Survivor - Heroes vs Villains

Chapter 37 - Day 32 & Day 33 Part 1

Okay, so we have about a week to go from here. The group of players that are in the game still are gradually getting smaller. And at this point, eliminations are gonna come more quickly based on how the usual Survivor schedule goes. But Day 39 is approaching. Time is running out for these remaining players to get things right.

But I'm gonna give you an early spoiler about Ludwig von Koopa, an upcoming contestant for Survivor - India. Y'all know how Roy was Bowser's loved one for the visit, right? ...It was actually supposed to be Ludwig. Ludwig was supposed to meet Bowser this season. Bowser completely lied about Roy was randomly picked to be Bowser's loved one on the show.

So why would he have Ludwig miss a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet his dad in the middle of his game in the Caribbean? Well, it was Ludwig's idea. Let's say that he already knew he was going to compete shortly after Bowser realized he was coming back to Heroes vs Villains. It could be argued that Ludwig should have just capitalized off of it by getting his foot even more into the door by just visiting his dad on the island. But he felt that it was best for other folks on the island to not get an early impression of him before he goes out to compete himself. He thinks it's best to wait until he starts playing with the nineteen other newbie castaways, feeling that if they figure out early of how he functions and all, it could be a reason to have him be voted out.

He realizes that he might already have a target on his back solely for being Bowser's son. In his mind, 'Why make it worse?' So there you have it. The man is already pre-gaming and Heroes vs Villains isn't even finished yet...

Moving on now.

~KF

EPISODE TWELVE: There Aren't Any Secrets Anymore

Darleem

Night 31

Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Zelda, Wolf, Ryu, Shovel Knight, Plague Knight, Springtrap

-/-

It was one of the most emotional episodes of the season, but the eight players that still had to compete needed to move on. Day thirty-two was only one night away and it was starting to sprinkle. And if it rain any harder, that was an automatic low chance of having a fire for that night.

"Well, that happened." Yoshi heaved a sigh, him just being happy he was back home.

"It was quite a discussion, and I lost another ally of mine." Ryu exhaled himself, but for different reasons. "Good to know that I'm still here, though. I thought I was the one that was gonna be the next to go. And for that, I thank you for keeping me here."

"Don't mention it." Shovel Knight replied.

"He was quite the character to be around. However, as much of an ally he was to me, I still don't think I should feel any more terrible than you in particular." He shifted his head to a certain mercenary's way. "Wolf, I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm pretty sure I could say the same for everybody."

"Yes..." Zelda turned towards the lupine to give him her sympathy. "That must have been really hard for you to do."

"I'll be alright." He tried to wave it off, yet obviously on the inside he still felt something different. "As long as Bowser is okay with this, then I'll be fine. We need to keep moving forward, because the eight of us are still here. At least I won't have to worry about him anymore."

"Wanna talk a little?" Donkey Kong felt the need to speak with him in private.

"...Sure."

Seeing him stepping away from everyone, Springtrap folded his arms.

"Here I am again." Taking in a breath, Wolf knew that he now had even more thinking to do. "Bowser's gone and like last time, I played a part of it. Even though we have no hard feelings toward each other, I still killed his dream for a second time as I outlast him once again. The main thing that's on my mind is how my game is going to play out this point. Last time Bowser was sent home, my position in the game got worse and never recovered. All that I know is that it's gonna be really something to process if the exact same thing happens to me again. 'One or two rounds later after Bowser, Wolf is now sent to the jury with no chance of winning the million dollars.' ...Why am I talking in first person? Panther's rubbing off on me a little too much."

Wolf went on to express what he was really feeling to DK. Sure Ryu was right there by them, yet neither of them really cared. The street fighter pretty much did not have that many more people to lose in the game, anyway. He was so low on the totem pole, it was as if he was a dead man walking.

"I don't know if it's a ninth place curse thing, or Bowser is a curse in himself. Maybe both." He ran his fingers through the back of his head in thought. "Because if he's cursed, then it could pretty much rub off on me. This is the moment where my game began to fail last season. All it takes is a little bit of bad luck and I'm outta here."

"Well, Ryu and I both know that you did not want to vote him out. That is obvious to everyone." Donkey Kong did not want him to beat himself up over something that he might have had to do to progress. "And Bowser told us himself that you weren't even the main man behind it. Springtrap was. He got the ball rolling for this round, and he pretty much got his way."

"Psh..." He snickered in response. "That much is clear I guess. And,... I don't want to seem like I'm throwing Springy under the bus or anything, but he kinda threw me under the bus as well for suspecting that Bowser and I were gonna come up with something together in the first place. And here I am talking about him to y'all over here. So now we're both even."

"That does seem fair to me." Ryu nodded smirking. "Only thing is with the two of us that we wrote your name down because we didn't have much of a choice. It was either him or you. We figured the both of you coming back together and we sent Plague of all people home, everybody would have been all over the place and this camp would be in complete chaos right now."

"I get it. You guys don't have to explain yourselves over that one."

"Both Bowser and Wolf are the last two people that are still here from my season, and this is what it came to. It was pretty messed up for the both of them to go through that just to save their own selves." Even though Donkey Kong did not play a hand to help or harm the situation, he still felt both of their pain. "It's kinda sad... What if it was me versus Golden and we were put in a situation where we would have been forced to target each other? We literally have a great friendship outside of the game, so I can't even think about what would have happened."

"And I know Wolf outside of Survivor, too. You don't look at him and think that he's the guy that'll wear his heart on his sleeve. You picture him as usually cool, calm, and collected,... but ruthless all at the same time. So his behavior today was definitely showing a new side of him that I don't think ninety-nine percent of this community has seen before. I suppose that's what friendship does to people. And I know first hand to what it's like losing friends out here all the time. It's not fun."

"Let's just try to move on from this, since we all still have a few days left." DK suggested. "I know you'll be thinking about it before you head to sleep tonight. But when you wake up tomorrow and need someone to talk or vent to, I'll be around."

"Wolf..."

The lupine turned to see the other Cool Kid motioning him to follow. Nimbly turning to face the other two survivors, he decided to just walk his way and get the upcoming conversation over with.

They both had to walk past everyone in order to stand alone together by the water.

"Okay, pardon if I sound insensitive to the situation. I know that was difficult for you to do, but it had to be done. And now with him out of the way, you don't have to worry about him anymore. He could have harmed your game, and it probably would have cost you if you waited to long to get him out."

He heaved a sigh. "Alright, maybe he would have. Let's say Ryu went home instead. You think it would have look worse?"

"Yes!" The security guard replied promptly. "Because it would have put a bigger target on your back, which would have also put a larger target on my back and Plague's. One of us would have been voted out while Bowser possibly makes top three with a chance of winning. All three of us would have been on the jury looking stupid."

"Look, I get your point. Okay?" Wolf understood that his main ally was trying to make him see things from a more realistic point of view, yet part of him would have appreciated it more if Springtrap at least tried to acknowledge his feelings. At least a little. "If he was anybody else, there would have been no concern from me at all. But when it's someone you know, and if we both know what happened in the past, I felt rather off inside."

"And I understand that." Alright. So maybe Springtrap was not actually trying to be heartless towards him. "But a close friend like that? If someone like Bowser needs to be put down again, you gotta be ready for it. You have to continue to make these hard decisions with no hesitation. This is one selfish game, sure. But that's what we all need to adapt to. You'll see on the jury bench at the next tribal, and you two will be fine."

"Okay, I hear ya. Let me just try to get some sleep." He turned on his heel to get back to the shelter, figuring that it was best to have his thoughts together by the next morning. "It might be a wet one tonight, so I'd rather already be in a slumber before it happens."

"So I got rid of the person I wanted out, which was Bowser. That was a success. But when we got back to camp, I ended up having to give Wolf of all people a little pep talk. Look, I understand where he's coming from. I've watched my allies go home to before. I was fighting tooth and nail in my season to keep myself in Rodin in the game as long as possible even though we were on the bottom for almost the entire post-merge phase of the game. I was alone by myself after he left, but I had to deal with it. Sure, the situation is not the same as this one, but I still need Wolf to be in this with me. The plan was to keep to myself, and I got that. Now there's no way anyone else can convince him to be a close ally of theirs for the rest of the game. I want all the options here. And tomorrow we'll continue to plot until we see a way to that final tribal."

Scale of one to ten. Honestly, how much did Springtrap really care for Wolf in this situation?

Darleem

Day 32

"And there's no tree mail..."

Zelda placed the lid back on the urn, Shovel Knight standing right next to her. "Looks like there's not going to be a reward challenge today. Do you think it's fair for all of us to get an extra meal in today?"

"I wouldn't be opposed to it." Shield Knight's partner shrugged his shoulders. "But with anything like this, you know we would have to discuss it with the rest of the tribe. That's part of our own standard practice."

"Haha! Of course we're going to talk about it with the rest of the tribe, silly. There might be a couple that may be rather hesitant at first, since we still have to watch over the food rations. The rain has stopped though, so if enough people are actually against it, perhaps we should take the raft and go fishing."

"Speaking of fish, do you feel like you're getting the hang of it?"

"Trying to." She nodded sighing. "I really should have been learning a lot more about how to do back in Emperors vs Knights. Say if something happens to you, other people would have to step up and do the fishing. Donkey Kong and Wolf are still here. They know how to fish as well, but it'd still be a nice skill to learn before I leave here."

"Hmm... Maybe we can go fishing, anyway." Shovel Knight took a glance up at the sky. "Very few clouds in the sky. Since we might not have a challenge today, I suppose we have some extra time. Since I'm still around, I can help sharpen your skills. Maybe today we can practice having you going underwater. We can let you borrow the spear."

Her eyes enlarged at the sound of that. "A-Are you sure? You really think I could do it?"

"You can do anything if you set your mind to it. It is somebody all folks say, but if you're willing to try, I'll be right with you. We would not have to worry about being separated from the tribe for too long, since everybody else can see us in plain sight. What do you say?"

"..."

Aaaand they were on the raft. Both players used one more each to paddle along, Donkey Kong, Plague, and Ryu all eyeing them far into the distance.

"There they go." Ryu mumbled.

"We might as well take turns using the raft all day." said DK. "We need all the food we can get."

"They'd better catch something." The hunger was already getting to Plague, him turning on one side to rest his eyes on the bed of the shelter.

"Zelda lately has been focusing on the survival aspect of the game lately. She has gotten better with fire, and she's also working herself to death around camp." So at least in Shovel's eyes, she was not exactly useless to the tribe. "Though she's admitted that she has little to no experience with fishing. And with all the help she's given me of how to play this game of how to be a better strategist, perhaps being her mentor of how to be a better survivalist is the least I can give her in return."

Hmm. Well that was apparently the current state of their relationship summarized in a few words.

"And of course, come back up when you're ready to take a break. The snorkeling mask right here is pretty useful." Shovel proceeded to grab it for her. "And even if you don't come back with anything, it's not going to be the end of the world. Even I have my bad days sometimes..."

She giggled. "I suppose that makes me feel a bit more comfortable, especially since this is my first try. I assume Shield Knight is just as good as you."

"I remember the day I first started to train her." As if it was just the day before. "She was struggling the first couple times. Nowadays I feel like she's better at it than me. Maybe if she was here, she'd be an even bigger help for you."

"Well at least she learned from a great teacher. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this with me. Hopefully they're not dragging your name through the mud at the camp..."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous." Shovel Knight stared in the direction the shelter was. "If I have the opportunity to train you to do this, I'm taking it. And also, we haven't really had a setback since Vector. The two of us and Yoshi have been doing good."

"...Is there anyone staring at us?" Zelda felt like looking herself, but her friend was already doing so. It was best to not have accidental, awkward eye contact with anyone else that might have been looking their way.

"I see Ryu and Donkey Kong, and I think Plague's lying down in the shelter. But none of them are eyeing our way." He shifted his focus back to Zelda. "I'm pretty sure we all felt bad for Wolf and Bowser both last night. Well,... except for probably Springtrap."

"I saw them having a conversation before we went to bed. I have the feeling that he probably told Wolf to keep his head in the game or something." Pretty good guess. "I mean, I get what he was trying to do. He was scared of Wolf bringing Bowser in to take out whoever they want down the line. He probably made the move that suited his best interest. But for Wolf? He was not even thinking about writing his name down until he brought it up to him. Wolf telling Bowser that he was going home was not even planned according to him."

"Do you think we should still trust Springtrap for this next vote? ...Who would be the easy vote for right now? Ryu or DK?"

"Either one of them going home is this point is fine for me." As long as one of them went home, Zelda felt there was no wrong answer. "Ryu has the most consistent in these immunity challenges, and Donkey Kong has the story of all of his friends and allies being sent home. Isabelle, Mario, Sonic, Meta Knight, Ridley, Golden, and now Bowser. If he's the last one remaining of his alliance and he wins his way to final tribal, that alone is enough to earn him some votes. ...But like I said, Ryu is probably even more likely to win an immunity necklace at the wrong time messing up whatever plan we might have in place."

"For our best interest, everyone else should be going home except for us and Yoshi. It's just a matter of who's going home when. Say if the best play right now is to stick with the easy vote, I'll write down Ryu or DK. But if we feel that it's time for a blindside, we take out either Plague, Wolf, or Springtrap. Even Master Hand knows what the core alliances are. That's what this game has come to."

"Well with that being said, we have five more rounds to get everything right before the final tribal." Zelda then put the snorkeling mask on with Shovel handing her the spear. "Okay... I'm going in."

"Just take your time and remember to take the shot if you feel like it's worth it."

"Okay..."

And with that, she was underwater.

Music: Underwater Theme

Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Now in spite of her being out of comfort zone, Zelda all of a sudden find herself to be pretty relaxed. There were all sorts of underwater animals that had her feeling happy inside. She wanted to smile, but she was wearing her snorkeling mask making it impossible.

She just could not have helped but stare in awe.

"I never knew how... peaceful it was to just been down in the water with all the fish. Spear fishing is something that takes a bit of energy to do, but I feel like it's a useful skill that I should give a bit of a try before I leave here. But it's apparently more fun that I imagined. I don't know why it took me this long to give it a shot, but I'm glad I did. Sure, we have to unfortunately spear some of them so that we can eat even though the fish usually just minded their business. But at the end of the day, it's always good to try something new. Link knows how to fish back at home, but we don't really do spear fishing back in Hyrule because spears and snorkeling masks aren't around and even he had to learn how to do it when he played in his season."

Now that was one takeaway from the Survivor experience. And Zelda was so focused on seeing how peaceful the fish were, she almost forgot she had a task to do. The tribe needed to eat, and they wanted to know if they could eat something before they even touched the rice that day. What if all the rice was gone and they had nothing else to eat?

So it motivated to take a shot at this one fish swimming by a rock. It was not too small, but a plan probably needed to be put in place for it to be divided into eight pieces.

When she felt like the timing was right, she thrust the spear forward...

...and she was only able to hit the rock. The fish was just too fast for her.

Now she had to tell Shovel Knight the unfortunate news as she made her way back to the surface.

"You okay?" He immediately scooted over to her side. "How was it?"

"I actually tried to get something down there, but it got away."

"It's fine. You gave it a shot, but you weren't so lucky. Sometimes it's a matter of trial and error."

Still feeling a bit unsatisfied she sighed. "I'm really feeling the emptiness in my stomach now. The hunger might actually be starting to get to me. But,... it was different and fun. I'm enjoying it. Thank you for taking me out here."

"Shovel and I have become even closer throughout this season. It's good to know that we're both still in the game together, and nowadays we're both mentoring each other. Right now I can comfortably say that I have no issue taking him and Yoshi to the final three. I bet it would look really nice bringing my two closest allies to the finals without ever breaking alliance. There's no reason why I would take anyone else to day thirty-nine, so all I'd have to do is continue to protect him and hope they'll protect me in return. Though there is only one concern I might have." What was the catch? "Since I've been teaching Shovel Knight about the ways of the game, the one thing that I'm hoping he doesn't do is find himself in a situation where he feels like he has to put his name down. He actually betrayed Meta back in the pre-merge. Though others may not expect it, he's already shown that even he's capable of voting out whoever he needs to. Oh, Goddesses... Would he actually turn around and find a reason to put my name down? It'll show how big a player he has become, but he could send me home. I'm really hoping it never comes to that..."

Moving onto Springtrap...

"Hopefully he's finding a way to move on from this, because the main thing we need to focus on is our big group right now. Our little group in particular."

He and Plague were wandering through the woods. While Zelda was snorkeling, Kevin actually called Plague to follow him, meaning he had to unfortunately get up... Yes, not the worst thing in the world. But everyone had those days of not feeling doing anything. Yet if a strategic conversation was needed, Plague was not against the idea.

"We only have seven days left in this game, and there are five more rounds of elimination before the finals. And I'm trying to do whatever I can to the three of us there. We of course need to get DK and Ryu out of here, but I know the Hero Three are planning to get to the finals, too."

Well, there it was. Two final three deals on the spot. Sounded like there was going to be some competition there.

"I'll be surprised if they aren't doing that." Plague Knight agreed. "And they're gonna eventually try to get us out of here, because even they know that there are three spots at the end, not six."

"And I personally would love to be there. Unlike you, I've never gone there before. And if you want to hold your perfect record of never being voted off, I can help you and Wolf for as long as I can. But if we go after each other right now, we're the next three members on that jury.

"Um, well one thing that I have learned from my last season is that... I'm actually not the only one playing this game." In other words, not everything went his way. He had to drop that expectation to avoid himself being butthurt over every misfortune that came his way. "Those heroes are trying to paint a perfect picture that we're one big happy family of six, and they are probably feeling the same way about us."

"Exactly. And it's only a matter of time before the six breaks apart." Springtrap then thought about what Plague told him about his time in Mexico. "I'm pretty sure Specter Knight put you in your place. You felt like you needed that?"

"Well, I normally don't back down from anybody. But as harsh as Specter can be, he'll sometimes say things that I might not want to hear, but what I need to hear." Though as much as he wanted to think about him, he decided to push it aside for the time being. "So, I... guess we can continue to play up and tell them that we're still targeting whatever's left of SGA? It's better for them to not get the slightest hint that we're thinking about turning the tables on them... When the timing's right. It's more about what's going to happen if we take one of them out now? Will Ryu and DK win the rest of the immunity challenges?"

"That's probably gonna be the one thing that might prevent us from pulling the trigger on them for this next round. The two remaining members of SGA are options that'll satisfy us all, but we need to be prepared if we feel like we need to do something else. All we need to is to make sure Wolf doesn't all of a sudden get close to DK as well, who was another crucial member in his alliance in Kodai Island..."

"Last night after Bowser left, Springtrap pulls me aside and gave me a lecture of how I needed to just get over it and move on." Wolf spoke. "Okay look, it's not that because of what happened, I've gotten all soft inside. In my life in general, I do my best to have a solid exterior. But I'm still a person. That's what humanizes you. And honestly, I don't think Springtrap has ever been in a situation where he actually had to vote someone off that he cared about. He lost Rodin, but they were both on the bottom together with their backs against the wall. It wasn't no Foxy-Bonnie situation where he had to vote him out 'cause he had no other choice. And for Val? After she jumped ship, he literally tried guilt-tripping her to keep him in the game as long as possible knowing that she stabbed him in the back. So he never actually had to go through what I went through."

That was definitely a way of looking at it. "As a result, he's basically telling me to toughen up and keep going. And I have the mind to keep going, because I'll slay every man or woman out here to get to the top. But when you lose a loved one, you need your time to grieve about it. It's hard to just bounce back. Long story short, he knows what he's doing. He's trying to limit my options. And I get that he's a gamer, but I ain't stupid. But I'll keep going for now, because I still need him to stay in this game. Or else, he ends up going home next and that'll definitely do anything but help my situation."

Now it was his turn to talk to Plague...

"What I'm trying to say is that though it's important to keep a level head out here, but we all have our moments. I know nobody expected me to be that emotional yesterday, but I just couldn't help it. And if that alone was enough to tear my 'bad boy' persona, so be it. ...I can't be cold-hearted all the time, because that would mean that I'm rather one-dimensional. ...You get what I'm saying?"

"Oh, I understand. That's kind of what we talked about before we headed to tribal." The master alchemist found no reason to pound on him for having a complex set of emotions, with him knowing first hand of what they felt like. "You know, one thing I have learned from my season was that as much as I wanted to go through the game alone,... that wasn't the case."

'One thing I have learned from my season'... Was Plague aware that he was repeating himself to each of the Cool Kids? Because if he was, he was going to have a bit to think about in his mind after hearing the perspectives of both players.

"Jimmy? Specter? They were both good allies for me to have. Jimmy was funny, and I felt like I needed that. Specter on the other hand was not ever afraid to say whatever he wanted, whether it made me feel some type of way or not. But I needed him, he needed me, and he unfortunately got idol'd out. However, there's one thing I can say... he saved me."

"Heh." Wolf grinned. "I'm sure he did... But I also think that your tribe not voting you out immediately after the merge was a fatal mistake from them."

"That too, but Specter didn't have to do that for me. He could have easily saved that idol for himself, but he felt that he needed me for his own game. So he played his idol saving my life in the game." Everyone knew that Plague in that moment really wished Specter was there physically. He tried to slide him to the side in his head, but at that point it could not have been helped. "If it wasn't for those two rounds, I wouldn't have made it all the way to day thirty-nine. I don't even think I would have been even thought of to be on this season."

"And then you went on to grow an actual friendship with him. The both of you have shown that this season."

It was kind of cringe for him to admit, but it was true. "Sometimes I feel like these days he'll just say things just to say them in order for me to react a certain way. ...Like he's trying to make fun of me."

"Well Panther and I make fun of each other all the time, but I get where you're going with it. Bottom line is that he's a good friend to you and he helped you start to grow as a person. It all goes back to our conversation at that coffee shop reward."

"I just talked with Springtrap and Wolf for about fifteen minutes combined." He heaved a sigh, especially knowing that the both of them were unaware of the other person having a rather similar conversation with the scientist. "It gets tiresome sometimes when people constantly want to talk to you, and you have to do all this talking. Just too much talking."

...Ooookay? Perhaps for now on, everybody on the show had to be silent for fifteen minutes a day. Plague Knight's orders. No more talking until he felt like he was ready

"But I do notice something that sort of distinguishes the two of them. Both times when I talked about Specter, Springtrap and I talked nothing but game. He's trying to help me out by doing whatever he can to avoid us being on the chopping block. And then when I was with Wolf, he's trying to tell me that it's okay to... be vulnerable and open sometimes. It's something that is rather difficult for me to do, but Wolf seems to have no issue with it at all. It is like he doesn't even care what people think about him when he gets saddened or whatever he's feeling inside. That's something I find interesting about him. ...Maybe I am learning something regardless. All I know is that I can take notes from the both of them. If it weren't for them being in the game, I'll be all by myself again with nowhere to go. If they can help me become a better player or a better person, I have nothing against it. I would need to strategize to get to that final tribal like I did last time, but be prepared for people to question who am I overall. And if I give them the right answers to their questions, I might actually get the votes to win this time."

Darleem

Day 33

"There'd better be something in it this time..."

The following morning, Wolf and DK decided to volunteer to get whatever tree mail there was. They both figured since there was nothing in store for them the previous day, the chances of them returning to camp empty-handed were slim to none. For day thirty-three, there were simply too many players left in the game to not have an immunity challenge. Sure there was not a chance of food being involved in some way, but at least there was something to look forward to in case certain people began to get bored at the camp.

"You this the next challenge is gonna be a race or another endurance test?" asked Donkey Kong. "Either way, I feel like immunity is the only way for me to stay in. And when you feel like you gotta win to get in, you hope that there's something they have available that you're good at. If not, then it'll be time to pray to the Survivor Gods that they're on my side."

"I know I've never won immunity before, so that's never crossed my mind at all to be honest with you." He never did win immunity, did he? All the other returning contestants from Kodai Island won immunity except for him. In general, the only other person that has not won a single immunity necklace was Yoshi... Wolf should have been ashamed of himself. This was embarrassing. "Because of that, I learned to have no expectations when it comes to immunity challenges. If it happens, it happens. If not, then I'll just strategize as normal and try to convince people to keep me around."

Okay, fair enough.

"It'll be a shame if you end up leaving right after 'you-know-who'." The eye patched smasher continued. "I know you and I were never the closest, but there is still that familiarity. And we never had any problems with each other."

"Bowser benefited us in both seasons in some way. That's probably the main thing we have in common with each other." And that was it right there. "We're both missing having hm around, even though things have quieted down."

He snickered knowing what he meant by it. "He was always making us laugh depending on the things he'd say. But really. You and I are good. Okay? And if I have to vote you off today, it was nice knowing you too."

"Well you can always come to me in case you need my help getting somebody else out that you might have in mind..." They both made it to the urn with DK opening the lid. And yes, there was mail inside. "Perfect. We got something."

"Wolf's been coming up to me quite a bit as of late. He's talking to me about Bowser, checking up on me in general, and whenever he has something interesting to talk about with me. He's never talked with me that much before, but I see an opportunity in that. I know I'm probably the next to leave, but if I have a way in, maybe Wolf is the perfect person for it. All he has to do is get Ryu and I together, and we can help him do whatever he wants. So if anything, I'm hoping to have as many conversations as I can 'cause it could be the very thing that saves my life."

Opening the envelope, O'Donnell read the message out loud.

"'Though you all have gotten a break yesterday, soon it will be time to head out once more. Whoever finishes this race the fastest, an immunity necklace will be what you score.'" He paused for a second in thought. "Heh... Sooner or later the writers are gonna run out of ideas to make these rhymes work."

Day 33

"Alright. You guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, Springtrap, you already know what to do. Come on."

"Okay... No need to be so demanding." He complained stepping away over to the Master Hand, a few giggles being heard in the process.

"Hey, my necklace, my rules." Yeah, it was Springtrap's word against the big boss. It was not going to go rather well. "Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, each of you have a hundred and fifty wooden tiles. You will use those tiles to build a house of cards ten feet tall. First person that reaches ten feet, wins immunity, guaranteeing a one in seven shot at winning the million. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the thirteenth person voted out of Survivor - Heroes vs Villains and will become the sixth member of our jury. This challenge was done back in season two, Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Shovel Knight, Zelda, you guys both participated, Shovel Knight won individual immunity."

"Feels good to win something." He commented. "That gives me more confidence that I can pull it off again."

"You better be praying in your mind to win it. We'll draw for spots, we'll get started."

Was it just one person noticing, or was anyone else realizing that the Master Hand was developing less of a filter these days? Was that just part of his personality or what?

-/-

From left to right, Zelda, Shovel Knight, Ryu, Plague Knight, Springtrap, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Wolf all stood in front of your stations ready to get the challenge going. And that tree mail clue did sort of matched the challenge's description. It was going to be a race, so there was no need for a certain lupine to be so harsh towards it.

"Alright. For immunity and a guaranteed spot at the final seven. Survivors ready? Go."

Yes, it was pointless to shout this time due to it not actually being a foot race or something. But anyway, the challenge went underway.

"You have to be faster than the other person, but you also need to be careful. Find your perfect mix between the two."

The two of contestants who already performed at this challenge has the experience needed to perform well. That was something the other six castaways had to look out for, since off the bat.

"Hey..." Shovel Knight mouthed her way. "This is our challenge. Me or you. Okay? Or Yoshi."

She nodded in understanding.

"I don't think we can let anyone else win this one."

Ryu was right behind Shovel Knight as he heard most of what was said. Shaking his head, he knew it was only more motivation for him to work harder.

The last time the challenge was done, Knuckles the Echidna was the first casualty because he had no patience. He was trying to reach the ten feet mark as fast as possible by simply stacking up all the cards in a vertical fashion. Though the concept sounded simple enough on paper, he had no solid base like how Zelda and Shovel were currently demonstrating. No solid base to keep the stack steady, he was basically asking for the whole thing to collapse.

So it was good to see that everyone else was trying to have something sturdy at the bottom. But there were a couple of folks that were really starting to build their stack up.

"Right now it is Zelda, Shovel Knight, Donkey Kong, and Wolf that are already at about two feet. Two from Kodai Island, two from Emperors vs Knights."

Yet one of them did not have much long for long, as DK's small stack fell apart after placing just one tile the wrong way.

"Now DK has to start again."

It was best not to worry, DK. That was not the first casualty of the challenge and it was not going to be the last. For example, Wolf's short stack collapsed as well.

"Wolf has to start over."

"Aw, tartar sauce."

Wrong series, Wolf. This was not Spongebob Squarepants.

More leeway for Zelda and Shovel Knight. Though the two competitors they now had to look out for were Springtrap and Plague Knight. The both of them seemed to have something sturdy enough.

"Make sure it's strong enough, Plague." Springtrap mumbled. "One of us or Wolf need to get this."

"Well, Shovel and Zelda are both ahead of us."

It seemed obvious that the only people rooting for Ryu and DK were each other and they were both separated by the two villains. And Donkey Kong was right behind Plague as he heard this, but he eyed back to what he was doing. Psh... Haters.

"Right now it is Shovel Knight that is at the four foot mark. Zelda slowing down a little, but she's in second place approaching the four foot mark. Springtrap and Plague are both getting ready to be at the three foot mark."

The other four needed to get something going now, Yoshi's stack falling apart.

"Yoshi has to start over."

So it was Shovel Knight currently in the lead on his own, great advantage for him at the moment with the addition of him already winning the challenge... Unlike Bowser, who did not win his own challenge in the previous round.

"Can anybody catch Shovel? If he pulls the off, he'd be the first person in Survivor history to ever win the same individual immunity challenge... twice."

"Just keep going, Shovel." Zelda was not too far behind, but she was moving a bit slower than her fellow alliance member. "Just don't rush too much."

"Donkey Kong is starting to hustle. He knows exactly where he stands in this tribe. Ryu's trying to be as patient as he can."

He wanted to hurry up. Yet in his mind, he was assuming the worst case scenario. For his situation in the game at the moment, he did not have enough room to make a mistake and have his stack fall to the ground.

"Shovel Knight is at six feet. Springtrap is at five and a half feet. Plague Knight at five feet."

Oh no. Springtrap was catching up. Would it have hurt Shovel Knight to move a bit more quickly without being too risky at the same time?

Wolf took a couple glances at Springtrap's house of cards. He knew he was going to have a mixed reaction if he won. For his own sake, it was best to just focus on himself.

"It is Shovel versus Springtrap right now. Plague trying to catch up!"

Castaways were now starting to use the step ladders behind them due to their stacks becoming too tall for them to reach.

Kevin Davis took another quick stare at Shovel Knight's stack. There he was. He was almost right there and they would have been neck-n-neck...

...until his stack all of a sudden completely crashed down.

"No!"

"Springtrap loses everything!"

Cursing under his breath loudly, he immediately hopped down from his ladder to get all of his tiles together.

"He now has to start all over again. Shovel Knight gets to keep his lead. He now has to worry about Plague Knight catching up to him."

"Good job, Shovel." Zelda muttered again. "Keep going."

Yoshi was only at two and a half feet at the time. "See? Look at them. I don't have that big of a shot catching that..."

It was coming to a point where literally everyone was occasionally eyeing the current front runners. All they could have hoped for was one for either Shovel or Plague to mess up. Zelda held onto third place, just a foot behind.

"Shovel Knight is now at seven and a half feet. Plague at six and a half feet. Zelda passing the five foot mark now."

She took a quick look at Shovel's tower before paying attention to her own work. However, something caught her eye that made her shift her eyes again.

"Shovel, careful... The top of your stack is leaning too far to the left."

"...!? Oh dear..."

"You're gonna have to do something to fix that."

What to do? Keep pressing on and hope that the tower does not come crashing down? Or prevent the issue before it occurred, risking Plague Knight taking the lead? What was worse?

Master Hand simply 'stared' at everything, because he was the host and they were not. "...Shovel Knight seems to be wanting shift over a bit of his stack. If it falls over, he would have to start all over again which would make him go from first to dead last very quickly. Plague Knight now has the advantage."

Even though it seemed like the cloaked knight was not paying anybody any mind, he did indeed heard the Master Hand. The man just felt like keeping his concentration. He already won the necklace before, and now he was in the running to do it again.

"Shovel..." Just by watching how the entire top of his stack was visually wobbling to the left looked scary enough. What a way to give people at home anxiety. "He's trying to shift his stack over one inch at a time to get it properly centered..."

Yoshi took a moment to see what was going on for himself.

"..." The shovel wielder heaved a sigh. "I'm going to have to rebuild a little."

Yet he said a tad too late, as quite a few of his tiles ended up falling off anyway.

"And that's a setback right there for Shovel Knight. That was probably about a quarter of his stack. Now he's just under the six foot mark."

Though he did not lose everything, that was still such a misfortune for him.

"Plague Knight now has the lead getting past seven feet, now!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming..."

"Zelda is gonna have to be the one t"o catch him and she knows it!" Finally the princess was starting to move a little more quickly. "She's getting ready to approach six feet."

Though Donkey Kong was really hurrying up, already at the four foot mark. However, his buddy Ryu was a foot ahead of him. But the both of them still had to worry about passing Shovel Knight before even thinking about the main two front runners.

"Plague Knight is approaching the eight foot mark! This is his challenge to lose right now."

Now it was Shovel who was eyeing other peoples' stacks, him now once again passing the six foot mark just under Zelda.

"Shovel is back in it, but he needs to hustle!"

And quickly, too! Plaguey was already almost done! Eight and half feet down, only one and a half feet left to go.

Springtrap was hurrying up in spite of him sort of being out of it. He still had his sturdy base, but afterwards he was doing the simple 'just put two tiles down vertically and lay another tile flat on top of them' kind of strategy. That was literally the one strategy that was never proven to works, just like Knuckles from season two. Maybe that showed just how desperate he was to get the necklace.

The only positive to that was him approaching five feet. Although, his whole stack once again fell in a matter of second causing him to groan. So much for 'slow and steady wins the race.'

"Plague Knight's now at nine feet! Zelda and Shovel Knight are both at seven and a half feet. Can, they, catch him?"

The alchemist needed to quickly move and finish it. If he messed up now, it was over for him a hundred percent.

"...I got it!" He immediately moved his hands away, Master Hand immediately beginning to count down to ensure his tower was not going to go anywhere.

"Three... Two... One..."

"PLAGUE KNIGHT WINS IMMUNITY!"

"Oooh! Yaaay!"

He hastily climbed his way down, already rushing over to retrieve the immunity necklace for a second time.

"That was the closest I've been in a challenge for a while." Zelda was saddened that neither she, nor her friend was able to get finish the job. "We were close, Shovel. We did a good job today."

"Thanks, but if I paid more attention closely, I would have made the Survivor history books."

"Don't be so hard on yourself.."

Springtrap heaved a sigh in frustration, but he knew he could not have been too mad at Plague Knight just because he was somebody in his core alliance.

"I can't seem to get the hang of these challenges at all..." Yoshi was disappointed for his own reasons. "I don't know if I really stand out in anything."

Well for the dinosaur's case, the closest he came to winning a necklace was at the final five challenge in the Caribbean. It was a brand new challenge and he was in second place by the time it was finished. But guess who he was competing against? Ken Masters. Yeah, the one that broke Sonic's record.

"Okay Plague, hold on a minute." Master Hand saw the scientist literally jumping the joy, barely even giving him enough time to take it off the post to give it to him. "Alright, here you go. Two times you've won this. You are safe at Tribal Council, not going home."

Donkey Kong stared at the ground. This was not good.

"As for the rest of you, you are all vulnerable. Tribal Council tonight, somebody going home where they will be joining Shadow, Ridley, Vector, Golden, and Bowser on that jury. Plague Knight, it will not, be, you. Everybody head back to camp. See ya tonight."

"Donkey Kong and I have nowhere else to go." Ryu shook his head, feeling like he was going to be one next to go. "This is ridiculous. We're back into a corner, and we just lost Golden and Bowser back to back. We don't have an idol, and the chances of one of us being invulnerable has slipped through both of our fingers. We both know what we really needed the immunity necklace. A blindside is the only thing we can hope for at this point. So hopefully we say the right things to the right people in this six to provoke them to turn on each other."

SURVIVOR DISCUSSION TIME

Okay so after the whole Wolf-Bowser situation, we're going to be discussing another one of the most notable betrayals in Survivor history. Caribbean's final eight where Ken out of nowhere flips on Simon in one of the biggest blindsides of the season.

So Rodin and Springtrap were at the bottom of the tribe at the final nine. Rodin was the primary target, so he was voted out leaving Springtrap all alone. And at that point, he was so sick and over Ken, Simon, and Vector, since he perceived those three to be running the show ever since the start of the merge.

After Springtrap accidentally knocked Simon Belmont in the head with a giant puzzle piece at a really rainy immunity challenge (out of a desperate attempt to hurry up and finish the challenge first), poor Springy couldn't finish the challenge in time because Ken won his third immunity (3 out of the 5 he was going to win that season).

So with nowhere else to go, the obvious move to the majority alliance was to finally get rid of Springtrap... However, that ended up not being the case at all. Simon actually wanted to blindside Vector, and there has been a little talk about it since people felt like he had a high chance of winning if he reached the final. But then, Ken wanted to get rid of Simon feeling like the perception was that the two of them were two close to each other, and Ken would have lost to Simon in a final three situation (guessing the jury would have assumed Ken rode Simon's coattails). The move overall was Ken's breakout moment, completely changing the perception around him.

But it was a flawed move, since Ken ended up figuring out himself that he targeted Simon one or two rounds too early. There was probably talk from Ken that he would have convinced Simon to not turn on Vector at the time (I really do think he would reveal this later on, but I can't say for certain and I don't want to flip through too many chapters right now cause I'm lazy lol). But Ken, Simon, and Vector were all the three biggest threats in the game. Springtrap was all alone at the bottom with the least to lose. And then, Chrom, Val, Yoshi, and Doc Louis were the four smallest threats to win the game (at the time, but Doc Louis would eventually be the real winner). But if those four big threats banded together knowing how threatening they were,... would it have been a possible rock draw situation? Possible, but not certain. Maybe they would have convinced one more person to side with them...

Perhaps Vector wouldn't have actually wanted to backstab Yoshi here, maybe he would have convinced him to vote with them in that round. But the only thing is, he wouldn't have done that to Val at that point. No way. And with or without Doc Louis's vote, Chrom of all people would have went home here. Kinda strange at most, but for the big threat four, not a bad idea.

Lots of big chapters lately. This is without a doubt going to be the longest piece of work I ever put on their in the almost 15 years I've been on this site.

So,... who do yall expect to go home this time? Easy vote or blindside? Take your pick.