Episode 58: Glide and Grapple!
"A Prodiwing, eh?" Thor grinned, holding up his PDB. "That would explain your prowess in wrestling, Ritchie. Did you have Prodiwing wrestle for you?"
While a few Wielders laughed, Ritchie clenched his fists. "Shut up, Asgardian! You won't be grinning when Prodiwing takes Korg down like the pile of rocks he is."
Thor's PDB glowed and Korg stood with its boulder-like fists pounding together. "My name is Thor, not 'Asgardian,' and angering a Korg is never a good idea. Trust me, I know."
Korg then thrust his fists toward Prodiwing, who leaped into the air using his wings to glide around Korg and drop-kick right into Korg's head. This briefly disorientated Korg, but then he took a piece of rock from his body and threw it at Prodiwing. For a moment, Prodiwing's body glowed as the rock hit his chest and bounced off.
"You're wrong, Thor," Ritchie said. "I taught Prodiwing how to wrestle, and combined with his Bulletproof ability he's managed to beat opponents stronger than him!"
Undeterred, Korg went for another punch at Prodiwing. But Prodiwing dodged Korg's punch and went for another glide. This time, he used a grappling move on Korg's head causing him fall to the ground. Prodiwing then attempted to put Korg into a Submission Hold, but Korg suddenly became more rocky in texture to the point where Prodiwing couldn't move any part of Korg.
"I see what you were trying to do," Thor said to Ritchie, who looked confused. "You knew that Korg's head was the least heaviest part of his body, and used the momentum of Prodiwing's Glide and the strength of his Grapple attack to knock him down. Unfortunately, you forgot about Korg's Density ability which causes Korg to turn into a literal rock and it is the strongest defense mechanism his kind are capable of."
"That's the best you can do?" Ritchie laughed, much to Thor's surprise. "Well, unfortunately for you, I've trained Prodiwing's Grapple to the point where it can crush boulders!"
On command, Prodiwing used Grapple on Korg's head squeezing it to the point where cracks started appearing on Korg's face.
"If you agree to give your Korg to me right now, I won't have Prodiwing decapitate him," Ritchie offered.
At that moment, Thor panicked. He wanted to call back Korg into his PDB, but knew that would be forfeiting the match and he would definitely lose Korg. But if he used a Healing Factor Syringe on Korg, it would take awhile for Korg to stop using Density and Prodiwing might still use Grapple to decapitate him in that time.
While Thor's mind was occupied, Noirspi suddenly appeared out of the shadows. He used Spider Web to cover Prodiwing, causing him to let go of Korg. Then Noirspi used Web Shot to yank one of Ritchie's PDBs from the left side of his belt.
"Noirspi," Thor remarked as the black spider landed on his shoulder with the PDB. "What are you doing here? Is MJ with you?"
In response, Noirspi made a series of chattering sounds and used its arms in pantomime gestures.
"So Nebula's Nebolt stunned MJ with a Concussion Beam, because it caught onto our plan," Thor interpreted, with Noirspi nodding.
Ritchie blinked, looking down at his belt. "What plan?"
"Originally, I was just going to pretend to fight you while my friend MJ would sneak in here and use Noirspi's Spider-Tracer to find the PBD with Hamder and grab it while you weren't looking," Thor explained. "But I guess that Luphomoid's Marémon sensed something was up and attacked MJ, though Noirspi managed to get away. And thanks to his quick reflexes, I was still able to get what I came here for. Return, Korg!"
Thor pointed his PDB at Korg, who vanished in a beam of light.
"You can't just walk away!" Ritchie argued. "Another Marémon cannot be used in these fights, so Korg automatically belongs to me!"
"But you tried to kill your opponent's Marémon, and that is not allowed here."
Ritchie and Thor looked toward a raised platform further back in the basement, seeing an intimidating blue man wearing a black hooded robe with a large hammer in his hand.
"How long have you been watching from back there, Ronan?" asked Ritchie, who looked both frightened and furious.
"Since the matches began," Ronan responded. "This is where I always watch. You of all people should know that."
Biting his lower lip, Ritchie got on his hands and knees. "Forgive me, Ronan, but you must understand that this Asgardian came under false pretenses to take a Marémon that I won from a previous match!"
"Except that Marémon was originally caught by my friend, before she gave it to the man whom Ritchie fought and obtained it from," Thor argued.
"And what is the Marémon that is at the center of this conflict?" Ronan asked.
"Hamder."
Looking annoyed, Ronan gripped his hammer tightly. "Is that all? Just a Hamder?"
"Yes, Ronan," Thor said. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but my friend wanted Hamder back because she felt bad about letting it go."
Ronan glared at Ritchie. "How dare you make a mockery of these fights! You not only threaten to kill an opponent's Marémon, but you also make a big deal over a worthless Marémon like a Hamder. We value strong Marémon over weak ones, and if you can't follow that basic principle then you're not welcome here!"
"But I did try to give Hamder back, but the Asgardian refused since he wanted to honor our initial fight agreement," Ritchie claimed.
"I agreed to give him my Korg if he won, but if I won I would take Hamder," Thor said to Ronan. "But Ritchie wanted to change it to giving me Hamder whether I lost or won."
A few Wielders booed upon hearing this until Ronan silenced them with a wave of his hand.
"Does the Asgardian speak the truth?" Ronan asked Ritchie.
After a pause, Ritchie nodded.
To be continued…
