Episode 18: The Armor of Illusion!
"Go get 'em, Tiger!" MJ shouted to Peter, which made him wince.
"You haven't given me that nickname since we were in the Marémon Academy," Peter recalled.
"And it encouraged you to do well before, just as it will do now," MJ smiled.
While Thor took a few steps back from Thunderthor, Hela and Loki walked down from the throne and stood two feet from their Marémon Elarein and Lokeen. Peter then noticed MJ whispering something to Noirstel, who had been resting on her shoulder since they arrived in the Asgard Realm, before he moved behind her neck.
"Is something wrong, Peter?" Loki asked. "Are you having second thoughts about challenging me and my sister?"
"No, Loki," Peter insisted. "I'm ready to go."
"Good," Loki grinned. "Lokeen, Illusion Cast!"
The fox-like Lokeen grinned and waved his claws. Immediately, the air seemed to shimmer briefly before going back to normal.
"Okay, not sure what that was about," Peter noted.
"You'll see soon enough," Loki chuckled.
Just then, another Lokeen appeared right behind Spidermin and lunged toward him with a knife drawn from a pouch in his skin. Fortunately, Spidermin's Spidey-Sense alerted him and he managed to flip over the second Lokeen. But just as Spidermin dodged the second Lokeen, a third one appeared and threw several knives in Spidermin's direction forcing him to dodge them. Meanwhile, several duplicates of Elarein were surrounding Thunderthor and waving their metallic antlers at him in a threatening manner.
"What's going on?" Peter said as he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "Is this some kind of illusion?"
"Exactly," Thor answered. "Illusion Cast makes the viewer see things that aren't real. So in this case, Lokeen is using it to create duplicates of himself and Elarein to fool our Marémon into thinking there's more of them. But in reality, most of the ones you see are fake while the real ones are hidden."
"How do we figure out which ones are the real Lokeen and Elarein?" Peter asked.
"I'm not sure, since this was how Loki and Hela beat me last time," Thor admitted. "But I'm going to watch them carefully and see if any particular Lokeen or Elarein stands out, because that's probably the real one."
So Peter followed Thor's example and watched each Lokeen that attacked Spidermin carefully. Then upon seeing Spidermin's spider-shaped emblem, an idea formed.
"Spidermin, Spider Drone!" Peter commanded.
For a moment, Spidermin's eyes briefly glowed blue and then the spider-shaped emblem on his back came off becoming a floating object that zipped around the throne room. Hela noticed it, and she gritted her teeth.
"Elarein, Necroblade that drone out of the air!" Hela ordered.
From the back of the Elarein that directly faced Thunderthor emerged a dark metal blade that shot toward the Spider Drone. The other Elarein did the same, though only one blade pierced the Spider Drone.
"Looks like I found you," Thor murmured, tracing the trajectory of the blade down to the Elarein that was right in front of Thunderthor. "Now, Thunderthor, Lightning Blast!"
Nodding, Thunderthor raised his hammer and shot lightning right at the Elarein in front of him. This in turn caused Elarein to get electrocuted, while the other Elarein vanished into nothing. Meanwhile, Peter noticed the lightning flash seemed to make the multiple Lokeen that surrounded Spidermin transparent except for one who was standing behind the others.
"Gotcha!" Peter declared. "Spidermin, paralyze that Lokeen in the back with your Stingers!"
Immediately, Spidermin leaped over the Lokeen in front of him and flipped through the air until he landed on Lokeen's back and plunged the Stingers into his neck. Lokeen flinched in pain as the other duplicates of him vanished. Then he suddenly pulled Spidermin's Stingers out and vanished completely causing Spidermin to fall to the ground.
"Wait, so that one was an illusion too?" Peter wondered.
"No, Lokeen just used Conceal to make himself invisible," Thor said. "But unlike Noirstel's Invisible Web, he's using magic to do it instead of mutation. He's probably using it to hide until the paralysis effect of Spidermin's Stingers has worn off."
"Seems like something Lokeen would do," Hela remarked. "But unlike him, Elarein would never cower from a fight!"
To Peter and Thor's surprise, Elarein didn't seem to be weakened from Thunderthor's Lightning Blast. In fact, the black part of Elarein's fur seemed to shine like armor.
"Ah, I see," Thor responded, looking surprisingly calm. "Elarein used Armor Enhance to protect herself from the Lightning Blast."
"Right you are," Hela admitted. "Everything below Elarein's neck is actually a natural armor she uses for protection. But when she feels threatened, she'll use Armor Enhance to block the effects of different attacks."
"So because Elarein's armor is made from a synthetic metal, Thunderthor's lightning was naturally attracted to it," Thor deduced. "But you knew this would happen, and hoped Elarein's Armor Enhance would kick in to nullify the effect of Thunderthor's Lightning Blast."
"How smart you've become in the past year, brother," Loki complimented sarcastically. "But this is as far as you'll get. Hela, finish these Marémon off."
"With pleasure," Hela nodded. "Elarein, Structure Spikes!"
Elarein stomped the ground, which shook as black spiky structures emerged from beneath the floor and tried to pierce Thunderthor and Spidermin. Luckily, Spidermin's Spidey-Sense prevented him from getting hit by them while Thunderthor used Whirling Hammer to levitate himself above the spikes. Meanwhile, Loki turned away from the battle and was about to walk back up the steps to the throne when he paused.
"Odinspear!" Loki yelled. "Where is the scepter?"
Peter looked at the throne and sure enough, the golden scepter Loki picked up earlier was missing. Meanwhile, the one-eyed wolf Odinspear was sitting obediently next to the throne and staring ahead without moving.
"Are you deaf?" Loki demanded. "The scepter is missing and I want to know why!"
"That's because I have it," MJ abruptly said, holding the golden scepter while Noirstel stood proudly on her shoulder.
To be continued…
