Challenge Dunes: Day 2
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Papyrus - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Tails - Spy - Gordon Ramsay - Super Macho Man - Waluigi - Johnny Bravo - Squidward Tentacles - Patrick Star - Kirby - King K. Rool - Engineer - ROB - Jotaro Kujo - Samus Aran.
After the survivors woke up in the comfort of their own sandy tents, they proceeded to enter the Warp Pipe, traveling across the desert at incredible speeds. After a minute or so of waiting, they were launched out of the pipe, and some chose to climb off or jump off depending on how confident they were in not hurting their legs.
They were back at the dunes that they were taken to by the jeeps at the beginning of the competition, and it was made clear that this would be the usual challenge arena for the two tribes.
"Welcome survivors!" Said Alexa, standing out in the open. "Did you sleep well?"
"More or less!" Tails nodded. "The desert cooled down a lot when nightfall came around, so sleeping wasn't as painful as I thought it would be."
"It was bogus!" Whined Macho Man. "Completely cramped and uncomfortable. I don't know what that mutant is on about."
"M-mutant...?" He pouted, rubbing his arm. "My tails aren't that freaky..."
He folded his arms. "Well look on the bright side, kid. You somehow look a lot more normal than a lot of the people here!"
"Saying that is-a not going to end well for him, I can just-a feel it..." - Luigi.
Alexa got down to the challenge. "Moooving on! Today's challenge will be basic:"
*Today's challenge will have both teams split into two groups each, each of these groups will contain five members. The first group, known as Group A, will climb up a ladder and onto a platform before proceeding to go through a mainly platformer-based obstacle course featuring slippery platforms, platforms that sway from side to side and up and down, as well as other things to try and knock you off! If you fall off during this, your only option is to go back to the ladder and try again. At the end of the course is a pile of keys, five red keys for Super Shrooms, and five green keys for Power Flowers. From there, you will pick up one key representing your team color, and you will run over to Group B, who will participate in the final part of the challenge.
Group B will take the keys and will slot them into five locks on a chest, however, you will need to turn all five keys into a precise position to unlock the chest, meaning trial and error as well as patience is more than crucial! Inside of the chest is a set of shards, you will need to connect these shards together to form a picture, and I will inspect the picture to see if it's correct. If it's correct, you win the challenge! If it's incorrect, you gotta try it again. Now that you get the gist of the challenge, I will set up some ground rules:
- No physically interacting with people that aren't on your team.
- Group A will have to touch every platform before they're allowed to take a key. You can only take one key, and you can not do the course again to get another key.
- Tinkering with the chest in an unintended way is prohibited.
- No groups will get involved in the other's job outside of Group A handing the keys to Group B.
Failure to comply with these rules will result in instant disqualification for the wrongdoer and his team, which will let them down big time. Now, without further ado, you may all discuss who to put into your groups!*
The two tribes huddled up, quietly discussing who goes into what group.
For a challenge nobody saw coming, Power Flowers managed to decide on it seamlessly, with little drama.
"PUZZLES? COUNT ME IN FOR GROUP B!" Papyrus demanded.
"Showing off my physique is totally macho, I can't not live up to my name!" Informed Macho Man. "I'm going into Group A whether you losers like it or not."
"I don't object to that... though I will also go to Group A." Samus added. "And I think Johnny should be in Group B."
Meta Knight scoffed. "You have a lot of faith in that human if you think he can do anything to do with his mind..."
"Who said I had faith in him?" Samus raised her eyebrow. "It's just that people won't have to rely on him doing a simple platforming task, meanwhile his input isn't necessary if he's in Group B, even if it makes things harder."
He nodded. "I see, you thought it through well."
Johnny scratched his head. "I dunno what y'all are talking about, but if that hot mama is the one making the decisions, then okay!"
ROB made a loud beeping noise, apparently to get everyone's attention. "I recommend you put me in Group A. I will have to scan all shards one at a time to find out where they go, which would take far too long, so putting me in Group B isn't a good idea."
"You don't look very mobile, are you sure?" Spy questioned.
He nodded clunkily. "I am capable of hovering for short periods of time, and I am also able to refuel myself only a few seconds after landing."
"Interesting, well, you've cleared up my suspicions, so go ahead," he accepted. "As for me, I can easily piece together a puzzle, so Group B it is..."
"Who knew I'd be talking to a robot of all things! Especially when it's to do with negotiations... the only robots I interact with are usually ones I can sap and destroy, so working with a sentient one makes me feel... guilty?" - Spy.
"I'm capable of doing puzzles, I did a science shtick once, after all... I will be in Group B!" K Rool declared.
Meta Knight nodded. "I shall do so too."
"I may not look the type, but I feel like I can do well in the platforming segments, though it's your choice," Peach stated.
"YOU SEEM LAID-BACK FOR SOMEONE OF HIGH ROYALTY," observed Papyrus. "INTERESTING... ANYHOW, THAT JUST LEAVES THE PINK SQUISHY THING WITH PANTS FOR GROUP A!"
"Huh? Platforming? Like in video games?" Patrick rubbed his eyes, yawning.
"Have you been spacing out this entire time?!" Spy growled. "I don't trust you enough to let you be in Group A, but let's just see how things turn out. After all, if you don't perform well, we'll just vote you off!"
"NOT YET! I HAVEN'T EVEN DONE A CHALLENGE!" Patrick pleaded, dropping to his knees. "I NEED THE MONEY!"
He folded his arms, tapping his feet on the sand with irritation on his face. "We aren't going to if you make sure we win this challenge, you imbecile!"
"Oh, well you can count on me!" The starfish proceeded to contrast his gloomy begging by scrambling up, standing up straight and giving an army salute.
Meanwhile, Super Shrooms decided who went into which group much quicker, everyone showing a lot more confidence in each other's abilities compared to Power Flowers.
"I've done some puzzle-esque things before, and I don't trust my physical state to do that platforming..." Phoenix placed his arm on the back of his neck, grinning. "So I'll do Group B if that's fine."
"Good thing we have the weak losers for the puzzles!" Waluigi smirked. "Meanwhile, I'm-a gonna be in Group A!"
"If I can, I'll do Group A as-a well..." Luigi said, though not as confident as Phoenix or Waluigi.
Kirby then beamed before letting out an undecipherable yet happy noise. "Poyo!"
"Is that Kirbanese for Group B or something?" Little Mac questioned.
The pink creature shook its head left and right.
"Group A?!" The boxer's jaw dropped. "You don't look like you're good at platforming at all!"
Engineer held his hand up. "Now just hang on for a darn second. We don't know what Kirby's capable of! For all we know he can jump higher than all of us put together, and I feel like it's better off doing that than a puzzle, speakin' of which, I'll be headin' for Group B."
"Well, if you say so..." Little Mac folded his arms. "I do faintly remember Kirby being decent at staying in the air... but before anyone steals my spot, I'm going for Group A too!"
"Which leaves one more spot for Group A..." Gordon analyzed.
"I will be in Group B, my Star Platinum can definitely unlock that chest in only a few seconds," betted Jotaro.
As his role was established, everyone turned their heads as Tails jumped up into the air with excitement.
"Let me get the final spot in Group A, I have an idea!" He said. "I can carry people from platform to platform if they're struggling!"
...
"WAAAAHAHAHAHA!" Waluigi cackled, falling down onto his back and kicking. "A LITTLE KITTY BEING ABLE TO-A LIFT ANY OF US?! WAAAHAHAHAHA!"
Though Tails looked visibly annoyed, that didn't stop him from begging for the spot. "I know I'm capable of doing it!"
"Better give him a chance, at least, that's-a just what I think!" Luigi recommended.
Squidward gazed at him. "Fine, but he better not cost us this challenge!"
"I'll do the opposite, I promise you," Tails optimistically beamed. "I know I'm capable of it!"
"I like your optimism there, fox," Engineer smirked. "Does that leave Squidward and Gordon to join me, Jotaro and the lawyer kid in Group B?"
Gordon nodded. "I don't like either, but I can definitely do puzzles better than obstacle courses."
"I've bought plenty of locks to try and keep my neighbors out, so my experience with keys is as good as a professional!" Squidward gloated, though people couldn't help but pay attention to how confidently he admitted that his neighbors trespass into his house.
After both teams split into their respective groups, this was the final outcome:
SHROOMS GROUP A
- Waluigi
- Luigi
- Kirby
- Little Mac
- Tails
SHROOMS GROUP B
- Phoenix Wright
- Engineer
- Jotaro Kujo
- Squidward Tentacles
- Gordon Ramsay
FLOWERS GROUP A
- Super Macho Man
- Samus Aran
- ROB
- Princess Peach
- Patrick Star
FLOWERS GROUP B
- Papyrus
- Johnny Bravo
- Spy
- K Rool
- Meta Knight
Both teams then approached Alexa, the two groups in each team were slightly separated to let him know.
"Alright, I see..." He gazed at them. "Now that you've all gotten your groups prepared, it's time to start the challenge, right?"
"C'mon, I'm more than ready!" Johnny announced, howling with excitement as he firmly gripped his bicep in an attempt to show off.
He could easily tell that these survivors were itching to start their first challenge, their first test of skill and their chance to leave a good impression on their team. This caused Alexa to grin, as the naive ignorance of not knowing what challenge would lie in the future for them was mildly amusing for him, as it would be for anyone.
The Group A survivors lined up near the ladder that would lead them to the first platform, as the Group B survivors huddled around the chest, some were ready to begin rooting on their fellow Group A teammates.
Alexa pulled out a shiny iron whistle that had been crudely tucked into his shirt, a green and red ribbon wrapped around his neck, and was attached to the whistle.
He held it up to his mouth and took a sip of a flask attached to his side, wetting his mouth.
"The challenge begins in three..."
The survivors were excited yet nervous, some were shaking with fear at the thought of losing the challenge, and even more so of getting eliminated first, which would be humiliating, but alas, it was going to be one of them...
"Two..."
The two Group B sets of survivors watched as the Group A sets got into position to begin running to the ladder...
"One... GO!"
Alexa blew on his whistle following him finishing the countdown, causing a large piercing noise to alert the survivors that the challenge had officially begun at that mark.
Waluigi, Luigi, Little Mac, Macho Man, Samus, Peach and Patrick all scrambled for the ladder as quickly as possible, trying to be the first to make it there.
However, Tails used his two tails to propel himself upwards, slowly but surely hovering upwards until he reached the platform.
Kirby did a similar job, moving much slower through the air as he puffed himself up like a balloon, drifting towards the first platform gracefully as Group B watched with a blank stare.
"W-what the?!" Gawked Squidward. "She... er... IT can fly?!"
ROB simply used his jet to shoot upwards, slowly landing on the first platform to recharge the fuel manually. His mechanical body went stiff as he did so.
Whilst Samus was the first to make it to the ladder, Luigi managed to overtake her by leaping straight upwards, his legs kicking as he made a small flutter towards the ladder. He grabbed onto it and began climbing.
Little Mac came after Samus, and climbed the ladder at the same pace as her.
Following Little Mac was Macho Man, Waluigi, Peach, and Patrick respectively.
After they all made it up the first platform, ten more platforms remained. The second and third seemed normal, but were rather big jumps that they had to make. The fourth platform didn't seem too out-of-the-ordinary, though it was a bright yellow color for some odd reason, and also seemed unfairly high from the fifth platform. Said fifth platform looked incredibly slippery, a thin layer of ice covering the top, defying reality by not melting and evaporating from the heat's prominence, and the sixth platform was the same but slightly smaller. The seventh and eighth platforms swayed left to right like a pendulum, meaning that they would have to time the jumps and not get thrown off by the bizarre movement pattern if they wanted to make it through. Finally, the ninth and tenth platforms rose up and down, and also had the ice layer on top. The tenth platform was the final one, and it was simply a regular platform that contained the keys necessary to progress.
Tails cleared the first two jumps without even needing to fly, but as soon as he jumped onto the fourth platform...
*Boooiiing*
Unexpectedly, the bewildered fox was shot into the air, too thrown off to remember to fly to correct himself as he let out a small yelp of terror.
He landed on the platform and bounced again, this time getting into position to land on the next platform as he shot back down, and for the third time, bounced off of the yellow platform.
With ease this time, he flew up and landed on the fourth platform, the first slippery one. If only he could fly to the end without having to touch each platform...
As he hopped through the course, Macho Man tutted as he saw Peach approach the edge of the platform they were standing on.
"Pssh, look how afraid she looks!" He thought to himself. "Never send a lady to do the work of a ma-"
Halfway through his thought, he was interrupted by her jumping high into the air before levitating, her dress fluttering through the mild winds of the desert before she landed onto the next platform.
Macho Man was speechless, and within only a few seconds of his mockery was he proven to be wrong. Nevertheless, he shook his head left and right several times before making a leap onto the platform in front of him.
Whilst he expected it to be more graceful than the leap of the princess that made the jump prior, he let out a small shriek as he realized he wasn't going to make a steady landing. Out of instinctual terror, he flung his arms forward and grabbed onto the edge of the platform, throwing himself up with one push thanks to his exceptional upper-body strength.
At this point, ROB was first place, nearing the end. Tails wasn't too far behind in second place, and Peach as well as Luigi were rather close by at third and fourth place.
"When I first designed this challenge, I thought most survivors would easily fall off within the first few minutes, though so far none of them took a single plunge yet! It's incredibly impressive, and I think this alone proves that there won't be a case of the same few people dominating every challenge, which ended up being the case for the first season." - Alexa.
Waluigi was now nearing Luigi, hoping to take the spot off of him. His sunken eyes twitched with rage over the mere thought of Luigi beating him, even if they were on the same team.
Unfortunately, he let his anger get the most of him, which let him bellow outward a loud warcry before leaping from platform to platform, nearing Luigi.
By the eighth platform, which was the second of the pendulum platforms, and was also incredibly close to the end of the course, he finally caught up to Luigi and attempted to sweep his leg to throw him off.
Luigi noticed this, however, and jumped back with shock, just managing to get out of reach of Waluigi's sweep-kick as the purple-clothed fiend lost balance, falling off of the platform.
"WAAAAH?!" He cried. "YOU SMELLY RASCAL PLUMBER! JUST YOU-A WAIT UNTIL I GET BACK UP THERE!"
"Mama mia..." Sighed Luigi, turning away from the bickering loser as he jumped to the next platform.
At this point, ROB reached the end and bent down, quickly snatching one of the green keys from the pile before hovering down and speeding across the desert to take it to Group B.
Tails quickly followed, grabbing one of his team's red keys and jumping down before spin-dashing across the desert floor, causing a trail of sand to sputter upwards from behind.
He sped past ROB before handing his key to Super Shrooms Group B.
However, right after doing so, he ran back over to the course and lingered around the bottom of the course, where people could fall from...
Peach was the next to receive her key, and she slowly glided down before pulling her dress to above her knees and running to give the other group her key.
"So far, ROB, Tails, and Peach have finished the course! Pick up the pace, guys!" Alexa called out.
Little Mac had cautiously made it through the course up until the pendulum platforms, which made him dizzy just by looking at them. With eagerness, he jumped onto the platform and hooked his arm onto the top, guaranteeing that he wouldn't fall off. Unfortunately, when he went to correct himself...
*THUMP*
He crashed into the sand, causing him to curse himself.
"Damn it!" He whined. "Now I gotta go back to the start..."
"Wait!" Called out a familiar voice.
It was Tails, and he ran in front of him. "Grab on to my arms and I'll carry you there, it'll be quicker."
"...You sure you can hold m-" He was interrupted by the fox's abrupt impatience.
"Just do it!" He repeated angrily.
Little Mac gulped, nodded, and obliged, grabbing onto Tails' arms as he took off into the air, Little Mac's feet leaving the ground as he quickly flew over to the beginning of the course.
By time he made it, he swiftly landed and Tails look visibly exhausted.
"Thanks, bud!" He gave a thumbs-up through his boxing glove before starting the course again.
Kirby slowly floated from each platform to the next. They didn't appear to look too disturbed by the tensity of the challenge, and they looked peaceful and content.
Eventually however, their small, gleeful smile turned into a wide, accomplished smile as they neared the end of the course, going over to grab the key.
Not only that, but they saw Luigi grab a key for himself.
"Oh, hello there Kirby!" He gave an innocent wave. "We just need Waluigi and-a Little Mac to finish this course now, and the next group will be ready to-a move on!"
"Poyo!" Chanted Kirby, grabbing the key with his stubby arm before falling off the platform to take it to the others, following Luigi.
Patrick was probably the slowest when it came to clearing the course, it took him some time to prepare his jumps, and recovering from his jumps took time too. Luckily, his caution paid off so far, with him managing to get to the first slippery ice platform.
However, he quickly spun around and yelled. "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" Out of fear.
It was Samus, and she looked distressed.
"Wait a second, weren't you the scary lady that passed me earlier? What are you doing back here?" Asked Patrick. "Did you fall off?"
"E-enough questions," she ordered. "What's important is that you focus on finishing this course without falling off."
"Well, you can count on M-EEEEEEEE!" Patrick squealed as he teetered on the edge. He managed to correct his balance as he slammed face-first onto the platform. "Phew, that was close..."
Samus rolled her eyes as she leaped to the next platform, leaving the starfish.
The bounty hunter jumped onto the second slippery platform, meeting with Macho Man.
"Hey, didn't you-"
"Yes, I was ahead of you earlier. Ask anything about me falling off and I'll fuse your tongue with this platform's ice," Samus violently spat.
"S-sure thing, girl!" Macho Man gulped. "I won't ask you a t-th-thing!"
As she hopped away, Macho Man peeked behind him to see Little Mac jump past Patrick and onto the same platform as him.
"Listen here, Mac..." He growled. "If there wasn't a rule about not being able to beat you up here and now, then I'd fuse your tongue with this platform's ice!"
"Hey, you stole that lady's joke!" Patrick exposed from afar.
"QUIET!" Macho Man hissed, before looking back to see Little Mac jumping to the next platform. "HEY, don't think you can run from me, punk!"
As their chase began, Samus made it to the final platform, grabbing the key and running over to Group B.
Shortly after, Little Mac turned up, followed by Macho Man. The boxers took their keys and climbed down, both racing towards Group B, with Little Mac being noticeably faster.
"Only Patrick and Waluigi remain!" Alexa announced. "Who will get the key for their team first?!"
Patrick was now on the ninth platform, two more jumps to go, whilst Waluigi was nearing his spot.
Waluigi made a quick yet risky leap right next to Patrick, sniggering at the cautious starfish as he made another leap to the next platform. Patrick was riled up, but not enough to make a risky jump to the next platform.
By time he mustered up enough energy to make his next jump, Waluigi had made it to what WAS a pile of keys, now only one of each color remained.
He grinned as he jumped down with the final key, Patrick sweating profusely as his lanky purple foe had beaten him. Though he could still save the game if he was quick enough.
With one more leap, he made it to the final platform, stumbling over to the key and flopping off the platform and onto the sand. He lifted his head up, got up to his feet, and ran as fast as starfish-ly possible.
Waluigi reached Group B and handed them the final key.
"Took you long enough..." Squidward muttered under his breath.
"Alright, so how are we supposed to open this?" Gordon asked.
"We need it in a precise pattern, right?" Queried Phoenix.
"Like I said earlier, my Star Platinum can figure it out quickly," said Jotaro. Summoning his stand.
Phoenix rubbed his chin. "That's weird? I can't see this 'Star Platinum'."
"My Stand is invisible to those who aren't Stand Users," he informed blankly before they saw the keys quickly spin around the locks without Jotaro physically touching them.
"Well don't that beat all!" Engineer's eyes widened. "I guess ya discover something new every day!"
What especially weirded Phoenix out was how Gordon and Squidward didn't look too thrown off guard by this, like they had experienced it before. Then again, Jotaro's so-called 'Stand' reminded him of a certain individual he saw when he watched the first season...
After fifteen seconds, all keys clicked, and the chest looked a lot looser than before.
"Is your Stand some sort of brainiac?!" Gawked the Engineer.
"No, it just tried a bunch of different combinations at an incredible speed, as speed and precision is the game that my Stand likes to play," Jotaro explained.
Meanwhile, Patrick reached the others, out of breath as he tossed the key into Spy's hand.
"Well, let's get to work!" Spy said, slotting the keys into each lock before twisting them. "This chest should open once we get the right combination..."
He proceeded to try out each combination of the keys, and it was a slow and boring task to watch. It wasn't even teamwork related either...
"This is boring, can't you go any faster?!" K Rool sighed.
"You can do it yourself if you please," Spy bitterly replied. "But looking at you makes me believe that doing so wouldn't work out."
"H-how dare you insult my appearance you twig-sized human!" K Rool gritted his sharp teeth.
"Now's not the time for pathetic arguing," Meta Knight groaned. "What's important is beating the other team, who already have their chest open thanks to Jotaro..."
"ALREADY?!" Papyrus almost had his eyes pop clean out of his skull. "NO WAY!"
Johnny folded his arms. "Those dirty cheaters! Give me those keys, I'll crack it open in no time!"
He cracked his knuckles and gave a few manly poses before Spy decided to experiment by letting him try and figure out the puzzle.
"Alright so you clearly gotta start by turnin' this one to the right..." Johnny said. "Oh, then you turn this one until it makes a complete circle, and err... a few twists on this key, some on here, and just like that, Johnny makes one last twist and..."
Silence...
"And you make an absolute fool of yourself," Meta Knight sighed. "Let someone else try."
"Now hang on, I probably just made a mistake somewhere," Johnny eyed each individual key.
"They may not see the potential in me, but once I crack that code they'll be all over me, their team captain! Especially those two sweet mamas..." - Johnny Bravo.
He continued to fumble around with the keys, the others growing angrier and angrier with each second of nothing that passes.
"ERR, I THINK YOU SHOULD GIVE IT TO ONE OF THEM..." Papyrus suggested. "THEY SEEM RATHER, FERAL?"
"Feral or not, I ain't givin' them their turn until I show them who's boss!" He said, trying the same combinations that Spy tried.
Meanwhile, Team Shrooms were doing exceptionally well, halfway through solving the final part of the challenge: piecing together the shards.
"Found a corner piece!" Engineer bellowed, sticking it next to two matching shards. "We're clearin' this challenge up quickly! How are the others doin'?"
Squidward snickered, looking at Power Flowers' unopened chest. "They haven't even opened their chest!"
"What, really?" Gordon gazed over for confirmation. "Well, it's safe to say we've won, right?"
"A bit early for a celebration, don't you think? I've seen the tables turn on me in court to the point where I dread being in the lead..." - Phoenix Wright.
Jotaro continued to move the shards, and eventually, it was nearly complete, only a few shards remained.
"TO HELL WITH IT!" Bellowed K Rool, prying Johnny off of the chest and throwing him away, desperately trying to find the combination that would work.
Whether it was from skill or just luck, all of their eyes lit up as the chest finally gave the satisfying click of being unlocked, and K Rool opened it up and handed the shards to his fellow teammates.
However, before they could even piece two together...
"TEAM SUPER SHROOMS HAS WON THE FIRST CHALLENGE!" Yelled Alexa, causing a powerful wave of dread to hit the entirety of Power Flowers. "THEY FINISHED THEIR SHARD PUZZLE FIRST!"
Whilst Johnny wasn't aware of it, every single person on his team, even the more unaware ones like Patrick, were glaring at him.
"Well, that's a shame, we tried!" He shrugged.
"You... little..." K Rool's hand twitched ferociously. Out of the whole team, he was definitely the angriest at Johnny's failure.
Whilst they were angry, disappointed, or somewhere in between, Super Shrooms were all together, hugging and cheering at their victory.
"WE'RE SAFE! WAHOOO!" Waluigi pumped both of his fists, jumping into the air from the rush of adrenaline.
"All thanks to... well, everyone!" Smiled Phoenix. "I think every person on this team was reliable in some way!"
"In contrast to their failure of a team..." Glared Squidward smugly, glaring at the other team.
"Nothing beats guaranteed immunity on the first challenge. Now I can sit back and relax knowing that I won't have to be on tonight's ugly chopping block. I feel like all signs are pointing towards me winning this show, this time! I just have to try and get on the good side of everyone, even the idiots that I want nothing to do with." - Squidward Tentacles.
Alexa applauded the winning team some more. "Now then, for winning this challenge, Super Shrooms will receive team immunity, meaning that they won't have to vote off a member of their team. This is an incredible advantage, and I recommend you spend tonight celebrating your victory!"
"Don't you worry, we'd pull an all-nighter hootnanny if we had some music to play, and if we didn't have to conserve our energy, of course," Engineer chuckled. "Say, where will the losers go to for elimination?"
"Well, Tribal Council will be located within the innards of the Koopa Sphinx, one of the areas you can go to for idol hunting! A couple of hours from now, Power Flowers will be forced to attend there for the first elimination of the season," explained Alexa. "Now, before I send you back to your respective tribes, I got two more things to say."
He snapped his fingers, and responding to the sound like a pack of well-trained dogs, his staff team quickly brought out a massive piece of cloth, as well as some wooden poles next to it.
"This is your prize for winning tonight's challenge, Super Shrooms!" He tugged on the cloth a little bit, making the survivors focus their attention on it some more. "It's some shelter that will go over a big chunk of your tribe, this will protect you from the sun's blistering rays, so I personally think it's a very good prize. Though, you will have to set it up yourself."
Kirby smiled, letting out a small, yet triumphant sigh of relief knowing that he wouldn't have to spend all day roasting in the sunlight.
"And what's this second piece of information?" Meta Knight impatiently interrogated.
Alexa grinned. "I think this piece of information is a game-changer!" He cleared his throat. "Survivors, I will introduce you all to the first major twist of this season! I call it, 'Exile Oasis'."
"Hey... isn't that the fourth place on the map that Alexa didn't mention?" Phoenix thought to himself, looking visibly curious over the twist's unknown premise.
"Every challenge will inevitably involve a losing tribe, and that losing tribe will almost always have every single member up for elimination, but as long as this twist's here, that won't be the case anymore!" He revealed. "You see, the winning team of every challenge will get to decide on ONE person from the losing team to go to the 'Exile Oasis', an empty yet refreshing island surrounded by deep waters. Whilst there, they will be unable to attend Tribal Council and will thus be immune. There's not much to do, but I did hide an idol there, so going there is handy to your survival in more ways than just one. HOWEVER, there's a catch. If you've gone there once before, you can never be sent back." Alexa wrung his hands with excitement. "Now isn't that a cool twist!"
Gordon gasped. "Immunity?!"
Waluigi twirled his mustache maliciously. "Idols, eh?!"
"An oasis?!" Patrick smiled. "What's that?"
"He just described it to your incompetent self!" Spy spat. "This twist really is a game-changer like he said it would be..."
Alexa then turned to Super Shrooms. "You have around a minute to decide which member from Power Flowers should be sent to Exile Oasis. Now go!"
The winning team, still mildly celebrating through smiles and back-patting, huddled up and began to quickly discuss it.
Their mumbles were inaudible, not even Alexa or the cameramen could get an idea of what most of them were saying.
After the minute was up, Jotaro pointed to Patrick. "The sea creature."
"YIPPEE!" Patrick clapped with his stubby arms. "I'm gonna have the time of my life there! Thank you, guy with the black coat."
"Very well, Patrick will be taken to Exile Oasis for the night whilst the rest of the tribe will go back and discuss who to eliminate. Remember to head over to the Koopa Sphinx, it's a long walk but it'll be night time and relatively cool by time you head off, so it's not going to be too painful of a walk." Alexa assured. "Now survivors, I'll see you all later!"
One by one, the survivors climbed back into their pipes to fast-travel back to their tribes, all but Patrick, who was brought to Exile Oasis...
Power Flowers: Night 2
Survivors: Papyrus - Meta Knight - Princess Peach - Spy - Super Macho Man - Johnny Bravo - King K. Rool - ROB - Samus Aran.
One by one, the survivors popped out of the pipe, some springing straight out and onto the ground, some simply climbed down sensibly.
The morale of the team had been hit hard, which is always a guarantee when the team faces a loss, especially when it'll result in them having one person less compared to the enemy tribe.
Despite being the direct cause for their loss, Johnny looked around puzzled and raised his eyebrow. "Why are y'all so quiet?"
"..." K Rool couldn't help but clench his fists, it took all of his willpower to not deck Johnny there and then, because that would likely result in punishment for him too.
"ERR, WELL, WE LOST! YOU CAN'T EXPECT US TO BE CHATTERBOXES OVER A FAILURE, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE ONLY RELEVANT THING TO DISCUSS WOULD BE THE DISGRACEFUL ACT OF ELIMINATING SOMEONE!" Papyrus answered as others glared at Johnny. He and Peach were the only ones who didn't feel like at least scolding him for holding up his team to that degree.
Johnny folded his arms. "Well I'm angry! That Patrick guy clearly held us up and he's the one who gets to go to that oasis! Now, who are we going to vote?"
K Rool now felt even angrier, and was about to snap. Luckily, before he did, Spy spoke up, slowly approaching Johnny.
"Well you're right! Patrick was a bumbling slow imbecile, but luckily there's a good substitute for us to eliminate, someone who's even more of a bumbling, slow imbecile..." He said, making Johnny curious.
"And who's tha-YEOOOWWWWCH!" Johnny cried out of agony as Spy bent his arm back, a sadistic yet visibly angry grin appearing on his face.
"You, you incompetent oaf!" He kicked him to the floor.
"Enough, if you go too far then we'll be losing two, tonight," Meta Knight commanded.
Though he was angry, Spy was well aware of the consequences, causing him to step away from Johnny. "Well said, but I won't tread lightly with the one who made us look like a joke. We didn't even start the final part of the challenge thanks to you hogging the locks to your idiotic self!"
"Maybe you should try looking on the bright side?" Suggested Peach, smiling. "Maybe they'll get cocky next challenge?"
"Who cares about that? The shame alone is worth pummelling this pompous pompadour-wearing scoundrel!" K Rool roared. "If it wasn't against the rules to injure you then I'd bury you into the sand and uppercut you out of it, weakling!"
Super Macho Man folded his arms. "Make that two of us! I bet my rep's gone down considerably thanks to you, Johnny."
"Well good! You ain't even macho!" Johnny spat.
"Oh no you DIDN'T just go there, not a single soul would even think to say that I'm not macho..." He revved his fist up, close to striking.
Out of the blue, ROB suddenly beeped loud enough to shatter windows.
This caused Macho Man and Johnny to turn their heads away from each other and towards the source of the noise, both raising their eyebrows considerably high.
"I think I've come to a conclusion from analyzing everyone's faces here, now I am aware of who will be voting who," ROB revealed. "And, whilst I won't say who, it will likely not come as a surprise to many."
"Just for clarification, I cannot analyze people's thoughts merely based on their faces. I simply saw them glaring towards a certain individual and drew my own subjective conclusion from there." - ROB.
"That has to be lingo for you bein' eliminated, Macho Man!" Johnny smirked. "Looks like I win for another day."
"I don't think so, bub, he's clearly referring to the dork known as yourself!" Macho Man bumped his chest into Johnny's, attempting to look more manly.
"Well, I think the one with grandpa hair is the one who's unworthy of staying on this team!" He bumped his chest into Macho Man's in retaliation.
Their chests were now touching and pushing against one another like seals fighting for dominance, and they were eyeing each other with unbridled rage brewing in their eyes.
"I don't think I'm fond of this so-called Macho Man! All he does is strut around like some buffoon and act like he gets all the ladies or somethin'. I'm thankful that I'm nothing like that..." - Johnny Bravo.
"Both of you, stop it!" Peach called out, her eyebrows furrowing sharply.
"Y-YES MA'AM!" Both of them barked out in sync.
"I don't want any more fighting here, period! I get that some of the performances in the challenge were controversial, but you two should be ashamed of yourselves for picking on each other so much. This is a team, right? So that's why I don't want anyone to even TOUCH anyone else, keep the hated to yourself!" Peach huffed, she then pointed towards Spy and K Rool. "And that goes for you two as well!"
K Rool gritted his teeth, like he was going to accept being put in his place. "O-of course. I wasn't GOING to hurt him, you know, I was just saying I was..."
"Well, that's still not good for our team's morale..." Sighed Peach. "How about we discuss who to eliminate without acting like animals?"
"WOWIE! PEACH IS INCREDIBLE AT SIMMERING FIGHTS DOWN. FOR A SECOND, I THOUGHT JOHNNY AND THE MAN MADE OF GOLD WERE GOING TO BREAK INTO A FIGHT, AND IF SHE DIDN'T STEP IN, THAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED! HUMANS ARE BOTH THE BEST AND WORST CREATURES THAT I HAVE EVER HAD THE PLEASURE OF WITNESSING, TRULY MYSTERIOUS BEINGS!" - Papyrus.
"Hmmph, very well." Spy folded his arms, tapping his feet on the ground. "If anyone has any other nominations for elimination, then I say we vote for Johnny!"
"Huh?! Why me?!" Johnny gasped.
Samus folded her arms. "Let's see: you're incredibly arrogant, you're incredibly rude towards the females here, you were infamous last season, and you made us lose the first challenge. I think everyone else had at least proven themselves, aside from you."
ROB gave a nod. "When trying combinations in challenges, it's typically the most useful to go along in order. For example, if figuring out a four-number passcode, people typically start out from 0000 and work their way up all the way to 9999. When I observed Johnny do it, he tried a radically different combination with little pattern, sometimes trying the same combinations several times. I try my best to be neutral, but I feel as if I can back up Samus Aran's claim of you hindering our chances of winning the first challenge, if not destroying it altogether."
"Well, there you have it, if a robot isn't objective enough for you, I don't know what is..." Meta Knight scoffed. "Now, I say we head down to Tribal Council early, because I feel like most people here have one person on their mind."
Papyrus nodded. "AGREED!"
"That better not be me!" Johnny gulped, sweating nervously.
"This was a messy night. I wish we could have discussed who to eliminate a little more formally, but Spy nearly broke Johnny's arm, K. Rool felt like he was about to kill Johnny, and Macho Man almost got into a fight with Johnny! On one hand, it makes me lose a little bit of faith in my team, but these all seem to be over Johnny, so maybe things will become more normal once we eliminate him..." - Princess Peach.
The members of Power Flowers stood up and grabbed the map, making their way to the Koopa Sphinx for their first visit to the nerve-wracking, infamous Tribal Council...
Koopa Sphinx: Night 2
Survivors: Papyrus - Meta Knight - Princess Peach - Spy - Super Macho Man - Johnny Bravo - King K. Rool - ROB - Samus Aran.
The 9 survivors approached the impressively large Sphinx, proving each and every one of them to be minuscule in comparison to the behemoth structure. Its skin had been worn down to a pale yellow color from years upon years of sun exposure. The stone used to create it was cracked and chipped. Any more damage and it would be close to collapsing.
"So, this is where Tribal Council takes place, correct?" Spy checked with everyone.
"I'm pretty sure that's what Alexa said," Meta Knight nodded. "No, I'm positive it's what he said."
ROB gave an affirmative bleep. "I can sense the presence of people within the Koopa Sphinx, so I imagine that must be Alexa and his staff team."
Shocked by the robot's impressive ability to sense people, K Rool gasped. "You can sense people?! I never knew you could do something like that. Perhaps I underestimated you..."
He gave a positive beeping noise before turning his head towards the Kremling king. "There are many things you have yet to discover about me!"
Papyrus scratched the back of his skull. "HMM... HOW DO WE ENTER THIS BUILDING?!"
"Maybe it has something to do with, oh I dunno, the DOOR?!" Macho Man pointed to a door, clearly leading into a deep, dark corridor with little yellow torches to softly light it. "How do you miss something like that?"
"A-APOLOGIES..." The skeleton rubbed his arm guiltily as he proceeded to move his chest forward. "NOW, LET US ADVENTURE INTO THE UNKNOWN!"
Papyrus cheerfully marched down the corridor, followed by the others in his tribe...
Tribal Council: Night 2
Survivors: Papyrus - Meta Knight - Princess Peach - Spy - Super Macho Man - Johnny Bravo - King K. Rool - ROB - Samus Aran.
The corridor eventually lead them to a large, dome-like room with aged, ancient markings chiseled along the walls, consisting of symbols or long-forgotten languages of the Mushroom Kingdom's earlier eras. In the middle lay a campfire powering a roaring flame, and four stone slabs acted as benches for the survivors to sit on. Along the walls were three passageways, one to the right blocked off by a locked wooden door, and two others that had no doors.
On the opposite side of the benches was a large wooden desk and a fine, comfortable-looking chair made out of some unknown fabric. It heavily contrasted the rest of the area, and that's why the survivors knew that it was Alexa's hot seat. Behind his desk was a large red cloth, obscuring something that appeared to be rather massive along the wall.
Suddenly, Alexa appeared from the middle passageway, and several staff members followed him. He was wearing a garment made from linen and wore sandals, he was clearly attempting to get into a more Egyptian look, but his face ruined his chances of replicating such a look.
"Welcome to the Koopa Sphinx, Power Flowers! Otherwise known as this season's Tribal Council," Alexa smirked. "You nine, discluding Patrick, are here today because you lost the first-ever challenge of Dry Dry Desert, and by a long shot too. Before I move on to explain the basics of Tribal Council, I would like to ask a few of you some questions, starting with a question for the entire team: what made you lose today's challenge?"
Silence struck, not many of them were willing to explain, all but one, and that was Meta Knight. He calmly rose his hand and was given permission to speak.
He adjusted his cape as he explained. "Group A did exceptionally well, all but Patrick, who was a lot slower than everyone else, even if he didn't fall off once. Meanwhile, Group B did poorly mainly down to one person, that being Johnny."
Johnny visibly rolled his eyes, even if they were obscured by his sunglasses.
Meta Knight proceeded to elaborate. "In the challenge, Johnny volunteered to try deciphering the chest locks, but he definitely struggled to do it properly. I cannot fault him too much for that alone, but the thing that really made people here angry was how he didn't let anyone else try to do the puzzle, meaning that someone utterly useless at the puzzle wasn't letting anyone else attempt to solve it. What's more insulting is that, when K Rool finally shoved him off at the last second to do it himself, he opened the chest within the first few seconds, highlighting Johnny's failure."
"Nobody's gonna believe your speech!" Johnny called out. "I think people here are just simply underestimatin' me. After all, I got to the Merge last season, so it's not like I'm ba-"
Suddenly, he was interrupted by an irritated Samus. "Allow me to correct you. You made it to the Merge because Falcon carried you there."
"That ain't true!" Johnny stomped his feet in anger. "I got what it takes to win this thing, win the hearts of every hot mama watching from home! Though instead, I make a little mistake with the challenge, believe in myself and now I'm getting kicked out?! You're making a mistake kicking out the strongest, smartest, and also hottest one he-"
Spy held his hand up. "That's enough."
Suddenly, Johnny fell silent upon remembering what Spy had done to him earlier, though he still looked marginally angry.
Alexa continued, "onto the next question! This time it's towards King K Rool and it's a rather generic question: how well do you think you'll cope in this desert environment?"
"I felt like I was going to overheat several times, but luckily you gave us an ample supply of water to prevent that." K Rool pointed to him. "Reminder that, if I'm injured by such heat, I will bestow my army upon you as revenge."
"N-noted!" He gulped. "Anything else that you would like to add?"
"Hmm... you want me to go into specifics over what my army would do to you? Alrig-" K Rool was swiftly interrupted by a shriek from Alexa.
He shook both of his hands and held them up. "No no no! I mean, about the question I gave you."
"Oh, well not really, I feel like I'm capable of winning if I were to overcome the heat, and that is all," he answered.
The host wiped the beads of sweat from his brow before moving on to the final question. "The final question before we move on will go to Samus, Papyrus, and Johnny, who are rejoining contestants from last season. My question is: do you feel like you'll do better or worse in this environment?"
"I FEEL AS IF I'M AT AN ADVANTAGE!" Papyrus piped up first. "SKELETONS DON'T TEND TO FEEL HEAT, FUN FACT, SO I WON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE BLISTERING SUN AT ALL. MY ONLY CONCERN IS, MUCH LIKE LAST GAME, BEING ELIMINATED!"
"Ah, I see, after all, you're the only returnee here who hasn't gotten eliminated before," reminded Alexa. "What about you, Samus?"
She folded her arms. "I'm going to be honest and say that I don't have too much faith in myself this time. There are plenty of people here who pose a threat to my chances of winning, some of which in more ways than just one. Not to mention everyone here is likely aware of how I played last game, so old tactics won't work as well."
"You feel comfortable leaking that to the others on your team?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Well you asked, and I don't see it as something that can get me eliminated," confessed Samus, loosening her joints via cracking her knuckles.
Alexa nodded. "Right! And Johnny?"
He looked to his left, away from everyone else. He gave a huff and folded his arms bitterly before deciding to answer his question. "This places sucks even more! It's too hot, too bright, the challenges are harder already, and the whole team hates me for a teeny mistake. I think you and I both know Johnny's opinion on this "environment", Alexa."
"Sheesh, somebody's grown bitter from last game," he shook his head before finally moving on to what the nerve-wracked survivors were waiting for, the main meat of Tribal Council, the voting... "Power Flowers. In case you've forgotten, one person at a time will enter the leftmost passageway in this room and will enter the voting room. You will be presented with a pen and a sheet of papyrus, and you'll write down the team member that you wish to eliminate on it. When all is said and done, I will read out the votes, and whoever has the most will be eliminated from Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert. Understood? Before people are allowed to vote, you will be able to cast idols."
The explanation was loud and clear, and even though all of the survivors were already aware of the rules of Tribal Council, it helped refresh their memory by a lot.
"Now, survivors, it's time for you all to cast your votes, for the very first time this season!" Alexa announced.
One by one, the survivors stood up from their stone bench and went into the voting room...
Johnny Bravo: I ain't gonna let this big, dumb, cocky idiot get away unharmed. I just know everyone will have that needed change of heart to vote Macho Man alongside me! (Super Macho Man)
Super Macho Man: Ha! I bet this loser sat in the voting room and said something like "I ain't gonna let this big, dumb, cocky idiot get away unharmed." Johnny being blissfully unaware of his elimination is going to make his booting so much more satisfying! (Johnny Bravo)
Meta Knight: Even if you're nothing but a meathead twit, I hold nothing against you, though it won't stop me from voting you off of this team, as we don't need the likes of you making things worse. (Johnny Bravo)
Samus Aran: Finally, I get to do what I failed to accomplish last season, eliminating the idiot first. (Johnny Bravo)
ROB: I don't tend to have much of an opinion, especially when it involves something as major as elimination, though Johnny does not look like the type to follow up a close-call elimination with a redemption. Apologies, but goodbye. (Johnny Bravo)
After the remaining survivors gave their votes, Alexa continued. "Survivors, I shall now read out the votes. Reminder that whoever has the most votes here WILL be eliminated from this season. "However, before I read out the votes, if anyone has any idols, which is really unlikely, feel free to cast them now or save them for later!"
Silence...
"No? Alrighty then!" He acknowledged. "It's voting time!"
*VOTING TIME*
The first vote goes to Johnny Bravo. One vote Johnny.
The second vote goes to Super Macho Man. One vote Macho Man. (Johnny and Macho Man glare at one another.)
The third vote goes to Johnny Bravo. That's two votes Johnny, one vote Macho Man.
The fourth vote goes to Johnny Bravo. Three votes Johnny, one vote Macho Man.
The fifth vote goes to Johnny. That's four votes Johnny and one vote Macho Man. (Johnny was now sweating, hoping for a miracle.)
"If Johnny gets another vote, his elimination is more or less guaranteed," Alexa said as he grabbed the next vote to read out.
Silence struck as Alexa cautiously read it to himself.
"The first one eliminated from Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert... is Johnny Bravo, with this fifth vote proving your elimination! You also have three more votes towards you, bringing it to eight votes in total!" Alexa revealed.
"Nooo!" Cried Johnny. "Please, another chance! I promise you I'll let you do all the puzzles yourself and I'll just sit back and watch!"
Alexa shook his head. "Good thing you won't have to because you're eliminated!"
"WAIT, WHERE'S HIS TORCH?!" Papyrus gasped. "YOU FORGOT THE TORCHES!"
He smirked. "Calm it! I came up with a new system for when a survivor gets eliminated..."
Alexa walked to the back of the room and tugged on the red cloth behind his desk. Revealing twenty headshots of the survivors framed along the wall.
"Instead of snuffing torches, I think it'd be more impactful if I burnt a picture of them!" He said, grabbing a blowtorch and strapping on a welding helmet.
"WAIT, NOT MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!" Johnny cried. "SNUFF A TORCH LIKE YOU DID LAST TIME, FOR THE SAKE OF EVERYTHING, NOT MY FAAAAACE!"
"Sheesh, this guy's screaming like he's going to burn his actual face instead of a picture of his face." Peach covered her mouth with her hand, almost feeling bad for Johnny.
Alexa shook his head, burning the picture until it was black, molten, and destroyed. All that remained was the mostly untouched Egyptian stone frame, aside from the soot that it bore.
"And with your picture gone, it marks your elimination! You must now leave through the middle path to go home, right next to my desk," Alexa ordered. "But, feel free to say any last words."
Johnny was still gawking over the destruction of his headshot before he shook his head and snapped out of it.
He stood up and pointed to them. "Well, just know that I was the worst choice for elimination! I don't see this team thriving now that I'm gone, so make sure to recall my skill and strength when you're struggling in the near future. Oh, as for Peach, I hope she wins the most. No offense to you Samus but she ain't gonna beat me up for saying that."
"Whatever, get out of my sight," Samus strictly demanded.
"O-okay!" He frantically nodded, speeding down the middle passageway.
Alexa shook his head. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Johnny made it past the Merge in the first season, fumbling about until his elimination. This time, however, none of his team was having his shenanigans, and that's likely what caused his sudden elimination. Good night Power Flowers, and I wish you all the best of luck for the next challenge. Maybe getting rid of this weak link will help you out..."
The survivors exited the Koopa Sphinx, at last, entering the pitch-black night as they found their way back to tribe...
Johnny's Last Words: "Well that sucked. I barely got to stay there for two days before getting eliminated. I guess these people didn't like Johnny as much as those back in the Tropics did. Whatever, at least I can pick up hot mamas that appreciate me for who I am, a hunk beyond their wildest imaginations, that also knows Karate too!"
VOTES
Johnny Bravo's Voters: Super Macho Man, Meta Knight, Samus Aran, ROB, Princess Peach, King K Rool, Spy, Papyrus.
Super Macho Man's Voters: Johnny Bravo.
(Patrick's in Exile Oasis)
IDOLS
Koopa Sphinx Idol - Not Found
Jagged Rockies Idol - Not Found
Cacti Paradise Idol - Not Found
Exile Oasis Idol - Not Found
REMAINING SURVIVORS
Super Shrooms Tribe (Red)
- Phoenix Wright
- Luigi
- Little Mac
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Gordon Ramsay
- Waluigi
- Squidward Tentacles
- Kirby
- Engineer
- Jotaro Kujo
Power Flowers Tribe (Green)
- Papyrus
- Meta Knight
- Princess Peach
- Spy
- Super Macho Man
- Patrick Star
- King K. Rool
- ROB
- Samus Aran
Hello! I hope you enjoyed the first episode of this season, my uploading schedule may be a little weaker than before to prevent burnout but it will still be decently often! Remember to leave a review or favorite it if you like it, and I hope you enjoy the rest of what's to come. Maybe give predictions for who you think is going to win? ^_^