I cannot for the life of me figure out why this is happening. And stretching out the battle field lines by terrain doesn't help at all. They are all stacked on top of eachother, all four characters.
(https://rmrk.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi563.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fss72%2Fj_bennett23%2Fglitch.jpg&hash=1e492eda86279a1c38ee7ed777c5350cef2f8aa1)
After much experimentation, I figured it out. When I made new characters, they were in the same default spot in the "Battle Layout" tab. Just clicking automatic instead of manual was all I had to do.