Joseph Byton, District 3

"You're feeding on my energy,

I'm letting go of it, oh, she want's it."

Of Monsters and Men, Wolves Without Teeth

Joseph Byton was nothing special.

No one noticed him at the Reapings, his interview was a disaster, and somehow he managed to pull a six in training, but that didn't tip anybody off to the 17 year old boy everyone in the district said was sickly even for Three. Everyone focused on the powerful Careers, especially after the beast of a Victor that was Callum Gray. The pair from Two were the king and queen of the Arena, of course, with the Fours just behind and the Ones pulling out a solid showing as well. Even Joseph's own district partner showed him up, and she was only 12 years old. She played up the adorable side, and with that, he became the single least memorable tribute in the first 8 interviews.

The Arena was an underwater sewage system, a particularly diabolical idea from Matrion Sideris that the entire Capitol was thoroughly disgusted by, but the maze-like nature of the Arena kept them all on the edge of their seats.

As soon as the gong rang, Joseph turned tail and sprinted away from the Cornucopia with nothing but his life. A few people were surprised, especially those who'd bet on his dying in the bloodbath, but the massive, 13 death (including the girl from Three) bloodbath kept them all more than entertained.

The pack was strong, just as strong as last year's, if not even more. Within three days they'd found as many disoriented tributes, gutting them all like the dead fishes in the murky Arena water. However, on day 3, the Capitol noticed something odd. For the last two days, Joseph had been working like a dog on some sort of unseen device. No one knew what it was until he propped it up on the wall next to where he was hiding.

A couple of hours later, the Careers turned the corner into a long hallway, where unbeknownst to them, Joseph was hiding in a crevice. The device began to blink, and Joseph, up like a shot, stowed the device away and began climbing up the ladder away from the hunting Careers.

In the Control Center, Amethyst glanced at Beatrix.

"The boy made a sonar," he said with a wry smile. "Never thought of that one."

Two tables over, Gizmo gave a grin that betrayed nothing of Joseph's plan, only that he knew every bit of it.

For the next week, the game of cat-and-mouse continued, with the only other tribute (the girl from Seven, still alive only because of her huge sponsor base from her good looks) finally collapsing from dehydration halfway through. The pack was getting restless, secret sub-alliances were forming, and the Capitol was getting bored. A message from Amethyst, who knew the boy from the technology district was up to something, warned the group to stay together until he was dead, and they listened. But it didn't matter. Gizmo sent his own warning, one telling him to pick up the pace or Sideris would take him out of the picture. And pick it up Joseph did. For after ten days in the Arena, Joseph revealed his final plan.

The Careers were hunting once more, with spirits quite low. They'd split in half, an unwise decision. The Twos with the boy from Four. Joseph, simply waiting for his moment, watched them pass right under his hiding spot and dropped his last resort onto the group.

A massive wave of electricity shot through the air, with Joseph only barely managing to avoid the blast. Water from the sewers had drenched them long ago, and all three Careers were fried in a second. The other three heard the trio of cannons go off and they knew they'd made a mistake in underestimating their last opponent. Marshall Thornburg watched the explosion from the Center and swore openly, storming out of the room. Amethyst only sighed. Next year.

In the end, Joseph didn't need the other two shock grenades he'd built. The girl from Four snapped, attacking the Ones in a fury and pushing them both into the sewage. At the last minute, the boy grabbed her and pulled her down with her. In the underwater struggle, Four was stabbed and the other two drowned.

Despite Joseph's underwhelming victory, he was still hailed as one of the greatest underdog Victors of the first quarter-century of the Games. He set the trend that every single Victor from Three would follow of not even trying to overpower the Careers, but letting brains do all the work. His time in the spotlight wasn't long, quickly eclipsed by more powerful and crowd-pleasing Victors, but whenever he entered the room, even Amethyst and Orion gave him their own measure of respect. Let's face it, he earned it.

What everyone didn't know was the fact that Joseph never permitted electricity in his house. The Control Center was a disaster, with panic attacks nearly killing him on his first year. He lit his house with candles, and a lot of them, keeping everything well lit. He never even used plumbing, instead building an outhouse in his backyard that he changed twice a day. The Games had ruined his very district for him. But the thing about Three was, if there was one motto the collective district had, it was 'Never stop learning.' And Joseph, the first of Three's so-called 'Genius Victors,' was the perfect example of this. Because no matter what you did to stop him, you never really could stop a genius from learning, could you?

I'm back!

Not quite as long as the last hiatus, I know, but I've missed writing all the same. I do apologize for the political reference, I simply couldn't resist. Sorry.

I know I say this a lot, but I would really appreciate it if you dropped a review, especially if you haven't before. It's partially to get an idea of who's following the story, and partially to know what you all think of it. This really is one of my favorite projects I've ever worked on, and I'm not even a third of the way through yet.

Next up is another Career Victor, but the format isn't one that I think many people will see coming. You'll see next time.