Chapter Text
Hot Pants had been following Johnny and Gyro for some time before they disappeared. She was following a good two or three kilometers behind to prevent them from picking up on her. She was trying her best to be stealthy but she caught Gyro glances over his shoulder a few times. She figured the first time was because he was paranoid but on the second glance, she could tell he was looking straight at her. After that, she slowed Get Up’s pace and she hugged the treeline. She grumbled because when she had come to after the Ringo Incident, her roast beef sandwiches were gone. Of course there was a good chance that Johnny had taken the food but she got more hostile vibes from Gyro.
Once the pair had turned off the path, Hot Pants stopped completely. She sat and listened for any noises of them backtracking to her. Nothing beside the thrill of birds whistling. She shifted her weight. Cream Starter was in easy reaching distance in case of an attack.
“Get Up… let’s go,” she stroked her horse’s mane. She tapped her heels and the horse began a trot to where the boys had disappeared through.
The brush was thick where they had gone there. Evidence of snapped branches showed their path. She continued with caution but froze when she heard Johnny scream.
“Dio! Get back here you bastard!” his scream echoed throughout the forest.
So they had seen Dio and taken off after him. Hot Pants was relieved but she decided to continue along with tracking them. She had avoided Dio before the race. Even though he was famous as a jockey, she could feel his arrogance and pride radiating off of him. He held himself as though he were higher than everyone else and that he could be the sole victor of the race. Hot Pants was not concerned with the actual race. Winning the past round had been more or less of a fluke, it had drawn attention to her. After winning, she had a small crowd congratulating her; another crowd (including both Gyro and Johnny) wanting to know who the hell she was and how she won the round.
There was a rustling in the bushes. A man came crawling out. He had fresh injuries that could have only been caused by Gyro’s steel balls. He was more focused on escaping from them, he had landed at the hooves of Get Up. Hot Pants straightened her back and made herself look larger than she actually was. She presented herself with an air full menace. He yelped when he saw her and shrunk away.
“Who in God’s name are you?” she asked in a gruff voice.
He did not respond but scrambled to his feet and sped off into the forest.
“Stop right there you jerk!,” a kid came chasing behind him from the bush also. He kept pushing his hat which was too large for his head out of his eyes. He also gave a small jump when he saw Hot Pants. “It’s you, you jerk!”
Hot Pants stared at the kid blankly. He appeared to be in his preteens and his clothes hung from his small frame. She had no idea who he was but he knew who she was.
“You’re that jerk Hot, uh Hot, Buddy Holly?” he appeared to be pulling a blank on her name.
“What are you doing out here boy?” she asked him. She had not seen any villages or homes along the path. Of course she had not ventured into the forest so there could have easily been a house that this boy lived in with his family. But his response convinced her otherwise.
«I’m gonna win a race,» he responded in Italian, «but my horse is…»
He trailed off and appeared lost in thought. He glanced at Get Up as if to jog his memory before running back from where he came from. He slipped through the branches and was gone before Hot Pants could stammer out a ‘wait.’She was more concerned with why the boy first addressed her in English then switched to Italian. She had been lucky enough to learn some with her time in the nunnery. There weren’t any Italian settlements she knew of in this area. They were more prominent in the cities because of the factories. She considered briefly following that man she first saw, but he had hightailed it outta there so quickly she voted against it. The kid was heading back in the direction of where she assumed Gyro and Johnny had been. If they had been chasing Dio, then he would be there too. The kid would be heading into what could be a minor battlefield with them.
“God watch over me,” she said as she unhooked Cream Starter.
She urged Get Up further into the forest. Small branches scratched at her boots. It was obvious that they had not ridden their horses through this patch. She had been looking over her shoulder to make sure any of the boys would not jump her.
«Get away from him,» she heard the boy from earlier say.
With a click of her tongue, Get Up sped up. In the clearing, it was the boy pushing down another kid. This kid put up his hands and tried to roar at him as if he were a lion. From behind the first boy, there was another boy sitting on the ground crying. The other two boys were easily younger than the first boy. Hot Pants checked to make sure there was no sign of the others. She slid off her horse and walked over to the kids. The first boy picked up the crying one and gave her a mean look.
«Don’t come over here meanie. I’ll get you good!» he stood his ground and tried to make himself look more intimidating just like she had done.
«Wait, I don’t want to hurt you. I’m nice,» she held her palms outwards.
The boy stared at her. He was almost trying to figure out how she knew how to speak Italian much less if she meant no harm.
«Why do you speak my language?» he shouted, taking a step back.
«There are many Italians where I’m from,» a blatant lie «is he hurt? I can help.»
The boy handed over the younger kid. Holding the boy reminded her of her own brother. She momentarily had a flashback to when she was cornered by a grizzly bear. In order to save herself, she allowed her brother to be killed. He was not old and he was pure. He had died while she festered with the sin and his blood stained onto her soul. He was about the same age as this boy she held in her arms.
She checked his arms but there were only small scratches big. There was a small gash on his forehead below his star embellished beanie. Blood dribbled out of it; he couldn’t have gotten it in a fight with the other boy. She told him to close his eyes while she healed him. The fleshy cream from her stand covered the wound. The Italian kid watched without betraying any notions of surprise.
«There’s a boy I know with the same hat named Johnny.»
«His name’s Johnny. I know that and he’s my friend,» the Italian kid responded.
Hot Pants froze. The beanie hat boy appeared not to understand their conversation in Italian. He just looked warily at the other boy who was sitting in the dirt. A hat was on the ground beside him, above the brim boasted the three letters: D I O. He gazed at them angrily. She looked back over at the Italian kid. His hat resembled the same hat Gyro wore. Hot Pants’ head swum with confusion. Were these boys actually Johnny, Gyro, and Dio? She tried to figure out how it could have actually happened. There was no sign of their horses either, so if it were them, their horses must have ran away during the commotion.
“H-Hiya Johnny boy, are you hurting anywhere else?” Hot Pants slowly asked the boy.
“I can’t feel my legs…” he said matter-of-factly “but that’s ok, I’m tired of walking anyway.”
“W-wait, so your name is Johnny?”
“Uh-huh mister.”
“Then what’s his name?” Hot Pants pointed over to who she assumed was Gyro.
“His name is… uh… I don’t remember but he’s my friend,” he pointed over to the assumed Dio, “I don’t like him. He’s mean.”
“Mhmm, he does look like a bit of a meanie to me too,” Hot Pants said. Dio pouted and crossed his arms over his chest.
«Bambino, what’s your name?»
«Gyro.»
She was right. She handed Johnny back over to Gyro. She stood up and dusted off the lower half of her tunic. She approached Dio who looked away when she crouched in front of him.
“Are you hurt anywhere?” She asked.
He stuck out his tongue.
“Ok mister. Well we aren’t staying here, so upsy daisy.”
She picked up Dio and dusted him off also. She grabbed his hat off the ground and tapped it against her leg to get off a bit of the dirt. She placed it on his head.
«Bambino, were there any horses here?» she asked. Apparently as a kid, Gyro didn’t hold his grudge towards her. He was still wary about her and kept his distance. She liked that much but from what she could tell, both of them still didn’t like Dio.
«Yes sir, they went that way,» he pointed in the opposite direction that she came from.
“Ok, I guess we’re gonna have to go find you guys’ horses,” she said in English to the two younger boys. She gave a smile but that was more because even as a kid Gyro still believed that she was a man.
“I like horses,” Johnny chirped from behind Gyro’s hair.
“Well that’s good Johnny, cause this is my horse Get Up and you can ride him if you want,” Hot Pants said.
She motioned for Gyro to get closer after she put Dio on the ground. He shuffled over and helped Johnny onto the horse. He then went to the other side of Get Up so Hot Pants could only see him peering over it.
“I wanna get on too,” Dio said.
“No! He’s mean,” Johnny responded.
Dio started to pull on the saddle. Johnny hit at his head. The glint in Gyro’s eye confirmed that he was ready to fight Dio if needed.
“Boys stop,” Hot Pants pulled Dio back “ok since you were mean to Johnny earlier, you have to walk.”
Dio crossed his arms and glared at Hot Pants, “It’s not fair.”
“You should have thought of that before you hit Johnny. Look, you can hold my hand while we walk.”
Dio cautiously uncrossed his arms. He held onto Hot Pants’ hand and gave a small smile.
«Where did the horses go?» she asked Gyro.
He pointed in the opposite direction that she had come from. Of course they had gone over there, she thought. But knowing how domesticated the horses were, they probably did not go that far. She untied Get Up and they started to walk; after she told Johnny to hold on and for Gyro to watch him in case something happened.
A few steps into the brush, Gyro tripped on his pants. His face was flustered after he caught himself. Dio was having some trouble also. He was using his free hand to hold up his own trousers and stumbled along. Johnny, on the other hand, was enjoying his horse ride so he didn’t care. Hot Pants stopped and opened up her saddlebag.
«I have some, uh,» she couldn’t remember the word for rope.
She started to pantomime a cowboy roping a loose steer but the message didn’t get across to Gyro. She dug in the bag pushing aside an assortment of things before finding the cord of rope and a knife. Upon seeing the rope, Gyro registered what she had meant. She cut two pieces off: one for Dio and another for Johnny. Gyro got the rest and set about making his make shift belt. Hot Pants had Dio tuck his shirt into his pants before tying the rope around his waist. She rolled up the legs of his pants and did her best at tucking them so they would not roll down later. While she was rolling up Dio’s pants, she realized that he didn’t even have shoes.
“Where are your shoes at?”
“They’re too big.”
“You should have told me.”
“I didn’t want to.”
“Dio,” he didn’t say that wasn’t his name so Hot Pants was right, “you should have told me. Your feet are all scratched up.”
“Then can I ride on the horse? Johnny can walk!” Dio’s face lit up realizing that he could his feet to his advantage.
“No! No Dio on the horse,” Johnny said.
Hot Pants sighed, “Johnny can’t walk Dio.”
“That’s not fair!” He tried to hit Johnny.
Hot Pants lifted Dio off the ground. He tried to reach for Get Up but she held him on her side away from the horse. “Dio, stop being a brat. I’ll carry you for now.”
«Ready to keep going?» she asked Gyro who responded with a thumbs up.
They found the horses a little ways farther. Johnny’s horse, Slow Dancer, noticed them first and came trotting over. The other two took a bit of wrangling skills from Hot Pants. She caught Gyro’s horse after it paused and stared at its owner. She grabbed the rein and brought it over to Get Up and Slow Dancer where she used the rope that was supposed to be Johnny’s belt to tie their reins together.
Dio’s horse, Silver Bullet, proved to be the most difficult horse to catch. Unlike the other two, it wasn’t interested in its owner. The horse was also used to racing at the jockey lots so it was fast and quick. Every time she thought it got it, the horse would leave her in a dust cloud. She looked over at the boys. Gyro was talking to Johnny who was intently watching Hot Pants fail at catching the horse. Dio was too busy trying to climb onto Gyro’s horse to notice anything else. She unclipped Cream Starter and melted her right hand. If she could scare Silver Bullet towards her disembodied hand, then she would have a better chance at catching the rein. She snuck around the horse and approached it carefully. She didn’t want it to kick. Once she got a few meters within the horse, it took off. It ran towards her hand but at the last second it changed course. It took a few more tries until she was able to catch the rein and bring the horse (and her hand) back in.
Dio was on Valkyrie's back trying to urge it to go. The horse just looked annoyed with the boy’s actions. Gyro had moved onto juggling his steel balls instead of talking to Johnny. The third boy had wide eyes.
“How did your hand do that?” he asked as she walked up with Silver Bullet in tow.
“With my stand here… like your fingernails…” she said.
He stared at her then looked at his own hands. He tried to make his nails fly away but he couldn’t. He shook his hands and made signs.
“I can’t do that. I’m not magic like you,” he said dejectedly.
Hot Pants gave him a pat on the head. She set about tying Silver Bullet to the other horses with her own belt. She heard leaves rustling and looked at the boys. Johnny and Dio were still on top of their horses and Gyro had paused in his juggling. He made eye contact with Hot Pants as if to say that he also heard the noise. She motioned for him to watch the other two as she walked off into the forest. She could not see anything suspicious right away. It must have been an animal, she reasoned before returning back to the boys.
«You find something mister?» he asked. He rolled the ball over the back of his hand before holding onto it tight.
« No… it must have been a squirrel,» she glanced back over her shoulder, «Gyro, do you remember what happened before I found you?»
« Not really, there was that man. He’s the one that hurt Johnny.»
«Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?!»
«I just remembered it.»
She broke out into a cold sweat. It was probably that man out somewhere in the forest. She told Gyro to get on his horse and she moved Dio to Silver Bullet. Hot Pants climbed onto Get Up with Johnny in her lap. She knew they needed to get out of the forest because that man was probably a stand user and he was probably targeting them for the corpse pieces. He must have used his ability to turn them into kids somehow. It made them easier to get rid of; since he ran away when she appeared, he must have a fear of fighting an equal battle.
«Do you remember anything else about the man?»
A moment of silence from Gyro before he responded with a simple no. She asked Dio who said he didn’t know anything either.
“I remember that Dio was big and then the man stepped near him and Dio got little,” Johnny said. “Gyro was big too. And he hit the man but then the man made him small too.”
“Yeah!” Dio added from behind “I remember Gyro hitting the guy in the face but then the man stepped near him and made him small.”
Hot Pants made note of this. If he was to step near, then she would have to step away.
“How close was he boys?” she asked.
“I dunno.” Dio responded.
“Farther than this,” Johnny held his arms out.
“Thank you Johnny. Hopefully we’ll figure how exactly to revert this.”