Episode 12: A-maze-ing Caving!

Laau Haupa: Day 23

Survivors: Mario - Papyrus - Samus Aran - Wii Fit Trainer - King Dedede - Captain Falcon - Little Mac - Arataka Reigen - Sonic

Ever since the elimination of Josuke Higashikata yesterday, the number of survivors had been more than reduced to half since the very beginning of the competition. Only nine people remained at this point, and whilst it was still a loud and bustling group, it definitely felt a lot more spacious than it did when they first began the game, and it even felt more spacious compared to a few days before when the merge began!

The nine survivors were in two groups, and these groups were no longer dictated by alliances for the most part, as almost all of the known alliances had been reduced.

Papyrus, Little Mac, Wii Fit Trainer, Sonic and King Dedede were in the first group, occupying the Chessboard, either to play against another person or to spectate the whole game. Captain Falcon, Samus, Reigen and Mario were in the second group, which were all out on the beach, taking turns hunting for fish to eat.

"Damn it!" Cursed Little Mac, throwing his King across the camp. "You beat me again! This game sucks..."

"NOW NOW, I UNDERSTAND SUCH FRUSTRATION..." Papyrus nodded with an unintentionally smug grin. "HOWEVER, YOU MUST NOT RESORT TO THROWING THE PIECES OF THE GAME! IF THEY GET LOST THEN WE WON'T BE ABLE TO PLAY."

He sighed, feeling slightly guilty over throwing the tiny piece. "Yeah... I know. It's just annoying when I keep on losing, especially when it's not even a close game!"

"I get it, I played him twice and he managed to beat me without losing more than five pieces," Wii Fit Trainer empathized. "Just retrieve the piece and take a break, I'm sure somebody else here would like a turn anyway!"

Dedede shook his head assertively. "Naw, I don't play pathetic games like Chess! I'm only here to laugh at the losers."

Sonic shrugged. "Eh, I'm not in the mood to play Chess. I should have gone with Mario and the others to get fish, but I guess it's too late for that now."

"WELL, LOOKS LIKE IT'S TIME TO PUT THIS GAME TO REST FOR THE TIME BEING!" Announced Papyrus, before he was handed the King piece from Little Mac.

He proceeded to place the board and the pieces into the blank cardboard box it came with before neatly tucking it in the corner of the hut.

Alongside everyone else, Papyrus sat down, in silence.

After a few seconds, everyone caught on to how awkward the lack of talking was getting, so Wii Fit Trainer attempted to break the silence herself.

"So..." She began. "What are you guys going to do with the money if you win?"

"Go into the big city with a couple of minions guardin' me!" Dedede wrung his hands. "Real-world dollars are useless in Dreamland, so it's not like I have much of a choice with what I can spend the money on! I'm more in it for that nice Luxuriom Hotel!"

Little Mac gave a nod of approval. "Well, that's pretty fair. I didn't expect royalty to be in it for money, so the fact that you care about the Hotel more is understandable. I'm pretty rich myself after getting to the top of the WVBA, so I'm more interested in the Hotel too. I'll probably give away most of the money to charity..."

"That's nice! I'll probably give away around half of my money to some charities," agreed Wii Fit Trainer, wiping the dust from her clothes.

Papyrus shook his head angrily. "YOU SHOULDN'T WASTE SUCH MONEY!"

Sonic shrugged. "It's their choice, and giving it away to charity isn't exactly "wasting". What are you going to spend it on?"

"PSSH, WELL THAT'S AN EASY QUESTION..." Papyrus rubbed his chin. "HMM..."

An awkward, unexpected fifteen seconds of silence from the skeleton passed.

"Doesn't seem like an easy question," remarked Sonic with a snigger.

"QUIET! I'M TRYING TO THINK!" Scalded the monster. "MAYBE I COULD GO TO A CASINO! THAT'S WHAT ALL RICH PEOPLE DO, FROM WHAT I SEE ON HUMAN TELEVISION."

"So you want to blow away all of your money for the chance of making more?" Little Mac raised an eyebrow. "Now THAT is wasting money."

"...ERM, IT'S WASTING MONEY?" He asked, shocked. "WHY WOULD RICH PEOPLE WASTE THEIR OWN MONEY?"

Sonic quickly answered his question. "Greed. They want to gamble to earn more money, but sometimes they can end up homeless, and that's definitely no-good."

"WELL OBVIOUSLY HAVING NO HOME IS "NO-GOOD", SONIC!" Papyrus groaned. "WELL, NOW I'M COMPLETELY STUMPED ON WHAT I SHOULD SPEND MY MONEY ON... I'D PROBABLY THINK CLEARER IF I DIDN'T FEEL SO DISTRESSED."

Wii Fit Trainer perked her ears up upon hearing that fact. "Oh, what's making you feel so down?"

"JOSUKE GOT ELIMINATED! WE WERE GOOD FRIENDS, AND HE EVEN SAVED MY ARM SEVERAL TIMES," he clutched his arm, visibly pouting. "IT'S AS GOOD AS NEW, EVEN AFTER BEING STOLEN BY A SNAKE AND A SHARK! HOW UNLUCKY COULD ONE SKELETON GET?! JOSUKE CAME ALONG AND HELPED ME OUT TWICE... AND WELL, NOW HE'S GONE."

Sonic and Wii Fit Trainer then felt a very mild wave of guilt wash over them. They didn't regret their vote at all, but they certainly didn't like how it apparently had a toll on the morale of Papyrus.

"I don't want to admit it, but losing Josuke sucked, and it still does! He had such a useful Stand, but I guess the fact that he was a threat, plus how he was in our three-man alliance, was proooobably the main reason as to why he got booted off by the others. Something doesn't add up though, because Mario received three votes instead of four. I feel like either Papyrus or Sonic decided to backstab Josuke, and I'm definitely thinking Sonic was the one who did it." - Little Mac.

Dedede decided to respond to him with a laugh. "Bwahaha! Seein' your arm get stolen by that snake was hilarious!"

"Not the time..." Wii Fit Trainer grumbled.

"Whatever... it was funny!" He repeated before shutting himself up.

"King Dedede doesn't know when to quit sometimes. Papyrus may not show much dread over his rude remarks, but I still find it disgusting that he'd respond to it with laughter and mockery. It'll definitely persuade me to vote for him if he carries on doing so, because I don't think a pompous King like him deserves the victory if he treats others like dirt. All of that upper-class treatment probably distorted the guy..." - Wii Fit Trainer.

Sonic sighed. "Yeah, I miss Josuke too. That's just how it is, though. If you win this, Papyrus, then that means every single person talking to you will probably be eliminated themselves, meaning that it's unavoidable. The best thing to do is to not let any of that stuff get to you!"

"YOU'RE RIGHT, AND I SHALL NOT LET IT DRAG DOWN MY PERFORMANCE, JUST LIKE HOW I REFUSED TO LET YOUR ELIMINATION DRAG DOWN MY PERFORMANCE!" Papyrus posed. "FOR I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

"Well that was easy," the hedgehog muttered to the other three, watching the skeleton cheer for himself in the distance.

Wii Fit Trainer applauded. "That's great! It's a very good mindset to have."

"Luckily I don't care for much of y'all here, so if you get eliminated, I either laugh or just don't care!" Dedede admitted. "What's the darn point if I'll never see you guys again, anyway?"

Little Mac folded his arms. "Well, you're naturally kind to strangers, right? So by that logic, you should be kind to us, even if you'll never see us again."

"But I'm not kind to strangers?!" He retaliated. "You make too many assumptions, boxer-boy."

"I'm not that surprised..." He groaned.

As Papyrus' small problem had optimistic closure, the other group had a more pessimistic vibe among one another.

"Third fish in the past, what, two hours?" Captain Falcon yawned. "These guys aren't as common as they were last time..."

"Maybe you-a cleared this whole area of them when you-a fished with Samus a few days ago?" Mario suggested.

"No. This is a different area compared to last time, and even if we were in the same area, more fish would have moved in." Samus explained. "There's just a large lack of fish today. Maybe we should just head back."

As she turned around to walk off, Reigen put his hand on her shoulder abruptly

"H-hey, wait a minute! You can't just leave me to be the only one who hasn't caught a fish yet!" He exclaimed.

As his hand collided with her shoulder, she flicked her arm back and struck him in the face, causing him to cry in shock.

Reigen slammed into the sand below as Samus turned back, looking at the unintentional damage.

"Apologies," she said, offering her hand to help him up. "I've been trained to do things like that out of instinct. Don't touch me when my back's turned, or ever..."

"R-right," he obliged, rubbing his sore nose. "Do you have to go hard?"

"If you're an enemy or an alien, then I go as hard as I can." Samus grabbed him and helped him to his feet. "It's just how I was trained."

"Sounds like you need to relax a little bit..." He rubbed his chin, gazing towards the potential customer. "Maybe there's a spirit bogging up your body and your mind! Here's where the "Spirits and Such Consultation Office" comes into play!"

Captain Falcon rolled his eyes. "Oh boy..."

Mario raised his eyebrow, curious.

"There's a lot of-a ghost talk in this show. First Josuke has-a weird spirit he can control, then we had to-a go to a haunted mansion and meet Professor of-a all people to vacuum boos just-a like my younger bro Luigi, now Reigen is apparently some sort of-a spirit cleanser? That's-a interesting, but I feel like I shouldn't-a trust his word too much." - Mario.

The "Psychic" cleared his throat before beginning. "I have the skills required to cleanse that spirit! Perhaps you could come by after the competition to get it checked out? There are different offers and deals that I'm willing to give you, and I don't haggle too mu-"

"Nice try, cheapskate." Samus denied, walking away.

Reigen was left blank before he piped back up. "H-hey wait, at least stick around until I get my own fish!"

As a silent response, she chucked her spear at him, disappearing into the trees.

"The sun IS starting to set, but-a good luck!" Mario patted him on the back before leaving.

Captain Falcon held his spear out. "Are you good at dual-wielding?"

"...No, I'll just stick with this one." Reigen awkwardly responded.

The racer nodded as he walked off, his spear still in his hand. "Well, good luck then!"

He called out, "I won't need luck! I bet I'll get more fish than all of you combined!"

Captain Falcon didn't respond and simply walked into the forest, secretly grinning at the ridiculous comment he made. Over three fish before they ate sounded ridiculous to him, which was why he made no comment.

Reigen was the only one left at the beach, and he bitterly turned to the sea, clenching his spear tightly, in an attempt to find some fish for the rest of the tribe.

"I was close to winning her over, and I saw it in her eyes! Maybe my delivery was off, but I bet I would have made a lot more money if she just said yes and made me look like less of a fraud on global television..." - Arataka Reigen.

When the three that had decided to give up on hunting fish returned to the camp, they dumped their pot, half-full of fish, next to the others.

"That doesn't look like a lot," admitted Wii Fit Trainer.

Dedede eyed it, and he definitely didn't look pleased at all. He didn't common on the amount, but his disappointed and furious glare told the three that the loot wholly consisting of small-medium fish.

"Maybe it could still feed all nine of us!" Sonic optimistically guessed.

"I-a feel like food rationing will get a lot easier once there's only five or-a so of us left. That means we can-a use more of the rice and-a beans for each of us, and we-a even have the bonus of having to catch less fish to make everyone somewhat satisfied. It's-a days before it'll be like-a that, sadly." - Mario.

"Reigen's still out trying to hunt for one more, so if we succeed, that'll be four fish between the nine of us." Samus stared at the fish, then at her teammates, then back at the fish. "If anyone here is willing to not have any fish today, then we can split one fish between two people.

"I ain't missin' out!" Dedede exclaimed.

Little Mac shook his head. "Protein is crucial for a guy like me! I've already lost some muscle thanks to eating nothing but small portions of rice and beans

Papyrus rubbed his jaw. "AHEM... YOU'RE FORGETTING SOMETHING, SPACE-GIRL!"

"It's Samus, but go on..." She glared towards him due to the nickname.

"A SKELETON LIKE ME DOESN'T HAVE TO EAT! WHICH MEANS THAT, IF REIGEN GETS THIS FOURTH FISH, YOU CAN JUST SPLIT IT BETWEEN YOURSELVES AND I'LL HAVE NONE OF IT! THAT'S HOW IT'S ALWAYS BEEN, BECAUSE A SKELETON EATING IS LIKE A HUMAN CHECKING IF ALL OF THEIR BONES ARE ON PROPERLY; IT'S POINTLESS!" He explained.

Samus nodded, feeling slightly idiotic for forgetting that he doesn't eat. "Right, sorry, I forgot about that. We just have to rely on Reige-"

Her comment was abruptly ended by the gasps of others around her, causing her to turn her head towards the direction that the other survivors were facing.

Reigen stood there, a smug look plastered on his proud face, two dead, fresh fish were in the grasp of his left hand, whilst three fish were in his right hand; he had five fish in total, bringing the absolute total of the tribe's stock to eight.

"Well, you relied on me!" He stated, shoving the fish into the pot. "And look what happened, we now got one fish per person here... aside from Papyrus, of course."

"Good job," praised Samus. "Now we just need to cook them."

"LEAVE IT TO ME!" Bellowed Papyrus.

Sonic groaned. "Alright, just don't burn it."

"I NEVER BURN FISH?" He looked completely confused at the remark.

"You do..." Little Mac quietly retaliated, dreading the thought.

Despite their fears, Papyrus put his heart and soul into the dish, checking that it wasn't burnt to a crisp, whilst also making sure that the rice and beans were cooked perfectly. In the end, the rice and beans tasted good, but the fish had a slightly rubbery texture to them like it was undercooked, but the survivors didn't find it too distracting...


Roulette: Night 23

"So... any reason as to why Roulette was so late today?" Wii Fit Trainer asked. "It's nearly midnight!"

Alexa stepped forward shamefully, and it was worth noting that he was no longer wearing his tuxedo. "Yeah, sorry about that. The thing is that I like to set up my challenges in advance, so the challenge AFTER the next one is really bogging me up with paperwork. It's pretty difficult to set up."

"And you're fine with being off-schedule and admitting that to live television?" Sonic queried.

...

"Anyway... let's not stay up too late arguing with me!" He folded his arms. "In front of you are nine boxes labeled from A to I, what's in them are completely unknown, and we will go by the order on the leaderboard as usual. So, without further ado, let's start with Samus Aran!"

Samus Aran chose Box C.

Captain Falcon chose Box A.

Arataka Reigen chose Box I.

Sonic chose Box H.

Wii Fit Trainer chose Box E.

Little Mac chose Box G.

Mario chose Box B.

King Dedede chose Box F.

And finally, Papyrus chose Box D.

Alexa then proceeded to give the survivors the cue to open their boxes:

Samus Aran - -25

Captain Falcon - 10

Arataka Reigen - 0

Sonic - 25

Wii Fit Trainer - 25% Multiplier

Little Mac - -10

Mario - 5% Multiplier

King Dedede - 35% Multiplier

Papyrus - 0

"Those are some big gains and losses! Let's add these to your totals... oh, and now that there's nine of you left, only four people can be in Safe Haven at a time, as opposed to five!" Alexa warned before adding the applying the points to their total.


*SAFE HAVEN*

SONIC - 178

WII FIT TRAINER - 176

SAMUS ARAN - 175

CAPTAIN FALCON - 173

*DANGER ZONE*

ARATAKA REIGEN - 155

KING DEDEDE - 139

MARIO - 137

LITTLE MAC - 124

PAPYRUS - 99


"I'M STILL NOT AT ONE-HUNDRED POINTS?!" Papyrus gawked. "WHAT DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE SUCH A FATE..."

"Well I got kicked out of the Safe Haven... can I be safe for more than five minutes?" Reigen pouted. "There's always next challenge, at least."

"Hey! I now have the most points!" Sonic cheered for himself. "That's awesome!"

Wii Fit Trainer cheered too. "That's great! Not to mention that I'm not too far behind, only by a couple of points"

"And I'm only five points behind myself. We're all pretty close together, aren't we?" Captain Falcon observed.

Dedede, however, scoffed. "I'm up a few places, but I ain't gonna rest until I'm in that darn Safe Haven!"

"I don't think I've been in the Safe Haven for... well I don't even know for how long! Was I even in there?" Little Mac began questioning himself.

"Still in the same place..." Mario sighed. "It's-a scary being in danger."

"Ya think?" Added Dedede.

"I'm beginning to slip with my points by a little bit. Now I'm no longer the one with the most points, but instead, I'm third. If I lose this next challenge and drop out of Safe Haven, then everyone will take advantage of my curse and will vote me off easily. I can't let that happen, because I have a large chance of being eliminated even without the curse." - Samus Aran.

Alexa then continued. "Alright Laau Haupa, it's time for you guys to get back to your tribe! Sleep tight, because tomorrow's going to be a pretty wild day!"

The survivors nodded before leaving the area, returning to their tribe...


Challenge: Day 24

The nine survivors drifted out onto the beach, the boat was back as usual, and Alexa was standing next to it, knee-deep in the ocean's water.

"Welcome survivors." He gave a small salute before shooting them a friendly grin. "After today's challenge, you would have done a dozen challenges! It's pretty difficult for any of you to pick a favorite, especially since all of them demand a lot of physical or mental effort from you all and are EXHAUSTING! However, I feel like this next challenge definitely won't be considered as any of your favorites, not even your top three... or your top five..."

"I don't like the sound of that," admitted Reigen. "What's the next challenge all about?"

"YEAH! I'D MUCH PREFER IF YOU EXPLAINED IT NOW INSTEAD OF RIGHT BEFORE WE DID IT. I MAY BE A SKELETON, BUT I STILL NEED MENTAL PREPARATION, AND I IMAGINE THESE HUMANS REQUIRE SOME TOO," Papyrus assumed.

Alexa folded his arms, cupping and rubbing his chin with his long fingers. "Good point, but the next challenge will barely take any explaining! I'll give you a hint, however: it requires a lot of memory and patience."

"Doesn't sound like a physically demanding challenge, which is always a good thing," said Samus.

Dedede shook his head violently. "No it ain't! Physical, mental, it doesn't matter what it is, because that smug host over there is supposin' to us that none of us will enjoy this challenge at all!"

"Well, we'll have to suck it up, because I'm not going to give up, no matter what Alexa gives to us." Little Mac pointed to his chest with fiery determination in his face. "No matter what!"

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, Mac." Alexa clasped his hands together. "You'll all need that attitude if you want to win this next challenge. Enough hyping it up, however, let's go visit the location on our old faithful boat!"

The antsy host beckoned the contestants onto the boat before jumping in himself, and after five minutes of basking in the sunshine on the coast of the island, the boat set sail to the unknown destination.

"We've visited a haunted mansion where we were attacked by boos, and underwater where we were attacked by a shark! The fact that Alexa is highlighting how awful this next challenge will be is giving me some chills, and I never get chills..." - Captain Falcon.

After around ten minutes of driving, some of the survivors had an idea to get their energy up by attempting to have a small nap. Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, King Dedede, and Reigen were the ones who attempted to do so, but only Wii Fit Trainer and King Dedede succeeded in doing so.

Fifty more minutes passed, and the two successful nappers were quickly shot awake by a massive bump that caused them to jump out of their seats.

"AAAAAAAGGGH!" Dedede screeched at the top of his lungs, wrapping his arms around Sonic out of fear. "WHAT'S HAPPENIN'?!"

In response, Sonic's eyes widened as he was being choked by his petrified tribe mate. "Gah!" He yelped.

"Nothing, just a little bump!" Alexa called out from afar. "Hopefully the ship's alright..."

The royal penguin quickly let go of Sonic as a result, wiping the fearful beads of sweat from his forehead. "Well ain't that a relief!"

"You're right, you letting go of me IS relief..." The hedgehog sarcastically added.

"I wasn't talkin' about you, ya little blue rat," Dedede spat, before turning his head towards where the boat was traveling to.

A large, navy blue cave entrance was coming up close, its size and darkness inside were incredibly intimidating, and Alexa wasn't kidding when he said that the next challenge would be a not-so-pleasant experience.

When the boat crudely parked up, Alexa jumped out. "Survivors, out of the boat! This next challenge is about to begin."

"We aren't going in-a there, right? Please tell me we aren't going in there!" Mario stood back. "Who-a knows what's in there?!"

"Come on, you've been in worse, surely?" Samus queried.

Mario nodded. "Well, yeah, I-a have, but I-a just have a bad feeling about this-a place."

"Well it's okay because this challenge is all about finding the exit!" Alexa butted in. "You will all be thrown inside this giant labyrinth of a cave, and you'll be tasked with exploring this maze-like area until you find the exit! The first one to escape will receive a whopping one-hundred and seventy-five points, the second to escape will receive one-hundred and forty points, then the third to escape will receive one-hundred and twenty points, fourth will win one-hundred, fifth will receive eighty, all the way down to the last one to escape the labyrinth, who will receive no points whatsoever!"

Little Mac gulped, but his face quickly turned back into one of resolution. "Well, it's a pretty scary cave, but no scarier than that mansion we were at! I'll just power through it and find the exit as soon as I can."

"Well, get ready then," Alexa smirked. "Because this challenge is about to begin! Before that, however, there's ONE last twist..."

"Twist?" Reigen raised an eyebrow. "It better be a good one."

The host nodded. "You're in luck, it's a pretty great twist! The first one to escape the cave and find the exit will be rewarded with the opportunity to make ONE vulnerable contestant immune for tonight's Tribal Council. This is known as the Friendship Twist."

"SOUNDS EXTRAORDINARILY USEFUL, SIR ALEXA!" Papyrus then proceeded to pose. "THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL SURELY BE THE ONE TO SNAG THAT PRIZE, AS WELL AS THOSE POINTS!"

"Let's see about that!" Alexa then pointed to the cave. "Survivors, please line up!"

All of them proceeded to form one neat row, all of them were eager to get in that cave an escape as quickly as possible, not only for the prizes at stake, but also to get out of the eerie setting altogether.

Alexa began counting down...

"3..."

"2..."

"1... GO!"

As he yelled, all of them ran into the cave, disappearing from sight due to the darkness.

From inside the cave, a few dim torches guided them along as they ventured deep underground, the rocky walls and ceiling quickly turned damp, as the whole cave system was underwater at this point.

Underneath their feet was sand, with some jagged rocks sticking out of the floor alongside it. They could hear nothing but the quiet ambiance of the cave, collaborating with their heavy breathing to form a truly mysterious and somewhat creepy environment. There was almost a beauty to it, but at the same time, they had to keep on their toes if they wanted to find this exit.

After venturing deep enough, the cave split into five branching tunnels:

The one on the far left was small and cramped, though just large enough to fit most of the survivors through it. It looked to be the brightest pathway, though its claustrophobic appearance turned many of the survivors away from it. However, Little Mac and Papyrus decided to venture through it, with Papyrus up ahead.

To the right of that was its parallel, a giant wide cave with a smooth and unjagged floor. On the other hand, it was also the darkest pathway, having no torches lighting it up. King Dedede decided to go down it due to its size, though he was the only one to do so.

The cave on the far right was nothing special, just a standard dimly lit cave with a sharp turn to the right, its harmless nature caused Arataka Reigen and Captain Falcon to walk down it.

To the left of the rightmost path was slightly more narrow than the second path, though it was still rather large. It was also lit decently well, but the worst part about the pathway was how the floor wasn't sand or rock, but instead the murky waters of the ocean. Samus and Sonic decided to down this path, theorizing that the most unpleasant path would also be the most beneficial to escape the cave.

Finally, the center cave was a medium-sized pathway that was almost as dark as the leftmost cave, and to accompany it were large jagged pillars of rock. Alongside these pillars were small droplets of water coming in from the ceiling, which struck the rocky floor of the pathway, forming tiny puddles of water. Mario and Wii Fit Trainer decided to explore the path.

"C'mon Papyrus, hurry up! I can't exactly move past you if the cave is this narrow..." Little Mac groaned.

"APOLOGIES, I'M JUST WATCHING MY STEP," he justified, turning around a corner. "OH, IT'S MORE SPACIOUS HERE!"

"Huh?" The boxer replied before he felt relief, this part of the cave was nice and spacious.

However, at the end of this section were six pathways, all of which were standard tunnels with nothing too out of the ordinary.

"HMMM... SIX PATHWAYS?" Papyrus rubbed his bony jaw. "WELL, TIME TO USE SOME OF MY INCREDIBLE LOGIC TO FIND THIS EXIT!"

He pointed to the rightmost tunnel.

"Why that one?" Little Mac asked. "It's the same as all of the other ones."

"BECAUSE... WHAT SIDE IS IT ON?" Papyrus retaliated with another question.

"...The right side?" He replied. "I don't see what you're getting at."

He began walking down the tunnel, briskly. "WHAT I'M GETTING AT IS, RIGHT IS RIGHT, SO FOLLOW ME!"

"I get the pun, but is that really the best way to decide where to go?" Little Mac scratched his head with confusion. "Plus, you didn't use that logic for the first set of branching pathways we went through."

Papyrus was then stumped, Little Mac was completely right, why didn't he use that logic back then? Embarrassed, the skeleton gave a shrug to his friend and continued venturing down the path, with him following behind.

"Going with Papyrus to find the exit would be a good bet. If one of us finds the exit, then we're both aware. The only problem is that he doesn't have much genuine thought with picking where to go, but I guess there isn't much strategy to it anyway. Beats being alone in this place, though I wish he was a little faster with his pace." - Little Mac.

Meanwhile, King Dedede was strolling down the wide tunnel.

"Man, this place is fit for a king! Size-wise, of course, because I wouldn't live in this shabby rock even if I was given a five-course meal," he said to himself, traveling deeper down the tunnel. "It'd have to be a seven-course at least!" He continued.

Eventually, he found a large, bright torch in the center of the tunnel, with a sign underneath it.

Dedede leaned down and read the sign:

"You may grab and use this torch to easily explore the darker parts of the cave."

He smirked as he grabbed it and raised it up with accomplishment. "Heck yeah!"

As he did so, the bright light revealed a large horde of bats hanging on the ceiling, causing Dedede's eyes to almost pop out with shock. "B-BATS?!"

In retaliation to the sudden exposure, the horde of bats flew down and crashed into Dedede several times before flying off down the cave.

The bat's assault almost caused him to lose grip of the torch, but luckily he survived it, albeit with a couple of dirty marks on his robes.

"Those darn bats messed up my robe even more?! Oh, they'll be gettin' smashed against the rocks when I see 'em again." Dedede gave a scowl, his mood now soured by the incident.

During this incident, Captain Falcon and Wii Fit Trainer were wandering down the center path, maneuvering around the tight spaces due to the rocks.

Eventually, they found two pathways, one lead straight down, whilst the other lead straight up, and required decent parkour skills in order to reach the top.

"Sorry Wii Fit, but I-a know that freedom is up that path." Mario pointed to the top, showing her the faint white light. "See that? That's-a daylight!"

"Hmm, it doesn't look like daylight at all..." She admitted. "Looks sorta artificial."

However, the plumber wasn't listening, and he wanted to be the first one out of the cave. In retaliation, she decided to take a gamble and venture downwards through the second path.

Mario hopped up the rocks, even skipping some of it by wall-jumping up the narrow vertical tunnel, he could taste freedom, and he was already sick of the place after around fifteen to twenty minutes of being stuck inside, not that he was keeping proper track.

When he reached the top, he walked down another tunnel, the source of the light was getting stronger and stronger.

By the time he reached it, his jaw dropped with surprise, but not the good kind of surprise...

A bright lantern, beaming its white light, was present, and since it was surrounded by the cave walls, he had come to a dead end.

"Mama mia... I should-a have listened to her..." He grunted. "Hopefully that path doesn't lead to daylight either, but I better follow her to-a find out!"

Mario hopped down from the path, retracing his steps and jumping into the downwards path, taking caution in case he injured himself from falling down the decently large distance.

"How-a long is this tunnel?!" He whined to himself, scraping his gloves against the sharp rocks. "Good thing I'm-a wearing thick gloves."

Suddenly, the tunnel slowly took a change in direction. Instead of leading downwards, it was now sloped and leading upwards.

When Mario gazed up the tunnel, he saw a bright white light, that HAD to be daylight, right?!

He quickly scrambled up the narrow pathway, determined to get out of the cave system, and as he neared the light more and more, he got more and more confident that it was daylight.

Upon reaching the light, he escaped the pathway and ended up at a small beach, several exits to the cave were present, and he saw Alexa alongside Wii Fit Trainer and Sonic standing there.

"Well done Mario!" Alexa applauded. "You made it out of the cave third, so you'll be receiving one-hundred and twenty points, ain't that nice?"

"It-a sure is!" He grinned. "That should-a hopefully be enough to be safe!"

"Good thing you didn't listen to me," Wii Fit Trainer smiled teasingly. "I'm just glad that I'm out of there. This really was a nightmare of a challenge..."

Sonic laid back, relaxing in the sun. "I knew going through the worst path would pay off, and it did! I just sped through those gross waters and eventually, I made it out before anyone else."

As the three were celebrating their freedom, Samus was traveling through the murky waters of the cave, trying to go fast, but the fact that the water went up to above her thighs made it a lot more difficult, she couldn't sprint across the water like Sonic could, either.

"I'm almost out. I've been here for about twenty-five minutes..." She had been keeping track of the time whilst she was venturing through the cave.

Eventually, she came to a sharp left-turn, and she then saw the blinding daylight at the end of the tunnel, alongside the three contestants that made it out first.

"Great, I hope being fourth place is enough," lamented Samus, before proceeding to speed out of the tunnel, reaching Alexa.

"Well done Samus! You're the fourth one to escape these caves," applauded Alexa. "That's one-hundred points for you!"

The bounty hunter gave a small smile of relief as she sat down, awaiting the remaining five survivors who were still within the cave.

It was now thirty minutes since they had entered the cave, and even though it was a short amount of time, they were all exhausted from traveling around, scrambling for the exit to this maze-like cave.

"This is a long path..." Reigen yawned. "I'm all on my own too, after that bird-jock decided to split up from me and go down another pathway. My psychic abilities predict that I will find that exit before him, and I'll get a decent score out of this challenge, too!"

Right after he said that he entered a large cavern with five incredibly steep stone steps leading to another tunnel, but that tunnel was bright with light, causing his eyes to shoot open with surprise.

"I-is that the exit?!" He asked himself. "Well there's no time for me to stand there, I'm not staying in this grimy cave any longer."

Reigen hooked his hand onto the edge of the first pillar and sprung upwards, pulling himself onto the step and moving back to his feet. He then repeated the same thing for the next step, then the next one.

By the time he hooked his hands onto the next one, he heard the oncoming noise of footsteps and immediately snapped his neck to the right, where the noise was coming from.

A small tunnel next to the one he came from appeared to be the origin of the sound, causing his eyes to widen.

He began pulling himself up quicker, his arms ached in response, as they were already beginning to become tired from the first three steps he had climbed, but Reigen was not to give up just yet.

Captain Falcon soon appeared from the tunnel, his eyes locked onto the exit then Reigen, and he began running to the first step.

As the racer approached, he made one majestic leap and jumped right over and on to the first step of the five. By now, Reigen had just cleared the fourth.

He then proceeded to jump up the second step, landing haphazardly on the rock as he momentarily lost his balance. Fortunately for him, he quickly regained said balance and jumped up the second step, then the third and fourth step. He finally jumped up the fifth step, Reigen running ahead.

The businessman could see the exit, right before he reached the daylight...

Captain Falcon attempted to shoot past, causing him to instinctively slam his hand against him in an attempt to knock him back and stall him.

However, he powered through the hit, and continued dashing past, with Reigen attempting to latch onto him in one last effort to trip him over, but ultimately failing. Ironically, the whole squabble caused him to fall instead, making him helplessly watch as Captain Falcon ran over to Alexa alongside the first four who escaped the caves.

Scrambling to his knees and then his feet, he quickly followed Captain Falcon.

"Captain Falcon and Arataka Reigen finished fifth and sixth! Meaning that 'Cap gets eighty points, whilst Reigen only gets sixty! There are three more still confined within these creepy caverns, and it's honestly quite impressive how most of you got out so quickly," admitted Alexa. "Annoyingly fast..." he added under his breath.

Back in the first pathway, Papyrus and Little Mac looked to be lost.

"DAMN IT!" Yelled the boxer, punching the wall with anger. "This is the third time we ended up back here! Do you even know where you're going?!"

"I-I'M SORRY, I'M TRYING MY BEST. THESE CAVES ARE QUITE DIFFICULT TO TRACK! EVERY SPIRALLING PATHWAY IS ALMOST THE SAME, WE'RE PROBABLY THE LAST ONES IN THIS CAVE..." Papyrus pouted, sitting down and giving up.

...

"Don't sit down, we gotta keep going, I know we can make it out of this place..." Little Mac said, his tone still hiding a lot of stress, though it was decently reassuring for Papyrus. "We can't be the last ones, either! It's only been forty minutes. Maybe we won't be first, but we won't be last, I know that much."

"CORRECT! NOW, LET'S FIND THAT EXIT!" He suddenly sprung up, full of a newfound determination to escape the cave. "I LIVE IN ONE, SO I SHOULD KNOW ALL ABOUT THIS CAVE... AND IN MY CAVE, THE EXITS HAVE THIS GLOWING WHITE AURA AROUND THEM LEADING TO THE OUTSIDE."

Little Mac scratched his cheek using his boxing gloves. "You mean light?"

"OBVIOUSLY! NOW, LET'S GO FIND THIS EXIT!" Papyrus ran off into one of the pathways they hadn't visited yet. "THIS WAY, LITTLE MAC!"

As they were filled with more motivation, King Dedede was still by himself, holding his torch and lighting up the darker sections of the cave.

"Where's that darn exit... it's not like I even need this stupid torch, it's just makin' my arm sore." Dedede grumbled.

Coincidentally, as he finished complaining, he began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, literally.

He gave a gasp of joy and surprise as he began laughing maniacally, dropping the torch and screaming "FREEDOM!"

As he saw the exit to the cave, he saw Little Mac and Papyrus come from a random tunnel in the side. The duo quickly noticed the charging king and attempted to escape the cave for themselves first.

"OH NO YA DON'T!" Dedede charged faster and faster, Papyrus lagging behind Little Mac and towards his demise.

Eventually, he jumped forward and slashed at the skeleton in an attempt to knock him over. As he did so, Papyrus flew forward and crashed against the floor of the cave, scrambling forwards as Dedede dashed past.

"YOU MAY HAVE BESTED ME, BUT CAN YOU BEST MY ATTACK?!" Papyrus gave a small, proud, and forced chuckle before throwing one of his bones towards Dedede.

Before the penguin could reach the sunlight, he tripped on the bone, slamming into the ground.

"Nice one!" Little Mac cheered, already out of the tunnel, ranking seventh.

Before the penguin could heave himself back up, Papyrus zoomed past him.

"WOWIE! I BEAT HIM!" He looked back. "SORRY, KING, BUT THIS WAS A VERY IMPORTANT THING TO WIN, AND JUST LIKE THAT, LITTLE MAC AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS SCORE OUR VICTORY!"

"Papyrus escapes in eighth place, meaning that he receives twenty points!" Announced Alexa, causing the Papyrus to sigh in disappointment.

He turned to Little Mac, who looked disappointed himself. "WE TOOK TOO LONG, DIDN'T WE?"

"Yep..."

Dedede then ran out, looking at everybody else. "What?! I'm darn last?! I was only in there for about forty to fifty minutes!"

"DEDEDE FINISHES THE CHALLENGE AT NINTH PLACE, THE CHALLENGE IS FINALLY OVER!" Alexa declared.

"Y'know I was expecting a lot worse," Wii Fit Trainer admitted. "You hyped it up to be the worst thing ever."

"Well I thought you'd be in there for a lot longer, seems like now that you've weeded out the weaker ones, I'm left with some of the more skilled survivors! Even last place took much less than an hour to complete this challenge, and that's impressive!" Alexa admitted. "Anyway, now that Dedede's out and thus receives no points, it's time to tell you all the scores and who ranked where!"

Alexa proceeded to reveal the rankings and scores:


Sonic - 1st Place - 175 Points

Wii Fit Trainer - 2nd Place - 140 Points

Mario - 3rd Place - 120 Points

Samus Aran - 4th Place - 100 Points

Captain Falcon - 5th Place - 80 Points

Arataka Reigen - 6th Place - 60 Points

Little Mac - 7th Place - 40 Points

Papyrus - 8th Place - 20 Points

King Dedede - 9th Place - 0 Points


"...And let's add them onto your total points!" He continued:


*SAFE HAVEN*

SONIC - 353

WII FIT TRAINER - 316

SAMUS ARAN - 275

MARIO - 257

*DANGER ZONE*

CAPTAIN FALCON - 253

ARATAKA REIGEN - 215

LITTLE MAC - 164

KING DEDEDE - 139

PAPYRUS - 119


"Damn it, I fell out of the Safe Haven." Captain Falcon bit his lip intensely. "If only I got out of there a little bit sooner."

"Phew, I'm still safe, luckily I never showed vulnerability once during this curse," Samus congratulated herself. "Now I just need to keep safe until I'm at the final part of this game, it's too late to lose now."

"STILL LAST PLACE?!" Papyrus cried. "HMM, BUT I DID BREAK ONE-HUNDRED POINTS, SO I SHOULD ALSO BE CELEBRATING TOO!"

Reigen shook his head. "I don't think you should be celebrating..."

"Hang on, survivors!" Alexa stopped them. "Don't be upset about your vulnerability just yet. Remember the Friendship Twist? Sonic finished first, meaning that he can make one of the five in the Danger Zone immune for tonight's council. Sonic, do you have a choice yet?"

He shrugged. "Well, I don't really know. I guess I'll have to hear them all out."

Little Mac was surprised to hear that from him considering that he used to be on an alliance with him and Papyrus, but decided to fight for the immunity regardless.

"Sonic, you know me! We were good friends and I bet we still are, I'm one of the strongest competitors here as well! Is that not a factor?" He asked with a nervous undertone.

The hedgehog nodded in response. "It does play a factor, but I'm not sure if I would want a "strong" competitor escaping from Tribal Council."

In retaliation, the boxer froze and made a small cry of horror as Sonic all but rejected his reasoning. He proceeded to hang his head down, bleeding with defeat.

"Obviously he wouldn't pick a pipsqueak good-for-nothing like you or that bonehead! He'd give the royal treatment to the ROYAL person," Dedede smirked smugly. "Now c'mon Sonic, I know you're itching to give me that immunity!"

"Err... I don't think so," replied Sonic, his face deadpan. "You're sorta... how do I put this... full of yourself?"

"FULL OF MA'SELF?!" He queried. "ME? The HANDSOME King of Dreamland, and the future winner of this show, is apparently full of himself?"

"Sounds like it," he nodded.

...

Dedede turned away childishly, not looking at Sonic. "What a fool..."

That leaves Captain Falcon, Papyrus, and Arataka Reigen.

"Hmm..." The hedgehog spun his finger around. "Which one..."

Eventually, his finger stopped spinning, and he pointed over towards Arataka Reigen, as precise and as quick as a dart. "You!"

"Wha?! Why me?" Reigen interrogated, confused. "I don't think we've interacted much, if ever!"

"Not to mention I was secretly the reason why he got eliminated back then..." - Arataka Reigen.

Sonic shrugged. "I dunno, you seem like a down-to-earth and chill person. I feel like we all got bigger fish to fry in terms of elimination out of the five, anyway."

"Fair logic! I'll take it!" Reigen jumped into the air, brimming with the complacent joy of being spared.

Alexa nodded with approval. "Very well, Reigen is now immune for tonight's Tribal Council! Now let's get back to the island, the boat should be here very shortly."


Laau Haupa: Day 24

Survivors: Mario - Papyrus - Samus Aran - Wii Fit Trainer - King Dedede - Captain Falcon - Little Mac - Arataka Reigen - Sonic

When the survivors eventually made it back to their tribe, dusk was approaching, and they decided to handle the upcoming Tribal Council by forming into one group, huddled around the fire after eating their meals.

"Well then, this is going to be one of THOSE councils, isn't it? Where everything gets made awkward by our suggestions of who goes home." Reigen gazed at everyone. "Especially considering that nobody's bothering to pipe up yet. I guess considering that I'm safe, I'll be the one to sacrifice my reputation by recommending somebody."

They all perked their ears up as he stood up, pointing to Little Mac.

"I feel like you should be going home," he explained. "You're a massive threat to everyone here with that alliance of yours. Josuke may be gone, but we have to break up that remaining alliance between you and Papyrus. Even two people joining arms can be threatening."

"Wh-wha?!" Little Mac shook his head. "Come on! This is too sudden for me to even understand! Since when were people planning on voting me out? First I got one vote last council and now this?!"

"Pssh, I agree!" Dedede bellowed in response. "That boxer kid is nothin' but trouble, though I feel like we should discuss votin' off Papyrus too!"

Just like Little Mac had done, Papyrus proceeded to shake his head frantically. "NO! THERE'S NO ALLIANCE... JUST A FRIENDSHIP!"

"That's a lie," said Samus. "I've heard you claim it several times, and in some challenges, including this last one, you're always in one pack together. To think that you're not in an alliance would be stupid."

Papyrus then choked on his words, unable to properly speak due to being caught red-handed.

Captain Falcon watched as the duo was cornered by the others, and he came to a dilemma in his head. He could either vote Little Mac, betraying him after the boxer had saved him from Squidward and Reigen, or he could vote for Papyrus. It seemed like neither of those options seem right, so he decided to go for the risky alternative.

"I feel like both of those choices aren't right," he said. "Not even close to being right! I think neither of them poses a big enough threat to eliminate them right now."

"Then who do you think should go home?" Samus interrogated.

The racer pointed to King Dedede. "Him, as he's nothing but a jerk."

"I ain't a jerk! I just can't handle y'all sometimes, and that "sometimes" is every darn minute." The king folded his arms. "I get that you have some sorta bias towards that trashy jock, but there's no way that you're gonna convince everyone to vote for a king like me!"

Wii Fit Trainer shook her head, denying that fact. "Sorry Dedede but he's right, you are really disrespectful to others! Maybe in this game people just have to bite their lip and deal with the annoying ones, but I just don't like how you treat everyone else."

"Agreed!" Mario frowned. "Why can't you-a be a bit nicer?"

"Because I don't need to be nice to win this darn competition!" He spat, noticing the amount of people that were beginning to turn against him. "Gettin' rid of those who don't treat you perfectly ain't gonna work out for y'all when Little Mac and Papyrus continue their alliance! Little Mac alone is pretty threatenin', so I say vote him if ya got any morsels of brain left."

"For once Dedede shows a good argument," Reigen sighed. "But that's my reasoning, too. It doesn't matter too much if someone here's an insufferable arrogant jerk. What's more important, especially with only nine people left, is that you get rid of the people that threaten your chance of winning!"

Wii Fit Trainer argued against that logic. "But would you be comfortable if he snuck his way to the end just because that there are some people that can win? EVERYONE IS A THREAT!" She declared, aggravation building in her voice. "You're a threat, I'm a threat, everyone here threatens our chances of winning! You're a threat to Little Mac and Papyrus, Reigen. Would you be fine if, out of all of us threats, the one that treated everyone like trash got that victory? Everyone here forgets that it's not about making sure you win, but also having those you would be fine with winning take your place if you failed in getting that prize!"

Silence struck the tribe, her words were incredibly strong, and her point was easy-to-digest for all of the survivors.

"That... makes a lot of sense." Reigen proceeded to shift his focus to the floor, twiddling his thumbs and avoiding eye-contact. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right.

Mario clapped slowly. "That's-a very good way of-a putting it!"

Captain Falcon gave a thumbs up to her, showing his incredible approval towards her.

"I was going to try my best and get Little Mac safe just to show some more gratitude, but this Wii Fit chick just did the work for me! Hopefully, it would have persuaded enough people to vote for Dedede, and I'm getting some SERIOUS Deja Vu of my second night on this island." - Captain Falcon.

"Y-YEAH. I KNOW SOME OF YOU HERE AREN'T FOND OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BUT I'VE TRIED MY BEST TO SUPPORT THIS TRIBE EVEN THROUGH THIS COMPETITION! I MAKE FOOD FOR EVERYONE EVERY TIME, AND IF IT DOESN'T TASTE GOOD THEN I TRY TO GET BETTER. THE SAME SHALL APPLY TO LITTLE MAC TOO!" Papyrus smiled.

Dedede shook his head. "Well that ain't the right mindset! You should be all for playing for yourself, and for NOBODY else, otherwise, y'all are weaker than a Waddle Dee!"

"There are some people that deserve victory more than others. Johnny was somebody that I'm glad didn't win, and I was offended to see his face in the merge alongside me and the others. For the first time, I think I'm truly stuck on who to vote on, whether that be Little Mac or King Dedede. Papyrus is annoying but I don't think he's a threat or is as grating as King Dedede." Samus explained.

"Now this is just an excuse for you guys to throw insults at me?! Pssh, and you act like I'm the bad guy..." Tutted Dedede. "Vote for Little Mac!"

Sonic shook his head. "I think that Little Mac and Papyrus both have a threatening partnership, but hey, I'm fine with it if it means getting rid of Dedede."

"OH, I GET IT NOW. THAT PESKY HEDGEHOG BACKSTABBED US AFTER ALL WE HAD TOGETHER! THAT EXPLAINS HOW THE VOTES DIDN'T ADD UP! HE MUST HAVE VOTED JOSUKE ALL ALONG, AND THAT'S SOMETHING I'LL HAVE TROUBLE FORGIVING HIM FOR." - Papyrus.

Dedede groaned. "Is anyone here gonna vote for Little Mac?! C'mon Samus, you owe me, I've voted alongside you once with Gordon, so do the same for me!"

"I don't owe you anything," she harshly replied.

"The typical last-ditch effort to get someone on his side convinced me to join the others in voting for him..." - Samus Aran.

The penguin was beginning to get nervous, seeing so many people gang up against him. Though, the king couldn't help but have an underlying hope that he'd be freed from tonight's council.

"Well... let's just see what happens tonight, shall we?" He shot a nervous smile.

"Yeah, let's-a go!" Mario jumped out of his seat. "It should be time to-a head on down there anyway!"

The other survivors stood up and walked down to Tribal Council, all of them having a clear idea of who they wanted gone tonight.


Tribal Council: Night 24

The torches of the council were as dimly lit as usual, and the survivors made their way through the entrance pathway and into the main section of the area, where they saw Alexa.

Without making a sound, they sat on their benches, awaiting the jury members to enter.

First came Gordon Ramsay, then came Johnny Bravo, and finally, the most recent member of jury: Josuke Higashikata, entered and sat on the bench.

They all exchanged their greetings with the other survivors, Josuke being especially friendly to the others, and also specifically greeting Papyrus and Little Mac.

After sitting down on the jury benches, Alexa turned his focus to the survivors.

"Hello survivors, and welcome to the twelfth Tribal Council of the show!" He applauded. "Papyrus, have you gotten used to attending these at this point?"

"I LIKE TO THINK SO! IT'S STILL AS SCARY AS IT WAS BEFORE, BUT IT'S DEFINITELY NOT AS DREADFUL AS IT WAS BACK ON THE FOURTH DAY, OR THE EIGHTH DAY, OR ANY OTHER DAYS AFTER THAT WHEN I WAS FORCED TO COME HERE." He explained.

"The dread factor definitely goes down once you get accustomed to it. Do you feel the same, Reigen?" He asked.

The "Psychic" nodded. "Yeah, I don't even find it scary anymore. Even if I'm up for elimination, I just get on with it. It's like when you nearly get involved in a car crash so many times that you aren't as traumatized or as scared if it ever happens to you."

"That doesn't sound very healthy..." Remarked Wii Fit Trainer.

"Mario!" Alexa started. "Yesterday you were in the Danger Zone, but now you've BARELY scraped into the Safe Haven. How do these close-call style immunities make you feel?"

Mario gave a little friendly grin as he scratched his cheek. "It makes me-a feel good that I'm immune! Though, it's not as-a good as being immune by a long shot since it'll take a lot of losing to become vulnerable again. Even still, I-a love being immune no matter by how much!"

"Good mindset to have, Mario," he admired. "And for the final standard question, I'd like to ask Little Mac over how he feels with his placement. You showed a lot of determination before the challenge, Mac."

"Well obviously I'm disappointed in myself. I could have gotten out there much sooner and I would have been safe, I'm not too scared over tonight's council considering the discussion that was held, but it's always nice to have more points for the future." Little Mac answered.

Alexa continued, "and what happened in terms of discussion that gave you relief?"

"Well, I don't wanna sound cocky, but I feel like everyone here has one target in mind..." Little Mac hinted, though Dedede could clearly see what he was getting at, growling as a result.

The host gave a slow nod before continuing. "Okay survivors, you may cast your votes!"

One by one, the survivors stood up to vote...

Little Mac: What Wii Fit Trainer said is right, it's not just about if I win, it's also about who wins in case I don't. And as far as I'm concerned, I don't think people want Dedede on here any longer! (King Dedede)

King Dedede: Pssh, me going home? It's possible, but I ain't gonna scream and wail if it happens, though I feel like these chumps will realize how important I am and how deservin' of a victory I am last second. (Little Mac)

Papyrus: YOU'RE A KING, AND I HAVE LOTS OF RESPECT FOR ROYALTY. HOWEVER, I CAN'T LET YOU TARNISH MY ALLIANCE ANY FURTHER, AND THAT'S WHY I HAVE TO ELIMINATE YOU! (King Dedede)

Wii Fit Trainer: I don't hold anything against King Dedede but... I just think he needs to go home, and maybe try again another day. Maybe then he'll be nice enough to deserve that victory! I know he can do it, especially with that strength of his...

"Survivors, before I read out the votes, will any of you like to play an idol?" Alexa questioned.

...

...

...

"Great! Let's get this vote started then, shall we?" He cleared his throat. "Survivors, I shall now read out the votes!"

*VOTING TIME*

First vote goes to King Dedede, one vote King Dedede.

Second vote goes to Little Mac, one vote Little Mac and one vote King Dedede. (King Dedede takes a deep breath.)

Third vote goes to King Dedede, two votes King Dedede, one vote Little Mac.

Fourth vote goes to King Dedede, three votes King Dedede, one vote Little Mac. ("C'mon..." Dedede mumbles.)

Fifth vote goes to King Dedede, that's four votes King Dedede, one vote Little Mac.

Sixth vote goes to King Dedede, five votes King Dedede, with one vote for Little Mac. (Dedede admits defeat, inhaling sharply with disappointment.)

Seventh vote goes to King Dedede, that's SIX votes King Dedede, one vote Little Mac.

Eighth vote goes to King Dedede, seven votes King Dedede, and one vote Little Mac.

"You all know who's eliminated, but the fourth jury member at an uneven 8-1 vote is King Dedede!" Announced Alexa. "Your time is up, sire, now hand me your torch."

"Fine, catch!" He stood up and tossed the torch to Alexa, making him catch it cautiously.

Alexa snuffed out the torch, solidifying his elimination.

He then said, "King Dedede, your time is up! Please leave Survivor Crossover. Though before you do, is there anything you would like to see to your fellow tribemates?"

"I guess one thing, and that's that y'all made a grave mistake votin' me out! Though I got a lil' more dignity in my body to not beg for a second chance, that's the type of stuff I wish I got to see more since it was darn hilarious! Anyway, I'm out." He turned away and slowly walked off down the path, leaving the eight survivors.

Alexa applauded. "Final eight! Do you guys feel good about yourselves yet? There's only forty percent of you left compared to when we first began, and that says a LOT. Though, let me just tell you this now, since I think you've all gone long enough without knowing."

The survivors raised their eyebrows as the host began explaining some more.

"I've left you all in the dark over what happens after a certain point. The finale to the show will truly begin at five survivors left, what happens from then on is a complete mystery, though more power to those who theorize. That means three more of you will be eliminated before this "finale" begins, and trust me, you won't be as safe there as you are now..." Alexa left them on his self-made cliffhanger. "Now, go back to your tribe and get a good sleep! As for Dedede... he was a rowdy yet strong contender, the fact that he got THIS far was rather surprising to me, though I bet if he worked on being a lil' nicer then he could come back as a TRUE threat. Night survivors..."

The remaining eight survivors proceeded to leave Tribal Council, with the three jury members leaving shortly after...


King Dedede's last words: "When I get back to Dreamland after this whole show blows over, I'm-a take a huge nap and have a nice meal prepared for me by ma' servants. Then after that, I'll resume my usual royal routine!"


VOTES

King Dedede's voters: Little Mac, Wii Fit Trainer, Arataka Reigen, Mario, Samus Aran, Sonic, Papyrus, Captain Falcon.

Little Mac's voters: King Dedede.


IDOLS

Idol of Attacking - Wario. (USED)

Idol of Defense - Captain Falcon. (USED)

Idol of Mirroring - Wii Fit Trainer.

Idol of Curses - Samus. (USED - CURSE HAS WORN OFF)

The Revival Idol - Mario. (USED)


REMAINING SURVIVORS

Laau Haupa (Yellow Team)

- Mario

- Papyrus

- Samus Aran

- Wii Fit Trainer

- Captain Falcon

- Little Mac

- Arataka Reigen

- Sonic