[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
After healing himself off the dull ache in his body, Quinn decided to leave the vault for the day. He felt saturated from the day's work; between dodging the Kraken to get inside, the vault, and swirling inside the maelstrom, Quinn felt that he had his fill of adventure and action for today.
Quinn walked to the tunnel and peered down into the water, and saw the lake end opening. He made a face between annoyance and fatigue and sighed, "I don't want to fight the Kraken. Not right now."
He looked back around at the stone cave and wondered, "Should I take a short nap in here before I go back?"
"Nah, let's just get this over with. The Kraken will just throw me out, which is what I want now," grumbled Quinn. He squatted down, and slipped down into the tunnel, head first.
While swimming inside the tunnel, Quinn tried to feel the magic behind the tunnel, but it escaped his natural senses. He had no idea how the switch from up and down was done.
'I would need to actively try to cast magic to see what is behind the cover,' thought Quinn as he came 'up' from the tunnel.
The first thing that he saw when he exited the tunnel were big solid yellow eyes staring down at him intently.
'Woah!' exclaimed Quinn, and even though no sound came out, Quinn gulped in a fresh batch of lake water.
The Kraken's tentacles immediately surrounded him. Unlike their previous encounters, the tentacles didn't coil around Quinn, but instead, one of the tentacles came near Quinn and poked him with its tip. The tentacle's tip was so large that it pushed against almost half of his entire body, pushing him to the ground.
Quinn, who fell to the lake bed, looked up at the Kraken, who kept staring at him with big yellow eyes. Then, at that moment, he finally realized how enormous the Kraken really was. In the past, the biggest thing Quinn had seen was a mountain troll, but the Kraken was on another level.
'What? What? What does it want?' thought Quinn as he stared back at the Kraken. 'Does it want to eat me? I'm tired, but bring it on!'
He revved up his magic and readied for another bout. Quinn hoped for the Kraken to give him a ride to the shore. But if it wanted to fight, Quinn was going to give it one.
It turned out that Kraken didn't want to fight because it withdrew its enormous body and assumed a comfortable position. One tentacle wrapped around the tunnel entrance, forming a coiled wall around the tunnel entrance, but didn't block it from above.
'Huh? What?' wondered Quinn bewilderedly. He had no idea why the Kraken backed off after some staring and a poke.
Quinn didn't know that the reason the Kraken had stared him down was because it was checking if Quinn was alright. It wanted to check if Quinn happened to be fine after going inside the dangerous place. After it confirmed that Quinn was uninjured, it backed off and went back to his chill lake life.
The Kraken didn't block the entrance as a show of his intentions; it was going to continue to guard the dangerous place in case another tiny human came looking, but if Quinn wanted to go in, he could go in because as far as the Kraken was concerned, Quinn had made it back alive after going in, so he probably would be fine if Quinn went in again.
Plus, the Kraken was prideful and considered Quinn to be capable. Quinn had successfully made the Kraken move, and that in the Kraken's eyes was a sign of strength. As far as the Kraken was concerned, Quinn was strong and could handle himself.
Quinn stared at the Kraken for a while before swimming away, still not knowing the reason behind the Kraken's actions.
- (Scene Break) -
"Why are you here again?" asked Quinn, stretching his body for his morning run and workout.
Quinn looked to Eddie as both stood at the starting point of Quinn's daily run route. Yesterday after dinner, Eddie had informed Quinn that he would like to join him for his morning exercises. Quinn, who had been lost in thought, thinking about the third vault, had heard Eddie's words and had absentmindedly nodded and hadn't asked for the reason.
"About that... The Quidditch tryouts are in two months, and I was thinking about joining the team," spoke Eddie as he awkwardly tried to copy Quinn's stretching movements. "I want to pass the tryouts so that I can make the bench this year and then play on the field next year."
Eddie knew that Quinn went for a run every morning and decided to follow him to get fit for the coming tryouts so that he could have an extra edge.
"I see. Quidditch, huh. I know you followed the sport but never knew that you wanted to play for the team," asked Quinn. He was happy that Eddie decided to do exercise to get fit.
"I wasn't planning on joining the team before, but I decided to give it a try this year. It would be fun to play Quidditch for the house. Everybody would be looking while I play," replied Eddie, a bright smile on his face.
"... So what you mean to say is that you want to play so that you can get popular and get a girlfriend," said Quinn, reading between the lines and finding out the real reason behind his friend's sudden interest in playing Quidditch.
Eddie unabashedly put a hand over Quinn's shoulder and gave him a lopsided grin, "You know me so well. No wonder we are so close."
Quinn shook his head with a small smile before asking, "But are you sure you want to join the team? We have the O.W.L.s next year, you know? Will you be able to balance Quidditch and studies?"
"I'll be fine. If I see my grades slipping, I'll have you tutor me. With you helping me out, I'll probably do better than I do now," responded Eddie and gave Quinn a thumbs up as if saying thank you in advance.
"I'll help you out if you need it, but I'm going to only help you out with the practical side. I'm not good at explaining the theory," said Quinn, agreeing to help his friend.
Eddie gave Quinn a silent stare before speaking, "... So what you are implying is that you get frustrated when we don't understand things after you explain them once. In times like those, you probably think of us as monkeys, don't you?"
This time Quinn put his hand on Eddie's shoulder, beamed, and unabashedly spoke, "You're right! We're close! Come on, give me a hug."
But Eddie pushed Quinn away with a 'f**k you, stay away' face.
"Alright, let's get started," said Quinn with a clap. "I usually run before doing push-ups, squats, and crunches. I finish by skipping rope."
He pointed at Eddie and advised, "You should run a kilometer today and increase the length as you progress. Aim for a comfortable three kilometers before the tryouts. I would suggest that you focus more on your upper body because there are a lot of upper body movements while being on a broom. So I'd advise sit-ups, pushups, and pullups. Later on, we can add planks and leg raises."
"Also, what position are you planning to play?" asked Quinn after he was done suggesting an exercise plan.
"... Chaser," replied Eddie.
"Great, now, I would suggest that you run at your pace. Don't try a full-on sprint. If you sprint, you'll build up fatigue quicker, and that won't do you any good," warned Quinn. Afterward, he told Eddie how much he needed to run to complete a kilometer. He then slapped Eddie on his back and ran away.
Quinn still ran a five-kilometer route every day. He hadn't tried to increase the distance because he did more things now, so he just tried to reduce his time and had been slowly getting faster with time.
He usually ran a route that would be exactly five kilometers when he returned to the starting line. But today, Quinn decided to run a route that would have him pass nearby where Eddie was running so that Quinn could see how he was doing.
When Quinn came around the first time, he saw Eddie standing with his hands on his knees, so he raised his voice and called out to Eddie, "Eddie! Don't stop. If you can't run, walk! Just don't stop!"
Eddie looked up and saw Quinn waving at him as he ran a distance away from him. He groaned and started running because he was embarrassed that Quinn had seen him stop.
When Quinn returned from completing his run, he saw Eddie sitting on the ground, pulling away at the grass.
"Are you done?" asked Quinn.
He hadn't chosen to run Eddie's route five times because he was sure that Eddie would try to keep up with him despite his warning. And as much as fun it would've been to say 'on your left,' as he passed him by, Quinn wanted Eddie to relax and have a positive first day: he would return the next day and keep up till the tryouts and after.
Eddie looked up and nodded as he stood up, "Yeah, what's next?"
"You will start with pushups," instructed Quinn before asking, "Can you do a couple of pushups, or are you a complete beginner?"
"I can do five," replied Eddie, looking offended that Quinn would even think that he was a complete beginner who couldn't do one pushup.
"Don't give me that face. I was just asking a question," grinned Quinn before continuing. "Do three sets of five. Keep your back straight and properly go down. I don't want to see sloppy push-ups."
Eddie nodded and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I'll be doing burpees. They are basically the combination of a squat, kick back feet to get into a pushup stance(high-plank positions), a pushup, return to a squatting position, stand, and end with a jump."
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Quinn showed Eddie how to execute a burpee before both of them started to do their stuff. Eddie did his three sets of five, while Quinn did his three sets of twelve.
At first, Quinn hated burpees because they were tough, but as time went on, they got easier to execute and complete, but that wasn't why he stopped hating them. The results of the burpees made him like doing burpees.
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After he was half a month in, doing burpees every day, Quinn noticed that his running had improved. He started running faster without consciously ramping up my speed. His lungs felt clear, and he found him coasting through the miles. A month after adding burpees into his routine, Quinn felt that his strides felt stronger and felt that his breathing was more composed than at the start of the month. To Quinn, who ran every day, seeing noticeable improvement was enough for him to keep doing burpees.
Quinn was done with two sets of twelve when Eddie called to him, "Hey, I'm done. What do I've to do next?"
Quinn laid down on the ground, completely flat on his back with his legs bent at knees with feet planted firmly on the ground, about shoulder-width apart.
"I want you to raise your head and shoulders from the floor and feel your abdominal muscles contract. You don't have to fully sit up; just lift enough till you feel your abdominal muscles contract," instructed Quinn as he showed Eddie how to do a crunch. "Try to avoid pulling your head forward, as it may strain your neck. Lower your head and shoulders back towards your starting position. Remember to exhale as you raise your head and shoulders, then inhale as you lower them."
Getting up from the ground, Quinn explained, "That is called a crunch. It will target your abs, and if you maybe work really hard and eat right, run a lot, you might show some abs later."
"Do you have abs?" asked Eddie, looking down at Quinn's stomach area.
Quinn raised his shirt and showed Eddie his stomach. He had a four-pack, but they were faint and not toned enough to see sharp squares and lacked definition. But Quinn did have visible oblique abs on his side and a faint v-cut near on his lower waist from practicing Muay Thai every day in the evening.
"Holy shit! When did you get those?!" exclaimed Eddie as he stared at Quinn's abs before looking up and suggesting. "How about we find a way for you to walk around shirtless. That way, you can showcase the goods, and I can take advantage of the pact when you get a girlfriend."
Quinn stared at his friend and thought about how much Eddie had been thinking about getting a girlfriend. He could see gears turning inside Eddie's head, probably thinking about how to use him to get a girlfriend.
"What if I don't get a girlfriend," asked Quinn, a bit interested in the answer that Eddie would give him.
"Even if you don't get a girlfriend, there is an excellent, near hundred percent chance that a lot of girls would flirt with you," said Eddie as he crossed his hands and smiled. "Like a moth to a flame, they will gather around you, and I will be standing there with my net of charisma to trap them under my spell."
Quinn blinked a couple of times before speaking, "Cool, cool, cool, but I'd really suggest you change the terminology... no, how about we don't talk about this ever again. Yeah, that would be good for both of us."
"Huh? Sure, whatever, let me think more about this plan," said Eddie distractedly, thinking about how to exploit Quinn for his future dating life.
Ever since Quinn had known Eddie, his friend took action when he got motivated to accomplish something.
....
Last year, Eddie had gotten the news that his family cat, which had been with his family before Eddie was born, had died because of old age. The cat had been very close to Eddie, and he hadn't taken the news well; Eddie had gone into a mourning state for a while after he had gotten the news.
During that time, there had been an older Ravenclaw student who was a dickhead and major a-hole. When he found out that Eddie's cat had died, he decided to grace Eddie with his awful presence.
Every time the bully had a chance, he would sit near Eddie and loudly talk about how funny it was that Eddie's cat had died.
The older bully would regularly corner Eddie when he was alone and urged him to cry.
"Are you going to cry? Are you going to cry about it? Like a big baby? Big baby cry over your stupid cat? Everyone's going to see you cry. You're about to cry, aren't you..." And more similar things.
At that time, Quinn, who was under the influence of the sin curse, had wanted to rip the bully apart so much that it would haunt him for a lifetime.
Eddie had stopped Quinn from brutalizing the dipshit and had shaken his head with a resolute face while clutching Quinn's arm. Eddie's refusal had been firm enough for then Quinn to back off.
But after a month, Eddie had approached Quinn and had asked for his help to teach the older Ravenclaw shitstain a lesson.
"I was grieving for my cat. Now I'm done, and I'm feeling angry. Plus, I didn't want you to do something without me," was what Eddie had replied when Quinn had asked about the sudden change in heart.
The piece-of-shit had tried to make Eddie cry, so Eddie decided to turn it the other way.
"I've found this potion recipe that will make a person cry," has spoken Eddie as he dropped a heavy tome in front of Quinn. "I can't brew this, but I think you can, so brew this for me. That guy wants to see me crying, but I will be the one who's going to see him crying."
Quinn still recalled how he had given a smirk that had promised humiliation. He had spent many hours on that project; he had improved the recipe to make it more potent and last longer. After Quinn finished, the recipe he had devised would induce someone to cry like a baby, snot with a constantly runny nose, and make them sweat heavily.
Eddie had taken the new potion and had slipped it to the target, sat back, and saw the show unfold. The shithead took the potion and it took maybe an hour before the crying started.
Eddie had slipped in the potion during breakfast, so the crying started during a class. McGonagall had to send the crying boy with a runny nose so bad that his handkerchief and sleeves were dripping wet to the hospital wing to get him fixed.
Madam Pomfrey had tried to give the snot baby a counter potion that she had concocted. But Quinn's potion was a modified recipe that had taken the counter potion for the original recipe into account. The counter potion failed, and the 'bully' was told to stay in the hospital wing until she could brew a flushing potion that would flush out every potion inside the body.
When Eddie got the news that the potion had worked, he went with Quinn to the hospital wing. Quinn made sure that Madam Pomfrey was away and gave Eddie the nod. Eddie had taken one of his potion gloves with him, so when they reached the hospital wing, Eddie was wearing the glove. He then walked to the boy who had made the grieving process so much harder.
"Hey, dipshit. You wanted to see me crying, satisfied now?" said Eddie as he stood by the bedside.
The still crying Ravenclaw's eyes widened when he realized that Eddie was the one who had caused what he was going through right now.
"You-!"
He tried to speak up, but Eddie tightly clutched his face with his gloved hand, cutting him off.
"Everybody saw you, bawling like a baby, and I'm going to spread that you're a 'crybaby' and make sure it sticks, so even when you graduate from Hogwarts, people will still remember your new nickname," threatened Eddie with a scathing tone. "If you don't want things to get worse, stay away from me, don't talk to me. Don't even look at me. If I'm walking towards you, turn the other way round. I don't want to see your ugly mug ever again."
Eddie jerked his hand from his face and wiped it off on the stunned bully's hair before adding.
"It seems Madam Pomfrey doesn't have the counter potion. It takes three days to brew a flushing potion, so get ready to face the snot fest for three days because you aren't going anywhere else," he smirked and added one last bit. "When someone drinks a flushing potion, the person goes through hours of vomiting and violent diarrhea. I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience. Good luck."
Eddie turned back and walked out of the hospital wing without turning around.
Quinn, who was still standing inside the hospital wing, waited until Eddie was out to take a picture of the boy in the bed from a borrowed camera the second the subject looked his way.
After clicking the photo, Quinn spoke with gestures, 'Talk, and this goes out to everyone.'
He gave a wide smile with a wave before exiting the hospital wing.
...
Eddie, who was coming back to the real world after thinking about exploiting Quinn to get himself a girlfriend, noticed a smile on Quinn's face.
"Why are you smiling?"
Quinn looked at Eddie with the smile still on his face and replied, "I was remembering the crybaby incident. That day at the hospital wing was fun~."
Eddie's eyes shined in remembrance. He nodded with a small smile, "Yeah, that was a fun day. I was so cool that day."
Quinn nodded before jutting his chin towards the ground and said, "Enough chit-chat. Drop and give me three sets of ten. I'm worried about you. I'll make you work hard and sweat away all that pent-up horny energy you have inside you."
"You don't have to say it like that!" complained Eddie, causing Quinn to laugh.
The two buddies continued to have fun first thing in the morning.
Quinn West - MC - Mad Scientist (School version)
Eddie Carmichael - Horny Adolescent - Don't make fun of my cat.
Kraken - Self-appointed guard - Tiny human will be fine.