Training: Day One

Circe Fog (D9 F 16)

"O great mystic ball,

I answer your call,

Grant me your knowledge,

Let me see all."

I gaze into my crystal ball as the mists swirl around. Before heading down to training, I've decided to seek some guidance from my crystal ball. After all, I have many questions that need to be answered. What stations should I focus on? Should I ally with anyone? Should I find an apprentice? How should I interact with the other tributes? For the next few minutes, I stare into the ball, attempting to find the answers to my questions.

Twenty minutes later, I stand next to Logan in the elevator as we travel down to training. Thankfully, the spirits were very specific about what I need to do today: I need to find my apprentice. According to the crystal ball, my apprentice must be a young girl, which leaves me limited options. If I remember right, there's only one twelve-year-old girl, and there's no thirteen or fourteen-year-old girls. That means if the twelve-year-old isn't worthy of apprenticeship, I may have to expand my search to the three fifteen-year-old girls. I can only hope that one of them is worthy. If not, my talent for communicating with the spirit world may die with me.

The elevator finally stops, and the door opens. Logan and I walk through a pair of double doors and step into the gigantic training center. Most of the tributes have already arrived, and they glare at Logan and I when we enter the room. I don't take it to heart, though, because I know they're just confused about the shroud I wear over my head and my close connection with the spirits. I got looks like this all the time in District Nine. Over the next few minutes, the remaining tributes walk in, until eventually, all twenty-four of us are present. Then, the head trainer, a guy named Donalbain, begins to speak.

Donalbain first names and explains all of the stations that we can use. The list includes multiple weapons stations, a climbing wall, an agility test, survival skills stations, and a bunch more. Since my crystal ball told me to focus on survival skills stations, I already know where I'll be spending most of my time. Donalbain also tells us to refrain from fighting with or injuring any other tributes. That shouldn't be a problem. The spirits have told me to stay away from the path of violence, so that's what I will do. At last, Donalbain finishes his speech, and the twenty-four of us separate to the various stations.

Before finding an apprentice, I decide to spend some time at the berry identification station. Since I've worked with potions my whole life, I know a lot about many different kinds of berries. The trainer who's manning the station gives me a handful of berries and asks me to sort them into two piles: edible and poisonous. It takes me less than five minutes, and I get them all right. Impressed, the trainer asks me to explain what each berry does. So, I chose a few to start with and begin telling the trainer about all of the potions that can be made with each berry. A confused look crosses the trainer's face when I begin naming some of the potions, and he tells me he's never even heard of any of them. That's weird. I thought he was supposed to be a berry expert.

After about half an hour at the berry station, I decide to begin my search for an apprentice. I say goodbye to the trainer and then begin scanning the training center for the twelve-year-old girl from District Eleven. Eventually, I spot her at the knot tying station. I walk over and tap her on the shoulder. "Excuse me, miss, but what is your name?" I ask.

The girl looks up from her rope, gives me a puzzling stare, and then responds, "Jasmine."

"Well, Jasmine," I say, "through my communications with the spirits, I have learned that I need an apprentice to pass on my talent for fortune telling. According to my crystal ball, you're a worthy candidate. Will you join me to learn the secrets of the spirit world?"

Jasmine stares at me for a while before responding. Her fingers are still running through the pieces of rope even though she doesn't seem to be paying attention to them. "No," she eventually says, sounding slightly annoyed. "I work alone. I don't want anything to do with your spirit world." Disappointed, I leave Jasmine and begin searching for the other young girls. It seems that Jasmine is not worthy of being my apprentice, which means one of the other three girls must be.

Much to my displeasure, all three of the fifteen-year-olds turn me down as well. Valerie from District Three tells me she'd rather stick a flaming knife through her skull than be my apprentice. Lexi from District Six tells me there's no such thing as spirits and refuses to listen to anything I have to say. Muna from District Ten informs me that she's a Christian, which means she believes in God and not a bunch of silly spirits. Once I've visited all three girls, I disappear to one of the dark corners of the training center and bury my face in my hands. I can't let the spirits down. I need to find an apprentice soon. If I die, my apprentice can carry on the secrets of fortune telling. If I can't find an apprentice, than my secrets will die with me.

Lindroz Delt (D8 M 16)

Not surprisingly, I have concocted a ingenious plan that will guarantee me the Victor's crown. The Hunger Games is just like a chess game, and I'm an excellent chess player. As a master of manipulation, these Games will be a piece of cake for me. If everything goes as planned, in less than a month, I'll be the smartest victor to ever win the Games.

The first and most crucial step of my plan is to recruit Jerry Porch from District Five. Jerry is the son of a victor, and from what I've seen so far, Jerry is very arrogant, idiotic, rude, cocky, and pretty much the least likeable (personality-wise) tribute this year. Despite all of that, he is the tribute I want to ally with most. Since Jerry's father is a victor, he's got tons of connections in the Capitol. This means many of the sponsors will support Jerry as a favor to his dad, regardless of how much of a snob Jerry is. That's why I need Jerry on my side. I'll benefit from all of the sponsor gifts sent to him.

With my brains and Jerry's good looks, we'll pick up more and more sponsors as the Games go on. We'll have gifts raining down from the sky every minute. And in the end, I'll have no problem stabbing Jerry in the back. Since he's stupid, there's no way he'll see it coming. After Jerry dies, if there will probably be a Career or two still left, but that won't be a problem either. Like Jerry, the Careers are extremely stupid as well, so it'll be easy to lead them right to their deaths.

The only thing I have to worry about is putting up with Jerry for the next two weeks. I haven't even asked him to be my ally yet and he's already annoying me. He's been at the throwing knives station ever since training started, and I can hear him talking about himself from over here at the rope tying station. I just need to keep reminding myself that it'll all be worth it in the end. If I can just put up with Jerry for two weeks, I'll get the victor's crown for sure.

I watch as Jerry suddenly puts his knives down and begins walking over to the water fountain. Now's my chance. I need to approach him and ask him to be my ally. I place my piece of rope back on the table and hurry over to the water fountain. Jerry's just finishing his drink when I arrive. "Hey," I say when Jerry realizes that I'm standing next to him. "You're Jerry, right; Topher Porch's son?"

"A-huh," Jerry says, looking slightly pleased that I knew who he was.

"Well my name's Lindroz," I say. "I'm from District Eight, and I have to say, I'm a huge fan of your dad. I was just watching you throw knives over there, and I couldn't help but notice that you may even be more talented than him."

Jerry smiles. "Yeah, I'm a pretty great athlete," he says.

"I've noticed," I say. "And because of that I actually want to make you an offer. You see, Jerry, you're a very good-looking man, you've got tons of strength, and you're very talented with weapons. On the other hand, you've got me. I'm pretty smart, and I have excellent survival skills. I was thinking, if we joined forces and put our talents together, we'd be unstoppable."

Jerry thinks it over for a minute and then speaks. "Well, I was planning on allying with the Careers, but they rejected me."

I fake a laugh. "How could they reject you? You're probably the best tribute out here! Listen, if we ally together, I'll help you get revenge on the Careers. They'll forever regret turning you down."

"Okay," Jerry says after a few seconds. "I see what you mean. I don't need to ally with the Careers. I've got enough strength and talent by myself." I can almost see the gears turning in Jerry's head. I think he's finally come to the conclusion that I'd be a great ally. I do have great survival skills, and as far as he knows, I'd be easy to defeat in the end.

"So is it a deal, then?" I ask, extending my hand. "Are we officially allies?"

"Yeah, I think we are," Jerry says, nodding his head slowly. He reaches his hand out to shake mine.

I can't help but grin. Phase one is complete.

Tyroarius Stryker (D2 M 18)

Never in a million years did I think the Career alliance would have so many problems this early. It's day one of training, and there's only four of us. As a group, we determined that Lumiere from District One shouldn't be allowed to join us because he's too weak, and since Micah from Four wants nothing to do with us, that leaves just me, Jade, Mileena, and Bebe. What's even worse is that I'm the only guy in the alliance. I'm not trying to be sexist or anything, but a guy can only handle so much girl talk. It's only been a few hours, and I'm already tired of hearing about hair and boyfriends and clothes and nails and jewelry and everything else the three of them have rambled on and on about. We need to get another guy in this alliance, or my head may explode before we even enter the arena.

As a group, we've noticed two outer-district tributes that may have what it takes to be a Career: Cole, the boy from District Six, and Sable, the boy from District Ten. We saw Cole throwing around medicine balls half an hour ago, and his strength was very impressive. Sable seems to be just as strong as Cole. We watched him run the agility course a few minutes ago, and he had a very impressive time, especially when you consider his size. If we manage to get these two guys on our side, I'll definitely be satisfied with the Career alliance. There's strength in numbers, so we really need to pick up a fifth or sixth person if we want our alliance to dominate.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sable walk over to the rack of medicine balls, which is where Cole is. "Guys, we should go talk to them now," I say to the girls, who have been practicing their knife throwing skills for the past twenty minutes. "It might be easier to convince them to join our alliance if they know they won't be the only non-Career in the group."

"Sounds good," Bebe says, placing her knife back on the rack as Jade gets rid of hers as well. Mileena rolls her eyes (she's obviously annoyed that I interrupted her throwing), and reluctantly drops her knives, not even bothering to put them back on the rack. Then, the four of us head for the medicine balls.

"Hey, you two!" Mileena shouts as we approach Cole and Sable. "Wanna join the Careers?"

"Mileena!" I hiss through clenched teeth. She's going to mess up everything! "What are you doing?"

"Asking them to join our alliance," she says, looking at me like I'm stupid. "Just what you said to do."

"Yeah, but not like that," I say, rubbing my temples. "You can't shout at them." I groan. "Why didn't you just let me do it?"

I hurry over to Cole and Sable before Mileena can even try to give me a snappy retort. "Sorry about her," I say to them. "She's a bit... enthusiastic. So anyways, we've been watching the two of you train, and we've noticed that you're both very strong and talented. We wanted to know if you guys wanted to join the Career alliance. You'd make great additions, and we could offer you plenty of protection. The six of us would be unstoppable."

Cole speaks up first. "Sorry, but I'm not looking to join your Career alliance," Cole says coldly. "I'd rather go into the arena by myself than with you guys."

"Me too," Sable says.

My heart drops. There goes our chances of having a strong six. I really want to unleash my fury on the two idiots, but I know better than that. "Well, if you guys change your minds, you know where to find us. If not, you'd better watch your backs in the arena."

I turn around and walk back to the girls. "I'm assuming they turned you down," Mileena says with a smug look on her face.

"Shut up, Mileena," I say. "Maybe if you didn't shout at them, they'd be a little bit more friendly towards us."

"You think this is my fault?" Mileena fires back. "I'm not the one who's job it was to convince them to join us!"

"Then why'd you shout at them to join us?" I yell back. "Everything doesn't have to be done your way, Mileena!"

"Okay, okay, calm down guys," Jade says. "It's not anyone's fault that Cole and Sable didn't want to ally with us. They probably didn't want to be Careers to begin with. Now let's stop fighting and go train."

"Jade's right," Bebe says. "Standing here and arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. If there's only going to be four of us, we have to work together."

"Fine," Mileena says. "Let's go work on spears."

She stomps away, leaving the three of us to follow after her.

Cole Fyre (D6 M 17)

The Careers walk away to go throw spears, and I turn to Sable. "Well, that was interesting," I say.

"Yeah," Sable replies. "I can't believe they thought we'd want to ally with them."

"Well, they're desperate," I say. "And, not to sound cocky, but we are two of the strongest non-Careers out here. Speaking of which, how'd you get so strong?"

"I've worked on my family's farm my whole life," Sable says. "I used to do a lot of the heavy lifting. I also protected the sheep, so I've had to fight off plenty of poachers and wolves."

"Ah, so that's where the whole 'wolf boy' thing came from," Cole says.

"Yeah," I say. "But what about you? What did you do back in District Six?"

"I actually didn't live in the district," I say. "I've lived on an old, coal-powered train for the past few years. My family owns the train, and we earn money by making deliveries all across Panem."

"So you've visited the other districts?"

"Only the outer walls," I say. "We're not allowed to step foot in any of them."

"Oh," Sable says. He pauses for a bit, and then speaks again. "So, are we allies now?" he asks, kind of awkwardly. "You said it yourself- we're two of the strongest non-Careers out here."

"Yeah, I think we are," I say. "We could go really far together. So... do you want to throw some medicine balls around?"

"Sure," Sable says. "But I haven't done this yet, so you'll have to help me out."

For the next half hour, we take turns throwing around some of the heaviest medicine balls we can find. Sable turns out to be just as strong as I am, which is great because we have fun challenging each other to see who can throw the furthest. When our arms become too sore to throw anymore, we walk over to the fountain to take a drink. I'm just about to take a swig when a hand reaches out from behind the wall. "Come here," a girl's voice whispers, waving her hand. I look at Sable, shrug, and then step behind the wall.

I'm shocked when Sable and I come face-to-face with the blond girl from District One. "Hi guys," she says. "My name's Jade, and I have a proposition for you guys. I think we'll both benefit greatly from it, but first I need to know something. Can I trust you guys?"

"That depends," I say. "Can we trust you?"

Jade smiles. "Of course," she says. "So anyways, I have a bit of a problem, because I hate the Careers. Even before I volunteered I knew I didn't want to be one of them. However, my family and my trainers convinced me to at least start out with the Careers so that I wouldn't have a huge target on my back. So, I've been training with them and pretending to be their friend, but I'm not. When we go into the arena, I'm going to start out as their ally. But on day three, I'm done with them. Originally, I was just going to grab some food and supplies and run away, but I've been doing some thinking over the past day, and I have a plan that may be able to offset the whole course of the Games."

"So, that's where you need us?" Sable says.

Jade nods and smiles again. "On day three, the three of us are going to kill all of the Careers."

"What?" I say, hardly able to believe my ears. "That's impossible! No one's ever gotten rid of the Careers that early!"

"Shhh," Jade whispers. "Keep your voice down."

"Sorry," I whisper, back, "but how would the three of us take down the entire Career alliance."

"Well, there's three of them and three of us," Jade says. "And we have the element of surprise on our side. We could take them down easily."

"But Cole and I have never trained," Sable says. "We don't even know how to use weapons."

"Well, you've got two days to learn," Jade says, "so I suggest you start trying some out once we're done talking. But even if you weren't able to master a weapon, you guys are strong enough. If we catch the Careers by surprise, your strength could be enough to take them down."

I bite my lip. "I'm sorry, but I can't do it. I like the idea, but I can't risk my life like that. I've got too much to lose. I think we'll be better off on our own." I turn to Sable. "C'mon, let's get back to training."

"Wait!" Jade shouts. She covers her mouth and then starts speaking in a whisper again. "What if I got one more tribute on our side? Then we'd outnumber the Careers by one."

"But there's no one else who's strong enough to take out a fully-trained Career," I say.

Jade's face lights up. "Actually, I know just the guy. He's trained his whole life for this, and I know for a fact that he hates the Careers."

"What?" I ask, now thoroughly confused.

"The only tributes who train are from Districts One, Two, and... Four," Sable says. We reach the conclusion at the same time.

Jade grins. "That's right. We need to get Micah on our side."

Lexi Honda (D5 F 15)

Donalbain, the head trainer, blows his whistle, and we all fall silent. "It's lunchtime!" he announces, pointing to the doors that must lead to the lunchroom. "You have half an hour to eat, starting now." I put down my piece of rope and follow the herd of tributes into the lunch room. Unfortunately, I'm the last one in, so I'm forced to stand at the end of the line and watch as the other tributes grab their food and take a seat. I realize that this'll give me the perfect opportunity to start searching for an ally. Since there's power in numbers, I really hope I can find an ally or two to help me out in the Games. The trouble us, I haven't found anyone who's the same age and ability as me.

I scan the lunchroom, noting who's already taken their seat. First, there's the four Careers, who are already laughing obnoxiously at some joke one of them told. The boys from Districts Six and Ten are also sitting at a table together, and so are the boys from Five and Eight. Besides that, everyone's either sitting alone or with their district partner. I look around, trying to find any girls that are about fifteen. It takes me a few seconds, but I finally spot a girl that think may be a good match. She's got a huge scar that runs across her forehead, so I'm assuming that she's tough, like me. She's from District Ten, and if I remember right, I think her name is Muna. She could potentially make a great ally.

Once I've gotten my food, I walk over to Muna's table. "Hey, can I sit here?" I ask her.

Muna looks up but she doesn't smile. "Yeah, sure," she says. I set my tray down and begin digging into my food. Muna's already finished her meal, so she kind of just sits there awkwardly as I eat. In a few minutes, she finally breaks the silence. "How'd you get your ears pierced?" she asks. "I've seen earrings on Capitol citizens but not on people from the districts."

I smile. "I pierced them myself."

"Really?" she says, looking somewhat interested. "Why?"

"One of my friends dared me to do it," I say. "So, I cleaned off a sharp pin and ran it through each of my earlobes."

"Didn't it hurt?" Muna asks.

"A bit," I say. "But that's the point of truth or dare- to step out of your comfort zone. I've also been dared to pierce my belly button." I hold up my shirt to show her, and her eyes widen in amazement. "I also did my cartilage and tongue a couple of months ago, but those holes have closed up."

Muna falls silent again, so I begin eating my meal again. Once I'm done, I decide to ask her something. "So how did you get that scar on your forehead?"

"It's kind of a long story," Muna says.

"Well, we've got six minutes of lunch left," I say, glancing at the clock.

Muna hesitates. "Okay," she finally says, and I swear, just for a moment, there was a hint of a smile on her face. "Well, back in school, there was this kid named Sean in my grade. Sean would always pick on the younger kids, and I was pretty much the only person who ever stood up to him. Over the years, a bitter rivalry grew between us, and we became enemies. Then, about a year and a half ago, our rivalry went too far. I witnessed Sean stealing money at a school concert, so I began to chase him, demanding that he return the money. I followed him backstage and then up a blocked staircase. When I was about halfway up the staircase, it collapsed on top of me. I injured the whole left side of my body, and since my family couldn't afford to send me to the doctor, many of the injuries never really healed- like my scar." She points to her forehead.

"Wow," I say. "You're definitely tough." I pause for a moment, and then decide to ask the question that's been hanging on my tongue for the past fifteen minutes. "So, is there any chance you're looking for an ally?" I ask. "Cause I think we'd make a great team. We've got a lot in common: we're both fifteen, we aren't afraid to stand up for what we believe in, and we're both fighters."

Muna breaks into the first grin I've ever seen on her face. "I was thinking you'd ask that," she says. "And yes, I'd love to ally with you. You seem like a pretty interesting girl, and I think we'll make a great team."

Logan Clark (D9 M 18)

Once lunch ends, the head trainer sends us back into the training room. I immediately walk back over to the weapons stations. They're the only stations that matter, so that's where I've been spending all of my time. Besides, the survival stations are extremely boring. I stopped at the knot tying station and got tired of it after five minutes. So, I'm just going to focus on weapons- mostly the sickle.

Since I'm from District Nine, I've used sickles back in the grain fields- not because I needed the money but because I was bored. I'm so excited to be able to use the sickle as a weapon because I've only ever been able to use it on grain. Even now, in training, I can only mutilate dummies, not people. I am definitely looking forward to the bloodbath, when I can finally show Panem how powerful I really am.

I grab a sickle and drag another dummy out of the corner. I stand the dummy up and then begin to obliterate it. I start by hacking off the limbs: right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg. Next, I decapitate it and jab my sickle into the severed head about a dozen times. Finally, I get to work on the torso. I slash at the chest and stomach until all that remains is a pile of shredded material. I look up to see the girl from District Twelve staring at me with a look of disgust. "That's sick," she says. "What's wrong with you?"

I laugh and then decide to scare the stupid girl. "When I was born, the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around my neck." I laugh again. "The doctors say it left me with permanent brain damage, but I don't believe them." I laugh again. "They just don't understand my sense of humor." I break into an even bigger fit of laughter, and the girl walks away with a shocked expressed on her face. Good for her; she can go judge someone else now.

I drag another dummy out and slowly destroy this one too. Then I move on to a third, and then a fourth, and then a fifth. I notice that I'm getting a lot of stares from the other tributes, but I don't care. In a few days, instead of mutilating dummies, I'll be mutilating them. They won't be able to give me any funny looks when they're lying on the ground with their body five feet away from their head. They'll be dead, and I'll be standing over their dead body with a huge smile on my face.

I tried to join the Careers earlier but they turned me down. They said I'm not strong enough. I can't wait to prove them wrong and show them just how strong I am. Even though I don't look like much, I'm very talented with sickles. Plus, I'm a great runner. I used to run through the grain fields of District Nine for fun. I loved the rush of adrenaline and the rush of the wind brushing past my face. I could run for hours and hours, but I don't think I'll need to. Unless I'm greatly outnumbered, I won't need to run from anyone. I'll be able to kill everyone that crosses my path.

So now that the Careers don't want to ally with me, it looks like I'm going to be entering the arena by myself. After thinking about it for a bit, I've realized that having no allies may be the best option for me. Since I'm the fastest tribute out here, I won't have to worry about slowing down to wait for an ally who can't run. I can go at my own pace, and I can play by my own rules. The only person I'll have to look out for is myself, so I won't have to worry about collecting food for a bunch of helpless tributes. Also, I won't have to share any of my sponsor gifts with anyone else. If things go as planned, I should receive plenty of sponsor gifts, so I definitely want to keep those all to myself.

I suddenly realize that I've gotten lost in my thoughts, so I shake it off and return to my training. I'm just about to destroy my eighth dummy when one of the trainers jogs over to me. "Hey, Logan," he begins. "You do know we have dummies that actually move and fight back, right? You've been going to work on the motionless ones for a while now, and I figured you might want a little bit more of a challenge."

I shrug. "Yeah, I'll give them a try," I decide. After all, mutilating moving dummies will feel much more like mutilating actual humans. If I pretend that they're tributes, the moving dummies should be a lot of fun to destroy.

Spud Wyllows (D11 M 13)

I say goodbye to the trainer and leave the fire starting station. I stop for a drink at the water fountain and then begin searching for another station to go to. I've spent all of my time at survival skills stations since that's what my mentor told me to focus on. I've already worked on berry identification, shelter building, camouflage, and fire starting. Maybe I should do some physical activity and try to get in better shape for the Games. I spot a young boy over at the weight station and decide to go join him.

I walk over to the boy as he places a ten-pound weight back on the rack. "Hello," I say to him with a smile. "You're from District Three, right?"

"Yeah," he says, returning the smile. "The name's Jazper."

"Well, I'm Spud from District Eleven," I say. "Is it okay if I join you?"

"Sure," he says. I walk over to the rack and try to lift up a thirty pound weight. The weight doesn't move. So, I decide to start small with a five pound weight. The trainer shows me how to lift it correctly, so I do until I get tired (in about a minute). As I rest, I watch Jazper throw around a small medicine ball. I think he's just as strong as I am.

Suddenly, I get a great idea. Maybe Jazper and I could be allies. We seem to have a lot in common. We're both short and skinny with about the same strength. We're both young, and neither of us have allies yet. We'd probably work well together. When he gets done lifting, I think I'll ask him if he wants to be in an alliance together. After all, allies have plenty of benefits. I'd love to have someone watching my back in the arena.

Jazper's weight clangs back into the rack. He's just about to walk over to the water fountain to get a drink when I stop him. "Hey, Jazper, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to be allies?"

"Uhhh- I don't know," Jazper says, apparently caught off guard.

"I just think we'd work well together," I say. "We have a lot in common. Besides, there's strength in numbers, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Jazper says, turning back towards me. "Sure, we can be allies."

"Great," I say. "So do you want to work on some survival stations now?"

"Sure," Jazper says. "Which one?"

I scan the training center to look for a station that I haven't been at yet. "How about knot tying?" I say. "I haven't gone to that one yet."

"Okay," Jazper says. "I'm gonna go grab a drink. I'll meet you over there in a minute."

Once Jazper and I have situated ourselves at the knot tying station, the trainer begins teaching us about some knots that could come in handy during the Games. However, I realize that there's a problem as soon as I start working with the rope. My fingers aren't quite strong enough to tie all of the knots. The trainer hands me a thinner piece of rope, which works a little better. The trouble is, I'm simply not good at tying knots. Jazper seems to be struggling too, so in a few minutes, we decide to call it quits and head to a new station.

"I guess knot tying's not really my thing," I tell Jazper as we walk. "I know a lot about about apples, but that's about it."

"Apples?" Jazper says. "Did you work on an apple orchard in District Eleven or something?"

"Yup," I say. "I've spent the last few years of my life around apples, so I know all about them. What about you? What did you do back in District Three?"

Jazper opens his mouth and then closes it quickly. He bites his lip. "Uhhh, nothing super important."

I can tell that Jazper's hiding something. "Come on, you can tell me," I say. "We're allies, remember?"

Jazper sighs. "Okay," he says. "To be completely honest, I love poetry. My mom, who's a poet, taught me everything she knows. At school, I've always been picked on because of how small I am, but poetry's always been a good escape for me."

"Wow," I say, truly impressed. "You'll have to read me your poetry sometime."

"Yeah, maybe," Jazper says with a distant expression on his face, as if he's in a trance. He snaps out of it a few seconds later. "We should probably get back to training now."

"Oh yeah," I say. "Let's find a new station."

Kiyata Merrow (D8 F 17)

The first day of training is drawing to a close, and I've noticed that many tributes have already found allies. About half of the tributes are moving around in pairs or small groups while the other half move around seperately. I fall under the second category. I haven't formed an alliance with anyone, nor do I plan to. All allies do is lead you down a path to your own doom. They can slow you down, make you look weak, or backstab you. Often, they do all three. That's why I've decided to go into the Games alone. I won't have to worry about trusting anyone or carrying anyone through the Games. The only person I'll have to worry about is myself.

Besides, I've come up with a perfect game plan for winning the Games. During training, I'm going to focus solely on survival skills stations. I'll become really good at everything, which will help me get an okay training score. Then, when I go into the arena, I just have to find a place to hide and stay there for the entire Games. My survival skills training should be enough to keep alive. As long as I can find the proper food, water, and shelter, everything should go smoothly.

Plus, I'll probably receive some sponsor gifts throughout the Games. During my private session, if I show the Gamemakers the wide variety of survival skills I've mastered, I should get a good enough score to attract some sponsors. Then, during the interviews, I just have to be myself. The sponsors may feel some sympathy for me if they hear about my rough life back in District Eight, so I just have to drop a few subtle hints about that.

I'm currently at the berry identification station. Already, I've learned a ton about many different types of berries that may be in the arena. Chances are, I'll be able to find and live off at least one of these plants during the Games. Along with the edible berries, I've also learned about many inedible berries. Now, I won't accidentally poison myself during the Games. If I remember my training, I'll know exactly which berries to eat and which berries to leave for the other tributes.

"Hey, tributes!" The head trainer, Donaldbain, calls across the training center. "Day one of training has officially ended! You may return back to your respective floors now! We'll see you back here tomorrow morning!"

I follow the crowd of tributes out of the training center and into the hallway. A few of them stay to chat, but I find Lindroz, my district partner, and head straight for the elevator. Lindroz isn't exactly the friendliest guy, but I've been doing my best to be nice to him. After all, we are from the same district. "So, how'd training go?" I ask him. "I saw you walking around with the guy from Five. Are you guys allies?"

Lindroz grins smugly. "Yeah, you could say that," he says. "Why? Are you thinking of joining us? Because the answer's no."

I almost laugh- as if I'd want to ally with Lindroz. I can barely handle his ego now, and I've only know him for two days. "No, of course not," I say. "I'm not allying with anyone. Allies are more trouble than they're worth."

Lindroz's smug smile returns. "Suit yourself," he says. "After all, you find out how wrong you are when we enter the arena."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever you say," I tell him sarcastically. "But you're the one who will discover that you're wrong."

"I guess we'll find out in the arena," Lindroz says. "But for now, I think I'm going to stick with my strategy."

The elevator suddenly stops, and we find ourselves face-to-face with our escort, Ridiculous. She covers her nose as soon as she gets a whiff of us. "The two of you rrrrreek!" she exclaims, rolling her r's as usual. "Go take showerrrrrs and be rrrrready to eat in half an hourrrrr," she says.

"Okay Ridic- I mean Ridonica," I say. After glaring at Lindroz one last time, I walk away, headed for my room.

Well, this chapter ending up being a lot longer than I thought it'd be, but I had some ideas and I'm happy with the way they're playing out. The next two chapters should be shorter (and therefore, updated quicker) because half of the tributes have already gotten a POV (either in this chapter or the last one). The remaining twelve tributes will get their POVs during days two and three of training.

After that, each tribute will get a short private training session, and following that, there'll be a chapter or two of interviews. And then, the Games can finally begin (yay!). If you have any suggestions on who you think should be allies, feel free to let me know in the reviews, since I'm still trying to match people up. And lastly, thanks to everyone who voted in the poll! I finally took it down, but I'll put a new one up around the time of the interviews.

Fun fact: this is my first chapter to ever reach seven thousand words #oops

Thanks for reading! :-)