Survivor - Heroes vs Villains

Chapter 26 - Day 22 Part 2 - Day 24 Part 1

Day 22

Bowser, Yoshi, Vector, Ryu, Plague Knight, Golden

-/-

Was there such a thing as taking a vacation from Survivor?

Whether it made sense or not, it sure seemed like it by the reward seekers that day. Bowser, Yoshi, Vector, Ryu, Plague Knight, and Golden were more than elated to take part of the cruise they earned.

Yoshi was staring down at the water. It was certainly a far way down indeed. He was even reminded of the time where he searched for the immunity idol a few days prior on that cliff. Thank the Star Spirits he was not sea sick.

"Ooh..." He spotted a few sea turtles floating around minding their business. "Haha! I feel like I'm on a completely different vacation here."

See? Was it really something crazy to say that someone was taking a vacation from the game? At least internally.

"Survivor is quite crazy, especially when you play back to back seasons. By the time I got home, I had to prepare myself to go right back out here in such a short period of time. All of my fellow Caribbean castmates know what that feels like. It is quite stressful. It's only a bit easier when it comes to the casting process, but that's pretty much it. You have to be asked a million questions, get examined, um... background check, and everything. And then on top of that, we all know how overwhelming everything can be out here. It's really a lot! I'm surprised I didn't go crazy yet!"

Well, he sort of lost it at K. Rool's live Tribal Council. "But my team managed to win this really great reward. We get to clean ourselves up, eat great seafood, and just relax on this nice cruise ship. It really does feel like an actual vacation in the Caribbean. You're literally taking a break from the game and that to me is a good refresher, so that you can prepare yourself to do with the reality of Survivor whenever you get back to the beach. But for right now, I think I need to relax my mind."

Vector the Crocodile then appeared out of the blue in a white bath robe holding a glass of wine in hand. Seeing Yoshi watching the waves, he gradually made his way over to him.

"Nice to see you enjoying yourself."

"This really is nice." He smiled warmly. "You know Vec,... people might think I sound crazy for saying this, but... I wonder if our days in the game were always something like this. ...Then again, it doesn't really work like that, does it?"

He snickered. "Sure doesn't. There would be no point in competition, my friend. This game wouldn't be what it is. I suppose you're just appreciating the small moments like this when we're just hanging out. I get ya. ...But I know I want my hands on, that, money."

"That does sound like you, but at the same time you've always been a chill, outgoing kinda guy. You and Ken are literally just alike."

"Sucks that he's not here. But hey, Ryu's on this season and he's with us right now." It was a wonder of what could have been if Ken was actually on the cast instead of Ryu.

Ignoring Bowser's empty shell off in the distance, the croc heaved a sigh. "Still mad that we haven't retrieved that idol."

"..." Yoshi said nothing.

"Say, if you actually manage to find that thing, would you tell me?"

"...!?" He briefly widened his eyes without Vector seeing his facial reaction. "Um,... well, I can't really speak on that since it does depend if I actually have it."

"..." Vector stared at the dinosaur thinking it over in his head. "Do you...?"

"..."

"...?"

"..." Yoshi's eyes continued to glance down at the water.

Ryu Hoshi and Golden Fredbear were the only ones at the table at the time, still eating the food right in front of them (this probably meant that the two green reptiles were taking a little break).

"Maybe it's a good to have a little one on one like this." The bear spoke sipping on his wine. "We both know what it was like back in our season. Most of these other folks had luxury. They had it easy because we didn't even live on the island."

"I agree whole-heartedly." He smirked in reaction. "Nobody except for the ones that came from our season are gonna understand what it was like back in the day. It was even more of a chore to get ourselves clean, we couldn't even take a dip in the water or anything. One of the rare occasions where we actually got in the water was during the day nine immunity challenge, and we were all on a boat paddling."

"It did teach us all one thing, though." Ryu relaxed in his seat looking at his direction. "If we can survive Mexico, we can survive this. What we're doing right now is really making us think about how hard our season actually was. It's the most land-locked location so far for the show, but at the same time it gave the viewers a unique feel to it."

Golden could not have said it any better. "That's right. It only makes us enjoying this reward even more. This... kinda feels like I'm on a mini-vacation, even though we can't ever let our guard down for even a second."

Interesting comparing to what Yoshi was feeling at the time.

"Here comes Bowser." The street fighter warned with a mumble. "Bowser, right this way."

He was fresh out of the shower with his arms folded. Yeah, it appeared that he lost of weight all of sudden. But, his shell was off. Duh. And unlike the impression production was giving to the audience, it did not mean the Koopa was naked. Though Bowser did have the robe on, say if he was swimming in the pool with his shell off, it meant nothing. It was just him 'shirtless' just like any random guy on the beach.

Perhaps in the future the Survivor team needed to have some shots of Bowser like that when he was swimming in the water (even though sometimes he swam with his shell on) just to prove a point. Besides, a lot of Koopas and Bowser fans heavily criticized the show in the past for that one moment in Kodai Island.

Oh, controversy... Sigh.

"You feel refreshed?" Golden shifted his head the turtle's way.

"Better than ever." Taking a swift glance to Yoshi and Vec, he sat in the chair between the other two eaters before grabbing another shrimp for himself. "Too bad this can't last forever so we gotta enjoy it while we still can. But,..."

He took another glance at the two Caribbean players. "I'm glad I'm with you two right now. Any strategy either of you have, I'm listenin'. Plague Knight is still showering so our time is limited."

"I knew you were smart, Bowser." 'Goldie Locks' grinned. "For all we know this could be our one chance to talk game together all day as a three. So last night was a success, but at the same time it wasn't, since we weren't able to get Wolf or Spring to our side."

"We have gotten a target out from this Anti-SGA alliance (at least that's what everybody's calling it), but we're down in numbers thanks to Wolf and Springtrap deciding to vote against us. So we're in hot water regardless." The yellow bear shook his head sighing. "However, it is seven against five. All we need is two more people to turn this around, and those two players? The same ones who decided against us last time are probably going to be the same ones who could save us this time. And Plague Knight is likely with them now, since he has literally no allies left. So he's not going anywhere, and those other two aren't going anywhere. We need those three players to swing over and get rid of someone from Hero Four."

"You didn't talk to Wolf at all?" Ryu popped an eyebrow at Bowser.

"Raining. Didn't have enough time. I was pissed at him and he was pissed at me, so it is what it is for right now." He hunched his shoulders. "We're most likely having a conversation after we all get back to camp. But until then, I'm trying to figure out if there is anyone to convince him to switch..."

"Ridley's probably having a talk with Springtrap right now." Ryu crossed his arms, crossing his leg over his knee.

"Well, Wolf is over there with the both of them, so I'm guessing Ridley's talking to the both of them at the same time, which means that at least one of us have to keep in touch with him of what's going on." Golden exhaled. "Scrambling here and scrambling there. We're all having conversations and talking about each other all over the place."

"Can't expect anything less."

"How are we supposed to approach Plague, then?" The bandanna wearing fighter asked. "In case anyone hasn't noticed, he isn't really the most approachable guy and he blew up at Ridley last night. Not the best sign in my eyes..."

"That's something that is rather accurate." Fredbear nodded in agreement. "Even though he's with us right now, we don't know how long Vector and Yoshi are gonna keep talking by themselves over there. One of us would just have to talk to him when we get back to camp..."

A few minutes later, Mona's partner in crime did end up sitting down at the table upon getting out of the shower... with his face completely exposed for the entire universe to guess what his true face looked like.

"So the alliances consist of myself, Ryu, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Ridley." The furry bear got the conversation going, Ryu now standing with the other two reptiles as a distraction for them. "Vector, Yoshi, Zelda, and Shovel Knight are obviously within a core alliance with each other. With Shadow leaving, that obviously leaves you three as the obvious bottom three in your big alliance. And I hate to say it, but those four heroes are never going to break up and you know it. You, Springtrap, and Wolf, that's five, six, and seven right there."

"I am aware." He would have been a fool to think otherwise. "There is no way any of them would keep me around over each other. They have been together since day one and three of them were on my team when we swapped. They decided to vote off Specter, but you all were the ones to vote off Shadow."

"And all of this leaves you and the other two smack dab in the middle." Bowser clapped his hands together rather loudly, the tip of his claws accidentally hitting a salad bowl that was in the center of the table.

Plague Knight watched as the table slightly shifted over. However, there was something underneath the glass bowl that he never actually noticed until Bowser moved the salad over a little. There was now a piece of an envelope that was a bit more revealing now.

At first the small man simply thought it was a piece of tan paper towel underneath the salad bowl just for the sake of it. And as big, scary, Koopa talked on, Plague Knight used a hand to push the bowl back fully onto the envelope. Thus he was well aware it was something worth paying attention to. He obviously just could not have snatched it right in front of Bowser and Ryu's faces.

"I needed a pick me up, and I thought to myself that this luxurious reward was just what I needed so that I can rub in these losers' faces that I was the one to go on the reward after people took out my only ally in Shadow last night. But things somehow got even better! When Bowser almost knocked the salad bowl over, I looked down and noticed that an envelope was stuck underneath it. Nobody even noticed until I did because somebody would have picked it up by now."

And in the next scene, the group of three began to separate, Plague's fellow castaways that were at the table with them being more curious than ever to butt in the conversation Ryu was having with Vector and Yoshi. Making sure no one was looking his way, he swiftly lifted the salad bowl with one hand and grabbed the envelope with the other, stuffing it inside of his robe hoping it was not going to slip out in front of everyone.

Perhaps it was best to look for his bag and stuff it inside real quick. "And you know what? Maybe fate was telling that I just had to have it. I need this. I went ahead and began to put it in my bag, and I was doing so, I noticed the words, 'Secret Advantage' written on the other side. ...Secret. Advantage. Let that sink in."

And so, he decided to quickly read the contents of it before anyone else showed.

"'Congratulations! You have found an advantage in the game. This advantage allows to take a vote away from another player, allowing you to vote not once, but twice at-'... Oh my God... I get to vote twice!"

Darlem

Day 22

Ridley, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Wolf, Shovel Knight, Springtrap

-/-

Unfortunately for the other group of six, they were unable to catch a break. Such an insult to them. They all got to starve while the other half of the tribe were having the time of their lives.

"Let's just get this rice started." Springtrap hung the rice pot over the fire. "It's always a lot better to feed six people."

"Ain't that the truth." Donkey Kong sighed in agreement. "When those six come back, they know they don't need to eat anything else for the rest of the day. This rice needs to last as long as possible."

"Hmm. For once someone is actually thinking about the rice situation." Ridley formed a smirk snickering. "I think you said it perfectly. They're foolish to think otherwise. They're gonna be coming back to camp and expect themselves to have dinner, but we didn't anything yet? Not fair at all."

"I suppose it would be rather awkward to not cook the rice now, even though it is only noon." Zelda added on. "We wait until evening to cook it, and the other six are go ing to be around the fire?"

Yeah... Awkward indeed.

"Last time at this point I was on the winning team going on a nice cruise reward." So Donkey Kong understood what it was like when it came to both sides of the fence. "Losing anything in Survivor is a bit of a setback, and now those guys get to come here with full bellies while the rest of us struggle to get something in ours. I do feel a little jealous, but as the old saying goes, you can do anything if you set your mind to it. I gotta fight through it inside and literally keep my head in the game. I came back to Darleem beach and it was a rather interesting split, because the alliances are all over the place."

The following characters were shown in order. "Ridley and I are the only two members of the Strong Guys Alliance, Wolf and Springtrap are with the opposing majority alliance, but everyone knows they have been tight since the start of the game. Shovel Knight and Zelda are the only ones that I was with since the first day, but we've been divided since Meta Knight went home and the line is really drawn in the sand between us now."

Zelda felt that the two of them needed to have a little talk.

"You know that I'll still like you after this, right?" DK asked her in the woods.

"Absolutely. That's without a question, even." She nodded in reply. "I feel the same way about you, and all the other old heroes feel the same way about each other. Shovel Knight even feels that it's a shame the way things turned out for us. We could possibly somehow obtain the majority of the tribe if another villain goes home, but it might not even matter."

"I just couldn't see eye to eye with you. The last Tribal Council we all had together was something I've never forgotten. It was clear to Golden and I of where you all stood with us and each other. The four of you were going to be the tightest alliance ever, and the two of us felt we had no other choice but to jump ship."

"I suppose it is what it is at this point..." She felt his feelings deserved to be validated. "You made your move, you and Golden jumped ship, and sometimes jumping ship is a part of the game."

"Thank you for understanding."

"Well if the roles were reversed, it means that I shouldn't be too upset about this. Though I do have to let you in on something..."

He popped an invisible eyebrow. "Fill me in..."

"You know, despite the tribal lines being broken, I still don't think it's best to send either you or Golden home right now. Perhaps some might say we should have targeted one of you yesterday, but now that the idol is out, there is an actual chance that Ridley does not have another one. He didn't tell you anything about him having another one, did he?"

"Not at all." He shook his head immediately.

"Okay, then." She nodded once again in confirmation. "Even if people are still a little hesitant on targeting him, especially if he wins immunity again, Bowser and Ryu would be the immediate targets afterwards. You and Golden can stay for at least one more round together. And if the heroes end up having the majority after all this, it would be nice to see, whether it actually matters or not."

"Donkey Kong is a smart player, and honestly in his best interest, him and Golden flipping was likely the right thing to do. We had the chance of sending one of them home last night, but it did not work the way we wanted to thanks to Ridley's idol. However, I do not think that he has a second idol in his possession. And this means that it's more safe to target him now. Only thing that we have to make sure of is that he does not win individual immunity, since he's the biggest physical threat by far, as well has him being the leader of the new Strong Guys Alliance. But my main objective was to keep the friendship strong between myself, DK, and Golden. Hopefully we can forgive each other for all that's happened, and perhaps the other four of us heroes sparing them for another round will keep us on their good side. And if I'm sitting at the end, those are two votes that I might need if they are going to be part of the jury. I received no jury votes last time. So for my game, jury management is already in play."

"The thing is, Shovel,-" Ooh. She even taught this lesson to Shovel Knight. "-is that even though we are in opposing alliances, it doesn't mean that the six of us are not allowed to... talk anymore or something. Regarding our friendship, nothing has changed. We are just on separate pages in this game right now, and that's perfectly fine. It wouldn't be Survivor without having ones jump ship. However, keep relationships secure for as long as you can could likely mean that the jury will have some kind of respect for you. And if you are sitting at the final, they could vote for you to win."

"Survivor really is fascinating. I am learning a lot from you, Zelda." He really felt good to have her on his side. "I'll admit, that perhaps Meta Knight could have taught me some things similar. It still hurts me that I had to cut him off like that. Yet at the same time, he is not bitter at all when it comes to strategic game. And I may not know every little thing about strategy, I never really took the game personally. Say if Meta slit my throat, I would question that. But I would not hold a grudge against him at all."

She smiled at his progress. "That's something that is pleasing to hear. You really are growing, Shovel. Just keep talking to Donkey Kong and Golden because there might be a slim chance that we could somehow need each other. Highly unlikely, but a chance is a chance. Regardless, if or when we do write them off, we will all end up on good terms after the season is finished."

"Sure, one could argue that perhaps I shouldn't have told Shovel Knight about managing the jury or maybe teaching him about the ways of the game in general. Depending on how smart Shovel is as a player, it could backfire on me. Securing jury votes for example, say if Shovel has even better relationships with the jury, if him and I were to get to the end together, he could be the one securing those votes. When Marth and I went to the end together on my season, that's kind of what happened. All ten of those jurors voted his way and I did not see one vote cast for me. I am trying to not let that happen again, actually, because I feel like I need to grow as a player myself. He is someone that I should probably watch in the future. But for right now, he needs to be aware that he should continue to be friendly with DK and Golden despite what's going on at the moment between us. If all four of us were the same way, they would have no hard feelings towards us and vice versa."

For the other half of the losers, all three of them remained at the shelter, knowing that the old heroes separated themselves from them. Yet since Ridley felt the urge to talk to both Wolf and Springtrap anyway, none of them had much to complain about.

"I mean, there isn't much else we could say, Ridley." Springtrap lifted his hands up only to drop them immediately. "Wolf and I already told you on what we feel like. We both felt betrayed by Bowser, all five of you are even stronger than us at challenges. There are more threats on your side."

"But, listen. Okay, we get it. We're the strongest people of this whole tribe and we just so happened to be in an alliance together. But haven't you both noticed that at least our alliances has players from both sides? Three villains, two heroes. Sure, your side has four heroes and two villains. But there's a certain group of four that has a core alliance that is so obvious, I feel they should completely panicking right now of how they're gonna handle the both of you and Plague Knight." The Metroid dragon counted on his fingers, knowing he only had three on each hand... Kinda funny when it came to actually looking at him count to four like that. "Zelda, Yoshi, Vector, Shovel. Those four never voted differently from each other, not counting Yoshi being separated from them. They are all original heroes coming from the exact same beach, and they've been together since day one. And now that Shadow is out of the game, they already have the majority within the majority alliance."

"Well, we aligned with them without thinking that you were all going to idol out Shadow last night." Kevin folded his arms. "It was four on four, the plan was to have ourselves aligned against you all, but things are of course different now."

"Exactly. And aside from you two, the only person who has a chance at beating us in these physical challenges is Vector. He got to where he's currently at due to him playing the exact same game he played in Caribbean, and he's going to get away with going far in the game again because it took forever for people to do something about it. Unless he wins immunity, he has to go."

"Okay, Vector's a threat." Wolf nodded in acknowledgement. "Got it. What's your plan?"

"At this moment, due to me playing my idol last night, if one of them has an idol over there, they could retaliate by doing the same at next tribal. You two and Plague are gonna be the most likely players in this game to save us. And Plague Knight is the type of player that could vote out anyone as long as it's not him." That did make sense, especially now given the fact that every time Plague aligned with somebody, they ended up getting voted out. And it probably got to a point to where he became rather... tired of it, based on he felt in the previous chapter. "You three hold the power of this whole game still, and if you three align with us, we could rename the alliance, we'll discuss where you stan, whatever the hell you three want. There would be eight of us, we can split between Vector and Zelda, it wouldn't matter who they all vote for, but we'll vote for Vector on the re-vote, but he's gonna be a goner."

The one-eyed furry snickered loudly. "Plague Knight? ...Aligning with all the strong motherf_ers? Suddenly hell has frozen over."

And this lupine really had a way with words

"It's better than being picked one by one by one, because all three of you know where you stand with the Hero Four. Emphasis on the 'four' part. You all know what they're going to do if you all manage to get to seven. And if they were smart enough, they could be trying to get one of you out right now."

"..."

"Vector's the big guy in the opposing alliance, but I believe that Zelda's the smart one behind the alliance. The other two I don't really know about, especially Yoshi. The four of them have been the absolute tightest alliance from the get go, and the two pairs that are involved literally have a previous season under their belt. Vector and Yoshi played together before in my season, and Shovel Knight and Zelda played together before. Yet another reason why one of them should go home. It's pretty much self-explanatory." Ridley was finding it rather hard to believe how cut and dry that core four was. "Why not take one of them out next? It's not even about me or Bowser or all of the strong players anymore. This is about common sense. Springtrap and Wolf have both made moves before. I'd like to understand what's gonna stop them from switching sides. Because if there is one, I'd love to hear it just so I can argue against that. I'm at a point where I don't even care anymore. Just because I already made it one round further than my previous season does not that I can't fight to go as far as I possibly can. I'm gonna keep fighting my damn head off no matter what, and may the Survivor Gods be with me when I compete in the next immunity challenge. I hope to win every last one of 'em."

"We'll all just see how it plays out." Turning on his heel, he began to pace his way back to the shelter. "Two days from now and we all compete for immunity, and then tribal. It's gonna be on and that's all I have to say."

"..."

"..."

The duo of anthropomorphics did nothing except exchange glances.

Darleem

Day 23

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

-/-

The following day was just one of those breather days in the season. There were no challenges scheduled until the next day, and they all just participated in a reward challenge on day twenty-two.

Basically it was sort of like a day off for these twelve survivors, but there was never a day off in the game at all. There was simply not much going, which was fine since everyone usually used this time to check in an strategize with each other as well as further developing relationships.

Regarding one on ones, Bowser and Wolf were both by the water again.

"What did Ridley say to you yesterday?"

"He explained to me and Springy that the eight of us need to split the votes between Vector and Zelda and get the croc's tail outta here. He always told us that in the alliance I'm in right now, the two of us and Plague Knight are at the bottom because the Hero Four is going to stick together no matter what, and they have no chance in working with us past seven."

"...Well,..." Bowser blinked in response. "I can't really say he's wrong. Look man, if you come over to our side, it may seem like the three of you are on the outs on the surface and that the five of us are basically already final five without the final five even happening yet. But here, me and you have a pre-existing relationship, both of us are sitll here without Donkey Kong, Springtrap and Ridley played together before, and Ryu, DK, and Golden are all best friends. The only person who might be the odd one out of the whole crew would be Plague Knight."

"Springtrap and Ridley never really talked like that in their season. He told me himself." He reminded. "And DK and I... don't really have much in common."

"Bwahahaha!" The Koopa found that to be rather amusing. "Come on, now. You know much better than that. It doesn't matter if the two of you have anything in common or not. You have a few more options to work with if you side with us."

"I've been pretty much in the swing vote position ever since the moment we all merged, and even though I put my foot down and made my decision on where I wanted to go last tribal, I am still trying to be pulled the other way. The Strong Guys Alliance are really fighting hard to make me change my mind, and I'm just listening. I have the rest of the day and tomorrow to figure it out, but I'm gonna keep getting talked to death until we all head to tribal so I gotta mentally prepare for that. It doesn't make it any better with Bowser being an asshole about it, which makes sense because he's a notorious hothead no matter who he comes across."

"It's just so simple!" He expressed his arms out raising his voice a little. "Eight might be too big of a number for the alliance, but look at all the options you have in front of you. Zel, Vec, Shovel, and Yoshi are probably still under the mentality that they're hero strong to the end of the game, and that's why Golden and DK woke up and flipped. Ridley, Ryu, and I knew that nobody was gonna keep us around for the long run, so the three of us planned ahead in advance. You two are stuck with Plague and you all needed to look for a new home, but you know damn well where you stand over there. You have literally no shot at all. And if you stick with them only to be voted out seventh, the first thing I'm gonna do is say that I told you so. You ain't stupid, Wolf. It's not about me right now, but it's about you."

He even poked his chest to further make his point.

"I know." The mercenary calmly nodded. "I'm still the swing vote, so everything's all about me."

"Shut up." He punched his shoulder playfully.

"Hahahaha! 'Wolf O'Donnell has officially knocked Donkey Kong off his throne and is now the king of the jungle!'"

"You ain't even got what it takes to be the king of the jungle because you don't eat bananas every three seconds."

Wolf shrugged not caring. "Bananas are overrated."

Major thanks to him to offending every single monkey in existence. Good job.

"The whole point of Wolf and I trying to avoid being too close together was so that we wouldn't be targeted for a while, but that has turned to us needing to talk to each other as much as possible with mainly me approaching him because my life in the game is still in his hands. And until he sides with me, I'm gonna keep bugging him no matter what on why it's the right move for his game to side with my alliance... And not gonna lie, that joke about DK and the bananas are gonna earn him hate points from the Kong community online. Maybe DK and Wolf should make arrangements for banana smoothies for damage control."

He was now in a separate area with Ridley and Ryu.

"I think for all three of them it's gonna continue to be an 'I don't know' kind of thing until we go back to Tribal Council. I don't know what else to do at this point and you can only say so much. It's up to them to make that decision since they have all the power in the game right now..." Bowser groaned clamping his hands on his head. "This is all too stressful for me..."

"Survivor is nothing but stress. It's all about how you are able to handle it." Ridley gave him a piece of advice. "That is something I had to teach myself in my season. The way you handle stress is a way to control your mind, so don't worry yourself to death too much about it."

...

"Well maybe going off topic for a little bit could help." Ryu's back leaned against the wall. There was something on his mind that he needed the opinions of. "Do you guys think the barefoot lifestyle should be more acceptable in normal society?"

"..."

"..."

Uh,.. what?

"What'cha talkin' about?" Bowser popped an eyebrow.

"Some folks of the general public still don't understand the whole concept of it. Ken and I have grown used to be given the side-eye for almost never having on shoes, even though we're both known to be well established martial artists. But those who aren't really educated about the whole thing, training barefoot is literally part of the culture." Ryu elaborated. "In Asian cultures it is considered rude to be wearing shoes indoors, and it probably played a part of everybody training barefoot. It develops muscles, anyway."

"I thought that was common knowledge."

Ugh... The camera just had to zoom up on Ryu's dogs down there at that moment. 'Who Let the Dogs Out', anyone? Oh yeah, and a fly flew on his sole, too. But Ryu was so damn busy talking he never even felt it. Ridley spotted it though, yet by the time he did it buzzed away.

Speaking of dogs, nope. Unfortunately, the Duck Hunt dog was not ever going to be eligible to participate in Survivor for obvious reasons.

"It is, but apparently there are like the two or three people who aren't aware of that. But that's just for the background of this discussion."

Well, he did ask the two reptiles the initial question for a reason...

"Ken and I became the martial artists we are today, and over the years we've been going barefoot as normal. We'll wear shoes on special occasions or every now and then, but unless we see signs that says, um... 'No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service' or something,-" He could not have helped but laugh. "we both seemed to got used to not having shoes on. Neither of us really feeling anything underneath these days. Almost everyone who knows us don't even think about it and are more interested in getting our autographs, but it is still not uncommon to get looks from random strangers."

Now Bowser was laughing, slowly covering his eyes with his right hand.

Ridley Zebastian, however, blinked in confusion. "But, I... I don't get it. I lived with Ken for twenty-one days. You two don't wear shoes normally, so what? ...Nobody except Golden in this alliance wears shoes."

That only made Bowser Koopa laugh even louder. The man hardly had the strength to contain himself. "Dude. Do you have any idea? Humans going barefoot in the normal, everyday society is not that common in their culture. Monkeys, dragons, and Dragon-Koopas come from a different background."

"...Oh."

"Oh? Why do you think you don't see a lot of humans barefoot like that unless they're at the beach swimming?" Bowser was right. Ridley had no clue about the whole thing at all.

"Well, whatever the culture is,... who cares?" He was still rather confounded and felt like it was not worthy of concern. "It's your feet. Why should other people find it necessary to care about what you're doing?"

"Simple. Not everybody has the same mindset of you. That's something you should already know at this point." The street fighting legend smiled hard. "People are rather judgmental, but I don't get offended because I've been doing this for the longest time, anyway."

"All they have to do is to... not look at them. Not that hard."

"Now that I have even more of a platform, I guess if that conversation makes the edit, maybe this should spread awareness about the barefoot lifestyle topic." At least Ryu was using his name for good intentions... regarding whatever he was trying to accomplish. "The first thing I wanna say is that there is actually a reason why shoes exists. But if you are gonna try out the whole barefoot idea, always be aware of your surroundings, be careful, and... make sure you take care of them. You only get one pair of feet. If you're not afraid, you can do whatever you want, be who you are and that's that. Just be mindful that health is important when it comes to both sides."

#HealthIsImportant

Day 24

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? It was still a large group, but over time it was going to get to a point to where four people remained for the final immunity challenge. Though it was obviously going to be a long while for that. "First things first, Ridley, I gotta take it back."

He folded his arms and stared with the immunity necklace hooked on his neck. "...I'm not giving it up."

Immediately people began snickering.

"I'm not asking you to give it up. I said, 'I gotta take it back.'"

"Oh, I'd love to see you try."

Alright, Ridley. Everyone got it, already. He was not scared of Master Hand. If the master never intimidated him, no one did.

But still, he finally met his match with Meta Knight.

"Not try, but I will take it back." With one swift motion, he removed the necklace from Ridley's neck. Now he was not safe anymore.

Every other castaway laughed in unison.

"Whatever." The dragon rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna win it back, anyway. Just you wait."

"Once again,'" Master Hand simply did not feel like tolerating Ridley that day. "-immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, you are going to balance on a narrow perch while holding a buoy between two handles. At any point the buoy drops or if you fall off the perch, you're out of the challenge. Last person remaining wins immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the ninth person voted out of Survivor and will become the second member of our jury."

"We last did this challenge in Survivor - Mexico, Plague Knight and Golden have both participated in this challenge. Neither of them won. This is a brand new challenge for everyone else. We'll draw for spots and get started."

"The longer Ridley stays here, the worse he's gonna get." It was mixture of annoyance with a hint of worry in Vector's voice. "We can not let him win immunity. He's been playing his head off for the last couple days trying to get the numbers back on his side, and we cannot let that happen. If he wins that necklace again, we're probably gonna deal with him for a while. Best case scenario, he's the first one out of the challenge that way he would not be a threat to win it. Worst case scenario, he comes first place in the challenge today and he's probably gonna end up winning everything else. No problems with him personally, but there's no way I'm gonna put up with that for the rest of the game. Not again."

-/-

"Alright... Everybody take your spot, and I'm gonna count you in."

Holding colored handles, the survivors all stepped onto their perch, using said handles to grab onto their buoy.

"Five... Four... Three... Two... One."

...

"This challenge is officially on."

The objective of the challenge was to properly balance themselves on their perch, while holding their buoy in place at the same time.

"Stay in place for as long as you can." Master Hand spoke out. "You could be the winner. You must always give challenges a hundred and ten percent, even if you feel like you are not cut out for this. Have that confidence in yourself and think again."

In an extended view of the challenge, Ryu, Wolf, Golden, Zelda, Yoshi, Vector, Donkey Kong, Ridley, Plague Knight, Bowser, Springtrap, and Shovel Knight in that order were all shown at the same time. All eyes locked onto their respective buoys. Concentration was fundamental.

"Always keep the end of those poles in the center holes." That rhymed. "If at least one stick pops out, you're out. And it can happen out of nowhere. Do not get too comfortable."

...

"Everybody still looking solid. Nice job."

They did not need the approval of Master Hand. The castaways were already aware they were giving the audience a solid performance thus far, even though not even a minute had elapsed at the time.

"...Woah!"

Master Hand spoke too soon. There was already a casualty.

"Bowser's the first one out of the challenge."

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"Bowser, take a spot on the sit out bench."

He was never the first one out of a challenge before!

"I hate balancing challenges."

He was large, though. Perhaps he was somewhat justified in this case scenario. He got more fit during the latest eras of Smash, yet he was not known to be the performer in balancing unlike Ryu or Ridley.

"You gotta learn how to balance and hold your buoy in place simultaneously. If you can not multi-task in this challenge, you are not going to last long at all."

"Crap..." Vector was rotating too much to his left, Plague Knight's arms beginning to visibly shake.

"Vector and Plague are starting to struggle. Fight through it!"

Shovel Knight began to wobble a little bit himself.

"Lots of people starting to struggle all of a sudden."

"Crap, crap, crap..." Now leaning a little too far to his right, Vector's free leg started to raise in the air. Too much of his weight was on one side and that caused his demise. "Man..."

"Vector's out of the challenge. No shot at immunity."

Now it was Bowser that was snickering.

"The fact that two of our strongest guys are already out so that anyone can win this challenge as long as you have that willpower. You know you want that necklace. Your fate is in your own hands right now. You must do this."

Suddenly Zelda's buoy had a mind of its own, with it beginning to rotate on it itself between the two handles. She was unable to recover as one of her handles completely popped out of the buoy's center hole.

"Out of nowhere, Zelda is out. Down to nine."

It was still pretty nice for her to outlast two strong men.

"Challenge is still not done yet. More than half of this tribe is still in it. Sooner or later some of you are gonna last enough to where it's suddenly not as painful anymore."

About ninety seconds had elapsed so far. Not that bad for nine players, but for Plague Knight, his time was up.

"Plague Knight can't hang in anymore. Down to eight."

Now there was a little wind that came into play. Just another obstacle the players had to deal with.

"Whatever you do, do not let mother nature get the best of you. You can't fall out of this challenge over a little wind."

Yet the wind was going to give people an even harder time to balance on a small perch like that. Maybe Master Hand needed to grow an entire body to try these challenges for himself.

"...Oh no."

"Yoshi's starting to move. He's gonna have to deal with the breeze or he's out."

Well if he was going to be out, Shovel Knight's handle popped out of his buoy. That automatically moved the dinosaur up a spot in the challenge.

"Shovel is out. No shot at immunity."

"I bet Shield would have done a better job..."

The next few minutes went by without hardly anyone saying a word. All the players did was compete, while everyone else had to simply watch and wait.

Bowser was even showing visible signs that he was getting bored out of his mind.

"Yoshi wobbling again."

"Aw, come on." He mumbled to himself, clearly fighting to stay alive with his body moving all over the place.

"Hang in there, man..." Vector mumbled from the sitting out area.

"...Gosh."

"Yoshi tried his best, but he can't hang in there. Now we're down to six. Half the tribe of Darleem competing for individual immunity." Who were the players left now? "On one end, we have Ryu, Wolf, and Golden all right next to each other holding their buoy in different positions. Donkey Kong and Ridley are side by side in the middle. Springtrap is at the opposite end all by himself."

His legs were wobbling, but he was still safe.

"Let's see how long these guys last."

Elapsed Time: 13 Minutes

"We have six strong guys left in this challenge and they are doing very well." Fatigue was starting to set in a little, but they were hanging in there. "DK, Ryu, Ridley, and Springtrap all have won individual immunity one time before. Wolf and Golden have never won individual immunity before. This could be another milestone for either of them if they pull this off."

Fredbear's body began to lean.

"Little bit of movement from Golden."

Springtrap began to shift again as well.

"...Golden hops off. He's not in the running." The bear sighed in defeat and made his way over to join his tribemates. "Last time he barely made it about a minute. This is a new personal best for him."

"Thanks..."

"Springtrap's still wobbling. Could he make a recovery?"

"..." He sighed.

"Yes he can. Nice one."

"...Wait..." Too late. Wolf's stick popped out. "Damn it."

"Wolf is no longer in this challenge."

The lupine shook in disappointment. "I really thought I had a decent shot this time..."

"We are now down to four... Ryu, Donkey Kong, Ridley, and Springtrap."

And that was one character representing completely different franchises. All of those fans at home were probably screaming at their favs to just win the challenge already.

But they still had to wait...

Elapsed Time: 19 Minutes

"You've been out here for nineteen minutes, now. You all have done an excellent job so far. Three villains, one lone hero."

Yet, it did not matter and they all knew it.

Wolf curled his lips. His body was locked in Plague, though it was slowly growing tired by the minute. It had its limits.

"...!"

"Aw, DK..." said Yoshi from the bench.

"Donkey Kong out of nowhere lost control of his buoy and he's out."

"That buoy is a little trickier than it looks. I never lost my balance, though..."

"Down to three, now."

With a little movement, Ryu knew he needed to stay as cautious as possible.

"Ryu moving for the first time. Springtrap's been moving a lot lately."

Fortunately the trio of players were still good. But nobody was going to be out of the woods yet until the winner was determined.

Although a few minutes later, another character's luck ran out.

"Ryu drops. He's no longer in it..."

"Good job, man." Donkey Kong complimented. "One minute you're in it, next minute you're out and you don't even know until it's too late."

"We now officially have a Caribbean showdown." Good Lord... "Ridley vs Springtrap... Springtrap has been moving for a while,... Ridley's just starting to move for the first time in this challenge."

His right leg was slightly beginning to bounce.

"Fatigue is starting to show for both players. Both have won immunity before in this very season. One of them is guaranteed to win for a second time. Who's it gonna be?"

Ridley's leg was moving a bit more now, but Springtrap has been squirming to find his balance for a minute.

"Is Ridley going to take this one again?" asked Shovel Knight to no one in particular.

...Nope. Ridley was not going to win the individual immunity challenge again. But he did not lose because he lost his balance. He was just so focused on maintaining his balance, his handle ended up slowly slipping out of the hole.

"Ridley is out!"

"SPRINGTRAP WINS INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY!"

Immediately, the space pirate threw both of his handles in the air in downright frustration.

"Ah..." It felt better knowing it was finally okay for him to step down, already making his way over to Master Hand.

"_." Ridley cursed under his breath, not even looking at anyone.

But some of his tribe members were looking at him.

"I didn't think I was gonna make it, but here I am!" The rabbit gladly turned around as the master hooked the necklace onto him.

"Springtrap's gonna be safe at tonight's Tribal Council, with a one in eleven shot at a million dollars."

Not what Ridley in particular wanted to hear. He should have been guaranteed a one in eleven shot to win a million dollars.

"As for the rest of you, your shot at a million dollars from this point on will not be guaranteed since you are all going to be vulnerable tonight. Somebody's going home to spend some time with Shadow at Ponderosa, Sprngtrap, it won't be you. Everybody grab your stuff, head back to camp."

"Rather pleasing to see Ridley losing the challenge today. I felt like if he was not going today, he was probably set to be a problem in a lot of these physical challenges." Much to Shovel Knight's relief, that was not going to be the case. "Except for puzzles, he's good at everything else. He's the leader of his alliance, and he's been desperately trying to pull people away from my alliance. So he's a strategical problem, too, that we all need to take care of."

Sorry, Ridley. But the challenge win went to somebody else...

This chapter ended up being longer than expected, and there was something important to note within every single scene. So,... whatcha think?

Next chapter, somebody's going home.