Mexico - Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty (Ponderosa)

Chapter 6 - Juror 6

Alright, guess the celebrity of the season has finally been voted out. Like Daisy said, he really was never going to win this game. It was just that no one knew what his fate was going to be, and he ends up getting voted out, even Isabelle voting with Panther, Chica, and Plague Knight due to him being too close to Funky Kong and that they were both the biggest physical threats remaining in the game. And big target Panther already won the necklace so I guess people did what they had to do.

Though as time went on when I was still writing the story, I later realized that Plague Knight actually wasted a major opportunity to vote Funky Kong out. Yes, he was the last person Isabelle wanted to see go home, but he could have just have her cluelessly vote for Incineroar, have himself vote for Funky along with Panther and Chica, and it's just whoever Funky and Incineroar vote for her (Chica, since Panther had the necklace) that means Funky gets blindsided with an idol in his pocket in a 3-2-1 vote. Would have been an amazing play, but it is what it is I guess lol.

So back to Incineroar himself, obviously he is going down as one of the worst players in my series so far, so let's see what people think of him. (Aside from Daisy of course.)

~KF

"'Sup, everyone! Incineroar here, juror number six, and this is my Ponderosa!"

Night 36

Still in shock, yet at the same time a bit disappointed, Incineroar the Pokemon made his way down the path, the camera recording every step he took as he talked with the producers.

"They probably need to rewind all of that and play it again. I should be back at camp right now with the others and Chica should be in my place." He stated shaking his head. "I never saw that coming. Maybe a couple votes would have been cast my way anyway, since I am a strong competitor, but Isabelle voting for me? Neither me nor Funky saw that coming! Hopefully Funky's having a few words with her, because I can't be at camp to state my opinion about it myself..."

"Panther had the necklace, so tonight should have been Chica, and that's it. Nobody cares about Plague anymore, and getting rid of Chica weakens Panther. I was supposed to go final three with Funky and Isabelle, but the woman flipped! I can understand Daisy of all people not wanting to work with me, but her? She completely betrayed my alliance, even after I was the one who took her and that reward before the Beauty people punished me for it!"

"I mean, if anything, me and Funky Kong were both helping Isabelle. Statistics don't lie, man. Even Plague Knight is stronger in challenges. So when me and Funky Kong are in the exact same alliance with her, when it comes to the challenges, she didn't have to worry that much, and that puts everybody else at a disadvantage. Panther just got lucky this time. I mean, it's not like it's a final two or nothin'. All of us were supposed to make it and maybe just pick the rest of those people off one by one by one."

"I mean, I'm not a sore loser. I participate in tournaments all the time, and you are taught to be a good sport no matter what, unless you find something to be absolutely unfair. This isn't one of 'em, but I'm more confused than ever... I haven't even talked about the idol nullifier yet!"

He sighed as he was seen approaching Crazy Hand's tent. "Panther, I don't even know where you got that idol thingy from, but I literally heard you say that it didn't even need to be played. I know Funky still has one, so my best guess is that they just targeted me just to be safe..."

Crazy Hand was already jotting things down on his clipboard as Incineroar peeled the tent back. "Hi there, Incineroar! And... done! How you doing?"

"Fine, I suppose..." He glanced away for a bit. "Coulda made final three, but people have other plans apparently..."

"Don't worry!" Crazy replied, optimistic as ever. "Maybe you're an emotional eater! Food will hopefully make you feel better..."

"..." He frowned at that with a single blink. "Oh, okay? ...That sounds rather unhealthy, but I guess I haven't really ate anything since that reward..."

"'Maybe you're an emotional eater?' ...Well,... coming from him, maybe it's something that I should have expected, but... coming from a guy that works out all the time, eating emotionally is not one of the best things you can do to yourself both physically and mentally. I don't think you should rely on food to cope with your negative emotions. So... for all the ones out there that might have this problem, please don't listen to Doctor Crazy Hand... There are all sorts of way to handle stress. Don't eat just because you're having a bad day... Hey, wait a minute. Crazy's a doctor! Why isn't he saying this!?"

"Step on the scale for me."

And he obeyed, blinking once as he stared down at the numbers. "Alright, I'm no mathematician, so I'll let you figure this out. It says 161.2..."

"And your previous weight was 183.5." Crazy Hand told him. "That means you've lost exactly... 22.3 pounds..."

He widened his eyes in reaction. "Dang... Now I know I need to eat, man..."

"Yup!"

"I mean," He started to chuckle, stepping off the scale. "the thing is that I never felt any different on the show. You only notice stuff when you weigh yourself and when you look in the mirror."

-/-

Within several minutes, the boxing-wrestling Pokemon champion stepped off the boat and onto the dock, ready to make his way to the cafe.

He sighed as he paced along, continuing to talk to the producers. "I suppose except for Daisy, looking for to seeing everyone here. Maybe they'll help me deal with all this..."

"Food's waitin' for ya, man!" Ryu was the first juror that was heard from the steps as Incineroar was seen moving closer.

"Good." He replied. "Big boy's gotta eat. 'Sup guys?"

"So, what the heck happened?" Golden was already asking questions as the dark type greeted and shook hands with everyone. "Did Isabelle really flip on you? Where did Panther get that Idol Nullifier from?"

"Yeah, that's what I wanna know..." Ryu agreed.

"You were the last person I ever expected to be here..." noted Espio.

"She flipped on me. She did it." Incineroar still could not have believed it himself. "After all we been through together, she put my name down. Of course Funky never expected it. You see, this is why certain targets shouldn't win immunity. But Panther had the necklace, and I guess somebody talked to Isabelle into voting me out because I'm too threatening for them and they have a hard time beating me in challenges. I think they figured either me or Funky had an idol."

"You didn't have one, did you?"

"No." He shook at Ryu. "But Funky did. Panther played that Idol Nullifier on me in case I had it. They could have just done a split vote if they really wanted to be safe, because neither of us expected this to happen."

"Well, if they ever wanted to target Funky Kong, that nullifier should have been played on him." Specter Knight opinionated. "The master stated that it basically cancels the idol out. What I do not understand is that why did they not just voted for Kong, anyway. Isn't he the bigger threat?"

"What do ya mean?"

"...Well, like Daisy said before, you never stood a chance of winning it all. Funky has never made any enemies."

"What the- Seriously!?" Incineroar glared right at the scythe wielder. "You don't know how many votes I would have gotten if I was at the end. Don't act like a know-it-all, okay? ...Where is Daisy, anyway?"

"She's eating dinner." Espio replied.

...

"Uh,..." The Pokemon scratched the back of his head breaking the sudden silence. "I'm gonna assume she's not gonna talk to me, right?"

Ryu snickered at that. "Afraid so. Sorry, man."

"Don't be sorry." He disagreed. "It ain't got nothin' to do with you. This is between me and her. If she's not gonna talk to me, then the feeling is mutual. You can't make someone talk to me if they don't want to, so that's on her. Let her act like a child. I'm starving, man. Just need some food..."

And with that, he made it up the steps and into the cafe.

"Mirror's to your left." Espio pointed out.

"I have no interest in Incineroar myself," Specter Knight admitted. "but I only came out just to see what he had to say. That elimination was rather... interesting. Panther wore the necklace, Isabelle turned against her alliance, yet she chooses Incineroar of all people, rather than just taking out Funky Kong (who apparently had an idol, and she knew about it.) ...What? Just because she voted for Funky before, it means that she owes him something now? What does she gain from riding his coattails? The ape now has an even bigger shot at winning the final two immunity challenges."

"Notice anything different?" Ryu asked with everyone else watching Incineroar watching himself in said mirror.

"Well, aside from the weight loss, I don't think I changed much." He shrugged it off turning on his heel, taking a second to sniff his right armpit, frowning at his discovery. "...I kinda smell, though..."

Fredbear chuckled in reaction. "You better keep those arms down during dinner."

With all the men taking seats at the table, Daisy Rose was seen already eating her meal. Incineroar's fellow jurors were definitely not kidding when they told him that she was not going to speak to him. The woman had the face that explained that her plan was to never pay him any sort of mind, whatsoever.

"Well, I was right about him not winning, wasn't I?" She laughed. "I just didn't know if he was actually going to be voted out or not. But dang. Now? Right after me? Well, I guess the growing cancer of the season is gone. It's just that I have to deal with him over here now. Only this time, there are no consequences of not speaking to absolutely everyone here. He was just so unbelievable. Thank the Star Spirits he wasn't on the Brain tribe because that would have been an embarrassment."

However, she still had to deal with the fact that she had to listen to his voice. Yet on the bright side, with the two sitting at opposite ends of the table. She was the least likely to catch his smell with her nose, and that definitely would have ruined her appetite.

The Pokemon's eyes beamed at the giant plate of nachos in front of him. Yes, he was a big guy, yet at the time, nachos were pretty much all he craved for. He even spoke about it with other contestants after the immunity challenge.

Nonetheless, when steak was placed down in front of his fellow Brawn members, he grew jealous and decided to ask for some himself.

"I just simply do not understand." Specter resumed the previous conversation. "Yes, Isabelle has the ability to go against her alliance (shockingly), but I do not even know if she has anything on her resume. Tonight would have been a golden opportunity to eliminate Funky Kong with an idol in his pocket. ...Uh, no pun intended."

"I know what you mean." Golden nodded. "I suppose Isabelle and Funky are just that close. Maybe she figured that writing Incineroar would have hurt him enough. The girl's already saved Funky twice, now."

"...Do you think I care?" The knight blinked. "If I was in her shoes, I would have just voted Kong out. He's going to be a major threat and he might win his way to the Final Tribal Council. They are all final five now, and she only has two more opportunities to get rid of him once and for all, and Panther is also a major target. The only chance she has winning at this point is that she has to play perfectly."

"You mean with her sitting with Chica and Plague at the end?"

"My thoughts exactly." He responded to Ryu. "Plague Knight also voted for Incineroar, and I bet it was either him or Panther to come up with the plan to blindside Incineroar. ...But again, why not just get rid of Funky Kong?"

As for the celebrity in particular, his mind was on the food in front of him so much, he was completely disregarding all the strategy talk around him.

"If that was the case, maybe Isabelle was actually told of what their plan was." Espio theorized. "If what you are saying is true, perhaps one of them tried to convince Isabelle to write Funky's name down. She probably refused, so that left Incineroar to be the deer in the headlights."

"I'd probably go with all that." The street fighter was convinced, popping a piece of steak in his mouth.

"...Then,... just let Isabelle write down Incineroar." Specter Knight figured. "She would have been played in front of the jury, Incineroar and Funky Kong would have voted for Chica, and everyone else would have blindsided Funky Kong..."

"Yeah, my name came up several times when everybody was talking, but after all I went through, I was done, hahaha! My brain was fried from all this strategy talk. I didn't wanna hear all that on my first night at Ponderosa, so I just sat and ate my food. My stomach couldn't take it anymore, anyway."

"I mean at this point," The Shovel Knight character continued. "the winner of this season is going to be either Funky Kong, or maybe Panther if he wins his way to the end. ...And I can not believe that I am saying this, but Plague Knight, of all people might also be a contender... a slight one at that at least. Only way he has a chance is that he would have to sit at the end with Chica and explain to us why is he more worthy of a player than Isabelle..."

-/-

After his food, Incineroar now had a major consequence that he had to deal with.

He was stuffed.

"Ugh..." He held his stomach as he moved slowly. Steak and nachos was sort of a weird combination to begin with, even though he played Survivor for thirty-six days. "Now my real final challenge is me making it to the door... Hope I don't throw up on the way there..."

Day 37

The following morning, Incineroar was up and ready for breakfast, him already being in the cafe with Ryu and Golden, the other two jurors still having yet to join them at the table.

"Well, thirty-six down, only three to go..." Golden kept count. It was official. Their Survivor experience was really coming to an end. Almost time for the Final Tribal Council, and afterwards, they were all set to go home back to their friends and families.

"Calem's most likely cheering me on right now and sharing all kinds of stories with everyone." Incineroar assumed. "I swear, if it wasn't for him, I would not be who I am now. He taught me respect while at the same time teaching me how to handle my opponents (as well as my coach, that's for sure)."

"I bet a lot of Pokemon Trainers are like that." Ryu assumed. "As a student of martial arts, I know what it's like to be taught by someone you care about. My master made me. Gouken was... really the only parent I ever had. I don't know where my real ones are..."

That made the whole room silent at that. One mention of Incineroar's Pokemon Trainer and all of a sudden, there came Ryu explaining to everyone that he was never aware of his parents whereabouts, nor did he know if they were even still alive or not. The sad thing, there was a possibility that he might have never known for sure.

"Man... now I know what that's like..." Incineroar blinked in reaction. "I'm sorry..."

"Master Gouken took me in when I was a kid. I met Ken, and it all went from there." Hoshi continued on. "Yeah, sucks that I don't know my real parents, but I've known Gouken all my life. He's a parent in my world and me and Ken are like bros. I'm satisfied."

"Felt kinda bad for Ryu this morning... Not just because of what he told us during breakfast, but because of our relationship during the game. Me and him kinda butted heads sometimes due to alliance issues, and we both had different agendas at times. We ended working together until Ryu was eliminated, but after Specter messed everything up, we will never know how things would have went for us in the long-term. The bright side is though, we have the rest of this time to hopefully understand each other. I didn't realize how much we actually have in common."

"Darn..." Golden generally felt bad for the both of them. "I just can not relate... I can not imagine what it was like. My parents are just at home waiting for me to come back... Neither of you have parents to go to... that have your blood at least... I'm sorry, guys..."

"I didn't ask for you to blame yourself, Golden." Incineroar waved it off. "I barely even remember them. I was separated from them as a Litten and that was when my trainer found me... I'm good... I hope they're proud of me, though..."

Ryu turned around hearing footsteps, facing the Pokemon back. "If you wanna keep talking about this, we can do so later. I think the others are coming and I don't want them seeing us like this first thing in the morning..."

Daisy Rose and Espio the Chameleon made their way into the cafe, sitting at the table with the others before they picked up both their menus.

"...Ugh..." Incineroar mumbled to himself at the sight of Daisy, his head slowly turning him away. Rose appeared to feel a bit better, as if she knew being near Incineroar was just something that she had to deal with and she had to accept that until after the Final Tribal Council.

Nonetheless, for some weird reason, the sports champion of all people felt like it was best to be the bigger person.

"...Wanna talk, Daisy?"

Now that was something literally no one could have expected, not even ones like Espio or Golden, Incineroar now being the center of attention before it nimbly shifted to Daisy the second she spoke in reply.

"...Okay, I guess..." She stared directly in his eyes. "...What do you wanna talk about?"

"..." He sighed out loud. "Okay, look, I know we were like night and day out there and we never really clicked at all, but..."

"...But, what?" She just wanted him to get to the point.

"...It's just that..." He paused. "Maybe it's me. I thought about you a bit before I got off that boat to come here. Maybe it's just because... people take things differently. That's probably what the problem was."

"What do you mean?"

"...Well, in terms of Survivor Strategy, people have different agendas all the time. All eighteen of us did. It's up to the other player if he or she has to like it, but it is what it is. ...For example, that time where I took my entire alliance on that reward, I've done it for a reason. It was just to protect them and keep them safe."

Daisy promptly dropped her jaw at that, not being afraid to spill out her immediate thoughts that came into her mind. "...Seriously!? Okay, look, if you are trying to apologize, this has got to be the fakest apology I have ever heard! Can it be anymore half-hearted?"

"'Sorry'?" He was not actually apologizing. It was simply him quoting her own word. "...What? You're expecting me to say sorry for playing the game? First you question my choice, now you're still going to be bitter after all this time? Maybe it's good that I'm not in the finals, 'cause I know I had to hear heck of a lot more from that big mouth of yours!"

"I got a big mouth?" It never took much from Daisy to go from a 'zero to a hundred' as people said. "You really don't wanna look at yourself first before you judge other people, do you? Have you ever considered thinking before you speak? Trust me, Incineroar. I don't wanna fight either, but this isn't about me not understanding the game. It's just about you not getting it through your thick skull! You ate more than you fair share on that reward, and you alienated anybody that wasn't in your alliance!"

"You think it's just 'poor Daisy not understanding how the game works'." She continued. "Come on. If I of all people didn't understand Survivor, I would have never signed up for it. Nothing wrong with strategy, yes. But you have to have at least some basic social etiquette if you don't wanna rub people the wrong way. At least then I would actually tolerate you. Specter Knight may have been looking out for no one but himself, but at least he has basic social skills and knows how to respect other people!"

"And for the love of the Survivor Gods, stop acting like I'm the villain here. I am not the only one who felt that you were in the wrong for what you did. I saw it, Espio saw it, Isabelle saw it, Panther saw it, and Chica saw it! Funky Kong's not stupid, so I bet even he knows how much of an idiot you were!"

"Don't you dare throw Funky Kong in this!" He raised his finger and stood up. "Trash me all you want, but leave him out of this! He's not even here right now!"

Even some of the Ponderosa staff were witnessing.

Espio facepalmed at all this. "I should have stayed in my room a bit longer. I am not going to get a headache this early in the morning..."

"Why is it so hard for people to see their own problems?" Daisy ranted. "Are some people really this stupid!? Now I'll admit, he was willing to try to make things right with me, but seriously! He's not sorry at all because he thinks that he didn't do anything wrong after all this! How can anyone be this stupid!? Nineteen year old Espio was sitting right next to me and he has twice the level of maturity he has! Incineroar literally has no self-awareness whatsoever. I know celebrities aren't always meant to be these 'big role models that are responsible for raising your children' or anything, but how can you be a grown man, be this popular in the real world, win championships multiple times and be around your trainer this long and do not have any social skills at all!? Easy. Because no one has ever called him out before! I really hope he gets embarrassed big time on national television. I'll just leave it up to the audience..."

"Guys, guys, please..." Golden finally took the opportunity to ease the tension. "Not now... It's breakfast time... Just... take it outside at least. Take it outside..."

"Everyone here knows that I tried my hardest to get along with a lot of people out there when I was still in the game, but the harsh reality is that you can't please everyone." He spoke. "And by that I mean is that no matter how hard you may try, everybody in this universe isn't going to like you. And when it comes to Daisy and Incineroar, well, some people just don't click. Nothing really wrong with that, though. You can't expect every last person to be your friend in this world... And I suppose even I have a hard time understanding that sometimes..."

-/-

"Ryu told me that if I wanted to continue to have a healthy conversation about him about our blood parents that we've never really known for that long, I could. And now with Daisy being out of my fur and no one else being around the cafe right now, I thought that since we're alone, it'd be a good time to talk it out... I've talked with my trainer about this before and other Pokemon that were with Calem. It's kind of the norm and not too surprising if you're a Pokemon, but with someone like Ryu,... in a weird way, it's different you know?"

The two were sitting on the steps ignoring their surroundings.

"Incineroar's not a bad guy..." Ryu shook his head. "He really isn't... It's just that he's just not really... the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes. All that time practicing and training... whether it'd be for his trainer or for his coach just to perform well in front of millions of people, he's never really took enough time to reflect on himself that much... So as we kept talking to each other of what our parents were probably like, I wanted to take that chance to tell Incineroar to... probably spend some time alone every once in a while. ...You know... So that he could learn a thing or two about himself. I'm constantly learning things about myself everyday. We all want the best for ourselves, so just at least a bit of self-reflection can in fact go a long way..."

"And it's like... 'Will I ever see them again?'" He glanced up into the sky. "Don't get me wrong, my trainer would sometimes go out with his Pokemon one by one and see if he could find their parents, myself included. ...Some were lucky. ...But I wasn't one of them."

"Ugh..." Ryu shifted his head away. "I think about something like that to myself a lot... Will I ever see my parents again? Would they at least remember that they had a child? ...Maybe they're... somehow looking for me right now... Or worst case scenario,... they probably don't want anything to do with me... I wouldn't know why though. I didn't ask to be here..."

"No one did." Incineroar agreed. "None of us did. It's not our fault... Remember that, okay?"

"I will." That was something for Ryu Hoshi to remember. "Ken would get mad at me for talking like that, but I just think that way at times. Sure, being optimistic is a great quality to have, but... you gotta be realistic as well... At least sometimes... Truth does hurt..."

"But anyway,..." Hoshi decided that he was done being sad for the day. "enough about me... I wanna keep talking about you, though. Like... Have you ever really took the time to,... you know,... think about yourself?"

"Uh..." He was sort of lost.

"Not about the game." He held his hand out. "This ain't about the game. ...But,... generally speaking, I don't really know if you ever just took some time to learn a couple things about yourself once in a while. You're always in the headlights, with your trainer, with your coach, or in the big ring. Busy lifestyle."

"Oh, it is." His sigh was the result of major stress he had to go through. "Now it's 'Incineroar, the Survivor Player'. Now I'm gonna make even more headlines. Don't take this the wrong way, but... my life's goal isn't about how popular I wanna get. I don't mind the fame but,... I just wanna know for being me. ...Not just what I am..."

"But who you are."

"Exactly."

"I think that people get a vibe of what you are already, if you make that many headlines and watched you on TV." The street fighter presumed. "Maybe you think that it's not enough. They've probably only seen that tough exterior of yours... And that you love kids."

"Yeah, that's me alright." He grinned with teeth and nodded rapidly. "I'm very good with kids."

"That's probably a decent start for you. But man, look, if you really want people to get to know you a bit more, how do you think you can do that if you don't even know that much about yourself? If you don't know about yourself, no one else will. That's why I say it's important to just take a few minutes every now and then to just stop and think... about... anything. Being vulnerable every once in a while is not gonna kill anyone."

"...You're probably right..." Incineroar admitted. "Maybe it's for the better. Perhaps I can do it whenever I'm not busy... My name is always everywhere, so maybe I should just... ignore the internet every now and then and... just get some air... It's probably easier said than done, though."

"Hey, tell you what," Ryu thought of an idea. "if you generally don't always have time for it, both of our professions are... fighting people. Go into the training room alone and just practice by yourself. In a quiet room where no one else is around. That could actually be the breather that you need."

"Man..." He took the time to think about it. "You really are smart, Ryu. ...Are you sure you were on the right tribe when we first started?"

He laughed in reply. "I'm positive. It's just that I wasn't on two tribes at once."

"You know, maybe I should speak for all kinds of celebrities out there. I don't know how many look up to people like us, but I'm a person just like the next one. I don't think it's fair to get special treatment just because I was already famous when this started. I just wanted to be like everybody else: competing to be the Sole Survivor. Aside from that,... stress is real. Let's just say that. Ryu's right when he says that for me personally, taking some downtime can be good for my health both physically and mentally. Otherwise,... you become your own worst enemy."

"You know," Incineroar got on his feet. "speaking of working out, I'm down to spend time boxing and lifting weights or sumn if that's okay with you."

"Count me in." Ryu smiled in replied. "Let me get my duffel bag."

"Whenever I see my name in the headlines, it's always 'Incineroar the Pokemon', 'Incineroar the Boxing Champion', 'Incineroar the Big Time Wrestler', and now this... Why can't my name just say Incineroar on it more? Maybe it wouldn't hurt if anyone is curious just to see what I'm like behind the scenes. I don't want people to get to know me for just being a celebrity, but as a huma- uh... a Pokemon... or... just somebody. Yeah... that fits well. I don't mind being open around others... Maybe I just need to find more opportunities to. But like Ryu said, it all starts with how much you really know about yourself before you do it. ...Looks like that's just another challenge for me when I get back home."

I just can't believe that of all people, Incineroar gets arguably the longest Ponderosa chapter so far...

And I also can't believe that I'm already done with another Ponderosa chapter! Tbh, I really don't know what to do with this one. Arguing with Daisy, sure, but aside from that though, I just didn't know what to do with him. Then all of a sudden I thought of Ryu of all people and,... here it is lol.

Now, only two more chapters to go and this era will finally be done. Hopefully it's worth the wait for you all. I'll see you all again soon!