Survivor - Heroes vs Villains

Chapter 44 - Day 38

Okay. Last one. This is gonna be the very last chapter with the final elimination of the season. This is part two of the Survivor finale. Ryu, Wolf, Yoshi, and Plague Knight all have a one in four shot at winning Survivor - Heroes vs Villains. Two days left, one more immunity challenge, two more Tribal Councils.

Let's just right on in!

~KF


FINALE - PART II


Darleem

Night 37


Yoshi, Wolf, Ryu, Plague Knight

-/-

Alright. That was the final goodbye to one of the biggest characters of the season. Come to think of it, it was probably safe to say that Donkey Kong reached icon status as well as Bowser, Marth, Sonic, Isabelle, and Doc Louis. The first winner in Sonic, the best winner in Doc Louis, the first female winner in Isabelle, and Marth winning despite of his chaotic journey to earn the title of Sole Survivor.

Maybe another icon was in the making depending on who was going to win the first All Star season of the show. But other than those, who else was worthy to go down as a minor legend in their own right?

The poor man knew he was going home the moment Plague took his vote away, not that the scientist and a certain anthropomorphic animal cared too much.

"I may have also been on the block, but it's such a shame he had to go like that." Okay, so Wolf did have some level of care about DK personally. But in the game, whatever needed to be done was accomplished. "Better him than me."

Exactly.

"Ryu, I am sorry that I took your vote away tonight." Plague apologized. "I was going to take Yoshi's, but I just thought that it was the better move to make sure you were the one without voting privileges."

"I don't take it personal." Hunching his shoulders, he just remained sitting in the shelter. It was what it was. What was he gonna do? Swim all the way to the Ponderosa to grab DK and come right back? The authorities would have had a big issue with that. "My only questions is why not just take DK's vote if he was the one gong home and not me?"

"Well, it was just best to put as many votes on him as possible. I'd rather have it be a 4-1, than a 3-2."

The small knight deserved a medal for knowing how to do basic math. It was just unfortunate that very many people in the world did not have the ability to do the same.

"Okay, I get it..." Ryu understood. Good boy.

"At the end of the day, you were voting with DK tonight. Correct?"

"I was. But if he lost the final immunity challenge, I was already preparing to send him home at four."

"Within a strange turn of events, I went from being the first person out of the Strong Guys Alliance post-merge in my first season to being the last guy remaining in the Strong Guys Alliance in this season. And the crazy twist that I was not planning on being part of an alliance like that for a second time, because I thought it was going to make a big red 'X' on my back. I actually wanted to downplay my threat level, which is why you could argue that I played a little more passively this season. I was even mentally debating with myself of whether or not I should actually have voted with everyone to see Donkey Kong home. But then I didn't, knowing that Ken was the last big threat left at final four. And what happens to him? He lose the whole game by one challenge. My final thought before tribal was that maybe I'd rather risk losing final immunity to DK and possible lose the title of Sole Survivor to him, than getting cut off right before day thirty-nine and not the final three at all."

Oh... So Ryu himself was actually thinking of turning on his closest ally. It was just in his mind that it was not as easy as it sounded. Every possibility had its own risks. And based off his confessional, he was basically explaining that staying by DK's side and taking his chances of hopefully beating him at the last challenge was the less risky move to take.

Long story short, the guy had no plans on being a coattail rider. The street fighter just did not have any power at all to do anything at that Tribal Council. Donkey Kong went home anyway.

"I just feel bad for you, now." Yoshi spoke. "Now you are the last of your alliance, too."

"Brand new feeling to get used to." Hoshi glanced up smiling. Likely, he was putting up a calm front as a way to cope. "Maybe it won't be so bad in the chance that I am sitting right in this spot after tribal tomorrow night."

"I had to really be patient here. I thought I was gonna use my Steal-A-Vote to make sure that I was going to the final four. I would have never expected to use it in order to save somebody else." On the other side of the coin, Plague's loyalty to Wolf was put to the ultimate test and he showed where he stood. Wolf helped him socially, so it was Plague's job to make sure he was not going to be smashed into smithereens by DK. "I know. Who would've thought, right? I may as well have committed Survivor suicide if I just let Wolf go home and keep Donkey Kong here of all people. I would have been asking to not win the game."

"Let's just see if there's any hope in getting a fire started." Wolf was hoping and praying that the some of the wet wood managed to dry up at least a little bit. "Maybe we could have a late night snack. We aren't gonna be worrying about the rice twenty-four hours from now, anyway."

"I'll go ahead and help you out." Plague Knight volunteered, picking up some of the wood he thought was dry enough. "My stomach has been rumbling all day!"

While they were doing that, Ryu took advantage of the situation by motioning Yoshi to follow him.

Hearing the sound of bamboo, Wolf made a slight head turn to see the martial artist and the dinosaur heading off elsewhere, rather than taking the time to make sure the whole group had a fire going in order for everybody to have something to eat.

"Heh... So much for working as a team. People really don't care anymore." In spite of him coming off as a little annoyed, he instead laughed it off. "Goes to show the amount of desperation players can be sometimes... That includes myself though, so all I'm doing now is sounding like a hypocrite."

"Umm... Isn't there something you're supposed to say?" Plague suddenly asked. "Anything?"

Eyeing at him as if he was wearing two masks instead of one, the lupine eventually put two and two together. "...Thanks."

That was the only word he gave permission to leave his lips.

"You're welcome." Underneath the mask in a particular lied a genuine smile on the knight's face. "I mean, Yoshi did say he was going to vote with us, anyway. But, better safe than sorry. It was the last time I needed to use it, so I felt the need to make it count for something."

"I'd say you are probably beating allegations of all of your allies doing all the work for you to make two deep runs in the game without you actually doing much." Those were things some non-Plague fans spoke about.

"You think so? I heard from Jimmy that one time online tweeted that I was crying so much for protection that Specter did all the work to make sure I stayed in the game as long as possible. Jimmy also tried to protect me, Specter tried to protect me again this season, and Shadow was voted out right when we got here. But I don't just rely on other people to do these for me. I've worked hard to be in the position where I run my own laboratory!"

Kind of unrelated to Survivor itself, but one understood where the cloaked man was coming from.

"With my Steal-A-Vote, I would have kept it as a souvenir due to it not being needed. But it was just to provide extra assurance that you were going home and I would have played it no matter what was going down to save you." He pointed as Wolf was now blowing on the flames. The mercenary was basically doing all the work to get the fire going now, due to the knight being more focused on defending himself against his haters. "I don't think I'm really useless here. I didn't get to the final four in Survivor twice because people 'carried' me like I am some sort of damsel in distress."

"The fact that Plague had the power to do something in order to protect just how myself and others did things before to protect him, I suppose it was his own personal victory for him. I didn't know about him having any sort of advantage until the last minute, but I didn't think too much of it. When I found my first idol, I kind of wanted to surprise everybody at that joint Tribal Council where Samus got voted out. It's the look on peoples' faces that gets me every time. Unfortunately, a certain vulpine was so pissy about it to where I had to send him packing, but that's beside the point."

Hopefully the fans had enough common sense to figure out who was he referring to...

Ryu decided to interrupt their conversation... Geez. Why did he look a little bit creepy in the dark?

"Hey. Could I steal Plague from you for a minute?"

At least he was not an eye-patched, terrifying anthropomorphic wolf that was fully capable of ripping a man to shreds. There was no need to show Wolf O'Donnell in the darkness like that traumatizing kids for life.

...Wait a minute. Why was Ryu trying to steal Plague from him?

Understandably, O'Donnell gave the Gouken's longtime student the side-eye. But at that point, he simply exhaled waving him off.

"Go ahead. Say what you have to say, even though I'm sitting right here."

"Well, I thought that it's better to talk to him alone. Some things I might say are things that you may feel a certain way about, and I'm not trying to hurt your feelings."

"I am no stranger to talking _ about people, but go on ahead."

Obviously Ryu was going to throw Wolf under the bus. For his game, he was the only guy he felt made sense to eliminate. But a majority of three was needed in his case.

"Wolf and Plague have managed to become the alliance to break at this point. They took Yoshi's swing vote privileges away, they stole my vote, and they left DK for dead. On paper, you could argue that I'm set to be the final boss of this season so that I can allow the three of them to sit at the finals. If Donkey Kong was the big threat that had to go, that's one thing. But now with all bias aside,... am I more threatening than Wolf is? Am I?"

Was he?

"I have brought you over here because everything that comes out of my mouth right now, Wolf is going to argue against it. And I need to make sure that you two understand everything that I am saying." That was right. Let 'em have it. "Now even though I won a challenge or two, I believe Wolf had more of a direct hand of how the game went all this time. I am not just saying this just to save myself, because Plague, I really do think you have a shot at beating me if the three of us sat together at final tribal... No offense, Yoshi."

"None taken." The dino was completely cool with it. "I just need to get to the end."

That one comment probably set a lot to the Survivor community.

"It's going to be either me or him. The same way of how Wolf told Yoshi that he was capable of sending DK out because he voted out people that had stronger friendships with him in the past, I believe you aren't afraid to write Wolf's name down even though he has been your ally for a long while. Back in Mexico, you tried to sit at the end with the right people. You knew exactly who you had a chance in beating, and things didn't work out for you back then."

"I still put half the blame on Isabelle." Keyword: half. "She wanted to remain Brain strong the whole time."

"My whole thing is that you know you don't have a chance in beating Wolf at the end, because he would take all of your jury votes away and keep them all to himself. You had your own allies, I had mine, so it might be an interesting toss up. I may still have a shot at beating you, but I don't think it's gonna be a clear winner if it's us three at the end versus you sitting at the end with Wolf. If you took Specter Knight to the end in Mexico, obviously he would have gotten all the votes. So imagine if he was hear right now, blocking your way of becoming the Sole Survivor. He should be the final threat to go. Not me. You put that man on the jury, you have a high chance of getting his vote because of how close he was with you only for you to strategically cut him off."

The amount of words he was spitting at was a clear indication Ryu needed to let Plague know it.

"On the other hand, if you take Wolf to the end, you are outright handing him a million dollars. And I know I'm sounding blunt since my life is on the line, but I am speaking from a general perspective. Wolf has a high chance of beating me if I'm reading the jury correctly. So if he has a chance to beat me, he has a ninety-nine percent chance of beating you. They're gonna look at you as riding his coattails."

"Okay, okay. I understand." Mona's partner mainly eyed the ground as he explained this. "I don't like riding coattails... And I actually have thinking about that, don't get me wrong."

"So do you see yourself writing his name down if he loses final immunity? You have beaten him at a challenge three times before, so you do have a shot at taking him down."

"I am so glad that of all the allies I was with, Wolf was the only one that actually stuck around. Everybody else that I aligned with went home one by one, but the fact that Wolf is still here clearly means something. And you know, I actually learned a thing or two from him... Unfortunately," Oh boy. There was another possible betrayal in the making. "I'd be foolish if I actually took him with me to the final three. Who's going to vote for me if he's sitting in the other seat? I do agree with everything Ryu told me, so as me as I can call Wolf a friend,... I need to get rid of him."

And he clearly did not sound petrified of doing so in the slightest.

"I'm back..."

By the time he actually got back to Wolf, the pilot was going to have his own private talk with him. Yet with the other two competitors promptly returning, they squashed any opportunity at that happen. And it was always extremely frustrating when one did not even have a quick second to do anything. Seriously!

So Wolf simply breathed out his nose, already having a strong feeling of what transpired down at the beach.

"One more challenge tomorrow." Ryu climbed back in the shelter lying down on his back. "Imma get some beauty sleep."

"Obviously Ryu was trying to turn Plague against me and convince him that I would have to be the one to get my torch snuffed tomorrow." Wolf was a fool if he did not think that was the case. "And I don't think Plague is the type to vote people out with any sort of remorse, so... due to the fact that we have one more elimination round to get to, he might use this last opportunity to try to get rid of me. I thought, 'Okay, then. If you're turning your gun against me, then it's me, myself, and I if the whole tribe wants me out.'"

In the middle of his confessional while Wolf's back was turned, Plague shifted around to see Ryu nodding his way.

"...Okay, Yoshi. I'm not gonna be so hard on you this time. Now I know how you feel. Being alone out of nowhere is something you don't really see coming sometimes. And I know that the Survivor Gods do everything within my power to keep from winning anything, but I'm gonna bring my A game tomorrow. If I don't win final immunity, I'm afraid I may be gone for good."

All of a sudden, the stakes were raised even higher.


Day 38


#FinalImmunityChallenge

This was it. This was it.

One more challenge left. The very last one. Every remaining castaway knew they needed to give it everything they had left in the tank.

And from the looks of it, it appeared to be a maze with medallions everywhere. For those that knew their Survivor history, they instantly realized that it was the final immunity challenge of season two.

"Come on in!"

Plague Knight, Wolf, Yoshi, and Ryu all came around to see what was expected of them to do. They too took notice of the season the challenge originated.

"Looks like this a challenge any of us could win." Ryu was spot on. Nothing extremely physical, no impossible puzzles to solve, it was something that was fair game to everyone.

"Alright." Master Hand was already ready for the survivors to get their game on. "Welcome to your final, immunity, challenge. Thirty-eight days has brought each of you to this point, and this is what it comes to. This is the perfect opportunity for any of you to secure safety for the Final Tribal Council. If you feel that you are on edge at least a little bit, there's nothing with extra security at tonight's vote. Shall we get to it?"

"Yes!"

"Sure am!"

"I'm ready!"

"Let's do it!"

"But the thing is, we're not gonna be able to start this challenge until Ryu gives me the immunity necklace."

Damn! The host was putting him on the spot. He was clearly not in the mood to play games that day. Though since he had his own reasons to be safe at the upcoming tribal anyway, Ryu simply sighed and headed over to make life a little more easy for the master.

"I hope you're gonna put it on me again soon."

"Sorry, but I can't predict the future here. It's all up to the Survivor Gods."

There was really no point in arguing against that. Never question the Survivor Gods up in the sky, or else it was never going to work out.

"For the final time in this game, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, you will compete in a Survivor maze where you will each being blindfolded."

Master Hand was actively trying to kill his players again, because if they were blindfolding in the middle of a busy highway, there was no way it was ever going to end well...

"There will be a series of guide posts that will help you navigate your way." Okay. That was going to make things a bit easier knowing there was no captain to bark orders at them. "However, because of you being blindfolded, you are going to have to use your fingers to read the symbols. Each guide post leads you to a station where you must collect a corresponding medallion. There are four of them in total. Once you have all four medallions, you will need to find your way to the finish where the immunity necklace will be waiting for you. With the necklace around your neck, you are automatically locked in for Final Tribal Council where you get to plead your case to the jury why you are deserving of the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollars that goes along with it."

The winner of this one was rather unpredictable. It was anyone's game.

"This challenge was seen in season two, but nobody who competed in Emperors vs Knights has made it as far as you all. None of you have participated in this challenge which makes things more interesting. You need this immunity necklace. Ready to get started?"

"Yes!" There was no room for errors. Final three was right around the corner and somebody was not going to make it.

-/-

"Alright, here we go. We have final immunity on the line."

The final four all stood side by side one another, all blinded by the li- no, not lights. Blinded by the blindfold. Whew...

"For a guaranteed spot at the Final Tribal Council. Survivors ready? ...GO!"

Music: The Light Realm: Base

Game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

They all attempted to run a little, though it was less about running and more about concentrating... or touching in this case. A lot of things were going to be touched in the challenge. The guide posts, the maze itself, the medallions, the immunity necklace, and possibly each other if they were desperate enough.

Guide posts however were what needed to be focused on, since they were designed to point the players in the right direction.

"This is probably the most balanced challenge in this entire season. If you lose this one, you have no one to blame but yourself."

No truer words were ever spoken. There were no excuses this time. One was in control of his own destiny.

"This could be the one immunity you need to avoid elimination." And that only added more pressure on everybody. "Ryu has won immunity twice, Plague has won immunity thrice, Yoshi and Wolf both have never won immunity before."

They were all beginning to split up upon their hands coming into contact with the guide post. No, they of course could not see how it worked, and there was no way of them hearing or even tasting the guide posts, just their fingers as a method to determine the direction they needed to go in.

"Oof..." Yoshi bumped right into the guide post, but at least he was there. All he had to do was feel around. "Hmm..."

And he found himself turning to his right, heading towards the black section. Yes, the sections were all color-coded. Plague Knight was walking to his left heading for the white section while Ryu and Wolf were heading straight across to red. Blue was just going to have to wait for its company.

"Might take just a little bit of brainpower to figure out what these guide posts are trying to tell you. Hopefully whatever amount of brain you have left up there is still somewhat functional."

Thirty-eight days was long enough for anybody's brain to get fried.

"You know, you could back off." A blindfolded Ryu told Wolf, who was obviously tailgating the man assuming he knew where he was going.

"No need to worry. Once I get that medallion I'm gonna toss you to the side."

"Not if I do it first."

Boys! Behave!

"Ryu and Wolf have made it to their first station. They need to reach around, grab the medallion, and head back out immediately!"

Both pairs of hands were feeling their way around before they ended up slapping against each others. But ultimately, Wolf was the one who grabbed his medallion first.

"Wolf has his first medallion!"

And before the street fighter could do the same, he used his right arm in an attempt to hold him off a little before he sped-walked his way back on the course.

"I said back off!"

"Sorry, but I got a necklace to get."

Shaking it off, Ryu fingers were able to grab onto to what he was looking for.

"Ryu has his first medallion! Yoshi and Plague are at their first stations looking for their first medallion!"

The latter groaned in frustration. "Where is it? I'm short and I can't reach it!"

Then supposedly he had a hard time reaching for items that were on the top shelf inside a grocery store. But the medallion itself was not that difficult to reach. Plague was just making himself look stupid by jumping and grabbing nothing but air. The medallion itself was several feet from him and he was facing the opposite way.

"Okay, got it."

"Yoshi has his first medallion!"

"Aww, come on!" The knight was already having a bit of a difficult time. "Wait a minute. Am I facing the right way?"

Uhh,... no?

"Wolf, Ryu, and Yoshi are all heading towards another guide post. Yoshi is all on his own, Wolf and Ryu are both at the same guide post together."

"Now I'm following you just to see how you like it."

"Fair enough. I'm already prepared to push you off again."

It was just too much for them to not be petty towards each other.

"Plague finally has his first medallion! Let's go, Plague!"

"I'm coming!"

O'Donnell and Hoshi were now heading towards blue while Yoshi seemed to be walking towards the same section the other two came from. Plague Knight did not need to make any more setbacks if he was still in the running. He literally cost himself valuable time by just hopping around.

"...Ah!"

"Oof!"

Wolf bumped right into the wall of the maze, causing Ryu to bump right into him from behind.

"Is that you lead your old tribe member from day one?" Ken's surrogate brother asked.

"Ryu and Wolf could end up dragging each other down if their partnership in this challenge is not going to work."

Using his hands to feel on his next guide post, Plague decided to head towards blue. Now there were three castaways in the same section leaving Yoshi without any company.

"Everyone has one medallion all looking for their second."

"...Okay, this is it." Wolf and his tag along fellow castaway in Ryu both had their hands on their second box which contained their medallions. "It's gotta be here somewhere."

"Guys, slow down." Plague shouted from afar. "I'm coming!"

Damn it. All Wolf had to do was keep his mouth shut. Now he had to deal with another problem. And Plague was indeed a problem for several castaways throughout his two seasons. How did he manage to make it all the way to final four twice? A lot of people wanted him out on different occasions... Though the fact that he made it far both times, what did the other players have to say about him in the event he actually makes it to day thirty-nine for a second time?

"Wolf has his second medallion! Ryu has his second medallion! Yoshi at his second box looking for his next medallion!"

"Don't go too far, guys!" Plague was moving a little bit faster. "Where are you!?"

The mischievous gremlin heard footsteps approaching his way, signaling to him that both men were rather close. His best move was to follow the source, with him ending up bumping right into the both of them.

"Oh Lylat. Go away, please!" Wolf used one of his hands to try to shove the potion master elsewhere. Yet because of the mixture, he only ended up shoving him right into Ryu.

"Come on, man." Ryu's arm pushed against Plague's mask. It was quite a bit of force making him almost fall backwards.

"Is it straight up ahead!?"

"We're not answering your questions. Every man for himself."

"..." He exhaled and turned back around. At least his competition lead him straight to the second box.

"Plague has his second medallion! Yoshi back on the course. Everybody's looking for their third medallion!"

Though it was Wolf that held a small gap over everyone. He might have hated to admit, but shoving Plague Knight into Ryu lowkey helped him to distance himself away from them both. Neither of them were going to be a problem for the time being.

"Wolf at another guide post."

And by the way, the four medallions all had their own symbols on them. The white medallion represented Master Hand, the black one represented Crazy Hand, Galeem of all people was the figure on the blue medallion, and Dharkon was the symbol for the red one. All iconic figures for the canon Smash universe.

"Hmm..."

Ryu was in Crazy Hand's section in search for his third while Wolf appeared to be in Master Hand's area. They two of them were really separated, now. Though unfortunately for Ryu, Plague Knight was on his ass. The man just had no chance of catching a break any time soon.

Wolf found his hands on another box, and this time he made sure to not utter a single sound. Shutting up was a great way to avoid drawing attention to himself. That was why people ordered others to do so all the time. Sure it might have been annoying for those who fell victim to it, but sometimes it was for a valid reason.

"Wolf now has his third medallion! Wolf only has one more medallion to collect!"

"Ryu, hurry up."

He bit his lip in reaction, not wanting to make the same mistake Wolf made earlier on. But he was at his next box with the alchemist catching up.

"Ow..."

"Yoshi bumps into another dead end."

He was in Master Hand's section, but he was having a bit of difficulty finding his next station due to him bumping into too many obstacles. And he was completely unaware of Wolf walking right past him without making any sort of physical contact.

"Ryu has his third medallion! He has one left to grab!"

"Stay there, stay there..."

"Plague is desperate to keep up with him!"

Ryu knew he had to lose him and fast. Though at the same time he had his own self to worry about. Wolf was already heading for his fourth and final medallion and he needed to head into the station he was walking out of.

"Finally..."

"Yoshi has his third medallion! ...Plague Knight has his third medallion! This is still anybody's challenge to lose! Let's get it on!"

Music: The Final Battle

Game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The music switch up was rather necessary given that everyone was all tied up with one number. Who was going to come out victorious?

Wolf needed to pay a visit to Crazy Hand's section, which was the section Ryu and Plague Knight were leaving from. The two of them needed to get past Wolf to get to Master Hand's area.

...They were all going to run into each other again. Why was it so hard for them to leave each other alone? The only player that was behaving himself was Yoshi who was heading towards Galeem's place. Using another guide post, he remained focused. The dino really wanted to coming into the upcoming tribal with the feeling of absolute safety, even though it was literally impossible for him to not make it to the final three anyway.

Still, at least there was a possibility of keeping immunity away from somebody.

While Ryu was sliding his hands around the maze, Wolf had an arm out in front of him ready to feel something. And part of him felt like bumping into a competitor again was the inevitable, so he was already prepared for it by the time he bumped into Ryu.

Yet this time, they both ended up having a bit of a scuffle trying to shew the other away.

"Wolf and Ryu keep getting attracted together like a magnet."

That was one way to describe it.

Ryu groaned in frustration, though he could not have helped but laugh it off all the while. It was all in good fun.

"That man is getting on my last nerves." And of course Wolf just had to make a smart ass comment. But he was still on the right track using his fingers to feel out another guide post... before bumping into Plague Knight.

"Hey! You almost knocked me down!"

"Get out of my way, then. This is gonna be my necklace. I came into too many tribals without one."

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep you from ever wearing it!"

Ooh!

"Ryu is now picking up the pace! He wants it!"

"No. I need it..."

"Please don't go too fast! I want to win, too!"

Yoshi heaved a sigh shaking his head. "All alone. Again..."

Come on, Yoshi. It was best for him to not worry about everybody else and worry about himself. He was doing a good job as he was almost at his final station. And for the record, Wolf was approaching the same station he was going towards. There was company right there. They were just coming from opposite directions.

The lupine was able to get to the station first.

"Wolf has now reached his final section... and he has it! Wolf now has all four medallions! Everybody else has to move right now!"

"Come on, Ryu. We're wasting time!"

Heaving a great sigh and realizing that he needed an extra position to threaten Wolf's lead, Ryu swallowed his pride and made himself known to Plague of exactly where he was. "Okay, keep up. Just follow my voice. I think we're almost there."

"Wolf just has to guide himself out of this maze and head off to retrieve the immunity necklace!"

Nevermind about Yoshi. He was a little too slow to keep up with Wolf. Though he was getting close to his final station.

"Where is it...?"

"...Okay, here it is. Plague, where are you!?"

"Ryu's now at final station and he's grabbing his fourth medallion!"

"Are you straight ahead!?" Plague Knight asked shouting.

"You're gonna make a right and then come straight forward. You can't miss it!" And yet, Ryu knew very well that he had no time to wait on Plague. He simply did not want the scientist to fall out of the competition by losing his way. If there was a chance Ryu was set to get lost somehow before he found his way over to the immunity necklace, in his mind it was better off for Plague to have a chance at immunity over Wolf.

"This you?"

"Yeah it's me..." The shorter man responded. "Straight up, you say?"

"It's right there."

"Wolf is at another guide post." And from the top view, he appeared to be nearing the maze's exit. The other three contestants need to hurry!

"Yoshi has his last medallion. Plague Knight has his last medallion! Everybody's now racing to the finish! Ryu right now is trying to see if he can catch Wolf!"

"I've got to rush..." Yoshi began to speed-walk even more, the scene speeding over to its right to see Ryu's hands on another guide post.

"Ow!" Plauge Knight bumped into a wall. "Ryu!?"

"Come on!" He shouted from a short distance away. "I don't know where Wolf is!"

O'Donnell just kept his comments to himself as he was right at the exit, his hands all over the pole before he found himself grabbing onto a rope.

Yoshi had his hands on his own guide post, not too far away from where the last one was that lead to the exit of the maze.

Ryu Hoshi had both of his arms extended ready to touch literally anything as long as it helped him make his way to the finish. He was actually heading towards the final guide post.

Wolf at the time was using the rope as a guide to the immunity necklace, and he was approaching it rather quickly.

"The immunity necklace is just sitting there waiting for somebody!" Master Hand barked at the final four, Ryu and Yoshi now at the final guide post together before they both quickly turned to take off.

But,... was they already a tad too late?

Wolf was now at the end of the rope, his hands feeling all over the post for the immunity necklace. Though Ryu and Yoshi were nearing, they were still too much of a distance to stand a chance. Mr. Wolf O'Donnell grabbed the necklace with no problem.

"Wolf has it!"

"WOLF WINS FINAL IMMUNITY!"

Music: Spectate

Game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Holy, Lylat... He actually did it.

"Yes!" The ferocious wolf yelled at the top of his lungs. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Exhaling deeply, Ryu took his time removing his blindfold in disappointment. "...Yoshi, we were right there. So close but so far."

"I know..." He blinked, only being able to watch Wolf celebrate.

Plague simply stared on without moving a muscle as the pilot was now being seen prancing all over the place in utter disbelief that he actually won it.

"Holy, Lylat..." Cursing underneath his breath, it was just a bit too much for him to process at the time. "My goodness. Holy _."

"Wolf has just won final immunity. He's never won a necklace before and it could not have come at a better time like today." Master floated his way over to him as the rest of the players gathered around. "He has now guaranteed himself a spot at the Final Tribal Council."

Which did not help Ryu feeling any better about it, Plague Knight not giving away any particular emotions. Reading his facial expressions underneath his mask was just as hard as figuring out why was the sky blue. ...Okay, that was a question for some that did not find it too hard to explain, but not everyone was an expert in the science field. How about why did water exist in general?

Anyway...

"Wolf," The Master Hand stood right by him clapping him on the shoulder. "-this win seems to be a lot for you to take in. What is the feeling you have inside?"

"Utter shock." That was a way to sum it up in a couple words. "It's one thing to win immunity in general, but last night I all of a sudden felt like I just had to win this one. It just so happens to be the final immunity in challenge in which I needed to earn the necklace more than anything. And I've finally accomplished that. Feel like if I didn't win today, I was probably gonna be sent home."

"Well if that was the case, there's no way you're going home now. For the first time in your Survivor life, you will live to see day thirty-nine."

Clapping to himself once with his mind still trying to fully grasp the situation, Master addressed the other three players.

"Two of you will also live to see day thirty-nine. But unfortunately, one of you will not be so lucky. Tribal Council tonight where one of the three of you will be voted out to become the tenth and final member of our jury. Somebody will just miss out on the final three, Wolf, it will not be you. Everybody can go ahead and make back to camp. I'll see the four of you at Tribal Council."

"I wonder if me winning the final immunity necklace and nothing else was the Survivor Gods' overall intention. I've been patient for two seasons to finally get once, and it came at a time where I felt like there was a high chance of being axed. Now,... I'm officially in the final three." He had to pause himself for a second. Realizing that he was set to make it to the very last thing was another thing to process. "I can't believe it. Only thing I gotta do now is who is going to the end with me. Since I have all the power, I can now doing anything I want. Sending one more person out is the last thing I would need to take care of."


Darleem

Day 38


Yoshi, Wolf, Ryu, Plague Knight

-/-

Done. That was it. No more challenges. Wolf won the final one, and he was going to be safe.

"Well Wolf, you've done it."

"Good job!"

"I was trying to hurry up."

"I just can't believe I'm gonna actually be wearing this thing at tribal." But for now, Wolf had to put the immunity necklace away. It was not as if he was in danger of being voted out at camp, even though Ridley wore the necklace for the whole day after he won his challenge. "I broke my own curse of never winning anything for myself."

Now Yoshi was only castaway of the four that never won individual immunity, the Caribbean contestant sighing in realization. "I did my best. It was worth a shot..."

"We retrieved of all our medallions, so none of us really flopped today at all." Ryu brought up. But unfortunately, he and Yoshi were not really fast enough to catch Wolf.

Wolf exhaled deeply as he looked at the tool kit. "...You know what, you guys think I should go ahead and try to get some fish today? I actually don't mind doing it today. All that hard work at the challenge means that we're all deserving of a nice meal before we see Master Hand tonight."

"Go ahead. We're not stopping you." Ryu gave permission to which the lupine did not even need. And within the next minute, O'Donnell was making his way to the water with his spear and goggles.

Once he felt that it was safe enough to talk without him hearing everything, he turned to face Plague and Yoshi. "Now under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have even thought about going out there. Not calling him lazy or anything because he does pull his weight around here, but I can betcha one of my immunity wins that he would have been scrambling to save himself if any one of us won the challenge today."

"I have to agree with you." Plague saw his point. "People don't do that many chores around here after the immunity challenge because it's the same day where somebody goes home. Now Wolf wants to have his cake and eat it too by wanting to get some fish to cook knowing he's not going anywhere. He knows he has nothing to lose!"

"I think I actually might have convinced Plague Knight to turn on Wolf today. It was the one last opportunity I had to get rid of him, and he just so happens to win that one challenge at the worst possible moment." That absolutely pained Ryu to say that. "This is exactly why I didn't plan on turning Donkey Kong yesterday. If he was still at final four and if he would have lost, I would have voted him out here. But Wolf was the ultimate threat for all three of us and the ultimate threat won. Now I am the most likely person to go home, because he's taking Plague to the end. If I won that necklace, I would have done everything in my power to make sure he was the one going home."

He groaned in absolute frustration, the gravity of the situation really starting to hit him as he brought a hand to his head.

"Are you okay?" asked Yoshi.

"Let's rewind history, do the whole challenge all over again, and do whatever it takes to prevent Wolf from winning. Then I'll be okay."

Okay, so he was not okay.

"He's gonna put my name down and I'm going out in the same spot as Ken from your season, Yoshi. You don't have to pretend that I'm not going home."

Hanging his head down in shame, he immediately felt terrible of what he felt he had to do for his own game. "I'm very sorry, Ryu. We were all going to write down Wolf today. He's not going to give his necklace up."

Of course not, Captain Obvious. Why in the world would he do that?

"Plague Knight, you are not gonna like what you're about to hear. But we're gonna have to put each other's name down. I have to write your name down to save myself, and you pretty much have to do the same."

"..." The nearly two-time finalist just stood there, probably blinking a couple times underneath his mask. "What?"

"There is no alternative here. I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I need to somehow convince Wolf that I'm more worthy of a final three spot over you. I don't blame you if you take it personal, but I can't really just stand here and do nothing. And I'm saying this right in front of you and Yoshi because why separate and talk in private at this point? Yoshi isn't going anywhere, and now Wolf isn't going anywhere."

"Oh goodness..." Shaking his head, he calmly breathed out. "Alright. Alright... I get it. I am not angry at you, but I was trying to see if I can get away with my name not being written down once this season. But I suppose I can deal with it."

"He'll probably take you to the end anyway, but I know I gotta do something."

"Wolf was the one ally throughout my entire Survivor experience to never leave me... Emphasis on 'never', because he is now locked in for day thirty-nine. I am genuinely happy that he finally won an immunity challenge, but... I really thought about everything Ryu told me and what happened in Mexico." Plague's win in season three would have been really weird, but he really did have genuine winner equity in him. "I tried to get to the end with people who I thought that I could beat, but it didn't work. And honestly, I can't remember a single thing Ryu did this season aside from getting his revenge on Specter. And even with that, other people had his fate in his hands. Maybe I could have told the jury that Ryu kind of got carried to the end. What if I actually had a chance of beating him? Does he still beats me because he was more sociable than me? I'm not gonna know until the master asks all of us at the reunion show. I really do like Wolf, but... my own ally has just messed me up."

Calmly staring at the ground, the reality of the situation was now hitting another castaway. "I've worked so hard to keep myself alive throughout all this... twice. But now, I just have to worry about getting to the end. Ryu just flat out told me that he's going to be throwing me under the bus just so that he can save himself from going home."

Oh, the what-ifs... Who would have won the game if Wolf was sent home at four? Plague Knight or Ryu?

The answer to that was going to be on hold for the time being, since the laboratorian said himself that he needed to make sure Wolf had no intentions of cutting him short of reaching the end by one day.

"Just to give you a warning, Ryu is going to try to convince you to take him to the end over me. He knows he has a high chance of meeting the fate as Ken, so... we all have to put his name down for that to happen. I'd like to share Yoshi's record of never been voted off here. While Yoshi might not have played the game with any sort of strategy, I clearly have."

"No need to explain yourself." Wolf took off the tribe's goggles. And based on what he had on the spear, he did manage to catch a few small fish for the team. Dinner was going to be served before they were set to head off for tribal. "And we are having both fish and rice, by the way. I don't care what nobody says. Everyone at Ponderosa gets to eat big meals all the time, and we still have to wait for the breakfast tomorrow."

"Okay I know you're hungry, but... he is going home. Right?"

"There's no reason to do anything else but send him home. He's the last of SGA, and he has his entire alliance on the jury."

"You know, you don't take threats to the end. That's the opposite of what you have to do when it comes to the late stages of the game. Since I am going to the final three, why not maximize my chances as much as possible and take the right person with me to the final three? So of course I have a great shot at winning if I am sitting with Plague and Yoshi. All I have to do is make my point clear to the jury of what my overall strategic game was and how I was able to carry myself to this point. So,... sorry Ryu. Though you did have the right argument to make to try and clear your name, it's not going to work. You and Ken will just have to share fourth place together, which is sort of iconic. Hopefully Ken comes back when we have another All Star season and he actually wins his way to the end like he almost did in his past season."

So what was exactly Ken's approach?

"This is my pitch here." Ryu watched as Wolf was using the frying pan to cook up the food. "Obviously I'm a threat for your game, you're a threat for mine. Although if you write me off, you do know you are going to be sitting wth two people that have already gone to the end before. We know that Yoshi is not going to be taken seriously, but Plague Knight at least has some game in him. Love or hate him, there's no denying that."

"That's how he almost won his season. He's very good at knowing who he has to sit next to. I wouldn't be surprised if he's having confessionals about me blowing his chances of winning this one. Honestly, if he was able to vote me out here, I would have been interested in voting for him depending on his speech at final tribal."

They were both right. Ryu just talked about the one-eyed anthro possibly voting Plague's way the night before, and Wolf was spot on about Plague feeling disappointed that he was unable to send the lupine to Ponderosa where he could have eaten all the meat he wanted... including that steak. Based on some of the other jurors, it was rather difficult to pass up.

"At the same time, if you were going to find your own way of convincing to write your name down for the title of Sole Survivor, both of you would have had to put on a great performance. When you sit at final tribal and you want first place, you have to fight for it. Give me everything you have."

"I a thousand percent agree on that." The Japanese-American felt that was also part of his own criteria when he was on the jury in season three. "But my whole thing is for that reason, Plague's a threat in his own right. He has gone to the end before, and he clearly was not supposed to go that far. We all should have voted Plague out in Katt's spot, but that's a separate story by itself. He knows that everybody wanted him out early on and he's still here. If he uses that argument at the finals, people may think that maybe he reached the end twice for good reason. You and I have actually been voted out before. And generally, don't you think it'd be more fair for two non-finalists to make it to the end? We haven't gone that far before, so maybe you could swap Plague's spot with mine if you consider what I'm saying."

"I hear you." Since that was all he had to say, he was not really giving Ryu much to work with. "I get it. We still have tribal up ahead, but I hear you."

"That was the best I could do." Alright, Ryu. Time was up. It was time for him and the other three survivors to collect their torches. "There was no other argument I had in mind. Wolf could have just said anything to get me to shut up so that he wouldn't have to worry about having an in-depth conversation of how I was more worthy to take to the end other than Plague. If he's still gonna be writing my name down, then... so be it."

"But I'm not going down without a fight."


Tribal Council

Night 38


Well this was going to be Ryu's last opportunity to save himself. For his best interest, it was necessary for him to sound as convincing as possible for others to listen in. The tricky part is that he had to persuade not just one, but two people to change their minds.

"We'll now bring in the members of our jury... Shadow, Ridley, Vector, Golden, Bowser, Springtrap, Shovel Knight, Zelda, and Donkey Kong voted out at the last Tribal Council."

DK was basically the hero of the season, the ape sitting down on the jury bench which was now nearly at full capacity.

The remaining players (except probably Plague) felt varying levels of guilt of how he went out, but... it was the game. They liked him.

"Okay, so we had our final immunity challenge take place today. Wolf, you have finally won an individual immunity for the first time in your Survivor career. Fittingly, the last opportunity to win the necklace. And by the way you were reacting to the situation, you plainly told me that you needed to win this one in particular."

"Absolutely, master." He grinned out of great relief. "The minute we all got back to camp last night, I wanted to try and get a fire started because it rained before we got here last time. And we were all hungry. But instead of us all focusing on getting the fire going, Ryu thought it was better idea to take Plague Knight away from me so that he could to him and Yoshi alone."

Ryu found it a little funny due to his way of describing it. "I literally asked for your permission to take him away from you for just a couple minutes, because I just needed Plague to hear my side of the story of who should be the last person to leave here before the final three."

"Yes, I did give you permission to do that. I already knew what you were going to do, so I let you say what you had to say while I tried to get the fire going for everybody."

Goodness gracious. Even some of the jurors were chuckling along from the bench.

"But the point is that I knew Ryu was going to do whatever he could to throw me under the bus. I expected Yoshi to be voting with him this round, but all it took was that one conversation with Ryu for Plague to turn on me. All three of these guys planned on voting me out today. But the one time they tried to get rid of me, me winning the immunity necklace messed all of their plans up."

"Wow." Golden muttered from where he was sitting.

"Perfect timing." commented Springtrap.

"As you can see master, I just ruined their final three deal. I was the one going home so I had to take control over my own fate."

"So Ryu, I hate to further put you on the spot. ...But is that true?"

"Yes." The fighter rapidly nodded his head. "We were going to vote him off next. That was why towards the end of the challenge, I had to make sure Plague was not too far behind me in the maze so that I had backup in case I lost my way. Unfortunately, we were all too late and Wolf was already at the finish."

"Plague Knight, why vote Wolf out? Weren't you aligned with him this whole time?" Especially knowing that he just used his Steal-A-Vote to make sure Wolf was staying in over Donkey Kong the previous round.

"It's all strategic gameplay. As much as I like Wolf, I have my own game to play here and he knows it. When Ryu pulled me aside, he made some valid points about how dangerous Wolf was as a player. Coming out here to go through this again, I made a promise to myself to make as many correct decisions as I can. Voting out Wolf would have benefited me, but now I can't do it. Now we both have to keep in touch with each other to make sure Ryu goes home instead."

"Him and I have to sacrifice each other now because Wolf has to make the decision of who he wants to take to the end with him." Ryu only dreamed of stealing Wolf's necklace. "Yoshi has nothing to worry about, so he's not going anywhere."

"Of course..." Ridley mumbled. "He's too unimportant to be taken seriously."

The shade of it all. And speaking of Yoshi, did he even receive a confessional since the DK part of the episode? ...No?

"The final spot is gonna go to me or Plague, depending on how Wolf wants to play this. I told Wolf that even though we were both threats to each other, Plague Knight has threat level in him as well. He's gonna reach the final three twice if he gets his way, and maybe the jury will notice that. A lot of people have tried coming for him before, but nobody was ever successful (myself included). That could be the exact pitch he makes to the jury if he's sitting at the end. And also, remember how quickly Sonic and Isabelle were voted out? It was because they already won the game and people felt like they had their shot."

Oh, he was going to bring that up?

"They felt that they were going to screw up non-winners games. Plague Knight and Yoshi are possibly going to make it to the final three again, but they also had their shot. Wolf and I have never gone that far, so maybe it'd be nice if we both had the chance to plead our cases to the jury."

Plague Knight could not have helped but chortle in reaction. "It doesn't matter if I've gotten to the end before or not. I still didn't win. Just like how Zelda didn't win her season and she made top six again. Are you trying that she's also unworthy of going to the final three for a second time?"

OOH!

The Hyrulian princess honestly could not have helped but chuckle lightly.

"Well I did not really mean it in that way." But still, Ryu's longterm rival had a point.

"Yoshi, Zelda and I all made the finals before, but we still did not get enough votes to win our seasons. We are just as deserving of a second chance just like everybody else who did not win the game. Doesn't matter if you were voted out right at the merge. Doesn't matter if you were voted out last before. And it doesn't matter if you lost the game by one vote. A second chance is a second chance."

That was a lowkey reference to Ridley, Ken, Sheik, Lucario, Funky Kong, and Link. Plague Knight definitely ate with that explanation.

"Yoshi." Master Hand was finally going to give the final Caribbean contestant remaining some attention. "You have gone to the end before in our last season where you placed second behind Doc Louis. It wasn't by one vote, but you were still the lead runner up. Tell me what your thoughts are. Ryu says that somebody who hasn't gone to the end before should certainly be at the finals this time. Plague is saying that it all doesn't matter because everyone who has made it to this jury phase all lost the game in some sort of way."

"You know, I completely agree with what Plague is saying." Like, what was there to disagree with? He knew first hand what it felt like to be almost confirmed of making it to day thirty-nine two straight times. "Last season for me was one big ride, and I was shocked to the know that I managed to make it the whole way without having a single vote cast against me. My name was written down a few time this season, and I'm still here. But if I was in the shoes of Sonic or Isabelle, the target on my back would have been a lot larger and there is no way I would have made it anywhere close to day thirty-eight. I think that probably speaks for itself."

"Look,-" Now Ryu felt it being necessary for him to clear his name. "-I by no means have the intentions to offend anybody here. We all deserved to have our second chance, and it's unfortunate that Isabelle and Sonic had no shot of making it far again because of them competing with eighteen competitors that have never won Survivor. It played a really large factor of how they were voted out. Plague Knight, Yoshi, and Zelda all made half of the top six in spite of all three of them making it to the final day of the game. That's really impressive, and they deserved to have their second shot like everybody else. But the point I'm trying to make here is that if I'm not winning, at least give me the chance to see day thirty-nine. Wolf and I are the only two players that have yet to experience what day thirty-nine. Yoshi and Plague Knight already have that experience, and I find Plague to be the bigger threat of the two if Yoshi and Wolf are going to take two of the final three spots."

"So Wolf, after hearing the point of views of all three of your fellow players here, do you take everything they say into consideration?"

"Why wouldn't I? This is the last big decision I have to make before I wake up tomorrow and I need to make sure the move that I make here counts for something. Otherwise, I'm heading out of here looking stupid because of making a decision that I would grow to regret for the rest of my life. I've already dealt with the pain of that once and I have no plans on going through that process all over again. I desperately want to win, so every move I make has to pay off when I face the jury tomorrow."

That was it right there. The jury needed to know everything about everything. They had the power to vote for a winner, not the people that were still in the running for the crown.

"Okay. Sounds like you're ready, so I guess that means it's time to vote. Ryu, you're up."

Heaving a deep sigh, he was up and walking.

P-L-A-G-U-E

"If you're the one that's gonna stay, I can't wait to once again hear what you have to say in your Final Tribal Council speech. You're gonna have to be hella convincing if you are somehow going to win this over him."f

There was a brief shot at Wolf eyeing his way before Yoshi was called over, Plague Knight himself making his way over to make sure his letters were big as possible.

R-Y-U

"Wolf, if you are going to send me home over Ryu, I don't know how the Survivor community is ever going to understand your thought process once this is over. I really wish I was the won to win immunity today."

Well, what was Wolf O'Donnell going to do? He was getting ready to write a name down.

...

Of course it was not going to be shown until all of the votes were revealed.

"I'll go tally the votes."

The furry sighed staring at the ground. "Last time..."

"Second to last time for you at least." That was true coming from Plague Knight. "I don't know what the results are yet."

Well they were going to come out. The jury bench had one more spot left. Somebody had to sit by Donkey Kong the following evening.

"Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes."

Ryu breathed out heavily.

"First vote... Plague Knight."

"That'd better be my first and only vote..."

"I second that." muttered Shadow.

"Ryu. One vote Ryu, one vote Plague Knight."

Springtrap nodded in satisfaction of what the results were revealing thus far.

...

"Ryu. Two votes Ryu, one vote Plague Knight, one vote left."

The man continued staring blankly, having a strong feeling of what was the inevitable. He was even going to be surprised if he found himself competing in a last minute fire making challenge. At least he had a high chance of beating Plague in that.

But sadly that was not going to be the case.

"Seventeenth person voted out of Survivor and the tenth and final member of our jury, Ryu. You need to bring me your torch."

"Okay, then..."

Music: Story 5 Meeting (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

Game: Fire Emblem - Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light

Sure it was another Fire Emblem track playing at an elimination ceremony, but there was not enough time to really go through a thousand tracks off the Smash Ultimate and figure out which one was the most appropriate to pick. Besides, it was either that or the 'Classic: Fail' track. One sounded much better over the other.

Donkey Kong was already shaking his head in disappointment. Not at Wolf for voting him out, but he, Golden, and Ridley were all sharing similar reactions to his departure. They all would have loved to see him sitting at the end. Just one more day...

And it was all because of Wolf winning final immunity.

"It was well worth a shot. But if it wasn't meant to be, nothing I can do about it." Ryu went behind the others to retrieve his torch. "I've had a great thirty-eight days out here and this two-time experience will forever be in my memory."

"Had to do it, bud." Wolf smiled, owning up to sending the man home.

"Ryu, the tribe has spoken."

And with that, that was the last torch that was snuffed. No more torch snuffing for a long while.

"Time for you to go."

He was seen calmly making his way to exit, taking his time heading down the stairs. Regardless, Ryu kept his head held up high. The one great thing that came out of it was that like DK, he greatly improved his placement and admittedly played a better game... except perhaps he played a little too passively? It was probably the first thought regarding his game critique. Maybe it was necessary to debate about it.

"Thank you." Plague whispered to Wolf.

"All it took was a little common sense."

"Alright." On a more happy note, there was the final three. All of them were shown together grinning from ear to ear. "Plague Knight, Wolf, Yoshi, congratulations. You three are locked in to be the first group of All Stars to make it to day thirty-nine. You all have already made history. The Caribbean has just one more day in store for you to reflect on your entire Survivor experience as a whole. Get a good night's sleep, and eat a good breakfast. Final Tribal Council is just around the corner. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

Well, they did it! This was going to be the final three of Survivor - Heroes vs Villains!


Votes:

Yoshi - Ryu

Wolf - Ryu

Ryu - Plague Knight

Plague Knight - Ryu

-/-

Final Result: 3-1

4th Place: Ryu

Total Votes Received: 14

Final Confessional Run: 2-2-2-3-2-3-2-2-3-3-2-2-2-1-7 (38)

(Do note that the finale episode combines both the DK and Ryu eliminations, so altogether Ryu had seven confessionals in the whole finale episode.)


FINAL THREE

Yoshi, Wolf, Plague Knight


"I was there this time. I was right there, and I fell just short. I don't know if I was going to beat Plague at the end or not. Yes, I knew that I was viewed as more sociable of a player than he was. But he had a more direct hand of the game went, even though Wolf and Springtrap were helping him survive. We both had our friends on the jury, and Wolf wanted to increase his odds. So,... I'm the final juror. Not happy knowing that I was hours away from waking up on the island one more time, but it is what it is. All I can do is look forward to see what those three finalists will have to say when they face me and the other jurors tomorrow."


SURVIVOR - HEROES VS VILLAINS


It was another unfortunate exit, but Ryu's fans were seen clapping nonetheless.

There was even a shot of the man's loved ones in the audience including Ken Masters himself, and their longtime master in Gouken. Based off how Ryu talked about him, he was one hell of a guy. He really did raise two of the strongest men the game ever saw.

"Well he was one of the most notable players from season three, backstabbing his old tribemates in exchange for a better overall shot at the game that ended up backfiring on him. He did not want to be part of any strong person's alliance again to avoid making the same mistakes. But it happened anyway, and he ended up being the very last man standing from his alliance."

The Survivor Gods really had their own plans in store for the guy.

"Regardless of what his overall plan was this season, he made a big improvement by making it all the way to fourth place. Just one day short of a shot at a million dollars. In spite of all that, he kept his head sharp just like DK. Let's get Ryu out here. Come on out!"

Taking his time getting to the front of the stage, Ryu Hoshi was seen on live television. And obviously due to him not being sweaty and smelly on the island, he appeared to look a lot more clean and professional back in the real world... Him being into the all black thing was something most people would not have expected, though.

And yes. In a rare event, he was wearing actual shoes. But overall, he still was perceived to be rather mellow. Though considering that it was far from his first time dealing with fame, it was not too surprising.

"How ya doing, Ryu?"

"Well I had to relive the moment where I was voted off, but at least it's good to know to my folks from home are still proud of what I was able to achieve during my time out there."

"You know," Master Hand thought out loud. "-you're just as calm and collected as Donkey Kong. No wonder you two get along so well. Keeping a level head is crucial for making rational decisions on the island. You are able to think through every possible scenario of what could happen that could play a part in your fate down the road."

"Well not all of my decisions were wise based on how I was not even able to make a single digit placement on my first go, so I easily prefer my run this season over my first time playing."

"Speaking about it, it leads to the question I was going to ask you. You have seemed to completely change strategies. In Mexico, you weren't afraid to play rather aggressively. This season you went with the opposite approach with you not wanting to put a target on your back. All just you could have a shot at making a deep run. Explain your overall thought process coming into this season."

"The absolute biggest criticism that I received in my first season was that I did a horrible job of minimizing your threat level. There are all sorts of threats out there, but there are people that actually know how to downplay their threat level. It can get to the point where other players actually consider voting somebody else out over you. And if that's happens, it'd be a really good thing for you. If you take a look at Ken from Caribbean, he was doing a great job not giving people much of a reason to write him off until he targeted Simon just a little bit too early. And people were on his case ever since that moment until he lost the final immunity challenge at four."

The blonde kept his smile, yet he was slowly shaking his head laughing. If one though Ryu going out at four in season five was unfortunate, it was nothing compared to the way Ken was written off.

"All this came into mind when I stepped foot on the villains tribe. There were going to be a few immediate targets on the surface such as Plague Knight, Shadow, Bowser, Foxy, Ridley, and myself in particular. So at the time, I found it best to just be chill and try to lie low for the time being until I feel like I needed to do a little something. Ridley coming at me with the idea of recreating SGA didn't sit right with me at all, but... it somehow worked in my favor in the long run. I've gotten revenge on Specter, Ridley played his idol on me the next round, and my name was never written down again until after that final four challenge. And guess what? I was able to walk down those stairs knowing that unlike the first time I played, I didn't have to worry about putting the knife into the back of any of my allies."

Loud cheers and claps were heard at how things turned out for him.

"One challenge short, but forth place is a lot better than tenth. Changing strategies is not a bad thing at all because it could very well save your life."

"It really doesn't hurt to change things up a little bit. We're gonna talk to you more during the reunion show." Master Hand faced the camera again in preparation for another commercial break. "With Ryu now being out of the game, we now have our final three. Wolf, Yoshi, and Plague Knight are all set to go to Final Tribal Council where they have to face the jury of why they're worth a million dollars. A winner will be revealed tonight. If you don't wanna miss out on who is gonna place first out of everyone this season, I highly recommend you not changing the channel. This season isn't over just yet, so stay tuned!"

Staring at the camera himself, Ryu clapped his hands in support of the season's upcoming finish.


Sigh...

Not as long as my last chapter, but this is still one of my longest even though there were literally only four people left. Just what do you guys have to say about Ryu leaving? I feel like Ryu's a good man. You can literally tell why is super tight with people such as DK and Golden. They're all just so similar with their own unique differences at the same time.

...And we have our final three. Plague Knight and Yoshi are the only two players that have made it all the way to the end twice, and Wolf is the first non-finalist to make it to the end for the first time on a later season.

So Ryu's Ponderosa will come (Donkey Kong's chapter was already posted a while back, but Fanfiction's notification system is being messy again...)


Let's reveal the rest of the players for Survivor - India! We have... Alois Rengald (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Chun Li (Street Fighter), Leon Powalski (StarFox), Terry Bogard (Fatal Fury)

And with that, we now have our full cast for season six! Ludwig von Koopa (Super Mario), Wario and Ashley (WarioWare), Impa (The Legend of Zelda - Skyward Sword), Byleth, Dimitri, Dedue, and Alois (Fire Emblem - Three Houses), Bill and Leon (StarFox), Raven (Metroid), Olimar (Pikmin), Blaze (Sonic the Hedgehog), Proto Man (Mega Man), Chun Li (Street Fighter), Jeanne (Bayonetta), Richter (Castlevania), Mona (Shovel Knight), Papyrus (Undertale), and Terry (Fatal Fury)