A/N: Sorry about the long wait, I just haven't had the time to post this.
Feel free to review, I'd love to hear what you think about it :)
Hope you enjoy it 3
Meredith entered the training room and took a deep breath. "I can do this" She repeated to herself. Her mind went straight to Brian and how he'd shown her how good she actually was. He made her realise that not everyone could make snares, that she was quite good at climbing and also that she could outrun him easily. Thinking of their time together made her smile. She took another deep breath and was ready.
She ran to the snare station and grabbed some wire then sprinted to the obstacle course and climbed on top of it. She then made a snare and hung upside down whilst putting it in place. Meredith then proceeded to show off her speed and climbing abilities by making full use of the obstacle course. Full of confidence she decided to go all out and try out some combat moves on the course and it all went smoothly until she climbed on top the monkey bars, where she'd tied her snare, and tested her balance whilst fighting an invisible enemy. Ducking to dodge a pretend punch, her left foot skewed the snare slightly, then uppercutted the pretend person with a little too much enthusiasm and threw off her balance, falling backwards off the bars. She twisted mid-air and landed with all her weight on her right foot, she felt an immediate pain course through her and she knew straight away that it was broken; but that wasn't the end of her endeavours. Her right foot had landed on her snare and there was a split-second for her to realise what had happened before her foot was snagged and she was pulled up into the air. The pain of being hung by her broken ankle was unbearable and she let out a terrible scream that sent coursed through all the gamemakers bodies and sent shivers down the spines of all who heard it.
A few excruciatingly long minutes passed and Brian, who had shot up to the doors when he heard the scream, had been caught in a staring contest with one of the trainers who came to make sure all hell didn't break loose. Brian glared at the trainer, knowing there was nothing he could do so he focused all his anger on her.
Suddenly the doors opened and one of the gamemakers stepped out. Brian turned quickly, waiting to hear news on Meredith, but none came.
"Joey Richter." The gamemaker said. "You're up."
The room was silent. Joey turned to Lauren who looked just as confused as he did. He slowly stood up, looking over at the careers breifly, they were all staring straight ahead except Jaime who was looking at him with a pained expression. He walked over to the doors, passing Brian and seeing the look on his face, he could tell that Brian wanted to ask what happened to Meredith but he knew that he wouldn't get anything out of a gamemaker.
Joey finally got through the doors and had to take a moment to collect his thoughts, everything had seemed to fall out of his mind and he had to strain to remember what he was going to do.
He looked around the room and his eyes caught on the know-tying station. He knew a million knots he could use to catch fish, his mind cleared as he thought about fishing. He knew what he had to do.
Joey used to ropes to tie a net he then used it to capture one of the sparring dummies, grabbed a spear and threw it straight into the dummy's heart. He had found his stride and was soon wielding knives and swords, impressing even himself.
When he was finished the gamemakers gave him a nod and dismissed him and he thought to himself 'Now if only I can pretend that all the other tributes are fish then I'll have this in the bag'
Jaime walked into the room with her head held high. She a nod to the gamemakers then ran to the knot-tying station, grabbed some rope and tied a sequence of complicated knots whilst running around the room, dodging invisible obstacles and kicking at the sparring dummies.
She then ran over to the obstacle course, threw the rope over it and climbed up the rope as quick as a flash. From up there she gathered up the rope and then cracked it like a whip. She did this a few more times then jumped down into a forward roll, emerging from it ready to attack.
Brian stomped into the room, unwilling to play their games but knowing that it would do him no good in the long run. He showed them his survival skills, his ability to avoid, to defend. He never once picked up a weapon, never attacked. He'd get a good score but he'd get it his way. If couldn't escape their games, then he'd play his own.
When Arielle walked into the room she went straight over to start a fire, once that was done she proved her knowledge of edible plants before heading over to tie a couple knots, she then went back to her fire and made a spit. She put out the fire then grabbed a knife and showed off her weak combat skills. It was clear that Arielle wasn't comfortable wielding a weapon but she was showing willing and she hoped that that counted for something.
Jeff smiled at Denise before going through the doors. "Hey there." He greeted the gamemakers confusing them straight off the bat. Jeff then walked over to the hand-to-hand combat dummy and sparred with it, just the basic stuff. He then went to each station and showed average skill in all of them. Jeff was aiming for about a six or seven, he hoped that if he covered all the ground equally then it'd even out and give him a mediocre score.
"See ya" he grinned once they'd dismissed him. He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him when he left the room and made his way over to the elevator.
Sango jumped ten feet in the air when she was summoned. She quietly made her way into the training room and looked around, unsure. Her eyes widened at the sight of the camouflage station and she practically ran to it.
After blending herself in with the room, she went over to the fire-starting station and started one as quick as a flash, she'd spent a lot of time at this station during their training and it had completely payed off. She then camouflaged herself into the fire, the tones were so subtle that even as the flames moved and she stayed still, she blended in.
Dylan was up next and he sauntered into the room and over to the edible plant station, giving the gamemakers a non-chalonte nod on the way. He identified the plants perfectly then he showed off the rest of his survival skills before heading over to the hand-to-hand combat station. He stood in front of the dummy and took a long deep breath, closing his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again there was a dark intensity about them. He glared at the dummy for a few seconds before releasing his full uncontrollable rage unto it. He didn't need a weapon, he could kill without them.
When he stopped he turned to the gamemakers who were staring at him, slack-jawed. He got his breath under control, stood up straight, nodded at them and dismissed himself.
Julia went straight for the combat dummy and pummelled it to death, screaming at it and cursing it. She ran around the room, throwing weapons at it, missing most of them but not caring. She grabbed a sword and ran at the dummy with all her might, jumping on it and killing it with the blade going straight through it's face. She stood up and flicked her hair off of her face with a content look.
JoMo ran straight to the obstacle course and just played about on there, not really caring about his training score.
June showed off her camouflage skills, blending into everything quickly and easily.
When Jim went inside, Lauren looked around the near-empty room and was left to her thoughts. Her family back home had already written her off, as had everyone else...until now. The careers were taking notice of her, actually complimenting her. Could it be that she actually had a chance?
She was thrown out of her thoughts went a roar burst through from the training room. Everyone was taken aback. A minute later Lauren was called into the room.
Her thoughts were still scrambled as she stumbled into the room. She stared up at the gamemakers, they stared back expectantly. She wandered over to the archery station and picked up a bow with a shaky arm. Lauren tried to calm her nerves but it was impossible. Grabbed an arrow and pulled it back. Her whole body was shaking, the pressure of her family, her district and her life was getting to her. It all came down to this. She took once last deep breath and let go of the arrow. She closed her eyes. The arrow hit something. Her eyes opened.
It missed.
She crumpled in a heap, hysterical. All her fight expelled from her. After a few minutes the gamemakers stuttered telling her should could leave. She slowly stood up, sniffling and trying to control her cries. She went to the elevator and when it got to her floor she ran straight into her room and cried herself to sleep.
Brosenthal was slightly happier than Lauren, he walked to the centre of the room and looked up at the gamemakers. "Hi, um, I'm Brian Rosenthal, I'm from District 10 and uh, I'm gonna show you my survival skills." He told them "Uh, I guess I'll start off by making a fire." He was quite good at making fires and he had one going in no time at all. He then demonstrated his ability to tie knots and then finally got his hands on a sword. Brosenthal brandished the weapon and swung it around as if he was a warrior going to defend his country. He got so carried away, the gamemakers had to shout to get his attention so they could dismiss him. "Thank you." He said, blushing slightly.
Denise strode in and straight away grabbed a knife. She seemed to do a deadly dance around the room, killing many invisible opponents with such grace and style the gamemakers couldn't take their eyes off of her. When she was finished no one said anything, she just left the room as quickly and silently as she came.
Corey showed off his skills with projectiles and his innate ability to detect edible and poisonous plants.
Britney ran in and went bat-shit-crazy. Destroying all the dummies with everything and anything that she could get her hands on.
Nick gave Lily a weak smile and slowly made his way into the room, he felt bad about leaving Lily on her own but he couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't sure what to do, he ended up just tying knots for fifteen minutes.
Lily quickly walked in, after fifteen minutes of being on her own she was just comforted by knowing that there hadn't been a sudden apocalypse that wiped out everyone else in the entire world apart from her. She we t and tied some knots, something that the gamemakers had obviously seen enough of as they weren't taken any notice and a few of them were yawning. She decided to move on to the edible plants section and excelled at that. They still didn't care. So she took a complete shot in the dark and went over to the knives section. She picked up a throwing knife and aimed at the target. A few of them were now taking notice, they obviously hadn't been expecting her to even go near a weapon.
She cleared her mind and focused completely on the target. Lily took a deep breath an threw the knife.
It hit the target.
She had to stop herself doing a jig, she had to pretend she expected that to happen. She allowed herself a smirk and glanced at the gamemakers, they were all looking now. She had to show them it wasn't a fluke. She grabbed another knife, focused on the target and threw the knife. It hit again. She was truly smiling now.
After a few more minutes and 5 more knives thrown and hitting the target, Lily's time was up and she was dismissed. She floated into the elevator and up to her floor. She went straight to Nick and her team and told them of her small victory.