Survivor - Emperors vs Knights
Chapter 17 - Day 14 Part 2
Time for another chapter in this story. This week we're going to have the fifth person being voted out of the game. We are more than a third of a way done with the castaways' thirty-nine day adventure and it is not even December yet compared to the last story.
I don't actually have that much to say here because for the most part, everything was already said in the ending author's note in the last chapter, so here goes I guess...
~KF
Nago
Day 14
In disappointment, Shulk, Knuckles, Shadow, Krystal, and Mega Man returned back to their beach.
"Maybe if our pole was a bit stronger..." said Mega.
"I agree..." Shulk nodded. "...But, at least it doesn't mean that we're just gonna lose the rest of the challenges here. We can still win."
"Of course, the emperors are as disappointed as we are." Krystal pointed out. "The three of them were acting as if it's an easy fix after their loss, because they know that since they have the majority, then don't have that much to worry about. Since one of us might be going home, with Marth being the replacement for one of us, then that gives them even more room to work with. So basically, it doesn't even matter if they lose the next immunity challenge since somebody from my alliance would still be on this tribe that will be picked off."
She was having a side conversation with Knuckles who had folded arms out of annoyance shaking his head.
"I just don't understand how they can just brush it off like that..."
"Because they have the majority." Krystal answered them. "We have the majority overall, but not on this tribe. It's natural that one of us is gonna get the boot tonight. Most likely it's me, since you're the one that's stronger than me in the challenges. If this tribe was to lose all three of them, than I'd be the most logical choice to increase their chances of winning."
"Sucks, man..."
"Hey, you know what they always say: we may be down, but we're not going down without a fight, especially since we were put on the Knights tribe. Do you know for certain that it's me tonight?"
"My own husband, Fox McCloud competed on last season, and me and my son were talking about him every single day until he came back. And when he came back, he didn't even tell either of us how far he gotten in Kodai Island, but if he didn't win, then at least one of us has to. I didn't leave my family, nor my research to find out what happened to my home planet and not play this game to win a million dollars. I'm in a tight spot, and somehow, someway, I am going to make sure I don't go home. I was playing a quiet game at first, but since I could be the target for the night, now's the time to start playing a little more aggressively."
"Well,..." Knuckles took a moment. "me and Shadow did have a talk a while ago. He told me that since I'm stronger than you in challenges (no offense), then it wouldn't be the best idea of keeping you around."
"...Well, I guess that confirms it, then..." She stared off for a second. "Since getting rid of a weak link would satisfy their alliance, then I guess we're gonna do the same thing."
"Krystal wants us both to stick together so that we can continue to live up to our name." Knuckles explained leaning his right arm against the tree. "I was throwing her under the bus earlier with my talk with Shadow, but some part of what she said had me thinking... If Krystal goes, than if we lose another challenge, I'm the next one on the chopping block. I don't think they would vote off Marth (who mostly has an idol) this early when they need numbers for the merge. So since I'm the exact opposite of a quitter, I feel like that now's the time to start strategizing with Shadow the Hedgehog just for the sake of both our games here. He was on the outs of the Emperors tribe, I was on the outs of the Knights tribe. I think that if we can keep each other here, we would probably trust each other more than our own starting tribes..."
-/-
"Do you think this three is tight?"
Mega Man was walking with Shulk and Shadow in the forest.
"I think we are." Shulk replied with Shadow nodding in agreement.
"As long as we know who the person should be going home, then I have no problems. We vote out Krystal tonight, then we would hopefully win more challenges."
"So yesterday, Shadow told me and Mega Man that apparently Knuckles was on the outs on the Chatan tribe." Shulk informed. "The knights wanted to stay together and remained a solidified unit by making the safe move to send either him or Rouge home, and Knuckles won with everybody over there, and now he's stuck with Krystal who was in the majority. They're trying their best to stay unified as long as possible. ...But, I can't believe I am saying this, but I think I gotta think like Ghirahim and Shadow here. Not only that Krystal is the weakest of all of us, I feel as if we vote out Krystal who was in the majority on old Chatan, maybe it'll be more likely for the knights to fall apart, so that the emperors would be more likely to have the majority come the merge."
"I feel like the three of us really need each other." He continued. "I feel like if we vote off a knight now, and if we lose, then we at least have another person to get rid of. We'll decide what to do about Marth and the possible idol he has later, because I know that he would eventually become dangerous."
"Knuckles seems that he would become annoyed easily if he's not already." Mega Man added. "He seems to hate losing. I wouldn't be surprised if he's willing to put Krystal's name down because even he knows that she's the weakest of the two. If he himself was Krystal, than of course it would be a different story, so be prepared for her if she attempts to pit us against each other..."
"This is the part of the game where you're with the minority of a tribe, while the rest are in the majority." said Mega Man. "I've seen certain seasons to where people from the majority flip on one another, so I wanted to tell Shulk and Shadow that it's best for us to prepare for both Krystal and Knuckles, because if they're that desperate, they would do everything in their power for one of us to backstab the other. But I trust Shadow, and we need Shulk for challenges. So I doubt it's a smart idea for me to turn on one of them."
-/-
"Hey, man..."
Shadow managed to find Knuckles sitting in the sand near the tribe flag. Though, the hedgehog chose to head straight into business, rather than greeting him back.
"You still plan on writing down Krystal?"
"...Uh, yeah. About that..."
He already widened his eyes in reaction.
"I thought that I was only gonna care about myself out here after I was obviously on the bottom of my old tribe," Knuckles was now in the forest. "but at this point if I was still solely only caring about myself, then that means that I have to keep Krystal."
"Okay, not trying to cause chaos for you three or anything, but if you wanna work with me like you said you were, then Krystal needs to stay here..."
"..."
"Lemme tell you why..." He began to elaborate. "So these days in Survivor when you have twenty people here in the game, the merge is at thirteen. That means that after this, we have two more immunity challenges to get through, with three different tribes. This is the only team you have a bigger chance of being safe than Chatan and Motobu, but say if you vote Krystal out now, that leaves even less options for me. Marth, who's also an emperor, and who was also in the majority does not help since he will be part of this tribe tonight."
"..." Shadow slightly cocked his head to the side.
"I mean, if I was in your shoes right now, I'd go ahead and sacrifice one of the other two that are with you at this moment just to keep you in the game. I don't wanna have to end up working with the rest of the team knowing that I might get out at eighth place because I would be the default person to leave since the rest of the team trusts each other a hundred and ten percent."
"...So you're saying that it's actually crucial to keep Krystal to increase our chances of working together in the long run?"
"Absolutely."
"Hmm..." Shadow looked off to the side. "It seems rather foolish for me to do knowing that Mega Man and Shulk are two of the few people that would work with me late merge."
"People can change their minds just like that." Knuckles snapped his finger. "You never know. They could end up subtly throwing you back under the bus and you're outta here. We're at a point to where if you wait to late to change your fate in the game, I'd rather strike now then wait all the way up until the point where you have no other options because of you being in hot water, because of you not doing anything. I'd work with you Shadow, but if I'm gone, that's it. We don't have as big of a chance of making it far..."
"And besides, like I said, it seems right for us working together since we both know our positions in our old tribes. ...And coming from you of all people, I'd honestly be pretty disappointed if you are actually the type of person that would stick with the emperors the entire time and go out in eighth place, rather than increase your chances of winning the game..."
"..."
Tribal Council
Night 14
Shulk, Shadow, Mega Man, Krystal, and Knuckles all entered the Tribal Council area one by one as Master Hand waited for the quintet of survivors to sit themselves down.
"We'll now bring in Marth returning to Exile Island."
They all stared as Marth Lowell from the land of Altea entered the tribal with a satisfied grin on his face, signaling that he was more than happy to be a part of a tribe soon. He made his way over the jury bench to the right of the players and sat himself down in the middle.
"Marth is just here to observe." Master Hand wanted to make himself clear. "He is here to gather intel of whatever events have occurred while he was away so that he would be aware of what to expect when he joins your team... Alright, so, aside from Marth going to exile, judging by how the swap worked, it seems that the knights have won the favor, and in the case, the emperors are the ones that ended up having the majority on this beach."
Shulk nodded.
"Shulk, let's push alliances to the side for a bit." The hand made a motion. "Are there any certain differences that you have noticed after Knuckles and Krystal stepped foot on the island?"
"Well, it seems to me that they both communicate with each other very well whenever they are working together around the camp." He explained his observations. "Most likely their whole tribe's main focus was all about hard work and communication. But the real priority for them was probably all about sticking together as a unified team. From what we gathered and inferred, Cloud was simply the one person who was not meshing well with the rest of the tribe, and he got sent home, despite being the biggest physical competitor of that group, which to be honest, it would have been interesting to see if I was watching it from back home."
"And then, you guys voted out Ghirahim."
Both Knuckles and Krystal laughed immediately in reaction.
"...Yeah..." Shulk could not have helped but smirk. "I will admit that we followed to what they did what was best for their tribe, and so, taking a little bit of advice was not anything wrong, because we felt that Ghirahm was a bit too aggressive to keep around."
"Krystal, do you feel as if it is satisfying watching the emperors seemingly applying the same strategy your tribe did before the swap by getting rid of your strongest?"
"Well, short-term people at home were probably thinking that we were so bad at playing the game at the time by getting rid of someone like that, but long-term, not only we won the next challenge, but when we looked over, the emperors literally did the exact same thing. So the more it goes on, the more we feel as if voting Cloud out was the right decision for the tribe."
"Okay, so..." Master Hand then went back to the topic of alliances. "How is the tribe voting this time? Will it based off the strength people have in the challenges, or is it you versus Knuckles since old Nago leads 3-2?"
"Well, you can't even blame them for targeting me and Knuckles for obvious reasons, but it doesn't mean me and Knuckles are gonna give up so easily." The vixen shook her head. "If both of us have the chance of staying in the game, we need play every card in the book if it's the only way both of our torches left tribal lit tonight."
"Master Hand, I'm the type of person that is not used to going down so easily." Knuckles was shaking his head. "Where I'm come from, if I don't give it my all when it comes to anything, then I feel like I've accomplished nothing. Me and Krystal aren't just gonna sit here and let ourselves get picked off one by one, since if we're both gone, that's two knights, too many, and then the rest of the tribe is at the bottom at the merge."
"So you two clearly have no intentions on voting against each other, especially due to Marth, who's also an emperor, sitting over there."
Marth was the master point directly at him.
"It would be foolish of us to do so at this moment, unless long term, we want to screw over the rest of old Chatan."
"Shadow, if those two have made it clear that one of you is going to have your name written down on the piece of parchment, that means you three pretty much have to vote in the same direction. There isn't enough room for you all to split the vote."
He bobbed his head up and down. "Indeed you are correct. We have Krystal who is the weakest of the five versus Knuckles, which the word 'quitting' not being in his everyday vernacular. However, if anything, then that makes him a threat."
The red anthropomorphic animal immediately shifted his head.
"He could also be a physical competitor later down the road, yet Krystal could be a long term social threat that would win the jury over. That being said, both of them for all we know are just as threatening in their own way. We just simply have to decide who is more risky to keep around at this moment based upon multiple factors at this Tribal Council."
"So Mega Man, for this vote, we have three emperors versus three knights." Master Hand opened his hand out. "The emperors want to dominate this Tribal Council while the knights want to fight and give it their all so that they can stay alive. What exactly do you make it that?"
"In my opinion, I think that if you were watching at home, this would basically be the perfect tribe to head to Tribal Council first, solely based on what you just said. It's kind of an interesting situation. The emperors are trying to find out how we can leave out of here unscathed by doing whatever needs to get done no matter what, and you have the knights getting by with the skin of their teeth pushing as hard as possible. ...You know, for me in particular, I wouldn't be surprised if people that know me from home would classify me as both an emperor and a knight based on what I do, and I wouldn't have been mad at them either way."
"But at the same time, you were chosen to be on this tribe." The hand reminded. "Therefore, you would presumably have more qualities of an emperor, rather than a knight."
"I guess that makes sense. The twenty people that are competing in this season have their own ways of being on a certain tribe..." He felt that the host of the show had a valid point. "That being said, since I'm an emperor now, I think it would be safe to assume that Knuckles and Krystal would be trying to pit us against each other so that the both of them make it out of here in one piece."
"Shulk, you're nodding in agreement."
"It's very likely that it's what they're trying to do, since one of us would be getting the votes from them." His eyes pointed at the two one by one. "I haven't heard anything from either of the two, but if it's what they're doing behind the scenes, then I'm not surprised. The only other way one of us would be going home is if there's an idol in play."
Marth blinked.
"But like you said from before, there's not enough room for us to split the votes, unless one of them plays the idol correctly, which means that we also have to take that as another factor when it comes to how we are gonna vote tonight. For me, Shadow, and Mega Man, we just have to stick together just like they're sticking together."
Knuckles stared as Krystal blinked.
"Alright, well let's see how this very significant vote is going to play out." Master Hand began the voting session. "Krystal, you're up."
The only female of the team rose from her spot and made her way past Marth to the voting area, Shulk being the next to go afterwards followed by Shadow, then Mega Man.
"I'm sorry. Sometimes one swap can mean anything, and unfortunately it just didn't work in your favor and fate chose this tribe to attend the tribal tonight. Wish you the best of luck."
Once the echidna of the red team cast his vote, he sat down, subsequently folding his arms.
"I'll go tally the votes..."
Marth eyed the master making his way past him as both Krystal and Knuckles exchanged glances.
"Whatever happens, it was worth a try..." Knuckles whispered.
Master Hand came back with the urn.
"If anybody does have the hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."
...
Marth just stared as he waited.
"Okay. Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."
He uncapped the urn.
"First vote... Mega Man."
He lowered his head down a little with a blink.
Marth actually had his eyes widened slightly, but shifted his focus back to Master Hand.
Knuckles had a finger beneath his chin.
"Krystal."
She sighed and slowly turned her head side to side.
"One vote Krystal, one vote Mega Man."
Knuckles leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder for a quick second.
"Krystal."
She was more than nervous as she brought her hand to her chin in attempt to calm herself down.
"Two votes Krystal, one vote Mega Man."
Shadow the Hedgehog stared at Krystal diagonally from his left seeing her worried expression as Shulk simply sat straight.
"Mega Man."
He made no movement.
"Two votes Mega Man, two votes Krystal, one vote left..."
Knuckles began to stare down as Krystal closed her eyes, Marth alternating his eyes between the tribe and the large, white-gloved hand.
He took his time pulling out the fifth and final vote for the night.
"Fifth person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights..."
"...Mega Man."
The blue bomber's jaw immediately dropped, Shulk almost instantly glancing all over the place, with Marth sitting tall with his mouth hanging.
"You need to bring me your torch..."
"..."
After sitting still simply eyeing Master Hand placed down the vote, he hesitantly got up from his spot, no words escaping as his face lacked any sort of emotion at all.
Krystal meanwhile faced Knuckles with the most satisfied grin as the echidna smirked in response.
Shulk on the other hand turned to Shadow who remained eyeing Mega.
"Mega Man, the tribe has spoken."
He watched his torch being snuffed.
"Time for you to go."
Again, no words, no emotions, nothing. Just a straight look as he began to walk and head down the stairs.
"...What?" Shulk whispered as he resumed shifting his head in all directions, Marth at that point clapping a hand over his mouth.
Shadow never looked back at Shulk at that moment.
"Well..." Master Hand had to think of what words to say. "Even though sticking together were the two magic words here, it seems that to someone, maybe sticking together for some reason wasn't the best option."
The black Mobian blinked.
"You can grab your torches to head back to camp, and Marth will join you shortly."
Marth could not have believed what he just witnessed as he managed to exchange a quick stare with Shulk, ignore Knuckles and Krystal who were still holding their satisfied smiles before the five of them carefully stepped their way down the stairs.
#Blindside
Votes:
Shadow - Mega Man
Mega Man - Krystal
Shulk - Krystal
Krystal - Mega Man
Knuckles - Mega Man
16th Place: Mega Man
"I... I just can't believe it. ...Shadow... apparently turned on me. ...You know... I... I'm not mad at him or anything, just confused. What did I do to him that made him flip? I really thought he felt that I was close with him. ...Guess you literally can't trust anyone out here no matter what..."
Castaways Remaining:
Marth, Shadow, Shulk, Krystal, Knuckles / Sheik, Greninja, Bonnie, Zelda, Pac-Man / Luigi, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Roy, Freddy
Wow... I...
...Just, wow. The one person that absolutely wanted Shadow the Hedgehog to stay in the game as long as possible, and Shadow turned on him and voted him out. ...I... think we should just head right into the questions...
Questions:
1. So looking back on the chapter before Tribal Council took place, do you think Shadow had a valid reason to flip based on the circumstances and how things were going?
2. On a scale of one to ten, how ticked off do you think Shulk and Marth would be?
I guess besides Shadow himself, maybe Knuckles deserves to share the credit with him as well, since he was the one that helped convinced Shadow to flip.
Watch my YouTube intro and vote on your top five players this season if you haven't already and I will see you all on Saturday!