Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)

Chapter 15 - Day 13 Part 1

Alright, so now that the first member of the Brawn tribe has finally been eliminated after four Tribal Councils, I wonder how the rest of the Brawn tribe is going to react to it knowing how the dynamics were on old Toro. Hopefully Ryu knows what he's doing, as he pretty much has his entire fate in Golden and Espio's hands now because of his sacrificing one ally to work with another.

Also, coming up with brand new challenges is hard. Challenges in general are already the hardest part when it comes to this series, but coming up with brand new ones is an entirely different level. I'd say this one is... "semi-new". Let's just say that lol.

~KF

EPISODE FIVE: Celebrity Man Crush

Toro

Night 12

Ryu, Golden, Daisy, Espio

-/-

Nothing but the sound of crickets were heard as the street fighter, the 'golden' furred bear, the orange-haired woman, and the purple chameleon all returned to the Toro camp lying their torches against the tree.

"Well... That was my first tribal..."

...

Ryu slowly brought a hand up to his face and began to chuckle a bit, yet it was actually not due to a humorous reason.

"What'd you find amusing?" wondered Espio.

"Oh, nothing." He waved it off. "I just feel like this is the part where I get backlash for stuff."

"Ah, well, Jet is not actually here, so..." Golden pointed out. "I guess for the rest of the night it'll be just the four of us... Let's just start our fire and then go to bed... I bet there's gonna be a reward challenge tomorrow, anyway..."

"I'll get the flint." Espio volunteered.

"Whew..." The martial artist slowly shook his head. "Jet... Man... I'm really feeling like a villain right now... I voted off the only other Brawn member here on my own camp... But... Since my decision was based off of my long-term plan, rather than just thinking of the next Tribal Council, hopefully it does pay off if I get to the merge... I mean, if this does not prove to the two brain people, particularly Golden that I wanna work with him, I don't know what more do I have to do. Even he would have targeted me at merge. I mean, sometimes it's not all about playing with the same people. And even though I hated that I had to vote Jet out in spite of giving him some sort of pep talk or something, it was slightly more about me trying to find more allies and options in this thing. The more people you can work with the more reliable you become. So I really hope Golden takes that to heart, since I'm kinda putting my life on the line for him. I just gotta hope that Tifa, Specter, and Incineroar are safe... Oh my god, Incineroar..."

He facepalmed. "I'm gonna have to make sure he's still with me if we reunite..."

Minutes later, Espio and Golden ended up sitting at opposite ends of the fire while Ryu and Daisy were already hitting the hay for the night.

"Well,... we did it." Golden said. "...We didn't even need Daisy's vote."

"Did you approach her?"

"I did not have the time too." The bear shook. "It was rare for me to see her without Jet. She was around him ever since we got back from the challenge."

"That means Ryu must have informed her of the plan." The member of Team Chaotix concluded. "He might have done as a way to not alienate her from the rest of us."

"Not a bad idea." Golden scratched the back of his head. "I was gonna do the same thing."

"I've told Daisy of the Jet plan (thankfully I even had the chance too) right before tribal, you know, so she wouldn't feel like she's all on her own. I mean, the world was against her numbers wise, anyway, and she already been through a bit losing two of the first three challenges on Quetzal." Ryu confirmed Espio's theory in his confessional. "However, maybe it was good for me to do that. Because of me being the only Brawn here, maybe this would be good for her possibly trusting me more than she might trust Golden and Espio. Though the plan is for her to go next, her trusting me keeps the target off of my back so that she wouldn't rally the both of them to vote me out."

The only female herself did not know what was more important to think about at the time, since countless thoughts were already making their way through her mind..

"Well... That was rather weird..." She blinked. "I'm still here... Not in the way I expected or even wanted to, since I actually did like Jet, but hey, looks like Daisy survived another round. I just knew that Espio was going home. But then out of the blue, Ryu tells me last minute that everyone is writing down Jet. Yes, including Ryu himself. Shocking... But since he knew that my vote for Espio was never gonna change that, maybe he wanted to make sure I voted correctly for some reason. ...I mean, Jet's gone and I'm his replacement now? I really don't know what Ryu's plan is, but since I don't know if I'm fully off the chopping block yet, maybe I have no choice but to trust him... You know what, screw it. I'm probably even more on the chopping block, now..."

Coatí

Night 12

Katt, Specter Knight, Chica, Plague Knight, Panther

-/-

For the swapped Coatí team, activity was rather low for obvious reasons. They were all tired, and there was simply not much to do at might. Plague Knight was as still as a statue, Specter Knight made a slight adjustment with his head, and Chica was all curled up as if she was in her actual bed at home.

Katt Monroe ended up being next to Panther Caroso that night. For the latter, he actually had no idea if his new tribemate was asleep or not, due to his face facing the opposite way to his left. However, he had no idea what to make about Katt's arm being around him at the time. Naturally he was afraid to even more to possibly wake her up if sleep did in fact take over her body at the time.

"..."

What should he have done? Was the best thing to do was to simply stay like that? Should he have moved away? Was he going to stay awake for the whole night waiting for her arm to go away?

All of those questions and little did he know, Monroe actually was awake at the time, the brief opening of one eye being the indication.

"Panther is such a hottie." Katt laughed out loud in her confessional. Good thing it was already the following day by the time she was speaking with production. "I didn't mind testing him a little bit to see how he would react. He's literally the definition of someone from the Beauty tribe is supposed to be, and I am all for it... I was actually considering on trying to keep my hand on his face, but that would have made him uncomfortable. I mean, the poor, tired man's gotta get his sleep too. It was a good ten minutes and I enjoyed every minute of it. It could have been much longer. Things were going absolutely great. Until..."

"Hey, Katt..."

!

"You awake?"

"..." Of all the things the female StarFox character predicted, she never expected him to actually speak. Beginning to feel a bit guilty, it motivated her to actually tell the truth. "Yes..."

"Okay..."

"You mad at me?"

"No..."

"Alright..."

"Hmm... I dunno what to think of this girl at all..." Panther admitted shaking his head. "I don't know what exactly is she trying to accomplish here, but ever since we first met she's clearly been trying to get my attention. But after our exchange of like, five words, I decided to just shut up for the rest of the night and ignore it. By the time I woke up the next morning her hand was finally off. Won't be surprised if she thought I was boring, but at that point I was too tired to giver her the attention she wanted."

Day 13

"Come on in, guys!"

Quetzal and Coatí both came in one at a time with their blue and yellow flags making their way to Master Hand in the sand, the new Toro tribe coming in shortly after.

"Quetzal and Coatí, get your first look at the new Toro tribe..."

Incineroar and Katt widened their eyes in astonishment.

"Jet voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"..." Katt eyed her tribemates. "Why...?"

"What?" Incineroar leaned his head closer.

"Hmm... Daisy's still here..." Panther mumbled, knowing that she was all he cared about from over there.

"Okay... So sort of mix of reactions..." Master Hand observed. "Incineroar, disappointed much?"

"I mean, that was somebody from my old team we just lost. He was probably my best friend out there, and now all of a sudden... I dunno. I just didn't expect him to go, especially not this early..."

"Alright, guys. You all ready to get to today's reward challenge?" It was nearly time for it to begin. "For today's challenge, one person will be your caller as the other three of you will collect eight puzzle pieces that will form an Aztec pyramid when you start assembling it together. But after you've collected all eight pieces and put them into a wagon, you will use your bodies to pull your wagon along, and when you get to the finishing point, your caller will direct you once more as you will put the pyramid together. First two tribes that finish will win the reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?"

"The winning tribe will win..." He went over to the table to pull the cloth over. "Ten pizzas!"

Literally the entire cast was absolutely astonished, they might as well have heard it again.

"All kinds... Pepperoni, cheese, supreme, meat lovers, and vegetarian..."

"My stomach's rumbling..."

Espio snickered and shifted his head to Ryu. "Are you just saying that?"

"No, it literally is..." He replied. And with a bit more listening, all of his tribe actually heard it, making all of them laugh a little in return. "This is embarrassing..."

"For the second tribe that finishes... Not ten, but one should be enough for a bit..." He then went over to reveal only one pizza for the group to share. "Best reward so far this season?"

All fourteen of them agreed.

"And one more thing, Coatí, Quetzal, you each have one extra member and you must sit somebody out. Keep in mind you cannot sit out the same person in back to back challenges. Who's it gonna be?"

"I'm sitting out."

"Rosalina's sitting out."

Katt raised her hand with a grin.

"Alright, Katt is gonna sit this one out. Sit outs, take your spot on the bench. Everyone else, I'll give you all a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

And for once, the castaways were actually seen strategizing as they prepared themselves for what was to come.

"I wanna help get the pieces, but I can do anything if you guys want..." Incineroar told his tribe members.

"I don't mind being the caller, but I don't know if my voice is loud enough..." Isabelle admitted. "But if I have to do it, then I'm willing to have a go at it."

"Okay, it's pretty clear that Daisy's voice is louder than everyone else's." Golden grinned with the others laughing. "You wanna do it?"

"Don't mind if I do!" She was all over it.

"Okay, we need a caller." Panther was discussing with his team. "Any volunteers?"

"If no one wants to volunteer, I do not mind being in that posit-"

"No, no, I wanna be the caller! I wanna be the caller!" Plague Knight interrupted Specter jumping up and down.

-/-

"Alright, here we go. We have our three callers. For Coatí, it is going to be Plague Knight directing his team. Daisy's going to be leading her team for Toro. And for Quetzal, we have Isabelle."

"Here we go, playing for a reward." Master Hand lifted his fingers in the air. "Survivors ready? GO!"

Almost immediately, all three callers began shouting at once commanding their team in different directions.

"There are eight puzzle pieces to collect..." The host reminded everyone. "Isabelle seems to be already sending her tribe out to reach the furthest pieces."

To her, knowing that she never had the loudest voice in the world, she felt she needed to get the furthest pieces out of the way just to get it over and done with, knowing that eventually her team would have had an even harder time hearing her, especially with her slight disadvantage.

"Alriiight," Daisy commanded Toro. "Golden keep going straight! ...Alright, Ryu, stop! Pick it up and turn back around!"

"Toro has their first puzzle piece. ...Coatí has their first piece!"

"Go! Go! Go! Okay, now let's move it! Let's go!" Plague Knight barked out orders at Panther. "Chica, that's not yours! No!"

"Chica accidentally grabs one of Toro's pieces!"

"No, no, no, no, wait! Pick it back up!" The knight suddenly had an idea as Golden was seen approaching in Candance's direction. "Now throw it!"

"Ugh!" She sounded and tossed it away.

"Yeah, like that!"

"Hey!" Daisy was not happy glaring directly at him. "Way to make my job even harder!"

"It's called Survivor!"

"Chica tosses one of Toro's pieces. Never seen anything like that before..." Master Hand admitted.

Golden sighed in frustration.

"It's okay, Golden. Just continue to go straight..."

"Panther coming back with the first piece for Coatí. Ryu now carrying the first piece for Toro." Master Hand spoke as they both dropped their pieces into their respective wagons. "All of Quetzal is still searching. Isabelle is taking a huge risk by sending her team out to the furthest pieces. Will it payoff or will it backfire in her face?"

"Straight! Straight! Straight! Straight!"

As that one word kept coming out of her mouth, Funky Kong and Incineroar gradually grew annoyed by the second in spite of her voice actually growing quieter due to distance reasons.

"Man..." The latter complained. "I think if I heard the word 'straight' any longer, I'm gonna take this blindfold off and tell my own self what to do, straight up!"

"Straight! Straight! Alright, Tifa, stop! ...Stop, Tifa! Incineroar, turn to your right! Funky Kong, keep going!"

"Whew, finally..." Incineroar heaved a sigh of relief.

"Huh!?" Funky Kong stopped dead in his tracks, having no idea what words escaped from Isabelle's lips.

"Specter Knight coming back with blue's second piece. They have a bit of a lead."

"Okay, Espio has one! Espio come back!" Daisy commanded, starting to clap her hands. "Follow this noise!"

"Chica move! Move! Hurry up!" Plague Knight barked out. "Good, now drop it. Okay, go back. Now!"

"Coatí now has three pieces! Golden getting a grip of that third piece for Toro! ...Here comes Quetzal with three pieces at once!"

"Come on! Walk this way! Go! Go! Go!" The master alchemist was now commanding Panther again who was currently holding Coatí's fourth puzzle piece...

...knowing that he was about to run right into Funky Kong and Golden.

"Oof!"

"Aye!"

"Don't stop! Keep going! Move!"

"Big collision with Funky, Golden, and Panther. Both Golden and Funky dropped their puzzle pieces. Gotta pick them back up!"

"'Sup Golden?"

"Hey..."

"Plague Knight is playing really dirty out here commanding his team..." Master Hand observed. "But they are still in the lead with four pieces. Quetzal coming back with two, soon to be three! And just like that they are back in this!"

"Okay, Incineroar and Tifa, go back out! Funky Kong, one more step, there you go! Now turn around and go back!"

"Faster! Faster! Hurry up!" Plague was now barking orders at the only other person remaining in the game from his series, who was quickly getting frustrated.

"Talking to me like I am nothing but a child..." He mumbled under his breath. "I should have lead this challenge myself..."

"Specter Knight coming back with the fifth piece for Coatí. Espio now has another puzzle piece! Isabelle has not changed her strategy, though this time her team does not have to go as far."

"To your left, Golden. Move left a little more, okay you have it! Come back to me! Listen to the sound of my hands!" Daisy began clapping once more. "Ryu, turn around... No, the other way! That's not yours! Grab it and pick it up!"

"Yes! That's the one right there!"

Isabelle pointed out as Tifa was now attempting to pick up her next piece. "Incineroar and Funky, keep walking... Okay, Funky, to your right. Incineroar, stop! Stooop!"

Yet he kept going anyway, causing Isabelle to facepalm herself.

"Toro now has four pieces. Coatí is now heading out for their furthest pieces while Quetzal already gathered their furthest first!"

After Espio dropped the fourth piece for red, Golden was now coming with Toro's fifth, and Ryu was currently grabbing the sixth piece for the team, thanks to Daisy telling him to head out to their absolute furthest pyramid piece."

"It is blue with five, red with five, and yellow with three, though Funky, Tifa, and Incineroar are all coming back with puzzle pieces. That's gonna put them right in the lead! ...And they have it! Quetzal now with sixth pieces!"

And just like that, Isabelle's strategy proved to be paying off after all.

"Come on already!" Plague Knight was now jumping up and down. "Hurry uuup! Okay, now everybody has one! Run! Run! Run! Now! Run! Run!"

At that point, Specter was now the only one that was downright frustrated with Plague Knight, Panther cursing underneath his breath. Running while holding onto a heavy puzzle piece was easier said than done.

"Coatí heading back with the rest of their pieces! Incineroar and Funky Kong now have their two remaining pieces! Espio and Golden still searching!"

"Little more! Little more! Put them down! ...Alright, that's it! Stay right there! I'm coming down!"

"Run! Run! Come on, guys, we gotta get ready to pull the wagon!"

"Quetzal has all of their pieces! ...Coatí has all of their pieces! Now you gotta hook the rest of your team up as well as yourself before you start pulling that wagon over to the puzzle section!"

"Okay, grab the rope and put it on..." Isabelle was handing each of their tribemates a piece of rope that was already tied up in a circle. "We're doing really well, guys..."

"Right this way! Keep going!" Daisy was still commanded her team.

"Just put it on!"

"Hey, hey! Watch it!" Panther had to deal with his rope being slapped in his face.

"Ready? Go!"

"Alright, come on!"

Both tribes began running along as fast as they possibly could. Though giving the weight of the pieces, their movement was somewhat limited. Yet it had to be done. The puzzle making part of the challenge was even further than the puzzle pieces were.

"Toro finally has all of their pieces! Daisy needs to make this quick!"

"Come on! Keep pushing! We can do it!" Incineroar cheered yellow on. "Give it everything you got! Push yourself!"

"Quetzal slowly extending their lead! They're almost at their station! Toro is just now leaving!"

"We're still in this!" Daisy had no intentions on giving up just yet.

Yellow successfully reached their station, unhooking themselves immediately with blue coming right behind.

"Almost there... Alright, now come on! I will tell you what to do!" Plague Knight reminded.

"Now you have eight puzzle pieces to form a pyramid. You may think your right, but you might not be absolutely sure until you've successfully finished it. And then to top it all off, except for the caller of your tribe, you guys are still blindfolded!"

"Alright, here's what we're going to do." Isabelle had a plan. "Incineroar, you're pairing up with me. Tifa, you're with Funky Kong."

"Okay..." The girl replied.

"Incineroar, follow my voice... Grab this piece right here. Move it straight, yeah like that..."

"Take this side. Grab the end of it... Yep! Now move it! Come on!" Plague was using the same strategy as he paired himself up with Specter, leaving Panther and Chica with each other. "Panther and Chica, go ahead and grab the piece closest to you!"

"Both tribes are working quickly. It's just a matter of who's gonna get it done first! ...Here comes Toro! And they are not out of it!"

"Just as I thought..." Daisy responded. "Okay... We're gonna have to make up some time here... We're all gonna grab one piece, and one piece only..."

"Coatí is slowly inching ahead of Quetzal if they are right... They are down to four pieces left. Quetzal now down to four pieces. Toro is just now putting pieces down."

"Espio, slide your piece to the right... Yeah, just like that... Golden, put your piece down... Ugh... No, that's not gonna work. Ryu try yours instead..."

"Put it down! Just put it down!" Plague Knight told Chica and Panther. "There. Now me and Specter will bring our piece over this way a little bit..."

"Coatí getting closer..."

"One more... Ugh!" The two knights made one more adjustment with their final piece.

"COATI WINS REWARD!"

"YESSSSSS!" Plague Knight could not have been more elated as the rest of his team took off their blindfolds. "I told ya! I told you guys I could do it!"

"Good. Now that's enough of me being yelled at for one day..." Panther exhaled deeply.

"We're looking for one more tribe..."

"Little more... Alright, there. That's it!" Isabelle watched as Tifa and Funky Kong put down another piece for their pyramid."

"Quetzal with one piece left..."

"Alright, bring this up..."

Daisy took one more glance over at the opposing team.

"QUETZAL WINS REWARD!"

"We did it!" The Animal Crossing character cheered as the rest of the team removed their blindfolds in satisfaction.

The resident of Sarassaland stomped her foot in anger. "Ugh! No! We only had like, two pieces down!"

"It's alright, Daisy... It's just a reward..." Ryu shook his head, the Toro team removing their blindfolds one by one.

-/-

All three tribes stood in front of Master Hand, Katt and Rosalina now included.

But before Master Hand ordered anyone to come get their reward, he noticed that Daisy was still not in the best of moods based off the results of the challenge. "Daisy... You seem to be the most disappointed of all..."

"I mean, I really thought that we had a chance to win this time..." She complained with a deep sigh. "Like, my entire game I have only won one challenge, and now I have to keep losing like this? Like, I know it was not for immunity, but... one challenge? I mean, I... I just don't know what to say at this point..."

"Alright... Coatí, come get your reward. Ten pizzas."

"Yes!" Plague Knight was overjoyed, grabbing two of the boxes. "Well earned! C'mon, guys. Let's go!"

And the blue team was officially on its way out for the day.

"Quetzal, the puzzle cost you, but still, great effort. Come get your one pizza and enjoy."

"Oh well... Least it's somethin'..." Incineroar took a brief glance at the bright side as the Toro tribe watched them leaving the challenge area.

"Alright, Toro. Got nothing for ya. Head on out back to camp."

"Now I feel like I'm getting somewhere!" The scientific Shovel Knight character beamed. "Telling people what to do is my middle name! ...Well, that'd be kind of long, but who cares? It was great to just boss everybody around and send them all over the place as a way to get my anger out that nothing else is going my way at the moment, so why not? They can't even tell me that I'm being too bossy or anything, because look what happened? I just won you all ten pizzas. Be grateful and show some respect. Hee hee hee!"

See what I mean when I said "semi-new" lol. Though this isn't the first time the blindfold challenge has been used, from the part where they had to pull the wagon over to the finish was a new edition too it. ...And ooh, Katt got screen time today lol.

Questions:

1. What are the chances of Golden and Espio keeping Ryu around?

2. Which original Brawn member will bark the loudest reacting to Jet's elimination when everyone gets back to camp?

3. Who is set to lost the next immunity at this point?

Special announcement! I've finally updated my "Survivor" section on my profile. It's basically a guide explaining tips on how to make a Survivor fanfiction for those who want to make a fic about it too, just like this one! It's aimed directly at newcomers who want to give it a shot, though it's basically for anyone. With me being on my third season and nearly two years of doing this, I can say that there were certain things I began to notice, so feel free to check it out and I will see you when this story updates on Sunday!