*Last time on Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert...*
On the same night of Tribal Council, Spy lucked out with his discovery of the Exile Oasis's idol. Said idol was the Poison Shroom Idol, an idol capable of forcing the options of Tribal Council down to only two people! With this advantage at his hand, his chances of winning had grown exponentially.
The following day, Power Flowers grouped up to discuss the aforementioned Spy, who was a hot topic of controversy due to the schemes that he attempted to pull off prior. They planned to give an excuse as to why Patrick Star had been eliminated as opposed to Meta Knight, who was the alliance's "main target" (though Spy would have attempted to get Samus eliminated if he had not been exiled). Unluckily for them, Spy had arrived earlier than they had thought, and eavesdropped behind the tents as he caught wind of their plan, deciding to pretend and go along with it.
Meanwhile, Super Shrooms had an intense day of their own, half of the tribe deciding to bid their rice in a game of Poker that they had won from a previous challenge. With Jotaro's bluffing tactics on point, Waluigi caved into his fears, and the Stand user managed to receive a plentiful bounty of rice as his competitors were forced to eat pathetically small portions.
In the challenge, the survivors had to elect one person from their team to have the role of a Coder: someone who had to communicate with the others (known as The Hunters) through a walkie-talkie and input the code they found in the form of buried pages. However, not even twenty minutes into the challenge, ROB managed to figure out the codename as SURVIVOR remarkably early, and Gordon did so shortly after. After a few more minutes of scrambling for the buried flag using their special golden metal detectors, ROB was the first to detect and dig up the flag, winning the challenge for Power Flowers.
The winning tribe decided to exile Kirby from the tribe, but the puffball wasn't the only one immune from tonight's challenge, as Waluigi submitted an immunity page he found buried in the challenge to Alexa, granting himself guaranteed safety from the challenge.
Back at Super Shrooms, the team had split into two groups. The first decided to try and eliminate Phoenix Wright due to his suspicions of Jotaro Kujo, as the other decided to do the same for Jotaro, yet they changed it to Tails upon being convinced by Phoenix that the marine biologist had an idol up his sleeve.
After the ordinary handful of questions at Tribal Council, the voting resulted in a tie between the duo that had been nominated for elimination by the groups prior. In the second vote that was exclusively between Tails and Phoenix, Luigi and Little Mac swapped their votes out of fear of a second tie, which ironically resulted in yet another tie.
Following the second tie, Alexa resorted to rocks: a roulette that selected a random person (barring Phoenix, Tails, and Waluigi) to be eliminated from the show. When they were drawn, Gordon was the one to get the unfortunate purple rock, resulting in his untimely elimination from the show. With bitterness yet a slight feeling of relief, he left the show.
Before the Super Shrooms tribe returned to base, Alexa informed them of a special announcement that would take place in this very episode of Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert! What will the announcement be? Who will be eliminated next? And what other challenges will the survivors face in this next chapter of them being stuck in this hot, stuffy desert? There's only one way to find out...
Koopa Sphinx: Day 11
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Papyrus - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Tails - Spy - Waluigi - Kirby - King K. Rool - Engineer - ROB - Jotaro Kujo - Samus Aran.
It was a particularly hot day, and the survivors would have usually spent it in the shade of their shelter. Power Flowers would have basked in the glorious cool winds of their battery-powered fan as Super Shrooms passed the time with Poker and Chess at their disposal. Though that dream didn't come true for them, and their most peaceful part of the show had been interrupted for this so-called "announcement".
"What's so important?" K Rool asked, fanning himself with his claws. "The heat is unbearable today, I don't have time for this!"
"Don't worry..." Peach said between rapid pants. "After heatwaves like this, we typically get a couple of cool days."
"How cool are we talking?!" The crocodile interrogated, fanning himself at a faster pace.
"Hmm, probably early twenties?" She guessed.
"Gah!" He rolled his eyes. "That better be in Fahrenheit!"
As K Rool got used to the sweltering sunshine, Alexa entered the area, appearing from the side of the sphinx. He was pushing a large wooden spinning wheel with eight slots on it; each survivor from Super Shrooms was on a slot.
They then looked in the other direction, and an especially buff member of staff dragged another wheel towards the survivors. This particular wheel had seven slots; each survivor from Power Flowers took up a slot.
"What's this?" Pondered Little Mac, gazing at his name on the wheel before raising an eyebrow. "And why is my name so poorly written?!"
Alexa bit his lip. "Err, well, you were the last one, and my arm began to cramp as I wrote it."
"Weak..." He muttered, rolling his eyes.
"How about you answer his first question: what is this?" Questioned Spy, a stern tone looming in his voice.
"Gotcha..." The host nodded, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "This is to do with the announcement, so hang tight real quick as we finish setting it up!"
As they continued, Power Flowers decided to spike up a conversation with their foes.
"It appears Gordon's been eliminated," ROB stated.
"Duh, that's-a obvious!" Waluigi growled. "All thanks to those stupid rocks!"
Samus suddenly widened her eyes. "Rocks?"
As her surprise became apparent, Papyrus one-upped her by having his eyes pop out of their sockets. "R-R-R-ROOOOCKS?!"
"LAST TIME WE HAD ROCKS, I LOST A MEMBER OF MY ALLIANCE! THEN HE... ERR... CAME BACK, AND THEN BETRAYED ME AND THE REST OF THE ALLIANCE! THE MORAL OF THE STORY: ROCKS TEAR PEOPLE APART, AND I IMAGINE IT WAS NO DIFFERENT FOR THE POOR POOR INDIVIDUALS IN THE SUPER SHROOMS TRIBE!" - Papyrus.
"Yep, those little rocks," Little Mac bobbed his head. "I nearly fainted from the intensity of it all!"
"WITH HOW LUCK-BASED IT IS, I TRULY CANNOT BLAME YOU..." Papyrus hung his head. "MY SEVERE CONDOLENCES TO YOUR TEAMMATE GORDON! I WAS GOOD FRIENDS WITH HIM LAST GAME, AS WE BOTH SHARED THE SAME PASSION FOR COOKING, MUCH LIKE SAMUS ARAN!"
The boxer tilted his head. "You like cooking, Samus?"
"The reason he thinks that... it's a long story..." She groaned, grabbing her arm as she scowled at the memories.
"Jeez, seems traumatic..." He analyzed her stressed-out look. "Anyway, are you done yet, Alexa?!"
Coincidentally, the wheels were properly set up around the same time had asked the question, leading the host to smile, give a thumbs-up, and give out an optimistic and eager "Yep!" in response.
"Well, let's hear why you brought us here then," Engineer beckoned.
"Alright alright! I'll never understand the lack of patience that you people all share. Be more like Kirby, he hasn't whined once!" Alexa pointed to the star warrior, causing him to smile. "Aww... a-anyway, I brought all of you here today for two things. The first of which is an announcement that Gordon Ramsay has been eliminated via Rock Draw! It happens when two ties happen simultaneously, so I want to stress that you should all make sure it never happens again, because it puts nearly everyone at risk of elimination, no matter how beloved you are to everyone else."
He then patted the two wheels. The Power Flowers one was to the left of the survivors, and the Super Shrooms one was to their right. "These two bad boys are the Wheels of Survival! The point of these wheels is to do with the next twist of the show..."
"Oh boy..." Luigi gulped. "Let's-a hope it's nothing luck-based."
"There's a wheel with a bunch of our names on it, of course it'll be luck-based!" Phoenix pointed to the two of them. "What we should be hoping is that it's nothing terrible for us."
Alexa continued, "last season, when sixteen survivors remained, I decided to shake up both of the teams by jumbling up the survivors within them. The result was definitely interesting, and I was thinking of doing the same here..."
The survivors looked to each other, ready to say their goodbyes as their allies would likely become their foes.
"However, I thought that would be a little lame if I did that twice. Besides, I can't make two balanced teams out of fifteen people!" He said. "So what I decided to do instead is going to be a real gamechanger. Introducing the Laudable Leaves! The third tribe that will join the show in Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert! Plus, to decide who goes into the tribe, I will spin the Power Flowers wheel twice, and the Super Shrooms wheel thrice!"
"So our lead didn't even matter?!" Tails groaned, now in a grouchy mood.
Hesitantly, Alexa nodded. "In the long run? Yep! Though at least you had that worthy title," he shrugged. "Now! Let's posthaste with this twist, and I'll start by spinning the Power Flowers wheel."
With unnecessarily aggressive force, he spun the wheel, making a rapid "click" every time the pointer was on a different name.
After fifteen stretched-out seconds of waiting, the clicks began to decline in speed, and the wheel slowed down dramatically.
*Click*
*Click*
...*Click*
Finally, the wheel came to a halt, and the pointer was on... ROB!
"One of our best members?!" K Rool spat. "The bucket of bolts carried our team from start to finish last round! I oughta come with him..."
"An unfortunate outcome," the robot admitted. "It's been a pleasure working with this team."
Peach pouted. "Goodbye ROB..."
To make things clearer for everyone else, he moved away from the two groups into a little area of his own. Said area would soon be occupied by the entirety of the Laudable Leaves, though for now, ROB was the only member.
"Now, let's spin the wheel for Power Flowers again!" Decided Alexa. "This second person will be the final member of Power Flowers to join the Laudable Leaves!"
With the reminder engrained into the skulls of the survivors, he spun the wheel yet again with slightly less power, which thankfully slightly shortened the amount of time it took for the wheel to begin slowing down.
*Click*
*Click*
...Instead of clicking and moving on to the next name, the spinner's force was too weak to break past, causing it to bounce back and stay on... Spy!
"OH N-" Before Papyrus could derive any suspicion from the mercenary, K Rool swooped in to save the day, slamming his claw against the skeleton's face and shutting him up. The chit-chat in the background helped hide the conflict, causing Spy to not notice the abrupt yet short outcry. Regardless, every member on Power Flowers were even more bummed out than before. Their target had moved team alongside the least grudge-bearing survivor in the entire season, which made surviving without having to use his idol a lot easier for the Frenchie.
"I guess I'll be taking my leave and joining this new team!" Spy announced, pulling a secret malicious grin as he joined ROB. Whilst his plan to eliminate Samus would have to wait, he was in an amazing position, granted if ROB wasn't capable of revenge.
Alexa wrung his hands. "This is already interesting! Two decently performing members of Power Flowers have now been stripped off of their team and put into a team of their own. Without further ado, let's begin spinning the Super Shrooms wheel!"
When spinning the wheel, his strength was more comparable to the first than the second. This meant that they would have to gawk at the wheel as it slowed down at a snail's pace.
*Click*
*Click*
...Much like the spin before, the force was too weak to break past, bouncing back and staying on... Phoenix Wright!"
"Phew..." The lawyer sighed. "If Super Shrooms had lost again, I might have been toast, if not Waluigi," he thought.
When he walked over to join the Power Flowers duo for the Laudable Leaves tribe, the intimidating aura of Spy, as well as the soulless stare that ROB gave him, were both factors that made him silently yearn for a return to his former team.
"Goodbye Phoenix!" Waved Luigi.
Laudable Leaves was now a trio between Phoenix, Spy and ROB. Two more people from Super Shrooms were still to join, however.
And Alexa got on with it, not even uttering any words, as he spun the wheel with the same power as before. The rapid clicking of the wheel caught the attention of everyone commenting on Phoenix's departure, ridding the small conversations.
*Click*
*Click*
...*Click*
Just barely, the wheel broke past, and the pointer was on... Luigi!
"O-oh!" The plumber's eyes widened. He hadn't bothered to take into account the possibility of joining the team prior, which made him especially shocked. "Erm, good-a-bye, everyone!"
He awkwardly waved to the others as he joined the Laudable Leaves tribe.
"Erm, hello Phoenix..." He waved yet again, a slightly odd encounter considering how he wished him farewell a minute ago.
"Uhh, hey!" The lawyer scratched the back of his neck. "How about you spin that wheel again, Alexa?" He asked, trying to get out of the situation.
The host shot him a thumbs-up. "Sure can do! The last person to join the Laudable Leaves is..."
He spun the wheel again, using his entire bodyweight considering it was the last time he had to do it.
The wheel rotated for almost half a minute before beginning to slow down, much to the survivors' relief.
*Click*
*Click
...*Click*
To the utter dismay of every other survivor that remained on Super Shrooms... Jotaro Kujo was the last one to be selected by the Wheel of Survival, and he silently walked over to join the Laudable Leaves.
"Aha!" Spy gave a smug smirk towards Super Shrooms. "Looks like you've lost your chances of winning the next game!"
The taunt was enough to rile up the others in there, especially Waluigi.
"Says-a you, old fart!" He sneered. "We don't need that-a loser to kick your butt again and-a again!"
"Poyo..." Kirby frowned. "Poyo!"
"I think he's trying to say that we do need Jotaro to kick their butt," Little Mac shrugged. "I agree, if that IS what he's saying..."
Phoenix glared at both Little Mac and Kirby with heavy confusion. "Since when did he become a Kirby connoisseur?"
"Things are not looking good for our tribe. Phoenix is smart and logical, Luigi is athletic and strong, and Jotaro is all of that combined and multiplied by ten if not one-hundred! Sure, we have brains and brawn, but will that match the other two teams?" - Miles "Tails" Prower.
"We lost Spy, yet I feel like he's a little aware of what we were planning to do, at least judging by how unaffected he was by being split up from his "alliance". Maybe he had something up his sleeve to escape the situation, but luckily we won't have to deal with the likes of that snake again until the next twist involving tribes, which I suspect will be the merge." - Meta Knight.
"Gahahaha! I'm now with the infamous Jotaro Kujo. A man muttered by my old Power Flowers team to be one of the greatest competitors on here. He's sharp, powerful and has some sort of almighty ghost assisting it... almost sounds like my butterfly knife, minus the ghost part. Regardless, it will be fun taking him down, maybe it'd be an even bigger priority than Samus Aran herself!" - Spy.
Alexa smiled. He gazed towards the trio of teams and was rather proud of himself. The problem of clearly unbalanced teams had now been fixed, and to make matters better, he was genuinely unsure on which team would win the next challenge, as all teams had incredibly powerful, smart, and strategic members. This show had gotten a whole lot more interesting, especially now that the overall roster had been trimmed.
"Survivors!" He yelled, clasping his hands together and rubbing to get further attention. "The team you have now is the one you'll be stuck with for a good while, and whether you're with the same people as before or not, things will be different for you all. Whether it's in the form of challenges, or just the people or lack thereof you will be with! A new pipe has been manufactured and placed in the Challenge Dunes, this pipe is a beautiful autumn brown, and will lead you to the Laudable Leaves tribe! The other two pipes have been recolored to their corresponding team color too, so Power Flowers will keep their green pipe as Super Shrooms will now have a red pipe. The Laudable Leaves tribe is located just to the left of the Jagged Rockies, an idol-hunting location."
"Alright!" Cheered Engineer.
Alexa then stopped his cheering, doing so with a pitiful finger wag. "Not so fast! Before I send you back to tribes, I would like to make one last announcement... that announcement is: every idol in the show has been found! Including the special idol located within the Exile Oasis. The people who found them will obviously go unnamed, but just keep that in mind in case you ever want to waste your time searching for an idol in a desolate rocky wasteland or... preferably... a beautiful patch of greenery full of thriving cacti!"
"Darn..." Cursed Engineer.
The news was definitely important, and all of Super Shrooms glanced at Samus Aran, as Engineer had told them of her "findings" a while ago, in the dead of night. She instantly caught on to the dirty looks, and decided to give the Texan one of her own.
Before any escalation occurred, Alexa broke up the three tribes. "Okay! The three teams will head back to tribe, Laudable Leaves will be able to get to know each other before the next challenge too! I will also be handing the new tribe a map so they can make their way to the Jagged Rockies without much hassle."
As he gave them said map, all three teams made their departure from the Koopa Sphinx. Alexa and his staff remained.
Laudable Leaves: Day 11
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Spy - Luigi - ROB - Jotaro Kujo.
After a long, brutal period of walking to the tribe, the tribe had finally made it, and as a bonus, before the other two teams reached their own tribe. The Laudable Leaves tribe stood before them. It had two small benches facing one another, each one was capable of fitting three or four people on it, and they were shabby in quality. To add to this, they had a large overarching shelter similar to the other two teams that had won them in previous challenges. Outside of the shelter was the aforementioned warp pipe, and three brown tents, each one could fit one or two people in it depending on their size. To conclude, the tribe was more or less the same as the other two, just smaller to fit the five survivors instead of the ten that the other two tribes were made for.
"Well then, home sweet home..." Phoenix sighed, instantly going for one of the benches to sit down on. "That heat and walk is too much..."
"Tsk, weak..." Spy muttered under his breath before moving on. "Well, now that we're here, I hope that I can work with this team to win every challenge that is thrown our way!" He gave a triumphant smile. "Last team I had was filled with snot-nosed imbeciles who are likely incapable of tying their own shoelaces, but you people look at least somewhat intelligent."
Jotaro nodded. "Phoenix and Luigi were my teammates back in Super Shrooms, and they perform well, depending on the type of challenge... can you say the same for that robot?"
"Obviously." He arrogantly folded his arms. "He was built to be this picture-perfect machine, so of course the sack of bolts would be useful."
The marine biologist nodded. "I see, I thought so judging by his performance last challenge."
"Sounds like he has a grudge against ROB, and what makes it weirder is that I don't see a neutral robot doing anything to make someone hold a grudge against them... luckily it doesn't seem too severe." - Phoenix Wright.
ROB proceeded to give out an audible beep. "My performance was mainly down to calculating what word a person like Alexa would use for a non-serious codename. It would also have had to contained the letters that had been submitted to me through the communication devices too. With all of that in mind, cracking the code wasn't too difficult."
"That's-a true! Even Gordon figured out the code not too-a long after," admitted Luigi. "And he's just an ordinary guy! No offense if he's-a watching."
"Well if everyone here is good at most challenges, then we won't have much hassle scoring ourselves the win!" Spy wrung his hands. "Luigi and Jotaro are the brawns, ROB and Phoenix are the brains, and I like to consider myself somewhat strong yet very strategic. Our chances of losing are laughably low!"
"Are you really sure about that?" Interrogated Luigi, rubbing his chin. "I thought the last team I was on was amazing, and we-a still lost twice!"
Just then, a small beep went off in ROB's robotic mind. He said he wouldn't keep the chances of success from the others in the tribe, so now would be an amazing time for the robot to give out the calculations. In order to get everyone's attention, he made a loud clap with his stiff arms. "If anyone here is curious to see our chances of victory next round, then I can give out the calculations."
"You can do that?!" Phoenix gawked, his jaw-dropping. "You really are a robot!"
"...You assumed otherwise?" the robot tilted his head with mild confusion.
Meanwhile, Jotaro showed interest by giving a gentle nod. "Knowing the calculations would be more than useful. Will the calculation be our chances of getting first place, or our chances of not being last?"
"The latter, as Alexa wouldn't want to rush this show with a double elimination with every "episode" that passes by," he answered. "Thus, it's safest to assume that he'll only put the team that goes in last up for elimination. With that in mind..."
He drifted backward. His eyes formed a pixelated gradient as his body stiffened. It turns out that forming the calculation would require a minute or so of ROB tuning out from his surroundings completely.
Phoenix suspected that ROB would take a long time, so he grabbed himself a bowl of water and began drinking it in an attempt to cure his dry, parched mouth from the walk.
Before things got awkward, the pixelated gradient came to a swift halt as his arms raised and lowered. "The calculations have been... calculated."
"Well let's-a hear it!" Luigi beamed, excited to hear the percentages, though a slight feeling of dread was in the back of his mind.
"In the event of a physical challenge, our chances of not coming last are seventy percent," ROB revealed. "Keep in mind this includes both first and second place, yet we have a slight edge over the other teams."
They nodded, not having much to say considering most of them had predicted a decently high score. It still didn't stop them from awaiting the next calculation with a smile worn on their faces, however.
He finished off his calculations, "in the event of a mental challenge, our chances of not coming last are sixty-four percent. It's still decent, yet certainly not as good as physical. Lastly, in the event of a challenge that requires both physical and mental attributes to a great degree, our chances of winning are a seventy-five percent, which is very good."
"Seventy-five?!" Phoenix spat out a mouthful of water from the shock. "That's... a lot!"
"Incredible observation there, Mr. Wright." Spy began sarcastically clapping.
The lawyer pulled a silly grin, realizing how worthless his comment was. "Err, thanks?"
"Oooh, those are-a great!" Luigi's beam widened. "This team is certainly the real deal."
"I thought so as soon as I processed the fact that Jotaro Kujo had joined the team," thought Phoenix, but he kept said thought to himself. "Anyway, should we cook up today's meal? I still need to catch up on the portions of food I gave Jotaro a couple of days ago."
Spy raised an eyebrow at the statement. "And why exactly did you decide to disadvantage yourself for his sake? Sounds like an alliance..."
"HE TRIED TO VOTE FOR ME FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Whilst on the inside he was almost yelling at Spy for his annoying suspicions towards him, Phoenix stayed silent on the outside, giving him an aggravated stare.
Luckily, Luigi stepped in to give context before the lawyer himself could. "Well, we played Poker a few days ago, and we all decided to-a bet using rations instead of-a money, since, you know, we don't have any..."
The Frenchman was still confused as to why people would throw away their rations for the chance of getting a bigger one, especially when they're already so small in the first place. Though his further confusion no longer mattered, as his suspicions were thankfully lifted.
"Sometimes, humans and creatures that are mentally on par with humans confuse me. I may not be able to empathize much considering I do not require edible matter for energy, but gambling seems like a low-intelligence idea when you have so little yet so much to lose. Maybe it's the satisfaction or the prospect of winning the jackpot prize, but as a robot, I can only see it as a risk that's far too big to take." - ROB.
"Considering the accusation has ended, I'll get started on making the food," ROB announced, drifting over to the bags of rice and beans and proceeding to take an exceptionally accurate amount of each that corresponded to the ideal ration amount. In other words, his measurements were next to if not exactly perfect. He then put those portions into a clay pot.
Using the power of his jets to fuel the fire that would be used to heat the pot's contents of water and food, ROB cooked the food very quickly, and served it to the other four. "Enjoy."
Spy tried a small amount of the food and his eyes widened. The taste would obviously be nothing to write home about due to the lack of seasoning, though the texture was nice and soft, like he had cooked it on a stove.
"Wow, the texture is amazing!" Luigi commented, having the same thought as the Spy.
"Excuse me, ROB," he tapped the shoulder of the machine. "How come you didn't make the rice before?!"
The robot paused. "...Is it really that much of an improvement over the rice made by Papyrus?"
"Of course it is! His was near crunchy, like eating little nails from a small lukewarm puddle," Spy exaggerated. "It was barely edible whilst yours is perfect!"
"Papyrus has a great passion for cooking, and I only consider it a task for me if it seems like nobody else wants to do it themselves," he explained, tilting his head. "On the bright side, if my rice is cooked exceptionally by your standards, then I shall continue to cook for this tribe."
"Finally, something that doesn't make me want to discard that goodie-perfect bucket of bolts..." - Spy.
As the Laudable Leaves chowed down on their remaining portion of rice, they continued to go by their day by either talking to one another, or going for walks to help clear their head and keep their sanity during this difficult time. They also speculated what the challenges would be like with three teams, though they all shared a similar belief: first place gets immunity and a prize; second place gets immunity and nothing else, and third place is up for elimination.
Super Shrooms: Day 11
Survivors: Little Mac - Tails - Waluigi - Kirby - Engineer.
The next team to make it back to their tribe after the lengthy, hot walk was Team Super Shrooms. Unlike the Laudable Leaves, they didn't go back to their tribe with a slight spring in their step due to the decent looking team composition, but instead, they slacked behind, glum over losing the likes of Jotaro, Phoenix and Luigi. Luckily for them, at least what was left was still an incredibly solid team, even if one of them - that being Waluigi - was especially controversial among the pack.
Little Mac, who had arrived a minute ahead of everyone, wiped beads of sweat from his forehead as he sat down on the bench; Engineer, Tails, Kirby, and Waluigi followed when they arrived.
"I still think this team can kick some serious butt..." Tails said, though his face could only be described as a mix between worried and sulky. "But... we lost some really good players."
"Aww Hell, just think of what Power Flowers had lost!" Suggested Engineer. "I don't really find Spy to be the nicest tool in the box, but what he delivers is coordination, strength, and some damn good strategy and mind-games. Not only that, but ROB showed his intelligence and speed off in the last challenge, so we ain't the only ones who lost valuable members! I'd even argue that everyone left in this show is valuable to some degree!"
"Yeah! The cowboy's right!" Waluigi proclaimed. "Losing a couple of suckers doesn't mean we're gonna be the ones to-a lose next! Get some-a sense in you, rodent!"
"Rodent?" Tails queried.
"Cowboy?!" Engineer queried also.
Shrugging off the two offended members of his team, Waluigi continued. "Jotaro was nothing but a stone-faced loser with a ghost! That's-a cheating in my book."
"I second the cheating part," Little Mac rubbed the back of his neck, giving out a yawn from his dire fatigue. "I've trained months for this, to the point where I'm still tired from all of those extra hours of working out to this day! Then some guy with a "Stand" comes along and dominates the competition..."
Tails folded his arms. "I'm pretty sure I remember seeing you form an alliance with someone who had a Stand."
"W-well yeah that's different..." He bit his lip. "Erm, we were on better terms?"
"That excuse ain't gonna cut your hypocrisy, but I get that Jotaro going from friend to foe is going to make things a lot harder for us. Though I think as long as we do well as a team, we can pull through with a victory!" Engineer grinned. "And Super Shrooms will continue to have the most wins out of any other tribe."
Despite the reassurance, Little Mac still looked concerned over tomorrow. "Competing against two tribes is gonna be super tough! It was bad enough competing against just one, but two?!"
"Not sure if this will make things better for you, Mac, but I'm sure there will be two winning teams instead of two losing teams, if you get what I mean," said Tails.
"I guess. I may be bummed, but don't think for a second that I'm gonna give up on winning!" Little Mac proudly announced, a sudden yet odd burst of energy suddenly flowing back into the boxer, before immediately slumping back down on the bench. "Good thing I don't have to do that now..."
"Usually, I can handle big jogs across the city, numerous pull-ups, push-ups, and whatever Doc Louis may throw at me for training! But... I just can't get some good rest in those stuffy tents. At least after training I'd get to sleep in a proper bed, and I'd be comforted by air conditioning and a hearty set of meals the next day. This competition has none of that, so no wonder I don't have much energy!" - Little Mac.
Waluigi rolled his eyes. "No energy? No chance for-a winning!"
"Well let me get up my energy up by resting then!" The boxer grumpily snapped. "You can't tell me that you're not tired and sweaty from that walk... it's not like you have much energy-restoring food to come back to."
Suddenly, Kirby's eyes widened a small bit. The little puffball realized that they were long overdue for a meal, and the realization that someone as good as cooking as Gordon was gone made him frown with sorrow.
"Poyo!" He called out, tugging at the leg of Engineer's overalls.
"Hey, almost forgot you existed for a second there, lil' guy," he chuckled. "What do ya want?"
"Poyo!" Replied Kirby.
"Gah, nobody here speaks Kirb-alian or whatever!" Waluigi twizzled his mustache. "Aside from sometimes Luigi, but of course Mr. "Perfect" would-a know a language so obscure..."
Tails rubbed his chin. "He used to tug on Gordon's pants whenever he wanted him to make food, so maybe he wants lunch?"
Due to the amazing guess, Kirby smiled, giving out a happy "Poyo!" followed by an excited dance.
Engineer smiled. "Sure! I'll cook up some grub for us."
"So far, Kirby's been cute and all, but I haven't really seen him in action. He can fly for an indefinite amount of time, but that's the extent I've seen. Maybe he's just not had his time to shine yet, so maybe lettin' him participate in the next challenge will be a good idea, just to see his potential." - Engineer.
As he slowly cooked up a dose of food for everyone, he sat back down to make some conversation.
"How 'bout we learn more about each other instead of stressin' about this new team change?" The mercenary proposed.
Tails was optimistic over the idea. "Sure!"
Meanwhile, Waluigi wasn't pleased over the suggestion at all. "Wah?! I didn't come here to-a make friends!"
"Suit yourself then Waluigi, you can sit in silence whilst the adults talk," Engineer teased, a slightly impatient tone lingered in his voice.
"A-adults?!" He growled. "I'll show you adult! I'll tell you all about my-a life better than-a anyone HERE!"
"Okay, okay, no need to get competitive." Tails gave a nervous chuckle.
The purple villain cackled, ignoring the advice of Tails. "Wahahaha! Now, allow me to explain my amazing, superior life outside of-a this stupid show..."
Whilst the others rolled their eyes at his arrogance, Kirby was excited to hear about this apparently successful life of Waluigi's.
"Now, I live in a cool house, with err, lots of-a money! After all, my partner in crime is-a Wario, and we win every single tennis, golf, karting and party game that Mario and that-a stupid Luigi barely invites us to, so obviously, that means we're going to win the big bountiful prizes every single time!" Waluigi beamed with superiority. "We also win every Olympic sport without fail!"
Tails suddenly raised his hand. "Err, that's not exactly true?"
"Oh, and how do you-a know that?!" He tapped his feet on the ground with an awkward rhythm.
"Because I participated in the Olympics too," he revealed. "And I won a gold medal in one of the sports! I do remember you winning a couple of bronze medals."
Waluigi's face dropped from his usual cocky grin to a more disgruntled glare. "W-well... you didn't participate in the sports I got gold medals in!"
"I was in the crowd for every single one..." Said Tails. "Also, it's the Olympics! You can find information about it anywhere."
He paused, his face dropping once more from the disgruntled glare to a look riddled with despair. He then covered his face with his hands. "Waaaaah! Why must Waluigi always be in the-a shadows?!"
The sudden outcry was unexpected and awkward for the team, especially considering it was from the likes of Waluigi.
"Err... bronze is still a good honor, right?" Little Mac attempted to cheer him up. "It's third place!"
Unfortunately, the attempt did nothing to fix his mood. "Who cares if it's-a third?! I want gold medals, I wanna get first place for once, but I'm always held back by stupid bad luck and cheaters that block my-a path to victory!"
"Cheer up Waluigi, you've done pretty good in this show so far!" Tails smiled.
"Yeesh, things seem ugly for Waluigi. Seems like he lied about getting first place in the sports and karting events too... I know he's a massive jerk and all, but in a way, I feel kind of bad for him. At least he's not been hit with much bad luck in this competition... yet..." - Tails.
As if he never got pushed to the point of sorrow in the first place, Waluigi nodded with a mischievous grin. "Obviously! Maybe in the past I've been the shadow of a shadow, but by the end of-a this competition, everyone will know Waluigi as-a the most handsome, strong, and cool survivor that the world has ever seen!"
"Glad the self-pity's gone away," Little Mac admitted under his breath. He then proceeded to speak up. "Well, I hope I can win myself! Last season I did okay, but I know with all my extra workouts, motivation, and training of the psyche, I can pull through to the very end."
"Well, err, good for-a you!" Muttered Waluigi, before widening his smug smile. "Because it's-a not gonna happen as long as I'm around!"
Though he was immediately back to his usual, arrogant self. His moment of vulnerability definitely left an impression on the other survivors, and even if they still didn't necessarily like his company, they had some pity for the lanky Italian. Kirby especially felt bad for him, even if he could barely understand his problems...
Power Flowers: Day 11
Survivors: Papyrus - Meta Knight - Princess Peach - King K. Rool - Samus Aran.
"...AHA!" The skeleton pointed to the tribe. "ATTENTION EVERYONE, WE FINALLY MADE IT BACK!"
"We know, I saw it on the horizon thirty minutes ago you buffoon!" K Rool groaned. "This walk is stupidly long!"
Peach nodded. "Especially when our tribe is a little further away from the Koopa Sphinx than the other two, and this heat is definitely not making things tolerable..."
"YOU SAY THAT, BUT LOOK AT HOW SAMUS AND META KNIGHT ARE COPING! ONCE MORE, THEY SURPRISE ME WITH HOW DURABLE THEY ARE..." Papyrus gushed. "I HOPE TO BE LIKE THAT ONE DAY, BUT EVEN SKELETONS GROW TIRED OF LONG WALKS..."
When they entered their tribe, Power Flowers took their seats, though Papyrus immediately dashed to the clay pot, where he would begin cooking.
"At least we still got a fan, even if we lost two teammates..." K Rool admitted, burying his face into the electric fan.
Meta Knight nodded. "Losing Spy wasn't a bad thing, though losing someone such as ROB was definitely detrimental."
"WELL, GOOD THING I WON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO THOSE NERVE-WRACKING PERCENTAGES AGAIN!" Cheered Papyrus. "WHO KNOWS WHAT THE PERCENTAGE OF WINNING WOULD BE NOW THAT WE HAVE TWO TEAMS TO FIGHT AGAINST FOR IMMUNITY."
"Super Shrooms is well-rounded but lacks some strength, whilst the new tribe has the perfect mix of strength and smarts," Samus explained. "Luckily for us, we seem to have a bit of both, though not to their degree, especially with intelligence."
Peach gave a nod. "That is true, but considering they have a robot, it's not like we were going to be outclassing them any time soon."
"Why bother talking about it all?!" Asked K Rool, growing tired of the same droning about the next challenge. "It's well-known that every challenge is a complete surprise to us all! Why bother trying to find out which team is the overall best when this game has a bunch of luck involved in it too?! Just look at the last challenge, which was more luck than anything. I think we should just build up our energy instead of growing more and more nervous discussing the pesky foes we'll have to deal with tomorrow."
"He's right," agreed Meta Knight. "We've lost good members and have two major competitors on our hands, but discussing it isn't going to change anything. We will just have to try our best, mainly because trying to predict the next twist or obstacle with a host as odd as Alexa is nigh impossible."
Papyrus bobbed his head rhythmically. "THAT IS CORRECT! LISTEN TO META KNIGHT EVERYONE, BECAUSE HE'S SPEAKING THE COMPLETE TRUTH."
"Hey, I said it originally!" K Rool claimed. "Give me praise, not the blueberry with wings!"
"If discussing the absurdity that is next challenge is off the table then, what do we do now?" Asked Samus.
"As K Rool said, we will use this time to get our energy up as always," Meta Knight advised. "Train yourself mentally and physically; get plenty of rest, and eat every last morsel of the admittedly lackluster food that we're given."
Whilst she agreed to an extent, Peach definitely didn't look too pleased with the advice. This led her to give some of her own: "additionally, we can get to know each other! There are only five of us, so it won't be as chaotic."
"...HAVE WE REALLY NOT TALKED ABOUT OURSELVES THAT MUCH?" Queried Papyrus.
"Outside of the conversations ROB and I had in the past, that is true," revealed Peach. "It's especially upsetting once you realize that we've nearly lived together for a dozen days."
The skeleton posed, adjusting his cape and pulling an unintentionally smug grin. "THEN ALLOW THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO BEGIN!"
"Oh boy..." K Rool folded his arms. "Here we go..."
"I AM A MONSTER FROM A SMALL TOWN KNOWN AS SNOWDIN! SNOWDIN IS LOCATED IN THE UNDERGROUND, AND NOT TOO LONG AGO FROM TODAY, I FINALLY CAME TO THE SURFACE OF THE HUMAN WORLD! HUMANS ARE... ODD CREATURES, TO SAY THE LEAST," he described. "THEY HAVE THESE MASSIVE, BUSTLING CITIES THAT GO ON FOR MILES AND MILES, AND THESE STRETCHES OF DESERT THAT ARE ADJACENT TO THE OCEAN, WHICH I THINK ARE CALLED BEACHES! OVERALL, IT'S A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE, THOUGH HUMANS TEND TO GIVE ME WEIRD LOOKS, AND THE YOUNGER ONES LOOK ESPECIALLY FRIGHTENED SOMETIMES..."
"Maybe it's to do with the fact that you're a moving, talking, human skeleton?" Suggested K Rool.
"HMM..." Papyrus rubbed his bony jaw. "NAH! I THINK IT'S TO DO WITH ME NOT WEARING SOCKS UNDER THESE BOOTS, AS THOSE ARE APART OF HUMAN TRADITION, ACCORDING TO SANS!"
"T-tradition?" Peach squinted her eyes with disbelief. "I guess you could call it that..."
"I just now noticed that Papyrus is wearing massive boots, so how can anyone tell that he's not wearing socks?! He truly is an oddity, though a very charming one!" - Princess Peach.
As the conversation came to a close due to people not knowing what to say next, Papyrus moved on. "ALRIGHT, HOW ABOUT YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR PAST AND SUCH, META KNIGHT?"
Meta Knight, who had tuned out of the discussion, lifted his head up. "Hm?"
"Y'KNOW, DO WHAT I DID, BUT ABOUT YOURSELF!" He scratched his skull. "...ERM, I AM NOT SURE IF I CAN EXPLAIN IT ANY CLEARER FOR YOU."
His eyes drifted to the sand below his feet. "To talk about my complicated past to a bunch of strangers on public TV would be senseless, though if you want the basics: I am the owner of the Halberd ship in Dreamland, and I am the leader of the Meta-Knights, who are a group of warriors that aided me in my attempt to rid the lazy lifestyle from Dreamland."
"Interesting, how did it turn out?" Asked Samus, intrigued by his premise.
He groaned. "Poorly. It turned out that Kirby, the little pink guy that's also in this competition, is a lot stronger than you think. He breached the Halberd, effortlessly destroyed the Meta-Knights, and bested me in a sword duel."
"That... that THING did all of that?!" K Rool gawked before laughing. "You're a funny one! Thought you'd be way too arrogant to make a joke about something so pathetic defeating you..."
"I am not humoring you, Kirby may not be in much of a position to copy abilities, but underestimating his power is a one-way ticket to being defeated," Meta Knight warned, striking a serious gaze towards the crocodile.
He shrugged off the gaze. "What's a copy ability?"
"When Kirby eats something, he copies its power. If he ate a sword for example, then he'd harness the power of one," Meta Knight explained. "I've yet to see how it works myself, nor do I plan to bother. What's important is that you take him seriously as a threat."
"It feels so surreal to hear that Kirby's a threat! I'm still having trouble believing Meta Knight, but he's so adamant that I have no other choice than to never let my guard down around Kirby. I hope I'll never have to cross swords with the thing if Meta Knight is telling the truth..." - King K. Rool.
After everyone drank in the important warning, Papyrus dished out the meal that he had been cooking with a wide smile. "BON APPETITE!"
"Don't you think it could have used more cooking time?" Asked Samus.
"HMMM, GOOD CRITICISM... I SHALL MAKE SURE TO IMPLEMENT IT FOR NEXT TIME!" He proudly nodded.
"Why not put it back into the pot?" She muttered under her breath before, not bothering to say it to his face.
And that was everything of note for Power Flowers that day. They had learned about each other some more, learned about Kirby's surprising level of threat in challenges, and had lost two of their members in just a few hours. What obstacles would lie in their path tomorrow? Only time would tell...
*TO BE CONTINUED*