Episode 57: Prodiwing Enters the Ring!

"Spider-Man?" Black Panther repeated, staring at Peter. "What an unusual name for a thief!"

"For the second time, I'm not a thief!" Peter insisted. "There's a girl whose been kidnapped by a gangster, and he will kill her if he doesn't get the Infinity Stone."

"But you're still trying to take the stone through illegal means," Panther pointed out. "How do you know this girl?"

"We only met briefly on a train, but she's friends with the person who talked me into helping her obtain the Infinity Stone for the girl's life."

"Then where is this other person?"

"After she's taken care of the cameras, she'll be here."

"I think you're lying, and I can't stand liars. Attack the masked intruder, Panthack!"

Growling, the leopard-shaped Marémon lunged towards Spidermin, who dodged it. Panthack's claws unsheathed as they swiped at Spidermin's Web Shots. Then Spidermin released his Stingers, which he tried to poke Panthack with, but the Stingers broke as soon as they hit Panthack's pelt.

"Don't you know that Panthack's fur is strengthened by the Heart-Shaped Herbs it eats regularly that are infused with Vibranium, one of the strongest metals in the world," Panther remarked while Panthack swiped away the broken Stingers. "So Spidermin's physical attacks won't work."

"Yeah, but Spidermin isn't done yet," Peter claimed. "Spidermin, Stun Web!"

This time, Spidermin produced electric webs that fired toward Panthack. Unfortunately, Panthack was quick enough to dodge them and sliced Spidermin's chest in midair. Peter managed to catch Spidermin, but was immediately pounced on by Panthack. While Spidermin scurried into the shadows, Panthack stood on top of Peter baring his sharp teeth.

"You should have put your Marémon in its PDB when you had the chance," Panther said as he walked up to Peter. "Why didn't you do it?"

"Because Spidermin doesn't like PDBs," Peter explained. "When he was just an egg, a parasitic Marémon called Symbio tried to consume him to copy his DNA. Since then, I've only had him put inside a PDB when it's necessary."

Panther paused and then sent Panthack to find Spidermin while he rolled Peter over till he was lying on his stomach. "As much as I admire your consideration for your Marémon, you're still a criminal in my eyes. Now let's see who you really are underneath this mask."

Unable to move, Peter felt Panther's claws lifting the mask up from the back of his head. But just before the mask was entirely pulled off, he felt Panther pluck a small thing from his neck and show something to him. It was a small round object with a cat-shaped insignia.

"Care to explain why there was a tracker on your neck?" Panther asked. "And judging from the symbol, it looks like the tracker might belong to the infamous Black Cat thief. Did she talk you into helping her steal the Infinity Stone?"

In Peter's mind, he recalled Felicia briefly touching him on the neck as he walked away from her on the train. Combined with the observation that Felicia and Black Cat had the same colored hair, a sickening realization dawned upon Peter. But before Peter could respond to Panther's questions, he looked past the tracker and saw Blaccet lowering herself from the above vent using her Grapple Hook tail towards the glass case with the purple Infinity Stone inside.


Below the trapdoor in Dark Aster Lounge's storage closet, the stairs led to a basement floor that looked like the cargo hold of a spaceship. Thor was surprised, though, by the large number of Wielders within the basement who formed small circles around various Marémon fights happening simultaneously. One of the Wielders happened to be a young girl of Japanese descent wearing a school uniform. Her Marémon resembled a robot with bright yellow eyes on its black spherical head, which contrasted its red body.

"What is that?" Ritchie remarked, staring at the Japanese girl's Marémon. "It looks strong."

"I have no idea," Thor said. "But it might be a new Marémon."

"Yeah, I don't remember any Marémon who looked like that when I studied at the Marémon Academy before going to Xandar University."

"So you were going to be a Wielder?"

"That was the original plan, until I got offered a full-ride scholarship for my wrestling. But enough about me! Let's get this fight over with so I can get rid of the Hamder and obtain that girl's Marémon."

"Does that mean you're going to give me the Hamder whether I lose or not?"

"Exactly! With your Korg and that girl's Marémon, there's no way I can lose against Ronan!"

Frowning, Thor said, "What you propose dishonors our initial agreement where I give you my Korg if lose, and you give me the Hamder if I win."

Ritchie took another swig from his whiskey bottle. "What is your problem, Asgardian? I'm giving your friend the Marémon she wants regardless of how this fight turns out, and that's what you want, right?"

"Though do I wish to get the Hamder my friend wants from you, I would rather do it through a fair trade than have Hamder be treated like a consolation prize for the loser. It's disrespectful to the Marémon's value no matter how weak or strong they truly are, and shows how little the Wielder cares about their Marémon."

Nearby Wielders overheard what Thor said and turned to look at him, including the Japanese girl. As for Ritchie, he was so awestruck by Thor's words that he absentmindedly let the whiskey bottle go causing it to crash on the floor. He soon noticed and grabbed the PDB on his right.

"Look at what you made me do!" Ritchie shouted. "If you lose to this fight, you'll not only give me your Korg but also pay for another whiskey bottle. Go, Prodiwing!"

From Ritchie's PDB appeared a bipedal bird that resembled a hawk with a silver outlining around its face with wing-like protrusions, red cape-like wings, three-clawed hands with silver braces, and silver-coated feet while the rest of its body was a pale yellow color.

To be continued…