lorddoc@aol.com (Lord Doc) DOCTOR WHO Cursed Time Episode One by Stephen M. Wolterstorff A 1995 Python Lord Productiontm. The Doctor and the TARDIS are copyrights of the BBC and Amblin Entertainment. They are used without permission. 1963, 1995. Ranma Saotome, Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, and the Tendo Sisters Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, are all characters created by Rumiko Takahashi and they, along with the situations created by her, are copyright Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc 1995. They are used without permission. All other characters, devices, etc are the creation of Stephen M. Wolterstorff and likes to assert the fact that he made them up more or less on his own. They are presumed to be copyright him, 1995. This is a work of fiction. Any characters, places, or events that resemble those in 'real' life are used with a spirit of fun and are loving tributes to their real counterparts, not bitter sarcastic jibes as you might think. Thank you for not suing me. Permission to copy this work is granted to the recipient of this file as long as said copy is not made for financial gain and the copy is complete and unaltered, apart from changes due to formatting. If anyone makes any money off this, I'd prefer it to be me. Doctor Who : Season 31 Production Code : 8P 1995 Python Lord Productions. Cursed Time Episode One of Seven. Released weekly 5 May 1995. Episode One Quiet and peace reigned over the main residential area of Tokyo. Small clumps of people began circulating to the recent opened shops to make their everyday, normal purchases : some steak for dinner, a newspaper, can of juice for the walk to school, etc. The narrow streets were still uncongested with traffic as they would be later, mostly becoming filled with pedestrians walking their way to their destinations. A cold rain gently fell, adding an unusual darkness to this time of the morning. However, the rain seemed to add to the calmness of this place as it gently pattered down on the rooftops and invited sleep to those still indoors. One particular store was very busy. It sat on a 'T' intersection, causing a street to dead end and creating the 'T'. Due to this fact and the fact that a subway station was placed less than a block away, a great deal of traffic passed by this shop and many of those passersby would stop by and shop. Today was no different. A sizable group had accumulated in and around the store, some huddled beneath the awning outside, chatting with their neighbours and friends as they waited for the rain to pass. Others examined the fruit that sat in boxes outside, trying to decide what they wanted with their lunch. A loud crash off in the distance disturbed the overall quiet of the area. Many people stopped their activity or conversation and stared off in the direction of the noise. For a moment, nothing happened. No further noise invited investigation, no one presented themselves as a possible creator of the loud grating sound. As a group, most of those distracted were about to return to whatever they had been distracted from when they saw her. She came running from one of the side streets onto the main street, up the 'T' towards the store. Every step she took brought her closer to the store, thereby bringing her into sharper focus to those trying to get a good look at her. Each step brought more details of her appearance to those watching. She was short, not much over five feet tall. Her bright red hair was drawn into a tight ponytail which slapped against the back of her neck as she ran. Her clothing was loose and baggy, incredibly ill fitting. They billowed and swung about her as she ran. Despite the looseness of her clothes, it was evident that she was a . . . healthy young lady. She was also very attractive, with large expressive blue eyes and a shiny, open face. She ran, but why? That question was answered a few seconds later. Later eyewitnesses reports would vary on the subject which followed that red haired young lady. Some would say it was six feet tall, others would estimate its height at nine feet. It was, anyway you looked at it, a very large, black and white coloured, fur covered panda. And this panda was keeping pace with the young lady. A determined look was concentrated on its fuzzy face as it ran. The young lady glanced over her shoulder, noted the panda's continued presence behind her, and scowled. "Will you cut it out pop?!?" she yelled. "We go through this too often. Will you leave me alone?!?" She punctuated this by jumping onto the awning of the store, using the momentum to bounce up and off the wall above the awning and aim herself down at the panda, landing a vicious kick across the panda's face as she growled down at him. She landed expertly, ready to fight. The panda hadn't looked too bothered by the kick, as forceful as it had been. By the time the girl had landed, the panda was ready for her. The panda snarled at her and appeared to try and grumble something at her. A large meaty paw darted out at the girl. It didn't take a lot for her to dodge this blow. "Still tired? Not awake yet?" she questioned as she backflipped away from a number of paw swipes. "Getting old?" As if in response to this questioning, the panda slipped in a leg sweep while the girl was in mid flip and unable to dodge. When she landed on her feet, poised for her next spring, the panda's leg knocked her legs from underneath her and she collapsed roughly to the ground. While she fought oxygen back into her system, the panda loomed over her. Once he knew he had her attention, he began gesturing and growling again, apparently trying to convey some thought or another. This only served to anger the girl further. "When are you going to remember pop? Pandas can't talk!" She added a kick to both of the panda's knees to emphasize the point and then, while he was staggered, sprung back on her hands and launched herself up, both feet connecting with the panda's head. She landed expertly after the kick, compressing down to a squatting position to absorb the force of the landing. The panda was dazed and staggering about, looking mildly lost. She grinned, pleased with herself. Her head cocked to the side, like a bird, and examined her opponent. Then, when the moment was right, she sprang up at him. The panda, still not really all together from her last blow, swung a paw wildly. All of the girl's planning went for naught as the accidental backhand blow caught her in the midsection, flinging her violently into one of the tall wooden fence-like walls that lined the street, separating it from the small yards around the houses. The girl's entire body hit the fence flat, face side forward, her hands raised and with all her fingers up, baring the middle and ring fingers which were touching her palm. A few of the boards in the well constructed fence were cracked or otherwise broken by the impact. The panda shook off the last of the cobwebs and looked to the fence. The cracks and broken boards were still there, but the girl was gone. Confusion covered the panda's face like a blanket, making it harder for him to locate the girl. Then he heard the noise behind him and he knew he was in trouble. The girl had picked up a bus stop sign, which was almost the size of a stop sign, and was holding it by the round concrete base similar to the way that someone might hold a baseball bat. A small white bandage as well as a bruise were visible on her head. "Leave me alone!" she declared, using the sign to help her get her point across. It connected solidly with the back of the panda's head. A deep sigh was let loose by the panda, its eyes rolled back in its head and it collapsed to the ground. The girl clapped her hands together after replacing the sign, as if dusting her hands off, a silly gesture considering the rain. "There," she began, her voice sounding much more relaxed and feminine now, 'that's that. That'll make you think twice before you try that again." She began to walk away, back in the direction she originally came from. The panda got up once the girl was no longer paying it any attention. It had a rather sizable bump on the back of its head, but, due to it anticipating the sign, it had managed to lean forward enough so the blow was not as forceful as the girl had desired. Without a sound, it raised itself up behind the girl, who was confidently and smugly, victory in her step, walking away. In one encompassing and surprisingly swift move, the panda wrapped its mighty arms around the girl, one around her neck and one around her mouth. She tried screaming, but she only expanded more oxygen that way. After a few moments, she stopped struggling and went limp in the panda's arms. The panda waited for a moment to make sure she wasn't faking. Once it was reassured that the young lady was truly unconscious, it flung her over its massive shoulder and prepared to walk away. It then, for the first time, realized that the fight had taken them near people and that many of those people were staring. It turned and looked at them. Anger briefly flared on the panda's face. It growled loudly at those nearby. They jumped back and the panda walked off, disappearing around the corner they had appeared around originally. The people collected around the store just stared for awhile. Then, they looked at each other. After that, as a group, they shrugged their shoulders and went about their business, trying to pretend they were ignoring what had happened. Off in a place that was nowhere and time was meaningless, a box existed in a place without space. While length, height, and depth had no meaning, the blue box was about eight feet tall from the base to the tip of the light on top. A door was visible on one side of the box as were handles to open said door. A sign was near those handles, offering instructions on how to operate the telephone that was supposedly inside. Above the windows that were on this side of the box was a sign. Actually, on each side of the box, near the top, was a title : 'Police Public Call Box'. The box which was a box, yet wasn't, sped on through the area that wasn't an area. As if this wasn't enough of a fascination, the interior of the box was another marvel. From the exterior of the box, one could be forgiven if one thought that the interior was a small, compact area barely able to fit three people, if they were all on diets and very good friends. However, as the area outside wasn't an area, the area inside wasn't small. A vast room opened up inside the doors and from that room there were other rooms of various sizes. The first room, the one just inside the doors, was a large room, centrepieced by a large mushroom like console. At the centre of this console was a cylinder shaped container with a strange red plastic sculpture inside. The cylinder rose and fell in a slow and lazy fashion, the pace of which was not unlike the calm relaxed breathing pace of a normal human. The console had two personages around it. One was a young lady from the planet Earth in the late twentieth century. She was of medium height with long blonde hair that reached down her back. Pretty blue eyes were framed by an attractive face, one that looked younger than her twenty years. Her dress was casual, currently being a pair of blue jeans, black shoes, and a tshirt that had an early picture of the Beatles printed on it. The young lady clung to the edge of the console, assisted in this effort by a clamp-like device which protruded from the side of the console she was near. Across from her, trying to gain control over the machine which was currently pitching and yawing like a ship in a storm, was a man of youthful appearance. He looked as if he were in his mid twenties, but to believe this was so would be as wrong to assume that the box was merely a box upon looking at it exterior. As the adage states : Never judge a book by its cover. As is true in many aspects of life, its the inside that counts, even when that inside is bigger than the outside. A tan hat was jammed tightly upon the man's head to keep it from falling off as they twisted about. A long tan trenchcoat hung loosely over his body, occasionally interfering with his attempts to operate controls. Beneath the trenchcoat was a red vest and beneath the vest was a white Oxford shirt with a red question mark sewn into the collar on both sides. A loose pair of black slacks hung like drapes over his legs and a black pair of Doc Martens shoes protected his feet from oil, fat, acid, petrol, and alkali. He looked gently like a private detective from some 1930's gangster film, if that detective was insane. "Come on then," he murmured gently. "You can do it old girl." The young lady looked very tired with the idea of getting bounced around. "Doctor," she checked, "you do know what you're doing, don't you?" He who had been addressed as 'Doctor' briefly looked up from the console to give the young lady a dirty look. "Yes I do, Julie," he replied, his raised voice echoing gently in the room, "thank you very much. This small task is not above my talents." He paused. "I think." Julie rolled her eyes at him. "Not to complain too much, but this is getting tiring." Despite the gentleness of her voice, her American accent sounded harsh compared to his British one. "Even if you can't get us home, could you land us somewhere, if nothing else just to rest?" "I am not at all certain the decision is currently in my hands," the Doctor answered. "The TARDIS seems to be getting kicked around rather well." He looked up at Julie again. "You look a little on the wrong side of queasy." "Hmm, uh," Julie grunted. She was quite pale. "I must not be a very good sailor." The Doctor gently patted the console. "Come on then old girl. I just rebuilt your console and I really don't wish to be cleaning vomit out of it." Had Julie felt any better, she would have made some sort of sarcastic reply to that. Seeing as how she didn't, she just closed her eyes briefly, doing her best to not think about her stomach. A small light on the console flashed twice, causing the Doctor to smile. "We'll be materializing soon." The faint sound of the TARDIS engines changed its pitch ever so slightly. The TARDIS prepared for materialization. -Continued in 1.2- The rain slowly came to a stop and the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds by the time the panda returned home. Almost tiredly, the panda dragged himself through the gates of the fence, the red haired girl still over its shoulder. It walked up the wooden stairs to the porch level of the house. It then walked around the porch to a side door and slid that door open. Once inside the house, the panda dumped the girl on a nearby pillow and sat on the floor near the table. They were not alone. Two people were in that room watching all this. One was a mature man who was sitting next to the panda. He was handsome despite having three teenage daughters; the strain had not destroyed his health or appearance. A loose blue kimono was wrapped around him. His short dark hair matched the colour of his dignified mustache. He was very dapper in his own way. He smiled at the panda. "He giving you trouble again Saotome?" The panda began gesturing and grunting in an attempt to communicate. The gentleman looked mildly apologetic. "Sorry old friend. I didn't realize you didn't have your message board." He picked up the tea pot from the table and poured some of the hot water on the panda. By the time he'd finished pouring, the panda was . . . gone. In the panda's place sat another mature looking man, he being the same age as his friend. A carefully tied handkerchief covered a bald head. The white uniform of a martial artist in training was his main clothing. He was stoutish, but not fat, merely solidly built. As he spoke, he adjusted the position of his wire rimmed glasses upon his face. "Yes Tendo, Ranma and I had a disagreement this morning." A young girl sat across the table from them, a note of casualness in her eyes. She'd obviously seen this sort of thing happen a number of times before and it had lost its ability to excite her. Her brown hair reached her neck in back and almost surrounded her head. Her bangs were cut short, creating a sort of window in her hair for her to see through. Her dress was as casual as her expression, consisting of a fuzzy green shirt and slightly tight blue jeans. After swallowing her juice, she addressed her father with a note of what sounded like reproach in her voice. "Daddy, Mr. Saotome and Ranma start most mornings with a 'disagreement'. Normally, they manage to confine it to the house." Tendo laughed gently. "That's quite true Nabiki. Perhaps the weather had something to do with it." "Perhaps." Saotome stretched, pleased with the pull on his sore muscles. The young girl referred to as 'Ranma' began to stir. "That was a cheap trick pop," she said scornfully upon reaching full consciousness. 'Pop' sipped his tea calmly. "You need to anticipate anything while in battle Ranma. Not everyone fights with honour." Ranma sat up and then rolled her eyes. "Yeah, especially you." Anger flared across 'Pop' Saotome's face and he twisted to yell in Ranma's face. "Is that anyway to speak to your father?!?" This upset Ranma, causing her to scream back, "Considering its true, yes!" They were growing close to blows. Nabiki sighed. "You know, this is how our home insurance got canceled." Tendo did his best to calm them, hoping to keep the integrity of his home from being damaged by flying bodies. "Now, now," he said nervously, "there's no need for further violence so early in the morning." He smiled reassuringly. Reluctantly, they broke apart, growling at each other as they did. Nabiki watched them, wondering if there was any way she could profit from this. To assist her thoughts, she questioned "What was this mornings fight about? Ranma kick you awake? Surprise you with a bucket of cold water?" Ranma gave her a dirty look. "Oh great. Assume its always my fault. Like he's perfect or somethin'. As it was, we were arguing about how uncute Akane is." "Who's uncute?" Akane had chosen an excellent time to join the breakfast crowd around the table. Akane was the youngest of the Tendo sisters and was also the shortest. She had short hair and expressive eyes. Right now, those eyes were an easy display into the anger she was feeling. Ranma's inability to admit to Akane's cuteness was an old argument, but it generally managed to strike a nerve in her. Akane's light blue school dress fitted her well, allowing for plenty of movement and only occasionally getting in her way. Akane glowered down at Ranma. Ranma was quite used to this response and was unbothered. Fingers became hooked into the sides of her mouth and her tongue was then extended. "You are. Nyyah!" Despite her best efforts not to, Akane could feel herself growing angrier. It was almost possible to see the steam shoot out of her ears. Sensing this, Ranma moved to irritate her further. "Built like a brick, legs too thick," she chimed. A familiar taunt which never failed to push Akane over the edge. Except this time. Akane visibly fought to stifle her anger and not give into the temptation to kick Ranma around the block. Very calmly, she informed, "Ranma, you are such a jerk." Equally as calmly, she stepped over to the table, picked up the tea pot, poured hot water and then kicked him violently in the back of the head, causing him to slide across the floor into the wall. Crumpled in the corner, bruise becoming bump on the back of his head, was Ranma. The hot water had caused a reaction in his appearance, as it had with his father. Ranma grew about six inches, so that he fit into his clothes properly. His hair was still pulled back into a tight ponytail, but his hair was now coloured black. Most importantly, Ranma was also now male. "Gosh," he said sarcastically, his voice much deeper as a guy, "she looks so much sweeter now." Tendo grew wistful and he nudged Saotome in the ribs. "Ah, young love." Saotome smiled. "It is a sweet and wonderful thing. I remember my loves well." Akane sat next to the short legged table, her angry look still on her face. "For the last time Daddy, we are not engaged." Ranma rolled himself out of the corner and back to the table. "Yeah. Who'd want to be married to her? She's got no sex appeal, she's built like an aircraft carrier, she's uncute and she's mean!" Calmly, Akane threw an empty rice bowl at Ranma, but missed. Ranma stuck his tongue out at Akane. Akane stuck her tongue out at Ranma. Definitely signs of true love. The oldest of the Tendo sisters, and coincidentally the tallest, took this moment to enter the room. Kasumi was quiet and patient, in disposition and appearance. Her brown hair was loosely tied by a ribbon and her ponytail tended to lay over her shoulder, a side effect of her tending to the cooking and spending much time bending over a stove. Her apron was almost inseparable from the rest of her dress. Tending to the needs of her extended family pleased her and she did a fine job at it. "Father," she began, her voice as calm and patient as the rest of her, "are you expecting guests?" A gentle crease disrupted the flow of Tendo's brow. "No, I wasn't expecting anyone. Why do you ask?" "Because someone's materializing in the garden." Tendo looked at Saotome. Saotome looked at Tendo. Ranma looked at his father. Akane looked at her father. Eventually, everyone got to give a look of surprise to one another. Then, as a whole, they made for the door. The TARDIS floor stopped spinning and Julie thanked it for that fact. She felt considerably stronger simply because of that. The Doctor was poised over the console like a pianist would lean over their piano. He hummed. He clicked his tongue. He watched his instruments. Occasionally, he would flick a switch or spin a dial. Then he would mutter beneath his breath. The cylinder at the centre of the console stopped its up and down motion. After a moment, it began to rotate inside the console. "We're here," the Doctor declared. Julie inhaled deeply as her 'seat belt' returned to the console. "And where might here be?" "Interesting question, and not unexpected either." The Doctor fussed over the instrumentation on the console a while longer, hoping they would answer their question. "We'll, we're not back in our home dimension, but we appear to be on this dimension's Earth." "If this dimension is different from ours," Julie questioned, "how do you know this is Earth?" "I've been to Earth so many times, I've gotten a feel for when I've arrived there. I feel that feeling now. Activate the scanner, would you?" Julie nodded and tapped the scanner control pad on the console. A section of the wall behind her separated to reveal the scanner screen, which was supposed to display what was in the immediate area outside the ship. It was supposed to, but it wasn't. The screen was filled with static. "Oh drat!" the Doctor exclaimed, "the scanner is malfunctioning." He sighed. "Most likely a result of the shake up we just went through. I'll fix it later. Switch it off and we'll have a look around outside." Julie closed up the scanner while the Doctor opened the doors. They exited the ship. The hallway was quiet, just how he liked it. Slowly, he crept along, doing his best not to alert anyone to his presence. Soon, he was by THE DOOR. He rubbed his tiny hands together with glee as he looked up at the doorknob. With a well practised movement, he hopped up to the doorknob, spun it, and used his weight to swing the door open enough to enter. The room was dark. The sun made little effort to fight through the blinds over the window. He crept in, his footsteps making no noise. 'What better a place to begin?' he thought. 'These nurses are tired from working all night. They will provide little resistance against me.' The thrill of his hunt overwhelmed him as he continued towards one of the two beds in the room. He stared at his prey briefly before striking. She was a pretty young woman, looking totally innocent in her slumber. Suddenly, swiftly, he struck. He went to the dresser next to her bed and stole one of her bras and a pair of her panties. Her roommate suffered from a similar attack. Chuckling dirtily, the small man left, excitement flowing through every part of his person. A light flashed on a monitor. To make sure this was not missed, an alarm sounded, the pace of this alarm being the same as the pace of the flashing of the light. This caused much movement. Men in black bodysuits began scrambling around in hallways and control rooms. Some men wore headphones. Some examined consoles. An equal number adjusted dials and flipped switches. Their master came bursting into the control room. "The alarm! It is not another false alarm, is it?" There was a slight pleading in his voice, as if he'd been burned so many times before he daren't hope that this time would be the time. "We're crosschecking now sir," came the calm reply. There was a tense silence which was a silence as far as conversation went but was not a silence as far as the blips and clicks and the other noises that make up the conversation of machines. "We have a confirmation." A big smile slowly spread over the boss' face. "Really? You're not kidding? You wouldn't kid me, would you?" "No sir, we have no desire to kid you sir." Ecstasy flowed over his face. "At last! At long last! After all this waiting, after all this planning and research. At last!" He bounced around the room a little, filled with joy. "Sir, what should we do now?" "Do? Do?!? Do I really have to tell you what to do now?!? Activate capture plan A! Get me that time ship!" "Coordinates identified. Capture plan A activated." The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and almost lost his head. Ranma was right outside the door, poised for attack. "Who are you and who do you think you are materializing out of nowhere in our garden?" Ranma questioned antagonistically. This attitude didn't go over too well with the Doctor. A cross look manifested itself on his face. "You don't know how dreadfully boring that question is to me, just how many times it has been asked of me." "I don't care. Answering me is in your best interests." Julie carefully pushed past the Doctor and stood next to him. She directed a quick 'Hi' to Ranma. Curious, he questioned "How many more of you are in there?" "Just us two," the Doctor reassured. He was becoming less and less interested with Ranma and more interested in the people arriving behind him. This didn't sit well with Ranma, who was not used to being ignored. "Hey, I'm talking with you here," he reminded. The Doctor continued to ignore him. He was more interested in the expression on Tendo's face as he stared at his garden's newest feature. Tendo was obviously befuddled, unable to imagine how the box could have arrived without it materializing from the air, as Kasumi had implied. Saotome and the Tendo sisters looked at least mildly puzzled. Kasumi looked the least puzzled, having decided that since she saw the tall blue box appear from thin air, it must be possible and she'd find out how it was possible soon enough. Julie heard the Doctor mumble "I know that face," before the excitement exploded from him. "Of course!" He pushed past Ranma and stepped up to Tendo and Saotome. "Well as I live and breathe, it's Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome." He energetically shook their hands while they continued to stare at him in bewilderment. "My it's a small multiverse. How have you been? It's been such a long time." Tendo and Saotome looked at each other before returning their attention back to the Doctor. "Excuse me for asking," Soun Tendo began, "but do we know you?" This question managed to deflate the Doctor's mood rather nicely. Such was his excitement over seeing his two old friends that it hadn't occurred to him that it had been an exceptionally long time since he'd last seen them and his appearance had changed rather dramatically, more than once. It was unlikely for them to recognize him. "Yes, how silly of me. I'm the Doctor." Both Tendo and Saotome were startled by this information. "The Doctor?" they stammered. Saotome, a more centered man than his friend Tendo, recovered first. He cleared his throat, and then his face of emotion. "You don't look much like the man we knew as 'the Doctor'. Can you prove your claim?" The Doctor pondered this briefly. "I believe so." In one smooth movement that the Doctor had not practised in some years, he raised his right hand and touched Tendo's upper chest with a finger. The Doctor smiled. Ranma, who had been fuming behind him, was not impressed. "So what? This is supposed to impress us?" Genma Saotome whirled to face his son. "Look at Tendo closely. He's as stiff as a board. He's not even breathing." "I thought he was breathing," the Doctor said with a great degree of concern. "I wanted him to be breathing." "I should hope so," Akane noted rather agitatedly. She stepped up next to him and gently poked her father. Truly, he was as stiff as a board. "I'll make sure he's breathing then." The Doctor twisted his finger slightly. Soun's face came alive. "Doctor! It's you!" Tears began streaming down Soun's face. He's a very emotional man. "Have I proved my identity then?" The Doctor's smile returned. Genma pushed his glasses up on his nose. His expression was deathly serious. "The Doctor that we knew was an expert in a certain style of the martial arts while we trained together." He stopped his statement there. An unspoken question lay before the Doctor. If it could be answered successfully, his identity would be set. "This hold is an excellent example of," the Doctor stated, forming his words carefully and precisely, "Venusian Aikido." Genma smiled and patted the Doctor on the back. "It's been a long time Doctor." The Doctor removed his finger from Soun, intending to shake Genma's hand. He never got that far. As soon as Soun had motion restored to his limbs, he wrapped his arms around the Doctor and gave him a big eye popping hug. "Oh Doctor, it's so good to see you again." The Doctor squeaked back a reply; it was too tight to speak. "So, because he pulled a certain move on Mr. Tendo, suddenly you believe he's this guy you knew a long time ago, even though he looks totally different?" Ranma's statement bordered on sarcasm. Nabiki gave him a tired look. "You don't realize how hypocritical that sounds, do you?" "Huh?" Genma turned from the Doctor, who was still being squeezed by Soun like he was a tube of toothpaste. "The path of a true martial artist takes many strange paths. You should know as much as I do how that can lead to the changing of one's appearance." Ranma scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, when you put it that way, I guess it doesn't sound too unreasonable." Akane walked up to Julie, who was leaning up against the closed TARDIS doors, still looking a bit pale. "Hi, I'm Akane, the daughter of the man who's squeezing your friend to death." She smiled in as friendly a manner as she could. "I'm Julie. You'll have to excuse me for not saying anything earlier. I'm still getting used to breathing again." Akane laughed. "It does look like it's very cramped for you two in there." Julie gave her a curious look, briefly forgetting that she didn't know anything about the TARDIS. "No, that's not it. The ride here was a little rough, that's all." "Ride? You mean it moves? Kasumi said it materialized, but I didn't think she meant from out of nowhere." "I don't know a lot about it," Julie admitted. "I've only been traveling with the Doctor for a little while . . ." Her sentence broke off as a golden light began to shine down on them, more specifically, on Julie, Akane, and the TARDIS. After a few seconds, they all disappeared. "Oh my," said Kasumi. She looked worried. "What was that?" Nabiki questioned. Soun dropped the Doctor rather unceremoniously, his pleasure turning to shock. "Akane!" He fell to his knees and began to cry. Ranma began searching the sky, trying to see if he could spot something that could have taken them. "There's nothing there," he reported. The Doctor staggered to his feet, still breathless. "Julie and my TARDIS!" he announced angrily. "They took my TARDIS!" -To be Continued- -Lord Doc DOCTOR WHO Cursed Time Episode Two by Stephen M. Wolterstorff A 1995 Python Lord Productiontm. The Doctor and the TARDIS are copyrights of the BBC and Amblin Entertainment. They are used without permission. 1963, 1995. Ranma Saotome, Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, and the Tendo Sisters Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, are all characters created by Rumiko Takahashi and they, along with the situations created by her, are copyright Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc 1995. They are used without permission. All other characters, devices, etc are the creation of Stephen M. Wolterstorff and likes to assert the fact that he made them up more or less on his own. They are presumed to be copyright him, 1995. This is a work of fiction. Any characters, places, or events that resemble those in 'real' life are used with a spirit of fun and are loving tributes to their real counterparts, not bitter sarcastic jibes as you might think. Thank you for not suing me. Permission to copy this work is granted to the recipient of this file as long as said copy is not made for financial gain and the copy is complete and unaltered, apart from changes due to formatting. If anyone makes any money off this, I'd prefer it to be me. Doctor Who : Season 31 Production Code : 8P 1995 Python Lord Productions. Cursed Time Episode Two of Seven. Released weekly 12 May 1995. Episode Two "I don't know a lot about it," Julie admitted. "I've only been traveling with the Doctor for a little while . . ." Her sentence broke off as a golden light began to shine down on them, more specifically, on Julie, Akane, and the TARDIS. After a few seconds, they all disappeared. "Oh my," said Kasumi. She looked worried. "What was that?" Nabiki questioned. Soun dropped the Doctor rather unceremoniously, his pleasure turning to shock. "Akane!" He fell to his knees and began to cry. Ranma began searching the sky, trying to see if he could spot something that could have taken them. "There's nothing there," he reported. The Doctor staggered to his feet, still breathless. "Julie and my TARDIS!" he announced angrily. "They took my TARDIS!" Nabiki gave the Doctor her lazy eyed stare, which could mean any number of things. In order to accomplish this maneuver, she simply closed her eyes halfway and allowed her gaze to grow more intense. What exactly the stare meant depended on the rest of her facial features; for instance, a slight smile would indicate slyness or perhaps a 'come hither' look. As her expression now read, she was giving the Doctor a look of mild disgust. "More worried about your machine than your girlfriend, that says a lot for your relationship." The Doctor was still being visibly angry. "She is not my girlfriend," he replied through almost clinched teeth. "She is my traveling companion." Nabiki sighed and waved her hand dismissively, as if waving away the idea he had presented. "Traveling companion. Sure, whatever. Still doesn't say much for her." "I happen to be particularly sensitive to people stealing my ship," he announced loudly. "It's like the difference between my hat and my arm. If someone steals my hat, I'm upset, but I know I won't be wearing that hat forever. However, if you rip off my arm . . . well, as much as I like that hat, I'm a bit more attached to that arm." Soun was still blubbering. Soun was a very emotional man. "Oh, my poor Akane! My dear little girl!" Kasumi, devoted to her family, stepped up and patted her father reassuringly on the back. "Don't worry father," said she in soft tones, "Ranma will find her. Ranma always does." Upon hearing this remark, Ranma jumped, somewhat caught off guard by this accusation. "Hey, why should I? She'll only throw something at me anyway. She's not worth looking for." Ranma felt his father's hand clamp firmly onto his shoulder. Genma's grip grew very tight. "Think about it this way then Ranma. You won't be going to save Akane, you can go to help the Doctor retrieve his TARDIS." A sly smile twisted Genma's lips, "Or go for the Doctor's companion, Julie. She was cute, wasn't she boy?" The look on Ranma's face mutated into something strange, like he was fighting back a smile. "When you put it that way . . ." Uncontrollably, he grinned. He seemed unaware that Genma was toying with his mind. Soun was equally lost. He looked up at Genma and Ranma through his tears, an expression of pain etched into his features. "You . . you would neglect my Akane?" he sobbed. "Break your engagement?" Ranma's good mood disappeared beneath a snap of irritation. "You two decided we were engaged. How can I break something I never did?" Soun just cried. The Doctor turned his gaze towards Ranma. "Will you help me then, retrieving my TARDIS, and Julie and Akane?" "Sure," responded Ranma. "I've gotten kinda used to tracking down people. It's been awhile since the last time I did." "I too shall go with you on your quest," Genma announced. "My guidance and experience will prove useful." The grin on the Doctor's face grew to a state which read 'highly pleased'. "Excellent! What about Soun then?" They looked at Soun. He was still on his knees crying. "Akane!" "That answered that question," the Doctor stated. "How are we going to find them?" Ranma questioned. "We don't even know who kidnapped them yet." "The TARDIS locator," stated the Doctor with some vigor. "A small device which allows me to track the TARDIS when I'm far from it." "Excellent. Where is it?" "In the TARDIS. But worry not, I should have enough parts and things in my pockets to cobble something together." "How long will it take? They could be miles away already." "Depends on what parts I have. Should get to work right away, should I not?" He began walking towards the house. Kasumi followed alongside him. "We were just finishing our breakfast, would you care for anything?" "No thank you, but I appreciate the offer." "Not even some tea?" "Tea?" The Doctor's eyes glazed over slightly. "Yes, tea would be lovely, young lady." Ranma and Genma began walking toward the house. "What kind of son are you to try and defy your father? You will marry Akane!" "Don't start with me Pop!" Nabiki sighed and tried to get her father to return to the house. "Come on Daddy. Time to go inside again." "Akane, my poor Akane." While the golden glow surrounded them, Julie and Akane were frozen in Time. Their molecules were scanned, maps of them made, they were disassembled on a molecular level, sent to a receiver by the glow and then reassembled by a machine that used the maps made previously. To put it in simpler terms, Julie, Akane, and the TARDIS were teleported up to a ship via a transmat beam. ". . . but I'm learning a lot as I go." Once they had completely reformed on the ship, Julie finished the sentence she'd begun on the ground. After she'd done that, both Akane and herself discovered their surroundings had changed. "What the?!" "Did you see a flash?" Akane asked. "Everything seemed to flash gold and then we were here." She sounded rather worried. They looked around their new surroundings. "Where are we?" Julie shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno." No one was around. The room they were in was spacious and empty apart from a few machines set up along the walls. At the centre of the dimly lit room was the TARDIS and themselves. "Intruder alert. Intruder alert." An alarm sounded. A rectangular light flashed red, offering a glimpse of a door beneath it. "That doesn't sound good," Akane noted nervously. "Have you ever known an alarm to be good?" Julie questioned, trying to dispel some tension. "We need a plan, and we need it fast." "How does running and hiding sound?" "In my limited experience, it's worked rather well already. I'm game. Let me lock up the TARDIS first." Julie grabbed a chain which hung around her neck and pulled the key from its hiding place down her shirt. The TARDIS was locked up and the key was returned to its former position. Without a word, they ran to the door together. It slid open as they grew near it. The sound of boots crashing to the floor was loud and it sounded close by. They randomly chose to go to the right and ran off. The booted guards busted into the transmat area, their black guns raised, ready for action. They looked this way and that, using their high tech helmets to scan in the dimness for the intruders. Nothing showed up. Disappointment beginning to circulate amongst the dozen men, they began peering behind the machinery and around the TARDIS, hoping to find a reason to shoot. When the alarm had gone off, they, as a group, had gotten very excited. Visions of firing their mighty guns had run rampant through their tiny minds and it was a great let down to not even have anything to menace. As they continued their hopeless search, their leader entered, his boots thudding into the floor. "What are you doing?" questioned he. Two of the guards that were nearest him suddenly snapped to attention and offered a strange salute before answering. "Searching for the intruders, sir!" "Have you found them yet?" "No sir!" "You will, but I doubt they are still in here. If they were, you would have found them already, wouldn't you?" "Most likely, sir!" The leader smirked slightly and continued in his logical progression. "Well then," he said with a mock sweetness, "why don't some of you go look somewhere else?" "A fine idea, sir!" "Off you go then, let only a pair of you remain." Most of the guards cleared out, leaving two guards to continue searching and the leader to drool over the TARDIS. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as he finally allowed his gaze to take in the form of the Time Vessel. "It's beautiful," he choked. "To think, after all this time, after all my study, after all the theory I've crammed into my brain, to think that it's finally becoming reality!" He tried to keep from crying with joy. One of the guards had halted his search to watch his master's diatribe. "Sir," he began as politely as possible, "are you sure that this is a Time Vessel? It appears to be an ordinary box." The leader whirled on him, causing the already nerved guard to nearly jump out of his tight uniform. "Ordinary box!! Are you blind? Can't you see . . ." He paused and let the anger bleed from him. "No, you can't see it can you? You don't know what I do, you can't feel or see what I do. You can't see the aura around that box like I can." He smiled at the man, almost pitying him. "I feel sorry for you. You must miss so much without my abilities." "Everyday sir. It pains me day and night that I haven't got your abilities." Remarkably, there was no hint of sarcasm in his voice at any time. He was obviously used to humouring his master. "Someday, I'll have the power to change that and you'll be able to see what I see." He sighed and patted the TARDIS. "And this is what will unlock it all for me." -Continued in 2.2- The Doctor sat crosslegged before the table in the main room where breakfast had been spread out a few minutes previous. His shoes were outside the door, revealing the fact that he had dark socks with Marvin the Martian on them. Similarly, his coat sat next to him on the floor, most of the contents of the pockets of said coat were spread out over the table. Slowly but surely, he was working together a small device. A device that he hoped would work. Amongst the items collected upon the table was a small cup of tea from which the Doctor took a sip. A relaxed sigh escaped his lips as he returned the cup to its original place. Kasumi stood over his right shoulder, a gentle smile on her face. "Is the tea all right?" The Doctor flashed a smile at her. "Oh yes, it's excellent. Most agreeable." "Thank you." Looking rather pleased with what she'd been able to do for him, Kasumi disappeared off to the kitchen again. The Doctor took another sip of tea and glanced up from his work, something he hadn't really done much of in the last fifteen minutes. Soun was resting on the floor, lying down, a small pillow beneath his head and a blanket covering most of his body. A wet cloth lay across his forehead in an attempt to soothe him. His eyes were closed and he was quite probably asleep. Nabiki sat next to him, keeping an eye on him and occasionally refreshing the cloth in a bowl of water next to her. She was observing everything going on around her. Genma sat at one end of the table, the one nearest Soun. His legs were crossed, his arms were crossed and he was patiently watching the Doctor. Next to him, chin resting tiredly in his palm, legs crossed beneath him, was Ranma. Ranma was very visibly bored. He disliked waiting. "Are you almost done?" he questioned, barely managing to keep the politeness in his voice and the impatience out. The Doctor was busily rewiring a small push button pad to conform to the circuitry he'd already finished. "Time is relative Ranma; compared to the end of the millennium, I am almost done. Anything under another fifteen minutes would be short compared to how long I'll take yet." "Geez, just when you think you've asked a simple question." "What's your hurry boy?" Genma questioned as he adjusted his glasses. "Eager to get to Akane?" Ranma turned red and then displayed his anger. "Quit puttin' me and Akane together, okay? We are not a couple." "Course not! Ranma love Shampoo!" Most of the eyes in the room turned to the doorway to at least glance at the newcomer there. Soun still had his eyes closed and the Doctor's attention never wavered from his tinkering, so they missed seeing her. The Doctor was the only one unfamiliar with her, so truly he was the only one missing out completely. She was a couple inches shorter than Ranma, much more Akane and Julie's size than his. A light coloured and highly decorative Chinese dress covered a well curved body; the dress ending dangerously above her knees. Long purplish hair flowed down her back with two pigtails framing her fiercely cute face. Shampoo was very sweet, unless she had a reason to hate you, in which case, look out. Shampoo walked in, her hair swishing around her. She sat next to Ranma, who looked unsure as to whether he should welcome her or be afraid of her, and gestured with a nod of her head at the Doctor. "Who dat?" "He's a friend of my dad and Mr. Tendo. He calls himself the Doctor." "I miss something?" Briefly, Ranma informed her about the Doctor's strange appearance in the TARDIS, the way that he had proved his identity, and the sudden disappearance of Akane, Julie, and the TARDIS. He also told her what the Doctor was building and how it should lead them to the abductors. Shampoo remained silent through his entire speech, a gentle furrow appeared in her brow during the more complex areas of the conversation. Then, when he was finished, her high pitched voice sang out in the room. "If just Akane taken, I say 'Fine, good riddance', but Doctor lose friend too. You go with him Ranma?" Ranma grew nervous in the presence of her smile. "Uh, yeah." "Shampoo go too!" she declared, wrapping her arms tightly around Ranma. The Doctor, while not looking at the embracing pair, raised an eyebrow all the same. It certainly seemed like he knew what was going on. Noise filled the air. Ranma became aware of something being swung towards his head. Instinctively, he rolled away, taking Shampoo with him. A large umbrella crashed point down to the floor where Ranma had been moments before. "Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!" Ranma easily recognized the voice and the umbrella. For that matter, he recognized the angry young man wielding the umbrella. "Ryoga! What do you want now?" "Your death Ranma. It's not enough that you have a beautiful fiance in Akane, you have to go frolic in the arms of Shampoo!" Ryoga swung the umbrella again and Ranma dodged, breaking loose from Shampoo. While Shampoo tumbled to a halt near the Doctor, Ranma kept dodging blows from the umbrella, trying to make for the door leading to the back garden, where he'd have more room to maneuver. In his rage, Ryoga was unaware of his goal and kept wielding his large umbrella like a sword. Shampoo sat up and heard the Doctor mumble "Doesn't anyone ever knock around here?" She gave him an odd look. Ranma leapt out the door to partial freedom. As he rose in the air, jumping higher than most basketball players could hope to reach, Ryoga went for his hidden supply of bandannas, all of them similar to the yellow spotted one he wore around his head. "Ranma!" Ryoga flung a number of bandannas. They flew like bolas. Nearing the peak of his leap, Ranma glanced over his shoulder to see the dangerous bandannas heading straight for him. He yelped loudly and twisted in midair to dodge them. This repositioning of his body caused him to angle wrong on his decent. Therefore, he didn't land where he'd planned on. Ranma landed in the duck pond, splashing down in the cold water. Ranma surfaced sputtering, trying her best to clear her airways of liquid. "What'd you have to go and do that for?" she questioned angrily in a voice not really made for such violent expression. "Shut up!" Ryoga retorted. "I've suffered for so long because of you and still you question any of my motives?" As he finished his statement, the rock that Ranma had thrown at him caught Ryoga in the head, teaching him a lesson for closing his eyes briefly during his tirade. Ryoga fell. Ranma stepped out of the pond and began wringing some of the water from her clothes. "Dork." Ryoga was down, but not out. When Ranma saw the umbrella heading at her, she jumped to avoid it, letting it crash into one of the rock sculptures around the pond. The umbrella got stuck in the rocks. The anger on Ryoga's face was intense and easy to see, as was the mark on Ryoga's face where the rock had hit him. "Ranma!" Growling, Ryoga leapt at Ranma, foot extended in attack. Ranma easily dodged, leapfrogging over her flying opponent. Ryoga landed from the attempted attack, but was too slow to block the punch Ranma was aiming at his head. Ryoga staggered slightly, momentarily dazed. A sly grin spread across Ranma's face. With blinding speed, her hands began moving, punching, chopping, hitting Ryoga. It looked as if Ranma had not two hands, but fifty. Each blow was accompanied by a loud cry from Ranma, punctuating each blow. Ranma finally stopped and Ryoga fell to the ground, next to, but not in, the pond. Ryoga had been lucky. Still fuming, Ranma paused for a moment, unsure of what to do next. Ryoga took the moment of her uncertainty to grasp the umbrella from the rock, which was quite near him, and once again send it hurtling towards Ranma. Ranma, again, easily avoided it. Back inside, the Doctor was holding up a mostly completed mass of technological art to the light, trying to discover where a particular wire had gone. "It was here a minute ago," he mumbled, a concerned wrinkle in his brow. Ryoga's umbrella flew in through the open door and crashed into the Doctor's concoction. Nabiki, Genma, and Shampoo watched the Doctor intently to see how he'd react. Surprisingly, his expression did not change, even when his partially completed device began falling out of his hand to the table below. He stared at the empty hand for a while. Eventually, he looked at the pieces on the table. Nothing appeared to be too badly damaged, just separated. He stood up and, with calm look still firmly planted on his face, walked out the door to the garden. Shampoo looked at Nabiki. "Somebody in trouble." Genma adjusted his glasses again, as he seemed to do almost every time he spoke. "The Doctor is not pleased. I don't envy whoever threw that." Nabiki stood up. "I don't know about you two, but I'm going to watch this." Rather slowly, rather patiently, the Doctor was walking out to the pond. Ranma was currently standing on Ryoga's face. The Doctor tipped his hat to Ranma. "Excuse me miss, did you throw that umbrella?" "No!" Ranma snapped. "And don't call me miss!" "Sorry," the Doctor commented offhandedly, "I have a cold." He looked at Ryoga as Ranma mercifully removed her foot from his face. "Friend of yours ma'am?" "Quit with the girl jokes, it's me, Ranma." The Doctor gave her a highly curious look. "I've heard of people acting differently around their friends, but this is a bit extreme." "Will you just shut up?" Ryoga staggered to his feet. "Ranma!" he growled with less energy than he would have liked. The Doctor got in his face. "Did you throw that umbrella?" "Yeah. What do you care?" "You broke my machine. You're causing a rather lot of trouble about here. I think it best you have a nap to cool off." The Doctor's limbs moved with a fascinating speed. His left hand, fingers spread, connected with Ryoga's collarbone. His right hand grabbed Ryoga's side. His sock covered right foot touched Ryoga's knee. Ryoga stiffened and fell to the ground unconscious. Ranma was impressed. "Wow, neat trick." The Doctor adjusted his shirt. "Considering I'm a bit out of practice and I've only two arms, I don't think I did too badly." "Only two?" "The Venusians have four. Or had, can't remember which. Maybe it's will have had. Well, anyway," he began walking back to the house. Kasumi was in the doorway. "More tea?" "Yes please." He turned back to Ranma. "While I'm rebuilding my device, would you explain to me why you appear rather female at the moment? Curiosity demands I ask." They went inside. Ryoga lay paralyzed where he was. He could come inside later. Maybe. Excitement coursed through his body like blood. The thrill of sneaking around, the enjoyment of being devious, the unparalleled thrill of holding a bra between your fingers . . . He was a pervert. He wasn't just any pervert however, he was a special pervert. He stood about three feet high. He was old and wrinkled. A handkerchief was atop his head, tied below his nose, a small attempt at disguise. Slung over his shoulder was a bag that was almost as large as he was, a bag that was overflowing with womens' underwear. With a raspy chuckle, he placed the bag before him and fondled a few of the items reverently. "Aah, what a haul, what a haul," he chortled with joy. "These lovely ladies have provided quite a service for me, although they don't know it. What a haul . . ." He trailed off. The nurses quarters ran the length of the hall, filled with tired third shift workers who had a nap before going home. He'd visited twenty four of the twenty five rooms. Now came the big decision: should he go through room twenty five? He already had enough supplies to keep him occupied for quite awhile, so he didn't need to raid this last room. On the other hand, how could he go on, knowing he'd skipped a room and being forever curious as to who lay inside? On the other hand, he knew from studying their timetable that they would soon be waking, as their trains would be departing in a manner of minutes. On the other hand, there was more underwear to be had! How could he not go inside? His adrenaline surging, he made his way into the final room. Inside, all was silent. Slowly, energies singing, he crept inside. Every sense was heightened, every limb tingled with excitement. Patiently, without a sound, he made his way to the small dresser near the one bed. Anticipation thrilled through him as he carefully pulled the drawer open. His hand went inside the drawer and grabbed hold of a silky mass. That's went the alarm went off. A loud buzzer filled the rooms with the sleeping nurses in them. Some slowly, some quite quickly, began to rise. The pervert had frozen briefly, caught off guard by the sudden sound. Unluckily for him, the two nurses in the room he was in were rapid risers and it didn't take them very long to notice the little man attempting to steal their undergarments. "Hey, what are you doing? Who do you think you are?" The pervert merely grinned at them. "Sorry ladies, must go." He bounced to the door and then out it. The nurses looked at each other for half a second and then chased after him. Luckily for them, they were already dressed in their street clothes and not some sort of pyjamas. As they entered the hallway, they began yelling. It wouldn't be long before all the nurses were after him. Julie and Akane screeched to a halt outside one of the many rooms in the place that they'd been beamed to. "In here?" Julie questioned. "Why not?" Akane noted. Julie fumbled with the door and it didn't manage to open. A keypad sat next to the door, embedded in the wall. "Oh, it had better not be locked," Julie moaned. "Should I push something?" Questioned Akane. The sound of boots began to echo down the hall heading their way. Julie looked around them wildly, her blonde hair bouncing around her as she did. "Try a couple quick and then we'll try another door if we can't get in here." Akane nodded and turned all her attention to the keypad. In the dim light of the hallway, it was hard to make out any of the labels on the buttons. After a few seconds, she clicked her tongue and pressed a button. The door popped open, Julie swung the door open fully, and they bolted inside. Inside, they stood on the other side of the door, almost holding it closed. Their breathing was rapid and, more importantly, in sync. They held their breath as the boots grew louder, and then faded away. As one, they exhaled in relief. "Now that we've got a few minutes, hopefully, do you have any idea where we are?" Akane turned to look at Julie. "Specifically or generally?" Julie frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. Both I guess." Now Akane frowned. "I don't know. This place could be anything really. Could be a ship, could be a base, we don't know how far we traveled." She sighed. "I suppose I should be getting used to this sort of thing." "What sort of thing?" "Being kidnapped." "Does it happen often?" "Often enough." "Sounds fun." "It's not." They paused and mulled that thought over for a moment. "What button did you press to get us in here?" Julie questioned. "The red one that said 'unlock' on it." "Excellent choice." "Thank you." Slowly, as their eyes grew accustomed to the even dimmer light in the room, they began to pull away from the door and examine their hiding place. Now that the sound of boots had passed by, they felt a great deal safer. Strangely shaped containers were stacked neatly along the walls in the small room. There were few places to hide and even fewer places to hide well. The containers were of the most interest to the young ladies and they concentrated their efforts on examining them closely. The containers were indented on the tops so that they could be stacked higher with greater stability. It was hard to tell, due to the dimness of the light, but they appeared to be gray in colour. After some in depth examining revealed few other clues as to the contents, Akane looked up at Julie. "Think we should try and open one up?" Julie glanced up from the case to Akane. "I think so. Whatever's in this might be important in figuring out what's going on here." She moved to open the top of the uppermost box on the pile nearest her. "Well, I was just wondering if it might be booby trapped or something." Julie immediately released the lid from her hands and briefly held her head in her hands. "Why did you have to ask something like that? Now I'm all nervous. Thanks a lot." "Sorry." Julie sighed. "It's not your fault. Let's think. Is it logical for it to be booby trapped unless they expected someone like us to come poking around in here?" "No, not really." "I agree. So why am I still so nervous?" She smiled nervously. "Good question." "Would you like to open it?" "No, you obviously have your heart set on doing it. Go right ahead." "That's all right, you can if you like." "I wouldn't dream of it. You can open away." Hands shaking gently, Julie once again moved to open the case. She gently lifted the two flaps that interlocked to make the lid. As she lifted, she stood as far away from the case as possible, barely touching the case at all. Akane, for her part, stood on the other side of the room, as far away from the case as possible. Julie opened the case. Nothing happened. No big explosion, no loud alarm, no fireworks. Once this point sunk in, they slowly made their way to the case and peered inside. Inside, in a foam packing container, molded to fit the device inside, was a strangely shaped, shining metal piece of machinery. "What's that?" Akane questioned. Julie shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno." Akane reached in the case and removed a small pamphlet. She read from the cover. "How to install and maintain your new Temporal Focuser." A furrow entered her brow. "Temporal Focuser?" "I don't know what it is either." She sighed. "I wish the Doctor was here, he'd know what it is. He's good with things like these." "Well, it must do something with Time," Akane noted, "it is a Temporal thing." "That might explain why the TARDIS got grabbed." The door whooshed open behind them. They whirled around to see the leader enter the room, followed by a few guards. It became quite cramped in the small room. "Greetings young ladies, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. Now, I'll make this simple. Give me the key to the time machine or die." He glanced at a chronometer on his wrist. "You have one minute from . . . Now." -To be Continued- DOCTOR WHO Cursed Time Episode Three by Stephen M. Wolterstorff A 1995 Python Lord Productiontm. The Doctor and the TARDIS are copyrights of the BBC and Amblin Entertainment. They are used without permission. 1963, 1995. Ranma Saotome, Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, and the Tendo Sisters Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, are all characters created by Rumiko Takahashi and they, along with the situations created by her, are copyright Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc 1995. They are used without permission. The flashback in this episode is taken directly from the Ranma 1/2 manga without permission. All other characters, devices, etc are the creation of Stephen M. Wolterstorff and likes to assert the fact that he made them up more or less on his own. They are presumed to be copyright him, 1995. This is a work of fiction. Any characters, places, or events that resemble those in 'real' life are used with a spirit of fun and are loving tributes to their real counterparts, not bitter sarcastic jibes as you might think. Thank you for not suing me. Permission to copy this work is granted to the recipient of this file as long as said copy is not made for financial gain and the copy is complete and unaltered, apart from changes due to formatting. If anyone makes any money off this, I'd prefer it to be me. Doctor Who : Season 31 Production Code : 8P 1995 Python Lord Productions. Cursed Time Episode Three of Seven. Released weekly 19 May 1995. Episode Three The door whooshed open behind them. They whirled around to see the leader enter the room, followed by a few guards. It became quite cramped in the small room. "Greetings young ladies, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. Now, I'll make this simple. Give me the key to the time machine or die." He glanced at a chronometer on his wrist. "You have one minute from . . . Now." Julie and Akane looked at each other, a distinct look of fear highlighting each of their features. Then they looked back at the gentleman before them. "Time machine? What time machine?" Julie asked innocently. "Don't play games with me girl," the man spat. "The machine that accompanied you up to the ship. The blue box. It is locked. I want the key. I believe one of you has it." He looked at his chronometer again. "Forty one seconds." Julie and Akane exchanged another look. "What makes you think I've got a key?" Julie continued. "It's not my machine, I only travel in it." This made their opponent pause. "Then whose machine is it?" "My friend, the Doctor's. We just happened to be near the TARDIS when you sto. . . . acquired it." "It is called 'TARDIS', hmm?" Thought displayed itself on his face in the form of a crease in his forehead. A rather deep crease appeared, indicating a rather deep thought. "This sounds familiar to me, your statement does not seem unreasonable." He smiled at the young ladies. "So, you have traveled through time?" Akane gestured at Julie. "She has, I haven't." "But you'd like to, wouldn't you?" Akane found the eager excited look on his face to be somewhat disturbing. She was a bit nervous because of it when she answered him with "Sure, I guess." "Time fascinates me," he reported in the same tone of voice that a small boy might use to tell you that he has a dog at home named Spot. "Glad to hear of it," Julie said happily. Out of the side of her mouth, she muttered to Akane "Nut case." "Completely," Akane muttered back, while not letting her smile fade. One of the guards saw fit to speak up. "Sir, please recall that these are the intruders. The ones we were chasing. Bad thing, hmm?" A gentle seriousness reinfected him. "Excellent point. Well, if this 'TARDIS' does indeed belong to your friend, I find it highly likely that he will come looking for it. At which point, both of you will come in handy as hostages to insure that he will turn over the key to me." He chuckled briefly. "Yes, I think that turned out rather well, don't you?" He gestured to his guards. "Place them in Lockup Area A until we land. I don't want them messing anything up." They moved forward. Julie and Akane allowed themselves to be led into the hallway before they acted. Once there, Akane kicked back at the guard behind her, causing him to crash back into some of his fellows and fall to the ground. Akane then turned on the guard before her, attacking him with a spin kick to the head. Julie was heavily impressed with Akane's moves, but felt unable to keep up. When the guard behind her moved to attack Akane, Julie tripped him and then started punching at the next guy through the door. Unfortunately, his uniform was well padded and her punches did little damage. Both the guard and Julie were pushed roughly to the side by the leader who fought his way out of the small room to get to Akane. "Young lady!" he shouted. Akane dropped a final guard with a kick to the teeth and spun to face her latest opponent. "My name is Akane!" she responded angrily. "And a lovely name it is as well," he responded. "I am Toki Dorobo, the Time Thief. I cannot allow you to go free." "Try and stop me!" "As you wish." He flung a small pebble sized item at her. It landed at her feet and exploded in a cloud of white smoke. A few seconds later, the gas had caused Akane to pass out. She collapsed to the floor. Toki turned back to Julie. "Will you offer any further resistance?" "No, I don't think so," Julie responded. "By the way, just for your records, I'm Julie." "A pleasure to meet you Julie. Now, if you please, would you carry Akane to the room to which we will lead you? I'd rather not get angry again." Reluctantly, Julie did as she was told and walked off with Akane's sleeping form. The Doctor sat down again at the table just as Kasumi was refilling his tea cup. He smiled happily as the boiling hot fluid poured into his cup. "You really are too kind Kasumi." "Oh, its nothing." Blushing ever so slightly, she disappeared back into the kitchen. The Doctor sipped at his tea while Ranma toweled off, trying to get a little less wet. Shampoo and Nabiki had returned to their places, more or less, after having moved to watch the Doctor's actions. "That was a pretty impressive move Doctor," Nabiki informed. She actually looked mildly impressed. Shampoo smiled and nodded. "Shampoo like too." "Just a little something I picked up on the Venusian colonies," the Doctor said, managing to sound very modest. Ranma, still a female, sat down next to Genma, who looked like he hadn't moved in three years. As the Doctor picked up the various pieces he had been working on before he was so rudely interrupted, he said rather nonchalantly "Um, Genma, would you care to explain your daughter here?" Genma sighed deeply and adjusted his glasses on his face. "Ah yes, you wish to know of the dreadful curse that haunts us and so many we know. When Ranma was born, I promised his mother that I would make him a man among men. To that end, when he grew old enough, I began training him in the different martial arts. We traveled far and wide, learning from different senseis and adjusting to different areas and attacks. And then we went to Jusenkyo." Genma paused as memories of that fateful day flooded his mind. "Our guide eagerly showed us there, but we were unaware of the dangers." "Mainly because neither of us speak or read Chinese," Ranma commented. "Silence boy," growled Genma. With that, Genma began his story. Genma and Ranma stood before the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo dressed in their training garments, their traveling packs still on their packs. "Are you prepared, Ranma?" Genma questioned. Ranma's expression echoed his words. "This place isn't so impressive." They began removing their packs as their Chinese guide began speaking to them again in his less than excellent Japanese. "You very strange one, no, sir? This place very dangerous. Nobody use now." The Cursed Springs were located at the foot of Mt. Quanjing in China. The area's terrain was very rough and hilly. The springs themselves were pools of water located between the many small hills. Bamboo poles were situated in the pools and they pointed straight up at the sky. Some of the larger pools had four or five poles in them; the smaller ones had one or two. The guide, unaware of the intentions of his charges, continued his speech for tourists. "Is more than one hundred spring here and every one have own tragic legend!" Genma and Ranma paid him little attention. Once their packs were dealt with, they prepared to begin training. Genma leapt up in the air. "Ranma, follow me!" Without a word, Ranma did. Their guide grew very excited and worried. "Ah! Sir! What you doing?" Genma and Ranma both landed on separate poles, balancing on one foot on the upper end of their pole, facing one another. Each stood in preparation to attack. Genma's stare would have unnerved any opponents except his son, who was quite used to it. "I won't go easy on you," warned Genma. A hint of a smile played on Ranma's lips. "That's how I want it." They stared at each other and then took to the air again; mid air grappling being the speciality of the Saotomes'. Highly worried, their guide tried to yell a warning. "Please, sir! Very bad if you fall in spring!" Neither Saotome heard him. Ranma deftly maneuvered around Genma's extended foot, just touching the leg long enough to gain enough momentum to flip around and direct a kick to the back of his father's head. As Ranma touched down on another pole, Genma was splashing down in the spring below them. "Gotcha." Genma did not surface immediately. After a moment, Ranma began to worry. "Pop? What's up? We done already?" After a moment, the water began to churn. Then, roaring out of the pool his father had fallen in, eyeglasses dangling from one ear sprang a massive black and white panda. Needless to say, Ranma was a tad surprised. His eyes grew as large as saucers as he yelped in shock. The panda bounced up to the pole opposite Ranma and adopted the same fighting stance his father had taken up a few moments ago. Ranma just stood there, pointing at the panda and stammering. The guide shouted his assistance. "That is 'Spring of Drowned Panda'! There is tragic legend, very tragic, of panda who drown there two thousand year ago! Now whoever fall in that spring . . . take body of panda!" Despite years of training, the horror and fear that Ranma felt at this moment eagerly manifested themselves on his face. The terrifying possibilities that this situation presented ran through his mind at the speed of light. The panda, which was really his father, took a swing at him. Ranma leapt over the massive paw that was aimed at him. "Wait a second!" Ranma cried. As he dodged another blow, he continued "You never said anything about . . ." Ranma was interrupted by a large paw connecting with his person. He fell. As he grew nearer the water, his body was filled with terror. What would be change into? A dog? A tiger? A pig? The possibilities were endless. He went under. The guide managed more fear for him. "Ohh, not 'Spring of Drowned Girl'! There is tragic legend, very tragic, of young girl who drown in spring one thousand five hundred year ago! Now whoever fall in that spring take body of young girl!" Ranma surfaced, choking and sputtering . . . and female. "You see what I mean?" Ranma realized almost immediately that something was different. He felt . . . strange. If nothing else, he felt a strange weight about his chest area. Instinctively, one hand leapt up there to examine this sensation. Ranma's eyes bulged. He gulped and looked down. Hands fumbling, he opened his shirt slightly and looked inside. Cleavage stared back at him, something he did not have before entering the water. He wasn't he, he was she. Anguished, Ranma let out a brief scream. The young man who had spent his life working to be a man among men was now a female. The torment was hard to describe. -Continued in 3.2- Genma ended his story and then looked up at the Doctor. A look of pity was evident in the Time Lord's eyes; a display of sadness for his friend's misfortune. Genma concluded his tale. "Now, when we are doused by cold water, we change to our cursed forms. When hot water is applied to our cursed forms, we return back to normal. A few others we know are similarly cursed. For instance, Shampoo turns into a cat." "You have my sympathy my friend," the Doctor informed. "It must not have been easy to adjust." "Correct. For my part, I have gotten somewhat used to my curse." "Shampoo used to too," she informed with a large smile. The Doctor smiled back, humouring her mildly. "I'm sure you make quite a cute cat as well Shampoo." "Ranma has adjusted the least," Genma continued. "I've got used to having a girl's body, but I don't like it any. If I ever find a way to change back to a guy permanently, I'll do it." "Well, I shall keep that in mind," the Doctor stated as he tinkered with his device. "Perhaps I can help." Ranma's face brightened. "Do you think you might be able to help?" "It is a possibility," the Doctor said absent mindly, adjusting the positioning of a microchip. "I tend to be good at things like those." "Great! That's great!" "Glad you think so." The Doctor closed the cover of the TARDIS locator he was building. He pressed a pad and activated the unit. It beeped. "Begin the celebration! It works." Ranma's good mood increased and she moved in close to him to look over his shoulder at the display screen. "So, where is it?" "About twenty miles away," he mumbled. "Near the mountains." He grunted. "Now how are we going to get there?" "We don't have a vehicle." "Shampoo has bike." "Thanks you Shampoo, but I hardly think we can go that distance on a bicycle," smiled the Doctor. Ranma grinned. "You haven't seen her pedal, have you?" The Doctor turned just enough to face her. "Fast?" "Very." "We won't all fit on a bicycle, will we?" "No." "So now what?" Nabiki had been patiently listening and watching. Until now, she had nothing to say, so she remained silent. "If you need transport, why not go to Kuno? He's rich, has access to all sorts of things, and loves Akane and the 'pigtailed girl'. He'll help." Ranma leapt up, her pigtail bobbing madly at the rapid movement. "Oh no, I'm not sucking up to Kuno." The Doctor frowned. "Who is this Kuno? Is he that bad?" After his statement, the doorbell rang. Ranma's hand went to her head. "Oh no, that can't be him." Kasumi entered the room, smiling as always. "Kuno is here." The sky over the nearby mountains was blue and full of bright white fluffy clouds. One cloud moved a bit faster than the other clouds. Slowly, it began to descend. The cloud was the disguised vessel of Toki Dorobo, the Time Thief. As it descended, a door opened in the side of one of the mountains, displaying a landing strip. Slowly, patiently, the ship entered the mountain, the door closing behind it. Inside the cell which was referred to as Lockup Area A, Akane was regaining consciousness. She groaned rather loudly and tried to sit up. Gently, Julie kept her from doing so. "Not yet. Wake up a little more first, let your head settle. I've learned that much from my travels already. I'll get you a glass of water." "Thank you." As Julie walked from the bed which Akane was lying on to the small table which had a pitcher of water and some small snacks on it, Akane groaned again, rubbing her temples. "What did he hit me with?" "Some sort of knockout gas," replied Julie. Carefully, Akane sat up as Julie returned with the water. Akane sipped at the water as Julie continued. "He didn't seem to regard us as much of a threat. Either he's powerful, doesn't think much of women, or has a large ego." "Eitherway, I owe him one. He'd better not think I'll forget it either." "You defended yourself well back there, until the gas at least. Do you think you could show me a few moves?" "Right now?" "No, not right now. You're still recovering, I'm not that impatient." "Okay. It might be fun. I don't get to do that sort of thing too often." "Great!" The door to the cell opened and Toki appeared in the doorway. "Hello. It is good to see that you are awake again Akane. I trust we'll not have any further foolishness from you." Akane prepared to start telling him what she thought of him, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Julie shake her head 'no' ever so slightly. Akane swallowed her anger before answering with with a "No." "Excellent. We've landed back at Kichi-Toki, so its time to move you to a cell inside there. The guards will have their guns drawn this time, to insure your good behaviour. All right? I'd hate for them to have to shoot you, even a little bit. Fine then. See you in a little while." He walked off and a pair of psychotics with body armour and guns entered. "Move! And no funny business!" Julie helped Akane up. "You're still not well," she whispered, "and I can't fight for both of us. Its better for him not to expect much from us." Akane sighed as she leaned on Julie to help her walk. "I guess you're right. I'll behave . . for the moment." They were escorted to their new cell. Seconds after Kasumi had finished speaking, Ranma grabbed the Doctor's tea and spilled it on herself. A few seconds after that, he was male again. The Doctor did not appreciate this tactic. "Do you mind? I wasn't finished with that." Kasumi smiled brightly. "Don't worry about it," said she in that reassuring voice of hers, "I'll get you another one." "Thank you." Kasumi left and Kuno entered. Kuno was tall, dark, handsome and very aware of these facts. While he loved Akane and 'the pig tailed girl' (he being too dense to comprehend that this girl was Ranma, even after having Ranma transform before him) there was one person Tatewaki Kuno loved more than these and that person was Tatewaki Kuno. He wore a bright blue samurai robe, held a bokuto, wooden sword, in one hand, flowers in the other, and tried to look very calm, relaxed, and superior. "Greeting to you all on this fine morning, a morning where birds sing and the sun blazes like a fiery god in the sky, displeased with all it surveys. I, the rising young star of Furikan High School, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder, wish to have words with the beauteous Akane Tendo." The Doctor leaned back slightly and managed to get Ranma's attention. "Does he always talk like that?" Ranma nodded. The Doctor shuddered. Nabiki directed another of her lazy eyed stares at Kuno. "You know Kuno baby, we do have a phone." Kuno whirled around to view her. "I am well aware of that. The conversation holds more meaning if I can gaze down into the depths of her soul." "Talented fellow," muttered the Doctor at a volume so that only Ranma and Shampoo heard him. "It will be difficult for you to speak with Akane," Genma informed. "She has been kidnapped." Kuno stared at Genma, an expression of extreme shock on his face. "What?!?" Genma nodded solemnly. "Yes, its true. We are tracing the miscreants now." Kuno adopted a more heroic looking pose. "If this is the case, then we must go and rescue her! Not a moment shall pass that I am not working to aid her, I shall not rest until she is free. The vengeance of heaven is swift." The Doctor rose. "I'm glad you feel that way young man, we were preparing to ask you a favour, and, seeing as how you feel this way, I'm sure you'll be eager to assist." By the time he'd finished these words, the Doctor had strolled over to Kuno. "Now, we don't know a great deal about where we're going exactly, but . . ." Kuno had been looking down at the Doctor like he was a bug. He interrupted the flow of the Doctor's ramblings with a mildly loud "Who are you?" This didn't seem to bother the Doctor a great deal, he merely pondered this question as a statement for a moment. "Well, in a manner of speaking, I guess I could be, but it's not very accurate. I go by 'the Doctor'." "That doesn't help much," Kuno replied. The Doctor began to look hurt. Nabiki jumped in to rescue him. "He's a friend of Ranma's father and mine. His friend and a machine of his were taken along with Akane." "He very smart. Build machine to find TARDIS all by self, even when stupid Ryoga break it," Shampoo offered. Politely, the Doctor tipped his hat and smiled to her. "Then you desire some sort of vengeance? You wish to revenge yourself on this evil?" The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but Kuno continued after a brief pause. "Never fear Doctor, when I rescue the lovely Akane, I shall also recover your friend and your machine. You can place your faith in the Blue Thunder, Tatewaki Kuno. Like a knight in shining armour, I shall rid this land of evil and free the oppressed." His smile was strange, he was obviously miles away in his own little world. The Doctor gave him a curious look. "All we wanted was a lift," he insisted. "If you're going Kuno, we're all coming along," Ranma informed forcefully. "We don't know what's going on there, and I'm not letting you bounce off on your own." Kuno chuckled gently. "Jealous Saotome. Can it be that you truly care for Akane after all?" Ranma faltered briefly. Then, with renewed force, he retorted. "Of course not! I'm going to make sure that Julie and the TARDIS make it back safely. Once you get a look at that sex appealess Akane, you'll forget everything else." Kuno was boiling. "How dare you speak of my beauteous Akane in such a cavalier fashion?" Before Ranma could answer, Ryoga's voice floated in from just outside the doorway. "Your Akane?!? Akane will be mine and don't you forget it!" Ryoga staggered in, still somewhat shaken up from the Doctor's attack. The Doctor groaned. "Oh good grief," muttered he, feeling quite easily that the situation was far from being in his control. Kuno cried back at Ryoga. "I wouldn't care to wager on that!" He raised his wooden weapon. Soun Tendo, unconscious for so long, finally raised his head again to speak. "No! Please do not destroy my house again! I can not afford it!" He began weeping again. With a tired sigh, Nabiki stood up and wiggled her finger at Kuno. "C'mere for a minute Kuno." "What should I?" Nabiki grabbed his ear and led him off to the other side of the room. Once there, she began talking rather animatedly to him. Keeping with her character, a fair amount of sly knowing looks helped make up most of her gestures. As the others watched, the anger on Kuno's face visibly faded. Slowly but surely, he was beaten back down to calmness. After a minute or two, they returned to the rest of the group, Kuno looking beaten and Nabiki with a look of triumph on her face. Humbly, Kuno informed "I shall arrange for transport for all of the group." After which, he scuttled off. Ryoga looked especially pleased. "Well, we won't have any more trouble out of him now, will we?" Still smiling, Nabiki now approached him. "I don't think we'll have any trouble out of you either . . . . P-Chan." Ryoga jumped. "Huh?" Nabiki sighed dramatically. "It would be such a shame if my dear little sister was to find out that her precious little piggy was really a pervert named Ryoga. That dear pet piggy of hers, that she holds to her bosom and takes to bed with her. I wonder how'd she'd take news like that?" She managed not to sound too sarcastic. Ryoga could easily imagine what her reaction might be. It involved pain for him, emotional and physical. Perhaps even shed blood. "N-no, don't tell!" "Then you'll behave?" Ryoga bowed his head. "Yes." He excused himself and left the room. Ranma smiled. "You'll notice I promised nothing." "So he's cursed too?" the Doctor questioned. Ranma nodded. "He turns into a little black pig. Vicious too." "Why does that fail to surprise me?" The Doctor turned to Nabiki and offered his hand in congratulations. "I must say, you handled that rather well." "What you tell Kuno?" Shampoo inquired. "Oh, just mentioned some pictures I happen to have." "Of what?" "That's none of your business. If he doesn't keep up his end of the bargain, then I'll tell you about his bunny." "Bunny?" But Nabiki would say no more. "I'd lost control of the situation, and that's unusual for me," the Doctor continued. "It is," Ranma countered, "isn't it Doctor?" "I know," he replied. "Eitherway Nabiki, thank you. I owe you one." Nabiki's smile grew more sly. "I hoped you'd feel that way." Kuno reentered the room. "The transport will be here soon." They began leaving the room, preparing themselves for travel. With a slight crash, the TARDIS landed on the floor of the main laboratory in Kichi-Toki. The Time Thief immediately began screaming. "Mindless oafs! This is a highly sensitive piece of machinery capable of puncturing the very fabric of space and time. I'll not have you damage it through carelessness." "Sorry sir," replied the straight faced guard, "we're doing our best. The device is quite heavy, it required eight antigrav units to move. We should have teleported it into the laboratory sir." "And risk damaging it via the teleport beam?!? It was bad enough we had to teleport it away from the surface, I will not chance it again through that device again unless I am forced to!" "So we had a choice between possibly damaging the machine in the teleport or possibly damaging it by hand?" Toki Dorobo directed a harsh look at the guard. The guard's expression did not falter once. "Understood sir. My smart mouth goes unappreciated. I shall silence myself." "Excellent. Now then, begin preparing the equipment, be especially quick about setting up the trans dimension sub etha scanners. I want to do some low level examinations of the TARDIS as soon as is possible." True to his word, the guard did not speak his response. He merely nodded and went about his business. A large gray coloured blimp floated lazily over the city, pausing once it was over the Tendo home. A long rope ladder was flung down from the box beneath the large gas bag. Kuno watched from the sidewalk before the Tendo home as the ladder spilled down into the street and then hung there. A man dressed in black leaned out of the door of the box, holding a megaphone in his hand. "I am ready for you, young master!" he shouted down. Kuno gestured up, acknowledging he'd heard. The man reentered the box. Ryoga exited the house, stepped through the open gateway of the tall wooden fence surrounding the Tendo property, and stood next to Kuno, Shading the sun from his eyes with his hand, he looked up at the large floating gas bag above them. "Blimp, huh?" "Yes," answered Kuno simply. He didn't care to speak with Ryoga often, primarily due to their common interest in Akane. Ryoga said nothing further to continue the conversation; he merely stood there and stared at the blimp. Genma was the next one out of the house, with Ranma and Shampoo close behind him. Shampoo was doing her best to get Ranma to put his arm around her and was getting very frustrated because he wouldn't do it. Genma looked up to examine their transport. "It's a blimp," Genma stated rather matter-of-factly. Ranma and Shampoo were also looking up. "If I were looking for a word to describe that, Pop, it would definitely be 'blimp'." Genma gave him a stare which read 'Shut up, boy.' Shampoo clapped her hands excitedly. "Shampoo like blimp." Finally, the Doctor and Nabiki exited the house. Kasumi stepped into the doorway, but did not exit. "You will be careful, won't you?" she questioned, sounding mildly worried. "Sure we will," Nabiki responded reassuringly. "We'll have Akane back by dinnertime. You'll be able to take care of Daddy, won't you?" "Of course." The Doctor fished something from one of his dimensionally transcendental pockets and tossed it to Kasumi, who, although surprised, managed to catch it. "It's a small vial of sedatives," the Doctor informed. "Give him one every three hours if he doesn't calm down." Kasumi shined a smile at him. "Thank you." "Well, I'm not called the Doctor for no reason," he replied with a grin. Then he noticed the shadow and looked to the sky to see what was causing it. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "They've got a blimp." Excitedly, he wandered toward the street and the rope ladder. Nabiki and Kasumi exchanged a brief chuckle after his absence. Once Kuno noticed the Doctor, he spoke up. "Are we prepared to depart?" The Doctor nodded. That's when they, as a group, first heard the noise. It sounded like the sound of women yelling. A number of women yelling very loudly. The sound seemed to be getting closer. As a group, they looked about in confusion. Then they saw him come running around the corner, headed straight for them. He was small, withered, and carrying a sack of women's underwear that was larger than he was. Twenty five angry nurses dressed in their street clothes and nurses hats were chasing him, intending to cause him severe bodily damage if they caught him. He looked unworried and bounced away from them, chuckling at every bound. As a group, Kuno, Ryoga, Genma, Ranma, Shampoo, Nabiki, and the Doctor stared at the tiny approaching figure, their faces a mixture of shock and anger. Together they cried "Happosai!" -To be Continued- -Lord Doc DOCTOR WHO Cursed Time Episode Four by Stephen M. Wolterstorff A 1995 Python Lord Productiontm. The Doctor and the TARDIS are copyrights of the BBC and Amblin Entertainment. They are used without permission. 1963, 1995. Ranma Saotome, Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, and the Tendo Sisters Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, are all characters created by Rumiko Takahashi and they, along with the situations created by her, are copyright Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc 1995. They are used without permission. All other characters, devices, etc are the creation of Stephen M. Wolterstorff and likes to assert the fact that he made them up more or less on his own. They are presumed to be copyright him, 1995. This is a work of fiction. Any characters, places, or events that resemble those in 'real' life are used with a spirit of fun and are loving tributes to their real counterparts, not bitter sarcastic jibes as you might think. Thank you for not suing me. Permission to copy this work is granted to the recipient of this file as long as said copy is not made for financial gain and the copy is complete and unaltered, apart from changes due to formatting. If anyone makes any money off this, I'd prefer it to be me. Doctor Who : Season 31 Production Code : 8P 1995 Python Lord Productions. Cursed Time Episode Four of Seven. Released weekly 26 May 1995. Episode Four That's when they, as a group, first heard the noise. It sounded like the sound of women yelling. A number of women yelling very loudly. The sound seemed to be getting closer. As a group, they looked about in confusion. Then they saw him come running around the corner, headed straight for them. He was small, withered, and carrying a sack of women's underwear that was larger than he was. Twenty five angry nurses dressed in their street clothes and nurses hats were chasing him, intending to cause him severe bodily damage if they caught him. He looked unworried and bounced away from them, chuckling at every bound. As a group, Kuno, Ryoga, Genma, Ranma, Shampoo, Nabiki, and the Doctor stared at the tiny approaching figure, their faces a mixture of shock and anger. Together they cried "Happosai!" Happosai seemed quite unaware that his path was blocked in any way until he bounced off the Doctor's chest. The Doctor looked less than pleased to see Happosai. Very less. As he fell to the ground, the Doctor glared down at the wizened old man; the Doctor's face twisted in an expression of anger not often displayed on his face. "Happosai!" The old man looked up at him, looking totally unworried about seeing the Doctor. "Ah, Doctor, how fine to see you again. I'm in a hurry, move it or lose it." The Doctor's hand flashed down and grabbed Happosai by the collar. "You old lech! Do you think that after all you did to me and my companion I would ever do you a favour again? It took Sigmund Freud almost a year to sort out her tortured brain out and that was with my help!" Happosai was totally unbothered. "You fuss too much. Let me go." The Doctor did let go, as the nurses ripped the midget menace from his hands. All twenty five nurses were careful to make sure they managed to bruise their assailant at least once, not worrying if it was done by fist, high heeled shoe, or stick. Two minutes later, after a solid beating and a verbal chewing out, the nurses departed with their purloined undergarments, leaving Happosai a mass of bruises, bumps, and small cuts. Ranma looked over the Doctor's shoulder and down at the wounded Happosai. Ranma smiled slightly. He always enjoyed seeing Happosai get his comeupance, primarily due to all the trouble Happosai had put him through. "You know him?" questioned Ranma of the Doctor. The Doctor removed his hat and held it to his chest. He bowed his head slightly and closed his eyes nearly completely. "Yes, Happosai and I know each other." Genma oozed up on the Doctor's other side. "The Doctor trained with myself and Tendo for a time under Happosai. The Doctor departed from us some months previous to Happosai's . . . . incarceration, primarily due to the deterioration of his companion's mental health. Her name was Sarah, was it not?" The Doctor's eyes were still narrowed. "Yes, Sarah Jane. Happosai and feminists do not mix." Ranma nodded sympathetically. "Happosai and me don't mix." Happosai began to stir. The Doctor became active and once again snagged the dirty old man by the collar. Happosai dangled before the Doctor. As the Doctor held him there, memories of what he had done in the past encouraged him to boot Happosai away or lock him in a box somewhere. He began to feel this was not uncommon for those who knew Happosai. "It would be too much too ask to ask you to behave, wouldn't it?" questioned the Doctor. When Happosai's eyes opened again, they blazed with anger. "Why did you give me over to them Doctor? You know how foolish that action must be!" "I didn't exactly hand you over," the Doctor pointed out, "you were removed from my grasp. I was too busy deciding what I should do to you to see those nurses coming." Ranma leaned over to his father and whispered a question. "If the Doctor's appearance has changed, how did Happosai recognize him?" Genma whispered his reply. "Master Happosai is an expert at reading battle auras. Despite the Doctor's physical change, his battle aura must not have altered considerably." "You have incurred your master's wrath!" announced Happosai. "Prepare for pain!" Displaying his abilities, Happosai removed himself from the Doctor's determined grip and aimed a kick at the Doctor's chin. While Happosai's foot was no where near its target, Happosai's massive battle aura flashed a bright orange and it connected with the Doctor's chin, causing him to stumble and nearly fall. Only some quick thinking on Ryoga and Kuno's part kept him from crashing to the ground, as they caught him while he fell. The Doctor recovered quickly and stood up, thanking his rescuers for their help. He adjusted his hat and scanned the area for Happosai as were the others. Happosai was small,fast, good at hiding, angry, and quite dangerous. "Where did he go?" grumbled the Doctor. He leapt up and gently landed on the fence, perching their like a bird. From this vantage point, he resumed his scan. Suddenly, Shampoo screamed loudly. The Doctor acted quickly, removing a cloth bag from his trenchcoat pocket, and leaping down from his perch, landing behind Shampoo. He swung the bag and netted himself a Happosai. The bag moved about as its contents tried to get free. The Doctor smirked at the bag. "It was only a matter of time before Happosai went after one of the females in our group. Happosai's not just any pervert." "We know," chorused the rest of the group. As delicately and as politely as possible, Shampoo massaged her molested posterior. Despite the fact that Happosai had attacked her before, it never ceased to bother her. Besides, he tended to pinch very hard. Ryoga stepped up to the Doctor, a bandanna in hand. "May I?" "Certainly." With surprising skill, Ryoga used the bandanna to secure the bag tightly and firmly. Ryoga smiled. The Doctor did as well. Ranma now approached. "May I take charge of the sack?" "If you wish." They smiled at one another as the Doctor handed the sack over to Ranma. "Now that he has been dealt with, shall we depart?" Kuno prompted. "Saving Akane awaits!" One by one, they began climbing up the rope ladder to the gondola. Their trip began. Punch. Blocked. Kick. Blocked. Punch, punch, kick. Blocked, blocked, barely blocked. Punch, feint, leg sweep. Julie landed unceremoniously on her bottom after being unable to read the leg sweep coming. She yelped as she landed hard on her tailbone. Every piece of Akane's expression read 'Whoops' as she watched Julie bounce to her feet and begin delicately and politely massaging the damaged body part. "Sorry about that. I'm not used to sparring with someone as unpracticed as you." "Don't worry about it," Julie insisted. "I told you not to go easy on me and you didn't. Those guys out there aren't about to say 'Well, you're not very good at this, so we'll be kind to you'. I need some basic skills quick." Her hand made contact with a particularly sensitive part of her new bruise and she winced. "None of that keeps this from stinging." "Well, should we break for a minute? Give you a chance to recover?" "Sure. I don't think I'll sit though." Akane strolled over to where they'd pushed the chairs and had a seat. She still felt a little tired from the gas she'd inhaled earlier. The cell they had been led to was actually a well sized room, almost a bedroom for two. Two small but comfortable beds lay along one wall. Partioned off from the rest of the room along the back wall was a tiny bathroom. A round table had been situated along the third wall, along with a pair of chairs, but they had been moved to give them more room to spar. All in all, if it weren't for the locked door, this might have made a nice hotel room, Akane reflected. Of course, if this was a hotel, the host would likely not have kidnapped them to bring them here, nor would he have stolen the Doctor's TARDIS. Still, she liked the wallpaper. Akane reached across the table, which was right next to her, and poured herself a glass of water from the full pitcher sitting there. As she sipped at her drink, she reflected on the young woman whose company she'd been thrown into. Really, she knew very little about Julie. She was a few years older than her, had done some time traveling, was a musician, and couldn't fight very well; that was almost the extent of her knowledge of Julie. She was a friend of one of her father's friends, true, but that said very little about her. She'd never met the Doctor before today and really hadn't gotten a chance to see much of him before she and Julie and been kidnapped. Despite all this, Akane felt that she and Julie were becoming quite good friends. Julie was nice, friendly, and very honest. She was easy to like. Julie noticed Akane's unfocused staring at her and smiled. Akane smiled back. "You ready to continue?" Julie asked. Akane added determined to her list of Julie's qualities and set down her glass of water. "Are you?" She stood up and they started again. "Start the wave again. Increase the intensity by fifty marks." The Time Thief paced as he waited for the operator to complete this task. Once he had, Toki concentrated his gaze upon the TARDIS, the time vessel that sat on the other side of the protective glass. A red energy wave was emitted from a projector in each corner of the test room. All four waves impacted with the blue box simultaneously. They waited. Nothing happened. "Instrumentation reflects no change in composition of TARDIS exterior or in the aura that surrounds it," informed the operator of the console. The Time Thief's anger flared. "I could have told you that! Do you think I'm blind?" "No sir. Just reporting the facts as my instruments displayed them, as I was order to." "Damn your instruments!" "Yes sir." In frustration, he ran his hand over his stubble riddled face and tried to regain his calm. He stared at the TARDIS. It seemed to taunt him. More so than Julie or Akane did verbally, this machine, by its refusal to surrender any information on itself, seemed to declare its faith that this Doctor would come and rescue her. It. It's only a machine, he reminded himself. He considered growling, but restrained the feeling. Who was this Doctor anyway? Why did his name and the name of his vessel, the TARDIS, sound so familiar to him? He was less than pleased about all this. He should be time traveling already, using his new powers already, not worrying about things like these. One of his men rushed into the room and saluted him, rousing him from his self pity. "Sir! Radar had picked up an air vessel headed this way." "The Doctor?" "Their flight path indicates they are headed straight for us. It's very possible it is the Doctor." "Well its about Time!" exclaimed the Thief. "I expected him minutes ago. Prepare all guards in the event that this is them. Let them get in, and capture them alive." "All of them?" "For now, yes. We don't know what the Doctor looks like. Go!" He saluted again and the guard left. Toki Dorobo smiled and rubbed his hands together with glee. "He's here, and it's about Time . . ." -Continued in 4.2- The bleeps from the small handheld device grew more frequent. "We appear to be getting rather close," the Doctor informed. "It's about Time," announced Ranma loudly. He was getting bored. Ranma sat crosslegged in the middle of the box's floor. He held the sack with Happosai in it before him in the air. One could only amuse oneself by using it as a punching bag for so long before the exercise grew tiresome, noted the Doctor as he examined the sights around him. He could well understand Ranma's feelings. Enough waiting, it was time for action. Kuno was standing near the guidance controls. He was not operating them, he had a pilot for that. Kuno was standing there, staring out the main windows, posed heroically, reminding anyone who cared to look at him that he was the captain of this vessel. He looked gently silly, he was so uptightly formal, thought the Doctor. The other four members of their little group were spread out at the four windows that dotted the sides of the box, two on each side. Now that they were over the mountains, the view must be quite nice, the Doctor considered. He rose from his chair and strolled over next to Kuno. He glanced briefly at his locator and then cast his eyes out at the sights around them. "Fascinating view," he murmured. "I am not concerned with views," Kuno reported. "My thoughts are ever geared to procuring Akane's freedom. Every single segment of my being is focused on this upcoming task. I have no time for extraneous details regarding the attractiveness of our surroundings." "That's a pity," informed the Doctor, "because the view is a particularly nice one. Anyway, how do you expect to find the entrance to their hideout without looking out the window?" With a broad grin, he then shouted "Does everyone else see what I see?" Excitedly, Shampoo replied "Shampoo sees! Rocks there look like panda!" "I see them as well," Genma declared. "They make a rather handsome panda at that." "I see," Nabiki informed. "Me too," chimed in Ryoga. "Oh." The Doctor sounded disappointed. "I was referring to what must be the entryway to the enemy hideout." Becoming more and more visible through the main windows was a large gray door in the side of one of the mountains. "Oh." Now it was Shampoo's turn to sound disappointed. "Shampoo see that too. It very nice door." "Now, how to get inside . . ." The Doctor began to ponder as Ranma rose and strolled over next to him to have a look. "We have weapons aboard this vessel. We shall blow the door down," Kuno declared. "Huff and puff and blow the door down?" questioned the Doctor. "Don't suppose we could just knock?" No one took that seriously. "Sir," began the pilot, "your father would not allow me to bring any ammunition along." Kuno was shocked. "What?!? How are we to blow the door down then?" Suddenly, Ranma smiled. "I think I've got an idea." One minute later, the cannon was loaded. Proper aim was taken and the weapon was fired. The bag containing Happosai began to hurtle towards the door. It impacted hard. The door did not explode, but, after the bag bounced off the door to the ground, it did begin to open. The Doctor looked at Ranma. "I guess we knocked afterall." Akane lounged on one of the beds, looking casual and relaxed. Julie sat in one of the chairs sitting around the table, which had been returned to its original position. Julie's head rested upon the table, using her crossed arms for a pillow. Her breathing was calm and slow. She appeared to be asleep. Quiet reigned supreme. A brief series of beeps disturbed the silence. At their termination, the door whooshed open, revealing a guard on the other side. Said guard was attired as all the other guards, but, instead of holding a gun, he held a tray of food. His companion, another guard, held the gun. The armed guard stayed in the doorway while the food loaded one strolled over to the table. "The master wishes you to eat," declared he. With a strange carefulness, he placed the tray on the table, trying not to wake Julie as he did. Total surprise registered on his face as Julie suddenly came alive, slamming the tray up into his face. The food and tray contacted his visor more than his face, but the food still did a fine job of obscuring his view. While his partner staggered about attempting to clear his visor, the armed guard started his threats. "Cease your motion or I'll shoot!" After completely this direction, the pillow that Akane had thrown seconds ago impacted with his face. Due to the way that his uniform was shaped, the pillow got stuck and required that he remove it, as opposed to it just falling to the ground. He ripped the pillow away and then discovered Akane's flying foot was a spilt second from his head. Brief seconds later, he was crumbling unconscious to the floor as Akane landed from her leap. While this was occurring, Julie had stood up and was attempting to get into the position that their plan called for her to be in. When her guard staggered a bit closer, she raised her hand, catching him square on the chin with the heel of her hand. He collapsed roughly to the ground. Akane smiled. "Nice job." Julie smiled back. "You as well." "That was easy." "Easier than I thought it would be. Now, to find the TARDIS." "Exactly." The second guard was quickly dragged inside, his gun hidden in the hall, and the door locked behind them. Together, they began their search for the TARDIS. The blimp bag was severed from the box below it as wings unfolded from the top of the box. Gently, it began gliding for the open door in the side of the mountain. "Quite ingenious," said the Doctor, looking quite impressed. "What happens to the gas bag?" "When it is separated, a signal is sent through a small chip in the inflation device on the bag, which causes the bag to begin to decay. Within five minutes, the bag will be gone." Kuno managed to smirk egotistically at the cleverness of his family only once during his explanation. The Doctor continued to display his impressedness. "Very nice." "Get ready everyone," Genma warned. "We're going in." The box glided through the door, slowly coming to a halt on the long runway. Upon stopping, steps emitted from below the door in the side of the box. Then, the door opened and, one by one, they filed out. The runway was in a valley. On both sides of the runway, the walls jutted up about twenty feet, only accessible via the stairs carved into the rock on both sides. They were in a very vulnerable position. This became an easier concept to grasp when the guards began pouring out of the doors on the upper level and down the stairs, surrounding them. Approximately fifty guards took up positions around them. Once they were all settled into their places, the head guard began his speech. "You will come with us. You are our prisoners, especially the one known as 'Doctor'. Surrender peacefully and no one will be hurt." "They seem to be expecting you," Ranma murmured into the Doctor's ear. "I'm a popular sort of chap," replied the Doctor. "I get invited to all the parties." He glanced at everyone he could see without turning his head. "Do we do things their way or our way?" Ranma smirked. "Do you really need to ask that question?" He nodded to his father and they took to the air at the same time.coming down hard on two gun wielding guards. The battle began. Ranma kicked, punched, and, occasionally, leapt, mainly to confuse. Genma kicked, punched, and backhanded often. Kuno fought with his bokuto, using it to liberate weapons from his foes and to knock them unconscious when the opportunity presented itself. Ryoga flung bandannas like bolos, destroying more than one weapon with a well tossed bandanna, much to the dismay of their opponents. Shampoo punched, kicked, and clawed her way to victory. The guards' helmets offered just enough skin to make them viable target for her nails. Nabiki and the Doctor stood by the stairs and tried to keep out of the way. "I'm not worth much in battle," Nabiki admitted. "I just don't care to be in them," the Doctor informed as he tripped a guard. "Sure I know a great many tricks and moves, but I'd rather not use them unless I must." The guard that he tripped now rose and pointed his gun at them. Without pausing, the Doctor placed his hat on the barrel of the gun, directed a kick to the guard's hands which caused him to lose the gun and fling the Doctor's hat in the air. The Doctor then spun and delivered a roundhouse kick to the guard's chin, following that up with an elbow to the face. The guard collapsed unconscious and the Doctor's hat landed upon his head. Impressed with his little show, Nabiki began to applaud. The Doctor bowed and his protruding posterior accidentally caught an oncoming opponent solidly in the stomach, causing him to go down. The Doctor turned around and gave the man a curious look, not being too clear on what had happened. An insistent beeping coming from his pocket dragged him from his investigation. "The TARDIS locator," he said rather needlessly as he pulled said device from his pocket. He gave it a look over before speaking again. "It's definitely inside the complex. Time I was off looking for it. Coming?" "Might as well," she replied. "I'm not getting much done here." Holding the device before him like a divining rod, the Doctor began to walk through the battle, headed for the stairs. Surprisingly, although he was in the roughest part of the fight area, no one hit him, and no one was thrown into him, even though guards were falling to the left of him, falling to the right of him, falling to the rear of him, and falling before him. Nabiki tried to stay close to him, just in the event that he was somehow providing this hole, that she wouldn't be left behind. She found the experience quite strange. He didn't seem to be putting any effort into avoiding the battle, it just seemed to be avoiding him. Was it luck or coincidence or something else? Suddenly, they were free of the battle and the stairs were before them. Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma saw their new location and leapt out of the battle to being right in front of the Doctor. Still in a battle pose, he informed the Doctor "I'm coming with you!" The Doctor looked up from his locator at Ranma. He didn't seem particularly surprised by his presence. "All right. Come on then." Politely, he pushed past Ranma and started up the stairs. Nabiki followed suit. A bit let down after expecting to have to fight the Doctor to allow him to accompany him, Ranma followed them both. Julie peeked around a corner and was relieved to note that there were no guards around. This surprised her. Once she and Akane freed themselves, she fully expected to be ducking guards wherever they went. As it was, they hadn't seen a guard since they'd left the pair in the cell. Where were they all? Akane was right next to her, also peeking around the corner. "See anything?" she questioned. "Not as far as guards go," whispered Julie in reply. "Do you know where we are?" Akane hemmed and hawed for a moment. Finally, she answered "No." "I'm lost too," Julie admitted. "I remember the path we took from the hanger bay to the cell, but I think we made a wrong turn somewhere." Julie decided it was foolish to keep standing there the way they were, so she stepped into the hallway. Akane followed her lead. This hallway looked little different from the last one, noted Julie with a mental sigh. A few doors set back in the wall, walls painted blue with a silver stripe about an inch down from the ceiling all around the hall and the plaque about halfway down the hallway set at eye level . . . . . Plaque? She hadn't seen one of those before. "Have I been missing something, or is that plaque different?" Akane followed the direction that Julie's outstretched hand pointed in. "I don't remember seeing one of those before." "Shall we then?" "Can you think of a reason not to?" Cautiously, they strolled up to the wall hanging. Upon first glancing at it, the first thing that caught both of their eyes was the expression "You are here". Julie was immediately thrown for a loop. "You've got to be kidding me." Akane was equally befuddled. "Is it just me or is that a map detailing the path to take in the event of a fire?" Julie blinked a few times to make sure her eyes were functioning correctly before she examined it again. "That's what it says." Julie looked at Akane. Akane looked at Julie. Then they began searching their pockets for paper and a writing utensil. "I've got a pencil," Julie declared as she pulled a small stub of a pencil from her jeans pocket. "I've starting carrying small things like that on me. You wouldn't believe all the stuff the Doctor carries in his pockets." "I've got some paper," Akane noted happily. "I had to get some groceries for Kasumi yesterday and I kept the list she gave me." "Ooo, we are good, aren't we?" Both young ladies giggled as Julie began sketching out the map. "Where should we look first?" "Laboratory might not be a bad place to start." "Increase the intensity by fifty." Toki was growing more and more tense. The TARDIS was not responding to any of the energies like he believed it should be. And why hadn't his men reported the capture of the Doctor yet? "Again?" questioned the operator. "Yes again!" he snapped. "Why is my order so hard to follow?" The operator did not cringe at all. "It's just that the intensity level is growing dangerous sir. We will soon be beyond tested levels. Who know what will happen?" "We will, once you've obeyed my order!" The operator calmly returned to his controls. "Increasing intensity by fifty." The Doctor hadn't been much of a conversationalist in the last few minutes. He'd spoken to inform his friends which direction the locator advised them to go in, but little else. Ranma was constantly on guard to defend them against any guards that they might come across. Nabiki was getting bored. 'Is this the sort of thing they ended up doing so often?' she found herself thinking. 'No wonder I stay home so often.' "Almost there," the Doctor murmured. He was about to go around the corner when Ranma pulled him back. "Do you mind?" "You're not paying enough attention, are you? There's someone around that corner." The Doctor's expression was blank as his brain processed this information. "Oh. That's bad." Ranma peeked an eye around the corner to get an idea where their opponents were placed before darting his head back. "I'll go in. You follow me in, just in case one of them tries to crawl for help." Nabiki gave him one of her stares. "Your humility is underwhelming." Ranma ignored her and got himself ready. With a blinding speed and a fluidity of motion, he leapt into the hall, planted himself before one of the two personages in the hallway, began to spin his foot for a kick and then halted the kick centimetres from the person's forehead. Rather quickly, he decided it would not be best to kick this person. It was Akane. Her hands were on her hips and a cross look covered her face. "Well, I'm glad you're happy to see me." Then she slapped him. He fell. "Are they crawling away?" the Doctor said sarcastically. His face held a welcome smile, which was reflected by Julie when she saw him. "Are you all right?" he asked of them both. She scampered to meet him as he and Nabiki entered the hallway. She gave him a brief hug before speaking. "We're fine. They were reasonably nice to us." Akane cleared her throat loudly. "Well, their leader knocked Akane out with some gas, but we were fighting them at the time." "Sounds like you had fun then." Nabiki grinned slightly at her sister, who looked angry, no doubt over Ranma's entrance. "Everything's all right?" "I've been worse," Akane replied. Ranma popped to his feet. "Well Doctor, I promised to help you find your TARDIS. Let's go get it." Julie looked at the Doctor, a surprised delight displayed on her face. "The TARDIS is in there?" The Doctor nodded and showed her his locator. "I cobbled this together to lead us to the TARDIS, hoping that you two would be nearby. I didn't expect you to be this nearby though." Ranma was getting grumpy. "Come on, let's go." He pushed open the doors to the laboratory and they all walked in. As they entered, the four projectors discharged their energies at the TARDIS. Upon impact, the TARDIS began to glow a pale blue. This was not a good thing. The glow began to fade, but the Doctor knew the danger was not past. "Everyone out!" He began pushing. "Why, what's wrong?" Akane asked. "Trust me," he said quickly. "You can't see it. Time disturbance!" Only the Doctor could see the hazy gaps in reality that floated like bubbles. They'd fade as soon as the energy that poured into the TARDIS faded, but until then, this room was dangerous! The women began departing. Ranma, for whatever reason, was looking around, somewhat confused. "What? I don't see . . ." Then he noted the window into the control room. "That must be the guy who's behind all this!" The Doctor grabbed Ranma's outstretched hand and used it to begin dragging him away. "There's no time for that now. We'll get him . . ." Upon turning around, he realized that a bubble of instability had floated into his path. He tried to stop, but his momentum pushed Ranma and himself into the dangerous break in time and space. They disappeared. This did not go unnoticed. Halting just outside the room, Julie, Nabiki, and Akane all turned in time to see the Doctor and Ranma step forward and then disappear. "Ranma!" Akane cried in shock. Julie, thinking she'd just gotten her friend back, cried out "Doctor!" But they were gone. -To be Continued- -Lord Doc DOCTOR WHO Cursed Time Episode Five by Stephen M. Wolterstorff A 1995 Python Lord Productiontm. The Doctor and the TARDIS are copyrights of the BBC and Amblin Entertainment. They are used without permission. 1963, 1995. Ranma Saotome, Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, and the Tendo Sisters Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, are all characters created by Rumiko Takahashi and they, along with the situations created by her, are copyright Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc 1995. They are used without permission. All other characters, devices, etc are the creation of Stephen M. Wolterstorff and likes to assert the fact that he made them up more or less on his own. They are presumed to be copyright him, 1995. This is a work of fiction. Any characters, places, or events that resemble those in 'real' life are used with a spirit of fun and are loving tributes to their real counterparts, not bitter sarcastic jibes as you might think. Thank you for not suing me. Permission to copy this work is granted to the recipient of this file as long as said copy is not made for financial gain and the copy is complete and unaltered, apart from changes due to formatting. If anyone makes any money off this, I'd prefer it to be me. Doctor Who : Season 31 Production Code : 8P 1995 Python Lord Productions. Cursed Time Episode Five of Seven. Released weekly 2 June 1995. Episode Five Ranma, for whatever reason, was looking around, somewhat confused. "What? I don't see . . ." Then he noted the window into the control room. "That must be the guy who's behind all this!" The Doctor grabbed Ranma's outstretched hand and used it to begin dragging him away. "There's no time for that now. We'll get him . . ." Upon turning around, he realized that a bubble of instability had floated into his path. He tried to stop, but his momentum pushed Ranma and himself into the dangerous break in time and space. They disappeared. This did not go unnoticed. Halting just outside the room, Julie, Nabiki, and Akane all turned in time to see the Doctor and Ranma step forward and then disappear. "Ranma!" Akane cried in shock. Julie, thinking she'd just gotten her friend back, cried out "Doctor!" But they were gone. For a minute they were stuck standing there, staring at the emptiness where the Doctor and Ranma had been mere seconds before. Nabiki, the most practical of the three, snapped out of her trance first. "I think we should be going now." Both Julie and Akane snapped alive and were instantly angry with Nabiki due to her statement. "Are you kidding?" Akane questioned. "We have to find out what happened to them!" Nabiki began walking away. "We must have attracted someone's attention. If we don't get out of here, we won't be able to investigate, will we?" Not looking where she was headed, Nabiki walked into something. As she bounced off of it, she reflected it felt rather leathery. She turned to look at whatever it was. Her first note was that the item she'd bumped into was not a thing, it was a he. Nabiki never considered herself short, but she felt comparatively tiny compared to this guy. He was tall, her head had bounced off the lower edge of his chest. He must be about six and a half feet tall, she reflected. His mildly well developed torso was clad in a black leather tunic with red streaks traveling from the shoulder down each arm. Loose black pants made from a material she could not identify covered his lower half. A short black cape flapped gently behind him, indicating he'd only recently stopped moving. Under other circumstances, his face might look kindly, handsome even, but his firmly set grin did not lend itself to a kindly interpretation. He spoke as she stared at him. "Hello." "Um, hello," she replied instinctively. "I am Toki Dorobo, the Time Thief. You are?" "Nabiki Tendo. Akane's sister." "A pleasure to meet you Nabiki." He smiled wider and twisted his head somewhat to keep a better eye on Akane and Julie. Nabiki noticed his long, dark brown hair was trapped in a pony tail, which terminated at his shoulder blades. "Ah, you two were freed, were you?" Akane was giving him a cross look. "Actually, we . . ." Julie silenced her with a jab to the ribs with her elbow. "Yep. Set free. Enjoyed the walk immensely." "The young man in the trenchcoat was your friend the Doctor, was it not?" Julie thought before she answered. After deciding it did not benefit her to lie, she replied "Yes." "I should have liked to meet him. Upon reflection, I don't know why I did not require you to give me some description of him. Hindsight is 20/20. Ah well, I sincerely hope we can discover where he and your other friend have gotten to. In the meantime, you are my prisoners and will be locked up. I shall be going down to see how well my guards have done in subduing the remainder of your group." Before he could walk away, Nabiki made sure she had a chance to ask a question. "I don't suppose this prisoner thing is up for too much debate, is it?" "No, not really." "There's no chance we could discuss it? Perhaps come to some sort of agreement?" She smiled in a friendly fashion, hoping to get him in a talkative mood. He thought briefly. "Well, we can discuss whether you are escorted to your cell by my guards or whether I use my knockout gas and my guards carry you to your cell." Akane groaned. "Not the gas again." The guards began to surround them. They hadn't much time to decide. "Personally," Julie stated, "I'd rather not risk getting molested by one of these guys while I'm unconscious. I'll walk." "I remember the headache," Akane noted. Grudgingly, she informed, "I'll walk." Nabiki shrugged her shoulders. "Point the way then." They were led off to their cell. Genma exhaled roughly and leaned up against the rock wall nearest him. That, he mused, had been quite a battle. He hadn't had a workout that invigorating in a while. The vast majority of the guards that had dashed in on them were now spreadeagled on the floor, having a nice rest. Ryoga and Kuno were still working on the last two guards. They seemed to be taking there time about it. Shampoo was sitting on the floor near the stairs to their transport, watching the battle continued as he was. The only people in the room who were not relaxed were the two guards who were still in battle with Ryoga and Kuno. Genma was relaxed. Shampoo was relaxed. Ryoga was relaxed. Kuno was relaxed. The guards were not relaxed. They were doing their best to avoid getting hit by Ryoga and Kuno's unceasing attacks, while trying to figure out what they should do. Both Ryoga and Kuno aimed a kick at a guard's head. Both guards dodged. Unfortunately for them, they were close together and they both dodged the same way. They hit heads hard and collapsed to the ground. Ryoga offered a rare smile to Kuno. "That wasn't bad." Kuno smiled slightly back to Ryoga. "You displayed yourself admirably as well." Shampoo twisted to look at Genma. Innocently, she questioned, "Where Ranma go?" Genma adjusted his glasses. "I'm not sure actually. I caught a glimpse of him near the stairs with Nabiki and the Doctor. I feel safe in believing they went to search for the TARDIS." "In that case," Kuno began returning his weapon to its holder at his side, "we should go and discover where they've gotten to." "I agree," Ryoga said, thinking as Kuno was that Ranma must be dangerously close to rescuing Akane on his own and that wouldn't do at all. "We should get on their trail as quickly as possible." Genma was about to add his agreement to the mix when he noticed the shadow being cast over them. It's origin was the still open hanger door. He turned to look and immediately knew fear. An extremely furious Happosai stood in that doorway, eyes flashing with fire. "Where is Ranma?!?" he inquired. Despite their good moods from their victory, Kuno and Ryoga reverted to their normal expression while around an angry Happosai, which was stammering a great deal and hoping he wouldn't come after them. Genma was used to being paranoid around his master, so his lack of voice was to be expected. Shampoo gathered her nerve, along with all the leftover anger she had from Happosai molesting her, and answered him. "He go with Doctor to look for TARDIS and friends." Happosai continued to boil. His anger was so great that the thought of fondling any of Shampoo's better body parts completely slipped his mind. "He shall pay for his actions!" declared Happosai in a loud voice. "Before that, I heard none of your speaking out in my behalf!" The men began to babble. "Well, uh, you see, umm . . ." Shampoo had managed to work herself up into a well deserved anger at Happosai for all he'd done to her. Very firmly, she declared "You deserve what happen! You deserve much worse pervert!" Immediately Genma slid up behind Shampoo, placing a fatherly hand on her shoulder. He was sweating heavily. "Shampoo, it might be wise for you to apologize and forget all about this." Shampoo angrily shrugged his hand away. "You be quiet!" she told Genma. "He deserve it all. I not afraid of him!" Happosai was flushed with anger. "Is that so?!? Prepare for battle!" And then things began to get particularly difficult. Ranma opened his eyes for a second before closing them quickly again. There was nothing around him at the moment apart from a deep friendly colour blue and the Doctor. The Doctor still had his hand. Whether the Doctor was still leading his somewhere, he couldn't say. Ranma wanted out of wherever they were. It made him queasy. Suddenly, with a thump, they landed hard on the ground. The wind was knocked from him and Ranma began breathing deeply to fight some oxygen back into his system. The air made him cough. The Doctor's voice rang clear in his ears. "Are you all right?" Ranma opened his eyes and discovered the Doctor was looking down at him, concern etched into his face. "The air tastes funny," he replied, his breathing becoming more relaxed. A smile curled the Doctor's lips. "Yes, it is rather clear, isn't it?" He took a deep breath himself, obviously enjoying himself. "We've moved in time." "We've done what?" "Moved in time," replied the Doctor casually, as if this answer was totally natural and Ranma really should have come up with it on his own. Ranma sat up and concentrated his befuddled gaze at the Doctor. "W-well, how do you know?" The Doctor sat down across from him on the grassy hill they'd arrived upon. "For one, we fell through a spot of instability, something no doubt created when that energy stimulated the TARDIS. There is that fact along with the fact that I can feel we've been displaced." Ranma's natural skepticism briefly shone through his nervousness over their situation. "You can feel we've been displaced?" he parroted with a mild sarcasm added for good measure. "Yes, I can feel we moved in time." He thought briefly and then looked at Ranma with a slightly different expression on his face. "I never explained to you what TARDIS stands for, did I?" Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't know it stood for anything. I thought it was just a name." "Well, it is a name, but it's also an acronym. The letters in TARDIS stand for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space." "It's a time machine?" The Doctor nodded. "So, are you from the future or are you just really smart?" "What do you mean exactly?" "To have built a time machine. If you're from our time, you'd have to be extra smart to do that sort of thing." "I didn't built the TARDIS," the Doctor said with a grin, "with all the work I've done on her, it certainly feels like I've built her sometimes, but I didn't construct her originally. TARDISes are mildly common means of transport where I came from originally. I'm not human. For that matter, I'm not even from your dimension." Ranma felt like lying back down again. "Not human? Dimension? Oh man." He scratched his head briefly. "Normally I wouldn't believe anything that crazy sounding, but somehow, you don't come across as a liar. Your body language is all wrong for someone trying to tell me a story. Still, it's a wild idea to swallow." He sighed. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you then?" The Doctor's reassuring, calm smile never wavered. "I am a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey." He paused briefly to ponder. "I wonder if we exist in this dimension?" "Gallifrey. Nice name." "Thanks. I've always liked it." The situation having gotten a bit out of Ranma's usual scope, he began to babble. "So, nice place?" "Not particularly." "Why not? Access to time machines and thereby access to everything that's ever happened sounds like it would be popular." "Gallifrey doesn't care much for visitors. As a general rule, the Time Lords don't do much except watch things and make sure no one tries to tinker about with time. It's not the most exciting of places. They just sit around, grow old and regenerate." "Regenerate?" "When a Time Lord's body grows too old, or becomes ill or injured, it can regenerate. The process invigorates all the cells of the body and rebuilds them to the degree that the physical appearance changes. That's why your father and Tendo didn't recognize me at first. I've regenerated, oh, five times since we last met." "Wow." There was a brief silence while Ranma digested all this information. He broke this pause by asking "Why did you leave?" "Hmm?" "Why did you leave? Did you get bored? Decide there was more to life than sitting around watching other people live?" The Doctor smiled. "That's as good an excuse as any." "I was right?" "Shall we say you were close enough to be right?" Ranma got the impression he wasn't going to get a straight answer to this question and let it drop. Perhaps this was a sensitive issue. "Well," the Doctor said loudly, "let's have a look around, hmm? See if we can find out when and where we are?" "You don't know? I mean, you can't just . . . tell?" "Thank you for the compliment, but I'm not that talented." "Oh." They rose and the Doctor scuffed a mark in the grass, in the event they needed to find this spot again. They walked off. -Continued in 5.2- Happosai was very angry. He'd been angry when he scuffled with the Doctor before, but now he was extremely angry. He was angry beyond reasoning. In most fighters, such anger would make their attacks sloppy, as their emotion would overwhelm their logic. Happosai, being such a highly ranked fighter, did not allow his attack to grow sloppy, even with his excessive fury. He merely grew stronger. His battle aura became so strong, it became visible, an occurrence which was rare except with the best of fighters. Happosai's battle aura was ten times his own size. It was in this condition that Happosai prepared to attack Shampoo. "I don't normally attack girls, but, due to what you've done, I'm prepared to make an exception." Shampoo's face reflected a grim determination. "You attack Ranma before when Ranma girl," she retorted. "That was Ranma, he doesn't count," replied the midget menace. "Prepare for vengeance!" The mighty battle aura of Happosai moved to grab Shampoo in its massive hand, but Shampoo barely managed to spin away from this attack. Happosai jumped in, reducing the amount of room that the others had to maneuver in by half. The others backed away quickly as Happosai landed next to their shuttle. Not really thinking about his location, Happosai swung his arms and his battle aura backhanded the blimp box straight out of the hanger. None of them were able to see the pilot gain control over the glider and bring it to a safe landing. However, he was unable to start the small engine in the flyer and get up to his master and his companions. The pilot radioed back to the Kuno residence for another vehicle to be dispatched.They no longer had an escape vehicle, but they had a little more room in which to move. Shampoo dodged another swing of Happosai's massive hand and rolled away as his hand hit the rock wall, sending shards of rock flying everywhere. Upon ending her roll, she leapt up at him, foot extended above her as she rose in the air. She impacted with the chin of the battle aura, but she didn't damage it much. Immediately upon landing from her kick, she had to roll away from a leg sweep. It barely missed. Genma, pinned up against the back wall with Ryoga and Kuno, began to get a determined look to his face. "This isn't right," he noted, "cowering back here while a mere girl fights a battle for which she is incapable of winning. We should be attempting to assist her." "Considering who she's fighting, I don't feel terribly bad staying back here," Ryoga commented. "The way I look at it, by the time he's beaten her, he may have calmed down and not want to fight us. I'll thank Shampoo for her bravery when she wakes up." Kuno was looking honourable again. "I understand both of your points. While it is inconceivable to allow Shampoo to fight on her own, we must consider who her opponent is : Happosai. Not only is he a pervert of the first class, but a first class combatant. Also, he cheats." Kuno managed a gentle sigh. "It is a difficult matter to decide on." "I have made my decision," Genma declared. Firmly, determination in his step, he marched forward until he was near where Shampoo was dodging and rolling about. Then, he dropped to his knees, bowed until his head touched the stone floor, and said, upon raising his head slightly, "Please master, cease to be angry!" Ryoga and Kuno, in their shock, fell down. Shampoo glanced over her shoulder in mid leap. "Big help you are!" Genma's distraction caused Shampoo to turn, which gave Happosai a brief opening, which, being the highly skilled martial arts master he is, was enough time for him to direct a kick which caught Shampoo directly in the mid section. The force of the kick knocked her back to the stone wall where she impacted hard. She released a soft, pained cry and then slid down the wall, falling unconscious on the ground. Ryoga turned to Kuno. "Should we do this the gentlemanly way or should we both attack at once?" "Under the circumstances, which are surely unique," Kuno replied, "I think it wisest if we act as a unit. Are you prepared?" Genma tried again. "Do not be angry master!" he cried, bowing again. Ryoga nodded. With a loud cry, they charged. Happosai, with his mighty battle aura foot, kicked Genma. Curled up as Genma was, it was rather like kicking an extremely heavy soccer ball. Genma flew into the oncoming Ryoga and Kuno. All three crashed into the stone wall and collapsed, unconscious. His opponents defeated, Happosai's anger began to fade slightly. His visible battle aura began to grow invisible again. The Time Thief entered through one of the upper doors. He surveyed the scene. "You're not one of my guards, are you?" Happosai whirled to view him better. "Who are you?" Politely, as he walked down the stairs, the Time Thief, Toki Dorobo, introduced himself. He then asked for Happosai's name and, somewhat begrudgingly, Happosai handed it over. "The name does sound familiar," admitted the Time Thief. "I'm just here to let you know that you are all my prisoners." He offered a glance behind him at the pile there. "Even those who are unconscious." "Prisoner?" Happosai parroted incredulously. "No man takes me prisoner!" "I suppose you'd rather fight than come along peacefully?" "Yes." "So be it." The Doctor and Ranma walked down a dirt road, looking about them for some sign of civilization. As of yet, they had found none. On the up side, the scenery was very beautiful. It appeared to be spring and the grass was a particularly nice green, the trees were just getting their leaves, and the colours of the flowers were especially bright. A gentle frown creased Ranma's features. "This place feels familiar to me somehow, like I've been here before." "Deja vu?" questioned the Doctor. Ranma shook his head. "No, not exactly. This place just feels familiar. Nothing looks very familiar, but I'm sure I've been here." "Or will have been here," noted the Doctor. "We don't know if we've gone backward or forward in time yet." "Is it possible that we moved forward in time?" "Just as possible as us traveling back in time," answered the Doctor. He squinted as he stared off into the distance. "Do you see smoke?" Ranma, not noticing where the Doctor's attention was focused, began frantically looking around their general area. "Where? Where?" "Off over there," the Doctor pointed and gave Ranma a direction to look in. Ranma squinted. "Yeah, I think so," he finally replied. "We';; head for that then. Smoke is hopefully a sign of at least a basic civilization. If it's not that, it's a forest fire, and I don't seem to have my forest fire fighting gear on me." They made their way towards the smoke. Happosai's battle aura flared all the stronger. His anger was strong, his battle just. Well, in his own eyes it was just. His opponent seemed totally unbothered by the massive presence of his aura. 'What a fool! He will soon learn how foolish he truly is!' Happosai pondered. Happosai flung himself at the Time Thief, directing a foot at the centre of his forehead. The Time Thief didn't bother to move at all. Then, just as Happosai's foot was about to make contact with its target, the target disappeared. Completely and totally disappeared. Shocked, Happosai crashed into the wall that was behind where Toki had been a moment ago. Happosai rose immediately after crashing to the ground. He vigorously shook his head to clear it. The Time Thief was standing over near where Happosai had started from. "Not as easy a fight as you thought, hmm?" The Time Thief's audacity and his cheeky smile was incredibly irritating to Happosai, and it was meant to be, as much so as possible. Happosai growled and bounced in to attempt attacking again. Happosai directed a series of blows at the grinned Time Thief. Each kick, punch, chop, leg sweep and knee thrust missed as the Time Thief would break out of existence for but a moment, moving his location just enough so the attack would miss. Fuming, Happosai backed away, seeking a moment to reassess the situation. The Time Thief, upon seeing this, chuckled derogatorily, as if trying to tell the old man to go home and soak his tired feet. He stepped in towards Happosai, intending to collar the little man and lock him and his friends up. In a flash, Happosai removed his smoking pipe from his pocket and spun it. Using the Time Thief's momentum, Happosai flung him up in the air with no little force. Caught off guard by this maneuver, the Time Thief did not react in time and he crashed into the stone ceiling some thirty feet in the air. Happosai allowed himself a slight smile and began to puff on his pipe. "Enjoy the trip?" he questioned innocently. The Time Thief, who had indented into the ceiling, began to fall. He blinked away but reappeared instantly ten feet from the ground, still with the same momentum he had when he disappeared. He landed hard on the ground. Happosai restrained the urge to cheer for himself. Slowly, the Time Thief peeled himself up from the ground. He stood shakily, examining a broken control unit in his right hand. "You . . . you broke my time displacement unit!" he cried angrily. The red stripe on his sleeves was now partially gone, now being easily identifiable as some sort of circuitry. "I worked on that for years! It was as close to a time machine as I could get! I could only move about ten seconds and ten feet at a time, but it was my machine, drat it!" He looked quite unpleased. Happosai did his best to keep his cool, it being his turn to be the superior fighter. "You should take more care of your toys then, shouldn't you?" he replied between drags on his long stemmed pipe. The Time Thief staggered forward and swung his foot towards Happosai, intending to give him a good kick. Happosai bounced up over the attempt easily. Quite casually, he rapped the Time Thief in the head with his pipe. This only served to irritate Toki Dorobo further. He ducked down to remove the helmet from one of his still unconscious guards and flung it at Happosai as soon as he had stood up again. The helmet missed as Happosai easily dodged it, but it gave the Time Thief an idea. Quickly, he claimed two more helmets from guards in Dreamland. Sizing up his shot, he carefully flung one and then the other. The first missed wildly, but the second was very close. In dodging the second, Happosai had to reverse direction. In so doing, he entered the path of the first helmet's rebound from the stone wall behind him. The helmet was large enough for Happosai to get trapped in and he did. The helmet feel to the ground with Happosai stuck inside. The Time Thief grinned, pleased with his cleverness. He approached the helmet as if the battle was won. As he grew near it, it exploded, plastic flying everywhere as Happosai's anger was once again manifested physically. "Did you believe such a feeble trick would stop me?!?" he questioned. "It was worth a try," came the unbothered reply. "Young fool!" spat Happosai with considerably less energy than he managed before. He steeped forward, his pace incredibly shaky. Happosai gasped for air. "Too long," he wheezed, "it's been too long since I have touched something feminine." Happosai was no ordinary pervert, he was an addict. Some people get addicted to nicotine, others to alcohol, yet other to stronger drugs like cocaine or cat. Happosai was addicted to women. The smell of perfume, the touch of silk in underwear, the well of a finely assembled female body were all as necessary to Happosai as food, water, and oxygen. Deprive him of them for too long a period of time and he went into serious withdrawal. Very much like he was now. His last serious contact with that of a feminine nature was when he had molested Shampoo and that was some time ago already. Before the Time Thief's puzzled eyes, Happosai collapsed and began trying to drag himself back over to where Shampoo lay unconscious. "Must . . . touch . . . female!" he croaked. Toki Dorobo grabbed him by the collar and gazed into Happosai's blankly staring eyes. As a grin dawned on his face, he released Happosai was no longer a danger. He began strolling away to lock Happosai and then the others up. They had all been made his prisoners. Ranma and the Doctor made their way to the outskirts of a small village. No one was out at the moment. The place looked quiet, even dead. "The architecture is old in style and in the way the buildings are constructed," the Doctor noted. The small collection of buildings were constructed with large amounts of straw and bamboo. They were not high class accomedations, but definitely the dwelling place of the commoners. >From the outside, they appeared to be well constructed, warm, and very functional. "How old?" Ranma queried. The Doctor hummed as he attempted to come up with an answer. "That's not easy to say, this sort of architecture didn't change a great deal for large periods of time. Definitely over a thousand years I believe." "Thousand?" Ranma was stunned. He couldn't believe, despite everything the Doctor had said, that he could say that so calmly. "Perhaps more." The Doctor paused in his step. "I think I heard a voice." Ranma listened carefully. "I don't hear anything." "I'm willing to gamble on the fact that I heard some speech of the human variety. Sounded a bit like Chinese. I haven't spoken that in, oh, centuries." The Doctor was beginning to ramble. "China?" Ranma questioned. Suddenly, somehow, that made sense. But it couldn't be. Then he saw her. Off in the distance. Short with red hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. He caught a glimpse of a bright face with expressive blue eyes. In a moment of surprisingly high emotion, he grabbed the Doctor's arm. "Look!" Casually, the Doctor looked off in the designated direction. "Oh, looks like your female side." Then he thought about what he had just said. "Oh my." "That's why this place feels so familiar!" Ranma declared. "This is Jusenkyo! That's the girl who drowned in the cursed poll and made me what I am! I can change that now. I can stop her from drowning!" Before he could step forward, the Doctor was in his path. "Two things: one, how do you knows when she drowns in order to keep her from drowning, and two, you cannot stop her from drowning, it must happen." Ranma got more hung up on the end of that statement. This man had promised to assist him in solving his female problem, and now that he had a way to accomplish this goal, he was standing in his way?!? "What?!?" "We are in the past," the Doctor pointed out, "a past where we know what happens. Major alterations of the TimeLine are impossible, even if you try, they'll sort themselves out so that things stay the same. She drowns in the pool and one thousand five hundred years later, you fall in that pool and are cursed to live half your life as a female. You cannot change that!" Ranma grew angry. "I don't care what you say about TimeLines or anything! I've got a chance to fix my life and I'm going for it! Move!" "No." The Doctor was calm and determined. "I will not let you approach that young woman in an obvious attempt to alter the path of history, Trust me, the pain is not worth it." "Get out of my way!" growled Ranma through clenched teeth. "You're not about to listen to reason, are you?" "No!" The Doctor sighed. "I guess we're going to have to fight then." He stepped back and adopted a fighting stance. "I will not allow you to accost that doomed woman. Defend yourself." Ranma grinned. "You don't know how much trouble you're in now." He leaned back into his stance. "Prepare for defeat Doctor." -To be Continued- -Lord Doc DOCTOR WHO Cursed Time Episode Six by Stephen M. Wolterstorff A 1995 Python Lord Productiontm. The Doctor and the TARDIS are copyrights of the BBC and Amblin Entertainment. They are used without permission. 1963, 1995. Ranma Saotome, Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, and the Tendo Sisters Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, are all characters created by Rumiko Takahashi and they, along with the situations created by her, are copyright Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc 1995. They are used without permission. All other characters, devices, etc are the creation of Stephen M. Wolterstorff and likes to assert the fact that he made them up more or less on his own. They are presumed to be copyright him, 1995. This is a work of fiction. Any characters, places, or events that resemble those in 'real' life are used with a spirit of fun and are loving tributes to their real counterparts, not bitter sarcastic jibes as you might think. Thank you for not suing me. Permission to copy this work is granted to the recipient of this file as long as said copy is not made for financial gain and the copy is complete and unaltered, apart from changes due to formatting. If anyone makes any money off this, I'd prefer it to be me. Doctor Who : Season 31 Production Code : 8P 1995 Python Lord Productions. Cursed Time Episode Six of Seven. Released weekly 9 June 1995. Episode Six Ranma grew angry. "I don't care what you say about TimeLines or anything! I've got a chance to fix my life and I'm going for it! Move!" "No." The Doctor was calm and determined. "I will not let you approach that young woman in an obvious attempt to alter the path of history, Trust me, the pain is not worth it." "Get out of my way!" growled Ranma through clenched teeth. "You're not about to listen to reason, are you?" "No!" The Doctor sighed. "I guess we're going to have to fight then." He stepped back and adopted a fighting stance. "I will not allow you to accost that doomed woman. Defend yourself." Ranma grinned. "You don't know how much trouble you're in now." He leaned back into his stance. "Prepare for defeat Doctor." The Doctor stood in his place, trying to get more accustomed to the idea he'd verbally laid out. Violence was definitely not high on his list of things to do and the idea of actually causing Ranma some physical harm in order to keep him from bothering that young woman disturbed him a great deal. Sadly, he found himself realizing more and more that battle with Ranma, and therefore the use of his extensive but rusty skills, was the only means by which he would be able to complete this plan. One last time, for good measure, he attempted to talk Ranma from his destructive path. "I do not wish to cause you any harm," he reported firmly and determinedly, hoping Ranma's fury had been given a chance to subside. This was not the case. Ranma's anger still flowed hot and steady, like lava from a freshly active volcano. "Then get out of my way and let me talk to that girl! If I tell her to move away from here and never come back, I'm safe!" The Doctor sighed. Not only was Ranma still set on his path, but a blast of inspiration had struck him and now he had a plan. Drat the luck. "Very well. If you are determined to persist in this manner, I can see no other alternative." Briefly, the Doctor wished he'd watched Ranma at some of his earlier combat, but cheered himself with the thought that Ranma knew not what to expect from him either. With a mild fortitude and a slight dismay in his twin hearts, the Doctor took to the air. Seeing this, Ranma leapt to meet him. The battle was on. Consciousness began to return to Shampoo and with it came the sensation of movement, along with the realizations that she was not proceeding under her own power and that whomever was carrying her was doing it in a highly impolite fashion. Before she could protest or otherwise react, as she attempted to fling weariness from her very being, she was roughly thrown to the ground. This was not the way in which she preferred to return to life, and the force of the impact only served to daze her further. The crash of a door being closed behind her sealed her fate further. As she once again attempted to rouse herself into the land of the fully functional, she noted she was not alone. "Are you okay?" asked a concerned voice nearby. Shampoo opened her eyes, in an attempt to identify this unfamiliar voice. Her vision was blurred to begin with, but slowly she focused in on the young blonde haired woman with a concerned look who crouched near her. "I be fine," Shampoo insisted weakly, but her current inability to rise to her feet served to invalidate her statement. Firmness was evident in the next voice Shampoo heard. "Come on, help me help her to the bed." That voice Shampoo knew, that was Akane's voice. Carefully, they stood her up and helped her to a softer resting place. She considered resisting and attempting the feat under her own power, but she couldn't muster the strength to do so. Meekly, she lay down on the comfortable bed and sighed rather appreciatively. "Where we are?" she said after a moment's rest. Another familiar voice found its way to Shampoo's ear, this one belonging to Nabiki. "We're in a cell. A nicely furnished cell, but definitely a cell." "We're prisoners," Akane reinforced. "Who other girl?" "Me?" came the unfamiliar voice sounding puzzled. "I'm Julie, the Doctor's friend." "I Shampoo. Where Doctor and Ranma?" "Excellent question," Nabiki stated, "if we knew, we'd tell you." "Huh?" Shampoo sat up, her pain receding and fixed them all with a blankish look. "What happen?" Her question led to a gently complicated answer which originated from all three women; an answer which described Akane and Julie's breakout (which, they mentioned, they had lucked out on. It seemed the guards hadn't mentioned how Julie and Akane had managed to escape, no doubt keeping everyone involved from some sort of punishment), their meeting up with Nabiki, Ranma, and the Doctor and the subsequent disappearance of the latter two of the trio. For her part, Shampoo told of Happosai's attack up to the point she'd hit the rock wall and had been committed to the arms of Morpheus in a forceful sort of way. Her story, along with the manner in which she arrived, led Nabiki to one conclusion. "Well, the others must have been captured too." "What makes you say that?" Julie questioned. "Well, knowing Happosai, he probably beat up Ryoga, Kuno, and Mr. Saotome next," Akane informed. "Toki must have managed to beat Happosai somehow, otherwise they probably wouldn't have gotten Shampoo." "What if Happosai didn't take out the others next?" Julie contested. Nabiki chuckled briefly. "He had to have. Happosai does not go from intense anger to friendship that easily." There was a brief pause as they pondered their dilemma. "As I understand it, our main question is : Are we going to wait for the others to break out and take us along or do we attempt to get out on our own?" Julie stated. "We were lucky to break out once, do you think we can do it again?" Akane asked. "Sure we can, I'm just not sure how yet." They began pondering again. As politely as possible, Shampoo cleared her throat, breaking the others' trains of thought. "Shampoo thirsty. Could Shampoo have glass water?" She smiled encouragingly. Julie smiled in return. "Sure." Quickly, she poured a glass, got up from her seat around the table and walked it over to the bed, where Shampoo was. As she neared Shampoo, Julie stumbled, nearly spilling some of the cold drink. "Careful!" Shampoo warned, recoiling from the glass as if it were a snake. Nabiki offered an explanation as Julie handed over the glass. "Shampoo changes to a cat when she gets splashed with cold water, like Ranma changes." "I no feel like being cat now," Shampoo informed. A light bulb went off in Julie's brain. "Oh, I think you might." She looked at Akane until Akane suddenly smiled, deciphering Julie's meaning. A plan was at hand. They met in the air, limbs crashing into their opponent's body. As they briefly hung there, at the pinnacle of their leaps, the Doctor and Ranma rapidly directed punches, kicks, and other brief attacks at one another. Once the moment passed, their descent began and both began returning to the ground below. As he landed, the Doctor briefly rubbed his left elbow. Ranma had directed a rather vicious kick at that particular joint and his arm felt numb for it. His trenchcoat, which he had not removed before battle, had hampered some of his movements, but also provided a level of protection and had served to blunt a number of Ranma's blows. Gathering up his determination, he turned to face Ranma. As he landed, Ranma nearly stumbled and fell. The Doctor had gotten in a solid kick to his left knee, causing that leg to be less than sturdy at the moment. Briefly Ranma reflected on how the Doctor's trenchcoat had swallowed up some of his better moves, but his speed was higher and he was quite sure he'd landed more blows than the Doctor had. Focusing past the numbness in his leg, he turned to face the Doctor. They stared at each other briefly. As if cued by some silent signal, they took to the air at exactly the same moment. Again they met at the high point of their jump, exchanging blows at such a speed that their limbs blurred into a shapeless mass which could have contained fifty or sixty arms and legs, but most likely didn't. Again, after a moment in which the two combatants hung in the air, they began to drop. Despite the fierceness of the battle, the Doctor's hat was still firmly placed on his head. As firmly as Ranma had spoken, he desired to do no long term damage to the Doctor, he just wanted the Doctor to let him alone to complete his plan. Due to this fact, Ranma had not pulled out any of his major weapons. Now, he decided they were necessary to win. Turning to face the Doctor, he concentrated and let out a loud shout. This focused a sizable portion of his invisible battle aura into a large glowing energy ball, which he then directed with some speed at the Doctor. The Doctor was well aware that the power of battle auras was considerably stronger in this dimension than they were in his home dimension. While he'd never seen a fighter in his dimension so much as glow, he had seen a number of attacks similar to this one in this dimension. Trying his luck, he concentrated hard and repeated Ranma's loud declaration. A similarly coloured ball appeared at the Doctor's fingertips. He flung in into Ranma's ball and both dissipated harmlessly. This negation of his attack simply served to irritate Ranma further. Attempting to focus his rage, he ran forward a few steps, spun in an attempt to confuse his foe and then jumped slightly, angling down a the Doctor with a speed much greater than his previous descents. Only a quick dodge on the Doctor's part kept him from getting a foot in his face. Concentration was evident on the Doctor's face. If he could catch Ranma off guard, he might have a chance at slipping in a stun move and ending the fight then and there. If he could sedate Ranma for awhile, the possibility of him having a chance to conjure up a plan to return them to the future would increase exponentially. as it was, reflected the Doctor as he blocked a kick with his hand, Ranma was still too alert to catch him with anything which could be considered truly effective. He ducked a punch, grabbed Ranma's outstretched hand, and flung him over his shoulder. Ranma landed roughly behind him. Ranma began picking himself up off the ground, anger overwhelming his soul. He growled slightly, decided he enjoyed it, and then did it a bit louder for effect. Then, he caught a glimpse of pink and his anger vanished in a flash. He turned his head to confirm his suspicions. It was her. Dressed in mildly dingy, tattered clothes, the only splash of colour being the pink sash about her waist, was the girl who was his female side. A curious, almost frightened look emanated from her wide, bright blue eyes. Just as Ranma began to grin, feeling that his plan had a chance at success, the Doctor's foot came crashing down on the back of his head, driving it into the ground. Still standing on Ranma's head, the Doctor now noticed their female spectator. Politely, with a wide smile, he raised his hat to her. "Hello." She looked at him, looking unsure whether she should answer him or not. After a long moment, she finally decided and allowed a timid "Hello" to escape her lips. "I suppose you might be wondering what we're doing here, hmm?" "Maybe." Ranma leaped up, unstabilizing the Doctor, but not causing him to fall down. "What was the big idea?!?" Before the Doctor could answer, a faint "Help!" could be heard coming from the distance. The Doctor stared off into that distance, discerned where the sound was coming from, and took off running. Ranma glanced over at the young lady, saw she was following the Doctor, and then followed her. He ran for some time, following the young lady the whole time, and he quickly began to wish he was ahead of her. He began to wonder like he ran that way. It was a forceful, energetic style and it looked talented, but a bit goofy at the same time. Perhaps it was the idea that looking at her was like looking into a mirror; anytime one is allowed a look at oneself from the outside, one generally feels let down, unless one's ego is incredibly over inflated. Ranma had a healthy, occasionally overabundant ego, but even he felt a gimp watching her. "Is this me?" he questioned. Then they caught up to the Doctor and he almost had a heart attack. First, he immediately recognized their location : Jusenkyo, the Cursed Springs themselves. It didn't look quite the same as it did when he was first there, one thousand five hundred years in the future. There were fewer pools, even fewer bamboo poles, but it was obviously the same place. The second thing that caught him off guard was the young lady that the Doctor was energetically dragging from a nearby pool. It was another girl that looked exactly like his female side. The only difference between this girl and the first one was the colour of their sashes. This girl's sash was coloured blue. Upon seeing her, Ranma visibly staggered. The Doctor began working quickly, moving to clear her airways and trying to empty water from her lungs. He checked for a heartbeat. With a look on his face which definitely did not look positive, he began CPR. He was concentrating hard on the task at hand. After emitting a loud cry, the other, less drown looking young lady, sobbed out "What are you doing to my sister?" Ranma staggered again. "Sister?!?" To himself, he thought "A twin?!? It can't be!" The Doctor did not pause for any length of time. During a period when he was not desperately blowing air into the young woman's lungs, he commanded, "Ranma, explain it to her." He did not look up at them, he did not speak further. Ranma found a tear streaked face gazing up at him, pleading for help. This only served to make him more uncomfortable. "Umm, well, he's umm." His brain slowly kicked into gear and a suitably ancient sounding explanation bounded into his brain. "He's trying to blow her spirit back into her body." It didn't sound that bad when he said it either. He mentally patted himself on the back as she seemed to accept the reasoning and turned to once again watch the Doctor's efforts. After a few minutes which felt like an eternity, the Doctor put his ear to the young lady's chest once more, and then sat back, gasping ever so slightly. "I am sorry young lady, but I'm afraid I could do nothing for her." Mournfully, he removed his hat and bowed his head. In her grief, the undrowned young lady lost her natural shyness and buried her head in Ranma's chest as she sobbed. Once again, Ranma felt more than a little weird. After his face had relaxed from an expression which quite clearly read 'Yikes!', he accepted his unwanted duty and provided his new friend with a little comfort; more specifically, he wrapped an arm around her. It felt weird, very weird. This had been a lot to absorb. Ranma's tired face easily reflected his desire to go home. -Continued in 6.2- "Now, you understand the plan, don't you?" Shampoo flipped her hair in a way that expressed a mild irritation. "Akane worry too much. Shampoo know what to do. Turn to cat, sneak out through air duct, find way to open door and let others out. Right?" Julie grinned. "Exactly." Nabiki held the fateful glass of water. "Ready Shampoo?" When Shampoo nodded, Nabiki splashed the water on her. In the blink of an eye, Shampoo was gone and a small cat sat in her dress. A moment after that, the cat untangled herself from the dress and sat on the bed, looking up at the young ladies, waiting for one of them to open up the air duct so she could get to work. Julie was the only one in the room unused to seeing this sort of thing and she was highly impressed by the whole thing. A surprised "Wow!" burst from her unexpectantly. "That is so wild." Shampoo-cat mewed rather agitatedly. While none spoke cat language, her message was clear : "Let's go!" Akane climbed onto the bed to get at the grill over the tiny air vent. It was definitely too small for any human frame, but a cat would easily fit. It was not difficult for someone of Akane's strength to pry off the grill. Julie casually handed Shampoo up to Akane, who placed her in the vent. "Good luck." Shampoo mewed and started off. Akane replaced the grill and sat down on the bed. As Shampoo-cat made her way down the air vent, she realized a number of things. One was the fact that shed never been in an air duct before. The next was the fact that she hadn't missed much. They were cramped, cold, dusty and windy. She also realized she wasn't quite sure how to get to the hallway. Getting there was a major part of the plan. Her heart ran faster as the area around her grew darker. She began to feel quite lost. Suddenly, the floor disappeared from beneath her. She let out a yowl as she slid down an incline and bounced hard about two feet down. Crossly, she continued, only to find that the vent sloped up again almost immediately. Once she scrambled up to level ground again, the vent turned and light shone ahead from one side of the vent. Excitedly, she scampered to this next grill and peered through it. She found herself staring into the room that the male prisoners had been locked up in. Happosai was barely visible lying in pain on the bed, still suffering from withdrawal. Genma, Ryoga, and Kuno sat around the table, trying not to look at one another. They seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. "Well at least I was not begging someone not to hit me!" Ryoga was announcing rather loudly. Genma was less than calm. "At least I was not cowering back by the wall while a girl fought my battle for me!" "Listen here old man . . ." Kuno began. "Old man!!!" With that, Genma began smacking the other two in the head and they began returning blows. Shampoo rolled her eyes and continued. It wasn't worth watching this much longer. The Time Thief was happy. Extremely happy. His grin was large and wide. He rubbed his hands together more than once in over excited glee. He was very pleased. And why shouldn't he be so pleased? Nearly everything had worked out the way he wanted to. Except losing the Doctor and that other guy, he had rather wanted to speak with the Doctor. Oh well, he reflected, you can't have everything. Perhaps he'd be able to retrieve them while he continued testing. He knew he was close to power; power so . . so powerful, he dare not speak its name. Soon, that power would be his, and Time and Space would be his to play with. Before he reentered the laboratory, he allowed himself a joyous, mildly evil sounding laugh. He was so close! Ranma sat on the steps outside the home of the young lady, Hana. He couldn't make himself go inside where they'd all returned here, the Doctor carrying the dead body that looked like his female side. The whole thing was chilling and he tried not to think of it much. Tried not to think of those blank staring eyes which seemed to be coming from his face, tried not to think of what had just happened, tried not to think about the fact that the Doctor was inside talking to the live version of her . . him now. Ranma had no way to know it, but the Doctor was being gently fussed over. "You need not be this kind to me," he was busily informing the young lady. She smiled gently at him. The Doctor found the effect of even a slight smile quite interesting. It was very dim outside as the sun fell in the sky and, in the light of the fire, her smile glowed gently. Most interesting. "I cannot help but do so. You and you friend have already been so kind to me. Please, why will he not come inside?" The Doctor thought briefly before offering her an answer. It was not calculated to be accurate, but to give her something that was possibly true that she would accept. "He is young and your sister's death has affected him rather severely. He merely needs some time by himself to allow himself to settle." "Has he never seen anyone die before?" "I do not believe so. Unfortunately, I am all too familiar with the sight." "I as well. Three years past, my mother died. It was not a pleasant sight. I . . I remember her at times. I sometimes see her death again, in my dreams. It is . . unpleasant." "It is hard to watch someone you love dies," the Doctor agreed, "especially when they are so young, as your sister was." "She is with mother now. I hope they are happy." She paused in her food preparation to wipe away a stray tear. "Have you no one else?" "My father. He spends much time away, to provide for us . . . me. Few people live near here now. Many believe that Jusenkyo is cursed." She began to break down again. "So it is! Cursed you Jusenkyo! Curse you for stealing my sister for me!" The Doctor moved over to provide a kindly pat on the young lady's back and then suddenly found that she was crying into his chest. Although a bit surprised, the Doctor, being the gentleman he is, accepted his duty and politely comforted her. The door opened and Ranma stood in the door way. It was now quite dark out and the firelight was the only light shining on him. He looked down upon the Doctor and Hana. "Didn't realize you were busy, I'll come back." He shut the door. The Doctor gave the area were he had been a very cross look. Hana stopped her sobbing and sniffed. "That was your friend, was it not?" The Doctor grumbled slightly. "That title is currently up for discussion." "I shall be all right," she began to insist, as she realized where she was in relation to him. She pulled back sharply. "Go and speak with him." "Are you sure?" "I insist." "Very well." He stood. "I shall return soon. Keep the soup warm." He stepped outside. Ranma was once again sitting on the steps, looking as unemotional as possible. The Doctor took this all in and considered his options. After a moment, he sat down next to Ranma. He didn't turn to look at Ranma, but instead stared off into the distance, his Time Lord eyes using the limited light more efficiently than Ranma's could. After watching the trees blow in the gentle wind for a while, the Doctor finally moved to break the silence. "So, how are things?" A slight animosity manifested itself in Ranma's reply. "You make it sound like we're old friends who haven't seen each other in months. What do you mean 'how are things'? They stink! I've seen my future happen and I've seen 'myself' die. Things could definitely be better." "Would you care to discuss things? Might make you feel better," offered the Doctor. "No thanks." Another lengthy, uncomfortable pause followed that statement. "Have you ever seen anyone die before?" A sulky pause followed. "Maybe." "My people live for long periods of time due to our ability to regenerate. It's almost bad form to speak of death because actual death is so infrequent. You know what's involved before a Time Lord regenerates? They nearly die. They come as close to death as you can be without being dead and they regenerate. Like that, you're alive again. You know how that feels?" "Lucky?" Ranma ventured sarcastically. "Painful. Incredibly painful. Every little part of you body has come so close to shutting down for good, and then, lightening seems to hit, reviving everything, but, in the process, it gets bigger, smaller, moves. The pain is intense." He sighed and he sounded old. Time sighed with him. "Life is worth fighting for, no matter what the pain is to yourself. Sometimes, you have to fight to save yourself or others and the actions you take may not be sensible, but you must fight for that life." "Is that what you tried to revive Hana's sister?" "I know that history states one of those sisters must drown in that pool, but when I heard that scream I couldn't resist trying to help her. Every instinct in my body demanded I try to keep her from dying. History was against me." "That's why you didn't want me to get involved with her, you knew this would happen." "I knew something like this was probable. Bit of a mess, isn't it?" "Yeah, just a little," Ranma grumbled. "Is it safe to let you out here on your own? You're not going to start tearing down buildings or get lost in the forest now, are you?" A gentle, encouraging grin lit up the Doctor's face. "I think so." Ranma allowed himself a slight return grin. Pleased with this response, the Doctor went back inside. Ranma stared out at the sky, smiling at no one. The Doctor was difficult to understand at times, but he was a nice guy once you got underneath all that weird. Ranma suddenly began wondering why he couldn't see any stars. With the lack of pollution and street lights, the sky should be a jeweled field of wonder. The reason behind the hiding of the stars became clear a few seconds later as a thunder clap heralded the beginning of a sudden downpour. Cold rain poured down on Ranma with vigor as the roof over the small porch ended where the stairs began. The smile disappeared from the female Ranma's face, replaced by a cross frown. "Life sucks." Julie jumped when the door to their cell opened, not expecting any company besides Shampoo. A guard carrying a bowl of fruit entered. He was being covered by a guard with his gun drawn. Visible behind him was at least one more guard. The guard with the bowl took a couple steps inside and then slid the bowl towards Julie, who was seated closest to the door. "No funny business," growled the guard. "I wouldn't dream of it," Julie insisted innocently. The guard stepped back to the doorway. "Where's the other one?" Nabiki blinked innocently. "Other one?" "The fourth girl," grumbled the guard, who was none too pleased with any of these prisoners. "Where is she?" Akane stretched out a bit more and hoped he wouldn't be able to see Shampoo's dress, which was behind her. "She's busy at the moment." "Busy?" Akane jerked her head toward the cubicle in the corner and gave him a meaningful look. "Busy." A dirty grin became noticeable behind the red plastic shield over the guard's lower face. "Heh. Busy. We'll be back." The guards departed. As Julie picked up the bowl of fruit, Akane snickered briefly. "Dolts." Julie selected a peach from the bowl and then passed the bowl on to Nabiki. "We'd be in trouble if they were clever." She bit into her peach. She froze in mid bite as she faintly heard the sound of the electronic key pad being activated. They listened and waited. The sound had stopped, but the door hadn't opened. "What's going on now?" Nabiki asked crossly. Julie finished her bite and then slipped up to the door. She peeked out the window in the door. She saw no one. Intending to get closer to the window to get a better look, she leaned on the door slightly. To her surprise and delight, the door swung open. The reason why was obvious when she saw Shampoo-cat clinging to the slight ledge the key pad formed. Excitedly, Julie swallowed. "Shampoo!" she whispered loudly, having swallowed incorrectly in her excitement. The peach was placed in her mouth, she lifted Shampoo from her precarious perch, and carried her inside, leaving the door just slightly ajar. Akane and Nabiki were both pleased to see the return of Shampoo. "It worked," Nabiki cheered. "I thought this sort of thing only worked on television." "Not when you're skilled," Akane noted, feeling pleased enough to compliment Shampoo. Shampoo jumped from Julie's arms, strolled over to the bathroom, pushed the door open (which was easily done due to the door not being completely closed), and disappeared inside. A few seconds later, water could be heard running. Not long after, a female styled hand emitted from the door, waiting. Akane threw Shampoo her dress. The hand caught it and disappeared back inside with it. Shampoo, human again, stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed, with a firm look on her face. "Let's go." Julie applauded and opened the door. She poked her head out and checked for guards. There were none. She stepped out into the hallway and the others followed. "Where are the guys?" Julie questioned. "Next door. Leave them," Shampoo said sternly. She was tired and cross after her trip through the air vent. She wanted to tear the Time Thief a new nostril. Akane peeked in the window of the guys' cell. Happosai was on the bed, passed out, and the others were throwing fruit at each other. She sighed as she pulled away. "She's right. Leave them." Without an argument, they walked away. "Increase the intensity by one hundred units," ordered the Time Thief as he strolled into the control room. The operator respectfully cleared his throat. "Sir, is that wise? You saw the reaction the last test caused, what we did then was highly dangerous." His eyes glittered. "I know exactly what happened. Time briefly opened up in that room. The Time has come to claim my power. Increase power by one hundred units." After a moment, the operator began adjusting the machinery. They were nearing maximum output. He was slightly nervous about this new intensity his master was showing. The machinery was ready. His hand hovered over the activation button. "What are you waiting for? Do it!" The door flung open. They turned in surprise as the four young ladies burst into the room, Shampoo and Akane in the lead. "You bring Ranma back!" Shampoo looked fierce. Akane looked fierce. Julie tried to look mean, but wasn't doing a great job of it. Nabiki stood in the back and looked clever. The demented grin on Toki's face grew ever wider. "No one can stop me now!" he growled. He slammed his hand down on the activation button. The projectors discharged into the TARDIS again. The TARDIS glowed a blinding white. Something was about to happen. Ranma began discovering things. One was that she was hungry and the scent of the food wafting out of the house was undeniably good smelling. Her stomach was growling. The second thing that occurred to her now was that she couldn't go inside now unless she changed back. If she went inside now, she risked killing Hana from a heart attack. She thought about that for awhile. Eventually, she decided the best thing to do was to get the Doctor out by her to help. She cleared her throat and deepened her voice as much as possible. Briefly, she knocked. "Ahem. Doctor, could I see you a minute?" Inside both the Doctor and Hana looked at the door. "Is that your friend Ranma?" she questioned. "It doesn't sound much like him." The Doctor was afraid something like this might happen. He thought briefly. "It's raining out. The damp affects his voice. He's got . . . an allergy. Kindly excuse me a moment." She smiled and tested the soup as he rose to head for the door. As he walked, a strange feeling came over him. It grew stronger and stronger the closer he came to the door. In a flash, he knew what the tugging feeling meant. "Ranma?" he said, not loudly enough for her to hear through the door with it raining. Even quieter, he mumbled "Time to go." The strange feeling staggered him slightly and he opened the door more forcefully than Ranma expected. For a brief second, Hana saw the female Ranma. Both gasped. Then, the Doctor grabbed Ranma's hand and both disappeared. She wasn't quite sure what to think. Was the Doctor a god taking her sister's spirit to heaven? Was she mad? Had she imagined him in her moment of terror? She decided to pray, just to make sure. The Doctor and Ranma landed hard on the laboratory floor. The TARDIS still glowed a blinding white light and neither of the returnees opened their eyes because of it. "What's going on?" Ranma cried. "We're back," the Doctor reported. "But something's wrong." The light died suddenly as the flapping of wings filled the air. "Oh no." The fear in the Doctor's voice sent a thrill of terror through Ranma. She opened her eyes and saw a white, ghostly, massive bird. "What is that?" The Doctor's face was an ashen white. "Trouble." Ranma looked at him and suddenly realized the danger they were in. "That fool!" "What is it?" "It's a chronovore!" -To be Continued- -Lord Doc (Proud to be the author of number 15 on the 'Crossovers we wish nobody'd bothered to write' list...) 'Reality is living a life to fulfill your dreams' Disgracelands - Therapy? DOCTOR WHO Cursed Time Episode Seven by Stephen M. Wolterstorff A 1995 Python Lord Productiontm. The Doctor and the TARDIS are copyrights of the BBC and Amblin Entertainment. They are used without permission. 1963, 1995. Ranma Saotome, Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, and the Tendo Sisters Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, are all characters created by Rumiko Takahashi and they, along with the situations created by her, are copyright Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc 1995. They are used without permission. All other characters, devices, etc are the creation of Stephen M. Wolterstorff and likes to assert the fact that he made them up more or less on his own. They are presumed to be copyright him, 1995. This is a work of fiction. Any characters, places, or events that resemble those in 'real' life are used with a spirit of fun and are loving tributes to their real counterparts, not bitter sarcastic jibes as you might think. Thank you for not suing me. Permission to copy this work is granted to the recipient of this file as long as said copy is not made for financial gain and the copy is complete and unaltered, apart from changes due to formatting. If anyone makes any money off this, I'd prefer it to be me. Doctor Who : Season 31 Production Code : 8P 1995 Python Lord Productions. Cursed Time Episode Seven of Seven. Released weekly 16 June 1995. Episode Seven The Doctor and Ranma landed hard on the laboratory floor. The TARDIS still glowed a blinding white light and neither of the returnees opened their eyes because of it. "What's going on?" Ranma cried. "We're back," the Doctor reported. "But something's wrong." The light died suddenly as the flapping of wings filled the air. "Oh no." The fear in the Doctor's voice sent a thrill of terror through Ranma. She opened her eyes and saw a white, ghostly, massive bird. "What is that?" The Doctor's face was an ashen white. "Trouble." Ranma looked at him and suddenly realized the danger they were in. "That fool!" "What is it?" "It's a chronovore!" "A what?" Ranma asked as she stared up at the thing flying above them. It seemed unsubstantial, as if it wasn't really there. Somehow, it looked out of focus. "Chro-no-vore," the Doctor repeated slowly as he sat up and nervously adjusted his hat. "Herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat meat, omnivores eat anything, and chronovores eat time." Ranma sat up. "Literally?" "Yes. They exist outside Time, feeding on it. Their touch is dangerous. In a moment you could become five months old or a hundred and five years old. Depends on what it feels like eating." The simple little game of cat and mouse that they'd gotten wrapped up in had suddenly gotten serious. The Doctor and Ranma sat there and stared at the flying birdlike chronovore. Neither could think of anything else to do at the moment. As the chronovore finally decided to settle down and perch on the slight ledge on the TARDIS roof, those who had most recently inhabited the control room next door came bounding inside the laboratory. Shampoo and Akane rushed to Ranma's side. Julie rushed to the Doctor's side. Nabiki stared up at the chronovore, as the Doctor and Ranma continued to do. The console operator stayed in the control room, deciding this was something outside his normal duties and he need not participate. The Time Thief gazed upon the chronovore with undisguised reverence. "You okay?" Shampoo and Akane chorused. After speaking, they exchanged dirty looks. Ranma didn't answer. Julie was having a similar difficulty getting an answer from the Doctor. "Where were you two? Are you okay?" After a moment, the Doctor spoke quietly, barely audible. His gaze did not move from the chronovore. "Be extremely careful what you say. One wrong move and we are all dead." "Greetings," the chronovore spoke. The beak had not opened to indicate it was speaking, but all knew it had spoke. All attention which was not already its was suddenly given to it. "I am Dyanysus. As the Doctor has been reporting, I am a chronovore. The energy that was being fed into his TARDIS was very flavourful. The blame for the Doctor and Ranma's excursion into the past can be lain at my feet. I became overly excited. Now then, Toki Dorobo, why have you called me here, as subconsciously as you did so?" "Power," stated he simply, "the ability to bring my people to the level of Time Awareness I have struggled to drag myself to. To be able to sense time, not just be governed by it. I desired to travel through time." Politely, the Doctor cleared his throat and raised his hand. "If I may be allowed to make a statement?" "Yes Doctor." He stood up and bowed as politely as possible. "I find myself feeling that this is less than a good idea. Despite my friendship and good relationship with the human race over the centuries, I feel that, on the whole, they would not be ready for such abilities, nor would they be able to utilize them properly." "I would remind you, Doctor, that your own people, the Time Lords, were ill prepared for their abilities when they first gained them. They misused them with a certain vigour before they realized the error of their ways." The chronovore looked ponderous. "The possible danger to the TimeLines . . ." he began again. ". . . would prove to be tasty to my people, even if their meddling caused the destruction of this TimeLine branch." "TimeLine branch?" Akane repeated softly, her voice a mix of confusion and fright. Julie edged closer and tried to explain. "As the Doctor explained it to me, there are a number of main TimeLines and each main TimeLine has a number of alternates, universes that are ever so slightly different from it." "So the destruction of our TimeLine branch would mean we'd be destroyed along with any alternate uses?" Akane checked. "I'd think so." "Definitely bad thing," Shampoo noted. "So you see Doctor, that's what I have to consider : do I desire to treat my people or not?" "Treat them to a brief and fleeting joy or a prolonged period of continual and modestly restful feeding?" the Doctor retorted with a mild energy. "Hey!" the Time Thief finally cried. "Power, me, soon? I've been waiting so long for these abilities, trained so hard, worked so devotedly. I deserve this! Ever since that day long ago, when I was but a child, the day when the old man spoke to me of Time Travel, it has filled my every waking moment. I must be able to Time Travel. The human race deserves to be at the level I am at now; I find it hard to imagine how the others survive not being like me. I need this!" "Old man?" the Doctor gasped. A thought had occurred to him and a faint glimmer of memory shone in the dark recesses of his mind. "Curly white hair?" The Time Thief looked at him. "Yes. His imagine is as clear today as it was nearly twenty years ago." "Purple smoking jacket?" "Yes." The Time Thief's expression began to mutate to something most curious. "Frilly white shirt?" "Yes? How do you know all this?" he demanded impatiently. "That was me. You were the boy on the hill when I departed with Sarah Jane weren't you? You never saw the TARDIS and I thought you hadn't heard me speaking with her." "You are he changed?" "Yes," the chronovore continued, "the time traveler you saw named the Doctor is the same time traveler before us named the Doctor, or is it more appropriate to say 'referred to as the Doctor'?" "Either is fine," the Doctor noted, not concerned with the point. Toki Dorobo stared at the Doctor, his expression a mix of surprise, confusion, and horror. "You are he, and yet you would deny me my life long dream, the dream you yourself gave me?" "I didn't exactly hand it to you like a present," noted the Doctor. The Time Thief didn't notice his point. "That you would deny me this, you who have been my hero for so long." Sadness filled his eyes. He was being faced with the uncomfortable truth that many people must face regarding their childhood heroes : heroes are not perfect, despite what a memory might otherwise tell. "I challenge you!" he said suddenly. A hint of sadness crept into the Time Lord's eyes as the chronovore pondered the merits of this concept aloud. "A challenge? Yes, that seems rather appropriate. It is decided : the winner of this challenge shall decide this dilemma that is before me. It shall decide who's side I shall take." Toki stared at the Doctor, his hurt feelings becoming anger. "I shall destroy you Doctor. I shall take extreme delight in doing so. You are no hero!" he spat. The Doctor stared at him for a moment and then prepared to speak. He was halted by a hand on his shoulder. It's presence did not surprise him all that much; he'd rather expected to be stopped before he could accept the challenge. A slight turn of the head let him know that he was correct in anticipating who would stop him : Ranma. -Continued in 7.2- She looked up at him, determination shining from her blue eyes, her mouth set at a firm line. "Let me fight him. You're good, but you're rusty. I'm still in training, I've a much better chance at beating him." Akane threw in her two hundred yen worth. "The Time Thief beat Happosai somehow, he must be good. Let Ranma fight him." The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her statement. "Are you saying that you trust Ranma's ability to do this?" She paused and thought before answering. "No, I'm saying that I 'd much rather see him hurt than you, if our side was to lose." Ranma narrowed her eyes at Akane. "Your confidence in me is overwhelming." "I've seen you hurt before, I can handle that." "Most of the time you're the one that's hurt me!" The Doctor interrupted before the fight got get to the 'throwing things' stage. "We don't even know if Ranma will be accepted as my substitute, nor have I decided to ask for Ranma to be by replacement." Grudgingly, Ranma and Akane retreated to their neutral corners. It had occurred to the Doctor that if it came down to a battle between himself and Toki Dorobo, as he now knew this chap's name to be, that Ranma would attempt to take over that battle from him. The decision he had yet to make was : should he let Ranma do so or not? He felt it would be unusual for him to let someone else do his work for him, especially with the stakes so high. It wasn't as if he didn't trust Ranma's abilities, it was more the idea that he was very used to ensuring things would turn out the way he planned by executing his plans himself. There had been that flirtation with using people like pieces on a chess board in his plans, and he knew full well how that had turned out. In a moment of worry, he realized he didn't know full well how that had turned out. The result he knew, but the circumstances . . . He shook himself, pushing his mind back on track. In the end, he realized only one answer fully presented itself as correct. He cleared his throat and tipped his hat to the chronovore. "Pardon me Dyanysus, but my friend Ranma wishes to act as my champion, if there are no objections." In the end, the Doctor decided to do what he'd always done : trust his friends. Dyanysus answered. "I have no objections. Toki?" The Time Thief smiled. "I shall look forward to defeating this Ranma. Once I do, and I am raised to a higher level, as I shall be, I shall delight in then destroying the Doctor!" "Nice to see he's let bygones be bygones," Julie quipped in an attempt to break the tension. "Ranma beat him," Shampoo declared positively. "No contest." "If we named it 'Martial Arts Time Traveling' or something, it would be easy," Ranma commented. "I can do anything with 'Martial Arts' in the title." "You'll do fine," the Doctor reassured. "Just remember, we're all behind you and your TimeLine is at stake." "Thanks for not putting the pressure on, Doctor," Ranma retorted. "Kick his tail," Julie enthused. "I will." She looked to Akane. Akane was silent. Ranma turned to face his opponent. Akane spoke. "Ranma?" She turned back to listen. "Don't get hurt, okay?" Ranma smiled. "Don't plan to. You worry too much." But her eyes said the thank you that her lips couldn't. Then, they got into position. Facing one another, standing about twenty feet apart, the TARDIS and the chronovore were off to one side, the spectators to the other. "With all prepared, it seems all I need say is 'begin'." So they did. Ranma leapt up. At the peak of her jump, Toki leapt as well, aiming his outstretched fist at her stomach. This wrinkle caused Ranma's plan to change. She twisted around the fist and flipped over, so that she was facing the same direction as he, only she was upside down. Quickly, she wrapped her legs around his neck and tried to spin by flexing her leg muscles. It worked, causing him to suddenly find himself traveling downward, headfirst. With a painful sounding crunch, his head solidly connected with the floor. For her part, Ranma rolled away from his body and popped to her feet, ready for the next move. Toki stood up and twisted his head slightly, to pop his neck back into place. He looked to be in some pain, but he looked more angry than hurt. "So, that's how it's going to be, hmm?" growled the Time Thief. Ranma glared back, a fierce determination radiating from her face. "Yep." "So be it." He spun forward, leapt over a leg sweep and kicked out at Ranma upon landing. Ranma dodged the kick but Toki had expected that, using the kick to get in closer to Ranma. He leisurely threw a number of punches, which Ranma easily dodged, and then suddenly flipped backward, aiming both rising feet at Ranma. Ranma attempted to dodge the blows once she saw him fall back, but he was too quick for her. One foot caught her in the knee, the other in the stomach. Ranma staggered only slightly from the force of the blows and was able to block the next two punches that Toki threw after handspringing back to his feet. However, Ranma was unable to stop the third punch, which landed solidly in Ranma's 'bread basket'. With a soft 'whoomph', the wind was knocked from Ranma and she collapsed. A kick was aimed at the prone figure on the ground, but Ranma had enough left in her to roll away from the attack. She popped to her feet, was briefly unsteady, and then was ready to go again. She inhaled deeply. The fierceness in her face refocused. The fight continued. She focused her strength, emotion, and ability into thought. As a result, she was surrounded by a flickering blue light, almost like flames. Ranma's battle aura had become visible. With a loud cry designed to channel that visible energy, Ranma let loose a fireball composed of a portion of her battle aura. Toki Dorobo saw the fireball approaching and leapt over it when it grew near. While he was in the air, Ranma took to the air, spending most of her time in his blind spot, until her precisely aimed foot connected with his stomach. Unceremoniously, he crashed to the ground, winded. While he staggered to his feet, still a bit shaky, Ranma let loose another battle aura ball. It impacted with his back, causing him to cry out in surprise and pain. Ranma leapt forward, hoping to further catch him off guard. As she began her descent, he spun around and directed a violently charged roundhouse kick her way. He connected with her head and the impact knocked her hard into the TARDIS. The watching chronovore clicked its tongue in surprise. "Excellent," it intoned in admiration of the move. Such a view was not taken up by Ranma's fan club on the other sideline. The Doctor winced as Ranma's head crashed against his solidly built time vessel. Beneath his breath, so that no one else heard, he mumbled "Smeg." "That," Julie noted, "is the sort of thing that is likely to leave a mark." "Ranma still down!" Shampoo exclaimed in horror. Akane looked remarkably calm. "Ranma will win. He can do it." Her faith was remarkably strong. True to Shampoo's commentary, Ranma was slow to rise after this last blow, but, considering the extreme violence associated with it, the slow rise was quite understandable. She sat up, shaking the stars from her head as the Time Thief slowly walked toward her. He smiled. In his mind, victory was within his grasp. As he paused in front of the semi prone Ranma, he debated his next move. Seconds later, he was leaning down to pick her up. That's when Ranma punched him solidly in the nose. Toki staggered back, holding his nose as Ranma stood up, shaky, but not as bad as she'd looked a moment ago. A cheer went up from Ranma's supporters as about half of them realized she had been visibly exaggerating her injury to sucker Toki in. Ranma snapped off a jump kick which connected with Toki's chin. His head snapped back and he returned his full attention to Ranma. A trickle of blood seeped from his nose. Extreme anger filled his expression as he once again took in Ranma's form before him. He growled and attempted a number of poorly executed punches and kicks, all of which Ranma dodged. The Time Thief's head cleared fully when Ranma's foot connected with his head. It cleared up and then fuzzed over again, especially when his head impacted against the floor. Ranma wasted no time in leaping in on the prone figure of Toki Dorobo. Toki was not as dazed or confused as anyone believed him to be. Ranma found out how alert Toki still was when Toki's feet connected with the stomach of Ranma, who was preparing to land her foot on Toki's face. Instead of Ranma being close to victory, she was gasping for breath on Toki's feet. Toki launched her away. Ranma crashed hard, back first, into the TARDIS. She grunted a "Not again" before sliding to the ground. Both combatants lay on the ground briefly, both feeling the pain of the prolonged battle. Ranma and Toki both staggered to their feet at the same time. "This must end soon," Toki reported with venom. "You are weak, girl, and I am destined to destroy you." "Girl?!?" Ranma was visibly strengthened. They, in their anger and determination, leapt at each other. The feeling in the air informed any who could tap into it that this would be the end of the fight. One more blow would be exchanged, one combatant would fall, and a winner would be crowned. It seemed like Ranma and Toki were moving in slow motion. Akane, the Doctor, Julie, Shampoo, all could see how the limbs would straighten out and who was going to be defeated. It was obvious to see that, with her short reach, Ranma would be defeated. Then, after this moment of slow motion, things began to pick up and happen all at once. Suddenly, the arm of Toki's that seemed destined to impact with Ranma's face and knock her out, was at a totally odd angle and would end up being nowhere near Ranma. However, Ranma's outstretched foot, which seemed sure to barely miss Toki's head, was now on a collision course with Toki. Ranma kicked Toki. Toki began to collapse. The Doctor began to collapse. "Doctor!" Akane and Julie managed to catch him as he fell. Rather suddenly, he'd turned very pale. He was still conscious, but he was extremely weak. As they fanned him, Ranma landed from her jump and Toki collapsed unconscious to the ground. "Excellent battle," Dyanysus enthused. "Most enjoyable." Ranma bowed respectfully to the chronovore, breathing gently heavily as she did. "It has decided things well. I shall infuse some of my power into Toki Dorobo." Ranma, having fought a long, tiring battle and winning, was reasonably surprised by this response. "What? I won!" "Proving that Toki is weaker and requires my assistance," retorted Dyanysus. "Arise Toki." A wave of energy flickered about Toki, waking him and soothing the wounds of battle. after bathing in it for a moment, he stood up. "Your moment is upon you, Toki Dorobo." The Doctor spoke, his voice so faint that only the three young ladies around him could hear. "No. Don't let him. He doesn't understand what will happen." Julie was glad to hear the Doctor speak, proving he wasn't as ill as he looked. "Doctor, what happened to you?" The Doctor ignored her. "Stop Toki from accepting the power. The danger." The energy the Doctor had been saving seemed to desert him and he quieted down. "This isn't fair," Ranma was commenting. "Due to the fact that this act doesn't meet your standards for fair means I should halt it?" inquired Dyanysus. "I do as I please." Toki was smiling as he felt the power begin to flow into him. "Silence yourself! You fought well, but the price goes to me!" Toki began to glow, an evidence that he was receiving the chronovore's power. "Soon, Time will bow at my feet! I shall be its ruler and the human race will become as gods, I as their head!" As he rambled, he began to expand. Slowly, he grew larger and larger as the power fed into him. "We shall be looked up to by other races in the universe. All shall speak of the ability and the power of the humans!" His voice grew louder as he grew larger. He was now taller than the TARDIS. The Doctor feebly cried "Stop!" but no one paid him any attention. Their focus was on the Time Thief. It was about now that Toki noticed the subtle change in his appearance. "What is happening to me?" he bellowed. "It appears the power is a bit too much for you to handle," replied Dyanysus casually. "Your body is swelling due to the power I'm feeding into you. Chances are your molecules will lose their ability to bind to each other and you'll disintegrate. Life really isn't fair, is it?" "Stop the power!" Toki appeared to be in some pain. Agony flashed from his tortured expression. "Sorry. Once the process begins, it cannot be halted." Toki screamed. Before the horrified looks of all in the room bar the chronovore, Toki Dorobo, the Time Thief, disintegrated. "He'll become one with the Space/Time Vortex, so technically he'll have access to all of Time. He just won't know it." Ranma managed to find her voice. "What made you do that? That was cruel." "Do not judge me Ranma Saotome. I am neither human nor even Gallifreyian like your friend the Doctor. Our values, morals, thinking patterns are all totally different. What I did was honour the wish of a human. I did not do it in the way he believed I would do, but I did it all the same." "Did you always intend to do that to him?" Julie questioned. The chronovore looked at her. "Yes." "Then why the fight? Why all this playing about?" "It amused me." The chronovore appeared to grow irritable. "I need not explain my motives to any of you, unless, of course, you desire something of me?" They assured him they wished for nothing from him. "Excellent. My tasks here are done. Good day." A flare of white appeared in the middle of the room. A wind suddenly picked up, blowing everything about. Dyanysus flapped its wings and flew into the hole. The hole closed behind it. The wind stopped. That's when the Doctor passed out. -Concluded in 7.3- Roses. Odd as it might be, that's what he found himself thinking of when he realized he was waking up. He inhaled again. The faint scent of roses lingered in the air. It was a highly relaxing odour and he instinctively released a gentle sigh. Once he was more mentally alert, he decided to take a chance and open his eyes. Light. He closed his eyes abruptly, having caught a blast of sunlight right in his visual orbs. He began blinking until he was able to tolerate the brightness of the late afternoon. Kasumi. She was politely staring at him from her seat in a chair next to the bed he was in. "Good, you're awake. Are you okay?" The Doctor sat up and mentally checked himself over. "Nothing appears to be damaged." "Akane said you passed out." "Akane doesn't appear to be a liar. I believe her considering what little I remember. I merely overexerted myself. I'm much better now." He moved to swing the covers from himself and then remove himself from the bed. Kasumi stopped him from this endeavor. "No, you mustn't get up yet. You need to rest." The Doctor looked down at her hand on his and then gave her a curious look. "I am fine now. To be honest, I've survived much worse. You need not fuss." Kasumi was resolute and firm. "You need to rest." "Who is the Doctor here?" "Rest." He began to grow a bit perturbed. "I don't require any further rest," he insisted. Kasumi picked up a nearby frying pan that she was keeping nearby in the event something like this happened. "Rest," she ordered. The Doctor froze. He looked at the frying pan. He looked at Kasumi. A gentle smile lit her face. Apart from a mild determination in her eyes, she looked little different from how she normally did. "You know," the Doctor informed, "a bit of rest would do me a power of good." He relaxed his position in the bed and got comfortable. Kasumi's smile widened noticeably. "Good." She got up and walked to the door. "Would you care for some soup?" "That would be lovely." "Chicken?" "Delightful." Flashing her smile, Kasumi left the room. The Doctor expelled a puff of air from his lungs. He looked a bit surprised, perhaps even a tad overwhelmed, at this. He wouldn't have thought Kasumi to be that sort of person. At least the bed was comfortable. The Doctor's train of thought was interrupted by a knock upon the door. Allowing himself to look mildly befuddled, he announced a loudish "Hallo?" to whomever was on the other side of the door. He half expected it to be Kasumi with the soup already, but he didn't expect her to knock when she returned. The door opened partially and Akane poked her head inside. "Kasumi said you were awake. Mind if I come in?" Under the circumstances, the Doctor felt there was but one thing to do : get silly. Overly dramatically, he laid the back of his hand across his brow and did his best to look pained. "Oh," said he weakly, " I suppose so, just so long as you don't interrupt my precious rest." As Akane entered, she gave him an odd look. It made the Doctor feel so much better. Akane sat in the wooden chair that her older sister had recently vacated. "Are you okay?" she questioned. The Doctor sat up normally or as close as he got to normally. "Yes. Before you get to whatever point brought you here, may I ask where my hat and trenchcoat are?" "On a peg in the hall," she answered. She smiled. "Why, were you worried they'd disappeared?" "Not really, just curious as to where they'd gotten. I've grown rather attached to that hat. By the way, where exactly am I?" "Back at our place, the dojo." He smiled politely. "That much I had gather actually. I mean more along the lines of 'what room have I found myself in'?" "This is Kasumi's room." A flicker of playful concern flared across the Doctor's face. "My, my, my. I am placed in Kasumi's room, I find her at my bedside when I awake, she insists on fussing over me. Should I be worried?" Akane got the look of someone hunting for the proper way to phrase something on her face. "Kasumi has a bit of a thing for doctors." The Doctor raised a hand. "Say no more, my curiosity is sated. So, what brings you to me so quickly upon waking?" "What happened?" "Well, thank you for being so specific as regarding what you want to know." He settled himself a bit in the bed and looked innocent. "You know what I mean." "Do I?" The Doctor could dance around a subject very well when he put his mind to it. Akane allowed her expression to grow fierce again. "Yes you do," said she forcefully. The Doctor read her expression and decided she was not likely to give up this argument in exasperation. "You noticed then?" he retorted, sounding defeated, attempting to discover how detailed his explanation should be. "Ranma's win was a bit strange and I believe you had something to do with it. Whatever you did drained you of your energy and caused you to pass out." "Did I really pass out? I didn't gently drift into the arms of Morpheus with a certain dignity?" Akane gave him a firm look. "Julie warned me that you tended to ramble when you didn't want to properly answer a question. Yes, you passed out." The Doctor looked at her and wished he had his hat so he could fiddle with it. He began playing with the sheets on Kasumi's bed as he decided how to explain what had occurred. "As you are well aware, battle aura is very plentiful in your dimension. The ability to manipulate this aura can result in feats that others would consider quite amazing. It's a bit like magic mana, simple tricks take very little power and more complex tricks take considerably more power. For instance, take that gravity defying jump Ranma seems to have perfected . . ." He was interrupted by Akane loudly clearing her throat. "Doctor," she warned. "Your point?" The Doctor did a fine job of looking ashamed, rather like a child who has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "Yes, well, anyway, while I was training with your father and Ranma's all those years ago, I discovered my Time Lord metabolism reacted with this energy to give me an ability I didn't normally have, nor did anyone else have. Given enough energy, I can momentarily freeze time." Akane's eyebrows raised. She wasn't quite sure what he was going to say, but this wasn't even a consideration. "Freeze time?" she parroted in surprise. "Well, more or less freeze time. That's how you'd likely describe it. I can, well, step outside time and do things while everything around me is stuck." "So you stepped out of time, changed the positioning of Ranma and Toki's limbs, moved back where you were to begin with, and that's when you ran out of energy." The Doctor applauded. "You summed that up very well. You do understand. I didn't realize until the battle ended what Dyanysus' motive was though. Toki wasn't supposed to die." "That was frightening." A shiver went down Akane's back. "What happened after I passed out?" questioned the Time Lord, eager to remove the focus of the conversation from himself. As Akane decided where to begin her answer, Kasumi entered the room with a tray bearing the small meal she'd made for the Doctor. The soup she had made from scratch, but she'd begun making it hours ago. She'd decided the Doctor was unlikely to argue with her on the kind of soup he was to eat and she could offer him a veiled choice without him selecting something else. Apart from the bowl of soup, there was also a bowl of rice, some chopsticks, and some of that tea the Doctor had been enjoying earlier. Kasumi set it before the Doctor and smiled at him. "Now, eat up and rest. You'll be better before you know it." She left. The Doctor was unbothered at this point. Akane. as well as she knew her sister, was a tad surprised. "I see what you mean about fussing." The Doctor just shrugged his shoulders and began eating his meal, encouraging Akane to tell him what had happened between mouthfuls of rice. Briefly she thought, deciding what level of detail he might desire and then began her story. "Once the guards and the rest of the Time Thief's workers found out he was dead, they all gave up. It turned out that they had all been hired and, now that they were out of a job, they became very helpful, even apologetic. The pilot of Kuno's blimp returned with another blimp and some of Kuno's family guard, which we didn't need by that point. Apart from kidnapping us and the TARDIS, they hadn't done anything illegal, just research into time travel. We ended up letting them all go home after they helped us bring the TARDIS back here." The Doctor's ears perked up. "The TARDIS is here?" "In the garden, almost where it materialized this morning." The Doctor sighed. "Excellent. It appears apart from Toki's unfortunate death, that everything has turned out rather satisfactorily." He sipped his tea and pondered the though that they had been researching time travel. As paranoid as it sounded to himself, the idea that the Time Lords had sent him here to stop Toki Dorobo occurred to him. Had they sent him to the Nexus of Possibilities via that energy beam? He pondered. "Doctor?" Akane snapped his train of thought. "Would you like me to bring Julie into talk with you?" He blinked and dragged himself back into the conversation. "What is she up to at the moment?" "She's in the living room, playing her guitar for Nabiki, Ranma, Mr. Saotome, and Dad." The Doctor smiled. "Best allow her to play for a bit yet. She complains that. traveling with me, she doesn't get enough time to practice." Akane smiled back. "Okay. Do you mind if I good back to listen to her? She's good." "Not at all. But not a word to Ranma or anyone else about my Time Freeze ability. All right?" "Okay." She slipped out of the room after an exchanged "Later". A few moments later, the Doctor finished his meal and was soon after very bored. He twiddled his thumbs briefly before sneaking out of bed to hide in the hallway near where Julie was playing her acoustic guitar. He gazed in at the happy, relaxed looks on everyone's faces as Julie's pleasant melody came from her instrument. He smiled. Somehow, he knew the universe was, however briefly, at peace with itself. At least it would be for him until Kasumi found him out of bed. So he just smiled and enjoyed the music. The multiverse would need him again soon enough. He'd worry about it then. -Fin- ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???? Well, thank you for spending the time to read this lengthy piece called 'Cursed Time'. I appreciate it, as I appreciate the mail I've received about it (and, I'll go out on a limb, all the mail I'll receive from people who wait til something's done before they decide to comment). It's always nice to hear from people who are enjoying something you've done. (It seems those who don't enjoy it post to different boards and complain rather than write, but I haven't seen any of that either.) The dangerous part about this whole story came at the end, as I typed those last couple pages. My brain got a glimmering of an idea of writing a series of OAVs starring the Doctor and Ranma, but, you'll be happy to know, I've managed to beat that idea into the ground and bury it away, as I haven't the time to do that now. (Frighteningly enough, the idea tries to rise from the dead every time I go to sleep, but so far it's always returned to the grave with little fuss.) For the record, 'Cursed Time' was approximately 36,786 words (give or take a noun), about 84 pages in my favourite font (Palatino 12 point), and took about three months to write and type up. Hope you thought it was worth it. Those of you who have read one of the previous SEASON 31 stories might have a question on your mind, namely : When is the SEASON 31 book, which will include 'Cursed Time' coming out? My answer is simple : I'm not sure yet. I've got an episode to finish on one story and another three part tale to write yet, as well as all the 'background' stuff and collecting the art. Currently, I'm hoping for August. All who write me, who who already have, will be placed on a mailing list and will be notified via email when release is imminent. I will also post on relevant Net boards when the tome is actually available. Hope to see a few of you then, when it's time for money to change hands. One or two of you at least. Thanks again all! -Stephen M. Wolterstorff LordDoc@AOL.com 6/15/1995 'Reality is living a life to fulfill your dreams' Disgracelands - Therapy?