Ace sat up as his head cleared. The evils were gone but the portal was still there. And closing. Ace made a dash for it.

Half a step away it snapped shut. Ace was stopped short by the wall a foot behind where the portal had just been. I couldn't have gone. But it had. He turned around and sat down in defeat.

"Where are they?" growled Sparx, sitting up off the floor.

"Power down, Sparx. They're gone."

Sparx stood up and brushed herself off. "So what are we supposed to do now?"

"I don't know. We don't have any pieces of the amulet…"

Sparx wasn't really listening. Her eye had caught something shining on the floor. She knelt down and picked it up. "Mark, you little…"

"Come on, Sparx," interrupted Ace. "It's not his fault."

"Yeah, but I bet this is!" Sparx held up the object. It was Mark's piece of the amulet.

Ace got up quickly. "He left his piece of the amulet."

"At least we can power up now."

"Yeah, I guess we'll just have to find out how we can get to the sixth dimension with only one piece of the amulet."

"So let's find out. Then we can fly in there, rescue Mark and kick some bad guy butt!" said Sparx excitedly, accompanying almost every word with an action.

Ace couldn't help laughing. "Alright, Sparx. Let's just figure out how first. And fast. The less time Mark's stuck with Fear the better."

Mark felt like he'd been on the worst roller coaster ride of his life. But the portal couldn't possibly have taken him to the sixth dimension. It was just a game, right?

"Welcome to the sixth dimension," said Lord Fear. "So tell me, mortal, what do you think of the Carnival of Doom?"

"I'll tell you when I can see straight," Mark replied. He was still feeling sick from the trip through the portal.

"Coward…" growled Random Virus.

"Don't worry about him, Random," sneered Dirty Rat. "Well destroy him later, along with Ace Lightning. Right, boss?"

"Correct, rodent," replied Fear. He glanced down at Mark, who hadn't moved off the ground since they'd arrived. Getting impatient he dragged Mark up by the back of his jacket. "Unless you'd like to change that…"

"No, that's fine…"

"Now, answer Lord Fear's question," said Staff Head.

Lord Fear let go of Mark so he could look around. It was just like the carnival at home, only bigger and darker. A huge, rusty ferris wheel creaked around in the near distance. It was the sixth dimension. It looked exactly like his video game. Only this was real. Something caught the corner of Mark's eye. As he looked over he saw what looked like a pair of glowing eyes wink out. "What's that?" he asked.

"Probably a good reason not to try and escape," said Lady Illusion. Mark wasn't sure if she was genuinely warning him or just being evil.

"Now get a move on it!" growled Lord Fear prodding him with Staff towards the Haunted House. Apparently without Duff around he'd decided to pick on Mark instead.

"I'm going!"

Inside, Lord Fear pulled out the pieces of the amulet. "With these," he explained, "I'll be able to return with an army to your pathetic world!"

Heck, what have I got to lose? thought Mark. "You're missing one."

Lord Fear looked at the pieces. "Don't play games with me! You're superhero buddy isn't here to help you. Just hand you're piece over."

Mark made a show of looking down his jacket – in reality he was just trying to work up the courage to answer. "Whoops," he said when he finally looked up. "I seem to have misplaced it."

Lord Fear narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean exactly?"

"I mean I left it behind on purpose," replied Mark levelly.

"What! Do you know what you've done?!"

"Yes. Without all the pieces of the amulet you can't get an army back to earth."

"You stupid mortal! There are other ways to travel between dimensions."

"Good, then Ace should be here anytime now."

Lord Fear growled angrily. How could this pathetic excuse for a lightning knight foul up his plans so many times? On top of that he was making him look bad in front of his evils. Lord Fear decided it was time to take control of the situation – permanently.

"Well it's too bad he'll have no one to save. You should know when you mess with Lord Fear you'll soon have to pay. And you're time to pay is right now. Anvil! Destroy him."

Anvil grinned. "I'm gonna crush the little lightning knight."

"Wait…" said Mark. "Couldn't we talk about this?"

"Not likely, mate," said Staff Head.

Mark backed up against the wall. Anvil was right on top of him. He raised his iron fist. Suddenly Random Virus was between them. "I think you might want to reconsider for a minute," he growled.

Yes, thought Mark. Random Virus' come around.

"Stay out of this lightning knight!" shouted Lord Fear.

"I am not a lightning knight!"

Or not.

"I just think we can use him to capture that coward, Ace Lightning. That's if he has the nerve to show up. After all you did say you wanted some insurance."

"Like we're going to buy that," said Staff.

"No, he's perfectly right," said Lord Fear. "The mortal may yet prove useful. Lady Illusion, take care of him. The rest of you, we've got work to do. And Rat," he added lowering his voice. "Keep an eye on Random Virus. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him."

"You can count on me, boss!"

"We can't get to the sixth dimension with only one piece of the amulet," said Ace, flinging Mark's magazine down on the table. Mark had left it behind at the Thunder Tower and Ace had been pouring through it for the past hour.

"So it's official now," said Sparx sarcastically.

"I just wanted to check, alright."

"Ace, we knew that already. We should be actually doing something instead of just sitting around in here!"

"What would you suggest we do?"

"Help Mark, hello!"

"How?"

"I… I don't know."

"Well neither do I," admitted Ace, slumping in his chair. Who knew what trouble Lord Fear was causing back in the sixth dimension, or what was happening to Mark. He was stuck all alone in another dimension. Ace knew how that felt. And as far as getting yourself lost in another world went the sixth dimension wasn't the best to pick. Hopefully Random Virus would look out for him if his good side took control. Thought as much as Ace trusted his friend he realised he couldn't really count on that.

"Stargate!" exclaimed Sparx abruptly, snapping Ace out of his thoughts.

"You missed it last night, so what?" he said, wondering how she could be worried about what was happening on TV. Lately she had been watching Stargate Sg-1 every week. Mark said it was just fiction and wasn't supposed to be real, despite the fact Sparx insisted it had to be as the ring shaped gate was exactly like the one in the sixth dimension, which was true. Ace had seen it himself and even used it a few times. The amulet was much more useful though as you didn't need a gate on the other end. Although, technically, if there was another gate you could get an inter-dimensional portal much the same as the one created by the amulet.

"Ace, I meant…"

"Wait," said Ace, understanding as Sparx began to protest, "you mean use this world's gate?"

"Yeah! It's exactly the same as the one in the sixth dimension. All we got to do is find it and dial ours."

"Mark did say it's just a TV show," Ace pointed out.

"It can't look just like ours and not be real. They must use the TV show as cover or something. So if someone tries to say they've got a stargate no one will believe them 'cause everyone knows it's just a show, hello!"

Ace looked at Sparx and just smiled and shook his head.

"Don't just stand there, Ace! C'mon, we've got to go find Cheyenne Mountain."

"I'm guessing that's where they keep the stargate?"

"Right," answered Sparx jumping on the lightning flash. "Only I have no idea where that it…"

"So we'll get a map," Ace shrugged. "I think we can pick one up from a place called a gas station."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I've been to one. The guy there was really helpful."

"Then let's go!"

Back at Mark's house, Fiona was doing some work in the kitchen when the phone rang.

"Hello, Fiona Hollander speaking," she said as she picked it up.

It was the school office. "Hi, Mrs Hollander. We were just wondering if your son was sick at home today."

"No," Fiona replied stopping what she was doing. "No, he's not."

"Oh." There was a pause on the other end. "Well, Mrs Hollander, I'm afraid he hasn't turned up at school today."