All right, guys. First off, Lorax is about to hit 1,000 views. Yeah! Labyrinth is over 4,600, just so you guys know. Also, we're almost at 40 reviews and not even to the Games yet. You guys are great, and I'd love to hit 120 by the time this is over. To do that, maybe 5 reviews per chapter is what I'll need.

I decided to have a tribute ball instead of the interviews. I give all credit to Hoprocker for the idea, and I thought that this was the best way to sort of finalize all of the alliances heading into the Games.

Anyway, here are the current poll results for favorite character. I don't know how much longer I will have it up, but here they are:

1st: Zelda with 6 (!) votes

2nd: Gauge and Karla with 3 votes

4th: Brett, Glory, Lace, Memphis, Ryla, Taysom, and Twilight with 2 votes each

10th: Dalton, Duncan, Flyte, Jay, Jessie, Noelle, Paolina, Preston, Ryla, Sparkle, and Vander with 1 vote each

20th: Dax, Garnet, Gleam, and Jasper with no votes

With that, let's bring on the last pre-Games chapter of Lorax! And, before anyone says it, let me say it for you: "THIS SCENE REMINDS ME OF NARNIA!"

This was a new twist. Something that had never been done before.

Normally, after the interviews had occurred, the tributes were sent back to their rooms for their last night in the Capitol, at least for twenty-three of them. They would only interact with their district partners until the next morning, when they would fly off to the arena, and then they'd most likely be simply trying to kill each other in order to become the victor. That was just the way it worked.

However, to celebrate Glacier Jackalburg's first year as the Head Gamemaker, and the sixty-fourth Hunger Games, they were going to have a tribute ball on the night before the Games began, in order to commemorate this momentous occasion. He'd made it to the Games.

Before the ball officially began, the tributes were to be required to perform a choreographed dance routine for the Capitol to see. This consisted of each tribute dancing with their district partner. They would have to hold hands in a do-si-do manner, and walk towards the edge of the stage. Then, the boy would crouch onto his stomach, and the girl would plunge an imaginary knife into his back. This was to symbolize that you couldn't trust anyone, not even your own district partner. Then, the boy would do the same to the girl. Finally, all twenty-four tributes would gather together in a circle, holding hands, and spin everyone around until they all got together in the middle and put their hands in the middle, like a Little League team pledging to win the upcoming game. This was to signify that, despite the Hunger Games, all of Panem was united under the Capitol.

Needless to say, these were two very contradictory messages, but it wasn't the tributes' place to protest it. Most of them loathed the Capitol, and hated anything having to do with the Hunger Games, but there were definitely some counterexamples.

One of the most important counterexamples of the Capitol-hating tribute was Glory. As she danced with Garnet, she thought that maybe, just maybe, she could trust her district partner. He was a little cocky, but not nearly as much so as Horatio had been. She thought back to her interview. Without sharing her whole life story, she had described how much she revered the Capitol. Garnet, too, had spoken about how long he'd been training for the Hunger Games and how determined he was. Unfortunately, one or both of them would die in the Hunger Games.

Brett and Twilight were most definitely an awkward pairing. Twilight seemed to find the fact that this greasy-haired boy who looked like some sort of street con was being made to dance with her very, very rage-inducing. In hindsight, it might not have been the best idea to talk about her helping at her mother's clinic back in District 2. That could put a target on her back. Brett, meanwhile, was glad that he hadn't revealed the true reason he had volunteered; so as to win over the father of Estonia Jenkins, the only person in the entire district he loved.

Gauge was pissed at Zelda for joining the Careers. After the dance, they would finalize who was and who was not in the Career pack. Zelda had gotten a seven, and, in her interview, she had talked about video games quite a lot. She had seemed obsessed with it. Gauge hoped that he had done as good a job as her, but he somehow doubted it.

As for Memphis and Sparkle, he had held off in his interview from talking about Zoe, because he didn't figure that the Capitol needed more of that. He was just very annoyed that Sparkle was still in the Career pack, when she'd gotten a score of 3. What was the logic in that?

Gleam was suspicious of Preston. He'd gotten a nine, and who was to say that he wasn't secretly an ally of the Careers? In her interview, she'd tried to talk about mundane things, like her favorite food in the Capitol, while Preston had also held off on describing his skills. He'd let the Capitol see for themselves, apparently.

Duncan and Jay were both very young tributes, and it was another awkward pairing. These two District 6 tributes both looked unlikely to win, but that was just how it went. Hopefully, their interview performances had gotten them enough sponsorship possibilities in order to have a chance at winning the Games.

Taysom and Karla danced naturally together. Taysom wasted no time during his interview talking about his family and the reason he had volunteered to be in the Hunger Games, in order to save Paul. Karla talked about how Taysom was like a brother to her. Even though Karla had three older brothers at home, she still favored Taysom greatly over all of them. Although she could never have said that onstage, she had begun to feel as if she could be so fortunate as to win the Games with him, while the rational side of her knew that was impossible.

The choreography came naturally to Jasper, who hoped that his interview outfit had turned some heads. Lace, who was somewhat homophobic, despised the thought of dancing with someone who was not possibly attracted to her. Unfortunately, she had no way out of it.

Dax was resigned to his fate, and had been for a long time. The interview had mainly focused on Aurora, and how unlucky the Baylor family, as well as the Wheatlands, the impoverished region of District 9 in which Dax lived, had been. As for Paolina, she'd tried to avoid saying too much, either about her opposition to the Hunger Games or her family's rebel activities. She had been very relieved when the interview was over.

Dalton and Ryla were yet another awkward pairing. They clearly didn't want to dance together, and neither of them felt that they had made a very big impression on the Capitol in their interviews. Neither of them expected to do well in the Games, either.

Vander just wanted the song to stop. During the interview, he had talked a lot about his faith for the benefit of the cameras. It had been genuine, of course, but he didn't know if that had been a good idea or not. Noelle thought that she had come across as the "cute girl" that everyone wanted to root for, and she kind of liked it. It might actually make the Capitol root for her, she hoped.

Flyte was proud of his interview performance, as was Jessie. They'd felt like they had shored up their strengths and weaknesses as much as they could. They both wanted the song to be over, and thankfully for them, it almost was.

Finally, the song reached its last line. The tributes all got into a circle, spun around, and put their hands in the middle. After they lifted them up, the cameras were turned off and tributes were free to roam around the garden, for what would be the last evening of some of their lives.

There were buffet tables arranged around the courtyard, holding everything from steak to mashed potatoes to vegetables to brownies. There was, of course, the dance floor, and live music being played by the Capitol's favorite band, Newington The People. It was led by Nick Newington, a twenty-something Capitolite who looked like a surfer dude. He was clearly apathetic to the reality of the Hunger Games, and Paolina really wished that she could knock some sense into him.

And, in the center of it all, there was a life-sized statue of Coriolanus Snow. It wouldn't have sounded impressive, except for one thing.

The statue was made entirely out of Turkish Delight. It was all green and pink and red and yellow. Needless to say, it was not the normal coloration of Panem's president, but no one cared, least of all Duncan. When he saw the statue made out of candy, he instantly made a beeline for it, not caring how juvenile it looked. This was very possibly his last night alive, and he wanted to make the most of it. If there truly was nothing else after this life, he needn't worry about being embarrassed in the future. And, if he did survive, everyone else who would know would be dead, because he would have won the Hunger Games.

Duncan took a slab from it and put it in his mouth. It tasted very sweet and gooey on the inside, the rose flavoring heaven on his taste buds. He instantly went back for more.

In the meantime, the Underdog Alliance didn't really care about a random thirteen-year-old loner from District 6. Instead, they were focused on finalizing their plan for the following morning. The six tributes in the alliance backed into a distant corner of the garden, from which it was highly unlikely that anyone else would be able to hear them.

"So...this is everyone, right?" Taysom asked the group. They all nodded, and, giving a quick head count, Taysom, not always the sharpest tool in the shed, verified that every member of the alliance was indeed present.

"All right...so let's talk about the strategy for tomorrow morning at the Cornucopia. When the gong rings out, I want to run away, as quickly as possible. We'll come up with some safe space-"

"But we won't know the layout of the arena until we actually get there, and if we try to communicate during the countdown, we'll get cut down by the Careers" Lace pointed out pompously. Taysom wished that she wasn't so brutally honest. Honestly, there was something about that girl that he just didn't like. Whether it was her attitude or just the way she carried herself, he wasn't a fan of Lace Werhts. Of course, though, they needed as many people in their alliance as they could get.

"We'll make eye contact during the countdown, and then we'll silently agree. Or, we'll all find each other during the actual Bloodbath, and then we'll all run away together" said Jasper. The gay boy from District 8 was clearly the voice of reason here. He was wearing the same outfit as in his interview, a flamboyant jungle green, indigo, and international orange shirt with black pants. It wasn't necessarily the package from which you would expect to hear such sage advice.

"That sounds like a good idea to me" Noelle said. "How about you, Vander?"

Noelle's much older district partner nodded, but he still had a hand on his Bible. He still seemed to be praying, and in his interview he had of course talked a lot about his Christian faith. Noelle wished that Vander would listen to what Taysom had to say. He could believe in his God, but he would have to pull his own weight, and not pray while he should be running away from the Careers.

But it turned out that he was completely lucid. "I think that we should go with Taysom's idea" he said. "That idea of nonverbal communication sounds good to me".

Karla and Noelle both approved that idea, because they knew that this was the best way to make sure that all of them met up together at a location perhaps half a mile or a mile away from the Cornucopia. That definitely seemed like a good plan to make sure that everyone was accounted for. Then, they would run away into the woods somewhere, or whatever arena they happened to be in. Of course, if it was another maze like last year's arena had been, it wasn't going to be possible. However, it seemed highly unlikely to Vander that the Gamemakers would do the same thing twice.

The Underdog Alliance then disbanded and walked around the buffet tables, continuing to sample the exotic food that the Capitol had prepared for them.

At the same time, Duncan was still at the Turkish delight statue of Snow. He had used a butter knife to cut out ten small cubes of it, which had all been very tasty indeed. But something about it made him crave even more after he had already eaten some. He popped another piece in his mouth, and he instantly wanted more. If he could have, he would have simply abandoned the knife and just gone all straight for it, tearing down the statue, but he didn't want to fall in the wine fountain, as that would be pretty embarrassing.

Little did Duncan, or any of the other tributes, know, there was something weird about this Turkish delight. Specifically, it had been genetically engineered so that you would keep wanting more and more of it, and would continue to eat as much as you possibly could until you dropped and had a heart attack. This was indeed a diabolical trick by the Capitol. If the tributes had thought that the Games hadn't started yet, they were very, very, wrong, and Duncan was going to pay for that wrongness with an awful stomachache in the morning.

But right now, he didn't know, or care. All he knew was, the more he ate, the more he wanted- no, the more he had to eat. It felt like a compulsion.

Far away from the gorging boy from District 6, the Careers were all meeting together to have a final discussion on their strategy.

"So...we're all going in, right?" Sparkle asked the others.

"The last time I checked, that was the plan" said Brett. "What do you guys think of that?"

"Sounds great!" Glory exclaimed.

"The more tributes, especially the big threats, we can get out at the Bloodbath, the better, I should think" Garnet replied. "Who got which scores again? I'd been a little distracted because of training for my interview". At those last few words, Garnet winked one of his blue eyes, looking very pleased with his idea.

"Well, let's see" Memphis said. "That wimpy guy from District 5. What was his name again, Piston or something like that?"

"Preston" Twilight said.

"Preston Wagner, now I remember. He got a nine, didn't he? We should target him, no?" Memphis asked. His words were already slurring slightly, because he had had three drinks of wine. Already, some of the tributes were getting slightly intoxicated from the beverage set out before them in the fountain. Wordlessly, the Careers all took a look at the President Snow statue made entirely out of Turkish delight. Duncan Lane was still sitting at its base, cutting and eating small wedges the size of a two-by-two cube of dice.

"He's going to have one hell of a stomachache in the morning" Zelda said. "He's being really foolish. I mean, there's no way that they'd just give us all that candy for free!"

"I don't know" Glory said. "I really could go for some of that!"

"No, please, please don't go for it" Brett said. "I read a story once. There was an evil queen who tempted a little boy into betraying his siblings by eating a shit-ton of Turkish delight. I feel like this might be a reference to that".

"There is no way that I could eat that much!" Sparkle blurted out of nowhere. Instantly, she wished she hadn't said that. I REALLY hope they didn't just deduce my secret!

Luckily for Sparkle, no one other than her own district partner, whom she had already told, seemed to pay much attention to that. They were too focused on another important question, that being whether or not Zelda was going to be a member of the Career pack or not.

"I think that she scored well enough" Twilight said. "A seven isn't great, but Brett got an eight. And Sparkle only got a three and we're keeping her!"

Twilight said that last sentence in a tone that made it clear she didn't approve of the fact that Sparkle was still a member of the alliance.

"Who said we're keeping Sparkle?" Garnet asked. "Not with such a low score, we're not".

"Strength in numbers, Garnet" Memphis replied. "We're not leaving Sparkle alone. We can always kill her off later if she doesn't prove to be a useful member of the Career pack. And I think that she might just die in the Bloodbath, if she's really that bad".

Sparkle didn't feel happy about what her district partner had just said. However, she was glad that Memphis was at least advocating for her staying in the group, which definitely made her feel a little better. She decided that she would just try to enjoy the rest of the evening, and worry about the morning in, well, the morning.

Meanwhile, Karla worked up the courage to approach her much larger district partner. She wanted to make the most of what might very well be their last day alive, and not waste her time with Taysom. She cleared her throat and prepared to ask him the question.

"Hey, Taysom" she said to him.

Taysom just got out of the conversation he had been having with Jasper to face Karla. "What is it, Karla?"

As Karla watched Preston pour wine into a pyramid of glasses that he had constructed himself, she knew that she was going to have to say it soon. "Do you want to dance with me?"

Taysom's eyes lit up. "I thought you'd never ask".

Together, the two of them hit the dance floor. They seemed natural together, as if they were actually brother/sister. It did look a little weird, considering that Karla was approximately a foot shorter than her district partner, who was easily able to pick her up into his arms.

However, there was one tribute who was far less happy with her district partner. Jay was eating a piece of brisket while watching Duncan completely gorge himself on Turkish delight. By now, Snow's arms had both been amputated to about three inches beyond the elbow, and Duncan had also cut into his stomach. Jay wondered if this was his strategy for the Games, but she highly doubted it. After all, if Duncan was really trying to practice his knife skills, he probably would not also be eating the candy as well. One thing was for sure; that boy would not be feeling well in the morning, and he would only have himself to blame for that.

Jay thought a bit about her own score. She had gotten a score of ten, and had no doubt that it was because the Gamemakers had wanted to make her a target. They knew that she was one of the infamous Jordan family. They didn't want her surviving the Hunger Games, because then it might send a message that crime was okay. The Capitol definitely did not like to condone illegal activities, although they did kill a lot of innocent people.

Ryla was trying to stay out of the spotlight. As she took a second slice of lemon meringue pie, she caught her district partner's eye. Dalton was chatting up Gleam, but she knew that they weren't going to form any alliances once they actually got into the arena. After all, Dalton himself had told her that he wasn't going to join any alliances, and Ryla, as much as she didn't really like her district partner, agreed with him on that. She didn't want her and another person to make it to the end together, only to have one of them be forced to kill the other one off.

Instead, Ryla decided to watch the statue of President Snow, which had now undergone a full-arm lobotomy. That was a disgusting amount of Turkish delight to put in one's gullet, and yet the boy was still going strong. There was no way that kid would survive the Bloodbath. Fuck it, she might even kill him herself, just because he was so stupid and gullible.

If Ryla had yelled at the top of her lungs to tell Duncan to stop eating, the younger boy would not have listened. For Duncan Lane was in another world right now, a world in which the only thing that mattered was the Turkish delight in front of him. With every piece he crammed in his mouth, he needed more of it. And yet he couldn't quite grasp that there had to be something fishy about this Turkish delight statue. And as he finished off on Snow's stump of an arm on his other side, he licked his lips in satisfaction before reaching up to his ear. He put the ear in his mouth whole and swallowed it, but that only made him hungrier.

At the same time, the Careers had gone back to discussing who the biggest threat was. Since Noelle had gotten a twelve, she was an obvious target, but Garnet reminded the rest of the Careers that when someone got a twelve, it was usually meant to make them a target. Noelle was probably nothing spectacular, but, just in case, they would go after her. They couldn't risk it if she was, in fact, a very big threat.

Then, there was Jay Jordan from District 6, who had gotten a ten. It was unlikely it had been through pure skill alone, given that she was such a small girl, but you couldn't judge a book by its cover. That was what everyone always said, and what Glory had always firmly believed. The other Careers also seemed to agree with this, and that they would also target Jay.

The ball went on and on, but eventually, right before they were about to leave, Jay's district partner was the one who stole the show, better than anyone on the dance floor could have. Duncan, who by now had finished up a lot of President Snow's head, and eaten his kneecaps, was still eating Turkish delight. No thirteen-year-old should have been possibly able to eat this much candy, but somehow Duncan found the room in his belly. And the more he ate, the more room was left in his stomach.

Eventually, a horn blew, which announced that the tribute ball was over, and that they were going to have to return to the training center now. Duncan stopped in his tracks. Then, he grimaced, as if he had only now realized just how much Turkish delight he had eaten. He keeled over into the wine fountain and vomited. Now, his shirt was covered in sick and wine, but he didn't seem to care.

Twilight took one look at the District 6 boy and thought, I'm SO glad I didn't eat that!

I'm glad that I didn't accidentally type Edmund instead of Duncan! That would have been bad, but not nearly as bad as Duncan overdosing on Turkish delight. I thought that this was very funny to write, and I just want to clarify that I do not like the Narnia books. In fact, I positively despise The Chronicles of Narnia, it's so boring! At least, in my opinion.

Next chapter is the Bloodbath! I hope you're ready for it ;)