Episode 55: Worthy Opponent!

"Um, excuse me," MJ said to the young blue-skinned woman behind the bar.

The blue-skinned woman gave MJ and Thor an annoyed look. "Neither of you look old enough to be here."

"Could say the same about you," MJ retorted.

"I'm 18, so I'm old enough to bartend," the blue-skinned woman argued.

Just then, the blue beetle's black eyes flickered open. It regarded Thor and MJ with a hardened expression as it raised its baton-shaped mandibles with electricity flickering between them.

"Looks like your Nebolt isn't too fond of us," Thor remarked.

MJ quickly used her MarGuide to look up Nebolt.

"Originally the corpse of a Luphomoid beetle, this Space/Tech Marémon was brought back to life by the Infinity Gauntlet when it was in the hands of Thanos," EDITH said from MJ's Marguide. "However, the Nebolt is not truly alive either which it is constantly frustrated by, leading to its prickly behavior around Wielders and other Marémon."

"We don't want to cause trouble," Thor said, glancing at Nebolt. "All we want is to challenge Ronan. Can you tell us where he is?"

"You don't see him," the blue-skinned woman claimed. "He sees you if you win."

"Hey, Nebula!" said a male voice behind MJ. "Are these brats giving you problems?"

"No, Ritchie," sighed the blue-skinned woman. "They were just asking about Ronan."

"Really?" said the male voice, as a young dark-haired man walked around MJ and stared down at her in a condescending way. "What do they want to know about him?"

"My friend and I heard he's challenging Wielders at this place," MJ said sternly, glaring up at Ritchie. "Are you here to challenge him too?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," Ritchie boasted. "I've beaten four Wielders this past week, and looking for a fifth Wielder to fight in order to face Ronan directly."

"You can't be serious," Thor chuckled. "How much hot air do you have in that head of yours?"

Frowning, Ritchie lifted his polo shirt, revealing five PDBs along his belt. "The four to my left are the Marémon I've taken from the Wielders I've beaten, and the one on my right is the Marémon I beat them with."

"But I thought Wielders could only carry five Marémon at a time," MJ said.

"Normally, yes, but Ronan found a way to trick the PDB system into excluding the Marémon participants gain in the fights from their actual Marémon collection," Ritchie explained, looking at Nebula. "Isn't that right?"

Nebula held up her left hand, which was mechanical. "I have advanced cybernetic parts that allow me to hack into any system I want, though Stark Industries' security systems are fairly primitive compared to alien technology."

"Does one of those PDBs have a Hamder in it?" MJ asked bluntly.

Ritchie gave MJ a suspicious look. "What makes you think that?"

"Someone we spoke to said you took a Hamder from him," MJ said.

"Was it some blond-haired creep named Eddie Brock?"

"Could be."

"Give me a good reason why I should give the Hamder to you?"

MJ paused. "Because I caught it first, before giving it away. Then I found out what happened to the Hamder, and realized how irresponsible I was. My dream is to be a Marémon Supporter, and if I'm being careless with the Marémon I catch…then I don't deserve to call myself a Supporter, or a Wielder."

"Look, that's sweet and all, but are you guys just going to stand here talking?" Nebula interrupted. "The fights are starting soon."

"Ah, right," Ritchie said and pulled out a 20 Mare bill. "Give me a bottle of whiskey first."

Nebula raised an eyebrow. "You want me to put it on your tab?"

"Yep," Ritchie grinned. "And when I win against Ronan, I'll pay you back for sure!"

"Not before you give back the Hamder," MJ said, reaching for her PDB. "And I'll even fight you for it."

"What kind of Marémon do you have? I'll only agree if I think your Marémon is worth adding to my collection when I beat you."

MJ pressed the downward triangle on her PDB and Noirspi emerged. Ritchie stared at the black spider for a moment, then he took the whiskey bottle from Nebula.

"Forget it," Ritchie said as he walked towards a door next to the bathrooms on the right side of the bar. "Your Noirspi is too weak for my collection."

"How come?" Thor asked as he and MJ followed Ritchie.

Ritchie turned to face Thor. "When I face Ronan, I have to use every Marémon I've won and the one I've used to beat them. So I've been deliberately going after opponents with strong Marémon. Because if Ronan wins, all the Marémon I possess now will be taken."

While MJ was disheartened upon hearing this, Thor took out one of his PDBs and summoned Korg. "How about this one? Would you fight me for the chance of winning a Korg?"

This time, Ritchie seemed interested. "From what I've heard, Korgs are very durable and excellent fighters in battle."

"I can tell you from experience that's true," Thor bragged. "I've arm-wrestled this guy several times, and he always beats me."

Korg grunted in response.

"Plus, he's been in a fair share of battles including the liberation of Sakaar's slaves," Thor added.

"Really? He was involved in that?" Ritchie took a swig from the whiskey bottle. "Okay, Asgardian, I'll fight you for the Korg."

"But if I win, you have to give me the Hamder," Thor insisted.

"Fine, though I don't know why either you or your friend want it. Hamders are just annoying pests that migrated to our region through a random dimensional portal."

"So why did you take the Hamder then? You said yourself that you only go after Wielders with strong Marémon."

"I was mad at Eddie Brock for tricking me into telling him how to get here and wanted payback. But now I have the chance to either get rid of the stupid Marémon, or win the last Marémon I need to fight Ronan. So either way, I'm getting something out of our match."

As Ritchie opened the door, revealing a storage closet with a trapdoor inside, MJ held Thor back.

"Don't do this," MJ said. "I'm not going to let you throw away one of your Marémon for me."

"We don't have too many options," Thor said. "Pete's not here, and going to the authorities would only complicate things. They might confiscate everyone's Marémon, including the Hamder, and send them off to a correctional facility for participating in illegal fights. Besides, I'm willing to do anything to help a friend."

MJ smiled a little. "Okay, but don't get too cocky."

"Can't make promises, but I'll try not to," replied Thor and he walked over to Ritchie after putting away the Korg in his PDB.

To be continued…