Survivor - Heroes vs Villains

Chapter 27 - Day 24 Part 2

Darleem

Day 24

Donkey Kong, Bowser, Yoshi, Zelda, Wolf, Ridley, Vector, Ryu, Shovel Knight, Plague Knight, Golden, Springtrap

-/-

"I'd better hope there aren't too many balancing challenges this season, because I'm gonna suck at all of 'em..."

Bowser and the rest of his tribe all re-entered the camp one by one with the bunny rabbit putting away the immunity necklace. Two times in one season. Perhaps he had a secret challenge beast in himself.

"I really wasn't expecting to win that one, guys." He still was in disbelief. "It was me, Ryu, DK, Wolf, and Ridley... I figured it was going to be one of you four. But I am shocked that you came up just short today."

"I am shocked myself, but I was so focused on my balancing I lost control of my buoy all of a sudden." By the tone of his voice he was still not pleased with himself. "If this was a balance only challenge, I probably would have won that. Endurance is one of my best strengths."

"I messed up with my buoy as well, and I was prepare to hang in there even longer to compete with you." Wolf commented. "I've never won any individual challenges before, but at least I wasn't the first one out."

Unlike Bowser.

"Thank the Goddesses Ridley lost the challenge, because that was the most important thing my alliance needed to worry about." One less thing off of Zelda's plate. "He doesn't have immunity, and he hopefully does not have another idol. If everyone is still on the same page, he should be the one going home tonight. Yet the main problem for this vote is that Ridley has been the main one trying to swing Springtrap, Plague Knight, and Wolf over because he knows those are the three that are most likely to switch sides. It is imperative that myself, Vec, Shovel, and Yoshi check on them regularly to make sure they are still solid with us. Ridley actually does not have bad arguments to make if he needs to convince them, so the goal for us is to have some valid arguments to why it is best for them to stick with the Anti-SGA alliance."

"I'm gonna head over to the well. Anyone wish to join me?"

"I'll volunteer." Vector raised his hand.

"Hmm... I'll go." Wolf already knew where this was going. "Anyone else?"

"I'll... I'll stay behind." Apparently Springtrap did not want to make it too obvious.

"Guess I can start on the fire." Shovel Knight went over to the tool kit to look for the flint before realizing that he needed to give one of the water seekers his canteen. "Oh... Here you go!"

Taking it in hand, Vector and the other three started began to gather the canteens of everyone else.

"You know what, I'll come, too." Plague Knight also picked up on what was happening and wanted to be in on it.

Golden shifted a quick glance Ryu's way who widened his eyes in response shrugging his shoulders.

-/-

"Okay..." With a sigh, Zelda began the conversation, already beginning to pour water. "So,... Ridley. ...Right?"

"Ridley."

"Ridley."

"Ridley..."

"The one thing that concerns me is what he was trying to do with you three for the past couple days." The Hyrulian princess brought up. "Ridley is a smart castaway, and he will do anything to make sure he has a way. He knows that he just outdone himself comparing to his past season, and placing twelfth is still a rather early spot for him. He wants to survive for as long as possible and will use any argument he can make to swing you three over."

"That's the kind of player he is." Wolf acknowledged nodding. "Spring told me all about him."

"I just don't see myself ever aligning with him of all people." Plague shook his head for at least thinking about it. "Me and Ridley? That's... that's just weird to me."

"And even if you all stick with us for this round, it's not just about the next Tribal Council." Zelda reminded. "Shadow leaving was rather unfortunate, but we can still make it top seven. You three have a better chance at beating us at immunities. Springtrap was barely fortunate enough to beat Ridley today because Ridley hardly struggled the whole time. If Ridley does not go home tonight, we'll have a hard time beating him and the rest of his allies for the rest of the game."

"Other than that, Golden, Ryu, and DK are also smart players over there." Vector added on. "And they're physical. They're just way too many threats over there and it's not going to benefit any of us."

"So after Ridley goes home,-" Wolf spoke again. "I assume it's Bowser, Ryu, DK, and save Golden for last night."

"I don't know how important the order is yet, but all I gotta say is that Ken won five immunities. Any one of them could do the exact same thing, and we can't afford that because they are gonna keep targeting one of us."

"There are obvious flaws if we side with the Hero Four, there are problems if we side with SGA." Springtrap was still rather undecided on what to really do. "I don't want to align with Hero Four, but I don't stand a chance with the Strong Guys Alliance, especially when it comes to the challenges. It's like Plague, Wolf, and I are at the bottom of either alliance so it's damned if we do, damned if we don't no matter what we try to do. Both sides are already set in stone of what they're gonna do, so I guess today it's all about us three and what's been for our game here..."

Well, if everyone on both sides were already dead set on their intentions, it was best for Springtrap, Plague Knight, and Wolf to decide what they were going to do, just to get it out the way.

"Alright, so the three of us are finally together again." The bunny rabbit began. "We're either gonna stay in our alliance of seven with the Hero Four, or we're gonna jump ship and join the Strong Guys Alliance knowing none of us will have a chance in a lot of the physical challenges."

"I feel like it's a no win situation." Wolf hunched his shoulders crossing his arms. "Our fate will be in other peoples' hands after we make our decision no matter what."

"Like,... how does it look if I aligned with Ridley or Bowser?" It seemed the smallest castaway of the group found it to be ridiculous to even consider the thought of it. "And really never cared about me, so I don't care about him. Golden and I didn't have the best history. And DK is one of his best friends! None of them are gonna be interested in aligning with me."

"To be fair, sticking with the Hero Four the whole time does seem nonsensical." Kevin stated. "You can't knock Ridley for that. The four of them know they can only say so much because they themselves know they have no interest in any longtime plans with us. Maybe we should flip over. But then again,... what about the relationships on the other side? ...You have a connection with Bowser."

"I do." Wolf nodded. "And DK, Ryu, and Golden are all friends. Bowser and Ridley both have something going on between them. I've seen Ryu talking to Ridley a bit more."

"So,..." That pretty much sums up why it appeared to be a no win for them no matter the choice. "not much leeway on both sides. It's a matter of what's gonna be worse here."

Plague Knight heaved a great sigh in frustration. "I don't think anyone wants anything to do with me, to be honest. Everyone here has their friends and allies and I have no one. I have no idea what the future of my game looks like."

"We're your allies." Wolf assured him. "We understand when it comes to you, your options are definitely limited. But we'll protect you and we'll have conversations with each other. You're not a bad guy, Plague. You just have a social problem."

"This is literally what happens when you have no allies left in this game. You don't know what's going to happen to you or anything. Me, myself, and I, and that's it. I can kinda trust Wolf and Springtrap… by default! All I gotta say is that if worst comes to worst, I have my Steal-A-Vote advantage and I will do it!"

"We gotta weigh out our options, pick a side and deal with it. We can't really have it both ways…" Springtrap went silent until this sudden thought hit him. "Or could we?"

Hmm…?

"'Could we?'" Wolf repeated. "You onto something?"

"Wanna know what I'm thinking? We don't have to fully pick a side just yet. Or,... maybe a better way to put this is that we'll play along with whoever for right now and we'll just plan as we go. Pickin' up what I'm puttin' down?"

"..." O'Donnell suddenly widened his eyes. "I got it… I understand completely on what you're saying. We stick with one side for this round, and then if that alliance is not worth it regarding future Tribal Councils, the three of stick together no matter what. And if we have to switch sides again, we can do it."

"Uh… What?" Unfortunately, Plague Knight did not really get it.

"So basically, if we want to vote with the Hero Four today, we can side with them on this one. But in the future, as soon as the very next tribal afterewards, we could flip flop to SGA." Springy explained for all the 'slow folks' out there. "Or, we could side with SGA, and if or when it's time to flip over back to the Hero Four, that's something we could do as well. The three of us don't really have anything else to lose, because we all got duped. In other words,... _ all of them. Hahaha!"

"Basically, they can all go to hell." Okay, Wolf. The audience already got the message. Both he and Springtrap had no care about anyone else but themselves. "Does that make sense to you?"

"Ohhhhhh." Now for Plaguey, he knew better. Was he not a master alchemist? Was he not always trying to tell people what to do? No excuses. None. "I really get it, now! Let's do it! So,... which one of these losers go first?"

"Hmm…" Wolf held a fist beneath his chin. "Who does go home first? What is more threatening for us right now? Ridley and company winning all the challenges, or the most obvious core alliance in the Hero Four?"

What would have the fans done if they were in their shoes? Who would have been picked to go home first?

-/-

"I can not get a good read on Wolf at all."

Ryu was pacing with Ridley in the woods.

"Every time I talk to him, he'll just nod and stare at you, but he usually does a good job maintaining his facial expression. He usually does not give off any emotions when it comes to strategy talk and I feel like he does that on purpose just to keep a chill kinda attitude. Notice how he doesn't care what his facial expressions are when he's just having a normal conversation with someone? But when he strategizes, his face just completely shuts off."

"You may have a point. And sometimes Springtrap smirks like everything is funny." Ridley replied. "And of course you can't get any read off of Plague since he wears his mask all the time. I feel like sometimes all of the knights that have played this game (except for Shield) use their helmets and masks to their advantage and it's really annoying..."

"Springtrap can hold a straight face if he wants to. He and Wolf have the same personality except that Springy is a little more snarky and Wolf is like,... 'Ugh. Whatever.' Bottom line is that we clearly can't a good read on any of 'em, and we need their votes now, since we don't have an idol anymore."

"I strongly believe one of those heroes have an idol. If none of us have it, somebody has gotten the idol from this merged group." Ridley was... spot on actually. "Yet another reason why one of them should go home. Their alliance should be the ones suffering tonight. Everything has gone their way for too long. We need to get Vector, then we need Zelda out, and then we need to get Shovel Knight out. Yoshi can just stay here all on his own for all I care."

Aw. That was mean. Bad, Ridley. Bad!

"If those three side with us, a blindside is in the works. Four for Vector, four for Zelda, Vector on the re-vote, the crocodile's gone." Easier said than done of course, because Ryu was not one of the swing votes. "And sure, all of the strongest members of this tribe aside from Vector might be in the exact same alliance, but at least we have two of the heroes over here. Those four come from one tribe and one tribe only."

"I've said what I said and I have done all that I can do. I've been talking non-stop of why it is not a good idea for them to stick with those four heroes, but there's nothing else I can do. Nothing else I can do." The poor purple creature had to wait. That was literally it. "Maybe you could argue I was trying a little too hard, but I'm the one that is hanging on in the game by a thread. You come all the way out here twice, get voted out once, and be on the bottom of the tribe again. Only then would you understand what I'm going through. Of course I'm gonna be fighting like I never fought before. But,... there's just nothing else I can do. Nothing else I can do."

"That's exactly what I've been trying to tell them. But our hands is in their hands again, and all we have is their word." That alone was very frustrating for him to realize, Ridley cursing under his breath. "Look, if me going home is something that's gonna happen any way, I'm just here to die another day. But not this one, just because I survived last tribal..."

"Why do I have the feeling like this is day eighteen all over again? ...Right before we all became one?"

"What makes you say that?" He felt he needed clarification.

"My neck was on the line, we two talked shortly before tribal, and now your neck is on the line."

"...Hmph." Ridley stared at the ground. "I understand. But, don't worry. Best case scenario, our split vote plan works out, and we're safe for three more days. And as pleased as I am that I'm still here, half of me didn't know at the time if I was going to make it this long."

"Well you did, and I'm proud of you." Ryu smiled. "I'm proud of everything you managed to accomplish out here regardless of what happens tonight. I may not have been on your season, but Ken told me all about you. I really do appreciate all that you've done for me. You saved me twice and now we gotta do everything in our power to return the favor."

"You don't have to make a whole fuss about it." Part of the dragon felt a little off of how Ryu was expressing his genuine feelings towards him, but he was simply not used to that. "My mission was to save a crucial ally of mine. Nothing more. If it was Bowser, I would have done the same thing."

"Not a bad analogy, but in a general sense, you are loyal to the ones you're closest to. Sure, it can be written as you doing so just for the sake of your game, which is fine in a game such as Survivor. But Ridley,... I have a hunch that deep down, you really do care."

"..."

"If you care about Meta Knight, that means you are capable of caring about other people."

"..." The guy really got him quiet. He even began to stutter. "I... O-Okay,... look... I know that you were rather hesitant on this whole Strong Guys thing, knowing that it was what you tried to do yourself. But, your intentions are valid. You do recognize yourself as a strong physical competitor, and you wanted to take advantage of that. I felt on my end this season that I pretty much did not have much of a choice, and aligning with you and Bowser seemed to be my best option. Yet I knew of how hesitant you were when this season first started, because you did not want to make the same mistakes as you did last time, and you were wondering on whether or not to trust me."

"...I... It wasn't anything personal..."

"I'm the last one in this universe to take things personally. I get it. But part of me felt that as if you didn't know if you had any intention on working with me based off my reputation from my last season. I know exactly how I was, and seeing my own edit made me facepalm myself a couple times." Ooh. It was getting a little deeper now. "Coming out here, I wanted to avoid making the same mistakes as well."

"I understand you." Ryu smiled once more. "You have internal problems, and I'm pretty sure the entire universe is aware. But you have been working on yourself and it is really showing. Though Meta is not here, I'm still here to watch your progress."

"...You know what, lemme ask you something." There was something Ridley really wanted to question him about. "Am I living in your mind rent free or something?"

Bro...

"You and I basically did not know each other until the start of the season, we were never even in a pregame alliance with one another, you were hesitant to align with me when I finally came up with the idea, and yet it seems to me like you regularly think about me and how I'm doing for some reason. Is it because of what Ken told you, or what? What is it?"

The fighter did not blame him at all for wondering. "Well, the truth is Ridley, Ken is way more outgoing than me. I have no problems dealing with people, but Ken handles it much better than I do. At the same time though, Ken actually feels rather sorry for you, especially after looking at his own season. You came off as a jerk at points, but inside,... you're not perfect. You clearly have issues and people saw that. Meta just took it upon himself to change you, and here you are. I don't know how you would have turned out if it weren't with him, and Ken told me personally that if he knew that there was something deeper going on there, he would have spent more time with you figuring out the root of your problems. But he was busy helping Simon out since he needed to open up as well."

Now that made Ridley silent for a bit longer. For several seconds, actually. That was a bit to take in.

When words finally did surface, he chose to speak of Ken himself. "You know,... if Ken was here right now, what would he do? Would he also be approaching me like this?"

"If I am, he obviously would have done the same thing. But hey, I have your back, since you have proven your loyalty and your trust on a couple occasions."

"You can probably call this the beginning of an unlikely friendship or something. Ridley himself just told me the other day that 'friends' is not such a bad word to him anymore, which is kinda funny considering how he uses basically every swear word known to man. The thing is that he's cold and he pretty much knows it, and that's due to his leadership role on Zebes and always used to being in charge all the time. Though he does realizes he's gone too far at different points and he wants to change that, so I'll help give him all the advice he needs. But right now, we need to save his life. He saved mine not only once, but twice. Hopefully those three swing voters pull through and we can pull this off..."

Tribal Council

Night 24

Well with the jury phase starting, the stakes were gradually being raised higher and higher. There was going to be more scrambling with everyone trying to find a spot in the final three as if it was a game of musical chairs. Some were already desperate, but since everyone was at tribal now, they had the chance to express how they really felt.

"We'll now bring in the first member of our jury."

Ah, yes. Shadow the Hedgehog. Some of his fans were even surprised the man did not flip everyone off when he got eliminated last time considering his behavior when he realized he was the one going home.

"Shadow voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Upon the rest of Darleem looking his way, he had a pretty calm demeanor as he found a spot on the jury bench. Not really giving off any emotions, but that by itself was a massive improvement of attitude.

"So, based on the results of the last tribal, it appeared that a majority alliance had a plan to get rid of someone from the minority alliance. However, with Ridley's idol play, it was not something the new majority alliance of seven expected. Shadow got idol'd out, clearly not happy. Wolf, is he justified? Or do you feel like he completely overreacted since his name got written down?"

"I'd say he is justified. He may have gone a little far, but at the same time, he did not receive the majority of the votes. Ryu did, but Ridley chose the right person to play an idol on. The majority alliance suffered a setback, and now we're down to seven."

"And unless things have changed with the past three days,-" Master Hand began to name the members one by one. "Vector, Plague Knight, Yoshi, Zelda, Springtrap, Shovel Knight, and yourself are all sticking together, aligning yourselves against Ryu, Ridley, DK, Bowser, and Golden."

"That's what the alliances are." He nodded in confirmation. "Correct."

"But master, there are three people in that majority alliance that could switch over to our side." Donkey Kong brought up. "Particularly, Plague Knight, Wolf, and Springtrap. Those three hold all of the power, and they have to make the choice of what side they are going stick with."

"Oh, so despite people already making a choice last tribal, things are still not set in stone yet."

"Not quite so." He bobbed his head. "Yes, Springtrap and Wolf were already swing votes last time. Shadow was Plague's only ally, and he had no other choice but to stick with Springtrap and Wolf, and now everyone's fate is in their hands."

"Plague Knight, is what DK saying accurate? Are you a swing vote tonight?"

"Of course." The knight nodded immediately. "Another day, another ally of mine has gone home. Shadow shouldn't have been the one going home last time, master. The Strong Guys Alliance needed to be weakened, but they targeted the wrong person and it backfired. Springtrap and Wolf are the main two that I have right now, and everybody wants me to vote with them. And I'm prepared for it. I've been a swing vote before all by myself."

"All three of us have been swing votes before in our previous seasons." Springtrap recalled. "Being in the middle is the most interesting position to be in. You're deciding the fate of an entire alliance, but you're also deciding a fate for yourself. No matter what side you go on, you can't just pick one and just watch and see what happens. You have to plan as many moves ahead as you possibly could have. For example, what if this happens in this alliance. What if that happens when this sorta thing happens? You can't really ever predict the future in Survivor, but the least you can do is try."

"So have the three of you made up your minds yet, or is the decision for you all still up in the air as we speak?"

That was a rather good question coming from the master.

"I would say,..." The FNAF character turned to eye both of his fellow swing voters directly. "-we pretty much have. Coming into tribal we did have a plan in play. We're gonna just one side tonight, and the bottom line is that we hope we make the right decision. ...But,..."

Raising his finger, all eyes were on him.

"-if possible, since all twelve of us are here right now, maybe this could be a last ditch effort to try to convince the three of us on why we should either stay or join your side. This is your opportunity right now to say what you haven't gotten a chance to say at this moment. This is our Tribal Council. But once the master calls us up to that urn, it's done. But until then, if there is anything else you need to get off your chest, now's the time to do it."

...

Woah... Kevin 'Springtrap' Davis stole the show.

Every last castaway of both sides of the fence all eyed each other including the ones they were aligned against.

Vector gave Shovel Knight a look, who hunched his shoulders in return, Bowser leaning over to whisper in Donkey Kong's ear.

Even the Master Hand was a bit surprised. That was definitely a first for the series.

"Wolf,... is this... giving the impression that perhaps you three haven't made up your minds yet, or are you three giving everybody a last chance to try to persuade you to stick with a certain alliance?"

"It's the latter." What Springtrap said was something that was not really part of the plan going into that tribal, but upon hearing his friend's approach, the lupine was all over the idea. What a way of playing in the middle. "This is obviously a very crucial Tribal Council and people are tugging and pulling everywhere. But hey, they want my vote, they're gonna have to go get it. They can say whatever they need to say until they are finished."

"I... guess I'll start, then." Zelda volunteered raising her hand. "And if you three have really already made your decision and if you are siding with us for this vote, then we should be good to go. But if any of you like to hear any more, I'll go ahead and give you my point of view."

"The floor is yours." Davis let her on.

"Well, what I can say is that you and Wolf were the only ones in the middle last time. Due to Ridley's idol play, even he had a feeling that you two were not going to side with him and his alliance. The both of you have already made up your decision to side with us, and Plague had already made up his mind on what he wanted to do. But with Shadow gone, we have suffered a little setback. But the seven of us are still here, we could still make this seven work, and we're going to be with you."

"Ryu, you're already shaking your head."

"I'm shaking my head because she basically said nothing."

Uh oh...

"That's not really an argument to why it is important for them to stay on her side." He went on to say. "That's just her telling them that 'nothing is changed, our plan is still in play.' That's what I'm getting from it."

"I second that." Bowser was with him there.

"I mean, if you can't come up with proper reasons for them to stick with your alliance that is kind of a sign in my eyes."

"Okay, well if you think like that, then maybe a better idea for us is to come up with reasons to knock against your alliance." Vector spoke up. "First of all, alliance of seven versus alliance of eight. What sounds better on paper? Exactly."

"But the two alliances in that group are as clear as day. You must be blind if you say otherwise." Golden talked. "You, Zelda, Shovel, and Yoshi. Plague Knight, Wolf, and Springtrap. Shadow was with the villains in that group, he got voted off, not you Hero Four have the upper hand and whoever is left is obviously five, six, and seven. It can't get more simpler than that."

"At least they wouldn't have to worry about dealing with people who are likely to win a million immunity challenges."

"You know what,-" Ridley hardly let him even finish. "I strong believe those are the only two things you can say. It's either you all have one less number than we do, and us winning challenges. Those are the only two things you can say. So forget you all not coming up with reasons to keep them in your alliance. You can't even come up with enough reasons to bash our alliance. You have literally no argument, and you damn well know they are five, six, and seven in your group."

"Say if that was even true, you can't say that it isn't better than them being six, seven, and eight. Are you five planning on breaking up any time soon? I don't think so."

"Considering that there is a mix of both heroes and villains on our side,-" Bowser chimed in. "-your alliance has even less of a chance of breaking up. You for probably aligned together from day one, and there is no reason for any of you to turn on each other like that. Wolf, Spring, and Plague aligning with you for the long term game is not going to work. They're gonna play for a spot in the final three. They are not going to play just to get to five, six, and seven. They deserve to fight for their spot in the game just like everyone else."

Giving Wolf a look, the mercenary grinned right back at him.

"Wow." Master Hand found the whole to be quite a show to watch. "Wolf, this is what you three wanna see?"

"An intense debate going on here." He snickered in response. "I like it."

"I feel like a teenage girl with all these men fighting over me." Springtrap joked, Plague Knight laughing with him. "This is brilliant!"

"Even if they wanted to get rid one of you at some point if they side with you all, it would be a rather hard time for them to do it." Shovel Knight stepped in. "Wolf, Springtrap, and especially Plague Knight are always going to have a hard time beating you five in physical challenges."

"Yeah?" Ridley shot him a glare. "Well, guess what? There are five of us and even though we're physical, there is only one person who can win individual immunity at a time. If I win another challenge and they'd want to weaken us, there are four other people here. And like we've been saying, we're not nearly as cut and dry as you four are. If you all betray each other, it is going to be the shock of the season."

"Plague Knight, what do you make of this? Give us your thoughts."

"Both sides have their pros and cons. We believe that there are issues no matter what side we stick with, but it is a matter of what exactly is going to be worse for us down the line. We're three votes, and that is a pretty big number for a group of swing votes here. But weighing your options is everything. This is our second time playing out here, and the last thing we need is to do something we're all going to regret. And I never got voted out before, and I'm not planning on having it happen to me this season. I don't wanna sit over there."

Shadow blinked as the knight pointed his way.

"I don't think I'll like it that much, because that's gonna automatically mean that I had a higher shot of winning in my old season versus this one."

"If one of them wants to increase their chances of winning this season, I have yet another reason on why it would be better for them to jump to our side." Oh, Ridley had more. "Perhaps they actually would have a shot over here, because let's be honest. Even though we're known for doing well in a lot of challenges, it usually doesn't even matter. Can somebody tell me why a super strong physical player has not won this game yet?"

...

The whole tribal fell silent with every last person exchanging glances.

"It literally never happens. Sure, Sonic the Hedgehog won four immunities, but he's obviously not known to be a super strong player. Marth did not win a lot of immunities. Isabelle maybe the worst physical competitor of all time. Doc Louis never won any immunities. I've played with him before, and he was a liability. But he won my season and his name was only written down once at the final four and that was it. He played the best winning game so far, but that's beside the point. Us strong folk? We never win. At all."

"...I'm backing him up." Ryu raised his hand. "He's right. What I can add to this is that every last one of the five of us have all been voted out before, and no matter what our situation was, the one thing we all had in common was that we were all great in challenges. One of the closest opportunities in the past four seasons to someone like us actually winning the game was when Ken won five immunities, only to be cut off at the final four. Even before that, he was targeted a long time prior because he was too good at challenges."

"Haha! Hell, look at me!" Ridley lifted both of his hands. "I'm literally being targeted right now because I'm physical at challenges."

"I'll back you up as well." Now it was Donkey Kong's turn. "Now this might be a little weird considering that Funky Kong actually made it to the end of the game even though he was a physical threat, he still didn't win because he blew it. But I guess it still counts. We're not really the type of players to ever win the game. It's sort of funny of how everyone needs us for challenge strength at the start of the game. The usual process at the beginning is to get rid of the weak, but whoever is left that is not really known to do well in challenges suddenly has an increased at longevity. On the other hand, we're always targeted the moment when we all merge. It's the trend. So perhaps Plague, Springtrap, and Wolf might just have a better shot aligning with us, anyway. Say if we get blindsided a couple tribals for now, they're not the ones that are going to be targeted first. We are."

"It happens every time and they know it." said Bowser. "Even Vector over there knows what it's like. His name was tossed around several times last season, and now we're targeting him. And to be fair, Ridley and Ryu did give him the opportunity to align with them knowing what was going to happen. But, he chose to go in a different direction."

"This is exactly what I tried to do in Survivor - Mexico." Ryu brought up. "I tried to get all the strong players together for a reason. I wanted to change things up to see how everything would play out. Golden knows because we were in the same alliance at one point, and Donkey Kong's cousin knows. Bowser has an interesting situation here. His name was tossed around ever since the first tribal back in the very first season, but he actually managed to make it to the merge because everybody needed his strength. But the moment when he got to the merge, he was targeted immediately since nobody needed his strength anymore."

"Well, what do you all really expect us to do?" Shovel Knight wondered. "We have to target somebody. Once the merge hits in the season, the team mentality is not really there anymore. When we all fight for individual immunities, of course Survivor is going to throw quite a few physical challenges our way. And if one of you performs well at them, we're happy for you. But in our eyes, that makes you a threat to eliminate. And Survivor is all about preparing yourselves to get as far as possible so that we have a shot at sitting at the final. I am sorry that a strong player like you all has not won the game before, but we are simply playing just like you are. What else do you really expect us to do?"

"Golden, Shovel Knight has a point." Even the host agreed with him. "Challenges are part of the game, but at the same time, getting rid of threats are also part of the game, and that's how Survivor works."

"We're not trying to criticize them for doing their job or anything. It does seem to be fair, and I think we all recognize this. The weak are targeted at the beginning of the game, the strongest are targeted around merge point. I believe we are all simply just frustrated that someone like us has not won the game yet. It's really nobody's fault. Maybe it's gonna happen eventually. Is it gonna be this season? I don't know. But I suppose if the trend continues, what we're trying to say is that maybe there is an increased chance for the three swing votes to win this if they join us. If they side with us, awesome. But if not, that's okay as well. No hard feelings, we'll just keep playing like we've been playing."

...

"...Alright. It is time to vote. Zelda, you're up."

It was a wonder on how social media was going to react to this one.

Ridley

"Didn't think things were going to be this intense, but I hope nothing has changed despite all that's happened."

Plague Knight was called up to the urn next.

"Perhaps with our real plan we have going on here, things will get a little more juicy around here."

It was up to the audience to figure out what he meant by it as Shovel Knight and Donkey Kong were seen casting their votes in.

Bowser wrote down his target next.

Vector

"I have even more respect for Ridley, now. We really never have a chance out here, so if he goes home tonight, I wouldn't be surprised. At least he'd be going out with a bang."

Ridley himself was called up next writing down the Mobian's name as well.

Following Yoshi and Wolf, Vector was making his move.

Ridley

"Every time we play together you always find some sort of a way to be a thorn in my tail. This better be my first and last time putting your name down this season."

So he was a little pissed. Understandable given he was a target himself for this round.

Golden and Ryu went up to the urn and back, with Springtrap being the very last one.

"I think I've gotten exactly what I want from everyone. Nothing has changed, but at least I got to see what a bloodbath looks like."

Making his way back to his seat, it was time to count the votes up.

"I'll go tally the votes."

...

Nothing. No particular facial reactions were noting for that tribal.

And there came the question. "If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so."

How about Yoshi? Did he have anything to say?

"..."

"...Okay."

Huh...

"Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

Big vote coming up...

"First vote... Vector."

He shook his head.

"Zelda."

That caused her the frown. Apparently she was not aware of the Strong Guys Alliance splitting the votes. None of the swing voters in question told the Hero Four anything about that.

"Vector."

"Zelda. Two votes Vector, two votes Zelda."

Bowser and DK sat in patience.

"Vector."

He shot a glance at Wolf.

"That's three votes Vector."

"Oh man..." Yoshi mumbled under his breath, already having second thoughts about him not using his idol to guarantee his ally's safety.

Ridley hardly ever blinked as he waited.

"Ridley."

"Hmph..."

"Ridley."

Plague Knight kept his hands clamped together remaining in his seat.

"Ridley. Three votes Ridley, three votes Vector."

Even Shadow the Hedgehog was slightly confused of how the votes were being revealed.

"Ridley. Four votes Ridley."

Widening his eyes, Ryu was nearing the edge of his seat. Assuming the first four votes for him all came from the Hero Four, the last three votes were to be determined of where the last three members of the tribe stood with everyone.'

And all members of the Hero Four were staring at Master Hand, with a hint of nervousness mostly visible on both Zelda and Vector.

"Ridley."

"_..." The 's' word escaped from his mouth. Although at least he was not being loud and obnoxious, unlike Shadow. Still, he figured that was officially it.

"That's five votes Ridley."

"Sorry, man..." Ryu spoke in disappointment. "I really wanted this to work out for us in the end."

The Zebes leader simply sighed in reaction.

"Ninth person voted out of Survivor and the second member of our jury." That was it. "Ridley. That's six, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."

SSBU: Theme of Samus Aran, Space Warrior (Super Metroid)

"One round better than last time." Slowly getting up from his seat, he made his way over to his torch. "Don't come crying to me when you're five, six, and seven. I'm going to Ponderosa trying to process in what world did that actually make sense, but... I'm already out. Play however you want."

"Hey..." Bowser took the opportunity to shake hands with him. "It was worth a shot, right?"

"We tried our best." Golden hunched his shoulders. "That's all we could do."

"We're thinking about you." Ryu shook Ridley's hand as well. Though when he attempted to embrace, he awkwardly backed up.

"Haha, I don't think I'm ready for the whole hugging thing just yet..."

"Fair enough." He laughed in reply.

"Ridley, the tribe has spoken."

Snuff.

"Time for you to go."

"See ya, Ridley."

"Good job."

"What a trooper." Springtrap commented laughing a little.

"Thanks for sticking with us, guys." Vector smiled. "Guess that was your decision going in."

"Hopefully you all have made the right choice..." Bowser spoke out of sarcasm. "I'm gonna have a hard time understanding this."

"Well, whatever choices you make, everything always has it consequences." Master Hand answered regarding the remaining eleven players. "Just make sure you really think carefully about each and every decision you make out here. One wrong move, and you lose the game. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

Votes:

Donkey Kong - Vector

Bowser - Vector

Yoshi - Ridley

Zelda - Ridley

Wolf - Ridley

Ridley - Vector

Vector - Ridley

Shovel Knight - Ridley

Plague Knight - Ridley

Ryu - Zelda

Golden - Zelda

Springtrap - Ridley

-/-

7-3-2

12th Place: Ridley

Total Votes Received: 7

Final Confessional Count: 4-3-0-2-4-2-3-4 (22)

"I am not one to be bitter. If it was my time to go, it was my time to go. But I just don't understand peoples' way of thinking at all on this. I don't think I should be the one going home tonight. Hero Four was just right there, and nobody did anything about it. I'm gonna blame it all on Vector, because I feel like people are gonna be once again letting him get away with this, and he's gonna make it far in the game again. That's something they're all gonna have to live with. But hey, at least I kinda grew and I've outdone myself. It is what it is."

Castaways Remaining:

Donkey Kong, Bowser, Yoshi, Zelda, Wolf, Vector, Ryu, Shovel Knight, Plague Knight, Golden, Springtrap

Character Confessional Count:

23: Donkey Kong (+1)

22: Ridley (+4)

18: Golden (+1), Zelda (+3)

17: Bowser (+1), Vector (+2), Ryu (+2)

16: Yoshi (+1), Shovel Knight (+1), Plague Knight (+3)

15: Wolf (+2), Springtrap (+3)

12: Shadow, Specter Knight, Sonic

11: Foxy, Meta Knight

6: Sheik

5: Mario

3: Isabelle

(...The three swing votes got the least amount of confessionals of everyone lol. But they ain't purple edited though.)

Aw... I was actually rooting for Ridley this time. Bummer... He did go out with a bang though, so I'll give him that.

Plague Knight, Wolf, and Springtrap are gonna possibly get criticized (which is fair). But then again, they did come up with an interesting plan before tribal about how they're gonna stick with one alliance for now and then probably make some other moves down the line, so time will tell if they know what they're doing.

And guess what? Now that Ridley is out, it's probably appropriate to bring in a new contestant to the scene for Survivor - India... from the Metroid series! Yup! And he was literally the last minute edition to the season. So I'm bringing in... Raven Beak.