Meanwhile, while the political debate over the fate of an ancient species continued in the halls of government, Spider-Man was receiving his first lesson in galactic aviation from Ahsoka and Barriss as they piloted a speeder through Coruscant's busy skyways.
"So when you want to adjust your speed, you gradually increase or decrease the thruster output like this..." Ahsoka explained patiently, demonstrating the controls with practiced ease.
Their speeder was cruising at a comfortable velocity among hundreds of other air vehicles weaving through the towering cityscape. Spider-Man watched everything with absolute awe and wonder, his eyes wide behind his mask as he took in the incredible three-dimensional traffic patterns and the endless urban landscape stretching in every direction.
Although Peter felt somewhat guilty about not wanting to return home immediately—a feeling that troubled him deeply—he couldn't deny his genuine fascination with exploring the incredible sights and experiences this galaxy had to offer. At this moment, sitting in a flying vehicle high above an alien world with two remarkably intelligent and beautiful young women his own age, the experience felt almost surreal in the best possible way.
The truth was that Spider-Man was still fundamentally a young, developing teenager, despite all his responsibilities and heroic experiences. The reason he kept his conflicted emotions carefully bottled up was simply because he was stranded in a galaxy far from everything he had ever known, and his rational mind insisted that focusing on finding a way home should be his absolute top priority.
As the three teenagers continued their aerial tour through the magnificent skyways of Coruscant, Barriss found herself thinking about everything Spider-Man had demonstrated when he had courageously saved her and Ahsoka from being killed by the notorious bounty hunter Cad Bane.
She decided to satisfy her curiosity and spoke up. "Peter, please forgive me if this seems intrusive, but I'm genuinely curious about something. How exactly did you acquire your extraordinary abilities?"
Spider-Man was somewhat surprised by her direct question, but he was also curious about her motivation for asking. "Why do you want to know about that?"
"Honestly? Pure curiosity," Barriss admitted with a slight smile. "Besides, if I recall correctly, we established a sort of informal 'cultural exchange program' between us. We teach you about our galaxy and the Force, and you share knowledge about Earth and your experiences with us."
All three teenagers laughed at the reminder of their friendly agreement, and then Spider-Man said thoughtfully, "Well, unlike you two, who were born with a natural connection to the Force and were chosen for your abilities, my powers came about through what you might call a complete accident."
"An accident?" Ahsoka repeated with obvious confusion. "What do you mean by that?"
"During a school field trip to a science laboratory, I was distracted by... well, typical teenage things," Spider-Man explained with a somewhat wistful tone. "While I wasn't paying attention, a genetically modified spider that had been part of some kind of experiment bit me on the hand. That's literally how it all started."
"You make it sound incredibly simple for such a life-changing event," Ahsoka said with obvious disbelief.
"What about your web-shooters?" Barriss asked with growing interest. "Did you develop those abilities naturally, or did you have to create them yourself?"
"Yeah, those took quite a bit of practice and engineering to perfect," Spider-Man replied, but then he suddenly stopped speaking and looked down toward the city below with obvious concern.
This abrupt change in his demeanor did not go unnoticed by either Ahsoka or Barriss, who had learned to read his moods and expressions over their time together.
"Peter?" Ahsoka looked at him with growing concern as she observed his sudden focus and tension. "What's wrong?"
"Are you sensing something?" Barriss asked, immediately recognizing the alert posture that indicated her friend was detecting some kind of danger.
Spider-Man narrowed his eyes and stared intently at the urban landscape of Coruscant far below them, his enhanced senses picking up something that the others couldn't yet perceive.
"Do you hear that?" he asked quietly.
ROAAAAAR!
An unmistakable and terrifying roar suddenly echoed across the entire city, followed immediately by the sounds of panicked screaming, blaring emergency sirens, and the distinctive crashes of collapsing infrastructure and falling debris.
All three teenagers sat up with alarm as they witnessed a massive creature plowing destructively through a major traffic bridge, casually swatting aside speeder vehicles as if they were annoying insects.
"Oh my God!" Spider-Man shouted in shock and immediately pulled his mask down over his face to assume his heroic identity.
Ahsoka immediately realized what Spider-Man was planning to do and yelled urgently, "Peter, wait! You can't just—"
It was already too late. Spider-Man had launched himself out of the speeder without hesitation, plummeting toward the chaos and destruction below.
As he fell through the air, his enhanced vision spotted two terrified civilians who were about to plunge to their deaths from a damaged bridge section. Without thinking, he fired two web lines simultaneously, executing a complex maneuver that allowed him to swing past both falling figures and pull them to safety on a nearby platform.
After ensuring that both rescued individuals had landed safely, he quickly checked their condition and asked, "Are you both okay? Are you hurt?"
Before they could answer fully, a deep, rumbling growl caused Spider-Man to turn around and face the true source of the citywide chaos. His eyes widened in absolute shock and terror at what he observed.
The creature was some kind of massive serpentine monster, easily over ninety meters in length, with an incredibly thick layer of natural armor plating covering its entire body. It had four powerful legs supporting its massive frame, plus what appeared to be a fifth dorsal appendage extending from its back that it used for additional stability and support.
Spider-Man froze momentarily in fear and overwhelming shock at the sheer size and destructive potential of the creature, but his paralysis didn't last long. The sight of innocent people running in terror and the sounds of destruction throughout the city snapped him back to his heroic instincts.
He quickly turned to the two civilians he had just rescued and urgently told them, "You need to get as far away from here as possible! Find shelter and stay away from the main streets!"
"Oh man, how exactly am I supposed to stop something that's basically Godzilla?" Spider-Man muttered to himself as panic and adrenaline began surging through his system.
As he asked himself this seemingly impossible question, a Republic gunship that had been attempting to engage the giant monster was suddenly swatted aside like a toy and crashed violently into a nearby building, sending up a massive plume of smoke and debris.
The sight of the destroyed gunship and the possibility that clone troopers might be injured or killed caused Spider-Man's heart rate to spike even higher. Without hesitation, he began sprinting toward the creature, leaping into the air and firing web lines to swing after the rampaging beast.
However, Spider-Man wasn't reckless enough to think he could face such a massive monster alone without backup.
He activated his suit's communication system and began broadcasting on all available channels, calling out desperately, "Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me? Captain Rogers? Black Widow? Falcon? Any of the Jedi? Clone troopers? Anyone at all? We have a major crisis situation here!"
The enormous monster let out another deafening roar and smashed through another bridge with devastating force, causing dozens of vehicles and pedestrians to begin falling toward the lower levels of the city.
"Damn it!" Spider-Man's mind raced as he tried to calculate how to save as many falling people as possible. He desperately recalled all the special functions of his suit, searching for something that might be effective on such a large scale.
"Web-shooters on maximum dispersal!" Spider-Man shouted to himself as he ran toward the area where people were falling.
He quickly created several large web cartridges and fired them in rapid succession, shooting multiple interconnected strands of webbing that expanded and connected to form enormous safety nets. The improvised web barriers successfully caught almost everyone who was falling, with the notable exception of one small child who was still plummeting toward the ground.
The child was a young Duros who had been separated from his parents during the chaos. Spider-Man sprinted directly toward the falling youngster and managed to catch him safely in mid-air using a combination of web-swinging and acrobatic maneuvering.
A male and female Duros couple cheered with relief and gratitude when they saw their child was safe, and Spider-Man carefully handed the frightened but unharmed youngster back to his parents.
"Peter!" a familiar voice called out.
The teenage superhero looked up to see Ahsoka and Barriss approaching in their speeder, which was now being escorted by several Republic gunships.
The military gunships' hatches opened, and clone troopers began efficiently deploying to assist with civilian evacuation efforts, helping to pull panicked citizens aboard the rescue vehicles.
"You're being incredibly reckless!" Ahsoka shouted over the noise of the continuing destruction.
Before Spider-Man could formulate a response to defend his actions, another thunderous roar from the massive beast echoed through the air, much closer than before.
"Uh, can we please deal with stopping that thing first and discuss my tactical decisions later?" Peter called back urgently.
"Agreed," Barriss said decisively, raising her wrist communicator to contact the Jedi Temple. "This is Padawan Barriss Offee calling any available Jedi Masters. Master Luminara? Master Skywalker? Anyone who can hear this transmission?"
A familiar and reassuring voice responded immediately, "This is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Barriss, what's your current situation? Emergency alarms are sounding throughout the city."
"Master Kenobi, I'm currently on-site with Ahsoka and Peter Parker, and we're attempting to contain a massive creature that's causing widespread destruction throughout Coruscant. What are your instructions?"
Obi-Wan's voice carried a note of grim understanding. "The Zillo Beast has escaped containment... This is what we feared might happen. Keep your distance from the creature and see if you can somehow lure it away from heavily populated areas. Do not attempt to engage it directly."
"Hey, everyone!" Spider-Man called out urgently.
"What is it, Peter?" Ahsoka responded.
"That thing is heading straight for the Senate building!"
They all looked in the direction Spider-Man was pointing and confirmed that the massive beast was indeed moving purposefully toward the heart of the Republic government.
"We have to go after it!" Spider-Man declared with determination. "We need to get there before it reaches the Senate!"
"So, does anyone have any idea where the hell that thing came from?" Spider-Man asked as they began pursuing the Zillo Beast while it continued its destructive path toward the Senate Building.
"I have no idea," Ahsoka admitted with obvious fear in her voice as she watched the creature nearly destroy another gunship with casual ease. "I need to contact Master Skywalker immediately."
"Ahsoka!" Anakin's voice suddenly came through her wrist communicator with obvious relief. "Ahsoka, are you there? Please respond!"
"Master! I'm here and safe!" Ahsoka replied immediately.
"Thank the Force you're okay," Anakin said, his relief evident even through the communication device. "Obi-Wan just informed me that you're tracking the Zillo Beast. What's your current status?"
"Master, do you know what this creature actually is?" Ahsoka asked urgently.
"Yes, it's the ancient creature we brought back from Malastare. Where are you now?"
"We're following it toward the Senate building. The Zillo Beast appears to be heading directly there."
"I understand the situation," Anakin said, his tone becoming more serious.
"Master? What's happening on your end?"
"I'm currently inside the Senate building with Senator Amidala and Chancellor Palpatine," Anakin reported. "We're in the Chancellor's office discussing the creature's fate when it escaped."
Ahsoka could hear distinct growling and rumbling sounds coming from Anakin's side of the communication.
"It's looking directly at us through the office windows," Anakin said with obvious tension.
"We can see it too," Ahsoka confirmed as she observed the Zillo Beast climbing up the exterior of the Senate building and positioning itself near the upper levels.
"You need to evacuate everyone from that building immediately!" Spider-Man shouted as he swung toward the nearest gunship. "We'll try to distract it and keep it occupied for as long as possible!"
"What exactly are you planning to do?" Barriss asked with obvious concern.
"Well, I'm pretty good at annoying people and getting under their skin," Spider-Man replied with characteristic humor despite the dire situation. "So irritating a galactic version of Godzilla should be right up my alley!"
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