Chapter 1: If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking
Chapter Text
“It couldn’t end any other way.” She settled back in her seat as she watched her trainee. There was never any doubt, really. Agnes Tachyon wouldn’t lose to anyone. Not now. Not with her condition stable and properly managed.
It’d taken monumental effort and a few medical ethics violations, plus maybe breaking her trust a little bit, but it’d been done. They’d done it. Or… she had. Her trainer’s efforts wouldn’t be remarked on. Which was fine. If it wasn’t from her own sweat and blood let the accolade rest on someone else. She was here and so she helped.
That was all there was to it.
The only question now was figuring out what Tachyon would do next. Her trainee was a wild one, for certain, and it was a question whether she’d remain in the Twinkle Series, leave to the Dream Series, or even retire entirely to publish her papers. Any would be viable options, and, as always, her trainer would be there to support her.
“Aaagh.” She rolled her shoulders as she stood. Support, unfortunately, included dealing with the media. “This is gonna suck.”
It was the one thing she may actually be a little genuinely annoyed at Tachyon for. Among their little group everyone knew what to call her, but to the media?
Being called ‘sir’ always fucking sucked.
At least it didn’t take too long. Being reticent and giving out the absolute least while still being an effective answer was a talent by this point. The vultures didn’t deserve anything anyway. The only even slightly acceptable one among them was Etsuko Otonashi, and she was usually drowned out by the mass of everyone else. Not that a stage interview was the best place to properly work with her.
If she’d gone into training instead of reporting she would have been amazing. But that wasn’t here nor there, so onward to a new session of scraping nails over the fucking chalkboard.
The least the newsies could’ve done is at least sound sexy. Unfortunately, that sort of sound was generally lost on down on their luck twenty to thirty year old men. What she wouldn’t give for at least one Q&A with a bunch of cute girls instead. Not that she could actually say that.
Anyway.
Into the belly of the beast.
…
“Wasn’t too bad this time.” She rolled her shoulders as she finally made it offstage. By this point everybody in the room knew what to expect when she came out instead of Tachyon, so things had gotten to a mostly stable equilibrium. She refused any question that wasn’t directly about Tachyon and tended toward being as direct as possible with anything she would actually answer. Simple, easy, and it kept the actual press time down to the most important stuff.
“I still don’t know why you bother with that, guinea pig.” Tachyon raised a hand, her sleeve flopping dramatically at the motion. Frankly speaking that particular fashion choice wasn’t something she’d ever gotten. If racing uniforms weren’t bespoke she could believe it was just a result of Tachyon’s usual shopping, but no. Tachyon had chosen to have excessively large sleeves. “We both know you aren’t a fan of feeding the endless hunger of the media.”
“I’m not fond of it when they call me sir, Tachyon.” She sighed. “This is about the closest I’m ever going to get to having my own press conference after winning a race, so I may as well take what I can.”
“Ah, yes. That.” Tachyon’s eyes lit up a little as she was, once again, made aware of that little fact. She hadn’t forgotten, she wouldn’t ever forget anything that important, but it was even odds if she remembered it before it’d been pointed out. “I still don’t understand why you aren’t just out with it.”
“I’ll come out with it after you’ve moved on or retired. Maybe I’d wait a bit if some other uma comes in that would be a good fit, but I don’t have too many of my best years left.” Unsaid was how they were at the tail end of what Tachyon, and most racers, would consider the best years of her life. Despite her being a little younger than her trainer. It was one of those curious little disconnects that meant trainer and trainee never had quite an even relationship. “They could strip my license for it.”
“Yes, the morality clause. I looked it up after you informed me.” Tachyon sighed as she flopped back into her chair. “Such an outdated thing, don’t you think? All there simply to deny you both of your interests.”
“Well, biology denied the big one.” She shrugged. “It isn’t too bad not being out when transitioning wouldn’t really do what I wanted anyway.”
“And yet it is harming you, guinea pig!” Tachyon leaned forward, eyes wide and smile wider. “The constant feeling of never being enough no matter how much success you achieve. You assisted me in fulfilling my own dreams, both of them, and I find it excessively unfair I cannot help you. You know I don’t care about kotowing to the media- if you used this time to express yourself, as a triple crown trainer, then the regulatory boards would have to listen.”
“I’m not going to do it when the blowback could hit you, Tachyon. We’ve been over this.” Not that there was much anyone could do to her now, but Tracen was not an unbreakable fortress. Academia was, in some cases, just as cutthroat as racing and significantly more dishonest. Only after Tachyon had been given time to detach herself from her old trainer would it be a good idea to begin grinding the axe. Pissing off the government was in her red, white, and blue blood, but not if it came with Tachyon being denied every opportunity she’d worked toward.
The URA would be content to let a famous trainer being trans slide if she only came out after retiring, but picking a fight? Speaking up for people like her who couldn’t or didn’t want to hide? The URA would come down on everyone associated with her. Tracen could weather it, frankly speaking Tazuna and Akikawa might already know and be prepared, but Tachyon? Cafe and Pocket and Flame too. They’d get a lot of scrutiny, and any hint of being okay with such a ‘degenerate’ could put a lot of roadblocks in their way.
The old fucks in charge of regulations would make sure of that.
Assholes.
“You know I would already place myself in front, yes?” Tachyon chuckled at the familiar frown. “I can make my choices just as well, and nothing about your mental state precludes you from being an effective trainer. Why such a thing was connected to a morality clause in the first place astounds me. Hasn’t society already come forward quite enough?”
“Apparently not here.” Not back home either. The NURA was a lot newer than the URA, but it was still an old person's game at the top. Uma could be just as bigoted and stupid as humans, but with a side order of being even more concerned about the ‘young innocents’ that might get a ‘perverted trainer’. “And you really don’t need to do that-”
“Hey,” the knocks came heavy through the door, “almost time! We need you up on stage.”
“Well, guinea pig, we can discuss this later.” Tachyon leapt off the chair like the overdramatic bitch she was. “I have to express my victory through a dance number!”
Her trainer watched as she swept past. God, she really was just the perfect trainee for her, wasn’t she? Both of them overdramatic, adrenaline junkie bitches. Though at least her issues with doing her chosen path were manageable. The frailty genetics had given her could be overcome, but being biologically male was a lot trickier of a situation.
“Haah.” She shook her head and stepped out of the room. “I thought being a trainer would make it easier not to be able to run.”
Really, she should’ve known. Watching what you couldn’t have, day in and day out, was worse than not watching at all.
“Should’ve taken that offer to go pro.” Motorbike racing wasn’t the same, but it was still racing. Or any of the other places that’d offered. Turns out attempting to fill a hole made for good motivation. Maybe that would’ve been better.
~[#]~
“It really isn’t fair.” Tachyon felt her smile get even wider at that declaration. The winning live was done, her Arima Kinen trophy comfortably secure… wherever her parents deigned to put it. Likely next to the crown trophies. It wasn’t really a concern of hers. The actual concern here was her trainer.
Her stated goal of getting as close as possible to her dream was both successful and not. There was no doubt she was one of the most successful trainers currently at Tracen, having seen her trainee run, and win, the triple crown and the Arima Kinen. It was simply that such a thing only underscored how much she was not the one doing it. Beneath that cheerful facade was someone with a desire and drive equal to Tachyon’s own, if channeled in another direction.
And Tachyon had already figured out standing on the sidelines wasn’t something she could stomach.
“It’s a good thing I’m not concerned with fair.” The doctors of her youth had deemed her own dream impossible. Perhaps she’d manage a race or two, but the extreme strain of professional running would render her unable to move forward in short order. It wasn’t fair, but that was life. Simply shrug, make your peace, and move on.
As evidenced- Tachyon did not do that. She had gone beyond that, and reached even further beyond. The Zone, that curious state when the world bowed to the uma’s will, reached at last. Allowing Tachyon the excuse to run as she should have been able to from the start.
Her trainer could not reach the same. The Zone was… not quite reserved for uma, but research on it was scarce and Tachyon’s own interest didn’t extend to other sports. Or at least it didn’t extend to non-uma sports. There were traces of evidence of something similar being present in others, but only rarely and never followed up. Likely kept a secret between those who should know about it just as The Zone was a secret between the uma racers who might one day reach it.
Even if she managed it, that shell of her would deny it. The distinctly male body, kept in shape because it was useful to do so rather than care, locking away what she truly wished. Even running normally was a struggle, or so she’d said when Tachyon had asked. An extreme dysphoric response to moving on her own two legs. Even swimming had the same problem, according to the data Tachyon had acquired, if significantly reduced.
To reach the furthest height required an honesty of self that her trainer simply couldn’t have. Not while under pressure from outdated regulation and the tragedy of her own genetic code. But… if that weren’t the case…
“I wonder how high you’ll reach?” Tachyon’s hand crawled past beaker after beaker. An endless stream of failures, their shadows twisted to reach a singular goal. Years of work focused entirely on a single subject. If Plan A wouldn’t work, then there was Plan B.
Yet… Plan B required an uma. There was no guarantee anyone of the next generation, or even her generation, would produce a talent capable of reaching and surpassing the limits of an uma. Even in her entire life it wasn’t a guarantee. TM Opera O was a once in a century talent. Meisho Doto was a once in a decade talent. Relying on random chance and love to move together in creating a body that could even approach the limit was… unacceptable.
Truthfully she hadn’t even had the idea at first. Even subpar parts can work to create a miracle, especially with the influence of The Zone. Perhaps it wouldn’t be as grand a breaking of the shackles as it could have been, but, much as the thought rubbed sandpaper across skin, it would have been enough. Except then her trainer arrived.
An uma trapped in a man’s body. Unable to run because it felt wrong. Desperately throwing herself into each and every extreme sport she could in an attempt to capture what should have been her birthright. One who’d gotten a trainer license only because nothing else had worked. Who had accepted her lot as a guinea pig solely so someone else could have a chance at the glory she craved.
Director Akikawa was an interesting person, but if she was right about anything it was this.
Every umamusume should be protected, supported, and given the chance to run.
No exceptions.
It was only natural to work to ensure such for even the most misfortunate uma. If it happened to provide assistance elsewhere too… well. Tachyon would take the credit. A lot of scientific breakthroughs happened while chasing something else. That didn’t make them not breakthroughs and unworthy of being acclaimed.
Her hand stopped its crawl as it bumped against the heaviest container she had. A modified thermos, sealed so as to let nothing out. Usually it contained her more stable concoctions, safely stored so she could drink them but nobody else could get into it. But the Arima Kinen was behind her, the next season of racing something far in the future and would only questionably have her own presence. So sacrificing it to hold her most important work wasn’t a problem.
“Just a little bit more.” Glassware clinked as the thermos was pulled to the front. Light spilled out of the cap as she twisted it off. “Not quite yet.”
This couldn’t be done hastily. Not only did the mixture have to be specially made taking into account the full genetic profile, but it needed quite some time to properly set. The ingredients were simply too volatile to put together in any time frame that wasn’t measured in days. A single mistake would be ruinous, and the mixture failing could not be allowed. Not because she couldn’t remake it, but because there would be no point. Severe multiple organ failure was generally extremely fatal.
“Don’t worry, trainer.” Slowly, ever so slowly, a new liquid was added to the mix. The light pouring out shifted, lensed, just for a moment, into a rainbow. “Just wait a little bit longer.”
~[#]~
Another day, another stack of paperwork. It had actually surprised her just how much paperwork one uma could generate. It wasn’t even down to Tachyon being Tachyon, it was just Japan had never managed to get out of the paper era. There was no signing up online. There were forms, filled out in triplicate, and then handed over to Tracen to fax on over to the URA.
Thankfully this all was just the tail end of everything. The last little bits to end off the season. It wouldn’t even be half this big if Tachyon hadn’t won the Arima Kinen, and even with that it’d take like… a hour or two. Maybe. Depended on how much the URA wanted to screw around.
See, the URA got money in very specific ways. Especially in terms of merchandise and access to the umas that ran in their league. While the actual image rights remained with the uma in question, unless given up through some legal contract, actually racing, and performing, at URA races meant allowing them some leeway. They could, for instance, request that an uma running in one of their races did some advertising or host a press conference related to the race.
There were a few other things there, but the main thing was that Tachyon didn’t care to do any of it. She was likely the biggest winner the URA had made the least money with. Certainly not enough to make back her race winnings. Not like they were in the red, but the uma were idols to some degree, and one not towing the line didn’t tend to make them happy. Which translated into more paperwork.
They wanted to know why Tachyon didn’t do this press conference or walked away from this advertising deal. All under the guise of preventing exploitation. The difference in paperwork between Tachyon doing something they wanted and her not doing something was extreme. Not helped by the fact that they were the regulatory authority, so there was no way to realistically stop it.
Now, this was only so bad because it was Tachyon. The vast majority of trainers and uma don’t need to think about it, and it really didn’t take all that much time. The profit shares from selling videos of a race or a winning live were generous. Enough that particularly successful uma lived near entirely off of money from that. Not to mention the potential for making money from advertising outside of their sphere and merchandise. The system worked, is the thing, it just was overly invasive and annoying when… well.
When her trainee was a very unusual uma and she was… not inclined to be nice to the URA. It was their rules that prevented her from being out and proud, after all. No matter how much it was… fine, it still sucked. Her leg bounced at the thought. Maybe HRT would be enough to make running not suck.
“Trainer!” Aaand there's another form to fill out. At least the one for door repair was quick and Tachyon hadn’t forced her to use all of them already. That was a pretty common complaint at the bar… not that she went there much.
Other trainers were weirdly uninterested in actually training themselves. It was weird. Except the Kiryuins. That entire family was crazy and probably some level of atavistic. There was no other explanation for their immense physical abilities. Frankly speaking everyone feared the day they had an actual uma born to them. It may have already happened, depending on if you believed the rumored ‘Ryuko Kiryuin’ actually existed.
“Tachyon?” Anyway, focus on the important thing. She pulled back as her trainee thrust that container she called a thermos forward. It more resembled a mad science experiment as done by someone with no idea what they were doing, which was pretty accurate.
Tachyon wasn’t very good at engineering.
“I’ve done it! Finally!” Ooo-kay. Tachyon only said stuff like that when she’d been up for two days but less than three. “It took careful manipulation over the past twenty hours, but it’s complete!”
“What’s complete?” A careful hand reached up and gently put the thermos onto a clear spot of the desk. “Another new drug you need me to test?”
“No testing this time, trainer! It’s all or nothing, one and done!” Tachyon leaned back into that pose she always did. “It works, or you get horrific cancer in your everything and likely die of severe cascading organ failure!”
What. “What? Why would you even make this?”
“To strive to ensure your dreams come to pass, trainer! Plan B was always to raise another uma to the height I believed I might not achieve, but I couldn’t just rely on a suitable uma coming to me could I? No- if necessary I had to make one!” Wait. What did she… that… what? “I thank you for opening that very line of inquiry, trainer! Without meeting you and your disclaimer I wouldn’t have ever known of such an affliction, nor would I have been able to render aid! The limitations on drugs that the URA places forth are precise and strict, necessarily so, but no match for my genius.”
“So.” She swallowed. Her tongue darted out to wet suddenly dry lips. “What does this… do?”
“It induces controlled genetic decay and repair in order to switch the chromosomes from the masculine version into the feminine version. Specifically of an uma variation. More research would be needed for other combinations, but they are theoretically possible. Don’t leave it open too long, it’s extremely radioactive even if I minimized the half-life enough it shouldn’t prove problematic to the area or your body in excess of the time the boosted healing.” That… made absolutely no sense and probably broke a few scientific laws. “The end result will be a fully healthy uma! And likely a not small amount of castoff radioactive biological waste.”
“So… I drink this and it turns me into an uma?” Tachyon nodded. “Or I die. Horribly.”
“You won’t, I wouldn’t let anything happen to my perfect trainer!” Tachyon waved a labcoat covered hand. “Anyone else would take a similar amount of time mapping genetic sequences and bodily structures for a similar level of certainty.”
“Other people- Tachyon, you made a cancer potion! A mega-cancer potion. I’m pretty sure this is a crime against humanity. Or several!” Probably several. “But also this is the single most amazing thing you’ve ever done and, no matter what happens, I love you for the opportunity.”
Tachyon blinked. “What?”
Down the hatch!
OH GOD IT ACTUALLY TASTED EXACTLY LIKE IT SOUNDED!
~[#]~
Before Jungle Pocket had met Agnes Tachyon she hadn’t known a lot of things. Some of them were things she was glad to know, like the exact look on Tachyon’s face when she was just happy. Others were the sorta thing she’d gladly have never known, ever. Like the fact that Tracen had an incinerator just… available on campus. Or what paradoxically fresh but rotten flesh looked like. Or the smell of said flesh when it burned in an incinerator.
“We are going to be in so much shit.” Pocket rolled her neck as the last bits of the stuff was burned. “Like… this might actually end with us all in jail.”
Cafe shrugged. Then took a sip of her coffee. How she could stand to do that when they’d just burned flesh Pocket had no idea. It was also very Cafe though, which made things just sorta feel better.
“We probably won’t go to jail?” Dantsu Flame did not look like she believed in her own words. “Tachyon said her trainer wanted this?”
“I mean… she wasn’t really quiet about it, yeah. I can totally believe her doing that sorta thing, just like I can believe Tachyon figuring out some way to make it happen.” The other uma had done some wild stuff. Pocket still had to ask her about that energy enhancer she’d handed Pocket to test that one time. It’d turned her hair rainbow! It made her, like… twenty percent cooler or something. Maybe it’d be a good thing to do when pride came around again. “She was always kinda…”
“She… jumped out of planes. Also off bridges. And mountains.” Cafe blinked and tilted her head. “A lot of jumping.”
“Y’know, I’m kinda annoyed this happened now, because we definitely aren’t going to take the trip she promised me.” They were going to wingsuit down a mountain. It sounded so cool!
“Wait… he- she really wanted this?” Aaah, right. Flame hadn’t really interacted with her as much. There was really only so much of Tachyon’s energy one uma could take, and those two were cut from the same cloth. Flame could deal with one Tachyon, but dealing with Tachyon and a slightly different Tachyon was a recipe for her getting right the hell outta dodge. “I don’t think I heard about that…”
“Nah, don’t feel bad about it. She was all big on keeping it on the down low and everybody who knew wasn’t about to talk about it.” Pocket would have personally worked over anyone who dared out someone without their consent. Not that she really knew how to fight all that well, and definitely not better than miss Muay Thai herself, but it was the thought that counted. And possibly the broken bones. “Something to do with the URA I think? Blowback would hit anyone she had any hand in coaching, and she loved to give time to anyone that came around.”
“Nearly one third… of Tracen.” Cafe swirled her coffee around. “Last Tachyon counted.”
“Probably close to a half by now. She set up a whole unofficial weight class on Tachyon’s rest days. Give some of the uma who haven’t been taken up by a trainer some guidance.” Plus guidance to some trainers who’d never even held a weight before. Only so much you could really learn by looking at the charts or whatever they used.
“Wow. I never knew.” Flame shook her head with a blink. “But why would the URA care?”
“Old regulations.” Cafe waved her coffee cup. “Old people. How… they are.”
“That sort of thing? I get it.” Pocket blinked and opened her mouth-
“So.” All three of them turned. Symboli Rudolf crossed her arms and gave them a look. “Care to inform me why three of Tachyon’s friends are incinerating biological waste?”
“Tacyhon did something stupid and her trainer did something even more stupid.” Rudolf blinked. Whether it was because Pocket was being immediately honest or because it was usually the other way around she couldn’t tell. “I think that's the last of it?”
“According to Tachyon it should be. Everything else for her,” Flame looked, understandably, ill at recalling the exact state of Tachyon’s trainer, “should be healing.”
Rudolf audibly breathed in. “Was anything coerced?”
“Nah.”
“Is anyone in danger?”
“Stable now. Critical time was… last night?” Cafe looked up at the sky. Pocket looked too, and damn if it wasn’t actually lighting up. Good thing this was the offseason and she didn’t have training, because it would’ve been such a bitch on this little sleep. If she actually got to sleep. “Last night.”
“This is going to cause another crisis for the school, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely.” Flame hadn’t looked as dead certain of anything outside of a race… ever.
“Just… finish up and get Tachyon to come around as soon as possible.” Rudolf sighed. “I would see her myself, but I already have the urge to throw her through a window.”
“Yeah, that’s a pretty common feeling.” Three Goddesses knew Pocket had wanted to a few times. Along with some other stuff butletsnotfocusonthatrightnow-
“Pokke, why is your face red?”
“Let’s get back to the lab!” A quick early morning sprint would be a good idea, right? Had to keep up conditioning!
~[#]~
“Ughhh…” There were aches, there were pains, and there was exhaustion. It was a matter of how deep it reached. An ache didn’t go too deep, a pain was sharp, but exhaustion… that went right to the bone. Hooked itself in and yanked. There wasn’t any moving with that sort of thing, only laying down and trying not to jolt too much.
“Trainer!” Agnes Tachyon’s eyes darted around for a moment before she pulled her head back. “It was a success! Fully and truly! Pokke, the mirror!”
“This is the craziest shit I have ever seen from you, you know that?” The brunette uma didn’t even acknowledge that as she accepted the mirror. “Turning someone into an uma… I guess if anyone would manage it, it’d be you.”
“Good to see you recognize my genius, Pokke!” Tachyon flipped the mirror around and held it up. “Now take a good look Trainer. After shedding a significant percentage of body weight, you’ve just been reborn! Further uses of my drug will require some weight building beforehand- you are mildly underweight for your current form. Before you would have been considered overweight, though most of it was in muscle.”
Her mouth felt dry. “Ahh!” The instinctive jerk, exhausted limbs desperately reaching for the mirror, caused a wave of pain to erupt around her body. Yet… the smile on the face of the uma in the mirror… that didn’t go away. Instead it just got wider.
“Curious how you managed to end up like this! The genetic data I used to properly sequence a healthy uma code didn’t belong to someone looking anything like this.” Tachyon handed over the mirror surprisingly gently. “I had expected you to end up looking more like Flame, but this proves the genetics involved have little to do with the end result. Fascinating, really!”
“Wait, why would she have looked like me?”
“I used your genetic samples primarily! My own could have conferred my fragility and Cafe’s were unsuitable for similar reasons. I could have used Pokkes, but I ran out when it was time to add to the mixture.” Tachyon shrugged. “I suppose it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say you are related now! Congratulations.”
Few uma had purple hair, and none of them had vivid purple. It looked otherworldly, like it didn’t belong at all. Her eyes were a piercing yellow, but the more important part of them were the circles. They twirled in her irises, never quite seeming to stay still. A headache built in her skull before she snapped her gaze away. Flashing downward to take in the… generous proportions. Just… damn. Had she seen an uma built like this before?
Tachyon’s rambling continued to wash over her. “You came out within the ninetieth percentile in height, which is a step down from being unequivocally one of the tallest in Tracen, but still places you above most of the student body. Your other proportions did not fail to disappoint, however, so take heart in that! I believe the only comparison in the chest department is Meisho Doto, but I haven’t taken much data from her so I can’t give an exact ranking.”
They might actually be a big problem when running. Ughh, more work. None of her trainees had been… this big, so the methods of dealing with them weren’t anything she studied. Plus Tracen was in Japan. A store back in the US might have held a few things off the rack, but in Japan? No way. It’d all have to be ordered.
Good thing she happened to be filthy fucking rich. It was going to be needed.
“Name.” Cafe leaned into view next to Tachyon. Her wide eyed stare, aided by her concerning eyebags, bored into the new uma. “You need… a name now.”
A name… she’d never thought of that before. Why torture herself picking out something that was never going to be used? It just wasn’t worth the heartache. Yet still… there was one thing.
“Ash.” The word fell from her mouth like it’d been waiting. There was a show she’d enjoyed, back when she was getting into every sport she could, and one thing the main character had said stuck with her. His dedication to his sport of choice… that was the first time anybody had ever put into words how she felt about running. Even if she couldn’t ever do it. If she was going to have a name, it had to be that. “Pure White Ash.”
It was a promise… and a curse. Maybe she’d end up like him, maybe not. But… there were worse fates. Tachyon had given her a key to Pandora’s Box.
Hope surged.
And that was the most destructive thing of all.
Notes:
If you know where that name is from, you know why I put that little disclaimer in the top notes.
When considering my own trainer for a horsefem fic, I wanted to do something a little different than I'd seen with almost everyone else. So- welcome Pure White Ash, who knew exactly what she was about and decided to try a bunch of the next best things. Not that it helped, of course, but the commitment was there. Don't worry- she is just as messed up as all the rest, just in a slightly different manner. Hence the name.
I do want to specifically note that while she does share the same color as Agnes Marie (and everybody should read The Creation of an Umamusume), it was chosen in a manner that had nothing to do with her. It is very much a different shade and will evoke very different feelings once we get to the spot where Ash's Zone is revealed.
The particular thing I got it from will be mentioned eventually, but it plays into the theming I'm going for with all of this. So it wouldn't be any fun to give it away now. What I will give away is that this particular trainer was meant to be a combination of a few of the "ideal trainers" we see in the various careers in game. Agnes Tachyon's is one, naturally, but there are two others that will be directly involved.
Anyway- if you want to talk you can find me here:
https://discord.gg/madonescallCheers!
Chapter 2: Welcome to the Jungle
Summary:
Wake up, wake up! Theres still a lot to do.
A few more tests and maybe a bit of uma watching. Just in time to meet her favorite uma watcher!
Chapter Text
“Congratulations, Ash,” Tachyon finally looked up from her laptop, “you are a completely healthy, if somewhat underweight, uma! Certainly fit to begin racing in the upcoming year if you work hard, though the more cautious option would be to wait for the year after.”
The hour after waking up had been a whirlwind. Not only did Tachyon need to do even more tests that were only possible with a conscious subject, but she needed to test the mind as well. Apparently her drug had deliberately avoided the brain, but there was only so much avoiding possible when… well. It’d completely altered her down to a genetic level. Irreversibly, apparently.
According to several words that had far too many letters, any further disruption of her genetic code would likely cause a horrific cascade failure and mega cancer. Or worse.
Ash was a little afraid to ask what could be worse.
So… one way trip. It didn’t seem to have caused any actual issues at least. Her recall seemed fine, both short term and long term memory, and a simple test showed no diminished faculties. The physical exam, unfortunately, didn’t go anywhere near as well. She had lost a lot of muscle in the transition, all of which she’d need to build back and better. At least Uma muscle was better than human pound for pound so she wasn’t starting from nothing.
The more relevant issue was… well. “Ow!” It was an entirely different body. Different center of gravity, different height, different… everything.
The testing had resulted in plenty of bumps and bruises. Which everyone else had, thankfully, been quiet for. Mostly because they knew that any interruptions would be ignored.
“So, can we talk about this now?” Dantsu Flame practically vibrated forward, a determined look on her face. “What do you mean we’re related?”
“Simply that you have a significant amount of genetic structure in common. Enough for modern blood tests to determine more than a casual relationship between you two.” Tachyon waved a floppy sleeve as her other hand tapped at the keyboard. “I believe technically the closest equivalent relationship would be mother and child, but actual testing would likely determine a percentage more associated with a cousin or sibling.”
Everybody waited a moment but Flame didn’t seem to be… well. Doing much of anything at all with that information.
“Hey, Flame?” Pocket waved an arm in front of Flame’s face. “Flaaaame? I think you broke her.”
“Bah, she’ll bounce back! Out of all of us she is the most resilient.” Everybody paused another moment at that. Which… it wasn’t wrong? Flame had loss after loss, especially against everyone here, and yet still walked out onto the course every single time. Charging forward in order to make her own mark on the sport.
A determination which had won her first place at the Takarazuka Kinen this year. After years of placing second at best. Behind all her friends.
“So… what now?” Cafe took a sip from the cup in her hands.
“We gotta talk to Rudolf, right? Or Director Akikawa.” Pocket rubbed her head. “She already saw us incinerating the stuff, and there's a whole new person right there. I’d have figured you’d put her in the hospital for this. Aren’t there… like, clean rooms or something? For germs and stuff.”
“I had planned on doing so! Except in my exhausted state I didn’t consider the actions of my trainer upon being informed I could grant her dearest held wish. The closest area that I could quickly sanitize was here, so here we went.” Tachyon actually looked rather contrite at that. “I had taken the liberty of arranging things as much as I could, but there is much that requires knowledge only you have in your head.”
“The biggest problem will be a new identity. I can access most of my banking online, so getting my money won’t be a problem, but I need documents. ID and all of it.” Ash raised a hand to- “Ow!” Damnit, not high enough. A little adjustment carded her hands through- “Ow! Fucking ears… damnit.”
“The best way… would be Director Akikawa.” Cafe blew across her mug and took a sip. “Uma come from… overseas. Some from places with… difficult documents.”
“If Akikawa agrees it could work. Pick the right small town in the US and an unknown uma coming in without any paperwork isn’t something anybody will take a second look at. I’ve heard some other trainers complain about it a lot- sometimes an uma comes around without any of the benchmarks we use, so it makes it a lot harder to help them.” Not too often now, but it certainly happened. Get the right information to the right people and it wouldn’t be hard to make some documents pop up. No birth certificate or anything, but enough to have a legal identity in the system. Which… hm. “I don’t think I could claim being Japanese, right?”
Pocket tilted her head. “Why?”
“Taxes.”
All the other uma blinked at that.
“You’ll worry about it when you’re older.” After their trainers left and they retired, usually. Japan, at least, wasn’t ass backwards with filing taxes, so even when they had to start doing it they probably wouldn’t have any problems. Unlike the US which was just… eugh. “It’ll be easier to claim I’m from overseas anyway. When do we head out?”
“Certinaly not today!” Flame? The uma almost stomped forward to push Ash back onto the sofa. “You’re going to sit there and recover.”
“Uh… okay?” It wouldn’t be a bad idea. Everything still hurt, but it’d faded to a persistent ache that was ignorable… if annoying. Better to let it go down first and take the time to figure out what to tell the student council. Or Director Akikawa. She wouldn’t blab about an uma having a problem, so that was one nightmare dealt with at least. Wouldn’t be too hard to go back home to race, if a little awkward to get everything settled right. Couple ways to deal with it though.
Hm… how hard would it be to legally marry herself? Would it even be faking her own signature in this case?
~[#]~
“You’re taking this pretty well.” Jungle Pocket leaned forward in the chair, resting her head on the back. It still smelled like Tachyon. Not that she was about to tell anyone she’d memorized what Tachyon smelled like. “I figured there’d be a whole big freakout or something. Like… I know you always wanted this sorta thing, but it's still a real big change.”
Cafe, Flame, and Tachyon had headed out in order to meet with Akikawa or… just anyone in charge. Ash wasn’t ready to really start moving around yet and Pocket had been left because, in Tachyon’s words, she was the most likely to start a fight. Which… rude. Correct, sure, but rude.
Didn’t matter if it was the Emperor, the Empress, or the director. Any of them tried to start shit she might actually start swinging. Not that it’d work- Ash was the only one out of all of them that could actually fight- but sometimes it wasn’t about that sorta thing. Lines had to be drawn, and blood made a pretty damn heavy one. It already rankled that she hadn’t been able to do anything before, so now that she could she was going to jump on it.
Ash was the reason she got to race Tachyon at the Derby, after all. Sure she didn’t win, but winning without Tachyon wasn’t what she wanted. Accepted, sure, because sometimes you just had to get over it, but it wouldn’t have been as great. Getting second… still sucked, but at least it wasn’t getting ‘first, but’.
“I wanted it. I already had a plan for everything if I didn’t get another trainee this year.” Ash chuckled as she laid on the couch. “Tachyon doing this just made it quicker. And deeper. I wasn’t about to schedule bottom surgery because that can just mess you right up and I like being active too much to take the time off, but not having to deal with my-”
“SO!” Yeah, don’t even touch that. Knowing the details of that wasn’t something she was interested in. Ever. The only bottom she had even a slight interest in was Tachyon’s. And Cafe’s. And Flame’s.
…
“Oh, shit, I might be gayer than I thought.” It’d be nice to say that was unexpected, but also… Knowing your faults was an important part of being a racer. Personality was part of that.
“You know how you never got a key to this room?” Pocket nodded. What did that have to do with anything? “Everyone else had one, they were just lying. Because I was pretty sure if you got one they’d walk in one day to someone getting fucked on the couch.”
“Wha- HEY! I wouldn’t…” Fuck, she would. “Why do you think that’d happen! They’d have to agree!”
“Do you really think they wouldn’t? As long as you didn’t bump her too much, I’m absolutely certain you could just life up Tachyon’s labcoat-”
“LETS TALK ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE!” That was the risk when it came to Ash. She had the exact same lack of any sort of care for social graces, but a lot more experience with people than Tachyon. It was like one of those funky mirrors at a carnival. Same absolutely insane dedication, but instead of going through freaky ass science it was the social and muscle stuff to become strong.
Huh. That made a lot more sense now. Tachyon couldn’t rely on becoming stronger ‘cause it was her body that was the messed up thing in the first place. Ash didn’t have anything like that. Aside from not being an uma at first. So she could just focus on making that better.
“Ha! Fiiine.” Ash raised her arms in a big stretch and rocked forward. “Wanna get something to eat? Feel like I could have an entire cow at this point…”
“We’re supposed to stay here, right?” Well, the others hadn’t been very clear about that. Besides- it was about lunch time and they’d all skipped breakfast thanks to this. “Not sure you should really be moving either. We burned a lot of stuff. Which was super nasty, so thanks for that.”
“I probably should’ve waited, yeah. No regrets though.” Ash shifted a little, enough to show off her tail rapidly wagging against the couch cushions. “I’ve got a tail now! And ears! And massive fucking tits! It’s everything I’ve ever wanted! More, even!”
Pocket leaned back. “No need to rub it in.” Damnit, why was she surrounded by big boobs? Except Cafe, but Cafe had that whole suit thing going on and just… “Uggghhh…”
“Come on, you’ll feel better after you’ve eaten something.” Feet thumped onto the floor. “Huu- wha-!” THUMP!
“Ash!” The chair spun away to slam against the door as Pocket raced forward. With how weak Ash was at the moment any bump could be devastating. “Come on, don’t do stuff like that! You gotta take the time.”
“My legs just couldn’t hold me, a little fall like that won’t cause any issues.” Ash attempted to wave Pocket’s arms away, but didn’t quite manage to stop the other uma from a light injury check. “What I need to do is get some food and start working on repairing all this. It’s gonna take forever and if staying here works out I’m gonna need to start now.”
“Huh?” Pocket wasn’t as big into science as Tachyon, but any racer worth their salt could check for leg injuries. Luckily it didn’t seem like Ash’s little fall had done anything, but it never hurt to be careful. The legs were the heart and soul of a racer, and it was only smart to treat them like it. “What are you planning?”
“Tachyon said I could be ready to race this year, and I’m not missing any more time than I’ve already lost.” Ash tapped her (generous) chest. “I’m already closer to mid twenties than early, and the Twinkle series only gives so much time.”
“Oh, right. The age cap.” It didn’t come into play a lot, but it was there. Pocket wasn’t sure why it was, but it was, and that presented a pretty big problem to Ash’s dream. “You’ve got like… a couple years, right? Pushing yourself too hard will cause you a lotta problems in the long run.”
Someone had to say it, even if Pocket probably wasn’t the best. A lot of runners screwed themselves up in ways big and small for life doing this sort of thing. Not everyone, not all the time, but it wasn’t hard to wear yourself out. Probably why that cap was there, on second thought. Prevent going at G1s for twenty or more years and being nothing but a bag of bone shards bolted together at the end. Because if it was an option, some of them would do it.
Running was in their blood. Their destiny.
Even if it destroyed them.
“I can deal with that when I get there. People have died doing less than half the shit I got up to, adding this on isn’t anything I wouldn’t do anyway.” Ash shrugged. “I’m more scared of not being able to run than the aches and pains that come after. Broken bones don’t hurt that bad anyway.”
“...” What? “How many bones have you broken?”
“Like… seeeeven?” Ash scratched at her hea- “Ow! Fucking damnit, every fucking time!”
“Pff… hehehe.” It was too. Every single time her hand went to her head she always poked herself in the ear. It’d happened like… fifteen times or something already.
“Ugghh… I thought I’d be used to them by now…” Ash shook her head. “Whatever. Seven breaks. Probably all healed up now from what Tachyon did, but I had to have pins in my arm once. Got blown off course skydiving and smashed into the treeline.”
“Oof.” At least it wasn’t in the leg, but damn. “Had to have hurt.”
“It was the third time I messed up an arm, but the worst break I ever had.” She waved a hand. “But seriously, gimme a hand. I’m hungry, you’re hungry, and Akikawa was set to tour the Tracen carrot fields today anyway.”
“Huh. Why didn’t you tell them?” Felt like that was sorta important to know. Actually, “why do you know that?”
“I keep her itinerary in mind whenever I’m doing something. Didn’t want to out myself to that level of crazy.” Pocket raised an eyebrow. Sure she hadn’t met the director much, but she still seemed like a good person. Bit crazy, but all of that was in dedication to the school and students. “Hey, pretty nice people can be bigoted as shit and I didn’t want to test it. She’d move heaven and earth for an uma, but I wasn’t one. If she thought I was corrupting Tachyon or some bullshit she could’ve made stuff a lot harder.”
“I guess…” Damn, that must’ve just sucked. “So why’d you let everyone else head out?”
“‘Cause they’d stop me from going to the cafeteria.” Ash smiled that stupid asshole smile she always did. It made her look like a smug cat. “But you won’t.”
“Yeah? How about I just order something or whatever?” There were a few places that’d deliver to campus. Not many, and they didn’t get used a lot, but sometimes someone just wanted something that wasn’t really on the cafeteria menu. Or wanted it in a slightly different way. It wasn’t like ordering for two, even big portions, would break the bank.
“You wanna see the incoming newbies too. I know you do- that's why you usually hang out in the cafeteria around this time of year.” Wait, she noticed that? “Tachyon isn’t the only one who goes after data. I do the same thing, and I heard from the grapevine that the new students are having their big walkthrough today.”
“Hey, I’m not… scouting them out or whatever.” Pocket waved a hand with a shrug. “There just isn’t much to do and I like to make sure everyone coming in is all settled, right? Maybe give a bit of advice.”
Ash huffed, that same damn smile on her face. “Yeah, you want to be like Fuji Kiseki.”
“...” Damnit. “Fine, but you’re leaning on me the whole damn way.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ash lifted an arm, “let’s get to it.”
~[#]~
True to her word the cafeteria was properly filled with a variety of new uma. Tazuna had swept in, introduced them to the building, and then promptly left them to eat while she handled some paperwork. As per her usual pattern with this sort of thing. It was consistent enough that Ash felt it was probably a deliberate thing, though the exact reasoning wasn’t something she’d ever attempted to figure out.
There were a lot of little things like that at Tracen. Bits and pieces that only really made sense for this particular school. Compared to everywhere else Ash had seen, and it was a lot, it put money where its mouth was. Or Akikawa’s money where her mouth was, as it happened. The uma of Tracen wouldn’t know how good they had it until they were pushed into the wide, wide world which usually wasn’t all that built for them.
Sure there was the obvious stuff, the uma lanes and all that, but it really came down to the little things. Most chairs weren’t made for uma to sit in comfortably for instance. Public phones didn’t have the extended receiver options, though that wasn’t as important with mobile phones being so popular now. So on and so forth. Not even getting into the societal expectations of uma.
It really was a horrific tangle that Tracen did its best to protect its students from. Even after they graduated in most cases. Symboli Rudolf wasn’t around just because she was the Emperor, but because her title of ‘Student Council President’ was less being the head of a student organization and more being the chief operating officer of all graduate services Tracen offered. Technically it should be a different title entirely, but Ash had it on good authority that she liked how young ‘Student Council President’ made her sound.
The clack of a lunch tray hitting the table pulled Ash out of her thoughts.
“Interesting set this year.” Pocket thumped into the chair right beside her. She’d insisted on getting food for both of them under the excuse that Ash probably wouldn’t be able to. Which was true, but she didn’t need to say it. “Might even be more bizarre than last year.”
“Some strong runners coming in this year. Not just new to Tracen either.” There wasn’t a lot of press surrounding the under age races, but it was there if you knew where to look. Trainers, of course, had to know where to look. Ash moaned into a bit of chicken before continuing. “I’ve heard about Neo Universe some. Symboli Kris S. Admire Groove. It’s going to be a heavy year, I think, especially in the triple crown.”
“Sounds like a lotta fun.” Pocket waved a fork at the room and all the uma in it. Then promptly speared some of her own steak. “Bet that's part of why you’re so eager to head in, isn’t it?”
“Maybe, maybe not. Lemme have at least some secrets, yeah?” Speaking of secrets… “Comere!”
“Yipe!” The uma hiding behind the plant next to them was, thankfully, too surprised to actually fight back. It wouldn’t have worked otherwise, and even then the exertion was definitely a bit too much.
Damn, this was going to be really annoying.
“Why were you hiding behind a plant?” Pocket’s shoulders were up, a frown on her face.
“You haven’t met Agnes Digital?” Weird, most people knew about her. “She’s definitely met you at least.”
“I was just trying to stay out of the way of my new oshis! There are so many amazing new uma this year and aahjakfjhal…” Digital shuddered. “Especially you!” Oh. Oh, so this was what that felt like. Digital’s unblinking stare was darting around her entire… everything. “I haven’t seen any other uma with such a vivid hair color, and your eyes are the same! Plus you’ve got those circles in them and they make you look so exotic! You’re so confident and direct and your sitting reminds me…” She finally blinked. “AGNES TACHYON’S TRAINER!”
The entire cafeteria looked at their little corner. Then everybody even slightly familiar with Tracen promptly attempted to forget that corner existed as fast as possible.
Digital was a known quantity like that.
“OOOOH! My super umastan friend became an uma! This is just like in my fanfics! And my doujin! And in the new tags I didn’t expect to like!” Wait, when did that become a thing? Was Digital holding out on her? That bitch! “This is umazing! Super fantastic! You have to tell me all about it! How does it feel? What is the first thing you feel when you wake up in the morning? There is so much I could learn about hyping my oshis! It’s just the perfect opportunity! Did Tachyon do this? It had to be Tachyon.”
“Yeah, it was Tachyon.” Hm, there were a few people that kept looking. A blonde and blue uma with just… so much hair. Seriously. Was that Neo Universe? It looked less crazy in the pictures… Was that one in a nuns' habit? Didn’t expect to see any of those out of the US. Oh, Zenno Rob Roy too. It was about time for her to move up, wasn’t it? Almost forgot. Better plan to head around to give her a little present for finally reaching racing age.
What to get her though? It was a big step for an uma. It also meant actually hitting the age of majority, which was pretty neat but usually ignored in uma communities in favor of… y’know. Racing.
Usually it was some small accessory. Something that’d fit onto racewear without being too big or clashing.
Maybe a book charm? No, that’d be too easy. Hm… she always was interested in heroes. A replica charm of Gae Bolg maybe? Or some form of blessing charm as an earpiece. Ugh, but it’d suck to get something like that in Japan. Fukukitaru probably knew someone who knew someone who could do it. The only problem was tracking her down when walking was still an issue…
Oh, Digital was winding down.
“Is she always like this?” Pocket looked… about a four on the ‘just met Digital’ scale. Better than expected! Which was fair- she had met Tachyon and at the end of the day they weren’t all that different.
“Yeah. You wouldn’t think she beat Opera O and Doto before you, would ya? Oi, Digital.” The uma’s mouth snapped shut with a noise that sounded obscene. “None of that sneak around shit with me, alright? I’m still your uma stan buddy, I’m just taking the path you set up now.”
“Asdfgahsdkjlga-” THUMP!
…
“She… beat TM Opera O and Meisho Doto?” Pocket gestured at the now unconscious Agnes Digital several times. “HER?”
“Yeah, I know, right? Bout a month before you did, right then you were just… yeah.” Wildest fucking thing. “I think grabbing her fucked up our chances of getting to talk with any of the newbies though.” Nuns’ habit looked a little freaked and Neo Universe just… watched. It’d be unnerving if Ash hadn’t spent the last few years with Tachyon. “Shame.”
“Eh, we’ll see them around anyway.” Pocket shrugged. “You really should finish that.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna need so much protein. Really shoulda had Tachyon give me my chart. Would’ve been nice to start figuring out a good meal plan.” The best thing about doing a meal plan at Tracen was that the cooks were amazing. Didn’t matter what sort of stuff you needed to eat- they not only had you covered, they made it delicious.
“Just like I said, cafeteria!” Tachyon strode in with Flame, Cafe, and… oh. Symboli Rudolf. Great. “I know my trainer better than anyone else.”
“I dunno, Digital nailed me as soon as she took a good look.” Digital mumbled something, probably horrifically obscene, in her sleep. “Sup, Rudolf. Do you need my social security number or are you better at questioning identities than the credit card companies?”
“...” Rudolf sighed. “Against my better judgement, that is almost definitely your trainer, Tachyon.”
“Ayy, progress.” Ash gave Digital a pat on the head and swung an arm around Pocket’s shoulders. “We probably need to head back to the student council room, don’t we?”
“That would be ideal, yes.” Symboli stared for a long moment at the unconscious form of Digital. “I guess she was struck by your purity, wasn’t she?”
“Same Rudolf as ever.” Even in this situation, Rudolf would Rudolf. “Yeah. She just couldn’t handle the truth. It’ll be fine to leave her here, it’s what she would have wanted.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t about to touch her anyway.” Pocket slid out of her seat and helped Ash up. “Who does she room with? We could call them.”
Tachyon held up a sleeve covered hand. “Oh, she’s my roommate.”
“What.”
Notes:
Neo Universe: The Alien
Chapter 3: Rise Up
Summary:
Time to meet the student council.
Afterward, Akikawa has some questions.
Chapter Text
“So… you turned your trainer into an umamusume.”
“Really wasting no time here, huh?” Ash settled back in her seat. The student council chambers were as weirdly grand as ever. She never did confirm whether or not Rudolf was in charge of decorating it, but it wouldn’t be surprising. “Yep, that's me. Trainer of Agnes Tachyon. My contract doesn’t end because of becoming an uma.”
Narita Brian raised an eyebrow. “I can believe it.”
“Much as I hate to admit it, yes. That is something only Tachyon’s trainer would do.” Air Groove pinched the top of her nose. “I’m still not sure which of them generated more complaints… mostly because it was nearly impossible to tell which of them the complaint was about.”
“They asked for my advice first. Not my fault they found it creepy.” Okay, sure. Maaaybe her presentation wasn’t the best after spending a year working with nobody but Tachyon. That didn’t make her insights bad. She’d never even touched anyone without permission! Tachyon could get away with it, but she was a crazy hot girl. Ash had been only one of those things before, and trainers had a lot more restrictions on what they could do with their trainee anyway.
“That wasn’t the reason for the bulk of the reports, but they were mostly found to be without merit. Those are not why we are here, however.” Symboli Rudolf quick to the rescue! “Firstly, congratulations on your… transition. Everyone was quick to inform me that it was entirely your choice, and Tachyon’s incredulity at your insistence simply proved it beyond a doubt.” Yeeeah, still not her best moment. “The problem remains that we now have a missing person and a new uma without any paperwork.”
“Yeah, Akikawa is going to have to deal with most of it. She’ll be back from her private carrot patch in like… eh, maybe an hour or so?” She liked her carrots a little more ripe than usual and enjoyed eating them straight out of the ground. Ash didn’t ask many questions about other people’s crazy as a rule, but still. “It’s still the right period, if a little late, for someone to enroll from overseas. A bit of time and I know some people who can get the right stuff in the right places for it.”
It’d only come to her after that whole conversation from earlier. Which… well, maybe Flame had hit the mark when she said Ash needed rest. Unfortunately, rest and Ash were currently going through a messy divorce and neither of them had been smart enough to get a damn prenup. So doing it live it was!
“I don’t believe I’ll question that. You certainly know the most interesting people.” Rudolf looked down at the papers on her desk.
“Seems like she knows someone everywhere.” Narita Brian narrowed her eyes. “This won’t stop you from getting me what I asked, right?”
“Nah, the uma division is just a little swamped right now since its pre-race season. Everyone has to figure out what they can do and how to jive their racing with the club and all.” It was like this every year, but there wasn’t anything anyone could really do about it. Not without demanding too much from the club members anyway. “You’re top of the list when they start accepting new members though. Talked you up a bit and they’re really excited to see what you’ll be able to manage. I do have a guy lined up to make the armor, but you’re going to need to find a time to get him the measurements. Whoever made your racewear will have them.”
“You asked her for something?” Air Groove raised an eyebrow. “What could you have possibly wanted from her?”
“Armored HEMA seemed interesting.” Brian shrugged.
“It’s really fun! Just takes a lot of practice and the buy-in kinda sucks to get together.” A full suit of armor was not cheap. “Apparently some reenactment guys heard about your application through the grapevine and they sent over they were interested in asking if you’d be interested. There’s one big one that basically requires an active racing uma to do right, and a really good one to do it without actually killing anyone.”
The Revolutionary War hadn’t been known for uma charges, and it usually got pointed to as the start of the end for traditional uma cavalry units. Muskets were crap and an uma could easily close before anyone reloaded, but a musket wall was a musket wall and nobody had quite realized what that meant before then. Of course, it was also where Francis Marion pioneered the irregular uma units… and the normal irregular units. Guerilla warfare was his game and damn if he didn’t write the rules in British blood.
Anyway- it hadn’t been known for uma charges, but uma delivering orders was a common sight and extremely important. Hence why they tended to be specifically targeted. It took a special sort to be able to run around with gunfire going everywhere while remembering what they actually needed to do. A few of which happened to run rather extreme lengths to carry orders- hence the need for an uma who could properly pace themselves… and stop when they needed to.
That sort of thing was harder than a lot of uma expected. Most never reached the level of exhaustion where stopping was an issue and just… didn’t think about it. Despite uma being as vulnerable to poor coordination when tired or exhausted as any human. It just took more to reach it.
“Not that I’m complaining and all, but shouldn’t this be a bigger thing?” Pocket scratched her head. “Like… Tachyon made an uma and you’re all just on board with it already?”
“If you have an alternate explanation I’m all ears.” One of Rudolf’s ears flicked. “As it is the facts are that the four of you have identified her as being Agnes Tachyon’s trainer, Agnes Digital also confirmed this, there is no sign of said person on campus, and yesterday a number of uma called us because, and I quote, ‘Agnes Tachyon looks more manic than usual and has a big bottle that feels scary’.”
“You could all be lying, but Digital would never lie about an… oshi…” Air Groove seemed pained to have to say that out loud. “Waste that requires incineration doesn’t come from nowhere either. While Tachyon does have a key to the incinerator, it is still heavily monitored and the cameras picked up what you all were burning quite clearly.”
“Didn’t tell anyone about HEMA.” Brian shrugged. “Nobody else could know.”
“I also provided more than enough notes to prove it.” Tachyon pat Pocket on the shoulder. “There is nobody alive who is more familiar with Ash’s genetic code, and a simple test would prove my results correct.”
“Which is partly the issue here. While the genius of what you’ve done can’t be understated, it is still an extremely dangerous procedure that only succeeded because of your familiarity with Ash’ genetic code.” Rudolf paused a moment. “I find it doubtful anyone else would be able to replicate it, and so Tracen will not assist you in publishing any papers as a result of this. I would caution you to publish nothing, but I cannot force it.”
“It could use some refinement anyway. Trainer was very clear when telling me when she first heard of it.” Tachyon tilted herself to the side to give Ash a look. “What did you call it? A ‘mega-cancer potion’? Distilling it down to more concentrated changes will speed up the process, though it will likely take several more years before a similar procedure could take place.”
“More than enough time to properly set up a framework for it.” Rudolf nodded and shuffled some papers. “Now, Ash… your full name is Pure White Ash, correct? Tachyon informed me before, but it is best to be clear about things like this.”
“Yeah.” Narita Brian raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment, thankfully. Of course she’d be the one familiar with that. “My old name isn’t going to cause problems, but I’d rather not use it.”
“Understandable. Tachyon has indicated you wish to enter Tracen and race in this upcoming year. Normally you would be subject to several tests, but we may dispense with most of those on account of your existing trainer license.” The Emperor settled back in her chair. “I have no objections to your entry, and I’m certain Director Akikawa wouldn’t either, but your application still needs documentation behind it.”
“Like I said- give it a week or two and I should be able to set something up. There are still a few places in the US with spotty records, it shouldn’t be too hard to say I slipped through the cracks.” The big question was whether or not the guys would help, but they should. She’d been around long enough to build up her own folder of stuff nobody else should know about- enough to at least be seen as someone who knew her old self even if they didn’t believe uma mad science. “I’ll be able to get you a better idea of when they’ll be able to accept you at the same time, Brian.”
The fun thing about being part of so many extreme sports and clubs? You meet all sorts of people doing all sorts of things. It was… actually pretty lonely at Tracen without all of that. Not only was she barred from a lot of stuff she’d like to do because she was a trainer, but all of those clubs were filled with Tracen students. None of them were about to suddenly start bitching about vexatious litigants or whatever equivalent their job had.
“We would still prefer to keep things in house, if at all possible. There are a few methods I can pursue for it, so I’ll ask that you not attempt anything before Tracen has done what it can.” Rudolf sighed. “As for the rest of the application process… your age presents a few issues, but nothing the school isn’t prepared for already. Will you be interested in pursuing a trainer license under your new identity? We already have testing to allow you to skip some of the classes, so it wouldn’t take long to get that back provided you still want to pursue it.”
“Once my run is done, yeah. I never really had any interest in the Dream Series, so once my time is up in the Twinkle I’ll start training again.” The slump of her shoulders at that particular reminder was expected. A hand pressing against her back wasn’t. Ash’s head jerked around to- Dantsu Flame?
“Understandable. Not every uma is interested in that.” Rudolf’s pen scratched onto the paper in front of her. “It is nice to hear as well. You are one of the more successful trainers in Tracen, above even Tachyon’s impressive resume. We do take end of year surveys of every uma that wishes to do them, and a not small amount mentioned you in some capacity.”
“It is interesting that your desire to be an uma never came up at all.” Air Groove had looking disapprovingly curious without actually looking disapprovingly curious down to an art. “You’re usually quite free with personal details.”
“Eh, maybe you just weren’t listening. Most everyone I really interacted with knew.” Tachyon gave an enthusiastic nod, followed by both Pocket and Cafe assenting less enthusiastically. “Not like it matters now, does it? No reason to mention it to anybody.”
“It’ll come up.” Brian raised an eyebrow. “Gonna need to tell Akikawa. Plus anyone that can notice.”
“True. While publishing Tachyon’s research isn’t viable I see no reason this couldn’t be shared to whoever you wished.” Rudolf also raised an eyebrow. “There was no reason to keep this secret, even before this circumstance. It may have even been avoided… well. Not this.”
“Listen, there’s no reason to bring it up. Nobody but Digital will be able to tell. Except maybe Marvelous Sunday? She's… weird.” Terrifying more like. “She isn’t around much often anyway.”
“A shame really.” Tachyon sighed wistfully. “I had thought to examine her abilities myself. The rumors of them paint quite the picture! Unfortunately, every time I was informed she was around I was in the middle of something that I couldn’t put off.”
That was entirely intentional. On part of basically everyone that even slightly knew the two of them.
Nothing good would come of Tachyon having any opportunity to examine Marvelous Sunday’s… whatever it qualified as.
Brian narrowed her eyes and stepped forward. “Why’re you so insistent about-”
“Allow me to explain!” The door slammed open, Director Akikawa standing in the doorway, fan pointed forward dramatically! Behind her Tazuna attempted to pretend that she wasn’t the one who slammed open the door for her, much shorter, boss. “No! It will take too long. Allow me to sum up!”
“Oh, hey director! Flame was just about to take me to,” Ash shifted in her seat and ran a hand through her- “OW! DAMNIT NOT AGAIN!”
Tachyon chuckled. “I wonder if there is an issue with your proprioception? It shouldn’t be that difficult to adjust to having ears atop your head.”
“No need!” Akikawa’s fan flicked open to display ‘mystery’. “I had always wondered why one of the best trainers in Tracen was avoiding speaking with me, but with this information I have finally understood. To be clear- the URA regulated the licensing of trainers very heavily, and there are many reasons that a trainer can have their license revoked. One of those reasons is ‘personal misconduct’, which encompasses a large variety of things but has historically been used to prevent certain groups of people from being trainers!”
Air Groove narrowed her eyes. “I take it ‘misconduct’ was broadly applied.”
“Correct! It was utilized to prevent, over the course of the URA’s existence, anyone who was low class, not straight, or not from Japan the ability to train uma in the country.” The fan clicked closed again, Akikawa’s frown now obvious. “Now the trainer examination and licensing board takes a hands off approach- so long as it isn’t obviously brought to their attention it will be ignored. But if it were then that trainer would assuredly lose their license- alongside, in the case of a trainer from overseas, their visa to stay in Japan.”
“Oh.” Brian shifted forward at that knowledge, a frown matching the director’s on her face.
“Indeed! Now, as the head of Tracen I am personally capable of bringing cases to the board. I have actually done so in a few instances before to have a trainer’s license revoked.” Akikawa slumped a little. “It is to my eternal shame I forgot that just as those rules may protect uma, they could be used to harm others. Tracen is for the advancement of uma, yes, but it equally needs trainers and teachers to be comfortable so they can provide their best to the uma. So it is no surprise that Pure White Ash never approached anyone in the school and specifically avoided me. The precedent was against us on this point.”
“So what’re you gonna do about it?” Pocket huffed as everyone looked at her. “I dunno much about all that, but it sounds like it really needs a change. Ash shouldn’t have had to go through all that stuff, and I bet she wasn’t the only one.”
“The records Tracen has indicates that she is.” Tazuna’s shoulders dropped a little at that. “Which is… extremely unlikely.”
“I don’t know, and will likely never know, how many trainers, or general staff, Tracen has failed in this manner. I can only hope that it was never to the extent of your case, Ash, but I don’t know. And that is an unforgivable failure on the part of Tracen.” Akikawa bowed. “I apologize.”
“Hey, it… it wasn’t your fault, right?” Ash squirmed uncomfortably in her chair. This? This was beyond anything she’d expected. Dodging Akikawa was more habit than anything else by this point. Everything about her pointed to her as willing to do whatever it took to make Tracen better… for the uma. And that wasn’t anything Ash would ever have a problem with. “No need to bow or anything…”
“No, as director of Tracen it is my job to ensure the school is the best it can be. This issue should have been corrected long before this. I should have noticed. Tracen students have been photographed at Tokyo Pride for years, but I never saw any trainers there- from Tracen or otherwise.” Akikawa straightened. There was a fire in her eyes now, the same sort of pressure that emanated from Agnes Tachyon sometimes pressed onto the room. “I couldn’t assist you then, but I will not repeat my mistakes. Tracen will take care of everything for your enrollment, so don’t worry about that. I will also be going to the trainer licensing board and ensuring the language is changed to be clearer. They’ll move at the threat of Tracen officially calling them out. If I have my way you will have been the last trainer who ever had to worry about that for something that should never be subject to a morality clause.”
“Ah…” Ash swallowed. What to even… say to that? It’d never happened before. Even… even when people had been informed, had their nose shoved in it… they’d never apologized. Half the time they made a quip about ‘why were you so manly’ as if being a girl was something that had a fucking script. Like there was a minimum cute factor and everybody under it didn’t fucking count. “Thanks.”
It was like that one word took more effort than every HEMA meet she’d ever done. She slumped to the side, boneless. Flame was quick to move. An arm slid around her shoulders to keep her from resting in an awkward position. All Ash did was breath. Her tongue darted out to try to bring some level of wet to the desert her mouth and lips had become. Swamp mud slid off her bones, the progression of stress almost physical in how it peeled off.
No more worrying about Tachyon or Cafe or Pocket saying just the wrong thing. No more worry about whether this top was general enough to not make anyone ask questions. None of it.
She could just…
Live.
Like she wanted.
Nothing more and nothing less.
~[#]~
“I wonder,” Akikawa was the first to speak after Ash and company had left the room, “who Pure White Ash is.”
As director of Tracen, she shouldn’t have to wonder. She should know, because holding a trainer license isn’t always the display of trustworthiness that it should be. Every staff member at Tracen had their past dug into and examined. Each and every one subject to a background check that would dig up any past secrets. All to protect the young uma that came to the college.
Most uma would attend Tracen for eleven years. Some more, some less, but only three of those were usually spent actually racing officially in the Twinkle Series. Each and every one of them had one chance to make it big. To do what they wanted to do. What they were born to do.
A trainer could train dozens of uma over the course of their career. School teachers could see hundreds. It was a dirty little truth that most people never thought of. A trainer could recover from an uma not doing well and go on to be a poor trainer to others. That uma? She’d live with that for her entire life.
Several trainers had applied to Tracen and been stripped of their licenses at Akikawa’s request. Because of exactly that sort of thing. A string of failed careers, broken bones, that happened under their teachings. That sort of thing shouldn’t happen at Tracen. It wasn’t allowed to happen at Tracen.
Perhaps that sort of thinking was why Ash hadn’t even considered confiding in her. Was why no trainer had ever attempted to confide in her. She’d known some of their proclivities, because the checks ensured that, but it was their private business and Akikawa left it to them. It was only polite, and that sort of thing didn’t generally come up anyway. Not with her.
Most people thought she was still a bit young for that sort of talk.
Like directing a school full of athletic teenagers who were encouraged to emotionally connect to their peers didn’t give her a run down on the entire thing very, very quickly. As part of being the director of Tracen, there were a lot of languages she had to know. This, thankfully, meant she has a lot of ways to express herself.
What happens in Tracen can only be properly described by the English work ‘fuck’. It was a terrible, awful language, but that imprecision meant it could do a lot of things that nothing else really did. The many, many variants of ‘fuck’ was one of them.
Regardless, that wasn’t the point. The point of all this was that somehow Pure White Ash had dodged the checks that should have occurred. Because this sort of thing not only shouldn’t have blindsided her, but anything that could be accurately described with the words ‘mega cancer’ shouldn’t have been on the grounds in the first place. Tachyon’s purchases sent to her dorm were monitored, and nothing that could cause something like that was on that list.
She’d have been alerted if there was.
“I checked the records we have.” Air Groove was quick to pull out the papers. “There are gaps in them because she’s American- checking as far in as we usually do doesn’t work when they’re primarily from another country. From the records we have she was personally trained by a number of different trainers and passed the license exam her first try. Nothing shows up as being concerning and there's no record of any criminal activity.”
“She’s rich.” All eyes went to Narita Brian. “Knows a lot of people too. I never found something she couldn’t call someone about.”
“Her last name brings up results when searching, but not her full name. You have to search for it separately.” Symboli Rudolf hummed as she scrolled down the results. “Even these results don’t say much about what they did. A few news articles that mention the name, but nothing more. I can’t even say if they actually are related, since the name is uncommon but only that.”
“She also has no listed emergency contacts. Or had none- Tachyon is her contact now.” When Tazuna had called Tachyon hadn’t known why. This sort of situation… Akikawa felt a little sick to her stomach. How did they all miss this? Not to mention all of these things indicate someone who very much isn’t interested in returning home. Something which she had seen a few times, but never indicated anything good. “Try to find out more discreetly. If someone has gone this far to hide her name then there is definitely much more to this than just her being rich.”
“Agreed.” Air Groove tapped the papers on her desk. “What about her enrollment?”
“She isn’t the only one who has people she can call.” Even ignoring Akikawa’s own resources, and she has a lot, Tracen has its own. The school was made to ensure every uma could chase their dreams, and that equally applied to things outside of racing. Many uma in positions of power trace their success back to Tracen, and they’re often willing to do a favor for their old school. Especially if it's to help an uma. It’ll be a little tight, but getting everything ready won’t be an issue. “Set up everything you can before we get the official documents. As long as everything is there before she signs up for her first race everything will be fine. The URA doesn’t tend to check very deeply anyway.”
For all the rules surrounding trainers, which were there for good reason, the rules around uma were much, much lighter. Sometimes too much so. The excuse was that a trainer was licensed, and therefore had to meet certain standards to maintain that, while an uma didn’t require one. Any uma could sign up to a race, provided they met the requirements to enter. Sure they could be censured by being disqualified from races, but that was something that was extremely uncommon and a high bar to meet.
Disciplinary issues, according to them, were to be dealt with by the trainer or the institution they belonged to. So when an uma started to act out in some way the URA ignored it. Especially if they were popular. And Tracen, or any other institution, couldn’t do anything to force them out of races in response. Which left very few options to meaningfully punish an uma that went too far.
It didn’t happen often, but there were certain ideas that were spread around. Ideas which some uma, sometimes young and sometimes not, got into their heads. Akikawa had heard them all- sometimes joking, sometimes not. That Tracen was a place for uma to select their true love from among the trainers. Or that a trainer’s health and safety were lesser than the uma at Tracen. Nasty things that could stick in the mind of an uma and lead them to trying things they shouldn’t.
Sometimes it was easy to course correct. Such as with Mayano Top Gun. Others… it wasn’t. Which was where the problems started.
Not that any of that had anything to do with what was happening right now. Ash had always been a model trainer. Perhaps too much so. Agreeing to be Agnes Tachyon’s ‘guinea pig’ didn’t exactly paint a good picture. No matter how well the two got along.
It had been… a day when Akikawa, Tazuna, and the student council realized there were two of them.
At least Ash didn’t seem to have any interest in chemistry…
“I’ll get it done tonight.” Air Groove nodded and headed out. A dedicated worker, even if Akikawa sometimes wished she took a bit more time to be silly.
All work and no play had destroyed… far too many.
Notes:
Neo Universe- The Alien
Zenno Rob Roy- The Hero...What? Did you think Akikawa would be a bad person? Nah, she's a bit excitable and maybe too casual with her wealth, but shes a good bean.
It's just that when you can't trust the people in charge, you can't trust the people in charge. Akikawa is going to be kicking herself about this for a long time. And it may take even longer for the regulatory board to actually change.
Or maybe not, Tracen is pretty influential.There are certain disconnects between trainer and trainee. We'll be getting more into that later, but don't think the problems just go one way. A bad trainer can mess up a lot, but a bad uma can mess up a trainer pretty bad too.
We once again see reasonable things the URA is doing, but which cause issues for everyone else. They value the uma's ability to run... potentially much higher than they should. The only person who can pull an uma out of a race without question is the uma themself. Which includes their own doctor. Theres no reasonable way to bench an uma thats failing classes or acting out, so long as they aren't breaking track rules or crashing out extremely publicly.
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