Hello everyone, it's me. Back again with a new story that I hope we'll be to you're liking. Anyway here's some notes to help you out. Anyway hope you enjoy.
"Normal Speaking."
"Character Thoughts."
"Other Noises."
Welcome to the Games
If Peter Parker was aware of one thing in his time living, it was that life was a very confusing ordeal that tends to throw you for a loop every once in a while. For example, while on the outside he appeared to be your average high school teenage nerd, in reality he was actually a superpowered teenager with the powers and abilities of a spider. So where did that leave him, to take up an unofficial career as a superhero of course, or vigilante depending on who you ask. That lifestyle often led to a lot of misadventures on his part, this being a prime example of one of them.
Here Peter was dressed in his favorite red and midnight blue spandex outfit from head to toe without much else to go on as he gradually came to from his current slumber. Where the heck… what's going on," he questioned as he opened his eyes to the sight of the dark room he was currently occupying.
"Okay this seems… delightfully spooky. Large emphasis on the spooky," the boy mused as he quickly got to his feet off the sandy ground. As he was getting his bearings, the fifteen year old began to notice that all to familiar tingling sensation that alerted him to nearby danger. Though what exactly the danger was, was anyone's guess. "Alright webhead, just stay calm I'm sure whatever trouble you've gotten yourself into this time isn't so bad," he spoke, hoping to calm his nerves. "Maybe it's just a surprise birthday party. Of course it's not really my birthday anytime soon but still, who knows."
Peter however was brought out of his musings when one of the walls to the room he was occupying began to rise, causing the teen to be partially blinded by the light coming from the other side. That wasn't the only thing that caught the webhead off guard as he was suddenly bombarded by sounds of a roaring crowd, most likely on the other side of the opening door. As Peter's eyes quickly adjusted to the light his ears were quickly bombarded by the sound of some announcer voice saying, "WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN TO THE NEXT ENTRY LEVEL MATCH WITH OUR NEWEST RISING STAR AND OF COURSE ME YOUR HOST, THE EVER PRESENT TRANSDIMENSIONAL ANNOUNCER JOHN DOE." Peter couldn't get much of a read on where the voice of the awfully generic John Doe was coming from, the screaming of the crowd who was getting louder as he walked out his little dugout section into the afternoon arena didn't help matters either. He did however catch this John guy saying the word transdimensional which confused the teen greatly causing him to become more anxious.
"FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE UNINFORMED, THIS YOUNG MAN COMES FROM A PLACE CALLED NEW YORK IN A DIMENSION POPULATED WITH ALL KINDS OF WEIRD CRAP. HE GOES BY MANY NAMES SUCH AS THE MANHATTAN MENACE, THE WEBHEAD, WEBSLINGER, BUT YOU MIGHT JUST CALL THIS LITTLE WHIPPER SNAPPER BY HIS PREFERED TITLE, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN," the announcer finished just as Peter finally exited the little cubby and the sight that greeted him was almost sure to be stuck in his memories for years to come. He didn't know what to expect when he woke up without a clue as to where he was but a gladiator arena was definitely not on the list of what he expected.
That wasn't the only surprise however because when he got a good look at the colorful crowd his heart nearly skipped a beat. He could vaguely make out a wide variety of different creatures in the crowd some of them even looking vaguely human… wait scratch that there were even actual humans among the crowd as well. "Okay… not how I thought I would be spending my weekend," Spidey quipped as he continued to scan the crowd. He couldn't help but feel some sense of recognition for some of the occupants in the crowd but it did little to calm his anxiety as he'd never exactly been a fan of big crowds. "At least I got my mask on," he reminded himself as he scanned the crowd. "Is kinda selfish but I'm really starting to hope that there's someone I recognize in this crowd," he thought, barely containing his anxiety.
"AND DON'T YOU WORRY FAIR WATCHERS AS WE GOT A GOOD GROUP OF OPPONENTS TO TEST OUR YOUNG WANNABE SUPERHERO," John added once again. Peter couldn't help but respond to the perceived insult. "Hey man, I kinda take offense to that… wait did you say opponent," Peter yelled back only to have his attention brought to the colosseum wall across him opened up. "TO TEST THE MIGHT OF OUR NEWEST CHAMPIONS, HE'S GOING TO HAVE TO FACE AGAINST A SMALL PLATOON OF SOME OF THE BREEGUS SYSTEM'S MOST DEADLIEST WARRIORS. THE FOUNDERS OF THEIR OWN BATTLEPLEX, THE AGORIANS."
Before Peter could even get a word in off protest his attention was focused on the small force of bipedal orange creatures walking out of the entrance across from him. Peter would have laughed at the cartoonishly small legs and oversized upper bodies if it weren't for the fact that all appeared to be armed for battle. Some of them had blades, others appeared to have what looked to be canons straight out of a sci fi video game, while one even had a spiked ball on the end of his arm. Oh… and did we mention that the ones with cannons and spike balls seemed to have replaced their hands with the weapons. "Well never thought I'd wake up to be competing in some kind of alien gladiator games," Peter said as he got a good look at his opponents.
He counted at least ten guys, but he wasn't exactly sure as they didn't seem to stand out from each other much save for their armor. "Is that racist that I can tell the difference between them from here, you know what I'm just gonna assume that that's probably racist or would that be spaceist… because I'm in space," Peter thought opting to keep that offensive thought to himself. He also decided to keep his fanboying about the possibility that he was actually meeting real life aliens face to face instead of just watching some other better equipped superhero deal with them to a minimum. "Maybe these guys won't try to possess me like some kind of body snatcher horror movie," he noted, thinking back to a previous encounter. Peter chose to be proactive and attempted to defuse the situation the only way he knew how, talking.
"So uh… you Agorian guys, do you guys have like a leader or general that I could talk to seeing as I don't really know any of your names." There was only a brief pause before some of the crowd outright laughed at his attempt at a peaceful solution. The group of galactic bounty hunters only looked at each other before joining in on the laughter among the crowd. "Why do I feel like I'm back in class making a presentation with Flash and his friends," the webslinger thought bitterly. His thoughts were briefly halted when the big guy at the front seemed to yell back at him. "You're pretty funny for such a flamboyant tiny little creature I will give you the honor of knowing me as Ivor the Eviscerator," the man who Peter decided was a guy due to his lack of shirt besides his armor straps spoke back to him in a rather deep monstrous voice. Peter deciding that whoever this guy was, he was most likely not friendly given his title as the eviscerator.
"I'm gonna half to disagree with you Mr. Ivor, I'm not actually tiny in fact I think I'm pretty normal sized for someone my age," Peter replied, trying not to let the height comment get under his skin. Ivor only laughed before responding, "and you have such spirit that you can fit inside such a tiny disappointing body. If nothing else it will be entertaining for us when we crush you," Ivor replied before activating some kind of yellow energy shield. "Hey, hey, hey what happened to a peaceful solution here," Peter said, urgently putting his hands up in a placiating motion. "Ha, there is no peaceful solution, we Agorians are bred for war," Ivor retorted. "AND JUST REMEMBER FOLKS THIS MATCH ISN'T OVER IT ALL OPPONENTS FROM ONE OF THE OPPOSING TEAM ARE EITHER FULLY INCAPPACITATED, KNOCK OUT, OR IF THEIR HEART STOPS BEATING, THAT'S DEAD BY THE WAY FOR ALL YOU NON CARBON BASED LIFE FORMS," the announcer added. "Oh joy," Peter mused as his anxiety skyrocketed. "Now ready yourself tiny one for you are about to get eviscerated," Ivor announced and before he knew Peter was getting charged at by the alien gladiators.
"Guess a promising career as an intergalactic ambassador is off the list now," Peter conceded. Before readying himself as all his nerves seemed to kick into overdrive. Peter didn't even get the chance to consider his weird danger sense or spider sense power as he found himself unceremoniously leaping to his left as he dodged what appeared to be some super hot plasma energy blast from one of the gladiators with a yelp. He didn't get the chance to recover as he once again found himself rolling to the side to dodge the spike ball from another guy that worked as a flail. Before the guy with the flail who Peter was now calling Dave could recover he decided to blind him with a web blast from his handy web shooters.
Peter found himself leaping onto Dave's shoulder to dodge an attack that would have skewered him before leaping off of Dave's shoulders to get out of the danger zone."There's a dirty joke about getting sticky white stuff in your face but Deadpool kind of ruined those jokes for me," Peter added as he shot out a web line that pulled him away when he tugged on it.
Unbeknownst to the webhead, said Merc with a Mouth was currently spectating the fight himself and was feeling a little giddy at the fact he was being mentioned so early in the story… whatever that means.
Back with our resident webslinger who just landed across the battlefield, the teen only turned around to notice the oncoming herd of gladiators. "Gotta find some way to get out of this mess," he mused. He could only look back to the crowd before an idea came to mind. "Well I just hope that leaving this match isn't some sort of social fopa in this culture," Peter muttered to himself before leaping into the crowd. Unfortunately it seems that his escape had been planned for as Peter quickly found himself on the receiving end of an electrical shock from the force field that served as a barrier between the arena and the crowd. This only left the poor teen to fall ungracefully onto the ground, also finding himself to be the cause of much of the crowds newfound laughter.
"OH WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, A FORCE FIELD THAT KEEPS ANY CONTESTANTS FROM EXITING THE MATCH. DID I FORGET TO MENTION THAT," the announcer remarked sarcastically. "Guess it must of just slipped your mind Mr. John guy," Peter mentioned to himself tiredly as he rubbed his aching head. Peter only stood back up just in time to find six of the Agorian warriors growing closer to him. "I guess some of the others are trying to help out Dave," Peter thought, noting their dwindling numbers. He decided his best option at the moment was to defend himself and fight back, only hoping that he could web up these guys.
He wasn't exactly confident in his ability to take these aliens on but he was hopeful that his eccentric mentor Mr. Stark had included some surprises in his new upgraded suit out of pity for the street level hero that would be helpful in this situation. The teen only readied himself for a fight as he said, "alright Pete… let's get creative."
The web slinger didn't even wait to charge at the entourage that was coming after him as he already had ideas to take them on forming in his head. As he ran at them he had to duck under as slash from one of the blades protruding from the bracers of a guy that for convenience we'll be calling Bruce. Unfortunately for Bruce, Peter had anticipated this and had taken the opportunity to trip him up by pulling on a web line he recently attached to Bruce's right leg. The young vigilante took the opportunity to duck under the legs of a guy we'll call Jerry who along with his comrades seemed to be distracted by their teammate Bruce's blunder.
Peter took the chance to shove Jerry from behind causing him to fall over Bruce in a heap. Before he could even make a note of that, the teen found himself dodging the twin blades of another guy that landing in the exact spot that Peter was just standing before he leaped into the air. The boy took the chance to place his feet firmly on the shoulders of his attacker before delivering a punch to the guy's jaw with his right hand and then another swift hook from his left before leaping backwards off his opponent. Peter immediately found himself landing on another Agorian before pushing off of his chest with an apology of, "excuse me," only to land on another's head, feet first with a, "coming through." He used the momentum of his actions just in time to twist his body midair so that he could deliver a devastating right hook to the jaws of another gladiator behind him before rolling to the side on the dusty floor of the arena as a landing.
"IF THAT'S NOT AT LEAST A SLIGHTLY IMPRESSIVE FEET OF AGILITY FOLKS THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS," the announcer… well announced rather enthusiastically. The crowd seemed to be totally entranced in the battle now as they were reacting with much enthusiasm to each blow the young superhero delivered to Agorian Warriors.
"Was that supposed to be a compliment or…," the web slinging hero trailed off from his crouched position only to have his musings be interrupted by an all to familiar chilly sensation throughout his body.
Peter turned around just in time to be met with the sight of Dave lording his flail above his head about to bring it down on the fifteen year old's webbed head. Thankfully the high school sophomore dodged the attack with a backflip before shooting out another web line onto Dave's shoulder. At this point the teen took notice to fact the fact the Bruce and Jerry were now quickly approaching his rear with the ladder charging up his arm cannon. Peter ever the quick thinker took this opportunity to pull on the web line currently attached to Dave and with the help of the proportionate strength of a spider, he was able to swing Dave around like a wrecking ball before causing him to collide with his two allies.
Peter turned around just in time to catch Ivor with his energy shield and two other gladiators charging at him. "Oh… I was wondering where Ivor, the man of super glowy shields went. I thought you'd run off on me," Peter quipped. "I would never run from a fight," Ivor growled. "Guess I struck a nerve there," Peter observed as he once again got into a crouched battle stance. "Didn't mean to upset you man, I was just curious," The web slinger spoke.
"I might have found your disrespect amusing at first tiny one but now it is high time a hatchling like you learn their place for such blatant mockery," Ivor roared. "But I didn't come out of an egg my dude, at least… probably not the way you might be thinking," Peter retorted.
The comment only seemed to make his opponents angrier as they all charged at him. Ivor came first as he attempted to backhand Peter with his shield. Peter, anticipating this, used the momentum of the gladiator's shield to launch himself with his right hand into the air. He then proceeded to attach a web line from his left shooter to the one Agorian that was flanking Ivor and went on to yank it with both hands, causing the canon wielding warrior to go flying into his commander.
"That's a strike," Peter shouted as he landed on the ground. He then found himself immediately ducking under the slash of one of the blades from the remaining opponent, taunting him by saying, "you missed," in the process before bouncing off his hands to dodge another. "Missed again," he chided with a smirk as he landed on his feet again. Suddenly however, Peter found himself leaping backwards into the air to dodge the sudden attack from Ivor's flail.
"Woah, where you been hiding that thing," Peter announced, almost gleefully. Unfortunately Peter found himself being wrapped in a bear hug from behind midair by one of the Agorians he'd dealt with earlier. "Is it Dave… I think that's Dave," he thought absentmindedly as he was being tackled to the ground. He and the unknown warrior tumbled to the ground as Peter could only grunt and groan at the impact and the rolling on ground that this guy subjected him to.
The gladiator, who he soon realized as not Dave, due to the fact that the guy had both hands visible, had ended up standing up with fifteen year old still locked in his arms.
He could only continuously struggle in the Agorian's vice-like grip as he caught sight of Ivor and two gladiators closing in on their position. "Great! I'm stuck in this guys arms squirming around like I five year old because I'm too short to even get my toes to touch the ground. And now I have Ivor and friends sizing me up like a cheeseburger," the teen thought irritably as he continued to squirm. "Jeez whoever these guys are they've got good grip strength, I wonder what kind of workout regiment an Agorian could have," he mused over the shouts of the crowd. He didn't get much time to think about anything else as the one warrior standing next to Ivor had pointed his arm cannon directly into Peter's face as it charged.
"Don't need spider sense to tell me that's dangerous," Peter observed before proceeding to kick the guy's arm just in time so that the guy's shot would miss and fire harmlessly into the air. "Hey buddy watch where you point that thing, you could poke someone's eye out," the teen quipped as he shot out two web lines that attached to the know unbalanced gunman, one to the bicep of his cannon arm and the other to his opposite leg. Thanks to his quick wits, Peter was able to trip the guy by pushing on both web lines in opposite direction's thanks to his feet despite the short distance between the them"Guess there are least some advantages to being short," he mused.
Just then, the other guy that was standing near Ivor wound up ready to sock the poor boy in the face. "Hey, you know it's considered a little rude to interrupt," Peter gently scolded as he blinded his attacker with a stray web shot to the seemed to cause the desired effect as Peter shifted his weight just right so that the gladiator's fist would collide with the face of the one holding him.
"Oh yeah, It's all coming together," Peter thought cheekily as he stumbled out of his captor's grip who was now clutching his face in pain. Peter wasted no time in going on the offensive as he landed on the dusty ground in a crouch before proceeding to deliver an uppercut to the unsuspecting Ivor who had just been reacting to his teammate's blunderings. The force of the punch sent Ivor a few feet in the air before he fell on his back to the dirt floor of the arena. "You guys may be stronger than an average human but your not the only person that has super strength. It's nice not always having to worry about holding back so much," the teen thought. "Still couldn't exactly exactly give him a full force punch but I guess it's nice giving more than half the effort and it feels so good when an EVIL PLAN comes together," he mused, adding in a cartoonishly evil voice to the end of the thought for comedic effect.
He decided to get back to the task at hand and gave the man that had been holding him a swift kick to the legs that knocked him on his back. He went on to cover the guy in webbing so that he wouldn't get back up. "Stick around," he added giving the guy a finger gun before turning to the man who punched his teammate. He was currently struggling to get the webbing off his face to no avail as his hands now stuck to the webbing covering his eyes.
Spider-Man couldn't help the childish snicker the childish snicker he let out at the sight before him. He didn't have time to react any further as the sounds off a yell off rage alerted him just in time to duck under the punch from none other than the guy whose head he jumped off of earlier. Peter went on to punch him in the gut before giving another light punch his face, than another to his stomach before giving him a right hook to the face causing the foot rest to twist around in distress. Peter went on to leap onto the guy's back and proceeded to web Bruce's hands to the ground. The webslinger pushed off him, making the guy land in a heap on the ground.
Before he could even attempt to web the guy to the floor he found himself ducking under the swipe off the other guy he used as a springboard. He hadn't given him any generic name yet but he did remember that he got a good look at his cartoonishly broad chest when he used him as a springboard but that was neither here or now.
Peter ended up having flip back as the gladiator attempted to unbalance him with a kick to his legs. Seeing as the attempt didn't work, the Agorian Warrior charged at the web head. The young vigilante was able to use this to his advantage when he opponent got close enough leaving Peter to make his move. He ended up ducking under the guys arms as he tried to grab the young hero who had went on to wrap his own arms around the legs of his opponent before hoisting him up and throwing him in the air to knock him off balance. Peter wasted no time in webbing up the poor fellow just as he landed, not exactly wanting to inflict more pain or embarrassment on the guy.
Peter than went on to gather each off his ten opponents up before wrapping them all up in a cozy little web cocoon so that they were out of the fight. "Nighty Night, sleepy heads," the web slinger spoke to the groggy collection of gladiators. "Glad no one had to get to banged up before the fight ended," Peter thought, graciously as he looked over the forms of his opponents. It was a nice feeling knowing that no one actually got more than a few bruises in their scuffle with Spider-Man. He did his best to uphold the standards off a more kinder and gentle superhero when compared to the numerous ones that were around the world, or well… his world even going so far as to outright refuse to truly harm or even kill anyone.
A lot of people might call him a wuss but it just didn't sit well with him when other people where getting seriously hurt in any way no matter what kind of life they lived. "Nice knowing I'm not as much of a bad luck charm as I thought," he noted cheerily. He could only find himself awkwardly looking at the crowd like a lost child as if that might provide him with some sign off what to do next. Didn't make him feel any less stupid though. "ALRIGHTY VIEWERS, LOOKS LIKE THE WEBSLINGER HAS JUST PASSED THE FIRST PART OF OUR LITTLE ENTRANCE EXAM BUT I'M STARTING TO GET THE SENSE THAT HE HAS PROVED HIMSELF ENOUGH, AFTER ALL HE ONLY GOT PAST THE FIRST PART OF THE INITIATION PROCESS," the announcer shouted just as Peter's attention was bought by one of the arena wall's opening up. "NOW LET'S SEE HOW OUR LOVABLE LITTLE WEBSLINGER HANDLES A REAL CHALLENGE. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR THE BEAST," he finished, yelling the last word.
As Peter caught sight of what was on the other side of that door, his heart nearly dropped into his stomach. (Not really though.)
The bipedal creature that came tumbling out was nothing short of intimidating. It was a giant grey two-legged creature similar to a rhino with two curved horns protruding out the sides of its mouth right under its beady yellow eyes as well as visible teeth that would make any shark jealous. It also had bright orange spikes protruding from its head but that wasn't the worst of it as another armored Agorian warrior was currently riding said beast, flail at the ready. "Is this how I die," Peter blurted out, not even trying to hide the usual panic that was evident in his tone. This only served to get a mocking laugh from the crowd, much to his embarrassment. "Boy is that familiar," he muttered bitterly.
"Wait a minute… I mean sure that things big but it's not like I haven't faced down my fair share of tough opponents in the past. I mean I fought the rhino… and the juggernaut," Peter encouraged himself as he stood up straight, hands curled into tight fists. The creature that was probably the size of a garbage truck only turned to glare at the teen as it began to kick up the dirt behind it and let out a long snort from its nose that Peter could have sworn he saw steam come out off.
And just like that he was nervous again, as his fist uncurled and he began to more visibly shake. "Okay so maybe those two encounters with Rhino and bowl head weren't really fights and probably more like me strategically running for my life but I got this… right?" The teen continued to stare at the creature as all off his false bravado from before seemed to dissipate in an instant.
It seemed that the beast began to pick up the speed at which it kicked up dirt much to some of the annoyance people in the crowd who got said dirt on their faces. If he weren't freaking out he'd probably would've found it a little funny but he was two focused on the beast and it's rider. "I'm gonna die," he muttered to himself right as the rider snapped the rope the was connected to creature.
It didn't need any more instruction as it charged at Peter. "Holy Shit, holy shit, that things coming right for me," he squeaked only to remember just the group off tied up gladiators behind him. "Gotta think fast before these guys end up getting skewered because of me, and you know… before I do." Peter didn't have time to think since lives were on the line so he just acted.
He charged straight at the beast as it grew closer and closer by the second. Acting on an idea, Peter still running at the rampaging beast at a couple of web lines from his shooters to the animal's left horn and the side of its head before proceeding to veer to the left, ropes of webbing in tow. He had to use what was probably every ounce of strength to get the creature to turn just in time to get the thing to swerve on a dime just so that no harm would come to any of the captives. Thankfully the creature was able to regain its footing no longer facing the gladiators who were currently tied up. "Hey, you big bozo, over here, I'm the one you want. Leave them out of it," Peter shouted, waving his arms wildly in the process despite the fact that the beast was already turned in his direction. The creature only snarled at him as it began to kick up more dirt.
"C'mon Parker, think… think of something. You may be a total screwup but there are still people out their who might need your help so just think already," he mentally berated himself even as the creature charged him. With an idea in mind, the webslinger didn't have any time to hesitate if he wanted to try it so once again he ran at the beast that was charging at him. When he was close enough in range he jumped onto the right horn of the animal before climbing it head and propelling himself onto the top spike. The teen found himself face to face with a surprised looking Agorian rider who had a spiked flail as a weapon while he was perched atop the beast head spike.
That was only for what was probably a second as Peter didn't want to give his enemy any chance to counter his plan. The webslinger launched two lines from both his shooters onto the ground that was quickly growing further away as the creature continued to charge. Peter only needed a brief couple of seconds before he stopped pulling on the web line causing him to launch himself straight at the rider at enough speed that he was able to kick the guy successfully off of the charging beast, even managing to stay on the animal too. The gladiator didn't have much time to react but he'd had enough for the chance to disconnect the spiked ball from the energy chain of his arm flail.
In that moment Peter wasn't exactly sure why he did it, probably because he was getting told the literal spider sense equivalent of "MOVE YOU DUMB BITCH," but go off I guess, anyway he reacted when the guy seemed to throw his spike ball by jumping off of the creature so that he could grab the spike ball and threw it in the air with all the force he could. It was a good thing he did to cause while the ball was in the air it actually exploded revealing its purpose.
Peter landed in a crouch, mutely stare at what transpired before looking at the man who'd been holding it. "Wait… that was a bomb," Peter exclaimed in shock, gesturing wildly at what had just happened. The rider had only sneered at the confused teen boy, meanwhile the beast had actually stopped. "Dude… what the heck you can't just throw bombs around like that willy nilly," Peter shouted as he gestured wildly.
He didn't get the chance to complain about much else as he found himself preoccupied by the beast charging at him from behind. Luckily Peter was able to leap out of the way of the beast's charge and was even able to pull the rider to the side as well, thanks to a well aimed web line. Getting the monster's rider to safety wasn't the only use for that web line however as Peter went on to attach another to the downed Agorian before pulling on both of them. The webslinger was able to send the warrior flying into the air just as he'd hoped and could only watch as the rider flailed around in the air in panic. "Gotta place this shot just right," Peter thought as he aimed his free hand at the rider flying through the air. When the rider got low enough to the ground, Peter shot out a blast off webbing that collided with the airborne warrior just in time so that it would launch him backwards and end up encasing him on the arena walls.
"Heh, stick around," Peter quipped to himself. "Now… time to deal with the big rhino alien that's probably gonna be the death of me," he thought to himself as he once again turned to the Agorian beast. It would seem as if the creature also had the same idea in mind as it once again turned to Peter, readying to run the boy over. "Hey horn head, not to give you any ideas but you know you tried this running me over thing already," the teen shouted. This only served to enrage the beast more as it snorted before taking off after the boy again.
"Yeah, I guess you can't do much else with those… dinosaur arms you got there," the airachnid-human mutate answered casually, gesturing to said animal's arms as he willingly conversed with himself. The creature had only roared in response as it continued its stampede towards the young hero.
The spider themed hero only stood his ground as the animal continued to draw near. "C'mon," he said to himself as he waited for the beast.
"C'mon," he said again as his voice grew louder with every repeat of his of his mantra. Just as the rhino-like alien was about to run the poor boy over, Peter made his move. Leaping over the creature, Peter found he had just enough time to latch to different web lines on to its left tusk as well as it's largest top horn before landing on the saddle.
"Here goes nothing," Peter shouted before jumping onto the ground to the Agorian beast's left as it continued its charge. Peter could only grunt in irritation as the animal dragged him along while his feet would currently skid on the ground, dragging up dirt wherever he would go. Despite any discomfort, the boy persisted in this venture as he tugged on the web lines, hoping that it would slow the animal down.
"C'mon you big horny animal, slow down already," Peter shouted, having some semblance of hope that it might listen to his wishes. The webslinger's endeavor wasn't entirely fruitless as the monster was actually slowing up due to the extra weight Peter was putting on.
Up in the crowds, a masked woman in a rather scantily clad purple outfit could be seen watching the battle with indifference. "What does this little brat even think he's doing," she hissed out in annoyance. "It would seem that our great benefactor deems this young fool a worthy contestant of these games," came a deep reverberating voice to the woman's right.
It was a giant of a man with a golden spiked helmet similar to a samurai that covered the upper half of his face save for his beady red eyes. He also wore armor that didn't do much to cover him save for the red and gold shoulder pads and plain chest strap. On his waist was similar styled loincloth for the front and back, while he had other spiked guards for his shins and knees.
"I question why our host would grant someone so feeble access to this kind of tournament. I doubt such a weak willed child could even grant access into mortal kombat," the man echoed. he continued. "Perhaps if I get the chance the child might provide a tasty appetizer lord Khan," the woman spoke up, almost as if she were asking permission. "I would not waste your efforts on a weakling such as him daughter, though I'm still curious to see why this Spider-Man was granted access to this competition," the man known as Lord Khan added.
Peter was still being dragged along by the Agorian beast despite his best efforts. "I bet Flash would be having the time of his life knowing that I can't stop this thing due to my… puniness," Peter thought as he was continuously dragged along by the animal. "Guess I'll just have to use an extra bit of spider strength," the teen grunted as he pulled harder on the web lines, hoping it would do the trick. It seemed to be an effective strategy as the creature continued to slow its pace as it fought against the might of the enhanced teen. "C'mon Bessie… slow up," Peter groaned in exasperation as he continued to pull on the web line, putting more and more effort into it.
"HOLY CRAP HE'S ACTUALLY SLOWING THAT THING DOWN. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT FOLKS," the announcer shouted.
"C'mon," Peter groaned again as the beast continued to fight against his strength growing more and more tired. Eventually the monster's charge would had previously been reduced into a walk was now nothing more than a slow crawl as it fought against the superpowered teenager. "C'mon alien of unknown gender, quit pulling," Peter muttered until the Agorian beast eventually came to a stop.
Peter, not wasting any time, proceeded to push up against the beast and with all the strength he could muster went on to tip the animal onto its side. The web slinger then went on to cover each of its feet in a sticky glob of webbing that kept it stuck to the ground. He then went on to do the same to its right tusk ignoring the animal's thrashing despite his own displeasure at seeing it in distress.
Eventually he finished not willing to do much as seeing as it was currently incapacitated for the moment. Peter didn't even realize the breath he'd been holding till he let out a tired gasp after finishing. "Sorry about that buddy," Peter added tiredly to the creature before he realized the more daunting task ahead of him if he wanted to get the attention of the person in charge.
"Oh great, I probably have to do public speaking now don't I," the teenager mentally whined as he rested his face in his palm.
And just like that any confidence the teenager had felt earlier had disappeared the moment the topic of speaking normally in front of an audience came up. "Why can't talking in front of people be as easy as it is to make stupid quips in a fight," Peter mused to himself as he tried to control his shaking body. He let out a few deep steadying breaths before turning to the judging eyes of the murmuring stadium crowds. "Gotta love class presentations," he mused sarcastically. He took one last breath before thinking, "here goes nothing," as he stepped forward.
Peter only did the first thing that came to mind as he began waving his arms thinking that it might get someone's attention. "Uh hey, hey, can I say something," he shouted to the crowd who actually seemed to quiet down save for a few quiet whispers.
Peter didn't even think before waving his hand before he said, "Uh hi… so I don't know if there's anything else you want me to do but I'm kinda lost hear. Maybe someone could explain to me what's going on, that'd be nice."
"WELL WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT DEAR VIEWERS. NOT ONLY DO WE HAVE A SEMI-COMPETENT FIGHTER BUT HE'S ALSO PRETTY CHARMING IN HIS OWN AWKWARD KIDDISH WAY," John Smith announced. "WELL ON BEHALF OF ALL OUR VIEWERS AND CONTESTANTS I'D LIKE TO WELCOME YOU TO THE GAMES OF GLORY. HERE YOU GET TO FACE OFF AGAINST AND EVEN TEAM UP WITH SOME INTERESTING CHARACTERS, SOME OF WHICH YOUR LITTLE WEBBED HEAD MIGHT RECOGNIZE," he continued.
"Wait there are people I know here," Peter wondered.
"NOW I'M SURE I COULD HELP YOU OUT BY EXPLAINING ALL THE INS AND OUTS OF THIS LITTLE MULTIVERSAL TOURNAMENT BUT NO ONE REALLY WANTS TO SIT THROUGH THAT, IT WOULDN'T BE ENTERTAINING." Peter only crossed his arms in frustration as he just softly glared at the crowd as if he was staring at the man speaking from behind his mask.
"NOW DON'T YOU WORRY YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD KIDDO, I'VE GOT JUST THE GUY HERE THAT'LL HELP YOU WITH YOUR LITTLE PROBLEM. ANYWAY, I'D SAY THAT WAS A PRETTY GOOD MATCH FOLKS, I'M SURE MANY OF OUR CONTESTANTS AND VIEWERS ARE EAGER TO SEE JUST WHAT OUR LITTLE WEBSLINGER IS GOING TO BRING TO THE COMPETITION."
Peter barely registered the guys last words as two giant purple creatures with exposed brains and bird beaks carried out a giant metal device that had a large door sized octagon with nothing in the center of it.
Peter watched idly as the monsters pressed some buttons on the side of the machine before a large rainbow colored energy vortex appeared at the center of the octagonal machine. "Woah, cool light show… what's it do," Peter asked only to be greeted by the silence of the dark purple creature's. "O…kay," he said awkwardly only to have his attention shifted to the glowing circle making noise.
Peter was pretty astonished at what came out of the swirling vortex that he now knew to be a portal. It was a guy probably a little older than him with brown hair and green eyes looking at him with a smirk. The guy was wearing a black t-shirt with a green stripe up the side and down his sleeves with the number ten on his chest. He also wore khakis and green sneakers as well.
Peter's eyes widen, not only because of the fact that he now knew the device to be some kind of portal but also because he was now face to face with another human being. The lenses of his mask had also mimicked his expression conveying his surprise involuntarily.
"Well judging by the mask you're obviously surprised to see me. Just to let you know this isn't a dream I really am the Ben Tennyson, the legendary galactic hero That's save the universe about a hundred times," the random guy said as if the web hero would recognize him.
Peter just squinted at him quizzically and the mask mimicked his expression by squinting one of its lenses. "Thank you Stark tech," Peter mused idly before the other guy's watch caught his attention. It was a pretty simple white watch with green decals save for how advanced it looked. "Uh hey it's me Ben Tennyson also known as Ben 10… wielder of the omnitrix, save the universe a couple times," Ben said pointing to his watch.
"Oh uh… I'm sorry. I've never heard of you before," Peter responded idly. The guy named Ben just sighed to himself looking far off as if somewhat expecting this. "Right so you're the new guy Spider-Man. Let me guess you were just minding your own business till you woke up in some dark room before being forced to compete in some arena where you had to fight for your life," the seventeen year old questioned. "Um… yes," Peter answered, clearly a little unsettled at having his experience so accurately described.
"Yeah don't worry that's sort of normal around here. Why don't you come along through the portal and let me explain things," Ben responded. Peter was just apprehensive looking from Ben to the crowd and back. "I guess it couldn't hurt," Peter added. "You might not be singing the same tune once you figure out what's really going on here," Ben said before walking back towards the portal. "Guess I got nothing better to do," Peter mused before he began following the other teen. The two walked through the portal and well it was a pretty weird feeling to be honest at least from Peter's perspective.
Eventually the two came out the other side to a hallway and what Peter saw honestly amazed him. The hallway was occupied with a whole variety of individuals, not all of them being human. Even the people that did look human stuck out from each other due to their distinct clothes that must have been from some unheard of cultures.
"Woah," Peter uttered unable to say much else. "Yeah, a lot of people are like that when they first see this side of the contest," Peter heard Ben say, making the vigilante snap his head to other older teen. "What is even going on here, I mean… what is all of this," Peter asked not even directing his question to the other teen. "It's a bit hard to explain dude… but if you want some advice I'd advise you not to stare. Not everyone here is exactly friendly." Peter just nodded along with Ben's words barely registering them. "Anyway as you what this place is well… you ever heard off the multiverse theory," Ben asked.
"Uh… yeah," basically different universes containing infinite numbers off earths were things can range from slightly different to totally insane," the airachnid based hero responded, he wasn't exactly sure of how much experience he was willing to share with Ben about his own experience with different dimensions. "Yeah well to put it simply this place I don't really know much about it, it's pretty weird honestly, but the thing is it's kinda like a bridge between different universes in a way," Ben answered.
"Wait… are you saying that not everyone here is…," "From the same universe, yeah I am," Ben said cutting Peter's verbal revelation off. "Honestly, that's probably why you didn't recognize me, I'm sort of a famous galactic hero in my universe. Your not even the first person that's happened to," Ben added. "Wait, do you mean that there are other people, not from your universe? Are there more than just two universes involved in this thing? Is this place some kind of multiversal nexus," the webslinger questioned. "Basically. The thing is a whole bunch a people from a different dimensions basically got chosen by whoever's in charge of this thing to compete in these games," Ben answered.
"Walloping websnappers what's going on here," Peter mused. "Wait and these games what are they for," the masked teen asked, feeling unsure of what to do in this situation. "Well the thing is nobody really knows for sure… from what I've heard the guy in charge of this big event might be offering some kind of prize for the winner, something that could apparently grant someone the power of a god," Ben said idly.
The words caused Peter to stop for a second before he continued to follow after Ben. "Something that could make someone a god? I'm not even sure if I believe all off this but if what Ben's saying is true, including the part about some possible nasty people competing that I don't even want to imagine what would happen if power like that ended up in the wrong hands."
"Wait so Ben why are you here," Peter asked. "Same as you dude. I was just having a smoothie the other day before I remember waking up and next thing I now boom I'm a contestant in the so called games of glory," the omnitrix wielder added with finger quotations for the contest name causing Peter to snort.
"How do you even know all this," Peter asked, still not entirely sure if he believed all this. "Honestly I just figured it out… seemed clear enough once I started seeing people way different from what I'm used to, and that's saying something." Peter just nodded along as he followed Ben until the pair stopped at a set of double doors.
"And where here. This is usually where a lot of the guys like us hang out when we aren't competing," Ben said, gesturing to the door. "Guys like us," Peter asked. "Oh you know teenage superheroes and fellow members of the human race… you are human aren't you," Ben asked. "Um… mostly," Peter answer only to get a shrug from Ben. "Eh, don't worry about the definition of human is pretty fluid around here. Anyway I'm just gonna introduce you to everybody. Hey you might even find some people you know in there. Sound good," The taller brunette questioned.
"Alright I guess. Just lead the way," the webhead said, gesturing to the door. "Cool, just a brief heads up a lot a people here have some rather… explosive personalities and not everyone's the same age. If you ever need it, for… whatever reason, the place where all the adults hang out is right next door," he said pointing down the hall. "I'll keep that in mind," the fifteen year old responded. "Alright then spider guy time to introduce yourself," Ben spoke as he opened the door and what Peter walked into left him feeling ill-prepared.
Like Ben said, the two were both greeted by the sight of people around their teens or younger that were mostly human doing all sorts of things. Some were talking, while others might have even been engaging in a wide range of activities. It reminded Peter of the Midtown High lunch room honestly. He could barely focus as each and every little thing caught his eye. The people here were definitely a little above the definition of normal.
There was one brown haired kid who was being followed by two tiny people about his size that were floating, one with green hair, the other with pink. Speaking of pink there was an actual pink girl with antlers sticking out of her frizzy hair talking excitedly to a table of girls in casual outfits one of the girls also had green skin and ginger hair dressed in a white and blue outfit with a red x on her shirt. His attention was briefly attracted by the yell of a humanoid turtle with ninja gear in a red headband. There was also this one bald kid in weird orange and yellow clothes with a staff who had a blue arrow tattooed on his head.
However, everyone seemed to quiet down when the doors shut behind the two brunettes. Peter once again felt the familiar sense of nervousness as all the rooms occupants turned to stare at the new arrival. Peter could feel himself shaking at all the intense and questioning looks being sent his way. "What exactly am I getting myself into," he mused before swallowing hard to steady himself as he waved at the crowd. "Hi everybody… I'm Spider-Man."
And so begins a brand new adventure for our ever lovable webhead. Was there anything you might have spotted giving you some context to the situation, let me know. Critisicm and critiques are always welcome so let me know what you think. Anyway remember to always have a good day.