Survivor: Okinawa
Episode 7- Without Warning
by Mario Lanza




Sato Tribe (green): Lance McHale, Hogan Mueller, Joni Newman, Amy Twieg
Kamiya Tribe (yellow): Matt Carter, Michelle Kin-Fraley, Ryan Rebez, Mike Ruff, Isabella Smith, Beth Sowles




DAY 19



The storm had started at 5:00 this morning. And it had all come without warning too. Without so much as a rumble, the skies had suddenly opened up-- as Mother Nature had unleashed her reckless fury upon the hapless castaways below. Torrents upon torrents of rain had poured down, nearly obliterating everything below. And by breakfast time, the Sato shelter was more or less destroyed. The roof was gone... the walls were mush... and the floor of the hut was little more than standing groundwater. In short, Sato's rickety little home was now useless.

"This sucks," Hogan complained, as he now hid for cover under a tree. He was huddled up near Joni, though the two teenagers had yet to say a word to each other this morning. The wounds from last night's Tribal Council were still too fresh-- and it was going to be a while before they would be healed. Especially for Joni, who now felt completely alone on the tribe. Without Christopher here, the young dancer had been more or less left alone to die... and she knew it.

"Lance," called Hogan, "Did you cover the fire pit?"

"Yeah!" Lance called, as he stood out in the pouring rain, "But it's not going to do any good. The fire's already out!"

"Crap."

But Lance came over to join Hogan and Joni-- as three of the four Satos huddled up underneath a tree, trying their best to stay warm. It was going to be useless, though. It wasn't even 9:00 yet and already this day was going to be miserable. No matter when this storm ended, Sato's day was going to be ruined.

"We're gonna need a new roof," Lance said, as he looked dubiously at the remains of Sato's shelter. Then he looked over at Hogan. "So you do you think we're merging today? Do you think Jeff was kidding about staying two tribes?"

Hogan shrugged. So Lance looked at Joni, but she just ignored him. She was still pissed. She didn't feel like talking to -anybody- yet today.

"Well..." Lance sighed, "We're gonna need -something- over our heads." He then looked around. "Where's Amy, by the way?"

"She went to get breakfast," Hogan said. "She left like an hour ago."

"She's out in -this-??" Lance was shocked.

"Yeah, I think she went fishing."

Lance sighed. Great, that was just what they needed-- a sick and cold Amy. That couldn't happen, no way. They -needed- her. Without a healthy Amy, Sato was going to be doomed.

"I'm gonna go help her out," he said, suddenly, "I don't want her out there all alone." He looked over at Joni. "Joni, you and Hogan just stay here-- stay warm. The storm's bound to pass over pretty soon, just stay safe until then."

So Lance left them and went over to the shelter to retrieve his dripping wet backpack. Luckily, he had bundled most of his items inside last night, so most everything was still dry... at least for now. But he put on his (Survivor-provided) raincoat and his dark blue Red Sox cap on his head. And with that... Lance was ready to go. He stepped out, into the downpour, and started walking down the path towards the shore. The rain was brutal... and fell so hard that it -hurt-... but he wasn't going to let her fish alone. Not in this.

Because just like last night's Tribal Council vote, Lance was going to go give his friend Amy a hand.


^^


Amy Twieg was indeed shivering as she sat on shore, holding a fishing pole. And no matter that she was cold-- or no matter that she was miserable. Right now the tribe needed food, so that was all that mattered. If they didn't get something to eat right now, they would likely go foodless today.

And Amy wasn't going to let that happen.

"But the problem right now," she grinned, as the rain poured down her brown hair and over her face, "Isn't that we have no food. The -problem- is that we've got a very angry little dancer back at our camp, and she isn't really gonna be open to anything we say today."

Amy was sitting under a tree, trying to stay somewhat dry, but it just wasn't working very well. She was soaked right now, right down through her thick layer of clothing. But as she was giving a confessional, she almost didn't notice. When Amy was talking, she was sometimes completely unaware of what was going on around her.

"Unfortunately," she explained, "A lot of my fate in this game will depend on Joni right now. She's got a lot more power over me than I'd like and-- lucky me-- I just voted out her best friend last night! And right now she's probably counting the minutes until we merge. She's just -waiting- for it, so she can go running back to Kamiya. And that's going to be the problem."

Amy re-cast her line out into the chaotic, rippling sea, still waiting for her first bite. So far she hadn't had so much as a nibble, despite the fact that she was usually pretty good at this. Maybe it was the rain.

"What needs to happen today," she explained, "Is that we -need- to make friends with Joni again. Especially me. I -need- Joni to stick with us if and when we merge. She can't go running back to Kamiya, I won't let that happen." She half-smiled. "But the deal is, it will take a very careful balancing act. I want to tell her the truth, but I don't want to tell her anything that can hurt us in case she bolts." She laughed. "And of course there's the issue that I don't trust her. Just that minor obstacle! Because Chris got her to believe so many lies that I don't know -what- she's capable of now. It'll be like deprogramming a cult member."

Amy paused, as she thought she felt a tug on the line.

"So that's my mission today. I'm the one who gets to make up with a girl who's been brainwashed to hate my guts. Lucky freakin' me." She shrugged, smiling. "But as I learned yesterday... a whole -lot- can happen in twenty-four hours sometimes. Anything's possible."

Amy reeled in her line now, frustrated. It looked like a fish had swiped her bait. The fish bucket next to her remained empty. So she sighed, rebaited, and then cast her line once again out to sea.

"Looking back on the first eighteen days," she reminisced, almost sadly, "I admit that I've done a lot of dirty work. I think I've grown into a different kind of player. I -started- the game as a mom who wanted to be nice to everyone and befriend the world on her way to the top." She shook her head now. "But I'm not that person now. Friendships have weakened me and gotten me into trouble. Emotions have played too much a part of my strategy. I've made mistakes, I've done things I wish I hadn't and... thanks mostly to Lance... I barely scraped by the last vote as a result."

Amy brightened now.

"But on the -other- hand, I've kicked ass and taken names. I've voted successfully at -every- tribal council so far. Elisabeth didn't deserve to go when she did, and I freely admit that mistake, but Henry's ouster was probably the most satisfying thing I've done in the game." She grinned. "Though of all the ones I've helped to place in Loser Lodge so far, Murtz had been my favorite because he went out with a good-natured middle finger to us all."

She laughed now, sitting alone in the rain. Because lately she had found Murtz's antics on his last day to be incredibly funny, especially in retrospect.

"And Chris..." she added, "Well Chris is the one I think doesn't deserve to be there. He's a great player who had to leave the game before his time. Of course... he brought it completely upon himself, but I just wish he hadn't gotten in the way of my game. He deserved better."

She sighed now, happily. Because through it all, despite all the ways in which the game had changed her, despite all the nastiness the game tended to bring out in people... Amy was surviving.

"I haven't played a perfect game," she said, as she reeled in another empty hook, "But I've made it here, and that's all that counts. And I deserve to be here on day nineteen, palm-frond cheerleader skirt and all."

And as Amy finished her futile fishing expedition, she soon heard someone approaching. She soon heard footsteps. And as the mysterious stranger sloshed his way through yet another patch of mud, she smiled as she saw Lance McHale emerge from the woods and out into the rain.

"Hey Mister Lance," she greeted. "What are you up to?"

"Amy," he smiled, "We need to get you back to camp. You're going to get sick."

And at that he removed his cap and placed it over her head. Amy brushed the wet hair out of her eyes and smiled up at him, gratefully.

"Let's go," he said, nudging her, "We can eat later. You need to stay warm."

Amy started to shake her head, but then she realized she was shivering. She hadn't even noticed it before... but her whole body was already at a low-speed shiver. Her hands and arms felt clammy and white.

"Look at you," he said, paternally, "You're freezing! Let's go. Back to camp for you, young lady."

Amy reluctantly stood up, sadly. She didn't want to go back to camp empty-handed. But Lance of course would have none of this. He simply took her by the arm and started leading her back. And luckily Amy was wearing a raincoat, so she was somewhat protected at least, but that didn't matter. She needed to be with the tribe right now.

So the two of them walked through the jungle, together. They walked through puddles of mud, patches of sod and wet, slick grasses. And finally, about five minutes into the walk, Amy managed to work up the nerve to say what she wanted to say. She finally sucked up her pride and just came right out and said it.

"Lance, I want to thank you again for saving me last night with the vote. You didn't have to do that."

"Nah," Lance smiled, "Don't mention it. I wasn't gonna let you lose to a guy like Chris. You should know better than that. You've worked too hard to go out that way."

"I agree," she grinned, "But I wanted to thank you anyway. It meant a lot to me."

"Well you know what," Lance said, as he stopped. "We don't have to worry about Chris anymore. He's sipping margaritas down at the Loser Lodge and we don't have to deal with his lies anymore."

Amy laughed.

"Good riddance," she grinned.

"He doesn't have anyone to blame but himself," added Lance. "He shot himself in the foot by telling me his plans." He smiled. "And the -funny- thing is that if he had laid low, he probably would have gotten away with it. The -smartest- move he could have made was to stay out of sight until after the vote. But no, he had to make a production out of it." Lance paused. "And once again... that was his fatal mistake."

Amy and Lance walked quietly through the rain, with Lance finally putting his arm around her shoulder so she wouldn't be so cold.

"And you know what's great about all this?" he added.

"What?"

"It finally feels," said Lance, "Like I have a family. You know? Like for the first time in the game, I have people I can trust. I think you, me and Hogan are going to go very far... so long as we stick together."

"Well I promise," she smiled, "Lance, you saved my butt. If I can ever repay that, you know I'm gonna try."

"You don't owe me anything," he said, "All I ask is that you remember I've always been straight with you. I think I'm the only one who ever has." He sighed now. "And I know I'm not the most well liked guy out here. I'm not stupid, I'm well aware that nobody wants honesty in Okinawa. They all want strategery."

Amy giggled.

"But just remember," he added, "That I'm -not- going to start lying just to make it further. You have my word on it and you know my word is good." He shrugged. "And I just hope that if I make it to the end, a majority of people will respect an honest game played."

"I think they will," she said, still shivering. "I've always thought you'd be a jury threat, Lance. That's why I kind of stayed away from you."

"Well from now on," Lance said, "Let's -not- stay away from each other. You know all I want is for a Sato to win this thing. That's all I've -ever- wanted."

"As do I."

"Well then it's settled," he smiled. And now camp was in view. It was just about time to get everybody huddled up together, for warmth. "From here on out," he promised, "I'll be straight with you, and you be straight with me. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," she smiled.

And with that, a special bond was born. After all the trials and tribulations of the first half of the game... after all the drama... Amy and Lance had finally aligned with one another. It wasn't a finite alliance, nor did it carry any strings attached, but it was more or less a gentleman's agreement: You tell me the truth, I tell you the truth.

And the next step would be to get a certain young dancer to trust them yet again.


^^


The afternoon passed without much fanfare at Sato. The intrepid little band of four spent most of the afternoon huddled under a large tree, as the rain continued to pour down around them. And for the most part, the day was spent in silence. Nobody said much. Nobody really had a whole lot to say anyway. They mainly just sat there and stared at the rain.

"You guys want to play a game?" asked Amy, helpfully. But nobody was really up for the idea, so Amy clammed up. She continued to sit under the tree, knees drawn up against her chest, as she tried her best to stay warm.

"Are you doing okay?" Lance asked her, softly. "You still shivering?"

"I'm okay," she grinned, from underneath his baseball cap. But it was clear that Amy wasn't handling this well. She was visibly shaking at times, still drenched to the bone from her time down by the sea.

"Well the minute this stops," Lance said, "We're gonna get that fire going and you're gonna go warm up."

"I'll be okay," she implored. "Don't worry, Lance. I'm tough, I can take it."

So Lance and Amy sat there, side by side, saying nothing. Hogan sat to their right, but he appeared to be asleep. The young man was leaning back against the tree, eyes closed, softly snoring.

"I bet Hogan can sleep through anything," Amy joked to Lance.

On the far end of the line sat Joni Newman. And if Amy thought the air was chilly... she would be the first to admit that the temperature was -nothing- compared to the chill that was emanating from the young dancer from Utah. Simply put... Joni hadn't said a word all day. To anyone. And as the day stretched into early afternoon, Amy finally realized that enough was enough. This couldn't continue any longer. She needed Joni back on board, like it or not. Some things were just going to have to be discussed.

"Hey Joni?" asked Amy, looking concerned, "How are you doing? You okay?"

"I'm fine," said Joni, coldly. She was curled up into a ball against the base of the tree, almost unrecognizable in her thick blue raincoat. Her face was the only part of her that peeked out from her bulky hood.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Amy asked. She shot Lance a look, and he nodded. -Go make nice with her-, the nod seemed to say. "Wanna talk about things?"

"Not really."

"Come on," Amy smiled, "There's no use just sulking here, let's go for a walk. I need somebody to go get firewood with me, for when the rain stops."

Joni sighed, visibly. She wasn't really in the talking mood right now.

"Come on," Amy said. And the young mom stood up. She brushed the rain off her raincoat and extended a hand to Joni. "Let's go, it'll be good to get away for a bit."

And reluctantly... after a long moment of indecisiveness... Joni finally let Amy help her to her feet.

"Lance," Amy smiled, "We'll be back. Stay dry, okay?"


^^


The two females were not more than twenty feet into the woods before Joni finally let loose some of her pent up anger.

"Why?" she asked suddenly, without even turning to Amy. "Why did you do it, Amy? Why did you turn on us?"

"Hey now," Amy said, holding her hands up, defensively, "Hold on. Let's start from the beginning. Let's start this on the right note."

"Have you been playing me this whole time?" Joni asked, shooting Amy a suspicious glance. "Have you always been playing me for a fool?" And now she looked hurt. "Because I've told you things, Amy. I've told you -personal- things. I've confided in you. Have you been using me for my vote this whole time?"

"I -never- used you Joni. I don't know -what- Chris might have told you, but I -never- intended to vote you guys out."

But Joni wasn't about to buy this. Not yet. The hurt was still too fresh.

"I suppose I must look like a real idiot," Joni pouted. "And I hate it too. I hate that I got duped. But it figures, I guess." She looked like she was about to cry. "I came to Okinawa to prove -one- thing: That I'm not an idiot. That's -all- I wanted. And now it looks like I'll go traipsing out of this game like a blonde who's lost her way in her own house." She glared, at nobody in particular. "Well I just want to tell you that it stinks."

Amy stopped Joni with a touch to the arm. She wanted to make sure Joni understood this next part. She wanted to make sure this was absolutely crystal clear.

"Joni, you have to understand that I was forced into this. I -never- wanted to vote Chris out and I sure as heck wasn't gonna vote you out. Don't you realize it was down to Chris or me? He pushed me into this, Joni, please don't think this was something I wanted."

Joni stared at Amy for a long moment. She wasn't sure if she wanted to open this door again.

"I don't want you to hate me," Amy added, "And I'm certainly not mad at you. You know that, Joni. I know you had to vote the way you did. And I also know we can move on from here."

And for whatever reason, this was the line that caused Joni's defenses to break down. All of a sudden the words started pouring out of her-- much faster than she had intended. A lot of pent up frustration suddenly started to pour out.

"I did -NOT- want to vote for you either, Amy. I only did it because Chris was doing it. And it's a stupid reason, I know..."

"No it's not. Chris was your friend."

"I'm sorry it had to end up this way," Joni sighed. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

"No it wasn't," said Amy, as she reached over to give her friend a hug. "But this doesn't mean it's the end. Why do you say that?"

"Because you guys can just throw the challenge now and dump me," Joni said. "Why on Earth would you keep me now?"

"Look..." Amy said, "-Nobody- is going to throw this challenge." And she met Joni's gaze with her own. "Nobody is throwing anything. Sato doesn't throw challenges."

And suddenly Joni felt a measure of relief. A small measure, anyway. She still didn't trust Amy entirely... but she believed her on this one.

"Thanks Amy," she said, quietly.

And the two women walked alone now... in blissful quiet. Most of the tension was gone, though Amy doubted it would ever be gone altogether. Their relationship was always going to be strained after the Chris vote. But at least this had been a start. At least now the two of them could talk again.

"You know what will be nice?" Joni asked.

"What?"

"It will be nice," Joni sighed, "To talk to everyone after the game without that feeling of competition. I hate this part. It's hard to talk to people knowing that they will be voting you out soon anyway."

"I know," Amy sighed. "That's the part that always hits me hard."

"And would you be offended," Joni smiled, "If I said I really -really- wanted a merge right about now? That I'm hoping and praying for that every minute of the day?"

"I kinda hope for one too," Amy admitted. "I think it'll re-energize everybody. I think we're all kinda tired of being separated." She paused for a moment, then continued. "But just know that no matter what happens, I hope you and I can be friends come merge time."

"We will," nodded Joni. "Absolutely." She smiled. "And I won't turn on you again, Amy. I promise. And if I -do-, I'll warn you with plenty of time for you to fight back."

"I have no intentions to vote you out either," Amy smiled. "I'm not coming after you... even if Lance and Hogan want me to."

"Well good!" Joni laughed. "Cause I don't want to go home! I fought hard to get to this point. I don't want to be a unanimous vote!"

"Well, it's settled then," Amy smiled. "No matter what happens, we'll be friends."

"We better," added Joni, "I'd miss talking Harry Potter with you."

Amy laughed.

"I mean Emma's nice and all..." Joni said, slyly, "But you and I are on the same wavelength. We're two of the only Gryffindors left in the game. We need to stick together."

Amy laughed again.

"You might belong in Gryffindor," she sang, "Where dwell the brave at heart..."

"There daring, nerve, and chivalry," finished Joni, "Set Gryffindors apart!"

And underneath the trees, in the pouring rain-- the only two Mormons in the house of Gryffindor finally re-bonded. And while Amy didn't entirely trust Joni... and Joni -certainly- didn't trust Amy... at least the ice was broken again.

At least they could move on from here.


^^


The rain poured down just as hard over at Kamiya. But unlike their Sato counterparts-- the Kamiya tribe was still hard at work today. The fact that the skies had opened up didn't seem to make a difference, as the tribe in yellow spent all day gathering food.

"There," said Matt, as the young redhead re-set a deer snare. "Bambi, I'd like to introduce you to grim death. Hope you two get along."

Matt wiped his hands now as he stood up, smiling. It had been his mission today to go out and check all of Mike's snares. Matt's job was to check the snares, re-bait the snares, re-set the snares, and then bring back any hapless animal that had wandered into one. And this seemed like an easy job... except for the fact that Mike had littered the island with the things. Checking snares could easily take two or three hours. And while Matt normally would protest such an order, today he had been -more- than happy to get away from camp. He hadn't minded at all the fact that he would be stuck in the rain for several hours. Not at all.

"Because the longer I stay out here," he would explain, "The longer I don't have to be around Mike. And the longer I stay away from Mike, the less likely it is that one of us will end up with a machete in his forehead." Matt shrugged. "So trust me, I don't mind this at all. Staying away from insufferable pricks has always been one of my hobbies. I'm actually pretty good at it."

The latest controversy between Matt and Mike had been last night-- with the disappearance of Mario the gnome. In summary: Mike's gnome had disappeared, Mike had blamed Matt, and Matt had been yelled at. Again.

"If I wanted to hurt the gnome," Matt explained now, as he walked alone, "I wouldn't have stolen it. I would have pulverized it." He sighed, as he walked. "And don't think I won't. The minute my time is up in this game, that gnome is gonna get the Voorhees treatment. I promise."

So Matt had come out here to check the snares when asked, without protest. Frankly, he hadn't minded at all. The rain was actually sort of calming in a way. Plus it allowed him to discuss the current state of the game... in solitude.

"At this point," he said, as he walked through the tall grass, "We have six players down. Six out of sixteen... and that means ten of us are left." He was silent for a moment as he stepped under a low-hanging tree branch. Then he continued. "And does that mean we're the ten best players out here? Well, in many ways we probably are. And I can't speak on behalf of the others... but if you want my honest opinion, I'm liking my chances more and more as the days go by."

Matt smiled now, somewhat slyly. Because what was about to say would probably surprise a lot of people. Especially Beth. Poor Beth would be floored if she heard the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

"The good thing for me," he explained, "Is that Beth is slowly but surely drawing the target away from me... and onto her. Good old Beffy is getting more and more vocal with her attacks on Ryan and Mike... and I couldn't be happier." He smiled again. "-Especially- with the way she's burned her bridges with Mike lately. She's simply not going to trust him ever again, and it's starting to draw the spotlight more and more towards her."

Matt focused his gaze on a nearby snare. It looked empty, but he decided to go check it out. Sure enough, it was undisturbed. So he carried on.

"I love Beth," he explained, "She's been a great friend and she's a sweet person. But the fact remains that she and I have been dead meat since we got here... and she doesn't seem to realize that. She's always seemed to hold out hope that a Kamiyan will save us but... come on... when does that ever happen?"

He grinned.

"So the plan in recent days has been to lay low. Stay out of the spotlight. And just watch as Mike and Ryan become bigger and bigger assholes... and Beth becomes louder in her attacks on them." He shrugged. "Because if it gets me three days farther in the game, I have no complaints."

Matt whistled innocently as he continued his trek through the rain.

"Michelle asked me this morning who Amy had been closest to on Sato. And really, I'm not stupid. I know -exactly- what she wants-- she wants to take out Amy's allies. And much like everything Michelle does, she'll do it as obviously and tactlessly as possible."

Matt chuckled.

"So of course I said Beth. I mean, this is -survival- at stake here. If I get through this next vote, I'm in the jury! And then with a little luck..." He laughed. "With a little luck, I could just pull this thing out. All I need to do is make that merge. Just make that merge... and see what happens." He paused. "Timing is everything out here. And so long as it ain't Matt in the crossfire... I'm happy."

He then paused, as he leaned down to re-bait yet another of Mike's snares.

"Besides," he perused out loud, "I don't think Emma will stick with Kamiya for too much longer. She's been hinting more and more that she doesn't like them much. I don't think she likes Ryan much at -all-."

He laughed, quietly.

"And when you're looking for timing, sometimes that's all you need. You need a quiet little girl who thinks with her heart instead with her head."

He looked up now, coyly.

"And maybe a big friendly kid in a hockey mask to make her smile."


^^


Despite the fact that Mike's gnome was still missing... that wasn't the biggest drama around camp Kamiya today. No, the biggest topic of discussion today was the loyalty of Ryan Rebez. Because Kamiya had -all- been unnerved by Ryan's actions as of late. Everything the guy had done in the past few days had ended up raising the hackles of his suspicious teammates.

First, he had voted to bring Amy to the barbecue challenge... instead of Christopher.

Then, at the barbecue... he had hung out with Amy almost exclusively. He hadn't said a word to Isabella or Mike most of the day.

Next, he had starting cutting deals with Beth and Matt... promising that he would force a tie at the next Kamiyan vote. And while this was all part of the scam, something about the way Ryan did it was starting to make people worry.

And then of course Ryan had refused to throw the last immunity challenge. He had simply "forgotten" it was supposed to be thrown-- and managed to get Mike in deep water with Beth. And now, with the prospect of a merge on the horizon, Kamiya was seriously starting to worry about the enigmatic young man from Canada. Who exactly was Ryan Rebez?

And just -what- was that boy up to?

"A few days ago," Mike had confessed this afternoon, "My plan was working perfectly. The gold ring was within my grasp, and I had everything lined up to go my way. But now..." He scrunched his face, seemingly angry, "Now, thanks to Ryan's last minute "master plan", he undid -everything- I had accomplished in the past eighteen days. And as it stands now... I'll be lucky if I make it to the jury."

Mike's ire at Ryan's antics had become even worse when Beth had more or less cut ties with Mike. And all of a sudden, Mike was in hot water. He knew it, Kamiya knew it, everybody knew it. Mike was correct-- Ryan had managed to put him on dangerously thin ice right now.

And should one of the Kamiyas decide to flip on him...

"I am -extremely- pissed at Ryan right now," Mike fumed, "And I wonder how I could've ever trusted his judgment. How could I have been so wrong?" He stared at the camera now, angrily. "Ryan, I don't know what you're trying to pull, or what you think you're trying to do... but just know this. It's not going to succeed. If you so much as -think- about turning on us, you will never win this game. And I'm not one to turn on my allies, I would never do that, but if you start messing around with Kamiya's path to the final four, I will personally end your game. Count on it."

And the suspicion of Ryan did not end with Mike. Oh no. For despite all of Ryan's attempts to ingratiate himself back with the tribe today... there were still some hard feelings lingering among the Kamiyas. Michelle, for one, let her feelings be known with typical candor and restraint.

"I will rip his head off," she promised, "If he turns on us."

And even the normally unflappable Isabella seemed to be a bit unnerved by Ryan's latest antics. Her usual calm, cocky demeanor was a bit different today, as she theorized on Ryan's motives in a rain-soaked lunchtime confessional.

"I've been planning to get Ryan voted off for some time," she explained, "That's why I've wanted Beth and Matt so close to me-- just in case I have to head off Weasel before he can try anything funny." And she stared out from under the hood of her raincoat, deep in thought, as she spoke. "But his antics at the barbecue may have escalated his demise, simply because I don't like it."

Isabella had thought over this matter for a long time in recent days-- clearly growing more and more sure it was the right thing to do. Because she had always sensed that Ryan was trouble. That much wasn't in question-- Ryan was a snake, that much was just a fact. No, the question in her mind had always been "-When- is Ryan going to betray us all?"

And then of course that question was always followed by Isabella's response: "And -how- can I beat him to the punch?"

"Ryan picking Amy," Isabella continued, "Was really the last straw in my mind. That was the moment that I knew he was trying to work us over and, since then, I've been putting the wheels in motion... just in case. I mean, why else would I be friends with Beth and Matt? Certainly not because I trust them to stay loyal." She smiled. "All I care about is that they can be of use to me-- and it may happen sooner rather than later."

So Isabella was ready to vote out Ryan next. She had already decided on this path-- barring a twist or merge-- and she was pretty sure it would happening in the next two days.

"I suspect," she continued, "That we'll be throwing the next challenge-- just to take out a Sato. Or that will be the premise, anyway. But I don't think we're merging yet and I think we'll have at least one more vote as Kamiya. So I think the guys will be tempted to throw this... and that's where the fun will begin." She grinned, deviously. "Because I -know- I can get Michelle in with me if I choose. I can lead her around like a puppy if I really wanted to. It wouldn't even be a challenge. And I could get her to vote for Ryan if we go to Tribal Council."

But then she sighed. Because as good as this plan was... and as good as Isabella was... there was always a drawback. There was always something mucking up even the best laid plans. And therein lay her dilemma.

"But the -only- problem," she explained, "Is if I start looking ahead to the endgame. True, I want Ryan gone. But Ryan is also someone I would like to have on that jury. I would love for him to be on that jury-- because he, out of anyone, would be more likely to vote for me when I come out as my true self in the final two." She smiled. "Someone like Ryan would -love- the idea of me pulling the wool over his eyes, and he would vote for me in a second."

So this was the dilemma. This was Isabella's internal debate right now. Did she want Ryan on the jury... or did she want him gone as soon as possible? This was a question that came up in her mind over and over lately. She could spend hours debating the options in her head if she was bored enough.

"But one thing that's certain in either case," she shrugged, "Is that Ryan -will- go. He will be voted out... and it will be by my hand. So really it's just a question of how long I want to let him live. How long should I let Weasel stick around in this game?"

She opened her eyes wide now, in full Emma-surprise. And then she spoke in her overly twangy mock-Southern accent.

"Oh my goodness gracious, this game is so very complicated. Dear lordy, just -what's- a girl like me supposed to do?"


^^


But despite Ryan being on Kamiya's shit-list at the moment, the rest of them were surprised when he came to them early in the evening, offering apologies. Ryan came to the Kamiyas as they worked on reinforcing the shelter roof against the rain-- and he came back with his tail between his legs.

He was here to ask them for forgiveness.

"You guys," he said, as Mike and Michelle eyed him suspiciously, "I just want you to know that I'm sorry for all the mistakes I've made lately. I just want to tell you that I've screwed up, and I know it. I've been an idiot."

"You screwed me," Mike glared.

"I know, I know," Ryan looked sincerely apologetic, standing under the pouring rain. And the water cascaded down his face, making him look particularly miserable. Ryan thought it had been a nice touch.

"Amy was a bad call," he admitted, "I realize that now. And I wish I could take it back but I can't."

"It's okay," Isabella smiled, "You couldn't have known."

"Winning the challenge hurt us more," Mike glared, as he leaned up against the shelter, "And you know it. That could have really screwed us."

"But you don't understand," Ryan pleaded, "That wasn't intentional! I didn't mean to win it!"

"It looked like you were trying to win to -me-," said Michelle.

"No, no," protested Ryan, "The only goal there was to make it look good for Amy. You guys don't realize I've been trying to sweet-talk her. I wanted her to think I was a nice guy... so we could trick her later on. I didn't want her to think I was working with you guys."

"So you weren't trying to sabotage us?" Mike asked.

"No!"

And Isabella just smiled, enjoying Ryan's latest performance. But she could see right through him. She knew -exactly- what he was doing. It seemed like she always had.

"How could I have known that Joni and Chris would throw it??" Ryan asked, quite truthfully. That part really had caught him off guard. He had expected Sato to win last night-- Kamiya winning hadn't been intentional at all.

"Well all I can say is..." Mike sighed, "We've got some rebuilding to do. I don't like what you did any more now than I did yesterday, but we're an alliance and we need to stay strong." And sucking up his pride, along with a lot of his better judgement, Mike walked over to extend his hand to his teammate.

"No hard feelings," he said. "Just go along with the plan for now." And he smiled. "Promise?"

And one by one, in the dark miserable rainy afternoon of day nineteen, the Kamiyas begrudgingly let Ryan Rebez back into their fold. Because they still needed him. They hated it... but for now, they all still needed his vote.


^^


And as much as the Kamiyas wanted to think Ryan was on board... as much as they -wanted- him to behave, Ryan just wasn't interested in letting people get comfortable around here. Causing chaos was always his modus operandi and always would be. Besides, harmony was for pussies. Plus Ryan was looking forward to the endgame. As always, he had -grander- plans in mind than just a simple four person alliance.

"I suppose you want to know what my plan is," he smiled, as he sat down for a dinnertime confessional. And Ryan grinned, his hair plastered to his forehead from the day's rain. "Well to tell you the truth, I've never really known myself. I suppose my plan has been to keep my options open on both sides. And if I somehow end up framing Mike in the process... well that can just be a bonus!"

He laughed now, silently, as he detailed his master plan. Because Ryan really -did- have a good plan in mind, and few people had really caught on yet. Even Isabella had only the vaguest notion of what he was really trying... and Ryan wanted to keep it that way.

"I have promised Beth that I will force a tie at the next vote," he explained. "I have promised Matt I will force a tie at the next vote. And I fully intend to do so, even if they don't believe me. So when Kamiya ends up throwing this challenge... everyone will be in for a -heck- of a surprise when that vote is revealed."

Ryan grinned, obviously having a lot of fun with this.

"And why would I do such a thing? Why would I try something so clearly foolish... in the face of an obvious Pagonging? Well..." he hesitated. For the first time in the game, a look of actual human emotion appeared to cross his face. It was just a flash, but it was there.

It was definitely there.

"You may not believe it, but I've actually had a few regrets about the sheer oppressiveness of what we've done to the Satos. And yes, you may not believe me, but I've felt-- at times-- that our little play may have been too much."

He shrugged.

"So yes, I've been leaking them information about Mike's true intentions for some time. They've known for a while that he was lying to them--- and after the last challenge, they finally believe me." He paused, thinking. "So right now I've got it set up where I can go either way. I can stay with Kamiya... and go for the easy majority. Or..." he grinned, "I can turn the tables, get Mike out, and use my good graces with Beth and Matt and Amy to make allies across the board. Just in time for the merge."

He shrugged, non-commitally. And it was ironic just how similar his plans were to Isabella's right now. As with just about every step of the game, Ryan and Isabella were employing almost the exact same strategy. They were both setting themselves up for the endgame.

"But no matter what side I choose, it's been an amusing little diversion lately, watching the once-powerful Kamiyan alliance members butt their heads against a brick wall trying to figure out what to do." He laughed. "And what's even -more- amusing is the fact that I feel bad messing with two people... but I feel fine when I screw with -everybody-. Maybe that should tell me something about myself!"

Ryan smiled, happily. Because the best part of this was that no matter what happened-- he had managed to outsmart Mike. He had managed to outwit the player who he felt was the smartest player in the game. And no matter what direction Ryan went with this-- Mike's head was now firmly positioned in the guillotine. Mike was going to get the fallout from all this. Not Ryan.

"And that's what you get, my gnome-toting friend," Ryan grinned, "Let that be a lesson, kids. That's what you get for trusting a sadist."

Ryan's obsession with outwitting Mike had been a recent phenomenon, and was a far cry from his early obsession with Isabella. Because from day one, Ryan had been focused on finding out -who- here was the best strategist. Who here would be the biggest competition?

At the start, he had been sure it would be Isabella. The girl had fascinated him to no end-- there was just something about her. But in time, her stupid act had eventually started to sucker him in. In time, he had shifted his attention away from Isabella... and onto Mike. And in the past week or so, Mike was now the king he had been so eager to topple. Mike was now the player Ryan tended to obsess over.

And Isabella had all but been forgotten.

"Emma," he explained now, "is an interesting study in..." He paused for a long while, thinking it over. Then he shook his head, disgustedly. "Nah. Let's face it. Emma is an absolute moron. And I know I thought she was a player early on... but I've never seen someone so utterly useless in my life!"

He prided himself as a patient person but-- as with all the Kamiyans-- Ryan had found it was almost impossible to talk strategy with the girl. Messing with her wasn't even fun, because she honestly never even seemed to catch on. Ever.

"It’s been nineteen days so far," he explained, "And I've been giving her a chance. But there's never been -any- sign that there are any lights on in the big house on the hill. In fact, I don't think I've ever gotten an answer from her that isn’t in the form of a question!" He shook his head, sadly. "This is Survivor, sweetheart... not Jeopardy. Are you sure you're on the right show?"

And then Ryan held up his right hand in the air. He started moving it, like a sock puppet, as he mock-"interviewed" the girl he knew as Emma.

"Hey Emma, who should we vote for?"

“We should probably vote for someone," said the puppet-Emma, "Shouldn’t we?”

"Emma, what do you think about Matt?"

“Hmmm.. It’s hard to tell with Matt," replied the puppet. "What does Mike think?”

Ryan was getting visibly annoyed now as he spoke. And Isabella would have laughed her head off to see him start to lose his cool. It seemed as if she had finally broken him. Her dumb girl act had finally started to get on his nerves.

"Yo, Emma, how about you frickin’ throw yourself off a bridge?"

“Where would I find a bridge, though?" replied the puppet. "Should we ask Michelle?”

Now Ryan threw both his hands up in a surrender pose.

"I give up! And I -know- she has a strategy. -Everyone- has some sort of strategy. Yet hers has yet to manifest itself, and I doubt it ever will. She just drifts along, like a plastic bag in traffic, spinning and carousing through the winds created by those around her." He shook his head, sadly. "I wouldn’t mind throwing her into traffic, frankly. I mean for fuck's sake, Darrah, would you just start -playing the game?!-"

Ryan sighed. Talking about Isabella was about as frustrating as talking -to- Isabella, so he moved on.

"But Mike, -you- are my White Whale, and after that we move on to Amy." He grinned. "Because I met Amy at the barbecue, and she is-- without a doubt-- the queen of Okinawa. Make no doubt about it, all roads to the crown will go through her." He nodded. "The girl got game. All you have to do is talk to her for a five minutes and you can tell. And I intend to do to her -exactly- what I’ve done to the other person who merited that high praise."

He smiled, coldly.

"After the merge, I'll place myself at her right hand and we'll form an accord to rule the land in unison. To rule in peace." He paused. "That is... until I callously wrench from betwixt her ribs the still-beating heart of a warrior queen. And then I will once again place atop my head the weathered Okinawan crown."

And now Ryan made his promise. Now he made his vow. Now he was ready for the endgame to begin.

"We all know," he explained, "That the game doesn’t really begin until it’s everyone for themselves. And should I fall to my knees, I will fall only after seventy and seven lashes have rained down upon my back. This game will not end with my hushed whispers; it will collapse before my barbaric yawp."

He grinned, with eyes as cold as the rain pouring down around him.

"For I've been waiting for this chance since the sands were first disturbed upon the beaches of Pulau Tiga. This is my time to play, and I intend to make the most of it. And win or lose, I will not let it be said that I didn’t come to play."

He stood up now, wiping the wet hair out of his eyes with one hand.

"It’s time for knives to come out. May the best player win."


^^


The rain never stopped on day nineteen. The downpour continued from dawn to dusk, forcing the players into their shelters once darkness hit. And while Sato spent a miserable evening in their husk of a home, Kamiya was more or less fairly dry in Mike's walled fortress. And as Kamiya turned in for the night, Matt exited the shelter to go tend the fire. He had volunteered to be on firewatch for the first hour-- to make sure they didn't lose their source of warmth during the evening. So at 8:00, out he went.

He sat down on a bench near the fire, and began to casually poke at the embers-- trying to keep them alive under the semi-dry fire shelter Mike had constructed. And then someone came down to sit next to him. Matt smiled... as the unmistakable form of Beth sat down beside him.

"Hey Beffy," he whispered.

"Hey, Mateo," she responded. And she looked excited. Beth looked like she had something important she wanted to tell him.

"I hope Amy didn't get voted out last night," she said, "Do you think she survived?"

"Yeah," Matt whispered, "I have no doubt. She's safe, I can feel it."

"Good," Beth looked relieved, "Cause the world's a better place with her in it." She smiled. "You know?"

"Yeah," Matt nodded, smiling at Beth's gushiness over Amy. Because while Matt had a crush on her, that much was true, Beth seemed almost obsessed with Amy at times. And it always made Matt smile. For Beth's sake, he sure -hoped- Amy was still around at the challenge tomorrow.

"Well I have some news," Beth whispered, trying to keep her voice low.

"Yeah?"

"Michelle came to me tonight," Beth said, "And she said she wants Ryan gone. She said she'll vote with us, because she doesn't trust him anymore. She said something isn't right in Denmark."

"That's funny," grinned Matt, "Cause Emma told me the same thing. She said she and Michelle were prepared to vote for Ryan. Emma thinks that the way Mike and Ryan have treated us is ridiculous. She doesn't like it."

"Do you think they're lying?" Beth looked anxious.

"Michelle, maybe," Matt shrugged, "She's an angry, bitter little person. But I don't know about Emma. I've never suspected she's playing us."

Beth smiled now, excitedly.

"What about Ryan?" she asked. "Did he promise you he wouldn't vote for you?"

"Yep."

"He said the same to me," Beth grinned. "Bad boy, Ryan. You shouldn't try to turn against the Kamiyas like that. Because someone like me could squeal..."

Matt shook his head now, smiling softly.

"This tribe is messed up," he said. "Jesus, what ever happened to them? Why are they so weird?"

"I think Danielle screwed them up," Beth said, as she poked at the fire. "She blew apart all their trust issues. None of the Kamiyas trust each other anymore."

"Sucks to be them."

Beth giggled, holding a hand to her face. But then she clammed up. She heard a noise back in the distance and she and Matt sat in silence as the mysterious stranger approached. And they were both surprised when the stealthy form of Isabella Smith sat down beside Matt.

"Hey," she whispered, as she put on her best southern smile.

"Hi Emma," Beth said, flatly. She was trying not to give away that she and Matt had been plotting.

"Hey," nodded Matt.

But frankly Isabella didn't care what the two of them had been talking about, because she was here for a reason. Isabella had finally made up her mind. After hours and hours of internal debate, she had finally decided that Ryan was just too dangerous. She had decided that the time to act was now.

It was time for Ryan Rebez to go home. For good.

"I just wanted to tell both of y'all," she whispered, "That I will be voting for Ryan at the next Tribal Council. And I mean it, I can promise you that from the bottom of my heart."

"Are you serious?" Beth asked.

"Yes," said Isabella, truthfully. "And I'm sure you'll be excited to know that Michelle wants to as well. Michelle wants Ryan gone." Isabella, of course, hadn't asked Michelle yet. But that part was just a formality. Isabella could wrap someone like Michelle around her little finger in seconds if she wanted to. Michelle wasn't going to be a problem.

"Why?" asked Matt, suspicious.

"Because I don't like the way Ryan plays," Isabella confided. "Him or Mike. And I don't want someone like them to win this game."

The air was silent as Beth and Matt digested this. Were they honestly being given an opportunity here? Was this deal legit? Could they really trust the soft-spoken coffeehouse worker from Georgia?

"Oh gosh," Isabella said, acting worried, "I hope this is the right thing to do. I'm really putting all my trust in y'all to keep this quiet. I know they'd just have a fit if they knew I'd told you this."

"We're not gonna tell," Beth promised.

"Christ, why would we?" joked Matt.

"Well thanks," smiled Isabella. "I just knew I could trust you. But this is risky for -all- of us, so I wanted to make sure you guys would be okay with it."

And as the three of them sat, tending the fire, things were suddenly looking up for the Kamiyan prisoners of war. Though Matt was still somewhat suspicious... suddenly he and Beth saw a light at the end of the tunnel-- and they had just one petite blonde woman to thank for it.

"Emma," smiled Beth, "I knew I liked you."

"Awww, well thanks! I like you too."

"What I like best," Beth smiled, "Is that you're very careful about what you say. You always think things through before you act. And I admire that."

"Well thanks," smiled Isabella, "I only do that 'cause I don't like all the lying that everyone does around here. Kamiya has always been like that, and I'm sick of it."

And just like that, Isabella had chosen her side.

The dance was ready to begin.




DAY 20




Michelle plucked the piece of treemail from inside the box. And before she had a chance to look at it, she turned to Isabella.

"So you want to vote Ryan out?" she asked, "For sure?"

"I think we have to," Isabella said, "Michelle he's been acting -really- weird lately. I don't know how many side deals he's got going on, but I don't think he'll stick by us in a merge." She gave Michelle the wide-eyed look. "I'm scared of Ryan, I think he needs to go."

"You want to vote him out even if we merge today?" Michelle said slowly, clearly thinking it over.

"Even if we merge. I think we have to."

And she looked on in patient fascination as Michelle pondered this course of action. But deep down, Isabella knew this was going to work. Michelle may act tough, and talk tough, but Isabella had already deduced that Michelle's bark was far worse than her bite. In other words, she was a pushover. Well plus Isabella just enjoyed the process of getting Michelle to change her mind. It was like a game to her. Even if it wasn't very hard.

"Okay," Michelle finally nodded. "I've already been thinking about it anyway. I already teased Beth a little by saying I'd vote with her. But Ryan's too much of a snake to keep around. You're right."

"Plus I think Ryan is the only one who can stop the Angels," Isabella fretted, "He's too smart."

"So his ass is toast," Michelle grinned, "Let's mess him up." Then she giggled. "Man, Beth's gonna shit her pants when I tell her. She'll be so excited."

And the two women exchanged a smile as the plan was settled. Isabella had finally landed the big game. She now had four votes lined up against Ryan, four -solid- votes-- and just one day before Ryan was planning to throw the immunity challenge. He wasn't going to see this one coming at all.

"Let's get this treemail back to camp," Michelle said, holding up the piece of paper. And the two women started walking. Down the dark path back towards camp they went, happy in the blindsiding they were about to pull off.

"It's gonna be awesome to see Chris and Joni at the reward challenge," Isabella said, "Do you think they both survived the last vote?"

"Oh yeah," Michelle said, optimistically, "Chris is too smart. He'll have figured something out. Plus I'm gonna flash him a signal at the challenge..."


^^


The reward challenge was held just before lunch. Both tribes arrived at challenge beach around 11:00 AM, walking through a light falling rain. The storm from last night -had- finally stopped... but it had still been drizzling on and off today. And now as Kamiya arrived, they stood on their mat proudly. The six members of the yellow tribe were ready for anything. Whether it be a merge, a reward... or a twist, they were set and ready to go.

"Okay Sato," called Jeff, "Come on in."

And then from the east came the Satos. One by one, the four members of the green tribe walked across the sand.

First came Hogan, striding proudly in front of the rest of the tribe.

Then came Amy, her buff tied around her forehead, keeping her wet bangs out of her eyes.

Then came Lance, who walked with head down, clearly trying to get himself psyched up for the contest at hand.

And last came Joni, the tiny little dancer trailing her teammates by a good fifteen feet.

And as Sato reached their mat, it was quickly evident to Isabella that Michelle had noticed who was missing. Michelle had seen the absence of Christopher. Michelle had seen that her best friend was gone. And suddenly Michelle's whole demeanor changed. Suddenly it was like her fuse had been lit.

"You pieces of shit," she hissed, under her breath. And now she was furious. She crossed her arms across her chest and glared across the sand at her opponents. She glared particularly at Amy... the tall pretty woman on the far right. And she knew. Somehow she knew... Amy was responsible for this. -Amy, girlfriend, you are going to pay.-

But there was nothing Michelle could do at the moment. She simply stood with arms crossed, glaring death daggers at the Satos, as Jeff stood before them and explained the rules.

"Welcome," he smiled, "To today's reward challenge. And while I know a lot of you were expecting a merge today... that's not going to happen. You guys are still -two- separate teams and will be competing for -one- reward. Same as always."

He grinned... and then from behind his back he produced a medium-sized golden ring.

"Your goal today," he said, "Is to dive underwater and retrieve these."

He held the ring up in the air. It was about the size of a small frisbee. Not huge, but not small either.

"There are twelve of these out there," he said, pointing out to sea. And now the players could see twelve orange flags... dotting the surface of the ocean. Each one was attached to a rope... and then at the bottom of each rope was an anchor. One ring would be buried in the mud around each anchor.

"One by one," Jeff continued, "Each member of your team will swim out to a flag. You'll dive down... find the anchor... and dig up a ring. Bring the ring back here to shore and tag off to your next teammate. And the first team to find six rings wins reward."

He smiled.

"And the reward today is something pretty neat. You guys will be playing for a picnic-- complete with potato chips, sandwiches, and a refrigerator -full- of drinks. And whatever food you can't finish, you'll be taking back to camp." He nodded. "Including the refrigerator. So the winning tribe will have enough drinks to last you up to the merge. And you'll -never- have to do another water run again."

There were assorted "oohs" and "aahs" among the players as they liked the idea of this reward. Nobody liked doing water runs. They were pretty much the definition of futile tedium, especially in the oppressively humid Okinawan heat.

"And Sato," said Jeff, "Since you only have four players, -TWO- of you will be going twice. So pick your order, guys, and let's go do some ring diving."

^^


Minutes later, Matt and Amy had been the first two players selected to swim for their teams. The former teammates came forward, smiled, and shook hands as Jeff held up his right hand between them.

"This is for reward," he said, as the two swimmers set themselves in position. "For a picnic and enough cold drinks to last until the merge. Survivors ready... -GO-!"

Matt and Amy ran towards the water and dove in, with Amy sprinting a few steps ahead of her lumbering redheaded opponent. And their teams cheered them on as the two swimmers cut through the water, both making excellent time. For while Matt may have been slow on land, in the water he swam like a fish, cutting the gap to almost nothing by the time each player had reached a flag.

Amy plunged down into the water first, her reddish-brown hair slipping beneath the surface in one quick motion. Matt submerged at almost the same time, his large form disappearing beneath the sea smoothly.

The tribes waited, for nearly thirty seconds, as the two players dug in the mud...

And then one head popped up.

It was Amy.

"I can't find it!" she yelled, as she gasped for air. She had been unable to find anything through her digging. And now she had come up for breath.

"Keep looking," yelled Jeff. "It's down there!"

And as Amy went down for a second time, Matt's head suddenly broke the surface. And the grin on his face was unmistakable, even from shore. Matt held a gold ring between his teeth... and he started swimming back to shore.

"Kamiya with their first ring!" said Jeff, as Matt swiftly returned to the beach. Amy had still not resurfaced, and Kamiya suddenly had a huge lead, right off the bat. Matt tagged off to Ryan, who promptly ran down the beach and splashed into the ocean.

"There's no ring here!" yelled Amy, as she came to shore again for the Satos. Panicked, she glanced at the beach and saw her teammates looking agitated. Then she saw Ryan swimming out to a flag and realized that Matt had already finished his task. Sato was already behind.

Amy dove back down, at the same time Ryan submerged for Kamiya. He wasn't much of a swimmer, but he made it here and now he had a chance to bust this thing wide open.

But moments later Amy finally found her ring. She popped back up to the surface, a gold ring in her hands. The Satos cheered as she started to swim back to shore.

Ryan was still under water as Amy tagged off to Hogan. The young Eagle Scout raced down the beach and into the water, as Ryan finally came up empty-handed.

"We're all tied up," said Jeff. "And Ryan is having trouble!"

Hogan cut through the water like a knife, easily reaching the fourth orange flag. He closed his eyes and submerged... just as Ryan finally came up with the second Kamiya ring. Ryan turned and started to clumsily paddle to shore, moving with the approximate grace of a drowning surfer.

"Let's go, Rebez!" yelled Mike, as Ryan finally made it back to shore. And the Kamiyas had again gotten lucky... as Hogan was having no luck at all trying to find the Sato ring. In fact, Hogan had somehow drifted away from his flag, and Jeff had to remind him to go back to the correct spot.

"The flag! Hogan, what're you doing, buddy? Over -THERE-!"

Hogan sheepishly went back to his flag as Beth dove into the water for Kamiya. Like Ryan, she wasn't much of a swimmer, and she dog-paddled her way out towards the nearest orange flag.

Meanwhile, Hogan was lost again.

"Hogan!" yelled Jeff. "Look under the -FLAG-!"

"Hogan!" yelled a concerned Amy. "Pay attention!"

Beth dove down for Kamiya just as Hogan was finally retrieving his ring. And while Hogan was terrible at searching, he was determined to win this for his team. The Eagle Scout practically -FLEW- through the water on the way back, tagging off to Joni just as Beth was bringing her ring to the surface.

"Go Jones!" panted an exhausted Hogan, as the young dancer raced down the shore and into the water. Joni reached a flag quickly and dipped her head under the water, plugging her nose. She submerged just as Beth was returning the third Kamiya ring to shore.

"Three for Kamiya!" announced Jeff, "Two for Sato! Kamiya still in the lead!"

Now it was time for an angry and determined Michelle to get into the action. The intense woman sprinted into the water and swam awkwardly out towards the nearest flag. But she reached a flag and went down... as Joni remained underwater for the Satos.

Both teams looked on in suspense as Joni and Michelle searched underwater for a ring in the mud. And it was Michelle who popped up first, happily holding her ring in the air. Joni popped up immediately after, with her own ring. And the two women raced to the surface, with Michelle reaching shore just ahead of the younger Joni.

"Four for Kamiya! Three for Sato! You need six to win!"

The air was tense now as Sato did their best to cut the lead. And luckily they had their secret weapon up next. If they were going to win, this would be the time that they pulled it off.

"Let's go, Lance!" screamed Hogan, as the athletic pre-school teacher raced down to the water for the Satos. He ran as fast as he could, easily outpacing Isabella, as the two opponents raced for the water. But Lance dove in first... and swam with broad, powerful strokes towards one of the orange flags.

"Lance has to make up some time," said Jeff, "You guys are down by a whole ring."

"Let's go, Lance!" cheered Amy. "Win it for us!"

Isabella was swimming gingerly out towards a flag, having no way to match Lance's swimming prowess. But she dipped her blonde hair under the water... and surprised her teammates by coming up to the surface almost immediately. Isabella's sharp eyes had picked out a ring from the mud in almost record time.

"Emma's got her ring!" said Jeff, as the Kamiyas cheered wildly. And the young woman swam awkwardly back to shore, a wide smile on her face. Meanwhile, Lance finally came back up to the surface... empty-handed. Lance couldn't find his ring, and he looked angry with himself.

But this contest was all but over now. Isabella had more or less cemented it.

"Mike is the last diver!" said Jeff, as the big man from Kamiya lumbered down to the ocean. He dove in with a splash... just as Lance had found the Sato ring. Lance swam back to shore... coming in just as Mike was submerging.

"You're up again, Amy," said Jeff, as the Sato leader raced out to the water for a second time. And she swam as fast as she could, but was dismayed when she saw Mike came to the surface... holding a ring. It was Kamiya's sixth ring, and the yellow tribe cheered from shore in victory.

Amy went down and found nothing but mud. And by the time she came back up, the contest was over. Mike swam lazily to shore, the gold ring sparkling in his right hand. His team clapped and cheered and then... it was over. Mike stepped to shore and was embraced in a big group hug.

"Kamiya! Wins reward!"

The yellow tribe celebrated happily as Amy swam back to shore. Her teammates consoled her, but the little tribe of four was forced to watch as Jeff handed a large picnic basket to Isabella and Beth.

"Your refrigerator will be waiting for you back at camp," smiled Jeff. "Congratulations Kamiya, you guys earned it. You guys will be set until the merge."


^^


The celebration at camp Kamiya started almost immediately. With the victory in the reward challenge, the yellow tribe was in high spirits. They now had food, they now had drinks and... in a surprise reunion... it seemed that Mario the gnome had returned. Mike announced that he had "found" Mario in the nearby abandoned tomb, and the celebration now became a reunion party.

"Three cheers for the gnome!" joked Ryan, as he lifted a can of Pepsi in tribute. "Viva Mario!"

And Mike smiled happily as his tribe celebrated in style. Once again, the gnome strategy appeared to have paid off. Mario had yet again become the focal point of camp events... just like Mike had always planned.

"Hey Mike? Mind if we have a word?"

Mike turned to his left, and was surprised to see Matt Carter standing next to him. Matt was holding a sandwich in one hand and his hockey mask in the other. And he looked like he had something to say. He also looked quite nervous... talking to Mike tended to do that to the kid... but it looked like Matt had something on his mind.

"Yeah?" Mike grunted.

"I just want to congratulate you," Matt said, "On the rediscovery of your compatriate. I'm glad you got him back."

Mike smiled-- ever so softly-- although he hadn't meant to. After all, he was still trying to be a hardass. But Matt's tone was so earnest that it had caught him off guard.

"Thanks," Mike nodded. "I'm glad he's safe and sound again."

"And you know I didn't take him," Matt said softly, "Correct? I mean you have to know that."

"I know," Mike said.

"It's just that hiding gnomes isn't my style," Matt said, very timidly. "If I would have taken him, you would never have found him. I'm rather fond of shallow graves, myself."

Mike chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.

"So I just want you to know that I've never done anything to the gnome." Matt cocked his head slightly, making sure this wasn't going to set Mike off. But it didn't appear to. Mike looked strangely calm, so Matt continued. "I never threw the star and I never stole him. The only thing I've -ever- done is carve the message in the tree."

Mike nodded, saying nothing.

"And if it's all the same to you," Matt sighed, "I'd just like all this to end. 'Cause I'm tired of it, Mike. It's made my life very stressful and I'd just kinda like to make peace. I'd like us to start with a clean slate."

Mike bit on the inside of his lip, his arms now crossed across his chest. But he was listening.

"So I extend my hand," Matt said, doing exactly as he described, "And hope we can be friends from here on out. No more gnome wars." And now he smiled. "Please."

Mike didn't shake the hand right away. He just stared at Matt for a moment... then asked one simple question.

"If you didn't do it, who did?"

Matt shrugged.

"If I had to make a guess," he said, "I'd go with Ryan. But I don't have any incriminating evidence or anything. All I have to go on is style points."

And now, after a moment more of awkward silence--- Mike just couldn't keep up the act anymore. He agreed with Matt, this had really gone too far. Mario had served his purpose... and now it was done. So Mike smiled and extended his hand as well. And for a moment... just a moment... he actually felt a twinge of respect for the strange young man in the hockey mask.

"Well I appreciate the peace offering," Mike said. And at that, the men shook hands. "So no hard feelings, okay?"

"None," said Matt. And he meant it.

And from this point out, in the strangest of Okinawan events, Matt and Mike would hold each other in the highest of respect. Through one simple burying of the hatchet-- the war over Mario the gnome ended forever.


^^


But despite the festivities at Kamiya, it had already turned out to be a dark day for Michelle Kin-Fraley.

The angry young woman from Tennessee spent most of the afternoon away from camp, by herself. She hadn't taken part in the celebration at all. She hadn't had a bite of food from the picnic, she hadn't taken a drink, she hadn't cared that the gnome had returned, and she hadn't really said a word to anyone.

No, she had simply come down to the beach to sit-- all alone. She came here to sit... and to rant.

"Right now," she explained, speaking slowly, "I'm filled with a lot of emotions. Because it looks like Sato voted out my best friend in the game. They voted out Chris..." She paused. "... And I'm genuinely pissed." She thought about it for a moment, trying to think of the right word. And when she continued she spoke even slower than before, almost catatonically. For it was clear she was in shock. The ouster of Chris had more or less sent her into shock.

"Okay," she admitted, "No need to beat around the bush. When I saw that Chris was missing... it was if something had snapped inside me. It was if a switch had been flipped, and I realized what my new mission in this game was."

She grinned now, utterly without humor. It was the grin of tightly repressed anger.

"My goal right now is to find those who did this... and make them pay. Because starting from -this- moment, there are three Satos who are going to pay dearly for what they did. I will dedicate the next nineteen days to making sure the three of them do not win." She paused now, slowly letting sand drop through the fingers of her right hand. "Hogan, Lance... and especially Amy... the price for this is going to be very high. Because payback -is- a bitch, and so am I."

She laughed out loud now... again entirely devoid of humor.

"I've been called a bitch twice before in this game. Once by Muntz, and once by David. And it infuriated me both times, but guess what? Maybe now it's time to live up to my name. Maybe now it's time to kick a little ass."

Michelle paused now... as one question hit her. Suddenly one question needed to be answered in all of this.

"And what the hell part did Joni play in the Chris vote? Was she a willing participant? Did she turn on the Angels?" She then shook her head, dismissing such nonsense. "No way. Joni would die for the Angels... and so would I. There's no -way- she voted against him. She's still with us, I know it. And she's probably scared to death right now."

But then she got a worried look on her face.

"But at the same time... I know that both Amy and Joni are Mormon. So maybe they..." She winced softly, not liking the idea of this argument. "So maybe they are closer than I expect." And now she shook her head again, as if to shake this thought out of her head. No way. It couldn't be true.

"So I guess the key right now..." Michelle sighed, "Is to find out where Joni stands. And to find out just how close this Mormon connection is..."

And now Michelle stared out to sea. Her eyes were still ablaze with fury as she sat, alone, far from the festivities back at camp. And after about four minutes of silence, she added something, offhand.

"What complicates this all," she explained, "Is that I've already made a deal with Emma and the Satos. I've told Emma I will vote Ryan out... and I've always intended to follow through with it..."

And now she smiled. A real smile. A mean one, sure, but at least this one was the genuine article. Because an amusing thought had just struck her mind.

"But then again," she grinned, "If I wanted to get back at Amy... it would -sure- be easy to take it out on her best friend. After all, isn't what this game is all about? You screw my friends, I screw yours."

She laughed now, softly. Coldly.

"So all I'm saying is that right now... I still plan to vote with the Satos. If we took a vote right now, I'd go with Emma and get rid of sneaky little Ryan." She paused. "But sometimes I've been known to change my mind. And if... for some reason... I feel like taking some revenge on little miss Amy's best friend..."

She grinned.

"Then Beth will be in a world of pain. But it won't be personal. Oh no. After all, this is love and war. And Amy... girlfriend... you just cast the first stone. You voted out Chris and... trust me... if any of the Satos push my buttons any more, I will spend the rest of this game making sure you and your friends -never- want to play Survivor again."


^^


The day passed smoothly at Kamiya. The party had been fun... the Satos were happy... Ryan was cocky... and though Michelle was about one click away from going off the deep end, Isabella Smith felt like things were going perfectly.

Because despite the fact that she was an Angel, the loss of Christopher Collins had been music to her ears.

"That was great," she smiled, as she gathered shikwasa fruits along a leafy path. "When I got to the challenge and I saw that Chris was gone, you should have seen the fireworks go off in my head. Because I -knew- that things were going to change a lot with him gone. I knew that things were going to happen very fast with him being removed from the picture."

Isabella hummed happily to herself as she placed shikwasa number seven and eight into her bag. It looked like today was going to be a good haul. Maybe the rain from the past twenty-four hours had helped.

"And it's not that I dislike Chris," she added. "Well, okay, maybe it is. But the fact remains that he wasn't a very good player and I was happy to see him gone. He had -too- much influence over Michelle and I didn't like it. So the great news about this is that with him gone... I suddenly move up one rung on her ladder. Suddenly she starts liking me a whole lot more." She shrugged. "And the bonus is that now the Angels can't possibly work out, plus I have one less loudmouth actor to get in my way later on. So I guess it's all good."

And being Isabella, she couldn't resist just one little dig. After all, she couldn't help it. That was just her nature.

"Christopher probably felt like he was the best player here, but I always knew otherwise. And really, when you look at it-- it all happened as it should." She now held up both hands, palms up, as if weighing two items on a scale. "Let's see here... 11th best player in the game... finishes in 11th place." She moved her hands slightly, as if the two items weighed exactly the same. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I guess sometimes the game plays out exactly as it should, hm?"

And Isabella chuckled happily to herself, very pleased with the way things were going. She and Michelle were going to take out Ryan... the Angels were dead... and Ryan was about to get blindsided. Life was good.

But as Isabella basked in the peaceful silence of the woods, she suddenly saw something that made her heart skip a beat. And that wasn't something that was easy to do. Isabella wasn't someone who startled easily.

"Oh no," she muttered, "Don't do it, Michelle. Just stop where you are and turn right around."

What Isabella was seeing was Michelle striding purposefully across the beach. Michelle was walking with heavy stride, and she looked pissed. And Isabella didn't have to look at the other end of the beach to know that Beth and Matt were sitting over there.

Michelle was going to talk to the Satos.

And Isabella knew instinctively what the subject was going to be about.

"Michelle," Isabella hissed, under her breath, "I know they voted out Chris. I know you're mad. But -don't- go over there and screw this thing up. Don't start acting even crazier than you already are." She now held her breath, watching intently.

"Don't screw up this plan. Just turn around. Right now."


^^


Beth Sowles was unaware that all the plans were about to change. She was unaware that anything big was about to go down. She was unaware that Michelle Kin-Fraley was looking for a reason to turn on her... and that reason was about to take place. No, all Beth cared about right now was finishing her letter. Her letter to Amy. The one she was composing on the back of a piece of treemail.

"How does this sound?" she asked Matt, as she turned to the young man next to her. "Does it sound too gushy?"

She handed the letter over and Matt read it, wrinkling his nose.

"What is this?" he joked, "A love letter?"

"No no," Beth laughed, "It's just for a confessional. I wanted to do something creative today, so I wrote a letter to Amy. Kind of like a tribute since we saw her at the barbecue. I wanted to explain everything that had happened since we saw her... and let her know we were going to be okay. I would just read it out loud for my confessional."

"Okay, fine," sighed Matt. "Let's read Beffy's not-a-love-letter and see what you got." And then he chose sections of it to read out loud.

"First off," he read, "Ryan is our target for the next one voted out. Things have majorly changed, and this is a very good thing. Right now we have me, Matt, Michelle and Emma."

Beth nodded, happily.

"I didn’t trust Michelle at first," Matt read, "Because I thought she could be setting me and Matt up. But she totally spilled her guts about everything and she confirmed a lot of what I already knew and then filled in the blanks on some of what I knew the edges of. Michelle -ASKED- me if she could join Matt and I in our alliance."

"Yup," smiled Beth.

"But the best part," Matt read, "Is that Emma also came to us and sang like a bird. Emma's been the best part in this. She sings like a songbird and I have no reason to distrust what she's been saying. You just get the feeling when she talks that she is telling the truth."

"That's our Emma," Beth joked.

"Also in the meantime," Matt skipped down to the next section, "I've had a few huge fights with Mike. He told me that Matt and I could never be trusted, because we were Satos. Well I just laughed in his face. I told him that to call me untrustworthy, when he already screwed me over-- twice-- well that just showed how hypocritical he really is. Stupid Mike. I don't think the guy can organize his way out of a sock drawer."

Beth laughed, holding her hand to her face.

Then Matt skipped down to the bottom.

"I'm glad I got to see you and I hope to see you again soon. The world is a better place with you in it, Amy. Lots of hugs, Beffy."

Matt finished reading and looked up, nodding.

"It's good," he said. "Good stuff."

"You think?"

"Yeah, but make sure..."

Suddenly Matt clammed up. In one smooth motion he buried the letter in the sand, out of sight. For in his peripheral vision he had seen someone coming. And in seconds, he finally saw who it was. Suddenly Michelle was here. Their new ally Michelle. And as Isabella had feared, Michelle was here to discuss a few things. Clarify a few details, if it were. And if all things went well, this wasn't going to take very long at all.

"Hey guys," she said, "What's up?"

"Oh not much," smiled Beth. "We're just talking about the plan to take out Ryan. And what we're going to do after that."

"You mean at the merge."

"Assuming it happens soon," shrugged Matt. "Hell, it could happen tomorrow for all we know."

"So what -is- the plan after the merge?" asked Michelle, coyly. "Who do we hook up with from Sato? Who do you recommend?"

"Amy," Beth said, without hesitation. "We can trust Amy. I thought we talked about this already."

And while Matt wanted to kick Beth, he simply smiled and kept his mouth shut. If Beth wanted to make her bond with Amy so perfectly obvious... well that was just fine by him. Heck, he had been pointing it out more and more lately himself.

"What about Joni?" perused Michelle. "Do you think she and Amy could be together? Do you think we could hook up with the two of them together?"

"No way," Beth shook her head. "Amy wouldn't team with Joni. She told me at the barbecue. She said that if Chris left, Joni would be next." And now Beth uttered the fateful words that Michelle was just waiting for her to say. "When we win tomorrow, Sato will vote off Joni. She won't even be an option anymore."

"You're sure?" asked Michelle, eyes strangely curious.

"Yeah," nodded Beth. "Amy told me. Chris then Joni. Get rid of the troublemakers first."

"Well I guess that's that then," sighed Michelle. "Oh well, I guess I'll need to think of some other plans. I was sure it would be Joni and Amy."

Matt had been strangely quiet through this whole interlude, but he thought he saw something in Michelle's eyes. It was almost as if he had seen a switch that had been suddenly flipped. Because suddenly Michelle didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"Well I have to go," she said, standing up. "Let me go talk to Emma for a bit and see what her plans are."

"Okay," nodded Beth-- still unaware that she had just given Michelle an excuse for switching plans. She didn't realize she had just given Michelle the one answer that was sufficient grounds for a bit of revenge.

"I'll talk to you guys later," Michelle smiled, waving happily. "Take care. I think tomorrow should be a -lot- of fun."


^^


And as Isabella had feared, Michelle had just changed the plans for the next vote. All it had taken was the promise that Joni would be gone, and that had been enough. The promise of one more Angel gone had more or less sent Michelle into a tailspin. And this was the one event which Isabella would later describe as "the time of the game where Michelle finally went completely insane."

For as Michelle walked back to camp, she talked out loud to the cameras. And she detailed her -new- plan. The one without Beth and Matt in it. The one without Amy in it.

And the one where Sato finally started to pay for their sins against the Angels.

"How stupid do Beth and Matt think I am?!" Michelle joked, as she strode along the beach by herself. "There is no -way- I'm going to go all out and let Sato take Joni out of the game. I'm sorry but forget it!" She laughed. "And I know I promised them I'd vote for Ryan. And I know I promised Emma, but I don't care. This is about what's best for me. So screw them, all they are are Satos and all Satos are now going to die. That's a promise I made and one I intend to keep. You don't mess with the Angels and not expect to start feeling my wrath!"

Michelle spoke gleefully as she walked, already loving the idea of what was about to happen.

"Whether we win or lose immunity... and I suspect we'll lose... Beth and Matt will be upset with me. But I don't care. If it were up to me I'd lose tomorrow and send Beth packing. Maybe send a little message to Amy: Hey, you fuck with my best friend and I fuck with yours. Happy birthday, bitch. Here's one from me to you."

And Michelle laughed again, not even realizing she was about to cross a point in the game she probably would later regret. For right now she was caught in the moment, and it was hard to hold back.

"All I care about right now," she promised, "Is getting to that merge and getting the Angels back. I want Joni back, I want Emma back, and I want to finish this thing that Chris started. I'm doing it all for him now... and..."

She grinned. And in the noontime shadows, she looked almost maniacal.

"... And God help those who try to get in the Angels' way. 'Cause it won't be pretty."


^^


As Michelle plotted her revenge... across the beach Sato was preparing for tomorrow morning's big immunity challenge. And as with every minute for the past twenty-four hours... Joni was trying her best to get back in with the rest of the tribe.

Because just in case they threw it, she wanted to at least have a fighting chance at the vote.

"In the past day," Joni explained in a confessional, "I've gotten three different answers from three different people. And all of them -mean- well..." she laughed, "But it's clear that we have some pretty bad liars on this tribe. Or otherwise maybe their stories would match up a little better."

The first one to come to Joni had, of course, been Amy. Amy had spent much of the day yesterday hanging out with her little Mormon sister-- just trying to re-establish the old bond. Just trying to keep Joni happy... in case they were to be hit with a sudden merge or switch.

"And Amy's really good at what she does," Joni explained, "I don't think there's anyone here who can fake a friendship as well as she can." She laughed. "But despite all my offers, she refuses to offer me any set deals. Oh she'll say she doesn't want me gone. But the minute I bring up the idea of forcing a tie, suddenly it's "But that's a huge risk" and "I can't make that decision unless I really have to."" Joni chuckled. "Because if you haven't figured it out yet, that's how Amy plays. She won't say anything that can later be defined as a lie. Oh she'll lie alright... but she just sets it up so you can't -call- it that."

She grinned.

"Like her deal with me and Chris. No Amy, that wasn't a lie. You just double-crossed us." And now Joni added, sarcastically, "But it wasn't a lie, so you're okay."

Joni shrugged, somewhat helplessly.

"I have to grit my teeth everytime Amy starts talking about the vote. Because while I like her as a friend... as an opponent I know she'll cut my throat in a second. And when she starts saying things like "I think we just need to win the next challenge," it doesn't fool me anymore. She wants to win so she doesn't have to make a choice. And it's as simple as that."

After Amy had come Hogan who-- as Joni could have predicted-- came running back to her like a puppy with his tail between his legs. That much wouldn't have surprised -anybody- who saw Joni and Hogan on a daily basis.

"Hogan told me he was devastated to have to vote Chris out," Joni explained. "And he promised it never had anything to do with me-- it was just something he did because Chris had lied to him." She shrugged again. "And he keeps telling me he'll go with me to the end. He's never really deviated from that, so I assume he's telling the truth. I hope so, anyway."

Joni smiled.

"Hogan's exact words this morning were "I don't trust Amy, even though I voted with her. And Joni, believe me when I say I will fight for you, as long as you fight for me too. It's going to be the two of us to the end.""

Joni laughed now, almost embarrassed.

"And while he's sweet with his words, I highly doubt he'd give up an easy vote just to impress me. So yeah, thanks for the promise, Hogan, but where were you when I needed you last time? You can't blame me for being a little dubious this time around."

And then Joni came to the final member of Sato. Then she finally came to the soft-spoken, uber-moralistic pre-school teacher who seemed to have become the spokesperson for all things Sato.

"Lance," she explained. "Ugh!"

She laughed.

"Lance doesn't seem to care too much for me. Let's see... first off, he doesn't talk to me much. At all. Secondly... I think he's going to marry his green buff when all this is over. I don't think he's noticed that there are actually other people out here yet. It's just him and his beloved sweaty buff." She grinned. "And third, he came up to me this morning and said "If you threw a challenge once, you're going to throw one down the road. So Joni, we don't need you.""

She giggled.

"So pardon me if I don't think Captain Melancholy is exactly a fountain of opportunity right about now. Please forgive me if I look elsewhere for an ally."


^^


The day wound down at Sato, with most of the day's activities being spent more or less as usual. Nobody really spoke about the vote. Nobody really spoke about the challenge. And for the most part, nobody really was losing too much sleep over it.

Because for all intents and purposes-- the strategy tomorrow was really quite simple. Sato was either going to win the immunity challenge... or they were going to lose. And if they lost, Joni would be voted out three to one. Sure, Hogan and Amy had both hinted otherwise-- but for the most part it was looking to be a pretty straightforward day.

And as evening fell, most of the Satos went to sleep with fairly clean consciences. Hogan fell asleep almost immediately-- after reaching page 600 in his book, of course. But Hogan had made friends with Joni again, he had promised to fight for her if he could, and he knew that she didn't hold any grudges against him at the moment. So he went to bed happy. And he slept soundly.

Amy Twieg was still having some moral dilemmas with the whole thing-- after all she -wanted- to save Joni, but she knew it would be strategic suicide to do so-- so sleep came a little slower to her. But as with most nights, she closed her eyes and thought of her two young boys at home, Alex and Brandon... and that eventually did the trick. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

And Joni Newman slept the sleep of the condemned, full well knowing that this could easily be her last night in Okinawa. But as she had been telling herself all day, she had done all she really could, politically. She still hated the fact that Chris had talked her into throwing the challenge... and now she was paying the price... but she had stopped beating herself up over it. All she could hope for was a Sato win in the challenge tomorrow. That was really all she could do. So she curled up in her usual sleeping spot, right next to Hogan, and slept a surprisingly stress-less last night in the game.

But despite it all, there was one Sato who found sleep hard to come by tonight. There was one member of Sato who was agonizing over the position the game had put him in... and Lance wasn't really ready for tomorrow to come.

Not yet.

So as the rest of the tribe slept in what was left of the shelter, Lance stole down to the beach. He walked down to his favorite mangrove tree, his thinking place, and he plopped down in the sand. And as with so many times before, he spoke. Underneath the bright Okinawan moonlight, Lance McHale laid out exactly what was about to come.

"Right now," he sighed, as he wrapped his arms around his knees, "We have a problem. And it's not something I expected we'd ever have to face, but nonetheless it is staring us in the face, and will have to be dealt with."

He stared out at the moonlight as he spoke. And he chose his words carefully, as always. Lance never tended to speak from the cuff. Everything he said aloud tended to be very well choreographed first in his head.

"The problem I see," he continued, "Is that there's no reason for us to win tomorrow. There is -absolutely- no reason we should be winning this challenge, and there's no reason we should give Joni a second chance to screw us over." He shook his head, almost paternally. "And I think Joni is a great girl, I really do. I see a lot of qualities in her that I'd love to see in my own daughter someday. But the fact remains that she lied to us once, and she will do it again. She threw the last challenge just to vote one of us out... and there's no way she would stop at doing it a second time down the road."

And at that Lance sighed. Oh, the dilemmas this game tended to produce. Oh, the irony!

"So the best solution for us," Lance admitted, "Is to throw the challenge and vote -her- out instead. And in essence we'd punish her by doing the exact same thing she did to us."

He laughed, softly. Almost bitterly.

"And you know, I -want- to be friends with Joni, because I think we've got a special little tribe here. We've got this great underdog vibe happening and I would -love- nothing more than to see the four of us be the final four."

Then he shook his head again.

"But the problem remains... and will always remain. The problem is that Joni crossed the line once and there's no guarantee she wouldn't do it again. She's handcuffed us and she's really limited our options in what we're able to do for her."

Lance rocked back and forth in the sand now as he spoke. And he took a moment to describe Joni's relationship with the rest of the tribe since the infamous thrown tile challenge. And how little Joni seemed to have done to try and mend the fences.

"The first morning after," he remembered, "Was a little awkward. Joni moped around all morning and sulked about Christopher being voted off. She was really upset and kept saying over and over that she regretted throwing the challenge." He chuckled now. "Well yeah, of -course- she was remorseful. She managed to get her best friend voted out of the game! How else was she going to feel?"

Lance smiled.

"And after awhile, I started to feel bad for her. Because you could just see that she was checking out of the game. She would sit there all morning and just stare at the fire. That's all she did, for half a day. She just stared into the fire."

Lance twirled his green buff around his wrist as he talked. He was probably unaware he was even doing it.

"And you know... I don't care how much someone has lied to me, or if they had voted against me six times. It's just -hard- to watch someone who has that little hope. It's just tough to watch, especially when I've been in the exact same spot. So yeah, my heart -did- go out to Joni for a while there. Because I knew what she was going through."

Lance's face darkened somewhat now. His brow suddenly took on a harsher, angrier look.

"But only a few hours later," he explained, "She was right back at it. She was trying to sweet talk everyone and get on their good side. I saw her doing it with Hogan... I saw her doing it with Amy... and it made me mad. No, it made me -ashamed-. I'm standing there watching this and I'm thinking, "You threw the challenge that sent your best friend home! You voted against someone who had done -nothing- wrong to you, and now you want to cozy up to that same person? Are you serious?"

Lance was a bit perturbed now, even reminiscing about it. Because frankly he had just been insulted that Joni had just tried to gloss over everything that had happened just twenty-four hours before.

"And that was the moment," he explained, "That I knew she had to go. There were just no two ways about it-- if she lied to us once, she would lie to us again. We had to get rid of her before she could sell us down the river. And that would be the -smart- move."

And this was the dilemma Lance was faced with. This was the point at which all his moral quandaries would begin or end.

This was his choice.

"So do we throw the challenge tomorrow?" he asked, "Or not? Do we do the smart thing tomorrow, and get rid of Joni while we still have the chance? Or do we do the ethical thing and give her a chance to save herself?" He paused now, shrugging. "This is a particularly difficult choice for me because I've always said I would -never- throw a challenge. I don't like it, I don't think it's a noble way to play this game, and I don't like the way it takes someone's fate out of their hands. Frankly, I just think it's cowardly."

He paused for a long moment now, mulling over the options in his head.

"What I would like..." he finally said, "Is for the four of us to become the little underdogs that could. We could be Paschal, Neleh, Gina and Kathy all over again if we pulled together. And if we -trusted- one another." He smiled. "Because people forget that Maraamu may have been weak, but they -did- end up winning three challenges in a row. Stranger things have happened."

And now Lance picked up a handful of wet sand. Sitting under the moonlight, he mushed it around in his hand.

"We have an immunity challenge tomorrow," he finished, "And right now I don't know what we're going to do. I'd -love- to say we'd win and Joni would become one of us for the rest of the game-- but I don't know if I trust her to do that. Actually I -don't- trust her, that's not even a question..."

He paused.

"...But do I want to be one of those people who throws a challenge just to get rid of an opponent? Do I want to be that type of player, who euthanizes an opponent before they even get a chance to fight back? Can I live with myself for turning in that direction?"

He closed his eyes, shaking his head.

"I've been playing this game of table tennis in my head all day. Do I put in -all- my effort to save my Maraamu underdogs, even though one of them has lied to me? Is the goal simply to keep all four of us together? Or do I try to "save" my energy that I lost because one of these four members didn't go all out in the last challenge?"

He paused now, still shaking his head.

"And right now I just keep hitting the ball back and forth... I've been hitting the ball to myself all day, without it ever touching the ground. But eventually, I'll be forced to slam the ball to one side... to just make a decision... and stick with it."

He sighed. For one last time tonight, he sighed.

"I guess we won't know until tomorrow. I guess we'll just find out then."

^^

And while Lance struggled with the ethics of ousting Joni, Kamiya clearly had no such qualms. They had never really had issues with blindsiding people. In fact, at times, they were downright gleeful about it.

"Beth won't even know what hit her," Michelle grinned, as she went over the final plans with her Kamiyan co-conspirators.

"So Beth is sitting out tomorrow?" Ryan asked. "For sure?"

"Yeah," nodded Mike. "She has to. We don't want her and Matt screwing up the challenge. If they both sit, neither of them can mess it up. Then we have complete control."

"Does Beth know she'll be sitting out?" asked Isabella.

"No," said Mike, shaking his head. "Matt volunteered to, but we told Beth she'd be competing."

"I said I was sitting out," Michelle laughed, "I said Matt and I were sitting out. But when we get to the challenge we'll just tell Jeff that Beth and Matt are instead. We'll say we took a vote." She grinned. "The look on the bitch's face will be priceless."

Isabella just stared, dumbfounded. She couldn't believe that Michelle had changed the plans on her. First it was going to be Ryan... and now Michelle was gung-ho on just sticking it to Beth. And Isabella couldn't figure out why. Was it revenge? Was that the only reason at work here? Was this all because of Chris?

"This will pretty much ruin us with the Satos," Mike explained, "But screw them knowing about us now. All this tip-toeing around has gotten us in trouble lately anyway. They all hate us anyway, so who cares?"

Ryan nodded.

"My theory," Michelle added, "Is that the earlier we warn them, the more we have to hear them bitch about it. And I don't know about you but I don't want to hear Beth whine to me all day that it isn't fair. I mean, this is Survivor. Life isn't fair, honey."

"So nobody warns them?" Isabella asked.

"No," said Michelle. "No way. And if they -do- find out that they're both sitting, then they don't find out we're gonna throw it. I don't want to hear any of their shit until after the challenge. Because then it won't matter." She paused, then smirked. "Besides, it will be more fun this way."

"And that goes for you especially, Rebez," Mike said, as he poked a hard finger into Ryan's chest. Ryan just blinked his eyes innocently. "Don't get any funny ideas about -not- throwing this one. Stick with the plan and don't go dicking around this time. This could very well be the crucial point in the game."

"I got it," Ryan insisted.

"We -all- throw it," Mike said, sternly. "Even if it exposes us... even if it pisses them off... we -all- do the same thing this time."

"Of course," Ryan smiled, coyly. He held up his fingers in a mock salute. "I promise to be good. No dumbass Ryan this time, I got it."

"You got it too, Emma?" Michelle asked.

"Yep!" smiled an overly eager Isabella. "You guys are smart. This is a great plan!"

And though Isabella was doing her best to play along, deep down her mind was just turning over one question in her head. One phrase kept coming up over and over:

-How can I get Ryan out without Michelle's help? How can I manage to pull this off?-

"The key to all this," Mike said now, "Is Joni. She -needs- to know what we're up to. This has to be the most lopsided thrown challenge in the history of the game. We need to throw this thing -so blatantly- that she'll come back to us after a merge. She needs to know we are doing this for her, that's the only goal."

"Well that and to get Beth out," Michelle laughed, a little too maliciously. "Unless you'd rather get rid of Matt."

"Nah," Mike smiled. "I like Matt. The kid's okay, and we've made peace. But I'm tired of Beth's complaining. If we can dump her and get Joni in to replace her..." He drew a finger across his throat. "Cut her loose."

"So that's it then?" asked Michelle.

"That's that," said Mike. "And once Joni figures out we saved her, somebody has to promise her a final three berth or something. Just tell her whatever she needs to hear so she'll stick with Kamiya at the merge."

"I can do that," smiled Ryan. "It would be my pleasure."

And at that, the Kamiya Four solidified their plans for the morning. The challenge was going to be thrown, Beth was going to get the shock of her life, and Joni was going to be thrilled to see what Kamiya had done for her. It was all going to do down flawlessly.

But before they could all turn in for the night... Michelle had something she had to say. She had something she had to tell Isabella. So once Ryan and Mike had dispersed, she called over the petite blonde woman, to relay one last bit of instruction.

"After this," Michelle whispered, "Expect a backlash. The fallout from this is going to be ugly. We're going to have some explaining to do... especially to Beth."

"But what happened to the Ryan plan?" Isabella asked, trying her best to sound confused.

"That's off. I changed my mind."

"So it's Beth for sure?"

And -normally- Isabella could sway Michelle's decisions with ease. Under normal conditions, Isabella could control Michelle like a concert pianist could play a piano. But she could tell that this time was going to be different. Anything Isabella said was likely to be fruitless. Because when Michelle wanted to stick it to Amy's best friend... nothing was going to stand in her way.

"It's Beth," confirmed Michelle. "We can get Ryan next, anyway. Besides, I just want to see the look on Beth's face when the bitch finds out we outplayed her."

The shadows of the moon ran dark over her features as she grinned, coldly.

"So just expect a backlash, Emma. That's all I can say. Just prepare yourself for the worst."




DAY 21



The nastiness of day twenty-one didn't start until later... a fact that Amy Twieg would later be -more- than grateful for. But right now all she was thinking about was immunity, as she grabbed the loose piece of treemail from its box.

"Oh sweet," said Joni, "Treemail already?"

Amy smiled and pulled out the withered piece of parchment, reading it out loud.

-"The weight of the world
May rest upon
The shoulders of one man.

So it's time to see
Who can carry their team
And lift what no others can.

It's time to cast stones,
It's time to bear down.
Which one can carry the weight?

With immunity at stake
And reminders of home--
Or perhaps this could seal your fate."-

"Neat," grinned Joni, "A strength challenge." Then she laughed. "Oh man, Hogan's gonna be excited. He's been dying for one of these. He's been waiting for a showdown with Mike, looks like he finally gets his chance!"

Amy smiled, but realized that the treemail box wasn't empty. There was something else rattling around inside.

"Hang on," she said, and she plunged her arm back inside. And she didn't have to touch the object for more than a second before she identified it, immediately-- for this was the one item Amy was hoping to get right about now.

"Videos!" she screamed, "We get videos!"

She pulled the videotape out of the box and handed it to Joni. And the two women shrieked happily, doing an impromptu little dance of joy.

"I want to see your sons!" Joni said happily, as she and Amy exchanged a hug. "And you can see my family! You can see my dad, Mister Scoutmaster!"

"Oh this is awesome," Amy beamed, clearly excited about the reward. Immunity plus videos from home. Who could ask for more?

"So the plan is still the same?" Joni asked suddenly. "We're winning the challenge?"

"Of course," Amy smiled.

"You'd tell me if Sato was throwing it?"

"I already promised," Amy explained, "That if Sato wanted to throw it, I'd tell you. And not only would I -tell- you, but I'd help you win. I wouldn't go along with them if they wanted to throw it and that much is a fact."

Joni eyed Amy, a small grin on her face. She didn't entirely want to believe this... but if Amy -was- lying, she was being awfully convincing.

"Well..." Joni teased, "If we -didn't- win, you wouldn't get to see Alex and Brandon on video. Remember that."

"Joni!" Amy sighed. "Look I -promised- you we'd go all on out this and we will. Nobody's here to play like that. We all want to win."

She then smiled.

"Stop worrying about it!"


^^


And as Amy was finally reassuring Joni that Sato wouldn't backstab her today... Beth and Matt were finalizing their plans for protection... just in case Kamiya wouldn't offer them the same courtesy today.

"So Michelle and Emma are in for sure," Beth asked, "They've both confirmed it?"

"Yeah," Matt nodded. He was walking with Beth to check the Kamiya treemail, as they finalized their last minute plan of attack.

"And Ryan keeps telling me he's in with us," Beth said. "I keep thinking he's full of crap, but he always comes back and says to trust him." She glanced at Matt. "Is he telling the truth? Do you think he's in?"

"Doubtful," sneered Matt. "The only things he's in are young boys and farm animals, as far as I can tell."

Beth giggled. Matt always found a way to make her laugh.

"Well if everything goes as it should..." Beth said, cautiously optimistic, "We should be okay. Right? Because theoretically we have five votes, if everyone does as they promised."

"So we have two votes, considering this is Kamiya," Matt deadpanned.

"Well all I know is that if they -try- to throw the challenge today," Beth said, "I won't let 'em. Just watch me take over if they start messing around with us." She smiled. "I'll smack Mike in the face if he tries it again."

Matt laughed.

"Atta girl, Beffy. You show 'em."

"But just in case they do..." Beth said, "Is our pact still on?" She looked at her young friend, hopefully. "All for one and one for all?"

"Of course," Matt nodded. "If they screw one of us over... the other one vows to get revenge. If they dick you over, I make their lives a living hell."

"And if they do it to you," she grinned, "I'll tear them apart." She giggled. "After all, they can only vote -one- of us out. The other one they'll have to deal with."

"If it's me," Matt promised, "I vow to make good use of my machete. For real."

Beth giggled again, but Matt didn't appear to be joking. He looked dead serious.

"So it's a deal," he nodded. And at that Matt finally got to the treemail box. He reached inside and pulled out a piece of loose parchment. "This is it Beffy." He read down the note quickly. "And look at that..."

He looked up, smiling.

"It's gonna be a strength challenge. Hope you've been lifting your weights!"


^^


"Come on in, guys," said Jeff, as the two teams arrived to take their assigned spots on their mats. Jeff then retrieved the immunity idol from Michelle, who was wearing a particularly cheerful grin on her face today. She looked like she was about to laugh. And in many ways... she was.

"Immunity, back up for grabs."

Jeff smiled as he produced two large wicker baskets. They were the size of garbage cans-- one for each team-- and he held one of the baskets in front of his chest.

"Your challenge today," he said, "Is called "Basket Case". And basically, it will be a head-to-head showdown between the strongest member of each team." He smiled. "We'll be seeing who can lift the most weight-- and who can carry their tribe to victory on their shoulders."

He nodded to Mike on Kamiya, and then to Hogan on Sato. These two were clearly the strongest players in the game. This choice was going to be a no-brainer.

"Your strongman will each be holding a basket... such as this."

He held out the basket he was holding in his hands.

"This is a traditional Okinawan farming basket. For centuries, farmers have carried their crops around the island in baskets such as these. But today we'll be doing something a little different." He smiled. "Today your basket won't be holding crops. It will be holding rocks."

He pointed down towards the beach, where scores of wet rocks dotted the sand.

"As your strongman holds the basket... The rest of your tribe will scatter across the beach, gathering rocks. Your runners will pick up the rocks, run back here, and place them in your tribe's basket. And it is your -strongman's- job to hold up the basket until it is full of rocks. If he drops it, it's over. You lose." Jeff nodded. "But once your basket is full of rocks..."

He turned and pointed down the beach, to a thin red stripe painted in the sand.

"Once your basket is full, your strongman will carry it across that finish line. First team to cross the finish line, with a full basket of rocks, wins immunity. Along with..."

He smiled and picked up a small brown gunnysack.

"Along with videos from home. I have a video in here for each of you, and the members of the winning tribe will each get to view their videos- in -full-."

He smiled as the players applauded. A few people looked thrilled at the idea of videos-- among them Amy and Matt the most. Those two had always been the most homesick out here.

"So that being said," said Jeff, "Kamiya, since you have six, two of you will be sitting out. Who's sitting out for you guys?"

Jeff watched as only one hand shot up for Kamiya. Everybody was expecting two-- but only Matt's hand was raised into the air.

Five hands remained down.

"Only Matt?" joked Jeff. "Come on, guys. Two people. Give me another name."

Michelle's hand did not raise into the air. Nor did Beth's. Both women kept their hands down.

"Mike?" Jeff asked, somewhat annoyed, "Who's sitting out with Matt?"

"Beth," said Mike. And he didn't look at her. He simply stated her name out loud. "Beth and Matt are sitting out."

"No," said Beth, piping up innocently. "That's wrong, Jeff. Michelle is sitting out, not me. We picked Matt and Michelle."

"Michelle," said an exasperated Jeff, "What's the deal? Are you out? Or is Beth?"

And Michelle almost couldn't contain herself by now. It was taking all her willpower simply not to laugh out loud. But she kept a straight face as she calmly and politely shook her head.

"No, we took a vote. Beth and Matt are sitting out."

Immediately Matt knew what going on. Kamiya was setting them up. Kamiya had set them up! And though Matt immediately wanted to punch somebody... his heart fell when he realized that Beth hadn't come to this conclusion yet. Beth was still confused by it all.

"Wait, we voted on Matt and Michelle," she protested.

And by now Jeff was getting angry.

"Ryan," he asked, "What's the deal? Who's sitting out?"

"Beth and Matt," He shrugged helplessly. "That was the vote."

"Emma?" asked Jeff.

"Beth and Matt," she concurred.

And by now Beth had finally figured it out. Suddenly the harsh reality of the situation slapped her clean across the face. Her chance to save herself was being taken out of her hands. And the assholes hadn't even given her a decent warning. Fuming, she crossed her arms across her chest and stepped aside. She said nothing, but she looked incredibly angry and hurt. Matt had never seen her so upset before.

"Alright then," said Jeff, "Who's going to be your weight bearer? Sato?"

Hogan Mueller smiled and raised his left hand. Jeff nodded and handed a wicker basket to the strapping young Eagle Scout.

"And what about you, Kamiya? Who's carrying the basket?"

And for the first time in many seasons of Survivor... Jeff was legitimately shocked by the answer he was given. Jeff didn't expect to hear the name that came tumbling out of Mike Ruff's mouth.

"Emma."

Jeff nearly did a double take as petite little Isabella stepped forward. He looked at her-- all hundred pounds of her-- then he looked at the basket. Then he looked at the heavy rocks on the beach.

"Uh you sure, guys? Not Mike?"

"Yeah," said Mike. "Emma."

"We took a vote," smirked Michelle.

Sure enough, Kamiya was planning on throwing this challenge, and they were planning on throwing it with style. One look at Isabella's skinny little arms should tell Joni all she needed to know about what they were trying to do. Isabella wouldn't be able to carry many rocks. Personally, Mike doubted if she would even be able to lift the -basket-.

"Alright," said Jeff, dubiously, "Emma against Hogan. Let's get ready guys, it's time for immunity."


^^


Ten minutes later, the contest was ready to begin. Isabella and Hogan were in place on their mats, both standing with knees bent, baskets in hand. And one glance at the weight-bearers was enough to realize this was a complete mismatch. Hogan stood a good foot taller than Isabella and probably outweighed her by more than a hundred pounds. And as Mike predicted, Isabella was struggling just to keep the cumbersome wicker basket off the ground. Her arms could barely reach around it.

"This is for immunity!" said Jeff, as the six rock gatherers finally took their places. "Survivors ready... -GO-!"

The contest began as the six rock gatherers scattered across the beach, in the direction of the rocks. And... well... perhaps scatter was a generous term. Because the Satos may have been scattering, but the Kamiyas were doing something far different. Mike, Michelle and Ryan were all sitting down in the sand. None of them were prepared to put a single rock in the basket today. They were going to sit here for the entire challenge.

"Let's go, guys!" shouted an annoyed Jeff. "Get up and start moving!"

But none of the Kamiyas appeared to have heard. Michelle was holding a hand to her mouth, laughing. Mike was staring off at the sky.

"Please!" screamed Beth. "Go get some rocks!"

But no movement from the Kamiyas. This contest was essentially over. And while Beth was pleading from the sidelines, Matt was going to offer them no such courtesy. Matt tended to be more blunt about things.

"You assholes!" he shouted. "Fuck you! Fuck -all- of you!"

But none of the Kamiyas moved. Matt continued to curse them out like a sailor, but it wasn't having any effect. They were simply ignoring him.

"I'm warning you Kamiya," Jeff now said, "Get up and start moving."

And this was the warning that finally did it. Finally Mike sighed and stood up. He tossed Jeff a disdainful look and started trotting towards the rocks, at about quarter speed. Ryan soon followed, though he didn't even try to run. He simply walked. And Michelle stayed seated. She kept her butt in the sand, refusing to move.

Matt's litany of curses now focused directly on Michelle, as he cursed her out as long and loud as any sailor in any port could have done. Some of the words even made Jeff wince, as Matt went completely unglued. But no matter what he said, she continued to ignore him. Michelle didn't even respond.

But while Kamiya ignored this... the Satos were definitely interested in what was going on. Their basket was half full already and now Amy stopped. She started listening to the words coming out of Matt's mouth and she looked over.

She saw that Kamiya had not put a single rock in their basket.

She saw that Michelle was sitting in the sand, arms crossed across her chest, laughing.

And she saw that Ryan and Mike were strolling slowly across the sand, apparently chatting.

"Oh no," she said, holding a hand to her mouth. "Matt, stop!"

But Matt wasn't stopping. He continued to curse a blue streak, which had attracted the attention of -all- the Satos by now. They were all well aware of what was going on. Amy even considered telling Hogan to drop his basket. Drop it right now and forfeit this thing!

But she didn't.

She had promised Joni that Sato would try to win... and she wasn't going to break that promise. Besides... Amy and Joni were already making one -heck- of a team.

"I got three more!" yelled Joni, as she ran over and dumped three large rocks into Hogan's basket. Hogan grunted with the effort, but he kept the basket in the air. Now the Sato basket was nearly three-quarters full.

"Let's finish this off," Amy said, as she pointed towards a large pile of rocks near the water. "Me and you, Joni, let's do it!"

Joni smiled, happily, though she couldn't help but notice what was going on across the beach. Kamiya was throwing it? For her? And her heart couldn't help but leap a little bit right now. Kamiya was saving her, Amy was saving her-- how could this be any better? She was going to be saved! Smiling from ear to ear, she ran off after Amy and Lance-- to gather the last batch of rocks for immunity.

And really, the ending of the contest was no more than a formality. Mike had managed to bring back one rock-- a small stone-- and he gently dropped it into the Kamiya basket, almost as if in protest. Meanwhile, Matt had shifted his profanity away from Michelle now... and onto Mike. He started making threats towards Mike and his gnome. Matt graphically listed all the things he wanted to do to the both of them.

Mike smirked softly and just walked away, slower than ever, ignoring Matt's increasing vulgar litany of profanity. So now Matt focused on Ryan... and then on Isabella. Finally his verbal barrage centered on the petite young blonde woman holding the basket.

"Why, Emma? What did you have to gain from lying to us? Why couldn't you at least let us go out like human beings, you frigid little Georgian shit."

Isabella simply stood with her back to him, not reacting in the slightest. But by now Jeff had heard enough. He had seen and heard enough of -all- of it.

He told Matt to cool it. Then he told Hogan to go cross the finish line. And once Hogan did so, without fanfare, Jeff ended the challenge. That was it.

"Sato!" he yelled, "Wins immunity!"

The tribe in green erupted into a confused celebration, as they still weren't sure what was going on. All they knew was that they had won, and that their basket wasn't full yet. Lance and Amy exchanged a confused glance. What was happening?

The Kamiyas were still straggling back from the beach. Michelle had a wide smile on her face as she winked at Joni. -We did that for you-, it was meant to say. Joni saw it, but she didn't react. Not overtly, anyway.

Jeff walked over and handed the immunity idol to Hogan. The young Eagle Scout thrust it into the air, happily, as his tribe came around to mob him. They all came around to congratulate their champion.

And as Jeff walked over to the Kamiyas, he was met with stony silence. Matt and Beth stood off to one side, looking furious. Matt's face was nearly as red as his hair. Isabella stood in the back, looking down at the sand. She appeared to be deep in thought. Ryan and Mike were walking back from the shore, although Ryan had a look that could almost be considered guilty. Ryan appeared to be feeling bad about all this.

But Michelle was still smiling. She was still having a blast.

"You guys got one rock," Jeff smiled, once the Kamiyas were back within earshot, "Compared to Sato's fifty. Nice job."

And now Isabella finally said her first word of the challenge. She simply leaned over towards Matt and whispered two words: "I'm sorry."

Matt gave her the finger.

And now Jeff did something unprecedented. To the surprise of all the players, he ordered that the cameras be turned off. Jeff simply turned to the cameras and made a slicing motion with his hand. And like that, the cameras were off. The show was no longer being taped. And Jeff had a surprisingly wide smile on his face. He was furious, you could tell, but there was something gleeful in his eyes. It was that happy-yet-angry grin that often frightened the players so much.

Because Kamiya was about to be hit by a bombshell.

"Congratulations you guys," he said, nodding mainly to Michelle, "For putting on the single most disgraceful performance I think I've ever seen in this game." He stared hard at Mike, who wouldn't match his gaze. Mike simply looked down at his feet.

"And I warned you once," Jeff said, "About refusing to compete in the challenges. I warned you before the kendo stick wars, when you wanted to forfeit. I told Ryan the consequences before he even tried."

"But we -did- compete!" protested Michelle.

"So you guys have earned..." said Jeff, talking over her, "A special reward. For making a mockery of this game, for not fulfilling your contracts, and for personally wasting all of our time out here today." And now he was angry, you could see it. Jeff was ready to lose his cool. "You've wasted film, we don't have any time to re-shoot and frankly, there was no reason for us to even be here today."

"That's bullshit," spat Michelle.

"So I'll talk to you guys later," glared Jeff, "At Tribal Council." He stared hard at Michelle, then waved his hand, dismissively. "Kamiya... go home."

And at that he turned his back on them.

The challenge debacle was over.

^^


Most challenge victories are met with raucous celebration. Most immunity wins are cheered and relived for days to come. But with Kamiya's actions in the Basket Case challenge on day 21... things suddenly became different.

Suddenly, this game became a -lot- more personal.

"That was without a doubt," Amy said, as she tossed her backpack down on the ground, "The single most disgusting display I've ever seen in my life. I'm just furious right now."

The victorious Satos had trekked back to camp as a foursome. And though they had won, their mood on the walk had been surprisingly tense. They hadn't said much, nor had they really known what to say. It almost felt as if they had lost-- even though Hogan held the immunity idol in his hands. For some reason, it felt like they had lost.

And now Amy was so mad she was shaking. She had reached camp first, had thrown her pack down to the ground, and she had started to vent. She didn't want to, but she really couldn't help it. Kamiya had just made her -that- angry.

"I agree," said Lance, as he walked over to slowly poke at the fire. "That wasn't right. The game of Survivor isn't designed for people to get "jobbed" like that." He was shaking his head. And for the first time in the game, Lance looked upset. For the first time in the game, he actually looked like this had gotten to him. "Their fate was on the line, and they didn't even get to compete. Plain and simple-- they got hosed. They got hosed by four weaklings."

"Lance," said Amy, "I'm not kidding. No matter what I do, Kamiya is going down. I will make it my personal mission after what they did to Beth and Matt today. I'm -that- angry."

Lance sighed now, tossing his backpack to the ground. Then he looked around. He wanted to make sure Joni wasn't here yet-- and she wasn't. Joni had gone down to check the fish trap down at the beach.

"Well here's the deal now," Lance said, "Beth or Matt is going home tonight, correct?"

"I don't think there's any way around it," frowned Amy. "I'm scared for them, but I don't think they have much of a chance."

"Well if a Sato leaves..." Lance shrugged, "That means our little miss Joni becomes the biggest swing vote in the game. If we merge and she goes back to Kamiya... we're just sitting ducks."

"Crap," sighed Amy.

Lance and Amy sat in silence for a moment, until Hogan finally arrived. He carried the big immunity idol in his hands. He saw the rest of his tribe looking morose and tried to cheer them up. That was all he really knew how to do.

"Hey," he grinned, "At least I beat Mike for once."

"Hogan," Amy asked quickly, "How close are you to Joni? If we merge tomorrow, can you guarantee she'd stay with us? How well do you know her?"

Hogan shrugged, somewhat helplessly.

"The only person she's really close to over there is Michelle," he said. "But I promised her I wouldn't throw the challenge today and I didn't." He grinned. "She kind of owes me now."

"So what did you think of the challenge?" Lance asked. "Were you surprised?"

"I was surprised Mike pussed out of our showdown," Hogan said. "Otherwise, not really. They don't exactly strike me as the best people in the world. All I saw were two hos and two douches walking around out there. That's all they had."

Amy smiled.

"Which two were the hos?"

But Hogan wouldn't elaborate. He simply shrugged and grinned.

"Well the problem right now," Lance said, "Is that we have all night to sit here and think about what those people did."

"And then maybe we get to merge with them," Amy joked, sarcastically. "-Fabulous-."

"I just don't know what to say," Lance said, tossing a stick into the fire. "Other than this game just took a turn for the worse. I don't have any respect for those four Kamiyas. Zero respect. And to think I thought Ryan and Mike were gamers..."

"Well there is one good thing at least..." Amy said.

"What's that?"

"At least Matt gave them holy hell for it," she laughed. "He didn't just stand there and watch."

Hogan rushed over to cover Amy's ears.

"Amy," he scolded, "Mormons aren't supposed to hear that kind of language! Are you okay? Do we have to throw holy water on you or something?"

"Oh I'm fine," she said, giggling. "But thank you for the offer."

"Well, knowing Matt..." Lance said, "He'll probably be yelling at them all night up until the vote. Right?"

"He better," said Amy, "And if we're lucky maybe he'll use his machete too..."


^^


The rest of the evening in Sato was spent with one goal in mind. There was one thing that had to be accomplished and one thing alone. And even the fact that they had videos from home waiting for them couldn't distract from one universal truth in this game: Sato had to make sure that Joni was still on board. In case a merge happened tomorrow, they needed to be absolutely sure that Joni Newman would stay on their side. Because really, her vote could very well make or break this game right now. This was -that- big a deal.

And really, it was pretty much a tag-team effort. First Amy, then Hogan. The two Satos each took turns hanging out with Joni for the evening-- trying to see where her head was. And they each took a different approach, too.

Hogan appealed to Joni's sense of friendship. As in-- I know we've had our differences in the past, but I really need you to stick by me with this one. I know you don't like Sato, and I probably wouldn't like Kamiya. But I need you and you need me. I fought for you and please now help fight for me. You know it's the right thing to do.

And Joni had smiled. As always, Joni had looked up at Hogan and smiled.

Then came Amy's approach. And her tactic was a bit different. Amy Twieg chose to approach this as a test of ethics. As in-- Can you believe the way those people play this game? I couldn't believe it when I saw it, that was just disgusting! And being Amy, she couldn't resist a little "And by the way, I told you I'd fight for you and I did. We didn't hang you out to dry and we were never going to...""

And of course, Joni had smiled. As always, Joni had looked up at Amy, nodded, and smiled.

Because deep down Joni had no idea what she was going to do right now. She had abso-freaking-lutely no clue what was going to happen if these tribes merged tomorrow.

"And all I can say right now," she would smile in a confessional, "Is that I'm ecstatic. I am overjoyed and even a bit overwhelmed. Because I did it. I survived and I made it! I escaped the hangman's noose in one piece!"

But as to the next step... Joni was still a bit uncertain. She clearly had two very distinct options... and clearly would be a very valuable free agent if a merge came up tomorrow. Both sides would be fighting for her tooth and nail.

"And I guess I'll just have to decide then," she would confess, coyly.

But for now, Joni just hugged Amy and Hogan and told them the same thing. She had only one thing to impart, and she knew that-- if nothing else-- this was an answer she could give for now. This was something that would make people happy. This was big news.

"Well at the very least," she would smile, "We all made it to the jury. Congratulations guys, and thanks for not throwing the challenge. I really appreciate it."

And then she'd grin.

"But we all made it to the jury. How cool is that!"


^^


And as Sato turned in for the evening, things were relatively good on the horizon. They had won immunity, they had all made the jury, and for the most part things were looking good. And while nobody -really- knew what Joni's plan was right now, they all knew that they had tried their best. And none of them second-guessed their actions for a second. Joni had been given a second chance-- That was the Sato way.

But as day turned to night, there was still one Sato who hadn't made peace with the day's events yet. There was still one Sato who would probably never get over the things he had seen and heard today.

And as Lance McHale went for a moonlight swim, he let loose his feelings on the game. In an angry, vitriolic speech-- so unlike most of his usual commentaries-- Lance let loose on what he thought of the Kamiyas right now. Because for the first time in the game, Lance was mad. Lance was really and truly mad at what some people would do to win this game.

"And don't get me wrong," he explained as he waded out to sea, the water up to his waist, "I loved getting the videos from home. That in itself was enough of a reason to stay out here and keep plugging along. But what I -didn't- like was the way we won the challenge." He shook his head, still angry. "Beth and Matt were sitting out over there, both of them wanting to compete. And if we can't compete against the people that want to be out there playing, then I don't want to win!" He continued to fume, as he waded out among the waves. "I'm a gamer, and I'm going to take these challenges seriously... but what happened today wasn't winning! What happened today was the other tribe chickening out, and spitting in two of their tribemates' faces, for no other reason except for spite."

Lance dove into the ocean for a second, then surfaced a moment later. His hair was plastered to his forehead as he continued his assault.

"And you know... This -isn't- about a game anymore. This is life. Those are real people Kamiya screwed over and it made me sick. And I'll be honest, I didn't get along especially well with Matt and Beth when I was on their tribe. They've never been my closest of friends... but I -never- hoped they would lose like this."

Lance shook his head now, still disgusted, as he started his walk back to shore.

"I don't -ever- want to see those four Kamiyas," he said. "I don't want to have to share an island with them, I don't want to have to look at them, I don't even want to split a pineapple with them. And if one of those four players wins this game... which by all rights they probably will... then it will be a travesty. Everything this game is about will be for naught. A weak pathetic coward will win Survivor: Okinawa... and it just makes me ill."

Lance reached the shore and wrapped himself up in a makeshift towel. The nighttime air was cold, and he had goosebumps, but he was still too worked up about all this to really notice.

"You know," he continued, with a pained expression on his face. "You watch this show at home with your family and you try to teach your kids to be winners. But when my kids watch this... they're going to see grown men and women sitting their butts in the sand, letting their tribemates hang out to dry. That's not Survivor, that's not even a sport. And if that's what our world starts coming to, our future is in trouble."

He waved his hand in the air with a quick motion of dismissal.

"So forget it. Just throw a twist into the game and give us some new blood. Bring an Outcast tribe in... I don't care. Just do something. And I know I should be happy that I made the jury, but I'd -gladly- give up that jury spot if you guys would let the Outcasts come back and play. I'd take any of them. David... Henry... Elisabeth... Danielle... Murtz... and yes, even Chris. I'd gladly take any of them back, because at least they -want- to play."

And now he was done. Lance slipped on his sandals and started his walk back up to camp. And he continued to rant as he walked, still not ready to let this thing drop.

"So I'm dedicating the rest of my game," he finished, "To the Outcasts. And to either Beth or Matt... whichever one ends up getting the screw job tonight. Because at least you guys wanted to be here, and wanted to play. You guys got out when the game was still pure... and I'm almost envious."

He scowled now, as he exited the beach and entered the darkness of the bamboo grove.

"And tomorrow, my worst fear will probably come true. I might have to share an island... and wear the same buff... as four people who I have no respect for, either as players or as human beings."


^^


Of course Sato slept relatively easy. After all, they weren't going to Tribal Council! But across the island at Kamiya, the fireworks were just about ready to start. The roughest eight hours in the game were set to begin... the moment all six Kamiyans arrived back at camp.

"Hold up, you guys."

Michelle whispered these words as her tribe walked back towards camp. And Michelle watched as Matt and Beth walked up ahead... far ahead of the rest of the tribe. The two of them walked with heads down, clearly upset. And just as Matt and Beth reached the edge of the campground, Michelle stopped the rest of the tribe. She stopped them back here, about half a mile away from camp. After all, it was time for everyone to get their stories straight. Before they went into battle, she wanted to make sure all four of them would at least be on the same page.

"I know you guys might be feeling bad," she said, looking around, "And I know we might feel like assholes now. But just remember this was all strategic and we are -all- gonna be marked for death now. Even you Emma, so welcome to the shooting range!" She smiled. "But we have to stay strong. Don't go in there and let them break us. All we have to do is stick together and vote Beth off. Then we get Joni to rejoin us later... and we're home free. We just won this game, guys."

Mike nodded, though his mood was still a bit somber. Truth be told he -was- feeling bad about all this. He had told himself not to, but it was already starting to eat at him.

To his left, Ryan was actually having huge waves of guilt flash over his once-diabolical mind. Maybe it was the Catholic guilt... maybe it was something... but Ryan didn't feel right about this at all. Deep down, he knew that this was a line he had -never- wanted to cross.

And Isabella, of course, remained emotionless. She was looking ahead to the vote... still trying to figure out how to remove Ryan from this tribe. That was all she thought of at the moment. -How can I do it with only three votes? Is it even worth the trouble?-

"Remember guys," Michelle implored, "Trust and communication. That's the name of the game. Make sure we stay in communication at all times."

"What do you make of that punishment?" Mike said, looking up. "Do you think he meant it happens tonight?"

"That punishment is bullshit," Michelle said. "We didn't do anything wrong. We played by the rules, we outplayed the Satos and we outlasted Beth. We didn't break any rules!" She looked angry. "Not competing hard is different than not competing! Jeff can kiss my ass."

"I just had a disturbing thought," Ryan offered. "What if he gives Matt and Beth immunity because we forced them to sit out?" He looked genuinely worried. "Sort of like a "You weren't given a fair shot, well now you have one" type of deal."

"That wouldn't be fair," Mike said, "You can't change rules mid-game. Throwing challenges is a legal part of strategy."

"Yeah," nodded Michelle. "Don't punish us just because those two are morons. So you got outwitted, quit fucking crying about it."

But eventually the Kamiyans had their plan in place. They were all set, they had their stories straight, and everything was all set to go.

"Do you think Beth will take it hard?" Mike asked, looking concerned.

"She's gonna be upset," Michelle shrugged, "And I don't blame her. I mean, I didn't want to hurt her but I had to play the game. What we did needed to be done."

"Matt's gonna make our lives a living hell afterwards," Mike said. "You know that, don't you?"

"If he makes the merge..." Michelle said, "He's gonna tell Sato everything that happened. So there's no way any of them join with us. That's why it's essential we get Joni back."

"Well just in case," Isabella smiled, making her first comment of the evening, "Make sure you hide the machetes, okay? Cause I'm afraid he'd try to kill us if he had a knife."

Michelle laughed out loud.

"What is it with people named Matt and machetes, anyway?" Isabella asked. "Why are they all so crazy?"

"Well, campers..." Michelle sighed, once the tension had been eased, "I think it's just about time to go enter the battlefield." She paused. "Any last suggestions?"

"Yeah," nodded Ryan, "I only hope they're gentle when they tear a new hole in my body."


^^


But before the Kamiyans could arrive, there were already plenty of things that Matt and Beth needed to accomplish first. Because there would be precious little time to get most of these things accomplished, and the two of them definitely needed to hurry.

"The shelter has to come down," Matt said, as he pointed towards Mike's imposing wooden edifice. "That gets burned down..." He scanned the rest of the campsite. "And the gnome needs to be destroyed too. I'll do that one myself."

"What about all the luxury items?" asked Beth.

"Torch 'em," said Matt. "Hell, just torch all their clothing too. Goddamn assholes. Make 'em play the rest of the game naked."

"This is why I love having you around," smiled Beth.

"Hey," shrugged Matt, "These dicks have it coming to them. I'm not doing anything any normal human being wouldn't do."

"We should make obscene things out of Emma's play-doh," joked Beth. "We should make a penis since she screwed us. I should give it to her at Tribal Council."

But Matt wasn't listening. He was already looking for the gnome, intending to destroy it. That was mission number one right now: Destroy Mario.

"By the way," he called out, "I figured out a system for the voting tonight. I figured out what we can write on our ballots."

"What?"

"They all involve various curse words." He grinned. "For Ryan, we write 'Sheep Fucker'. For Mike, 'Gnome Fucker'."

"What about the girls?"

"That's easy," Matt said. "Michelle is 'Ugly Whore' and Emma is 'Silent Whore.'" He looked over at her now. "So which one do you want to vote for?"

"One of the whores," Beth smiled. "Take your pick."

But as Matt continued to search for things to destroy, he was coming to a dawning realization. Something was suddenly becoming very clear to him. All the luxury items were gone! They were nowhere to be found.

"Bastards hid all their stuff!" he bemoaned. "They planned for this!"

Sure enough, Isabella and Michelle had hidden all the Kamiya luxury items early this morning. They were all sitting in the old abandoned tomb to the south. If Matt and Beth wanted to take their revenge, they would have to think of something else.

"So help me god," Matt would later confess, "My only goal right now is to cripple Kamiya. I'm gonna give it them bent over a chair. And if I get the chance, maybe I'll break one of Ryan's knees with a satisfying pop, or rip out a chunk of Michelle's scalp. Because once -they- made it personal, now it's time for -us- to make it personal."

And though Matt was furious, Beth was more hurt than anything. She really wasn't seeking revenge against anybody-- not as much as her fiery young friend. No, what Beth wanted right now was a "why." As in, why did this have to happen this way? What was the point?

"Above all else," she would later say in a confessional, "I should have remembered that I was in Camp Hell, and that Michelle and Emma are just not very nice people. Those were two truths that I overlooked the past few days, and I think it's gonna end up costing us." She would sigh sadly and shake her head. "But the way they decided to 'inform' me that I was sitting out... well that's just something I don't think I'll ever forgive them for. You don't treat other people like that. You don't treat people like they are nothing. And I'm serious, I was -crying- when I saw what they were up to."

Sure enough, Beth would again start to tear up. Just like at the challenge, any confessional she did today would inevitably end in tears.

"So congratulations Kamiya, you finally got me to cry. It took a while, but you finally did it. I hope you guys are proud of yourselves."


^^


And then, finally... the moment of truth was here. At approximately 3:00 PM, the Kamiyans arrived back at camp. One by one, the four co-conspirators filed back into the campsite-- Michelle, Ryan, Isabella and Mike.

And they were greeted by two -very- angry looking teammates.

"Look," said Matt, "If any of you want to talk to us, Beth and I will be down at the beach." He glared, hockey mask in hand. "So if you have anything worthwhile to say, might as well come down and say it." And at that he turned around and walked away. After a moment, Beth followed.

Ten minutes later, the first Kamiyan to come down and talk to the duo was Mike Ruff. And Matt wasn't surprised, he knew Mike would come down here sooner or later. Mike was a person who seemed to be big on closure... it was only a matter of time before he came down to explain his side.

"I just want to say," said the very contrite-looking leader, "That I'm sorry I had to do what I did. The only excuse I can give is that this is a game and I am highly competitive. I got caught up in the moment and handled it all poorly." He sighed, almost appearing to be near tears. "I like you both a lot as people and the -only- reason I behaved this way was because I heard you wanted me out, Beth. You'd been sparring with me a lot lately and I felt threatened, so I wanted to get you out instead."

"I'm sorry Mike," Beth said, coldly, "But I'm already quite aware of what you think of me. You've been telling me you didn't respect me for weeks, you idiot."

Miffed, Mike turned to Matt instead. It was clear any conversation with Beth wasn't going to go anywhere. It was even more evident when she stood up and walked away.

"Matt," said Mike, slightly put off, "You know you annoyed the hell out of me when we first met. But in time, I started to appreciate your wit and honesty. And yeah..." he grinned, "You're still weird, but we all are in our own way, and it's what makes you endearing." He paused, and then added. "We had this discussion yesterday. All that is behind us now."

"Mike," said Matt, "For what it's worth-- my beef today aint with you."

Mike nodded.

"But if you wanted to make it up to us..." Matt grinned.

"I would if I could," Mike shrugged, "But I can't. You know I can't."

"That's fine," Matt nodded.

"So why isn't your beef with me?" Mike asked, curious. "What separates me from the rest?"

"That's easy," Matt grinned, "I expect something like this from you. It was a good tactical maneuver and it made sense. Plus you've always been kind of an ass to me so it makes it easier to accept."

Mike laughed.

"The rest of 'em..." Matt grimaced, "I didn't think had it in them. Michelle and Emma especially. Those two hurt the most."

"Yeah," Mike nodded.

"But we're square now," Matt said, reaching to pat Mike on the back. "Don't worry about it. But -do- know that I'll be sticking by Beth until the end. Just make sure you know that."

After Mike had come Isabella, but of course Beth wanted -no- part of her right about now. Beth just told Isabella to go away.

"But are you still interested in forcing a tie?" Isabella asked, quite truthfully. Because she was ready to go for a tie against Ryan. Isabella was ready to make the ballsy move of forcing a tie, with or without Michelle's help.

"Go away!" Beth shouted.

"Don't you want to get Ryan out?" Isabella asked.

"Look Emma," Matt said, walking up threateningly towards her, "You stabbed us right in the back and we don't want to listen to your shit anymore. Just piss off."

"Emma," Beth said, "I don't mind losing. I don't mind getting voted out. But the way you and Michelle did it was abhorrent."

"You're right," nodded Isabella, "It was."

"So honey," said Matt, "Just truddle your little butt back up the beach, why dontcha. Go on now, that's a good girl. Good dog, go and play with your masters."

So Isabella just shrugged and went back to camp. Oh well. If they weren't interested, it wasn't going to hurt her any. She wouldn't be losing any sleep over it.

And the final member of Kamiya to visit them was Ryan. Just before dinnertime, Matt was surprised to see the husky form of Ryan Rebez walking down the beach towards them. And this stunned Matt. Ryan was the -last- person he expected to see down here. But there was a reason for this... and to most who knew Ryan it would have surprised them.

The reason was that Ryan felt awful about all of this.

And he truly, legitimately wanted to make it up to them.

Just before his visit, Ryan had sat down for a very unusual confessional. It was unusual in the sense that it was honest. It was unusual that it was heartfelt. And it was unusual... because Ryan had been genuinely bothered by the actions of his tribe today. Yes, even Ryan knew that Kamiya had crossed the line.

"There is really no excuse," he said softly, in his confessional, "For what went on at Kamiya over the past thirteen days. And yes I know I was a part of it, but I -also- know that it has progressed to a point that is no longer fun for anybody-- and my old fashioned Christian guilt has started to kick in."

Ryan twirled his buff around his right hand nervously as he spoke. It was clear that this wasn't the confessional he had intended to give today.

"All of this has been unnecessary," he continued, "Because we had the numbers advantage from the start. We could have just welcomed them in, and voted them out, and been civil about it. We could have explained that we respected them... but that our game plan required us to stick together. But instead the three Satos faced a facade of deceit that I wouldn't really wish upon anybody."

Ryan shrugged now. He knew how much of a hypocrite this would make him appear to be, but he really didn't care anymore. For deep down, Ryan -was- a pretty good guy. And what he thought would be fun had eventually gotten -way- out of hand. He could admit that now.

"I can’t justify my role in the plan to bat them about like frightened mice under the glowing red eyes of a demonic feline overlord. I wish I could, but I can't. And I realize that only a few days ago, that was exactly what I said I was willing to do. But hey... things change."

He smiled now, sadly.

"I came into this game," he continued, "With the noblest of savagery tattooed into my head. But not a word spoken by my head can change the feelings of my heart. I wasn’t raised that way, and though I take pride in toying with my friends back home... nothing I have ever done to them was of a hurtful nature or more than simple amusement."

He shrugged, already having made up his mind.

"All I can say is that it ends tonight. For my heart, my conscience, and my sanity-- it ends tonight. I'm no longer interested in toying with these people. One way or another, it has to end."

So Ryan had come down to visit, and now he was here. And in perfect honesty, he told Beth and Matt exactly what he was going to do.

"Whoever you guys vote for," he said, "I'm in. Just say the name and I'll do it. This has gone too far."

"Ryan..." said Matt, "You're so full of..."

"Hey," said Ryan, holding up his hands, "Peace guys. I bring a white flag, I come in peace. Let's not fight. Time's short enough as it is."

"Ryan," glared Beth, "You won't go against your alliance and you know it."

"Well you know what I think of my alliance right now?" Ryan said. "Honestly?" And he looked up the hill towards camp. "Frankly I'm ashamed of all of them. And I've told myself I'd make it up to you by forcing a tie tonight." He shrugged. "And you can doubt me if you want but all I want to know is a name. Just give me a name and watch, because I swear to God I'm not trying to set you up."

Beth and Matt were silent for a moment, not believing this for a second.

"Fine then," Ryan shrugged, "Have any of the Kamiyans not come down to apologize? Any of them too good to at least say goodbye?"

"Michelle," said Matt, grimly.

"Well then fine," Ryan said, "There's your name. She's the most arrogant of them all anyway. She took this way too far and I've never cared for her much anyway. So if you want to take her out, I'm in."

"You're lying," Beth said.

"I can assure you I'm not," smiled Ryan. "I can guarantee you a tie."

And though Beth and Matt didn't believe him... they eventually agreed. Fine, we'll all vote for Michelle tonight. See where this leads us. But what they didn't realize was that Ryan was absolutely 100% telling the truth. Ryan was intending to vote for Michelle tonight. He was intending to force a tie. And while his intentions were definitely noble, he wasn't -entirely- as benevolent as he claimed. Ryan definitely had a sub-agenda for forcing a tie.

Because if things worked out as he had planned...

... Someone -else- was going to be the one blamed for it.




^^


Kamiya sat at Tribal Council two hours later, as the early haze of evening had turned to night. The six members of the tribe sat in stony silence as Jeff asked his litany of questions. And already, it looked like tonight's vote was going to be heated.

Already, Beth and Michelle were at each other's throat.

"The only problem with Kamiya," Michelle said, "Is that certain people are taking what happened today too personally. And it -wasn't- personal. It was strategic and it bothers me that they think this was done out of cruel and mean intent. It wasn't. This is a game."

"Well that's easy for you to say," said Beth, "Since you were the one doing the screwing. But the fact is... you set me up to humiliate me and I didn't appreciate it."

"I don't regret what I did, Jeff," said Michelle, arms folded, "And I would do it again because it needed to be done."

"You're is the biggest liar in this game," sniped Beth.

"Enough," said Jeff, glaring at the two of them sternly. But it was clear that this wasn't over. The two women sat in silence but were still obviously angry. "What about you, Mike?" Jeff asked. "Whose decision was it as to who sat out."

"It was a group decision," said Mike. "We agreed upon it a while ago."

"Is that true? Matt?"

"Well sure," Matt smirked, "It was a group decision except for the fact that two of the group members were lied to. So if it makes you sleep better at night thinking that... hey, go with it."

"Well let me ask this," said an obviously frustrated Jeff, "Have all the bridges been burned in Kamiya? Is there any hope of reconciliation after this?"

"Of course there is," piped up Michelle. "Our bridges have always been strong. Anytime someone tries to tear us apart, we just get stronger. They're just wasting their time."

"Michelle," said Jeff, staring at the intense young woman for a moment, "What I'm hearing tonight are a lot of angry comments directed towards Matt and, especially, Beth. Is there some issue here that I'm unaware of?"

"You know," Michelle sighed, "At first I only felt sympathy for them. But once they faced a little adversity, their true characters started to come out. Simply put, they have made this thing personal and I don't appreciate it."

"Oh that is such a crock of..." Beth started.

"The name of the game," Michelle ignored her, "Is outwit, outlast and outplay. And that is -exactly- what happened. None of us did anything wrong. We played within the -rules- of the game and if people get upset that they got played... well that is -their- problem. Don't blame me if they get upset, they're the ones who have made this impossible."

"What about you, Matt?" said Jeff. "Do you agree? Do you and Beth have a right to be upset?"

"Well, let's see..." said Matt, looking up, "Ryan fucked us over. Saw it coming. Michelle fucked us over, should've seen it coming. Emma fucked us over, should've seen it coming. And Mike... well he shafted us but at least I expected it from him. So for some reason I don't mind his actions so much." He grinned. "So I'm not mad at Mike. This must be a sign of the coming apocalypse or something."

"Okay," sighed Jeff, "Last question. Beth... do you feel like Kamiya intentionally humiliated you?"

"Yes," said Beth, though Michelle shook her head vehemently to her left.

"Flat out yes?" asked Jeff.

"Yes. Although when this episode airs," smiled Beth, sweetly, "I think -they're- the ones who will be humiliated. They will look like the total non-players that they really are."

"And on that note..." said Jeff, speaking before Michelle had a chance to rebut, "It is time to vote. Mike, you're up first."


^^


Mike Ruff was the first to walk to the podium. And as expected, he cast his vote for Beth Sowles. He didn't even have a comment this time, frankly he just wanted this drama to end. He just wrote her name down, stuffed it in the ballot box, and was done.

After Mike came Matt. And just for this occasion, Matt had decided to again wear his hockey mask. Also per the plan, Matt wrote down eight letters. Then he held up the card.

"Michelle," he said, "I know that Beth is going to go home tonight, so this won't do me any good. And while I admit you made a good strategic move, I only wish you had done it with more integrity than you showed us today. So job well done, wench. You may not leave tonight but at least you'll go back to camp with a few scratches on your back."

Following Matt was Michelle. And after all she had heard tonight, Michelle was in no mood to be civil. She was furious at some of the comments Beth had made... and this is where she would get her revenge. So Michelle scrawled Beth's name down and then held up the card.

"Beth," she said, staring into the camera, "You are a bitch. You are a sore loser and a total bitch. For someone who is always saying "I never lie" and "this is just a game" well some of your answers tonight were lies. You are taking this more personally than just a game and you are what we call a sore loser. Plus you're a pain in the ass."

Michelle debated putting her ballot in the box but realized she had more to say. Michelle wasn't one to give up a good grudge match this easily. Not when she had a chance to revel in her victory.

"You know what, Beth?" she asked, "From this point out, the Satos will be lined up on the jury. And they will -have- to vote for a Kamiya to win. But you know what the funny part is? -YOU WON'T BE THERE!-" She continued to glare, although a smile started to cross her face. "I laugh at you Beth. You were played for the fool that you are. You have no class, no taste and no sportsmanship. So get your chubby ass down that path and go visit McDonald's at the Loser's Lodge. Because at I least I made the jury and you didn't. -Loser!-"

Michelle slammed her ballot in the box and was soon followed by Ryan. Ryan came up the podium and-- in a move that made him happy on many levels-- he wrote down the name of the woman who was just here. Sure enough, he had been telling the truth. Ryan was most definitely going to force a tie. And oh boy was the shit going to hit the fan after this vote. This was going to be fun.

"Michelle," he whispered, trying to keep his voice down. And then he smiled. "All a man can betray is his conscience." And he winked.

After Ryan came Beth. And the heavyset woman stood up now, ready to walk to the podium. But first, she had something to do.

She reached back and rummaged two items out of her backpack. They were supposed to be made from Play-Doh, but since Emma had hidden her stash, wood had to suffice instead. So Matt had spent nearly an hour carving these things-- just before Tribal Council. Instead of burning down the camp, he had decided instead to carve these things for Beth.

Beth handed one wooden phallus to Michelle.

And she handed the other to Isabella. But Isabella wouldn't touch it, she simply let it drop onto the ground, untouched.

"I just want to thank the two of you," Beth smiled, "For screwing me over. Here's a souvenir. And Michelle, if you got some of this earlier in your life maybe it would have calmed you down." She winked. "Ask someone if you need to know where it goes."

Laughing to herself, Beth then strode up to the podium. As expected, she wrote down Michelle's name. This vote had been easy.

"So Michelle," she grinned, "I guess you’re the only one who gets to get angry around camp, huh? No one else gets to? Well, just a little more hypocrisy from Michelle Kin-Fraley, we should probably be used to it by now." She paused. "But I do have to thank you for something-- at least I probably won't be so trusting of people anymore. So thank you anyway for that."

And with five ballots in the box, the final one was going to be cast by Isabella Smith. And for perhaps the first time in her life, Isabella was unaware of how the vote was going to turn out. Oh, she knew that the Satos were going to vote for Michelle. That much was obvious. But she had no idea that Ryan had also voted for Michelle.

She had no idea that there were already three Michelle votes in that box. And one more wouldn't be forcing a tie.... one more would inadvertently get Michelle kicked out of this game.

But Isabella stood at the podium, pausing, pen in hand.

She debated her options.

And in the end, there really wasn't much of an option. If the target had been Ryan, she would have done it in a second. But Michelle...? No, she couldn't have that. Michelle was final two gold right now. She was the person Isabella was planning to drag to that final vote... and no way could she vote out Michelle right now.

It just simply wasn't going to happen.

Besides, hadn't Beth just handed her a wooden penis not more than two minutes ago? If Beth wasn't interested in her help anymore, then Isabella would be more than happy to cut her loose. Some people just couldn't be helped.

"Beth," she said, holding up her vote, "When someone offers you a deal, it's best not to insult them. And while I could have used you, right now I have no use for you. Goodbye."

And at that, the votes were cast. Three votes for Michelle and three votes for Beth. Though thanks to Ryan Rebez, the evening's real festivities were -just- about ready to begin.


^^


When the sixth vote came out of the urn, the shock across the faces of the Kamiyas was clearly visible to everyone. Even Jeff looked a bit surprised when the third "Michelle" vote came up.

"And we have our first tie," he said.

Mike clapped his hands to his head, anguished. Michelle just stared at the ballot in numb shock. Isabella blinked, immediately knowing what was up. She glanced quickly at Ryan. -Don't even try it, Rebez!- And Ryan, for his part, was putting on the acting display of a lifetime. He stared up at the ceiling now, in apparent shock.

Then... just for good measure... he stole a glance at Isabella. A worried glance. And he hoped that Mike and Michelle had noticed.

Jeff informed the tribe, including a -very- surprised Beth Sowles, that there would be a re-vote. Each player would be allowed to speak... and then the tribe would vote again... to decide between Michelle and Beth.

"And if we have a -second- tie," Jeff smiled, "Then we go to random chance. I'm sure you guys know the drill."

He reached down beneath his podium and, grinning, he pulled out a ritualistic Okinawan dagger

A suicide dagger.

A -seppuku- dagger.

"So stand up," said Jeff, "And say your piece. If you have any comments to make, be sure to make them now. Before we vote."

And he stepped aside as Mike Ruff was the first person to speak. Mike looked clearly flustered by this tie and absolutely did not mince words as he voiced his disapproval.

"Ryan, Emma," he said, looking at both of them. "Whichever one of you turned on us, I can't believe you are that naive. We had a -good- thing going... and now you not only screwed yourself, but you're taking the rest of us down with you." He glared at both of them in turn. "So welcome to fifth place. Because no matter what they promised you, you will never get any further. And if you -don't- change your vote, then I hope you get that dagger."

And as Mike sat down, he noticed Ryan doing something with his eyes. Ryan was shifting his eyes over towards Isabella, as if to say "she did it!" And for perhaps the first time in her life, Isabella realized she had been hoodwinked. Ryan Rebez was setting her up.

"I honestly don't know what to say," said Michelle, as it was her turn to speak. "Am I surprised? Yes. Am I disappointed, yes. But being the sportsperson that I am..." she glared at Beth. "At least I can handle it." She paused now. "What Beth handed to Emma and me before the vote was rude, crude and showed a lot about her class. I thought she had more character than that and it looks like I was wrong."

She shook her head, sadly. And Ryan was surprised. He expected her to be a lot more emotional about all this. For some reason Michelle seemed calm.

"All I can say is this," finished Michelle. "I don't believe in threatening people, so I won't. But if you vote me out, Joni will -not- join up with you after the merge. That's just a fact. So think about it before you cast this second vote." She nodded. "Do you want to win the game or not?"

Beth stood up now, as it was her turn to speak.

"I think I should stay," she said, still surprised it had even come to this, "And though you may not like my honesty, honest is what I have been – with each and every one of you - except for one notable exception. I’m sorry if I’ve hurt any of you, that was never my intention. Plus I'm also a hard worker around camp."

And really that was all Beth had to say. She was still so stunned that there had been a tie... she really hadn't been prepared for this.

And as Ryan stood up to speak, he again put on his best acting performance he could muster. He tried to appear -terrified-.

He first looked at Beth and Matt.

"I don’t know how you did this, guys," he said, shaking his head, "But you did it. Good job. You managed to force a tie and now we’re -all- in danger. And my hat's off to you."

He nodded and turned towards the remaining three Kamiyans. For these were the three he was really interested in addressing.

"Michelle," he said, "I know you were true, since you can’t vote for yourself." He looked at Mike now. "Mike, I would like to believe that you’re true to your word as well. Our fighting was never -supposed- to be real, but if it was... maybe I misjudged. All I ask is that you to set that aside and work with us now. We need to stick together no matter what. It’s our only chance."

And then Ryan turned towards Isabella. The young woman stared up at him, looking innocent. But Ryan knew. He knew. She was no innocent engenue. She never had been. And she was going to find out right now, Ryan was going to teach her a lesson, mainly because he had gotten tired of her. He was just sick of dealing with her stupidity and airheaded vapidness. So now the the lesson would come and he hoped she was going to learn it well: Little girls shouldn't try to play big boy games.

"Emma," he smiled, a look of forgiveness in his eyes, "I know you -think- you're on the outside, but no one says that has to be true. You are as important as any of us. And if you think your chances are better with Beth or Matt, you're wrong. -Very- wrong." And then he winked at her. "Please switch back. We need you."

Isabella and Ryan locked eyes for a moment... and then he sat down. He put on another show of looking worried, as he held his hands together now, appearing to pray. He started to pray out loud.

And now Isabella stood up. Oh how she wanted to just tear Ryan to shreds right now. It would be so easy, but she resisted. No, she decided to keep up the innocent act for now. For at least one more day, anyway. After all, Ryan could be dealt with later.

"I just don't know what to say, y'all," she said, blinking her eyes in surprise. "I'm just surprised that somebody would do this after promising they'd vote for Beth." She lowered her head now, trying to work up some fake tears. "All I can say is..." she sniffled, "-Please- change your vote. -Please- don't put all of us at risk in a tie-breaker. We've been through too much."

Isabella sat down now, staring at the fire. But there was one more person to speak-- and Matt Carter was going to be his usual cynic self. As always, he was blunt and to the point.

"I gotta say," he noted, "That it's funny y'all are worried since it should be pretty damned obvious who screwed you over." He shrugged. "But no worries, they'll switch back. I guarantee."


^^


The second round of votes were only cast by four people, as Michelle and Beth were forced to watch from the bench. But one by one the Kamiyas went back to vote. And-- just as Matt had predicted-- the second vote came back without a tie.

Three votes for Beth, one vote for Michelle-- Just like Ryan had planned.

Mike again voted for Beth, again not adding a comment. He simply wrote "Gnome Power!" underneath her name.

Matt again voted for Michelle, this time breaking into song. "Michelle," he sang, "Ma belle. These are words that go together well-- my Michelle."

Isabella was her usual blunt self, again completely confident that Ryan wouldn't be forcing a second tie. No way, the guy may be gutsy but he wasn't -that- crazy.

"Beth," she said, "You mentioned that you were honest and a hard worker, but you forgot to list one more attribute." She smiled. Her Tina smile. "You're also a great penis carver. Goodbye.

And then, of course, Ryan finished it off by "switching" back to Beth. His point being made, and Isabella being framed, he went right back to the gameplan.

“Beth," he smiled, holding up her name. "I kept my word. I forced a tie, just like I said I would. But I -never- promised that I would do it twice... you have to concede that." He grinned. "But I can rest my conscience now and I can live with what I've done. Besides, falling on my own sword was -never- an option. All I wanted to do was build up trust with Matt and be able to finally sleep again at night." He paused. "So I'll miss you, and I apologize for the false hope, but goodbye."

And with that, Beth Sowles' time in the game was ended.

As the third "Beth" vote was revealed, Ryan let out a huge sigh of relief. He appeared to be incredibly relieved, even adding a "Thank you" prayer to the heavens above.

And in moments, Beth now stood before Jeff, torch in hand, a bit annoyed that she had been given a false reprieve. But she blew a kiss to Matt and it was now time for the fateful moment.

"Beth," said Jeff, slowly snuffing her torch, "The tribe has spoken."

And with that, Beth Sowles was gone. She walked slowly and sadly down the trail to the beach, looking forlorn...

... And then the game was down to nine.

Once Beth was gone, Jeff turned to the Kamiyas. Because he definitely had something he wanted to say to them. He definitely had a comment about their behavior in the past three days, and he wasn't going to let this one drop. After all, wasn't that his job?

"Well," he started, with a small nod, "You guys have come a long way. You've all taken different paths to get here... and you've all shown varying degrees of honor in the process. Or..." he paused, "In the cases of some, sometimes a complete lack of honor."

A few of the Kamiyas scowled at this, but Jeff wasn't finished.

"I've seen some things in the past few days," he added, "That have just been sickening, and I think you guys know that. But keep this in mind..." He smiled, with a bit of mischief in his eyes. "Honor is the absolute -KEY- to life in Okinawa. A man without honor is not considered a man, and never will be. So keep that in mind as you play the rest of this game out. A victory without honor is no better than a failure."

Jeff stared at them now, sternly.

"For as a famous general once said... fight as a warrior and you will be king for a day. Fight as a coward and you will be a coward for life. And with that..."

He smiled, finally.

"We have now reached a new phase in the game. You have all at least made the jury. All five of you will be here at every Tribal Council, good or bad."

He nodded.

"So congratulations, that's quite an accomplishment. And I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Visit the Okinawa Official Homepage for Beth's final words and all cast bios. Also check out the Official Okinawa Message Board for behind-the-scenes info, cast interaction, and to submit questions for Beth's Early Show appearance. Her post-game interview is already up on the board!

Episode Eight ("Good Day, Sunshine") debuts in about ten days.