I do not own 'Phineas and Ferb' or anything related.

Phineas had a go at the Traps station as Doofensmirtz suggested, but he also tried every other station. He proved to be fairly good at every one of them, as did Ferb. He also noticed the others. As expected, the careers excelled at the combat stations. The District 2 boy smashed his opponents with ease, and got so eager he started smashing them with his bare hands (Despite being at the swords station). The other skeletons had to restrain him and pull him away.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" He kept shouting as he was dragged away.

"Hiya!"

The boy from District 9 kicked his opponent so hard in the face that his skull exploded, whereas the girl smashed all of her opponents with a mace. The girl from district 10 kicked hers apart, While the district 10 boy showed off the amount of weights he could carry. They weren't the only ones. A number of tributes he noted (The pink girl from District 1, the boy from District 4, the girl from district 6, and both tributes from district 12) proved to be really good at the edible insects and plants stations; The district 6 girl also proved exceptional at the swords station, whereas the boy proved to be pretty strong with the weights. During the entire time, Mortuus watched their progress. He spent less time with the careers and other exceptional tributes, but the tributes he seemed to spend shadowing the most were Phineas and Ferb. Nothing like skeletons and a figure resembling the Grim Reaper to remind you of your impending doom! Phineas couldn't help but feel that the president was watching him specifically. If he was paranoid, he'd think the president had it out for him. But he's not sure what he could possibly have done to upset him!

Later at lunch, with the exception of the careers, each district sat by their own; some chatted together, some didn't. The boy from District 5 tried to make conversation with his fellow tribute, but she kept moving her chair away from him. Phineas and Ferb looked at each other. Usually, no words from Ferb didn't bother Phineas, but now it definitely felt like there was an invisible wall between them for the first time. It had been the same during training, even when they were at the same station neither said a word to each other, aside from one moment when Ferb told Phineas that it looked like he had a shadow following him. He turned around to see the girl from District 4 dart behind a pillar. The same girl from District 4 burst into laughter while having lunch with her brother. Phineas felt jealous. Why couldn't they be like them, why did their mentors advise them to keep their distance? Later, the careers came over to the district 6 table.

"Hi, want to come have lunch with us?" The girl from District 9 offered.

Phineas understood that she wasn't just being friendly. This was an invitation to join their future pack.

"No thanks, I'm alright," The boy said.

The girl, seemingly considering her options, stood up with her tray.

"Sure, why not?"

"Connie, what are you doing?" The boy from her District asked.

"I'm sorry, Steven," She replied, "I'm just doing what's best for survival."

And she went off to join the careers, leaving the District 6 boy, Steven, all alone, seemingly heart broken. Phineas felt sorry for him. For a moment, he considered defying Doofensmirtz's instructions, turning to Ferb and asking him if they should keep him company.

"There's no point to you being here."

Phineas and Ferb looked up at Mortuus, who had appeared behind them.

"You're best at just giving up."

"Why?"

"I have trained tributes for the last 74 games, to give tributes a fighting chance. And in all of those tributes, I have seen that even among the lesser districts, there are victors. Do you know what all victors have in common? They have the ability to kill. Even the odd sweetypie of District 13."

He then gestured in the direction of the saddened Steven.

"Even that boy there, although he will not kill when given the choice, will do what is necessary for self-preservation. Or to protect those he cares about."

He then looked in the direction of Connie, who was laughing along with the Careers.

"But those from District 1, even the most combat ready, lack that ability to take a life. I have even seen how you do not like the talk of killing, or the word, or related words. That is how I know you won't survive."

Mortuus started to glide away.

"Although, there was one tribute who had the killing instinct. Only one. And he-"

"Is there a problem, Mortuus?"

Phineas and Ferb backed away. The president had seemingly come out of nowhere.

"M- Mr President," Mortuus bowed, "I was merely preparing these two for what was to come."

"Really? Cos it sounded to me like you were trying to demoralise them. And as you said your job is to give tributes a fighting chance, and it doesn't do well to tell them they have no chance, wouldn't you agree, Morty?"

"Um, no Sir. Of course, Sir."

"I must apologise on Mortuus' behalf, he can get a little carried away. Mortuus, a word?"

The lights in Mortuus' skull shrank.

"Yes, Mr President."

They walked out of the training room. Given that his head was only a skull, it was hard to tell what he was feeling, accept from his eyes. And from the way his eyes shrank, it gave Phineas the impression that Mortuus was frightened of the president. But how could such a tall, menacing figure like Mortuus be afraid of such a smaller, less frightening figure like the president?

Mortuus was thrown against the wall.

"You idiot!" Wacko shouted at him, "You imbecile! What were you thinking telling them all that?"

"Forgive me, Master," Mortuus got up, "I was only trying to intimidate them."

"Oh yes intimidation, nothing wrong with that. But tell me Mortuus. Didn't you think that what you were telling them might have brought up a few inconsistencies? Did that ever cross your tiny little- well I guess being skeleton you don't actually have a brain, but I thought you had at least a mind! Hopefully I stepped in just in time to lessen the damage! You know, I expect this thing from Sammy. I expect it Teneko, from Brainiac, Gorilla Arms, Handy, Quasi and Ben, but I did not expect it from you."

"My apologies, Master, it will not happen again."

"It won't. Because next time I will not be so merciful."

And he walked away.

Despite being supposed to remain separate until their scores for their individual sessions, Sammy had requested that they all eat together at dinner.

"So, I couldn't help but notice that you two weren't being very sociable today."

"Well, no, they wouldn't," Said Monogram, "As we had instructed them to remain separate."

"You know, the tributes for District 4 have been instructed to work together, to be together, even laugh together. Do you know why that is? It's because their mentors understand that they work best together rather than being apart."

"Well, yes, that may work for the District 4 tributes, but that doesn't mean it would work for these two."

"I don't see why not. After all, they made all of those amazing inventions back in their district together. Not to mention that float."

It was nice to see that someone acknowledge how well they work together, Phineas thought.

"Ahem," Monogram coughed, "No offence, Miss Slug-"

"That's Ms Slug to you."

"-Ms Slug, but you're not their mentors. We are."

"And tell me, exactly how many tributes ended up being victors?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Well, I had one success."

"What are you-?"

Sammy looked at Doofensmirtz.

"Oh that's right, I guess he would have been. Well, just because being solo worked for Doofensmirtz doesn't mean it will work for these two."

The two consider what she said.

"I'm sorry, Ms Slug-" Monogram started to say before she slammed one of her eyes on the table.

"I WILL NOT CONTINUE TO BE A LAUGHING STOCK IN FRONT OF THE OTHER ESCORTS! Ow. Excuse me for a moment, I need to see a doctor."

Sammy slivered away.

"Hey Doofensmirtz, I was chatting with the head trainer today."

"Oh, that guy. Shudder. He gives me the chills. It probably has something to do with the fact that he looks like Death."

"He says that District 1 tributes never win. I was wondering. How did you win when others didn't?"

"Oh it's simple. It's because I'm evil."

"Evil?"

"Oh yes! The best way to get through the games is to be evil. To have no qualm about what you are doing. Trust me kid, you'll sleep better."

But this wasn't satisfactory for Phineas.

"But what about Monogram. Is he evil too?"

"Well no, Francis maintains that he is good (even if he doesn't pay his intern). He'll say that he only ever killed in self-defence and that there's no shame in that. But I say being evil is easier!"

Hmm. To be evil. Or to kill in self-defence. Still it wasn't enough.

"Wait, there was one other victor from District 1. How did he win?"

"Oh, him. Well, his name was Milo Murphy, victor of the very first Hungry Games. He was said to be the originator of the term 'Murphy's law'."

"Murphy's law? You mean that anything that can go wrong will go wrong?"

"Exactly."

"But if he was the embodiment of anything that can go wrong will go wrong, how did he win?"

"Oh I meant everything went wrong for everyone around him; weapons backfiring on users, powers malfunctioning, mutts prematurely appearing, the cornucopia collapsing and sinking on those who were in there, and anyone who managed to survive all that got finished off by a meteor. And that wasn't even part of the arena!"

"So, how did Milo Murphy become victor?"

"Well he was somehow able to pass all that, as if he had experience with avoiding every imaginable disaster, and when he got to the cornucopia he found this backpack that not only helped him survive the meteor but the cornucopia as well!"

"Huh. You know, he sounded exceptionally lucky for someone who was supposedly had the worst luck imaginable."

"Yes. Yes he was. Also there are theories that the combined bad luck from the other tributes exponentially increased the effect of Murphy's Law. He remains the only victor ever who became victor without taking a life."

"So it is possible."

"Well if you are a jinx, that is."

The next day when Sammy led them down to the training centre, she had an eyepatch over the eye she slammed in the table the day before.

"Listen, I want you two to work together from now on."

"But our mentors told us-" Phineas began to say.

"Forget what they said! They don't know what they're talking about! But I do!"

He antennae extended to rest on their shoulders.

"And I know that together you have a better chance of beating the other tributes."

She slivered away to join the other game makers. Phineas felt better.

"Well Ferb, shall we-"

"I think it's best that we continue to remain separate," Ferb told him.

"What? But Sammy-"

"She's not my mentor. Monogram is."

"But you said it yourself, we stand a better chance working together than apart!"

"That was before what my mentor told me."

Ferb walked in the centre ahead of Phineas.

And so it was, as the invisible wall between Phineas and Ferb continued to be (Much to Sammy's frustration). As time passed, Phineas and Ferb pretty much mastered every station. They became so good that the careers started to notice them. One day the Girl from District 9 came over at lunch.

"Hi. Want to eat with us?"

Phineas considered her offer. It would mean postponing hurting any of the careers. But it would also mean being compliant with hurting the other tributes.

"No thanks, I'm good," He replied.

The girl turned to look at Ferb. He blinked.

"I think you should take that as a no."

"Oh. Okay."

She turned to walk away.

"Oh, just one more thing. You're going down."

Soon the time came to present their chosen skill. It started with 13, and moved down to 1. Eventually only Phineas and Ferb were left. Ferb got up.

"Ferb!"

Ferb turned around to look at him.

"Good luck!"

"You too."

He entered.

"Phineas Flynn."

Phineas entered. Most of the game makers weren't paying attention to him, and instead were focused on their party. The only ones paying attention were Sammy, Felus, and the president.

"Choose your skill of choice."

Phineas wondered which one to choose. There were so many, and his skill was equal in most of them. In the end, he decided on the edible plants station. He managed to get all of the answers right.

"Yes!"

He turned to look for approval.

"You may go now," The president told him.

The results came in later that day. As expected, the tributes from the career districts generally scored high; the boy from District 1 got a ten; the boy from district 9 an eleven, whereas the girl got a 9. The tributes from district 10 predictably both got 12. Nearly all the other tributes received 1. There were exceptions though. The boy from District 5 received a 0. But there were some positives. The girl from district 6 got an 11, whereas the boy shockingly got a 12. That was a result usually reserved for tributes like from 10. Phineas wondered what he did to impress the gamemakers? Eventually District 1's results came; Ferb got an 8.

"Way to go, Ferb!" Phineas congratulated.

"Ahem."

Doofensmirtz looked at him.

"Sorry," Said Phineas, "Not sorry," He whispered.

Then came his result. 1.

1? Phineas was so sure that got every question for the edible plants right. So how did he only get a 1?

P.S. I do not own 'Steven Universe', 'Milo Murphy's Law' or anything related either.