Author's Notes: First off, Thank you to those who cared enough to review. I really appreciate it! :)

A new concept is introduced woohoo! I hope you guys enjoy it was super hard for me to get inspired to write this story so it's probably not my best. hehe. And I've shortened the Chapter a bit more. oh and Just a reminder, this is Peeta's POV.

Here Peeta interacts with mysterious Cato a little bit more. C:

Enjoy! :)

Part 1: The Tributes

Chapter 4: The Arcade

Summer and I are on fire.

Literally.

Cinna, Summer's stylist, has lit our costumes with synthetic fire, and as our chariot enters the City Circle, Haymitch and Effie simultaneously yells at us to hold hands.

At first, the idea's awkward, but I grab her hand and raise it up in the air. Right at that moment, the crowd burst into cheers. This is another eye-roll-worthy moment, but I stop myself and paint a fake smile on my face as Summer waves with her free hand. We are soon showered with a continuous deluge of flowers and top hats. All we need to do is make these people like us, and it's working perfectly. The more they like us, the longer we'll survive.

The chariot stops in front of President Snow up on a massive pedestal where he welcomes us and salutes us for our courage and 'sacrifice'. Ugh. I roll my eyes being annoyed by his lies. Then, he makes a brief speech on why the Hunger Games are so important, which, of course, are more of his lies. Lastly, he wishes us a 'happy' Hunger Games. He says, "…And may the odds be ever in your favor."

With that, we depart from the City Circle to be transported to the Tribute Tower.

Our chariot is the last to arrive at a large empty room where the tributes' stylists are waiting.

I step off the chariot and face Portia. "Peeta, here's your training attire," she hands over a black training shirt with a red number '12' on its left and right shoulders. Then, she points to a door, to the left of giant double doors, where the other male tributes are entering. "Over there is the tribute men's locker room. Your locker is marked with a '12', and as for your costume, there's no need for it anymore, so you can throw it in the garbage chute."

"Thanks," I reply.

I take the training outfit and walk towards the locker room as I see other tributes doing the same. During my trip there, the blonde tribute boy who was staring at me earlier, comes up from behind me and pushes the back of my right shoulder with enough force for me to lose my balance and stumble to the floor.

He nonchalantly walks away with an evil smile probably planning my death in his head.

The locker room is white and unbelievably high-tech. We all strip from our costumes revealing all of our body. I am very self-conscious, so being naked in front of a bunch of boys makes me uncomfortable. My biggest worry is that I might get an erection in front of all of them and die of embarrassment.

The experience isn't all bad. I mean, I keep stealing glances from the blonde boy and his frame reminds me of Gale's, except not as defined. He then turns around to face me, and I quickly look away from his direction. The room is pure white, so hiding my obvious red face is difficult.

Luckily, an announcer talks in the speakers grabbing everyone's attention.

Attention tributes, Attention tributes. Please proceed to the Training Center in five minutes.

The moment the announcer finishes, all of the tributes are ready and leave the men's locker room. The blonde boy, who I figure is from District 2 according to his shirt, stays behind.

I ignore him as I ready myself to put on my training shirt. That's when he pushes me again. This the time, the push is twice as hard which leaves a thud as I bounce off the glass locker next to mine.

This kid may have Gale's body, but his behavior reminds me more of Zep.

"What's your problem!" I ask very annoyed.

Again, he puts on his evil smile and leaves me be.

x x

I walk through the large double doors, and I arrive in the Training Center with all the tributes encircling a round, raised platform. Pretty soon, a young woman with mocha skin wearing a grey uniform, with the Capitol logo on the shoulders, steps up the slightly raised platform and begins to speak.

"Good evening, tributes, my name is Ms. Foren and welcome to the Training Center," she greets in a formal way. Then, she begins to explain how things are going to work. "Here, you may train everyday until the Hunger Games arrive. Now, with the approval of President Snow, the Game Makers have decided to extend your stay here in the Tribute Tower to build your skills of survival out in the arena."

Us tributes begin muttering to our district partner about the thought of staying longer just to die. Summer and I simply look at each other with disbelief.

"Quiet down!" she orders.

Our whispering stops.

"That's not all," she continues. "The Game Makers have also asked me to host the mandatory pre-Hunger Games challenges that will take place every three days."

We look at each other questioningly because we all have the same question in our minds.

"Before you ask, let me explain." She points around the room at glass tubes that are equidistant from each other and seem to have enough room to fit eight flour sacks in. "See those glass tubes all around the Training Center? Every three days, each of you has to enter your respective tubes which is marked by your district number. At precisely nine o'clock in the morning, the platforms in the tubes will be lowered to a deep underground floor, in which the Game Makers like to call 'The Arcade'."

Suddenly, I hear my blood pump in my head due to the nervousness I am feeling. What are they gonna make us do down there?

"Now, the arcade is where all of you will be competing in challenges to aid in your judgment on your individual survival skills," she continues. "If you are victorious in the challenges, you will receive a blessing from the Capitol, and we are even kind enough to give you three options to choose from. All in all, there will be twelve challenges all together, and on the thirty-ninth day, the Hunger Games, the true challenge, will take place. I will spare you the details for when we arrive at the arcade, so for now, you may go about the Training Center for about an hour until its closing time at ten o'clock. Tributes, happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

Ms. Foren exits as the round platform descends to the floor.

Immediately, we scatter and diffuse throughout the Training Center to try out the different stations. Summer goes to the fire making station while my curiosity takes over and forces me to explore the different stations this place has to offer.

There's the camouflage station where a girl from District 8 is trying to paint her left arm with the same texture as the synthetic grass. I watch her as her first attempt fails.

Then, I move to a weight station that seems to be empty at the moment, so I give it a try. The rack gives me options of a few weights ranging from five pounds to four-hundred. I start simple with a ten pound weight tossing it at the throwing area and landing slightly past the fifty foot mark.

I grin at my amazing throw and head for a heavier weight. The seventy-five pound weight pulls on my arm as I try to lift it off the rack. There's difficulty in throwing it at first, but I soon find my will power to swing my arm forward and toss the heavy weight. It lands slightly further than the thirty foot mark landing with a loud blang as the metal weight hits the hard floor.

Everyone briefly turns to look at the noise I made, but then they quickly return back to their businesses.

Not wanting any more attention, I move to the next station where there are quite a few treadmills. I run on a treadmill next to one occupied by the girl from District 5.

"Hi," I say to her as I start the treadmill at walking speed.

The girl simply looks at me and continues her jogging.

Maybe she's just out of breath for a conversation. Whatever, it doesn't matter; we might have to kill each other anyway. Soon, I set my treadmill to a steady jogging speed and continue at a steady pace.

After about twenty minutes of jogging, most of the tributes already left for dinner.

I finish jogging as I am drenched in sweat, and there are only about fifteen minutes left before the training center closes. I am in desperate need for a towel, but there aren't any around.

"Cheesecake!" Summer calls to me.

"Sum-mer," I say panting.

"You okay?" she asks as she approaches me from the wildlife station.

"Yeah…" I say inhaling after each word, "I'm just… out of… breath… Can you… get me… a towel?…"

"Sure. I'll just run up to our floor. Do you mind waiting?"

"I'll wait…" I say gratefully.

I find a bench near the combat station to sit and rest up.

This is one of those decisions that I regret because I see the boy from District 2 practicing his sword skills. Surprisingly, he moves with grace instead of brute force. Its like a dance of death when he swings to decapitate a dummy and then stabs another one right through the heart. It's very beautiful actually, but in a sick way.

Then, he yanks his sword out of the dummy and looks to face me.

Again with the evil smile. Gosh, what's wrong with this kid? It's like he wants me dead before the games even start.

To my surprise, he starts walking towards me.

"The hell you looking at?" he asks me.

I didn't even realize I was staring. "Umm… I-I was just… Nothing," I reply.

He continues to walk towards me threateningly. "Are you calling me nothing!"

"Okay, okay!" I say. "I was just admiring your sword skills…" Oh gosh. Why did I just say that?

"Pffffft!" laughter escapes his nose. "Hahaha!" He soon walks away laughing to join the other careers.

Oh, just kill me already. If not by a sword, embarrassment will finish the job. I sit there sweaty and embarrassed. Other tributes are already looking at me weirdly, including the boy from 2. Where's Summer with that towel?

x x

Dinner starts with bread that the avoxes served.

I bite into one expecting a high quality roll of bread. But instead I taste a dry roll that probably isn't kneaded well before being put in the oven. Even I can make better bread than this.

As I eat, I let my thoughts wander. But no matter how far away my enigmatic thoughts travel, they some how end up back to the boy from 2. I really don't know why he keeps popping up in my head considering that I don't even know his name.

"Peeta, is there something wrong? You haven't even touched your vegetable samosas," Effie says across the dinner table.

I didn't even realize I zoned out that long. "Oh, umm... I'm just not hungry," I lie.

"He didn't have a very good first day," Summer interrupts.

"Well, duh!" Haymitch says drunk. "No tribute ever has a good first day. Don't take that upon yourself! Just eat! You're gonna need your energy."

"It's not that. It's…" I pause to think of appropriate words to say. "Never mind. Please, excuse me."

With that, I push my chair out from the table, and walk out the door not caring where I might end up.

While walking the hallways, I keep thinking about my few interactions with the boy from 2 as I try to figure out why he's been giving me death glares. Did I do something wrong? I mean, besides staring. But still, he started at me first. It's only fair that I returned the favor. Maybe he does want to kill me. But at the same time maybe I…

After being lost in the labyrinth of hallways, I decide to enter the main elevator. Inside, I press a room button that's marked with the letter 'R' right above the '12' button. I've never heard of this room before, so I decide to go up. Hopefully it can help take my mind off of him for a bit. The doors close, and I feel like I gain a few extra pounds as the elevator makes its way up.

As I exit the elevator, I am greeted by an empty room with thick windows acting as the outer walls.

I decide to walk towards the edge of the room to see the view. Then, I am assaulted by a city of lights right in front of my eyes. I thought the Capitol looked beautiful during the day, but at night, it looks even more magnificent. It's ridiculous. The scene is like a firework show in each building, and I'm shocked at how bright it is during the night time.

But if there's one thing I notice, the sky is different.

There's no stars.

Back in District 12, the night may not be as bright as the Capitol, but our district is illuminated by the beautiful stars that twinkle with luster.

Here in the Capitol, It's like the lights here on earth is overpowering the natural lights up in the heavens. It doesn't seem right to me.

After a good hour of just sitting near the window, clearing my thoughts of… him, and absorbing the cityscape, I hear the elevator make that ding sound. Then, it opens revealing the male tribute from District 2.

Oh gosh. He's probably here to kill me now. Why wouldn't he? He's already pushed me twice, and he's advanced towards me with his sword.

"Twelve!" he says.

"How'd you find this place, Two?" I ask.

He snickers. "Umm… I pressed the 'R' button? I was pretty curious so I pressed it, and now I'm here." He walks to the window and takes a seat on the floor across next to me. His hazel brown eyes reflecting the luminance of the city.

"Okay…? So what do you want from me, Two?"

"Well, honestly, I was looking for you."

"What for?" I question.

"Look, Twelve, I know I've been intimidating you right from the get go," he starts. "But that's just my act for people to be scared of me. I have a reputation to keep. Anyway, I saw you throw those weights, and I saw you run for twenty minutes straight without getting too tired."

"Well technically, I was jogging." I reply.

"That doesn't matter," he says. "What I'm trying to ask is… Will you be part of the careers?"

I look at him in complete surprise. "Me? A career?"

"Yeah, Twelve! We can really use you."

I pause for a moment to organize my hurricane of thoughts. If I join, there's a chance I can convince them to keep Summer safe. But if I don't, both of us may not stand a chance out in the arena.

"So what's your answer?" he asks.

"No," I reply.

"What? Why?"

"I have my reasons, Two," I say as I shift to a different seating position.

"Like what?" He seems annoyed at me now.

"Well first, I don't even know your name-."

"Name's Cato," he interrupts.

"And secondly, you said you can use me. I, for one, am tired of being used. My mom used me as a punching bag, the Capitol is using me for their entertainment, but I will not be used by a few careers who will end up killing me anyways. So no."

"Listen, you're only saying no because you want something in return. Am I right?"

"Well…"

"See? I knew it. How about a blow job?" he proposes nonchalantly.

I look at him wide eyed in shock of what he just offered me. And… is he gay too? "What!" I ask in disbelief.

"It's simple trade. It's more of a bribe actually," he explains. "You join the careers, you get the blow job of your life. No pun intended."

"What?" I say again. "No! Th-that's… ugh! No!" I can't even put proper words into my mouth. "That's just wrong!" I say as I make my way into the elevator and press the '12' button.

"Well that's too bad!" he yells form across the room. "People say I'm an amazing sex toy!"

Author's Notes: Okay so for further explanation, the pre-Games' purpose is to train the tributes so the capitol has a more interesting entertainment.

Anyway, I don't think I showed Cato's aggressive side too well. What do you guys think?

Well, I decided to try to post every Wednesday because Friday isn't working out for me. Please review! and Oppinions are good! :) Thanks! I hope you enjoyed reading!