A Farewell to Friends

The Eighth Doctor suddenly found himself sipping a strawberry milkshake in the middle of a war that he held no place being in. The Cyber War had raged across the cosmos, somewhat under the noses of the Time Lords or the Daleks' machinations as both empires expanded and grew against one another. It had nearly engulfed the entire galaxy, planets being destroyed and rammed into each other in hideous fashion to destroy one another to ensure survival for one side vs the other, like a game of galactic pinball that no one truly had control over the bumpers of.

Never the less here he was on Earth during the bloodiest and last battle of this war. "You will be conv..." the Cyberleader began, only to be interrupted by the Doctor holding up a finger and taking a deep, long sip. Savoring the flavor, he smiled and gave the signal to start again. "YOU WILL BE..." started the Cyberleader again with frustration, only to be cut off by the Doctor who finished with "ConnnnnvERRRRRRRRted!" in an over-the-top Cyberman accent mocking his first encounter with them. Instantly they drew back, realizing who they had in their midst.

"IT IS THE DO-" they began before The Doctor put up a finger again and took a long sip of his milkshake. "Are ya done yet?" asked Destrii impatiently. Destrii was the kind of girl who liked to get to the action first, like on TV. Everything was quick, BANG, POW with her. Er... as much of a her as any shape shifting alien could identify as at least. One of these days The Doctor would have to either teach her to relax or start feeding her bananas to slow her down.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and tossed the milkshake behind him, ready for the confrontation finally. "It wasn't that good of a milkshake anyways. Go on now, ultimate peril; destruction and deletion for the good of the cyber race; you know the whole spiel. How it's time to convince me humans are evil for letting each other die of treatable diseases through mind control but how it's silly to like the Mona Lisa..." the Doctor said with an air of boyish indifference without any real malice or contempt. Then the expression on his face changed.

"You know why I love humans? The randomness of it all that they cannot even begin to appreciate. Looking endlessly for meaning, structure and rules but at the end of the day? Their beauty is the chaos they breathe. From a sloppy alcoholic came the most beautiful violins known to man. From a germophobe in the world's most insanitary period came the electricity that runs you. From the wanton minds of an Every Flavour Jelly Bean shop came a milkshake that brought down a Cyberman blimp into a volcano..."

He smiled and looked at Destrii; who was dumbstruck, looking at the milkshake behind the doctor that had landed on the control panel, causing the blimp to dovetail towards the ground. Alerts rang out as the Doctor grabbed her hand and ran towards the Tardis in the back of the blimp, the Cybermen now running around to brace for impact. There would have been quite a big impact if the Blimp wasn't falling towards an active volcano.

He smiled. Parking the Tardis at the back of the ship was a fantastic way to ensure himself the time to escape. For once he had made it through a situation and every possibility had just fallen into place without some master plan. "Ha! He wouldn't have been able to pull this one off!" he said aloud gloating against one of his past selves.

Running through the Tardis doors, The Doctor and Destrii set the coordinates to get out of the area as quickly as possible, but the Tardis didn't move. The Doctor began to panic and slapped the console before the realization hit him. "DESTRII, THE DOOR!" he yelled running back across the room to shut them so they could take off.

But it was too late. The explosions started and as tight as the Doctor had the door closed, an inferno shot through right into the front of his body. He just barely managed to close the doors before the explosion could shoot through the entire control room. He fell backwards, the front of his body charred.

"Next time I try this one, I do it to the robots instead. No large scale explosions, just a quick and proper malfunction." he thought to himself, gasping and charred.

Destrii ran to him, in tears. The Doctor smiled, knowing what was coming. All was right with the universe in his time now. The Next Doctor would have a practically clean slate. "Destrii, slow down..." he began as he swallowed some saliva. "The universe is beautiful in it's possibility. Life and love and chaos... none of these are terrible things to hold dear. Please hold them dear, Destrii. Please." he said with his last breath before the change began.

Inside his head, he was saying goodbye. He was gathered in the company of friends. First things first was Izzy, unable to contain herself. She smiled through the tears in her eyes as she touched his face. For a second she looked like she was on the verge of finding something to say, but on cue Fitz pushed her out of the way and gave him a hug of his own. Anji joined in. And Sam. And everyone at once, eventually.

Soon however, they filed off one by one, beckoning him towards the distance. He turned to face them but stopped dead in his tracks as someone grabbed his hand. Quietly, he began to hear Madam Butterfly in his ears. He opened his mouth to speak, he turned his head to look, but in the moment he saw Grace again he ceased. He nodded his head and took her hand more tightly. He was glad someone would be there to walk with him on the way out.

Inside the Tardis, a storm of electricity blasted around Destrii and The Doctor. Life, energy, time and space jumped around them in a frenzy around the room. The Tardis ceiling became a great planetarium again. Blue light from the stars and pure energy from the lightning were the only lights on them now. All at once, they struck the Doctor and behind her, Destrii heard the rise and fall of the central Tardis console column. She turned to look as it came to life only for a second; but as she looked back a completely different figure was in The Doctor's place. In his clothes. Holding his screwdriver. A new Doctor. She brushed his hair to the side to get a look at his face. Black hair, a touch of grey; and what a scowl he had...

The Doctor turned on his side, coughing post-regeneration. "Ugh..." he groaned in a stupor as everything came into focus and an intense heat shot out of his mouth, almost as if he was breathing out the heat of the fire in a blue smoke. As he came to his wits he sat up and brushed Destrii away with a sense of revulsion at the physical comfort she had given him. Rolling into a position on his knees before standing up as quickly as he could manage and portray some sort of sense of dignity, he quickly grabbed his head and felt his feverish heat slowly subside to some relief.

Still with a sour expression across his face, The Doctor finally caught his breath and said "Disgusting. His saliva is still in my stomach" with a sort of composed, stuffy nature to his voice. Immediately and with purpose he walked towards the wardrobe. His strut never had such authority before.