the ceiling and formed a force field prison around him. The Doctor slapped at the light and hissed in frustration as the light sizzled with blue electricity the moment he touched it.

Then suddenly another beam of white light came down from the ceiling and filled up the prison. Donna heard the Doctor yelling in pain and she ran to the prison as the light continued to shine on him. Her blood ran cold as the reptilian howl became more humanlike the more time elapsed and finally she heard the Doctor's anguished screaming and knew that somehow the light had restored him to his normal body. When the light faded, the Doctor fell to his knees, exhausted from the ordeal and the TARDIS took the force field away. Donna ran to the Doctor and knelt down beside him as the Doctor moaned soflty.

"Doctor, are you alright?" she said gently as the Doctor slowly recovered.

"Yeah, where is Rose?" the Doctor said as he put a hand to his forehead.

"We had a second ball for her and she took it and went to capture Banes. Martha went with her."

"Where?" the Doctor said.

"They're going back to his house," Donna said.

The Doctor groaned softly as he got to his feet.

"Come on, I need to get something and then you and I are going to go help them," he said to her.

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