"We're going to need some space; we'll have to turn the power up to full this time around." Homeschool looked at the completed device. He'd already messed up once, and Homestar had paid for that mistake. They all couldn't afford for him to make another one. The house had already begun to dissolve around them. If this test failed, they would only have one more chance to try with their limited power supply. If the generator didn't fade out of existence before they finished with it, that is.

"Move it outside?" Mike suggested.

"Yeah. Yeah that'll work." Homeschool replied distractedly.

The three of them wheeled and carried the equipment out of the house to set it up outside.

"Where are you going with all that junk?" Strong Bad asked as they walked by.

"It's time to fix this mess." Matt responded.

"It's ready?" Strong Bad hopped off the couch. "That was fast."

"Let's just hope…" Homeschool found that he couldn't finish his sentence. It was his fault that Homestar was gone and he knew it. For a moment he wondered if it would have just been better if he'd never built the TranSphere, but he knew that if it weren't for his invention they would all be hopelessly lost against the digital decay that was overtaking Free Country. If I could have just worked faster… just five minutes…

"Homeschool!"

"Huh." Homeschool snapped out of his thoughts.

"Where's Homestar? Did you guys get him out of limbo yet?" Marzipan asked.

Homeschool opened his mouth but couldn't respond.

"They tried, Marzipan." Strong Bad answered for him.

"Tried? What's that supposed to mean?" Marzipan demanded.

"We lost contact with him… we don't know what happened." Mike replied.

"Oh." She looked hopefully at Homeschool, but he would not meet her gaze. Marzipan walked away without a word.

"We don't have much time, come on Homeschool. We need you to help us out here." Matt encouraged.

They finished setting out the equipment and Homeschool started the generator. "Stand back." He ordered over the rattling of the generator. Homeschool pushed the power button on the rigged computer.

Nothing happened.

"No…" Homeschool gasped. "No, everything was right! It was perfect! It should work!"

Strong Bad looked down and gave the computer a good swift kick. There was a whir as the cooling fan kicked on, and the green power light flashed to life. Homeschool stared at Strong Bad.

"What can I say… compys can get a little temperamental." He shrugged.

Suddenly sparks flew out of the computer and Strong Bad jumped back. The air in front of the computer shimmered and appeared to turn inside out as the TranSphere reversed itself. Then it split open and the portal appeared.

Homeschool felt hope flood back to him. He turned to Matt and Mike. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Mike replied.

"Ditto." Matt nodded. They leapt through the portal.

"Now what?" Strong Bad asked Homeschool.

"We wait. And we hope." Homeschool replied. Maybe we have a chance after all…

No compys were harmed in the making of this fanfic.