New chapter! This one will sort of explain the doors that were introduced in the Bloodbath chapter. It will also bring in a new twist and may be a bit shorter. I don't want to delay this chapter, so I hope you enjoy!
Oh, and please vote on the poll on my profile. I really need some responses there, because that will affect the story.
"Mason, wake up!" Alex said. Mason groggily opened his eyes to find a sunny day.
"What?"
"Just wanted to wake you up. We're doing a strategy session."
"OK," Mason said.
Lisa and Kendyll were scouring the ship for breakfast while Conall woke Alain. It was a pretty calm morning.
After they had sent Holly through the gold door, they had explored for a while, but had ultimately gone back to their ship and back to the main area. They were all a bit scared for Holly, so they'd tried to stay under the radar. They had succeeded.
Suddenly, Lisa's keen ears heard a pinging noise. "Guys, has anyone noticed that black box before?" she said. Everyone ran over to the steering wheel to see a little screen.
"No, I think it was somehow put in last night." Mason exclaimed.
Lisa touched it and it came alive with her face. "Oh, it has tribute profiles!" she exclaimed, and started scrolling through. "It shows who is alive, how many tributes are alive from each district or team, etc. It's pretty cool."
"What's that?" Alex said, pointing to Holly's name. There was a star next to it. Lisa pressed Holly's name.
"Holly Brown, District 8," a voice said. The only thing was that, in capital letters under her name, it said, "OUT OF ARENA."
"Phew," Lisa said. "She's OK."
Suddenly, trumpets blared.
"Tributes!" Claudius said. "I have an announcement."
Everyone looked up.
"Every odd-numbered day in the arena, there will be a twist. As today is Day 3, there will be a twist. We are having a sibling challenge! All siblings or cousins in the arena will be taking part in this challenge. As such, we will be bringing your ships to where the bloodbath was on the first day and all siblings and cousins will jump into a tube that will take you to the challenge arena. The higher you place, the better of a prize, but if you place really low, there will be a punishment. The contest will commence at twelve noon. Good luck!"
Suddenly, brown team felt their ship move.
"Hey, guys!" Lisa said. "Let's talk strategy."
The team met in the center of the ship.
"So, obviously, Alex, Kendyll, and I are competing," Lisa said. "We just need to figure out what you guys are going to do after the drop-off."
"How about you guys get into a rowboat when we get closer and row to the tube, and we can make a fast get-away!"
"Great idea," Lisa said. "Break!"
Alex, Lisa and Kendyll stay above-decks to get ready, while Conall, Alain, and Mason go below-decks.
"Maybe, if we get a high place, we can see Holly again!" Kendyll said.
"Maybe," Lisa said.
Blue team had two sets of people going in: Mica & Dek and Trinity & Marianne. They had vowed not to damage each other if possible.
"I'm sure they will try to challenge us in any way possible. This is not going to be easy," Mica said.
"I bet that there'll be something that challenges everyone," Trinity said.
"I agree," Marianne said.
"Imagination?" Dek said. "I like imagination. Can it have to do with imagination?"
"Maybe, Dek. Maybe."
Darren was excited, but also nervous. He was excited because he was going to see Apollo again. He was nervous because that meant that all the teams would also be there. Including the scary Careers.
Oh boy.
Darren stood up to look at the ship. Around 1/4 to 1/3 of the way back from the bow was a mast with a square blue sail, split in half down the vertical center, representing his team. Then, about 20 feet further back is another mast with another, slightly larger, square blue sail, also split down the middle. The steering wheel is at the stern of the ship on a platform three steps up. In the center of the ship is a trapdoor that pulls up, using a ring, to lead to the below-decks area. There are 2 rooms with 2 bunk-beds and a storage room underneath the deck of the ship. The ship is between 60 and 100 feet, to Darren, and he really liked it.
It made him feel like a pirate.
"What's up, Darren?" Sen said, slowly approaching him.
"Just thinking about the ship."
"It is cool, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I like being a pirate."
Astrid and Lucy were sitting together and discussing things. Sister things, challenge things, new friend things, things like that.
"What do you think will happen at the challenge?" Lucy asked.
"Probably something that requires archery and speed."
"But how will they make it so that a tribute that isn't so good at archery will have something that they're good at?"
"I don't know, Lulu. I don't know."
Meanwhile, Len and Marynna were playing some hand-games: patty-cake, Miss Mary Mack, Slide, etc. They actually got along pretty well.
"Can you use a knife?" Len asked Marynna.
"Well, I can actually use a bunch of weapons because I trained as a Career, but sometimes I can't aim them right. What can you use?"
"Nothing. I'm just not great with weapons."
"Well, maybe I can teach you."
"That would be nice."
Pink team had the Darya siblings preparing to compete. Moss and Toby, both from 4, were getting ready. Well, Moss was. He was practicing some hand-to-hand combat with the wall. Then, he grabbed a spear and got into position to throw.
"Hi, Moss," Toby said.
"Hey, little bro. What's up?"
"Just a bit nervous. I don't like not knowing what's going to happen!"
"I get that. We'll make it together," Moss says, pulling his brother into a hug.
"Oh, by the way, what's going on with the lovebirds?" Moss asks.
"You mean Lambell and Xander? Oh, it's just adorable! When they speak, they speak like little 5-year-olds and it's so cute! They even look at each other adorably! It's just so cute."
"Anything else important happening?"
"I don't think so. I mean, the big thing is the actual competition."
On deck, Lila was considering her strategy. There was no way for her to possibly break her adopted brother away from his love, as it may be the last time that the two of them are together.
"What should I do?" she thought. "I need some sort of strategy. I got it.
"Protect Xander.
"Although, I don't think the Gamemakers will do too much to harm him because it's just too anticlimactic. We'll have to see."
The entire green team was going into the challenge. That meant that not only were the green team's tributes nervous about the challenge, but also about the ship.
"So, what should we do with the ship?" Fallen said.
"Anchor it!" Leia exclaimed.
"But something might happen with the tube. And if we for some reason DON'T come back, what do we do?"
"I'm sure that the Capitol has figured out something," Viktor said. "Let's focus on some sibling strategy and we can work on this later."
Viktor and Rowena retreated below decks and started to strategize.
"What do you think, bro?" Rowena asked. "Strategy?"
"We just have to meet whatever happens with a relatively positive outlook. Otherwise, we'll get nowhere. Right?"
"Exactly."
Fallen and Leia weren't doing as well. Leia just wanted to be with Fallen. Fallen wanted to try to help his sister overcome her shyness. And he was SURE that would somehow be included into the challenge. He had tried to explain to Leia that they may have to split up, but tat resulted in her in tears wrapped around Fallen's leg.
Fallen sighed. He really didn't know what to do about his sister. He couldn't leave his sister alone, but in order to succeed in the Games, he would need to be with someone a bit stronger.
They could both win.
Fallen just didn't know how.
Smash and Crash Hatch on the red team were in really bad shape. Both knew that they couldn't win the challenge if they didn't work together. At the same time, they knew that they didn't get along.
"I have an idea," Eagle said. "Let's got to a room downstairs and we can have a therapist session."
The three went downstairs to a room.
"OK, Crash, why does Smash make you annoyed?"
"Because Mom and Dad seem to like her better. She does something that I could do, but they seem to like it better when SHE does it. I don't know why."
"Smash, what gets on your nerves about Crash?"
"He's just really mean and sullen. I feel like if he wasn't as mean to other kids, he'd have more friends and be a better person."
"Now, name one thing you like about your twin."
"I like how observant Crash is. It impresses me that he can find weaknesses so quickly."
"Really? I didn't know you feel that way."
"Well, I do. It really could help you in this game."
"I've always been impressed with your knife work. I still don't get how you can ht tie middle of the target so often."
"Well, maybe I can help you."
"Yeah, I'd appreciate that."
"Well," Eagle said. "I'm impressed at how this went. Why don't you guys work together to find out a strategy? I have to go try to use this on Syeira and Isaiah."
"OK," the twins said. Eagle left the room.
"I really can't believe that you feel that way about me. I thought you hated me!" Smash said.
"Well, what can I say? Being with you, I always noticed both good and bad things about you. Now, do you think we can work together on the challenge?" Crash asked.
"I'm sure of it," Smash said, as the two siblings shared their first hug in years.
Gold team had a really good shot at the challenge. At least, according to the Adrina twins.
"Look, we're clearly the strongest set of siblings in the Games," Ona said.
"Why do you say that?" Cain said.
"Well, we are one of three sets of siblings from Career districts. Moss and Toby just care too much for each other since Toby is so little and Moss loves him too much. Plus, Toby isn't even a Career. And the Hatch twins..." Ona said.
"Are about as cohesive as two rocks. You're right; we've got this in the bag!" Ace finished.
"But something could happen with other tributes, like Viktor and Rowena Wayland. They're pretty strong!" Gretchen pointed out.
"True, but we've still got a great shot!" Ona said.
Suddenly, other ships came into view. Blue sails, green sails, silver sails.
Each ship came up into a circle and a large whirlpool opened up.
"That's probably where we have to go," Ona said.
"Good luck!" Goldstar said, as the twins jumped in. Following suit were all the other sets of siblings, seeing that the Adrina twins were unharmed.
Afterwards, Goldstar seized the moment. She jumped onto another ship and started to fight. A bloody battle ensued. At the end of it, 6 cannons went off. But whose cannons they were was unclear.
So, what do you guys think? I hope you like this chapter, even tough it's sort of a lead-up to a bigger chapter next chapter. Oh, and it will be in POVs! YAY!
Now for a few things.
1. If you've read my profile, you notice I mentioned something about Riley. Let me explain.
In Chapter 34, it says that Riley is dead. But, in Chapter 38, it says that Riley is alive again. Why did it happen?
When I killed (that sounds so wrong...) Riley, I deleted her name on the tribute list on my profile but I forgot to include her in the names of the people who died. As a result, I copied her form onto a Word document containing the tribute forms of all the living tributes. So, when I came back and saw that she wasn't on the tribute list, I thought, "Oh, I made a mistake!" So, I put her back onto the tribute list. Hence the mistake. Hence why she died and then was alive.
So, she was one of the 6 cannons. The other 5 will be determined later, see number 3.
2. I need a beta reader. If I can miss something as prominent as a dead tribute being dead, then how many little things am I missing? Having a beta would just make things so much more helpful. If you're interested, PM me.
3. If you submitted a tribute, you received a PM from me asking if you are still following the story. I have gotten some responses, but the more I get, the better the chance that your tribute survives this mini-bloodbath. Now, willbo, I don't like naming authors, but I know that I couldn't PM you, so please review this chapter, if you can, so that I know you're still following, which I'm pretty sure you are, considering you reviewed last chapter.
Boy, that was a long author's note. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, and I can't wait for you to see the next one!
-goldie031