Episode 62: Veneo's Revenge (Part 1)!

Feeling a scratching sensation on his legs, Thor looked down and saw a familiar blue-and-red spider with web-shaped markings.

"Spidermin!" Thor exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"

Using his front leg, Spidermin pointed to a costumed individual that was partially visible in the alleyway across the street.

"Did that guy bring you here?" Thor asked Spidermin.

In response, Spidermin nodded.

"What about Peter? Is he okay?"

Again, Spidermin nodded and flexed his front leg toward the costumed person.

"You want us to go to that guy?" Thor guessed, to which Spidermin nodded a third time.

"I don't like this," the Japanese girl said, holding up her PDB. "How do we know we can trust this guy?"

"Because Spidermin wouldn't be urging us to go see him," Thor said.

The Japanese girl looked between Spidermin and the costumed individual. "Okay, but I'm going to have SPDR on standby in case he tries anything funny."

So Thor and the Japanese girl followed Spidermin across the street into the alleyway. There, the costumed individual removed his mask.

"Pete!" Thor exclaimed, recognizing the brown-haired boy under the mask. "What in the Nine Realms are you doing in that get-up?"

"Long story," Peter said and glanced at the Japanese girl. "Who is she?"

"A girl I met at the Dark Aster Lounge," Thor said.

"Were the illegal Marémon fights going on at that place like Eddie Brock claimed?" Peter asked. "And what happened to MJ?"

Thor hesitated to answer. "I swore to secrecy about the fights just to get out of the lounge alive, but Noirspi could explain the situation to Spidermin without breaking the oath."

Noirspi immediately jumped down from Thor's shoulder and spoke to Spidermin in a series of chatters. Spidermin responded in a similar manner, and then he pantomimed what Noirspi said.

"Okay, so from what I understand, you managed to get Ritchie to fight you but then MJ was paralyzed by the bartender, whose Marémon sensed what she was up to," Peter said after Noirspi finished chattering. "Yet Noirspi successfully followed Thor downstairs from the lounge into a basement area, where the fights were taking place as Ronan the Accuser watched. Thor then fought Ritchie's Prodiwing with his Korg, but Prodiwing almost killed Korg until Noirspi came in and snatched the PDB with Hamder in it. So Ronan stepped in and decreed that Thor would leave while Ritchie had to give up his Marémon as punishment for failing to abide by the fights' core rules. Is that about right?"

"More or less," Thor vaguely answered.

"I was participating in the fights to help my uncle get money, but Thor's speech about the value of Marémon made me realize how wrong the fights were and I followed him out of the basement," the Japanese girl added. "But when we got back into the lounge, we found the bartender and her Marémon covered in webs while your friend MJ was gone."

"And now she's up on that tower with that monster," Peter said, looking back up at the tower. "I just wish I knew why it kidnapped MJ."

"Based on its threat, I would say it's looking for you," Thor suggested.

"So it's using MJ to lure Peter out," the Japanese girl frowned. "That's so horrible!"

"I agree, and the longer we stand here the more danger MJ is in," Peter said. "Any ideas about what we can do?"

"Well, I could keep the thing occupied while you sneak up and grab your friend," the Japanese girl offered.

"How would you do that?" Thor asked.

"Because Peni Parker never gives up," the Japanese girl said.

"Is that your name?" Peter exclaimed, while the Japanese girl nodded. "My last name is Parker too!"

"Whoa!" Peni said. "And Thor even said you have an uncle named Ben, which is the name of my uncle."

"Oh, man, it's so weird how similar we are," Peter said. "But let's wait till we've saved my friend to talk about it more."

"Agreed!" Peni nodded.


"Looks like your friend is a no-show," said the humanoid creature with the white eyes to MJ. "Guess we'll just make you part of us after all."

MJ flinched as the creature leaned in and licked her with his ridiculously long tongue. But then part of the creature's face parted halfway and another face appeared.

"Eddie Brock?" MJ realized.

"You gotta forgive me," Brock pleaded. "This thing's got total control over my body, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"Don't blame us, Eddie!" said the creature's voice, speaking from the part of Brock's face that was still covered by the black substance. "You were angry at the kids for screwing up your big story about the illegal Marémon fights, so we naturally acted on that. Plus, we have a score to settle with the Parker kid and this seemed like the most efficient way to bring him out."

"Is that so?" said a female voice nearby.

The white-eyed creature covered Brock's face before turning around and seeing a Japanese girl riding on top of a robot with bright yellow eyes and a red body.

"Who are you?" the creature demanded.

"Peni Parker," said the Japanese girl proudly. "And this is my Marémon SPDR."

Beeping in response, the red robot extended its metal fingers as the ends slid off revealing holes.

"You're not the Parker we're looking for," the creature said in a disappointed tone. "Run home, little girl, because you have no idea what you're dealing with!"

"For your information, I have a learner's permit," Peni argued. "So I'm not a girl! I've also spent 5 years piloting SPDR, and you don't know what he's capable of in combat!"

Chuckling maliciously, the creature responded, "We Symbiotes have been at war with the entire universe before you were born, child! Our race has conquered many planets and taken over many lifeforms of varying intelligence. Your planet is just one obstacle standing in our way!"

"Then how come I've never heard of you until now?"

"Because our race is so efficient at conquering other worlds that very few races have lived to tell the tale. We travel through the stars on harmless meteorites in a primitive state that you call a Symbio. Then we use Attach to copy the DNA of a living host, which allows us to become the form that you see now that we shall call Veneo, the Corrupted Marémon!"

Peni glanced past the creature called Veneo, seeing Peter using Spidermin to Web Shot up the tower while Thor was distracting the camera crews below by doing a synchronized impromptu dance with Valrie.

To be continued…