The next day's semifinal brought the entire Planeswalker crew together, except for Peter Quill. He had gotten into a street fight with a woman named Gamora, which drew the attention of Nova Corps security drones, and he was arrested on the spot. Through her internal connections, Moonshadow learned that the two of them had been shipped off to the Kyln, a space prison infamous for being harsh and corrupt.
Normally, the Corps did not send prisoners to the Kyln, because by the standards of the civilized worlds, that place was too dark and brutal. But Quill was a habitual criminal, a Ravager with a mountain of dirty accounts to his name, while the green-skinned woman called Gamora was the daughter of the Mad Titan Thanos, a dangerous piece of work.
So the officer in charge of transport waved a hand and dumped the two troublemakers into the Kyln to fend for themselves.
Skyl suspected Gamora had been deliberately sent to gather intelligence for Thanos. The Mad Titan's style was actually remarkably cautious. He understood patience and concealment better than most, but once he finally made his move, it came down like thunder and left no room for resistance.
The events of Avengers: Infinity War had already proven how terrifying Thanos could be. In the Marvel Universe, where anything was possible, Skyl had no intention of underestimating one of the rare villains who truly stood out. Never mind his own power, as a conqueror clearly favored by destiny, the odds of him showing up with some absurd advantage were extremely high.
In the comics, Thanos had once obtained a treasure called the Reality Controller, something similar in effect to the Genesis Pen. Using its power, he devoured all the gods, and even absorbed the One-Above-All, becoming an utterly unbeatable existence.
At this very moment, though, the One-Above-All of this universe was sitting beside Skyl, eating popcorn and drinking alien soda he had stolen from Gali.
The atmosphere between grandfather and granddaughter was unexpectedly warm, while Galactus continued to watch from the shadows, grinding his teeth over Stan stealing snacks from his girl, with no idea that this shameless old coot was the very creator god he daydreamed about meeting.
When the contestants entered the arena, Jojani searched the stands for family and friends. Tony had his head tilted to one side as though he had already fallen asleep, while Skyl, Moonshadow, and the others nearby waved and cheered her on.
Jojani felt a pang of disappointment at Tony's attitude.
Rocket Raccoon said bluntly, "You're not cut out for this. Give up now."
His partner Groot, sounding genuinely sympathetic, added, "I am Groot."
Jojani quietly steeled herself. Everyone there, contestants, spectators, judges, every last one of them, knew this little girl was only making a desperate last stand. She had no real chance of winning.
Then she saw the blueprint provided by the organizers and her hands practically froze.
It was a shield generator meant for use on a spaceship. You needed at least mid-level or advanced mechanic training to understand the relevant theory, and she knew absolutely nothing about it. Other than being able to read the words on the page, she was completely lost.
She just stood there.
Varina lounged comfortably in her chair with enough spare time to paint her nails. All she had to do was sit back and wait for the genius raccoon to do all the work.
"That stupid poor girl is nothing without outside help, just a lump of mud," Varina sneered.
Groot immediately spoke up on Jojani's behalf. "I am Groot."
Rocket burst out laughing. "You're right. She's so dumb she's insulting herself."
Just when everyone assumed Jojani was about to give up, she suddenly started filling in the blueprint as if some divine hand had taken over.
Varina cursed and called it an act. But a little while later, Jojani had already moved on to building the finished product.
"That's impossible. How did she suddenly figure it out?"
Tony was sleeping soundly in the stands, and aside from the wizards, nobody knew that his soul had left his body. In the spiritual dimension, invisible to ordinary people, Tony's astral form hovered beside Jojani, patiently guiding every detail.
"Let's win this damned competition," Tony said, watching Jojani assemble the device at high speed, his eyes full of satisfaction.
In the end, the semifinal advanced two contestants. Rocket took first by a mile, while Jojani narrowly claimed second. When she heard the judges announce the results, she could barely believe it.
"We did it, Mr. Stark!"
The final was scheduled for the next day.
That night, Jojani was invited aboard the Planeswalker. Her excitement and hope for the future had reached an almost unbearable level, but Tony immediately dumped cold water on it.
"We can't win tomorrow." His expression was serious. "That raccoon is brilliant. I'd bet money he escaped from some mad scientist's lab. He's way too good."
Skyl raised an eyebrow. "You guessed right. Rocket Raccoon is an escaped experiment."
"Skyl, you know the inside story?" Everyone perked up and turned toward their dependable wizard friend.
"Of course. As everyone knows, I'm an excellent Seer, so I can know the past and predict the future."
Moonshadow looked at Skyl with a half-smile. She knew perfectly well that certain people had failed Divination, so she regarded his shameless self-promotion with open contempt.
Skyl ignored her completely and went on telling Rocket's backstory. Reading the script counted as divination too, as far as he was concerned.
"To put it simply, a lunatic called the High Evolutionary wanted to create the perfect life-form, intelligent, healthy, gentle by nature, the foundation for the utopian society he imagined. He mastered an incredible transformation technology that could force a species through millions of years of evolution in an instant. Rocket is an evolved raccoon."
Tony rubbed his chin. "How about we notify the High Evolutionary and let him come haul the raccoon away? Then the championship is basically ours."
Gali stared at him in shock. "That's horrible."
Everyone around the room immediately nodded and condemned Tony Stark as a man with an alarmingly rotten conscience.
"How is that horrible? The guy lost an experimental subject, he's probably worried sick. This is a win-win."
Stan muttered, "Anybody who talks about creating a perfect world is almost certainly a first-rate bastard. You should always assume the worst."
"Rocket's so cute, how can you send him back to some cold, awful lab?" Even Jojani spoke up in Rocket's defense.
Moonshadow said sadly, "That child has suffered a great deal. His heart is shattered. There's no love in it, only self-destruction and rage enough to burn down the world."
Tony still looked ready to argue, but Skyl finished him off with one final blow.
"The High Evolutionary performed extensive mechanical modifications on Rocket. His body was taken apart and put back together over and over, and he endured inhuman torture. He believed the High Evolutionary would take him to a new world, only to discover it was all a lie. Then he watched the friend he loved get killed. After fighting with everything he had to escape, he drifted through the universe with nowhere to belong. He's a little monster nobody ever loved."
"...Man, after hearing that, I'm not sleeping tonight." Tony looked like he wanted to slap himself. "So we just let him win?"
Skyl slowly ran a thumb along the Infinity Scepter and looked at Jojani. Under the wizard's gaze, the girl instinctively straightened her back, her expression turning solemn.
"Do you want to win?"
"Yes!"
"Of everyone here, Tony only ranks second in mechanical skill. If Moonshadow were willing to help you, the championship would be easy. But I can offer you another choice, the time chamber. You could gain ten years' worth of knowledge in a single night. It won't be easy. Which path do you choose?"
Jojani stood there stunned for a long moment. She was not entirely sure whether Skyl was just bluffing, but when she saw how completely Tony trusted the captain, she made up her mind.
"I choose the time chamber."
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