PrettyLittleFuhrmanizer: Don't worry about Cato. He's coming up. No, what I meant is what other little children at other couples' weddings think of it. Not necessarily the couple in question's child.

Guest: Aww... thanks so much!

ImagineThePossibility: Really? I'm not used to being funny in my writing. That means a lot. Thank you!

Athena's gray owl: Thanks!

Gabsters 1, 2, and 3: 1) You like Cinder/Thresh? Great! I don't think I'll add any specific tribute yet. There'd be too many. 2) Can you get that? More specifically, can you get that from my stories? 3) I'm not sure how I feel about dead readers...

If We Burn You Burn With Us123: I'm struggling to keep up, since I have so much I have to do in the real world.

Upon a viewer somehow dying from story withdraw, *cough* *mumble* *cough*, I'm updating. But just this once. I'm prescribing some medicine for my viewers dying of the withdraw right now.


Clove

The increasing rate of the crumbling behind us made us run faster and faster. I could keep up, seeing as I'm light and fast, but Thresh was a more bulky, slightly clumsy, and a bit slower guy carrying a 12-year-old girl on her back. Why was this so much like the Hunger Games? Why was Cinder torturing us like that? Suddenly, the ground under Thresh caved in, and Thresh threw Rue to me.

"Run, tree hopper!" I cried, catching her and dropping her next to me as Thresh fell through the hole, only to be jerked up by the harness. Rue ran, dragging me along.

We ran... And ran... and ran... until we got to the top of the plateau where we all had started. The crumbling ground behind us stopped, and I stared down my opponent.

Cato.

Looking around, I saw Cinder, Glimmer, Marvel, Thresh, Marla, Trevor, and Ethan, literally hanging around, watching the scene.

"We meet again, Cato!" Rue said in a dramatic, low voice. Everyone laughed at the little one.

"We meet again, Rue," Cato mimicked, his smirk playful. Then he looked directly at me. "Oh, and hello, my name is Cato, and you are?"

"Clove, and I will pelt you with dodgeballs," I answer teasingly, my hands on my hips. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rue slowly and stealthily trying to approach Cato.

"Oh no you don't," Cato teased as he turned and hit Rue in the forehead with a dodgeball, and Rue was yanked into the air.

"Rue!" I gasped dramatically, my hand to my mouth. Then I turned to face Cato. "Let's end this."


It was an all out war. My spectator friends were in it, gathering the stray dodgeballs and throwing them in. I was nimble and graceful, but Cato was a brute force who deflected my dodgeballs with his own, reflecting them so hard that they bounced right back to me. Of course, I couldn't let it hit me, and I couldn't run the risk of catching it, in case I didn't.

"It's time for your own doom!" Cato bellowed.

I chuckled. "Yeah right, Cato."

"Hell yeah!" Cato roared.

That did it, I burst out laughing, doubling over in laughter. I actually fell onto the hard dirt, Cato, thinking it was the perfect opportunity, chucked a ball at me -

Only for me to raise a dodgeball in the air and counter it. Shocked, Cato stood still for a few seconds, and a ball was flying in the air...

Thunk.

"Clove wins!" Cinder exclaimed as the harness lowered everyone down.

"No fair, Clove took advantage of me!" Cato whined playfully as the arena evaporated and was replaced with the normal, overwhelmingly large gym.

I socked him in the shoulder. "You took advantage of me too, buddy."

"Wha - I did NOT!" he pouted like a little kid.

Just then, Rue decided to leap on Cato's back. "You little big muscular guy!" she teased, tickling him.

"H-Hey!" Cato jerked away from Rue's wiggling fingers. "That tickles!"

"It's supposed to, numbskull," I laughed, flicking him lightly on the forehead.


"Voting's today," Marla worried. It was the morning after the dodgeball game.

"What, no speeches?" Cato asked.

"This isn't a democracy," Trevor teased, "it's a I-don't-know-you-but-I'll-vote-for-you-anyway government."

We all laughed. "So when is it?" Cinder inquired. "The voting?"

"6:30 PM," Ethan replied. "Don't forget our little deal," he reminded.

"Who's in it again?" Marvel asked, his face in complete confusion.

"Cinder, Ethan, Marla, Thresh and Trevor," Glimmer rattled off the names like it was nothing, counting the names on her fingers. "Yup, that's all of them."

"C'est super cool!" Rue thrilled out in French.

"Bien entendu, oui? Nous n'avons pas de voter en Panem," Cinder replied just as smoothly.

"Huh?" Cato asked, the bumbling idiot. The bumbling idiot I so loved, I should add.

"I'm guessing she said we don't vote in Panem," I pointed out. "Since she said 'voter' and 'Panem,' and I put it together. Am I the only one?"

"I knew," a chorus of voices answered simultaneously.

"You know what?" Cato snarled under his breath. This was what I'd been afraid of. He stood up, slammed his tray on the ground with a thundering clash. "(BEEP) you! I (BEEP)ing hate you all! (Insert several curse words of your choice.) Screw all of you!"

Everyone fell silent as Cato knocked over a few inanimate objects such as a trash can, a pole, a door, and left, his marks clearly left in the massive dents in the things his fist met.

"Was he on his medicine?" Marla asked, her voice fearful.

"I don't think he was," Glimmer said somberly.

"What could've made him forget?" Ethan puzzled.

"He lost to Clove last night," Marvel said flatly.

"So?" Rue tilted her head to one side, confusion painted all over her face.

"Cato hates being one-upped, beaten, and basically being second place," Glimmer explained.

"That was why he hated District 12 at the parade," Marvel continued.

"And why he especially despised Katniss when she got her 11," I finished.

"Well," Ethan and Trevor shared a look, before Ethan continued. "What do we do now?"


I have finals coming up, and I'm completely terrified. So bear with me. I also have a new story, "Until Our Time Comes," which I adopted from storyfrikk, that you can all read. See you!

~squirmyorchid~