Tribal Council: Night 20
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Spy - Kirby - Engineer - Jotaro Kujo - Samus Aran.
"...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..." Waved Alexa.
Neatly, the ten remaining survivors stood up, some still upset over Tails' elimination, and others were more occupied with the relief of being safe on this particularly chaotic night. No matter what they thought, they quickly exited Tribal Council, leaving Alexa on his lonesome.
With a yawn and a lean back in his chair, he cushioned his head using both of his arms. "Right... that's another episode done!"
He stretched out his limbs and closed his eyes, deciding to take a few minutes of relaxation before leaving the area for himself.
Unfortunately, said relaxation was quickly interrupted by his mind immediately jolting him back up. "Oh right! I should probably put this thing away in case I forget."
Alexa got to his feet, swiping the book he had just finished writing on from his desk, and looked back over it, staring at the final sentence:
"The winner of the challenge will return to Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert, and I will reveal their return to the Super Stars tribe at 3 PM sharp."
He smirked at the book and closed it, tucking it against his chest with one arm as he walked over to the right, locked-off passageway and used his other arm to fish for the key lodged in his shirt pocket. After retrieving it, he slotted it in and opened the door, entering and warily locking it behind him...
Cacti Paradise: Day 21
Survivors: Johnny Bravo - Super Macho Man - Squidward Tentacles - Patrick Star - Gordon Ramsay - King K. Rool - ROB - Waluigi.
It was early in the morning, the sun just barely hovering over the horizon, casting a lovely orange across the sky. The view was incredible, but what was more incredible was the fact that these eight survivors were quickly called over and taken back to the same desert they were forcefully eliminated from.
There they met Alexa, finalizing a few more details with staff members and cameramen before finally diverting back to the eager and curious eight.
"It feels bizarre returning to this desert not once, but TWICE after my elimination," stated Gordon.
"You came back before this? Did you forget your cane, gramps?" Macho Man cackled, Johnny and Waluigi joining in.
With no bother to rebuttal, he covered his face with his hands and sighed, whispering under his breath. "No wonder these people were eliminated immediately. I already want to have all memories of them to be bloody removed."
Turning his attention away from the disgruntled chef, he then honed in on Johnny. "Who gave you permission to laugh at my jokes, pipsqueak?!"
"Wait, am I missin' somethin' here?" Johnny raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember offending this guy at all, and here he is, insultin' me instead of that weird lanky guy right next to me!"
"You two hated each other for fifteen seconds, then that rivalry quickly diminished once you were both rightfully kicked out." K Rool rolled his eyes. "This place ain't meant for a couple of insufferable meatheads like you two!"
Ignoring the insult, Johnny quickly remembered the events before his elimination, causing him to crack his knuckles aggressively. "Oh yeah... hey suntan, I still got a bone to pick with you!"
"Let's settle it here and now, Pompa-doofus!" Macho Man sadistically grinned.
"Insult my hair, and I'll wring all of the milk out of yours!" He growled ferociously.
Patrick then laughed uncomfortably loud at his joke. "Oh yeah! His hair IS the same color as milk."
"What a joy it is to be back..." Squidward sarcastically remarked, turning away from the oncoming conflict.
They drew towards each other, raising their fists and simultaneously flexing to the generally uninterested crowd. Waluigi, however, was chanting with joy. "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" He roared.
"Predictions are that Macho Man will win," ROB revealed. "That is, if anyone cares."
"We don't," said Squidward. "Just let them knock each other out, maybe then they'll shut up."
Alexa turned back to see the fight about to happen, Johnny and Macho Man were already chest-to-chest, and the first punch would be landed at any moment.
"HEY!" He bellowed, giving a whistle. "Do you wanna join back or not!?"
As those words exited his mouth, both of them immediately turned their heads to him, backing off and sensibly waiting for his next line like a couple of excited dogs.
"Jeez, thank you for not killing each other." With relief, he wiped his forehead dry of sweat and continued. "Right, you guys probably know from my outburst that you are all here for one reason only! And that is for a chance to rejoin Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert, to add more competition and drama to the remaining ten survivors!"
"YIPPEE! A SECOND CHANCE!" Patrick jumped for joy. "But just one question, do we still have to do those challenge thingies?"
With pity, Alexa shook his head. "Nada. You will be fighting for yourself in these immunity challenges! Additionally, if you are eliminated again, then you'll be given the grand luxury of becoming a member of the Jury! A Jury member will attend every Tribal Council until the Finale, which is when the fun really starts for them!"
"Well, let me back in then already!" Macho Man demanded.
"Yeah, me too!" Added Johnny.
"Me three!" Patrick waved over to him. "Pick me!"
"Ai-ai-ai..." Alexa groaned. "Only one of you will be able to join back. And, just so you guys know, Papyrus is not here with you due to rule-breaking, and Tails is already a member of Jury, so he cannot rejoin either. In order to settle who rejoins the show, we'll have to resort to a series of events and challenges that should ultimately decide who is worthy enough to join the merged tribe! These will test the three vital components necessary to winning survivor: your strength, your intelligence, and your social reputation. If you can ace all of these, then your chance of winning is just as big as those who remain! I coin it: The Comeback Gauntlet!"
Macho Man rolled his eyes. "Dude, not only is that name super lame, but those "social skills" and "intelligence" are completely bogus. All you need is muscle, and that should get you to the end with no problem!"
"And this is coming from someone who was eliminated second?" Asked Squidward, subtly mocking the foolhardy showoff.
"Who asked you, seafood?" He asked aggressively, pointing his finger at him. "You got eliminated right after me!"
"Can you guys shut up for five seconds?" He pleaded. After the request, he patiently waited for Macho Man's grumbles to fade before continuing. "Alrighty! The first thing we'll be focusing on in this gauntlet is going to be how likable you are. Let's face it, if you join back and everyone hates you, then you aren't going to last long at all. People are sometimes more focused on shutting up the loudmouth jerk via elimination than dealing with someone who is a beast at challenges."
Gordon clasped his hands. "Fair enough! But what I'm curious about is how we're going to go about that. Do we vote someone off in a classic Tribal Council fashion? Or do we do some sort of trust test?"
"Good guesses, but no cigar, Chef Ramsay," denied Alexa. "Last night, after the elimination of Miles "Tails" Prower, I had one of my staff members stand outside of the Koopa Sphinx, and I told him to survey all of the remaining survivors on their thoughts of every eliminated survivor barring Tails and Papyrus. In the survey, they were separately told to rank you guys from one to eight, with one being the worst and eight being the best. When I open up the final results, the bottom three worst results will be eliminated from the Comeback Gauntlet, meaning they won't be able to return to Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert."
GAUNTLET A - SOCIAL REPUTATION
"This'll be an easy challenge; everyone loves me!" - Super Macho Man.
"Considerin' two hotties are still on that tribe, I got high hopes that they'll vote for me to be their favorite! Nobody can resist a bit of Johnny!" - Johnny Bravo.
Alexa ripped open the envelope containing the results and glared over them, the bottom catching his eye immediately.
He then looked up to the nervous eight and shook his head. "ROB, Gordon, and Squidward..."
"W-what?!" Squidward gasped.
"Over those bumbling muppets? That's absolutely absurd," hissed Gordon.
"Oh dear..." ROB beeped sadly.
As the other five began cheering amongst themselves, he continued. "...You three are first, second, and third highest-ranked respectively. You are all safe from elimination."
"Thank God," the chef sighed with relief. "I should have known better; I do stuff like that to the contestants in my shows all the time."
"It feels great knowing that I'm the most liked person out of the people present for this special challenge. If I were to make my return back to the show, I may have an easier type slipping under the radar of elimination, as my former elimination was due to Spy's idol play, which Jotaro had to counter to stay in the show for himself." - ROB.
Whilst those three were euphoric over both being well-liked and being safe, most of the remaining eliminees were now nervous over their ranking. All but Patrick, who was incredibly confused as to what was going on. In fact, his aforementioned cheering was only because everyone else appeared to be cheering.
Alexa then locked his eyes onto the worried remainder and continued. "With those guys out of the way, only TWO more of you will be advancing to the next segment. Johnny Bravo, Super Macho Man, Patrick Star, King K. Rool, and Waluigi, do any of you feel fully confident that you are not in the bottom three?"
Waluigi timidly shook his head, his teeth chattering rhythmically as he dreaded his chance of redemption being thrown out of the window.
"The satisfaction of-a beating Wario has-a worn off! I need to go back into the show and get that money, and then I'll REALLY have-a the bragging rights. Wahahaha! But... if I'm-a too disliked by the losers and-a cheaters in Super Stars, then I won't be able to achieve that!" - Waluigi.
"Yo!" Macho Man pointed to his chest. "I'm more confident in my survival than anyone else here!"
"Oh no you ain't," Johnny argued. "In fact, I'm so confident that I'll be safe, that I'll bet every penny I got on it!"
"Oooh, a bet?" He sinisterly grinned, wringing his hands. "How much money do you got, Presley?"
Weakly, he blurted out the truthful answer. "Two..."
"Forget the bet, then!" Macho Man groaned, folding his arms disappointedly.
Alexa gave a harsh, sharp sigh before continuing on. "What about you three?"
"Uhh, I still dunno what this is," Patrick confessed. "Is it one of those Tribal thingies?"
"Gaaaah! You're dumber than a box of rocks!" Spat K Rool. "Enough fooling around already. I have the utmost confidence in me staying, because I had a feeling that you'd do this again, and I've used my time between elimination and returning for this moment wisely. Non-stop training! Well, it IS non-stop barring any copious number of breaks that I had."
The host nodded, taking special notice of Waluigi's intense sweating and silence. "Very well! Let's reveal the fourth-highest ranked individual among you guys..."
After some suspenseful waiting, he drifted his finger upwards, not pointing towards a single eliminee. From that point, he slowly moved it to the right, where Waluigi and K Rool stood.
K Rool attempted to stand in front of Waluigi, though the villain in purple was so tense that he immediately managed to shove the hefty crocodile out of the way. That way, his vision wasn't obscured.
At long last, the finger stopped, dead on him. "Waluigi! You are the fourth-highest ranked individual here! Which leaves you four."
"C'mon, it's gotta be me!" Johnny prayed.
"No way dude, these guys aren't fond of me for some reason, but it's not like they'd rank me at the bottom with you!" Macho Man cackled.
"...Super Macho Man!" Alexa then swapped his focus to him in a heartbeat. "I'm gonna say it now, since it's obvious, but-"
"I'M SAFE?!" The celebrity interrupted.
"NO!" He snapped. "I mean, err... no, you have been ranked last, bud."
With pompous triumph, Johnny pumped his fist into the air. "Ooooh mama, I did it! Even if I lose now, everyone will know that I'm better than you, Macho Boy!"
"Not so fast," said Alexa. "Because you have been ranked just as low as Macho Man. That's right, you two have tied for last! And I'm not doing any tie-breakers to decide which one of you is superior or whatever. With you two confirmed to be out of this gauntlet's earliest stage, we are left with Patrick and K Rool, one of which will be joining you fellas in leaving Survivor... again."
K Rool nodded silently as Patrick gawked, as dazed as ever.
"I have this in the bag! I may have made a complete mockery of myself before I left out of total desperation, but not even the dumbest of the dumb would consider a plump, useless starfish to be more tolerable than I! I doubt he even knew that he was in a competition for the majority of his original stay." - King K. Rool.
"Uhh, apparently the biggest guys are going out first, and the green guy is huge! Maybe he's going out next, which means I'll stay!" - Patrick.
With more suspenseful, almost obnoxious pausing, Alexa looked to the results one last time and finally began spitting out the answer. "With only ONE point over the other..."
Silence...
"King K. Rool lives to fight on. Patrick, you just barely missed the mark," revealed Alexa. "Please join Johnny and Macho Man in leaving the Comeback Gauntlet."
"Phew." The king wiped his sweat from his scaly forehead. "I was confident until you mentioned how close it was! No matter; here comes the easy part..."
Patrick groaned. "Aw barnacles! I came out all the way over here just to leave?"
"I know right! Not even a bit of food or congratulatin' towards ole Johnny?" The meathead spat. "This show's gone downhill!"
"Congratulations towards... what exactly?" Gordon queried. "All you did was annoy people and get eliminated, and you expect a *CENSORED* party?"
"...Of course!" He nodded, doubling down on his sinfully poor logic.
Alexa then snapped his fingers with style, pointing to the trio of losers. "You guys can take your leave now. There's a jeep just behind ya, and don't hit your heads on the way in."
"You think I'm dumb or something?" Macho Man cackled, stepping into the front seat of the jeep and banging his head on the way in. "Ouch!"
Johnny and Patrick joined him, both moping on the back seats as the jeep quickly accelerated off onto the horizon.
He placed his hands on his hips and turned to the five that remained. "You guys are through to the second stage of this gauntlet! And now... the fun will begin."
Alexa spun around, striding up to a particularly large cactus and admiring it. Behind said cactus was a large, yellow button with a steel rim on the bottom.
Without any explanation, he dropped it onto the sand and violently stomped on it.
A large obstacle course spawned, extending from the core of the Cacti Paradise they were in, and all the way out into the desert. The obstacle course started with a sprint, followed by a climb up three particularly sturdy vines. At the top of these vines was a small, slippery, and icy platforming segment over a pit, and falling into the pit meant you had to climb back up to the start of the platforming section. After finishing the section, they would slide down and finish with yet another sprint. Though, luckily for them, this final sprint was only half the length of the starting one.
To prevent them from simply walking around the obstacle course, the straight-line section was enclosed with two long ropes. Sure, the survivors could hop or slide under them, but with the constant monitoring from Alexa, the staff, and their rivals, the rope was moreso there just to indicate that they shouldn't go beyond it.
"Welcome to the next part of the gauntlet!" Announced Alexa. "A large obstacle course to test if you have the strength, speed, and endurance to join the greats on their quests to win the two grand prizes!"
GAUNTLET B - PHYSICAL ABILITY
"This obstacle course starts with a grueling sprint, follows with a climb, and then hits you with a punishing, slippery platforming section. From that point, it's a slide and yet another sprint to the finish line," he described. "The first three to make it to said finish line will be safe and will move on, leaving the two others to bite the dust and suffer the same fate that Johnny, Macho Man, and Patrick just did! This challenge only has one rule, and that rule is to never go beyond those ropes. That is, unless you want to be disqualified immediately."
Gordon looked to his four competitors and rubbed his chin, staring at the sandy ground beneath him with focus. Others around him followed with a similar approach of analyzing their opponents.
"I'm sure I have what it takes to beat at least two of the four people I'm up against. I may be a chef, but I have the endurance and agility needed to get to that finish before it's too late. As long as I'm not sabotaged, I should be good to go." - Gordon Ramsay.
"This will be a cake-a-walk! That squid, chef, and-a crocodile don't come close to my ability. Looks like I-a really WILL be making it back to those losers after all! Wahahahaha! - Waluigi.
"With only three people left following this section of this "Comeback Gauntlet", I predict that the final section is most likely the last. Whether it tests intelligence, or social skills and strength again, I do not know, but I think the pattern tells me that it'll be the former. And, if that is the case, I'll be able to easily join back." - ROB.
After some thinking, Alexa moved on to the race itself, pointing to the starting line. "All of you must stand on this starting line! And remember: the last two to cross the finish line are going to miss their opportunity to return to Survivor Crossover, so don't be one of them!"
They acknowledged his useful notice, proudly marching onto the starting line. All of them, barring the still ROB, got into starting positions, ready to sprint at any given moment.
"Anything to escape that nightmarish restaurant that I work at! With all the fame I'd get from not only winning that prize but doing so after already being eliminated, I'd be able to promote my brilliant art and music to the world! In order to do that, all I need to do is win this race!" - Squidward Tentacles.
Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Alexa stood adjacent to the starting line and eliminees, brushing his hair to the right before pulling out his metal whistle tucked beneath his shirt. After flexing its quality to the cameramen, he made haste on starting the race, lifting the aforementioned whistle to his lips and beginning the countdown. "Three..."
"Two..."
"One... GO!" He yelled, blowing hard on his whistle.
The five of them left their starting line in sync. Only ten seconds later, and the neat column of hasty survivors began to separate. Squidward and Gordon were at the back, head-to-head in terms of speed, though Gordon's extra stamina would prove to be beneficial towards the later parts of the challenge. Just ahead of them was Waluigi, using up all of his stamina to try and get ahead of the pack early, though even that was difficult for him to accomplish. Ahead of him was K Rool, efficiently galloping along the sprint track on all-fours. Finally, ROB was in front, albeit by a few inches. He used his jet fuel to accelerate at a great speed, though he was conserving the rest for the vine segment.
As predicted by Gordon, Squidward and Waluigi began to lose their stamina, Squidward slowing down by a little bit as Waluigi's speed plummeted by the second due to his reckless approach. Before he knew it, he was neck-and-neck with Squidward, and the only thing keeping him from falling behind further was the motivation of winning that kicked in at the last second.
They were now halfway through the sprint, and K Rool had passed ROB. Whilst the robot had lost his first-place lead, he was still far enough away from Gordon and Co to worry about losing it any further. Additionally, ROB's lack of competitive nature resulted in him not feeling inclined to try and keep his lead, so he let K Rool stay in front with no issue.
"Gaha! Look who's in front now," K Rool grinned. "I'll make it to the end in a jiffy!"
Meanwhile, towards the back, Waluigi and Squidward were struggling to keep up the speed they were currently at.
"It's-a... so... HOT!" Waluigi cried, his frustration almost motivating him to upkeep his pace.
"You think you have it *huff* bad?" Squidward rolled his eyes. "Oh *huff* please! I'm a *huff* sea creature, and do you *huff* see me complaining about this *huff* brutal, boiling *huff* desert?!"
"Kinda!" He replied, turning back to face the track ahead of him. He couldn't use up what little energy he had left on talking to Squidward, otherwise, he would collapse dead before he made it to the end of the segment.
"Waaaah, why am I so stupid?! If I didn't waste all of-a my energy in that first minute of-a running, I wouldn't have gotten tired so quick! Why does nothing ever go-a right for-a Waluigi?!" - Waluigi.
Whilst the others were still running, K Rool made it to the end of the sprint and looked up at the three vines before him. After taking a short, five-second break from the run, the crocodile chose the middle one and began climbing up it, slow yet steady. He was surprised the vine was able to bear his weight, but with the whole course appearing at the press of a switch, he was no longer going to question anything peculiar that happened in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Around a third of the way there, ROB reached the vine section. He then reminded himself of Alexa's words:
"This challenge only has rule, and that rule is to never go beyond those ropes."
Considering that the only rule was not to go out of bounds, he knew he was allowed to do anything else, including using the rest of his stored jet fuel to completely skip the hassle of climbing up the tall vines.
With a gaze up at the sky, ROB lifted himself off of the ground, slowly hovering up into the air. The sudden noise resulted in K Rool snapping his head back to check out the commotion.
"H-huh?! There's no way that's allowed!" He whined. "Climb up the vines like a man, you bucket of bolts!"
"Oxymoron identified," he beeped. "How can I be both a man and a "bucket of bolts"?"
K Rool placed a claw on his chin. "Well, cyborgs can be both-"
Though he realized his mistake, it was too late. K Rool immediately slipped and fell off of the vine due to his carelessness, and as ROB expected when he saw the calamity, K Rool began blaming him for the blunder.
"Y-you made me lose focus! You... metallic rat! When I catch up to you, I'll have your throat at the end of my foot!" He roared, slamming his foot against the ground and causing a large cloud of sand to shoot up around him. He began his ascent once more, this time much quicker with his climb whilst still being careful as to not fall.
Eventually, ROB made it to the platforming section, which he would need more fuel for. With little fuel for him to use, he crouched down and began recharging as fast as he could.
By the time Gordon, Squidward, and Waluigi made it to the vine section, K Rool was three-quarters of the way up, and ROB had fully finished his fuel recharge, continuing on with the race.
"No way am I risking being below him if he falls," said Gordon, staring up at K Rool. With no time to lose, he picked the left vine and quickly began scrambling up the vine.
A few moments later, Waluigi and Squidward took the middle and right vines respectively, with Waluigi not noticing K Rool directly above him.
The race, outside of ROB's gentle hovering from platform to platform, was now at a slow, almost peaceful point. Yells of encouragement from Alexa were the only things that could be heard from the four as they tried their best to make it to the top before the others.
However, despite their efforts, K Rool made it to the top first, and by a long shot. Before continuing on with the challenge, however, he stared down his vine, catching a glimpse of an exhausted Waluigi alongside Gordon and Squidward beside him on different vines.
A toothy, evil grin formed in sync with an equally as evil idea as he flexed his claws, placing them at the top of the vine.
"Huh?!" Waluigi gawked. "What are you-a doing? Move out the-a way, cheater!"
"Alexa gave no rules, remember?" He said. "So if I were to cut off these three vines, then none of you fools would be able to interfere with my victory! Maybe if you all got injured... that would add up to one less person that I'd be dealing with in the next segment of this gauntlet!"
With shock, Gordon began sending his well-justified anger his way. "Are you mental?! You'll get someone killed you doughnut!"
"Y-yeah! Listen to the chef," Squidward encouraged.
K Rool shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm not gonna take any chances. Besides, if any of you die, then it'll be Alexa's problem!"
"H-hey! Just because it's not in the rules doesn't mean you're not going to... I dunno, face the consequences for MURDER," defended Alexa. "Most challenges that involve nasty falls in this show are actually secretly cushioned, which is to prevent injuries, and more importantly, controversy! This time it isn't the case, so I advise you step away from the vines and just continue with your already-great lead."
"Sorry, but that's not gonna fly with me," he denied. "I'll start with the lanky one!"
Suddenly, he raised his claw and swiped the top of the vine, slicing it in two. Though it was eerily sturdy, it certainly wasn't static, as it began collapsing the second it was cut by the fierce K Rool.
Waluigi panicked, quickly jumping over to the vine to his left: Gordon's vine. As soon as he made contact, it began swaying violently, nearly causing Gordon to slip and take a nasty fall.
"Oh *CENSORED*!" Cursed Gordon, looking down.
"Hmmph. Nimble!" Teased K Rool, sadistically resting the tip of his claw against Gordon's vine. "But you're only prolonging your assured defeat!"
The chef bit his lip as he trusted his gut, starting to slowly climb down before stepping on Waluigi's face by accident.
"WAH!" He cried. "Watch where you're going!"
"Don't just stand there. Get off the vine before he kills us!" Gordon demanded.
Waluigi shook his head. "I-a can't! I'm not going to get eliminated!"
"*CENSORED* winning," argued Gordon. "I'd rather continue living my comfortable life than die trying to get the title "winner of a sadistic gameshow"."
Just then, they felt the vine tug as K Rool violently shook it, regaining their full attention onto him. "You better start climbing back down!"
The crocodile cackled, failing to notice Squidward almost making it to the top, where he would be able to intervene with his downright evil plan. Additionally, ROB had scanned the situation, ultimately deciding on retracing his steps and losing his lead just so he could deal with K Rool. This wasn't simple gameshow drama anymore; this was serious.
"Three..." He began counting down, which was a downfall, as ROB and Squidward now knew how much time they had to stop him from cutting down the vine.
Waluigi snapped out of his daze and immediately began scrambling down, panicking.
"Two..."
"...ONE!" Finished Alexa, raising his hand and ordering two staff between him to deal with the situation. They immediately pulled out a tranquilizer gun, aimed at K Rool, and shot twice respectively.
Both darts firmly jabbed into him before he could register what was going on, and just like that, K Rool went from an insane threat to a harmless, snoozing animal.
"That worked bloody quick. Did anyone even notice that they had those on them?" Asked Gordon.
"N-n-nope!" Waluigi shook his head, still intoxicated with fear.
"Continue, survivors. The problem's been dealt with," he winked. "And they say I'm a psycho!"
Comedically, right after such an intense moment, the survivors immediately resumed their journey along the obstacle course, now with one less (massive) threat to deal with.
Gordon and Waluigi were now towards the bottom of the vine, upset over having to redo all of their progress. With Squidward and ROB now up ahead, it would likely be one of the two still climbing that would be done for in this segment of the gauntlet.
"Grrr... even if-a he cut the vine, that fall wouldn't have-a done nothing!" He whined. "That's how far back I had to-a fall!"
"If he cut that vine and it landed on you, then you'd be in a cast from the neck down," informed Gordon. "This thing can bear the weight of the sack of *CENSORED* and wind that tried to break our legs for a chance to return, so it's nowhere near light."
Though he was convinced, he grumpily chose not to respond, silently climbing up the vine alongside the chef right above him.
Meanwhile, ROB retraced the steps he had already retraced, making steady progress towards re-finishing the platforming segment and entering the final slide and race to the finish. Behind him was Squidward, someone who luckily had grip decent enough to make the slipperiness of the platforms more tolerable. Despite this, he still took his time, as the others were far behind.
As Squidward neared the end, Gordon and Waluigi were halfway again. As this went on, ROB was currently sliding down to the final sprint, albeit awkwardly due to his stiff, unmoving position.
"Come on Squiddy... just one more jump!" He prayed to himself, mentally training up his psyche so that he'd get the confidence needed to clear this final jump. Whilst what he was jumping to was no longer icy like the platform he was on, the distance between the final platform and end of the segment was significantly further than the others. If he failed this, then he would be putting himself at a huge disadvantage.
After a few cautious steps back, he began running, and quickly jumped high into the air.
Though... his tentacles didn't collide with the comforting ground of the place he wanted to land on. Instead, he was now dangling from the ledge, panicking.
As he became calmer and calmer, he began scouring for any possible solution to the predicament he was now in. He didn't have enough strength to pull himself, and it's not like ROB would fly back up to help him if he screamed for assistance. Before he gave up, he realized his massive oversight: his tentacles.
Due to their suction-esque grip and strength, Squidward firmly lifted and planted his tentacles where his waist was. He then used one of the tentacles grabbing the ledge to move forward slightly, then used the other tentacle still grabbing onto the ledge to do the same. After repeating this process a few times, he was now fully done with the platforming section, and triumphantly wiped the sweat from his brow.
ROB didn't hold back on the final section of the race, using all of his stored up fuel to boost across the sprint at incredible speeds. By the time Gordon and Waluigi had finished their annoying climb, he had already passed the finish line.
"ROB WINS FIRST PLACE!" Announced Alexa. "He's lookin' pretty good. Not only is he the most liked, but he's the most capable too!"
"Satisfaction is more than sufficient," ROB cheered, apathetic in tone.
With Squidward far ahead, this was now a platforming and running race between Gordon and Waluigi. If any of them fell down one of the platforms, though the climb would be much shorter than the one they just did, it would still cause them to lose a lot of time.
Gordon made the first leap, perfectly landing on the platform before jumping to the next.
Just trailing behind was Waluigi, almost mimicking his exact jumping movements, though with much more height and cockiness.
"Eurgh, this guy's-a fast!" He thought. "Here's-a hoping he slips, then from that point it's-a Waluigi time!"
Soon, they came to the last platform: the one Squidward almost failed to make. However, unlike Squidward, their grip, or lack thereof, wouldn't save them if they were to make the same mistake that he did.
Though, Gordon knew that Waluigi had the jump height necessary to make it, so he had to act fast.
With a slightly lackluster running start and jump...
The chef soared through the air... before falling and landing into the pit.
Simultaneously, Waluigi also jumped. Though it was choppy, he just barely made the gap.
Gordon cursed himself as he stared at the victorious man in purple. With little motivation left, he lay there, annoyed at himself for the rough beginning of his jump. "Bloody Hell..."
Fast forward to when Waluigi had finished going down the slope, and Squidward was meters away from the finish line. After crossing it, Alexa made sure to give a celebratory holler. "SQUIDWARD WINS SECOND PLACE!"
He collapsed onto his back and sighed. Squidward not only overcame the most nightmarish obstacles in that challenge, but it was done by an impressive margin. After a few seconds of resting on the ground, he joined ROB in watching the rest of the challenge.
Their spectating proved to be boring. Out of Gordon and Waluigi, only Waluigi showed up for the final sprint, going through it all before crossing the finish line.
"YEESS! I-A WIIIIN!" He said, cheering and dancing.
After a few more minutes, Gordon and K Rool were escorted to the three winners, K Rool slightly dazed from what happened.
"Hmmph. Knocking me out with your high-tech darts?" He scowled. "How dare you interfere, when what I did wasn't even against your rules!"
"What a lesson to be learned!" Alexa folded his arms. "It's almost like I'm still going to punish people for attempting to put peoples' lives in danger. FYI, if this had gone down a week ago, I wouldn't have interfered! I'm just in it so I don't become a laughing stock online... make sure to cut this out of the final episode," he whispered to his staff before proudly continuing. "Anyway! K Rool and Gordon, both of you must leave the Comeback Gauntlet due to your not-good-enough performance and/or sadism. See you guys later!"
Gordon nodded as K Rool immediately faced away from Alexa and stomped off. The two of them walked back to the main area of the Cacti Paradise, where another jeep was waiting to take them out of the desert for good...
GAUNTLET C - FINAL VERDICT
"So, enough of that goofy talk. You three made me proud! You are physically and socially able to at least survive a few days in the Merge. However, only one of you is good enough, and that leads me to the final section of the Comeback Gauntlet," Alexa pointed to himself. "Me! With enough assessment from how you played throughout this season, PLUS your performance in the first two sections of the Gauntlet, I will give out the final verdict on who is worthy of rejoining Survivor Crossover: Dry Dry Desert."
The three were a little shocked. If anything, they expected something involving intelligence, the only thing Alexa hadn't covered in the Comeback Gauntlet that he considered vital. Heck, ROB even fully remembers him stating that intelligence would be involved in the gauntlet at some point.
Unlike most tense situations, Alexa was very quick with getting it over with. "So, the person I think is the most worthy is... ROB!"
"NOOOO!" Cried Waluigi.
"That was... anticlimactic," groaned Squidward. "Though expected. It's not like I can defeat a robot like him at anything."
He nodded. "Yep! I didn't really think it was necessary to beat around the bush with you guys when ROB got first place in both Gauntlets, lasted the longest, did well in almost every challenge he was placed into, and only got eliminated due to circumstances out of his control. So, that's that..."
Alexa paused, looking at his watch as ROB scanned his face.
"It appears he still has one more important thing to state," ROB remarked.
"Oh yeah... a robot that can read obvious facial expressions." He rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine! There's a little extra reward for you two, despite you both not making the cut. I thought it'd be a little cruel to bring the other two people to this point only to tell them that ROB is just a better fit for returning, so I decided to make you two... members of the Jury!"
Squidward raised an eyebrow. "Jury?"
"J-J-JURY?!" Repeated Waluigi.
"That's right! Once a member of the Merge tribe is eliminated, they become a member of the Jury that has a very important part in the Finale of the show. With the Merge phase still young, I thought that bringing two previously eliminated contestants to the Jury tribe to observe the remaining survivors wouldn't be a shoddy concept." Alexa dusted sand from his shirt before pointing to them. "So, congratulations to the three of you!"
"It's not what I-a wanted, but I'll take it!" - Waluigi.
"More time away from Bikini Bottom? Sign me up!" - Squidward Tentacles.
Alexa applauded the three before saluting at them. "I'll see you two Jury members later! As for ROB... you'll be sent on your merry way to the Super Stars. They should be beginning to wake up by the time you make your way over there, and remember, you'll be joining those two in Jury if you get yourself eliminated again!"
ROB nodded. "Very well."
Squidward and Waluigi were escorted out of the area as Gordon and K Rool were. Concurrently, ROB went in the opposite direction after being given the directions to the tribe by Alexa...