99th Hunger Games- A New Age Chapter 3- Reapings 1-4, a hunger games fanfic

Chapter 3- Reapings (Districts 1-4)

I have decided to do the reapings into 3 chapters. I will do 4 districts per chapter, with one POV for reaping and one for the Justice Building. I will do one train chapter, one chariot chapter, 3 training chapters, 1 interview chapter and then the moment you have all been waiting for, the bloodbath.

Beverley Quicksilver-District 1 Female-18

"Nebula! Come down here and help get my mom ready for the reaping!" I shout to my best friend in the world.

"Coming!" comes the reply. A familiar head comes down the stairs guiding a dazed looking woman. Nebula gives me a grin as she helps my mother figure out how to button her dress. Nebula is dressed in a long, dark blue gown, complete with sapphire earrings and a diamond necklace. A little flashy for my taste, but who am I to judge. Nebula is rich even by District 1 standards so she has an assortment of gowns and jewelry.

My mother on the other hand was a complete opposite. Ever sense her sister died in the games she was never the same. She lost who she was and become a broken shell of a woman. She was too troubled to have a job, so I had to help keep the house running. I worked in a gem refinery and train at the same time. Juggling both of these responsibilities is hard and would have been impossible if not for my friends Nebula's help.

"One day I hope your mother falls down the stairs and breaks her neck. Getting her ready is like try to teach a rock to tie its shoes," Nebula jokes. She always had a dark sense of humor.

"You know you love her," I say. "You look beautiful mother."

My mother smiles and places her hand on my cheek. She then gets that confused look she gets when she sees me train. "Diamonds are pretty," she tells me.

I chuckle. "Yes they are mother. Go ahead to the town square. I'll meet you there." Nebula leads my mother out the door and pops back in for a second.

"Are you still going to do it?" she asks.

"I have to," I say. "They chose me. The Academy chose me."

"You don't always have to listen to the Academy. It is your choice," she tells me. Then she grins and says, "Well if you do volunteer I might get to see you explode. So there is a plus," she muses darkly.

"Come on! We will be late for the reaping."

The town square is packed with hundreds of people, all cheering and waving banners declaring their love for the capital. With mother safely with a neighbor, Nebula and I go through the process of giving our blood and heading over to the 18 year old section. A special line is drawn for potential volunteers, but if I go to that line, mother would freak out, so I am hoping my speed beat all of the other girls to the finish line of the escort's hand. A group of 8 girls line up at the volunteer line. Every year the Academy chooses the top 10 ranked boys and girls to race for a spot for the position of tribute. Because there are only 8 that means one girl decided not to race, given that I am standing right here.

Our escort Diamond Link, waddles up to the stage dressed in a ridiculous pink dress that only goes down to her lower stomach. I hear mutters from the boys section. What idiots!

A shrill voice pierces the air, "Why hello my children of District 1. It is my pleasure and honor to be here to today to choose one brave man and woman to participate in this years, Hunger Games!"

Cheers and whistles fill my ears as loyal citizens chant the Presidents name. This continues even through the tedious video from the capital. Finally it finishes and our escort, who has a single tear in her left eye, waddles back up to the microphone.

"That was beautiful wasn't it? Now for the moment you have all been waiting for. The reapings! She waddles over to the girls bowl and swirls her hand around the entrance. As usual she gives three rotations and plucks out a name. As is tradition she will count to three and call out the name giving the signal for the race to commence.

"Pelt Luxury!" As if a gun had sounded 8 girls race to the podium. The crowd favorite Tiffany Winery reaches the stage, but looks up only to see me already at the platform holding Diamond's hand.

"I volunteer," I call out. Nobody can match my speed. I smirk as Tiffany is escorted back into the crowd by a peacekeeper with a look of pure hate. "I volunteer to be the next District 1 victor!"

The cheers are deafening and I can just make out my sobbing mother being escorted out by a grim Nebula, even though she gives me a thumbs up. I don't even pay attention as a boy, Glitz Shimmers, volunteers for the place of a tiny 12 year old. I shake hands with the tall boy and am escorted inside. The screams of my mother almost make me feel bad. Almost

Glitz Shimmers-District 1 Male-18

The only visitor I get is an Academy representative. I have lived at the academy since I have 4 and this is the moment I trained for. My parents were both in debt and to save me they sent me to the Academy and shortly later had to become capital avoxes. I think I saw my mom on t.v. once. It was a riot.

The representative gives me my token, a golden bracelet with name and district on it. All volunteers from the Academy get one. He gives me a speech about District pride and glory to the capital but I am hardly listening. He leaves as quietly as he came and I am left alone. I know I will get no more visitors and I don't care. My only desire is to become victor. Maybe I could buy one of my parents and use them as an avox. Wouldn't that be funny?

I stare at the carpet. Look how red it was? I could spill blood all over it and it would blend right it. I wish I had someone to try it with. Whatever, I could just try it in the arena. Hopefully there was something red I could try it with. I sit on the bench for the remainder of the hour, pondering how I could obtain a piece of this red carpet.

Brontus Loard-District 2 Male-18

My morning star demolishes a brick wall and chunks of rock fly across the room. I pull my weapon back to my side and grin. I was pumped. Adrenaline courses through my veins. Today was the day I would finally show up Alexia. She thought she was so special because she was popular, but I devoted my time to training, not friends. Of course she trained too, but not as rigorously as me.

I feel a strong hand clasp my shoulder, "Good job son. I am proud of you." My father was a big man. He was built like an ox, much like myself. "You have trained for 12 years and I believe that you are ready to honor the family name. You have passed every test I gave you. Every test, but one."

I looked at him, confused at first and then with horror as he brought out my 4 year old Schnauzer, Gigi. He looks at me. "In the arena, you can't freeze up because an innocent 12 year old girl is crying or because a 13 year old boy pleads with you, to let him go. You have to be cruel and efficient, without any mercy. When the time comes, you have to prove to my brother Ares, that we are strong.

I look at my precious dog with sad eyes. I lift my morning star, close my eyes and wait.

I hear my father yell, "You paused! You are dead and Ares thinks we are weak! We are not weak! We are strong! We are…"

I use my entire body to slam my weapon down. I hear a short yip which is accompanied by the confused look of my dog as he stares at the morning star, buried into the ground. I look up.

"I don't give a quarry's pit, what we are. We aren't going into the Hunger Games. I am. You had your chance! This is mine. Go and train your peacekeepers. Show them how to stop a District 12 citizen from stealing a loaf of bread for their starving children. But leave me alone!" I storm out of the training center with my dog close behind. I don't even bother taking a shower because, personally I don't care. I simply go home, change shirts and walk to the town square.

The square is filled with thousands of people. We aren't as energetic as District 1, but we were by far more patriotic. We had statues of both former Presidents and were currently burning a flag of Katniss Everdeen who died in the 75th Hunger Games. Finnick Odair had been had been killed by an octopus mutt on his swim to the Cornicopia. Distracted by her search for Peeta, Katniss was killed by the sword wielding man from five who was killed by the eventual victor Gloss. He was everything desired in a victor. Handsome, charming and deadly. It was obvious the Capital wanted a career victor who was also beautiful as Brutus and Enobaria were torn apart by flesh eating beetle mutts in the final four. This left Gloss and Seeder in a short fight as a man in his prime physically dominated a woman in her 70's.

After a short clip from the capital, our escort Quarrine Goddess walks up the stage and says, "Hello again to District 2, and Happy Hunger Games." She was a woman of few words.

She doesn't even move toward the bowls but instead asks for a female volunteer. To my shock, my cousin Alexia Loard walks up to the stage and volunteers. I'm surprised she has no completion to volunteer. I want to ring her neck myself. I can't believe she volunteered. This was my year. It was the year to prove that I was better than her. Whatever, she can't stop me.

Quarrine calls for volunteers from the boys. Another boy and I both shout, "I volunteer!" The crowd yells with joy as they form a human ring around us. I look at the boy from the 17 year old section who snarls at me.

He rushes forward trying to get an easy win with a cheap shot down low, but I simply step to the side and allow my massive fist to crash into the side of his skull. Too easy I smirk in my head. Well he always has next year.

I'm disappointed I never got to see the shock on Alexia's face because by now, she would have changed it back to the confident, pretty face everyone knows and loves. What a joke!

I shake hands with my cousin. She smirks and we walk side-by-side into the justice building.

Alexia Loard- District 2 Female- 18

I wave sweetly goodbye to my sister Airlia who leaves with my lovely cat. I sit down and wait for my next visitor. For the past 45 minutes I have been flooded with friends wishing me luck, and catching up with the latest gossip. They all came and went, but the one visitor I am dreading walks in at the 45 minute mark. My father, Ares.

He sits me down, rather firm and looks me straight in the eye. "Now Alexia, Brontus also volunteered which means this is the final test to prove whether my stupid brother Lucian or I are better. This is the final showdown. This is what you were trained for. Ally with him at first, but when the time comes kill him. Then you will finally prove that I am better than Lucian.

I yawn, then check my reflection in the large mirror. "You know I am not you right? This will only prove that I'm better than Brontus. This has nothing to do with you."

My father turns as purple as Quarrine's nails this year. He then shouts, "This has everything to do with you. Who trained you? Who raised you? Who loved you?"

I yawn again and say, "The Academy, The Academy and mom." I stare at him as he turns a new shade of blueberry and storms out. I laugh. Getting a tantrum out of him is fun.

All I care about is beating that arrogant rat Brontus in the Hunger Games. Sure we will be allies at first, but a little poison can go a long way. It's not just brute strength after all. A little earthquake can bring down a mountain.

Ciera Levin- District 3 Female- 17

"Aunt Henley are you ready," I call out. "We are going to be late!"

My aunt walks out from her bedroom dressed in her business suit. She puts down a machine that can be used to talk to other people from far away. I think it's called a telephone. She puts some papers in a folder which she tucks under her arm. "I'm sorry Ciera. I was busy with work. You know how it is, right? I had reports to fill out and designs to review and…"

"Aunt Henley, it is okay. You were busy. I can take care of myself you know?"

She sighs, "I know, but after I adopted you I wanted to be a good parent and…"

"Aunt Henley, you are a good parent. I can take care of myself. I know you love me, and you know I love you, so come on right now or I'll have to talk about my old house."

"Oh, you don't live there anymore. I wasn't thinking, I am so sorry. I…"

"Aunt Henley!"

Aunt Henley and I make our way to the town square and while she goes over to the citizen area, I check myself in to the 17 year old section of the crowd and wait for the annoying video to pop up on the big screen.

I feel sad about what is about to happen, but what can I do about it? Our irritating escort Electra Teca walks up to the podium dressed like a giant penguin. That's what it looks like to me anyways. She walks up to the crowd and says, "Well hello again, District 3! How is everyone doing?"

She waits for an answer, but gets none. "Well it seems like you are all too excited to move. Then again you all have the chance to become the next tributes from District 3. Will it be you?" She points to me and I roll my eyes. She stutters a little. A guess she expected a cheer from me.

Without another word she waddles over to the female reaping bowl and hovers her hand over the bowl. She puts her hand in the bottom of the bowl and plucks out two slips of paper. She teasingly looks at both and then drops one back into the bowl. She opens the slip of paper.

"Ciera Levin!"

I cock my head and watch for another girl with my name to step up, but none comes. A thousand thoughts rush through my head, but one dominates. I have to survive. I have to win. I have survived abusive parents. I can survive the Hunger Games. But I wasn't stupid, the Games started now.

So I take one deep breath and walk confidently up to the stage, and smile to the escort. I wave to the crowd of people and smile. I try to copy my escort's stance. I needed to learn how to be proper. I needed to learn how to fight. I needed to learn a lot.

Neo Platinum- District 3- 12

I furrowed by eyebrows and frowned. I only had one slip. I calculated the odds of my name being chosen before the reaping and it was 1 in 1206 in my favor. I was irritated that I had to go. I probably wouldn't come back and I accepted that. At the same time and I was slightly relieved to escape my parents' constant experiments. Just last week they hid my dinner to see how fast I would find it given that every minute a bracelet on my wrist would shock me. I wouldn't miss that, but I loved them.

My parent walk into the visiting room and sit down with their hands folded in their laps. My mother speaks first, "Hello Neo. I am sorry that this has happened. If the tributes are around the same as usual you have a 1 in 101 chance of emerging victorious given your physical strength and keenness of mind. You are smart though and that might give you a chance. So there, there. I am sorry. I hope this makes you feel better."

"Thanks mom, it does make me feel a little better," I say.

My father stands up next. "I am also sorry son. This is very unfortunate. You have a good chance of excelling though. Remember that catapult that you and K013 built. It fired ammo that froze everything in the proximity of the landing site. That was very ingenious and I believe if you recreated it you could take out some of your competitors." He then proceeds to give me a very awkward hug and heads out the door with my mother.

My next visitor was my best friend, my robot K013. I built him when I was 6 when my parents locked me in my room for 2 weeks to see what I would do. He looked a lot like a human, even more so ever since I added legs, and joints at the age of 8.

He walks up to me and says, "You have programmed me to believe that the Hunger Games are bad and the man outside told me that you have been reaped for the hunger games I have all available games on record and according to my calculations there is no way to determine what kind of arena this year will bring. I will however give you a gift. This is a computer disk that has nothing on it apple."

Apple was our code word for 'I am lying' so I knew that the disk had something very useful on it. I would have to analyze it in the capital. District 3 was lucky to have several competent victors to choose from, so I would have one of them help me gain access to a computer.

K013 then proceeded to hand me a small disk and he walked out of the room. The capital would analyze the disk for sure, but I knew they weren't competent enough to pass through my firewalls. Nobody now a days were competent.

Argon Kane- District 4 Male- 18

I emerge out of the water dripping wet and breathing heavy. The training coach blows his whistle and a group of 5 boys gather round him. He blows his whistle again for good measure. I look across the circle of boys and see my identical twin Caleb, standing their smirking. When I look at him it's like looking at a mirror, so I can see my own features. Dark brown hair, with green eyes speckled with brown. My mother had ancestors in 11 so our skin was darker. We both had tanned muscular bodies, which was even more evident when we were all half-naked from swimming.

He takes a deep breath so we all know he is about to start yelling, "Now you boys are a fine bunch! I haven't trained boys with so much potential in a good ten years. It's going to be hard, but I have to choose one of you as this years' volunteer. Now let's remember the rules. If someone else in this group is reaped. Don't you dare volunteer. If a boy above the age of 16 is reaped, I win have your hide if you volunteer. We aren't barbarians like 1 or 2. We train to give ourselves and our district a chance. We want to be able and fit every year. So without further ado I present this year's chosen volunteer… Caleb Kane.

I sigh in disappointment, I wanted it to be me. I didn't necessarily want to go into the Hunger Games, but I wanted to beat Caleb. Once again, he beat me. Ugghhh. Several of the other boys also sigh, because some of them genuinely wanted to go into the Hunger Games. I would never understand that.

After shaking hands with the head trainer, Caleb walks over and punches me in the bare chest. He laughs and says, "I beat you again." I laugh back and punch him in the chest harder. He reels back again when Carter walks over from the group of boys. He was my dad's stepson. After my little sister was born, he married another woman who already had a son and took him under his wing. I would always resent him for that.

Carter walks up to me and says, "Well congrats Caleb." He then turns to the real Caleb and says, "Well, well Argon. I guess we tied again."

Caleb and I both laugh and Caleb says, "I'm Caleb tuna breath." He then shoves Carter back into the pool. We both laugh.

Karter gets out of the pool and charges at us. Caleb sidesteps him and pins his arms behind his back. I sucker punch him in the gut and then follow through with a round-house kick to the side of his head. He collapses and Caleb and I laugh, and walk into the showers, getting ready for the reaping. We leave Carter wheezing on the floor, regretting his decision to attack a pair of twins.

After Caleb and I had showered and gotten dressed we headed straight for the town square, knowing that mom would already be there. We went through, what District 4 called "Customs" which involved giving blood to a hot capital lady and waiting a pen with other guys your age. Caleb and I stand side by side in the 18 year old section and we both whisper to each other as our Capital escort, Wave Lust gives a little speech about the capital. What bull crap!

Exasperated, she says, "Will you two quiet down!" looking straight at Caleb and I.

Caleb smirks and calls out, "look you have seaweed in your hair." Wave squeals and smacks her hair like it was on fire. She hits her wig right off of her head into the crowd, revealing a buzz cut underneath. Everyone laughs and one guy next to me whistles.

Humiliated, Wave covers her head with a hat, which conveniently had a wig attacked. She has recovered from her embarrassment and has moved on to fury. Quivering with anger she says, "Well I guess we will start with the 'boys', she emphasizes boys, this year."

She walks over to the boys boy picks out a slip and points at Caleb, "I hope you get picked this year. If you do, then I get to tell the whole Capital that you tried to seduce me. That will ruin your sponsor points."

I call out, "You know they are filming this right?" She stares at the camera and stutters. "Oh…Oh…Oh… I mean, what a chance you…you… you have to serve…serve the Capital." She laughs nervously and reads out the name.

"Argon Kane." I freeze. She called my name. She called my name! I beat Caleb. I jump in the air and whoop. I run up to the stage and tackle Wave in a hug knocking off her hat. She squeals and picks up her hat. I barely even notice when nobody volunteers for the 17 girl who is reaped. All I do is kiss her straight on the mouth. I won! I beat Caleb! I won!

Cerulean Crest- District 4 Female- 17

I am going to die. This is my only thought as I sit in the waiting room alone. I have no family, no friends, no training. I am screwed. I never touched a weapon and have no one to encourage me. All I can do is sell myself for a scrap of bread. As I think more about this, I might be able to use this to my advantage. When I was reaped the boy kissed me. I could use that. I could seduce him. I could kill him. I could…

Hey look at the pretty flowers on the curtains. I like flowers. If only I could pick it and smell it and love it and…

Kill it. I would rip everyone and everything to shreads with…

A little starfish. A starfish once gave me a rock. It was a pretty rock. I still have the rock. I…

When a starfish loses an arm it grows back, I wonder if this works on humans. I had to try, I had to…

Eat a cranberry scone. How I loved cranberry scones. I really wanted…

Death.

This is the end to the chapter. Review and tell me how you liked. I am going on vacation, so hopefully I will have more time to write. I have been very busy with work and all. Review!