Heroes vs Villains - Ponderosa
Chapter 7 - Juror 7
Alright. So because of Shovel leaving, there are now two Kodai Island contestants, one Emperors vs Knights contestant, two Mexico contestants, and one Caribbean contestant left... That means if Zelda gets voted out right after Shovel Knight, it's definitely not gonna be a good look for season two lol. So hopefully that's not the case.
Let's see what Shovel thoughts are after just being voted out here...
~KF
"Greetings, folks! I am Shovel Knight, juror number seven. Welcome to my Ponderosa!"
Night 35
Well, all that for nothing. The Hero Three had one job. Literally all they had to do was to play the idol on the correct person. It was so, so simple. But did that happen? No. Now Shovel Knight lost his second chance at a million dollars and all he could have done was walk down the stairs in shame and embarrassment...
Nah, just kidding. Though an unfortunate situation, Shovel Knight was never known to be a 'sore loser' type. He was instead known for seeing things in a more positive manner, and this was one of those instances where he really felt the need to hold his head up high.
"It really was worth a shot. While things could have been different where I was still in the game as I speak, I can't even begin to imagine the level of humiliation and embarrassment poor Yoshi would have felt if he played it on me while the four wrote his name down sending him home. And he already doesn't have the best reputation in the Survivor community."
And this was not going to help much at all.
"I know Yoshi really wanted to save me or Zelda if it was her, but the idol was only meant for one person. It would have been foolish of me if I blamed him and ridicule him for saving himself. Zelda and I both would have considered doing the same thing if we were in his position. Hmm..." The shovel warrior began to picture of what would have happened if the idol was in his possession. "You know, if I was the idol holder, and if I ended up pulling an Espio by idoling myself out of the game, ...I would have found a way to deal with that. Just at the thought alone, it sounds embarrassing enough. Though at the end of the day, I would have gone down trying to help my friends. At least they both would have been safe, and I believe that it was a part of how Espio was picturing it as well. He hated to go out in the way he did, but he was only trying to protect his allies."
"Obviously anyone who didn't achieve as much success as they had on their previous season would feel rather unsatisfied. I feel unsatisfied because I of course did not end up receiving the full adventure like I wanted to. I thought to myself that even if I wasn't winning this season, my main goal was to up my level of strategic play. And it all started with me not voting for Luigi at that Final Tribal Council. From a gameplay perspective, I honestly felt like it wasn't his season to win. In spite of it, people were rather shocked that I didn't vote for him to win. The jury (myself included) preferred Marth's gameplay over him and Zelda, and it really opened my eyes of how important of a factor strategy is when it comes to getting far in the game. I've made it far in my first season even though I wasn't seen as the most strategic player, but I do believe that I would have had a higher shot at winning if I had some level of gameplay in me."
"When I first signed up to be on Survivor, I was purely in it for the adventure. I was aware of the competitive nature of the game, but it never really hit me of how strategic and cutthroat people were until I actually stepped foot on the island. People have done things that morally they are not proud of, but are more than comfortable doing things out of a more strategic point of view while keeping their morals intact outside of the game. Thinking of it that way in combination of how Final Tribal Council went in Emperors vs Knights, Shield Knight told me herself that it is okay to play from a strategic mindset. She herself had to learn how this game really is when she played in her season. ...All this in mind, thought to myself that all I could do this season was to adapt like everybody else and play within the best of my abilities."
"Coming into Heroes vs Villains with me representing one of the heroes kind of put a little bit of guilt in me, honestly. I had a plan to play some kind of game out here, and I was worried that if in the event I had to cut somebody off and break ties, I was going to be labeled as a villain in the eyes of my fellow castaways. Lo and behold, I blindsided Meta Knight, even though I viewed him as being a good friend considering I had yet to have a conversation with him at the time before this season began. To this day I feel as if a part of me died inside, since it goes directly against who I am as a person. But as everyone else says all the time,... it is just a game. Hopefully Meta Knight did not take it personal, but I would not even blame him if he did. It's up to him to forgive me. I just can not make him do that because I ended his game. Not the other way around."
He was approaching Crazy Hand's medical tent... Hopefully he was not going to give him the hardest time.
"Welcome aboard, Shovel Knight. So glad you could make it with us tonight."
"Well, we're the only ones here aside from a couple camera folks. But I'll just go with it." He sighed and plopped down in the chair, feeling rather exhausted. "Been a long day."
"Oh. You need some water? I have plenty in the mini fridge." Now if there was one thing about Crazy Hand, he never played around when it came to the castaways' health. Panther Caroso overexerting himself at the final six challenge greatly concerned him.
"...Sure. I'll take a bottle." His hand was already out. "Water does a man wonders."
"It really does. It's good for you." That was right. Staying hydrated was always important. There were far too many people out there that suffered for not having enough water in their system. "So what's tiring you out? Your body or your mind? ...Or is it both?"
"Oh, it is everything. You are constantly reminded every minute of every day of the reality of the competition and how brutal it could get. ...I forgot to remove my helmet." Placing the water bottle down on a nearby table, his face was revealed for the whole universe to see. Though it was up to the imagination of what Shovel actually looked like. "But right now, I suppose I am feeling it all at one time. It really wears you out."
Finally taking a sip of his water, he continued. "It still blows my mind of how hard people play just to get to the top. And there are a lot of contestants that need the million dollars, further adding motivation for them to do everything they can to get what they desire. All I could have done was keep up. And I tried, but... clearly things did work out in the way I hoped. Now all I could do is root for those that I feel deserve to win the title of Sole Survivor. And for me personally, I am rooting for Zelda the most. She really deserves it."
He was now reading his new weight on the scale. "...87.2."
"Alright, so weighed in at 97.1 before you started. You lost 9.9 pounds this season, Shovel Knight."
"Whew... And before I competed in Emperors vs Knights, I weighed in at 92.9. You could say that I have put on a few pounds between seasons."
"Yes, I am already aware that I am not really the heaviest castaway in the world... Try your best to not make fun of me."
Social media was brutal for everyone, so it was best for Shovel to ignore his haters and not give them any attention. Good thing technology was not really a thing back in Chivaland.
Getting on to the boat, it was time for him to take a glance at the menu.
"I do love me some good food. Whenever I'm far away from Chivaland, eating some great meals always remind me of home. Maybe the Gastronomer should really consider coming out here to the Caribbean. Maybe he'll get some inspiration to make some new dishes."
The Gastronomer in the Shovel Knight game was basically known for cooking up meals for Shovel to harvest upon giving him a meal ticket, effectively increasing health capacity. Hopefully the Gastronomer saw Shovel's suggestion as a business opportunity. He was already giving him free promo by simply mentioning him. If his business was going to skyrocket, everyone would have already known why.
"Shovel Knight! Hurry up!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Still feeling a little tired, Shovel took his time in spite of Vector yelling at him to come on. Though he appreciated the fact that people were interesting in seeing him, he felt it being no point in continuing to push his body knowing he did not have to anymore. There were no more immunity challenges he had to participate in.
Him and Vector friendly embracing each other, he found himself shaking hands with Golden and Bowser.
"That was rather intense." Springtrap commented with folded arms. "I was half expecting Wolf to get the boot right after me so I could give him a piece of my mind. But it was you who got voted off instead... Sorry that the idol wasn't played on you man."
"None of us except for Vector expected Yoshi of all people to get it." Bowser spoke. "When did you find out?"
"Zelda and I found out yesterday when he told us. We all knew we were on the bottom, so Yoshi decided to let us know so we could have enough time to think about how we were going to play it. I think it's wrong for me to blame Yoshi for trying to save himself, because why would he not? He did not want to be embarrassed in front of the entire universe. So I have no reason to be upset with him."
"You have a point there. But still, it would have been interesting to see Yoshi actually pulling something off to boost his resume. It was probably his last chance to do something. He definitely has no chance at winning now."
"Rather harsh." Golden frowned at Springy's choice of words. "I was hoping the best for him, but... I guess realistically I can't ignore the truth. At this point, I'll be shocked if he doesn't make it to the end."
"At least Yoshi is going to have a record to his name regardless of what happens." Fredbear figured Yoshi was set to be the first contestant of the show to make it to the end twice without ever being voted out. "The only way I see him going out is if he draws a wrong rock. People would probably start to see him as the ultimate goat to take to the finals. The real question is who's going to be sitting at the end with him. Honestly, as long as DK or Ryu are at the end, one of them would probably win... I hope one of them pulls it out. I'll be the first one getting up cheering for them in support if one of them is gonna win the money."
"Shadow and Ridley are inside?"
"Yeah, because they're too scared to socialize." Springtrap replied. "It's not in their everyday vernacular."
"Ah. That's fine. It is no big deal, really."
"Maybe it isn't, but hopefully they at least speak to you. It's just common courtesy." Golden was right. It was not going to kill anyone by at least acknowledging the other person. "When Vector got here, he had to be the one to greet them and... something about that just doesn't sit right with me."
So how did they behave once Shovel actually got inside the cafe?
"Greetings, fellow former contestants."
"Hello."
Okay, Ridley spoke to him and Shadow gave him a wave. In terms of acknowledgement, that was obviously the bare minimum. But hey, it was something. Anything was before than Shovel not getting any acknowledgement at all.
Ridley actually continued to talk to him. "That was kind of smart of those four to not go after the safest option in Yoshi. He saw right through it and used the idol on himself. Taking you out was more of a risk, but in their eyes it was more worth it. They could have went straight for Zelda since she was always the strategic threat of your alliance, but they got rid of her right hand man. So they still accomplished something at the end of it all."
Alright, so everything he said right there had absolutely nothing to do with him being curious to how Shovel was feeling. Though at least he showed interest behind his elimination.
"Interesting. So you all Zelda as the more apparent strategic player. I would admit that is rather accurate. I was trying to play a more strategic game, but I can't say that I knew everything. I still needed a little help and luckily for me I had Zelda right by my side to coach me." It finally hit him of who exactly Shovel was talking to, suddenly feeling guilty again. "...Sorry for getting rid of Meta Knight back there. I know that you two are close."
"It's okay." Apology accepted. "It saddens me that he did not make it far at all, but it was something I never expected from you of all people. I didn't think you were smart enough to play any kind of strategic game and you've proven me wrong."
"I never took Shovel Knight seriously as a player in the game. I figured he was someone like Yoshi who did not understand the significance of the strategy element of Survivor." Well that was one way to judge a book by its cover. "I admit that I brushed him off, and maybe I shouldn't have. I should have known better myself that judging based off first impressions is foolish. It is no better than underestimating your opponent or other competition. I did owe him an apology, especially since he is the reason why Meta Knight and I never reunited this season... But Shovel proves that you really never know who might surprise you out here, and he's one of them."
The legendary knight sat down at the table. "The thing is that I was going to have him as a mentor, because it was only day twelve by the time I voted him out. And I know I still had a lot to learn. So once I got rid of him, Zelda basically took his spot and I kind of wanted to have Yoshi as a mentee, but he was closer to Vector since they both played Caribbean together."
"Yoshi looked up to you too." The crocodile commented. "Nobody expected you to do what you did. You voted out Meta to side with us, and Yoshi assumed you knew more about the strategic game than he did. It was just that he was more used to me like you just said."
He nodded in agreement. "Sticking with folks that you know is not a bad thing. I stuck with Zelda all this time and we ended up making top seven together. Placing seventh is not bad at all and Zelda is still in it even though she was a threat for making it to the finals in our past season."
"Well if you planned on taking Yoshi to the end, that was probably the right thing to do." said Springtrap. "Ain't nobody voting for him. But I do have to say if you took Zelda to the end, you would have done nothing in our eyes but ride her coattails."
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I was gradually preparing myself in the event that I needed to help write her off. Sending Meta home gave me the confidence to vote out pretty much anybody that I had to, even though voting out Zelda would have been a lot harder to do given our history together." He rested his fist against his face sighing. "It was simply never the right time and now she has outlasted me again. Though I do think she actually has a chance of winning this time. I really do."
"I really am going to miss being around Zelda and asking her for advice. And you know, as much as I wanted to become an official strategist, she wanted to get better at the survival aspect of the game. Because if you sign up to be out here, learning how to survive in the wilderness is something you are going to have to be able to do. And Zelda was very eager to learn. So with all the strategical advice she gave me, helping her out was the least I can do. It was also good for us to spend time with each other with those moments. We would talk about how we're both doing, bring up anything that happened in our past season, or pretty much anything random. We are both going to miss that, but... hopefully she keeps her head in the game like she always does. I even ordered a fish dinner in her honor."
And he did! As much as the castaways used fish as a substitute for all the rice they had to eat, it was something Shovel was not apparently tired of. Only difference was that it had much better presentation. A Caribbean Fish Stew.
All the other former contestants stared. Some were rather surprised of him not having enough of the fish, some finding it rather cute of him paying homage to the princess of Hyrule.
"Do you think the Gastronomer in your world would want some of that too?" asked Golden.
"He is always willing to try new things. I am pretty sure he would love this!"
Day 36
Day thirty-six...
Heroes vs Villains was really about to come to an end soon. It was almost time.
And the jurors realized this too, some of them eating breakfast with Shovel Knight.
"I suppose we're the end of the first generation." Golden heaved a sigh. "Feels like yesterday when I saw the first episode of Survivor - Kodai Island. Now it's all coming down to this."
"For me it still feels like I just started playing in Survivor - Caribbean." said Vector, putting a forkful of hashbrowns in his mouth without caring if he talked with his mouth full. "Day one... where all twenty of us were paddling that boat to the island. Time really does fly by fast, huh Ridley?"
He sat at the opposite end of the table. "I suppose it does. This is literally the exact same Ponderosa they used in our season. All they pretty much did was change a few of the details."
"At least we have a sense of familiarity. It's almost like the whole thing is a second home. And this is where it really all started before we were all called to leave to start the journey. It's just that most of the people we played with aren't around this time."
"The first All Star season of Survivor is almost over. When I get back home to Mobius, this is something that Espio and I will remember for the rest of our lives since he has a season under his belt too. Neither of us ended up getting the money, even after I played multiple times now. But it really was an adventure, and we're happy for what it was." What a way to add onto the legacy of Team Chaotix.
"It is pleasing for me to know that there are still people that look at the whole experience as a grand adventure." That put Shovel Knight at ease. "You know, there are people that participate in this competition to make friends or they come here to strategize, lie, cheat, and steal to get what they need. And that is fine. This is a very cut throat kind of game that might not be for everyone. But at the same time,... I believe this game is more than that. Think about it. We all have been blessed by the Survivor Gods to have played this game not once, twice. There are a lot of people from multiple worlds that apply for this show every single day. We just so happen to be the lucky ones. It's important to put that into perspective because at the end of the day, we learn something new by the time this adventure comes to an end."
"I a thousand percent agree with everything you just said." Golden bobbed his head up and down. "We all came here to play hard, but we also came here to see what we're made of. And that includes surviving in the wilderness, compete in brutal challenges, dealing with each other, getting to know different types of people, there are a lot of things that comes with Survivor. Not just one thing in particular that we are all thinking of. Maybe it's harder for some folks to understand, but... this is the most humbling adventure you will ever sign up for. And you really do have an opportunity to grow as a person. I know I have... What about you, Ridley?"
Oh. He put directly on the spot. Did he do that on purpose?
The dragon was sort of caught off guard, his eyes widening just a bit. "Oh, um... Well, I think that is something I can not deny. I suppose everyone sitting at this table is well aware that I am not the most sociable person out there. But,... lately I have been finding ways how to deal with it."
"And I believe that you have." Shovel Knight nodded. "I may not have been on the same season as you physically, but I did see you on television. You are really changing and you have made a lot of progress. It is something to note the fact that you are now comfortable opening up like this in front of us without even thinking twice."
He hunched his shoulders brushing it off as if it was nothing. "I still have a bit of a way to go. But,... I learned something. I know for one thing. I wish I would have performed even better at some of those challenges."
"So that you still would have been in the game?" Bowser cackled a little. "I get it. I wish I won the final nine challenge for obvious reasons."
"I do know that I have failed to win a single immunity this season. I wonder what would have happened if I won that last one, but it is what it is." Shovel Knight knew that there was absolutely no way to press rewind. It was already done. "Hopefully Shield Knight is still proud of what I have accomplished in the thirty-five days I was out there. Seventy-two days altogether."
"It is rather sad that my Survivor experience is being cut short because I was unable to make it any further, but it's an experience nonetheless. I enjoyed every minute and every second of it, and I wouldn't change a thing. And if I had yet another opportunity to take part in this, I would do it all over again. Without question. Even if I place last, no matter how far you make it into the game, you get to take something away from it and learn. Peach got voted out first in my first season, and she learned a lot about herself in the three days she was there. She mentioned that to Zelda, and she mentioned it to me. So that right there really says a lot about how this game could do wonders for you regardless of what happens. ...Don't take it for granted. As much as this game can bring out the worst in you, it can bring out the best in you as well."
Okay. So Shovel's Ponderosa chapter ended up being shorter than most of the other so far. I had an idea of including some other scene in there, but... I'm gonna save it for later. But thinking on my feet here, maybe Shovel doesn't really have a big personality at all. You could argue Golden doesn't have a big personality and he ended up having the biggest Ponderosa chapter of this whole mini-series, but... with people like him or Shovel, maybe it doesn't work all the time. Perhaps with Golden in particular I just got lucky lol. And like I said, I did think about including another scene but... it's gonna wait for right now.
But hopefully you got enough of Shovel Knight here. Vote for him on my poll if you care enough about him. Next time, we are finally going to start the penultimate episode of the season!