Splendid was flying through happy tree town, but this time not to save a tree friend but to end an old rivalry once and for all. Splendid flew on top of a huge skyscraper somewhere in town, and there was his long-time rival, Splendont, his back facing him. There was a long silence between the two of them, both not moving and waiting for the other to make the first word, or swing the first fist for that matter. Finally, after what seemed like minutes, the red squirrel finally turned around, giving a frown equal to what Splendid was giving him.
"So, you ready to give the city to me?" asked Splendont. Splendid was having second thoughts of giving the town the town to him. Splendont did a better job, he saved everyone from dying without any injuries and destroyed less buildings compared to him. Wait, he can't show weakness now! Not when the city he had sworn to protect was at stake!
"No, never!" replied Splendid. Splendont smiles and gets into a stance, ready to fight his equivalent. "I was hoping you'd say that, I like to let my strength decide disputes to show inferior people like you it's useless to resist, and this time none of your teammates will get a say in this!" said Splendont with confidence. Splendid got into a fighting stance as well, steeling his nerves to give him a piece of his mind that his persistence will not get him to win. Not again. To prove Splendid's point, he took his watch off of his wrist and tossed it aside.
Almost immediately Splendont flew to him, fist raised to take a gander at Splendid's identical face. Splendid caught it, with Splendont resorting to use his other fist which Splendid caught as well, their fingers intertwined in an attempt to overpower the other, trying to push the other in a display of pure hatred with one another.
"Have I told you how much I really hate you?! Every single time I save someone they always say your name. Thank you Splendid. Can I have your autograph? May I come with you? They make me sick! I can't believe your fans can't tell the difference between red and blue! I guess it takes a stupid hero to get stupid fans" said Splendont, this got Splendid angry, not because of the insult to him, but to insult the hard working and innocent people of happy tree town. Though more out of guilt of killing them several times to yearn for redemption for himself. Splendid started pushing harder, giving him the upper hand.
"Grrr!" said Splendont, his being pushed back, his feet dragging from the force. "Damn you, where are you getting this strength from?" said Splendont. With one hard push, Splendid knocked Splendont off balance, punching his face hard enough to fall over the building. Splendid bent over, his hands on his knees, that exerted more energy than he needed, Splendont was usually the more powerful of the two.
Splendont had almost fallen to the ground if not for his ability to fly at will. "So, he's being serious now is he? Well then, time to show him how serious I can get" he said, rubbing his face and flying backwards a bit, using his x-ray vision to detect where Splendid was. When he found him, he charged straight to the skyscraper, breaking windows, ceilings and floors to surprise his archenemy. Splendid was about to rise up, thinking he won the fight when Splendont suddenly appeared below him, punched him in the face and sending him spinning high in the air, away from both Splendont and the skyscraper.
"Ugh, damn" said Splendid, trying to orient himself back up. Before he can do so, Splendont had chased him and grabbed the hero hard by the shoulder and neck, not intending for him to regain his composure, striking while the iron's still hot. He flew with Splendid still in his grasp, he grinned while Splendid was still trying to make sense what was going on, heading straight to a row of buildings. Splendid looked behind him and then at Splendont realizing what was about to happen, and he struggled to pry Splendont's hands off of him but it was too late.
Splendont flew through several buildings, using Splendid's body as a living bulldozer. With each building they passed through, the pain of each impact that racked in Splendid grew stronger and stronger, his grip continued to loosen with each building, it wasn't until the seventh building that he grew limp and let Spledont do what he wanted with him. Splendont went and knocked him into three more buildings for good measure before rising back up higher into the air with Splendid in tow.
"What's wrong huh? I thought you were tougher than this?" shouted Splendont at Splendid. Splendid did not say anything in shame of himself, to the people who counted on him. After not getting a response from the defeated hero, he threw him straight back onto the ground, hard enough for him to catch on fire, turning him into a living fireball, with Splendid landed just in front of the statue that the residents had built for him in the local park, making a small crater with him at the bottom.
Each resident had seen the ball of flame land in the park. They gathered to where it landed and were surprised to find that Splendid's steaming body was what they saw. "Oh my god!" "What happened to him" "Who could have done this?" "Someone get an ambulance" "Is that really Splendid? What happened?" were the words that he could hear, and each word sung to Splendid, he had failed the people of happy tree town. Splendont appeared before them, standing on top of Splendid's statue. "Is this your hero huh? This god for nothing weakling stood no chance against me! Can you really call someone who can't defend himself a hero?" gloated Splendont. Some tree friends just stared, not sure what to think of this new hero, others were confused, they had thought that Splendid had dyed his fur red and used a blue mask for a costume change, others like Nutty grew scared of him.
"W-who are you?" asked Toothy, feeling sorry for his idol being in the position he was in. Splendont looked at him, his eye twitched at the revelation that he wasn't even known. "I am Splendont, and from now on, I will be this town's hero, not this useless trash here" dictated Splendont. There was a long silence between the denizens of happy tree town and the self-proclaimed hero while Splendid's body just laid in silence. Nobody knew how to feel about this, for a long time Splendid was the closest thing to a superhero that they had, and now a stranger had just defeated him, claiming to be their new saviour. Toothy on the other hand didn't like him at all, he didn't feel the sense of admiration and amazement he had when Splendid saved Giggles, he only saw another guy who beat up his role model.
"Y-you're just a bully" shouted Toothy, Splendont looked at him, walking to him and Splendid's tired body. "And? How does that matter?" asked Splendont, growing irritated by the fan boy. "You don't know what it means to be a hero" said Toothy, his voice growing weaker by Splendont's intimidating aura. Splendont picked up Splendid's body by the cape, showing it to Toothy closer. "So is this what you call your hero? This pathetic weak shell of a hero is your protector? Give me a break, he can't even save someone without anybody dying" Toothy's heart ached seeing Splendid treated like a ragdoll. "Just stop! Please!" cried Toothy, Splendont dropped Splendid's body, he had a reputation to uphold so better not piss off the residents he's going to protect.
"Fine, but know now that Splendid is officially out of the job, and next time he tries to be mr. hero again, the same thing will happen to him again as he is now" said Splendont taking off and flying away. All the tree friends gathered around Splendid, they knew there was nothing they could do. Guns could never pierce his body so they knew no amount of surgical equipment could help him. Giggles cleaned up as much blood and wounds as she can, while Petunia poured alcohol on his wounds, not sure if that would help any.
"Does anybody know where Splendid lives?" asked Lumpy, all the tree friends shrugged, while they certainly knew Splendid, he pretty much kept most personal information to himself. "How about he lives with me?" asked Toothy impulsively, the other tree friends looked at him, unsure if this was a good idea. "Are you sure about this Toothy? You think you can take care of him?" asked Cuddles, Toothy was no expert on taking care of other people but he didn't want to leave Splendid's side, he was too concerned for his idol at the moment.
"Yes, I'm sure" said Toothy, Shifty and Lifty tried to lift his body to their van, both twins finding it really hard to carry him. "A little hand here?" asked Shifty, Toothy immediately helped him along with Lumpy and Cuddles, Handy didn't help because he had no hands (sorry Handy). And loaded him inside the vehicle.
When they got to Toothy's house, they placed Splendid on the lawn's grass. Cuddles went on his merry way back to the park, Giggles was becoming impatient with him to go back to the mall. "Thanks for the help guys" said Toothy. Grateful for Shifty and Lifty's help. "Don't thank us yet" said Lifty, "Yeah, that costs 20 bucks" said Shifty. "Fuck" whispered Toothy, giving them the money. "See ya" said Shifty, preparing to drive away. "Wait! Help me carry him to the bed!" shouted Toothy, the twins looked at him, thinking if they should do it. "Okay, but it'll cost you extra" said Lifty, high fiving Shifty. Toothy groaned and took his money out of his wallet.
