[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3]
[b]Level 4 Tora[/b] - (23/40) EXP and [b]Level 3 Poppi[/b] - (14/30) EXP 
[b]Location:[/b] Paved Wilderness
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1538[/center]

Bleeding badly from the gashes on his face inflicted by Mimikyu's shadowy talons, the monster truck's gunner stumbled backward. He fell across the war machine's oversized exhaust stacks, took a dirty burn, and with another shout of pain toppled over into the vehicle's bed. For a moment, it looked as though Junior held free reign over the newly-unoccupied mounted turret, but all the commotion on the roof didn't go unnoticed by the driver. Scarcely could the young koopa grab the weapon and consider the onrushing visage of the Centurion before a sound could be heard from below, barely audible over the thunder of the monster truck's engine.

[i]Kakick...[/i]

[i]BOOM[/i]

Mr. Grimm's revolver released an ultra-condensed blast of screaming souls, ripping through the roof of his own vehicle and into Bowser Jr from below. While not equivalent to an actual high-power bullet, the anti-vehicle Death Spawn carried an incredible amount of force, more than enough to render the poor, over-courageous tyke unconscious and send him sky-high.

Meanwhile, the onslaught of Mr. Grimm's chainguns forced Agoston to step aside. Even with his enlarged armor, the Centurion would be eaten alive by the lead onslaught, but his choice left the way open for the monster truck to plow over the blockade he sought to protect. Hazards like Junior's ink -which, not being oil, quaffed Kazooie's attempt to alight it with a burning egg- provided a little obstruction, but they alone didn't make much difference. Only Bowser, and his prodigious bowsermobile, stood in the way. The Koopa King responded by launching himself into action, hurtling straight for the truck's forward axle in an incredible display of boldness, borne out of his lack of familiarity with large vehicles—if an ordinary car, after all, could jellify most living things on impact at even moderate speed, what could a behemoth like this do?

Shell met steel, and a great [i]TONG[/i] resounded as sparks flew. At the point of impact, Bowser's shell cracked, and like an oversized hockey puck he shot away, still spinning. His target, however, did not escape unscathed. The force of the collision slowed the monster truck down and threw off its steering just enough to allow the bowsermobile and rabbid transport to scoot out of the way of certain destruction. Before it got under way, however, three rabbids managed to grab hold of the stunned Linkle and get her into the truck with them, no doubt having been looking out from the one whose long blonde-furred ears resembled their own. Banjo and Kazooie managed to right their Trolley and floor it, rushing after Hat Kid's scooter and the bigger machines. Just in the nick of time, everyone got out of the way of the Brother Grimm, which pancaked any vehicles left behind, like Linkle's bike. It made for very small consolation for Mr. Grimm, who with gritted teeth struggled to free his machine from the grip of the giant Centurion, who'd gotten a hold on his chassis from behind just after the hit from Bowser. With its prodigious strength and weight, the monster truck dragged even the enormous Agoston behind it, but its sudden loss of speed presented it with great danger. 

The whole affair led Tora and Poppi into dire straights. With the sudden deceleration of the vehicle dragging them, their landship crashed into the monster truck from behind and, stuffed full of volatile modifications by its overzealous engineer, blew up. The explosion sent the sturdy pair flying, giving them a birds-eye view of their allies' efforts against the other enemies, were they not too preoccupied with fear and confusion.

Over on the far side, Gene -who somehow caught up to the convoy through his incredible speed alone- moved to intercept the Sand Shark. After empowering himself with the awesome radiance of the God Hand, he jumped to deliver a flying punch, but misjudged the distance and landed just in front of the incoming buggy after Michael shot its back tires out. Jak and Dakster saw fit to take advantage of the opportunity so neatly presented to them and ram Gene; the God Hand's invincibility, however, said otherwise. The Sand Shark crashed into Gene's punch head-on and lost in spectacular form, its entire front crunching up as its drivers sailed from their seats and bounced across the dusty ground. Gene, meanwhile, would likely be little more than knocked over. With the situation handily dealt with, Ratchet could jog over to his old acquaintances at his leisure, and greet them with his modified visage. Nearby, the efforts of Courier 6 and his trusty new friend Heracross spelled a messy end for one of the buggies from earlier. Its compatriot's pilot, not a lousy driver by any means, swerved out of the way to avoid getting crushed. 6 managed to retreat to the bowsermobile just in time to roll out of the way of the Brother Grimm.

Somehow, Din managed to time her mount's attack on the fast-moving ice cream truck just right and deliver a Horn Leech to its side without getting her Gogoat killed. Though a display of great bravery and talent, the assault's risk far outweighed its reward, as the pokemon's antlers did little but leave some unsightly dents in the wacky-colored war machine's side. After her, Donnie made his move from atop his flying disc. Making pace with Sweet Tooth, he unloaded on its clown driver's door, releasing Chi burst after Chi Burst to expose Needles to attack. By the time he got the door open, however, the clown's ally had fallen into the Centurion's clutches, and the buggies opposite him fared little better. Needles looked Donnie's way and growled in anger. He returned his attention forward just in time to see a tiny girl with a stylish cap jam a glowing umbrella into the ground. “...What?” he snarled. The next instant, a Power Geyser burst up beneath his right side wheels, causing Sweet Tooth to lean precariously and Needles' temper to boil over. The battle was scarcely underway, yet a trump card seemed necessary. 

Needles slammed a big red button on the dashboard, and Sweet Tooth sprang upward. It began to come apart, reshaping and transforming in the span of a couple seconds until the deadly icecream truck had become a terrifying, bipedal killing machine: [url=http://www.entertainmentbuddha.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/twisted-metal-transformers.png]Sweet Bot[/url]. Mad laughter echoed from the mech's speakers as jets on its back propelled it higher into the air, and from its chaingun arm it let loose a swath of blanket fire that threatened to pulverize Donnie before sweeping over to Agoston to try and free Brother Grimm. However, the vulnerability the monk made remained: the absent driver's-side door left an opening on the left side of Sweet Bot's chest.

After firing her thrusters and catching Tora mid-air, Poppi watched the carnage unfold. From its lofty vantage point in the sky, Sweet Bot could rain destruction while avoiding all of their company's melee fighters and most of their ranged ones. Plus, poor Bowser Jr. was still skyborne. They needed a miracle. Luckily, the Nopon could provide. After taking in a deep breath, Tora said, “Poppi, it time for big action! Ignite Ether Furnace! Show real power!”

The Artificial Blade nodded, her eyebrows furrowed. “Roger that, Masterpon!” A golden glow took hold of her. Without ceremony she tossed Tora up, and a maelstrom of red ribbon and orange sparks surrounded her. A moment later, the cocoon of energy burst apart, and from it a blur burst forth. It snapped up Tora before he could fell, then wheeled around to snag Junior as he plummeted. When it finally came to a stop in the air, facing the Sweet Bot, the others could finally make out an altogether different [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e5/ac/65/e5ac6525773be47577570129cfeb4f5e.jpg]Poppi[/url], holding Tora with one hand and Junior with the other.

Tora, held by the straps of his overalls, held out his wings, and Poppi manifested her new armaments, the Mech Arms. “Time to carry out Poppi justice,” she advised, her voice a touch lower. Grinning, Tora opened up the Mech Arms to reveal a missile silo in each, and fired off a salvo of small homing missiles at the Sweet Bot. They struck it in quick succession, knocking it around a touch and throwing off its aim. Meanwhile, Brother Grimm's continued battle against Agoston's strength came to a sudden end: while a mad had limits, the machine had none. It broke free, its engine roaring like some bloodthirsty beast, just before a glowing bolt of plasma struck it. Energy washed across its surface, temporarily leaving it sitting duck. For a moment, the heroes had a clear opening on all fronts. 

For her part, Princess Peach planned to use it. Armed with a powerful but short-range weapon, she could only labor to stay out of the line of fire during the heated battle, but with Brother Grimm knocked out she saw a chance to make it permanent. Steering her cart back around, she left Bowser's entourage and sped toward the monster truck. Peach scarcely slowed down as she blitz past one of its enormous tires, leveled her scattershot, and thundered out a point-blank blast into the thick rubber. While the tire didn't explode, air surged eagerly from the blast site, and the princess sped away victorious.