[center][img=http://i.imgur.com/W3nWtqY.jpg][/center]

"Toby! We have a keyAGHG!"

"Eh?"

The boy looked up to see his friend barely miss a dodgeball to the face and burst out laughing at her reaction "Riley! You almost got knocked out!" He briefly stared at her, blinking ignorantly as the gears in his brain began to turn and he realized he found his friends. "RILEY! It's you!" Toby spun to the side in the air as he changed directions and sped towards his friends. Namine scolded the boy as she was forced to make a sharp turn to keep up with him. "Hey! What's the big idea speeding off like that huh?" Toby turned and looked at Namine with a bit of embarrassment, the sight of the others excited him and he accidentally forgot about her for a moment. "Those are my friends!" he shouted, pointing towards Riley and Niran "The brown guy is Ranny Ran, the ginger girl is um, Riley Smiley, um my friend Ace the basket case isn't with them though. Oh, and I don't know any of those guys over there-oh geez!" People were suddenly chasing the two with desperation in there movements. "Oi! We're not the ones with the key y'know!"

Soon enough, Riley was dragging Toby towards the Thunder Dome. The boy waved at the other competitors with a dumb smile on his face, "Hello, bye bye! Have a wonderful time! I'm proud of you people, you're all winners in my heart!" The Thunder Dome itself was more of a straight forward path compared to moving throughout the city in search of the keys. Even so there were numerous amounts of obstacles and buildings all over the path itself, this leg of the race was certainly not going to be a simple straight forward shot, quite a lot of maneuvering would be required to survive. 

[quote=Announcer Goomba]Folks, it looks like we're reaching the end! We are now inside the thunder dome! Mazes, obstacles, and traps, which of our competitors will make it to the end without wiping out! Let me hear a cheer!"[/quote]

Toby soared in the sky alongside his friends as the crowd roared with anticipation and excitement, just as the boy's stomach fluttered with butterflies feeling the same emotions. It was difficult for him not to relish in the fun and attention "Riley" he said softly, tugging on her sleeve as he admired the sight of the audience's energy "This is, marvelous....I feel like a gladiator in ancient rome or something," As exciting as the sight was, the race had already begun and the boy was flying through the menacing Thunder Dome. Various platforms suddenly appeared with the same [url=http://i.imgur.com/YYrEeo4.jpg]steambot[/url] mounted on a gatling gun which began to rattle intensely as pies of different flavors were being shot from the guns at rapid fire. Toby yelped, barely ducking in time to dodge a pie, and began to spin about as he regained his balance and simultaneously avoided the flying desserts. "Ah, gosh, what a waste of pie"

[i][b]SPLAT![/b][/i]

Pie right to the face. "I just got hit" Toby attempted to shout as he spun out of control, however the words were incomprehensible and muffled, due to the pie in his face as well as the spinning. The boy spiraled down for a moment before wiping away the dessert. His eyes grew wide and he yelped once more at the sight of a building before making a hard turn to the right, avoiding the hard concrete only to collide face first into an item box. "AGH, Geez!" grabbing onto the box he watched as the slots came to a stop and smiled with curiosity at the result. "This looks cool," he murmured. All of a sudden a soft machine like growl could be heard. Toby lifted his head up, gazing at what was before him. "Oh, hey there," 

[center][img=http://i.imgur.com/f9tpTwX.jpg][/center]

[center][img=http://i.imgur.com/ln7YTk3.jpg][/center]

Landon and Yves whizzed through the Thunder Dome a significant distance ahead, maneuvering gracefully though the hectic course. "All the garbage has finally been washed out, however we should keep an eye on that Lavi fellow, if you don't recall he was last years winner. We should deal with him as soon as possible." Landon declared and sounded somewhat biased in his suggestion, almost as if he [i]wanted[/i] to eliminate Lavi. He and Yves were no longer moving through the course casually but even so it still appeared as if they were dodging obstacles left and right with ease. The two moved with finesse. "Those humans are still here Landon, stay alert, if the opportunity arises we should dispose of them as soon as possible. They'll only waste our time." 

"Speaking of wasting our time, looks like your streak of luck just came to an end at the worst of times," Yves quickly turned to look behind him, not wanting to be distracted for too long. "Oh! Wonderful, the sponsors appear to not be in favor of our lead." Yves stared back at the [url=http://i.imgur.com/9Iejb9J.jpg]Crawler[/url] speeding towards the pair. It's legs moved up and down with unbelievable speed on the buildings and obstacles they almost appeared a blur. The creature would occasionally leap greatly from one to the other and sometimes hover momentarily using the same mechanics as the hoverboards. Their heads twitched side to side as it examined the path before it and moved with purpose through the Thunder Dome.

[quote=Shoutcaster Jake]The first of two crawlers have been dispatched, and it seems this one is making a dash for those in the lead, Crawlers have been the demise of many competitors, keep your eyes on those two because this could be the end for- oh, oh my, whats this?![/quote]

[center][img=http://i.imgur.com/tRE3r6B.jpg][/center]

"TOBY! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!!"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOO," 

Toby laughed like a maniac as he balanced himself on the crawler, gripping a metal limb tightly, wearing a [url=http://i.imgur.com/WelAZbS.jpg]glowing glove[/url] on his left hand. "Hya! Hya! With haste my magnificent steed, In the name of Queen Delirium, [i]charge![/i]" He shouted in a lighthearted tone as the crawler let out a machine like battlecry. 

[quote=Shoutcaster Jake]A human has acquired a crawler's gauntlet, and he's dashing through the course for the lead! It seems he activated the crawlers by acquiring the gauntlet, this is a huge leg up for the competitor and quite the opposite for those in lead[/quote]

"How interesting," Landon remarked at the sight of Toby commanding the crawler. "At least it's not a competitor with experience operating that insect." Yves crossed his arms, observing the two. "We need to do something about this now, that brat surely doesn't pose a threat but the crawler will." Yves turned back around, his arms remained crossed as his eyes analyzed the course before him, eventually locking onto an item box in the distance. The nobleman zoomed downward and began speeding in the direction of the item box, moving left and right, up and down around pies and obstacles with expertise. Yves scooped the item box from the air and shot upward as he began to gain altitude. Within moments he was approaching Landon and slowed his pace to match his partners. Yves presented the item box with one hand as the slot machine slowed to a stop before transforming into a [url=http://i.imgur.com/Z4GSnor.jpg]metal wand with a glowing tip.[/url] "Mm, this will have to do i'm afraid," 

"For Nowhere!" Toby screamed, the boy was gaining on the duo with great speed. "Don't be an [i]IDIOT![/i]" Namine shouted. Yves faced the boy and swung the wand, a sharp whistle could be heard as a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7FANXaanG4]firework[/url] whizzed through the air, nearly hitting the crawler as it exploded into bright and beautiful colors. Yves continued to swing the wand at Toby, firing one firework after the other whilst avoiding the various obstacles in the Thunder Dome. The crawler leaped from building to building, avoiding each explosion. The nobody relentlessly continued to swing the wand with anger as he began to grow impatient. "Two bugs, what a damn nuisance," 

He gripped the wand tightly with both hands, focusing on increasing the brightness and size of the glowing ball of light, located on the tip of the wand. As the ball of light grew in size it looked as if it were becoming unstable and could explode at any moment, and was even causing the wand itself to shake. Just as Yves seemed like he was about to lose control he fired the wand. The firework beamed through the air towards the crawler. "Oh fudge" Toby flinched, shielding his eyes as the firework lodged itself into the crawlers chest and exploded, the sound echoed throughout the Thunder Dome. 

[quote=Announcer Goomba]Oh! That was a critical hit! That crawler doesn't look to well, this may be the end for not only the insect but also the competitor[/quote]

A small chunk of the creature was blown open and sparks constantly began to generate, even a mechanic limb or two was now missing. "Agh, NO! You did it again! You ruined my ride again! You're so annoying, and you dress stupid! Awh man," The crawler leaped off of the building and began to glide, gradually descending downward. "C'mon, we were so close! Why do you have to break, you're made of metal and crap" The crawler let out what sounded like a painful shout. A worried expression overcame Toby's face as he observed the machine. "Oh, you're not doing so well, are you buddy?" The crawler responded with a mechanical whine. The boy sighed for his companion, crouching down he rubbed it's metallic head. He could only hope a busted crawler wasn't expendable, and would be repaired. Not thrown to the dump like his previous hoverboard. "I wouldn't have made it this far without ya friend. No worries, we'll go down together, I had a ton of fun anyways." He plopped down and sat criss cross on the crawlers head before pointing towards the ground, "Onward to paradise we go!" 

The crawler let out one more whine, this time with a tone of affection rather than pain. Suddenly a trap door opened beneath Toby, who shrieked as he disappeared into the opening. The door closed and the crawlers mouth opened wide as a cannon extended outwards from it's throat, the boy's head popped out of the hole, his face a frown "Hey, don't be puttin me in cannons and stuff all of a sudden like, y'know!" Crawler squealed in response, Toby laughed softly at the noise "It was nice to meet you, ummmm. You need a name," his eyes looked over the crawler for a moment, "Dunder. It was an honor to fight by your side," He began to make himself comfortable whilst inside the cannon before squinting his eyes and spotting Yves in the distance. "Ready!" he shouted, "Take aim!" The cannon began to adjust it's sights on the nobody. One more battlecry from Dunder was the signal.

"[i]Fire![/i]" 

Landon and Yves continued to maneuver through the Thunder Dome with finesse and focus. "Shouldn't be long now," Landon declared, "We're still quite the distance ahead, we should arrive to the third leg shortly," Yves squinted his eyes as he observed the path ahead of him. "There's still one more crawler about, and the only other competitor we've encountered has been taken care of. Don't let your guard down." 

[i][b]"FOR DUNDER!"[/b][/i] Toby screamed, Yves turned around only to watch as Toby bolted through the sky and collided into his abdomen, wrapping his arms around the nobody as he tackled him off of his hoverboard. Toby, Yves and the hoverboard all began to spiral downwards to elimination. "You [i]IMBECILE![/i] What have you done!" The boy giggled incessantly, squeezing the nobleman tightly as the two made their journey to the net and out of the competition.