Survivor - Emperors vs Knights
Chapter 9 - Day 8 & Day 9 Part 1
Hello, everyone! I'm back! Week 5 here and it's time to get to the third immunity challenge that will take place in this chapter, and the third elimination will occur on Saturday. Right now we are dead even in numbers on both the Nago and Chatan tribes so there are basically no top dogs yet, but anything can still change.
Yes, there will be a tribe swap occurring soon, but it's not gonna be now. Last season in Kodai Island a tribe swap happened at 18/20, and since I have to stick with this theme, there will be no tribe swap just yet. I'm not gonna break the theme after just two eliminations. But, there will still be a tribe swap in the near future before the merge because at this point, tribe swaps are a staple in Survivor, unless we want seasons like Redemption Island and South Pacific (which because of the lack of tribe swaps occurring in those seasons, I believe it's part of the reason why they are regarded as two of the worst seasons ever). In case you don't know where I'm going with this and want to learn more, PM and I will fill you in (though I warn you because I might spill major spoilers unless you don't mind.)
Anyway, we're gonna take a quick look at both tribes today and then we'll move onto the immunity challenge. And just so you know, it's gonna be a water challenge and I love water challenges.
~KF
Emperors
Day 8
"It's time to use the fishing gear!"
"Pac-Man,... you know he's..." Mega Man had a hand on his head as he laughed a little. "I mean, he's a good guy and all. Even though some people might say that he's... 'over joyful', I don't think like that at all. I think he's just a genuinely nice guy to be around, which is in fact a good quality to have."
The sun was shining on day eight, and the Nago tribe finally decided to put the fishing gear that they earned from the last immunity challenge to good use. Up until that point, not one of the emperors consumed any sort of meat whatsoever for the first week. Thus, their single victory thus far that season was definitely worth it for the emperors.
"I can just imagine the amount of fish down there..."
Pac-Man in particular could not have waited to try it out. The fact that he had the opportunity to do something he never done before in his life had his blood pumping, even though at the moment, Shulk was the one that was using the scuba diver with the spear in hand, Pac-Man volunteered to give it a try once he decided that he had his time with it.
"...Hey, Ghirahim!?"
Ghirahim took a glance over at Pac-Man as he was attempting to use the fishing gear 'the old fashioned way', which was the simple fish hook, bait, line, etc.
"...Can you make sure Shulk is okay down there!?" The yellow emperor called out as he began to dash back to the camp. "I'm gonna try out your fishing gear while we wait for him to come back."
Roy shook his head with a grin watching his teammate.
"He was the main one that wanted to use the fishing gear today since we know it's not raining at the moment, but Shulk..." He began to laugh again. "He kinda didn't want to break his spirit since he knew that Pac-Man admitted he had no experience when it came to fishing, but in the end he and Pac-Man made a deal that after he went out he would then teach Pac-Man how to do it. ...Like,... it seems that he's just one of those people that always look on the bright side of things no matter what. And you know what? I actually don't mind a person like Pac-Man. As long as his spirit doesn't break out here, maybe some of the people here will have a happier time stranded out here in the wilderness in Okinawa as we cut each other's throats for the million."
Shadow the Hedgehog managed to hear him from the shelter as he was standing by the fire. "I don't think he really... knows if you know what I mean. He's kinda like a kid..."
"Well, I am barely not a kid of some sort." Roy commented from the bed of bamboo he was sitting on. "But most likely he came here just to have a good time and all. He has a good heart."
"I just think that he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed." Shadow opinionated. "But I see what you mean..."
"I said that I was gonna have the time of my life out here back on day one." Pac-Man brought up. "And so far I have no plans on backtracking my statement at all. I'm really having fun out here. So far I got to do everything. I interacted with every single member of my tribe, I'm in an alliance with Mega Man, and even though we've lost an immunity challenge, we won the immunity challenge last time, and now we have our reward: the fishing gear! I'm having a really great time out here and I can't ask for anything better! No matter how bad things might get, it seems that there's always something good that comes out of it. So, I have to say that I'm glad I made the decision to apply for the show."
Zelda was watching from afar, though smiling about Pac-Man being involved in the water, the moment she heard Ghirahim name suddenly got her to think.
"Right now I am wondering that since it is highly likely that that we are all going to participate in a immunity challenge tomorrow, if it is not in our favor, how do people plan on voting if we are required to attend tribal. Previously, the tribe made the decision to target one of the weaker players in their eyes. So I am worried that they will apply the same strategy yet again. And so the question is, how do I shift the target off myself?"
Ghirahim was now watching Pac-Man placing the bait on the fish hook.
"Ghirahim is obviously completely against someone such as myself on the island, though I am not willing to go down without a battle. I feel as if it comes down to it, I would not be surprised if it ends up being me pitted against Ghirahim at tribal. He is already rubbing people away by his character, and I feel that if I can remind everyone of that trait, they would consider on keeping me her. Same applies for Shadow as well just in case I need to fight harder."
She was now having a conversation with Roy and Shulk once the latter was done with the scuba gear.
"So you two, what do the both of you say our next plan is if we lose tomorrow?"
Shulk was now searching through his bag so that he can find his shirt. "Well, hopefully we don't lose another challenge because I'd like to have a winning streak going. Once we figure out who the knights sent home we could come up with a game plan depending on what the challenge is."
"Well, we have to vote off somebody, and even I can say that considering that it seems that the priority as of now is to simply keep the team strong." Zelda recalled. "But who would you rather see their torch snuffed personally?"
"Honestly," Roy spoke. "I'm pretty sure I'd be happier to see you stay. I know you deserve to stay in the game, Zel. Not saying that people like Shadow or Ghirahim don't deserve it, but both of them are clearly the bad apples around camp."
"I can see." Zelda nodded. "And you know, if all of you are not thinking of it already, Shadow and Ghirahim are basically simply two more individuals to consider on who should get the boot if we lose tomorrow. Two more targets could possibly mean just enough tribals before a swap occurs. If we can manage to eliminate the both of them, we would not have to worry about either of them later on in the game if we all manage to come back together at the merge."
"Hmm..." Roy thought out loud as his eyes remained on Zelda. "You're actually not wrong on that, Zelda. Even if we do lose, it basically will not matter as much because Shadow and Ghirahim are already options to consider. Overthinking it would not be the best of ideas. Besides, I can guarantee that the tribe finds you to be trustworthy. Who would you rather see off the island first?"
"The first choice I feel the tribe should target is Shadow." She told him. "As I just stated, he is one of the two to consider for the vote. However, I actually do want to continue to win the challenges. Since Ghirahim is stronger, Shadow is a much safer option. All we have to do is make sure he does not have the idol."
"I'd very much prefer Ghirahim to go because I can help pull all the weight in challenges." Shulk spoke up. "But your idea Zelda, it's certainly one to think about."
"Though the more that I think of it, the more it makes sense to me that my best interest is to actually tolerate Ghirahim for a little while. I need to convince the rest of Nago that Shadow should be the first priority only because he is weaker than Ghirahim. I need to have just as many targets as possible in order to keep me safe so that I can continue to attempt to build trust with everyone else. With that being said, right now the number priority is Shadow."
Knights
Day 8
"Right now it's day eight, and even though what happened happened," said Krystal. "We're all glad that not only none of us were the first to be voted out of the game, but we've all past our first Tribal Council. I don't think we have that much to do today, so we all thought that it was best to relax a little bit just to calm our nerves down from all the strategy that's going on. I mean, we're only going to be in Japan for thirty-one more days."
Luigi Mario was sitting on a rock near the water while most of the other members of Chatan were at to the shelter. Though Luigi just wanted some time on the rock to ponder to himself of the future of what was going to occur within the tribe, as well as him individually.
Luckily, there came Bonnie.
"...You doing okay, bud?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." He said, although to the rabbit he appeared to be a little off. "Just being lost in my own thoughts."
"Shovel Knight saw you out here, but he sent me to talk to you since he volunteered to retrieve water for everyone." Bonnie explained. "You seemed kinda worried..."
"I am worried, but not as much as I was back on like, before the last immunity challenge."
"I lucked out of the last Tribal Council after almost everyone decided to target Cloud over me." Luigi recalled. "Although I am thankful for that, it doesn't mean that my name is not going to be on the chopping block anymore. For all I know, worst case scenario could be that the Cloud blindside could very well backfire in our faces, and then we'll be back at square one where my name would be up for consideration once again, completely forgetting about Knuckles and Rouge even though those two were the ones left out of the vote."
"I mean it's just that I do know you guys took a huge risk that night by booting him out, I just hope that it doesn't bite us all in the butt. You know what I mean?" He was finally facing Bonnie. "Hopefully we can win so that all nine of us can be relieved that we're sending our opponents off to vote out one of their own again. Otherwise, I'd be targeted yet again and I wouldn't be surprised if the team decides to vote me out..."
He then sighed. "Yeah, I know I'm probably being dramatic about it and all, but that's honestly just how I feel. Considering on the possibility that everything I'm saying right now could pretty much happen if we do in fact lose, could you even blame me?"
"Well, I wouldn't blame you at all." Bonnie hunched his shoulders. "I could be in your position thinking of the same thing. But trust me. We're gonna win. Even if we d don't we have to assume that we're gonna win just to keep the team spirit. Try not to worry about it."
"Now here I am again worrying myself to death about the whole situation. It's just that you have a sense of what could happen and how you might end up going home if your worst case scenario plays out today, and that is where the paranoia sets in for me. Because if we do lose, if people aren't even thinking about other options other than myself, then I'm a goner. So at this point, it's best to have anyone go but me."
-/-
Now knowing that it was a sunny day, the knights took the perfect opportunity to go for a swim.
Rouge in particular was hanging around Greninja.
"Oh, so you mean to tell me that you use water to fight?"
"Yeah." He chuckled I do. "I know fighting with water is typically effective as a few ants crawling up on you at night when you're unaware, but trust me. It really does work when I want it to. Water has always been my natural power."
"Ah, well if you can cool me off on a hot summer day, then don't be afraid to attack me with your powers, boy." Rouge giggled as she lied down to float in the water.
As Greninja continued to laugh, it caused Knuckles to turn around to look at the scene.
"I am not going to say anything as of now until I know if we win the next immunity or not, but if we do lose, I am gonna do whatever it takes to get Rouge off the island. I thought that I could trust her as well as her possibly be a friend of mine, but after I found out about her true colors yesterday, it really showed me what type of person Rouge really is. She is one of those girls that will pretend to play with the guys for a little bit until she realizes that she doesn't need them anymore. And so, she tried to throw me under the bus in front of Krystal yesterday and as I am saying this, she's probably talking about me to Greninja right now. That girl can not be trusted. So in case the group still decides to keep Luigi around, I have to throw Rouge's name out there to not to just get rid of her altogether, but I can not afford having a target on my back after that blindside on Cloud..."
Knights
Day 9
"Alright, we're about to leave. Where's Krystal? ...Tell her to come on over here so we can be ready."
"After what Luigi told me yesterday, I could tell that he's generally about himself as well as this tribe. It really had me thinking, especially that two, almost three people weren't on the same page as the rest of us as far as how the vote played out, and apparently the number one priority as of now is to keep everybody together and clear the air. The last thing we need is the next challenge is to have all of us all over the place. So I wanted to make sure everyone, including Knuckles and Rouge, know what tribe we're on basically. Nothing like a good motivational talk this morning."
"Okay, we need everybody to just gather around real quick before we go." Bonnie Roberts managed to get all of his tribemates standing around as he began to talk. "I know about what we did at tribal was big, but believe me. Whether we made the right move or not, time will officially tell at this upcoming challenge. Those emperors are gonna think that we're screwing ourselves over, but we know what we're doing. All nine of us really need to push ourselves to prove to them that we can continue to win challenges even after our strongest member is no longer with us."
"Back at home I'm involved in playing in this band for kids for entertainment, and every time we're on stage we always make sure we have good chemistry, communication, and everything else that goes with it. We always got to put our best efforts in front of our audience even if something happens right before we're about to get on stage. As long as we recognize what our current priority is, then that's what all our energy needs to focus on, and right now it's about us winning this next challenge in Survivor with my tribemates. And so, I wanted to let them all know that even without Cloud, we can still do this."
"...Man, I wish we had like this war paint or something..."
Some of Bonnie's fellow knights laughed.
"But anyway, I like each and every one of you, we're all great in our way, and I feel that we should put every ounce of every that we have to prove those emperors wrong no matter what it takes. And even if we somehow do lose, then at least we know that we gave it all we got. You all with me?"
"Yep."
"Hundred percent."
"Absolutely."
"Let's do it."
"I now have a full understanding of why I'm a knight in my own way. Sometimes it's not just about how hard you work. It's about the overall vibe of everyone who is on the same team as you and giving them enough motivation so that we can all do well at whatever we're doing. Sorta cliché to say, but you can do anything if you set your mind to it."
Day 9
"Come on aboard, guys!"
For the day nine immunity challenge, it was more water-themed unlike the previous two. One by one, the emperors all boarded a large platform from a boat so that they could all see the master.
Soon afterwards, another boat came by dropping off the knights.
"Emperors, get your first look at the new Chatan tribe."
Freddy's mouth slowly hung open, Shadow widened his eyes, Zelda covered her hands over her mouth, and Ghirahim was absolutely speechless.
"...What?"
"Cloud voted out at the last Tribal Council."
"...What?" Marth could not have believed it.
"That's a game changer..." mumbled Mega Man.
"Why?" Pac-Man scratched his head being as confused as ever.
"Well..." Foxy muttered under his breath taking a small glance away.
"Knights," Master Hand earned the attention of the tribe who just suffered from having their first casualty. "the emperors are clearly in shock. Roy, you look absolutely speechless. Why the shocked reactions?"
"It is mind-blowing the fact that they seemed to target him of all people even though he seemed to be pulling his weight in the challenges. Not one of us expected a person like Cloud to be out of the game so early."
"Alright, well you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge?" The host of Survivor nimbly changed topics. "First things first, I need to take back the immunity idol."
Zelda met him halfway as the hand placed the idol back on the stand near him. "Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, you will race over a series of obstacles, where you will then release two sets of buoys, gathering all the marked buoys, where the remaining tribe members will attempt to shoot them in a basket. First tribe that scores eight baskets, wins immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the third person voted out of this game."
"In addition, you're playing for a reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?" Master Hand floated to the covered items to reveal. "Comfort."
The castaways were more anticipated than they ever were.
"Chairs, pillows, blankets, a hammock, and most of all, a tarp to keep you dry."
"Ooh, let's tell everyone that we need that tarp." Pac-Man told Mega Man, the yellow male whispering to Shadow. "Shadow, we need that tarp."
"Okay..."
"I'll give you guys a minute to strategize and we'll get started."
-/-
"Alright, here we go. For immunity and reward. Survivors ready? ...GO!"
On each of the opening platforms floating in the water were five emperors and five knights. Freddy and Ghirahim leaped in the water first for the Nago tribe while Greninja and Bonnie volunteered to be the first in the water for the Chatan tribe. The four players climbed up and quickly slid down a ramp, splashing into the water before starting to swim again.
"Chatan is off to an early lead not messing around!"
"Let's go, boys!"
"Nago is right behind!"
"Keep it up, guys!"
Greninja and Bonnie managed to make it to the seesaw net first. They had to walk further up the net so that the seesaw had enough weight for the two knights to walk back down. At that point Ghirahim and Freddy were just now getting started on the second obstacle.
"The next step is to get under that rope and release your first set of buoys!" Master Hand reminded them. "...Greninja's going underwater to release his! Here comes Ghirahim and Freddy!"
Underwater, with a quick pull of the handle, Greninja released the yellow team's buoys in no time, not noticing Ghirahim going underwater for his team.
"Greninja has quickly released his buoys for Chatan! Both of you start swimming back!"
Ghirahim managed to release his with little to no trouble at all.
"...Ghirahim has released his buoys for Nago! ...Go, Chatan!"
Now it was Foxy and Sheik's turn to get in the water as Ghirahim and Freddy made their way to the other platform to reach the rest of the team with them pulling them over.
"Go, Nago! It is now going to be Shulk and Shadow in the water for the emperors as Foxy and Sheik are already getting to the first obstacle."
Shadow managed to get the ramp first, yet he chose to wait for a quick second for Shulk to catch up before the two began to climb and make their way over.
"Shulk and Shadow getting over! Everybody swimming to the second obstacle now!"
The two knights began to get over the seesaw net, making it change its position before they made their way down.
"We are nearly neck and neck!"
And the next thing Shulk and Shadow knew, they were back in the water for their tribe, subsequently getting underneath the rope.
"It's gonna be Sheik retrieving the buoys for the knights, and Shadow retrieving the buoys for the emperors!"
Both castaways swiftly performed their part of the challenge, the four currently in the water swimming back immediately after.
"Go, Chatan! Go, Nago! Now Marth and Krystal have to go through the course, but they're responsible for retrieving all the marked buoys so the shooters can shoot them in their baskets!"
Krystal was already proving to be victorious in the water over Marth as she making her way through the obstacle course with little to no problems. It was not that Krystal was the best swimmer in the world, it was just the theory that Marth Lowell was simply not known for his swimming. As a result, Chatan's lead began to increase.
"Nago falling behind a little but Marth is not giving up..."
Krystal was now in the water beginning to find and toss the correct buoys to her tribe, while Marth was only just now making his way over the seesaw. Fortunately for the emperors, as Master Hand would have said, they were still in it.
"Marth back in the water and he is finally going to start tossing those buoys over!"
Yet when he was locating buoy number three, Krystal's job with the challenge was complete.
"Go, knights! Knuckles and Rouge, start shooting!" Master Hand told them as Luigi and Shovel Knight jumped in the water in order to return any buoys that were to miss the basket. "...Knuckles is shooting and he already has a buoy in!"
Marth finally tossed the final ball needed for Roy and Pac-Man to start shooting.
"Go, emperors! It is going to be Roy and Pac-Man shooting for the team!" Master Hand announced as Mega Man in Zelda were now in the water, playing the role of Luigi and Shovel Knight.
"Pac-Man is shooting now! ...And he's got one in! ...It is now... 2-1 as Knuckles scores another basket for Chatan!"
"That's right, keep it up!" Greninja was clapping his hands together as his tribe cheered on, witnessing Knuckles scoring yet another point.
"One, two, three!" Pac-Man counted to himself as he leaped up to shoot the ball, with it actually making it in. "Yes!"
"Don't get too excited." Roy warned him. "We're not done yet. If you want me to shoot, let me know."
"Oh, okay. Why don't you give it a try!" Pac-Man stated with a smirk as he stepped aside.
"Okay?" Roy grabbed the ball and threw it high, only for it to miss far off to the right. "...You know what, I'll let you shoot the baskets for now on. I've never really practiced this 'basketball' sport before..."
"Chatan leads 4-1! Knuckles is on fire!"
"Will you two stay focused!?" Ghirahim shouted from behind the two emperors. Though Pac-Man was starting to catch up.
"Pac-Man scores another one! ...Knuckles... In and out!"
Luigi immediately headed for the ball that landed near him so that he could give it back.
"Mind if I have a go at it?" Rouge asked, Knuckles slickly rolling his eyes at her, yet giving her a buoy nonetheless.
"...Rouge scores! It is now 5-2!"
"Uh-oh, we gotta hurry up!" Pac-Man widened his eyes as he began to shoot slightly quicker, yet giving himself less time to make sure he aimed correctly. Luckily for him, he managed to score a couple more points as Rouge scored herself another.
"Chatan leads 6-4 as Nago is starting to close that gap!"
"Okay, switch, switch, switch!" Knuckles snatched the ball from Rouge's hands as he shoved her over slightly, nearly making her fall down. However, with him taking no time in scoring the second to last point, Rouge knew that it she could have only brushed it off as a minor thought.
"Chatan leads 7-4! For the win..."
Pac-Man missed his basket.
Knuckles on the other hand...
"CHATAN WINS IMMUNITY AND REWARD!"
Ghirahim stomped his foot as Zelda never even bothered to toss the ball back as she and Mega Man began to swim their way back, the Knights tribe celebrated as if they never celebrated for anything else in their lives.
-/-
"Knights, second immunity win. Who wants it?"
"I'll get it this time." Rouge grinned as she grabbed the idol from Master Hand. However, after taking a brief look, she chose to give it to Luigi. "Here you go."
"Oh, thanks!"
"Now before we send you guys off, now you have to make a decision." The Survivor host wanted to make sure the nine remaining knights remembered the twist. "Who are you gonna send to Exile Island?"
They talked just for a bit.
"We're going to send Marth again." Greninja announced.
Lowell shook his head in reaction as he already stepped away from his tribe.
"Don't be too disappointed Marth, because now somebody has to go join you. Emperors, who is joining Marth from the Knights tribe?"
Marth's team took a bit more time with their discussion as their opposition all stared.
"Alright. Who's it gonna be?"
Ghirahim decided to make the announcement. "We are going to send Sheik to exile."
As Sheik moved her head forward a bit, the rest of Chatan all exchanged confused glances.
"Okay. Marth and Sheik, boat is waiting for ya. Head on out."
With the two leaving, it was now Chatan's turn for dismissal. "Chatan, since we are on water, your reward will be waiting for you back at camp. You guys can head on out. This time you all can swim the shore."
Literally every last member of Chatan leaped in full of excitement and satisfaction.
"Nago, got nothing for you. I will see you all at Tribal Council where someone will be the third person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. You have the afternoon to figure out who that's gonna be."
"Since we lost the immunity challenge, we decided to send Sheik to Exile Island so that by the time she gets back to camp, the Knights tribe will erupt into chaos." Ghirahim explained Nago's decision making. "My idea of course. Idol paranoia is everything. ...But anyway, we lost a challenge. Again..."
Well, at least for now, Nago once again has the disadvantage by them losing the immunity challenge thanks to Marth's not-so-perfect performance in the water, as well as one of the shooters in Chatan being Knuckles. (Pac-Man actually did a pretty good job and he even knew when it was time to speed it up and play more aggressively.)
So throughout this chapter, we finally managed to learn what Zelda's plans are at this point after she was targeted before the first Tribal Council of the season, by making sure Shadow and Ghirahim are always on peoples' mind, especially Shadow. But then again, Shadow himself wants to push Ghirahim out there. So at this moment for the Nago tribe, the vote seems to be either for Zelda, Shadow, or Ghirahim. But then again, it's Survivor and anything can change of course, so we'll see.
As for the Chatan tribe, we have Knuckles continue to plot against Rouge for him not trusting her anymore, as well as a nice little moment from Bonnie. But other than that, after the Emperors tribe were completely stunned to find Cloud gone, they chose to send Sheik to Exile Island instead of Shovel Knight again thanks to apparently Ghirahim who wanted the tribe to start getting paranoid of who from their tribe might find and locate the idol. Interesting strategy.
Questions:
1. Based on the results of the challenge, how would the tribe react to Zelda's plan as a whole?
2. What do you make of Bonnie basically motivating the Chatan team this morning?
3. Was Nago/Ghirahim's idea of sending Sheik to Exile Island a good one? What are the pros and cons of it?
I'll see you all this Saturday for the third elimination of this season! For anyone that hasn't voted yet, vote for your top five players of this season!