Episode 14: Sea of Clouds!
Laau Haupa: Day 27
Survivors: Mario - Papyrus - Samus Aran - Wii Fit Trainer - Captain Falcon - Arataka Reigen - Sonic
The weather was never perfect in the Tropics, though nine times out of ten the survivors received glorious sunshine that was backed up with a breeze that ranged from gentle to fresh depending on the day. Today was unlike any other day, however, as the survivors had awakened to dark clouds blotting out the sky. It wasn't raining nor was a storm brewing, but the lack of light made it darker than dusk. The air was chilly, but the wind had no strength to it at all, to the point where the wind was the mildest it had ever been thus far.
Due to this, the survivors woke up considerably later in the day, as they were accustomed to being naturally awakened by the sunlight, or at least some indicator that it was daytime.
The first one to wake up was the one who had the best sleeping schedule out of all of them, though even they woke up a couple of hours later. This person was Wii Fit Trainer, and she quietly exited the hut when she noticed that everyone else was sleeping placidly.
"What time is it?" She thought to herself before regaining focus and staring into the brutally cloudy sky, her face going from curious and ruffled to surprised.
Deciding to ignore the anomaly weather, she walked over to the Leaderboards and looked in the bottom right.
2:45 PM.
People usually woke up between 8 AM and 10 AM, and they now only had an hour and a bit before the Roulette began. She had to wake them all up.
Slowly, Wii Fit Trainer walked up to each individual survivor and nudged their shoulder with her hand, repeating the process again and again as they began to wake up at their own pace.
"Huh?" Captain Falcon yawned, stretching in the process. "What are you waking us for?"
He then noticed the lack of light outside, before shrugging and laying back down, his eyes still open. "It's still night, so unless Alexa's telling us to get up, I'm not wasting my energy..."
Samus instantly shot up upon being nudged, looking at the lack of light. "What do you want, Wii Fit?"
Wii Fit Trainer was visibly disgruntled at Captain Falcon's reaction but decided to answer his and Samus' questions. "It's nearly 3 PM."
"Pretty sure you mean 3 AM because it'd be a lot brighter at 3 PM," Reigen rubbed his eyes, the ceiling of the shelter preventing him or anyone else from noticing the clouds.
"If it WAS three AM you wouldn't see anything," she grumbled. "Look, it's strangely cloudy outside, that's why there's no light to wake us all up. We've all overslept and the Roulette is an hour, we're lucky I woke up and checked."
Sonic nodded. "Okay, but I don't see the problem with that. What's Alexa gonna do? Eliminate us all?"
"He's a downright psychopath at times, and nobody wants a psychopath annoyed, especially when they got a lot of power of you," Reigen admitted, brushing his clothing with his hands before standing up, going outside to check if it really was cloudy. "Huh?!"
There he saw it, the same thing Wii Fit Trainer had witnessed earlier.
"She's not wrong," he said. "It really is just cloudy."
"WAIT, BUT HOW ARE YOU AWARE OF THE TIME?" Papyrus interrogated. "IN FACT, MISS TRAINER, YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS..."
Mario looked baffled at his unreasonably suspicious comment. "Don't you-a know about the clock on the Leaderboards?"
The skeleton shook his head before jumping out of the hut and over to the leaderboards, gawking at the oddity weather in the process.
When he did, he came back angrily. "IT'S NOT 3 PM! IT'S FIFTEEN O' CLOCK!"
"Papyrus, that's a twenty-four-hour clock..." Sonic corrected.
"HMMM?" He was unsure of what the hedgehog meant.
"Instead of-a having AM or PM, which are-a both twelve hours, a twenty-four-hour clock goes from-a 00:00 to 23:59." Mario described as best he could.
"Is Papyrus some sort of alien? He talks like he's new to everything on Earth, like how he does with Chess or clocks. I've also find it strange how he's a living skeleton, because I don't see those outside of old, lame, black and white horror movies.
Papyrus gave a slow, slightly aware nod. "I SEE... SO WHY DID SHE SAY 3PM-"
"Can we not argue about time please? I'm already bored enough as it is," Captain Falcon groaned. "Let's just wait for the Roulette, get it over with, then try and catch as many fish as we can before it starts to get dark. That's the plan for today."
He hoisted himself off of the floor and out of the hut, giving another stretch before walking off to the Leaderboards.
Soon, everyone left the hut one by one and got in with their final hour before the Roulette.
Reigen decided to lounge under a tree facing the Rockies where the rest of his tribe were, thinking to himself.
"Strange weather... I know we've had a storm before, but giant dark clouds with no wind, rain, thunder or anything is something I've never seen before. Dark clouds are usually clouds that are about to rain as well, so it's odd but a relief that none of them are drenching us right now." - Arataka Reigen.
Captain Falcon and Wii Fit Trainer also snuck off towards the woods, though they did it separately at slightly different times to make sure nobody got suspicious. Sonic just thought that Captain Falcon was going on another walk, judging from the conversation they had a couple of days ago.
"The reason for the alliance of Papyrus, Little Mac and Josuke going bust is due to how vocal they made it, they didn't try to split up at all, and that's how people eventually caught on and eliminated them! The same regrettably happened with the alliance I had with Johnny, though, which is regrettable but at least I've learned from my mistakes!" - Captain Falcon.
That left Samus, Mario and Sonic to themselves, in a small group huddled in between the shelters.
As Reigen gazed into the sky, he heard footsteps coming up towards him. By tilting his head down, he caught a glimpse of Papyrus and rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, I'm trying to relax..."
Papyrus didn't hear the remark and finally arrived in front of him. "I'VE BEEN MEANING TO ASK YOU, REIGEN..."
"Ask me about what?" He asked, slightly curious.
"YOU IMPLIED THAT YOU WERE A PSYCHIC!" Papyrus knelt next to him. "NOW, I HAVE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS I WOULD LIKE TO ASK TO YOU ABOUT THIS COMPETITION..."
Reigen gulped. "Errm, okay, give me your questions!"
"OKAY, I SHALL START OFF MILD IN CASE IT INTERFERES WITH YOUR PSYCHIC CAPABILITIES, LIKE A WARMUP!" Papyrus announced. "WHO SHALL HAVE THE LEAST AMOUNT OF POINTS AT THE END OF TOMORROW'S CHALLENGE?"
He smirked. "That's an easy one! It won't be you, most likely."
"...YES, THAT'S GOOD TO HEAR, BUT WHO SPECIFICALLY?" The skeleton pressured.
Reigen gave a cough as he twiddled his thumbs, not knowing what to say. "Y'know Papyrus, I haven't done much Psychic training lately due to my lack of equipment, so I don't know specifics that well. All you need to know is that you definitely won't be the next eliminee." He lied.
"ELIMINEE? I ASKED ABOUT POINTS, NOT ELIMINATION!" Papyrus began to look suspicious, which is something the "Psychic" didn't expect to see happen.
To save his skin from losing respect, he decided to spit out a quick yet false retaliation. "Well you said you're going to ask questions right? I decided to go ahead and answer one of the other questions you were going to ask me."
...
"I SEE!" Papyrus beamed. "GOOD TO KNOW THAT I'M NOT GOING TO BE ELIMINATED, OR LAST IN POINTS. NOW THAT OUR WARMUP SEEMS MORE THAN FINISHED, DO YOU KNOW WHO THE WINNER IS GOING TO BE?"
"Again, specifics..." Reigen denied an answer.
"WELL DO YOU KNOW IF I WILL WIN OR NOT?" He asked.
He froze once more, gulping silently as he shrugged. "Well if a Psychic like me knew if you were going to win from the very beginning I wouldn't have signed up. You see Papyrus, I don't to spoil the surprise for me or anyone, as that's just a buzzkill that would kill your morale, correct?"
"YOU ARE CORRECT INDEED!" Papyrus folded his arms. "WELL, IF YOU DON'T KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS SHOW DUE TO YOUR LACK OF TRAINING IN THIS SITUATION, THEN I SHALL PESTER YOU NO MORE. AT LEAST I'M COMPLETELY SAFE!"
As the monster walked off triumphantly, Reigen stopped him. "H-hey, wait!"
"HUH?" He turned his head. "WHAT DO YOU NEED?"
"I can give you some details about my Spirits and Such Consultation Office, I got some fine workers, and we can do lots of exorcism techniques for you and family or friends!" Reigen offered.
Papyrus shook his head. "SORRY, I DON'T REALLY SEE GHOSTS AS EVIL. THE VERY FEW THAT I KNOW OF ARE DECENT BEINGS THAT DO NOT DESERVE EXORCISM. HOWEVER, I SHALL INFORM FRIENDS JUST IN CASE THEIR STANCES ARE DIFFERENT."
"Good, don't forget to tell them!" He pleaded as the skeleton walked off. He then rested back at the tree like nothing had happened. "Tsk... that's what all "interested" customers say..."
Meanwhile, Captain Falcon and Wii Fit Trainer met up in the forest, nobody else around.
"Alright, so looking at the leaderboards, the amount of people that can be in Safe Haven went down from four to three, so Sonic is finally vulnerable!" Wii Fit Trainer announced.
"Don't be too excited," warned Falcon. "We still got luck and another challenge in our way, and now that we've lost Little Mac, there's only Papyrus that could potentially be swayed onto our side. Things are only going to get harder from here."
Even through the warning, she decided to go through with her optimism. "I'm sure things will work out! We just need to make sure that he doesn't get a good score on this next challenge, and also pray that he doesn't get lucky in this next Roulette."
He scoffed at her last few words. "If praying was a good strategy then I should have done the best on every single challenge."
"That is true, but it's never a bad time to hope!" She argued. "Anyway, is this all the information we have right now?"
Captain Falcon nodded before turning to walk off. "You go on back, I'm going for another walk, that way people will think we were doing separate things."
"Oh, okay!" Wii Fit Trainer waved to him as he disappeared, before turning and walking off for herself, this time retreating to the others at the tribe.
Back at the Rockies, the group between Mario, Sonic, and Samus were discussing the games.
"I wonder who voted for-a Papyrus last night?" Speculated Mario.
"Captain Falcon was likely to be one of them, as I remember him sticking up for Little Mac back before Dedede was eliminated," Samus assumed. "The other person is a mystery, maybe it was actually Little Mac, as odd as that sounds."
Sonic shook his head. "Nah, it can't be! All of us here voted for Papyrus, right? I imagine Papyrus and Little Mac voted for Reigen, so out of Wii Fit Trainer and Reigen, one of them voted for Papyrus, and the other voted for Little Mac like us, and I think I got a lil' idea as to who voted for Papyrus..."
"You do?" Mario raised his eyebrow. "Not like it'll mean anything, I'm not going to-a hold it against anyone who voted for-a Papyrus or Reigen."
The hedgehog nodded. "Yesterday, I caught a glimpse of Wii Fit Trainer and Captain Falcon walking together before we entered Tribal Council. If that guy really voted for Papyrus, then I bet he might have convinced Wii Fit Trainer to do the same."
"Strange how they were talking to each other and nobody else, I may just keep an eye on them in case Falcon got back into the alliance game following Johnny's elimination." Samus glared towards the forest, where she saw Captain Falcon leave to not long ago.
"I will too," Sonic added.
Mario began chuckling. "I-a guess that means I should do so as well!"
"GOOD NEWS, EVERYBODY!" Papyrus yelled, running up towards them.
"Great... I was just beginning to enjoy the peace," Samus groaned.
The skeleton leaped over with joy, something nobody had expected considering what had happened to his alliance throughout the past few Tribal Councils.
"I AM SAFE FROM ELIMINATION!" He announced. "IT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY NONE OTHER THAN ARATAKA REIGEN, THE PSYCHIC!"
Sonic blankly stared, his eyelids dropping down slightly to show how displeased he was. Mario placed a hand over his face upon hearing the news, and Samus continued to glare.
Papyrus was confused over their joyless expressions. "ERRR, IS THAT NOT A GOOD THING?"
"Come on, Reigen's clearly a con-artist!" Claimed Sonic.
"He tried to pull it off on me, and the confidence somebody needs to try and get me interested in their fraudulence is inspirational," admitted Samus. "...Yet impressively stupid."
The skeleton, whilst usually one for taking the majority's word on the matter, decided to go against them. "THAT'S NOT TRUE! HE DEFINITELY HAS SOME PSYCHIC CAPABILITIES, AND HE TOLD ME THAT I ALSO WON'T BE LAST PLACE ON THE LEADERBOARDS BY NEXT TRIBAL COUNCIL!"
"Well let's just-a see how that turns out, shall we?" Mario recommended. "That way you'll know if he really is Psychic or-a not!"
"Even if both of those predictions are right, it won't mean that Reigen has the ability to predict the future," said Samus. "But sure, let's go off of that. Papyrus' chance of climbing out of last place is minimal, after all..."
Papyrus smiled. "GREAT, YOU'RE GIVING HIM A CHANCE!"
"I wouldn't call it a chance, more of a 'We're waiting for that golden moment where we get to tell you and him that we told you so!' sort of thing." Sonic rectified.
"OH..." He pouted. "WELL, I SHALL BE THE ONE TO BASK IN THE GLORY WHEN YOU ARE ALL THE ONES WHO ARE WRONG!"
As Papyrus triumphantly stomped off, Mario gave a sigh. "He's a handful..."
"You can say that again," Wii Fit Trainer stated, stepping towards them. "I was heading back and I could hear Papyrus from the forest."
"He's a nice guy, he's-a just childlike," stated Mario. "And loud, which is-a obvious."
Samus then decided to change the subject from the loud and pompous skeleton to her skepticism towards Wii Fit Trainer. "Any reason why you left to go to the forest earlier?"
"Where else am I supposed to go to the bathroom?" She questioned mendaciously.
All of a sudden, the bounty hunter felt a little stupid asking that, and to cover up her now-ridiculous pursuit, she nodded slowly. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense on second thought."
When their confusion was "supposedly" cleared up by Wii Fit Trainer, they continued chatting about unimportant topics for a little longer before preparing to grab the others for the Roulette, leaving the tribe...
Roulette: Day 27
When they arrived at the beach, the weather hadn't shifted off of its dull, windless and dark state even after an hour. And judging by how they weren't awakened in the first place, many survivors suspected that the weather had been like this since very early on, long before they woke up.
After standing still and talking amongst themselves, Alexa walked up to them, his usual energetic and exciting aura greeting them before any words were even said.
"Hello survivors!" He gave a playful salute to greet them. "It's almost hard to believe that there were so many more of you guys! I especially started to notice a decline in size when Dedede was eliminated..."
His little joke managed to get a chuckle out of a few of them, and he then continued on with the Roulette. "Today's Roulette will be themed around your number, which is the lucky seven! One of these boxes, listed from A to G, will contain a whopping one-hundred points! The other boxes will range from basic prizes, but probably nothing as grand as that box, so get lucky!"
"I REALLY NEED THAT BOX. THOUGH WITH SOME SIMPLE DETERMINATION AND HOPE, THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN SURELY PULL IT OFF!" Papyrus posed, fixing his cape.
"I'm in danger again, so that box is just what I need to get back into the Safe Haven!" Proclaimed Sonic with enthusiasm. "Now all I need is luck..."
Mario nudged him on the shoulder. "With that white rock you-a supposedly drew, I don't think you should-a be counting on-a luck!"
The hedgehog grinned over the cheeky comment. "You'd be surprised, plumber..."
"As usual, the order will go from the one with the most points to the least amount of points! So without further ado, allow Samus Aran to start us off!" Announced Alexa.
Samus decided to choose Box F.
Wii Fit Trainer chose Box C.
Mario chose Box D.
Sonic chose Box A.
Arataka Reigen chose Box G.
Captain Falcon chose Box B.
And finally, Papyrus had no other choice but to choose Box E.
Upon receiving the cue from Alexa, the survivors opened their boxes individually:
Samus Aran - -30
Wii Fit Trainer - 10% Multiplier
Mario - 10
Sonic - -10
Arataka Reigen - 30
Captain Falcon - 15% Multiplier
Papyrus - 100
"WOWIE! I ACTUALLY DID GET THE BOX I WANTED!" Papyrus jumped for joy. "LOOKS LIKE THE GREAT PAPYRUS REALLY SHALL CLIMB OUT OF LAST PLACE."
"I think I'm still ahead of you, mainly thanks to that awesome multiplier I got," Captain Falcon cracked his knuckles. "But I'm not going to rest until I'm safe!"
Samus tutted under her breath. "Looks like good luck has been out of the question lately."
"Negative ten points? That's such a small yet negative difference that it's just a bummer," Sonic whinged.
Alexa then continued onward. "Now it's time to add these onto your totals:"
*SAFE HAVEN*
SAMUS ARAN - 505
WII FIT TRAINER - 441
MARIO - 392
*DANGER ZONE*
ARATAKA REIGEN - 325
SONIC - 323
CAPTAIN FALCON - 314
PAPYRUS - 254
"Wow, not much difference there! The only arguably big changes include Papyrus beginning to catch up to Captain Falcon, and Reigen swapping with Sonic in terms of ranking," observed Alexa. "Still, a pretty decent Roulette if I do say so myself."
Sonic grimaced at the sight of him slipping more and more away from safety, as Reigen gained more confidence in himself as he neared closer to it. Mario was simply glad that he had a huge lead over the vulnerable survivors, though he wouldn't rely on such a lead to keep him from losing the position. After all, Wii Fit Trainer and Samus both had massive leads over him.
"IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER!" Papyrus gawked. "YOU WERE RIGHT REIGEN, I'M GOING TO ESCAPE FROM LAST PLACE BY NEXT TRIBAL COUNCIL AFTER ALL!"
"Whoa whoa, don't make it too vocal," Reigen pleaded, slightly caught off guard.
"No need, make it as vocal as you want Papyrus, considering you've told us already," Samus gave an annoyed gaze towards Reigen. "Maybe you can try lying to people somewhere else?"
He audibly took a gulp in response, but he decided to grow brave and counter Samus and her harsh opinion. "I'm the Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century, so I naturally feel inclined to deny the part where you said I was lying. Papyrus was just curious to know."
"Enough arguing over mental powers already!" Alexa cut off the incoming argument. "The Roulette is now over, so you may return to your tribe! Though if you care about learning about why the weather is like it is, feel free to stick around."
To the host's relief, nobody decided to walk off from the area.
"Good! I expected at least somebody to rudely walk away, but I'm glad you're all interested in the region. Once a year, the Tropics undergo what they call "Cloudblots". This lasts for around three, sometimes four days before going away. The reason why it has its name is because of locals that first noticed it believed that the clouds were that dense and crowded that they not only blotted out the sun, but also the wind. Those guys are obviously wrong since that's not how wind works, though it explains why this anomaly weather period is named this way," he explained. "Nothing bad is going to happen, though it may interfere with tomorrow's challenge, that's just a cliffhanger!"
The survivors were slightly curious over the last part, but were mainly interested in the history and the explanation behind these so-called "Cloudblots".
"Now, you may head on back to your tribe," stated Alexa.
The cluster of the seven survivors soon left the beach, heading on back to the Rockies or to the beach to scavenge for fish...
Challenge: Day 28
The bright optimism and will-power within the seven survivors contrasted greatly with the dull, dark and cloudy sky as they poured out onto the beach, Alexa there already.
On the coast lay the boat, more eye-catching than usual due to its lights being turned on to counteract the darkness of the weather.
"To think it's the high noon is crazy!" Alexa acknowledged. "Seems like these Cloudblots haven't gotten better or worse, even after a full day."
With bemusement, he gazed upwards, gawking at the anomaly for a further minute before snapping back to reality and taking a gander at the survivors.
"Alright then, as usual, we'll be going to the boat to explore the Tropics! However, I want it to be known that this will be the final challenge that will involve leading the island, so to make it extra special, you will be going to the biggest, most well-known island in the Tropics that we've been saving 'til last!"
He declared. "Survivors, you may hop on the boat!"
For supposedly the final time in the show, the survivors hopped on as the boat quickly took off. Some were easily able to rest now that direct sunlight had been blocked out by the weather. This negative factor being erased caused almost the entire tribe to doze off for at least ten minutes, as the ride there was around an hour long.
After some waiting and resting, Papyrus and Samus were the only ones awake, and whilst Papyrus was day-dreaming, Samus kept a lookout for this final destination.
Whilst looking for it, something caught her eye, and it turned out to be a massive, tall silhouette that was in the direction of the boat. She had been to many different planets, each one offering some intimidating geography and inhabitants, but to see something of that scale and shape in the middle of the ocean, backed up by a moody and dim sky, nearly gave her chills.
Rudely, Alexa began at the peacefully resting survivors. "I CAN SEE THE ISLAND, WAKE UP SURVIVORS!"
They all shot awake, and Papyrus turned his head to see if the island was there, and his eyes nearly popped out with surprise. "OH MY GOD!"
"I-is that the island?" Captain Falcon then cleared his throat in an attempt to brush off his fearful stutter.
"It looks-a so tall..." Mario couldn't believe his eyes. The plumber had seem some pretty tall and big mountains in his time, in fact some of which were even taller than this one, but to see it plopped in the middle of the ocean as a hazy and eerie silhouette shocked the plumber to no end, and the same could be said for every other survivor that looked at it.
The silhouette got clearer and clearer as they got closer and closer, it was no longer on the horizon at this point, but the detail was still impossible to see.
Alexa was bobbing up and down on his seat, he was excited for this final out-of-island challenge more than anyone else, which was no competition considering all survivors and staff members dreaded taking part in whatever challenge they would be doing on the mountainous island.
It was crazy how the large silhouette got bigger and bigger, and they weren't even close to arriving at it yet.
"I've seen island silhouettes in the distance before, and not a single one of them has resembled that big guy over there," Sonic confessed. "Though I'm not scared of this mountain, it's just pretty crazy to see it in the middle of the ocean."
Reigen decided to look for anything beyond the island's silhouette, and as they got closer, he began to make out small little details. The bottom appeared to house some sort of greenery, whether it was trees or grass, and there was a small distinguishable yellow line around the bottom that appeared to be the coastline. The mountain itself was large and grey, which gave him the impression that it was a rocky mountain. He was usually calm and collected, but the possibility of partaking in such a place gave him some anxiety.
Eventually, even the others who didn't attempt to notice detail managed to make out the color of the mountain, and the greenery plus coastline along the bottom. They also noticed that the peak of the mountain was likely in or above the clouds. This fact reminded them of Alexa's words yesterday:
"Nothing bad is going to happen, though it may interfere with tomorrow's challenge, but that's just a cliffhanger!"
Even if it now seemed obvious, no survivor really betted on this possibility. Sonic even found the fact that he used "cliffhanger" to be a funny, yet probably unintentional pun from the host.
As the mountain strayed less and less away from its silhouette appearance caused by the hazy horizon, the emotions that everyone felt about it got stronger and stronger, whether that was confidence, excitement or despair.
Soon, the mountain was completely clear, all of the detail they saw from any faraway mountain was now completely visible to them, and Alexa used this opportunity to greet the survivors to the island.
"SURVIVORS, WELCOME TO MOUNT KAPELA!" Alexa announced. "The infamous tall mountain that extends beyond the clouds is right in front of your faces! Once we land and get off, I'll explain to you the challenge, but just know it will be one of if not THE greatest obstacle in your path to becoming the Sole Survivor
yet!"
After more waiting and gawking at the mountain, the survivors braced themselves for impact as the boat crudely hit the coast, Alexa quickly hopping out afterward to beckon the others onto the coast.
Whilst unable to comment on it, the survivors were a little worried over the massive amount of staff, including medical staff, that were present nearby, many of them out of the way and chatting to one another too far to hear.
"Okay, get it over with Alexa, because I know what this challenge is about," Reigen gulped, waiting for the response.
Alexa nodded. "Now, this is probably one of the biggest challenges you'll ever face, maybe in this competition. There will never be something to this scale again, nothing as triumphant, as epic or as incredible as climbing Mount Kapela, and that is what today's challenge is all about, you survivors will have to race to the top of this mountain! Whilst your route has been carved out for you relatively well, eliminating a lot of the stress that comes with hiking up one of these babies, you will still need to be fast, strong and durable if you want a chance at beating this mountain. Any questions before I explain the race in detail?"
"Yeah, I got one," Wii Fit Trainer raised her hand. "This is a steep, gigantic mountain, right? With some levels of parkour necessary to get to the top? If so, something could go brutally wrong!"
The host sighed, knowing that the concern was inevitably coming. "Yes, I know about that. I got plenty of medical staff and other staff to keep an eye on you guys, especially during the 'dangerous' segments. Though, I don't think you guys won't need it!"
"W-we won't?" She asked, almost offended.
"You guys are some of the biggest stars or heroes that people have ever seen! You all carry power and skill in you that the average Joe just can't possess, and considering you've managed to come out of every other challenge unscathed, you guys will be fine! The biggest risk factor would be you guys falling off, but like I said, there's already a route that you will have to go through, so unless you're purposefully going to throw yourself off the mountain, feel more confident!" Alexa motivated them with a grin. "You guys can do it."
Papyrus nodded. "GREAT SPEECH, ALEXA, I KNOW I CAN WIN THIS CHALLENGE, LET ALONE CLIMB THIS PATHETIC MOUNTAIN! I'VE LIVED IN, OR WELL, UNDER TALLER ONES THAN THAT... I THINK."
"Well good for you!" He smirked. "This race will be split into three segments, so listen up:
Segment A will consist of running and climbing up the semi-gentle slopes of the mountainside, a simple foot race with some other elements in there other than running. This segment will end with a large ladder-climb to the first checkpoint, which will be a white flag!
Segment B is a trek through the caves of the mountain, which will act as a dark labyrinth similar to the challenge you did around for days ago! Once you find the exit, the checkpoint will be right next to two elevators, you will take one of seven small chain elevators over to Section C. You will also be able to tell who has escaped the cave before you by judging the number of elevators left when you arrive!
The final segment, Segment C, is one last trek to the peak of Mount Kapela, with mostly climbing with a final sprint up some stairs to the finish line. You should be above cloud-level too, so it'll unintentionally look even more awesome than it already is! Anyway, once you get to the top, I will be there to congratulate you all!" He explained. "Do you all understand?"
They all nodded as Papyrus was more eager to find out the scores received from winning. "THIS IS ALL INTERESTING, BUT HOW MANY POINTS DO YOU GET FOR GETTING FIRST PLACE?"
Alexa kicked the floor awkwardly. "Well, this challenge is going to be a little different... in fact, this whole day is going to be different from your usual."
"What does that mean?" Captain Falcon asked. "Because I do NOT like the sound of that at all."
"First place shall receive two-hundred points, second place shall receive one-hundred, and third place shall receive fifty," he said. "Sounds normal at first, but fourth place, fifth place, and sixth place will earn no points whatsoever. As for seventh place, their punishment will be very severe, as they will be eliminated from Survivor Crossover entirely, regardless of their position on the Leaderboards, and regardless of any idol they may have. It's less about earning the reward this time, and more about avoiding the punishment."
"WHAAAAAT?!" Papyrus cried. "YOU MEAN THAT OUR HARD-EARNED POINTS SHALL GO TO WASTE?!"
He nodded. "Yeah, but only if you're last place, Papyrus. Also, Tribal Council will not take place tonight, either."
"Tribal Council is canceled, I still have a chance of going home despite my points, AND the challenge is a race, which is Sonic's specialty! It's like all of my luck just went out the window within five seconds." - Wii Fit Trainer.
"I'm no match for people like Samus, Mario, Sonic, or Captain Falcon, so I could very well be going home if I lose to the others..." - Arataka Reigen.
Alexa then snapped his fingers, and numerous staff came from behind them, holding flasks of water. "This challenge will be a long and draining one, so you shall all be given a drinking flask of half a litre to drink, which you may refill with each checkpoint you pass."
"That's a relief, I surely can't do something as grand as climbing a mountain without hydration," Wii Fit Trainer gave a large sigh of relief as she was given her flask.
After receiving the items, Alexa then proceeded to get on with the challenge. "The race shall begin shortly, so all survivors will line up one by one..."
When lining up, many of them thought about the previous challenges, and how they failed to be as nerve-wracking as this one, except maybe the ghost hunting one, or for Sonic, the deep-sea challenge. Nonetheless, this would be their greatest obstacle towards winning yet, as Alexa said, and they took steady breaths as they readied themselves...
"Survivors, you will run into that small forest opening there, which has a path that will take you to the mountain where you will begin scaling up it! You may take shortcuts off of the path, but don't be surprised if it ends up getting you lost! Now, it's time for me to begin the countdown!" He said, taking a deep breath before beginning his dramatic countdown:
"3..."
"2..."
"1... GO!" He yelled as every single survivor speeded off of the coast and into the adjacent forest...