Emperors vs Knights - Ponderosa

Chapter 1 - Juror #1

Hello, guys. Now before I get things started with this, for those of you who still don't know, if you are reading this right now without even reading Emperors vs Knights up until chapter 26, this will include major spoilers so I highly suggest you turn back now.

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But for those of you who did read up to that point, welcome to the Ponderosa fic of "Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!" So there will be ten members of the jury like last time, and each member of the jury is going to reflect their thoughts on the game that they've played as well as their overall feelings about their Survivor experience as they generally try their best to enjoy themselves. So whoever gets voted out in the jury phase gets to have an entire chapter all about them.

And now since we have our first member of the jury, I guess it's officially time to get this show on the road over here.

~KF

"Hi, everyone. I'm Shulk, juror number one, and this is my Ponderosa. ...Now it's Shulk time, hahaha!"

Night 21

Xenoblade Chronicles character, Shulk, was now out of the Tribal Council area, staring striaght ahead as he continued to walk along the path.

"Guess it was just my turn to get blindsided, so I guess that's that. I just didn't expect the voting result to turn out the way it did…"

"Well, here I am. I'm now at Ponderosa and officially no longer in the running for the title of Sole Survivor. I mean, I guess I'm out for some reason. I really thought that it'd be a 7-6 vote for either one of the alliances, but instead it ended up being a 5-4-4. So while I was walking, I did quick math…"

"Greninja's name was supposed to come up at least six times, but instead his name only came up four times. My name came up five times and then Freddy's name came up four times. So that means that an emperor's name was written down nine times." Shulk all of a sudden tripped over a branch. "Woah! ….Hahaha! Didn't see that coming…"

"So I thought that if Greninja's name only came up four times and an emperor's name came up nine times, let alone the two of us having our names written down, that means that two people flipped and helped vote me out."

"I mean, I didn't even have to think that hard to tell. I took a look at my tribe, Zelda, Marth, and Roy were just as shocked as I am. Shadow and Freddy jumped off a now sinking ship and I guess they're the two managers that the knights want to work with… I mean, I don't know why they flipped, but for whatever reason, I guess it was for their best interests. Good for them, I guess… I just hope the rest of my alliance hangs in there, since if Shadow and Freddy are solid where they are now, it's 9-3… Yikes…"

"Sure, I knew very well that there was always the chance that I could be on the bottom, but I never expected it to be like this. But,... I guess no matter what happened, now I gotta deal with it. I'm going to be the Emperor of Ponderosa for the next eighteen days, so even though my dreams are crushed, it's still not a total loss, and that's the best part…"

Just up ahead of Shulk was a black medical tent that was waiting for his arrival. And upon getting inside, Shulk got to reunite with Master Hand's brother after already paying him a visit pre-season.

"Hello, Shulk!" Crazy Hand greeted. "Congrats on making it out here for twenty-one days! You are now officially the first member of the jury! ...How does it feel?"

"Ugh… Well,..." Shulk sat in a nearby black chair as he collected his thoughts. "I guess making it to the jury is still a big accomplishment. Getting into the game alone is a huge accomplishment since you're going to be on… universal television. So making it this far also means a lot, since not only you've made it a bit more than halfway through, but being on the jury, you are still a part of the game, especially when I get the biggest job of all at the end…"

"Naturally I feel disappointed only because I wanted to make it all the way, or at least just a little bit further than thirteenth place, but if fate wanted me to go out this way, then that's the way the ship sails sometimes…"

"Step on the scale for me…"

And so he did after removing his shoes.

"123.4…" He blinked.

"And before this adventure started, you weighed at exactly 133.6 pounds, which means that over the course of twenty-one days you were on the island, you lost exactly…" Crazy Hand did the necessary calculations. "10.2 pounds, Shulk!"

"Not too much, not too little… I guess I'm okay with that…"

"Lost a pretty decent amount of weight. Thought I lost a bit more, but not too bad… I'm still gonna eat, though. Guess for the next three days I'm gonna have the whole place to myself. I'm gonna eat and then finally take a shower, and off to bed I go."

"Thanks again!:

Shulk got off the boat and he walked across the dock and to the stairs of the Ponderosa Cafe, taking his time walking in.

"...Hmmm… There should be some sort of mirror somewhere…" His eyes scanned the area. "...Aha!"

Now it was time for Shulk to take a good look at himself. Believe it or not, he had actually began to grow facial hair, specifically a small beard being visible, as well as him having more hair on his head of course.

"...What!?" He gasped. "I was growing a beard all this time and nobody told me anything!? ...I… Woah!"

"I never even thought of growing a beard, hahaha! Maybe when my friends look at this they will probably be weirded out and think that I'm like some caveman or something. I've never grown a beard before!"

He then removed his shirt. "...A little hairy on the chest as well…"

-/-

Minutes later, Shulk was starting to receive the food he ordered.

"Alright, so obviously the food is arguably the best part of the Ponderosa. You're hungry and tired, worrying to yourself that maybe you won't get a certain reward. ...I mean, I've never had one food reward at all. One day short of missing out on the first reward challenge post-merge. But if anything, it's good now since I get to eat all I want and never worry about being hungry again!"

There was sushi, pizza, a cheeseburger, and french fries all right in front of him. The heir to the Monado even planned on ordering dessert.

"Oh, I'm about to gain my 10.2 pounds back in no time…" He rubbed his hands together.

And judging by his pace, without a doubt he was having the time of his life. "Sure, I should feel sad because my friends are still out there about to be soaking wet who knows when, eating rice and coconut and sleeping in a shelter like that back at the camp, but… nine of them are gonna be voted out at some point, anyway, haha! And if I like those people, I should leave them in."

-/-

Shulk was now finished with his food for tonight and was on his way to a small house nearby.

"So now I'm gonna see what this house looks like on the inside, I'm gonna shower, brush my teeth, and finally get a good night's sleep after three weeks."

"I think that I'll look back at this whole thing as my dream finally becoming true after so long. Even when I realized that I was finally old enough to actually apply for the show, I knew that there were limitations on who would go, but apparently not so much anymore. This adventure means everything to me. And even though it's unfortunate that it has to be cut short like this, all I can do is appreciate how much time I've spent out there, since seven people got voted out before me, so… I guess I should be happy that I at least made it to this stage in the game, and for what my game was."

"Sweet…"

From looking in his room to find the rest of his belongings from removing his shirt once again as he got ready for his shower, one could tell that Shulk was rather excited of what Ponderosa had to bring to him in spite of him knowing that he had just been voted out of the tribe.

Day 22

The next day, it was rather cloudy outside, and Shulk just so happened to be taking a glance up at the sky.

"...Aaaand it's gonna rain today." He concluded with a blink. "I can just tell…"

And within five minutes later, it was already beginning to sprinkle. Though of course it never stopped Shulk from having his breakfast for that day.

"Nothing like french toast in the morning." He showed the camera his meal. "Three of 'em. And adding eggs and bacon wouldn't hurt… Maybe I should've thrown some hashbrowns in it…"

"I still can't believe that there is so much food here, I'm surprised I haven't blown up right now… I think I already gained my 10.2 pounds back from yesterday, haha! I mean, you can't just stop eating. I'm not trying to be a glutton for anything, but for Survivor culture, eating every two seconds is literally normal around here. So whoever's at Ponderosa in later seasons, please don't be ashamed at all and never hold back."

Thus, he began weight lifting and exercising after nearly an hour later.

"Okay, so it was sprinkling for a little bit, but now it's officially raining." He said in between sit ups. "Not that it is any big of a deal, since I'm actually more of an indoor person anyway doing my research about this game and other things, so I'm good. Cumulonimbus clouds aren't gonna ruin my first official day here. But since I don't have a laptop or anything, I guess I can spend some time reflecting…"

"I mean sure this is the umpteenth time it's rained this season, but at least I'm not at the shelter with eleven other strangers hearing them complain. Being soaked and wet while you're still sleeping outside and worrying if your shelter is gonna stay strong or not isn't exactly relaxing to say the least."

Though it seemed as if all Shulk was doing was staring at the rain as it poured outside of the cafe, he was actually lost in his own thoughts.

"So for quite some time, I have been thinking about not just me being in the game, but the position in the game I was in. I was classified as an emperor. At first I thought that I fit more of the 'knight' role, because I'm generally used to helping others. If they're in trouble, I get in trouble with them and together we figure a way out of whatever situation we're in. ...But I guess over time, maybe I'm perceived to be the leader of it all. People do in fact call me a hero back where I'm from. ...And to that I say that all I want to do is to do the right thing. When I see my friends in tough situations, I try my best to help them out. We're all in this together… and I guess that's the main reason to why I was an emperor in this game."

"I was trying to help my alliance break those knights, and then I would have continued to help them as much as I could, but I just made it to the first post-merge Tribal Council. But I know if I was in there longer I definitely would have helped all of them out a little more. Clearly I'm the opposite of a quitter. ...Though despite not making it deep enough to where I had a big enough of an opportunity to do something, at least I helped as much as I could with my tribe with the shelter. And even thought that I was getting to the point to where I was being carried away…"

Apparently since a couple members of the staff found out that Shulk was a Survivor fan that loved to research about the game, they decided to recommend to him a book of 'The Boston Robbery Rulebook', about a contestant from one of the most well known castaways in the history of the show. And of course, Shulk was more than excited to check it out, judging by the extremely focused look on his face as he flipped through pages while it continued to rain.

"...Hopefully Robbery will notice this so I can meet him someday…"

"The people I was around with at the time was there for me and I was there for them. We related to each other well and we all enjoyed ourselves by doing everything we could and wanted on the show. And if I was supposed to be the sacrifice so they can remain in the game longer, then so be it. Hopefully one of them wins. I'll just stay here and continue to read this book about this particular Survivor legend that can teach anyone great advice about the game and how to maneuver yourself through it."

"...You're saying that I can keep this?" A shocked Shulk was interacting with one of the members of the production crew. "Sweet! Thanks! Now I get to go back home and have a show and tell in front of everyone!"

"I mean, sorry if I seem like some sort of 'Survivor nerd' or something, but man… I have such love for this game. Whether either watching at home, or coming out here in person. ...Though I'll admit, I wasn't a day one fan. I started watching since Tocantins and then I just watched all of the other seasons. So for anyone that is watching this and if you are in a very similar position I'm in and you're interested in applying for the show, nothing is impossible. It doesn't matter what world you are from. Just send it that video and apply, and trust me. You'll really love it out here! ...I mean, it's not exactly sunny at the moment, but you get the point!"

Alright, so there you have it. The first chapter of this side fic is now completed and today was all about Shulk. I was going to end it a little bit earlier, but I felt to add something more so I decided to have Shulk go into detail about him being a superfan and what it feels like knowing what world he was in and him initially thinking that he had little to no chance of making it in, and look at him now lol. (BTW for those of you that don't know "Robbery" is a fictional version to four time Survivor player, Rob Mariano "Boston Rob", one of Survivor's legends who's first season was Season 4's Survivor - Marquesas.)

Questions:

1. What do you think about Shulk's game?

2. Do you think that in an alternative timeline, Shulk could have somehow won the game? If not, how far do you think he would have gotten?

If you liked Shulk you can vote for him on the poll on my profile. I'll see you all next time for the next juror when we officially have our second member of the jury for this season!