Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 26 - Day 21 Part 2

Welcome back to Emperors vs Knights where we will have our moment of truth of who is going to be the eighth person voted out of Survivor, and thus becoming the first member of the jury. And here are the following targets that have been thrown around: Freddy, Shulk, Marth, and Greninja, with it highly likely being one of the former two so far, so we'll see what comes up.

So after whatever happens at tribal, not only would we have our first jury member, but this also means that it would be time to start my side fic "Emperors vs Knights - Ponderosa" where for those of you who don't know, the players that makes up the jury phase of the game where they get voted out get to interact each other somewhere at a Ponderosa Cafe of some sort during the events of the game until Day 39 where they have to face the final three. There are going to be ten jury members like last season, and every time someone is eliminated from this point gets a chapter all about them in my side fic.

But we'll talk more about that later. Let's continue to enjoy the main fic here!

Historyfan15: It actually seems to be possible knowing what's happened so far with original Nago. Wont be surprised if that occurs depending on how the vote is gonna play out

~KF

Bikutā

Day 21

The Bikutā tribe all re-entered their camp one by one, most of them congratulating Sheik on her victory.

"The guys have flopped today..." Shulk laughed. "I mean, balancing is without a doubt a whole girls thing, but man. There were eleven guys up there, and it's pretty neat that the final two in that challenge were both women, especially Zelda of all people doing well, which was nice to see, because it proves that Zelda may not be terrible at challenges as Ghirahim or Shadow might have thought. I mean, for me, I've tried my best at balancing, but I didn't pull it off. Oh well. Top four isn't that bad."

"Sheik, you rock." He told her, and judging by the tone of his voice, Sheik knew without a doubt the heir to the Monado meant that.

"Aw, thanks." She smirked. "Never thought that I would win the first individual immunity challenge of all things, but I guess fate chose me to win!"

"Guess I'd better get good now." Foxy said. "I know that wasn't the first balancing challenge, and it's not going to be last. Looks like I need to really prepare myself here..."

"Well, at the same time, it doesn't mean that it's going to be the main goal of the next challenge." Sheik reminded. "Maybe if it's something different, then that means that somebody else could win."

"You know, come to think of it, not a lot of the fanbase care that much about the challenges." Greninja brought up. "I mean, I can understand why, but at the same time, it's still part of the show. I do find a little competition to be fun just to see everybody out there competing for a prize. Somebody has to win."

"When I watch Survivor back at home, I enjoy every bit of it. When it comes to people having nice, general conversations with one another on deserted islands and other places as well as the strategizing, Tribal Councils, loved ones visits, and even the challenges. Every the show has to offer, I'm all in. But for some reason, some people find the challenges to be the least entertaining part of the show. I mean, I know it's not Tribal Council, but it doesn't mean that the challenges have no impact at all, because without the challenges, it's not like we can send all twenty people to the first Tribal Council at the same time. What else can we do to determine who gets to go to tribal first? Drawing rocks?"

"I know it'd better not be a puzzle challenge, that's for sure." commented Knuckles as some members of the black tribe began to separate. Wanting to take advantage of it all, Shulk managed to motion some of his fellow former Nago members to follow him along for a walk.

"Unfortunately, in spite of my greatest efforts in that challenge by trying to stay balanced for as long as possible," said Zelda. "we were unable to prevent one of the knights from winning immunity. Marth is the most likely emperor to have the idol at this point, so right before the challenge I was beginning to figure that if one of us won immunity, and if Knuckles isn't flipping, than it would decrease the knights options of who to vote for. However, chances are that we might not even need the idol because of Knuckles possibly flipping. Of those seven knights, he would be the most likely person to jump on our side, thanks to Shadow. So perhaps it was a good thing to keep him in over Krystal on the Nago tribe after all."

-/-

All six of the emperors for the first time since the merge managed to come together over by the water well.

"So back to our game plan, Greninja proved himself to be even more of a threat when it comes to challenges, which is more than enough information we need to hopefully blindside and take him out in order so we can break the game wide open for all of us. But the only way to make sure is that we are all on the same page."

"Okay..." Shulk started the conversation. "Does anyone have any idea on who the knights are voting for?"

None of them responded verbally even though there were some head shakes.

"Okay, so none of us know anything yet, which is understandable, since for all we know, they don't even know who they're gunning for at this moment even though tribal will happen in a few hours." Shulk said. "However, we already decided who we're voting for. It's still Greninja, right?"

"That seems to be a logical choice in my opinion." Shadow replied. "I mean, for sure we're not going to target Luigi of all people. It would be a stupid move otherwise. He's not a threat..."

"He could eventually become a threat if he has this underdog story going for him, but that's a topic for another time." Shulk wanted everyone to stay focus on the main issue. "All I know is that it's all about you and Knuckles."

Shadow nodded. "Understood. I'll continue on talking with him more. Just don't try to change the plan again behind my back."

"Oh, we won't." Roy put his hands out in front of him. "As a matter of fact, this might as well be our last talk for the rest of the day. We vote out Greninja, and together we can change the whole game to prove to the knights that we could still work together and work together well."

Shadow turned on his heel and Freddy followed.

-/-

Hanging off one of the many tree branches in the forest, a large spider was wrapping around a fly in its own web, preparing itself to have its meal.

"So I'm still the number one target, right?"

"I highly doubt things have changed up to this point." Shadow told him, as they were now on the path to collect water for themselves. "However, I do know that it's obvious that we need to work with each other from this point forward. I've never had the chance to consider on actually building an alliance with you since I was too busy dealing with the fact that I was on the outs in the early stages of the game."

"That I can understand, even though at this point we will never know for sure..."

"I believe that indeed I was the next target, but that's a side story." Shadow had bigger thinks to worry about and Freddy knew it all too well. "We need to come to a decision of our game plan. The emperors assume that Knuckles is a swing vote for tonight, but clearly that is not the case since if anything, we're the ones that are more likely the swing votes even though this is not a case to which a swing vote actually exists at the moment."

"Without a doubt my life is on the line tonight." Freddy knew what was scheduled to occur that night. "Not just for me, but Shadow wants to flip, I'm apparently supposed to be part of this Hidden Five alliance of some sort, the other emperors need me for the numbers, but all that relies on me not going home. Yet unbeknownst to literally anyone, I have an idol. But I'm not just gonna sit here and just wait to tribal just to play it, because since this is only the first post-merge Tribal Council, I have to save it if I don't need to use it. Clearly Foxy is with me, and apparently he has both Knuckles and Bonnie with him. But the bottom line is that I need to make sure I don't go home, or else..."

"I think that the best way to make sure that we earn old Chatan's trust is to tell them who the Emperors Alliance is voting for, so that it would put them at ease a little bit." Shadow suggested. "What do you say?"

"Well, I guess as long as I'm not going home, I'm all over anything that I can help do at this point."

-/-

Since the old Chatan tribe knew that all of the emperors were away once more, they (minus Foxy) took advantage of it all by having their own conversation.

"Alright, so we've regrouped here." Shovel Knight started the conversation. "Not including Zelda, Shulk made it pretty far into that challenge. Marth and Roy aren't that much of a concern in terms of challenges as of now, and it seems like that the only time we need to worry about Zelda for challenges is when it comes to balancing and puzzles."

"Well, I think that Zelda should be our last option when it comes to who we're voting out right now." Sheik opinionated. "Literally all the other emperors are more physical than she is. And of those other emperors, excluding Freddy, Shulk is next in line. If it's not Freddy, than if we vote Shulk out tonight, it would increase our chances of winning challenges. Or else, he could go on a run. But we're obviously not completely trusting Freddy yet, which is why no matter what our plan is, his name is going to be written down anyway."

Bonnie began to chortle. "I just think that it's so funny how we're the ones that would be on the bottom as the emperors discuss what to do with us, but the knights are in their shoes instead."

Sheik, knowing what he meant, chuckled a bit as well. "And how does it feel?"

"...Well,... I can't say that any of us are used to it. Probably not even Cloud!"

"So as we are trying to discuss who should be going home, we're still trying to process the fact that the Knights Alliance have the majority over the Emperors Alliance on this tribe." Bonnie admitted. "It just feels funny to me, not that I'm complaining of course. I mean, if we were all on the bottom more likely we all would have worked together to break up the emperors, but since it's the exact opposite, now that we know that there are clearly cracks within the emperors, we have to decide which 'boss' should the employees take out first, and we all need to work together to make sure that happens until we can figure out which boss we like the most."

"I mean, I don't know about you all,..." Luigi was shaking his head. "but I'd rather not break our votes up. I think that it's more possible that the emperors could very well live up to their name, take advantage of the situation, and cast all six of their votes on the same person to make us look foolish..."

"And that is our number one fear." Greninja nodded in agreement. "We really have to know where people stand. Shadow's vote is not even in the question anymore, but Freddy on the other hand..."

"Well, if you guys want, I can talk to him about it." Bonnie volunteered.

"Me too." Sheik raised her hand.

"Ugh..." Greninja suddenly said.

"What's wrong, Greninja?"

He sighed and shook his head staring at the ground. "It's nothing... It's just that I would feel kinda bad if the vote is for Shulk tonight. I only knew the guy for three days and he's apparently a super fan like I am..."

"Well, if we do end up voting for Shulk, it's just a risk that we're just gonna have to take." Knuckles said. "We all know the consequences, and it's like drawing rocks. We're willing to risk putting our necks on the line just to make sure we have the trust of one person."

"I still don't know, guys..." Luigi was still not fully on board.

"I mean, I can easily understand where Luigi is coming from." Shovel Knight was with him. "None of us except Knuckles have received a single vote this season and if one of us is going this tribal because we didn't vote together, it's rather unfair, and would look really bad because we would all know that it would be our own fault..."

"Maybe the emperors wouldn't have been on the same page either if they had the majority." Bonnie guessed. "Probably even worse... But for us, we have our two options and not everyone is on board with the same plan right now. I mean, for my game, I know what I need to do, but of course I have to keep my mouth shut for obvious reasons. I mean, I think I could like Freddy, so being in an alliance with him wouldn't be so bad. But now I have to talk with him in secret while at the same time pretending that I'm on board with going with the knights all the way to the end, or at least as long as we possibly could... Man... All I gotta say is that if Freddy won immunity today, that would have changed everything..."

-/-

Shadow found some time with Knuckles and Zelda by the beach after the original Chatan members separated.

"Are you sure you're with us?" Zelda questioned the echidna of the group.

"I am..." He nodded.

"Why don't you tell us who you are all voting for?" Shadow recommended.

"...Nothing is certain right now." Knuckles responded. "But even if I don't have the time to talk to either of you of the target, all I know is that I am open to put down whoever's name you all would like. Who is it for you guys?"

"Well, me and the other emperors just had a conversation in the forest." Zelda explained. "Right now we think that Greninja is the right choice to send home. He's strong, he is close with Sheik, and we doubt that anyone would play an idol for him if one of the knights decide to play one."

"Okay, I guess I'm putting down Greninja, then." Knuckles said with hands out. "Listen Zel, I know I might the only knight in your alliance if I put his name down, but after he goes home, it's six emperors and six knights. ...Do you really think everyone will stick together at that point?"

"There's a chance of that not happening." She presumed. "So hopefully if you come over to our side, maybe the game will break open."

"I didn't know if Shadow asked me to tell Zelda who to vote for just so he can play both sides," said Knuckles. "so I just said that we basically don't know yet. I was gonna say Freddy, but I want them to believe as much false information as possible. They probably think that I'm flipping because they basically think that I'm a bonehead and that I didn't care about numbers anymore... Ugh... And it really irritates me when people think like that, because if this was real life, I'd tell them that I'm much smarter than I look. Even I understand that being the only knight in that alliance, I'm obviously at the bottom of that not counting Shadow and Freddy... who would still be three against four in that situation so it wouldn't even help..."

He sighed. "But, this is not real life. Since I am playing a game for a million dollars, I gotta do what most of the people would do here in this position, which is to say as little as possible. And sometimes for me the hardest part is keeping my mouth shut because I get annoyed, so I'll try my best to control my emotions..."

-/-

"So, yeah..." The red fox said. "Basically they think you're a physical threat that has been on the Motobu tribe, and that you possibly have an idol. They're trying to blindside you."

He sighed in reaction not even looking at Michaels. "Just tell me what I need to do..."

"Actually, I was just getting to that." He replied. "Now, I've been having some conversations with my alliance, talking to them into keeping you here over someone else just so that you can be part of our alliance. But, listen... I don't know if Shadow or someone else told you this already, but... You're gonna have to flip on your tribe..."

"..." His eyes started to widen. "...Really?"

"Look, I'm not just saying that just to intimidate you or anything, it's just the only way you can make it out of this. I've tried convincing my alliance into letting you stay, but there's some smart people over there. They are not trusting you so easily after some of them only knew you for three days. They're putting you to a test to make sure you're not lying to them just to be safe, and that's something I can't even blame you for..."

"..."

"I know Shadow's flipping and I'm not even surprised, but I had no plans on flipping on my entire tribe at all." He shook. "I didn't think I was at the bottom, nor did I think I was at the top of the totem pole. I was just doing what people were telling me to do so I wouldn't seem as that threatening, but since the other tribe is viewing me as a target, looks like I have to do whatever they say just so I can be here tomorrow, including being forced to make decisions that I might not even wanna make..."

"..." He finally sighed. "Okay... I'll do it... Just tell me who to vote for..."

"The only way you would stay here is if you vote for Shulk, unless the target somehow changes to somebody else, which is unlikely, but if I don't tell you if the target is changed, you might hear from either Bonnie or Knuckles. Anyway," He got up from the shelter and left. "I gotta go before my alliance starts to question where I am."

"Alright, thank you..."

"Like I said before, even though I want to keep Freddy, I still want to help send an emperor home at the same time. Because if the alliances are tied, and the emperors somehow end up getting the majority, I don't think me, Bonnie, and Knuckles have that many relationships that would keep us going if the other knights decide to throw us three under the bus."

Not too long after Foxy made his exit, Bonnie and Sheik came by.

"So... We heard that you wanted to flip..." Bonnie started.

"..." Freddy glanced off to the side. "Yeah... I think that's my best option at this point. What do I have to do to get you all to trust me?"

"Well, first of all, do you think that Marth has an idol?" Sheik asked him.

"I mean, I haven't seen any proof that he has one, but I don't see any other emperor having an idol from that tribe." Freddy shook his head.

"You know what, I have an idea." Bonnie suddenly said. "How about in order for us to gain your trust, how about you tell us who your alliance is supposed to be voting for."

"Greninja." He said immediately.

"...Oh." Sheik widened her eyes a little. "Okay, then. I guess that's that..."

"Guys, I really want to work with you. I'll vote for Shulk and then we'll discuss plans from there."

"I wanted to have my own conversation with Freddy since I never had to the chance to talk to him in private yet, but then Sheik decides to come with me too, so I had to play up in front of the Sheik while at the same time, I wanted to work with Freddy for more reasons than the knights have. And so I thought to increase their chances of trusting Freddy, I had to ask him who were they planning on voting for, and he told us Greninja immediately. Hopefully that'll make them think for a minute..."

"Okay, so if Greninja's gonna be the target, than the seven of us are gonna vote for Shulk." Sheik concluded. "If any of the emperors approach you to dicuss anything else important, if you have time, maybe you can leak over to us."

He nodded in reply.

"Hey Sheik, why don't ya find Foxy and make sure he knows about the plan." Bonnie suggested. "I wanted to stay here at the shelter for a bit, anyway."

"Sure, no prob..."

She was now out of sight, leaving both anthropomorphic animals alone.

"Hey..."

"Hi..." Freddy blinked. "Were you playing up just because she was there?"

He laughed. "Had to man. Foxy was the one who told me about this Hidden Five alliance idea. Even though the idea sorta came outta nowhere for me, I feel like for me at this point, I need to have some plan that will help me get to the end. Wouldn't you say?"

"Well I definitely agree now that my name's thrown out there..."

"Yeah, sorry to hear that, man..." He rubbed the back of his head. "But, don't worry. Me, Foxy, Knuckles, and even Shadow are trying to protect you than it will be everything. What did Foxy talk to you about?"

"He basically said that the only way I can survive is if I flip on my alliance and write down Shulk..."

"Oh, okay..." Bonnie glanced off for a bit. "Well, just to tell you in advance, they are trying to test you. Don't be surprised if your name still comes up at tribal..."

"..."

"I feel like I'm being taken into consideration on whether or not I'm going to be the Chatan Alliance's new manager at whatever job they work at. They're saying that they could trust me, but they don't know if what I'm saying is exactly all the way true. I mean, a simple solution would be that I need to play my idol, just to make sure I don't go home with an idol in my pocket. But I have a million questions going through my mind? Do I just let things slide and hope that I'm not going home with an idol in my pocket? Do I play the idol right away right when Master Hand asks if anyone has one not even caring who's getting the majority of the votes? Or do I plan on deciding at tribal? But at the end of the day, no matter what happens, based on everything that I heard today, there's a hundred percent chance that my name is gonna come up at least once..."

The tribe of Bikutā grabbed their torches and exited the camp.

Tribal Council

Night 21

Shulk, Freddy, Bonnie, Shovel Knight, Knuckles, Greninja, Zelda, Foxy, Shadow, Marth, Luigi, and Roy all made their way through the path, up the stairs, and into the Tribal Council area where Master Hand awaited for each one of them to place down their torches in the back and seat themselves so that the tribal discussion would officially commence.

"Alright, so the merge." Master Hand said. "We started off this season with ten emperors, ten knights. Both tribes attended Tribal Council twice and we have discussions on basically what makes you you in this game. So now we have thirteen people left in the game, each person being voted at this point being part of what would become the jury over there. But numbers wise, we have seven knights, and six emperors. Roy, from you're point of view, since you're one of the six remaining emperors in the game, were you ever thinking to yourself of what could have happened if the roles were reversed as far as numbers go?"

"Absolutely." He nimbly nodded in response. "I thought about it constantly ever since we merged, and I bet that some of them even thought about that when we knew that the knights were going to have the majority."

"I'm pretty sure that every one of us has thought about that at least once." Greninja giggled a bit. "Everyone was preparing of what was to come if the knights were going to be on the bottom, since naturally that would be the case, but seeing the roles being reversed, it does kinda change things up a bit, even though we knew that it was not as if it would be impossible or anything."

Roy nodded in complete agreement as well as a few others.

"So Shadow, since you're an emperor that is on the bottom, what does that mean for you?"

"Well, if the knights would have fought to get the majority, than since the roles are indeed reversed for this particular situation, all old Nago has to do is to simply do the same."

"Which means that you all have been trying to find a crack?"

"Yes, we have. And as usual, nothing is official until you are reading those names. And even though I voted out one of my own at a previous tribal, which is something that will always be talked about,"

Marth turned to him.

"if I can think that the best thing to is to have old Nago stick together, then you know that Nago's best interest is to have everyone stick together."

"So Foxy, if all the emperors are planning on sticking together since they are actually the underdogs here, if the six of them vote for the same person, if you guys split your votes, you are all shooting yourselves in the foot."

"Exactly." He nodded with arms folded. "And we know that one of these topdogs here have an idol, so without question we have to plan correctly, or else we're screwed, and we're definitely going to be the underdogs here if old Nago gets the majority. No matter what our tribe name is and no matter how many of what tribe is living on this beach with the other, not one person started this game with literally everybody else, including the ones that have already been voted out."

"Sheik, that means if everyone in the Emperors Alliance is voting for the same person, and everyone in the Knights Alliance is voting for the same person, then that basically means that everyone is thinking: 'Oh okay, if it's down to tribal lines, let's just see how it goes.' A plan so simple, but nothing is official until after the votes are read."

"That's true without a doubt." The ninja completely agreed with the hand's statement. "The emperors are looking for someone to flip, just like we would have looked for someone to flip. Like Shadow said, he voted out Mega Man, but for all we know, he could stay loyal to his alliance at the end of the day and have as many votes for one knight as possible and hopes that someone joins over to their side voting off one of our own. This is why most merge Tribal Councils are the most significant, other than the very first Tribal Council of the season."

"So what you're saying is that, 'Yeah, I know how the numbers are. But if the plan is to have everyone stick together, let's just test it out at Tribal Council, just to make sure.'"

She nodded.

"I mean, we're going to tribal, anyway..." Bonnie commented with a smirk. "Votes are basically always gonna be tested it out whether things go your way or not. But if it does come down to tribal lines, then like most seasons, it would dictate the rest of the game."

"Shovel Knight, since you appear to be in the majority, what would that mean for you if someone does flip over to the emperors?"

"Well, if someone flips over, I guess everyone has their own agenda on how to play the game moving forward." He answered. "But for me, I doubt it will make things better for me to jump ship, since the emperors could be writing my name down because I've been to Exile Island. Sheik has been to Exile Island as well."

"And while we're on it, let's talk about idols right now." The hand changed subjects. "Three people have been to Exile Island and they all are still here. And to top it all off, no idols have been played this season thus far. Luigi, do you think that everyone that has been to exile is perhaps lucky? Because for all you know, their names could have been written down since the only person that was with that was on exile before the swap was Shovel Knight. So do you think it's because of luck, or do you think that everybody who might have one just feel comfortable enough that they don't even need to play it just to be safe?"

"Well, if everybody does feel comfortable here, then that means we have some really good players." The plumber replied. "Some people are good at reading others and if that's the case, then everyone is doing a good job."

"Marth, unlike old Chatan, you are the only one from old Nago that has been to exile. Do you think people are throwing your name out there?"

"Without question." He leaned forward a bit. "My name was literally written down at the last Tribal Council in an attempt to get me out with an idol on my pocket assuming that Shadow would turn once again."

Shadow eyed right at Lowell at that comment.

"But even though I have no hard feelings obviously, at the same time, it is quite concerning that things could be even worse for my game now that we're at the merge and I'm still here, because I think that I'm a huge target at this stage in the game, with the only reason being that I could have the idol. Yet in my defense, it does not mean take every other person into consideration. Since people have literally said that there is a low chance that the idol was on Exile Island, suppose someone here managed to find the idol without even needing one clue that would have helped them look for it? And that does not go for just old Nago members,... but for also the one knight that is sitting here that has been on Nago as well."

"You of course are talking about Knuckles." Master Hand concluded.

"Well,..." The red Mobian himself raised his hands in the air. "I for sure don't have it. I think that eleven days without a swap is more than enough time for one of the emperors to pick up the idol..."

"But Knuckles, at the same time, you do understand where Knuckles is coming from. Not everyone can find idols," The host snapped his finger. "just like that."

"Oh, I agree. Just a matter of me defending my game..."

"Alright, so Greninja, if in fact this vote does come down to tribal lines, what will the plan be afterwards?" Master Hand wondered. "Predict the future. We would have one person being on the jury, assuming that it would be an emperor from your point of view, where do you go from here? Is it still going to be Emperors vs Knights?"

"...Well, I guess that all depends on this vote right here." The Pokemon hunched his shoulders. "Nothing is official until we know what votes are there, who's name was written down, and was I involved in the plan that we discussed and have been told was happening tonight. Of course if it turns out different, then that's another story. But I believe that once I vote on who I believe is going home, and if things go according the plan, then we should discuss what to do next. Right now it may seem like I'm only thinking tribal by tribal rather than planning ahead, but the merge Tribal Council of a season is no joke, because one this tribal is done, that's the rest of the game, and then I can plan ahead."

"Freddy, unfortunately for you and the rest of the emperors, nobody in the Emperors Alliance won the challenge today. Final two had Sheik and Zelda, Sheik wins immunity." He held his hand out to her. "So you guys have less options, because otherwise, if you for example won immunity, then you guys would have had a better chance against the knights. But since that's not the case, scrambling and throwing each other under the bus would how you all would be living up to your name. Were you a part of any conversations about that in particular?"

"I haven't been throwing any of the other emperors under the bus one bit at all." He shook his head as he was now the center of attention. "Right now I'm just trying to live day by day here. At this point if each and every person here is sticking to their tribe, when it comes to being told what to do, Chatan most likely had some conversations on which of the six of us they are the least likely to be comfortable around I guess."

Some of the other members of the Bikutā tribe laughed at that.

"I mean if I make it to day twenty-two, that means that they're basically telling me, 'Okay, we like you, and we're okay with letting you tell us what to do. We'll let you stay for now.'"

"Well put." Shulk agreed with a snicker. "We're all applying for a job to be hired as a new manager of this tribe and they're going by the process of elimination and if no one is gonna flip, then one of us will lose their flame tonight. Then again, if there's confusion among the co-workers, then perhaps I have even more of a chance."

No one else had anything to say.

"...Alright, so I guess if there's nothing else to be added here, then that means that it is time, to, vote." The tribal discussion was now finished. "Zelda, you're up."

The Hyrulian calmly left her spot, made her way past everyone, and to the Tribal Council voting booth spelling out Greninja's name.

"I think not all of the co-workers are on the same page based off what I have been hearing. Even though I think that we could be friends outside of the competition, I unfortunately have to make this vote only because you are just too large of a threat."

Greninja was staring right at Zelda all the while, Roy subsequently being the next to vote, followed by, Shulk, Luigi, Greninja, and Marth, Freddy uncapping the pen to make his vote.

Knuckles was holding his vote at the urn, before promptly folding it up and placing it inside.

Following Marth Lowell was Shadow the Hedgehog as he wrote down his target, Foxy being the next one to vote as he heaved a small sigh.

Once Shovel Knight, Bonnie, and Sheik cast the final three votes, with the female ninja sitting back in her spot, Master Hand was ready to tally.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Freddy curled up his lips, Shadow had a fist beneath his chin staring down at the ground, and Marth was staring around at nothing in particular.

The master came back.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

All members of the original Chatan tribe eyed at least one members of the Emperors Alliance.

Marth made little to no eye contact.

"..."

Foxy blinked as Luigi ended up shifting his eyes between all of the emperors.

Freddy was staring at the ground, yet he raised his eyes back up to the master, showing no signs of standing from his seat.

"..."

"...Okay."

Knuckles glanced all over the place in reaction to the fact that no one wanted to play a hidden immunity idol.

"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..."

The urn was uncapped as Freddy Fazbear already began to feel a pit growing in his stomach.

"First vote... Greninja."

"..."

"Greninja. Two votes Greninja."

"..."

Roy watched.

"...Freddy."

Shulk and Roy both shifted their heads to the bear that only blinked.

"...Freddy. Two votes Freddy, two votes Greninja."

Shadow tilted his head a bit.

"...Freddy."

The pit in his stomach was larger than ever before."

"Three votes Freddy, two votes Greninja."

Zelda faced her anthropomorphic friend as Foxy was eyeing no one else but Master Hand, Bonnie also having no emotion.

"...Shulk."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Greninja. Three votes Greninja, three votes Freddy, one vote Shulk."

Luigi was slowly rocking from side to side.

"Greninja."

At that point, he looked down with turning his head side to side.

"Four votes Greninja."

Shovel Knight seemed to be feeling anxious.

"...Freddy."

The pit in his stomach still existed.

"Four votes Freddy, four votes Greninja, one vote Shulk."

Freddy lowered his head just a bit while still eyeing the vote reading, Knuckles being slanted over with a fist below his head.

"Shulk."

"..."

Zelda now turned to the blonde emperor as Freddy's head began to rise again.

"Shulk."

Roy slowly rotated his head around to everyone in confusion, Zelda glancing all over the place as Marth's mouth started to hang open.

"Four votes Freddy, four votes Greninja, three votes Shulk."

Foxy shifted his head to Bonnie but never noticed back.

"Shulk."

Now Shulk's own jaw began to drop.

"...What?" Roy mouthed, Marth being just as confused as he was.

"Four votes Shulk, four votes Freddy, four votes Greninja, one vote left..."

Shadow remained in the same position for the entire time. Zelda on the other hand did have a hand over her mouth as Freddy's head was fully raised.

"..." Shulk shifted at the rest of his alliance.

"Eight person voted out of Survivor and the first member of our jury..." Master Hand eyed everyone before slowly revealing the vote. "Shulk. You need to bring me your torch."

"..."

Roy gradually shifted directions all around the tribal as Marth had his jaw dropped, not even watching Shulk walking to the torches and grabbing the one who came into tribal with.

Shadow glanced at Knuckles who nodded as Foxy slowly began to grew a small smirk with tied up arms.

"Shulk, the tribe has spoken."

"They sure did..." He watched his torch officially being snuffed by the master. "Ouch..."

"Time for you to go."

Not even watching him walk away, Roy was already staring at Shadow, and Zelda was doing the same, until she ended up pointing her eyes at Freddy who made no eye contact.

"Well, I don't know what plan each of you ended up believing, but based on the shocked the reactions, clearly not everyone was on the same page, and maybe it wasn't coming down to just tribal lines tonight. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

The remaining twelve Survivor contestants all picked up their torches and exited the Tribal Council area one by one, being shown to be on their way heading back to Bikutā.

#Blindside

Votes:

Zelda - Greninja

Marth - Greninja

Roy - Greninja

Shadow - Shulk

Shulk - Greninja

Freddy - Shulk

Luigi - Freddy

Sheik - Shulk

Greninja - Freddy

Knuckles - Freddy

Shovel Knight - Shulk

Bonnie - Shulk

Foxy - Freddy

13th Place: Shulk

"Should I actually feel good for being blindsided after thinking of what would happen if I was to get blindsided on the show? I don't know, but for me it's a bittersweet feeling. Yeah, I've been blindsided and I guess my friends can see for themselves so that can have a laugh, but at the same time, of course, not being in the game anymore when I could have made it further it's not the best feeling in the world. But no matter what happened, I'm pleased with my adventure out here. At least I barely made it to the jury. Now I get to be the King (or Emperor) of Ponderosa, hahaha!"

Castaways Remaining:

Zelda, Marth, Roy, Shadow, Freddy, Luigi, Sheik, Greninja, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Foxy

Jury:

Shulk

...Well, like Shulk said himself, at least he barely made it to the jury. Keyword: barely. But better than nothing I suppose.

But on a side note, oh goodness. The Hidden Five Alliance plan worked! Going to give credit to each of them, because I feel that all five of them played a part in this vote in some way, big or small. I even give credit to Greninja by taking this risk to split votes, but Foxy was the mastermind behind it lol. He and Knuckles even literally wrote down Freddy just to save his life (if that makes any sort of sense lol).

And now that Shulk is gone, most of the emperors were of course in shock, not even knowing that the vote was going to be split, before Zelda was quick to find out that two of the emperors flipped, causing the split vote to happen in the first place.

Yeah, all this leads to a great start to your Saturday lol. Now Marth, Zelda, and Roy are all left out in the dark (poor Zelda. She's been on the bottom for pretty much the entire game at this point.)

...But now, it's time for me to announce the first castaway that is going to be part of "Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)!" Meet Ryu from Street Fighter. He's going to be on the brawn tribe (obviously). I feel like Ryu is the absolute perfect person to have on this season. He fits the theme so perfectly it would have been a huge wasted opportunity to not have him included. More castaways will be announced soon!

And one more thing. Since we have our first member of the jury, that means tommorow, the first chapter of "Emperors vs Knights - Ponderosa" will come out and Shulk is going to have the whole place all to himself (not counting the staff of course).

Questions:

1. What did you think of the voting result yourself?

2. How do you think the three emperors that were left out of the loop react to being on the bottom? How will they respond to Shadow and Freddy?

3. What do you think of Ryu being part of the next season?

4. How would Shulk comprehend being voted out of the game, while at the same time now being the first person to join Ponderosa? (And just so you know, the other seven characters that were voted out before Shulk were at Ponderosa, too. But since the jury started they had to go somewhere else. (They're taking a trip in Japan lol. So now they have no idea what's going on at all until the season airs on television (if this was real life lol), unless someone just talks to them about it.)

I will see you all on Wednesday. Watch my YouTube intro if you haven't already and vote on your top five players this season!

I encourage everyone to review!