Survivor - Emperors vs Knights
Chapter 30 - Day 25 Part 1
Hello, back again!
It actually took me a while for me to get this chapter started, but I'm finally putting this to work.
So in a last ditch effort, Marth and Zelda decided to throw Shadow under the bus with Roy for being untrustworthy and hope the Knights Alliance thought twice of them really wanting to work with him. Though it didn't work and Roy was sent home, and now Marth and Zelda are presumably at the bottom of a tribe of eleven. Though clearly it's never that simple. That last minute ditch effort to get rid of Shadow is clearly gonna rub some people the wrong way. Knuckles was even the first to start whispering.
Historyfan15: Shadow is going to be very ticked at Marth and Zelda for throwing him under the bus at tribal almost causing him to go home lol. I really enjoyed how Master Hand read the votes there.
So we'll just see what happens next...
~KF
Bikutā
Night 24
Zelda, Shadow, Foxy, Bonnie, Greninja, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Sheik, Luigi, Marth, and Freddy all returned to their shelter after them getting the Tribal Council out of the way, each lying their torches against the same tree from before.
"So the remaining emperors of the game did what they did best." Sheik began to recall. "They decided to save their own skins in the game, that their best interest was to throw Shadow under the bus to show us of how Shadow can not be trusted due to him constantly turning on his tribe. And when the whispering session began, we talked about it to see where everybody's head were if anyone was thinking twice about our plan, but we all came to an agreement that we could not have had all three of those emperors survive that tribal, especially with one of them having the idol, which we finally got rid of. And having Shadow and Freddy involved were two more votes that were needed to help us split votes. Basically, just because Shadow is not meant to be trusted with his old tribe, does not mean it's the same story for us. That was why our plan remained consistent."
"You alright?"
The ninja was now with the hedgehog and Shovel Knight, the former being completely frustrated. "That was unacceptable... It really was. To pave me as a villain in front of the jury just because I made a move of what I thought was in my best interest was already something I didn't sit well with. This is exactly why I turned on them in the first place, and now I even have more reasons to why I did what I did, so if anything, they only proved a point. They were simply trying to make me look foolish in front of the jury just because I had no plans on working with them anymore since I knew my place. Now it's my fault for going my own way in a game of Survivor?"
"Well, they were most likely saying that just to buy themselves more time out here, that's all." Sheik told him. "These kind of things happen when one is on the bottom."
Shadow stared off in another direction for a bit. Though he agreed, he was still quite annoyed about it. "I suppose you're right... But, seriously..."
"Just try to not think too much of it." Shovel Knight suggested. "Tribal Council is over and done with. Let's just all get ready to go to bed so we can all get a good night sleep. Most likely we have a challenge to compete in tomorrow..."
Meanwhile, Foxy, Freddy, Knuckles, and Bonnie were all having their own conversation by the beach.
"What was that all about?" Knuckles was the first to speak. "Do you guys realize what they done? Shadow could have been sent home tonight if I didn't step up and say anything!"
"Exactly right." Foxy nodded in agreement. "I knew he was going to be in hot water but not to the point where those three campaigned for him to actually be voted out."
"In spite of our plan working out in the end, Marth, Roy, and Zelda, all threw Shadow under the bus as part as this last minute plan for them all to make it tonight." Knuckles stated. "...I mean, that's my number one ally. I wasn't just gonna sit there and just let it happen. He could have been sent home, and that woiuldn't have helped my game at all. So... kinda ticked of how things went down but I guess this is what happens when you have multiple sides of the story..."
Freddy was shaking his head about the matter. "The moment when they told us that they were going to put Shadow's name down, my heart immediately sank... Worse case scenario, Shadow would have went home, and all of our games would have been messed up..."
"You good?" Bonnie shifted his head to Knuckles for a bit.
"I'm fine, just relieved and annoyed at the same time, you know?"
"I see what you're saying." Foxy nodded once more. "We obviously need to start voting off our own at this point. ...All we need to do is that if us five stay together,... and if we bring in Marth and Zelda,... the seven of us together can vote off one of those four."
"I mean, Shadow's part of the Pirate Crew here. Just like the master informed the contestants in Pearl Islands, when a pirate is proven to not be useful anymore, they get rid of em. Shadow is clearly still useful for my game and for this entire hidden alliance. So we gotta protect each other. ...And I'm of course not comfortable with the whole Shadow situation. Sure, only Marth, Zelda, and Roy put his name down, but I've been hearing from those other people that Shadow was basically taken into consideration of him getting the boot, and Bonnie and Knuckles heard the same. And even though it ended up being Roy getting the boot anyway, Shadow's name was still thrown out there. I mean, we were planning on making a move against the four of them, anyway. This just put the final nail in the coffin. One of the four of them will be going home, and it seems that if Greninja doesn't win immunity, his game is toast."
"I mean, maybe to Zelda and Marth, Shadow deserved the backlash, anyway, since him dictating the future of his fellow emperors bit him in the butt.." Bonnie shrugged.
"Tail..." Foxy blinked blankly, causing Bonnie to chuckle.
"Sure, tail it is. But we're still working with him. I'm not gonna ride their coattails and get dragged to fifth place. I feel that if we don't get one of them out now, either Shadow or Freddy are gonna go soon, and then we're gonna be targeted by default next because they're closer to each other than they are with us."
"I'll just make sure I'm on their good side." Freddy told them. "Shadow's gonna feel some type of way, so I'll probably have to check up on him tomorrow to make sure he's alright."
Knuckles sighed. "I'll help..."
"So Foxy told us that the best thing to do is to bring Marth and Zelda over so we can all work together and blindside Greninja, Luigi, Sheik, and Shovel." Freddy sat by the beach, his back leaning against a rock. "What I like about it is even though they're not the core five, there would be four original emperors versus three knights. So maybe it would make them think that old Nago has an advantage, which is also great for me, because it means that if I get to work with my old friends again, it would look good for me in front of the jury, even Shadow despite him getting the backlash tonight. All this means that I need to bond with them as much as I can... especially since Shadow is laying down on the exact opposite end of the shelter from Zelda and Marth..."
-/-
"Hey, if you guys want story time, I'm willing to fill you all in with something that I thought of..."
"Okay, I'm already curious." Greninja admitted to Foxy. "Fill us in..."
The red fox now had the floor as they all laid in the shelter ignoring the fire. "Alright, so... There was always this story going around. When I became a... 'pirate', back in the day there was an actual pirate back in the day just like myself. And apparently, he had his hand cut off due to some shark accident."
Literally no words were spoken, which was what Michaels expected anyway.
"So then he decided to replace it with a pirate hook. He hooked up with someone and had a family. The wife decided to cut her own hand off so that the husband wouldn't feel alone. ...And... they decided to start a new tradition for all future pirate foxes to have one of their hands cut off... And from that point on, it became a major trend. Though clearly this is the twenty-first century, so obviously things have changed."
Shovel Knight could not even blink.
"You know it is sort of something to note of how Foxy is this 'pirate' performing at a carnival for people, but apparently there is even more backstory to it than we all thought. ...The whole thing was rather... interesting to say the least... A bit uncomfortable given the details about it, but... I'll get used to it. I'm currently imagining it and playing it out in my head at the moment..."
"I..." Even Bonnie was stunned.
"So knowing you know what you are doing right now back at home, how many people have brought that up since then?" Zelda was curious. "Is it a story that everyone is aware of?"
"I wasn't aware of it..." Bonnie shook his head.
"Me neither..." said Freddy.
"Almost every fox in existence where I'm from knows about it, but I guess since I'm a 'pirate fox' at this carnival, the few other people that did know about it brought it up to me every now and then because it's symbolic of course. I try to brush it off and make jokes about it, but that didn't work, so I just decided to tell the whole story about it. The young fox kids that I meet know it all too well already so we get to share the story together."
"Honestly I forgot to tell my tribemates about the whole thing." Foxy laughed. "But better late than never, I guess. It was just something that I found interesting... and even a bit amusing to share. I mean, I'm of course not gonna cut off my hand because I need both of em, you know? But I guess it was also good to share with them some history behind my species back in the day just for some general discussion around here."
Bikutā
Day 25
The following day, the moment a few castaways knew that it was sprinkling, they presumed that the weather was only to get even worse, and it did. It was now pouring down on the Bikutā beach as all eleven remaining castaways were either asleep or awake, remaining in the same place they were in the shelter. Though for the ones that were awake predicting how hard it was going to precipitate simply returned to their slumber, only wanting to be awakened when they were aware that a challenge was coming for them.
Greninja and Sheik were two that have been up all the while, the former staring in no direction in particular, hinting at the possibility that he was lost in his own thoughts.
"...Hey..."
He suddenly turned to Sheik who was trying to get his attention. "...Yeah?"
"You alright?"
"I'm fine..."
"Okay, just making sure." She whispered back. "I remember on old Chatan at the beginning of the game you told me that you almost froze to death, and because of the rain, it's kind of chilly out here at the moment."
"Oh..." Greninja smirked. He wanted to giggle a little, but literally the rest of his tribe surrounding him killed his chances. "I mean I'm fine. I'm not that cold but thanks for checking up on me I guess. ...You really thought about that, haven't you?"
"Yeah, I was kind of worried. I mean, this is the warmest we'll be right now. If we were indoors I wouldn't have thought about it."
"Well, just to make sure you know that I'm alright, I don't mind playing in the snow, even though I get occasional flashbacks if I'm out for too long." He reassured her. "But it's just rain. It's nothing compared to snow so trust me."
"Alright." The ninja smiled back. "If you say so."
"Me and Sheik still have a strong relationship, both for the game and in general. I was surprised when I found out that she was worrying about me. Back on day one I told her that I basically almost died by nearly being frozen to death. Maybe she didn't want me to feel some type of way where I was thinking about what happened back then. I mean, I'll be honest. I was a little cold, but not too much, so past events never crossed my mind at all at the time until she brought up. But hey, I wanted to let her know that I really appreciate it. Really says a lot of what she thinks of me."
"Hopefully the rain will stop soon, right?"
"Really hope it would." Greninja replied with a nod. "I was thinking about heading in the water today but obviously it's not gonna work, unless I pray to the Survivor Gods for a water challenge today so we would have no choice but to be out in the rain. I mean, I am a water guy obviously."
"We might be a very close pair in the game, but it doesn't mean that I'm gonna turn on her. Right now the original knights have the majority over four emperors and two of them we need to discuss what to do with at this point. And at the same time, we don't want the rest of our old alliance (including Shovel Knight) to get suspicious of all relationship, because then they would want us out. If we go after each other, we're dead."
Those two were near Marth and Zelda, which meant that Shadow was at the opposite end of the shelter on the Greninja's right. He, too, was also awake, yet for some reason he could not go back to sleep. Thus, he chose to simply lie there staring at nothing in particular to reflect.
"I don't know why,..." He started. "but I found myself thinking a lot about what happened last night. I was literally almost voted out, and even though it wasn't the first time my name has written down, I knew I had a bigger chance of being sent out of the game due to my reputation with my former tribemates. And eventually, it led to me to just thinking about myself in general. See, prior to me coming out here back on my home world Mobius, there too, I was involved with quite a bit of controversy."
A few minutes later, Shadow was now struggling to keep his eyes open. Sure, initially he knew that he had a hard time returning to his sleep, though now he was debating to himself on whether or not he should actually stay awake.
"The public perception of me was rather mixed based off my reputation as well, so it is almost no different than me being in this game. Though in the real world, I suppose my main issue was that everyone was always pulling me back in forth due to me being needed for a variety of tasks. Some... were not pleasant to say the least. But I attempted at those anyway, and that was where I began to get comments with people telling me that I'm not acting like myself and that I was being pulled over to the dark side. But then when I felt as if I was trying to do something right, I was told that I was not standing up for myself. ...Long story short, I was facing quite an identity crisis if I were to explain in a sentence."
Shadow was losing his battle on staying awake as the rain continued to pour.
"What is it about me that people want? I try to do what's best for me at one point, and it doesn't work. Next minute I try to do what they call, 'what's right', and it doesn't work. Same for me being in this game. I voted out one of my own, I voted out one member of the opposition, and now that I knew of my place in the original emperors, I wanted to protect myself, but I still got it wrong. ...I don't know what people want for me, but at this point in the game of Survivor, the only person I should and will continue to care about is Shadow the Hedgehog until I get my hands on the million dollars. I can't just wait and let people tell me what to do anymore."
And at that point, the hedgehog finally surrendered and let sleep take control of his body.
Day 25
"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's reward challenge?" Master Hand was facing the remaining castaways as he began to explain the challenge's objective. "Now, this time, not many people will remember this, but that is because that this challenge was only done one time, way back in 2007 in Survivor - Fiji."
That almost made no noise whatsoever.
Greninja scratched his head. "Most non Survivor fans don't even remember that season..."
"For today's challenge, you will be divided into two teams of five, with one person riding along a chariot while the other four team members pulled that person along, racing across a four hundred meter course, occasionally stopping to allow the person some time untying bags for a puzzle. Once your team is back, that person who untied bags, as well as one other person must work together to solve a puzzle."
"One more important thing to note: because of the fact that we have eleven people, one person will not participate in this challenge, and that person will have no shot at reward. But do you wanna know what you're playing for?"
They were ready to hear it.
"The winning team of five will take part in something special. Those five be picked up by a boat where they will witness a match of Sōjutsu."
All eleven castaways were speechless.
"A japanese spear fighting sport will happen right before your eyes where you will all get to see one for yourselves. Afterwards, you will feast on all kinds of sushi, ramen, and tempura."
That was when there was heck of a lot of talk among the group.
"We will choose two captains, divide into two teams of five, and we'll get started."
-/-
"Alright, we have our two captains. Knuckles was a captain. He chose Bonnie, Foxy, Sheik, and Shovel Knight. Shovel Knight is going to ride the chariot."
The former four castaways had red rope tied around their waists as Shovel Knight stood tall on a wooden like chariot.
"Zelda was a captain. She chose Freddy, Greninja, Shadow, and Marth."
And Zelda just so happened to be the one that was set to simply ride the chariot. Switching over from the blue team, there was one remaining castaway that was forced to sit out.
"Luigi was not chosen and has no shot at reward."
He simply shrugged in reaction with a slight head shake. At least he never had to worry about facing the fear of possibly losing.
"Here we go. For reward. Survivors ready? ...GO!"
And both teams took off, Bonnie, Foxy, Sheik, Knuckles, Freddy, Greninja, Shadow, and Marth all dashing as fast as possible across the sand as it rained all over.
"Remember, you are only as fastest as your slowest!" Master Hand reminded. "But both teams are looking mighty strong, red team off to a one second lead!"
Thus, they were able to get to their first bag just a second ahead of the blue team, Shovel Knight beginning the untying process, Zelda doing the same for her team.
"Red team is literally all made up of knights, while the blue team has four emperors and only one knight. I don't know if it will mean anything at this stage in the game, but let's see how it goes..."
It was all based on how quickly one was able to get through the knots, even though both members of the merged tribe had fast fingers, which made it a bit more unpredictable in spite of the red team's one second lead. Thus, it was about the same time the two managed to get the job done for their group, with them immediately taking off once again caused the both of them to fall back. Luckily for Zelda and Shovel Knight, there was a barrier that prevented them from falling off.
"Both teams are heading for their second bag! Zelda and Shovel Knight are at it once again. They both were part of the puzzle portion of the very first challenge of this season. Will they both perform well again this time?"
Like last time, both members managed to get their bags undone around the same time, the teams sprinting out once again in the rain. Luigi who was watching, had no idea who to root for, since there were people that he generally liked on both teams. So he remained silent and bent his cap over a little bit to decrease the chances of water getting directly in his eyes even though it was already happened to begin with.
"We are still neck and neck!" Master Hand observed as Zelda and Shovel Knight both made it to their third and final bags almost simultaneously, neither one of them slowing down when it came to the untying. Therefore, both teams had to return to the starting point as fast as possible, once Shadow and Greninja both retrieved their colored flags for their respective teams.
"It is now going to be a big sprint back to the start!"
Though the eight runners were dashing across the sand as fast as their legs allowed them to, fatigue was already beginning to set in for most of the castaways, in spite of Shadow, Knuckles, Greninja, and Foxy trying their best to push through.
"Half the runners are slowing down a bit while the other half are giving it all they can!"
"Keep pushing! Keep pushing!"
"Save your breath..." Bonnie immediately told Knuckles.
Yet eventually, they all made it back, Zelda and Shovel Knight helping untie Greninja and Sheik as the four of them headed over to the puzzle portion of the challenge.
"We have been dead even for the entire challenge so far. Let's see if that will make any difference here." said Master Hand. "Now you have three sets of puzzle pieces that will reveal one number at a time, where you will then use those three numbers for a combination wheel."
And both duos were immediately beginning to place pieces in their first part of the puzzle.
"From there, it's like how you are undoing a lock in high school. First you turn it clockwise, counter-clockwise, then clockwise again."
"So basically, left, right, left?"
"Right, left, right, Knuckles..." Sheik corrected the echidna. "Right is always clockwise."
"Oh..."
"Zelda and Greninja completed their first number. Shovel Knight and Sheik right behind!"
At that point, Luigi was now hugging himself leaning forward a little, becoming more cold than ever. At least at the tribe he had some sort of structure over his head to decrease the amount of rain pouring down on his head. Out in the open just to witness a reward challenge was just as enough of a challenge to get through. It got to a point where he would have rather actually participated in it since his mind at least would have been focused on something else.
"Shovel Knight and Sheik have made up the two seconds that were needed and we are neck and neck once again as both teams are working hard on their last number."
As far as the rest of the teams were concerned, a few of them were actually sitting down on their tribe mats with eyes closed out of exhaustion, Bonnie literally down in spite of how wet he was already getting. Four hundred meters was no joke, especially if it came to a race, while pulling on a whole wooden chariot with the weight of one of his teammates.
"Shovel Knight and Sheik have it! Zelda and Greninja have it!"
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Seven
Eighteen
Now both pairs have to turn a circular table around, the triangular holes in the wheel containing pieces of cloth. Yet only one contained a knife that was set to cut a piece of rope in order to drop the team flag.
"It is a big race to see who can release their flag first! Major reward on the line!"
First the pairs were counting in their heads and to each other as they rotated the wheel clockwise, then they began to rotate it counter-clockwise, before clockwise once more, with all eyes staring at them hoping that they would manage to pull off a win.
"Red team has it! ...Blue team has it!"
In spite of Greninja's leaping towards the table to slice the rope with his knife, Shovel Knight barely beat him by simply a couple milliseconds, the red team's dropping down first.
"RED TEAM WINS REWARD!"
A major celebration occurred within the team of Knuckles, Bonnie, and Foxy, Shovel Knight, and Sheik quickly joining them.
"Closet challenge in a while." stated the host. "It couldn't get any closer than that!"
Shadow instantly kicked some sand away as Luigi stood up and made his way over to everyone, glad that he was at least finally able to move.
Freddy heaved a major sigh as he stared down, Greninja sighing as well with a head shake as he wrapped his arm around Zelda's shoulder as they both made it over.
"Good job, guys..." Marth clapped out of respect for their efforts. "Everyone did well. That's all that matters."
"Wow." Master Hand was speaking once again. "You guys have proven why every, single, second counts when it comes to the challenges, and this is why. But when it comes to two teams, we can only have one winner. Red team managed to barely beat out the blue team, you all deserve it, but the red team proved to be victorious. You guys are going to witness Sōjutsu in person and then you all would feast. Boat's waiting for you. Head on out."
"Thanks, master." Sheik stated as she, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, and Knuckles began their walk.
"Shadow, Zelda, Greninja, Freddy, Marth, Luigi, got nothing for ya. You can head back to camp and try to stay dry."
"I can't believe it!" Sheik smirked and chuckled a bit. "Of all people, I had to compete against Greninja in that challenge. And it ended in the closest race I could ever imagine. ...But we won. Naturally I feel sorry for him, since he and Luigi will be the only knights that will remain at camp. But hey, worst case scenario if the emperors are planning on working together again, they can both potentially eavesdrop on whatever conversations they're having with one another."
Congratulations, Daisy (from Super Mario). You are the next castaway revealed for Survivor - Mexico on the Beauty tribe.
Like, Shovel Knight from this season, Daisy was already a lock to be on a Survivor season. Smash Ultimate happening just gave me one more reason to add her in. She fits perfectly this season like Ryu on the Brawn tribe, explaining why those two were first choices for the season.
But anyway,... let's just get into the questions here.
Questions:
1. What do you think of Shadow this chapter?
2. Is a possible blindside in the making at the moment?
Vote for your top five favorite characters this season and I will see you all on Wednesday!