(Aurum Tribe)
In contrast to the constant shouting matches, the four Aurum members came back to camp quietly.
"Tonight we had gotten rid of Andrew. You think I would be one of the happiest people on the island right now." Catherine said slowly. "Well, I am. But at the same time, we were just as blindsided by Andrew's elimination as much as him but question is… Why?"
Ronald let out a long sigh. "Okay… I bite… How come you saved us back there?"
Oscar merely crossed his arms. "You're welcome."
"Oscar, shh!" Janet scolded.
"I know that I was intended to vote off Catherine to get rid of the Idol and voting off Andrew literally seemed like a last-minute thing." Janet said. "But we have had full-reason for voting him off."
"Listen, Catherine. Before I reply, you have to tell me something very important." The mercenary said.
"Um, sure." The pink-haired woman said.
"Do you like Andrew?" Janet asked.
Catherine paused. "Yes. I just continue arguing with him because that is what best friends do!"
"What kind of question is that?" Ronald asked in disbelief. "You saw how those two acted to each other!"
"All right, all right! A simple no would have sufficed!" Janet snapped. "Catherine, do you like Ronald?"
The teenaged gasped at this.
"What are you talking about?" Catherine asked before wrapping her arms around Ronald. "How could you NOT like Ronald?"
The rat tilted his head to the side trying to make a puppy-dog face. However, it just came out as creepy. Janet and Oscar winced before casting each other side glances.
"Riiiight." Janet said. "Anyway, that is why I voted out Andrew. With him gone, there are ten people left in the game."
"Aw, yes. And with the merge coming soon, we will be at a disadvantage in terms of numbers." Ronald said.
"Yes and if Andrew stayed, numbers would be the last of our troubles." Janet frowned. "If we don't get our act together, Plata will DESTROY us."
"So you got rid of Andrew because he is in most of the conflict." Catherine said.
"Yeah. With him here, it is impossible for us to regroup." Janet said. "Now that I saved you, all I could ask is could you vote with us?"
Ronald and Catherine paused before looking at each other. They then both nodded.
"All right, Janet. You got our cooperation." Ronald said. "If one of us go at the merge, the rest of us may go."
"Thank you." The brunette said in relief. "We are at a disadvantage as it is."
"Right." Catherine said before stretching. "Anyway, can we go to bed already? Thanks to that Tribal Council, I am spent."
"Well said." Janet said. "Let's go to bed."
"Normally I would be a little wary about siding with Janet and Oscar but at the moment, what choice do I have? Tribe-wise, I am in the minority." Ronald sighed. "And if we don't regroup Aurum, I may as well kiss my tail goodbye the minute we merge."
(Day 22; Plata Tribe)
Richard was sitting alone on a log. Coco was a bit of distance away eyeing him. With a smirk, she rubbed her hands together and made her way over.
"You don't have to do a Survivor expert to do that with ten people left in the game, the merge is coming soon." Coco said crossing her arms. "For far too long, I had been being outshined in terms of gameplay by Richard and freaking Prick of all people! This may not help my gameplan but I need to do something to show I am more than a coattail-rider."
"Hey, Richard!" The young girl said cheerfully coming over.
The Russian man looked in his direction. "Huh? Oh, greetings, Coco."
"How are you feeling today?" Coco asked.
"Um, fine." Richard said before looking around. "Um, does Bill know you are talking to me?"
"Oh, I am glad that you have asked, Richard." Coco said. "How many people are left in the game?"
"After Aurum had voted off one of their own last night, ten, of course." Richard said.
"Right! I had seen enough seasons to know that this is usually the time where people are getting ready for the merge." Coco said.
"Indeed. I had seen it a mile away." Richard said before raising an eyebrow. "But… What does this have to do with Bill?"
Coco sighed. "Even though we have more people, if we keep fighting, it won't matter. Aurum will beat us."
"Wait. Are you suggesting…?" Richard started.
"A truce, yes. Please, Richard. We need your vote." Coco begged.
The scientist paused at this. "Why? Even if I DO realign with you and vote off Aurum, how do I know that you won't pick me off at the Final 6."
"But I… Um, Mortimer thinks that may be the same case if you side with Aurum." Coco lied.
Richard's eyes widened at this. "Wait. MORTIMER said that?"
"Uh-huh." Coco nodded. "Also, if you side with Aurum, you would have to go into a tiebreaker. I remember how nervous at our last tiebreaker and I wasn't even one of the targets."
"I know what you mean…" Richard mused before pausing. "Wait. If Mortimer knows about this, why didn't he tell me instead? Or Bill at least?"
Coco paused sweating a bit. "Well, Mortimer and Bill are still mad at you for betraying their trust."
"If that's the case, why should I join you?" Richard scolded. "If I am going to be the fifth wheel of either side anyway, I rather take fifth place than sixth!"
"Um, well… We had a vote. Not an official one, of course." Coco said. "And in a majority, Kao and I managed to convince Bill and Mortimer to give you another chance with Sally being the swing vote."
Richard's eyes widened at this. "Wait. SALLY was the swing vote?"
"Yeah, the same girl you tricked. Now I know Mortimer and Bill isn't being nice right now but just give them some time." Coco said. "If you save them, you will regain their trust."
Richard paused for a moment. He then sighed. "All right. I can't promise anything but I will think about it."
"Thank you, Richard." Coco smiled. "Even if Mortimer and Bill says otherwise, we will all make sure you don't regret your decision.
"Woo, I am good! I had managed to fool a scientist like Richard into believing that everyone is on his side when in reality, we are intending to turn everyone, even Aurum AGAINST him." Coco said rubbing her hands together. "Best of all, not only would Richard be blindsided but everyone would be blindsided asking "How did he let himself get voted off like that?"
After the pirate girl said her goodbyes, she skipped off. Richard watched her leave with a frown.
"Is there something I need to know about?" Richard asked.
Mortimer then walked from behind the tree looking stunned.
"Richard, I do NOT in any way have any memory of me saying those things or us having some kind of discussion!" The duck insisted.
"I had figured." The dark-haired man said narrowing his eyes.
"It's official. First chance I get, Mortimer and I are defecting to Aurum. Bill and Sally get upset when I manipulated the latter but look at what they are doing!" Richard snapped. "Using a nine-year-old to trick me! At least I had an excuse! Bill, you want to get rid of a "slimeball" which is why you are going after me. But the last time I checked, I didn't have a mirror attached to my face."
(Aurum Tribe)
The four Aurum members sat around the fire pit.
"Ronald, Catherine, I have one question that had been bugging me." Janet said.
"What is it?" Ronald asked raising a non-existent eyebrow.
"Why didn't you use the Idol last night?" Janet asked.
Catherine's eyes widened at this. "You think we wouldn't if we didn't have it! The only one who got our backs is each other!"
"Okay, okay." Janet said trying to calm Catherine now. "But if YOU don't have the Idol, then who does?"
"Richard." Ronald said. "Definitely Richard."
"Yeah. That Kao guy doesn't look like he would find the Idol on the first try." Catherine said.
"Yeah and I don't have it." Oscar piped up.
"We know." Catherine and Ronald said in deadpan unison.
Oscar pouted before crossing his arms.
Janet chuckled nervously. "Anywayyyyy, seeing that Richard has the Idol, maybe we could convince Plata to vote him out."
"That's a plan." Ronald nodded.
"So Richard has the Idol, eh? Well, let's see if he is smart enough to play it when we try to get the rest of the tribe against him." Ronald said with a smirk. "When reaching the merge, I intend to take out all of the threats and Richard's Idol makes him the biggest one."
"Do you really think that we could make the others fold just because he has an Idol?" Oscar asked.
"Yeah, it worked for Belle and her Idol lie." Ronald shrugged.
"Yeah but how do we convince them that Richard has the Idol?" Janet asked. "The only way to confirm that he got it is our word."
Ronald paused crossing his arms. "Hmm… Okay, how about this? How about we split up and talk to separate people of Plata? One side will confront Richard about his Idol while the other side will warn the others?"
"Confront Richard?" Janet asked in disbelief. "Then what? Whoever he have in mind to target has now changed to you!"
"That won't happen." Ronald said with a smirk. "I intend to talk him down."
"Are you that confident you can do that?" Oscar asked. "I mean sure you can give him nightmares with that face of yours but you can only go so far with that."
Ronald growled, Janet glared at Oscar and Catherine merely gave a blank stare.
"Oscar, have you ever even recorded yourself talking and listen to yourself?" Catherine asked.
The whale hanged his head.
"Great. Even though she agreed to align with me, I am STILL messing with up Catherine. Fortunately, she had downgraded from loud shouts to simple snarks." Oscar sighed. "Still I don't know whether she or I will be voted off next so I have to be a gentleman to her."
"Anyway, what choice do we have? We already have the numbers against us." Ronald said.
Janet slowly nodded her head. "I'll try anything once."
"The merge is always when the game kicks off with both tribes meeting each other with different strategies not knowing each other until it may be too late." Janet said. "I am not really looking forward to it but with the days counting them, might as well grin and bear it."
(Day 23; Plata Tribe)
Everyone except Richard had gathered around the fire pit in a fashion similar to Aurum.
"All right, team. The merge should be starting anytime soon so we need to go over the gameplan." Bill said.
"Right. How are we going to handle Richard? He is most liable to backstab us." Sally said.
"Easy. Get to Aurum before he gets to them." Bill explained. "Then, we explain how untrustworthy he is."
Mortimer rolled his eyes making sure nobody notices him.
"Untrustworthy? Ha! My feathery butt! He didn't even tell me about his scheme between him and Coco even though I am supposed to hate Richard right now!" Mortimer said crossing his arms. "Any guilt I had for lying to the others is now gone."
"But what if Richard does the same?" Sally asked. "Well, he is quite the tricky one."
"Well, we'll just tell them the whole story and ask if Richard told them any part of the story when he went to them." Bill explained.
Coco gave a smug smirk.
"Do you think we will be able to vote Richard off?" Kao asked.
"I am positive." Bill said. "If we can sway Aurum to our side, it will be nine against one with no Idol to help Richard."
Mortimer looked to the side.
"Anyway, I think they would be more than happy to join us. What with the number differences and all." Bill shrugged.
Suddenly, Richard walked in holding a letter.
"Ah, you are all here." The man said. "Get ready. We have treemail."
Everyone nodded their heads as Richard read the letter.
"Are you ready for the game to change?" He said.
"Am I ever…" Bill muttered.
"Yeah… You don't have to be an expert to know that this merge is going to be crazy." Sally said shaking her head.
(Challenge Area)
The Plata tribe made their way onto their mat to see Tiny.
"We now bring in the Aurum tribe." Tiny said as Aurum walked in. "Andrew voted off at the last Tribal Council."
"I wonder how come he got the boot." Kao said scratching his head.
"I don't know. This late in the game, it could be for anything." Sally said with a shrug.
"Anyway, first of all, I want to congratulate all of you for making the Final 10." Tiny said. "And for that, I will reward you."
Everyone looked happy for this.
"That's right. You are merging." Tiny said. "You have outlasted eight different people. Now you have to face it off against each other for yourself."
Everyone looked at each other.
"Now you have to choose a camp to go to so choose…" Tiny started.
"Plata." Catherine piped up.
"Huh?" Tiny asked.
"We choose Plata." Ronald added.
"It's Queenmon all over again." Tiny growled.
"Are you sure you don't want to think it over?" Kao asked.
"Our camp is literally a small island surrounded by a stream!" Catherine cried. "Of course we want to move to a different camp."
"I STILL think you are overreacting." Oscar said rolling his eyes.
"Well, if you are THAT enthaustic about it." Bill said scratching his head. "We'll stay at Plata."
"Fine, whatever." Tiny said. "Anyway, you still have to choose a tribe name in time for the Immunity Challenge. Anyway, you may head back to camp. All of you."
(Merged Tribe)
The ten newly-merged people made their way to their new camp. They found that the tribe flag was now brown.
"I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" Catherine cried. "This place IS a million times better than our camp."
"Is it really that bad?" Sally asked.
"Terrible. We had to wade through water just to get a bite to eat or to get the treemail!" Catherine cried.
"Wow… I may live in a node that is where most of the world is literally ocean but I don't think I could do that with my dress every day." Coco said in awe.
"Hey, you guys know any good fishing holes?" Janet asked.
"Well, we never fished but we saw a lot of fish at the shore." Bill said pointing to the end of the shore.
"Why, thank you." Janet smiled.
"Yeah…" Oscar grinned. He then scowled. "You murderers…"
Everyone froze in their spots before looking at Oscar.
"Um, what?" Bill asked.
"Huh?" Oscar asked looking back. "Where are these voices coming from?"
Plata looked stunned while Janet, Ronald and Catherine shook their heads.
"Well, it wasn't easy. Actually once we got rid of Nina, it was! But still I had made the merge! Now nobody would even think about voting me off!" Coco smirked putting her hands behind her head. "Now I have to decide on my gameplan for the long run!"
A little later, Ronald and Catherine were walking down the shore.
"Are you sure you want to go through with your plan, Ronnie?" Catherine asked.
"What choice do we have? We can't afford to pull any punches with the disadvantage we are at!" Ronald explained.
"My plan is to come Richard face-to-face about his Idol and threaten that if he doesn't join us, we would tell the others about it thus losing everyone's trust in him." Ronald said rubbing his hands together. "I could see why the others are concerned about this but I know what I am doing."
"Don't get me wrong but that Richard guy doesn't look friendly." Catherine said.
"Well, I just have to be less than friendly if his reaction is over-the-top, won't I?" Ronald asked. "Child, allow me to show you that you don't need a spellbook to work some magic."
Suddenly, he noticed Richard and Mortimer walking together talking.
"Ah, speaking of the devil!" Ronald said. "Ah, Richard!"
The dark-haired man stopped to see Ronald and Catherine coming over.
"Yes… Ronald, was it?" Richard asked.
"Yes, I just want to have a talk with." The rat said.
As he said this, Catherine stared intently at Mortimer. The duck shrank back a little.
"Okay, so when Richard and Ronald started to talk, this Catherine girl keeps looking at me. It's giving me the creeps." Mortimer said before rolling his eyes. "Great. And I thought I was out of the woods with people after me when we got rid of Prick. Now I have another rival."
"Oh my gosh! Do you see the colour of Mortimer's feathers? It is like looking at a moving snowman!" Catherine said with sparkling eyes. "And they must feel just as soft. Like sleeping on a pillow!"
"So I think I know why you wanted to talk to me." Richard said. "You wanted me to turn on my tribe, right?"
"Right." Ronald said waiting for Richard to ask what was in it for him.
"All right." Richard shrugged.
Ronald's smirk vanished as Catherine paused.
"Wait. What?" Ronald asked.
"You sure me. You want us to go against Plata right?" Richard asked. "Very well."
"We were thinking of going against them anyway." Mortimer shrugged.
"Now could we target Bill first if he doesn't win Immunity?" Richard asked.
"Um, well, I was thinking more of Kao but if he's the leader…" Ronald said still stunned.
"He is." Richard nodded.
"Then, okay, we'll target Bill first." Ronald said.
"Thank you. I am up to here with that man." Richard said. "Anyway, I don't think we should talk anymore in an area where anyone from Plata can see us."
"Heck, not even Richard and I are supposed to be together!" Mortimer added.
"Um, okay. Let's talk again in a secluded area." Ronald said.
Richard and Mortimer nodded before walking off leaving Ronald and Catherine frozen in place.
"Is this the type of magic you were talking about?" Catherine asked flatly.
"It's no secret. Bill and I hate each other so why should I sit back and let them vote me out?" Richard said holding up his Idol. "I don't care if Mortimer and I would just be the first boots if we Pagong Plata, I still got my bishop. Mortimer is my king and whatever is left to fill the rest of the pieces will go to the rest of Aurum."
"What!?" Janet exclaimed as Oscar went wide-eyed.
"You heard me." Bill said. "We want you to help us vote off Richard."
"You are willing to throw your own tribemate down the river?" Janet asked in disbelief.
"Trust me. Being on the same tribe is the ONLY thing we have in common." Bill said.
"Yeah, he is a schemer." Sally said. "He cannot be trusted."
"We need to get Aurum on our side before Richard tries to do the same with them. Thankfully, we managed to find Janet who is also their leader." Sally said in relief. "If we can convince her to go to our side, then the rest may follow."
"And how can we trust you?" Janet asked.
"You don't. I give you that but trust me. Richard is even more untrustworthy." Bill said. "Come on, you were there at Prick's final Tribal Council."
"Yeah, what a mess that was." Janet winced. "All right… We will think about it."
"Thank you." Bill said as they watched Janet and Oscar leave.
"I dunno, Bill. They don't seem very convinced." Coco frowned.
"Well, we ARE voting off one of our own." Kao said shaking his head. "We are making ourselves look like backstabbers."
Bill turned around. "Hey, who says that Richard isn't doing the same thing to Ronald and Catherine as we speak?"
"Yeah, but all we got is our word." Sally frowned.
"Well, we just have to hope for the best." Bill mused.
"This time, we WILL get him. We just need to convince Aurum that we are more trustworthy than Richard even though we won't prove ourselves." Bill said determined.
The two pairs of Aurum and joined each other at a log. They both stared at each other for a moment before sitting down all at the same time.
Oscar finally broke the silence. "…Anyone else expecting it to be a bit more harder?"
The others slowly nodded.
"…Wow. I mean I know looking at Prick's final Tribal Council that Plata has issues but they are practically GIVING us the swing vote." Janet said in awe. "It just goes to show that just because you win a lot of Challenges, your tribe isn't that balanced."
Later, everyone gathered around the tribe flag to name it.
"Well, here we are." Mortimer said. "About to name the flag. How are we going to do so?"
"Well, for the last two seasons, they had the name in a different language." Bill suggested. "So why don't we have the tribe name in a different language."
"Sure, it is a start." Sally nodded. "What language should the name be in?"
"Well, last season it was in that Al Bhed stuff. The season before that, it was in Japanese." Kao said. "What language should the name be in it this year?"
Oscar stared at Richard and pointed at him. "German?"
Richard growled. "Russian."
Oscar smirked before slamming his fist in his palm. "How about we have the tribe name in Russian? Nobody would ever do something in that!"
"Sounds like a great idea, Os!" Janet grinned. "We just pick a meaningful name and have Richard translate it into Russian."
Richard merely shrugged. "Why not?"
Everyone slowly agreed.
"All right. Everyone take turns saying names." Janet said. "Adventure."
"Priklyucheniye." Richard said flatly.
Everyone paused with wide eyes.
"This may be harder than I thought." Oscar frowned. "Um, tidal wave?"
"Prilivnaya Volna." Richard said.
"I can't even pronounce that." Coco frowned. "How about Lucky?"
"Udachlivyy."
Everyone frowned not liking where this was going.
"How are we going to find a tribe name if we can't even pronounce it?" Catherine asked.
"People, people. If our tribe name is going to be something long, it has to at least mean something!" Janet called out.
"What's wrong with Tidal Wave?" Oscar muttered.
"Does that mean to us as a whole?" Catherine asked.
Oscar frowned. "Um… We are… Awesome and tidal waves are awesome."
"How is a giant wave of doom awesome?" Mortimer asked in disbelief.
"Everything to him seeing that he is a whale." Ronald said rolling his non-existent pupils.
Kao paused. "Does the tribe name have to refer to all of us?"
"Well, it couldn't hurt." Sally shrugged.
"Well, how about Tenacity?" Kao asked.
"Tenacity?" Ronald asked.
"Why not? All of us have it. All of us want to make sure that their allies and them make it to the Finals." Kao explained. "Isn't that everyone's motive?"
Everyone paused for a moment.
"Actually, that is a great meaning for a tribe name." Catherine said. "I know. I had been through tough times before the merge."
"So you like it?" Kao asked.
"Like it? I love it!" Catherine beamed. "I don't even care how stupid the Russian translation for it sounds!"
"Then, you should know that it is Uporstvo." Richard said.
"Uporstvo?" Janet paused. "Uporstvo… Uporstvo…"
She then grinned.
"I like it!"
"I must admit. Once you said it, it kinda gets stuck." Ronald said.
"Yeah, it isn't TOO hard to pronounce." Sally agreed.
"So are we all in agreement?" Bill asked.
Everyone nodded. However, Oscar took the slowest.
"All right. Uporstvo, it is!" Bill grinned.
"Nice one, Kao!" Sally smiled.
The Pianta giggled a bit.
"Wow… I just spoke what is on my mind about this new tribe as a whole and everyone just accepts it. I am so happy and proud that everyone had chosen MY tribe name idea!" Kao smiled.
As the others congratulated Kao, Oscar sat in his spot. He then got up and walked off.
"Huh? Oscar, where are you going?" Kao asked.
"The tribe has been named so there is no reason for me to hang here." The strongman said. "I am going for a swim."
With that, he literally walked into the ocean until he disappeared from sight.
"What's wrong with Oscar?" Coco asked.
"Beats me." Catherine shrugged.
"That was my chance. My chance to impress Catherine with a very cool name. But she isn't. Instead, she gets impressed by Kao's name instead." Oscar said sadly. "So even complete strangers are better at impressing her than me."
(Day 24; Uporstvo Tribe)
The Aurum members were talking to each other.
"I can't believe it! Those guys actually gave us the swing vote!" Catherine exclaimed.
"I know! For now, we just have to decide who to side with." Janet said.
Ronald paused crossing his arms. Catherine noticed this.
"Is something the matter, Ronnie?" Catherine asked.
"Yes, there is still the matter of Richard's Idol." The warlock said.
"Yeah, even though we side with her, we still can't completely trust him." Janet said. "But just because he has the Idol doesn't mean we have to side against him."
"I suppose." Ronald said.
"I hate it when someone I am opposing may have something that could ruin me. Case and point, Richard's Idol." Ronald said. "Even if we do side with Richard and Mortimer, it is no secret that they will be the fifth and sixth wheels so if we make it that far, he will use it on one of us."
"Anyway, who do we go for?" Janet asked. "Personally, I think we should go with Bill because I heard a lot of bad things about Richard."
"Yeah but if we go with Bill and successfully vote off Richard and Mortimer, then we have to go into a tiebreaker." Catherine explained.
"But there is still the case of the Idol." Ronald said. "Even if we side with Richard, we have to find a way to get rid of it before he uses it one of us."
The four people looked at each other for a moment. They then sighed in hopelessness.
"You would think that having the swing vote practically GIVEN to us would make us happy but we are torn between two sides." Catherine explained. "Bill, Kao, Sally and Coco or Richard and Mortimer. Both sides have their pros and their cons and may affect us in the long run. The only upside that it isn't one of us."
"Treemail!" A voice called out.
"Don't look now but it is time for our next Challenge." Janet said. "We can decide who to decide with after the Challenge."
Everyone nodded before walking off. Soon, they gathered around Kao holding a letter.
"What does it say, Kao?" Sally asked.
"It says "Have you ever been in a tug-of-war with more than one party?" The yellow giant asked.
"Tug-of-war with more than one party?" Oscar asked. "What does THAT even mean?"
"More parties? Then, that mean a TEN-way tug-of-war?" Janet asked.
This resulted in a bunch of mixed reaction with the others.
"Me? In a Tug-of-war? Against a muscle-bound whale? A mercenary? A cop whose favourite food ISN'T donuts?" Mortimer cried in disbelief. Even if my new-found confidence, I can't face up to those guys!"
(Immunity Challenge)
The ten mergers made their way onto their new tribe mat.
"Greetings, castaways and welcome to your first individual Immunity Challenge." Tiny said. "First off, have you decided on a name?"
"Um, yes." Kao said stepping forward. "Uporstvo."
"Uporstvo? Huh, nice name." Tiny mused. "Does it mean anything?"
"Tenacity." Kao replied.
"Ah, I see. Good one." Tiny said. "Anyway, take a look at the ocean."
Everyone looked at the ocean to see ten long platforms standing high over the water.
"Here is your next Challenge. Easy to understand. Hard to do." Tiny said. "You will be pulling on a ten-way rope on the water while trying to stay on your platform. If you fall off, you are out. Last person standing wins Immunity guaranteeing an 1-in-9 shot of winning."
Nobody looked surprised by the explanation.
"All right, let's draw for spots." Tiny grinned.
(Later)
All ten contestants stood on a platform holding onto a rope connected to each other.
"All right, for Immunity." Tiny said. "Survivors ready, GO!"
Immediately everyone started to pull on their rope with all their might. They gritted their teeth not wanting to be the first person to fall into the water knowing that individual was on the line.
Suddenly, Coco fell into the water.
"And just in barely a minute, Coco is the first one in." Tiny said flatly.
"It's a good thing being good at Challenges is NOT part of my plan." Coco muttered swimming off.
Suddenly, Mortimer fell in followed by Ronald.
"And Mortimer and Ronald soon followed her into the water." Tiny said.
"Why am I not surprised?" Mortimer asked floating away.
The seven remaining contestants continued to pull harder knowing how much they are to winning Immunity, they were. Everyone struggled to stay on.
Suddenly, Sally stumbled a bit and fell into the water with a splash.
"And Sally is the next one out." Tiny said.
Sally looked in the water in sadness before swimming off back to shore.
However as she did so, Catherine stumbled forward followed by Richard.
"And just like that, Catherine and Richard are gone." Tiny said.
"Should have seen THAT coming…" Catherine muttered swimming off.
"We are now down to four people!" Tiny announced. "Bill, Janet, Oscar and Kao! All of them want Immunity but only one could win it."
Hearing this made the four people even more determined to win as they put all of their remaining strength into winning.
However, Janet lost the pull-off as she fell into the water with a splash.
"And Janet is out." Tiny said.
"Hang in there, boys!" Janet called out swimming off.
Then, Bill stumbled forward and fell head-first into the water.
"And with Bill gone, it is now Oscar VS Kao!" Tiny called out.
Everyone watched as the two giants pulled hard on the rope. Oscar and Kao struggled to stay on. Both of them wanted to win Immunity on their own.
Suddenly, someone had stumbled forward and fell into the water with a big splash.
"Kao had fallen into the water!" Tiny shouted. "OSCAR WINS IMMUNITY!"
The orca whale cheered in victory before cannonballing straight into the water causing a large splash.
(Later)
"Congratulations, Oscar!" Tiny said putting the headdress on the muscleman's head. "You had Immunity guaranteeing an 1-in-9 chance of winning!"
"I don't even care how stupid-looking this is!" Oscar grinned.
Tiny then turned to the others. "As for the rest of you, the game will be over for one of you. You have all day to figure out who. You may head back to camp."
(Uporstvo Tribe)
"Oh yeah! You know it! I had won the first Immunity individual Challenge! Well… Janet technically won it first but I found the one after the merge!" Oscar said with a grin. "Even though it is the only the first of many Challenges, it proves that I am the strongest one of the everyone here."
Janet and Oscar were talking to Bill, Sally, Kao and Coco.
"Congrats on winning Immunity, Big O!" Bill grinned.
"Thank you!" The strongman said.
"So you have considered our offer?" Sally asked.
"I don't know." Janet mused. "Even if you claim that we can't trust Richard, we barely know you."
"Trust us." Bill reassured. "Why would we lie if this is a trick? Excuse me saying but right now, us Plata members could easily outnumber you guys."
"I know." Janet said shaking her head. "Still, we need more time for thinking so if you excuse us."
"All right." Bill said as Janet and Oscar walked off.
"This is it. Either Richard goes or one of us goes. I sure hope that they choose us because if they choose to save Richard then they are working with a schemer." Bill said.
Meanwhile, Richard, Mortimer, Ronald and Catherine were talking beside the shelter.
"So shall we continue our chat?" Richard asked.
"Yes, let's." Ronald said narrowing his eyes. "Why should we trust you two?"
Richard gave an annoyed sigh. "Does that question stemmed from anything Bill said?"
"Um, no." Ronald asked raising his eyebrow.
"Good." Richard said sighing in relief. "Look, I won't pretend that I am the most loyal person in the game but Bill isn't much better."
"How so?" Ronald asked.
"How about he used a NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL to lie to Richard for him?" Mortimer said narrowing his eyes.
Catherine's eyes widened. "You serious?"
"Yeah and he didn't even tell me about it!" Mortimer growled. "And keep in mind that I was pretending to be his ally at the time!"
Ronald crossed his arms. "And how do I know that this isn't a trick?"
"How do YOU know what Bill saying isn't a trick?" Richard asked.
"What's with the riddles?" Catherine asked crossing her arms in annoyance.
"I am just saying." Richard said with a shrug. "Bill is liable to backstab as much as I do."
"And what happens if we side with you?" Ronald quizzed. "Would you stay loyal?"
"Yes. I want to sink their self-righteous ship as soon as possible." Richard agreed.
"And you will tell us anything that may help us?" Ronald asked.
"Um, sure." Richard mused.
Ronald glared at Richard for a moment. The latter looked creeped out for once. Mortimer and Catherine watched in confusion not liking where this was going.
"All right." Ronald said. "Thank you for your time. Come, Catherine."
With that, the rodent walked off. Despite stunned, Catherine ran off after the rat leaving Richard and Mortimer speechless.
"Okay, I knew there was something creepy with that guy from Day 1 but… That was just terrifying." Mortimer said. "What is up with that?"
Richard narrowed his eyes.
"A less than subtle way of saying that he doesn't trust me." The scientist said sternly.
Mortimer's eyes widened. "What? You are saying that they will go with Bill."
"I am afraid so." Richard sighed.
"Ronald obviously never heard of the term subtlety. It is as clear as day that he doesn't trust me and will go to Bill." Richard said crossing his arms. "All right, fine. If I can't earn Aurum's tribe, I just have to have another way to advance myself forward."
The Aurum members regrouped with each other.
"Well, I don't know how to do this, I am stumped." Janet frowned.
"Same here." Catherine said shaking her head. "We don't have any reason to trust one over the other."
Ronald paused for a moment. "Hey, perhaps…"
The others looked at the pink man.
"Huh? You have an idea?" Janet asked.
Ronald gave a smirk.
"Do I."
"The others may be stunned as to who to vote out and who to side with but I know first-hand who I want to side with." Ronald said smirking evilly. "And I know EXACTLY who to vote out."
"Every time Ronald smirks like that, a tough, hard-as-nails soldier wet his pants in fear." Janet said flatly.
(Tribal Council)
The ten newly-merged castaways made their way to their first post-merge Tribal Council where Tiny was waiting.
"Greetings, Uporstvo." Tiny said. "Take a seat."
Everyone obliged.
"Coco, what is it like to make the merge?" Tiny asked.
"It feels fantastic!" The child grinned. "Even though I am the youngest and smallest person here by far, I feel overcame all of the odds and made to the merge!"
"Janet, you had been having troubles with Aurum recently." Tiny said. "What had you been thinking when you made it the merge?"
"I had thinking that I need to get Aurum back together." The Ikari Warrior explained. "With us at a disadvantage in numbers, we need to stick together."
"Catherine, is that true?" Tiny asked.
"Yeah, even if I want to keep arguing, it would just give a chance for Plata to trample all over us." The pink-haired girl said.
"So it is a Tribal War right now, Kao?" Tiny asked.
"Um, no." The Pianta sighed.
"What do you mean?" Tiny asked confused.
"I think what Kao means is that we are having our problems with each other and even if we want to stick together, some of us can't help giving the evil eye." Coco piped up.
"Um, I do?" Kao asked confused.
"Oh, and who are said people giving the evil eye?" Tiny asked.
"Uh-uh. No way. I am not calling anyone out and make them feel bad." Coco said putting up his hands in front of her.
"Bill, is this true?" Tiny asked.
"Yeah. Even though we had put aside our differences for Challenges, some of us can't stand to be there near each other." The bearded man said.
"Ronald, you are hearing this that there is a crack in Plata." Tiny asked. "How does this make you feel?"
"It feels good because we need even the smallest of cracks right now to survive." The rat explained. "Question is, how to open said crack?"
"Richard, do you have any idea what Ronald means by this?" Tiny asked.
"I think he is wondering who should he trust or not to trust." The Russian said sounding a little annoyed.
"I see. Mortimer, how is this vote going to go?" Tiny asked.
The duck shook his head. "Let's just say it is going to be crazy."
"All right, it is almost time to vote." Tiny said. "Oscar, you have Immunity. Do you want to give it up?"
"And give up my trophy? Yeah right!" The muscleman snapped.
Tiny chuckled. "All right, you cannot vote for Oscar. For everyone else, it is fair game. Coco, you are up."
The dark-skinned nodded before getting off and walking over to the voting table. With a smirk, she made her way up the steps and grabbed the pen. "Ooh, Richard is going to be blindsided so hard!"
Kao walked over with a neutral look on his face. (Or that would be the case if he had a mouth.) Picking up the pen, he wrote down a name and put it in the urn.
Catherine bit her lip not sure with Ronald's decision for once. However, she gave a big sigh before writing down a name.
Oscar adjusted his headdress which seemed like the fiftieth time before making his way over to the voting table. He didn't waste much time writing down a name.
Sally narrowed her eyes in determination before stomping over to the voting table. Snatching the pen, she wrote down a name.
Richard gave a confident and determined look as he adjusted his glasses and made his way over. "Since you had been after me for you a while, I thought I return the favour." He said holding up "Bill."
Ronald smirked as he rubbed his furry hands together not wanting to wait for the vote. He wasted no time writing down a name. "Even though the others scratch their head, I KNOW this is the smartest move to make."
Mortimer casually made his way over looking quite upset. Nodding his head, he wasted no time writing down a name putting it in the urn.
Bill cracked his knuckles as he walked over looking determined. He then grabbed the pen. "It is all or nothing." He said holding up "Richard".
Janet walked over with a blank look on her face. Despite second-guessing, she shrugged before writing down a name.
She then walked back where Tiny got up.
"I'll get the votes."
Everyone waited patiently for Tiny to return.
"I'll read them…"
"Hold on!"
Everyone turned to see Richard getting up.
"Remember that fake Idol I played?" Richard asked walking off getting out an Idol. "Well, here is the real one!"
"WHAT!?" Bill exclaimed as Sally, Kao and Coco gasped in horror.
Tiny examined the Idol. "Indeed. This IS the Hidden Immunity Idol. All votes cast against Richard are now null and void."
"But… But…" Bill sputtered. "I thought Oscar had it."
"Huh?" The whale asked confused.
"Nope. Just a fake that I made for that particular Tribal Council." Richard smirked coming back before looking at Ronald. "As for you, try a little harder not to let people know that you don't trust them."
Ronald growled at this as Richard sat up.
"First vote, Richard. Doesn't count."
Richard crossed his arms in triumph.
"Second vote, Richard. Also doesn't count."
Mortimer smiled happily.
"Third vote, Richard. Null."
Bill buried his head into his hands.
"Fourth vote, Richard. Void."
Sally and Coco glared at Ronald seeing that this was all his fault.
"Fifth vote, Bill. One vote, Bill."
Bill raised his head in defeat. "Ugh…"
"Sixth vote, Bill. Two votes, Bill."
Richard's smirk had gotten bigger.
"Seventh vote, Mortimer. Two votes, Bill. One vote, Mortimer."
Richard's smirk immediately dropped as everyone from Plata look stunned.
"Eighth vote, Mortimer. Two votes, Bill. Two votes, Mortimer."
Mortimer and Richard looked at each other in disbelief.
"Ninth vote, Mortimer. Three votes, Mortimer. Two votes, Bill. One vote left."
Bill cast Ronald a side glance who winked at him.
"Ninth person voted out of Survivor and first member of our jury…"
Nobody looked worried about the vote.
"…Is Mortimer."
Mortimer and Richard looked absolutely stunned. The rest of Plata looked relieved as Ronald smirked in victory.
"Mortimer, you have to bring me your torch."
After the shock had faded, the duck sighed before getting up. "What can I say, Aurum? You got me good."
He then patted his hand on Richard's shoulder. "Good luck, Richard."
With that, he grabbed his torch and made his way over to Tiny placing it in front of him.
"Mortimer, the tribe has spoken." Tiny said putting his snuffer over the torch extinguishing it. "You may now go."
"What a crazy night." He said walking off shaking his head.
Tiny watched him leave before turning to the others. "Well, it is safe to say that Mortimer didn't see that coming. Then again, most of you were blindsided together. It just goes to show that you are never safe in this game. If the merge start is this exciting, I can't wait to see how the rest folds out. You may head back to camp."
The nine remaining castaways got up and picked up their torches before walking off. Richard brought up the rear looking upset. He may have wisely used his Idol but in the progress had voted off his only ally and friend out here. Now he was all alone knowing that he couldn't trust anyone but himself.
"Wow… To say I didn't see that coming was an understatement. I could see why Richard was so sceptical of Ronald." Mortimer said with a sigh. "Oh well. I had an amazing time and I made jury even though most people thought I would be the first boot. I just hope that Richard would be okay on his own."
RESULTS
Mortimer: Catherine, Janet, Oscar, Ronald.
Richard: Bill, Coco, Kao, Sally. (N/A)
Bill: Mortimer, Richard.
And Mortimer is the first juror. Mortimer was a lot of fun to write for. He came into this game a nervous wreck with the whole world trying to kill him to standing up to someone stronger than him and being a strategic force. Unfortunately, he was always going to be the first person on the jury. As much as I liked to have him on the show.
NOTE: For those who had been with me even BEFORE I started to do Survivor stories, one of my OCs, Mory Atom would be here instead of Mortimer. However, I scrapped that idea and created Mortimer because it would make people think I am biased for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
(Ponderosa)
Mortimer calmly sat in a limo heading all the way to Ponderosa. The trip was mostly quiet. Soon, the limo had reached its destination.
"Hey, bud." The limo driver said getting Mortimer's attention. "We are here."
The duck paused before opening the door to reveal the Juror House for the season. It was quite a nice looking house.
"Wow…" Mortimer said stepping out. "What a lovely plaaaaa…"
SPLASH!
Mortimer had tripped and fell straight first into a mud puddle smearing mud all over him. The limo driver got out.
"Are you okay?" He asked in concern.
"Yeah…" Mortimer grumbled. "It just goes to show that I still have a lot to go with my luck."
"Here, let me help you up." The limo driver said grabbing Mortimer's arm and pulling him up.
"Thank you, Mr…" Mortimer said before pausing.
"Touileasaso." The lime driver grinned.
Mortimer blinked twice. "Okay, that is just as hard to say as some of the names of the merged tribe."
He merely chuckled. "Just call me Touil."
"All right, Touil." Mortimer said walking off.
"Well, here am I. The first juror of the season brought here by a big blindside. I just hope Richard finds a way to get around this." Mortimer mused. "Anyway, he bad news is that I am here by myself. The good news is that I get first dibs on nearly everything until the next juror comes in."
Mortimer walked through the door. The inside was just as nice as the outside. Mortimer looked around in awe.
"Wow, I had seen Ponderosa videos on where the jurors stayed but this is much better than what you see on TV." Mortimer mused. "Well, the sooner I get myself cleaned up, the sooner I could go explore this place."
With that, he went into the bathroom.
After a nice and hot shower, he made his way into the kitchen wearing a bathrobe. Normally, he would put on some clothes first but seeing that he was literally the only person in the house, he felt it was okay.
Then, his eyes widened. On the table was a bunch of nice array of foods just for him. His eyes sparkled as he hanged his tongue letting it drip to the ground.
He couldn't take it anymore. He dashed towards the food and started to chow down as many things as he could put his hands on.
"Normally I wouldn't be so gluttonous. But after eating nothing but fish, fruit and rice for three weeks, I couldn't help myself." Mortimer said scratching the back of his head. "I just took one good look of all that food and then attacked!"
The movie-dome owner continued to chow down on food happily. However, he then took one bite far too big.
Then, his eyes widened as he got up holding his throat choking on the bit of food. He held his neck with both hands before putting two hands together and swinging it into his stomach. He does this a couple of more times before the piece of food flew from his mouth. Mortimer gasped in relief before collapsing on his back.
"Actually, you know what?" Mortimer asked. "Maybe I should save this food for the other jurors."
After his near-death experience, he made his way to the TV.
"All right. Let's see what movies Tiny dumped with us for this reason." Mortimer said sitting down. He then noticed a letter. "Huh? What's this?"
He then picked it up and read it.
"Dear Juror(s), due to the popularity of the latest movie of the Avengers, I had decided to celebrate its successful by having a lot of Marvel movies. Enjoy, signed, Tiny."
Mortimer paused for a moment.
"So all I have to watch all season is movies about nothing but Marvel?" Mortimer asked slowly. "This… Is…"
He then grinned.
"AWESOME!"
"Okay, this is very embarrassing but the reason I started to work at the movie dome in the first place was to get staff discounts at the superhero movies." Mortimer said acting like a fanboy. "Now we literally have nothing but Marvel movies to watch!"
The bespectacled duck then looked around at the choice.
"Oh my gosh! There is so much variety in the choices! I mean some of these DVDs were videos when they came out." Mortimer said looking around. "The Avengers, X-Men, the Fantastic Four. Huh? What's this?"
Mortimer then picked up a DVD cover. His eyes widened in horror when he saw an egg with a beak coming out of it with a cigar in his mouth. His eye twitched at the title.
Howard the Duck.
Mortimer's eyebrow started to twitch as he started to breathe heavily with a surprisingly amount of rage coming out of him.
Wasting no time, he darted off towards the nearest window. Tossing the DVD case like a Frisbee, he sent it flying out of the Juror house straight into the bushes.
Mortimer breathed in and out heavily before closing the window and going over to the TV.
"Good riddance! Now, where were we?" Mortimer asked.
Mortimer sat in front of the camera crossing his arms. "What? You think MY reaction to the movie is over-the-top, wait till you see Scrooge McDuck's reaction."