The Amazing Spider-Blitz: The High School Chronicles

by KingYakko5991

A Hero in the Making

Mondays were almost always a drag, but this particular one was even more so. Classes went by even slower than usual, and to make matter worse, Sunset was absent so he was practically going through the day alone. Throughout the entire day, there was only one thing on his mind: Uncle Growen. Slowly, the school day eventually came to an end. Lightning was at his locker grudgingly taking his things out of his locker when a familiar voice called out from behind.

"Hey, Lightning!" But it was not a voice he wanted to hear.

"Please, not now, Flash," Lightning muttered, almost to himself. But he still felt a hand on his shoulder. Angered by the action, Lightning turned around and shoved the guitar player away from him. Flash stumbled backwards, barely managing to keep his balance. But to Lightning's surprise, he put his hands up defensively.

"Feels good, right?" he asked. "Look Lightning, I know we never really got along all that well, and that's my fault. But I heard about what happened with your uncle, and I'm sorry man." As Flash spoke, Lightning felt his anger slowly fading away, being replaced with guilt for acting impulsively the way he did. "Listen, I know what it's like to lose someone close to you. You feel like you're all alone, and sometimes it leads you to push those around you away. You seem like a nice person, Lightning, and I don't want to see the same thing happen to you. The more you push others away, the lonelier you start to feel over time. That's no way to live, man. I just wish I could have seen that myself sooner. You don't have to forgive me for how I treated you in the past, but I just want you to know that I'm here for you, in any way I can be." All of the bystanders overhearing the conversation were in shock. As Flash finished speaking, he placed his hand on Lightning's shoulder again, doing his best to give a reassuring smile.

Lightning heard what Flash had to say, but remained silent. He didn't know what to say. Instead, he just gave a slight nod as he grabbed his backpack and closed his locker. he then turned and headed towards the exit to catch his bus. He sat alone on the bus, deep in thought. Of all people, Flash Sentry had reached out to comfort him and he first reacted by literally pushing him away. Lightning could feel the sinking feeling of guilt rise in the pit of his stomach once again. But Flash was right. Uncle Growen was gone. There was no need for Lightning to push everyone else in his life away because of that. But he still missed Growen. Things were going to be hard without him...

Lightning was laying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling, tears streaming from his eyes when he heard a knock at the door. "It's open," he said softly, sitting up in an upright position. Aunt Hay walked in to see him rubbing the tears from his eyes.

"I came to check in on you," she closed the door and sat down next to him. "Talk to me dear. Tell me what's on your mind." She gently placed her hand on his to comfort him.

"I just can't stop thinking about the last thing I said to him," Lightning said through sniffles. "He was trying to tell me something very important and I just threw it back in his face. I could tell that what I said upset hurt him and," Lightning was fighting back more tears. "I never even got the chance to apologize to him."

Hay moved her hand to her nephews back in comfort. "Lightning, your uncle loved you very much. And he knew that you loved him. Never for a second has he ever doubted the type of person you would grow to be. You and I both know that no matter what, your uncle would be proud of you, and whoever or whatever you choose to be in the future." She then hugged her nephew, who continued to cry.

"Thanks Aunt Hay," Lightning said, finally letting go.

"Anytime dear." After a moment of complete silence, Lightning thought back to those last words Uncle Growen had said to him. A thought then came to his mind.

"Hey, Aunt Hay?"

"Yes Lightning?"

"I'm going to head out into the city for a bit, try to help clear my mind up a bit. Do you need me to bring back anything?" His aunt thought for a moment.

"No thank you, I'm alright Lightning." She then added, "Be safe dear."

"I will." Lightning then grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs. After grabbing a quick snack, he headed out the door. The late afternoon air was refreshing. He then made his way over to the subway station. He enjoyed taking the subways, the trains always fascinated him as a child. He found the quickest line headed towards Canterlot City and just sat back as the train sped through the underground tunnels. The repetitive sound of the subway was soothing and he closed his eyes and laid his head back against the wall of the subway.

Not long after, he had reached his destination and got off the train. But when he got to the surface and left the station, he was met with an appalling sight. In a nearby ally, he saw two men beating on a guy on the ground, this third person completely defenseless against the two stronger men. His fists clenched, Lightning hastily made his way over. "Hey!" He called out. The two men stopped what they were doing and looked towards Lightning. The guy on the ground scrambled to his feet and ran as best as he could to get away. The two men noticed this and weren't very pleased about it.

"You just made your last mistake, kid." One of the men said to Lightning. He and his accomplice began to walk towards Lightning.

"You can't just go around picking on people like that!" Lightning said, standing his ground.

"Oh?" the man asked. "You mean like this?" As he spoke, he went to shove Lightning to the ground, but Lightning merely stepped out of the way, dodging the attempt.

"Looks like we got ourselves a fighter!" the accomplice cackled to his friend. Lightning took a deep breath and put his fists up, ready for a fight.

"Yeah, well he ain't gonna be fightin' for long!" the first man called out. He then went to punch Lightning, who once again dodged the attack but then delivered a blow of his own, a right hook straight to the man's jaw! He fell to the ground unconscious, and Lightning then turned his attention to the second man who looked on in shock.

"You wanna piece?" Lightning called out to him.

"Nah, kid," the man replied, throwing his hands up defensively. "I'm good." He then turned and ran away, hoping that Lightning wouldn't follow him. Lightning stayed where he was, but then looked at his right hand. I just did that... he thought to himself. Woah... Backpack still on, Lightning then made his way to his first destination: a clothing store. He figured if he was going to be using his powers more publicly now, it may be best to not only hide his identity, but at least look half decent while doing it. While inside, Lightning bought a red jacket, some blue sweatpants and a blue sweatshirt that was roughly the same color, some thick red socks, and a pair of cheap but still comfortable looking red shoes. Once all paid for, he went outside and through some miraculous engineering, managed to fit everything inside of his backpack. He then made his way to his next stop, a fabric store.

But when Lightning entered, he was met with a big surprise. Standing right there in front of him going through the many different fabrics on display was Rarity herself! Lightning completely froze where he stood. It made complete sense that she would be here, he just wasn't expecting her to actually be here. It wasn't long before Rarity had noticed Lightning at the store, a smile growing on her face as she did. "My goodness!" She exclaimed. She then began to head in his direction. "Lightning, is it?" All he could manage as a response was a simple nod. "I'm a bit surprised to see you here!"

"Oh, I uh... y-yeah! You too!" Lightning managed to stutter out, earning a giggle from Rarity. Even the way she laughs is cute, he thought to himself. But then, Rarity's voice took a more serious tone as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I uh, also heard about your uncle," she said slowly. "I'm so sorry, Lightning. If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know."

"Yeah..." Lightning replied, his whole demeanor changing. Rarity then cleared her throat, as if to change the subject.

"So, what brings you here, darling?"

"Oh, I was uh, looking for some thread and felt for a, um..." Lightning paused, not sure what to call this whole "thing" he was working on. "A project! A personal project!" he finished.

"Oh, well in that case, I would be more than happy to show you where to find what you need!" Rarity said enthusiastically. "I had no idea you had an interest in fabrics, darling!"

"Oh, well I just needed to patch up something at home and my aunt has shown me or two about sewing. That's about it though."

"I see," Rarity replied, nodding. Lightning bought some red thread and black felt, and was prepared to leave. "It was a pleasure seeing you hear today, darling." Rarity helped Lighting pack up the things he bought. Then, much to his surprise, she gave him a quick hug..

"I, uh, thanks Rarity," he said. He then waved goodbye to her as he left the store. He was slowly but surely becoming more confident around her. By the end of the trip to the store, he was able to speak to her in full sentences! Maybe it was his powers giving him confidence. Maybe it was something else. Lightning made one last stop to grab a pair of welding goggles before heading back to the subway station. It was starting to get dark out, so it was probably best that he head back home.

Once home, Lightning immediately went up to his room and laid out all of the things he bought. He also took out the makeshift wrestling outfit. The only things he was keeping from that was the mask and workout gloves. He then began creating his new outfit. He sown part of the balaclava together, creating two eye openings rather than one, to better hide his face. He then implemented the welding goggles into the mask through the newly formed eyeholes. I'll have to replace the glass with something a little more visible on my end in the future, he thought. He then moved onto the red jacket. He started by cutting off the sleeves, making sure to keep them in case he needed them. Next, he cut a spider shape out of the felt, then cut it in half, sewing one half of the spider onto each side of the zipper for the jacket. "Okay, that should be it for modifications," he thought aloud. He then tried on the new outfit.

Lightning then looked into the mirror at the creation he just made. Still pretty janky, but at least it's leagues better than what I wore to that wrestling event. And I doubt anyone will recognize me either. He decided that his next move should be to design some sort of webbing. All spiders should have webs, right? He then went back to his desk and grabbed paper and a pencil to try and formulate a way to create webs. They should be strong, maybe use the same protein structure as real spider silk, but increase the molecule size significantly and reinforce it with carbon nanotubes to add extra tensile strength. Maybe add some hot glue into the mix for accelerated adhesion? But there was just one problem: Lightning hadn't purchased anything to make his synthetic webs with. I can probably just borrow some materials from the chem lab tomorrow. I doubt anyone would notice. Take note of what works and what doesn't. Good ol' trial and error! After about 30 minutes of scribbling down formulas and balancing chemical equations, Lightning dropped his pencil in triumph, pleased with the results on his page.

"This is it!" he said to himself. "Now all I need is to test these formulas and then find a way to dispense this stuff!" He then looked over at his clock. It was getting pretty late. Those things would have to wait till tomorrow. Lightning then hid everything, in case of the off chance his aunt would come in his room. He then went to bed that night with the biggest smile on his face.

...

Lightning woke up the next day more excited than ever. So much to do today. As he went through his normal routine, he made sure to pack up everything he had worked on the previous night into his bag. He then rushed downstairs for a quick breakfast. "Good morning, Lightning," his aunt said to him. "Someone seems a bit excited today!"

"Today's gonna be a big day!" Lightning replied. "Oh which reminds me, I won't be home today until later."

"Oh, that's alright dear," Aunt Hay said. "Remember you don't need to tell me every time!"

"Right," Lightning said apologetically. After a quick breakfast, he grabbed his bag and headed out the door. On the normal commute to school, he noticed that once again, Sunset was absent. It's not like her to miss multiple days in a row, he thought to himself as he shot her a quick text. I hope she's alright. But as the bus approached Canterlot High, Lightning decided that there were other matters to attend to.

On his way to Chemistry, Lighting saw Flash in the hallway and stopped him. "Hey man, I'm sorry about how I reacted yesterday," he started. "And I really appreciate what you said. I really needed that,."

"Anytime," Flash said with a smile. Suddenly, the bell rang indicating class was starting. "Well, I gotta run, but I'll see you around!" They gave each other a quick fist bump then went their separate ways. Lightning continued to make his way to Chemistry. Time to start on a little spider work, he thought. The class was working on an assignment that he had already finished, so he had complete freedom to work on personal projects in the lab. Okay, let's take a look at this formula here. I hope the school has everything I need. Lightning then put his notebook on one of the tables and started gathering the materials needed. Luckily for him, he had everything he needed and began to mix different substances and chemicals together to form a solution.

A bit of trial and error later, and Lightning had a flask full of a transparent fluid, one that when aggressively agitated would hopefully form strands of webbing, similar to that of actual spider silk. He then poured off a small sample into a beaker. Looking around to make sure nobody was watch, he took a stirring rod and started to aggressively stir the fluid. After not even a second, the fluid then transformed from a fluid state to form a strand of synthetic web, that had adhered to both the beaker and the stirring rod. Lightning then pulled on the web with a decent amount of force to check the substance's tensile strength. The web began to stretch to a respectable length without detaching. "That is so cool," Lightning said to himself with a big grin on his face. He proceeded to pour the remainder of the fluid into a water bottle he got from the school store earlier, then made a second batch. That should be good for now, he thought. Now I just need a way to dispense this stuff... Lightning had brought some extra things from home, a few old cameras and a couple of wrist watches that weren't being used anymore. I bet with a few things from the Robotics Club, I can make exactly what I need! Sadly, I'll have to wait until after school to get started...

The final bell could not ring fast enough. Lightning was anxiously tapping his foot, watching the clock, waiting an eternity for that final minute to pass by. After what felt like forever, the clock hit 2:30 and final bell rang. Lightning got up from his desk and headed straight towards the area where the Robotics Club would normally meet. Thankfully, there was no meeting today, so he'd have it all to himself. During lunch, he sketched out a few quick designs, but had yet to truly finalize anything. He grabbed some electronic components that he couldn't get from the things he brought from home, then found a work space to lay everything out. He decided to start by cutting off the cuffs to the sleeves leftover from the red jacket he bought the previous night. "I knew these would come in handy," he said to himself. "I'll use them as the base to build all of the electronics around."

Lightning took a look at the crude sketches he made during study hall. The general idea was to create a small turbine that would dispense the webs, so he got to making that first. Next he made the activation system, a small pressure plate that would reach to the palm of his hand. Finally, he needed a containment unit for the fluid itself. After designing each of the individual parts, he began to take parts of the various objects he had and build the pieces, making sure they would fit with one another. He then took one of the cuffs and carefully assembled the pieces around it. "A bit janky, but it should do the trick for a quick test," Lightning thought aloud. He carefully poured a small amount of web fluid into the containment unit, making sure it was sealed and that the whole thing was leak proof. There's one thing out of the way. He carefully slipped the whole thing onto his wrist, then bending his middle and ring finger to make contact with pressure plate, he pressed down with the two fingers to activate the whole thing. The gadget made a thwip! sound as a strand of web was formed and shot at the wall about 5 feet away.

Lightning grinned from ear to ear as he marveled at the creation he had just made. He detached the web by hand, then made some final adjustments to the system, including a way for the device itself to detach webs on command. He quickly replicated the device and soon enough had two web shooters in his possession. Lightning could hardly contain his excitement. Now done with the Robotics Club area, he cleared up any evidence of what he was working on and headed outside of the school. He quickly began to make his way to the subway, to head into downtown Canterlot. This is where the fun begins!

Author's Note:

Oh man, where do I even begin? Honestly, I'm just glad I finally got this one out. Apologies if the ending of this chap seems a bit rushed, and that it took me so long to get this one out. School work has been pretty stressful, my mom recently had an incident where I've had to take extra care of her to make sure she's alright. Because of all this, I can't really guarantee the same consistency as previous chapters, but the semester is coming to an end so who knows. Hope you all can understand. Anyway, with that all out of the way, hope you all are enjoying so far and as always, any feedback/constructive criticism is always appreciated! Goodnight everybody! omegalul

Comments

[Fluffy-Boi]

Love how Flash changed. He is no longer asshole supreme