Survivor - Emperors vs Knights
Chapter 22 - Day 17 Part 2 and Day 18 Part 1
Almost time for the merge, guys! This is the second to last chapter to it where next time, someone will barely miss the jury, and we all know that if we were out there it would be a shame to just miss out on making the merge/jury. You're one step closer, you're not the first person voted out, only needing to survive just one more Tribal Council, are your dreams are cut short... That's tragic...
Anyway, welcome back to another chapter. All three tribes are gonna get attention as usual, but this is the last time it's gonna be like that, since after this immunity challenge, the focus is gonna shift to the losers so we'll see their gameplan.
Enjoy!
~KF
Chatan
Day 17
Quietly, Greninja, Zelda, Bonnie, and Sheik all returned to Chatan. And as Master Hand said, the group returned with absolutely nothing other than themselves as well as their personal belongings.
Unsurprisingly, no one was more saddened of their loss than Zelda.
She sighed thinking everything over. "You know, part of me feels that I am generally surprised that I have made it this far. I could have been the first person voted out and let Peach take my place, or I could have been voted out again last night, and Pac-Man would have taken my place... But I'm still here, and unlike previously, I have no other options at this point. Perhaps it's the Goddesses that are looking after me at this point. This is the third time I couldn't complete the puzzle in time in this game, and twice in a row. People might think that it is not as big of a deal, but when you are out here constantly under paranoia, and fighting for your life just so you can see the next day, while at the same time making multiple sacrificing to save your own self, it is quite stressful and rather overwhelming..."
She just sat in the shelter watching the fire being tended by Greninja as Sheik wrapped an arm around to rub her shoulder, as Zelda herself sat there, her face showing little to no emotion.
"And the worst thing is since I have literally no options left since I am the only emperor on Chatan, I honestly would be very surprised if we go to tribal and I stayed somehow. This is actually giving me flashbacks to what happened in Hyrule when I had to fight to save my kingdom. The main difference is that this time, I actually have to fight for myself or else I will lie down at Tribal Council. I'm more used to helping others get through tough times, but since Survivor is a selfish game, I feel like I'm the knight here pushing through to get over my own obstacles just so that I can survive on my own. ...Maybe this experience is trying to teach me something just so that I can become an even stronger woman..."
Nago
Day 17
"Whew, I thought I was gonna blow it on the puzzle today, but at least I can in second place." Krystal heaved a big sigh of relief. "I mean, sure I lost nine pizzas. but one pizza should be enough to carry us all around until the merge feast gets here... If I get here. I hope I get there, and if I do, I need to figure out where each and everybody's heads are so that I know what to do for my own game here."
However, the moment when both Krystal and Knuckles walked away from the shelter, the three emperors remained as Shadow started to talk.
"I don't know about you two," He said turning his head side to side. "but now that I think about it, something tells me that Krystal should sit out tomorrow's immunity challenge. I prefer it's good for her to sit out tomorrow or whenever we have our challenge because something tells me that she's not going to perform like she almost bombed this time."
"But Krystal still did good, though." Shulk took a slice of pizza out. "I just didn't expect Shovel Knight to be that good at puzzles, and we all know Zelda is good at puzzles."
"It still gives me some level of concern." Shadow disagreed shaking his head some more. "She should've done better."
"No." Marth did not agree. "I think that she did the very best she could. At least she was willing to do it, because she felt comfortable doing it last time. But I get what you're saying."
"And at least we didn't come in last." Shulk added. "You and Knuckles are both fast people and you two blazed through the challenge so that made up for it."
"Puzzles comes last in the challenges for the most part in Survivor." Shadow brought up. "It is not as if Krystal is the mastermind of puzzles over here, so if she's sitting out of the immunity challenge, that means that somebody else should do the puzzle."
Marth sighed and lifted his hand. "I'll volunteer for the puzzle, then."
"Though what if the challenge is also physical, though? Does that mean Krystal sits out, anyway? And what if the whole challenge is like a puzzle?"
"'The whole challenge being like a puzzle?'" Shadow repeated with a blink folding his arms. "So that would mean that I would sit out, then?"
"No, no, that's not what I'm saying." Shulk held a hand out. "I guess it depends on what the challenge is..."
"I dunno..." He shook his head rapidly staring at the ground. "I feel like I'm needed at every challenge. I'm strong, I can run well, and I would not mind attempting at a puzzle that would save our lives."
"...Well, that depends on if you are really willing to do it, because I have yet to see you try a puzzle." Shulk recalled. "Just putting that out there..."
"Don't worry, there's nothing going on around here." Shulk waved it off with a giggle. "Just three emperors debating on which employee or which one of us would do best at a certain aspect of the challenges. No arguing or anything, it's just how we communicate."
-/-
"What'cha doing, Krys?"
"Oh, you know, just waiting for the next day to come as we always do." She replied to Shulk as she poured water into her canteen, taking the time to fill Shulk's up as well, Marth coming by a few seconds later.
"Let's just get right down to business." Shulk went straight to the point. "Me and Marth want to vote out Knuckles tonight. Neither of us want you going anywhere. But Shadow wants to vote you out."
"Okay..." She nodded.
"But the thing is, neither of us trust Shadow as far as we can throw him due to what he did in the past." Marth brought up. "Mega Man deserved to stay here. Not saying that Knuckles doesn't, but we generally think that you are a good person who we can afford to keep around. Knuckles on the other hand is most likely to become... basically a hothead..."
She actually laughed a little.
"As long as Shadow thinks we're doing Krystal, it doesn't matter who Knuckles votes for, because us three standing right here," Lowell pointed at everyone including himself individually. "these three votes are all we need, and then we can all happily make the merge."
"Hmm..." Krystal placed a finger beneath her chin. "Interesting opportunity here. Marth and Shulk apparently don't trust Shadow, and so I guess they want to vote out Knuckles because that's how Shadow wants to stay, but apparently Marth and Shulk trust me more than they can trust Knuckles. I thought I was still the main target here, and I would want to help the knights keep as many numbers as we can, but I'm on the bottom of the totem pole, and if I have to vote out Knuckles just so I can live just one more day, as long as I'm not going home, I'm down."
Motobu
Day 17
As for Freddy, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Luigi, and Roy, they could not have been any happier that they came in first place once again in a challenge, each of them carrying two pizzas.
"So should we just eat the two pizzas we're carrying?" asked Roy while they walked back towards the shelter. "I assume each person here has a different taste."
"Maybe we should open them all up, first." Shovel Knight recommended. "That way we can all decided on what everybody is going to salvage. This is the best reward so far!"
"We have not one, not two, but ten pizzas!" Shovel Knight held out all ten of his fingers. "For all we know, this could very well lasts us until the merge, unless it's going to be something better. ...But then again, with conditions like this, the last thing we absolutely must do is waste food... But then again, knowing how hungry we all are, I wouldn't be so surprised if we all somehow eat our two pizzas before the merge. Though the bottom line is, we now have extra fuel for our next immunity challenge."
"Honestly though," the knight was still speaking. "you all can take any pizza you want. I don't really mind. As long as we all have food, that's what matters the most. We need to eat all we can, when we can, or else we'll our starve."
"You don't have to tell me twice..." Roy replied with a laugh, Luigi setting his two pizzas down an opening one of them. "...I just don't know how are we going to wash this all down... Water from our canteens?"
Freddy shrugged at the thought. "Well, we clearly don't have soda here or anything. Maybe that should have been part of our reward as well, but I'm not complaining. Although, water and pizza are an awful combination..."
"Beats dying of thirst..." Luigi said.
-/-
"You know, even though we won today, I feel very sorry for Zelda right now..."
Freddy Fazbear was now interacting with Roy, volunteering to collect water for the group since they all never did it initially. The thought of food, especially with pizza being one of the most popular food dishes of all time, none of them wanted to wait any longer than they had to.
"I mean, I take one look at her," Freddy went on. "and she just looked miserable... I mean, this isn't the first time she lost a challenge because of her not completing a puzzle in time. And Pac-Man is already gone, so now the knights are going to have the numbers..."
"Zelda is a nice woman." Roy was in agreement. "It's really a shame of what she's going through. She can't even get someone to flip and vote with her at this point, because then it's gonna be a 2-2 tie, and then they're drawing rocks... Oh, by the way, I managed to have a conversation with Marth on the sit out bench."
"Good." Freddy nodded finding no problems with it. "Good thing there was only one bench for the two of you to sit on, because at this point the emperors need to talk while we can. What did he tell you?"
"I asked him what happened to Mega Man and he told me that Shadow turned and flipped on him leaving Shulk out of the loop."
Freddy paused frozen in place. "...Seriously?"
"No joke." Roy shook his head in confirmation.
"Did he tell you why?"
"I think we should ask Shadow himself..." The Young Lion started to walk again. "I believe the only person that would believe Shadow's logic is Shadow based on whatever he has to say..."
"Maybe Shadow felt that he was on the outs and he wanted to make a move against the rest of us or something..."
"If Shadow was meant to be on the Emperors tribe, if anyone is living up to the name, it's him. I don't know what he was thinking, but thanks to Pac-Man's departure, we're down in numbers, and if we're all going to be in an alliance together, we need to figure out what to do from this point. Because for example, if this tribe loses immunity to other two, we cannot afford another emperor to go home..." Freddy explained.
"We should look for an idol, Freddy..." Roy suggested. "Knights lead 8-6. If someone from old Nago leaves again, it decreases our chances to win the game even more. We need to figure out a way to get the knights to turn on each other."
"Well, I think when it comes to those three, the most likely person that would be willing to flip is Foxy." The anthropomorphic bear informed. "I get a read on him that he's the type of person that will not reach the end of the game with a blank résumé. He might not have been wanting to flip before due to timing issues, but knowing that he has just enough room to work with, maybe if we both can talk to him a little more, he'd be willing to work with the both of us and we take Shovel Knight out."
"Sounds like a plan." Roy was fully on board. "We'll fight for each other in any way we can. ...But what if Shovel Knight has an idol?"
"Then we're gonna blindside him." Freddy answered. "He is the main threat in the Knights alliance right now because he could have an idol. Shovel Knight and Luigi will not know what's coming, so if Foxy can flip, then it would be something that neither of them would expect."
"I still have plans on working with Foxy." The pizzeria boss wanted to make his message clear. "I don't wanna go home. However, Pac-Man and Mega Man leaving the game sent me a signal. Foxy wants me to get rid of Roy. He wants to flip, but he doesn't want to make Shovel Knight, Luigi, and the rest of the knights upset, and he's playing both sides as a result by leaking certain information to me so he won't be seen as the bad guy. But I think what's best for me is that I need to keep myself and Roy here at the same time. I don't know how I'm gonna get Foxy to blatantly flip on them, but I think what's best for the two of us is that we both vote for Shovel Knight. And since Foxy has more room to work with, maybe it'll be a little easier for him to be convinced than before..."
Day 18
"Come on in, guys!"
The fourteen remaining castaways in the game all came in walking through multiple paths until they all stood tall on the color coded mats near them.
"You guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, I will once again take back the immunity idols..." Master Hand went on and took the idols from Luigi and Knuckles. "Once again, immunity is back for grabs, and we're here with a brand new Survivor challenge. It is called 'Mr. Sandbag.' For today's challenge, you are all gonna race out where you will find a giant sandbag underwater trapped in a cage. You will untie knots to open the door to the cage where you all will then drag out the sandbag, up the stairs, and across a balance beam over water. If just one person falls, that person will start again. If you fall out with the sandbag, then the whole tribe has to start again. Once you're back on the shore with the heavy sandbag, unzip it where you will collect pieces of a word phrase to solve it. First two tribes to solve the puzzle, win immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the seventh person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights."
"Now, before we start, Motobu, you have one extra person and you must sit somebody out. Roy sat out of the last challenge. Who's it gonna be this time?"
"Let Luigi do the puzzle. That sandbag might be large..."
"You sure?" Foxy asked.
"I'm positive..."
Shovel Knight raised his hand.
"Shovel Knight, take your spot on the bench." He pointed. "Nago, you also must sit somebody out. Marth sat out of the last challenge."
Krystal immediately lifted her hand in the air.
"Krystal, take your spot on the sit out bench. Everybody else, I'm gonna give you all a minute to strategize and we'll get started."
"Hello!" Shovel Knight greeted the vixen as she walked towards the bench to sit down near her fellow knight.
"Hi." She grinned warmly. "Remember me?"
He laughed. "I haven't forgotten about you."
-/-
"Alright, here we go. For immunity. Survivors ready?"
The three teams were ready more than ever.
"...GO!"
Nago, Chatan, and Motobu all raced out and got in the water, nimbly starting to swim away.
"Brand new Survivor challenge..." Master Hand announced. "All twelve of you must swim out to release that sandbag underwater. Just to remind you that it is going to be heavy. Don't underestimate it."
Greninja was leading the way when it came to the swimming as if being a lifeguard was his job. Shulk and Bonnie were not too far behind. Yet overall, in spite of the three knights of Chatan doing well with swimming, Zelda was left out, set to be the last one to be at the checkpoint.
"You're only as fast as your slowest swimmer... Go, Nago! Go, Motobu! Send two swimmers down to untie!"
Knuckles and Shulk were the ones that went down for Nago as Foxy and Freddy went down for Motobu.
"Come on, over here!" Within arms length, Sheik pulled Zelda along to the checkpoint.
"Go, Chatan!"
Greninja and Bonnie went down for the yellow team, which meant that half the competitors of the challenge appeared to be missing.
"...I can't even see what's happening down there." Master Hand snickered a little, Krystal and Shovel Knight from the sit out bench chuckling slightly.
Foxy briefly came up for air, and he came back down to finish his part while Freddy was more aggressive with those knots, yet right before he was about to finish, he, as well as Knuckles from Nago, had to come up for air.
"Keep going, Knuckles!" shouted Marth. "We're doing good!"
However, it ended up being Chatan that managed to finish their untying first, right before the Nago members, with Motobu finishing last.
"Come on!" Bonnie told his teammates as they all then went underwater together to drag the sandbag out and up the stairs.
"All three tribes seem to be now working with that sandbag. You have to pull it out of the cage and out of the water... Here comes Chatan and Nago! Motobu right there!"
Once the three competing teams have pulled their color coded sandbags (with two long black eyes on each of them) out of the water, they each had to bring the sandbags over their shoulders in preparation for the next obstacle.
"Now you have to carry the sandbag over the balance beam. This is by far the hardest part of the challenge..."
"Nice and slow. Don't rush..." Shulk told his team. Though for him his warning came a little too late, as Marth was already being clumsy and fell in. "..."
"Marth's gotta go back! Now it's going to be even trickier for Nago as they carry the bag."
"Motobu making a risky move speeding up the process a little." Master Hand noted. "Chatan taking their time. No rush at all... But they seem to have a great rhythm going..."
"Okay, I'm here, I'm here..." Marth was quickly back and now was helping with the sandbag once again.
Luigi wobbled a bit, yet Foxy acted instantly by lightly moving Luigi back to the center of the beam with his free hand.
However for Nago, Knuckles out of nowhere began to struggle having his balance.
"Stay focused..." Shadow grunted, only for Knuckles to fall off the balance beam before Shadow ended up going as well due to the weigh of the sandbag, Shulk falling in after losing control.
Krystal facepalmed.
"Nago falls in and loses their bag! Gotta get it back and head back to the start!"
Marth stood all alone. "..."
"Marth, just come back in..." An irritated Shadow commanded, with Lowell leaping back into the water to help with his team.
"Motobu almost at the end... and they're through!" Master Hand announced. "Run with that sandbag until you reach your mat to unzip!"
"Keep it up, Motobu!" Shovel Knight clapped from the bench.
"Chatan's through!" Hand watched Chatan speeding it up with the bag. "They were almost perfect on the balance beam! ...Nago just now giving it another go..."
"We're still in this..."
"No we're not..." Shadow replied to an optimistic Shulk.
"Make sure we got everything..." said Greninja.
"You are looking for twenty-one letter tiles..." Master Hand stated.
By the time Nago was halfway through the balance beam taking their time, both Chatan and Motobu quickly retrieved all of their tiles and began work on their puzzles. Luigi and Roy represented Motobu while Zelda and Greninja represented Chatan.
"Trying placing a Y-O-U here..." Zelda told her fellow teammate.
"Here comes Nago! They are surprisingly still in this!"
"Don't lose hope yet, Shadow." Shulk spoke to the hedgehog.
"Whatever..." He wanted to ignore him at that point and start pulling out tiles.
"Try 'tonight' right here..." Luigi suggested to Roy pointing to the final word of the puzzle. "I think this is way easier than the last phrase we did..."
"Maybe because of that final word being too long..." Roy guessed.
"Shulk and Marth are gonna solve the puzzle!" Master Hand changed directions. "...But Motobu thinks they have something..."
"...Okay, we did it! I think..." Luigi stepped away from the puzzle, both he and Roy having their hands up. "Did we?"
Master Hand eyed the phrase.
"MOTOBU WINS IMMUNITY!"
"Yeah!" Luigi jumped with a fist in the air as he and the rest of Motobu celebrated their victory. "We did it!"
"We're looking for one more tribe..."
"Come on..." Shadow started to become annoyed, yet worried at the same time. "We gotta hurry..."
"Okay, 'fire' over here..." Zelda and Greninja were moving pieces as if there was no day nineteen for either of them.
"...Wait, wait, wait,..." With a single blink, Shulk began moving pieces all over the place. "'Tonight' is the big word..."
Marth began shuffling around as well.
"'Your' will be over here. Now let's finish the last word..." Zelda was quickly putting the final word together with Greninja's help.
"We got it! We got it!" shouted Greninja.
"Zelda, say it!"
"'You Keep Your Fire Tonight!'"
"CHATAN WINS IMMUNITY!"
Zelda could not have helped but yell a quick scream of joy as she and her team embraced, only leaving Shulk to stare at the final two words that were incomplete, Knuckles kicking sand away.
"Alright, here you go, Motobu." Master Hand was now handing out the immunity idols. "Immunity."
"That's just about right." Foxy nodded with hands on his hips as Shovel Knight came back.
"Head on out." He told them as he gave Chatan the second place idol. "Chatan, you all sounded like you needed it more than ever, and here you go."
Zelda gladly took it. "Thanks, master."
"You guys can head back to camp because no one will go home from your tribe."
Unfortunately for Nago, all they could have done was stare at them in disappointment of themselves.
"Nago tribe, Krystal, Shadow, Knuckles, Shulk, Marth, one of the five of you will be going home. You have the afternoon to figure out who's it gonna be. I'll see you all at Tribal Council."
The five of them picked up their belongings and began to head out.
"Well, at least it's not all bad." Shulk glanced at the bright side of things. "At least we have the biggest chance of sending a night home. Although, due to trust issues with Shadow, I think it's about time for some payback."
I get really hyped when people start planning behind other peoples' backs for obvious reasons lol. Shadow, better be careful.
So because of Shadow flipping on Mega Man, I guess Shulk and Marth want a little revenge to prove that Shadow isn't the only emperor on that tribe. And if everything falls into place, someone is about to be blindsided lol. Also, congrats Zelda. You are not going home and you officially made the merge. Now your fanbase will officially catch a break, knowing that there's not going to be another side vote off after Peach and Pac-Man... You know what, Mega Man, too. Let's throw him in there because he did all he could for Shadow only to be chopped off by him lol.
As for Motobu, whew... I suppose it was a close call for Shovel Knight since he had the chance of being blindsided...
Questions:
1. The answer to this is kinda obvious (lol), but do you feel bad for Zelda?
2. (Now this time it's the question that is obvious) Who's about to go home from Nago?
3. For Motobu, based on what was said today, would there have been any idol plays perhaps?
4. Who is in the absolute safest position in this game so far?
As usual, if you haven't already, vote on your top five favorite/best players this season and I will see you on Wednesday for the final pre-merge/pre-jury boot of the season!
I encourage all Survivor fans to review!