Chapter Eighteen

"Klytus, I'm boooored, what plaything can you offer me today?"

"An obscure body in the SK system, your Majesty, the inhabitants refer to it as the planet…Eaaarth."

"How peaceful it looks."

A gloved hand pushes a red button and a volcano erupts as the man laughs.

"Hey look, Brother, almost every villain you've ever battled," Alan said, pointing to the erupting volcano on the screen while the Doctor laughed.

"Yeah and I'm sure they've all had a conversation similar to that," the Doctor replied.

He raised his eyebrow when the camera panned across a console and they saw several sinister things listed.

"Wow, hot hail to devastate Planet Earth with?" Alan said, reading one of them. "That sounds like fun actually. I'd love to push that button and see people run from hot hail."

A bass pulsated out of the speaker and then a lightning bolt flashed on screen as Queen sang…

FLASH, AAAAAAAAAH! SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE!

"Oh yeah, I forgot Queen recorded this song," Jack said to everyone. "I used to get drunk and sing it in the pubs back in the 1980's."

He, Alan and Adam shared a look.

"FLASH, AAAAAAAAAAH! HE'LL SAVE EVERY ONE OF US!" they said in falsetto voices as everyone laughed.

Jack looked around them but by now most of the cars had gone home, leaving a wide swath of empty space around them. He shrugged and resumed his high-pitched caterwauling while Alan, Adam and John joined in.

"Have you ever seen this movie, Daddy?" Sokanon asked the Doctor.

"No, I haven't, Sweetie. I've heard of it and I've seen these old Flash Gordon movie serials that were made back in the 1930's but this is a new one for me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The family snickered at the movie.

"Oh, this is great," Jack said aloud. "Weird movie sets, outlandish costumes, crappy acting. No wonder they put this on last. I'm surprised there isn't a Ming the Merciless somewhere out there."

"There is one," the Doctor teased, leaning up. "He goes by different names but trust me, I've battled this sort of villain eighty trillion times in my lives. About one quarter of them act like this."

"You mean all campy and over the top?" Ianto said.

"Exactly," the Doctor replied while they laughed. "In fact, the Master himself wore something similar to Ming's outfit during my Eighth life only it was black and red instead of red and gold. And Koschei's said some outlandish things in his lives, trust me. And I've seen hundreds of planets similar to Mongo. This is just a trip down memory lane for me."

"Yes, Flash is you and Dale and Zarkoff are almost every companion you've ever had in your lives," Alan said while he sniggered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They all laughed when Dale Arden, dressed in a skimpy orange slave girl outfit did a cartwheel into the hallway and shot a guard in the chest. The guards of Ming were dressed in long red robes with red gloves. Their heads were covered by a mask that had big black lenses and a nozzle similar to a gas mask. They laughed harder when the guard let out a high-pitched pig-like squeal as it slowly sank to the floor and died.

"Why are the guards all squealing like pigs when they get killed?" Awinita called to them.

"Perhaps it's the same concept as the pig alien the Slitheen made, only bigger," the Doctor said to her. "Never mind them. I'd love to see my wife dressed in her outfit and do that little cartwheel before shooting it. That would have been impressive."

"Or Rose," Alan said.

"Yes, or Rose…or even Mickey."

"Shut up, Doctor," Rose said as everyone laughed hysterically.

"Mickey dressed in a skimpy rhinestone barely there slave outfit would have been more horrifying than anything on Friday the 13th," Jack said.

"And he'd probably end up dying because I'd be laughing so hard, I wouldn't have time to help him," the Doctor said.

He chuckled and glanced at Alan.

"This is brilliant," he said to him.

"I know, a great way to end a wonderful evening," Alan replied. "And now that Namid has her eyesight, we need to do this more often."

"Yes, I wanna come back and do this again, Daddy!" Namid yelled over to him.

"We will," the Doctor said as the children cheered that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After an hour and a half, the movie was finished. Everyone helped clean up the trash and put it in the oil drums that served as trash receptacles that were outside the doors of the building. Once they were through with that, the children climbed up into the Doctor's truck and snuggled down under the covers to shield themselves from the cold air that would soon be whooshing over their bodies. The Doctor and Rain climbed up in the bed with them along with Imiko. Alan drove the truck with Rose sitting beside him. Jack drove the second truck with Ianto beside him and Doc drove the third with John beside him. Once they were secure, Alan started the truck up and the others followed him as he slowly followed the few remaining cars off the lot.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they got back to New Gallifrey, it was the middle of the day and the sun was out and shining but everyone was exhausted.

"I think we should all have a kip and recharge ourselves," the Doctor said to everyone while they stood in his house.

He smiled at Imiko.

"And I expect you have things that need to be done?" he said to her.

"Yes, but…I promised you a shrine where I could come and visit," Imiko replied.

"Oh yes, my back garden is out here," the Doctor said, going to the back door.

Everyone followed him and watched with anticipation as Imiko stepped outside ahead of them and looked around. The back garden was spacious with a couple of trees and a small belowground pool. Several toys lay scattered around it. Imiko chose a spot under one of the trees. The one on the right had purple leaves with small black berries on it. She closed her eyes and everyone gasped when a bright light grew next to the tree. When it faded, a small wooden temple had formed there, complete with Torii gate and a kitsune statue.

"If you want to visit with me, come inside," she said to them as she pointed to the open doorway in the front of the building. "Call to me and I'll come and visit with you."

"Thank you, Imiko," Rain said.

"Hai and now I have one last gift I want to leave you. Since I can't be here all the time, I want to leave one of my servants who will watch over and protect you and keep my updated on what's going on here. Rei, come to me!"

There was another flash of light and a large fox appeared. The children squealed with delight as it came towards them and they petted it.

"Rei is one of my servants. She is very loyal and friendly and I assure you, she is potty trained," Imiko said.

"Thank you, we haven't had a pet in ages," the Doctor said, reaching down to pet Rei when she came up to him.

"And now, I must go for the moment but I will look in from time to time now that I have this here. But thank you all again for the wonderful evening. I enjoyed it very much."

"We enjoyed your company as always, Imiko," Alan said. "Hurry back!"

"Hai, I will."

She smiled when the children gathered around her and said their goodbyes. She gave them all hugs and gave everyone a hug before she stepped back. With a wave, a bright light surrounded her and she vanished from view. Once she was gone, the Doctor let out a sigh and scratched Rei's head.

"Well, like I said, I think we should all get a little rest before we decide what we want to do next, eh? So everyone who is not a member of this particular house, clear off! Scram! Vamoose! Mosey! Go, go, go!"

They all laughed. The Doctor hugged the members of his family who were leaving and walked with them to the front door. He, Rain and the triplets stood and watched them go and when everyone had left, the Doctor ordered the triplets into bed. He stood for a moment with Rain watching as Rei followed them upstairs and then with a kiss on his wife's lips, she and him followed them upstairs to their bedroom.

THE END.