(Opito Tribe)
The Opito Tribe still stood in silence, looking at the spot SSBFreak had just vanished into. It was clear that they were still in shock at what had just happened, although some had different emotions attached.
"My main plan just hit a bump. Brick had to be evacuated and that means I've just lost a potential vote." Molly folded her arms. "I need to make absolute certain that everyone I'm aligned with makes the merge, because if I lose any more numbers, I could have a hard time getting to the end."
"I'm going to sound like a jerk for saying this, but Brick getting pulled from the game is exactly the second wind Ginny and I need." Nelson said. "If we had gone to Tribal Council, one of us would have gone home. Now we actually have a fighting chance."
"So what do we do now?" Roscoe asked. "We just lost someone when we were WINNING the challenge!"
"We'll just have to hope that we can make up for this at the next Immunity challenge." Nelson replied, folding his arms. "He was right. We're now at the same level as our competitors again."
"Meaning we can't sit anyone out at challenges anymore." Jack muttered.
"At least he wasn't our strongest player." Mason pointed out. "I mean, losing him was no real big loss, was it?"
Although Nelson and Ginny agreed with the bearded man, the others didn't look very thrilled at the turn of events.
"Losing Brick caused us to lose one of our four votes in this secret alliance. If I'm going to win this, it's going to be a lot harder now that we've just lost a potential vote." Jack mused. "Even still, this isn't impossible. We can still pull this off."
"It's getting late. We may as well all head to bed for now and try to win the next challenges." Nelson suggested.
Everyone else agreed and went to bed, knowing that they had a rough road ahead of them now that they no longer had an advantage.
(Eleda Tribe; Day 15)
"Either way we look at the recent turn of events, we'll have a slight advantage. If Brick got pulled from the game, we're on equal terms with the Opito Tribe." Janine noted. "However, if Brick didn't get pulled from the game and someone else was voted off, we don't think Brick will be well enough to play at his fullest."
"I know this is going to sound selfish, but I actually hope someone else was voted out and Brick is still in the game." Janine sighed.
"I know. It would give us a competitive advantage if Brick were to remain in the game, but if his injuries were serious enough, then there won't be any other choice." Charlotte replied.
"I still can't believe that happened." Janine shook her head.
"There are some things that nothing can be done about in a game like this." Charlotte gave a shrug before looking at Janine. "Janine, I need to talk to you about something."
"Uh…Sure."
"We can't let the fact that we're on even terms with the others distract us from beating them." Charlotte reminded. "We still need to focus on winning."
"I've been trying to solidify a vote from Janine and Oiler for the last number of days. If I don't I know that Ruth and Anita will." Charlotte explained. "I think it's becoming apparent that Janine and Oiler are nervous to pick sides, and that's not good. I need to get on their good side before the other alliance does."
"Janine, you and I both know that Ruth and Anita are the weakest ones left. We can afford to lose them." Charlotte explained.
"Charlotte, I think you're getting ahead of yourself." Janine insisted. "We haven't even had any challenges yet. Don't you think it'd be better if we waited to see how we fare in the next challenge before we make a choice?"
Charlotte paused, then nodded. "Okay. I can understand that you need time to chose, but just so you know, I've already made my decision." She warned.
"I like Charlotte, but she's so focused on the game it's kinda off-putting. I mean, I see her point to eliminate the weaker players, but it's too early." Janine said. "I can understand that she wants one of us to win in the end, but there's no need for her to get ahead of herself here."
(Opito Tribe; Day 15)
"Ginny, we got extremely lucky back there. If Brick didn't get evacuated, they would have targeted us for sure." Nelson pointed out.
"So what do we do? Want me to spread the joy of blue to blackbeard over there?" Ginny asked, jerking her thumb in Mason's direction.
"Tempting, but no. If we want to survive, we need to persuade a couple of the others to vote off someone else."
"So Brick was pulled out of the game. Pity, because it seemed to me that he really liked blue." Ginny sighed. "Well, for whatever reason, the others are gonna target us because they outnumber us, which is so not fair! How could they gang up on us?! It's because I love blue, isn't it?! Oh, I'm gonna report this colour-racism!"
"So what are the options?" Ginny asked.
"We can't target Molly. She's already been targeted twice and she's escaped elimination both times." Nelson shook his head. "Jack and Roscoe are out of the question as well. If we target one of them, the other will automatically vote against us."
"So that leaves survivorman?"
"…This may actually work out." Nelson said with a smirk.
"I seem to recall a moment last season, where one team was persuaded to vote out their strongest player pre-merge because they were approaching the merge." Nelson said. "I know that we're getting close to the merge by now, so if I play the same card, we may be able to get Jack and Roscoe to vote out Mason."
"It'll be a risky move, but if we can pull it off, I think we'll be in good form." Nelson pointed out.
"Sweet! So how do we do that?" Ginny asked.
"Molly is aligned with Mason, so that means we have to get the votes from Jack and Roscoe."
"I have no problem voting out Mason. I used a good three grams of my blue powder on his beard and he had the nerve to wash it out." Ginny pointed out, looking cross. "Defiling the sacred colour means death where I come from, you know."
(Eleda Tribe)
"I've seen Charlotte talking with Janine. This is not good news, because I know that she's trying to target us." Ruth noted. "I've made the decision to talk to Oiler and see if we can get his vote, or at least talk it over with Janine. Anita seems to have had success by talking to him, so we know it's possible."
Oiler stood on the beach, fishing. He looked mortified about something.
"Oiler, we need to talk." Ruth asked, coming over with Anita.
"I'm sorry my dismembered hand was on Anita's chest this morning!!" Oiler cried out. "It came off during the night and I didn't realize it!!"
Ruth and Anita froze, looked at each other, then looked at Oiler again. "…What?" Ruth asked.
"What?" Oiler asked.
"Uh…We just wanted to talk to you about strategy."
"…Oh. Okay."
Anita sat in front of the camera, a stunned look on her face. She looked down at her chest and back at the camera again. "I…I feel violated…" She said.
"We know that Charlotte and Krash are going to target us and we need you to help us blindside them." Ruth explained. "Charlotte is an extremely-capable player, you know."
Oiler paused. "Yeah. I think I know what you're getting at. You don't want her to gain too much power." He responded.
"Right. We need to either take her out or weaken her power." Ruth replied. "You think you can vote with us and relay the message to Janine?"
"I can certainly try. Janine wants to get rid of Anita, but I think you guys have a better chance at getting my vote." Oiler admitted.
"Thank you. We'll take it for now." Ruth said.
"Janine and I are seriously treading on thin ice. We need to decide who to align with since no one will apparently vote the way we want to." Oiler admitted. "We want to avoid the three-way deadlock, so we need to figure out who's going to get our vote if we ever go to Tribal Council again. I guess one way to avoid it is not lose…"
(Opito Tribe)
"The plan for Nelson and I is to get the koopa and the rat to vote with us and vote out Mason. It'll be hard, but the power of blue will prevail." Ginny said with a smirk. "Besides, Jack and Roscoe like me. They hang out with me all of the time!"
"Hey, Jack!" Nelson called out as he came over to where the red-clad koopa was.
"What's up, Nelson?" Jack asked back.
"Jack, I just had a thought. We're probably approaching the merge, right?"
Jack paused in thought. "Yeah. I think so." He admitted.
"I think we should get rid of Mason next, then."
The koopa blinked a few times. "Wait. Why would we get rid of him over crazy woman?" He asked.
"Because he's a threat at the merge, especially since the other team still has the cavewoman." Nelson replied. "Ginny isn't that much of a physical threat. She can go when we get to the merge."
Jack appeared to be in thought. "You have a point, man. Letting Mason into the merge would be hard enough to deal with, especially if there's already another strong player there as well." He replied.
"So we're on the same page?" Nelson asked hopefully.
"Let me run the idea by Roscoe and see what he thinks about it." Jack suggested. "Thanks for the idea, man."
"Okay. Things are looking good. Jack seems to like the idea and that means that if we go to Tribal Council, Ginny and I will be able to slip under the radar again." Nelson explained. "We just need to hope that Jack follows through on it and likes the idea enough to vote Mason off. We've got our fingers crossed and are hoping for the best."
"Before Nelson came to me with that idea, I wouldn't have thought twice about voting Ginny off. However, I'm starting to get what he's thinking." Jack admitted. "Mason may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but he's still a threat. He's a way better threat than Ginny is, so maybe voting him off when we get the chance would be a better alternative."
Night eventually rolled in. The two teams went to bed, knowing that the challenge the next day would be a test to them all.
(Eleda Tribe; Day 16)
Krash walked over to the treemail box, alone. The rest of the tribe was scattered around the camp.
"I know you're probably wondering why I come to collect treemail if I can't exactly read. Well, this is the only time I can get away from all the stress at camp." Krash pointed out. "All I've been hearing lately is who's getting targeted and who to align with. It's enough to blow a kremling's mind, you know?"
Krash eventually arrived at the treemail box and looked in. Seeing an envelope, Krash pulled it out.
"Looks like we've got another challenge." Krash mused. "I'd better get someone to read it."
"Coming onto this, my main goal was to test my survival abilities for any future battle with the Kongs." Krash admitted. "I never would have thought I would get pulled through all of this conflict like this. I mean, with two alliances at each others' throats, I wonder how coordinated we actually are…"
"We're got treemail!" Krash called out. "Someone wanna read it?"
The others gathered around as Janine took the envelope. "It just asks how well we are at dodgeball." She explained.
"Hmm…This could be interesting." Charlotte noted with a smirk. "Considering who we're up against, we may have a good shot."
"Speak for yourself." Ruth muttered, folding her arms.
"So our challenge is going to be about dodgeball. This shouldn't be a problem for us to win." Charlotte pointed out. "The only real athletic person the other team has is Mason, while Jack, Roscoe and Nelson are only semi-threats. I assure you that we will return victorious by demolishing the other team."
"Seriously? Dodgeball? Do I LOOK athletic?" Ruth asked. "The kids play that game! I don't!"
(Opito Tribe; Day 16)
Mason scratched his head as he tried drawing in the sand with a stick, trying to draw the way Nelson did. Molly saw him and came over. "What are you doing?" She asked.
"Nelson said that he tended to do this to pass the time, so I thought I'd try and see if it was any fun." Mason replied.
Molly looked at what Nelson had drawn. In comparison to Nelson's drawings, this was a poor attempt and whatever Mason was drawing was probably something completely different than what it was supposed to look like.
"I don't know how Nelson does it. Not only am I puzzled at how detailed his drawings come out, but I'm stumped at how he finds that fun." Mason scratched his head. "I mean, if I did that on the field of battle, I'd be a sitting duck."
"Mason draws like a fifth-grader." An amused Molly said with a smirk. "Somehow, I'm not that surprised."
Meanwhile, Ginny was approaching the treemail box. Peering inside, the blue-haired woman saw an envelope, which she promptly snatched from the box.
"Alright! New challenge!" Ginny said.
"The era of blue is almost at hand. When the time comes, everyone shall see that blue is the only way to go." Ginny said with a smirk. "BOW TO THE BLUE, UNBELIEVERS!! Blue shall be the dominant colour in everything as we know it! To prove this, I shall single-handedly beat the other team in this challenge to show you all the power of blue!"
"We've got some treemail! Looks like it has something to do with dodgeball!" Ginny pointed out.
Jack smirked. "Sweet. That's something I can totally exceed in." He said.
"Hmm…I think the odds are in our favour." Nelson pointed out. "I mean, we're on equal terms with the others and I think our overall skill level is around the same."
"A dodgeball challenge seems to put us on equal grounds, both with strengths and weaknesses. We have Molly, they have Ruth. We have Mason, they have Janine. We have Ginny, they have Anita." Roscoe explained. "We know that if we want to win, we're gonna need to take out all of the threats first."
(Reward Challenge)
The Eleda Tribe stood on their mat on the beach, waiting to see what the final verdict was on Brick.
"Let's bring out the Opito Tribe." SSBFreak said.
The Opito Tribe emerged from the jungle, and everyone noticed that Brick was no longer among them.
"Brick's injuries were too serious and he had to be pulled from the game." SSBFreak explained.
A few members of the Eleda Tribe looked disappointed (for varied reasons) as their opponents stepped onto their mat.
"Today's Reward Challenge will be a simple game of dodgeball, six-on-six." SSBFreak explained. Everyone saw that a makeshift dodgeball court had been set up on the beach. "The rules are simple: Get hit with the ball and you're out. We've even upped the ante and there will be a total of three dodgeballs on the court at once. The team with at least one person remaining will win Reward." SSBFreak explained. "Today's Reward will be two large bags of rice, which I'm sure will be a welcome taste to a good majority of you."
The two teams looked at each other determinedly, knowing that everyone would be wanting the reward.
"If you'll all step onto your sides of the court, we can get started."
(Later…)
The two teams stood on opposite ends of the court, staring each other down. Due to a coin toss, the Opito Tribe was starting with two of the three dodgeballs. Mason, Roscoe and Charlotte had the balls and were ready to throw.
"Okay. For Reward, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "Go!!"
All three of the balls were thrown at once. Ginny jumped over Charlotte's while Janine and Krash dodged the ones thrown by Opito. Janine promptly scooped up the ball that was thrown at her and took aim while Krash gathered the other one.
"Let's see how many of those guys can dodge this." Janine said to herself as she fired a missile straight at the opposing team. Jack, Nelson and Molly had to jump out of the way to avoid the ball that had been thrown harder than any of them could.
"Go for Janine first!" Jack called out as Molly grabbed the ball and handed it to Roscoe. "There's no way we can win against those throws!"
"On it!" Roscoe replied as he threw the ball at Janine. The cavewoman easily avoided the ball.
Meanwhile, Mason picked up a ball that had been thrown at him. Taking aim, Mason tried to replicate Janine's throw and hurled it at the other team, but failed to even come close to the speed of Janine's throw. All Oiler had to do was lift his leg to avoid being hit with the ball.
Mason was suddenly aware that Eleda now had all three of the balls. Janine, Oiler and Krash were all grinning viciously at him.
"Uh..." That was all Mason could get out before two of the balls hit him in the face, knocking him down. Krash had thrown his at Ginny, whom dodged.
"Mason is the first one out!" SSBFreak said.
"Crap!" Jack cursed. "Keep targeting Janine! We need her out!"
"Of all the times to be a strong player." Janine muttered to herself.
"Start picking them off." Charlotte directed as she scooped up a ball. "We've got this."
Anita tried throwing one of the balls, but didn't manage to get a good shot in and the ball soared aimlessly past Nelson's head. "Drat." The blonde girl muttered. "I've never been good with this."
Ruth picked up a ball and prepared to throw it. However, just as she was about to hurl it as best as she could, she was hit in the shoulder by a second ball (courtesy of Ginny).
"Ruth is out!"
Ruth groaned and tossed the ball she was holding to Charlotte as she left the court to stand by Mason.
Nelson grabbed the ball Anita had thrown at him. The Ghostbuster took aim at Janine and waited until Jack had thrown the ball at her. As Janine blocked Jack's throw, Nelson hurled the ball he had, striking the unprepared Janine in the side.
"Janine is out!"
Janine shot Nelson a dirty look as Jack laughed. "Sweet technique, man!" He said to Nelson. "Think you can keep it up?"
"I'll try." Nelson nodded.
Krash picked up the ball that Janine had dropped on her way off the court. "Okay. Shouldn't be too hard. I just gotta hit someone with it." He told himself. Deciding that Jack was the best player, Krash threw it at him.
Jack's eyes widened behind his shades as he ducked under the ball. Unfortunately, Roscoe was directly behind him and took Krash's ball to the face. At the same time, Molly had been hit with a ball from Charlotte.
"Roscoe and Molly are both out!"
"I've never been good at this." Molly sighed sadly (or at least that's what she was pretending to do).
This left Ginny, Jack and Nelson left for Opito, while Charlotte, Anita, Oiler and Krash were remaining on Eleda. Currently, all three of the remaining Opito players had a ball as the Eleda players looked anxious to move.
"Who do we go for?" Nelson asked.
"Go for blondie! She's not wearing blue!" Ginny shouted as she hurled her ball at Anita.
Anita shrieked and ducked under Ginny's ball. However, she got hit in the back by Jack's ball, as the koopa didn't want to pass up the opportunity.
"Anita is out!"
As Anita hobbled off the court, Charlotte grabbed the ball that had eliminated the blonde and ducked under Nelson's ball.
"Comrades, hit them with all you've got!" Charlotte ordered as she hurled her ball at Ginny.
The blue-haired girl quickly dodged Charlotte's ball and stuck her tongue out. "Nah nah! Missed me!" She taunted.
Right after she said that, Ginny got hit in the face with a ball, this one from Krash. Ginny, dazed, fell to the ground.
"Ginny is out!"
Jack growled and looked at Nelson. "Looks like it's just you and me." He said. "Dodge like you never dodged before!"
Nelson nodded as he picked up the ball that had just eliminated Ginny. "I'm up for a little payback." He said.
Nelson threw the ball with all his might, surprising Krash and hitting him in the arm, eliminating the kremling.
"Krash is out!"
Oiler narrowed his eyes and pulled his arm back, preparing to throw a ball. "You two are going to-" He said just before Jack threw a ball at him, striking him in the arm and knocking it from its socket. "…Oh."
"Oiler is out!"
Charlotte growled to herself. It was now her against both Jack and Nelson. The German woman gripped a ball in her hands and looked between targets. She saw that Nelson had the third ball and had just thrown it at her.
"I think not, comrade!" Charlotte shouted as she threw herself to the side, dodging Nelson's ball and throwing hers at the same time. Nelson, caught off guard by this, took the ball to the face and fell backwards.
"Nelson is out!"
This just left two people on the field: Jack and Charlotte. The two stared down each other, each holding a ball. The third ball, which had just eliminated Nelson, rolled towards the middle line of the court. The eliminated players waited with anticipation to see who would act first.
Both Jack and Charlotte threw their balls at the same time and made a break for the center of the court, where the third ball was. The two thrown balls bounced harmlessly off each other and ricocheted across the court, leaving the third ball wide open for taking. Both players dove at the ball.
Jack was a fraction of a second faster. As Charlotte landed face-first onto the ground, Jack grabbed the ball and instantly threw it down, bouncing it off Charlotte's head.
"That's it! Charlotte's out!" SSBFreak announced. "Opito wins Reward!"
The Opito Tribe cheered as Jack threw his arms into the air in victory. Charlotte hit the ground with her fist in annoyance.
(Later…)
"Congratulations on winning Reward, Opito. Enjoy the two bags of rice." SSBFreak said as Jack and Roscoe each picked up a large bag of rice. He turned to the disappointed Eleda Tribe. "Eleda, you guys may have lost Reward, but remember that this wasn't the essential Immunity Challenge, which you should hope that you do better on. I'll see you all tomorrow for that, but for now, you can all head back to camp."
Everyone dispersed and returned to the jungle, going in different directions to await the next challenge.
(Opito Tribe)
"It took sixteen days, but we finally managed to win a freaking Reward Challenge." Jack said with a smirk. "And the sweetest part? I actually scored the winning point. Okay. This is good because it'll build up our confidence for tomorrow's Immunity Challenge."
"That was almost too close." Nelson shook his head. "A second later and she would have had you, man."
"Well, what's important is that she didn't and I got the ball first." Jack replied with a smirk. "And now we've got a little something extra to have at supper with the fish."
"I know Jack has the right to feel proud that he won us the challenge, but he doesn't want to let it get to his head." Nelson pointed out. "Jack's already got a big ego. I don't think him boasting about a challenge win would be good for him. Then again, maybe I underestimate Jack and he's actually got more self-control than that…"
Ginny opened up one of the bags and looked inside, staring at the white rice. Ginny silently pulled her pouch of blue powder from her pocket, which Roscoe promptly took away from her. "Hey!" She said.
"You're not turning the rice blue, Ginny." Roscoe said. "We worked hard enough earning this stuff."
"You're saying that the blue will ruin it?!" Ginny demanded. "How can you say such a thing?!"
"What's wrong with these people?! Do they not appreciate the blue?!" Ginny demanded. "I've been trying to show these people the way ever since we started, and all they've done is shun me! I won't stand for this outrage!"
"Well, I'm starved! How about I catch us some fish and we eat?" Mason asked.
"Sounds good, but actually C ATCH something this time, man." Roscoe said with a smirk.
Mason pouted as he sulked off to the beach.
"I'll help you, Mason." Molly said as she followed Mason.
"I've heard of this saying that you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer. If I abided by that, Urtha and Shamus would still be here and my secret would have been found out." Molly explained. "Mason may be an idiot, but he's still my ally. I need to make sure he and I both make the merge, or else I'll be in hot water later on, even with my other alliance."
(Eleda Tribe)
"Well, that didn't quite go as well as I had hoped. It had come down to me and Jack, and he had the faster draw." Charlotte rolled her eyes. "I hate losing, because it makes me feel that I should have tried harder to win. Oh, well. It wasn't an Immunity Challenge, but I still can't help but feel let-down that we lost."
"Man. We lost." Anita sighed. "I…I thought you had him there."
"So did I. Apparently, I was wrong." Charlotte shook her head.
"Ah, don't get worked up about it." Krash shrugged nonchalantly. "I mean, it was just a Reward Challenge, right? It's not like we're voting someone off now, right?"
"That may be so, but the Reward was still something we could have used." Janine reminded.
"Why is everyone so upset that we lost a challenge that doesn't really matter? I mean, if it was for a fishing rod or something real useful, I could see what the deal would be." Krash shrugged. "But the reward was just a couple of bags of rice. We can live on fruit and fish just fine, can't we?"
"I was honestly expecting us to lose. It was a dodgeball challenge and, just as I had predicted, I was completely useless in a game like that." Ruth sighed. "That's my biggest weakness here aside from my old age. I'm probably the least-athletic person here."
"Well, what's done is done. What we should probably do now is focus on winning the Immunity Challenge tomorrow." Ruth explained.
"Yeah. The others will probably be so pumped that that won the challenge today that we may actually have an advantage." Janine nodded.
"Then we'll make sure to use that to our advantage and catch them all off guard." Charlotte said with a smirk. "Hopefully, it'll be something physical."
"Um…I…I don't hope that." Anita said timidly.
"T-There ARE other ways to win challenges than simply o-out-muscling the other team, you know." Anita pointed out. "I-I-I mean, there's trivia, puzzles and endurance challenges, so it's n-not like strength tests are o-our only way."
Eventually, night rolled in. The two teams, knowing that there was a challenge tomorrow, went to bed to prepare for it.
(Opito Tribe; Day 17)
"We won the Reward Challenge yesterday, which means we're off to a good start. We just need to repeat the process and we're golden." Roscoe said. "None of us know what the challenge is gonna be, but we all agree that we have to be prepared for anything."
"So Nelson says that we should target Mason?" Roscoe asked.
"He says that we're approaching the merge, and he's probably right." Jack responded. "I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to go against both him and the cavewoman after the merge."
"Neither am I, but I think we're overlooking a key point."
"What's that?"
"Molly."
"Crap. This puts us in a major dilemma. Roscoe and I have to choose sides. If we vote against Nelson, we run the risk of going against Mason at the merge." Jack explained. "On the other hand, if we vote WITH Nelson, we lose Molly's potential vote for getting rid of her friend."
"Looks like we've got treemail." Nelson said as he came over.
"What type of challenge is it?" Mason asked.
"The mail never gives specifics, man. You should know that by now." Nelson replied. "It just says 'Who's hungry'?"
Molly froze. "Oh, no. Does this mean what I think it does?" She asked.
"I certainly hope not." Nelson added, shaking his head with wide eyes.
Mason looked back and forth between the two. "Why? What is it?" He asked.
"If this challenge turns out to be the Survivor eating challenge, it'll be the one challenge I was hoping we wouldn't come across." Molly noted, looking mad. "Not only do I have a weak stomach, but some of the stuff I saw last season's cast eat I would even touch!"
"We may as well head out and hope it's not the eating challenge." Nelson noted.
"Judging by what the clue hints at, don't hold your breath." Jack warned.
(Eleda Tribe; Day 17)
"So Anita and Ruth are starting to persuade you?" Janine asked Oiler as the two walked to the treemail box.
"They make a good point. I mean, putting Charlotte in control of the tribe may not be the smartest thing to do." Oiler shrugged.
"I suppose not, but we can't deny that Anita and Ruth are far weaker compared to Charlotte and Krash."
"Oiler and I know we'll have to make a choice on which of the two alliances to join, but we have no idea which would benefit us more in the future." Janine pointed out. "It would probably be easier to make the decision if we knew where the merge was going to show up."
"I REALLY wish we didn't have to make this decision. I've been putting it off for a long time now." Oiler noted, scratching his head. "We know that we need to break the tie if we lose Immunity or else we'd be at a three-way deadlock, and none of us want that to happen, less we risk losing an ally."
Janine reached into the treemail box and pulled out a letter. "Looks like we're going to the next Immunity Challenge." She said.
"I just hope we win. I haven't made a decision yet." Oiler replied.
"You and me both."
The two returned to camp and alerted everyone to the new treemail. The tribe gathered around Janine as she read the letter.
"It's just asking if anyone's hungry." Janine pointed out.
"Great! I'm starving!" Krash said excitedly. "We finally get to eat something!"
"Uh…This is the type of challenge that we usually like to avoid, Krash." Charlotte pointed out. "If this is what I think it is, we'll have to stomach unbearable food."
"But it's still food, right?"
"This is the type of challenge I was hoping to avoid. Some of the things the youngsters eat back home I can't even bear to look at." Ruth shook her head. "We just need to hope that the odds will be in our favour and we'll win."
(Immunity Challenge)
The two tribes emerged from the jungle and walked into a clearing. Seeing their mats, the opposing teams stepped on to await the challenge to start.
"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, everyone. Today, we have a fan-favourite challenge from the actual show. And when I say fan-favourite, I mean not castaway-favourite: The Survivor Buffet!" SSBFreak announced. Almost everyone let out a collective groan as they saw a table behind the host with two covered dishes on it. "The rules are simple: Down the mystery dish before your opponent. You will go one-on-one and the first to four points will win Immunity." He explained. "To make things fair, we will make sure that no one will receive a dish from their home world. Now if you guys will choose the order of who will eat, we can get started."
(Later…)
The first two up to bat were Nelson and Charlotte. The two stared each other down, although Nelson occasionally glanced at the still-covered dish.
"Round one is Nelson vs. Charlotte. Here's the first dish, which is something Roscoe may be familiar with." SSBFreak said as he uncovered the dishes. "A small bowl of red hot chili."
Roscoe's eye twitched. "W-What?! You're making people EAT that stuff?!" He asked.
"How bad can it be?" Charlotte asked.
"I WORK at the chili factory and I wouldn't touch it!!"
Although they looked a little nervous now, Nelson and Charlotte started to eat the chili. Nelson coughed and wheezed almost instantly, but Charlotte managed to stomach it long enough to keep eating. Nelson tried to catch up and started eating faster.
However, it was to no avail. Charlotte finished the small bowl of chili long before Nelson got close. The German woman stepped away from the table to signify that she had finished.
"And Charlotte wins, bringing Eleda into an early lead of 1-0!"
"Was it bad?" Krash asked as Charlotte returned.
"Definitely. The sad thing is that it's not the WORST thing I've eaten." Charlotte shook her head.
Jack and Anita stared at each other, Jack narrowing his eyes in determination behind his shades. This seemed to make Anita even more nervous.
"Round two is Jack vs. Anita. The dish is something that is grown where Ruth lives constantly." SSBFreak said as he uncovered the dishes. "Banya."
Ruth's eyes widened. "Wait. RAW banya?!" She asked. Her question went unanswered.
Jack and Anita bit into their dishes, quickly finding the raw banya to be incredibly crunchy and low on flavor. Even through this, the two kept on eating, knowing that their teams needed the point. However, Jack was more determined due to his team being behind and managed to finish his dish before his opponent could.
"Jack ties it up at 1-1!"
"Sweet. We've got a chance." Roscoe nodded with a smirk.
"Man. Anyone got any water?" Jack asked. "That stuff was dry."
Mason stood tall as he stared down Ruth. The elderly Raposa lifted an eyebrow at him as he stood over her.
"Can I help you?" Ruth asked sarcastically.
"You can give up now." Mason replied with a smirk.
"Round three is Mason vs. Ruth. Even though Brick had to be pulled from the game, this next dish is something he would be extremely familiar with." SSBFreak announced as he uncovered the dishes. "Pizza from Lego Island."
"You kidding? This'll be a snap!" Mason said as he bit down on his slice of pizza, only to hear a crunching sound. He yelped. "Is this made out of Lego or something?!"
"Not quite. More like an edible Lego." SSBFreak shrugged.
Ruth was managing to eat the pizza forcibly while Mason was talking to SSBFreak. The elderly Raposa easily slipped past Mason while he was distracted and choked down the last of the Lego pizza. "I'm done." She announced after a cough.
SSBFreak looked down in surprise. "So you are. Ruth gives Eleda a lead with 2-1!" He announced.
"Dude, what was that?!" Jack asked as Mason came over.
"What?!" Mason asked in defense.
Roscoe shook his head and approached the table, finding that his opponent was Janine. The cavewoman smirked. "Ready to lose?" She asked.
"I'm full of surprises, lady." Roscoe warned.
"Round four is Roscoe vs. Janine. This dish is something that is said frequently by a photographer in Earthbound, but never seen." SSBFreak said as he uncovered the dishes. "A fuzzy pickle."
Ginny laughed. "Holy crap! Those things actually EXIST?!" She asked. "And here I was thinking it was some photographer conspiracy!"
This did nothing to make Roscoe or Janine feel better, but they managed to start eating relatively quickly. The two quickly struggled because of the poor taste, but they managed to persevere and kept eating. However, the victory could only go to one, and Janine managed to finish eating her dish first. The cavewoman coughed a couple of times, but backed away from the table.
"Janine furthers Eleda's lead with a score of 3-1!"
Roscoe coughed. "Mac, there's NO way that was a pickle!" He snapped as he turned and went back to his team.
Ginny and Oiler were next. The blue-haired woman and the test dummy stared down each other, Ginny with dislike because Oiler wasn't wearing blue.
"Opito is in a predicament. They need to win this round to stay in the game, otherwise Eleda wins. Round five is Ginny vs. Oiler." SSBFreak explained as he uncovered the dishes, revealing a couple of leafs. "This next dish is something from Jack's world: A Raccoon Leaf!"
"Uh…Those aren't for eating." Jack pointed out. He was ignored.
Ginny and Oiler started eating the leaf, quickly finding that the leaf had the texture of a normal leaf. The two coughed and tried to swallow their dish, having trouble along the way. They both knew that victory relied on them, and that made them try harder. However, one of the competitors soon finished their dish, and a cloud of smoke engulfed the winner with a poof.
The smoke cleared and Oiler now had raccoon ears and a tail, weirding out most of the people there.
"Oiler has scored Eleda's final point! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak announced. "Eleda wins Immunity!"
The Eleda Tribe cheered as Oiler looked at the tail he had just grown with wide eyes.
(Later…)
"Congratulations, Eleda Tribe. You're all safe for tonight and none of you will be eliminated." SSBFreak said as he casually poked Oiler once with a stick, quickly getting rid of the raccoon features. Once he did, SSBFreak looked at the losing team. "Opito, you guys will be going to Tribal Council again tonight, where you'll be voting someone on your team out of the game. I'm afraid this, in addition to Brick's evacuation, will put you guys at a one-man disadvantage when the smoke clears."
SSBFreak stepped back and looked at everyone, mainly the Opito Tribe. "I'll give you the rest of the day to make your decision, so for now, you can all head back to camp."
(Opito Tribe)
"That was pathetic." Jack moaned. "They DEMOLISHED us back there!"
"We lost Immunity, and I can tell that some of the others are mad at me for losing to the old lady. Hey, the challenge caught me off guard!" Mason insisted. "I know I'll probably be getting votes tonight, so I say we focus on Ginny."
"Ginny cost us the win, right?" Mason asked. "We can afford to lose her, right?"
"I know. I'm just worried that they'll target you because you didn't look like you were trying." Molly admitted.
"But I tried! You believe me, don't you?"
"Of course I do."
"No, I don't believe for a second that Mason was actually trying, but I have a feeling the outcome would have been the same either way." Molly rolled her eyes. "Even still, I need to make sure Jack and Roscoe vote for Ginny tonight. I'm sure they'll see things my way in the end."
"Mason needs to go." Nelson informed Jack and Roscoe. "He hasn't been as useful in challenges as he'd probably like to believe."
"I know. That loss he had to Ruth was just stupid." Jack shook his head. "But he IS a stronger player."
"But by how much? Whenever we've had a physical challenge, the cavewoman always pulled out on top." Nelson reminded.
"I KNOW I can be a better player than blackbeard!" Ginny assured. "You guys just need to give me a chance!"
Jack and Roscoe looked at each other with strange glances.
"I wanna stay, so I need to make sure that I appeal to the others, even if they hate blue. It'll be painful, but like I said, I wanna stay." Ginny explained. "Of course, Nelson's been doing his best to keep me around, and for that I think I can help him see the beauty of blue easier."
As Nelson and Ginny left, Jack and Roscoe looked at each other again. "What do we do?" Roscoe asked. "Either way we vote, we get screwed."
"I know. The real question is which choice will lead to more benefits for us in the future?" Jack asked.
The two stood in silence, as if pondering the problem.
"Jack and I aren't in the best of positions. We can either vote off the woman that drives us crazy at camp, or the guy that appears strong, but is near-useless in challenges." Roscoe pointed out. "However, Jack and I have a different factor in making the choice. We want to win, and we need to decide which alliance will help us more. This is gonna be rough."
(Tribal Council)
The six remaining Opito members entered Tribal Council, once again carrying lit torches. Finding their spots on the dwindling number of stumps, everyone sat down and waited for the council to start.
"Welcome to Tribal Council, Opito Tribe. In a moment, you'll all be voting out one of your own, ejecting him or her from the game." SSBFreak explained as he started asking questions. "Roscoe, first you guys lose Brick, and now you're back here tonight. What do you think has been happening considering that you've been ahead of the others since we started?"
"We've been getting real bad luck in the important challenges." Roscoe replied. "I mean, we won the Reward Challenge, so that means that we're capable."
"Why do you think you've been losing?"
"Nothing but bad luck. The Immunity Challenges just haven't been benefitting us."
"Mason, at the Immunity Challenge, you lost badly to Ruth. Is anyone blaming you for it?" SSBFreak asked.
"A few people are, but I really don't think I deserve to go over it." Mason explained. "That challenge just didn't play to my skills."
"What challenge could you have done better in?"
"Something physical." Mason replied.
"We've had a physical challenge before. You didn't exactly beat everyone then." Nelson accused. "And then at the dodgeball challenge, you were the first one out!"
"Hey! I'm just not used to things out here! I'm more used to fighting Locust!" Mason insisted.
Nelson sat back. "I'm sure you are." He said as he folded his arms.
"Ginny, it seemed that you were the one to cost your team the win." SSBFreak reminded. "Anything to say in your defense?"
"You were making us eat a leaf! And it wasn't even blue!" Ginny replied. "If I had the time to paint it blue, I would have scarfed it down!"
"But you didn't."
"I was on a time limit. Fall-apart was already eating his."
"Jack, it seems that the tribe is split for voting. What's going on?" SSBFreak asked.
"Roscoe and I either need to vote for Mason or Ginny. We either vote out the insane woman or the guy that apparently isn't as helpful as he claims to be." Jack responded.
"I am SO useful! You guys don't appreciate me!" Mason shot back.
"We'd appreciate you more if you actually provided skills we could appreciate!" Jack replied, annoyed.
"Take that back!" Mason roared.
"That's enough. I think that's enough questions. It's time to vote." SSBFreak explained. "Molly, you're up."
Molly got up and left the hut to go to the voting table. She shook her head in hopelessness as she wrote a name down and placed it into the urn.
Jack bit his lip, as if tempted by something. "I gotta stick with the plan." He told himself as he wrote a name down and voted.
Ginny approached the table and wrote a name down, showing it to the camera. "Get out of here you blue-hater." She said, having voted for Mason.
Nelson sighed as he wrote a name down. "I hope that little outburst helped our cause." He said to the camera as he placed his ballot into the urn.
Mason growled and wrote a name down. "I wish I could vote for Jack, but then I wouldn't have a chance." He said, having voted for Ginny.
Roscoe walked up to the table last, still in thought. After a brief temptation of reconsider, Roscoe wrote a name down and placed it into the urn.
After everyone had voted, SSBFreak left the hut and returned a short while later with the urn. "When I read the names, the person with the most votes will be asked to bring forward their torch and leave Tribal Council immediately." He explained. "It's time to read the votes."
"…First vote, Ginny." The blue-haired woman cast a glare at Mason.
"Mason." Mason gave a glare right back.
"Ginny." Ginny did an 'I'm-watching-you' expression to Mason.
"Mason. That's two votes for both Ginny and Mason." Mason held his breath.
"…Ginny." Ginny narrowed her eyes and Nelson sighed. "Last vote and seventh person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"
"…Ginny. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.
Ginny sighed and stood up, but not before pulled her pouch of blue powder from her pocket and handing it to the depressed Nelson. "Here, buddy. Spread the love." She said as she grabbed her torch and brought it to the host.
"Ginny, the tribe has spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Ginny's torch. "It's time for you to go."
"VIVA LA BLUE!!" Ginny proclaimed proudly, holding a fist into the air as she marched out of the hut.
Once Ginny had gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining five Opito members. "You guys went from a one-person advantage to a one-person disadvantage over the course of five days. Only time will tell if this decision of yours was the best choice." He explained. "With Ginny gone, seven people have been eliminated, and we still haven't reached the merge yet. You guys need to hope that you don't lose the next challenges, because they could prove to be essential to your victory as a tribe. Until then, you can all head back to camp."
The five Opito players stood up, gathered their torches and left Tribal Council. Nelson brought up the rear, head held low and Ginny's pouch of powder in his hand. He had officially lost all of his allies and now he was truly fighting an uphill battle. He needed to kick things into high-gear if he wanted to have any chance at surviving.
"Overall, the experience was good. I'm just sorry I wasn't able to find any real converts out here and I was probably taken out because I was being a little too forward." Ginny admitted. "Nelson, I'm rooting for ya. I'll be sure to put in a good word for you with my superiors when I get back home."
Voting History:
Ginny – Jack, Mason, Molly and Roscoe
Mason – Ginny and Nelson
Author's Note: And so ends the run of the blue-obsessed woman, but Ginny was planned to be a pre-merge boot from the start. Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed writing for Ginny. However, I knew right off the bat that Ginny wouldn't be able to hold a candle to Sandy and she was expendable after that.
