Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)
Chapter 18 - Day 16 Part 1
Hello, everyone! It's time for another episode of my third season of my series, Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)! Last episode, Incineroar expressed to the viewers (readers) of what it is like being a celebrity on the show, Panther explains his analysis on fellow StarFox character Katt, and Rosalina gets blindsided in an attempt to recruit an all girls alliance, only for it to be ruined by Isabelle of all people, leaving Tifa Lockhart in the dark.
Oh yeah, speaking of Rosalina, she did in fact get #ScrewedbytheSwap. Forgot to put that in the last chapter. She was never in a bad position on her old tribe at all and everyone loved her. Even Chica was desperate to request her help. You just can't say anything bad about her. So sad she had to leave, but the show must go on.
~KF
EPISODE SIX: May the Survivor Gods Be With Us All
Quetzal
Night 15
Incineroar, Tifa, Isabelle, Funky Kong
-/-
Despite the remaining competitors still being on the old Quetzal camp, there were no more original Beauty members available. Kind of a rather strange situation in a way, yet at the same time, because of the show being called Survivor, it was what it was. The only original yellow member got eliminated and all they had to do was to simply move on.
As far as the castaways were concerned though, there were some words that were definitely going to be said that night, especially since not everyone voted for the same person other than Rosalina herself.
Funky Kong laid his torch against the tree. "Ugh... Glad that's over..."
"Yo, Tifa," Incineroar called on Lockhart. "can we go somewhere for a minute?"
Believe it or not, she was actually going to pull the Pokemon aside first after she was already planning on having a conversation with Isabelle. Incineroar just beat her to it.
"My first Tribal Council... Well,..." She laughed out of sarcasm with a sigh. "it did not exactly go too well for me. I could have sworn Isabelle told me that she did not mind Funky Kong leaving. I only agreed to the plan because it meant that all of Brawn was set to stay in the game because I had to protect myself and Incineroar. But... I've been played. And now I am currently paying the price for it."
"What in the name of Arceus, man!" He was not actually shouting at her, but clearly he was not at all happy about what his teammate did. "Voting against Funky Kong even though we never agreed to it? Why did you decide to do that?"
"I apologize." were the first words that came out of her mouth.
"Umm, not that I don't accept your apology, but I still want to hear why you did what you did..." Incineroar cocked his head and folded his arms. "I voted for Rosalina and you didn't. What's this about this 'all female alliance' I've been hearing about?"
That confirmed to her that Isabelle snitched.
"I..." She had to think quickly of how to explain herself. "Okay, Rosalina a couple days back suggested that herself, Isabelle, and I should make an all girl alliance. But after a while I thought that Rosalina was mainly doing this not because of her wanting an all female alliance just for the heck of it, but because to her it was one of the few arguments she could have made for herself because she knew that she was a target."
"And you agreed to it..." The celebrity blinked.
"I never exactly agreed to it or else I would have never found out of why Rosalina was really wanting us to follow through with it. She never even said who exactly we should vote out. Isabelle did."
"And she wrote down Rosalina..."
"Well, she manipulated me, then. Isabelle threw Funky's name out there because she figured that he was never really close with her." The woman never actually chose to admit the whole truth of what the Animal Crossing character said. "I only agreed to it because Funky was not on our old tribe and I knew you weren't going anywhere, so if he actually got voted out, we would have had the advantage over everyone here."
"Then why didn't you tell me about it?"
"Because I knew you would have never wrote his name down." She answered back. "I mean, sure, maybe I should have just written down Rosalina, but had Funky Kong left, either she or Isabelle would have been next, anyway. Bottom line is that I was never planning on voting you out, and at least the both of us still here. We're both part of the Strong Guys Alliance, after all."
"Whether Tifa likes it or not, she basically backstabbed me." Incineroar shook his head. "I mean, part of what she is saying is true. There was no way I would have wrote Funky's name down. Even if the two of us were not exactly friends, why would you wanna get rid of him for? He's strong in challenges just like I am. I mean, do you want to go back to Tribal Council? And also, if everything else she's saying is true, than if anything, I'm glad Isabelle told Funky Kong of the girl alliance. She didn't have to vote with us, but she did, and she saved Funky Kong from being voted out. Now after all this time, Tifa is officially on the hot seat. Unlike last time, though, this time because of what happened at tribal, it confirmed to me that she simply can't be trusted. She tried going behind my back and vote out Funky Kong and blindside me and it just didn't work..."
Later on after Incineroar and Funky Kong went to sleep, it was the perfect opportunity to interact with Isabelle, who was sitting by the fire in thought.
"Hey..."
"Hi..." The dog looked up, the AVALANCHE member sitting right across from her.
"You never thought of telling me that you were writing down Rosalina?"
"...I honestly thought that you were all the way with female alliance." Isabelle admitted her truth. "You even wrote down Funky Kong tonight..."
"Well, true, but I just thought that you said you didn't really care if Funky was targeted or not, that's who both me and Rosalina agreed with..." The dark-haired Brawn member glanced off for a bit. "But... You don't have to worry about it. It's my own fault."
"...?" She was a bit confounded by that.
"I really should have known better. Becuase I knew that the all female alliance benefited nobody but Rosalina, maybe I should have had a one on one conversation with you about it and see where your head really was, and the both of us would have written Rosalina's name down. Incineroar just told me that I should have talked with him, so perhaps that should have happened afterwards..."
"Don't be so hard on yourself..." Isabelle shook her head. "I was the one that should have asked if you really believed in Rosalina was doing."
"I don't blame you for not doing that." She was still putting all the blame on herself. "It is rather difficult to trust someone from a completely different tribe six days after we first met. If you honestly thought that I fully believed in what Rosalina was doing, I could not have blamed you for thinking that way. For my game, I figured that it was best to align with Rosalina,... up until a certain point until after Funky Kong left so that me and Incineroar could have the majority. But you were trying to protect your ally, and siding with Rosalina backfired in my face. All I know is that if we have to go to the next tribal, if those two do not break up,... we're gonna be against each other."
"..."
"You would have to write my name, and I would have to write your name."
"Don't get me wrong, I actually would have included Tifa on the real plan, but I figured since she was original Brawn and I threw Funky Kong's name out (only to have Rosalina believe that I was working with her), she ended up believing that he was the real target, but Rosalina ended up going home instead. She's trying to say the entire thing is all her fault since she admitted to me that she wanted to work with Rose until Funky left, but... I feel guilty, too, since I figured that if it wasn't for a lack of communication, Tifa would not be in trouble right now... I mean, I was the one who threw Funky's name out, not Rosalina." The dog sighed in her own disappointment. "But the reality was that all I wanted to do was to help keep all the Brains together..."
Toro
Day 16
The following morning was a rather quiet one for the red team. Not just because of the fact that Jet the Hawk was the one that was eliminated a while ago, but also simple due to Toro not saying too much upon getting up.
At the time, though their fire was getting started, no one was actually eating anything. They all simply sat around the fire in silence, all four of them for the most part seemingly lost in their own thoughts.
Though there was the occasional mumbling at times, Daisy being the first to fall victim to it.
"I'm so hungry..."
"You're not the only one." Ryu spoke up next, eyes not looking away from the fire. "I am tempted to eat some of the rice right now, but we don't know for certain if there's going to be a reward challenge or not. I put it somewhere so that none of us have to look at it."
Golden snickered. "Thanks. Me looking at it any longer would just make it be even worse."
"We're starving over here." The bear simply stated. "I mean at this point we would either eat some of the rice or go fishing, but then if we have a reward challenge today, it would all be a wasted effort because then there would be a chance that we would win something anyway,... even though we haven't won a challenge since we all got swapped here. And we also need to save our energy for a challenge, anyway, even if it is for immunity only... And we clearly don't wanna go back to Tribal Council... I don't want to go back to Tribal Council. One ally of mine is basically questioning my trust for him as of late, and another... 'ally' of mine wants my trust. Guess everything revolves around this next challenge, no matter what. Otherwise it'd be eitehr a big win or a major loss for me personally... Oh, and one more thing, we need to keep Ryu fed. One random conversation a while back, he told us before that if he hasn't ate anything in a while, he admitted that he kinda gets irritated about it. I mean, just look at him. He seems annoyed..."
"Hmm..." Though he tried his best to hide his mood, one could have easily seen the look in his eyes, his fist leaning against his face adding to his overall feeling.n\
Daisy on the other hand was not afraid of being more vocal about it. "I'm so hungry. Come on..."
"I think Daisy is even more irritated than the rest of us, though." Golden opinionated. "So, yeah. Like I said, everything is all about the challenge. It is just a matter of how well or how bad we are gonna do today. Whatever happens could pretty much effect the overall mood for this tribe for the rest of the day... May the Survivor Gods be with us all..."
Day 16
For the next reward challenge, there were three water towers for each tribe, followed by balancing beams on different levels, with three giant saucers at the end. Right off the bat, one would have made an educated guess on what the objective of the challenge was.
"Come on in, guys!"
Toro came in with all smiles, making their way through the grass with Golden holding onto the tribe flag. Next, Coatí came through, Panther holding the tribe flag for the group of five as they made their way to the blue mat.
With Funky Kong leading and Incineroar holding Quetzal's flag, they were the last ones to make it to the challenge area.
"Toro, Coatí, get your first look at the new Quetzal tribe... Rosalina voted out at the last Tribal Council."
Daisy completely gasped, covering her mouth with both of her hands.
"Oh no..." Panther mumbled, widening his eyes in disbelief.
"Just like last time, shocking reactions."
With a jaw dropping expression, Chica Candance simply stood there with no words.
"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's reward challenge?" Master Hand got right down to business. "For today's challenge, you all are to grab a giant saucer. You will all head to a water tower. Fill it up, and you will all go over a series of obstacles. Pour whatever is left in the saucer into a well, where it will drop a bag of puzzle pieces. Use the pieces to solve a puzzle, first two tribes that finish win reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?"
"First tribe that finishes will win... cooking utensils, herbs, spices, and kebabs." Upon revealing the cloth, the sight of it all was certainly enough that satisfied the castaway. "It is a beautiful day in the empire. Perhaps a cooking session is in place for the lucky winners today. Second tribe that finishes will receive only part of it, but it's still fun."
He removed the cloth. "Kebabs for all of you."
"Suddenly the master's making me hungry again..." Ryu commented.
"One more thing: Coatí, you have one extra person and you must sit somebody out. Keep in mind you cannot sit out the same person in back to back challenges. Plague Knight just sat out at the last immunity challenge, meaning that he must participate."
Hearing those words and knowing of what the challenge actually was, having Plague involved never really sat well with Coatí.
"I mean, if I'm going, I'm going. I'll just do the puzzle..." The knight sighed.
"Alright, guess I'm sitting out again..." Katt raised her hand in the air. "Master, I'm not participating."
"Katt is gonna sit this one out. Everybody else, I'll give you all a minute to strategize, we'll get started."
-/-
"Alright, here we go. Playing for reward. Survivors ready? ...GO!"
Specter Knight, Chica, Plague Knight, Panther, Golden, Ryu, Espio, Daisy, Incineroar, Isabelle, Tifa, and Funky Kong all raced through the course in order to reach their giant saucers at the end, castaways leaping over bars and quickly making their way over the beams.
"All three tribes are getting their saucers. First you all have to get to the beams and then figure out how to maneuver around those bars."
"I guess I'm going sideways with this thing..." Panther mumbled, getting one of the higher beams. "Plague, get on one of the lower ones."
"Ryu, stay in front and I'll bring up the rear." Golden spoke with his team. "The other two can walk sideways on the smaller ones."
"Quetzal already off to an early lead right out of the gate as they approached their second obstacle." Master Hand narrated the challenge, the survivors moving around the bars in whatever way they could have. "Toro in second, Coatí trailing behind."
Yellow approached their water tower as Funky Kong pulled down on the rope, allowing the water to pour right into their saucers.
"Everybody's at their water tower now!"
"Let me know when to let go." Ryu spoke to his team as he hold onto the rope, Panther holding onto the rope for Coatí.
"...Alright, that's enough. Let's go." Plague Knight was ready.
"Alright, stay focused on what you are doing." Incineroar commented as all three tribes began to make their way back.
"Try to save as much water as you can as you encounter these obstacles. The bars will come first and because of that saucer being heavier now, it is going to be a little more difficult to navigate." The reality show host warned.
Though because of Daisy bumping into one of the bars, nearly a quarter of the water for Toro was lost.
"Big drop of water from Toro! ...Quetzal is moving slightly faster than everyone, knowing how heavy that saucer is. It's amazing that they've barely dropped so far..."
One could have argued that it was because of Incineroar and Funky Kong. Yet at the same time, they had Isabelle. Toro also had two strong guys as well.
"Quetzal approaching their beams. Toro's made it through their first obstacle. Coatí on the other hand still in last... and they're done with their first obstacle."
"Slow and steady, guys." Espio spoke calmly. "Slow and steady..."
"Quetzal's taking their time, now... Probably because of Funky Kong and Incineroar worried about falling off the beams."
Incineroar groaned under his breath.
"Just ignore him." Isabelle suggested. "We're focusing right now."
"Alright, Plague Knight, lift up... Lift up..." Panther told him.
"I'm trying, I'm try- Oops..."
Quite a bit of water spilled out from the blue team's saucer.
"Okay, don't worry about it. We'll keep moving."
"Nearly half of the water for Coatí spilled out!"
The yellow team managed to make it back to their well first, only losing about ten percent of their water. Things were not exactly too bad for Toro either, losing about thirty-five percent of their water before heading back out.
"We'll deal with what we have..." Specter Knight spoke as Coatí dumped half of their water, the other half of it now being soaked in the ground.
"The more water you lose, the more trips you will have to take." Master Hand reminded, shifted his hand (or body) to realize that Quetzal's puzzle pieces actually dropped. "...Wow! Quetzal is already moving onto to the puzzle section while both of the other two tribes are gonna head back for more water! ...Coatí has just now finished pouring. They're gonna have to make up a lot of time."
"Run!" Chica shouted. "Run! Run- OOF!"
Somehow she misstepped while getting onto her beam and ended up falling to the ground dropping the saucer.
"Disaster going right now for the Coatí tribe!"
"Get up! Get up! Get up!" Panther reached out his hand and pull Candance back on her feet. "The saucer has to be as filled as possible, now..."
Katt was already facepalming. Something told her that things were not exactly going to go well for the blue tribe.
On the other hand, Quetzal had just finished unloading their puzzle with a major time advantage.
"Alright..." Isabelle heaved a quick sigh. "Come on, Tifa..."
"I think we only need one more..." Golden predicted, Ryu pulling on the rope again. "We just have to make this count and be extremely careful."
"Toro getting more water. First place may be out of it for them, but second place might still be available. They just need to be really careful with their water..." Master Hnad than glanced at Coatí, who were just now making it back to their tower. "Coatí really needs to make this next one count. Though they are still in this. They need to hope that Toro somehow messes up."
"Alright, we can head back, now." Espio gave the okay, the team heading back out again. "We do not need to rush, but at the same time we need to listening to the master for updates on Coatí."
"Oh no, I don't think that goes there..." Isabelle shook her head. "Try flipping it around this way... There we go."
"Tifa and Isabelle are doing a great job with their puzzle, finding no reason to rush at all. Unbelievable how big of a lead they have... Coatí heading back out!"
"Don't goo too fast..." Specter Knight suggested, their saucer filled with as much water as it could have held. "We do not have the time to mess up anymore... Be careful."
There were now navigating themselves around the bars once again, with the red team already on the beams. However, Plague Knight misjudged a turn, and it consequently led to him knocking him against one of the bars, nearly half of their water spilling out once again.
"Coatí is falling apart!"
"Just go! Just go!" Specter Knight gradually became frustrated by the second.
Katt Monroe covered her face with both of her hands.
"We're done! We're done!"
"Quetzal thinks they have it..."
The puzzle revealed to be a symbol of 'ollin', meaning 'movement' for the Aztecs.
"And they do!"
"QUETZAL WINS REWARD!"
"We did it!" Isabelle shouted with happiness, the entire tribe celebrating their victory.
"Yeah, we get to eat today!" Incineroar cheered. "Cookout in the empire!"
"We're looking for one more." Master Hand called. "Toro is nearing their well again. Coatí is halfway across the beams."
The red team began to pour once more, making sure there were as many drops falling into the well as possible, in spite of at least a teeny bit of water guaranteed to not make it due to how large the saucer was in comparison.
Yet in the end it did not matter, with their puzzle pieces dropping nonetheless.
"Toro's finished with their saucer. They can start working on their puzzle!"
"Not completely out of it, yet..." Panther Caroso still had a bit of optimism left in him, in spite of the multiple setbacks for blue, the Coatí tribe stepping off the beams one by one.
"Coatí is back once again. Will it be enough?" Master Hand went back to look.
"It's getting there..." Chica pushed some of the water into the well with her hand. "Almost..."
...
Not enough.
"...What!?" Plague Knight could not have believed it, the feeling being mutual for the entire tribe.
"Oh Lylat..."
"Seriously!?" Candance frowned.
Specter Knight simply cursed out loud.
"All that and Coatí still has to head back..."
"...What are we gonna do?" Chica questioned her team. "My arms can't take it anymore..."
Panther heaved out a deep, yet quick breath. "We head back and continue doing what we are doing. I am not gonna just stand here and look stupid."
"Coatí decides to not give up!"
Meanwhile, Espio and Golden were already over halfway done with their puzzle for Toro.
"The entire blue team are beginning to look flat out exhausted..."
Getting across the beams again, Caroso was bearing his teeth, Specter trying his best to make it back to the water tower as quickly and carefully as he could have while attempting to not pull off a Chica and drop the saucer.
"Just let it fall in..." The knight shook his head in frustration with Panther pulling on the rope. "It does not even need to be all the way full this time..."
"Might as well be to make sure we have enough..."
"...Valid point..."
Within a few seconds, Panther, Plague Knight, Specter Knight, and Chica were all on their way for the third time.
"Master!" Espio's voice sounded.
"Espio thinks Toro has it..."
"TORO WINS REWARD!"
Upon hearing those words, Chica was not afraid of dropping the saucer, the rest of the team even letting all of the water spill out. What? What difference would it have made? The challenge was over.
"Coatí ends up nowhere close to finishing. One of the worst performances in a challenge in Survivor history thus far!"
"Oh, we made history..." Panther rolled his eyes. "Cool..."
-/-
"Alright, Quetzal... With your giant lead, it was almost as if you were all guaranteed to win. Nice cooking set, kebabs, and even some spices to shake things up. Come and get it. Get outta here."
"Awesome!" Funky Kong was absolutely elated, even having the nerve to run and grab part of the reward in front of everyone's faces. Yet no one felt that it was a reason to blame him. Eating something other than rice and coconut in Survivor to them was a blessing. To them, Funky had every right to be happy.
"Toro, not last, and definitely not least. Come get your reward and enjoy."
"Feels good to not be on a losing streak for once..." Daisy commented, the four of them each grabbing their kebabs before heading out.
"Coatí, got nothing for you. Head back to camp."
"This is pathetic..." Panther's voice was barely above a whisper, slowly rotating his head from side to side. "Just... Flat out pathetic and embarrassing... All on universal television... This is worse than any challenge I competed when I was on the Beauty tribe, and that's saying something. Just pathetic... I don't know how much more needs to be said..."
Oh well. Coatí was already at a slight disadvantage physically, anyway. It was only a matter of time lol. Kinda strange how they are just now losing a challenge, though. But yeah, Plague having no choice but to compete today only made things worse, and then he and Chica blew the challenge. As far as my series goes, it is safe to say that without spoiling, this is the worst performance for a tribe during a challenge yet. And like Panther said, this makes his losses on Quetzal look like nothing. I suppose Coatí should still be grateful just because it was not an immunity challenge lol.
Questions:
1. How do you think Coatí will handle their loss when they get back home?
2. What do you think of the whole Isabelle-Tifa and girls alliance thing? (lol)
3. Who do you think is going to tribal after the next immunity challenge? And who do you WANT to go?
I'll see you all on Wednesday! I encourage all Survivor fans to review!