Boom. It's the chariot rides. Filled with the characters YOU voted for. Enjoy. This'll be split into two parts but only counts as one part of the four part update. So I guess technically you're getting a give part update.

Beaver (18)

"So..." Lace started.

We were all perched on our chariot, watching the other tribute stream in. They're all so tiny. I could crush most of them between my fingers. Poor kids, they didn't stand a chance. Obviously I was going to win this game. Well, I would make it to the end protecting Topaz.

"So...?" Topaz said, poking Lace to get her to continue. She rolled her eyes and re situated the silver, gauzy, diamond studded dress they stuck the girls in around her legs.

"So, have any of us actually given any real thought as to how this entire Career alliance would work from now on? because I'm just now thinking of it."

Luxe crossed his arms and smirked like the overly cocky jerk we all know he is. "Are you stupid Alice? There's still an even amount of girls and guys. We'll just pair off."

Something dangerous flashed in Lace's eyes, and before any of us can react, she viciously shoved Luxe off of the side of our in reality very high off the ground chariot. He lands on the ground with a noticeable groan

"My name is Lace, douchebag. Don't forget it."

Luxe rolled over unto his back, and his expression reminded me that we're all trained killers. This is a game after all, and we're very, very good at it.

I saw a flash of silver out of the corner of my eye. It was one of the girls from Two, who was currently looking down at Luxe with a disdainful expression.

"You plan on getting up anytime soon? The other Career districts want to talk to you." the girl said with a sarcastic tilt to her voice. She looked up at us and offered us a slight smile, though general disinterest and a bit of anger played in her black eyes.

"What's up?." she asked nonchalantly, offering her hand up to shake. "I'm Onyx Monteiro, the girl who in a week you're most likely going to be trying to kill. But hey, might as well be pleasant before hand."

We all stared at her in shock at her frank words. Then Topaz, my beautiful sweet Topaz, burst into giggles. Lace followed her lead and soon even I'm bellowing with laughter. Some of the other tributes in the room turned to stare at us, and Luxe just glared.

A slight smile broke out on Onyx's face, and the hard barrier in her eyes softened just a bit.

"Come on," she finally muttered, gesturing for us to follow her. Then, to herself, so quietly I would not have heard her had she not been standing next to me, she said,

"Time to meet your fellow murderers."

Avalon Hastings (16)

I watched Onyx sashay back to our group with One in tow. She just thought she was the greatest, didn't she?

She walked past me and 'accidentally' gave me a slight shove as she moveed to sit in between her boy toy and the midget Four girl. She's just going to be a joy to kill, isn't she?

I trained my attention back to the One blonde girl, Lace as she prefers to be call, is all sugar and fire. I quite enjoyed her temper and I could tell she was strong. Unfortunately, she also seemed a bit too nice. Beaver acted like an idiot. He reminded me of the frat boys from the Capitol movies they sometimes put out.

Luxe was more my type. Not nearly as nice as many of the tributes seem this year, more ruthless. Fortunately, from the way he kept glancing at Topaz every time he said something back over at their chariot, he was eager for approval. Why from her specifically, I had no idea. I just had to take her place in his heart.

Topaz was weak. I could already see it in her eyes. She was what the lesser districts would call, 'a good person'. Just like Onyx, and Alex and Storm and Beaver and Lace and Helix. Only she was just a step above them, barely a Career at all. If I didn't know any better, I'd think she was from eight or something. She doesn't seem able to kill. I guess we'll just see.

I jumped onto my chariot and stood above them all. It was time for this meeting to start.

"Hello my fellow Careers. As you can tell-"

"Hey!" Kai, one of the Four males, interrupted me. I grinded my teeth and tried to keep myself from kicking the stupid boy in the head. "Why do you get to command this meeting? You're a girl, let one of the men do it."

The rest of the group stared in shock at his sheer ignorance for a moment, before Onyx punched him in the balls. Kai tumblesdto the ground, cursing as the rest of the males winced in sympathy.

"Any of the rest of you have any sexist comments?" Onyx questioned, readying herself to punch someone else. I could see Lace holding down a smirk from the corner of my eye, and even Storm was smiling.

Silence meet her question, and I continued on.

"Alright then. As you can obviously see, the Career pack is going to be a bit different from now on. We're twice as large, but since we're an odd number of districts it's only possible for two of our number to make it out still."

"Plus, there's the matter of that we need to choose partners. I'm not going to bother to try and keep this alliance together, or dictate who goes with who. Doing so would be tedious and there's obviously going to be some disagreement considering no one is going to want to pair with Kai or Helix."

"Hey!" They both protested indignantly. I ignored them and continue speaking.

"However, I have decided that I want to pair with Jackob Creast, from Nine."

Luxe snapped his head up, and cocked his head at me inquiringly.

Storm spokes up. "I spoke to my mentor. She said that they'll give us the ability to pair right after the chariot rides."

"How so?" Mary questioned, casually kicking her leg to watch the wave patterns on her dress move.

"I don't know, but she said it shouldn't be too painful."

"It's going to hurt?" Helix asked with wide eyes. I could tell he was starting to panic. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with Four this year?

Yuu Kazuki Trieze (16)

"They seem nice enough." I commented, looking at the Careers. Tech rolled his eyes.

"You said that about the serial killer in Three that one time too, Yuu." Cordin said.

I shrugged my shoulders. It turned out to be a kindergarten teacher and she left all of her victims with a soft blanket and a homemade teddy bear. Seemed nice to me.

Whilamena twisted and coiled her fingers in the corner of the chariot, muttering softly to herself. We all ignored her.

"I've put some thought into our alliances." said Tech, changing the subject. "I think we should look at Six. They seem nice. And I spoke to Storm from Four. She's pretty hot."

"Isn't Six the one with the girl from the insane asylum?" Cordin questioned. I nodded. She was a kindred spirit. Not crazy, but misunderstood, like me. Okay, maybe I was a bit crazy, but I was not mentally ill. Okay, maybe I was but I was highly functioning.

"Yea, Alena. I've spoken to her a bit. She's actually pretty sane, except she won't speak in contractions. Gem and Leo are pretty cool too. Meth is sort of an asshole though."

Cordin smacked him for cursing, and I giggled lightly. Cordin blushed slightly, and changed the topic to the other districts.

"I like the couple from Eight, and the kids from Nine."

"What couple?" I asked, looking around. I found them at their chariot. A girl with riotous curly red hair and a dark haired boy. He poked her while she laughs.

"Don't pick now."

I jumped and screamed, whirling around to see Whilamena had snuck up on us while we were talking. It's interesting to think that if she didn't have that permanent hunch in her back she might actually be as tall as me.

"You won't truly know their strengths until training begins, don't pick now." she continueed in her whispery voice before scuttling back to her corner

A beat of silence.

"Well then."

Kai Neptune (18)

Avalon was still babbling on and on about how she believes that the traditional Career alliance just won't stand up to these new rules, but that we should just make sub alliances instead. Beaver, the ginger girl from one, the blonde, that black haired witch who hurt me, and her dark side boyfriend, had all congregated together separately from the rest of us, speaking intensely and occasionally throwing out gazes to the rest of the room.

Storm wandered away to speak to the tiny Eleven girl with Augustus, for a reason I could not decipher, and Helix are Mary were...somewhere. Obviously, if the group had been under my leadership, we would all still be together.

Avalon finally finished her speech and wandered over to talk to the Nine boy. Even Luxe and the white haired girl from Five were talking.

I scanned the room. Which one of these weak little girls was actually fit enough to be my partner? I could not be the last Career to bond. I needed to establish my dominance.

"Hi." A pretty high pitched voice called from below me. I glanced down to see it was the older girl from Twelve, Kiera or something. She was beautiful, in a weak, female way of course.

Her skin looked like the sand on the beach in front of my house, when its midnight and the moon is full and bright. Her eyes were the blue grey of the ocean when the sky has the perfect amount of clouds, and her hair was a silky curtain of brown black that fell forward to partially hide her delicate cheek bones.

Everything about her was delicate really. She's was like the old fine china my grandmother holds onto. But something in the way she held herself told me there's more to her than just how easy she can break.

"Hello?" she questioned, waving and snapping her fingers in my face. I shook myself out of the daze I was in, and looked her in the eyes, forcing a bored and disinterested look onto my face.

"What do you want Twelve?" I asked with a flippant tone of voice. Honestly, what did she want? She was pretty, so what? She was from one of the worst districts around. Shouldn't she be crying in a corner somewhere?

"I want to be your partner." Kiera stateed clearly. Hmm, not Kiera. I thought it started with a Q...Quinna?

"Why would I let you be my partner? What could you possibly have to offer?"

Something sparked in her eyes, and a cute, tiny grin sneaks it's way onto her mouth. "Well, one, it looks like all of your Career girls have already found partners anyway, and two, I'm good at surviving and reading people. Who knows, I might even find another hidden talent in training. Plus you need a partner hotshot. No partner, no victory."

I mulled her words over in my head. She was decently smart for a girl. Her looks and my looks together would definitely make for sponsors. I gave her my hand and she took it, lifting herself up to the chariot with surprising ease.

"Look to your left, but don't make it too obvious." she whispered, nodding her head at a Capitol man leaning against the wall watching us. He was holding a small black box in his hands and wasn't really doing anything with it except for the occasional readjustment and tap. He was staring at us.

"He's filming us." Quinna nodded. I had to lean in closer to her to hear what she's saying, and she instructed me to smile slightly.

"So, will you be my partner?" she asked.

"Sure, whatever Twelve. Just don't slow me down."

"Good. Because I'm about to do something that'll get us a whole lot of sponsors."

Before I could question her, she grabs my head and kisses me.

Nicholas Nightingale (18)

"I'm just saying, we share a common interest." I explained to Rain. He glared at me, much the same way he glared at our stylist when she stuck us in light suits. As in suits...made of light. Well, fabric that have cords of electricity that make it look as if they're made of light.

Doesn't really matter though. They were still hot as hell, and strangely itchy.

"Since when is my sister any interest of yours?" he sneered. I gazed at him coolly, and wished that I had something to smoke. I couldn't even remember the last time I smoked.

"Since I saved her from a group of guys that took a bit too much of an interest in her after they found out she liked to dress like a boy sometimes."

I can remember that day as clear as I can remember my mothers laugh or the cool weight of my gun I'd had to stick in a...special, place to keep with me. It still hurts.

It had been the day after the first day of last years games. I was on my way to go buy bread from the bakery, and if we had any money left some meat from the butcher. Suddenly I heard a high pitched scream come from one of the alleyways.

I darted to the area, and saw what looked to be a young boy held up by the throat and roughly pressed against the bricks. Tears were running down the poor kids face while three guys only about a year younger than me at the time leered at him, groping his body and loosening their pants.

One, who looked to be their leader, stepped forward and ran his hand through his greasy brown hair.

I knew they wouldn't try anything else for another minute, so I kept vigilant watch on them as I checked the bullets in my gun and stuffed in a few new ones. Then, I slipped on my finger-less gloves, the ones with the metal knuckles.

"So girlie, you like convincing people you're a boy?" he leaned in and sniffed the kids neck. They whimpered as I made my face closer, tiptoeing over the garbage.

"Why don't you let me convince you of just how much of a girl you are."

Just as his dirty hands touched the kids pants zipper, I managed to fire off three quick shots, killing all three and making the kid drop to the ground with an astonished cry.

I stepped closer and the flinched, so I dropped to their eye level, trying to keep their attention away from the three dead bodies lying on the ground.

"Hey, calm down, it's alright." I soothed them, trying to get a look at their face. With a start I realized it was Lockheart's little sister, Radiance.

"Red?" I questioned. She jumped and finally looked me straight in the eyes.

"Only my friends call me Red." she sniffled, wiping her cheek on her sleeve. I couldn't help but smile a bit. Red was adorable. She reminded me nothing of her asshole of an older brother. Well, besides the whole 'charitable' thing.

"Well, considering what I just did, I think you can consider me a friend. Though I doubt your brother would though. He hates me."

She laughed and said he hated a lot of people, and I led her out of the blood soaked alley into the busy streets, where no one cared enough to take any note of our appearances.

After that, I used the grocery money to take her to the ice cream place in town instead, and we've had this big brother, little sister relationship ever since.

Rain stared at me, then his little sister who was chatting up Jud from Ten, with wide horrified eyes.

"Why didn't she ever tell me this?" he whispered, a gradual fire building in his eyes. I shrugged. I was only concerned about the kids safety. And as long as her brother wasn't tampering with that I couldn't care less about their relationship.

"That isn't the point Lockheart, the point is that we have a common interest of getting her home, because honestly I don't think I could live with myself if I live and she doesn't. Plus, Lux is an emotionless freak. Obviously Red is our best candidate."

He nodded in agreement, then starts rambling on about his half baked plan. I was only half listening, preferring to watch instead one of the Career girls from Two chat up Jackob from Nine. He had his arm slung over Cordelia, who was trying to squirm away and get to the other Nine girl, Amberia.

Lockheart noticed my gaze.

"Really Night? Can't keep it in your pants even during a battle to the death? Even when it comes to a girl who's clearly taken?"

I ignored him as I caught Cordelia's eyes, and she rolled her eyes at Jackob's antics. Then she mimed stabbing him in the head.

I laughed and shrugged. "Pretty girl, I guess. I need a partner, don't I?"

"Whatever." Lockheart said with frank dismissal. "I guess we'll just see in training."

Leon 'Leo' Stronghold (12)

"And...there!" Gem grinned, stepping back in appreciation of her work.

Her work being of course, completely demolishing our costumes. Our stylists decided to dress us as cars. Freaking cars. Who the heck even does that? It's almost as bad as Sevens hundred year streak of being trees. Of course, this year they're wood nymphs or something. Does that still count as trees? I mean, it's the trees spirit.

Then again, Two was dressed as metal or something. Which is stupid in theory but they, especially Onyx, seemed to be pulling it off.

I guessed it was all in perspective.

"Are you going to get out of your head yet Leo?" Alena questioned me. It's weird to think her and I are around same age. I mean, she's so tiny but she acted a million years older than me. While I was the size of some of the oldest guys here but I acted like I'm seven. Hmm, maybe...

Before I could mull any further, I'm nailed in the head by a small pebble Alena found somewhere on the ground.

"Hey!" I shouted, picking her up before she can run and spinning her around. "What'd you do that for?"

A giggle escaped her, and I almost dropped her in shock. I've never even seen her smile. Is it possible that she's human?

"I do not know what you are speaking of." she breathed through her laughs. I spun her around and around, till the world looked like it's about to tip on its side and our hair was messy and it seemed like laughter was now oxygen. We collapsed on the ground while Gem scolded us for getting our costumes dirty.

"Don't be such a drag Genesis, let the kids have fun while they're still here." said Meth, popping open an eye from where he was napping in the carriage.

Gem glared and clutched Alena a bit tighter to her chest. "One of them is getting out of here."

"You mean I'm getting out of here." Meth laughed cruelly. I rolled my eyes and look over to Alena for back up, only to see that her face was frozen as she stared at something on the other side of the room.

"What are you looking at shorty?" I questioned, trying to see where she was looking. Suddenly, my eyes lock in on two beings sitting very close to each other on the Four chariot. It's Kai, and the older girl from Twelve. I couldn't actually see either of their faces, as they were sort of angled away from me, but it was easy to tell.

It's only when Quinna leaned back, smiling, then dove back in that I could tell exactly what they were doing.

"I am looking at the game changer."

So that's part one of the chariot rides, even though there hasn't been any actual riding going on. Don't worry, that's coming soon. In literally like, thirty seconds since this is a rapid update.