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JOHNNY JOESTAR: the name repeated in your head a few times as Thunder carefully made her way down the slope. Little by little, you got closer to the leading racers, making a smile make its way onto your face. Still, with the people that kept crashing behind you, your smile fell and you frantically wrapped the reins around your arms. Terror ran rampant in the back of your mind as you made sure to stick to the saddle and hope you didn't become one of any casualties.
But your hopes were instantly crushed.
Before you had a chance to react, the rider at the very front tumbled forward, causing an uproar from up above: "Pocoloco tripped! Pocoloco fell! It's all coming to a head!" You tugged Thunder's reins just slightly, getting ready to outmaneuver whatever would come flying at you. Johnny seemed to think the same and pulled his horse to the side.
"He fell! Pocoloco is down! Pocoloco was imprudent! Gyro is in first place!" Your brows furrowed as you tried to look for the said rider, ducking down closer to Thunder in case something flew out at you. But as you grew closer, you watched Pocoloco and his horse slide down the slope instead, slowly getting up to reveal they had fallen on a cow's corpse.
There were cries of both outrage and excitement as Pocoloco rode his horse on the corpse, yelling something about his luck. Gyro was now closer to you and Johnny, enough that you could see him pull out a spinning steel ball before chucking it at some nearby rock. You grimaced and pulled Thunder away from the rock face, hoping you wouldn't get hit as they rode past.
Just as the ball hit the rocks, a man appeared, landing coincidentally on the rock Gyro had thrown the ball at. You watched as it crumbled and the man jumped off of it, sprinting all the way until he caught up to Pocoloco. Your jaw fell slack as you watched the man run barefoot in some tribal garments.
"Who is he?! That person running! He's running down the hill with his own legs..."
You brushed off the announcers and focused on getting down the final part of the slope until a sign with a two appeared. You pulled your body close to Thunder as the group began to turn on to the straightaway, watching as 'Sandman' jumped onto the rocks and took a shortcut the rest of them couldn't. Had you not been more worried about staying alive for the rest of the straightaway, you might have been ticked off.
The wind blew harshly on your face as the finish line just barely came into view—which was barely blocking out the sound of your heart racing— and you leaned against Thunderstruck's neck, smiling into the white mane.
"Thank you, Thunder," you whispered before squeezing your legs against the horse's midriff. Thunderstruck whinnied in response and pushed forward, leaving a few racers behind. Johnny remained in front of you and you figured you'd just let him. It was good enough for you that you'd be one of the few at the front.
Beside Johnny was Diego, somehow unscathed from the broken bridge he had been caught in. You could see the panic on his face but you had no intention to keep distracting yourself with other people when the most deciding part of the race was taking place. Horses were huffing all around you, including Thunderstruck, which only brought the fear in the back of your head to reappear.
