Kyle Garnswoth's POV

Let me tell you, the Training Center is amazing. Everything you need to know is there for you to practice. You've got racks of swords, spears, bows, you name it. You've got dummies and targets to hone your skills. There are tons of survival stations, teaching you important skills for the arena.

A woman named Rakaia tells us all we need to know; the rules, the stations. I mostly tune her out, as my body is tingling with excitement. When she finishes, I immediately sprint over to the sword fighting station.

My eyes catch a rack of swords that gleams in the light. I pull one off and assess. Double-edged, not too heavy, quite long, so I can reach tributes from afar. It seems like a pretty reliable weapon. I strut over to a pair of dummies, spinning my sword around for show. I want the other careers to naturally understand why I should be a leader.

In a flash, I begin my work. I start with cutting off the left arm of one dummy, before spinning around and decapitating the other. I feel content inside as the head hits the floor, the clanging sound echoing for the tributes to hear. I finish off by cleanly slicing the first dummy in half vertically. I see a few tributes with their jaws dropped as the two halves toppled.

I spend the next few hours moving from station to station, showing off my marvelous skills. I camouflage myself; I make a tasty meal out of some tropical plants, and much more. That's when I'm approached by Lianna from the Capitol.

"Hey, Kyle," she says. "Wanna form the career pack?" I laugh so hard I nearly cry. A thirteen year-old? No way would I let her in to my pack. "Thanks, but no thanks," I reply between giggles.

She gives me a dirty look. "Just because I'm thirteen doesn't make me different to you!" she screams. I watch her as she pulls a dagger from a rack and approaches a dummy. She performs techniques that would brutally torture, and easily kill someone. Then she moves over to the crossbow station. My jaw drops as she quickly loads and fires three bolts into a human-shaped target, one in the middle of the forehead, one where the heart is and one in the middle of the stomach. She slams the crossbow on a table and paces over to me. "What your opinion now?" she hisses in my face. I laugh nervously and stick out my hands. "Welcome to the careers," I stammer as we shake on it. First member recruited.

But I'm not the only one recruiting.

Jay from the Capitol is also at it. I've seen him with a machete, and he's quite impressive. He's got Maura from One, who's an ace in hand-to-hand combat, and Danny from One, who's strong, yet proved very proficient in a medical aspect.

"So, Kyle," Jay says with an arrogant tone. "You making a career pack as well?" I spit in his face. "One that's gonna whip your ass!" I reply. Lianna sniggers at my little joke. Jay kicks me in the shin and walks off, saying, "We'll see."

As Lianna and I go over to a survival station, we are approached by a muscular boy. "Kal Wellwood, District Three," he says. Lianna and I watch him walk over to a rack of weapons and pull off a mace. He weighs it in his hands, before swinging it at a dummy. It delivers what would be a fatal blow, but he doesn't stop there. He efficiently rips it out and swings it at another dummy's head, sending the head across the room and into the boy from Eight. They give each other the finger, before Kal walks over to us. "You're in!" Lianna and I say simultaneously.

When we look over at Jay's group, we see that Platinum has joined his group. Maybe they think it'll get them some extra stuff. Jay is trying to talk Grisham and Katana from Two into joining him, but they seem to be rejecting it. I barely manage to hear Grisham say they're going solo, before Jay walks away.

I guess that seals it. Three against four. Obviously though, I have the far more superior team. We're going to obliterate them at the bloodbath. I can just see it now; their ruined bodies bleeding into the earth. The best death of all will be when I shove my sword through Jay multiple times, before cutting of his head and limbs.

What a satisfying thought.


Lynnette Ashbloom's POV

My district partner Kyle is already in a rivalry with Jay. Typical of him. Over the brief time that I've known him, I've worked out he's an arrogant, cocky snob. I wouldn't care if someone like him died.

Instead, I've started to bond with Charlotte from Eight. She's very similar to me in the way that she's quiet yet quite skilled. She tells me that she's a tomboy, and really despises girly girls. I agree with her on that. We also both agree that Platinum is a perfect example of one.

What really gets me is her burn. She got into a fight and won. She used her wits and she played her opponent's moves to her advantage. Being allied with someone like that is a great help in the arena. I decide to approach her with the proposition of an alliance at the snares station.

"Hey, Charlotte," I finally get the courage to say. "Would you like to be my ally?" She ties the final knot in her snare and carefully removes her hands, making sure she doesn't set it off. "Sure," she replies. "As long as I'm the official leader."

"I don't see a problem with that," I say, and we shake on it. I've already snatched up a precious alliance. Charlotte is sure to help me immensely when the Games begin. That is if I make it past the bloodbath.

As a form of strategy, Charlotte and I analyse the certain skills of some tributes. Kit from Three is an agile girl, easily darting through the obstacle courses, yet she seems very fragile and weak.

Magnus from Seven and Balthar from Eight both seem quite proficient with spears. We notice them talking, and I'm sure an alliance is forming right there and then.

Gareth and Jamee from Five seem to work really well as a team, but Jamie is the only one that shows much skill weapon-wise, and even that isn't much. But on snares, camouflage and anything to do with intellectual capabilities, Gareth is all over it. They seem to work well together.

Susan from Thirteen and Darleena from Six seem to get along really well. Despite that, neither of them is really good at anything.

The Elevens seem to be on their own, acting as mostly a stealth team, using hiding to get them as far as possible.

We unfortunately have to stop there as it's time for the tributes to head back to their apartments. We all go up in our districts, so Kyle and I must wait for the Ones, Twos and Threes to go before us. When it is our turn, I wave goodbye to Charlotte and we step inside.

It takes seconds for us to get to floor 4. When we arrive, our escort, Azure, and our mentor, Aqualia, are sitting at the dinner table, tucking into some seafood. "There's nothing better than a reminder of home for dinner," Aqualia says groggily. I think she's gone a bit far with the alcohol. May as well fill myself up for a big day tomorrow, then.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I've got more training through the eyes of James and Albina from Nine next chapter. As always, please review and get your friends to read it if you like it!