The Doctor Meets a New Nightmare

The Doctor was on his search for a new companion, after all the terrible nightmares he had encountered, he still found humans absolutely fascinating, brilliant, amazing. They held so much passion, love and sadness - he didn't understand any of it but with each companion he took along with him they all shared an unbelievable amount of love and courage. His thoughts escaped him as he noticed a change in his beloved time machine.

The TARDIS started thrashing about massively, the Doctor was suddenly flung backwards gripping onto the railings to stop his body from thrashing into the TARDIS walls. Only he couldn't keep a hold of the rails, he felt his fingers slipped and he awaited the pain he knew would come from hitting the walls. He opened his eyes after a few seconds after the initial shock finished and he felt no impact.

That's when the Doctor noticed he had fallen through a crack; a crack in his TARDIS. He looked around, disheveled. Where had he landed? He stood up, patted his bottom of any dirt. He looked down at the ground for some unknown reason, he spotted a fez just sitting there at the base of a tree. He picked up the fez, put it atop his head and spun around on the spot, he adjusted his bow tie and smiled. Fezzes were cool.

"Hello. Who are you?" The Doctor spun around when he heard the voice, "Over here." He heard again.

That's when he saw the strangest creature, alien, thing he had ever seen in his life appear from round a tree. He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and took long strides over to this strange skeletal-looking creature wearing a suit. He walked all-round the creature, up and down whilst the screwdriver buzzed in his hand.

This creature was certainly taller than The Doctor, and whilst he had encountered many other strange creatures, this one took him by surprise. Many creatures were not as well-dressed and seemingly well-mannered. It was very exciting to meet new aliens. He knew he had to stay and investigate the mystery of this place and its inhabitants.

Jack looked on bewildered as this man pointed a stick in his personal space. He spun too, just as this man was doing, making sure to keep him in his vision. He wanted to know if that stick did anything funny, he would know.

"What's that you've got there, strange man?" Jack asked. The Doctor stood back, putting his sonic screwdriver back inside his coat pocket.

"What are you? The sonic screwdriver has no record of you. You're speaking English, the TARDIS hasn't had to translate any unknown language," The Doctor paused ignoring the question, hand to his chin, slowly grinning. This was exciting.

"Where am I?" He asked the bone-looking creature, "Who are you? What is this place and how did I get here?" The Doctor rambled.

"You're in a forest, and you came through that tree with a blue box on it." Jack said, "I am Jack Skellington - The Pumpkin King." He arched his back proudly as he said it.

The Doctor looked behind him, sure enough there was a tree with a blue box printed on it; the TARDIS, his TARDIS. The Doctor walked over to the tree, whipped out his sonic screwdriver again, doing a quick scan. Once the scan was completed, showing signs that his TARDIS was inside the tree trunk, he turned back and looked at the skeleton wearing a suit, named Jack.

"Right, then, show me around. I'd like to know more about where I've landed." He said. Jack looked at him strange.

"You still haven't told me what that stick-thing was, what were you doing with it? What do you mean, landed?" Jack asked, leading the way back to his hometown, Halloween Town.

"My name is The Doctor, this is my trusted sonic screwdriver. It allows me to read any unknown alien lifeforms, or anything unknown. It's handy for a lot of other things too. Never leave home without it. I came in through a crack in my TARDIS." The Doctor rambled off.

"Son ick? Tar disk?" Jack's skeletal face screwed up in confusion.

He made a grab for the screwdriver that The Doctor held in his hand once again. No sooner had Jack started to reach for the screwdriver to inspect it, The Doctor quickly put the screwdriver away before Jack could take a hold of it.

"Ah ah ah," The Doctor said sternly, "Nobody touches the sonic except me."

"What is a Tar disk?"

"It's a TARDIS, not Tar disk. It allows me to travel through time and any dimension."

"I did say Tar disk." Jack said, confused.

Before The Doctor could respond they both heard voices coming from over a hill. Jack took off running in long strides. The Doctor strolled behind, casually, hands behind his back. When The Doctor had finally reached the commotion, he was left curious again. There was more creatures, different creatures.

There were three kid-looking creatures - one looked like a young witch, another was a devil of some kind, and, the third, looked to be wearing a skeleton outfit. Then standing over them, scolding them while Jack tried to comfort her, was a girl with flowing red hair. The strangest thing about her was that she looked like a doll with her stitching.

The Doctor grinned, this was beginning to be an interesting adventure.

"Sally, love, calm down. I'm sure they haven't done anything terrible now that Oogie Boogie is gone." Jack said, trying to reassure doll-looking girl.

"Jack, you don't understand you always see the good in people until it's too late." Sally said, defeated. The three kids giggled, turning to Jack, grinning.

"Thank you, Jack, we owe you one." They said in unison, in their most angelic voices.

As they said that, The Doctor who stood behind them, saw them cross their fingers behind their backs. Ah, a broken promise, he noted. The Doctor stood in then, not liking being quiet for too long.

"Just what is going on, Jack? Who are these creatures?" He said. Sally turned around then, shock expressed on her face. She walked over to The Doctor and held out her hand.

As Sally stepped forward to shake his hand, the three children aliens had snuck off, most likely to cause more mischief for the citizens of Halloween Town, but neither Sally, Jack nor The Doctor had actually noticed them sneaking off. So off they went on their way back to town to find some way to cause trouble.

"Hello, I'm Sally. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said, courteously. The Doctor was pleasantly surprised, he hadn't met many kind aliens before. Nevertheless, he took her hand in his and shook in the strangest way possible, Sally couldn't help but giggle at his action.

Jack watched on as they interacted, feeling a tiny spark of jealousy when Sally giggled at The Doctor. He walked over then, taking his place beside Sally and kissed her cheek. As he kissed her cheek, Sally giggled again, making Jack's heart swell with pride and happiness.

The Doctor looked on as they interacted yet again, a skeleton and a doll, together? This really was a curious place, and just what were those other creatures. Who were they? He had many unanswered questions and he planned to stay for as long as he needed.

"Not to be a bother, but who were those 'kids' you were arguing with, Sally?" He asked, intrigued.

Sally began the long explanation that they were Shock, Lock and Barrel; the notorious triplets. The Doctor noted that they liked to cause mischief, which explained why they made an empty promise. He took in what Sally was saying, as they had all began walking with Jack leading them. As he walked, he kept his hands behind his back, this helped him think and form plans better.

They had walked past a graveyard, it sent chills down the Doctor's spin thinking of all the undead creatures about, no sooner had he thought that did a ghost dog pop out from behind a one of the many gravestones littered about.

"Zero, there you are pal. I'd like you to meet The Doctor, he's a new friend of mine." The Doctor looked over as Jack addressed the dog, he suddenly grew fearful as it floated over towards him.

He stood there, his eyes darting about as he was being sniffed by a very prominent red nose. He relaxed as it went back to his master side, all three of them continuing the walk back to town. He was glad that was over and that it wasn't harmful.

When they arrived to Halloween Town, Jack and Sally showed him every existing place they could, introducing him to everyone. The Doctor thought the man known as the mayor was very interesting. A creature whose head spun to show both distraught and happiness.

He overdramatised everything in existence, once Jack had explained he had only been gone for a few minutes, the mayor had simply exclaimed he could never and would never run Halloween Town with Jack again. This was turning into quite an adventure that The Doctor would never forget.

The Doctor had been shown the pumpkin patch, where Jack had told him how he was The Pumpkin King. Sally cuddled up to his side, clearly proud of all that Jack had accomplished.

"What is The Pumpkin King, exactly?" The Doctor asked, very intrigued.

They all stopped walking then, as Jack explained that it was a simply a title within Halloween Town that allowed him to make decisions and he ran it by the mayor who authorised it to all the citizens. He was told every Halloween, everyone would nominate their Pumpkin King, but it was always unanimous, Jack had become Pumpkin King every year.

The Doctor wore a large grin, he was most intrigued by all this newfound knowledge. He wanted to learn so much more about everything around him, but then he looked at Sally, she wore a pensive look on her face. The Doctor grew curious as she looked at Jack unaware that he was studying her behaviour.

"You're free to speak up there, love. You look like something's bothering you." The Doctor said, trying to coax her. Sally looked over at The Doctor, startled he had caught her change in behaviour.

"It's, just, I know something awful is going to happen, but I can't put my finger on it. I know it has something to do with you, Doctor, but I don't know what it is just yet." As she finished speaking, she now looked sad beyond anything The Doctor had seen.

Jack's heart suddenly leaped in his chest, Sally had many horrible visions, and if he had only listened to her when the fiasco of stealing Christmas had occurred, he would have never gone ahead with his plan. This time, he planned to side with Sally whenever she told him she had a vision.

The Doctor looked on as Jack crouched down in front of Sally, making them level, as she looked down to the ground with a hand to her chin, trying to remember what she could about her horrible vision. That's when she saw something flashing blue - a blue box of some sort. Her face contorted into one of horror as tears trickled down her face. She collapsed into Jack's arm, tears flowing down her face.

The Doctor unsure of what to do, emotions being completely foreign to him, he did and said the only thing he knew how to do. He asked them if they wanted to come along on an adventure.

"Say, how about we go on an adventure, anywhere and everywhere in time and space." The Doctor said, grin on his face, and one heel hitting his other foot as he leaped into the ground and landing on two feet again. He was very sure that would cheer them up.

Sally looked up at Jack from where she was cradled into his arms on the floor, Jack looked down at Sally. He helped her stand on her two feet as the shock of the nightmare had passed, he took her hand in his to comfort her. They were both thinking the same thing and they knew it. Both of them turned back to look at The Doctor as he eagerly awaited their response, thinking he already had this in the bag.

"We can't, as I said I'm The Pumpkin King. I left once before and the town fell to pieces without me." Jack said, thinking about the times he went to Christmas and destroyed Christmas for a night. Luckily Sandy Claws was a kind soul and had forgiven them, giving them something new.

Sally spoke up then, "Thank you, kind sir, but we really cannot." The Doctor nodded, a gentle smile on his face.

"Right, well, if you two ever want an adventure you let me know, alright?" The Doctor said, before turning around and walking back into the forest, passing the town and the graveyard on his way back and standing in front of the tree trunk with the picture of the TARDIS.

He put his hand to the fez atop his head and sat it down on the ground in front of him. He also pulled off a scarf from around his neck, placing it on the ground in front of the tree. Before the TARDIS had jerked about and brought him to this place, he was heading for Alaska. He stepped inside the tree-trunk then, quickly heading to his library and picked up a few books. Books that held some of his adventures within them.

He walked back out to the front of the TARDIS, using the door this time, he peeked his head out and placed the books down underneath the fez and scarf. He looked up and grinned, he knew he would see them soon. He always did.