The 25th Annual Hunger Games; The 1st Quarter Quell.

"On the 25th anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes that would represent it."

Coral Nola, District 4.

The boy from District 3 was what they called a 'rat' over there; born into their slums, he used skills with inventing to make a wide variety of unique tasers and drugs for the District 3 Peacekeepers to use on their victims at any given time. He'd become quite rich from selling them on and was hoping to achieve status as the District's mayor one day. Unfortunately he wasn't as quick as the boy from District 1 and toppled to the ground, his cannon booming out 16 seconds after the countdown ran out.

The boy from District 1 had campaigned for this and couldn't have been happier to see he'd proven himself to not just the Academy but the District as a whole. Even in training he'd barely been phased by the gritty collection of outliers who were used to pushing others down. He hadn't expected the boy from District 8 to be quick enough to steal his sword out of his hands and chop his head off.

The Peacekeepers practically had to drag Louis out of the room, screaming spittle and howling at Woof after the 8 boy also killed the girl he was mentoring. Not District 1's finest year.

The girl from District 5 was one of the youngest tribute that year at only 15 but she'd already fought back and killed 2 other girls last year after they'd tried to kidnap her dog. The boy from District 4 chose not to underestimate the quiet confident looking girl.

The girl from District 6 had been born with a hearing impairment, had been addicted to morphling and had already been beaten 14 times by the Peacekeepers for falling behind schedule at her local factory. It was really a mercy, and the logical situation to vote for from the perspective of the dreary, hopeless District 6.

The boy from District 12 gave up as soon as he saw the rest of the tributes together in the training centre and just sat and waited calmly for the end at the Bloodbath. The girl from 7 was the one who decided to take mercy on him.

The girl from District 12 tried climbing into the rafters of the palace arena but was shot down with an arrow by the girl from District 2. Her neck broke open before she hit the floor.

The boy from District 7 fought valiantly hand to hand against the boy from 2 and might have stood a chance if the boy from 4 hadn't cut both his arms off from behind.

The boy from District 5 had chosen not to ally and died after being chased onto the roof of the palace arena by the wolf mutts. He had no family left to mourn for him at home.

The girl from District 8 started coughing horribly at the poison that had been splashed over most of the food at the Cornucopia by the girl from 9. She fell over, her lungs feeling breaking apart, making the polluted air in District 8 seem like nothing. It took her almost 2 hours to die.

The girl from District 11 put up a good fight against the Careers; 11 knew by now Ivy was providing exactly no help to her tributes and accordingly voted in two exceptionally tough 18 year old field workers. The boy from District 2 didn't relax until he'd sliced her head clean off and kicked it 30 feet away from her body.

The boy from District 10 had had the highest training score from his District so far, with a 10. He was largely a loner in the District, but one of their finest wild hog tamers. He fought with every inch of strength he had and died proud of his effort and confident that because he'd been there, at least another family would get to live on in peace, unbroken for another year, and that life itself would go on.

Treader watched his boy begin to vomit repeatedly and turn to horror after realising he must have been poisoned somehow. The rest of the Careers, including his own District partner, abandoned him but Treader forced himself to stay and watch his boy turn back and forth from complete panic to unprecedented calm. He died quicker than the girl from 8 but not by much.

The Careers were badly spooked after losing 3 members of the pack so early, so when they caught 1 of the weaker outliers they weren't quick or merciful in ending him. Akira winced visibly and started preparing to leave a full 20 minutes before the girl from 4 finally kicked the remains of her boy off the roof of the palace to crack his neck open.

The girl from District 7 was strong and burly and had left the boy from 11 with a bloody nose at the Cornucopia when they'd clashed briefly. She even spotted the girl from 9 out as a probable sociopath and planned to ambush and kill her after finding her; that way she'd have a clean food source for sure. Unfortunately the boy from District 8 found her and put an end to those plans. Sawyer actually left before her tribute's cannon went off.

The girl from District 10 had had a fine strategy; using a hammer she'd picked up from the Cornucopia she'd knocked some of the floor open and hidden under it, replacing the floorboards and hiding down there with her food. Unfortunately she'd been so scared when she heard the sounds of mutts outside that she tried escaping. Although she ran for a while the boy from 11 was ultimately quicker and caught up. At least her death was quicker than in a lot of other possible scenarios.

The boy from District 9 was something of a hero to both the Capitol and his own District; he'd specifically campaigned for the tribute spot because he had terminal cancer, and figured it was better for his life to end in the arena quickly and give someone else the chance at a longer life. He'd gained excellent sponsors for a 9 and even Michael had paid attention to his tribute for once. He hid out in the hedges outside the main palace and was beginning to think he could be the first victor without any kills. However he wasn't alert enough to notice the trap laid by the girl from District 3, and suffered a lethal heart attack at 13000 volts.

The girl from District 9 was the polar opposite of her District partner; almost as different a pair as one could find, in fact. She was a known sociopath and sadist at home who'd already killed 2 ex boyfriends to prevent unfavourable rumours floating and was able to brew fine enough whiskey to keep the Peacekeepers on her side. There were rumours of skinned animals. Head Gamemaker Coriolanus Snow, who was growing bored of the weak outlier girls in the last decade, had arranged for this 'vote' to be rigged; he'd wanted to see some real tension in the arena for once. However the girl from 9 was quite weak in terms of night vision, and the girl from District 4 avenged her District partner quickly but effectively.

The boy from District 2 was truthfully scared after what had happened to Lucas last year; what if all the outlier tributes ganged up at once on him? If Lucas could barely fight off 3 panther mutts together, what would he do against 5 or 6 professional criminals with nothing to lose? Fortunately he didn't have to worry about a sadistic drawn-out death; the dragon mutt that devoured him made his death quick and snappy.

The boy from District 11 was fearless; which he felt was the attitude that one should pose in life until their life was directly in danger; the question was foresight, and avoiding paths that would lead your life to direct risk. Camped out at the rear of the main palace with supplies, he was confident he could see the Games through and go to fight for his life when he had to. Ivy was less than useless as a mentor but the woman from District 7, Sawyer, had come through for 11 this year and provided valuable advice. Unfortunately his foresight wasn't enough to avoid a deadly trap from the girl from 3; before his heart stopped he wondered if he'd at least have the honour of dying at the hands of the victor.

49 years after the events of the 1st Quarter Quell the female tribute from District 2 swore that she would succeed where her great aunt had lost; and she'd do her best to get back at the male tribute from 8 as well. She was mad at Marvel for taking that opportunity away from her, but let it go.

11 years into mentoring and Woof was beginning to question if it might have been better if 8 had just been firebombed to the ground like District 13, and maybe a few survivors could have snuck off into a distant world. His District seemed to perform worse every year; at this rate he could be middle aged before bringing home the next survivor-Woof had never liked the term 'victor'-and elderly by the time of the one after that. This year he'd been saddled with a gang girl from the streets and an openly, unapologetic rapist boy for the males. Great stuff. He glanced over at the remaining 2 tribute girls and considered which of them he'd prefer to kill his boy.

District 3, and Fiddler, were honestly amazed that their female tribute had made it this far; they'd expected to have to wait at least another decade for a victor, if not longer. Their female tribute was only really there because she'd broken into the Mayor's house to try and find medicine for her grandfather. She'd worked double overtime at the factories whenever possible and tried to hash and bargain everything but nothing else had worked and it looked like he was just going to die. After she was caught, she was sent to prison, but not before the Capitol brought the old man out and shot him 3 times in the head; then she was pulled before the District at the Justice Building and it was announced that she would be sentenced to life in prison, and the people would face much harsher preventative measures for this sort of thing in future. They'd hoped to win back a little more favourable treatment by voting in the treacherous rebel. Well, enough of them had.

Mags raised an eyebrow as her girl fell over and panted with exhaustion, almost destroyed by energy depleted after tracking and chasing the girl from 3 for the last 2 hours, and finally spearing her to death. By her side Fiddler looked over sympathetically and squeezed her shoulder, wishing her luck and letting her know he knew it was nothing personal. It was. It was always personal. But at least…..at least it was still working. Another victor; more reason they would stay above hopelessness and thoughts of wastefulness at home. Her girl had worked hard, had signed up to this for better reasons then most and now it was her duty to help her, as much as she possibly could.

''Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the victor of the 25th Hunger Games and the 1st Quarter Quell, the female tribute from District 4, Coral Nola!''

AN. So that was the 1st Quarter Quell; I maintained the odd tradition of the District 8 male tribute in this year being a rapist. At least he lost, even if he made it quite far.

You didn't get to see the very most on Coral personally this year but I think there was some sort of shape in there, from surviving a very unusual beginning to the Games, to surviving constant traps taking people out in crazy ways, avenging her District partner and in general having to be just a little smarter then the ultimately prepared tributes this year.

This was a different, challenging to format chapter in some ways but I think quite satisfying in the end. What did you guys think? We're now a third of the way through the story and I estimate we might hit the 2nd Quarter Quell around November-early December, at a guess.

Stay tuned for more soon, and of course let me know your thoughts in the reviews-of course, may the odds be ever in your favour.

Page 5 of 5