If you don't know by chapter 10 of this story that I do not own Gravity Falls or the Hunger Games, then you have serious problems and should seek professional help. I have been surprised that this has gotten such a good response. I thank you all for your reviews and faves and alerts even. It means you like it enough to want to know what happens. But enough of this thanking, you don't want that, even if it gave you a warm fuzzy. You want the story. So enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Dipper and Mabel went through the day, practicing their plans in combat training. Krav Maga wasn't as hard as it seemed out to be and the instructor said that Dipper was doing well for someone his age and from his District. Most non-Career Districts did not do too well. In fact Trainer Wolowitz said that the best he saw out of District 7 was using axes and not all the Tributes were that good at it. Trainer Wolowitz had noticed a determination in Dipper's eyes that he had not seen in many other non-Career Tributes before. "It's a shame you are being sent in kid." Trainer Wolowitz said as he looked at the training partner that Dipper had rolled off him and onto the ground.

"Why?" Dipper asked, highly annoyed at the Capitol and by the Trainer's attitude by this pointIn fact, the Trainer wasn't the one that was being sent off to fight to the death.

"Because you are good." Trainer Wolowitz said looking at Dipper. "You might even have what it takes to be a Victor. Never really know what expect out of the Tributes. Well, I pretty much can be certain of the Tributes from 1,2 and 4. Although that Annie Cresta a few years ago was not your typical District 4 Tribute. But I love you Tributes from normal Districts and District 7 has always been one of my favorites."

"Nice." Dipper said not really liking the Trainer that much.

"Lunch is served!" Atlata said over a megaphone. Happily leaving the Krav Maga trainer, Dipper headed to a table and waited for Mabel, Nikola, Crystal and Whyfy to come over and discuss what was of their training so far. At first Nikola came over and nodded at Dipper. It was obvious that he didn't feel like saying too much.

"So, how was Aikido training?" Dipper asked..

"Good. Made some girl from District 10 cry." Nikola said.

"How?" Dipper asked.

"I don't really know..." Nikola said trailing off.

"Aren't you not supposed to fight each other?" Dipper asked, starting to think he picked a fight out of the District 10 girl.

"I didn't!" Nikola said. "Trainer Kano was showing us 'catos' and moved and it was just me, the girl from 4, the boy from 6, both from 9, that girl from 10 like I said..." He then looked off at the other Tributes coming for lunch. "Oh, and that scrawny loser from 11."

"Oh. Didn't think it would be that popular. I'm surprised a Career was there." Dipper said.

"Not many of them stayed long. Trainer Kano insisted we practice basic moves and such before she would even think of showing us attack moves. Many of them walked off at that thinking that they wouldn't learn anything useful. Besides, it was a District 4 girl. District 4 is weird like that anyway. I mean they train for it and all but they are nothing like 1 or 2. I've watched how they acted and stuff. I also went with one of my teachers to District 1 once to apprentice on line repair. Hated that place. The people are all idiotic douche-bags that seem to think Training for this shit is a good idea." Nikola noticed "But I'm ranting. That girl from District 10 saw how I was doing and having a hard time herself, so she broke down crying."

"And you didn't try to consol her?" Whyfy said heading over to the table.

"Oh!" Dipper said looking over and seeing Whyfy.

"Hello boys!" Whyfy said walking up to the table where Dipper and Nikola were standing. "And you didn't comfort that girl from District 10?"

"I didn't want to help her feel better to only have to crush her skull later on." Nikola said. "Besides, she ran off before I could do anything for that."

"Fine." Whyfy said looking a little annoyed. "I am glad to report I have made decent progress with my knife fighting training. Trainer Bowie sure is wonderful."

"It's been going okay for me with Krav Maga. Trainer Wolowitz is good at teaching, but he is rather insulting of the Districts. Likes the Games a lot."

"Well you know the story of the District 10 girl. Nuff said." Nikola said and pointed to Dipper as he nodded. "Other than that, same story for me."

Whyfy smiled as Crystal and Mabel headed over excitedly. "We've done wonders on the Ax fighting trainers!" Crystal yelled, jumping up and down, her hair flowing all around. "The way they were looking, Mabel and I might use that for our Private sessions tomorrow."

"Well, I didn't see much from where I was training, but what little I could see, you girls were doing great." Whyfy said as she picked up a plate at the lunch buffet.

"You bet they are, especially if Mabel is training her. I have see what she can do." Dipper smiled at Mabel who blushed a little. He then dropped his voice as Blight mentioned it was not looked upon favorably if it was done. "And Johanna's been teaching her some skills as well."

"Wow." Crystal said. "Mabel must me fantastic!"

"Let's get lunch!" Mabel said as she headed to the buffet table where the whole crew loaded up on their favorites. Dipper took a piece of a dill ginger lemon salmon, a few slices of beer cheese and a sourdough roll a lot like the ones Sequoia tried to make and headed back to the table. Mabel had picked up many of the gourmet bratwurst and rolls from District 8 like Crystal had. "Hey Dipper..." Mabel whispered as she sat down beside him. "District 8 makes rolls a lot like those everything bagels that Grunkle Stan liked."

Noticing the connection between the roll, Grunkle Stan and the constant voices he heard when he looked at Grunkle Stan's medallion, he dove at Crystal's plate and picked up one of the rolls. "Gimmie one of those!"

"Fine! I'll try some of your sourdough!" Crystal said taking some of the District 7 rolls.

"I will tell you this though," Mabel said looking at Crystal, "District 8 can make some good rolls."

"As much as I hate to admit this because I do miss home in District 3 dearly, District 7 has some good rolls. This sourdough is delicious." Whyfy said. "Most of our food in District 3 is bite sized bits that are great to eat while programming or doing any of the work we do. Like these deep fried torillias with meat in them. They are great to eat while inventing or working on a computer."

"Well, lumberjack food sure is hearty." Nikola said as he ate a bowl of ginger teriyaki beef stew.

"Well, this is like a nicer version of what we have back home." Crystal said taking a deep dish pizza slice and eating it. "My mom made it with that damn tessare grain and dehydrated vegetables and thin sauce and fake cheese."

Dipper looked at the foods that Crystal was eating and about where she lived and thought of what she said of District 8. It had to be where Chicago once was. With this, he actually heard Crystal's voice. There were faint hints of the classic Chicago accent. It was something that got Dipper thinking. All that happened and it was never really washed away, the remainants of what used to be of the United States. From what he could hear, District 10 raised cattle and the Tributes he did overhear, they had remnants of a Texas accent. Is this what we become? He thought. Can we stop this when we get back home...if we get back home...It certainly was possible, but it would take a lot of people changing their ways to get the world to change and prevent Panem from forming and the Games. Dipper didn't want to lose Mabel and she had made good friends with Crystal. Nikola was pretty cool and Whyfy was a sweetheart. People wouldn't believe them if they came out and told everything, but they could work on the issues that lit the match that sparked the civil war that caused the fall of the United States that led to the creation of Panem and the Games and the deaths of 23 teenagers for over the past 70 years that they have had to face.

"I was thinking of taking Krav Maga after some things the knife fighting instructor was saying." Whyfy said looking over at Dipper. "How is it, other than the Trainer being a Games loving blissful imbecile."

"Oh!" Dipper said startled out of his thoughts by Whyfy's question. "It's handy. I mean it is used by average people in Israel's army to defend themselves, and was designed for that so yeah. I've been thinking of taking knife fighting myself. Throwing an opponent to the ground and kicking them and all that is good, but not effective enough."

"Good idea. Just be careful." Whyfy added, placing some noodles and Kung pow sauce on her plate. "I eat this all the time back home. Easy to prepare But anyway, there's some District 2 guy there who kept hassling me and giving me a hard time. Said I should just curl up and die now, being from District 3. Forget that! I may be a nerd like he likes to call me, but I am also smarter than that Neanderthal! If not for Trainer Bowie breaking us up, I swear he'd have tried to take me out before the Games!"

"Oh..." Dipper said. He didn't want to make worse enemies than he did just by existing.

"Don't let them scare you Dipper." Mabel said. "That guy uses his scaryness to get inside the other's heads. One of the District 1 tributes tried to do that to us."

"Yeah, but he got shut up when he saw Mabel's smiley face made of axes." Crystal laughed. "Your sister's awesome!"

"Oh thanks Crystal." Mabel said. "But you did pretty good with those axes yourself. I think you even got a hit on the training partner they gave you."

"Well, I plan to perfect Aikido." Nikola said as he wiped his mouth and got up to start the afternoon training. "If I can kick some ass with a tree branch, that'd be so freaking awesome!"

"Sounds like a plan." Whyfy said. "But Crystal, Mabel are you sure you don't want to learn another skill as well? I mean you two are pretty good with axes and tomahawks and hatchets and all but some hand to hand stuff wouldn't hurt."

Mabel looked at Whyfy and thought about what she said. After all, there was a lot of wisdom in her words. They couldn't fight with the ax alone.

"What about this," Nikola asked look at the booths. "There's a first aid station where you can learn to treat wounds."

"I was thinking we all should hit that station tomorrow before the private sessions." Whyfy said glaring at Nikola.

"Yes, but think of what Beetee said about our teamwork plans." Nikola said glaring at Whyfy.

"Everyone needs a special skill and some things everyone should know. Something called 'Cross-training'." Whyfy said.

"And that you are going to get hurt no matter what you do. Be it a blade or just stepping wrong on rocks or climbing a tree badly. If you don't get down from heights right, you will hurt yourself bad." Nikola said. "We need a group medic, or at least one of us who know more than self-aid. And from what I can see, Mabel or Crystal could do that well."

"Us?" Crystal said looking at Mabel who was equally as startled.

"We may be the Ax Princesses of the team, but I don't know about being a medic." Mabel said.

"Think about it Mabel," Dipper said, knowing his sister could do that role if she had the training. Medics are people who are caring but can get down to business if it needed to be. What he had seen from her with some of the weird stuff with The Shack and the various things they had to face in Gravity Falls, it was in her personality. "You're good at sewing, so if someone needed stitches, you could give them the best stitches ever." He placed his hand on her shoulder. Dipper had never really thought of it before, but it made sense. He knew she could do it.

Mabel looked at her food and moved some of the peas around on her plate. Yes, she was confident with the ax. If they came to fight, with the training she had, she could. At least she had a good feeling that she could. But you were bound to get hurt in combat if you didn't before. It was this that made her remember something Johanna had told her about getting hurt. If you couldn't treat the wounds, they could kill you worse than any Career could. Dying of gangrene with no treatment out in the wild was torture. Boring for the Capitol, but torture for the Tribute. Johanna had said to Mabel that Careers were fierce but they had one major flaw- that they rely heavily on stuff. Stuff that could start fires. Stuff that would treat their wounds. Stuff to eat. Careers trained to fight. That's it. All they knew was combat and not practical combat skills. They knew flamboyant ways to fight that hardly came of any use when you needed to live out in the wild. What does it matter if you are good with a sword if you cannot hunt with it? Throwing knives? Well, what happens when those light knives designed for flight do not hit the right spot and your game runs off? Or worse you don't hit a competitor in the vitals and they run off with your ammo. You eventually run out and have to rely on your skills and wits. Dipper got hurt bad enough when he was working around trying to study the mystery of the journals. No one was trying to kill him thinking they were a glorious warrior for doing so. She looked over at Dipper to Whyfy, then to Nikola and finally her newest friend, Crystal. If one of them died because of something that could be treated, she could never forgive herself, even if she and Dipper did get back to 2013. Looking at the rest of her teammates, she nodded. "I'll do it. I'll learn to be your medic." Mabel said.

"Well, that's settled. I'm going to Aikido." Nikola said walking off.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Crystal asked Mabel.

"Do what Whyfy said and learn some hand to hand. Maybe some kick-boxing. You seemed to be pretty good at kicking." Mabel said. "Or even practice more with the ax. I mean Johanna taught me and can show me more if I asked her to but you can't. You have Cecilia and Woof and they probably aren't as good with axes as Johanna."

"You're right." Crystal said. "Oh wait! In case we don't get a chance to say it before we are in the arena. We need a signal to show we are okay."

"We will meet at midnight where I have a signal established." Nikola said. "The first night, we will all see who died in the Bloodbath in the sky, so we will know who to expect. I will climb a tree and then tie branches together to my base. It will be like wiring up poles, only this way, you will know what is done by nature and by me. The Careers won't pay that much attention to it."

"Sounds good." Whyfy said.

"Fine with me." Mabel said.

"Me too." Dipper and Crystal said.

With this Mabel headed to the first aid station where Trainer Barton was waiting all by herself. This was another frequently neglected station. Once Mabel got there, she picked up a manual and started to read. Staunch the bleeding. Check for the pulse, which there was a dummy there to do it with. Tie tourniquets. Many things were just extensions of her crafting skills. But the information on what to do for more complex wounds was what she needed. Reading on, she saw what was needed for a collapsed lung. You needed to create an air tight seal on where the wound was until the patient could be taken to a hospital and more though treatment could be done. This made her scared. She knew what a lot of the weapons the other Tributes could do. She had seen what the dummy looked like when she threw the ax into it. But this had to be done. She was the crafter turned medic and she needed to be the one to save them all when they got hurt. The female Tribute from District 2 already thought she was some sort of archery expert and those tips could do more damage than an ax. As the rest of the day went on, Mabel had learned from Trainer Barton about CPR, something that could save a life and bring someone back from the dead.

"There will be forcefields out there and if you walk into one, your heart will stop. CPR will bring the person back. It may take awhile but you can save them." Trainer Barton said as Mabel began to work on the dummy. "And you seem to be a natural. I have heard about your ax skills Miss Mabel and I think you knowing how to save lives of your teammates is wonderful."

"It is. I couldn't live with myself if they died and I could have saved them." Mabel said.

"You seem to be good with that CPR. But think about this as well. If you can save a life, you can use this information to take a life as well. Knowing how the body works is one of the best ways to know how to take it apart." Trainer Barton said. "See that stuff there for a field tracheotomy?"

"Yes?" Mabel asked.

"Now what would happen if you stuck the knife in and didn't put the straw in the hole to create a windpipe? And that attacker's airway was closing?" Trainer Barton winked.

"I see what you mean." Mabel said with an evil smile. This was proving to be most useful. Johanna would love to hear about this when she went back to sleep for that night. Apparently beyond the needs of having a medic, no one thought of what Trainer Barton said.

"Now study these plants you can find in the field. These can heal you. Especially these leaves. Tracker Jackers are everywhere." Trainer Barton smiled.

Mabel looked on and studied harder than she ever had seen Dipper when he was reading the Journals. This was more important than Gremoblins, this was their lives on the line and Mabel was going to make sure they got home or one of the team made it back to their District as Victor. No way was she going to let the people she loved die because she couldn't save them.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Boring? Long? Let me know in a review. The next chapter should have everyone's Private Sessions and if you want to hear about what Nikola, Whyfy and Crystal do, let me know. I plan to have Dipper and Mabel's but not much more about the rest if you don't care about the rest of their team. But yeah, I don't have much more to say here than Merry Christmas eve and remember to read (well you just did) and to review! Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.