Okay, it's been awhile, but the Mystery of Haruhi Suzumiya has continued!

A few of you weren't entirely satisfied with the last chapter, and to be fair I wasn't proud of it either. I rushed it, I spent less time on it than any other chapter and I do feel the whole thing suffered as a result. I plan to rewrite it very soon, so stay tuned for that.

I'm still working my way through series 8 of Doctor Who, still haven't developed my opinion of Peter Capaldi, but so far I like him. And today I noticed that the Disappearance of Yuki-Chan Nagato has become an anime! Very nice, I hope it inspires someone to finish the Haruhi anime, I'm still a little sore that it's incomplete.

I hate leaving things unfinished. Well, here's the new chapter. As always, your feedback is always appreciated. It's the only way I'll ever improve. Now then, off to dinner.

The Synopses

Doctor Who:

The Last of the Timelords, the Oncoming Storm, the Lonely God. The Doctor is an alien from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous, who long ago stole a wondrous sentient ship called the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) from his own people and ran away. Bigger on the inside and stuck in the shape of a London Police Box, the TARDIS can travel anywhere in time and space. Completely brilliant and mad as a hatter, the unnamed Doctor and his companions wander through the fourth dimension, looking for fun and always finding trouble. He has lived many lives and encountered many strange, frightening beings, running from the universe for twelve hundred years, and he's not stopping for anything.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya:

Kyon was an ordinary high school student, resigned to live an ordinary life, until the eccentric Haruhi Suzumiya turned his life upside down. She is a mad, energetic young girl who has spent her life looking for excitement and the impossible, never realizing that she truly is the impossible. A mysterious event from three years ago has given her the ability to control reality, her slightest whims coming true without her ever knowing, often with disastrous consequences. They are joined by the SOS Brigade, Suzumiya's bizarre after school club secretly staffed by a mysterious alien reality hacker [Yuki Nagato], a ditzy time traveling 'watchdog' [Mikuru Asahina] and an eerily optimistic psychic, or ESPer [Itsuki Koizumi], each with a vested interest in making sure this anomaly stays safe. With their help, Kyon struggles daily to keep Haruhi Suzumiya's incredible powers a secret and help her live a normal life. And she won't make it easy for him.

Attack on Shinjin

The Meridian Spaceport was what they called a twenty four hour operation. That was always a very strange phrase, he thought. Meridian itself operated on a 37 hour day cycle. Right now, Oberon Rathford felt as though he had been running every one of them. As the economic hub of the Orion Federation, the transit lines were always open for new arrivals and fresh cargo. But his shift was coming to a close, and all he could think about was the couch in the break room. Of course, any sensible man would rather sleep in a bed, but Rathford didn't really go home during a work week. Besides, that old tobacco-stained leather marshmallow was preferable to the filthy secondhand mattress in his staff apartment. There was just one more detail to iron out before he could crash for the evening. Fatigue demanded that he simply let her pass and get on with it, but Rathford was a proud company man, and this woman set off all the wrong alarms in his book.

She sat in his office as he struggled to get to the heart of the matter. "Ma'am, your criminal record has you flagged on our no-fly list. I need to know what you're doing here on Meridian."

The woman behind the counter shook her head and waved her hands, her sweet smile dispelling his discomfort. "If you have access to my records, then you must see that the murder charge was dropped. I was completely cleared of all wrongdoing."

"It was dropped, it seems, because the man you murdered didn't actually exist. Forgive me if that sounds suspicious, Miss Song."

"That's Professor, young man. Professor River Song."

"Professor of what?"

"Archeology."

"And what is a professor of archeology doing here? The entire planet is an economic and industrial sector, it's not a place for archeology. There are no museums or galleries in the entire world that would require your services, and since our people only settled the planet to adapt it into a business center, there is no real history under this planet for you to explore. Now stop dodging the question: What is the purpose of your visit?"

River sighed internally as his line of inquiry bore down. She knew commercial transit was a mistake. She should have just crashed a tradeship here, it would have taken less time to escape amidst a panicking mob. Ah, but it seemed more direct, and there was an unfamiliar feeling of obligation to walk the straight and narrow so soon after her final release. How foolish that had been. River Song, straight and narrow? She would know better than to trust a feeling like that ever again. The tedium was overwhelming and she desperately wanted to shoot this prat.

She managed to smile again and spoke through gritted teeth. "Pleasure."

There was a great thunderous noise and a bright light shining through the open architecture of the spaceport. River and Rathford looked out over the cityscape to see a glowing giant manifest in the central hub of the city. A great blue man of light brought his fists together and smashed open the front of some large public building. The screams of the city fell like a heavy rain over the terrible crash.

River burrowed her brow. Damn. She was running out of time now, it had already begun. On the bright side, she thought, the city would declare a state of emergency any second and they were alone. Evacuation conditions, no one would come. She gingerly placed her hands on the counter, swung over the desk, and kicked Rathford squarely in the head. As he dropped to the ground in a heap, she ran her fingers across the control panel and cleared herself for entry just as the emergency lights came down. The security doors opened with a gust of conditioned air as River swung back to the front of the counter and landed with a tap on her high heels. She picked up her bag and tossed her massive hair with a look of mild dissatisfaction.

"On second thought, sweetie, let's call it business," she said to the exhausted heap on her way out.

River Song stepped out onto the streets of Meridian with a smile on her face and a bag of tricks over her shoulder as the city flew into a panic all around her. It's always the Doctor doing something stupid, isn't it?

…

It happened so fast, there wasn't time to make sense of it. The giant's fists came down through the front of the Central Operations Building. Kyon watched Koizumi engulfed in red light and fire off into the sky. The surge of the crowd swept him down the streets in a mad panic, he had to fight to keep from falling under their feet as they carried him away. The last thing Kyon saw before he was crammed into the back of an emergency transport was the sight of the Shinjin tearing through the building as the red right encircled him.

…

Kyon sat down at last. He and the other evacuees had been deposited at the Orion Defense Center. There was footage of the battle running on every monitor, as the combined forces of the Orion Federation threw everything at the Shinjin, and Kyon recognized Koizumi's crimson streak darting across the battlefield trying to make a dent. He didn't know if it had been hours or minutes that he spent tossed around in that mob on the way over, everything was a blur. But now that he finally had a moment to himself, the weight of these events finally began to settle on him. He was now alone and lost on an alien world, thousands of years after his own birth, his friends were scattered and possibly dead, and he had no way to find his way back to them. He began to quietly panic as all these horrible new realities dawned on him. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Kyon's cell phone rang. He picked up. "Well, that was bracing. How did you make out?" It was the Doctor.

"I'm in the defense center. Where are you? Where's Nagato? What was that about Haruhi being with you? What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Kyon spat out all at once, desperately reaching for any handle on the situation.

"In due time, first things first. Tell me about the fight, how is Koizumi holding up? How long until he's got Big Boy wrangled?"

Kyon paused, looking up at the footage as Koizumi circled the Shinjin. "Well, he's managing. But honestly, I've only seen him do this once, and he had a team of espers with him. I have no idea if Koizumi has ever fought one of these things by himself. Doctor, why is the Shinjin here? It's only supposed to appear in closed space!"

"How? Don't know, but on a guess I'd say it was due to transmitting from inside the TARDIS. The interior is itself a parallel pocket dimension, it probably altered the conditions of the manifestation. As for why, Haruhi is having a bad dream."

"Really?"

"I do hope so. Listen, we're all alive and together, but we're trapped under the rubble with a giant turtle named Yurt. I've been trying to get through to Miss Asahina, but she's not picking up. You're going to have to get back to the TARDIS and reset Haruhi manually."

"Reset… Haruhi?"

"I'll explain how when you get there."

Kyon looked around and threw his free arm in the air. "I'm huddled in a civilian shelter and the doors are locked, I can't get out. And how do I get into the TARDIS if I do get out?"

"Don't panic, that's one of my coats you're wearing, my hand-me-downs. You've got a TARDIS key in your breast pocket. Now, as for the shelter, fish around in the right-hand jacket pocket."

Kyon looked down and checked his pocket. It was much deeper than he expected, it took his whole arm to reach the bottom. He pulled out a bag and looked inside. "Um, some fruit candies. Am I supposed to bribe somebody?"

"Jelly babies, yes, no, sorry, wrong side. Try the left one. But don't throw those away, I might want them later. It has been awhile."

Kyon looked again, pulling out the device. The casing was strange, but coming from the Doctor, what else could it be? Another electronic wand. "Is this… a sonic screwdriver?"

"It's an older model from about three regenerations ago, give or take. The basic functions are simple enough: open locked doors, hack computers, you just point and think. Try not to hurt yourself."

"Okay. Any weapon mode or is it as useless as yours?"

"Call me when you get back to the TARDIS."

Kyon looked for the door. All he could see was panicking faces and huddled comfort, alight by the battle playing out on the screens and over the horizon through the windows. "Doctor. This is our fault, you know. We brought this here."

The silence hung in the air. "We had no choice. But you're right, and now we're going to fix it. Get back to the TARDIS. Run." Beep.

…

The Doctor slipped his cell phone away and started pacing around the room again, examining the walls and considering his options. It was the ground floor of a service stairwell, which he shared Yuki Nagato, Yurt the Clerk, and the strange childlike manifestation of Haruhi. She was sitting Yuki's lap, playing with her glasses and apparently unconcerned with their immediate peril. Yuki held her close, but seemed unmoved by little Haruhi's idle fascination.

The upper floors were blocked off by a large collapsed wall which took out the stairs. The Doctor's scans had indicated tons of concrete and steel weighing on top of it. If the battle ended in the next hour, he figured they could expect rescue in at least twelve hours, and with some very awkward questions from the Orion Federation. And that was a best case scenario. They would need another way out before this.

Yurt was watching the two girls with interest. She and Agent Smith seemed to know exactly what she was when they saw her, and they didn't seem terribly concerned about being pinned under thousands of feet of concrete with some giant trying to track them down. He was beginning to wonder if they really were from Quality Control at all.

"Kyon can help us get this situation back under control. It's lucky for us the building was already empty."

"I cannot eliminate the debris above without drawing unwanted attention, and I cannot do so while the attack is ongoing," Yuki said. It might have been concern, but her tone was flat and gave no indication of stress.

"I wouldn't mind if we drew a little attention, under the circumstances," Yurt said, smiling slightly.

"It's not a problem, Nagato, I'll have Kyon swing by and pick us up," the Doctor said assuredly.

Yuki looked up at the Doctor blankly. He rolled his eyes, she didn't have to say it.

"Yes, I know he doesn't know how, but I can walk him through. It's only five levers and a few dozen buttons. It's not like we're asking Miss Asahina to fly the TARDIS into the 80's or anything, Kyon can follow simple directions."

Yuki blinked. Even little Haruhi and Yurt looking up at him now.

The Doctor fidgeted. "There's always Koizumi. Once we've settled this Shinjin nonsense."

"You said you couldn't contact your other agent, Asahina, the one who should be doing that thing you were talking about," Yurt said, trying to make sense of things. "How did you lose contact?"

The Doctor turned. "That is a good question. We left her in the TARDIS, she should have been in position to receive my call and deal with this thing. And there's no way we could have lost contact, these phones will work through anything. The connection works, she's just not answering."

…

Kyon ran across the plaza as the battle continued. He was pointing the sonic screwdriver ahead of him like a torch, as if it would protect his passage. The real fighting was a block away, and he scarcely recognized the street he'd only seen an hour ago, but for the heavy debris that made a maze of it. The noises were indescribable, he was breathing smoke, tasting cordite and residual plasma, a sobering sensation of running through a warzone. And there it was, still tucked away right off the main drag and flashing the words "Police Box" like a lighthouse in the fog. He flocked to it, the TARDIS key in hand and into the lock before he knew it.

Kyon ran through the door, up the steps, past the empty console, and up into the heart of the TARDIS. It only took a few minutes for him to find Haruhi's room. She was still in bed, but she was sweating and tossing her head, her breathing uneven. Where was Miss Asahina? Kyon dialed her. He got nothing. Never mind. He dialed the Doctor.

"Hello Kyon! Are you there already? Brilliant! On the dresser across the room, there is a selection of tea bags and a pitcher of water. You don't need to boil the water, it boils as soon as it exits the Kinetic Pitcher. Use the tea in the mauve bag, it's a kind of decaffeinated sleepytime blend from the Diamont cluster, very spacey. I prepared it to buy us a few more hours on Haruhi's sleep cycle, I just haven't had a chance to use it."

"How do I get her to drink it without waking her up?" Kyon whispered as he poured the tea.

"She doesn't need to drink it, just prop her up and give her a big whiff. That will be more than enough. It will stabilize her stress levels and refresh her synaptic relays. Good as new!" the Doctor said. Kyon nodded and shut his phone, laying it down and lifting the teacup.

Kyon hesitated as he got near. Haruhi moaned slightly and swayed her head. He bit his lip and sat on the bed next to her. He slipped his free hand under her back and gently lifted her into a sitting position. She felt so soft, so warm to him. She inhaled and lifted her head.

Haruhi's eyes were open. Kyon froze. Shit! He woke her up! What was he going to do? How was he going to explain this? What was she going to say?!

Haruhi blearily stared at nothing, her eyes moist and full of sleep. She swayed, still covered in sweat. She looked at Kyon blankly. She exhaled, closing her eyes and slumped forward. Kyon exhaled tightly and brought the tea under Haruhi's face. She sucked in the warmth and sighed sweetly, her tension melting away as Kyon laid her down and tucked her back in. Haruhi rolled herself up and drifted away into a deep sleep.

…

Silence fell. Itsuki Koizumi landed on the roof of a half demolished office building and observed the spectacle as the Shinjin dropped its arms and inhaled deeply before exploding into a cloud of stardust. Koizumi collapsed to his knees with an anguished sigh.

On the street below, River Song started running hard now. The Shinjin was gone already, there wasn't much time left!

Under the ruins of the Central Operations Building, the Doctor and Yuki looked up, listening to nothing. Little Haruhi sighed sweetly and snuggled up against Yuki.

"Is that it? Is it over, then?" Yurt said, lifting his head.

"Yes, I should say so. The Shinjin is dispersing! Everything is alright now!"

"No, it's not."

The Doctor looked down at Yuki. Yuki was looking at little Haruhi. She was settled, but she wasn't smiling anymore.

"The severed mouth woman is still looking for me."

"The severed mouth woman?" the Doctor asked. His eyes lit up. "No."

…

Kyon's phone vibrated, slowly coasting along the surface of the dresser and bumping against the Kinetic Pitcher, where Kyon left it.

"MISS ASAHINAAA! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Kyon walked down the corridors of the TARDIS, shouting for Mikuru. She wouldn't have just abandoned Haruhi like that. He had to figure out where she went. She wouldn't have left the TARDIS, although he thought it might be perfectly easy for her to become lost in it.

HE was getting lost. The corridor that led him back to the control room had changed, the TARDIS was rerouting him through new rooms. Was it trying to make him lose his way? Was it trying to lead him to Miss Asahina? Did it want him to take a swim? He wondered this as walked along the swimming pool to the door on the far side of the room. Why did it always change every time he walked in?

Kyon listened to the TARDIS as he strode the turquoise steel halls, and he became more aware of his surroundings. The corridors WERE changing, he was sure of it, and that wasn't the only thing. The drone and the pitch of what Kyon assumed was the engine seemed to change depending on where he walked. A low grumble for a wrong turn, like a shifting mound of gravel, a reverberating ping for a right one. Was the TARDIS alive? Where did it want him to go?

In the dark of the corridor, one door stood open and alight. Kyon looked inside. Melted wax and dried paper hit his nose before he saw the first stack. It was a library, and it was massive, at least four open floors of walls covered in books. Even shelves of bottles with what appeared to have book names. Of course, the Doctor would have a library, but why did the TARDIS want him here? Kyon strode through the shelves and the random stacks of books that led to the ceiling. Yuki would love this room, and Kyon knew he'd never get her out. Could Asahina be in here?

Auburn hair, Kyon spotted it out the corner of his eye and ran for the corner. It was Mikuru Asahina, sprawled on the floor with a toppled stack of books beside her. Uncertain, Kyon knelt down and checked her out. She was breathing and unconscious. Knowing her, this story told itself. Kyon let out a heavy sigh. "That's a relief. I thought maybe you were in trouble."

Kyon heard a gurgled sigh and froze. A steely hand clenched at the back of his jacket and yanked him up before he could react, and found himself facing an angry Florinall. It looked so different without its coat, fresher and greener than before, a tightly woven muscular system made entirely of vines, and solid branch anchoring at every joint. Its eyes were hollow and angry, its severed mouth opened wide and moist like a decaying swamp. He could smell wet grass. The hand which held him was brown, older than the rest of the creature. The severed hand! It had grown back!

It lifted Kyon into the air and bawled at him in silent frustration, then tossed him into the air. Kyon crashed against the shelves and crumpled to the ground, an avalanche of novels burying him instantly. The Florinal inspected its handiwork, dribbling chlorophyll onto the ground.

"SSssssilencccce," the Florinal drawled. Kyon quivered beneath the tomes, but made no response. The Florinal straightened up, seeming to smile. "Sssilence will fall." The Florinal bolted off in search of its prize.

…

River Song burst into the TARDIS, her sonic blaster drawn. "DOCTOR?! ASAHINA? KYON?" she called out as she scanned the control room. She cocked her head and took aim at the top level. Dammit, it had a hostage.

The Florinal was carrying Haruhi Suzumiya, unconscious and wrapped in a blanket. It regarded River for a moment, grinned, and disappeared, carried away by the Vortex Manipulator.

River sighed and lowered her gun. So she was too late after all. No thanks to Rathford and his damn questions, she thought. Right then, might as well stick to the plan.

…

The Doctor heard it first, the low rumble of the engine. The sudden burst of wind in an enclosed space. The dim lights and transparent outline. The TARDIS groaned and materialized into view before their eyes. Yurt was shielding his head, little Haruhi was bouncing with joy, Yuki was looking, and the Doctor was tense.

River Song opened the door. Kyon, Asahina and Koizumi stood close behind, their faces were somber. "I'm sorry, my love. They've taken her."

…

Genereal Strom laughed, slamming his fist onto the table. "The Doctor fails again! A fine tale! What happened next?"

Yurt took a swig of tomato soup. He was much older now. His shell was rough and cracked, his skin dry and loose, even his comb-over was gone. "There is not much to tell. They dropped me back off in the Civilian Center, and five days later I was accosted by the Orion Federation, and charged with allowing an outsider access to our most restricted files. Apparently the surveillance system survived the attack. The Federation claimed they were terrorists, that the giant attack, the 'Shinjin' as they called it, was their own doing, and that I was an accessory. So, naturally, they sent me here. That must have been fifty years ago, I think. It's hard to keep track of time in this place."

"Ha! It is a pity you cannot apply for an appeal, I doubt he was responsible at all. I knew the Doctor once, he was a pestiferous weakling. He had no stomach for genocide or mass hysteria. They did not know what they were talking about. Of course, he is dead now, isn't he? Lake Silencia, they say that's where he met his end." Strom stirred his soup, and began to growl. "He should never have made it that far. I wish I had been there with you on that day. I could have crushed his feeble skull with my own two hands."

"I believe you would, General," Yurt said with a slight smile. Strom's bluster was fiery, but he was actually welcome company, and Yurt quite liked his stories. He never would have thought he could enjoy a lunch with a Sontaran.

The heavy gate on the flying catwalk slid open, and the Warden led a procession through. A new prisoner, Yurt thought? Then he saw who it was. Encased in an anti-grav tube, it was her! The little girl from the stairwell all those years ago. Yurt watched her intently as they passed above him. She was older now, but nowhere near as old a human should be after fifty years. What had happened to her? What was she doing here, and where were they taking her?

The Warden directed the prison transport into the elevator and sealed them in. He watched as the numbers counted down, then disappeared, all the way down in the Vault. He scribbled some fresh notes. The anomaly was accounted for. Time for a cup of tea, he thought.

To Be Continued...