Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 18 - Day 15 Part 1

Dang, five people from the game being gone already? Time for sure is flying fast in comparison to the upload schedule to the previous season.

So yeah, Mega Man's blindside is without question the biggest blindside so far in spite of Nago only having five people. I can just imagine how literally everybody else will react to this vote off from the other tribes. So I guess Pac-Man is forced to see a future without Mega at this point lol.

Oh well. At least he's been replaced with Marth.

~KF

Nago

Night 14

After Shulk, Shadow, Krystal, and Mega Man all lied down their torches against the tree, none of them even had a moment to talk as a group as Shulk chose to pull Shadow aside and immediately separate themselves from Knuckles and Krystal, which caused some eyebrow raising, but the two of them found it to be sort of amusing.

Krystal giggled. "Well?"

"Psh..." Knuckles shook his head with a giant smirk. "Well, we're both still here. We made it."

"Aww, haha!" The vixen shared a friendly hugged with the echidna. "We're on the bottom, but overall, our tribe still has the advantage."

"Shadow followed through." Knuckles was pleased. "I gave him a logical explanation to why it makes sense for him to flip against his alliance due to where he stood with the tribe prior to the swap. If he's willing to sacrifice one of his own to make it as far as he can with me due to us both being in the same boat, then I don't see why I would waste an opportunity to work with him later down the road. ...And Krystal of course was happy, but I chose not to tell her why Shadow flipped exactly since she's not part of it."

"Shadow knew that he didn't get along with the rest of them." He said. "I told him that Shulk and Mega Man were probably gonna make plans of somehow taking him out in the future right before the merge if they ended up having just enough room to make a big move, but now since the emperors are down one member too many, they can't get rid of him anymore."

"Nothing against Krystal personally, but I don't see her trying to get that close with me as some of the other on my old tribe, and if I can trust Shadow way more than I can trust Krystal of all people, who I've known for fourteen days, that's saying something."

-/-

"Okay, I just want to know your side first so that I can have an understanding of your vote for Mega."

"Shadow out of nowhere blindsided me and turned on Mega Man." He had a million thoughts running through his head right now. "I... I am at a loss for words. The one tribe we have the majority on, and we happened to be the ones that went to tribal for the one chance we had to get rid of one of those knights, and we blew it. Now Marth is gonna come here wondering what the heck happened, and I can just imagine how the rest of the tribe will look when they find out..."

"I mean, I thought the three of us we're really tight here, especially me and you because we were both put together thanks to Ghirahim and I felt that I was even closer with you than Mega Man who was supposedly part of that alliance..." He began digging through his hair out of distress. "I... Can you just tell me...?"

"I just didn't trust him enough. He was kind of the strategic threat I needed to look out for, and I didn't want him to turn on me..."

"...Well did you think it would have hurt if you would have at least talked to me about it?" Shulk was not exactly buying it. "You're flipping on your allies a little too early. I'm... I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from..."

"I hate to admit, but I was so focused on working with Knuckles, I kind of forgot what I was supposed to tell Shulk, since I couldn't exactly hide the blindside or anything." Shadow sat near the water. "But for Mega in particular, it was nothing against him at all. Being a strategic player had nothing to do with why he was voted out, and his possible relationship is a hundred and ten percent irrelevant. Of course I wanted to continue to win challenges, but I trust Knuckles more than most of my fellow emperors who I started off with. Mega Man was the weakest of the three of us, but most of all, Marth is coming soon, which was the biggest reason to why I had to turn on possibly my number one ally. And when Marth comes back, the emperors still have the majority, anyway. So if anything, I felt that if was a perfect time to strike."

Now Lowell not only returned to the camp, but made his way to find Shulk and Shadow, who he of course wanted to talk to, anyway.

"..."

Shadow found himself basically in a staring contest with the Altea hero. "...?"

"...Shadow..." He finally spoke. "...Why?"

"It was the right thing to do for me personally. I felt that Mega would have probably ran the show."

"...He was fine to me..." Shulk replied.

"I knew Shadow was probably going to be rather untrustworthy... But not this early out here..." The blue-haired warrior covered his face with his hands. "...What are we going to tell Pac-Man, Zelda, Roy, and Freddy?"

Chatan

Night 14

"Hey, Pac-Man, do you think the ghosts are gonna come out and get us tonight?"

"Hahaha, no. I don't even think they know that I'm even out here. But say if they were, then it looks like we officially have to fight on Survivor, and that has never even happened before."

The Chatan tribe was doing nothing other than talking among themselves by the fire that sat before them. They had wood stored beneath the shelter just in case if Chatan receives unexpected precipitation, considering the fact that it had been sunny for the past few days.

"Well, that means if they do come out here, I won't let you fight alone." Greninja commented. "I've been training with Calem for basically forever, and I use water as a weapon, so you can count on me for anything."

"Um, I would not exactly say using water would be the best idea for defense." Sheik opinionated. "Our best bet would be that maybe we can grab one of our torches, and threaten them with the fire so that it can just scare them away. Maybe that's how real tribes do."

Greninja snickered. "They're ghosts. Ghosts aren't afraid of anything. We would probably have no choice but to use brute force..."

"I think that's a good point. Where is Knuckles when you need him?"

"..." an amused Greninja blinked. "You're saying that I'm not that strong? I mean, I can fight, too."

"Oh, stop being jealous. You know I'm messing with you." Sheik playfully nudged his arm with his fist as they both shared a laugh.

Bonnie was mostly silent throughout the conversation, since Zelda was beginning to doze off.

"You know it's interesting that both Knuckles and Rouge were left out of the vote last week, but Greninja and Sheik are basically Knuckles and Rouge 2.0 without the flirtiness. The more they bond with each other, the more my mind's picking at me to get rid of one of them, especially since neither of them are bonding with me the way they are bonding with each other. All types of power couples are a no-no, and I don't think either of them realize that in the back of my mind, I can not have that around for my game. Though at the same time, I have no idea who just been sent home from Nago, so as of now, my mind is all over the place..."

Day 15

"Come on in, guys!"

Roy, Luigi, Freddy, Shovel Knight, and Foxy all made their way through the sand and stepped onto the orange mat with Freddy setting Motobu's flag down. Greninja, Bonnie, Pac-Man, Zelda, and Sheik all came by next with Bonnie setting his flag down for Chatan.

"Motobu, Chatan, get your first look at the new Nago tribe..."

"...Wait, what?" said Sheik, Zelda gasping.

Pac-Man was ultimately speechless.

"Mega Man voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"Woah..." Greninja blinked, Freddy too shocked to do the same.

"What the heck happened?" Bonnie was confused as ever as Pac-Man was as still as a statue, no one being even more dumbfounded than him.

"He has been replaced by Marth returning from Exile Island." Master Hand announced, watching him, Shulk, Krystal, Knuckles, and Shadow making their way to the red mat with Shulk setting down the flag.

"Alright, you guys ready for today's reward challenge?"

They were ready as they ever were.

"For today's challenge, your feet will be tied together. Your arms will be bound to your side."

"..." Luigi blinked his eyes upon hearing that. To him it was something that sounded rather strange.

"On my go, you will slither through the sand while pushing a ball relay style through the course. When you're finished, the remaining tribe members will shoot five balls into your basket. First two tribes that finish, win reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?"

"The tribe that finishes first will win..." Master Hand removed the first cloth to reveal. "Iced coffee, several different types of pastries, and even coffee and tea to last a little while at the camp."

Judging by the big reaction from the three tribes, it was by far the biggest reward yet.

"Second tribe to finish will get not as much, but just enough." He pulled another piece of cloth. "Iced coffee that will be enough to go around."

"I can live with that." said Foxy.

"Last place gets..." Master Hand pointed at Krystal.

"Nothin.'"

"That's correct. I'll give you all a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For reward in the form of tea, coffee, and pastries. Survivors ready? ...GO!"

Krystal, Zelda, and Shovel Knight all drop their bodies to the ground as they pushing their respective ball through the sand with their head, slithering all the while using every bit of strength they had.

"This challenge was first used in Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers, and we simply decided to bring it back." Master Hand explained. "Shovel Knight is off to an early lead over Krystal and Zelda, but Krystal is fighting!"

"You can do it, Krystal!" Shulk yelled.

In spite of Shovel Knight attempting at his best with the ball, Krystal actually pulled ahead of Shovel Knight stealing the lead as Zelda used all her might to control her ball.

"Zelda trying to not be out of it early!"

By the time she was a bit more than halfway there, with sand all over their faces, Krystal and Shovel Knight reached their first mat about the same time.

"Go, Nago! Go, Motobu!"

"Don't give up, Zelda!" Greninja shouted. "You're almost there!"

"You gotta touch the mat with your head... Go, Nago!"

At that point, it was Marth versus Luigi versus Pac-Man, the green plumber falling on his stomach perfectly. Fortunately for Chatan, of the three that were competing against each other, the yellow emperor of all people managed to tie it up as he made up a lot of time from Zelda, eventually causing him to pull ahead of Marth and Luigi, the latter now being right on his tail.

Pac-Man pushed the ball enough to cause it to roll downhill on its own.

"Now it's time for Pac-Man get over the first hill!"

"Woah... oof!"

Not the most comfortable for Pac-Man, yet at least that big push was worth enough to get him to stay in the lead as both Luigi and Marth continued to use small strokes to get by.

Marth was growing tired a bit though, as they ball was now on his left shoulder, rather being in front of his face.

"Marth's in an awkward spot..."

Luigi was now at the bottom of his hill, shaking his head a little to get rid of some of the sand from his eyes so he could see.

"..." Grunting, Marth decided to rotate his body a bit so that he could push the ball down the hill sideways, dreading the possibility of the ball rolling off course.

Then when he had to get over the hill himself, he literally ended up rolling all the way down.

Roy who was watching from his own position could not have helped but laugh.

"Let your head touch the mat, Pac!" Sheik was waiting for her turn.

"You're good, Chatan! ...You're good, Motobu!"

With one final big push, Marth's head immediately dropped on his mat out of exhaustion.

"You're good, Nago! It is now Sheik versus Roy versus Shadow..." Master Hand noted. "And Shadow is tearing it up!"

Shadow the Hedgehog was acting as if he competed in the olympics by performing in that particular challenge a dozen of times. He was nearing the hill where as Roy and Sheik were only halfway to it, the latter though pushing as hard as she could have.

"You got this, Roy!" said Luigi, now sitting on his heels as he knees sat in the sand.

Shadow grunted loudly as he pushed himself over, tumbling down the hill in a similar fashion to Marth.

"Nago starting to git a bit of a lead as Shadow continues to tear the course up! Sheik not that far behind as she pushes her ball over!"

"Don't rush, Sheik!" Bonnie from the beginning platform had his hands over his mouth. "No pressure!"

Everyone at the time seemed to be doing a good job with the ball never going off course in spite of there being a first and last place competitor at the time. Yet since there was, Shadow placed his hand on the mat with the ball directly in front of him.

"Nago's good!"

And so, Knuckles and Shulk immediately dashed out to help their tribemates while they all attempted to unstrap themselves.

"Sheik getting over the hill!"

Roy was getting close as well, though his head gave out during the last few moments the ball needed to roll down the hill. Thus, it ended up going sideways near Chatan's course instead.

"Roy loses the ball for Motobu!"

Foxy turned around and faced away as Freddy cocked his head to the side, his mind assuming that there was a chance that none of them were going to get coffee that day.

"Sheik's good! Go, Chatan!"

As Bonnie and Greninja began to help out their tribemates, Knuckles was already attempting at baskets. Though unlike previous, the goal was much higher than before, so there was no way Knuckles could have shot at the basket as he did before, especially considering that he was not as tall as Shulk was. As a result, the human volunteered to shoot for the time being instead.

"Roy is still fighting even though he caused his team a massive setback... Gotta get over..."

Unlike last time, Roy managed to do so successfully.

"Bonnie scores the first basket for Chatan... Shulk scores the first basket for Nago! We have a showdown!"

"Shulk, lemme know if you wanna switch back..." Knuckles had his eyes on the basket.

"No pressure." said Krystal.

"Bonnie scores another one for Chatan!"

He looked over to Greninja. "Wanna give it a try?"

"You're taller than me. Keep going."

"Keep pushing, Roy! Almost there!" Freddy shouted as within a few more seconds, both the ball and Roy were on the orange mat.

"Motobu's good! They're still in this! ...But they gotta hurry!"

Indeed the host was right as Shulk scored the second basket for Nago, yet Bonnie quickly managed to get his fourth ball in.

"Shulk, keep going. I don't know if we're gonna win, but I at least don't wanna be last at this point." Knuckles changed his mind on switching.

"Freddy is going to start shooting for Motobu!"

As Shulk scored his third basket, Bonnie shot the winning ball into Chatan's goal.

"CHATAN WINS REWARD!"

"We are looking for second place!" Master Hand called as Freddy made his first basket on his first go. Though on his second, he was in and out.

"Shulk scores the fourth basket for Nago! One ball left!"

Luigi at that point lost all remaining hope he had left. "We might have to eat all the coconuts at the camp..."

"NAGO WINS REWARD!"

Roy shook his head out of disappointment with his head hung down low.

"Chatan, come get your reward and head back to camp. Enjoy."

With a few claps, each of the five carried some part of their reward as they began to make their way back to camp.

"Nago, at least you still got your jug of iced coffee. Come and get it."

"I'll take care of it." Knuckles volunteered as he picked up the jug and left with the rest of his tribe.

Roy was still disappointed at the results of the challenge.

"Motobu, got nothing for you. Grab your stuff and head back to camp."

"It doesn't matter if it was for immunity or not. As an emperor, you are not used to letting your team down, and I'm afraid I have done so today and cost the team of getting any part of that reward. My head just didn't have enough strength to get that ball over the hill in the beginning. I'm already on the bottom, and now I cost us the challenge. And so, if challenges are a priority for this tribe, since I'm weaker than Freddy, then that means that I'm in danger of being the next to be sent home..."

RIP - Rudy Boesch (Survivor Season 1 - Borneo

So swapped Chatan is winning the most so far in challenges, and Nago and Motobu are dead even since they both won one challenge and lost one challenge. And maybe Motobu would have had a fighting chance if Roy never lost the ball, so now he's going to feel down about. You can't even blame him since if you know you're the reason to why your team lost, who wouldn't feel terrible? lol

Questions:

1. How terrible would you feel if you know you cost your team a challenge?

2. What are your predictions for Pac-Man's reaction seeing Mega Man gone (who he thought he was his number one ally out of the game)?

3. How would Mega Man's departure impact the rest of the game?

As usual, vote on your top five players this season if you haven't already and I will see you on Wednesday!