Travelling With the Doctor

2:3 Investigating

Part Two: Where Are the Children?

Chapter Three: Investigating

I sighed as I crossed my arms. I was sitting on the arm of the chair Cauden occupied, one leg crossed over the other. Cali sat in the chair next to us, and Kourtland stood behind her. The principal sat behind his desk, mopping his face with a handkerchief.

Mr. Childs, the principal of the school we were in, had just finished explaining. After we convinced him we could help, of course. Apparently, the children had all disappeared right around lunchtime. Literally just vanished, leaving behind their lunches and bookbags.

I chewed my lip as I thought. I un-crossed my legs and re-crossed them the opposite way. "I need to see where the children were last seen."

"Y-yes of course. This way." He stood and left the inner office, handkerchief to forehead.

"Adrian! What's going on?" Ronnie jogged up and gave me a hug, fist bumping Cauden and Kourtland, and hugging Calico. I explained the situation, and he decided to follow us.

We all followed the poor man to the cafeteria, and I pulled out my sonic. I sniffed the air and wrinkled my nose. The air smelt burnt, a disgusting scent much like rotten milk. "Ooh what a stench!" I covered my nose with my hand and scanned the area, looking for any traces of... anything. When my sonic didn't pick up much, just tiny traces of dust and the like, I gulped and removed my hand from my nose. I had to go full out 'Doctor' on this. I squinted my eyes and went to the nearest table. An orange bookbag sat on the bench, deserted. I leaned down and took a huge sniff before licking my finger and holding it near the table. "Mmm-hmm..."

"Um, Adrian, what are you doing?" Cali looked confused, and almost shocked when I glanced back.

"Investigating." I smiled and leaned forward more, licking the seat of the bench, right where a child had once sat. I wrinkled my nose and looked back at my friends. They were all giving me strange and disgusted looks. Except for Ronnie, who leaned down as well and licked the bench.

"Tastes like.... shit." He wrinkled his nose and I laughed. "Why did you need to lick it?"

"I told you, I'm investigating." I stood up and placed my hands on my hips. "They didn't just simply vanish. There's something..." I grinned, getting really excited. "Alien goin' on here!"

Mr. Childs paled, and he mopped his forehead again. That poor handkerchief... "What do you mean, alien?"

I blinked at him. "I mean not human. Not of Earth. Like me!" I smiled.

"Like you? You're..." the poor man looked so confused.

"Time Lord!" I grinned and pushed one hip out, putting all my weight on one leg. "Well, mostly Time Lord, and just a smidgen of human..."

"You look human though." The principal narrowed his eyes.

"Correction, you look Time Lord!" I spun on my heel and pulled out my psychic paper, sending a message to my dad to let him know about the missing children. "Alright, there's not much I can do without the TARDIS. And I'm hungry. Let's head home and eat."

"Wait, so that's it?" Mr. Childs looked at me in disbelief. Or at least what I thought was disbelief.

"I can't do much on my own." I shrugged, sticking my hands in my pockets.

The man's faced reddened significantly, and a vein appeared on his forehead. "You... you said you could help!" He shook his finger at me.

"And I am. The only way I know how." I pulled my hands out and crossed my arms, scowling. "I've sent for my father, he should be here soon."

"You!" His finger waggled faster, and he stepped closer, rage apparent on his features. "You kids played me! What's this nonsense about aliens!? Where are the children?!" He poked my shoulder, and I jerked back. That kind of hurt.

"Hey! Back off, will you?" Cauden stepped in front of me, blocking the man's path. I gripped the back of his shirt. "She's done everything she could. Help will be here soon."

I pulled on his shirt a bit. "Let's just get out of here, alright?" He stared at the principal for a moment before turning to check me over. "I'm okay, Cauden. Let's just leave. Daddy'll be here soon enough."

He cupped my face and stared into my eyes for a moment, his jaw twitching. I gripped his forearms and smiled. "Yeah, okay. Let's get out of here." He kissed my forehead and took my hand, pulling me all the way outside. Cali, Kourtland and Ronnie followed close behind.

Once we were back at Cauden's house, we all sat in the kitchen while Cali whipped up a quick supper. I got up after a minute and made my own supper, fish sticks with custard. It was still my favourite, even after all these years.

"How do you eat that?" Ronnie wrinkled his nose at my choice of food as he dug into the spaghetti Cali had made.

"Like this." I grinned and dipped a fish stick in the bowl of custard, taking a bite. "Mmm... delicious!"

Cauden stole a fish stick and dipped it, trying it. "That's not bad!" He dipped it again and finished it off, practically smacking his lips.

"See?" I giggled.

"What do you think happened to the kids?" Leave it to Kourtland to get all serious.

I ate another fish stick with custard before answering. "I think they were taken." I looked off to the side, my mind working overtime to figure this all out.

"You're quite right, Adrian!" A familiar voice agreed with me from the back door. I looked over to see my father, in all his bow-tie glory. He walked over and stole one of my fish sticks and dipped it in the custard. "Excellent choice for supper!" He grinned and ate his prize. "Anyway," he chewed and swallowed. "Children all over are disappearing, leaving behind almost no trace." He bent and kissed my head. "And I'm sorry to inform you, the whole of Kodomo has also been taken."