Freshman History IV: A New Hope

[The Doctor]

"No.... I couldn't show you glory, you want to see Samurai, Knights, Spartans you want to see the glorious human times. Those times weren't that great." The Doctor said, "But since you insist, I will teach you those times. Be prepared."

The Doctor went back to the fourteenth century in his head, and then he thought of feudal Japan. There weren't demons, a few aliens here and there, but he supposed he'd show them that too.

"First stop, 14th Century. Everybody in the Tardis." The Doctor went and opened the TARDIS door, walking in and letting them follow him in, having new kids in the TARDIS he knew he'd have to explain why the inside was bigger then the outside, or perhaps they'd understand for some reason or another.

[Jay Tsang]

The fuck is this shit?

Jiao Tsang was kneeling down, hovering over a fallen opponent in the confines of the school's rather impressive lavatory. Pristine white tiles covered the floor and walls; polished porcelain graced every stall and wall in the form of toilets and sinks. Mirrors remained untainted by smudged, oily finger prints, and even if they were, you could see your reflection in the faucets. Hell, the facilities even had a goddamn air-freshener that sprayed the shit every fifteen minutes or so. This washroom was loads better than the damn washroom at his elementary! At every turn this school surprised him; where he expected shitty prison conditions, he got polished, well-maintained facilities. Not that he was complaining.

Jiao brought the ziplock bag up to his face, inspecting the green, herbacious matter laying in buds within the plastic. Cocking an eyebrow, he thought, Huh, looks like oregano or tea or something. Next test. He pulled down the white surgical mask he was wearing, an 'X' drawn onto the front of it with a black sharpie, and snapped open the ziplock, bringing the open end of the bag to his nose, taking a large whiff. With another snap the bag was zipped closed, and with one final glance, he stuffed it into the pocket of his trousers. Smells like that herb gramps used to smoke in his old wooden pipe. Why does this kid have it? Guess I'll try it out later. The Chinese teenager rummaged through the unconscious boy's pants, pulling out a few crumpled bills, some change, a zippo lighter, and a conspicuous-looking cigarette. He transferred each item to his own pockets, and before stepping out into the hallway, pulled the mask over his face. Surveillance cameras make me goddamn nervous.

His most recent thought would explain why he was dressed the way he was: a white dust (or surgical) mask covered his lower face, and a light, grey touque made for spring covered his his head, although several ebony strands poked out of the edges in frays. His bodily attire was mostly generic; a fitting black t-shirt, navy blue camoflauge trousers, and a pair of brown steel-toed boots which thudded heavily against the tiled floors of the hallway as he made his way to class.

Jiao eyed each camera carefully, only stopping to flip the lens the bird whenever one looked his way, which was pretty much all the time. There was a reason why he was so drastically late, but that would be saved for when--and if he had to explain himself. The Chinese native walked up to the door of his class, which was listed in his convenient little MAC, or MAC-10 as he liked to call it. Once he figured out how to use it to its full capability, he grew quite fond of it. The pocket device was held up to the door, but as soon as it was Jiao replaced it into his pocket. Fuck it, and with that, the freshman cocked his fist back, sending several loud hammerfists at the door.

Being the egocentric prick he was, Jiao knew that knocking on the door in this manner would draw the attention of others to him before he had even stepped into the classroom, and once he did, all eyes would be on him as the inhabitants of the room wondered who the hell was making that racket. Even when he entered the classroom he wouldn't rid himself of his disguise; the cameras would see him walk into the classroom after he had traversed the hallways from the washroom, where a bloodied, unconscious, but not in danger student lay. There was no telling if there was a snitch in the class, or if the administration would be asking questions, so Jiao decided to play it safe.

[Matrim]

Matrim was already in the TARDIS before the Doc was inviting them in, he ran into the back where there were two bunks and he laid down on it. He was comfortable and ready to go, he waited for Alex and Reira to get inside the TARDIS as well as the new girl.....

What was her name again? Something like..... Naia that was it. Yeah.... I'll wait here for the rest.

Matrim heard a knock from outside the TARDIS, it must have been the classroom door.

Who in the hell knocks?

Matrim waited comfortably in the TARDIS for the class to move out. Happy that he was alive, with Reira, and being able to leave the school.

Come on Doc, let's get this show on the road. This is the one class that doesn't make me want to go to sleep. Literally, Gym teacher forces me to sleep, English teacher scares me to sleep, Astrophysics is way above my mental capacity. And don't get me started on Anatomy. Actually, anatomy isn't half bad.

[Reira]

Reira litterally jumped out of her seat when the Doc told them to get into the TARDIS. This class was going to be so much better than any of her other classes. This was her first time attending History class, but she heard the rumours and she knew what the TARDIS was capable of.

Leaving her notebooks at her desk (she wasn't planning on taking any sort of notes) she walked to the time machine. It appeared very small from the outside, but she knew it was quite roomy on the inside. She never really got her head around that fact.

Just before she entered the machine, she heard a loud, almost angry knock at the door. Either someone was cranky today, or they didn't know their own strength. Shrugging she thought nothing more of it. She figured someone else would let him in, or the student would actually consider opening the door himself, they did have a MAC afterall.

The interior of the TARDIS was exactly like how she remembered it from the last time she took a trip in it to England. Hopefully, this trip wouldn't be so scary. Moving around the central core, she made her way to the back bunk to where her boyfriend was.

"You look like your right at home. Move your legs so I can sit please," she said politely, anxiously waiting for Alex and the other girl to hurry up. She made a mental note to ask the girl for her name.

[Alex]

"No.... I couldn't show you glory, you want to see Samurai, Knights, Spartans you want to see the glorious human times. Those times weren't that great. But since you insist, I will teach you those times. Be prepared. First stop, 14th Century. Everybody in the Tardis."

And with that, Alex got up from his seat, leaving his bag and notebook behind and followed Matrim and Reira, into a....Police Phone box? Alex assumed it was the TARDIS, though honestly, knowing The Doc, the appearance outwards probably wouldn't match the appearance inwards. He was right.

Alex stepped into the TARDIS, but before he could take a look around, he heard loud banging issuing from behind him, it sounded like it was coming from the classroom door, what the hell? Who the hell knocks in this school, everything opens using the MAC, duh, but before anyone could go and open the door, the doors of the TARDIS closed behind Alex. "..." He shrugged it off and finally managed to take a look around, and he saw that the interior was more than big, it was huge!

" So this is the TARDIS..." he muttered, " Interesting." He saw Matrim had already made himself comfortable on a bunk in the back. He walked over, and heard Reira say, "You look like your right at home. Move your legs so I can sit please." Alex grinned, and moved to the other bunk that wasn't occupied, and sat down, making sure to leave some room for Naia to sit down. He looked everywhere, up, sideways, down, taking in everything inside the TARDIS. Come to think of it, this was his first time in here, it would be very interesting to say the least.

Getting comfortable, Alex waited for Naia to come, so that the History lesson could uh, begin, in a sense he guessed?

[Naia]

Naia got out of her seat and walked dubiously towards the red thing that Matrim had gone into. She didn't know what it was, but supposed it might be the 'TARDIS' that they had been talking about. The viper seemed to sense her unease so she reached down and touched it comfortingly.

Heading towards the doorway, she heard a banging on the door. Naia paused, wondering if she should do something about it. Glancing at Doctor, she eyed him curiously.

Going towards the 'TARDIS', she decided that the teacher could deal with a student that hadn't figured out how to use the MAC. Heading towards the 'TARDIS' her silk clothing swished gently.

Entering the thing, she paused in amazement. The shock of the inside being larger than the outside brushed away all thoughts of their destination. She hadn't wanted to ask and sound dumb about what everyone else was talking about, but Naia had no idea what a 'samurai' or 'japan' or 'ancient greece' were. She hadn't much memory of anything, and the last thing she wanted to do was stick out more than she already did.

Naia walked over and smiled at the three who were already there, and sat down. She smiled happily, "Where are we going, again?" Hopefully if she heard it once more, something would come back to her.

[Alex]

Alex continued to look around the TARDIS, it was amazing, it's outward appearance was very deceiving. He saw Naia look around, and could tell that she too, was amazed by it."Where are we going, again?" Alex looked around and then looked beside him as he saw Naia sit down beside him. He assumed that she didn't really understand what it was that he, Matrim and Reira were talking about, so he responded to her question.

" We're going back to the 14th century in Japan, the feudal era. In other words, a long time ago, around the time samurais were around." he explained to her. That was really the only decent explanation he could come up with. He didn't mind explaining really, after all, Naia probably wasn't from Japan, so she probably didn't know where they were going.

"Does that answer your question?" he asked, he really didn't know how to explain where they were going, until you actually saw where it was they were going. Uh, how to explain it? You have to see to believe, or something like that. Long story short, just look and you'll understand.

[The Doctor]

"Well then, I guess they shouldn't have knocked and just came right in then. People who knock on doors bother me... life's too short to feel akward entering a room, either that or they just want attention. Although I'll always be curious as to who it was outside the door. Oh well."

The Doc set the controls, he did so for the exactly era Alex named, and he ran to the back and retrieved five necklaces. He pressed the button and the cylinders above the control center started to shift up and down, the TARDIS roared to life and then spun through space and time to their destination.

"Everyone put one of these on, trust me, alright? We are here to observe, and that is IT!"

The Doctor handed out four of the necklaces and then placed one of them on himself, "These are perception filters. We aren't invisible with them on, but to everyone else, they just on default pay no mind to us, we..... blend in to the background, almost as if they feel like we aren't there at all. However, if you draw attention to yourself you can be noticed by the stronger willed. Otherwise if you remain quiet, we could bump into every person on the world and they wouldn't so much as notice us."

The Doctor lead the way to the door of the TARDIS. He opened it up, it was just an average village, feudal Japan had a lot of these, they would probably have to do a bit of walking to see anything of real interest but they would get there soon.

"Now then, don't wander off too far, feel free to speak, if you're hungry, I suggest twice before stealing something, you never know what diseases you might get from the food of this era. Now then, Alex, I believe this was your idea, why don't you lead the way?"

[Jay Tsang]

With one final fist pounding into the door, Jiao decided it was finally time to let himself in. That should be enough, he thought to himself as he reached into his pocket and retrieved the MAC. The receptionist that presented him with this compact device was right; Jiao felt very much like he had everything he needed for this prison in the palm of his hand. Holding it up to the door, the freshman waited for that 'click' to tell him that it was open before placing his hand on the knob, turning it and swinging the door open.

I could have sworn I heard people in here just moments go... Jiao's eyebrow was cocked as he surveyed the room. There was a slight disappointment felt by the Chinese boy, but he shrugged it off; a smile crept up onto his lips from beneath the mask as he thought, Guess I should make the best of this then, yeah? His hand reached back without Jiao looking behind him and closed the door. He cracked his knuckles and fingers, the audible popping noises of his joints loosening echoing throughout the barren classroom. The grin on his face only grew wider when he started off this one-man party by kicking down the desk nearest to him.

________________________________________________________

Jiao sat on the ledge of one of the classroom's window, arms crossed loosely over his chest, a triumphant smirk on his face as he imbibed the beautiful work of art laid out before him, that he had made. It's really quite beautiful.. whatever the fuck that means. Only a few desks were left standing; all the others were either knocked over onto the ground, smashed into pieces ranging anywhere from two to twenty, or both. Papers, writing utensils, staplers, erasers, pieces of chalk, tattered textbooks and notebooks, hell; anything you could find in a typical classroom was strewn about this one. A shelf had been knocked over, its contents laying amongst its fragmented remains. Initially, the shelf had not broken when Jiao pushed it over, so he had to stomp it into the tiles a few times before he got his desired effect.

He didn't exactly know how to break plastic and metal school chairs in half, so he didn't bother. Instead, he threw them around the room, knocking over several things including glass vases and other fragile objects. The chairs lay haphazardly about the room. The teacher's desk lay splintered in the middle, Jiao having pounded into it until it broke in half, only to subsequently kick it over like he did with all the student's desks. One thing, however, intrigued him; it looked like a phone booth of sorts, and seemed alien, almost dissident in the classroom. He had kicked it and shook it a few times, but refrained from actually knocking it over until he discovered what it was.

The Chinese freshman sat there with his chin in his palm, a rather contemplative look gracing his features. There was something missing in this beautiful picture. A vandalized room just wasn't enough; he wanted to go out with a bang. That's when he spotted it, laying on its side in a pool of wood chips, splinters, and sawdust. He picked up the cylindrical bottle, squeezing its plastic frame firmly within his hand, eyeing the warning label. The grin hidden beneath his mask couldn't get any bigger.

The bottle was placed on one of the few upright desks--the one closest to the window--and Jiao picked up a chair and pulled it up to the desk, sitting in it. He reached down with his hand to pick up one of the several sheets of paper distributed around him, and began folding a paper airplane, each crease being crisp; straight; perfect.

This is going to be one hell of a finale!

[Alex]

"Well then, I guess they shouldn't have knocked and just came right in then. People who knock on doors bother me... life's too short to feel awkward entering a room, either that or they just want attention. Although I'll always be curious as to who it was outside the door. Oh well." Alex made his bet it was someone who wanted attention, anyone with a half a brain knew to use their MAC to open the door in the school. He was glad he brought his wallet with him, if the person who had been banging on the door got in, they'd probably ransack the classroom, since their bags had been left there, with no one around, who'd stop the person from looting, right?

Alex saw The Doc set the controls, and then ran to the back and brought out five necklaces. The Doc then pressed a button and the cylinders above the control center started to move up and down, as the TARDIS roared to life, taking them to their destination. The Doctor then handed out four of the five necklaces, and Alex took one, slipping it around his neck.

"These are perception filters. We aren't invisible with them on, but to everyone else, they just on default pay no mind to us, we..... blend in to the background, almost as if they feel like we aren't there at all. However, if you draw attention to yourself you can be noticed by the stronger willed. Otherwise if you remain quiet, we could bump into every person on the world and they wouldn't so much as notice us." Alex nodded, as he looked carefully at them, they looked kind of...dorky, but hey, he didn't complain, they were going to the place that he had suggested.

He then saw The Doc lead the way to the doors of the TARDIS, as they opened, revealing an average village. Alex stared in awe at it, welcome to Feudal Japan. Alex followed The Doc out of the TARDIS and looked up, left, right, behind, it was so...peaceful. "Now then, don't wander off too far, feel free to speak, if you're hungry, I suggest twice before stealing something, you never know what diseases you might get from the food of this era. Now then, Alex, I believe this was your idea, why don't you lead the way?" " Sure Doctor." Alex replied, leading the way.

He passed by villagers, some had little kids running around, others had elderly people who were sitting and drinking tea, others still had young girls helping out their mothers cook. Most of the guys wore worn down hakamas and kosodes, while the girls and women wore kimonos. He even saw a dog tied to a sturdy post at one home, but the dog was fast asleep, curled up on the ground. " This...is incredible. It's so peaceful here, I wouldn't mind wearing a hakama and kosode, hey Reira!" he said, turning his head slightly to look behind him, " Maybe you should wear kimono one day, right Matrim?" he teased, grinning.

Turning to face the front again, he continued on through the village, and too soon, he reached the entrance way, ahead he could see hills and fields as far as the eye could see. In the distance, as he walked out of the village and passed by fields, he could see dust being stirred up, what the? " Hey guys, is that what I think it is?" he said, as he pointed to the spot, if his hunch was right, and it probably was, it was...

" Samurai..."

[Reira]

Before the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS, he commented on the student that was knocking profoundly against the door. It looked like the Doc, had no interest in letting the person in, well it sucks to be them, they were going to miss a great lesson. More or so at least.

She watched the Doctor set the controls and in no time the TARDIS was on its way. The ride was smooth as usual, no turbulence whatsoever. It didn't even feel like it was moving through time and space. Then the Doc started handing out funky looking necklaces. She put on a quizzical look when she was handed hers.

"These are perception filters. We aren't invisible with them on, but to everyone else, they just on default pay no mind to us, we..... blend in to the background, almost as if they feel like we aren't there at all. However, if you draw attention to yourself you can be noticed by the stronger willed. Otherwise if you remain quiet, we could bump into every person on the world and they wouldn't so much as notice us."

Well that was a relief! The last thing she needed was to be taken off as some hostage! Now all she had to remember was to remain quiet...yeah she could do that. Putting the necklace around her neck she grinned at it. "Haha..bling!" She said laughing to herself, she then stopped abruptly once she felt the TARDIS stop.

"Now then, don't wander off too far, feel free to speak, if you're hungry, I suggest twice before stealing something, you never know what diseases you might get from the food of this era. Now then, Alex, I believe this was your idea, why don't you lead the way?"

Reira stood beside Alex, eager to get out of the machine and explore some. Once she exited, she looked around with incredulous eyes. She couldn't believe it! She was really here..back in time..intense.

Walking around she did a full 360 and took the whole scene in. It was amazine. People were working together in unity in their peaceful village. Mothers taught daughters the way of the house, fathers taught their sons the way of farming. They all wore traditionall Japanese clothing. Reira smiled at the small children that ran around her laughing and palying tag.

"This is so awesome! I wish we didn't have to hide though, it would be twice as epic if we got to communicate with them..but then I guess things would get a little hectic if they saw us," she said to anyone that was listening.

" This...is incredible. It's so peaceful here, I wouldn't mind wearing a hakama and kosode, hey Reira! Maybe you should wear kimono one day, right Matrim?" he teased, grinning.

Reira snapped her attention from the scenery to Alex one she heard her name being said. A kimono eh? She then looked at the women all wearing lavish kimonos. They really did look beautiful in them.

"Me! Hahah!! Yah right, not even if I was held hostage and told I had to wear one or my life was forfeit! I mean, they are really beautiful...on them, but I don't think it would look good on me, " she said with a grin.

Turning to her right she saw a cloud of smoke on the horizon. It seemed to be getting closer. If one listened hard enough, you could hear the ground rumble. " Hey guys, is that what I think it is?" Her brow furrowed. "Horses...?"

[Matrim]

Matrim got out of the bed, walked out of the TARDIS to see another time, he grabbed the necklace and put it around his neck. It reminded him to ask Reira about the venetian glass ring, she might want to bring that with her when they get out of this place. After all, he was sure that Samara would like to see it, even if she returned it to her daughter, at least she would get the ring that was meant to be given to her from Luke.

" Maybe you should wear kimono one day, right Matrim?"

"Me! Hahah!! Yah right, not even if I was held hostage and told I had to wear one or my life was forfeit! I mean, they are really beautiful...on them, but I don't think it would look good on me."

"You know, that holding hostage thing could be arranged," Matrim said giving a devilish grin and then looking towards Alex, "I say we grab a kimono and bring it home with us."

" Hey guys, is that what I think it is?"

"Horses...?"

"Superman?" Matrim said joking, still focusing on the notion of Reira in a kimono.

" Samurai..."

Matrim looked, and sure as shit, Katana's, armor, horses and all. There were Samurai making there way to the village.

"Twenty bucks says it's Nobunaga Oda...... because it's just my luck...."

Matrim looked but he didn't see the tell tale armor of that samurai, he didn't even remember what time Nobunaga was around, "Wanna go get a closer look at them? Not like they are going to notice us."

[Naia]

Naia took the necklace offered to her by Doctor and slipped it around her neck. It was sort of odd looking, but she didn't mind it. He was saying something about the student outside the machine, but she wasn't listening. Instead, Naia was thinking about as much of Japanese history as she could. The girl had read a few books about India and there had been short mentionings of it in areas dedicated to china, for India and China had had close connections. Not much, though, about Japan.

Following the other students and Doctor out of the machine, she stopped in her tracks. People were everywhere, whose hair was thick and black like her own. Her eyes were wide as she surveyed the area.

There were simply dressed people everywhere, women and little girls, men and little boys. All were working, adding to the community. It was a good feeling, a peaceful feeling, standing there like that. She peeked through an open door that looked quite fragile, and she saw that some of the women were wearing lovely robes that she didn't know the name of, the fabric much the same to what she herself was wearing.

Following the other students, Naia heard them talking but wasn't really registering. She wondered if these people had ever heard of India, perhaps from Chinese or Korean merchants that she had read about. She longed to take off her necklace and ask, but knew that that would be troublesome.

"Hey wait for me," Naia said with a laugh, seeing that the other students had gone off towards a dust cloud that was growing bigger. Well, not a dust cloud, more like men on horses, approaching at a high speed. She thought she had heard one of the boys say the word 'samurai', and she wondered what that was.

"I hope they aren't going to harm the village." The girl said softly, wondering why the men on horseback were moving so fast.

[Alex]

"This...is incredible. It's so peaceful here, I wouldn't mind wearing a hakama and kosode, hey Reira! Maybe you should wear a kimono one day, right Matrim?" "Me! Hahah!! Yah right, not even if I was held hostage and told I had to wear one or my life was forfeit! I mean, they are really beautiful...on them, but I don't think it would look good on me." "You know, that holding hostage thing could be arranged, I say we grab a kimono and bring it home with us." " I doubt it Matrim, not unless you strip naked one of the girls here or steal one from their closet!" he laughed, as he turned his gaze to the front again, only to see a dust cloud up ahead on the trail they were walking on. "Hey wait for me," Alex heard Naia say with a laugh, as he slowed down to let her catch up to them.

"Hey guys, is that what I think it is?" "Horses...?" Close, but not quite. "Superman?" No. Hell no. " I don't think so Matrim, what would Superman be doing on a horse? The guy can fly!" Alex said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. As they got closer, Alex could see who it was that was creating the dust cloud. "Samurai..." "Twenty bucks says it's Nobunaga Oda...... because it's just my luck...." "You're on! Twenty bucks says it's not Nobunaga Oda!" Alex replied quickly, grinning at Matrim. "I hope they aren't going to harm the village." Alex heard Naia say softly, as he nodded in agreement, " Yeah, me too. That would suck bad."

"Wanna go get a closer look at them? Not like they are going to notice us." he heard Matrim say, " Yeah sure, let's go." Alex said, as he walked towards the samurai. As they got close enough, Alex saw that the armor the samurai were wearing were one's that were not part of Nobunaga's army. " You owe me twenty bucks when we get back!" he grinned at Matrim, as he saw the army had stopped and were making base, as he heard the leader of the army he supposed, speak.

" ...village, a traitor supposedly lives there! When night falls, we'll go to the village and search the entire place for him! Leave no home unsearched, we will find that traitor! Remember, it's been 10 years since that fool deserted us, so his appearance may have changed, but his fighting style has not! We will find him, understood!?"

" Yes sir!" " Good, we'll stop here and rest until night falls."

Alex literally went pale, shit, they were going to attack and tear the village apart, and they couldn't do anything about it, they could only watch, which, in Alex's opinion, sucked, they could do absolutely nothing, only watch helplessly as the villagers fleed in terror and fear. " Guys, did you hear what I just hear? Now what?" he asked, turning to face them.

[Reira]

The four of them stood beside each other, watching the approaching Samurai. Reira didn't like the look of them. They seemd to have bad vibes rippling off of them. She wasn't really paying attention to they guys' conversation, she only caught the fact that Matrim owed Alex $20. The one piece of conversation she did catch, came from the soft voice of her female classmate. "I hope they aren't going to harm the village." Reira nodded. "I hope not either." Her lips were a hard line on her face.

They were as close to the Samurai as they were going to get. It was close enough, Reira heard everything the leader said. " ...village, a traitor supposedly lives there! When night falls, we'll go to the village and search the entire place for him! Leave no home unsearched, we will find that traitor! Remember, it's been 10 years since that fool deserted us, so his appearance may have changed, but his fighting style has not! We will find him, understood!?" His men answered him with a 'yes sir'. They would leave by night fall.

Reira's face contorted to one of anger. This sucked! No one could see them, therefore they could do nothing to stop these samurai, let alone warn the village. Or was there? She found herself grasping her necklace with one hand, her mind thinking quickly.

"Guys, did you hear what I just heard? Now what?" Alex asked, turning to face them.
"I heard it all too well. There's nothing we can do...unless we.." Her hand once again reached for her necklace. "We could warn the villagers..It would probably scare them, but if we could prove that there are Samurai warriors awaiting to attack their village, maybe we can get them to evacuate." She took a step towards the small army. "Or..we could distract the samurai. I don't like them."

Yeah it was a crazy idea, but that poor village. The best option was to try to evacuate the village. They couldn't stand up to all the Samurai. They could probably distract them though. Heck, they could probaby distract anyone in this time and place with the clothes they wore.

"Maybe it's best no to do anything..would that change the timeline? If we can't do anything, I don't want to be here to watch."