05 - BIG BLUE

[Captain Falcon]

 BIG BLUE 



He made it! THE CAPTAIN survived BLUE HELL, and now is swimming in the deep BIG BLUE here at GOLD! But this track features the Cylinder, and it's all about maintaining momentum and control! One wrong move, and you're spinning out, AYOOO!

Could be start of a new chapter, or beginning of the end... But I got what it takes! 3… 2… 1… GO!!!

ON BLUE HELL!

My name is CAPTAIN FALCON, and I survived the BLUE TEAM massacre, 2020. Looking back, damn, what a wild ride that was! I've had a lot of "most insane first week ever!" moments in games, I'd have to do some real digging to figure out what takes the cake, but this has to be up there! Probably only toppled by KANTO, which is saying something. Difference is this time I was fighting for my life every step of the way, seconds from death and barely got outta there alive. I feel like I've just played my own mini-season, but it was just stage one of this whole thing. Didn't even get much of a chance to process the whole rock draw moment, since that lit a fire under me and put me at MAXIMUM VELOCITY big time.

In the end, we ended this weird dysfunctional family, and I hope we can all get to merge and get some longevity here. That whole final day was such a trip. Remember at one point was in a group thread with the other two to chuck Squirtle out, let's just pretend that whole moment never happened. Glad the twins and I cleared the air, I still think we'll probably end up on opposite sides of things when this is all said and done, but good to know there's no resentment at least. And Falc and I, well I ended up trusting him the most. Whether he finds new friends on pink and leaves me behind, not sure, but I'll always owe him thanks for that volunteer move. In the end, had we had to vote again, THE CAPTAIN would have been the swing vote it seems? How the tables turn, and I'll give myself credit for turning that car around after such a shaky start. But none of it matters now- let's put that saga to bed, and look forward, cos at the end of the day- it was only the first lap.

ON SWAP!

Kinda glad in the end I wound up here and not on pink. Had a pretty decent back and forth with Samus and Dedede in the stands, but I've got a feeling they've been setting up a cross tribal thing already with DP and Robbie, who have been circulating the stands before. They had two rounds alone, since Ike and Richter died. So probably best I ended up with the offcuts on GOLD, bit more of a chance to breathe. Kinda surprised Falco went to pink in the end, he seemed to be leaning this way, but hope he finds his footing somehow. And doesn't spill how I was wanting that side to whittle down, eep.

It's been good to re-connect with Marthy, I believe he holds no hard feelings about the first vote, and hopefully has enough trust in Squirt and I for us to end up as the core here. Wario and Kaz, both seem fine enough, but don't feel that immediate comfort and trust as I'd wanna feel with somebody I'm working with. They could be tighter with green than they're letting on. Yosh is good to chat with, but how can you work with him fully when you know he could always swing against you? I don't wanna bring him to merge only for him to be someone else's number. DK seems like a really sweet guy, but he's too slow to open up and got nothing much to work with from him.

ON THE NEXT VOTE!

Okay so the entire prior part of this confessional was written earlier and now I'm kinda half-drunk so bear with. But it's been pretty complicated. On the one hand, we've got Wario and Kazuya. Not fully trusting them yet, but good building blocks and potential long term allies. On the other hand, DK and Yosh. Total wildcards and unreliable after a merge, but could guarantee a spot there. Marthy, Squirt and I were in a perfect position but I'm worried we're gonna get caught in the middle. If Yosh and DK have spilled to the green boys, it could turn on us. I think we might have spent too long making a decision and set ourself up to look like we're playing both sides, which is a decision we've kinda been forced into. Ultimately booting DK feels like the right choice here, even though I'm pretty on the fence. But I've got no assurance that he's not just a red number that'll flip on us at merge, and Wario and Kaz could be potential longterm allies. But now this whole thing feels kinda sketch and without Squirt and Marth here to back me up, I'm getting a funky vibe. So as usual, I'm half expecting to be going in tonight. At least hopefully my competition might be Mario and maybe I'll have a fighting chance idk.

If all else fails, I can always just give 'em the old one-two! KAPOW!

[Captain Falcon]

Holy fuck I feel bad for DK. 

[Captain Falcon]

Kazuya He's warming up to me, and I'm warming up to him. Let us bond over vaporwave.

[Captain Falcon]

[Captain Falcon]

So my practice challenge last night was pretty disheartening. I guess I was fairly relaxed doing it, and wasn't like RUSHING or anything, but still- I made no mistakes and just calmly worked through it at a consistent pace. And I would have LOST? On the challenge I had ranked as my BEST? Against MARIO?

Just a sobering reminder that my chances of winning this game are incredibly low, even if everything works out here, even if it works out at merge and I get numbers, even if I make endgame. Am I making the end without duelling? No. Am I winning a challenge in anything but a very specific scenario with the right stage/right opponent/I make no mistakes which I tend to always do when it's doing a challenge under pressure? No. When I look at the Arena games I did win, in TNB Talim duelled once, and I only won that because it was against BZ who tends to also flop in challenge. And in PvZ, Rose won two duels, but the challenges there were all kinda out of the box tossup kinda challenges.

It fundamentally changes the way you play ARENA, cos you have to play scared, and if I take a blow, it's more than likely going to be a fatal one. If I had the challenge card up my sleeve, this format would be so freeing. But I guess I knew that coming in, maybe there are more challenge flops here than I realise, but it's not seeming like it at this stage. But then again I've already made peace with the fact that this ain't a winning performance, I'm just here for a fun ride as long as it lasts, and I'll do my best until my times comes. And then when I'm in THE RING, I'll do my best there too. And then, so be it.

Anyways... on we're in another tough spot here, and could be time to strike. It all kinda depends on which duellist we get, and it's hard to speculate since this challenge is a tossup. It's gonna be annoying if this gets dragged out til 7 again or that becomes a consistent thing, it can stifle our plans big time and gives us little breathing room. Especially in a challenge like this where it seems like it'd take like 5 minutes to complete? Just do it!

I feel good about Squirt, and we're pretty locked in now. Get a good vibe from Kaz after last night, but I think he's just planning to go on cruise control until the merge, and I wanna actually talk to him and figure out a long term plan here. Wario I am of course sketch on. Marthy I think is reliable, but he's not around much, so it's hard to get an idea of what he wants here. Then Yosh and Plant are tossups. If we get DK back, that should buy us another few votes of safety before having to worry. If Krok, I'm gonna be worried about a green revolution. If it's twins, reforming BLUE is definitely on the table for me.

[Captain Falcon]

UGH worst case scenario result.

[Captain Falcon]

Why the fuck does Kazuya keep sending me this random ass videos.

Anyways I wanna make a move here. Me + Squirt + Plant + Yosh + hopefully Marth. Not getting the assurance I need that green is not gonna stick together when push comes to shove.

[Captain Falcon]

It’s kinda stifling that Squirt and Marth are on a different Timezone since I can’t make a decision without the two of them here to confirm it with me. So I end up either leading on one side or the other. Haven’t many any commitments to Yosh and Plant but still, don’t wanna be that person who keeps backtracking on a move. I’m ready to pull the trigger here. Once we do I’d like to mend fences with Kaz but not sure how well that would go.

Staying with the greens could work out if we’ve got Yosh tonight, then plant, but that’s only two votes. Don’t have enough assurance that they’d dump K Rool next. Flipping on Wario and Kazuya in the stands probably makes me a big target for merge since they’ll be selling me out big time, but it gets me there more securely. At least I think so. Yoshi’s eggs always makes his vote a question mark, and who knows the if the plant will actually stay loyal. But if I do good damage control with Kaz it might not matter.

Comes down to Marth as well and if he’s tighter with the green boys than he’s letting on. If he is then we’ve misread this whole shakeup.

Might do a bid for immunity since I’m gonna miss the deadline tomorrow night so just takes the pressure off scrambling around.

[Captain Falcon]

"Picking up a funky vibe" - let's just copy and paste this before every vote of the game, cos it's always true. Things will always seem funky when everyone is online at all kinds of different times. But it's especially pungent tonight.

Nothing to be done outside of twiddlin' me thumbs. Literally nobody else who I'd need for this move is online.

I'm more and more convinced it's the right move though. Wario giving me nothing. Kaz so keen to get back to the stands to chat with a greenie. Falco via K Rool talking of this red + green deal, which makes sense.

What I don't like, is that Plant is so hard to work with. Don't like relying on him. And if he makes merge, people will stop targeting him because he's good at challenges so it's kinda like a free FTC seat. And with Yosh, he will work with his eggs and I can't rely on that. But it's not like I'm getting anything from Wario either. It's red flags abound.

[Captain Falcon]

Kaz seems pretty genuine here. So I really would like to smooth it over with him if this goes ahead, hopefully we can manage it.

Waiting on Squirt now. If he shuts this down, well then I've gotta just be hoping for the best.

[Captain Falcon]

Damn this SILENCE... No likey.

[Captain Falcon]

DAMN I am uneasy right now. The sudden radio silence fucks with your head big time. Oh well, nothing to be done now.

[Captain Falcon]

C'MON!