It's time for the part we've all been waiting for...


Ch. 7: The Hunger Games Begin


The next day we were escorted to a hovercraft just after we ate breakfast. We went to the roof as the hovercraft, well, hovered over us. Two ladders where let down. One for me and one for Hiccup. I hadn't spoken a word to him since he told me about my headband last night. I had been too afraid to say anything. We were about to head to an arena where we would be made enemies, and he was in love with me and I cared about him. I still wasn't sure if love was the proper word for what I felt.

When we got on we sat down and metal bands immediately closed over our arms. One of the crew told us it was a precaution so that they could implant the tracker. She then stuck a needle in my left bicep and injected something. When she took the needle out I could see the skin seemed slightly raised, and I could see the trackers light flash through my skin. I then saw them do the same thing to Hiccup. After his tracker was embedded the metal bands receded back into the chair's arms.

The journey took a while and though the windows of the hovercraft where usually see through. These had been blacked out to hide our location from us. After what my guess was an hour of flight, we landed. We made for the hovercraft's off ramp and when it opened, saw that we were in an underground installation. We were then escorted to our prep rooms for the games. We reached my room and Hiccup was escorted past me. Since I may never see him again I spoke up.

"Good luck."

He turned and gave me one of his goofy smiles, "You too." I then stepped into the room.

I looked to find Cinna waiting for me with my outfit. The outfit we had worked together to design was like the one I usually wore at home, with some slight modifications. The blue sleeveless shirt and the boots were the same. The black pants had multiple zippered pockets on them all along the legs for me to store stuff in. It made it easier for them to catch on things, but if I was in a desert arena it wouldn't matter. The armbands were also the same as the ones I had back on Berk. The skirt was almost exactly the same, except that the leather looked newer and less worn. For the life of me, I had no idea how Cinna had managed to sneak it in with the metal spikes on it. I also noticed he had managed to sneak in a pair of metal shoulder pads just like the ones I had back home. One thing was for certain, Cinna was full of surprises.

I went into the dressing room to change and stepped back out. It all felt like the clothes I wore back home. I did, however, notice that there seemed to be something in the pouch on my skirt. I opened it up to see the last of the firepowder was inside.

"I know you'll find some use for it out there." He told me.

"Isn't this stuff considered illegal in the Games?"

"There is only one rule in the Hunger Games, and I doubt standing on a platform for a minute has anything to do with powder." He smiled mischievously at me and I couldn't help but give him the same smile back. Me and Cinna, the two all-star trouble makers. I could momentarily imagine the pranks we could have pulled off on Berk if we had both been there when we were younger.

I then hugged Cinna, though making sure to lean in so I didn't hurt him with any of the spikes on my skirt. I then whispered in to him, "Thank you."

"No. Thank you." He whispered back.

Lastly we did my hair in the single braid with bangs hanging over my left eye and put on my token, my favorite headband. The one that turned out to be from Hiccup. I had considered leaving it, knowing it would remind me of him. Then I decided to put it on. If I felt alone I could think of it and feel like part of Hiccup was there with me. And if I won, then part of him would have won as well.

Then I thought of what he said last night. "There might be another way out of the Games. One that might not involve killing anyone in order to win." Then what did he say? "It's not something I can tell you. It's something I have to show you." That settled it. If I can, and if neither of us gets killed, my mission will be to find Hiccup. If there was another way out of this, one in which at least both of us would live. I'd take it.

The anthem started playing and Cinna motioned for me to enter a glass tube near the back of the room. I was nervous. Cinna stopped me just before I stepped in and I turned to look at him.

"I'm not allowed to bet. But if I could, it would be on you. Fight hard, and stay alive out there." He then pressed his lips to my forehead. He cared about me, more than anyone - other than my parents and apparently Hiccup- did anyway. I then realized, for the first time in my life. I had a friend.

"Goodbye Cinna." I couldn't help a small tear that seemed to have made its way into my eye.

"Goodbye Astrid. The Deadly Nadder." Tears had begun to form in his eyes as he smiled at me one last time. I smiled back and stepped into the tube. A glass panel covered the opening. I put my hand to the glass and Cinna did the same.

The platform I was standing on started to rise. I wiped the tears that had been forming as fast as I could. Cinna was my friend, but I still had my Dragon Girl image. And if I had wanted any chance at getting gifts from sponsors, I had to keep that image up. Of course there was only one gift I was looking for at this moment, my axe. After that, I didn't care what I got.

When the arena came into view the first thing I noticed was trees and a blue sky. Then when the platform was in its final raised position, I looked around and saw I was in a circular patch of green grass, surrounded on all sides by forest. I saw the other tributes around me, we were all positioned in a circle. I couldn't see the tributes across from me due to a large cavelike structure in the middle of the field. I looked to my right and just before the cave blocked my view, I could see Hiccup.

Like me he had decided to take on the look he usually wore. Only he had obviously made some helpful improvements. His pants and boots looked the same, it was his shirt and vest that were different. His shirt was now a much more dark leaf colored green. His vest wasn't made of fur like his old one, it was still brown, although now it had patches of green to help with camouflage. I also noticed a large amount of pockets were on the vest.

He looked at me and I turned my attention to the ground. All over were various items, backpacks, food bags, jackets, and weapons, lots and lots of weapons. Maybe under different circumstances I would have liked seeing the wide variety of deadly tools. I had almost always been a bit of a weapon enthusiast. However, these weapons were meant to be used to kill me. I quickly look over the ground to find stuff I could grab before running away. My idea was to grab as much useful stuff as possible without taking too much time in the initial battleground. Defiantly a backpack and a jacket, I had no idea how cold it might get. I also needed to grab a weapon in case no one could send my axe.

I noticed the items I wanted and how I wanted to grab them. No doubt the sixty second wait is almost over. I readied myself for when the alarm goes off. What I'm sure was a few seconds felt like hours have gone by when a loud buzzer went off and me along with it.


Trollololololol. Couldn't resist. :)

Don't worry though, from here on out it should be all action and suspense.