'The Time I met the Doctor' - part 4

I would like to note here, as I did then, that I was not terribly fond of this plan. It is not as if I have never made a fool of myself in public before, the time I danced in my underwear at that party springs to mind, but that was brought along by drink, so it doesn't really count. The point I'm striving to make is that, in the past, when I've made a fool of myself, it was most often intentional, in an attempt to amuse others. This time I was being told to go out and, essentially, just look stupid. The plan was that Llan and I would go to the cafeteria, where there was always someone sitting around, and be seen. As Erik seemed to wish me humiliated, this should draw him out. When he was drawn out, the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria would sneak into his room and retrieve Llan's equipment, shutting off the items that kept us wet and together. The problem with this is that I was likely to actually get humiliated and even wetter, due to the leaving of the umbrella behind, before the Doctor could put an end to things. Still, I could develop no better plan, so I went along with him.

I ended up carrying Llan to the cafeteria. Originally she was going to walk alongside me, but we couldn't unlock her hands from their casual hug around my neck, and she was too short to walk and not choke me, so I carried her. Luckily, she was not heavy. This did not make me feel much better. Carrying her made us look far too casual, which only served to boost Erik's success.

I did my best not to look at anyone upon entering the cafeteria, and strode purposefully towards a table near the windows where I would be painfully visible. I heard whispers flare up around me soon enough, and I flushed. I was tempted to turn and leave, but the damage was already done, and I continued on. I sat, Llan arranged herself so that she was more comfortable, as well as polite, on my lap and there we stayed.

I was unable to look at anyone. Luckily the rain that still fell on us helped blur my vision somewhat, so none of the stares coming in towards me were particularly strong. "So," I said to my companion, unable to stand the silence any further, "how did you get mixed up with Erik?"

"He was a friend of a friend," she noted. "He seemed nice enough at first and stupidly I showed him some of my stuff, just some of the basic game like stuff. Unfortunately he figured out where I was keeping most of it and caught me off guard this morning with a paralysis beam he'd 'borrowed' from me. I'm thinking he activated the rain and 'stuck on you' device because those were the two he knew how to operate the best. It could have been worse."

"How?"

"Well, he could have . . ."

"Never mind. I really don't want to know afterall."

"Aha!" Ah, Akaru's arrived. "So finally we find you again, after all this time. You two could not remain a hidden secret for long!"

Llan looked at me. "'Hidden secret'?" she echoed.

I shook my head tiredly. "He's always trying to sound dramatic. He's very bad at it."

"Why do you waste time Akaru?" Kenshiro's with him, Chojuro as well I think, but it’s hard to tell through all this rain. "Ready your camera and take the pictures." I sighed.


Later it was explained to me that the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria watched Erik's room (directions to which had been supplied by myself) and had seen Akaru, Kenshiro, and Chojuro exit. "Only three left," Jamie noted.

"So Erik is likely still inside," the Doctor mused.

"Toshiro might still be in there as well," Victoria observed.

"Yes," the Doctor answered, drawing the word out as if it had more than one syllable. "Still, that betters the odds a bit, doesn't it?"

"Aye," Jamie expressed. "And it may be that neither of them were in there to begin with."

"Exactly," the Doctor said enthusiastically. "We have to give it a try, don't we?" He led them out of the side passage they were hiding down and they creept up to Erik's door. They glanced around. No one was there. The Doctor was about to try the knob, to see if the door was locked, when the door was suddenly flung open. Toshiro stood in the doorway, looking at them in one of his more severe ways. "Please, come in. Erik has been expecting you."


The camera flashed repeatedly and my heart continued to drop. Part of me argued that I should be pleased. I was getting my picture taken with a cute girl on my lap. Sure we were both soaking wet, but I was sure to have friends that would be impressed with the cuteness of the girl, wasn't I? Still, it didn't seem right and it just wasn't like me to have a girl, cute or not, on my lap in public, so my cheeks burned with shame. "Nothing personal," I noted to Llan, "but I'm really not enjoying this."

"I'm just glad I didn't wear that white shirt like I'd considered this morning. That would have been really embarrassing."

I couldn't help it. It wasn't all that funny, but considering the tension, I found it amusing and chuckled. She laughed a bit, presumably because I was, and then we started giggling uncontrollably.

"Aha!" I heard through our mirth. "They're not supposed to be enjoying themselves, are they?" Needless to say, that didn't sober us up any. We continued our laughing.


Erik had, at some point, tapped into the school security system and therefore had seen Llan and myself in the cafeteria to disperse the troops to that pictures of us, but had also seen the Doctor and friends hiding around the corner. He chortled his glee at how things were working when Toshiro brought them before him. "Your assistance has meant nothing. I have been ahead of you every step of the way. There is no way to stop me now."

"But why would you do such a silly thing? Especially to someone who was your friend?" Victoria questioned.

"'Was' my friend, past tense, as you observed. Patrick might be smart, but I am brilliant! He had the audacity to not only try to correct me at times, but to have a beautiful girlfriend he was not worthy of."

"But you are worthy of her?" the Doctor checked.

"Of course I am! My brilliance will led me places, make me wealthy and allow me to give Heather the life she deserves to live. Patrick is a nobody content to stay in this little town his whole life. Heather deserves better. I shall not be defeated in my quest!"

Calmly, Jamie pointed out "If that's the case, how come you've not defeated Patrick and won yur lady before hand?"

Erik flushed with anger. "Toshiro, slap him."

Toshiro walked up to Jamie. Toshiro looked very calm while Jamie's eyes burned. "I should nay try it," he muttered. Toshiro swung his hand at Jamie, intentionally just missing him by centimetres, slapping his hand against his other hand quickly to make the appropriate noise. He stepped back. Erik looked pleased. "Very good." He'd obviously not been able to see through Toshiro's skill. Jamie was moderately confused, but pleased. He didn't want to have to hit Toshiro, but if he'd been slapped, he would have had to do so.

Erik gestured grandly towards a screen, displaying the happenings in the cafeteria. "As you can see, proof is being obtained that Patrick is a silly, infantile, loose mannered man."

"As well as wet," the Doctor noted calmly.

Erik slowed briefly. "Yes, wet, well the wet symbolizes . . it, it symbolizes . ."

"It doesn't symbolize anything, does it?" Victoria challenged. "It's not even that good a plan. How is this supposed to prove anything to the girl you like?"

Erik continued to falter. "Well, it proves he's loose mannered, as I said. . ."

Jamie frowned in genuine confusion. "Hey, didn't Patrick say he and this lass had already broken up?"

"Well, yes they did, over a month ago," Erik replied, his confidence fading.

"Do they show any signs of getting back together?" Victoria demanded. While all this was going on, the Doctor was slowly doing his best to sneak towards the machines that were on, especially those he'd already decided were the rain machine and the 'stuck on you' device.

"Not really, but I can't monitor all their calls . . ."

"So, you're trying to break up too people who've already broken up?"

"Well . . ."

"Sounds like a waste of time ta me."

"Alright, enough of this!" Erik bellowed, his face crinkled with rage. The Doctor stopped in his tracks, nowhere near close enough to shut anything down. "Patrick is my nemesis! It is my duty to make him look stupid and ignorant whenever I can. That's what I do; I am brilliant, I will have Heather to be mine, and I have to defeat Patrick and make him look foolish. This will make him look foolish. Therefore I am winning, okay? Do you get that much?"

"How does it . . .?" Jamie began.

Erik whipped out a small box shaped device with a conical shaped projector, the cone of which he pointed at the trio. "Okay, that's enough, you all get frozen."


The laughing stopped them and confused them. If I was laughing, I was enjoying myself, and if I was enjoying myself, was I embarrassed? What to do? Actually, I heard Akaru ask that "What to do?", which only caused me to snicker more.

"You still have film?" Kenshiro asked.

"Yes."

"Then keep taking pictures I guess."