Survivor - Heroes vs Villains

Chapter 3 - Day 2 & Day 3 Part 1

Welcome back to another chapter! ...So yeah, I think every time when I post two chapters in a week, the second chapter I release that week will be on a Sunday.

Following my usual format, this chapter is going to end after the first immunity challenge, and I won't be surprised if this is another long one. I think the first part of the second episode is when my chapters will start to not be as long, since this is the big premiere of the first All Star season.

~KF

Heroes

Day 2

Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Zelda, Meta Knight, Sonic, Vector, Isabelle, Shovel Knight, Golden

-/-

The first night went by rather smoothly for the Hero tribe. Friendly chatter, playing and laughing, and simply enjoying themselves and each other's company. They even had a nice fire going to get themselves through the night.

As a matter of fact, all ten survivors were in a rather good mood by the time the next morning came around. They all even managed to get a little more than a couple hours' worth of extra sleep. Any sleep time more than an hour was more than a Survivor blessing.

At the moment, unlike the previous day, the Heroes were more rather spread out. Yoshi, Isabelle, Vector, and Sonic were all in the ocean, Meta Knight, Zelda, and Golden were on the path to the water well, and that left Mario, Donkey Kong, and Shovel Knight to remain at the shelter.

"Nice start." Mario spoke with a smirk, eyeing the tribe members that were still with him. "All of us managed to get a decent night's rest, and... we're all literally still surviving. Hahaha! Not bad for the Heroes, right?"

"I feel that we're doing just fine." Shovel Knight was in agreement. "Our only objective for right now is to get another fire going. We can have breakfast at around noon."

"We're not going to get the flint until day three by either us winning the first immunity challenge or us going to the first Tribal Council. Hopefully the former." The plumber commented. "Of course it went out last night, so here we go again... Yep. I am definitely playing Survivor again. But I'm more prepared than ever. My own brother,... he's even... made it further in the game. Unlike me, he actually made it all the way to the end and placed second..."

He paused for a moment to think to himself. "Proud of him for never getting voted off, let alone outlasting me, but... he didn't win. One of us has to."

"I'm curious, Shovel." The man decided to talk about the 'loved ones' situation with his tribemates. "What were your overall thoughts of Shield Knight not even making it to the swap?"

He heaved a brief sigh. "Well,... of course I couldn't be disappointed in her. I couldn't. She gave it all she could. She was voted out simply because she was a threat of the minority alliance. She was up against the now infamous Reptile Runaways... But she was disappointed in herself that she did not even make it to the swap, knowing I went all the way to final five in my season. It'll be exciting if I manage to bring her out here for the Loved Ones visit again."

"What about you, DK?" Mario turned his left to face DK lying sideways,... similar to how he was laying in the K. Rool reveal trailer for Smash where he was literally scratching his hairy, or... 'furry' ass... "I know you probably don't like people talking about this, but... thoughts on being out here and knowing Funky Kong almost won his season?"

To put it more bluntly, Funky Kong making one of the dumbest moves in Survivor history by taking Isabelle to the end over Chica, in which the jury never cared for. Anyone that made it to the jury phase was set to beat her. She and Incineroar were literally the ultimate goats to take to the end.

And just as a reminder, Plague Knight saw right through that, but that was another highly discussed topic on its own.

"Well, the man had the win in his grasp, and... that one wrong move literally cost him the game. He was playing with his heart at that point without question, and I'm actually not surprised." DK was not afraid to admit the truth. Best to not be biased, even though Funky was his blood. "He's a very loyal friend to have, and he actually developed a pretty good friendship with Isabelle. ...Game wise, though,... obviously I never would have done that. I would have cut Isabelle off at four knowing I had the chance of earning it."

Exactly.

"The move was not great." Kong shook. "But hey, it's way better than getting eleventh place."

"Better than getting sixth place, too!" Mario laughed. "My little bro outpeaked me! ...But, we are proud of them! Sure, we wish to reach the end of the game, too, but who are we to be jealous?"

"You know when it comes to our own loved ones performing better than us in this show, it's an entire mix of emotions." Donkey Kong shared his personal thoughts on it in his own confessional. "Funky was an... almost winner in Mexico, and I didn't even get a single digit placement in my season. ...But, I suppose everything happens for a reason. If I didn't make it to the end, at least someone from my family did. And the fact that he didn't win, only gives me more motivation to perform at my best in this season, especially since I was fortunate enough to have another go. I'm literally the reason to why Funky is not here right now, yet when I found out I was coming back, he was still jumping up and down in excitement for me."

He sort of folded his lips back after revealing that to his fans. "Even after he realized that he was not going to be on, he didn't appear to be too bothered by it... Maybe he felt that since he just played and that he's already made it to the end and not me, in his world it made sense for me to go back out here... Of course this makes me feel guilty... And Mario of all people actually understands how I feel, because the exact same thing happened on his end when they chose him over his brother. ...So... I'm gonna give everything out here a hundred and ten. Not going to rest until I'm at the finish line."

"You know part of me actually wants Shield Knight to be right back out here." Shovel talked again. "Though when I've told her that right when I was about to leave to come here, she looked at me as if I had two helmets on my head. She was saying, 'Shovel,... I've just played. I didn't even make it to the merge. Go to the Caribbean!'"

Both former Kodai Island contestants chuckled at that.

Meanwhile at the water well, Golden, Zelda, and Meta Knight were responsible for making sure the rest of their tribe stayed hydrated. Last thing they needed was someone suddenly passing out, especially at the immunity challenge. And the hot days in Survivor were hot.

"So Meta Knight, it was here where Joker caught you red-handed with the idol from your season?"

"The tree mail was when I found the clue." Meta Knight corrected Zelda. "Not too long after, I found the actual idol. I was taking it all in, not even realizing that Joker was only a few feet away..."

Golden giggled, remembering it moment by moment on TV. "He was directly responsible for putting you in such a spot, and he kind of played a role in Vector and Banjo being on the bottom of the Samana tribe."

Which eventually led to Banjo's exit, damaging the Reptile Runaways... What a great pre-merge villain in Joker.

"Isn't it great that Survivor has given awesome opportunities now that we're all famous?" Golden asked the both of them. "Haha I mean, everything that is happening to us right now is because of Survivor, and with this being our second season, that only adds onto it."

"I am already known in Dream Land, but I am in fact traveling more." Meta Knight brought up, holding Vector's canteen still for Golden to pour water into it. "Since this show is universal, people from their own home worlds want me to visit them... I even brought Ridley along so that we could both be interviewed in Dream Land."

Basically, if it were not for Survivor, nobody from Meta Knight's home land would have known of Ridley's existence. The dragon owed Meta Knight a thanks for giving him a career outside Zebes. ...Okay, Master Hand gave him a career outside of Zebes. Though Meta was giving Ridley free promo outside of his home planet.

"I suppose we all had a good time enjoying each other's company on the first day." The sword wielder figured. "Although, big strategizing is about to occur rather soon if it hasn't already... And out of the gate, the obvious elephant in the room are the two winners, in Sonic and Isabelle. ...You simply can not ignore them. The entire tribe, including the winners themselves, are aware of the problem. The big question is on whether or not people are willing to work with them. Yesterday I had a conversation with others (Golden especially), of what people think about working with them..."

Perhaps it was best to start with Shovel Knight!

"Uh,..." He shifted his eyes from side to side before blinking once. "I do not really think so..."

Well, there was one strike against the winners of seasons one and three.

"Understandable..."

"I mean, why would I wanna work with them?" Shield's lover explained. "Do not get me wrong, I admire both of them, especially since they won. Not everybody has that to their credit, including themselves. And for that, for my game,... I really do not see any reason to work with them. Neither of them were even on my season, so I do not know of them as much as others in this group. ...I think you can say the same."

"I can." He nodded in agreement. ...Was it actually a good thing for Doc Louis not competing on Heroes vs Villains? If he was given the okay to be back on, Meta Knight likely would have had a bigger target on his back,... especially due to the fact that they were literally close allies.

Now onto Vector.

"Okay, so me and Sonic come from the same home world." The two were now in the water together. "That's an automatic connection right there. He's a great friend to have, but... I want that money, Meta. Now more than ever. If I gotta go against Sonic to get to it, that's what I gotta do. This is a business, man..."

"Valid point..." The knight bobbed his head up and down again.

"I mean, I'm already worried a little because I'm on the same tribe as Yoshi. We were literally part of Reptile Runaways together." The detective croc reminded him. "I might already have a target on my back and I'm trying to minimize that as much as I can. You, I'm not as concerned because we both were heading in different directions."

"Lasting all thirty-nine days without even better voted out is quite the accomplishment." Zelda was proud of what she was able to achieve. "I was surprised myself that I made it after all of what I had to go through. Some people though, were rather shocked that I did not win the title of Sole Survivor, even going as far as calling me the 'robbed winner' of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. As far as me playing with actual winners of this season, whether I plan on playing with them or against them, one thing is for certain. It is probably rather unfortunate to be Sonic and Isabelle. They have more to deal with than the rest of us out here because they have the largest targets on their backs."

Finally, there were Yoshi's thoughts on the matter.

"Umm,... they seem to be really cool, especially Sonic. ...Everybody likes Sonic! Some of my friends from Dinosaur Land wanna meet him and they even want autographs!"

"...And?"

"...I'm worried." The green creature unsurprisingly had concerns as well. "I want to work with Sonic, but... I don't know if I could. ...If I work with Sonic, uh... Okay, I don't think I'm really good at who might align with who out of the gate, but I'll be surprised if Sonic's number one ally isn't Isabelle. If I work with Sonic, I get Isabelle, too... But, what's in it for me, ya know?"

"Agreed, Yoshi." Meta Knight nodded once more. "You gotta do what's best for you out here, and right now I am trying to figure out what is best for my game."

"Naturally, there are people on this tribe that are seemingly against working with Isabelle and Sonic. And if there are enough people on this tribe that are against that, why would I not vote with the tribe, say if the vote was going to be near unanimous? I, myself, was an option to be voted for at the first Tribal Council. What good what it do for me to be an option again at this stage of the game? I do not want that at all..."

He found enough time to have another one on one talk with Golden.

"Alright, so I've been talking to some of the others on here..." He walked with him through the woods. "Unsurprisingly, they are hesitant at best, unwilling to work with them at worst."

"Okay..." Not the news the bear needed to hear.

"And it is not because of them naturally feeling they've had their shot already." Before he got the wrong idea. "Some of them have pretty valid reasons why it is best for them to oppose the winners... Are you concerned about yourself being too close to Isabelle?"

"Completely concerned... A past relationship with a winner, worse case scenario that is basically a death sentence. You could say the exact same thing for Mario and DK. Though without sounding arrogant,... me and DK's strength for these challenges could prevent us from losing. We already lost the first challenge... Say if we need to vote someone like Isabelle out, that maybe what is necessary for me to do... Do you have any close allies out here off the bat?"

"..." Meta Knight decided to be honest and shake his head. "No one that I can really think of."

It was not something he was really proud of, really.

"I need to work with someone that I can trust... And there isn't anyone I can say that I'm talking to on a strategic level much..." He then eyed Golden directly. "Can I trust you?"

"Glad you asked, my friend." Fredbear placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Let us just say that with the winners, we could somehow form a majority here. Me and DK have actually been talking... Us two, the winners, and Mario. That makes five votes, and we need one more to make a majority. And I feel that you might be the missing vote that we need."

"...!"

"I'm serious..."

Villains

Day 2

Now it was time to get to the Villains tribe and see how their morning was going. Everybody appeared to be in an overall decent mood. They were already out and about with some collecting water, a couple of them soaking in the ocean, and others remaining in the shelter by the burning fire. Yep. Their first night was a success.

"Day two in the lair today." Wolf was using a tree to make a second tally mark. "Only thirty-seven more to go. ...What's the plan guys? Plotting to kick the Heroes' ass again?"

"What else is there to do?" Ryu hunched his shoulders, sitting in the bamboo in the shelter.. "All I know is that we have the early advantage of the flint... But the downside to it is that they were able to get fire anyway."

"They probably already have." Sheik was the only one in the shelter area on her feet. "Underestimating your competition is always a bad thing. That's what Impa taught me."

"Ha!" Wolf grinned and folded his arms. "It's fun being a villain. More entertaining, more chaotic strategy, not giving a _ what people think."

"Day two in the Villains camp." The only villainess noted. "Things are going swell. Despite us being the bad guys, we have good energy, we have good chemistry with one another, and we're all on the same page. As a tribe, being unified is rather important, and I carry this from my last season where our main priority was tribe unity. And I suppose one thing is that the Heroes tribe has winners over there. We don't. There is no clear target right now, and I hope we really don't need to worry about it too much unless we lose a challenge."

"So we eat when it looks like it's about like ten or eleven? Close to noon?" Ryu and the other villains had a talk the previous day of when was the next appropriate time to eat some of the limited rice they received when the team first arrived to the beach.

"Yeah..." Wolf nodded in confirmation. "And the thing about it is that we can't ask producers what time it is anymore. Now we just gotta look at the sun and take a wild guess or somethin'."

"No effect on my end." Sheik told them. ...The inhabitants of Hyrule were never certain on what time of day it was in their world,... right?

"So I suppose for now we just keep up with the chores... Ain't too much else to do..."

"I actually got a bit of meditation in this morning." Now anyone with common sense knew meditation was defnitely not a foreign concept to Ryu. He medidated as if it was what he needed to do to save his own life. "I was one of the first people up, so I decided to step out of the shelter and move somewhere else to do it. But I had to be careful and make sure I was in the view of my tribe. People would have woken up and worse case scenario, they would have automatically came to the conclusion that I was searching for a hidden immunity idol. And since this is a returning players season, people are gonna play a lot smarter and harder (myself included). Any little thing could be a reason to why somebody's torch goes out at Tribal Council. I just don't want it to be me of course... But I have some type of target on my back,... and part of that is due to both Specter and Plague Knight being on the same tribe as I am."

Good point. ...And this was even the second time he had to live with Specter Knight since they were on the same starting tribe back in season three.

Speaking of the skeletal fighter, he found the time to interact with the street fighter in the woods.

"Experiencing deja vu yet?"

"Of course..." The cloaked warrior responded. "First Mexico, now the Caribbean. We even have Plague Knight of all people with us..."

"Haha, that obviously makes things even better." Ryu grinned humorously. "Though I suppose it puts even more pressure on you than me since you lived with the both of us before the merge, and you played a big part of Plague Knight's longevity in the game."

"I have." He glanced away for a second to make sure no one else was coming their way. "He knows it, everyone knows it."

"Do you feel like he is gonna be an early target?"

"I'll be surprised if he's not." Specter admitted. "You are a fool if you think past relationships from previous seasons do not matter. Plague Knight is going to be the easiest choice for a first boot. It is a matter of what is in my best interest... our best interest."

"Hmm... So you do plan on having the both of us see where we stand with each other." Ryu Hoshi blinked.

"I mean, why would I have anything against you personally? Everything that we said and did to each other was for strategic reasons." Specter Knight simply felt strategically, he and his old tribe mate did not see eye to eye. "And at the end of the day, we both got voted out of the game while Plague made it all the way to the end. ...If we do need each other, we'll work together for as long as this game allows us to. The longer it takes for us to be in an alliance, the more difficult this is going to get."

"...Do you feel like there are any alliances right now?"

"Not that I am aware of." The knight crossed his arms and shook his head in denial. "Best case scenario, this vote is a 9-1 if or when we go to tribal and both of our games remain protected. Whether or not our plans include Plague in the future will depend strictly on what the tribe as a whole wants. Even I can see there is no reason to rock the boat so early."

"You plan on asking him what his thoughts are?"

"I do. I will let you know what he is thinking and if we do go to tribal, the three of us could spread information to each other and we'll make our final decision. ...Realistically speaking, the two of us are more likely to survive the first round if we do lose the first immunity."

"I was playing somewhat of a controversial game in my season, but the fatal blow for me was Specter Knight. He completely ruined everything for me!" The martial artist laughed and shook at the memory. "And now we're on the same tribe again. Without question we need to figure out what to do with each other. We weren't enemies, but we were more like rivals. It's a matter of if we're going to work together, or if we're going against each other. Though I suppose I don't have to worry about Plague as much as he does, because me and Plague had no relationship going on in Mexico. We've only known each other for like, nine days and we were in completely different alliances. If Plague is a target, I've no problems cutting him off. But if Plague is a target with Specter,... that adds even more into the situation."

The two members of the Shovel Knight franchise were discussing the matter on the pathway to the tree mail.

"And... how many people are talking about me at the moment?" Plague Knight appeared to be rather anxious.

"I haven't heard your name come up once so far." He really had not... or at least not at the time.

"Whew..."

"However," He did not want him to get too comfortable. "it is inevitable that I will hear your name at some point before we get to the first immunity challenge, and if the Heroes are victorious, you know you are definitely going to be on the chopping block, as well as myself because of our strategic relationship in Mexico. On the surface, people are aware that I was your closest ally, and that harms my own game... You are even notoriously known to be a poor challenge performer."

Damn... Specter Knight never held back.

"Okay, I..." The smaller survivor heaved a quick sigh. "So you're saying that we can't even try to work together or something? What did Ryu say?"

That made him frustrated, even glaring a little under his helmet. "No, that is not what I'm saying. I'm not saying that I'm against you, but I am not saying I am with you either. I am just telling you how it is. Even if I'm somehow the bigger target over you at the moment, I do not know if you are willing to fall on the sword and ruin your game just for me. And I am telling you that if I have no other choice, I can not save you and I have no choice but to put your name down... Do you understand?"

"..."

Flashbacks to their dynamic in Mexico already. Nice.

"You know better. I can not throw my entire game just to save yours." He began to calm down a little. "Look, if I hear anything, of whether people would be willing to work with you or put your name down, I will inform you the details and hopefully Ryu does the same. He's going to be another possible option we can work with as long as we are able to get away with it. But even you, Plague, are smart enough to know that nothing is guaranteed."

"You know, now that I think about it, because of me turning on Ryu back in my season, the benefit of it is that people are less likely to assume that we are working together over Plague (who was someone I was closely aligned with). Obviously when it comes to me, I do not care who I have to vote out here, as long as I make it to the end and Plague Knight knows that..." Poor Specter brought a hand to his hand due to the stress. "I swear, it is only day two and he's already getting on my nerves. I warned him about coming out here acting as if everything is going to be all glits and glam for him, but he didn't listen..."

"You sure you didn't hear of any pre-game alliances coming into this..."

"No, I didn't hear anything..." Plague answered to him.

Specter exhaled. "Alright... Well, that is all I have to say for now. We can't be seen together like this, unless we want things to be even worse. I did not come all the way out here to get voted out early because of you. That will be an entire tragedy in itself. I am begging you to please not do anything foolish... Nothing further."

Stepping away, he left behind a very awkward looking scientist.

"I didn't come all the way out here to be voted out first either!" He clapped back in his confessional. "Do you see what I had to deal with in Mexico? He always acts like everyone is inferior to him or something. Last time I checked, you got voted out. Not me... But not going to lie,... I think I am a target right now. I can just feel it. It's a matter of when someone is going to let me know. It is just going to be up to me to decide what I should do about it, because I'm going to be really upset for the next several months if I'm the first person voted out of Survivor - Heroes vs Villains... I don't know if I should find an idol or what, because so far I didn't find anything... But how would it look going from me almost winning my past season to being voted out first? ...Do you know how embarrassing that looks? Everyone will make fun of me for years!"

Shadow and Springtrap were also going to get some attention that day, in order to avoid angry fans and Karens sending hate mail... Ugh... Not the Karens. They were the always the biggest jokes in society. Speaking of hate mail, though...

"So Shad, you remember how much hate mail you received?" Springtrap asked the hedgehog, the two of them gathering up more palm fronds. It was getting just a bit cloudier, and if worst came to worst, it was going to rain. The team decided that they needed to make sure they had extra palm fronds just in case. "Comparing yourself to the rest of us, you are quite a notorious player."

"Thank you for reminding me." Shadow acknowledged nodding. "I don't pay attention much to comments because my... 'haters' act as if they don't even know what they're talking about. Though apparently people did not care too much for me out of the gate, but what really pissed them off was when I blindsided Mega."

"Well that of course earned you some love!" If one never caught the obvious sarcasm with Springtrap, it was safe to assume that someone needed to grow a couple brain cells. "And by the time you flipped on your tribe alliance altogether, people were pretty much done with you."

"They literally delivered physical letters to my job." The Mobian revealed. "Now that was where they crossed their line. How are they gonna send hate to my profession? Unacceptable. I had to have a talk with my boss. They're lucky I didn't press charges for harassment."

It was literally impossible for someone such as Shadow to care what people thought about him, though when the situation involved his work? That was an entirely different story.

"I remember the moment I began trying to guilt trip Val into getting my way, that was when hate messages came to me." His smile then grew larger. "Right into my DMs on social media. Nonstop spamming, all because some of those people were rooting for Val just to spite me. I mean, you don't have to shade a guy just to uplift someone else, you know?"

"This is why social media is a double edged sword. It can be pretty toxic at times." The rabbit explained. "Yet at the same time, it really is interesting to see how far people will go just because they don't like you. I mean, everybody isn't going to like you. I understand that. I've no problem with that. But people taking time out of their day just to show how much they hate you? I don't see how is that not obsession. I'm... sorry that I make certain people upset. Hahaha! But that's why I'm here! Maybe they should be out in the wilderness, too, just so that they can... touch some grass... I'm gonna remember that one. Get a job. Kiss your lover. Do something. Hahahaha!"

Springtrap was basically living in some haters' minds rent free.

"I suppose I understand some of the criticism, though. Morally, I was being manipulative. But Survivor wise, it's what I felt I needed to do. I was not going to be a sitting duck on the bottom. ...I mean if anything, it only made Val even more angry with me to the point where she idol'd me out. But me and her are stilll friends of course. She turned on me and I tried to get extra sympathy from her, so we both did some not nice things to each other. As for this season, Val's not here right now... But her partner is..."

That actually made Shadow rather curious. Not only he watched Caribbean, he played with Foxy before. "...How are things between you two? You two spoke at all?"

"Not only Val's fans attacked me on places like 'Tweeter', but I also received hate from Foxy's fans knowing of their relationship. ...Not like they're dating or anything, but they've been co-workers and friends for years... And with the whole thing happening between me and Val, it is like some sort of love triangle of sorts. ...Now with Foxy, I have to literally live with him. In general, me and him are on civil terms. We literally video chatted with each other after my elimination episode aired. But you can't say that things can't get awkward at least a little bit... I mean, he did see my season and Val told him everything... But I suppose what saves us from being petty and pissed off at each other is that all three of us are gamers. We understand what Survivor makes us do."

If the audience felt as if they still had a hard time grasping at what Springtrap was saying, perhaps the following interaction itself probably painted a bigger picture.

"...What are you thinking?"

Foxy Michaels folded his arms and stared at his fellow FNAF rep in the eyes. "I'm thinking that things are going smoothly regarding this tribe as a whole. ...But I guess you are wondering about the relationship between the two of us, right?"

"Yeah..."

"I thought so." His lips curled up a little. "Well,... I guess we're straight. We have nothing personal against each other in spite of what went down, even though I did tell you face to face that I was mad at what you were doing to her when we called each other. But I of course know that it's just a game."

"Haha, so I guess we've no reason to literally throw punches over a girl." He stated with a sigh. "I'm more than a decade older than her, anyway."

"Glad we're on the same page." Foxy slowly nodded. "...Though if this was literally Survivor where we all have to kill each other, I would have been campaigning for your torch to get snuffed... yesterday."

Luckily it was just a simple, fun game.

"But if anything, it could come down to us needing each other..." The pirate fox realized. "If that's the case, I trust you as long as you trust me. No beef needed."

Him literally laughing at his response resulted in him doing the same. "Well, I guess we can picture it as this: ...one of us winning would be for Val, since she placed higher than the both of us. I know she'd want the best of for the both of us."

"Agreed. We'll come to each other when we need to."

"Time for me to finally address this to the public..." Perhaps Foxy's fans did not have to worry about attacking Springtrap's... or at least for the time being. "Was I mad of how Springtrap was handling Val? As a longtime friend of hers, of course. Why wouldn't I? I'm like a protective older twin brother regarding her, so naturally I wasn't happy. I wanted to beat him up. And I'm glad she got rid of him even though the timing was off. But do I have any issues with him? Absolutely not. I'm not like that. Nobody needs to tell any of us to not take it personally. Obviously Springtrap would not do something like that in real life, even though he has somewhat of an 'edgy' side to him. And at the end of the day, we both genuinely cared about Val. I've known her for years, and the two of them were on the same season. So I don't know why we would not consider working together on this."

Was anyone up for a little shelter maintenance? Ridley certainly was. Maintaining the shelter was important. The bamboo needed to be tied together tightly enough, there needed to be enough palm fronds for the roof, and everything had to be as sturdy as possible in order to support ten people.

Ridley was watching castaways apply extra palm fronds to the roof. As a reminder, it was likely to rain that day. The main objective was to make sure everything was together and ready to survive a rain storm.

Everything seemed to be lining up rather well. Yet another thought out of nowhere crossed Ridley's mind... eating.

"...What are your overall thoughts on the whole rice situation?" He asked his tribe mates. "I'd say it is about eleven, and I think it is going to rain really soon in about thirty minutes. We already have the rice cooking, but I feel that it should be best for us to eat around noon or something. That sounds like an appropriate time in my opinion."

"Only eating once a day?" Wolf responded. "I'm not against it, but I feel like it should be based around the circumstances. Right now for example we're eating a bit earlier due to the upcoming inclement weather. But down the road, if you're saying that noon should be the most appropriate time to eat and the only time to eat, I think it should depend on what we got going on each day."

"Well,..." The space pirate shook his head. "this rice is not going to last us forever. If we are not careful rationing the rice, we are not going to have much left to share."

"Rationing is important." Foxy acknowledged that argument. "But we gotta have some fuel for challenges. I think as long as we know what we're doing, eating twice a day sometimes is not going to be the end of the world. But I won't be mad if this is going to be the only time we'll eat today. This rain is really gonna mess things up..."

"Agreed." Ridley was at least trying to acknowledge his team was suggesting. "Though if things work out in our favor regarding challenges, say if we get fishing gear or fruit, we would definitely be eating once a day. We probably could get away with not even touching the rice at all for a day if that happens. But if we have a permanent time to eat around noon, it'd be a routine that we would get used to overtime."

"Challenges always play a factor." said Ryu. "When we know a challenge is coming, breakfast should be necessary in order to have some kind of fuel. We ain't got enough strength, we are destined for failure."

"...Should we consider having breakfast only, then? I really do feel like we should have some type of routine here..." Patience, Ridley...

"I don't think eating twice a day on certain things would be too bad." Plague Knight took Foxy's side. "If we do notice that the rice is running a little low, then we should be cutting back."

Breathe, Ridley... "Not against at all, but at the same time, it could be better for us to prevent, rather than to react. Why not ration as much as possible before we would be running low on rice? ...We'll, um... see how it goes."

"Don't worry, guys." Sheik chuckled a bit, yet Ridley never found anything to be funny. "We'll all survive."

"When you are on a tribe and you have to deal with nine other people that are living with you, things can get rather difficult at times. And unfortunately,... there is this whole concept of... opinions." Oh, yes. That was a new word put in the English dictionary. Did he look it up before he came out on the island? "And sometimes people can have different opinions. Me personally, I like things done a certain way. But based off how I was perceived last season regarding camp life, I've realized that it is not what you say, but how you say it. But when there are too many opinions at once, that's when I get frustrated. I am still learning how to deal with, as well with people in general. I mean, these people have all played before and every last one of them outlasted me, so they should know better. But I suppose there has to be a compromise of some sort. And the bad thing is for me is that sometimes I have to be the one to step back and let them handle it the way they want to... even though I feel that I'm right... And if I am on certain things, then... let 'em learn the hard way. It's my fault for having to constantly remind myself that not everyone thinks the way I do..."

He actually found the time to have a quick talk with Bowser, who was already laughing of how the conversation went.

"I mean, do I have a point, though?" Perhaps Ridley found someone to vent out too, as frustration really started to show on his face. "Do I have a point?"

"Yeah..."

"I know I do. I mean, I'm trying to hold back here. I don't want people to look at me the same way they did last season, but when it comes to stuff like this, you gotta have a certain amount of patience, and I am not really the most patient person. I'll admit it."

"Not trying to be the middle man or peace maker on purpose," ...Bowser? Peacemaker? Not even in his wildest dreams. Definitely out of character for him. What was he talking about? "but I really do see both sides. I wanna eat, but rationing the rice is important, or else we got nothin' to eat."

"This is what I had to deal with!" He glared, ignoring the bit of sprinkling going on. "But I'm the bad guy! It doesn't make any sense!"

"Go with the flow man." Bowser suggested. "I need to learn how to do that myself, because I also had to deal with idiots on my season. But don't let it go to you too much. If you have the minority opinion on something, let the majority have things their way. And if they end up looking stupid, in your mind you can be like... 'I told you so, but y'all didn't listen.' Let them look stupid. ...Well, we'll all look stupid, but you'll look less stupid."

In other words, pride needed to be swallowed and egos had to be humbled.

"It's alright..." Shaking his head side to side, he began to make his way back to the rest of the group, Bowser turning on his heel to follow. "If they want to learn things the hard way, that's on them. But I'll have the last laugh."

Heroes

Day 3

"Hopefully you all are wide awake! We got tree mail!"

Shovel Knight returned to the shelter with Donkey Kong with the tree mail for the day. And based on the excitement in his voice, it was very clear that it was something regarding the first immunity challenge.

With that in mind, if people were not really awake before, everyone definitely was now.

"Alright, guess it's happening..." commented Sonic, already on his feet. "Read it out loud..."

Shovel read the contents of it loud and clear. "'Hopefully the first two days coming back into the game was a success, as you are to physically perform today, do not expect anything less. This challenge is something you might recognize from before, make sure you still got it since challenges like this one in particular, there will be many more.'"

"I feel like they are pretty much saying that since this is a returning player season, there are going to bring out previous challenges that we've done before." Donkey Kong theorized. "The past might be back to haunt us."

"What are the chances that it is going to be our challenge?" Sonic asked in front of everyone. "We did have the very first one."

"It's probably ninety-nine percent likely that's the case." Meta Knight did not find it the possibility be rather far-fetched. "Even if it is not, we really need to give it our all. We win, those Villains will be at an early numbers disadvantage."

"Everyone wants to win this first challenge, and nobody wants to lose it. You just simply hope that you are on the winning side. And someone like me is known for not being the most physically strong." Zelda learned that from experience. "It is rather worrisome, especially since my team lost the first challenge in my season and as a result, my name was brought up as a possible first boot. My team losing today, no matter how many other names are going to be thrown out there, it is a rather huge possibility that I would automatically be on the chopping block. ...It's all in the Survivor Gods' hands at this point."

"You guys ready to go to war?" Donkey Kong was ready. "I think in a few minutes they are gonna want us to get our stuff together and leave."

"Oh, it's gonna be a war alright." Yoshi agreed giggling. "We need to even the score."

Maybe it was appropriate to cue in some... 'epic battle preparation music'.

Music: Airship Theme (Super Mario Bros. 3)

Game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Multiple castaways were then seeing picking up their water canteens and using the straps attached to them to carry. Mario adjusted his cap, Vector used his hands to crack his knuckles, Donkey Kong adjusted his neck tie, Shovel Knight made sure his helmet was secure, and Zelda... ran her fingers through her hair.

"I'm a little nervous, but I'm definitely more pumped than nervous." Yoshi just could have waited any longer. "I'm still sort of nearly jumping out of my seat just by the fact that I'm here again! And now we're going to the ultimate showdown. But you know you have to take this first challenge seriously. It could definitely lead the direction the tribe is gonna go in for the first part of this game. And we're competing against the Villains. They'll do anything to win when it comes to everything. But all it takes to win a challenge is good teamwork and... just making sure we know what we are doing. The minute when Master Hand says 'go', it is going to be for all or nothing."

They were all seen walking in a straight line one by one. The classic battle of the good guys against the bad guys? Bring it on. Bring, it, on.

Villains

Day 3

"Let's make sure the heroes know what is the right style of playing this game, guys."

With the epic music still playing, Springtrap and the other also knew that it was time to go to war following the team receiving the same tree mail. Game faces needed to be put on. Everybody had a rep to maintain, so there was no room for failure.

"They lost the reward challenge, so it's better to kick 'em while their down." said Wolf. "If you feel bad about defeating them,... you're clearly on the wrong tribe. We have to be as ruthless as possible and never hold back."

"Haha! Bottom line." Foxy agreed a thousand percent.

"I've been fighting my whole life, so this is nothing to me." Ryu commented. "Ready for war."

It should have been the title of the first episode of this season. But due to production not thinking of a proper name for it until the last minute, they went with 'Definitely Something Interesting' instead. Bummer...

"We're gonna to win this thing." Plague Knight pumped a fist in the air, more than ready for anything.

And the next thing they knew, they were seen gathering their things as well.

"Alright. Time to leave the lair." Bowser as well as other castaways actually went along with Wolf's idea of the Villains camp being called a 'lair' of some sort.

"We're gonna head in there and leave out with a bang. I'm the only person in Survivor history that has made it to the merge, yet never ever won a tribal immunity challenge... Ever. So I feel that losing this one would be a huge blow on me. I literally cannot afford to lose here. That's why I saved every last ounce of my energy for this moment. My hopes were raised when we won the reward challenge, but immunity is what matters most. I really want to win. Otherwise, it's _ Kodai Island all over again. So... it's time to kick some ass."

"Go villains!" Plague Knight hollered as he was the first to leave the shelter.

"We're gonna destroy them." Springtrap followed right behind him, with the others shown following their lead.

It was time for them to 'take over the world'.

Day 3

What a nice view of the ocean, the crystal clear water being shown in front of everyone with a television set.

The scene suddenly changed angles where it began zooming backwards rather slowly, before it all of a sudden began zooming rather rapidly to the point to where the challenge was shown. And yes, it was a familiar challenge certain castaways participated in previously.

"Come on in!"

This was it. The game was really getting started, now.

Normally, the winning tribe entered the challenge area first in order for them to take a look at any changes that occurred with their opposition. Yet since it was only a reward challenge and nobody had their torch snuffed at the time, both the Heroes and Villains came in simultaneously.

Golden, Zelda, Isabelle, Mario, Donkey Kong, Shovel Knight, Meta Knight, Sonic, Yoshi, and Vector all approached their blue mat, standing tall with Vector putting their tribe flag in the sand.

Across from them came Shadow, Foxy, Wolf, Plague Knight, Springtrap, Ridley, Specter Knight, Bowser, Ryu, and Sheik. The red mat was waiting right for them so that the teams had the chance to stare at each other in excitement, yet glaring in a playful way.

Any conflict that would have occurred, good thing the Master Hand was standing right in front of them to play peacemaker.

"Shovel Knight, how are things going for the Heroes?"

"Things are going rather well." He nodded with optimism. "Sure, we lost the first challenge, but we still managed to get fire without the flint."

That statement by itself automatically made certain players mad. Ridley immediately turned away and shook his head in disgust and Foxy rolled his eyes.

Plague Knight was even seen mumbling under his breath.

"They don't deserve fire..."

"We all slept alright considering the circumstances, everybody is getting along with one another rather well, so I doubt the loss really had an affect on us, especially on our spirits."

"Plague Knight." Uh oh. He should have never opened his mouth. Now poor Plague was the center of attention. "I caught you mumbling when Shovel stated that they were still able to get fire even though they were the ones that lost. You wanted them to suffer?"

"Like, we have a great camp, too! But I mean, they're the Heroes. They think they're the ones that are perfect because they are the Heroes and we're not. Everything has to go their way and everything is given to them."

...What?

"Don't you guys watch superhero movies?" Sonic then asked. "'Everything is given to us'? If anything, the good guys are the ones that have to fight harder. Bad guys like you all are the ones giving us a hard time and it is us that have to go through it. All you guys wanna do is 'take over the world' and dominate everything. And sometimes us good guys have to face harsh consequences because of that. Yet in the end, the villains aren't victorious when it comes to them. They never are."

"This ain't superhero movie, Master Hand." Ryu shook his head at that. "This is Survivor. We may not have seen an actual villain win this thing yet, but who knows? Anything can happen and a villain winning a season like this would be interesting for a change."

"Haha!" Now it was rather rare to see the host laughing at something the castaways said or did. Good job, cast. "I'm glad our first All Stars season is named Heroes vs Villains. You guys really are owning your titles and it is enjoyable to watch."

"I think maybe if a villain wins this season, we would have more supervillain movies instead to mix things up a bit." Springtrap predicted. "Less boring, more entertaining, and I don't think it'll be fun at all for us to keep seeing the same thing happening with the same generic story over and over and over again."

"The good will win." Donkey Kong simply bobbed his head up and down in confidence. "It is a matter of what us Heroes would have to do to retaliate against anything you guys might throw our way. I'd rather be generic and boring and keep my morals, rather than taking over the world for my own personal gain and overall not being a decent person."

Ooh.

"Master, let's just do this challenge and get it over with so we can get back to our lair."

"'Lair'?" Master Hand and the entire Heroes tribe stared humorously in confusion.

"My idea." Wolf took credit, Foxy next to him fist bumping in reply.

Golden brought a hand to his face slightly chuckling. "This just keeps getting better and better."

"Well are you guys ready to get it?"

"Yes!"

"Bring it!"

"Let's do it."

"Now, just so you all are aware, since this is an All Stars season, your past has come back to haunt you. These challenges are from the previous seasons of this show that you all participated in. For this challenge in particular, it was our very first challenge ever in our show. Survivor - Kodai Island."

"Oh, the memories..." Wolf muttered.

"Sonic, Mario, Donkey Kong, Bowser, and Wolf all competed in this challenge." The audience were likely thinking of what was going through their minds at the time when they witnessed the first group of twenty players competing in it. "Wolf was on the Tatakai tribe, and his team was victorious. The other four that competed lost and they went to the first ever Tribal Council."

The puzzle really ruined it for Sumasshu.

"Fun times, right master?" Sonic grinned, some of his fellow cast members sharing a laugh. "I mean I was partly responsible, but it was mainly Dedede that didn't know what he was doing and he ended up getting voted off first."

"Perhaps it's time for some redemption then, if the cards are in your favor."

Facts.

"Um,... hello!? Do I not exist?" Bowser felt as if his situation was much worse than Sonic's. "In case anyone's forgotten, but even though me and Sonic were on the same tribe, due to tribe swaps, his team won a couple immunities. I've never won a tribal immunity challenge before and that might still be the case if the Villains don't win. Do I not get any sympathy from that?"

Donkey Kong remained staring in the master's direction. "Sorry you feel that way."

"Ooh!"

Maybe it was just about time for a Donkey Kong vs Bowser mashup on Smash. Best two out of three.

"Well at the end of the day, it's the fact that the four of you that were on Sumasshu are opponents today, somebody's gonna get redemption, somebody won't."

Bottom line.

"For today's challenge, six people from each tribe are gonna race to a raft before paddling out to a platform. One person will then swim out to retrieve a set of keys." A preview of the challenge was shown, footage of the participants of the Survivor Dream Team allowing the viewers from home a demonstration... which were basically a group of Alloys. "You will then make your way over a series of obstacles back to the beach where you will dig two bags of puzzle pieces. You'll then use the keys to unlock a chest to release a third bag of pieces. Once you have all three bags, the four remaining tribe members will work together to solve a ship's wheel puzzle. First tribe to solve their puzzle and raise their flag wins immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the first person voted out of Survivor - Heroes vs Villains."

Master Hand then revealed what the tribal immunity idol looked like for season five. "This right here is going to be the single thing that will prevent you from being voted off, guaranteeing a one in nineteen shot at winning, this, game."

"Yin yang..." Vector noticed that apparently the immunity idol was literally the yin yang symbol. Perfect symbolization for good and evil... Then again, rumors were spoken that the 'yin yang' concept did not necessarily meant good and evil... Eh. Somebody knew the truth.

"One more thing. Heroes, because of you all not winning the reward challenge on day one, if you win this one, you will get your flint right here." Master Hand held the flint high in the air. "I'm gonna give you guys a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

"Okay, who's going out, who's doing the puzzle..." Meta Knight was seen getting right down to business with the other Heroes, suddenly glancing Sonic's way. "Are you up for it?"

"...Nah, I'm gonna back out on that." He declined. "I still don't think I'm the best at puzzles. I was partly responsible for causing my team to lose once, and I don't want the same to happen again even though I'm familiar with it."

"I'll step up, then." Mario raised his hand volunteering. "I kinda had something going, so that's an advantage. I don't think Wolf or Bowser did the puzzle in my season."

"...Who's doing the puzzle?" Speaking of King Koopa, he was also seen discussing things with his team. "Because six of us have to swim out and four of us gotta stay behind and... I'm pretty soon I'm not doing the puzzle."

"I need to be out there as well." Ridley told them.

"I think I'll be able to do the ship's wheel." Plague Knight stepped up to the plate regarding the puzzle. "I don't think it should be that hard."

"I'll go ahead and help him." Sheik raised her hand. "Only because there are six of you that are stronger than me in the physical portion of the challenge... But we still need two more people..."

-/-

#BlueLagoonBustle

"Alright. We have immunity at stake and for the Heroes, fire if they win. Here we go... Survivors ready?"

Three...

Two...

One...

"...GO!"

And it was on!

"Six people from each tribe taking part of the physical portion of this challenge!" For the Heroes, Sonic, Donkey Kong, Meta Knight, Golden, Yoshi, and Vector were all seen racing along the sand. Foxy, Bowser, Ryu, Springtrap, Ridley, and Specter Knight were all representing the Villains.

"Give it all you got, Heroes!" Shovel Knight yelled out.

"Give 'em hell, Villains!" Wolf shouted.

"You don't have any time to waste. You better move it!" commanded Master Hand, who's responsibility as usual was to narrate the challenges. Pretty soon, both tribes were at their rafts.

"These rafts are gonna be heavy!"

The twelve survivors used the pieces of rope attach to them as a guide to pull their rafts along into the water.

"Every second counts in these challenges. Once you are in the water, everybody has to get on their raft and start paddling!"

Neck and neck out of the gate, both teams were on their rafts and off they went.

"That's it, Heroes!"

"Great job, Villains!"

"Paddle at the same time. Nice and steady." Golden suggested. Keeping together was crucial when it came to paddling. "Stroke... stroke... stroke..."

"Stroke... stroke... stroke..." Ryu was at the very front of the Villains raft with Specter Knight, a few other teammates chanting with him. Both teams appeared to be performing rather well off the bat, which was a good sign. Yet at the same time, that only made things even more competitive. Somebody's team was going to win the very first challenge of Survivor All Stars, and somebody's team was going to the first tribal of that season.

Quite a bit of pressure on their backs.

"Nicely done, Villains." Sheik clapped her hands with a grin.

"Keep it up, Heroes!" Zelda cheered on.

"Both tribes are approaching their platform. You gotta get everybody off before the swimmer goes out to retrieve the keys!"

"Go, go, go, go!" Donkey Kong was helping others onto said platform, Bowser doing the same from his team. And of course, it was rather interesting to see Donkey Kong and Bowser competing against each other knowing they were on the same starting tribe in the first season. To add the icing on the cake, it was their first challenge.

"Go Villains! Go Heroes!"

Vector was chosen to be sent out to swim for the Heroes with Ridley swimming out for the Villains. They were on the same starting tribe together as well in Caribbean.

"It is Vector versus Ridley right now!" Unfortunately, Vector was only part of the Team Chatoix spirit in Smash Ultimate, and not a fighter. "Vector unsurprisingly showing his skills in the water!"

"That's it, Vector!"

There was even an underwater view of him performing his task. Yet Ridley was not so bad in the water himself.

"Right on him, Ridley!"

Wasting no time getting to the platform, both guys began retrieving the keys needed for to unlock one of the bags of pieces for the puzzle.

"Come on, come on, yes!" Yoshi realized his pal Vector was the first to grab his keys before diving back in, Ridley only being up to three seconds slower.

"Hustle, Ridley. Hustle!" barked Springtrap, both men using all of their might to swim back to their team.

"Heroes have just a slight lead over the Villains, but this is still anyone's game!"

Upon Vector making it back to the platform, his tribe helped him on board.

"Go, Heroes!"

And with that, starting with Golden, the blue team climbed over a couple of crates before splashing into the water. And yes, that did include Sonic the Hedgehog, who was known for not being the biggest fan of the water.

"Go, Villains!"

As Sonic was seen holding his nose before splashing in, the Villains hurried along as they one by one leaped in the air and splashed right into the ocean.

"Everybody's getting over as they are making their way to the obstacles!"

There was a rather large barrel that everybody had to get over. Donkey Kong took it upon himself to toss his body over the barrel before he began to help his tribe members. A couple of them were shown to be helping Meta Knight up and over.

Ridley was then seen to be throwing himself over before he started to help out his fellow villains.

"Keep it up, guys!" Plague Knight wanted the Villains to snatch the lead away from the Heroes.

"Good teamwork!" Isabelle complimented.

"Up, up, up!" Springtrap and Ryu helped Specter Knight launch himself to the other side. Although, Ridley was being rather aggressive, basically yanking people from his team into the water. Yeah. He was never fond of losing. All those fits he threw in Caribbean.

"Heroes are gonna be the first tribe to get everybody over." Master Hand said with Vector being the last one being pulled over the barrel. "Villains are right on their tail!"

"Come on, big guy!" Foxy and the rest of his team helped out Bowser.

"Keep moving!"

The Heroes still had a slight edge over the Villains as they reached the cargo net, meaning everybody had to climb their way up and leap right back in the water. Though the second obstacle was as easy as it sounded in comparison to the barrel obstacle.

"Right on it, guys!" Mario cuffed his mouth with his hands.

"Everybody getting over the second obstacle!" They were all throwing themselves back over, Sonic being the last one jumping for the Heroes. And seconds later, Springtrap fell right in.

"Head back to shore so you can send two people out to start digging!" Master Hand yelled. "...Go Heroes!"

Naturally being the two strongest of the tribe, Donkey Kong and Golden went right to work, stepping inside a large blue circle to dig.

"Go Villains!"

Bowser and Ryu went on ahead and volunteered to dig for the red team, deciding to not let Ridley overexert himself and do all the work.

"You are looking for not one, but two bags of puzzle pieces."

"We can do this, Villains!" Foxy was determined to have his team win. "Come on!"

The area of the circle was rather large, so the players occasionally changed spots to dig.

But for Bowser, he did not need to, already retrieving a bag for his tribe.

"Bowser has the first bag for the Villains... Golden has the first bag for the Heroes! We're neck and neck again!"

Both players decided to swap out for Ridley and Vector.

"After you retrieve your two bags, somebody has to use the keys to unlock a chest containing the third bag of puzzle pieces."

Ryu suddenly decided that he grew tired of digging, not wasting any time swapping out for Springtrap. Though right when he arrived, Ridley was able to pull the second bag out of the sand.

"Go, Villains! Villains now have the lead!"

"Yeeeah!" Plague Knight and the other puzzle solvers from his team were elated, watching the other six race to the next station, sending Specter Knight out to begin using a set of keys to unlock the chest. The trick was there was like, fifteen of them. Great...

"...I got it! I got it!"

"Vector has the second bag for the Heroes!"

"Still in it! Let's go!" Shovel Knight was mentally not giving up on them.

Upon the Heroes rushing to their next station, they decided to get Sonic to unlock the chest.

"Which is the right key to use..."

Oh, the anxiety. Oh, the pressure. Then again, it was not their fault the designers of the challenge had all those keys to choose from.

"Turn it once. If it doesn't work, use another one..." said Ridley.

Going through three keys already, it was only a matter of time for the scythe wielder to find the right one. No panic at all... or at least hopefully never. They were just keys.

"Ugh..." Sonic shook his head, his first two keys not working either.

"You can do this, Sonic..." Yoshi had faith in him.

...Oops. Forgot to mention. There was not one lock, but two. Great... More pressure on Sonic and Specter Knight.

Yet the villain was able to undo the first lock.

"Specter has opened the first lock."

"...There we go."

"Sonic has opened the first lock for the Heroes!"

Only one more lock to go for both of them. For all they knew, it could have been one of the other keys they already used.

Specter Knight was almost forcing the keys in there with all his strength. He should have hoped that he was not going to accidentally break one of them. What if it was the key that he needed?

Though he managed to find the right one and opened it with no trouble.

"Specter has the second lock undone!"

With him tossing the third bag of puzzle pieces with the others that were already on the mat, it was time for the rest of the Villains to spring the action.

"Villains now working on their puzzle!"

"Don't give up, Sonic!"

"Nah, I'm good, I'm good..." He replied to Vector. "Please let it be this one... Okay, I got it!"

Immediately throwing the hood of the chest open, he grabbed the bag of puzzle pieces before giving it to Mario.

"Start working, Heroes!"

The sound of puzzle pieces being dumped all over the place meant that it was time to witness the most important part of most of the Survivor challenges. The dreaded puzzle. One that was often the neutralizer. Though for this situation it was particular, it was nearly neck and neck for the majority of the challenge.

"It is Wolf, Plague Knight, Sheik, and Shadow solving the puzzle for the Villains," Master Hand shifted his eyes to the other side. "and Shovel Knight, Mario, Isabelle, and Zelda solving the puzzle for the Heroes. Big stakes on the line. Nobody standing right here wants to go the first Tribal Council. Winner of this challenge gets bragging rights and will have one leg up on the other team."

Though it was a matter of how many people were wondering if the master ever wished he even had legs.

"This puzzle has three parts to it. The first part of the puzzle should represent the outer ring of the ship's wheel."

"Alright, this first part shouldn't be too hard." Zelda and Isabelle decided to be the main ones to take over the first part of the puzzle.

"You two can just play backup for now..." Villager's friend decided. "Maybe correct us on something if we're wrong."

"The Heroes are letting two of their puzzle solvers figure out the outer ring of the ship's wheel, while the Villains have all four of them working together."

"It is just a circle..." Wolf commented, taking pieces and putting them in. "No reason to panic."

"We're not gonna lose this challenge." Plague Knight should not have gotten too confident.

"Woah, woah, I don't think that goes there." Shadow took a piece from Sheik finding an error.

"If it doesn't fit, does no good forcing it in..." Shovel Knight told the women of his team.

"I think that piece goes on the other side..." Mario pointed.

"This is what it comes down to..." Master Hand glanced over everything. "Which team will win the first immunity? This first challenge could single-handedly dictate how the rest of the pre-merge portion of the game plays out."

"Nice." Sheik liked her team's progress.

Both teams appeared to be working rather well.

"Okay, we got it. Let's have the next set of pieces." Isabelle allowed Mario to open their second bag.

"Alright. Let's go." Shadow opened up the second bag for the Villains.

"Both tribes are now working on the second part of the ship's wheel, the spokes."

"Nice work, guys." Sonic smiled, liking where the challenge was going. "I've no regrets not doing it this time."

Though now came the real test. The spokes were the hardest part of the puzzle to complete. The pieces had to be screwed on, though some pieces were larger or shorter than others that ended up fitting together. Therefore, when pieces combined, they needed to be at just the right length or ese it would have been too long or too short for the whole thing to fit into the outer ring.

Now all four puzzle solvers of the Heroes tribe were working together on it. Zelda and Mario were taking pieces and screwing them on the middle section of the ring while Shovel Knight and Isabelle had pieces off to the side and screwing them on before placing them in the ring to test them out in advance.

Wolf, Plague Knight, Shadow, and Sheik from the Villains were applying the same strategy. And also, when pieces were put together, some of the spokes needed only two, while others needed three.

"Still neck and neck, guys." Ryu informed them. "Don't give up now..."

"Gimme that." Plague Knight outright snatched a piece right from Wolf's hand. "That goes here..."

"...Ugh..." Zelda unscrewed one of the pieces off. "That one's too long. I'm gonna try this one..."

"Too short. Got anything longer?" Shadow asked his three villain co-workers.

"Please... Please..." Bowser stared at the action talking to no one in particular. He still had fresh memories from competing in the challenge the first time and remembering the exact moment where the challenge fell apart for his team.

"Mario was on this same puzzle in his season and his team lost. Can he get his redemption right here?"

"Okay, okay, let's try it..." Plague Knight and Sheik grabbed the now finished middle part of the section and attempted to place it down fully in the outer ring. "Fit..."

"...It's not fitting." The Sheikah realized. "Something's not right."

"The Villains do not have it right. That opens the door for the Heroes!"

A feeling of worry began to set in some of the player's faces, Springtrap shifting his head to his opponents.

"Alright, let's give it a shot." Isabelle was ready to give it a go.

"Heroes think they have it if they're right..."

Vector had his fingers crossed, watching Mario literally slammed his hand down on it.

"...No. Heroes do not have it right. The door is back open for the Villains."

"Ah, geez..." Sonic shook his head and began to step away.

"Let's unscrew this. We're gonna switch them." said Shovel Knight.

"We've got to make sure they're all at even length." Wolf talked.

"Villains are gonna give it another go."

"Please work. Please work..." Wolf slammed his hand down rather hard, making a perfect fit.

"And they got it!"

Now the Villains' hopes were right back up.

"They're moving onto the handles!"

"Okay, come on..." Zelda was ready again, she and Mario holding the entire piece together to put it in.

"...Heroes are wrong again!"

"Oh no..." Now the blue team was starting to worry, Yoshi shaking his head in disbelief.

"Don't give up, Heroes. We can still take this." Golden did not want anyone's spirits down just yet.

"Heroes you need to get this right!" Master Hand gave them a very serious warning. "These handles are not gonna take much time for them to be screwed on the wheel."

Indeed. The last part of the puzzle was going to fly right past them if they did not hurry. All four of the Villains at the puzzle were rapidly screwing the handles on.

"...Get the bag! Get the bag!" Zelda screamed, Mario already being on it, almost instantly dumping out the pieces.

And yet they were just a little too late.

"Villains have their wheel completed!"

Wolf and Shadow grabbed their now finish puzzle and placed it onto a hook so they were able to spin it around.

"Oh Star Spirits..." mumbled a certain turtle with hands on his head.

"Oh _!" Vector cursed under his breath aggressively kicking some sand away...

And up came the Villains' tribe flag.

"VILLAINS WIN IMMUNITY!"

That was that. The Villains won the first immunity challenge and the Heroes did not.

"YES!"

"WE DID IT!"

"OH STAR SPIRITS!"

"YESSS!"

Right in front of the losers faces, the Villains were celebrating in unison.

"We did it, Bowser!" Sheik friendly embraced the Koopa.

"I can't believe this!"

"We did great!" Ryu was pleased.

As for the Heroes, they were all disappointed obviously. And for three of them, deja vu all over again.

"Ohhh man..." Sonic had his fists to his sides in great disbelief.

Mario heaved a heavy sigh staring at all of the handles dumped all over their puzzle. Donkey Kong did not even want to look at it, hardly a word even coming out of his mouth.

"Alright... Villains... Congratulations. You all won the first immunity." Several claps were heard. "And Bowser, for you personally,... the Survivor Gods were watching you."

"And I thank them for it." He was beyond proud. "I still can't believe what just happened! ...I... It's unreal! ...I ain't goin' to tribal tonight!"

"Indeed you won't, and neither for the rest of your tribe." Master Hand replied. "...Heroes... Mario, Sonic, and Donkey Kong. Same challenge, same results."

...

"You know," Mario spoke out breaking the brief silence. "I'm sad for myself, Sonic, and DK. We were all on the same tribe together competing in this challenge back on Sumasshu, and before we even came out here we expected this to be the first challenge for this season. We predicted correctly, but we still lost. I'm pretty sure none of us wanted that."

"Cry me a river."

Completely ignoring Shadow, Mario went on.

"However, Bowser was also with us that day, and this time, he is on the winning side." The plumber pointed directly at his former arch-nemesis. "He was able to get his redemption. And I gotta say,... he deserves it. Tribe swaps separated us in Kodai Island, and after our second tribal, my team actually won the rest of the immunity challenges. His team never won one. So maybe it was his time to get a break for once. He deserves to have a day off and I'm cheering for him."

Aww...

Even Bowser was a bit touched by that, genuinely smiling in his direction.

"Good job, Bowser." Sonic complimented.

"Well done." Donkey Kong nodded grinning.

"'Preciate it." King Koopa thanked all of them.

"Alright, Villains. You guys can all head back to camp and enjoy the night off." There was no need to tell them twice, the ten of them gathering their belongings and began to make their way out. "Heroes... Seems like at this point you are off to a rough start. You all are to go to Tribal Council, one of the ten of you will be going home."

Damn it. One of the ten most heroic figures were about to break some hearts by being the first eliminated on All Stars.

"Other than that, I got nothin' for ya. Head on back to camp and I will see you all at tribal."

Without another word spoken, the blue team grabbed their stuff and headed on out the other way.

"Should I have stepped up? Did I make the right decision to step back? That's going through my mind right now." Sonic was not happy at the results at all. "I came all the way back out here only to deal with the same thing. This is the second time my team lost the first challenge... and it really sucks... It really does... I suppose nice guys do finish last."

13,000 words...

Okay... A bit of the relationships were explained here. Foxy and Springtrap talked, Ryu, Specter, and Plague reuniting, the whole winners dilemma with the Heroes...

And Bowser finally won a tribal immunity challenge and the Heroes are going to the first Tribal Council... Apologies to the fans of Mario, Vector, Zelda, Shovel Knight, Isabelle, Donkey Kong, Sonic, Golden, Yoshi, and Meta Knight. One of your favorite characters will be going home in the very next chapter... Thoughts?

I'll see you all with how things are gonna go down, which will end off with the first person going home from Survivor - Heroes vs Villains... Pray for them... Okay?

Next chapter is on Wednesday.