"The rebellion is dead!"

As soon as that sentence from the newly-elected president was announced out loud, straight from the Training Center's balcony to the Capitol's City Circle and the TV screens from all over New Panem, everything went silent. It was so quiet that you could practically hear a pin drop, as well as sounds from their natural or urban surroundings and some hushed murmurs. The silence came from the shock, in fact, as well as confusion. Meanwhile, a large crowd full of Capitolites watched everything below the Training Center, who were originally making a ruckus and getting on with their daily lives, now just stood there being stunned.

No one couldn't believe it before, not even now; the rebellion was dead?!

It has been what? Two months since the Second Rebellion? Or isn't it supposed to be three?

Either way, everything, including time, felt like a blur since then.

Even though it has been two months, it almost felt like yesterday since word was heard about the rebellion. How Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire, fought alongside the rebels as The Mockingjay. How the rebellions and riots all over the districts acted as agents of resistance against the Capitol's government. How District 13 ended up being exposed to the world and uncovering its hidden existence, despite its supposed "oblivion". How almost every single Victor ended up being exterminated by the Victor's Purge, as well the deaths of almost every Stylists working in the Hunger Games that came before that. How parts of the districts, as well as the Capitol, ended up becoming a huge battlefield for the Second Rebellion full of danger, traps, death, and conflict on who to trust. The fire was forcefully extinguished, however, when The Mockingjay herself died in action and the other rebels ended up losing their hope and desire for peace, equality, and freedom in smoke and ashes.

Everything in life after the Second Rebellion started to go downhill from there, except for the people living in the Capitol, of course.

"From now on, we shall be a new nation! A new Panem!" President Valencia Alders' fierce, hawk-like gaze swept the crowd and video cameras in front of her after she said that particular sentence, daring anyone to speak up against her. Since no one had the guts to talk back right now, she continued on with her sudden announcement.

"Districts and rebels, listen close." She addressed everyone as she spoke to the cameras and the crowd with scrutiny, as if she believed other people in New Panem weren't all cooped up in prisons, district squares, or TV screens for the mandatory viewing. It wasn't like they had a choice, anyway. "There will be no more rebellion, no more talk of this so-called freedom. We shall become the nation that our ancestors only dreamed of, like a well-oiled machine."

And yet, anyone who went back in time would find out that a well-oiled machine was not what their ancestors had wanted; it was actually freedom. Yet despite that wish, those who knew history ended up being silenced half the time.

"To punish the districts for daring to defy the glorious Capitol, we will bring back the Hunger Games this year. There will be a change of rules this time around, so pay attention!" Valencia observed from her podium that no more protests or questionings happened during this point either. Good. She continued her speech with, "Twenty-six children from ages twelve to eighteen shall be selected from each of the thirteen districts this time, as opposed to the usual twenty-four in twelve districts. There will be no volunteers, however. Victors will not get to live in luxury as much at this point, but will get the price for the lives of their families. Non-Victor families must nominate one member of that particular family to be executed when that moment happens. Reapings will begin after two weeks from today and the 76th Annual Hunger Games will be initiated. Happy Hunger Games, and May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor!"

Valencia, in her maroon pantsuit and perfect dark cherry-red ponytail, walked offstage with her head held high and no emotion on her pale face, which was altered by surgery and make-up. She left the podium from the City Circle and headed back inside to one of the rooms in the now-empty Training Center, where a few government officials and Head Gamemaker Xanthopoulos Abbott, were listening to her speech and awaiting for her return.

Everyone else in the room, save for President Alders, were also astounded by the speech they overheard from outside. As much as they all wanted to resume the Hunger Games and to entertain the other Capitolites again, some of them started to have doubts about starting earlier than a normal Games would take place for this year. The silence in the room started to feel awkward for most people because of this.

One such person, Xanthopoulos, decided to speak up meekly. "M-Madame...? Two weeks? That's-"

"It's more than enough time to build an arena." She cut him off with a calm yet cold voice as she glared at the portly and colourful Gamemaker that dared to defy her word.

"From scratch, President Alders?! But two weeks is-"

"More. Than. Enough. Time. To. Build. An. Arena." The president repeated to him one enounced word at a time with gritted teeth and she gave a more intense glare at the Head Gamemaker with all her might. "My word is law, after all. You WILL build me an arena in two weeks' time."

"Madame, please-" Xanthopoulos tried to reason again.

"I want an arena built in two weeks' time and an arena I shall get! Now get on with it, Head Gamemaker Abbott! The nation's welfare is at stake here and so is your head! Have an arena ready in two weeks; I shall be in my office around then to approve of the initial design. Good day, Head Gamemaker Abbott." As soon as she finished her own version of a goodbye, Valencia left the room and headed back to the President's Mansion, with the other government officials taking their leave alongside her. The Head Gamemaker, Xanthopoulos, was the only person left in the empty room of the Training Center, carrying with him the reminder of his, and New Panem's, fate.

And henceforth, the 76th Hunger Games shall begin.

A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to my first SYOT story. Sorry this first chapter is so short, but it is only meant to be used as a introduction. I will be taking 26 characters for this SYOT, since the Second Rebellion failed during the events of Mockingjay. In this story, Katniss Everdeen was killed fighting in the Capitol, Peeta never survived during his times as a prisoner, and President Alma Coin was executed shortly after Katniss' death. District 13 has been exposed to the public around that time and got turned into a prison district, so it will also end up participating in the Hunger Games this year. This is approximately two months after the end of the Second Rebellion, and the clean-up efforts are pretty much over. The Capitol is the same as before, leaving the districts poorer than usual at this point in time. Coriolanus Snow died sometime after the Second Rebellion due to his mental health issues and his mouth sores taking effect, so the Capitol elected Valencia Alders, who used to be his assistant, as the new president. Ok, so that's the basic setting for this story and the rules are listed below:

1. NO MARY SUES OR GARY STUS! This should be pretty clear already. I don't want any twelve-year-olds with pink hair, five names, and proficient in every single weapon (unless you have a damn good reason for it).

2. Think about the names/current living situations of the 13 districts and how they connect with the district they're from (at least somewhat). Everyone in the districts are pretty poor now, including those from districts 1, 2, and 4. Considering that part, THERE WILL BE NO OFFICIAL CAREERS THIS YEAR, because of the "no volunteers" rule. Some potential tributes from district 1, 2, and 4 may have trained as Careers at some point before the Second Rebellion happened, but I will not be accepting more than one Career-like tribute.

3. Submissions MUST be written and sent on a PM, NOT through reviews. Submission form entries are found in my profile; you must copy+paste the information and fill everything in as much as you could about your tribute with a lot of detail. Also, only one tribute can be submitted per person, unless I changed my mind later on.

4. To show that you have read the rules, please title your submission in your PM with the following: [First Name] [Last Name], [Age], [District], [Occupation]. For example, it would look something like this: Eugene Kang, 18, District 3, Mechanic.

5. For now, I will only accept 1 tribute per person only, unless I said otherwise and changed the rules regarding submissions.

6. I will NOT be accepting recycled tributes UNLESS there's a specific reason why you're doing this. HOWEVER, you CAN send in tributes who were originally rejected from other SYOTs and they might be accepted if they're good enough for this story.

Thank you for reading, and please submit a tribute!