The Doctor grimaced as one of the three Ogrons surrounding him punched him in the stomach. They had discovered him quite by accident as he was putting the final touches to stopping another Dalek plan to invade Earth.
"Huh huh. You so soft, squishy."
"Anyone ever tell you that you have quite an inferiority complex?" The Doctor retorted as he tried to quickly block out the pain. His ragged, thinning red hair whipping around in the wind. This was his twelfth incarnation and was by far the longest-lived body to date but something felt wrong however. He had been too arrogant in assuming he was invulnerable. The force of the blows had caused some serious internal injuries.
"Huh?"
"Squishy" A second Ogron prompted his forgetful colleague.
"You so soft, squishy. Me like hurting soft, squishy you."
"Really? You don't surprise me. You remind me of your masters, they have a problem with social skills too. No eloquence you see." The Doctor began to feel cold and numb as he collapsed to the ground. His mind felt fuzzy and he kept thinking of After Eight mints for some reason. Must concentrate, close down unnecessary bodily functions and divert blood towards the injury. No not towards, away from. The fuzziness in his brain had caused him to make a simple error, too late now to reverse it.
Finally the Ogrons forgot what they were supposed to be doing and went off in search of some rocks to examine.


There was a soft popping sound and a black robed figure was standing over the Doctor's battered body. "I might have known you would show up. Is this death? It's a bit naff if it is." The Doctor tried to get up but couldn't summon up enough energy. Go out with a smile he thought.
"It is time Doctor. We shall be whole again."
"Never, I'll never allow you to exist. I have fought evil all my lives, I'm not about to court it now Valeyard." Must regenerate now, cannot weaken myself and let him take possession. Silently he willed his hearts to stop beating.
"Evil? I'm not evil, goodness me no. A little self-obsessed perhaps and with a streak of wanton destruction that pleases me maybe, but evil? No, I'm not remotely like the Master at all. You simply just do not understand, the things I know. I am beyond such mortal concepts of black and white. Your destiny, my destiny is so much more illustrious. Your vital organs are punctured Doctor, those walking meat heads have damaged you beyond repair."
"Really? Then who is that standing next to you? A shade of things to come I suspect." The Doctor glanced over to a web shrouded silvery white figure. "My future self, there is hope after all." He chuckled briefly.
"No, this cannot be." the Valeyard shouted, furious anger on his face.
A green haze surrounded the Doctor's body as his watcher, a temporal projection of his future self, began to reintegrate itself and initiate the regenerative process.
"I will not be denied existence." The Valeyard forced his essence into the Doctors dying figure. Orange energy beginning to glow from within him.
Two amazing things happened at the same time. A ball of green and orange energy surrounded the Doctor’s body and secondly it broke up into two slightly smaller balls of energy, one green and the other orange.


The Doctor sat up; things were different this time. The Valeyard had tried to seize control but his malignant presence was not there. Long blonde hair caught across the Doctors face as his, no her head shook from side to side. "My this is a change." The Doctor said. She looked over and saw the Valeyard lying next to her.
"Hmmm, it worked. I have your body Doctor." He saw the tall blonde woman sitting up next to him. "This is very irregular, there can only be one me."
"Do you know I was thinking the same thing?" The Doctor smiled and hit the Valeyard with a fierce left hook. "Hmmm, nice to see I still have a few surprises left."
She completed the work she had begun. The Dalek fleet never reached Earth; instead they found themselves in the middle of an Ice Warrior training exercise. Turning around to check on the Valeyard the Doctor was upset to discover he had slipped away.


The TARDIS was the same way she had left it, empty. "I think a little redecorating is in order." She began to reprogram the internal configuration controls. The familiar Jules Verne look shimmered and turned into an everlasting void of grey. "Now to input the new settings." A few seconds later a whole new configuration was imprinted on the internal structure. The console room turned to its ancient hexagonal setting but with vast changes. A whole wall was given over to a display screen, the console was now circular and dome shaped. Instead of a vertical rising time rotor it sported a ball of green plasma inside a thick glass dome. The walls themselves were more of a pinkly grey, like the old Zero room and the regular pattern of roundels had returned. The floor was carpeted in a huge Persian rug and several plants were now placed around the edges of the walls to add a little colour. "Very nice," she smiled. "Now to do something about these clothes, something simple I think and comfortable. She went off into the bowls of the TARDIS to find where the wardrobes had been moved to. She began to whistle the Charge of the Valkyries.


David Mason ran for his life. There was a huge furry beast chasing him, suddenly he spotted a strange looking blue shed and decided to hide inside it. He was more than a little shocked to discover a blonde woman living inside of it. She was dressed in a figure-hugging dark grey trouser suit with some kind of yellow flower on one of the lapels. She put on a large brimmed hat as she saw him enter. He was even more shocked to discover that the inside was more than twenty feet across.
"Hello, I'm the...oh you've fainted." The Doctor smiled and went to help the young man. "If you didn't like the hat you only had to say so. I wonder if he's allergic to orchids?" She picked him up with some effort, this new body didn't have the same immediate strength she used to have but persistence won and she hefted him off towards the nearest lounge.


Claire Mason laughed as she dropped a huge chunk of masonry on the furry monster. Her laughing stopped when she saw that it was unaffected. She hightailed it away before it could track her. She trailed long black and purple ribbons from her hair as she ran. Many people would have thought she was a Goth but this was fifteen years before gothic fashion was developed.


"Who are you?" David asked suspiciously. He was lying down on a couch and the woman he saw before was leaning over him and smiling.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor and you're quite safe." The Doctor offered him a sweet. "Jelly baby?" She offered him a bag of sweets.
"Err no. Is this heaven?"
"I hope not, I've just gotten used to this body. This is my ship, the TARDIS. Do you like it? It can travel anywhere and any when. Well what do you think?" She stood up and gave her audience a twirl before almost falling over and breaking a leg. "Sorry about that, not used to these shoes yet. Still it's nothing a drop of glue can't fix."
David sat up. This woman was either mad or rich, probably both he thought. "Oh, my sister, we have to get her. There are a lot of big furry monsters attacking everyone."
"Are they around six feet tall and look like huge fur coats?"
"Yes. You've seen them?"
"They're called Yeti's and I've had dealings with them before. Tell me what time is this?"
"I dunno, can't afford a watch."
"I mean what year is this?"
"Sixty seven."
"Is this Earth or a colony world?"
"Earth, nineteen sixty seven, March. Are you all right missus?"
"Doctor, I'm called the Doctor. Earth eh. A Yeti invasion now? But that's not due until the middle of next year, unless. No even I wouldn't be that stupid, would I?"


Claire found herself running into the back of a man. "Ooof, watch where you're going mister." She hated it when people seemed to get in her way; it sometimes felt that the universe was throwing old people in her way at times.
"Doctor, I'm known as the Doctor." He turned around and smiled. "Would you like a gift? I have this silver sphere and no-one to give it to." He offered it to Claire.
"No chance mister nosy, Mum told me not to take stuff off of weird blokes like you."
"You're seventeen, Claire Mason. Are you going to let your parents tell you what to do for the rest of your life? Still it doesn't matter though, as my gift cannot be refused." The sphere began to rise up out of the palm of his hand.
Claire backed away as it began to float towards her. There was a sound like nails being hammered through ice with a hamster and the silver ball was crumpled up into a tiny lump of metal. It dropped to the floor where it turned into silver dust.
"You." The Doctor and Valeyard exclaimed together.
"Who are you?" Claire asked. "David!" She saw her twin brother with the woman who had saved her life.
"My dear Doctor you are here just in time."
"Yes and you're interfering with time." The Doctor smiled and fluffed up her hair.
"Such a simple plan, advance the Yeti's invasion attempt before I arrive here and get involved."
"I am here and I will stop me."
"This is getting confusing who's that man, Doctor?" David asked.
"Me, I'm afraid. An alternate me created at the moment of death. My body regenerated two-fold and two versions of myself were created. I think you'll agree this me has more hair and is less prone to destroying cultures."
"Sticks and stones Doctor. I intend to use the power of the intelligence to benefit mankind. Once I sweep away this pedantic regime I shall install a more enlightened government and Earth will grow into a force that can repel the Dalek invasion due in the next couple of centuries."
"Meddling is one thing, but changing a nexus like that will destabilise established history. There will be questions asked, books will be written saying how much better the old history was and how the new history just isn't as good. Leave such matters to Borusa, he's a past master of double temporal historical accounting."
"Talking a lot of nonsense to stall for time is one trick that won't work on me, I should know because I'm using it on you."
"What do you mean?" The Doctor was worried.
"I have dozens of Yeti spheres being distributed around the capital as we talk." The Valeyard sneered; he hated to lose.
"Well in that case I shall go back in time and stop that scheme."
"Nice plan Doctor except that your TARDIS is under temporal clamp." The Valeyard laughed.
"Well in that case I'll have to go back to first principals." Come on you two we have a few things to do.
"Doctor, join me. Two of us could save the galaxy from a million wars and save untold billions of lives."
"I'm tempted, but the cost is too high." The Doctor and her new found companions left.


The BBC radio studio was deserted when they broke in. They found the necessary equipment and set up everything.
"Right Claire, switch on. David begin the signal." The Doctor set the signal for maximum output.


Across London hundreds of Yetis began to catch on fire as the control spheres were destroyed. Soon the remains were reduced to piles of dust as the bodies had burned at super hot temperatures.
"No, I will not be denied." The Valeyard cursed as he found the TARDIS. He disengaged the clamp and opened the door. Inside he tried to dematerialise but nothing worked.
"You tried that one on me once remember?" The Doctor was leaning on the open main doors. "You should leave, now."
"Yeah, listen to the Doctor. She's far better than you." David added.
"We shall see." A pale grey mist surrounded his body and he slid through the 'floor' of the TARDIS.
There was a slight hum of power and the internal lights flickered for a few seconds before returning to normal.
"He's taken the secondary console and part of the TARDIS, my TARDIS. I do hope the old girl will be all right. Well you two come in; come in. What would you say to a quick spin around the galaxy?"


Ten minutes later the twins found themselves relaxing on the red sandy beaches of The Eye of Orion. They might explore one of the old ruins later and there was the promise of adventure mentioned once or twice before. David began to swim in the warm seawater while Claire worked on not getting a tan by sitting under a large sunshade. The Doctor was going to have a swim later on and was dressed in a question mark covered swimsuit. She had fallen asleep however on a deck chair. Her book on comparative regeneration studies lay open on her lap. She had only reached the second chapter before she had lost the will to stay awake.

The dreaded introduction story, so much depends on establishing the Doctor from the get go.  There was also continuity to consider, the Valeyard namely.  I decided that both should come into being at the same time, creating a noble and heroic Doctor as well as an evil twin.  This of course also played into the introduction of the Doctors companions, David and Claire, pairing one off with each version of the Doctor initially before having both hook up with the ‘real’ Doctor and helping her defeat her nemesis.

I wanted to shake up continuity too, by having the Valeyard trying to bring forward the Yeti invasion of London a year, but ultimately being foiled and not many people even noticing the lumbering hairy beasties.

I imagined David and Claire as rather playful younger companions, kind of like Adric but likeable.  The Doctor would like their youthful energy and she’d mother them terribly, bribing them with sweets to behave and not get killed etc.

If I had to change anything I’m not sure I would.  I think the character we see right from the beginning has stayed throughout, she may have changed her outfits a few more times than her previous selves combined but she’s allowed to, she’s got taste!

A Fresh Start wasn't the very first story I wrote featuring the 13th Doctor.  What follows below is the very first sequence (which fits in between 'A Fresh Start' and 'Sherwood's Most Wanted') featuring her and her two dear chums...

*-*-*

END!

(Part 1)

"David, Claire." The Doctor called for her companions. "Come and have a look at this." She pointed to the plasma display screen that took up a whole wall of the six sided console room.  The Doctor was dressed in a rather more unusual outfit than many people might have expected. For a start a long flowing dress of dark greys and purples were a big clue. Over this she wore a pale purple, red and blue paisley blouse with a red ribbon tied around and under the collar. She sported a wine red jacket which had pockets crammed with many things, including a yo-yo and a half eaten bunch of grapes.

"What is it Doctor?" David asked, full of curiosity. He prefered a simpler mode of dress, opting for a green t-shirt and black jeans with one of the knees worn out.

"It looks like a Rumerian space freighter unless I'm very much mistaken." She held the tips of her jacket lapels with her thumbs and smiled. "Let's go and have a look around eh?" Her voice was filled with enhusiasm.

"Great a dingy space ship." Claire groaned. "I bet a bar of galaxy and hazlenuts we get captured within five minutes." Claire sported an all black 'goth' outfit that resembled a wedding dress in reverse. She had copied the look from one of the Doctor's many enemies but she drew the line at a beard.

"I have a toffee crisp that says we get lost in a maze of corridors before then." David stuck his tounge out at his bossy twin sister.

"Well we won't find out who's right staying in here will we."

They materialised. "Last one out buys the sweets. The Doctor activated the door control and allowed her two chums to beat her to the door again. They emerged to find themselves surrounded by a platoon of heavily armoured security types all pointing the business end of their rifles at them.

"This, is a rarity I must admit. Stay close you two."

"For goodness sake get out of the way." A trooper rushed towards them, grabbed the Doctor by her arm and dragged her towards the wall of guns. Another soldier retreived her companions.

"I take it this reception isn't for me? Good I hate to start off on the wrong foot. I'm the Doctor." She smiled, showing her ruby painted lips to full effect.

"What the hell are you three doing here? This is a secure ship and this..." The man's hand swept in a large arc. "Is a Bug hunt."

"Oh, well we just popped in for a spot of adventuring. You know how it is, exploring. Always after a new sight or place to discover."

"Er yes ma'am."

"Doctor." The Doctor prompted.

"I'm afraid well have to evacuate our of the danger zone until the ship has been secured. Trooper Garvey."

A seemingly identical looking security person appeared. "Yes Sarge."

"Take these civvies put of here and give them some food and water if they need it."

"Yes Sarge." Trooper Garvey escorted his new charges away from the others.

"I must say It's been a while since I saw a body of men move that well."

"The Sarge keeps a well trained squad."

They had just passed a conveniently placed bulkhead when all kinds of alarms and gizmos started to sound. Strobe lights put on a bit of colour not to be outdone. "Great, some excitement. Stay close now."

"Hull breach." The security guard stated.

"We should go and help, I'm rather good in a crisis."

"My orders are to take you to a secure area and give you any basic comforts you need."

"I suppose a seven course banquet is out of order mister." David joked.

There was an ominous harsh breathing sound and the Doctor found her jacket was being ruined by blood, Garvey's blood. Something had bitten his upperbody away.

"Claire, David."

"What?" They asked in unison.

"RUN!" The Doctor wished she had worn flats instead of heels...

the rest of the story (written by others as well as myself) can be found here...