I thought it might be an idea to start a new section for this, seeing as the chances are some of them don't actually HAVE any obvious ideas.

We've been coming up with some fanon titles for the fourth Ace Lightning season. This is a catagory where you can select any name from that list and give a rough explanation of what you think could occur in such an episode. It can be a simple theory, for example

Dark Lady: a dark past story for Lady Illusion Delving into Gameverse.

Or a much longer explanation, e.g.

Reality Check: Sparx learns the truth about their identity as Videogame characters after peeking around in Mark's computer, cue great angst while Ace tries to explain to her exactly what reality is and why they still count as a part of it, despite their origins. The idea being for Sparx to work out that the circumstances of your birth are irrelevant - its what you do with your life that matters.

Mark and Chuck, meanwhile have gotten snowed in at school with the other students and use the time to go over some of the old clip scenes of their past with ther CGI's (so it's sort of a clipper show with less clips) while at the same time, villians attempt to storm the school and they have to keep it a secret from the other stuck students. Thus pretty much everyone reaffirms what their battle emans to them and why they're fighting in the first place. One of those eps, basically. ;)

...that makes little sens eit's just to give you an idea.

You know, this is a bit of a fanfic challenge. :P

Portrait of a Ruined Dimension:

LI has managed to rescue Ace from the plains of White Hot Oblivion in the Sixth Dimension. However, their world is falling apart, people they once might have defended and thought of as real fragmented minions, and they must find the portal, save their world, and deal with reality. (And also, perhaps, rebuild their relationship, which has been shattered by events around them.)

Meanwhile, in the real world, Sparx is getting worried (only about Ace, though), and trying to hold things together, with Random's help...for now. Kat's concern, though, is the upcoming school dance: since her report on the carnival was torpedoed, she really wants to get a scoop there, but Heather (who's having trouble getting a date) also wants to claim the story. Mark and Chuck are considering ditching the thing entirely to save the world, but their girlfriends insist that they take some time off to enjoy life, and Kat even suggests to Sparx that she turn up, just to observe from a distance and get a break. (It's the usual teen romance drivel, I know.)

The villains turn up at the dance, of course, especially since Heather accidentally incorporated a piece of the amulet into the decorations, but Sparx manages to fight them off with Mark and Chuck. The heroes manage to recover the piece of the amulet in question, not without costs, and Chuck decides to try to use it to open a portal to the Sixth Dimension...if that's possible. Sam has also turned up to the dance with an equallly partnerless Heather, and they both wonder what on earth is going on.

Random, though, is starting to lose control of himself, and as he gets angrier in the Thunder Tower Ace's face appears on the television screen for a second...

The Sixth Dimension is in peril, and though Earth has been saved, for now, how much longer will it last? And how much longer can everything be kept a secret?

Ooo... you're gonna write this, right?

Fourth series? :huh: Did I miss the third series all in one day!?

New Game: After one of Rick's old friends in the game company he works in downloads files from Rick's mainframe, he creates Ace Lightning 2, which contains Kilobyte's alter-ego, Scrambler in it. As Mark, Ace and the other heroes go to try and stop Rick's assosiate, Lord Fear gets another piece of the Amulet and summons Scrambler to Earth. Scrambler and Kilobyte battle to prove which is the real Cyber Stalker. Meanwhile, Random is having difficulties controlling his evil side and goes to Rick for help, but the Master Programmer inflicts more pain on Random by trapping him in the datastream.

Pirates of the Datastream
Lord Fear attempts to use use all of his Amulet fragments to summon forth a gang of villains, but during the process, the Lightning Knights interfere, and Sparx and Lady Illusion are sent back to the Sixth Dimension, where they are attacked by pirates and taken hostage on their ghost ship. Its up to Ace and Mark to venture into the game and find the girls before the pirates do something bad with them. But Mark is juggling stuff including a date with Kat and promising to go fishing with Simon.

Rotgut's Revenge
After being shunted by everyone, Rotgut leaves the carnival and goes exploring. The villains search for him (not knowing why), but end up battling Ace and Sparx. Chuck gets stalked by Rotgut, who wishes to actually kill him this time. Rick upgrades Rotgut so now he has a gun. Can Chuck defend himself, or will Rotgut change him into a zombie?

Destiny of a Dimension
As the Sixth Dimension continues to fade away, its protector, Destiny is awoken. She enters Earth via Rick's computer and tries to stop Kilobyte from destroying the Lightning Knights, who have guarded the dimension for years. Destiny manages to rebuilt the Amulet, but the power it holds is too strong and transforms Destiny into a mortal. As Ace and the others fight the villains, Kilobyte and Destiny fight, and Kilobyte slays Destiny in a very harsh way.

The series runs in a certan way - we say that there are two SERIES - there are two seasons in series one - from The game beings fo Ace's wild and from the ep after that to the end of the series. Then there's the third season which we've just seen, which is the first season os series one and we don't let have a fourth.

Here is a new episodes which I might put into my fic:

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover
Chuck finds an odd book within the school library. After showing it to Ace and Sparx, they discover it is the legendary Book of Zoar, which tells of how the Amulet was created. Unfortunately, Mark stubbornly takes the book after getting jealous of Chuck again, and Lord Fear gains the book. As the boneman attempts to create a new Amulet, the Lightning Knights must fight their way into the carnival, before Lord Fear uses the fake Amulet to destroy them.

Nice :) I don't think it could work (or would happen) in canon and a bit stereotypical, but it's possible a book could've come out of the game too - clever idea Rotgut. :)

Btw you're supposed to quote the name of the episode in the "episod4 titles" section and then come here if you wanna give an explanation of it, Rotgut.

Was wondering if you would be able to affirm of refute this suggestion for one of your ep titles, Sarah:

The Sixth Arc – interesting title, one of those which from the sound of it, could relate to either fantasy or science fiction.

Apparently an “arc” is also defined as ” discharge: electrical conduction through a gas in an applied electric field “ – clever, Sarah. So something to do with electricity, obviously, which links to the Knights.

And six is a number traditionally associated with emotion, but, rather than the passion of number four, it is a more sensual emotion directed at stability.

So the Sixth Arc is some sect of the Lightning Knights, perhaps? Or a portion of the code dealing in the distribution of their powers? I also recall that lady illusion has several gaseous attacks which could relate to the electrical current theory raised with the definition of the word “arc.”

Or maybe your ep is supposed to be significant of an episode which reveals incredible power of an emotional nature?

Zoar-Damn it, we have got to make the episodes to go with this :P

Pride of Place – Lightning Flash - that sounds like the kind of episode which could relate to the status of the characters – I.e. Sparx’s status as a Sidekick, mark’s status as a Lightning Knight when he isn’t one technically, Random’s status as.. .well you tell me and lady Illusions as “skeletons office ornament – turned hero’s lover, which is technically another stereotype in itself. I like it Anna ^_^

Scarab--love your theories of the Sixth Arc title. I was thinking of a combination of that sort of "discharge" meaning, involving emotional changes, and the meaning referring to a part of a story: ie., for the sixth time a certain pattern of events occur, but this time, the characters break free of the cycle. I was also thinking of 'Sixth Dimension', which'd have to be involved somehow. :)

How's this?

Pieces that move Diagonal:

The Chessmaster, who was once programmed to be one of Lord Fear's Corrupt Advisors, has taken over the Sixth Dimension in its present state of chaos, and changed the area into a living chess game--for which he needs to collect more players, as he's got several spots open on the team. Ace and LI, still trapped in the Sixth Dimension, must use all the resources that they possess to avoid being forced to play White Knight and Black Queen. He plans to add to his collection using those on Earth, and once the Chessmaster wins his game, he'll have enough power to make Earth his playground, or so he thinks.

Back on Earth, Chuck is gearing up for the yearly brain-challenging day, a school occasion which is a combination of science festival and clubfest, and as he's in so many, it's going to be a big day for him. Same goes for Heather, who's also organising the whole thing, and is thoroughly stressed out and snapping at people every which way.

Mark, meantime, is worried. Sparx seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth, and Random has secluded himself in the junkyard. He's only a human, but what can he do in the face of evil?

Sneaking around the Carnival, Mark overhears a conversation between Lord Fear and Kilobyte, and discovers that they don't consider him a serious threat at all.

Chuck is interrupted during the science trivia challenge with a message that Heather passes on to him, that Ace needs him.

Mark discovers that Sparx is being held behind a fence again, trapped at the Carnival and guarded by Anvil and Pigface. He wants to rescue her, but his powers aren't up to the task, and he's forced to run away.

Chuck is able to get in contact with Ace by "borrowing" a computer from the science booth, and helping Ace by suggesting the right moves to make in the Chessmaster's living game. Mark comes in at the point when he's muttering something about "pieces that move diagonal" being of help even if they look kind of weak at first, and Mark realises the message of what he's trying to say.

With Chuck's help, Ace and LI are able to defeat the Chessmaster, but the 6D is now on the point of becoming swallowed up by White Hot Oblivion, and without a piece of the amulet or Sparx they don't have the chance to open up a portal.

Mark and Chuck leave the fair abruptly and are noticed by a rather upset Heather (who is told off by Kat), and agree that they're going to have to save Sparx. Chuck makes a distraction for Anvil and Pigface while Mark blasts away, and Sparx is able to summon the Lightning Flash and fight with them. Kilobyte is staggered by the revelation that two humans have actually beaten him, and resolves to take them more seriously in future.

Ooh, nice Sarah. Very nice - dig more Heather time :P

It's pretty amazing how we can deal the same story title, with the same overall theme and moral message and yet come up with such entirely different stories. The chess master - I've heard of the archetype and it rocks - write it :D We had some similarities. There’s another fanon theory – Chuck is very good at playing chess ^_^. That’s my boy.

This was better suited for a Fanfic (that’s where the idea started) than an episode, theory’s a bit advanced for an ep. But with some tweaking I could probably make it work for either.

The fic beings with Random being back in the sixth dimension for plot purposes. No chess masters for me, but again I used the theory of the humans playing an important role because they thought in a different way. It starts out one evening, with Mark playing chess against Sparx – badly. As it is, he should have an advantage because Chuck is secretly giving him hints from behind Sparx, trying to signal a move to him that Sparx is trying to make. Mark ignores it. He’s gone for a method of trying to take all the opponents pieces one at a time – taking them out one by one, instead of using more intelligence to work out a checkmate in fewer moves without having to get rid of all the pieces.

Sparx only has three pieces left on the board, a pawn, her king and a bishop, with Mark having only a couple more (Sparx went for the quantity over quality move too – which is her style, I think: to blow up as many pieces as possible instead of working out a plan). Mark looks like he’s going to win – but, as Chuck was trying to tell him, he’s overlooked her pawn, which Sparx moves to the other side of the board, allowing her to reclaim her queen and place it in a position which forces him into a checkmate (and my nine-year-old cousin beat ME in chess using that very method >_<. How humiliating). Mark thinks he should’ve gotten that pawn while he had the chance, but Chuck says he could’ve taken the bishop instead – he lances off into this long explanation which mark only half listens to (and gets) about how if the bishop hadn’t been there, Sparx couldn’t have pulled off the checkmate anyway. Sparx needed her bishop, even if it didn’t actually play the final blow.

Sparx’s answer is something along the lines of what the heck is he talking about, “I just wanted to kick his king’s butt!’ Chuck’s response is a bit of an obvious “you can’t attack the king, you can only checkmate him” but nobody’s listening.

That’s when Mark gets a call from Kat – sounding frantic. There’s a major blaze going up at a store in town. Just take a guess which building is currently being burned to the ground. They arrive to find the computer shack in flames, the streets crowded and firemen going full tilt to stop the flames spreading into neighbouring buildings.

They don’t actually know if Rick Hummel was IN the fire –nothing has been found, (and there’s probably a lot of theories about why a body would be destroyed and explain that or something but I don’t think canon could deal with it.) Kat is unusually depressed about it – it turns out she calls the fire brigade and she thinks she could’ve done it sooner and maybe there would’ve been less damage, and if someone WAS actually in there…. Mark points out that there were probably other people who called the fire brigade sooner. Anyway the fire is put down to vandals.

This whole situation has them rather subdued not only was there a possible loss of technology, but a chance that someone’s dead. A very GOOD chance. Even Ace gets to do some thinking about it- he knows what it’s like to watch someone die or to know it’s happened. When it happens to someone close to you, it’s agony. But even watching is happen from afar is a strange feeling. He can’t help feeling sorry, despite all Rick has done – he was still a human being. Nobody deserves to die in that awful way.

Well of course the Master Programmer is NOT dead, he feigned it, in an attempt to escape Kilobyte (and thousands of pounds of unpaid debt may have something to do with it too - heck running a shop you don't actually USE is gonna cost money) rather he’s busy forming an alliance with Fear – this is his chance to destroy Ace and give Rick control of Kilobyte again, who he is also blaming for the destruction of his shop and all his hardware (thank you, RPers, for filling in that rather substantial gap in my theory - the only difference is, Rick here doesn’t have insurance :P). His part of the deal includes that he helps Fear find another piece of the Amulet. Not that Rick actually plans to give Fear the piece he finds. But he’ll need the evils help to locate it, so it’s best to pretend for now.

It’s Jessica, practising some new hacking skills, who realises that there’s still a signal to one of Rick’s computers while she’s helping Chuck fix a computer problem, trying to remove a bug in his system – it’s the laptop Rick still has with him. Chuck realises the significance of this. Apparently Rick’s feigned his own death and they’re at a blur to wonder why. The idea that he might align with Fear seems unlikely, but hey, Ace did it, who says it’s past Rick?


Meanwhile, Kat’s stressed out at school and there’s nothing Mark can do to change it, she actually misses editorial meetings and gets Heather mad with her and she won’t tell Mark why. Mark ends up playing chess against Chuck – getting thrashed because he’s too depressed to pay attention, who’s still going on about the game the other day, Mark looks at a Knight and wonders aloud if that’s what Ace feels like sometimes. But Chuck says Ace reminds him more of the queen. That makes Mark burst out laughing (for obvious reasons) but Chuck is serious – a piece that thinks and moves differently to others. The most powerful piece on the board. So who’s the king? Chuck can’t answer that. He supposes the king is our world – the thing the queen is trying to protect.

But Mark’s confused – which pieces are they supposed to be? He feels like a pawn a lot of the time. Small and only able to make small moves. When it comes to every area of life, not just the "game". And it’s not easy for him to explain this metaphor to Chuck. Chuck points out, though, that if they’re pawns, they might as well make the most of it – he says to remember how important Sparx’s pawn turned out to be. It became so much more powerful than it should have been. To use the tagline Sarah gave me: (Thanks Sarah :D). “Usually, when the pawn reaches the end of the board, it turns into a queen. But the player can choose what they want it to become, and sometimes, they'll choose a Knight." It’s a humorous metaphor but that’s about it right now.

Sparx runs into Kat at the carnival, noticing she’s depressed and more snappy than usual, and tries to cheer her up. Kat gets annoyed because she thinks someone is going to notice Sparx, but that’s not the only reason why she’s frustrated. Sparx wants her to tell her why she’s upset and Kat eventually cracks and starts telling Sparx how she felt she could’ve done more to help at the fire. Sparx’s response is a rather tactless “hey dying isn’t so bad” – and Kat remarks that she always barging through stuff in straight lies without thinking what the consequences will be. (Just like a castle on a chess board, I suppose, though Kat doesn’t use that metaphor.)

Rick, meanwhile, has located a piece of the amulet, and Kat overhears his conversation with Staffhead, (lets just say her guilt trip pretty much vanishes when she realises who he is). She has missed Sparx but runs back to the Thunder Tower with the information. Meanwhile. Kilobyte has found the Master Programmer and catches him off guard. Rick thinks Kilobyte doesn't know he has found an amulet piece, and he sure as hell ain’t going to tell him. Not that he needs to, what with Kilobyte having mental access to his programs –it turns out that because of Kilobyte's link with Rick’s system, he’s known that the Programmer was alive and at work all along. Plotting against him.

Kat tells the others about the amulet piece in the carnival and they go there, leaving a note for Chuck and Mark to follow them as soon as they get back home –but it’s when the Knight’s are arriving to claim the amulet piece that Kilobyte’s trap is sprung.

Mark and Chuck arrive at the carnival mid battle. Kilobyte tries to get the location of the amulet piece out of anyone he can and finds Chuck's attempts to defend the others with the Lightning Lance rather amusing. He’s just a boy - what harm can he do? Of course, he doesn’t realise Chuck has his laptop.

Mark meanwhile, is a little preoccupied with one of Kilobyte’s tentacles around his throat. He tries to fight back but Ace is yelling, trying to warm him not to – struggling will just make the energy drain work even faster.

Chuck boosts the Knights with the flame upgrade and the battle goes into full swing. And that’s when Mark realises that he’s the bishop – Chuck is the pawn and he has the power of the game right in his hands in the form of Mark’s laptop and the computer game, and his programming skill. He’s going to give Ace and Sparx a boost they need to fight back – but they’re going to need the bishop to make his final move. All the pieces play a part in the game.

Mark knows now that he’s not SUPPOSED to be there for this battle –because he’s got to be there to help in the final checkmate– he’s got to be the one to retrieve his amulet piece. The question is whether or not Kilobyte has the sense to know he has to take out a bishop, and I'm guessing KB has never played chess. Mark has no choice –he has to do what Ace says and hope he can trick Kilobyte into stopping the energy drain before he goes too far. He has to watch his friends fight without him, and wait for his move. And that’s not easy. It reminds him of being a kid again – too weak to do anything to help in a battle with no choice but to run. He now knows how Kat felt – just standing there feeling like there’s nothing her can do.

He stops fighting against the grip, effectively playing possum, and eventually Kilobyte drops him, convinced he’s done his job, and goes instead for Chuck, knowing he can’t harm Ace and Sparx while the flame upgrade is active – he wants to destroy the source of that upgrade. But lets not forget, Chuck’s been upgraded too (not literally, of course, he hasn’t turned into anything else) but he uses the computer to boost the Knights further and help keep Kilobyte away. I suppose he chose to become a Knight, rather than a queen too. :)

Mark, with Kilobyte convinced he’s been taken care of, manages to get to the amulet piece. He puts the pieces together, Random is brought back from the 6D and luckily, he's in a good mood. With the added firepower Kilobyte’s defeated.

Mark realises just how much of a difference one person can make, and how important even the smallest people can be. People might not be as weak as they appear, and they just have to do the best they can and hope it’s enough when the time comes. They might just find they surprise themselves.

Yay! That is BRILLIANT. :D :D :D

I'm not sure Chuck would be that good at chess, maybe because he seems more of a science nerd than humanities nerd, but it would be really interesting to have him give that exposition and make the metaphor. (And you used my Ace = Queen idea, squee!)

Price of Freedom

There is no sign of Kilobyte or Lord Fear on Earth due to interdimensional troubles, and the Knights and LI are left to their own devices. They now know about the programming issue, and decide that this qualifies as freedom. Sparx stalks off to brood about being enslaved by mortals and Random does the same, and Ace and LI decide to leave them to think and go in disguise into the mortal world.

Mark and Chuck are also enjoying a day off saving the world, but Mark gets harangued into a difficult position by Heather, and doesn't feel like he can rush off to the Carnival as he usually did at difficult moments. Neither does he have much confidence to tell her off, though Kat remarks that he still has the SGoD and it's ridiculous to let her trample him when he's just saved the world.

During class, Mark's phone rings and he answers it eagerly, but it's not Ace; it's actually his mother, who wants him to pick up sausage rolls for a party tonight for her workmates. He agrees to it, but Chesebrough makes him switch off his phone--which, as Chuck tells him, doesn't matter, because Ace isn't going to have to call him to ask for help in a battle, right?

Ace and LI are trying to enjoy the sights and sounds of Lancaster, but they end up wandering into the less reputable area of town, and are shocked to be attacked by a human mugger. They do end up disarming him and walking off, but it's a surprise especially for Ace to realise that the human world isn't perfect. They end up having something of a fight, and realise that their relationship isn't exactly fairytale either, for all they risked for each other.

Sparx doesn't understand what she's supposed to do with herself now she's not a Knight any more (as in RP) and she takes the split amulet pieces and practices throwing them (in a Very Symbolic Manner) into electricity poles, because they're of no use to her or anyone any more.

Back to Chuck and Mark, sitting in class and being bored, and Chuck remarks that he already misses being a hero. Mark replies that it's great not getting shot at all the time, but he isn't entirely convincing. Heather hears the last few words of their conversation and she remarks that being shot at puts one on an adrenalin high, just like in the latest action movie she saw the previous night, and she goes off on how boring life is. Mark and Chuck try to ignore her, but they don't seem to have the confidence right now to shut her down.

One of Sparx' amulet pieces hits the wires itself, and causes much sparking. The result ends up being an upgraded!Sparx, who turns up back at the Thunder Tower and tells Ace and LI that she's going to try to do something worthy of her powers, because if she can't be a hero any more she may as well find something that she can do for--or to--the humans.

End ep with Ace looking really worried about Sparx' new massive upgrade and her vow to start making her own choices, which aren't going to be Knightly any more.

OOoooooooooo I'm liking it :D That RP has helped us come up with some pretty incredible ideas, hasn't it? And upgraded!Sparx! Cannot beat that.

Why won't they make a new series, damn it >_<, we could write one without even trying and we could even do as good a job as the writers ^_^

Knight Fall (Flash's)

Reading that you think about a Knight getting wiped out… in… the dark? :unsure:

Oh okay, so I can probably do better than that :P. I was thinking possibly of this being an episode set at night in the same manner as Not Alone At Home, but with a more haunted atmosphere. Contracting the word Knightfall into one word would give that image without you having to actually kill something. This ep could be focussed around a night attack, during some kind of unexpected evacuation of a street due to, say a burst mains or something resulting in a battle with the evils with a whole street standing in the darl... don't ask, personal experience :P well someone elses personal experience, I only got there at five :P?

I can see this being the title of a second of last series episode and seeing the sixth dimension appearing in the night sky above Conestoga hills, twisting the sky vivid shades of green yet still being dark as midnight. (I don’t know why I think the sky in the 6D might be green I just… do I guess :unsure:.)

Knightmare:

One of my own (title taken from one of my fave TV shows, as you already know– one of these days I’ll get challenge TV and see it again :( One of the characters was rather appropriately Called Lord Fear :P). Assuming that Knights sleep I can see them having some pretty odd dreams, and an ep. like this could possibly take the form of a clipper-show featuring those dreams, or possibly rolling out the back stories of some of the characters. On a deeper note, it could be hallucinations rather than dreams. They're more of a human thing, though.

Knight Fall

Pretty much an ancient PB, and I tend to Like Scarab's idea better (also more what I had in mind), but meh. I need to get this down. :P

Simon's brother Jeremy comes for a week long visit, and Mark is really excited. He's been talking about it at the tower, and both Ace and Sparx are getting sick of hearing about him. Ace also seems more than a little jealous, after Mark uses the term 'childhood hero'.

The day that Mark's uncle arrives, a mixture of boredom and curiosity has Ace and Sparx sitting on Mark's roof waiting to see him. He's surprisingly young, and it seems that Mark has inherited his colouring.

Ace's jealousy flares as he sees Jeremy rough-housing with Mark on the front lawn, and he mumbles darkly at Sparx, who doesn't seem to hear him. He repeats himself twice before glancing at her, amazed to see she's looking at Jeremy in much the same way he looks at LI . . . .

A few days later, Ace is nearly driven to distraction by Sparx' odd behaviour and annoyed by Mark's preoccupation. He decides to find out for himself why everyone is so hung up on Jeremy, and follows him into town.

It turns out that Jeremy is involved in some shady business, but Mark and Sparx both refuse to listen, accusing Ace of jealousy. Chuck and Kat are more understanding, and agree to keep an eye on Jeremy.

On the second last day of Jeremy's visit, Ace tries to stop Sparx from going Jeremy-watching, but, as usual, she doesn't listen. She finds Jeremy with a couple of heavy-set guys, your typical thugs. They suddenly start laying into Jeremy, and Sparx jumps to his rescue.

Chuck and Kat, who had been following Jeremy too, see her and join the melee. Sparx soon has the thugs knocked out, leaving a stunned Jeremy and worried Kat and Chuck.

Chuck and Kat take Jeremy to the Thunder Tower, where they meet up with Mark and the Knights, including Sparx who they sent ahead.

Explainationes ensue, during which it is revealed that Jeremy was just using his family as a place to stop while he completed some 'business'. Mark is bitterly disappointed in his uncle, and Sparx clearly is too. Mark and Jeremy cut a deal; they won't tell Jeremy's family, and ultimately the police, if he promises to keep quiet about Ace and co. Jeremy is reluctant to agree at first, but Sparx is quick to make him see he has no choice.

Later that night, Ace and Sparx are alone at the Tower. Ace finds Sparx sitting on the roof (the fannon place to ponder, no? :P ) and asks if she's okay. She says of course, and that she wasn't fooled by that jerk for a minute. Ace admits she was right when she'd said he was jealous, and she tells him he'll never need to be. Cue Mushy Bonding, before Ace goes to watch TV. Sparx smiles as he goes, but we catch a glimpse of a sad face, over which Mark monologues about the nature of heroes, before the credits roll.

Blah.

OOooo I love it :D *is liking Jeremy already* poor Sparx! She needs a hug, somebody give her a hug. *Looks around and sees noone is about* ah well...

*huggles Sparx. Will probably get blown off with the SoJ but she doesn't care :P*

Rotgut hug Sparx...

Aww :P that's cute, Rotgut.

And here are the episode names which I DID put in the Episode Titles topic, with their descritpions. These will become chapters in my fic, so now asking questions.

Fire and Water
Sparx gets upgraded by Chuck and is able to shoot fireballs from her sword. Mark becomes worried in case Sparx goes a bit reckless with her new upgrade, but Chuck tries to reassure him. Meanwhile, Ace tries to rescue Lady Illusion from Lord Fear and Kilobyte, but retreats when he starts losing power. At that point, Dirty Rat discovers another piece of the Amulet and Lord Fear summons an odd liquid monster to the carnival. The creature appears to be a mute, so Lord Fear calls it Liquidizor.

At school, Kat reveals to Mark that she has given up on her report on the carnival, which angers Heather, who ends up getting suspended after throwing milk all over Mr. Chesebrough. Chuck enters, saying that the entrance of Molto has become short-lived as she has disappeared.

Molto sits in a warehouse, thinking back to the past. In a flashback in gameverse, Molto (in the game) approaches the Thunder Tower, and is confronted by Ace. The two talk and Molto believes that she was just chosen for the Lightning Knights because of her powers, but Ace thinks differently. Back to present time, Molto looks at her fiery body and calls herself a freak, before angrilly throwing a fireball into a fuel tank...

Ace arrives in the carnival with Sparx and even a reluctant Random. Lord Fear and Kilobyte surprise the knights and while Random and Ace tackle with the two, Sparx encounters Liquidizor who traps her in his liquid watery body. Ace appears and fires a lightning bolt which electrocutes Liquidizor and Sparx. Liquidizor is defeated, but Sparx is badly wounded and Ace has to rush to the tower, before Googler makes it worse.

Sparx is recovered thanks to the fire upgrade and she goes out on her own to deal with Liquidizor. It is fire vs. water as the two battle. Ace eventually comes to help, and scolds Sparx, but ends up getting captured by Kilobyte. Sparx uses her sword's fire ability and fries Kilobyte and Liquidizor. Mark and Chuck appear and open a portal which leads back to the ever shrinking Sixth Dimension, and suck Liquidizor through it. Sparx apologises to Ace for being stubborn and the hero forgives Sparx by giving her a hug. :lol:

As for Molto she lies unconsious, and is found by Rick...

Sparx and Ace hugging! Yay! :D LIking the sound of that ep, Rotgut.

Beauty and the Blast (Rotgut's)

I think this title calls for a Sparx and Li trying to relate

The episode could easily be set after LI’s return to this world and shows the two of them trying for Ace’s sake, to get along with each other, no matter how much they hate each other. (Sparx can be considered quite a blast, right? ;))The story could also be set back in the 6D – when Sparx is accidentally sent back to the Sixth Dimension when Chuck makes a glitch in her program.

Scratch what I said above – I have an idea for a plot for Rotgut’s title Beauty and the Blast this theory of mine is strongly inspired from a Star Trek TNG episode.

The episode is set after Lady Illusions return to this world and, as everyone expected, her and Sparx are not adjusting well to the new system. Despite the obvious sacrifice LI made for Ace, and how much Sparx obviously cares about him, communication and cooperation between them is strained in the extreme. They just can’t get over their programmed dislike of each other, and the tension between them is just too powerful. Ace and the others are at a loss of what to do. Chuck suggests that they concede to having a program check to see if they can… work out some of their differences. And while he’s at it, he can give them those upgrades they were interested in. (For arguments sake I’ll say Smoke for LI – an upgrade which improves her teleportation and illusive abilities and The Pulse – an energy drain upgrade, for Sparx.)

While at the Thunder tower however, getting ready to run the checks and give the upgrades, they are attacked, and Sparx and Li show a distinct difficulty in actually working together. Sparx refuses to accept her help, despite Ace’s pleas and they seem to be arguing with each other more than fighting off Fear and the bad guys. Ace and Mark have to handle the bad guys while Chuck works urgently to upgrade the two females.

Unfortunately he makes the mistake of trying to give Lady Illusion the smoke upgrade (you know what that does, right? ;) and Sparx the Pulse upgrade at the same time. Something goes wrong when one of the Rat’s explosive gas crystals hits his computer screen while the computer is wired into Sparx and Li’s programs. Something goes wrong and they seem to vanish right before everyone’s eyes.

At this point Sparx “wakes up” to find herself on the floor of the Thunder tower. She notices the others are gathered around Chuck’s computer, which is smoking. Mark is yelling and Ace is shaking his head and looking bewildered. But when Sparx tries to talk to them they seem to ignore her… and yet they’re talking about her. She tries to touch Ace’s shoulder and her hand goes right through – she seems to be a host, intangible and impregnable. Lady Illusion suddenly appears and Sparx goes right to attack her, thinking it’s some kind of stunt the Lady of Illusion’s is pulling. But Lady Illusion, it seems has been effected by this too.

Lady Illusion, however, realising what has happened is something to do with their upgrades, seems oddly resigned to the fact that this could be permanent – a possibility which Sparx refuses to believe. They have to somehow contact Chuck and let him know they’re still here and aren’t deleted… somehow. And they will be forced to cooperate if they’re ever going to have a hope of getting back to normal. Sparx isn’t happy about this, however, and shoots off, trying to whistle for the flash – but of course it doesn’t come and her body just goes right through it when she tries to leap onto it, she ends up stomping out of the Thunder tower right through the unopened door.

Lady Illusion is quite happy to let her go, at first as she tries to find some way to let the others know they’re still here. But realises that she can’t in all honesty leave Sparx out there when she could get into trouble – it strikes her just how unlikely this is, after all, it’s not like anything can see or touch her.

Sparx meanwhile is actually quite enjoying herself, she’s wandering around the town, watching mortals and having a little fun with them. Taking the mick where they can’t see her. I have an image in my head of her standing in the middle of one of those headless shop mannequins, making it look likes he’s wearing the dress on display. Then she runs into a bunch of kids from Mark’s school – one of them is Wayne and she gets mad to hear them dissing on Mark and Chuck, then even more mad when she realises she can’t do anything about it. she always thought it’d be cool to be invisible, but intangible is no fun.

That’s when Lady Illusion arrives and tells her they probably shouldn’t. Sparx just grunts, saying the lady isn’t the boss around here. An argument between them threatens to spill into violence when suddenly, a ball of smoky purple light comes out of nowhere and narrowly misses hitting LI dead on, she glances around, but can’t see it’s origins. But the point is it nearly hit her. he felt it’s head against her skin and knew it would have made contact had Following this event, Sparx relents to Lady Illusion’s point, and goes back to the Thunder Tower.

Back in the carnival, Kilobyte has noticed the absence of two of Ace’s allies and decides they might as well tae the opportunity to strike while their forces are low. He calls for fear but the Rat tells him he isn’t anywhere to be found… Kilobyte curses, promising to punish fear for his lack of punctuality.

The guys meanwhile seem pretty sure they’ve lost Sparx and Lady Illusion and don’t know what to do. They fear that they could perhaps have accidentally wiped them out of the game. Chuck is blaming himself, thinking he’s destroyed them, despite reassurances from the others that it’s not his fault. LI has been watching Ace, regretfully, unable to say or do anything that might help him.

Chuck, who is trying to work something out or find them or anything (without realising they’re right nearby) starts having a conversation with his computer which somehow degenerates into a convo with Sparx, as if he thinks she’s right there (which of course, she is but he doesn’t know that. He makes a few goofy comments, Sparx laughs affectionately and even LI cracks a small smile, remarking that mortals can be amusing when they’re not trying. Sparx says that maybe she should get to know them better, Lady Illusion points out that, having taken human form several times, she may understand them and their world more than Sparx realises.

In a silence which follows, Sparx asks her why she did what she did in ep. 39 Lady Illusion, rather than repeating the reasons she said at the event, asks Sparx if she cares about Ace. Sparx replies that that is a stupid question – of course she cares about him, to which LI replies “then you know exactly why I did it. and I expect that you would’ve done the same.” Sparx opens her mouth to retort, but can’t think of anything to say. They seem to reach a strange kind of understanding in the silence while they watch Chuck.

Chuck meanwhile has found some interesting files – they detail a past story where Sparx played a part in getting Lady Illusion sent to prison in the Sixth dimension – way to kick up a storm between the watching ladies again. Mark is practising with the SGoD aiming at clay pigeons Ace is throwing for him, he’s missing quite a bit and in her frustration with everything, Sparx wants to yell at him to do it right, but of course Mark can’t hear her.

Ace is talking to Mark about them, telling him that there’s so many things he wishes he could have said, to both of them and how much he misses them. Sparx, nearby makes a comment “y’know what the worst thing is? If it had just been you here right now and not me too. I wouldn’t be sorry about how he feels as long as you were gone.” She looks guilty, and Lady Illusion stares in surprise at this honest admittance, realising the depth of Sparx anger and distrust of her.

Somehow, Sparx gets in front of one of Mark’s attacks, which shoots right through her right arm (“Ow! Mark, watch where you’re sticking that thing!”) Lady Illusion actually rather reservedly asks if she’s alright and Sparx is about to retort with her usual sharp comment when her hand sinks into the transformer again – and she suddenly realises that it isn’t as easy to push her hand through as before. Lady Illusion watches in confusion as Sparx stuffs her hand right into another of Mark’s attacks. And she finds that she was right – that DOES make it harder to push through objects than before. Maybe, they realise, what they need is a big enough power surge to realign their cells and make them visible and tangible again.

It’s an idea. But Lady Illusion points out that she doubts chucking themselves in front of Mark and Ace’s attacks is either healthy, or highly productive. The attacks aren’t strong enough to make them totally solid again.

That is when Lord fear appears cackling in the doorway, Sparx tries to cry out at Ace and the boys to watch out, but of course he can’t hear them, then to their alarm, Fear looks right at lady Illusion – and talks to her. he can see them and they realise that he too was caught in the blast which transfigured them. Anthe attack he threw at them was the smoke upgrade intended for LI. Fear plans to destroy them now that nobody can help them and a battle begins. At the same time Kilobyte has turned up with Googler and Pigface to attack Ace and the boys.

There could be a rather interesting and completely chaotic battle scene, with attacks being shot randomly everywhere, the intangible attacks of the.. .well, intangibles :P going right through people even as they’re trying to avoid attacks from Kilobyte. Meanwhile the intangible Fear forces Li into submission, threatening to destroy her. amazingly, knowing that she can’t let Ace down, Sparx jumps in to help her.

In the chaos, Kilobyte’s attack collides with Ace’s and waves of power course through the air, forcing the intangible trio’s bodies back into physical, visible being, just as Fear is about to fire on Lady Illusion, and they “reappear” again just in time for people to see Sparx trying to prevent Fear’s attack on LI. They rejoin the battle and force Kilobyte and Fear into submission.

And yes, Sarah, I think this would be a good place for a kiss scene for Ace and LI since they never pulled it off in the last episode. Sparx watches, rolls her eyes, but does nothing more, and Lady Illusion actually thanks her for helping her, Sparx’s excuse is her usual “I just wanted to kick some butt”, but Ace and Mark exchange a surprised look, all the same, wondering what it is they’re missing, but I’m sure Sparx and LI will be gad to fill them in… maybe. Eventually. :P

In the process of being tuned into literal ghosts, Sparx ad Lady Illusion have come to understand something they both have in common if they can’t care about each other then can at least find it in them to care about the same other people. It seems to be that even people who seem like they have no possible similarities can have some things in common, and ties which bind them

Ooooh! Do another one! But not Tranquil Life, I already have an idea for that:

Tranquil Life Band
Molto has been kidnapped by Rick. A giant hamster named Serene and his cat friend named Feef (Hehehehehe! :D ) are transported to Earth and Feef is mysteriously drawn to the carnival, Serene not far behind. Mark gets injured by Googler in a surprise attack and no one knows how to heal him, except Lord Fear. Ace runs to Fear's help, but the villain refuses to help, unless Ace surrenders. Ace gets angry and blasts Lord Fear so hard, that he nearly is sent back to the Sixth Dimension. Fear then gives in and gives Ace the antidote for Mark's illness. Ace then has to save Serene and Feef from Kilobyte and Anvil. Serene and Feef thank Ace and they find a nice new home in the abandoned treehouse. Mark gets healed and every is happy, except Molto who is still trapped witj Rick.

Thanks Rotgut :D

A giant hamster? :blink: That's... Bizzare... That another ep. from your series? This could get very, very weird, but sounds entertaining...

I think I like Molto :) I dunno what Feef's going to think of you using her NAME for a Cat though... was that intentional?

Oooh, Scarab! Love it! :D

Those are some interesting ideas/titles, Rotgut.

*is highly disturbed by the thought of a giant hamster called Serene* might be a bit implausible... maybe a cousin of the Rat? - You culd maybe try doing what anna suggested, Gut (I think it was you, anna, if it wasn't whoever it was lemme know kay? :P) and mutate Chika using Fred.

Another one for Rotgut's Ep. Idea, Frozen Frenzy

This kinda title would work well with a character I created recently and stuck in the OC section. This is not my best idea ever (nor was the character :P) but it might work in an episode context.

The fic takes place in a world (set in a series runinng to the theme of the two worlds emrging together, like RG's fanfic) where the Real world has merged with the 6D – and evils are appearing everywhere without the use of amulet pieces.

A cold snap has fallen over Conestoga hills. Mark’s father has to force the car out of the drive one morning from under a sheet of ice and the huge amounts of snowfall have brought the city to a grinding halt. Random is probably finding existence at the Junkyard rather uncomfortable right now. :P Poor guy. Must be freezing.

A figure emerges in Conestoga park, sitting on one of the snow covered, unused swings. It’s a disturbing looking figure who rises up with icicles bursting on her fingertips. She seems made of ice, and perfectly at home in this icy climate. Getting to her feet, she makes her way to the Carnival, leaving patches of ice in her tracks.

Chuck is driving his mother’s car and trying desperately to actually see through the windscreen which constantly snows over no matter how fast he sets the wind wipers. Not to mention it’s freezing cold. Then a figure seems to drift through the icy windshield and Chuck breaks sharply, to avoid hitting her – or is it an “it”? Because the white eyes and face really don’t look like a normal person, Chuck gets out into the snow storm to see that there’s noone there. And then the engine of the van starts crackling – the engine has frozen out.

Over in the thunder tower it’s petty damn cold because… well you don’t normally spend too much heating an observatory. She’d probably stand in the transformer all day if she could. It’s warmer there. Weird weather for April. Sparx is trying to keep warm and getting rather crabby about it all. Ace meanwhile is just worried. He’s thinking about what is happening and how the 6D is merging with the real world. Sparx isn’t that worried – whatever evils will come they’ll kick their butts, she drags Ace into a training match to warm up.

Meanwhile, Mark’s whole family, and Kat who just happened to make the mistake of coming round, are snowed in when Chuck arrives having walked through a snow storm from his mother’s van (and now developing a cold – bless him :P, and Fiona Hollander is telling him he shouldn’t have come out in this weather). Chuck meanwhile, is totally freaked out about the “weird… weird… weird thing!” he saw through the car window. Mark wonders if the cold is just getting to him… but Chuck is more adamant than Fiona (which is saying something). Mark calls Ace, but gets no reply because of the weather interfering with his signal. He debates a moment and decides it’d be better to leave it.

The Haunted House meanwhile, is not the warmest of places right now and the Rat is complaining. Pigface is eating snow and giving himself the brain freeze of the century and ends up sneezing snow all over the Rat. Only Kilobyte seems not to care about the cold, but you can tell he doesn’t much like it, particularly when a snowball the angry rat was throwing at Pigface. Cue angry Kilobyte. He goes to attack when a figure appears in the snow. There is the sound of a voice saying “allow me” in a icy tone. The rat turns and squawks, wondering where this “ugly frost-chick” came from. In response, the figure causes the rat’s body to freeze in the air, from his tail up, vanishing back into his statue.

The figure who walked in front of Chuck’s car appears. She tells them her name is Snoflake, and that she’s appealed by Kilobyte’s powers. She wants to show how powerful she can be. She explains that the icier lands of the sixth dimension are invading the human world – causing it to freeze over like this, her species lives in these icy realms and she came here on the call of the amulet. Kilobyte decides to test her powers and send her with Anvil (who is complaining of frostbite) and Googler to see if she can fight well against Ace.

At the thunder tower Sparx is still complaining about the cold when she’s given more cold to worry about. Snoflake arrives. A knock on the door prompts Ace to go open it and as soon as he does a blizzard sweeps in through the door. He manages to slam the door shut, but icy smoke drifts under the door. Ace shivers, and starts to remark that it’s suddenly got way colder, when something crackles on his cheek and the icy dust rises to his face, Ace cries out in pain, but Sparx breaks the “kiss” by blasting Snoflake in the side. A battle starts with Snoflake trying to freeze Sparx and Ace’s electric bolts, but she can’t defend against both of them at once. Eventually she is forced to retreat, swearing to get revenge and leaving patches of ice everywhere.

Snoflake has been forced to retreat to the carnival where she begs for a second chance to destroy Ace Lightning. Kilobyte offers her an upgrade which will increase her power, his tentacle half freezes as it touches her, (which seems to frustrate Snoflake) but the upgrade works. He orders her to get back to the

The boys are completely snowed in and basically not going anywhere, it’s absolute chaos outside. Simon Hollander comes in and tells them that two their old neighbours’ are snowed in down the street, their door is frozen shut and the heating is out and he’s going to try and help out. The kids are about to follow when Mark’s cell phone rings, its Ace and he’s telling them about a new evil who has attacked them. Mark recognizes Chuck’s description of the figure who nearly got hit by his car and realises something’s up. Ace says he’s going to the carnival to check it out, much against Mark’s judgement – he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to go out in this weather even if he IS a superhero. But they’re going all the same. It’s cold anyway. He says for the boys to meet them at the thunder tower later if they can. Mark decides to go round to the Tower while Chuck and Kat go to help Simon. Of course Fiona has something to say about them going out in this weather but they go all the same, leaving her exasperated. :P

Ace and Sparx end up in the carnival but it’s hardly possible to see anything through the storm, so Sparx doesn’t see the tentacle sweeping out and lashing into the ‘Flash. They can hardly see, but then neither can KB and the battle they fight is brief and

Mark arrives at the Thunder tower to find it empty – and not much warmer than outside – and what’re those huge patches of ice about? He sits down and decides to try looking for some info on which kind of villain could do this on the web.

Back in the carnival the battle is still being fought, but Snoflake is nowhere to be seen. Eventually Kilobyte’s hinting taunts lead Ace to realise – she’s back at the Thunder Tower – where Mark is.

Mark has just located a file on Snoflake and is reading up on her – he realises that her kiss is what she attacked Ace with when he feels the ice creeping in on his back and whips around. Snoflake has come back for a second fight. Mark tries to attack, but is shocked to see his attacks freezing in the air. Whoever heard of freezing lightning? Snoflake places a hand on the desk, freezing Mark’s computer to an ice block. Mark asks her what she wants and she remarks that her hatred is heat and warmth. This world is perfect for her and all her species as it is now, and she wants to keep it this way. Kilobyte can give her the power to do that, so she follows him and will destroy any knights that get in her way. She reaches out to drag Mark, trying to repeat the kiss she did with Ace. Fortunately Ace has good timing, and arrives to shoot Snoflake just in time. This time though she doesn’t vanish and manages to freeze some of his attacks.

Chuck and Kat meanwhile are trying to help Simon and some neighbours unfreezing the Highbridges’ door. They’ve even tried pulling the door open by tying a rope to the door handle and getting someone behind the wheel of a car attached to the other end, but they’ve only succeeded in pulling the door handle off. They’re getting desperate and the old couple trapped inside are going to be in trouble if they’re stuck in there much longer. It’s Chuck who hits on the answer to get them out…

Meanwhile Ace and Sparx are trying to see off Snoflake, who is calling up a small storm in the Thunder tower, causing chaos. That’s when Ace remembers Sparx’s remark about the transformer, and they realise that the energy given off by the wrist cannons generates heat – they shouldn’t fire directly at Snoflake – they should spread their electrical energy to create a shield which heats the room and forces Snoflake to drop her shield as her body is heated. She vanishes and reappears as a plastic ice castle in the mini golf course (yes, trashy I know but I couldn’t think of anything better.) I’m open to suggestions on that front.

Meanwhile Chuck’s plan to help the old couple has worked (alright so I haven’t actually thought of it), and he’s enjoying the applause. He feels like he’s done something really heroic now and helped to save humans, like Ace does. Which makes a nice change. The snow is stopping now That’s when he realises he has to get to the thunder tower – not to mention go back and find his mum’s car.

He and Kat arrive at the Thunder Tower to find puddles of melting water everywhere, and the guys, Sparx still hopping about trying to warm up. Ace is saying that as soon as the warmer weather returns, Snoflake will be far less of a threat as she can’t come out in the heat. Chuck has no idea what’s been going on and doesn’t get what Ace is going on about. Then as the others are celebrating (and Sparx is talking about ordering pizza or something) Chuck notices a flicker in the corner of the room, a figure stepping in and out of the wall which looks vaguely like a zombie – but certainly not rotgut. Then it fades back into the wall and he assumes he must’ve imagined it. but of course he didn’t. this is a symptom of the worlds merging.

Well there we are. I know, I know, dodgy but hey, t’was fun to make up :D that’s what counts right?

I like it very much. :)

thankie :D

Fantastic. With all of these awesome ideas for episode, why don't you do your own season three.

Snoflake could always morph into the ice cream truck, hint hint hint!

Fantastic. With all of these awesome ideas for episode, why don't you do your own season three.

Snoflake could always morph into the ice cream truck or the fridge in the haunted house. And I don't think you'd find a ice palace in the middle of a wild western styled golf course.

Thanks :) I'm kinda overrun right now though. This isn't really a good time to be starting another series.

Yeah true... ice cream van might work I suppose...

here's a FRIDGE in the Haunted house :blink:?

Yes. Watch some of the episodes of season one and you'll see a fridge!

:blink: Well I'll be damned...that place has everything.

Right... brace yourselves, cause this is one heck of a long one:

This would be a double episode which would continue with another.

The Reality Interface, Part One

I’m going with THIS definition of the word “interface”: “The point of meeting between a computer and an external entity, whether an operator, a peripheral device or a communications medium. An interface may be physical, involving a connector, or logical, involving software.”

This is the first part of the Reality Interface idea:

The episode begins in Conestoga hills, the boys are having some time off as a massive heat wave overcomes the town, they’re in the park, Chuck and Jessie are talking.. .well Jessie is talking, Chuck is listening and doing a lot of nodding. Kat is playing one on one with Mark on the basketball court and he’s complaining that she’s been playing longer than him. Kat asks him if he’s thought of an article to replace the one she was going to write on the carnival – he hasn’t, in fact he hasn’t been thinking about it at all.

He’s about to try and think of an answer when suddenly the sky twists from one colour to another, mixing and merging, Huge holes seem to appear in the sky through which patches of the DataStream can be seen flowing. The kids watch the skies changing in amazement. Sparx too is watching from her place on the roof and yells down into the Thunder Tower for Ace to come and look.

The scene changes to Lady Illusion back in the sixth dimension, she too, is watching the sky in confusion, watching as the skies above her world twist and change for several long minutes as a small quake shakes the ground beneath her feet. She has to run to escape a clique of Zombies (too many to fight off successfully) and has no time to finish watching the skies.

In a dark chamber halfway across town, a group of cloaked figures (tacky, I know but SO cool :P) are observing the events taking place, viewing the boys and the knights and the evils through various large screens and strange plasma crystal balls, very like Lady Illusions.

The evils in the carnival are watching the sky as it changes, the rat is having a total freak out and even fear is getting disturbed. Something is very wrong up there. A small quake shakes through Conestoga Hills.

In the sixth dimension, Rick is still caged up working for Kilobyte trying to take them back to the real world when a figure appears to him wearing a grey cloak much like the other figures of earlier – he offers to find a faster way out of this world, and asks if Rick remembers him. Rick denies it saying he’s never seen him in his life, but as he gets closer a flash lights up the air around him for a moment. and Rick seems to get a bit of a memory flash. He asks the figure what he wants and why he’s back. The figure says that they have a deal, and Rick has not settled his part of the bargain Rick gets frustrated yelling that “I couldn’t help it if those fools were too stupid to notice an opportunity when they saw it.” the figure claims that that doesn’t matter – Rick still owes him. For what? Wait and I’ll tell you ;)…

The kids, excluding Jessica are in the Thunder tower with the lightning knights trying to figure out what happened earlier. Sparx suddenly yells that Conestoga Hills is on the news, Ace groans thinking for a moment they’ve been caught on camera and accused of being aliens again. But it’s the strange events and quakes of earlier which are being broadcasted. Everyone knows that something is seriously wrong. But what? Ace doesn’t know but he’s got a feeling it’s bad.

Back in the sixth dimension, the figure in grey is offering Rick an escape – all he has to do is take hold of his hand… actually easier said than done. His “hand” is more like a claw, old and withered, but as he holds it out, palm upwards, a bubble of violent energy bursts in his palm. Kilobyte arrives and tries to prevent it, and, deciding he’s rather take his chances with the weird energy and his dubious “partner”, Rick reaches out his hand, at the same time as the figure begins a teleport, Kilobyte’s tentacle touches his throat dragging him into the portal with them.

Rick and the strange figure appear back in the real world, which Rick is pretty damn pleased about, until he realises Kilobyte must have followed them – but where is he? It soon turns out Kilobyte is nowhere in this dimension.

Instead, he has ended up in a bizarre place that looks like a cross between a DataStream and a half completed computer program, energy and strands of data and DNA wind this way and that in a world where nothing is solid. Kilobyte has no idea where he is, but you can bet your life he’s not happy about it.

At school the following day, the boys meet Kat who is back to bugging Mark about he article – the strange events of yesterday will make the prefect story, and with Heather out of town with her family, she’s got total control of what goes in the paper. Kat is obviously enjoying this newfound power just a little too much and is being very picky about what goes in the paper. Which she makes quite clear to Mark – this article has to be the best he’s ever done. Mark tries to point out that this could be linked to the Ace game – what if they risk giving something away, but Kat is sure he’ll find a way around it.

When they’re in class however, something extremely weird happens in a science project at the back of the class – Wayne’s project has gone out of control and an explosion of foam has covered the desk, but there’s more to it than that, a similar quake shakes the town as the experiment bursts and explodes, leaking energy into the room and spilling binary code. The room is hastily evacuated but not before Mark notices something is seriously whacked. He pauses for a moment, sticking behind to see something freakish is emerging within the smoke and energy – it looks almost like a Zombie. He grabs at his bag and blasts it before it can fully form and the smoke immediately begins to fade away.

Something weird happened in there. Still at least, as Kat says, this gives a less suspicion-arousing topic for the paper.

Back in the carnival the Rat is still having his usual cowardly freak outs every time something creeps up behind him and goes boo. “I feels it in my bones, boss, something ain’t right here.” He’s right too. It’s the rat who sees the figure dressed in grey –the same guy who helped Rick– creeping around the Haunted house and runs off in a panic only to run right into a model in the mini golf course, smashing it and alarming Rotgut. That’s when he finds something in one of the Minigolf holes. It’s two amulet pieces, he claims them quickly but at the same time there’s another tremor. A big one. And Ace arrives to take the amulet piece from the rat, knowing that this will give them the power to summon someone back from the sixth dimension – and he knows exactly who they’re going to look for. The other piece however, is dropped on the ground, and the figure in grey picks it up and clenches it inside of a clawed fist.

Rick is back at the computer shack checking up on his hardware when the figure in grey appears to him again, Rick is obviously not too happy to see him, but all the same he asks how things look at the carnival – the figure responds that things are the same as always – without Kilobyte the evils have barely a hope against Ace Lightning. “Looks like your little plan is going to need some big modifications, programmer.” Rick reminds him that it’s “our plan, mister. Don’t go trying to sack all the blame for failure on me.” The figure doesn’t seem to care much about this accusation. “Fine, fine, you wish to take all the credit but not the costs of your own lack of insight. Lucky for you I make p for all the areas you lack, programmer.” Rick gets angry and leaps to his feet, but the figure grabs his wrists as he does so, sharps of pain leap down Rick’s arms for several minutes before the figure lets him go. Saying that this is just a reminder. If he wants to he can wipe all of Rick’s mind of everything he ever understood – then they’ll see who the genius is around here because it sure as hell won’t be Rick. Rick falls silent.

Chuck arrives at the Thunder tower and opens his laptop, while at the same time letting them in on the scoop – he can’t find Rick or Kilobyte’s signals in the game. Chances are, they’re out of the game, but they haven’t seen signs of either of them. That’s when Ace gets back with the amulet piece and they attempt to manipulate the amulet piece (after spending some time trying to convince Sparx that it’s a good idea) into getting Lady Illusion back – only for her signal to vanish halfway through transmission. Like Kilobyte, she has vanished off the face of both worlds.

There’s another shock at the same time as they lose Lady Illusion’s signal but Ace barely notices it – he’s too worried about LI. Where did she go? She couldn’t have just vanished. Yet that seems to be what has happened, and outside, the sky pulses with a strange dark energy.

The Reality Interface, Part Two

Lady Illusion is trapped in a world that barely seems to cut it as a “world” at all. Everything around her is misty and broken up, and she seems stuck in some awful place of unfinished programs and scenery and a deep, thick mist formed by whirling particles f data. She’s trapped in another world – or rather, a gap BETWEEN worlds. And this place is not designed for her to exist in, which means just being in this weird place hurts like hell. She’s driven to her knees in exhaustion and sheer frustration. She’s feeling rather hopeless right now and has no idea where she is when she notices something nearby – something lashing at something in the misty fog around her. she gets to her feet and approaches to find that it is Kilobyte, fighting against – and winning, by the looks of it. but only just . It seems they are both trapped in this world and perhaps, they are going to he forced to collaborate if they’re both going to stay alive and find a way out. It’s not an alliance Kilobyte is happy to make, but he things, he can always kill her afterwards when they get back to earth.

Jessica back in the human world, is working at home on programming a website and is getting frustrated because her odes aren’t working. She figures there must be something wrong with her computer, and she’s proved correct when a blaze of light suddenly bursts through her window. She goes to the window to see wells of energy bursting in her garden and something weird – an animal of some kind, she can’t make it out in the dark – come bounding into the night with a blood curdling howl. She leaps away from the window in shock, without realising that it’s a hellhound.

Chuck calls everyone to the Thunder tower quite late in the same evening to tell them what he’s found out. Apparently Jessica has just called him and relayed yet another strange incident. He reveals what he thinks is happening and why so many strange occurrences are taking place all over Conestoga hills. He thinks that the real world and the game are somehow colliding and merging. It sounds impossible, but Chuck swears there’s no other explanation. He’s tracking countless holes in the game and the strange flickers in the Game’s fretwork correspond with the strange occurrences in the Real World. Every time the game “fluxes” something weird happens in this world.

Chuck reveals that with the weird merging of the world there are now MASSIVE gaps between worlds, leaks in the DataStream, that are filled with destructive energy and catching anything using portals to move around. He explains that if the world within the game is moving slowly from within the games confides into their reality, then some parts must be changing faster than the others, and people can get caught in the holes created between the worlds as they’re ripped apart. All of a sudden they realise with horror where Lady Illusion (and Kilobyte) are. They’ve been lost in energy pockets between the worlds. Trapped beyond either reality.

Mark asks what they’re supposed to do, but Chuck can’t think of any answers to give. One things for sure, they have to find the source of this world-leak, and fast if they’re going to get it closed and prevent the two worlds from clashing into each other, destroying them both in the process. He decides to hack into some satellites and try to track the bizarre incidents as they occur across the city. And he’d better work fast.

In town, Rick is typing away at the computer and his new “partner” whom he now gives a name: David– is walking back and forth in frustration. Rick tells him to cut it out before he wears a hole in the floor – he can’t think with all that passing to distract him. His partner wants to know what he has discovered. Rick says not much, and his partner says then he had better hop to it then – “it’s going to be no good to us if these two worlds rip each other apart is it.” Rick retorts with “well you should’ve thought about that before you went and told me that—“ his sentence is cut off by a clatter nearby. His partner whirls around and lowers his hood so we finally see his face – he seems human, but his face is lined and scarred, making it look ancient and young all at the same time. His eyes resemble a humans, but are completely black with no separate pupils or irises. Figures begin to seep out of the walls all around them. Rick panics and tries to run but hands thrust out of the darkness and grab his throat.

Meanwhile further out of town, one of the figures in grey is watching this event taking place in a crystal; orb, he touches it and the image before him changes to show the boys – Mark and Chuck, and he focuses upon them thoughtfully. “They know something, those children… they’re in on this.” He turns to one of the other cloaked figures and orders him “keep an eye on those mortals. It’s time we paid them a visit and got this whole clean up operation underway.”

At the Thunder tower, Chuck finally has a track on what they’re looking for – the strange incidences across town all seem to revolve around one centre point. Ace seems slightly distracted – what he really wants to know is where Lady Illusion is, and he’s about to ask when Mark interrupts him, having just worked something out about the map on the screen of his laptop – he starts to join up the dots – quite literally – of the locations of the strange occurrences, and realises that the points of incidence, brought together, appear to be forming a pattern in the shape of the amulet of Zoar. From that, they can judge exactly where the next major “flux” is going to happen –and, to their horror, it’s the Thunder tower– right over their heads. And at that same moment, the tower starts to shake. Mark yells at everyone to get out of the thunder tower, but they’re not fast enough, the building around them begins to crackle and blur, the walls changing and warping with electricity, binary code leaking out of the walls.

Then all of a sudden they are surrounded by a group of cloaked figures coming out of the walls. Ace yells at the boys to run and they try to fight back. The boys do as they’re told but there are so many of the figures that Ace and Sparx can’t hold them for long. Hands close around Sparx’s neck from behind and she vanishes with a gasp, Ace, in his shock, follows soon afterwards.

Chuck and Mark stop running and Mark yells: what are they doing? They should be back in there helping Ace and Sparx not running – but they turn around to see the thunder tower is cast in deep green light and the walls are cloaked in vibrant yellow energy. It’s probably not safe to go back in there. Chuck asks what the heck they’re supposed to do now and Mark says there’s only one thing they can do – get to the computer shack and try and find Rick. He made this game, maybe he can sort out this awful mess.

Ace and Sparx meanwhile have woken up to find themselves in a large deserted room, rather like a warehouse. But they can tell that they’re underground. Their power is running at about sixty – and Ace thinks that’ll probably be enough provided nothing else happens to them – touch wood. Suddenly, Sparx notices Chuck’s laptop lying on the ground nearby and runs to it. She remarks that they had better hang onto it. Ace points out that they should try and get out of here. Sparx tries whistling for the ‘Flash but it doesn’t come. They suppose they’ll just have to try and find away out of this place. Maybe they can even find some answers here as to what’s happening out in Conestoga hills. This place must have something to do with it.

Back between the words LI and Kilobyte’s uneasy alliance is off to a bad start when they are attacked by a strange sort of… half creature. It looks almost like a monster from their world, let seems to have been merged and mashed horribly with other creatures, it’s design and form only half complete. LI realises that it’s been ripped apart by the massive build up of energy here in this between place – as they will no doubt be eventually, if they don’t find a way out, but it still has one thing – the instinct to kill and it attacks them wildly. They try to fight back but it seems immune to energy drains.

Sparx and Ace meanwhile are wandering around the bottom floor of this huge building. They have found themselves in yet another warehouse, but, looking up, they can see a metal walkway about twenty odd feet overhead. Maybe if they can get up there. Ace is about to fly up when suddenly he feels something dragging at his feet, Sparx has been caught too and they turn to see a huge, plant like beast clambering out of the wall – it’s a monster from their world, and it’s here to destroy them. Just what they need right now…

Mark and Chuck meanwhile, are standing in the computer shack. It seems as empty as it’s been for months. It’s a bit of a mess and some things seem to have been moved, but it doesn’t look like there was a struggle. Then again, they don’t know how swift workers’ the mediators are. Chuck sits down at Rick’s computer, realising that Rick has been here alright – and he’s been running through files on the sixth dimension. Chuck understands the messages on the screen – they’re a map of the sixth dimension, and it looks in as big a mess as their world is right now. Before Mark can ask questions, the mediators suddenly begin to form out of the walls and attack them.

The next thing the boys know they’re opening their eyes to find themselves in a large grey room, filled with monitors and strange glowing orbs. It’s quite dark as the blinds are pulled shut. A voice speaks and they whirl around to be greeted by a tall figure in a dark grey robe, who greets them both by their names. He figure introduces himself as Phane (who notices the religious implication there;)?) and tells them that they’re in a building called the Interface, right in the middle of Conestoga hills. This place is a meeting point for the two worlds. Mark remarks that they must be in the middle of the amulet pattern that they saw on Chuck’s computer. Phane affirms this theory. He tells them that it is here where he and his fellow mediators observe the events taking place amongst the worlds. And there has been a lot of chaos here over the last few days.

The boys don’t have a clue what he’s talking about. What are Mediators?

Phane explains that the mediators are, as their name suggests, the intermediaries who deal with the running of the many dimensions to make sure nothing gets messed up. They operate from bases located at special points all over the twelve different dimensions, including earth. He tells them that there are many Interphases’ like this, scattered all around the globe –places where the energy lines of the many dimensions cross over. Conestoga Hills is just one of them. As is a nearby city, Lancaster–where the Ace Lightning game was designed. There are also various points of major inter-dimensional stress located around these crossover points – such as the Haunted House, Charladen Street (Jessica’s home) just outside of the town, the Thunder tower, Conestoga Park and, of course, Conestoga High School’s science lab.

Confused into silence, the boys look around the room and notice one of the screens – they can see Ace and Sparx trapped by one of the buildings defensive traps, trying to fight back against a massive, plant-like minion that’s trying to make mincemeat out of them. Mark whirls on Phane and yells at him to let them go or he’ll shoot. Phane nods at a fellow Mediator and Ace appears in the room besides them, completely out of nowhere. He goes straight towards the boys as soon as he sees them, before turning and noticing Phane. After reassuring himself that Ace is alright, Mark turns to Phane and asks him to release Sparx. Phane refuses however, claiming that “I doubt she would care to listen to me, Ace however, I believe had the sense to think before he shoots.” Ace too, orders that Sparx be let go, Phane signs and nods to his allies again, they vanish from the room. He says that Sparx will be fetched, and the screen, in which they fan now see Sparx fighting the plant creature alone, goes blank. Mark feels more comfortable and now demands to know what’s going on. He doesn’t notice that Phane keeps gazing at Ace with extreme dislike on his face – it seems he really doesn’t like Ace. Or perhaps it’s just lightning knights he doesn’t like.

The “Mediators”, Phane tells them, are urgent working as a medium between this world, earth, and the “game world”, which is in fact the REAL Sixth dimension that the game was sprung from. Their job is to mediate the lines between each dimension and make sure each universe sticks within itself.

But if that’s true, Mark asks, then what’s the game all about? Ace Lightning is just a videogame, isn’t it? Phane tells him the game was a regrettable accident – it was created by someone (namely Rick) who gained access to the mediators secrets, and, with the help of a Mediator defector, David, (who wanted a cut in the profits if the game developed) created the game. But Rick’s idea was mocked and he made no money before he popped his version of the game (made using the data David gave him) in with the other normal games. The people of earth, never knew that the characters in the videogame Ace Lightning had come from a real world or that the characters they have been playing as toys were in fact, real people ripped out of their ow world and implanted into the game.

As the boys try to make sense of all this, Rick and David are forced out of a door at the back of the room, being escorted by mediator guards. Mark glares at Rick accusingly –he thought Rick always said it was “just a game.” Rick says that this is what he thought. David manipulated his memories so that he would only remember their “deal” and what he had learned about the other world when David wanted him to remember. (There’s another crime to add to David’s list – unwarranted manipulation of the memories of a single person.)

David, Phane explains, will be punished as extensively as it is within the mediators’ power to punish. He has broken every law in the metaphorical book, revealing their existence to humans, handing out mediator secrets, causing a merging of the two worlds by merging the characters of one universe with another. It turns out that this is what’s happening to the Sixth dimension – because of the invasion of the 6D-er’s into Earth, the balance between the worlds has been disrupted causing them to mingle. Phane explains that they are the cleaners. As Doctor Who said about time: reality has been contaminated, and they’re here to sterilize the wound. They’re going to repair the gaps between the worlds and then the minds of everyone involved with Ace Lightning and the evils will be erased. He shows them the pieces of the amulet- all completed and lying in his hands. Completed that is, except for the centre piece, which is still hanging around Mark’s neck.

Wait a second, Ace lurches in shock. Their memories erased? If their minds are wiped, though, Chuck points out, won’t there be no way to stop Kilobyte? The Mediators claim that this is not a problem. Kilobyte too is going to have knowledge of the event wiped – in fact, everyone who has ever seen anything of the Knights or evils, be it Mark, Rick, the CGI’s themselves… even that guy who Mark asked for a roadmap in the gas station in the way to Camp Wolf Ground. Everyone forgets everything that has happened and be returned to their appropriate worlds and roles, as if the game and Ace Lightning never existed. He then reaches into David’s robes and pulls out the amulet piece that David took from the Rat. Phane claims they will use the powers of the amulet to do all this.

However, Phane reveals, he still needs the last piece of the amulet to complete their power and give them the ability to perform the mind wipe and repair the gaps between the worlds: Mark’s piece.

Sparx is still fighting the plant creature when it suddenly, for no apparent reason, begins to withdraw and curl away, she staggers to her feet to see two mediators have arrived and demands to know what the creeps are up to. They signal to her to follow them. She vaguely considers attacking them but it’s as if they know what she is thinking and one of them holds a knife to the small of her back. She decides it might be a good idea to cooperate and follows them, reluctantly.

Meanwhile, Ace is understandably furious, they can’t possibly forget. He doesn’t want to forget Mark or Lady Illusion or Chuck. And nor does anyone else. Phane can’t force them to forget and he can’t do it without the final amulet piece. The prospect of it is terrifying. The mediators however, decide to go for the weak link in the chain – Phane turns to Mark, pointing out how much easier his life could have been of he had never known.

For a second, Mark actually looks like he’s considering it, much to Ace and Chuck’s shock. He steps forwards, seeming almost to consider it, but the second Phane’s back is turned, Mark takes the opportunity to raise his weapon hand and fire at one of the view screens, shattering it to pieces with a blast from the Wrist Cannon and causing highly distracting sparks to fly everywhere, Ace yells at everyone to run and they make a break for it and they run out of the room and down the corridor.

Its only as they’re halfway down the corridor (with Chuck yelling at Ace that “dude, that guy SO does not like you!”) that they realise running isn’t going to help. They don’t want their memories wiped, but, as Chuck points out, the world is still falling apart. Mark clutches the last piece of the amulet protectively in his free hand, saying he’s never going to let them have it. OR his memories. No matter what. But then they can’t just let this world fall apart. Then they hear a scuffling round the corner and a familiar voice yelling- they run around to see Sparx. One of the mediators fading away into nothing, the other on the end of her sword and already fading away too. She turns to Ace and yells, asking where the hell he vanished to. Ace says that he’ll tell her later, for now, they have to get out of here. Sparx is about to as why when mediators begin to emerge from the walls, tracking them down, and they have to start running again. Which has Ace very uncomfortable – Lightning Knight’s really shouldn’t Run from danger, but Chuck calls it a strategic retreat.

They head up a set of stairs and before too long, they’ve found themselves at the foot of the metal walkway that they had seen from below a while ago, and start to run across it, only to find themselves surrounded on all ides. They try to fight back, but there are too many mediators. One of them reaches out and snatches at the amulet piece around Mark’s neck, at the same time, pushing him backwards off the metal walkway and into a twenty foot drop.

In the moment while everyone is distracted by Mark’s fall, Phase appears and snatches the amulet from the other mediator’s clawed hands, holding it upwards as it explodes in a glare of light, blinding everyone.

As the amulet pieces come together the entire room is filled with a blaze of light. Massive webs of electrical energy surge from the building as the whole city is cast temporarily in a deep green shadow. Fiona and Simon Hollander look up in the garden and Simon remarks that it looks like rain. Fiona remarks that the clouds probably shouldn’t be that colour. The evils in the carnival are watching the sky and doing what they usually do in a crisis – doing nuts. In the park, Kat stares in surprise, as the world around her is suddenly alight with electricity and she ducks sharply to avoid the waves of powerful energy surging over her head. Slowly, the worlds are being dragged back together.

Trapped in the between place with that half-monster, and pretty much running out of their last strands of energy, LI and KB are on point of collapse when they realise that the bizarre world around them is being crushed. An incredible energy closes in on their bodies and as the two different worlds are forced back to the way they were before the whole Ace Lightning mess started, and they vanish from the between place.

The minds of all those involved in Ace Lightning are about to be wiped clean, and the episode ends in a glare of light.

Okay then: so this is now a three parter :D should be interesting… though I doubt a series would ever HAVE a three parter… oh well.

The Reality Interface, Part Three

I will try and write this up better later, for now I just hope it makes sense.

Despite the fact that the last I checked, he was falling off a twenty foot high bridge. The first shot of this ep switches to mark’s room in a seemingly totally different setting. Mark shoots up out of bed at the sound of the alarm clock and falls out of it in shock finding himself on the floor.

Mark looks up at the window, as if he expects someone to be there. He finds himself staring strangely at the window for some reason he can’t explain. His father opens the door a moment later and tells him he’s going to be late for school. Mark agrees to come down soon, but for some reason he finds himself reaching a hand to his heart – as if trying to grasp a chain that isn’t there.

He finds something disturbingly normal about the silence and the bus trip into school. He sits as usual, with Chuck – as far as he’s aware he’s hung around with Chuck for the last three years. Maybe partly because Chuck had noone else to hang around with, but deep down he feels that there must be more to it than just that.

Kat is subdued hen she meets him and Chuck between their lockers – she talks normally, acts normally, and yet there’s something reserved about her. She started hanging around with them a little after she got here just last term. She can be snappy now and then but for some reason, he kind of likes her. Not that he’d ever say that out loud. But this morning, he finds himself staring at her in confusion as if there’s so much more to her than what he’s seeing, and he wonders why he didn’t notice it before. He watches her as she walks away and she turns back to him, saying they should hurry and get to class. Mark opens his mouth to answer. For some reason the words “I knew I liked you for a reason” are on the tip of his tongue.,

In the corridor Wayne starts making trouble for Chuck and Mark opens his mouth, all ready to make a frustrated protest, but he just finds the words “Wayne we don’t want any trouble” coming out of his mouth. He feels immediately useless afterwards, thinking he could have said something so much more.. .well, useful than that. Fortunately they are saved by the bell and have to go to class. Chuck gives him a partly thankful glance, but as he turns away, Mark swears he hears him saying “it’s my problem, Mark, I’ll deal with it,’ in a loud voice. But when he looks back to Chuck, Chuck is going on with taking books out of his locker. Mark asks him if he said something just now, but Chuck says he doesn’t know what he’s talking about and just says they need to get the class. Mark watches him or a moment before following him, shaking his head and wondering what’s gotten into him today.

It’s at the end of the day when they’re walking towards the bus and Mark is trying to ask Chuck if he thinks there’s been anything weird about today but he never gets a chance, Chuck is distracted by a bag of jelly beans he’s found in his pocket and Mark finds himself snapping at Chuck that “some things are more important than food.” Kat glances at him as he yells and Chuck looks surprised. Inexplicably annoyed, Mark turns and walks quickly away from the bus, walking towards the back of the school, kicking at the dirt in anger, ignoring Kat as she calls after him.

He finds himself in a car park behind the school near the football pitches (fans of the ep UFS will recognize this location very well ;))

He finds himself kneeling on the ground, reaching out a hand to the patch of gravel before him, as if there should be something –someone– lying there. There’s a pain in hi stomach and he can’t explain what it means or why he has it. but it feels almost as hehe lost someone here… as if THEY lost someone.

But… who’s they?

He hears a voice in his head saying the beginning of a sentence: ‘Look after… the sentence drains away without finishing and Mark looks up sharply, as if expecting to see someone standing behind him, talking. The words ‘fear not,’ vaguely cling to his brain and he wonders where they come from. He’s getting frustrated now. Something about this day is not right at all. he looks back over his shoulder, and sees that nobody is there. He feels slightly disappointed that Kat didn’t follow him.

He finds himself walking through he streets glancing uneasily at sights all around him. Things he knows he never really thought about before. The park, the junkyard as he passes it by (for some reason finding that he quickens his pace as he passes it by) an ice cream van parked on a corner makes a shiver run down his spine and he doesn’t understand why. He also doesn’t understand why his hand keeps reaching up to his neck. Of this is déjà vu it’s the weirdest déjà vu he’s ever had in his life.

He continues to walk through the town, staring frustratedly at the pavement beneath him ,as if to avoid looking around and seeing anything else that reminds him of something that never happened.

The voices in his head sound.. .desperate. Afraid… afraid of what?

No, not “of”, he realises suddenly, “for”. There’s Chuck’s voice, and Kat’s, and his dad’s and a bunch of other voices he doesn’t know, and one male voice stands out over all the others: what it says is pretty much the same, but the yell is louder than anyone else’s and sounds frightened: ‘Come on, kid!’

Trying to push the voices out of his head and convinced he much be going insane mark finds himself running down a pathway and before he knows it he’s at the carnival. He runs into Wayne there and Wayne is quick to put him in his place, he taunts, makes a few jokes about where his sidekick chuckster is. And again words jump into Mark’s brain without him realising it. “Need to work on your timing…” Mark eventually gets away from Wayne, feeling frustrated with himself, knowing he should have defended himself better- and earlier, he should have defended Chuck too. He doesn’t know why he thinks that, he just knows he should have. And he should’ve spoken more to Kat in the corridors. And he should have listened harder when he was kneeling in the gravel round the back of the school – should have listened to what the voice was telling him.

More quiet words prick at his mind: “it’s not to late.” “It is” “No, Mark, listen to me.” “Mark? Please, kid, please, I know you can hear us!” “there isn’t any pulse.”

He stops, realising he’s been walking and has come to a stop in front of the Haunted house and is staring up at it with a sense of foreboding. He realises those last four words he just heard in his mind make even less sense than any of the others he’s heard all day… or do they?

He hears someone behind him, it’s Brett, smiling and looking pleased. He says hi and asks what’s up but Mark can’t seem to answer. Then there’s a voice yelling after Brett, telling him to hurry up – it’s Heather. Brett shrugs and says bye, and Mark watches him go for a second, noting that Brett so far, is the only person he’s seen today who seems perfectly.. .well, normal.

Then he’s walking up the steps of the haunted house. His eyes fall on a stone gargoyle as he passes the steps and he stares at it for a moment longer than he normally would. Not bothering with the cart, he goes straight through the door ignoring the carnie manager yelling at him to get out of there, he’s walking down the dark corridors with a terrible sense of fear that he can’t explain is clutching at him. He hears laughs and giggles that are probably all the Haunted house’s artificial attempts at scaring customers, so why do they feel so… real? He suddenly arrives in a side room of the Haunted house and stares around, feeling oddly familiar with the place even though he’s never been here before. His hands touch the withered old organ keys and out of tune, but powerful organ music suddenly rings in his ears. He runs through everything, talking to himself out loud.

Voices start ringing in his ears again and this time they’re louder. He thinks about Kat and Chuck and Wayne and… and other people he doesn’t know. He says their names out loud and tries to think why they all seem like masks – thin copies of what they should really be. And how HE’S a thin copy of what he should really be too. He is nearly screaming in frustration. Then he finds something clicking on the underside of the bottom row of organ keys. It’s a secret compartment. He opens it to find it empty… but something should be there. He KNOWS it should. He pushes his hand into the secret compartment. Expecting to feel something in his hand and see something bright in his eyes.

It’s like a flood gate is opening, all at once the voices are screaming at him louder than ever, so loud he has to cover his ears and falls to his knees. And one name springs into his mind, louder than all others. A gaggle of voices is yelling his name, and suddenly he knows who they all belong to and what’s so the matter with everything today, he remembers Ace and Sparx and Random and all the others, he remembers the videogame coming to live. The male voice yells his name again, and Mark opens his mouth determined to answer it in kind.

The next thing Mark knows he’s choking, gasping for breath. His eyes flicker open and there’s Ace, staring at him with a frightened expression. Mark almost laughs as he realises – he knows who he is. Chuck is next to him half yelling at him and claiming he scared him half to death and telling him not to go dying on them again. Mark blinks in surprise… dying? Chuck explains now that Mark has just fallen twenty feet off a metal walkway. Ace gave him an electric shock to restart his heart. Chuck seems a little embarrassed about the fact that he just gave him mouth-to-mouth but then, nobody else in the vicinity even breathed at all. To be honest Mark’s amazed he’s not more hurt for someone who needed something like that, but Mark figures that maybe the Amulet had something to do with it. Chuck looks confused., but Mark just says that that’s the thing which stopped their memories from being erased forever – the amulet knew better and wanted to give them a second chance.

Outside, Lady illusion suddenly awakens to find herself dumped in the real world – rather appropriately, landing right outside of the warehouse/office block that is serving as the Interface.

Mark looks up at Phane, smiling. He tells him that they have learned a whole lot in the last year. While he was trapped in that memory-block, he realised just how much knowing Ace had meant to him. It had given him the courage to be a better friend and a better person. They had all become so much closer – all because of lightning striking his house one day and bringing a superhero to life. Because of that, he couldn’t let Phane erase everything they had learned. And the amulet knew that.

Phane is far from convinced. He suddenly lets loose an irrational display of emotion, he wants all races of knowledge of the Lightning Knights wiped out of this world, and sent back where they belong. The diea of the balance of the world being upsdet is terrible to him as he has worked all his existence to prevent such things. But Mark says the balance ISN’T upset – Ace and the other CGI’s belong in this world as much as they do and they this proves it – the worlds are repaired and yet Ace is still here, and Sparx and everyone else, most likely, he doesn’t have any excuse to destroy what they have together.

In anger, Phane lashes out to attack the first person he sees, which happens to be Chuck. Mark staggers to his feet trying to take aim and protect chuck and Ace and Sparx do the same, but just as he’s about to attack, Phane’s face suddenly twists in pain and his body starts crackling with energy. He falls to the ground and crackles away into nothing. And standing right behind him, her hand still smoking from the energy of her crystal attack, is lady Illusion. Who after a moment to stare at Phane as he fades away walks straight towards Ace and… oh I don’t need to tell you, lets just say it makes Sparx gag :P

Then Mark notices the mediators – still gathered around. But now they seem to be drifting away into the walls. Something glints in the dirt and he reaches down to pick up the last piece of the amulet.

Pout in Conestoga, Kat stands up and brushes herself off, staring around in confusion at the now lightning free air. In their garden, Simon and Fiona stare at the now clear blue sky in confusion, then go back to digging up weeds and shifting gnomes about :P.

Rick arrives right now, looking around and giving the heroes a glance before vanishing out a back door clearly wanting to get as far away as possible. Who knows what’s happened to David…

The episode ends in the thunder tower, Mark is watching Chuck and Sparx watching TV as the news report confirms the ending of strange sightings in Conestoga while a group of paranormal experts on the box are claiming the acts as the work of a curse on the town) and Ace is getting some time with LI (lets just leave them to it, wherever they are) Kat has just finished having everything explained to her and remarks on how much chaos all this years events has caused. Mark thinks for a moment about how in a sense, she’s right, but all the same, he sort of figures out now, how important the last year has been, and how everything plays a part at shaping the future. And how no matter how hard things may seem, he would never change a minute of what’s happened the last year of his life. And he’s pretty sure everyone else would agree.

The scene meanwhile, ends on Kilobyte, returning to his place in the haunted house

*gasp* finally breathes. There. Done.

Wow. *loves it*

Hey, nice! :D

Thankie :D If you're all willing, and it makes sense, and you all get ownership of a few more eps first, I'd like to add this three partner to the Third Series on Fanfic net, if you don't mind *looks hopeful*