Chapter 3: The Training
Proteus was as good as his word. He did it all, and infinitely more, it turns out. He explained to Gracey and Duke all about the events leading up to the Games and strategies other tributes had used for each one. Critically, he told them more about the sponsors that both had seen drop gifts during previous Games.
"I did more than just make the tributes look good, you know," Proteus pointed out. "The best I could do was try and convince sponsors to give funding to them. Even then, though, very few made it far enough into the Games to get sponsorship, and those that did weren't special enough to be viewed as having any merit."
"Don't worry," Duke reassured him. "We'll be the first."
In between session with Proteus, Duke and Gracey were left to their prep teams to be primped and preened. Any remaining time was spent with their mentor preparing for the interviews in the Capitol.
Upon arriving in the huge city, the District 12 entourage was escorted to the City Circle, where the Tribute Parade would kick off the festivities. Gracey and Duke were doused in black powder that resembled coal dust, yet unlike coal dust was safe to inhale. The designs did not make the District 12 tributes noticeable; others more easily outshone them, especially the tributes from 1, 2 and 4.
Then, all the tributes were hustled into the Tribute Training Center. It had only been in operation for the last several years, as the first few Games had been spent constructing the majestic skyscraper.
Training began the next day. Following advice from Proteus, Gracey and Duke spent the morning observing other tributes and memorizing their skills, even managing to figure out some weaknesses through process of elimination. The boy from 1 – Jefferson was his name – was cunning and super strong, yet he wasn't particularly fast. The girl from 2, Bella, was almost the opposite – she was very skilled in battle and quite sexy to boot, but in terms of brains, it was a puzzle as to whether she even had any. Even the battle skills were few and far between, as she spent most of her time checking out all the other boys – Duke included. Gracey felt the need to tease him about this often.
"She thinks you're hot, I can tell."
"Doesn't matter, Gracey. She's still going to have to kill me if she wants to win. But I'll keep that as food for thought."
The pair also managed to perfect some skills they had and learn some new ones. Duke quickly became skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and took to sword fighting quite well.
Finally, at the end of the third day, the tributes had their private sessions with the Gamemakers. Gracey and Duke came to an agreement that they would not tell each other what they had shown the planners of the Games.
That same night, the Training Scores were announced, Gracey and Duke both pulled 10s, putting them right up with the Careers. Proteus was ecstatic.
"Sponsors will be intrigued by you, for sure!" he crowed. "No Twelve tribute has gotten such a high score before, never!"
Trouble was, Duke and Gracey both knew that high Training Scores meant they were high targets for any other tributes.