Part One
The Doctor was all alone now. There was no companion by his side, Clara had left him a few weeks back. She said that she wanted to become "her own person" if his memory recalled correctly. Who needed a companion anyways, he found himself thinking, they just get in the way. All he needed was his raggedy, old TARDIS and his own thoughts.
With a screech of the TARDIS brakes, the strange blue police box faded into existence in the streets of… well somewhere. He couldn't exactly remember where. It was getting so hard to remember things. He grabbed his suit coat with the red lining, slipped it on and was out the door.
He was met with the bustling of a busy street. The scent of tan lotion and street-side churro stands filled his nostrils. A light breeze blew, causing his jacket to flutter. California, that's where he was! Santa Barbara, California in the year 2006. He must've went there for a nice day at the beach. With a tug on his jacket, he began to walk down the pier that the TARDIS had materialized on.
At the end of the pier, he sat staring out at the beautiful, glistening water. The water was one of the few things that this regeneration found relaxing. His ear caught the exasperating sound of yelling.
"I'm telling you, I know what I saw," one voice said. It was filled with sass and had a know-it-all sound to it.
"Yes. And I'm telling you, you're a lunatic," bickered another voice. This voice was more gruff, more than likely that of a law enforcement officer. "Come on, O'Hara," the voice barked again.
"Sorry," another voice said. This voice was more comforting, it reminded him a bit of Clara.
He turned to see a dark skinned young man running his hand over his bald scalp. The man was obviously stressed.
"What did you see," the Doctor found himself asking curiously. The man turned his head towards the Doctor. He was probably surprised that anyone was asking.
"Me," the man asked pointing a finger at his own chest.
"Yes you," the Doctor said, "who else could I be talking to? Don't be thick! Now tell me what you saw."
"I don't think I want to," the man said back, obviously angry at the Doctor for his direct approach. The Doctor let out a sigh, he normally let Clara handle the talking.
"Look, I'm sorry," the Doctor said, "it has been a long two weeks and I have lost a good friend. Just tell me what you saw and maybe I can help."
"No, I'm sorry," said the man looking a bit guilty for getting angry.
"So what did you see," the Doctor asked.
"Well," the man pondered as to whether he should actually say it, "I saw a ghost."
"Where did you see it," the Doctor questioned.
"At Yuri's Russian Cuisine."
"Ah, I see. What kind of ghost," the Doctor asked.
"The spooky kind," the man said in his spunky tone.
"Did it glow any color, blue possibly," he asked.
"Yeah," the man looked at the Doctor suspiciously, "yeah, how'd you know?"
"I know exactly what it was. And it isn't a phantom," the Doctor stated matter-of-factly.
"Uhh, yeah it was," the man argued, "it was translucent and-"
The Doctor put a finger up to the man's lips to shush him. "It wasn't a ghost, it was a Verid."
"What's a Verid?"
"Tell me, did yeah get an odd feeling in your head? Sort of like being light headed?"
"Yeah."
"Well that was the Verid. It's a space alien that's feed off of psychic energy."
The man stood there for a second looking as if he was trying to catch up. "Ok."
"You don't ask a lot of unnecessary questions," the Doctor pointed out, "we are going to get along rather well I think." The Doctor began to walk off down the pier, back towards the TARDIS.
"What's your name," the man asked, following the Doctor.
"I'm the Doctor," he stated simply.
"Doctor who?"
"Just the Doctor will be fine."
"You can't be called just The Doctor."
"Yes I can. Now shut up and tell me your name."
"Burton Guster," Burton said, "but my friends call me Gus. Which you can not, because you my friend, are…" Burton stopped as his gaze rested on the TARDIS. "What in God's name is a 1960s police box doing on this pier?"
"It's my transport," the Doctor told him. He opened the TARDIS door and walked in. Gus followed in behind him.
"It's- it's- it's," Burton struggled to find the words.
"Yes, it is bigger on the inside. I am an alien, and this is my time machine," the Doctor groaned.
Burton let out a squeamish, girly laugh and fell to the floor unconscious.
"Why do I always get the odd ones," the Doctor sighed.
Gus woke up to the smell of burning metal. Slowly his eyes blinked open, but a thick black smoke clouded his vision.
"Exhaust fans activate," he heard the Doctor cough. The Doctor, he was an alien. And this gigantic room was his time machine. It still through Gus a bit off, and he found himself wondering if the type of alien he was actually looked like humans, or if that was a disguise. Maybe in reality he was like a slug thing and the outer suit was a mechanized suit. He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard the Doctor groan from pain.
"Are you ok man," Gus asked approaching the Doctor.
"Stay back," the Doctor gasped. He was out of breath.
Gus, keeping his distance as the Doctor told him, asked, "what happened to you?"
"You were unconscious," the Doctor explained, "I went to that restaurant you talked about to look for the Verid."
"Alone? You went ghost hunting alone?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," the Doctor admitted, "but the Verid was too much of a match for this old body. It's failing now."
"What is," Gus asked confused.
"My body, well this one anyways," the Doctor gasped.
"You can't die," Gus pleaded, "I've only known you for like five minutes. You can't die."
"I'm not dying you imbecile," the Doctor tried to joke. It just seemed plain rude to Gus. "When my body is dying, it can heal itself. Rewrite it's entire molecular structure."
"That's awesome," Gus admired, "hurry up and do that."
"I am doing that," the Doctor explained, "but it means I'm going to change. My body, my personality, everything."
"I don't understand."
"You just have to see it," the Doctor told him, "I wish that I could've known you better like this."
"Thanks, I think," Gus said, still a bit confused.
"It's starting," the Doctor told Gus, looking at his own hands. Golden light seemed to float around his hand in little particles. He hung his arms out and leaned his face upwards as if surrendering himself to the sky. The golden energy grew long into streaks that streamed out of his hands and face, which seemed to morph slightly. His pale blue eyes grew pure white before turning hazel. His chin line changed and the wrinkles on his face seemed to vanish. The golden energy stopped streaming from his hands and face and he looked at Gus as, quite literally, a changed man.
The Doctor had told Gus that he would change, but damn. He was young now, probably mid twenties. His brown hair stuck up wildly in all directions and he had a rather impressive jaw line. He wasn't buff, but he sort of had a lean cut to him now.
The brand new Doctor looked right into Gus' eyes and said, "my jawline, how is it?" The voice he spoke with was youthful and filled with optimism. It was such a change from his last persona of being rather stuck up and annoyed by everyone.
"Doctor, is that you?"
"Yes it's me. I told you I was going to change didn't I?" There was silence throughout the TARDIS console room. "I did, didn't I? Seriously I don't know. I always have a hard time remembering things right after regeneration. For instance: your name is…" he put his index fingers up to his temples as if he was a psychic, "Ian, wait no that's not right. Jamie McCrimmon. No that's not it. Oh well, it'll come back to me."
He looked at the main console of the TARDIS which was in pieces. "Well, I can't pilot the TARDIS with this, can I? TARDIS Voice Interface activate."
Out of the TARDIS console, a hologram of a woman fizzed to life. She was short and had long brown hair that curled up at the bottom and sat nicely on her shoulders. She had a red dress on and a rose in her hair. Her eyes were dark brown and large.
"Ahh, nice selection. Nice to see you Clara."
"I am not Clara, I am the TARDIS Voice Interface."
"I've heard it both ways," the Doctor retorted, "not the point. Can you change the main console room to something less depressing." He eyed the grey metal inside with dim blue lighting. "It's like someone died in here. Although, I suppose I died in here. I've actually died in here a bunch come to think of it. But seriously, change it to something more happy."
There was a flash of white light and the interior of the time machine had changed. The entire room had changed shape from a circle to a large square. The floor instead of grey metal, was now complete light hardwood. The walls were a solid light green. The console had changed from well a organized control centre, to a wild mishmash of green and white light switches. A green type writer also was placed into it and one entire side of the six sided machine was a large TV screen. On both sides of the room sat a spiral staircase. One went up into the roof and the other went down under the floor.
"That's much better," observed the Doctor. "Now let's go catch that Verid."
"Your telling me that you didn't catch it," Gus said surprised.
"No I was busy dying," argued the Doctor, "besides, I was old. Leave me alone. His eyes rested on the mini-fridge sitting isolated in the corner. "Ooooo," he cooed walking over to it and opening. "What the hell am I going to with this," he whined and pulled out a full pineapple. "Come on, cut that shiz man."
"Isn't there a deadly ghost on the loose," Gus reminded him.
"Right," the Doctor said running over to the console and flipping a whole row of switches from off to on. The TARDIS took off with an odd whirring noise.
"Where are we going," asked Gus, "aren't we going to catch the ghost."
"The Verid escaped into the future. They can do that. It's actually pretty useful." The Doctor grabbed a handle attached to the side of the console and gave it a tug. The whole thing spun around until the Doctor stopped it on the side with the typewriter on it. He typed something in, then spun the console until the screen was in front of him, which he used to confirm his readings.
"Santa Barbara, California. The year 3006," he stated out loud, "C'mon, let's go investigate." With that, the newly regenerated Doctor and his new found ally Gus exited the time machine.
A/n: Tada! What'd u guys think? Please review and tell me. Also, how much do you like the new TARDIS console? It spins around! Personally I think that is the coolest thing ever. I think it's a bit off character for both Gus and Shawn/Doctor. It's hard to write a crossover like this, but I figured that I should give it a shot. Any suggestions for chapter 2?