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((Interesting way to kill a scarf monster..and gigantic doughnut.. I was busy with my own scarf monster..Dancing? That makes me nervous..))

Rose looked at them and waggled her finger. "Naughty naughty girly. Bad bad Doctor." Her eyes blazed with a cold, mad glint and a smile spread wide across her face. "I think I ought to teach you a lesson. A lesson in DANCE!"

A look of pure terror alighted on the Doctor's face. Sephy almosts thought he was going too plead with Rose, plead for mercy. Sephy was, of course, not prepared to do any such thing and made sure the Doctor did not either. She tried to play her way out by words.

"Oh, but dear Rosie, we can't dance. You will have to show us first!"

Rose thought about it, her tongue stuck out as she pondered. "But I'd need a partner girlie!"

"Oh, I'm sure the Rani will be more than happy to oblige." Sephy replied, rather dryly. She had no idea where she was going with this plan. It was, really, just a diversion.

__________________________________

Marcus looked at Rika. "Push the scarf thingy? How'd yoiu come up with that idea?" he asked.

"What? I thought..I thought you did!?! I didn't say anything!! Just to grab the needles.." she trailed off.

Marcus looked stunned. "But I didn't say it..."

"So if you didn't..and I didn't..then..who did?" Rika asked.

A shadow fell across the corridor. Something was coming. Coming around the corner. Rika and Marcus looked at each other, terror evident in their glances.

The shadow grew larger and larger..until Rika was sure the creature who owned it must surely appear. Seconds ticked by. And the creature came..

"Sabbalom?!?!?"

And indeed it was.

Marcus looked at Sabbalom. "Can you..I mean, that is to say..can you talk, Sabbalom??"

Sabbalom simply gave him a look. It was a look which said, 'what do you think?'. It also reminded them that he was no ordinary cat. Or caat at that.

((Have to go now..))

((Her earing caught in her headphone? Wierd..))

Marcus had neither seen nor heard Sephy and the Doctor come along, and, as a consequence, nearly walked into him. Marcuse swerved, jusst at the last moment and managed to trip over Sabbalom, who gave him a reproachful glare. for a moment, there was chaos as marcus tumbled over, kicking Rika in the chest.

A look of pain flashed across Rika's face. "Okay, maybe not that invincible. What's a nong?"

Sabbalom mewed at them, prancing rather impatiently. Hurry up! he seemed to be saying. The Doctor took the hint, being able to read Sabbalom as he could and turned into another corridor. It was..dark.

Sephy, impatient as always, growled a spell, just a small one, and lit the way for a second, just to check for any..traps. In that brief flare of light, everybody turned to look at each other in pure horror. Then, as one, they made to rush out of the corridor. But it was too late. The corridor, which had not been there a second before the Doctor had walked into it, had sealed away from the other corridor.

The reason for the panic? The walls..the ceiling..the floor..

Were all covered in paintings of Roses.

Sephy woke up to the sound of someone mumbling. She looked round and was surprised to find that the TARDIS lights had dimmed. The Doctor was still lying on the floor. His eyes were closed but he was smiling.
"Old girl.... You saved me..."
He patted the floor of the TARDIS as if it were alive. Sephy held back a snigger as she snuck over to hear him better, Sabbalom following, dancing round her feet as she moved.

"You're my one true love you know..." The Doctor continued, "Beautiful... faithful old girl..."

"Do you two want some time alone?"

The Doctor leapt upright at the sound of Sephy's voice in his ear. For a moment his face flushed red.
"W-what are you doing up at this time of night?" he stammered, glaring at her, "Don't you have a home to go to?"

She looked round.
"How can you tell what time it is in here?"

"She keeps her own time. Don't ask me. Where are the others?"

"They found themselves rooms. Marcus was complaining because you didn't have any alcohol in your kitchen..."

"Well, none he'd recognise anyway..." The Doctor sighed, "I have another stowaway then..."

"We're not that bad!"

"I beg to differ," he rubbed his throat, "Ouch... I almost feel sorry for the poor old Rani... There won't be much left of her I fear..."

"Have all your companions been driven insane?"

He gave her a cold stare.

"Sorry Doctor..."

He stood up and looked across the TARDIS controls.
"I know that wherever I go there's bound to be trouble..." he closed his eyes and picked co-ordinates at random, "...but this way I can't be blamed."

"That's a little... well... dangerous, isn't it? You could end up in the middle of a warzone or something!"

"I could and I have," he picked up Sabbalom, stroking his head, "Do you think it'll be much worse than going back to Rose?"

"Doctor... how did she end up like that?"

"...she... meddled... with... stuff..."

"What stuff?"

"Dangerous stuff. Now be quiet. We're..." There was a bang and a distressed groan from the engines, "...landing."

Rika hopped into the room sideways, one arm entangled in her cardigan.
"Wait wait! Don't leave us behind!"

"You can leave me behind..." said Marcus, yawning.

"I want to see more weird planets!"
There was a loud 'claddomp' as Rika fell over.

The Doctor sighed and flicked the switch to open the doors. He walked over, blocking the view with his body. There was another weary sigh.

"Are we in a warzone then?" asked Sephy, trying to peer over his shoulder.

"Is there a pub?"

"What's it like Doctor? What's it like?"

The Doctor shook his head.
"It's pink."

"What?"

Marcus wandered over and stuck his head under the Doctor's arm and out the door.
"Wow... I think I might go outside afterall..."

Sephy stuck her head out the other side.
"Urrgh... I wish I was drunk.... That's disturbing..."

"What? What?"
Rika had finally struggled out of the tangle of grey wool and shoved the right arms in the right sleeves. She leant over Sephy's head.
"It's pink!"

The outside was pink and it was a pink that stretched on forever. A swirly, cloudy pink horizon joined perfectly onto a swirly, cloudy pink ground so that all they could see was a swirly, cloudy pink mass. There didn't seem to be any buildings or people or objects of any kind. Sephy sniffed the air.
"Is it breathable?"

"Are you still breathing?" The Doctor snatched up his walking stick and hat - both of which had made it back to the TARDIS without his help, "Come on, I'm going for a walk..."

"Remember what happened last time you did that?"

He ignored the warning and with three long strides was soon disappearing off into the cloudy middle-distance.

"Fine," said Sephy, "We walk..."

"That doesn't say 'pub' that says 'pob'," said the Doctor, squinting at the sign ahead of them, "And I'm not even sure it's a word at all... See the strange squiggle on the 'p'?"

"You mean... it's only decorative?" Marcus' face sunk.

"I still don't see why everything is pink!" snapped Sephy, rubbing at the pink on her clothes that showed no signs of coming off, "And why do we have to be pink to come in?"

"Something's appearing..." said the Doctor as a bank of pink cloud rolled back revealing a building underneath the 'Pob' sign.

"There's another of those waterfalls Doctor," Sephy pointed to the building's entrance. There was a large, open doorway behind a waterfall of rainbow coloured water.
"D'you think...?"

She didn't wait for an answer, she just ran towards the door. The Doctor and the others gave chase. She could hear him shouting in the distance.
"Wait! It's could be danger..."

She raced up the stairs to the waterfall and dived through. The water felt strange - almost fuzzy - and she staggered to a halt on the other side. She was soaked through but her colour was back. The colours from the liquid seemed to be seeping into her clothes and skin, returning them to their normal shades. The excess dripped off her like paint and slid into little grilles that had been placed in the floor, either side of the doorway. She shivered but she was soon dry.

The Doctor, Rika and Marcus burst in after her.
"You idiot!" snapped the Doctor, clipping her across the ear, "That could have been acid for all you knew! You might have ended up as a tiny, pink puddle!"

"You didn't think about that earlier when you turned me pink!"

"I'd... tested it."

"With what?"

"With my walking stick. Anyway, pink's a harmless colour. You don't know where you are with rainbows."

"Where is everybody?" said Rika, looking round. They were stood in a big entrance hall. Everything was black and white and shiny, like marble. There was what looked like a reception desk, only it was empty. Doorways led off into other rooms but they looked dark and ominous.

"I'll ring for service..." said the Doctor. He strode up to the reception desk and rapped on the top with his walking stick.
"Hello! Anyone around! We need some help!"

Sabbalom, who'd strode through the waterfall much more sedately, shook off the last drips of rainbow and leapt onto the desk beside the Doctor. He placed his paw onto a small black dome that gave a sharp, high-pitched ring.

A light suddenly appeared behind the desk, as if someone had switched on a particularly powerful light bulb, and then it faded to reveal a figure. They looked almost human except that they were perfectly white from head to toe and they didn't seem to have a nose, mouth or ears, only big, glassy white eyes. Their white suit reminded Rika of a lab technician's uniform, only with more buttons, and with a smart, square hat on top, covering their hair - if they had any. The receptionist looked at the Doctor, tipping its head quizzically to one side.

"I don't suppose you can tell us where we are?" said the Doctor. The receptionist didn't respond, except to stare harder. The Doctor looked a little embarrassed.
"You don't have any ears do you? How am I supposed to communicate?"

Sabbalom let out a mew but the receptionist still didn't move. They seemed to be waiting for instructions. The Doctor patted his jacket pockets.
"I'm sure I have a notebook here somewhere..."

He began emptying his pockets onto the desk. He found a white hankerchief, several newspaper cuttings, a small pair of scissors, two match-sticks and a tiny blue counter, obviously from a board game of some sort. As he dropped the counter on the table the receptionist suddenly leapt into life. It jumped forwards and snatched the counter up in both hands and promptly turned a violent shade of blue - matching the counter perfectly. It swung a segment of the desk upwards and stepped through, grabbing the Doctor by the arm as it passed. Sephy and Rika leapt forwards to save him but the receptionist was incredibly strong and pulled all three of them towards the nearest door, Marcus and Sabbalom following.

As the receptionist approached the doorway it lit up, glowing blue also. The Doctor was dragged to the line seperating the entrance hall from the adjoining room and then stopped. The blue receptionist let go of his arm and stared at him, as if waiting for something. It still held the counter in it's hand.

"Blue?" said the Doctor, "Do you communicate by colour?"
The receptionist remained still. Sephy wondered if it was a robot.

"That's a big room..." said Rika, looking through the doorway into the seemingly endless expanse of blue, "But... there's nothing in it..."
She stepped forwards, crossing the line between the blank white marble and the endless blue. For a moment her foot hung in the air and her arms did a wild windmill motion and then with a surprised 'oh' she fell forwards and disappeared with a splash.

The others leapt to the doorway, stopping short of stepping in. A little way below them the 'floor' - as they had thought it to be - was rippling. The ripples spread out and disappeared, leaving a solid blue surface again. There was no sign of Rika.

With a worried breath, the Doctor threw off his jacket and hat and dived in after her. He too disappeared. Sephy gave a growl.
"I'm not waiting here for them..."
She didn't even bother to take off her jacket and within seconds she was gone, leaving barely a ripple.

"I wouldn't want to feel left out..." said Marcus, glancing at Sabbalom, "Come on, we'd better go too..."

Sabbalom, very firmly, shook his head. Marcus ignored him. He snatched Sabbalom up - the caat yowling in protest - pinched his nose shut with his free hand, took a deep breath and plunged in.

"It's very squidgy..." said Rika, laughing as she leapt forwards and bounced up into the air, landing softly before bouncing off again. She was heading off into the distance but the Doctor didn't seem to notice.

"Colours..." he muttered, staring round, "But what good do they do you? There's nothing here but vast amounts of nothing! Sure I like a change of scenery. When there IS some scenery!"

"Maybe it calms and soothes your nerves," said Sephy, "Or it's good for your indigestion..."

"I think all this bouncy green fluff is very, very bad for my indigestion..." said Marcus, wobbling unsteadily on the soft floor.

"You haven't even had breakfast. You don't have anything TO digest!"

"You could have fooled me... Ohhh..."

"This isn't even the colour I asked for," continued the Doctor, ignoring him, "This is green not blue."

"Maybe they decided green was your colour," said Sephy, looking round at the distinctly green surroundings, "Or we used the blue bit wrong..."

"Rika's gone again..." groaned Marcus, clutching his stomach.

"Perhaps if I found something multi-coloured we could have something a little more exciting..."
The Doctor began rummaging in his pockets.

Sephy frowned.
"We haven't even looked round here yet..."

"She's completely disappeared now. Right into that big green cloud..."

"Perhaps Sabbalom knows how to call the receptionist back too?"

"Maybe... hey wait a minute, where's Rika?"

Sephy and the Doctor looked round. There was no sign of her.

"Marcus!" snapped the Doctor, "Weren't you keeping an eye on her?"

Marcus opened his mouth to protest when he was cut off by a loud CLANG and the noise of someone shouting.

"Ouch!"

Marcus, the Doctor, Sephy and Sabbalom ran towards the sound of Rika's voice. They passed through a particularly thick cloud of green and then suddenly the green disappeared to be replaced by the same pink that had filled the outside world. A little way into it Rika was sat on the floor, rubbing her nose. Hovering a few feet of the ground just above her was....

The Doctor went into a panic.
"Rika! RIKA! RUN! RUN AWAY NOW! RUN!"

Only a foot or so away from her was a Dalek. It was shiny silver, complete with sucker and gun and it's eye stalk was turning towards her...

Rika got to her feet and the Doctor was ready to tackle her to the ground and shove her out of harm's way when he saw the eye-stalk jam halfway with a nasty, griding noise. The sucker and gun still hadn't moved. He skidded to a halt beside her, still ready to throw them both to the side if it attacked.

"What is it?" said Rika, still rubbing her bruised nose, "I jumped right into it..."

"A Dalek..." whispered the Doctor, "I think..."

"DOC-TOR..."
The metallic voice sounded faint - though he recognised it all too well.
"DOC-TOR. YOU... HELP US... YOU WILL... HELP..."

The gun did a little jerk up and down and clicked furiously but it appeared to be useless. The Doctor laughed. Something in the pink cloud had suspended this Dalek helplessly mid-air, as if it were trapped in jelly. It couldn't move.

"DOC-TOR..."

He couldn't tell if it sounded scared or furious and this just made him laugh more.
"Pink!" he shouted between fits of laughter, "The most harmless colour in the universe!"

"I didn't like that red..." said Marcus, looking round him as if expecting Rose to re-appear, "Do you think that she was real?"

"The Dalek was real," replied the Doctor, picking himself up, "At least I think it was real... unless the receptionist was trying to make me feel better..."

Sephy shrugged.
"This is a holiday resort."

"A strange resort..." said the Doctor.

"A last resort?" said Rika, grinning. But no-one seemed to hear her.

"I want to go back to the TARDIS," said the Doctor, "I don't think there's anything for us to do here..." he ran unsteadily up to the receptionist.
"Take us back!" he said, pointing upwards - hoping that was where the reception was, "Take - us - back!"

The receptionist looked at his pointed finger and then up. The Doctor nodded encouragingly. Then the receptionist head snapped back down as it spotted something - the gold stripes on the Doctor's trousers. It's eyes sparkled and so did the air as in a flash the scenery changed once more.

***

The Doctor landed halfway up a tree - which wasn't what he had expected. The tree seemed to be quite a normal tree, possibly even an oak tree. It wasn't a monotone like the other places had been. It's bark was brown, it's leaves green... but in it's branches, just an armslength or so from the Doctor, there was a fleece. It shone bright gold in the sunlight. The Doctor stared at it for a moment before he heard a shout from below.

"Oi! You up there! Could you pass us down our fleece?"

The Doctor looked down. There was a man stood on the grass below. It looked like normal grass. It even looked like a relatively normal man though he was wearing a leather tunic and holding a round, wooden shield. He had a mass of dark brown curls for hair and a beard to match. He waved his hand.

"Sir! Are you awake up there? We need our fleece!"

The Doctor pointed to the fleece and the man nodded. He shrugged. There was no sign of Sephy or Rika or the others anywhere nearby. And since he had no interest in the fleece...

"Alright!" he shouted back as he began to crawl along a branch towards the fleece, "But you've got to promise to help me get down from here..."

***

Sephy ran forwards as the Doctor disappeared into the floor. The receptionist hadn't moved, though the golden glow in it's eyes was beginning to fade. It's head turned towards her as she searched the floor for a way down.
"Doctor!"

The receptionist mimicked her movements, kneeling down on the floor also. It seemed to be scanning her. After a few seconds it reached out and grabbed the sleeve of her jacket.

"Hey!" she made to hit it and break free but suddenly the floor opened up below her. As she began to fall she felt something hit her back and several small, sharp objects dug into her shoulders. Then she, like the Doctor, vanished.

"Oh dear..." said Rika, staring at the receptionist who had turned a deathly shade of black, "I hope black's not bad..."

"Can't be worse than red," Marcus said with a shrug, "Hey... I don't suppose you have something that's a nice, harmless colour do you?"

She searched her pockets and came up with a handful of bobbles.
"These are all different colours... do you think they'll work?"

"We might confuse it. Not that that's a bad thing. Well... I don't think it is."

The receptionist was approaching them fast. Rika held the handful of multi-coloured bobbles out towards it. The black colour drained away as it scanned the new colours. Little sparks leapt from it's eyes, making Rika jump back. She jumped back into a hole and just managed to grab Marcus' sleeve as she fell down it. They both tumbled backwards into a swirling pool of rainbow lights and vanished.

The receptionist, it's job complete, settled down and returned to it's normal, blank white. It's head drooped slightly and it, too, vanished.

***

Sephy opened her eyes. Then she opened them again, just to make sure she'd done it properly. She couldn't see anything. Wherever she was it was pitch black. It was blacker than she'd ever seen. It made her feel like she might suffocate. She tried to keep herself calm. She still had all her other senses - like the one that was telling her that her shoulder was bleeding. She reached a hand up to touch it and came back with a handful of fur that mewed at her indignantly.

"Sabbalom..." she muttered, holding him close, "You didn't have to shred me to pieces you know..."

He mewed again. He obviously wasn't used to not being able to see in the dark. Normally cats had excellent night vision. Of course that relied on there being at least a little bit of light. There was none.

"Some holiday resort this is..." said Sephy, walking cautiously forwards, "I could have shut myself in a darkened room and saved myself the trouble..."

She felt Sabbalom brushing his head against her chin. The sudden movement made her jump.
"Hello?" she said, staring out into the blackness, "Anyone else in here?"

There was no reply so she kept walking forwards. She couldn't tell exactly how long she kept walking - the room felt oddly timeless. After what felt like a very long time, however, the absolute darkness suddenly changed. There was a light. Or, more correctly, there was something that wasn't dark. It didn't seem to actually be lighting anything up, it was simply a spot of white hovering in the distance, surrounded by black. Shrugging, she headed towards it. When she got there she found that the light faded to reveal a door. It was a medieval style of door, covered in ivy. There was a gargoyle statue over the top, its un-naturally large mouth grinning at her. On the front of the door was a knocker. There didn't seem to be a handle.

She grabbed the knocker and pulled. When that didn't work she tried pushing instead. Then she tried twisting the knocker and pulling and pushing - but the door wouldn't budge. Eventually she tried banging the knocker down sharply. Three bangs rang out into the darkness.

"Password!"
Sephy nearly fell backwards at the sound of the voice and Sabbalom gave a yowl, leaping up onto her shoulders. She looked up. The gargoyle's eyes had turned towards her.

"Me?" she said, pointing to her chest.

"Wrong! Try again!"

"What?"

"Wrong! Try again!"

"Look, can you stop that it's very anno..."

"Wrong! Try..." The gargoyle paused as it caught the look of death in Sephy's eyes, "Oh, ok then. What do you want?"

"What do you mean what do I want? I want to get through this door!"

"Why?"

"Why?" Sephy folded her arms, "Cos there's nowhere else to go! And I don't like this endless black!"

The gargoyle rolled it's eyes.
"You think it's any better in there?"

"Yes!" Sephy snapped, sounding more sure than she actually was. In all honesty she didn't know what was through there...

"Fine fine. I take it you don't know the password then?"

"Well obviously not. I only just got here," she narrowed her eyes, "Would you tell me the password?"

"I might..." The gargoyle's distorted grin widened, "If you answer a riddle or two first..."

The Doctor rummaged around in his pockets and brought out a pair of earplugs as the others began sliding towards the floor.
"Oh no you don't!" he said, catching Sephy by the wrist as her eyes shut and she fell forwards. He pulled her upright and put his arm beneath her shoulder, steadying her. He noticed that the man with the fleece had wrapped it round his ears to block out the noise. The Doctor motioned to him to follow and they both headed towards a nearby doorway, away from the sound of the lyre.

Behind them the musician continued to play and the snake creature swayed it's head in time to the tune as it was lulled back to sleep.

Away from the lyre's haunting notes the Doctor unplugged his ears and looked the man up and down.
"And you are?"

"Jason, sir," said the man, unwinding the fleece from his head, "And I thank you for your help."

"Jason. Of course you are. How silly of me. Are you real or just part of this game?"

"I beg your pardon?"

The Doctor changed tact.
"Your friend out there must be very talented not to fall asleep to his own music."

"He has had years of practice. He is the greatest minstrel in all the land."

"And where exactly IS this land?"

Jason frowned, as if considering the question carefully.
"Where?"