49 Chapter 49: Dammit Emerald!

"Come on!"

"No"

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please? With a cherry on top?"

"No."

"..."

"..."

"Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepl-"

"Alright fine!" Isaiah suddenly shouted.

"Yeah!" shouted Emerald as she flew around Isaiah's head in her compact form.

Right now, Isaiah was in his room reading a novel when Emerald began to pester him with her begging. It was now January 8th, 2008 and the new year has started without a hitch. It's been two weeks since Zelretch had gifted him Emerald and pranked him by making him wear a magical girl outfit. When the boy saw his outfit he tried to throw the stick away, but it came followed him anyway. So he kept it. He tried to analyze it using Structural Grasp, but the stick would repel his mana and if he tried to dismantle it, the wand would fly away even if it were in his grasp.

So he gave up and simply kept her.

"On two conditions!" Isaiah added when the stick cheered.

"Named them!" the latter immediately replied.

"One, you're going to change the outfit."

"But, whyyyyyy! You would make a great magical girl!"

Isaiah shook his head,

"Nope. I'm a boy. I like being a boy so I'll stay a boy. Deal with it."

The star slumped her wings,

"Fine."

Isaiah grinned. After two weeks, he had finally got Emerald to change the outfit.

"Now, for my second condition, you'll present yourself to my Dad. You never gave me a reason why you won't show yourself to him no matter how many times I ask."

For some reason, Emerald refused to show herself to his dad and Isaiah never told any of his friends about her because he felt too embarrassed.

It's a magical girl's wand for Root's sake!

"It's because no adults are supposed to know about the magical girls' identity."

"Again. I'm a boy."

"And parents are the last people who are supposed to know."

"What about Teacher? She's an adult. Your logic doesn't make sense."

"That's because she's a magical girl herself!"

Isaiah raised an eyebrow. He was about to speak when he thought about it. He then sighed,

"Alright, I'll give you that. But Dad knows about magic. There's no harm in telling him."

"Hmmmmmmmmm"

Isaiah waited for the wand to make her decision. After what felt like an eternity, she relented,

"Alright then, I shall introduce myself to him," Emerald said.

Isaiah looked at her with suspicious eyes when he heard her tone.

"Then let's go."

"YEAAAAH!" Emerald cheered.

For the past few days, Emerald had begun begging Isaiah to go on an adventure since she found it too boring. Isaiah got off his bed and asked Jarvis.

"Jarvis? Where's my dad?"

"I believe he is in his office with Ms. Potts. Are you up to something, Isaiah?"

The boy sighed,

"It's not me, Jarvis. It seems like Emerald wants to go somewhere."

"Very well then."

Apart from the Ancient One, only Jarvis is aware of Emerald's existence and kept it a secret at Isaiah's insistence. although, he was interested in Emerald as the latter was also an artificial intelligence just like him.

"Thanks, Jarvis!"

"No problem, sir Isaiah."

The boy left his room and proceeded to head to Tony's with Emerald right behind him. Soon, he arrived and knocked on the door.

The door opened and Isaiah saw Pepper.

"Hello, Isaiah." the woman smiled and the boy smiled back,

"Hey, Ms. Pepper. Are you guys busy?"

"Isaiah?" Tony's voice was heard from inside.

"Hey, Dad. Can I come in?"

Pepper shook her head,

"It's okay. Come in. We were just discussing possible deals incoming from the military." she replied.

Isaiah raised an eyebrow,

"They still want something new?"

"Even the military have trends, Isaiah," Tony said with a chuckle.

The boy entered the office and sat on a seat.

"So what's up?" the father asked.

Isaiah sighed as he prepared for the outcome,

"I would like to introduce you guys to somebody."

Tony and Pepper raised their eyebrows as they looked confused,

"A girl?"

Isaiah tilted his head,

"You can say that."

Now both adults looked worried,

"What about Bianca?"

"What about her?"

Pepper looked even more worried,

"Is being a playboy genetic?" she whispered.

"I can hear you," Tony said dryly.

The man looked back at the boy,

"Isaiah, I don't know if I should be proud or worried that you inherited from me more than I thought, but are you going to introduce us to this girl now or later?"

"Right now. In fact, she's right behind this door."

Tony snapped towards the door where the supposed girl is supposed to be,

"You bought a girl and didn't inform me? Why wasn't I informed? In fact, why did you bring her? Does she even know about your relationship with me? Wait of course she knows, you brought her here. What's going on Isaiah? Why has Jarvis not informed me?" Tony now had a complicated expression as a sense of dread grew inside of him.

"Because she didn't want to introduce herself to you before and I asked Jarvis to keep it a secret."

"Jarvis!"

"Yes, sir?" the A.I. answered.

"Is this true?"

"Yes sir. Sir Isaiah has told me to keep Emerald a secret until he introduces her to you."

Tony looked at Isaiah with a helpless expression.

"You know what. Let's meet this girl and see what kind of girl she is!" the man said as he clasped his hands together. Pepper simply looked at the whole ordeal with a mix of dread, confusion, worry and many more.

Isaiah looked at his dad completely lost before turning to the door,

"You can come in Emerald."

"Eh? Really? I can come in?" a chirpy voice was heard behind the door making Tony and Pepper flinch. Especially the woman as she hadn't seen anyone close to Isaiah when she opened the door.

'There really is a girl!' they both thought.

The door opened slightly before something zoomed past the opening and stop in front of Tony making the latter back away in reflex.

"HELLO! I'm Emerald the first Kaleidostick created by the Creator Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg! the magical wand introduces herself in her full form.

Tony and Pepper gawked at the unexpected situation.

"I-Isaiah. Explanations, please?"

Isaiah giggled when he saw their reactions and explained the situation.

After some time, Pepper was massaging her temples while Tony looked at the floating stick in curiosity.

"So what your saying is that an interdimensional vampire crossed worlds just to meet you and gifted you with a magical stick?" Tony asked Isaiah with a deadpan.

"Yeah."

"..."

Isaiah tilted his head when his father kept staring at him with a deadpan.

"What?"

That's when Tony exploded,

"You little shit! I ought to smack you for almost giving me a heart attack!" Tony snapped.

"Why?" the boy replied confused.

"Isaiah, you said that you bought a girl here without telling anyone of us. What did you think would happen?" replied. Pepper was relieved that Isaiah had pulled a Tony Stark accidentally.

"I don't know?"

Tony and Pepper sighed as they were reminded once again of Isaiah's lack of common sense as well as social skills.

"So this is Emerald, huh? I'm Tony Stark and this rascal's father. This is Pepper, my assistant." Tony turned back to the floating stick.

Pepper nodded,

"It's a pleasure meeting you, Emerald." the woman replied.

"It's good to meet you both too!" the stick then flew to Isaiah as it coiled itself around the boy's wrist and pulled him,

"Now that I've introduced myself, let's go on an adventure!"

"Hold up! Adventure? Where?" asked Tony.

"I actually don't know where?" Isaiah replied before turning to Emerald,

"Where are we going actually?"

"Another world!"

"What?" asked Tony and Pepper.

"What? You want to go to another world?" Isaiah asked as he was now intrigued.

The only person he knew who crossed worlds was Zelretch. The boy also wanted to try it out.

"You can cross worlds? Do you use the same magic as Zelretch?" Isaiah asked.

Emerald nodded,

"Yup. My creator has incorporated a part of the Second True Magic in me so I am able to cross worlds just like him. Although, it is very limited and I'll use a lot of your mana for the jump. But don't worry, I'll just pull mana from a world containing it to refill you. Although, it won't be True Ether since I would need to find a world where the Age of Gods didn't end since that's where I'll find True Ether." Emerald explained.

That's when Tony interrupted them,

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! You want to go to another world? I can't possibly allow that! You're only twelve" the man said.

"But why?" this time Emerald and Isaiah whined at the same time now that the stick had gotten the boy hooked on the prospect of going to another world.

"What do you mean why? It's not another city, nor another country. It's a whole other world you want to go to. And which world do you even want to go to?"

"The closest one." the stick replied.

Tony crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the Kaleidostick

"Which is?"

"I'll... huh... find out later with Isaiah. Besides, we're not going to a super dangerous world!"

"That doesn't exactly reassure me, Emerald."

"But don't you want to research about other worlds? You're probably the first normal human who'll have the proof of interdimensional travel." Emerald said.

Tony flinch. It seems like Emerald had hit a mark. To be honest, Tony also wanted to research interdimensional travel ever since he was given proof of it. He just hadn't had the time.

Pepper seeing Tony flinch realized what happened and sighed.

"Is it going to be dangerous, Emerald?"

"... No"

"That's a long pause."

Emerald flapped her wings,

"But it won't be dangerous!"

Pepper suddenly felt her shirt being tugged and she looked down and saw Isaiah,

"I want to explore the other world, can I?" the boy said and looked at her.

Pepper looked back at the boy in the eyes. As they looked at each other, Pepper seemed to shrink at the innocent gaze the boy was giving.

'What's this? Was he always this cute? Since he's Tony's son, was he like this when he was young?"

For some reason, in her mind, a child version of Tony seemed to overlap Isaiah and take his place. When the woman found herself being begged by a child version of Tony, she caved in.

"Ugh... ok."

Isaiah instantly brightened as a smile took a place on his face.

Soon her illusion ended and Pepper found herself looking at a Happy Isaiah.

'Did he cast a spell?'

Unknown to her, it wasn't a spell. It was a simple case of a woman who couldn't say no to an innocent child. Isaiah on the other hand simply cheered at the fact he got Pepper's approval without knowing he had used an Ultimate technique known throughout the Omniverse.

"Fine. But I'll be observing you!"

It seems like Tony also caved in at Emerald's insistence after she had struck his curious spot one too many times.

"Yeah!" Emerald and Isaiah cheered as they high-fived while the adults look down in defeat.

***

"So how is this going to work?" asked Tony.

Although, he was still on the fence of this whole operation even though he agreed to it.

He, Pepper, Isaiah, and Emerald were now in the large basement used just for Isaiah's training. Suddenly, a familiar portal opened up and all four saw Fiona walk out of it.

"Teacher!" Isaiah said.

The woman smiled,

"Hello everyone. I received Isaiah's message that he was going on a trip," she said.

Tony massaged his temples,

"I can't believe I got tricked into this, but yes. Isaiah is going on a trip to another world. Well, that's what the stick says." the man says with a groan.

Fiona put a hand over her mouth as she gave a low chuckle,

"How interesting. But this raises several concerns such as how different the world is. Because of connection with the Root, how will you affect it? What if the world is hostile? What is the time ratio between this world and our own."

"Don't worry, miss Sorcerer Supreme. We will just return if there is something wrong. Besides, Isaiah has his powers so he is not helpless." Emerald replied.

The woman looked at the wand before nodding. Tony and Pepper looked at her easily accepting Emerald's words.

"You're just letting Isaiah go like that?" Tony asked.

"Isaiah is an extremely curious child. If he finds something he wants to interesting, he will try to research it. And when he does, he falls into a completely different world where no amount of distraction will disturb him. Once, he was so into his magic, that he hadn't even eaten anything for a whole two days. He would have continued if I hadn't checked up on him. Besides, although he may act his age from time to time, he is very mature for a twelve years old. Although, I suppose it comes with what he experienced." The woman said as she watched Emerald and Isaiah finalize their preparations.

Tony stayed silent after hearing the woman, but she wasn't finished.

"That's why it's better to let him learn on his own. Isaiah learns better when he does it himself than when someone else teaches him. Let Isaiah play with fire, he'll then learn to be careful of it when he burns." the woman finished.

"But this is not simply fire. This is crossing a whole world. What if something happens to him on the other side?"

The woman smiled,

"That's why instead of stopping him, we just have to help him? And let me be honest with you," the woman lowered her voice and leaned in so only Tony and Pepper can hear her,

"If Isaiah chooses to do so, he could probably annihilate me with a single snap of his finger," she said shocking them.

"How?" whispered Tony.

"It's better if Isaiah tells you why," Fiona said and leaned back before flicking her wrist.

Suddenly, three duffel bags appeared in front of her. She then telekinetically gave them to Isaiah who finally finished preparing whatever he was doing.

"What's this Teacher?"

"These are three bags of supplies from food to medicine. I prepared them just for you."

Isaiah's eyes widened,

"Thank you, Teacher!"

Tony sighed before looking up,

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir" responded the A.I.

"Bring me ten thousand from my safe."

"Very well, Sir."

Pepper looked at her boss,

"Are you sure, Tony?

The man nodded,

"The one thing I don't lack is money. I better use it for Isaiah than let it sit and collect dust."

Pepper remained quiet as a robot finally came carrying a metallic briefcase and handing it to Tony. Tony opened it and checked the content, He nodded before closing it and walked up to Isaiah.

"Here. I figure that other probably doesn't have any of my bank accounts so I'm giving you this." the man said.

Isaiah took the briefcase and opened it. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets from the amount of money in there.

"WOW! That's so much money!" shouted Emerald.

"What the hell, Dad!? Don't you think there's too much?"

Tony shrugged,

"Better safe than sorry."

"But-"

"Shut. I don't want to hear it," Tony said as he put a finger on his mouth.

Isaiah sighed before smiling.

"Alright. Thank you, Dad," he said and put the briefcase and the duffel bags in his ring. He then hugged the man.

He also hugged his teacher and even Pepper who was taken aback, but she reciprocated nonetheless.

'There may not be money in the other world so I'll probably sell the precious minerals I found in Solomon's ring. I mean there's literally a mountain of it.' he thought.

"Alright, Emerald. Are you ready?"

"Yup Yup. Are you?"

Isaiah grinned,

"Yes," he replied and gripped the wand.

He then frowned,

"You better remember your promise, you hear."

"Yeah, Yeah," Emerald replied.

"If I can't have a magical girl, then I'll just have a magical boy!"

"That's right," Isaiah replied and initiated the transformation sequence. Soon, he and Emerald were enveloped by a blinding light.

"Jarvis, do not miss a single moment of this," Tony said.

"Yes, sir."

Tony and Pepper had to close their eyes to- the unexpected light show. Fiona had already prepared sunglasses.

When the transformation ended, Isaiah was now wearing a black long-sleeve shirt under a green sleeveless vest. He was also wearing green pants with white lines running down his legs. His shoes were replaced with brown leather shoes. His outfit was topped with a beret on his head and black gloves.

Isaiah looked down as he examined his outfit,

"Why do I look like a leprechaun?" he asked

"You asked for a boy version of the magical girl outfit. Well, here you go!"

Isaiah looked at himself,

"To be honest, I kinda like it. Good job, Emerald."

*Click*

The boy turned towards the source and saw his grinning father with his phone with the camera pointing at him. Pepper was also giggling beside him.

"Dad!" Isaiah shouted.

"I'm saving this and you won't stop me, Peter Pan!" Tony said in chuckles.

"Well, that's new. But you should've seen it last time. He had this amazing Magical girl outfit." Fiona said as she added oil to the fire with a grin.

"Teacher!"

"Damn? You have got to show me!" Tony said.

"I would love to see it too," Pepper added.

If anyone asked, Isaiah didn't pout. He never pouts.

"Anyways, we'll be starting now," Isaiah said.

'Root, Shine!'

His magic circuits flared to life.

"Alright Emerald, do your thing."

"You got it, Partner!"

[Adding imaginary numerical axis to the fifth instrumental numbers]

Emerald began to activate the process. Suddenly, a circle filled with a kaleidoscope of colours opened up within him.

[Searching for nearby world-lines]

Emerald continued as the circle began to rotate. Tony watched the entire process with the fascination that his scientific side had triggered.

[Word-line similar to the present one found. Preparing to open a dimensional pathway]

The circle pulsed as a magical circle filled with many equations and runes appeared beneath the boy's feet. Isaiah simply watched the process in wonder.

[Pathway opened. Stabilizing Gate]

The magic circle also started to rotate and began to pick up speed. Isaiah felt his mana being drained at a rapid pace even with it being True Ether.

[Gate stabilized. Preparing for the dimensional jump.]

[10]

"Alright, guys! We'll be leaving soon!" Emerald said.

[9]

[8]

Isaiah smiled at turned to the adults,

"Alright bye, everyone. Bye, Dad. Bye, Ms. Pepper. By Teacher. I will see you in a week of this world."

[6]

[5]

"Bye Kid! Be careful out there. I know you're strong, but I don't care"

"By Isaiah. Be safe out there."

Fiona didn't say anything, but her eyes conveyed everything they wanted to say.

"Godspeed, Isaiah"

[3]

[2]

[1]

"Bye guys!" Isaiah said one last time.

[Jump Initiated]

The circle beneath Isaiah flashed in a million colours which enveloped the boy before disappearing leaving an empty floor in his place.

***

Deep in the Amazon rainforest, specifically in Peru, an indigenous tribe called the Amacarra could be seen preparing for a feast. Some could be seen preparing decorations while others went hunting the food. However, in the tribe, one could see exceptions. To be more precise, there were two children different from the rest of them. The first one was a young girl with dark red hair and freckles. She also had green eyes. She wore a tattered shirt and pants indicating that she had lived in the jungle for quite some time. The other person was a short boy with blonde dirty hair and blue eyes. One could see he had a cast made of leaves and dirt on one of his ankles as if he recently injured it.

Both kids looked young since they looked between fourteen to fifteen years old. However, two peculiarities distinguished them from the tribe members. For one, they didn't resemble them. They were both foreigners and two, if one looked closely at them, especially at the night, one would see them glowing. Not in the abstract sense. They were literally glowing though it was almost unnoticeable.

As both kids were talking to each other in English, suddenly, the boy noticed something in the sky.

"Huh, Tessa? What's that?" he asked.

The girl raised an eyebrow and looked up and noticed a small dot growing increasingly larger.

"I... don't know? The hell?" the girl replied and got up from the log they were sitting on.

Soon, the growing dot got noticed by the members of the tribe as they stopped whatever they were doing and simply observed it. Suddenly, they noticed the object getting larger and larger.

"Move! Move! Get out of the way!" Tessa shouted at the tribesmen right in the zone of impact.

They quickly scampered away and the girl and boy jumped behind the log for protection as the unidentified object crashed in the middle of the tribe's encampment.

*BOOOM*

This resulted in a huge explosion of dirt and dust as well as a cloud of dust. It also elicited screams and shouts from the tribe members as they started to panic from the sudden attack.

"*Cough* *Cough* Shit, did Elgen already find us?" asked the boy.

"*Cough* I don't know! *Cough* But we have to move!" Tessa replied.

However, before they could run away, they heard a voice.

"*Groan* Well, that was a spectacular landing *Cough*. Dammit Emerald, what was that!?" a sarcastic voice could be heard through the dust smoke.

" Soooooory Isaiah! This was my first time!"

This time it was a girl.

"You were literally built for this. How can you make a mistake?"

"I'm literally the first Kaleidostick in existence. A prototype! There's bound to be some hiccups!"

"So Zelretch gave me a failed stick?"

"What? Nooooo! I said I'm a prototype. I can still improve by myself!"

At this point, the dust settled and everyone came out of their hiding spot to see the cause of the explosion. There, in a large crater, was a small boy in a ridiculously green outfit arguing with an equally ridiculous wand in his hand. Suddenly, the tribesmen brandished their weapons toward Isaiah who was still arguing the stick.

Suddenly, one brave warrior suddenly shouted at Isaiah in an unknown language eliciting the boy to stop arguing and observe his situation for the first time.

"Huh? Where are we?"

Everyone raised their weapons and approached the boy when the warrior shouted again,

"Woah, there!"

Isaiah looked around and saw that he had landed in the middle of the encampment of whatever tribe this was.

"I, huh, am sorry about the mess I caused?"

Isaiah turned to Emerald,

"Hey, do you have a translation spell?" he whispered.

"No," Emerald whispered back.

"Dammit, Emerald."

Suddenly, the crowd parted to let an older man covered in tribal tattoos and clothes made of leaves and tree barks.

He seemed to be a chief.

"I speak English. Who are you and how have you come from the sky without getting hurt?"

"Oh, an English speaker!" Isaiah perked up.

"I guess you could say I'm lost. Could you tell me where I am?"

"Not before you tell us where you come from." the chief said and the warriors gripped their weapons.

'Well, I can't blame them for being wary. I basically destroyed their place when I landed."

Suddenly, he snapped his head toward a fallen log where he sensed something.

Electricity.

Two sources of electricity were hiding behind that log. One of the sources was immensely larger than the other. What was interesting was that the electricity was behaving in a really strange way. However, the most intriguing part was that the electricity was intricately linked with the life force making Isaiah realizes that something was strange.

'People? Why do they have such an amount of electricity?"

"I, huh come in peace." Isaiah turned back to the chief.

"Did the Peruvian army send you?"

"I'm in Peru?" the boy replied throwing the chief out of the loop.

"You do not know the country you are in?" he asked.

"As I said, I'm a bit lost." Isaiah gave a helpless sigh.

However, the sources of electricity were distracting him too much,

"Who are they?" he couldn't help ask as he pointed at the log.

He saw everyone tense as the warriors were ready to combat. The chief raised his hand to stop them.

"I don't think that the was the right question to ask, Isaiah," Emerald whispered.

Isaiah cringed,

"I can't help it. There is something curious behind that log," he whispered back.

It was then the chief spoke again,

"Does the word "Elgen" ring a bell?"

Isaiah tilted his head,

"Elgen? What's that?" he asked.

"Hatch?"

"Bless you," Isaiah replied.

The chief groaned,

"It was not a sneeze. It's a name. I heard he was called Dr. Hatch." the chief specified.

Isaiah raised an eyebrow,

"What kind of name is that? No, I have not heard of him."

At that moment, a girl's voice could be heard,

"How do we know you're not lying? You could be lying to us to capture us."

Isaiah turned to see a boy and a girl standing behind the log. It was the girl who had spoken as they both fiercely glared at Isaiah.

Isaiah was surprised. He could feel the electricity running through their body. The boy was the stronger one as he reminded Isaiah of a human version of a Tesla Coil. He could feel it concentrated around the boy's hands as sparks could be seen between the fingers as the latter hid them behind his back. The girl's electricity on the other seems to react with the boy's electricity making the latter's current stronger.

"You have electricity in you." Isaiah simply said.

This seems to put Tessa and the boy on edge.

"How interesting. How are you able to produce electricity of such a level in your bodies? A normal human produces around a hundred watts of electricity but you guys are on a whole other level. I guess it also grants a set of abilities?"

Suddenly, the boy lifted his palms as literal balls of lightning could be seen on his palm.

"Who are you!? Don't make me throw these at you!"

Isaiah looked at the lightning balls.

"How are you keeping literal electricity in a spherical form in your palms? Unless you have some form of electrokinesis to keep their form stable. But does she not have it?" Isaiah mumbled as he looked at Tessa

Everyone watched the boy mumble in confusion as he continued to analyze the two people in front of him.

The boy was losing patience. He was hurt, he was getting chased by evil doctors and the Peruvian army, and the kid in front of him was getting on his nerves. He lowered the voltage in one of the spheres and threw it in front of Isaiah. It would land on him, but it would not shock him too much.

Unfortunately for him, his clothes were not random clothes. It granted him an A-ranked magical barrier. He threw the ball at the boy. Isaiah watched in fascination as the ball of lightning kept its form even away from its source and landed right on his chest and fizzled out into inexistence without even leaving a single mark on him or his clothes.

Tessa and the boy watched in horror at Isaiah who simply patted his clothes,

"Well, that was rude even if it didn't do anything. Although, you just keep getting more and more interesting."

"Are you another Glow?" asked the boy.

"A Glow? What's that?" Isaiah asked.

"Isaiah, focus now. Research, later." Emerald said.

The boy looked at the magical stick,

"Did that stick just talk?"

"Oi!" Emerald shouted and flew into the air, "I'm not just a stick! I'm a Kaleidostick meant to bring magical girls and boys into existence!"

Isaiah facepalmed,

"I thought you wanted to stay hidden."

Now everyone looked confused. The tribesmen didn't know whether to attack or worship the boy who descended from the sky as if he had descended from heaven along with a talking floating stick.

"Oh right. I am Isaiah Sharpe. I mean no harm and I was telling the truth when I said I was lost. And you guys are?"

The boy lowered his arms and deactivated his powers.

"I'm... Tessa." the girl said warily.

Isaiah turned to the blonde boy,

"And you?"

The boy stepped over the log and stood in front of it.

"Michael. Michael Vey."