From One Universe to Another

Robin covered her mouth to keep from yelping in surprise as the Doctor reeled back in pain. Okay, not good. Her eyes widened at Sonya as she stood up and surrendered, and she felt like smacking her. It wasn't just her, she tended to take the bullet EVERY TIME right? Frowning, she quietly moved over to the Doctor, checking over her shoulder every few seconds to make sure the Krillitanes were busy. 

"Are you alright?" She whispered, trying to grab him by the shoulders and help him sit up. "What's going on?" She got up on her knees for a moment to see what happened with the device and... a metal dog. A metal... dog... what? "What's that dog got to do with anything?" She looked over her shoulder again, rolling her eyes at Sonya's comment. Of course she would say that.

(OOC: Well, I controlled the baddies, for once. Complain if there's anything you don't like. )

"My timestream," the Doctor gasped in a hoarse whisper, his head turned as he looked over at Robin as she helped him up against a crate. "It's being rewritten. I'm not going to exist," he managed, before leaning his head back against the crate. His eyes shut tight as another wave of pain seared through him, causing his body to convulse, his muscles tightening and his fists clenching as he tried to ride it out without crying out. He relaxed as the pain faded for several seconds, but it was really beginning to drain him. That, and the fact his timeline was being erased was causing his body to weaken.

"That dog, K-9, it was my little robot dog," he continued in a serious whisper as he regarded Robin. "When the school was invaded by the krillitanes, blew up the krillitane oil. It killed the krillitanes, and stopped them from completing their solving of the Skasis Paradigm. But some of them must have survived. If they've removed K-9 from that time, who knows what might happen. They might have solved it and rewritten the universe. Or maybe I stopped them in time. Maybe I..." he lurched again, falling off the crate and onto the floor. Thankfully, this time he didn't make any noise. He could hear Sonya talking to the krillitanes, but he could barely make out what they were saying. They seemed angry though, which gave the Doctor some hope that even if they had removed K-9, they had still failed in their quest. K-9 had to be sent back, and if he had time to modify the machine, all would be right. But with four krillitanes in the room, it would be impossible to get near it. He pushed himself up to his hands and knees, making a move to crawl out from his hiding spot towards the machine. But he collapsed halfway there, looking and feeling utterly helpless.

"There's a little time bubble, surrounding the room," he said, still in his hoarse whisper, and hopefully where Robin and Mal could hear him. "Nothing has changed inside this room. You have your memories of everything that was. But step out, and the world changes. K-9 has to be sent back," he said as he lifted his head to look back at them, giving them his serious and faintly pleading look. "Before the bubble bursts."


The leader of the krillitanes looked at her with slight curiosity, cocking his head from side to side as his glowing eyes regarded her. "My name is Lasser," he responded, though his voice didn't seem to come from his throat, coming out as a more telepathic wave that echoed within the small circle of occupants. The others were hissing angrily, motioning at the machine, and then at Sonya. One of them was busy checking over the machine, looking over the coding and components, trying to figure out the problem. "You modified the machine, didn't you?" he remarked, his gaze still regarding cooly, with a subtle anger. "My people don't usually make these kinds of mistakes."

"Ah, well you caught me on that one." Sonya smiled sheepishly as she tucked her hands into her pockets and wandered over to crouch down in front of K-9 with a special grin for him. "Hey there buddy." She whispered with a small wink, a finger lifting up to her lips to keep him silent. She knew the second he scanned her, he found out what she was. "Can I say, I'll fix the machine for you." She added suddenly, glancing up at Lasser with a slight gleam in her eyes. "I'll fix it right up, my only condition is you send this lovely little fellow back where he was. Can you imagine? A child playing with his toy only to have it vanish? No no no..." She shook her head in mock shame as she straightened back up to walk over to the machine, ignoring the sharp looks she received from the Killotaines gathered while she leaned over and studied the information on the screen. "And honestly, I really didn't expect for you to bring back something so big and complicated. I was thinking maybe a flowerpot or something, a bit of a joke."

Turning back to face Lasser, Sonya tilted her head to the machine in question. "I'll fix it for ya, but only if that little guy is sent back. Then you can do whatever it was that you were doing, yeah?" She added, her eyes gleaming suddenly as the half-plan she had in her head suddenly finished clicking together. Carefully locking her mind behind several psychic walls, she began to tap away on the keypad in rapid succession, working away on the problems that she knew to fix temporarily. Quickly, she tapped in a familiar computer code that would last just long enough to give the impression of the machine being fixed, but as soon as she activated it, whatever was sent back would be the only thing to be sent back then it would revert to pulling things back to their time rather than sending more after her.

Pursing her lips, she dreded the thought of having to avoid the Doctor and the rest of them the entire time she would be there, but she knew Krillotaines, they wouldn't let her send K-9 back. Glancing over, she eyed the energy meter on the machine, counting the seconds it would take until it would be at full power. "Right then..." She muttered, turning around again and flashing a forced smile at Lesser with her hands behind her back. "All fixed, I'd just wait until it's all powered up and such." She grinned again, waving at the energy readouts as they steadily climbed up towards 100. Nodding over at K-9, she motioned with her hand for him to go over to her. Crouching down, she patted his head gently. "You'll have to aim a small shot at the floor in front of the machine before we're sent back, or else they'll only jump in after us. Scare them back, yeah?" She whispered in Gallifreyan to him, a smile on her face growing as he nodded his head in silence before she glanced over and read the numbers 99.

Turning quickly, she pushed K-9 towards the opening of the machine, just enough to shove him inside so she could jump after. He spun around and shot at the ground just as the Krillotaines started running forward, causing them to step back just as the light flashed, sending them back and leaving the machine opening empty once more.


(I made this like that, because of not being able to get online very often. I figured it would make a proper excuse as to why I'm not replying as often.)

Mal was trying her damnedest not to hyperventilate. This was horrible and freaky and so not what she wanted right now. Or ever, actually. She couldn't bring herself to think or do anything of use. Sonya was talking with the Krillitanes though she couldn't make out the words being passed between the two and not to mention the Man-Doctor was totally dying. Was he dying? Something to do with timeline mix up was what he was saying. If that robot dog could be sent back to its proper time the Doctor would be just peachy. Or that's what she understood.

And soon enough, when Mal was turning to ask Robin what the younger girl thought they should do, the familiar bright light illuminated the room. Oh crap. Peaking out from the crates Mal watched with wide eyes as Sonya and the metal dog disappeared within. Well crap... at least the metal dog was back where it should be, but Sonya? How the heck were they going to get her back?

Quickly scurrying closer to the Doctor she grabbed onto his suit and tugged for his attention, "Hey, hey, you good now? The metal dog went in the machine.. I think.. I think Sonya did something. But she, er... went with him. Sonya is in the machine too! Or whatever" Her voice was a harsh whisper since she didn't want to draw the wrong type of attention to her. Mal then looked over at Robin and murmured, "Do you have any idea how we can fix this?"

Robin frowned, getting up on her knees for a moment to see the Krillitanes angrily thrashing about before coming back down to the others. So the Doctor was okay now, good. "Um... hm. If I had my manipulator, we could have just gone from here to go get her, but thanks to my brother, we're going to have to make a run for it. You can drive a TARDIS, right? You are a Doctor, after all." She looked to the Time Lord, smiling in relief that he would be okay. Hopefully.

"The timelines are still going to be messed up, so even if we can make it there on the exact date without dying, you'd still have to hide from your past self, assuming that you're there. I think you are. Whatever, not the point. We still have to make it out of here before they get us. Not sure if they have guns or anything, so that's helpful..." She murmured, the ending just her own thoughts to herself. Glancing up, she grinned, seeing how upset the aliens were. That was a first, being ahead of the threat. It felt... weird.

"Never felt better," the Doctor said with a grin, before cracking his neck to the side and pushing himself up. He grimaced slightly as he did, but the pain was fading, his timelines were going back into place, the variable that had been removed had been put back into place. Time would go as it should. Then his face fell as he looked back at Mal. "She did what?" He shook his head as he looked back at Robin. "Yes I can drive the Tardis, but that machine there is still a problem," he said, nodding his head towards the machine beyond the crates. "They can still use it to change history, well, as soon as they are able to fix it. But give it enough time," he pursed his lips as he got up onto his knees, and looked between the cracks at the krillitanes.

"I need a distraction. Something that will get the krillitanes away from the machine and out of the room. Then I can have the machine bring Sonya back and...oh...she took the sonic screwdriver..." he made a face, before running his hand through his hair as he leaned back. "Well..." he said as he pulled his hand out and let it drop back at his side. "I suppose I can do it without it, it'll just take more time..."

Ducking into a nearby closet, Sonya held a finger up to her lips as K-9 shifted to look up at her. "Shhh, he can't know I'm here. This is way before we ever meet... I can't ruin his timeline." She explained in an undertone, cracking the door open slightly to peer out into the hallway. A flash of red trainers caught her eye just before they vanished around the corner. "Ah... Good." She murmured under her breath, pulling the door open again and slipping back out to move down the hallway in the opposite direction the Doctor vanished to.

"K-9! Where are you?" A woman's voice called out, one Sonya would know anywhere. Sara Jane Smith... Looking around frantically, she searched for a place to hide before spotting an overturned bin in the corner. Sucking in a deep breath, she bit back a slight groan before lifting it up and hiding under it quickly, one finger pointed at K-9 in warning before she vanished completely. "K-9, there you are. Where have you been? Come on then, hurry up, the Doctor needs your help with something." Lifting the bin slightly, Sonya watched the familir form of Sara vanish out the door across from her with K-9 beside her.

Slipping out from under it, she sat cross-legged on the floor, deep in thought. Alright, she got k-9 here, but without thinking, she didn't even think how she would get back to her own time. Granted the Doctor did have the TARDIS, but he wouldn't be able to come to the school, he'd be crossing his own timeline. Letting out an aggervated breath, she closed her eyes and rested her chin in her hands, about ready to get up and start moving again only to have a blood-curtling screech echo around her. Jerking her head up, Sonya spotted a large bat-like creature above her, ready to swoop down and attack.

Rolling to the side, she let out a string of curses before kicking a foot up and feeling a grim smile spread across her face at the connection she felt, her grin growing more so with the following screech of pain as the bat person flew off in another direction.

Mal looked at the Doctor with wide eyes and swallowed. "A-a distraction?" It came out as a whimper as she peered around the crates to look at the aliens still squawking angrily at the machine. Well... what were their choices, then? The Doctor was the only one who knew how to manipulate that machine and get Sonya back. Robin was just a young girl... it was hardly fair to push the kid out there and cause a distraction. Plus she would be a better assistant than Mal. Swallowing heavily she muttered 'be ready...' before standing up and running towards the Krillitanes. She couldn't think about it, think about it and freeze up. That would probably end her, they'd kill her. That's what aliens did, right?

"You're an ugly lot, ain'tcha? Bet you need to get that workin' again, eh? Well.. I've got the missin' piece! So HA!" Mal taunted with a shaky voice as the Krillitanes approached her. Well.. there was that. What was it the Doctor said about some bubble around the room? Oh screw it, she was running now. She got their attention to hopefully they'd chase her down. Spinning on her heels, Mal booked it towards the door and ran out. It was really dark.. hard to see where to go so she ended up knocking things over, drawing more attention to herself. Just hurry and save me, people... god I'm gonna die!

Robin's eyes widened as Mal jumped out there and started running. No! What was she doing?! She could have easily done it, at least she wouldn't have had to run right away! She could pull the innocent-kid-who-lost-their-mum card, at least for a minute, but no, Mal just had to go run out there. Sighing, she looked to the Doctor, hoping he could fix that thing fast because they both knew Mal wasn't going to last forever. Glancing over her shoulder, seeing the Krillitanes reluctantly following Mal, she whispered to the Doctor, "Okay, come on. We don't have all day." She stood up slowly, walking quietly towards the machine and looking it over. Well that was... confusing. The most help she was going to be was holding things in place and doing as she was told. Her eyes wandered back to the Doctor, her hand beconing him to come over and hurry.

The Metacrisis Doctor smiled as Mal stood up, and ran towards the krillitanes. She was the absolutely frightened type, but had worked up the courage to confront the krillitanes. Now as long as she didn't get herself caught, he mused as the krillitanes took the bait. As soon as they had run out of the room, he moved out of hiding, running towards the machine. He skidded to a halt as he bent down, opening up one of the control panels.

"Let's see, did she change anything...nope, then that means she only changed the programming, and that means..." he jumped up and ran past Robin, around the console to the computer. As he stopped, he pulled out his pair of glasses, quickly donning them as he came face to face with the computer. "Now then!" he began as he stared at the computer, before making a face. "Oh this would be so much faster with a sonic..." His hands went to the keyboard and began typing, his eyes flickering back and forth over the screen as characters of code appeared. Then, "Oh! It's a hidden line of code. Well that makes it much easier." By this time several minutes had passed, and while the krillitanes were chasing Mal, they could come back at any minute. He had no doubt they could appear through that door, but he kept his eyes on the screen.

"There we go," he said as he clicked a final key, then ran around the consoles as the machine powered up. "Come on Sonya," he said, the humming growing louder. Without a doubt, he was sure the krillitanes would be attracted by its power surge, and come running back. Which meant as soon as Sonya came back, they had to hurry. And he had an idea, he just needed the sonic screwdriver. The machine flashed its brilliant light, and he covered his eyes with his arm to stop him from getting the brunt of the blast.

Sonya let out a slight huff of air, spinning around in a circle, she studied the area with a slight frown. It looked like she was in a lunchroom in the school, but that meant- "Oh no..." She muttered, spinning back around in time to see the group of people run in, including the Doctor himself as they tried to keep the Krillotaines out. "Well then... This isn't... Oh dear." She sighed, letting out a deep breath of air as the group turned around and spotted her. "Well... Hi there." Lifting a hand up, she waved it awkwardly before a sudden flash of light surrounded her.

"You couldn't have done that maybe ten seconds earlier?" Sonya demanded as the light faded, revealing the Doctor and Robin standing outside of the machine with their hands covering their eyes. "Be prepared for a lot of questionable memories to pop up, because now that's happened, I'm going to be showing up a lot in your past." She added idly, hopping out of the machine and beginning to fiddle with the controls set into the side of it with a concentrated look on her face.

"Because honestly, I've found you a lot in your past, showed up at the same place you were at, stayed out of your way, but I do think you've caught a couple of glimpses, but now... You've seen me completely, you'll take closer notice whenever you do spot me before I vanish again. So yeah... You'll have some odd memories is all." With a low sigh, Sonya cast a glance over at the Doctor with a wry expression on her face before pulling the Sonic from her pocket and tossing it over to him quickly. "Get to work, we have to set this thing up so they can never fix it, much less make the thing again."

Turning back to the machine, she began taking the controlls on the side and flipping them in the opposite pattern they were in and causing a slight buzzing to emit from the machine as she did. "We don't have a lot of time, so I would like to suggest that you get your skinny arse in gear, mister."

Robin uncovered her eyes, looking over to see Sonya complaining about some time, memory... thing. Well of course she was. Now they just had to fix... or break, really... this machine. Not having any technical skills whatsoever, she backed up and let them work, turning around and making herself useful by watching for Mal. "Well now you've got a sonic, so hurry up. Mal isn't going to be able to outrun them forever." She bit her lip, crossing her arms and looking for any kind of movement. She was honestly worried about Mal, because they all knew she was no braver than a rubber chicken, and if she accidentally tripped or something, she may just assume the worst and then... Shaking her head, she frowned, starting to actually hope she'd come back already, aliens following her or not.

Mal had been running for longer than she normally did. Adrenaline assisted in keeping her speed up as she ran from the terrifying creatures screeching behind her. Well, if this was the end at least she made herself useful. Her breathing was laboured from panic and the exertion. Oh look, a turn! Mal skidded to the side and started to run down this new path, listening as the Krillitanes stumbled over one another to follow her. Yay for obstacles! How Mal managed not to slip and fall herself was beyond her.

And just when she thought her luck was turning.. she crashed into a tower of boxes. All she had done was glance behind her to gauge the distance between her and those creatures before bam! Into the boxes she went. Mal was laying on her stomach with boxes, metal parts and packages of meat scattered all around her. She began to do the only thing logical to do in a situation you thought you were going to die in... she began to cry. Oh yeah, this would be embarrassing to explain if someone came to her rescue right about now. But if she took her bad luck into consideration the chances of that happening were slim to none. Feeling quite angered and betrayed by whatever force pushed her into the cruel hands of the Krillitanes, Mal sat up and started throwing the packaged meat at them. The line of cusses and threats that came out was hard to decipher since she was almost in hysteria.

As the aliens were about to descend upon her, they all called out and began running back the way they came. Mal had been causing such a ruckus herself that she didn't notice the machine going off a third time today. She was convinced they had just been frightened by the hurling of steak in their general direction. Haha... right. With that done, Mal flopped onto her back and closed her eyes, feeling relief wash over her that she slipped out of death's icy grip.

"Oi! I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" The Doctor had stuck the screwdriver in his mouth in favor of opening up a control panel, which made his voice come out muffled. Twisting and turning the wires about eachother, he shoved them back in, slamming the control panel shut. He did the same for several more, while using his screwdriver to alter the signal being sent through various cables. By the time he was through, the inside resembled a mess, but that's what happened when he was rushed. The machine was giving off alot of buzzing by now, as he was now sending the machine into a slight overload. If he was lucky, it would both burn out the machine, AND deal with those krillitanes. Running over to the monitor, he moved his screwdriver over the screen, which went through a million logarithms at once as it rewrote the computer's programming. Symbols flashed in and out, before he finally removed it and ran around the machine. He could hear footsteps and knew they were coming, but he was ready. Well, almost ready.

"Get in the center, this machine is going to send out a wave that is going to knock them out of this time," he said as he flipped a few switches. "Shall we say, oh, 100th century on a very very distant planet?" He stuck his sonic in a port as he buzzed the machine once more, before he hopped after the others. His converse touched the plate, just as the first of the krillitanes entered the room. His eyebrow raised as he noted the one in front.

"Hello Lassar. I see you survived."

"Hello Doctor," the man replied back, his eyes glowing and his telepathic voice cutting across the room in an angry wave. Immediately the others lowered their rifles, leveled at the three in the machine. "Been a while, hasn't it."

"Yes, it certainly has," the Doctor replied back in an almost nonchalant manner. "You've changed again. No more wings?"

"We found something better. Very nice telepathy, helps you get inside someone else's head."

"Yes, ow, I see that," the Doctor grumbled as he suddenly rubbed his forehead. He immediately threw up mental barriers to block the invasion, in case Lasser had any plans, but he doubted there was anything the krillitane could do. "Now, before you decide to shoot us, kill us, then go back in time to do it again, I would suggest you stop and take a good look at the machine. Hear all the buzzing? Hm? Who knows what it could do..." he said, sounding a bit mysterious at the end. "Well, except me. Anyway, I can take you back to your planet, where you belong. Or, you can stay here, and..." he trailed off, leaving the thought hanging. "Well? What do you say?"

"Shoot him," Lassar hissed, to which the Doctor responded by quickly flipping a lever. Bullets ejected from their guns as the machine activated, the time wave rippling out with a blinding light that encompassed the entire room. When the light faded, the bullets and their respective owners were gone. Except for the bullet that had lodged itself in the machine. The watch itself had fizzled out, sparking but otherwise dead. The Doctor hopped off the platform, walking over to the husk. "Well, that's done with," he remarked as he easily pulled the watch from the burned out wires.

Sonya stepped down herself and studied the room with a slight frown on her face, there was a small humming echoing in the back of her head, irritating her as she shook it slightly. Reaching up, she rubbed one of her ears while slowly making her way to the door. "Come on then, the TARDIS is waiting and I want to get the hell out of here before something else happens." Walking past the Doctor, she reached over and swiped her sonic back, turning around and pointing it at the machine quickly, causing it to spark brightly then die down with all of the lights flickering and going out as well. "Now then... Fry the motherboard as well, never forget the small details like... The backup memory." She added, looking over at him with a coy smile before spinning back around and heading out the doors.

Tucking her sonic into one of the inside pockets of her jacket, she stuffed her hands into her pants pockets and slowly strolled back the way they had came, looking about as several of the workers there ran about in panic, trying to figure out why the building went dead, causing the computers to shut down and loose any unsaved work any of them had done. Without looking over her shoulder, she stepped outside and began walking back down the street, heading back towards the TARDIS that sat there waiting for her.

Mal finally pulled herself into a sitting position. Her body hurt where things had landed on her and she groaned in pain. Well, that didn't feel good. But she had to find the others... what if the others were in trouble? Hopefully they figured it out before the Krillitanes ate them or something. But Mal really didn't feel like going back into that room just in case everything wasn't fine at all. Because she didn't think she'd be able to run again.

With a hefty sigh, Mal reluctantly started walking back towards the room, looking around and realizing she had no idea where she had ran or turned. So in short, she was a tad but lost. She wondered around the place, starting to have a mild heart attack when suddenly the lights went out. All of them. So much like a possum in the face of danger, Mal just sat down and pulled her knees up to her chest, rocking silently and slowly accepting this was how she died.

((*patpats mal*))

Robin stepped down, looking around the room. Seriously? Did both of them forget her? "Hello? No one's gonna remember that Mal wasn't in the room with us when we just did that?!" She crossed her arms, looking around for any sign that Mal was still here, and not flung off in space somewhere. "Please tell me the thing stopped transmitting at the end of the room, because at least Mal has a chance that way..." Her eyes giving up on the scan of this room, she began walking towards another,  not leaving here without Mal. If they just killed her... She shook her head, trying to clear the thought of it.

The Doctor rolled his eyes as Sonya took the sonic from his hands, frying the circuit boards to a crisp. "I was just getting to that..." he muttered as he watched the sparks snap back and forth along the machinery coils. Not that it really mattered, without the vortex manipulator, the rest of those wires and circuits were useless. Just scrap metal. The watch was fried, but with a little repair work it could be working again. That was something that needed to never fall into the hands of these aliens, or anyone else for that matter. So he shoved it into his bigger on the inside pocket, and looked up as Sonya sauntered past him and out the exit. He didn't quite understand her big hurry to leave, it wasn't like there were any other aliens to deal with. They had sent the krillitanes back. With a shrug, he began to follow, until Robin began to voice her concerns.

"Hm?" The Metacrisis Doctor looked back at her, hands in his pockets, as he processed her question. "Oh! Mal!" He looked around the room as if he had lost something, taking a few steps as he surveyed the crates. "Well...she ran out that way with the krillitanes behind her...and I didn't see her come back in with them...so..." he began to scratch the back of his neck. "If she can run fast, there's a pretty good chance they didn't eat her. Probably still somewhere in the building." And with that he wandered through the doorway, and down the hall towards one of the exits. "Mal!" he called, looking over his shoulder occasionally, though he couldn't see her with the power outage. He poked his head down another hallway, calling her name again as he peered down that hallway. He'd probably hear her shriek eventually.