After asking the Faculty and other trainers where she could be, Avalon made her way over to find Christmas in Berlin.
The answer she got was a local course.
Open local race courses. Or a local course for short.
Umamusume are born to run, that is a known fact. But not all umamusume end up as racers. Those that end up with normal jobs or simply can't access a place to relieve stress or run freely, the local courses are for them.
There are multiple safety measures in place, for example, there's a smaller and much safer area for children to run and it varies via age group. Think of it like a roller rink for umas.
They even provide sufficient running shoes for you. Needless to say, it was rather ahead of its time.
After a short jog (at around 20 mph) Avalon made it to the local course and asked the receptionist where this mysterious uma trainer was.
"Excuse me, did an umamusume by the name of 'Christmas in Berlin' happen to come by here today?"
To which the receptionist replied, "Chris? She's a regular, just go to the disabled umamusume lane in the retired section."
'Disabled?'
"Okay, thank you."
Then Avalon went to the retired uma course. There was a surprising amount of umamusume in this section. The rhythmic sound of feet hitting the turf was almost therapeutic
And they were fast, really fast. After using insight Avalon saw that every umamusume there averaged around A ranked speed (800).
'That's nuts…' Avalon was in awe, but then she moved to the disabled lane.
There was only one.
A singular Umamusume stood in the middle of the lane. Standing at around 160cm, she was rather average looking. That of course, is excluding her singular arm and eyepatch on her right eye as well as her long ash-grey hair.
She stanced in a running position…
And…
BOOM-!
As soon as she began her spurt, Avalon was about to use insight on her, which was when…
"...?!" She suddenly felt an oppressive aura coming from the uma as she approached the first corner.
Her face remained emotionless but a weak flame appeared in her eye.
The domain.
A state an umamusume reaches when they achieve complete focus, maximising their abilities as if they're in their peak condition.
It can be said that only the umamusume who define an era can achieve a domain.
There are 3 levels of mastery to a domain.
Wave, Aura, and Zone.
Wave - creates an aura around the umamusume that cannot be approached unless an uma has a domain active or has overwhelming stats. This is usually the stage where a nearby umamusume is intimidated at the activation of a domain.
Aura - enhances an umamusume's physique that increases their condition to its peak and maxes out concentration. This stage is what defines a domain.
Zone - an umamusume's unique ability of the domain that sets them apart. This is what makes each individual domain special.
What this one armed uma was currently showing, was the zone. Meaning, she'd fully mastered her domain.
But despite activating her domain, an era defining ability, she didn't seem much faster than the other retired umamusume Avalon had seen coming in.
But at the same time… even at the third corner she didn't slow down or pace herself, in fact she accelerated.
Her technique was flawless. Or at least it seemed that way to Avalon.
Rounding the final corner and into the final straight, the umamusume accelerated again, however, as she was about to spurt she began to slow down.
'…what?' Avalon was confused, it was the final straight, so why slow down now?
Then when she had finished her lap, she collapsed to her knees and began to breathe incredibly heavily,
"Guh…hrrk!...haaa…..hhaaaa…" her breathing was uneven and looked incredibly painful.
Then Avalon forgot everything and ran over to her to check on this dangerously out of breath umamusume.
"Excuse me…! Are you okay? No, dumb question. D-do you need me to call someone over?" Avalon was slightly panicking, she didn't know how to deal with this.
GRIP-!
Then she feels a grip on her shoulder,
"I'm…fine." She said, still out of breath. Then, using Avalon's shoulder as support, she stood back up on her feet and began to walk off to the side and hopped into a wheelchair that was outside the race lane.
'Damn, she's cool.' Avalon was a little envious.
"So then, what does a pathetic, face planting umamusume want with me, you're clearly not disabled so you obviously came looking for me." The grey haired umamusume looked up and asked Avalon while taking out a cigarette and putting it to her lips.
"Ah you shouldn't smo- wait, how did you know about that?!" Avalon's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, did she watch the race from before?
"Don't worry about that, answer my question." She said as she lit her cigarette and puffed.
"Ah… My name is Avalon, I came looking for a trainer named Christmas in Berlin. You wouldn't happen to be her, would you?" Avalon asked
"That's me, but what do you want with a washed up trainer like me?" Chris responded.
"Oh, well…"Avalon began
'She's intimidating'
"...would you…" she stumbled over her words, she wasn't very good with these types.
"Spit it out already." Chris spoke, taking another puff from her cigarette.
"...please be my trainer?"
And that…
"..."
made her drop her cigarette.
—
"Please."
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pleeeeease?"
Currently, Avalon was wheeling Chris back to the academy. After being rejected by Chris, she couldn't exactly just stand there and take it.
So here she was, begging this one armed trainer to take her in.
"No."
Of course, Chris wasn't having any of it and kept saying no. The only reason she let this weak umamusume wheel her to the academy was because she was extremely tired and Avalon had insisted.
"Why???" Avalon asked desperately.
"..." At this, Chris remained silent for a moment and responded with another question, "Do you really wanna know?"
Thinking she finally got through to the grumpy trainer, Avalon's eyes lit up and responded, "Yes!"
"Well then, first of all…" Chris began to mercilessly list off everything that was wrong with her running and why she couldn't take her in.
It went along the lines of, "your useless, your body is weak, you can't use your unique skill properly, your form is sloppy blah blah blah."
The reasons piled on, it lasted the whole walk back to Alcott. Avalon had never felt so humiliated.
And the worst part? Everything she said was undoubtedly true, she didn't know whether to feel frustrated or impressed by how much she knew from a single observation.
During her berating, Avalon had used her insight on Chris to see her stats.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
[INSIGHT]
Name: Christmas in Berlin (Chris)
Title: The tyrant of a forgotten era
Condition: traumatised
Running style: Great chaser
Speed: C (500)(fracture)
Stamina: B+ (750)(fracture)
Power: A (800)(fracture)
Guts: S (1000)(fracture)
Wit: SS+ (1200)
Unique Skill:
★ Tyrants descent (Lv. MAX)
→ increase acceleration and velocity massively on the final straight
Domain: Tyrants aura
→ unaffected by debuffs
Injuries: amputee, fracture (healed but nerfed stats)
Year: Retired
Description: An old forgotten god of the racecourse.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
'...Damn.' Avalon's mind could only muster such a thought. This is her weakened??? What the hell was she like in her prime?
Even with these stats she could probably give Don a run for her money… This just made Avalon even more determined to have Chris as her trainer.
So she spoke up, "Even if all of what you say about me is true, why does that mean you can't train me? Isn't it a trainer's job to correct my weaknesses?" Avalon was resolved to get the trainee position.
"..." Chris went silent, thought for a moment and said, "Take me to the school's practice racecourse."
"Uh?" Avalon was confused but complied, 'She completely ignored me didn't she…'
Avalon dejectedly took the suddenly silent Chris to the racecourse, the same racecourse she went splat on.
"Tell me…" Chris began to ask a question that got the attention of Avalon, "Why do you run?"
"Huh? What's with the sudden deep question?" Avalon asked in response in stunned confusion.
Chris ignored the question and pointed at the racecourse, "Run a lap. Don't answer me with words, answer me with actions. If you can answer my question, I'll take you as my trainee. Although I sincerely doubt you will."
"Uh… Okay?" Avalon was still slightly confused but she did as she was told and walked over to the course.
Luckily she was in the academy's tracksuit so she was good to go. But it was getting dark, she should hurry up and run the lap before it became pretty much impossible to see.
So she stood at the line and replayed the question in her head.
'Why do I run?'
She lowered her stance and got ready to launch. The question was one that was asked throughout the series tons of times, but when put in the situation herself, Avalon found the question was harder to answer than expected.
BOOM-!
Avalon launched off the ground and began to run, she wasn't fast or slow, just average. Her mind wasn't focused on her running however, it was the dilemma Chris had given her.
'At first I ran because it felt like the natural thing to do. But when faced with why…' her mind was preoccupied with an array of thoughts.
Avalon's pace began to speed up, she ran at a steady pace but it was clear the speed increased.
'Why…'
Umamusume are born to run.
'Why…'
Even though that is a known fact, each Umamusume usually has a distinct reason as to why they run.
'WHY…!'
Even if they don't have a clear reason, every single one of them at least has a vague idea.
'WHY DO I RUN?!'
But Avalon had no reason to do what she did. Not even a vague reason.
Maybe it was because she never thought about it.
Maybe it was because she was a transmigrator.
Either way, it didn't matter. She had no purpose as to why she did anything she was currently doing.
Soon enough, without even noticing it, Avalon had completed her lap.
Then she looked off to the side, where Chris was sitting, her face distraught, as if she had come to a terrifying realisation.
But Chris' face remained coldly indifferent and said simply,
"That…" she began dryly, as if she had said this hundreds of times, "...is why you don't deserve to be my trainee."
—
END OF CHAPTER
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