Survivor - Heroes vs Villains

Chapter 15 - Day 13 Part 1

(For some reason Fanfiction will not let me edit the story's summary where I wanted to type in the title of the next episode. Ugh... I'll remove this once I am able to do so.)

Alright.

So five people have been eliminated from this game already, and now we have fifteen characters left. If I was the host, I would have had to deal with Isabelle, Mario, Sonic, Meta Knight, and Sheik fans. That's five fandoms already and they all come from completely different franchises.

Guess no one is safe around here lol. But anyway, on we go!

~KF

EPISODE FIVE: Call In Reinforcements

Heroes

Night 12

Donkey Kong, Zelda, Vector, Yoshi, Shovel Knight, Golden

-/-

Well, that was quite a night. Not just for the Heroes, but for the Villains as well. Blindsides were finally starting to occur in season five. But for the Heroes specifically, most people watching from home did not expect Meta Knight of all people to get voted out like that, especially in the pre-swap of all the phases in the game... Master Hand even had him as one of his winner picks!

The remaining six heroes laid down their torches upon returning to their camp. And for some reason the Survivor Gods thought it was the perfect opportunity to have it rain down on everyone.

"Well, no fire tonight..." Vector stated the obvious. "At least we already had our reward."

"What we managed to eat, that is..." Yoshi replied.

Zelda nodded in agreement taking a spot in the shelter. "It's best for us to have some kind of break out here, knowing all that we've been through so far..."

That statement made Vector sigh and facepalm. "We're running out of tribe members, guys. I didn't even lose this many tribe members before there was a swap..."

Donkey Kong was seen in the corner motioning Meta Knight to talk with him behind the shelter, knowing it was already raining out. But the shovel wielder complied, anyway.

"So... I'm assuming Meta Knight was voted out for being a threat, correct?" Golden asked the remaining members of the group.

"Basically." Vector nodded in response. "We figured out of you three that he was the most likely to have the idol. He's smart, and he ain't that bad in challenges. But you two are obviously way stronger than he is. When we swap tomorrow, your strength could benefit all of us... Even if the two of you voted differently."

"Don't worry. It's a game." Fredbear shook and heaved a sigh, lying down on his back in thought. "I've no reason to take it personal..."

"I'm sorry." Yoshi apologized feeling a bit of guilt. "I didn't want to do it, especially since me and Vector played with Meta before, but it was either him or me today, so I've had no other choice..."

"You shouldn't feel guilty for saving yourself, then..."

"Ugh..." Golden covered his face with both of his hands. "Okay, so obviously I never expected that at all. We thought we had it. We thought that Yoshi was gonna get blindsided tonight, only for the blindside to happen on our end instead. Now I wasn't really a hundred percent Team Meta, but I was growing more trust in him. And now I lose another ally. DK and I thought we didn't even have to think about questioning Shovel's loyalty, especially knowing he was getting rather close with Meta, anyway... I would have laughed out loud if you told me he was the type of person to cut off a possible close ally of his. Never would have believed that in a million years. But I guess he learned something..."

Now Shovel had to hear it from Donkey Kong.

"So... what made you change your vote exactly?" He went right to the point. Of course the last thing he wanted to was to outright confront Meta Knight any kind of way, because he obviously would have came across as bitter. Yet he felt like he had to say something.

"What changed my mind...?" Shovel Knight popped an eyebrow, even though DK asked his question in the most simplified way possible. That meant that Shovel likely did not really know how to answer him. "I suppose at the time I was figuring that Meta Knight is an intelligent man, and he likely would have been a threat down the line I would have had to deal with. ...I wouldn't even be surprised if he had an immunity idol."

"..." By the way Kong stared and blinked in reaction, there was the possibility of him not being satisfied with his answer. "He was a threat... That's it? How long did you see him as a threat then? Because unless I went blind as of late before tribal, you two seemed to be pretty close to each other..."

"And I was." That he knew he had to agree with. "We understood each other on a personal level and we had a couple common interests..."

"I'm just shocked..." DK shook his head. "I didn't think you had it in you, Shovel... I mean, not to just blindside me and Golden, but more of you getting close to Meta only to cut him off... It doesn't really sound like you on the surface... To be candid, something tells me that there's more to the story. You had a bigger reason why you chose to blindside him. Which is fine..."

"Hey..."

"No, don't worry about it." He held a hand up and made his way back to the others. "Don't beat yourself up over it. I'm not gonna be bitter. We'll just sleep and check up on each other tomorrow before we swap."

"My game just keeps getting better and better." Donkey Kong facepalmed. "Seriously. What else can go wrong for me? ...Sure, that's the number one way to jinx everything, but at this point I don't know what else I have to lose... Golden going home next? Me swapping with a tribe full of villains to where I would be the only hero on there?"

Or, worse. Being blinsided with an idol in his possession.

"Nothing has gone according to plan for me since the moment I got here. I mean, just... Shovel Knight of all people directly took out his possible number one ally out of the game... What happened?"

Following Donkey Kong's exit, Zelda came shortly after to go check on him herself.

"He didn't scold you or anything, did he?"

He immediately shook in response. "He did not. DK doesn't come across as the bitter or sore loser type..."

"Whew, well that's a good thing." She breathed a sigh of relief. "But DK and Golden sort of been having a tough time from our first tribal, and I guess this only makes things worse for them... Yet for me, I'm glad you decided to side with us, Shovel. You know most people are gonna have a rather hard time aligning with each other again after past seasons."

"You mean like DK, Sonic, and Mario?"

"Good example." She nodded. "Yet for this alliance, Vector and Yoshi aligned together before, and the two of us have aligned together before in our season. Sort of perfect for me. We can be a pretty good strong four."

"That does make sense." The knight appeared to be interested in the idea. "Two pairs from each seasons coming together. I'm down... I'm scared for the swap, though..."

"You know, part of me was rather fearful that I was going to get immediately yelled at by DK and Golden. But fortunately it didn't happen. ...Then again, the other side of me felt that I maybe... sort of deserved that somehow."

"Goldie and DK, I know you two have gone through a lot already." said Vector, all of the heroes now sitting around in the shelter ready to go to sleep. "You have been in the vote up to this point, but you both still had to write your friends off and now you got blindsided..."

Golden laughed a little out of sarcasm. "Well that's just the nature of the game in a nutshell..."

"Just know that the four of us still care about you two. You both did a great job in the challenges. Part of the reason why we saved you over Meta is because you two are stronger in the challenges. We most likely swap tomorrow and we have a feeling we need your help. A villain finally got voted off tonight. Don't know who that is yet, but it is six against nine and nine times out of ten we're gonna be outnumbered."

It was sort of not specifically nine times out of ten if the croc knew how to do math. The Heroes being outnumbered by the Villains in the swap was all based on probability. For instance, what if one swapped team had almost all of the Villains, but on another team had almost all of the Heroes?

Espio could have told him that. He was known to be the smart one of the Chaotix, anyway.

"We're gonna merge at thirteen. I know it." He continued. "Assuming this plays out exactly like Caribbean, we've got to make sure two Villains go home back to back, right after whoever got voted off. DK, Golden, we're with you. You were both on the wrong side of the vote, but right now, we need each other. Bad."

"I'm with Vec on that." Yoshi was in agreement. "We're already down in numbers and if somebody else from this tribe goes home,... well,... it's gonna be a big disadvantage at the merge."

Did he mean another Sumasshu situation?

Because that was what DK was thinking. "I suppose you all are getting vibes from my season. I understand. And there are already six of us left. Nearly half the tribe is gone, so we're guaranteed to be down in numbers already."

"And that's why the Heroes have to stick together. This is great opportunity for all of us sitting right here."

"I really felt bad... Meta was literally willing to coach me on the ways of the game, and I turned my back on him... But at that moment,... Yoshi kind of reminds me of Luigi. I like the dinosaur as well and I didn't want him to go home... Yet when I thought of Luigi, Luigi was a really good ally to have. He never even thought about putting my name down even when it benefitted him such as the final five in Emperors vs Knights. Him and Yoshi are a bit similar. And maybe Yoshi would be another good ally to have for the long run... Hopefully for my game, he wouldn't put a knife in my back like I did on Meta, and I would be able to have some longevity in this competition again. I'm sorry, Meta... But maybe I am learning some things already about how this game works..."

Villains

Night 12

Bowser, Wolf, Ridley, Shadow, Ryu, Specter Knight, Plague Knight, Foxy, Springtrap

-/-

For the first time in the game, the Villains were seen making their way back to their lai- camp. Yet unfortunately, they lost a member. Sheik from The Legend of Zelda series was no longer with them.

She was gong to be missed indeed... Wait a minute, this was just a game. Whew...

"The rain might get worse overnight." Ridley spoke. "If we're swapping tomorrow, there's no point in us cooking anything anymore until it happens."

It was always about camp life with him...

"Glad we survived that, guys..." Bowser commented. "I'm really thankful that we won the first three immunities together and I'm glad that I was not on the chopping block. Hahaha!"

"Thanks for keeping me around, everyone." Plague Knight thanked the team. "My name wasn't actually written down, but I knew I was a target from day one and I'm still here."

"You were not going home." Springtrap turned his head side to side. "You would have stayed tonight regardless. It was really between Sheik and Specter. The only person who wrote Specter's name down was Sheik herself, so that means we all remain on the same page."

Even though he himself was aware that it was not that cut and dry.

"I'm fortunate to be kept around as well." said Specter. "Part of me felt like I was going to be eliminated. The only way I thought of staying in the game was to fight for my spot. You all chose to keep me in over her, and I do appreciate it."

"We really wouldn't be here if it weren't for you all. I really do thank you guys a lot!" Wow. Plague Knight was not exactly as cold-blooded as Shadow or Ridley, but at the same time he was not really known to give out multiple compliments in one sitting...

"It's one thing to have me still in this game, but me and Specter are still here... I am actually surprised, to be honest!" He grinned underneath his mask. "I thought it was a fifty-fifty shot of Specter getting voted off, but they didn't do it! Obviously if it weren't for us winning all these challenges, one of us would have been out days ago. So I'm actually hoping we do swap tomorrow so that I can use it to my advantage. Specter and I clearly have to stay together at this point. We're still the two biggest targets in this tribe, so we both need each other as an extra vote so that we can at least get to the merge... Now Caribbean only had two post-swap challenges so the best case scenario is to have both Specter and I on the same team and win our way in!"

He and Specter found a quick time to chat by the beach.

"We did it, Specter!" Plague literally jumped up and down like a little child. "We did it!"

"Hmph... We sure did." He folded his arms. "Even I am rather shocked a little that I'm still standing here. You almost had to deal with the fact that I can not carry you on my back anymore this early on."

"... 'Carry me on your back?'" The smaller knight blinked. "More like us holding onto each other! We were both on the chopping block!"

"My name was written down tonight. Not yours." He reminded. "I almost took the hit for you."

"Okay, that I can understand! Uh,... thanks for putting your life on the line for me, then...? I mean, we both know I would have been voted off first if we went to the first Tribal Council."

"Fine." Specter put his entitled pride aside. "We were both on the hot seat. But enough. Now that we're both still here, we should make future plans on the spot. Shadow should be here any second."

"I do admit that I was a little terrified that tonight was my time to go, but I've been spared. And if I am safe, so is Plague... You know what, it's official." He heaved a blunt sigh. "We're in an alliance... again. Like I have any other choice, anyway. We have to have each other's back out here due to us being the biggest targets right now. The only person that I know is considering on working with us is Shadow, because he's also a target and he has yet to have any big allies out here. He could be another good option to have. The three of us align together, I have a bigger shot at surviving. But the merge is still a long way to go. And unfortunately,... due to our winning streak and the swap coming,... I'm likely to be an even bigger target than Plague..."

He heaved a longer sigh that time, burying his head in his lap.

"Are you in?"

Shadow the Hedgehog nodded almost immediately. "I am. I trust no one, but you two at this point are the ones that I'm most likely to trust. I've been looking for options for a while, so hopefully I'm making the right choice here."

"You need allies moving forward, and me and Plague will pick up anyone since we don't have many choices out here. Now if we somehow don't swap tomorrow, if the three of us stay strong, we would just need two more votes with us if we have to go to tribal again."

"I mean, I would have aligned with Foxy, but..." The Mobian took a glance behind him where the shelter was before shaking his head. "He did not want Sheik to go at all. And I wanted you both to stay in the game because you're both threats."

"The three of us standing right here," Specter pointed at the ground. "are the most dangerous players of the whole competition right now. You are making the perfect choice. When I played in Survivor - Mexico, my game went down the toilet because I didn't have many allies. You appear to be in a similar situation, and obviously Plague was struggling from the get go. Perhaps that's something we all have in common."

No, he was wrong. Specter Knight got voted off for making one of the most flashy moves the game witnessed at that point, still survived three rounds later after doing that, even to the point to when he finally got his torch snuffed, the dude did not even receive the majority of the votes... He literally would have made top seven despite making somebody idol themselves out of the game.

And now he somehow survived despite all that occurred at that tribal? This guy was insane!

"Yes..." Plague quietly shouted. "Perfect. I think I'm finally getting somewhere."

"I'm glad that everyone put Sheik's name down tonight instead of Specter. What good would it do for me to vote off someone who is also a notorious player, knowing that I have very limited options out here. I'm struggling to gain allies on my side because of my reputation, all because I'm not afraid to vote off anyone."

The audacity of Shadow the Hedgehog to roll his eyes. Someone did not understand the concept of actions having consequences. Since Shadow brutally betrayed people left and right multiple times, and when he came back on the Villains team,... what else did he expect? A target just as small as Springtrap's?

"Specter Knight is someone that is not afraid to do whatever it takes to get to the top, and neither is Plague actually. Those are two people that I'd be willing to work with. And I would have considered bringing Foxy along, since he was someone that I have aligned with before. But due to him and Sheik surprisingly getting along out here, we're already going in different directions."

Foxy Michaels was of course rather down about the elimination. He really was fighting hard for Sheik to stay in the game.

Since three of his fellow tribe members separated themselves from everyone, Foxy chose to do the same with Wolf and Springtrap.

"Okay dude, I know you're not happy about this, but it doesn't mean you're the next one to go." Springtrap talked before he did. "Believe me. I preferred to have Sheik stay in the game myself."

Even though at the same time he literally admitted that even if Sheik got voted off, he had something to gain from that.

"But obviously since it came to the point where you yourself had to write her name down just to stick with the majority, it showed that we pretty much had no other choice. We did not have enough numbers."

Foxy counted on his fingers. "Specter and Plague needed to see her leave. And then Shadow wanted to see her go, and I suppose everybody else preferred her to go."

Wolf was thinking more of Shadow in particular. "Why doesn't Shadow want to work with you? Didn't the three of you play together?"

"I literally tried to save Shadow's life in our season when we all tried to go after Luigi. And Sheik had a conversation about working with Shadow, but then he just... all of a sudden decided to go against her." He voiced with a hint of frustration. "He changed his mind..."

Springy found it to be a bit amusing. "This is why he came in here with a red X on his back, too."

"Don't worry." Wolf placed a hand on his shoulder in support. "You're not going home next. We got your back."

"I was trying to set myself to be in the best position as possible so that I can have enough people to work with." The pirate fox explained. "We did a good job winning challenges, but when we finally went to Tribal Council, Sheik goes home and I didn't have enough votes to save her. Now I'm facing a setback. I'm trying to win this thing and her going home does not help at all... Now I need to fight even harder to keep myself protected out here... Sheik is a fun, smart, strong woman. She's the closest thing to remind me of Val, so naturally I felt like she was getting voted off..."

Well with all due respect to Foxy, what did he think this was? A Blood vs Water season? They were not even related for crying out loud. Val literally would have been a shoe in to be on the Heroes tribe for season five, but Foxy needed to remind himself that he was the reason Val was not competing on that season.

Though at the same time, this really showed the audience that he and Sheik really buried the hatchet and were legit friends at that point. Oh how it would have been if the ninja was still in the game. Poor old Greninja might have been depressed all the way back in the Pokemon world upon hearing the unfortunate news.

"Swap or not, Specter has to go home next." Wolf pointed his finger at the ground. "He should have left today."

"I'm really impressed he managed to get himself out of that. I gotta give him the respect." The rabbit commented. "Maybe he's that good at convincing people. He survived for a while in Mexico doing stuff like that."

"Well that's why he has to go, then. He's dangerous, boys... I'd say Specter, Shadow, merge... unless another hero goes in between that."

Villains

Day 13

Alright, so the season was finally getting to day thirteen.

Nearly two weeks since the first All Star season of Survivors began. Up, downs, and everything between took place.

But obviously the show just had to go on.

"Mornin', fellas... And fellas only, I suppose." Bowser yawned, sitting up in his spot in the shelter. "We voted off the only woman of the tribe so it's a man's cave, now."

"You know what the funny thing is?" Springtrap thought about it. "When Sheik came here, remember when she told us that she had people questioning her gender? There were actually folks that falsely assumed that she was a male."

"That I do recall." Ryu knew where he was going. "I guess that played a part to her fitting right in. But now we're a mens' tribe officially. The only woman in the game left is Zelda and we haven't even swapped yet..."

"You guys think the master would pull a trick on us and have us not swap at all?" Wolf wondered. "If so, maybe we should keep winning immunity until the merge. My old team managed to do that before, so it could be something the heroes could be embarrassed about."

Foxy snickered in his direction. "You love talking _ about them, do you?"

"Hey, it's not everyday where a season like this happens. If you were chosen to be on a certain team, you gotta take advantage and have fun with it. Bad guys are awesome. We're all terrible role models if this is the real world. But out here, maybe there are some people in this community that looks up to us."

Unfortunately for Wolf, he apparently forgot about the fact that there was no real official villain winner before. Of the four sole survivors, Marth was the least heroic, but he was not a villain at the same time. If someone from the community wanted to look up to someone, it would have been best for any fan of future player to look up to people that actually won the game.

"I'll be shocked if we don't swap today, but in the high chance that we do, I don't know what this could exactly mean for myself and my alliance. Bowser, Ryu, and I could be divided. We're the three strongest people on this tribe, but it's gonna get to the point where people could use that against us. I still have PTSD about the Joker blindside before I was the merge boot in my season so that they wouldn't have to deal with me in the challenges. Maybe it was perfect timing for them to get rid of me before I had the chance to go on a massive challenge winning streak, but that ended up going to Ken instead..." With a harsh roll of his eyes, Ridley continued on... What? Was he simply jealous that he was not the big alpha male to win all the challenges? Whew... Survivor had a lot of egos out there... "I decided to vote with Specter yesterday because he was going to bigger target than Sheik down the line, and I'd rather still be on a tribe with another big target... But it doesn't mean I'm actually going to align with someone like Specter. He was just less of a risk for me to keep around..."

Ryu was seen walking past him before Ridley grabbed him on the shoulder. It was so sudden the man almost jumped.

"Where's Bowser?"

"...I dunno..."

"Find him." He ordered, just like how he always bossed around his minions on Zebes. "I don't know when or if we're gonna get called to leave here to see Master Hand, but we need to have an alliance meeting."

They both were walking in the woods when they spot Bowser drinking water from his canteen. "I'm trying to think as many tribals ahead of the next one as I possibly could. Me placing the lowest out of everyone here is an embarrassment in itself. But notice this: myself, Ryu, and Bowser, none of us made it too deep into the game. Our physical ability is clearly the common denominator. Even if people aren't planning on getting rid of us right now, they will eventually. Although, since three isn't big enough of a number, we would need more people to protect us moving forward."

"We might need to come up with some plans if we are in fact swapping." The purple dragon explained to the other big males of the team. "We'll be the luckiest people on this island if we all end up pulling the same colored buff from the bag. Though if we don't, I have something to ask for the both of you..."

"What do you have in mind?" asked Bowser, pouring some of the water into his mouth.

"We perhaps need to..." His eyes pointed at the ground briefly. "call in reinforcements."

...

Ryu gave him a look as if he had two heads, but maybe due to Bowser canonically having an army of his own, he was more likely to know exactly what Ridley meant.

"...I'm assuming you mean picking up a couple folks from the Heroes tribe..."

"We might have to." Ridley confirmed nodding. "Let's forget about the theme for a minute. Donkey Kong, Vector, and Golden are the strongest members of the tribe. We already know who got kicked off... Unfortunate that it happened to be Meta, but that's a side topic. At least one of us is going to be with them, and if we can make a big, strong guys alliance just like Ryu did in Mexico, we can take over this whole game. And in addition to that, you had a past relationship with Golden, you had a past relationship with DK, and I had a past relationship with Vector. We all played with them before."

"!?" Ryu Hoshi dropped his jaw. "Woah... Are you sure about this?"

"It's not like we have much of a choice." He heaved a blunt sigh. "Ryu, look, I know that your plan failed in your own season, but this might be the path we all have to take here if we want to have a fair shot. I'm tired of us contestants that are physically capable to compete being voted off early, where people like Isabelle and Doc Louis can win seasons. I remember when Plague Knight bombed a challenge and he made it all the way to the end with a jury vote to his name, and Isabelle was also there. In your season, that was two of the three finalists."

"I get it, I get it." He quickly held a hand out, Bowser now swishing the water in his mouth like it was mouthwash. "But,... I... the whole thing about it is that my plan failed, and I felt like I had no one to blame other than myself. I was responsible for my own demise, and it eventually led to Specter flipping on me. Just... you sure you wanna play like this, dude?"

"Ryu, we might not have much time to talk it over." Ridley glared. "Master Hand could be wanting to see all of us any minute and the three of us are probably gonna be separated. Tell you what... We'll all just think about it for now. Maybe if we have the opportunity, probably consider opening up the idea to them and see where they stand. ...Bowser, what do you think?"

Finally done swishing the water around, he turned his head to his right to spit everything out, wiping his mouth with his arm afterwards. "I'm not against it. Just... promise me neither of you will be voted off. Merge shouldn't be too far from this point."

"I'll do my best." The leader of Zebes nodded. "I'll perform in the challenges, while at the same time, making sure that I am safe. Ryu, please do not get voted off, or you will cost me the title of Sole Survivor."

"Okay...?"

"If we somehow don't swap, we will come up with other plans later. But we should expect ourselves to pack our bags soon."

"First Ridley wanted to make another Strong Guys Alliance, now he's wanting to recruit other physically strong players from the other team. He's doing exactly what I've tried to do in my season and I'm..." Exhaling deeply, he covered his face with one of his hands. "I dunno, man... You know it's kind of like you running away from your past self just because you don't want to go down whatever wrong road you went on, but fate for some reason is trying to force you to go down that same path again for no apparent reason. I've no problems aligning with Ridley and Bowser, but now he's considering on having us align with other strong players from the Heroes tribe,... including freaking Golden... I don't know if he really understands the consequences of doing this. I know first hand of what the consequences were because I did the exact same thing, and it all blew up in my face... Or maybe he actually knows what he's doing. I don't know... it just kind of puts the target on my back, which I don't want. It's still early, and if I end up going home around the same placement just like in season three, or even earlier,... I would be rather disappointed in myself. Ridley, whatever you're planning, I hope you know what you're doing. My fate is in your hands..."

Day 13

"Come on in!"

Finally, the Heroes were the ones to see Master Hand first. Vector, Zelda, Shovel Knight, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Golden made their way out of the grassy fields onto their tribe mat. ...Yeah. Nearly half the tribe was gone, and it was only day thirteen at the time... How unlucky they were.

"Heroes, get your first look at the new Villains tribe..." And there came the red team. "Sheik voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"Wow..." Golden sounded, Donkey Kong shaking his head snickering.

"Over Specter, though?" Yoshi blinked.

"They actually kept him around?" For good reason, Vector found it rather hard to believe. Even some of the Villains themselves were surprised to see both him and Plague still be in the game, and the entire tribe literally voted with him!

Maybe Foxy was not the only villain there that felt some sort of guilt.

"Heroes, explain the reaction." Master Hand immediately decided to get into it. "Vector, talk about Specter Knight for a little bit. You all have witnessed the villains' Tribal Council, so you had an insight of what the overall dynamics were. You didn't get to see who actually got voted off until just now. Were you all expecting the boot to be Specter?"

"Well, it sounded like it was going to be between him and Sheik, but we felt that since Specter was such a big target before this season even started, he was the more likely candidate. So... except for maybe Plague Knight over there, anyone else on that team going home would have been a shock to us all. And yeah, we saw their tribal last night after ours finished, but we still have no idea what went on over there. I don't know how in the name of Chaos did he survive, so there's obviously some business going on behind the scenes."

Specter Knight directly rolled his eyes at that.

"Specter?" The host called on.

"I am still here, and that's all I have to say."

Okay...

Master Hand went on with whatever important thing he had to say. "Alright... So word on the street says that a swap is coming. And usually after eleven or twelve days of Survivor, that is the case. For better or for worse depending on your position in the game right now, a swap is something most if not, all of you are expecting..."

...

"Everybody... Drop... Your..."

...Expectations?

"Buffs."

Ooh!

"We're switching things up a little."

There were reactions from all around. Yet overall, a swap was always interesting to mix things up.

"Wait a minute." Foxy interrupted. "Two tribes or three tribes?"

"You'll have to wait."

Somebody needed some more patience... Foxy could not have waited for like, thirty more seconds for everybody to pick out their buffs and reveal them to the universe?

Master Hand made... Wolf pick first, hesitantly reaching his hand in the bag.

"Alright. Nice knowing y'all..."

"Do not open until I tell you to."

Damn... And he almost did it, too. He would have been in trouble. Oooooh...

Anyway, the master allowed his castaways to pick a wrapped up buff out of the bag, eventually getting to Shovel Knight who just so happened to be last. It was a wonder of what the Survivor Gods had in store for him...

"Okay... Everybody... reveal. If you are blue, head to the blue mat. You're red, head over to the red mat."

Was there going to be a new tribe? In Kodai Island and Emperors vs Knights, Master Hand decided to go from two tribes to three tribes, with a different team standing between the two colored mats.

...Yet that was apparently not going to be the case that day.

"Going back home..." Specter mumbled.

"So am I." That meant he and Ryu got all their stuff together for nothing.

Zelda sighed, picking out a different color than the one she was used to.

Who was switching with her?

"Is the new tribe the Barahona beach?" Oh, Vec.

"Nope..." replied Springtrap, who was already putting a blue buff around his neck. "Is the Heroes camp Samana by chance?"

"Yeah..." Vector answered, already moving over to the red mat.

Once everybody was mixed and matched, Master Hand went over to officially announce where everybody stood.

"Alright. Let's look at the new blue team. We have... Golden, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Bowser, Wolf, Foxy, and Springtrap. Your tribe name is... La Vega."

And no, it was not a Spanish name for Las Vegas... Was it?

"And the Heroes are outnumbered on their own tribe... Golden, what do you make of this? Nothing has gone your way exactly, since you guys never actually won a challenge. Almost half your tribe is gone, and now you're officially on the bottom."

"...On the surface at least." Yet Golden still nodded acknowledging the situation. "Everyone knows that flips, blindsides, and backstabs can happen if we rewind history. That is something people on the wrong side of the numbers usually hope for. But realistically, sometimes, it's so cut and dry that one of the three of us going home is likely the inevitable... Hopefully that won't occur."

And if a hero was going to go home next,... the Heroes were probably set to be the most unlucky tribe in history. Even worse than Sumasshu from Kodai Island!

"Over here on the new red team. We have..."

Everyone else.

"Zelda, Shovel Knight, Vector, Specter Knight, Plague Knight, Shadow, Ryu, and Ridley. Your tribe name is Valverde."

Wow. All three Shovel Knight people were on the exact same team nearly taking up half the tribe. The fans just could have imagined if they all made a Shovel Knight alliance.

"Once again, the villains have majority. Five to three. What are your thoughts, Zelda? Except for yesterday, everything has gone the villains' way!"

"I don't find it to be too surprising here. I kind of expected something like this to occur if anything." She explained. "Including in my past season, I'm sort of used to be either a target or on the bottom. And for that reason, I'm sort of figuring out ways to adapt to my situation more... That being the case, perhaps I could use this to my advantage. There are always going to be cracks, and I don't think all of the Villains are going to... make the top nine of this season for instance. Somebody in the team is on the top, somebody is on the bottom. Best case scenario, Shovel, Vec, and I over here are gonna be spared."

Donkey Kong frowned a little at that. It was something to him that he wanted to give Zelda the side-eye for. There were heroes on the other team as well. What? Just because he and Golden were now on the bottom of the tribe alliance they did not matter to anyone anymore? Sure, Yoshi from the majority of the tribe alliance was on that team as well. But of course Zelda had no reason to just give it away out in the open like that.

Perhaps he was going to bring it up to Golden later on.

"Alright. La Vega, Valverde, you all can head back to camp. This game has just changed. I'll see you all at the next immunity challenge."

"Nothing has gone my way at all this season. Golden and I were just put on the bottom of the old Heroes team, now we're both together with Yoshi against all the Villains at our own camp." Uh-oh. Frustration was starting to show... And DK was not the type to show his frustration in front of anyone. Things were not looking good... "For some reason I just can't catch a break out here. I'm fortunate enough to not actually have my name being written down, but my back is really up against the wall... Does the Survivor devil want me out of this game this bad?"

My goodness... what does the Survivor devil have against Donkey Kong? All he does is mind his business and eats his bananas like he's supposed to. Why is that such a big problem? (LOL)

Anyway other than that, we have Foxy being upset about Sheik's elimination, Ridley talking to Bowser and Ryu about expanding his alliance, and the Villains having the upper hand in the swap on both teams. ...Any thoughts?

Overall, I really didn't expect this chapter to be this long at all, especially since I usually have the whole swapping thing as a separate chapter and they're usually short. If this story is set to be Caribbean in length (which it probably will), I wouldn't know how to react...

See you all next time!