It was quiet in the woods. The only living beings there were the wildlife and the hunter. That was how he viewed it right now. He stayed camouflaged well despite having bright white hair that was spiked like ice crystals. He wore a white jacket covering a dark blue shirt along with white jeans and shoes. His white and icy blue axe was beside him, and his launcher was in hand. His icy blue eyes were constantly looking for prey. His name was Strakk.
"Come on, just a little closer..." he murmured as a deer wandered into his sights. He loaded a spiked thornax fruit into his launcher, aiming it at his prey. Just as he was about to fire, a loud crash frightened the deer, causing it to flee into the forest. Strakk groaned as he grabbed his axe and stood up, shaking leaves out of his hair.
"Malum! You better have a good reason for scaring away our dinner!" he shouted just as a taller, more muscular teen came crashing out of some bushes. His hair was a fiery red, and his eyes were a bright yellow. His jacket was a fiery mixture of yellows and reds, as were his jeans. One the back of his hands, he had two large sharp claws and a launcher similar to Strakk's on his shoulder.
"Is that a good enough reason?!" Malum yelled as an enraged bear burst through the bushes. Strakk simply held his launcher, firing the thornax at the bears head. With this distraction, Malum was able to land a powerful punch to its stomach and head, knocking the large animal out.
"So, we're going to let Vorox cook this thing?" Strakk asked, looking over the bear.
"It's more than that dear you tried to snag," Malum said, getting an icy glare from the icy teen.
"Alright then, you carry it back to camp. I'll go and find Kiina," Strakk replied moodily, stalking off into the forest towards the river.
At the river
The river always provided some peace for the girl who sat on its banks meditating. She had long light blue hair, bright sapphire eyes and a blue sleeveless jacket that covered a dark blue tank top. Her faded blue jean shorts, dark blue sandals and dark blue fingerless gloves complimented her beautiful but strong figure. Her double headed trident and thornax launcher sat beside her.
"Hey Kiina, you catch...?" Strakk started to ask as Kiina seemed to spring to life, grabbing her trident and spearing one fish on each of its three prongs. "Never mind," Strakk muttered as Kiina retrieved her trident.
"I'm guessing Malum caught something?" Kiina smirked as Strakk walked away in a huff, fed up with rarely catching anything.
Back at camp
The camp was in the middle of a clearing. Sitting by the fire, stirring a pot of stew, was a boy with tawny skin, sandy coloured hair that form two short tails over his shoulders. His dark brown eyes were a similar colour to his shorts. He also wore a dark brown shirt and sandy coloured jacket with similarly coloured shoes. What made him really stand out was a scorpion tail with a blade made of bone on the end. His large knife was sitting beside him, as was his launcher. His name was Vorox.
Beside him, deep in sleep, was a boy with dark green hair that formed three upward curved spikes at the back of his head. He had green eyes, a green jacket with a black sleeveless top underneath, dark green jeans and shoes. Beside him were two green blades that could combine into a shield. His name was Gresh.
One the other side of the fire was a boy with long jet black hair, dark brown eyes that bordered on red, a black sleeveless top that showed his muscles, black jean shorts and black shoes. His sword, with a built-in launcher, and his buzz-saw shield was sitting beside him. This was Skrall.
"When are those three going to be back? I'm waiting to add something to this stew!" Vorox grumbled, waking Gresh from his nap.
"Their probably just having difficulty carrying back the kill," Gresh replied sleepily. This was confirmed when Malum came through the trees dragging the bear while Kiina carried the fish she caught. Strakk was grumbling seeing as he hadn't caught a single thing.
"What size of stomachs do you think we've got here?" Vorox joked as he whipped out his knife, preparing the meat.
"Well anything tastes better than Thornax stew," Malum muttered.
"What'd you say," Vorox glowered, his tail raised threateningly.
"I bet tastier things come from a bear, and I don't mean the meat," Malum said, unfazed.
"Well.....no arguments from me," Vorox joked, everyone but Skrall laughing.
Three hours later
After a dinner of thornax stew, fish and bear, everyone was full to satisfaction, all lying on their backs, looking up into the night sky.
"Do you guys ever think we'll return to our old districts? I really miss District 12," Vorox asked, looking across the entire group.
"I wish I could go back to good old District 5 and see if I can find me a lady," Strakk said, everyone choking on their laughter.
"Well I don't know about you, but I wish I could go straight to the Capitol," Malum said. Hearing these words, everyone else was bolt upright in a heartbeat.
"What reason do you have for that insanity?!" Gresh exclaimed, his eyes wide.
"I had a friend from my old District who was turned into an Avox. I really wish I could see her again," Malum sighed. Everyone relaxed, though Skrall was preoccupied with his thoughts.
"Well, we need our rest. I'll see you in the morning," Gresh said, pretending to fall asleep.
"I'll take first watch," Skrall muttered.
"Same here," Kiina said, getting no objections. Once everyone was asleep, Kiina sat down beside Skrall.
"Thinking about your old District?" Kiina asked, getting a sad look from Skrall. "I know the feeling. I'll bet you had a girl there you really loved," Kiina said, barely hearing Skrall mutter his agreement. In a split second, Skrall went from felling sad to being alert, his muscles tense.
"Wake everyone else! The Capitol's found us!" Skrall yelled, pushing Kiina to the side as a spear flew from the sky. Skrall barely had time to grab his shield and sword when a spear came down at him. In one second, his shield had sliced the spear in half.
In less than a minute, everyone was up and ready for a fight. As three hovercrafts flew in, half the forest was on fire, blocking any real chance of escape. This did provide Vorox with an opportunity. He saw a fallen tree beside him. Taking the chance, he stabbed his tail into it, using all his strength to spin on the spot before flinging the tree into one of the hovercraft.
"I may be silent, but I'd quite like to keep my tongue, thank you!" Skrall yelled as he threw his spinning buzz-saw shield at the second hovercraft, taking it down with ease.
"Hey hot-head, you waiting on an invitation!" Strakk yelled at Malum. Malum simply muttered something before loading a thornax into his launcher. The second it fired he was running at the hovercraft, sliding to dodge a spear. As he slid underneath, his claws seemed to ignite as molten rock fired from them, melting the metal of the hovercraft.
As Peacekeepers fell out, Skrall walked over to one, grabbing him by the throat. The Peacekeeper looked into Skrall's anger filled eyes as he felt air being cut off.
"I'll give you one chance to tell us why you attacked. Say nothing and...well, I think you can guess," Skrall said, his voice so calm an emotionless.
"Today's the day of reaping! President Snow ordered us to recapture you!" the Peacekeeper all but yelled, clawing at Skrall's arm.
"Wide answer," Skrall muttered, throwing the man away.
Two hours later
The forest was burned beyond recognition, leaving few trees standing while those that were had been burned to a crisp. Amazingly, most of the supplies had survived.
"Stupid peacemakers and their hovercrafts! I can't wait till the day when I can go to President Snow and punch his face to a pulp!" Vorox ranted, gathering as many supplies as he could.
"Maybe that day will be sooner than you think," Malum announced, getting everyone's attention.
"If you're saying what I think you are, then I think you've lost it!" Strakk yelled in Malum's face.
"I am, and let's be logical about this before we yell in everyone's face," Malum said calmly, making Strakk back off.
"Alright, before I was interrupted, I was going to say that if we were to really fight the Capitol, then we need to target a symbol of its power, the centre of fear for the twelve districts. I think we all know where I'm talking about," he finished, letting the information seep into everyone's minds.
"The arena! If we take out the Hunger Games, we can save a lot of people!" Gresh exclaimed. Malum nodded, seeming to already have a plan in mind.
"Now, what we need to do it split into three teams. Vorox, since you're our best endurance sprinter, we need you to go to District 12 and inform them of our plan. Gresh, Strakk, Skrall, you three will be the first into the arena. Find tributes from your districts and assist them. Kiina and I have something else to do before we fight in the arena," Malum said, sounding like he was coordinating a military strike. Everyone was letting the information sink in, slowly nodding in agreement.
"Well, I've gotten my supplies, so I'll see y'all in the arena," Vorox said, running on all fours in the direction of District 12.
"Alright, let's get going. By the time we get there, the games will be in full swing. We need to be ready for anything," Malum said, gesturing for everyone to follow him.
"This something you and me need to do, does it have anything to do with an old friend?" Kiina asked as they walked.
"Is it really that obvious?" Malum asked as Gresh ran on ahead, using his super speed that he'd gained through the Capitol's experiments on him. Gresh had also been given the ability to control air. Malum was the strongest and could control fire. Kiina could heal others and control water. Strakk could sense weak points on his opponents and control ice. Vorox could change the shape the blade on his tail and control stone. Skrall had the ability to teleport short distances in whatever direction he was travelling and control over earth.