John, Kaori, and Octavio made their way to Octavio’s quarters. He opened up his private kitchen and pulled out a bottle of vinegar. “…You cook?” asked John.
“Of course I do!” replied Octavio. “A real king can’t rely on servants for everything!”
“Hm, is that Takoyaki I’m smelling?” asked a Slitheen woman’s voice. The group found hiding places in the room as the Slitheen entered. She sniffed the air. “Oh, playing hard to get, eh? Well, that’s all right. This old girl could use the mental exercise!” She continued sniffing. “Mmm! That smell of adrenaline! It’s intoxicating!” Octavio was trying to load the ink tank with the vinegar quietly. “Ooh! That fear! Flooding your bodies with instincts that tell you to run because fighting is impossible!” The Slitheen then heard a click. She then pulled the table away to reveal Octavio having finally closed the lid! “There you are, Your Majesty!” cackled the Slitheen.
“ONE OF YOU! FIRE!” shouted Octavio. John and Kaori leveled their blasters at the Slitheen and pulled the triggers. John’s didn’t fire, but Kaori’s did. The Slitheen was doused in vinegar and gasped in horror as the acetic acid in the vinegar did its work. There was one last prolonged fart…then the Slitheen exploded, her green meat scattering all over the room. “…Okay…” mumbled Octavio. “I…don’t ever want to see that again.”
The Doctor had finished making her psychic communicator. Amy looked down the hall when she heard the fart and resulting explosion. “What was-?!” she yelped.
“The acetic acid in vinegar causing bubbling in the Slitheen’s calcium phosphate anatomy, causing an explosion,” explained the Doctor.
“…Vinegar makes a Slitheen blow up?!” asked Amy.
“Makes any Raxacoricofallapatorian blow up,” replied the Doctor. She then inspected her handiwork. “…Welp, all done here. …Just wish I had brain lube for this.”
“Brain lube?”
“Just a joke. I’m going to be in some considerable pain, considering I’m trying to telepathically reach halfway across the galaxy. …Well, Doctor, brace yourself!” The Doctor put the electrodes on her head and switched her communicator on. She then felt incredible pressure in her head, like her mind was about to explode! As she groaned and strained, she tried to send her thoughts concerning the Slitheen’s presence and a plea for help to the Galactic Council. For the Doctor, it felt like hours. For Amy, it felt the same, seeing the Doctor in pain with no idea how to help her. In reality, it was only minutes. The Doctor then switched off her communicator and tore the electrodes off her head.
“Doctor!” yelped Amy.
“I’m all right!” panted the Doctor. She then slowly smiled. “Help was a lot closer than I thought.”
“Doctor?” asked Amy.
“Come on, Amy,” directed the Doctor. “We’d better go greet them.”
“Greet who?!” Amy HATED it when the Doctor acted like this!
“What is taking her so long?!” complained Tafrasa.
“You know how she likes to toy with her prey,” replied his brother. “I’m more concerned with what’s taking Inkadia so long! Those codes should be released by now!”
“Erm, guys-!” called a young Slitheen.
“Not now, son,” replied Tafrasa.
“Dad, it’s really-!” insisted the young Slitheen.
“In a minute!” hissed Tafrasa. That was when the New Squidbeak Splatoon burst in.
“HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!” shouted Captain Trey, the original Agent 3. The Slitheen just laughed.
“My dear boy, if that’s all you’re worried about-.” said Tafrasa.
“No! Dad, listen to me!” insisted his son. John, Kaori, and Octavio then arrived.
“NOBODY MOVE OR THE VINEGAR MAKES YOU ALL GO BOOM!” shouted Kaori.
“…You DARED kill my cousin!” snarled Tafrasa.
“Dad, believe it or not, there’s someone worse coming!” interjected his son.
“Oh, what is it?!” snapped Tafrasa.
“A Wrarth Warrior ship!” his son finally explained. “They were hiding right behind Earth’s moon! Someone called them for help!”
“A Wrarth Warrior ship?! Impossible!” Tafrasa finally checked the instruments. As he did, the Doctor and Amy arrived.
“Ah, here we all are!” she said. “And judging by your panic, Tafrasa, I see you discovered the Wrarth Warrior ship I contacted.”
“How?! You couldn’t contact the outside world!” snarled Tafrasa.
“You left me in a room with hypno-shades,” replied the Doctor. “It was easy to make a psychic communicator. I was prepared to send a plea for help to the Galactic Council Chambers, but a psychic among the Wrarth Warriors intercepted the call, taking a load off my mind quite literally. They should be arriving in about…” That was when flashes of light appeared, then formed humanoid arthropods with a pincer claw replacing the left forearm and five tendrils making up the right hand. They had huge red eyes and digitigrade legs.
“All right, you Slitheen scum!” snapped one of the creatures. “Which one of you is Tafrasa Dav-thon Thackarin-Day Slitheen?!”
“YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!” shouted Tafrasa as he readied his claws. He was then gunned down by the commander.
“Wait a minute-!” yelped Amy.
“Oh, no worries, Amy,” soothed the Doctor. “Their sidearms are stun guns. No lethal settings at all.”
“Of course, Doctor,” confirmed the Wrarth Warrior Commander. “I take it you ARE the Doctor that sent that psychic distress signal? The same one that helped us bring Beep the Meep to justice?”
“That’s me!” replied the Doctor.
“Wh-What’s going on here?!” asked John.
“Everyone, meet the Wrarth Warriors, a proper space police force,” introduced the Doctor.
“Sergeant Zivka, at your service, everyone,” said the Wrarth Commander. “My troops and I have been tasked with bringing the Thackarin-Day Slitheen back to Raxacoricofallapatorius for life imprisonment.”
“They’re still doing that these days?” asked the Doctor.
“They’re reserving the death penalty for the worst of the Slitheen,” explained Zivka. “We’ll put the Slitheen onto their ship and send it away to their homeworld via remote control.”
“And then what?” asked Captain Trey.
“Well, the humans ARE coming,” revealed Zivka, “but they’re not preparing warships, but embassy ships.”
“Embassy?” asked Kaori. “You mean…they really want peace?”
“Naturally.”
“While usually surrendering to their knee-jerk reactions,” said the Doctor, “humans genuinely don’t want to fight their neighbors.”
After they were cuffed, the Slitheen were marched back to their ship. The Wrarth Warriors oversaw the whole operation and keyed in a command for the ship. The Slitheen ship then rose into the air. “…I do have to apologize for the death of one of them,” the Doctor said to Zivka.
“It was self-defense,” replied Zivka. “I cannot hold-.” He was interrupted when a massive laser fired from the ground. It struck the Slitheen ship and destroyed it. “What in-?! Who fired that?!” demanded Zivka.
“It was self-defense!” replied Octavio.
“They had surrendered! You executed them unnecessarily!” snarled the Doctor.
“They were too dangerous to be kept alive, Doctor!” argued Octavio.
“There was a kid among them!” shouted Amy.
“I had to make that sacrifice to protect my people!” retorted Octavio.
“Don’t you dare start with me about that, Octavio!” growled the Doctor. “I know one word that could remove a psychopath like you from power!”
“You don’t have that kind of power!” laughed Octavio.
“You’re right, that’s giving myself too much credit,” replied the Doctor. “I know six words.”
“You’re lying.”
“Six little words.” She motioned for Zivka to follow her as she approached Octavio’s aide. She then whispered something to them. Zivka looked back, then nodded. The aide…looked uncertain. The Doctor then walked away. “Come on, Amy, back to the TARDIS.”
“…Wait, what did you say?!” demanded Octavio. “Doctor, WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” The New Squidbeak Splatoon, John, and Kaori then followed the Doctor as the Wrarth Warriors returned to their ship.
The Doctor and her group made it to Inkopolis Plaza. “So, it’s back to adventure for you guys?” John asked Amy.
“Well, the Doctor’s gotta cool off first,” replied Amy. “Let’s just say there’s a lot of personal pain from her I don’t fully understand.”
“Pray you never do,” replied Trey. “I saw that look in my predecessor’s eyes and I occasionally have that look. Doctor, I don’t know the scope of the war you fought in, but I hope I never do.”
“…So do I, Captain Trey,” said the Doctor. She opened the TARDIS doors and she and Amy went inside. The TARDIS then dematerialized.
“…Fresh!” whispered Kaori.
“Doctor, there’s something I DO need to know,” said Amy.
“What’s that?” asked the Doctor as she focused on the controls.
“What did you say to Zivka and Octavio’s aide?”
“…I just asked them a question,” replied the Doctor. “Perhaps you can answer it like they did.”
“What was that question?”
“…Don’t you think he looked tired?” Amy’s eyes goggled.
“…You killed his political career!” she said.
“He’s not the first politician whose career I killed like that,” replied the Doctor. “From what I glimpsed of the Octarian Nation’s future, he’s forced to abdicate thanks to the stresses of the Slitheen Incident and his successor’s role as King is rather like that of the Japanese Emperor, a ceremonial head of state with the Prime Minister of the Octarian National Diet as the real political powerhouse.”
“…And the humans?” asked Amy. The Doctor grinned at that.
“They make peace with the current dominant life of Earth and bring them to the stars!” she revealed. “Inkling and Octarian colonies dot the edge of the galaxy, even moving to other galaxies, like humans and Mobians!” Amy smiled.
“That’s a future worth seeing!” she said. “…Are there still Inkling and Octarian colonies in my time?”
“Yeah, actually! Wanna see?”
“Heck yeah!” With that, the Doctor set the controls and the TARDIS spun through the Time Vortex!