Kind of a long chapter...Oops :)
MACEDONIA – Tamara Proeski
"You look so super cute in this shirt" A member of my prep team whose name I never captured says to me "Red is totally your colour, and it goes so well with the black jacket. It just screams "I'm a female badass, hear me roar!" You know what I mean?"
I roll my eyes barely glancing at the young woman before breathing out "Yeah totally"
"Ok cool, well I got to go get my seat but I'll see you later yeah?" I mumble slightly and she walks away whilst I stand in my chariot.
When I signed my name down to be in this contest I didn't think I'd have to put up with such an annoying prep team. Always doing my hair and make-up, acting like I'm their best friend. I joined the games for honour and glory not to be pestered by some stupid nemi gaz! Or dumb ass, as I'm supposed to say in this game.
The large televisions in front of me turn on as the show begins. It starts with a presentation.
"Romania, one year ago." The screen reads against a starry sky background.
"There is one competition…" the image quickly changes to show the audience from last year, proudly flying the flags of their countries, cheering their tributes.
"Everybody is determined to win!" the screen reads next.
The next thing I see on the television is the host from last year's contest, held in Romania. The footage shows him waving to the audience and doing typical host things before a quick flash is seen of last year's participating countries in action. It's a bit morbid to think that they are all dead now.
The screen turns black and words dressed in white flash up on the screen as a serene sort of music plays in the background.
"But one girl…" the screen reads "Won it all!"
Next everyone sees last year's winner, Emilia Boncourt, in action. Running in the arena, fighting her enemies, proudly being given the winning trophy as Danish flags were waved and confetti fell on her. Then, the screen turns black again.
"But now…" and then the screen turns off before showing the hosting area that lay just beyond the large doors in front of me.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" a deep yet cheery voice booms "Live from Copenhagen, welcome to the 124th Eurobattle games!"
Some cheery, enthusiastic played whilst the audience cheered, proudly waving their flag (whether it be Russian, Irish, Belgian or a Union jack).
"Please welcome this year's host!" the voice echoes "Angelisa Rovelle!"
The heavily made up woman waves to the cheering audience, a large smile on her face.
"Good evening Europe!" she shouts a look of joy on her face "It is an absolute honour to be your host for this year's competition and in just a few short moments I will be introducing you to this year's tributes. Are you excited! Let me hear you!"
The audience goes wild waving their flags, screaming their tributes names. They look like rabid animals.
"But first we must welcome back last year's winner! Without her we would not be here right now so ladies and gentlemen give a warm round of applause to… EMILIA BONCOURT!"
The Danish audience goes wild, as does a majority of the audience as the young girl walks on stage giving off a few timid waves. I zone out of her interview, it is nothing of importance to me anyway and it feels like it's not long before Angelisa begins to introduce us.
"And now ladies and gentlemen." She says as I stand up straight on my chariot "Please welcome these years' tributes!"
The large doors open and one by one the chariots roll out.
"First up, last year's winning country Denmark!" Angelisa screams as the young Danish boy waves to the audience.
"And now for the big five! Starting with France!" three young boys jump up and down on their chariot throwing fist bumps into the crowd as their flag appears on a giant screen behind them.
"Germany!" three German girls appeared next. One with short blonde hair and the other two with long brown hair.
"Italy!" Only one tribute for Italy this year. She has a punk rock look going about her with purple hair in a pixie cut. She sticks her tongue out at the audience doing a punk rock sign.
"Spain!" A young woman, with flowing chocolate for hair, passes by next. She has an arrogant smile on her face like she has already won the competition.
"And the United Kingdom!" Another young female leaves next waving to the audience with an innocent enough looking face. She wears a knee-length blue dress with white shoes.
"And now…" Angelisa continues "Our other participating countries starting with…Albania!
A woman, perhaps in her early 30s, with shoulder cut dark brown hair leaves on her chariot next whilst the Albanian flag appears on the virtual screen.
"Armenia!" the tall, dark man that arrived this morning with Sweden appears next. He gives small acknowledging nods to the audience and a few waves.
"Austria!" Another young female dressed in a white cocktail dress and shoes waves nervously at the audience.
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium and Estonia make little impact with me. They all seemed rather proud of themselves to be honest. Then again I guess Azerbaijan have a reason to be proud of themselves, their country always makes it past the qualifier and into the final.
Both Finland and Georgia have a band of people for this year's competition. Finland's group consisting of four young boys who all have typically good looks. Georgia's group however looks less fearsome consisting of three men in their 40s and a woman who looked slightly younger. They did seem surprisingly cheery though, waving at the audience.
Greece also had a group of boys, three of them to be exact. Hungary had one male competitor who seemed very similar to the Armenian boy, albeit slightly less terrifying. Iceland had a group of four older men, who like Georgia, were happy enough to smile and wave at the audience.
Ireland got a large round of applause from both its own country and also some of the United Kingdom viewers in the audience. The girl wore an emerald green dress giving off a typical Irish goddess look.
Israel has a rather fierce looking competitor wearing all black clothing and make-up. Her white hair was cut short and I could see that she packed quite a bit of muscle.
The Latvian group is almost comical. Four street rat kids all bumbling and laughing at the flashing lights, the stench of whatever drug they had taken presumably still on their breaths.
Up next was Lithuania and then my Chariot begins rolling as I hear Angelisa shout.
"Macedonia!"
UKRAINE – Nataliya Yurkovich
I sigh as the Macedonian chariot leaves. Not long until mine. I never asked to be in this stupid competition. They say it's an honour, how the hell can killing people be an honour? Welcome to the messed up world we live in.
By the time I focus on the television again, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro and the Netherlands have all gone by. Norway goes by next; inside the chariot is a rather smart looking man, grinning and waving to the audience.
Poland and Portugal (who both returned to the contest this year) go by next both consisting of a single young girl. Poland's girl has a rather seductive beauty to her whilst the Portugal girl looks rather intelligent giving small hand gestures to the audience for waves.
There are two Romanian competitors this year. One young female and an older male. They both hold hands with the other waving to the audience.
Next up is the Russian twins. Two extremely young girls with beautiful facial features and flowing blonde hair. They are probably the most stunning girls I have ever seen. I can't see myself becoming an ally with them since tensions between my country and theirs haven't been great lately.
San Marino is next. A woman in her early 30s in a white gown waves at the audience. I almost feel sorry for her. San Marino, in the 124 years the games have been set up, has never made it to the final. My country however has always made it to the final, not something I should be proud of I know but there's nothing else I can be proud of myself so I'll take anything.
Slovenia goes by next. Their competitor this year is a woman, who looks around the same age as the one from San Marino. Sweden is next having a young girl with a friendly face. Then it's Switzerland, their competitor is rather cute actually, he's got a rather youthful appearance.
And then finally, it's me. My chariot rolls out as the Ukrainian flag flies in the background. I see some of my fellow Ukrainians wave our flag screaming my name. This is actually rather fun.
I wave back to them all blowing kisses at them as they scream for me before I join the other tributes. This year's host enters the stage above us and patiently waits for the audience to calm down before she begins speaking.
"And there we have it, this year's tributes! Join me tomorrow for more Eurobattle news including exclusive footage of them in training and a reveal of the list containing which countries will participate in which qualifier. But for now it's goodbye from me, our tributes and the EUT."
The show ends and I am rolled into a large building to be taken back to my room. I am met with praise from my prep team which I kindly accept even though deep down I know all they want is for me to win the games as soon as possible, or die trying at least.
"Oh you did fabulous darling." A member of my prep team tells me whilst removing the leather cuffs around my wrists "You look very coy."
"Thanks" I reply "Am I ok to go to my room?"
"Of course" she tells me and I head for the elevators. Turning back I see the big five all gathered together laughing, those countries have it way too easy.
"Please state your country." The voice interface of the elevator commands
"Ukraine." I reply
Just before the elevator doors shut another young woman, perhaps just older than me, walks in. She has shoulder length blonde hair, smooth looking skin and rather big blue eyes.
"Oh…" she stops "I can get the next one if…"
"No, no it's fine." I smile "You can come in."
"You're Ukraine, right?" the woman asks to which I nod
The elevator in-voice asks where she's from before I get a chance to. She takes a look at me, laughs, before finally answering.
"Sweden." To both me and the elevator. She then adds "I'm Sasha by the way, what's your name?"
"Nataliya." I tell her "So how are you finding it here?"
"Terrifying yet exhilarating." She laughs and I nod, laughing, in agreement
The elevator stops at the Swedish floor and Sasha begins to leave before she turns around and says to me "I'll see you around?"
I nod, smiling back at her, as the doors close.
IRELAND – Danielle Gallagher
"Come on Danielle! Wakey wakey!" chirps Tammi, my escort during the games, as she bursts into the room throwing items of clothing out of the wardrobe and onto the floor.
I see her throw down a pair of black cargo boots, some black leggings and finally a shoulder length black shirt that has my nation's flag on each shoulder. As soon as Tammi leaves I put on the uniform and head downstairs to the training centre.
To be honest, I like my chances of winning this year's games. Ireland is known for doing extremely well within these games (even if we don't always win them) and since relations between Ireland and the United Kingdom are as close as they can be it means that the Irish tributes usually form an alliance with the United Kingdom and the rest of the big five tributes, I'm hoping this will be the case this year.
As I enter the lift I notice that the girls representing the UK, Ukraine, Slovenia, San Marino and Moldova and the boys representing Switzerland and Norway are already in there. I nudge into the elevator and stand in between the Ukrainian tribute and the Slovenian tribute.
When we reach the bottom floor (where the training centre is held) and the pack of us leave the elevator I notice that almost all the other tributes are there. Only a few more countries are missing. We can't start training, however, until all tributes are here and so most of us just look around the training centre, studying which area we will go to first.
Soon enough though the last country, Latvia, arrives and we are all gathered in a circle around a television screen.
"Ladies and gentlemen" a man wearing a head piece shouts out "We are live in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1"
The theme song for the Eurobattle games news coverage plays and I can hear Angelisa, somewhere in the distance, welcome the viewers to the show and announce that they are about to be given a live feed to the training centre.
As soon as the cameras are on us the television we circle around turns on. Last year's winner, Emelia Boncourt, smiles at us. It's typical for the winner of the previous games to introduce the next.
"Hello tributes and welcome to Copenhagen!" she smiles "I'm Emelia Boncourt Denmarks tribute and winner of last year's Eurobattle games. Today you will begin your training for the games but first I must give you a basic introduction."
Tributes from other countries look over at one another, sizing them up. Last night at the parade I might have not looked that intimidating when I was dressed up in some stupid frock however now that I'm in some form of battle gear (well…sort of anyway) some countries may consider me a deadly player…and so they should.
"Now" Emelia continues on the television "There are thirty-seven playing countries however there are only twenty-six places in this year's final and so like previous years we will host two qualifying rounds to determine who will be in the final. Since Denmark won last year's games they have an automatic place in the final and will not take part in either of the qualifiers. Also joining Denmark in automatically qualifying for the final will be the big five, the five countries that contribute the most money to the competition allowing it to still go on. These five countries are France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom."
Hopefully they will be my allies.
"So that leaves thirty-one countries left. Sixteen of you will participate in the first qualifier which will take place in two days and the other fifteen of you will participate in the second qualifier which will take place the day after the first qualifier finishes. Now as you all know, each qualifying round can only last three days. If there is not only 10 tributes left by the end of these three days then one tribute will automatically be killed based on polls taken by the citizens of Europe. The least favourite tribute will be disqualified whilst the others will advance to the final."
That leaves me in a problem. If the other countries dislike me then I could automatically be killed in the qualifying round. However the UK will almost defiantly vote for me (no one can vote for their own country) and the rest of the big five possibly could as well.
"So that's all the rules you need to know. I will now inform you of which countries will be participating in which qualifier." Emelia opens an golden envelope before reading out" Participating in the first qualifier will be…Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine."
Ukraine and Russia in the same qualifier! Wow, now that is a first. Tensions between Ukraine and Russia haven't been great lately and for as long as I can remember they have both participated in different qualifiers. Both have always made it to the final though, maybe that will change this year?
San Marino and Montenegro in the same qualifier as well. Both have never made it to the final even though Montenegro usually plays a good game in the qualifying rounds (despite always falling at the last hurdle). Maybe the two could form an alliance, the "We'll never win" alliance.
"And…" Emilia continues opening a second envelope "Participating in the second qualifier will be…Austria, Belarus, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia and Switzerland."
"Good luck tributes. I wish you the best." Emelia ends her talk as the screen goes black as the man in the head piece screams cut and the cameras disperse.
Almost immediately, all the tributes go to the training stations they had been eyeing earlier on. I notice the girl from the UK nod her head to me and indicating for me to follow her. "Yes!" I scream in my head, I'm in.
I follow her to the other members of the big five who are currently surrounding Spain whilst she gives them a talk. The girl from the UK makes a coughing noise to get her attention. She looks me up and down and breaks into a smile.
"Ah!" she exclaims before turning to the UK girl "Gracias Lizzie." The girl from Spain is tall with long flowing brown hair which she ties in a ponytail. Her build is rather impressive and even though I've only heard her say a few words I can already tell by her voice that she is a born leader.
"My name is Maria." She smiles at me.
"Carmen." The Italian girl gives me a sly grin. Her white hair is cut short and covers one of her eyes in a style that I can only describe as messy to perfection.
"Lizzie." The girl from the UK smirks. She contrasts a lot from the Italian girl by having long and flowing muddy blonde hair and much paler skin.
"Tofu" a dark skinned boy from France smiles (the most genuine smile I had seen out of the big five) before his friends add their names "Martin." and "Josh."
The German girl with pixie cut blonde hair then says "Zelena." Before another German girl with dead straight brown hair adds "I'm Gretchen." And another girl with light brown curly hair says "Annalie."
Before I introduce myself Maria does it for me "You're Danielle, right?" to which I nod "It's nice to meet you, now as you know Ireland typically joins our countries in an alliance. We hope that'll be the case with you this year. Will it be?"
I nod quickly and she continues "Great, we also hope to add our fellow automatic finalist, Denmark, to the alliance but…we'll see."
Maria looks me dead in the eye "There is one…problem, should I say?"
My body tenses slightly and I feel Goosebumps grow on my arms "What?" I ask
"Well." Maria begins "We are all finalists. You're not. So we can only be in an alliance in the final round of the games. In your qualifying round, I hate to say it, but you're on your own. I hope that's not a problem."
I open my mouth to protest, but what can they do? I have to fight for my place in the final and they don't, no amount of protest is going to change that so instead I just smile "Not at all."
The entire alliance smiles and we all travel together to a weapons station. Despite being allies with perhaps the strongest players in the game, I still need to watch my back. If we all get to the final six together, I already know which country they'll all gang up on first.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed and please review!
1st qualifier: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Ireland, Sweden, Ukraine.
2nd qualifier: Austria, Belarus, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland.
Finalists: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom.