[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3]
[b]Level 4 Tora[/b] - (20/40) EXP and [b]Level 3 Poppi[/b] - (11/30) EXP 
[b]Location:[/b] Paved Wilderness
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1133[/center]

The convoy did not take the oncoming threat lightly. Practically everyone hastened to put up an impromptu defense or enact an all-out assault. Floating ahead of his allies, Donnie darted to and fro as he let loose a deluge of chi blasts at the incoming cars, which for the most part swerved out of their way with surprising skill, though a couple of the blasts took unsuspecting drivers unaware and did some damage. The vehicles' mounted guns couldn't possibly strike the swift airborne fighter, but muzzle flashes and the rattle of machinegun fire confirmed the presence of additional weaponry, making unprotected flight a risky gamble even with the disc's agility.

Meanwhile, Bowser pulled up sideways to turn his larger machine into a makeshift barrier to safeguard his allies' karts, and let out a great roar. Immediately, Blazermate's sentry went to work, winging the enemy cars and inflicting low but continuous damage to their chassis. Some came to a stop behind him; others, like Tora's landship, cruised around the side of it to engage the enemy. The Nopon and his partner demonstrated their craft's defensive ability when a burst of chaingun fire crashed against Tora's shield, the near miss forcing Poppi to duck. Bright light from Tora's left caught his eye for a moment, and he glanced over to see Bowser burping up a series of slow-moving, bouncing fireballs that formed more of a hazard than an attack, which complimented his son's ink barrage well. Instead of imparting the slip of an oil slick, however, the product of Junior's scattershot ended up slowing the enemy down a notch when their tires moved through it; that said, only a couple of the cars failed to avoid the hazard anyway. Those that didn't fell victim to the koopa troop's shells, but as hard as they were, they offered little more than a bump and a jolt on contact before being crushed back into spirit form. While the father and son ended up not doing much harm, it did split the enemy force up, and gave their allies more room to work.

Onto the scene came a gigantic Centurion, who snapped up the poor sod who unwittingly got too close. After a moment Agoston's internal temperatures turned the ramshackle roadster into a heap of molten slag, which he threw at the other enemies. It did little, given the other cars' maneuverability, but with every attack the area grew more perilous to the rather outnumbered enemy force. Plus, the Centurion's Phalanx made their weapons essentially useless against the convoy's fortified position, forcing them to scatter and try to take enemies down one-on-one.

This strategy was met with little success. After patiently waiting for just the right chance, Tora fired a Boom Biter at a passing car, and the blast flipped it end over end. Ratchet played a similar hand, his Bombuilder giving him more explosives to work with, and ended up putting an enemy out of commission for good. A moment later Bastion's heavy fire lambasted targets nearest the Bowsermobile. One, already slowed by the loss of a tire and now forced to turn away, fell victim the next instant to the Courier's calculated shot. Its driver slumped over, dealt a grievous wound, and the passenger leaned over to take the wheel. The whole affair, however, made the vehicle an easy target for Franklin and Linkle, beginning with an arrow that lodged in another of its tires and culminating in a charged shot from Franklin's plasma pistol. A shockwave consumed the car on impact, rendering it totally inert, and a temptingly near prize for the Centurion. His foot came down with a tremendous crash, pancaking it in a fiery blast, though its wreckage singed and cut the giant's sole. 

That left only two cars, one of which sported just a single operational chaingun to its name. Frantic cries could barely be heard over the guttural snarls of engines: “We're getting slaughtered out here! Bring in the big guns!”

As if in reply, something zoomed in from the sky. Appearing to be a fireball -or perhaps glowing balloon- shaped like the head of a clown, it narrowly missed Donnie and sped, cackling maniacally, toward the Bowsermobile. On impact, whether with its target, the Centurion, or any desperate interceptor, it blossomed into a giant fireball with a deafening [i]KOOM[/i].

The two remaining cars beat a quick retreat, and from the direction they were heading, reinforcements could be seen, flanked by a wall of dust and smoke. One, most likely the culprit behind the seeking bomb, was a hefty, tanklike [url=https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/twisted-metal/7/73/Sweet_tooth1.bmp]ice cream truck[/url] sporting gatling guns and forward-facing spikes. Another, more like the first cars, appeared to be a sturdy [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/jakanddaxter/images/e/ea/Sand_Shark_buggy_render.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20141113040022]buggy[/url], but it wasn't its construction that set it aside. Rather, the keen-eyed hero could spot a strange-looking [url=https://www.keengamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/71500.jpeg]pair[/url] at the wheel, visually at odds with the realistic-if-grungy humans driving the other machines. Last, and by no means least, was a huge [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/70/94/8a/70948ac94620ff0427c2ab7289decce7.jpg]monster truck[/url], armed to the teeth and nothing short of terrifying. Its smokestacks came up to the Centurion's chest, and as it advanced, the very earth shook beneath its impenetrable tires. After a few seconds its turret began to firing on Donnie, each high-caliber round directed by a gunner who clearly knew his stuff. When Donnie got out of the way, he swapped targets to Geno, who didn't react in time to avoid three solid bodyshots. Once the reinforcements grew close, the two fleeing cars turned back to join the attack.

Were he not covered in fur, Tora would have been white in the face. “...Mmmmehmehmehmehmeh...is that not boss? How something that big and scary not boss?” As he watched, the ice cream truck turned his way, its gatling guns spinning up. In response, Poppi floored it, accelerating toward the threat until she could fire the landship's speargun into the monster truck's chassis. “Whoaaaaaa!” both cried out as their little kart shot forward, dragged by the much bigger and faster vehicle. While this strategy meant that the enemies' guns couldn't take aim at them, the question of whether or not they would survive being dragged around by the titanic terror remained.

Ignoring the hangers-on, the drivers of the monster truck -now visibly identifiable as 'Brother Grimm' thanks to the big black letters on the hood- took aim and unleashed four giant gatling guns' worth of fire on the Centurion. He'd have to move, shrink, or else put his whole being into his Phalanx to escape the brutal ventilation of his midsection. Of course, doing so would give Brothers Grimm free reign to steamroll the Bowsermobile and anything behind it. At the same time, the Sweet Tooth ice cream truck circled around to the convoy's right, and the strange buggy along with the two survivors circled around to the left.