[center][h3]Tora [/h3]
[b]Level 3[/b] – (7/20) EXP
[b]Location:[/b] Scrapyard – Endzone
[b]Word Count:[/b] 769[/center]

If Tora had imagined that his team might have put its collective heads together and come up with a plan, he proved sorely mistaken. Spurred on by familiar faces and worrisome words, the others wasted no time in addressing the situation before them. Though Minako appeared to share his resolve, which came as a relief given what he'd seen of her capacity for despair, Roadhog came to the same conclusion he did with Hat Kid in an instant and began firing on his friend, the lanky weirdo with singed hair. Then again, one needed to fight them to be able to free them anyway, so Tora thought twice before dismissing the man as a bullheaded oaf. Regardless, his assault was negligible at this distance, turning Roadhog on the defensive immediately. A number of explosives flew through the air and bounced around all over, putting Ratchet's Bombuilder instantly to shame in terms of quantity. 

One after another, the remaining heroes confronted their own kindred spirits. As he waddled forward to meet Poppi, making sure to give the couple of active battles a wide birth, Tora listened in on both the Courier and Michael. Their remarkable similar attempts to communicate resulted in nothing at all, especially any sort of enlightening information. Unlike some enemies Tora faced before, these weren't soldiers obeying orders or warriors with an agenda; that freakish white entity appeared to be pulling their strings them at a far more fundamental level. The thought of having his very mind altered made Tora shudder, though he composed himself as he drew near his own opponent.

At this range, Tora could better appreciate the harsh, sunset-red glare that had replaced the warm, cheery orange-brown of her eyes. His pride and joy stood before him, arms crossed, ready to repel anyone who tried to get past like some pint-sized club bouncer. While not given much time to think about it, the Nopon had envisioned a joyful reunion, hugs and tears aplenty. Instead, even though he was as round as ever, Tora felt absolutely deflated, no small part of which came from his knowledge of what his creation could do. Despite being aware of the fruitlessness of conversation, Tora couldn't find it in him to say nothing. “Hello, Poppi. Am glad to see you again,” he said after a moment, his tone listless. “Am sorry to have to do this.”

“Masterpon is not sorry yet,” she remarked, her tone far too off-handed for the threat her comment conveyed. 

Tora swallowed, then took a deep breath. He held up his shield and dialed in his aim. Poppi looked on, unimpressed, until he pressed the trigger to send his last Boom Biter flying out of its center. It struck Poppi dead-on and exploded, smoke and dust making her vanish from sight. However, Tora did not let down his guard for one moment, and the next vindicated his caution. From the cloud Poppi burst forth, rockets blazing from her feet, closing the gap in an instant. Her fist cannoned into Tora's shield before he could even yelp in alarm. A thunderous [i]crack[/i] rang out, followed by the Nopon's cry as he flew through the air, off the bridge and back into the scrapyard. 

He smacked into a block from the fallen tower, hung there stuck for a moment, then slid down. “Oooogh...” he groaned. “Poppi super-strength even more than expected.” As he got to his feet, he saw the artificial blade zooming in for another attack. Tora shoved his shield's front into the ground. Its drill extended at the press of a button, and since it couldn't penetrate the ground, it popped Tora up instead. The Nopon flew up not a moment too soon; Poppi shot below him, her flying punch annihilating the wooden block instead. As the struggled to halt her momentum among the splinters, Tora landed behind her. “Spinning Cutter!” he cried as he whirled around in place, striking again and again with the edge of his shield. With the last spin, he opted to end with an overhead slam, planting the edge into the ground for defense. “Rigid Shie-ACK!”

Poppi turned on him with a brutal backfist, striking Tora's shield yet again. The force sent him skidding backward, its bottom digging up dirt. He sized her up as best he could while coming to a stop, noting no apparent damage from the shield bashes. “Oh, meh...” he grumbled. With high defense all around, this would be a battle of attrition as painstaking as it was perilous. With a heavy heart Tora watched her begin to walk towards him, and prepared himself once again.