Challenge Dunes: Day 20
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Tails - Spy - Kirby - Engineer - Jotaro Kujo - Samus Aran.
Back in the older days of the show, all three teams rarely showed up at the same time. One team would arrive ten to twenty minutes earlier than Alexa would have expected, another team would arrive on time, and the final team to arrive would be late by five to ten minutes. Luckily for Alexa, no more would he have to deal with the inconsistency, as the remaining survivors showed up at once, as a collective. However, his diabolical double-standards ironically left the survivors waiting on him. Thirty minutes after the deadline to show up, he finally arrived in a dark green jeep.
"Greetings, Super Stars!" He waved, springing out of the drivers' seat. "How are you on this fine afternoon?"
"Terrible," said Meta Knight. "Thirty minutes late might be a new record."
Knowing that the survivors had no way to accurately tell the time, he decided to take advantage of it by looking at his watch and scoffing. "Well, I'll be damned! Meta Knight thinks that he knows what time it is when it clearly says 1PM right here!"
"Does it?" Interrogated Luigi. "Show it!"
"Huh?"
"Y'know..." The plumber twiddled his thumbs. "Just show your watch to-a us!"
Silence...
"How did you get the exact number of minutes late right, Meta Knight?!" Alexa quizzed, puzzled.
"The sun's positioning," he vaguely answered.
Peach, catching on to Alexa's scumminess, scolded him. "Why are you surprised that some of us have resorted to looking at the sun's position? You give us no way to tell the time and then you give us strict times to arrive here at!"
Cornered and nervous, he scratched the back of his neck. "Uhh... I'll... erm..."
With no more excuses and tricks up his sleeve, the host pathetically gave up. "Fine! I'll make sure to tell the cameramen or some staff when it's time for you to arrive. That way, you won't be late, and I won't have to stand here waiting for your butts to arrive!"
Tails folded his arms, offended over Alexa attempting to reverse the roles of the situation. "But you're the one late-"
"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" He snapped, brushing sand off of his shirt before continuing. "Now, with that out of the way. Welcome to your first Merge Challenge! Take a look around! What do you think the challenge is?"
They took in their surroundings, and for good reason had they not picked up on anything when they first arrived: nothing was different.
Aside from one small detail, which Jotaro immediately picked up on. "One of the old team pipes has changed color," he claimed.
Though all of the pipes were decently far away from the Challenge Dunes gathering area, they turned their heads to where he was looking, which was the old Laudable Leaves pipe. Before, it was brown in color to match the team, but now it had received a new paint job. It was now an icy blue, though the fact Jotaro almost immediately noticed the detail was more interesting than the detail itself.
"So, what's with the makeover?" Little Mac asked, sheltering his eyes from the sun using his glove. "Are we going to have the challenge take place in that old tribe?"
Alexa wagged his finger, shaking his head. "Close, but no cigar. We WILL be entering that pipe, but the challenge won't revolve around the Laudable Leaves tribe. It's too early for a reunion with those areas!"
"Then the challenge must involve getting to that pipe?" Peach assumed.
He repeated the same gesture. "Nada! Look, I think it'll be best if we entered that pipe right now. Make sure to go one at a time!"
In a cluster, they marched over to the blue pipe and analyzed it further. Nothing else seemed different about it other than the appearance.
The first one to jump onto the pipe and enter was Samus, who made no hesitation in doing so. Before jumping in, however, she made a small comment as she stared down into the dark, void-like hole in the pipe. "There's a really cold breeze coming from the pipe," she said.
When she hopped in, the survivors chatted amongst themselves over what that could mean.
From that point, the survivors circled the pipe and entered one by one, the most generous survivors sticking around to the very end. The last one to enter was the physically unable Phoenix, who feebly climbed onto the pipe before cautiously dropping in.
"Those guys won't know what hit 'em... other than the cold!" Alexa sniggered, climbing up onto the pipe and hopping in.
?: Day 20
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Tails - Spy - Kirby - Engineer - Jotaro Kujo - Samus Aran.
The first thing that hit Samus when she exited the pipe was a blisteringly cold breeze. The air she had felt in the pipe was abnormally cool as it is, but the temperature she felt now was far beyond that. The second thing she picked up on was the noise, or lack thereof. It was completely silent as if she had been placed into a vacuum. The only thing she could hear was her own breathing, and the crackling of the icy floor she jumped onto from the pipe.
It was safe to assume that where she was now was miles away from the Dry Dry Desert mainlands. Was she even near the desert itself?
Gazing up into the air, Samus caught wind of the dark clouds that blotted out the sunlight. Because of this, a gloomy atmosphere lingered over the area, and coupled with the chilly air and the lack of sound, it was oddly eerie.
After a few more seconds of taking in her frigid surroundings, she quickly spun around to see the pipe rattling. The noise was incredibly subtle. Despite its low volume, she'd probably be able to hear it from a mile away due to the silence of the frosted wasteland she was in.
Out of the rattling pipe came Tails, shortly followed by Meta Knight.
"Woah!" He gasped. "W-where are we?"
"In the middle of an ice-cold lake," he observed. "Luckily, the whole thing's been frozen over."
"Obviously!" Replied Tails. "It's so cold..."
"Since we arrived at the desert, I've dreaded the heat, and my fur certainly doesn't help! Now that we're here, however... I'm already beginning to miss the desert!" - Tails.
Then, the pipe rattled again. Kirby, Spy, and Luigi sprung out from the pipe and landed on the floor in that order.
"W-WAH!" Cried Luigi, slipping on the icy floor and painfully landing on his back. "Owie..."
"Where in the Hell are we?" Demanded Spy, barely keeping his balance. "I can hardly stand on this ice! These shoes are not meant for ice-skating!"
Kirby shuddered, barely able to stay upright without using his stubby arms for extra support. "Poyooo!" He yelped.
"H-how are you not struggling, Samus?!" The Frenchman interrogated, full of bitter envy.
"I just know how to keep my balance," she mocked, turning a blind eye to his struggling.
As expected, the pipe gave another rattle. This time, Peach, Little Mac, and Engineer came out one at a time, all of which stood on the rim of the pipe.
"W-woah," the boxer gulped. "Where are we?!"
"What does it look like to you?" Questioned Spy. "Quit being an imbecile!"
"Hey, you asked the exact same question!" Tails contended, pointing his finger at him.
He folded his arms. "Point out anything to do with me again and I'll make sure to turn you into a cozy rug by the end of this show you obnoxiously persistent rodent!" He threatened.
Ignoring the bickering, Little Mac awkwardly and fearfully climbed down onto the floor, the opposite approach he had when entering the pipe back at the dunes.
Peach slowly glided down and landed square on the ice, rubbing her chin. "Hmm... there are plenty of icy regions in the Mushroom Kingdom, but this one's in the middle of nowhere."
"Wait, you know all of these places?" Asked Little Mac.
"Indeed she is! She's the darn princess," Engineer informed, confidently jumping down onto the slippery ice. "She'll be a swell Mushroom Kingdom encyclopedia for when Alexa wants to shove us into random locations, so be grateful that the girl's here with us."
Finally, the pipe rattled once more, and out came Jotaro Kujo, an awestruck Phoenix Wright, and Alexa.
"W-WHAAA?!" He yelled. "W-where-"
Before he could ask the same-old question, Meta Knight cut him off there. "We've heard that a few times already; we don't need to hear it again."
"Well, I don't blame anyone for being so wary of being transported to a completely different area," Justified Phoenix, rubbing his arm. "Alexa scares me, sometimes."
"Do I really look that scary?" Asked Alexa, catching him off guard. "And, in Phoenix's defense, I'd be terrified if I was suddenly taken here! Whilst the two Mushroom Kingdom residents among you eleven may be able to recognize this kind of area, I'll cut to the chase and tell you all that you've been transported to a remote part of Sherbet Land: one of the Mushroom Kingdom's many icy regions!"
Jotaro took interest in the name. "Sherbet Land?"
"Sherbet Land!" He swiftly replied. "But let's not wear out the name just yet, because you eleven have to do today's challenge!"
Spy looked at the slippery floor, processed the word "challenge", and sighed deeply. "Oh merde... what are we going to be doing, then?"
Alexa gave one of his sadistic smirks. "Glad you asked:"
*For your first ever merge challenge, eleven of you will be restricted to this especially-slippery icy lake! You will all start around the blue pipe you arrived here from, and at random intervals, coins will appear around this lake! As soon as you grab one of these coins, they will disappear in the palm of your hand, so you won't have to worry about holding on to one of them! This may sound fun as it is, but every five minutes, the survivor with the least amount of coins will be eliminated from the challenge, making them unable to win the immunity prize. If two people have the least amount of coins, then the first one to grab a coin from that point onward will win the tiebreaker and will continue!
Much like the other coin-based challenge we did, there are two types of coins: golden coins, and red coins! Red coins are worth five golden coins but are much rarer than regular golden coins.
You also may be wondering how we're supposed to track who has how many coins with our own eyes, well the answer is: we're not doing that! Instead, we're going to install these little tracker devices which strap on to your chest, and if you're eliminated from the challenge, then they'll deactivate, and you'll no longer be able to collect coins!
As tradition for this season, I'll lay out the ground rules:
- Once you're eliminated, you leave the lake ASAP.
- Shoving people out the way is totally allowed!
- You won't actually be restricted to the lake itself! You may leave it at any point, but I'm not sure why you'd want to do so when no coins are able to spawn there.
And that's pretty much it. Oh, and don't forget to have fun!*
"Wait, so these trackers allow you to absorb coins into them?" Little Mac questioned. "Is that right?"
Alexa pouted. "Well, err... no. The coins you collected in the second challenge were actually phonies."
"Wow, you really do have an obsession with cheaping out for someone who likes to dangle a million dollars and a luxurious hotel stay in front of our faces!" He growled.
He chuckled, though felt a little intimidated over Little Mac's anger. "All that matters now is the fact that these coins are real, and that you don't have to worry about getting your grubby mitts on them. Now, considering everyone here seems to be eager to start, then I guess I should give you people what you want!"
A few seconds passed, and a handful of staff members jumped out of the pipe. Following them came two large boxes that had travelled along the pipe route with them. Inside those boxes were the coin-tracking devices, and after being cranked open with a particularly shiny black crowbar, the devices were handed out to each survivor to strap on to their chests. Some of them were custom made to fit the odd body type, such as Kirby's.
Once everything was set up, Alexa and the staff exited the frosted lake and watched from the snowy outskirts, bringing the now-empty boxes with them.
The survivors were ordered to stand around the pipe in a circle. All of them gazed to the people beside them every now and then, but were mainly focused on the soon-to-appear coins. This was the first test of their independent skill, and if they find out that their ability is weak in these types of challenges, then that could mean terrible things for them in the near future.
Alexa grabbed his whistle and yelled out to the survivors. "Get ready! The second I blow this whistle, the coins will appear. Remember that you have five minutes to collect as many as you can before the first person is eliminated from the challenge!" He notified.
Nods came from most of the eleven as he proceeded with his countdown.
"Three..."
"Two..."
He placed the whistle between his lips. "One... GO!"
With a piercing screech of the whistle, thirty coins appeared all over the lake, and the survivors began making their way to them.
It was easily said, but much harder done. A lot of the survivors, such as Kirby, Phoenix, and Spy, all struggled to skate over to the coins, and they were quickly left in the dust once they realized that they were the only three to not have a single coin within the first minute. Whenever they got close to one, another person would snatch it or even knock them out of the way and onto the icy floor.
Eventually, Kirby plummeted face first as he slid over to the edge of the coin-filled arena, noticing the snow that was outside of it. He then remembered Alexa's words:
"You won't actually be restricted to the lake itself! You may leave it at any point."
With that rule lingering in his head, he decided to inhale a plentiful mound of snow. Right after this seemingly pointless act was done, a hat-like object began to form on his head, his skin's color now matching with the ice. The hat itself had pointy, ice-like crystals poking out of it, and Kirby immediately felt a lot more resistant to the harsh, low temperatures of Sherbet Land.
To the dismay of the struggling Phoenix, who was nearby Kirby as he did this, he watched as the puffball began flawlessly ice-skating around the rink, picking up three coins in a row and continuing to leave him and Spy with nothing.
"Well, I think it's either me or you, Spy!" Pointed Phoenix, barely keeping balance on the ice as he called out to his temporary rival.
Spy shook his head, turning towards him and showing his coin tracker. Somehow, in the span of a few seconds since Phoenix saw him last, he had picked up two whole coins. The lawyer was at a loss of words; his mental agony could only be described with a blank jaw-drop.
By this point, all thirty coins had been collected within the first two-and-a-half minutes. Whilst the challenge had the closest moment to a break that they'd get during this period, thirty more coins appeared soon after, three of which were red.
Samus skidded along the lake, not bothering to target the red coins that would attract plenty of survivors to fight each other and waste time for them. Instead, she picked up coin after coin at a satisfactory pace, leading her to be one of the top performers in the challenge thus far.
Additionally, Meta Knight, Luigi, and Peach weren't too far behind, with a similar pace minus a few mishaps leading them to lose their balance or miss out on the odd coin every once in a while.
To Phoenix's luck, he saw a red coin in the distance with nobody nearby, causing him to slowly edge towards it, trying his hardest to keep balance on the abnormally frictionless ground.
Though, halfway on his journey to nab this coin and possibly qualify to the next section of the round, he noticed Tails readying a spin-dash nearby, his whole body spinning 'round and 'round on the spot. Phoenix was terrified.
A few steps remained before he was in arm's reach of the precious collectible, but unfortunately for him, Tails unleashed the spin-dash. He traveled at a blinding speed towards the coin until...
"GAH!" He yawped, realizing that he had dashed towards the coin at the wrong angle. It was a miracle for Phoenix; the fox had missed the coin he was after by just an inch or two.
Phoenix bear-hugged the coin as it disappeared, leaving behind a trail of lustrous red sparkles.
He then looked around and saw Jotaro grab the last coin, only ten seconds remained, and no more coins were on the lake yet again.
As the timer came to an end, Alexa called to the survivors, looking at his phone. "Here are the statistics!"
Samus Aran: 11
Meta Knight: 10
Peach: 8
Kirby: 8
Luigi: 7
Engineer: 6
Jotaro Kujo: 6
Phoenix Wright: 6
Tails: 4
Spy: 3
Little Mac: 3
"It's a tie!" Revealed Alexa. "The first one to grab a coin from this point will be safe, but the next five minutes will start... NOW!"
As he blew his whistle again, thirty coins appeared. This time, only one of them was red.
...And that same red coin was right on Spy's doorstep.
With only one cautious step forward, he was able to lunge over and grab the coin, granting himself safety AND a considerable lead.
"Aw, man! People kept stealing my coins!" Little Mac whined.
Unable to accept that his actions led him to his untimely elimination, he walked off the lake. The others continued their search for coins.
Spy gazed over to Engineer, who seemed to be much faster and efficient than he was. "How are you keeping that balance, cowboy?!"
He looked over and smirked at Spy's anger. "It's called havin' shoes that have more grip than style, business-boy!"
With a mocking laugh, he turned away and carried on walking along, grabbing and fighting for any coins in his path.
"We'll see about that, you goggled scoundrel!" Spy retaliated.
By this point, Tails managed to get the hang of using his speed to his advantage on the ice, grabbing several coins in a row as he drifted around the lake in circles, occasionally throwing someone off of their balance. Similarly, everyone else, even those already performing well, got more and more used to moving around the area, with slipping and tripping being much less common than it was in the previous section.
Once the thirty coins came to be collected, another thirty spawned as usual, five of which being red.
Two of the red coins had been placed adjacent to each other, catching the attention of those who usually avoided the hassle of collecting a red coin. If they managed to collect these ten points, they'd be safe for a long while. Yet again, Phoenix was the closest, but more than just Tails was nearing in on him, this time.
Near the end of his trek to the two red beauties, Engineer knocked him out of the way, though he was quickly pursued by Kirby.
Right before the Texan could reach out for the two coins...
*WHIRRRRR*
Kirby exhaled a large icy cloud, the temperature of it making the temperatures of Sherbet Land look volcanic in comparison. As soon as it made contact with Engineer's feet, they froze, joining to the ground as Kirby whizzed past and collected both coins.
"Good luck breaking out of that!" Spy cackled, sliding past.
Engineer moaned as he tugged at the ice, attempting to break his feet free from its clutches. Eventually, after a minute of struggling, he broke out, and slowly moved along to search for more coins.
Though to his surprise, only a handful of coins remained, most of which were on the other side of the lake.
Upon being quickly scooped up, the timer came to an end once more. "Survivors!" Yelled Alexa. "Here are the statistics!"
Kirby: 22
Samus Aran: 20
Tails: 18
Meta Knight: 18
Luigi: 15
Peach: 15
Jotaro Kujo: 13
Spy: 11
Phoenix Wright: 11
Engineer: 10
"...Darn," uttered Engineer. "Looks like bein' stuck to the ground for a full minute's done me dirty."
"Poyo..." Kirby apologized timidly. He wasn't planning on sabotaging a friend, but having ten coins immediately add on to his counter was an opportunity he just couldn't pass up.
The Texan skated off of the arena, standing next to Little Mac and tending to his extraordinarily numb feet.
"Alright, time to continue!" Announced Alexa. Now things were starting to get interesting, as forty coins now appeared over the lake instead of the usual thirty. Moreover, none of the coins were red.
Whilst skating around and touching all coins in his path, Jotaro recognized that he was in the bottom three. If he got himself eliminated in this challenge, then the next Tribal Council would most likely be his last, so he had to find out other ways to use Star Platinum to his advantage. His stand was incapable of grabbing and registering the coins, and to make matters worse, the coins were static in place, meaning Star Platinum couldn't pass them over to Jotaro either. Alexa thought of everything he could to make Jotaro on an even playing field with the others.
Jotaro's thinking was then cut off by an eye-catching cluster of six coins, which would assist him in crawling out of the bottom three. Unfortunately, grabbing the coins wouldn't be so simple, as Spy was to his side, sliding towards the cluster at the same speed.
"Remember what the host said!" The mercenary reminded. "Shoving people out of the way is allowed!"
Shortly after the reminder, Spy followed it up by sending his elbow toward's Jotaro's side, something he and Star Platinum had already expected.
Instead of going for a typical punch, the Stand grabbed Spy by the arm, taking the devious rogue by surprise.
"W-what just grabbed me?!" He panicked. "Don't tell me that's your invisible sta-"
"ORAAA!" It bellowed, though silent to everyone else. All they could notice and see was Spy mercilessly flying over their heads, screaming with terror.
Luckily for him, Jotaro had angled him so he plummeted face-first into the snow, as opposed to the rock-hard ice of the lake.
Spy was too dazed to immediately join back into the fray, and so he continued to lie on the cold snowy outskirts of the challenge until he could process what had just happened.
"T-that monster had nearly killed me if his aim was any worse! Forget calling it a spiritual secretary, it's nothing more than a spiritual assassin!" - Spy.
Back to Jotaro, the marine biologist had reached his bounty before anyone else dared to challenge him like Spy, and so he collected the six coins and continued on as normal.
As the dramatic exchange officially came to a close, all forty regular coins had been collected by everyone, and although there was now only just one minute left, another forty coins appeared, yet again with no red ones in sight.
Continuing his old adopted strategy from before, Tails continued to rack up the coins, even knocking Spy back out onto the outskirts of the lake as the Frenchman tried to get back in. The fox thought he would get first place by the end of the minute, but upon noticing Kirby, Meta Knight, and Samus doing incredibly well themselves, he had some doubts.
By the time only sixteen coins remained, the timer came to an end, and those remaining coins poofed into nothing more than thin, white smoke.
"What the?!" Phoenix gawked with despair. "I was right next to five of them, where did they go?!"
"Sorry Phoenix, but all coins still remaining by the end of the five minutes will disappear," Alexa explained. "I should have clarified!"
"How have they not replaced you as the host?!" He thought to himself.
Sweeping the mistake under the rug, Alexa moved on to the statistics:
Tails: 30
Meta Knight: 29
Kirby: 29
Samus Aran: 26
Jotaro Kujo: 23
Luigi: 20
Peach: 20
Spy: 16
Phoenix Wright: 14
Phoenix was in mental agony, but he decided to suck it up and stomach the annoyance of losing. "So close to staying in... not like I was going to make it to the top three anyway," he admitted to himself. "Well, good luck guys!"
As he sadly strolled off, Spy glared towards Jotaro. "Note to self, don't approach him at all... as for beating the other competition, it looks like I'll have to play dirtier than I thought," he said quietly, fastening his tie with a devious, smug look across his face.
From when Phoenix left the arena, more coins appeared. This time, it was yet another forty, though surprisingly, a whopping ten were red, a pair of which surrounded Peach and Spy respectively.
Just by holding their hands out and swinging them around their body, they managed to collect the red coins immediately, scoring both ten coins before anyone else could even grab their first.
Samus was now beginning to struggle with collecting more coins. People weren't as clueless as they were fifteen minutes ago; everyone had gotten used to the annoying, frictionless physics of the ice. Not only that, but Spy, Meta Knight and Tails adopted new strategies that were capable of outshining her. If Samus didn't step up her game, those three would be the victors.
Nearly halfway through their five minutes, all forty coins had been collected, leaving Alexa to summon another set of forty, five of which being red. The red coins in question were also perfectly spaced out, and were at the edges of ice lake, where Tails commonly drifted around.
Things seemed great for Tails. All he had to do was adjust his route and he would collect all five coins in a giffy, though he had a hard time seeing where they were due to his ball-like position.
Knowing that the fox had no way of looking, Spy took advantage, taking a hefty clump of snow and creating a mound of it on the frozen lake. When Tails eventually ran into it...
"Gaaaah!" He howled, flying up and off the coin-filled arena due to the snow mound's ramp-like structure.
Spy smirked. "That's one down, although temporarily..."
He proudly skated around the outside where Tails usually occupied himself. He grabbed a fair amount of coins before the others began invading his space, one of which being the slightly dizzy Tails.
"Ugh... where did that snow hill come from?" He questioned.
"Who knows! Maybe it might be a sabotage from one of those three over there," Spy suggested, pointing over to the bored Engineer, Little Mac, and Phoenix.
"For some reason, I have a different suspect on my mind," admitted Tails, glaring at the mercenary before hastily running off and continuing his coin-hunt. Though to his surprise, little coins remained by this point, and the coins that did remain were about to be collected by Samus and Luigi.
Five seconds after the last coin had been collected by them, the timer ended, and Alexa warned the survivors. "Prepare yourselves, survivors, because here are the statistics!"
Kirby: 60
Meta Knight: 50
Tails: 42
Samus Aran: 40
Jotaro Kujo: 40
Spy: 33
Peach: 30
Luigi: 28
"Mama mia..." Luigi pouted. "Well, good luck to-a the rest of you!"
He walked off as quickly as he could, trying his best not to hold up the challenge. As he left, the next batch of coins spawned: twenty were gold; twenty were red.
Samus and Spy were next to one another as the coins popped into sight, and as soon as they made eye-contact with the sheer amount of red coins nearby, Samus was caught off guard by a powerful sweep kick from Spy.
As she fell to the ground, he skated off before she could retaliate, grabbing the red coins before she could and running off in an attempt to search for more.
A strong wave of anger, rage, and a need for vengeance were all she felt when she powerlessly watched the smug mercenary slip away successfully. However, she knew that spending the rest of the round getting revenge would be futile with the amount of red coins Spy had picked up, so for now, she focused on just surviving to the next section. How she would accomplish that at this point was unknown, but she knew that it was either going to be her or Peach...
Samus made haste. She hopped back onto her feet and skated over to a small group of red and golden coins that nobody had seemed to notice... well, one other person DID notice.
"Peach!" Spy called out. "There're some coins behind you," he pointed. "Those would be rather useful, wouldn't they?"
"Oh! Thank you?" The princess was confused as to why Spy would be trying to help her out. Regardless, she skated over to the coins she missed and nabbed them before Samus could arrive.
It was then, the bounty hunter realized just what had happened in that situation:
Spy was helping Peach advance to the next segment solely so Samus wouldn't be able to.
Great, just as she thought things couldn't get any worse, she was now fighting against Spy AND Peach to stay in the round, and throughout the first batch of coins, she only managed to pick up only one red coin. Things looked terrible for her.
The second group of coins appeared, and this time it was back to the normal thirty. Ten coins were red, and they were all in close pairs.
Spy followed Peach to ensure she was grabbing enough coins. Concurrently, he made an effort to pick up as many red or golden coins as he could in order to stay ahead of Samus himself.
Meanwhile, Kirby and Meta Knight observed each other's techniques. Meta Knight knew that Kirby possessed the ice copy ability, apparent from his icy, crystal-shaped hat and his sky-blue skin color. With this ability, Kirby was able to skate along the ice flawlessly, his ability to turn around, his speed, and his breath that was capable of freezing anyone who got in his path made him into a juggernaut for this specific challenge. As for Meta Knight himself, his hybrid technique of skating and occasionally gliding worked nearly as well, though his control and speed whilst skating were completely outmatched by his secret alliance partner.
Right before the final red coin was collected by Tails, the timer came to an end, and it vanished out of view.
"Aww..." He moaned. "So close!"
"You know what time it is, survivors." Alexa shot his finger towards them. "It's time for the statistics!"
Kirby: 93
Tails: 86
Meta Knight: 81
Spy: 65
Jotaro Kujo: 56
Peach: 54
Samus Aran: 50
"And nothing of value has been lost!" Spy joked, cackling to himself. Though, as expected, nobody else laughed.
Samus passed a death stare to him as she walked past, joining the outskirts of the lake along with the others.
"Now I no longer have to babysit Peach!" He thought to himself. "Now I need to sabotage Tails and Meta Knight some more. There's no way I'm going to approach Kirby or Jotaro and get away with sabotaging them..."
Though, as the next batch of forty coins spawned in, Spy realized that he didn't even need to sabotage, as out of the forty, five were red, and those five all circled around him.
"Okay, do you have some sort of bias towards Spy?!" Phoenix complained to Alexa.
Defending himself, he shook his head. "No way! These coin spots have already been generated, so he's just getting super lucky with his positioning."
Similarly to Spy, Jotaro knew that he had to begin sabotaging others if he wanted to progress to safety. It was that or bust, and his target of choice would be Meta Knight.
He skated near him, stealthy with his approach. Meta Knight, seemingly not paying attention, secretly knew that at any moment, Jotaro would ambush him. His plan was to retaliate with a swift kick before running off, evading any punches from Star Platinum.
Though the plan was well thought out, he wasn't aware of Star Platinum's range. Star Platinum didn't have exceptional range, but he could stray two meters away from Jotaro without losing power, which was the exact distance between the Stand User and Meta Knight.
Right before Meta Knight neared a couple of close-together coins...
"ORAAA!"
Star Platinum swatted him away, launching him several meters away from the lake. Meta Knight was quick to retaliate with a sudden jump towards Jotaro, attempting to get a hit of his own in to knock his balance off.
Instead...
"ORAAAAA!"
Another punch, this time directly against his mask, sent him flying even further away, this time temporarily exhausting him. The punches were incredibly powerful, and attempting to dodge past them at that range would be idiotic.
Meta Knight wasn't the only one experiencing physical sabotage, as Spy was keener on getting Tails out of the arena, occasionally tripping him or getting directly in his way, ruining his flow. The sabotage wasn't super effective, but it allowed Spy to nab all of the coins Tails wanted.
Many survivors had spent so long sabotaging each other that only one minute remained when the final coin was grabbed. And, to their surprise, the next group was twenty red coins, evenly spaced out in quartets.
Spy dashed to the closest one, though quickly dashed back to throw Tails off again. The fox knew that his strategy was faulty, now that others had caught on to dealing with it, so he was forced to change to a less efficient yet safer strategy: taking it slow.
By the end of the final minute, only Jotaro, Kirby, Spy, and Peach managed to obtain sixteen out of the twenty red coins, leaving Tails and Meta Knight with nothing. The four other coins that weren't collected disappeared into thin air right before Tails and Meta Knight could reach them.
"Sheesh, that was rough for Tails and Meta Knight, but let's see if it's enough to have them eliminated!" Said Alexa, showing the stats:
Kirby: 125
Spy: 114
Tails: 92
Meta Knight: 90
Jotaro Kujo: 85
Peach: 79
Peach sighed bitterly. "Well, I made it far, but I guess I'm just outmatched for this kind of challenge."
"Everything's going as planned..." Spy grinned. "Just some further sabotaging towards Tails and I should be good to go."
"Let's hope this next batch doesn't favor Spy over everyone else," Engineer prayed, watching from afar.
Sooner or later, the next forty coins appeared. To the despair of Engineer and everyone else watching, ten were red coins, and Spy was between two of them right off the bat.
"I truly have been blessed!" He joked, grabbing both of them immediately before moving on.
Surprisingly, even though he was planning on ruining Tails and his chances of winning immunity, Spy focused more on grabbing as many coins as he could for the first section of the challenge. Tails attempted to keep his distance from Jotaro and Spy, as he knew both of them could screw him over at any given moment, especially Jotaro and Star Platinum.
Within only two minutes, the coins had been collected, which was an incredible feat considering that only five people remained.
The next group of forty coins spawned in, and much like the last one, ten were red. However, five of these red coins were on one side, and the other five were on the other side. The closest to the first group was Kirby, and the closest to the second group was Jotaro. Nobody bothered to mess with either of them, so Spy, Tails, and Meta Knight attempted to grab all of the golden coins in between.
Howbeit, now that they were all close together, it was Spy's time to sabotage, and he went out of his way to approach and sabotage Meta Knight, this time. Meta Knight had a lot more experience in fighting and in icy areas in contrast to Tails, and he saw Spy's attempt from a mile away.
With a sudden kick to the arm, Spy spun around and lost his balance, flying into a cluster of two coins.
"H-how lucky is he?!" Luigi cried. "He get's-a knocked back by Meta Knight, and he still collects a bunch of-a coins!"
"I guess the Survivor Gods have decided that Spy is worth keeping around a little longer," remarked Alexa.
"The Survivor Gods have terrible taste, then," sharply replied Samus.
Right as the last coin was collected by Tails, who took advantage of Spy's off-balance state by reverting back to his old spin dash strategy, the timer ran out.
"You know the drill, let's see who the second-to-last eliminee is!" Alexa wrung his hands, showing the stats:
Kirby: 160
Spy: 133
Tails: 126
Jotaro Kujo: 122
Meta Knight: 115
Meta Knight was silent with his departure, though deep down he condemned Jotaro and Spy for ruining his chances of immunity. If both of them managed to become immune, then things would begin to look bad for everyone.
"Wow, to think a regular old guy like Spy outlasted Meta Knight of all people is crazy!" Confessed Little Mac.
"It's all thanks to luck," commented Meta Knight. "Some people are simply destined to get out of a dangerous situation alive, even when all of the odds are stacked against them."
"So... like real-life plot armor?" He queried.
The warrior paused for a small while before slowly nodding. "That sounds about right."
"Survivors!" Yelled Alexa, cupping his hands around his mouth. "After this next elimination, the three of you that are still remaining will win the challenge, receiving some fresh immunity for tonight's Tribal Council! Keep that in mind, and give this final part of the challenge your very best!"
Following the brief pep-talk, he shoved the whistle in his mouth and blew, the annoying sound accompanying the appearance of forty red coins appearing around the ice lake.
Spy spread out his arms and immediately collected two. Then, he boosted himself forward with a kick to the icy ground, sliding towards a cluster of three more red coins.
Kirby skated around the arena majestically, picking up ten coins in a neat line before swerving to the left and grabbing three more. Once again, he was doing the best out of anyone else.
Meanwhile, Jotaro struggled further, with Tails nabbing some of the coins he came across. Whilst this was unintentional, Tails also knew that Jotaro would continue to dominate challenge after challenge unless he were to lose one, so he didn't attempt to stop himself from the accidental sabotaging.
Within three minutes, the forty coins were collected, and the survivors looked at each other and then around the area. Usually, more coins would have spawned by now, but this final round appeared to be an exception.
The survivors took this time to gaze at each other's coin counters. They didn't pay too much attention to Kirby's absurdly high number, but Tails was shocked to see that Spy had 173 coins, whilst he only had 171. Luckily for the fox and the mercenary, both beat Jotaro's counter of 167.
If no more coins spawned from this point, then that means Kirby, Spy, and Tails would be the ones to claim immunity, leaving Jotaro to be up for elimination. With that in his mind, he began slowly sweating. After all, this could be the end for him.
But then...
"Here's your final batch!" Alexa yelled, blowing into the whistle for the very last time.
Miraculously, ten final red coins spawned in. This would have been Jotaro's saving grace... if it weren't for their location. They were all clumped together around the light blue pipe they came from, and Spy appeared to be the closest one. He wasn't the biggest threat to stealing his red coins, however, as Tails wasn't too far behind, and he had already begun charging up his spin dash right as they appeared. And, as the cherry on top, Kirby was closer than Jotaro, and beating someone like him in a one-on-one dash to the red coins that would grant him immunity would be impossible.
Unless, he used his ace card... an ability he had been hiding from everyone, even Alexa... an ability that would certainly leave a lasting impression on the three he was planning to beat in the race for the coins...
Lifting his hat back up, Jotaro summoned Star Platinum and stood perfectly still.
"STAR PLATINUM... THE WORLD!" He yelled.
Spy looked over his way and raised his eyebrow. "The wha-"
Immediately, everything around Jotaro from his opponents, to the spectators, to Alexa, to even the environment around him, stood completely still...
Time-stopped Sherbet Land: Day 20
Survivors: Jotaro Kujo.
He didn't have much time to look around and take in the scenery, Jotaro had to move quickly before his stand could no longer keep time at bay.
With Star Platinum hovering behind him, he skated over to the middle of the icy arena. On his way, he passed Kirby, then Spy, still looking at where Jotaro stood before time had come to a complete halt. Finally, he made it to the coins: his ticket to immunity.
Only a second of time-stop remained. With that in mind, he began touching every coin around the pipe.
And just like that, time quickly began moving again...
Sherbet Land: Day 20
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Tails - Spy - Kirby - Engineer - Jotaro Kujo - Samus Aran.
"-at?" Spy questioned as time resumed back to normal. "What fancy trick are you planning this... time?"
Before his very eyes, Jotaro had completely vanished into thin air. No indicator; no warning; he was gone.
Suddenly, the rogue caught on to his trick. "Aha! You think invisibility granted by your precious little ghost is going to help you now, Jotaro?"
With a pitiful laugh, he turned back to the pipe, catching Jotaro standing over it, grabbing the final two red coins that still remained.
"Gh... h-how?!" He questioned. "You can teleport?!"
"Not exactly," the Stand User denied. "Technically, I did, as I moved from one point to another in no time at all. Though to achieve that, I used my Star Platinum's ability to-"
"Stop time," Meta Knight finished. "In the blink of an eye, Jotaro was standing next to the pipe, and almost all of the red coins seemingly vanished at once. If it was teleportation, then we would have seen him touch every last red coin that was around the pipe."
Though the star warrior failed to be too shocked over Star Platinum's ability, everyone else was awestruck. None of them could process what was said, and the prospect of Star Platinum and Jotaro possessing the ability to stop time seemed like a ridiculous lie.
"S-stop time?" Luigi weakly repeated. "There's-a no way!"
Phoenix shook his head. "But that would go against the laws of... everything!"
"It's true," confessed Jotaro. "This was the one ability I had to keep from everyone, otherwise I would have been everyone's target."
Alexa couldn't believe what he saw and heard. "So this was the BIG, near-impossible-to-beat ability you were talking about in your interview, huh?! That's... crazy!"
"Trusting anyone to keep a secret that big would have been foolish," he argued. "I had to be vague."
"You could have at least hinted at it," he said before pulling a cheeky smile. "You could have said it would have been a SHOW-STOPPER! Get it?"
Jotaro shook his head slowly at the pun, deciding to ignore him from that point.
"Wait!" Peach raised her hand up. "If you truly do have the ability to stop time, then why didn't you use it in this challenge until the very end?"
He folded his arms. "Star Platinum: The World can only stop time for so long, only five or so seconds at most. It usually takes half a minute for the ability to recharge, but with my lack of training and energy thanks to this competition, the ability takes much longer to recharge."
"Well... I'm glad he's-a deciding to fill us in on how his-a stand works!" Luigi shrugged.
Jotaro nodded. "Whether people think it's teleportation, stopping time, or anything else, I'm going to be a prime target for elimination. That's why I cannot afford to lose a single challenge from this point onward," proclaimed Jotaro, eyeing Alexa. "How long is left on the timer?"
He was caught off guard by the sudden request. "Uhm, err, well, it just ended! So, let's see the statistics, and see which of these four will be missing out on precious immunity!"
Kirby: 230
Jotaro Kujo: 217
Spy: 173
Tails: 171
"Noooo!" Cried Tails. "If I just went for them sooner, I could have won..."
"There you have it!" Announced Alexa. "KIRBY, JOTARO, AND SPY WIN TONIGHT'S IMMUNITY!"
A handful of people cheered for the three winners, though everyone else was either worried over Jotaro's stand or still in shock from its ability to momentarily halt time itself. Either way, the atmosphere for this challenge was far from akin to the previous ones.
"To think I had a shot at out-matching Jotaro," Little Mac gritted his teeth with disappointment. "If he gave it his all on the two occasions we fought, then he would have stopped time and bested me in an instant."
"As much as tonight's challenge ended on such a crazy note..." Alexa pointed to the light blue pipe. "You guys have to head back to Super Stars and pick someone to vote off at Tribal Council to be the first Jury member of this season! You may have a lot on your minds, but that still has to be done. Oh, and as a reminder, the three of you who are immune still get voting privileges."
"Poyo!" Kirby happily cheered, giving a rhythmic, celebratory clap.
Phoenix passed him a mild smile upon seeing his cutesy joy. "At least somebody's having a good time."
"So... shall we get out of here then? Any discussion towards Jotaro's dangerous abilities can be held until we get back to our tribe, as I can feel my skin turning blue from the lack of heat as we speak!" Exaggerated Spy, waltzing over to the pipe and climbing up.
With a final gaze over Sherbet Land, the survivors queued up by the pipe and jumped in one by one, returning to the typical dry heat of the harsh desert...
Super Stars: Day 20
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Tails - Spy - Kirby - Engineer - Jotaro Kujo - Samus Aran.
After a not-so-long journey back to the tribe, the survivors grouped together to discuss the events that had transpired towards the end of the challenge. Jotaro knew he would be the hot topic of the situation, and was prepared to tank any questions or accusations that came his way.
"You shouldn't be allowed in this competition!" Spy pointed, shoving his finger close to Jotaro's chin. "You even hid such a game-breaking ability from the host of this competition! If he were any less of a fool, you wouldn't have the luxury of returning back to this tribe, let alone with your immunity!"
"No hard feelings JoJo, but he's right," Little Mac admitted through clenched teeth. "Alexa would never let someone with an ability that grand qualify for this show! He probably would have found it awkward to eliminate you this far in or something, and that's why you're still here."
*OBJECTION!*
"Ob... objection?!" He turned to the confident-looking Phoenix to his right. "What about my statement was contradictory?!"
"Alexa might not have known that JoJo had an ability that allowed him to stop time with the use of Star Platinum." Phoenix then rubbed his chin. "But don't you think it's weird that he didn't bother pursuing him when he told him that he had an ability that was apparently "near-impossible-to-beat"?" He questioned.
He widened his eyes suddenly, unsure of what to say next. "Err... well... so you're telling me that Alexa would have let him participate even if he knew because he just-"
"-doesn't care?" Phoenix finished the sentence for him. "That's exactly what I'm saying!"
"Then... why?! There's nothing we can do to defeat Jotaro; he's going to make it to the end and win and there's nothing we can do to stop that due to Star Platinum's raw strength!" Little Mac slammed his fist against the bench he sat on, distraught beyond belief. "And on top of that, he now has the ability to stop time, even if it's for a few seconds?"
Though the survivors wished they could lighten the mood, Mac held a lot of truth. Even if all of them joined together to defeat Jotaro and Star Platinum, it would still be an uphill battle. It would be difficult, perhaps far too difficult for the likes of them...
With a shred of pity, Jotaro huffed. "Good grief... pessimism won't get you far."
"More like realism..." Commented Phoenix.
"I knew I was out of my league, but Jotaro being here makes it a guarantee that I just can't win! He'll take up a spot for immunity every challenge, and with the others being as competitive as they are, I'm sure to go home within the next few councils, if not this one! I guess I'm going to experience that dream I had again, this time for real." - Phoenix Wright.
The marine biologist shook his head. "Star Platinum has its fair share of weaknesses. You've already beaten me alongside my own teammates multiple times in challenges before, and although I'm not going to hold back with Star Platinum: The World, using it takes a lot of energy out of me. I believe you all have the opportunity to ruin my shot at winning a challenge, and from that point, I'm a sitting duck."
"Are you... encouraging us to-a sabotage you?" Luigi scratched his head.
"For a guy with a brutal ghost that's spiritually attached to you, you're awfully humble," complimented Peach. "I think everyone here still has a chance at winning, including myself. As long as we put our minds to beating JoJo in these challenges, we can win... no offense," she apologized eagerly.
"I knew I'd be everyone's target the second they saw my Stand in action." Jotaro tucked his hands into his pockets. "Don't worry about me getting offended... even if everyone's plotting to eliminate me as soon as I become immune."
He stared off into the setting sun, then turned back to the other ten. "With that out of the way, you should probably find someone here to eliminate."
"Damn it, how could we forget?!" Engineer cursed himself. "A lot of valuable time's down the damn drain, so we gotta pick someone quickly."
In order to avoid arguing and drama among the tribe, they decided to break into three groups: Spy, Kirby, and Jotaro occupied a group together due to their immune status; Engineer, Tails, Little Mac and Phoenix occupied the second, and Samus, Meta Knight, Peach and Luigi occupied the final group.
"I probably won't convince you to pick my target, and you probably won't convince me to pick yours, but just so I know..." Spy smirked. "Who are you planning to pick, Jotaro?"
With nobody particular on his mind, he gave a subtle shrug. "If you asked me a week ago, I would have said Phoenix, but now I'm not quite sure. What about you?"
"Can't tell you," he informed.
"So you wanted to know mine without giving yours? Looks like I dodged a bullet." Jotaro peered at him with disapproval.
Spy, for once, actually hadn't planned to do anything malicious. "Wait, it's not like that! I'm not ALWAYS out for blood. Now, who are you planning to vote, Kirby?"
The puffball didn't pay much attention to the conversation, including the question, and he continued twiddling his thumbs, thinking of when he'll be able to have his next delicious meal.
Obviously, the mercenary did not like being ignored. "A-HEM."
"P-poyo?!" Kirby exclaimed, startled.
"Who are you planning to vote?" He repeated.
He gazed into the air, thinking about it. "Poyo... poyo poyo, poyo?"
Spy had no clue what Kirby was attempting to convey. "Your language may make more sense than most I've heard from my colleagues, but that still means I have no clue what you're trying to say."
"What did you expect?" Criticized Jotaro.
"Poyo!" He agreed.
"...Fair point," said Spy. "Well then, all in favor of an ambiguous vote?"
"That just might be the case for every group," Jotaro admitted.
And, unexpectedly, it turns out that Jotaro was right. Most survivors either gave a name and left it at that or didn't bother giving one at all. Though, none of them were aware just how unpredictable Tribal Council would be tonight. They didn't have as much time to decide on who to vote thanks to the drama regarding Jotaro at the beginning, and to top it off, discussing who to eliminate in the merge was very difficult.
Once it was time to leave for Tribal Council, the survivors were gathered together, and they began walking over to the nearby Koopa Sphinx. Even if the merge had plenty of tougher challenges ahead of them, at least the journey to Tribal Council was much shorter than it was before.
With secrecy, Meta Knight moved over to Kirby and talked with him over tonight's council. "Remember, I have your back as long as you have mine. Do you have any ideas on who to vote?"
"Poyo," Kirby denied.
"Right, then you can follow my lead, then," he said, leaning in and quietly whispering their name.
Though he promised to help out Meta Knight, Kirby definitely didn't like the choice. "Poyo..."
Regardless, he decided to go through with it for the sake of the alliance.
When the time was right, Engineer and Tails did the same, slowly whispering to each other on who they were planning to vote, quickly coming to an agreement before anyone could notice and take suspicion...
Tribal Council: Night 20
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Tails - Spy - Kirby - Engineer - Jotaro Kujo - Samus Aran.
Even in appearance, Tribal Council had changed a lot for the merged tribe. For starters, the left side of the area held two sturdy benches, each one capable of fitting six people on it. The right side, similarly, held two more sturdy benches, though these ones were made of a deep grey stone, contrasting the dull yellow stone that the building was made from. The survivors were directed to the left side, and so they believed the right benches were exclusive to members of Jury.
Additionally, the picture frames of the survivors in the background had been arranged differently, though this had also happened when the tribes were split into three. The order was now a neat, horizontal row that lingered behind Alexa's desk.
Speaking of which, the book that the survivors had noticed for the last couple of councils was being written in by Alexa.
"There we go! Tomorrow's plans should be done," he muttered before staring up at the survivors. He was once again in his Egyptian-style clothing, a tradition that the survivors couldn't care less about. "Welcome, survivors! Tribal Council's a little different than it was before, mainly the addition of the Jury benches, the paintings, and so on. Now, tonight is a special night, as by the end of this council, the first Jury member of Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert will be revealed through their elimination! But before we get into that, I got a couple of questions."
The survivors nodded as Alexa pointed to Engineer. "Engineer! Are you feeling safe tonight, or do you feel like someone's planning to slide a knife into your back?"
"I always feel like the latter when I don't have a lovely slice of immunity to help me out," he explained. "As for tonight specifically, I'm feelin' especially nervous. The people I spoke with weren't exactly vocal over who they were eliminatin', and I'm not sure if my choice is even gonna be picked by anyone else!"
Though he was feeling nervous for his own safety, Engineer had lied. He and Tails both shared the same target, and he was secretly praying that he saying that would diffuse any suspicions anyone might have had.
For the second question, Alexa focused on Tails. "Tails, I don't ask you questions often, so I'll give you this one: how are you finding the survivors who rarely got to interact with in the past?"
"They're pretty nice people," he smiled. "Samus and Meta Knight are reserved and sensible, Peach is just generally nice to be around, and Spy... has his benefits!"
"Heartwarming..." Spy sarcastically scoffed.
Tails continued, "I also really like catching up with old Super Shrooms members that got moved to Laudable Leaves, like Jotaro, Phoenix, and Luigi. Even if Jotaro is... everyone's target."
"Is that so?" He placed a hand on his hip. "I thought it'd be inevitable."
Jotaro confirmed the remark himself. "It's true. Due to Star Platinum's abilities, I'm a massive target. And whilst we're on this topic, I would like to know: would you have excluded me from the competition if I had told you about Star Platinum: The World prior?"
Immediately, he shook his head. "Pssh, no way! You may be very... VERY powerful, but that doesn't mean that you're guaranteed to win! Survivor's not all about strength, and if you got more to bring to the table than that, then you got a pretty decent shot at taking home the million dollars!" Alexa's words gradually became more aimed towards the survivors as opposed to just Jotaro as he spoke. "Any one of you could win, and I mean it! But... alas, there's going to be one person tonight who's DEFINITELY NOT going to win, and I think it's time we get down to revealing that!"
They took a deep breath as Alexa continued to the voting. "Super Stars... CAST, YOUR, VOTES!"
One by one, each survivor silently entered the left passageway and into the voting room, most of which had a name in mind.
Spy: If I'm lucky, others will go for you, and I'll never have to deal with you again. Your time's almost up, Dell! (Engineer)
Engineer: I think it's safe to say Tails n' I have this vote in the bag! With everyone lookin' clueless on who to vote, two votes towards one person just might be enough to get them out. All it takes is for one or two others to have the same idea as us... (?)
Luigi: Waaah! I'm-a not sure on who to-a vote, but if I-a spend too long thinking about it, then who knows what will-a happen. I'm sorry to whoever I-a vote! (?)
Princess Peach: Oh dear... I can't decide on who to vote! I'll have to make it quick. No hard feelings. (Little Mac)
Meta Knight: Papyrus and his elimination was only delaying the inevitable. Getting you out is the first step to safety. (?)
Kirby: Poyo, poyo poyo. Poyoooo! (?)
"Survivors, it's time for me to read out the votes!" Announced Alexa. "However, if anyone wants to use any idol they have now, then feel free!"
Samus thought about using it earlier but had ultimately settled on making a gamble. If she could survive tonight without using an idol to protect herself and to guarantee someone else's elimination, then that would give her a massive advantage for stricter votes in the future. As a result, she didn't have her idol on her and left it hidden under one of the tents.
Everyone looked to her as she failed to break a sweat, showing no reaction to his gesture.
After a few more seconds of waiting...
"Very well!" He accepted. "It's time to meet our first member of the Jury!"
*VOTING TIME*
First vote goes to Little Mac. One vote Little Mac. (Little Mac gulps.)
Second vote goes to Meta Knight. One vote Meta Knight, one vote Little Mac.
Third vote goes to Meta Knight. Two votes Meta Knight, one vote Little Mac. (Meta Knight, despite the two votes already against him, doesn't feel threatened.)
Fourth vote goes to Engineer. One vote Engineer, two votes Meta Knight, and one vote Little Mac.
Fifth vote goes to Phoenix Wright. One vote Phoenix, one vote Engineer, two votes Meta Knight and one vote Little Mac. ("W-wha?!")
Sixth vote goes to Engineer. That's two votes Engineer and Meta Knight, with one vote Phoenix and Little Mac. (Engineer clenches his teeth anxiously.)
Seventh vote goes to Tails. One vote Tails, Phoenix and Little Mac, with two votes Engineer and Meta Knight.
Eighth vote goes to Samus Aran. One vote Samus, Tails, Phoenix, and Little Mac, with two votes Engineer and Meta Knight.
"Hold on!" Alexa interrupted, panting. "Let me just catch my breath real quick... whew!"
After ten awkward seconds, he resumed:
Ninth vote goes to Tails. Two votes Tails, Engineer, and Meta Knight. One vote Samus, Phoenix, and Little Mac.
Tenth vote goes to Samus Aran. That's two votes Samus, Tails, Engineer, and Meta Knight. One vote Phoenix and *gasp* Little Mac. (Samus bites her lip, beginning to regret not using her idol.)
After a few more heavy breaths, Alexa moves on to the final vote. "The eleventh vote is here! The first member of Jury for Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert is..."
Samus Aran, Tails, Engineer, and Meta Knight. One of these four would be going home if a draw was not to occur. Alexa held his tongue to create momentary suspense before finally reading the vote.
"TAILS!" Revealed Alexa. "Sorry buddy, but with three votes your way, you've been eliminated from Survivor Crossover!"
"Damn it..." Engineer whispered, angrily sighing under his breath.
"Jeez... even after Papyrus went through all of that, Tails still got eliminated." Little Mac scratched the back of his neck. "Wish you could have stayed longer, bro!"
The fox stood up with disappointment. "Well, at least I made it far," he assured himself. "I don't mind whoever wins at this point... barring Spy. But, I really want you to win Engineer, out of anyone else! You were great company throughout my stay here, and you're probably the smartest one here!"
"Pssh, only now that you're gone," he beamed. "Take care, Tails! I'll get as far as a Texan can get!"
Tails turned around to the exit, seeing Alexa begin to blowtorch his picture. It was a bittersweet feeling, as he might have missed out on money and a few weeks of peace, but he would no longer have to deal with the annoying challenges that Alexa gave him.
He walked down the passageway, waving to those behind him...
"That's that!" Alexa said, dusting his hands as he placed his blowtorch next to his book. "Tails was speedy, intelligent, strong, and social, yet even THAT wasn't enough to make it to the top ten. That just shows the standards you need to be able to stand a chance at winning, so I hope you all enjoy your day of relaxation tomorrow, because the next challenge won't take a break from being intense! Goodnight survivors..."
Tails' Last Words: "I had an alliance, I had speed, faith, and strength! I can't believe I managed to go out so early... but at least I'll be able to have a warm meal that isn't crunchy rice or beans, for once. Now Sonic and I just have to convince Knuckles to try this show out; I think he could do great, maybe even win!"
VOTES
Little Mac's voters: Princess Peach.
Phoenix Wright's voters: Luigi.
Engineer's voters: Spy, Little Mac.
Meta Knight's voters: Tails, Engineer.
Samus Aran's voters: Phoenix Wright, Jotaro Kujo.
Tails' voters: Meta Knight, Samus Aran, Kirby.
IDOLS
Koopa Sphinx Idol - Fire Flower Idol (triples voting power + nullifies first vote). Currently in Samus's possession.
REMAINING SURVIVORS
Super Stars Tribe (Yellow)
- Phoenix Wright
- Luigi
- Meta Knight
- Little Mac
- Princess Peach
- Spy
- Kirby
- Engineer
- Jotaro Kujo
- Samus Aran
Jury Tribe (Gray)
- Miles "Tails" Prower