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Kamar-Taj. Training grounds.
Dozens of apprentices in plain robes moved in unison, arms tracing geometric patterns in the air. Golden sparks crackled at their fingertips — beautiful, mysterious, and infuriatingly natural for everyone in the line.
Everyone except the person at the end.
"Damn it..."
Jake wore the Sling Ring on two fingers, drawing circles in the air with sweat running down his face. His movements were technically perfect — mechanically precise, industrially consistent — and he was muttering under his breath like a man debugging code.
"Spatial coordinate positioning across XYZ axes... Planck constant calibration... quantum entanglement channel establishment... Einstein-Rosen bridge concept activation..."
Nothing happened. Not a spark. Not a shimmer. Not even static. Just a faint breeze from his arm movements and the growing certainty that the universe was mocking him.
"Give it up, Rivers."
Mordo's voice came from beside him, cold as a January exam. He stood with hands clasped behind his back, radiating the particular disappointment of a strict instructor watching his worst student.
"Magic is not programming. You don't need to calculate physics in your head. You need faith. Visualize the destination. Feel the connection. Stop trying to derive the coordinates."
"I'm trying to understand the underlying logic!" Jake shook out his aching wrist. "This violates conservation of energy! Drawing a circle in the air lets you cross half the planet? Where's the energy source? Atmospheric ionosphere? Dark matter conversion? What's the mechanism?"
ZZZT—!
A crisp hum of energy interrupted his scientific objections.
Gwen had her eyes closed, swaying gently — the same rhythm she fell into when she was behind a drum kit, finding the beat, letting the music move through her instead of trying to force it. She rotated her wrist, fluid and easy.
Crackle!
Orange sparks exploded in front of her. They weren't a complete portal yet — but they spun into a perfect circle, and through the small opening, the snow-capped Himalayas were visible on the other side.
"Whoa!" Gwen's eyes flew open. "It felt like... catching a syncopated beat! You just push with the rhythm and the door opens!"
"Well done, Stacy." Mordo actually nodded. Approval. From Mordo. "You have genuine talent. Your perception is keen, and you aren't imprisoned by secular logic."
Then he turned to Jake with an expression that could have frozen the tea in the Ancient One's cup.
"As for you... your head is too full of formulas and arrogance. Your cup overflows. Nothing new can enter."
Jake felt the blow land somewhere in the vicinity of his ego.
Chief Technical Advisor of Stark Industries. The man who'd hacked three helicarriers simultaneously. The hero who'd melted Ultron with nuclear energy. And he was dead last in beginner magic class. Behind apprentices who'd been here a week. Behind his own roommate, who'd picked it up like learning a new drum fill.
This was worse than being beaten by Ultron.
"I don't accept that."
Jake raised his left hand and activated the Omnitrix.
"What are you doing?" Mordo's hand found the Staff of the Living Tribunal. "The Sorcerer Supreme said to release your dependence on external—"
"She said release dependence. Not become an idiot."
Jake turned the dial. A green scanning beam swept across the nearest apprentices' spell-work, and a holographic data display unfolded before his eyes.
"System — scan energy signatures. Analyze wavelength and frequency of the magical discharge."
[Analyzing... High-dimensional energy fluctuations detected. Non-electromagnetic. Non-gravitational. Energy originates from multiversal background radiation. Classification: Mana/Magic.]
"Background radiation." Jake's lips curved into a grin. "So it is energy. Just energy from a source this watch hasn't catalogued before."
"And if it's energy — it can be captured. Analyzed. Absorbed."
"You are profaning the mystic arts."
Mordo strode forward, no longer hiding his anger. "Sorcery is the foundation of reality, not a science experiment. Your obsession with digitizing everything will lead you into darkness."
His staff struck the ground. Golden energy surged around him.
"Since you have such faith in your toy — show me what you'll do when the battery dies and your technology fails."
"A spar?" Jake raised an eyebrow.
"Practical instruction." Mordo's staff elongated into a golden whip that cracked through the air. No warning. No holding back. The magical binding force in that strike could subdue an elephant.
"I can't draw circles, Mordo."
Jake didn't dodge. He slammed the Omnitrix.
"But I'm very good at the subject of energy."
Purple-crystal light erupted across the training ground.
When it cleared, Jake was gone. In his place stood a tall alien composed entirely of purple crystalline material — a single cyclopean eye, a black-and-pink bodysuit beneath the crystal surface, and sharp prismatic shards growing from his back. In the sunlight, he looked like a living amethyst. A gemstone that had decided to fight.
Chromastone. Crystalsapien.
CRACK!
Mordo's magical whip lashed across Chromastone's chest.
No tearing. No damage. No effect whatsoever.
The golden magical energy hit the purple crystal surface — and sank in. Like water into a sponge. Like light into a prism. Absorbed completely.
"What—?" Mordo's composure cracked.
"Tastes good." Jake's voice resonated from within the crystal form — deep, harmonic, amused. "Like lemon candy with a hint of pepper."
The crystal patterns across his body blazed to life, filling with flowing golden light — Mordo's own magic, captured and stored.
"You absorbed the mana?!" Mordo's hands blurred through seal formations, and dozens of golden energy missiles streaked toward Jake like tracer rounds. "Then let's see how much you can eat!"
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Every projectile hit. Every one was absorbed. Chromastone's body lit up like a multicolored prism, each impact adding another frequency of captured energy to his reserves.
"Refract!"
Jake crossed his arms. The next barrage hit him and scattered — each beam splitting into dozens of brilliant light rays that formed a rotating rainbow force field around his body. An absolute defense made of the attacker's own power, turned against him.
"I told you, Mordo."
Jake spread his arms, feeling the energy thrumming through every crystal in his body.
"To you, this is the mysterious Power of the Vishanti. To a Crystalsapien — it's just a delicious breakfast."
"Now I'm giving it back."
Jake aimed one hand at Mordo. The crystal at his fingertip blazed with concentrated light.
WHIRRRRR—!!
A multicolored beam — bio-energy from the Omnitrix braided with absorbed magical energy — erupted from Chromastone's palm. The air ionized in its wake, leaving a burnt-ozone smell.
Mordo threw up the Shield of the Seraphim on pure reflex.
BOOM!!
The beam slammed into the golden shield. The impact drove Mordo backward ten meters, his boots plowing twin furrows through the stone tiles, the shield smoking and flickering.
The dust settled.
Mordo lowered his battered shield. He was disheveled. His pride was wounded. And the alien in front of him didn't have a scratch.
"That wasn't magic," Mordo said through clenched teeth. "That was a shortcut."
"It's called Energy Transformation Studies, Master Mordo." Jake detransformed and brushed off his sleeves. "I can't chant your spells — but I can eat them and fire them back. All roads lead to Rome."
The surrounding apprentices stood frozen. They'd spent years learning to condense a handful of mana. This person had just devoured a master's attacks like snacks.
In the corner, barely visible in the shadows, the Ancient One watched. Tea in hand. Expression unreadable.
"If he doesn't understand the rules," she murmured, "he simply devours them."
A sip.
"Azmuth... you truly created an interesting monster."
Evening. The library.
Warm light. Ancient shelves. The smell of old paper and older knowledge.
Jake and Gwen sat at a long table. Gwen was flipping through a Sanskrit text on astral projection, searching for anything related to quantum signature stabilization. Jake studied the holographic energy spectrum data Chromastone had captured earlier.
"You made Mordo look terrible today," Gwen said, not quite hiding her glee. "His face looked like he'd swallowed a wasp."
"He's too rigid. If he ever faces something truly unreasonable — Dormammu, a being that doesn't follow any rules — that shield won't last three seconds."
Jake swiped through the spectral analysis. "But Chromastone's absorption is passive. To actually fix the dimensional decay in your body, absorbing energy isn't enough."
His gaze drifted toward the depths of the library. To a shelf sealed behind a special ward.
On it sat a pendant. Green light pulsed from its center like a slow heartbeat.
The Eye of Agamotto. The Time Stone.
"There's a gene in the Omnitrix that involves temporal manipulation," Jake said quietly. "I've never been able to fully unlock it." He looked at the hourglass-shaped icon on the dial — Clockwork. "Maybe I need to have a conversation with that green rock."
A figure stepped from the shadows between the shelves.
Not Mordo. Not the Ancient One.
A sorcerer with dark-ringed eyes and an expression that balanced between intellectual arrogance and something hungrier. He carried a heavy book and pretended to organize the shelf nearest to Jake.
Kaecilius.
"A brilliant performance today."
His voice was smooth and cold. "You can devour energy. Break the rules. I recognize the look in your eyes — that hunger for knowledge. For power."
"What's your point?" Jake closed the holographic display. Every instinct sharpened.
"The Ancient One is lying."
Kaecilius's voice dropped. His eyes burned with the particular fervor of a true believer.
"She tells us to follow the natural order. But she herself draws power from the Dark Dimension to sustain her immortality. You've sensed it, haven't you? The true nature of her energy signature. The hypocrisy."
His gaze found the Omnitrix.
"You are a rule-breaker. So am I. Why waste your time learning rigid incantations?"
He pushed a book forward on the shelf — slightly, casually, as if by accident. It was an index. A reference guide.
For the Book of Cagliostro.
"The real answers are in the forbidden places. If you want to control time..."
A strange, knowing smile.
"I can tell you exactly which page has what you're looking for."
Kaecilius turned and vanished into the dark between the shelves.