A Fairy Tale? (Part 2)

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 16629

And the next adventure was given in the form of a honeymoon trip by a magical/scientific transporter created by Dr. Vincent.....

All and all, it probably was the most appreciated wedding gift of the whole lot. Adventurers at heart, this would be an adventure indeed. Actually, it was....and a bit more than they'd expected.... More on that later.

The world which Dr. Vincent was to send them was a close analogy of Fred 5's world (actually, closer to Fred 7's, but's who's counting?). Once there, the idea was to quietly aid the ones known as Fred and Astra.....withdraw once done, and everyone would be happy. Wanting to share in the adventure, the newlyweds invited their friends along. Also being hopeless adventures as well, they came along (Andrea 2 and Joan). Ti'mma, being needed here on Terra Prime stays behind.

Fine and well.

Problem was that a sentient Book tried to intercept one of the party being teleported to this new world. The Book had been tasked by it's owner to seek out and collect people who would be useful due certain traits. The Book hadn't been able to readily detect these characteristics in Joan before on Terra Prime, but during transport they came clear. The Book attempted to intercept the teleport, only to have all Hell break loose! The actual results are rather stunning, but several facts become painfully clear....when the adventurers (along with an un expected, naked blonde woman named Thelma) land right in the middle of a courtyard where the Fred of this world (call him Fred 5a for convenience) and the residential Rowena (Rowena 2) are being taken back to the family castle. Fred 5a, thought dead, has been revealed alive. He had been, after a long and grueling travel, on his way back to tell all of his travels, had thought that his companion Astra dead. After his existence was revealed, the guards had thought him a fake of some sinister purpose....and were cautiously bringing him home (along with Rowena). Seeing the new arrivals as something that perhaps Fred had summoned to escape, the guards moved to attack. A bloody battle would have happened lives lost if Jarlath hadn't been able to teleport his group away (taking along Fred 5a, Rowena, and Thelma along as well by mistake).

After arriving at the spot where they' originally intended to land (a secluded forest glade a few miles away from the D'Honaire castle...the Books hijack attempt had knocked them off course), they soon freed Fred of his cursed sword and gaining the trust of both he and Rowena. Also, due to a flash of....second sight?.....Fred 5a realized that Astra 5a was still alive and well. Swearing fealty to Jarlath if he would aid him in finding her, the group soon went off to see the elder D'Honaires. Fred was able to tell of what he'd seen and give a warning to the parents (after it was established that he was who he was....and that was a tale in and of itself too long to tell right now) about how it would be dishonorable to take advantage of the unstable political situation in Aqualaria (uh....with the disappearance of Astra and the recent death of the queen....things were a shamble there).

That's about the time when the Celestrials come on down for a visit.

That's about the time where it's revealed why things were happening on Fred 5a's world as they were. See, the dragon known as Minestus here had been killed, but it's ghost hung around as a green flame that terrorized the countryside, along with a bunch of what would be called Foresaken Manimals (basically, mad killing machine now). Bad enough, but he had also had a revenge plan in effect. A magical Book he'd found (on another world we'll call Nantucket Earth) was carrying out orders to take certain heroic people, use them in a dark magical ritual as ingredients, and then cast a massive spell to unleash a powerful magical curse that would turn a large swath of human beings into Foresaken....unleashing a killing plague that would ravage the land....and eventually cleanse the land of all normal human beings most likely. Problem was... the Book had abducted somebody very special....who's inclusion in this mix would spell disaster that would cause the spell to run wild, malfunction....and threaten to tear huge rips in reality itself. A Champion had been abducted! But that's only half the story.

Due to a decree by the Higher Ups, something incredible had happened. The decree had been that the Rules and Champions were to make one final offer to several select groups of people, and from then on things would be different! The only new Champions would come about from the offspring of the old Champions, who'd be given the choice of becoming either new Champions....or living out their days as normal mortals. One group in particular came about due to.....well.....the Higher Ups allowing it.

Remember that failed abduction? It happened because the Book can handle either magical based teleports or science based teleports, not the hybrid system of Dr. Vincent! It temporarily scrambled the Book, causing it's spells to do several things. Things like duplicating the adventurers as well as Fred, Rowena, and Thelma (something that should have not been possible due to the nature of Champions....but had happened). The Books had also snatched several others from elsewhere (other Freds, Astras, and even a Malachi) and....while not putting inside the Red Pyramid (the building that housed the Book and held it's subjects prisoner until needed), it had put them on Nantucket Earth (named thus since the 20th century Nantucket as well as one starship Voyager...and a few other goodies later on had gotten dragged back to the past where the Book and the Red Pyramid was....due to (in part) a side effect of a event that brought magic to this world). These new people (inside and outside the Red Pyramid who heard and accepted one last offer to become Champions by the Rules and Agents) were to stop the Book before it got around to using Joan 2 (Joan's duplicate). Easier said than done. The Rules and Agents got a few more Champions out of the bargain than expected, but that's a bit more than we need to go into right now.

Anyway, even with help from fellow Champions such as the Doctor and his crew, the struggle was incredible. The Book was defeated and destroyed, and the Champion's mission accomplished their primary goal....but the Book had the last laugh in casting a curse that was changing those who weren't Champions (with the exception of those newly born within the confines of the Red Pyramid......long story) slowly into Unseelie creatures! Once completed, the victims would in quick order go mad and then become the evil creatures they'd been changed into....in mind as well as body. Some of the victims had been sent to other worlds. Some sent only to various points all over Nantucket Earth. The only thing that could break the curse in time was one Crystallic that had come along with one of the new Champions from this fracas (a new Synizn). Even then, the task was complicated by the fact it had to be done all at once with all of them together.....or the attempt would just fail. Original estimates by the mages put the time limit on this operation at a week. Withe the use of the TARDIS, this was a LOT of time....they hoped. In passing the fact that if one of the subjects that had been teleported abroad landed on a planet where the magic was so great as the ley lines were visible to the naked eye....the time limit would be half that time! And events at first seemed to point to such a thing.

But then we see that the time limit is even shorter due to reasons as of yet unknown!

Something had altered the Unseelie curse. Accelerating it's effects as well as making it contagious to those who were analogs of it's victims!

They (Jarlath's group) been able to rescue three of their original targets, as well as picking up two other victims (one an evil Astra analog and one a Fred analogs). The Fred analog was proving useful to the others. While not turning into an Unseelie fairy, the little brush to his Matrix had been.....interesting. See, this Fred had been transformed an empty headed young girl before the coming of the Unseelie curse. Due to just that touch, the Fred had been able to regain his (her?) memories and regain his former mentality. Was even able to return to a male. However, the interaction also caused him to change into a fairy creature! A Seelie creature called a pixie, in fact! Wonderful, except if the guy allowed the final shift to happen, he'd seal not only his fate (never able to return to a human being), but would also cause the others who'd been accursed to be doomed to be Unseelie.

Resisting was painful for this Fred (call him Pixie Fred for convenience), but honor and duty demanded he resist......despite the risks of pain and even insanity if it went on too long!

Pixie Fred is able to cut down the time of search for the others, and as such has been tagging along with the others as Jarlath's groups use the TARDIS and Dr. Vincent's teleporter to go to the worlds where the victim's landings had been logged by the Book just before it was destroyed (and failed to destroy those logs).

Now the worry here is that something is causing the Unseelie curse to accelerate even faster than expected. Reasons unknown as of yet.

Now, the next part could have the working of:

K-9 and Company

Now, we've already gone over who these elves are that the Unseelie Fred is staring at out from the bushes (re: 16534). That as well as why the elves were having a picnic. They were on a well deserved vacation!

Fascinating people, these elves! One elven lass in particular! The Book had thought so when it had spied on Romana even before her becoming an elf. It had sent Fred to the world she and the now elven Doctor were having a picnic on, in the hopes of a lot of mayhem and grief.....

See, the Unseelie curse can be sealed by various dark acts. The eating and/or killing of an innocent victims....or violence expressed through....er..... Well, bluntly put, through rape!

Dark instincts, a need to spread misery and destruction, overtake Unseelie Fred before he knows what's up (otherwise he'd never allow it)! A lovely victim was out there...... If done right, not only would he have some.....fun...he'd also soon be able to establish the begining of a Court on this world (with him as the local Duke)! A Court started by any offspring from this....elven wench!

Hit fast and hard with that large branch nearby and.....he'd take care of the male and have the female for his own pleasure...and leisure!

As for the Unseelie Curse itself, it at first thinks (if one can term it as such) that it had found yet another set of victims to infect. See, before their tranformation, Romana didn't have it in her Matrix to be able to cast spells. That was, until an unexpected interaction through E'ysha changed her. The changes were on her very Matrix, allowing her to cast spells (and eventually also changing her into an elf as well....long story). The changes had also worked it's magic on the Doctor's Matrix....making some parts of it look similar to E'ysha's.....and as such enough to initially fool the Unseelie Curse. The elves shiver in shock as a dark thing touches them, and then the Unseelie curse sulks when it realizes it's mistake. However, a touch was all that was needed!

What's the difference between an immortal Light Elf (a type of Seelie) and a Terra Prime elf? Not much, really.

A massive sneeze and a incredible pain in the earlobes is what happens next for the Doctor and Romana as their ears grow a bit more.....

The shock of the Unseelie touching them as well as the other things is why they can't react in time to the small charging creature running at them. However, the same can't be said for the silver/grey object was....something like a second picnic basket (albeit a strange one with something like a head on it....).

Buuzzzappp!

Nothing was wrong with K-9's reflexes. He recognizes danger, and is swift with his nose raygun (using Stun Mark 7).

He still is trying to sort out recent events. The changes with his master and mistress, but his memory banks are filled with the texts on this new realm he'd been introduced to (magic, elves, and such). The text warned of the Unseelie.....and there was a partial match here (why partial is unknown as of yet....further investigation needed). Oddity or not, hostile actions are recognized and must be dealt with, or he'd fail in his purpose he'd been programed with!

"Most satisfactory," the robot dog says in a flat (but somehow satisfied) voice.

"What happened?" Romana finally gasps, recovering somewhat from the shock.

"Trouble," the Doctor says, glaring down at the unconscious form.

The Doctor and Roman then says something in realization that wouldn't get past BBC censors when he and Romana get a clue at some of what was happening with Unseelie Fred....and themselves. They have enough training in magery to recognize it.

What to do?

Well, after a nerve wracking ride to the only place they know of that could have the means and knowledge to help (nerve wracking due to Romana and the Doctor fighting the Type 40 tooth and nail to prevent her from slipping up or down the time stream in the wrong way). Terra Prime. A place they pray will have an answer.... Using instruments inside the TARDIS to plot a point where they must steer the TARDIS (without endangering their bound and gagged passenger....the exact means of mechanics are a bit too much for right now).....through the faint time traces found on him. It's done by science rather than magic for two reasons. One is that they don't know enough magic to do it that way. The other is that magic is out of the question! They'd be calling upon their new Light Elf magic.....completing their transformation and.....dooming the person they'd try to save.

Terra Prime

"Off they go again," Dr. Vincent sighs as Jarlath's group vanish off to yet another set of translated Altantian coordinates.

He hated being left in the dark like this.....

He sighs in resignation, only to turn when he hears a familiar grinding sound!

A familiar looking blue police box materializes and the door opens. A greeting to the Doctor that Dr. Vincent is friends with freezes on his lips as he looks....down at an elf with a large, multicolored scarf.

"We're bloodly lucky that she even made it to Terra Prime," he calls back to somebody inside.

He'd been aiming for that place in Ethiopia that his "brother" had told him of (as well as giving coordinates for a visit sometimes).....

He then turns back and blinks when he sees Dr. Vincent. A answer to Dr. Vincent's question is near at hand.....

"Oh, hullo?" the elfin Doctor says, blinking.

  1. "Who are you?" Dr. Vincent asks, surprised, "What are you doing in the Doctor's TARDIS?!"

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7/20/2001 8:22:48 AM

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