The MARVELOUS Muppets: "The Amazing!"

[muppetwriter]

Here goes the exciting conclusion to this chapter...

Chapter Three (Part Two):​

The eyes of everyone in the crowd switched from Goblin’s crash-landing over the tent to his glider, which was whirling around uncontrollably through the air. It went through a large, helium-inflated balloon of a globe, putting large holes in both sides of it and releasing massive amounts of helium from it. The gigantic, deflating balloon started falling towards the deserted stage that the band was playing on and causing everything to collapse. An innocent little boy was standing near the collapsing stage at the time, and he stood there and watched it come towards him, seemingly stunned.

“Somebody get that kid out of the way, before he gets killed!” A man shouted, and I’m surprised that no one had the guts enough to do it, including me! Just when it seemed as if the little boy was about to be crushed by the falling structure of the stage, Spider-Man had suddenly appeared and carried the boy away in time, saving his precious life. He dashed over to the boy’s mother and reunited them, all while there was some commotion that was happening behind me.

“Hey, you! Don’t move!” Someone ordered, and I turned my head to see at least five police officers surrounding the Green Goblin, who had emerged from the destroyed tent, with no sign of injures on him. As he moved towards the officers, the Goblin put his hands up in the air and taunted them.

“I surrender!” He exclaimed, right before he unleashed some of the most devastating moves I have ever seen a human being display. However, it was a question as to whether this Goblin character was human or not. After seeing how dangerous he was, I turned to my friends and urged them to take immediate cover; but I knew it was too late, when the Goblin noticed the bulbs that were flashing in his face. “Did I forget to mention that I’m ‘camera shy’?” Then the Goblin started advancing towards us in a threatening manner, which scared the five of us very much.

“Oh, no!” cried Fozzie, and though the guy was ten times stronger than me, I was willing to try and take him down for the sake of my sister and my three buddies. But I was spared the trouble, once Spider-Man had shown up in front of us.

“How ‘bout picking on someone your own species?” said Spidey, and he attempted to throw a punch at the Goblin, but the green terror countered his attack by catching his right fist.

“You lose!!” bellowed the Goblin, just before he kicked Spider-Man square in the chest and sent him flying across the air, crashing through a banquet table, a tower of fragile, wine-filled glasses, and finally, the post of a streetlight that broke apart and crashed near an innocent bystander.

“Whoa! That was some kick!” exclaimed Gonzo, truly impressed with the Green Goblin’s fighting skills, and Kermit was taken aback by his sense of loyalty.

“Gonzo! Whose side are you on?” He asked.

“I-I’m just saying that was an excellent move…that’s all.” said Gonzo, just as we heard a loud rocketing noise and turned to see the Goblin back on his vicious glider. He obviously heard what Gonzo had said about him, because he wouldn’t have said what he said next.

“Buddy, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” yelled the Goblin, and he & his glider zoomed over our heads to pursue Spider-Man, who was running for dear life, as the Goblin’s glider fired a great amount of ammunition at him. Despite the fact that the Goblin was trying to kill Spider-Man, Gonzo was still amazed by his skills and artillery.

“Wow! I think we’ve actually found something bigger than Spider-Man here!” exclaimed Gonzo, and he took more photos of the green menace, as he fired a large rocket at Spider-Man. Luckily, Spidey zipped himself away before the rocket exploded near him; that made Kermit and Fozzie cheer for him excitedly.

“Yeah! Atta boy, Spider-Man!” Kermit shouted.

“Go get ‘em!” yelled Fozzie, as Spider-Man swung beneath another large balloon, with the Goblin still on his tail; but he was able to avoid him by looping himself backwards and landing right on top of the balloon. We were suddenly reminded of a more serious situation that was happening, when Mary Jane screamed in terror from the crumbling spot of the balcony that she was on.

Spider-Man jumped from one large balloon figure to another and another, until he was finally near the spot that Mary Jane was located. He attempted to jump over to her, until the Goblin suddenly appeared again and caught Spider-Man in midair, flying him over to large window and slamming both of their bodies against it, with several bits of shattered glass falling. Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Lori, and I knew that Spider-Man would never get to Mary Jane in time, so we all decided to immediately turn into helpful citizens, instead of photo-snapping journalist.

“Come on! Let’s get something to use as a net!” ordered Kermit, and we dashed over to one of the broken tables that still had the tablecloth over it, snatching the tablecloth and using it as a net to catch Mary Jane with. The five of us then grabbed certain corners and sides of the tablecloth and spread it far apart to make it tight enough to soften Mary Jane’s fall. However, we failed to notice a small tear in the fabric of the tablecloth that increased in size when we spread it apart; it eventually shredded in half, leaving the five of us falling to the ground and watching the ripped tablecloth helplessly.

“Oh, no!” said Fozzie, miserably. “What do we do now?”

“Pray that Spider-Man will get to the girl in time.” said Kermit, and we looked up as Spider-Man was knocked off of the Goblin’s glider and landed on the more stabled side of the balcony. He noticed Mary Jane hanging on for her life on the crumbling piece of the balcony that was seven feet away from where it was a few minutes ago. Meanwhile, the Goblin moved the front end of his glider (where the ammunition was shooting from) towards Spidey and attempted to kill him once more. Thankfully, Mary Jane warned the wall crawler about the Goblin’s attempt in time, and Spidey fired a glob of webbing from his wrist that blinded the green villain.

With the Green Goblin blinded, Spider-Man sprung to his feet and punched his right fist into the underbelly of the Goblin’s glider, ripping out some of the wiring that controlled its functions. That bright move caused the Goblin to loose control of his glider, as he whirled uncontrollably away from the wrecked balcony and gave one last comment to Spider-Man.

“We’ll meet again!” He vowed, and (personally) that had to be the corniest line a villain could use on a protagonist.

Right after the Goblin disappeared from the scene, Spider-Man turned his focus back on Mary Jane, who had suddenly fallen from the crumbling section of the balcony. Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Lori, and I watched in terror, as Mary Jane’s body was falling down the side of the building and towards us at an extremely rapid speed, making it impossible for anyone to catch her by hand. But thank goodness there was someone as amazing as Spider-Man, who dived after her and caught her just in time to zip a line from his wrist that connected underneath the wrecked balcony and slowed down their fall.

The feet of Spider-Man and Mary Jane were only a few inches from the ground, just before they were bounced back high into the air by the strong web strand, giving Spidey the opportunity to fire another web strand from his wrist and swing away from the scene, while clutching Mary Jane close to him. All of the spectators, including us, cheered and applauded with a great sense of security, as the Amazing Spider-Man once again saved the day.

“You know? I don’t care what Mr. Jameson thinks about Spider-Man!” Kermit exclaimed. “He is the best superhero that we’ve ever had in this city!”

“He’s the only superhero we’ve ever had in this city.” indicated Gonzo, and I was pleased to know that so many thought of Spider-Man as a truthful, heroic figure. However, I was distraught to know that there were some that thought oppositely, like the police officers that were pounded by the Goblin, saying things like “Spider-Man’s timing is as slow as a snail!” or “Where was he when we were getting our butts kicked?” It isn’t like Spider-Man can save everyone at exactly the same time, like some other heroes; even if he can do things like no human being can, he’s still as human as all of us. Listening to those kinds of silly complaints reminded me of ridiculous guys like J. Jonah Jameson, who couldn’t see the big picture.

“Aw, man!” shouted Lori, with a stunned tone in her voice, and when I faced her to see what was wrong, I noticed how she was holding the lens cap from her camera. “I can’t believe the whole time I was taking photos of the inside of this thing!” I didn’t dare to bust out in laughter at her, because I knew how much those photos matter to our assignment; but it was hilarious that she didn’t even once think about it.

“Have no fear!” Gonzo told Lori. “For I have the best photographs of both Spider-Man and that ‘Green Goblin’ in this little camera of mine!”

“Alright, Gonzo!” exclaimed Fozzie, and he gave Gonzo a hard pat on the back, which forced him to drop his camera. When Gonzo’s camera shattered on the ground and spilled all of the valuable film out of it, we all felt very distressed that those “great photos” that Gonzo had of the whole battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin were lost.

“Uh-oh.” uttered Fozzie, and before any of us could’ve panicked, Kermit reminded us of something that made us feel assured.

“Er, t-this is not a problem, gang.” He said. “Peter was with us during the whole thing, and I’m sure that he has all of the photos we need to give to Jonah for the story.” It was a good thing that Kermit reminded us of that, because we were all tremendously worried there for a minute. That’s until Gonzo gazed around at the aftermath of the chaos and realized that Peter was nowhere around.

“Hey…where is Peter anyway?” asked Gonzo, and we all looked around for any sign of the young amateur photographer, but he had completely vanished from Times Square.

“That’s a good question, Gonzo.” I said, and I could not believe that I had gone from being suspicious of Spider-Man to becoming suspicious of Parker, all because he exited the scene as soon as something went wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time, but there was something unusual about Peter Parker.

END OF CHAPTER THREE​

 

[muppetwriter]

And now for the fantastic fourth chapter! (Okay, that was a bad joke. )

Chapter Four:​

I don’t know if it was luck or faith, but a little twist of something practically saved our jobs that day after the Spidey/Goblin fiasco. Out of all the photos from Gonzo’s camera that ended up being ruined, only one of Spider-Man falling from the Green Goblin’s glider was spared and put on the front page of the Daily Bugle’s next issue. And though Jonah was pleased that we were able to bring him one photo for the paper, he was still in absolute denial, believing Spider-Man and the Goblin put on a show to hide the fact that they were part of the same team.

Peter Parker had shown up to work on the day that the next issue of the Daily Bugle was published, but we didn’t get the opportunity to ask him where he had wandered off to while hundreds of people were rioting in the streets. Who kept us from asking was Jonah, as we spent useless minutes trying to convince him that Spider-Man wasn’t terrorizing the city, but in fact saving it from the Green Goblin. Inevitably, Jonah contradicted our comments and told us to leave his office and get some better photos of Spider-Man and the Green Goblin (he was actually the first person to come up with that name, putting in the Bugle’s next issue).

When we were on our way out of his office, something (or someone) had violently crashed through the large, wide window in his office, knocking both Jonah and his desk to the floor. All of the staff, including us, turned to see what had busted into Jonah’s office, and once we realized that it was the dreaded Green Goblin, some of us (predominantly Fozzie and Gonzo) ducked for cover. The Goblin flew into Jonah’s demolished office on his glider and snatched our “fearless” leader by the neck, complaining about how Jonah desecrated his reputation in the paper and demanding to know who took the pictures of Spider-Man.

For a moment, I was afraid that Jonah would give in and tell the Goblin that Gonzo or Peter (who had again disappeared, as soon as the Goblin appeared) were responsible for the Spider-Man photos. But the man surprised me when he lied to the Goblin and told him that he didn’t know who took the photos. And just when it seemed as if Jameson’s life was about to be put to an abrupt end, Spider-Man had appeared at the scene, dangling upside down from a web strand behind the Goblin. Sparing Jonah’s life and letting him go, the Goblin directed his attention to Spider-Man and acted as if he was expecting him to arrive.

“Spider-Man! I knew you two were in this together!” snapped Jameson, and by the time he could’ve said another word, Spidey fired a glob of webbing at his mouth, forcing Jonah to keep it shut.

“Time out, Junior! Let the grownups talk for a minute!” said Spider-Man, and when he focused on Goblin, he suddenly found an excessive amount of sleeping gas sprayed into his face. The gas made Spidey lose his grip on his own web strand and fall fifty feet towards the ground; however, it was the Green Goblin himself who swooped down and caught Spidey, before he could’ve splattered across the pavement. With Kermit, Lori, Fozzie, and Gonzo standing near me, we looked out through the enormous hole that was made in Jonah’s office and saw the Goblin zooming towards East Manhattan, holding an unconscious Spider-Man in his arms.

“I wonder where he’s taking him.” Lori said.

“Only one way to find out.” said Gonzo, just before he did something that neither Kermit, Fozzie, Lori, or me expected him to do. Gonzo dived out of Jonah’s office and fell towards the street corner far below; as a yellow taxicab stopped at a red light, Gonzo had landed directly on the hood of the cab and shouted to the driver, “Follow that goblin!” Pointing towards the sky at the Green Goblin’s glider, which was still noticeable from the ground. The taxi driver must’ve been happy to gratify Gonzo’s request, because he immediately turned his car around and went into the same direction that the Goblin was heading in, with Gonzo still on his hood. The rest of us still could not believe that he went to that extreme, just to get a cab.

“Lori, I think you should get that Porsche back as soon as possible.” Kermit said.

“Before Gonzo ends up hurting himself?” Lori asked.

“No, before we end up paying for the cab company’s damages.” replied Kermit, while Jameson had finally gotten all of the webbing off his mouth and shouted with great frustration.

“That’s it! That’s the proof we need!!!” He bellowed.

“For what?” Fozzie asked him.

“For the truth that Spider-Man and the Green Goblin are working as a team!” Jonah exclaimed. “You all saw how they busted through my office like that! They almost killed me!”

“But it was only the Goblin that broke-in.” Lori stated.

“The punk forced his partner to do the stunt for him, because he had those high-tech gadgets!” Jonah contradicted. “Open your eyes, people! Spider-Man’s not a hero; he’s a menace!” As Jonah spoke, Mr. Hoffman (Jameson’s naïve assistant) came into the room and listen to what his boss was saying. “Over tons of my employees, including you guys, saw the both of them in this room together and abusing me! Spider-Man even shot one of his…his…”

“Uh, webs, Mr. Jameson?” said Hoffman, and Jonah gave him an annoyed look.

“Whatever.” He said, before he continued trying to convince Kermit, Fozzie, Lori, and me. “Tomorrow, there will be a new headline: ‘WANTED! CITIZENS CALL FOR WALL-CRAWLER’S ARREST’!”

“They are?” uttered Fozzie, taking Jonah’s words literally, and he picked up the phone to listen for the “person” on the other line. “Hello? Are you calling for the arrest of Spider-Man?” Jonah rolled his eyes, asking himself in his mind, “What was I thinkin’ when I hired these people?”

“Mr. Jameson, you can’t do that.” Kermit said.

“Why not? Not only will it exploit that web-head for the criminal he is, it could put millions in the Bugle’s budget.” said Jonah, and hearing that got Fozzie’s attention, as he moved the phone away from his ear and looked at Jonah.

“Millions?!” He exclaimed, turning to Kermit. “Oh, Kermit! We might finally get the big raise that we always wanted!”

“Fozzie, everyone here will go home happy with a big paycheck,” I said, “But Spider-Man will be known as public enemy number one!”

“Was so bad about becoming a rapper?” asked Fozzie, and at first, I didn’t quite get what he meant by that…and I still don’t. But, hey, what can ya say? It’s Fozzie!

“No!” shouted Lori, demandingly, and she stared coldly into J. Jonah Jameson’s eyes. “Sir, you’re not gonna print that story into tomorrow’s issue of the Bugle!” Kermit, Fozzie, and I were taken aback by the controlling attitude that my sister suddenly gained; of course, Jonah didn’t let it scare him.

“And who’s gonna stop me, Lori? You?!” Jonah asked. “You know I could fire your hide, just for threatening me like that!”

“That’s not a threat, Mr. Jameson,” Lori said, “It’s a promise!”

“A promise?” said Jonah, a little puzzled.

“Yeah! A promise!” Lori told him. “I promise you that I will find evidence that Spider-Man is a great hero and not the phony that you think he is!” Jonah just chuckled at the “promise” that Lori made for him, thinking that the woman must be insane.

“You won’t be able to keep that ‘promise’, because in the next second…you won’t even have a job.” remarked Jonah, and I knew exactly what he meant by that, even before he stopped laughing and said straight to her face, “Miss Thomas, get your stuff together…YOU’RE FIRED!!!!!”

It was almost as if a lightning bolt had struck Kermit, Fozzie, and me, because we never thought we would see the day when J. Jonah Jameson fired my sister, Lori Thomas. However, I had always suspected that Lori’s own competitiveness would get her into trouble one day. As soon as I saw her step up to Jonah like she did, I knew that it wasn’t about proving Spider-Man was innocent anymore; it was some kind of contest to see who got the better story, and there was no chance of Lori winning.

Without saying another word, she walked away from Jonah and made her way out of his office, passing by a truly surprised Hoffman. Immediately, Kermit, Fozzie, and I dashed out of the office and chased after Lori, who didn’t even bother gathering her desk belongings and instead went straight to the elevator. While she was waiting for it to open, we tried to talk her out of leaving without her job.

“You can’t go, sis!” I said. “You’ve been here for too long just to let Jameson fire you like that.”

“He’s right, Lori.” Kermit said. “You’ve gotta think about how the city of New York’s gonna react, when they see that headline on tomorrow’s paper.” Lori gave us a sympathetic look, not showing any signs of crying whatsoever; that’s how tough my sister is!

“Look, guys, I’m not gonna be canned permanently.” Lori assured. “Once I find the perfect evidence to show that Spider-Man isn’t a criminal, Jameson will just be begging me to come back to work for him.”

“How certain are you about that?” I asked, and she gave me a look that told me right off that she wasn’t. It was then that I knew she was just bluffing Jameson, and she had no idea where she was going to find the proof. “You’re getting yourself into hot water here, Lori.” She knew that I was on to her and seemed really distressed by that, looking down towards the floor and feeling sheepish. “You’re not the only person who thinks Jameson is an idiot.”

“That’s right.” Kermit told Lori. “Heck, I’ll be here all day, if I told you half the things that the staff have said about Jameson, as well as about each other.” Hearing that made Fozzie a little paranoid of the staff members’ thoughts.

“D-Do they say anything about my jokes?” He asked Kermit, who just stared at him for a moment and spoke to Lori again.

“All day long! I’m tellin’ ya!” said Kermit, leaving Fozzie still feeling paranoid.

“Listen, I know it’s a long shot, but I will find a way to show New York that Spider-Man is saving this city…even if means getting closer to the action.” said Lori, and by the time I could have asked what she meant, the elevator opened up and Lori stepped into it. The doors closed and Lori was gone from that section of the building, leaving Kermit, Fozzie, and me wondering what kind of measures would she go to get the evidence.

“You don’t suppose she’d get close to fight alongside Spider-Man, do ya?” asked Fozzie, and Kermit & I looked to each other, both of us wishing that we could give Fozzie a reasonable answer. All of the sudden, the elevator doors opened again and Lori stuck her head out from it; she came back to mention one more thing to us.

“Oh, by the way, in case you all are wondering if I’m gonna do something totally insane, I’ll be at the Happiness Hotel.” said Lori, and she stuck her head back in the elevator, just before it closed and then took her down to the first floor. Despite the fact that she assured us that she wasn’t going to do anything yet, we still couldn’t help but to feel a little insecure about the whole thing.

Later that evening, when our shift was done, Kermit, Fozzie, and I went back to our wild, raggedy home at the Happiness Hotel, where our fellow roommates were getting into the spirit of Thanksgiving (which was the following day). The only four people that weren’t in the spirit of things were Kermit, Fozzie, Lori, and me, after the quarrel that took place in the Daily Bugle headquarters. We had yet to see Gonzo arrive back at the Hotel and wondered if he pursuing the story in a drastic way.

Since Lori came to the Happiness Hotel that evening, she had been locked up in her room for countless hours, with a worn-out “Do Not Disturb” sign hanging over the doorknob; it was evident that she was spending her time in there to ponder over how she was going to prove Spider-Man’s innocence. While she was doing that, I was in a room that belonged to Kermit and was located four floors above Lori’s; it was where we talked about getting Lori’s job back.

“We have to convince Mr. Jameson that Lori is on his side.” suggested Kermit, and Fozzie was a little confused.

“But I thought she was against him for trying to exploit Spider-Man as a crook.” said Fozzie, and I figured he was going to say that.

“She is, Fozzie.” I said. “We just have to play some ‘Mind Games’ with Jonah to get him to bring her back.” And I knew that Fozzie still wasn’t catching on, just the way he was staring at me with his mouth shut and not moving an inch. So, I just came out and simply said, “We’re gonna come up with one huge lie.” And he finally caught our drift, seeming really surprised and happy.

“Aaah! Clever!” He exclaimed. “Honestly, you guys are such masterminds that maybe the two of you should be super villains!” Kermit and I couldn’t believe how much of a big deal Fozzie was making out of this little plan of ours.

“Fozzie, it’s not like we’re breaking into Fort Knox here.” stated Kermit, and Fozzie raised his paws up in protest.

“Hey, hey! Let’s take these things one step at a time now.” said Fozzie, and Kermit & I were just about exhausted with Fozzie, though we knew that he’d known better.

Our meeting was interrupted for a moment, as there was hard, rapid knocking at the door; when I walked over to open it, we were more than surprised to find Gonzo standing at the doorway. Before Kermit, Fozzie, or I could ask him a question, Gonzo busted out with an extraordinary surge of excitement, running into the room and jumping up on Kermit’s bed, where he sat and gave us the 411 on Spider-Man and the Green Goblin.

“I was hiding in a nearby pigeon coop as they were talking on the rooftop of a building a couple of blocks from this one.” Gonzo said. “It turns out we were right about Spider-Man the whole time. The Goblin was so impressed by Spidey’s skills that he offered him a chance to join forces, just so he could have someone to terrorize the city with.”

“And Spider-Man declined?” I inquired.

“You bet he did.” replied Gonzo, and I couldn’t have been happier to hear that news.

“This is just the proof we need to convince Jonah!” I exclaimed, but I may’ve been counting my chickens before they’ve hatched (no pun intended towards Gonzo, of course), because then he said…

“The only problem is that I didn’t have a camera to capture any photos of the two.” indicated Gonzo, and I remembered that his camera was shattered on the day before at the World Unity Festival.

“Oh, yeah…I forgot.” said Fozzie, sadly.

“And unless we had taped the whole conversation with a recorder, there’s no way to prove that Spider-Man turned down the Goblin’s offer.” said Kermit, and that’s when we found ourselves helpless in a tight situation. However, there still was the master plan that Lori was cooking up; but I continued to fear that she would get herself in a situation that not even Spider-Man will be able to get her out of.

END OF CHAPTER FOUR​

 

[TogetherAgain]

<shiver> Ooh, I can't wait! Some great, GREAT stuff in this chapter. Fozzie, particularly, was very funny. (Not for the reasons he would want, but...) And I can TOTALLY see Gonzo making that jump! Ooh, well done, muppetwriter!

 

[muppetwriter]

We're getting real close to the climatic conclusion of this tale, with just two chapters left.

Chapter Five:​

Thanksgiving was anything but thankful that day, as Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and I were still disturbed over the scene we witnessed of Lori’s release from the Daily Bugle on the previous day. She was still locked up in her room, coming up with a perfect (and hopefully safe) way to prove to Jonah that Spider-Man was not a criminal. After sixteen hours, I was beginning to get curious as to what my sister might’ve been planning, because she hardly made a sound from her room.

I had Rizzo the Rat (one of Gonzo’s very best friends) crawl through a tiny rat hole in Lori’s apartment, but it turned out that there was some kind of cybernetic rat-catching cat (which Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker had to build for her, when some of Rizzo’s friends were sneaking into her apartment) there to drive annoying pests, such as Rizzo, out of the room. I don’t think Rizzo would’ve dared to go back into Lori’s room, after his frightening encounter.

After my first failed attempt, I then had Clifford romance Lori with his hip personality and his own version of “The Thong Song,” which he creatively called “The PONG Song,” comparing his love for Lori to the small dot in the actual PONG game that bounced off the two bars by saying that it’s “hard to keep inside.” While he was doing that, Pepe the Prawn was outside Lori’s apartment, lowering himself (via a crude pulley system developed by Rizzo and Gonzo) down to her bedroom window and attempting to inspect through her apartment for materials that would give us hints about her master plan.

Unfortunately, because of the poor construction of the pulley system, Pepe never even got the chance to sneak into Lori’s apartment. The system had fallen apart before Pepe got the window halfway open, causing him to fall fifty feet down the side of the building and right into piles of smelly, week-old trash gathered in a slimy dumpster. That was soon before a garbage truck aligned and inserted its large prongs into the slots on the dumpster, flipping it upside-down and emptying Pepe and all of the trash into its storage compartment. A few hours later, we found Pepe at the city dump, lying in a pile of half-eaten seafood meals; the poor guy was traumatized for nearly a month by the experience.

“The horror…THE HORROR!!!!” He cried.

After Pepe’s incident, I gave up using my friends as spies, before I ended up putting any of them in serious danger. I don’t know what Lori had up her sleeve, but it was obvious that I was never going to find out about it, until after it had been done. So Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and I just tried to enjoy our Thanksgiving Day the best way we could; but not even thinking about a big, delicious turkey could brighten our spirits.

The Muppets and I had our Thanksgiving dinner that evening, gathering at a long, nicely decorated table inside the Happiness Hotel’s “Chow Room” (which, in actuality, was the basement). Everyone from Lew Zealand to Crazy Harry to Camilla (Gonzo’s beloved chicken girlfriend) was joined at the table, which had great side-dishes sitting across it. Kermit was sitting at one end of the table, while the fabulous Miss Piggy was sitting on the other. The only person missing from the table was Lori, who was still locked up quietly in her room.

“TURKEY! TURKEY!” shouted Animal, who was pounding his hands against the table impatiently, while Sgt. Floyd Pepper desperately tried to calm him down.

“We’d better bring that bird in, before Animal eats the table!” He exclaimed, and it wasn’t long before the Swedish Chef came into the room with the cooked turkey sitting on a plate, speaking in his unusual Swedish dialect (which no one will understand in a million years). After the Swedish Chef set the turkey down on the table, Kermit stood up from his end of the table to give a speech; I could tell that he was still bothered over Lori, because the tone of his voice was just depressing.

“I…I’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to come have Thanksgiving dinner here in the…uh…basement.” Kermit said.

“You mean the ‘Chow Room’!” Dr. Teeth corrected him.

“He had it right the first time, gold-mouth!” snapped Piggy, obviously angered by the fact that she had to spend Thanksgiving in such a foul area. “Why don’t you monkeys work-up a banquet room or someplace more suitable for a respectable feast?!”

“Because the monkeys own half of the rooms in the building.” said Pops (the landlord), and everyone, except for Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Piggy, and me, laughed heartily at Pops’ remark. The reason Piggy wasn’t laughing was because she was taking the whole dinner seriously; but Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and I were just too distraught to laugh. After the laughter subsided, Kermit continued on with his speech.

“Uh, yeah…it’s good for all us friends to be here on this Thanksgiving event.” said Kermit, and the others couldn’t help but to notice how depressed the frog was.

“Hey, Kermit, you’re looking so blue that you’re practically turning turquoise.” Rowlf stated. “It’s Thanksgiving. The time to be thankful that you’re alive, thankful that you’ve got a home to come to, and thankful that you’ve got friends to be with, whenever you’re feelin’ down.” When Rowlf mentioned about friends, Kermit fell deeper into his gloominess than Gonzo, Fozzie, or I did.

“Yeah…friends…” uttered Kermit, as he fell back into his seat and looked down at the ground, making everyone else wonder what was causing him to feel so low. To break the utter silence that had come into the room, I stood up from my seat (which was between Gonzo and Fozzie) and took Kermit’s place as speaker.

“Uh, I think it’s about time I said grace.” I stated, and everyone, including myself, bowed their heads respectively, as I said a word of prayer, “Lord, we thank thee for giving us the opportunity to be here together in the…Chow Room…” I heard Dr. Teeth snicker a bit when I uttered the name of the room, “And we also give thanks for allowing us to have a home where we all can be together forever, through thick and thin, no matter what.” Just the way I was expressing my words made me feel much more worried about Lori than I was for the past twenty-four hours. Before I was at the peak of despair myself, I brought my prayer to an abrupt end, “In the name of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ…Amen.”

“Amen.” The others said, and as I sat back down, I saw how Kermit, Gonzo, and Fozzie were staring at me, knowing that if there was anyone who was more distraught than they were, it had to be me. The three of them looked away from me and back at the food simultaneously, and I did the same afterwards, while the Swedish Chef was muttering something in his native tongue. We all assumed that he was ready to carve the turkey, because he was holding up two large knives.

“Alright! Let’s live up to this room’s name and chow down!” shouted Rizzo, gleefully.

“Yeah!” yelled the others, and they were about to grab whatever they felt like munching down on, until there was a sudden loud booming sound that came from somewhere upstairs. The room shook a little, with grains of old dirt and brown dust falling from the ceiling and spreading all over good food.

“What the heck?” uttered Kermit, as we all looked up at the ceiling and wondered what was happening in the Hotel.

“Those monkeys must have ‘Jungle Fever’.” Waldorf assumed.

“If I wanted to hear that much action, I’d watch the Discovery Channel.” Statler said.

“You old fool! Any action on the Playboy Channel is a thousand times better than the Discovery Channel.” Waldorf said.

“Can’t argue with you there.” remarked Statler, and the two old hecklers laughed, but they abruptly stopped when a rocketing noise was heard afterwards. It was then that we all wondered if it may’ve been the Green Goblin that was causing all of the commotion upstairs.

“You don’t think it’s him, do you?” Fozzie inquired.

“I wouldn’t be surprised, since it was me that was listening in on their conversation.” Gonzo indicated.

“But I thought you said that you didn’t take any photos?” Kermit queried.

“I didn’t.” Gonzo contradicted. “All I did was listen.”

“Then he must’ve been after a different photographer.” Kermit said. “And the only other photographer here is…” Before Kermit could’ve finished, we all realized that the only reason the Green Goblin would show up at the Happiness Hotel was because of Lori.

“My god!” I muttered, just before I jumped from the table and headed out of the basement. I took the elevator up through several floors in the building, until I finally reached the one where Lori’s room was located. As soon as I came out of the elevator, I dashed quickly over to her door and knocked on it hastily; my mind was racing with several thoughts of what might’ve happened in there. “Lori! Are you alright?” When she didn’t respond, I became more alarmed than ever. “Lori! Open the door!” While I was trying to get my sister to respond by banging on the door, Kermit had arrived at the scene, with Gonzo, Fozzie, and Rizzo following him.

Once I gave up trying to get a response from Lori, I decided to just kick down the door with all of my might; after I accomplished that, what Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzie, Rizzo, and I saw next had confirmed our worst fears. Lori’s entire room had been completely wiped out; the walls, floors, furniture, and everything else were gone, leaving nothing but a view of the night skyline. The corners of the doorway that I was standing in were engulfed in flames, symbolizing the Goblin’s damages.

“Whoa!” Rizzo exclaimed. “I think Robo-Kitty took his job a little too far.” That’s when Scooter had shown up next to us, and when he saw what happened to what was once Lori’s apartment, he was beyond shocked.

“Oh, my gosh!” Scooter shouted. “Who did this?!”

“Do the words ‘Green’ and ‘Goblin’ answer your question there?” Rizzo replied.

“The Green Goblin?” Scooter uttered. “Well that explains why he’s calling right now.” I looked over at Scooter with a startled look, at the same time he looked up at me. “And he’s wanting to talk to you, Sean.” My worries were continuing to increase, as I asked several questions in my mind that regarded to the Goblin’s sudden call. I gazed at Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzie, and Rizzo, who were equally as worried as I was at that moment; I then headed down to the lobby to talk with the Goblin himself through the phone. Once I got there, I mustered all of the courage I had in me and let the words come out of my mouth and into the receiver.

“This is Sean Thomas speaking.” I said, and the sound of the Goblin’s wicked voice through the phone sent chills down my spine.

“You journalists at the Daily Bugle think you’re on top of the world, just because you have photos of Spider-Man!” The Goblin stated. “Well, how does it feel now that I’ve got one of own kind with me?” I swallowed hard, feeling as nervous as I was when I came face-to-face with the Goblin at the World Unity Festival, and I attempted to negotiate with him for the sake of Lori.

“Listen,” I told him, “I realize that you are angered by what the papers have been saying about you, but you must understand that neither Miss Thomas or anyone else on the staff meant to desecrate your name in any way whatsoever.”

“I’m not mad that you people made me look like a terrorist.” The Goblin remarked. “I’m actually flattered by it.” I was somewhat relieved to hear him say that, knowing there might’ve been a chance for Lori after all; but that’s until he stated, “It’s how you’re trying to frame Spider-Man that just ticks me off to the point where I just feel like killing someone!” The relief in me had abruptly disappeared, as I was once again desperately negotiating for Lori’s life.

“Please.” I said. “You can’t kill her.”

“And why not?” He asked, with a bit of tension in his voice.

“Because she’s no longer part of the Bugle staff.” I rejoined, not sure if it would convince him any. “She lost it trying to get our boss, Jonah Jameson, to understand that Spider-Man is not a criminal. If you kill her, then you’d be murdering someone that is on your side.” I heard the Goblin’s wicked cackle come through the receiver, and I knew that my excuses weren’t good enough for the monster.

“Do you really think I care whether Spider-Man’s innocent or not?” He said, which confused me a little.

“B-But just a second ago…” The tone in the Goblin’s voice had suddenly changed from calm to hostile, as he immediately cut me off.

“He refused! I gave him the opportunity of a lifetime to run this city at my side, and what does he do? He spits in my face!” He bellowed, and what he said next really boggled my mind, “Well, it just so happens that we know his secret now, and we will destroy him by striking his heart! First…it was his greatest supporter…second…it was his family…and soon…it will be his love!” And by the time I opened my mouth to ask him a question, I heard a dial tone over the receiver, meaning that the Goblin had hung up and left me quivering over the thought that my sister might’ve been either alive or dead.

END OF CHAPTER FIVE​

 

[TogetherAgain]

Don't. You. Dare. Leave. Me. Hanging. Here. Come back and tell me more. I'm shaking from that chapter. Tell me more. Please. I mean, all the Muppets are pretty funny- "he had it right the first time!" - but now I'm shaking. What happened to Lori?!? Come on, please tell... someone hurry up and save her!!!

 

[muppetwriter]

Don't worry, TogetherAgain. Here's part one to the final chapter of our story.

Chapter Six (Part One):​

The last thing that I wanted to do was give up hope that Lori might’ve still been alive somewhere, so I decided to go out on a non-stop search for her, with help from Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo. We spent the entire morning and afternoon searching every part of the New York area in Fozzie’s Studebaker, but there was no trace of Lori anywhere. Soon it was nightfall, and we were still on our desperate search for my sister, crossing the ever-popular Queensboro Bridge; I was still determined to find out where the Goblin was keeping Lori, but Kermit, Gonzo, and Fozzie were just about to give up.

“Uh, Sean,” Kermit said, “I just want you to know that we’re with you all the way on your search for Lori. But…i-it is getting kind of late, and we should really get back home.” I didn’t want to hear Kermit tell me that, because I refused to let anything (including sleep) keep me from finding Lori.

“We’ve been up and down the whole city.” Fozzie indicated.

“And we’ve even checked around the New Jersey area.” Gonzo added. “I still can’t believe the number of KFC’s they’ve got around those parts.” He quivered over the thought. “The insanity!”

“I’m sure the others will be willing to help us on our search tomorrow.” Kermit said.

“By tomorrow, my sister might not even be on this earth anymore!” I exclaimed, and I tried my best to calm myself down, after realizing how frantic I was. “You guys just gotta understand that I will stop at nothing to see that my sister makes it back home safely. I won’t eat or sleep, until I find her!”

“Well, you’re gonna have to eat.” Fozzie told me. “Otherwise, you’ll be nothing but skin and bones.”

“And getting your rest is a perfect way to rejuvenate yourself for the next day.” said Gonzo, and as much as I appreciated their advice, I still was not going to let anything stop me from continuing my search. Meanwhile, Kermit was a little freaked by the “after school special” moment that Gonzo and Fozzie just had.

“That’s the last time I take you guys to Sesame Street.” Kermit told Gonzo & Fozzie.

When we were halfway across the Queensboro Bridge, there was suddenly a tremendous explosion that erupted nearby, forcing every automobile that was crossing the bridge to come to an abrupt halt. Everyone jumped out of their vehicles and moved over to the side of the bridge, seeing how a nearby observation deck had been destroyed and was engulfed in flames. That explosion screwed up the machinery that was controlling a tram car filled with a group of innocent children and their two chaperones, causing the whole thing to fall towards the ground.

“Oh, no!” cried Kermit, truly horrified, but that’s until a dark, flying figure appeared and snatched the loose cable that was connected to the tram, before it could’ve crashed. We all looked up at the flying figure, only to see that it was the dreaded Green Goblin, cackling into the night air.

“GOBLIN!!!” I yelled, furiously, and he stopped flying for a moment to look down at me, as I pointed at him viciously. “Where have you taken my sister?!?!”

“I seemed to have run into a bit of a misconception, Mr. Thomas!” said the Goblin, just before he flew over to the top of the Queensboro Bridge, where he grabbed a young woman that he kidnapped by the neck and held her over the edge, making her scream with terror. For a second, I feared that it might’ve been Lori that he was holding up there; but, in fact, it turned out to be Peter Parker’s dearest friend, Mary Jane Watson, which was even worse! “You see, I had mistaken your sister for this fine redheaded specimen that Spider-Man seems to care for more than anybody else.” When he said that, two things raced across my mind: the mentioning of a relationship between Spider-Man and Mary Jane, and the way he referred to her as a “specimen.”

“Just let her and the children go, Goblin!” I demanded. “It’s Spider-Man that you want, remember?”

“How true, Mr. Thomas! How true!” The Goblin remarked. “But, in order to bring Spider-Man to me, there has to be at least a couple of sacrifices!” The Goblin cackled even crazier than before, just as something soared high across the sky and swung in and out of the bridge’s structure and finally, after an amazing leap through midair, landed near the spot that the Green Goblin was located, with Mary Jane and the tram car’s cable still in his grasps.

“It’s Spider-Man!” indicated a citizen, and it was indeed the Amazing Spider-Man, who had arrived just in time. The Goblin told Spidey how much life was filled with choices and how choices always lead to consequences, whether they were good or bad; no one had any idea where he was going with this, until he told Spider-Man that he had the choice to save Mary Jane or rescue the tram full of children, before either one of them fell to their death.

Everything broke out into complete chaos, when the Goblin suddenly dropped both of them at the exact same time, forcing Spider-Man to make one immediate rescue. He dived off the bridge and caught Mary Jane in the air; and as she was clutching onto him, he continued falling a few more feet before firing a web at the underbelly of the Queensboro Bridge and swinging under it to snatch the loose cable of the tram car with his free hand. Spider-Man literally had his hands full, with the tram cable in one hand and his web strand (which was beginning to snap away from the bridge’s underbelly, due to the massive weight capacity) in the other.

“He won’t make it!” Gonzo exclaimed.

“He will make it! Because he’s Spider-Man!” contradicted Fozzie, but I was beginning to believe that Gonzo was right and that Spider-Man wouldn’t be able to hold on for very long.

“Ahoy there!” shouted a voice, and we all looked across the river that ran under the bridge to see a barge moving towards it. The barge was the perfect place for Spider-Man to set the heavy tram car on top of the load of recycled trash that it was carrying. One of the men on the barge was speaking to Spider-Man through a megaphone. “Hang on! We’re coming to assist you!”

While the barge was approaching the bridge, Spider-Man had instructed Mary Jane to climb down to the tram car; after some hesitation, she started climbing off of Spider-Man’s body and down the cable, heading straight for the dangling tram car. But things began to take a turn for the worse, as the Green Goblin had gotten on his glider and rocketed over to Spider-Man, attempting to make Spidey lose his grip on the cable by repeatedly punching him hard in the face. At one point, Spidey did lose control of the situation; but he was able to quickly get back on track, just in time for Mary Jane to finally reach the tram car.

“That Goblin punk is trying to kill Spider-Man, just for trying to save a bunch of kids!” One male citizen exclaimed. “That ain’t right!”

“It’s about time we showed his green butt that New York doesn’t take his kind here!” suggested a female citizen, and everyone else on the bridge shouted in agreement.

“Then what’re we waitin’ for?” Kermit asked them. “Let’s help Spider-Man!”

“YEAH!!!” Everyone said in unison, and I watched the New York citizens as they were all led by Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo, gathering some food, tools, trash, and other materials. I had no idea what they were planning on doing, but while they were gathering those materials, I kept my eye on the Green Goblin, who suddenly had four long, dangerously sharp blades sprouting from the front of his glider.

“He’s gonna stab him!” I shouted, and the others joined me at the side of the bridge, also noticing how the Goblin was attempting to impale the glider’s blades into Spider-Man.

“Not if I can help it!” said Kermit, just before lunging an empty soda can at the Goblin and nailing him right on the head; that ruined the Goblin’s plans for stabbing Spider-Man. We all cheered for Kermit, while the Goblin flew past Spidey and halted his glider for a moment to turn around and look up at the heroic frog. “Yeah, I did it! And you wanna know something else? It’s guys like you that make it so hard to be green!!” That’s when everyone threw their materials at the Green Goblin, overwhelming him to the point where he was forced to make a hasty retreat.

“Just remember, Goblin, if you mess with Spider-Man, you mess with New York!” Someone shouted.

“If mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!” Fozzie shouted.

“Go back to Jersey with all the other weirdoes!!” said Gonzo, and while they were all screaming obscene things at the retreating Goblin, I turned my attention back to the situation underneath the Queensboro Bridge just in time to see how Spider-Man was successful in setting the tram car down safely on the deck of the barge, saving Mary Jane and all of the children.

“Hey! He did it! He saved them!” I shouted, and everyone roared with applause for the Amazing Spider-Man, as he let go of the cable and took a moment to relax.

“Let’s hear it for the wall-crawler! YAY!!” cheered Kermit, but amid the cheering crowds of New Yorkers, I noticed how the Green Goblin had reappeared at the scene, whirling a long wire over his head. It didn’t take me long to realize that he was once again coming after Spider-Man.

“Spidey! LOOK OUT!!” I yelled, and he looked up at me, unaware that the Goblin was coming towards him again. Before he could’ve taken notice, the long wire was lassoed around Spider-Man’s waist, and he was hauled away from the underbelly of the Queensboro Bridge by the Green Goblin and his vicious glider. We all kept a close eye on the Spider-Man, as the Goblin flew him over to Roosevelt Island and threw his body right through the brick wall of an abandoned building. When the wall-crawler was out of our sights, we all got a bit concerned.

“Where did he go?” asked Gonzo, and it was then that I suspected that the only reason the Goblin would put Spider-Man at Roosevelt Island was to probably keep him prisoner there, until he decided to execute him. That, of course, led to my suspicion that he might’ve taken Lori there as well for the exact same reason (that, and the fact that we hadn't checked Roosevelt Island yet). Without a second thought, I dashed over to Fozzie’s Studebaker; but when I saw how it was blocked by several other cars, I knew I would never get to Roosevelt Island in time.

“Does anyone have a car or something that I can use to get to Roosevelt Island?!” I queried, with panicky tone in my voice, and a rugged-looking guy tossed me his keys considerately.

“There ya go, bub.” He said, and he pointed at a nearby motorcycle. “It’ll get you there faster than anything else on this bridge.”

“Thank you, sir.” I remarked, running over to the motorcycle and climbing aboard it, while the rugged man added one more thing.

“Just be sure to leave it somewhere on R.I. where I’ll be able to find it, alright?” He stated, and I nodded in affirmation, as I placed the keys in the ignition and started up the motorcycle. The people watched me as I rode down the crowded bridge, passing by several of their vehicles; once I reached the end of it, I journeyed down the road that led straight to the abandoned building where Spider-Man (and possibly Lori) was. When I got there, I parked the motorcycle outside and wandered into the ruins; as I searched for Spider-Man and Lori, I got a real good look at the inside.

The place was like something out of Evil Dead; it was dark, gloomy, and nothing in it had been repaired for sixteen years. There were cobwebs everywhere, dead grass and vines all over the ground and the old brick walls, and birds roaming in and out of the ruins. However, the one thing that caught my eye was Spider-Man crouching over the body of my sister, Lori Thomas.

“Lori!” I shouted, and with my voice echoing throughout the ruins, Spider-Man noticed my sudden appearance and stood up straight. I ran up to him and noticed how certain parts of his outfit were tattered and showing more of the human skin underneath it and the upper left portion of his mask had been torn off, revealing a blue human eye and brown hair. At first I didn’t think much about it, since I’d always known there was a human under all of that spandex; but the blue eye and the brown hair looked very familiar to me.

“She’s still alive.” He said, referring to the battered and bruised Lori, who was lying down on the ground, totally unconscious. I knelt down over her body and placed my left hand over her throat to check for a pulse, and she definitely had one.

“We have to get her to a hospital.” I said, as I picked up Lori’s inert body and turned back to Spider-Man, whose head had suddenly faced another direction as if he heard something that my ordinary ears didn’t. “What’s the matter?” My question was soon answered when one of the Goblin’s pumpkin bombs dropped out of nowhere and bounced towards us.

“Run, Sean!!!” cried Spidey, and I did not think once about stopping to ask how he knew my name. I just ran away from him as fast as I could. Once I was about eleven feet away from him, the pumpkin bomb had violently exploded; I knew that it did, without even looking, because I felt the heat of the flames on my neck. I stopped my running when I heard Spider-Man letting out a frightening scream, which was followed by the sounds of several windows shattering and several brick walls crumbling.

I looked down at the unconscious Lori and decided whether I should go see if Spider-Man was alright or just leave that area and get Lori to a hospital immediately. As I was making my decision, I heard the approaching sound of a familiar rocketing noise, and soon the Goblin had flown over my location, obviously going to kick Spidey’s butt some more. Knowing that it would be even more thoughtless to let our city’s only hero get killed by the green menace, I set Lori down in a safe place and went to the exact spot that the Green Goblin had found a horribly ravaged Spider-Man, whose mask had been further torn away to reveal the face of…Peter Parker?!

TO BE CONTINUED...​

 

[TogetherAgain]

............not......................breathing..............<faints>



<recovers>
Wow. ............Wow!
First of all. Things I really REALLY want to mention. "That's the last time I take you guys to Sesame Street." I seriously had to stop reading so I could finish laughing.
And then everyone, I mean EVERYONE pitching in against the Green Goblin. <shiver> It's so powerful! And so... so... POWERFUL! Which leads me to another favorite Kermit line. "It's guys like you that make it so hard to be green!" Beautiful.
And. Peter Parker. I knew it.

So come on, tell me more! Please! ...well, I mean, when you're ready, I mean don't rush or anything, but... NOW! (Seriously though, take your time if you need it.)

 

[muppetwriter]

Here it is. The exciting conclusion to this amazing tale.

Chapter Six (Part Two):​

Yes, it was true. It turned out that the young amateur photographer from the Daily Bugle was indeed the wall-crawling superhero. I wanted to think that it was some kind of hoax and that Peter was just imitating his idol; but, no…he was the real Spider-Man, and I could not believe it. I also couldn’t believe that he was still standing after having a pumpkin bomb explode right in his face, putting him in horrible shape.

From a safe distance, I watched Peter stand up and face the hellish demon that was the Green Goblin, with a dazed look on his face. After a few things were stated from the Goblin, regarding Peter’s refusal to join forces with him, the punishment ensued. The Goblin laid his first punch, which Peter was successful in blocking, but the Goblin caught him with one to his gut. A hard punch from the Goblin was about to come in contact with Peter’s face, until the youth ducked in time to leave the Goblin hitting nothing but a stone pillar, taking a huge chunk out of it.

The Goblin kneed Peter hard in the face, and then he laid one of the most devastating punches across Peter’s face, which swung the kid’s head to the left and made a string of saliva fly out of his mouth. After that, the Goblin unleashed one powerful uppercut, sending Peter falling backwards across the air and landing hard on the ground, a few feet from where the Goblin was standing. This whole fight was like something out of a kickboxing match!

As the battered Peter got back to his feet, the Goblin somersaulted over the air and landed in front of him, bringing another hard punch across Peter’s face. I knew that one punch was even nastier than the other one, because when Peter’s head swung to the left again, his jaw swung even further and almost seemed to disconnect from his head! It was such a gruesome display! A kick to the face sent him falling back down again.

But the Green Goblin wasn’t finished with him yet; he let out a fierce scream, as he attempted to kick Peter’s butt some more. That’s when Peter shook the cobwebs out of his head and fired a glob of webbing from his wrist at the Goblin, who knew that it was coming for his eyes again and caught it with his right arm. While the Goblin was shaking the webbing off his arm, Peter fired a web strand and tried to swing over his adversary; but he found himself knocked back to the ground again, when the Goblin leaped high into the air and kicked him down. There were more devastating kicks and punches from the Goblin to Peter, while certain parts of the area were demolished in result of their battle.

“STOP!!!” I shouted, unable to watch anymore of the inhuman brutality that the Goblin was unleashing on Peter. For a moment, the Goblin stopped beating Peter and turned to where I had been watching him; he must’ve not seen me as much of a threat, because he simply ignored me and went right back to killing Peter. But as the Goblin faced Peter, he found himself walking right into a giant spider web, courtesy of Peter Parker.

With the Green Goblin’s attention focused on tearing down the spider web, Peter got to his feet and attempted to take him down. Unfortunately, the Goblin had succeeded in tearing down the spider web before Peter had the opportunity to annihilate him, and he kicked the boy in the chest, sending him falling back again. Then the Goblin, out of nowhere, jumped high into the air and used all of his body weight to send Peter’s body flying towards a brick wall and smacking against it hard!

“My god…he’s really destroying him.” I muttered, as I watched Peter fall on his stomach and his face dug deep into the ground; never in my life had I seen a human being undergo such brutal punishment like he had. The Goblin moved over to Peter and pinned his weak right arm to the ground, just as he tried to fire a web strand from it, and then he crouched down to put his ugly mug closer to Peter’s face.

“Had you not been so selfish, your little girlfriend’s death would have been quick and painless,” Goblin told Peter, “But now that you’ve really ticked me off, I’m gonna finish her nice and slow.” He then grabbed Peter by his neck and slammed his body against the brick wall again, while pulling out some kind of trident from his back. “M.J. and I…we’re gonna have one heck of a time!” And that’s when the Goblin attempted to impale the trident into the head of Peter Parker, until Peter’s hands shot up and grabbed the trident, desperately trying to keep it from going any further.

But I believe that it was all of the things that the Goblin said he was going to do to his friend (Mary Jane Watson) that gave Peter Parker enough rage and strength to hurl both the trident and the Goblin away from him. The Green Goblin didn’t need a glider to fly as high as he did across the air, after Peter threw him; his body smacked against a weaker brick wall that was right across from the one Peter was near.

Peter fired two web strands from his wrists that connected to the Goblin’s legs and, with a simple yank, brought him down on his back; then he fired two more web strands at the brick wall itself and used all of his super strength to pull it down. While the Goblin was trying to get to his feet, he looked up in time to notice the brick wall that was coming down on him; as soon as it had made contact with his body and the ground, there was nothing left but a huge pile of bricks and a bulge where the Goblin’s fallen body should be.

Just when I thought I had heard the last of the Green Goblin, he suddenly emerged from the pile of bricks, with his entire helmet and suit hideously damaged from the tons of bricks that fell on him. If it wasn’t for the way his body was wobbling as he stood and the blood was pouring out of his helmet, I’d think he really was some kind of powerful demon; but it turned out that he was more human than I believed him to be.

A wild scream had echoed throughout the ruins, just as Peter swung by and snatched the Goblin’s body from the pile of bricks, hurling him across the air and into a higher spot. The Goblin was again smacked against a brick wall, while Peter landed in front of him and unleashed some of his own powerful kicks and punches on his enemy. Some of the punches to the Goblin’s helmet put some serious dents in it and even shattered the yellow lenses on it, revealing his own human eyes.

“Peter! Wait! Stop! Please!” cried a voice, from underneath the demolished helmet, and it was totally different from the Goblin’s usual wicked voice. Peter, hearing how familiar the voice sounded to him, stopped his fighting and watched the Green Goblin as he took off his helmet to reveal his true identity: Norman Osborn! At that point, I had just about seen everything!

“Osborn?!” I exclaimed, from below on the spot that I was still standing in. “Why have you been masquerading as the Green Goblin?”

“I only wanted to prove to AeroQuest that the experiment could work!” He said. “It was the only way to avoid losing my job, my life, and everything that’s so dear to me, including my son, Harry!”

“What experiment?” I asked.

“An experiment of an enhanced chemical that increases human strength and intelligence; but something went horribly wrong, and I gained some new malevolent personality!” shouted Norman, seemingly frightened over the whole thing. “You have to understand…it was the Goblin that killed those board directors…it wasn’t me!” He then gazed over at Parker. “But…Thank God for you, Peter!”

“You tried to kill Aunt May.” Peter said. “You tried to kill Mary Jane.” I realized that they were the “family” and “love” that the Goblin mentioned, when he spoke to me over the phone; Lori had to be one of the “supporters” that he was referring to.

“But not you. You saved me.” said Norman, calmly, as he stood up straight and acted sincere towards Peter. “Peter, please…I never meant to harm you or your Aunt May. I’ve shown nothing but kindness for you. Please…I’ve been like a father to you…be a son to me now.” Peter thought about what Norman had just said and made a careful decision.

“I have a father…his name was Ben Parker.” Peter stated. “And he taught one of the most vital lessons of life: ‘With great power comes great responsibility’.” After he said that, a very wicked look appeared on the face of Norman Osborn, signifying that he had gone into “Goblin Mode.”

“Godspeed, Spider-Man!” He said, and that’s when I heard that familiar rocketing noise once again and turned to see the Goblin’s glider coming towards Peter, with its sharp blades protruding again.

“Peter…” And before I could’ve said “Look out,” he flipped backwards across the air, barely avoiding the glider; he landed on a large mound of bricks nearby, while the glider was coming towards Norman instead. A very shocked expression was registered on Osborn’s face, as the glider tackled him and impaled the sharp blades right through his body and the brick wall behind him, pinning him against it. Peter and I watched in horror, as Norman Osborn spent his last seconds of life in pain and agony.

“Peter, don’t tell Harry.” said Norman, and those were the last words to come out of his mouth, just before he died right in front of us. Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin were no more.

Epilogue​

A few weeks after the final battle that occurred between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin on both the Queensboro Bridge and Roosevelt Island, I attended the funeral of Norman Osborn, because I felt that his respects deserved to be paid. Though his Green Goblin persona made him do a lot of horrible things, he never really had any control over it, which pretty much made him innocent to the whole thing.

Unfortunately, Osborn’s death made it on the front page of the Daily Bugle and told readers that Spider-Man was responsible for it, hurting his reputation even more. That bold move was what forced me to tell J. Jonah Jameson that I was quitting the Daily Bugle; I guess that meant two Thomases weren’t working in journalism ever again.

The day before I had attended Norman Osborn’s funeral, I visited my sister (who, thanks to the doctors, was recovering from her injuries) at the Manhattan Clinic and told her all about my resigning from the Bugle. That really surprised her, knowing how much I loved being involved in journalism, but I simply told her that I could not go on writing lies about great men like Spider-Man. Lori was even more surprised when I told her that we were moving out of the Happiness Hotel and New York altogether, because we were going to start a new life elsewhere once she was released from the clinic. She happily agreed with my idea but was afraid what Kermit and the others would think of it; I assured her that they would understand.

I was joined at Norman’s funeral by Kermit, Gonzo, and Fozzie, and I told them all about my plans to move out of New York. Like Lori, they were surprised by the concept at first, but when I told them that Lori and I would write back to them whenever we could, they felt a little better about it all.

“This has nothing to do with Mr. Osborn’s death, does it?” Kermit asked.

“In a way, it does.” I replied, and he, Fozzie, and Gonzo all looked down sadly. “But don’t worry, you guys, you’ll still have Peter, Mary Jane, Aunt May, and Harry to hang around with, while we’re gone.”

“Yeah, but…how will we know it’ll be the same?” Fozzie inquired.

“Listen, I know for a fact that you guys had a far more interesting life before Lori and I came to town.” I stated. “I’ve got a feeling that once we’re out of Manhattan, things will be a lot more marvelous for you Muppets.” Hearing me say that brought a whole lot of confidence in Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo about my departure; I smiled at them, just as Harry Osborn approached me.

“Mr. Thomas?” He said, and I turned to face him, seeing the great deal of depression that he was going through after losing his father. “I just want you to know that I always believed everything that I read in the Bugle about Spider-Man. He is a criminal…and he deserves to pay for what he did to my father.” He said those things with such hatred and vengeance that I wanted to tell him there and then that he was only wasting his time; not just because Spidey was more powerful than he’ll ever be, but because the man he wanted to kill was actually his greatest and only friend in the world.

“I’m glad you feel that way, Harry.” I lied. “But the truth is that I’m no longer part of their staff…I quit just yesterday.” He didn’t let that change the way he felt; instead, he just shook my hand and smiled.

“I wish you the best of luck then.” said Harry, and he looked over at Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo. “And I’ll be reading more about that murderer in future issues.”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” uttered Kermit, and we watched the vengeful Harry as he walked over to the black Rolls Royce that he arrived in and left the cemetery. My gaze switched from the departing Rolls Royce to Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, who were standing nearby Peter’s uncle’s grave and sharing a passionate kiss. After saying something to her that seemed to have hurt her emotionally, he began heading out of the cemetery on foot; as he was walking away, Mary Jane had gone from being hurt to bewildered, placing her fingers on her lips and looking back at Peter questioningly.

Even after I have left my former life in New York behind me, I always look back on the last story that I had done for the Daily Bugle, involving a hero that has done many great things for many people. Whenever there is someone in need of assistance or rescuing, he’ll be there to see that it gets done, because someone once told him that with great power comes great responsibility. Who is he? He’s Spider-Man!

THE END​

I hope everyone enjoyed my first story here on Muppet Central. There'll be plenty more that I'll share in the future.

 

[Beauregard]

Wow! This ws really great! If I didn't know beter, I'd think this was the way it really happened! What is next? Do we get the second Spider Man episode? *dances*

 

[muppetwriter]

Wow! This ws really great! If I didn't know beter, I'd think this was the way it really happened! What is next? Do we get the second Spider Man episode? *dances*

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

And there's definitely going to be a second Spider-Man episode (minus the Sean and Lori Thomas characters). There's also going to be other Muppet stories that I'm going to do (most are crossovers, like a Muppet Treasure Island/Pirates of the Caribbean one).

I can't get started on them right now, because I'm taking a break. But as soon as I get on to them, I'll be sure to let everybody check them all out.