Chapter 6
It's a Brand New Game Now
Day 16
Sokyoku Tribe
(Haruhi, Kenpachi, Misato, Maes, Light, Erika and Ryoko)
Maes and Misato go to retrieve the tribe's treemail again. This time they find a piece of paper and nothing else, so they bring it back to their tribemates.
"What does it say?" Ryoko asks.
"As tribe leader, I think I should read it," Haruhi remarks.
Misato reluctantly hands over the piece of paper over to Haruhi.
"Okay, here's what it says, everyone!" Haruhi announces.
"Run through the trees
And gather the keys
To unlock your box's backing
So you don't have to send anyone packing."
"Another terrible poem," Ryoko comments.
"It sounds familiar," Light remarks. "Another challenge where we have to gather keys to unlock something."
"This should be easy," Kenpachi says. "We should win yet another one."
Gotei Tribe
(Rangiku, Meilin, Kyon, Kaji and Rei)
Rangiku is trying to help out her tribemates get ready for this challenge, with their very little food remaining.
"Please, everyone else eat, I don't need any," Rangiku says.
"Are you sure, Rangiku?" Rei asks.
"Yes, I'm sure," Rangiku replies.
"We have to win the next two challenges, because my alliance has imploded," Rangiku says. "Kaji and I are the only ones left, and one of us is sure to go if we don't win two in a row. We can only hope that the game doesn't get changed on us and we have that opportunity to win two immunity challenges."
"Our treemail mentions something about unlocking stuff with keys," Meilin comments.
"That again? Are they recycling the challenges?" Kyon asks.
"Maybe so," Kaji says. "But it doesn't matter. For the sake of everyone on this tribe, we must win two challenges in a row and get to the merge tied in members with the other tribe."
Immunity Challenge
"Come on in, guys!" Jet Black shouts to the players.
The two tribes walk into the immunity challenge area and step on their respective mats.
"Sokyoku, getting your first look at the new Gotei tribe, Spike voted out last Tribal Council," Jet says.
The Sokyoku players make no response to Jet's announcement.
"First things first, I'll take back the Immunity Beads of Subjugation," Jet states.
Haruhi and Meilin give back their necklaces to Jet.
"We will not be playing for individual immunity this time, but back to playing for team immunity," Jet says.
He holds out the immunity plushie Kon.
"Once again, immunity is back up for grabs," Jet states. "Let's get to today's challenge. On my go, both tribes will head out into this part of the forest looking for keys that are tied around trees. You will have to untie the keys from the trees, then bring them back to your own miniature trees. You will need to find the correct three keys in order to unlock the back of your miniature tree. The first tribe to unlock their miniature tree wins immunity. And this time, the winning tribe will not have anyone sent to Exile. Worth playing for?"
"Yes!" everyone shouts.
"Sokyoku, you have to sit out two members, who will they be?" Jet asks.
"Light and me," Erika says.
"Okay. For immunity!" Jet yells. "Survivors ready? Go!"
Both tribes run out into the forest area where the keys are located. Quickly Kenpachi finds a key for Sokyoku and begins to untie it, while Kaji does the same for Gotei. Kyon and Meilin go together and find a key and begin untying it. Meanwhile, Haruhi tries ordering teammates around, but it does no good.
"Come on, get those keys! You two, you go that way!" she yells to Maes and Misato.
Maes and Misato ignore Haruhi and find a key, then begin untying it. Rei and Rangiku work together at the same time to find a key, and they untie it as well. A bunch of players go running back to the miniature trees.
"Gotei has three keys, but are they the right ones?" Jet questions.
Kaji's key works, as does the one belonging to Kyon and Meilin. However, the key Rei and Rangiku found fails to work.
"Gotei still needs one more key!" Jet shouts.
Kenpachi's key works, and Misato turns her key and finds that it works as well.
"Both teams have two working keys! The next team to get a key that works wins!" Jet announces.
Light and Erika find a key and begin untying it, while Kaji and Rangiku find one and untie it. The two pairs race each other back to the miniature trees, where they turn their keys almost simultaneously. Rangiku's key opens the lock, while Light's key fails.
"That's it!" Jet yells. "Gotei wins immunity!"
The five Gotei players rush into a circle and begin jumping up and down in celebration. The Sokyoku players just look on in disbelief.
"Big win for Gotei," Jet states. "Congratulations. With that, you take home this."
He tosses Kon to Rei, who squeezes him tight against her chest.
Oh, Rei! Kon thinks.
"You can head back to camp, as you are immune from the next Tribal Council," Jet says.
The Gotei players begin walking back towards their camp.
"Sokyoku, I got nothing for you – except for a date with me tonight at Tribal Council," Jet states.
The disappointed Sokyoku tribe starts their trek back towards their camp.
Gotei Tribe
(Rangiku, Meilin, Kyon, Kaji and Rei)
"I can't believe we won!" Rei shouts.
"It was close, that's for sure," Kaji replies.
"That win kept Rangiku or me in this game for at least another two days," Kaji says. "If we can just pull off one more win, we can go into a probable merge knotted up with the other tribe in members."
"There's just one problem," Rangiku mentions. "We're running out of rice."
"We've been running out of rice!" Meilin shouts. "How is this any different?"
"Look," Rangiku says.
The tribe notices that there are only about three spoonfuls of rice left in their whole collection.
"This is going to put us at a distinct disadvantage going into that all-important challenge in two days," Kyon says. "But we have no choice, we have to win."
Sokyoku Tribe
(Haruhi, Kenpachi, Misato, Maes, Light, Erika and Ryoko)
As it gets late in the afternoon and into the evening, Light whispers to Erika and Ryoko that their plan is to vote out Maes. However, Maes and Misato walk up to them right after his whispering, wondering what he was saying.
"We were just going over the plan to vote out Kenpachi," Light tells them.
Misato looks suspiciously at Light, but Maes gives no response.
"Why not vote out Haruhi? She won't be expecting it, and we can flush out the plushie," Misato suggests.
"But if she does expect it, it'll backfire," Light replies. "Trust me, I've got everything under control."
"I don't trust Light, he's always plotting something," Misato says. "Maybe Maes and I are better off not going along with him, but there's no way we're going to get Haruhi and Kenpachi to both go along with us, given that they're so preoccupied with some fictional leadership position."
Misato brings Maes aside a little later to talk about the situation.
"Light's plotting something, I can just tell," Misato tells him. "We can't just go along with his alliance."
"Then what are we going to do? Vote him out?" Maes asks.
"No, we've just got to be ready to turn on him after this vote," Misato replies. "We'll go along with Haruhi and vote him out."
"I don't understand," Maes says. "Wouldn't it make most sense to turn on him now?"
"But Haruhi and Kenpachi are insistent on voting each other out," Misato states. "They're not going to work together on anything."
"We just have to hope Light isn't going to backstab us," Maes says. "But I feel pretty confident that he won't."
Tribal Council
(Sokyoku)
The tribe marches into the Tribal Council area with their torches lit. They set them down, then sit on their stumps across from Jet.
"Let's talk about today's immunity challenge," Jet says. "You had a chance to take a big lead on the other tribe, but instead you lost this one and gave them a window of opportunity. How does that feel, Ryoko?"
"Well, what do you think?" Ryoko asks. "Of course it doesn't feel good. We just have to rebound from this one and win the next one."
"More importantly than losing the challenge, you lost momentum," Jet says. "How important do you think momentum is in this game, Maes?"
"It's very important," Maes states. "I really feel like we had everything fall apart on us when we didn't have the opportunity to win a challenge just a couple days ago. That threw us off."
"Now how about going from clearly the more powerful tribe to perhaps almost equal with the other tribe?" Jet asks. "That can't be too good, can it, Light?"
"Of course not," Light responds. "But we can't change the past, we just have to move on from here."
"What determines your vote at this point, Kenpachi?" Jet asks.
"It's all about who annoys me the most, and that's obvious," Kenpachi replies.
"How about you, Haruhi?" Jet questions.
"I vote for whoever I want to!" Haruhi exclaims. "After all, I'm the leader of this tribe!"
"Okay," Jet states. "With that, it is time to vote. Erika, you're up first."
The Tribal Council theme "Tally the Vote" plays as Erika gets up from her seat.
Erika goes to vote.
Haruhi goes to vote.
"As the leader of this tribe, I want my only challenger to my position taken out, and that's you," Haruhi says, as she holds up her vote for Kenpachi.
Kenpachi goes to vote.
Light goes to vote.
Maes goes to vote.
Misato goes to vote.
Ryoko goes to vote.
"Light, you better be right about this," Ryoko says, holding up her vote for Maes.
After Ryoko comes back from voting, Jet states, "I'll go tally the votes."
Jet gathers the votes, rearranges them, then returns to the players.
"If anyone has an immunity plushie and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so," Jet says.
Everyone looks at Haruhi, who does not budge.
"Okay," Jet states. "Once the votes are read, the decision is final, and the person voted out will be asked to return to the world of the living immediately. I'll read the votes."
He pulls out the first vote, for Kenpachi.
"One vote Kenpachi," Jet says.
He takes out the second vote.
"Kenpachi," Jet says. "Two votes Kenpachi."
Jet pulls out the third vote.
"Kenpachi," Jet states. "That's three votes Kenpachi."
Jet pulls out the fourth vote, opening it very slowly.
"Haruhi," Jet says. "Three votes Kenpachi, one vote Haruhi."
He then pulls out the fifth vote, opening it slowly again.
"Maes," Jet states, much to the surprise of Maes and Misato. "That's three votes Kenpachi, one vote Haruhi, one vote Maes. If this vote is not for either Haruhi or Maes, Kenpachi is voted out."
Jet pulls out the sixth vote, smiling as he opens it up.
"Maes," Jet says, shocking Maes and Misato even more. "Three votes Kenpachi, two votes Maes, one vote Haruhi. If this vote is not for Maes, Kenpachi is voted out."
Jet pulls out the seventh and final vote, opening it up extremely slowly.
"Maes," Jet reads it. "We have a tie, three votes Kenpachi, three votes Maes. Now we will have a revote, with everyone besides Kenpachi and Maes revoting. But first, you two will give a reason for staying. Kenpachi?"
"I am obviously very powerful and I can singlehandedly win the next challenge for our tribe," Kenpachi states.
"And you, Maes?" Jet asks.
"Kenpachi wants to be the leader, and he's always arguing with Haruhi. That's enough reason to vote him out," Maes answers.
"Okay," Jet says. "It is time to revote. Erika, you're up first."
The Tribal Council theme "Tally the Vote" plays again as Erika gets up from her stump.
Erika goes to vote.
Haruhi goes to vote.
Light goes to vote.
"The plan remains the same," Light says, holding up his vote for Maes.
Misato goes to vote.
"I wish I could vote out Light right now, but right now I've got to vote for Kenpachi," Misato says. "Light, you're such a backstabber!"
Ryoko goes to vote.
After Ryoko comes back from voting, Jet says, "I'll go tally the votes – again."
Jet gathers the votes, rearranges them, then returns to the players.
"Once the votes are read, the decision is final, and the person voted out will be asked to return to the world of the living immediately," Jet states. "I'll read the votes."
He pulls out the first vote, revealing it to be for Maes.
"One vote Maes," Jet says.
He takes out the next vote, another one for Maes.
"Two votes Maes," Jet says.
He pulls out the next vote, opening it up slowly.
"Kenpachi," Jet reads it. "Two votes Maes, one vote Kenpachi."
He pulls out the next vote, opening it up slowly again.
"Kenpachi," Jet states. "We're tied, two votes each."
He pulls out the final vote, opening it up extremely slowly.
"Thirteenth person voted out of Survivor: Seireitei Forest," Jet says. "Maes Hughes. You need to bring me your torch."
Maes gets up from his stump, with Misato hugging him as he does. He then takes his torch and holds it out in front of Jet.
"Maes, the tribe has spoken," Jet states, snuffing out his torch. "It's time for you to go."
Maes waves to Misato, then steps through the gate to the world of the living.
"You lost another challenge, you lost momentum, but most importantly – you lost another tribe member," Jet says. "Grab your torches, head back to camp, good night."
The players take their torches and begin walking back towards their camp.
"Light backstabbed Misato and me, plain and simple," Maes says. "I don't exactly understand his logic in breaking up our alliance, but he'll have to live with any consequences in doing that. I was glad to meet Misato, she was a good friend for the time I was here. I hope you win it, Misato."
(Who voted for whom:
Erika – Maes, Maes
Haruhi – Kenpachi, Kenpachi
Kenpachi - Haruhi
Light – Maes, Maes
Maes – Kenpachi
Misato – Kenpachi, Kenpachi
Ryoko – Maes, Maes)
Day 17
Gotei Tribe
(Rangiku, Meilin, Kyon, Kaji and Rei)
Meilin and Kyon go together to pick up the treemail.
"I wonder who they voted off," Meilin says.
"Probably Haruhi," Kyon replies. "I'd be surprised if she hasn't annoyed the whole tribe by now."
Meilin picks up the piece of paper in the treemail basket and opens it up.
"What's this?" she asks.
She begins to read it.
"Oh, no!" she says. "Not this kind of challenge!"
"Wait, let me see that!" Kyon says, grabbing it off her.
He reads it as well.
"Oh, come on, it won't be so bad," Kyon replies.
The two bring the paper back to their teammates.
Sokyoku Tribe
(Haruhi, Kenpachi, Misato, Light, Erika and Ryoko)
"Listen to this," Misato tells her tribemates, reading the treemail.
"To stay immune for another vote
You'll have to avoid being the goat
As your team tugs the rope
To be stronger is your hope."
"Tug-of-war?" Light asks. "Should be pretty easy. We've got Kenpachi on our team."
"We've also got a lot of girls," Kenpachi says. "I don't know about this."
Immunity Challenge
"Come on in, guys!" Jet yells.
The players walk into the immunity challenge area and step onto their respective mats.
"Gotei, getting your first look at the new Sokyoku tribe, Maes voted out last Tribal Council," Jet states.
Kyon sighs as he watches Haruhi wave at him excitedly.
"First things first, I'll take back the immunity plushie," Jet says, as Rei tosses Kon to Jet. "Once again, immunity is up for grabs."
He shows the tribe a mud pit with a thick rope sitting outside of it.
"Let's get to today's immunity challenge," Jet says. "We will be having a tug-of-war to decide who wins immunity, but it will not be by tribes. Rather, your opponent will be randomly chosen out of this bag, and there will be up to five different tug-of-war battles. The first tribe to have three members win a tug-of-war wins immunity. Worth playing for?"
"Yes!" everyone shouts.
"Okay, I'll draw the matchups, and we'll get started," Jet states.
The first matchup drawn is Kenpachi against Meilin. Meilin looks over at her powerful opponent and simply drops the rope.
"Sorry, you must attempt to pull the rope," Jet says. "Otherwise your tribe will forfeit."
Meilin reluctantly picks up the rope.
"Survivors ready? Go!" Jet shouts.
Within a few seconds, Kenpachi pulls Meilin into the pile of mud. She goes in feet first, having mud splash all over her.
"Kenpachi wins! It's Sokyoku 1, Gotei 0!" Jet screams.
Meilin sighs, trying to wipe herself off, but it is no use.
"The next one – Rangiku vs. Light!" Jet announces.
Rangiku and Light each grab their sides of the rope.
"Survivors ready? Go!" Jet yells.
This battle is a lot tighter, but eventually Rangiku gets the upper hand and pulls Light into the mud.
"Rangiku wins! We are tied 1-1!" Jet shouts.
Light tries wiping himself off as he returns to his teammates.
"Our next matchup – Kaji vs. Erika!" Jet announces.
Kaji easily pulls Erika into the mud, letting up near the end so she only lightly splashes into it.
"Kaji wins!" Jet screams. "2-1 Gotei! One more win for immunity!"
The two walk back to their tribemates, waiting for the next matchup to be announced.
"Ryoko vs. Rei!" Jet announces.
This time Ryoko easily wins it for Sokyoku, knotting up the challenge. Rei lands on her butt as she falls into the mud pit.
"We're all knotted up, 2-2!" Jet yells. "This match will decide immunity… and it will be Haruhi vs. Kyon!"
Kyon sighs. Of all people to possibly be embarrassed by, it would be Haruhi.
"For immunity!" Jet shouts. "Survivors ready? Go!"
Haruhi and Kyon have a close match, both of them going all out to win.
"Come on, Kyon! You stink at this!" Haruhi shouts.
"Just shut up, Haruhi," Kyon replies.
Each of them gets closer and closer to the mud pit, beginning to slide. Haruhi slips and ends up stepping into the mud. She quickly steps back, but the Gotei players notice it and begin screaming about it to Jet.
"Haruhi, did you step into the mud?" Jet asks.
Haruhi is distracted by his question, and Kyon pulls the rope hard, causing Haruhi to go flying into the mud pit face first.
"That wasn't fair!" Misato screams at Jet. "You distracted her!"
"Hey, she has to pay attention," Jet says. "Besides, she stepped into the mud in the first place, so she would have lost anyway. Gotei wins immunity!"
The Gotei players begin celebrating with each other, jumping up and down, with Meilin and Rei's mud splashing over their tribemates. Haruhi, meanwhile, gets up and glares angrily at Jet.
"You knew I had lost, but you distracted me just so I would end up getting a mud bath," Haruhi complains.
"That's a shame," Jet replies. "I got nothing for you. As for Gotei, here's your immunity plushie."
He tosses Kon to Rangiku, who squeezes him happily across her chest.
Oh, Rangiku! Kon thinks.
"You can all head back to camp," Jet states. "I'll be seeing you, Sokyoku, tomorrow night for Tribal Council."
The two tribes head back to their respective camps.
Gotei Tribe
(Rangiku, Meilin, Kyon, Kaji and Rei)
"We won! We won! I can't believe we won!" Meilin shouts, while getting herself washed off in a nearby stream.
"Thank you so much, Kyon," Rangiku says.
"No problem, Rangiku," Kyon replies. "It was nice to see Haruhi get embarrassed for a change."
"Now we have a real opportunity in this game," Kaji says. "It was so important to win today, and we did. It's a brand new game now."
"We've got a very interesting situation coming up here if the merge is next," Rei says. "One thing's for sure, if we don't stay together, it could be a very sticky situation for some of us."
Sokyoku Tribe
(Haruhi, Kenpachi, Misato, Light, Erika and Ryoko)
As Haruhi, Erika and Light are getting washed off in a nearby stream, Misato talks to Ryoko about Light's backstabbing of Maes.
"Did you know about this?" she asks Ryoko.
"Yes," Ryoko replies.
"Why didn't you tell me? We could have taken control from Light," Misato suggests.
"I know the way Light is, if he had found out, he would have turned on me and made me pay," Ryoko responds. "But when we merge, we can turn to the other tribe and get Light out of here."
"I hope so," Misato says. "Right now, I hope he just goes back to wanting to take out Kenpachi."
"If he tries turning on you, I'll make sure he doesn't succeed," Ryoko tells Misato.
Meanwhile, Light begin telling Haruhi about his plans.
"You don't like Kenpachi, right?" Light asks her.
"He thinks he's the leader, I want him out!" Haruhi shouts.
"Well, don't worry, we're voting him out next. He's too much of a threat," Light tells her.
"Good, you guys are gonna get something right for once," Haruhi replies.
"Working with Haruhi isn't easy, but it's necessary if we want to take out the biggest threat in this game before the merge," Light says.
Day 18
Gotei Tribe
(Rangiku, Meilin, Kyon, Kaji and Rei)
The Gotei tribe has finally completely run out of rice. The entire tribe is starving at this point, having eaten very little already in the last few days.
"We'd better have a merge soon," Kaji states, or else we're going to be in a lot of trouble."
"We need a reward, badly," Meilin adds.
Kyon turns the conversation to something else.
"So, who do you think they'll take out at this point?" he wonders.
"I think they take out their strongest member, Kenpachi," Rei suggests. "If they expect a merge to be coming, that's what they would do."
"I don't know, maybe they'd go after Light," Rangiku says. "I don't trust him."
"Well, I think Haruhi's going home," Kyon states. "She's had to have gotten on everyone's nerves by now."
"I don't know if being on the same tribe as Haruhi would hurt or help me," Kyon says. "It's possible she could turn on me and just make matters worse for me."
Sokyoku Tribe
(Haruhi, Kenpachi, Misato, Light, Erika and Ryoko)
Late that afternoon, the players seem to have their mind made up on who they are voting for.
"I'm sorry about having to take out Maes," Light tells Misato. "But I can guarantee you that we won't take you out… we just thought he was too much of a threat."
"As if I buy that," Misato says. "Kenpachi is the real threat around here… Light's just a backstabber."
"We're voting off Kenpachi," Erika remarks. "Light says that if we go to the merge now, he could potentially win all the immunity challenges in a row."
"Kenpachi can't do anything to save himself this time," Ryoko comments. "He's going home."
"Sometimes there's a little bit of suspense about the vote, but not tonight," Ryoko says. "We know Kenpachi's going to be voted out."
Tribal Council
(Sokyoku)
The players walk into the Tribal Council area with their torches ablaze and set them down in their spots, then take their seats across from Jet.
"Let's talk a little bit about yesterday's immunity challenge," Jet says. "You had the strongest member on your team, but you still lost. How did that happen, Ryoko?"
"Bad luck," Ryoko responds. "We ended up having our players who aren't as strong matched up against their stronger players, and our strong players matched up against their weak players. If it was a team competition, we would have easily won."
"Haruhi, you had the chance to win immunity for your tribe, yet you failed," Jet states. "How does that feel?"
"Of course it doesn't feel good!" Haruhi exclaims. "Especially losing to that Kyon… I never lose to him."
"Tonight's vote will put you even with the Gotei tribe in members. Does that worry you, Kenpachi?" Jet asks.
"Not so much being even with them but the vote itself is what concerns me," Kenpachi says.
"Well, with that, it is time to vote," Jet states. "Erika, you're up first."
The Tribal Council theme "Tally the Vote" plays as Erika gets up from her stump.
Erika goes to vote.
Haruhi goes to vote.
"You've tried to challenge my position as leader for too long, and now you're finally going home," Haruhi says, holding up her vote for Kenpachi.
Kenpachi goes to vote.
"You're very annoying," Kenpachi says. "Haruhi, you're no leader."
Light goes to vote.
Misato goes to vote.
Ryoko goes to vote.
After Ryoko comes back from voting, Jet says, "I'll go tally the votes."
Jet goes to get the votes, rearranges them, then returns to the players.
"If anyone has an immunity plushie, and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so," Jet states.
Everyone looks at Haruhi, but she does not make a move.
"Okay," Jet says. "Once the votes are read, the decision is final, and the person voted out will be asked to return to the world of the living immediately. I'll read the votes."
Jet pulls out the first vote, for Kenpachi.
"One vote Kenpachi," Jet states.
He pulls out the next vote, for Haruhi.
"One vote Haruhi, one vote Kenpachi," Jet says.
Jet takes out the next vote.
"Kenpachi," Jet states. "Two votes Kenpachi, one vote Haruhi."
Jet pulls out the next vote.
"Kenpachi," Jet reads it. "Three votes Kenpachi, one vote Haruhi, two votes left."
Jet opens the next vote slowly.
"Fourteenth person voted out of Survivor: Seireitei Forest," Jet says. "Kenpachi Zaraki. That's four, that's enough, no need to reveal the final vote. You need to bring me your torch."
Kenpachi gets up and takes his torch, then holds it out in front of Jet.
"Kenpachi, the tribe has spoken," Jet says, snuffing out Kenpachi's torch. "It's time for you to go."
Kenpachi heads off into the gate to the world of the living, leaving behind the five remaining tribe members.
"You had a big lead, but now you're even with the other tribe," Jet says. "Grab your torches, head back to camp, good night."
The players take their torches and begin walking back towards their camp.
"I guess I was just too much of a physical threat," Kenpachi says. "There wasn't enough violence for my liking in this game. Personally, I would have loved to had the opportunity to fight everyone else, but it wasn't meant to be. Oh well…"
(Who voted for whom:
Erika – Kenpachi
Haruhi – Kenpachi
Kenpachi – Haruhi
Light – Kenpachi
Misato – Kenpachi
Ryoko – Kenpachi)
Scenes from our next episode:
The tribes merge:
"We're merging!" Rei exclaims.
"Finally," Kyon sighs.
There is another endurance challenge:
"The last one remaining hanging on their tree wins immunity, and a 1-in-10 shot at winning this game," Jet says.
And three separate alliances form:
"I think it's going to come down to one vote," Kyon says.