Survivor - Emperors vs Knights
Chapter 23 - Day 18 Part 2
Okay, so after we had our last challenge before the merge, this will be the last chapter and the last Tribal Council before the merge. And the funny thing is, this chapter was written the day after I posted the chapter where Cloud went home lol.
But now that this chapter is here, the Tribal Council right before the merge typically means a lot of things, and whoever is voted out will have to live with the fact that they were so close to making the merge for the rest of their lives. So... who's it gonna be?
Lemme reply to this guest review:
Historyfan15: First I wanted to get this out of the way by saying thank you for reviewing Kodai Island of how I portrayed Wolf! I kinda portrayed him to be a laid back kinda guy lol. But for this vote off here, yeah. There's a possibility that karma might bite Shadow in the butt after what happened. We'll see...
~KF
Nago
Day 18
"We blew it..." Shadow could not have believed it. "We blew it... We had one job. All we had to do was win today's immunity challenge, and we were not successful. We were all over the place, and we never got the job done. We blew it..."
"I mean, if this was a fair game, Motobu should have had their fair turn to head to the Tribal Council." Marth opinionated. "Even though we are down in numbers, it just feels right and satisfying that Motobu had to go to tribal, since this tribe, plus Chatan, already had their turn to go. Throughout this entire pre-merge, Shovel Knight only attended one Tribal Council and you two are about to attend your fourth. It just doesn't sound fair in my opinion..."
"Well," Shulk shrugged. "I guess that's how the game goes. You win some, you lose some, and then sometimes things are just unpredictable. And if you look up the word unpredictable in the dictionary, the Survivor logo would be right next to it..."
Shadow had his arms folded staring at the ground. "We just need to make sure we're all on the same page over here... for once..."
Marth blinked. "For once? You were the one that turned on Mega, but I agree. We have to come to some form of agreement over here and send one of those knights packing. You're still on board with the Krystal plan?"
"One hundred percent." Shadow said with a nod. "If she goes home tonight, this game will be ours and we would move onto final four."
"Well, if we can somehow pull that off with six other knights in the way," Shulk reminded. "then I am down for it completely."
While Shadow turned away to walk off to the beach, Shulk turned to Marth to find him shaking his head with a sigh.
"I am but a fool to believe that Shadow the Hedgehog will take me, Shulk, and Knuckles all the way to the final four. I don't think Shadow trusts either of us." The hero of Altea had his own plans. "And so, we do not trust him. However, the plan is to make Shadow trust me and Shulk to make sure that he writes down Krystal, and me, Shulk, and Krystal write down Knuckles. The most we can do is to not allow Shadow to get his way for once if we can not vote him out. He's still an original emperor, so I still somehow trust him more than any knight here... I do not know if that makes some sort of sense, but the more original numbers we have, the better for us all. We have to break them up. I still have my hidden immunity idol, and it is under my full protection."
-/-
"Do we need to have a big discussion over it?"
Shadow watched Knuckles using his buff that was normally worn around his neck so that he can wipe his dreadlocks.
"I don't think we should if we both know what we need to do... Do you think Marth and Shulk are talking about you behind your back?"
"I know they are; most likely they are still complaining about Mega not being here every two seconds." Shadow hypothesized. "However, what happened in the past is irrelevant... for now... What is most important is that I need you here, and now. If you leave, it could blow up my game. We vote Krystal tonight, and that is it."
"...But wait, who does she think people are voting for?" Knuckles raised an invisible eyebrow.
The other Mobian shrugged and glanced off a little. "I mean, if it's you, I will not be surprised. However, Krystal is kinda quiet. And the quiet ones sometimes can be pretty sneaky. If she knows what's going on, we're in trouble. We need to make her think she knows everything and who everybody's supposed to be voting for... Are you okay with deception?"
"Dude, deception is part of Survivor. If we need to come up with a story, that will be it..." Knuckles was now rinsing his buff out. "What do I need to tell her?"
"...Well, let's just say that I want to get rid of Marth. We both know Marth's a threat because of the remaining emperors in the game, Marth's the only person of our original tribe that has an idol. I do plan on getting rid of it somehow, so I think your case to Krystal would be to tell her that I'm planning on flipping against Marth so that he'll go home with an idol in his pocket. She should be able to bite it with ease if she gets the chance to save both you and herself."
"I really do like Krystal, but nothing can change the fact that I am on the bottom of the original Knights tribe, and so I want the chance to get out somebody that's in the majority." Knuckles had his back against a rock watching the waves crash down on the beach. "Sure, I hate to write her name down, but the Knights Alliance is already in the majority, anyway. If I told her that Marth's going home because of Shadow flipping again, that's the only way I could stay here, because if she's backed up into a corner, she would not be afraid to write my name down, too. And then when Krystal leaves, I can pretend that it's not my fault, because they would assume that Marth, Shadow, and Shulk dictated the vote. But the way things are going... it's obviously gonna be much more complicated..."
"..." Knuckles had his mouth hung open a little. "...Okay... A little evil, but sweet! I'm all over it. As long as I'm staying here, that's what counts the most."
-/-
"Finally found you."
Startled a bit, Krystal actually jumped a little to see Knuckles approaching the water well.
"Oh, hahaha. Sorry about that..."
"Guess I should make a little more noise next time." The echidna suggested crossing his arms. "So, are we gonna write down each other?"
"Well,..." She sighed, not even surprised that Knuckles came to her about it first. "I'm afraid it's the only way out of it. Don't be too upset if you have write down mine tonight. The knights tribe already has the majority at merge, and if one of us is the sacrificial lamb, then at least we helped give our friends a big chance of winning this game. I feel like both of us lived to our name rather well. ...Then again, if you have an idea, then now's the perfect time to tell me, since I'm not the type that would easily roll over and die."
"Alright, then. Good news... Shadow has a plan." He grinned.
"Oh?"
"He wants to flip against Marth with an idol in his pocket." He began to elaborate. "He knows that he's the reason to why the emperors are now down in numbers, Shadow thinks that he might as well vote out anyone he wants while he can since he knows he was at the bottom of his old tribe. His logic is that if he votes out Marth, that it would cause the rest of the knights to trust him so that they can bring him in as far as they can."
Krystal McCloud's eyes immediately widened at the start of Knuckles's explanation. "Ooh... This sounds rather interesting... So clearly he has no regrets at all betraying Mega."
"Indeed." He nodded in reply. "Shadow's the type of person that will flip and turn on anyone to make it as far as possible to win the game without a care in the world. He's got something up his sleeve. And knowing this in mind, when we both get here on day nineteen at merge, we're gonna use this whole thing to our advantage so we can move forward and keep in whoever we want. You down?"
"Of course I'm down." The vixen laughed. "This is just awesome."
"Dang..." Krystal could not have believed it. "I feel like I'm the lady of the hour over here. One minute Marth and Shulk come by and tell me to blindside Knuckles that will tick off Shadow, next minute here comes Knuckles telling me that Shadow wants to blindside Marth with an idol in his pocket and that will tick off Shulk again. Never thought I would be a swing vote here, but whatever works for me, I'll jump right onto it... But the thing is, both situations can work for me."
"You think we should head back to camp before they all think we're hunting for idols?"
"Yeah, let's leave this place..." Knuckles nodded as the two exited the area.
"At first I thought that I had no other choice but to vote off Knuckles just to save my own skin, because I'll be with my fellow knights anyway, but now I can either do that, or vote Chatan strong and send Marth packing, where I get to keep the both of us here... and me and Knuckles didn't have to do anything! This is allll old Nago. Battle of the emperors here. I hope my husband and son brought their popcorn so they can see how these emperors act around here."
"Are we all ready to go?"
"Not yet, one sec..." Knuckles answered Krystal as everyone turned to see him drinking from a coconut. "Okay, I'm good."
"I don't know if you should really feel evil for being an emperor or not, since not all emperors gotta be evil." Shulk said with a headshake. "However, I feel like that things aren't exactly turn out the way one would expect. And as long as I know what would happen, I'd feel excited and satisfied."
He, Marth, Shadow, Knuckles, and Krystal all grabbed their torches and left their camp.
Tribal Council
Night 18
The swapped Nago tribe all entered the Tribal Council area and sat down in their spots, with Shulk, Krystal, and Marth all sitting at the top, Knuckles and Shadow remaining on the bottom.
"Alright." Master Hand got the conversation going. "So, here we are again at Tribal Council. Three emperors, three knights, this time with Marth Lowell who has returned from Exile Island a while ago after Mega Man was voted out."
He nodded.
"Speaking of Mega Man, who was also an emperor, was blindsided the last time you all were here. Shulk," He pointed. "what happened?"
"Well, it was quite obvious what happened. Someone decided to make a move and flip." He hunched his shoulders rapidly shaking his head. "I guess they figured that since Marth was an emperor sitting on the jury bench, he was gonna come back to this tribe, anyway. So Shadow decided to turn on Mega, and now Marth is the replacement for the group..."
"...Shadow?"
"Master Hand, a phrase said during a past immunity challenge to not waste an opportunity, and that was what the challenge told us to do, and I did just that." He defended. "I had an opportunity in front of me to pull the trigger against Mega Man, and I own up to it to this day."
"Marth, what was your reaction when you got back to camp?" Master was curious.
"I was just absolutely stunned at the result." Marth's head shake proved that he was still not over it. "I thought we were supposed to be a team. If we were going to eat one of our own, it always has to be at the right time. The emperors had the disadvantage in the swap overall, and one of us is still the first victim because of it."
"I still think that it was the right time." Shadow turned his head directly to Marth's.
"But, Shadow, listen... I understand that at times you only have to care about yourself and your own decisions in the game, but at the same time, everyone is aware that playing by your lonesome is not going to get anyone anywhere. Balance is key. For example, look at what happened. Pac-Man has been eliminated." Lowell recalled. "And if swapped Chatan was sitting here right now, Zelda would be making her final plea deal only to be voted out the island right after Pac-Man, making everything worse for the rest of us. The Survivor Gods sent us here one last time for a reason."
"And what would that be, Marth?" asked the master.
He sighed. "I just want to do what is best for all of us. I still want to work with you, Shadow. We are coming into the merge down in numbers, now the Knights Alliance has the numbers advantage. We are already planning how we are going to work together to... somehow get the majority back, but if we're going to be down in numbers, voting off a knight tonight would at least increase our chances, even though not all off the emperors trust each other because of what happened."
"Really?" Shadow popped an invisible eyebrow. "Last time I checked, you said it would have been more fair for Motobu to be sent to tribal since they never went, and you even said that Shovel Knight only attended Tribal Council once."
"Indeed I said that." Marth nodded in confirmation. "...However, at this point, I understand why the Survivor Gods chose us instead. If we can just come to an agreement, it would help all of us. Mega Man is already eliminated, but it doesn't mean that we do not have another opportunity at this moment."
...
"Krystal, so far this entire discussion has been about voting someone off based on who seemingly had the favor in the tribe shuffle, and there has been a lot of talk about voting off a knight tonight, and neither you nor Knuckles have spoken. What's your opinion of it either though you were on the emperors' opposing tribe?"
"Well,... I guess I can only root for my people to stay in the game, hahaha!" She took a moment to laugh. "Sure, if I was in Marth's shoes, I would do what's best for myself and for the rest of the tribe, while at the same time, if you feel threatened, then you cut people off when necessary. I was almost voted out last tribal, but Shadow for some reason felt threatened by Mega Man. I don't know why for certain, but as long as both me and Knuckles are still in the game, I guess whatever happens is good for the both of us."
"You agree with that Knuckles?"
"Yeah, I agree." He bobbed his head up and down. "Me and Krystal are like the sacrificial lambs just to save the rest of the knights, but I felt extremely relieved after last tribal. However,... this time in particular, most likely it's between me and her."
"Oh, so you don't think another emperor is getting his torch snuffed tonight."
Turning his head side to side slowly, he gave out a sigh. "I believe we have no other choice. The chances of one of us leaving are even greater this time. The emperors might have came back together and came to an agreement like Marth said, and like I said before, me and Krystal are the sacrificial lambs here. And if it means a lot to the rest of the knights so none of them are going home, so be it."
"Shulk, if a knight goes tonight, how will you, Shadow, Marth, and the rest of the emperors plan to get the majority back over the knights?" The hand wondered. "You would have to go through at least two Tribal Councils for two knights to be eliminated back to back."
"Well, I guess we have to do what other people do." He replied. "Look for the cracks. As the old saying goes, in literally every single alliance, there's always somebody at the top, and somebody on the bottom. I think Shadow might have felt that way, but in my opinion, if I was in his shoes, I would have waited at least a couple more tribals for the backstabbing."
"You have your opinion, and I have mine..."
"I know, that's what I said..."
"Whatever..."
Marth facepalmed, while Krystal nearly covered her whole face hiding a laugh, Knuckles not afraid to grin largely shaking his head.
"Well, here we have the Emperors Alliance being all over the place right now having a debate, and on the other hand," Master Hand held his hand out to Knuckles and Krystal. "we have the knights wanting to fight for each other, even though it seems that it's unlikely that both of them will survive. But, you all only come to tribal to vote off one person. Let's see who that would be. It is time to vote. Shulk, you're up."
"Whew..." The heir to the Monado said as he got up from his spot and took his time in heading over to the booth.
"I'm afraid due to trust issues, the sacrificial lamb is you buddy. Sorry."
After he folded his piece of parchment up and placed it in the urn, by the time he came back it was Krystal's turn to vote, who was rather patient about writing the name she wanted.
Following Marth, up next with Shadow writing down Krystal.
"This was the plan only if we lost. Otherwise, I would have tolerated working with you. But unfortunately, you are not the number one priority."
Once Knuckles voted, he nimbly sat down and waited for Master Hand.
"I'll go tally the votes..."
Knuckles had a thumb beneath his chin as Marth stared at the master tallying the votes patiently, Shadow on the other hand not even looking in that direction.
The large, white-gloved like hand came back.
"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."
...
Marth just blinked.
"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..."
Shulk watched the master uncap the urn.
"First vote... Knuckles."
"..."
"...Krystal. One vote Krystal, one vote Knuckles."
Shadow cocked his head to the side with tied up arms.
Knuckles and Krystal exchanged glances for a moment.
"Krystal."
"...?"
That was when the vixen looked confounded.
"Two votes Krystal, one vote Knuckles."
Shulk had a slight smirk on his face.
"Marth."
Lowell immediately lowered his head with a jaw dropping expression raising both of his eyebrows.
Shulk was suddenly eyeing everyone confusingly.
"Two votes Krystal, one vote Knuckles, one vote Marth, one vote left..."
Shadow curled up his lips.
"...Knuckles."
Shadow the Hedgehog unfolded his lips and he and Knuckles stared at one another, before the hedgehog almost instantly turned to Marth and Shulk, who were just as confused was Krystal. Basically, Master Hand was witnessing the bewilderment looks of literally the entire tribe.
"We're tied. Two Knuckles, two votes Krystal."
Marth shifted from Krystal to Knuckles, to back at Krystal again, ending up eyeing Shadow the longest who was staring back in return.
Knuckles was also eyeing Shadow with his hands up in the air.
"What just happened?" Shulk whispered.
"So here's what we're gonna do." Master Hand moved onto the next step. "We're gonna have a re-vote. Knuckles, Krystal, you will not vote. Everybody else, you can only vote for Knuckles and Krystal. Shulk, wanna come grab the urn?"
"..." Instead of him walking to the voting urn, Marth chose to lean over to whisper to Shadow, the blonde man promptly heading over.
"What was that about?" He asked.
"Who wrote my name down?" Marth whispered to the anthropomorphic animal.
"Okay..." Master Hand noted. "Maybe he doesn't wanna come grab the urn..."
Krystal leaned in closer to Knuckles to whisper.
"I thought Marth's name was supposed to come up thrice. Why did his name only come up once, and mine twice?"
"I dunno..."
"...You don't know?"
"What was the plan we discussed before?" Shadow was heard. "I told you both on what we were going to do. Knuckles' name came up twice tonight."
Knuckles himself headed over to see the black hedgehog himself as Shulk and Marth were now having their own conversation.
"How did my name come up?"
"I... don't know... I thought the plan was to vote out Knuckles. Did he write your name down?"
"Were they coming after me?" Knuckles questioned his fellow Mobian. "If Krystal would have voted for me I would have been voted out!"
"I could have sworn I had them in my pocket, but I guess now I'm glad we discussed something else before we came here..."
"Well, I can't vote anymore. You three are gonna have to decide..."
Shadow promptly butted in Marth and Shulk's conversation.
"Look, let's talk one more time. Who are we voting out?"
The two knights meanwhile were back in their spots eyeing the master.
"Well..." He said. "I guess for the first time in Survivor history, people have decided to whisper after the votes have been read resulting in a tie..."
Shortly after, the emperors of the swapped Nago tribe all sat back down.
"...So Shulk,... now are you ready to come grab the urn?"
"I guess so..." He responded.
"Okay, come on and get it."
Master Hand gave Shulk the urn and he made his way back to the voting area to place the urn down and voted again, Marth Lowell and Shadow the Hedgehog following his lead.
"I'll go tally the votes..."
After he left, Krystal turned her head side to side thinking over what just occurred.
Master Hand was now back.
"I'll read the votes..."
Literally no members from the tribe made any kind of reaction or emotion.
"First vote..."
...
"Krystal."
Not even a blink. Shulk and Marth eyed each other once more.
Knuckles still sat frozen.
"Seventh person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Krystal. That's two, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."
"Wow..." She got up from her spot and grabbed said torch, literally no one looking at each other anymore, with the exception of Knuckles watching the vixen making her way to Master Hand.
"Krystal, the tribe has spoken."
Snuff.
"Time for you to go."
After she left, Shulk turned to Shadow once more, who was too busy staring at the ground.
"Well,..." Master Hand spoke his final words for the night. "...even though a knight was voted out tonight, for some reason, it was just a bit more complicated for the emperors to do so. I don't know the details of what just happened, but I guess I'm gonna let you all return home and discuss it from there. Grab your torches, head back to camp. ...Goodnight."
They all stood, retrieved their torches, and exited the tribal.
#Blindside
Votes:
Marth - Knuckles
Shadow - Krystal
Shulk - Knuckles
Krystal - Marth
Knuckles - Krystal
Re-Vote:
Marth - Krystal
Shadow - Krystal
Shulk - Krystal
14th Place: Krystal
2-2-1 ; 3-0
"Shadow the Hedgehog is a master manipulator, hahaha. Seriously. I really thought he would vote out Marth today. Knuckles played me as well. I had a good time out here, I was trying to play mostly an anybody-but-me, under the radar game, but I guess if this is how they get players like me out, congrats to them for that I guess... Dang, Knuckles. Hahaha!"
Castaways Remaining:
Marth, Shadow, Shulk, Knuckles / Sheik, Greninja, Bonnie, Zelda / Luigi, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Roy, Freddy
(The numbers at the bottom where "14th Place" is how the vote went. Krystal went home in a 2-2-1 ; 3-0 vote since it was a tie at first.)
So even though we can thank the Shadow-Knuckles duo for making this move, the entire tribe was still blindsided for different reasons as three of the five people received votes. Shadow manipulated Krystal into thinking that he was gonna flip against Marth, since he knew that Krystal would think of him as a backstabber to his tribe after Mega Man's blindside. But dang, Krystal (lol)... You could've made a lot further, Krystal. But like she said herself that Shadow was a "master manipulator. Now her husband, Fox McCloud (who competed on the last season), is gonna find out what happened.
Okay, with that out of the way, this is it. This was the last chapter before the merge, which means that all the tribes will come together on the next day, with thirteen people left in the game. It's really amazing on how we're through the pre-merge already! And because of that taking place, I can finally start planning my next season. Major announcements tomorrow!
Questions:
1. What was your reaction of this vote?
2. What was your reaction of the tribal altogether (lol)?
3. Who is the biggest threat of the whole game right now?
4. What would your boot order of this season would be at this point?
Watch the official YouTube intro of the season, vote for your top five players for this season, and next time, it's gonna be a big day. Can't wait for next time and I encourage all Krystal fans to review! ...She will be missed lol.