"What, what's going on" The Doctor said as he was jolted awake.

"It's okay, it's okay Doctor, well it isn't, but at least we're not dead." Elena said as she helped the Time Lord up.

"I remember there was a giant dragon and it ate me, and you and Yarox too. Well obviously that can't be right, so I must have dreamed it. Tell me then where are we?"

"We're in the beasts stomach Doctor." Elena replied.

The Doctor looked up and saw that the roof appeared to be made of flesh and was even pulsating. The walls and the floor meanwhile were all cold and hard metal. Clearly the Dragon that had devoured them was a cyborg that had been turned in a vessel of some kind, or more likely a war ship.

All around the Doctor could see the villagers huddled together in fear as well as the remains of a giant boat at the back, whilst Yarox stayed closer to Elena. Yarox clearly felt safer with Elena than anyone else there, even the Doctor. The Doctor wasn't surprised. "On his first adventure I did get him eaten after all, though perhaps there was more to it than that" the Doctor thought to himself.

The Doctor was soon interrupted from his train of thought when the two doors behind him opened and a hideous, robed creature emerged.

The monster's robes were bright red, whilst its head was squat and green. It had no nose, just a snout, whilst its mouth was filled with small, pointy teeth. Its eyes meanwhile were bright red and set deep into its skull, whilst two tiny bat like ears protuded from either side of its head. Its cape was long and red, and though the Doctor couldn't see it yet, there was a strange black symbol on the back of the monsters cloak. The alien appeared to be part creature, part machine, just like the Dragon they were trapped in. Its arms were completely mechanical, and its entire squat chest was also covered in gold metal, whilst large wires emerged from the top of its head, right down the back of its neck, much like hair would on a person. The entire creature was short. It stood no higher than 5 feet tall.

"We have your TARDIS, Doctor. You will accompany me now." It said.

Elena and Yarox both stood by the Doctor.

"What do you want with him." Elena said defiantly.

"That is of no interest to you. You are all simply pawns for the master. Try to get in his way and." The creature shot an energy beam from its hands at Elena, bringing her to her knees.

"Stop it, please" The Doctor begged the creature, who released Elena.

"I'll do much worse if you don't help the master."

"Okay, okay." The Doctor said begrudgingly as he left the room with the creature. "Just so you know though, I don't have the best track record with people called the Master."

"The Time Lord's vessel is in our custody sir."

"Brilliant." The Inquistore interrupted. "Now we can finally begin the sacrifice."

"The sacrifice is not essential." The section leader snapped back. "The master simply thinks that it will help speed things along."

"All the excuse I need." The Inquistore said with glee.

"You never need any excuse." The leader said with disgust.

The section leader was the oldest of all the strange creatures there. He remembered when their world was actually a beautiful planet, and their race a proud one. Long before the abomination that the others now so willingly called master had come to their reality. The section leader could hardly judge his underlings however, as much as they may have disgusted him. They had been born under the masters rule. They had all been conditioned to be his warriors, creatures of hate who would kill for Scratchman without a seconds hesitation. It was the only reason his species had been allowed to exist. In all his own hundreds of thousands of years of existence however the Leader had never dared even lift a finger against the master. He was happy to condemn thousands, millions if need be to the Demons pit if it meant he didn't end up there. It wasn't fair, he knew that and hated himself for it, but ultimately he didn't have the strength to make the sacrifice that others had against Scratchman.

The Doctor was brought to the control room, which was also a combination of flesh on the roof with steel floors and walls. At the end of the room, several of the strange creatures gathered around a monitor, which contained images of the island, through the Dragons eyes. The Doctor could see several of the Scarecrow's now wandering aimlessly in the woods below.

The commander of these Goblins, who was somewhat larger and had a long, gold cape to represent his rank approached the Doctor.

"I don't understand why the master cares so much about you? You look like one of those animals we have caged below?"

"Well." The Doctor said modestly. "Appearances can be deceiving my good sir. For instance you look like an abomination, but I'm sure you're actually a lovely person."

The alien commander walked towards the monitor where it brought up an image of the Doctors Tardis, contained in what looked a large stomach.

"Ah yes I've heard you've wanted my vessel. To bring someone who claims to be the Devil or something into our world."

"You mean the master? Yes the primitives of this world believe him to be a figure from their mythology, but the truth is far worse."

"What is he?" The Doctor asked out of as much interest as fear.

"Even we don't know exactly, but I do know he is not from another universe. He devours each universe he visits. He feeds on negative emotions such as fear, hatred, and suffering. Whenever he visits a universe he tends to work in the shadows at first, playing us against each other, starting wars, until he is strong enough to not only take over, but reshape it in his own image. At some point however he was trapped in his own reality, but there was one tiny rip in his prison, which led to this world. For centuries he was able to absorb some, not all. Not even close to all, but some minds from, as well as send some of us through. Over the centuries we have widened it until he was able to send the elite, the Scarecrows, the Hydra and us through."

"I don't like where this is going." The Doctor said.

"Like your pet said below, the master has been observing your visits to this world for quite a while Doctor. Your vessel, run down and obsolete as it may be, is still a relic of arguably the most advanced race in your universe. The power it contains will be able to widen the gaps we have created just enough for Scratchman to enter this world. Then your universe will become like ours. Just think of what the master will do with your race, Time Lord."

"It will never happen." The Doctor said proudly. "Why do you serve that horror? There must be some part of you that still remembers what it was like think for yourself." The Doctor asked.

"Before Scratchman came to our universe we were conquerors. We had an empire spanning hundreds of galaxies. Now thanks to Scratchman we shall conquer universes. The master chose us to be his most loyal foot soldiers, because he believed that out of all the life forms in the universe we were the strongest."

"Or maybe he knew you were the weakest and would be most likely to bend the knee." The Doctor hit back.

The Goblin held the Doctor up by the scruff of his frock coat for a few moments before he saw the Doctor wasn't intimidated and dropped him.

"Take him to the vessel. He can help us divert its power to the rips. I don't have to tell you what will happen to those animals below who you seem so desperate to protect if you disobey us."

"I take it back." The Doctor said. "You're clearly not a very nice person."

Little did the Doctor know the Goblin was lying to him. All of the villagers and Elena and Yarox had been brought to the lower section of the Dragons stomach, just below where the Tardis was kept.

The Inquistore couldn't wait to have his fun with the prisoners. He was one of the most sadistic followers of Scratchman. In a universe filled with Demons and twisted monstrous caricatures, his cruelty still stood out.

"Why have you brought us here?" Elena said as she stood in front of the others.

"What a strange creature." The Inquistore said at the sight of Elena.

"I like its large eye. I'll keep that after I'm done with it. Will be fun to squeeze. The rest of you meanwhile, you are here to help his ascension."

A large ball of fire began to appear in the middle of the room.

"What is that." One of the villagers cried out in fear.

"A little piece of home."

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The Goblin wasn't lying. This portal led to their home planet, which Scratchman had after claiming their universe, turned into the darkest and most feared hell world in the universe.

The cyborgs above meanwhile led the Doctor across a large walkway. 50 or so feet below, the Time Lord could see the TARDIS.

"It must be hard for you two Demons not to have to kill me." The Doctor said.

"It is." One of the Demons answered back. "We've helped to break so many who looked like you when their minds come to our domain."

"Yes but you need me. You need me to help rewire my own ship to bring your vile master into this world, so there's only one thing I can do" The Doctor said as he jumped over the railing of the walkway. One of the Goblins reached out to pull him back, but the Doctor who held onto the railings instead pulled it by the hand over the railing. The Doctor then hurled himself over the railing back onto the walkway and into the other Goblin as it came nearer.

"I'm a lot more spry than I look." The Doctor said, though he wasn't really. Still he did have the skills from his earlier incarnations passed down, and used them to try and subdue the Goblin with a bit of Venusian karate. The creature however proved to be immune and pushed the Doctor back before firing its energy beam at him. The Doctor however jumped down and rammed into the Goblin to try and push it over the edge. The monster however did not budge and easily overpowered the Time Lord. The Doctor however still managed to reach his arm round and rip the wires from the back of the Goblins head. The creature staggered back in pain before collapsing dead.

The Doctor stared at its lifeless corpse as well as that of the Goblin below for a few seconds. He hated having to do this, but the monsters had left him no choice.

The time traveller then ran to the end of the walkway and down the stairs to where the TARDIS was.

"Oh old girl I honestly though I wasn't going to see you again." The Doctor said with affection as he reached for the key.

"Don't worry. I won't let them." Suddenly the Goblin the Doctor had pulled over the edge of the walkway reached up. It was still alive and strong enough to crush the life out of the Doctor.

Back in the torture caves meanwhile.

"Well which one of you wants to go first." The Inquisitore said with a sadistic delight to the villagers.

The flame had grown stronger and thicker with all of the villagers, standing behind Elena and Yarox, both of whom were just as terrified, despite how much they tried to hide it.

The Inquistore wandered up to a small boy who it could clearly tell was more scared than the others.

"It seems to me like he's volunteering." The Inquisitore said.

Elena tried to jump the Inquisitore from behind whilst the Goblin was distracted, but two more of the guards instantly got in her way, though she was able to trip them both up.

Yarox and many of the villagers wanted to help, including Stanley and Mrs Tulloch (who held her daughter tighter than ever) but the Goblins had them completely surrounded with their weapons.

The Inquistore however was able to catch Elena with a quick strike of lightening from its hand, knocking her down. Yarox foolishly ran to help her, but the Goblin knocked him out with another blast.

"Save the cyclops for last. I want her to see what's in store for her. Get the boy." The Inquisitore barked.

Stanley however quickly pushed the boy behind him and told the monsters to take him instead.

"Please he's just a boy." Stanley pleaded. "He has his whole life ahead of him. I'm an old man."

Stanley's pleas naturally fell on deaf ears at first, but the Inquisitore soon believed it could have some fun with the old man. He seemed so brave and self sacrificing and the monster wanted to see if it could break him in front of the others.

"Okay" The Goblin said whilst smiling.

Stanley froze.

"What's wrong. Didn't think I'd really take you up on your offer."

Stanley tried to control himself as best he could, but he started to tremble.

"I'm not a coward like you attacking defenceless children." Stanley spat back.

The Goblin simply laughed at him and put its hand on his shoulder. With one squeeze it brought Stanley to his knees, before grabbing him by his throat.

"We'll see who the coward is."

The Doctor meanwhile struggled with his Goblin. He tried to reach for the wires at the back of the creatures head, but it was too fast and got hold of his hand when he tried to reach around, which it started to crush slowly. The Doctor however reached his other hand into a tiny break in the monsters metal chest which had been created by the fall. The Time Lord got a good grip on the wires inside and pulled on them, causing the cybernetic Goblin to fall backwards clutching its chest in pain, whilst the Doctor opened the TARDIS.

Before the Doctor could shut the TARDIS from the inside however, the Goblin hurled itself at the doors. The Doctor tried to push back, but its strength was too great, even in its weakened state and it managed to push the Time Lord back onto the console.

The Goblin staggered into the TARDIS, limping and clutching its chest and struggling to breath. It soon collapsed to its knees before barely even reaching the console. The Doctor approached the creature carefully. He knew it was spent, but he was still cautious. Even on its death bed the creature could and would still try and tear his throat out.

The Goblin tried to hurl itself at the Doctor again, but it clumsily fell on the console instead, barely able to hold itself up.

"Please." The Doctor said sincerely. "What's the point anymore. Just let me help you. Maybe I can repair."

"Never! For those who fail the master there is but one fate."

"There doesn't have to be. Please."

Before the Doctor could even finish the Goblin reached into its chest and tore more of its own wires and innards out.

"Such a waste" The Doctor said.

After he dragged the Goblin's corpse outside, the Doctor suddenly noticed that a large web of red tissue appeared to have grown from the bottom of the console to the top.

"Fools" The Doctor thought to himself. It was obviously a clumsy attempt to link the TARDIS with the beast he was trapped inside. The Doctor was still impressed however that the Goblins had been able to penetrate the TARDIS' defences at all, but ultimately these red vines would soon wither and die. Perhaps the Time Lord could use them however.

The TARDIS was connected to this creature, which was in turn connected to the portal Scratchman hoped to enter this world through. The plan had been to drain the TARDIS's power to widen the portal, but the Doctor now believed he could drain the power the creatures were using to stay in this world, using the TARDIS. He would reapply the dematerialisation circuits to create a partial lift off. It was risky and doing so would cause the TARDIS a tremendous amount of pain. Still he had no choice.

"I'm sorry old girl." The Doctor said as he gently tapped the console. "This is going to hurt. It'll be pain that you've never experienced before, but we have to to save the others."

As soon as the Doctor was finished resetting the controls however the TARDIS console began to go up and down frantically and smoke appeared in the room which choked the Doctor.

"Old girl please. I don't want to do this but we have no choice." He said whilst gasping for air.

As the Doctor reached for the controls again he was suddenly thrown towards the doors by an invisible force.

The TARDIS would never harm him. Clearly something else had got inside the TARDIS. The Doctor ran to try and help it again but something was holding him back and more red vines began to crawl up from under the console. It seems he had misjudged the Goblins. The Doctor using all of his strength managed to push through the force field and grabbed onto one of the red vines.

The Doctor tried to pull it from the console, causing more of them to wrap themselves around him. Just as all seemed lost, the old dematerialisation sound started to chime in and the vines collapsed.

"Thanks old girl. I knew you wouldn't let me down." The Doctor said as he brushed his suit down.

It would take less than 10 minutes for the TARDIS to absorb the power, but there were two major obstacles. The creatures who could enter the Tardis would all be down here to stop him. Also if Elena, Yarox, and the others were not in the TARDIS when the power was drained, they would be pulled into Scratchman's hell!

The Doctor would have to hack into the Goblins monitors to find where they were, and then teleport the TARDIS to save them, which he could do as the two ships were now connected. However he would have to wait until the Hydra's last few seconds in this dimension after its power had been drained. If he broke the link before then, the power wouldn't be drained. If he was lucky, the Doctor would have just 30 seconds to rescue his friends.

The Time Lord adjusted the scanner and to his horror saw where the Goblins were holding his friends.

He could see Stanley being brought to the flaming portal, but there was nothing he could do. Stanley could hear the screams of others who had been trapped in the flames as he was brought closer, but he still did not back down.

The Inquisitore was getting angry. He was sure that Stanley was weak and would have broken down and begged for mercy by now.

"Why are you willing to sacrifice yourself like this? Do you not know what awaits you?" The Goblin said.

"Of course I'm scared. I'm absolutely petrified, but unlike you I'm not going to let that fear turn me into something I'm not. You're only doing this because you're afraid of your master, or because he's already broken you. I pity you. He's taken everything you once were away and replaced it with his own perversion." Stanley said.

The Inquisitore spoke in a more calm, and serious tone to Stanley. "You will lose yourself eventually. No matter how hard you fight. No one has been able to withstand."

The whole room started to shake, which was followed by the alarm.

"ALERT, ALERT THE HYDRA IS BREAKING FREE FROM OUR CONTROL."

The Hydra could sense the Doctor draining the energy that was keeping them in this dimension and started to panic. Despite the Goblins conditioning the Dragon's self preservation instincts kicked in. It flew wildly threw the air, and started to burn the forest on the island below. Several Scarecrow's were caught in the monsters flame breath. The beast nearly flew itself into a small mountain before the Goblins were able to reassert control over the Dragon.

During the confusion meanwhile, Elena seized her chance and attacked the Inquisitore. Her mutated metabolism had allowed the Cyclops to recover from the monsters blast a lot quicker than Yarox. Elena delivered a fury of punches and kicks to the Inquisitore, before ripping the wires out of his head, after which she kicked him into the fire before he died. Just before the Goblin was thrust into the flames it let out a pitiful scream for help.

Stanley and the other villagers, did their best to fight back though only really Elena was able to make any difference, kicking two more into the flaming portal.

"Yes" the Doctor said enthusiastically. "Just hold on for a little longer Elena."

Elena meanwhile jumped straight onto two of the beasts from behind and ripped the wires from the back of their heads before they could get back up and used the energy blasts from another's hands to kill two more.

The rest of the Goblins then turned their attention to Elena. She was able to dodge the Demons blasts from their hands, though she wasn't able to attack the cyborgs either. Whilst they were distracted, Yarox picked up the arm of one of the two Goblins that Elena had killed and was able to fire it at three more Goblins knocking them to the ground. When they turned to face him Elena jumped two more and ripped the wires from the back of their heads, whilst Yarox blasted two more.

Unfortunately before Elena and Yarox could celebrate their victory, several more Goblins came pouring into the room.

"There must be something I can do." The Doctor said as he frantically tried to work the controls.

Just then the Time Lord heard a thumping on the door. Dozens of the Goblins had arrived back at the TARDIS. The Doctor had tried to block the two doors with various bits and pieces of furniture from the lower rooms that he had dragged up stairs in the short space of time. (He hated being away from the scanner for even a second.)

The Doctors clumsy barricade however didn't do much to hold the Goblins back and he ran to the doors to try and hold them off. All he needed was a few more minutes.

The Goblins however pushed the Doctor away and soon tore through the furniture.

"You have lost Time Lord." The monsters said as they fired at the console to try and undo the Doctors drain on their energy.

"No stop you'll destroy us all." The Doctor screamed, but it was too late.

The Goblins blast caused black smoke to erupt from the console, flooding the entire room, as lightening bolts began to fire everywhere.

To Be Continued