Here is Chapter 7! Enjoy!
Chapter 7: Behind the Tree
The birds were chirping as they flew from tree to tree, and the citizens of District Seven, the Lumber District, were making their way to the Justice Building for the Reapings. Groups of humans, Inklings, Pokémon, Pikmin, animal villagers, Koopas, Goombas, and jelly people were among the citizens. They all seemed to have their own little cliques, but most people walked by themselves today except for the Inklings, who were all walking in a group together. The sun was beating down on everyone, but it was cold still.
The crowd was silent, and a small orange fox landed on the stage. He seemed to be using his tails as some form of propeller or something. Many of the animal villagers glared at him as he walked up to the microphone in his big red shoes, but everyone else didn't seem to mind him. "Welcome District Seven!" The fox yelled out loudly as he wiped his brow. You could tell he was nervous, but no one knew why. It's not like he was going into the Hunger Games or anything. "Here's the introductory v-video!" He stuttered. The video began to play, and then after a few minutes it finished up. There was some Inkling in the crowd who had fallen asleep, and his peers were silently drawing on his face with colored ink.
"O-okay!" The fox stuttered again. "My name is Tails! I am your Escort again as you probably already know!" Tails smiled awkwardly, and some light brown female cat named Kitty in the audience gave him the finger. Tails laughed and pretended like he didn't see it. "We're already quite behind. So let's start!" Tails said. The crowd went silent, except for some of the Inklings who were trying not to laugh out loud for some reason. Tails grabbed the first name out of the bowl, and read the name out loud. "Olimar!" Tails yelled. A small man in a light yellow spacesuit walked up to the stage. He seemed to stumble on the stairs, and he fell on his glass helmet. Some small Pikmin came rushing up to him and helped him up. He waved at them in thanks, and then took his spot. Tails nodded at Olimar, and Olimar seemed to be sweating inside his spacesuit.
Tails proceeded to pick the next name. "Villager!" Tails said. Everyone waited for a while for someone to come up, but no one ever did. "Umm...anyone?" Tails asked again. The crowd looked around, and some of the BLADE members were searching the crowd. All of a sudden, someone tugged on one of the orange fox's tails. Tails looked behind him and saw Olimar, who then proceeded to point his finger to the side of the stage. Tails looked over and saw a small boy with light brown hair and big brown eyes. He was standing halfway behind the tree, and you could only see half his face. "Hello!" Tails said with a smile. "Are you Villager?" The boy didn't say anything, and continued to stare at Tails with that same creepy smile. Tails began sweating himself and looked at a BLADE, who gave him the thumbs up that the boy was indeed Villager.
"Well we are just gonna proceed then." Tails said. He then picked the next piece of paper and called out the name. "Roy!" Tails yelled. The crowd cheered, and people cheered out. "Roy's our boy!" The crowd cheered. Tails seemed happy that one of the tributes seemed popular. "How are you Roy?" Tails asked as the young lad toon his place next to Olimar. "I'm doing most fine, thank you." Roy said as he took a bow towards Tails. Tails blushed a little, and then smirked brightly. "I'm glad to hear!" Tails said. "How do you think you will fair in these games?" Roy stood back up, and then smiled. "I'm not sure." Roy said. "But I have a burning fire in my heart, and I won't let it die out." The crowd continued to cheer. Tails smiled again and picked another piece of paper.
As Tails was unwrapping the last piece of paper, he noticed something odd. The Villager was still standing halfway behind that tree, but somehow it had moved more towards the front of the stage towards a group of Inklings who didn't even notice. Tails got the chills as the Villager continued to stare at him with those big brown unblinking eyes. Tails ignored the feeling, and thought the heat of the sun was making him see things. Tails coughed before reading the name. "Link!" Tails said loudly. A young tall boy dressed in green walked up to the stage in silence. His face was blank, and no one seemed to recognize him.
"How are you, Link?" Tails asked. "The young boy smile and nodded his head. Tails smiled back, but thought it was odd that the boy didn't speak back. Tails then faced the crowd again and smiled. "And there we have our tributes!" Tails said loudly. "Olimar, Villager, Roy, and Link!" The crowd somewhat cheered, but Tails seemed please enough." "See you all next ye-" Tails was cut off by the sound of a loud crashing noise and multiple Inkling screams. "Woomy!" Was heard near the front of the stage as many Inklings were running around with their arms in the air.
Tails seemed shocked at the sight before him. There was a giant pool of green Inkling blood near the front of the stage. A twitching hand could be seen from underneath the tree trunk that had seemed to have fallen on top of the green Inkling boy. Tails got chills up his spine as he spotted the Villager still staring at him. He was standing next to the fallen tree trunk, but for some reason he was holding a small axe in his hand. Tails didn't even wait for the Villlager to enter the Justice Building because he didn't want to be near that thing. He closed the big doors behind him, and the last thing he saw was a twinkle of light shining brightly in one of the Villager's eyes.
