A.N: This is hopefully going to be a continuing series, until I've reached 13 Ep.s Please, review. Thanx!
Episode 40
Random Virus is at the junkyard, playing dominoes with car doors. Mentally lining them up, then taking a swipe at them with his claw, when Ace and Sparx arrive.
"Hello, Lightning Knight," Ace greets him. Sparx just nods at him.
"Any sign of Fear?" Random asks them.
"Not a word, but when he shows his ugly face, we'll be ready for him," Sparx says confidently.
"What about Lady illusion?" Random asks again.
"What about her? She's in the Sixth Dimension, for real this time." Sparx doesn't sound to upset, but Ace gazes off into the distance at the mention of Lady Illusion's name.
"She'll be back," he says.
"Yeah but, there's no rush, right?" Sparx doesn't sound to happy.
"She sacrificed herself for me, Sparx. I owe her a lot."
"She owes me a lot. Perhaps you'd like to pay her debt, Lightning?" says a familiar voice. Lord Fear appears over the wall on the Doom Wagon, followed by his minions, who quickly placed themselves back under Fear's authority when Kilobyte disappeared.
"Fear!" Ace powers up his cannons, Sparx pulls out her sword, and Random raises his claw.
Fear cackles loudly, and aims his staff at Ace. The bolt of energy that spews forth from the crystal ball that Staff head is holding is a fiery orange colour. Ace jumps out of the way, and a stack of cars behind him bursts into flames.
"Defeating Kilobyte has increased my powers. It was in your programming, but it was a bonus for me!" He gloats.
"Googler's gonna getcha, girlie!" Googler curls up and bounces towards Sparx, who is ready for him.
Anvil clumps over to Random Virus. Claw meets Anvil in a huge explosion of sparks.
The Knights take a huge beating; it is evident that Fear and his evils are much stronger, before the tables start to turn. Random Virus sends Anvil spinning into the burning pile of cars. He fades away quickly. Sparx catches Googler off guard, and blasts him with her sword. It takes more energy than usual before he dissapears. Ace is dodging and returning fire with Fear mid-air, when the Rat flies into his face. Unable to see past the rat's expansive and poorly decorated stomach, Ace takes a blast from Fear, and falls to the ground.
"Ace!" Sparx crash tackles the Rat, and pins him to a wall with a spare piece of machinery, before crouching beside her fallen comrade.
Random is busy battling Pigface and Rotgut at the same time, and doesn't see Ace on the ground.
"Energy is low," Ace tells Sparx "I need more."
"Have some of mine," Sparx is about to place a hand over one of the bolts of lightning on Ace's chest, when Fear interrupts her.
"I'd prefer it if he took some of mine!" He blasts Ace again; Sparx dives out of the way just in time, and is left helpless.
Random looks up, and sees Fear. He tries to divert the energy flow, but is unable to.
"Ace!" Sparx yells, as Fear finally stops blasting him. She runs back to his side, as he starts to fade out, she tells him "We'll get you back, don't worry. Do Right and Fear Not."
Ace groans and vanishes. Sparx stands up, still staring at the spot where Ace had just been.
"You won't miss him for long," Fear cackles and aims at her, but his strength is weakened from taking out Ace, and Random Virus, who has just defeated Pigface and Rotgut, is able to divert it back to Fear. It knocks him off the Doom Wagon, and he lands on the ground, in front of an angry looking Random Virus and Sparx. Lord Fear looks around, his only remaining minion is Rat, who is pinned to a wall.
"I think it best if we leave now, 'm Lord," Advises Staff Head.
"You are right, my sturdy staff," agrees Fear, stretching out an arm and pulling himself up to the Doom Wagon.
"Now that we've destroyed Lightning, the rest will be easy to defeat when we're at full power." he rides off to the Carnival.
Sparx takes aim at him, but is stopped by Random Virus, who knows she'll only miss and waste energy. Sparx shoots the Rat instead, and Random Virus magnifies her lightning, until he disappears in a brilliant flash of light, right back to the Sixth Dimension.
"A life for a life," Sparx jumps onto the Lightning Flash.
"Where are you going?" Random asks her.
"To tell Mark," she answers, taking off.
"Ready, Dude?" Chuck bounces up the stairs, and into Mark's room, followed by Kat. They are going to meet Chuck's girlfriend at the cinema for a double date.
"Those cute green Martians won't wait forever, and neither will Jessica."
"Cute? They're like that thing on Lord Fear's staff. Ugh." Kat hadn't seen much of the evils, but what she had seen was more than enough for her.
"If you don't mind, I'd really like to forget about Lord Fear, Kilobyte, and any other evil video game character you'd care to mention," Mark tells them as they enter the room.
"That doesn't look too promising," Kat tells him, nodding towards his window, where Sparx has just pulled up on the Lightning Flash. She looks pretty battered, and when Mark pulls his window open she practically yells,
"Kid! Ace's gone!"
"What do you mean, Ace is gone?!?" Mark sounds confused. Behind him, Chuck fires up Mark's computer and sticks the Ace disk in it.
"Fear destroyed him," Sparx said impatiently "We need to go and get another piece of the Amulet and bring him back now!"
"Calm down, Sparx," says Kat. "Tell us what happened."
Sparx tells them the story, her words tumbling over one another in her rush. When she has finished, Mark steps back and shakes his head.
"No! It's impossible. Fear can't beat Ace. It's just so--"
"True!" Chuck interjects. "Check it out, Dude," He nods towards the computer screen "Ace is back in the ga-- I mean, the Sixth Dimension."
Ace hasn't told Sparx about the Sixth Dimension being a computer game yet, and the kids have promised not to mention it until he does.
The screen suddenly flickers to a blue background with black dots and dashes running through it. A high-pitched beeping starts chirping from the speakers.
"Sparx, I think Ace is trying to send us a message," Mark says to Sparx, who jumps in through the open window and stares at the screen, reading whatever's on it. Chuck starts reading it out to the others.
"Lightning Here. Am O.K. In 6D."
Sparx finds the enter key on the keyboard and starts tapping it. Chuck continues translating: "Sparx here. Sit tight. Will find piece of Amulet. Bring you back."
More dots appear on the screen.
"No. Will look for Lady I. and programmer."
"No way. Fear is strong. Need you here."
"Need to find Lady I. and P."
Sparx is starting to look annoyed. "Kilobyte is there. Can't beat him alone. Risk bringing him back with you."
"Have no choice. Sparx in charge. Will call when ready to leave. D.R.F.N."
The screen flicks back to the Ace files Chuck was looking at. Sparx thumps the desk in annoyance.
"What does he think this is, a game?" she demands. Chuck starts coughing, but Mark thumps him on the back.
"How are we supposed to beat Fear alone?" Sparx starts pacing the room.
Chuck goes back to the computer. "Uh oh. Fear's been upgraded. He's way stronger than before."
"Great," Mark groans and sits on the bed. "How are we even supposed to stay alive, let alone beat him?"
"Chuckdude," Sparx puts her hand on his shoulder "I need you to upgrade me."
"We're gonna need Jessica for that," Chuck looks at Mark, who nods reluctantly.
"We don't really have a choice,"
Chuck pulls out his phone and speed dials Jessica, who is waiting at the cinema.
"Chuck! You're late!"
"Sorry, jessica, but the movies are off for today. We're having an A.L. emergency at Mark's house, and we need you here Asap."
"Fine, but only because you know I'd pick Ace over a movie any day. I'll start walking."
A few minutes later Mark's mum shows Jessica into his room.
"Hi Chucky, Mark, Kat. What's this so-called emergency?"
Sparx is on the roof outside, leaning down to look through the window, which has been left open.
"We need to upgrade Sparx," Chuck is telling Jessica "Can we do it?"
"It's possible," says Jessica "But why bother? She's just the sidekick."
"Hey!" exclaims Sparx, before remembering she's supposed to stay out of sight.
She pulls her head out of view just in time, and Kat starts coughing. "Sorry, I had something in my throat,"
"What evs," Jessica looks at Chuck "So why is it so urgent for you to upgrade Sparx?"
"Um, something has happened to Ace, and she's the next in line."
"The only way that something can happen to Ace and you don't automatically lose, is if you're on some new level you haven't told me about. Chuck! You promised to tell me if you ever got onto a new level!"
"It wasn't Chuck," interjects Mark "I got onto a hidden level, and I really, really need Sparx upgraded. Can you do it?"
Jessica shrugs "No probs, it fairly basic. Where're her files?"
Sparx, sitting on the roof and thinking about what has happened that day, notices her fingers turning blue. The colour travels up her arms, down her legs, and right through her body. She is raised into the air for a few seconds before falling back onto the roof with a clunk.
"Ow,"
"What was that?" asks Jessica, sitting at the computer.
"Dunno," answers Chuck "Did it work?"
"It looks like it," Jessica stands up "The only real way of knowing is by running a few tests. Do you want me to?" she asks Mark.
"Uh, no. That's fine, there's no real rush, right?"
They're interrupted by Chuck's phone ringing. He pulls it out of his pocket and answers.
"Yello. Hi, mom. You're where?!? Are you O.K.? No, tell me now . . . What? Oh . . .right. Yes, I'm fine. I have to go now. Bye."
"Chucky? What's up?" Jessica asks him.
"That was mom. She's at the hospital."
"Oh, Chuck. Is she O.K.?" asks Mark.
"Um, she's fine. She just got the results from a test, she's . . .pregnant." There's silence for a few seconds, then Mark, Kat and Jessica start congratulating Chuck. He smiles and looks dazed for a moment, before passing out on the floor.