Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)

Chapter 16 - Day 13 Part 2, Day 14, and Day 15 Part 1

Ugh... Okay, this is gonna sound kinda dumb. This chapter was supposed to be released on time today, but here's the thing... KoopalingFan fell asleep and now this chapter is about an hour late lol. Wow. Yeah I know this sounds kinda stupid, but you guys deserve to know the truth after all since you all had to wait, so... yeah lol.

But oh well. At least this chapter is finally here. Here goes...

~KF

Quetzal

Day 13

Rosalina, Tifa, Funky Kong, Isabelle, Incineroar

-/-

"Oh, yeah, baby..."

Incineroar was diving into a slice of cheese pizza as the rest of the tribe enjoyed their victory to its fullest. Though they lost the lead to Coatí, one pizza was better than sticking to the usual rice for once.

"I know banana pizza does not really exist, but then again, not really where I live because I never heard of anyone making it. But news flash: bananas aren't the only thing I eat." Funky Kong said. "However, banana is a fruit,... and so are pineapples. Pineapple pizza does exist. So I was kinda bummed a little bit for not getting first place, but at least we won't be starving to death for a little while at least."

"I dunno if I should actually eat slow or what..." Funky Kong said between bites. "This is all we're gonna get, so we have to enjoy this while it lasts. But at the same time,... it's pizza man!"

"Yeah, it's something that I love to eat after I finish one of my matches back at the ring." Incineroar commented. "I thought about eating a bit slow as well, but I just can't help myself. This is our first food other than rice and the fish that we would usually get in almost two weeks."

"I still feel a little guilty though." Rosalina had to admit. "I'm eating a pizza with the rest of you and I didn't even participated to help you guys win it."

"Awww, you're fine, Rosie!" Incineroar grabbed Rosalina by the shoulder and shook her a bit as she was eating. "Whether you participated or not, it was required for one of us to sit out anyway. You're still part of Quetzal, and you're old Beauty on here. That's all that matters to me."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." She smirked in response.

"Okay, so we won pizza today. Since there is no fish supplies over here at the Quetzal camp, I guess this is a relief for me. I was starting to get a bit hungry out here... Not saying that I wasn't hungry enough already." Rosalina spoke. "So having pizza of all things feels ever so satisfying. And to top it all off, I think I like every single one of those people. Safe to say that I actually managed to adapt pretty well, just like with my old tribemates."

"So I guess after this, I suppose there's really not much else to do besides keeping the fire going around here..." Isabelle took a brief glance around at camp. "This might be our best day out here so far..."

"Much needed." Funky Kong nodded in agreement. "I still remember us having no tarp or anything back on our own tribe. We really needed a break. That was at our absolute worst..."

Tifa Lockhart for the most part simply sat and ate while occasionally laughing at some of the comments here tribe members made.

"So... Getting back to me on this tribe strategically, even though I was safe last time due to this team winning the immunity idol," The Mario character recalled. "though I wonder if I would have went had we lost that challenge... Or say if we lost this upcoming immunity challenge soon, whenever that happens. And since I'm the only Beauty here, now that I feel like I've successfully gelled with this group, maybe I can take this to the next step and build possible alliances that can save me if we do have to go to tribal. That way if we do lose, there would already be possible plans in place. So... what ideas can I have for myself?"

-/-

Later on, while Funky and Incineroar were out and about, that left the three females in the shelter alone, all simply eyeing the fire.

"Hopefully we can win this next immunity challenge." Rosalina broke the silence. "I feel like I don't want anyone to leave here."

"We will win..." Isabelle nodded. "Well,... at least I hope we do. You can never be certain on who's going to win the next challenge in Survivor..."

"You're just trying to be optimistic?" Tifa guessed.

"Yeah... You saw right through me." She chuckled a bit. "Good thing we have the guys for challenge strength. You're pretty strong as well."

"Thanks."

"Should we all prepare ourselves if we do so happen to lose, though?" Rosalina asked the girls. "I mean, even though we clearly want to win, we have to prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario: that being us losing. Just because Coatí is the least strong of the three tribes does not mean that they are completely out of it because they won the last immunity."

"That is rather true..." Isabelle knew that all too well as much as she hated to hear it. "I've already been there once. I really don't wanna go back there again..."

"Who should we vote out?"

"...Hmm... That is hard..." She shook her head at the thought of it. "That is really hard..."

"How close are you with Funky Kong?"

"I mean, we are on good terms with each other. He seems pretty nice... even a bit funny at times."

"And well, I guess me and Incineroar are kind of okay... And even he can be a bit funny sometimes, I'll admit..." Tifa spoke up staring at her feet.

"Do you think they would win every single immunity challenge at the merge?" Rosalina then asked. "I'm pretty sure it'd be nice if we all have a chance to win something while we're doing this."

"That is true." Isabelle nodded. "This may be the only chance all three of us get to play, so winning immunity would be a dream come true... But I just don't know if I can beat either of them in a challenge. I mean, just look at them."

"Do you guys think you can survive without them out here?"

"Welll,..." Tifa said. "can't say that it's not impossible. It's not like I can't live out here without Incineroar... And it's not impossible for me to beat him even though he has the advantage."

Rosalina was not entirely sure if she knew about the dynamics on either of the other two tribes, so she simply chose to get to the point. "Alright, well, I may not exactly what the dynamics were on old Brawn and Brain, but if either of you feel that you need to get rid of 'em, even if we do lose these next two immunity challenges, maybe Funky and Incineroar would be the two sacrifices we'd have to make."

"As in voting them out?" That when Lockhart stared in her direction.

"If there's nothing else to do..." Rosalina shrugged. "Basically the three of us girls can stay here. Not saying that I want to make an all female alliance just to make an all girls alliance. Just that if the two of you feel like you don't need them, then we can vote either of them out if the both of you are interested."

"I was wondering when Rosalina was gonna start strategizing." Isabelle recalled about it when she confessed to production. "It was only a matter of time. She basically wants an all girl alliance against the two... alpha males of the group, Funky and Incineroar. Though they are our best hope to win challenges, Rosalina's saying that it basically does not even matter because we have not one, but two people to get of anyway... Although I'm uncertain on when we are actually merging, but nonetheless, she makes some sense to some degree. I don't know about Tifa and Incineroar (or at least not yet), but with Funky Kong,... okay he was one of the people that saved me from my supposed elimination round, but I don't think I have that strong of a connection with him. I mean,... I've seen him in action on both tribes including this one. He talked with Golden at least a bit back on Coatí, and over here, I'm getting a small vibe that he cares about Incineroar more than he may care about me. And if he secretly intends to turn the tables against me, maybe vote him out before he does the same... I dunno... This is clearly from Rosalina's point of view."

"I guess we all need to keep an eye on the relationship between Funky and Incineroar." The dog told Rosalina. "They're most likely gonna be at least somewhat close."

"Why wouldn't they?" Tifa stared at her feet once again. "They're the strongest members of this tribe and Funky Kong is amazed by that Pokemon. He's basically growing what I call, a 'celebrity man crush' on him."

The other two women immediately started to laugh. Hard.

"Didn't expect that from you, Tifa!" Rosalina confessed.

-/-

Speaking of Funky Kong and Incineroar, those two were currently wandering around aimlessly in the forest, too deep in their conversation to realize that they only had a certain amount of times before others were to question of there whereabouts.

"I mean, I guess I have a bit of brawn in me... maybe even beauty as well (yes, that it is a hot take)." The ape was currently speaking. "Don't get me wrong with the latter, but I think it's due to how I am. But for brawn, I mean... it's self-explanatory. Watching sports is one of my favorite hobbies, especially boxing. So you know how I'm probably feeling at the moment... Forgive me, I know I've said this before..."

"Haha, don't worry about it!" Incineroar grinned largely watching Kong hanging his head down a bit out of slight guilt. "We've already talked about being friends outside of this when we're done, so I really don't mind."

"Thanks, man. We'll be bros for life."

"No doubt."

"...You know what scares me though?" He then asked.

"What?"

"...How big of a target I might have on my back... For... obvious reasons, you know?"

"Yeah..." He hung his head down again. "I see what you mean. You just never know when it comes to this stuff..."

"The number one thing I am afraid of being out here is how big of a target I might have solely due to my professional life. Not just because I relate to my old tribe name pretty well," Incineroar elaborated on his thoughts. "but solely because of what I do for a living in comparison to everyone else. Like, there are other people here that I've seen and heard about that don't need the money, but... I'm probably the number one guy when it comes to that. 'Oh, look at Incineroar. He doesn't need the money!' People are probably wondering why I'm even here for crying out loud..."

"I mean, on my old tribe I was afraid of being targeted eventually myself for how strong I am in the challenges." The bandanna wearing monkey replied. "And now look at it, we're not only the strongest of the strong over here, but we're the only two men on the tribe."

"That doesn't make me feel any better..."

"Yeah, guess that's the harsh reality we gotta see..."

"People probably don't think I even need to be here, because I already have enough money to get through the rest of my life." Incineroar went on. "I mean, they'd be like: 'Why does he even need to come on Survivor? He already has everything he wanted.' But, last time I checked, just because you are a celebrity does not mean that you aren't allowed to come here. I've been through the tough casting process, I applied for it, I signed up to be out here, so I have a right to compete out here. So I had no problems telling about myself and own up to it. But then at the same time, this is exactly why I pretty much never cared for fame. All I wanna do is to go out there in the world and do what I love. Everybody else is doing it. I don't think I'm that different from everyone else when it comes to that... Am I?"

Coatí

Day 13

Katt, Specter Knight, Chica, Panther, Plague Knight

-/-

As for the blue team, none of them were hesitant whatsoever when it came to eating their pizzas. Everybody already knew that each member having two pizzas was about as fair as it got, since all it took was simple math to figure it out.

"I feel like I'm back on old Beauty again..." Panther grinned between bites. "...Wait a minute. Soda was not part of the reward, right?"

"Nah, unfortunately." Katt replied. "Though it would be the most perfect time considering on that you all worked your butts off in that challenge... But then again, look how much food we have. I have pretty much no reason to complain."

"Yeah, we really did gave it our all." Chica of all people had to agree, diving down on her pizza like there was no tomorrow. "It really was worth it!"

Plague Knight just so happened to be the most quiet individual at the time. He was either too busy diving in on his food, or simply eyeing the rest of his tribe.

"Psh..." He sounded. "Everyone is saying is that the tribe worked so hard in the challenge... But like I said, last time I checked, I led us to victory. Wasn't I the main one leading the tribe? I should be taking at least, um... about 99.99% of the credit here. If it wasn't for me, we would have flopped. That's alright, though. That is alllright. At the end of the day, I know what I did. I'm still here, and all I care about is simply not going home..."

Later on the group separated, all of them deciding to finish the rest of their food for later. Katt decided that it was just the right time to pull Specter Knight to the side in the forest.

She sighed, preparing to explain herself. "Okay... So now that's out of the way, it is time for us to talk about Jet."

He folded his arms. "Is that why you brought me over here away from everybody else?"

"I mean, we're part of the team, Specter." Katt replied. "That was our old teammate that they voted out. Are we supposed to just sit here and accept it? Because if Jet got voted out, Ryu's probably on the bottom right now, which is not good."

"Hmm..." Specter somewhat disagreed, yet he figured that the best option was to simply keep certain words to himself.

"I believe, aren't you sad, Specter?" Monroe blinked as all he did was nothing but stare at her face. "We have to do something about this! We can't just let Toro go to tribal again, because if they do, then there is nothing we can do about it!"

"...You saying we throw the next challenge?" He was already not pleased. "My apologies, but whenever I face a challenge in Survivor, I can't help but do nothing but perform at my best effort. We are already at a slight disadvantage physically and we were fortunate enough to even win the last immunity."

"No, I'm not saying we should throw the challenge." She waved a hand out. "What I'm saying is that we cannot afford to have another Brawn go home. Whatever we need to do it, we are gonna do it. Do you understand?"

"..."

"I may not have shown the more aggressive side of me. At the challenge when we found out that Jet was voted out, Incineroar complained, but I just stood there in shock like..." She then proceeded to give out a heavily exaggerated gasp. "But inside, I felt much worse. Jet was my friend out there. I really didn't want him, or anyone from my old tribe to come home. We still need the numbers for the merge, and that's why I thought me and Specter had the early advantage. But now that he's got, I was quite furious. You all just didn't see it just because you were so used to seeing this pretty face over here. But when I need to get feisty, I need to get feisty. As of now, call me Katt Feisty Monroe."

"I mean, Plague Knight's really not going anywhere, now. We really need him to join us. I known we've talked with him before, but guess what? We're gonna have to do it again!"

He exhaled deeply eyeing the ground. "Plague has reasons to both go with us, and against us. He unfortunately has a mind of his own, so I do not know how easy it is for him to be manipulated. Say if Plague refuses to join our side, a Plan B is much needed."

"I'll try flirting with Panther again." Katt said it as if it was a whole mission for her to do. "I feel like me and him are getting somewhere. In case we lose, and Plague Knight wants to work against us, if he's still thinking he's the swing vote, maybe Panther can take that power away from Plague, and then he becomes a swing vote."

"...So basically Chica Candance is the target..."

"...Yeah..."

"...Would Panther actually fall for it?" Specter was obviously hesitant.

"He will fall for it. He has to."

"...Well if he is actually naive enough to fall for it, he flips, we keep our word to Plague (even though worst case scenario, we might not even need him), and the both of us are still solid."

"I feel like me and Panther have been getting along really great. And at this point, this is where I really need him the most. I don't know if he and Chica get along great that much, but maybe if I can be even more close to him than Chica is, it'll be enough for him to actually flip, just in case me and Specter's Plan A doesn't work. Getting rid of another Beauty would be a way to make up for our setback because of Jet going home, and in the end, will hopefully save Ryu. I mean, what? You think after Jet got voted out I'm just gonna sit here? I was on the original Brawn tribe for a reason. Maybe some people didn't really get it at the time, but they're gonna find out. The hard way."

"Don't worry, Specter. We'll get our revenge."

By the time she left, Specter Knight exhaled a deep, yet somewhat quiet sigh glancing to his left in thought.

"I think I might have underestimated Katt. Though she clearly does not know what the true dynamics were on old Toro, I believe my question has been answered on why she was on the Brawn team in the first place. Now she wants to manipulate Panther into joining our cause in case Plague chooses to go against the Brawn. However, the number one thing that I am concerned about is what I am going to do personally. I never was one hundred percent with Katt, anyway, especially since she was probably the target had old Brawn went to Tribal Council. So I myself do not even know if I would need to work with her for my personal future. It was not as if she is part of the majority alliance... Ryu could have even been the main reason to why Jet is no longer in the running to earn the title of Sole Survivor for all I know. I need to figure out what is best for me personally..."

Back with the two old Beauty members that remained at the shelter, Panther Caroso and Chica Candance simply lied back in the shelter, the former even having his eyes closed in preparation to take a nap following the great pizza feast.

"Panther?"

The moment his name sounded, Caroso felt like facepalming and cursing under his breath in annoyance right then and there. He kind of predicted on what Chica had to say.

"Yeah?"

"...Are they talking about us?"

And he was right. "Can't say yes, can't say no. Everybody talks about everybody sometimes while we're all out playing for a million dollars. Don't sound so frightened. It's not the end of the world..."

Chica shifted away for about two seconds before facing her old team member again. "Well... Do you think Plague Knight is still the swing vote?"

"He's the only one that is an odd number over here." He answered. "Have you heard about what he wants, yet?"

"Well, no, but it's safe to say that you and Katt have been get along great since the moment you two met." Chica heaved a sigh and shook her head, eyeing away from Caroso once more. "I would not mind if it came down to who got along with who at this point, since that would mean that I am still safe because I'm old Beauty, too. But that would mean that everyone would just vote for Plague... But then the numbers would be tied up again and then we will all draw rocks..."

How come all of a sudden Panther was getting immediate flashbacks from Quetzal? It did not take him long for him to figure out. Yet nonetheless, while Katt was part of the main topic at hand, he chose to talk more about her instead. "...I don't even like Katt that much..."

!

That completely shocked Candance. "...You don't? Why?"

"...She's a bit annoying, long story short."

"You would think that because of Katt being as flirtatious as ever would mean that me and her would have an instant automatic connection, but you are wrong." Panther shook his head. "Sure, flirting is a hobby for both of us, but... I dunno. Maybe it's just me. But there's a difference between the two of us. Like, say if you are trying to get a guy's attention, the classic saying is to basically... be yourself. Not saying that Katt is not, but whenever she tries to flirt with me... She just... I dunno, let's just say she tries to hard. Too forceful. You don't just throw yourself out like that. For me in particular though, most of the time as far as my 'flirtatious behavior' is concerned, I don't just do it to get girls attention. That's just part of who I am. I'm a laid back kinda guy that just likes to have a little fun. Katt is on the other hand, when she does it, it is either too forced or too... calculated..."

"Wow..." Chica blinked. Not that Panther actually relayed those same words from his confessional over to her, since he simply felt that it was none of her business to know his personal opinion of his fellow StarFox character, yet since he simply already grew tired of Chica right then and there, he figured that he just needed to set the record straight.

"It's my truth. That's how I feel." He shrugged. "Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna shut my eyes for a bit."

Toro

Day 14

As for the red team, nobody was really doing anything at the time. Ryu was already napping, Golden and Espio were out on the boat fishing, and poor Daisy simply sat on her shelter. She had the rest of yesterday to think about the loss of the challenge. And to make matters worse, it just happened to rain the previous day sometime after they all returned to their shelter, meaning no fish, thus explaining the brainiacs working hard in an attempt to catch something.

Yet in the meantime, at least rice still existed. Still, it simply could not have gotten any worse for poor Daisy.

"Is this really how I am going to go out? By losing everything? Am I just gonna lose every challenge until I am voted out?" She complained. "Throughout my entire game, I only won one challenge. One challenge. It's not that I don't like my team or anything. I'm just trying to figure out why am I losing this much. The rest of my old tribemates won the past two challenges. And the worst part is that if I end up losing again, not only that I'm still a target, I don't even know who's the best person I can work with at this point. Ryu kept me in the majority, but he could just easily throw me right back under the bus to save himself. On the other hand, Espio and Golden can help keep me around so we can continue getting rid of the Brawn, but since they have the numbers over here by one person, they can literally do whatever they want. Bottom line is I really need to figure out what I'm gonna do at this point... But still,... I am not giving up. I am never ever ever gonna give up. Even if I do lose every single challenge from here on out..."

Meanwhile with the two original Brain members, Golden pulled the fishing line in only to find out that there was absolutely nothing on the hook.

"And... They took the bait and ran with it..."

Espio snickered. "Fish do not have legs as you do well know."

"You get the point." He replied. "We might as well head back to camp and cook some rice up. We gotta eat something. We're probably gonna have an immunity challenge tomorrow so having some type of energy to compete..."

"And what if we lose?"

"You mean what if we're gonna lose 'again'." Golden corrected. "I mean at this point, both of us are clearly not going anywhere. We could lose up to not one, but two immunity challenges from here on out and both of us would still be here since we have the numbers. The question isn't if we're going to be voted out, but rather, who do we get rid of."

"Agreed." The young adult nodded. "The main question is how much longer are we going to keep trusting Ryu. There are both advantages and disadvantages to keep both him and Daisy around as well as voting either one of them out of the game."

"So in the end, me and Espio did decide to trust Ryu and get rid of Daisy. But the thing is that Espio obviously does not know the whole truth of Ryu's intentions only because he is simply not the most physical player of the game. It does sadden me though, since I do actually like Espio and hate that I have to keep certain information from him because this is the definition of a selfish game, though I fear that if Espio knows too much, then it could potentially harm my game. He would even run back and ask Ryu of what's going on around here and then I'm in the hot seat. I'm trying to keep as many allies close to me as possible, so in the merge, I'm kind of wanting both of them to be a part of it. I told him that we could have major losing streak going on and both of us would still be surviving. But in reality, I'm actually hoping that we never lose immunity ever again at this point just to be on the safe side... Guess I should pray to the Survivor Gods for now..."

"Say, while we are both here and no one else is around..." Espio thought of something he felt needed to be discussed. "...We came from the same tribe, right?"

"Last time I checked, we were both on blue." Fredbear recalled. "Yes..."

"We voted together at our first tribal, right?"

"We did." Golden nodded with a blink of confusion. "Why?"

"...Do you trust me?"

"...Sure... Why wouldn't I?" He was clearly surprised Espio asked something like that. Yet at the same time, given his own thoughts of his own situation, it was not as if he had any reason to blame him for thinking the way he did.

"Oh, nothing. I just simply wanted to make sure. We both know that you'd be the least likely to be eliminated at the moment since you are the strongest of this new tribe, and we are both in the power position, even if we go on a losing streak. Yet when it comes to this competition,... people can say one thing and do another." The chameleon actually glanced away for a bit, knowing that he was basically talking about himself. Depending on what was going through his mind talking to Golden, he had the potential to either come off as a man with self-awareness, or a major hypocrite. "If you do not trust me, perhaps actions speak louder than words."

"Oh, no." Golden immediately shook his head, actually beginning to feel slightly anxious. "Had it not been for you, I probably would have had a bigger target on my back after Isabelle would have left thanks to Jimmy and Plague. ...We're good, right?"

"Yes, we're good."

"Worst comes to worst, if Daisy is going to be voted out of this game if we do so happen to lose this upcoming immunity challenge, if we lose yet again, it would not make much sense for me to vote out Golden. And since it is uncertain when we are merging, challenge strength would probably still be a priority out here. With this in mind, I really cannot find a reason to why Ryu would vote out Golden. Thus, Golden Fredbear is pretty much the only vote that would matter; everything would be all up to him. I would have explained this to him while we were out on the boat having our conversation, yet I did not want to push him too much. I've already gotten rid of Jimmy on old Coatí. Yet at the same time, I was basically playing both sides on our camp. Though still, it was about who I preferred to work with, and I chose to align with Golden. That should be enough proof to him that he can trust me to watch over his back. If it ever came down to us two plus Ryu alone and if we had to go to tribal,... he would either have to become the hero or the villain. It's his choice..."

Day 15

"Come on in, guys!"

Based off the results of the previous challenge, blue, yellow, and red all made their way to the challenge area in that order, this time with people not only carrying their tribe flags, yet also the immunity idols in which two tribes were set to give away.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, I will take back the idols..." He made his way over to retrieve them from Plague Knight and Tifa.

"But..." The former was not exactly pleased about it, staring at his first place idol as if it was his child. "Do I have to?"

"Well, you can win it back." Master Hand suggested as the alchemist's 'child' was taken away from his hands. Specter, who was standing behind him slapped his own face out of annoyance. Apparently that talk in which it was supposed to ease Plague's paranoia did not seem to work that much.

"Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, you are going to use poles to knock sandbags out of an overhead net. Once you have all your sandbags, you will carry them over them over a balance beam, before you will use a giant slingshot to score three targets. First two tribes to finish, win immunity. Losers, in spite of being out here for fourteen days,... somebody's gotta go. Tribal Council where someone will be the fifth person voted out of this game. And before we get started, Coatí and Quetzal, you each have one person to sit somebody out. Coatí, Katt sat out at the reward challenge. Who's it gonna be today?"

"You guys think Chica should sit out this one?" Panther questioned his team with a raised eyebrow.

"Not a chance..." Specter shook his head. "Plague is a more reasonable choice..."

"...What?" He widened his eyes under his mask.

"Master, Plague Knight is sitting out."

"I..." He sighed. "I guess they're right, Master Hand. If I'm the weakest link, then I would actually be wanting to sit out so that I don't have to go Tribal Council. I can not afford to go there again!"

...

That earned looks from literally every other castaway.

"Plague Knight is gonna sit this one out. Quetzal, what about you guys? Rosalina sat out at the reward challenge."

"Me."

"Isabelle's sitting out today. Sit outs, take your spots on the bench. Everyone else, I'll give you guys a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

Plague Knight simply sighed and hesitantly made his way over.

And no, the sandbags were not actual sandbags from Smash, yet rather the typical, color-coded, palm-sized sandbags that the castaways needed to knock over with the poles.

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For immunity. Survivors ready? ...GO!"

Starting from their colored mats, two people from each tribe dashed out and grabbed one pole each and ran under the net, beginning to punch the sandbags with the top of the poles. The added weight that was added at the top of each pole did the trick.

"It is Panther and Katt for Coatí, Ryu and Daisy for Toro, and Funky Kong and Incineroar for Quetzal!" Master Hand called. "You gotta pop all forty sandbags out of that net!"

Quetzal appeared to do an amazing job right out of the gate. Toro and Coatí were both tied for second, yet everyone was at least doing a decent job thus far.

"Go, Coatí, go!" Plague Knight cheered from the bench. He figured if he was not going to compete for the immunity challenge, he might as well simply cheer them on.

"Incineroar and Funky Kong appeared as if they've been doing this for years! They are extending their lead quickly!" The hand noted on their efforts. "They haven't lost a challenge thus far. Neither has Coatí. Toro on the other hand has lost both the last immunity and the last reward challenge. I am pretty sure they do not want to lose again!"

Panther was doing a nice job for Coatí. Katt Monroe was not doing too bad herself. As for the swapped Toro team, Ryu was performing excellently and so was Daisy.

"Quetzal and Toro are both pulling away from Coatí..."

"Got a few more left!" Incineroar yelled. "We can do it!"

"Funky Kong and Incineroar are moving as fast as they can! The bags are falling off the net all over the place, but at least they are getting the job done!"

"We're doing good." Ryu said to Daisy. "Just get them to all the edges so they can be knocked off!"

"Panther really being aggressive with his pole. Guy's working hard in an immunity challenge as usual."

"Don't overexert yourself, Panther." Chica warned her teammate. "...Again..."

Caroso never even knew he was being talked too. The thought of possibly going to tribal again scared him completely. Doing everything in his power in order to avoid it was his only option to him. Since fire represented one's life, when it comes to ones strategizing in order to eliminate others from the competition, the best thing to do was to simply prevent, rather than react. Although, the strange thing about it was that as far as the game was concerned, people had the potential to react to literally anything that goes on around them, even if they had a winning streak going in challenges.

"Funky Kong and Incineroar are done!"

"Go!" Tifa called as she and the other two girls rushed over to start grabbing sandbags.

"Now you gotta carry all forty bags over the balance beam!"

"Are we all taking ten each?" Incineroar questioned his tribe.

"We'll do our best, but we can't bite off more than we can chew." Rosalina replied as they all scooped up as many bags as possible. "I think one of us would have to go twice if we mess up..."

"Quite the time advantage for Quetzal!" Master Hand called, keeping watch on the two competing teams that were still in the first phase, in spite of never having visible eyes. "But the other tribes are nearly done..."

One more pop for Daisy, and her and Ryu's job for the first section was done.

"Let's go! Come on, guys!"

"Toro's through the first section!"

Panther's final push knocked the fortieth sandbag over for blue. "Let's move! We gotta catch up!"

"Coatí's through the first section! Everybody moving onto the second section, now! Isabelle still balancing, trying to be as careful as she can... and she's through!"

As she put the bags in the yellow basket that was near, Tifa decided to have a shot at it next, moving a bit quicker with eight bags.

"Toro and Coatí are collecting their bags. Quetzal still in the lead..."

"...Alright, that's all of them. Who's gonna first?" Katt asked her teammates.

"Why don't you do it?" asked Specter.

"Ummm, okay..."

"Espio is going first on the balance beam and he is flying through it. Katt is gonna go first for Coatí!" Master Hand nimbly shifted over to the leading tribe. "Funky Kong struggling to get across that beam... Can he keep his balance?"

"Woah..." He mumbled to himself as he stood in the middle of the beam wobbling his left. "Oh bananas... Oof!"

"Funky Kong falls off. Gotta go back! That's gonna cost some time for Quetzal."

"Incineroar, go." Funky Kong spoke, grabbing the sandbags that fell with him.

"I'll go again if you guys need me to." Tifa volunteered.

"Nah, I think we got it after we get Funky across..." Incineroar denied the extra help as he took his turn. "I'm almost there... Woah, ow!"

"Incineroar slips and lands on his leg! You alright!?"

"I'm good, I'm good..." The Pokemon nimbly waved him off. "I just gotta get up..."

Tifa decided to make her way back over. "I'm going again..."

"I'll help..." Rosalina hurried and began take some bags.

"We are nearly dead even right now. Quetzal's lead has now evaporated!"

Coatí and Toro were doing well on the balance beam, Ryu performing excellently in spite of his larger size. Golden was not exactly the smallest character either, thus he took his time heading across the beam with his ten sandbags. Nonetheless, he never fell off once. Yet as a consequence, it cost his team about a few seconds.

"Coatí's done with the balance beam. They can start shooting! Blue now has the lead."

"I'm coming, guys..." Incineroar mumbled under his breath, just ahead of Tifa with his sandbags.

"Take your time, Incineroar. We're still in this." Tifa reminded him with Rosalina following right behind.

"These are the last ones."

"Toro is through! ...Quetzal is through! All three tribes can now start shooting using their slingshots!"

At the time, it was Specter Knight shooting for Coatí, Golden shooting for Toro, and Tifa shooting for Quetzal. The castaways had to use the sandbags to hit three targets, or in this case, score three baskets that were off in the distance to confirm their victory.

"Golden shooting..."

And he managed to score on his first try, the basket now lowering to allow a red flag to rise up.

"Yes!" Daisy cheered.

"Keep it up!" Ryu clapped his hands.

"Golden scores the first basket for Toro."

Tifa then launched her sandbag.

"We got it!" Incineroar held his fist in the air.

"Booyah!" Funky Kong shouted.

"Tifa scores the first basket for Quetzal... Specter Knight scores the first basket for Coatí! We are now tied 1-1-1! This is anybody's game right now! ...Golden scores another target for Toro! They only have one target left! ...Specter Knight misses!"

He cursed under his breath in reaction, grabbing another sandbag almost immediately.

"Tifa shoots... And it's in and out!"

The yellow gave a dissatisfying reaction. Just as if an actual basketball went in and out of the basket in order to rub salt on the team's wound.

"Golden shoots... and he misses just by an inch! Specter..."

"...Curses!"

"And he misses again!"

"Chica, you wanna go?" Katt asked her.

"What!?"

"If Specter misses again, you two probably need to swap." Panther sided with the one character that originated from the same universe as he did. "Just give it a shot..."

"Golden with one basket left... Can he connect?"

His bag launched in the air, Daisy instantly crossing her fingers.

"TORO WINS IMMUNITY!"

The team immediately ran over to Golden and embraced him as he began to lie back out of exhaustion, Daisy all the while jumping up and down screaming in excitement, her dream actually coming true. No Tribal Council for the citizen of Sarassaland.

"We are looking for one more tribe!"

Tifa Lockhart grunted under her breath and launched once more.

"Tifa misses..."

On the other hand, Specter once again flung his sandbags.

"Specter Knight scores the second target for Coatí!"

"Alright, switch! Switch!" Panther motioned.

"Specter is now going to switch places with Chica!"

"Oh my god..." She mumbled under her breath.

Rosalina held her hands together. Luckily for her team, the original female member of the Brawn team connected once again.

"Tifa scores for Quetzal! Both tribes now have one target left! Who will get it in first?"

All that remained of swapped Toro watched the battle out of anticipation.

"Chica going in real deep... Let's see if she gets hers in on the first try."

"UGH!" She cried as the bag flung through the air, all of the blue team gazing their eyes on it...

"COATI WINS IMMUNITY!"

"Oh my god, I actually did it!" She screamed out of happiness, rushing over to her tribe with glee.

"You go, girl." Katt grinned as the rest of the team hugged sharing their victory, leaving Quetzal empty handed. No immunity for them.

Knowing what was coming next, Funky Kong had an attitude based off the look of his face alone". As for Incineroar, knowing that he had yet to even go, picked up a sandbag and threw it in a random direction.

"Alright.. One of the closest races I've ever seen." Master Hand went over to the first place immunity idol. "Toro, here you go."

"Let Daisy have it." Espio suggested, taking the idol and giving it to the only woman of the tribe.

"Yeah, she deserves it the most." Golden could not have agreed more.

"Coatí... Just made it." Master Hand went over to retrieve the second place immunity idol and gave it to Chica. "Congratulations."

Candance held it high in the air as the rest of the team clapped out of their own efforts.

"Toro, Coatí, you guys can grab your stuff and head back to camp. None of you are going home tonight. Enjoy the night off."

Rosalina, Funky Kong, Tifa, Incineroar, and now Isabelle could have done was simply stand and watch the other two tribes go away, never to be seen again until they were to find out who got voted out the following morning.

"Quetzal, got nothing for ya but a date with me at Tribal Council. You all have the afternoon to figure out who that's gonna be. I'll see ya tonight."

"...Tribal Council...?" Incineroar sat still in the boat for a long while, blinking a couple times before slowly facepalming himself out of frustration. "Awwwwww, man!"

Alright, so news flash, Panther does not like Katt, Espio is concerned about Golden trusting him, and Rosalina proposes an alliance of herself, Tifa, and Isabelle to get the target off her back. Interesting stuff going on for all three tribes, but Quetzal is going now.

Questions:

1. What do you think about Panther's take on Katt?

2. What is your general opinion on Plague Knight so far?

3. Would the female alliance actually work?