Survivor - Kodai Island

Chapter 26 - Day 19

Okay, big day today! It's the merge day! After the last chapter, the story is now halfway done, so the merge came at the absolute perfect time. What were the odds? lol.

So, remember about that announcement that I just made last chapter? I actually have two announcements to make, but one of them will be made at the end of this chapter, so stay tuned!

Anyway, Lucario has an idol, Wolf has another idol, and Wii Fit Trainer has her Legacy Advantage. Let's see everything unfold here. Wish your favorite characters good luck?

~KF

Day 19

"Come on in, guys!"

Jumping right into day nineteen, Master Hand took a glance at the blue team walking confidently through the sand, stopping one-by-one upon approaching Master Hand, with Ike placing down the blue tribe flag in the sand.

"Tatakai, get your first look at the new Sumasshu tribe. Captain Falcon voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"Aw, dang it man…" Sonic muttered under his breath with a shake of disappointment. He in particular felt that he never really took the time to interact with him, in spite of having similar interests. And as long as he was remaining in the game, the moment had to wait just a little longer. What was also a factor was the possibility of Master Hand dropping the anticipated news to everyone.

"Alright, let's get to it." He went down to business. "...Everybody, drop your buffs."

They all stared.

"We are merged."

As expected, a huge cheer of celebration was immediately sounded within the remaining thirteen castaways in the game. Upon dropping their buffs as the master stated, old tribe members were reunited and certain tribe members who never met shook each other's hands as a token of kindness.

"Anyone who makes it to the merge in Survivor has simply achieved the next step in this game." Bayonetta explained with her new, purple buff on her head. "For about three weeks, everyone was always worrying about which team will be sent to Tribal Council and which team is more likely to win immunity challenges. But, we are all one tribe, now. We are supposedly 'one big happy family; the family that is gonna go after each other to kill, haha.' We're officially in the second phase in the game. You're thinking about the jury, you're thinking about alliances, and you're thinking about getting to the end and getting that check."

"Here are your new buffs."

Master Hand tossed a brown bag right towards Sonic who had no problems in catching it. He wasted no time in untying the knots and pulling a purple buff out for himself before passing around to the members of the now large purple tribe.

While this action was taking place, Master Hand wanted to make yet another announcement to the already satisfied Survivor players. "Since we are now merged, of course there is going to be the merge feast. As you all know, we've never been in Japan before. So to give you guys a taste of it, we're going to have a sushi feast.

The chatter among the group was put on hold within a couple seconds, every last person staring at the white figure once more.

"Right here on Survivor, and it's already waiting from you just several yards away."

Once again, excitement became the dominant mood of everything.

-/-

"They say raw fish is bad for you, but at this point, when you're on Survivor, you couldn't care less."

"I agree." Ike laughed, nudging Link's shoulder with his elbow. "We already don't have meat everyday, so this is certainly a blessing to have sushi. I'm very glad that they went to Japan this season."

The group of thirteen were all sitting down on wooden chairs behind a table with a white cloth, which had plates of sunshi, salads, egg rolls, and a variety of other foods related to the Japanese culture. Clearly, it was a moment on Survivor that was something to be remembered for years to come.

"With the exception of earning some rewards in the pre-merge, I'm so glad we finally got to eat something other than rice and coconut." Donkey Kong expressed. "Even though I'm an ape and I take down coconuts off trees all the time for fun, it's not fun eating them and nothing else all the time… unless when it comes to bananas... Even so, I still have my limits."

Between bites, his eyes shifted between certain individuals interacting with one another.

"One of the best parts about this is that I finally get a chance to rejoin all of Sumasshu that's left. I haven't seen Sonic since we first swapped, and I sorta missed Mario. The only person I had with me on the tribe when we swapped the second time was Bowser of all people, who admittedly has had the toughest time out here."

He caught the Koopa laughing with Ganondorf, which was most likely about a topic only those two could agree on to a certain extent. Then after a few brief moments, he suddenly thought of Mario again before immediately facing in his direction.

"Suddenly, as I was watching everyone, I suddenly thought: 'Wait a minute… Uh-oh… Mario and Bowser are on the same tribe again…' It took me a while to realize that since I was so busy thinking about food at first. Even though their feud only lasted up until day six, Mario occasionally talked about Bowser with me, and Bowser could not go one hour without mentioning Mario's name. If they can do that, now that they're living with each other again, it's gonna be a rough camp life when we're all done here."

"You enjoying the food, Mario?" Sonic grinned at the plumber who sat next to him.

"At this point, any food is fabulous. I'm suddenly thinking of spaghetti back at home, but I guess this'll do for now."

"Meh, I think the same… only if it were chilidogs…"

Sonic then took a quick look to his left, skipping over a few people before laying eyes on his arch-nemesis, Bowser Koopa. The hedgehog was lucky that his tribemates were loud enough for two people to sneak in a conversation. "Hey…"

"...What?" Mario barely had to think to realize that his voice needed to be no louder than a whisper.

"...What do you think of you and Bowser being on the same tribe together again?"

"..." Simply blinking at first, he leaned his head back a little to witness the Koopa with a piece of sushi in his mouth, still laughing away with Ganondorf, that was now accompanied by Mewtwo and Wolf's.

"...I don't… Ugh…" He placed a bare hand on his capless head. "...I don't even know… I won't be surprised if he said a million things about me since we swapped on day seven. I've done the same anyway, so it doesn't even matter. I just wish that there's some way to control him. But hey, controlling loose cannons alone is a chore, right?"

"...Well, all I can say is that if there's potentially gonna be tension in our new tribe, we might as well make sure that there's no arguing going on every three to five seconds." Sonic suggested.

He had to be silent for a bit.

"Sonic's right." Mario concluded with a nod. "It is day nineteen in this game. At this point, I figure it's pointless for me and Bowser to have beef. So to avoid having any more conflict, I obviously need to make amends with him. How is he gonna take it? I don't know."

Merged Tribe

Day 19

"So after our big feast, we went back to the… now former Sumasshu camp." Pit explained. "I put emphasis on the 'former' part because now that we are a merged tribe with new, different colored buffs, we can't call this tribe Sumasshu anymore."

"You guys wanna name our new tribe, first?" Bayonetta asked with a smirk. "And I don't want it to be a lame name. Millions of people are gonna watch this when it airs, so it has to be something epic."

With some communication and the shaking of heads, nearly everyone agreed. Lucario placed down the new tribe flag on the ground to get started. "Unless anyone else wants to take part of it, I will fulfill the role as the painter here."

'"Oh yeah, gimme those paint brushes over there." Wii Fit Trainer pointed. "I can help you out."

"Hmm…" Link thought out loud with a thumb beneath his chin. "...So, what should we call our tribe?"

"Don't look at me…" Sonic shook his head lifting his hands up. "I'm never the best with names when it comes to anything... unless I call someone Baldy McNosehair."

That was just enough to earn attention from literally every single tribe member.

"...What? That's what I say when I call someone a jerk back at home."

"Then count me out as well." Wolf said in defeat. "You guys can come up with the name, and I'll just sit down on my butt and tell you if it's a good idea."

After Ike gave it some thought, he snapped a finger out of nowhere. "I know what we can call it! How about 'Senshi?"

Once again, all communication was put on hold, with everyone directing their attention to former blue Tatakai member, Ike.

"Senshi?" Donkey Kong cocked his head to his left. "Sounds like sensei in a way… What does that mean?"

"It's japanese for warrior." Ike kept his grin. "I figured since we all made it on the show, let alone made the merge, we are all warriors here for putting up with everything we've been through so far, whether I'm on the same side with you or not. ...Uh... Don't take this too seriously, guys..."

One-by-one, each and every member of the tribe agreed to the idea as it grown on them one-by-one.

"Okay, cool." Wolf nodded with a smirk. "I'm fine with that. Lucario and Wii Fit Trainer are apparently the best painters here, so we should let them be in charge for the design. We really gotta make sure this is good for national television."

"I can volunteer as well." Bayonetta raised her hand. "This is an opportunity I do not wanna pass up."

"So eventually we agreed on this name called 'Senshi'..." Pit paused to think for a brief moment. "After a while, everyone seemed to be okay with it. It has a nice catch to it. I do feel like everyone of us is a warrior. And something about being called a warrior just feels so good, like we all smashed our way to victory! Makes perfect sense if you ask me."

-/-

And so, the tribe name of 'Senshi' was confirmed. Eleven of the castaways were then off to due a variety of tasks, which included the following: making big adjustments to the shelter to accommodate thirteen people, collecting water from the well for the tribe, sightseeing, relaxing by the beach, or even wasting time by collecting seashells. Everyone was so full from the feast, none of them even thought of the concept of collecting coconuts beforehand or boiling rice.

As for the remaining two, Mario just so happened to spot Bowser sitting on a long alone, seemingly thinking to himself. He assumed that it was the thoughts of the merge, his position in the game, or maybe even his family he left behind back at home. ...Or even all of the above.

Whatever it was at the end of the day, it was the perfect opportunity for Mario to talk things out with him. He and even Koopa were well aware that the more people being on the island, the harder it was for people to have one on one conversations with one another. Mario needed to take action while he had the chance.

"Look Bowser,..." Without coming across as desperate, he took his time making his way over to him. "you might not want to see me right now, but this is our first time actually being together since the morning of day seven."

"So?" That one word was enough to tell Mario that he was the last person Koopa had the desire to deal with. It was just overkill when Bowser refused to rotate his head to look at him in the eyes.

Regardless of that, he went on. "...So, I figured that maybe we should start working together for once. Maybe even start all over as if those early Sumasshu days never happened. Right now, we have thirteen people left. There are quite a few threats out there, and if you want to make it far in the game, it's best for us both to work together and get rid of those threats and increase our chances of getting to the end. We are very down in numbers and you know it, so it's about time we make something happen to help all four of our games, including Sonic's and Donkey Kong's."

"If I want to make it far in this game, I'd rather not have other people telling me what to do all the time." Bowser almost immediately interjected, making a complete turn around with his head to stare at Mario with a death glare that would have killed him in a split second. "This was your problem in Sumasshu. You always telling people what to do every five seconds almost cost your game. You were only spared for the rest of the pre-merge after Falco went home! I had to go to every single Tribal Council here!"

"Almost cost my game?" Mario repeated raising an eyebrow. "But, I never received the majority of the votes at those first two tribals! Dedede and Falco were the first two victims!"

"...Well, it cost you to get your name written down! If idols were in play, you would have went home a looong time ago! We could have written down somebody else but we didn't choose to do that, didn't we?"

"No, my name was written down was because of the fact that you thought that I was not only controlling my alliance, but throughout the whole tribe. I still can't forget the time where you said that I was controlling Tribal Council!" Mario corrected. "That's just unheard of!"

"How is it now true?" Bowser was now on his feet with both hands rising to the sky. "Day one, you were already bossing me around within two minutes, not even giving the chance to embrace the feeling of being on Suvrvivor! I forgot exactly what were you trying to do, but that's probably because of you constantly wanting control all the time, I forgot how it played out in the first place! The thing is that at this point, I'm actually not surprised. Long story short, you wanna work with me? My answer is no! Here you are trying to get your way, anyway! The more you stand there, the more you're proven my point! You're just lucky that there's a chance that I just might not be thinking about getting rid of you right now, but it doesn't mean that I'm on your side, so go away!"

"But, could you just think about what your game is right now for just a few seconds?" Frustration was starting to take over Bowser's rival. "Not even half of us are gone, yet. Like I said, there are thirteen people left in the game, and we have so many opportunities to take out the threats right now. I can name quite a few people that could win this game! Can you please?"

With a heavy sighed, he waited for a couple seconds to pass. "No…"

"But-"

"No!"

"But-"

"NO!"

"..."

"Obviously, Bowser has literally no intentions on working with me." An irritated Mario was resting his head against his now gloved hand. "He's not even considering it. Apparently to him, I'm much more of a threat that most of the Tatakai people. If you reall think so, at least don't accuse me of being a threat for all the wrong reasons. I actually wanted to work with him so it could do us all a favor, but it looks like that's not going to happen."

He could be seen nimbly walking back to the shelter, most likely for interaction purposes.

"You know, if anything, Bowser is more of a threat than I am!" Mario thought out loud. "He is physical, which is the only reason why he wasn't vote out first! I don't know how he did not get voted out right before the merge, but at this point, people like to take out the biggest physical threats in the merge phase of the game, especially with the first couple votes! I think that the best thing to do is to settle this once and for all. I need to form a campaign against Bowser and get rid of him before he gets rid of me if that's how it's gonna be for the next few days."

-/-

"Hey,..." Mario was now with Ike, watching him carrying a bag over his shoulder. "...I know I'm clearly on the bottom due to obvious reasons, but just so you know, if you guys are after the threats in my alliance first, I personally think it should be Bowser."

He raised an eyebrow. "Bowser?"

"Yes." Mario nodded to confirm his hearing was correct. "I know it's sort of weird to hear me of all people saying this, but hear me out if you don't know the story already. He's been trying to me out since day one. He thinks I'm trying to run the show. The reality is that if I am, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

Nearby, Donkey Kong had his head turned towards the two talking. Wanting to be curious, he joined in the conversation to listen for himself.

"See, compare me with Bowser. That should tell you enough already. Who's more likely to win all the individual immunity challenges?"

"Bowser." Ike answered right away. "You sure you have no problems voting him out?"

"I don't even care right now. If it's either him or me, then it's him or me and there's nothing I can do about it. Maybe he even has an idol that we can all get rid of (which I highly doubt)." Mario shook his head.

After shaking hands, Ike left the area to let Donkey Kong talk it out with Mario.

"Another argument again, huh?"

-/-

Minutes later, Ike wanted to spread the news to his former fellow Tatakai mates. Link in particular was the lucky guy to be approached first.

"Mario just told me that he wants Bowser out."

"For real?" Link blinked.

"He said that they were going after each other since day one, and Mario seems to be perfectly okay with throwing him under the bus." Ike recalled, tying his arms in the process. "Everything that was said was true. Those two are really at each other's throats..."

"Man… Me and my other former Tatakai people don't even have to strategize for the first post-merge vote." The blue-haired male shook his head almost in disbelief. "People on the bottom are actually strategizing for us. Not for themselves, for us."

-/-

Ike was now with Bayonetta. "Mario and Bowser are going after each other and want each other out of the game. Bad."

"...Ooh…" She formed a big smile. "So, the bad blood has finally arrived, huh?"

"Right." He smiled as well. "Perfect for an after school argument between two teenagers outside."

"We suddenly have two options laid out right in front of us, and we didn't have to do anything. All we gotta do is decide who do we want out first. And whichever one of those two that's still in the game, we can work on him later."

-/-

With Ike telling Mewtwo and Bayonetta telling the Wii Fit Trainer, word got around the camp within no time at all. Like spilled milk, the discussion between Mario and Ike wasted no time in spreading around, with the responses being a mixture of surprises and laughters.

However, when Ike told Wolf about the news, he had a different reaction. "..."

-/-

When the lupine finally found the Koopa, who was now laying on the log with arms behind his head, he calmly kneeled down and began to speak quietly.

"Dude… Ike said that you and Mario are feuding. Mario's talking people into voting you out for being a physical threat. He's tryna blindside you."

Not even a whole second could pass without Bowser having his jaw dropped with widened eyes. He could not believe his ears. Going through the horrible memories of everything he went through prior to merge day, he knew that it was literally the first several days of Sumasshu all over again.

All he could do was get up and storm off to the camp.

"I'm so done with Mario!" Bowser shouted. "I'm furious! Talking behind my back to get me out! Is he crazy!?"

"If he could breathe fire, we're having barbecued plumber tonight." Wolf muttered under his breath watching the large animal disappear.

"This is what I'm talking about! This is the stuff that he does, and it proves my point on everything! He was trying to run the show on Sumasshu, now on this merged tribe as well? This is why we should have voted him out on day three!"

Koopa noticed that Mario was conversing with Ganondorf, most likely about what Bowser was thinking.

With the emotions going through his head, he turned around to see Pit sitting down on the 'bed' in the shelter staring directly at him. Ignoring the question of exactly how long he was doing so, he remembered the tribal to where people claimed that Mario's alliance was attempting at swinging Pit over to the Sumasshu side. For some reason, Bowser felt that he was the perfect person to talk to.

Walking right up to him ignoring the brown haired human's somewhat uneasy look, he leaned forward to whisper. "Vote for Mario. Next tribal."

"...Okay…?"

"I decided to talk to Pit first for two reasons." Bowser held up two fingers. "People have been trying to get him to flip, and unlike everyone else here, he has not been to Tribal Council. The only one who hasn't went. ...And I've been to every single one of them… But anyway, if he hasn't decided who to vote for yet, I figured that it's best for me to give him an idea. If he's still undecided, maybe I can manipulate his decision making so I can have it with Pit."

He could then be seen talking with Link. "Dude, Mario's playing too hard at the moment. Let's just pull this move while we can if it's either me or him. If you vote him out, I see no problems with us working together like we did before to get rid of Snake and Fox. Anybody but him you can keep, and we can all move on."

Just a few minutes later, he struck a conversation with Lucario. "We have to strike first in this game; that's what Mario's trying to do. But, I figured that now would be a good time to get rid of him before he pulls something over."

"I could play this game, too." Bowser said. "I'm here for a reason. I have already survived this long, and it's clear certain people haven't changed a bit. So if Mario wants to play dirty, then I can play dirty too and see how he likes it. Mario's the one people should get rid of. Not me."

So... It's official. Mario and Bowser are at war. Happy merge day, everyone.

Okay. The announcement... I'm turning this Survivor thing into a series! Yep. A month after this is over, I'm going to be releasing my next Survivor story, this time with a theme. "Survivor - Emperors vs Knights", and in that season, there's going to be Smashers mixed with characters from the franchises they originated from, meaning that characters from the Mario, Zelda, Sonic series, etcetera, as well as new franchises (so that means a SSB x Game Xover). The first two characters will be announced after we have our first member of the jury, so next vote off.

Questions:

1. What do you all think of this Mario vs Bowser war? If it's beginning, who will most likely get the axe?

Yes, that's all I have for now. If you have your top five favorite characters from this, vote on my poll if you haven't already and we'll see what happens with Mario, Bowser, and the others next week where we will get to the immunity challenge!