With the farmers accord, the president effectively made Michigan and surrounding states one massive farm. Forcing many of the residents out and into the big cities of the east coast. Though they could not rid Michigan of it's big cities, which lay dormant and empty, nature slowly taking over once again. Though once food processors were invented, farms no longer were needed, so the states lay dormant, becoming large nature preserves essentially.

"We are approaching the great bridge. This will lead us straight to the Canadian wilderness," Ted said as thunderclouds formed overhead.

Cory looked behind him at the abandoned city of Mackinac. What a waste of a city. Looking ahead, he saw the great bridge. It was enormous and seemed to go on forever. Once called the Mackinac Bridge, this bridge was once the way to go from the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan, but since the floor of 2022, the upper peninsula was no more, so the bridge was extended to go all the way to Canada. Though once a great bridge, it now stood in disrepair.

The two began to walk across, feeling the bridge sway slightly as they walked. A haunted feeling came over Cory as they walked, seeing such a structure, such a symbol of the old world. It made him feel almost nostalgic. As well as feeling sadness for the people who were forced to abandon their lives. These feelings quickly passed as Cory rationalized that they were to live better lives within the cities.

Rain began to fall upon the bridge, the wind blew. Cory shielded his eyes and looked behind him to see the clouds coming in. He got more than he bargained for when he looked upon the start of the bridge only to see the faint blur of a man standing there. Suddenly, lightning struck where he stood and the man seemed to float from the ground.

"T-Ted who… who is that?!" Cory shouted.

"What the hell? We should run."

Cory and Ted began to run for the opposite side of the bridge, but they were miles away. It was hopeless. Lightning struck before them and a man stood there with his arms crossed. He had spiky golden hair and electricity rang around him.

"Don't take another step or I'll make sure you never see tomorrow."

"Um we don't mean any harm we just-" Cory began.

"I don't care, I'm here to protect my bridge, and my blessings will allow me to do that. I suggest you jump off."

Ted stood there astonished, "How are you doing that? What kind of technology allows you to channel electricity like that?"

"Hahaha you're one of those people huh? This world is far stranger than you think, the universe bestowed these powers upon me. How else do you think I'd be able to fly? I'm freaking Thor and Zeus together as one! You think a pitiful human such as yourself would be able to de-"

Suddenly, a barrage of bullets flew out towards the man, who froze in place mid air, holes visible all around his torso. The man grunted as the clouds faded and he began to fall, his body landing with a thud on the bridge.

"Worthless," a purple figure said, turning away. It was Espio in the flesh, though now he had hardcore scars all over his body and no longer wore a shirt. Around his waist was a purple rope tied on the back and a flowing cloak. He held twin pistols, much like his long late lover Lara Croft.

"ESPIO! Remember me? It's Cory! Remember!?" Cory shouted, jumping up and down.

"What the heck are you wearing? You look even stupider than you did 4 years ago."

Cory looked down on the rags he was wearing, "um it's a long story…"

"Hmph."

"Wait, who was that guy anyway?"

"That's one of the elementals, you moron. You haven't heard of the elementals?"

Cory shook his head.

Espio sighed, "They're a bunch of idiots who received one fragment of the soul of Jadaran. Just a group of losers who were handed everything. No honor."

"Since when do you care about honor, Espio?" Cory asked.

"A lot has changed in the past few years. Which I'm sure you've been told about. I've become the keeper of the golden emerald. Protecting such a powerful artifact has changed me, at least a little bit. Not that I care if it falls into the wrong hands, I just want to keep the power."

"OH! The president sent me after the emerald! He said he needed it for his master plan."

Espio rolled his eyes, "Well too bad, the emerald is literally part of my DNA now, nobody's taking it from me. Also, who's this loser with you?" He said, turning to Ted.

"Hi, I'm Ted. I'm an anarchist."

"I see you still have an affinity to attracting the lowest of the low. Never change, Cory," Espio rolled his eyes again.

"Ted and I are heading for CIAnada in order to take out the CIAnadians."

"You realize that one rival of yours is their leader right?"

"WHAT!? YOU'RE THE LEADER OF THE CIANADIANS?" Cory shouted, pulling out his katana.

"No you idiot. That moron Stickler."

"Oh him? I just fought him a few weeks ago. Actually it was 300 years ago, but who's counting?"

"What? You realize that wasn't actually time travel right? Time travel is actually impossible in the way you describe it."

"I can confirm. You merely switched to another timeline."

"Oh boy, here we go…" Espio said as a figure flew down from the sky, "You're so smart, aren't you?"

"Well I am Thoth, the god of wisdom," Alex Jones appeared from the sky in his Thoth armor. As he landed, the armor retracted and dissipated around him.

"WHOA, Alex, is that you?" Cory asked

"Wow amazing, so many reunions and lore dumps," Espio rolled his eyes once more.

"Yes, but you can call me 'the warlock' now."

"Nobody will call you that," Espio sighed.

"Whatever. Anyway, you see Cory, time isn't a single stream with a beginning and an end, in fact every possible timeline is in existence at once, and that also means that every time exists at one point, the present. Therefore, you merely were transported to a near identical timeline where the time was offset by 300 years. Incidentally, you created a new timeline split just by being there. This is all theoretically of course."

"Woah you're so wise, Alex," Cory said.

"Another one stealing the power he should have earned. That armor belongs to Newt, who defeated the demon inside of it," Espio stated.

"You may be right about that one, but what about my other forms? Ra." Armor with the head of a falcon instantly surrounded him.

"Ok, we don't need to see the rest of your forms," Espio suddenly smirked, "Huh actually, let's do just that…"

Espio snapped his fingers and an energy field surrounded Cory, suppressing his power and holding him back. He then jumped back as he shot a bullet made of light out of his gun, which made contact with the body of the late lightning elemental.

"-feat me! Huh? What's going on? Why am I on the ground? A god such as myself should never be down here."

"Go ahead, Alex. Kill this 'god.'"

Alex blinked, dumbfounded.

"Oh, I see an opponent comes to challenge the might of AVENGARD! Like that? It makes me sound powerful, like some legendary figure. Like I am, of course," Avengard said.

"Espio let me out, I wanna help!" Cory cried.

"No way, brat."

A shot of lightning went towards the Alex, shocking him and making him fall to his knees. The armor of Ra surrounded him, giving him the power of lightspeed, as long as there is light. The drawback of the armor is he cannot attack when in this form, and it takes precious time in order to change forms.

Another shot of lightning flew from the sky, and instantly, Alex moved the dodge it, appearing nearby.

"Hm, that's an issue. So how exactly does this work?"

"I'm the god of the sun, so I can move wherever the sun shines!" Alex said stupidly.

"Interesting, so what would happen if someone were to…" dark storm clouds covered the sky. Light faded from the bridge, significantly crippling the sun god.

"Ugh. Thoth I need you." Alex jumped back, no longer moving at light speed. His armor went away and changed to that of Thoth, with the head of an ibis. He began running around Avengard, throwing daggers at him. Whenever one neared the man, lightning struck the dagger out of the air.

"Hm, interesting," Alex thought out loud, "is it possible that his mobility is weakened when he uses this lightning protection?"

Alex once again jumped out of the way of a stray lightning bolt, switching to a figure with the head of a strange looking dog. From his back he pulled out a serrated sword and spun it like a helicopter blade, then stopping and holding it at the ready. He was now Set, the god of chaos and destruction.

"Haha! You think a metal sword is a good idea? I can summon freaking lightning out of the sky!" Avengard laughed, summoning lightning after the man. Alex jumped back, surprised when the lightning arced towards his sword at an alarming rate. With haste, he threw his sword into the sky, a flash of light engulfed the bridge as the sword was struck. Smoke flew off the sword as it fell to the ground.

"My lightning is attracted to metal objects, you idiot!" Avengard said as Alex picked up his sword. If that had hit him, he surely would be a goner. One slip up or stagger and Avengard would easily take care of him with constant lightning attacks.

Another bolt shot from the sky, and, with quick thinking, Alex threw his sword at Avengard. Taken aback, Avengard fell from the sky to avoid the blade. Alex used this opportunity to strike the ground, causing a crack to form under Avengard, sending him plunging through the bridge.

Alex's armor flew off of him, flying into the pack on his back which seemed too small to fit it all.

"Man that was a boring fight," Espio said, yawning.

"Hey! He was powerful!" Alex stated.

"I barely even touched him and he died," Espio said straight.

"I know those guns you have don't actually kill, I'm not an idiot," Alex said, no one believed him in his dorky normal form.

"Wait, they don't kill? Then what happened to him the first time?" Ted asked Espio.

"Wow you're annoying. If you must know, they merely send them into an eternal slumber, which I can control."

"That's so cool Espio!" Cory shouted, trying to get out of the cave he was in.

"Yes, very cool, Espio." Menacing music began to play as Avengard with tattered clothing rose from the crack.

"Ugh, can't you just die?" Espio said, glaring.

"No, and now I'm mad. I'm going to go all out now!" Avengard held his fists tightly closed as he crossed his arms over his chest. His hair began to spike up and an aura of lightning flowed around him. He opened his eyes to reveal striking blue eyes and grabbed his wrist, putting his arm out to the side, "time to end this."

Lightning appeared around his fist as he landed on the bridge, instantly running towards Espio. Espio jumped out of the way, pulling out his guns and firing at the man, but the bullets merely fell from the cloak.

"How troublesome," Espio said pulling out his sword.

Avengard charged at Espio with his lightning fist, which Espio blocked with his sword. The rubber handle on his sword prevented the effects of lightning on his hands, so just blocking was safe for him. The power from the punch pushed Espio back a few feet. As Avengard charged at him once more, Espio dodged the punch and blocked the lightning he shot from the sky as he threw a kunai at the man's arm, causing him to bleed onto the ground.

"Huh, I must admit you're pretty skilled, though that was a risky move for such a small amount of blood," Avengard said, laughing as he activated his other hand with intense lightning energy.

Espio shrugged, not phased at all, and sheathed his sword.

"What the heck is he doing?" Ted said, asking the question everyone was thinking.

"Oh? Perhaps I misjudged you! You seem to underestimate me!" Avengard said, charging at him with both of his fists.

Espio began dodging the punches, merely moving out of the way as he slowly backed away from the man. Avengard began to get angry as his attacks got more aggressive. He began firing lightning out of his fists at the speed of a machine gun, all of which were dodged by Espio.

"FINE!" Avengard yelled as he began screaming, floating off the ground slightly as he clenched his fists harder and harder. A massive surge of lightning struck one side of the bridge, causing the entire structure to become unstable.

"Hey Avengard, you realize my bullets are still inside of you?" Espio said, not even phased by the collapsing bridge.

Avengard stopped screaming and stared at Espio, "What?"

Espio merely disappeared as a dumbfounded Avengard fell onto the collapsing bridge.

"Wait! Why can't I move? Help me!" Avengard shouted in horror as he watched his body fall without any control. It was as if he was watching the world from a first person view.

Espio appeared on the ground on the other side of the bridge with Cory, Alex, and Ted.

"Woah, what happened to that guy?" Cory asked.

"He'll be on the bottom of the lake for as long as I let him live," Espio said, beginning to walk away.

"Wait, where are you going Espio?"

"If I remember correctly, we're taking out the CIA, idiot."

Cory smiled, remembering all the good times they had in the past. Espio could be harsh and insulting, but he still had a heart. He nodded and began to walk after Espio, followed closely by the others.