Disclaimer I do not own either series.

Chapter 10

Percy Pov

Why does life have to be so complicated? Percy had another dream about the blonde haired girl, only this time she was accompanied by queen peacock lady. Well, he didn't know if that was her actual name, but she had a regal face, wore a crown and an elegant white dress, and seemed to be "one with the peacocks". He knew how that sounded, but she was commanding the peacocks to attack the blonde haired girl, while shouting insults at her. Percy so badly wanted to help, but he couldn't move or call out to her. It didn't look like she needed it though. She seemed to be holding her own, sort of like a… hot, blonde, ninja princess. It was giving him a massive headache, and he didn't even think that was possible in dreams.

Percy woke up to Effie's knocking. He was trying to figure out the meaning of the dream, but he couldn't concentrate with all the banging. Who is that girl, and why do I feel so connected to her. And why were Peacocks attacking her? This really confused the way he felt about Katniss. Scratch that, more confused than he already was. "Get up Percy!" Effie said in a forced pleasant tone, "We don't need a repeat of yesterday.

Percy groaned, "I'm up! You can stop your banging!" why does my life have to be so complicated? Who did I piss off to deserve this? He got up and took a shower, brushed his teeth and got into a pair of brown khakis shorts and a plain white t-shirt.

He looked at the table to see Effie, Katniss, and surprisingly Haymitch. Katniss was refusing to look at him. Percy couldn't figure out if he was hurt or relieved by that. He ate as much as he could. Eggs, bacon, waffles, fruit, hash browns, breakfast sausage, pork roll sandwiches, and a lot of water. Finally Effie looked at her watch and told them it was time to go. Percy was kind of relieved because the silence was getting to him. On their way out Haymitch told Katniss "remember not to use the bow and arrow station, no need to let the tributes know your secret weapon." She nodded and pressed the button for the training center.

It was just Percy and Katniss now, "Soooo…," he attempted to break the ice, "lovely weather we're having?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.

She still wasn't looking at him, "we're inside an elevator."

"Oh, right," Percy rubbed his neck sheepishly feeling himself blush, "hey I didn't do something to make you mad did I?"

"Which part are you referring too? Taking me up to "get to know each other"?, the mind games?, kissing me?" she said heatedly

"Well,…" Percy ventured. "If I had to guess… I'd say all three," it sounded pretty accurate to him.

She looked at Percy for the first time today; she looked at him with such venom he kind of wished she would stop. "Wow," she said with mock praise, "You might not actually be as dumb as you look."

"Ok, that was just hurtful," Percy said in shock. She kept her guarded expression.

"Look everything I said is true. I'm not playing mind games. I swear on the…" Percy stopped confused.

"What?," Katniss asked momentarily forgetting her anger.`

"I don't know, something just came to me," it was fading faster than it appeared.

He growled in frustration and punched the elevator wall causing an echoed bang. Just then the elevator doors opened, and the staring faces of tributes greeted them.

The head instructor looked at them coldly and said mockingly, "you two would be better off in theater with your dramatics."

Percy rolled his eyes and said to Katniss, "She's almost as mean as you."

Katniss gave him a glare. He gave her a grin.

After the last tributes had arrived the training lady said, "Ok, this is your last full day to train, so I'd get to it." The crowd dispersed into various stations.

They decided to go to the most common weapon stations first, to make sure they had enough time to train with weapons sure to be in the games. That meant first they would be going to the knife throwing station. There's basically two separate parts in the knife station. One is for knife throwing and one is for knife fighting. Percy was all right at the knife throwing section. It wasn't his cup of tea, but he managed to hit the target in the head or chest every time. He wasn't able to get any specific places like the eye or heart, but apparently he was good enough to get Clove's attention. She came up behind him and whispered in his ear, "we could make a good team, you and us." She gestured to the other four careers that were trying to look intimidating to the other tributes, and doing a fine job he might add. The district two tribute was getting awfully close to him

"Thanks but I already have an ally," Percy said apologetically.

"Oh her? You could do much better," She put a hand on his chest. Percy wondered what that meant.

"Look I really appreciate the offer, but I'm only going if Katniss goes." Percy said more forcefully, removing her hand. Katniss seeing the commotion came up behind him.

"What's the problem," Katniss was talking to Percy but looking at Clove venomously.

"Nothing she was just asking where I learned to throw knives." Percy lied deciding there was no reason to stir up more tension.

"Yeah," Clove gave a forced smile, "He's almost as good as me," then she picked up a knife and hit the dummy right between the eyes. "Almost." She smiled and gave him a wink before walking away.

Percy cleared his throat, "So how's the knife fighting lesson going?"

She paused looking at him for a second, "not too bad I guess, I might not be entirely incapable at defending myself if I have a knife. What about you?"

Percy pointed to the knives in the firing range, "Same here."

"Thought you never used a weapon before?" she questioned.

"I don't know, maybe, it's hard to think about my time before the reaping for too long." He shrugged.

Well let's switch up."

"I thought you already knew how to throw a knife?'

"I may have gotten slightly lucky on the train." She said sheepishly.

Percy went to try out some of the daggers they had. The instructor was able to point out flaws in his technique, but he was able to figure it out pretty quickly. Percy sparred with the instructor. She seemed kinda slow actually. Percy was able to dodge all of her strikes though she able to block his own. Finally he was able to sweep her legs out from under her. She landed on the matt and his dagger was at her throat. He offered his hand and she begrudgingly took it. "Your not bad, you sure you've never fought with a knife before? The technique could use improvement but the reflexes and speed you used were some of the best natural talent I've ever seen."

Percy could feel himself blushing under the compliment, "Thanks, I just… I guess I just got good reflexes."

Katniss and he moved onto hand-to-hand combat next. He was doing really well actually. Just like the knife fighting in the last station, he was able to anticipate the instructors' kicks and punches like they were moving in slow motion. They were going over Greco-Roman wrestling techniques, and it seemed as though nobody could beat him. It took multiple instructors to even move Percy, much less beat him. They were so enamored they decided to weigh him. Percy weighed in at two hundred and twenty seven pounds. Percy didn't seem to see what the big deal was, because the hand-to-hand combat instructors were all in his weight range. They seemed to think that was exactly the problem.

Percy excelled at almost all of the stations actually. Trident, spear, and javelin throwing, a section dedicated to weapon combinations including sword/shield, knife and sword, and weighted nets and tridents.

Long range weapons? Forget it. They tried out the gun station, which had an assortment of rifles and handguns. Katniss was good at this station. She was able to hit her mark perfectly almost every time. Percy didn't think he managed to hit a single target. He wasn't worried though, because there was an unwritten rule that guns weren't allowed in the games. Some years ago they were used, but the Capitol citizens were in an uproar. Apparently there wasn't nearly enough, drama, violence, and blood for them. Needless to say the head games maker was never heard from again.

Percy thought he was actually worse at archery if that was possible. Katniss however, seemed to be even better at this. After a little practice she was hitting targets dead center in the eye. The instructor was so awed by her skill she didn't even notice when Percy almost killed her when he accidently let an arrow fly in the wrong direction.

Percy took a breath and pointed the arrow straight ahead at the dummy's forehead 15 yards away. It was lined up perfectly, so he released and let the arrow fly. Suddenly he heard a loud thump. "YES! I DID IT!" Percy shouted shaking his fist.

Katniss looked over in shock squinting at the target Percy was aiming at, "where? I can't see it?"

Percy pointed to the dummy with an arrow sticking out of the side of his head in triumph.

"Percy you do realize that's is in the knife throwing station right," Katniss asked trying to hold in a grin.

"Still counts." Percy was relieved her mood was improving.

"If you say so," she laughed.

"Come on I want to leave this station on a good note," Percy dragged her to the sword fighting station. He'd had his eye on this one since he saw it yesterday. There were dozens of different blades: weird M shapes, short straight blades, long heavy blades meant for two hands, and leaf shaped blades. None of them felt quite right though. Finally, he found a leaf shaped blade maybe three and a half feet in length.

Katniss was getting impatient, "come on we don't have all day just pick one."

Percy picked up the sword examining it. It wasn't perfect but it seemed to be the best he'd be able to find here, "I just wanted to make sure it fit right," Percy answered defensively.

The instructor wanted to see what they could do first so he had us spar with wooden weapons. Katniss made a wild lunged at Percy's chest to which he swung up with his sword blocking her attack easily. She tried to swing at his gut but he jumped back before making a slash at her arm. She winced and flinched back with her hand. Percy closed the distance quickly and wrestled the sword from her grip before she could even realize what had happened. The fight took less then ten seconds. The instructor was impressed with him. He decided to hand Percy over to his colleague to go over more advanced techniques while he worked with Katniss. The instructor tried to teach Percy techniques on some dummies. It became apparent pretty quickly that Percy was much better than the instructor guy. The instructor seemed to be getting annoyed, so he decided to test Percy in a spar. They started a few feet away from each other while his assistant rung a bell for them to start. The instructor closed the distance quickly. Percy let him approach. He sliced at Percy's neck, but Percy bobbed his head away easily. He gave the instructor a cheeky smirk knowing this would enrage him even more. He was right, and the instructor brought his sword down on Percy's head as hard as he could. Percy rolled between his feet and stabbed him in the back of his leg. He was brought to his knee with Percy's sword on his throat. He seemed just as easy as Katniss, at least when compared to him. They sparred a few times, but they all ended pretty quickly with Percy's sword forcing him into a very compromising position. He hadn't felt this alive in a long time. The instructor finally gave up in and moved to the next guy. He was waiting for Katniss when Percy saw Cato working with the swordsmen he was just sparring with. Cato wasn't quite as skilled as the instructor, but his huge physical advantage allowed Cato to overwhelm him. Inevitable the smaller instructor ended up on the ground. Cato looked up and saw Percy watching. He gave what was supposed to be an intimidating glare. Percy rolled his eyes, and turned back to Katniss. She slashed at her instructor's shoulder, but he sidestepped and knocked her sword out of the way. This left her unguarded and he gave her a whack in the rib. They discussed her mistakes for a few minutes before she caught Percy's eye and saw him waiting. She nodded and walked over to him. "So, where to now?" she asked.

"How about… our floor? I think we're pretty prepared for the games." Percy said hopefully.

"Fine, but if we die because you can't shoot a bow it's your fault." She warned.

"What if we die because you can't handle a sword?" Percy asked.

"Then it's still your fault," she reasoned.

"Yeah fair enough," Percy grinned.