My Little Galaxy: Time Tots Verse
by Smart Mouth
First published
The 10th Doctor adopts Spike & other young heroes after tracking down his descendants. He accidentally spliced their genes together to create a new race
The Story structure of this fic is modeled after FiM. With mostly slice of life stories and occasionally an epic adventure, but those will be somewhat rare as mostly it will focus on character pieces.
Danny Phantom will get a lot of attention at the beginning, as the Time Tots are just babies and not very interesting at the start.
This is not a continuation of the Main Universe of my crossover fic series. Rather this is another Dimension that takes place in that multiverse, like "My Little Galaxy: Star Trotter Verse" and "Jelly Brains", all of which take place in different dimensions connected to the main universe. The Main universe fic, simply called "My Little Galaxy", is still under construction. Please be patient.
This Fic's Summary
The Doctor finally gets the nerve to see what happened to his granddaughter & learns she died at the hands of Voldemort, but not before having a son with Emerald Eyes. Tracking down other orphaned Descendants, the Doctor raises the future champions of the universe: Harry Potter, Naruto, Danny Phantom, MLP Spike, Son Goku.
He tries to bring out their Time Lord traits (all but Danny) and accidentally gives them the traits of all their races plus Time Lord. Now the boys are a mix of Wizards, Saiyans, Uzumaki Shinobi, Equus Dragon, and Time Lord.
Meanwhile:
The 42 faces of the Doctor find themselves splintered off as separate entities. All because the 10th Doctor was able to track down his family, and the Valeyard tried to prevent the changes that caused.
Uses all the TV Series Doctors but later uses original Regressions of different races.
Warning:
Occasional Spanking
Ch1: Sometimes, Hope is worth it
Doctor Clockwork Whooves felt it, a shift. There was something wrong with the universe. No, not wrong exactly... something... new?
The Time Pony stepped onto his wife's balcony. This still didn't feel like home. He had lived here for decades now but it still wasn't home... it was the next best thing. It was were his family lived.
"Doctor?" Derpy stepped out from their bedroom and onto their connected balcony. The prettiest Pegasus in the universe came to stand beside him.
"Something is coming," Clockwork informed, as he looked out at the stars, "No, that's not right. Something already happened... something terrible... yet wonderful. Our dimension feels... wrong... I never felt it before... maybe there was nothing to feel before this..."
Derpy grinned a wide grin, "Is it adventure time, Doctor?"
The Doctor smiled, "No. At least... not yet," he looked into the sky as yellow flames consumed it then died away a moment later.
Derpy gaped at the sight, well the Doctor understood the implications better, "So that's why it feels wrong," the Doctor smiled, "False Alarm," the Doctor began trotting back to bed, "Guess I'll just have to get used to how this dimension feels,"
Derpy blinked at him, "So the sky burning regeneration gold isn't something we should be concerned about?"
"Not really," The Doctor smiled, "happens a lot actually,"
"It's a first for me," Derpy snarked.
"You're only aware of it because you've been in the TARDIS," The Doctor explained, "Time Travel gives you a higher awareness of such things. We just witnessed the birth of a new dimension, very pretty. Though I wonder what caused it?"
Derpy grinned, bouncing a bit, "Seriously!? What dimension Doctor?"
"Ours,"
###
● So Many Faces Ago,
with the 10th Doctor
"You have a GRANDDAUGHTER!" Donna screamed as the Doctor covered his ears.
"Blimey, if you were even an octave louder my ears would implode," The Doctor yelped, rubbing said ears.
Donna just stared at him, mesmerized. Then back at the old black and white photo. It was being used as a bookmark for one of Anne Frank's novels, "If that girl is your granddaughter then who's the geezer!? Your dad?"
"No..." The Doctor sighed, "That's me,"
"What!? How much work have you had done!?"
"Time Lords are like Phoenixes," The Doctor tried to distract her, "Each time we die, hopefully as a result of old age, our body bursts into a fountain of energy and our body changes. We call it Regeneration,"
Donna gaped, "You're making that up,"
"Nnnnope," The Doctor clicked his tongue.
Donna continued to gape, then shook her head, "Guess that would explain how you're nine hundred and six years old,"
"Weeeeeelll that's more a guess, and a lousy one at that. Each face can potentially live for thousands of years and I've died of old age a few times but most of my other faces tend to die tragically young... In reality I have no idea how old I am. I just set the TARDIS to pick a random number and I have been counting up from there,"
Donna stared then snapped, "You're blooming mad if you think I'm going to believe all that! Don't distract me, who the bloody hell is this girl!"
"My Granddaughter," the Doctor insisted.
"Well where is she!? How come I've never heard about you having a family!"
"Because they're dead," The Doctor informed and Donna went completely quiet, "... probably," the Doctor reluctantly admitted.
"PROBABLY!? What you blooming mean 'Probably'?"
"... I never knew my parents," The Doctor admitted, "My father was some important man in European history, and no I won't tell you who... because I don't know... my mother was a Time Lady... who couldn't bear the shame of having a hybrid child and gave me up for Adoption... I came to Earth when I found out, looking for my father... and did some very bad things in the naive belief I was helping the planet... I thought I could fix so much with a global government... so I tried to conquer it... left after I realized I was doing more harm than good," the Doctor sucked in a breath to compose himself, "Traveled a bit, the usual, or rather what would become the usual,"
"The Master was there, you wouldn't know him, and no it isn't some S&M thing. It was just the name he chose, like how I'm the Doctor. There is power in a name. We were friends, back in school, and he wanted to help me but that is when we... when we both went through our heats, happens once every thousand years or so after regenerating. Most of my faces don't live long enough for that. The heat, like regenerating, was created through genetic engineering. A way of slowly increasing our population while not overwhelming our planet's resources thanks to our freakishly long life spans and multiple lifetimes...
"Anyway, the Master became pregnant and we had a kid... we were a happy family for a while but after our son and his wife died we parted ways... the Master blamed me... as he should, my fault... the boy wanted to be like his old man and did something insanely stupid and dangerous... only unlike me it didn't work out for him and his wife died with him... I took in their child and raised her... when I left Gallifrey I took her with me. Eventually, after we had been traveling for a few hundred years, she decided to stay on Earth and I never learned what became of her,"
The Doctor gasped for air as he got it all out.
"That's too much for even you too make up," Donna looked down at the picture.
The Doctor smiled, "Not everything I say is a lie,"
Donna pushed, as she always does, "Why didn't you ever go see how she was doing?" The Doctor remained silent but Donna wasn't dropping it, "Doctor?"
"Because I don't know what I will find... after the Time War so many of us died... I was only allowed to live as punishment for committing genocide against two races... she would be dead to..."
"You said it yourself, she's part human,"
The Doctor froze.
"Maybe you survived not because of some divine punishment. Maybe the weapon you used could only target pure blood Time Lords,"
The Doctor gulped. There was something in his eyes. Some glimmer of an emotion he long forgot he could feel. It took him a moment to decipher what it was... hope.
That would also explain how the master survived. He had trapped himself in the body of a human at the time... still, "What if you're wrong?"
"Then you'll be heartbroken," Donna looked strangely serious, "You will mourn for years, then, like everyone else, you will move on. But imagine if I'm right, and you actually do have family out there?"
###
Lily Evans, as she was calling herself then, had had many lives. Susan, Miss Frizzle, Lady Gaga, all of which were endless fun. 12 regenerations, all 13 lives, this was her last... and by far the one she was most proud of.
Her current husband fought valiantly, full of passion and courage. It was how anyone should like to live in their final moments... to truly rage against the dying of the light... and was how she lived hers. She faced the dark lord and goaded him to attack her, and the moment he did his fate was sealed. The trap was set. Her own son would become champion to the universe. She knew he would... because she heard it, that sound she longed to hear for the last few hundred years. The Wheezing mechanical groan of the TARDIS.
Look after him Grandfather... Look after them all...
###
The Doctor's heart sank as he stepped out of his TARDIS. The house before them was burning, looking as though a bomb went off. Yet it appeared as though the fire had mostly died. Still the sky burned a bright yellow. It took the Doctor a moment to realize what that meant. He shook his head and headed for the house. He would worry about parallel realities later.
There were dozens of bodies on the street, most of them appeared to be the attackers judging by the blast pattern and body positions. He heard Donna gasp behind him and try to steer him away, but now that he was here he had to see... he had to.
They stepped into the house, looking at the smoldering ruins of a suburban home. Going up the creeky stairs, the Doctor followed his other worldly senses. Tracking the essence of a Time Lord.
When they got to the final room upstairs, the source of the explosion, the Doctor felt his heart stop... with... an unfamiliar emotion.
"It's okay Doctor," Donna tried to insist, "Everything will be alright,"
The Doctor realized he was crying, and that Donna misunderstood his tears, "No Donna. This... this is wonderful. Absolutely brilliant. She survived the time war. This," He knelt by the body of the redheaded time lord, "This was her last face. Her very last face. Lucky number 13... This is the ultimate proof that she had a full life... still fighting the good fight after I'm gone..." He lightly touched her hair, "And took whoever she was fighting down with her. She couldn't make me more proud... maybe I'll run into a younger regeneration of hers now that I know what I'm looking for," He stood tall.
"Doctor," Donna spoke strangely gently as her own mind tried to reject where they were, "We're in a nursery," looking at the colorful wallpaper, covered in burn marks... and the crib in the corner...
The Doctor quickly pounced at the crib and picked up its occupant. A small baby, a little over a year old... it wasn't moving... On closer inspection Donna was relieved to find it was breathing, but the child appeared to be unconscious. The Doctor quickly waved his sonic screwdriver over the child and sighed with relief at the scans the wand-like device recorded.
"Just a bit of magical exhaustion," He held the baby close and looked around at all the destruction, "The little guy did this,"
"Did what?" Donna asked.
"He blew up the house,"
"It did what!?" Donna gaped, "How can a baby blow up a house!" she didn't really ask. More like trying to get him to see the ridiculousness of that statement.
Still the Doctor answered, "It's more than just him. The sheer energy pulsing in this tiny body," He frowned and looked at his granddaughter, "Oh Susan... what did you do...?"
"Doctor! You're doing that thing again," Donna groaned losing her patience. She was trying, she really was. The Doctor just lost his granddaughter and effectively became responsible for her child, but the Doctor did this all the time.
"What thing?" The Doctor blinked.
"That thing where you spout gibberish and expect other people to know what you're saying," Donna rubbed her temple and tried to keep her voice calm.
She was trying to be understanding but from what she pieced together this place actually gave the Doctor comfort. Of course it would. He was always surrounded by death. Knowing how his granddaughter died wouldn't trouble him. He probably came here intentionally to see if she had a good life before she went. The fact this was the woman's last life did nothing but comfort the non human... Half human... he was half human so maybe for all his strangeness this was getting to him. He just wasn't showing it.
The Doctor frowned, "Sorry... You know how you became the incubator for those particles when we first met and it permanently gave you limited energy manipulation, AKA Mass Effect Biotics. Well some species can do that naturally, to an even greater extent, specifically a human subspecies that evolved on Earth. They have an extra circulatory system that spirals around the veins. Instead of pumping blood, this pumps energy many of the more civilized (well I say "civilized") worlds call Chakra. It is pure concentrated energy that, when combined with their limited psychic powers, allows for some devastating and near reality warping displays,"
"Doctor..." Donna rubbed her temple, "Make sense,"
"The baby is a witch," While Donna gaped at him he explained, "Well the male word would be 'wizard' but point is he's got what primitive civilizations call magic... a lot of it actually... far more then he should... A Time Lord, a 4th dimensional being, breeding with a descendant of the Eternals... would create quite the battery but it's more than even that... Susan used this to give him her own lifeforce ontop of that,"
His eyes lingered at another body in the corner that Donna hadn't noticed, "Susan tricked her attacker to use his energy to transfer her own to Harry,"
"Harry?" Donna blinked.
The Doctor pointed at a burnt picture frame on the floor. It looked like it got knocked off the table in the blast. The words "Harry James Potter," etched on it.
Donna put the pieces together. She was getting used to deciphering everything the Doctor said, "Okay so the kid's got Time Lord magic, Witch Magic, and his mother's magic,"
The Doctor looked at her, "I have enough raw energy in me to power a planet but this kid... He could very well become as powerful as an Olympian if trained properly... He's a solar system buster... we can't leave him here. Who knows what The Witches will do when they realize what he is capable of,"
"I already assumed we would be taking him with us," Donna scuffed.
The Doctor... smiled.
###
● Amity Park, Earth
Danny Fenton... had lost them all... his family... his friends... everyone. The 14 year old didn't know what to do but go to Vlad... but he never made it.
A box, a blue phone box, began to fade in and out of existence in front of his hospital bed. The moment it was solid a man popped out wearing a blue pin stripe suit and brown overcoat... and sand shoes.
"Hello Daniel," The man looked serious, "I'm your great great great great Grandfather, on your mother's side,"
"Are you a ghost?" Danny asked. The man didn't feel like a ghost.
The man smiled a bit at that, "Well with how ancient I am I might as well be," His face got serious again, "I know you are going through a hard time right now, and you don't see a lot of choices for yourself. I'm here to give you another option... Come away with me... to the stars,"
###
● Planet Elemental Prime
The Doctor walked down yet another battlefield. This time it was the aftermath of a literal Army, hundreds dead. He walked up to a man wearing a white cloak with fire-like trim. A dead man, seemed to be the running theme.
The man was clutching a crying baby in his arms. Protecting the child even in death.
"I'll take it from here," He promised the corpse, picking up the little blonde child... with whisker marks on his cheeks and a seal on his stomach, "Naruto?" He said to the baby as he turned and started walking back to the TARDIS, "That's a nice name... sorry lad I won't give you any ramen... because you're too young... Just because your mom ate a lot of ramen when she was pregnant doesn't mean you can eat as much as you like now... because it's bad for you!... It is! You haven't even got any teeth to chew it!... Oh you're going to be a troublemaker, I can tell... I wouldn't count on that. Most grownups forget how to speak baby so you are stuck with me... Oi Language! Keep talking like that and you won't get any Ramen until your 30!... No little one, we can't wait for daddy to wake up..."
###
● Planet Z'Kai
Goku hugged his Grandfather's motionless body. Tears leaked from the toddler's eyes as he hugged the corpse. The little boy could do nothing but wailed in despair.
"Goku,"
The little boy turned his head to see a skinny man in a long coat. Other than Grampa, Goku had never seen a different person before.
"I'm the Doctor," The man began to explain.
"DOCTOR!" Goku yelped as he stood up, "Grampa told me about people like you! You can make him better right!"
The man frowned, "No little one, I can't,"
"B-but Grampa told me doctors fix people!" The little boy wailed, "Why won't you fix Grampa!?"
"It's not a matter of won't, so much as can't," The man sighed, "He is beyond my help," he walked up to the little boy and crouched down on his level, "Let me show you how to say a proper goodbye,"
The little boy continued to cry over his Grandfather's corpse as the other man dug a large hole a little to the side of the house. Goku wasn't sure what the hole was for, and frowned when the man laid Grampa into a blanket. He started crying again as the man put the body into the hole and proceed to bury it. Afterwards the man built a small shrine out of rocks and placed them at the head of the grave.
At the end of it all the man had Goku stand next to him at the foot of the grave.
"I know you bare him no ill will," The Doctor said to the newly built shrine, "You always knew there was a chance this could happen but did you falter, no. You risked everything to do the right thing. You're my kind of man. It pains me to know I never was able to meet you in person but Timelines you know... I'm risking enough just coming here... but don't worry. I won't let that scare me off any more than it did for you. I promise to look after our grandson,"
Goku blinked at the man. He was a grampa too?
"Now you say something," The man encouraged.
The little boy frowned, then did the only think he could do. He hugged the dirt pile, "I'll miss you grampa," those simple words meaning far more then the Doctor's entire speech.
"Come on," The Doctor tried once Goku stood up again, "It's time to go,"
"What about Grampa?" The little boy asked.
"There is nothing more we can do," The Doctor insisted.
"No!" Goku stomped his foot, "I'm not leaving grampa!"
The Doctor frowned, "We will visit him often," he tried.
"I'm not leaving him EVER!" Goku declared with all the devotion a toddler could muster for their beloved parent.
The Doctor sighed, looking up at the setting sun, "Alright," he strangely relented, "I'll be back tomorrow morning. Remember to get inside at night and don't look at the full moon,"
"Will the monster that got Grampa get me?" The little boy gulped.
"Not so long as you don't look at the moon," The Doctor assured, "When you look at the Moon, the monster looks back,"
The little boy nodded as the tall man walked off into the forest. The sun was fully set now. Goku wondered back into his and grampa's house, being sure not to look at the moon so the monster couldn't see him.
###
● Planet Equus
Celestia stood over the tiny dragon's crib. How did a dragon egg get mixed up with the Couatl? How did that filly even hatch it?... and what was the Sun Princess supposed to do with it now? She didn't know anything about dragons. They were such reclusive creatures and were proud of their secrets. She wasn't even sure what she was supposed to feed the baby.
As Celestia pondered, her ears twitched. Swirling wind filled the room as a blue box faded in and out. A strange man stepped out, "Doctor?" Celestia blinked. She didn't recognize this face. She was aware there were many Doctors out there, most weren't even ponies, but this one... his eyes. This one was actually younger than herself.
"You know me?" The Medical Student, as Celestia decided to dub him, stepped away from his box.
"Spoilers," Celestia smiled.
The Medical Student scowled but decided to move on, "Then you probably know I'm tracking my genetic blue print throughout space and time," He nodded at the hatchling, "A few dozen generations apart but no mistaking it. That's a Time Tot,"
"He looks like a dragon to me," Celestia smiled, hoping to banter with a Doctor again. It had been so long.
"My guess is my granddaughter regenerated into a dragon. An Equus Dragon no less, doesn't she have all the luck. Their version of puberty only last a couple days. Talk about luck, for me that is. Got a whole literal boat load of children and they are bound to go through that little terror of an age around the same time, don't know how I'm going to deal with that. Did you know one of these kids is actually half dead? Going to be stuck as a hormonal teenage for all eternity, ain't that rich?"
Celestia sighed, he was certainly chatty but not really bantering. Of course not, he didn't know her, "So I take it you wish to take the hatchling with you,"
The Medical Student got a serious look on his face, "I'm taking it on myself to look after my descendants that got left behind. The ones that became orphaned with no other chance of a proper home. I can only assume the only reason my Granddaughter didn't do it herself was because I already had from her perspective,"
Celestia smiled and floated the cute hatchling over to the Medical Student.
The Medical Student looked suspicious as he picked the dragon foal out of the air, "You seem eager to be rid of him,"
"I trust you," Celestia explained, "I'm sure he'll do well in your care. If your anything like your counterparts you should have a knack for child rearing."
The Medical Student looked at her with a glare, "Spoilers," and turned to walk away.
Celestia got one last word in, "Say hi to Professor Starswirl,"
"Oi! Stop it!" The Medical Student demanded as he got in his TARDIS. The doors immediately closed and the box faded out of existence a moment later.
Celestia smiled, "I know you'll do right by him,"
###
● In the Time Vortex
The Doctor brought the final baby into the sickbay of the TARDIS.
"You're Granddaughter gave birth to a lizard?" Donna gaped.
"If it helps she was likely a lizard as well at the time," The Doctor smiled as he set the hatchling on a table with rails, next to his infant cousins, "And he is more a distant descendant. Most of them are," He looked at Donna with giant smile, "My family thrived, Donna. Each of Susan's face lived a full life, at least to the point she went through a heat during each one.
"Each face had a family, a baker's dozen family lines... and these are the only orphans that other family members weren't able to claim... and they're all heroes,"
"Wha'cha mean? Heroes?"
"Each and every one of these children are destined to grow up and save their planet, on numerous occasions no less. I'll have to bring them back to their worlds frequently, so as to not disturb the timeline too much. I would like to think it's just the glory of Susan, giving birth to the saviors of worlds... but if I'm honest with myself that is a trait she got from me,"
The Doctor stroked the sleeping dragon's fin, "My blood has been saving the universe for generations and I didn't even know it,"
"That's some legacy Doctor," Donna commented.
The Doctor pulled an xray like machine down, "I just need to isolate the Time Lord DNA and bring it to the surface, activate their third chain of chromosomes and what not,"
Donna blinked, "Is that safe,"
"Of course, common medical procedure on my planet," The Doctor assured, "At least with Hybrids. They won't feel a thing. Then they will have 2 hearts and a Chakra circulatory system and... they will live as long as me, all 13 lives will. They won't exactly regenerate like I do. They are too distant for that, so they can't recover from any instantly fatal deaths, but their own internal Chakra system will work with their hearts to repair the damage when they're dying and get everything working again. They won't change their face, or even their age, but they won't normally die and will have lifespans as long as mine."
As he talked he fiddled with the controls. The Dentist style xray machine shining a light on the babies. The babies wiggled and giggled, as if the light tickled them.
"What about that Danny kid?"
"If I tried this on him it would likely kill him. The machine wouldn't even know what to do with him. His organs are barely functional and he already has an immortal's lifespan. There is more danger than benefits to even attempt the procedure on him... You haven't asked the obvious question though,"
"Asked what?" asked Donna.
"If I can do this to you," The Doctor pushed a few more buttons, "Give you a Time Lord's near immortality,"
Donna stared at him.
"Didn't even occur to you to ask,"
Donna shook her head.
"It would be a more invasive surgery for you, as I would have to graft the 3rd chromosome chain and reconfigure your circulatory system to accommodate 2 hearts. You'll still have a human lifespan but you will partially regenerate once you start dying like the kids and-"
"Doctor-" Donna put a gentle hand on his shoulder, "I don't want that,"
"Donna..." The Doctor looked at her, "You gave me back my family, let me repay you,"
"I'm your friend, Doctor," Donna smiled, "You don't owe me anything. You hear me, nothing. Besides, with how horrible a pilot you are you think I would trust you to carve up my insides,"
The Doctor smiled at her, "You really are something,"
"I'm really not," Donna insisted.
The Doctor smiled at her, taking his eyes off the machine. Then jumped as he heard beeping. He looked back to the machine and gasped to see a blinking light.
"No no no NO!!!" The Doctor gasped as he began fiddling with the dials.
Donna felt her chest tighten, "What's that sound for!? That's not a good sound Doctor."
"I should have put them in one at a time," he growled. "Don't worry, the safety protocols are on so the machine just needs to compensate and make further adjustments to their biology." The Doctor looked at Donna, and swore to her, "They'll be alright."
There was a burst of yellow light, which forced both adults to shield their eyes but once the lighting returned to normal the babies...
They were still babies, the Doctor was thankful, their age hadn't changed but... they looked... slightly different. They all appeared humanoid with big anime style eyes. They had dragon wings and a monkey tail, sharp teeth with a tiny bit of fang sticking out of their mouths. Spike looked humanoid now, only with green hair.
"Bugger," The Doctor groaned as he pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver and buzzed at the kids with the blinking blue light. "Good thing the machine is more competent then I am. It reaffirmed their genetics to create... a brand new species. They have all those nice Time Lord features, plus a traits of all their original species. A Wizard's magical Awareness, combined with a Shinobi's Chakra pathways design (allowing for the body to channel complex Jutsus), a dragon's breath... wait.." the buzzing whiched to whirring, "A Purple dragons ability to channel the core magical elements... minor healing factor of The Uzumaki Clan, even larger Chakra reserves... how's this? A Saiyan's durability and even the potential for their transformations."
The Doctor picked up a stray hair on Naruto. "A Saiyan tail hair, must have gotten on me well I was helping Goku bury his Grandfather... it has some skin on the end, so the DNA must have gotten mixed in as well. I must have transferred it to the babes... I wanted Time Tots... and ended up accidentally creating a new species..."
"Sounds like your kind of screwup," said Donna, "But their really okay?"
"Yes, perfectly healthy... whatever they are." The Doctor lightly wiggled his fingers in front of the tots. Spike giggled and grabbed a hold of the hand with a claw. The Doctor switched his machine off and put it away.
"Hello my little abominations," He smiled affectionately as Harry began sucking the man's fingers well Naruto kicked at Harry. After a few minutes of cooing at the babies, as they assured him they were okay, the Doctor spoke, "It's been so long since I was a grandfather."
"I don't think that's the right term Doctor," Donna informed, having shoved her way into the babies' view.
"Oh?" The Doctor blinked.
"You're more like a father,"
The Doctor stiffed at that revelation, as if he truly hadn't made that connection, "I suppose I am... been even longer since that happened..."
"You'll do fine Doctor," Donna assured.
"Does that make you their mom?"
"Oi, Watch yourself martain boy," Donna glared, "I'm the fun aunt," she proudly declared, as if it was obvious.
"Fun aunt it is," The Doctor smiled, "That works better for me anyway. You're not my type,"
"Oi, What's that supposed to mean!?"
###
● Later That Day.
The Doctor looked at the picture curiously. It was the one Donna found. How it got in that book he couldn't fathom... he had locked all his old pictures away yet this one was being used as a bookmark. Stuck in the pages of a novel he read frequently... how did it get there?
Looking up at the TARDIS as it gently hummed the Doctor smiled. He lightly stroked the console, "Was this your doing?" There was a bell like hum which echoed through the TARDIS. "Thank you." The Doctor smiled. "You're always looking out for me, Sexy." He patted the console and stood up.
"Doctor!" Donna was screaming. "Doctor I need you to put your gizmos to use!" She said rather panicky about something.
The Doctor found her running around sickbay with the younger Time Tots cooing on the exam table.
"Doctor!" Donna howled running around like a chicken with her head cut off.
"Yes?" The Doctor blinked, slightly tilting his head as he tried to understand why she was acting this way.
"Don't bloody well look at me like that you idiot," Donna snapped. "We got to help them! Something is seriously wrong."
The Doctor blinked. "Whatcha mean?"
"God your thick! The babies, Doctor, they haven't used their diapers since you got them!"
"I just changed their diapers ten minutes ago." The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"They should be doing more then PEEING you moron!" Donna snapped.
"They should?" The Doctor blinked. Then it clicked. He tried to hide a smile and couldn't resist having a bit of fun with her. "More how?"
"By god you ARE an idiot," Donna wailed. "They should be, you know, messing them to."
The Doctor tilted his head to the other side.
"FOR FUCKS SAKE," Donna screamed and the babies started crying. "They should be shitting themselves! It's been hours since we got them! Something is horribly wrong."
The Doctor thought about the terminology a moment. "Oooooooooo, your worried they aren't excreting waste." He laughed. "Is that all?"
Donna slapped him.
The Doctor blinked staring at her, realizing teasing her like this might not have been the best idea. She was obviously taking this very seriously. "Donna." the Doctor rubbed his cheek. "Time Lords don't excrete waste. Our upper intestines absorb all the nutrients then disintegrate what's left and uses the ash to feed our Chakra pathways. The Tots don't even have lower intestines anymore. Instead they have something similar to ovaries for reproductive. The anus is, well, pretty much your girly bits."
Donna was staring at him like he was, well, an alien.
"I told you I moved their organs around to bring out their Time Lord Genes. We don't ever have to worry about that particular grossness."
"Well you could have bloody well told me!" Donna snapped. "When a human baby doesn't do that it means something is seriously wrong! It means they are likely DYING!"
The Doctor blinked. "Not much of a prank then."
She slapped him again and stormed out.
The Doctor sighed. "That's what I get for trying to be funny." Humans really did take all those gross things they did seriously.
###
Danny sat in the console room, looking out the open door of the TARDIS, at the wonders of space. His feet dangling out in the void well he sat on the edge. His elbows on his knees and his hands on his chin. It should mean more to him, but truthfully he felt kinda numb. Maybe he should have gone with Vlad... it was kinda cool that mom was descended from aliens though. It would explain why she was so damn brilliant...
Danny felt his eyes begin to water as he thought about his family.
Danny jumped a little as he heard a door slam. He turned around and spied that red headed woman. She looked all kinds of pissed.
Her expression immediately changed when she saw Danny. "Oh! How you holding up?"
Danny immediately looked away and wiped his eyes. "I'm fine." He looked back at the stars. Things were silent for a few minutes, but then Danny stiffed a bit as the woman sat next to him.
However, after a few moments in silence, Danny spoke up. "So are you like, space Gramp's girlfriend?"
Donna scoffed. "Fat chance of me ever getting THAT lonely. No, he's more like the annoying little brother I never wanted."
Danny lightly smiled. "Speaking as one such little brother I can assure you-" Danny lost his train of thought as he realized he wasn't a little brother anymore. It hit him like a ton of bricks. He quickly looked back at the stars so she wouldn't see his face.
"If you need to talk about it..." Donna tried.
Danny felt his eyes misting over, but refused to let the tears fall. "It was my fault."
Donna immediately tried to say "NO," but Danny wasn't hearing it.
"It was!" Danny snapped. "If I hadn't cheated on that stupid test none of this would have happened!"
"That's a bit of a leap," Donna tried. "Lots of kids cheat on test. The worst that is supposed to happen is they get their hides skinned by their parents."
Danny shook his head. "Not the worst... Mr. Lancer, my teacher, he asked my parents to meet him at the Nasty Burger. He was always doing little things like that. Trying desperately to be the 'cool' teacher with his stupid misuse of slang he got off the Disney channel." Danny gave another smile, but it was short lived.
"He asked my parents to meet him at the Nasty Burger... he was always doing stuff like that to... trying to make students and their parents more comfortable as he talked to them about serious stuff... I told my friends how I was probably about to be expelled for cheating on a national test... so they tried to support me by hiding a few booths away from us... all the adults pretended they didn't see them, hiding behind their menus like a couple of dorks... they all wanted to make me more comfortable...
"Lancer told my parents he caught me cheating and that he wasn't going to tell the school. He wanted to handle the situation off the record as to not ruin my life... he said he knew why I did it but that I couldn't let my 'after school activities' interfere with my life... I was kinda... ever since I got my powers I was basically acting as a Superhero for my town.
"Ghostly obsessions come out in different ways. It's what anchors us to this world. I was a major comic book nerd in life so in my half death I got this weird compulsion to act out my superhero fantasies... When I tried to stop it literally hurts and I can feel things twist and burn. It is legitimately part of my after life. Something I have to do or I'll die or worse, become twisted like the more deranged ghost... Mr Lancer knew all that. Is why he had been trying to help me so much the last few months. He learned my secret and wanted to see me succeed in all my passions... He really was a great teacher...
"He took me cheating as a 'cry for help'. It proved to him I couldn't balance my school work and my 'after school activities'. Basically as punishment for cheating he made me confess what I had been up to my parents and promised he would protect me if things went south... I didn't have the chance... there was an explosion. The restaurant's boiler had gotten damaged in a ghost fight I had gotten into earlier... no one realized it and it blew up. I only survived because I'm already half dead...
"If I hadn't cheated none of us would have been there. If I had paid more attention to collateral damage, the boiler wouldn't have gotten damaged... and if I had told my parents I died from the start none of this would have happened in the first place... it was all my fault, in every conceivable way. You can't tell me differently."
"I wasn't going to," Donna promised.
The tears finally began to fall. Donna gently pulled the child into a hug and rested the boy's head on her shoulder. She wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. So she simply hugged him as he cried.
The Doctor watched with the babies from the hall.
As if to ease the tension, one of the babies spit up a burst of green flame.
Ch2: Fragments of the Lonely God
● A dimension Away,
With The Valeyard
The Valeyard growled as he held his head. He stood in his TARDIS, with a face he still didn't understand. His 12th regeneration, his 13th and last face. A face of a man he had been forced to save back in Pompeii. He still didn't know what his soul was trying to tell him by giving him this face. At the moment it didn't matter.
His brain was burning, changing and rewriting itself. He was a Time Lord. He was aware of all possible turns his life could have taken yet this was different. It was as if he was being erased and something new was recorded. His mind filled with a history that never should have happened. Someone was rewriting his own personal history.
The world, specifically his world, ALL his worlds, were changing. All his work was being undone. The trillions of planets he had conquered, the countless galaxies he had destroyed, all that death and destruction done in the name of the greater good... it was all being unwritten.
They couldn't attack him directly so they were going after his past. The sheer act should tear the universe apart, but yet it was soley centered on him. He couldn't track it though. What was the cause?
He remembered a moment. A very proud moment of his. In it he was given a gift by his closest friend and former lover... the Master had forgiven him. Forgiven him for the death of their son, but her forgiveness was conditional. She gave him an army. An army of Cybermen made from the bodies of the dead. An unstoppable army that he could use to save every last world in the universe, and destroy every single threat in it. He could save... everyone. No more Daleks camps, no more Daleks. He could purge the universe of evil. He stained his already blood soaked soul so that the rest of the universe could live in peace... and it was all being undone.
This moment was different now. He still remembered it, had a faint taste of it, but it was fading. It was being replaced by some idiotic fantasy of rejecting the offer. Of clinging to false nobility and prioritizing that over the lives of innocent people.
He was not a traveler, or a hero, or even a warrior. He gave all that up a long time ago. He was a general, and his army had saved the whole of creation... only it hadn't. It was so hard to cling to. To remember everything he had done to protect so many.
He now remembered himself rejecting the gift. What actually happened was just a faint echo in his head. However even then, that moment was a symptom of something else, not the cause. What was the cause? What lead to that moment?
Then he saw it... something was horribly wrong with his past... Donna... she was still there. She was going on adventures with the Doctor for decades after he lost her... how? What changed? What kept her alive? That one little change was enough to alter the Doctor's whole life. That face that traveled with her... it hadn't even died young. Her mere existence so altering the entirety of his life... but it was somehow more then that.
There were people with him, a lot of people, but he couldn't see them, something was clouding his vision.
The Valeyard looked up at the control console and put the pieces together.
"Is it you?" he asked the empty room. "My old friend? Are you hiding something from me? Or did you cause this?"
The TARDIS gave a hum, which echoed about the room.
The Valeyard sighed. "So the last of my friends has finally betrayed me. Even you can't see the good I'm trying to do... Well, I won't let all I am fade into nothing."
He began running around, flipping switches and turning Knobs. "I won't go quietly. In fact, I'll do what I always do in these situations... I'll rage." He held his hand over the leaver... and hesitated. "A controlled explosion in time and space would be enough to splinter my reality into it's own universe. You're the only source powerful enough to do that... it's either my life... or yours." He rested his hand at the leaver, looking up at the crystals inside the clear cylinder. "You should have learned by now what happens to those that cross me. Goodbye... sexy..."
He pulled the leaver and casually walked towards the door, as the ship began to scream. Fire began to erupt from the floor and sparks shot out of the counsole.
The Valeyard could hear the mechanical screaming and steeled his heart from it. She was the one that betrayed him.
He stepped out of the TARDIS just in time for it to explode in golden flames. The fire shot into the sky and consumed the vacuum of space. The planets were fine, he made sure they would be, but as he felt his mind clear and his true past reassert itself he knew he had succeeded. They were in a pocket dimension now, with a sky of golden flames for all of space. That might make it harder to travel for the common folk. He should upgrade their ships again... if he should even bother.
This dimension was still dying. All he did wad delay the inevitable. In order to repair it he had to stop the source of the distortion.
The Valeyard examined the swirling spirals of fire in the sky as he thought about his next move. He would have to build another time machine. He could probably rig something up from his time agents to allow him to break into the other dimension... he would have to find it though and that would be a headache.
The Valeyard sighed, putting his hand to his head. The monster, formally known as the Doctor, didn't even pause in his convictions. "I'm sorry Donna, but now I'm coming after you."
● In the Dimension to the left.
Gallifrey,
With the Original Doctor.
The Doctor gulped as he stood before the council of Gallifrey.
"Doctor." Rassillion growled his chosen name, "You stand accused of the highest crime against our planet's doctrine. Not only multiple counts of vast manipulation towards the Timestream, for your own selfish desires, but also telling non-Gallifreyians your true name. For these crimes you are sentenced to forced regeneration. In the hope your next face views your actions as the crimes they are. Do you have anything to say on your behalf?"
The Doctor stood silent a moment then stood tall, looking out at the crowd who gathered to see his execution. Most of them wanting to see him escape, but he had something to protect, "I am guilty. Guilty of believing I could ignore the cruel indifference Gallifrey has become compliant in. I have witnessed other worlds and seen the terrors inflicted on them. At first it was a game. Flaunting our beliefs for no other reason then I could... but I see now. It is our responsibility to act... those with power should protect those without. Otherwise, what is the point of having such gifts."
Rassillion sneered, "Doctor! That sounds dangerously close to a desire to start a riot." The man looked to someone in the audience.
The Doctor turned his own eyes to look... to see his mate in the stands. The Doctor sighed, understanding the threat, "I am guilty." The Doctor insisted, "Now let's get this over with."
Rassillion raised his mechanical glove, pointing it at the man, and clenched his fist.
The Doctor screamed as he felt himself die... yet no one took his place. He collapsed to the floor, dead. Not even the slightest trace of regeneration energy.
The last thing he heard, was his mate screaming his name.
No one could figure out what happened to his regeneration energy. Why had he died? Yet they didn't have time to think on it... as the sky burned regeneration gold.
● New York,
With the 11th Doctor
Amelia Pond, a name out of a fairy tale, and true to her name she became the girl who waited. She waited so long to go off on her adventure.
She had only been a girl when the Doctor first met her, just a little girl. There was a crack in her wall that wasn't in the wall. It had been a crack in the very fabric of the universe. Two points in time and space that should never ever have touched. The Doctor fixed it of course, and later fixed the event that caused it to begin with but it would take a long time to get around to that, especially from the little girl's point of view. The Doctor promised her, he promised her five minutes and failed to keep the appointment... by twelve years.
When he got back the little girl was all grown up... And had been waiting all those years. He took the woman with her, how could he not? He was responsible for who she became... Eventually he began to think of her as a daughter.
He'd never tell her that though as it would be all manner of disturbing for her seeing as she used to have a crush on him. They were friends and he did love her, but as a parent would love their child. He was responsible for her (how many times was he going to say that?). He'd do anything for her... except let her go.
It was obvious the pain was unbearable to her. She loved her husband more then anything... and she kept having to watch him die. He usually came back though. Something always brought the man back. The man who died refused to stay dead. He always came back to her, always, but not this time... this time she would have to go to him.
She accepted it, without hesitating. It wasn't clear if the angel made of stone could really send her to him but there was a chance, a sliver of hope, that was all she needed.
Weeping Angels were a temporal predator. They eat time, stealing it from other intelligent creatures. Old ones would suck the very time from you stealing the rest of your life, but a young one, like this one, would send you back in time and feed off the leftover time energy. They were wily creatures that turned to stone when you saw them as a defense mechanism. But every moment you weren't watching them, they were coming for you, and they could be frighteningly fast.
It sent Rory to who knows when but the odds were good it would send Amy there to. So, without a second thought or a moment's doubt, she made up her mind.
"Melody." Amy reached back and grabbed a woman's hand. Her daughter... who was somehow older then her and married to the Doctor, time travel can cause some major headaches. "You be a good girl, and you look after him." Referring to the Doctor standing nearby.
"You are creating a fixed point," The Doctor cried. "If you do this I'll never be able to see you again!"
"Raggedy man," refering to his appearance when she first saw him as a child, in clothes torn to shreds. Part of her always thought of him as that. As the 'Raggedy Doctor' she dreamed would come back for her as a child. She never told the Doctor (as for him it hadn't happened yet and she assumed he would do that after she died as a way of saying goodbye. Time travel could get confusing as hell and rather depressing) but when she was a child waiting he came back to her, only once, and only to tell her a story.
A story of adventure and love. Of pirates, space whales, and a man that would wait 2000 years for her. All she had to do was be patient and he promised he'd come back for her one day... and he did and all her adventures came true. Even the man who waited for her, Rory Williams, her husband. She waited for her Raggedy Doctor for so long, but not nearly as long as Rory waited for her. She refused to be without him. Perhaps this was the day the Doctor visited that little girl. She quickly spun around taking her eyes off the Angel to look at the Doctor and tell him with all the sincerity of her heart "Goodbye."
"No!" The Doctor jerked his sonic screwdriver forward and Amy felt herself being grabbed by an invisible force. As the Doctor pulled his arm back, Amy flew towards him well his other hand jetted forward with an open palm. Amy couldn't resist looking back and saw the weeping angel thrown into a portal just as the Doctor caught her. The portal instantly closed the moment the angel was through.
Amy stared at it a second before her own palm crashed against the Doctor's face. "What have you done?" She broke out of the Doctor's grasp "Bring it back!"
"I can't," The Doctor insisted.
"BRING. IT. BACK," she commanded.
"It burnt up in the Time Vortex, there's nothing to bring back." He got slapped again. The Doctor and Amy stared at each other for several moments, then Amy slowly sank to the floor crying and hugging her knees. "I can't bring it back..." he admitted then hesitantly added "But I might be able to bring Rory back."
"H-how!?" Amy demanded. "Just a moment ago you said-"
"There is no way to go through time and physically get him but... I'm about to purposefully do something that goes against every sense of ethics ever conceived by any sentient species. It will be an offense to not only time itself but whatever deities are out there.. and it will have consequences that will literally outlive time itself. I will do this if you ask, but only if you ask."
"Do it." Amy ordered not even waiting to hear what it was.
The Doctor looked at her, saw whatever he had to say wouldn't matter in the slightest, and turned towards the grave. "Get me a shovel."
It took over an hour for the group to reach the coffin.
"You're going to have to look away." The Doctor ordered
"No I want to-"
"Amy," The Doctor cut her off. "I've only ever done this once and never to someone who's been dead this long. This won't be pretty, and I'm not doing it with you watching,"
"Come on Mommy dear," River helped turn Amy's back as well as her own. She didn't exactly want to see this either.
The Doctor opened up the coffin and found the bones of his friend Rory inside. The last time he did this had been an accident. He'd been overcome by grief and refused to accept what happened. This though... this was different. This was deliberate. This was evil and selfish to the extreme. He wasn't even doing this for Rory. The Doctor knew what the afterlife was like and doubted Rory minded it there. This was purely so the Doctor could keep Amy by his side.
He laid the tip of his screwdriver on the skull and switched the setting, channeling his internal Chakra. He hadn't really used magic since he was a child. He tried to avoid it... magic was only preformed by priests and prophets for Time Lords... and he long since given up those roles.
Slowly flesh began to grow as he reversed the corpses timeline. It quickly began to pick up speed at the rate it reverse decayed. The body suddenly started working again as it grew the face of an old man but the Doctor didn't stop. He continued to make the man age backwards until the face was back to the Rory he remembered. Then he locked it. He pulled all the energy he could into freeze Rory into this moment. If he simply let go of the Time stream Rory would just die again but if he locked his body in this moment Rory would live... forever. The Doctor became to scream as his own muscles began to spasm. He could feel his own pathways bursting around his veins.
Suddenly Rory gasped awake as the Doctor let go of his time stream. The Doctor collapsed on top of him. Rory suddenly looked around as his mind pieced together where he was.
In that moment, something felt wrong, or rather, new. The Doctor looked up at the sky as it flashed a yellow flame before setting... did he do that? No this is just the moment things differed from the whole... whatever that means. Not even the Doctor knows what he means half the time.
The Doctor looked back at the former corpse as the young man opened his eyes. He looked at the man on top of him and spoke, his voice weak. "Doctor... what have you done?"
The Doctor looked back at him and could respond with only, "I'm sorry," before passing out.
###
The Doctor groaned opening his eyes. He was in the medical bay of his time machine.
"She told me what to do," River said, throwing a pair of surgical gloves away that were covered in orange blood. "I was able to grow you a few new organs and replace the damaged ones, with a little help from the TARDIS."
"Thank you," the Doctor mumbled.
"Rory told us what you did," she informed. "About ripping his soul straight out of heaven."
"He'll never be able to go back there now." The Doctor informed, "I don't even qualify for the level of immortality he's got."
"Why?" The Doctor turned his head to the other side to see Amy looking at him intensely, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I told you there'd be consequences... you're the one who didn't want to hear what they were."
"You're blaming ME for this. For god's sake Doctor, or should I say for 'Doctor's sake.'"
"I'm not a god." The Doctor looked away.
"You literally just reanimated my dead husband!"
"You asked me to!"
"I know! I know but... Doctor... what the hell are you? I've seen you do some messed up stunts before but this. I really don't know anything about you do I? Not when you have secrets like this."
"You know what matters."
"I don't even know your NAME!"
"... Alex," The Doctor answered.
"... Come again?" Amy blinked
"My name... is Alex."
"Talk about a let down," Amy joked.
"Name's are very precious to Time Lords, you could even call them sacred. Only family and the closest of friends can use it and only with permission. To speak your name to anyone who isn't a Time Lord... it's a major offense. Even if I found Gallifrey they would never let me go back to it now."
Amy's eyes widened. "Then why the bloody hell would you just blurt it out like that!?"
The Doctor weakly took Amy's hand. "Because we're family. I don't care if I never see Gallifrey again as long as you stay with me."
Amy stared at him a good long while before asking, "What's your last name?"
The Doctor smiled awkwardly. "Macedon."
"Macedon..." Amy repeated, "Alex Macedon," her eyes suddenly widened, "As in 'Alexander' of Macedon!? YOU'RE Alexander The Great!?"
The Doctor flinched, "I... was young and frankly stupid. I highjacked a TARDIS, not this TARDIS a different one, with... a friend. We were only around 12 when it happened so neither of us knew how to repair the damage. We were taken in by a king who thought we were gods and... I fell in love with the Earth. I was stuck there for years though and saw so much beauty... and so much pain. When I was older I thought I could help them. I thought a united global government would solve so much... and I could only think of one way to make it happen. The people I conquered where happy under my rule... or so I thought. Being poisoned kind of opened my eyes.
"It couldn't kill me with my Time Lord physiology but it did leave me bedridden for some time. I realized I couldn't force people into my idea of a better world and left. When my advisers asked who should rule the kingdom in my stead I jokingly said 'to the best'... yeah didn't think that through either. My advisors covered up the fact I didn't die, on account of I didn't want anyone thinking I was a god, and civil war broke out... I spent the next few centuries travelling with my childhood friend... things got complicated quickly."
Amy stared at him for a moment. "I take back what I said about that being a let down"
The Doctor smiled. "Will you stay with me, Amelia?"
Amy studied him for a moment as if genuinely confused by the need to ask. "Of course, Doctor."
● With The 12th Doctor,
"This is wrong." The Doctor could feel it. Even if he couldn't see it, he could feel it. A change in the Timestream. A fracture... a birth? He felt... different, as his mind flooded with memories of a world that should have happened, but for some reason didn't. He remembered it all so clearly yet he knew it wasn't what actually happened in this reality.
He remembered refusing Missy's gift of Cybermen... of losing Clara... of meeting Bill... of Missy beginning to come around to his side of all things.
He remembered this, yet knew it wasn't real. According to his reading at the TARDIS console... he did not exist... and the universe seemed to get along fine without him...
They were supposed to go somewhere today. A test for Missy. See how far along she had come in kicking the habit of horrific atrocities and general evil for recreation... didn't seem like that would be a good idea at the moment.
"Heroism called on account of rain!" Missy hollered as she stepped into the control room.
"Doctor!" Nardole quickly came in behind her. Trailed by the darked skinned woman, Bill Potts. "Please tell the Queen of evil she can't get out of her trial that easily."
"I'm afraid she can," the Doctor near growled, "Spacial distortions in the Time Vortex. Now I might be an idiot, but not even I'm stupid enough to try to pilot the TARDIS through that. Not to mention how idiotic it would be to go sailing around a brand new history without knowing anything about it."
Missy stuck her tongue out at Nardole.
Bill rolled her eyes before looking at the Doctor, "So what, exactly, is going on. Because 'Spacial distortions', that could mean anything."
Missy scoffed, "It means we're in another universe."
"What?" Bill smiled, "Seriously?" She looked eagerly at the Doctor.
"Bit more complicated then that." The Doctor tried but Missy interrupted.
"We didn't fall into another universe. Another universe splintered off the one we used to be from. It's known to happen with time travel on occasion."
Bill looked between them, "Well, fancy a look around? Before we head back I mean."
Missy groaned before looking at the Doctor, "Would it kill you to get competent eye candy? I mean honestly, what are they teaching kids in schools these days?"
The Doctor picked up a stack of index cards and started flipping through them. That's when Bill started to get worried. The Doctor only looked through those things when he had bad news to give and didn't know how to say it without sounding insensitive.
"Doctor," Bill walked up and snatched the cards from his hands, "Just tell me. Can we get back?"
The Doctor slowly curled his fingers, "No... because there is nothing to get back to. Where we think we came from is currently in the process of disintegrating on itself. It will be gone in a next Vortex Cycle."
Bill started to nod, far too slowly, as her eyes widened and panic became evident on her face.
Missy helpfully supplied, "We are just echos of the old universe. Random anomalies that echoed into this reality due to our real counterparts closeness to the event. It likely means we tried to save the universe and failed. What you THINK we are is actually just ghost remnants of the old universe. The real you is dead in the other reality and likely never existed in this one."
"Actually, I don't think that's helping, thanks." Bill snapped, taking deep breaths. "I need to sit down." Before quickly walking up the stairs to a one of the Doctor's lounge chairs.
The Doctor sent a glare at Missy, before shaking his head, "Should have stock to the cards."
"There is no nice way to tell someone the universe has ended!" Bill yelled at him.
Nardole spoke up, "Anyone concerned how I am handling this?"
The Doctor looked over at him, and with all the sincerity he could feel in his hearts, he answered, "No."
###
It had been a week. Space had returned to it's normal black and the Doctor sat calmly by Missy. Who didn't look particularly happy about their predicament. Bill and Nardole were off somewhere deeper in the TARDIS.
"No." Missy glared. "I refuse."
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter," The Doctor smirked. "Besides, I thought you would be thrilled to learn you're legitimately immortal," he teased.
"I am NOT an angel!" Missy glared. "Do you have any idea how humiliating that would be! I would need to get a harp and one of those ridiculous white robes. Not to mention a fluffy cloud to sit on!"
"You've been watching too much human television," The Doctor scolded.
"Well whose fault is that?!" Missy's glare never left her face. "It wasn't enough you had to turn me good. You had to turn me into a literal Celestial. Shame on you, Doctor."
"It's not my fault."
"Of course it is. How much you want to bet whatever splinter the universe was directly your fault!"
The Doctor frowned. "I suppose it is rather likely isn't it?... Bill is rather excited about being an angel," he not so subtly changed the subject and Missy decided to allow it.
"Of course she would be," Missy scoffed. "You've granted a mayfly near immortality. I'm sure that will work out wonderfully."
"I did not!" The Doctor insisted.
"Says the Elder God to his Celestial." Missy snarked.
The 12 Doctor sighed, "So you figured that out did you?"
"Your not the only one who has been researching this place." Missy huffed. "Whatever triggered the splitting of the universe merged with you at it's conception. Meaning every living organism in your TARDIS, just before your regeneration, echoed back into this universe. You're legitimately part of it and will only grow in power as this Universe grows up... meanwhile your pets and myself, we became your Celestials. The servants of a god."
"Your not a servant." The Doctor insisted. "I would never want that of you."
"We are extension of you though." Missy sighed. "If something does manage to kill you, we'll die to."
The Doctor sighed back. "You did miss something in your research... I'm not the only Doctor. Not only did I merge with this universe at it's conception, but all my faces, even the ones I haven't had yet, splintered off from me. There are dozen of 'Elder Gods', each guided by a different conciousness of my incarnations... that might not end well."
Missy scoffed, "As if any of you could be a threat to this universe. You're all to chipper and goodie goodie."
"All my faces have gone through a low point. Where our long lives weighed on us... true immortality... might just break some of them..."
"The fact they have their companions is not as large a consolation as you might think. All those traveling with each of my incarnations, at the time of regeneration... they are out there as well... as a new race of Celestial, growing into their power... immortal... it won't be long before they lose their perspective of humanity, just as Jack had... and Me... she was a good girl until Time distorted her view of life. The same thing will inevitably happen to Bill... and all my former companions.
"The fact they have no place her certainly won't help."
"Well all my incarnations got erased and ascended into elder gods... their current companions got erased when they ascended into Celestials. None of them were every born. Good thing they didn't have families or that could have gotten messy for the space time continuum. My former companions, the ones that were no longer traveling with me, still exist... but they never met any of my incantations in this reality.
"The 11th Doctor, for example, was supposed to regenerate into me just before becoming aware of the Clara Echoes. But that adventure never happened for him. Nor did any of the ones after. The universe completely reset without knowing any of us. Then they all wrote themselves back into a new history. None of them are really me anymore, of course. I mean they are, in the sense that were are all fragments of the same soul, but they all exist simultaneously instead of one after the other. Since this dimension was born a week ago, from my perspective, I haven't really had time to leave my own mark... want to help with that?"
Missy blinked. "Are you finally inviting me to do the good guy thing with you? Letting me out of this box?"
"Well you are a literal angel now." The Doctor smirked. "I suppose if the universe believes your reformation so should I."
Missy smiled, then sighed. "What about my other faces? Was I never born either?"
"From what I can determine, instead of not being born it's just your current regeneration that has been erased. You got splintered off him like I was from all my regenerations. Only it was solely you and all your other regenerations stayed as one person. Probably because only you traveled with me in this TARDIS... and the fact you ascended means you were most definitely an ally of mine when I was supposed to regenerate this time. It's why I know I can trust you... to an extent...
"You'll be happy to know, the current master is the first master, still out there living his life on Gallifrey, looking forward to raising his son well missing his mate. What happens after that I can't find. As you know, with the rip in the space time continuum Gallifrey is parked on, makes it difficult to look into the past or future of the planet. It's always in correlation with the Time Vortex's cycles. Making time travel near impossible as well."
"Since the universe is young, so is Gallifrey. It's only been a few months by the Vortex Calendar. The universe appears to have begun when I was executed, but instead of regenerating all of my incarnations splintered off into their own separate entities scattered across the cosmos, while my original face died permanently... Gallifrey isn't even aware that is what happened yet. They think it was a botched execution, where they accidentally killed the condemned."
Missy smirked. "Forced regeneration is an odd definition of 'execution' but seeing as Gallifrey didn't actually have a death penalty back then it was the worst they could do. I don't imagine a Time Lord dying on the block is very appreciated by the people." Missy shook her head. "Gallifrey may very well be destined to go through their little Civil War even without you... and Theta Sigma will die as she always does. Truthfully, I can't imagine a reality where our daughter lived."
"HE, was born a boy. You know how much of a chip on his shoulder he had about his gender."
"She got that from you. Your mutt blood confused her." Missy rolled her eyes.
The Doctor sighed. "Regardless, I hope he lives a full life, and doesn't involve himself in a war the worst of Gallifrey is destined to win. Hopefully, without me there, he won't try to destroy himself while following in my footsteps."
"... It wasn't your fault."
The Doctor stiffened, looking up at Missy.
"I realized that almost immediately upon regenerating. Each face gains a new perspective of our memories and I almost immediately started to... to miss my friend. I even felt my first taste of shame in thousands of years for turning my back on my mate... I'm happy to learn my current face will always keep my new perspective... I needed someone to blame after the death of our daughter. I could have blamed the council for their war but instead I took the less rational route... I want to start again."
The Doctor stared at her for near a full minute in silence. "Missy? You have no idea how much I want that to be true."
"Still you doubt me." Missy frowned. "Or is it you don't believe your worthy of forgiveness."
"Can't it be both?" The Doctor gave a sad smile.
Missy gently took his hands. "I forgive you, Doctor. Now it's time you forgave yourself. It is most unbecoming of a god to sulk so."
The Doctor groaned. "Is that going to be a running joke for you?"
"I appreciate the irony, is all. In the old universe there were entire civilizations that worshipped you while you screamed at them to stop. Now you're the thing you always hated. Excuse me if I still take a little pleasure from your misery." Missy smiled.
"I'm not a god," The Doctor insisted. "Even if I am one by technicality, I refuse to accept that role. I intend to help, like I have always done. I'm just, and will always be, a madman in a box."
Ch3: Making a Few Changes
● In the TARDIS
With the 10th Doctor
Donna stared at the babies, as they cuddled each other in their crib. Her face just outside of it as she bent over to look at them. Danny was pressed to her side, staring at them. The Doctor was standing a bit aways from them as he cleaned up the nursery.
"They're... human?" Danny blinked.
The babies had been flying around, breathing fire at each other and somehow not burning anything in the room. Then they just kinda laid down. Their extra appendages bending back into them. Their eyes shrunk in size and their teeth flattened. Even their hair turned from needle like spikes to regular human hair... well kinda regular. It was still different colors then human shades.
The Doctor smiled, "No need to insult them."
Donna rolled her eyes, "You know what he means. Limbs don't just... crawl back inside of you."
"Saiyans have an ability to do minor shapeshifting in order to increase their physical power." The Doctor explained in a way no one understood, "However they cannot maintain that indefinitely, not without training. It puts a lot of strain on the body and causes quite a large amount of soreness afterwards. Their current transformation just increases their power by a factor of 5. But they can't hold it for very long. The only reason they were able to hold it for so long is because of their sheer Chakra reserves."
"Well they are resting who should look into going out into adventures of our own." The Doctor smiled... and quickly left the room before Donna could say anything.
###
"Adventures!" Donna gaped, finding the Doctor in the control room. She made sure to tell Danny to watch the babies as the grownups talked. "How can you THINK of going on adventures when we have an army of children to look after?"
"You heard Danny." The Doctor ran around the console flipping switches. "If he doesn't act on his ghostly obsession it will have horrible side effects. His obsession has already started to twist due to trauma."
"What does that even mean 'Twist'," Donna groaned.
The Doctor paused as he tried to explain, "An Obsession for a ghost isn't like an obsession for the living. It is a biological drive, like an instinct. For Danny's particular breed of ghost it is the source of their powers and a reflection of their soul. Danny's instincts are starting to change due to gaining a drastically different perspective of life. That could very well be a good thing if molded correctly but if not..." the Doctor trailed off, but seeing Donna wasn't making the connection he laid it out. "He could go from Superhero to Super Villain."
Donna gaped. "You telling that sweet little boy could just poof to 'evil' because of what, biology? Ghosts don't have biology!"
"Well he's not really a ghost, more of a phantom really. See, there is a pocket dimension made up of high levels of ectoplasm. Sometimes leftover psychic energy, AKA ghosts, get trapped in there. The psychic residue gets infused by the Ectoplasm and strengthened until it gains a physical body and a true conciousness.
"Danny is more a hybrid of a phantom then a wayward spirit. Ectoplasm was bounded to his body when he died and trapped his consciousness inside his corpse. Then the Ectoplasm healed his injuries, just enough to get his body working, and well. Pop, half dead boy with superpowers. However because the Ectoplasm is what's keeping him alive he is still dependent on it, which means he can be twisted by it. It's harder because he has his human biology to repress his emotions but it is still possible. We just need to let him act out his compulsions and guide them so he won't mutate into the most terrifying monster in the universe. You follow?"
"Not a word." Donna shook her head.
The Doctor groaned, "We need to help him stay a superhero or he will lose himself to his grief and his obsession will turn him into a super villain as a defense mechanism." The Doctor paused to let that sink in... then started rambling again. "It won't be his choice, he literally won't be able to help himself, he will twist from a sad hyperactive nerd into the most terrifying demon that has ever set foot in this galaxy. His power will only grow as he gets older and if we don't help him now he will grow up to be a monster. A monster with my blood!"
Donna stared at him. "You've already seen it, haven't you?"
"Not directly, but there are a lot more unpleasant possible futures involving that boy then not... Don't worry, it wouldn't be the first time I raised a sociopath into a product member of society. You should have seen what Trunks and I did with Frieza. That boy was a right sadist but we taught him to be a good person and he grewup to be one of the greatest champions of his galaxy. Even married another champion named Goku. Had a Son that grew up to be a hero of entire dimensions... one of my proudest moments, setting that demon child on a different path. Ooooooooooh the Time Agents were right pissed at me." The Doctor chuckled.
Donna sighed, not understanding what any of that had to do with Danny. She focused her energy elsewhere. "Doctor what about the babies? You can't actually think we can bring babies on adventures."
"Of course not." The Doctor smiled as he grabbed the leaver. "That's why we need to get a baby sitter. Or rather, a 'foal' sitter," he said as he pulled the lever.
###
● Equestria
Twilight Sparkle was, formally, excited about being accepted into Celestia's school for gifted Unicorns. The purple filly was barely 11 years old and had just started her magical education. She had even become the apprentice of Princess Celestia herself. She was the apprentice to the sun god!
All that was great, until she opened the door to her private room. She just finished her morning classes and needed to switch out her books before heading down to lunch with Celestia.
"What!?" The purple unicorn gaped as a furless monkey, in a nice full body suit, put a bunch of babies in a play pen.
She looked walked the room and was shocked to find it didn't look anything like it did a few hours ago. It looked like a bucking nursery! She still had her bed and her bookshelves but there was baby stuff everywhere!
"Thanks for watching the kids for us." The monkey flashed her a grin.
"But-but-" The little unicorn couldn't process what was going on.
"Here's a book on their Biology and care. Keep it safe and don't let anyone, outside the Princess, see it." The monkey handed her and she was almost distracted by the notion of a book... if it wasn't clearly a book on child rearing!
"I have class!" Was all Twilight could think to scream.
"Good, listening to those boring lectures are sure to put them to sleep." The monkey missed the obvious. "If we don't pick them up by 8, it likely means we're dead."
"DEAD!?"
"In which case you should ask Celestia to help you raise them."
"RAISE THEM!?" Twilight's voice squeaked.
"Thanks for doing this." The monkey smiled and jumped back into a blue box at the back of the room. It promptly began fading in and out of existence until it completely disappeared.
The little foal looked down at the babies cooing in their sleep. A green haired monkey yawned and opened it's eyes at Twilight. Reaching out and grabbing a fist full of her hair.
The Filly could think of one thing to say: "Whaaaaaaaaaa-"
###
● Planet Shan Shen,
With the 10th Doctor.
The Doctor smiled as he and Donna walked at either side of Danny. The Doctor had a flash of walking down the streets of Gallifrey with the Master and their son... and for some strange reason that memory didn't hurt as much as it used to.
"Planet Shan Shen," the Doctor declared as he gestured towards the Asian style market distract, "the center of trade in the star system of New China. Settled by Chinese colonists in the 36th century, after they spent a few hundred years on a generational ship made up of their entire country. The other countries of Earth went in opposite directions and settled other planets. Many even developing terraforming along the way and used that to make all planets of their new system habitable. Very interesting, that."
Danny just gaped looking around. There were humans everywhere yet the world seem so... alien... IT WAS AMAZING!!! Everything seemed so retro but the devices were far more advanced.
Danny gulped as he picked up an odd looking ipod off one of the stands and read over the box. It had over 500 Yattabytes of memory! Danny didn't even know how much that was! It could even make video calls and surf the intergalactic web!!!
The Doctor smiled at Danny. "Suppose a teenage boy does need a phone."
"THIS IS A PHONE!?!" Danny gaped.
"Modeled after Android smart phones from the early 2000s. Very retro in this day and age as everyone is using Omnitools at this point, holographic computers, but that might be a bit too confusing for you. I can make a few alterations to this model so you can use it in the TARDIS." He took out his metal wand and buzzed the cash register.
The woman behind the stand smiled. "If you would like some accessories, the stand just up the alley, has a few cases for all the more popular anime."
"Weeeeeeell, maybe a case." The Doctor smiled and directed Danny away.
Danny blinked as they walked down the alley. "Why did she call it 'Anime'? I thought those were Japanese cartoons?"
The Doctor smiled. "That's the TARDIS's Telepathic Translation Matrix. She knew you wouldn't understand the dialogue of future China so she supplied a word she figured would give you the jest of what the person meant. Truthfully the TARDIS is making a rather rude comment about your own cultural ignorance since you wouldn't understand what a Donghua is, and cartoon doesn't do it justice. Anime doesn't really cover it either but at your age anime is more appropriate for American teenagers so the TARDIS let you hear 'Anime' to tell you the cartoons are for an older audience..."
"Oh... can I watch them on here?" Danny held up the box.
"Of course. They should be in a convenient app." The Doctor smiled. "We should also look into getting you a Galactic class Television so you can watch them on a bigger screen. We already have one in the family room but a teenage boy would probably like one in his own room."
"Thanks, grampa." Danny looked down at the ipod, errrr Android, and opened up the box.
"May I see it?" The Doctor asked and Danny handed it over with a shrug.
The Doctor used the same metal wand he used to pay with and buzzed the thin ipod thing as they walked down the alley. The screen was about the size of the man's hand with only a couple buttons on the sides.
The Doctor continued to buzz for several moments, a concentrated look on his face well Danny watched with interesting. Neither noticed Donna wander off.
The buzzing stopped and the Doctor grinned in victory. "There, set it to be more friendly for a Time Traveler and installed a few apps I think you will like. Also increased it's density a few thousand times. Good luck breaking that screen. Even took the liberty to set everything up for you. Just one last thing." He took out the battery and stuffed it into his coat pocket before pulling out a hour glass shaped one. He snapped it in place and closed the back. "There, now it is powered by the energy of the universe and generates it's own pirate signal to connect to the internet. No bills need apply."
Danny smiled. "Neat," He declared as the Doctor handed it back. "Thanks." finding the 'on' button and pushing the apps on the screen to check them out.
"Now where's Donna gone off?" The Doctor looked around.
###
● Equestria
Twilight didn't know what to do. So she did the only thing she could do. She brought the babies to Celestia. The filly held them carefully with her magic, as they floated around her, grabbing at her while cooing and laughing at the sensation of floating. They orbited around her as if she was Equus and they were the living planets.
Celestia looked at the cluster of babies. She actually recognized one of them. Not the boy's appearance but rather his soul. Celestia stopped herself from saying what first came to mind, as she pieced together what happened to the child and possibly the otherd. A medical student really shouldn't do anything without supervision. Celestia knew why they were here with little explanation. The medical Student must be going adventuring. At least he was acting responsibly and got a trustworth foalsitter.
"A furless monkey broke into my room, FOAL PROOFED IT, then thanked me for babysitting!!!" Twilight exclaimed.
Celestia looked down at the babes, and smiled. She said, "I'm glad to hear you started up your own babysitting service," knowing full well that wasn't what happened, but assuming if the medical student trusted her apprentice to look after the children it must be for an important reason.
"What!? No- that's not-"
"I'm so proud of you, Twilight." Celestia decided to manipulate the foal, just a tiny bit. "I'm so glad you took it on yourself to repay the kindness Cadence showed to you."
Twilight was gaping, her mouth moving up and down but no sound coming out.
"Did you put an ad in the archaeologist lobby I have here in the castle?" Celestia played dumb, "That was so good of you. I know many of the older children like to help out the families of the other adventurers when their parents go on a mission for me. I wasn't expecting you to carry on the tradition so soon! Many of these children need some stability and reassurance when their parents leave on an expedition. Only colts and fillies like you really understand what they are going through after all.
"Oh THIS is making me feel so nostalgic! Your own parents have been working for me for decades before even your big brother was born. Running around in ancient ruins, uncovering lost tomes and forgotten magical artifacts from before I took physical form.
"What your parents do is so important for all of Equestria but it meant they could be gone for weeks at a time and they couldn't very well get a normal foal sitter for so long. So the older children of other explorers stepped up. Then, when Cadence came to live with me, she volunteered to help with the younger ones of the explores' children. She always did have such a compassionate heart. She is what gave me hope that the new generation of Alicorns wouldn't be like the Dynasty from before my rule. They would be more then unicorns with wings. They would truly be as enlightened as my ponies believe them to be."
Celestia smiled looking down at the foal, who now looked very considerate.
"So the monkey was one of your archaeologist?... like Mom and Dad..." The foal looked at the babies and pulled a book out of the built in pocket in her flank, "He gave me this."
Celestia tried not to gape. That was a book on Time Lord Biology and child rearing!!! She understood Twilight was important, but to trust such a young filly so much? Just what was she to the Doctor? What a minute.
Celestia floated the book over to and flipped through the pages at an alarming speed. She quickly memorized every page as they flashed by once per microsecond. .. These creatures weren't quite Time Lords, more like a mix of about half a dozen species. They were some kind of artificially created hybrid race. More like a subspecies of Time Lord, like the Time Ponies.
"I suggest you read it back to back," Celestia insisted. Floating it back, "But don't let anypony else. That ape was no ordinary monkey. He was a Time Lord, a very rare species. They are much like the Phoenix. These children are a subspecies of that, more limited in some ways but more advanced in others. Time Ponies evolved from Time Lords union with ponies."
Twilight's eyes widened. "R-really? Time Ponies like Starswirl!!!"
"Very much so." Celestia smiled, wondering if she should tell the filly The 'monkey' was Starswirl... in a way. She decided against it. Celestia was all for teasing but Twilight wouldn't resist in revealing of universe shattering paradoxes if she was confronted with her idol.
"Would you like me to watch them well you are in class?" Celestia smiled.
"Thanks for the offer Princess but you are so busy with your Princess-ly-ness I don't want to disturb you. I can handle it!"
"Very well. It's your free period right? Let me teach you some techniques to speed read well retaining more information. There is a trick to it as you must focus your magic inwards," Celestia began her lesson, using the child rearing book as the prop. So that the foal could gain a useful skill will learning everything she needed to care for the babies.
###
● Shan Shen
Donna looked around the shops, before the Doctor found her without incident.
They continued to wander the shops for a few hours before going back to the TARDIS.
The Doctor didn't know why but this incredibly ordinary day felt... wrong... not just unnatural but sincerely wrong. As if something that should have happened didn't. He couldn't place it, just a feeling that something was off... not just with the day but something was off about all of time itself. It was as if the very universe was... different... he needed to look into that... but not now.
The Doctor smiled at the boy, unable to get rid of that grin even with the possibility of doom he was feeling. "Before we call it a day, and pick up your new baby brothers, how would you like to learn how to fly the TARDIS?"
The boy's eyes bugged out of his head.
###
● Equestria
"THAT'S SO NOT FAIR," The Doctor whined, as he stepped out of his TARDIS.
Danny gave a bashful grin. "She must like me." He shrugged.
"I have been flying around the universe for 900 years and the TARDIS never bothered to give ME a psychic download of her operating systems!"
Donna rolled her eyes as she followed them. "Don't get jealous. She probably just enjoys seeing you plop down at the wrong place all the time."
"Doctor?" Danny blinked as he looked around the filly's room. It looked like a tornado had hit.
Books were thrown around the place and torn up, some even burned. Toys were scattered everywhere. Baby food was on the walls and Twilight... oh Twilight... she was a complete disheveled mess herself.
"Everything Alright?" The Doctor asked.
"EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!!" Twilight shrieked. "PERFECTLY FINE! WHY DO YOU ASK!?"
The Doctor gently pointed, "Your mane is on fire."
Twilight quickly brushed her hoof over her mane to put it out. "IT'S FINE! SPIKE JUST HAD A CASE OF THE HICCUPS!!! NOTHING I CAN'T HANDLE!"
"Great I'll bring them back first thing in the morning," The Doctor cheerfully declared.
"TOMORROW!?!" Twilight squeaked.
"Is that a problem?" The Doctor eyed.
"OF COURSE NOT!" she squeaked again. "TOMORROW!!! PERFECT, I'LL BE READY!!!"
"I can always find someone else if you can't handle it." The Doctor smiled. "I'm sure Celestia would understand."
"NO!" Twilight screamed. "I GOT THIS!!! I CAN HANDLE IT!!!
"Excellent," The Doctor gathered his nearest child, "Come one Harry. Donna, get Naruto. Danny, think you can handle a fire breathing dragon?" As the little green haired child back into his winged transformation.
The teenager smiled and picked Spike up as Donna got Naruto.
"One last thing." The Doctor put his finger tips to Twily's temple and closed his eyes. The filly's eyes fully dilated then shrank back to normal a moment later. The Doctor took his hand away and grabbed Harry's arm, waving it gently. "Say bye bye, Twily. Bye bye." All three babies cooed at her as if saying bye. The filly's eyes widened comically as the Doctor just smiled at her.
The Doctor immediately lead his group back into the TARDIS and the doors closed on their own.
"Doctor," Donna growled out in a whisper, so Danny couldn't hear them as the boy flew around in the air with the baby. Getting the green haired child to laugh and shriek in delight. "You aren't leaving these little nightmares with that tiny girl again."
"She'll have a much easier time tomorrow," The Doctor assured. "I left her a little gift."
###
Twilight ran into Celestia's throne and and screamed, as the Princess looked over her daily reports. "THE MONKEY MADE THE BABIES TALK!!!"
###
The Doctor smiled. "They will understand when she tells them 'no' now and she will understand when they want something."
"You honestly expect me to believe babies have their own language?" Donna rolled her eyes.
"Weeeeeeeeell." The Doctor tried to explain, "It's not really a language. More like mental impressions of emotions, objects, and actions. Like any animal. As we get older and we start recognizing more complex vocal patterns as words and combine that with facial ticks and body language to communicate. The language of animals and babies is more basic and instinctual where sentient liveforms are trying to get across more complex thoughts. That is why there are so many different languages even within the same species but a dog can understand dogs from anywhere else. Intelligence is actually a drawback in situations like language. We complicate things by over thinking them."
"I... actually understood that... God, I'm spending too much time with you."
The Doctor smiled. "Any decently powerful psychic can understand all primitive dialects. It's actually easier to understand the language of animals and babies for psychics well near impossible to interpret for most beings. Not even the TARDIS can translate it... yet such things come easy to Time Lords."
"Look what we got you."
The Doctor looked over to the side to see Danny sitting the baby in the high chair and strapping him in before putting the table down. The chair had been fused at a molecular level so they wouldn't get knocked about. The chair was set to the side of the console, with 3 others.
Spike seemed to enjoy his new chair as he bounced against the restraints and beat the table.
The Doctor and Donna got the other two babies in their chairs, who didn't seem to enjoy them as much, before throwing themselves into the Time Vortex. There was a good bit of rocking until Danny pushed a few more buttons. The TARDIS immediately stabilized.
The Doctor shook his head. "So not fair." the boy's proud smile faltered so the Doctor quickly corrected himself, "I'll have to have you pilot more often." The smile was immediately back. "I was going to find us a safe place in space to park but since we aren't bouncing around any more the Time Vortex is as safe as it gets. Who wants to watch a film in the family room before bed."
"Sounds good to me!" Danny floated over to the babies and strapped them in.
###
● Konoha, Planet Elemental Prime
Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't slept all night. He had his Shinobi searching endlessly for Minato's child. The man's plan must have worked, as the Kyubi was gone, but where was the new host? It seemed more and more likely someone had taken the child from the battlefield... and whoever had stolen Sarutobi's honorary grandson would suffer more then anyone could begin to comprehend. For their sake the child better still be alive.
Sarutobi suddenly rose to his feet as a gust of wind swirled in his office, yet the windows were closed. A mechanical wheezing groan echoed about as a light began to flash. Beneath the light materialized a blue box... and Sarutobi immediately began fearing for his life. He heard Kushina speak of this box. It was legendary lost technology from her clan. There was only one person alive who had such a thing... and he was supposed to be myth.
The doors opened and a scrawny / tall man in an brown overcoat stepped out. The man appeared young... except for his eyes. They were older then even Sarutobi's eyes. They appeared out of place on such a youthful face.
"Lord Uzumaki, I presume," Sarutobi warily addressed the entity, just short of godhood.
"Please call me The Doctor," The man smiled, stepping out of his box and closing the door behind him. Sarutobi got just a glimpse inside, and saw what Kushina told him was true. There was a whole nother world in that small temple.
"I assume, you took Naruto." Sarutobi sighed, rubbing his temple.
"Well, it is my right as an older relative." The Doctor smiled. "Sorry to pop in so late but I wanted to talk to you well everyone was sleeping."
"It's the middle of the afternoon." Sarutobi forgot himself.
The young man's old eyes become puzzled. "Is it? I was aiming for last night... the battle was just last night right?"
Well... there settles that myth. The Uzumaki Clan was famous for their time manipulation Jutsus, and the Doctor was supposed to be their greatest in the art. Well an unreliable Jutsu it was said masters of it could move through time.
"It was," Sarutobi acknowledged.
"Well not that far off then." He grinned. "Alright, to business. It seems you lot cursed one of my heirs as a vessel for a horrific chakra construct."
Sarutobi paled.
"As a result, I can't imagine you will let me just walk away with him. So here is how we will settle this. I want citizenship in your village, for me and my family, a seat on your council, and land to build on. I want the nature of Naruto's seal taught in both Shinobi and civilian schools, and I want a good deal of propaganda released proclaiming Naruto the hero of the village as the Kyubi's prison. I will not budget in any of this. You either take my offer, without allowing the council to vote on it, or I step into this box and disappear with your honorary grandson, for you to never see him again. The only reason I am considering this offer at all is because I know you've loved my descendant since he was a single celled organism in his mother's belly... and because of that I can promise you my conditions are the only way to keep him safe in your village."
Sarutobi eyed him. "You have seen this?" knowing of the Uzumaki bloodline to see the future. The power had long since been bred out of them, only occasionally manifesting now, but supposedly this man was were it originated.
"If I had not interfered the council would have refused to let you take him in. He would have gone to an orphanage and been attacked by villagers daily with only the Kyubi's power keeping him alive, which would only enrage your citizens more. You give your council too much power. I realize it was to keep you in check but your good nature would have resulted in Naruto having a very hard life... and he would know only love for this village regardless. I couldn't sit back and let such a pure soul, with my blood, be literally beaten down by your council's fear driven rulings. If they want something to fear, I'll give them me. I can protect the boy without you looking like a Tyrant."
Sarutobi's fist tighten, "If you swear to me all this is to insure Naruto's safety I will grant it."
The Doctor smiled, "Clearly you are aware of me. Have I EVER gotten involved in the politics of this planet? Personally I would just like to take Naruto and leave but if I do... this entire village will burn. That boy is your only salvation from total destruction."
"How?" Sarutobi demanded but the Doctor just waged his finger.
"Spoilers." The Doctor grinned. "I tell you too much and you'll all die trying to prevent your horrible future. Or I let just enough bad things happen that can result in your ultimate salvation." He shrugged.
"Must be hard to be a god."
The Doctor's face twisted into pure rage and for a moment Sarutobi could feel his power. The raw killing intent that could shatter worlds and killed billions of trillions among the stars, if the stories were true... and in that instance Sarutobi believed every last one of them.
"I AM NOT A GOD!" The Doctor declared. "Gods are cruel uncaring things that sit in their higher planes passing judgment well throwing the occasional bribe at mortals to get them to keep sending their prayers!" The Doctor calmed a moment later. He spoke more quietly, his power pulled back. "I actually help."
"Understood." With this man's sheer power, he legitimately had no reason to make this deal. What could he possibly gain from it that wasn't solely for Naruto's benefit. "And I will let the council know I have accepted your bargain."
Ch4: Lord Uzumaki
● TARDIS
With the 10th Doctor
1 Week Later.
"Time is not a straight line from 'A' to 'B'. It is more like a big ball of yarn, with trillions of intersecting strings in the form of moments. The various strings shift and change to be whatever but there are key moments that are fixed. Moments that must always happen the same way where the rest of the strains change. These fixed points ensure the ball remains stable so that the rest can change at the pleasure of sentient lifeforms' free will. You follow?" The Doctor asked as Danny stood by the console, appreciating his crash course in the secrets of the universe.
The immortal teen eagerly nodded, taking notes with a pen and Pencil.
The Doctor smiled, "However there is some wiggle room, even in fixed points. So long as the key event itself happens, you can fix a few things yourself. But that is extremely dangerous if you don't know what your doing.
"The Time Vortex keeps all this in check, not moving in any traditional sense of time. However, with the constant changing of history the Vortex must change as well. The Time Vortex goes through it's own cycle, like an orbit but tracking the movements of all of recorded history as they happen simultaneously. Time Lords measure and predict these cycles and call them 'Years' by their own 'Vortex Calendar'.
"Gallifrey, the home planet of my people, was trapped on an exposed rift in time. Making the years of Gallifrey match the years of the universe's true age. However, outside Gallifrey, Time Lords age by more traditional years, unbound by the Vortex Calendar. Still, like all lifeforms, they do not mature at the same rate. It can take approximately 42 Earth years for a Time Lord to age 1, as they take 'reverse dog years' to the extreme. Well our congestive powers mature more quickly then humans, our maturity actually develops slower then humans.
"Billions of years could pass for us but on Gallifrey only a single moment would have passed... or a billion years happen on Gallifrey and only a moment passes for us. You see time doesn't exactly correlate with Vortex cycles, yet they are consistent from their point of view.
"As a result of this confusion, Time Travel is reserved for only the most mentally sound and powerful psychics of Gallifrey-"
"and why the Doctor had to steal his TARDIS." Donna snarked as she stepped into the room.
"OI! Teaching here!" The Doctor mock glared.
"But why are you teaching him about Gallifrey?" Donna wondered, "I thought you said that place burned."
The Doctor got serious, "It did... in our universe, or rather, our former universe. When we went to see Harry the sky was burning yellow. It wasn't just a reflection of the fire around the house. It was because our reality split apart from the hole and we become our own pocket dimension. That happens from time to time. Unlike interdimensional travel, or temporary pocket dimensions, this universe is stable and whole. I've tested it, measured it. Who are in a stable pocket universe, with approximately 1000 galaxies orbiting a black hole, the scare tissue of the explosion that created us... and in this reality... Gallifrey is still out there.
Donna gasped, "Would... would you like to visit it?"
"More then anything," the Doctor confessed, his face sad and serious, but then he hopped all smiles again, "But why would we want to do that when we could show Danny, first hand, how you save people in a fixed point." Without risking argument, he pulled the lever.
The TARDIS shook violent for a moment, then when it stopped, Donna's worry began to grow.
"Your actively trying to fight a fixed point! At Pompeii you were actively doing everything you could to get out of there!!!"
"Then you taught me something important." The Doctor looked at her, but soon his eyes turned to Danny. The alien passed down human Wisdom, "If you can't save everyone, save someone. Today is a horrible day... the day a village of my descendants is massacred and brought to near extinction. We can't save them, not all of them. This is a fixed point and they must die. But I'll be damned if I let children with my blood die a brutal death at the hands of Fanatics... there is a harsh lesson for heroes Danny. You can't save everyone. If you try you will rupture a hole in the Space time continuum and our new dimension will fall apart. But just because you can't save everyone doesn't mean you can't save someone. Today we are saving the children, as many as you can, ignore everyone else or you'll doom all of reality."
Danny... gulped...
"Doctor," Donna tried, "Sure this isn't too harsh of a first lesson?" He's just a boy."
"He'll always be a boy, but because of his Ghostly Obsession he's also a hero." Turning to Danny, "You've never played for keeps, but these people are... let's go."
The Doctor walked over to the door and pulled them open, revealing fire and death.
###
Danny flew through the burning village as an invisible phantom. Seeing humanoid creatures killing other humanoids. He didn't know how to process this. The Doctor was out here to, searching houses. Donna and Danny had separated from him to search for children.
He had saved a few so far, leaving them in the TARDIS.
Danny gaped as he saw a teenage girl fall to the ground, her skinny body and red hair reminded Danny of... Jazz...
A man standing over her with a bloody sword. He had no mercy in his eyes as he raised the blade to give a final blow.
Danny jumped into action. He dove in front of the blade and felt it slice into him... but it didn't hurt. Mortal weapons couldn't injure him in this form. The blade sliced into and and his body formed around it like some kind of goo until it got stuck inside him. The man's eyes widened as Danny turned visible.
Danny's green eyes sparked red as he snatched the sword out of the man's hand and pulled it out of his body, leaving no injuries behind. Next thing Danny knew the sword was plunged into the solider's heart. Blood spurted from his mouth and in that moment Danny realized what he done. He killed the man.
A dark voice in the back of the boy's head insisted that it was for the best. This man was a murderer. He was going to kill a child without a second thought. He deserved to die. While the hero side of him screamed, saying he was supposed to save lives, not take them. The sides warred with each other until the girl brought him back with her voice.
"You saved me," She choked, as Danny watched her hand turn blue and clutch her wound. The energy began to heal the wound, "Thank you."
That was right... he saved her... saved her. He saved her by killing a bad man. He felt something in him... twist...
Once the wound was closed she stood up, with his assistance. "You a Shinobi? I don't recognize your Jutsus."
"I'm..." Danny took a moment to gather himself, "I'm with the Doctor."
She tensed, her eyes widening, "He's real? I mean he really here? God has come to save us?"
###
● Equus
Twilight smiled as little peach winged monkey grabbed at her hoof. Spike cooed and giggled, as he spoke. It wasn't quite words, more like he was projecting feeling and thoughts. He was happy she was playing with him.
The other babies could care less but this one... this one loved her after only a day.
"I think your my favorite," Twilight whispered... immediately Naruto started crying well Harry laughed at him.
Twilight groaned at what she caused
###
● Uzumaki Village.
Donna pooled into the dark matter in her body. It infected her since the day she meet the Doctor. With it she threw energy balls at murderers and held others in stasis fields.
She ran through the school, to find the children were being evacuated through secret tunnels.
"Donna Noble," a Woman gasped seeing her, "It's you, it's really you!"
Donna blinked, "You know me?"
The young woman smiled as the children cowered behind her, her fellow teachers just as scared.
"You're a servant of our god," the woman.
"Oi, I'm nobodies servant."Donna snapped, "And ignoring the fanatic Doctor Worship I need to get you lot out of here."
The woman insisted, "These tunnels,"
"They know about the tunnels!" Donna repeated what the Doctor told her, "There is an army of magic ninjas waiting at the exit!"
The teachers began to murmur at each other.
"I'm here to save you lot," Donna insisted.
The woman eyed, "Are you? Are you really? This is a fixed point, we all sense it. Are you really telling me the Doctor sent you out here to change it?"
Donna sighed, "He might have just wanted... wanted to save the children. The rest of you are on your own."
The woman smiled at that, "He always did have a soft spot for children." She turned to the teachers, "We need to give them time to escape." The teachers stiffened in fear at the implication of that, "It's what Lord Uzumaki wants. Be thankful he is getting the kids out." They gained a strange determination at that.
"KIDS!" She called through the crowd of dozens of children, maybe hundreds, "Follow the nice Celestial to the Doctor's TARDIS." She turned to Donna, "Mito."
Donna blinked, "You what?"
"My name, it's Mito. Tell the Doctor to look me up. I'll be seeing you." With that she turned. The teachers and staff followed after her, leaving Donna alone with the children.
"Let's go," Donna forced herself to say and the kids followed. None of them appeared older then 12.
She brought dozens of children to the TARDIS, Where Danny was waiting with dozens more. The kids were sitting around the TARDIS, all crying. He didn't seem to know what to do.
The teenagers were helping take care of the younger ones. A few of them were using Ninja magic to heal the injured.
Danny stood tall, looking over them. He seemed... different... he looked the same but he held himself differently.
Donna opened her mouth, but the TARDIS Doors opened again as the Doctor walked in. There were a few babies floating around him as he held out his Sonic screwdriver. He waved the wand like device about and the babies floated inside. Some of the teenagers gently took them out of the air and walked off with them.
"I thought you said your wand wasn't magic," Donna teased.
The Doctor gaped, "It's not! Alright so it can do magic but most of it involve using sonic vibrations to-"
"Magic," Donna grinned.
"Not Magic," the Doctor pouted, "Magic is for priest. I gave it up a long time ago." He insisted, "Nasty habit."
Danny spoke up, "How many people could you save with it?"
The Doctor frowned, "The end doesn't always justify the means. Magic often makes things worse then better."
Danny felt something twist in him again. Just a tiny pinch in his soul. Part of him agreed with the Doctor, while another denied it.
"Well kids" The Doctor smiled, looking at the Uzumaki children, "Let's find you a safe place to live."
"Doctor!" Donna hissed in the alien's ear, "Please tell me you don't intend to leave a herd of children out on their own!"
The Doctor blinked, "Well the older ones can look out-"
"No! Their coming with us. You wanted to take care of your orphans. Well I hate to break it to you." She motioned at the kids, all staring at them. "You can't think to abandon them now! You saved them, that makes them your responsibility! They need us! It's not like the TARDIS isn't big enough!"
The Doctor gulped, looking around. Their must be near a hundred kids. He sighed, "I really didn't think this through."
"Are you going to do the gene thingy," Danny asked.
The Doctor's eyes widened.
"Doctor..." Danny tried to explain. "I'm one of 2 beings like me in the universe... giving your kids their own proper species... it could be the best thing you could ever do for them. Plus these kids are your descendants as well. Why don't you want to keep them around for just as long as the other kids?"
The Doctor sighed, "Gene splicing them like that had been an accident."
"Like how I was an accident." Danny looked up at him. There was something in the boy's eyes. "I would give anything if their was more of me then just Vlad..." the boy trailed off.
The Doctor looked at all the children, scared and sad. He sighed.
The Doctor lead the children into a large white room, one the TARDIS just thought up for this purpose. Donna and Danny watched from a large window in the back of the room. The Doctor, still in the room with the children, used his Sonic screwdriver to activate the room.
Most of the younger kids started laughing as a bright light tickled them. They grew wings, in various colors, along with tails that matched their rose colored hair. Some of their hair colors changed to green, blue, or yellow and their tails matched that. Well they changed, so did the Doctor, though his hair remained brown.
The Doctor allowed himself to be changed. The Time Lords might exist in this universe but they were not his people, not anymore. They were at the birth of Rassillion's tyrannical rule. So he chose his own people. These people.
Once the light dissipated he heard a called from one of the older children, "God has blessed us!"
But that... that was why the Doctor hesitated to look after them. These children worshipped him. They viewed him as the god he tried so hard to deny
The Doctor sighed, misguided though they were. They were his people by the sheer act of saving them. They were his responsibility. They might view him as a God but that was not the role he would accept. He was no longer a Time Lord, truthfully he never was accepted by them for his human blood. Now he was an Uzumaki, Lord Uzumaki. Leader of the Uzumaki race.
Ch5: Daleks, No More
● Seriphia Galaxy
Alexandermacedon stood on the surface of Skaro, at the very beginning of it all... on the day the Daleks were made... and waited. He was told he needed to intrigue them in order to get them to come
There was a calm, slow, breeze. Then it quickened. Leaves began to swirl in the wind. Then there was a sound. The sound echoed from all around. A mechanical wheezing / groaning caming from all sides. Lights began to flash as blue boxes began to fade in and out around Alex and his own large, gray, Cylinder of a teleportation booth.
Alex smiled has the boxes became solid. On the top of the boxes was marked, "Police Call Box", a lantern on top of an almost temple like structure... mixed with phone booth. Each of these 12 boxes was a slightly different shade and structure.
After a moment, out stepped all of them, stepped out a different Doctor. The 12 original faces of the Doctor... all the ones that should have been.
The beings looked around at each other, then back to him.
"Welcome," Alex grinned, "I'm glad you were all able to answer my call. I need your help."
The men looked around at each other, again. They felt each other, as only a psychic could truly recognize a soul despite it's casing... but their was something... different the 10 Doctor realized. Something... almost... fragmented?...
Alex was the only one who felt truly whole.
"How is this possible?" The 10th Doctor asked, "All of us together should be creating some nasty distortions... but there's nothing. No reaction at all." The paradox should be creating a good bit of stain on this point in time. Usually the time streams would be all out of sync. That is why the earlier Doctors couldn't retain any information when they meet. Is why he didn't expect to remember this himself as their appeared to be a couple of Doctors he didn't recognize, likely future incarnations. One of them would know what is going on.
In fact, the 12th Doctor did, but he didn't know how to break it to the others as they seemed unaware... So be kept it to himself.
An older man, and ironically the youngest besides Alex himself, stepped towards said young man, "You asked for our help. I must ask a question in return. 'What, exactly, for'?" Asked his first regeneration... or what should have been.
Alex grinned, a playful grin, "We're going to stop the Time War."
###
● Equestria
With the Time Tots
"NARUTO IS TOUCHING ME!!!" Harry yelled as his fellow infant held his finger just inches away from his adoptive brother.
"No I'm not." The blonde bab smiled mischievously, wiggling his hovering finger less then an inch away.
Twilight sighed, "Please guys. Twily needs her study time."
Spike was sitting next to her, pretending to write an essay like he saw Twilight do so often. The little boy was currently in the form of a purple lizard with a crayon in hand, scribbling incoherently on a piece of parchment.
Twilight was rather used to the babies randomly changing forms at this point. It had been a few months with the Uzumaki creature dropping the babies off with her every day. Apparently that was what their breed of Time Pony was called "Uzumaki".
This understanding baby talk was coming in handy. The babies were telling her all kinds of interesting things about their colony. All the while Twilight was teaching them about the things she was studying. The little guys didn't really understand it, being babies, but teaching them after reading new material helped her memorize it herself.
"TWILY!!!" Harry screamed, "Make him stop!!!"
Twilight sighed before looking back at them. "Naruto," she said the name like a warning, "Unless you want to spend some time by yourself in the Naughty Pen of Doom," what the babies had come to call the time out pen, "You will stop annoying your brother."
Naruto immediately put his hand down.
"Good Colt." Twilight nodded.
Then Naruto suddenly started to cry. "I'm so BOOOOOOOORD!!!"
Spike began to wiggle, "Let's play School!!!"
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Naruto cried harder, "Not Schooooooool!"
Spike just pouted.
###
● Back at the Seriphia Galaxy
"How do you even know of the Time War?" The War Doctor regeneration stepped forward.
"THAT WOULD BE MY DO-ING?"
All the Doctors frozen as beside Alex, a shimmer of light peeled back to reveal... a Dalek.
It resemble a human-sized pepper shaker with a single mechanical eyestalk mounted on a rotating dome, a gun mount resembling an egg whisk, and a sink like plunger for an arm. As well as various fist sized balls attached to the base. Not exactly a very threatening design yet undoubtably the stuff of nightmares.
The Dalek spoke, in a loud mechanical voice that almost sounded like a more intimidating text to speak. "MY NAME IS OS-WIN OS-WALD."
The War Doctor glared, "You have a name, Dalek?"
The 11th Doctor spoke up, "She used to be human... the Daleks at their asylum did a full conversation of her."
"IS THAT SO? IN THIS RE-AL-IT-Y I WAS BORN DA-LEK. WE WITNESSED OUR PEO-PLE FLY A-CROSS THE STARS TO COM-MIT GEN-O-CIDE. WE DE-CLARED, 'NO MORE'."
"Regardless," the 11 insisted, "Her counterpart saved my life... I trust her."
The 12th Doctor studied the Dalek a moment. If this really Oswin... then what of the the other Clara echoes?
The 8th Doctor didn't miss a beat. Looking at the Daleks, he asked. "We?"
Four more Daleks shimmered into view. One announced, "I AM DA-LEK SEC." while the other declared, "I AM DA-LEK CAAN."
"I AM CALLED RUS-TY."
"I AM RUS-TY AS WELL." The last one informed.
All the Daleks that turned good in the other reality. Normally Daleks were irredeemable monsters. Evil manufactured as a living being and kept 'pure' by implants in their domed armor, designed to make them feel nothing but hate. These Daleks turned against those instincts inspite of such crafting.
"Doesn't that get confusing?" The 5th Doctor asked, referring to the 2 Rusty's. The young man absentmindedly fiddled a bit with the Celery he kept pinned to his coat.
"YES." All five Daleks answered.
Oswin explained, "WE WERE EX-PER-I-MENT-ED ON IN OR-DER TO TH-INK LIKE THE EN-E-ME. COM-BIN-ING HU-MAN-OID D-N-A... THE EX-PER-I-MENT WAS DEEMED A FAI-LURE, AND WE WERE CAST INTO SLA-VER-Y. A-LONG WITH HUN-DREDS OF O-THERS. TREA-TED NO BET-TER THEN THE MIND-LESS CORP-SES DALEK-S TURN INTO PUP-PETS. WE WISH SAN-CTU-ARY IN YOUR GAL-AX-Y AND YOUR HELP WITH TRAP-PING THE RE-MAIN-ING DA-LEKS IN THIS GAL-AX-Y."
The 4th Doctor spoke honestly, "I suppose we could always find some room on a deserted planet, but how do we know what you're telling us is the truth."
"YOU CAN SENSE IT." Insisted one of the Rusty's.
The Daleks pods began to open up... and the 10th Doctor gulped at what he saw. They were purple humanoids, with veiny bodies and an exposed brain. Their were short tentacles on the sides of their heads. They all only had one large, jetting out, eye and no nose... They weren't wearing any clothes.
Well the 10th Doctor recognized these creatures appearance. All of them noticed something else. Their psychic field reaching out and recognizing the creature's souls as... Time Lord.
Oswin continued, but it sounded as though she was out of breath while talking, "We can help you stop them. But we do not wish to be trapped with them."
The 10th Doctor dared to asked, "You said you were mixed with Humanoid, DNA?"
"Yes," the 1st Doctor spoke up once again, none of them wanting to believe what they were sensing, "What species, exactly?"
Alex spoke up, "That's not the right question. Not a 'what' so much as a 'who'. But if you want the what, that would be a combination of Earth style human... and Time Lord... specifically," Alex pointed to himself, "This Time Lord / Human Hybrid... when I first meet them, the Daleks stole some of my DNA... and later used it to grow a slave race. If you agree with nothing else then you must acknowledge we are responsible for these people."
The Doctors looked at each other, before asking as one, "What's the plan?"
"Simple," Alex clapped his hands together "We go back in time, to just after the big bang, and trap the whole of the Galaxy in a massive barrier to prevent anyone from leaving through even time travel. This way the Daleks don't ever learn there is a Galaxy beyond then."
The War Doctor glared, "What about the other lifeforms of the Galaxy?"
"Your TARDISes should be able to go through the barrier just fine, given their unique origins. You lot, and the other Doctors, will be able to continue to take care of them."
The 3rd Doctor pondered, "What do you mean by 'unique origins'?"
Alex stiffed. Then proved where they got their lying habit. By telling the Doctors themselves a half truth, "You're remembering things prior to this dimension is a result of you being echoes of that reality. You are not actually my future regenerations. Just fragments of a world that could have been. This is why I need your help, specifically. As your TARDISes will be able to set up the Barriers, then travel through them as a temporal anomaly."
###
As the Doctors got to work some hours later, the 12th decided to have words with the boy. Alex's TARDIS was different then the other Doctors. It was a large Cylinder, functioning perfectly well and ordinary. A completely separate TARDIS. The large white room was a mess, as most boy's rooms tend to be. Wires and tools were thrown about as he fiddled with them in preparation.
Alex might be a young man by human standards, but by Time Lord? The first face was always considered a child, no matter how old it got. The Doctor couldn't look at this inexperienced man and see anything more then a boy trying to understand his place in the universe.
"How long has it been since you left Earth?" The Doctor asked.
"Few weeks. Just enough time to met the Daleks. Then have a race of slaves made from my DNA beg me for help... that ever happen to you?"
"It did not."
The boy nodded... then things grew into an uncomfortable silence.
"Why didn't you tell them their true origins?"
Alex stiffened, "Why didn't you? You clearly know."
"Because if I told them they had ascended into godhood they very well might blow this entire planet up in a fit of rage. But you? You don't have such insight."
Alex sighed, "I'm still coming to terms with what I am and frankly that's not helping."
"You're the one who told us to leave our companions behind. Usually they are the ones to stop us doing things like that."
"I'll remember that for next time... Are you worth it?"
"Worth what?" The Doctor asked.
"... my death?"
"... no... I'm not." The Doctor spoke honestly.
Strangely, the boy smiled, as only a Doctor would, "Why did you leave Gallifrey? In the other Reality."
"As a boy I fell into the catacombs of Gallifrey. The Server told me a Hybrid of two great Warrior races would destroy the planet... I knew she meant me, so I ran. I tried to put myself as far away from Gallifrey as I could."
"Did you?"
"Well running... I met the Daleks and them merely knowing life existed outside their planet caused the Time War. The leaders of Gallifrey decided to let the universe burn in order to save themselves... so I killed all things Time Lord and Daleks. I brought the Time Lords back eventually though. Couldn't live with the guilt of murdering my whole race I suppose... even if they had fallen so far."
Alex looked at him. Then at the ground, "Oswin told me about the Time War... it's what she is trying to prevent. She has contacts that smuggled her and her people out of the old Time Lock," The 12th had a hunch what those contacts might be, but kept his suspicious to himself as the boy continued, "and now they are trying to prevent the Daleks from every leaving the Galaxy... normally the paradox would be too big to handle... but not for an Elder God." Looking back at the Doctor. "I fell in the Catacombs to... but what the server told me is I only had one life to live. That my death would fuel the birth of the gods themselves. That at the birth of the universe all my regeneration energy would be stolen and fragmented to give birth you the universe's white blood cells. She wasn't even vague about it, as you would expect an Oracle to be... she told me about all 42 of you."
"42?"
"... the others are fighting off the Daleks in the Time War, to keep them from stopping us from settling up this barrier... I... I am destined to die..."
"We are all destined to die. My lifespan might be longer now but when the universe dies I will go with her. Everything, and everyone, will die some day. What matters is we do something meaningful to ourselves in the time we have... and hope we are remembered in some way."
"That.. is exactly what I'm trying to do." Alex twisted some wires together.
The Doctor got up and started to leave, but the boy stopped him.
"Do you know?"
"Know what?"
"Why I ever return to Gallifrey? I know what they will do to me. After messing with the Timestream so much, and after this huge slap in the face to the laws of time we are about to do... they will try to force me to regenerate. They won't even release the War I'm about to prevent... they will condemn me for saving them without realizing it... what could possibly happen that could ever get me to go back there?"
The Doctor automatically responded, "Spoilers." And he turned to to leave... but turned back a moment later, "But if it is any consolation... it will be the happiest day of your life, and so so worth the sacrifice."
Alex scuffed, "You mean it creates you and the other Doctors."
"No, that is merely an unpleasant side effect." The Doctor assured, "You will gladly lay your life down for something far more important." Your child, went unsaid. The Doctor merely left.
###
When the 12th Doctor stepped out of the boy's TARDIS, he was immediately greeted by the 4th.
"We are all thinking up names for ourselves." The 4th grinned, "That way it doesn't get so confusing as just calling ourselves 'Doctor'. As apparently none of us are actually the Doctor, not if we are just Time Anomalies."
"We are all the Doctor," the 12th insisted, "That is more then a title or a single person. It is what we stand for."
The 4th smiled, "I image that's true, and most of us, and by that I mean all of course, seem to agree with you. Still, to prevent any confusion just call me Doctor Tom Baker. As we all wanted John Smith we declared that off limits for any of us."
The 12th thought about it a moment, "Doctor Peter Capaldi," he extended his hand and shook the 4th's. "It's a pleasure to see you from the outside, Tom."
"I hope to run into you again, Peter." Tom grinned, "You know I think I might actually be okay with this method of universe saving. A much better plan then simply wiping out the Daleks from existence. They will even have enough territory to expand their civilization without incident... provided our counterparts succeed in relocating those civilizations."
Peter blinked, "Pardon."
"Come now, Peter, I'm no fool. I'm well aware What we REALLY are. And the fact there are more of us. Ran into them a few times already. Although best let the others discover it on their own. Let them sort out for themselves what to do with this knowledge. It is quite soul shattering and best not to deal with while saving the universe ."
Peter nodded, looking over at the 10th. Honestly he was the one the 12th was most concerned about. Not even the War Doctor's reaction to the knowledge of what they really were, troubled him as much as what would happen when that man was told he was a god.
"Doctor David Tennant Uzumaki, troubling you?" Tom followed his eyes.
"Don't worry about it." Peter insisted. Hopefully 'Lord Uzumaki' wouldn't do anything too rash.
###
Sec worked on cannibalizing his Dalek battle armor in the center of the blue police boxes. Plugging the TARDISes into his, and the other, Dalek pods to get the various coordinates and calculations available to them. Time Lord and Dalek technology was incompatible so this took some Jerry rigging. Most of the Doctors, and Humanoid Daleks, were walking around between the TARDISes and the Armor. Doing their own works. The 10th Doctor was actually helping him direct, plugging things into the armor and talking it apart to get at other things. They worked silently... at first.
"You created the Human Daleks," asked David, as he was trying to think of himself, "Didn't you?"
Sec stiffened, then sighed, "Daleks were at a low point during the war. I believed we could improve on perfection to get us out of it. To create a bipedal Dalek. Something that would possess the human ability to survive... and the Time Lord ability to repair the body at death. We were supposed to be the evolution of the entire Dalek race... and while hundreds followed me... billions refused to change. They claimed Daleks were already prefer and we were inferior. They kept us around as a labor force and cannon fodder... I doomed my people to that... because I wanted to save them... as Time went on we released our 'inferior' bodies came with emotions Daleks lack.
"Sympathy, compassion... an excitement over all that was different and an eagerness to explore... we tried to hide it from the Daleks but their were so many of us. One of us was bound to slip... so we reached out to the Predator of the Daleks, in a hope for pity. He helped us steal 5 suits of Dalek Armor... and lead our camps to freedom one after the other... We saw for ourselves why the Daleks fear the Doctor, yet he gave us hope...
"Now, so close to our plans completion... What do we do after this?"
"You settle down somewhere." David imagined, "And build houses... and skateboard, and hotdogs, and calendars marked with birthdays and Christmas... you live, in all the glorious ways life is meant to... In the ways I couldn't help you before..."
Sec tweeked with a circuit board, "We didn't make it in your reality... did we?"
David didn't answer, "We need to connect the secondary circuit braker in case of power surge."
Sec nodded and connected the wires
After a few minutes of silence the Doctor insisted, "What happened in my reality doesn't have anything to do with this one. Well some things may be similar others are completely different. Your version existence happened at a completely different time and in very different ways then I'm familiar. So it does not matter what happened in my universe. This is my universe now, and I intend to do things right this time."
All the Daleks suits suddenly lit up and information streamed from the unites
"Right-O!" David grinned as he stood up, "Everyone know the plan?"
All the Doctors rolled their eyes. However Sec explained anyway.
"Travel to the various key points around what will become the Galaxy and setup a Time Lock." Sec repeated what they all knew. "That will contain the Time War to this specific area of Space and insure the Daleks can't interfere with the rest of the universe."
David grinned like a loon, "You heard him. Let's get to work Doctors!"
###
Alex watched as the Doctors left him behind, as they were always meant to do.
Sighing he still had to get the Humanoid Dalek to their new home. Sec walked past him, into the boy's own TARDIS, but handed something to Alex on his way in.
"What's this?" Alex blinked at the piece of paper, "Space Time Coordinates?"
"The 10th Doctor offered us sanctuary on his planet," Sec smiled, "Figured it be rude to not at least check out the property."
Alex looked at the coordinates, "...His planet?"
Ch6: Fragments 2
● Earth
With Original 24th Doctor Regeneration (Merlin)
The Doctor, know as Merlin, sighed. After the Daleks were confined to their Galaxy he still had to evacuate all the species from their planets... but they refused to leave. Of course they did, nothing was wrong at first. Then, when the Daleks discovered space travel and began attacking other planets... they wanted to stay... stay and fight for their homes.
So Merlin helped them. He managed to travel between the planets, fighting the Daleks with the other Doctor fragments. They lived for thousands of years because of this... but then the Daleks discovered Time Travel... and the Time War begun.
Being on a much smaller scale made it no less brutal for the lifeforms trapped in that Galaxy. Soon the other races invented time travel and waged war across time and space against the Daleks... inevitably... they lost. Then they finally accepted the Doctors' help at relocation.
Merlin brought many of the bipedal magical races to Earth, just after the ice age, as well as many of the creatures.
Starswirl insisted on taking the quadrupedal sentient races and smarter animals. He did have a soft spot for the ponies in particular just as Merlin cared for the Eternals (that would one day become Wizards).
Then M-aiq lead brought many more bipedal races to the planet of Nirn. As there were simply too many for Earth to support.
There were only a few thousand survivors of each race but they were able to make Earth their home. Wars came and went but Merlin tried to maintain the peace between them. It was hard, given that he wasn't always on the planet, but the other Doctors frequented Earth as well... it was where their human father was born after all. Earth always had a special place in their hearts... of course the reason Earth was involved in so much intergalactic drama was probably because the Doctors loved it so much. Aliens were attracted too it because the Doctor was attached to it. It was a vicious cycle.
Regardless of all that Merlin know had a job to do, to insure the future glory of the magical world.
"It's... it's bigger on the inside?" Salazar Slytherin gaped as he looked around. The 11 year old boy couldn't comprehend what he was seeing.
"The sheer level of magic required to maintain this." Rowena Ravenclaw, the small girl just as old, was just as awed.
Merlin smiled, "Actually, it requires very little. This isn't an extension charm. It's another dimension attached a specific point in our reality. The door is merely the gateway to the TARDIS.
Rowena gaped, "Interdimensional physics... this stuff was theoretical even by the Eternals standards!"
The move of all the lifeforms from their home planets had sent them all back to the stone age, but scholars still had Legends of their former glory. They merely developed into myths about once living amongst gods and devils in the heavens before being brought to Earth... by himself.
"You really are Merlin!" the eyes of Helga Hufflepuff looked up at him. The youngest by three months.
Godric Gryffindor, the oldest by 2 days before Salazar, "Why would a god gather 4 kids from across the country?"
Merlin frowned at the 'god' remark. "I intend to teach you all I know. So that you may teach others. Maybe then you will understand 'gods' aren't so far beyond your understanding. It's mortals that are the complex ones."
Stepping over to the console, Merlin smiled at the children that would grown into the Founders of Hogwarts. The Founders of the greatest wizarding school that would ever exist. He wanted to make sure they were worthy of that. "Time for your first lesson," he flipped a lever.
● Nirn
With Original 25th Regeneration, M-aiq The Liar (Khajiit)
M-aiq had traveled the world for thousands of years, searching so long he gave up hope of ever finding his lost friend.
Millenniums ago he woke up as a bipedal kitten, with a whole life in his head of adventures across space and time. He was the Doctor... and no one believed him. He told the neighbor kids of his adventures and developed a bit of reputation, M-aiq the Liar.
He regenerated into a baby thousands of years ago and lost his time machine. He had been sent to an orphanage and his TARDIS left behind. Soon there after he was adopted by a couple of cat people (well he supposed they were technology called "Khajiit" but he stuck to "Cat People" as it sounded less demeaning) on the planet Nirn.
He had a descent enough childhood despite not aging the same way as everyone else. He was always considered odd, and was an outcast as a result.
He had traveled the planet through it's history, helping the champions of each age. Shug Gasr, the Nerevarine, an Orc woman that saved the country of Morrowind from Dagoth Ur. Bastlim Elmgrass, the Champion of Cyrodiil, an unlikely hero in the form of a young Wood Elf boy who saved the world from the Oblivion crisis. Tee-Dum Vees'r, the Dovahkiin, an Argonian descended from dragons who saved the country of Skyrim from a dragon invasion. And each of their party members, the men and women who could become the leaders of each guild.
Still M-aiq did not find his TARDIS. Myths and Leagues developed around him. Governments fell and new ones rose to power. Eventually the Time of Blights re-emerged, and Darkspawn were born from the greed of mortals.
M-aiq helped fight against each blight, going so far as to create the first Grey Wardens himself, but eventually his champions fell and M-aiq was forced to find the survivors. He assisted the remaining 7 Grey Wardens across the country of Ferelden, gaining powerful allies along the way well raising an army. At last they defeated the Darkspawn.
M-aiq had been through so much... yet most of his life had been relatively boring. He never liked going the long way round for anything and he lived through every moment of it for the last few thousand years. Including all the Mondays. Rassillion, did he hate Mondays.
Now he finally stood on the bridge of his TARDIS. Alone, all his loved ones long died. Soon he would join them... in his own way. Who is to say that the next bloke would even miss them.
Suddenly the Sky burned gold. Was the planet regenerating with him? No that was stupid. The Doctor screamed as his own regeneration powers kicked in. But something didn't feel right. His old body was healing but not changing. Once it stopped he looked at himself in the mirror and saw the same old face of a silver and faded orange Khajiit.
He was probably the first of is counterparts to figure out what is going on.
He wasn't in the old universe anymore, it never even truly existed. His memories were echoes of a reality that should have been but the current one had just as much right to exist... if not more so.
He checked Nirn's history... and found the planet never existed. Then the Time War happened and he brought all the races together on a planet that would be Nirn. Once that happened history rest itself... without him. It was his friends destinies to save the planet so guess it made sense they would still do that without him. Still he checked in on them from time to time... occasionally helped them with a quest for nostalgia's sake... and eventually got pulled into their disaster through his own screwups.
He should have just left but he couldn't. He was traveling between each time zone fighting the biggest disasters the planet ever faced simultaneously between different groups... someone was bound to get hurt...
Gasr... died... and M-aiq couldn't accept it. He pulled into himself and used his godly magics to resurrect him... as a Celestial. It almost killed the Khajiit Doctor but he took it a step further. Granting the powers to each of his adventurer parties... and they used it to establish themselves as the protects of the planet Nirn.
He was on of the few Doctor's that didn't have any Celestials at the birth of the universe... as he had died alone. Now he had an army of the planets greatest champions. He was eager to show them the stars since they had finished covering the disasters... and they couldn't reasonably stay on the planet. They might accept mess up history as he had... still... he really was eager to show them the stars
● In Deep Space
• With Original 27th Doctor Regeneration, Namekian (Piccolo's race from Dragon Ball Z)
• Before the Time War
An older green gentleman, with bold / amphibian like skin and antenea, looked out his TARDIS doors. His scrawny body was dressed in a red velvet suit with a purple dress shirt covered in ruffles. Over all he looked very Christmassy despite it being the middle of June, at least in this timezone. He smiled as the empty void of space his TARDIS floated in burned in bright golden flames. "Guess I'll need to get used to how this place feels now," he spoke out loud as the fire died and space returned to normal.
"Doesn't anyone care how I feel!?"
The Doctor turned to see the most overdramatic creature in the cosmos, a 12 year old boy. The child had a snow white exoskeleton with a purple bump on each of his shoulders, chest, and bold head. Frieza somehow stormed out of the console well slouching.
The Doctor, as who else could this green man be, smiled at the display. The tween years were probably the most confusing time for any child. The clever ones were just starting to form their own opinions well being so ready to be seen as adults when they weren't even looked at as teenagers yet. Giving a content sigh, The Doctor closed the doors and followed after the boy.
"How is the training going?" The Doctor smiled at the child as he walked into the kitchen. The boy was already sitting at the table. Pouring himself a bowl of cereal.
"Annoying," Frieza grumbled. "This is a lot harder then I thought it be," He complained as he ate his own cereal. The Doctor could make him a lush breakfast of bacon and French toast but the boy preferred his Lucky Charms. The child shoved in a spoon full well asking. "Why can't I do anything fun in this form!?"
"It's been explained to you." The Doctor smiled. "And don't talk with your mouth full."
The boy quickly swallowed. "Sorry... but this training is so stupid. I'm tired all the time and I'm not even doing anything!" The boy suddenly wailed. "Can't you talk to dad?"
The Namekian Doctor laughed. "You think he'll listen to me? F.T. is near unmovable when it comes to your training."
"YEAH! But normally we do fun stuff! LIKE SPARRING AND PRACTICING KI BLASTS! Right now I'm just kinda walking around in my final form. Is really easy but I feel drained all the time so dad won't let me do any proper training! Is totally unfair!" The little boy wailed.
The Doctor opened his mouth to comment but a new man entered the kitchen.
The young man rested a hand on the boy's head, rubbing the exoskeleton as if it was hair in need of ruffling, "I know it's hard." The young man had a purple bowl cut of his own so there were worse things then being part of a race without hair Frieza supposed. "But the longer you hold onto your final form the easier it will be to use and the longer you can use it. You'll also have more control and be more aware of your strength."
Frieza just pouted. "I keep breaking things."
The Doctor shrugged. "Just gives me more things to fix. You know how much I love tinkering." He winked at the child, getting a grin.
"You're the one who said you wanted to be able to walk around in your ultimate form all the time," the young father reminded, "I know the training for it isn't exciting but this is how you do it. Though what is wrong with your base form I can't figure."
"WHAT KINDA SELF RESPECTING BOY WOULD WANT TO RUN AROUND ALL PINK ALL THE TIME!" The boy shrieked. His prepubescent voice hitting a pitch that hurt dogs' ears.
"Use your inside voice," The Doctor lightly scolded and Frieza immediately adjusted the volume. "Is this about those Klingon kids that were teasing you?"
Frieza shifted in his seat. "... no..." The boy sounded unconvincing.
"You are very handsome, no matter what form you're in," F.T. assured.
The boy just shrugged, looking all mopey.
"Tell you what." F.T. looked concerned. "We can spend some time training later today if you spend the next few hours appreciating your base form."
Frieza suddenly shifted back to his original form not a millisecond later. He now had cotton candy pink skin with occasional patches of white and purple exoskeleton. He even grew horns for his base form, on his much clunker head that looked like a naturally occurring helmet. "Thanks, dad." The boy bounced up from the table and ran off, nearly tripping on the legs of his pajamas.
Trunks blinked, before looking at the Doctor. "I think we've been had."
The Doctor smiled. "He does have a way of manipulating us doesn't he."
Trunks suddenly looked worried and the Doctor immediately responded by slapping him upside the head, "You seriously need to stop looking for 'evil' traits in the boy. All children are demons that try to manipulate their parents. He is a perfectly normal child but if you keep freaking out whenever he does something bad he will live down to your expectations. Just as any child would."
The young man sighed, "I know. Is just easier said then done."
"RELAX, F.T. we've done a good job with that boy."
"Please stop calling me that," asked F.T.
"Alright but it is a bit of a mouthful to call you ' Future Trunks' all the time."
"My name isn't Future."
"Bit inaccurate to but 'From an Alternate Reality that no longer exist, Trunks' is even worse to say in passing conversations."
"You could always just call me 'Trunks,' as that's my name."
"We have had this talk before." The Doctor smirked. "Technically this dimension already has a Trunks of it's own. You're a time abnormality that shouldn't exist but does, because of your amateur time travel exploits. Most embarrassing, that, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't mock you for your mistakes every other day."
"A better one." Future Trunks frowned with his mouth, yet his eyes smiled.
A few hours later, The Doctor was walking past the boy's room... and caught a strange sight.
The boy was standing in front of a long mirror, frowning and poking at his pink arm. He was standing in nothing but his Pokemon underpants with his shorts and tshirt on the bed.
The boy blushed purple as he looked over at the Doctor. The hesitantly looked back at the mirror. "Why do I have to be pink?" The boy frowned as he poked his skin again. "People keep mistaking me for a girl!"
"That shrill voice doesn't help." The Doctor smiled and came into the room, sitting on the bed so Frieza could see him in the mirror.
"GEEZ THANKS!" The boy rolled his eyes then looked back at himself, not at all happy with what he saw.
"There is nothing wrong with the way you look. Pink is a common skin color for your species."
"SO IS PURPLE!" Frieza sneered at the Doctor's reflection. "Why can't I be purple! Pink is just the WORST color!"
The Doctor shook his head. "You don't need to be so worried about being girly. That isn't even accurate. Boys and girls aren't really all that different for most species. Some are tough and sporty, where others are gentle and nerdy, and everything in between. Gender has really nothing to do with it. It is more cultural norms that cause the differences, and those are imposed purely by people thinking how people should be. You shouldn't be so concerned about what others demand of you. You are beautiful, don't be ashamed of it, own it. Be confident in yourself and most people will respect you for it."
Frieza sighed. "I get it."
"No you don't." The Doctor shook his head. "I have yet to meet a 12 year old that has the slightest bit of confidence in who they are. You're just beginning to figure that out. Your father wants you to be a great warrior and merciful king. I would like it if you lived the life of a scholar. It is entirely your decision who you will be, and you don't have to live up to either of our expectations. You could become a stay at home dad, a janitor, a dojo master... A man completely anonymous to history but still just as important as a king. Kings mean nothing without the little people they protect. All that matters, is in the end, that your happy. That you grow up into someone who is kind, and doesn't care they are pink. All you have to do is learn to be happy with yourself, and your father and I will be proud of whoever you growup into."
Frieza smiled. "You always give the cheesiest speeches." The boy shook his head.
"I'm an old man." The Doctor smiled. "It's my prerogative."
"Thanks, Grampa... but I still don't want to be pink." The boy's body began to shift, twisting into an assortment of different forms until turning back into his last. His snow white form with purple patches. Because of this 'Annoying' training it was much easier to ascend through his various transforms. He was a shapeshifter by nature, although he only had a few preordained transformations to his biology. "Once I get used to being in this form all the time I won't ever have to go back."
"Indeed." The Doctor nodded. "I probably understand better then others about what it is like to change your face. Although my weirdness seems limited compared to yours. This form is still you, but your base form is the face you were born with. It makes up the core of who you are. The stronger it gets, the stronger your ultimate form is. If you stay in this form all the time you won't advance nearly as quickly."
"Not everything is about power." Frieza shrugged.
"Good lad." The Doctor smiled. "I just wish such a mature sentiment wasn't forged through insecurity. Pink is cool. Don't let anyone tell you different."
"Purple is cooler," the boy snarked. Always wanting to get the last word in, so the Doctor let him.
###
"Frieza was never born!" Trunks screamed as he ran into the Doctor's study.
"Eh?" The Doctor looked up from his book.
"After you told me we were in a new dimension I decided to look up the history."
"I warned you about that." The Doctor lightly scolded.
"Frieza was never born in this reality! He is a time anomaly, like me! He... he can't help us remove King Cold from the throne. He has no claim to it! WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO!"
The Doctor would have to think about that.
Ch7: Finally Home
● Elemental Prime,
Or at least it's moon.
Sec... blinked... they were on a moon, orbiting a planet. It was a largely barren moon, but there was an atmosphere... with air... somehow. Humanoid children were running around everywhere, just playing as children do.
Sec could sense their Time Lord half but it didn't quite feel right. It was as if it was distorted... diluted? Much like the aura of his own species.
The Doctor stood beside him, largely ignoring the child as he looked up at the planet with a forlorn expression. The world was largely blue with green landmasses. Just two or three continents from this angle. As there could theoretically be a 3rd continent on the other side of the world.
The Doctor sighed, "I just finished bringing as many Refugees as I could from the Dalek Galaxy here, about twenty thousand years ago.... They interbreed with the native population so much they evolved into various subraces of one united species. It should be beautiful... if they weren't always trying to kill each other... they even call the various subraces 'clans' and acknowledge them as the same species... yet they are always fighting. If it wasn't for the fact I already did it from my perspective, I never would have brought the races here... bloody paradoxes ruining everything." He sighed again.
"Why not drop these children off with the rest of the Refugees."
"Simple, their world demands that their grandchildren survive into another war... like I said, bloody paradoxes. At least I can teach them to fight for the right side. There is enough wiggle room to insure they have a good life... that is actually why I need you."
Sec tore his eyes from the kids and the world and focused them purely on Lord Uzumaki.
The Doctor smiled, looking back at the humanoid Dalek, "I need your lot to help me with this lot. I'll still be around. Alex told me many of us Doctors helped build Refugee planets of their own and have sworn to look after them. Is only right I continue watching this world... I already intend to drop the kids off in Konoha, after a few decades, but until then they need a safe place they can grow up and have kids of their own. I was hoping your people would help with that. These are a lot more kids then one man can realistically handle. I don't even have a shoe for them to live in."
Sec titled his head, "Shoe?"
"An old nursery rhythm from my father's home planet.
"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do. She gave them some broth without any bread; And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.
"Basically I don't want to be the old woman who gets overwhelmed with raising a swarm of children." The Doctor explained.
Sec nodded, "I can understand that." Looking back at the children playing. Many of his own people had already taken to shepherding the Uzumaki. They weren't even told to, just felt a need to. So many orphans... it was inevitable they needed looking after. "I imagine they are all living in your TARDIS at the moment."
"Pretty much, but obviously that is unacceptable. They need a proper home. Was thinking about building that here, then moving them to Konoha. So that their descendants may face their destiny... might need help building the buildings though."
Sec smiled, "Our own colony... waiting to be settled... We would be glad to help."
###
● 73 Years Later.
"Hokage-Sama!!!" The boar nearly shrieked as he jumped through the window into the Hokage's office. ANBU were usually better at maintaining their composure then this.
The ANBU were some of the most Elite Shinobi in any village. Not quite the best but very high ranking. The village of Konoha used them as a military police force and, occasionally, handling the less savior jobs necessary for any village to survive in this world. The ANBU of Konoha dressed in dark robes and dark / gray top of the line Shinobi armor. Their identities were kept largely secret for the purpose of their own protection, and the protection of their families... if they had any but most were too dedicated to the job for such things. They were usually refered to by the animal-styled porcelain mask they wore, as each wore a different animal.
Whatever startled an ANBU to this point... must have been quite the sight to see.
"Report," Sarutobi acknowledged the man.
"Three... SHRINES, just appeared around your Tower! They just faded into existence from out of no where! The civilians haven't seem to notice them but most of the Shinobi have. It's... it's as if the Shrines don't WANT people to look at them so most ignore them without realizing they are there!!!"
The Hokage sighed, Lord Uzumaki never could do anything easy. Sarutobi took a moment to get his Crystal ball out of his desk, to first confirm his suspicions before giving any orders. It showed him everything within the boarders of his village. Not without limit of course. He still had to actively focus on who he wanted to spy on. The Ball couldn't alert him to threats he wasn't aware of. It just showed him places or people he wanted to see, within his boarders.
Looking into it, The Hokage saw three blue boxes, shaped like shrines and each with a lightbulb on their top point. Two of them had some kind of clan symbol on the door. One a purple octopus in a round seal, and the other... the round spiral of the Uzumaki clan. So it was the Refugees. Yet it had only been a few mminutes since the Doctor told him to expect them. The Hokage didn't even have time to tell the Council of his deal with Lord Uzumaki yet.
The Hokage sighed again and informed the ANBU to watch them but not take any aggressive actions. Stressing that these were just Refugees seeking shelter. Almost immediately after saying it the ANBU disappeared.
As if on cue, the Doctor stepped out of the third box while an older man, judging by his wrinkly skin, stepped out of the Octopus shrine. The old man must have a bloodline trait of some sort. Judging by his purple skin, single eye, exposed brain, and tentacles on the sides of his head. Such misshapen appearances could occur from bloodline traits.
To the Doctor's left, from the Uzumaki shrine, stepped out a young man in his early 20s. He had the classic red hair of an Uzumaki but... purple eyes. There was no white in those eyes. It was a pure light purple with circles within circles within circles... a ripple effect pattern... the Rinnegan... the eyes of a prophesized savior of the world... or it's destroyer. It was true. What the Doctor told him was true. Their world was about to fall victim to another disaster.
The young man lifted his head, and looked directly at Sarutobi. As if his eyes could see through the intangible force of the Crystal ball.
The young man smiled, and waved with a cheery, almost playful grin on his face. "Mind if we come up?"
The purple man and the Doctor looked around to see who the young man was talking to, but saw no one. That eased The Hokage a bit. So the Doctor wasn't all knowing.
Still, Sarutobi wanted to test just how much those eyes of the young man beside the Doctor could see. So he nodded his head... and the young man nodded back. Then he activated a Jutsu of somekind. Based on the hand seal it was a-
Suddenly there was a puff of smoke in the Hokage's office and the three men stood before him. The easy going prophet grinned eagerly as the Doctor and the bloodline user wobbled a bit.
The purple old man smacked the boy upside the head. "WARN US NEXT TIME YOUR GOING TO DO THAT!!!"
The young man just laughed out a "Sorry, sorry" before straightening himself up. He bowed to the Hokage, "Nagato, Figure Head of the Uzumaki Clan." Figure head? Who proudly announced themselves as a figure head? Wait a minute- Nagato? Why did that name sound so familiar? Sarutobi shook it off. He was sure it would come to him eventually. Instead the Hokage acknowledged, "Your a bit young to be a head of a clan."
The man child waved off, "Like I said, 'figure head'. The elders of my clan are very superstitious and the moment I was born with these eyes they put me in charge. The Doctor has been grooming me to be worthy of the position our clan forced on an infant. For now, the Doctor handles all the big decisions towards our clan, and the village elders handle the day to day dealings. I just sit on a throne and make encouraging speeches at ceremonies in between my studies." The boy grinned winningly, seeming to be completely content with his position.
Sarutobi nodded and looked at the purple squid man for his story.
"Sec, Head of the Sec Clan," he bowed respectfully. He carried himself with far more dignity then his counterpart. "The Doctor trusted us to look after his descendants after wave country attacked their village."
Nagato spoke up and revealed far more then he likely should have, "The Sec are aliens, technically descended from the Doctor as well. We've been migrating together for the past... 73 years? Yeah that sounds about right. Anyway, we are eager to join a proper village planet side." Nagato smiled, then got another whack from Sec. The man still very much treated the boy like a child and the young man appeared to do nothing to discourage the notion with his immature behavior.
"Planet Side?" Sarutobi looked at the Doctor, who seemed to have no intention of bowing. Of course, you could exactly blame him given his superior station... he honestly might have just forgotten the niceties.
The god casually shrugged, so no help there.
Sarutobi sighed, "How many of you are there?"
"468" Nagato shrugged, "Uzumaki anyway, just under a thousand Sec."
They were both the size of fully established clans. Sarutobi was expecting a few dozen refugees. Sighing the old Kage explained, "There is no way our village could support such numbers-"
"We can support ourselves," Nagato assured. "And the rest of your village if need be."
"How?" Sarutobi asked, while having a feeling it had something to do with the infinite worlds in their shrines.
"Why don't I show you?" Nagato grinned. He held up two fingers from one hand. The fingers were pressed toward in a simple seal. Not a moment later Hokage found himself standing in front of the shrines, without the other two men.
This boy... could do one handed seals. That was Jonin level training, at least. Not uncommon for a clan leader but definitely not usually found in one so young.
The boy snapped his fingers and the doors to the Uzumaki Shrine opened. "Shall we?" He gestured for the Hokage to follow him.
Sarutobi kept his awe to himself as he stepped inside the "TARDIS". There was a large room, as big as the council chambers, with some kind of advanced control panel in the Center, with a clear cylinder in the middle. There were various other control panels all over, with people seated in front of them, clearly working. They eyed the Hokage with nervous smiles. There was an upper floor with doors, and a glass floor... no, not glass, some kind of clear metal.
Sarutobi could see through it at the engine room under him. Yet it was far sleeker and more advanced then even the steam powered engines from the distant continent.
Nagato pointed at the Crystals in a cylinder, "Crystalized Chakra. We call it Lyrium but it also goes by Element Zero, Dilithium, Unobtanium, depends on the culture." Nagato waved off, "Point is, it's an energy source that allows for space travel and, in a pinch, time travel. Not that we can just pop anywhere he want. This isn't a real TARDIS. That technology is beyond us. We can only time travel to preset coordinates the Doctor already programmed, running concurrently with our Timeline no less. So we can't even jump to specific moments of the planets' history. If we leave here, our ship is programmed to return the following morning. Same with every other world we visit, no matter how long we spend away. We don't know how to travel further then that, as we can't program the controls.
"When I was a kid I punched in some random coordinates. You know, just to go somewhere fun-" his sentence broke with his own laugh, "We ended up inside a black whole and it took the Doctor a whole month to get us out. Oh boy, when he got his hands on me-" he laughed again, "I'm telling you, I couldn't sit for an additional month." He laughed hysterically before gaining control of himself.
"Anyway, my people try to spend a day on each world, in rotations... we are nomads, my dear Kage. We want a home. The only worlds we can even visit are other Refugee planets the Doctors created. Although we can appear anywhere we want on the planet.
"At first the Sec lived with our elders in the Doctor's TARDIS. Then we got our own ship once the Doctor believed they could be trusted to drive with training wheels. The Sec were with them for a probationary period but eventually got their own limited TARDIS. We are both descendants of the Doctor, so he tries not to show Favoritism between our civilizations.
"Still, many of the Sec still live with our clan. As our children occasionally married their children. We might not be compatible for reproduction, given Sec are a pod born species with no gender, but we do occasionally couple for emotional reasons." This boy... could really talk, it was slightly overwhelming. He was just flooring Sarutobi with information about their clans.
"Anyway our TARDIS is a more primitive version of Time Lord Technology. Before the ships were sentient or even grown. Though the Doctor did give us a nifty onboard computer to act as our nanny. But, again, replicating that technology is beyond us. We just don't understand enough of the science to build it, just operate the systems we are allowed to.
"Even then this ship is just your basic, bigger on the inside, time machine. Not even an infinite dimension, as that is beyond the Doctor himself, but a minor pocket dimension the Doctor constructed for us. A sphere with a diameter of 20 miles, 'cept that way," he pointed at the door they came through, "That is the door to your world. Don't think of this box as 'bigger on the inside'. Think of that door being a gateway to another dimension. This ship is merely the physical intersection between two dimensions. Like your sealing scrolls, only a few billion years more advanced. All these doors on the upper floor are turbolifts. Those are like elevators, only they go in all directions.
"There are 5 main floors beneath us. The first is the communal district (for schools, the council chambers, the court house, stuff like that). Next is the Social Deck (for the beach by a water park, night clubs, playgrounds, movie theaters, ect). The training grounds below that. Then there is the farm. The last the very bottom is the smallest... and where we keep the dungeon. Last the Dungeon.... only authorized personnel allowed through most of that but we do have a visitors area. Of course with our small numbers, we don't get too many serious crime.
"Being a tightknit clan most of our issues are minor, like the occasional fight or petty thieving. We handled that by both a physical and verbal lashing of sorts... rather embarrassing that. Truthfully we have never had a crime bad enough to need to use the dungeon.
"Regardless where we are now is... rather special," he gestured at a large double door directly across from them. He stepped over to it and pushed the doors open. Inside... was amazing.
There was an entire village behind those doors. Miles of houses and open plains under a bright dome miles high. The dome over the village was painted blue with glowing clouds MOVING across it. Painted clouds... that moved and glowed... Sarutobi almost mistook it for a real sky but there were clearly tiles.
"We're technically in the center of the housing district," Nagato smiled, "Most of the land outside the immediate area is open plains for building more houses... eventually, as you can see, we aren't bigger enough for that yet." He explained, "This place is designed for our clan to grow. Most of us live near the center to be close to the exit but a few of our more solitary clan members live further out."
"You mentioned farmlands?" Sarutobi asked, after regaining his composure.
Nagato grinned, closing the doors and leading Sarutobi to the turbo lift. The lift had 7 sections of buttons, with a hundred buttons each. All were cleared labeled by district.
"You'll get a kick out of this." He pushed a button on the farm level, marked "Deli"
The windows around the large Cylinder lift flashed by from various different directions but Sarutobi didn't feel anything. After a few seconds there was a ding sound and the doors opened.
They were now in the middle of an orchard. Trees everywhere... growing... meat.
Sarutobi walked over to the nearest tree and examined the meat regrowing on a branch... it was actually growing from the plant. A glob of 100% lean ground beef. Another row of trees was growing boneless pork chops.
"It's pure, authentic meat," Nagato grinned, "Grown like a fruit, yet real animal flesh without having to hurt any living creatures. You should see our candy bushes. Our muffin vines are better then anything a human could cook. We even have eggs grown like potatoes. We still have the boring stuff like apples and pears and bananas, all the fruits and vegetables. Even herbs and spices.
"Most interestingly, we have coconut like plants with a gallon of fresh cow milk. Whole, 2%, skin, even chocolate, banana milk, and strawberry. Even a coconut with a gallon of fruit punch inside. Then their is the soda coconuts, those are tasty. My favorite is the Code Red Mountain Dew. Also, I don't know why, considering we have apples, but we also have Coconuts with various kinds of juices. Orange piece, the various flavors of V8, grape, and of course apple. You can tell what Coconut holds what by their colors.
"All this food and drink are engineered to rippen overnight and stay fresh on the plants indefinitely. They don't start degrading until they are picked, and even then they can last in the frig for a month, outside it for a couple weeks. Bit hard to pick but not that big of a pain in the ass. We don't really have use for grocery stores, as a result, and everyone just comes down here and picks the food they want to cook for the next few weeks...
"How would you like a ship like this for every last one of your clans?"
The Hokage nearly jumped out of his skin at the thought. "The Doctor would never allow that."
"He's pretty easy to manipulate if you know how." He lead and whispered, "He melts at the sight of puppy dog eyes."
Sarutobi just stared, not sure if the boy was joking or not. "Why would you go against the Doctor's wishes?"
Nagato grinned, "Just a little business endeavor for my clan. I plan to give each clan, of every village, a pocket dimension. They won't be as advanced as this ship, as I said we can't exactly replicate it, but we do know enough about seals and interdimensional physics to create pocket dimensions of roughly 100 square meters for every square foot of space. If we build a decently large 2 story house, it would roughly fit this dimension in size and levels. More then enough space for a clan to grow.
"Obviously it won't have time travel capabilities, as that is beyond us, but-"
"Do not lie to me," The Hokage glared, "You are obviously hiding something. Why would you even propose this for our village and then insist on giving it to all other villages."
Nagato stared at the man a moment. Then sighed, "I suppose my eyes do give people cause to be suspicious of me... There is a good chance..." Nagato tried to form a non terrifying way to say this... he couldn't think of one, so he just blurted it out. It worked with removing bandaids, "Your world is ending. Forces are at play that will destroy this world, and so many others. I feel it. Something is coming. There will be an emergency fail safe in all the Pocket dimensions that will allow for mass evacuation of the planet, if necessary. Otherwise... if the champions fail... you will all die."
"What have you seen?" Sarutobi dared ask, getting the impression this man, to, was a seer.
"Not much, not even a name. I see an army spanning the Galaxy, killing all that refuse his rule. I can't even tell who 'he' is. He feels familiar, yet so different... and he will destroy everything...
"And these houses will help?" Sarutobi asked.
"They will increase your planetary defenses. At the very least, they will act as an emergency escape plan in case your planet falls. That way your species can survive, even if your world doesn't." Now he was sounding like the world saving prophet his eyes labeled him as.
"Very well, when can you do it."
"As soon as you talk to the your clans and prepare them. I can be ready the moment you are. Then it will only take a night of work."
###
● In The Doctor's TARDIS
"How did it go?" Donna asked, the moment the Doctor stepped back into the TARDIS.
"Don't know," The Doctor sighed, "Nagato kidnapped the Hokage soon after our meeting started. Sec and I spent the next few hours being interrogated by the ANBU."
"ANBU?" Donna titled her head.
"Basically the Shinobi's military police force." The Doctor dismissively explained, "All very quaint."
Donna sighed, "I know how much you love to be interacted, probably irritated these... ANBU, into an early retirement."
The Doctor smiled, "Only two. These guys can play mind games nearly as well as myself. One of them, a Ibiki Morino, invited me to his Poker game after everything was settled. Image me, playing Poker with a bunch of gents. Should be an interesting experience."
"What happened with the Hokage?" Donna got the Doctor back on track.
"Hm? Oh well, appears Nagato is offering to do a little construction work for them involving the Uzumaki's understanding of interdimensional physics. Trust me, I'm not happy about that either, but the little brat cheat!"
Donna shook her head, "He gave you puppy dog eyes, didn't he?"
"The little monster! You can tell he was raised by Dakeks!" The Doctor mock pouted.
Donna sighed, for what felt like the billionth time since meeting the Doctor. Seriously he was like a little kid.
"Besides, bringing two genetically modified races to this world was bound to case issues with their technological advancement. The planet already has color movies theaters without television and short band radios without cars. They even got, though they are rare and expensive, dialup computers. Dialup computers! On a planet that hasn't invented the Telephone. The technology is all kinds of wonky already just as a result of this being a Refugee planet... I'm sure it will be fine..." then he went off on her techno babble rants, where no kid could pronounce half the words.
"73 years..." Donna muttered what she had actually been wanting to talk about.
"Eh?" The Doctor hang his coat over a rail of the grungy Interior of his TARDIS. Lots of brown and gold and... smoke...
"It's been 73 years, Doctor." Donna repeated, "And the boys are barely 3 year olds and I haven't even started growing gray hairs!"
Huh oh, the Doctor had been fearing this day would come. Years, for any adult, travel by so quickly it can be hard to tell it flew by at all. In the TARDIS, time goes by even faster, going from one adventure too another. It can be hard to truly judge just how much time has passed inside the Time Machine.
Still the Doctor tried to lie his way out of this conversation, "We travel a lot and-"
"AND WE'VE BEEN GONE EVEN LONGER THEN THAT. Honestly, I looked at your Time chronicles thingie. It says we have been traveling in the TARDIS for 157 Earth years. Why is that thing even set to Earth years!!!"
Now it was the Doctor's turn to sigh, "Because the TARDIS needs to mind her own business." The Doctor muttered. Unfortunately, Donna heard him.
"WHAT!?!"
"She showed you something she thought you should know, in a way you would understand."
"Well she did a pretty piss poor job of it, because I'm lost!!!!" Donna threw her arms up in the air.
The Doctor just looked at her.
Donna groaned, rubbing her temple, "I should be long dead but I have barely aged at all. Please tell me you didn't do that gene thingie to me in my sleep."
The Doctor looked affronted, "I would never!!!"
"Then what the bloody hell is going on, Martian boy!" Donna glared.
The Doctor pressed, "For once Donna, I just want to enjoy something without questioning it."
"WHAT KINDA ANSWER IS THAT!?" Donna snapped, "If I'm not aging, don't you think we should find out why?
The Doctor looked at her a moment, "No... I doubt we will like the answer and I want to enjoy this for a little while longer."
"Oh God! It's the granddaughter fiasco all over again. Well you aren't going to ignore me for thousands years in the hope you don't have to deal with the problem! Now buzz me, Doctor!" She demanded.
"Where are the boys?"
"Danny is watching them, and don't think you can distract me from this. This will just take a few seconds. Buzz me!"
The Doctor sighed, taking out his Sonic screwdriver and pointing it at Donna. Activating it, there actually was a clear buzzing sound from the Techno magic wand. The Doctor then took his thumb off the button and held it to his ear. His eyes widening. He then buzzed himself... and completely started to freak out.
###
The Doctor had spent the past 7 hours running back and forth between sickbay and the Console room. It was too the point Donna got tired of trying to calm him down and left to fix the boy's dinner. Then put them to bed.
While she was gone, the Doctor discovered some good news... wait! It was bad news, that was the one... horrible news... the old saying was true, be careful what you wish for. He wanted to be the tenths Doctor forever... now he truly would be.
After hours of testing, he discovered he never had to worry about a new man replacing him again. He still had regeneration energy... in fact his enitire body was built of it... solid regeneration energy. Now organs, no DNA. He simply existed as a being of pure conciousness. Similar to the Q of the Trek Galaxy but much less power... but that lack of power was purely because of his age... he would grow into his power.
He got hurt because he thought he should... he turned into an Uzumaki because he wanted to... but truthfully he was just a swirling circulatory system of Regeneration energy in a solid shell. Even if the shell was destroyed he would still be alive... he was just an echo of Consciousness and, theoretically, could construct himself another "body"... the Doctor new he had run in with similar entities. There were, in fact, ways to kill them...
Answers to questions he had been scared to ask were now answered. And the answers were even worse then he imagined.
Why wasn't the TARDIS rejecting him? Or Donna for that matter? Or any of the other Doctors' companions? If they were time abnormalities, she should be screaming in pain at his mere existence yet somehow she was running better then ever.
It wasn't just Danny's piloting skills. It was as if the TARDIS had more control. She was taking him to both where he needed to be but also making sure the children were safe before going on adventures. Yes, they still occasionally missed a time zone or exact location but not nearly as often... and, if the Doctor was honest with himself, the few times they did miss something was because of his own poor piloting skills. The TARDIS did still bring them where he was needed, but only when he was ready to go there... it really did have much more control.
The TARDIS hummed at him. The Doctor sighed, "It's times like this I wish you could actually talk instead of just projecting animal-like psychic impressions." Shaking his head before leaving sickbay. The moment he reentered the console room he pet the control panel.
"Something bad is coming... isn't it, Sexy? Something truly horrible you tried to prevent. Somehow my kids are the key. That's the trouble with champions. Fate is always pulling pranks on them... please sexy... just wait until they are more grown up to handle what is coming... give me time to prepare them... can you do that for me old girl?"
There was another hum and the Doctor sighed with relief. "Thanks for understanding." He patted her controls.
How was he going to tell Donna? And what was he going to do about the others?
The Doctor couldn't resist looking into what became of his companions. Most of his various companions had apparently never meet him. They had lived perfectly ordinary lives without him... aside from all of them mysteriously wining the lottery. The Doctor smirked at that. It seemed his other counterparts were already aware of what happened.
Their other companions... specifically the ones who had been with him when each of his previous faces regenerated... they were never born. No recorded history anywhere... except with the Doctor. What happened to him, happened to them as well. They were written out of history and written back in as... something new, seemly popping out of the ether.
All the 10th Doctor's companions were still around as Boekind, meaning they must have been present when he regenerated in the history that never was. That was comforting... to an extent. He would need to track them down. The event that turned Captain Jack into an immortal never happened yet he still was, and so were all of them now.
Boekind. All his final companions were described as Boekind but they appeared to work differently from the the few in the Doctor's former universe. They were still a species of immortals, but much greater in number. They could even have children and grandchildren with that same immortality. They were a proper race and not just abnormalities in time.
They even had additional powers as well. History reported all of them aging at a snail's pass. There was even a video of an old Jack, wrinkled with age, bursting into yellow energy, then turning back into their prime like a Phoenix. There was also video of Sarah Jane Smith transforming into a humanoid Boekind with leathery wings, shining in a golden mist. Still it went further then even that. They were reported using Donna's biotics and more advanced ki techniques but also... powers over time. More limited powers, like freezing time and warping space in localized areas (a video of a bullet going back into a gun before the gun flew out of the shooter's hand). It was limited, not being able to effect more then one area at a time, but they could do it. The Doctors were reported doing these things as well, to a much greater degree....
The last companions of each Doctor had been turned into fixed points, immortals... Celestials, based on their powers... soliders of gods...
The Doctor really started panicking as he took a step back from the console.
A running theme was they Doctors were traveling with the companions who had been there when they... died.
All the adventures started just before they were supposed to regenerate, yet nothing before that was recorded in even the TARDIS history archives.
Looking back at the Console, he asked, "There is a reason I don't hurt you... why you are running better and why all my regenerations got splittered off from each other... how everything I remembered we did never happened except for my very first face... he road around in a different TARDIS back then. It's all focused on you... something... terrible must have happened... to you... Something that splinter you and your occupants apart... your the heart of this dimension. It's literal soul. The physical conciousness of the universe itself.
"You're not really a typical TARDIS anymore. It just what you are using to interact with me, all the mez... Each TARDIS holds a piece of you. The essence of the universe itself. They are your physical avatars. It's how you can be in so many places at once, with the other Doctors... you're the God of this world. The conciousness of the Time Vortex itself... At least for this reality..."
The TARDIS gave a sad hum of confirmation.
"That would make myself, and the other Doctors, your white blood cells. We keep you running. We look after the universe as we have always done... only it is more literal now... that is how I have renewable regeneration energy... why my regeneration works differently now... I... I really am a god of this dimension..." the Doctor almost begged her to deny it... but that isn't what here hum gave.
"I'm an elder god. As old as you, but you're young so I'm young, relatively so in comparison to universes. I'm not yet grown into my full potential... the 'lesser' gods, like the Q Continuum and such, are older and more powerful because they aren't so deeply connected to your being. They aged the long way around, where my body is more aware of how old the universe actually is. As a result I'm much weaker then them, to the point of near mortal limitations... I hope I stay this way for a while... but it's inevitable... I really am a god, thankfully a lower case 'g'...
"Still... the rules no longer apply to me. I make the rules... Time Lord Victorious... whoever did this to me... whatever monster shattered you and created our world. They best run. I'm still the Doctor. I'm a madman with a box. Helping where I can... stopping the monsters... that will never change... because... I'm the Doctor who still makes house calls... and now there is an army of me.
"Our most trusted Companions are our Celestials, holy warriors to inact our will. Oh Donna is NOT going to be happy about that... I suppose to there is an upside. As we are so deeply connected now as long as I'm alive she will be to... we can literal travel the universe forever... thank you old girl... for small mercies... my boys aren't though. Finding them was where my timeline began for this dimension. They weren't traveling with me before... they were another gift of this dimension and so not are part of my army of Celestials... I'll have to watch them die someday..."
###
● Earth,
Year 5 billion
Jack sighed as he watched the Earth burn. The sun began to expand and consumed the Earth with it. It was... a difficult sight to watch.
Jack was billions of years old, yet he looked just the same as he always did. Even dressed in the same World War 2 coat.
"Lord Boekind," A humanoid tree stepped beside him. For a moment all Jack could do was think about how beautiful she was. However the sight of the dying Earth prevented him from acting on it, out of respect.
"Forest of Jabe," Jack acknowledged but didn't look away from the burning planet.
"Where is your Entourage?" Asked the tree, "Do they not wish to see the Earth's final moments."
"They are just having trouble accepting it." Jack sighed, "We have been protecting this planet since the first fish stepped out of the water... it was hard enough to leave the first time when humanity evacuated the planet... to see the world itself actually die... it's more then some of them can handle."
The Sapient tree nodded, "I never knew what it was like to walk the Earth, but this is where my people evolved. Where so many species evolved. Most lifeforms can trace their lineage to a human that travelled this world. All because your people,"
"We never publicly revealed ourselves to the humans, not until the Solar Flare that forced us to evacuate their people. Although they always had rumors of us... and the Doctors. I'm a little shocked they aren't here... We were kinda hoping to see them again."
"The Doctors Guild," Jabe awed at the concept, "Every planet in the universe has a story about being found by one of the fragments. I admit, as a child... I dreamed about being chosen as on of his companions."
"That usually doesn't end well." Jack finally turned his eyes to her.
"But it be worth it." Jabe insisted, "Just to meet a Doctor would be well worth all the horrors."
"Oi! Not everywhere I go has horrors."
Jack froze, recognizing that voice.
He turned to spot the man from his dreams. The man from a reality that never was, "Nice wings." Jack smiled looking the wings up and down. The back was covered in blue scales while the under side was made up of short brown fur. The Doctor even had a monkey like tail with dragon like spines.
"OI! Eyes up here!" The Doctor mock scolded as he pulled the extra appendages back inside his body. Oddly not damaging his clothing.
"Have you come to watch the end of the world?" Jack smiled, as Jabe tried to form words looking at him.
"Actually..." the Doctor scratched the back of his head, "I have come for my companions. If you would like to come with me."
Jack smiled, then said something unexpected, "No."
The Doctor deflated.
"But I will tell you where we are supposed to meet." Jack informed.
The Doctor groaned, "Paradoxes, can never get away from Paradoxes."
"It's not just that." Jack looked back at the Earth, "Boekind are a proper race now. There are billions of us in our own private mega system... I can't leave them. But younger me... he is in desperate need of comfort."
The Doctor frowned, "What happened?"
"One moment I was saving the universe from a reality bomb... the next I was in an entirely different dimension where I was never born. My Torchwood team never met me and were living happy lives without my interference. Torchwood was never founded in the first place. I had memories of an entire life that never happened... you can imagine how I coped."
The Doctor groaned, "You always were a bit of a booze hound when depressed."
Jack chuckled, "The others are fairing no better then myself. Some tried to contact their former families only to be rejected as raving lunatics. I'll give you the coordinates to all of us, but Doctor... we can't give you what you need. They are like me now. We are immortals. We can't think like mortals... you need someone by your side that will guide you through the values of short lived species... or things will go very badly for all of us."
"I have my kids for that,"
"... Do you really?"
Ch8: Bloody Mist
● The TARDIS
Rose Tyler, a blonde girl who used to work at a shop... before the Doctor blew it up. She used to travel with the War Doctor, after the original Time War... there was actually another Rose Tyler, following the War Doctor still. They might have the same memories, but they were two separate people. Two fragments of the same soul, but two entirely different entities.
The Rose with the War Doctor was past version of her, back when saving the universe was still a game. She was dangerous, and frankly... stupid... but she got to travel with Doctor from the start... where as the older Rose was thrown out of the ether, lost and confused...
These past few hundred years, since she realized they were in a different dimension, Rose had been searching for her Doctor....then realized what happened to her happened to him as well. She had occasionally run into a few other Doctor fragments, like the War Doctor, and learned of their nature...along with gaining an understanding of her own...
Still, she searched. Trying to find her Doctor, but for some reason he was staying away from Earth...
Now here he was. Here she was, on an alien planet far from home... and she couldn't be happier.
Surrounding her where the Doctor's other companions. The ones that saved the multiverse from the Reality Bomb the Daleks constructed, a few universes away.
Donna Noble, the Doctor's... current companion, a rather feisty red head.
Wilfred Mott, an older... rather odd old man, and Donna's grandfather.
Martha Jones, a dark skinned women who saved the previous reality in a year that never was.
Jack Harkness, the orginal Boekind. An immortal even in the old universe. Rose had known him since their days with the War Doctor... and yes, there was another younger Jack with the War Doctor.
Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness' lover and part of a three man team that helped Jack Help the Doctor. The man was a bit serious for the Doctor's taste but Jack needed him. For that the Doctor was grateful he survived into this universe.
The other person on the 3 man team was Gwen Cooper. While Ianto was Jack's emotional support, Gwen was his conscience.
Sarah Jane Smith, an older woman and often called the Doctor's greatest companion on the blogs of him. She had once traveled with the 4th Doctor (so the old woman ha 20 something version of herself with the 4th), and then met the 10th again in numerous occasions.
Mickey Smith... Rose's... ex-boyfriend... Rose hadn't exactly treated him right after she started traveling the cosmos with the Doctor. She never officially broke it off but they drifted apart as she spent more and more time with the Doctor.
Then, finally, their was Jackie Tyler, Rose's mom. That woman kinda just fell into a position to save the world despite the Doctor trying to keep her out of it... he didn't particularly like her but there she was, at a battle for the fate of the multiverse, and she helped save it all.
The Doctor smiled warmly at all of them, even Jackie. "Good to have the gang back together. Now let's solve some mysteries,"
###
● Elemental Prime,
Konoha Council Chambers.
The Heads from every clan sat around the room, in a chamber almost like a small stadium. They met in this room daily, to discuss the operation of the village. As well as the affairs of other countries, which was todays topic. Currently, they listened to one of their Shinobi spies as she gave them her report.
It had been a relatively Quiet week, until now, with the Doctor allowing Nagato to attend these Council Meetings. Most involved talking budgets, along with what the Uzumaki and Sec could add to the village. Apparently, giving them their own pocket dimensions as large as a village was not enough... but that was neither here or there... they had bigger issues at the moment.
The village hidden in the mist, Kiri, had declared war against their own people. Konoha's spy network had gone into detail about their discoveries... and now the council was discussing what to do.
"Why should we do anything?" Dismissed Fugaku, Lord of the Uchiha Clan. "If we take any action it will lead to war between our nations, possibly another World War." Many so the clan leaders actually nodded and gave memoirs of agreement.
Nagato was offended by the very thought, "They are slaughtering children, and you wish to do nothing?"
Fugaku turned his eyes to the young man, "You have had that chair for all of a week, and you think you have earned the right to contradict me?"
Nagato shrugged while waving the man off in an almost childlike manner. Though his words didn't match his body language, "I am not one to suffer fools nor cowards. You appear to be both." That got the entire council in an uproar. The Uchiha were very well respected in this village, particularly Fugaku. Still once the Hokage calmed things down, Nagato decided to actually debate the matter and not throw petty insults around.
"Konoha," Nagato voiced, "Is known for it's mercy. Yet the other villages don't dare call it a weakness. Because they see you are willing to do whatever it takes for the good of the people. Should it matter what side of a boarder they're on?"
Sarutobi sighed, "While that is a noble sentiment. We most respect the decisions of other villages in the treatment of their own people. We wouldn't want them to come to OUR lands, imposing their will."
"Your own sentiment should have limitations." Nagato challenge, "In the face of evil, the most cruel of all are the good men who do nothing."
Sarutobi sighed, "The world is not so black and white, child."
###
After the meeting, Sec followed closely by his young apprentice as they left the group... former apprentice. "You are going to do something stupid." Sec read the boy's expression.
"Don't try to stop me." Nagato warned.
"The days of me even being able to stop you are long behind us, just remember, this will have far reaching consequences for your clan. You may very well lose the home your people have craved for so long."
"I won't involve them." Nagato assured. "I'm just a figure head after all. In this instance, I believe that might actually help them."
Sec sighed. "What do you plan to do with these people you save? If there even is a plan."
"I have a plan," The boy flashed his charming grin, "Wing it."
###
Sarutobi wanted to rage as he the ANBU gave him their report. The Uzumaki TARDIS... was gone. Nagato was seen entering the machine before it faded out of existence. His clan appeared to know nothing about it, and indeed it seemed the boy went straight to it.
It didn't take a genius to figure out the boy's intentions, and after speaking with Sec all suspicions were confirmed... Nagato had gone rogue and disobeyed the council's ruling to not interfere... there was only one possible response to such an action... Nagato was written into the Bingo book... it was the only way to prevent a war... hopefully the Doctor could be made to understand... why did he have to go on vacation NOW of all times! He probably could have reasoned with the boy, where Sec apparently failed.
Sarutobi sighed as he took a puff from his pipe... he was getting too old for this... For some years now, he felt like this. However, now his complaints Revolved around shepherding gods and their quasi-mortal children... yes... Sarutobi was far far too old to deal with this nonsense...
###
Danny watched as the ANBU walked around the village, on high alter... things were going down hill fast. He needed to get a hold of the Doctor. The Doctor wanted to spend a while catching up with his old friend... but this... Nagato had gotten himself in a lot of trouble. However bad it looked there wasn't a doubt in Danny's mind, the Doctor could fix this. The Doctor could save all those people, get Nagato off the most wanted list, and keep the peace between the countries.
Danny had seen the Doctor handle far greater odds then this... he could handle it with ease.
###
Kimimaro sat by his flower patch. The little boy was not much of a gardener. he really couldn't be given he was barely old enough for preschool. His clan didn't put much stock in learning anything outside killing. The other children thought him strange for his calm / gentle nature.
Yet even then they didn't think him weak. He was born with a rare power amongst their people...
Kimimaro was too young to understand things like "recessive genes" and his clan was too barbaric to even be aware of genetics, much less teach the concept to 3 year olds.
The Kaguya Clan was made up of Warriors, not Shinobi exactly, as they were too unskilled for that, but mighty brawlers all the same.
Sniffing his flower, the boy smiled sweetly. It was a pleasant smell. His nearly mother smiled sweetly at him, yet her grin retained savage nature.
Then... a horn echoed through their tribe. Kimimaro's mother instantly tensed. Without warning, she picked the boy up and started to run towards the town hall... but it was too late.
Shinobi from Kiri were already inside the tribe, slaughtering everyone. One such Shinobi jumped in front of Kimimaro and his mother, raising his blade.
Mother grabbed hold of the blade, not carrying in the slightest that it was cutting into her hand. He swang her leg and kicked the man's gut, forcing him to let go of the weapon.
However, that did no more them momentarily stun the Shinobi. Still holding the blade itself, mother used those valuable seconds... to slit the man's throat.
However, she did not notice in time more Shinobi appearing behind her. Just before these men could get their Kunin into her back, a burst of green fire hurled them away.
Mother looked over, to see a young man in his early 20s with red hair... and ripples in his purple eyes. He was covered in purple scales and red fur... with a Reptilian head... An Uzumaki... a true Uzumaki... from the old fables.
The creature moved so fast she only saw glimpses off him. Moments when he stopped moving, usually to kill a Shinobi, before zooming to the next. It only seemed to be attacking the Kirian invaders. If anything it was protecting the Kaguya Clan Members.
building up her courage. Mother called out, in the hope the creature could understand her, "Uzumaki!"
The creature stopped and looked at her. She almost lost her nerve at that. Then insisted, "We need to protect the tower!"
The Creature nodded and ran over to her. She gasped as it picked her up at fast speeds then she could see, then swished through the village... it took them all of a second to get to the tower.
The Uzumaki set her down surprisingly gently. Then opened the doors. Mother gave a quick look over her son to make sure he wasn't too startled... as the Uzumaki gulped at what he saw in the tower.
It made sense. This was the most fortified building in the small tribe of huts. The only building made out of stone... it made sense this is where they would keep their most precious treasure...
Children, of varying age, were crowded together. There were stairs leading up, and Archers firing out windows, but not proper floors.
"Can you get them out?" Mother asked.
The creature looked at here... then began to shrink. His scales and fur pulled back into his pours. Even his wings and tail were pulled back into his body... well his race reshaped. Now standing there was a 20 something year old boy... and mother sighed with relief.
"I can help you." The young man insisted.
"My clan would rather die then accept help from outsiders." Mother explained, "But even that has it's limits." She passed Kimimaro into the young man's arms. Cupping the man's face, she insisted, "Get the kids out of here. Avenge my people. That is the most we are willing to ask of you."
Nagato looked at the tiny toddler in his arms, then back at the children, "You don't have to die. I could crush this army by myself. You don't even have to fight."
She smiled at him, "If even half the Legends are true about your clan, I image that's true, That is not the way of old warriors. We won't run away from a fight, coware behind another as you fight our battle. Just get the children too safety, find them a good home outside this merciless country."
Nagato sighed, looking back at the children, then at her, "Very well."
###
● Kiri,
Village Hidden in the Mist
Yagura Karatachi, Mizukage of this great village, was enraged. The young man, still looking like a child due to his height, gritted his teeth.
He wanted to purge his land of the abomination that was bloodline traits. Those freakish powers that turned regular men into demons... he was the only "demon" allowed.
Yagura was host to the three tail, a true demon. A creature that's powers he could harness. Yet he rarely needed to. His natural power was great, but it was still Human.
"Konoha sends their apologizes?..." Yagura spoke calmly as he looked at the message, "You tell me YOUR village is responsible for the death of thousands of my Shinobi, but it's okay. Since your sorry."
"Not us." The messenger insisted, "A Missing Nin from the Uzumaki clan. He went against the Hokage's orders, left the village, in order to save the civilians you have chosen to murder." Not hiding his own disgust at this man.
The messenger looked to be about 40, with long white hair and wearing Shinobi mesh armor with red robes over it.
Yagura stared at this man. He knew who this messenger was. And could only imagine they sent him encase Kiri tried to "shoot the massager"... this man... could handle himself, even against a demon host as powerful as Yagura.
"So, Jiraiya, you were sent to insure me Konoha condemns this man's actions. Yet clearly disagree with how I choose to run this nation."
"I believe it is the lords that run this country. You just tend to overstep yourself and they are too spineless to say anything." Jiraiya waved off, "Regardless, Konoha has no business stepping into the affairs of other nations. No matter how barbaric they may be. No, We don't approve of you. However we don't intend to interfere with how you operate."
"Yet your men attack us?" Yagura growled, "You rally the freaks to stop us. I know of the growing army, preparing to strike at this village."
"It's hardly Konoha's fault if you brought a civil war onto yourselves. Besides, as I said, it is one man that rallies them, one man that destroys your armies with such ease. This man is an Uzumaki, but even by their standards he is powerful. I should know... I trained him."
Yagura stiffened.
"And I can assure you, even I wouldn't want to fight him. I've come to assure your village this man does not act on our orders, and we will not accept the people he has liberated into our boarders... just as he, himself, is no longer welcome. We are trying to dot the I's and cross the T's so after he kills you, your successor knows it wasn't our wish."
Yagura clenched his fist, "Get out."
Jiraiya smiled, and after a mocking bow, left.
###
Spike grinned as he helpfully helped Twilight unpack. Harry and Naruto were helping to. Though not as enthusiastically.
Spike bounced as he carried a box upstairs. His Uzumaki strength allowing the small boy to carry as much as a full grown Earth Pony. "Is this whole tower really YOURS!?!"
Twilight grinned, "Now that I've graduated from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, the Sun herself gave me this lab to do magically research for her. She's even given me a large grant to pay for my research, and a nice sized stipend to live off of! Not to mention, BOOKS!!! Looks at all these books!!!" Twilight squealed as she looked at all the shelves. "thousands and thousands of books!!! All for me!!! Celestia calls it 'research material' and technically it belongs to the lab, but I'm the only one working here so it's all for ME!.... but I'm going to need a team of assistants to help."
She looked at the reptilian monkeys, currently in their humanoid forms, "Would you boys like the job?"
Naruto blurted out, "How much does it pay?"
But before Twilight could answer Harry whacked the blonde upside the head, "It pays nothing. Twilight is just asking if we are willing to help while she foalsits us. That way we don't get in the way."
Spike raised his hand, and eagerly bounced, "I'll help!"
Naruto snorted, then muttered to himself, "Of course YOU'LL help."
"How about this?" Twilight smiled, "I'll pay you a strip of Lithium a week. If you can tell me how much that is worth."
Harry gaped in shock, well Naruto bounced, with his hand up in the air, "One Hundred bits!!!"
Twilight smiled and stroked the blonde's hair, "And you claim not to pay attention to my lectures."
Naruto blushed.
Twilight looked over at Harry, "It's only minimum wage but that is all I could get from Celestia for you guys."
Harry smiled, "So it be like a real job?"
"While your species might mature slower then ponies, your congestive skills develop much sooner. I'm sure you can handle a job as my research assistants. I already cleared it with your dad, and he said if you want the job, it's yours."
All three boys grinned.
###
Nagato blinked, "Attack Kiri?"
"We are ready my lord!" One of the older Kaguya children grinned eagerly.
"Good for you," Nagato waved off, "But I don't ever recall saying we were GOING to attack Kiri."
The preteen stiff, "But... you unlocked our bloodline!"
"That was just a bit of genetic engineering, making your recessive genes more dominant. If people are going to try to kill you for having a bloodline trait, you might as well actually have it." Nagato yawned.
"YOU GATHERED ALL THE CLANS TOGETHER!!!" The boy was getting angry now.
"I SAVED them from being massacred, doesn't mean I was trying to start a revolution. I'm bringing you to a new home, not helping you invade your enemies."
"That's not good enough!" The boy screamed, "The Kiri have been massacring villages for generations. They destroyed your own! Their very invitation ceremony to become a Shinobi involves slaughtering other fellow children!!! They are monsters! They need to be stopped... will you not stop them?"
Nagato looked at the child... and sighed, "Out of the mouth of babes... the Doctor would not be displeased. Saving you is one thing but to take out The Village Hidden in the mist? It effects the pool of destiny on too large a scale."
"Who cares about Destiny!?" The boy glared, "I could care less about prophecies or fate. We don't live in the future. We live here and now!"
###
Yagura expected an Army, expected to see forces of bloodline freaks rushing widely through his village... He didn't expect to see some kind of giant furry dragon with them.
It was as large as a Tailed Beast, and just as powerful. The very ground shook with it's every step. There was no other choice. Yagura unleashed his own beast...
###
Some days after the conflict, The Doctor walked through the ruins of Kiri. Civilians were crying on the street, at the lose destruction of their homes. Many of them weeped for greater reason as they had family and friends serving as the village's Shinobi... now... all gone. Every Shinobi and government official had been executed after the attack.
The Doctor supposed he should be grateful most of the civilians and no combatant clan members had survived.
"What have you done?" The Doctor looked around at the rubble that was the Mizukage Tower. Nothing left but a few bricks in a circle... and a throne... that Nagato was just staring at as he stood before it.
"I did what you taught me to." Nagato smiled, "I saved innocent people."
"YOU CONQUERED A CITY!!!" The Doctor roared.
Nagato rolled his eyes, "I irradiated a plague. The Shinobi of this village were just tools. It was the government that was really to blame. They forced the Shinobi Graduates to kill fight to the death before recieving their headbands. They killed children because of a fluke gene!" Nagato spun around to glare at the Doctor, "They were MONSTERS!!! All of them! And you taught me how to handle mon-" Nagato suddenly choked as the Doctor slapped him across the face.
"I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING!!!" The Doctor raged, "You want to know why I took such an interest in you above all other's of your clan? You think it's those weirdo eyes that drew me to you, like your superstitious elders!?... no... I looked into your future and I saw a REAL monster. I saw a creature that would burn this entire world too the ground... but I took pity on you. When I should have killed you in your crib, I helped raise you. Taught you the difference between right and wrong. I even gave you a Shinobi teacher, despite my better judgment to keep you a civilian. I did EVERYTHING I could think of to stop you from going down this path!... so tell me, Conqueror? How does your victory feel? Did slaughtering this entire village open your eyes? Are you now the monster I saw in that crib?"
Nagato looked down, "I just wanted to help these people... things spun out of control..."
The Doctor scuffed and turned his back, "As penance for your war crimes you will stay here and rebuild Kiri... as Mizukage."
Nagato looked up, eying the Doctor's back.
"Some part of me hopes you will take this massacre and learn from it... but if you don't... I won't give you a second chance."
Nagato slowly opened his mouth, at first too stunned to speak. Then he dared to ask, "Have I made you my enemy today?"
The Doctor didn't answer, merely began walking back towards his TARDIS.
"Father?..."
The Doctor paused, but only for a moment. Then he kept walking.
###
"The 3 tail is dead?" Sarutobi blinked as he listened to The Doctor's report.
"It should take it at least a hundred years before it can form again."
"And... Nagato?"
"You might want to take him off the Bingo book, unless you like the idea of listing the new Mizukage as one of Konoha's greatest fugitives."
Sarutobi sighed.
"His new village will need help rebuilding. I would suggest sending aid."
Sarutobi looked up from his desk. The Doctor looked as if he was boiling over with rage.
"I Image you wish me to send them the Uzumaki and Sec clans?" Sarutobi eyed, "Your people haven't lived here very long, perhaps they would prefer to be with Nagato, building their own village."
"Konoha is where Naruto is needed..."
"I wasn't planning on letting HIM go." Sarutobi spoke honestly, "It would complicate things if we handed over our Jinchuriki to a newly conquered village... plus I was looking forward to getting to know my honorary grandchild... but Doctor... maybe what the Uzumaki clan needs... isn't you..."
"There are certain individuals I brought back from Kiri... they will play a role in future events... I brought their friends and families with them. So it's not like Konoha is getting nothing out of this. I request asylum for them."
"Things didn't go well for me the last time you did that." The Hokage pointed out.
"I'll send the Uzumaki and the Sec back, though a handful will need to stay." The Doctor informed, "You're right... it's not me they need... I have been in their lives too long... they are becoming too much like me..."