Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 8 - Day 7

Alright, welcome back for more "Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!" And last time, the Knights tribe made a big move by voting out their strongest competitor (Cloud) over their weakest competitor (Luigi) just for the sake of tribe harmony and unification. Despite that, Knuckles and Rouge were kept out of the loop. Nevertheless, they felt that Luigi was easier to deal with long-term game.

Since this chapter comes right after vote off, but not the time for another immunity challenge to occur, we simply progress the story from here, especially with the emperors since we haven't seen them that much all week other than the challenge. But I felt that nothing important or interesting was happening at the time so I skipped them for now. But fortunately Nago is certainly going to get more screen time.

~KF

Knights

Night 6

One by one, the Chatan tribe leaned their torches against a tree that was close to their shelter.

"So the six of us who voted for Cloud instead of Luigi all had to do some major damage control here." Sheik recalled the results of the 6-3 vote that just occurred.

"I just..." Knuckles had his arms folded as his shook his head out of frustration. "I just don't understand on why you chose to kick not only someone that is not one of the strongest, but then our biggest competitor? Really?"

Rouge just stood around with a wrist against her hip as Knuckles and everyone else that was responsible do all the talking.

"Well, we honestly thought that you all were never going to write Cloud." Bonnie began to explain. "Shovel Knight would not have had any problems booting Cloud out as well so we even had to take his thoughts into consideration. We just did what was best for us as a tribe and you both even know that Cloud was basically the one bad apple."

"But don't think that it was to disrespect you guys or anything." Krystal shook her head just to reassure the people who were left out of the vote. "Our goal is to keep the tribe as unified as possible."

"I just..." Knuckles then waved his hands out as his head continue to shake lazily dropping his arms back down. "I'm just sort of at a loss for words right now."

"We do need your strength, though." Greninja reminded. "We all know how strong Cloud was at challenges, but trust me. This will only bring us closer together. Just because Cloud was our strongest doesn't mean that we all can't pull our weight around here. We all work hard around camp and generally this is a strong team. I'm a strong player, you're a strong player, Bonnie's a strong player, sometimes it's not all about strength when it comes to a tribe."

"I honestly wasn't trying to play an individual game here." said Greninja. "Honestly I cared more about the tribe rather than just myself. This is a team game right now. Eighteen is quite a large number and I don't think it's best for me to think too much of myself this early. Cloud played too hard, too early and even Knuckles and Rouge felt that he was the one thing that stopped us from complete unification, and we felt that it could have led to even more problems. We had no other choice but to keep Knuckles and Rouge out of the loop, but we still want them to be a part of us so we can continue to work together as a group of nine, especially since we're even with the emperors now."

"I honestly still like the both of you." Bonnie spoke again. "Hopefully we can just move on. Tomorrow's another day, Shovel Knight will come back, and we just move forward stronger than ever."

"I was obviously upset that I was not only out of the loop of the vote, but also for the fact that they went for Cloud of all people." Knuckles expressed his feelings. "Him over Luigi? Really? I don't recall Luigi being even stronger than Cloud, so I was very shocked at what happened. Guess for this tribe no one is safe no matter how strong you are. Right now they're saying that we're still together as one, but because I was left out of that vote, I feel like that I'm on the bottom... So, I dunno what's next..."

Emperors

Day 7

About mid-morning after the second Tribal Council, the Emperors tribe was sitting around the campfire as a group as everyone eyed Zelda stirring the pot around gently as the rice cooked.

"Initially around the campfire not many of us had anything interesting to say, so we decided to discuss who was voted off from the Knights tribe last night as well as Marth being on exile with Shovel Knight." Freddy Fazbear informed.

"Who do you guys think got the boot?" Roy was the one that popped the question, his head leaning against his right first. "You think they used the same strategy as us when we had to go to tribal?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did." Mega Man gave his answered first. "Either that or they voted out someone that was close to the perceived weakest link of the tribe. Maybe Rouge or something..."

"Hmph..." Shadow folded his arms. "I was just thinking of Rouge yesterday, and I got a good look at her during the challenge while the puzzle makers were solving the phrase. Something about her that I can't exactly put my finger on..."

"I think Knuckles could be an aggressive guy." Shulk theorized. "But I won't be surprised if he's basically a hothead... I can't help but think about Marth being on exile with Shovel, though..."

"I would not exactly be surprised if the two formed a friendly connection of some sort." Ghirahim predicted. "The two probably have a similar sense of vocabulary..."

Mega Man blinked. "...Maybe you would fall into that group perhaps...?"

Ghirahim simply gave a slight shrug without even eyeing the blue bomber.

"Ooh!" Pac-Man clapped his hands together rapidly. "Maybe Marth could find the hidden immunity idol so that he can use it against the knights in order for us to have more numbers at the merge!"

"He does seem like a loyal guy." Shulk did not complete rule out that possibility. "However, like anyone, he could very much keep it for himself. Who knows? The idol might not even be up there. I personally think that it'd be kinda predictable that he'd find it. And besides, they probably think that everybody else that stayed on their beaches would want to find the idol, too."

"Because of the fact that Marth was sent to Exile Island, we thought that there could be a chance of him finding a hidden immunity idol. However, I wouldn't be so shocked if the idol was actually hidden back at this camp mainly for two reasons. The first reason would be that it'd be kinda obvious that a person that has been sent to exile might have it. And for the other reason? Well, these days there's at least one idol per tribe. And Shovel Knight is on Exile Island as well. They probably got clues, but the idol could very well be hidden right here at this camp." The heir to the Monado gave a sigh. "And I really like Marth,... but I came here to be the Sole Survivor just like everybody else. I want to find that idol before he does. Maybe I could pull off a Brussell Hants by finding one without a clue..."

Thus, he was seen beginning his search around the trees where no one else was around, with the exception of Shadow the Hedgehog wandering near. Hearing his footsteps, he had to quickly put his search onto a hold as he pretended to gather more firewood.

By the time the anthropomorphic animal came by, the taller castaway began to speak. "Something tells me that it's gonna rain again. Zelda was right. We made a good move by eating in the morning because the rain is gonna put out the fire."

"I couldn't agree more." Shadow thought he was not wrong. "I believe Ghirahim wanted to eat later in the day, since to him dinner is the most important meal of the day, but if it rained right now, everyone would be grumpy and complain about how starving they would be and none of us would have ate anything beside those coconuts until tomorrow. Speaking of which, did you bring the machete over here?"

"No..." He shook his head. "I didn't think I would need it right now..."

"Ugh... great." Shadow stared at the ground with arms folded. "Now I would have to walk all the way back to camp..."

"Sorry..."

"You're fine." The smaller castaway excused him. "But I wanted to talk to you about something, since Ghirahim has already been brought up in this conversation."

That was when Shulk stopped what he was doing and stared directly into Shadow's eyes. "...Oh, really?"

"I'm serious." Shadow glanced around. "First of all, where's Freddy?"

"I'm pretty sure he's still at camp."

"..." Shadow facepalmed and cursed under his breath, turning around to make his way back. "I'll be back. Don't go anywhere."

"..."

And Shadow was out of sight, Shulk now taking advantage of the situation by resuming his search for the hidden immunity idol.

"After what Mega Man told me a couple days ago, now I know for sure that the alliance that Ghirahim brought up that excluded us two plus Shulk and Freddy was never true because it never existed. And because of it, now I realize that I have more options than I thought I had. At this point, I'm starting to doubt that there's even a majority alliance at all. So as of now, my plan is to learn how Shulk and Freddy would feel like after I tell them the truth."

As ordered, Shulk remained in place in spite of sneakily looking for the idol as Shadow was now back the machete plus Freddy.

"Alright, I don't know exactly how the two of you would react to this, but..." The black hedgehog paused for a bit. "Ghirahim is wrong. There is no Pair Up Alliance."

"Oh..." Freddy cocked his head in another direction.

"So it wasn't true after all?"

"It never was." Shadow shook his head. "Ghirahim just got too paranoid and jumped to conclusions. I was already sort of popping up questions when the group was not as hesitant to not keep Peach around, so that had me thinking."

"..." Freddy was slightly confused. "Wait, that's it? They just had an easier time getting rid of Peach?"

"Well, you in particular had been getting along with Zelda rather well for the last couple days. You two have talked more than I seen Zelda interact with some others from the supposed alliance." Shadow knew even more, but he chose not to say for personal reasons.

"...Oh, well that's a valid point." Freddy agreed. "...So,... since we're apparently not exactly on the bottom of this tribe, where do we go from here?"

"Hmm..." Shadow stared at the ground again. "I haven't really thought of much, but as far as what we're gonna do with Ghirahim, I don't know if he's the best person to work with at this point."

"Whew..." A relieved Shulk placed a hand on his head. "Good thing I never told anyone about Ghirahim assuming that the alliance indeed existed."

"Me neither." said Freddy.

"I was actually kinda iffy on him anyway. But why don't you think that's the best idea for the three of us?"

"He's too paranoid for his own good." Shadow opinionated. "If he can draw that many conclusions on day three, then it could be a major problem, especially if he progresses further in the competition. If he's still close with us, that eventually that would hurt all three of our games and we'll get nowhere to the point where the rest of the people here actually decide to align with one another."

"Aligning with Ghirahim at this point for not only me personally but to Freddy and Shulk, would actually be a liability for all of us. Judging by his outspoken personality, he would eventually spill to the tribe about his assumption of the alliance that never existed, which will actually hurt my game because it will raise some question marks about where I stand with the rest of the emperors, and then people would start to question Shulk and Freddy, who I'm still looking at on whether or not I should work with them."

"From this point on, assuming that Ghirahim will continue on with his behavior, hopefully he will continue to throw his own self under the bus and we stay out of the way so that if we have to go to tribal again, he would be the number one target. Sticking by his side would kill my chances of making it far out here. I'm not playing for anyone else other than myself out here, especially when this is a game for a million dollars."

"Our best interest from here on out," Shadow continued. "is to try to distance ourselves from Ghirahim around the others, yet if he approaches us either individually or as a group, just go with it and pretend that we're still with him. However, convince him that confronting anyone about the Pair Up Alliance wouldn't be the best idea in the world. Got it?"

"Works for me." Freddy blinked finding no problems with it.

"Alright, then." Shulk bobbed his head up and down.

Shadow the Hedgehog then took a glance at his surroundings.

"...?"

"...We should probably separate then." He forced the tool he had into Shulk's hand, turning on his heel to walk away. "Take the machete..."

-/-

"Ooh, look! A boat!"

Pac-Man pointed to a small boat in the distant quickly approaching the Nago beach.

Ghirahim was looking to. "That's probably Marth..."

"Marth!?" Pac-Man widened his eyes and then immediately ran back to the shelter to tell everyone. "Hey everybody, Marth is back!"

Nearly a couple minutes later, Marth was happily greeted from most of his tribemates by either giving handshakes or friendly hugs. Soon afterwards, all nine Nago members were sitting around the fire.

"Starved to death?" Roy asked jokingly.

"Well I am not dead at this moment, so that is a negative." Marth grinned in reaction. "Though it was sort of difficult being part of not only a tribe of two, but with someone from the opposition only because of the fact that he is not one of those individuals I started out with. However, Shovel Knight is a good guy and I am not afraid of recommending him to all of you."

"Exile Island overall was not the best, yet interesting experience. It never rained when I was there and me and Shovel interacted quite a bit, especially after discussing where the hidden immunity idol might be at our camps as we put our heads together. However, I was quite careful and made sure I chose my words precisely in order to avoid leaking any sort of information the knights might have used against us down the road. I am not saying that I have no intentions on interacting with any of the knights if I were to get the chance, but for this time, it is best for me to stay loyal to my team."

Later on, he ended up alone with Roy, Pac-Man, and Zelda. Yet since the latter two were doing other tasks at the camp, it left Marth and Roy to converse a little.

"So, what sword do you use for combat?" asked Roy.

"Falchion, or sometimes referred to as the 'Blade of Light.'" Marth enlightened the boy. "The sword has been passed down through generations and I took eventually took my turn by using it to defend myself against tough opponents when I had to fight. I always made sure I took good care of it. It is in good hands back at home since I am out here for the next month."

"Roy is a bright boy if I do say so myself. Not only do I inspire him, but he inspires me as well in a way. I never imagined being as young as he is and him already stepping up to be the person that he was fighting in battle and he knows it. Thus, he looks up to me as if I'm his role model. So I am more than eager to answer any question he might have in mind so that he could use my answers to his advantage just in case he has to participate in a war when he returns. And if he even needs my assistance, I am more than happy to fight along by his side."

"Exactly how serious was the war between the humans and the dragons?"

"Oh, the situation was very severe." Marth answered another one of Roy's questions. "I'd... rather not spoil all the details at this moment, since now is not exactly the right time to be depressed of the significant events that occurred and the casualties behind it. But what I can say that it is definitely something that will always be remembered as time goes on. What about you?"

"Uh, basically a similar situation to yours. Perhaps we would have our time to talk more once this is over." Roy took a moment to eye Pac-Man and Zelda who seemed to be busy focused in their own conversation at that point, so he glanced back to Marth with his voice slightly decreasing in volume. "You know... I was just thinking..."

"Of what?" Marth finally sat down in the shelter as Roy continued to stand.

"...Perhaps we could form some sort of friendship, especially now since we are talking like this." Roy began chortling a little slightly. "You probably do not realize how much I could look up to you since we... do have quite a bit in common."

This caused Marth to grin wider. "Alright, then. I see ourselves being great friends to one another as well. And trust me. I was in your shoes when I first started out as a swordsman."

"I really like Marth." Roy stated. "I am not trying to put him on a high pedestal or anything, but I really do look up to him. He's a good role model for me personally since we have very similar backgrounds to the point where we live rather close to one another. He's a swordsman, I'm a swordsman, neither of us have the slightest idea of the whole concept of 'technology', and we were both leaders when we both had to fight. The main difference is that he is obviously older than I am. Sort of like an elder brother in a way. I think we would get along well both in the game and outside the game."

Knights

Day 7

"Welcome back, Shovel Knight!"

"Dude, you gotta tell us what happened on Exile Island."

"Yeah, what was Marth like?"

"Did he say anything about his tribe?"

Like Marth, Shovel Knight was bombarded with questions the moment he stepped back on the Chatan tribe. "It's a pleasure to return here to you all. I shall answer all of your questions shortly. ...Oh, where are Cloud and Sheik?"

"Oh, Sheik should be here in a little." Krystal answered. "But, Cloud? ...He's not here anymore."

Upon hearing that made Shovel Knight immediately stood frozen. "...Wait a minute... Are you saying?"

"Yep." Foxy nodded with arms folded. "We voted him out..."

"Yeah, it was either him or Luigi." Greninja added. "We figured that Cloud would have been much more dangerous to keep around. Luigi would be more loyal to us if we have the numbers at some point in the future of this game. You probably would have voted for Cloud, anyway."

"...Well I can't say that I wouldn't have." Shovel Knight laughed with honesty. "But it was quite a shocker, I suppose. Guess the game moves on from here."

Luigi of course was grinning more than ever.

-/-

"And then it was three votes for me and one vote for Cloud. The second vote for him made him get more suspicious, but when Master Hand tied it up, Knuckles and Rouge were dumbfounded. They were kept out of the loop because the group thought that they would have rejected the idea, so we voted for Cloud without them and I won't be surprised if those two are at the bottom now."

"I was expecting Cloud to be gone a bit later down the line because even I was aware of his perception among the other members." said the shovel wielder. "I simply never predicted that he would be gone so soon. However, apparently he was up against Luigi last night. And based on my previous conversation of him as well as me wanting to keep him around, as long as he stays here on the island, then I am elated that he proved to be victorious at tribal."

Luigi spoke as he and Shovel Knight continued to walk. "Everyone tried their hardest to make sure we're still on the same page. They didn't want the team to be divided even though Knuckles and Rouge voted differently. But I guess they all assume that over time we will all move forward and bury the hatchet you know? They seem to still have a strong feeling that we could still win challenges."

"I guess you all just need some time to recover from it, I suppose." The knight guessed. "Likely it's gonna rain today based on how the clouds are reacting... Uh, 'no pun intended' as they say?"

Luigi giggled. "Yeah, that's it."

"Oh, great." He felt he was 'getting with the program' with modern times. "Since it might rain today, maybe it'd be best for the nine of us that are remaining to simply sit around in the shelter and talk so that we can all bond as a unit. I'll ask if anyone would like to volunteer if they'd like to go first this time."

"Good plan. Maybe it would give me more time to prove that I'm almost just as physically capable of helping us win challenges just as some of you are." Luigi nodded in agreement with the possible plan. "So since we're alone, where do we go from here?"

"For us two?" With him watching Luigi nod again, he answered. "Well if Cloud could get eliminated this early in the Survivor contest, then my educated guess would be that literally every last person is vulnerable. We have to be careful that neither of us are going anywhere anytime soon."

"Even though I got saved last night, especially with Rouge and Knuckles being out of the loop at the last vote, I bet a million gold coins that my name is at least being tossed around still. I feel that the more your name is written down, the more you are gonna be talked about in the camp. So now I wonder how do I keep the target away from myself? Clearly I need Shovel Knight and Shovel Knight needs me. Greninja and Sheik are two people that I can continue to talk to, and Bonnie is a nice guy. Hopefully I'm on good terms with Foxy. But I think what's best for me is that I need to remind them that Knuckles and Rouge were left out of the blindside and that there's not that big of a chance that we could use them for future votes against the emperors just because of them being left out of the loop and possibly wanting to get revenge. They do want to keep the team together after all. So maybe I can remind them of what's most important for the tribe."

-/-

"I'm still a little annoyed that I had to take part in voting Cloud out last night. For me personally I had no problems writing down Luigi, but I had no choice based on the circumstances that I had to face. I only voted for Cloud because Bonnie was gonna vote for him and I wanted to let him know that he could trust me so that the two of us can work together. It was a good thing too, now that I think about it." Foxy's neutral expression turned into a smirk. "Apparently according to Bonnie the tribe was hesitant if I was on board or not, and if Bonnie never told them that he was gonna talk to me about it, we would have went to tribal where I would have ended up on the wrong side of the vote, and then I would have been on the bottom. So, gotta give credit where credit is due. Bonnie basically saved my life and now I gotta pretend that voting out Cloud was the perfect choice to make."

He managed to find Knuckles up high in a tree above the treemail using the machete to bring down a few coconuts for the team. "'Sup, Knuckles? What'cha doin'?"

"Making sure we have as much food as we can before the rain hit. I dunno how bad it's gonna be this time but better safe than sorry." He explained, his job on that tree in particular now being complete. "Let me get back down..."

"However, since there were two people left out of the loop, perhaps I could use that to my advantage to make some new connections with people, especially with Knuckles. We generally get along well, so maybe if he is still here than we can rely on each other for something. Perhaps this could be me doing my share of making sure Chatan is as united as possible as people want it to be to make sure Knuckles and Rouge don't hold any resentment by the vote not being in their favor."

As Knuckles was finally back on the ground, Foxy used the opportunity to converse with him while he could.

"Okay, just so you know, you're not completely at the bottom as you might think. The tribe still likes you, just so you know."

"Well,..." He folded his arms and gave Foxy a neutral stare. "you sure about that? I mean, 'cause I'm busting my tail right now getting coconuts and such for everyone, so if they were gonna vote for him, then somebody should have told me something."

"I guess they felt that you would have tried to convince them to vote for Luigi if you caught word of it." Foxy assumed. "Maybe they didn't wanna risk ticking you off. I dunno... Bottom line is if you think you're completely left out of the loop for future plans for this tribe right here, then don't. I'll be open if you wanna know what's going on if you want..."

"..." He blinked. "You really mean that?"

He nodded in assurance. "We're both on the same level as far as the challenges go, and I think we're at a point to where we naturally respect each other in the game, and you need at least someone to work with if you wanna stay here, so don't be afraid to ask me anything."

"Ugh..." He heaved a heavy sigh of relief, taking a few of the coconuts before starting to head off. "Thanks, man. That really means a lot to me. Help me carry these back..."

"At least someone knows that I'm important out here." Knuckles said. "I really appreciate Foxy taking the time in having a one on one conversation with me about the vote after what happened. That's how I know that he's not faking it when he says that he's willing to work with me if I'm still here by next week. But if I am, perhaps we can get some sort of alliance goin'."

-/-

"So, why was I not part of the plan?"

Meanwhile near the shelter, Rouge was having a one on one talk with Krystal not long after Knuckles had his own talk with Foxy. But neither of them noticed either of the other two anthropomorphic animals returning to camp with coconuts in their hands. Though Foxy never thought too much of it other than a quick head turn to acknowledge their existence, Knuckles remained focused on the pair after they placed the coconuts down, Foxy leaving the area to do something else.

"Well, what I have to say to that is it wasn't my decision to not inform you of the plan even if you were actually okay with voting for Cloud."

"I was, or at least I would have been eventually during that day." Rouge nodded her head. "I would have took the opportunity to strengthen the relationship between Luigi and I even more since we were the only ones from this team that competed together in that challenge. I just don't understand on why didn't the tribe trust me to vote with them. Knuckles I can understand... unless people thought that we were getting a little too close to one another."

"Well..." Krystal looked away.

"So that's why." Rouge now had her answer. "They thought that just because we had that little scene in the water as well as other things that happened between us two in front of everyone meant that we were a power couple of some sort."

"I can tell you that they at least thought that you were voting his way." Krystal smirked. "They didn't really want anyone to blow up their plan. By the time Bonnie came around to tell us that Foxy had no issue on voting Strife out of the game, we talked briefly about you two, but at that point it was getting close for Tribal Council time and we already had the numbers, anyway. So I guess no one bothered to fill either of you in."

Rouge sighed and started to smirk as well. "Oh well, then. There's always next time, I suppose. Perhaps Knuckles is one of those 'brawn over brain' people, anyway. Maybe it was best for you all to keep me out of the loop in order to send me a wake up call."

Knuckles widened his eyes popping an invisible eyebrow.

Krystal began laughing a bit. "You're quite funny. I will give you that. Who knows? Maybe since the tribe wants to keep their positive spirit in check, you'd be perfect for a little entertainment."

"Psh." Rouge waved her hand off in front of her. "The strong guys are usually quite attractive, so I just had to play with Knuckles a little. He's still a good boy. Oh, did you know that one time I called him 'Knuckie?'"

"'Brawn over brains?' 'Send her a wake up call?'" Knuckles repeated. "You mean to tell me that all this time Rouge was testing me just to see how would I react?"

Knuckles ended up heading back where he came from as Krystal started to laugh a little louder.

"What in the name of chaos does she think I look like? No, this is not acceptable. I can't believe that Rouge would just try to 'flirt' one minute then talk behind my back the next. One thing that I can't stand is being underestimated even though I have nothing to prove to anyone, and Rouge just played me like I'm some sort of instrument. That's it." He held his hand out for a quick moment. "Me and Rouge? We're done. It's over. She might think I'm just one of those guys that she can just experiment with that, but trust me. I'm much smarter than I look."

Uh-oh. Looks like Knuckles is ticked off for the day. First he was left out of the vote now he caught Rouge talking about him with Krystal. Perhaps they both should have done their two second look around to make sure no one was near lol. And also, looks like Shadow is basically done with Ghirahim...

Questions:

1. Since Ghirahim isn't a reliable ally for Shadow anymore and is willing to let him dig his own grave, would people take their minds off of Shadow for a bit, or would he still be taken into consideration if the emperors have to go to tribal again?

2. After what happened just before the chapter ended, how would Knuckles follow up to his reaction at Rouge?

Wish I would have had more questions but I couldn't think of anything else, so vote for your top five people this season and I will see you all next time for our next immunity challenge!