AUTHOR'S NOTE: Happy Holidays... since that's where I was. Anyhoo, now we're pretty much back (there might be a sight delay because of New Years, but I digress) and so the stories will continue. Here's a decade-anniversary story for us, and where the Gamemakers learn a few more things. It's only been 10 years, and this early into the fledgling program I still imagine that they're learning the do's and dont's of an interesting game. Obviously it won't ever be popular with most of the districts, but we all know how little that concerns the Capitol.
Also, some folks might have heard one of the prominent highlights of this game from Katniss before. Maybe; maybe not...
Happy Reading!

The 10th Annual Hunger Games

10 years… it had been 10 years since these sadistic Hunger Games had been instigated, and they did not show any signs of slowing down. The Capitol seemed to enjoy each one more than the last, and seemed to have liked the bloody deaths from last years' games. Surely the Gamemakers would continue to think of ways to make more incidents like that of Mags Cohen occur more often.

Perhaps as a throwback to the very first games, the 10th Annual Hunger Games arena was fairly simple in nature, with grassy plains and a few trees dotting the landscape. Cornucopia supplies were also radically different than anything the tributes had ever seen thus far (which might not have said a lot, but there were still 9 other games to look at for reference). Instead of the usual supplies, there was simply a large collection of weird shaped maces and clubs. Despite their cruelty, however, the Capitol was not about to let the tributes starve when there was so many other much more exciting ways to kill them—but it would require a bit of wit and cunning in order to live off the land.

The primary survivors of the bloodbath were the kids from Districts 11 and 12, who had teamed up, utilizing their strength that they had gained form their various lines of work—and the tributes from Districts 1 and 2, being the "career districts", and thus being trained in the art of combat and endurance back in their home districts already. A few other tributes also escaped from the bloodbath, but it was clear who the bets were on as the primary contenders.

However, that night something interesting and unexpected happened. The sun went down as usual, and the dead tributes' faces showed up in the sky (11 had died that morning). The next morning though, the sun didn't rise. The temperature rose slightly as if the sun was shining, but the night sky from the previous evening lingered, as did the accompanying darkness. These would be night games. Perhaps this explained why the arena had so much open space—it was trickier to spot tributes in the dark.

The cornucopia was not a very strategic point this year given that the supplies were just the otherwise useless maces since the tributes had since armed themselves with the best ones, or gotten sponsor gifts by the time day 2 rolled around.

All but one of the careers this year suffered from a bit of hubris and overconfidence, and as the games wore on, it wound up costing them—the tributes from District 2 as well as the girl from District 1 ended up falling by day 5, one by one. The assailants were the tributes from '11 and '12, who were used to the dark: District 11 because of their long hours that extended into the late evening, and District 12 from being deep in the earth mining coal and other metals.

Only Faren Dragmire, the boy from District 1, survived these ambushes, because he managed to keep a level head and remind Panem that not all of District 1 was arrogant or ditzy or full of themselves. Either way, this year was almost an inverse of what normally happened—instead of the career alliance dominating the arena, it was the tributes from Districts 11 and 12 that swept the others from before them, with Faren being one of the only ones to escape their sights. His first proper encounter with this alliance resulted in a club fight between him and the boy from District 12, who he managed to do in with a mace to the head. It was in this moment that Faren took control of the arena, so to speak, and lured the remaining tributes after him. One by one, he eliminated them, first by taking out the boy from District 11, and then the two girls shortly afterwards.

The only other tribute that had escaped '11 and '12's sights was Robert Orion, a boy from District 5, who appeared to have been spending most of the time building an elaborate contraption in the dark. When Faren finally encountered him, he let it loose—it was a prototype lightning machine that shot real electricity at his District 1 enemy. Feren found himself dodging electrical currents, and briefly wondered where they had come from. Perhaps it was from the arena itself. Luckily for him, the currents were easy to predict—because they were very hard to dodge. One nearly grazed his arm, but armed with one of the wickedest-looking maces that the cornucopia had had to offer, he eventually reached Robert and managed to end him and his machine. Feren Dragmire was now the 2nd victor from District 1, and the 10th victor of the Hunger Games.

He became quite the diurnal creature after his games, given that they had been plunged into eternal darkness with only the moon and stars to light the way. Similarly, he had a particular aversion to electricity, although the reason for that was fairly obvious…

VICTORS BY YEAR:
1HG: Fukaya Kerezaki (#1, District 5)
2HG: Lucy Takamatzu (#1, District 11)
3HG: Naseru Litzak (#1, District 3)
4HG: Naisha Szasz (#1, District 2)
5HG: Jade Prima (#1, District 1)
6HG: Cedar Hardin (#1, District 7)
7HG: Susan Jackman (#2, District 5)
8HG: Malcolm Reed (#1, District 6)
9HG: Mags Cohen (#1, District 4)
10HG: Faren Dragmire (#2, District 1)