A/N: If anyone's interested (or if you're not), I've started up a weblog at novellingwithjourney. blogspot . com. Go check it out, and tell all of your friends and acquaintances. It'll be fun.

Recommended Listening: Back in the USSR by The Beatles

Ivan Muskov, District 4

Rolling a snowball across the ground, I look up to see the others getting back. Finally! It was getting pretty boring here without a Rica to annoy.

And it doesn't sound like they got any kills, too. That's bad, but that's good because now Rica knows she's really not any better of a leader than me. She's kinda dense, so she probably needed this to drive in the point.

Wondering if I should greet her by throwing the snowball, I watch the group come closer. Nobody looks that happy, but Rica's really mad. When she loses her cool this much over setbacks, it's all the more obvious I'm a better leader.

I toss the snowball in my hand and catch it a few times before the other Careers have made it to the edge of the bowl. After they get to the bottom, I decide to go ahead and throw.

Rica doesn't even try to dodge, and it hits her in the face, clods of it sticking to her while some falls off.

"Welcome back," I laugh.

Rica's still storming towards me, now wiping the snow off her face. She's probably going to get me back, though it's silly to come this close to throw a snowball. I guess she is weaker than me, though, so I'll allow it.

But she's almost within arm's range, and she still hasn't scooped up any snow. Her hands are occupied with her bat, actually, but I don't see why she doesn't put it down. Maybe her gloves are frozen to it.

Before I can knowingly react, the bat crashes into the side of my face. Falling to the side, I quickly move my feet under me and look back up. Rica's gearing up to hit me again.

This time I block with my pipe. A sharp clang rings out, and both of us push off of the other's weapon, readying for battle. Not what I expected, but okay!

This should be even more fun.

Yao Qin, District 1

Both of the Fours have out-of-place smiles as they get ready to fight. Blood is already dribbling down the side of Ivan's face, but he doesn't seem to mind, and Rica doesn't seem to think it's enough.

After rebounding from the blocked hit, both rush in swinging. They block each other's weapons, but Rica plants her foot in Ivan's stomach. He bends, staggering away from the force, but brings his pipe round and gets Rica in the head. Before her kicking foot is even back on the ground, she swings again. Ivan bends back, nearly falling over, and responds with a crushing strike to her ribs.

Rica loses her balance, falling to the ground and barely catching herself with her hands. Ivan towers over, raising his pipe for another blow, and brings his weapon down. Rica blocks, bat held out with hands at both ends, before she scoots back a bit and starts to push herself back up. During this, Ivan swings at an upward angle, catching the side of her head with his pipe before she can completely dodge.

With a growl, Rica pushes herself back to her feet in a rush, wasting no time before swinging the bat. Ivan blocks, trying to push her back, but she doesn't budge. Sidestepping instead, she ducks under Ivan's next swipe and forces her bat into his ribs. He doubles over, and she quickly takes the opportunity to remove her bat and swing down on his head.

He goes down. Rica steps in for the finishing strike, but he rolls over, holding his pipe out protectively, and her bat rebounds away with a clash. He hurriedly curls to the side a bit, using one arm to push himself up and holding his weapon out with the other. He parries a blow from Rica, though the pipe almost flies from his hand, before finally pushing himself to his feet. His head nearly out of Rica's reach now, she aims for his pipe to knock it away. He pulls back a step or two to dodge, readjusting his grip before falling back in and swinging for her head. She brings up her bat to block, and this time Ivan buries his foot in her stomach.

Coughing, Rica slides back, only lowering her bat when Ivan pulls his pipe back. Another swing on both their parts has their weapons clash, and they stand like that for a second, pushing against each other and struggling for breath.

Is either of them going to win this? They've both taken some bad damage, especially when we're all already a little banged-up, but obviously nothing's been lethal yet.

And if I'm going to be honest with myself, I want this to be lethal. At least for Rica. While I can't exactly trust Ivan, he's at least attempted to be friendly, but Rica just pushes everyone around. I've been ignored and forced into doing things I don't want for long enough in my life. I don't need that here, too.

Really, being the leader doesn't sound bad, either. Have someone actually listening to me instead of always shrugging off my advice and doing what they think sounds good. And it's not like I couldn't handle it. Someone has to lead, and if those two are gone, I have at least Cisca—and since Amantius is always kissing at her and whatnot, I might as well count him in, too—behind me.

But that's still just if those two are gone. If they don't die by their own hands...

I look back over at them to see that they're back at it. Neither of their heads seems to be bleeding particularly more, but Ivan has an arm over his ribs and Rica is doubled over from something. With his free arm Ivan swings down at her neck, but she sidesteps and cracks her bat into his back. Not smiling anymore, he whips around, bringing his pipe to her skull before he tumbles to the ground hacking up blood. Rica spins from the impact, able to stay on her feet though she staggers away, looking dizzy.

I bring her down with a hit from the wok.

I think Ivan's done for, but I can't quite say the same for her. It's about time I did something myself.

Raising my weapon of choice, I hurry to bring it down again before she can dodge, but she gets the bat enough in the way to avoid damage. Pushing away with the bat, she twists and pushes herself to a seated position. Before she can get further than that, I swing again, sideways this time. The wok collides with her head, and she goes skidding to the side, but she doesn't stop pushing herself to her feet. She's breathing too heavily to make a comment on my rebellion, but she does give me an angry look. For all I know she was planning to kill me after she finished Ivan, but she obviously wants to watch him die.

We end up swinging our weapons at the same time, and they clang off each other. Wok flat out in front of my chest, I charge to bowl her over before she can pull her bat back in. With an "ugh," she topples over, but she grabs the edge of my weapon, nearly pulling me down with her. I tug the wok out of her grasp as she sits up, and she immediately clamps her freed hand round the bat and swings at my knee. Something pops, and it's sudden enough I collapse to the cold ground. I only just push my face out of the snow before another crack from the bat hits the back of my head.

Struggling to wiggle back to at least my knees, I hold the wok over my head for protection, but Rica doesn't strike again. I carefully move my weapon enough to look at her. Taking shuddering breaths, she wipes away some blood trying to get into her eye. The left side of her head is already caked with the stuff, and she's awfully wobbly. I don't think she's going to make it without medical attention. So I'll just back away and keep from hurting myself more...

A cannon fires. Rica's still sitting up, but Ivan has stopped coughing. Sure enough, after a moment a hovercraft appears above, scooping up Ivan and some of the bloodstained snow beneath him.

I look back over at Rica just in time to see the bat flying at my face. It smashes into my forehead before I can dodge, and I lose consciousness.