[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3]
Level 6 Tora (59/60) and Level 6 Poppi (54/50)
Location: Spiral Mountain, the Land of Adventure
Word Count: 989[/center]

By the time Poppi extracted Tora's trophy from the moat around Spiral Mountain and revived him, the battle came to an abrupt, loud, and messy end. The constant rapport of gunfire throughout the skirmish went silent, and it left the entire area a little too quiet. While the valley appeared lush and lively, its bizarre location in the most dangerous and least explored part of the Land of Adventure made it uncannily lifeless. No birds sang, no bees hummed, and no fish disturbed the water's surface. Weird, Tora thought, but understandable—after all, the roiling, black-and-purple surface of another dimension or something loomed large over the valley.

Moving habitually by now, the heroes congregated at the top of Spiral Mountain, inside the tower sitting atop it Tora waddled at a leisurely pace to where Peach's presence denoted the meeting spot, looking a little deflated, all too happy to see the last of that horrible encounter. For the life of him he couldn't remember a more stressful fight, and considering some of the adventures Rex got his team into back home, that was saying something. After arriving the Nopon took a seat on the cool stone and watched everyone gathered in a loose circle. Linkle passed by the Nopon, and he waved, glad to see she escaped the snipers' fire. Then Linkle passed by him again, forcing a double take. “Meh?” A second glance made him honestly wonder how he made that mistake, though. The one he knew sported long hair, rabbit ears, green clothes, and a cheery demeanor, while the other was a boy in blue. He wondered if they might be siblings or something, but really Tora didn't care much about the guy.

Peach seemed to be taking stock of the assembled adventurers, and after a moment she nodded. “Including the Koopas up by the bridge, it looks like we're all accounted for. That was a serious challenge, but thanks to the rules, we didn't lose anyone despite taking a lot of hits.” The princess looked relieved, allowing herself a moment to relax before her new, tougher manner took over again. 

[hider=Results!]
[b]Party:[/b] [@Yankee]'s Ace Cadet, [@Archmage MC]'s Blazermate & Sectonia, [@DracoLunaris]'s Bowser, Bowser Jr, and Kamek, [@ProPro]'s Courier 6, Cuphead, & Jak/Daxter, [@Genon]'s Donovan Lee, [@MULTI__MEDIA_MAN]'s Geralt, [@Dawnrider]'s Hat Kid, Fox & Banjo/Kazooie, [@Gentlemanvaultboy]'s Linkle, Tora & Poppi
[b]Encounter Reward:[/b] +10 EXP
[b]Cameo Bonus:[/b] Sectonia
[b]Cameo Reward:[/b] +3 EXP
[i]Heroes should typically keep their focus on the battle, but sometimes areas contain hidden characters that make for a fun exchange. Sectonia gets this bonus for finding the Lord of Games[/i]
[/hider]

Her black eyes landed on Link, then on Fox and his bright green eyes. “Good to see you again, hero, and to see you restored, Fox. I may not be exactly who I once was, but I'm still Peach.” A few others greeted the young man, welcoming him into their ranks. For his part Link looked somewhat confused, but he remained as quiet as ever, stolidly taking everything in stride. After a moment Peach clapped her hands together and raised her voice. “So, that's another victory under our belts. We could only save one of them, but the others can still help us on our journey. Did we get all the spirits?”

The various collectors presented them. Within the floating rainbow moats lay images of the End, Quiet, the Sniper, Imani, and Hawkeye Gough. “Any takers?”

Tora's almond-shaped eyes locked onto the one with the scanty sniper inside. He waddled up to get a good look, then glanced around furtively between Peach, Blazermate, and Linkle. “Meh-meh-maybe, you should...um, it'd be a g-good idea if...?”

A metal hand descended from above and bopped the Nopon squarely on the noggin. “Meeh!” he shrank back, glaring at Poppi. “Bad Poppi! I-it just idea! We no know what happen of manlypon take lady spirit yet!”

The artificial blade stared at him with humorless eyes. “Ulterior motives suspected. Maybe masterpon should think more productively. You not yet take spirit yourself, after all.”

Tora looked back at the selection. “...That true. But...all of them human-shaped. What if Tora get human limbs with handsome round body? Or little Nopon limbs with human body?” He glanced worriedly at the Gough spirit. “And if Tora take that one, probably triple in size, meh! How can Tora be cute if big as Bow-Bow? No way!”

“Then we not need be here.” Poppi reached over and grabbed Tora by his overalls, then started to drag him back toward the wall, with Tora protesting and flailing uselessly the whole time. She bowed her head to Peach and the others apologetically. “Poppi is sorry about masterpon disruption.” They went just as Kamek forged a spiritbond with two of the spirits, Quiet being one of them.

The two sat back to let the others have at the plunder, with Tora looking out through the hole in the wall he made with his and Poppi's entrance earlier. He peered into the brilliant, picturesque blue of the water. With one hand he reached into a pocket for a snack, but to his disappointment found that he forgot to restock. He sighed, and said to his companion, “We not help much in that fight, and things only get harder from here, meh. Pretty soon we not get luxury of turning down strong spirits, even if make look horrible.”

He wasn't the only one frowning. Poppi considered it too. “Masterpon and Poppi not weak, but people in this world have many unexpected powers. We need to adapt. Be ready for any situation.”

Tora fussed at the cut left by Link's sword, thinking. After a couple seconds he took a deep, determined breath. “Okay, next time we both take spirit. Get stronger together, like Rex-Rex and Pyra.” He looked at his partner but ended up looking past her, out the tower door, across the bridge, and past the partially-destroy hag statue at the wall of unnatural purple beyond. “If there is next time. Next is boss fight, and this time friends get no continues,” he joked, dryly. “Not even have chance for relaxing swim first.” He went quiet to listen to the others not dealing with spirits as they talked about the road ahead. Apparently, some knew about what waited inside the other world thanks to prior experience. It sounded like things would get tricky. Tora redirected his attention to stretching, trying to psych himself up for the coming fight. Poppi joined in, doing various stretches despite the absolute lack of benefit they provided her.