03-29-09 : Nine and Jack Who: The Doctor (Nine) and Jack When: Sunday, March 29th, evening (the exact moment as Ten arrives) Where: The *other* side of Aternaville. What: Doctors, Doctors, everywhere.. and not a Dalek near. Rating: PG-13 Status: Complete
One moment, the Doctor had been struggling through the pains that came right before regeneration. One minute he'd been standing in the TARDIS with Rose not five feet from him, her beautiful eyes locked onto him, pleading silently (and verbally, come to think of it, as she couldn't seem to quiet herself even then.. ah, Rose Tyler) for him to explain what was going on. So he had. He'd explain cheating death, he'd explain that he wouldn't be the same.. and then? Rose was gone. Just like that. As if she'd never been there at all. The pain, too, had subsided, and the Doctor had been left standing with the large structure of the TARDIS with no one but himself for company.
It had been then that the ship had become temperamental, thrashing and writhing like a prize-winning bull on prom night. ..Or some other equally strange equation having to do with thrashing and writhing. Regardless, the Doctor was knocked to the floor with a particularly hard buck of the ship beneath him and he rolled along the grated ground beneath. "Aw! No, no, no!" His words were shouted at the machinery as both hands gripped and grabbed at anything to keep him from sliding around, and in a moment he was back on his feet and reaching for the controls, only to be tossed aside again like a child's ragdoll, his back connecting with a bar and throwing him right over the side, three feet to the floor below. Luckily, the ride wouldn't go on much longer.
Two minutes (and ten bruises) later, the TARDIS came to a halt.
Outside, the grass crunched beneath the blue box that materialized, the whirling noise certainly alerting anyone familiar with the sound to the location of the ship, and the presence of the Doctor within it. It was only once everything stopped moving that the Ninth Doctor was able to stand up and look himself over. All limbs, all fingers, all-- yes, all toes. He glanced up at the ceiling as he felt for.. ah. Yes. His ears were still there. Same teeth. Same chest. What had happened? This was the same body, the same clothes. But Rose was gone, and he'd been regenerating, he was sure of it. After a second of hesitation, both hands came up to rest over his pectorals. A few heartbeats later, he lowered them both. Two hearts. Everything was normal, so why...?
And where had Rose gone? He could remember everything, it was clear in his head. He couldn't have died, he'd only regenerated so what was going on? More importantly.. where had he landed? He turned to look at the door of the TARDIS and stared for a second before dismissing it. It didn't matter where he was.
"I just need to get back to London." To find Rose and to figure out what the heck was going on around here. But when he came to the console and he ran his fingers over the controls, he got no response. The TARDIS was alive, it was working, it was listening.. but it wasn't responding. "What the bloody.." But he didn't finish his sentence, he only turned and headed back to that door, pushing it open enough so that he could stick his head out and look around.
It looked normal enough. He brought one hand up to his mouth, sucked on the finger and stuck it into the air. The wind seemed normal, it was chilly but not overly so. There was oxygen (that was always a plus). And with all of these factors in mind, the Doctor stepped out of his ship and onto the grass just beyond the thresh hold. It looked like he was in some sort of park.. Slowly, the door was closed behind and he tucked the keys back into his pocket.
"Where am I?" The question was asked to no one in particular.. mostly because he hadn't seen anyone around. But perhaps, if he'd taken a second look, he would have.