Author's Note: Did you hear the news? "Luca" was the most-streamed movie of 2021!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So hurray!!!!!!!!!
I think Pixar would take notice of this, so maybe will see the Underdogs again (I hope they do something with Giulia's mom, it would be nice to see her in a major role)

Giulia ran into the water and jumped under it, immediately swimming.

"Go, Giulia!" Luca encouraged her with a raised fist. "You got this!"

"Swim! Swim! Swim!" Alberto joined him.

He might not be able to talk to Giulia, but he could encourage her, not only because the excitement was contagious, but he genuinely wanted to support her; he just couldn't do it face to face.

Giulia had started last, the others were way ahead of her, but luckily she quickly surpassed them, all but Ciccio, who was still in the lead.

"Sardines! Ciccio's winning." Alberto complained.

Ercole listened to him, lowered his binoculars, and smiled, looking at Alberto over his shoulder as if he had already won. Alberto just looked at him, making a face.

"No, no, wait," Luca said as he pointed at Ciccio.

Guido, now behind Ercole, also heard him and looked at Luca, then at his friend.

Ciccio was about to reach the buoy-

CHOMP!

-when he stopped screaming, he stuck a foot out of the water; a small fish was biting his toe.

Ciccio screamed as he began to writhe in the water, more and more fish coming to bite him.

"Ouch!" Alberto said, looking away, he didn't like Ciccio, but even he felt sorry for him.

"I tried to warn him," Luca sighed. He knew the fish would smell the oil and come to devour it, an advantage of being a farmer for his whole life.

Guido looked at Luca and then at Ciccio, who was screaming and squirming at the attack of the shoal.

"Luca wanted to help him," he thought. Since they met them, Ercole, Ciccio, and himself had done nothing but bully them, and yet Luca tried to save Ciccio from the fishes, he had no reason to, but he did, "how noble."

Even if that would have given them an advantage (which had already happened, as Giulia exceeded Ciccio) Luca, put Ciccio's well-being first.

"What?" Ercole asked, lowering his binoculars.

"Of course, he doesn't care about Ciccio; he's just angry because we lost the lead," Guido thought; that's how it always was.

Giulia turned around the buoy and began to swim back.

"You know, part of me wants to congratulate Giulia, but the other can't stop thinking about poor Ciccio," Luca said.

Alberto nodded his head while gritting his teeth.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Ciccio whimpered as Giulia passed past him, the fishes biting from his arms.

The girl stuck her head out of the water, still swinging, and saw the blond.

"Poor thing," she thought before resuming the swim; of course, she wanted to beat him, but not like this.

Giulia kept paddling; the closer she got to the shore, the boys got more excited, happiness invaded them, and they began to cheer, forgetting about Ciccio.

"Go, Giulia! Go! Yeah!" Alberto yelled as he jumped.

"You're almost here, Giulia! You can do it! You can do it!

Guido looked at the boys again; they seemed truly happy for Giulia; they shouted but to encourage her, not to scold her, unlike Ercole, who never congratulated them, only reprimanded and belittled.

"So that's companionship," he thought. He didn't want to side with the losers (God, they weren't even that anymore, they were winning), but the way they behaved- he wanted to know how that felt.

Giulia reached the shore; she took off her visor and tossed it aside, then ran towards her friends. Ercole followed her with a frown, obviously angry; he looked through his binoculars again at Ciccio, who was still screaming in pain.

"Swim, Ciccio! Come on!" he said between clenched teeth, then raised his voice: "Swim!"

Alberto jumped off the step to join Giulia, he stretched his hand out to reach hers, but the girl backed her hand as if he were radioactive; Alberto made a face.

"Now what?" he asked, annoyed.

"I need a towel!" She answered, she was soaked, and she wasn't risking her friends.

Alberto rolled his eyes and approached her.

"Is just the hand; no one's gonna notice," he whispered.

Giulia looked at the crowd, then back at Alberto.

"The whole town is here; someone is gonna notice. I'm not risking you!"

Alberto looked behind Giulia; the other competitors were already arriving.

"We're losing the lead!"

"Is better than losing your life!"

The two were making an effort not to yell.

Meanwhile, the audience had realized they were discussing; everyone looked confused at the kids; nobody understood why they had stopped to argue if they had the lead, in addition to the fact that Giulia had swum perfectly.

Giulia and Alberto were about to continue their discussion when Luca arrived.

"Giulia, catch!"

From the top, he threw a towel at her; she smiled and jumped, catching it in the air, she dried her hands, and then hand-shake Alberto:

"Go, go, go!"

Alberto nodded and ran towards the table; he showed both thumbs when passing beside Luca.

"Good job, Luca!"

Luca just smiled; while those two were fighting, he went asking Massimo for a towel; luckily, he had it at hand.

People were still confused by the altercation, but seeing that the Underdogs were back on the game, they cheered Alberto on and forgot about the fight.

Giulia couldn't believe her part was over; she was so used to doing the three challenges herself that it felt- odd- like she hadn't done enough; swimming was always the easiest; pedaling after eating was her kryptonite.

"Go with Alberto. I'll catch up later!" She yelled at Luca as she toweled herself dry.

Luca nodded and went with Alberto, who had sat at the end of the table, the closest position to the bikes, the advantage of being first.

"Ha-ha! Trenette!" Alberto said as he took his fork and dipped it into the pasta. "This will be a breeze!"

It was his favorite human meal; it would be like another dinner at the Marcovaldo's; he took the food to his mouth and began to savor it.

"Is not as good as Massimo's do," he thought.

Luca came to his side, stood behind the chair, and placed a hand on Alberto's shoulder as he gave him a friendly shake.

"You got this, Alberto!"

Alberto looked over his shoulder to see Luca; he smiled while chewing.

"How could I even think of abandoning him?"

Giulia joined them soon after, fully dressed, along with the other competitors, who began devouring their plates. The girl stood on the opposite side of Luca, leaving Alberto in the middle.

Alberto had almost finished his plate; the other kids couldn't keep up with him.

"Go, go! Go, Alberto! Go!" Giulia encouraged him, raising her fist; the emotion for winning made her forget the problems she had with the boy.

Alberto only looked at her out of the corner of his eye; he wanted to smile, but he was so close to finishing that if he lost track, it would bite himself, so he focused on chewing.

Ciccio finally reached the beach, the last one; the fish were still biting him in the arms, legs, and chest, the boy was still screaming, although now more of disgust than pain.

He shook his body, trying to get rid of them; Guido saw him worried.

"Those things aren't poisonous, right?" Guido thought; he should ask Luca; surely he knew.

Ciccio tried to speak, but he couldn't find the words.

"Stop crying and tag Guido!" Ercole pushed him towards Ciccio; by pure instinct, Ciccio high-fived Guido, then Ercole grabbed him back as he went over to Ciccio to take a fish from his chest. "Imbecille!"

Then Ercole tossed the fish to Ciccio's face.

"Hasn't he suffered enough?" Guido thought, but he didn't have time for much more; as Ercole pushed him towards the stairs.

"Andiamo! Run, run!"

Ercole took him to the table and sat him down, right in the middle. Guido looked confused; he wanted to stay and help Ciccio, but now he was there, with the pasta in front of him, he hadn't had time to process anything.

He looked at Alberto's plate; his rival had already devoured half of it, while his stomach was queasy; he didn't think he could make it; but it would be worse to face Ercole, who was looking at him with arms crossed. Guido took the fork and began to eat; while chewing, he looked at his opponents again; Luca and Giulia were by Alberto's side, but they didn't yell at him or look down on him; they supported him, they shared his joy.

Guido swallowed the pasta as he thought: why the hell was he still with Ercole? What benefits did it bring him? Yes, the town kids respected him, but Ercole made up for the humiliation and the beatings; other than that, there was no use; neither he nor Ciccio were even gonna see any of the prize money; Ercole always kept everything.

He always said:

"Letting you imbeciles hang out with me is your prize."

But despite everything, he hurried to eat, not wanting to think about what Ercole would do to them if they lost.

"Finito!" Alberto shouted, hitting the table; he turned around to tag Luca.

Luca smiled as he went for Giulia's bike, got on it, and put the cullender on his head; he had painted flames on the sides to make it look cooler.

He unlocked the stand and started pedaling; another good thing about working as a team was he already knew Giulia's bike; he didn't have to get used to the pedals.

He started, with Giulia and Alberto following behind:

"Go! Go, Luca!" Giulia cheered.

"You're the best, Luca! You got this! Go!" Alberto cheered as he jumped up and waved his arms in the air.

The people on the sides of the road applauded him while sending him encouragement.

"Forza!"

"Go, Luca!"

"Don't let Ercole win!"

Above them all, the little children cheered the most; they wanted Ercole's reign of terror to end once and for all.

Ercole glanced at Luca, who was already biking up the hill.

"Per mille cavoli, Guido! Faster!" Ercole yelled in his ear.

Guido swallowed; he was eating as fast as he could, but this year there was something wrong with the pasta; that or his emotions had affected his stomach. He was about to tell Ercole when he grabbed him from the hair and pulled him up; Guido was too weak to protest.

"Eat, idiota!" And without warning, Ercole grabbed a large piece of pasta and stuffed it into the poor boy's mouth: "Plu veloce!"

Guido opened his eyes while Ercole stirred the pasta in his mouth; he had to swallow because otherwise, he would choke; he was already having trouble breathing.

"Hey, that's not allowed," the girl next to him claimed, pointing her fork at him.

That made Alberto and Giulia turn around; it seemed that poor Guido was about to lose consciousness; the two made faces as they backed away; the scene was disgusting, with some spaghetti hanging from the boy's mouth.

"He's done!" Ercole took Guido's hand and slammed it against the table, then raised it and bumped his hand with it; after that, he ran towards the bikes, leaving poor Guido agonizing on the table.

...

"What did I do to deserve this?" Guido thought. "You helped Ercole to bully the little ones; you held Alberto so that Ercole beat him; you were close to letting him run over them with the boat."

He had always known it was wrong, helping Ercole mistreat others, but he never did anything; he put up with Ercole's abuse because he was the cool guy on the Vespa, and if abusing others made him friends with the cool guy on the Vespa, so be it.

But it was a lie; Ercole wasn't his friend; a friend wouldn't treat him as Ercole-

As Ercole treated them, Ciccio also got his in the abuse; a friend would encourage them, treat them well, congratulate them.

Guido couldn't stop thinking of his rivals; since Giulia saved the boys from them, they had been inseparable; yes, it seemed Alberto and Giulia argued after the swim, but it didn't escalate; there had been no mistreatment. Dear God, even Giulia had protected Luca from that sea monster yesterday at the beach, Ercole would have left them to fate.

Guido slowly got up; he hoped they lose the race, he really did; it was time for Ercole to feel humiliated, but since he had no conscience, the only thing left was to beat him in his game; only that would hurt him.

And another thing was clear, as soon as his stomach stopped hurting and his head stopped spinning, he would talk to Ciccio; they had to reevaluate their "friendship" with Ercole.

...

Ercole got on his bike and started the ride; it didn't take him long to pick up speed; he would soon catch up with the others who had gone ahead of him, all except Luca; he was not only too far forward, he was also faster.

"You already lost, catfish!" Alberto yelled at him, holding his hands as if they were a megaphone.

"Your reign of terror ends today!" Giulia joined in. It wasn't just a dream anymore; it was happening, it was going to happen, she was -they were going to win the race!

The two began to jump around; they could already taste the sweet victory.

Alberto stopped and looked at Giulia; the girl laughed while moving her arms happily, then she noticed him; it seemed as if the world stopped there were only the two.

"What are you doing?" Alberto thought, "she's your friend; she's happy for you and Luca; stop playing and just tell her you're sorry."

The joy of the moment eclipsed his embarrassment; he wanted nothing more than enjoying that time with his two friends, the best he could ask.

Giulia felt weird; for the first time that day, Alberto looked at her with sincerity, not angry or uncomfortable, but happy and grateful.

"He's not here just for the Vespa," she thought, "he came here for us. Of course, he did! We are the Underdogs! We Underdogs stand together!

There was only one thing left to do.

Giulia took a few steps towards him; Alberto put a foot behind him, wanting to back away, but he didn't; he stayed still, despite his instincts telling him otherwise.

"That's Bruno, shut him up!"

Giulia doubted if she should continue when seeing Alberto's reaction, but when the boy stopped moving, it encouraged her to do so.

"Alberto. I'm sor..."

She stopped midsentence.

Sunlight had disappeared, the two opened their eyes and looked up, their worst fears were confirmed; a cloud was covering the sky, it was gray, and it was not the only one; many others were positioning themselves above them.

And to make matters worse, they heard thunders.

The two looked down, meeting each other, thinking the same thing; they turned their heads towards the climb.

"Luca," they whispered at the same time.