JAY

"Do you think I have a shot?" Jay asked.

Jacob looked down at him. His eyes looking straight into his although Jay knew he couldn't seem him. Jacob, his mentor, master of sound, was much older than most the other mentors. He was blinded in the first 5 minutes of his Tournament. After 10 minutes, the bracelets deactivated and he discovered a new view of the world with his elemental power. A power that had saved him. He could hear things from a mile away, along with being able to make himself as quiet or as loud as he wanted. Sometimes there would be no sound at all. Communication, a vital interaction between humans, was annihilated and teams fell apart in a matter of minutes.

Jacob now held an aura of refined sadness. He knew what he had done. He had caused deaths and he was alive because of it. He was silently acquiescence to the fact of his life. There was nothing he could do to change his past, but maybe he could change some of his District's competitor's futures. Or merely, try to give them one.

He smiled at Jay, but he still always looked gloomy.

"I think-" He started.

"No," Minerva, his female District's Competitor, answered, "Not in the slightest."

"I know," Jay sighed, "I just was hoping that I missed something."

"I think you both did," Jacob told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You've got an electric personality, one that draws people to you. You'll find a great team and you'll survive together." Jacob said.

"Really?!" Jay smiled.

"If you can't see that, you're blinder than me," Jacob laughed.

"Thanks," Jay hugged, his mentor.

Jay turned back to his breakfast, a stack of pancakes. He took the pitcher filled with syrup and dumped a large amount of the sweet, sticky liquid onto the pancakes.

"You're going to get sick from all of that," Minerva warned him.

Jay shrugged and cut a piece of the stack before wolfing down the rest of his pancakes, realizing that they would get soggy. Soon everyone was dismissed from the table to the main room and give a couple minutes to digest their food before the training start.

"Try to learn something new." Jacob advised Jay and Minerva, "Learn how to use weapons and tactics for finding and identifying food. But remember, don't show everyone your best. Save that for the Tournament."

"Got it," Jay said.

"Okay, ready!" Master Chen announced, ushering the contestants into giant silver elevators.

Jay stepped inside, fascinated by the technology. Maybe when he got home he'd try to recreate this. Boy would his parents be so proud when they found that he had built such advanced technology. They would warn him about getting caught like always, but deep down, he knew they were proud. The thought made his chest swell with an elated feeling. The elevator stopped and the doors pulled open to a giant gymnasium. Equipment and weapons of all sorts lined the room, smiling trainers assigned to each of them.

"Listen up!" A short stout trainer shouted over the humming of talking kids, "Welcome to the Training Rooms. You are free to travel from station to station however you like. We offer a wide variety of skills, from fighting techniques, to weapons training, to survival skills, and first aid. If you need a partner, we have plenty of assistants who would be more than willing to help you. But it is strictly forbidden that you engage in any rough-housing, fights, or anything of combative nature toward the other competitors or assistants, are we clear?"

The crowd gave a mumbled yes in response before being dismissed to explore the training room.

"Hey, Minerva-" Jay started to ask before noticing that she had already gone off without him.

"Okay, what to do." Jay assessed the room, looking at all the options around him, "Weapons. I need to learn how to use weapons first. I've never trained a day in my life."

Most contestants were new to fighting too. Except for the wealthier districts. They practically started training the moment that they were born. Districts 1,2, and 4. District 3 however, wasn't included in that list.

Jay wandered over to an assistant who was busy recommending and handing off weapons on a rack.

"Hello, sir?" Jay asked.

"How can I help you today young man?" He answered.

"I'm looking to try a weapon," Jay went on.

The man looked at the rack of weapons and then back at Jay. He pulled out a mace and handed it to Jay.

"This one should be good. It's a little heavy, mind you. However, you don't have to worry about striking with an edge. The mace instructor is over there to the right of the spear instructor." He told him, handing Jay the weapon.

Jay carried his new weapon over to his instructor, watching a District One tribute twirling the long pole around his body before slicing into a punching bag.

"Wow, you're really good at that," Jay said.

"I should hope so," He replied, "I've been training for a long time."

"Which is illegal but not enforced." Jay mentally noted.

But what could be expected from the wealthier districts? Nothing less than the best. They were fed, trained, and lived to fight in the Tournament and bring back the champion's title.

"Hello," The mace trainer greeted him, "I'm Sally. You're probably here to learn how to use a mace guessing by the weapon your carrying."

"Yep," Jay smiled, letting the head drop and rest of the ground.

A couple of more kids joined Jay, each holding a black mace in hand.

"'Kay," Sally said, lifting her own mace up and leading the group to some punching bags, "Maces are quite simple. Not much skills are needed to use one. However, you do need proper form to get the most damage out of a mace."

She demonstrated by swinging her weapon, watching as rocked the punching bag with a deafening 'whump'. She motioned for everyone to make an attempt too, adding small corrections and tips to make their form better. Jay swung at the punching bag which shook when the mace hit it.

"Great," Sally encouraged, "Next time, rotate your hips. It will allow you to put more power into your swing."

"This weapon is pretty easy to use." Jay thought, "I might want to switch to another to broaden my abilities. Plus this mace feels so top heavy that it could probably be parried easily, leaving me open to attacks."

Jay blinked. Since when did he have such thoughts about weapons and their deadliness?

"Must be from all the technological calculation I have to do." Jay assured himself, "Probably come as second-hand knowledge to me."

Jay handed the mace back to the instructor, thanking her for her time. He turned to look at the options of other weapons available before noticing that one of the stations was completely empty.

"Um, Mrs. Sally?" Jay asked, "What's that over there?"

Sally turned to follow his pointing finger.

"Oh, that's Gene and the nunchuck training station." She answered, "Not many kids go over there or it's short-lived since the nunchucks are very difficult to use. Plus, most are attracted to the sharp and shiny weapons, like swords and axes."

Jay ran over to the station already wanting to try the weapon even though he had been warned of its difficulty. Gene raised an eyebrow behind his glasses when he saw Jay running over to him, looking pleasantly surprised.

"I wanna try the nunchucks," Jay beamed.

"Have to warn you, they're tricky," Gene said.

"I know. But then they have to be twice as cool!" Jay went on.

"Okay then," Gene smiled, handing him a pair, "I'll take you through the basics. Start by holding your nunchuck near the top."

Jay shifted his hands so that they mimicked his instructor's.

"Nice. Okay, here's a simple strike, swing the nunchuck across your body from your shoulder to your hip." Gene explained, finishing with a demonstration.

Jay swung the weapon down, flicking his wrist so that it spun back up.

"That's really good," Gene praised, "Are you such you haven't used these before?"

"Never," Jay said, "It just kinda flows and feels right. Like the nunchuck was made to move like that. I don't get why people have so much trouble with it."

Gene started to take Jay through some harder moves, Jay picking up on the all the more quickly. By now, word had gotten around about the district 3 boy who was using nunchucks and a crowd was starting to gather around Jay. At first, he didn't notice, but soon he became aware of the growing circle around him.

"Uh, Gene?" Jay interrupted his instructor, remembering his mentor's warning to keep his best concealed, "I think I'm going to head over to the, uh, first aid station."

Gene gave him an understanding smile, accepting the nunchuck back from Jay.

"I'll see if I can get separate training with Gene," Jay thought, wandering over to the first aid table, "Then I don't have to worry who's watching me."

Jay smiled as he took a seat at the first aid station, smiling at the idea that he finally had some real skill on his side.