Episode 10 1/2: A Familiar Foe!
Tribal Council: Day 19
As the sun rose in the sky, cascading its light upon Tribal Council, Alexa sat down eight people on the benches that the survivors usually sat down on. These eight people consisted entirely of previous eliminees.
"Gruntilda Winkybunion, eliminated second...
Peter Griffin, eliminated third...
Soldier, eliminated fourth...
Sonic, eliminated fifth...
Wario, eliminated sixth...
Mr. Krabs, eliminated seventh...
Geoffrey Butler, eliminated eighth...
And Squidward Tentacles, eliminated ninth...
The eight of you eliminees have been brought back here for a chance of redemption," Alexa revealed. "Whilst Gordon was eliminated recently and thus cannot return, and whilst Eggman mysteriously vanished and thus cannot participate in this event, the rest of you will have a crack at rejoining. Originally, Mario was going to be the one to choose who to bring back, but he JUST had to make things boring, which was too lame for me to accept."
"Rejoining the show? That's friggin' awesome!" Peter beamed. "Just remember that I'm not physically prepared to do any big challenge right about now, I just had breakfast."
"Well, unfortunate for you then fatty," heckled Gruntilda. "It's not like you stood a chance anyway, not against me!"
Geoffrey rubbed his chin. "Would rejoining this competition after borderline giving up be a good idea? Well, if I did, then I'm definitely not going to throw away my second chance at victory!"
"VICTORY SHALL BE MINE! CONSIDER MY TIME ELIMINATED AS AN AMERICAN HIBERNATION, SO WHEN I RETURN, I WILL KICK AS MUCH ASS AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!" Soldier saluted to himself.
Sonic grinned. "A second chance would be great for me! I was eliminated by sheer luck, so hopefully, I can beat this challenge and prove myself worthy enough to have another go."
"If-a someone here is getting another chance to-a win then it's-a me!" Wario spat.
"Oh please, I bet Alexa felt SO bad for lettin' the rightful winner slip away, he decided to give ol' Krabs a second shot for himself," Mr. Krabs wrung his hands with pleasure. "That cold hard cash and hotel is mine!"
Squidward folded his arms. "How about we just pay attention to the challenge instead of day-dreaming about the chance to rejoin?"
"Well?" Sonic moved his eyes over to Alexa, who was paying attention to their conversations.
Eventually, he snapped out of the observing and continued. "There won't be a challenge to decide who gets brought back. Instead, I held a poll last night to see WHO should be brought back, and just under ten-thousand people submitted within twelve hours, which is rather impressive."
"Quit the gloating and-a show us then!" Wario demanded. "Whoever doesn't vote for-a me is going to be punched."
"Good luck hunting down every last individual who didn't vote for you to return," Geoffrey rolled his eyes. "It will be a task for sure."
"I also looked at a LOT of the reasoning for the votes, and I will mention them as I reveal who got what amount of points." Said Alexa.
He then grabbed a nearby laptop and gazed at the results again, refreshing his memory before he put it back down.
After doing so, Alexa shot his finger towards Gruntilda Winkybunion.
"Gruntilda, after being eliminated second at a POWERFUL 11-1, which only happened due to Geoffrey's triple vote advantage at the time, you have received the LEAST amount of votes out of the eight of you here. A very unfortunate twenty-three votes, to be exact," he revealed. "Reasons include that your character brings incredible humor and comedy to the table, and there's no reasoning that talks about anything other than... err, humor."
"Grunty's not pleased, I am not a clown! People who are too ignorant to look at my amazing skills and menacing power simply make me frown." Gruntilda grumbled.
The host then pointed to the elimination walkway. "Unfortunately for you Gruntilda, now that it's been confirmed that you are unable to rejoin, you will have to leave Tribal Council yet again!"
She gawked at the embarrassing reveal, and she bitterly admitted defeat, which was evident by her silently stomping off.
"Jeez, this is pretty tense," Peter gulped. "I hope I'm not next..."
Soldier simply wheezed with laughter. "BWAHAHA! TAKE THAT YOU WICKED WIZARD!"
Unfortunately for the taunting mercenary, Alexa's finger then went to him next.
"Eh?" He grunted with confusion.
"Soldier, whilst having a considerable jump in votes from Gruntilda at one-hundred and forty, you have received the second least amount of votes," Alexa elaborated. "Reasons include humor, and for your bombastic and crazy personality, which can be seen as a compliment in this case."
"HOORAY! ONE-HUNDRED AND SOMETHING PATRIOTS ARE ON MY SIDE!" He posed with joy. "HUZZAH! I'M BACK IN THE GAME!"
Slowly and unfortunately, Alexa shook his head at the mercenary.
"Oh..." He pouted, slowly walking down the walkway.
"Now that those two imbeciles are out of the way, things may actually be a bit more difficult to predict, I assume?" Geoffrey raised an eyebrow.
Whilst he agreed, the third contestant that he pointed towards was... Wario.
"WAAAAH?!" He gasped. "B-BUT..."
"I'm sorry, but although you made yet another considerable jump to three-hundred and sixty-five votes, it still doesn't cut it at ALL," stated Alexa. "Reasons include, once again, humor, a comedically brutal personality, and for your buck-wild strength. Though, I imagine the reasons against you are probably more detailed than that."
Mr. Krabs chuckled. "Arkarkarkark! Y'know what they say Wario, losers never prosper!"
"THAT'S NOT EVEN A SAYING..." He snapped before stomping off, not looking back at all. "YOU-A VOTERS MADE THE WRONG CHOICE!"
As he disappeared into the trees, Alexa then observed the final five. "Now things are going to get real. Mr. Krabs, Peter Griffin, Geoffrey Butler, Sonic, and Squidward Tentacles. Out of you five, the one with the least amount of votes is..."
His finger sprung towards Squidward.
"Wha?" Squidward's jaw dropped upon hearing that. He was less of a favorite than his greedy manager?
"With a pretty impressive seven-hundred and ninety-nine votes, you shouldn't be too hard on yourself," Alexa reassured. "Reasons for voting for you include your realistic and down-to-earth personality, which some people find either relatable or entertaining. Not to sound biased or anything, but if people find you relatable... yeesh."
"W-what's that supposed to mean?" The marine animal interrogated.
Alexa quickly backpedaled on his claim. "N-nevermind, just leave Tribal Council!"
With defeat lingering in his footsteps, Squidward slowly exited Tribal Council, leaving the final four.
"This is pretty tense, I didn't know people liked me so much!" Peter admitted. "Well, actually, it's not like there's much competition if I'm more liked than a witch that looks a little bit like my daughter."
Alexa then pointed towards Mr. Krabs next.
"NOOOOO!" He cried. "WHY ME?!"
The host shrugged. "Whilst I don't know the full details to people not liking you enough, you got a pretty good nine-hundred and fifty-seven votes! Reasons include your personality and strive to win the money being incredibly entertaining to watch, as well as you being pretty decent socially outside of the whole Wario spiel. Unfortunately, not enough people agreed."
"PLEASE LET ME STA-"
"Nope."
"...PLE-"
"Nada."
...
"...Fine." Krabs gave up, swiftly waddling off.
Then there were only three: Geoffrey Butler, Sonic, and Peter Griffin.
Alexa soon pointed towards Peter Griffin after taking yet another gander at the results.
"Aww crap," he moaned. "At least I was pretty close."
"Close you were! One-thousand, eight-hundred, and sixty-six votes," applauded Alexa. "Now, your reasons are pretty varied. Ranging from you being an entertaining individual, a very relatable person in terms of their life outside of the show, and just because people felt that your blindside was unfair back then. Despite all of these major factors, none of them were just quite enough for you to return."
"That's okay, at least I got a pretty big following!" He said, almost cockily, before walking off. "Cya, rabbit and British guy!"
After he disappeared, Alexa continued on to the final results of who would be returning.
"Geoffrey Butler... you have been claimed to be yet another relatable survivor with incredible patience and entertaining and occasional cynicism, and, not only that, but you giving up on defending yourself on the night of your elimination has disappointed a lot of people...
Sonic the Hedgehog... you have been claimed to be a fun, cocky and strong survivor who was unfairly eliminated due to a rock draw on that fateful day. People want you to have a second shot, and some people have even admitted to voting you over their actual favorites because of how your elimination was seen to be lame. Long story short, rock draws gave me a lot of backlashes..." He said. "Now, only one of you will be rejoining Survivor, and the votes aren't as close as you'd imagine, for one simple reason."
When Alexa pointed his finger, it landed to Sonic.
"Huh?" Sonic gasped.
"Sonic, you didn't give up on defending yourself like Geoffrey, which is what made you the most voted for contestant at three-thousand, one-hundred and fifty-one votes, whilst Geoffrey only had two-thousand and three votes! Welcome back to Survivor, Sonic..."
In response, he cheered. "Aww right! Sorry Geoff, but I'm going all out if I want to win this competition."
"That's fair, I'm moreso glad that people enjoyed my presence. Maybe if there's a next time, I shall give my all and attempt to look out for myself only, I'd still be here if I did that prior. In hindsight... going back to the Banks family is not a very good ending to my story," he chuckled. "But hey, congratulations Master Sonic."
Alexa applauded as Geoffrey left the Tribal Council, leaving him and Sonic.
"Now that you've returned, I will give you forty points for when you return! Otherwise, you'd be at an unfair disadvantage, and whilst you're still in the danger zone, you could quickly become safe again if you play your cards right," he explained. "Now, go to the Rockies of the island, that is where your tribe, Laau Haupa, is."
Sonic nodded as he dashed off into the trees, Alexa scratching his head and turning to one of the staff members.
"Do you have any update on where Eggman is?" He questioned.
The bodyguard shook his head. "Nope, not anywhere."
"Strange..." Said Alexa. "Oh well, it doesn't matter! As long as he's fine it's not our problem."
Laau Haupa: Day 19
Survivors: Mario - Papyrus - Samus Aran - Josuke Higashikata - Wii Fit Trainer - King Dedede - Johnny Bravo - Captain Falcon - Little Mac - Arataka Reigen - Sonic (Hasn't arrived yet.)
"No spirit?" Reigen said to himself, observing Josuke from behind a rock. "I know you have some secret ghost doing some of your work. That hammer ball back in day one made me realize that you have some sort of ghost working for you. Maybe you're an Esper like Mob..."
He watched as Josuke was talking to Papyrus and Little Mac, the trio was laughing.
"C'mon, there has to be something that points to him being an Esper..." He steadied his focus.
Suddenly, Wii Fit Trainer came up from behind, confused at his spying. "What are you doing?"
In shock, Reigen jumped back against the rock. "GAH! Don't they tell you not to spy on someone!"
"..." Wii Fit Trainer tilted her head. "Isn't that what you're doing?"
"Well, yeah, but for good reason," he justified, turning his head back to Josuke and his friends. "That kid has something strange about him, remember when he picked up that hammer without even touching it?! I think he even held a dodgeball like he was some sort of Psychic or Esper!"
She shook her head with a grin. "Only a few people haven't seen Josuke's powers yet, I assume?"
"No, I haven't!" Reigen responded.
"To be honest, I can't put it into words. Just talk to him about it, he seems nice enough of a person to let you in on his Stand, as he calls it. He's shown it to me and the others before," Wii Fit Trainer recommended. "And stop the whole spying thing, it makes you look like a creep."
Wiping the dust from his clothes, the "Psychic" gave a thumbs up. "Well, if he's going to let me in on his secret, then I'll get it out of him! Thank you for the clarification."
Confidence came over him as he walked up towards Josuke, who soon stopped talking to Little Mac and Papyrus and focused towards him.
"Oh, hey Reigen! We were just talking about our lives and such," explained Josuke. "It's pretty funny, wait until you hear about the brother of Papyrus and the stuff he does."
"Talking about your lives?" Reigen queried. "In that case, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I asked about your mysterious powers. I've seen you lift objects and even throw them without touching them..."
He sat down and groaned. "How many times am I gonna have to tell everyone about my powers? Okay, I got this thing called a Stand, which I got when I was very young, and it allows me to pick things up and throw them. Think of it like your own personal ghost that's a manifestation of your spirit."
"I've heard things mildly similar, but go on." He beckoned.
Josuke continued, "My stand allows me to heal things, whether it be a broken vase or wounds. I can't heal illnesses or myself, however, so that's the tradeoff."
"Sounds interesting, care to demonstrate?" Reigen asked.
With a nod, Josuke retrieved a slightly large rock from next to his feet. "CRAZY DIAMOND!" He called, summoning the Stand.
He used the stand to grab the rock from his palm and slam it against the ground at an incredible speed, causing the rock to break into three, almost equal shards.
After doing so, he used Crazy Diamond to punch one of the shards of rock. "DO-RAAA!" It cried, albeit nobody could hear the Stand's warcry, nor could they see it.
Reigen watched with intrigued eyes as the rock shards joined together, reforming the exact same rock.
"I-incredible!" He gasped. "I'm surprised you haven't used this more often to help you with these challenges!"
"In fact... I'm more concerned that Josuke may make it into the finals with ease if he continues to dominate the challenges. He's already the one with the most points, and with that "Stand" of his, he may just stay on top for a good while. That's why I gotta target him as soon as he drops out of there, and I'm sure the others would agree!" - Arataka Reigen.
Josuke shrugged. "I haven't had much opportunity to properly use it. In fact, I've never used the healing ability in a challenge before."
Reigen rubbed his chin, taking in the knowledge. "I see, I see. Well, thank you for letting me know of this."
He began walking off as Josuke responded with a simple "Goodbye!", Reigen looked pleasantly satisfied on the outside but knowing that Josuke had a powerful spirit that he couldn't see was intimidating to Reigen.
"Don't you think he seemed a little bit weird in that conversation?" Noticed Little Mac. "His tone was a little... off."
"OH WELL, IT'S LIKELY NOTHING," Papyrus grinned. "NOW, BACK TO MY LAZYBONES OF A BROTHER."
Wii Fit Trainer's ears perked upon hearing the word "lazy", causing her to turn around and face Papyrus. "Lazy?"
"YES. MY BROTHER SANS, TO BE EXACT!" He clarified. "HE OCCASIONALLY RUNS A HOTDOG BUSINESS, CRACKS THE MORE-THAN-OCCASIONAL PUN, AND WHEN WE HAVE TO DO SERIOUS BUSINESS, HE'S AWFUL AT IT! IT'S TIRING TO ME, BUT THESE TWO SEEM TO GET A KICK OUT OF IT."
"Sheesh, you sure he won't get mad at you for gossiping about him behind his back? That is if he's watching this show," she said.
Papyrus shrugged off the concern. "IT DOESN'T MATTER, HE DOESN'T CARE MUCH AT ALL ABOUT THIS STUFF! IN FACT... HE WAS MEANT TO COME TO THIS COMPETITION INSTEAD OF ME!"
"Wha... he was?!" Little Mac gasped with shock. "That's news to me! What happened?"
"WELL, HE WAS TOO LAZY TO COME TO THIS COMPETITION, OBVIOUSLY. LUCKILY HE GAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ME AND AFTER SOME TALKING, I BECAME THE ONE TO GO TO THIS SHOW, AS I SHOULD HAVE BEEN FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!" He explained before posing. "AFTER ALL, I'M THE BROTHER THAT GOT TO THE MERGE! HE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE GONE OUT AFTER A FEW DAYS... AT MOST."
Wii Fit Trainer nodded. "Good thing you managed to take the opportunity! Laziness should not be a reason to miss out on so much money and luxury at your fingertips, so your brother is certainly missing out. I'm sure he could get as far as you if he put the effort in, but it's his loss."
"INDEED, BUT IT'S GIVEN LEEWAY FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, TO WIN THE SHOW!" The skeleton cackled with joy. "IT'S JUST UNFORTUNATE THAT GORDON LOST SO SOON. THOSE IDOLS ARE BEYOND UNFAIR!" He whined.
Little Mac sighed. "Yeah, Gordon going out was probably sad for you, but I'm glad it hasn't crushed your spirits. I personally wasn't too fond of him, he seemed kinda... negative?"
Josuke pointed to the fitness trainer, the talk of idols reminding him of how Geoffrey gave his idol to her. "Don't you still have that idol?"
"Yeah, I do, and I'll probably use it like when any other person would, and that's when I'm about to be eliminated," she responded, pulling it out. "Looks like a mirror, so maybe it will reflect all votes towards me or something?"
"That definitely does look like it would reflect votes," claimed Little Mac, eyeing it. "Keep it safe."
"Don't worry, nobody's getting their hands on it!" The girl beamed before turning away to walk off. "See ya later."
Meanwhile, Captain Falcon, King Dedede, and Johnny were both looking at the large screen, crudely planted in the middle of the tribe:
*SAFE HAVEN*
JOSUKE HIGASHIKATA - 52
MARIO - 50
WII FIT TRAINER - 47
JOHNNY BRAVO - 46
CAPTAIN FALCON - 45
*DANGER ZONE*
PAPYRUS - 44
KING DEDEDE - 43
ARATAKA REIGEN - 42
SAMUS ARAN - 40
LITTLE MAC - 32
"Feels good bein' safe," Johnny grinned. "Just how ol' me likes it."
King Dedede scoffed. "Oh please! Y'all just got lucky with those points, a king like me should have been at the top, but I'm down there chillin' with the weaklings?!"
"Hey, you still got a Roulette and challenge yet, so I'm not going to celebrate my placement until I'm at the top of that leaderboard!" Captain Falcon gave a smug grin. "Cuz' that's my key to winning this whole thing!"
"Psssh, sure, I'll probably get more than you by next Tribal Council," Dedede roared with laughter. "Sorry, but that's just how it is~."
"That bird boy is ridiculous! I've seen him around a couple o' times before we got stuck on this island, and he's just a cocky brute that thinks he's hot because he can punch things! If I had ma' hammer and ma' Gordos with me, then I would put that lil' racer in his place. Looks like it'll be just a little bit more difficult than that though, but not TOO difficult, bwahaha!" - King Dedede.
"I doubt that," he responded. "I'll still be top five whilst you'll be in the bottom five!"
As they mocked one another, Johnny raised his eyebrow, realizing something peculiar. "Hang on, say that again?"
"Huh? I'll be in top five whilst he'll be in the bottom five..." Captain Falcon hesitantly repeated.
"But it's the bottom six," Johnny said with confusion.
"No, it ain't ya idiot!" Dedede insulted as he turned his head towards the screen, his eyes flaring.
Captain Falcon observed the king's facial expression before quickly turning his head towards the screen, and his eyes flared too.
The large screen showed something unusual:
*SAFE HAVEN*
JOSUKE HIGASHIKATA - 52
MARIO - 50
WII FIT TRAINER - 47
JOHNNY BRAVO - 46
CAPTAIN FALCON - 45
*DANGER ZONE*
PAPYRUS - 44
KING DEDEDE - 43
ARATAKA REIGEN - 42
SAMUS ARAN - 40
SONIC - 40
LITTLE MAC - 32
"What's with Sonic?" Captain Falcon scratched his shoulder. "Preeeeetty sure he got booted off a while ago."
"Probably some sorta glitch," Dedede commented. "Whatever, it makes me look like I'm above four people instead of three!"
Mario and Samus, both in the distance, quickly drew their eyes to the screen as they heard the commotion happen.
"What's-a going on?" The plumber asked, looking at the screen and catching Sonic's name under Samus. "Huh? Why's-a Sonic there?"
"I already said it's a glitch!" Dedede repeated. "I ain't gonna repeat it again."
"Strange how Alexa would accidentally "add" Sonic with forty points, maybe it's more than a mistake or even a glitch," remarked Samus. "Maybe Sonic really is in this competition again, although I dread having to deal with someone as fast and as strong as him. He's pretty annoying, too."
Suddenly, another person appeared from behind them, who asked the same question. "Hey! What's Sonic doing on the leaderboards? Forty points is lame too, he should have more..."
"For the last time..." Grumbled Dedede, turning towards the figure. "WHAAAA?!"
His bellowing alerted the attention to everyone else. Standing right next to the group, a short blue Hedgehog, with dust trailing behind where he ran.
"Did'ja miss me?" Sonic grinned.
"SONIC!" Little Mac cheered, sprinting up. "How are you back?!"
"Maybe that plumber guy used his idol to get him back?" Johnny guessed.
"But I didn't-a use it," said Mario. "Did he bring someone-a back anyway?"
The hedgehog backed up. "Hey, I just got back, gimme some space and I'll tell you what happened!"
"Well, Mario's right! Alexa hosted a poll for a bunch of viewers of this show, and I got the most votes, so I returned!" He shrugged. "Looks like most people agreed that those rocks were totally not O.K."
"In that case, welcome back," Wii Fit Trainer smiled. "Rock draws sound scary from what I've heard, so I hope we never have to face them again."
"If people are too indecisive, we just may, so I would be ready in case that happens if I were you," advised Samus. "The chance of you being picked to be eliminated by the rocks would only get higher and higher the fewer people there are."
Sonic snickered, "I think we all know that one, Captain Obvious."
Johnny raised his arm, countering the statement. "Well, I didn't!"
"Well you're just an idiot then," Reigen said coldly.
"Callin' Johnny an idiot? I may just forgive ya' for stealin' my points last challenge, Reigen." Dedede chuckled.
"You didn't happen to have food this early, did you?" The hedgehog questioned, pointing to his chest. "I'm starving!"
"WELL SONIC, NOW THAT YOU'RE BACK ON THIS TRIBE, I SHALL GIVE YOU A SLIGHTLY BIGGER PORTION AS A LITTLE GIFT!" Papyrus declared.
Dedede's jaw dropped at the sentence. "Hell no is he gettin' more food than me!"
"It's unbelievable that Sonic returned! I felt like him leaving was my fault, but it really makes me feel better to know that he has a second shot. I wonder if he's going to rejoin our alliance, since a four-man team is unstoppable!" - Little Mac.
"Sheesh, it seems a little bit more bearable now that a lot of people are gone now, especially Wario. The fact that I got to sit back and relax for almost ten days before coming back is a huge advantage, as I'm refreshed and ready to go! I just wonder where Eggman went though, I hope he's not up to no good... again... as he is every year..." - Sonic.
Sonic's return to the tribe was a triumphant one, which surprised many of the survivors in Laau Haupa. Many were happy that he got to get a second chance following a rock draw, whilst others found his return threatening to their chances of winning. However, the Roulette alongside the next challenge will judge whether he becomes safe or not, and the same would be said for the other survivors in the merge...
Roulette: Day 19
Just like their first Roulette, the eleven survivors lined up on the beach and awaited Alexa to give them the call to choose their boxes. The only difference this time was the fact that Gordon was gone, and Sonic was now there instead.
"I hope I get another twenty again," Josuke hoped. "Then I'll be safe for a long time!"
"The last thing ya need is more points, kid!" Spat Dedede. "Give some royalty like me a chance, because these past twenty or so days haven't been too kind to ol' me."
Johnny chuckled at his arrogance. "Listen here Pingu, the only thing that gets you respect around here is being royally handsome. Take it from me, for example."
Upon hearing the insult, Dedede nudged up to Johnny, anger in his eyes. "Say that again..." He demanded.
"Talk about a battle of-a egos," Sonic sighed, watching them both fight with disinterest. "I've seen better fights over spilled milk."
"Yeah? Well I'll spill his milk in a second!" Johnny threatened Dedede.
The penguin raised an eyebrow, his angry frown still not changing. "That doesn't even make sense!"
"...Err, it will in a second." Johnny began getting nervous over his insults after realizing that they didn't have logic to them.
"Okay, okay, break it up you two, because it's time to get this show on the road!" Declared Alexa with joy. "It's time for your second Roulette, and the points you can get from these crates may be a little bit different compared to last time... just going to say it now: a few of those crates will contain negative points, to which I think you know what that means."
Wii Fit Trainer put her hands on her hips. "Excuse me, negative points? What's the point in that!"
"Alexa seems to be into luck, and I mean a lot of it," Samus answered. "...To a very annoying extent, too."
"Nah, I just thought it'd spice things up a bit. The prize pool for points in these crates will usually differ with each Roulette to keep things interesting." He informed. "Also, the order will now go from whoever has the most points to whoever has the least points; if two people have the same amount of points, then the order of those two will go by alphabetical order."
Little Mac groaned. "Dead last? It's not like I was one of the first to begin with anyway..."
One by one, the survivors were called up and selected their box...
Josuke Higashikata chose Box J.
Mario chose Box C.
Wii Fit Trainer chose Box G.
Johnny Bravo chose Box H.
Captain Falcon chose Box A.
Papyrus chose Box I.
King Dedede chose Box E.
Arataka Reigen chose Box K.
Samus Aran chose Box B.
Sonic chose Box F.
And lastly, Little Mac chose Box D.
Upon receiving the cue, the survivors quickly opened up their boxes:
Josuke Higashikata - 0
Mario - 5
Wii Fit Trainer - -10
Johnny Bravo - -3
Captain Falcon - -7
Papyrus - 15
King Dedede - -5
Arataka Reigen - 3
Samus Aran - 10
Sonic - 0
Little Mac - 7
"NEGATIVE FIVE POINTS?!" Dedede growled. "THAT AIN'T RIGHT!"
"Sorry, but that's what you picked!" Shrugged Alexa.
"How come the hot mama over there gets ten points from Box B whilst I didn't?" Johnny asked. "Talk about justified bias, am I right?"
Samus glared at him. "No, you aren't."
Alexa continued. "Now, it's time to add your scores, or take them away, from your total!"
The host proceeded to add up the points.
*SAVE HAVEN*
PAPYRUS - 59
MARIO - 55
JOSUKE HIGASHIKATA - 52
SAMUS ARAN - 50
ARATAKA REIGEN - 45
*DANGER ZONE*
JOHNNY BRAVO - 43
SONIC - 40
LITTLE MAC - 39
CAPTAIN FALCON - 38
KING DEDEDE - 38
WII FIT TRAINER - 37
"From third to last?! This is pretty unfortunate," moaned Wii Fit Trainer. "But I guess that would ruin anyone's score with minus ten."
"I'm now safe? That's good, because that curse I received is going to be a huge problem for me for the next few days," confessed Samus. "Now I can focus on beating this next challenge to secure my placement in the 'Safe Haven'"
Alexa then beckoned them away. "Well, that's the Roulette for today! You may go back to your tribes, and make sure to prepare yourself for tomorrow's challenge..."
They obeyed his command and walked back to the tribe.
Challenge: Day 20
Whilst the survivors usually had the odd challenge that was different from the usual, whether it be due to the location or the host, this challenge felt like it was going to be quite out of the norm for them. One of the biggest factors supporting this feeling was the large boat parked on the coastline.
Alexa walked over as they talked amongst themselves, sporting dark sunglasses as he marched towards them.
"Heya survivors!" He waved. "Now, considering that we're getting towards the "Beginning of the End", I thought it'd be a good idea to step up the intensity in these challenges. How could I afford all of this stuff, to begin with, you may ask? Well... err... it doesn't matter!"
"Good to know," Samus sarcastically replied under her breath.
"How are ya gonna step up the budget? Make a tight-rope challenge outta gold n' diamonds or somethin'" Dedede guessed, with a laugh following it.
He shook his head. "Nope, all I'm going to say to you is to get on this boat, and I'll take you over to this challenge!"
"Alright, diggin' those shades by the way," Johnny admitted.
They entered the boat, and after some awkward waiting, it began to move away from the island.
Riding towards whatever the destination was certainly failed to be comfortable, and the boat gliding over the rough waters of the sea made it almost seem like a small rollercoaster ride. The survivors couldn't complain, however, as this was out of Alexa's control.
Soon the bright, blue, and sunny sky turned into a dark grey, the fog quickly engulfed the ship, and before they knew it, they could no longer see the clear sky.
"Woah, talk about a change in weather," Reigen analyzed. "I've never seen it change so quickly."
"Doesn't this fog look a LITTLE bit purple to you?" Captain Falcon looked around. "I mean, it's pretty rad, but it's giving me a bad feeling."
The racer pointing it out caused Mario to study the lavender-colored fog, had he seen this before?
"Ah, we've arrived!" Alexa announced, a silhouette of the island appeared, and it looked jagged and tall.
As it slowly appeared into view, it became clear that it wasn't "naturally" tall, but a giant, the old mansion stood atop the island.
"MAAAMA..." Mario gasped out of fear, the mansion looked terrifying to him.
"M-maybe we took the wrong turn?" Josuke began biting his lip out of instinct as he turned to Alexa, who continued to drive towards the mansion.
"We didn't take the wrong turn at all!" He assured, parking up next to it.
The docks of the island were made of an old, murky wood that had been left to rot for decades, causing the whole thing to become almost unstable.
Alexa jumped out the boat and onto these docks, the wood creaked in response.
"Well, this is the location for your challenge!" He revealed, pointing towards the mansion.
"I ain't goin' in there!" Johnny quivered.
"Oh come on, it's not like it's dangerous or anything," Alexa said as one of the wooden planks beneath him gave away and snapped, causing him to jump away in fear. "Just get out of the damn boat!"
One by one, they hesitantly left the boat.
"You know Alexa," began Wii Fit Trainer, causing the host to roll his eyes. "You've done some pretty scummy things throughout this show, heck I don't think you even gave us that sunscreen! But this, this just takes the cake, bringing us out to an island that's old and abandoned, and I'm sure it's abandoned for a GOOD reason, too!"
They quickly escaped the rickety docks and got onto the island, now a lot closer to the mansion, the fog, incredibly thick, swarmed around them and now obscured the boat. They could taste the humid yet cold air in their mouths, and it had a slight hint of bitterness to it.
The mansion itself was a tall, dark wooden building, made of the same rotting wood as the docks, but it had aged much better due to it not being exposed to the sea's crashing waves for so long. Regardless, most of the windows were smashed beyond repair, and flakes of wood and paint were coming off the building.
"I'm getting some bad vibes from this place," Sonic admitted. "I'm not one to get too scared of old abandoned mansions, but it's definitely eerie."
Alexa held out his walkie-talkie and began communicating with somebody on the other end of the call, ignoring the complaints of the other survivors.
"It looks more disgusting than scary. What a waste of money, too. If somebody just came along and fixed it up then I'm sure they would benefit, even if it's out in the middle of the ocean." Samus then spun around upon feeling somebody touch her shoulder. "What is it?"
However, when she turned around, nobody was even close enough to touch her.
"W-which one of you is trying to scare me? Because I'll pummel you if I find out who did it!" She threatened, her voice almost breaking from an overwhelming feeling of terror.
"I didn't see anyone touch it?" Little Mac answered her.
Suddenly, Little Mac's face jolted to the right upon receiving a slap. Although he didn't see anyone slap him, he was convinced that one of them did so.
"Who just did that?!" He yelled.
Upon asking that question, he and many others heard laughing circle around their heads, though the source was impossible to find.
"Uh oh," Alexa then began talking into his walkie-talkie loud enough for the survivors to hear him. "One has appeared, so can you go a little bit faster, Professor?"
As Little Mac got into a position to fight any incoming threat, a white, glowing spirit showed up in front of him. The body was spherical, and a small tail protruded from the back of it, and two stubby arms stuck out from both sides of its orb-like body. The eyes of the ghost consisted of two, oval-shaped pupils that were sunken and dark, and a strange unibrow-like line was on its forehead, connected to the black pupils. The most defining part of the creature came from the gaping mouth it had, four sharp white fangs protruded from the roof of the ghost's mouse, and the bottom of the mouth held a massive pinkish-red tongue that hung out of the mouth. The mouth itself formed a malicious and cheeky smile, as the creature began laughing at Little Mac.
"Is-a that a boo?!" Mario called out.
"MAAAAMA!" Johnny cried, attempting to run off.
As he tried to do so, the leg of his trousers was grabbed by yet another one of the ghosts, causing him to trip over and face plant into the dirt.
Little Mac was backing away from the first spherical ghost, looking to the others for help.
"CRAZY DIAMOND!" Josuke called out, unleashing his stand.
His stand walked up to the ghost terrorizing the boxer and began sending a flurry of punches towards it. "DORARARARARA-RAAAAAH!" Crazy Diamond cried.
Unexpectedly, all of the punches phased through, causing it to laugh snarkily.
It zoomed into Josuke and caused the teenager to fall backward onto the ground.
"NOT EVEN STANDS WORK?!" Papyrus gasped.
"Everyone stand back!" Reigen called out, stepping forward. "As an Esper, this should be easy."
The two ghosts looked at him, curious to see what he could do.
Reigen reached into his pocket, looking for any salt to use on the ghost. Unfortunately, he realized that he hasn't had access to his sorcery equipment since he came to the island, causing him to blankly stare at the ghost.
"A starin' contest won't work!" Dedede taunted.
He slowly stood back as both ghosts looked almost angrily at him, and before they could strike him...
A gust of suction surrounded them, causing both to panic as they attempted to fly off.
Whilst the ghost that tripped up Johnny managed to escape from the sudden force, the other one wasn't so lucky, as it got jammed in the end of the source of the force sucking it in.
The ghost let out one last cry before it flew into the end of the source, capturing it.
"Good job for distracting it, young one!" An old man applauded, short and goofy in appearance, with swirly glasses blocking his eyes. "This Poltergust S is stellar at doing its job!"
Mario gawked at the man, he looked familiar, WAY too familiar.
"W-well that was my plan!" Reigen posed. "Obviously I couldn't take them on without my kit, so I went for a distraction."
The old man chuckled and directed his view towards Mario. "Mario?! Is that you there? I didn't know you were in on this whole "Survivor" thing too! Ohohoho."
"Survivors, meet Professor Elvin Gadd, or E. Gadd for short! Without him, today's challenge wouldn't be possible, so you better treat him with a marginal amount of respect," demanded Alexa.
"Maybe HE will tell us why we're here!" Wii Fit Trainer assumed.
"Aha, yes, I shall," he then took a deep breath. "This island has been abandoned for a good amount of decades, and recently, boos have arrived here to haunt the place and terrorize the environment. That's why this groggy purple fog is here! What I negotiated with Alexa, is to get you eleven to bust these ghosts out of the area! Readings have told me that there's a total of fifty boos on this island, and I've already sucked one up for you! Obviously, you'll need a device to catch these boos, so I've made several models of my useful Poltergust S, also known as the Poltergust Survivor! It can suck up these ghosts with incredible power, though you likely have to fight against the boo in order to suck it up. I myself can't get a two-in-one capture, as you can see."
E. Gadd then gave another chuckle as he proceeded to bring out the models.
The Poltergust S models were similar to a vacuum cleaner, two wheels were stuck on to the left and right of the devices, and they had straps for attaching the bulk of the model to the user. A long, plastic tube stuck out from the top of it, and at the end of the tube was the head of a vacuum cleaner, this was where the ghosts would be sucked into. A separate cord extended from the bottom of the Poltergust, which was used to connect a flashlight to it, likely to help to explore the dark mansion.
"Remember, if any of you get hurt beyond repair, our medical team is close by!" Alexa informed.
"Don't worry about getting hurt too much, because these boos don't pack much of a punch at all. A bruise would likely be the biggest injury you would receive from them, but if you're smart enough with evading their telegraphed attacks, well you'll just have to worry about catching the most at that point," E. Gadd explained, adjusting his glasses.
Josuke raised his hand. "Don't worry! If anyone gets hurt, I'll just use my Stand to heal them back up."
"Eh?" The old man raised his small grey eyebrow. "Well, if that's what your "Stand" does then nobody will have to worry. Once you rid this land of these boos then hopefully it will go back to how it was before."
Alexa finally informed them of the challenge's prizes. "Whoever catches the most boos in this challenge will receive a massive fifty points! Second most captures gets rewarded with forty-five, then third most is rewarded with forty, and so on until the person with the least amount of captures will receive zero points. Any ties will be dealt with at the end of the challenge."
Johnny finally lifted his face off of the ground and rubbed his head. "Aww man, we gotta go in there!? It ain't nothing Johnny can't handle, but how about we just do a different challenge?"
He turned around and saw most of the people equipping their Poltergusts and running inside.
"C'mon Johnny!" Beckoned Captain Falcon.
"Hey, don't leave me!" He called out, quickly scrambling the model onto him and sprinting inside.
As they all quickly entered the mansion, Alexa turned to E. Gadd.
"Are you SURE they won't get hurt?" He raised an eyebrow. "One of them almost broke Johnny's face by tripping him!"
"Relax, these readings only found the weakest of boos, no big ones whatsoever." He reassured. "At least that's what the readings told me."
"Yeah, well those "readings" better be accurate, because if something bad happens then I'll be in deep trouble!" Alexa explained. "Now, I'm going to go back to that boat and get myself a coffee..."
Alexa and E. Gadd soon parted ways, as the survivors scattered along the mansion's interior...
*END OF PART ONE*
