NOTE: The previous chapter was a training chapter focusing on Sorrel, Thys, and Elle. I've posted these two chapters on the same day, so you might not have caught the first update. I'd recommend reading that beforehand if you haven't already.

Lucent Saccharyn, Head Gamemaker:

The past few days of training have been especially exciting to observe. A few scuffles here and there that we had to take care of, but overall, things went just as I had planned. Now it's time for me to judge the abilities of each tribute. Hortensia has informed me that they are all in the waiting room. My Gamemakers and I are perched in an elevated box, what the tributes presumed to be an alcove in the wall, but has since been lifted by built-in metal arms and heavy cables to hang suspended in the air. I can use a set of controls to move it in any direction I please in order to get a better view of something. I twist the dial that draws the balcony back into its original spot.

Today, all of my Gamemakers are with me, but Cassus, Pyramus, and Pinky are the ones with the honor of sitting closest to me since they have the most important jobs by far and are excellent at what they do. Each Gamemaker will take notes on every performance and score the tributes independently. The average of all the numbers for a tribute is typically what is chosen as their final score, but if there's an oddity or disagreement of some kind, I always have the final decision, and I can veto any other Gamemaker if I have to. I gesture to Cassus, who presses the button that will allow his voice to carry over the intercom. "District One Male, please report for your private training session." There's a brief delay, since he'll need to get up, walk through the tunnel, and overcome any anxiety he has about what's to come. After a few moments, he steps into the room and stands before us as we look down at him from the height of our balcony.

"Oscar Poudret, age seventeen, District One Male. Today, I'll be throwing some knives for you at the range." His introduction is simple but effective, and I'm expecting a fairly straightforward yet competent knife throwing demonstration, which is exactly what I get. Oscar's extremely good at what he does, and he will definitely be a frontrunner for the Victory. He has very few flaws. He does show us only one skill, but everything he displays is spot-on, and although it's not an imaginative execution, he's done enough to guarantee himself a high score.

The next two sessions, Livi Carnelian, who's Oscar's district partner, as well as Rafe McClellan of District Two, are each unexpected but very creative. It's obvious that both tributes devoted a lot of time and effort to crafting unique and exceedingly deadly shows, each almost theatrical in its own way. I know that those two are vying for leadership of the Career Pack, and the one with the higher score will win it. It's clear as day which one it will be. One performance includes a surprise twist towards the end that causes me to deduct a point or two, but the other exceeds my expectations by far, the variety of tricks performed with an astounding assortment of weapons being absolutely stunning. Prior to the slipup of the one individual, I had been giving serious thought to awarding twin Elevens. Since the one dropped a few points, and the other prevailed with their spectacular trick at the end, my Gamemakers and I will have an easy decision about which was better. I suspect the debate about what scores to award, however, will be much more heated. I must say, I'm contemplating assigning a perfect Twelve.

Eliza Maddox, the District Two Female, does nearly the exact same thing as Oscar, and will be receiving the exact same score for it. Distinctly above average, but still paling in comparison to those before it, her session is rather enjoyable.

Half of District Three goes according to plan, the other half does not. Pola Velek, the female tribute, does much of what she had practiced in training, minus the eavesdropping stunt. It involves technology and a bit of survival, and earned a score that was exactly what the betting experts had predicted for her. The male tribute, Soren Ventra, neglects to show up. Cassus calls his name three times, but he never appears. Judging by his refusal to attempt anything in training, it appears that he suffers from a severe lack of motivation and willpower. Hortensia phones in remotely to explain that he said he wouldn't get up when he heard his name, despite her repeatedly reminding him. She also reports he had located the emergency exit and bribed a Peacekeeper to let him escape. Somewhat unscrupulous behavior, but no more than what I had expected from such a scruffy child.

District Four is also a mixture, with one tribute being a letdown, the other, a tremendous success. Ardledge Merton, the boy, who opted out of joining the Career alliance and has no prior training, excels at hand to hand combat and performs well with a tanto dagger. He has a very limited scope of knowledge with the dagger, and his technique isn't refined, but it's very good for someone who's never used a knife as a weapon before. Lyra-Rose Ripley, the girl, is fabulous at hitting the center of a target, so long as it's directly in front of her. I have to give her some merits for accuracy, but I have to also take away points for her utter failure to even hit the target beyond fifteen yards of distance.

The male tribute from District Five, Ryan Ritz, doesn't bother to use a weapon in his session, but he demonstrates some strong wrestling skills. He attempts to recite the steps to locating and purifying water, but he confused some of the procedures so I'll have to knock off a couple points for that. Thys Kurono, the female tribute, also tries some wrestling and boxing, where she defeats two trainers at once, and also displays her use of a short sword. It's an unpolished and slightly messy performance, and she would probably lose to a Career without much of a fight, but she'll still score fairly high.

District Six doesn't fare very well, as usual. Amiee Smith, the young girl, does better than expected with her attempt at knife throwing, but it is still a fairly poor show. However, her inaccuracy is counterbalanced with some incredible recollection of survival skill procedures, and she does a great job of demonstrating how to construct a fire. Quinten Aramdale, the older boy, splits his time between the camouflage, shelter building, and spear stations. His shelter ends up rather mediocre, but his camouflage is excellent. His effort with the spear is clearly there, but the actual ability is missing. My Gamemakers and I have some complicated choices to make, since we'll have to balance the importance of each element for both tributes, but they'll each get a middling score of some kind.

Jenna Reyer from District Seven is just as good with her axe as we saw in training. She doesn't throw them, however, but she is incredibly lethal and puts a ton of force behind every swing. She only displays one skill, and although powerful, it's not a professional, clean technique, so I can't award her a top score, but it's definitely a great performance. Damon Archer, her district partner, surprised us with his amazing axe performance just as good as Jenna's. He's slightly physically weaker but has a better technique and successfully threw the axes too, so he'll either get the same score as Jenna or edge her out by one point.

District Eight fails to impress. Harry Striffer and Elle Callas, the two tributes, despite not being allied with one another, do similar things in their sessions. Harry uses a bow and arrow, and Elle uses throwing knives, but their weapons abilities are nothing special. They each also show us some survival skills, but there was nothing unique about either display. Neither impressed me very much. Both of them will receive a very average score. Elle could've done better, but for some reason she neglected to demonstrate her gymnastics. Is she trying to hide it? If so, it's too late, her fellow tributes all saw her ace the agility course.

Both Radley Allaway and Zea Poales bring their A-game, and I'm pleased to see two tributes taking their private sessions so seriously. Zea's got an interesting technique with her knife throwing, treating it like a game of darts in a bar, and it comes to me that handheld darts would be an interesting thing to put in the Cornucopia. She's throwing at the same level as Oscar and Eliza. Likewise, Radley's also performing at the level of a Career with his sickle. Either one of them would be prepared to join the Pack at a moment's notice. Both look polished and wonderful, and I'm pleased, because having strong outliers is good, and because I enjoy giving out high scores.

District Ten is excellent also, but not quite as perfect. Trey Copper, the male tribute, has joined the Career Pack on the condition that he earns at least an eight. He's not having any issues with that, due to his excellent skills with a switchblade. He'll fit right in with his new friends. Emily Parker, his district partner, was impressive in other ways. I'm giving her a high score too. Emily picked up a weapon for less than twenty minutes during training, mainly focusing on the survival stations, but her strategy appears to have paid off. She successfully shows off darn near every survival skill there is to absolute perfection. Despite her age and inexperience, she'll be a great asset to her alliance, and she's definitely earned an outstanding score. It takes a lot of hard work to make use of everything in the room so expertly.

Soya Orlando and Griffin Jagger from District Eleven are both using the same strategy of hiding their strengths with the bullwhip and morningstar respectively. They deliver moderate performances with their weapons of choice which match the way they concealed their true abilities during training. It's obvious they were holding back, and it's equally clear now to the savvier Gamemakers in the room. Their muscles are tensed more, their movements are more controlled, but not in a good way. They're stilted, and even though I know what they're doing is intentional and will be advantageous to them in the long run, I'm sad that I have to give them lower scores than they truly deserve.

Neither tribute from District Twelve does well. I was hoping one of them would surprise me and give me a satisfying conclusion to the scoring session. Sorrel Harding, the girl, and Chip Maxen, the boy, both disappoint. They're in the same alliance as Emily from Ten and studied similar things, so I was looking forward to seeing if they could match her skills, but they fail in equal measure, having forgotten most of what they were supposed to learn. Chip edged out Sorrel in the scoring department due to his absolutely pathetic effort with a metal club, and they'll have some very bad scores.

In twenty minutes, there needs to be a consensus about the scores. Jack Cannon, the Master of Ceremonies, and Iris Whottenberg, the Head Announcer, need to have the list in their hands so they can perform the grand reveal exactly on time. "Alright," I say once the last tribute has left. "Let's begin averaging the scores. The number we reach will be the final score in most instances, but as you all know, there are a couple special cases we must discuss."

"Yes," Pinky agrees. "About Livi and Rafe…"

Hey y'all!

Just so you know, the next chapter will contain the announcement of the training scores and predicted placements. I'll be awarding thirty bonus points to everyone who writes a review including what training scores they think will be given to each tribute. I'm super excited to unveil them in the next chapter! Who do you think won, Livi or Rafe?

– LC :)