Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty) - Ponderosa
Chapter 3 - Juror 3
Hello, all. Welcome back to another chapter of Mexico - Pondersa where Golden has been eliminated in a 7-2 vote, with two of them being for Funky Kong as Specter Knight and Plague Knight decided to pit them against each other, and both of them bought it just like that.
So now we have Golden thinking that Funky betrayed him lol. Yet at the same time, at least he's going to be with Espio and Ryu now, all three of them being on the former swapped Toro tribe. Yet in spite of the different strategies these players have, they respect each other and get along extremely well. So for Golden, it probably couldn't have come at a better time.
Let's see how this goes...
~KF
Night 30
"Hello, there. I am Golden, juror number three, and this is my Ponderosa."
"Well, I suppose I was a target for a while. Guess now they finally got rid of me and it took for my main ally to go behind my back to be eliminated..."
Golden Fredbear took his time down the path to Crazy Hand's medical tent, thinking of not just what occurred less than two minutes ago, but rather his entire Survivor adventure as a whole.
"All the while, this may have been the best thirty days of my life. I got to explore, meet new people, played the game while staying true to my character (which for most people it's rather hard to do), made it to the merge, and lasted for at least thirty days... Yeah, not all thirty-nine days, but like we just discussed at tribal, being on the show alone is a massive achievement, and look how far I gotten." He was clearly glancing at the more positive side of things. "Every single day I was out there were thirty mini-accomplishments in themselves. And also, I made it to the upper half of this season's boot list."
He chuckled a bit at the end of that.
"Well, I've been voted out. Today was supposed to be for Specter Knight after Incineroar won immunity, but I guess in one afternoon, there was an even bigger problem that I had to take care of. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned and I ended up being taken out instead. Regardless, I have no reason to not root for Funky Kong. But at the same time, I feel like I need closure on why he decided to go after me and Isabelle. Now Isabelle likely feels all alone since she was the only one left out of that vote... But I think she'll be alright..."
"Hello, Golden!"
"Doctor Crazy Hand. It's been thirty days..." He greeted.
"Such a long time! Come sit here!" Master Hand's 'insane' brother directed him to the seat nearby. Although, to most people, it was rather unknown whether or not he was actually 'crazy' such as his name stated. Yet then again, he would never have been a doctor of all occupations if he really was insane, right? "Now then, let's take your blood pressure... And while we are doing so, was there any part of the game physically that was difficult for you?"
He exhaled a sigh as his blood pressure was being taken. "Well,... I guess some of the challenges where I really had to pull my weight.. Maybe that challenge where we had to carry that saucer for example. My hands were full on cramping at one point and I actually ended up having a scrape of one of my fingers..."
It was his right index finger that Crazy Hand was now staring at.
"Hmm... I don't think it's permanent..." He predicted. "Give it a month or so and it would be back to normal."
The bear grinned in reply. "Well thanks for that. If it was a scar for life, at least it came from Survivor of all places so that it would be memorable for the rest of my life."
"Let's have you step on the scale."
"...159.3." Golden read the number that was showing.
"You remember how you much you weighed when you first started this?"
"No…" He shook his head.
"You weighed exactly 172.1 back on day one, which means you've lost exactly 12.8 pounds, Golden!" He calculated, slapping the calculator on the nearest table. "You proud of yourself?"
"I guess in a weird way, I am." The bear hunched his shoulders. "But I guess I'll be even more proud of myself based on how much I will eat tonight."
"Oh, guess you're ready, then. Let's get you out of here so you can eat."
"Alright, so I guess this is the part where I'm supposed to feel rather depressed about coming to the Ponderosa. I mean, it kinda is… You know you put in your best efforts to get as far as you can, but fate just doesn't want you to win this. That's the sad part, but you know what makes it better for me? The people that I'm gonna be with for the next couple days are Ryu and Espio of all people. ...I think the first two jurors are the perfect two to hang with. I mean, we were all on Toro together."
Golden Fredbear calmly stepped out of the boat and made his way to the dock. "Annd,... there they are right there coming out now."
"Hey Golden," Ryu did not even wait for the bear to get near him to speak. "what happened to all those alliances, man?"
"I dunno." He responded with a shook, making the street fighter laugh. "Ask the game."
"Okay, I'll be honest." Espio talked. "I wasn't so surprised that Ryu ended up getting eliminated last time. But Golden out of nowhere going home? Alright, I know he was a physical threat as well, but he adapted extremely well socially and he was highly intelligent. Not saying that he did not ever had the chance of being blindsided, but I really did expected him to make it further than ninth place. He was arguably the glue that held the Brain Tribe alliance together."
Fredbear was finally meeting Ryu Hoshi and Espio the Chameleon at the steps where the former folded his arms and shook his head reacting to the elimination."
"No Brain Tribe Alliance or Strong Guys Alliance? Are there people out there thinking that alliances are just meant to be broken or somethin'?"
"Beats me. All I know is that I didn't intend to write Funky Kong's name down, who I thought was my closest ally." He defended his vote. "But I caught word that Funky Kong was trying to blindside me because he figured that at some point me and Isabelle would go after him because of how close he is with Incineroar."
"So I guess you and Iz wrote Funky's name down and everybody else just voted for you?"
"That's how it was." He answered Ryu. "Such a shame, really. Me and Isabelle decided that it was best to keep the Brains together, and I thought it was best to keep the Brains and the strong together... And yeah, I didn't even wanna vote you out last time."
"I kinda figured that." Hoshi grinned. "You looked a little upset when I left."
"I just couldn't get the numbers, so I just voted with most of the group because I was not gonna put a target on my back."
"Hmm..." Ryu thought for a brief moment. "So you pretty much everything. All this time you were trying to play all sides."
"I guess that's how I was playing. It just all went downhill when Specter Knight happened."
"I think Golden was just a great player. Even though our strategies were completely different, if he got to the end of the game I would have a hundred percent voted for him." The martial artist complimented his gameplay. "He's a low-key kinda guy, didn't do anything to anybody, formed deals with most of the tribe including myself, and the only thing that he didn't know what was going on was that Specter Knight was planning to basically break the game wide open. And in spite of being a physical player, if it weren't for Funky Kong, he would have made it even further. He was just laying back and checking on everybody while I'm fighting for my life in a challenge and I'm a strong player... Maybe I should take notes from him."
He was now taking a glance at himself in the mirror, running fingers through the fur on his head.
"...You know what, to be honest, I don't think I look that bad." He admitted. "...I probably smell a bit, though..."
"We don't care, man." Ryu chuckled a bit. "Espio told me I was smelling as well. We're out in the wild and we weren't even on a beach on top of that. It was extremely hard to keep yourself clean."
"Guess I'll be in the shower for a while, then..."
He took a big bite of a bacon cheeseburger he received as he sat at the table in the cafe.
"That's the biggest bite I've ever seen..." Espio blinked. "You'd better hope you're not literally biting off more than you could chew."
"I could handle it." He replied. "Speaking of food, the rice was starting to really run out. They should consider cutting back again if three of them are gonna make it to the finals."
"Incineroar would definitely not be happy about that..." Ryu mumbled with a snicker. "But I'm no better. ...One thing you can be glad about getting voted off. We get all the food we want."
"If Vector was competing and he just got eliminated, he'd probably say the same thing." Espio the ninja detective assumed. "Chili dogs are his favorite."
"It's that a Mobian thing?" Fredbear asked. "I read Sonic's interview after he competed in Kodai Island and he said he likes chilidogs, too. He even said that his frined Knuckles, who just competed on season two, is also quite the fan of 'em."
"Believe it or not, I never actually thought about that way." The chameleon told him. "I suppose it is. I don't eat them that much, but they're something I wouldn't mind once in a while."
"I don't think I talked as much as I felt I was going to. Maybe it's because that I was just tired that night. I barely got any sleep the other day and my brain was thinking a million thoughts a second on what to do next to try and make sure I stayed in the game. And even when I was out of the game, my mind was still racing because of woulda, coulda, shoulda, so that explains why I was a bit down at the time. But, you know. If fate chose somebody else to win, I have no reason to complain. I'll be rooting for whoever I'm going to vote for when the finals come around."
"Wake me up for breakfast."
"Alright, see ya."
"Goodnight."
With no more words spoke, Golden closed his door.
Day 31
The following morning, the next scene featuring Golden at Ponderosa, he was caught in the middle of a workout with Ryu. Well, more specifically, Golden was actually being coached by Ryu, performing one of Ryu's martial arts exercises.
"Overhead presses will help you keep your guard up, especially if you start to feel the fatigue after a while." Hoshi commented. "We'll keep doing this. And afterwards, we can start with the heavy lifting."
"Hmm..." Golden thought out loud. "Well, I gotta have some way to defend myself..."
"I do workout at home, but Ryu takes it to the next level for me. He is a martial artist for a reason. He suggested that I try out one of his routines and curious me said 'yes', just to understand what he usually does for his workout and everything. I'm not afraid of trying new things, 'cause you never know. Maybe you'll develop an interest for it. And I gotta say, thought it was pretty intense, I should probably do it his way more often. Worst case scenario, a bunch of ninjas and bad guys would wanna kick my butt..." After a brief pause, he chuckled a bit. "No offense, Espio... And speaking of the chameleon..."
"Hello..."
A few minutes later as the two were now having breakfast, the Mobian wandered into the cafe to join his two new friends.
"Bout time you got here." said Ryu. "We were just wondering about you."
"I kind of slept a little late today." He replied. "But anyways,... what time should we get started?"
"I'd say right after breakfast or something. There's really not that much to do around here so we might as well do something to past the time. The others are probably looking for tree mail right about now."
"Hahaha, I still find it a bit funny of how Daisy reacted when we did it on Toro." Golden remembered. "She probably thought that we were all freaks or somethin'."
"She's Daisy." Ryu explained, not sounding too astounded by it. "I'd actually be surprised if she of all people would be into it. If she was, well, she had an extremely weird way of showing it, then."
"Wanna know how me, Espio, and Ryu became close friends in the first place?"
And the answer was right in front of the audience's faces as the first three jurors were sitting in the grass right across the cafe were all sitting pretzel style with eyes closed. Suddenly it became so quiet it was as if you could hear crickets chirping from a mile away. But then again, they were nocturnal, so the possibilities were not exactly likely.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"I feel everybody's mind should be at ease." Espio opinionated. "There is some misconception about it with ones saying that it is mainly about mentally planning ahead or simply part of a warm up prior to a training exercise. That is not entirely wrong, but at times it is simply a way to relax and be at peace, even for just for a few minutes. Nothing wrong with a little peace and quiet, and Ponderosa is quite literally the perfect location."
Though the peace and quiet just had to be interrupted. However, unlike previously, it was not something that occurred beyond the castaways' control, but from a source that was rather unexpected to be the cause in the first place.
Espio the Chameleon himself.
Both Ryu and Espio each opened one eye at him slightly confused and surprised at the same time.
"What's funny?" The former questioned.
"I wanna laugh, too." Golden snickered.
"Oh, i-it's nothing." He spoke with a bit of hesitance. "My apologies... It's just that like I said before, I am far more used to be alone doing this, because with you two, it was the first time I had company in years, and I'm not exaggerating."
"Wow, really?" Ryu grinned.
"Well, unless you count all the times Vector and Charmy attempted to do it. Yet every time they had a go at it, they can't last more than forty seconds. We've only been here for about five minutes so far."
"You spoke about Vector quite a bit, even back on our old tribe." Fredbear realized. "By what you said about him, you two seem to be like night and day. Complete opposite personalities, yet you two seem rather close."
"We both thought about it and even spoke to each other about the matter a few times." He appeared to be well aware. "However, my circle of friends back in Mobius,... overall, there are all sorts of personalities in the mix... One thing me and you both have in common, Golden."
"What do you mean?" He cocked his head to the side.
"You seem to get along with pretty much everyone... Even ones like Incineroar or Funky Kong."
He appeared to be blushing on the outside, but inside, that generally made him feel good. "Wow. That's what you think?"
"I've thought the same." Ryu commented, being the only one that had his eyes closed once more at that point."
"Well, thanks. I appreciate it."
"I've heard quite a few times now that I basically like to be friends with pretty much most people that I come across. I mean, I guess I describe myself as easygoing with others. Sometimes I even surprise myself. There are all types of people out there, so I suppose I always went with the flow and relate to certain people in some sort of way. One time Katt of all people even told me that she wished that I was on her tribe, hahaha!"
"Hey..." Espio was now speaking to the bear once again, Golden relaxing in a hammock. "If Funky Kong makes his way to the Final Tribal Council, would you still vote for him even though he basically betrayed you?"
"Well, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that his move wasn't done for personal reasons, so I shouldn't take it personally." He commented. "I just thought it was a questionable move because I dunno what it accomplishes later down the line. Maybe if he wanted to really blindside me, the timing could have been better, but if he reaches it, I'll hear him out. Regardless, I'd still vote for him."
"So when it comes to this game, the people that I came across with are literally what reminded me of the different types of people I meet in my regular life. I knew it was going to be like that, so in that department, I was not afraid at all to apply for the show. Beauty's known for being sociable, but brawn's known for being tough. So I could have been on any of the tribes to be honest." The bear laughed out loud. "But at the end of the day, I'm really just being myself. I figured that was always the best way to put it. Even though I don't want to be here at all, I'm still rooting for whoever's in the game."
My apologies for me taking so long to pump out another chapter. But hey, at least the main fic is back on track!
I was actually kind of worried that this was going to be one of the most boring Ponderosa chapters I've ever written, due to Golden being... Golden lol. Yeah, he doesn't really have the biggest personality of the cast, but he's known for being easygoing and willing to adapt to anyone and any situation he's in. Though because of him not being the most interesting as others, and with the whole meditation thing, I didn't expect much. Then out of the blue, when I was starting to write the meditation scene, in a strange turn of events, it ended up being the most interesting part about this entire chapter.
So if you liked Golden, you can vote for him in my poll. (It's ending soon, so if you haven't already, be sure to vote for your top five favorite players this season for the fan favorite award at this season's reunion show, which will be the very last chapter of the main fic.)
I'll see you all again soon!