You wanna know what's hard about writing? Figuring out which paragraphs are useful character information, and which are pointless filler. Gah, I just wanna put more characterization into this work but I don't know how much of it is just wasting the readers' time!

Also, it was around this time that I noticed a sort of inherent problem with the concept. Fans of Spider-man expect him to constantly be a work always portrayed taking on some kind of crime. Problem is, due to Amphibia's structure and setting, I don't see Peter being able to do that. I mean, Wartwood's a small town. I don't see Peter really stopping any crimes here or going on patrol. Maybe I'll try something next chapter… but there's a reason Superman moved out of Smallville.

"Gah!" Peter crashed to the ground. Ouch, he should really invest in making a longer-lasting web fluid. Wait, do they even have chemistry in this world?

"What was that?" Peter heard the voice of HopPop scream from upstairs. It was followed quickly by the sound of rushed steps as the door of the basement flung open. "What's going on down here?!"

"Nothing," Peter groaned as he sat up. Seriously, what did the old frog even think they were doing? Eating each other alive? "My web hammock just dissolved, that's all."

"Your webs don't last forever?" the orange frog raised a brow as he walked down the stairs. "Well… that's perfectly natural… I assume. No need to feel self-conscious."

Now Peter was confused. "Why would I be self-conscious?"

"Well…" the frog twiddled his thumbs. "...Most spider's webs last longer than a few hours. But I'm sure that that is simply because they have much more experience-"

Wait… was he talking about… "Nope!" Peter covered his masked ears. "Not listening! Lallalalalala!" He already had this talk with May. And that was a conversion that is now forever burned into his psyche.

"Where are they!" Thank God! A change of subject! From the top of the stairs sat the little pink little tadpole from yesterday. Polly, Peter believed. Weird how tadpoles grew arms before legs in this world. "Let me at them," she wielded a rolling pin with surprising ease, given her size. Her threatening aura clashed horribly with that giant bow on her head, but Peter wasn't a judge of how to intimidate people.

"False, alarm Polly," HopPop informed his granddaughter. "Also, what did I tell you about trying to turn my kitchen utensils in weapons?"

"Hey, what's up, fam?" that was the least hostile voice Peter heard all morning. Sprig hopped down to the basement, after his sister. The elder child turned his attention to the new house guests. "You two, sleep okay?"

"As fine as I could, I guess," Peter rubbed his neck. The thing was starting to ache just the littlest bit. "What about you, Anne? Anne?" Was she still sleeping? After all that noise?

Peter's new roommate was, indeed, still sleeping. Though, it hardly looked like a peaceful nap. She was tossing and turning every which way. The superhero reached a hand out. "Hey-"

"WAH!" Anne suddenly sat bolt upright before Peter could shake her awake. Her eyes widened to their maximum capacity as she caught her breath. "Aw, man," she rubbed her tired eyes. "What a weird dreeaaaaa…" her words trailed off as she noticed the occupants of the room. "...ah, right."

Ah, the ol' 'hope it was all a dream' shtick. Not gonna lie, Peter would've done the same if his awakening wasn't due to a lack of a bed.

"Hey, Anne," Sprig greeted. "How are you-" he was cut off by a certain elderly frog.

"False alarm doesn't mean no need for alarm," HopPop pulled his grandson away from the humans. "They could be hungry."

"For your GUTS!" Polly warned. Man, she was dark for a toddler.

"Relax, dude," Anne placated the old man. "I don't think either of us is gonna eat something that clearly doesn't bathe."

HopPop experimentally sniffed his armpit then took a look at the flies starting to swarm around him. Deciding to snatch one with his tongue for a quick morning snack. "Fair point."

"See, I told you they were harmless," Sprig, as usual, came to their defense.

"Maybe for now," HopPop narrowed his eyes at Peter and Anne. He grabbed Polly and started making his way up the stairs.

"Just give me a reason to use Ol' Doris!" the tadpole waved her rolling pin as she was carried away.

"I think the little one wants to kill us," Anne deduced. What tipped her off? The dark comments or the makeshift club?

"Yup," Sprig honestly sounded way too casual about it. "So, what's it like being trapped in another world? How do you deal with the excitement! The mystery! I'm so jealous."

Now that certainly was a way to look at it. "The biggest mystery I've come across since getting here is how some frogs have hair," seriously, those little gray tufts at the side of HopPop's head were so small yet so unsettlingly frustrating!

"Yeah, I'm gonna half to agree with bug boy," Anne concurred but still mislabeled spiders as bugs. "I don't think all this excitement makes up for missing my home, my parents, and-" realization dawned on her face before she grabbed her pink backpack. She rummaged around in a small pocket before pulling something out. An old warn-down photo. "...and my friends," she smiled fondly at the picture.

Peter looked over her shoulder. It was a simple picture of Anne hanging out with two other girls. Wait a minute, those were the other girls from the park. "Those are your friends?" blondie sure wasn't acting friendly.

"My best friends," Anne corrected. "We've been friends for so long, we're practically family. We went everywhere. Did everything together," she gained a melancholy look. "...I wonder if they're okay."

Oh, yeah. The other girls were probably in this crazy world too. And given his and Anne's arrivals were nearly a week apart, who knows how long those two have been here. Have they even arrived? Peter looked to Sprig for what to say. He seemed the most emotionally stable of the Plantars. Maybe he could give advice. Nope, he looked just as lost as Peter. Figures

"Uh… I'm sure they're fine," Peter tried to comfort. "Hey, you lasted a week on your own. If they're as tough as you, I'm sure you'll make it."

"Yeah," Anne's face brightened. "Heck, Sasha's way tougher than me! She's always been the big leader of the group. She's probably running the frog town she's found!" Ah, this 'Sahsa' must have been blondie. Given the 'no-nonsense' vibes he got from the girl during their very brief interaction, he wouldn't doubt that claim.

"To be honest, it's Marcy I'm worried about," via process of elimination, that was probably the girl of Asian descent. "She kinda had a knack for getting herself into trouble. Like a lot of trouble. Like 'call the fire department' amounts of trouble." Anne looked like she just remembered she left the oven on. "And that was in New York! In this place-"

"-she probably found a nice non-xenophobic town!" Sprig interrupted. Yeah, that nervous smile totally sold that.

Anne just gave Sprig a deadpan stare. Yeah, that probably was too good to be true.

"It could happen," Peter weakly shrugged. "Though in all seriousness, there's a million unknown variables with this place. She could be in danger, but she could have found a… relatively safe haven, heck we don't even know for certain she or Sasha were sent here!" They were kinda far away from the epicenter of the music box. Plus, Peter and Anne were the only ones technically touching/opening it.

Anne looked at the photo with a depressed look in her eye. "I guess. It's just… the three of us were inseparable for so long, without them, I just feel… lost."

Oh, boy. That was some heavy stuff right there. Peter was not the most social guy around, but he knew a thing or two about losing people. And losing a friend is just… there's no way to describe it but 'lost' is a start.

"Hey!" Sprig looked oddly optimistic. "Why don't Spider-man and I be your Sasha and Marcy?"

Wait, what?

"Wait, what?" Anne asked. An excellent question.

"Yeah," Sprig hopped up and somehow landed perfectly on Peter's shoulders. "You miss your two closest friends, right? You've got two friends, right here! We just gotta get closer!"

Anne looked at the odd pair in disbelief. "Really?"

Peter scratched his chin in thought. "Oddly enough, his logic kinda tracts… sorta."

"Of course it tracks, it's flawless!" Sprig should really run self-confidence classes with that attitude. "Like, what did you and your friends do for fun?"

"Oh man, where do I even start?" Anne looked back to better- less swampy- times. "Binge-watching trashy TV shows, drinking boba till we vomited, our annual trips to the beach…"

"Ooh!" Sprig hopped excitedly from atop Peter's shoulders, which wasn't as annoying as it sounded, really. It felt like being pelted with a few grapes. "We have a lake! Maybe going there with us will make you feel less homesick."

Peter tried his best not to wince. Swimming in a lake was actually the first thing he did once he got here, and to say it was an unpleasant experience was like saying Bruce Banner had a small temper problem. But then again, not every piece of the ocean had sharks in it. And judging by the look on Anne's face, she really needed this.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Peter decided to add his own two cents. "I mean what was all that backflipping for, if not to lose my winter weight?" he struck a pose, showing off his gorgeous fabulousness.

"Awww, yeah, it's gonna be great," Sprig stuck a pose alongside the superhero. Mere words could not convey the sheer beauty of these two young boys from different worlds posing like the next Top Model.

Anne snorted at the vision of glory before her. "Well, it's certainly hard to argue with your guys' moxie," dang straight it was. "Let's do it!"

Heck, yeah, operation Lake Day was a go! Now, if only he had some swimwear.

"Why do you have so much beach stuff?" Peter had encountered his second mystery since getting here. "We were in New York… in October!"

"A lady can have her secrets," said Anne, dawning a swimsuit with some trunks over it. "Deal with it!" she slid on a pair of sunglasses, dating her meme reference even more. Ah, for it to be 2007 again… or 2008. Peter never really kept up with meme culture.

"What about you?" Sprig didn't seem to change his outfit at all. Given how he was already a creature born for water, this actually made some kind of sense. "Don't you have some kind of special swimming outfit like Anne?"

"I think I'm wearing it," when Peter first took his impromptu dive, his suit dried off pretty quickly. And all the weird techy stuff in the lenses seemed to be functioning perfectly fine.

"Wow," Sprig marveled. "It works for casual wear, pajamas, and swimming, today's clotheslines don't mess around."

"Hey, yeah," Anne lifted her sunglasses to get a better look at Peter's suit. "Didn't you wear a hoodie or something? Where'd you get this thing?"

Peter crossed his arms. "A Spider-man can have his secrets," Ah, revenge. Much like ice cream, you truly are best served cold.

If Anne was annoyed, she didn't show it, but Peter knew she was pouting on the inside. "Whatever, Lake Time!"
The trio marched to the front door, ready for a day of fun in the sun. However, they encountered an unforeseen roadblock.

"And where do you three think you're going?" HopPop stood before their exit, looking grouchy as ever.

"The lake," Sprig stretched his goggles over his eyes for emphasis. Huh, he was stretching them kinda far- "Ow!" Sprig's goggles smacked him in the head.

"Why? You want in?" That was awfully generous of Anne. "You wanna come?" she playfully invited the old frog.

"Absolutely not!" HopPop shut her down faster than a snowcone stand in New York's winter. "Look, Anne and uh... Spider-man," hey, he got it right first try. That's a first. "You two are both new, unsettling, strange, bizarre, gangly, HORRIFYING-"
"Thanks, dude, we get it," Anne promptly cut off the grandpa's barrage of insults.

"Actually, I kinda wanted to see how much farther he could go," Peter had been called many of those things, but not all at once. It was kind of impressive. Who knows? If HopPop continued, Peter could've learned a whole new word for 'freak'.

"No offense," HopPop applied a band-aid over a stab wound. "The point is, the frogs in this town can be pretty small-minded," he darted to a nearby window, peering through the cracks in the blinds with shifty eyes. "...And paranoid…" he whispered to himself before turning back to his houseguests. "We just need to give 'em time to get used to the two of you. Or the idea of the two of you, at the very least. Until then, y'all should stay put." he marched over to the door and pulled out a rusty old key. He inserted it in the padlock and twisted, firmly locking it.

"What?" Peter blinked. "Dude, why do you have a door that locks people INSIDE?"

"Have you met my grandkids?" HopPop pocketed the key into his waistcoat. You know, with baby McRolling pin, he may have a point.

"But-" Anne protested.

"-No buts!" HopPop. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get a little reading done," he walked over to a room that looked like it had a desk. Probably his study. "Don't do anything stupid," HopPop shut the double doors.

"Ugh," Anne groaned. "Adults are all the same. Curfews, rules," she paused as she failed to think of a third thing that all adults share. "….old."

"What? No way!" Peter mock gasped. "That can't be! My entire worldview has been shattered- ow," Peter had taken harder hits than Anne's flick to the forehead. Still, he had been emotionally hurt.

"Welp, looks like we're stuck here," Sprig had given up rather quickly. "We're gonna have to find our own fun inside. Ooh, I know! We'll have some of HopPop's pain peppers!"

Peter blinked. "Pain peppers?" One thing of note with this frog family was that it was predominantly one of farmers. Producing… well, produce. And apparently, they had a special name for their peppers.

"Yup," Sprig had pulled out a barrel from behind a piece of furniture. He popped the lid off to reveal a peck of pickled peppers floating around in a strange bubbling liquid. "So hot, they'll make you wish you were dead,"

"What?" That was an awfully morbid tagline. Who would wanna buy something like that? Actually quite a few people, now that Peter thinks about it. "They can't be that hot, can they?"

Sprig plucked a pickled pepper from the popping peck. "Why don't you give it a taste and find out?" he goaded.

Peter stared at the painful vegetable. That buzzing in the back of his head was actually ringing quite softly. Oh well, if it wasn't blaring how bad could it be? He took the pepper, lifted his mask up to his nose so his mouth was free, and let his tongue graze the skin of the vegetable.

Huh… so that's what Hellfire tastes like.

"AAAAAGH!" Peter screamed and threw the pepper. Man, he wishes they were at that lake now. "Waterwaterwaterwaterwater-" Peter bolted for the kitchen. If his mouth wasn't an inferno, he'd question why a seemingly medieval setting had a running faucet, but Peter didn't want the gift horse to bite him. He poured the water directly into his mouth, but this was a special kind of fire. God, he wishes there was milk.

"Haha!" Sprig cockily took another pain pepper from the barrel. "Amateur." His green tongue sprayed out and lightly bapped the pepper before retreating to Sprig's mouth. To his credit, Sprig actually seemed unaffected by the pepper's acids.

"WAAAH!" Hey, he lasted a whole 2.8 milliseconds longer than Peter. "AAAGH!" Sprig didn't even bother with the kitchen sink, he grabbed a nearby flower vase and dumped the dirty water over his burning tongue. When that didn't work, he started straight up beating his tongue with the vase, hoping to kill in infected taste buds. "SOMEONE, JUST KILL ME, PLEASE!" he wailed from the ground, resigned to his fate.

Despite the flames eating away at his soul, Peter vaulted over the kitchen counter and slid to the side of the young frog. He cradled the young soul in his arms. "Stay strong, Sprig! STAY STRONG! Your pain is my pain. We can get through this!"

"Spi- Spider-man?" Sprig blinked up at the hero. "The fire… the fire is too strong. I can see the light-"

"Don't quit on me!" Peter clutched the boy closer to his chest. "We've suffered too much to give up now, we need to… to… Hey, my mouth feels better!"

"Oh, neat! I guess they wore off," Sprig hopped out of Peter's arms. Wha… Was he just gonna ignore their whole emotional bonding moment just now? "Your turn, Anne!" Apparently so, as he causally held a pepper to the girl of their little group.

"Uh… no thanks," Anne smartly chose to ignore the little scene from earlier. "I'd rather go to the lake!"

"Huh?" Sprig seemed awful confused by Anne's declaration. "But HopPop said-"

"Who cares what HopPop says?" Anne interrupted. "You guys know what the best part about friends is?"

"Uh…" Sprig scratched his head. "Suprise ambushes?" What kind of weird friends did he have?

"Building Lego Star Wars sets?" Peter added his favorite part of friendship.

"What? No," Anne stared at the two like they were the biggest weirdo's in the world. "Also, you're a way bigger nerd than I thought you were," she pointed at Spider-man.

"Actually, the correct term is geek," Peter pointed out. Granted, he was actually a nerd as well but labeling things correctly is important.

"Look, the best thing about friends is that when your friend is by your side, anything is possible!" Anne switched to full-on speech mode. "If you want something, a real friend will help you get it! And you know what I want?"

"The lake!" Sprig caught on pretty quickly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Peter tried to steer this conversation away from where it was going. "Are we sure about this? I'd rather not do anything that could get us kicked out."

"Pssh! We'll be fine," Anne seemed rather casual about breaking out. "We'll be back before HopPop even knows we're gone."

Aw, jeez. Were they really gonna do this? Well, it's not the most stupid thing they could do. Peter snuck in and out of the house all the time to go on patrol and Aunt May always seemed none the wiser. And HopPop was probably just being overly cautious. They were just going to the lake, what could happen? "Alright," Peter nodded. "Let's do it."

"Yeah," Anne pumped her fist. "Now, let's go rob an old man!"

Oof. Peter and Sprig winced at Anne's rather confident declaration.

"Yeah, that did not sound as cool as I wanted it to," even Anne had realized her poor choice of words.

"To be fair," Peter shrugged. "I don't think anyone can make robbing the elderly sound cool… except maybe Robin Hood."

Their first obstacle was the lock to the front door. Peter could crush the padlock with his bare hands but that would basically be admitting the kids snuck out. Their only option was as Anne said; they had to rob an old man.

Anne creaked open the door to HopPop's study. She cautiously peeked inside. "Okay, he looks pretty wrapped up in his book. I can see the key!" She turned to her partners in crime. "Now, we just need to swipe it without being spotted."

"Ooh! Ooh! I'll go!" Sprig volunteered. "I'll sneak in, silent as a shadow!" he hopped to the wall, his slimy hands a natural adhesive. Good to know Peter wasn't the only wall-crawler in this world. Unfortunately, Sprig knocked over another vase as he jumped. Peter's reflexes quickly caught the vase before it shattered and alerted the eldest Plantar.

"Shadows knock things over, sometimes," Sprig shrugged, helplessly.

"I'll go," Peter put the vase back on its stand. "Don't let the loud colors fool you. I can be pretty sneaky when I want to be."

Anne nodded as she pushed the door wide enough for Peter to squeeze through. "You're up, Spidey."

Peter entered the study and almost immediately made his way up to the ceiling. People don't often look up when looking for intruders. Shows them for not watching Mission Impossible.

He crawled across the ceiling, quiet as well… a spider. Who doesn't hear mice skittering around in the walls? Peter was right over HopPop's head now. The old frog's waistcoat was laid across the chair he was sitting on, the key just dangling outside its pocket.

Okay, Peter, you gotta be really careful here. He shot a thread of webbing to the wall and began sliding his way down to HopPop. Almost there, just gotta- was that snoring?

Yeah, that was snoring. And it was coming from HopPop. But it looked like the old frog's eyes were open! Wait a minute…

Peter flipped down onto the ground. There was no reaction from HopPop. Peter walked up next to the frog. No reaction. Peter waved his hand in front of HopPop's face. The snores continued.

Peter couldn't believe it. Hadn't he seen a Disney cartoon with this gag? He checked the book HopPop was reading. 'So You're a Failed Stage Actor?' Shoot! So close.

"No way," Anne entered the study, after eavesdropping on Peter's stealth mission. She too walked up to HopPop. She snapped her fingers right in HopPop's ear. The frog remained unresponsive. "This is… kinda creepy," Anne observed.

"Oh, yeah," Sprig followed his two friends into the study. "This happens all the time. He makes a great scarecrow."

Peter looked into the near-dead, unblinking eyes of the wrinkled amphibian. He'd make a great scarespider too.

With Hopadaiah sleeping (albeit with his eyes wide open) the group was able to easily pickpocket the key. They slid right out of the study, quietly closing the door behind them.

"Ahhh," Anne took a big whiff of the key. "You guys know what this smells like?"

Sprig took the key, taking an experimental sniff, himself. "A key that's been in an old man's pocket?"

"Sadness and failure?" Peter guessed if that book was anything to go by.

"Nope. Freedom!" Anne held the key triumphantly.

"That was my next guess!" Sprig cheered alongside her.

"Eh, that was about fourth on my list," Peter shrugged.

The walk to the beach was much less eventful. There wasn't even any giant Mantis trying to eat them! Anne and Sprig were taking the beaten path but Peter preferred a more… unique way of travel; leaping from tree to tree. He held back on web-swinging though. Who knows when he could make more fluid?

"This is pretty great," Anne committed as their little group hiked through the woods. "A trio of pals beatin' the odds to have some fun! Ooh, here," She pulled out a smartphone with a pink bunny case and pulled Sprig in. "Smile!"

Now, Peter knows he just said he wouldn't waste any web fluid, but c'mon, he couldn't resist. He thwipped a webline to a branch and slid down into the picture's frame just as the camera went off, flashing an upside-down peace sign.

Anne regarded the photo of the three of them. She was smiling as per usual while Spirg was caught mid-blink with a confused face. Well, for a first photo it was alright. Spider-man was hanging upside-down, behind them, flashing a peace sign. "Nice photo-bomb," she nodded in respect to Peter.

"It's the red and blue," Peter shrugged. "Makes me more photogenic."

"Wow," Sprig held Anne's phone like he found a miniature lost Ark. "I don't know what's crazier, that you just stole my soul in a tiny box, or that we look so amazing!" He handed the phone back to Anne. "I gotta say, this friend stuff is incredible."

"What?" Peter raised an eyebrow, still hanging upside down. "Didn't you have friends before?"

"Uh…" Sprig shifted from webbed foot to foot. "Kids around here don't really get me. When you pretend to be eaten by a giant predator as a prank, that tends to uh… traumatize other kids apparently? After that, you're kinda labeled for life."

Oof. That hits kinda close to home. The labeling, not the traumatizing children. You humiliate the school rich kid ONE TIME in science class, suddenly your 'Penis Parker', sitting alone at lunch.

"Well, hey," Anne gave a friendly bap on Sprig's shoulder. "I think they're missing out on someone pretty cool," she ran on ahead. "Now, come on!"

Huh. Peter landed on the ground. Anne was actually really nice when she wasn't fighting for her life. He could definitely see how she got along with the other girls.

"Hey, is punching part of friendship?" Sprig lightly rubbed his shoulder, but he didn't seem all that bothered, given his smile.

"Uh… Pretty much," Peter joked as he followed after Anne. He knocked away a few leaves before… Whoa. This must be the lake. And Peter had to admit, it looked way more inviting than the one he was dumped in. The water looked crystal clear, with giant lily pads with pink flowers floating about, and- Holey cow a swarm of butterflies just flew past a rainbow! Why was no one else, here? This looked like paradise.

"It may not be a beach," Anne grinned as she viewed the watery environment. "But it'll do."

"Woo-hoo!" Sprig hopped up and down in excitement. "Lake day!"

"Yeah," Peter nodded. This was actually starting to look pretty fun. All those days patrolling New York and he never really got too much of a chance to really relax. Maybe this will do him some good. "Yeah, let's do it!"

The unlikely friends charged for the body of water, determined to have fun. This was gonna be great- wait.

Peter skidded to a halt in front of a large sign. He felt the impact of Sprig and Anne crashing into him but one benefit of spider-powers is how hard you are to knock down.

"Dude, what the heck?" Anne rubbed her sore forehead.

"That's the heck," Peter pointed to the large sign right in front of the lake. It wasn't billboard-sized, or anything it was just… a sign. But the message was pretty clear. 'DON'T SWIM' splayed over the wood in messy red paint.

"Huh?" Sprig scratched his head as he took stock of the sign. "This wasn't here last week."

Anne looked at the sign and then back at the calm, serene beauty of the lake. The sign looked like it belonged more in front of a toxic waste dump. "I see what's going on here," she deduced. "Some jerk just wants this gorgeous place all to themself."

"I dunno, Anne," Sprig more closely examined the sloppy penmanship, some letters dragging of the side. "It looks like someone wrote this in a hurry."

"Or they could just have bad handwriting," Anne walked past the sign, ignoring the red writing.

"No, Sprig's got a point," Peter was starting to have all kinds of bad feelings about this place. "Something in the back of my head doesn't like this place," the buzzing was light, barely even noticeable unless he looked for it, but Peter didn't want to take any chances.

"Yeah, that sure is reliable," Anne seemed less trustworthy of Peter's buzzing. "This sign's just messing with your guys' heads. The water's right there so come on!" she ran off towards the lake.

"Hey, wait!" Peter and Sprig chased after her. Peter was about to shoot a web line to pull her away when Sprig beat him to it.

"Gah!" Anne cried out as Sprig's long green tongue yanked her inches away from the water.

"Anne, waith!" Sprig tried his best to speak with his tongue currently preoccupied. "Somtin's isni'th right here!"

"Yeah, let's just go back," Peter tried to reason. "This day's a bust. So what?"

"What is wrong with you guys?" Anne yanked her arm from Sprig's green tongue. "I thought you guys wanted to be friends?"

"What?" Peter blinked. "Of course, we want to be friends!"

"Yeah," Sprig rolled his tongue back into his mouth. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Because this is what friends do!" Anne snapped. She sighed and tried to calm herself down. "Look, friends help each other get what they want. When your friend likes a pencil case, you buy it for her. If your friend likes your new shoes, you give them to her," Anne seemed to get more frustrated as she listed off more and more. "And when your friend wants you to steal some creepy stupid music box from a thrift store even though you really really don't want to!-" she cut herself off as her anger seemed to give out, although Peter had the distinct feeling it wasn't directed at him and Sprig anymore.

Anne stared at the ground, unsure of what to say anymore. Turned away from them, crossing her arms. "You… you do it anyway, because if you don't… they might not want to be your friend anymore."

"That…" Peter shook his head. How was he even supposed to respond to that? "That can't be right. Friendship can't just be give and take-"

"And what would you know?" Anne cut him off. "How many friends do you have?"

"I-" One. Peter Parker, 15 years old, only had one friend that he was kind of ignoring these past few weeks. Oh, man. Why did Ned keep putting up with him? All Peter did with him was talk between classes before running off for his 'Stark Internship'. And now… Peter was stuck in frog world for who knows how long? Ned'll probably find a better friend before Peter even gets back. But was Ned really his only friend? No, he had another friend once but… Peter wasn't there for him.

Peter stared at the ground. Was he a… bad friend? After the spider bite and Mr. Stark, he kept blowing his friends off. He never really helped his friends get what they want. Maybe… he doesn't know how friendship works.

"Yeah," Anne took his silence for his answer. "That's what I thought."

SPLASH

Anne and Peter's heads shot towards the lake. Sprig, of all people, was swimming around in the water, seemingly without a care in the world. "C'mon in! The water's great!" the frog child beckoned the two.

Anne's frown immediately broke into a smile. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" she ran towards the lake. "Cannonball!" she yelled as she plunged into the water. She quickly resurfaced and turned to Peter. "See? It's all fine. Now quit being a buzzkill and join the fun!"

Peter stood at the edge of the water. What should he do? The sign, his head buzzing, it all seemed like a bad idea but Anne… really needed this. She'd been trapped in this swamp for a whole week longer than Peter and he was already pretty homesick. Maybe Anne was right, the buzzing in his head was probably just some acute sense of anxiety set off by the sign. He looked at the bright serenity of the lake. "This is paradise," he shrugged. "What could happen?" He took the plunge.

Anne was having a blast as she backstroke across the water. She knew the guys were just being paranoid. They've been here nearly an hour and nothing has happened.

The splashing, the breath-holding competitions, sunbathing on giant lily pads, diving from the tops of giant plants. This was starting to feel just like the beach trips back home. The guys were no substitute for Sasha and Marcy but they were pretty cool.

Sprig was a lot of fun in a hyperactive little brother kind of way. That kid to have more energy than the sun at times.

Spider-man was a little weird but also pretty nice. He could be funny every once in a while between all lame quips. He was also a bit of a stick in the mud but Anne could definitely do a whole lot worse in terms of friends whose faces she didn't even know.

The two were currently having another pose off while floating in the water. Spidey was flexing his arms while kicking to keep his torso above water. Sprig was standing atop Spidey's shoulder, striking a big tough guy pose. Those two were such dorks. Hey, didn't she have her phone on her? Yup, she pulled it out of her swim shorts in a plastic bag so it wouldn't get wet. She quickly snapped a photo.

Those weird white lenses of Spider-man's mask widened to the size of dinner plates. "We need to go," he gasped out. "We need to go, NOW!"

"Seriously?" Ugh. This again? Anne thought they were over this. "Spidey, there's nothing wrong-"

Spider-man cut her off as he snatched Sprig from his shoulders and threw Anne a frog fastball. "Whup!" Anne caught the small frog in her arms. "Dude, what-"

A giant snake's head burst from the water! Its jaws were big enough to swallow any of them, whole as it demonstrated that very fact as it popped up directly under Spider-man.

Anne watched, helplessly as the snake's jaws enclosed over Spider-man's form faster than she could even blink. "NO!" Oh god, oh no, oh god,oh no,ohgodohnoohgodohno! One of her friends just got freaking eaten! That stupid sign was right! Sprig was right! Heck, everyone was right except her!

More of the water snake's giant serpentine body slithered out from the lake. It turned its beady eyes towards Anne and Sprig. Spider-man was just an appetizer. They were the main course. But the snake's attention was weirdly drawn away from them as its mouth twitched uncomfortably. Its giant jaws began to be pried open by an unseen force. Its chompers were forced more and more until they revealed-

"Spider-man!" Anne gasped. The spandex-clad hero had in fact, not been eaten. He was standing firmly inside the snake's mouth, lifting up the upper lip.

"You're alive!" Sprig cheered.

Spider-man's lenses widened as he took notice of the two. "Why are you still here?!" Oh, right they should probably get out of here. Huh, Deja Vu.

The water snake began thrashing its head, trying to dislodge the foreign object from its mouth. Anne and Sprig chose that time to make a mad dash for shore. It was then that Anne realized frogs had a distinct evolutionary advantage when it comes to swimming.

"Stupid non-webbed human hands," Anne cursed under her breath as Sprig outpaced her by a mile.

"Whaaah!" Spider-man's high-pitched voice cried out as he sailed over Anne's head. Oh, crud. That means the snake's mouth was free. She turned around to see the giant snakehead making a beeline straight for her. This was it, this was how she died. She had almost excepted her fate when she was suddenly pulled underwater.

She would've panicked if she did not see that the pulling force was Sprig. The frog child utilized his swimming talents to yank Anne out of the way of the water snake's bite. He continued to pull Anne through the water faster than the girl could ever swim.

The duo burst from the water's surface and quickly sought refuge on a nearby giant lilypad. The snake cared not for the friends' need to rest as it too rose from the water, lunging towards them with an open mouth.

"SUPRISE!" Spider-man came to the rescue as he leaped onto the serpent's head. He raised his fists and slammed them into the creature's skull. The snake hissed in pain and rapidly bucked its head up.

"Whoah!" Spider-man was sent twenty feet up in the air. He somehow turned himself around in the air before shooting one of his gross webs at the snake. He yanked on the line and catapulted himself straight towards the beast. The power of the yank plus gravity equals a mean kick that sent the snake crashing back underneath the water.

Spider-man swam over to join Anne and Sprig on the lilypad. "I don't think that will keep it down forever," he climbed on.

Anne looked back at the shore. It was so close yet so far! And that stupid water snake could probably close the distance with the length of its body alone. "Look you guys, I'm just slowing you down," between Sprig's webbed feet and Spidey's superpowers, they could escape the snake no problem. She was just human. "Just forget about me, alright? This was my fault anyway," How could she have been so stupid?! Sure she was homesick, but that didn't justify the giant red flag in front of the lake! The sign's writing was even in red! "I should've listened-"

"Friend punch!" Sprig decked Anne in the face. Okay, ow.

"Never!" Sprig declared. "I'm not about to let one of my first real friends get eaten! We're in this together!"

"Yeah," Spider-man nodded. "Leaving people behind is not what I do. We're getting out of this. All of us!"

Wow. Anne rubbed her sore cheek. These guys were... pretty awesome. She then noticed the bubbles in the water. Oh crud, the snake was coming back up! "Uh, either of you guys got a plan?"

"Ooh, I actually have one!" Sprig piped up. "Spidey, you're gonna half to get eaten."

"What?" Spider-man blinked. Uh, yeah, this was not sounding like a good plan.

"Not 'eaten' eaten," Sprig clarified. He hopped onto Spidey's shoulders. "Just do that thing you did before holding its mouth open."

"I mean, I can try," Spider-man shrugged. "But I don't think it's going to try a second time." Oh yeah. The thing did seem way more interested in eating Anne. Wait a minute.

"Then I'll be the bait," Anne volunteered. "Then you jump in when it opens its mouth."

"What?" Spider-man looked dumbfounded. "But- but what if you get eaten?!"

Yeah, Anne would like to avoid that but hey, it could be their only chance. "Then you'll just have to be faster, we don't have to discuss it!" Right on cue, the snake burst in from the water and hissed angrily at its prey.

Go time. Anne grabbed a nearby broken pond reed and waved it around. "Hey you overgrown worm, over here!"

The snake once again lunged with a wide-open mouth. Holey crap that thing is faster than Anne thought! Spider-man was faster, however, as he leaped strength into the mouth (and nearly belly) of the beast. Spidey used his weird spider strength to pry open the jaws even further. The snake hissed at the unexpected strain of its mouth and began thrashing again.

"Uh, Sprig? Plan?!" Spider-man yelled to the frog on his back as he tried to hold his grip.

"Hold on!" Sprig reached into his shorts and pulled out something small and red. Was that… a pain pepper? Sprig tossed the flavor grenade down the snake's open gullet. "Now, let go!"

Spider-man did so, and he and Sprig were sent hurtling off into the lake.

The snake shook the disorientation from its head then turned to Anne. Oh, crabapples. The snake looked ready to try to lunge again but then something stopped it. It coughed, then it sputtered, then it hacked as if trying to expel something from its throat but couldn't due to no gag reflex. Then… flames.

Literal flames spewed from its mouth as it wailed its head back and forth. Anne took that as a sign to start swimming away.

On the way, she encountered Sprig and Spidey, recovering from their impromptu dive. "You guys did it!" she cheered as she swam over.

Spider-man looked at their handiwork. "So spicy…"

"They'll make you wish you were dead," Sprig finished.

"Uh…" Spidey took a closer look at the heat-spitting snake. "Is fire breath a side effect of the pepper or can all giant snakes do that?"

"No idea," Sprig shrugged at the conundrum.

The snake dove underwater to douse the flames. "We should get out of here," Anne did NOT want to be here when it came back up.

Spider-man nodded. "Yes let's."

"DEATH APPROACHES" Sprig much less tactful in his agreement as he swam to shore.

"Huh- *snrt* wuzzat?" HopPop woke up from his nap, his book falling to the desk. Seet frog, how long has he been out? "I'm up, I'm-" the key! He grabbed his waistcoat and checked the pocket. It wasn't there!

"Oh-no!" HopPop gasped. "Did they get out?" He practically slammed his face against the window. "Is the town rioting? Are they dead?!" A horrific realization dawned on HopPop. "Have they eaten Sprig, Polly, THE WHOLE TOWN?!" he waved his arms frantically in total panic.

He made a mad dash for the front door. He's gotta find them, he's gotta- wait. HopPop took notice of the padlock on the door. "Still locked…" he mumbled to himself. Then where were the kids?

His first instinct was to check the basement. And surprisingly, that's where they were. Sprig and Anne were sitting around one of Sprig's board games while Spider-man was also participating but he was hanging upside down from a web.

"C'mon," Anne shook a pair of dice in her hands. "Mama needs a new pair of shoes."

"Well, I'm glad someone mentioned it," Spider-man looked at Anne's one falling apart shoe. "I mean if goody-two-shoes mean anything…" Anne just stuck her tongue out at the spandex wearer.

"So ya'll have been down here all day?" HopPop asked as he cautiously approached the odd trio.

"Yeah, man, I'm on a winning streak!" Anne grinned as she let the dice roll.

"I owe her my firstborn child," Sprig cheerily explained.

"Ah, firstborn children," Spider-man shook his head. "Such a strange currency. Like, what if I don't want kids? What are you gonna do then?"

"By the way, HopPop," Anne pulled out the missing key. "We found this on the floor. Looks like you dropped it."

Really? HopPop took the key from Anne. Well, the lock hardly looked touched so… he guesses it's true. "Darn shallow pockets," he mumbled as he pocketed the key. "Well, you get what you paid for."

The elder frog started making his way up the stairs when the final member of the family burst in. "Aha!" Polly hopped onto the stairs, rolling pin at the ready. But her fire died down when she saw the mundane scene before her. "Neither of you are gonna eat us are you?" she asked the two monsters.

"Nope," Spider-man popped the 'p'.

"You're not even gonna TRY?" Polly grumbled. "Disappointing."

"Now, now, Polly," HopPop picked up his granddaughter. "Never mind them, it's time for your bath."

"NOOOO!" Polly screamed a HopPop carried her up the stairs.

As soon as the door to the basement closed, Anne and the boys collapsed in exhaustion. This is the second day in a row Anne nearly died to a supersized creature. PLEASE don't tell her it'll become a regular thing.

"Hey, uh…" Anne coughed. Jeez, how do you even approach this subject? "Sorry, for almost getting us all killed back there." Yup, sounded just as awkward as it did in her head.

"Are you kidding?" Sprig hopped to his feet. "That was the most fun I've ever had!" What? Was this frog crazy?

"Just don't make a habit out of it," Spider-man groaned from on the ground. "If I had a nickel for every day in a row I had to play cowboy on a giant monster; I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice."

Anne snorted. The broken funny-clock was right again for its second time today.

"Oh, man that was so cool!" Sprig reminisced. "My heart was beating faster than a dragonfly on a sugar rush! In fact, I'm feeling the sugar crash coming on right…" he flopped onto Anne's mattress and was out like a light. Good, he deserved it.

"Man," Spider-man sat back to look at the sleeping frog. "You know it's been a day when THIS kid runs out of energy."

"Yeah," Anne smiled but it quickly disappeared. Might as well get this out of the way. "Hey so… I said some pretty nasty things to you at the lake. And... you didn't deserve it. You were just looking out for me and then I got all personnel-"

"Hey," Spider-man raised a hand to cut her off. "It's okay. Maybe you had a point, I haven't been the greatest friend around lately…"

"You?" Anne blinked. That was ridiculous! "Dude, you saved my life multiples time and stuck with me through all my stupidity! I'm pretty sure that qualifies you for Friend of the Year!"

Spidey chuckled at Anne's attempt of a joke. "I meant back home, in our dimension," he looked down a the ground, his mask looking oddly somber. "Back there, I had this friend. We used to always have each other's back, I thought we were gonna take on the whole world together. But then one day he wanted me to help them with this project and then… I wasn't there. He got angry and we had a big fight then-"

Spider-man paused, unsure what to say. "After that, we just sorta… drifted apart. Earlier today, you said how friends help each other get what they want. It made me think about how didn't help my friend when he needed it, and how that kinda destroyed our friendship. So, maybe I don't know as much about friendship as I thought."

Wow. Anne didn't know how to respond to that. "Well…" Anne searched for the right words to say. "Maybe friendship is more than just giving each other what they want," she admitted. "Maybe being a good friend is just… supporting each other, looking out for one another. If today's anything to go by," she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're a pretty good friend."

Anne couldn't tell if Spider-man was smiling under the mask but something about him seemed a bit lighter. "Thanks, Anne," he nodded. "Sasha and Marcy are pretty lucky to have a friend like you."

Oh, wow, Sasha and Marcy. Anne almost forgot about them with all of today's excitement. She pulled out the same photo from her backpack. She looked at the picture of her smiling alongside her two best friends and looked up at Spider-man experimentally poking Sprig's vocal sack as it inflated with every snore.

Anne smiled as she laid the photo against the wall. Wherever Sasha and Marcy were, she hoped they were okay, because Anne sure was.

Thunder clapped from the window of Sasha's cell. She glared disdainfully at the rusted bars. It's official, this place was the worst.

"Hello, Sasha," a deep slimy voice growled from the shadows. Oh, great, this guy again.

"What do you want?" she sneered at the figure hiding in the shadows just beyond the bars.

"Oh, nothing much," the creature feigned friendliness. "Just thought to let you know that we now know you've been lying to us."

"Really?" Sasha pretended to be disinterested.

"Yes," the figure growled. "We found another one of your kind."
"What?" Sasha couldn't contain her surprise. They found Anne or Marcy?

The stocky shadow grinned with a full set of fangs. "Yes, perhaps you recognize him?" Wait, him?

Two armored toads marched into the room, each dragging something by the arm. Sasha's eyes widened as it was brought into the light. It was a human boy, looking barely older than her. He was ruffed up and barely conscious. The guy clearly came from money if his attire was anything to go by. What self-respecting teenager wore sweater vests and collared shirts? But one thing was for sure, Sasha did NOT recognize him.

"Uh, who is this?" Sasha scrutinized the kid. "I've never met this guy in my life."

The dark figure rolled his one good eye. "There's no point in lying anymore-"

"That dumb cape of yours must be cutting off oxygen to your brain," Sasha snapped. Hey, she was having a rough week. "I'm telling you, I don't know him!"

The figure sneered at his prisoner. "Well then, I guess you are going to get to know each other quite well," he turned to the two toads. "Throw him in."

The boy was ceremonially tossed into the cell, grunting as he hit the floor. All free creatures left the room, slamming the door behind them.

The boy groaned as he pushed himself off the grime-covered floor. "Jerks," he growled.

"Wow, that sure was a creative insult," Sasha was not one for roommates, although it might be nice to talk to someone not covered in warts. "So, ginger, what's your name?"
The boy eyed her, cautiously, as if she was a spy for the toads. "My name is Harry," he relented. "Harry Osborn."

I don't think I've ever updated a story so fast with such long a chapter so you all better appreciate it! Review for Pete's sake!

In all honesty, writing this story comes surprisingly easy for me so I'll, unfortunately, be putting my other stories on hold.

So anyway, next time is 'cane crazy' then I'll attempt writing an original episode for the story. So who knows how long that will take.