Before Trenton could fully understand why his former friend had suddenly become a glowing, laser-shooting avatar of destruction, the world spun and collapsed around them. Pulled backwards by what felt like a firey hand around the inside of his throat, he hit the snow and saw Edge's glowing figure dissolve into the surroundings as the mountains of Stratus caved in.
In fact, it wasn't just the mountains. Every tree, every rock, every pile of snow began to fall in on itself and break apart like someone or something was disassembling it; packing it away for another day. As the ground below him followed suit, everything went black.
It wasn't the kind of black involved with unconsciousness, though. It was the kind of black associated with the space between starsa sort of infinite nothingness. In the distance, a red sun flared.
Within seconds, the surroundings crashed back into focus. What was once snow became sand and the sky above was dark with suffocating ash. Struggling to shrug off a residual feeling of terror, Trenton stood and surveyed his surroundings. His skin, used to the cold air of Stratus, burned as the heat of Scorch surrounded him.
Edge was gone.
Or, who he thought had been Edge was gone. Last he checked, Edge couldn't shoot lasers.
But they had only been together for less than an hour, so who knew. Maybe he could.
Edge also hadn't been evil and, as far as Trenton knew, wouldn't attack girls at random. It must've been an impostor, he concluded.
As Trenton debated the plausibility of shapeshifting creatures kidnapping and mimicking his former friend, a shadow loomed from behind.
"Ohmygodmyheart." Trenton turned quickly, ready to defend himself if necessary. The newcomer was silhouetted in the dim sunlight, making it difficult for Trenton to recognize him. Bits of ash flaked off his clothing and drifted away in the sparse breeze.
"I admit," the man said, "you are certainly the last person I expected to see here. It is a fighting tournament, after all."
Something clicked in Trenton's mind and he hugged the man around the chest. "Raph!"
"Yes, yes, it's good to see a familiar face, isn't it? Though part of me wishes I had run into someone more," Raph paused and wiped away some of the ash that now stuck to Trenton's face, "useful."
"Thanks a lot, Raph."
"We both know it's true," said Raph. He took a moment to look Trenton over. "Have you recently been eaten by something?"
"I'm still gross, aren't I?"
"A little, yes."
Trenton glanced at the ground, as if to make sure no cavernous mouths were going to open up, before kicking off his shoes and picking them up. "Can we go somewhere else? I keep feeling like something's going to drop out of the sky and try to kill us."
"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised," said Raph. Spotting a line of trees in the distance, they set off towards it.
"So how did you get here?"
"I was grocery shopping for Rose," explained Raph, "and then I was in a city with a shapeshifting demon attempting to kill me."
"So there are shapeshifting demons here."
"Oh sorry, I was just thinking about them earlier," said Trenton. "You see, a friend of mine suddenly went crazy and I was thinking it might not actually be him
In the Tropics, Ehren found himself dodging falling trees and narrowly making a jump over a pit of quicksand. Always hard to navigate, the volley of lights searing the air around him made the jungle even more treacherous. A herd of oversized beasts stampeded across the path and Ehren activated his M-Zero-Oh suit, vaulting himself onto the back of the nearest beast. He then proceeded to strike a pose, as all good superheroes do, before leaping into a nearby tree to survey the landscape.
An orange glow emanated from a clearing behind him and, from his place in the tree, Ehren could make out the figure of a man in the center of the glow. Utilizing his superhero-levels of deduction, he figured that it must be the big bad. Anything glowing and destroying nature had a damn good chance of being evil.
"End o' da world, brah. Jus' you an' me."
"So, let me get this straight: you woke up in a tree, were on the falling island that destroyed half of this continent, encountered a dragon and an Amazonian warrior, got eaten by the land itself, and then had your friend shoot lasers at you in the middle of the arctic."
Trenton shrugged. "It's been kind of a busy weekend."
"I imagine so," said Raph. "If my experiences hadn't been similar I would probably assume you hit your head too hard. Again."
They reached the edge of the desert and entered the jungle, the scenery changing so quickly it was as if someone had stitched the two biomes together. A stream ran between the trees and vanished into the sand without a trace.
Tired of the hot sand, Trenton decided to walk in the shallows of the stream and Raph strolled beside him. Neither of them knew what to do or where to go so they decided to see where the stream took them.
"Honestly," said Raph, "I'm surprised to see you so intact despite your adventures. Here I was thinking you would have at least lost an arm by now."
"Ha ha very funny. I'm not that bad." He paused. "Actually no I kind of am."
"And to think you're the only company I have for miles," said Raph. Trenton gave him a look and he smiled back.
Minutes later, the stream widened as it wound its way between the trees and into a clearing. Debris and what looked like blood dirtied the water. Above, the third, red sun of Scorch hovered in the sky, its rays piercing through the dust and ash. Raph paused to look at it.
"Another one," he said.
Raph pulled Trenton out of the stream and towards the clearing. "There's a fight nearby," he said. "We're going to stop it."
"I'd, uh, prefer to avoid"
In the clearing, Ehren clashed with the possessed Edge. Or, well, he attempted to. It was exceedingly hard to properly clash with an opponent who insisted on firing lasers at everything that moved. Ehren missed the old days of hand-to-hand combat, where your opponent actually had to risk being kicked in the face.
Lowering his hands, Edge ceased the attack. Other competitors had arrived and he could feel his host's body reaching its limitations. Ehren took advantage of the opening and aimed a kick at Edge, barely managing to avoid a direct laser to the chest. A section of his armor broke off and he could feel a stinging gash open in his side.
As Ehren stumbled into a tree, Edge rushed forward to grab the newly-opened wound in Ehren's side. In an instant, Ehren could feel a jolt of heat and electricity pass through his veins before Edge crumpled to the ground. Sparks flew from M-Zero-Oh's headgear and the gash in his side sealed itself. He flexed his hand slowly to test his control.
"Much better," Ehren said.
And then Raph punched him in the face.
"Dear lord, not again," said Raph as he watched Ehren momentarily collapse. "I imagine this is what the battles were for, Thorton."
"Excuse me?" Trenton brushed past Raph to get to Edge.
"I said Thorton, not Trenton."
Raph rolled his eye and turned back to Ehren only to catch a kick in the chest.
In the background, Trenton knelt by Edge and attempted to shake him awake. When he lifted him by the shirt, Edge's head rolled back and blood leaked from the corners of his eyes. Probably not a good thing, he assumed. People didn't usually bleed from their eyes.
"I'm a little busy, Trenton." Raph dodged a kick from Ehren and landed an uppercut under his chin.
"I think Edge needs a doctor."
Raph caught an oncoming punch and swung Ehren away, the possessed superhero leaving a trench in the ground as he fell. "Give me a minute or two."
"Okay, um, right." Trenton turned his attention back to Edge. "Hey Edge, please don't die. I mean, you're kind of bleeding everywhere but you'll be fine. Raph can fix just about anything."
Edge didn't respond.
"Edge? C'mon, you gotta wake up. I'm sorry I talked to you about my flowers and you got really bored but please wake up. Being possessed and shooting lasers wasn't a good look for you and neither is being dead."
With Ehren securely lodged halfway through a tree, Raph considered it safe enough to return to the others. Nudging Trenton out of the way, he began to examine Edge.
"Extensive overexertion." Raph said, "Undoubtedly from being possessed by a god for too long. Ripped muscles and damaged organs. Thorton apparently doesn't know how a human body operates."
Trenton remained quiet for a few moments, watching Edge as Raph began to heal him before glancing back towards Ehren. He had begun to dislodge himself from the tree.
"Tag out?" Trenton reached out towards Raph, palm up.
Raph gave him a look but obliged and tapped Trenton's palm with his fingers. "Tag out," he agreed.
Trenton stood, brushing the grass from his knees. "Alright then," he said, "time to attempt to do something for once."
"How heroic of you."
"Shhh, Raph." Trenton checked his arms and legs, trying to find some of the scratches he received in the previous round. To his dismay, not a single mark remained, as if whoever transported them from place to place had been trying to keep him uninjured.
The pulse of the land beat beneath his feet, momentarily blocking out all sound.
From his right, Ehren appeared out of his blind spot, managing a direct punch to the face before Trenton could react. Losing his balance, Trenton barely avoided falling by grabbing Ehren's fist as a second punch hit him. With his free arm, he wiped his face and grabbed Ehren by the helmet.
"Sorry about this," he said, "but this body isn't yours so you're gonna have to give it back to my friend, okay?" With that, he pressed his bloody hand into the broken section of Ehren's armor. Immediately, he could feel Thorton's presence within Ehren.
It was like a ball of fiery electricity, burning and shocking anything that came within reach. If Thorton had really been trying to use the competitors as hosts, he hadn't learned control yet. It probably explained why Edge kept firing so many lasers, honestly.
Bracing himself, Trenton attempted to pull Thorton's influence out of Ehren. Unused to his new host, Thorton's resistance was in vain and soon the screaming of an angry god filled Trenton's mind.
"Awp, oh god, I feel sick," Trenton said.
Raph looked up from his place near Edge as Ehren fell forwards. "Trenton?"
"Yep, feel sick." Doubling over, Trenton proceeded to hack up a disturbing amount of blood. "Dear god I hate it when they're angry."
Beneath them, the land pitched violently. In the distance, the horizon began to dissolve as the red sun came crashing to the earth. The realms were beginning to collapse without Thorton's influence. As the ground began to dissipate, Trenton could only hope this meant they would all return home. It was a better option than dying, really.
With the sun gone, the realms shuddered one last time before falling into darkness.
When the darkness cleared, Trenton found himself waist-deep in the ocean, its clear waters reflecting and scattering the sunlight like shards of a mirror. He could still feel Thorton hammering away at his insides, throwing a god-level hissy fit. He supposed it didn't matter now; with Thorton gone, the five realms were once again free to do as they pleased. Away from the realmsaway from the chaotic battles he had fabricatedThorton was rapidly losing his power.
Trenton recognized this ocean. It was only a matter of time before the blood from the possession attracted other gods. Gods who were generally inclined to fight amongst themselves. With few oceans bordering many countries, the ocean gods had become territorial over the years and often attempted to steal believers from their neighbors, even if it meant destroying and consuming the local god.
On the horizon, a whale breached.
There was one god in particular who had gained a reputation for such actions.
A moment of silence lingered before the whale breached again, closer this time, before twisting itself into a serpentine form and skimming across the waves towards shore. Trenton knelt so the water touched his chin, Thorton's racket becoming louder as he sensed a god more powerful than himself.
"Hi again, Orrin," Trenton said. "I've got an offering. No form, just power."
With that, he let Thorton go.