3rd Person POV with Thor and Ash

After being taken to the pre-fight holding area where all the weapons racks were at, Korg, Miek, and Thor were all browsing the weapon selections and Ash was sorting through and pulling on whatever intact armor scraps were leftover from other fallen competitors when Korg called out,

"Yuck! There's still someone's hair and blood all over this. Guys, can you clean up the weapons once you finish your fight? Disgusting slobs."

"That's why I never use them." Ash pointed out as she tightened the laces on some arm guards she found in the pile before pulling out a staff from a holder on her belt that had previously been hidden behind her.

"A wooden staff?" Thor questioned a bit critically.

The staff was indeed wooden with a clawed bottom that looked like it could have been ripped from the ground while the top was fancily grown to surround an opalescence jewel and had leather cords tied around just underneath the jewel niche with clear beads strung on them along with a torn-up red ribbon and the shaft was mostly smooth with small niches and scratches here and there to show the battles it had been involved in.

"It's a staff made from Zephamore wood, it comes from my homeworld and it can channel Chrysinthean abilities while repelling other powerful energies and it's strong enough to withstand almost any attack. It's like the staffs that Zaruk uses back on Earth."

"Ahh..." Thor nodded in understanding as he remembered them from the battle against Ultron before he asked, "How did it get here then?"

"Apparently other Chrysintheans have been trapped here before me, but I'm the first Fire wielder to have been stuck here, another reason why the Grandmaster wants me to battle so badly, fire is much more destructive than the other 'common' elements of my homeworld."

"What are all those carvings?"

"They're the names of all the other Chrysintheans who've been stranded on this planet... at least the ones that came after the warrior who owned this staff." She pointed to a large symbol that was surrounded by a raised ridge of wood to emphasize its translation to 'warrior'.

"That's a lot of names..." Thor looked more closely at the wooden shaft to see the countless number of names etched in the wood in Chrysinthean script.

"27 to be exact... not counting me..." Ash whispered as she lightly fingered her name addition that looked to have been freshly carved.

"And that's where it's going to end." Thor assured her as he saw the look of fear and doubt in her eyes and snapped her out of it with a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey Thor, wanna match Pyre and use a big wooden fork?" Korg asked him as he held up the aforementioned weapon that he had pulled from one of the weapons racks.

"No." Thor shook his head as he continued to browse the selection of weapons on the racks with no clear opinion of what to look for.

"Yeah, not really useful unless you're fighting off three vampires that were huddled together." Korg admitted before he and Thor started a conversation about his hammer that Ash didn't really pay attention to as she gripped the staff in a death grip and breathed deeply to calm her nerves as she tried to think positively,

I can do this, I'm not alone this time... we're gonna defeat the Champion and find a way back home... I wonder how long it's been for them...?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a familiar voice sharply snap,

"I said they're mine." And she opened her eyes to see Scrapper 142 on the other side of the electric barrier that separated the holding area from the spectator's bar where she was opening no doubt her millionth bottle of booze that day.

"See her, that's the one that put me in here." Thor pointed her out to Korg and he replied,

"Yeah, Scrapper 142. Gotta watch out for those Asgardians, man. They are hard to perish."

"Asgardian?" Thor questioned and Ash was just as surprised by this piece of information since she hadn't seen her since she had gotten captured and sent there.

"Hey! Hey!" Thor called out to her as he approached the barrier and she responded with a raise of the Obedience Disk controller,

"Hey."

"Do not zap me with that thing. I just wanna talk." Thor assured her and she reluctantly put the controller down as he started pleading, "Asgard is in danger."

She didn't seem like she was listening as she blew out the flame on her bottle and raised it up to down it, revealing a brand that Thor seemed to recognize,

"My God, you're a Valkyrie."

Which obviously was not what she wanted him to know from the way she slammed her bottle down and started walking away, but not before buying another four-pack as Thor rambled on,

"I used to wanna be a Valkyrie when I was younger... until I found out that you were all women. There's nothing wrong with women, of course. I love women. Sometimes a little too much. Not in a creepy way, just more of a respectful appreciation. I think it's great that there is an elite force of women warriors. It's about time."

Ash facepalmed and sighed a bit at the awkwardness as "Valkyrie" questioned with a half-lidded gaze,

"Ya done?"

"Lord of Thunder, you're up!" One of the guards in charge of processing shouted making Thor panic a bit,

"Please, help me. I need your help."

"Bye." She started to walk away before Thor called out after her,

"Fine, then you must be a traitor or a coward because the Valkyrie are sworn to protect the throne."

Making her stop and turn back to get in Thor's face to sneer,

"Listen closely, your majesty. This is Sakaar, not Asgard. And I'm a scrapper, not a Valkyrie."

Guards start to move to surround Thor as he fought back before the Obedience Disk was activated making him easier to drag as the guard called out,

"Bring him in for processing!"

"And no one escapes this place. So you're gonna die anyway." Valkyrie told him before turning to walk away as Thor was dragged to the processing room and he called out,

"Ash, do something!"

"Best just to get it over with!" She shouted back to him remembering when she first got processed before she too was harshly escorted to the doorway that led to the main fighting arena as the Grandmaster's voice was heard from outside,

"Wow! Look at all of you. What a show, What a night! Who's having fun? Please, I'm your host. Big round of applause for all of our undercard competitors... who died so gruesomely. Good sports. What a show! What a night! This is what you've come for and so have I. And now, without further ado... it's main event time!!"

Breathing deeply, Ash gripped her staff as the doorway opened to let her walk out into the area as the Grandmaster announced,

"Here for her final appearance in the arena, you know her, you love her, you hate that she can't manage to finish a fight," This earned some jeering laughter and boos from the crowd that Ash did her best to ignore as she kept her head held up and whirled her staff around before planting it firmly to the ground as the jewel changed color from opalescence to a shimmery, milky fiery reddish orange color to match her flames, "Ladies and gentlemen give it up for Pyyyyrrrrrreeee!"

There was still a mix of boos and applause before a second door near Ash started to open as the Grandmaster introduced Thor,

"Making his first appearance, though he looks quite promising, got a couple of tricks up his sleeve. I'll say no more, see what you think. Ladies and gentlemen... I give you... Lord of Thunder! Watch out for his fingers. They make sparks."

Thor's hair had been shaved short and his beard had been trimmed and was wearing minimalist gladiator-style armor with two swords on his back, a giant mace in one hand, and a spiked shield in the other.

"Nice haircut." Ash told him as he came up beside her and he replied,

"I hate it."

"At least you have hair left, I wasn't so lucky..." Ash shuddered when she remembered how she basically went bald for a few months before her hair started to grow back out.

"Okay, this is it. Let's get ready to welcome this guy. Here he comes." As the Grandmaster started to introduce the Champion, some green bursts of paint powder exploded in the air as the floor of the arena shook before starting to descend to make a doorway in the distance taller.

"Here we go..." Ash muttered to herself nervously as she picked her staff up and wielded it in front of her as Thor equipped a helmet and his weapons of choice from beside her.

"He is a creature. What can we say about him? Well, he's unique. There's nothing like him. I feel a special connection with him. He's undefeated. He's the reigning... he's the defending... Ladies and gentlemen... I give you... the Incredible-"

*Boom!*

Through the doors crashed Hulk in gladiator armor wielding a warhammer in one hand and a battleaxe in the other as he roared his name,

"HULK!"

Riling up the crowd even more as their cheers heightened while Thor shouted,

"Yes!"

Making the crowd go silent at his unexpected reaction while Ash just stood there with a look of disbelief on her face as she lowered her staff down before everyone in the crowd started pulling up paper mache models and signs of the Hulk's face and cheered his name. Thor on the other hand was more verbal about his surprise as he called up to the Grandmaster in his VIP box,

"Hey! We know each other. He's a friend from work! And her father!" Thor motioned to Ash who was still staring blankly ahead until he added, "Well technically adopted but..."

And trailed off when he saw Ash making sharp cutting motions to her neck with her free hand to signal him to stop before he switched his attention back to Hulk as he told him,

"Where have you been? Everybody thought you were dead... well except Ash she never gave up on either of you..."

Ash gave him another serious 'shut up' look when she saw the way the Grandmaster was eyeing her after Thor revealed that Hulk, or rather Bruce, was her adoptive father so he switched it up by saying,

"So much has happened since I last saw you... I lost my hammer... like, yesterday, so that's still pretty fresh... Loki! Lo-Loki's alive. Can you believe it? He's up there. Loki! Look who it is!"

Ash and Hulk looked up to where Loki was also seen sitting next to the Grandmaster with a petrified look on his face and Ash could sense the annoyed anger coming off of Hulk considering his past encounter with "Trickster King" back in New York.

"Banner, I never thought I would say this, but I'm happy to see you." Thor told Hulk before some more green paint explosions went off overhead and Ash's eyes widened when she felt the prideful competitiveness start to radiate from Hulk as Thor tried to talk to him again,

"Banner. Hey, Banner!"

"NO BANNER! ONLY HULK!" Hulk shouted back to him before he charged at them, leaving Thor to question out loud,

"What are you doing? It's me!"

"Thor! Move!" Ash shouted at him before she used the clawed end of her staff to move him out of the way as Hulk crashed down where he had been mere seconds before he swung his warhammer to hit them both dead-on, shattering Thor's shield and sending Ash in a different direction as she used the staff to upright and slow herself down while Thor did the same with a dagger before whipping out two long blades.

Hulk roared out before clanging his two weapons together before Ash and Thor shouted,

"Hulk stop this!"

"Banner, we're friends. This is crazy. I don't want to hurt you!"

"Clearly he wants to hurt us!" Ash yelled impatiently as she was able to summon some of her fire powers to rocket herself over to Thor right as Hulk launched toward him and Ash was able to use her staff to manipulate the movement of the warhammer to shoot and embed itself into the wall while leaving Hulk open for a fireball to the chest.

"I'm sorry!" Ash gave Hulk a pained, regretful expression as she whirled her staff in front of her and readied for another blow as he used the flat side of his battleaxe to smack Ash aside before running toward Thor.

"Thor, look out!"

Said person had run to the warhammer that was still stuck in the wall and was grabbing the handle of it when Hulk charged him and he managed to wrench it out of the wall in time to hit Hulk and send him skidding along the wall to crash in the distance.

There was a moment of stunned silence before Thor started striding toward Hulk as he was regaining his bearings, making Ash question what he was doing as she was picking herself up from the ground as well before she heard him say,

"Hey, big guy. The sun's getting real low. That's it. The sun's going down. I won't hurt you anymore. No one will."

Holding his hand out gently like Nat used to and was hovering it over hulk's hand before he grabbed him and started whipping him across the arena floor before tossing him to the distance.

"Tssss oooh..." Ash winced at the sight before Hulk roared again and she realized he was about to attack Thor again so she ran to intercept him as she stood in front of him with her arms outstretched as she snapped,

"Stop!"

Leaving Hulk confused as he started to look more closely at Ash's face before grunting,

"Tiny Blaze?"

"Yeah... it's me... you have to sto-o-o..." Ash abruptly stopped and seemed to choke on her words as she gripped her chest over her core and fell to one knee as her staff fell from her hand, the jewel's color changing back to opalescence as it left her grip, so it could plant itself on the ground and glow with the heat manifesting in her palm.

"Ash?" Thor started to question as he picked himself up from the ground, still holding onto the warhammer before she snapped her head to him to reveal that her eyes had blanked out again and more glowing liquid was gushing from her nose and mouth before she let a snarl out and launched herself at Thor, almost taking him by surprise if he hadn't used the warhammer as a shield and forced her back where she landed on the ground on all fours and started to scuttle around uncoordinated and broken-moving.

She threw her head back and unleashed a pained-shriek that was accompanied by a ring of fireballs being shot out from her, one hitting hulk in the face, only further angering and riling him up while another hit the warhammer Thor was using to defend himself as he muttered,

"All right. Screw it."

As Ash launched herself at him again, Thor was able to manipulate her movement to work against her like she had done to Hulk before and sent her skidding on the ground a ways past him as Hulk came in for another attack and they began to duke it out as Ash recovered from the harsh blow in the distance.

Argh what was done to bring her back to her senses...? Thor thought to himself as he continued to exchange punches with Hulk before his train of thought was interrupted by Hulk punching him right in the chest sending him stumbling backward.

Before Thor could find stable footing, Hulk started to punch him left and right, breaking his helmet in the process just as Ash latched onto Hulk's arm and started to burn him with a snarling hiss with her burning red hands.

Roaring angrily, Hulk grabbed Ash with his free hand and kept her in his grip just as Thor's eyes started to glow as well and sparks of lightning leaped up from his and he unleashed a mighty lightning-fueled punch that sent Hulk back and released Ash from his grip and, in the split second that Ash was flying through the air, Thor sent a bolt of lightning to the pile of debris she was about to land in, setting it on fire just as landed in it, making a large explosion appear as she was surrounded by her element that died down after a few seconds.

"Thunder! Thunder! Thunder!" The crowd started to cheer, rooting for Thor as his power continued to grow, the Hulk was starting to get back up again, and Ash was dragging herself out of the fiery debris pile, her marks appearing on her face again as she gasped with fatigue and moved slowly from the soreness settling over her muscles.

Just as it seemed Thor was about to finish Hulk off, the Obedience Disks were activated on both Thor and Ash, debilitating Thor and making Ash fall back down to the ground, clawing at her core as she too started to pass out from the overexertion.

"Mmmm... nooooo..." Ash weakly reached out to where Hulk was approaching Thor before he leaped up into the air to ready his final move and just as he was coming back down like a missile Ash managed to summon enough strength to "call" to her staff to try and intercept him but passed out before she could see if it worked.

3105 Words

AN- Woo! I'm actually making pretty good update streaks :D Now hopefully I can keep it up ^^;

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, I've had this fight scene developing in my head, and my notebook, for a while now and how I would have Ash and Hulk reacting to seeing each other again after both of them have been hardened slightly from being in a bunch of life or death battles and seeing her look so different from the last time he saw her back on Earth, so hopefully I made it seem realistic yet different. Also, Ash's gladiator look and new staff will be posted on DeviantArt later today on my GeekyGirl183 account so keep an eye out for that ^^

Speaking of, I kinda want to open up a poll to see what Ash's new staff should be called, more of its abilities and history will be revealed later on in the Infinity War, but since that's still a ways away, I wanted to give it a name now, but I'm not sure because 'Spirit Staff' or 'Matchstick' sounds a little on the nose once you know its history, which I'm pretty sure you could probably make some predictions based on the first rough draft name ^^;

Off to see the new Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage movie after class, work, and a study session again ^^; , hope you all have a great day ^^