Heroes vs Villains - Ponderosa

Chapter 6 - Juror 6

Okay, so no more Springtrap. He got sent to the jury right after Bowser. Let's see what kind of words are gonna be exchanged between the two of them...

~KF

"Heya. I'm Springtrap, juror number six, and this is my Ponderosa."

Night 33

Back to back seasons. ...Was it worth it if he was just going to place one spot lower than his first time around?

"It was worth it." Alrighty then. The man said it himself. "I just played in Caribbean, came back here as an All Star, and I was able to compete with all the other big names here. Had a hell of a time. I ended up winning three challenges, made some moves, only thing I'm disappointed in is me not at least making top six since last time I was eliminated at seven. People got tired of dealing with me, and now the same thing is happening again. And I'm fine with it. I own up to everything I did."

"Unfortunately, Kevin 'Springtrap' Davis is not the winner of this season. I am so sorry for this unfortunate news that I have to bring to you all. Such a bummer, I know. But I've done all I could and it just... didn't happen. You can still root for Wolf and Plague... I guess."

"I knew it." The man chuckled to himself, pacing closer to Crazy Hand's tent. "I knew Wolf was up to something. Ever since Bowser left, he was talking to Donkey Kong all the time. And I don't even know if he was the one that threw my name out there or not. He even got Plague to vote me off, which is a shock to me on its own because I thought that I was somehow building an even better strategic relationship with him over me, but he ended up choosing to stick with Wolf over me. Why? I don't know."

But at the same time, he figured that it was what it was. Plague Knight had his reasons. In the event he had to face Plague if he was possibly going to sit at the finals, he felt like he needed an explanation regarding his motives to slit his throat.

"I feel like I may have done some things that the general public might not like throughout both of my seasons on this show. And to be fair, they are probably people that don't even regularly watch the show. They don't know what it's like out here and they simply don't understand the things we have to go through to get by. We have morals, yes. But Survivor isn't designed to be a moral based kind of game where you can just keep all your friends in and hope for the best. This is a game for a million dollars and everyone wants that money."

"Some people who don't even need the money still play as hard as they can, because it's all about competition. And everyone who signs up to compete in a game like this should know what's coming with them. The majority of people that I have played with all understand how things are, and that's why it's unfair for me to take everything personally, knowing the things that I've done to others. I gave it my all, I lost, I pay the price for it. Big shout out to the remaining seven players that are still in the running with even higher odds of winning now. I hope the best for all seven of you."

"The plan that I had in my mind was to take out Zelda. I almost went with the decision to vote for DK tonight, because Wolf started to get close to him after Bowser left. And I was determined to not give him any more leeway, or else he would have found himself in a position of power. I want to be in that spot, especially knowing that I personally didn't have any connection to DK and Bowser who both played on Wolf's season. But if things actually worked out for my benefit today and if Zelda actually went home in my place, the best boot order possible for me would have been..." He took a glance at the night sky in thought as he held fingers up. "-Donkey Kong, Shovel Knight, Ryu, and... either Wolf or Plague Knight. I'm actually just now thinking of voting off either one of them at four because Yoshi is just now crossing my mind. He would have been the easiest person to beat."

Though Springy found it best to hold off the post-game strategy talk for now. He was almost at Crazy Hand's tent, and he wanted to calm his mind anyway.

Upon entering the tent, he heaved a deep sigh sitting down in the chair.

But for Crazy Hand, he was 'eyeing' as if he was suddenly just as insane as he was.

"...What?" Kevin frowned in confusion.

"No knocking before entering and you don't even say 'hi'? Where are your manners? Who raised you?"

"Uh..." It was one of those situations where the person had a million thoughts flowing through their mind, yet by the time the mouth opened to speak, little to no words actually came out. "Sorry?"

"Oh." He 'blinked' in reaction, all of a sudden changing his mood in a matter of a second. "It's okay! As long as you say you're sorry, everything is always better. So how was your time on Survivor, Springtrap? What did you learn? Do you think you had a better time than your last season?"

"..."

The hand definitely knew how to put the 'C' in crazy, that was for sure.

"And then he acted as if nothing happened. ...Like, my apologies to anyone that actually has this problem. But is Crazy Hand bipolar or something? Because there is no way a sane person would act like that. I really don't understand peoples' thought processes sometimes, but... that's how some people work I suppose."

Maybe it was good to just not take him too seriously. Literally in private conversations, Master Hand warned his castaways about his brother all the time. And regarding Springtrap in particular, he honestly would have preferred the master to drag him with his words at challenges than to be in the same room with Crazy for even a minute.

But first, he had to get his blood pressure checked and then be weighed.

"...177.3 Three more pounds more than I weighed when I finished my run in Caribbean." The anthro turned to face him. "How much did I weigh again coming into this one?"

"194.6. So you lost 17.3 pounds within thirty-three days." Crazy Hand was writing down the notes on the piece of paper, which he had to bare down on a nearby desk. However, Kevin in his mind actually questioned what he was really doing. Since all he really heard were scribbles. And by the time Crazy finished talking, he used the tip of his pencil to slam down on the piece of paper. It not only made a hole in the paper denting the desk in the process, but it just simply made a unnecessarily loud noise.

The ears, Springtrap! The ears! "Okay... I guess I'm about done here. Lemme go before you tear your own house up."

"The 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' kinda thinking was kicking as I headed onto the boat realizing that it was time to meet the other jurors, since it was starting to hit me that I was gonna go home not being one hundred percent satisfied because I didn't even make it to the end, let alone win." He spoke as he was glancing over the menu to find what options they had that appeared appetizing to him... which was pretty much everything. So it took him a bit of time to figure out what he really wanted. "But then upon me first seeing them when I got off the boat, a part of myself was telling me since they were well aware of how I feel since they also got voted off, that they will sorry for me and give me sympathy. At least I have people that I could be mad with. Misery does love its company."

When it came to Springtrap, the Survivor fanbase never knew what was going to come out of his mouth. But he knew very well that it was not his job to dictate of how his fellow former players were supposed to react. It was not as if he had the ability to mind control them, have the five of them get on their knees, and say 'all hail King Springtrap.'

Nonsense.

"Aye!" A familiar voice called out, noticing the rabbit hopping off the boat in the distance. "That's what you get for voting me off last tribal! Get your springy-ass on over here!"

Uh-oh... Bowser.

See? He had no ability to control how the other jurors were supposed to think. So much for sympathy, right?

Kevin sighed, the poor animal realizing he was not going to get his way. "Looks like I gotta prepare myself to be torn apart..."

Upon finally reaching them though, Bowser with folded arms grinned from ear to ear. Maybe he was not going to exactly kill Springtrap on the spot. It was sort of giving him the 'yeah you screwed me over, but it's all good' kind of look.

That enough was able to put him at ease, even shaking hands with him to confirm there was no beef. "Sorry. I just couldn't handle you and Wolf getting any closer, so you became too big a threat for my game."

"I can understand that. I don't see how I can be fond of the number nine for the rest of my life, but Survivor is one hell of a game and things like that can happen to anyone." One thing about Koopa was that both times he was a juror, he was a good sport... except when it came to Mewtwo (whom everybody ignored when he arrived at Ponderosa).

Golden slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Didn't expect all of them to vote you out. I suppose this is the end of your karma, pal."

"Whew..." He felt it more appropriate to discuss everything upon getting inside. "Don't even get me started."

"Springtrap getting voted out right after me was one thing on its own, but every last person put his name down including Wolf himself." It was just straight up music to Bowser's ears. "Just perfect! I don't think it could have gone any better. When I got voted out, at least I had DK and Ryu to fight for me. Springy here had both Wolf and Plague as allies to fight for him, and they just let him go just like that! So you know people have gotten tired of him, and I'm glad he's here... But as a player of the game myself, I'm not angel either. That's why I feel like I've no reason to be pissed off at him, because people would probably still think of me as a bigger sinner in the game than him.'

He, Golden, and Vector all brought Springtrap inside to the mirror.

"..." The security guard blinked at his reflection before removing his shirt. "Okay. Appearance wise, nothing much has changed. But I won't be surprised if I smell a little funny."

Taking the opportunity to sniff under his arm, he immediately widened his eyes upon realization.

Vector crossed his arms, finding the whole thing to be rather amusing. "Yeah, make sure you don't forget to shower. Otherwise, girls aren't gonna like you."

Turning to his right, he found Shadow and Ridley both standing nearby. They were never outside the cafe patiently waiting for their arrival, but at the same time they were not exactly ignoring his existence.

So he shook hands with the both of them as they accepted him as an equal. "Such a shame neither of you saw single digits. We just couldn't give you a break."

"Meh." Ridley shrugged it off. "At least I still had my moments out there. I found an immunity idol and I finally won an immunity necklace. All that despite me only placing twelfth? I'll take it."

"Easy for you to say." Shadow rolled his eyes, knowing he never had the chance to literally do anything. "I just sat still and watched and I still got voted out early."

"Springtrap and I have known each other for two seasons now, and there is still no kind of friendly relationship going on between the two of us." Ridley admitted. "It is not that we ever had any issues with each other, unlike the problems that I had with Vector. But regarding Springtrap,... him and I were literally never aligned together at all. And even with this season, we barely even talked to one another. He was kind of just there. Him and I were always on two completely different paths. But if there is something we both are, is that we're both players that take the game seriously. It's hard for us to take things rather personal. And even if things came crashing down for the both of us, we still remain respectable players of the game. And I think we both understand that about each other. It's still very interesting knowing the fact that we've gone through two seasons together."

A nice juicy cheeseburger sat in front of him with fries, onion rings, and corn on the cob as Kevn Davis was seen acting as if he never had anything to eat before. ...Like, seriously. He was eating so fast, the poor creature barely set aside time for himself to catch a breath.

Even Ridley seemed a bit surprised. "...You know, you have a drink right in front of you."

Not wanting his meal to be interrupted by anything, he held a finger telling Ridley to 'shut up'... Oh boy. If he actually verbalized that, Ridley's angry stare alone would have killed him on the spot.

"Okay..." Finally take a breath, he went to his glass of iced tea to chug down almost the whole glass. Was Crazy Hand passing his 'insane' disease onto him or something? What was wrong with him?

"Dude. You eating like that is gonna give me a run for my money." Bowser commented. "Don't worry, though. My food will be here any minute."

"Spent a total of seventy-two days playing Survivor in the Caribbean. It was the grand adventure of a lifetime. I loved, I lost, yada, yada, yada. But it was fun doing bad things to people without anyone really caring. Having an opportunity to play a game where you can get away with lying to peoples' faces? Talking about other people and manipulating situations? Making someone vote someone off that they like just for my own selfish needs? It doesn't get any more fun than that. The best part is that we all literally sign up to lie and to get lied to. If this game's not for you, get out of here. It ain't for everybody. But in my view, how can you not like playing a game like this?"

Well not everyone wanted to be famous, starve to death in the wilderness, embarrass themselves at challenges, deal with random people they did not know for several weeks, or get constant headaches from all the chaos and drama going on all the time, Springtrap... As he just stated, the game was not for everyone and that was perfectly okay.

"So you thought your alliance and SGA were gunning for Zelda tonight?" Vector asked him. "Nobody from my alliance went home in a while. We're all just shocked that Wolf and Plague turned on you right after Bowser."

"See the thing is,-" Davis said between bites. "-I was actually inching to write Donkey Kong off. But the minute after we came back from the Bowser Tribal Council, Wolf was talking to DK as if they were talking to each other like best buds for the past thirty-three days. And it's crazy, because when we all first swapped on La Vega, they spoke to each other from time to time. But it was obvious to me that they were bonding a lot over Bowser being out of the game. And I think Wolf's goal was to build a bridge with DK to the point where the two of them felt a need to protect each other. DK was on the bottom, but a possible swing vote at the same time. So their fate was in each other's hands. That was threatening to me, so part of me felt like getting rid of him before Wolf got too close to him. But I was already too late... I don't know how he was able to convince Plague to write me off, though."

"How did Plague Knight win immunity?" Ridley was frowning just at the thought of it. "...Again?"

"It was the challenge where you had to stack cards on top of each other to reach ten feet."

"...Oh." Shadow knew what he was talking about. "That was from my season. I just never got to that point, since that happened after I was gone."

"Shovel was going to win because he won the challenge in the first place last time. But he messed up at point. He and Zelda tried to catch up to Plague, but Plague ended up winning the necklace." Springy took another bite out of his burger. "And it's a shame because Plague is really not known for building bonds with people like that. That's something I had to keep in mind whenever I need to talk with him. And when it comes to less affectionate players, you bond with them over the game. So I had conversations with him about how brutal this game really is and the things we had to do to propel ourselves as far as possible. I thought for sure it worked on him. But he somehow chose to stay with Wolf over me."

"Well, anyone that knows me knows I'm far from an affectionate player myself." Duh, Ridley... "However, him voting you off was quite a shocker. It's going to be interesting to see what will become of his game from this point on. But if he somehow reaching day thirty-nine for a second time, I'm not sure how I'm going to react."

"I personally never cared for him." Shadow commented. "But I believe he was the only one who felt genuinely sorry for me going home when I didn't need to."

"Everyone's talking about how shocked they were that Springy got blindsided by his own alliance. But I'm over here jumping for joy and cheering on." said Vector. "All of my alliance is still in the game aside from me. They stuck together for three rounds now. And honestly, if they came somehow get to the final three together with me being the only sacrifice needed to allow that to happen, it'll really be something that I'd love to see. It'll be like half the Brain tribe from Mexico dominating the final three all over again."

"By the way,-" There was one crucial thing that Springtrap somehow completely forgot about. And he just could not have believed it. Perhaps if he was not so busy trying to suffocate himself from all that food he was eating... "-I should have asked this the moment I got here, but... what up with the clothes? Not saying you three are not allowed to wear them or anything. But the shirts? The sunglasses? What was up with that?"

"Meh. I just felt like I wanted to do something fun with Bowser and Ridley. Let's just say they're part of the Reptile Runaways thing now and the other day I wanted to make sure they got the proper welcome that they needed."

Ridley harshly rolled his eyes his way, while Springtrap simply nodded as he continued to eat. He did not want anyone to know what was he truly thinking in his mind.

The scene cut to him walking towards his room.

"Not gonna lie... My stomach is staring to hurt a little now."

Gee! And all the fans wondered why!

Day 34

Breakfast time.

Hopefully Springy the Trap learned his lesson to not eat as fast as he did, or else he was going to have even more stomach complications.

Taking a sip of his coffee, he exhaled through his nose. The weather was not bad that day at all. It may have been cloudy, but there was no precipitation at the time. And off topic, but that was a nice stack of pancakes Springy had in front of him. With the blueberries and whipped cream on them? That was enough to make the whole world hungry.

But Kevin had another problem. He had the flipping audacity to have his feet up on the table as if he owned the whole Ponderosa cafe. Seriously! What in the world was wrong with him!? He really had no manners whatsoever.

What if Crazy Hand was right? Whoever raised him probably needed to have an adult conversation with the Survivor's host brother. Though to be fair to the parents of Kevin 'Springtrap' Davis, the dude was a grown man that was more than able to make his own choices.

"So, anything planned today?" Golden Fredbear smirked as he sat near him. "It might not rain today after all. Maybe it could even clear up a bit."

"Eh..." He shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. I could end up falling asleep in the hammock out there."

Sure, unless mother nature changed her mind and decided to have the clouds rain on him.

"One thing I can say is that due to the timing of me being voted off versus the last time I played, I have two extra days to experience this. And there is no Tribal Council set for today, so I can do anything I want, when I want, and how I want it."

"You sound like a diva." OOOOOOH! That was one way to get him, Golden. "Just because you ate all that food last night, doesn't mean act like you're all that and a bag of chips."

"I'm sorry. Am I not the latest member of the jury house? Let's say that it's my birthday. This is my time. You had your time when you got voted off. Now it's my turn." It seemed that there was no letting up from him at all. Spoiled brat... "So I'll say it again. I can do anything I want."

Golden held his hands up in defeat. "Haha! Oh well. I tried."

"Springtrap is basically one of those people that will just say anything that comes across his mind without having a care in the world of how the other person takes it." The bear concluded. "You know when Caribbean first aired, he appeared nothing more than a normal guy on the surface. But as time went on, he began revealing his true self little by little. At this point, he's as nonchalantly cocky is ever. The man don't give a damn. That's enough to sum him up in a nutshell. ...But hey, he's highly entertaining for television. And it's the opposite of me since I know I'm a normal guy and I'm not good TV."

...Was Goldie being rather hard on himself, or was he just being self-aware?

"Hey, you know what they tell us to say when they make our videos for this. Right? 'This is my Ponderosa!' It's my Ponderosa and no one can take that from me... unless until the next juror comes here."

"People could say that I'm acting a little extra. But hey, my dreams have been slaughtered once again. I wanted and needed the million, but it didn't happen. I'm only getting paid for participation. More than four grand for me again because I've made it over four weeks... Not even close to what the runner up gets, which is a hundred grand. The most I can do is to make the most out of this and enjoy every single second out of this experience. Do I at least have that right?"

Sigh... Fair enough. However, there was such a thing called having a humble attitude. Like Golden for example. Why could he not have been more like him?

But anyway, he found himself to be in the hammock not too long after his meal. Vector the Crocodile was sitting by him, the two of them appearing to be in the middle of a conversation.

"So tell me more about the Reptile Runaways. Give me the names of all the members you have in your little organization thing so far."

...?

"Oh, let's see here." Vec began counting on his fingers. "Me, Bowser, Ridley, Yoshi who is still out there, K. Rool and Charizard (both of who are not here right now),... and I believe that's it."

The rabbit watched the croc snap his fingers.

"Banjo. And I didn't forget him because he's a furry." Even though he was... The only reason why Banjo was in the original Reptile Runaways alliance in the first place was simply because he just so happened to be standing right with them when K. Rool announced to Charizard, Vector, and Yoshi that he wanted to make an early alliance on the first day of the game. If he was literally anywhere else, he would not have been even thought of to be part of the discussion.

Also, it was honestly rather funny that he of all people was the only 'Reptile Runaway' to not make the merge after he fell victim to the first ever double elimination twist.

History aside though, Springtrap kept his straight look. "You're gonna continue to play the narrative around in the Survivor community and on social media?"

"I mean, why not?" He laughed. "The Reptile Runaways alliance is gonna go down as one of the most iconic alliances of all time. What we're doing now is simply capitalizing off of it."

"Springtrap seems to be taken an interest in RR, and it's good that he is. The more people that are interested in it, the better. And now that I have cutthroat players such as Bowser and Ridley on my side, it makes the group more popular. Espio's gonna look at the whole thing as us being silly, but anything goes as long as you have fun."

"Good marketing. I get it." Davis got the vibe that the whole thing was just for laughs. "That could establish a fanbase. I suppose kudos to Yoshi for once again being the very last one of the runaways to still be in the game. What if he makes it to the end again? He'll be the first ever contestant to make it to the end of the season twice without ever being voted off."

His grin grew even larger. "Then it'll be a really good thing for all of us knowing that one of our men might have that title. He just has to hang in there and do his best. ...Shoot. I forgot to tell you this. He has an idol."

"!?" He shifted his head downwards. "You're lying."

"Why would I lie now? I'm not in the game anymore, so I ain't got nothing to lose. He found a clue to the merge feast and eventually it ended up being in his hands. Whether he plays it on himself or not, he knows he has to put that thing to good use."

"...Well..." Disbelief, right? That was exactly how the majority of the Survivor fanbase thought. "That's gonna be a bit to take in. But getting back to the point, yeah. The whole Reptile Runaways thing could probably... build a brand I guess."

"I'm trying to get as much information from Vector as I can. We're both not in the game anymore, so his guard is down, which is a good time for me to get things out of him. Of course he doesn't know anything about the Cool Kids, because he's literally the enemy. But little does he and the others know, they're gonna have something to look out for. They just have to wait, and they're not gonna know what hit 'em."

"The only advice I can give you is to just watch out." The security guard warned. "People are already jealous of you that you played this game twice. You starting a whole group with other players and bringing your alliance onto this season and even outside of Survivor? I mean, that's fine and all. But all I'm saying for you is to make sure you watch your back. There are haters out there."

"Dude, there are literally haters for everything." Vector laughed out loud. "Anything anybody does offends somebody. I could be eating a chili dog right now, and I end up pissing in somebody's cereal. That's people for ya. You just got to learn to not take people seriously."

He clearly did not get the hint coming from Springtrap at all. But if anything, that was exactly what he wanted anyway.

The conversation was cut right there, as there was an overview of Kevin of actually falling asleep in the hammock as he predicted.

"After I finished playing in Caribbean, I knew I was gonna come across as a villain and some people weren't gonna like me. So when I found out that the first All Star season was going to be Heroes vs Villains, it a was a perfect opportunity for me to own that title and be even more villainous. Sometimes heroes grow to be villains and sometimes villains grow to be heroes. I think I'm one of the few people on my old tribe that has stuck with the same role I was given, and I'm completely okay with that because I know who I am as a person inside and out. Some might not believe me when I say that I'm actually not the person that the game has portrayed me outside of it all. But at the same time, I can't just say that I'm a good person outside Survivor because it kinda... sounds weird, you know? You don't have to say you're a good person just to show you're a good person. You just... be a good person if that makes any sense."

Yeah, it did... Basically it was a matter of showing and not telling. "You try to be the best person you can be, and I know that I try to be that all the time. But when it comes to a million dollars and heavy competition, you have to be okay with telling yourself that you're going to have to do things you wouldn't actually do in regular life. It does take some guts to do that, and I have done it for two seasons now. But I know it'll all be okay. You just have to ask for forgiveness for those around you and whatever deity there is in the sky and move on with your life. ...It really is just a game. No hard feelings."

I actually think those were pretty good final words coming from Springtrap. Nice end to his character here... Did he kinda low-key threaten Vector though?

Anyway, you like Springtrap, poll is still open. Next time, we'll continue on in the main story where only seven players will still be in the running. Also, try to not get a stomach ache. I actually had one myself Monday morning at one o'clock. But unlike Springtrap, it was not because I ate too quickly so he takes an L regardless.