(Survivor Tribe)
"That could have ended a little better. Corey just got eliminated and it was by one vote. Now we don't have the advantage anymore." Amy folded her arms. "At the moment, we don't know who that hinky vote was, but the only candidates are Danglars and Tempo."
"What do you think happened back there?" Brock asked.
"The only thing that could have happened is that one of the guys flipped." Amy shrugged. "But who did it?"
"I guess we've got reasons to suspect them both." Brock added as he turned to Angela, who remained silent. "What do you think, Angela?
Angela simply stood in silence, arms folded. She looked up at her two remaining allies. "We're not going to let what just happened happen again." She said.
"I get mad when things don't go my way. I have everything planned out and then a curve ball gets thrown at me." Angela said, not looking pleased. "This is the first time for me in the competition that a vote hasn't gone the way I was wanting it to, and I want to avoid it again to keep myself and my allies afloat."
"We'll have to interrogate the guys tomorrow and see what they have to say to defend themselves." Amy suggested.
"That's probably the best thing to do." Brock nodded.
Meanwhile, Kendall was across the camp, giving a smirk at the recent turn of events.
"This is good. One more vote like that and we can get an advantage and vote out every single one of the Ventala players." Kendall said. "Everything's going according to plan."
"What plan? Riddle and the others came to US." Samantha folded her arms.
"Shut up and let me have my moment."
"Since the vote went a way he likes, Kendall's back to thinking he's got everyone doing his bidding. It's…It's just pathetic." Samantha said. "That being said, the reason we took out Corey is simply because we want to whittle that alliance down some. Kendall seems to have forgotten that there's an alliance almost as big on Ferren."
"Look, I'm willing to vote out some more of the Ventala alliance first, but once they get down to a manageable number, we're going to switch targets to the Ferren alliance." Samantha said.
"No. I won't be satisfied until the Ventala alliance is wiped out."
"Well, too bad. If we do that, it'll be impossible to take down Riddle's alliance by then."
"My goal is to cut all ties with Ventala and vote them out as soon as possible. If anyone is going to ruin my gameplan, it's someone from Ventala." Kendall explained. "The Ferren players I have no worries about, but I just need to make sure I'm the only Ventala player in the finals."
The ten remaining players decided to go to bed, knowing that there were some questions that would need answering the following day.
(Survivor Tribe; Day 26)
"Corey got eliminated, and that's worse for me than it is for the alliance, since I was forming a bit of a side alliance with her." Brock sighed. "Well, I have to start again, but since we're wondering who was the deciding vote for Corey, we need to ask Danglars and Tempo some questions."
"So you DIDN'T vote for Corey last night?" Brock asked, slightly surprised.
"No. I voted for Gary." Tempo insisted.
"Um…Can I ask why?"
"Don't tell Angela this, but it's because I think Gary's the strongest here." Tempo replied.
Brock rubbed the back of his head. "Don't worry. I won't tell her."
"I needed to make up a little lie about Danglars being the swing vote to vote out Corey in order to make it look like I voted with them." Tempo explained. "If anything, they'll trust me and vote for me at the end."
"Hmm…I guess I'll have to think about this." Brock noted.
"For sure. By the way, who's the next target? We still voting for Gary?"
"Not sure yet. I'll have to get back to you on that."
Meanwhile, Amy was talking to Danglars, asking similar questions as Brock was asking Tempo.
"So you DIDN'T vote for Corey?" Amy checked.
"No way! It took me a long time to get Angela's trust again!" Danglars insisted. "Why would I throw that away?"
"Relax, will you? I'm just asking questions."
"I didn't want Angela to be the one asking questions since I know she'll likely say something we'd all regret, so Brock and I were forced to interrogate." Amy explained. "Danglars is pretty insistent that he didn't vote against us, but I just need to determine if he's telling the truth or trying to pin the blame on someone else."
"So you guys are thinking that I helped vote out Corey?" Danglars asked.
"It's a possibility that we're going over." Amy admitted. "We're still not sure, yet."
"Well, I swear that it wasn't me. It must have been Tempo!"
"Well, we know it's between the two of you." Amy shrugged. "Okay. Thanks for at least defending your case, Danglars."
With that, Amy turned and walked off. Danglars stood in silence for a few seconds and sighed.
"Why would I vote out one of Angela's allies after trying to get in good with her again? I didn't vote for Corey!" Danglars insisted, wide-eyed. "I…I don't even know why I'm a suspect!"
A little later, Amy and Brock had met up again and had relayed information on what they had gathered. Angela had her arms folded and looked between the two.
"They're both denying voting out Corey." Amy sighed. "I don't know what to think."
"I personally think Tempo is the one telling the truth." Brock explained. "He seems to acknowledge Gary as a threat."
"I guess we'll just have to see how things pan out."
"I still say I would have been able to tell who was lying if you let me ask the questions." Angela rolled her eyes.
"Uh…No offense, but you're not exactly the best with words." Brock scratched his head.
"Well, from what you're telling me and from what I know of the two, I would guess that Danglars is the one telling the truth." Angela said.
"We admit that he's scared to vote against us, but that doesn't mean he didn't get another offer." Amy added.
"Call it instinct."
"I admit that my people skills aren't the best, but you can't really blame me. That being said, something's telling me that Tempo's the one lying." Angela noted. "I obviously can't prove anything until some evidence turns up, but I just hope I can determine the facts before I lose more of my real allies."
Meanwhile, at the top of the waterfall, Erica was confronting Gary as Riddle watched on.
"Gary, we are SO lucky Corey didn't find anything on Exile." Erica said. "If she found the real idol out there, she would have played it and sent one of us home!"
"Isn't the idol Riddle found the real one?" Gary asked.
"We don't know that!" Erica said.
"Gary, the puzzle of this being the real idol is still unsolved. The next time we get the chance, one of us needs to go to Exile." Riddle explained, briefly showing the idol he had earlier found. "If we can find the other idol out there, at least we'll have the assurance that one of them is indeed the real one."
"Okay. Sorry about that." Gary shrugged. "I just assumed that the one we had was the real one."
Erica sighed. "Never assume in this game."
"Part of me wonders if Gary's even paying attention to what's going on around him. I know he's laid-back, but there's such a thing as taking it too far." Erica muttered. "Did he seriously forget that there's a fake idol in play and we may have it? He says that he didn't, but I admit that I'm thinking otherwise."
"We got lucky, and I'm not sure if we'll get another chance like that again. We need to make certain that we win the next Reward Challenge so one of us goes to Exile." Riddle said. "I know we'll be targeted before too long, so having the real idol would be a real help."
"Anyways, we need to keep whittling away at the other alliance." Riddle said. "Amy and Angela are the two strongest, so we should target them first."
"And they're both jury threats since they're part of the big alliance." Erica added. "Which one should we go after first, though?"
"It's a hard call. We'll have to see which one has a more-threatening performance at the Immunity Challenge."
"Fine with me." Gary shrugged.
"I don't care who we go after. I just go with the flow. I'll admit that I got a little absent-minded back there, so it's something I suppose I'll have to watch." Gary noted.
Meanwhile, Angela was walking through the camp, looking around for someone. Spotting her target, Samantha, sitting by the shelter, Angela wandered over.
"Something I can help you with?" Samantha asked with a sigh.
"Look, I'll keep it short because I know you're liable to not care what I say." Angela said. "We both know that you don't like any of the people from your tribe."
"I tolerate them as best as I can, I suppose." Samantha said.
"I know that you want to whittle down the numbers of opposing alliance, but have you forgotten that there's a big alliance on your tribe as well?"
Samantha scoffed. "You kidding? I'm trying to get Kendall to realize that."
"Man. Angela comes up to me and starts talking about stuff I already know. If she wants to get the message across, she needs to talk to Kendall." Samantha said. "Believe me, I want to whittle away at Riddle's alliance before we take out all the Ventalas because I know that at that point it'll be impossible to take the others down."
"Angela, you're preaching to the choir here. Kendall's the one you want to talk to." Samantha said.
Angela folded her arms. "You of all people know he's not going to listen to me."
Samantha shrugged. "Also true." She admitted. "Look, since both alliances are even-numbered, I'll think about it and try to get it through to Kendall, alright?"
"It's probably the best I can ask for at the moment." Angela nodded as she turned and left.
"While Amy and Brock are trying to determine who voted Corey out, it's doing nothing for our current predicament." Angela admitted. "I need to secure some votes, and even though Samantha didn't confirm anything, I suppose it's better than nothing. However, if this backfires and it takes out all of us, then I'm not going to let her live her decision down."
As Samantha was talking to Angela, Kendall was also talking to someone, although for different reasons.
"Look, we know that you're the one that voted for Corey." Kendall said. "It's best that you join us now before the others realize it was you."
"Why is everyone assuming I was the one to vote her off?" Danglars demanded. "And even still, why the heck would I join you after everything you've done?"
"Because you're pretty much out of options." Kendall said with a smirk. "When the others see that you backstabbed them, they'll gun for you right away. I'm sure of it."
"It wasn't me!"
"You can keep denying it, but we all know it to be true."
"Danglars is persistent, but I need another alliance member, and one that I can actually control. It's obvious that Samantha won't do as I say, so I need a backup." Kendall said. "If I can rope in Danglars, it'll give me an advantage over Samantha in case she decides to double-cross me."
As Danglars walked past him, looking exasperated, Tempo watched on in amusement.
"This could be easier than I thought." Tempo said with a smirk.
Night eventually rolled in. The Survivor Tribe, knowing that there would be a challenge the following day, decided to go to bed in preparation for it.
(Survivor Tribe; Day 27)
"It's actually a little quieter around here, now that I think about it." Amy scratched her head.
"Don't try to put a positive spin on this, Amy." Angela warned.
"I'm not. I just…Never realized how much Corey talked, you know?"
"I'm trying to take the loss in stride, and I honestly thought that the rest would do some good for Angela as well. Guess I was wrong." Amy sighed. "Still, we're going to have a challenge today and I, for one, am going into it ready for it."
"So have you thought about the vote at all?" Amy asked. "If you ask me, I think Danglars turned on us."
"I still say it was Tempo." Angela insisted.
"But what would Tempo have to gain from voting against us?" Amy asked.
"Why would Danglars betray us after gaining our trust?" Angela countered.
"I'm aware that we don't really have enough evidence to pin the blame on anyone just yet, but I'm confident that the chance will present itself when the time arrives." Angela folded her arms. "Still, my alliance seems to be disagreeing on who to trust. I don't really like that."
As the two women were talking, Kendall was off to the side, having a talk with Riddle.
"Just letting you know that I suspect that Tempo was voting against you." Kendall said.
"Wait. How would you know that?" Riddle asked.
"Because I know that Danglars voted with us to get rid of Corey." Kendall explained.
"I…Find that unlikely."
"Whatever. Just remember that, when Tempo comes to stab you in the back, don't blame me."
"I don't really know if Kendall is serious about thinking that Tempo voted against us or if he's just trying to get us to turn on him." Riddle folded his arms. "You'd think we'd be used to him and his ideas by now, but apparently he can still take us by surprise."
"We've got treemail." Danglars said as he walked into camp.
"Great. I was starting to get bored." Erica noted. "What's it say?"
"It's wondering if we're any good with mazes."
"Seems pretty straightforward, but then again, we know that nothing's really straightforward here." Erica sighed.
"I'm usually good with mazes, but knowing this game, it's never that simple. All I can do is hope it's still a challenge I can overtake the stronger players in." Erica said. "As long as it doesn't involve anything physical, I'm good."
(Reward Challenge)
The ten remaining players emerged from the jungle and walked out onto a clearing. Seeing the tribe mat on the ground, everyone walked over and stepped on so they could begin.
"Welcome to your next Reward Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be testing your abilities to get through a maze." SSBFreak explained. Everyone saw ten large walls behind the host, each one set up with a long, intricate maze with lots of wrong turns. "You will each be attached to one of these mazes by the hand and your goal is to get from the starting point to the middle of the maze, which is the only place on the entire maze where it's possible to remove your hand from the maze wall. There are a lot of wrong turns and it's easy to lose your way. The first person to get to the middle of the maze and free their hand will win Reward, which is a day-long trip to a tropical location of the island, separated from everything else."
The contestants looked a little indifferent, knowing that anyone could win at a challenge like this.
"If you'll all choose a maze, we'll get you hooked up and we can begin."
(Later…)
The ten players were lined up at individual mazes, their wrists connected to a strap that was stuck in the crevice of the maze. The shorter players, Kendall, Brock and Erica, were given sets of stairs so they could reach the top parts of their mazes.
"Okay. For Reward, Survivors ready…" SSBFreak said. "Go!"
All ten players took off, dragging their trapped hands along as they ran. Although everyone started off going in the same direction, they all split off when they came across a fork in the maze. Needless to say, a few people ran into a dead end quickly, and a few more went down a longer route before also hitting a dead end.
"Crap! I gotta go back now." Danglars shook his head.
Brock climbed up a couple of the provided steps to reach a higher part of the maze. "Too bad I'm not allowed to fly here." He muttered. "I'd get up there so quickly…"
The contestants continued to go through the maze, everyone cursing their luck when they hit a dead end. They were all simply paying attention to their own mazes so they didn't see how everyone else was doing.
"It's definitely a tight race. Everyone appears to be making a few mistakes." SSBFreak announced. "It's hard to tell who's closest to winning at the moment."
The game continued and everyone was still having trouble. Angela ran into a dead end, and when she tried backtracking, she ran into another one. She cursed her luck. "Which way did I come from? I can't be too far off course…"
Samantha moved her wrist around a turn and came to a fork in her maze. "Great. Both of these ways will likely have endless dead ends." She sighed before taking her chances and moving her wrist down one of the paths.
"Riddle, since you're into puzzles, how would you say your chances are here?" SSBFreak asked.
"So long as I have concentration, I'm confident." Riddle explained simply. "Let's just leave it at that, shall we?"
"Fair enough." SSBFreak shrugged. "Brock, are you at a disadvantage?"
"A little bit. If I were allowed, you'd bet I'd simply fly up to the top and move my hand around that way." Brock explained.
"That may be so, but we don't want any cheaters."
"I know."
"Wait. You can fly?" Erica asked Brock. She didn't get an answer.
The players continued to go through the mazes, although some people looked a little closer to reaching the middle of the maze than others. While some were making progress, others were still getting stuck at dead ends.
"This isn't going as well as I was hoping." Amy muttered.
"Come on. Come on." Kendall said as he looked at where he would be going next.
"Gary, how are you handling this challenge when it doesn't involve strength?" SSBFreak asked.
"I don't really know, but I'll just take what I can get as I go." Gary replied. "If I don't win, it wouldn't surprise me, but I'm making a bit of leadway here."
"Seriously, why are you even ASKING him anything?" Tempo asked flatly. "You know he's always going to answer like that."
"Never hurts to be optimistic." SSBFreak shrugged. "Angela, you don't look very pleased."
"How could I be pleased? I've spent way too long running into dead ends. I'm probably too far behind to catch up at this point." Angela replied.
"You never know. It seems that a number of people are struggling."
"Keep thoughts like that to yourself, will you?" Danglars asked.
The contestants continued to work their way through their mazes. As time went on, some people were starting to build a bigger lead while others continued to fall behind. The ones that were pulling ahead were starting to feel a little more comfortable with the maze.
"Okay. This isn't as bad as I thought at first." Riddle noted as he moved his hand around another turn. "I'm getting close to the middle…"
"Just a little further…" Erica muttered. "I can actually do this."
"Samantha, you seem to be one of the people having trouble. What seems to be going on?" SSBFreak asked.
"Mazes this big don't seem to have an end in sight no matter how much we try to look at the road ahead." Samantha shook her head. "I'm surprised people are actually getting close."
Kendall climbed up onto the maze a little higher and ran his wrist around a corner he couldn't reach. He quickly ended up at a dead end. "Ugh. Just my luck." He cursed himself as he started to backtrack.
Danglars scratched his head with his free hand as he ended up at another dead end. "Didn't I already come to this part?" He asked.
Tempo remained focused and moved his hand around a corner without stopping. He promptly ran into a dead end, jerking his wrist to a halt. "Crap." He said as he started to work his way back. "I was on a roll for a bit."
Angel growled as she hit another dead end. "How many more of these am I going to hit?" She asked herself. "I must have taken every wrong turn I could have taken."
The ten contestants continued on their mazes, starting to look a little frustrated at how things were going. It was clear that they just wanted to finish the challenge, but they knew that it was coming down to the wire at this point.
"Some of you are getting close. That's all I'll say in the matter." SSBFreak piped up.
"That pretty much eliminates me." Danglars said. "There's no way I can catch up, now."
"I can do this. It's almost there…" Amy mused.
Seeing that they still hadn't been making too much progress on their mazes, some of the contestants simply stopped trying and instead focused on the three players that appeared to be winning.
"It looks like a lot of the players are dropping out. It appears to be between Erica, Amy and Tempo, but Riddle is catching up." SSBFreak said.
"This is a challenge I can win." Erica muttered. "I'm not going to lose."
"Come on. Just a few more turns and I should be in the middle…" Tempo said hopefully.
The remaining people continued to go through the maze, and some of the people that had fallen behind instantly picked up the pace and tried going through the maze fast, only to suddenly stop at a dead end, putting even more distance from them and the leaders.
Eventually, after several long moments, one of the three competing players got their hand to the middle of the maze and was able to free themselves, stepping away from the maze to show the success.
Amy and Tempo could only look on as Erica walked away victoriously.
"That's it! The challenge is over!" SSBFreak said. "Erica wins Reward!"
"I wasn't about to blow that chance." Erica said.
(Later…)
"Congratulations on winning Reward, Erica. For winning, you will get to go to the tropical location for the day and will rejoin us tomorrow at Immunity." SSBFreak said. "Now, you can choose one person who you'd like to go with you."
"I'll take Gary." Erica said without hesitation.
"And you can also send someone to Exile Island."
"That would be Riddle." Erica said, still without hesitation. Riddle seemed to smirk.
"Okay. Erica and Gary will be going on the Reward trip while Riddle will be going to Exile Island for the day." SSBFreak said. "They will all join up with the rest of you at tomorrow's challenge, but for now, you can head back to camp."
(Survivor Tribe)
"Man. Now the other alliance is probably going to find the idol and get an advantage over us." Brock said.
"You know what? This could actually be good." Amy said with a smirk.
"What do you mean?" Brock asked. "Riddle got sent to Exile Island and someone of his intelligence would likely have no problem finding the idol after this long."
"Here's the thing, though. Erica and Gary are gone as well." Amy explained. "The entire power alliance of Ferren isn't here."
Angela seemed to get the idea and smirked. "So we'll have no competition in trying to sway swing votes." She finished.
"Right."
"But it won't do us any good if Riddle gives the idol to someone!" Brock insisted.
"Then we'll just have to make him waste it." Amy replied.
"The fact that Riddle, Gary and Erica are all gone from camp for the day means that we've got a little leadway with the swing votes." Amy explained. "They aren't going to be around until tomorrow's challenge, which gives us even more time. Now we just have to worry about trying to convince the swing votes to vote with us."
"Am I the only one that doesn't really see a way we can win, here? Riddle's gotta be the smartest person left, and if he has the idol, he'll give it to whoever we're targeting." Brock said. "If we DO manage to make him waste it, who's to say that he won't just find the idol again?"
Meanwhile, Danglars had gone to confront Tempo across camp, away from everyone else.
"Tempo, why aren't you saying anything?" Danglars asked. "Everyone thinks that I'm the one that voted off Corey and I KNOW it was you that did!"
"You don't feel honoured that you're being considered a mental threat?" Tempo asked.
"Dude, I spent a lot of time trying to get in good with Angela's alliance!" Danglars reminded. "The fact that you're not coming forward about you voting out Corey is ruining it!"
"Sorry, Danglars. I don't want to be labeled as a threat. Believe me, it's not personal." Tempo sighed. "It's just how things went."
Danglars paused, then sighed. "You suck, man." He said.
"So Tempo isn't going to help bail me out and I need to convince everyone else that I'm innocent while Tempo denies everything." Danglars sighed. "I need to get them to see the truth soon, or else Tempo's just going to have an easy ride to the finals."
"I feel bad about throwing Danglars under the bus like this, but the opportunity came up and I took it. Like I said, it isn't personal." Tempo admitted. "Of course I'll try to keep him around longer, if only to keep the attention off of me."
(Tropical Location)
"Wow. This is actually pretty nice." Erica said as she looked around the tropical beach where she and Gary were dropped off.
"Yeah. Nice change of pace from the beaches where the challenges are." Gary nodded.
"I won the challenge and decided to bring Gary since I knew sending Riddle to Exile would give us the best chance at finding the idol." Erica noted. "Frankly, I don't really trust Gary enough to send the right person to Exile. We may just end up with a repeat of what happened at the last Reward Challenge."
"You think Riddle will find the idol?" Gary asked as he sat down by the beach, looking out at the sunset.
"I hope so. I just want to find out if the idol we already have is the real or the fake one." Erica said. "You think that, if we can play the real one, the others would be fooled if we plant the fake one again?"
"I doubt it. When we play the idol, they'll see what it looks like." Gary shrugged. "And you said there was an idol usage pre-merge on Ventala."
"Yeah. I guess you're right."
"I try to remain optimistic about things, but I know trying to fool someone with a fake idol after playing a real one wouldn't work." Gary pointed out. "I'm sure that some of the others have seen the real idol before, and if we plant a fake one that doesn't look like the real thing, it'll do nothing for us in the long run."
"At the moment, we need to decide on a target. Angela and Amy are the strongest left other than you, so we may want to start with them." Erica said. "We shouldn't have a problem getting Kendall's vote since he seems intent on voting out all of Ventala."
"Don't you see something seriously wrong with that, though?" Gary asked.
"Hey, I'm not complaining." Erica shrugged. "In this game, you take what you get."
"If Riddle finds the idol, then we'll basically have a free pass. If we can't get the votes, we'll figure out who they're targeting and use the idol to nullify the votes." Erica explained. "If we DO get the votes, then we can keep the idol in play for another round. Basically, it's all coming down to Riddle…"
(Exile Island)
"Here I am again. It's just as lifeless as I remember it." Riddle shook his head. "Well, time to find that idol…"
"Erica sent me to Exile Island, which was the plan for the challenge. If I can find the idol out here, then it'll at least give me some comfort in knowing I have the real one for a fact." Riddle explained. "Of course, I'm worried that the idol isn't here, or maybe Corey DID find it and gave it to someone else before she left. I suppose I won't know until I find it."
Riddle plucked the clue from the treemail box and inspected it. He scanned around Exile and set his sights on a trio of trees that were forming the shape of a triangle.
"Hmm…That would be too easy." Riddle said as he wandered over and stepped into the middle of the three trees before he started digging.
Riddle started digging as time continued to pass. After what seemed like an eternity, Riddle managed to find something. Reaching down, Riddle picked up an idol that was buried in the sand.
Riddle smiled and sighed in relief. "I'm glad that's over. That's a real load off my shoulders." He said as he climbed out of the hole he had dug.
"I found the idol that was buried here, and that's good because it means I have both the fake and the real one with me. There's no alternative." Riddle said. "Now comes the tricky part: Figuring out which of the two is indeed the real one. I know it would hardly matter since I could play them both if I wanted to, but I would still like to know."
Riddle sat in the provided shelter and inspected the two idols he had. He looked over them both, trying to determine which one was the real one.
"They don't look anything alike, for starters. Whoever made the fake obviously didn't have a reference." Riddle noted. "But…They both look like they could have been handcrafted…This is a tough one…"
"I'm not worried about going anywhere, but the problem remains that I've got a fake idol in my hands and I can't give it to anyone else or they would know it's a fake." Riddle said. "This includes the people of Ventala because I know an idol was used there pre-merge. They may know which of these is the real one when I don't."
Night eventually rolled in. The ten players decided to go to bed in anticipation for the Immunity Challenge the following day.
(Survivor Tribe; Day 28)
"All yesterday, the Ventala alliance came to us with the intent on getting our votes. I'm all for joining them and taking out the Ferren alliance." Samantha said. "However, Kendall, the idiot he is, is intent on taking out all of Ventala before he does anything else. I don't have to tell you how stupid of an idea that is."
"You have no idea how much your idea sucks, do you?" Samantha asked.
"It's best for me to get rid of the others now." Kendall assured. "Then the others will pick themselves off by not seeing me as a threat."
"And then you'll end up facing a jury of people who hate your guts." Samantha folded her arms.
"I'm sure my gameplay is better than anyone on Ferren's."
"You wish. So what exactly's stopping me from simply going to the other side and voting against you?"
"Because the instant you do, I'll vote you out." Kendall threatened.
"I know my way around this game and Samantha thinks she had more power than she does. There's no way people would keep her over me." Kendall said. "She really doesn't have much of a choice but to stay with me, anyway."
"We've got treemail, guys." Tempo announced as he came into camp with a letter.
"Time for Immunity." Angela said with a smirk. "What's it say?"
"It's asking how much we know about each other." Tempo replied.
"A trivia challenge?" Brock asked. "Great. Riddle and Erica have the edge."
"You never know." Amy shrugged.
"I like to consider myself smart, but in a trivia challenge I know there are a couple of people that outclass me." Brock said. "If it involves eliminating each other in some way, I need to go after Riddle and Erica first because I know we won't have a chance against them otherwise."
"I'll admit that trivia was never my strong suit since I never really had the need to focus on it. However, if it's about events in the competition, I think I can do well. I've been paying attention." Angela said.
(Immunity Challenge)
The seven players from camp emerged from the jungle and onto a clearing. Going over to their tribe mat, everyone stepped on and waited for the challenge to begin.
"Before we start, let's bring out Erica and Gary, who are returning from their Reward, and Riddle, who is back from Exile Island." SSBFreak explained.
The players remained silent as the three Ferren players returned from opposite sides and joined the line to form ten contestants.
"Welcome to your next Immunity Challenge, Survivor Tribe. Here, we will be seeing what you think about your other contestants." SSBFreak said. Everyone saw a long table behind him with ten dividing lines. "I will ask you a series of questions with no real answers and give you two options to choose from. You pick one of those two options and hope the majority of the others picked the same as you. At each question, the minority will be eliminated and will keep going until we have one person left. This person will win Immunity and be safe from elimination at tonight's Tribal Council."
Knowing that it wasn't a real trivia challenge put some of the players at ease. That being said, everyone was still nervous.
"If you'll all choose a station, we can begin." SSBFreak explained.
The ten players walked up to the long table and stepped behind a lined section. The dividing lines were tall enough so no one could see what the person beside them was doing.
"Okay. For Immunity, here's the first question." SSBFreak said before beginning the challenge. "Who is more-likely to waste the money if he or she wins in the end? A: Danglars or B: Erica."
The ten players voted and showed their answers. There was a clear majority by far. So clear that there was only one different answer.
"And Danglars is the majority answer." SSBFreak said. "Danglars is the only one out."
"Thanks a lot, guys." Danglars said. "I know I could spend better than you guys think."
Danglars left the table as the challenge continued. "Here's the next question: Who is more-likely to plan on killing you when your back is turned? A: Kendall or B: Samantha." SSBFreak said.
The nine remaining players wrote down their answers and showed their cards. While it was closer than the last question, the majority still won 6-3.
"It looks like Samantha is the majority answer. Samantha, Tempo and Amy are out." SSBFreak said.
"You guys are lucky I can't show you how right you all are." Samantha muttered to herself as she followed Tempo and Amy off the field.
"Here's the next question." SSBFreak said. "Who is stronger? A: Angela or B: Gary."
The votes were divided this time, although it would have been closer if one of the competing alliances hadn't lost some of its members.
"It seems that it's Ventala against Ferren for this one, but it's still 4-2 and Gary is the majority answer." SSBFreak said. "Angela and Brock are out."
"Too bad Amy was out. We could have tied it." Brock said as he followed Angela away from the table.
"Here's question number four." SSBFreak said. "Who looks like they would be more-successful later in life? A: Amy or B: Gary."
The remaining four players held up their answers and Erica was the only one that had said Gary.
"Amy is the majority answer and Erica is out."
Gary shrugged. "I think she looks like she'll be successful." He reasoned as Erica walked off.
This left Riddle, Gary and Kendall fighting it out for the win. "Here's question five. Who would you trust with important information? A: Angela or B: Riddle."
The three men wrote their answers down and showed them. Riddle and Gary were both holding up A's while Kendall was holding a B.
"Angela is the majority answer. Kendall is out."
"I thought Riddle would have voted for himself…" Kendall muttered as he walked off.
"Okay. It's down to Gary and Riddle. It's time to end the challenge with a numerical question. Whoever gets the closest to the correct number without going over will win Immunity." SSBFreak explained. "How many votes have been cast so far this season UP UNTIL the merge?"
Riddle and Gary paused in thought for a moment, trying to remember the vote tally. After a moment, they wrote their answers down and showed them. Gary had guessed 80 while Riddle had guessed 60.
"The correct answer is 73. Gary may be closer, but he went over!" SSBFreak announced. "That means that Riddle wins Immunity!"
Riddle sighed in relief. "That was almost too close." He said.
(Later…)
"Congratulations on winning Immunity, Riddle. You have a one-in-nine shot at winning the game." SSBFreak said as he gave the Immunity Necklace to Riddle.
"Thank you. It's good to have it." Riddle said.
SSBFreak turned to the others. "Riddle is safe tonight, but I'll be seeing all of you at Tribal Council tonight where another one of you will be voted out of the game." He explained. "As always, you can have the rest of the day to make your decision, but for now, you can all head back to camp."
(Survivor Tribe)
"Riddle won Immunity, which isn't good for us because not only is he a huge mental threat, but we're also betting that he's got the Hidden Immunity Idol." Amy folded her arms. "He can give the idol to someone on his alliance, which means we need to pick a target he doesn't expect."
"What are the chances that Riddle found the idol?" Brock asked.
"I'd say it's almost a sure thing." Amy said. "So what do you think we should do?"
"…He's expecting us to target Gary, right?" Angela asked.
"Yeah. The challenge threats are almost always targeted after the merge." Brock nodded.
"So why don't we target Erica?" Angela asked. "If Riddle gives the idol to Gary, he'll have wasted it."
"We can get Riddle to waste his idol if we can get him to think that we're going after the wrong person. We just need a few more votes." Angela said. "If we get Danglars and Tempo to vote with us, then the vote's at least tied, and all it would take for us to get by is Samantha's vote, which I know she's willing to help us with."
Meanwhile, the Ferren alliance was across camp, discussing plans for council.
"I'd be willing to bet anything that they know you have the idol, Riddle." Erica said. "They're going to try and make you use it on one of us."
"While at the same time targeting the other. I figured that." Riddle nodded. "I don't suppose either of you have an idea as to how they're voting, do you?"
"No. None of us were at camp all day yesterday." Gary supplied.
"Because none of us were at camp, we don't know how the other alliance is going to vote tonight. We know they're going to make Riddle use the idol, but we don't know how." Erica said. "If we can just figure out who they're really targeting, we should be able to nullify their votes no problem."
"You guys think they'll get the others to vote with them?" Erica asked. "I mean, maybe we don't even NEED the idol."
"Everyone likely knows that I found the idol and I'm sure that the others are intent on getting rid of it as fast as they can." Riddle explained.
"But who do we target in case it works?" Erica asked. "Amy or Angela?"
"That's a question I think I know the answer for. Amy's not only a challenge threat, but she's nice as well." Riddle said. "I'm unsure if Angela would get enough votes in the end to win."
Gary shrugged. "I'm okay with it. We just need to hope we use the idol on the right person."
"We're taking a gamble by using the idol. I just need to keep my ears open at council and make sure I know who they're targeting." Riddle said. "All I know is that I'm using the idol tonight, but I still need to solve the riddle of who I'm going to use it on…"
(Tribal Council)
The ten remaining players walked into Tribal Council, carrying lit torches. Finding a seat on one of the stumps provided, everyone sat down and waited for the night's council to commence.
"Before we begin, let's bring out the members of the jury." SSBFreak said. "Although at the moment, that's only Corey, who was voted out at the last Tribal Council."
A familiar cheery cowgirl walked into council, waving to the others as she did. Everyone saw that her hair was now straight and she was wearing a knee-length black dress. Corey walked over to the jury bench and sat down alone.
"Corey is only here to observe the outcome of the council. She will not address you and you are not to address her." SSBFreak said before he started asking questions. "Angela, last time we were here, you lost an ally. How did that feel?"
"It's hard seeing your strategy blow up in your face like that. I was hoping to take my alliance further, but it didn't happen." Angela said.
"You guys were an alliance of four." Erica said. "We needed to pick you off before you outnumbered us."
"You only succeeded in doing so because you managed to convince the swing votes!" Angela shot back.
"Moving on. Brock, was this the first time this happened?" SSBFreak asked.
"Pretty much. Corey was basically the first member of our alliance that went and we had all gotten close to her in some form." Brock shrugged. "Her leaving left the camp a lot quieter."
"Not that that's a bad thing." Kendall smirked.
"I choose to disacknowledge your existence."
Corey couldn't help but smirk. "Heh. That was pretty good." She admitted.
"Tempo, are you one of these swings votes that Angela was talking about?" SSBFreak asked.
"Yeah, and I'm trying to choose a side as I play." Tempo said. "Danglars just didn't vote with us last time and I doubt he will again."
Danglars' eyes snapped open. "H-Hey! Don't do this to me, man! I was the one that tried to keep Corey!" He insisted. "You were the one to vote her out!"
"Danglars, I would know that it was you since I voted to keep Corey." Tempo replied.
Danglars held his head. "Why are you doing this to me?" He asked. "This isn't fair!"
"Riddle, it appears that there's some kind of disagreement going on. Anything you'd like to add?" SSBFreak asked.
"Well, the two of them had been insisting that they were the one to keep Corey, but this is the first I had heard it being taken to this level." Riddle said, eyebrow lifted. "I'm actually surprised at this."
"Amy, how do you think the vote's going to go?"
"Riddle's immune, so we can't vote for him, and we know he's got the idol." Amy said. "We're going to try and vote out a mental threat. It'll take away some of the power alliance at the same time."
Erica rolled her eyes and SSBFreak noticed. "Something you'd like to add, Erica?"
"Uh…Yeah. You just announced that you're targeting me." Erica replied. "I thought you were smarter than that."
Riddle on the other hand, appeared to be in thought before his eyes widened.
"I think that's enough questions. Before I continued, I have to ask." SSBFreak said. "Riddle, you have Immunity. Are you going to give it to anyone?"
"No. I think I'll keep it."
"With that, Riddle is safe and cannot be voted out. It's now time to vote." SSBFreak said. "Kendall, you're up."
Kendall got up and walked out of the hut, going over to the table. He gave a smirk and wrote a name down. "And the slaughter continues." He said.
Brock took a deep breath and wrote a name down. "I sure hope this works." He said as he put his ballot into the urn and left the table.
Gary wrote a name down and showed it to the camera. "You're a big threat. I hope you don't take this personal." He said, having voted for Amy.
Tempo approached the table silently and wrote a name down. Placing the ballot into the urn, Tempo left as quietly as he came.
Samantha gave a sigh, but also remained silent as she wrote a name down. Samantha shoved her ballot into the jar and walked away.
Danglars seemed a little depressed as he wrote a name down. "Now I'll NEVER redeem myself." He lamented as he voted and walked away with a sulk.
Angela walked up to the voting table and wrote a name down. "Now it's just a matter of time to see how Riddle plays." She said as she walked away.
Riddle wrote a name down and gave a smirk. "I can see right through this little plan." He said as he voted and walked away.
Amy approached the table and scribbled a name down. The redhead fox woman placed her vote into the urn and walked away.
Erica was the last to vote. She showed her ballot to the camera. "Telling us who you were voting for was stupid." She said, having voted for Amy.
Once all ten players had voted, SSBFreak left to fetch the urn and returned with it moments later. "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-"
"Just a minute."
Everyone turned to Riddle, who fished an idol (the first one he originally found) from his shirt. "I know what your plan is. You said that you were voting for Erica, but you want to trick me and want me to give the idol to her. Well, I'm giving it to Gary." He said as he handed the idol a few seats back to Gary.
Gary seemed surprised. "Wow. That's a surprise." He said as he walked up to the host and handed the idol over.
SSBFreak examined the idol for a few seconds before accepting it. "This is indeed the Hidden Immunity Idol. All votes cast against Gary are now void." He said as Gary returned to his seat.
"So we DID have the real one originally." Erica said with a smirk.
"It's now time to read the votes." SSBFreak said.
"…First vote; Erica." Riddle's eyes widened.
"Erica. She leads with two." "Fooled you into using the idol, didn't we?" Angela asked with a smirk.
"Amy." Amy looked a little nervous.
"Amy. We're tied at two." Erica folded her arms, knowing that it could be close.
"…Erica." Riddle's alliance looked nervous.
"Erica. She leads 4-2." Erica could only hope she didn't get more votes.
"Amy." Amy bit her lip.
"Amy. We're tied at 4." Amy and Erica exchanged glances.
"…Amy." The council was deathly quiet as the votes were read. "Final vote, second member of the jury and eleventh person voted out of Survivor: Central Hub…"
"…Amy. You need to bring me your torch." SSBFreak said.
Amy sighed as Angela looked visibly frustrated. "Well, we got Riddle to waste the idol. I guess that's a plus." She said as she stood up, grabbed her torch and brought it forward.
"Amy, the tribe had spoken." SSBFreak said as he extinguished Amy's torch. "It's time for you to go."
"Don't let them get the better of us, guys." Amy called out as she walked out of council and vanished from sight.
Once Amy was gone, SSBFreak turned to the remaining players. "Amy is gone and tonight's council proves that apparently nothing has changed since the last one despite all of the attempts to get swing votes." He explained. "There are only nine of you left, and I assure you that the game's only going to get harder. I'll be seeing you all very soon at the next challenge, but for now, you can all head back to camp."
The nine remaining players stood up, grabbed their torches and left Tribal Council. Angela brought up the rear, starting to look mad. Over the course of six days, she had lost two allies to some swing votes that couldn't choose a side. She made a mental note to uncover all of the truths she could, and do it fast…
"I wish I could have done better, but I'm glad I was able to last as long as I did. I did well and I was voted out because I was labeled a threat." Amy said before sighing sadly. "I'm going to miss playing the game, but part of me is glad that I don't have to worry about it anymore. Now I just have to hope that my alliance manages to pull through for me."
Voting History:
Amy – Erica, Gary, Kendall, Riddle, Samantha and Tempo
Erica – Amy, Angela, Brock and Danglars
Author's Notes: And so Amy's time is up and she is the next person to go. I cast Amy as the biggest "voice of reason" for Angela's alliance and to be a level-headed player that knew what she was doing. However, her going early merge is mainly for story-related reasons and you can probably imagine how her going now is going to affect the next episode's story for a few people.
(Ponderosa)
A limo drove up the long driveway to the jury house. The back door opened and Amy stepped out, looking at the vast mansion in awe.
"Wow! This place is huge!" Amy said as she walked up to the door. "It's going to be great living here for the next ten days!"
"I got voted out, which I'll admit left me feeling a bit bitter. That all seemed to vanish when I saw where I would be staying." Amy said. "It's like being on vacation after spending almost thirty days on a deserted island."
Amy walked through the front door and looked around at the huge foyer of the mansion. Before she could take any of it in, a familiar figure swept her up into a hug.
"Boy, it sure is great ta see someone else here, Amy! Ah was getting' lonely after three days, even though Ah had the camera guys ta talk to!" Corey said as she hugged Amy. "Ah mean, Ah'm sorry that y'all got eliminated like that, but Ah'm glad that the next person that came was one of mah friends!"
Amy gasped for breath, but couldn't help but chuckle at the bone-crushing hug. "N-No problem. It's good to see you again, Corey." She said.
Corey quickly released Amy. "Oh, sorry 'bout that! Y'all're probably hungry, aren't ya?" She asked. "The kitchen's this way."
"Ah was a little upset seein' Amy git voted out like that, but that meant that Ah'd spend a couple of days with someone Ah liked." Corey shrugged and laughed. "Man, she musta been hungry, because she was all over that buffet we had."
"Uh…You chose a room with a bunkbed?" Amy asked.
"Yeah! Hey, d'ya wanna room with me?" Corey asked.
"Uh…Thanks, but I think the bunkbed might be a little small for me." She admitted, trying to find an excuse. "I'll take a bed in one of the other rooms."
Corey shrugged. "Suit yerself." She said. "So what's goin' on? From what Ah heard, y'all couldn't figure out who voted me and and who tried ta keep me."
"Meh. Danglars and Tempo kept insisting that they were the ones to try and keep you." She replied. "In all honesty, I'm suspecting that Danglars is lying."
"Ya sure, partner? He looked really down when Tempo called him out." Corey scratched her head. "If y'all ask me, Ah'd say Tempo was tryin' ta pin blame or something. Ah mean, one time an old acquaintance of mine tried to frame me fer somethin' Ah didn't do and the only one that believed me was mah dad. And then after mah dad had a talk with the guy, he came clean and was sportin' a couple of black eyes, a few broken ribs and a missin' pancreas."
Amy was in the middle of taking a drink of water, which was promptly sprayed across Corey's face. "Did…Did you just say the guy lost his PANCREAS?"
"Yeah. Mah dad even keeps it as a trophy." Corey said, wiping her face off. "Ah mean, it's not like he took the guy's spleen or kidneys or somethin' he uses, right? Ah mean, what the heck does a pancreas even DO? It's gotta be the most-useless body part ever created, but it sure it fun ta say, ain't it? Pancreas. Pancreas. Pancreas."
"I get it!" Amy said flatly.
"Corey's a good person and all, but I've forgotten how much she talked. Her little stories may have amused some people, but to most of us, they dragged on for way too long." Amy said before smirking and looking at the cameraman. "By the way, how did you manage to put up with her for the last three days all by yourself?"
The cameraman's response was to toss something into view, which Amy caught with both hands. She saw that it was a roll of silver tape.
"Duct tape." The cameraman replied with a sigh. "Lots and lots of duct tape."