Phoenix (short story)

Phoenix was the first short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Indefinable Magic. It was written by James Goss. It featured the Eighth Doctor.

Summary
The Doctor is on the trail of a sentient book entitled "a bestiary of legendary and magical creatures". The Doctor tracks the book to Earth where it begins creating mythical creatures such as a unicorn and a phoenix. The Doctor, with the help of a talking cat and a house-bound neighbour, manages to defeat the book as it creates a dragon from human and animal body parts. After the Doctor leaves in the TARDIS, a strange rash on the house-bound neighbour transforms into the Doctor, who quickly defeats the book's final creation before dissolving into nothingness.

Characters

 * Eighth Doctor
 * The Bestiary of Legendary and Magical Creatures
 * Margaret
 * Fire
 * Marmaduke
 * A cat, given the power of thought by the book.

Continuity

 * Fire alludes to a point in the Doctor's future where the use of fire will cost the Doctor everything he has. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
 * Fire recalls the Doctor's escapades at Pudding Lane. (DW: The Visitation)