Work Text:
“Good job today. See you tomorrow.” Kageyama heard as he walked out the door.
Breathing out a sigh Kageyama waved as he left.
He liked his job, as much as anyone could like their job at a restaurant, but he was glad to not be working anymore. While his boss was decent and his coworkers were nice, he felt like there was something missing in his life. Like he was destined for something greater.
Kageyama shook his head. Those were just silly thoughts that rattled around his head sometimes. He needed to focus on the things in front of him. He was busy with school and work so he couldn’t have his head in the clouds all the time. That’s what everyone keeps telling him. But he couldn’t let go of that feeling.
Kageyama sighed again. Changing his train of thought he decided to focus on what was around him. He was having a nice walk back to his apartment, since his apartment was so close to work it was easier to walk then drive. The weather was nice and everything was calm. There was even a slight breeze to cool him down after working in the heat of the kitchen all day. He couldn’t ask for better weather on his walk home. As he walked, not really thinking about anything in particular, he passed by a park.
It was a nice little park. Sometimes he sat on one of the benches when he walking back from work to relax a little. He decided not to today, as he had some homework to finish before class on Monday. Right as he was about to pass the park completely a loud noise began to come from the park.
The sound was strange as it was completely new. It sounded like a siren sort of but it like it was screaming. All Kageyama could tell was that it was very loud and kind of grating. Right as Kageyama was about to leave to escape the sound he heard a huge crash behind him in the middle of the park. Now incredibly concerned, Kageyama ran into the park to find the source of the crash. The park wasn’t very large so it wasn’t hard to find the site of the crash, especially since the thing that crashed was, by the look of it, a…
…blue box?
It was a blue rectangle that seemed to be made out of wood but couldn’t possibly be because, by the look of the crash, it would have shattered into a hundred pieces as the box was currently partially sunk into the ground and face up. It was also smoking a little bit. Curiosity overtaking his sense of danger, Kageyama approached the box to see why it crashed and if anyone was hurt because of it.
Before Kageyama got all the way to the box he saw the doors fly open with a burst of smoke. A second later he saw a grappling hook fly out through the doors and land in the grass beside it. Kageyama, becoming more and more confused by the second, rushed towards the door to see who could have possibly thrown a grappling hook from inside what was a very small box. As he reached the box, but before he could look inside, he saw a man crawl out from the box, hanging onto the rope and climbing out like he was climbing an actual rope and not just crawling out of a small box.
The man, who was wearing a light jacket over a black and orange sports jersey with a big number 10 on it and similar colored shorts, was also short. Much shorter than Kageyama. He also had shockingly bright orange hair, that seemed to almost cover his whole head. It shined like the sun and Kageyama was momentarily stunned looking at it. At least, until the man opened his mouth.
“Hey, you. Is this the planet Elea in the Yasillon galaxy?”
Before Kageyama could respond the man looked at Kageyama and scanned him up and down. “Hmm, probably not if there’s a creature with skin here. Elea is supposed to only contain large gem golems. That’s unfortunate. I was really hoping to check out the new millennia concert. Heard those are some of the clearest performances in the universe.”
The man looked around for the first time.
“Where exactly am I right now if not Elea? You there, can you tell me what planet and year this is?” He said as he looked at Kageyama.
Kageyama stood there dumbfounded, not sure what to say to this person speaking nonsense.
“I assume this planet has developed some kind of speech right? I’m fluent in over five billion languages so I can assure you whatever you say I will be able to understand you.” The man said as he looked at Kageyama.
Kageyama noticed that his eyes were brown. What a random detail Kageyama thought.
“Umm, this is Tokyo? Japan?”
The man rolled his eyes. “What planet though? Do you realize how many Tokyo’s there are in the universe. More than you would think.”
Something in the way the man rolled his eyes sparked annoyance in Kageyama.
“Who do you think you even are? What kind of question is that anyway? This is obviously Earth. Now I have some questions for you. Firstly, who even are you? What is this box? How is it still intact?” Kageyama was starting to fume as he continued to look at the guy in front of him, who was seemingly only half paying attention to him.
“Earth you say. What a lovely planet. You humans are quite resourceful you know. But, based on your shock and confusion, you must not have reached the larger galaxy yet. How curious. What year is it?” The man asked as he pulled out what looked like a fancy and complicated electronic pointer with a light up end.
He started pointing the thing at a bunch of stuff and it whirred and made a buzzing sound. The man ignored him as he walked around the park. Kageyama felt a small headache coming on.
“Excuse me. Can you answer some of my questions?” The man, continuing to ignore Kageyama, before he finally came close to him and waved that pointer over him.
Kageyama recoiled as he felt the thing whirr and buzz at him.
“Excuse me?” Kageyama snapped.
“You’re excused.” The man said.
“You still haven’t answered my question though. What year is it?” The man smiled at him as he finished poking the stick at Kageyama.
Kageyama thought he couldn’t get more annoyed at the man in front of him but somehow that kept happening.
“If I answer your question will you answer mine?” Kageyama almost growled out.
“Sure sure.” The man said as he stared at his weird fancy stick.
“It’s the year 2021.”
The man grinned. “Oh boy. Glad I arrived here this year and not last year. Bit of a rough patch so far.”
Kageyama glared at the man.
“Fine fine. Now I’ll answer your questions. Though you are rather pushy and bossy. Haas anyone ever told you that?”
Kageyama was about to reply back every day of my life but bit his tongue and didn’t say anything.
“Alright first question my good human.”
“It’s Kageyama.”
“What’s Kageyama?” The man asked.
Kageyama dragged his hand down his face. “My name. My name is Kageyama. Which leads me to my first question. Who are you?”
The man in front of him laughed and then gave a wide smile.
“I’m The Doctor.” The man stated, as if that answered everything.
“The Doctor? Doctor Who?” Kageyama asked, confusion and annoyance missing on his face.
“No, no. Not Doctor Who. Just The Doctor.”
“Just The Doctor? That isn’t even a name. That’s a title.”
The Doctor glared at him. “Rude. Of course it’s a name. What kind of name is Kageyama anyway? That just sounds like a garble of letters.”
Kageyama rolled his eyes. “Fine whatever. The Doctor.”
“Just Doctor is fine.” The Doctor smiled at him.
Kageyama glared back. “Fine. Doctor. Now why are you here and what are you doing?”
“I told you. I was trying to get to planet Elea to see the new millennia concert.” He said looking at him like he was an idiot.
Kageyama grit his teeth. “How do you plan to get there? Last time I checked we couldn’t get to other planets.”
The Doctor laughed. “Maybe you can’t silly Kageyama. But I can. With my handy dandy TARDIS here.” He said as he patted the smoking blue box.
More smoke erupted from the box as he patted it.
“Or at least I could have if it didn’t crash land here. I don’t know why it happened. I was steering it correctly. Oh well, I’ll have to wait here for a little bit while it fixes itself.”
Kageyama was about to speak but, before he could, the fancy stick beeped. The Doctor pulled it up and looked at it.
“Oh boy. That’s not good.” The Doctor mumbled.
“What’s not good?” Kageyama asked, a little concerned about what this man thought was not good.
“Well according these readings you are saturated with residue from an Eesox.”
“An Eesox? What in the hell is an Eesox?” Kageyama asked, more confused than frightened.
“Oh, just terrifying fly creatures who specialize in trading all kinds of legal and illegal goods throughout the universe. I wonder why they are here though. Earth is a protected planet.”
The Doctor put his hand to his chin. “Oh wait. That won’t happen till the Eesox Earth war of 2237. Well, never the less, let's go check out these Eesox. Maybe they are friendly. Where did you just come from by the way?” The Doctor starred at Kageyama as if expecting an answer.
Kageyama groaned as he dragged his hands down his face. “You’re going to drag me into this now?”
“Well of course dummy. How else will I know where the Eesox are?”
"Can’t you just use that fancy stick thing?” Kageyama asked, pointing at the stick.
The Doctor gasped and petted the stick. “How dare you. This is not a fancy stick. This is a sonic screwdriver.”
Kageyama looked at him flatly. “A screwdriver?”
“A sonic screwdriver thank you.” The Doctor said as he stuck his tongue out.
Kageyama rolled his eyes but ignored the guy. If he wanted to be dumb he would let him. Kageyama just walked back towards the store, expecting The Doctor to follow. He seemed to pick up on it and followed up behind Kageyama.
“You’re funny you know that?” The Doctor said.
Kageyama glared at him.
“Not in like a haha way, since I’m sure you couldn’t make a joke to save your life.”
Kageyama’s glare intensified.
“But in a different way. You didn’t seem all that shocked to see me and didn't really question a lot of the stuff I said. Very different from who I usually meet with.”
Kageyama thought for a second. He guess that was a true. It wasn’t that weird in the end once he got over the shock and confusion. If anything it was more…exciting Kageyama thought. It was something new and different from his regular routine. Kageyama didn’t say any of that though. He just shrugged and continued walking. The Doctor didn’t seem to mind that he didn’t say anything and just kept walking, sometimes in front of or behind Kageyama, but always near him.
—————
This Doctor person was very hyperactive Kageyama quickly noticed. He seemed to flutter between things almost on a whim. One second he was staring at a leaf on a tree, the next he was scanning the ground with his “screwdriver” and the next he was talking to Kageyama. Kageyama still wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or was a really inventive liar. Either way it didn’t matter to Kageyama, as it didn’t look like he was going to lose The Doctor anytime soon.
“So, Kageyama.” The Doctor started. “Where are we going exactly? And are we there yet.” The Doctor smiled as he spoke.
The smile never seemed to leave his face Kageyama noticed.
“As I said before, we are going to the restaurant that I work at. It shouldn’t be too far away, about another 10 minutes.”
The Doctor nodded before beginning to walk away again.
Kageyama cleared his throat. “I have another question for you.”
The Doctor paused and turned back towards Kageyama. “Oh really? Great, because I have another question for you too.”
Kageyama groaned internally. “Fine. But I’ll go first. Why are you so excited? Aren’t you an adult?”
The Doctor shook his head. “Technically that’s two questions Kageyama.”
Kageyama glared at him.
“But I’ll answer them both anyway.” The Doctors smile somehow growing wider. “I’m so excited because why wouldn’t I be? Earth is such a fascinating place. It’s so lively and green and has so many things that other places just frankly lack. You’re such an interesting species. But every place is exciting so that’s why. As to your second question, why can’t I be excited and also be an adult? Age is but a number as they say and excitement is what keeps you young, or so I’ve found.”
Kageyama rolled his eyes. “But you surely can’t be any older than me?”
“Tut tut tut, you’re really bad at this question thing Kageyama. That’s another.” The Doctor said as he patted Kageyama on the shoulder.
“But if you must know, I am currently…” The Doctor paused as he muttered to himself and seemingly counted off something on his fingers. “…umm. One more second.” The Doctor went back to counting and muttering. This continued for at least a minute or more, the longest Kageyama had seen him stand still yet. “Ok, so don’t be mad but I don’t exactly…remember how old I am.”
Kageyama slid his hand down his face.
“But I can tell you how old I might be. My best guess is that I’m at least one thousand years old. Give or take a century or two.” The Doctor said as he continued to grin at Kageyama.
Kageyama sighed. “If you didn’t want to tell me how old you are you could have just said you didn’t want to tell me.”
For the first time the smile slipped from The Doctor’s face and it was replaced by a look of shock. “You think I’m lying? I am that old, probably. It’s just really hard to keep track of my age when I’ve lived this long and also when I travel back and forth in time so much. It’s not like they make a calendar for time travelers or something.”
Kageyama ignored him, deciding it was better to not argue over the obvious lie. “Whatever. Now it’s your turn. What question do you want to ask me?”
The grin quickly returned to The Doctors face, this time though it was much more mischievous.
“Do you like it here?”
Kageyama just stared at him. “What kind of question is that?”
“Ah ah ah. No more questions from you Kageyama. It’s my turn.” Kageyama growled but didn’t argue.
“So I ask again. Do you like it here?” The Doctor asked, his arms waving around as if to emphasize what he asked.
Kageyama was originally going to blow the question off and give a nothing answer. But that thought quickly faded as he saw the genuine interest in The Doctors face. So Kageyama actually thought about the answer. He stopped walking and, for maybe the first time, really thought about if he liked where he was right now. After a minute or two, in which the Doctor didn’t say anything, which was a miracle in itself, Kageyama spoke.
“I don’t like it or dislike it. My life is boring but peaceful. There’s nothing interesting going on but I can’t really complain.”
Kageyama shuddered. That’s the first time he had ever said that to someone. Usually when people asked he said he did because he was doing what he wanted to do. But, for some reason, he didn’t want to say that there. He wanted to be more truthful.
“Do you want something exciting to happen?” The Doctor asked, his voice quieter than it had been before.
“Yes.” Kageyama replied.
The Doctor nodded.
“So how long until we get to where we aware supposed to be going?” The Doctor asked, his voice back to its usual volume.
“We are almost there. If you didn’t keep hoping around every five seconds we would get there faster.” Kageyama groaned.
—————
They arrived at the restaurant after a few more minutes of walking. It looked the same as it had when he left. Except for one thing. The lights were off. Kageyama thought that was odd because they hadn’t been off when he left. The restaurant was supposed to be open for another eight hours or so. They should be preparing for the dinner rush right about now, not be closed. Kageyama put his hand in front of The Doctor, stopping him from going forward.
“Something weird is going on here. They aren’t supposed to be closed right now.” Kageyama whispered to him.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pressed a button as he waved it through the air. After a second it beeped.
“Lots of Eesox residue here. We certainly found their home.”
Kageyama shivered. He still wasn’t sure what an Eesox was but he was still frightened that he had been unknowingly working with aliens this entire time and didn’t even know it.
“What’s the plan then?” Kageyama asked.
The Doctor shrugged. “Let’s just walk in there.”
Kageyama glared at him. “You just want us to walk in there? Unarmed against an unknown number of Eesox’s, and in their home base?”
“We aren’t unarmed. We have this.” The Doctor said, holding up his sonic screwdriver.
Kageyama frowned. “So since it’s a sonic device does it have like a blaster or some kind of weapon on it?”
The Doctor looked at him confused. “It maybe sonic but it’s still only a screwdriver. It’s not a weapon. Gosh, you humans and your focus on making everything into a weapon.”
Kageyama held in a groan. “Then we have nothing to defend ourselves?!”
The Doctor just held up his sonic screwdriver again and smiled.
Kageyama ignored him.
“Alright, let's just walk through the front door and see what’s going on. Maybe they’re out right now?” The Doctor said, smile still wide on his face, as he walked forward.
Kageyama sighed but followed anyway.
As they reached the door they found it was locked.
“One second.” The Doctor said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the lock.
There was a small vibration and the lock clicked open.
“Finally something useful from that thing.” Kageyama teased.
“It’s not the first time Kageyama. Don’t be so mean.” The Doctor whined.
Kageyama said nothing as he pushed past and into the restaurant. All the lights were off but, since it was still light outside, Kageyama could mostly see for the first couple of feet. Everything in the restaurant was exactly like if it was closed, which was weird since when Kageyama had left they had been fully open. Kageyama stepped carefully, The Doctor pulling up next to him. Kageyama pointed to the back room of the restaurant, motioning for The Doctor to follow him. He nodded and Kageyama creeped forward, making sure not to disturb anything.
As he slowly opened the door to the back room, he saw only a single light on at the very back. Curious, Kageyama continued to creep forward slowly. The restaurant was eerily silent, which was the creepiest part of this to Kageyama since he had never been here when it was this silent before. As he got to the back where the light was Kageyama saw a trapdoor in the floor that had’t been there before. It was open, with stairs leading down. The Doctor looked at Kageyama as if to ask if that was normal. Kageyama shook his head. He had never seen this before.
The Doctor nodded as he took the lead, walking down the stairs into whatever was below the restaurant, Kageyama following him close behind. As he walked down the stairs Kageyama noticed that it got much hotter the further he went down. By the time he was at the bottom of the stairs, which hadn’t taken more than 30 seconds, he was nearly sweating. The Doctor didn’t say anything though so Kageyama continued to follow him. They had entered a narrow corridor that looked to be dug out of the ground and which continued for a significant distance. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver again and scanned the air, shaking his head once he looked at it.
“There are a lot of them down here.” He mouthed at Kageyama, who only shook his head in response.
They continued to walk silently forward for another minute or two before finally the hallway stopped and they emerged slightly above a large room. The room was quite large, at least 20ft tall with dirt walls, metal support beams keeping it stable and pipes accompanying the beams. Kageyama was surprised that this existed below the restaurant. He couldn’t have ever imagined something like this would have been down here.
Inside the room itself though was something even more unexpected. There looked to be a whole array of goods down here. Kageyama saw a lot of things he recognized, minerals, plants, common household objects, and many things he had never seen in his life. Everything looked to be sorted into piles and arrangements that Kageyama couldn’t identify and, running between everything, were conveyor belts.
It seemed like running everywhere were endless conveyor belts carrying an incredible amount of things. From food to clothes to statues and even large rocks, Kageyama constantly saw things be transported from one side of the room to the other. The conveyor belts even seemed to stretch into other rooms as Kageyama saw them go through holes and doors into other parts of what Kageyama imagined was a much wider facility.
“Typical Eesox. They must have been working on this for a while now.” The Doctor yelled out, trying to be heard over the loud droning of all the machines in the room in front of them.
“What’s the plan?” Kageyama shouted back.
“Lets find who’s in charge here and see what the situation is. They might be harmless.” The Doctor yelled back, moving farther into the room.
Quickly though Kageyama found that to be hard to do as there was no actually floor in this room. Once they reached the bottom of the entrance area it was only conveyor belts and storage platforms. It looked like to get any further in they would have to ride the conveyor belts around. Which was not Kageyama’s first choice as they looked to be moving rather fast, too fast for him to feel safe riding on one. The Doctor seemed to agree and, before he stepped on one, he pointed his sonic screwdriver at it and it quickly slowed down to a much more reasonable pace. Holding out his hand to Kageyama, The Doctor stepped forward onto the conveyor belt. Kageyama took his hand and jumped on with him, unsure where they were going but trusting The Doctor to at least be able to figure it out.
As they rode the conveyor belt, in between a brown cardboard box and a grey metal box labeled Dangerous do not touch they moved into the room to the left of their entry room. As they did they entered a room very similar to the first, conveyor belts everywhere and random piles of things placed throughout. As they went through Kageyama spotted something fly in from the top of the room. From far away it looked like a regular housefly, but as it got closer Kageyama realized that was not exactly true.
While it did look like a housefly, it was the largest housefly he had ever seen. It was the size of a horse and buzzed all over the room, either grabbing things from the conveyor belts and putting it with one of the piles, or checking the piles themselves and constantly adjusting them with its front legs. It was a terrifying sight to see and Kageyama was glad it was in the distance and nowhere close to him. Kageyama instinctually grasped The Doctors hand tighter at the sight of it.
They were able to quickly exit that room and head into the next room, which was much the same as the first. Kageyama was curious how many rooms were actually here. How far did this place extend underground? And how long had it been here? As they rode the conveyor belt they eventually saw that it curved after a few rooms and headed down instead of left.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere.” Kageyama grumbled.
“Patience. I know exactly where we are.” The Doctor said, smile wide.
Kageyama looked at him accusingly.
“Fine. I mostly know where we are. You happy now?” The Doctor said, his smile slightly smaller. “If we just go up here a little ways we should eventually be able to find something that will get us to the main chamber.”
Kageyama shook his head but didn’t say anything.
They rode the conveyor belt for another couple of rooms before The Doctor pointed at a different belt and slowed it down, pulling Kageyama along as he jumped onto it. This belt seemed to be going straight instead of curving around the edge. It appeared to have similar stuff as the previous one. This time Kageyama was between a potted tree and another brown cardboard box. After another couple of rooms Kageyama saw that they had entered a slightly different room from before. Instead of conveyor belts running all throughout the room, it looked like they were all running out of this room. And, unlike the previous rooms, there were no platforms of goods all around the room. Instead there was a single, incredibly large, platform that seemed to have all types of goods on it.
Maybe this was the central room that The Doctor had mentioned earlier.
It certainly seemed busier than the others. There were many more of the flies, or Kageyama guessed they were actually Eesox at this point, then he said seen previously. Many of them looked like they were taking items from the platform in the center of the room and depositing them on various conveyor belts throughout the room. As the pair of them got closer and closer to the center Kageyama got more and more worried. Was it such a good idea to be going towards the giant horse sized houseflies? But The Doctor didn’t seem to hesitate so Kageyama took that as a sign that it should be safe.
As they got near the center one of the Eesox seemed to notice them and buzzed over, attempting to pick them up. They both moved out of the way before that could happen and The Doctor shouted something in what Kageyama could only describe as a fly buzzing noise. The Eesox stopped and buzzed as well, seemingly in response to The Doctor. This continued for a few moments before the Eesox flew towards the back of the room.
“Glad that went well. My Eesox was a little rusty. Haven’t had the chance to speak it in a good century or two.”
Kageyama looked in a mix of a glare and respect.
“What did it say?”
“They said that they had never had an awake person down here and they would go talk to their boss and see if he wanted to meet.”
“Awake person?” Kageyama asked.
“Awake or alive. I wasn’t sure exactly what they meant by that. I told you I was a little rusty.” The Doctor said, his tone slightly hurt.
“So should we get off here?” Kageyama asked.
“No. They said we would be taken to their boss if he accepted.” The Doctor answered.
“So you mean they are going to pick us up and take us there.” Kageyama shivered, already grossed out.
“Yeah. It’s going to be fun. I haven’t traveled by Eesox before.”
Kageyama shook his head. What was up with the enthusiasm on this idiot?
After waiting a few more minutes the Eesox eventually came back and buzzed at The Doctor, who gave a quick thumbs up, before they were both picked up by two of them and flown deeper into the warehouse.
It was really weird being picked up and flown by an Eesox. It wasn’t as weird as he thought it would be, but it was still not something he liked. It felt unnatural. As they flew Kageyama saw a variety of different rooms compared to the ones they had been in. These rooms were different from the previous ones in that they seemed to be relatively free of the same amount of clutter. These rooms, to Kageyama’s best guess, looked like living rooms and bedrooms, though it was pretty hard to tell. After a few rooms Kageyama stopped trying to guess and just waited for the flight to be over.
Before too long, maybe five minutes at most, Kageyama felt himself placed down in a large room, large then any of the previous rooms. It had what looked like a board room table, with a few Eesox on either side of the table and one Eesox, larger than the rest, at the head of the table. As Kageyama landed he quickly escaped the grasp of his Eesox and walked forward, brushing himself off. The Doctor buzzed at the Eesox before moving to the foot of the table.
“What brings you two here to our warehouse?” The Eesox at the head of the table spoke in a high pitched almost whine but, surprisingly, in English.
“Good day to you my good sir…”
“You may call me Boss” The Eesox answered.
“…my good sir Boss. I am The Doctor and this is my companion Kageyama. After stumbling upon your glorious warehouse I was curious what you are doing here on Earth? This planet has no major resources or goods and is not part of the galactic community yet.”
Boss laughed. “That is exactly why it is a perfect place to be. No one will look for us here and we are free to do our business as we please, without the guidelines or restrictions of the galactic trade organizations.”
As Boss finished an Eesox flew in holding something and dropped it on the table. It was a long bundle, wrapped in cloth. When it landed the other Eesox uncovered it to reveal a…human. And a human Kageyama knew. It was Yuki, one of the people he had worked with at the restaurant. He hadn’t seen her for a week though as his manager said she had suddenly quit. What was she doing here now? The Doctor glanced over to the Kageyama and seemed to recognize the concern that washed over his face.
“What are you doing with that human there? I hope you aren’t buying and selling them, as that’s a violation of The Galactic Code of Sentient Life Article 2 Section 4.” The Doctor warned, his face growing suddenly serious and his voice deepening.
It was surprising as it was the opposite of what Kageyama had been hearing all day. He wasn’t even sure The Doctor’s voice could go that deep or serious.
Laughter erupted all around the room at The Doctors statement.
“That is why we are here Doctor. The Galactic Trade Organizations would never think to look for us here. And we have found humans are…highly desired on the market.” Boss laughed as he spoke, a horrible buzzing laugh.
“I ask you kindly to stop this at once before I am forced to take action to ensure you bring no harm to those on this planet.” The Doctor threatened, his voice like ice.
Boss laughed. “How would you stop us? You are nothing in here. We will now take you and sell you. The price for a Time Lord is as high as they are rare. We will make enough money off of you to take over this entire world for ourselves.” Boss and the other Eesox laughed again as he motioned them towards the pair.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” The Doctor mumbled before grabbing Kageyama’s hand and running away from the swarm of Eesox threatening to grab them.
“What’s the plan now genius? You going to give them money to sell us?” Kageyama yelled as they ran.
“Shush. I am trying to navigate.” The Doctor said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it in front of him.
“This way.” He mumbled as he pulled Kageyama along with him.
This continued for a few minutes, The Doctor pulling them one way and the next, the constant buzzing of the Eesox always right behind them.
“Where are we going?” Kageyama finally yelled after the tenth seemingly random turn.
“We are almost there. You’ll see. We’ll stop them all.” The Doctor’s face was one of cold seriousness, which was maybe the most frightening thing Kageyama had seen all day.
After another minute or two they had finally stopped in front of a very large metal door. This door seemed much bigger than any other Kageyama had seen in the entire place. Much too big for the combined might of both of them to open. Looking at the door, while still aware of the buzzing of the pursuing Eesox that was getting ever closer, Kageyama saw a computer panel. Sure that it controlled the door, Kageyama went over and tried to see how it worked.
Unfortunately the computer was in a completely different language and Kageyama had no idea how to work it. While he had previously been anxious or angry that he was about to be sold off by giant alien houseflies, Kageyama was now mostly annoyed that they had raced around the entire warehouse just to get caught at a dead end.
“Now what? It’s not like we’ll have enough time to work out this computer before they catch up to us.” Kageyama said.
“Sure we will.” The Doctor shouted as he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the computer panel and it started frizzing out before going completely dark.
Right as Kageyama was about to berate him for being stupid and breaking it, the door before them opened up.
“I thought you said that thing was a screwdriver?” Kageyama questioned.
“A sonic screwdriver. Very important distinction.” The Doctor chided.
“Of course, of course. How could I forget?” Kageyama said, rolling his eyes.
The two ran into the room and, as soon as Kageyama took one step in, he was blasted by a wave of intense heat. It was like standing directly next to an industrial oven. Which, as it turns out, wasn’t that far off. In front of Kageyama was one of the most massive boilers he had ever seen in his life.
“Didn’t you wonder how they kept this place so hot, even this far underground?” The Doctor yelled. “They had to have some source of heat, and it had to be massive, to keep this place this hot permanently.”
“Why do they even need this massive a boiler?” Kageyama shouted back.
“The Eesox can’t stand the cold. If it gets even a little too cold for them they completely freeze up and stop moving. So what we are going to do is turn off their boiler. And then they’ll have to cooperate with us.”
“Can’t they just fix the boiler?” Kageyama asked.
“Not if I do this.” The Doctor shouted as he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the boiler and waved it around for a few seconds.
“Now you’re going to want to run.” The Doctor winked as he grabbed Kageyama’s hand and raced out of the room.
As they reached the door The Doctor slammed them against the wall a second before there was a large explosion and a massive piece of metal came bursting out of the room and hurtled down the hallway they had just been in.
“You blew up their boiler! While we were still in the room?!” Kageyama yelled, grabbing The Doctors shirt.
“I said I would make sure they didn’t have an opportunity to fix it. And it was going to be fine. I knew we would make it out of there in time.” The Doctor said as he grinned, stuck his tongue out and grabbed Kageyama’s hands.
Kageyama just dropped his head.
“Now what? We wait until it gets cold? And then hope they listen to us?” Kageyama asked.
“That’s the plan. Should only take a few minutes with the amount of heat required for this facility.” The Doctor replied.
The pair walked back to the main room, The Doctor apparently remembering the way even though Kageyama was lost in about two seconds. As they walked Kageyama noticed that the constant buzzing of both the Eesox and the machines in the warehouse had stopped. It was eerily silent, which was very strange as this had been the first moment Kageyama had time to think during this whole adventure. Who was this Doctor figure anyway, Kageyama thought. He seemed to know exactly what to do all the time. And nothing seemed to phase him.
“You’re not human are you?” Kageyama asked, the question suddenly popping into his mind.
“Finally figured that one out did you?” The Doctor laughed a little as he spoke. “You really are thick sometimes.”
“Hey. You look like a human and you speak Japanese perfectly. How was I supposed to know you aren’t human? You did say you came from the future.” Kageyama replied.
The Doctor grinned. “It’s more like you look like me than I look like you isn’t it? Since I’m older than you.”
Kageyama rolled his eyes. Of course the conversation would end up like this. The Doctor seemed to have a talent for making every conversation weird and different. But, Kageyama thought, he didn’t hate it. It was kind of…fun if he thought about it. The Doctor was certainly the most interesting man Kageyama had ever met.
Kageyama was pulled out of his thoughts with a shake to his shoulder.
“We’re back.” The Doctor whispered.
Kageyama nodded and steeled his gaze. As they entered the main room again Kageyama finally started to feel the drop in temperature. It was no longer stifling hot and was now just lukewarm.
“Have you reconsidered my offer Boss?” The Doctor asked, the cold authority back in his voice.
“We have reconsidered your offer and find it acceptable. You may take the humans back with you.” Boss said.
“And you will not trade any human life on this planet again?” The Doctor added with a glare.
“And we will not trade any human life on this planet again.” Boss added.
“Great. Amazing. Glad to do business with you. You’ll want to get that boiler fixed asap I assume. Have a great rest of your life.” The Doctor said, the light cheerfulness back in his tone, before turning around and walking away.
Kageyama quickly followed behind but not before noticing a stir from the front of the table. Boss seemed to buzz and twitch before screaming and flying directly towards The Doctors back. The Doctor didn’t even blink as he turned around and pointed his sonic screwdriver at the ceiling, where one of the pipes burst open and sprayed what was left of the superheated steam and gas on Boss, melting him instantly.
“I warned him.” Was all The Doctor said as he exited the room.
—————
It took a little over two hours to gather all of the humans from the Eesox warehouse, wake them up, and move them upstairs. None of the Eesox bothered them, which Kageyama was thankful for. He wanted to stay was far away from those creatures as much as he could.
After exiting the warehouse and reaching the surface The Doctor told the survivors that they were safe and that, for their own safety, they shouldn’t mention this incident to anyone, ever.
Kageyama was glad that everyone was safe but was also a little sad for a reason he couldn’t figure out.
After all the survivors had left, Kageyama and The Doctor walked back to the spot where they met. When they arrived it looked like there had never been a crash landing. The TARDIS was standing completely upright and the hole it had created was gone.
“There she is! Back to tip top shape and everything!” The Doctor cheered as he hugged the TARDIS.
Kageyama smiled slightly before his usual frown returned.
“I guess this is goodbye then.” Kageyama said, more to the air than The Doctor specifically.
“What do you mean goodbye? We are just getting started.” The Doctor said, confusion plastered across his face.
“What do you mean ‘just getting started’?” Kageyama’s face mimicking The Doctors.
“There’s a whole universe out there to explore and you haven’t seen any of it. So where do you want to go first?” The Doctor beamed at Kageyama as he spoke.
“You aren’t making any sense Doctor.” Kageyama’s confusion continued, made even worse now by The Doctors cryptic statements.
“You really are thick aren’t you?” The Doctor groaned, shaking his head. “I’m saying that you should come with me. To explore the universe.”
Kageyama was stunned. It took him a minute to even begin to form a sentence.
“Come with you? You want me to come with you?” Kageyama finally stuttered out.
“Yeah! You maybe annoying and thick and kind of dumb”
Kageyama glared.
“But you’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met and you really helped me out back there. So what do you say? Want to come with?” The Doctor asked, holding out his hand to Kageyama.
A mix of emotions crossed Kageyama’s mind all at the same time. Could he really travel with The Doctor? Should he? It was certainly more exciting. But it would also mean abandoning everyone he knew here. And abandoning their dreams for him. And he couldn’t hurt them like that.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t. I have obligations here. Have fun though.” Kageyama gave a shaky smile as he shook The Doctors hand.
“Aww, that’s too bad. I’m going to miss you Kageyama. It’s been fun.” The Doctor said as he let go of Kageyama’s hand, opened the door to the TARDIS, and disappeared inside.
Kageyama stood there for a few moments before slowly walking away. There he went again, Kageyama thought, denying himself the more exciting thing for the stable thing. But it was fine. Everything would work out in the end. After only a few steps, Kageyama heard the TARDIS door open again.
“I think I forgot to mention something important. I wasn’t lying when I said I traveled through time. This isn’t just a spaceship. It’s also a time machine.” The Doctor smiled as he reached his hand out.
And for the first time in his life Kageyama didn’t even think about his decision.
He just ran and grabbed The Doctors hand.