Nobody cares about you
Why you gotta act like such a noob?
But then again, if that's your life
It's best for you to get some help
Stellar Madison
Nike One
Wait, what?!
Victoria was above me, and there was blood everywhere, and now I'm here, in fresh clothes, with my token around my neck. There's no arrow in my chest, and most importantly, no Victoria Benson. I guess I am tough after all. I smile and look around the white room.
Twenty-ish other beds are in a semicircle, including mine, around an empty chair. There is a person in every bed, some unidentifiable under the covers, some asleep, some sitting up, and some just coming to their senses. What is going on?
Well I'm not dead, and that's a good thing. Victoria is going to pay for what she did to me. If she's here too then I will kill her right here, and right now. Well maybe not right now, because officials are coming into the room, a female in her mid-20s sitting down on the chair.
"Greetings, tributes!" she says, "My name is Calliope, but you can call me C. Is everyone okay?"
Tributes, huh? This should be good. But what is happening? Are we being thrown into the Games again? If so, yay! But then why would C come in? I haven't been dead for THAT long, right? Oh my goodness, Vermillion would be my age or older by now, and maybe SHE'S a victor! She'll never let me hear the end of it! No, Milly loves me. She'll NEVER do that to me.
"What the heck is happening to us?" I blurt.
C smiles, and replies, "Something sure to be amazing and fun. Is everyone ready?"
That doesn't answer my question. Everyone grunts some sort of confirmation, and those who haven't prop themselves up so they can see and hear C better. The woman, with weird blue hair in a bouncy ponytail, pulls a sheet of paper from her pocket, and consults it.
"So, tributes," she starts, "you have all been selected for a very special competition. It has been developed by Games officials to test different types of Games to be used in the future. Ironically, all of these events have been done in the past for a decidedly less scientific purpose. We call this competition Reality Resurrection. You have all, ah, kicked the bucket in your previous Games, so you have been chosen to participate."
I smile. A new kind of Games? This sounds good. I'll get a second chance to become one of the fiercest killers the Games has ever known. And this time I won't be shot in the lungs. I always hated bows anyway. It's a coward's weapon.
"You will be split into two Clans," she continues, "and there will be five teams within each clan. You need to work together with your team during different challenges to avoid being, ah, disqualified. A team will be cut every day there is a challenge, except for two days in which you are competing for just a reward, instead of a reward and immunity. You will be in charge of voting teams out in challenges where you can do so."
The black-haired girl next to me shivers and fiddles with the whistle on a cord around her neck. She looks weak. I hope she's not in my team. Teams are not preferable for a Career such as myself, but I guess my fellow team members will do the dirty work while I win us challenges.
"There are a few ways to get out of an elimination. First, don't come last!", she laughs, "Second, use your head to convince everyone to vote for another team, if it's a voting challenge. Third, find an Freedom Idol. There will be two Freedom Idols to be found throughout the course of the game. If you find one and show it to me, when you get voted out, you don't die, and stay in the Capitol for as long as you like after the Game. That way, three teams, nine people, will survive this Game."
Cheers erupt round the room. I reluctantly high-five the whistle girl and another with a toy bear beside me. Nine people get to live, and one of them is going to be me. But hopefully I'll be a Victor then, and Vermillion and everyone else will look up to me, and stupid Shelldon and Victoria can mope in the afterlife for eternity. See if I care!
"The Games will start tomorrow," she says, "You will be taken to your first location at two o'clock. Until then, you will stay in the Games Building. Any questions before I reveal the Teams and Clans?"
"Yes," pipes up a girl from across the room, "What exactly is the function of a Clan if you already have a Team?"
"Let's see, you're Elodie, right?", C asks, and the girl nods, "Great. In some challenges, you may need to team up or get help from another team. You can, but only if they're in your Clan. Don't get me wrong, you can interact with the other Clan, just don't ally with them or talk to them about the Games."
"What sort of challenges are there?", asks a tough-looking girl a few beds down from me.
C pauses, consults her list and continues, "Well, Ravi, they will be a mixture of different kinds, all taken from a time before Panem. One day might be a talent show, one day might be wrestling, one day might be modelling. I can't tell you much more, I'm afraid. Any more questions?"
No one puts their hand up, and the room is silent. C smiles, and folds up the paper to put in her pocket.
"Now, to get to know everyone, we're going to go around the room, and everyone says their first name and something they're good at or something about them. Let's start at this end, so Mirabel, you're first."
"My name's Mira, and I'm good at dancing."
Once Mira starts, everyone automatically does the same. Why is she making us do this? The last time I did this, Vermillion didn't know how to walk!
"My name's Attila, and I'm good at toymaking."
"My name's Cain, and I'm good at puzzles."
"My name's Elodie, and I'm good at reading."
"My name's Peach, and I'm a fighter."
"My name's Kylis, and I know I'm not a good person."
"My name's Claudio, and I'm helpful."
"My name's Taffy, and I'm good at baking."
"My name's Saxum, and I am good at everything, since I am a god."
"My name's Ferrari, and I'm good at racing."
"My name's Ravi, and I'm good at martial arts."
"My name's Galilee, and I'm good at cooking."
"My name's Ambrose, and I'm good at history."
"My name's Sammy, and I'm good at dodgeball."
"My name's Stellar, and I'm good at swimming."
Darn, this is embarrassing. At least I'm getting to learn about everyone else.
"My name's Simmons, and I'm good at, um, sewing."
"My name's Lis, and I'm agile."
"My name's Ember, and I'm a fast learner."
It's honestly getting kind of boring at this point. I fiddle with my token, an awesome shark tooth, while I wait for all of this to be over.
"My name's Dove, and I'm perceptive."
"My name's Avy, and I'm good at gymnastics."
"My name's Riella, and I'm determined to get home."
"My name's Warren, and I'm not going to repeat my mistakes."
"My name's Madhi, and I love the outdoors."
"My name's Rehan, and I'm very logical."
"My name's Arista, and I like to train."
"My name's Tyssa, and I'm good at acting."
"My name's Chandler, and I love horses."
"My name's Will, and I am a game developer."
"My name's Colton, and I like to help others."
Thank goodness, it should be all over soon and we can actually do something good. I look to the end to see who is the last one, and my great day is ruined.
"My name's Shelldon, and I'm experienced with knives."
"NO, YOU AREN'T!", I yell without thinking, "YOU SUCK AT KNIVES, YOU STUCK-UP PIECE OF.."
"STELLAR!", shouts C, "Calm down! Well, now that that's over, let's read out the teams, shall we?"
It turns out I'm in a team with Madhi and Colton, which is terrible. They look useless.
But they're not Shelldon, and I can live with that.
Thank you for the things you've done for me today
Thank you for tomorrow, everyday
Although that's really all that I have to say
I just have to tell you some way…!
Samantha Voltage
Phoenix Four
Well, someone caught the ball!
Yeah, I died, but I'm back now, and I can get back home to everyone! But I made so many friends in the arena, and only one will live. I feel bad for Hannah and Bailey, but I really hope Camellia won. I don't think I could have gotten as far as I could've without her. I smile just thinking about the fun times I had with her and Potato.
He didn't deserve to die. I didn't deserve to die. No one deserved to die. Especially Potato, maybe Camellia and definitely Cain. He just didn't want to kill someone, is that really a crime? Well, at least he's back now. I hope we're in the same team or at least the same Clan, it would have been better if he was in Heilala with all the others.
I snap back into the world after my daydream after I hear my name called out by C. I'm in a team with this Avy girl, I honestly cannot remember her, and Cain! This is going to be a really great team! We CAN win this!
"Now, tributes," says C, "I have a few words to say before you all go off and do whatever you're doing. Firstly, there will be a social event in the Training Centre today, with some very important people there. It will be the official kick-off for Reality Resurrection, so the dress code is somewhat interesting. You need something nice to wear, that tells a story about you or your past Games. Be prepared, anything could happen."
This sounds exciting. Of course, if we were going into a normal Resurrection Games, I'd probably have no chance. But we're going into another Games like mine. Another special Games. Cain and I have experience with these sorts of Games, I hate to say it, but we may have the upper hand. Oh well, it always depends on the votes anyway.
We're dismissed, and I cautiously climb out of the bed. I don't know how my body was resurrected, but I'm going to say it's pretty weak. After checking that I can stand, I walk forward slowly. Everything seems to be fine, which is good.
"So, um, what should we do?", asks Avy, about ten minutes later. She, I and Cain are in the Five apartment, since by some happy coincidence, we all come from the same place.
"Well," I say, "In the Games I was last in with Cain, it was based on this show everyone used to like before Panem. There were tapes of it you could watch, but I didn't watch them. I was REALLY confused when the Games started, and I think it was the reason Cain and I were voted out early. So, therefore, I think we should watch a bunch of tapes, with some food, because resurrection really makes me hungry."
"What if they don't have tapes?", Cain asked, "C was sort of vague about the stuff she didn't want us to know."
Avy pulls out a drawer, filled to the brim with tapes. Some of them have odd names on them, which I can't really see properly, but others are blank. It's obvious that they're the ones we're looking for. We smile.
"Okay," says Avy with a grin, "That's one thing done. Cain and Sammy, you get the food, while I sort out which tapes we should watch."
"Got it!"
Cain and I know where the food tube is, so we rush to it. I let Cain do the typing, I'm worried my dyslexia might have gotten worse upon resurrection. A bowl of popcorn comes down, some candy, hot chocolate, fruit salad, and chocolate chip cookies. My mouth is watering already, and it takes all my effort not to start eating before we put the tapes on. It's surprisingly quiet, seeing as we've been district partners for what feels like forever now.
Avy is sitting cross-legged next to a neat stack of tapes, a confident smile on her face as she starts to explain the order in which we should watch them, prioritising the important ones so that if we're called out for something, we already have enough information. She's smart, sort of like Cain but more of a bookish-smart, like my friend Kyle from home. I wonder if he still makes that odd noise when he's mad at losing a dodgeball match or something.
There are a few couches dotted through the apartments, and luckily we don't have to drag any in front of the television, since there are four already there. We each pick one, and put the snacks on a coffee table. Then the screen flickers on, and the tapes begin.
The first is about a bunch of people living in a house, and they do challenges and get voted off, sort of like my Games but with nice bedrooms. Then there's a variant of that, where the people prank each other to see if they can get someone to leave themselves. It looks interesting, but I'm not too good with pranks.
"That's not too different from our Games," Cain says, "We can handle that."
The second or third, I'm not sure whether to count the last tape as one or two, is some people singing and dancing, and then other people behind a fancy counter rate them and tell them whether or not they're good. They mention something called "Hollywood", I have no clue what that is, but I suspect it's to do with District Seven. It seems a bit mean of the judges to act so harshly, even if the people are very bad.
"I doubt the judges can even sing themselves," comments Avy.
The next is one of my favourites. In a beautiful countryside some men and women with unfamiliar accents bake cakes and biscuits. They're so good at it! I wonder how the judges even can cut them open to try a slice, they're so beautiful, though I imagine they also taste nice. I like how there's no drama, except of course when a cake collapses or something, and everyone's nice to each other and supports everyone.
"This is actually a quite nice show," says Avy, who seems to find the hosts funny.
I like the one after that as well, though not really as much. There's an ENORMOUS obstacle course, which everyone tries to do, but they can't, apparently no one has gotten close in the show's history. It seems a bit pointless to waste money on something no one can do anyway, and people get injured on the show sometimes. Though I do like the athletic part of it, it seems sort of an extremely hard playground.
"I don't think I could do that," says Cain, "That scary-looking One girl might be able to, but I doubt anyone else can complete it."
"ATTENTION TRIBUTES," a robotic voice says through the speaker, making us all jump, "Please report to your stylists for preparation for the Reality Resurrection Premiere."
"I hadn't even noticed how much time flew," says a somewhat shocked Avy, "Let's go. We'll have a better chance of winning if people like us."
And so we run down the stairs. We know where everything is, and we know where we're going to go in a few days.`
But I know we can win.
And that was the first chapter of Reality Resurrection, featuring Stellar Madison and Samantha Voltage, from Oli2Fab4U's 70th Hunger Games and LadyCordeliaStuart's Survivor Games! Because of copyright reasons and "fanfiction police" who really don't know a thing about SYOTs, the songs features are "Whatever!" and "Ai Kotoba II", translated by JubyPhonic and rachie respectively. Thoughts on Stellar and Sammy? Any questions? I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did, and I'm really excited to write the Reality Resurrection Premiere Event!