The crowd's thunderous roar echos across the open roof arena. Twenty had gathered for what was the the fifth run of the hit survival sport, The Challenge. The challengers approach the podium like celebrities on a red carpet. There were veterans, fan favorites, even classic "villains" among the pool of competitors. The crowd was eating them up, and the competitors were loving it.
The challengers each got on their respective positions on the podium. The podium itself was shaped like a pokeball. Each half of the pokeball divided the competitors into two separate teams. In the center, there was a special circle just for the host, PG24, who just now stepped to the center.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the The Challenge Season Five! I'm your host, PG24. I hope you're all enjoying yourselves, especially the competitors," the flamboyant host proclaims as he looks at every challenger around the podium. "We have a very special batch of competitors this time around, who I will introduce to you now."
"Here's our first team. We have Machamp The Champion, a man who whose name embodies what he strives for. The man beside him is none other than last season's host, Professor Palutena. Next is Eron, who makes you think 'wow, such compete'. TheGuy, a man many of you as a savvy vet, joins them."
Very suddenly, clouds began to circle the arena. The crowd took this as a cool visual effect the production crew whipped up to add to the drama. Even the competitors marveled at how the clouds circled the arena so perfectly. Whatever their purpose, it was clear to everyone there: something big is about to happen.
"Uh, next up we have Cleaver, I mean Celever," PG24 continues awkwardly to hopefully dispel the crowd from the spectacle above.
It was no good. The clouds began to engulf the entire sky, extending beyond the arena itself. Cities across the world were even covered by the mysterious weather spectacle. The clouds had gone from a light gray to a deep black, pointing towards a possible nasty storm brewing. Back at the arena, the entire place turned quickly to a nightmare.
"Everyone, calm down, it's just clouds. There's nothing to be af-" PG24 was suddenly cut off by a bolt of lightning striking him. That was just enough to send the crowd into a frenzy panic. People began to exit the arena, but it was too late. Lightning had struck every sector of the arena causing fires to burst on the scene. This much thunder coming down in one area was clearly impossible, or just the /worst/ bad luck ever. Exits were cut off; death was all but certain. It only took a few hours, though.
At the podium, the competitors were stuck. The storm wasn't the worst of their fears; a large fissure ripped open in the center of the arena where PG24 was struck (and presumably killed), creating a huge gap between both sections. Lava poured in from the fissure and began to take over the podiums. Due to the fissure, each section of the podiums were sinking in and being covered by the hot lava. There was room at the top of each podium not covered in lava for nine people, but there was already people there securing the sections with fear of their own lives. What happened next was...