Underdog Stories

The Heart of the Race follows a modern Hyrule where Formula 1 racing defines heroes and legends. Rookie driver Link joins the struggling Hyrulean Racing, turning the team into unexpected challengers with his fearless talent and quiet determination. As rivalries ignite - from Ganondorf's reigning dominance to Revali's pride and Zelda's conflict between duty and dream - every driver races not only for victory, but for identity and purpose. Across roaring circuits and desert sunsets, courage, ambition, and destiny collide in a story where the true battle isn't just on the track - it's within the heart that drives it. *All characters belong to Nintendo save for some original characters. I own all the artwork used and for the story itself.* I hope you enjoy! All awards (current and past): #1 - Inspiring #1 - Underdog #1 - Revali #1 - Impa #1 - Ganondorf #1 - Paya #1 - Riju #2 - Zelink #1 - Courage #5 - Racing #1 - Link #2 - Zelda #1 - againstallodds

Marcy had a bad day. Then the world ended, and it got much, much worse. One minute, Marcy is a "horribly normal" girl living in a cramped apartment building, pining over her cheerful neighbor, Allan. The next, a "System" descends from the stars, turning Earth into a deadly game and its inhabitants into its players. But while others get to be Paladins or Soldiers, the System has a personal vendetta against Marcy. After refusing its rigged choices, Marcy finds herself transformed: Current Height: 4'2" Current Color: Neon Pink Current Class: [Dragon Fodder] Now, as a physics-defying Bunny-folk with a snarky, six-foot sentient greatsword named Wulf, Marcy has to survive a world that literally wants to eat her. To make matters worse, her crush Allan has reappeared... as a brooding, red-haired Half-Dragon who doesn't know whether to kiss her or have her for lunch. With a snarky System mocking her every move and a mysterious "glitch" in the interface giving her illegal advice, Marcy is about to prove that being "Prey" doesn't mean you're on the menu. Sometimes, to save the world, you just have to jump.

4 Years. 4 Years since my life went to hell. I'm KK, yes that KK. The same KK who's the daughter of a NASCAR Champion. The same KK who's the niece of a 2X NASCAR Champion. The same KK who soften NASCAR's most violated driver. The same KK who started a race car when I was only 11 months old. The same KK who won the heart of America just by an old Indianapolis interview that's from 2003. The same KK whose racing career literally started in Power Wheels Drag Racing. Yes you heard me. Power Wheels....Drag Racing. The same KK who got the nickname AK. The same KK who beat the Brothers at their home track in 2012...and I won the race. The same KK who was a junior drift event in Austria with a car nicknamed The Angry Matchbox. The same KK who drag raced my father at Daytona for the win in K&N Pro Series in 2013. The same KK who won the GT class during the 2014 24HRS of Daytona at 14. The same KK that won a rally race with Kyle Busch.....yes that Kyle Busch. The same KK that still has three Chili Bowl records that are still standing to this day. The same KK who stole her father's ride in 2018. The same KK who was the youngest driver in the sports history. 18 years old. The same KK that wreaked her father in 2018 Brickyard 400. I'm that KK.... Everyone tends to forget all the records I have broken through out my life, but that doesn't matter. Instead I am famous for two things: Stealing my father's ride in 2018. Wreaking my father in the 2018 Brickyard 400. And that's it... What else would I be remembered for? Winning the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series title with an open car team who originally left the sport back in '21? 
Yeah right.....NASCAR will never have a female driver that can compete in a male dominate sport. I might have been the closes, but that doesn't mean anything to anyone. I'm Annistan, and this is my story.

At Southwestern University, Kenji Takeda is doing everything he's supposed to do. He moved into a dorm. He's grinding assignments. He's trying to keep his grades up for a family that believes "school comes first" and nothing else even comes close. But burnout doesn't care about expectations. Kenji's broke. He's tired. He DoorDashes at night just to keep gas in his tank and food in his room. He helps people with homework for quick cash. He tells jokes so nobody notices how close he is to snapping. And then the road starts calling again. Nine months after a crash he refuses to talk about, Kenji finally gets a car. A 2012 Honda Fit Sport. Automatic. Stock. The kind of car nobody takes seriously. Until they see what he can do with it. A canyon route called The Serpent has its own rules, its own legends, and its own crews. The biggest name in the air is the AfterBurners, and Kenji isn't one of them. Not yet. But when his old high school friend Tomo resurfaces and pulls him back into the scene, Kenji finds himself standing on the edge of something he's tried to forget. Racing isn't just about speed. It's about control. Reputation. Survival. And if Kenji isn't careful, The Serpent won't just give him a name... It'll take everything else.

The 2234 Universe gathers wild, thought‑provoking stories from every corner of a hard‑won Solar System. In the asteroid belt people struggle and strive. On Ariel's ice, a battered outpost fights to reboot its lungs and its conscience. In Caleb's Vein, a belt crew chases a river of living metal through the dark, trading sleep and skin for one shot at freedom. In Ethan's Saviour, a burned‑out responder on half‑pressured Mars gambles everything on a rescue that could redeem a city or expose its lie. These are hard science fiction tales built from real physics, ruthless economics, and stubborn hope. Mass drivers sing, contracts bite, robots keep score, and people still fall in love. From frost‑bright moons to dust‑red plains, every page asks the same question: what is a future worth if we forget the people in it? Facts, opportunities, and souls, all lit by the cold bright sun of 2234. Welcome to the World of 2234.

After surviving the first wave of the corporate battle, Winston Ballowr remains in control of Ballowr Capital-but the war is far from over. Otto Densmore escalates the conflict, launching a full proxy fight that will allow shareholders to decide who truly deserves to lead the company. With investors dividing into opposing camps, the future of Ballowr Capital now rests on a single vote. Among them stands Adelaide Farrel, a powerful institutional investor whose decision may determine the outcome of the entire war. As media pressure intensifies and the final vote approaches, Winston must do something he has never done before-prove that he is not just the man who inherited the company, but the one capable of protecting it. Yet while the world of Wall Street turns the conflict into a spectacle, Winston approaches the fight in the only way he knows how: quietly, honestly, and without pretending to be someone else. Because in the end, the battle for Ballowr Capital will not be decided by who wants the company the most- but by who is willing to stay and take responsibility for it.

Life can change pretty fast. Aqua finds this out as he and his mother move away and he gets enrolled into a magic academy. Starfall Academy! An up and coming magic school that has a diverse staff and strong students to look up to. The first year class that Aqua joins is filled with students that show how Starfall is unique, from the eccentric ones, to the serious ones, those who have love always on the mind, and those who just want to leave, Aqua is going to be the perfect addition to this years class! Even if no one realises it yet.

Winston Ballowr has spent most of his life doing whatever job would pay. Construction work. Pizza delivery. Cleaning sewer tunnels in the middle of the night. Anything that helped him survive another month in his tiny apartment in Queens. He never cared about suits, investors, or billion-dollar deals. Then one day his mother shows up with unexpected news. The father who abandoned him twenty years ago is dead. And somehow... Winston has inherited the company. Ballowr Capital - a powerful investment firm in Manhattan worth billions. Now a man who doesn't understand hedge funds, corporate politics, or even basic boardroom etiquette suddenly finds himself sitting in the CEO's chair. The board doesn't trust him. His elegant stepmother wants the company for herself. And Winston still rides the subway to work and occasionally shows up wearing a borrowed suit from the head of security. But while Winston may not understand the rules of high finance... He's spent his entire life learning how to survive people. And in the world of billionaires, that might be the most dangerous skill of all.

This story follows a twenty two year old Kira Della. Kira is what you would describe in one simple word, stubborn. In this story her stubborn ways get her caught up in the scenario of her dreams and worst nightmares. This summer in a slump, after dropping out of college and being fired from her job her junior year. Kira impulsively takes on a job as a crew member aboard a luxury cruise ship. How did she get the job? Im not sure she could even tell you that. What she does know however, is that her new boss Mattis Wainwright is just as stubborn as she is, if not more. Find out what happens with Kira and Mattis in this book. Boss Voyage!

Izamuri Sakuta was once a top student in mechanical engineering at Tokyo University. But after his stepfather's sudden death left him with crushing gambling debts, his life crumbled. Homeless, broke, and abandoned by everyone. Including his ex-girlfriend. Izamuri drifts through Tokyo's streets with nothing but a bag and a heavy heart. That is, until an old friend, Haruka, offers him a job at a small garage. It's there, under the harsh fluorescent lights and oil-stained concrete, that Izamuri rediscovers something he had long buried: his passion for cars. One evening, while cleaning up, Izamuri uncovers a car under a tarp. It's a Honda Civic EK9 Type R. Tuned and built to be a pure-blooded track machine, stripped of comfort, tuned for war. The white paint gleams under the lights. Carbon fiber panels. An 8-point roll cage. A B18C VTEC engine, singing silently like a coiled beast. He doesn't drive it, but it speaks to him. And he listens. As he breathes in the faint scent of fuel and rubber, something awakens in him. The car doesn't just fascinate him. it calls to him. He feels his heart race, not from nostalgia, but from instinct. As if he had once lived for this. As if he was meant to race.

In the powerful Silvercrest Pack, strength is everything. Status. Bloodline. Power. Aria Rivers has none of them. A quiet countryside girl raised by her grandmother, Aria spends most of her days gathering herbs and staying far away from the pack elites who constantly mock and ridicule her. To them, she is nothing more than a weak outsider who doesn't belong among real wolves. But fate has other plans. When the powerful Alpha Ethan Blackwood returns after years of training, the entire pack gathers to welcome their leader home. Every powerful she-wolf dreams of becoming his Luna. But when the mate bond finally reveals itself, the Moon Goddess chooses someone no one expected. The quiet countryside girl everyone laughs at. Now the same pack that mocked Aria must bow to her. But becoming Luna is not easy. Jealous enemies rise from within the pack, rival Alphas begin to take interest in her mysterious power, and a dangerous secret hidden in Aria's bloodline slowly begins to awaken. Because the girl they called weak... might become the most powerful Luna the wolf world has ever seen.

Pedro and Jeff are not your average heroes... and that might be the problem. Armed with questionable plans, unmatched confidence, and absolutely zero coordination, this unlikely duo is determined to bring justice to the city - one glorious mistake at a time. With capes flying, gadgets misfiring, and villains scratching their heads, Pedro & Jeff prove that saving the day doesn't always go according to plan. Sometimes it goes way, way worse. But somehow? It still works.

If you could be perfect, or the underdog who would you choose? After reading this mystery entailed story would you change your mind? Rose or Alice?

UPDATES EVERY THURSDAY, SATURDAY, & MONDAY. Addie Collins never meant to compete for a crown. A broke photographer. A reckless decision. A royal dating competition she never expected to win. Prince Casimir isn't the man the world thinks he is, and falling for him might cost Addie the life she loves. With rivals closing in and the spotlight burning hotter by the day, she must choose between the crown everyone wants for her...or herself. Love, lies, and a race where the finish line changes everything.

The floor remembers every step. The shoes record every hesitation. And the system has decided: Excellence is a liability. In Pace Town, the Embers don't just play basketball-they perform compliance. Every movement on the court is tracked by Emberloc smart-soles, monitored by PulseBands, and edited in real-time by an algorithm that fears unpredictability more than it fears losing. Chloe Clout, #11, knows the rules: Stay in the lane. Wait for the signal. Let the coach decide your narrative. But in the season opener, Chloe does the one thing the data didn't predict. She pulls up from deep. She ignores the vibration in her shoe. She creates a moment so electric the arena shakes. The crowd calls it magic. The broadcast calls it confidence. The system calls it a threat. Labeled "High-Risk" and benched for being too visible, Chloe realizes she's fighting a new kind of opponent. One that doesn't block shots, but deletes minutes. Now, she has to decide: does she play the game they designed, or does she break the algorithm? In a league where talent is managed like a weapon, the most dangerous thing you can do is stand out.

Malcom a ex-detective, and Luna the one missing, meet again in the afterlife only to find a broken outdated system! Someone has to make a change, or somesoul, it won't be easy for the two. They must sneak away from detecting software attempting to take them and others back to the lab after recent escape. Will they change the eternal graveyard? Or be another test subject for all eternity? What do we really know about how others should be judged after death? Rankings! #1 in 'ingredients' #2 in 'refugee' #3 in 'advanced' #6 in 'underdog' #7 in 'afterdeath' #8 in 'lifeordeath' #18 in 'godsandgoddesses' #18 in 'undercover' #20 in 'escape' #36 in 'underworld' #149 in 'life'

We all know Harry Potter, the boy who lived, but do we know a specific very helpful group of girls? Meet Rubina "Ruby" Scarlett Black, Astrid Dumbledore, Gwendolyn "Lyn" Snape, and Elspeth Twelvetrees, who are a group called R.A.G.E of the Founders. These girls are all from different houses but they get along just fine. This is a story that will follow these overlooked girls as they go through their seven years. In here, you will find all the answers that you wish you knew in the book series. Please note I will be looking at how they look like in the movies despite not watching the Harry Potter movies.

The Fairway is a lie. The Rough is where the truth hides. Kaitlin Fairwaye should be a hero. After felling the Slice-Fang Hydra and saving Fairwind Commons, she's been dubbed "FirstPar"-a living legend in a world where golf is magic and rhythm is law. But legends come with a price, and Kaitlin's debt is bleeding red. The Eternal Green has recorded her victory in a ledger of crimson light. Every "impossible" shot she fired has incurred a magical handicap that is slowly tearing her apart. While the city celebrates, a new shadow looms over the skyline. Someone or Something has arrived, an enforcer of ancient, brutal penalties who doesn't care about fame-only about collecting what is owed to the course. And It's not alone. HazardHub and the corporate giants of YardCoin are moving to monetize the magic, turning the Cohort's shared rhythm into a gilded cage. Pushed to the fringes of the city, Kaitlin and her ragtag Cohort must venture into The Rough-the unregulated, overgrown wilds where the Weave is broken and the rules are written in blood. To survive, they must do more than just swing. They must start a rebellion. In a game rigged by profit and ancient debts, how do you play the course when the course is trying to kill you?

In the fog‑choked town of Mirageton, reality is never as solid as it seems. A man is found dead behind a shop's glass door - frozen in terror, blood smeared beneath his hands. He's the latest victim in a string of killings, each body discovered in abject horror, as if they had seen - and fought - something impossible. Across town, Ian Hale is coming apart. Plagued by migraines, violent dreams, and a reflection that doesn't always move when he does, he knows one thing for certain: something inside him is wrong. Something watching. Waiting. He wants to run, to leave the rot of Mirageton behind. But the town won't release him. Not his father, who treats him like a debt to be collected; not his own fracturing mind; and certainly not Elaine - sharp, relentless, and the daughter of the lead detective. She's hunting the truth behind the murders. And Ian may be the only thread that leads to it. One wrong move won't just expose him. It will shatter his life, hers, and everyone's in between. As suspicion spreads, an old legend bleeds into waking life. Reflections linger. Glass remembers. And the line between monster and victim begins to crack. The horror in Mirageton isn't just what's hiding in the mirrors. It's what's looking back. ONC 2026 Prompt 76: Your reflection smiles before you do and then begins mimicking things you never did.

By day, Kallen Onyx is just another invisible nineteen-year-old trying to survive the Second Shift District. By night, he is the city's unacknowledged safety net. When the bridges shake and the buses stall, Kallen steps in. He doesn't fly, and he doesn't wear a cape. He turns his skin into unyielding mineral stone to hold up the infrastructure the city refuses to fix. He saves lives. The system logs it as "Operational Variance." He breaks his back. The system calls it "Maintenance." But after years of being a human column for a crumbling city, Kallen feels something new. A delay. A stutter. A lag between his will and his power. The weight is getting heavier. The "Lag" is getting longer. And the city just updated its benchmarks to demand even more. Kallen has to decide: Does he keep holding up a world that treats him like a spare part? Or does he let it fall?