Hey everyone! How's it goin? Well this is the amazing Ch. 9! This is the Training Center! LOL. Alliances will be made and some people, left out. Read adn Review!
Training Center, the next morning
After salvaging what was left of her dignity Andi went back to the District 2 level, which was on the third level above the training center and District 1.
In the morning the escort, Java, came and got them because Enobaria didn't want to be bothered at the moment. At breakfast twice there was a clatter and she looked up to see Achilles had dropped his spoon, spilling cold cereal all over the table.
She rolled her eyes. He really was an idiot.
When they got to the training center the District 1 tributes came out of an elevator at the other end of the room and made their way over to them.
"Hey, where's your guys escort?" Achilles asked.
Sapphire winced and said, "We don't need to be escorted to training."
Quidley sighed. "We can tell them, they are going to be our allies."
"We tied him up and gagged him and left him on the train."
"I think I'm just not going to ask on that one," Achilles replied.
Quidley nodded. "Good idea, So you two will be in the Career alliance?"
"Yeah," Achilles said right away. Then the three of them looked over at Andi, and she laughed at them.
"There is no WAY you will ever catch me in your stupid Alliance! Everyone knows you're all just going to kill each other after a few days, and besides, I'd rather be allies with some decent people."
With that she turned to the nearest station to her, which was Knot Tying.
Sapphire sniffed. "Well. She wasn't worth our time anyway. Let's go check out District 4."
Only when she was sure they were done with her she dared to look back at the Careers. And one of them was looking back at her. Achilles Thornton was staring in her direction with a blank expression, which for some reason made her feel uncomfortable. She shook her head and turned back to the knot tying lesson.
Ricky and Allen were standing next to each other, feeling out of place. Both had never used a lot of the weapons in the room, Ricky had used a knife, trident, and spear before while fishing. Aspen had told them to not talk to the tributes from District 1 or 2 but some of the outlying districts like 7 and 10, but Finnick had laughed and told them that was what he said every year. Finnick had advised them to get on the Careers good side.
When Sapphire, Quidley, and Achilles came in their direction Ricky paled, picked up a knife from a nearby table and started looking at it very carefully.
"What are you doing?" Sapphire asked him.
"I'm...I'm examining this knife," he stuttered.
"You any good with it?" asked Quidley sharply.
"Umm yeah...I fish...and stuff,"
They talked among themselves for a moment.
"He's useless," Sapphire said immediately.
"We need more people though, there's strength in numbers," Quidley argued.
"Uhhh I'm with Quidley," Achilles said. He looked like he was not really paying attention to them and looking at something else, but Quidley nodded.
"Well there you have it. Majority rules." He turned back to RIcky. "Alright, you in?"
He was immensely relieved. "Yes! Definitely!"
Sapphire pointed at Allen. "And what about you? Can you do anything?"
"I...uhh...well..." she couldn't even lie.
"Forget her," Quidley said dismissively. "You coming, 4?"
Once in the training center, Jay quickly put distance between himself and his sister and went over to the axes. The girl from 7 was throwing them, she was a pretty good shot.
He was all right, he hadn't really used weapons much, but at least he was hitting the target every time, which was more than he could say for the girl from 6. She had shaky hands and a limp grasp on the axe.
"Who are you?" she asked, not looking away from the target.
"Jay Alson," he answered, while looking at the Careers. He really hoped they would ask him to be allies, but none of them had as much as even looked at him all morning.
Then he realized the girl was looking at him. She glanced over at the girl from 6, as if she didn't want her to overhear, and said, "I'm Roxanne March. I'm in an alliance with the boy from my district, Jack, and the boy from 6, Cobalt. You want to join?"
"I..." he looked again at the Careers, who were standing in the middle of the room, looking at something.
She laughed. "If they haven't asked you yet, they're not going to."
"Oh..." he said, embarrassed. "Well...I guess I'm in."
The Careers were talking to a girl over by the hand-to-hand combat station. Jay strained to see the number on her shirt. When she turned a little he could clearly see it was an 8. Wait...an 8?! The Careers were inviting Ashley into their alliance? The Careers...his sister...! He hadn't seen what she was doing but it must have been good to get their attention.
Well those stupid Careers were blind. They didn't know real talent when they saw it!
Ashley had been looking for something she might be okay at when she saw the hand-to-hand station. A large poster board showed the various moves and to her surprise, many looked quite familiar. Memories of wrestling with Jay came back to her, and she decided that she MIGHT not fail at that one.
The Careers stood in the middle of the room, looking for someone who might be of use to them.
"Okay this is boring. Why don't we actually do something?" Sapphire asked.
"We need to develop the alliance," Quidley explained for the hundredth time.
"Well call me out when you find someone. I'll be over there," she said, pointing to the archery station.
Achilles shrugged. "Hey, fine by me."
She's a real good shot, thought Quidley, then was slightly alarmed at that thought.
A couple minutes later, Achilles broke the silence.
"How about her?" Achilles asked, jerking a thumb at the District 8 girl.
"Ehhh..." said Sapphire who had gotten bored of archery, but Quidley interrupted. "Hey, look at that!"
The girl had a trainer pinned to the mat so he couldn't get up.
"She's good at hand-to-hand," Sapphire commented.
"Good? She's great!" Quidley said.
As usual Quidley did the introductions. "Hello," he said. "We were watching you, and we wondered... how did you get so good at hand-to-hand?"
She smiled nervously. "I used to wrestle with my brother a lot."
"Hey, isn't he here too?" Ricky asked.
"Yeah, right over there," She said, pointing over her shoulder at a tall blond guy who was glaring at them.
"Well are you in the Careers or not?" Achilles asked.
The reply was yes.
In the District 11 level that night, Cherry seemed mad at Chris for some reason. During dinner he thought about all the reasons that might be, then he remembered.
That morning in the elevator, she had tenuously asked if he wanted to be allies. Surprised, he had said no before he could think about what he was saying. Then he hadn't seen her again until their escort had come to pick them up at the end of the day.
A feeling he recognized as guilt. She was so small, how would she ever survive the Games? He resolved then that no matter what, he would keep a watch out for his district partner.
