…

Day 9

Pizza Pizza

Camp

Men: Joe, Killua, Kirito, Kyon, Lucian, Mayuri, Prussia, Spike

Women: Alice, Ami, Haruhi, Jasmine, Konata, Michiru, Mine, Misty

The players come back from camp, still stunned from what just happened.

"Wow," Killua says.

"Yeah, I know," Kirito says. "That was crazy."

"Are you okay, Ami?" Joe asks.

Ami wipes away a tear. "Yes, I am," she says. "I'm not going to let Karen ruin my time in this game."

Michiru puts her arm around Ami's shoulder. "She needs some time right now, guys, okay? Please let her go for now."

The other players go off to bed, while Michiru comforts Ami around the fire.

"I am trying to allow Ami to have time to recover from what happened," Michiru says. "I don't know what that's like; Haruka and I have always been very open about our sexuality. What Karen did was despicable, and I'm glad she's gone."

In the morning, Killua again pulls aside Alice, while everyone is still sleeping.

"What is it, Albino?" she says to Killua loudly.

"Shhh!" Killua said, pulling her arm and leading her into the woods.

"Okay, what is it?" she said.

"We're in a bad situation now," Killua says.

"Bad situation?"

"You guys are headed for rocks," Killua says. "It's going to be Ami, Michiru, Misty, and Jasmine voting against you, Mine, Haruhi, and Konata. That's going to be a 4-4 tie."

"So?" Alice says. "We pick rocks, then move on from there."

Killua sighs. "Here, don't tell anyone about this, but…"

He points over to Ami, who is sleeping by herself outside the shelter.

"She's got an idol."

"What?" Alice shouts, before Killua shoves his hand over her mouth. "How?" she then whispers.

"We gave her and their alliance a ton of Fire Tokens," Killua says. "Ami bought an idol with them."

"But why would you give them to them?"

"It's a long story," Killua says. "The bottom line is, we gave them a ton of Fire Tokens, and they haven't returned them. So I'm kind of pissed off at them."

"I would be, too!" Alice replies.

"I need your help," Killua says. "Now that you guys voted out Karen – and don't get me wrong, I understand voting out Karen – but now that you did that, you're in deep trouble."

"What do you suggest?" Alice asks.

Killua points to Haruhi and Konata, also still sleeping.

"Get them out," he says.

"Why?"

"Because it would keep you guys along longer."

"No it wouldn't! We vote out Haruhi and Konata, then Mine and I get picked off one-by-one."

"You'd be able to flush out Ami's idol, though."

"No, we wouldn't! Ami would just hang on to the idol."

"If she had a chance to oust one of you?"

"She's not giving it to Haruhi, that much is for sure. Or to Chaos Konata."

"It's not too hard to figure out a path from there," Killua says. "You two either join up with the two Sailor Guardians, or the two Gym Leaders. You'll actually go farther in this scenario than if you go to rocks."

"Silly, I'm not afraid of rocks! I'm just going to vote wisely with Mine. We then get Haruhi and Konata on board. We know not to vote for Ami…"

"But if Ami guesses right, your votes go for naught and one of you goes home – probably you!"

"What do you want us to do?" Alice asks.

"Simple, you've got enough Fire Tokens," Killua says. "Buy a Steal-a-Vote. Then you could make sure you're not going home."

"Nonsense!" Alice replies. "Mine and I are purposely hoarding our Fire Tokens so that we can buy an idol."

"Are we sure there's going to be one in the game?"

"There were never any warnings that they weren't!"

Killua sighs. "Fine, then, have it your way. But you better hope to win a bunch of challenges, because you are going to be in a heap of trouble."

"Alice is being stubborn with me," Killua says. "She needs to be thinking long-term here. Instead, she's thinking very short term. Just pick rocks and everything will be okay. Well, that's not the way it works, and she should know. By the time she can buy an idol, she and Mine are going to be put out of this game."

"I know Killua wants to help me, but he's got it all wrong," Alice says. "What I want to do is gain the majority in the tribe via rocks. At the same time, we want to flush out Ami's idol. Finally, we want to buy our own idol to share between the two of us. Worst case scenario is that one of us pulls a rock, but likely that'll only be one of us, since the other one would likely get the other alliance's votes. We have a 17% or so chance of going home. That is a lot better than wasting our Tokens on an advantage that the other alliance can counteract."

A little later, Ami wakes up, and she pulls aside Haruhi.

"What is it?" a sleepy Haruhi says.

"You and I have just made history!" Ami replies.

"And how's that?"

"We are the first two female players to go 100 days in this game lifetime!" Ami says. "Lucian hit that mark yesterday."

"Nice!" Haruhi says, rising to her feet and giving Ami a high five. "You hear that, Konata?"

"Huh?" Konata says, still waking up.

"Ami just told me that I'm the best player to ever play Survivor!"

"I didn't say that!" Ami says.

"You basically did!" Haruhi says. "I'm going to break all sorts of records before my time is done here!"

"I am the great Haruhi Suzumiya, 100 days into my Survivor career!" Haruhi says. "And you better believe I'm going to break the all-time record!"

Reward Challenge

"Come on in, guys!"

The sixteen remaining players walk into the reward challenge area.

"You guys ready to get to today's challenge?"

"Yeah!" Haruhi exclaims, jumping with a fist-pump.

"For today's challenge, four members of your tribe will be tethered together. You will have to maneuver your way through a bunch of sticks. Our Survivor challenge pros have made sure that they are exactly the same for each tribe. You will then gather water into a pot. You'll climb up and down a giant teeter-totter. You pour whatever water you've got left into the container that unleashes the final gate. Once you're there, the other four players in your tribe will work on a giant puzzle that forms into a triangle. First tribe to finish, wins reward. Second place, otherwise known as the losers, nothing. Wanna know what you're playing for?"

"Of course!" Konata answers.

Jet unveils a bunch of pizza boxes.

"We've got eight pizzas from Little Caesars cooking right now," he says. "These boxes are here just to represent them. Once the challenge is over, the winning tribe members will get one pizza each to eat. They'll also get one Fire Token as well. Second place, otherwise known as the losers, will have to sit and watch the winners eat. Worth playing for?"

"No," Spike says. "I'm not a pizza guy."

"Too bad!" Jet says. "I'll give you a minute to strategize, then we'll get started."

Killua gathers the Men together. "We've got to figure out who's better for solving the puzzle, and who's better for maneuvering through the challenge."

"I'll do the puzzle," Kyon says, raising his hand.

"Yes, I shall work on it as well," Mayuri says.

Killua glares over at Lucian. "I don't trust you," he says. "We're putting you on the puzzle so you can't sabotage us. Everyone else, feel free to override any suggestions Lucian makes."

"Sounds like an awesome plan!" Prussia exclaims. "I will help with the puzzle too!"

"No, no, no, no," Kirito says. "We need someone smart on it. Joe, that's for you."

"Got it," Joe says.

"It'll be me, Killua, Spike, and Prussia going through the stick maze," Kirito says.

The Women have a similar talk.

"Let's make this simple," Ami says. "Those of us who vote together, work together. So, Michiru, Misty, Jasmine and I work on the puzzle, and Mine, Alice, Haruhi, and Konata go through the challenge."

"Makes a lot of sense," Alice says.

"Hmmmph," Mine says. "I'm just doing it for the food, not to help out the tribe."

The players then line up at the start.

"We've got Killua, Kirito, Prussia, and Spike going for the Men, and we've got Alice, Haruhi, Konata, and Mine going for the Women!" Jet shouts. "Survivors ready? Go!"

The players head into the stick maze, trying to get through without getting hurt. Alice gets poked with one stick in the shoulder, and Prussia ends up falling flat on his face.

"Get up! Get up!" Killua shouts.

As Prussia gets up, Killua inadvertently headbutts him.

"Ooh," Prussia says, dropping to the ground. He shakes off the pain and then helps the Men get out of the stick maze. By now, though, the Women are completely through, and Mine is filling up her pot with water.

"Gotta get as much of that water as possible into the container!"

The Women take their time, then flip the teeter-totter. Mine rushes down and pours the water into the container.

"It's going to take a few to make it through!"

As the Women head back, Kirito gathers water into his jug. The Men then get onto the teeter-totter, trying to take their time before flipping it. But Prussia plows ahead without warning, and the teeter-totter flips. Kirito ends up rolling down alongside Killua and Spike, and all the water spills out.

"Men with a big fall!"

Mine gathers another jug of water, and the Women skillfully knock over the teeter-totter so that Mine loses hardly any water. She then pours it into the container, and the Women head back.

"Women with a big lead so far!"

Kirito tries going over the teeter-totter again, with Prussia this time keeping pace with his tribemates so that they do not spill this time. Kirito pours the water into the container.

"Men trying to catch up!"

Mine comes over the teeter-totter with the Women, and she pours some into the container. About halfway into her pouring, the container drops, and the gate crashes down.

"Women are through! You're good! Time to work on that puzzle!"

Ami, Michiru, Misty, and Jasmine start putting together pieces to the puzzle. Ami stands back and begins ordering the others to put pieces where she thinks they should go.

"This is a tough puzzle!"

Kirito finally fills the water jug so that the gate tips over.

"Men are through! You're good! Get to work on that puzzle!"

Joe and Mayuri stand back and assess the puzzle, while telling Kyon and Lucian where to put the pieces.

"I think that one should be over there," Joe says.

"No, that one should be over there," Mayuri says.

"Men having some disagreements on their puzzle!"

The Women start putting more pieces into their puzzle, as Ami seems to have it figured out. After getting shot down by Mayuri, Joe remains silent, and the Men try following Mayuri's decisions. However, halfway through, Lucian realizes that they are all wrong.

"You idiot!" he yells at Mayuri. "You're doing the thing backwards!"

Meanwhile, Jasmine and Misty slap in the final pieces, and Michiru runs over to Ami to celebrate.

"Women think they have it – and they do! Women win reward!"

Misty and Jasmine throw their arms into the air, while Michiru and Ami hug. Alice gives a high five to a reluctant Mine, while Haruhi and Konata jump up and down.

"That was some challenge," Jet says, as the players go back to their mats. "The Women dominated from start to finish, yet the Men managed to make it a lot closer than that."

"If we only knew where to put the pieces…" Lucian complains.

"Men, you can head on out, I got nothing for you."

The Men trudge out of the immunity challenge area disappointedly.

"As for you, Women, here is a Fire Token for each of you."

Jet walks down the line and hands over a Fire Token to each player.

"Little Caesars is bringing in the pizzas now. Enjoy your pizza pizza!"

The players each receive one pizza from producers wearing Little Caesars apparel, and they start to eat.

"Those Men are going to keep on losing," Haruhi says. "We're going to embarrass them. And that includes Kyon!"

"They aren't really good at challenges," Konata says. "We're dominating them right now."

"Don't put your guard down, though," Michiru says. "They're getting close."

"True, but the only reason they won the last immunity challenge is because Karen threw it," Misty says. "I think we're in pretty good shape to cruise through the rest of this game."

"Not only are we stacking up wins in challenges, but we're also stacking up Fire Tokens, and we've got all the momentum going our way," Misty says. "The Men are going to spiral down into oblivion and end up running out of players very early."

"I'm not sure Konata and myself are going to help Lucian out anymore," Haruhi says. "First of all, he was friends with Karen, and second, I want that record for most days played for myself! I need him to get knocked out soon for me to reach it."

"So…" Alice addresses the tribe. "How do you want to approach things going forward? Do you want to go to rocks? Or would you rather have a more civil way of deciding things?"

"Civil in what way?" Ami says. "We are going to stay strong as an alliance of four. If you want to split up your four, we're willing to do that."

"You mean pitting Haruhi and Konata against myself and Mine?"

"That's exactly what I mean."

"Hmmm…" Alice says. "Would that work, Mine?"

"What, giving them the right to then pick us off one by one?" Mine replies. "No way!"

"And I don't want to be going home earlier than later!" Konata says. "That's a stupid decision."

"Then let's go to rocks," Ami says.

"Wait a minute," Michiru says. "There's got to be a more diplomatic way of solving this."

"Not in my opinion," Ami says. "We have an alliance of four which is unbreakable. If they don't want to support us, then we've got to treat them as the enemy. That's the only way to go."

"I'm not sure about that…" Misty says.

"Well, if you want a fight, we'll give you a fight," Alice says. "I just was hoping for a better way to decide things."

"Ami won't give an inch, so neither will I," Alice says. "This is going to come down to rocks. It will have to be decided by chance, not by diplomacy."

"I am not going to be pushed around by Alice," Ami says. "If she wants to go down to rocks, that's fine. I've got this idol here which I'm prepared to use when it comes to that."

"I just wish everyone could get along," Michiru says. "I'll pick rocks if I have to, but I'd rather just keep on winning challenges like we have been doing."

The players finish up eating their pizzas and return back to camp.

"How was the pizza?" Killua asks.

"Marvelous," Alice replies.

"Yeah, it filled up our stomachs!" Konata exclaims.

"You don't have to rub it in," Kirito says with a smile.

The players then relax on a night with great weather conditions. In the evening, a producer on a boat appears at camp.

"What the hell is this guy here for?" Mine asks.

"Maybe someone's being evacuated," Konata says.

The producer steps off the boat, revealing himself to be Todd Snap from the Pokémon world.

"We need one Man and one Woman to go on a journey," he tells the tribes. "Go ahead and pick who you want to send."

The tribes discuss it, with Haruhi getting quite animated.

"I really really want to go!" she says. "Pick me, pick me!"

"What are our options?" Michiru says.

"We can either pick someone, or go to rocks," Alice says. "I'm all in favor of going to rocks."

"No, let's just send Haruhi," Mine says. "No reason to make a big deal out of this."

"Fine, then," Ami says. "But just remember that our alliance gets to choose next time."

"Yay!" Haruhi exclaims, as she runs down to the boat.

"Bring us back something cool!" Konata calls.

The Men wait until they see Haruhi running down to the boat before making their decision.

"Kyon, you go," Killua says. "You know Haruhi the best, you can make the right decision."

Knyon sighs. "If you insist…"

He sadly trudges down to the boat, where Haruhi is there to greet him.

"Kyon, we're going for big bucks!" she says, as Kyon gets on the boat.

"No, we're not," Kyon says. "We're just going on a little trip."

"But you know something cool's waiting for us on this journey!" Haruhi says. "And very possibly what we do here could result in a bigger cash prize!"

"Yeah, yeah," Kyon says. "Let's just get going."

Todd Snap motors the boat away, with Haruhi and Kyon aboard.

Journey

(Haruhi, Kyon)

The boat carrying Haruhi and Kyon lands at an island, the one that Killua and Alice previously went to.

"Do you think they're going to give us an idol?" Haruhi says.

"Probably not," Kyon says.

"Oh, then they're going to give us the Superidol!" Haruhi exclaims. "Or maybe even the Super-Duper Idol!"

Kyon just facepalms.

"Haruhi is even more annoying than usual," Kyon says. "But I can't let on that she's bothering me, or she might create some closed space."

The two of them get out of the boat and see a sign nearby.

"Follow this path until you reach another sign," Kyon reads. "Then you will split up to make an individual decision."

Kyon sighs. "Let's go, Haruhi," he says sadly.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Haruhi exclaims.

She grabs Kyon's hand and starts skipping down the path, with Kyon being dragged along reluctantly.

"Koizumi, the things I do for you," Kyon says. "You wouldn't dare do this, because you played this game and just rode Satsuki's coattails to the finish. But here I am, trying to avoid closed space, while also trying to win this game simultaneously."

The two of them walk on down the path, finally coming to a sign. It has a left-facing arrow with Haruhi's name, and a right-facing arrow with Kyon's name.

"So long!" Haruhi tells Kyon. "Go win me something good!"

"Yeah, yeah," Kyon says, as he walks away.

Haruhi comes up to a ship wheel, where she sees two options: "Protect Your Vote" and "Risk Your Vote."

"You now have a decision to make," Haruhi reads. "Protect your vote or risk it in an attempt to get an extra vote. What you get depends on the combination of what you pick and what the other person who was with you picks. If you both choose to protect your vote, you both keep your vote. If you both choose to risk your vote, you both lose your vote. But if you choose to risk your vote while the other one chooses to protect theirs, then you receive an extra vote."

Haruhi lets out a small chuckle.

"That's an easy one!" she says. "I'm going for broke!"

She slams her wheel over to the Risk Your Vote side. Meanwhile, Kyon is facing the same dilemma.

"I know Haruhi too well," he says. "She for certain chose to risk her vote. So, I have a decision to make: do I keep my vote and let Haruhi have an extra one? Or do I screw her over by sacrificing my own vote just to make her mad?"

He also laughs.

"You think I'm going to risk closed space?" Kyon says.

He turns his ship wheel over to "Protect Your Vote."

"Have fun with your extra vote, Haruhi," Kyon says, as he walks away.

Camp

Men: Joe, Killua, Kirito, Kyon, Lucian, Mayuri, Prussia, Spike

Women: Alice, Ami, Haruhi, Jasmine, Konata, Michiru, Mine, Misty

Kyon and Haruhi come back to camp that night, with some of the players already sleeping. Spike is awake, though, and he makes a hand gesture to Kyon – thumbs up and thumbs down.

"No," Kyon says quietly.

He then puts his thumb out sideways, and Spike nods his head.

"Kyon must have not had anything good or bad happen to him on this journey," Spike says. "It is important to know that going into a big vote."

Haruhi goes over to her bag, and she opens it up to find a piece of parchment.

"Yes, yes, yes!" she says. "I knew you'd do it for me, Kyon! Now we're going to have five votes up against their four!"

She doesn't want to wake up Konata, who is snoring away, so she slips the parchment back in her bag and walks away.

"Konata and I have so many options now that we have this extra vote," Haruhi says. "We may not even need Alice and Mine anymore. We can go out on our own. I feel very confident that I'm going to set the all-time record in days played on Survivor!"