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{{Infobox Story SMW
|image             = Firelight (comic story).jpg
|image           = Firelight (comic story).jpg
|doctor           = Tenth Doctor
|doctor         = Tenth Doctor
|featuring        = [[Martha Jones|Martha]]
|companions      = [[Martha Jones|Martha]]
|enemy             = [[Pyrometh|Pyromeths]]
|enemy           = [[Pyrometh]]s
|setting           =  
|setting         = [[Pyrometh realm]]
|writer           = Dan Slott
|writer         = Dan Slott
|editor           =  
|editor         =  
|penciller         =  
|penciller       =  
|inker             =  
|inker           =  
|artist           =
|artist         = [[Christopher Jones]] & [[Matthew Dow Smith]]
|colourist         =  
|colourist       = [[Charlie Kirchoff]] & [[Mariane Gusmão]]
|letterer         =  
|letterer       = [[Comicraft]]'s [[Richard Starkings]]
|cover             =  
|cover           =  
|cover penciller   =  
|cover penciller =  
|cover inker       =  
|cover inker     =  
|cover colourist   =  
|cover colourist =  
|publication       =  
|publication     = ''[[Once Upon a Time Lord (graphic novel)|Once Upon a Time Lord]]''
|anthology         =  
|anthology       =  
|reprint           =  
|reprint         =  
|traded           =  
|traded         =  
|release date     = 7 November 2023
|release date   = 7 November 2023
|cover date       =  
|cover date     =  
|publisher         = Titan Publishing Group
|publisher       = Titan Publishing Group
|format            =  
|format         =
|series           = ''[[Once Upon a Time Lord (graphic novel)|Once Upon a Time Lord]]'' stories
|series          = ''[[Doctor Who (2020)|Doctor Who Comic]]''
|prev              =  
|prev           = Origins (comic story)
|next              = Rhyme or Reason (comic story)
|next           = Rhyme or Reason (comic story)
|series2        = ''[[Once Upon a Time Lord (graphic novel)|Once Upon a Time Lord]]'' stories
|prev2          =
|next2          = Rhyme or Reason (comic story)
}}
}}
'''''Firelight''''' was the main comic story published in [[Titan Publishing Group|Titan Publishing]]'s ''[[Once Upon a Time Lord (graphic novel)|Once Upon a Time Lord]]'' graphic novel, starring the [[Tenth Doctor]] and [[Martha Jones]].
'''''Firelight''''' was the main comic story published in [[Titan Publishing Group|Titan Publishing]]'s ''[[Once Upon a Time Lord (graphic novel)|Once Upon a Time Lord]]'' graphic novel, starring the [[Tenth Doctor]] and [[Martha Jones]].


== Summary ==
== Summary ==
''to be added''
From inside the [[TARDIS control room|control room]] of [[The Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]], the [[First Doctor]] tells a new [[companion]] that if they are determined to keep on travelling with him, then they must know exactly what to do if they face the [[Pyrometh]]s. This speech is continued throughout the Doctor's lives, as the [[Second Doctor]] describes them to [[Jamie McCrimmon]] as "hideous" and having existed since the dawn of time, while the [[Third Doctor]] tells a disbelieving [[Jo Grant]] that they are even older than the [[Time Lord]]s. The [[Fourth Doctor]] explains to [[Leela]] that they gave the gift of [[fire]] to every race in the universe, but the [[Fifth Doctor]] clarifies to [[Nyssa]] that it was not to cook or keep warm - the [[Sixth Doctor]] tells [[Frobisher]] that it was to tell stories around, as they feed on psychic energy from imagination. The [[Seventh Doctor]] warns [[Ace]] that she must keep her guard up, as the [[Eighth Doctor]] tells [[Molly O'Sullivan]] that she would be snatched away to a secret location, telling tales forever. The [[Ninth Doctor]] warns [[Rose Tyler]] that if she stops, then she will be extinguished like the fire they grant, and urges her to remember one thing. Finally, sitting in the TARDIS with the [[Tenth Doctor]], [[Martha Jones]] asks what that one thing is, but the Doctor changes the subject as they have just landed at a new destination.
 
Stepping out, he welcomes Martha to the planet [[Bobalabinko]], pointing out its [[Bobalabinko county fair|county fair]] that he wanted her to visit purely so they could taste a [[Drink (Firelight)|rare drink]] that tastes exactly like [[ginger ale]] on Earth. As the Doctor sprints off to find some, Martha explores and finds three red-haired, cat-eyed children sitting alone in front of a puppet show booth. They ask her to take over with some good stories and she happily obliges. As she turns her back, however, their faces turn into dark flames, with piercing red eyes and jagged teeth visible through the fire. The Doctor returns with his treat, only to see that Martha has disappeared.
 
Martha awakes in the [[Pyrometh realm]], revealing the children to be the monsters in disguise, and they order her to tell tales else she is cast into the void forever. Naturally, she begins to tell the story of the Doctor. Explaining the importance of his companions and the danger he faces, she tells of a time when he visited the [[Plasma Seas]] of [[Sirenia 7]]...
 
A giant ship made of bones crosses the Plasma Seas, manned by an eyepatch-wearing [[Sycorax]] named [[Admiral]] [[Scarrr]], as their ship narrowly dodges an enormous creature. Meanwhile, on his quest to find the most valuable thing in the universe, the Doctor charters a sailing ship from [[Captain]] [[Polly (Firelight)|Polly]], a robot who speaks through a blue-and-yellow parrot growing out of his right shoulder. Polly immediately rejects him because of the dual threat of Scarrr and the mighty [[Troutanicus]]. Unaware he is being watched, the Doctor eventually wins Polly over and is welcomed aboard along with the TARDIS, which the Doctor calls his "tackle box". Meanwhile, a [[Sycorax spy|spy]] for the Sycorax runs into a nearby tavern to tell Scarrr and his men that Polly is back to try and land Troutanicus, and he is [[Death whip|death-whipped]] in response.
 
On Captain Polly's boat, the Doctor hooks up a [[jelly baby]] as bait on a fishing rod, unaware that the Sycorax ship is rapidly approaching from behind and it smashes the boat in two, forcing the duo to cling to the TARDIS in the sea. The Doctor calls out to the other ship to reel them in but they are bound by Scarrr's [[laser lash]] instead. Scarrr boasts to Polly that he will use him as bait for Troutanicus, and the Doctor replies by shuffling around the TARDIS exterior to demand their release. The Sycorax simply laugh in his face and cast the TARDIS further out to sea, but the Doctor uses his time talking to allow him and Polly to slip inside the doors.
 
From inside, the Doctor activates the TARDIS's true weight to forcibly pull the still-tethered Sycorax ship under the Plasma Sea and out the other side. As they fall, the gargantuan Troutanicus itself emerges and eats the Sycorax ship whole. Polly describes capturing the giant as the greatest prize in the universe, but the Doctor says he is looking for something different and materialises the TARDIS inside Troutanicus' stomach where the Sycorax are waiting. Although Scarrr is furious, the Doctor offers him the chance of a safe exit in the TARDIS on the condition that he says "please". He reluctantly agrees. Before he leaves, however, the Doctor looks around at the other digested spaceships and discovers the [[Sunglider of Ra]], the legendary lost flagship of the [[Osiran]]s.
 
The Pyromeths ask Martha if the hero of her story found his goal of the most valuable thing in the universe, but she explains that his journey continued, but will only tell it if they say "please". As they oblige, she details that the Doctor was in fact only interested in the [[Ankh of Ptah]], a universal control key resting inside the Sunglider. However, this was not the great treasure either - instead, it could unlock a door in an ancient Osiran temple that was buried deep under the deserts of [[Egypt]] until it was uncovered by even greater villains in [[1940]]...
 
Under torchlight at an ancient Egyptian archaeological site, [[Colonel]] [[Heinrich Münsterhausen]] and his [[Nazi]] officers order a local to keep digging until she has unearthed a prize for [[Adolf Hitler]]. However, she activates a hidden lever and enters the temple, leaving the Nazis trapped outside. Removing her disguise, the woman studies a wall of hieroglyphs in the hopes of reaching the treasure of [[Horus]] before Münsterhausen, but the Doctor has already arrived, holding the Ankh of Ptah and explaining that she needs a key. As she holds him at gunpoint, the Doctor holds up [[The Doctor's psychic paper|his psychic paper]] which displays him as being from the [[British Museum]], so he takes the name of "John Smith". He recognises the woman as Dr [[Rana Rashad]], a rare type of archaeologist that he has great respect for.
 
The Pyromeths interrupt Martha's storytelling to try and understand the Doctor's many "magic" objects, but she continues nonetheless. After using the ankh on a hidden keyhole, the Doctor and Rana narrowly avoid some booby-trap daggers. Outside, however, Colonel Münsterhausen orders the locals to surround the entrance with dynamite and he blows up the entranceway to get in by any means necessary. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rana find themselves balancing atop high pillars overlooked by a [[sphinx]] statue, and the Doctor reasons that the [[Great Sphinx]]'s famous riddle used the numbers four, two, and three in order, so they must jump on the respective numbered pillars. As they do, Rana nearly falls to her death but the Doctor catches her hand, leading them to further respect each other.
 
Next, the Doctor and Rana face a portrait of a queen and two buttons. The Doctor quickly recognises that they are secretly the same size and should be pressed at the same time, which works, and the door opens, causing him to praise the power of teamwork. As Münsterhausen and his [[Major (Firelight)|major]] reach the pillar room and send several men to their deaths trying to overcome it, Münsterhausen reveals his plan to use the treasure of Horus to summon an army of the dead.
 
The Doctor finally reaches the end of the temple and comes face to face with the Osiran sarcophagus of Horus, but Rana is quickly set upon by a group of [[Servitor (Pyramids of Mars)|Osiran service robots]] disguised as mummies. As they are captured, the spirit of Horus himself appears and offers one final test to the travellers: to answer an unsolvable riddle. The air is crushed from their lungs as the Doctor admits he has no idea of the answer, so the Pyromeths argue about what the answer could be, prompting Martha to continue the story. The Doctor simply displays his psychic paper and passes the test. However, as Horus prepares their prize, Münsterhausen and his major arrive. Horus asks if they would wish to visit the [[Realm of the Dead]], and when they agree, the service robots simply kill them instantly. When the Doctor is asked the same question, he takes great pains to request to be able to come back again, and his wish is granted, with the sarcophagus transforming into a portal. Rana believes this is the most valuable thing in the universe, but the Doctor explains that hopefully, he will find it inside. He asks his new friend to look after the TARDIS and gifts her the golden Ankh of Ptah as payment before he heads into the portal.
 
The Pyromeths continue to get increasingly invested in Martha's story, and she warns them that her next tale is one of monsters even scarier than them - a tale of the only time the Doctor travelled to the Ream of the Dead...
 
The Doctor arrives in a barren foggy landscape, trying to convince himself that there is no way he has arrived in actual [[Hell]], instead presuming it is some kind of psychic plane where he will see visions of the dead created from his own mind. Indeed, he looks out to see a field of thousands of his greatest enemies from across his life assembled en masse. He makes a scan with [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver|the sonic screwdriver]] for the one being he is looking for, alerting the [[Krillitane]]s and the [[Sisters of Plenitude]], and they prepare to attack him but are stopped by a hooded figure claiming that the Doctor is under his protection. He reveals himself to be [[the Host]], and he transforms into his [[werewolf]] form and drives the Sisters away as part of his debt to the Doctor for ending his suffering in [[1879]] [[Scotland]]. The Doctor asks if he can give him a lift.
 
Therefore, the Doctor rides on the back of the Wolf through the valley of monsters, ignoring their many tactics to get him to hand over the Doctor. When that does not work, they try to block his way with a huge army led by [[John Lumic]] in the form of the Cyber-Controller and his [[Cybusman|Cybermen]]. Luckily, their lasers have no effect on the Wolf, so the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to summon the one species he has destroyed the most: the [[Dalek]]s. They immediately engage in a great battle, allowing the Doctor and the Wolf to escape. At hearing this, the Pyromeths beg Martha to stay on the topic of the battle, calling it "way more interesting", but Martha promises that the secret of the most valuable thing in the universe is nearly upon them.
 
Approaching his destination, the Doctor asks the Wolf to stop so he can go it alone, considering his debt paid in full. The Wolf promises to wait to allow him to escape. The Doctor's goal is to meet one of the oldest beings in existence: the [[Empress of the Racnoss (The Runaway Bride)|Empress of the Racnoss]]. Upon meeting her, he graciously lists his achievements of catching the uncatchable beast, answering the unanswerable riddle, and crossing an ocean of the dead, and asks her the question he has following all this time - where is the most valuable thing in the universe? The Empress asks why she should give the Doctor this information, and he retorts that he killed all of her children, meaning that she can spend eternity with them in the Realm of the Dead, and therefore she owes him a favour. Choosing to abandon his belief that the realm is purely in his mind, she relents, and tells the Doctor to visit the edge of the [[Tyross Expanse]], hidden in the [[gravity well]] of the [[Tartus Nebula]] - specifically, the secret lair of the Pyromeths.
 
At hearing Martha tell them this, the real Pyromeths are startled and question why the Doctor, who they believe to simply be a fictional character, thinks that their home is the most valuable thing in the universe. The Doctor replies directly to them that it is not, but the safety of his companion is, and he now has all the knowledge he needs to find her. Terrified, the Pyromeths panic, and before long, just like magic, the TARDIS materialises inside their realm with the Doctor appearing in a burst of light.
 
They furiously lunge straight at him but almost immediately collapse, unable to move, on the ground. The Doctor proudly tells Martha that this was all her doing thanks to her telling the stories of him exactly as he asked her to, having texted it all to her in advance. As the Pyromeths feed off fiction, she told them truths, and it is something they literally cannot stomach. This shocks Martha and she wonders if all the ludicrous stories she told of him were actually real. The Doctor replies that they must have been, or else none of this would have worked. Safe at last, the Doctor and Martha depart once more in the TARDIS, just as the storytelling fire dies out in the Pyrometh realm for good.


== Characters ==
== Characters ==
* [[Bronze Dalek]]s
* [[Casp]]
* [[Cybusman|Cybusmen]]
* [[Draconian]]s
* [[Empress of the Racnoss (The Runaway Bride)|Empress of the Racnoss]]
* [[Gelth]]
* [[Ice Warrior]]s
* [[Martha Jones]]
* [[Krillitane]]s
* [[John Lumic]]
* [[Major (Firelight)|Major]]
* [[Menoptera]]
* [[Heinrich Münsterhausen]]
* [[Ood]]
* [[Servitor (Pyramids of Mars)|Osiran service robots]]
* [[Polly (Firelight)|Polly]]
* [[Pyrometh]]s
* [[Rana Rashad]]
* [[Robot Yeti]]
* [[Scarrr]]
* [[Sisters of Plenitude]]
* [[Slitheen family|Slitheen]]
* [[Sontaran]]s
* [[Sycorax]]
* [[Sycorax spy]]
* [[Tenth Doctor]]
* [[Tenth Doctor]]
* [[Martha Jones]]
* [[Terileptil]]s
* [[The Host]]
* [[Troutanicus]]
* [[Wirrn]]
* [[Zygon]]s
 
=== Flashback ===
* [[First Doctor]]
* [[Second Doctor]]
* [[Jamie McCrimmon]]
* [[Third Doctor]]
* [[Jo Grant]]
* [[Fourth Doctor]]
* [[Leela]]
* [[K9 Mark I]]
* [[Fifth Doctor]]
* [[Nyssa]]
* [[Sixth Doctor]]
* [[Frobisher]]
* [[Seventh Doctor]]
* [[Ace]]
* [[Eighth Doctor]]
* [[Molly O'Sullivan]]
* [[Ninth Doctor]]
* [[Rose Tyler]]


== Worldbuilding ==
== Worldbuilding ==
''to be added''
* The [[Eighth Doctor]] compares the [[Pyrometh]]s forcing people to tell stories to the fate of [[Scheherazade]].
* [[Bobalabinko]] holds a [[Bobalabinko county fair|county fair]] every other [[week]].
* Bobalabinko is [[827 (number)|827]] [[light-year]]s away from [[Earth]].
* Bobalabinko has a [[Drink (Firelight)|drink]] that [[taste]]s exactly like [[ginger ale]].
* Martha used to come up with "the best" [[Bedtime story|bedtime stories]] for her brother [[Leo Jones|Leo]].
* The [[Tenth Doctor]] offers [[Captain]] [[Polly (Firelight)|Polly]] the fabled [[Sapphire of Sirenia]], a winning [[lottery ticket]], and his long-lost childhood toy named [[Mr Boo-Bear]], and is also shown holding a [[recorder]].
* [[The Doctor's TARDIS]] usually weighs more than a moon or at least three [[Fiji]]s.
* The [[Ankh of Ptah]] can start the ignition of an [[Osiran]] ship or unlock one of their [[deadlock seal]]s.
* While in disguise, [[Rana Rashad]] refers to [[Colonel]] [[Heinrich Münsterhausen]] by the title of "[[Effendi]]".
* Rana is half-[[England|English]], half-[[Egypt]]ian and studied at the [[University of Oxford]].
* The Doctor makes [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]] activate without making its noise audible to most creatures, making it a "subsonic screwdriver" instead. This noise is particularly unpleasant to [[Krillitane]]s, [[Catkind]], and [[the Host]].
 
== Notes ==
[[File:Molly O'Sullivan and the Eighth Doctor.jpg|thumb|Molly O'Sullivan and the Eighth Doctor]]
* In fitting with the use of the [[First Doctor]] in the first panel, this story uses the original 1963 version of the [[Doctor Who logo|''Doctor Who'' logo]].
* This story marks the first appearance of [[Molly O'Sullivan]] in a comic story. She is also the first Big Finish companion to have a speaking role in a comic story. [[Lucie Miller]] and [[Liv Chenka]] previously appeared in ''[[Vortex Butterflies (comic story)|Vortex Butterflies]]'' and [[Charlotte Pollard|Charley Pollard]] appeared in ''[[The Good Companion (comic story)|The Good Companion]]''. All were in a non-speaking montage of companions.
* The [[Osiran]]s are spelt as such only on their first mention, after which they are spelt as "Osirins".
* This is the first Titan comic story since ''[[Tulpa (comic story)|Tulpa]]'' not to be written by [[Jody Houser]], and the first since ''[[Old Friends (comic story)|Old Friends]]'' not to have [[Roberta Ingranata]] on line art duties in any capacity.


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
''to be added''
* When telling their companions about the [[Pyrometh]]s, different incarnations are travelling with their respective companions
** The [[Second Doctor]] is travelling with [[Jamie McCrimmon]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Highlanders (TV story)}}, etc.)
** The [[Third Doctor]] is travelling with [[Jo Grant]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Terror of the Autons (TV story)}}, etc.)
** The [[Fourth Doctor]] is travelling with [[Leela]] and [[K9 Mark I|K9]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Invisible Enemy (TV story)}}, etc.)
** The [[Fifth Doctor]] is travelling with [[Nyssa]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Logopolis (TV story)}}, etc.)
** The [[Sixth Doctor]] is travelling with [[Frobisher]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Shape Shifter (comic story)}}, etc.)
** The [[Seventh Doctor]] is travelling with [[Ace]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Dragonfire (TV story)}}, etc.)
** The [[Eighth Doctor]] is travelling with [[Molly O'Sullivan]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Great War (audio story)}} etc.)
** The [[Ninth Doctor]] is travelling with [[Rose Tyler]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Rose (TV story)}}, etc.)
* [[Scarr|Admiral Scarr]] uses the [[Sycorax]] motto, "Sycorax '''strong!''' Sycorax '''mighty!''' Sycorax '''rock!'''". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Christmas Invasion (TV story)}})
* The Doctor notes that he would "usually point and laugh at archeologists". ([[TV]]: {{cs|Silence in the Library (TV story)}})
* The Doctor mentions that the [[Osiran]] puzzles on [[Mars]] were "a lot easier" than the ones in the [[Osiran Temple (Firelight)|Osiran Temple]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Pyramids of Mars (TV story)}})
* Amidst the residents of the [[Osiran]] [[Realm of the Dead]] are [[Zygon|Zygons]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|Terror of the Zygons (TV story)}}, [[Menoptera]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Web Planet (TV story)}}), [[Robot Yeti]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)}}, etc.), [[Draconian|Draconians]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|Frontier in Space (TV story)}}), [[Terileptil|Terileptils]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Visitation (TV story)}}), [[Wirrn]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Ark in Space (TV story)}}), [[Ice Warrior|Ice Warriors]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Ice Warriors (TV story)}}, etc.), [[Sycorax]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Christmas Invasion (TV story)}}), [[Krillitane]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|School Reunion (TV story)}}), [[Ood]]  ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Impossible Planet (TV story)}}, etc.), [[Slitheen family|Slitheen]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|Aliens of London (TV story)}}, etc.), [[Sontaran|Sontarans]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}, etc.), [[Gelth]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Unquiet Dead (TV story)}}), The [[Sisters of Plenitude]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|New Earth (TV story)}}, etc.), [[The Host|The Wolf]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|Tooth and Claw (TV story)}}), [[Cybusman|Cybermen]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)}}, etc.), [[Dalek|Daleks]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|Dalek (TV story)}}, etc.), and the [[Racnoss]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Runaway Bride (TV story)}}).
** [[Casp|Matron Casp]] and the [[Sisters of Plenitude]] remember the Doctor from his trip to [[New New York]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|New Earth (TV story)}}).
** [[The Host|The Wolf]] from the [[Torchwood House|Torchwood Estate]] remembers the Doctor ending his suffering. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Tooth and Claw (TV story)}})
** The [[Ood]] claim to be "The Legion of [[The Beast (The Impossible Planet)|The Beast]]". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Impossible Planet (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Satan Pit (TV story)}})
** [[John Lumic]] and his [[Cybusman|Cybermen]] remember the Doctor ([[TV]]: {{cs|Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Age of Steel (TV story)}}), and fight the [[Dalek|Daleks]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|Doomsday (TV story)}}).
** The [[Empress of the Racnoss (The Runaway Bride)|Empress of the Racnoss]] and her children were all killed by the Doctor. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Runaway Bride (TV story)}}).
 
{{Tenth Doctor Titan comics}}
{{Tenth Doctor Titan comics}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:2023 comic stories]]
[[Category:2023 comic stories]]
[[Category:Titan comic stories]]
[[Category:Tenth Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Tenth Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:First Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Second Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Third Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Fourth Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Fifth Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Sixth Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Seventh Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Eighth Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Ninth Doctor comic stories]]
[[Category:Multi-Doctor comic stories]]

Latest revision as of 18:16, 3 November 2024

RealWorld.png

Firelight was the main comic story published in Titan Publishing's Once Upon a Time Lord graphic novel, starring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones.

Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

From inside the control room of his TARDIS, the First Doctor tells a new companion that if they are determined to keep on travelling with him, then they must know exactly what to do if they face the Pyromeths. This speech is continued throughout the Doctor's lives, as the Second Doctor describes them to Jamie McCrimmon as "hideous" and having existed since the dawn of time, while the Third Doctor tells a disbelieving Jo Grant that they are even older than the Time Lords. The Fourth Doctor explains to Leela that they gave the gift of fire to every race in the universe, but the Fifth Doctor clarifies to Nyssa that it was not to cook or keep warm - the Sixth Doctor tells Frobisher that it was to tell stories around, as they feed on psychic energy from imagination. The Seventh Doctor warns Ace that she must keep her guard up, as the Eighth Doctor tells Molly O'Sullivan that she would be snatched away to a secret location, telling tales forever. The Ninth Doctor warns Rose Tyler that if she stops, then she will be extinguished like the fire they grant, and urges her to remember one thing. Finally, sitting in the TARDIS with the Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones asks what that one thing is, but the Doctor changes the subject as they have just landed at a new destination.

Stepping out, he welcomes Martha to the planet Bobalabinko, pointing out its county fair that he wanted her to visit purely so they could taste a rare drink that tastes exactly like ginger ale on Earth. As the Doctor sprints off to find some, Martha explores and finds three red-haired, cat-eyed children sitting alone in front of a puppet show booth. They ask her to take over with some good stories and she happily obliges. As she turns her back, however, their faces turn into dark flames, with piercing red eyes and jagged teeth visible through the fire. The Doctor returns with his treat, only to see that Martha has disappeared.

Martha awakes in the Pyrometh realm, revealing the children to be the monsters in disguise, and they order her to tell tales else she is cast into the void forever. Naturally, she begins to tell the story of the Doctor. Explaining the importance of his companions and the danger he faces, she tells of a time when he visited the Plasma Seas of Sirenia 7...

A giant ship made of bones crosses the Plasma Seas, manned by an eyepatch-wearing Sycorax named Admiral Scarrr, as their ship narrowly dodges an enormous creature. Meanwhile, on his quest to find the most valuable thing in the universe, the Doctor charters a sailing ship from Captain Polly, a robot who speaks through a blue-and-yellow parrot growing out of his right shoulder. Polly immediately rejects him because of the dual threat of Scarrr and the mighty Troutanicus. Unaware he is being watched, the Doctor eventually wins Polly over and is welcomed aboard along with the TARDIS, which the Doctor calls his "tackle box". Meanwhile, a spy for the Sycorax runs into a nearby tavern to tell Scarrr and his men that Polly is back to try and land Troutanicus, and he is death-whipped in response.

On Captain Polly's boat, the Doctor hooks up a jelly baby as bait on a fishing rod, unaware that the Sycorax ship is rapidly approaching from behind and it smashes the boat in two, forcing the duo to cling to the TARDIS in the sea. The Doctor calls out to the other ship to reel them in but they are bound by Scarrr's laser lash instead. Scarrr boasts to Polly that he will use him as bait for Troutanicus, and the Doctor replies by shuffling around the TARDIS exterior to demand their release. The Sycorax simply laugh in his face and cast the TARDIS further out to sea, but the Doctor uses his time talking to allow him and Polly to slip inside the doors.

From inside, the Doctor activates the TARDIS's true weight to forcibly pull the still-tethered Sycorax ship under the Plasma Sea and out the other side. As they fall, the gargantuan Troutanicus itself emerges and eats the Sycorax ship whole. Polly describes capturing the giant as the greatest prize in the universe, but the Doctor says he is looking for something different and materialises the TARDIS inside Troutanicus' stomach where the Sycorax are waiting. Although Scarrr is furious, the Doctor offers him the chance of a safe exit in the TARDIS on the condition that he says "please". He reluctantly agrees. Before he leaves, however, the Doctor looks around at the other digested spaceships and discovers the Sunglider of Ra, the legendary lost flagship of the Osirans.

The Pyromeths ask Martha if the hero of her story found his goal of the most valuable thing in the universe, but she explains that his journey continued, but will only tell it if they say "please". As they oblige, she details that the Doctor was in fact only interested in the Ankh of Ptah, a universal control key resting inside the Sunglider. However, this was not the great treasure either - instead, it could unlock a door in an ancient Osiran temple that was buried deep under the deserts of Egypt until it was uncovered by even greater villains in 1940...

Under torchlight at an ancient Egyptian archaeological site, Colonel Heinrich Münsterhausen and his Nazi officers order a local to keep digging until she has unearthed a prize for Adolf Hitler. However, she activates a hidden lever and enters the temple, leaving the Nazis trapped outside. Removing her disguise, the woman studies a wall of hieroglyphs in the hopes of reaching the treasure of Horus before Münsterhausen, but the Doctor has already arrived, holding the Ankh of Ptah and explaining that she needs a key. As she holds him at gunpoint, the Doctor holds up his psychic paper which displays him as being from the British Museum, so he takes the name of "John Smith". He recognises the woman as Dr Rana Rashad, a rare type of archaeologist that he has great respect for.

The Pyromeths interrupt Martha's storytelling to try and understand the Doctor's many "magic" objects, but she continues nonetheless. After using the ankh on a hidden keyhole, the Doctor and Rana narrowly avoid some booby-trap daggers. Outside, however, Colonel Münsterhausen orders the locals to surround the entrance with dynamite and he blows up the entranceway to get in by any means necessary. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rana find themselves balancing atop high pillars overlooked by a sphinx statue, and the Doctor reasons that the Great Sphinx's famous riddle used the numbers four, two, and three in order, so they must jump on the respective numbered pillars. As they do, Rana nearly falls to her death but the Doctor catches her hand, leading them to further respect each other.

Next, the Doctor and Rana face a portrait of a queen and two buttons. The Doctor quickly recognises that they are secretly the same size and should be pressed at the same time, which works, and the door opens, causing him to praise the power of teamwork. As Münsterhausen and his major reach the pillar room and send several men to their deaths trying to overcome it, Münsterhausen reveals his plan to use the treasure of Horus to summon an army of the dead.

The Doctor finally reaches the end of the temple and comes face to face with the Osiran sarcophagus of Horus, but Rana is quickly set upon by a group of Osiran service robots disguised as mummies. As they are captured, the spirit of Horus himself appears and offers one final test to the travellers: to answer an unsolvable riddle. The air is crushed from their lungs as the Doctor admits he has no idea of the answer, so the Pyromeths argue about what the answer could be, prompting Martha to continue the story. The Doctor simply displays his psychic paper and passes the test. However, as Horus prepares their prize, Münsterhausen and his major arrive. Horus asks if they would wish to visit the Realm of the Dead, and when they agree, the service robots simply kill them instantly. When the Doctor is asked the same question, he takes great pains to request to be able to come back again, and his wish is granted, with the sarcophagus transforming into a portal. Rana believes this is the most valuable thing in the universe, but the Doctor explains that hopefully, he will find it inside. He asks his new friend to look after the TARDIS and gifts her the golden Ankh of Ptah as payment before he heads into the portal.

The Pyromeths continue to get increasingly invested in Martha's story, and she warns them that her next tale is one of monsters even scarier than them - a tale of the only time the Doctor travelled to the Ream of the Dead...

The Doctor arrives in a barren foggy landscape, trying to convince himself that there is no way he has arrived in actual Hell, instead presuming it is some kind of psychic plane where he will see visions of the dead created from his own mind. Indeed, he looks out to see a field of thousands of his greatest enemies from across his life assembled en masse. He makes a scan with the sonic screwdriver for the one being he is looking for, alerting the Krillitanes and the Sisters of Plenitude, and they prepare to attack him but are stopped by a hooded figure claiming that the Doctor is under his protection. He reveals himself to be the Host, and he transforms into his werewolf form and drives the Sisters away as part of his debt to the Doctor for ending his suffering in 1879 Scotland. The Doctor asks if he can give him a lift.

Therefore, the Doctor rides on the back of the Wolf through the valley of monsters, ignoring their many tactics to get him to hand over the Doctor. When that does not work, they try to block his way with a huge army led by John Lumic in the form of the Cyber-Controller and his Cybermen. Luckily, their lasers have no effect on the Wolf, so the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to summon the one species he has destroyed the most: the Daleks. They immediately engage in a great battle, allowing the Doctor and the Wolf to escape. At hearing this, the Pyromeths beg Martha to stay on the topic of the battle, calling it "way more interesting", but Martha promises that the secret of the most valuable thing in the universe is nearly upon them.

Approaching his destination, the Doctor asks the Wolf to stop so he can go it alone, considering his debt paid in full. The Wolf promises to wait to allow him to escape. The Doctor's goal is to meet one of the oldest beings in existence: the Empress of the Racnoss. Upon meeting her, he graciously lists his achievements of catching the uncatchable beast, answering the unanswerable riddle, and crossing an ocean of the dead, and asks her the question he has following all this time - where is the most valuable thing in the universe? The Empress asks why she should give the Doctor this information, and he retorts that he killed all of her children, meaning that she can spend eternity with them in the Realm of the Dead, and therefore she owes him a favour. Choosing to abandon his belief that the realm is purely in his mind, she relents, and tells the Doctor to visit the edge of the Tyross Expanse, hidden in the gravity well of the Tartus Nebula - specifically, the secret lair of the Pyromeths.

At hearing Martha tell them this, the real Pyromeths are startled and question why the Doctor, who they believe to simply be a fictional character, thinks that their home is the most valuable thing in the universe. The Doctor replies directly to them that it is not, but the safety of his companion is, and he now has all the knowledge he needs to find her. Terrified, the Pyromeths panic, and before long, just like magic, the TARDIS materialises inside their realm with the Doctor appearing in a burst of light.

They furiously lunge straight at him but almost immediately collapse, unable to move, on the ground. The Doctor proudly tells Martha that this was all her doing thanks to her telling the stories of him exactly as he asked her to, having texted it all to her in advance. As the Pyromeths feed off fiction, she told them truths, and it is something they literally cannot stomach. This shocks Martha and she wonders if all the ludicrous stories she told of him were actually real. The Doctor replies that they must have been, or else none of this would have worked. Safe at last, the Doctor and Martha depart once more in the TARDIS, just as the storytelling fire dies out in the Pyrometh realm for good.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Flashback[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Molly O'Sullivan and the Eighth Doctor

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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