Chapter Text
LIVE REUNION SHOW
"Being the mayor's assistant back where I am from comes with an obvious huge responsibility. There are still decisions that you have to make on a daily basis to ensure that your town runs as safe and smooth as possible. I suppose that is why I always work hard, everyday."
"I mean, if it's me, then it's me. I prefer it to be anyone but me, but if I'm getting the votes, then... it just didn't work in my favor."
"Jimmy."
"Basically the three of us girls can stay here."
"Rosalina wants an all girls alliance."
"...Say what!?"
"All I wanted to do was to help keep all the Brains together..."
"The most likely people I would trust right off the bat are my old tribemates from the Brain tribe. I feel like I'm good with them all, so I hope that everyone else is on the same page..."
"Espio."
"Hey Plague, can we talk for a minute when we get a chance?"
"I was supposed to go home at our first Tribal Council. Had Espio not taken out Jimmy with the others, I would not be here right now... But don't you think that it could actually be a reason to why we need each other?"
"Me and the Brains now have more reasons to why we regret not sending Plague home sooner rather than later. Golden's the most likely Brain to be on the chopping block. Ryu's probably the other option for Specter to vote for at the next tribal. Voting for Ryu would be the exact same goal us Brains have. So perhaps for once, all of the Brains can see eye to eye on a strategic standpoint."
"Golden."
"This really hurts my game... I tried so hard to keep my closest allies in the game as much as possible. Now I'm once again stuck in the middle trying to figure out once again of how to help protect my alliance. I just try so hard to play the best game I can, but I guess that you have to be pretty lucky for all of your moves to work..."
"ISABELLE WINS IMMUNITY!"
"The only way we can stop this from happening is that we have to make Isabelle flip on Funky Kong."
"I doubt that's the best idea..."
"For me, it's probably whoever I wanna play with at this point and sticking true to my word, rather than who's the biggest threat."
"Isabelle's done it! Isabelle has earned her way to the Final Tribal Council and will see day thirty-nine in this game."
After looking at her history throughout the season on the screen, the crowd roared at Isabelle Cosgrove's victory, now confirmed as the official third winner of the Survivor show. The woman looked to be rather proud of herself. Yet at the same time, she was questioning herself of whether or not this was actually happening at the time.
"Welcome back to the season finale of Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)!" Master Hand introduced, floating in front of season three's cast. "We are now at our live reunion show where Isabelle, who was basically Ms. KeeptheBrainsTogether, has just won a million dollars. Congratulations, Isabelle!"
The audience and the cast themselves laughed and clapped for Cosgrove at the same time.
"So Isabelle, I'm generally curious. What did you feel your chances of winning were coming out of that tribal?" Master Hand jumped right into the discussion.
"Literally 50-50." She replied with no hesitation. "Coming into final tribal, I knew it was going to be either me or Funky the entire time. I even guessed that it was going to be a deadlock tie since there were an even number of jurors this season. But apparently Specter broke the tie and I guess that led to me winning. But in the end, I think it was kind of rather... poetic of how things ended up, knowing me and Funky Kong were with each other side by side."
"Let's see who voted to who. Let's see it on the screen..."
They all looked up to see all the votes cast for the finalists. It was confirmed that Chica, Daisy, Ryu, and Espio voted for Isabelle, Golden, Incineroar, and Panther all voted for Funky Kong, and Specter was the lone wolf that voted for Plague Knight.
"Alright, there you have it... Well, if it was in fact a 4-4 tie, here's what would have happened..." Master Hand explained. "Since Plague Knight would have been in third place, he would have been the final member of our jury, and we would have had him cast the winning vote."
Nearly the entire cast sat in shock in reaction, Plague Knight's jaw dropping underneath his mask.
"Oh..." He said blinking. "Okay, then. Not that I haven't cast a crucial vote before..."
"Alright, so Isabelle, back to your win. Let's talk about tribe unity." He jumped back on topic. "Was that your overall plan from day one? Or did it slowly develop afterwards?"
"To be honest, just keeping all of my tribe together wasn't my plan at all from day one." The anthropomorphic dog denied. "Before the Brains lost on day nine I was simply trying to build friendships so that I could build possible alliances. However, when the Brains lost for the first time, I was immediately on the chopping block for being the weakest."
"But after I was saved by Funky, Golden, and Espio, I decided: 'You know what, they saved my life. And if I could, I would try to save theirs as well.'" She expressed her thought process at the time. "And then the swap happened where me and Funky Kong were the only two Brain members in Quetzal and Funky was on a chopping block because Rosalina was planning on an alliance between herself, Tifa, and I. But I decided that I trusted Funky Kong more because I've only known Rose for like, five or six days at the time. And I guess that's where my whole 'keeping brains together' plan started to surface."
"And you know what else, Isabelle? It just so happened that thanks to you, both you and Funky Kong became so motivated by tribe unity that you two were willing to take each other to the end no matter who the other players were. We'll get to Funky Kong in a minute." The host knew that he had to get to Donkey Kong's cousin at some point. "But here's something that I've been wondering. And I'm pretty sure a lot of people on the streets thought the same... Say if you were guys proved to be successful without any setbacks, would you be willing to have a final four between yourself, Golden, Funky Kong, and Espio."
"That's actually a good question. You see, assuming that Plague Knight actually leaves, us four would have stuck it out together for a long time. I think there would have been a bit of a problem at certain points, though. Funky Kong and Golden were in fact trusting Ryu and Incineroar, and me and Espio never knew that they were actually willing to stick with them as well. Those two were basically in the middle of everything, and then there would have been other players that would have likely tried to stirred up trouble. So,..." She giggled at the thought. "who knows, really? It all would have depended on who would have went home and when they would have left."
"'Who knows' is right." Master Hand agreed. "There's not only other players that are involved, but we still had idols, Panther still had his idol nullifier, and certain people winning immunity would have thrown wrenches into peoples' plans. So anyway, now I wanna talk about the final six. And before I try to understand your point of view on that, Isabelle, it was not only about you, but it was about all three of you: you, Funky Kong, and Plague Knight. Funky Kong was actually being targeted at the time, and Plague Knight wanted to make a move against him with Panther and Chica, and you shot down that plan."
"However," He continued. "as Specter Knight stated, Plague still would have gotten away with it. And you know what I always say: one decision could cost you a million dollars. After listening from that final tribal, Plague Knight, of all people, could have won the game."
His fans from the audience cheered, but the knight in particular was certainly feeling more guilty than pleased at the sound of that.
"But back to you," His focus returned to Isabelle once more. "you were approached and you were asked if you would be willing to flip on Funky Kong that night for being a threat to Plague's plans and you said 'no'. So let me ask this... Were you aware that Funky Kong was an actual threat to win?"
"Absolutely." She nodded immediately, confirming that she knew what she was doing. "Funky Kong was indeed a threat. And even though I ended up voting out Funky's closest ally, Incineroar, at the same time, I basically saved Funky Kong from being eliminated."
He nodded in complete agreement.
"I think that was the only reason why he wasn't too mad at me."
"I wasn't mad at you at all." Kong denied shaking his head. "I was just upset that he left and I was just confused as to why you voted him out at the time."
"Oh, alright, then!" She grinned as the audience chuckled. "But anyway, I said this at final tribal, but it didn't make the final edit. But if it wasn't for me, Funky Kong would not have been sitting there. After the final six, Funky Kong went on to win his way to final tribal, and that never would have happened had I not turn Plague down and blindsiding him. So do I actually regret taking him to the end? Not at all... I think it's rather... the other way around, though..."
"Funky Kong, before we get to you, I'm gonna talk to Jimmy Hopkins real quick." Master Hand told him. "So Jimmy, it seems that your words did turn out to be true after all. Back on day nine, you made a comment that Isabelle in fact would not mind seeing one of the Brains winning the game. A Brain did win the game, and it just so happened to be Isabelle herself."
"All Brain final three." Jimmy still could not have believed it. "You see, with me being the only Brain pre-juror, I didn't get to see anything post-merge. We're only told stuff from everybody else of what happened. But I just had to see it with my own eyes, y'know what I'm sayin'? I wanted a Brain to win, and we got an all Brain final three. It just sucked for me because I was the only one from my tribe that wasn't there."
"What does this say for the Brains in general?"
"Well, since we're the ones who are the most underestimated, I'd say that we did a pretty good job out there as a tribe. We ended up being the top dogs of the whole season. I know back in the real world, the nerds are at the bottom of the totem pole. All I gotta say is look how the tables have turned. I mean, the strong tribe ended up being the first tribe to lose all of its members first. That's definitely saying something. So hopefully this teaches people a lesson. Never underestimate the brainiacs. We're smart for a reason."
With that out of the way, Master Hand finally decided to move onto the second place finisher. "Now Funky Kong, since we're already on the subject,... you know what, let's just get this out of the way right now. You guys know that I love doing this."
Everyone already knew that he was going to do some 'what-if' scenario that he tended to do at his reunion shows.
"Isabelle, pretend that you have been voted out fourth place instead of you winning this. Now the final three is Funky Kong, Plague Knight, and Chica (who is now in the final three instead of being voted out in forth place. ...Jury." He called. "Show of hands. How many people would have voted for Chica?"
"..."
"...Nobody?"
"It's fine, master." The chicken laughed it off.
"How many of you would have voted for Plague Knight?"
Specter was the lone wolf once again.
"One vote for Plague Knight."
"Hey," The laboratory manager spoke up. "at least second is better than third. That's why I flipped in the first place."
"And how many people would have voted for Funky Kong?"
Literally everybody else from the jury (including Isabelle) all raised their hands.
"Wow... Unsurprisingly, even Isabelle." Master Hand concluded, retrieving enough information from his castaways. "So Funky Kong, that means it would have been a blowout. Almost a completely unanimous jury vote."
"Yeah, yeah... I already thought about if Isabelle was set to win before this." He appeared as if this possibility was thought over a billion times. "I began to think about it immediately after the Final Tribal Council after we were all getting ready to go home. Isabelle was a great speaker and she had pretty valid points at the tribal. And... I gotta admit. I wouldn't have even been at final tribal if it weren't for her. She kept all her allies together and it pulled it off. After Golden left she was the only one of the two of us that was willing to bring Plague Knight to the final three if she needed to."
The latest competitor of the Kong family heaved a sigh. "I mean,... at the time I was maybe thinking of helping keeping the Brains united more than me trying to win this thing on my own. It's not Isabelle's fault, but it was just my own stupidity. I didn't put myself first, and in Survivor, even though it sounds wrong,... you gotta put yourself first and I learned the hard way.
Master Hand ignored the audience's laughter as he continued to question him on Funky's decision making. "So I get the impression that you certainly regret it now, right?"
"Definitely. But I don't feel too emotional about it or anything." He replied. "I mean, if I did put myself first in the final four, I would have been hesitant about doing it, but I maybe would have approached Plague and we would have had all three of us vote for Isabelle. Would have felt bad that I went against of what Iz was going for, but hey, if you get more jury votes, I guess it doesn't even matter. But hey, we all make mistakes. I learned my lesson. Wish I would have won, but I'm glad that Isabelle managed to win this and now we're more closer than ever."
"Awww..." Half of the audience sounded, clapping afterwards.
"Alright, Funky Kong. One more thing before I move onto Plague Knight." said Master Hand. "Let's just talk about your overall experience in general. You came out on the show wanting to make a name for yourself since your own cousin competed in our first season. Aside from winning the million dollars, do you personally feel that you've gotten everything you wanted out of this?"
"Definitely." He responded immediately, Donkey Kong being in the front row watching in the audience. "I came out on the show on the Brains tribe, even though I am who I am. People wouldn't usually look at Funky Kong of all people to be the smartest of the bunch. But I was not on the Brains tribe as a mistake. Sure, there were other people that were smarter than me, but you know what? There's always going to be someone smarter than you."
Half of the people in arena clapped in reaction.
"But, guess what? I was still with those people at the end of the day, so I didn't take it personally. I mean, I'm brawn because I'm strong at stuff, I'm a beauty because of my social skills and me being friendly towards other people, but I guess people looked beyond the surface and saw the brain power in me more, so that's how I got there. Aside from making all those inventions for Donkey,... I did in face complete a puzzle to win immunity after all. And I'm the first person to admit that I wasn't really the best at puzzles this season. So I scored some redemption there."
"Donkey Kong, where are you?" Master Hand called out. "...Oh, there you are."
Before he had the chance to continued, the crowd cheered and roared at the sight of the ape as he stood up on his feet.
"So you've watched your cousin for the whole season and saw everything that went on and what it was like for him out there. I figure you and your family know about him more than anyone in this entire arena." He stated. "What would your overall advice be?"
"Well," He eyed Funky Kong directly as he was now the center of attention. "one thing that you were able to do is be yourself. Sometimes people have to change their character strategically just to get by. But unsurprisingly, you managed to adapt pretty well and managed to make it all the way to the end. And if there was anything I've ever noticed is that you do not like to be underestimated, knowing you've dealt with people who got the wrong impression of you before."
"But you know, since you've been on Survivor, you can pretty much deal with anything and anybody, so just do you as usual and don't let people get to you. Your adventure was shown in front of the entire universe so you have nothing else to prove anyway, not saying that you had to prove anything to anyone in the first place. Just continue to be who you are and as long as you're happy, I'm happy."
Nearly the entire arena clapped and cheered on for the both of them, Funky Kong grinning largely all the while.
"Plague Knight." Master Hand moved onto the third place finisher. "...I... W-Where do I begin?"
Everyone giggled in laughter, including the alchemist himself.
"I guess since we just discussed about both you and Funky Kong making million dollar mistakes, I suppose it's your turn." The host of the show figured. "You were known for having a fit whenever something didn't go their way, but you still would have gotten your way if you just thought outside the box at the final six. You didn't wanna risk going the rocks, but the 3-3 tie still would have been broken."
"Knowing me, I don't know why I never have thought of that until Specter brought that up at the Final Tribal Council." Plague Knight hunched his shoulders. "Guess I was just annoyed and tired. We just came back from that challenge, Panther unfortunately won immunity so I was upset about that, and when I found out that Isabelle didn't want to flip, I was extremely upset at her at the time, because that meant that my life was going to be much harder for that day. But to know that I still would have gotten away with it if me and Panther just manipulated her to write down Isabelle and have us two plus Chica write down Funky Kong, he would have went home with an idol in his pocket. And from there, all I had to do was to convince Incineroar and Chica that us three needed to stay together to get rid of Isabelle and Panther, I would have won."
"So what I'm guessing from your answer is that you were just exhausted."
"It was kind of a rough day for me, so yeah." He responded with a nod. "Yes, it is a rather lame excuse, but like, that day I was really thinking everything over. As each player left following the merge, I became more and more stressed as time passed. Every day I was trying to figure out what I'm going to do to survive this. Like, 'Oh, is somebody going to destroy my plan?' 'What's going on now?' 'What do I have to do this time?' Stuff like that. When you're out on the show, you learn the hard way about how much pressure is on you. And you know what, I think I just let it get to me and the thought of taking advantage of the 3-3 situation like that never crossed my mind. I'll admit it was a dumb move for my standards, but I'm very far from stupid. And also, I did have my way a couple times and I made it to the end. I'm still satisfied."
With the audience giggling, Master Hand decided to go deeper into Plague's motivations.
"So obviously you had a lot of obstacles this season. You were at the wrong side of the vote and from there, you had quite an interesting journey to get to the Final Tribal Council. In the final three, people say that you still could have won somehow, if you were just a little bit nicer." He used his fingers for emphasis. "You still got one vote from Specter Knight who constantly called you out by how you were treating the other players, so did you take that as a warning?"
"Well, clearly I didn't." Plague Knight shook his head immediately. "All I was worried about was how I was going to make it to final tribal. In my mind, all I was thinking about is me doing whatever it took to get to the end. Me and Jimmy had an alliance, that didn't work. I made an alliance with Specter, that didn't work. I tried to get rid of Isabelle, that didn't work, but I still made it. But every time something happened, I always blew up when my plan didn't work out the way it wanted to."
"And you've said the reason behind it is based on your position in your real life." Master Hand assumed.
"Exactly." He nodded in confirmation. "Always being in control, always telling others what to do, I'm in charge of everything in my laboratory. That's already stressful as it is, so that probably played a part in how I acted. But I guess Specter was just trying to give me a wake up call that you can't always get what you want. Maybe that was why the Survivor Gods decided to have me on your show to teach me that. It's just a matter of you trying to figure out how are you going to deal with it if things don't always turn out the way you want all the time."
"Alright, just one more thing before we go on a break." There was one last thing he wanted to discuss with him. "We have to talk about Specter Knight giving you your only jury vote. So Specter,... you... openly criticized Plague Knight in front of everyone a number of times."
Ignoring the laughs, the scythe wielder spoke for the first time, sitting between Golden and Daisy. "I am well aware, yes. The thing is, even though Plague Knight might not be the sharpest tool in the shed socially,"
The giggles grew even louder.
"There you go." Plague Knight sighed. "Criticizing me yet again..."
"It's for your own good." He nodded as a promise. "But anyway, I suppose the one thing me and Plague do have in common is that we are both willing to put strategy first, before we focus on relationships. We both seem to agree that there are those players who are just wishing to have fun. Not that there is anything wrong with that, even though it is what you signed up for if you dream of winning, but me and Plague have both clearly signed up to be the Sole Survivor. As the old saying goes, we are not here to make friends. We are here to win. And Plague Knight has clearly shown that he is willing to do whatever it takes. Sure, he did not always get his way, but say if that was me fighting to get to day thirty-nine, a true Survivor never gives up. Though a bit too dependent, he was willing to work with whoever he needed to in order to get far, which in my opinion is a better way to play the game, rather than simply playing with the same individuals. So yes, I did ended up giving him my vote because of that... But he is far from perfect."
Mumbling the last part made Master Hand chuckle himself. "I just gotta ask you this... What is your relationship with Plague Knight like in general?"
"Ooh, I can answer that." Jimmy Hopkins out of nowhere raised his hand to volunteer. "Um,... let's just say... Oh darn, what is it? ...Oh, it's like where you have this duo or something. One of them is smart as heck, and the other is that annoying sidekick that he has to deal with."
Though it would have been basically a low-key insult to Plague Knight, he actually laughed out loud as well as several others.
"That's probably true from his perspective..."
"You needed to be taught a lesson. Just like everyone else." Specter Knight defended. "No one is perfect, I am not perfect, and you are not perfect either. I was just not going to simply sit on my bottom and stay silent all the time. If I have something to say, I will say it."
"Alright." Master Hand was now the center focus once again. "Let's get ready to head into a commercial break... But when we come back... We are going to discuss one of the most iconic moments in this series, and probably the biggest blindside we've ever had in this show so far,... the blindside of Espio the Chameleon. We'll be right back after this! It is the Survivor - Mexico Reunion Show!"
-/-
"I'll make sure this one counts." He gave his idol to Master Hand. "I'm playing it for Plague."
!
"Excuse me, master."
! !
"I think that if I do not use this, I will probably regret not doing so for the rest of my life. This idol is for Golden."
"Plague Knight. Does not count."
"Golden. Does not count."
"Espio. You need to bring me your torch."
! ! !
Following the commercial break, the reunion show was being broadcasted live once again.
"We are back at our Survivor - Mexico Reunion Show!" The camera zoomed in on Master Hand. "And as we all remember back on day twenty-four, Espio gets blindsided at one of our craziest Tribal Councils we've ever had. One, Specter plays his idol on Plague Knight. Two, Espio plays his idol on Golden, meaning nine of the eleven votes are cancelled out. Three, Espio himself gets blindsided, becoming the first ever contestant on our show to idol himself out of the game."
"So Espio," He turned his hand around to the Mobian. "first of all I wanna say congratulations, actually. It's always amazing to see my castaways making history. However, I guess for you, ...perhaps it was not for the best reasons."
"It was so overwhelming." He commented with a smirk, yet he shook his head remembering the event as if it happened just the previous night. "This would have never happened if we got rid of Plague at the previous tribal before it. The Brains have agreed to vote out Plague because he feared that he would go against us at some point. But since he caught word that he was going home, he pretty much had no choice but to against us. He approached Specter (who just so happened to have Brawn's idol), and then Specter approached Daisy and Chica who were on the bottom after being left out of the Katt vote.
"Those two decided to vote for Golden for being one of the strongest of the Brains. Though the thing was that Specter wanted to be cautious. He had a feeling that one of the Brains had an idol as well, and no idols have been played prior. Worst case scenario for him, one of us played our idol successfully ruining his plan. Thus, to prevent, he and Plague decided to cast two votes on me since Funky Kong won immunity. It was a perfect plan for them, but I ultimately paid the price for it."
"How were you feeling on the inside?" Master Hand wondered.
"I was not bitter at all about it, but I was still beyond devastated. Of all the things, I ended up going home by idoling myself out of the competition. Never happened before, but it was... certainly a hard pill to swallow. Ponderosa helped a bit, but it does not change the fact that it will haunt me for the rest of my life."
"And you literally said if you didn't play your idol for Golden, that would haunt you for the rest of your life."
He giggled. "Indeed. But like I said, it is a game. And I think I will still be part of Survivor history forever."
"And speaking of Survivor history, back to Specter Knight himself." He moved onto the main culprit of the whole elimination round. "Specter... That was a pretty masterful plan back there."
"I had no other choice." He commented. "Sure, some say that I may have flipped one or two rounds too early, but I already lost Tifa outside of my control before the merge. Plague Knight was the most likely person I could have trusted out of everyone while I was on Coati. And the fact that he actually approached me first told me that he wanted to trust me because he himself lost a close ally. Golden was the supposed to be our intended target after we approached Chica and Daisy. But then something told me that one of those Brains had their idol with them. So to give them a taste of their own medicine, I knew it was better to prevent then to react. I told Plague we needed to cast two votes on Espio to guarantee our plan working in our favor, and they all got outsmarted."
"Did you expect it to be Espio who just so happened to be your secondary target?"
"It could have been any of them." The warrior shook his head. "Obviously Plague Knight did not have it. Funky Kong would have had it, Golden, or Isabelle. So I was surprised myself when Espio played that idol on Golden. And in my mind I was going... 'What did I just do?' Because I knew exactly who was going home that night. I made someone idol himself out of the game. And the fact that I am the first person to make a contestant do that really does make this a rather special experience for me."
"Okay, so Golden,... were you just glad that it wasn't you?"
Laughs were sounded all around him. "Very. I felt bad about what happened, though. I was supposed to be getting the boot and Espio idol'd himself out on universal television just so I could move further in the game. From the moment his torch was snuffed I knew I needed to make it up to him big time... Annnd,... I ended up being the very next (and last) Brain to go... Oh well. At least I died trying."
"So Specter," The host's attention moved right back to cold-blooded Litch Yard resident. "after Espio left, did you think that you were the next to go?"
"A little, yes." He was not going to lie. "Especially after I spoke with Ryu. He knew that I flipped and that he was going to write my name in a heartbeat. But with me doing what I did, I basically also sent a message to the rest of my tribe that the Strong Guys Alliance was not beneficial for everyone involved and that Ryu was running the show. He was a major threat and people saw it. I do not even think that I needed to win immunity at that challenge, but that was the final nail in his coffin."
"Ryu," It was time for Survivor's first Street Fighter character to get some screen time. "How did you feel when he ruined your perfect plan?"
"I actually take one hundred percent of the blame on that." He admitted. "Yeah, the brains also had other things in mind, but I think if I would have kept Jet a little bit longer, things would have been different at least a little bit. The Brawn tribe shot himself in the foot because of what I started. That's how we ended up being the first tribe to lose all of its members in the first place even though we won all of the immunity challenges before the swap. When the plan didn't go through at that tribal, I told myself that I should have never blindsided Jet. But I was actually already regretting voting him out when Tifa went home, and when I had to deal with Incineroar. And then after Tifa left, Katt followed right behind her. It was really not looking good when it came to original numbers because people actually trusted me to work with them."
"But I knew that the most physical people were always targeted both seasons prior to this, and I didn't want to be eliminated due to that trend. So I just decided to keep all of the strongest players in the game for as long as possible. But I think I took it a bit too far. Getting rid of Daisy would have been the smarter move long-term because Jet would have been a back up plan if something went wrong."
"Not gonna lie, I was kinda mad at you when I saw that on TV." Jet the Hawk spoke for the first time since he was eliminated all the way back on day twelve. "I was with you all the way and you even had to toughen me up when I was down because we lost that challenge, and you just threw me away. But after some time I realized that I was looking like a complete idiot out there."
He laughed at himself while Ryu's head was turned around due to Jet sitting in the top row. "I mean, I looked completely clueless! I had no idea what was going on, and I even had a major friendship with Incineroar. I was like, 'How did I not see this?' I was out of the loop all this time and I didn't even know it until Tifa told me everything when she visited us at Ponderosa! Katt had to learn the hard way, too."
"It was embarrassing..." She commented, the audience finding it to be rather amusing. "I know I should have known better than that. But as Jet was saying, Ryu just seemed to be completely trustworthy. No one really had a problem with him and me and Jet fell for it."
"Yeah,..." He slowly shifted his head back to the master. "I did burn a couple bridges. But, you know? You live and you learn. If I'm ever on this show again, I know that I'll have to do even better. That's how I live: becoming a better and strong person everyday."
"That's kinda the main thing Survivor does to you anyway." Master Hand agreed. "You learn about yourself while you're with random strangers for thirty-nine days encountering so many personal obstacles the Survivor Gods want you to overcome. Many survivors always say that this was the biggest thing that's ever happened to them in their lives."
"Not hard to see why, that's for sure." Ryu Hoshi nodded in agreement.
"Alright, we're going to take another commercial break." Master Hand told the viewers watching from home. "But, when we come back... We're going to talk about Panther, Incineroar, and Chica. Afterwards, we're going to present our award to Player of the Season. We'll be right back after this!"
-/-
"Survivor is looking for new players! It could be you! Apply now!"
-/-
"Get this: I am a mercenary on the Beauty tribe of all places. Though when it comes to me, I don't think that is my looks that reel people in... or at least not that alone. Though the main trick I use is my personality. And I'll admit. I do flirt from time to time. But for the most part is just to have fun and play around... But hey, whatever brightens the mood at camp, I suppose..."
"I've never really had that big of an interests in sports, except when it comes to swimming I suppose. That's my buddy Wolf who was always trying out for something half the time. Despite that, people still call me one of the most manliest men they've ever known including some of the other guys."
"Panther is... I... For once I am at a loss for words or something. I mean, he's clearly trying to feel me out, but... Okay, I don't have a boyfriend yet, but since we apparently relate to each other rather well based off our conversation, perhaps someone like him would be my kind of guy. He's pretty funny, I guess?"
"Aha! There you are, baby." His lips kissed the wrapped up idol repeatedly, finally turning around to head to the water well. "You're all mine..."
"Panther is such a hottie! I didn't mind testing him a little bit to see how he would react. He's literally the definition of someone from the Beauty tribe is supposed to be, and I am all for it..."
"Say if you are trying to get a guy's attention, the classic saying is to basically... be yourself. For me in particular though, most of the time as far as my 'flirtatious behavior' is concerned, I don't just do it to get girls attention. That's just part of who I am. I'm a laid back kinda guy that just likes to have a little fun."
Upon seeing himself on the screen, he giggled to himself in amusement as the audience clapped and roared.
"Welcome back to our Survivor - Mexico reunion show!" Master Hand re-introduced. "Isabelle was just revealed to be the winner of this season, but right now we're going to focus on fifth place finisher, Panther Caroso, who is perceived to be both charismatic and attractive. And as he said himself, it's not all just for show. It's generally who he is... Right, Panther?"
"Basically." He bobbed his head up and down. "Just being yourself is all that it takes to have a good time out there. I've made good friends, I won challenges, I earned rewards, and aside from winning, only thing that I'm mad about is that I lost so much when the game started when Beauty lost two challenges in a row."
"And you know, that completely motivated you to do so well in challenges, you were quite literally overexerting yourself in them out there. You thought that you were pushing yourself a little too hard at times?"
And after that question, there was a montage of him being out of breath upon completing challenges in the season.
"Oh... Oh, yeah... I definitely went too far, didn't I?" Unlike the other montage, Panther did not enjoy viewing himself in those moments. "I went a little over the edge. But this is just what happens when you're tired of losing. But getting back to the point, yeah. Like you said, I'm getting along with people well, sure that wins people over, but I put my social skills first. The image then comes later if I really wanted to get in there. And yet, I am not here to put on a show. This is just who I am."
"And that's why we picked you to be a part of this season." Master Hand concluded. "And while we are on the subject with Beauty, Daisy was your best friend and closest ally out there. You made a comment that unlike most guys, you don't care for sports that much and Daisy explained that she is pretty much a tomboy."
"That's pretty much what brought us to this point." Caroso thought out loud. "We're both beautiful on the outside, but different inside. I think toxic masculinity and toxic feminity should both be explored more than they should. Not everything has to be super stereotypical. There are tons of people in this universe so everybody is unique with complex personalities. That is the whole reason why we're all pretty interesting to look at. It's boring when a certain person is the exact same as the next. So yeah, I own up to the fact that I'm not the biggest fan when it comes to sports. So what?"
Claps were heard from the crowd hearing those words.
"And Daisy, you know with you two hanging around each other like that, unsurprisingly, word on the street says that you two might be growing some kind of romantic relationship."
"I mean, we're in the twenty-first century." Daisy Rose shook her head. "People still can't understand the fact that a guy and a girl can generally become good friends without dating each other. They wanna make up stories and write fanfics about us? Sure, but it's not funny. If other people were in our shoes, they would definitely feel awkward and not as comfortable around each other as they usually would be. The only reason why me and Panther aren't uncomfortable about our tight friendship is because this is just what we expected anyway, so we're not bothered. People always pair up others if they even just have one friendly conversation with each other. We all know how certain people act."
"Annnnnd," Panther added. "like we both said before, we're basically brother and sister. Neither of us have any real siblings at home, so this will just have to do."
"Alright,... you guys are not dating..." Master held a hand out to confirm. "So anyway, Daisy, you remember when the merge started, you slept next to Panther and Katt and Espio decided that those three were two tight and one of them had to go. Panther then told you of this thanks to Specter Knight and he figured the best thing to do was to have you and him separate just to protect each other's games."
She heaved a huge sigh. "Not gonna lie, that really ticked me off. But,... it's a game. I was just mad because I felt like I was already going through enough. 'What's gonna happen this time?' 'What's wrong, now?' And me purposefully trying to avoid Panther was the icing on the cake... But if he didn't want to hurt my game, why would I have hurt his?"
"And since Katt just got brought up, getting back to you, Panther, when you swapped with Katt, you told Chica that you never cared for Katt at the time because of how she handles herself around others compared to you. You said that she flirts on purpose just to get your way while you just really just... as you would put it, 'being Panther.'"
"And 'being Panther', I was." Caroso nodded sharply. "I mean, I have no problems with Katt now, so we're good."
She sighed in relief. "Thank, Lylat. I already looked dumb enough on TV by not knowing what was going on. I didn't want to look like I was trying too hard to win people over as well."
Some of the cast members chuckled in response.
"But basically, it's kinda like if you just wanna ask this girl out for prom. If you're gonna ask the girl out, you don't have to promise her limousines, fame, or money. Just show her who you are. If she likes you, you win. If not, oh well. Life goes on. There are plenty more fish in the sea out there, guys. You'll find someone someday."
"Maybe gentlemen should listen to you more often." Master Hand suggested. "Alright, so let's talk about Incineroar and Chica next. Both of you did not seem to be pretty popular among other people. Chica, we'll start with you first... What was your overall plan out there?"
Ignoring the few laughs that sounded, she went on to explain. "Well, before I applied for the show, I was not exactly the happiest girl in the world at the time. I just got out of high school, I still remembered all those times where I struggled just to get through high school. There were all sorts of people I had to deal with, and even after I graduated. I was still kinda down. So my sister actually dared me to apply for Survivor, and I actually got in."
"She got tired of me being sad all the time, so with me being on the show, I really just wanted that extra oomph that I needed to get in order to have a little more confidence in myself. Me winning was the second thought I had in mind. But with me trying to have a bit more self-esteem, that actually paid off. I won an immunity challenge, I made something happen which could have been a whole different story in one of the eliminations, and I got all the way to the final four. And here I am thinking that I was going to be the next to go every time, since I got tired of Daisy, Rosalina, and Panther. ...But I guess I kinda was a little too... emotional."
"That's literally what people said about you." Master Hand recalled hearing some of the fans thoughts during the season's airing. "They were like, 'Okay... Hate Chica. Love Panther, Rosalina, and Daisy.'"
"...Well, as long as I know that I love myself now, I think I am pretty much okay." She heaved a sigh. "That talk with Golden is when I thought that I really needed to fix myself out there and push myself to the very limit, and I did."
"Glad to hear that you learned a few things about yourself... Now to Incineroar..." His attention immediately shifted to the only Pokemon that season. "...Let's... Here. Tell me. Tell me all the things people have called you."
"Alright, let's count 'em." He did in fact have the loudest voice of the whole cast. "They called me a jerk, a bad Tony the Tiger, ugly, fat, dumb, stupid, the worst player of all time, and a couple words that I'd rather not say for the sake of the kids watching right now..."
"I mean, I would bring up your feud with Daisy, but... you seemed to be already getting hate before then by how you treated Tifa."
"Yeah, Tifa's Tribal Council was when I started to get serious hate comments. I had to lock all of my social media accounts!" He remembered how frustrated he was. "But then people found my personal email! Like, come on! I thought to myself, 'Was I really that bad?' Like, after that tribal aired, I apologized to Tifa because I felt like I was little too harsh. Y'know what, Im'ma say it again right now."
He stood right up on his feet, and made a complete turn to Tifa Lockhart who was sitting all the way on the top row next to Rosalina.
"I'm sorry... Okay?" He began. "You probably felt rather emotional having to watch that. "I even made a whole video of myself telling everyone of what happened that night, and I apologized there. But I want to make sure I say it to your face. If you think that I went too far, then I'm sorry."
"I've already accepted your apology. It's fine."
"...Well, that's that on that."
"Tifa, you know I was there at that tribal." Master Hand recalled. "You basically just had a hard time trying to fit in with everyone else on your old tribe."
"I mean, it was not that I was shy or anything. I just felt rather... out of place. It is like how you are a new student in class." She compared. "You do not want to come off as a shy person, but at the same time, you just do not know what to say to others. So you end up being quiet and be perceived as shy, anyway."
"And getting back to you, Incineroar, it's pretty clear to me that you didn't expect to see this much hate from viewers at all..."
"No I have not. I was actually expecting many people to be excited to see that I was still making it tribal by tribal. Celebrities like me would automatically become targets because we don't need the money. But I came to win. But then week after week following the Tifa vote, more hate mail came in for me..." His shook in annoyance. "I'm probably getting more right now. I mean, I guess I went a little overboard because I was just excited to be part of the show, and I think that's why some people were just turned off... including Daisy of course."
"Yeah..." She nodded with no hesitation, earning a few giggles from all over the place.
"...I get a vibe that you two still aren't likely to go on a road trip together..."
"..."
"..."
No words from either of them, which caused everyone around them to erupt in laughter. Incineroar felt like saying something, but he simply felt that it was best that he kept his mouth shut.
"Apparently no, since there was no answer." Master Hand concluded. "We'll just leave it at that. So anyways,... now it is time to reveal the Player of the Season. The Player of the Season is fan voted throughout the show, and will receive an extra hundred thousand dollars. Let's see what the results. Here are the final four people in the running. It was very, very close..."
"...Funky Kong... Panther... Tifa... and Incineroar..."
That shocked almost everyone in the arena. Not just the 'almost' four-way tied between the certain four castaways, but with the final name that was read, especially after he literally just discussed of how much he was hated on throughout the season.
"Incineroar, it is not you."
He hung his head down in defeat.
"Tifa, it is not you either..."
No comment from her.
"...And the winner is... Panther!"
With the audience roaring, the StarFox mercenary was quite pleased. "Cool. I'll take it."
"Guess now we're even..." Funky Kong commented. Second place finishers always received a hundred thousand dollars after all.
"Okay, we are running out of time, but we just have one more thing to do... It is time to reveal what we are doing for next season..." Master Hand said. "Now, unlike the last two seasons where we had themes that defined the castaways, this season... there is none. We are officially going back to basics. It is simply going to be twenty people trying to outwit, outplay, and outlast all the rest in order to become the Sole Survivor, like Isabelle has just done. All that is going to change is the location. And this time,... it is going to be somewhere rather fun and exciting. Take a look..."
With everyone in the area shifting in whatever direction needed to stare at the big screen ahead, the official preview of season four was shown.
We are traveling to one of the most beautiful locations in the entire world... The Caribbean!
Located just east of Central America, this region is known for being one of the most tropical places in the world...
It is the perfect place for season four... with twenty new castaways!
King K. Rool
"This is paradise over here! Master Hand has really outdone himself this time! Sure, we gotta do camp work and all, but this is also a vacation for me. Not only I'm used to living in a jungle, but I've wanted to visit here someday anyway."
Springtrap
"This place is pretty cool. There was no beach last season, so this more than makes up for it. However, since I'm here for a million dollars, competition is gonna be tough. So even though this is paradise and everything, victory comes first. I'm getting that money."
Simon
"I mean I've heard about what people did out here the past three seasons. You just can not trust anyone. If I had the opportunity to do this solo, I would. But Survivor is just not one of those games where you can do that. So I am going to have to pick and choose the right people to work with here..."
Ken
"All that training I do back at home, I guess this is how I should spend my vacation. Ryu competed in Survivor just before me, but we're basically like Donkey Kong and Funky Kong. Ryu takes things too seriously while I apparently am not serious enough, hahaha! But hey, this is a once in a lifetime thing. Ignoring everything about strategy, you gotta have some kinda fun out here. It's okay to take a chill pill once in a while."
With twenty new personalities coming to battle it out, who will have what it takes to outlast them all?
This is... Survivor - Caribbean!
-/-
With the audience cheering in excitement and anticipation, Master Hand was now center focus.
"I'd like to take the time to thank you all for your continued loyalty and support through this series. And if you are interested in competing yourself, apply on the SSB website and continue to follow it for updates on what we are doing. I hope you all have a good night!"
And with him officially being done with season three, the credits began to roll as the castaways calmly got up from their spots and began chatting among themselves.