Two Baryonyx's were fighting while letting out a screech across the jungle while it seemed like they were searching for something. Peter and Darius were watching them from a distance as they looked and saw pteranodons up and sighed.
On the ground, the group was waiting for the two of them to climb back down from the tree. Kenji was tossing stones across to where Yaz was leaning on the tree. She was listening to the constant thumping of the stones before she finally had enough. She reached over and grabbed the stone before it hit the tree. That was when Peter and Darius climbed down the tree without any good news.
"Good news?" Sammy asks.
"The pteranodons are nesting on the eastern mountains, so that's out," Darius said.
"Ugh! Bad news," Sammy said with a groan as she then pulled out the resort map of the island with the crossed-out locations they'd already checked out.
"So, we can't stay on Main Street because dinosaurs," Brooklynn commented. "The mountains, grasslands, and jungle are out because dinosaurs."
"And Kenji's penthouse is out because he's bad at math," Yaz stated, giving Kenji an eye.
"I didn't think my dad was serious about changing the locks if I failed algebra." Kenji defended. "That is not my fault."
"That's actually, literally, completely your fault," Peter informed him.
"Okay, well, whatever," Kenji said, not liking how they ganged up on him. "The whole island is full of dinosaurs. We're cooked."
"We can't give up yet," Sammy said. "We set off the emergency beacon. We need to find somewhere safe to hole up until rescue arrives."
"Where? It's been days." Kenji stated. "We're out of options."
"Actually, there's one place we haven't tried, but I'm not sure you're gonna like it." Darius said.
Seems that Darius' option for a base to set up camp was... literally at camp.
"Are you serious?" Kenji asks. "Didn't we specifically run away from here?"
"Just hear me out," Darius said. "There's a stream for fresh water. We've got trees and mountains to protect us from weather and dinosaur attacks."
Brooklynn clears her throat, gesturing to the camp that was destroyed specifically by dinosaurs.
"Okay, not all dinosaur attacks." Darius corrected himself. "But if you were coming to rescue a bunch of campers, wouldn't camp be the first place you looked?"
"He's got a point there. And also I doubt we need to worry about my sister coming back for seconds." Peter stated.
"Okay, you seriously gotta stop calling her that," Kenji begged him. "It is so weird!"
"How do you think I feel? It is a fact." Peter defended.
"And we've even got supplies to build a shelter right here," Darius said, gesturing to the various broken wood and other supplies. "They're, uh, broken supplies, but we could do it! Right, Brooklynn?"
That got the group looking in her direction. "What?"
"I mean, you must've made one video about building a shelter, right?" Darius asks.
"Right. All you do is videos." Kenji said.
"Excuse me, I do lots of things other than videos!" Brooklynn defended herself. "I have a whole life of other things!" She then crossed her arms and muttered. "But, yes, okay, I did help raise that barn for "Unboxing Amish Country"... Just saying."
"Knew it," Kenji said.
"Oh, I love that one!"
"There you go."
"What are we waiting for?" Yaz asked as she stepped forward. "Let's clear that stuff!"
Yaz then stumbled her way over and began to try and clear the rubble. The others watched in concern as she tried to pull on some wood
"Yaz, maybe it's best if you sat this one out," Darius tells her.
"What? No, I'm totally- Whoa!" Yaz could barely stand anymore as her leg gave out and she ended up slipping and falling on her back.
Peter raced ahead and caught her, placing his hand on her back, almost like he was doing a dance number with her. The action caused Peter to blush as well as Yaz when they saw how close they were to one another.
"You... you good?" Peter asked her in concern.
"Yeah.." Yaz said through the pain as she tried to stand back up. "It's nothing. I'm fine. I wanted to fall over..."
"This isn't nothing!" Sammy said. "Your ankle is still hurt. All that running over the past few days didn't help any."
"Based on this symbol, there might be some clinic nearby," Darius said, looking at the map. "We'll see if we can find anything for your ankle. Just rest here."
"No way! I'm not sitting around while you go back out there." Yaz said. "I can pull my own weight."
Before she could get back up, Peter pushed her back down. "No, you need to rest. Doctor's orders."
"You're not a doctor," Yaz reminded him.
"True, but I was trained under a woman who is a doctor, and has been helping people with this kind of injuries for twenty years." Peter defended himself. "Besides, you'll need that ankle to get better if you wanna win gold medals when we get off this island, right?"
Yaz started to blush a little as she looked away, wondering how she felt this way when he complimented her.
"And I'll stay behind to make sure she rests," Kenji stated.
Yaz was afraid when she heard Kenji was going to stay behind. "Can it be someone else? Literally anyone else?"
Peter chuckled as he saw her fear. "I'll stay back. My strength will be more helpful here than getting some medical supplies. Get the job done faster."
"Okay, great plan!" Darius said. "Kenji, while Yaz rests, start sorting through the broken stuff and find anything we can use with Peter."
"A hundred percent maybe," Kenji said.
Peter gave him a stern look, spooking Kenji.
Brooklynn passed over a piece of wood to be used as a weapon towards Sammy and Darius before they began to head off to the jungle. What they didn't know was amongst the trees; someone was watching them and snarling, speeding off right as Peter's sixth sense went off, making him turn and look around, wondering what set it off.
As the others ventured off, Peter was currently lifting up the huge giant piles of rubble using his super strength, lifting up the major fragments of the wreckage and metal. Despite his objections to Yaz to try and relax, he decided to give her some work she could at least handle with the injury she had. But even then, she wasn't capable of being able to lift much of it and her leg kept giving way, causing her to fall over.
Kenji then approached and cracked his knuckles, looking over the pile of rubble. "Okay, task one: pick through camp garbage for useful garbage." He then looked at the pile and kicked over a small piece of rubble. "Complete!"
Kenji then walked over towards a tree over to the side. He then leaned down and relaxed while they heard a crash, seeing it was just Peter dropping the rubble he was carrying. Yaz then stumbled her way over towards Kenji, seeing he was just relaxing.
Peter was looking amongst the rubble and ended up finding a satchel, which he saw was from his father. The front of the satchel had the initials "R.P." Definitely his father. He opened the satchel and found a few chemicals in a metal container and a journal. He opened the journal and skimmed through it pretty quickly, seeing it had a bunch of notes about DNA mutations, and he saw the name "cross-species" come up a lot. That must be what they referred to when they merged human/animal DNA. Then he found something that looked a little simpler where he broke down key components to make... spider web fluid.
"That's it? Dude, you didn't even try." Yaz stated.
"Shh. And join me at my resting tree." Kenji said.
"Your "resting tree"?" Yaz asks.
"It's a tree where you rest," Kenji said, closing his eyes. "The name kind of covers it."
"That's not..." Yaz tried to keep calm. "Okay, Darius said to sort through the debris. If you don't do it and I can't do it, who will help Peter?"
"Peter can do it. He's got that super-human strength." Kenji stated, looking over towards Peter who was hard at work. "Yaz, the best things in life are things you make other people do for you. Example: I've never cleaned my room. I wait for it to get messy enough that my dad's assistant caves and he makes one of the maids do it for me. Win-win."
"And you're proud of this?" Yaz asked.
"Obvi, otherwise I wouldn't have told you about it." Kenji proclaimed. "Now, stop talking and start relaxing."
"But-"
Kenji shushes her. "Resting tree."
Yaz sighed and saw there wasn't much she could really do, so she ended up just leaning against the tree. She wasn't just going to tell on Kenji to Peter, that felt just too childish. She then slid down the tree and leaned against it with Kenji.
"Man, I really needed this, you know?" Kenji asked, closing his eyes. "Some quality Kenji time." That however was met with him opening his eyes and seeing Yaz was already long gone. "Yaz? Yaz!" He then groaned. "Fine, hop away! I'll stay here under the tree." He then heard footsteps approaching and opened his eyes to see Peter. "Uh... hi, Peter."
"Where's Yaz?" Peter asked him.
"Yaz?" Kenji asked, sheepishly.
"You know, Yaz? Yazmania? The track star?" Peter reminded Kenji. "Swollen ankle? Ring any bells?"
"Uh..." Kenji looked off to the jungle. "She... ran away."
"She... ran away?" Peter questioned. "With a swollen ankle?"
"Yes," Kenji answered.
Peter sighed as he looked off to the jungle. "Great. Okay, whatever, I am going to go find her." He then started to walk off into the jungle. "Don't do anything stupid while I am gone!"
Kenji wondered what he could do and groaned. "Aah! I can't believe I'm being noble and going after you to find her."
Kenji was trying to follow after Peter, but they might have been separated due to Kenji constantly stopping to rest.
Kenji whimpers as he continues to look around. "Yaz? Peter? Anyone?" Then he began to hear rustling, causing him to freak out. "Yaz!"
Kenji found Yaz as she was tugging on some branches, using a stick as a crutch. She was tugging on some vines, trying to break them from the tree.
"There you are!" Kenji sighed as he ran over to her. "What's that?"
"To move the camp debris," Yaz explained as she handed off the vines to Kenji. "We use the sticks as levers, toss the vines over a branch, and use them to haul the rest of the broken planks away."
Kenji watched as she stumbled away and down to the vines in his hand. "This looks like the exact opposite of what you're supposed to be doing, which is nothing." Yaz stumbled forward and fell to her knee. "Can you please just give the macho-woman act a rest, already?"
Yaz found offense in that as she turned to face him. "Three-time state track champ, four times placing at nationals, twice in the International World Track Competition. I've competed in rain, sleet, snow, and each time, I've medaled. What does that say?"
"That you're crazy because running is hard, and why would you do that?" Kenji wonders.
"I don't give up, unlike some people," Yaz stated as she got back to it.
"We're going back and you are resting, whether you like it or not," Kenji stated as he then yanked the stick away from her. "Say you're coming with and I'll give it back."
Yaz scoffs and begins to walk off. "No way. I'll get this stuff myself!"
It didn't take more than a few steps for Yaz to fall over again, causing her to cry and fall onto the grass. Kenji became worried as he ran over to help her.
"Yaz?"
Yaz looked down at her ankle and winced when she touched it. "It's worse. I think I- I think I hurt it worse." She looked around and saw no sign of Peter. "What do we do now?"
Kenji looked around and groaned. "Where is Peter when you need him?"
That was followed by some strange screech coming from the trees, causing the two of them to freeze and look around frantically. Yaz looked to Kenji and saw right now he was her only hope of escaping whatever that sound came from.
Kenji ended up carrying Yaz on his back as he tried to run as fast as he could away from whatever was making that noise. They were making their way through the jungle as fast as they could.
"If you ever tell anyone else about this-" Yaz was warning before Kenji almost tripped. "Don't fall!"
"Okay, the "Kenji does work" portion of the day is over," Kenji stated, steadying himself.
"Wow, you got a whole ten minutes in," Yaz said sarcastically. "Bravo."
"Yep, we're done now," Kenji said as he walked over to a giant rock. "Whatever that was, we likely lost it. Get off my back, literally and figuratively." He stated, trying to get her off his back. "You can crawl the rest of the way."
"Are you kidding?" Yaz asks. "We're nowhere near camp."
"Maybe someone should have thought of that before she hopped off into the jungle," Kenji stated.
"If someone would've pulled his weight, helping Peter, rather than making him do all the work, she wouldn't have had to." Yaz defended why she did what she did.
"What is your deal?" Kenji asks. "You trying to prove something to him?"
"What?!" Yaz's voice became squeaky for a second. "What are you talking about?"
"Peter was doing perfectly fine on his own, he didn't even complain that either of us wasn't helping, yet you still wandered in the jungle, making us both have to find you." Kenji recapped. "And now I'm pulling your weight. When are you gonna get it? You can't do anything here, Yaz."
Yaz then dropped fighting and jumped off his back, walking over towards the rock as hard as she could. Kenji watched her for a second and saw she was trying to prove she could still do this and sighed.
"Okay, Yaz, I'm sorry."
Yaz wasn't listening and began to make her way towards the rock.
"Come on, Yaz, would you stop? I said I'm sorry."
Yaz suddenly found herself falling, but not due to any weakness in her leg. No, the cause of her tumble was far more sinister. A gigantic, menacing tail thrust forth from the shadows behind the rock, anchoring itself deep into the stone. What followed was a sight that chilled her to the core—a grotesque figure emerged.
This creature had the unmistakable shape of a man, complete with a face, two arms, and two legs. Yet, that was where the resemblance ended. Its entire body was covered in iridescent scales, glimmering grotesquely in the dim light. From its back, the massive tail coiled like a serpent, while the left arm wasn't human but rather a hideous claw, far removed from any human anatomy, almost like it resembled a scorpion.
Yaz's mind raced as she pieced together the implications. This had to be one of the other experiments they had been warned about—an abomination of nature lurking in the shadows. Kenji froze in fear when he saw the creature as the two of them just froze and wondered what was going to happen next.
The creature snarled at the two and screeched, preparing to strike at them when suddenly a rock came flying and crashed into the creature. Yaz and Kenji looked over and were shocked when they saw it was Peter, but he was wearing... something.
He donned an all-red ensemble, complemented by matching shoes that accentuated the outfit. Emblazoned on the chest was a spider symbol, appearing smudged—probably from being hastily cut from the blue hoodie he layered over the red onesie. The suit featured striking black outlines along the shoulders and legs, adding a textured look to the design. The hood was covering most of his face as he hadn't figured out the mask quite yet, and it was the best he could do.
Kenji was confused on the suit. "What... are you wearing?"
"That's what you wanna discuss right now?!" Peter asked, gesturing to the rock. "A human/scorpion just attacked you!"
Yaz then heard the rock rumble and tried to crawl away. "And he isn't done!"
Peter watched the rubble shatter as the scorpion got back up and prepared to attack. Peter prepared to fight the hybrid creature as it leaped in to strike. Peter dodged the strike and then punched him in the face, causing the scorpion to stumble backward. He then snarled and shot his tail forward, sending chunks of venom flying towards Peter.
Peter ducked and avoided the incoming strike, leaping up into the air and using a tree branch as a catapult to launch himself into the scorpion creature. He then immediately punched it in the face over and over, seeing that he rendered it unconscious. But to be on the safe side, Peter dragged it over towards a cliff and threw it off, causing it to become entangled with the trees, branches, and vines.
Peter didn't know if this creature was once human or born in the labs, and he wasn't going to just kill it. He was going to be better than that. "Nighty-night, Scorpion." He then ran back over towards Kenji and Yaz. "Hey, you guys okay?"
"She's hurt," Kenji said, gesturing to Yaz.
Peter looked down and winced when he saw her leg. "Ouch." He sighed as he looked up at her. "I told you to take it easy... why couldn't you just listen?"
Yaz sighed and decided to explain herself. "I'm the track star. The person my coaches, my team, everybody relies on. But now... But now I'm not. And if I'm not strong anymore what good am I?"
Peter scoffed when he heard that. "What good are any of us on our own?" He watched Yaz look up at him. "I mean, come on, I am just some nerd who got bitten by a spider. I don't know which dinosaur to hit or leave be. I just fought some mutated scorpion for crying out loud And Kenji, he's-"
"Lazy? Entitled? Basically hopeless?" Yaz finished that thought for him.
Peter laughed when he heard that, seeing Kenji was offended by it. "I was going to say the annoying glue that keeps us together." He then placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You are not able to do anything right now, but you need to be open to just taking it easy once in a while. You guys did a lot of the heavy lifting the first few days before I got bit. Think of this as your time off for all of that. The best thing to do isn't push yourself so hard, you collapse. Let someone else do the work for a change, Yaz."
Yaz smiled and pulled Peter in for a hug, surprising him, but he gladly returned it. "That is a pretty cool suit, by the way."
"Thanks," Peter said as he continued to hug her. "My aunt taught me to sew." He then wrapped around her waist and lifted Yaz, causing her to yelp as he placed her on his back. "Alright! Let's head back to camp!"
"What about the scorpion guy?" Yaz wonders.
"Well, he's taken care of for now," Peter shrugged as they walked off. "It's not like we have a way to contain him, so until then, we just gotta watch our backs." He then pulled out the journal from his father's bag. "Luckily... it seems my dad was working on some way to contain them."
Yaz skimmed through the pages and came across the page. "A durable rope that can be produced through chemicals? Sticky substance, nearly indestructible..."
"In other words, what I am going to be calling... web-fluid."
"Web fluid?" Kenji laughs. "Seriously?"
"How do you plan to make that work?" Yaz wonders.
"Dad kept the chemicals in the bag I found that notebook in, and I can probably find some way to produce it using the damaged equipment at camp," Peter answered. "And that notebook seems to have a few notes on our experiments."
"Which one was that?" Kenji wonders.
"Oh, here we go," Yaz found the page. " Cross-species experiment SM-19, merging a scorpion with human DNA."
"So, it's a scorpion with human DNA," Peter recapped as they reached camp. "Alright, Yaz, skim through the book if you want, see if there is anything we should look out for with Scorpion."
"Is that what we are calling him?" Yaz asked as she leaned against the tree.
"I sure am not calling him SM-19," Peter stated as they got to work, surprising them both when they saw Kenji helping.
"Don't get used to this," Kenji warned them.
After some time, Peter had moved a dozen fragments of the camp while Yaz kept looking through the book. All the while, Kenji did help move the fragments and then moved on to begin making a camp using small sticks like a model.
"Welcome to Camp Kenji!" Kenji said.
Peter would say something when he felt his senses alert him something was coming. That was when their three missing campers came running towards them with a stampeed coming behind them.
"Up the trees, quick!" Darius cried.
Peter ran over and grabbed Yaz before leaping up into the tree. Kenji was quick to follow as everyone else climbed up the tree and watched as the stampeed eventually passed them over.
Kenji watched as his sticks were trampled. "No, no, no!" He then groaned. "This is exactly why you should never work on anything, ever."
"I guess this is why they built Camp C up in the trees," Sammy said.
"Hey, maybe our new shelter should be kind of like a tree house?" Darius offered.
"Hmm." yaz then took out her sketch pad and scribbled down a design of a hideout for them. "Maybe something like this?"
"It's great!" Darius said. "But we definitely need a lookout tower."
"And an awesome girls' bunk!" Brooklynn proclaimed. "The boys can have whatever."
"Okay, I feel hurt," Peter stated, crossing his arms.
"A place for storing food, so the dinos don't get it." Sammy offered.
They then spent the day getting to work, trying their best to clean up the last of the rubble and building up the last of the supplies high up so the dinosaurs don't get it. They also warned the group about Scorpion, and they wondered what else they could find within the journal about the other experiments Richard created. Peter also had one more surprise as he walked over towards Darius.
"Hey, Darius?" Peter showed he found the necklace that Darius lost. "I found this. Figured you wanted it back."
Darius was thankful as he took the necklace back and placed it on. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it, kiddo," Peter said as the young boy gave him a hug.
"We need some more vines," Yaz called.
"On it!" Brooklynn offered as she walked off to find some. As she was looking, she heard some strange humming coming from the jungle. She looked around, wondering where it was coming from and trying her best to locate the source. But to her shock, she found a bundle of flowers in the middle of an open field that was frozen solid. "They're... frozen?"