Episode 15: Familiar Frenzy!
Laau Haupa: Day 29
Survivors: Mario - Papyrus - Samus Aran - Wii Fit Trainer - Captain Falcon - Sonic
It had been around sixteen hours since Arataka Reigen's official elimination back at Mount Kapela. One of the survivors - that being Wii Fit Trainer - managed to wake up early so she could get the others up in case of the still-present dull sky not providing them with the sunlight necessary for them to naturally wake up.
Now three people slept in each hut: Mario, Falcon, and Samus in one, and Papyrus, Wii Fit, and Sonic in the other. Reigen slept with the latter group initially, though due to his sudden elimination, this obviously wasn't going to happen anymore.
Samus walked over to the large Leaderboard screen and knelt beside it, her eyes fixated on the scores:
*SAFE HAVEN*
SAMUS ARAN - 555
MARIO - 542
WII FIT TRAINER - 441
*DANGER ZONE*
CAPTAIN FALCON - 414
SONIC - 323
PAPYRUS - 254
She grinned at her own score with pride. Her lead may have shortened, but considering the finale was in a couple of days, she only had one challenge to really worry about, at least for now. This challenge puzzled her, however, as she pondered what could possibly be more climatic than climbing the most famous islands in the Tropics? Heck, how could Alexa make something more climatic without leaving this island? She didn't bother thinking about it for too long, but it certainly was strange.
Suddenly, the spunky plumber, as well as her technical rival in the grand scheme of things due to their points, Mario, jumped next to her and sat down.
"There's only around half the people in this tribe than there was when the merge first-a began!" He remarked. "That's-a crazy."
"Well considering it's a show about people getting eliminated one by one until a certain point, that point being the finale, it doesn't seem too 'crazy' to think about." Samus adjusted her ponytail as the plumber simply groaned at her response.
"You-a know what I mean, right?" He rhetorically asked. "It's-a hard to imagine that there was-a double the amount of people here at one point!"
Samus smirked. "They're all annoyingly memorable, I can imagine that pretty easy."
"Well maybe it's-a just me..." He stated. "Hey, remember when you were-a close to eliminating us?"
"Huh?" She asked, slightly clueless.
Mario decided to elaborate. "Back in the beginning of the competition, where me, Peter, Falcon, and-a Gordon all formed a team against yours! You-a managed to eliminate Peter but luckily the teams changed. I probably wouldn't be here otherwise..."
"Well you are a threat, obviously, but there's nothing I can really do to eliminate you or anyone else I deem a threat other than joining those who are already considering you," explained Samus. "No hard feelings."
"No, no I-a get it! That's-a big prize money, and that hotel stay seems like one-of-a-kind too!" He exclaimed. "I can just imagine staying there, being treated like a king by-a everyone there!"
Samus gave a slightly smug grunt. "Don't get too cocky, this Finale doesn't guarantee victory, and even if it did, you aren't at that point yet."
"Well I got the lead to-a stay safe," he justified his cockiness.
"Perhaps... though will this Finale even involve points?" She questioned rhetorically. "All of my hard work to stay safe may just be put to shame in this Finale."
Sonic walked up to them, raising an eyebrow. "What are you two talking about?"
"The Finale!" Mario responded boldly. "Y'know, the final part of-a this competition?"
"Oh, right, well if it has something to do with those Jury members, and it involves five of us..." He scratched his cheek. "I can't really think of many possibilities. Maybe the jury will vote for one of us five? It fits what we've been doing since this show began, but it seems like ties could form easily."
Samus nodded. "Agreed, maybe that is the case, but eliminations still aren't done. The Finale could be a continuous gauntlet that gradually eliminates all of us until there are only a couple left, then they will be voted for by the jury."
"That's another possibility," agreed Sonic. "But I wouldn't bet on any of these scenarios, considering Alexa's an unpredictable guy."
"True, but it's-a fun to think about it, in a way," confessed Mario.
"It's so suspenseful that I don't wanna think about it!" Sonic said. "Anyway, what's the situation with food?"
Mario pointed behind himself. "The others are currently at the beach getting fish!"
The hedgehog felt a little stupid asking the question. "Yeah well, that's pretty obvious in hindsight."
He took another gaze around the tribe, reassuring himself that nobody else was around, right before huddling closer to the two and speaking a little quieter. "Do any of you have plans for who to eliminate?"
"Not currently," she said. "Though I don't mind if anyone here goes off, at this point. Maybe Captain Falcon seems the most threatening since he has the strength, speed, and athletics that could best any of us, though at the same time the same could be said for you two, and even me. I just feel like Falcon is the one with something up his sleeve..."
"What about Wii Fit Trainer? She would be a good candidate for elimination, right?" Asked Sonic. "After all, doesn't she have that idol?"
Mario gasped. "Oh yeah! I-a forgot about the idol. Looked like a mirror, right?"
"Something to do with reflecting votes, judging by its shape," theorized Samus. "I actually did forget about that idol, believe it or not, so good thing you reminded me. Maybe she IS a bigger threat than Falcon."
"Well, I would rather vote someone based off their level of threat being evident through an idol over a hunch," Sonic shrugged.
Whilst they were coming to a conclusion on who to vote, Mario stopped them both. "Wait-wait-wait! Tomorrow will be-a the last Tribal Council before the Finale, right?"
"Yeah, so what?" Sonic raised his eyebrow.
"So that would probably be her last opportunity to-a use it, right?" Mario rhetorically questioned. "Meaning that she would probably use it on herself. It'd probably be impossible to-a vote her off in that case!"
The hedgehog was stumped, as Mario had a very good point.
"This probably means that Falcon is going to be our best bet," Samus stated. "Papyrus would be easy to deal with in this Finale, and Wii Fit Trainer has her aforementioned idol. I also don't see any of us accusing one another of being the biggest threat going too well, either."
Mario nodded, especially to her last statement, as Sonic folded his arms. "Well, Falcon it is!"
As they came to their conclusion, the three they had been discussing were celebrating.
"FIVE FISH! ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE WHO NEEDS IT!" Papyrus cheered. "AND ONLY AFTER AN HOUR!"
"Man, our luck with fish has been awesome lately! There's always enough fish for everyone, and with Papyrus not counting as a portion, that's even MORE food that we can split between those who actually do need to eat in order to survive! There have even been points where I felt a little full after a meal, which isn't something I expect on an island with limited rations, lemme tell ya..." - Captain Falcon.
"Whoa whoa whoa, don't take my estimate as fact or anything." Captain Falcon calmed him down. "For all we know, we could've been out here for two hours!"
"Definitely didn't feel long, which is weird considering that fishing is boring," Wii Fit Trainer admitted. "It's tedious, too."
Papyrus placed his hand on his jaw, stroking it. "SO... GOING BY THE LOGIC OF TIME SLOWING DOWN THROUGH BORING ACTIVITIES, WE CAN CONCLUDE THAT NOT MUCH TIME HAS PASSED AT ALL! MAYBE WE'VE ONLY BEEN FISHING FOR A FEW MINUTES..."
"Time slows down, but not to that extent!" She corrected worriedly.
"Yeah, feels like we've been here for a couple of hours but it's probably only been one," said Falcon. "Anyway, we should probably be getting back now."
Wii Fit Trainer grabbed the clay pot, stuffed with large juicy fish, and began walking back with him, Papyrus right behind.
"Samus, Sonic, and Mario are going to be happy to see all of this food!" The racer licked his lips. "I know I am."
Papyrus scoffed. "WELL, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPIER IF THEY KEPT ME AS THE COOK FOR THE FISH! NOW I'VE BEEN REDUCED TO COOKING ONLY THE RICE AND BEANS, WHICH IS BORING AND DISTASTEFUL!"
"In all fairness, you aren't very good at cooking fish," said Captain Falcon. "You almost gave me food poisoning that would have counted me out of the show! Good thing those stomach cramps were only for two hours..."
"W-WELL YOUR STOMACH CANNOT HANDLE THE REFINED MEALS THAT I PUT OUT!" He said, taking great offense to his comment.
In an attempt to stop the brewing anger inside of Papyrus, Wii Fit Trainer chimed in to save Falcon's skin. "Well, we both enjoy your rice and beans a lot! Maybe Samus just wanted to cook for herself because she also has a passion for it?"
The lie, whilst unable to work on anyone else, worked surprisingly well on the skeleton, who gasped. "OH! WELL, IN THAT CASE, SHE MAY HAVE THAT SPOT WITHOUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS'S GRUDGE."
In a new, cheery mood, he walked in front of the two with a spring in his step, ready to greet the other three.
After five more minutes of boring walking with nothing other than small-talk taking place, they finally escaped the silent and boring island forest and entered their tribe at the Rockies.
The other three were pleased to see that there was enough fish for everyone, and Papyrus got to work on cooking the rice and beans immediately. Samus also got to work on the fish.
Wii Fit Trainer thought that her little white lie to Papyrus would lay to rest for the rest of the competition, but that definitely wouldn't be the case.
Papyrus leaned over to Samus, who was cooking the fish, and gawked.
"THAT IS INCREDIBLE COOKING! IT'S PERFECTLY COOKED WITHOUT BEING TOO RAW OR TOO BURNT. YOUR PASSION FOR COOKING MUST BE EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH!" He proudly stated.
She gave a little grin to try and act nice to Papyrus, as she couldn't be bothered to act rude, though deep down, him paying such attention was awkward and annoying to her.
"Thank you, but these are basic cooking skills. No passion required," she said almost coldly, but not cold enough for Papyrus to get the memo, leading the skeleton to continue his pursuit of learning about her apparent cooking passion.
He gave a little forced chortle. "GAHA! YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SHY ABOUT YOUR LOVE FOR FOOD AND COOKING TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"
"You're the last person who I'd expect to judge me, so when I say I do not have a passion, I do NOT have a passion," she repeated, this time far more aggressive.
"V-VERY WELL..." He accepted, sweating profusely at her venomous words.
"I KNOW SHE'S HIDING HER LOVE FOR COOKING IN THERE! I JUST HAVE TO BREAK AWAY HER SPIKY ARMOUR AND SOON WE'LL BE SHARING OUR PASSION FOR COOKING, LIKE GORDON! BUT SHE IS QUITE SCARY, SO FINDING A WAY TO MAKE HER COME OUT ABOUT SUCH A THING SHALL BE ONE TRICKY FEAT, BUT THAT'S NO FEAT AT ALL FOR ME!" - Papyrus.
After, they finished off cooking the food and served it to their tribe. It was a pretty delicious meal, with Papyrus's rice and beans still upholding their taste due to Gordon's techniques being burnt into the mind of Papyrus, and with the fish cooked by Samus tasting pretty great too. None of it was exceptional, and to be frank, they were getting more than tired of eating the same food, but it was serviceable, and wasn't a painful experience to eat, either.
They spent some more time talking or wandering around the island before heading off to supposedly the final Roulette of the competition...
Roulette: Day 29
The six survivors walked onto the beach, only six boxes now remained.
Although impossible to put their finger on, they all noticed a change in tone of today's Roulette. Was it the Cloudblots still casting a dark and gloomy atmosphere? Was it just the fact that this would likely be the last Roulette of the show? Maybe they just felt suspense because that's what happens when you're only a couple of days away from a Finale you know nothing about. Whatever it was, all survivors noticed it.
Alexa soon came out, grinning.
"Well survivors, this is the last Roulette before the show's finale!" He wagged his finger. "Which means that this will be the last Roulette. Period."
The announcement didn't come as much of a shock to the survivors, as they already pieced that fact together.
He continued, "In front of you are six boxes, labeled from A to F. As usual, the one with the most points will choose first. This Roulette will have a lot of points to gain from it, too! As well as a lot of points to lose!"
"Oh great, it's not a Roulette without luck ruining your hard-earned total," spat Wii Fit Trainer.
"That's what a Roulette is all about, baby!" Alexa clasped his hands together before rubbing them. "Now, Samus will be the first one to select her box!"
Samus decided to choose Box C.
Mario chose Box D.
Wii Fit Trainer chose Box A.
Captain Falcon chose Box F.
Sonic chose Box E.
And lastly, Papyrus chose Box B.
Upon receiving the cue from Alexa, the survivors opened their boxes individually:
Samus - -50
Mario - 100
Wii Fit Trainer - -150
Captain Falcon - 50
Sonic - -100
Papyrus - 30% Multiplier
"YES! A POINT MULTIPLIER!" Papyrus fixed his cape before posing.
Sonic groaned at his score. He had gone from Hero to Zero in almost no time at all, and this Roulette wasn't helping.
Whilst he was upset with his score, Mario was especially prideful to have gotten one-hundred points, which meant that he was now in the lead and by a long-shot!
Samus hated her score, though she knew that she wouldn't drop out of the Safe Haven entirely thanks to Wii Fit Trainer losing a lot more points.
"Survivors! I will now add these points to your total!" Announced Alexa.
*SAFE HAVEN*
MARIO - 642
SAMUS ARAN - 505
CAPTAIN FALCON - 464
*DANGER ZONE*
PAPYRUS - 330
WII FIT TRAINER - 291
SONIC - 223
"I'm last?!" Sonic's jaw dropped. "This Roulette is lame!"
"I'M NOT LAST?!" In contrast, Papyrus's jaw dropped, though this time it was a much more positive feeling. "THANK YOU, ROULETTE! REIGEN WAS TRULY RIGHT ABOUT ME NOT BEING LAST FOR THE NEXT TRIBAL COUNCIL!"
"Are you still going to believe him?" Wii Fit Trainer placed her hands on her hips. "He's full of himself for crying out loud!"
In response, he snickered under his breath. "THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT TO BELIEVE, BUT EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE SAYING OTHERWISE MRS. FITNESS!"
Alexa then interrupted the brewing tension by finishing the Roulette. "Well survivors, this has been the last Roulette of the show! For some of you, it put you into awful situations, but for others, it helped prevent you from falling into those awful situations! That's not the point, however, the point is that if you managed to get to this point despite luck trying to squander your chances of victory, then you're one tough survivor! Now get yourselves some rest, you'll need it as preparation for tomorrow..."
The survivors, for the last time, left the Roulette, leaving Alexa and his staff team to clean up the boxes...
Challenge: Day 30
Today would mark the final challenge the survivors would have to face before the Finale. The sky was now clearing up, still cloudy but with spells of light shining through, causing the atmosphere to be somewhat brighter than it was before.
"So, what do you think today's challenge is going to be?" Sonic asked, strolling through the forest with the others, making their way to the beach.
Captain Falcon shrugged. "Beats me! Nothing can get more intense than a trek up a giant mountain, after all."
"I believe something is up Alexa's sleeve, an idea for a challenge that may be more intense than Mount Kapela, even if it doesn't involve leaving the island," Wii Fit Trainer theorized. "I wish I had an idea of what that may be..."
Mario focused his vision and saw that the coast was up ahead. "Well, no point in-a guessing now, because I see the beach!"
"Do you see anything?" Asked Falcon.
The plumber placed his hand above his eyes and leaned his head forward.
He locked onto the first thing he could see, and that thing caused him to bellow with disbelief out loud. "Whaaaa?!" The plumber cried, freezing.
"Jeez, now I'm scared to look..." Sonic sniggered under his breath as he looked through the gap himself. "WHOA?!"
Captain Falcon placed his hands on his hips. "You guys can see? My head is still leveled with the tree branches!"
Out of curiosity, he and the other taller members of the tribe picked up their pace, running out of the forest.
When they finally came out onto the same-old beach, they locked eyes with the things that had caused Mario and Sonic to freeze up and become speechless, and they definitely could see why their reactions were that way.
Fifteen people, discluding the adjacent Alexa, stood on the beach in a cluster. These weren't random people, either. These people were the fourteen previously eliminated survivors: Dr. Eggman, Gruntilda Winkybunion, Peter Griffin, Soldier, Wario, Mr. Krabs, Geoffrey Butler, Squidward Tentacles, Gordon Ramsay, Johnny Bravo, Josuke Higashikata, King Dedede, Little Mac and Arataka Reigen.
"The looks on your faces are priceless!" Said Alexa, cracking up. "Even Samus looks to be in shock!"
"It appears that some of them have dreadful faces too. Just look at Sonic's face." Geoffrey drew attention to the hedgehog's miserable face.
"That's because that imbecile hedgehog thought he wouldn't receive any karma for screwing me up and ruining my chances of winning this competition!" Eggman explained. "I may not like this stupid competition, to the point where I even skipped the chance to come back as I was busy working on something, but that doesn't mean that I won't take a few hours from my day just to make you suffer, you hedgehog!"
Sonic's miserable face soon turned back into his cocky one. "Nope, I'm more upset for Alexa, who probably had to wrangle you over here with a leash! Knowing you, I bet you exploded with your elimination."
"I-I DID NOT!" The scientist stomped his feet angrily.
"He did, in all fairness," Gordon cracked a small grin. "Like a bloody child."
Gruntilda sniggered at Eggman's embarrassment. "Crying like a baby over a game show? Alexa may have invested his time into low-budget shambles, but that's no excuse to go squawking like a crow!"
"Your reaction to elimination wasn't that good either, y'know?" Tutted Josuke.
"Silence, fool! Or you shall go bathing in the Earth's pool!" She threatened.
"Earth's pool?" He raised an eyebrow.
"SHE MEANS THE OCEAN, MAGGOT!" Insulted Soldier. "ANY PERSON WITH THREE BRAINCELLS CAN FIGURE THAT OUT, SUCH AS ME!"
Whilst the loud arguing and/or conversation was taking place, Johnny simply gave a casual point to Captain Falcon and smiled innocently.
Alexa then calmed down the group. "Settle down fellas, we don't wanna be here all day!"
The six survivors were spaced out around the cluster of previously eliminated contestants.
"Err, why are we positioned like this?" Asked Wii Fit Trainer.
"I second that question, you haven't even told us about this challenge," Reigen revealed. "Only that we'll have something to do with this challenge."
"PSSSH, I was-a paid money for this, so I don't-a care!" Wario laughed.
Dedede snarled. "You got paid?! I didn't hear nothin' about being paid!"
Peter then silenced them both. "Sssh, he's about to explain the friggin' challenge you guys!"
"You're all already beginning to get on my nerves again..." Squidward muttered under his breath.
Mr. Krabs managed to catch most of his quiet remark. "Mister Squidward! Ya better not be includin' me in that, or your pay will be in the minuses, boy..."
Even though more loud talking ensued once more, Alexa didn't bother getting annoyed further, instead, he just decided to whistle, getting their attention. "Now, if you allow me to explain, this challenge is going to feature ALMOST all of the previously eliminated survivors! You will all pick two people from this group of eliminees to join you for this final challenge. You will pick one before the next person gets to pick, and we'll keep going until there are six teams of three. The order of who gets to pick will be decided by whoever has the most points! Make sure to pick people who you know will help you out for this challenge because you'll need a lot of manpower!"
Mario, being the one with the most points, was the first one to pick a teammate to help aid him in this challenge.
"Hmm..." The plumber gazed at his choices for a couple of seconds before pointing towards Gordon. "You!"
"Me?" Checked Gordon. "Well then, good thing I'm not going to be the last one picked."
He walked over to Mario, joining his team.
The next one to choose was Samus, and she didn't have any close relationships, or even regular relationships with any of the choices, which led her to go for a more strategic approach...
"Josuke, join my team," she beckoned him over.
Papyrus gawked with surprise as one of his potential teammates got robbed from him. Little Mac looked pretty upset over it too, but Josuke surprisingly showed no stress over being picked by Samus.
"Alright then," he nodded, joining her team.
Next was Captain Falcon, who decided to take the risky approach of putting Johnny onto his team. "Johnny, you're up!"
"Aww right," he strutted over to Falcon, cockily waving to the others who hadn't been picked.
"Johnny of all people? Even I feel a little offended over that one..." Geoffrey admitted.
Papyrus was the fourth to pick a teammate for this unknown challenge, and as expected from everyone else, his finger shot towards Little Mac.
"MAC!" He exclaimed. "WE MAY NOT HAVE JOSUKE, BUT WE CAN STILL WIN THIS!"
"Alright, thanks a lot!" Little Mac firmly gripped his bicep in a subtle attempt to show off to the others before joining Papyrus's team.
Wii Fit Trainer was the next one to pick her team member, and she had a small idea of who to choose. She quickly went over every survivor individually before deciding which ones she wanted on her team.
"Geoffrey!" She announced, waving at him.
Geoffrey walked over, simply happy not to be one of the last. "Thank you very much, madam. I'll make sure to serve you in this challenge as best I can."
The final one to pick their first teammate was Sonic, and he noticed that most people had already chosen the stronger or more sane competitors, leaving him to choose one for himself.
"I've barely seen you in action, squid guy." He pointed to him. "Join my team!"
"Finally, it's about time somebody recognized my skill!" Squidward grinned smugly as he walked over.
Mr. Krabs rolled his eyes. "Mister Squidward, 'yer a cashier! Don't be so full of it..."
The squid ignored his remark as he joined Sonic's team.
Alexa then spoke up. "Everyone will now pick their second teammate, starting with Mario!"
"I have-a vague memories of you doing well in challenges, Soldier," Mario noticed. "Maybe you'll be a good pick for the team!"
Soldier began cackling. "MAYBE?! You underestimate the power of an AMERICAN soldier, maggot! Nothing like a pansy French soldier or one of those loud-mouthed Russian soldiers!"
Mario gulped as he waved both of his hands apologetically. "I didn't mean it like-a that!"
Gordon sighed. "Well done, you picked a complete nutter."
Next, Samus had to choose her second teammate to help her alongside Josuke, and she eyed each one, a little stumped on who to choose.
Eventually, she decided to settle on Eggman. "You seem incredibly intelligent though childish, I feel like having skill, strength and intelligence covered will be our best bet for this challenge."
"Of course, the one who almost helped me out on the first-ever night of elimination is also the same one who recognizes my genius!" Eggman walked over with gusto, Sonic secretly dreading having to compete against him.
Captain Falcon had to pick from the final six survivors remaining, and fortunately, his mind was already made up.
"Peter, I don't know how good you really are, but considering we were friends before your elimination, I trust you enough to help me win this!" He stated with confidence.
Due to this compliment, Peter's face grew slightly more serious. "Oh don't you worry! I'm gonna kick more ass than, well, anyone else here!"
"A regular old human picked over a force to be reckoned with such as me?" Dedede grew angry. "That ain't right!"
Papyrus was given the opportunity to choose the next person, and he had a struggle picking somebody himself.
"HMM... MAYBE I'LL PICK Y-... WAIT NO, LITTLE MAC ISN'T VERY FOND YOU, SO I'LL PICK, ERR... YOU!" He pointed to Dedede. "THE ROYAL PENGUIN!"
Dedede grinned. "You're finally givin' me some action!"
"I don't like Dedede either but whatever," Little Mac groaned.
"Well too bad!" He roared with laughter.
Only four more picks remained: Gruntilda, Wario, Krabs, and Reigen.
Wii Fit Trainer had no problems picking from the four, as she immediately pointed to Reigen. "I'll pick you!"
"The fact that I nearly wasn't picked is a little alarming, considering how far I got in this show..." Reigen muttered under his breath before speaking up. "Good on you for picking me, Wii Fit!"
Before Sonic was given the cue to choose his final team member, Mr. Krabs tapped the shoulder of Alexa. "Say, err, what happens to the two who ain't picked by this furry blue lad?"
"Simple!" He responded. "You spectate."
"S-SPECTATE? THAT AIN'T GONNA GET ME FAME!" Eugene bellowed before quivering with fear. "Please pick me..."
The hedgehog was finally given his cue to choose, and without a second thought, his finger trailed over to the desperate crab. "You're a lot better than the other two choices, I guess."
"GAHA! Take that, Wario!" He cockily spat, walking over to Sonic.
"Whaaa? I was-a paid just to stand around?" Wario groaned.
Gruntilda cackled. "That just may be! Without Gruntilda they'll lose, just see."
"I wasn't talking to-a you, weirdo." He bitterly turned away from her.
Alexa looked at the teams. "Pretty good groups of three we got here! Now we can finally get down to the challenge."
The survivors then silently watched as he dumped a pile of chains onto the floor in front of him.
"This challenge will be pretty annoying, I'll tell ya that!" He snickered under his breath before continuing. "You alongside your two other team members will be chained up to one another, meaning that you will all have to coordinate your movements if you want to even stand up! The teams will then collect two keys, one of these keys will be located in the old tribe of Haupia, and the other key will be located in the old tribe of Laau Pama. Once you gather both keys, you will use them to unlock your chain, and the first one to wrap their chain around this pole over here will win the challenge. First place will receive five-hundred points, second place will receive four-hundred, third place will receive three-hundred, fourth place will receive two-hundred, fifth place will receive one-hundred, and the team in last place will receive nothing!"
He pointed to the tall, rough wooden beam behind him. No survivors were pleased over this challenge idea at all.
"What's in it for us?" Dedede folded his arms. "That Wario guy got paid for this!"
Mr. Krabs folded his claws. "Yeah! What's 'yer plan?"
Alexa smirked. "Well, I was quite ambiguous when I said I was going to pay him, but now's the time to spill the beans: if you help your teammate get first place, then you will be rewarded handsomely with one-thousand dollars!"
"ONE-THOUSAND?!" His jaw dropped. "I NEED THAT MONEY!"
"He sounds more riled up over a thousand than he did with a million," noticed Reigen.
Wario grumbled. "So I don't get a shot at the money because none of-a these idiots picked me?!"
"To put it simply, yes!" He revealed, his slightly sadistic smile slowly fading as Wario grew angrier and angrier by the second. "M-moving on! I'll be attaching these chains to you."
He grabbed one of the chains with both hands and moved over to the first group he saw. The chain was completely made of steel and had three ankle bracelets, one on each end and one in the middle of the chain. He wrapped the bracelets around their feet, ankles, or legs depending on their build before locking them. It was a miracle that all of them fit decently well on everyone.
Afterward, he lined all six groups into one neat line before checking that each one was on properly. There were no problems, so he stood in front of them boldly.
"Alright survivors! Let's get things started," said Alexa. "On the count of three, you'll all rush to get those keys! The order you get them doesn't matter, and the only rule you need to know is to NOT break the chains or the bracelets, capiche?"
"Sounds good to-a me!" Mario smiled.
He began counting, this was it, the final challenge, the final obstacle in their path before they could get to the hyped-up finale of the show, all they had to do was get a good score and safety would be guaranteed...
"Three..."
"Two..."
"ONE!" Alexa exclaimed, whistling using his fingers. "GO GO GO!"
Awkwardly, all of the groups began limping out across the beach, and it was a sight to see, and a hilarious one at that.
Mario's team: Mario, Gordon, and Soldier, all did decently well at coordinating and walking at the same time. One slight screwup in their walking could cause them to lose balance. They huddled together and slowly but surely made it across their beach. They weren't the fastest, but they were one of the more durable groups, which was a surprise considering Soldier was apart of it. They planned to head to Laau Pama first.
Samus's team: Samus, Josuke, and Eggman were the fastest team out of them all. Samus led the way, and her two teammates were decent at following her pace, though Eggman nearly tripped over a few times, thinking about what he would do when he ever came head-to-head with Sonic later in the challenge. They planned to head to Haupia first.
Captain Falcon's team: Falcon, Johnny, and Peter, were a huge contrast to the first two, constantly tripping up and traveling slowly. Johnny's inability to follow the basic coordinations, Peter's awful ability to keep balance and Falcon's impatience with the two not only caused him to regret picking them within the first five seconds of the race, but also caused them to be at last place and by a long shot. If they could even get there by the end of the challenge, their first destination is Laau Pama.
Papyrus's team: Papyrus, Little Mac, and King Dedede, were the second-worst. Whilst Little Mac had good balance and a good ability to maintain pace, Papyrus had terrible balance and couldn't match the brutal pace of Dedede, who almost tried to drag them along as he raced for their first destination, which was Laau Pama.
The true definition of balance, however, was Wii Fit Trainer's team: Wii Fit, Geoffrey, and Reigen. They weren't the quickest, but their coordination and pace were good enough to make them rival Samus's team, though they were slightly behind due to a hiccup involving Reigen tripping over within the first few seconds. They decided to go to Laau Pama first.
Finally, Sonic's team: Sonic, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs, were a very lukewarm team. They weren't as bad as Falcon's team or Papyrus's team, but they constantly had little moments where they were thrown off balance a little bit. Luckily they got better with every minute, due to them warming up to this type of movement. Their first location would be Haupia.
Samus's team was the first to make it into the forest, and Eggman grew a little cocky and excited at that fact.
"So, we're off to Haupia, right? Just a warning, if we run into that hedgehog, I'll be taking a little detour to trip him over to get back at him!" Eggman cackled. "That's the only reason I'm here!"
"You screw me up, you won't be the only person with determination to get revenge..." Samus warned.
Josuke looked a little fearful of her expression, subtly furious at Eggman's childish words. He hoped that they wouldn't begin bickering, otherwise their chances of getting first place would be impossible.
"Oh, I remember now! This is the forest route we used to take to get to the challenges from Laau Pama," Geoffrey noticed. "Looks like my memory of this island isn't blank after all."
"This island's more than forgettable, why can't Alexa have this show take place somewhere interesting?" Reigen complained.
Wii Fit Trainer rolled her eyes. "You got eliminated because you didn't scale a mountain the quickest, Reigen. You can't seriously say that the Tropics are uninteresting and mean it!"
"I guess it's just this island that I find pretty boring, in that case..." He said.
"Psst, Mario," Gordon whispered to the plumber.
"Huh?" He raised his eyebrow.
The chef leaned a little closer, making sure Soldier couldn't hear him. "Surprised him behind me is managing to stay cooperative. You'd think the total opposite just from looking at him..."
Almost as if Soldier was waiting for the two of them to think that, he piped up. "This stupid walk... REAL men soar to our objective like the eagles we are!"
Suddenly, he began leading them onwards, a sadistic smile growing in his face as he practically dragged the two with him, both of them fighting to keep balance.
"I bloody jinxed it!" Panicked Gordon.
"Waaaaaaah!" Cried Mario as he was dragged forward.
Sonic led the way as Squidward slumped behind, his face was pretty uninterested but he decided to do his bit by keeping up at the same pace as Sonic. After all, he wanted the money to himself.
"C'mon, we gotta go a lil' faster if we want that cold hard cash, mister Squidward!" Ordered Krabs.
"I'm going as fast as I can! You're the reason why we've been tripping most of this time," he snapped back.
"Oh, I get it, so 'yer expectin' me' peg legs to be as hard-workin' as those tentacles of yours, eh?" He folded his claws and pouted. "Nobody makes discrimination towards me and gets away with it!"
The hedgehog sighed as they continued to bicker, shrugging out of irritation.
"C'mon Papyrus!" Beckoned Little Mac. "If you wanna win then you gotta go a little faster than that."
Dedede patted the boxer's shoulder. "I darn agree! You've done nothin' but hold me back from gettin' at least SOME of that prize."
"DON'T WORRY, THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOES WELL IN FORESTS COMPARED TO BEACHES! I'VE ONLY BEEN TO A BEACH ABOUT TWICE SINCE I CAME TO THE SURFACE," Papyrus explained. "BUT NOW THAT I'M IN A GRASSY TERRAIN, CONSIDER OUR CHANCES OF WINNING DOUBLED!"
"Zero percent times two still equals zero ya idiot!" The penguin taunted, dragging the skeleton and boxer along with him. "If you were any slower I'd be carryin' you!"
"This feels great! I'm helpin' out my old pal to help him win the show, I bet I'll make it into the newspapers, or, erm, FOX News!" Peter got giddy over thinking about the challenge.
Suddenly, he tripped over due to a sudden tug from in front of him, causing him to get angry. "Argh, what the crap is wrong with you?!"
Johnny turned around and pointed to himself. "I don't think there's anything WRONG with me, I think the more grammatical term would be more along the lines of, ahem, 'argh, what the heck is RIGHT with you?!'."
"Never correct me like that again," pleaded Peter. "Anyway, what made you randomly tug on the chain?"
"Falcon suddenly tugged on it himself! What did ya want me to do?" He defended himself.
"I tripped on a rock," Captain Falcon explained. "Now stop arguing, we still need to get to Laau Haupa!"
Samus and Sonic's group headed for Haupia. The two teams hadn't met one another just yet, but Samus and her two teammates could see the old shelter of Laau Pama. After twenty painful yet organized minutes of walking, they had finally made it to the tribe.
The tribe was less run-down and was more barren, all of the supplies and equipment were long gone, and the only things that remained were the ashes from the campfire and the shelter.
"So, where's the key?" Asked Eggman. "I don't see it anywhere!"
Josuke shrugged. "I imagine Alexa wants us to look around for it."
"Knowing him, maybe it'll be in the Haupia shelter?" Samus suggested.
They slowly shuffled to the front of the shelter and stared inside, and just as she thought, six white keys were towards the back.
"One of us would have to crawl in and grab it! That would throw off most of our balance." Eggman began twirling his bushy mustache as he came up with several ideas. "Maybe if we all adjusted ourselves into a neat row and crawled into the shelter at the same time! That way we won't fall over because we won't be standing up..."
As he turned his head to the others to confirm if his idea is plausible, his face went blank as Josuke held the key in his hand.
"I-IMPOSSIBLE! I didn't feel a rattle on that chain y-yet you managed to grab the key? You must be some sort of telekinetic boy, right?" He guessed.
"Josuke used his stand's power, and if you want to know more about it, then he'll gladly explain to you later," Samus said as she took the key from Josuke's hand. She bent down and slotted the key into one of the locks, twisting it until an audible click was heard. The chain wasn't at all different, and neither were the bracelets confining their legs to said chain, but all they needed was the green key, and then they would be free to win the challenge."
Eggman picked up on her sass, though decided to keep quiet, as he thought that beating Sonic was more valuable than arguing with her. "Very well, now let's get to Laau Pama before anyone else shows up."
Whilst this was going on, Wii Fit Trainer and her group finally reached Laau Pama, and were slowly moving around the tribe to find the key.
"Hmm, maybe it's in the shelter?" Geoffrey recommended.
"What makes you say that?" Interrogated Reigen.
"Think about it, this tribe has nothing left of it other than the shelter and some burnt up firewood!" He explained. "So let's just check it out."
"Good idea," said Wii Fit Trainer as she walked over, leading the way for the others.
When they looked into the shelter, however, there weren't any signs of a key anywhere.
"Well, that's disappointing..." The butler folded his arms. "Well, I'm afraid to inform you all that I am out of ideas."
"I got one idea," said Reigen, leading them over to the adjacent campfire.
He knelt down, slightly tugging on the other two as he dunked his hand into the ashy fire.
It was a little gross, but the two were surprised to see two green keys emerge from the pile.
Reigen plunged one of them back into the ash as he slotted the other into the correct keyhole, twisting it.
"Great find, Reigen!" Wii Fit Trainer congratulated. "We didn't even waste too much time here, either. I bet we can win this if we get to Haupia quick enough!"
Triumphantly, she began traveling to Haupia, with Reigen and Geoffrey just behind her.
Shortly after Wii Fit's team left Laau Pama's old tribe, Dedede came storming in with Little Mac closely by, and with Papyrus constantly losing his balance.
"S-SLOW DOWN!" barked Papyrus.
Little Mac gave a nod. "Even I'm starting to lose balance, can you calm down for at least a second?!"
"No way! I ain't goin' at the same pace as y'all, otherwise, we'll lose! I never face humiliation, but if I ever somehow do, well I'm not gonna face it twice..." Dedede grunted, storming around the tribe. "Hey, I rememba' this place, and it's become kinda crummy!"
The penguin marched towards the shelter. "Aww, this is gonna be one easy key to find!"
He peeked into the shelter, taking a long gaze and focusing on every nook and cranny of the structure.
Whilst he didn't audibly state whether there was a key there, Little Mac and Papyrus got a good idea judging from the audible whining that Dedede emitted after searching the shelter.
"Where else could it be?" The king rubbed his beak before instantly spinning around violently to face the campfire ashes, sending the other two tumbling. "Aha! I got an idea..."
"T-THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE MY CHALLENGE, MEANING THAT I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE LEADER TO GUIDE US TO VICTORY! INSTEAD I'M BEING THROWN AROUND LIKE A PET ON A LEASH!" - Papyrus.
Dedede approached the campfire. "Just look at it! There's a small hole in the middle of this, so I bet that's where Alexa wants us to check."
...
The king coughed forcefully as he patted Little Mac on the shoulder. "Well?!"
"Wait, why do I have to grab it?!" Little Mac asked, slightly hesitant to dip his boxing glove into the powdery black mix of soot, ash, and chunks of firewood.
"Because I ain't messin' up these gloves!" Replied Dedede.
The boxer looked furious over the fact that he had to do it, but soon that expression broke into mild sorrow as he gave up and dug his glove into the ash.
"GET YOUR SORRY EXCUSE FOR A GLOVE OUT OF MY ASHES!" Soldier yelled from afar, appearing through the trees as he dragged Gordon and Mario with him, both of them attempting to stand up but were instead scraped along the ground.
"WAAAHAHAHAAAA!" Mario cried with terror. Gordon was next to him, enraged from the reckless behavior.
"G-get the key quickly!" Demanded Dedede. "That freak is gainin' on us!"
"You will LOOK like a freak once I get my grubby hands on you KEY-STEALING HIPPIES!" He threatened.
Little Mac fumbled about, he had grabbed the key, but the panic of seeing Soldier slowly charge towards them caused him to drop it.
Soon the two groups were a few meters apart, and the mercenary got closer and closer, now starting to cackle vividly.
At the last second, he grabbed the key and simultaneously flicked a cloud of ash into Soldier's face, causing him to recoil and brush his face, slowing him down.
"GAAAAAH!" Screeched Papyrus, terrified of the rampaging Soldier.
They all stumbled away from him, Papyrus tripping over a few times and nearly bringing down Mac with him, but he eventually got the groove of walking in synch down, causing him to exit the area with his teammates.
Soldier finished wiping the ash off of his face before his eyes twitched with absolute rage, he immediately buried his open hand into the pile of ash and immediately found the green key, maintaining focus on Little Mac especially.
"You see this key?! I will pry this very same type of key from your cold dead hands..." He growled.
Luckily for Mario and Gordon, they managed to quickly stand back up as Soldier was busy grabbing the key.
This didn't last long, however, as his wild sprint caused them to instantly lose balance again. He ran towards them, though very slowly as he was dragging two men using his legs only.
"Mother*CENSORED*!" Cursed Gordon.
Sonic, Squidward and Krabs entered Haupia, as quiet as can be, and they were relieved to see that nobody else was present.
"Alright, let's get out of here and quick, because I don't think many of them suckers decided to go here first!" Krabs wrung his claws as he moved with his team.
They immediately gravitated towards the shelter to look for the keys, and to their luck, the five remaining white keys were right there, in front of their eyes.
"Nice!" Sonic smirked, leaning onto the structure and attempting to reach for one of the keys. This caused the chains to strain, which further resulted in Squidward and Mr. Krabs losing a little bit of balance, though not enough to trip.
"Maybe the shortest shouldn't be the one to get the key," mumbled Squidward.
After his cynical remark, Sonic managed to barely nab the end of one of the white keys, retreating out of the shelter and slotting the key into the chain.
"Now we just need the other," he said. "Then I'll run over and tie the chain to the pole."
"Whatever gets me that cash!" Krabs smirked.
"W-we're finally at Laau Pama?!" Captain Falcon noticed. "Please tell me we aren't in last place..."
"I sorta got the vibe that we're in last place by a long shot, but that's just me," admitted Peter.
He decided to ignore the pessimistic comment as he noticed that ash was scattered around the old campfire, which made searching for the key a lot easier of a task, now that the location had been laid out in front of them.
They approached the ash as Johnny dug his hand into it, pulling out a key. He then slotted it into the keyhole and turned, but nothing happened.
"Huh?" He raised his eyebrow, turning it again. "This darn key's a fake!"
Peter gasped. "Oh God! Then where's the real one-"
*CLICK*
"Oh, sorry, turns out I just turned it the wrong way!" Johnny declared.
Captain Falcon buried his face in his hand as he gave out one brief yet heavy sigh.
"You don't look very happy," noted Peter.
"Great observation, but hey, we got a key!" The bounty hunter stated, attempting to get his optimism back up. "Next stop, Haupia!"
Ten whole minutes passed since Captain Falcon's team, also the last team, retrieved their first key. Most of the survivors were now around the middle of the island, and Samus's team was even nearly to their second key, and it was just a matter of running back to the beach from there.
Sonic's team had fully gotten the timing and pattern walking down, at this point, although there was a very occasional trip or fall that cost them some time.
Due to Papyrus's team getting chased by Mario's team - specifically just Soldier - they were unintentionally the fastest tribe, their pace and rhythm being near-perfect solely due to their fear of Soldier catching up to them, and Soldier's burning determination to catch them also made him very fast, even if he was dragging Mario and Gordon via chain.
Wii Fit Trainer's team was also close to getting their last key, but their moderate pace didn't outmatch Samus's team, unfortunately for them.
Samus, Eggman, and Josuke entered Laau Pama, all they had to do was find the last key, and then winning the challenge would be straightforward from there.
"Well, it looks like finding the key won't be much of a challenge this time," Eggman pointed directly towards the messy ashes. "Somebody's dug in there!"
"But what if they just did that to check if it was there, and it wasn't?" Questioned Samus.
Eggman nodded. "Hmm... fair point."
"I'll just use Crazy Diamond to check it out," Josuke said as he summoned his stand.
The spirit quickly glided over to the pile of ash before punching it out of the way and into the air, revealing two more keys.
"I didn't even see anything... the pile just spluttered everywhere..." Analyzed Eggman. "And he calls it 'Crazy Diamond' eh? I can't exactly call him out for such a cheesy name considering I name all of my inventions after a nickname of mine, but it's still quite a ridiculous name!"
Josuke tapped his feet as he received the key from his stand. "I can hear everything you're saying, y'know?"
"O-of course," he gulped. "S-sorry to insult you!"
Samus took the key from him as she slotted the key into the chain's second lock, turning it until a click was heard. Suddenly, all of the bracelets wrapped around their legs felt looser as the chain flopped to the ground.
With victory in her mind, she grabbed the chain and began running back alongside the other two.
"Running without having to worry about tripping every five seconds sure is great!" Josuke laughed joyfully. "I wonder how much Yen this prize money is worth..."
Wii Fit Trainer, Reigen, and Geoffrey arrived at Haupia for the second key, and naturally, they decided to dig into the campfire to check for a key, just like for the last key.
"Unfortunately, I couldn't feel a single thing in there," informed Geoffrey. "Having it in the same place was too good to be true, anyhow."
Both of them were slightly frustrated to hear that fact, but Wii Fit Trainer was nowhere near close to giving up just yet. "Maybe it's in the shelter this time!"
"Y'know, we may sound smart for checking the campfire and the shelter for keys before anything else, but those are the only two things that remain in the tribe!" - Wii Fit Trainer.
They moved over to the shelter and stared into it, catching the keys.
"Aha! Just as I had predicted," said Reigen.
"I refuse to believe that you genuinely predicted it, Mr. Arataka." Geoffrey shook his head at him.
"Why does nobody ever believe me?!" He grumbled.
Wii Fit Trainer leaned in and grabbed the key, she then unlocked her chain and took it off of everyone.
"At long last, we're free from those stupid shackles. They were starting to hurt my leg a little," Reigen confessed. "Anyway, let's go!"
The three of them began running off to the beach, hoping that nobody would be present there.
"I think we lost 'em!" Announced Dedede, giving an out-of-breath chortle. "Those idiots can't outpace us!"
Papyrus gave a slow nod before gasping. "WAIT, LOOK!"
They turned their heads and saw the old Haupia tribe.
"We made it already?!" Little Mac queried. "Looks like being chased by the madman with a helmet really paid off!"
As they cheered, their joy was quickly interrupted by a green key shooting right past their faces, stabbing the tree adjacent to them. With strikingly immense fear, they looked over to see who exactly threw it.
"That was our key you *CENSORED* doughnut!" Gordon scolded the Soldier as he walked forwards, cracking his fists.
"If fighting is sure to result in victory then you must FIGHT!" He barked, snapping his head over to Gordon. "And I think kicking their asses holds more priority than some key!"
Little Mac shook his head, waving his hands apologetically. "L-look, I didn't mean to annoy you even more! You just looked like you were about to-"
"Beat the hippie out of you?" He smirked maliciously, drawing closer.
Papyrus's team slowly began stumbling away from him as Gordon and Mario managed to scramble to their feet again; Soldier had finally gotten exhausted from all of the running.
"Quick, grab the key!" Mario commanded.
Gordon reached out and plucked the green key from the tree Soldier had pierced when they walked by it, and he held it to his chest to make sure that he wouldn't lose it.
"That was-a close..." The plumber said. "Soldier, let's-a get that key before them, then you won't have to-a drag us!"
"HMM..." The mercenary rubbed his chin. "You're wise for a pasta-binging coward! Let's go get that key, men!"
Soon Soldier began quickening his pace, more and more, quickly to the point where the others had to run and pray that they didn't screw up in order to keep balanced.
They soon began gaining on the group in front of them again, Papyrus being the first one to notice it.
"ERM, WHERE'S THE KEY?!" He questioned, constantly glancing back and forth at the other group.
"Nobody's touched the ashes, it can't be in there!" Little Mac said. "Maybe around the shelter?"
They began moving around the shelter, and as soon as they gazed inside to see the keys, Soldier pushed past them and leaped into the shelter, dragging Mario and Gordon along with him.
He grabbed the key and retreated, him and Gordon using their keys on the locks to finally break free from the chain.
"FINALLY!" Soldier grinned, turning towards them. "Now I can show you the TRUE meaning of war, son!"
"W-WELL, I HAD A GOOD LIFE!" Papyrus said as he cowered in fear.
Mario handed the chain to Gordon as he ran off to finish the challenge, though the plumber himself stayed behind and tapped Soldier on his arm.
"Eh?" He turned his head. "What do you want? Parmesan?!"
"Don't you want to-a be the first American to get to the beach?" The plumber asked, previously picking up on his patriotism and using it against him. "You're already wasting time!"
Soldier then froze before beginning to run off. "CONSIDER YOURSELVES LUCKY!"
"I'm-a surprised that he fell for that," Mario chuckled. "Let's-a hope that there are no other Americans at the beach."
"Thanks for the help, Mario..." Little Mac gave a sigh of relief as he leaned into the house to grab the key. "That guy was close to killing us!"
"Maybe that's why you don't flick ash in his face, then!" Blamed Dedede.
As they both began bickering, Mario ran off to meet up with his group...
Wii Fit Trainer escaped the forest alongside Geoffrey and Reigen, and her face dropped a tiny bit.
It turned out that Samus, Eggman, and Josuke both got back before them, and had already wrapped their chain around the pole. Alexa was still congratulating them on being first place, too.
"Well that's a shame, although at least you managed to get second place!" Geoffrey smiled. "Don't worry about us missing the prize."
"Actually, DO worry about us missing the prize!" Reigen butted in. "One-thousand dollars is a lot in Yen!"
She pouted. "Well, I guess second place is decent enough, I'm sorry I couldn't get you to first place to get the money, guys."
"I already said, don't worry about us, especially Reigen..." He muttered. "Now hurry up before another person nabs second place!"
Wii Fit Trainer sprinted over, her chain in her hand, and she reached the pole, wrapping the chain around it and tying a decent knot.
"WII FIT TRAINER AND HER TEAM EARN SECOND PLACE!" Announced Alexa. "She will earn four-hundred points whilst you guys will unfortunately earn nothing..."
She celebrated alongside her group as the others congratulated her, all but Eggman, who was too busy still celebrating over the fact that he beat Sonic, and by a longshot too!
Right after the celebrations and embraces died down, Gordon erupted from the forest, Soldier not too far behind him.
The chef had the chain, and as fast as possible, he reached the pole and tied a firm knot. As he did so, Mario came out of the forest and ran up to the others himself.
"MARIO'S TEAM EARNS THIRD PLACE!" Applauded Alexa as well as a few others. "Mario will earn three-hundred points, though Gordon and Soldier will earn nothing."
"Why were they all so split up?" Josuke questioned.
"Soldier's lost his marbles, if he had any, that's why." Gordon shook his head and gave a deep sigh. "That was absolutely exhausting."
"We-a got third?" Mario asked. "That should-a hopefully be enough to stay safe!"
Like with Wii Fit Trainer and her team, they all celebrated, Soldier gloating he was the first American to make it to the beach, even though it wasn't true at all.
Around a minute passed before Little Mac came bursting out of the forest, followed by Papyrus and then King Dedede.
When he went to approach the pole, however...
Sonic, harnessing the chain, zipped right in front of him, wrapping and tying his chain to the pole before Little Mac could even react.
"WHA..." Papyrus paused.
"Whoops, sorry!" He winked.
"SONIC AND HIS TEAM WINS FOURTH PLACE... wherever his team members are," added Alexa. "Sonic wins two-hundred points!"
As Little Mac bitterly wrapped his chain around the pole, securing fifth place, Squidward and Mr. Krabs ran out of the forest to join Sonic.
"NOOOO! MY PRECIOUS MONEY..." Krabs cried. "WE WERE TOO LATE, TOO LITTLE MISTER SQUIDWARD! TOO LATE TOO LIIIITTLE!"
"How sad," he unenthusiastically commented. "Get off the floor."
Eggman pointed towards his hedgehog rival and laughed. "SORRY SONIC, BUT I WIN THIS ROUND!"
"Hey, at least I got further than you, even if I wasn't brought back!" He gave a cocky grin.
"Why you little... you aren't phased by my victory aren't you?! Well, mark my words, because one day I'll see that suffering in your eyes!" Eggman promised angrily before facing away, folding his arms. "Now give me that money so I can get out of here already!"
"Not until the final group shows up, I bet they won't take that long!" Said Alexa, brushing off their absence as if it were nothing.
Seconds passed, then minutes, then half an hour struck the survivors as they all continued waiting for this last group.
"Where are they?!" Josuke asked, beginning to get angry.
Shortly after questioning their whereabouts, Captain Falcon began running towards the pole.
"Finally!" He celebrated. "Wait... I'm last?!"
"Yeah... and by a lot..." Alexa informed.
Captain Falcon groaned as he wrapped the chain around the pole, Peter and Johnny showing up behind him.
"Aww crap, we did horrible!" Peter grumbled.
"Well you know what they say, last place is first place for losers!" Johnny triumphantly commented. "Wait... that doesn't sound too positive for me."
Alexa chuckled as he gave in the final results. "With you guys being last, you earn no points whatsoever! To recap the final results: Samus, Josuke Higashikata and Dr. Eggman got first; Wii Fit Trainer, Arataka Reigen and Geoffrey Butler got second; Mario, Gordon Ramsay, and Soldier got third; Sonic, Squidward and Mr. Krabs got fourth; Papyrus, Little Mac and King Dedede got fifth; and Captain Falcon, Johnny Bravo, and Peter Griffin got dead-last. Give thanks to your teammates for participating! Josuke and Eggman will receive one-thousand dollars as a result, and Wario and Gruntilda also deserve some level of thanks for painfully spectating the whole thing."
"Painful? You-a got that right!" Wario spat.
"Thanks for helping me out, guys!" Wii Fit Trainer waved goodbye as they began to leave.
"FAREWELL, LITTLE MAC AND DEDEDE!" Saluted Papyrus.
The others also said their goodbyes to their team members as they all soon disappeared from sight, once again leaving the final six.
"The cast is pretty small now, eh?" Alexa asked. "Allow me to add your earned points to your totals before you head back to decide who to vote off:"
*SAFE HAVEN*
SAMUS ARAN - 1005
MARIO - 942
WII FIT TRAINER - 691
*DANGER ZONE*
CAPTAIN FALCON - 464
PAPYRUS - 430
SONIC - 423
"Well, there you have it! Captain Falcon, Papyrus, and Sonic are all up for elimination," revealed Alexa. "Now head back to the tribe and discuss who to vote off!"
The survivors walked back to their tribe...
Laau Haupa: Day 30
Survivors: Mario - Papyrus - Samus Aran - Wii Fit Trainer - Captain Falcon - Sonic
Although the sky was finally clear from Cloudblots, the brightness of the daylight didn't last too long, as dusk had now fallen, leaving the sky enveloped in an orange hue from the sunset as the rest of it had a royal blue color.
The six survivors were together, every last one of them prepared to take on the final elimination before the beginning of the end of Survivor Crossover.
"So, elimination it is then?" Captain Falcon said, twiddling his thumbs. "It's sorta awkward to even suggest a possible eliminee."
"Allow me to suggest one for you, then." Samus shot a cold stare at him, which told Falcon that whatever she was about to say wouldn't be pretty for him. "That suggestion is you."
He gasped, even though he almost expected someone like her to suggest him. "M-me?! Why?!"
"She's back to trying to get me eliminated again! First it was her, then Reigen and Squidward, now everyone! This is really bad, but good thing Wii Fit Trainer has her idol." - Captain Falcon.
"You seem to be the most threatening out of the other three," she informed.
Wii Fit Trainer silently watched as the two argued with one another. Even though she was in an alliance, she wouldn't say anything to avoid people catching on, which would make things even worse for Falcon.
"And Sonic isn't?!" Falcon stood up, pointing to him. "Nothin' against him, but he can run faster than all of us combined and then some! Not to mention he's more athletic than me, and the only reason he's up for elimination is down to bad luck! This is your one opportunity to vote off Sonic, and I guarantee that he's capable of beating us all in this finale."
"You have a lot of strategy behind what you do, and you're incredibly good at influencing others to your specific viewpoint, which will unfortunately not work this time," she revealed. "Mainly down to how me, Sonic and Mario have planned to vote you off for some time."
"M-Mario too?!" He almost wanted to clench his fists, but deep down he was trying to convince himself that Mario didn't do it out of spite, but only to win the game himself, which helped calm him down.
"No-a hard feelings, but you ARE a pretty big threat," sighed Mario.
Sonic wagged his finger. "I think it's best that you just give up now, not to sound like a villain or anything, but what's your hope of getting out of this?"
Papyrus chattered his teeth, unsure of what to do. "ERM... FALCON HELPED OUT MY FRIENDS SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE! I CAN'T VOTE FOR HIM."
"He'll destroy you in this finale." Samus attempted to convince him.
In response, he shook his head. "NO! WELL, YES, HE WILL, BUT I THINK I'VE COME TO TERMS WITH THE FACT THAT... WELL... EVERYONE WILL 'DESTROY' ME IN THIS FINALE. I HAVEN'T BEEN SAFE IN AGES... SO I WON'T DECIDE ON THREATS, BUT WHO MY FRIENDS ARE"
"That's a great mindset! Unfortunately, I'm stumped myself." Wii Fit Trainer could do nothing but shrug. "Maybe I will vote Falcon, because he does sound like a pretty big threat, now that I think about it..."
Although he looked slightly betrayed, a good part of him believed that she was saying that to fool the others and that she'll help him out in Tribal Council.
"Which brings it to a four-to-two vote," said Sonic.
"C'mon Wii Fit!" Pleaded Falcon. "We've barely interacted," he lied, "but I know we're still on good terms!"
Suddenly, she snapped, her eyes flaring. "Barely interacted?! We were in an alliance, but all you could do was make the decisions yourself and use me as some extra vote! I'm sorry, and I tried to make things sound less harsh, but I'm going to be voting you no matter what. I'll also be using my idol against you too, whatever it does."
At first, Captain Falcon presumed that Wii Fit Trainer was still going along with it, but after studying her face, he was in shock... she looked to be telling the hard truth. It made no sense to him; had he really hurt her feelings?
Samus looked convinced enough. "Well, a definite four-to-two, plus an idol that doesn't even need to be used! You might as well just switch votes Papyrus."
Papyrus shook his head. "SORRY MADAM, BUT I'M STILL GOING TO DO IT OUT OF COURTESY!"
"Sheesh, I didn't want it to be so dramatic..." Sonic scratched the back of his head. "Good thing Tribal Council starts soon."
Mario gave a slightly nervous smile. "Agreed."
"I'm slightly suspicious of Wii Fit Trainer. Somebody so optimistic and friendly getting so easily upset? I thought the only times where she showed anger was when Alexa was putting people in danger. Then again, to know that they were in an alliance is interesting, and it just shows how strategic Captain Falcon really is..." - Samus Aran.
Captain Falcon began walking off. "Y'know what? I think I need a walk before this begins..."
As he disappeared, Mario felt a little bad about having to vote for him, and he almost pondered voting for Sonic, but alas, he decided to stick with Falcon.
They spent the remainder of their time either in silence or quietly chatting amongst themselves as Captain Falcon roamed around the island, thinking about his time here.
Eventually, however, it soon was time to head off to Tribal Council. Even if things looked sour for some, they couldn't keep the fact that this was the FINAL challenge in getting to the Finale off of their minds, and with determination, confidence, and hope, they all went off to Tribal Council...
Tribal Council: Night 30
The place was warm, but that didn't stop shivers being sent down the spines of those who were present there. The survivors all entered and sat down on their benches as per usual, and soon the Jury entered...
Gordon Ramsay, Johnny Bravo, Josuke Higashikata, King Dedede, Little Mac, and Arataka Reigen, the latter two were new to being Jury and greeted the remaining survivors.
When they all finally sat down, Alexa appeared into their view and walked in front of them all.
"Through thick and thin, through good and bad, and through the most intense moments of Survivor Crossover, you six have managed to survive through each part. Whilst Survivor Crossover isn't exactly over yet, it nearly is, and the fact that you made it to this point is a pat on the back to you. Being a member of Jury alone is an accomplishment, heck, being brave enough to apply and get into the show is a feat that most people wouldn't think of doing! Now, whilst eliminations ending after today is still not in the clear, this will be the last one before the Finale, as you all know," said Alexa. "How does that make you feel, Wii Fit Trainer?"
She smiled. "Relieved, honestly! This show has exhausted me to no end, and it's constantly kept me on my toes. To think that it's nearly over and that I still got a decent shot at winning the show overall is unbelievable. We've been here for nearly a month!"
"Yes, we have," Alexa agreed. "Thirty whole days of being on the island or going around the Tropics doing challenges or other things, it's crazy to think that all of this is just going to end soon, even for me! Now, Mario, how did it feel getting to meet the past survivors that had been eliminated?"
"It felt like a fun catchup session... well, it would have-a felt like that if there wasn't an annoying challenge attached to it!" Mario grumbled. "But still, I-a had a good time getting to work with or talk to-a those who I considered friends!"
The host gave another nod before pointing towards Sonic. "Sonic, you fell from grace since you rejoined. You went from the top-scorer to the bottom scorer! Heck, you nearly lost to Reigen a couple of challenges ago! What happened?"
"Well when you combine bad luck with bad luck with a sprinkling of more bad luck, then you aren't really going to have a great time," explained Sonic. "That's just how it is."
"With Roulettes having such a vital role in Survivor Crossover, I agree!" Stated Alexa. "Now, let's get down to the MEAT of today's Tribal Council, the vote..."
One by one, the survivors went over to cast their votes.
Captain Falcon: I'm probably going to be eliminated, but I might as well vote for you! (Sonic)
Sonic: You were a cool guy and all but this game is mine for the taking. (Captain Falcon)
Samus Aran: A fierce competitor, for sure, but being a vulnerable threat is the worst position you could ever be in. (Captain Falcon)
Papyrus: HE HELPED OUT LITTLE MAC SEVERAL TIMES, THAT'S ENOUGH FOR ME TO VOTE FOR WHOEVER HE'S VOTING FOR, WHO JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE THE ONE WHO ABANDONED THE ALLIANCE! (Sonic)
"Survivors, this is the last night you can use idols in, so it's now or never!" Announced Alexa. "So, would anyone like to use an idol?"
...
Wii Fit Trainer raised her hand, the Idol of Mirroring tucked under her fingers.
"Ah, the Idol of Mirroring! Fun fact, this idol was discovered on the third day of this show, meaning that it's had a pretty long lifespan, longer than any other idol!" Revealed Alexa. "The Idol of Mirroring makes all votes cast towards one person bounce back onto the person who voted for them. If that person is immune, then it will be simply nullified. Not to mention that it also reveals who voted for the person you use it on! A pretty lame idol to use in the later game... anyway, who would you like to use the Idol of Mirroring on?"
She instantaneously pointed to Captain Falcon, causing Samus to silently curse as Sonic and Mario widened their eyes.
"C'mon, I didn't mean anything I said!" Wii Fit Trainer gave a smile. "I just wanted to fool the others."
He was at a loss for words as Alexa applied the idol's effect to the votes.
"Survivors, I will now read out the votes!" Announced Alexa.
*VOTING TIME*
First vote goes to Captain Falcon from Mario, the vote is nullified due to the Idol of Mirroring.
Second vote goes to Captain Falcon from Samus, the vote is nullified due to the Idol of Mirroring.
Third vote goes to Sonic, one vote Sonic. (Sonic didn't show any signs of a reaction.)
Fourth vote goes to Captain Falcon from Sonic, the vote is reflected back onto Sonic. Two votes Sonic.
Fifth vote goes to Sonic, that's three votes Sonic.
"The next member of the Jury is... Sonic! At four votes." Revealed Alexa. "Sonic, hand me your torch, your time is done."
The hedgehog looked unbelievably offended at first, but started clapping slowly and sarcastically. "Welp, well-played Captain Falcon, and you too Wii Fit."
In a flash, he sped over to the torch, grabbed it, and landed at Alexa's feet.
The host grabbed the torch, and slowly snuffed it out. "With some final words, you may leave Survivor Crossover..."
"Well, I got outplayed, and I probably made some mistakes that landed me in this situation, but if there's ever a next time for me, I'll get further than this, if not win!" He cockily yet confidently assured before leaving in the blink of an eye.
"Sonic was probably the strongest competitor, in my opinion. He had the speed, the strength and the skill to win, but what makes this show so balanced is that those who are seen as threats have an equal chance of getting eliminated! Goodnight survivors, and sleep tight too, because tomorrow is the Finale you've all been waiting for..."
The five survivors grouped up and left Tribal Council, the Jury following, and then Alexa and his staff team. The show was coming to a close, and one last Episode remained. Who will win? Find out next time on Survivor Crossover: Tropics!
Sonic's Last Words: "When you're forced into an island with minimal food and with constant annoying challenges and people, you'd expect it to be a nightmare, though I managed to enjoy it! It still sucks being the guy who was eliminated twice, both due to gimmicks that hit me like a truck, but I enjoyed it anyway!"
VOTES
Captain Falcon's voters: Mario (nullified), Samus (nullified).
Sonic's voters: Captain Falcon, Wii Fit Trainer, Papyrus, Sonic (reflection).
IDOLS
Idol of Attacking - Wario. (USED)
Idol of Defense - Captain Falcon. (USED)
Idol of Mirroring - Wii Fit Trainer. (USED)
Idol of Curses - Samus. (USED - CURSE HAS WORN OFF)
The Revival Idol - Mario. (USED)
REMAINING SURVIVORS
Laau Haupa (Yellow Team)
- Mario
- Papyrus
- Samus Aran
- Wii Fit Trainer
- Captain Falcon
Make sure to check out the character poll on my profile page to see who you want returning for Survivor Crossover 2! ^_^