Marvel: Quest System

After Peters's unfortunate loss against Flash, we started training like never before. For the next 6 months, we followed a strict training schedule.

Every day, we would go out at 5 in the morning, and jog until Peter and Ned had to go to school.

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I fucking knew this was a horrible idea. I stand in the rain, alone, shivering my bones off. I look down at my wristwatch. 5:03. These guys better not skip on me. I swear if that determination was a one-time thing... 

I stand there chattering my teeth in the cold for a few more minutes.

Peter stumbles out of his house, dressed in a casual hoodie and sweatpants, like he does this often. His face though, tells a different story.

Peter's hair is a complete mess, poking out in ways that I didn't even think possible, his eyes have dark circles reaching down to his cheekbones, and it's rapidly blinking as if he's trying to get used to the light. He looks like he's regretting every decision he's made that led him to this place, this moment.

I would have expected Peter to be a morning person, but apparently not. 

"Yo" I hold my hand forward, attempting to dap him up, but he looks down at it, and grunts.

"Bro, did you even sleep?" I ask him, as this contrasted so much with the usual Peter I knew.

"Sleep? What's that? What's a 'sleep'?" Peter responds groggily. (a/n insert xxxTentacion here)

I look at him in awe. "What were you doing all night???? Bro, I'm about to die, and I slept at 11!"

"Unlike you, I'm still a student. I can't just drop out with the money I made from stocks like your unemployed ass... I had to stay up all night doing assignments."

Oh right, I forgot this body should still be in high school. I don't care though. What's the point of a piece of paper and a handshake if aliens are gonna invade in a year?

Just then, we heard heavy footsteps approaching through the light drizzle of the morning. It was ned. He seemed to be sleepwalking, or sleepwaddling, still wrapped up in his blankets, and it looked like he was still in his Star Wars pyjamas. I facepalm. At least he's wearing some kind of shoes judging the footsteps.

Pete looks at him exasperatedly. "You plan to run in that?"

The only response he gets is a glare through the many layers of blankets. 

"you are literally the one who wanted to train with us after seeing Pete's fight dude." I snark at him.

He sends another glare at me before finally opening his mouth. "I didn't know training involved waking up at the usual time that I go to sleep." he groaned out. 

"Well, you're already here, so might as well get on with it. Also, just telling you, you won't like the next part. Here, Pete, Ned, take these." I hand them 8 10-pound sandbags in total, 4 for each of them. 

I lift my sleeves and pantlegs showing them how to wear them. "I bought these last night after making the training schedule. Right now, we are using 10 pounds, but I have up to 30. now, put these on, and let's get running. Our goal is to hit 5 miles in the next hour and a half."

They look at me as if I've lost my mind. Ned just stares at me, while Peter at least tries to put the sandbags on.

"Look, most high schoolers can run a mile in 7-8 minutes. That means they can run 5 miles in like 45 minutes. But since were training with extra weight, were doing 1 hour and 30 minutes. This shouldn't be that difficult. Now move! Let's get going! We gotta finish before you guys have to go to school!"

After another 5 minutes of pestering and convincing Ned, we finally started running. I started to regret it almost immediately. Running 4 10-pound sandbags is the equivalent of running while carrying a plate. (a/n the workout kind of plate that you stick into a benchpress btw. big, fat, 45lbs.)

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10 minutes into the run...

The sound of our soaked sneakers slapping against the pavement echoed through the empty streets. Rain drizzled down in sheets, soaking through my hoodie, my sweatpants, my soul. My legs felt like they were about to fall off, being weighed down by cinder blocks. Oh wait, they were. Forty pounds of sandbags strapped to my limbs, each step making me regret every life decision that led me to this moment.

It doesn't look like the other guys are doing better...

I look back. were all running in a single file line, with Peter a few meters behind me, and ned tailing behind us by like 100 meters. 

Behind me, I could hear Pete's ragged breaths and him muttering something in between them. I steady my breathing to listen more clearly. 

"I'm gonna kill him *huff* I'm gonna kill him *wheeze* I'm gonna kill him" He mutters over and over.

I pale. Maybe forcing them to go on morning torture sessions wasn't the best way to blossom our friendship. 

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30 minutes into the run

In front of us, we could see a figure slowly shambling.

It was ned. we lapped him.

as we passed him, he wheezed "I think it's the end of the road for me... Tell my parents that I love them." before collapsing into the grass.

"Dude! it's only been 30 minutes! you still have to go for 1 hour!" I try to get him back up on his feet.

Ned gets up, shambles a few more meters, and collapses again.

"Fine. take like a 5-minute break and get back to it."

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1 hour into the run

"A-Alex I don't know if I can keep doing this... I think I see the light..." Peter huffed.

"I see it too. I think we're dying. That's just the sun rising dumbass!" I snap back. 

Peter looks as if he's one foot into the grave. His body looks like it should have stopped working 1 mile ago, but is holding on with pure determination.

We just finished our 3rd lap, and we can see Ned sprawled up the ground. At least he finished the lap he was on.

Peter stumbled over next to Ned, and collapsed as well. 

I guess it's only me now.

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End of the run

were all sprawled out on the ground. I made it to 4.5 miles, but I couldn't finish, taking my restraints off and walked the rest of the way. 

people might call me a loser for giving up, but then I would tell them to try for themselves. I was at the end of the rope, one step away from my lungs exploding, not figuratively.

Ned collapsed at 2 miles, Pete at 3, and me at 4 and a half. I was so close to the goal. I fell right on the grass of the park we were circling, face first, next to peter and ned. Not even caring if I eat a little dirt. That was the least of my concerns. My biggest concern was to make sure that my lungs still worked after that hell of a workout.

"Hey, Alex?" Peter huffed out. "I think we need to tone down the intensity a little."

"No. If we keep doing this, we'll improve. By next week, you'll be able to run an extra mile. By the week after that, you'll be able to finish the 5 miles. And by the next, your muscles will have more endurance than Flash."

Peter was about to complain but shut his mouth when I mentioned Flash.

Then it was Ned's turn to complain.

"Yo Alex, let me slack a little here. Pleaseeeee dude," he whined, dragging out the please. "Like, I'm not tryna be a superhero like you or Peter! Well, I am... But I'm not trying to fight in the front lines! I'm trying to be like the man in the chair you know? I don't think I need all this gruelling training."

"Oh, good idea! Then you'll keep on doing the same training, but you'll also be learning hacking!" I said excitedly, remembering how useful Jarvis was to Tony.

Ned only looked at me with pleading, half-dead eyes, before slowly crawling away. 

"Where you going?" asked Peter, now with slightly more life, after lying on the grass for 30 minutes.

"I'm going to go buy a wheelchair for school." Replied ned, still crawling away.

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And every day for the last 6 months, we had to go through this shit. I was able to raise my weight all the way up to 30 pounds, while Pete could get 20, but always was faster than me usually making 5 miles in 50 minutes, being a more agility-based character. Ned, however, Had a lot more trouble than us, because his base weight was probably double mine. He was still able to finish the 5 miles with 20 pounds though. Even if it took 2 hours.

After a few days of doing this, I actually got a new quest! 

[Quest Alert: On Your Left!]

[Specialize your training!]

[Reward: Strength/Durability/Agility +1]

Oh haha, I get the name reference! (a/n those who know :skull)

Anyways, it said specialize your training, but I wasn't so sure what that meant. Peter also got the same quest, but not Ned. I think it's because Peter's in my party, but not Ned.

[ Party {Peter Parker} Quest Alert: On Your Left!]

[Specialize your training!]

[Reward: Strength/Durability/Agility +1]

Me and Peter both spent hours wondering what it meant by "Specialize" but we only got it once we finished the quest at the end of the 6 month training period.

[Ding!]

[Quest Complete: On your left!]

[You maxed out the weights, specializing in strength.]

[Reward Received: Strength +1]

[Ding!]

[Party {Peter Parker} Quest Complete: On your left!]

[You maxed out your speed, specializing in agility.]

[Reward Received: Agility +1]

"Nice!!!"x2

Me and Pete high-five. After half a year of training together, Me, Peter, and Ned have become best best friends. Especially me and Peter were really close.

This is because after what we decided to call "5 AM HELL", our next training program was the boxing gym. After the guys went to school, we would meet up at the boxing gym from last time. We all went together, but in the end, it was usually me and Peter boxing and working out while Ned was sitting in the corner practicing hacking.

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(a/n the first part got too long so imma split it into two sections. ill finish the training arc and the results next chap. can yall guess what the next arc is?)