#wormfic

“Remind me why we’re here again, Lisa?”

Lisa turned to Brian as he sat down next to her, handing her a bucket of popcorn. They’d managed to get some decent seats, not quite front row but high up enough on the bleachers to get a good view of the racecourse.

“Figured we could take a break today. Not like we could get much training done today. Hellhound’s still resting her sprained leg, and Prince is, well…”

“Prince.” Brian sighed. The girl had potential, if she ever exerted herself as much in training as she did at the arcade.

“Besides,” Lisa continued, “It’s not every day you see a big name like Lung compete in a small exhibition race like this.”

The Brockton Bay Open was an anyone-welcome fundraiser race, with all ticket sales directly going toward restoring the city’s docks. Most of the attendees were lesser known racers, some of which hadn’t even debuted yet.

And then there was Lung, the favorite to win by far. 3 time G1 winner, all within the East Coast. People wondered why she hadn’t gone international yet, and they definitely wondered what she was doing at a race as small as this one.

Here because of her popularity; Fundraising Committee giving a cut of ticket sales to her trainer. Not really planning to try in this race.

Made sense, if a little scummy when they’d been advertising this as 100% for charity. It probably brought in more money than it would have otherwise. She could tell from the shirts and the signs that many of the people in the crowd were fans of Lung.

“It gives us an opportunity to scope out the competition. We’ll have to face her eventually if we plan to go into graded races.”

She looked down towards the starting gates, where the racers were lined up. 9 racers, and Lung towered over all of them. She wasn’t in her usual racewear, instead wearing a generic outfit with her gate number in bold, #7, the sleeves covering most of her tattoos. She leaned against the gate, the other racers averting their gaze as if making eye contact would kill them. All except one of them, a thin girl with curly black hair and yellow protective glasses. She stood by the fence, staring in Lung’s direction until they were given the signal to step into their respective gates.

Assessing her opponent. Curious. Lisa took a mental note of the girl. #4.

“Lisa, I admire your ambition, but let’s be realistic. Our team isn’t gonna do well in nationals as they are now, not when we barely get wins locally. And honestly? I’m fine with that. The money we’re getting is enough, at least enough to get me custody of Aisha.”

Lisa was glad Brian was satisfied, but she wasn’t. She knew the team had it in them, personal difficulties aside. They just needed the right motivation. If only…

Her train of thought was interrupted as the horn blew and the race began. Most of the racers flew out the gate as soon as they opened, though #1 and #2 started late. #3 had taken the early lead, with #5 and 6 close behind. Lung hung towards the back, at a leisurely pace but still easily keeping up.

Late Surger strategy; Planning to burst through towards the last corner. Could easily take front without using much stamina.

Annoyed, she shut off her power. Wasn’t giving anything she didn’t know already. It was Lung’s normal strategy, waiting for those in front to tire themselves out before bursting forward. And no one here was enough of a threat to make her take this seriously.

As they rounded the final corner, a cloud of dirt was kicked into the air. Emerging from it, Lung surged forward, steam following her like a pair of wings. Her signature move, and it left everyone else quite literally eating her dust.

“Amazing! Lung bursts forward, with #4 close behind!”

Wait, what?

As Lung rounded the corner, Lisa saw her. #4, following in her shadow, somehow keeping pace.

She turned her power back on. Moving within the slipstream created by Lung’s movement and larger build. Has been following closely behind the entire race, waiting to start her last spurt at the same time.

Lisa watched as #4, moved to Lung’s side before bursting forward, gradually gaining the lead. Lung was far from being at her top speed, but it was still impressive that anyone could keep up at this stage.

Compensating for inferior leg strength with longer stride.

Just as #4 was making some distance, Lung roared, speeding up. Taking this seriously. She took the lead right as they both crossed the finish line.

The crowd cheered. Lisa overheard some disappointed murmurs around her, but most saw this outcome coming.

What they didn’t see was Lung, rather than taking in the victory or even just having the bored expression she had earlier, she was glaring daggers at the one who almost stole the victory right out from under her. Now that was a look that could kill.

The second place winner, #4, didn’t notice. She looked exhausted, breathing heavily. An older, balding man ran up to her, handing her a towel and some water. She frowned, seeming disappointed. The older man, her trainer most likely, patted her on the back.

Congratulating her on the effort. Impressive for her first race.

Lisa blinked. She checked her power again.

#4 has not debuted.

She looked at the handout the stadium had given them earlier, looking at the names and profiles of the racers. Not only was #4 one of the 3 participants who had yet to debut, but she had also chosen to keep her name anonymous.

“Brian, follow me.” Lisa said, standing up and making her way to the nearest exit. Brian, while a bit confused, followed.

…

Thank the goddesses there wasn’t a winning concert, the girl thought, as she and her father exited through the stadium’s back door. She could dodge the reporters, but she would’ve had to participate in a winning concert since she was in the top 3.

So close, but so far. She could never have beaten Lung if she was actually trying, but here she’d been hoping to exploit her overconfidence. Goes to show that regardless of attitude, she was a pro.

“You did the best anyone could have asked for, kiddo.” Danny said. “You didn’t win, but you showed the organizers that we’re willing to put up a fight.”

They’d made a wager with the fundraising committee, that if she could beat Lung they’d give all the money to the docks as promised. They’d lost, so the union couldn't make a fuss about the committee’s under the table deal.

It may not have been the smartest idea, but with the way things had gone lately for the union, it seemed like the only way to get a win out of the situation. So much for that.

She just hoped no one recognized her. The last thing she needed was to go to school tomorrow and find out someone had told Shadow Stalker-

“Excuse me!”

She flinched, turning towards the voice, expecting a reporter. Instead, she saw a human girl her age with dirty blonde hair, alongside a boy with dark skin. They ran up to her, though Danny stepped in between her and them.

“Sorry, she’s not taking any-“

“Not a reporter, don’t worry. That was some spectacular running. Your first race?” The blonde girl said.

“How did you-“

“Thought so. Listen, Mr…?”

“Hebert.” Danny replied.

“Mr Hebert, my name’s Lisa, and this is Brian. We’re licensed trainers.” She flashed the small trainer badge on her coat. “We run the local team, Undersiders, you might’ve heard of us?”

“Not at all.” Danny replied.

Lisa winced at that, stumbling back in an exaggerated manner as if she’d been shot. “Ouch. That’s a blow to the ego. But anyway, I’d like to make an offer. Are you her current trainer?”

“Not exactly, I don’t have a license. She’s my daughter, and it might be better to make the offer to her directly.”

Lisa turned towards the girl. “I think you have what it takes to go pro. You almost beat Lung today, and with some proper training you could take her on, hell, maybe even take the nationals on.”

“Lisa-“ Brian tried to interject, but Lisa continued. “We might not have as much as the big teams like the URT or New Wave, but we have the resources to provide for your training as well as your family-“

“No thanks.” The girl answered coldly. “I’m not looking to be scouted. Not right now.” She turned to walk away, Danny following.

“Well, if you change your mind, the offer stands!” Lisa called out, the girl still ignoring her.

“Can I at least get your name?”

At home, she was called Taylor. Her mom had wanted her to have a separate name, to not pressure her into pursuing racing.

But the name etched into her heart, the same as every horsegirl…

Taylor turned and answered her.

“June Bug.”

—-

First snippet I felt comfortable sharing and of course it’s a somewhat silly one 😭. Not sure I captured the characters here but then it is tricky to translate them into something like this. Idk if I’ll ever write more ParaUma beyond this, so some random worldbuilding stuff:

Pretty much a fusion of the settings where Scion appears in the Umamusume Earth. Powers are still around, mainly Thinkers, though very rare among the already small Uma population. Some debate on if Umas that triggered should be allowed to race

Characters that get Umafied are mostly based on their original role and also if it would be funny. Generally they don’t keep their powers, they just get translated into their ults. Unless they’re funny.

For example, Uma Crawler has her power and the adaptations are turning her into a regular horse.

The Endbringers are still around, but they are also Umas (“You needed worthy opponents” applies to Horsegirl Eidolon too). Keep some of their monstrous features but are relatively human sized. Taking a page from Inazuma Eleven S2, they appear randomly across the globe and challenge the local Umas to a race. If the Endbringer wins, they destroy the city.

idk if Annette was an Uma, leaning towards yes, but retired from racing fairly early into her career, more of a support role in ig Lustrum’s team? (think Belno Light from CG)