AUTHOR'S NOTES: Nothing to add to this one. Just more Death Tournament.

CHAPTER 3

Iroh remained the ringleader of the Career Alliance, and in the frenzy of the bloodbath that was going on around them, he had the tributes split into groups of two by district, except for Ursa, who disappeared back into the shadows. Zhao grabbed a bag of equipment which turned out to be landmines, and as Toph approached the Cornucopia to see who was still lingering around inside, Zhao rigged the Fire Tower with landmines, since it had not fallen, as the fires that were consuming it had put themselves out. Stone did not burn very well.

Haru had cleverly hidden in one of the shadows of the Cornucopia, and he was armed to the teeth. The gamemakers had underestimated his hide-and-strike strategy when they had given him his training score of 4, and he was determined to beat the odds.

Luckily for him, the odds appeared to remain in his favor, and then proceed to turn even moreso in his favor, for Toph approached him, her hands out in the form of a truce sign.

"Fellow earthbenders, right?" she smiled innocently after blocking several grenades with a thick rock wall, "if you stop attacking me maybe we can team up? Kick a little tookas, roll a few heads?"

"You're from District 2, I'm from 9. That's like night and day, Toph." Haru argued,

"Duh," Toph laughed, "District 2 citizens are all warriors. We're the ones that provide goods and serves for the Peacekeepers. Even *I* don't remember what our district's logo was, but I'm inclined to say that we're enforcers or warriors or something badass like that."

Haru hesitated again. "How do I know this isn't a trap?"

"Because the last tribute I ran into that didn't form an alliance with me got her spine ripped out and tied around her head," Toph warned, indicating Suki's blood, which was still covering most of her face and chest. "So don't make me turn to threats."

"I still don't know about this," Haru shook his head.

"Fine," Toph rolled her eyes, "I'll answer it for you—screw you, you indecisive little pansy." She grabbed Haru's head and bashed it against her own head so hard that Haru's head cracked open like a coconut. "AWWW YEAH!" she roared, "ANOTHER ONE DOWN!"

Toph had never planned on allying with Haru anyways, and so while her plans did not go the way she had expected, she still achieved her main goal, which meant the mission was a success.

"You know it's going to be a long, action-packed Hunger Games when even the bloodbath takes time," Zhao commented when Toph returned. "only 4 tributes have died in the last hour."

"Let's change that then," Toph agreed, "clearly they've gone to run and hide."

Katara was one of those who had hidden, holing herself up in the Water Turret. Coincidentally, the boy from District 7 ran up the tower without even noticing Katara. This boy, Aang, was also her temporary ally, but she did not want to make her presence known. She started rigging the tower to prevent others from entering, while Aang zipped to the top to man the ballista.

His shots soon attracted parts of Iroh's massive "Career Alliance", namely the tributes from Districts 6 and 4. Furthermore, Azula showed up, despite not being part of the alliance.

"Surround it," Iroh ordered, and the tributes laid siege to the tower. It made more sense to kill the tributes one by one by outnumbering them than it did to split up and fight each one individually. There was a diversion when Jun was blasted out of the tower by an explosion.

"It's rigged," she stated the obvious as she recovered. The side of her face, arm, and leg were a bit singed, but otherwise she was alright aside from a small headache. "We need to bring it down."

Long Feng was already onto the launching rocks at Aang, while Jun and Joo Dee started fending off Korra and Sokka, Aang and Katara's respective district counterparts, who had appeared to help. None of them except Aang were aware that Katara was hiding in the tower, not even Sokka.

The base of the Water Turret proved to be resoundingly strong, as Long Feng's rocks and Iroh's flames were not even enough to do significant damage. It may have also been because they were being wary as to where they hit. They did not want to set one of the bombs off, nor did they want to knock down the tower in the wrong direction.

Jun and Joo Dee were fending off Sokka and Korra, Jun's speed keeping Sokka from reaching her, and Joo Dee's insane reflexes helping her dodge Korra's many projectile attacks. Her singsong charm of a voice filled the air, and slowly it began to have an effect on Korra.

"The Earth King has invited you to a party at Lake Laogai…"

"Where the heck is Lake Laogai?" Korra asked, as if Joo Dee would answer the question.

"The Earth King has invited you to a party at Lake Laogai," she repeated, remembering her charming of Suki in the Cornucopia, "will you be honored to accept his invitation?"

Sokka noticed that Korra was getting charmed by Joo Dee's hypnotism, but Jun was too swift to let him come to his ally's aid. Aang was still handling Iroh in the front, and Long Feng from behind, and since Katara had rigged the entrance and the lower floor of the turret, she had effectively sealed herself in.

The Cornucopia bloodbath was almost about to be renamed the Water Turret bloodbath with how much was going down there. Jun's efforts were suddenly halted when Ty Lee came out of nowhere and jabbed her arms and legs, breaking one of her arms because of the force with which she punched it. Jun crumpled to the ground, immobile, and she could only look up helplessly as Sokka and Ty Lee closed in on her.

Except that they were thwarted when Toph and Zhao appeared. Toph struck Ty Lee in the forehead with a "small rock", which was actually a two-pronged boulder, where one prong smashed her forehead in and lodged chunks of her skull into her brain, and the other prong shattered her ribcage and hit her internal organs.

"AWW YEAH!" Toph roared again, "BOOM BAM, BABY!"

Ty Lee's body crumpled on top of Jun, and a cannon boomed. Zhao hit Sokka and set him on fire, where he took off screaming fanatically.

"Not bad for a guy who's on fire," Zhao laughed, "I wonder if he realizes that the lake is the other way though?"

"Listen for the cannon." Toph replied. "it'll go off sooner or later."

Aang's situation was rapidly deteriorating. His female counterpart, Korra, was now completely under the control of the District 6 Tributes, and he was besieged in a weakening tower surrounded by vicious Career Tributes who were determined to send him straight to the morgue. He knew that now was the time for him to unveil his coup de maître, and why he allowed the Gamemakers to give him a score of 8.


SURVIVORS:
District 1: Ozai, Ursa
District 2: Zhao, Toph
District 3: Tenzin, Lin
District 4: Iroh, Jun
District 5: Azula
District 6: Long Feng, Joo Dee
District 7: Aang, Korra
District 8: Sokka, Katara
District 10: Mai
District 11: Bolin
District 12: Mako, Asami