DW/Chibianthro crossover tiem!

The others filed out from the TARDIS, and looked around hesistantly, "Are we really back?", Tenyou asked.

Rezo nodded, "Come on, as if I can't recognize my own village!"

The Doctor smiled, "Good! That means we're back in where we started, safe and sound. You guys can go first, I've got some following-up to do."

Saitama frowned, "Following up?"

"Nothing much, actually. I just have to see where the vortex dropped the Angels off, in case it's inhabitated and the Angels are posing a threat over the original population."

Ryougen nodded, "Alright then. Once you're done, meet us in Rezo's house."

The Time Lord waved, and dissappeared back into the TARDIS. The doors slammed close, then the spaceship slowly faded away.

*VWORP VWORP VWORP*

The TARDIS reappeared in space, orbitting the planet the chibianthros call home. The Doctor took a seat, typing on one of the many keyboards on the control panel. He opened up a map on one of the screens, and set the spaceship to locate the group of Angels. 

At first the screen showed nothing but stars and galaxies, but after a couple of minutes of tweaking, it showed a signal in a distant part of the universe. When he tried to set the TARDIS to travel there, the spaceship didn't react. It was as if some invisible wall was blocking her from travelling there. By then, he realized that the area was inaccessable.

Once the Doctor saw the results, he broke into a smile and gave the TARDIS an effectionate pat, "Brilliant work, old girl! I knew I can always put my trust on you!" throughout more than 9 centuries of travelling, the Time Lord had met and left plenty of companions. Of course he missed every one of them and would do anything to keep them around, but he always ended up travelling alone with only the TARDIS to accompy him. He had more than his share of piloting mishaps and the TARDIS often flat out refuses to listen to him, but she had never let him down when he needed her the most.

He chuckled, then set off to return to Shimizu village.

In the village��

Most of the group had gathered in Rezo's house, and were lounging out while waiting for the Time Lord to return. KiSai has ran off to buy some more sake, and his brother was nowhere to be seen. Senpuu was on the sofa reading a book borrowed from the TARDIS' library, while Tenyou and Saitama were busy taking care of the cats. Ryougen and Rezo were by the door, looking for the Doctor.

*VWORP VWORP VWORP*

With a flash, the TARDIS materialized in front of the house. The Doctor stepped out, "It's alright, those Angels won't be bothering anyone anymore��at least not for another million years or so."

The others blinked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

The Time Lord explained, leaning against the TARDIS' door, "Well, when I located the position of the Angels, it turns out that the rift transported them into a pocket dimension isolated from the rest of the multiverse. It can be detected, but unless there's a wormhole or rift leading to there, it is impossible or at least fiendishly difficult to travel in or out from it. It's a bit like a large hollow sphere made of really tough glass. You know it exists, you can see into it, but you can't get in or out of it. Good thing my TARDIS could teleport away from the rift just in time, or else we'll be stuck in that dimension together with the Angels, with no means of escaping."

Senpuu smiled, "That's good to hear! But are you very sure they won't come here anymore?"

"Pretty sure. Even though such dimensional rifts are far from uncommon in the multiverse, the chances of one leading right into that plane is actually pretty low, much less one that leads to your universe on the other end."

Ryougen asked, "Then what about you? Are you going to stay here?"

Suddenly the time traveller looked a whole lot more sheepish and awkward. He rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously, "Uhhhhh��actually��nooooo��no no no no no I'm not. I'd better get going soon, there's just soooo many things I have to do, being the Doctor is busy work and all that��"

"So you're going? Just like that?! Is there really a need to be in such a hurry?!"

"I'm afraid so. Sure I'm only away from my own universe for a day or so, but there is a chance that some of my enemies like the Daleks or the Cybermen would seize the opportunity to invade Earth. That's why I have to get back as soon as I can, just in case anything bad happened while I'm not around." 

He sighed. Being inside a universe so vastly different from the one he was from, the adventurous part of him longed to rush off and have some good old exploring. Yet there was still this lingering thought in the back of his mind, one that made his spine chill. His universe might be at risk at this moment, and he wasn't there to defend it. Sure he had left Earth to visit other planets countless of times before, but he was still in his own universe, able to respond quickly whenever an alien invasion is taking place. Yet now he's in a different universe altogether. He could find the Angels because the pocket dimension was still within the boundaries of this universe. But anything beyond that? No signal, nothing.

Ryougen shrugged, "Oh well, I guess there's no stopping you then. Goodbye, Doctor." The group shook the Doctor's hand, and the time traveller stepped back into the TARDIS.

He retrieved the Sonic Screwdriver from the control panel, and took out Shimedore's gem from his coat. He figured that he could try making yet another rift, or at least reopen the one he came here from. After entering some new commands for the TARDIS, he brought the gem in contact with the Screwdriver, and waited.

Nothing happened.

The Screwdriver was dead silent, not even a slight hum could be heard. Meanwhile, the Time Lord couldn't detect any changes in the gem's surrounding space-time. Everything felt perfectly normal, which was clearly not what he had expected.
 
"What?!" The Doctor quickly examined the gem again. The gem was no longer in the same vivid shade of blood red as before, but rather in a dark, very cloudy maroon. "Turns out I'll be stuck in here anyways��"he rolled his eyes, and went back outside.

----------------
At first the group was expecting the TARDIS to phase out and never return, so they were pretty startled to see the Doctor reappearing. Tenyou looked annoyed, "All right, just a while ago you said you're leaving, and now you're back here. What gives?"

The Doctor held out the gem and motioned the rest to take a closer look, "This is the reason. See anything different?"

"It certainly looked a lot darker and cloudier than before��maybe it ran out of energy?"

"Exactly," the Time Lord pocketed the gem again, "When I made that dimensional rift to get rid of the Angels, the energy required was so large that it depleted most of the power within the gem. It didn't take all of the power away, but what's left was certainly not enough to bring me back to my own universe. Now all I could do is to wait it out until the gem regains energy from whatever source it uses."

Senpuu asked, "So you are staying here?"

The Doctor nodded, "Well yes. Might as well do some adventuring at the meantime! One of the best things about being a Time Lord, so many places and timelines to explore in! Want to come along?"

Rezo gulped, "As much as I wanted to say yes, but I don't think I have enough time to do so. I've got this village to tend to, after all��" Mataima simply said, "And I've got to look after my extended family," which was enough to make everybody except for the Doctor shudder. God knows what would happen if the Niisens were left to do as they please.

"Right, and you consider -that- to be a problem," the Doctor's voice dropped to a deadpan, "Hellooooooo, this blue box here is called Time And Relative Dimension In Space for a reason! It's a time machine, which means I can take all of you to travel through time and space for as long as you like, then return here at this exact moment of time! There you go, problem solved."

KiSai frowned, "Still not very convincing, Doc. That old box sure can teleport us here and there, but through time?! Last time I checked, only XDee can pull that off, and she's a effing mystic!"

"Maybe I should give a little demonstration. Into the TARDIS, everyone!" The Doctor was already back into the machine, and was now tending to the controls giddily. The rest looked at each other, shrugged, and followed in.

The Doctor typed in a bunch of commands, while his eyes darted left and right as they scanned the strings of Gallifreyan text across the screens, "Alright, now let's see here��If I remember correctly, somebody mentioned the 573rd world earlier, right?"

Senpuu replied, "I did say that, but I thought we don't have any means to reach other worlds?"

"Well not anymore, my TARDIS will see to -that-," The Doctor patted the control panel, grinning, "Thing is, I've found this alternate world located very close to the one we are currently in. It's naturally completly separated from this world, but it's possible to travel there using the TARDIS. Now gut feeling tells me that this is the 573rd world."

"Wait did you just say we can travel to the 573rd world?!" Rezo asked, thrilled at the thought. Ever since he accidentally ended up in the 765th world and became the leader of Shimizu village, Rezo had never set foot back into the world where he was born and raised. Life in the 765th world was just as vibrant as that in the 573rd world, but Rezo had longed to go back, even just once, to meet his old family and friends once more. Still, his more sensible side kept his excitement in check, "But we'll need proof that it IS said world first. Do we get a live feed? Pictures? Anything?"

The Time Lord turned a few dials, then studied a small map on one of the screens, "No pictures or videos I'm afraid, but I do get a map complete with the names of different areas. Does the name RED city ring a bell?"

The goggle-wearing cat gasped, there's no way he can't recognize the name of his home city! "Of course it does, I used to live there! We're going there, I need to catch up with my old friends!"

"Very well then! Onwards and upwards!" The Time Lord pulled a lever, and the TARDIS phased out, setting off for the place of Rezo's old memories.

*VWORP VWORP VWORP*

---------
And that's about it.Typed all that out beforehand so I can dump it all at once lol

MOARRRRRRR
Involves drunk Doctor because drunk Ten is best Ten (not really)

"This��this is one huge hotel��" the group could only gawk as they followed Shakunetsu around the resort's lobby.

Like the rest of the resort, the lobby had a hawaiian theme, with walls decked with vibrant paintings of palm trees and beaches. There was a giant fountain in the middle, spraying its surrounding area with fine droplets of water. There were of course plenty of tourists-some stayed near the reception area, busy sorting out the card-keys among themselves, others lounged out either on the soft couches near the restaurant, or outside, under large umbrellas overseeing the beach. Bellboys scurried around, pushing carts full of suitcases, bags and other kinds of luggage.

Even the Doctor was impressed, taking all of this in with a wide, excited grin, "Now THIS is what I call a top-class resort! I've seen a lot of resorts in my lifetime, and this one is certainly on par or even better than them!"

Shakunetsu laughed, "Why of course, Resort Anthem IS one of, if not the best, Resorts this world has to offer! World-class cuisine, beaches, spas, bars��we've got everything! With a price, of course��"

Rezo shrugged, "Figures, it's obvious that staying here is going to cost a fortune. But do you think we can, say, have a drink here even though we're not staying?"

"I think so, since other hotels let non-stayers use their services so long as they pay for it. Of course, stayers get to use them for free, it's part of the cost," Shakunetsu replied.

Saitama looked around, "Speaking of drinking��where did KiSai go?" indeed, while the group was busy talking, the bandanna-wearing cat has slipped away while nobody else was looking. He was nowhere to be seen, to the dismay of the rest.

"He's gone again?! Ugh, every time he knows that a place has somewhere resembling a bar, he wanders off to find it without telling anyone! Every single time!" Mataima facepalmed while grumbling about his younger brother.

The Doctor offered, "I'll go find him. Don't worry, I'll be back here as soon as I can," he ran off, only stopping briefly to ask a random passerby where the bar is.


��


Twenty minutes later, both KiSai and the Doctor still haven't appeared. Senpuu and Tenyou has fallen asleep on the couches, while the others continued to wait over sandwiches and smoothies Shakunetsu bought from the restaurant.

Ryougen complained between bites on her BLT sandwich, "What took him so long? The bar isn't THAT hard to find is it?"

"Well, this is a rather large resort��but no, it's not too far away from the lobby," Shakunetsu answered, sipping on hos smoothie.

"In that case how come they're not back yet?"

Saitama tapped awake Senpuu and Tenyou, then suggested, "You know, instead of just staying here, why don't we go find them ourselves?"

"Sure why not, I'll take you all there."

Shakunetsu was right, the bar was only a few minutes of walking away from the lobby. Inside the bar was one large circular bar table, with barkeepers expertly mixing cocktails for thirsty drinkers. Aside from that, there were other rectangular tables scattered around the area, each surrounded by plush wine-red chairs and couches. A DJ manned the set of turntables on the stage, playing a collection of electronic music. Shakunetsu waved a greeting at him, but he only nodded in reply as he was busy focusing on his work.

"Now where were they��" Mataima scanned the area, looking for the tell-tale white bandanna of his brother. This part of the bar was full of tourists drinking merrily away, but he couldn't find KiSai or the Doctor within them.

As the group made their way towards the back of the bar, they began to hear two sets of voices trading insults loudly with each other. They were heavily slurred and were punctuated with hics and gulps of alcohol, but it was obvious who those voices belonged to.

Sitting in front of another bar table near the back were the Doctor and KiSai, completly drunk and locked in the middle of a drinking contest. The Time Lord had his necktie tied around one ear, and was wearing sunglasses for no apparent reason. KiSai was��well, just being himself. He was drinking directly from a rather large bottle of sake, while the Doctor downed glass after glass of a cocktail smelling vaguely of bananas. Empty glasses and bottles lay strewn messily around the table. The other drinkers had gathered around the table to watch the spectacle unfold, egging them on and giving them suggestions for new verbal jabs.

"Is��is that h-how��*hic*��a T-Time Lord drinks? *hic* LAAAAAME! I can t-totally out-drink the eff outta y-you!"

"Oh yeah?! *hic* W-well��by the time you��*hic*��have d-drunk your first gulp, I would h-have went back in time, in��invent the b-banana daiquri, come back h��*hic* here and order that!"

"W-what's a banana d��dai��whatever the eff you call it? Either way I bet *hic* it's weaker than *hic* water!"

"It's what I'm d-drinking right now! *hic* And you don't *hic* d-diss the banana daiquiri! It tastes good, unlike your r-rubbish sake!"

"BULLSHIT! SAKE A-AIN'T RUBBISH! *hic*"

Shakunetsu watched the two with a bewildered expression, "Are��are they always like that?"

Both Ryougen and Mataima sighed, the latter trying to hide his embarassment under the peak of his cap, "Yes, yes they are."

OK seriously WTF did I just writefag orzzzz
I think I got carried away while writan this so it's a bit long derp
Now somebody stop me before I get way too bored and make anymore crazy crossovers all over the place,please pretty please?

I'm not sure if my take on those two guys sounds OK though��(characterization-wise)

------------------

While the others were busy settling down in their suites (note:Rezo had discovered that he still had plenty of money left in his old bank account, so he decided to treat the group to stay for the night), the Doctor took the chance to slip away for a while. He crept off towards the beach, where he left the TARDIS hidden among the palm trees.

He settled down on the smooth sand beside the spaceship, and stared off towards the horizon. The sun appeared to be setting, already half-sunk into the surface of the ocean. The ocean itself was a vibrant blue, with shimmering specks of light gathering where sunlight reflected off the waters. Rich hues of red, orange and golden yellow washed over and blended with each other in the sky, resembling watercolours on a canvas.

The Time Lord leaned against the TARDIS and enjoyed the view. Throughout his lifetime, he was almost constantly hopping from place to place, timeline to timeline in order to resolve problems and avert disasters. Rarely did the Universe, or perhaps the Doctor himself, allow him a chance to just lean back and enjoy a moment without worrying about getting into danger. This, he figured, was one of those moments.

He stifled a yawn. Thanks to his new cat-form, the warm evening air had made him feel very drowsy. He was about to take a quick nap when somebody suddenly spoke, startling him, "Lovely sunset, isn't it?"

The Doctor looked up. There was another cat sitting on the roof of the TARDIS, with his legs dangling over the roof's slanted edge. He was wearing a silvery blue trenchcoat, and a long cape coloured with shades of orange and red echoing the sky. A beret rested on his head, with the same colours as the cape. The cat continued, "It's interesting, even though this place is pretty much stuck in eternal sunset, this view still never ceases to amaze."

He then slid off his perch. When the Doctor rushed forward to catch him, the cat revealed that he could float in air, slowly lowering himself until he was hovering a few inches above the ground. The Time Lord was surprised, "How did you end up on top of my TARDIS? Not many could see through her perception filter!"

The cat blinked with genuine innocence, "What perception filter? I didn't notice anything like that," this threw the Doctor into deeper confusion. Whoever this cat was, he was able to see through the filter so easily, he wasn't even aware of its existance in the first place. He asked warily, "Who��who are you?"

"Oh wow, now this is different! Usually it's others asking you that with such a tone, not the other way round!" the cat chuckled, "Anyways, I'm Perditus Paradisus, Perditus for short. You're the Doctor, I presume?"

"Wait, how did you know my name? We haven't even met before! Or maybe a future version of me did, timey-wimey stuff and all that. For now, I'm pretty sure this is my first time seeing you. Well, at least the first for -this- me."

Perditus shrugged, averting his eyes for a few seconds,  "Let's just say that news travels fast in this world."

"So again, why are you sitting on my TARDIS all of a sudden? I didn't notice you until you started to talk."

"Why, watching the sunset just like you! And your TARDIS's roof is surprisingly comfy, perhaps you should try sitting there one day."

The Doctor shot an unamused glare at Perditus, and the latter shifted around nervously, "Uh, yeah sorry. Just kidding," he touched ground and took a seat beside the time-traveller, "Since we're both sitting here with nothing better to do, maybe we can have a chat? Travellers to travellers?"

"You're also a traveller like me? No wait that sounds silly, this is a resort for -tourists- and you don't look like you're part of the staff! Of course you're a traveller, why else would you be here!"

"No I don't mean the 'tourist' kind of traveller, I mean those who walk the earth, with no ties, no connections, only the next destination to look forward to. That kind of traveller."

"Well that certainly describes me, although I still have those��UNIT or Torchwood people to call on if I wanted to, even though I'd rather not do that. Never too fond of their lot following me and getting themselves in a lot of messy stuff. But other than that��yeah, I'm the eternal wanderer indeed��"

"Same here buddy. In fact, I might have been wandering for a much longer time than you do."

The Doctor stared at Perditus as if he had just grown a second head. The Doctor himself was well over 900 years old (he forgot his exact age though), and not many could surpass the age of a Time Lord, "Really? I've been travelling for more than 9 centuries, and you're telling me that you've been around for even longer?"

Pertidus nodded, "I've lost tract on exactly how long have I been travelling, but yeah even longer than you. I bet you've figured out that I'm not normal already because I can levitate, right?"

"Right. And?"

"Well, that's not the only thing abnormal about me. I'm immortal."

"What?! Are you kidding?!" the Doctor was familiar with dealing with immortals, thanks to a certain Captain Jack Harkness. However, Captain Jack always made him feel uneasy, not because of his��openness towards others, but because his immortality was just plain -wrong-, to the point that simply seeing him would cause sirens to blare out in the Time Lord's head. Yet Perditus didn't give him such a feeling.

"I'm not kidding. I'm a deity, come on!" to the Doctor, this somehow caused everything to make more sense. Jack's immortality felt wrong because it was due to Jack's resurrection via the Time Vortex, an event that caused him to become a temporal abnormality, a living fixed point in time which wasn't supposed to exist in his universe. Here, if Perditus was indeed a deity as he claimed to be, then immortality was something to be expected from him. Time in this universe has adjusted itself to accomodate him, hence he seemed normal.

The Time Lord nodded, "Alright, so you're a deity. In that case shouldn't you be staying in whatever place you lot stay in? Why would you decide to come here, in the mortal world?"

"Probably the same reason why you left Gallifrey all those years ago, basically I got bored. The spiritual world's far too peaceful for me, hardly anything worthwhile happens there! Therefore I popped off and went to the mortal realm," Perditus propped up his knees, burying his feet deeper into the sand, "I used to have a goal actually, to find, well, paradise. Later on I found that it's a paradise lost, so now I'm just ambling around for fun."

"You're doing that only for fun, huh. Me? Trouble just follows me wherever and whenever I go��Nine had it right, while I do love adventures, sometimes I wish that the universe could leave me alone once in a while."

"Maybe you can view this from another angle? The universe keeps bothering you because it has its trust on you. You're the Doctor, you fix problems and you do it brilliantly. The universe knows that, so it deems you as the go-to guy when anything goes wrong."

"Yeah yeah, I'm brilliant. I know that. It's just��I keep putting those around me in dangerous situations, and they have time over time risked their lives for me. Well��at least I get to regenerate, but they're only human beings. I can keep going, they can't," the Doctor gave a long sigh, suddenly wearing an old, worn expression despite his young-looking appearance, "You know, whenever I'm alone inside the TARDIS, I start looking back, and I start questioning myself. Over all those years, have I done the right thing? Made the right decisions? Living for far too long also means remembering far too much, and I'm sure you understand that as clearly as I do."

"I do understand that of course, although my experiences definitely pales in comparision to yours," Perditus lightly patted the Time Lord on the shoulders, "Either way, don't be so hard on yourself. In the end, all you did was for the benefit of the multiverse, for all of time and space. Others used to call you the Oncoming Storm or the Destroyer of Worlds, but do you remember your other titles? Earth's Guardian. Time's Champion. You did the right thing, I assure you."

The Doctor gave a sad smile, "Yes, I did the right thing. But at what cost? At least Martha decided to leave on her own terms, before she gets into more trouble simply by sticking around with me. But Rose��she��I-I hope she's fine��"

"She's fine. I've seen her."

"Really?! You've been to that universe?! It took the power of a whole star for me to simply talk to her for a few minutes!"

"Oh yes, dimension-hopped there, it's some kind of god-power I've got. Only observed though, didn't talk to her or anything. All I can tell you is that she's alright, everything else��spoilers, I'm afraid."

"Good to know, at least��" the Doctor looked relieved, "Because if not, I won't be able to forgive myself for that." Meanwhile, his mind started raising even more questions, how come the word 'spoilers' seems so familiar��? "By the way, since you've been to where Rose is��what about the rest of my universe? While I'm having a great time here, I'm itching to go back, back to where I actually belong."

The deity pondered, "I did drop by for a few times I think, but travelling that far really tires me out. You've got your TARDIS, yet I have to rely on my own stamina here. That's also why I can't, say, bring you along with me and travel there. Well, maybe I can give you a few tips on getting there via your TARDIS later on?"

"Sure," the Doctor stood up, brushing off the sand covering his coat, "But I have to go now, if I keep sitting here any longer the others might get worried. Funny about that, it's almost always me worrying about my companions wandering off, now it's the other way round!"

"It's alright, I don't mind. Can't keep them waiting eh? You can always call me afterwards."

"��Wait a minute, are you telling me that you know how to pilot the TARDIS?! And how come you know so much about me?" the Time Lord finally asked the question nagging in his mind.

"Ah, let's say whenever you think that you're alone, you're not. In fact, you never were. There's always someone watching over you, like how he watches his bretheren, you just don't know it."

"And that someone would be��you?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Nobody knows. Bye for now, got things to do somewhere else!" before the Doctor could respond, Perditus had teleported off in a swirl of orange mist. The time-traveller figured that he's not going to get a definite answer from Perditus any moment, so he set off for the resort, quietly humming an upbeat tune along the way. Like what the deity had just said, he can't keep them waiting.

Just a short-ish whitefaggotry about the Ruins of Greed, where Mamonis can be found in. Figured I'll try something a bit more��creepy. Just for the hell of it. It's far from the real creepyshit DW can offer, but yeahhhhh I'm not very good in writing creepyshit in the first place.
--------------

Once the group stepped out from the undergrowth, they found themselves in a clearing carved out from deep within the mist-covered forest. In the clearing was the crumbling remains of an ancient city. Moss and grass grew in large patches over the now-broken pavements, and a network of vines and ivy snaked up the stone walls of the buildings (or at least what was left of them) as well as around the toppled marble pillars lining the area.

Everyone was puzzled. This place was located so deep in the forest it would be very unlikely that the kidnappers would know about this place, much less choose to hide their victims here. Why would the Sonic Screwdriver's signal bring them here?

The Doctor nevertheless did a search, going over the area carefully with the Screwdriver. The device's buzzing traced a path towards the largest building of the area, along which the Doctor followed. The Time Lord nodded towards the building, "We're in the right place, they took the boy in there."

Ryougen stared, "In a bunch of ruins deep within the forest? I doubt the kidnappers would want to go through so much hassle getting to and from here multiple times."

The Doctor shrugged, "Hey, that's what the Sonic Screwdriver told me! At least what the DNA trail did. Scan the DNA sample, scan everywhere then BAM! We get a trail! It rarely ever fails me, only for maaaybe a couple of times ever since I started using this function of the screwdriver. Like that one time when I'm supposed to find this rather pesky minuscule alien on Earth and got myself searching for it a few��well, countries away from where it really is, but that only happens once in a blue moon I assure you! This time I'm sure it's functioning properly! Now let's see��" he picked up a bit of moss from the ground and licked it, then paused to ponder the taste, "Ah yes, they took him inside the building. Come along everyone, allons-y!"

The Time Lord quietly crept into the building and the rest followed suit, all trying their best to avoid being noticed by the lesser demons patrolling the building's interior. Every now and then, the Doctor would scan the ground, following an invisible pathway created by the boy's DNA trail.

The pathway brought the group to a closed and locked stone door. Once quick buzz from the Screwdriver took care of the lock, and the door opened to reveal a huge room filled to the brim with riches fit for a king. Goblets, diadems, bracelets, thrones and other priceless artifacts, all made of solid gold, lay half-buried within mounds and mounds of coins and/or precious gems. Gold and gemstones were not the only riches present in the room, there were also stacks of banknotes piled up in one of the far corners of the room, right beside the mountain of sparkling diamonds.

Saitama, Tenyou and Rezo all gawked at the treasure hoard, now completly speechless. KiSai tried to cart off a pile of gold coins for himself, and had to be dragged away by the necktie by a long-suffering Mataima. Meanwhile, the Doctor's attention was directed towards an oddly-shaped object sticking out from the mound of coins, from which he carefully dug the object out.

Said object happened to be a statue of a chibianthro, a dog to be exact, seemingly made of solid gold. This may sound normal since the room had a wide variety of gold objects, but it was the expression that makes it so out of place. The Doctor had expected golden statues to show a trumphiant or confident expression, but this one had the dog's face frozen and twisted in horror. The Time Lord frowned, "This doesn't look right, we'd better get more of those statues out and take a closer look."

Eventually, the others managed to unearth more of those statues. These statues showed chibianthros of different shapes and sizes, all in a state of horror or agony. Suspecting that there were more than meets the eye with the statues, the Doctor grabbed one of them and scanned it with the Screwdriver.

While a large portion of the statue was made of the purest gold, deep inside the metal was something the Time Lord had not expected to find.

Bones. Muscles. Organs.

"What?!" spluttering a bit, he took out a stethoscope and checked the statue's chest. And there was a heartbeat. It was  ever so faint, so faint that it could easily be ignored, but it was definitely there, beating away beneath the cold metal.

The Doctor gulped, then scanned the statue's head. Even though the figure wasn't connected to any wires, he could detect tiny electric signals firing away within the head. They were brain signals, which means that whoever is inside the statue was alive. And very, very concious.

The Time Lord placed both hands over the temples of the statue and pressed his forehead against that of it, hoping that he could try to make a connection with what was left of the trapped chibianthro's conciousness. He closed his eyes and listened to the trapped mind.

And then he heard it scream.

[ Last edited by crystalsuicune at 2012-5-24 21:26 ]

Decided to continue from what I left off last time,cus SHIT I'M BORED. Anyways, the next part. The Doctor's monologue against Mamonis was written by Squeakanon, BTW (don't worry, I didn't really reveal much. Just the basic context is enough)
Thanks Squeak! So here we go!
---------------------
The Doctor slowly backed away, his expression a mixture of shock and puzzlement, "You've got to be kidding me."

The others gathered around the Time Lord, and Tenyou poked at one of the statues, "What are these things anyways, are they the Weeping Angels again? I thought they were still trapped in that isolated plane by now."

"No, not the Weeping Angels, far from that��" the Doctor replied while studying the statues again, "Now if I'm correct, and I usually am for this sort of thing, these statues are victims of the Maseomorphic Resonance."

"Maseo-what now?"

"Maseomorphic Resonance. You see this statue? On the outside they look like they're made of nothing but gold," here the Doctor tapped the surface of a statue with the Screwdriver, "But beneath the top layer of metal? They're��chibianthros, that's what you lot call yourselves?�� all alive, just like you and me. Victims of the Maseomorphic Resonance are slowly converted, from outside to inside, into inorganic material, which is gold in this case. In the process, they are kept alive and concious, but they are no longer able to move, to talk, or to use any of their five senses. In short, they're trapped in their own bodies, forced to endure the long transformation into something lifeless alone while losing all contact with the outside world."

He started to pace around the room, rambling to himself in the meantime, "Now the question is this. The knowledge of performing such a thing has been lost to my universe oh so many years ago, even what little I do know about this process was picked up back in the Gallifreyan archives before I started travelling��There's no way anyone would have known how to perform this, let alone in this universe��"

Ryougen crossed her arms, "Doctor?"

The Time Lord stopped in his tracks, "Yes?"

"Instead of pondering away inside this room, should we focus on finding who's behind this and put a stop on him?"

"Oh, right. Better get going," he resumed scanning for the DNA trail, which led the group to one of the corners of the room. The corner was surprisingly devoid of any gold or treasure, only showing the rough stone consisting the room's floor. A symbol was etched on the stone, a circle with an elabourate, symmetrical shape within it. Rezo crouched to examine the symbol, "I think I've seen this before��Remember the library in SIRIUS? I remember seeing this in one of those books on ancient lore there. It's the symbol of��what was his name again? Ah yes, Mamonis. I think that's him, said to be the embodiment of greed."

When Rezo mentioned the name Mamonis, the symbol lit up and the ground rumbled beneath everyone's feet. Cracks branched out from the symbol, causing the floor to break up before anyone could jump out of the way. The group fell through the hole, plunging into the darkness.

--------------

After the long plunge, the group landed on top of a pile of coins in the basement of the building. Like the room they arrived from, the basement was also chock-full of all sorts of treasures and many more of those half-converted gold statues.

On top of the largest mound of goods was a large golden throne, on which sat a chibianthro busy leafing through the stacks of banknotes he held in his hands. He looked quite old, with the fur of his dog-like ears matted and frayed, and he had a black eyepatch over his left eye. He wore a gold-coloured suit with a white dress shirt underneath. Through the ruffles of his sleeves poked out a pair of claws seemingly made of shadows.

The figure looked up, and broke into a grin dripping with malice, "Oooh what do we have here, more to add to my growing collection! Perfect, what I have here is still not enough after all!" then his grin briefly transformed into a sneer, "And don't you dare steal even one single coin from me, or I'll make your ends even more painful��"

Saitama growled, "What about those people you've kidnapped?What have you done to them!"

The demon looked bemused, "Oh, before you came in here, did you notice those golden statues? That's what I did to them. Took a while for me to perfect the method and to stop them from screaming, but now I get to have the most unique collection ever!" he laced his claws together, "My best achievement so far, I could say!"

"You took their lives, just to form a collection?!"

The demon leaned back, showing no sign of guilt or remorse at all, "So what if I ruined their lives? I want something, I got it. That's the only important thing to me you know."

Rezo summoned his hammer, ready to knock some sense into the demon, but the Doctor pushed it down and shook his head, "No, don't attack him yet. I'm going to talk to him."

"Talk to him?! Are you crazy, we've seen what he can do to us if we don't take him down now!"

"I know that, but still, I'm not one to jump into violence that easily. It's better to bring him back to his senses and let him repent for what he did. If possible, I always give my enemies a chance first. Now allow me."

The Time Lord stepped forward, with his hands shoved into both pockets of his coat, "So, you're greed aren't you? Well now, that's interesting. I've never run into a sin before! This is rather interesting, I didn't think a mental construct of a concept could take on any sort of personification at all, let alone one so horribly grotesque. Tell me, how are you doing that? Some kind of Maseomorphic Resonance?" he gestured at one of the statues.

Mamonis was about to answer, but the Doctor held up a hand to silence him, "I'm going to stop you right there. You see, I've met something similar to you, oh so many times. You see," from here he began to pace around, keeping the same relaxed gait he normally used, "I've seen sins, and I've commited a few myself. I'm not an innocent man you see, actually I'm far from it. I'm a brilliant man, true, a daft man, a mad man...a coward, but I am certainly not an innocent man. I've seen oh so many sins, and while stepping into the occasional grey area, I've stopped even more."

He swerved around to face Mamonis, "So you see the problem is this. You are currently standing in my way. I don't like it when people stand in my way, it's generally very rude, and besides that somewhat dangerous."

He stepped forward, "Especially for you. Mamonis. Or rather, Greed. Because I've seen you oh so many times. Sitting on the faces of worlds scorched an barren, carried in the winds of a world choked in smog."

Another step, "I've seen you, and you're oh so prevalent. But If I've seen you, that means you've seen me too."

Yet another step forward, "Take a moment. Take a moment to think, properly think, about what you're about to do. Not how you usually do, not about what you can gain from me, or how you can prosper, but what you can leave with."

"It's as simple as this. If you value your life, I will let you leave with it. Now go," he took another step, arriving a few inches in front of Mamonis, "Before I get greedy."

The demon stayed motionless for a few seconds, then threw his head back and laughed. A long, harsh laugh mixed with pure sadistic glee and��a tinge of fear? He glared at the Doctor with his good eye, "Nice little speech you got there mister, too bad I hate people who talk back to me, and there's only so much patience I can spare for you before I let you all join this little collection of mine. Oh yes you've seen me, I'm everywhere, from throughout the whole world to deep inside every single being's heart. That's what us sins are, aren't they? Part of everyone's instincts, even with those who call themselves pure."

"You see all those dreams?" he waved a clawed hand around, "Things that motivate people to persue their goals? They're all me. People work oh so hard because they have the hunger, the greed, to obtain more. I lead some people to their ends, but I also power others to keep going. I always exist in everyone, which is why no matter what, nobody can truly get rid of me. So go ahead and stop me, I'd like to see you try. Many others have tried stopping me, avoiding me, removing me from their lives. The result? They all failed, and I'm still going strong. I don't care much about my current life, since in the end I will always survive. And I will always get what I want. Not just those money or treasures you see in my lair, but absolutely everything."

The Doctor now no longer kept the warmth in his expression, what was left was a cold fury. The fury of a Time Lord, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but I'm going to stop you. I give you one more chance, one more chance to redeem yourself. If this was indeed the doings of the Maseomorphic Resonance, then you should have the ability to undo it. That's what I'm going to ask you to do. Fix everything. Gather all of the people you've converted, and give them back the life they deserve. If you don't bother to even try that," he returned the glare, and his voice dropped menancingly, "Don't blame me if I decide not to show any mercy."

"Me? Undoing what I've done?" the demon laughed again, "Stop wasting your words on me, mister. These statues are my masterpieces, and I'm going to keep them for an eternity. Speaking of which, I'm getting rather tired of your constant nagging. Enjoy being part of my collection!" he shot out a clawed hand, about to grab the Time Lord who was then quickly yanked away just in time by Rezo.

Rezo hissed at the Doctor, "See what I mean? He's not going to listen to you!"

"Doesn't mean I can't try, right? Now that it didn't work��" he turned at the demon, "I gave you a chance, and you decided to give up on it. You leave me no choice, with me there are no second chances. Time for plan B. Rezo, everyone, if you may?"

Rezo hoisted up his hammer, "Gladly."

[ Last edited by crystalsuicune at 2012-5-19 15:01 ]

Jumping back to when they first arrived at the 573rd world (RED city to be exact) because boredom and plot bunnies.And because I can.
----------------------

*VWORP*
*VWORP*
*VWORP*
*THUNK*

The TARDIS slowly phased into view, then landed in RED city, tucking herself beside a pair of vending machines propped up against a shopping mall.

The Doctor opened the door by a fraction to poke his head out, "Alright, we're he-oof!"

He was interrupted by Rezo tearing past him and through the door, knocking the Time Lord out of the way in the process. 

The goggled cat was now running all over the place outside the TARDIS, while wearing the biggest grin the Mai sisters had ever seen him wear, "Oh god oh god oh god, I'm back! I'm really back! This isn't a dream!" he then stopped and checked his surroundings, "And looks like RED city had changed a lot! But then I've been gone for so long, so I should have seen this coming��It's still surprising that so much has changed though!"

Everyone looked around. RED city was, as its namesake, one giant red-and-chrome-coloured concrete jungle. Skyscrapers, highways and bridges filled the skylines, towering over the complicated network of roads crisscrossing the streets. The roads were full of vehicles of all kinds, rushing along in breakneck speeds. For the pedestrians, the city planners had helpfully provided them with footbridges and underground tunnels to cross the roads safely. Ever-present was the deep roaring of engines, and the unpleasant whiff of gasoline.

"So this is where you used to live in before you ended up in Shimizu Village, Rezo?" Ryougen asked, "It's��certainly quite different from back in the 765th world, even AC city won't stand up to this."

Rezo beamed, "Oh yes, I'm proud of my city! After all, I -am- the mayor! Or at least I was before I went to the 765th world that is."

"But don't you think there's way too many cars��?" Saitama had covered her nose and mouth with her hands, and her face was scrunched up into a grimace, "The air's choking me here��"

"Uhhh��because we have a strong racing theme going on? Most of us have at least one vehicle and we drive almost everywhere here��"the goggled cat rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Tenyou peered at the TARDIS, towards the buildings surrounding her, then back at the spaceship, "You know, I was wondering. This place is pretty much all red and silver, but the TARDIS is a blue box! Won't she stick out like a sore thumb?"

The Doctor smiled and spun to face her, "Ah, good question you got there! It's all quite simple actually, just this rather nifty little device on the TARDIS called a perception filter."

"Perception filter? What's that?"

"Weeeeellll��basically it alters the neural patterns of outsiders, and convinces their brains that the TARDIS doesn't exist. Or at least not important enough to pay attention to," he patted the spaceship's wooden doors, "In fact, I could go and park her right in front of someone, and he won't even notice a thing! Really handy thing to have, especially when police boxes like this don't even appear in this unverse at all!"

"Then how come Ryougen could find her back then?"

"It's because the TARDIS crashed. Not enough to really harm her, but the perception filter got a little roughed-up. It takes time for her to repair it, so in the meanwhile it's possible for outsiders like Ryougen to notice her."

Meanwhile Rezo had noticed something. It was normal for RED city to be full of cars and people, but today the streets were largely empty. Moreover, almost all of the vehicles were travelling towards the same direction. He knew only one event could possibly result to this, "Doctor, what's the current date?"

The Doctor licked a hand and waved it about, "Hmmmm��20th of November, 2012, give or take a week or two. Why did you ask?"

The Saitama siblings stared at the Time Lord as if he just grew a second head. KiSai jawdropped, his eyes as wide as saucers as he stammered, "Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa, but isn't today supposed to be in April?! Holy shit did we just��?! Are you sure it really IS November right now, Doc?"

"Perfectly sure," the Doctor pointed towards the distance. Far off was a modernized clock tower with a giant digital clock. The clock showed the same date the Time Lord had mentioned, 20th November, "I would have went even further, say a few centuries into the future, but this should be enough to put my point across."

Rezo grinned even wider, he was right about his guesses, "No Doctor you brought us in just the right time!" he picked up a flyer from the ground and showed it to the group. The flyer had a pair of racecars zipping along a racetrack, and the words "RED CITY GRAND PRIX 2012" printed on the top in silver, stylized letters, "See? Today is the day for the semi-finals! We've got to see this!"

The Doctor's eyes lit up, "Ooh racing! It's fun to watch those, or to take part in one! Huh, maybe I should go find Bessie and take her out for a spin again. Where did I last put her��? Oh right, UNIT. Where's the racetrack anyways?"

"Just follow me, I know where it is. I think I still get to keep my box seat, I'll see if I can let you all sit in there too," Rezo, hardly containing his excitement, ran ahead of the group with the Doctor just a few steps behind. The others followed with their normal speed, but KiSai lagged behind, still trying to wrap his head over the fact that yes, they did time-travel to the future.

-----------------

After ten minutes of sprinting across streets, over footbridges and through tunnels, the group arrived at the stadium where the Grand Prix was held in. Cars lined up to fill the large, multi-storey carpark next to the stadium. Meanwhile, the entrance to the stadium was crowded, teeming with people joustling to grab the best seats, buying snacks, making bets, so on and so forth.

 Saitama was about to line up to buy tickets when Rezo shook his head and led the group to the other side of the stadium. There were two security guards flanking a locked door. When they saw the group, they jumped back in shock, "The mayor?! Is that you?!"

Rezo waved, "Yep, it's me! Finally found a way to get back in here! Uhhh, do I still have my box seat?"

"Why of course you do!" one of the guards unlocked the door, showing a flight of stairs going upwards. He then glanced towards the others, "And who are they��?"

"Oh, they're my friends, don't worry! There's the Mai sisters, Ryougen Senpuu and Tenyou; the Saitama siblings, Saitama KiSai and Mataima; and then there's the Doctor. Er would you mind if I let them in with me?"

The guards smiled, "No, not at all! Welcome back and enjoy the show!" the group disappeared into the room, and the door locked from behind them.

The stairs led up to a compartment snuggled within the audience stands, a bit small but with enough space to hold everyone. The reinforced glass window taking up the front of the compartment showed a perfect view of the racetrack below.

On a side bench lay eight future-esque binoculars. The Doctor held one up and peered out from it while fiddling with the dials on the sides of the scopes, "Binoculars with adjustable foci, toggles for extra magnification and a device for tracking the motion of a specific object? Molto bene, just the best thing to bring to a Grand Prix!"

He directed his line of sight towards the racetrack, where the semi-finalists' cars were currently being wheeled into the garage.

While most of the vehicles were the usual fare of streamlined racing cars just like those back on Earth, one of the vehicles caught the Time Lord's eye.

Even though he was still a bit too far away to make out the exact details even with the binoculars, the Doctor could easily see that the car looked nothing like the others. It was a blocky, steel-plated machine with a mishmash of wires, tubes and odd-looking devices attached to it. In fact, the car looked more like a warmachine than a proper racecar.

The Doctor froze. While he only had an inkling about the technology levels of the universe he was currently in, he was more than sure that this particular vehicle shouldn't exist in this universe at all.

This was alien technology, aliens from his universe to be exact. Being exposed to so much of them during his travels, the Time Lord had seen enough to recognize them in a glance.

And he definitely didn't like what he had just seen.

The Doctor slowly lowered his binoculars, his gaze travelling from the machine back to the inhabitants of the compartment. He declared, every word laden with urgency, "Rezo, we need to get to the garage. Right now."

-----------------

BTW the Conoffians' something I made up (got the name from a random alien species name generator,bear with me),it doesn't exist in DW canon.But hey who says we can't make up our own aliens,right?Right��?

*cricket chirp*

Never mind.
------------------
Rezo blinked, his face clouded with confusion, "Uh, wait wha? The garage? Why?"

"We need to check on one of the semi-finalist's cars," the Doctor explained while tucking the binoculars into one of his impossibly large coat pockets.

Rezo nodded and led the way back downstairs, notifying the guards that they're visiting the garage and will be back soon. The group went through another backdoor, along a winding corridor and finally into the garage.

The garage was surprisingly clean for a mechanic's workplace, with only a few misplaced tools and some puddles of motor oil here and there. A number of cars were parked in the many hangers in the garage, and other mechanics rushed around to reapply paint or to repair any broken components of the cars. 

A lone figure stood in front of the suspicious vehicle the Doctor spotted earlier, with his toolbox placed on the vehicle's hood. He wore a set of mechanic overalls, and a hardhat with a pair of welding goggles strapped onto it. He didn't have any visible ears, instead having horns and spiky hair that made him resemble a dragon. The dragon was deeply in thought, absentmindedly scratching his hardhat with a spanner.

Rezo lightly tapped the dragon's shoulder, causing him to jump and nearly trip over the bundle of wires by his feet. The dragon saw him and gasped, "Rezo?!"

"Yeah yeah VOX UP, it's me, I'm back alright," the cat chuckled, "But why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be back in the military?"

VOX UP stowed away the spanner and answered, "Yeah I'm still in the military. Thing is, you know EVO66? He retired last year and the organizers needed a replacement for head mechanic in the Grand Prix. They asked me, so here I am! Of course, I'll be back in the base once the event's over."

Rezo frowned, "But do they know your habit? Modifying the cars and all that?"

"Nah I've been behaving myself, though it IS tempting to hop on one of the cars and test them out," the mechanic laughed, "What about you? Where have you been all those years? And who are these guys?"

Rezo gulped, "Not now VOX UP, long story."

After everyone except Rezo and VOX UP introduced themselves, the mechanic frowned, "So what brings you here in the garage? You know, it's almost time for the races to start, and we have to make the final checkups."

The Doctor tapped one of the doors of the strange vehicle, "It's because of this."

"Oh this one? It's giving me a lot of trouble! I'm quite an expert on vehicles," here Rezo had trouble not to snicker, knowing exactly why the mechanic had so much experience in fixing them, "but I definitely haven't seen something like this before! I can't open the doors, check the engines, anything! I can always find a way to crack open a car, but not this one!"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Well this is just interesting, let me take a look��" he took out his Sonic Screwdriver and a pair of dark-rimmed spectacles. Donning the eyewear, the Time Lord started to scan the vehicle.

KiSai smirked, "Hey, you look rather ridiculous with those specs on."

The Doctor shot the sake-drinking cat a glare, "What, no! I look brainy in those!" KiSai rolled his eyes and snorted, but the Time Lord ignored him and went back to scanning, his eyebrows becoming more and more tightly-knitted every time he paused to check the readings.

Minutes later, the Doctor switched off the Screwdriver and removed his spectacles. He stepped back and hissed, "My suspections were right, this is no ordinary car. It's alien technology, belonging to the Conoffians."

-------------

VOX UP's eyes widened, "Aliens?! What?!"

"Yep, aliens. Conoffians. Cooooonoffians. Last dealt with them many MANY years back, very nasty pieces of work they were," the Doctor crossed his arms, "And this, is one of their lightweight warmachines, with more firearms than you could shake a stick at," of course he could recognize this, back in the Time War. Distant, suppressed memories fought to resurface, which the Doctor quickly shoved as far back into his mind as possible. This was no time for talking about the War, he told himself.

Still, he muttered quietly to himself, "First the Daleks, and now even they managed to escape from the War. Sometimes the universe has the weirdest sense of irony��" Senpuu looked at him quizzically, and the Doctor quickly regained his composture before she could ask any questions.

Mataima pondered, eyeing the machine "In that case why were they even here, and why were they able to enter the Grand Prix?"

VOX UP shrugged, "No idea, only knew that it got qualified after winning the local cups, and that it passed the inspections by the organizers."

The Doctor nodded, "They had something similar to the perception filter, and looks like they managed to convince the organizers that this is just an ordinary, weapon-less vehicle. I've turned it off, that's why all of us can see its true form. Before that, only VOX UP and I could do so. VOX UP because of his expertise with vehicles," VOX UP beamed when he heard the compliment, "which allowed him to notice any unusual cars. And me because frankly, I'm brilliant. As for the first question Mataima just asked, I haven't got a clue either. They're probably trying to track me down, or it could be something else��"

*BEEP*
*BEEP*
*BEEP*

VOX UP listened to a walkie talkie for a moment, switched it off and cursed under his breath, "The semi-finalists will be here very soon! Quick!" rummaging in a nearby cabinet, he tossed everyone a set of overalls each, "the changing rooms are in the back! Change and start acting like mechanics!"

Moments later, everyone were in their mechanics disguises, and took up their positions by the other cars. VOX UP, however, remained with the warmachine. Tensions were high, as the group waited for the racers to show up.

Soon, the metal garage door rolled up, and a number of racers came in. Everyone pretended to work on the cars, but in reality they kept a close eye on the newcomers.

Nobody looked out of the ordinary, which the Doctor had expected as the Conoffians were shapeshifters and could take the form of chibianthros. However, once the racers started asking VOX UP about the conditions of their racecars, the Time Lord could easily make out who were the disguised aliens. Two of the racers had blue tongues, tell-tale traits of the Conoffians which were kept even after they shapeshifted.

The Doctor tensed up. If luck was on his side now, he could escape being recognized by the Conoffians. But what if he was unlucky?

------------

[ Last edited by crystalsuicune at 2012-4-9 23:28 ]

That feeling when I'm making it up as I go
Also,the plot (if you call it a plot) thickens��
-------------------


As the disguised Conoffians approached VOX UP, the Doctor swiftly reactivated the machine's perception filter with the Screwdriver without them noticing, then strained his ears to eavesdrop on the discussion. Fortunately, VOX UP didn't reveal anything that would have tipped them off, instead behaving as if he have not seen through the machine's device at all.

However, neither did the Conoffians reveal anything about their plans, nor did they make any unusual requests towards VOX UP. To any unsuspecting person, they behaved exactly like any other racer. Typical, the Doctor thought bitterly, after all they were masters of disguise. Blending into almost any situation, they were capable of spreading mass paranoia and distrust wherever they went.

The aliens started to pace around, their cold eyes sweeping across everyone in the room. From the corner of his eye, the Time Lord saw one of the Conoffians glance at him suspiciously. He quickly went back to work fixing the bonnet of the car, holding his breath while his hearts pounded against his cheast.

It continued to stare at him for a moment, then turned and left the garage together with the rest of the semi-finalists. After the garage door finally rolled shut, the group gave a collective sigh of relief. 

One quick change back to their original clothing later, everyone regrouped by the machine, "That was close," the Doctor breathed while handing his set of overalls back to the mechanic, "Good thing they haven't recognized me yet."

Ryougen nodded, "Figures. Since you changed appearance when you crashlanded into our universe, maybe you now look far too different from how you used to look like in your world."

"Good, that means it's possible for us to take action against those aliens without being found easily," Mataima adjusted his scarf, "However we still have to be careful. Doctor, unless it's absolutely necessary, try not to use any of your gadgets when they're around."

"Got it. Now we still have to figure out why they're here��We'd better keep a close eye on them, especially during their matches."

Rezo nodded, "We'd better get back now, before the guards start to worry about us."

The group made their way back to the box seats, just in time to watch the races begin. Using their binoculars, the group monitored the actions of the Conoffians after the Doctor had pointed out which two racers were the doppelgangers.

As the matches progressed, the Doctor began to notice something. From what he could gather from his memories, the Conoffians had no sense of fair play, and would gladly stoop to cheating, dirty tricks or full-out assault to achieve their goals. Yet in the matches so far, they had never used any of the above. No weapons, no car-hacking, no assaults disguised as accidents, nothing.

"Strange," the Time Lord mused, "This isn't how they used to behave like��"

Senpuu lowered her binoculars, "What do you mean?"

"I know those aliens far too well. I'd expect them to pull off every trick they know to win their races, since rules and morals mean nothing to them. But look at them now!" he pointed at the machine, now taking the lead and pushing the distance between it and the car behind him even further, "So far they're not doing anything fishy!"

"You mean��they're actually trying to win the tournament fair and square?"

"Seems like it," the Doctor murmured, "But why��? What's so important about the race that they're trying to win it��?"

Rezo joined in the conversation, "Maybe it's got something to do with the cup itself. VOX UP told me before that this year's cup looked different from the other cups. He said he could see some odd indents on the inner side of the cup."

"Odd indents, huh��Where's the cup now?"

"It's stored inside the underground warehouse, since we usually don't bring it out until the prize-giving ceremony��Wait," Rezo narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "you're not planning to steal the cup before they do aren't you?"

The Time Lord jumped back, "Oh nonononono I'm not! Just a quick look would be enough!" Rezo still looked unconvinced, so he added, "You know, just to see if the cup had any connections with them."

The goggled cat sighed, "Alright then, wait till the guards change shifts, then we're going in. Still, be careful since I don't think I can bail ourselves out easily if we end up getting caught."

-----------------

The group continued to monitor the whereabouts of the aliens for an hour or so, until Rezo motioned everyone to follow him downstairs. The cat first continued along the same path towards the garage, but later on swerved and went down another passage leading to a different backdoor. There they waited, until the two guards patrolling the area left to change shifts. 

Everyone crept up to the door as quietly as they could. After the Doctor unlocked the door with the Screwdriver, they slipped in and locked the door again. Behind the door was a long sloping passage leading further underground into the warehouse.

Said warehouse was a large underground area divided into a maze of corridors and rooms, with large boxes of goods stacked neatly along the steel-covered walls. The area was dimly lit by only a few rows of lights glowing weakly from the ceiling, yet it was still possible for the Doctor to locate the security cameras hidden in the darker corners of the rooms. Rolling his eyes, he waved the Screwdriver at the nearest camera, causing it to shut down with a click, "I'll turn it back on later, now it's screen is locked at the footage it recorded before we came in."

Everyone followed Rezo further into the warehouse, the Doctor deactivating any security cameras he could spot along the way. Ryougen conjured up a small flame to serve as a torch, as the Screwdriver's light wasn't strong enough, "Odd, how come there weren't any guards in here? All we can see are those security cameras, which the Doctor can simply switch off with the Screwdriver. This seems a little too easy��"

Rezo smirked as he continued to walk, "Ah, that's because I've been here plenty of times, so I know which routes to take. For anyone new to this place, simply trying to find your way around here can be very confusing. And they don't exactly have a Sonic Screwdriver to shut down those cameras, right? And wait till you see the cup itself, you'll understand!"

The cat kept on walking along the path he had memorized, only pausing occationally at forked paths to figure out which way to take. After half an hour, they reached a dead end. Standing on a pedestal against the wall was the cup, a large golden goblet with a checkerboard pattern etched on the sides.

Tenyou reached out to touch the cup, then jumped back as she felt a jolt shooting up her arm, "What the-!"

"Just a force field set up around the cup. Anybody trying to grab the cup gets rebounded and shocked at the same time," Rezo replied, "Makes them think twice before stealing the cup, eh?"

The Doctor scanned the pedestal, then grinned approvingly, "Hmmmm��you're right! Exactly that, a force field generator infused with arcane energy to contain the plasma running within the field, plus a light-ray diffuser to remove the glowing effect of the plasma and��ohhh! The switch is pretty much deadlocked, and we can only unlock that with the correct password! Now this is very difficult to break even for me, much less the Conoffians! Brilliant!"

Ryougen glared at him, "Aren't we supposed to be examining the cup, not the device protecting it?"

"Right, the cup. Here we go then, let's see what it has in store for us!" the Doctor peered into the cup, trying to see as much of the indents as he could from a distance.

The inner side of the cup was covered with rows and rows of symbols, which the Time Lord could identify as Conoffian text. Although he couldn't recognize some of the symbols introduced post-Time War, the rest of the symbols were still readable. Also present were a number of complicated diagrams showing the structure and inner workings of a machine in detail. It took a while for the Time Lord to figure out the purpose of these text and symbols, but once he did, it became apparent why the aliens were seeking the cup.

The cup's inner side was actually a set of blueprints, for a piece of Conoffian technology long lost since the War.

Namely, a doomsday device.

-----------------

I'M STILL BORED.

WHY AM I ALWAYS BORED.

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The Doctor's jaw tightened as he broke the news, "It's the blueprints for a space-time curvature callibrator, modified for combat purposes by the Conoffians."

Saitama blinked, "What does it do?"

"Well, it's used to alter the surrounding space and cause a change in the local gravitation field and space-time continuum," the Time Lord explained with a low whisper, "Creating a dimension rift involves a similar process, but in that case the alteration is controlled and focused on creating a pathway between different dimensions. Here, the machine is modified to allow or even encourage the rift to expand without any restraints."

"What do you mean?"

"How do I explain the difference��? Oh yes. Think of it as riding animals. Me making a dimension rift is like riding a horse, I let the horse run freely most of the time but I still get to pull the reins if its going too quickly or in the wrong direction," the Doctor continued in a faster pace, "In this machine's case��well, it'll be like riding a very wild, very angry bull. And instead of controlling it, they're encouraging it to run all over the place as quickly as it could. And do you know what happens if a rift gets to expand wayyyy beyond its limits? It turns into a singularity."

Rezo gulped, "You mean those things with infinite mass and zero volume?" he had heard the Professor describe them briefly when they last visited their science institute, but that was all he could catch from the scienctist back then.

The Doctor nodded solemnly, "Exactly. One appearing anywhere might as well cause the end of the world as we know it. It creates a gravitation field of infinite strength, absorbing everything around it. I've seen a primitive version of this machine in action a long time ago, it made a whole star collapse into itself, creating a black hole which pulled in the clusters of planets and stars surrounding it. One galaxy and its inhabitants, gone just like that."

"And now those Cono-whatsits are trying to win the race so they can get the blueprints?" KiSai asked while taking another swig from his bottle of sake.

"Not just getting the blueprints��oh no, much more than that," the Doctor whispered, "They're planning to rebuild and use this machine!"

"Then we've got to stop them!" Rezo yelled, "Let's go back before the guards notice us!"

The cat began to retrace the same pathway through the sprawling complex, running as quickly as he could and taking as few pauses as possible. As they passed by the cameras, the Doctor reactivated them once the group were out of range, while making sure that everything showed no trace of their presence. Time was running out, and they could not afford to make any mistakes or mishaps.

After winding around countless passages and chambers without too many interruptions, the group finally reached the exit. The Doctor unlocked the door, and everyone plowed through into the surface. At the same time, one of the guards had just changed shifts, and was approaching the building from a distance.

Mataima shoved the group into a nearby bush before clambering in himself, motioning everyone to keep silent. However, there was no masking the rustling they made when hiding in the bushes. The guard stopped, and looked at their direction with a puzzled expression.

After a few tensed moments, the guard relaxed, thinking he must be hearing things, and returned to stand guard beside the warehouse door. Ryougen couldn't help but quip, "You know what Rezo, I sometimes wonder what counts as security here."

Rezo quickly hushed her, "Don't jinx it, he might eventually notice us."

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Once they made it back to the stands, Senpuu noticed that the day's events were almost over, and the list of finalists for tomorrow were already decided. She gasped as she studied the list displayed on the large screen suspended from above, "They're one of the finalists!"

"Another step towards winning the cup for them," Ryougen growled in frustration, "And we can't directly comfort them yet as that might give the Doctor's identity away and endanger everyone in the stadium, which we cannot afford! Is there anything we can do?"

Rezo shrugged, "If we need to take action, we'd better do so during the finals tomorrow. Any ideas?"

The whole compartment fell silent, as everyone started brainstorming about possible ways to prevent the Conoffians from obtaining the cup.

"Actually��I've got an idea," Tenyou spoke up, "The Doctor said that the cup's too well-protected to be stolen by anyone, so the only chance to get the cup is to win the races, right?"

"Yes that's indeed the only chance��" the Doctor's words trailed off as he realized what Tenyou was hinting towards. His face lit up,  "Oh OH! Right! We need to enter the races and win against them! They lose the races, they don't get the cup. Simple as that!"

Rezo jawdropped, "What?! But it's far too late to join the races now! It's the finals we're talking about here!"

The Time Lord grinned, "Then we'll have to gatecrash the finals! Are there any cars I can borrow?"

"Aside from the finalists' vehicles, the only other vehicle in the garage would be my motorbike��" the cat frowned, "The way you're asking me that, are you trying to join the race yourself? It's my bike, shouldn't it be me who's going to enter? And if you enter, you'll end up revealing who you really are!"

"Yeah I understand. But who's got the Sonic Screwdriver? Who had experience and knowledge in dealing with aliens like them? Me," the Time Lord retorted, "Besides, if they decided to play dirty and bring out their firepower during the finals, at least only me gets endangered. Once they know that I'm the Doctor, taking me out will be a much higher priority than harming the audience."

"But-"

"No buts. Trust me, I can handle this," the Doctor held out his hand, "The keys for your bike, Rezo?"

Rezo sighed, and reluctantly handed over the keys. He then phoned VOX UP, giving him an account of the cup's importance, and telling him to give his bike an upgrade so that it could outrun the alien-tech machine. No messing around, he told the mechanic, as this could be a matter of life and death for the whole world.

From the other end of the line, VOX UP grinned widely. A chance to push Rezo's bike to its fullest limits for once with his permission, save the world and to beat the sole vehicle that managed to stump him. What more could he ask for?

The mechanic grabbed his tools and some materials, then pushed Rezo's bike from its usual spot in a locked shed to one of the spare hangers in the garage. He pulled his goggles over his eyes, snapped on a pair of welding gloves and started work on the bike's chassis. Time to put his knowledge to the test.

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