Survivor - Heroes vs Villains
Chapter 29 - Day 25 Part 2 - Day 27 Part 1
Darleem
Day 25
Zelda, Wolf, Ryu, Golden, Springtrap
-/-
"I wonder what it would be like if we were all destined to be actual fighters in an all tournament or something?"
Golden and the other losers of the day unfortunately came back to camp empty handed. Everybody else that participated in the challenge was able to see a nice waterfall and have their own little barbecue.
And what did these five get? Water... and dirt... and rice.
With the occasional coconuts, too.
"You mean you all do what I do?" Ryu asked Fredbear.
"Kinda, but like,... I sort of picture us all squaring off one by one. And it's more like us trying to knock the other off the stage, like that platform for example, rather than us just trying to knock each other unconsccious. ...Does that make sense?"
"I suppose it does." Wolf needed in agreement. Yes, Golden. That made absolute sense. It's called Super Smash Br-,... no wait... Super Bash Sisters. Yes, that was the name of it. They just opened. "What do you guys say we eat every damn coconut on this island?"
Zelda turned towards him and laughed, them all setting down their belongings at the shelter. "Well that's a rather selfish way to go about things. Wouldn't you say?"
"..." He had his arms folded while hunched his shoulders. That was it.
"...Honestly, coming from you I couldn't have expected anything less."
His lips curled up in reaction. "Thank you for being understanding."
"Another day, another challenge loss. At this point in my Survivor career, I have grown used to losing, I acutally find it rather surprising when I do manage to win something." Zelda's feelings were justified. She had to deal with a few losses from her old season, too. "Sometimes you unfortunately have to learn to not have certain expectations when it comes to Survivor. No matter how strategic, social, or physical you are, anything could happen at any point in time while you are out here. It is why I believe that if you actually expect yourself to win Survivor, your way of thinking is already flawed. You can be ambitious, but in my opinion, you can not ever expect yourself to automatically earn the title of Sole Survivor. There are many unpredictable factors that play into it, your overall goal should be simply hoping you last as long as you can. And if you manage to find your footing, it is only then where you can strategize in your mind of how to possibly win the competiton."
Honestly, most of her fans probably noticed of how mentally strong Zelda has become. It seemed that the woman really learned a lot from placing second in Emperors vs Knights.
And as a side note, like Val from Survivor - Caribbean, Zelda was literally the only woman left in the game having to compete with twelve men post-merge just like Val did... Good thing the minimum number of woman required to participate for a Survivor season was increased.
"Seriously, though." Wolf said turning on his heel. "I'm gonna get coconuts for the five of us. They can get their own damn coconut."
"I'm coming along." Ryu went on to follow his lead. "You're not going to be able to carry all five of them by yourself."
"I'm gonna go ahead and cook today." Springtrap kneeled down in front of the fire pit, the machete and flint being gripped by one hand each. "Golden, pass me the rice. Let's give Princess Zelda a break from the kitchen."
That made her laugh for a second time. "This isn't Hyrule. I'm not a princess in this world. Please just call me Zelda."
"You kind of are a princess in this world, since you're the last female here at the camp. You even named it for crying out loud." See? She was the only lady of the tribe.
-/-
"I apologize in advance if this irritates you, I know you are probably tired of hearing this, but you know that you're still in the middle. You've been in the middle since the merge because your game was weakened, but it's still all about the Strong Guys Alliance versus the Hero Four. You, Spring, and Plague still control the vote. ...But honestly, if you three stick with those four for one more vote, it's not gonna work out for you."
"Hmm... Alright. I have claws, so I'm going up." Even though Wolf was occupied on retrieving the coconuts, he heard every word Ryu was telling him. "Go on..."
"...Well I could, but I can't really talk loud because someone could be following us here knowing we both walked off." The black haired martial artist watched as Wolf climbed up the tree to get to the coconuts with little to no issues at all. Climbing trees for him was a skill that surprisingly not many people knew about. "Haha, you're pretty good at doing that, by the way."
"Been doing this ever since I was a pup." And yet it was only him just now being seen doing so across two seasons and... sixty days of Survivor. "But I'll be on the lookout whipping my head back and forth."
No pun intended for those who might have thought of a certain viral song over ten years ago.
"It's do or die at this point. I don't know how many times I have to repeat myself to these folks that one of us shouldn't be the one going home next. Now even though there are four members on each side now, the Hero Four should be the main alliance of four to worry about."
#444
"Sure, my side has the strongest people remaining in the game including myself, but... that was why Ridley was voted out last night. How many more of us are gonna be voted out before those three are gonna finally help us out? They can not take one of them out without our help. There are four extra votes over here, so that's just enough to get the job done. Honestly, I'm starting to be over this begging and pleading that I have to do, but I have to do it, anyway. My life is on the line. It's either that or I'm dead."
"If you eliminate every last one of us, you will not stand a chance. They are gonna take either you or Springtrap first, or save Plague for last. You would think that they might just cut Plague a break and use him as a goat for the final three, but even that might be out of the window depending on how Yoshi performs and how he's perceived. Vector or Zelda would be taken out at four and the winner is gonna be one of those two if nobody changes direction, and then this whole thing will go down as the most predictable Survivor season to exist."
"Dude, you already know that I don't give a damn of what people think. I love the community, but I'm tired of half of them acting like they're the ones playing when they didn't have to face half the struggle we had to face being on this show... twice. To them, it's an entertainment show first and a game second. But for us, it's literally the other way around. We're playing for ourselves out here, not for the audience." Since the lupine knew Springtrap already had the machete, Wolf ended up using the saw to knock down the poor tree's coconuts. "But at the same time, your words ain't falling on deaf ears."
"You know that even from a game perspective sticking with the Hero Four is gonna result in nothing but trouble." Ryu continued. "The winner of this season is gonna be either Vec or Zel. Simple as that. Vector's the big physical player, Zelda's the main strategist, they can both drag Yoshi to the end, and even though I think Shovel might have a shot, he might end up being overshadowed by one of those two. But you, Plague, and Springtrap are just extra numbers until the Hero Four does not need you anymore."
"I have to learn how to keep a straight face out here when I hear what most of these folks have to say." Was that not something one of Wolf's fellow players just talked about in the previous episode? "I'm really getting pissed the hell off with SGA pestering me not stop about that Hero Four. They keep saying the same thing over and over again, and they're gonna keep doing that until they get their way. So parts me wants to just stick with those four heroes just to play in their faces. But common sense tells me otherwise. I ain't no sucker. No way in hell I'm staying loyal to them. I am never gonna let them get away with this. We're officially making our move at the next Tribal Council, and all we need to do is find out who wins immunity."
"Though unfortunately since we don't plan on telling SGA that we're flipping on the Hero Four until the last minute, I had to endure Ryu's goddamn mouth for the whole afternoon. I like him, but dude, shut your damn mouth. I ain't stupid. I know what the hell I'm doing. Got it?"
Day 25
Donkey Kong, Bowser, Yoshi, Vector, Shovel Knight, Plague Knight
-/-
"How much further?"
"Shouldn't be too far, now."
Yoshi, Vector, and the other reward winners just could not have waited any longer to get their barbecue. They were getting so close they almost tasted it. But eventually, upon seeing the barbecue itself, their level of excitement skyrocketed.
"Oh boy, there it is!" Plague Knight yelled out.
"Gimme that!" As soon as Bowser started to run, the other five followed in suit. Master Hand needed to control his castaways, since they acted like they never been to a barbecue before. What a bunch of little kids...
There was a local already having burgers and hotdogs on the grill by the time the six arrived. The food was going to be in their systems.
"Perfect paradise over here!" shouted Bowser.
"Back to back reward wins? I'll take it! I need to eat as much as I have to if I stand a chance out here. A man not having any food means that a man can't think straight. Nobody wants to starve all the time, and I managed to be on the winning team again. So it's party time, baby!"
As soon as the food was ready, the survivors wasted no time getting their plates. Did the amount of food rivaled Ponderosa? ...Nah. The reward only lasted for one day, while the food at Ponderosa lasted all the way up to day thirty-nine and the players over there had the luxury of eating three meals a day and snacks in between. Nothing was going to ever top Ponderosa.
So Shadow and Ridley had nothing to worry about.
"Aye, DK," With them all now at a picnic table together, Bowser pointed right at Donkey Kong's face. "-that day when that chef cooked for us? Remember when I told Golden that Im'ma kill him if he threw all that food up? Same applies here. Do not throw up and waste the food, or else you don't have a chance in hell to win the million dollars."
Wow. Yep. That was right. DK throwing up would be a direct insult to Bowser, knowing their situation.
"Don't worry." He grinned in reply. "If I feel full and can't eat anymore, I'm gonna leave the rest of it to you."
"Well both of you can't really eat it all by yourselves." said Shovel Knight. "That's why there are six of us here."
"It was quite a feast!" Shield's partner in crime was as ecstatic as ever. "Now anybody who knows me knows that I've always been an adventurer. It is a crucial part of my lifestyle to explore. There was a really nice waterfall over there."
And from the looks of it, it appeared safe enough for the castaways to jump as long as they were careful. "And then on top of that with nice food? It was something we all needed indeed. But even from a game standpoint, just as the master stated, you never know when you need that extra fuel to win immunity. You have enemies out here that could be attempting to put a target on your back and trying to blinside you. And there were members from both sides of the fence, including Plague Knight. So I had to really be careful..."
He then sighed. "I try to not think about the game too much whenever I win a special reward like that, because I'm pretty sure everyone needs that chance to kickback and relax once in a while. ...Though I have learned you can never actually stop thinking about the game. It is quite literally impossible. It's always good to stay focused no matter the situation."
With everyone finishing up with their food, the helmeted warrior took a glance at the waterfall nearby. "You all want to give it a try, now?"
"Ooh, I'm game." Food being chewed in his mouth, Bowser got up from his spot. "Let me take off my shell..."
And yes, he had his dark green shorts on underneath.
Alright. So Shovel Knight, Vector, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and and Bowser all lined up in that order at the top of the waterfall.
The ape turned to his left to see Plague Knight down below doing nothing but staring at everybody.
"You coming or what? Take your cloak off."
"Um, just give me a minute. I'm not the most brave when it comes to heights... I'm scared."
What!?
"Haha, you scared!" Bowser and the others were in so much disbelief he had to make Plague say it again. "Did I hear right?"
"I'm too scared to do it!" He shook aggressively glaring underneath his mask. "I never cared for heights that much!"
Though Koopa was determined to make him jump, immediately beginning to make his way over to his tribe member. "Y'all can go on ahead. I'll be back."
"Wow..." Donkey Kong shook his head in utter shock nearly laughing his head off. "This is something."
"Plague Knight ranting and complaining all day long, but he can't jump from too far a height? Hahaha! If Specter was here, he would be fuming inside and out. That moment right there basically describes Plague Knight in general. Pretty much self-explanatory. You can take command, be a master alchemist, boss everybody around nonstop, but you can't jump from a waterfall. I guess everybody does have their weakness somewhere."
Perhaps the bear was spot on with that analysis.
Music: Yoshi's Island (Super Smash Bros Brawl Version)
"Yahoo!" Shovel was the first to jump over the edge, falling fast into the water.
SPLASH!
"Heh..." Vector rolled his eyes, feeling like something about the way he jumped in not sitting right with him. "I could do better than that."
But it was not as if anyone asked for his opinion. Somebody needed to keep his comments to himself. Bending his leg back, he suddenly sprinted until he was right at the edge to make his jump. "Cowabunga!"
Cowabunga? When did Funky Kong show up? Donkey Kong was there, but he and Funky could not have been on the same season.
Holding his legs, his body connected with the water below.
SPLASH!
"I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go!" Haha! Look at Plague Knight's arm being pulled by Bowser. It was like a little boy telling his parent 'no'. "Let me go! Please!"
"We're going. You are gonna get over your fear of heights to-day!" And he was going to do everything within his power to make it happen. "We're going and I don't care what you say!"
Tell him, man.
"Okay, my turn." Clenching him fists, Yoshi stared straight down before dashing up to the edge. "Boing Hop!"
Ah yes, his signature ground pound move.
SPLASH!
His splash would not have been as loud if he never used that particular method.
Vector in the water clapped his hands. "Nice one! That was your best one by far."
"Lots and lots of practice!"
The crocodile and the other castaways already in the water glanced up. "OK, DK! You're up. Show us what you got!"
Well the big boy was ready and wanted everyone to know it. He beated his fists down hard in the water, already making splashes everywhere. Baring his teeth, he took a few steps back before he was seen rolling along, his body still rotating once he was in the air.
! !
Shovel, Vector, and Yoshi all stared in awe.
SPLASH!
The best splash so far without a doubt. Not even before Donkey Kong came back up, his castmates were already clapping away at his performance.
"That was good!" said Yoshi.
"You sure brought your gorilla power into it!" Shovel Knight was amazed.
"Right on it, man!" It was a dive Vector was looking for. "You just put your own cousin to shame!"
At least he did not copy anybody like he did...
"Okay, okay, I'm going! I'm going!"
Bowser finally made his way to the top again, Plague Knight already giving up arguing with him. Part of him did feel like it was best just to do it and get it over with so that everybody else left him alone. Besides, there was only one life to live. It was just a little waterfall, right? What could have possibly went wrong?
...Right?
"...Okay, I can't." Now he was shaking his head aggressively, rejecting the idea right at the last minute. "I can't do it. It doesn't look good, and I'm not gonna do it."
"Close your eyes, then." Bowser folded his arms, already forming a plan in his mind. "You don't have to look."
And both his mask and cloak were off, too. ...Anybody had an idea of what Plague's swim trunks looked like?
"Okay, okay... My eyes are closed. ...Now what? ...Wait... You aren't... Bowser, you aren't gonna push me, are you? ...Bowser? ...Bow- WOAH!"
Too late!
"AHHHHH!"
SPLASH!
"Hahahahahaha!"
All four of them felt guilty and honestly bad for the poor guy, but they all could not have helped themselves but laugh. Sometimes people just had to do it. Plague would have seen them all trying their absolute hardest attempting to hold it in, so what was the point when all they had to do was let it all out?
It was just unfortunate for Plague Knight's sake because he was the one that got embarrassed and humiliated. Not just in front of five Survivor players, but in front of the entire Smash universe.
That was forever going to be a moment his haters were never going to let him live down for. People were already making the memes necessary for social media. The only thing that could have been worse was if the producers actually rewind the footage and played the exact moment again.
...Oh, wait... They did rewind the footage and played the whole thing over again. In slow-motion, too! Gotta love the editors, right? Only difference was that Plague Knight sounded like a monster.
With the footgae back to nromal, of course the scientist just had to come up spitting water out of his mouth, showing the most irritable facial expression known to man. Oh no! When Bowser came down he was going to curse him out and tell him what to do! ...But what could he have done? Put him in a time out?
Speaking of the Koopa, he barely even had time to process what just occurred as he found himself being pulled away a little by Shovel Knight knowing he was about to jump.
And for his form, all of his limbs were extended. Even without his shell it was going to make quite the impact.
"BWAHAHAHAHA!"
SPLASH!
"I have absolutely no regrets doing that, whatsoever." Yeah, Bowser was not really the type to really care about doing something like that. "What? More villains points for me! Besides, I did to Plague Knight. He's probably the main one out here that needs a humbling, and I gave it to him. I've no sympathy and he ended up doing it anyway because I made him do it. He can't even take me on! I'm 6'2. How short is he? Exactly."
Music stops
Whew... That was a fun scene.
So Vector and Yoshi were all seen lying down on the sand next to each other, the six now being all over the place.
"Nice little break, wouldn't you say?" The croc shifted his head his friend's way. "You'd think we would have ran out of energy by the time the challenge was over, but with this food in our system we all suddenly had a burst of energy."
"Haha, yeah." He closed his eyes. "Any moment you can take a break from the game, live it up for as long as you can. It's when you need to an empty your mind, take a deep breath, and come back to the island with your mind cleared and all. I don't understand how you all deal with all this stuff everyday."
"Well, we dealt with it a whole season ago and look what happened to us. We turned out okay and we were asked to brought back, and the both of us have made it this longer... without stabbing each other in the back this time."
"Hahahahahaha!" It was all now becoming a funny memory for Yoshi. "Then I suppose we did a great job making it this far without breaking alliance. You know, I never thought of going after you once."
"Me neither, and don't you dare think of that anytime soon." When Vector had his laugh, it was included with an obvious hint of nervousness. "We need each other. I need you, man..."
To drag to the end as a goat?
"And since we're talking about us needing each other,... we might need to consider the chances of one of the four of us being targeted at the next tribal. Do you think I'd get enough votes for you to use that idol on me?"
Huh? ...Was he referring to the merged tribe idol Yoshi found? ...Without telling anyone?
"Yoshi and I have been on the last reward together. We were talking about idols, and I just wondered of what it would be like to have on. So of course I asked Yoshi if he had one, and... I knew he was going to tell me the truth. He's an honest guy and I don't see any sort of deceptive side of him. Otherwise it would be completely out of character for him. But,... he actually told me that he has one." Oh, yeah! Because Vec and Yoshi's bit from the last reward was sort of cut off to keep the fans guessing if whether or not Yoshi actually told him that he found the merged tribe idol. "I couldn't believe it! He found one? ...All by himself? Maybe he should be working for the Chaotix! Hahaha! I was shocked! He even briefly showed it to me!"
"Um,... you haven't really told anyone, have you?"
"I swear on Espio and Charmy's life I didn't." Meh. Deep enough. "I'm still in shock that you found one, though. I don't believe it. But good job, dude. That's something that can't be taken away from you."
"Thanks." It was feel good moment for the dinosaur. "I feel like everyone underestimates me, so I am trying my best to... not really prove to anyone in particular of what I'm capable of, but more so to myself. Part of me is still shocked that I'm even out here. But hey, I found an idol. That's something. Now I wonder what it'd be like if I can actually win an immunity."
"Hey, if Isabelle can win one, so can you."
"Thanks so much, Vec. I'm really glad to have you, and I'm really glad we stuck together. I don't know what I'd do without you. It'd be a darn shame if you were voted off next. I don't want it to happen..." He glanced away a little in thought of Vector's question. "But I think you're going to get at least one vote next tribal. SGA did it last time, and they're probably gonna do it again without them even splitting votes."
"They're definitely gonna write my name down. One hundred percent. And if I'm winning immunity soon, they're gonna write down Zelda. It's all about whatever Plague, Wolf, and Springy wanna do. But if you think two heads are better than one, I can help you out with managing that idol. I could give you a second opinion if you want at any point." Or maybe Vector wanted to use that idol information for his own benefit. He might not have been the big brains of Team Chaotix, but he was not dumb. "If we feel like those seven are gonna write my name down, play the idol on me. If it's Zelda, we'll play it on Zelda."
"What about me...?"
Yes. What about Yoshi, Vector? "Well, nine times out of ten I'm gonna be targeted over you anyway, since I know that they see me as the bigger threat."
Interesting...
Yoshi heaved a great sigh. "I just had to do it. Yes, I told Vector about the idol! But I just couldn't lie straight to his face like that! He asked me if I had one. Sure I could have dodged it by talking about something else, but he was probably going to keep asking me if I had one, anyway. Vector's a smart player. And you know, I told him the truth. We went searching for the idol once he knew about the idol clue, and I knew he was going to ask me about it at some point. But hey, Vector hasn't told anyone about it, so that's the bright side. All I know is that I hope this idol is gonna do me some good. Because my alliance has been a main topic of the tribe, so Vector and I really need to use this idol in the best way possible."
Darleem
Day 26
Donkey Kong, Bowser, Yoshi, Zelda, Wolf, Vector, Ryu, Shovel Knight, Plague Knight, Wolf, Springtrap
-/-
"So pretty much what we expected, right?"
Wolf and Springtrap reunited with Plague Knight early the next day, the scientist apparently just now having the time to converse with them of what went on at the reward.
"Yep. I ended up walking right to Vector and Yoshi with Shovel Knight, and then afterwards I went to Golden and Donkey Kong myself. I suppose this is what happens when you're one of the most important players of the tribe." Oh, so they all did strategize with him on the reward. That was probably left out of the edit. "They argued their perspectives and that was pretty much it."
"Nothing's changed, then." said Springtrap. "We're voting Vector next, we'll check in with each other after the immunity tomorrow, we should be good to go."
"Aside from King Koopa having the audacity to just push me over the waterfall like that..." Harshly rolling his eyes, that was enough right there for people to tell that he was definitely not happy about what went down the previous day. "Hmph. That's why he couldn't outlast Mario in Kodai Island. "But I wanted to choose the right side to go on the reward, and it worked. I needed to hear the opinions of both alliances with me perfectly sitting in the middle, and I got something to eat, too! Couldn't have gone any better, but... it was basically what me and the other two members of my core alliance have heard already. Everybody has been a broken record as of late. Same old, same old with everybody just telling me to vote their way. SGA keeps telling to vote out Vector, and now Anti-SGA has decided that Bowser or Ryu should probably be the next one to go."
"I thought it was just Bowser soley on the chopping block. Now Ryu's on there as well?"
"Well, Bowser is known to not be that good at balancing." Plague answered Wolf. "Ryu's an all around great physical contender in everything. I wouldn't even be surprised if Donkey Kong is set to be the one to be getting some votes, too. All of the possible targets that are on the table are the strongest players of the group, but we've been letting Vector getting away with too much and his time is almost up."
"Okay, so Vector's going next. But who's going after Vec?" Springtrap wondered. "You know you gotta think like, three tribals down the line. Losing Vector weakes the Hero Four, that's their strongest player. Then what? Because if we're planning on staying in the middle for a while, we might as well consider us having a final three deal with each other."
"Sweet. I'm not against it." Wolf seemed to have no problem with it. "We'd vote out whoever we like as long as it's not us. Hopefully nothing happens between the three of us down the line, because Chrom, Val, and Yoshi tried to do that in Caribbean until Val was one of the last threats to be voted out."
"She only got voted out because Ken won twenty immunity challengs." Springtrap rolled his eyes. "We could pull this off, me, you, and you, final three. Everyone around us need to go home, anyway."
"At this point, I can possibly see a path for me to the Final Tribal Council. At this stage in the game, I was on the bottom fighting for my life thanks to you-know-who flipping on me." His 'girlfriend' (just kidding). "Now I've been in a power position for three rounds in a row. And something tells me I could possibly get away with this. Wolf and I already had an established alliance, and we picked up Plague Knight after Shadow got voted out. But something is telling me that I should take this opportunity to make a final three deal with these two. It could actually worked out and I'll be able to avoid elimination for the very first time in my Survivor run. If I can secure the plan with them, maybe things could really turn out well for me as long as they stick to it."
Final three of Springtrap, Plague Knight, and Wolf. Thoughts?
Now it was time to see what was going on between Zelda and Shovel Knight.
"I've approached Vector and Yoshi with Plague, and together the four of us discussed about us not wanting to turn on each other due to us not having a chance to compete with SGA in challenges say if Plague was to flip. Without me trying to throw him under the bus just for the sake of it, he is the least likely to win a high demanding physical challenge and he knows it."
"That's a rather accurate assessment." Zelda was in agreement. "We have our big group of seven against SGA, and it seems that Bowser should be the next one to go... or Ryu."
"But you know, something else has been on mind." Shovel Knight stopped in his tracks as the two were walking through the jungle. "Survivor has taught me to not underestimate my opponents. I promise you that I am not getting too paranoid. However,... this does worry me. Plague, Wolf, and Springtrap could easily jump ship if they want. You know what this reminds me of? Our old season. More specifically, the Knights Tribe Alliance."
"Hmm..." The princess of the tribe smirked. "Enlighten me."
"Okay, so coming into the merge, there was a majority alliance of seven against the emperors while you all were on the bottom. At first glance, our majority alliance seemed to be one happy tribe where nothing could have ever gone wrong. Though if you take a closer look, we were not as tight as we were making ourselves out to be."
"I'm really thinking deep here, and something tells me to not underestimate those three villains in our alliance. Survivor is a game that is sort of like chess. It's all about strategizing. When I was discussing plans with Zelda, I compared the big Anti-SGA alliance to the Knights Tribe alliance in our season. Everything is all too similar. Chatan Four consisted of myself, Sheik, Greninja, and Luigi. This season I'm in my Hero Four alliance which consists of myself, Zelda, Vector, and Luigi. Sheik and Zelda are the strategists, Greninja and Vector were the most physical players in our alliance, and I have already compared Yoshi to Luigi before. Plague Knight, Wolf, and Springtrap can be compared to Knuckles, Bonnie, and Foxy. They're the three players that ended up flipping against us and called us four out for having an obvious core alliance. And now in this season, it's quite literally the exact same thing happening all over again. And I don't want to be voted out for making the same mistakes. Plague Knight, Wolf, and Springtrap concern me greatly. I underestimated my opponents last time. And I'm afraid if I do so again, it could pretty much ruin my game."
Perhaps Shovel was learning to play a smarter game in this new season.
"Wow..." Zelda basically had the same type of reaction as the Survivor community. "That's rather smart of you to say, Shovel. You're actually pretty spot on with that. That makes absolute sense. And you know, I think Yoshi and Vector are worried as well, so you're not alone."
"What do you think we should do? Keep an eye out until we feel like they're trying to do something behind our backs?"
"...Actually, now that I think about it,... Springtrap's performance at the last tribal kind of concerns me." Uh oh... "The way he spoke, making us all plead our cases to him to stick to our side? And I've seen Caribbean. He may be blunt, but he's highly intelligent. And if he displays that by making the right moves in the right places and ends up at the Final Tribal Council, he could win. I think he might have a shot out here."
Oh no! Which meant...
"Shovel, I think we need to talk to Vector and Yoshi about this. Do you think that we should take out Springtrap now while we have the chance? Or Wolf?"
Okay, both of them were being thrown under the bus now.
"Alright, I know this might sound obvious, but yes. I confess. My core alliance was with Yoshi, Vector, and Shovel Knight, and we were planning out taking out the villain three alliance once we got to seven. Springtrap, Wolf, and Plague Knight were going to be the next ones to go following the defeat of SGA. However, I do understand the concept of striking before the other. And I'm an observer, and what I do realize is how intelligent Springtrap is and how he displays it. I'd be afraid of sitting next to someoe like that if I made the final three with him. I thought to myself that if I feel that if he's that knowledgable of the game, why would I not consider the possibility of him flipping against the alliance? We always considered that, but I'm definitely more concerned now. This could be the vote where he, Wolf, and Plague could turn the tables against us and send one of us home. We were planning on further weakening SGA. But now all of a sudden, I think that if we don't do something about the villain three now, one of us would be sitting on the jury instead. And Wolf has a connection with Bowser, so if he's gone next, that destroys the chances of the two working possibly working together again despite their fallout. All this being said, Wolf or Springtrap could be going home at the next tribal. Once the next immunity challenge occurs, we'll all see how it goes..."
Day 27
"Aww... This is the one that makes your legs hurt."
More pain for Bowser. Great!
Though at least he knew the challenge since it was apparently in his season.
"Alright. You guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, Springtrap, for the second time this season I have to take it back."
"Hmm... What if I buy it back?" He was getting ready to snicker, already knowing that argument was not going to get him anywhere.
"What do ya mean 'buy it back'?' Vector found it to be a rather pointless question. "We ain't got money. We're broke."
"You can't buy it back. You gotta earn it back." Master Hand reminded as he unhooked it from his neck. "Immunity necklaces are always earned, which is something you should know by now."
Ooh!
And it was not the first time the host roasted Springtrap at a challenge this season, too. From his perspective, he was kind of annoying to deal with. All that mouth when all he had to do was shut up and do the challenge.
"Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, you must stack wooden blocks along a platform. But the catch is that you must high step over tripping hazards that will cause you to start again if any of the blocks fall. Once all of the blocks are stacked, you must knock them over until the last domino falls and hits the pan at the end. First person to finish wins immunity, guaranteed a one in ten shot at winning this game. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the tenth person voted out of Survivor, and will become the third member of our jury."
"We first did this challenge back in Survivor - Kodai Island. Donkey Kong, Bowser, and Wolf all participated, but it was Sonic that won his first of four immunities."
"Well Sonic unfortunately isn't here anymore, so perhaps I might have a shot." But for DK, he knew it was a 'will see' kind of situation for him as well as everyone else.
"May the Survivor Gods be on your side, then. We're gonna draw for spots, we'll get started."
-/-
"Alright, here we go. For immunity, Survivors ready?"
The eleven players all stood at there starting platforms waiting for the signal.
"...GO!"
Taking a break from the endurance challenges, the race was on. Plague Knight, Vector, Yoshi, Zelda, Ryu, Bowser, Shovel Knight, Springtrap, Wolf, Donkey Kong, and Golden from left to right all grabbed their first domino and sprung out to their trippin hazard, them all already having to step over for the first time to place down their first peice.
"This challenge is officially anyone's game, meaning that every last one of you have a decent enough chance of winning this." And that actually made some challenges more interesting. At best, the predictability for the winner was out the window. "Doesn't matter how long your legs are, how good you are at pacing yourself, or how you space your dominos. There are multiple factors to winning this challenge."
Multiple shots of survivors were shown to be either heading back out to grab another domino, stepping over the tripping hazard, or placing yet another domino right in front of the first one. It might have been an interesting challenge to watch for the viewers, yet since the players were actually the ones doing the challenge, it was going to be a hassle.
"Ugh..." And Bowser was the first castaway to express his frustration. "I signed up for Survivor, not for gymnastics! That's Wii Fit Trainer!"
Oh no, no, no! Nobody was to ever bring up Wii Fit Trainer ever again! Ever! Literally one of, if not the worst castaway to ever come up on the show. If there were a top five list for worst players of the whole series, it would have included people like Incineroar and Kawasaki.
"My legs are just too short for this!" Now Plague was complaining. Though to be fair, it was expected, since they had the two biggest mouths comparing to the others.
Though for castaways such as Ryu or Donkey Kong, this was basically training for them. No complaints coming from them at all.
Yoshi was also seen with a determined look on his face. He was a speedy kind of guy, so for him it was all about being careful.
"You don't wanna go too fast, because you might hit the hazard and lose everything. But then you don't wanna go too slow, because you know that others are going to be passing you and some of them might not be as likely to make mistakes. You gotta walk the fine line and hope you play this just right. And even after all that, you still gotta worry about properly spacing those dominos."
As seen with Zelda regarding that last statement, she tested of how hers were spaced by leaning her first domino against her second. ...Yep. Hers were spaced pretty good.
"Right now the leaders are..." Master Hand gradually shifted his head from his left to his right. "Vector, Yoshi, Ryu, Springtrap, Wolf, and Donkey Kong. Those six are out to a good head start. Everybody else is falling behind, intentionally or not."
Springtrap sighed shaking his head. "I bet if it was Ridley, he would have had a strong chance at winning this."
Probably right.
Yet when he was beginning to make his way back for another domino, his misjudged a step and his foot hit the hazard, causing whatever he placed down to fall.
"We're gonna use Springtrap as an example." Not him roasting the man again! "He loses everything and now he is automatically dead last. Hurry up and collect all your dominos so you can start over!"
"One. Two. One. Two. One- UGH!"
Bowser overstepped. Oh well. At least he was not the first player to have a setback in spite of his attitude towards the challenge.
"Bowser loses everything! He's gotta start again!" The Survivor host took a glance back at the leaders. "Vector, Yoshi, Ryu, and Wolf are beginning to pull away. Donkey Kong right behind! There is a possible winner in this group if they can stay consistent!"
Well Vector was doing a good job at the time. Yet when he was on his way to place his next domino, he leaned a little too far, accidentally leaning against the obstacle itself. It was not as big of a setback considering the other two that knocked themselves against the hazard, though he still was able to knock a few dominos over.
"Now Vector has to fix his dominos! Door is still open for anyone who wants to catch up! Yoshi, Ryu, and Wolf still have the lead!"
Donkey Kong was slowly losing the lead he had, but he knew what he was doing. Golden also found there to be no reason to rush. Bowser and Springtrap had a bit of catching up to do. Zelda's main objective was making sure her stack was straight and lined up correctly. And both knights were seen sort of hurrying, but watching their every move at the same time.
"...Oh no!"
"Wow..." Master Hand found that to be tragic. "Yoshi had himself a system going, but he just had to mess up when he was halfway done. Lost his entire stack. Gotta go collect all those dominos and start the whole challenge all over again."
Poor guy. He went from having the lead to now possibly being out of it.
"It is now Ryu and Wolf who are neck and neck! Both doing a great job!" Ryu won immunity before, Wolf did not. But neither of them managed to score a win in this season, yet. "Plague Knight picking up the pace! Zelda picking up the pace! Springtrap almost hopping over the obstacle, desperate to get back in it!"
But he damn well knew he could not have really done it like that, unless he wanted his dominos to fall for a second time.
"People are starting to feel the pressure! Ryu or Wolf could pull this out unless they have a mess up, which could still happen if they are not careful enough. Donkey Kong seems to be the next biggest threat. He may not have been as fast as they are, but he has stayed consistent, so he's still in the running."
Hmm... Maybe this was a weird comparison, but picture it as some sort of race on Mario Kart. There were the leaders that were out up front, yet random items sabotaged their progress, they fell off the course and respawned, and there was even the chance of a blue shell completely destroying a leader's chances of winning at the last minute.
Oh, and bullet bills and golden mushrooms saved lives.
"Bowser, Vector, Springtrap, and Yoshi all had setbacks and they're all hustling to make a comeback. Vector does have a shot at possibly passing Shovel Knight, but good luck to them all regardless. Plague Knight and Zelda have picked up the pace a little, but they are still a gap between them and Ryu and Wolf. They both have done a good job from the get go! But when they are about to finish, they have to wonder whether or not they have placed their dominos correctly."
The street fighter and the space pilot were both nearing the end, Donkey Kong watching him as he was inching up on both of the men with Golden trying to pash him. There was a small gap between the bear and fifth palce, but Plague Knight was desperately trying to catch up, Zelda being dead in the middle.
"Oh. Uh oh..." Not again, man!
"Yoshi knocks down his stack again!"
Now he was not just last, he was in dead last. Dead, dead last. Rushing was not going to help anything that day.
The stack of dominos appeared to nearly be completed by the two front runners. Ryu was aware that Wolf was hot on his tail for the entire duration of the challenge, though he was already moving as fast and careful as he could have. Not his fault O'Donnell also had fast legs.
"Ryu and Wolf only have two dominos left! Everybody else need to hurry up! You don't want to get voted out of this game! This is your second chance!"
Donkey Kong placed another domino down, him now having to make only four more runs. He was strong in the legs, yet even he were starting to get tired.
"Ryu down to his last block! ...Wolf down to his last block! They both gotta make their second to last trip to the starting point! Get to it and get it done!"
Vector was starting to get a little more speedy with Shovel Knight who were now neck and neck in their own race, Bowser's stack falling for a second time, officially putting him beind Yoshi.
"How are you all doing this!?"
"One more block..." The bandanna wearing fighter began to mentally prepare himself.
And just like him, Wolf was four stations over halfway to his starting point. All he had to do was be careful.
"...OH _, _, _!"
Man. Dropping f-bombs all over.
"Absolute disaster for Wolf! He lost every last one of his dominos! What a tragedy!"
He clapped a hand over his face in utter shock. "_ my life, man..."
It was time to add another f-bomb to it.
"That right there shows how quickly this game can change! Now it's Ryu all by himself in the lead for the first time, now having to worry about Donkey Kong who is now in second place! Golden's now in third. Plague Knight taking quick glances at both of them in third! Vector, Shovel, and Zelda are halfway done!"
Springtrap had something going on again while Yoshi, Bowser, and now Wolf were the new bottom feeders.
"Ryu has placed down his last block! All he has to do is get back to the starting point and tip them over. Did he space his blocks properly?"
"Whatever you do, don't look at them..." Shovel Knight mumbeld to himself.
Donkey Kong now had two blocks remaining, Golden with four.
"Ryu's gonna give it a go now!"
"Here goes nothing..." With a light push, his first domino fell onto the next one, then onto the next one, and then onto next one afterwards. A literal visual representation of a domino effect.
There were sudden glances from a few of the other players wondering if Ryu had this, yet they felt like they still needed to focus on what they were doing.
"Looking good so far..." Master Hand watched as his dominos kept on falling onto of each other. However, with one of his dominos falling straight down without hitting the next one, it mean that the deal was not sealed. That domino was not spaced correctly.
"NO! Ryu does not have it!"
Groaning in reply, he knew what that meant.
"Now he has to restack every last domino that fell, without hitting the obstacle which would cause the rest of his stack to collapse. It is now Donkey Kong in the lead with only one block left!"
"You and me, man." Golden spoke, being left next door to the ape in second. "We gotta win this."
DK shifted his eyes to his stack as he high stepped his way back. "...You might have a shot. I need to space some of them a little more."
"Golden now has two blocks left. Plague Knight being on his way with another block. Here comes Donkey Kong."
"I need to make some adjustments!"
Master Hand taking a look at his stack of dominos, he realized that he placed a few of them close together. "DK's stack still needs some work. That's gonna give Golden the advantage."
And so, Kong began to quickly shift the blocks necessary to correctly space them out, Fredbear next door getting ready to place down his second to last block.
"Golden now only has one block left! Is he gonna be the winner of this challnege?"
"Take your time going back. Take your time." Donkey Kong warned him. "Don't mess up now..."
"He's gonna come back with his last block. You'd better watch that obstacle, whatever you do. Mess up right here you'll be in last place like Wolf."
"...Okay." Good. One more trip back to the start. "Coming down."
"Golden's gonna head back now!"
"...Alright. I'm getting ready."
"Donkey Kong's going to head back. Now we have a race! Donkey Kongs versus Golden!"
And they were right next to each other. This was going to be something to see.
Golden made his way back first, given him an opportunity to try out his stack.
Tip...
"Looking good... Looking good..." Master Hand watched. "No!"
Confused and annoyed, the anthropomorphic bear went to see what was wrong immediately.
"Golden does not have it. Donkey Kong's now back in the lead. Plague Knight is now in second place with two blocks left!"
Taking in a deep breath at his starting post, DK poked the first domino with his finger. And yet, his stack was not even halfway fallen over as two of the dominos did not fall where they needed to. Perhaps he overlooked the fact that a few of them were not spaced properly either, as he was mainly focused on that aspect near the end of his line.
"No! DK does not have it either! What an unpredictable challenge!" Well, somebody had to win this challenge! "Plauge Knight has the lead."
Oh, Jesus.
"He had one of the slowest starts out of the gate, and now he holds the lead. He could possibly win his first ever challenge if he does this right."
But at that point, he was not saying a single word. Concentration was his main task.
"It is Plague in first. Vector, Springtrap, and Shovelbeing the runners up. Zelda's stack is nearly finished."
"Come on, you two." Zelda spoke to the other two heroes.
"Plague Knight is placing his last block. Head back now!"
"Oh goodness..." He had to be mindful of his footing. No last minute mistakes, or that was an opportunity blown. "Okay..."
"Plague Knight's gonna give it a go. Does, he, have it?"
Tip...
"Looking good... looking good... looking good... Getting closer..."
Underneath his mask, his eyes watched that last domino hit the gong, just like the challenge intended.
"PLAGUE KNIGHT WINS IMMUNITY!"
"OH MY GOODNESS! OH MY GOODNESS! DID I JUST DO IT!?"
He sure did!
"I won!" His hands clamped the top of his head in disbelief. "I did it! I can't believe it!"
Vector took in a breath, shaking his head. "A few more and I would have been there..."
"I think I would have done it if I didn't trip on it." Wolf muttered.
"I really did it!" Plague Knight took a glance up in the sky. "Thank you! This is crazy!"
"Come on over, Plague." Upon Master Hand having everybody back where he was, it was Plague Knight's turn to finally get a chance to experience the Survivor necklace. "Congratulations on your first ever immunity win. Sixty-six days into this game, and this is gonna be yours to keep tonight. You are not going home."
"It still hasn't really hit me yet, but it's going to. Haha!"
"Plague can not be voted out tonight, unlike the rest of you. It's been twenty-seven days, but somebody is going to get their torch snuffed tonight. I'll see you all at tribal."
"Unbelievably, Plague Knight wins the immunity challenge." With Golden playing with him for two seasons, it was something he had to get used to. "It's gonna be a new feeling seeing someone like him wearing that at tribal, but at least Vector didn't win it. He should have been going home, but I suppose right now is another opportunity. There really isn't any reason why he should still be here at this point. But I am not a swing vote here, so the decision is not up to me. Plague is one of the people that has to do it. If he doesn't side with us for this vote, he could pretty much vote me or one of my allies out of here."
I didn't realize I was going to love the challenge this much. It really was up in the air and Plague Knight of all people won.
And on a side note,... I loved the waterfall scene. I didn't even intend for it to happen until I was writing it, and it was about Plague anyway, so this chapter basically ended up being unintentionally all about him. Hahaha!
Next week is the voteoff!