Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 47 - Day 39 Part 1

Alright, so here it is, folks. We are now officially on the final day of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. This fic is ending already even though I feel like September was yesterday lol.

Now as far as the third season is concerned, I have finally decided when to the start the new era for Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty). For the "Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty) - Meet the Cast" fic (a pre-season fic for the main story), the release date for the first chapter will be April 29th of this year. I'd like to take a bit of time away for the series just for a bit, but not only to start making preparations for the next season, I am planning on posting at least a couple more chapters for my other stories. For the official date for the main story "Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)", the release date will be May the 20th. And yes, this Survivor story, as well as every future Survivor story that I make will be in the "Game Xover x Super Smash Brothers" section. If you have trouble looking on it, you can just click on my name lol.

Now like last time, since the release dates seem to be so far away from now, if you want, I can PM you if you'd like as a reminder of the releases. But I don't want the guest reviewers to feel left out if they think that they might forget, so for any guest reviewers that are following this series, my suggestion to you is to mark the dates on your phones or something lol.

With all that out of the way, I guess we can finally get back to talking about this current season. We officially have our final three: Luigi, Zelda, and Marth. Three different stories here in regards to gameplay and character. Let's see how this Final Tribal Council is gonna play out. But first, day thirty-nine still means that they are going to be on Kodai Island in Okinawa, Japan for one last time. No challenges and no strategizing to vote people off. Just the characters reminiscing the events of the season, with their characters being explored as the state their final confessionals of the whole season, as well as their final thoughts before heading to the Final Tribal Council. Afterwards, the jury will have their say, the winner will be revealed next chapter, and in the following chapter, live reunion show.

Derick Lindsey: Yeah I do like this final three. Their stories are even more different from one another's from the last season! Luigi overcoming his personal obstacles, Zelda being an underdog that was always spared at every tribal where her name was written down, and Marth's game being completely all over the place lol.

Shall we get started?

~KF (Can't believe I had to edit my initials in last chapter since I forgot to add them in last chapter lol)

FINALE PART III

Back from yet another commercial break, the Survivor finale was back on, with Master Hand standing in the center of the stage as usual.

However, when the camera made its way to the audience that was cheering on, there were quite a few familiar faces that were made out to the public in support of the ones that competed on the season, from including former contestants, Mario, Sonic, Fox, and Link from Survivor - Kodai Island, to participants from the Loved Ones visit at the final eight including Shield Knight, Clyde, Impa, and Val.

Speaking of loved ones, there were even more loved ones for support in the final five in particular, since they were the ones that were lucky enough that the castaway they were rooting for managed to make it all the way to the final episode of the season.

"Welcome back to Survivor - Emperors vs Knights, as Sheik just been eliminated and is now the final member of our jury. Thus, we now officially have our final three of the season: Luigi, Marth, and Zelda. We are going to get through day thirty-nine, and afterwards, we are going to have our jury come up on this stage with the final three, and then we will reveal our winner. Once that is done, we are going to have a live reunion show. Don't go anywhere! The season finale continues!"

Bikutā

Night 38

Marth, Luigi, Zelda

-/-

For once, when the castaways returned from the Tribal Council, there was never anyone feeling too emotional about their decision, nor was there any feeling of regret. Everyone casted their vote on the exact same person, and there was no more strategizing for future eliminations from that point simple because of the fact that there were no more eliminations that were set to take place.

There they all stood at the shelter: Marth, Zelda, and Luigi. In spite of their different strategies to the game, the overall mission was complete: last all thirty-nine days out on a season of Survivor.

"Well,..." Luigi grinned, being at his absolute happiest since the day the game began. "we did it! We... We really did it!"

"Indeed." Marth smiled and nodded. "Final three, here we are."

"At long last." Zelda heaved a sigh of relief. "We have all come a long way."

"I could not agree more." Lowell replied. "I would recommend that we celebrate our victory, but on the other hand, I do feel as we all need our sleep for tomorrow, especially for tomorrow night's Final Tribal Council. We have the entire day tomorrow to celebrate then."

"That seems to be a good idea. Let us get the fire going and we will talk more tomorrow."

"What a journey this has been for me." A relieved blue-haired warrior from Altea said. "We all successfully got our target out, and here we all are, set to sit down on the only three seats at that Tribal Council, successfully completing our thirty-nine day adventure. There will be no more paranoia, no more challenges, no more idols and advantages, and most of all, no more eliminations. Just myself, Zelda, and Luigi. I could not have asked for anything better."

With Zelda getting the fire going, the three remaining contestants of the game all laid down, prepared to allow sleep to take over their exhausted bodies.

"...Um..." Luigi suddenly had a question as the two emperors closed their eyes. "We do get breakfast tomorrow. Right?"

Bikutā

Day 39

It was the final day of the final three's thirty-nine day adventure. Though, all good things must come to an end. That being said, it was more than appropriate for things to end on a positive note for Marth, Luigi, and Zelda.

For starters, Luigi previously asked of the most important meal of the day right before he went off to sleep. And so, he, Marth, and Zelda made sure there was going to be a breakfast just for the three of them.

"I... I am still in a state of disbelief right now." The plumber was still in shock. "I... One day I am scared to death of being the first person voted off, the next minute I'm sitting right here on day thirty-nine? ...Is this really real? Am I actually in the final three? ...I... How did this happen to me? ...I... Don't get the wrong idea. I have no regrets at all getting to where I am, but... just... wow. People from back home were always telling me to do my absolute best out here, but if they actually told me that I could actually get out here and make it all the way to the end, I would have never believed them for even a second. I was even surprised when I made it to the merge... But to make it to day thirty-nine? I mean, I've already pinched myself repeatedly to make sure I'm not dreaming, but I guess this is a reality! And... I'm really happy about it!"

"...Oh, is that it?"

Zelda pointed out the few baskets that were sitting right by the tree mail, Marth taking the time to actually read what was in the envelope.

"Congratulations for avoiding elimination, you are finally free, you survived seventeen Tribal Councils, now this reward is meant only to you three."

Zelda giggled. "I guess that's that, then. Let's carry all this to camp."

Grinning out of excitement, Lowell began to pick up a couple baskets filled with supplies and food for the breakfast. "...Do you think we can do it all in one trip?"

"We could if we... strategize about it." Zelda assumed. "However, I know there is not any one of us that would like it if we drop something on the way back to camp."

He frowned. "Darn... You have a point. If we have to go back to get the rest of this, allow us to go with you. I'd rather not have you miss out if you are out there all on your own while we have a head start at breakfast."

"I'd appreciate it, but then again, but the food needs to be watched over by someone until we all get back. We'd rather not have any unwanted bugs all over it and everything."

Luigi raised a finger. "I'll volunteer to watch over the food! ...Maybe I can even start with the cooking so that it would already be started while you two are coming back here!"

Marth nodded in agreement. "Perfect. Sounds like a plan."

"I gotta say. It was really something out here." He then started to laugh thinking everything over from day one. "The very first day out here, my plan was to not perform terribly in a challenge to avoid being the first out. What happens to me the moment I got on that ship? I was picked by the emperors to take part of a big, opening challenge with Rouge... in front of everyone! ...And we actually won! I still remember that! We won the first immunity challenge, but then afterwards, I really thought it was done for when we had to go to Tribal Council. My name came up three times, but I was still here at the end of the night. ...And clearly I don't like it when my name comes up at tribal. Not one bit. But... now I don't have to worry about that anymore. ...And now I have to make my case to ten people that I helped vote out on why I deserve to win a million dollars. I am struggling to hold back tears because I don't want cry right now,... but no matter what happens, if Mario's happy, then I'm happy."

As Luigi got started with the cooking, the Altean and Hyrulian were both smiling at each other warmly as they wandered along the pathway.

"Well,... I took you here, didn't I?"

She chuckled. "Yes, you did. Happy to see that you are here as well."

"Just look at how far we've come." Lowell was constantly replaying flashbacks. "And to top it all off, we are the last two emperors remaining in this game. Such a satisfying ending on our part."

"Indeed." She agreed. "We are both surprised that we have made it to the final three, let alone both of us making it to this point."

"Oh,... and by the way,..." He stood still for a moment, running his fingers through his colored hair. "I appreciate you for keeping me here..."

"What do you mean?"

"...Was it really a plan for you and Sheik to vote me out of here had I not flipped at the final nine?"

"..." She sighed at the truth. "There is no reason to not state the truth. Yes. However, Sheik informed me that you were flipping, so we decided to vote out Freddy. However, when it came to you and Freddy, I trusted you more. Even though I was fond of the both of you, the main reason to why I trusted you more was that you were on my side a bit longer than Freddy was."

Now that he had all the answers, he nodded calmly in satisfaction. "Fair enough. I suppose I can't see how that would not make sense..."

"This has been quite a wild ride for me in terms of my game." Marth stated heaving a heavy sigh. "I started to ease my way in, but I think ever since... the part where I got sent to Exile Island for the first time, that was when things began to get quite hectic. It was very all over the place. I found a hidden immunity idol, I get sent to Exile Island multiple times, I got blindsided, been on the bottom, became a swing vote, have my vote taken away... And... after all that, I am somehow one of the last men standing when I easily could have been voted out at any point. ...And all my overall plan was to build relationships with others out there, since nobody played this game by themselves, and we were all in the same boat in terms of having stories. ...Mine in particular was that I had to help save my land since my parents were not able to do so... and form an army of my own..."

Finally the three of them were eating, Marth stuffing pieces of pancake into his mouth, Zelda and Luigi eating the eggs, bacon, and fruit that were on their plates.

"You know, it is apparently a Survivor tradition to burn down the shelter before we leave for tribal." Marth brought up. "We'd have to light up a torch, and someone has to throw it right in so that the shelter can burn down to the ground."

"Ooh, yeah." Zelda just now thought of that. "I have been told about that by the others on our original tribe. We need to make sure we gather all our belongings first so that our stuff would not get burned. ...Who's going to do the honors and throw the torch?"

"Well,... I would not mind if you threw it, Zelda."

"Hmm..." She thought out loud. "Maybe we can let Luigi throw it... What do you think, Luigi?"

Though food was his number one priority, her words never slipped the plumber's mind. "Throw the torch? ...I... I do not think I should do it by myself. You two are in the finals as well, so you have just as many rights to throw the torch as I do. How about all three of us, do it?"

They both laughed.

"Sure thing, Luigi." Marth agreed. "It will be done."

"So basically, even though there were certain things that occurred which I never would have expected for me personally, yet... I am still here on day thirty-nine. And if I can somehow win,... it would not just be for me. That was what I always thought of. My win would not just be for me, but for also my family, and all of Altea. I really do hope I've made them proud no matter what happened."

-/-

Later on in the day, Luigi was sitting down at the shelter, resting his face in his hand as he eyed the fire, yet being lost in thoughts all the while. As a result, he never felt Zelda's gaze of concern. Even she could tell that Luigi appeared to have a lot on his mind at the time, which was understandable due to possible reasons that she was well aware of.

However, since curiosity was no stranger in regards to entering the minds of anyone, Zelda felt the urge to ask anyway. "What are you thinking about?"

"...Oh, you know..." He said with a sigh, now taking his cap off to scratch his head. Though unlike most times, the cap actually stayed off, Luigi not being afraid of exposing his hair. Yet, why would he be? People have already seen what his head looked like after thirty-nine days on a random island. "The game..."

"Gathering your thoughts up for final tribal?" She assumed with a small grin.

"Well, that too, but I was mainly thinking of what occurred in the game for me personally. There isn't a day out here that I am not thinking about how shocked I am knowing that I'm still... 'surviving' on Survivor. Now I'm in even more disbelief that I of all people happen to be one of the three that never got voted off... I... How am I here?" He finally faced here. "...How am I still here, Zelda?"

Despite her finding it to be a bit humorous, she found his question to be rather relatable. "I understand you. There isn't a day where I do not question myself of the reasons to why I am still out here as well. ...You know, since you do consider yourself to be an underdog... or a knight, I believe that you've come a long way if I do say so myself. ...In this game for me, after everything that has been going on,... let's just say that I have more of an understanding of how you feel."

"Really?"

"Honestly." She nodded. "And you know why? ...It is all because of this particular adventure right here. That being said, I... really appreciate you, Luigi. And I want you to know that."

He widened his eyes, yet within a few seconds later, he expressed one of his biggest smiles in a while. "Thank you, Zelda. And I understand what you mean when you say you are an underdog as well. Um... you were labeled as an emperor from the start, but for this season... I guess you've unintentionally stepped onto the other side if you know what I mean."

"With me helping others, especially with all that went on in Hyrule, I figured that was why I was labeled as an emperor out here. However, if anything, I believe that it turned out to be nearly the exact opposite here. Sure, an emperor and a knight can mean a variety of things, but honestly speaking, I really do felt that I was a knight instead of top-dog this season. Not that I'm complaining of course, since even though I felt that I was an underdog out here, I am sitting here on day thirty-nine against all odds. Every time I was voted for in this season, it was always the other people that got the boot instead. I could have easily been picked off in any of those situations, but... I guess the Survivor Gods never desired things to be that way."

"Alright, everyone..."

After dipping a torch into the fire, Marth Lowell, as well as Luigi Mario and Zelda were getting ready to say their final goodbyes to the island, as day thirty-nine continued to slowly fade away. Nevertheless, it was the first last time the three of them were on the dying Bikutā tribe. With ten casualities, the remaining three were officially the last survivors standing. Thus, they had the right to burn down the shelter once and for all.

Marth allowed Zelda and Luigi grabbed onto the torch.

"Are we ready?"

"Yeah."

"I am."

"On the count of three..." He stated. "One... two... three!"

And with one throw, the torch landed perfectly in the middle of the shelter.

"Good thing I remembered my hat last minute." Luigi grinned. "What a tragedy it would have been if I got burned with the fire."

"Well, we probably would have noticed, anyway. You were almost always shown to be wearing a hat. Don't worry." She then glanced at Marth. "Now, then. Shall we all get going?"

"It is truly an honor to be officially part of the Survivor experience. I never thought I would see this day, but I suppose everything happens for a reason. I've always thought this experience to teach someone some sort of lesson. For me personally, based on the type of game that I played and what occurred, the lesson that I have learned that sometimes, stepping into the shoes of others is what it is necessary to have a greater perspective when it comes to this. The emperor turned knight has learned that quite well. ...Of course it is not the only thing that I've learned out here. Though for my game in particular, it is perhaps the main highlight of it all, say if I were to describe my thirty-nine day adventure within a single sentence."

Final Tribal Council

Night 39

The moment people were all waiting for: Tribal Council number eighteen. Or, to put it simply, the Final Tribal Council of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Thirty-nine days were either perceived to be as if it was only a short thirty-nine hours, or a long thirty-nine months depending on a person's closure for their Survivor experience.

For the ten members of the jury that were going to be introduced to Zelda, Luigi, and Marth as they walked in the tribal, they had to make sure they were rather comfortable, considering the fact that since they were indirectly going to give one member of the final three a million dollars, they knew that they were going to be at the tribal for a long while. Each word of every statement of what each member of the final three had to say counted.

"We'll now bring in your jury..."

And there they came.

"Shulk, Roy, Shadow, Greninja, Freddy, Bonnie, Knuckles, Foxy, Shovel Knight,... and Sheik voted out at the last Tribal Council."

The ninja of the bunch greeted the finalists with a respectable smirk, excited to help get the show on the road.

"Alright." And with that, the Final Tribal Council meeting officially commenced. "So, here we are. Final three. From left to right, we have Luigi, Zelda, and Marth. Three different games, and here you all are, doing what seventeen others couldn't. You all have gone as far as you can go. Thus, you have a right to plead your case to the ten people on the jury of why you are worthy to win the title of Sole Survivor, and the million dollars that goes along with it, whether you either directly or indirectly voted them out of the game."

"Let us have a recap of the them of this season." Before he could officially kick off the discussion, he desired to go over the theme for one last time. "For Survivor - Emperors vs Knights, the idea of the season was to have ten people that are used to domination and positive perception of others, and ten people that are used to having to fight through to get by as well as proving other wrong with their work ethic and motivation to keep going. Thus, Survivor - Emperors vs Knights was born. Now, here are some things to note: due to the fact that both teams lost two challenges when the game started, both tribes ended up having even numbers by the time the swap occurred, which doesn't happen very often, especially as of late. Another thing worth nothing is Shovel Knight's idol, which was held onto for twenty-five days from day eleven to day thirty-six, making it one of the longest times someone has held a hidden immunity idol."

With Shovel Knight now being the center of attention, Sheik playfully reached out and punched his arm.

"This is also the first time in Survivor history where two advantages are played at one Tribal Council, where as both Sheik and Marth had advantages that came into play. Sheik had a Steal-A-Vote, while Marth had a vote block."

Marth shifted his head towards Sheik who smirked in reply.

"So, here's how this works." He then elaborated on the procedure. "You guys will each make your opening statement. You will explain to the jury of why you think you deserve to win, one by one, the jury members starting with Shulk will have their say as they will address either one, or all three of you on the type of game that you've played. Afterwards, you will all make your final statement to the jury, which will be your last chance to persuade them to your side, and then... we will vote."

They nodded with understanding.

"Zelda, we'll start with you."

"Gladly." She nodded confidently, adjusting her body to face all the jury members. "Good evening, everyone. Before I get started, I just wanted to take a moment to say that I appreciate playing this game with every last one of you. We were all involved in a competition such as this, and including the ones that never made it to the jury phase, we are all aware of how many people apply for the show, and how few actually get in a season. That alone is an accomplishment for all of us."

The jury paid close attention.

"As for as me being in the final three, I will admit that it is something that I never expected. We may set goals for ourselves, yet in the end, due to rather low chances a certain individual has getting to this point, it explains why it seems surreal at first knowing you have successfully completed the full thirty-nine days. For my Survivor experience in particular, after thinking it over all this time, my overall game very well relates to the theme. I was named an emperor when we all first started back on day one. However, as my game began to progress, there have been numerous times where my name was written down at a Tribal Council for multiple reasons. Take the first tribal back on day three for example, where I was targeted for being one of the weakest. And I am pretty sure the old emperors knew it all too well. However, while Peach had her torch snuffed, I was spared."

"Though it was not simply one tribal where this occurred. As the game went on, every time where my name was written down at a vote, it was always the other person that received the axe. Even at merge, where it was myself, Marth, Roy at the bottom against nine others, even though my name was never written down at that time, I had to fight for my alliance in an attempt to save all three of us by throwing Shadow under the bus to get the target off our backs. Though it never worked out in the end, in spite of everything that occurred, this made me came off as more of an underdog, or a knight, rather than emperor. And now, here I am. In spite of the name that I was given, the emperor had to experience what most knights have to undergo in real life to understand both sides of the story. And now that I have more of an understanding of what both parties have to face, it has helped me become a stronger individual both inside and out. And hopefully with your questions, I will gladly elaborate on the details of my gameplay and experience."

Foxy glanced to Master Hand knowing he was getting ready to move on to the next person.

"Luigi."

Chuckling to himself, he cleared his throat to begin his speech. "Hello, everyone. It is great knowing that in spite of how... insecure I may appeared to be in the early stages of the game, overtime, I have developed to be a more confident person than ever before. And what I mean by it is that for example, back on day one, when the season was first starting, I was jumping out of my skin since I honestly... was quite anxious when it officially kicked. ...And imagine what I felt when I was asked to participate in that big opening challenge."

Some of the jury members smirked reminiscing.

"I was one of the only four people that were involved in that. Rouge even told me that we had to the beam over the water in order to impress the knights so that we would not be underestimated. And I could have easily told her no. But then I thought that in order to get over any anxiety I might have had, Rouge's words really sunk in for me. So I ended up doing it, and we won. I could not have been more elated after that. Nonetheless, I was still an early target for not being one of the strongest in the tribe. And of course, I was not surprised in the slightest even though I wanted to stay. Luckily enough, I had good friends that were able to help me survive the night. They... literally kept me in and voted out Cloud, the strongest guy on the entire tribe. That says a lot. That really told me that they wanted me to stay, because they felt that I was connecting with people way more than Cloud was. When I went to sleep that night, I really took the time thinking about it because I believe that was what gave me the confidence and motivation that I needed out here. You all know about the story about me and my brother, so of course that added on to it."

"But at the same time, I really felt that I owed my alliance something since they saved me. So in order to prove that they made the right decision, since they chose to kick their strongest guy out at our first tribal, I showed them my loyalty so that we could progress through this game together. Sure, I was targeted out of the blue a couple times post-merge, yet for the most part, our alliance stuck together like glue. Yet in the end, not only am I the last one from my alliance, I became from a possible first boot of the tribe, to outlasting all of the other knights out there. So I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have helped me along the way."

A proud Shovel Knight smiled.

"Marth."

He nodded, turning his body to have full eye contact with the jury. "Greetings, everyone. I suppose for starters, I can perhaps start off with the theme of this season. As Master Hand stated, this season is titled 'Survivor - Emperors vs Knights.' Though, whether you are an emperor or a knight, without a doubt, every last one of us have our own personal stories that relate to the theme rather well, including myself. Though if there is one thing in common, it is simply the fact that we did not play this game by ourselves, yet with each other, whether it be to bond with one another or for strategic reasons. With that being said, it is truly an honor to be sitting here, not just with these two individuals beside me, yet to also be sitting here with all of you on that bench. We were all lucky enough to have made it this far. I am pretty sure every last one of us had a dream that one day, you will have the opportunity to be on the show. And here we all are."

"When it comes to my game, it has been... an adventure to say the least."

Roy, Shulk, and Bonnie snickered a bit at that.

"It went from left to right, up and down, front and back all over again. First the emperors lost the first challenge, I then became part of the reason to why we lost another challenge, I get sent to Exile Island multiple times, with one being after I already found the hidden immunity idol for my tribe. Then, I found myself at the bottom of the merge tribe, yet I was given an opportunity with Zelda to pick and choose which side the two of us wanted to go with, quickly rising from a terrible position, to the most crucial position you could think of. I then... flipped on my alliance mainly in order to save my closest remaining ally, only to have my vote taken away at the very next Tribal Council, where I was literally brought in to work with the Chatan Alliance in spite of me wanting to stay loyal to the other alliance..."

He then sighed. "I highly doubt that was even everything, though I suppose I will think of all the details as I answer your questions. Nevertheless, as you can see, there was quite a bit that occurred during my thirty-nine days out here. And as a result, I do admit that I have absolutely no clue on how the ten of you all perceive me. Though my curiosity is getting the better of me by the second. Hence, the reason to why I am quite interested in hearing what you all might have to say. I assume there will be quite a few questions for the decisions that I've made, and I will try my best to answer them within the best of my ability. Feel free to add in your own personal thoughts as well."

With no words spoken, Master Hand was ready to state the next step in the procedure.

"Alright. Jury, you heard the opening statements from each of the finalists. I will allow you to take a minute to gather your thoughts and think about what you wanna say."

...

Luigi, Marth, and Zelda all eyed the jury as they all simply sat and waited for further instructions.

Okay, that's it. This actually turned out a bit longer than expected in comparison to the last story. But hey, at least this chapter was early right? lol

Foxy and Shovel Knight's Ponderosa chapters will hopefully be done before Saturday, and maybe Sheik's will be done before the reunion show chapter is up.

...Yeah I actually don't have much to say here lol. Let's get to the questions then.

Questions:

1. Who do you think is off to a great start with their Final Tribal Council speech?

2. What are your predictions on how the jury will respond to the finalists?

3. Who do you think overall will have the best Final Tribal Council speech?

This is the second to last chapter where you guys get to vote on your top five players for this season! As of now, Shadow and Krystal (somehow) ended up in a tie for first place with 6 votes. But it's still not too late! I encourage everyone to review and I will see you all next time where the jurors will have their say and the winner will officially be revealed!