Survivor - Heroes vs Villains

Chapter 28 - Day 25 Part 1

Alright, so time to get started with the next episode.

To be honest guys, I might as well go back to one chapter per week at this point when it comes to my Survivor stories. Things are getting busier and busier on my end, and I rather keep a consistent schedule when it comes to me releasing chapters for stuff. Say if this story started with one chapter per week still, I'd still be ahead a little.

And I don't wanna let you guys down by having you all wait for a million years. I still need to finish re-reading Caribbean to fix all the spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as the last few chapers of this one. There is simply not enough time to do it all and release two chapters a week, so for now on I'm sticking to one chapter a week when it comes to everything (with Ponderosa and Meet the Cast in the mix so that I can have enough time). I know you guys understand, and long-term wise, it's probably for the better.

~KF

EPISODE NINE: It's Fun When It's All About Me!

Darleem

Night 24

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

-/-

It was a rather interesting Tribal Council discussion. But unforutnately, as much as Ridley wanted to stay, it was his time to go. He placed one spot higher versus his previous season, which was an achievement in itself. However, he was at the bottom, and he was leaving the rest of the Strong Guys Alliance behind. The dragon was literally the leader of that group.

What a major setback for them, as they were now officially the bottom feeders of the post-merge phase of the game.

A couple of them began to go vocal about it.

"Okay, say what you want about Ridley, but I gotta give credit where it's dude." Donkey Kong started. "Even though people are on different sides and that we're all in different positions of the game at this moment, my respect for Ridley has really gone up. He's actually a pretty smart guy. And what I really like about him is that not only does he realize that he's imperfect, but he does a really good job maintaining a level head no matter the circumstances."

"You know what, I agree with you." In case if it was not obvious already, Vector actually played with him before. Of course he knew more about Ridley than most of the others. "Two seasons and we were against each other twice, but his head always seemed to be in the game no matter what. And that is one quality I don't really feel like I always have. That is something I can actually learn from him. ...Hmm. I actually never thought I'd be saying those words."

Kind of fascinating of how the tables were turned.

"I've had a few talks with him. He's not a bad guy, and he's always willing to learn from whatever mistakes he's made depending on how serious they are to him. If he realizes that there is something about him that needs a change, he seems to be willing to do it. You can just tell that Meta probably taught him about a lot of stuff. Really a shame he didn't even make the merge."

Yeah, but that was a whole different topic in itself.

"You know, I'm an observer, and I believe that everything you guys are saying holds true." Golden jumped in. "Ridley just needed to have a bit of self-awareness and he is finding that in himself. I'll be sure to check in with him whenever we speak to each other again."

"I feel really bad for Ridley. I do." Bowser felt like that big, purple creature put his neck on the line for the rest of his allies. "He should have won that challenge. And even if he didn't,... he shouldn't have been the one going home tonight. He deserves to stay here, but they all voted him out and that's not fair. He was right in everything he was saying of how us strong folk can't win Survivor because the odds are against past the merge, and I don't think he's wrong. But that just gives me even more energy to fight harder. So maybe it's my turn to win every damn challenge."

Not until King Koopa gets good with the balancing act.

"He should still be here." The turtle vented his furstrations with DK. "He was protecting us because he knew after he left, we were all going to be next on the chopping block. I really do applaud him for what he was trying to do, but those three didn't vote with us! What the hell! Now I'm the one that is the next to go!"

"I really don't understand on what the three swingers didn't vote with us tonight." That was the other main thing Kong was concerned about. "I'm not one to automatically bash on peoples' gameplay decisions, but I feel like eliminating Vector was the obvious move, and they didn't take it. I don't know what is their current thought process, but if we don't go all out, we're kicked off one by one."

"One of us has to win the next immunity challenge, and maybe somebody else can find an idol or an advantage. I don't know..." Bowser suddenly snapped his fingers. "And you know what? ...Oh! Ryu, come here. Come here. I'm thinking there might be an immunity idol clue at the next reward. At least one of us has to be on it."

"I don't know for certain, because if it's the merged tribe idol, somebody could have already gotten it." DK sighed. "There is the chance that one of the Hero Four has found it, which was why we splitted the votes in the first place."

"We'll just continue to calmly approach them and swing them over to our side, because relying solely on idols, immunities, and advantages to save your life is not good gameplay. We're only at the final eleven and the final three is a long way to go from here. We gotta keep playing hard and pray that things can somehow work out. Only issue is I'm not closely connected with any of them, and Plague and I don't have any kind of relationship whatsoever."

"Fine. DK and I can keep talking to Wolf, and I guess we'll all one by one talk to Springtrap and Plague. I'm probably their next target and I don't wanna go home. We're not even in the top ten yet."

Okay, so Bowser was likely going to be a target for this upcoming round. Got it.

Zelda calmly placed a hand on Vector's shoulder. "How do you feel?"

He let out an exhale. "...I'm still here. That's what I'm feeling like right now. My name was written down for the first time this season, but I'm still here. That's pretty much all that matters. So happy to be here."

"I'm happy to still see you here, too, Vec." Yoshi commented. Unbelievable that the two of them were openly aligning with each other again. "Oh,... thank you, you three. Thank you for sticking with us."

"It was not worth it for us jumping ship. We did what we had to." Wolf folded his arms playing it cool. "Didn't know they were going to split their votes, though. Maybe they wanted their own Espio moment or something..."

Plague Knight on the other hand had questions regarding the Ridley situation.

"It's just annoying to me of how everyone is acting like we all have to bow down to Ridley's coffin and pay our respects at his funeral. He isn't dead literally. He's just out of the game. He did nothing but just give me a headache."

Or was he still upset at him for voting Specter and Shadow out? ...Maybe he was still mad about that argument he had with him three nights prior. Which one was it?

"I'm glad I'm not part of the Strong Guys Allinace. They're all over there going, 'Oh, poor Ridley. He deserves to be here. He shouldn't have gone home tonight.' Your ally went home. Boohoo. My allies go home all the time. This is the first time any of their allies went home. I've already gone through more crap and I'm actually in the majority alliance. Wolf, Springtrap, and I chose to write him off for a reason. Don't look at us as if we don't know what we're doing. None of them know anyhting about what's really going on. They have no idea! I'm playing my game here and right now the three of us are trying to figure out what to do with you. Go cry somewhere else."

Vector briefly turned around to face Zelda. "And uh, by the way,... not that anyone cares or that it's anything relevant right now, but... the heroes officially have the majority."

Darleem

Day 25

Maybe if they were the ones that were going home next, that was something to cry about.

Yet every remaining in the Strong Guys Allinace was still in the game, so not many tears were shed at the time. Though since they were still on the bottom, it was understandable that they broke a sweat due to them having more reasons to be nervous comparing to everybody else.

But for Plague Knight, he took the opportunity to make sure Springtrap and Wolf were up bright and early, the three of them standing on the beach far away from the shelter.

"Okay, so here we are again." He started. "Let's just talk about this before too many people wake up. We're likely getting a reward challenge today, so there's the chance we're all going to be separated for a little while assuming half of us are going to get the reward."

"You're trying to put some targets out there in the table." Wolf knew that this was leading up to. "You know that Ridley's gone, we have more room with and now have an even bigger chance at winning challenges."

"Yeah,... so we are planning on voting one of the Hero Four out next time... Right?"

Uh-oh!

Springtrap nodded almost immediately. "We have to. It's all part of our plan. I'm gonna like staying in the middle even more, now. Nobody's planning on voting one of us off, there's three of us, and everybody still needs our votes."

"Vector's going, man. He has to go now." Wolf was probably wishing the next Tribal Council was happening already. "Even if he wins immunity, Zelda will be our secondary option."

"Cool! I can't wait!" Plauge was ecstatic, even if his grin was purely out of evil intentions. "They're all gonna look so dumb when they get blindsided. But we're not fools. We know better and we know how this game works."

"Ridley and the other people in the Strong Guys allliance kept on preaching and preaching all night long until Ridley's torch was snuffed. They were giving us a million reasons why it's a bad move for us to go top seven with the Hero Four, and we listened. I in particular listen to everything that's going on." Yet Springtrap sat quietly at that tribal thinking it all over in his mind. "I absolutely agree with everything they were saying. But it just wasn't the right time. We all wanted Ridley out first, because he might have pulled off a Ken and win a million challenges. He was the bigger priority for us at the time, but now we can comfortably say that we have no problems jumping ship now. These are the advantages of being in the middle. You can be with an alliance in one round, and then be completely somewhere else in the next. That's how Plague Knight, Wolf, and I are playing right now. That being said, the Hero Four will be blindsided next tribal and the rest of SGA can have a break for once. But we're not gonna be loyal to either side. We're the Three Free Agents out here and we don't give a damn who goes home."

"I'd say that we'd rather... not tell the Strong Guys Alliance right now. Let them scramble their heads off and we'll just sit back and relax. It's probably best and entertaining as hell to have them on edge." Sneaky, sneaky, Springtrap... "Sometimes when people have their backs against the wall, they know that the fate of them is in other peoples' hands and they have no idea how they're being handled. I love it."

Wolf snickered in reply. "You were an underdog yourself in your season."

"I was, but... I played in a different way. I thought that I did what I have to do in an attempt to get back in it, but I inevitably went home. Val literally ruined my game, and I ended up playing with her boyfriend this season."

Now it was Plague Knight laughing. "Foxy and Val aren't dating, though."

"I know, but say if that were to actually happen, it'll probably be best for Foxy so that he can protect his girl from me."

"A love triangle between you, her, and Foxy then." That topic was fascinating for O'Donnell. "That deserves a story of its own."

Fun fact... Whenever the Survivor - Heroes vs Villains Reunion Show was supposed to occurr, there was set to be a big shock reveal of Springtrap and Val being a literal couple. It would have been an iconic moment for the series,... but that plan ultimately got scrapped upon Springtrap being more than a decade older than Val.

Perhaps it definitely would have been messy in front of the press say if a whole 'Love Triangle' situation involving them actually happened...

#LoveTriangle

Day 25

"Come on in!"

Wow... Eleven players left. One more person being eliminated, and only half the cast was set to remain in the game. At this stage in this competition, it was none other than the middle of the road.

Any mid-season power rankings?

"You guys ready to get to today's reward challenge? For today's challenge, you are all going to square off one on one, with your hands on padded bags. You will be divided into two teams of five, with your goal being to simply knock your opponent into the water. First team to score four points wins reward. Wanna know what you're playing for? Winning team of five will be taken to a beautiful waterfall."

"Oh nice!"

"Wow!"

"Okay!"

That was something that had not happen before.

"You will enjoy a nice afternoon barbecue."

Now that was definitely enough for the crowd to make some noise. There was a hot streak of great rewards for season five.

"Okay. I've gotta win this one." Wolf could not have had it any other way.

"Hamburgers and hotdogs with all the fixings, baked beans, all enough food to hopefully gets you an advantage in the next immunity challenge. The only catch to it is that since eleven is not an even number, and that we will be doing two teams of five, one person will not get chosen."

Too bad for them.

"However,..."

Oh?

"They would have the chance to go on the reward anyway, only-" Master Hand raised his finger before anyone had any certain thoughts in mind. "-if they can correctly predict the right group of five that wins today's challenge."

People were exchanging glances all over. The host just had to spice things up a little bit more.

"That person's fate will be in their own hands. We'll draw for captains and we'll get started."

Did anyone have a prediction in mind of who was not going to be picked to participate in the challenge?

-/-

"We have our two captains. Shovel Knight is going to be the captain for the blue team. He chose Bowser, Donkey Kong, Vector, and Yoshi. Golden is going to be the captain for the red team. He chose Ryu, Springtrap, Wolf, and Zelda. Plague Knight was unsurprisingly not chosen."

Hahahahahahaha! He just had to make that clear for the audience watching from home.

Plague would have been pissed off, but since he had a chance of going on the reward anyway, all he could have done was think and predict correctly.

"So Plague Knight, we have our two teams of five right here." All eyes immediately shifted towards him. "Which team do you think is going to win this challenge?"

"Hmm..."

"I was out of nowhere hit with an interesting decision. Sure, it's just a challenge, one might say. Not really a big deal, but everything's a big deal in Survivor. Not only I had the chance to get something to eat without me having to lift a finger, but there was some strategic play in it. Part of me felt like to just go with the seemingly strongest team, but by looking at them, Wolf and Springtrap were both on the red team. If they were going to win, I want to go with them so we can all talk..."

"But then I thought that it would not be the best move for me, because that would outright make our alliance obvious to everybody. Not that everyone already knows we're still in the middle, but I remember people being pissed off at Incineroar for literally choosing his entire alliance and nobody else at the Loved Ones visit. I don't wanna follow his mistake, since Incineroar in general was just so bad at Survivor it was laughable! The other team had members from both alliances on it... I figured that I'd rather go with them just so all of them can pull me off to the side and explain their point of view to why I should stick with them for this next vote. I'm one of the most important people on the tribe right now, and they all know it. It's fun when it's all about me!"

"I'm gonna choose the blue team."

"Plague Knight is predicting the blue team is going to win this challenge."

Wolf popped an eyebrow while Spring stood there blinking.

"Interesting." Donkey Kong mumbled under his breath.

"Vector, Yoshi, Springtrap, you guys competed in this challenge in season four, all three of you were on the winning team. You guys are divided, someone's guaranteed to lose. We'll form our matchups and we'll get started."

-/-

"We have our first matchup. It is going to be Bowser for blue, Golden for red. We are playing to four. Survivors ready?"

Music: Battlefield (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

"Three... Two... One... GO!"

Probably the biggest reminder that the series was based off the character of Super Smash Brothers, one of, if not, the most legendary fighting game series of all time.

Bowser Koopa verus Golden Fredbear.

"It's all you, Koopa!" DK, Golden's own friend cheered Bowser won. "Knock him dead!"

What a betrayal! Perhaps Kong belonged on the Villains tribe. No wonder Mario had a bit of a grudge against his grandfather Cranky in the canon series.

Now for the match, Bowser's obvious strategy was to simply use brute force. Not main brain power required, even though anyone who really knew him had the knowledge that he was far from the dumbest individual in the universe.

Though when being compared to Golden, Bowser appared mentally... slow.

So it was offically brains versus brawn.

"You have this, Golden. Keep your balance!" Zelda suggested. "Do not fall off that platform!"

That was right. It was best to watch their footing. Bowser was being as aggressive as ever, not even thinking about playing defensively. The only thing Golden was able to do was to block Bowser's attacks until he started to grow tired and run out of energy.

So when he began to have a couple slower moments, he took advantage by going full defense, not letting Bowser get a break at all.

"Turn around, Bowser!" Vector shouted. "You are getting too close to the edge!"

He was getting dangerously close to falling off, and he just had to look down at the water below. Hopping around quickly, he threw himself and his sandbag at Golden to make completely fall on the platform. Not having enough time to get up, he was eventually pushed into the water.

"Bowser scores for blue!"

Loud noises came from the blue team including Plague Knight and Bowser himself. The turtle even took the opportunity to beat on his chest as if Donkey Kong had yet another relative competing on the show. Secret member of the Kong family?

Speaking of the gorilla, he was up next.

-/-

"Next round we have Donkey Kong taking on Ryu."

They were both eyeing each other with the biggest glare on their faces. Perhaps if there was one thing they both had in common was their friendly competitive nature. Fighting was Ryu's entire life, and Donkey Kong always used his fists for training, anyway.

"Survivors ready? GO!"

Big matchup undwerway, and the other castways all knew it with the loud cheering taken place from both sides.

"Beat him up!"

"Make Ken proud, Ryu!"

"Show him what you do best, DK!"

"Rip that tie off his neck!"

That last comment came from Wolf.

Sure, fans had the argument that it should have been a full blown fist fight just like in Smash. But they did not make up the rules for the challenge. They just followed them, so there was nothing they could have done about it. All complaints were forwarded to Master Hand and his production company for 'limiting the true power of the Smashers' or something.

Though it was still intense, nonetheless. It was the most perfect matchup of them all, so there was a lot of pressure on both players. The bags were in constant collision, with the men putting in as much energy as possible.

"This is definitely something to watch." Master Hand observed, floating directly above the other players. There was even a top view for the fans to see themselves.

"Smash him up! Smash him up!"

"Knock him over!"

The hardest part at the time were the two players (from the same alliance) simply landing a hit on one another. Someone was going to have the upper hand at some point. It was just a matter of who was going to end up pulling away with it.

Though once DK made a slight error misjudging one of his attempted hits, Ryu showed him of how big of a mistake that was. He gave him multiple pushes knocking him off balance, and making him fall over on his bottom.

"Get up! Get up, now!" Shovel Knight called out.

Too late. With one more big push, the big ape ape made a big splash in the water.

"Red team scores! We are now tied 1-1!"

Out of respect though, Ryu Hoshi just had to bow. He was probably thinking of his Master Grouken.

-/-

"Alright. Next round we have Shovel Knight vs Zelda. Survivors ready? GO!"

Not the strongest duo, but probably evenly matched. Shovel was a bit strong, but short. Zelda clearly was far from the strongest, yet pretty tall.

"You have a height advantage, Zel!" Even Springtrap knew her strengths. "Knock him off quickly!"

What if Zelda was one of those alpha high school males who bullied little kids by never letting them have the basketball at the school gym? ...Nah. Just imagine how out of character that would have been for her. Embarrassing.

"You have fought in battles your whole life, Shovel. Don't let her size intimidate you!" Donkey Kong encouraged.

Amittedly, Shovel did have to kind of think outside the box on this one. Zelda ended up pushing him around all over the place, yet he was always able to turn around and try his best at defending himself.

Maybe he needed to be a little more aggressive. The shovel wielder was more of the straegy type, but part of the strategic play was that he needed to be aware of when to change it up a bit. Brute force was something he was not exactly used to, though for the sake of winning a nice reward, he did not have much of a choice.

It was best to rush Zelda off the edge.

"Go! Go! Go!"

"Shovel going bezerk!" It was something worth Master Hand's viewing experience. "It's all or nothing in Survivor!"

"Fight back, Zel!"

Well she was not going to be a pushover, the princess doing the best she could have. But Zelda never really had a chance to get things back under control, witht he knight being the one to reign victorious.

"Blue team scores again!"

"Yes!" Plague Knight's plan was working.

"Blue team now leads 2-1!"

Springtrap sighed in frustration. He really did not want to lose a barbecue that day. Though he was going up next, so there was hope he was going to kick some ass.

-/-

"Alright, next round we have Vector for blue taking on Springtrap for red. Both coming from Survivor - Caribbean participating in this challenge again. Survivors ready? GO!"

"Go Springy! Come on boy!"

"Lean, mean, and green, Vec!"

But Springtrap was green, too. The green freaks were in the house. Hahahaha! And it did seem another big matchup.

Oh! Perhaps this was the first official battle between the Cool Kids and Reptile Runaways. Who was going to get the early head start if this was something that was set to happen? Vector needed to protect the Reptile Runaways brand, and Springtrap needed to help the Cool Kids take over and destroy the Runaways' career.

It sounded evil, but Springy never game a damn of course.

Both were grunting using every opportunity to get a swing in, dancing all around the platform.

"Blue team has the advantage right now. Red team needs to tie it up!"

"Knock his head clean off, Springboy!"

"Vector, just kick his ass!"

The two boys were fighting as if they had actual beef with one another, with them both exchanging glares like they hated each others guts.

"Come on. Gimme all ya got!" Vector talked.

Springtrap replied with only three words. "You're a punk!"

"OOOH!" That earned himself a reaction from the crowd.

"Looks like we got some trash talking going on here." said Captain Master Obvious.

"Oh, yeah?" But Vector was not having it. There was no way in the name of Chaos he was going to let him get away with a comment like that. Using all of his energy to push him hard with great force, he flew over the edge making a splash. And Vector made his way over to get as close to the rabbit as possible. "Some of your haters think the name 'Springtrap' is cringe and lame. You might want a name change."

DEAD!

Way to drag him, Vec!

With the blue team cheering, Yoshi was seen laughing his head off with his legs flying all over the place.

-/-

"Alright. Here's where we stand. Blue team leads 3-1. We are playing to four. Yoshi needs to take this one home for his team, Wolf needs to score to keep his team alive. Survivors ready?"

"Grrr..." Wolf thought his growl was going to give Yoshi some extra intimidation, yet all he did was blink in reaction. ...Well, he lived with someone like Ridley before, and he was in a major alliance with K. Rool. He was used to dealing with villains.

Though if the lupine was unable to scare a dinosaur, no big deal. Fox McCloud was a real threat to him regardless.

"...GO!"

Springing into action, Wolf lunged right at him, Yoshi trying to use his sandbag to block his immediate attack. He was successful, though he still stumbled a little. Yet Wolf continued on anyway, actually managing to get the job done within a few more pushes.

"Yoshi is already in the water. Red team scores!"

"Thanks for the warmup."

Plague Knight exhaled shaking his head, Bowser also looking a little pissed off. Though in Yoshi's defense, the matchup was the worst of the five. He had a better shot at beating Zelda.

-/-

"Okay. We're going to have a rematch. Donkey Kong versus Ryu." Hopefully this matchup was able to make up for it. "Blue team leads 3-2. Donkey Kong needs to win so that his team could go on the reward. Ryu needs to win in order to keep his team alive. Survivors ready? GO!"

There was nothing but imediate cheering and yelling coming from both sides, which was all everyone could have done at the time. It was the best matchup of the five, and now both the ape and street fighter were at it again.

Ryu needed to defend his title while Donkey Kong simply wanted his revenge.

"Come on, DK! You can do it!"

"You did it once before, Ryu. You can do it again!"

Both of them were being even more aggressive in comparsion to their previous fight. All they had to do was keep their hands on their bag at all times. Though the two were doing a rather great job keeping balance.

At one point, both of their sandbags collided, the two of them both holding them in place as their strength suddenly became equally matched. It gave them an opportunity to glare into each other's eyes, even with a slow-motion effect taking place.

...

And the next thing the rest of the castaways knew, they saw Donkey Kong running with all of his might pushing Ryu right over the edge.

"Donkey Kong scores for blue!"

"BLUE WINS REWARD!"

"Donkey Kong, Shovel Knight, Yoshi, Bowser, Vector,... and Plague Knight!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Thank goodness!"

Well, his plan worked.

"I ain't gonna mess all the rewards this season, am I?" Wolf exhaled in frustration.

"It's gonna be okay." Zelda commented, though she was completely understanding. "We'll just have the rice back at Darleem. Perhaps the less mouths to feed will mean something today."

"I'll hunt for coconuts..." Springtrap held a fist against his face.

Upon the last two challenge competitors making it back to their respective teams, the master needed to tell everyone where to go. "Alright. Plague Knight, Bowser, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Vector, and Shovel Knight, you have a nice waterfall to see and you will enjoy yourselves on an afternoon barbecue. Boat is coming right this way right now to pick you up. Head out and enjoy it!"

And with said boat approaching, the only feeling that remained in the losers was jealousy... 'I want to go on the reward, too! Why can't I come?'

Sore losers. It was Survivor. Suck it up.

"Zelda, Wolf, Ryu, Yoshi, Springtrap, got nothing for you. Head on back to camp."

"Things aren't really looking good for me right now." Just to further damper Ryu's mood. "Ridley got voted off last night, now I can't even win a barbecue to have some food in my system to last for a little bit until the next immunity challenge rolls around. One of us is next to go if things don't change. Zelda, Shovel, Yoshi, and Vector are all running the show. It is as if the most obvious alliance in this entire game is set to get away with absolute everything, and in spite of everybody else's efforts to warn people, nothing ever comes of it. And myself, Bowser, Golden, and DK are the victims of it. How much more convincing do we have to do to make people realize that one of those four are gonna win this game?"

Well in the real series, there were a few predictable, unsatisfying seasons to watch...

Now,... can I ask you guys something? This is something I have thought about for quite a few weeks now. ...If I ever were to make some sort of multi-chaptered "Survivor - Where Are They Now?" sort of spinoff from the main act of this series,... what ideas should I bring to the table? I really want suggestions, because part of me feels like it's only fair considering that this is the first All Star season, and this is basically celebrating the 10+ years I've been on this site.

And also, I don't know if anyone else has done this for their Survivor series, so there's definitely room for oppotunity! I just want ideas, thoughts, and suggestions. So,... tell me. Because other than that, after season five is finished I'm gonna end up taking a break before Survivor - India happens. I've worked my ass off on this series for the past five years of my life. More on that later, though.

Bill Grey from the StarFox series will be competing in Survivor - India.