Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)

Chapter 25 - Day 22 Part 2, Day 23, & Day 24 Part 1

Hello there fellow fans of Survivor/Smash Bros. I'm back with another chapter for Mexico. Last chapter was the first part of the episode, but I felt like it was kinda... let's just say a "breather" or something. Just basically the castaways reacting to the last Tribal Council plus a reward challenge. But this chapter I expect it to be way longer than the last one with more content.

And as usual, a new character reveal for Survivor - Caribbean! Confirmed castaways for the season thus far are Ridley, Rodin, Joker, and Yoshi. Do you think any of your favorites are gonna compete? And who will win this upcoming immunity challenge?

~KF

Day 22

Incineroar, Isabelle, Panther, Golden, Daisy, Espio

-/-

Unfortunately, neither of the Mario Brothers were not set to be part of the reward that was earned by the winning team simply due to them not being competitors for Survivor - Mexico. However, it was a lucky day for those six that won the challenge that did get to take part in it.

At the moment, the Panther, Espio, Incineroar, Daisy, Golden, and Isabelle were all at a seemingly random location in the Aztec Empire discussing the order of which they were all going to eat.

"Okay, let's just get this out of the way." The survivor that recently sat out on the sit out bench spoke. "I'm going to put myself last because I did sit out of the challenge and did not help anybody to win, so I think that anything other than last will make me look... kinda selfish out here, you know? So I think it's only fair that I'm the last to eat..."

Espio nodded finding no problem with it. "I am pretty sure anyone who was in your position would have done the same."

"So because of me not participating in the reward challenge, I was chosen to decide the order of who was going to eat first and who was going to eat last." Isabelle revealed of what she was told by production after Master Hand had apparently forgotten to inform her himself. "Yeah... A bit of pressure on me right out of the bat... So in order to not make anyone mad, I've decided that the absolute safest way to go about this is that I needed to base it off who put in the most work at the challenge. ...I didn't do anything, of course, so naturally I got to be the last to eat."

"Alright, so since I'm going to eat last, I might as well say that we can do it in the order of which you guys were out of the challenge. This means that Espio will be second to last, and Daisy will be third to last."

That raised at least a couple eyebrows, yet other than that, no one complained.

"So,... what about the three of us?" Incineroar motioned to himself, Panther, and Golden.

"...Oh, darn..." For some reason that slipped Isabelle's mind. "...Well,... who had the most bags for the longest time?"

"I think we were about dead even..." answered Golden.

"Oh, well maybe I can let you guys do rock, paper, scissors or something." The first Animal Crossing character for Survivor thought that it was the second most fair way to handle the order.

"Alright, then..."

And when they all faced off, Golden and Panther's rocks were worth more than Incineroar's scissors. But in the end, Golden's paper covered Panther's rock.

"Guess I'm first, then..."

-/-

Walking along the path deep in the forest, Fredbear found himself in a small, open location by one of the pyramids, with a small table holding a large plate of spaghetti, fresh garlic bread, and a pitcher filled with sweet tea, a wine glass sitting directly next to it.

Golden could not have been more excited to dig in.

"All by myself eating food right near a pyramid in the empire. I felt a bit of pressure of being the first one to head out and eat, knowing that I needed to have a fair portion since the other five needed to eat, but the hardest part of it all is the fact that is the first real meal I've had since the merge feast. You kind of have to force yourself to stop as much as your brain wants you to keep going. And you know, just for a brief moment since Panther was next in line I thought of possibly 'under eating' when it came to my share just in case I need to build a relationship with him of all people or to get his jury vote if he's gonna be on the jury, but then I thought that it would not have been fair for everyone else that could be trying their hardest to make sure they ate just enough before the next person. And pleasing everyone here is worth a lot more than just pleasing one person. So I went ahead and made sure I only ate one-sixth of the meal, just to make sure that I'm happy, Panther's happy, and everyone's happy. Besides, you never know when you absolutely need to eat in order to have enough energy to win a crucial immunity challenge."

Still, he was eating food as if it was going to be the last meal the man could have ever had. The challenge that contained of him holding up to thirty pounds of sand and constantly shifting his weight to other people was well worth the reward. Shots of him were seeing putting forkfuls of spaghetti into his mouth, biting down on the garlic bread (that he attempted at his best to carefully measure with his hand), and finally washing it down with the tea.

Minutes later, he got up from his seat and began to make his way back, being well aware that Panther was waiting, with the camera shifting to the partially eating spaghetti in the process.

As for the cat himself, his eyes widened as if he had fallen in love with the food that was set on being directly in front of his face.

"Aww, man..." He rubbed his hands together. "This has got to be my best moment out here thus far. Panther shall dig in and enjoy."

"Even though Golden was the first one to eat, I still think that I've felt a bit pressured because I was still one of the first people to eat. I needed to have fun, but be as careful as possible. Annnnd, yeah. I do think Golden ate his fair share, so I could only do just the same... As selfish you can get in this game, this is probably one of the like, two things you can't be selfish about. Intentionally eating more than your fair share is pretty much no different than purposefully sabotaging the tribe's food supply, which means that people aren't gonna vote for you."

Nonetheless, he still enjoyed himself while the fun lasted, with a new wine glass set for him to pour the tea in.

"I feel bad for the losers today. They are certainly missing out."

Next was Incineroar. The moment the table came into view, he dashed right onto the scene as if he was a literal cat racing to his meal.

"Ohhhh, baby!"

He plopped right down in the chair and ate away.

"Yeah, I'm a champion of two sports, but I do eat a lot. Every time I win a tournament or something, one of the first things I do is get something to eat. And yeah, I'm a meat lover. Sure, the spaghetti had exactly no meat in it (probably due to production thinking about Chica since she's a vegetarian), but food is food. Pretty much all food is good. I am thankful to the Survivor Gods that I've made it this far, hopefully I prove to other people like me that are already well known by other people can make it far in the game just like everybody else. So I get this part of the show is dedicated to eating."

#EatUp

Clearly Pokemon number seven hundred twenty-seven was going to have a good time for the next several minutes. However, there was in fact such thing is having 'too much of a good time.' Sure, on paper it never seemed to make sense, especially with Incineroar doing nothing but enjoy his food, knowing that he was not certain on what his next meal would be, but there was one crucial detail that he missed.

In order to explain, Daisy Rose was next to eat following him exiting. As with the other three castaways, she was completely elated of what she was about to encounter. Her stomach was already grumbling and her mouth was watering, with taste buds anticipating on the flavor of the food.

Yet by the time she sat down to actually get a chance to look at the plate, she actually paused and frowned a bit. She had not at the time actually touched the plate, let enough eat any food off of it, yet since she can do simple math, she found a problem.

"...There are six of us who are supposed to share, right?" She was sounding so fed up at what her eyes witnessed she was struggling to even find the right words to describe. "...And... including Incineroar, three of us have already ate. Therefore, exactly half the plate of spaghetti. ...Or at least close to it. But... you can look at that plate for not even two seconds to realize that more than half the plate is already gone. Somebody has clearly went out of their way to eat more, more than they should have. Golden didn't do it because he wouldn't be cocky to do that! And I don't even have to explain how tight me and Panther are, so I know he wouldn't have done that (at least on purpose) knowing that I was gonna eat after him, and I wouldn't have done it to him either. And the both of them even said that they've tried their best to eat only their fair portion of the food, and I believe them. Incineroar though, I know he was the one that has ate more than he should have. And it's not fair! Now I have to be the one to eat less and save the rest of the meal for everyone!"

Thus, she began to eat not out of excitement or pleasure, but out of irritation and anger. With attitude, she stuck forkfuls of spaghetti into her mouth, aggressively ripping off her piece of the garlic bread using her teeth and fingers. Finally, she chugged down her glass of iced tea, glaring all the while out of annoyance that her tribe member apparently failed to stop for at least five seconds to remind himself that everybody else had to eat too.

"I am not trying to be petty enough to say that 'Hey, guess what? Incineroar didn't eat exactly one-sixth of the spaghetti!' No, because if it wasn't the exact amount, I would have given him a break. But just look at it!" In the middle of her confessional, the camera shot to the plate again, even with Daisy attempting to make it even once again. "It's not right! He thinks that just because he is a boxing champion, or wrestling, or brawling, or whatever he's good at, means that he can eat as much as he wants! It's just like having food right in front of your face only to have be taken away. How would you feel if that happen to you? You have three other people that have to eat after you who are hungry just as you are!"

-/-

While she was eating, the other five survivors were currently were simply leaning their heads against a log they found, in similar fashion to Survivor - Kodai Island the last time this type of reward took place. Sure it may have been too much of a coincidence at first glance, but after one has eaten so much food, it is not uncommon to have one's body in a resting position in some sort of way. Espio and Isabelle, however, were still standing around waiting their turn, Golden, Panther, and Incineroar being the ones to lay side by side.

"Alright, so now that Daisy's out," Panther of all people was the first to speak. "I think now's the perfect time to strategize, just so we can pass word to everybody else that should know. Daisy and Chica are on the bottom and we all know it. So we just have to decide who's going home at the next tribal..."

"Hmm..." Isabelle thought out loud. "Daisy is the bigger threat to win challenges over Candance. ...But two against a majority of nine? That's kind of an awful way to go out. But do you guys think that voting out one of those two is the best idea?"

"I mean, with all due respect," said Caroso. "another Brawn has left the game and now they have as many numbers as us Beauty people have. I think it's about time to finally have a Brain leave. A Brain hasn't left since vote number three. And I'm not trying to say this just to protect my two fellow Beauty people, especially since I'm not even on the best of terms with Chica, but I think it would be fair enough to have a Brain leave for once."

"Eh... I actually can't agree more." Incineroar backed him up. "Katt just got voted out last night. All of us were shocked that she made the jury, but I think I remember some of you guys saying that you all wanted to be on good terms with Plague before he gets voted off."

"We have, actually." Golden confirmed this with a nod. "We thought that he was gonna be on the jury no matter what and that keeping him one more round, we would have made peace with him before he left. But at this point, since the jury is just now starting, and for the sake of keeping everything fair between all of us, we might as well get rid of Plague Knight now. Best to get rid of him before he tries to get rid of one of us."

"That is fine with me." Espio agreed. "There is no point in keeping him around anymore. If the nine of us can write down Plague (who probably does not have an idol), then he's the first member of the jury. Hopefully he realizes that the other Brains have brought him over to the jury phase of the game. ...Though on one condition: Daisy and Chica do not need to know of the plan."

"Alright..." The purple male made no argument.

"Guess we just tell Plague to vote for Daisy, then..." Golden decided. "I think she and Chica are still gonna vote for me because of how physical I am in challenges..."

"There is a majority alliance, but there's a majority within the majority. There is the Strong Guys Alliance, but then there's the Brain Tribe Alliance." The Team Chaotix Mobian explained. "Though at this point, I have a final four plan with Funky, Golden, and Isabelle. We are trying our best to make it obvious, so it is a good thing to note that myself and Isabelle are not even supposed to be aware of the Strong Guys Alliance. Yet since we are, the plan is to still play it safe. I know that Plague Knight does not have Brain Tribe's old idol, because I have the idol. Though hopefully he does not win immunity. If all goes well, in order to remain in control, we would be successful at blindsiding Plague Knight. If we do not show that we are willing to do this, everybody who is not an original Brain member would start to grow suspicious."

It was now his turn to have his fair share of the reward, assuming that Daisy ate her own fair sized portion of the meal. Although, while eating, he actually took his time to take in surroundings, that is, including glancing underneath the table and carefully lifting up his plate for any signs.

"When it was my turn to eat, I do not know if anyone else ever thought of this, but my eyes scanned the area I was in. As a fan of the show, at times, idol clues are in fact hidden in the rewards. Even though I already do have an idol, I suppose earning a possible second one would not hurt. Maybe even a hidden advantage. Though I did not end up finding anything. However, if there in fact was an advantage or idol clue that I did not discover, hopefully either Golden or Isabelle made the discovery instead."

He glanced off for a bit as his arms remained folded. "Hmph... Or perhaps there is simply not anything special at the reward altogether and that I am overthinking it. Vector has always told me that I do in fact overthink myself sometimes. Though in order to make split second decisions in real life, as well as making crucial ones out here, you have to think all you can. The number reason to why I came out here is not that uncommon. Nothing really wrong with testing your own abilities."

"You okay, Daisy?"

Isabelle noticed that Daisy's head was completely turned away from everyone else with her eyes closed, allowing time to simply pass by until the last person was done eating.

"I'm fine..." She sighed. "Just using this time to give my eyes a break..."

She clearly lied not only due to her desiring to keep certain information to herself (at least temporarily), yet she was simply too irritated at a certain castaway to talk that much.

"I have returned." Espio said grinning, emerging from the bushes.

"Ooh, yay." Isabelle was ready. "Looks like it's time for me to finish it off."

However, the purplish animal took the advantage of the other four that was not looking in their direction at all. With himself and Isabelle briefly passing to each other, he made sure his whisper counted.

"Look for a clue."

"Mmm, yummy!"

Whether looking for a clue to an idol or simply enjoying the meal turned out to be the bigger priority was up to the audience to the fact. Yet no matter what, Isabelle knew she had to make sure she ate the rest of the food that was left in order to satisfy the winning team. There was clearly no point in portioning anything anymore, so there was nothing to worry about whatsoever.

Though she did think about Espio, with her eyes shifting from left to right, up and down. She even lifted the pitcher to see if there was something there. Yet there was simply nothing to be found. Shrugging it off, she continued to eat.

"I was excited that I was finally going to eat! Hard to believe it's been three days since the merge feast already. It was all worth being last because even though every had to have their fair share, you are certainly not least, that's for sure. All you gotta do is finish everything off. ...And yeah, Espio whispered to me that I needed to look for a hidden immunity idol clue. I've honestly tried, but when you're trying to eat knowing that it's gonna be the last time you are gonna eat something big in a while, it's hard to focus on two tasks at once,... which I am usually pretty capable of doing."

"Hey..."

He was now whispering even more quietly to Golden with him lying directly beside him. Though to order to not potentially blow his cover, the bear kept his eyes closed as he talked.

"I told Isabelle to look for a clue to an idol..."

Fuerza

Day 22

Chica, Specter Knight, Ryu, Plague Knight, Funky Kong

-/-

"Specter, are you okay?"

Chica, as well as the rest of the losing team all watched Specter Knight not utter a single word while retrieving the fishing gear before walking away from the Fuerza camp and to the boat sitting in the water. What? The reward goers already had their food. Everyone else had to eat something.

Yet the knight was clearly upset at the challenge loss, and he figured distancing himself and attempting at fishing again was his best option until he felt he was calm again.

"Should one of us check on him? I know what it's like to lose something and let an entire team down..." Chica heaved a quick sigh at the memory. "Oh, gym class..."

"He's clearly mad that he blew the challenge." Ryu said. "He knows that there is no one he could blame other than himself so I think he plans on being alone for a bit to vent out. But I think he'll be alright..."

"Well," Funky Kong blinked. "at least he's doing something for the tribe. And at least we could see from here, so I guess we'll just sit here and wait for the others to come back..."

"I've never thought that I'd be the one of all people to blow the challenge. I could care less about all five of us heading out together for the reward. But I am hungry. Any food that gets earned shall be treated as if it's their last, and I felt that I needed to eat something. Though it is my own fault that I'm not part of the reward, so today I have accomplished nothing. Though to make peace with those four that I am stuck with, I simply grabbed the fishing gear and walked away. I didn't say a word, but at least I am making my own self useful. I simply refuse to see on my tail all day and eat nothing knowing that I've cost the team the challenge."

"I think maybe Chica's right, though." Ryu talked again. "Maybe somebody should go out there just to fish with him. I can just get the fire started..."

"I'll go." Plague Knight volunteered, heading to the bag to get a second fishing pole.

"I would say that I feel some type of way being the reason to why we lost, and I do to an extent, but I feel like if I was someone such as Ryu, Incineroar, or Golden for example, perhaps we would have won. I am strong in challenges, yes, but I am clearly not the strongest of the strong. When it comes to immunity challenges, in comparison to those three plus Funky Kong, I am nothing but your average challenge player. Those four are the most likely to win all the challenges and make me appear as if I am nothing. Suppose I'd like to win immunity to keep me out of trouble? I suppose I must give everything a hundred and ten percent if I am going to be with the Strong Guys Alliance..."

He was just getting ready to paddle away, yet right before doing so, Plague Knight's voice sounded.

"Wait up!"

"..." He groaned under his breath. Him of all people.

Yet he stopped and allowed him to get in.

"Why are you here?" Of course it was the first question the tallest Shovel Knight character could have asked. "What possessed you to come around? It is rare to see you fishing..."

"Well,... I guess you just realized how I feel about losing a challenge for other people." He grinned under his mask. "But no on is in your face of how, 'Ooh, Specter made us lose the challenge' or 'Ooh, it's all Specter Knight's fault. Specter Knight's fault!' But when I lost the challenge, no one ever gave me a break that day!"

"It does not bother me as much of the fact that I've blown the challenge for everyone. I could care less." The scythe wielder was not afraid to admit. "However, I myself would not have minded if I went. For all I know, there could have been something out there worth looking for if you know what I mean. Besides, this was a post-merge reward challenge. People are randomly swapped into teams all the time. Yet, since I am going to be out here for who knows how long, I would like to win something. And since I do not know if I'm going to win a reward in this game, that is what I am truly upset about. There have been castaways that have never gone on one post merge and I do not wish to be one of those people."

"Oh, come on! Just admit that you blew the challenge and you didn't want to mess it up for everybody else!" He was grinning even more now. "Just admit it! You try to pretend that you don't care for anyone here, but deep down, you feel horrible about what you did!"

"How do you know what I think?" Specter was already growing annoyed of him. "I was simply making myself clear. Do I have to say it twice?"

"Come on! Just admit it already! You even said, 'I could care less.'" He quoted. "It should have been, 'I couldn't care less.' There's a difference. And what you're saying is that you actually somewhat care, but just a little bit. So, just say it! You feel awful and embarrassed that you've blown the challenge for everybody!"

"I am actually glad that Specter actually blew the challenge. Now he's all mad about what happened. So I wanted to rub it in his face that he messed it up for everyone here just to see how he likes it. I've blown a challenge before, too, back when we were on the same tribe. Hopefully I'm getting on his nerves. That's what I wanted. I felt like it was best of me to make fun of him and kinda poke him around a little bit. I mean, that's what he gets! Now it's his turn to feel useless and miserable."

Fuerza

Day 23

Chica, Specter Knight, Panther, Ryu, Isabelle, Espio, Daisy, Funky Kong, Plague Knight, Incineroar, Golden

-/-

After the other group of six came back, the following day, it was late morning when the castaways were hanging around in various location at the former Toro camp. Though because of everyone being everywhere around the new Fuerza camp, it was slightly easier to sneak in quick conversations with others.

Thus, in a rare opportunity, Daisy felt it was the right time to share a few quick words with Panther. She nimbly tapped him on a shoulder, causing him to promptly turned around feeling rather alarmed.

"...Oh..." He brought a hand to his head. "You've startled me..."

"Sorry, but do you think it's um... legal to talk to you real quick?" She asked, quickly glancing around for anyone that could have been possibly eavesdropping. "I mean, one small conversation should not cause some big explosion out here, right?"

"I doubt it would hurt that much." Panther eyed around as well. "But it's best to make this quick. Say what you have to say."

"Well, first things first, thanking for keeping me around and convincing all those other guys that I needed to stay." She realized that she actually never had the chance of thanking him for allowing her to survive the vote. "Was I the original target instead of Katt?"

"I dunno," He shrugged. "but I just needed to convince them that it would not have been fair on my end to help vote either you or Chica off, because that would have made me feel like I was on the outs, unless they would actually want me to flip on em."

"...Well, whatever you had to do, at the end of the day I'm still here." She stared off to the side. "That actually makes perfect sense, though. Maybe if you keep playing that card for a bit it could bring me more longevity out here. Chica has been feeling some type of way for a bit, though, so if you somehow can't convince everybody that a Beauty can't leave,... try your hardest to push her out there. I don't think she's close with anyone."

"It's been said that she has no close allies with anyone out here." He recalled. "But at this point, there is no way people are gonna based their votes off of that. They'd be more likely to go after the bigger threat... unless you have an idol."

She heaved a sigh out of frustration and defeat. "I guess it is me, then..."

"However, I think you will be spared at this next tribal." He scanned the area again to make sure no one was listening. "You aren't supposed to know this, but while you were eating at the reward yesterday, I played the exact same card as I did last time, and I've gotten Incineroar to agree with me. But this time, we've told everyone that a Brain needs to go at this point. There's five of em and that's almost half the tribe. It's ridiculous..."

"Can't agree more..." She shook her head. "Maybe Katt was right..."

"And the thing is, at this point they are actually okay with sending Plague Knight home, since to them there's no reason to keep him around anymore. But we've told him that you're the main target, so expect exactly one vote to be cast for you next tribal. The eight of us vote for Plague, and you and Chica can vote for... Let me guess: is it gonna be Golden again?"

"Yeah, about that, I am actually leaning towards Incineroar now. If I can't break the Strong Guys Alliance, maybe let people know that he's... kind of annoying. I'm getting ready to tell a couple people that he's eaten more than his fair share at the reward and I had to eat less just to please Espio and Isabelle." She was silent for a moment. "But since now that I know who is actually going home..."

"I don't think playing the 'I'm voting this person off because I don't like them' kinda card is really necessary for you." He shook his head, yet in disagreement in comparison to Daisy. "He's probably the biggest physical player of this entire cast, but I think it's best for you to remain consistent rather than base your vote off emotion. But I don't think it will cause that much damage to tell people that Incineroar was being selfish. I ate my fair share, and Golden before me ate his fair share."

"Oh, I already know. Neither of you would do that to me." She slightly giggled.

"As for Plague Knight,... I think you being aware of what's happening around here wouldn't help your game that much and could actually harm mine. People would think that word got around..." He feared the absolute worst, making Daisy exhale deeply.

"Okay, then... I guess in order to not cause any more drama for my game, I'll just behave like a good little girl by playing it safe pretending that I have absolutely no idea what's going on..."

"It saddens me that Daisy has to purposefully vote incorrectly just to stay in the game. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. At least I'm telling her this stuff so that she's not completely clueless. Maybe if she somehow outlasts me and gets to Final Tribal, her case would be that she always knew what was going on and tell everyone that she had to play dumb and vote incorrectly on purpose just to throw suspicion off her back... But there's somethin' else I wanna talk about..."

Out of the blue, he was seen staring at some green 'X' on the ground which was clearly spray painted on. Panther Caroso had absolutely no idea how long that 'X' was there, though since it was never touched up until that point, he might as well dig up whatever was underneath and cover it back up.

He unwrapped the cloth around the item that was now discovered to reveal a small circle designed as if it was some sort of mini Aztec calendar. Somewhat confused at the sight, he took the time to read the note that was attached to it.

"Congratulations... You've found the Idol... Nullifier... Oh, Lylat..."

He continued on to read. "This advantage will only negate one immunity idol. With the Idol Nullifier, you can use it against any player up to and through the final five as it will prevent a hidden immunity idol from negating any votes. This advantage must be played as you are casting your vote..."

...

Literally speechless.

Yet in his confessional he was laughing all the while. Not because of him finding it to be humorous, yet he was very astounded at what he found. "This is crazy! First I found an actual hidden immunity idol. I thought that I've found a second one, but it looked way different. But instead it's an Idol Nullifier which basically cancels out any immunity idol that gets played... Guess I gotta hope that someone plans to play an idol at a certain Tribal Council so that I can use it. Didn't think I would get this lucky out here. But the best part of it all is that pretty much no one knows that I have anything!"

Meanwhile, Golden and Ryu happened to be the ones fishing for that part of the day. However, simply fishing for the tribe was not the only intention for the two. The supposed 'leaders' of their respective alliances decided that now was the perfect time to have a crucial conversation.

"Alright..." Golden glanced away. "I think we're far enough where no one would pay attention to us..."

"Meh..." Ryu hunched his shoulders. "People tend to do this all the time it seems. It doesn't really matter at this point... So, which one of us is gonna start first?"

"I'm gonna let you go ahead."

"Haha, alright..."

"Me and Golden made a deal last night. We promised that at some point during today, we were gonna meet up somewhere one on one to have this big talk. Not simply about the next Tribal Council, but later on down the line in regards to us keeping this Strong Guys Alliance together. Some sort of Survivor meeting or somethin'." Ryu snickered a bit. "But I think we both understand each other. He's the leader of the Brains, and I'm... basically the leader of the Strong Guys Alliance, which includes all the Brawns since Katt's not here anymore."

"So, first things first is that we need to discuss about tomorrow night... Who's gonna get the boot?"

"The plan is that we're actually gonna let Plague go tomorrow. There's not that really much of a point in keeping him around anymore." Golden shook his head. "Generally, I wish we can let him stay since he was with us since day one, but this is the part where you gotta take your heart out of the game, you know? Plague is notorious for getting angry whenever things doesn't go exactly the way he wants to. If he is thinking of a plan to get rid of one of us, or rather any of us including the SG Alliance, it could be trouble."

"...Since when did the Strong Guys Alliance get abbreviated?"

"I dunno." Fredbear shrugged in response to Ryu's popped brow. "Ask Panther."

"Haha, okay..." His laugh was somewhat short, knowing that he had important business to take care of. "So... One of your guys is going? Seems rather unusual that a Brain is leaving for once, but I guess it makes sense..."

"Is it really that surprising?" Golden cocked his head to the side.

"...Kinda is considering that people have been leaving from every tribe but the Brains lately."

"That is rather true." He confessed with a nod. "I feel like for me it is to have as many people by my side as possible... You on the other hand are willing to get rid of one of your own in a heartbeat."

"Well, can't say your wrong on that." The street fighter admitted. "Due to me being a physical player on the Brawn tribe, had I remain loyal to everybody, I probably would have been the one blindsided at merge. That's why I've gotten rid of Jet early... Katt was also never part of the majority alliance on the tribe, so getting rid of her luckily didn't result in any broken strategic relationships."

"I've been with Ryu since the swap, and I do kinda like the guy." The restaurant owner formed a small grin. "We both seem to be big fan of the game and are willing to do whatever we could to win. In spite of that though, are games are actually completely different even though we have a similar mindset. Long story short, I'm the hero and he's the villain. I'm trying to keep in my tribe alliance as long as I can, and he's constantly trying to get rid of his guys whenever he see fits. And how funny that the both of us might be, uh... 'running the show' as they say. Maybe we're both just as threatening, but I guess it's how the jury sees it... That is if we're willing to keep each other around..."

"Alright, so eight votes on Plague, two for you I guess, one for Daisy. Got it." Ryu bobbed his head up and down taking mental notes. "...Hmm... But overall my worst fear is that I may not know how much longer are we gonna get away with this..."

"That's understandable. I know how ya feel."

"I don't know how everyone else see us right now." Though he laughed, inside he was actually a bit nervous. "Maybe that's why the best thing to do is to keep each other around."

"That I do agree with." He thought that Ryu made a valid point. "For sure."

"I am not saying that I am willing to go to the end with Ryu, but for my game and his, I think for a while we might have to stay on guard on keep each other close."

Day 24

"Come on in, guys!"

It was finally time to get to the immunity challenge, Espio, Funky Kong, Ryu, Plague Knight, Daisy, Chica, Incineroar, Isabelle, Panther, Specter Knight, and Golden all making it way over to the green mat awaiting for instructions from Master Hand.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, Ryu, I will take back the immunity necklace."

He sighed knowing that he simply could not have held onto the necklace in any way, knowing that it would been quite convenient for him. Nevertheless, he complied.

"Thanks, Ryu." He placed the individual immunity necklace back on its post. "Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, it is very simple. It is a Survivor classic. You are to simply hang on a pole for as long as you can using the footholds to remain in place. If you fall off, or you hands reach above the rope that's at the top of the pole, you're out of the challenge. Last person hanging on wins immunity. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the eighth person voted out of this game and they will be the first member of our jury. We'll draw for spots and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright... everybody climb on up."

"I'm scared of heights..." Isabelle immediately commented before she even began doing so. The castaways fortunately had ladders to make it easier for them to climb up and get into a comfortable spot on the pole.

However, those ladders were taken away from the competitors upon themselves remaining still on said pole. Oh well. No turning back now. Though, it was not as if anyone actually wanted to, especially if one absolutely needed to win immunity just to win the money.

"Alright... Everybody's in position and this challenge... is on." Master Hand allowed the challenge to be officially underway.

...

"Oh boy..." Panther mumbled under his breath from the very top of the pole, staring beneath his feet.

"High up in the air." Master Hand reminded. "Just pretend your monkeys in the trees minding your own business."

Funky Kong snickered. "Alright, then..."

"Oh, I forgot." Believe it or not, at that moment the master's joke was made unintentionally in spite of a Kong being part of the cast. "Guess Funky Kong's probably used to do this."

"I mean, normally this would be my average Thursday, but... just hanging onto some stupid pole like this, though? Like, I get numb, too..." Based off that statement, apparently even he had some sort of weakness when it came to the challenge.

"W-W-Woah!"

And Plague Knight ended up being the first victim, due to his legs being too wobbly for him.

"Within twenty to thirty seconds, Plague Knight is the first casualty. Take your spot on the sit out bench."

"Geez... I've done even worse than the last immunity challenge!" He complained stomping his way over like a grumpy old troll.

"And just like that, we are down to ten." Master Hand moved on to focus on the rest of the contestants. "But unlike the last immunity challenge, there are no rounds, no transitions you need to make, just hanging around until we have a winner. You know you want this immunity. But depending on how much you need it, it all depends on willpower."

"Oh no... Oh no..." Isabelle suddenly began sliding down. "Aww..."

"Now Isabelle is out of the challenge..."

"Well,... I've actually done better this time." She glanced at the bright side, thought it was also basically a slap to Plague Knight's face. "Guess it means something... I'll try harder next time..."

Elapsed Time: 5 Minutes

"You have now been out here for five minutes." Master Hand briefly interacted with production for a brief time check. "Two people are out, but we have nine left..."

At first the remaining castaways were all sitting pretty at the top. Now they were all over the place. Funky Kong, Specter Knight, and Ryu remained put near the top of their poles, Incineroar near the bottom of his, and everyone else somewhere in the middle of their poles.

Within a minute later, Chica began to struggle.

"Chica's legs moving..."

"Oh, come on. Not now..." She complained under his breath.

"...!"

"Espio slips! ...Dropped right outta nowhere... Espio, what happened?"

"I suppose I made a misstep and I ended up sliding down." He replied, already making his way over to the bench. "Couldn't recover in time..."

"Alright, we are now down to eight..."

"Uh-oh... Oof..."

"Chica drops and she's out... Down to seven..."

Elapsed Time: 16 Minutes

"Panther has been all over the place lately and now he's low on the post..."

At that point, he had his eyes closed while hanging on for dear life, ignoring Incineroar next to him who was also struggling to hang on. Yet for himself, he could have only fought for so long. Though his time in the challenge was over as he slid down a little too much.

"Panther's now out of the challenge. We are now down to six... Daisy, Funky Kong, Ryu, Golden, Incineroar, and Specter Knight.

Specter Knight at that point decided to fold his arms in front of himself.

"..." Incineroar out of nowhere moved one foot hold up, his ankles shaking more than ever. But then he chose to lock his hands together, rather than using his fingers to grip on the next foot hold above himself.

"Incineroar... I don't know what he's doing..."

He actually slid down a bit, yet only right back to where he was before. Two foot holds away from the ground, sweat was pouring down his face as he held onto his green pole for dear life.

"Incineroar is really fighting... He does not want to lose this challenge..."

Though all of a sudden, Golden's feet moved a bit too much, unable to recover from the moment he slipped.

"Golden drops... Was very stationary for almost the entire challenge. We are down to five now, including Ryu. He's already won the last individual immunity challenge, and the fact that he has barely moved an inch tells me that he definitely wants to win that necklace again..."

Incineroar decided to make a big move by literally attempting to leap himself up to the next available foot hold, thought it unsurprisingly did not work as he ended up fast falling out of the challenge as if he was one of the more 'fast fall' characters from Super Smash Bros.

"Wow... Incineroar tried to jump his way up and it didn't work..."

"You go numb, you lose your grip, you're sweating everywhere..." He explained as he made his way over to join the others on the bench.

"Alright... We are now down to four..." Master Hand recalled. "Daisy, Funky Kong, Ryu, and Specter Knight..."

Elapsed Time: 31 Minutes

With more than half an hour gone by, the other castaways that were already defeated were completely amazed of how long the remaining competitors were lasting.

However, Ryu finally opened his eyes, gripping the pole a bit more tight.

"Ryu for the first time is showing some movement in this challenge..." Master Hand noted. "Everybody else is still solid..."

But not for long. Daisy's legs have decided that they had enough.

"Daisy's out of the challenge..."

"Good job, Daisy." Isabelle smiled as she and everyone else clapped their hands in appreciation of her effort.

Caroso smirked, glad that she even outlasted him.

"We now have three men left... Funky Kong on one end all on his own, Ryu and Specter Knight on the other. Ryu and Specter both have moved once, Funky has still yet to move in this entire challenge."

"...!"

After over thirty minutes, Specter Knight's arms finally gave out.

"Specter's out of the challenge. No shot at immunity. We now have a showdown between one Brain, one Brawn. Who will win that necklace?"

"Keep going, guys..." said Incineroar.

Elapsed Time: 45 Minutes

Though with no movement, Ryu's eyes were dead set on Funky Kong, hoping that he was going to make some type of mistake just so the martial artist could start an individual immunity winning streak. Kong would have noticed, yet he was facing the opposite way, eyes still closed.

"You have now made it past... forty-five minutes..."

All of their fellow castaways could not have believed it.

"Wow..." Daisy mumbled her breath.

"How can they do that?" Chica wondered.

"You two are both doing an amazing job." Master Hand told his survivors.

Funky Kong blew out air, trying to stay focused as much as possible. His mind always told him to hold onto that pole no matter what. Ryu had a similar thought process at the time.

However, within a few more minutes, out of nowhere, the first Street Fighter character slid all the way down the pole, shocking nearly everyone.

"Ryu drops!"

"FUNKY KONG WINS INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY!"

"Safe from Tribal Council!"

"I won!?" Nimbly looking around, he allowed himself to fall down the pole almost instantly. "I won! Yes!"

The rest of the survivors gave a round of applause once again, Funky Kong respectfully shaking Ryu's hand as the two made it to the bench.

"Funky Kong, here you go. This thing is now yours." Master Hand confirmed, hooking the individual immunity necklace around his neck.

"I've been waiting for this thing!"

"Well, congratulations. You are now safe from Tribal Council, guaranteeing yourself a one in ten shot at a million dollars. As for the rest of you, I'm sure you had a great twenty-four days out in the empire, but sadly, one of you has gotta go. Tribal Council tonight where someone will be the eight person voted out of this game, and will become the first member of our jury. I will see all of you tonight."

"I've won the necklace, yo! ...No one's around, right?" Funky Kong in his confessional briefly checked his surroundings to make sure there was no one at his current location other than himself and production. "Oh, alright. No one's here. 'Xcuse me for a second, but I felt like I gotta do this..."

Then out of the blue, he began banging on his chest with his fists for at least five seconds. "Woooo! ...Yeah, I just always wanted to do that..."

Whew... That was a long one. But there was a loooot of activity going on here. We have the winners trying to share the spaghetti reward together one by one, only to have Daisy figure out that Incineroar ate more than his fair share (so she's upset at him at the moment). The majority alliance is planning on blindsiding Plague Knight with the Brains fearing he may pull something to screw one of them over, Panther finds an Idol Nullifier, and Funky Kong wins immunity, killing Ryu's potential winning streak.

Now for the castaway that I have to announce for next season... Hmm... Who should I put out there today... How about... Chef Kawasaki from the Kirby series. (This is probably one of the most random characters for my series so far lol) I bet you guys have no idea what to make of him. (Well, unless you're a major Kirby fan. I've played Kirby's Epic Yarn and that was pretty much it. (Though I want to get Return to Dreamland) In spite of that, I still want to put him in the story. I think I'll enjoy writing about him.)

I will see you all next time for the vote off!