*Last Time on Survivor Crossover: Ice Cap Zone...*
Following the night of Polnareff's elimination, Denalo were seemingly united as a tribe. But, in an attempt to be a few steps ahead of his old alliance partner, Mr. Krabs offered to join Tails and Knuckles in blindsiding Wii Fit if they went to Tribal Council. Unbeknownst to him, however, Tails and Knuckles set their sights on Krabs in the event of Denalo's third consecutive loss at the next challenge.
In the Manjari tribe, a lazy, eventless day was quickly salvaged into a day of bonding by Daisy and Majima, bringing the tribe closer together.
But at the Elbrass tribe, one of the biggest moves the season has seen so far was brewing, and the two key players involved were none other than Dante and Nero. With a plan to secretly throw the next challenge in order to get a chance at snuffing the torch of the loose cannon that was Waluigi, the once-rivals came together to form an unexpected alliance.
Meanwhile, in the Ice Cap Zone's forest region, Sniper and many others risked valuable time away from camp in pursuit of an idol, but he was the one to finally claim ownership of the idol. It was the Ring of Ambiguity, and it held the extraordinary power of vacating two people of his choice from the Tribal Council, saving them from the vote, but making them unable to participate in the vote itself.
At the challenge, each tribe was tasked with splitting into pairs, where they would attempt to balance a block in the air for as long as they could. The first tribe to lose both of their pairs would attend Tribal Council, making this the perfect opportunity for Dante and Nero to kickstart their plan. And, after a full hour of competing, they discretely managed to purposefully drop their block, throwing the challenge and sending them and their tribe to Tribal Council.
Back at camp, Edgeworth proposed a plan to split the vote between Waluigi and Nero, acting as insurance in the event of Nero playing his idol. With this info in mind, double-agent Dante relayed the plan back to Nero, claiming that he would change his vote from him to Waluigi, which would foil the split vote, and said Waluigi home. But with doubt beginning to haunt him, Nero had his own plan.
In a shocking revelation at the Tribal Council ceremony, Nero confirmed to his tribe that he would play his idol and save himself, freaking out Waluigi and initiating a scramble mere moments before the voting began.
After the votes, Nero was talked out of playing his idol at the last second by his tribe. His decision to trust paid off, as a unanimous vote towards Waluigi sent the unsuspecting villain packing.
Fifteen remain, and the second Shuffling event of the season has arrived. Once again, old alliances will crumble, while new ones will bloom from the rubble. Which ones have what it takes to get the survivors through to the merge? And how will the increasing number of idols take its toll on the game? All and more will be answered in this episode of Survivor Crossover: Ice Cap Zone!
Ice Cap Zone (Lake): Day 13
Survivors: Dante - Scout - Knuckles - Kazuma Kiryu - Tails - Mr. Krabs - Princess Daisy - Tracer - Rodin - Miles Edgeworth - Goro Majima - Nero - Sniper - Joseph Joestar - Wii Fit Trainer.
The Denalo and Manjari tribes entered first, eyeing the crate of parcels beside the excited Alexa. Today was the second Shuffling event of the season, where the dynamic of every tribe would be reset through the simple yet impactful gimmick of "luck". It caused many to rise to the top of the tribe's hierarchy, and others to fall to the bottom, so naturally, many were anxious.
"Welcome to the second Shuffling, survivors!" Alexa waved. "After three challenges and Tribal Councils slowly whittling away at you guys one by one since the first Shuffling, you'll once again be glad to know that your current tribe is next to irrelevant! But of course, before we begin, let's bring in the Elbrass tribe!"
Marching over to the other two tribes was Elbrass, now down to five members.
Pulling out a dead torch from behind the crate of parcels, Alexa planted it firmly into the snow. "Waluigi was the victim of last night's Tribal Council. We started this season at twenty-one, and now we're down to fifteen!"
As Elbrass came to a stop, he continued. "As I said to the other two tribes, your current tribe is now completely irrelevant! Dante, having been through one of these already, how nervous are you over the second?"
"...Welp," he said, rubbing his chin. "I think the first time went pretty well for me, but if I can go from vulnerable to feeling safe thanks to this Shuffling thing, then I can definitely go from feeling safe back to feeling vulnerable. So in that case, I'm just a little nervous."
Alexa nodded, his head tilted to the Denalo tribe. "So you're saying this twist can either make it or break it for some? I can't help but agree, and it makes me all the more curious to find out who suffers and benefits from the new tribes that are about to be formed!"
With excitement, he moved to the box and patted the parcels on top. "Let's get things started! Within this crate are fifteen parcels containing stones, one for each survivor standing here in front of me. You may proceed to come over and grab one, but you cannot open it until I tell you to do so."
Having done this procedure many days prior, the three tribes merged into a large group as they swarmed the crate. Once everyone had a single parcel for themselves, they took a few steps back as Alexa moved on.
"Just like last time, within your parcels are stones. Whichever tribe you end up making it into is entirely dependent on the colour of your stone," he said. "But this time, things aren't quite the same."
He continued. "Back at the first Shuffling, three tribes of seven were turned into three tribes of six. This time, instead of three tribes of five... there'll be two tribes of seven, with one extra person left over," he revealed. "That's right! Say goodbye to the Elbrass tribe, Denalo tribe, and Manjari tribe! Instead, you will be assigned to two new tribes. More on those tribes later, but let's stop beating around the bush because I can see that many of you are very eager to see what lies within your parcel. Open 'em up!"
The survivors tore their parcels apart, revealing the stones inside:
Dante held a red stone...
Edgeworth held a yellow stone...
Tracer held a yellow stone...
Nero held a red stone...
Rodin held a yellow stone...
Knuckles held a red stone...
Tails held a red stone...
Mr. Krabs held a yellow stone...
Wii Fit held a yellow stone...
Kiryu held a red stone...
Majima held a red stone...
Sniper held a yellow stone...
Joseph held a yellow stone...
Scout held a red stone...
Soon after the stones were revealed, Daisy quickly took the spotlight. She was the only one to receive a white stone, which meant she was currently neither part of the red tribe nor the yellow tribe.
Regardless, Alexa ignored that fact and grouped up the survivors. "Alright! Can all of those who drew a red stone group up to my left, while those who drew a yellow stone group up to my right."
As the two groups dispersed away from Daisy, she lay directly in the middle between the two newly formed tribes.
"Alright, now, the next thing we need to address is... you!" He said, nodding to Daisy. "As the only one here with a white rock, you'll have a very important decision to make. You may either join those at the red tribe, or those at the yellow tribe. The choice is completely yours to make."
With zero thought, she pointed to the red tribe. "Sorry yellows, but I think I'd prefer to be with the red tribe!"
"That was quick!" Remarked Alexa. "In that case, you may join the group."
With a smile, she waved to her new tribe as she skipped over. By joining the red tribe over the yellow tribe, they now had a member advantage of one extra person.
"Well obviously, calling you guys the Red Tribe and Yellow Tribe doesn't roll off the tongue pretty well," he admitted. "So, the name for the red tribe is... Acogua, and your camp will replace the Elbrass camp at Mount Elbrass. And for the yellow tribe, your name is... Punjay, and your camp will replace the Manjari camp at Mount Manjari. So, to recap, let's take a look at the finalised tribe formations:"
Acogua Tribe (Red)
- Dante
- Nero
- Knuckles
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Kazuma Kiryu
- Goro Majima
- Scout
- Princess Daisy
Punjay Tribe (Yellow)
- Miles Edgeworth
- Tracer
- Rodin
- Mr. Krabs
- Wii Fit Trainer
- Sniper
- Joseph Joestar
"So after a hectic night at Tribal Council, things only get more chaotic from here. I still can't believe I have this damn idol, but at least now I can go into this brand new tribe of eight with a weapon up my sleeve. Not only that, but Dante's still on the same tribe as me, and I'm confident me and him are good allies now. But, the biggest problem now is that I have Knuckles here. I could tell it was him who flipped on me back when I was blindsided by Polnareff, so now my number one priority is getting him out." - Nero.
"Being with Nero is... awkward. We were in an alliance, and I was forced to flip my vote to prevent rocks from being drawn. But miraculously for him, instead of elimination, he was placed into the Elbrass tribe. I don't like to be pessimistic, but given the looks I couldn't help but notice from him... I may or may not be on his radar. However, I got Tails and a couple of old friends consisting of Scout, Kiryu, and Daisy. He won't be able to do much to me!" - Knuckles.
"Tribe shuffle number two, and I'm still with Rodin! In fact, everyone from the very first Manjari tribe has now reunited, and given how we were a pretty close bunch before we all got split up, that might just be what dictates the hierarchy in this new tribe. But hopefully, things like that won't have to be important if we keep winning challenges. I have speed, Edgeworth is smart, Rodin has strength, Wii Fit is mentally strong, Sniper is a sharp-shooter, Joseph looks very beefy, and... err... Krabs has the claws!" - Tracer.
"To be quite honest, I was too busy jumpin' for joy when I heard that Waluigi finally got kicked outta his tribe to think about these new tribes. Who would've thought that the first Tribal Council he attended would be his last? I bloody did, that's for sure!" - Sniper.
"I really liked Sniper and Joseph. They were super cool, and I'm sad that I couldn't have chose them to join me. But, with Kiryu and Scout, I know I can trust those guys one-hundred percent! Plus, we can finish what we started, and get Dante off! Even though I've... sorta forgot why we wanted him out in the first place... hmm..." - Princess Daisy.
With the newly assorted survivors greeting their new tribes, Alexa decided to go over a few more things before sending them back to camp.
"I can see you're all enjoying your new tribes! But before I send you back, I got two announcements to tell you!" He said. "There's good news and, for most of you, bad news. Who wants to hear the good news first?"
"Me!" Daisy waved.
Majima, meanwhile, disagreed. "Eh? Ain't it better to wash down the bad news with somethin' good?"
"...Yeah, but good news can make you feel so good that you don't even care about the bad news!" Daisy argued. "If you were hurt by the bad news, then got relieved by the good news, then that still means you were hurt by the bad news. Meanwhile-"
"OKAY OKAY!" Alexa interrupted. "We'll start with the good news. The good news is that this is the last Shuffling, because within the next few Tribal Councils, most of you will have made it to the Merge!"
With many survivors relieved to hear this news, Alexa swiftly moved on to the bad news.
"Now, the bad news is..." He paused. "Since the last Shuffling event, the idol within the Ice Cap Forest area has finally been found! Whoever found it possesses a very potent advantage, so stay cautious!"
While Sniper, the owner of the idol from the Ice Cap Forest, was left biting his lip, those around him began to speculate to themselves.
"Ah... it feels good to sour the friendly mood of two tribes," joked Alexa. "But, now that those two important bits of info have been announced, you may head back to your new tribes! Tomorrow will have an immunity challenge as per usual, so I'll see you then, survivors!"
And just like that, three tribes became two. Soon enough, they would become one, but before that, the game was about to get much harder for many. If they wanted to make Merge, they would have to put their physical, mental, and social games to the test...
Acogua: Day 13
Survivors: Dante - Nero - Knuckles - Miles "Tails" Prower - Kazuma Kiryu - Goro Majima - Scout - Princess Daisy.
Arriving at the old Elbrass camp, many survivors noticed that the tribe had undergone a slight makeover. All of the green banners and flags within the tribe that once represented Elbrass had turned to a blood-red, representing the new Acogua tribe. In addition, a large box had been placed by the fire beneath the shelter.
The tribe gravitated towards the box, curious to find out the contents inside.
Doing the honours, Knuckles lifted the box and tossed the lid behind him, and the tribe peeked inside.
Inside was enough raw bacon and eggs to feed the whole tribe, and laying on top was a note from Alexa:
"From the kindness of my heart, here's a hearty breakfast to celebrate your new tribe!"
The tribe was ecstatic to have a meal that wasn't the usual rice and beans.
"This is the first time I've seen real food in half a month!" Remarked Dante, reaching in. "Get the fire ready!"
As he scoured through the box, emptying it of the cartons of eggs and packets of bacon inside, his only motivation in doing so was to find an idol, which he expected to be at the bottom of the box. Though, as he finally reached the bottom, there seemed to be no idol in sight, frustrating him.
"Nero may still have that idol of his, but we'll need more than that to stay safe. Four members of this tribe were apart of the majority alliance that wanted me out back at the start of the game, another two members were apart of the tribe that kicked Nero out... and that just leaves the two of us, fighting for our lives in the most unlucky tribe placement possible." - Dante.
With his discrete searching resulting in nothing, he gave up and decided to help with the cooking, making sure the fire underneath was hot enough to cook the food.
Placing the bacon down, the satisfying sizzle that followed made the tribe ravenous. Even those who had experienced food rewards in the past were overwhelmingly hellbent on eating something different.
While the food was cooking, Daisy was happy to have made the decision to join Acogua over Punjay. "I dunno about you guys, but this is definitely the best tribe I've been in so far!"
"You got that damn right," said Scout. "We got brains n' brawns. What do the Punjay tribe have? A big dumb crab!"
"The fact he's still in the game is a damn miracle," Majima said, eyeing Tails and Knuckles. "Didn't you two choose Nero and Polnareff over him? The hell kinda call was that?"
Nero chimed in. "It wasn't a call, it was probably the dumbest choice they could've made. Knuckles blindsides me, then takes out the guy he was apparently "close" with."
With things quickly growing tense, Daisy picked up on Polnareff's elimination. "Oh yeah... Polnareff was the reason why the first Elbrass tribe was so united! Were you not able to save him?"
"Well, given that Polnareff had the tribe wrapped around his finger, I think Knuckles was more involved in the elimination than he wants you to believe," he replied, attempting to stir drama in the camp.
Dante smirked as things became more and more awkward.
While Knuckles became too flustered to think of what to say, Tails stepped in to help him out. "Polnareff went power-hungry and played a game that none of us could trust him with. We all made the right call in taking him out."
"I don't buy that crap!" Scout argued. "I didn't see him go power-hungry when he was with us."
"Well, that's what happened!" He argued back. "He blindsided Nero after forming an alliance with him in it."
The mercenary scoffed. "Yeah, cus' the guy had an idol thingy! You don't go up to someone with an idol and tell 'em that you're gonna eliminate 'em. Ya gotta pretend to be their friend, THEN backstab 'em!"
"But-"
"And who the hell're you?" Scout raised an eyebrow. "Don't try playin' lawyer for him when the only lawyer here got kicked out a week ago. I'm sure Knuckles can speak for himself."
As Tails lost his confidence in the argument, Knuckles spoke up. "I'm not completely sure if I still made the right choice, but judging from what was said in that Tribal Council, it felt like Polnareff might have been gunning for me or Tails."
"So your paranoia got Polnareff eliminated?" He groaned. "Nice frickin' job."
With Daisy and especially Scout seeing Knuckles in a different light, Nero and Dante were secretly celebrating the cracks that had already begun to form.
"A part of me wants to believe Knuckles, but another part of me is pretty wary. Polnareff going from friend to foe so quickly doesn't sound like something he'd do, but none of us other than Knuckles or Tails can give an account for his elimination. I would rather keep them over Nero, as he seemed to have instigated the whole situation, but it's definitely something to keep in mind." - Kazuma Kiryu.
"Where's the popcorn when ya need it? Only ten minutes in, and this tribe's startin' to blow up!" - Goro Majima.
After half a minute of awkwardly sizzling bacon and eggs, Kiryu scooped out and served the first few batches.
As the tribe ate, they attempted to move on from the conversation that just happened.
"...So, what happened after you got kicked out, Nero?" Asked Majima between mouthfuls of food. "Ya must've been livid."
He shrugged. "I tried my best to build relationships with a tribe full of tight alliances. In other words, I was at the bottom."
Feeling an opportunity beginning to arise, Dante swiftly realised that he and Nero being the only ex-Elbrass members was a blessing in disguise. With nobody around to validate any claim he or Nero gave about last night's Tribal Council, he was in a risky position to tell some game-changing lies.
"Lucky you had that idol, huh?" He shrugged. "The kid played it and sent Waluigi packing last night."
As Nero flinched with surprise, attempting to quickly adapt to this sudden lie, they were both immediately prodded with more questions.
"Who the hell votes for someone with an idol?" Majima rolled his eyes. "It's like they were tryna get themselves voted off."
"Well, there were already some insurance votes on Waluigi in case the blindside failed, so either it would be Nero or Waluigi. I knew it would be Waluigi going from the start," said Dante, developing the story.
With Nero growing secretly irate with Dante's recklessness, the others apparently fell for it.
"Glad you could throw it out before it caused you more trouble," said Daisy, tilting her head with compassion.
"Yeah, now people can kick ya out for new reasons," joked Majima.
As laughter was shared around, Nero had to quickly suck up Dante's recklessness and join in with the tribe. Deep down, however, he was particularly irate.
"Dante, you idiot! Edgeworth, Rodin, and Tracer may be on another tribe, but just like with Waluigi, they could easily reveal to everyone that I still have my idol! Who the hell's gonna trust either of us then?" - Nero.
Soon enough, the next batch came in, and then the next, and eventually, the whole tribe had been fed. They had their initial bonding session as a tribe, and though more drama and information had occurred than actual bonding, they were at least satisfied and decently energised from the breakfast. Soon enough, however, groups broke off and formed. Dante and Nero broke off first to talk, followed by Tails and Knuckles. This left a bigger group of Kiryu, Majima, Scout, and Daisy to remain by the fire.
As Dante and Nero approached a snowy corner of the camp, Nero immediately began his verbal assault.
"You dumbass!" He growled. "You just cornered the two of us!"
"Big risks mean big rewards, Nero," Dante retaliated, defending himself. "The chances of the other tribe telling them about what happened in the last Tribal Council isn't as likely as you think."
Nero folded his arms sarcastically. "Oh great, what about the Merge then? When both tribes mingle and everyone learns about everything that's happened so far?"
"It won't matter then."
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"This tribe consists of people who have either gunned for me or people who backstabbed you," he explained. "Our best option is to lie to them, keep your idol under wraps, and hopefully throw Knuckles under the bus. Then, when we get to Merge, we can align with the old members of the Punjay tribe, and get rid of every single person who targeted us."
He sighed with disapproval. "And align with other people who voted me off?"
"We can deal with that when we get to it," Dante retaliated. "I know that we are both better off working with those people. I'm still pretty close with most of them, and if you and I are there to be extra votes, there's no way they'll blindside us."
"Nero isn't too happy that I've drawn us a nice little plan that will get us close to the finish line. I can't say that his stubbornness doesn't surprise me, but I got to absolutely make sure that he goes along with this. All he needs to do is keep the idol under wraps until he either needs to use it or until we hit Merge, then we align with Edgeworth and the rest of the Punjay tribe. It's that easy!" - Dante.
Nero stood there and scowled. "...It would have been nice to know this sooner."
"There wasn't much chance, and I sensed you were about to tell 'em that you still had your idol," he nonchalantly shrugged, leaning against the stone walls of the mountain.
"Dante's making plans like they're nothing. Throwing challenges, planning to form huge majority alliances a week in advance... he's gonna get us both eliminated if he keeps playing this hard." - Nero.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of camp, Tails and Knuckles sat by the entrance, growing more worried by the second.
"Well... our first impressions of this tribe could have been better, right bud?" Knuckles groaned. "Nero definitely knows how to sour reputations..."
Tails reluctantly agreed. "I think it's best that we win this next challenge."
"Duh. It's always best for us to win the next challenge," he said.
"But it's especially important this time," the fox warned. "We definitely need more time to build relationships. We need to convince the tribe that we're not as shady as Nero made us out to be."
The echidna sighed. "You're right. Then we vote him off later, right?"
"Either him or Dante," he corrected. "Remember, Nero may have used his idol, but he or Dante could have easily found another. Alexa did mention that the idol within the Forest had been found."
"...Idols are too complicated," Knuckles groaned. "When one finally gets used, everyone starts talking about the next one."
"Well, as long as we play smart, then we never have to worry about them!" Tails said optimistically.
With newfound hope and resolution, Tails and Knuckles continued to hang around the camp's entrance.
Beneath the shelter, Kiryu, Majima, Scout, and Daisy all seemed to be content with staying close together.
"We were tight back in Manjari, right?" Said Scout. "If that's the case, then let's keep it up."
"Agreed!" Exclaimed Daisy.
"...Hmm, you up for that Kiryu-chan?" Asked Majima. "Smooth sailin' till Merge with an alliance full of people you've known for a damn while? If ya say no, then I'll be forced to boot ya off!"
Regardless of the light-hearted threat, Kiryu seemed keen for them to stick together. "Sounds good. Four votes definitely give us a lot of power."
"Wait, so we're an official alliance?!" Squealed Daisy. "Does that mean I can show off my thing!"
"Your... thing?" Scout asked.
She placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I can't tell you unless this alliance is official! That's why I'm asking!"
"Well uh... yeah?" Though baffled, Scout was curious to see what Daisy had to show.
"Hell yeah are we an alliance!" Majima reinforced. "Now stop wastin' time n' show us!"
Kiryu raised an eyebrow, knowing what she was going to show off to the freshly made alliance.
Reaching into her pockets, Daisy shuffled her hand around and grabbed the item, but before she pulled it out, she swiftly stopped in place.
"Wait... shouldn't we have an alliance name?" She asked. "How can you have an alliance without naming it?"
Though Scout was visibly impatient and annoyed, her question caused Majima to ponder deeply for a good name.
"Hmm..." He rubbed his goatee, squinting his eye. "We're all from the old Manjari tribe..."
"Oh, I remember saying something about Kiryu being in a clan!" Daisy said. "How about the... Manjari Clan!"
"...Well shit, that's a name and a half!" Majima wrung his hands.
Scout rolled his eyes, displeased. "Okay, that's the name. Now show us that thing you've been talkin' about!"
"O-oh, right!" She grinned, reaching back into her pocket. "I almost forgot."
Slowly, Daisy removed her idol from her pocket, showing it to her new alliance: the Manjari Clan.
"Is that an idol?!" Scout asked, his mouth gaping with shock. "The hell did you get that from?!"
"I found it back at that shack place. It's called the Ring of Abduction, and it lets me steal and use someone else's vote for myself!" She explained, showing off the shiny ring. "This is all the power we need!"
Kiryu nodded. "She's right. One vote may not seem like much, but given we already have four votes, a fifth would give us a majority over this tribe."
"Pfft, like we already don't have the majority," scoffed Scout. "After what happened at lunch, I don't think the other knuckleheads are gonna be workin' together."
"Yeah..." Said Daisy. "I take it Knuckles isn't going to be joining the Manjari Clan after what he did to Polnareff..."
"He better hit the bricks, cuz I don't trust him," he spat. "Him or his fuzzy friend. But we can sort that crap out when we go to Tribal Council next."
Majima perked his ears up, remembering that he still hadn't attended Tribal Council yet.
"Y'know, as much as I like havin' a winnin' streak, I came here to shake things up at Tribal Councils. Yet here I am, one of three people that still haven't attended the damn thing. If my tribe wins the next challenge, then that will make me the only remainin' person who hasn't attended Tribal Council. That ain't what I expected, but I want that title!" - Goro Majima.
To conclude the first eventful today together, Acogua was already seeing clear divides. And, with the Manjari Clan becoming the majority, winning the next challenge would be crucial to the survival of those uninvited...
Punjay: Day 13
Survivors: Miles Edgeworth - Tracer - Rodin - Mr. Krabs - Wii Fit Trainer - Sniper - Joseph Joestar.
Much like the Acogua tribe, the members of Punjay arrived at camp to find that it had undergone a makeover. All flags and banners that once showed off the deep orange of Manjari had been replaced with a bright, vivid yellow. In addition, a large, wooden box was located by the campfire, and within contained numerous helpings of eggs and bacon for the tribe to cook and feast upon.
As they sat beneath the shelter to either greet new faces or reunite with old teammates, Rodin took over the responsibility of cooking the meal for the tribe.
Though Acogua's first feast as a tribe had the whole camp socialising together, Punjay wasn't nearly as socially united throughout their meal. Tracer, Wii Fit, Rodin, and Krabs seemed to talk amongst themselves. This left a fairly silent trio of Edgeworth, Joseph, and Sniper. Though the former two were analysing the tribe around them, Sniper was simply trying to deal with the especially cruel morning weather.
Joseph discretely stared at Edgeworth, sitting opposite him beneath the shelter. Back in the first iteration of the Denalo tribe, he and Edgeworth had a tense encounter that left him wary of his character. He wasn't sure if Edgeworth was going to work with him, but he felt it was best to not get his hopes up. With Tracer, Rodin, Krabs, and Wii Fit coming across as very tight-knit, he had a hunch that he wasn't on the right side of the numbers, nor was Sniper.
Little did he know, Edgeworth was thinking the same thing. He already knew that Tracer and Rodin were a duo, and with Krabs and Tracer having ties with them from the first iteration of the Manjari tribe, he had reason to believe that they were also fairly close. This would potentially form a majority alliance of four, leaving him on the bottom with Joseph and Sniper, likely as a key target.
"So Joseph, how's the vacation been for you and Sniper so far?"
"...Huh?" He gasped, snapping back to reality. "Vacation?"
"Thirteen days without a single Tribal Council!" She exclaimed.
Joseph widened his eyes with acknowledgment. "Oh! Well, all I'm concerned about right now is extending that vacation for as long as possible."
Sniper chimed in, shivering from the cold. "Wouldn't call this a vacation, mate. Freezin' up, wishin' for a coffee in the mountains ain't my thing."
Noticing that Sniper was especially suffering from the blistering winds, Wii Fit attempted to help. "Well, as much as we have a good fire going up here, sitting up in a high-altitude mountain in weather like this isn't going to warm you up. Do you wanna come and help us fetch some sticks for the fire?"
As she stood up, the Australian obliged, having nothing better to do. "You're right. I'll come with ya."
"Room for one more?" Asked Tracer, grabbing the dirtied pot. "I'll clean the pot while we're down there too."
As the three went to leave, Edgeworth grew suspicious, but his suspicions became amplified when Joseph stood up from his seat.
"I'll come too," he said at the last minute.
Leaving Edgeworth, who faced Rodin and Krabs, Joseph walked over to the others and left.
"And then there was three..." Edgeworth said sarcastically. "But I might leave too. This weather's been getting on my nerves, so I might try and sleep it out in the cave."
"Aight," Rodin nodded.
Krabs folded his arms. "It ain't THAT cold. At least, I've been colder than this!"
The prosecutor left his seat and swiftly left, approaching the cave entrance.
Yet, instead of entering the cave, he hid behind the entrance and peeked over at Rodin and Krabs in the distance. The two of them sat still by the fire.
After a few seconds of observing, his attention was grabbed by Rodin nudging Krabs with his hand. Following the nudge, he leaned over to him and whispered to him in secrecy.
"As much as I'm more accustomed to harder evidence than hunches and potential coincidences... I can't shake off the feeling that I might be at the bottom of this new tribe. I wouldn't be surprised if Tracer and Rodin stop working with me, and the way I saw Rodin interact with Krabs from my hiding spot makes me suspect that there's at least some form of a grand plan that I'm not currently a part of." - Miles Edgeworth.
He watched their brief conversation for around a couple of minutes, the length of their discussion further hammering in the fact that the talks were about strategy and nothing else. Enlightened yet concerned about the dynamics of his new tribe, Edgeworth slipped away deep into the cave.
Towards the bottom of the mountain, Joseph, Sniper, Wii Fit, and Tracer made their way down the snowy dirt path. Though the purpose of this expedition was to complete the mundane tasks that had to be done around camp every day, Sniper's intuition had him suspecting bigger motives in being tagged along.
And of course, as they reached the base of the mountain, his hunch had turned out to be correct.
Wii Fit momentarily stopped, turning to the three behind her. "I was hoping to talk to at least one of you two, but it's lucky that you tagged along, Joseph."
"What's this about, then?" Asked Sniper.
"I think it's important this tribe stays united. I don't want it fractured, and we should take the first opportunity we can get to make sure that we keep it from becoming that way," she explained vaguely.
Tracer then jumped in, getting to the point. "And to do that, we should blindside Edgeworth the first opportunity we get."
"Thought it might head that way," he shrugged. "He's a sneaky, quiet bugger, that's for sure."
Joseph agreed. "I never trusted him to begin with. He's not had many opportunities to make a move, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"Glad neither of you needed convincing." Tracer gave an energetic thumbs-up as she turned around. "Let's keep this brief and split off. I'll scrub this tacky ol' pot while you three fetch some wood for the fire."
"What about the other two blokes?" Asked Sniper. "Rodin and the crab?"
"Both are on board," Wii Fit said.
"Rodin's probably the keenest to vote off Edgeworth out of us all," added Tracer. "It's probably the most gusto I've seen in him since we met. Anyway..."
As Tracer broke away from the others, she scaled around the mountain until she was by the Ice Cap Lake. While they were off finding sticks provided by sparse patches of trees surrounding the back of the mountain, she washed away the greasy, dirty pot as best she could, using nothing but the frigid waters of the lake and her bare hands.
Once that was taken care of, she filled half the pot with water for cooking rice and beans in, and began her journey back to camp.
While the others were still far away, scurrying for a reasonable amount of sticks and branches, Tracer ascended the mountain.
Her trek was slow and cautious, and she steadied her focus down onto the half-full pot of water, making sure not to spill it.
When entering a wide, fairly flat part of the mountain's path, she noticed something fairly peculiar to the right of her and the path. A long, thin thread of red string, half-buried by snow, ran up and into a small, hidden crevice in the mountain.
Checking that nobody was behind her, Tracer gently placed the pot down onto the snow and walked over to investigate.
She grabbed the string and followed it to the crevice, noticing a small object was wedged inside. After a gentle tug on the string, the object slid out. The object in question was a small brown pouch, and so naturally, Tracer instinctively opened up the pouch and removed its contents.
Out came a shiny red ring with a small note attached. Assuming that this was an idol, Tracer was already ecstatic. After a short celebration, she opened the note and read it to herself:
"This is the Ring of Acogua. Upon activating this ring at Tribal Council before the votes are read, you will grant full immunity to whoever you choose to play it on for that Tribal Council. When immune, every vote cast towards you will be nullified, giving them zero effect.
However, this idol has a very important catch: this idol only works if in the possession of a member of the Acogua tribe.
The silver lining to this twist is that there is another idol located somewhere on the mountain path that leads to the Acogua camp. That idol is the Ring of Punjay, and it only works if in the possession of a member of the Punjay tribe.
For both idols to be effective, you must locate the holder of the Ring of Punjay and swap your idols with them. But beware, both idols will lose their power at the Merge, which will occur when there are twelve or fewer survivors left."
Though it was a lot of information to be processed, Tracer got the gist. Though this idol had no power in her hands, it's a bargaining tool she can use to retrieve the Ring of Punjay from a member of Acogua. The main problem would be locating this person and swapping idols in secret. Though this would certainly be challenging, Tracer was up for it.
"This is where things get interesting. Not only can I make an ally by swapping my idol for theirs, but the comfort of immunity is something I really want! But right now, I'm just happy that I managed to nab my first, and hopefully not last idol!" - Tracer.
Stuffing the ring, pouch, and string all into her clothes, she picked up the clay pot and swiftly returned back to camp...
*TO BE CONTINUED*
