Yo yo yo everybody! Chase here with a new chapter. Not much to say here, just that this one may be a bit shorter than the others, but it's more of a lighthearted, fun chapter. Not much to say here, so I'll just post the regular stuff. As always, I'll be posting stuff like this to keep this story where people will find it (around the first two pages) and I'll be updating this fairly often, considering I've hit a bit of a wall with my other two stories. Also, be sure to tell me how you like my idea of the Forbidden Zones (explained in Chapter One—the arena is divided into sectors. Twice a day, a different zone will be selected; if a tribute steps into it, they will be blown up. The idea comes from one of my favourite novels of all time—Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. Great read if you ever feel like it… The Hunger Games is a lot like it—I'm saying it this way because Battle Royale was released in 1999, long before THG). Again, I'm taking reserves, but they must be requested through PM, and you have exactly one week after you make the request to come up with the sheet; lastly, I'm starting to let people make more than one tribute—but there's a higher chance one will be a Bloodbath tribute; also, there's a better chance they'll be accepted over someone else vying for that spot if your tribute is extremely well-written ;) . Anyway, just read on!
Disclaimer: I don't know why I have to keep putting this. I don't, nor will I ever, own The Hunger Games. It all belongs to Suzanne Collins; I'm merely treating this story as if the other two books in the series never existed (aside from the Quell in Catching Fire).
August 22nd, 21:00 – The Capitol
"*Sigh* How do I get myself into this stuff?" mutters Ian Partridge, intern to Etho Pierce, President Ivre's personal secretary. As the intern, Ian often gets stuck with the more humiliating things that Ivre does—and now, he's been forced to follow the president around the Capitol all day. And now…
"I knew something was fishy. We never got the cause of death. This woman has been murdered." Ivre says quietly; the two of them are facing down a group of six Peacekeepers, all under orders to bring the president back to his mansion. "And you think I did it." He finishes, catching the Peacekeepers off guard—they share confused looks between each other, and Ivre takes off in a run.
"HEY! STOP!" the Peacekeepers shout, running after him.
"Run Zero!" calls Ivre—he's reached that state of drunk where you're pretty much aware of everything, although it's like you're in a different reality; yeah, that kind of drunk. And this particular reality that Ivre is envisioning himself in is none other than that of The Grand Budapest Hotel, a movie that Ian (who he now believes to be Zero, his lobby boy) is currently regretting showing him.
"Why did I ever show him that…? And why the hell do I keep going and getting him more Jack?!" Ian sighs.
Meanwhile, back at Ivre's mansion, the television is still on…
Welcome to the Seventy-eighth Annual Hunger Games; a masterpiece of a city serves as the arena. There were seven levels to it, each one-hundred feet high, and each is carved into a cliff; around each level is a large white wall, and set inside each wall is a gate, though the gates are not aligned with each other, so as to make it harder to navigate between areas. In between each wall, there are buildings that serve several purposes; in the second wall, there are many blacksmiths and armouries. The tributes appear in the innermost area, a large white open-air citadel with an enormous pile of supplies, though the tributes are still 100 to 150 metres away from it.
The tributes appear in District order—vain Garland and sadistic Sapphire from District 1; happy-go-lucky Helios and clumsy Selene of District 2; geniuses Colress and Fuze from 3; hard-working Orman and rebellious Marlene from 4; unremarkable Heron and lying Anna from 5; glutton Linus (you really have no idea how many people there are in 6 named Linus) and teasing Elaine of District 6; quiet Pan and caring Rachel from 7; daring Jasper and truly skilled Paisley of 8; pyromaniac Ryder and kleptomaniac Leanne of 9; wise-ass Barker and harsh McKenzie from 10; oddball Finch and stealthy Mimosa of 11; and finally gloomy Lester and bright-eyed Ariana from 12.
Leanne from 9 is currently staring at the supplies with an almost hungry look; what can she steal? Should she risk the more worthwhile items and weapons? She almost misses the countdown, and when the clock ticks to one, she takes off for the Cornucopia. She sighs in relief when she reaches it first, grabbing a set of knives from the very middle, as well as a small backpack and a bottle of water; before she prepares to run from the arena, she quickly takes a moment to slice her District partner's throat while he searches for matches, and then she runs.
Lester is having a one-sided sword fight with Orman, the eighteen-year-old male from District 4; and by one-sided, that obviously means that he is attempting to defend himself as Orman lays into him like a jackhammer, barely protecting himself against his vicious onslaught. Finally Orman smacks the sword out of his hands and the gloomy, weak-willed man from 12 (he turned 19 on that very day) simply raises his head to the sky, knowing his time was over. He cares not as the sharp tip of the sword stabs through his chest; he dies with a carefree, sad smile on his face.
Heron has been thrown over a crate by Helios, who in the heat of battle has turned into a killer; the boy from 2, currently wielding a knife, slashes Heron's throat and returns to the battle. Linus is using his high metabolism to his advantage by running around quite fast, stealing things from the Cornucopia here and there. But finally he ventures too far in and is caught by Marlene from 4, who pierces him with her trident. Selene has, unsurprisingly, fallen onto the blade of her own axe and died. McKenzie has been struck down by Paisley, and her body is thrown unceremoniously over a supply crate.
Finch and Mimosa both fled the Cornucopia together, but they quickly split when Finch went through a gate, and then Mimosa attempted to follow only to have the gate come crashing down on her, killing her instantly. Pan and Rachel let their longstanding disdain for each other (they had hated each other since childhood) and fought each other tooth-and-nail before Pan backed into and impaled himself on a spear, which stuck out his chest and pierced through hers. Anna from District 5 met a similar fate when she and Fuze took a tumble down the sheer edge to the north of the citadel; they had snapped necks and crushed skulls and the like. Most of the other tributes have fled to the outre rings now; the Careers have taken control of the Cornucopia.
"Damn it, Selene," says Garland, kicking the corpse of Selene, axe still stuck inside her body. He currently holds a spear over his shoulder and guzzles down a bottle of water. "I told you all this would happen."
"I'd have to agree with you there," says Sapphire uncaringly. She cleans her fingernails with a bloodied hunting knife—while it had not seen a death, she had used it to slice the arm of the girl from 9. "I only wish you guys didn't hog all the kills. I would've taken killing Selene just to save her from herself if I got the chance."
Helios gives her a grin. "You really are ruthless, aren't you?" he says cheekily.
"You really are ready to die, aren't you?" Sapphire mocks, though it is an empty threat.
"Hate to interrupt you lovers," says Orman with a small smirk, "but we really need to get in gear. It's probably not a good idea to stay around here, even if we are stronger than the others."
"Shut up Orman!" Sapphire and Helios say rather quickly at his first quip, but both nod in response to his second. Orman's smirk only widens when the two glance quickly at each other, then away, blushing.
"I told you we didn't have to be serious all the time in the Hunger Games." Garland says with a small laugh. "Now all of you get the hell away from me before you mess up my hair." He adds, 100% serious.
Sapphire and Helios tilt their head at the boy, while Orman merely shakes his head and says, "Man, you really should've let me call in… a favour from some of my father's… acquaintances. If you're catching my… drift! …Did that ocean pun do anything for you?"
"No," shakes of the head, "not really," and "you're a moron" are the responses he gets. The male from Four sighs. "You people need to get a sense of humour."
August 22nd, 23:15 – The Capitol
"Well, my dear Zero, it appears that we have finally been caught," says Ivre in an accent that is rather similar to a British one; "you know the drill."
"Zip it." Ian sighs, nodding his head affirmatively. The two now sit in a Peacekeeper's station, both in handcuffs (despite Ian not having done anything). After running from the Peacekeepers for two hours, they were finally apprehended in the midst of a heated argument between Ivre and oddly enough, a huge mutant turtle. Before the turtle could be arrested, however, he mysteriously disappeared into the sewers.
"Good boy. Now what is the situation we're in again?" Ivre wonders aloud. "Oh yes. Serge X, missing. Deputy Kovacs, also missing. Madame D, dead. Boy with Apple, stolen. By us. Dmitri and Jopling, ruthless, cold-blooded savages. Alexandre Ivre, no longer at large. What else?"
"Ian Partridge, very confused."
"Zero, confused indeed. The plot thickens, eh? …The hell does that even mean, is it like a soup metaphor or some shit?"
"I don't know." Ian says, sighing again. "Seriously, how do I get into this crap?"
Well, there you go folks! Lots of references to one of my favourite movies of the year (The Grand Budapest Hotel) in this chapter, as well as part of a Hunger Games with a map based off of none other than Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings (because at least one copy of Lord of the Rings, book or movie had to have survived!)! But anyway, that's it for this time. Again, sorry for no update yesterday. I'll probably start doing the Reapings soon too, since we're starting to get a decent amount of tributes. Anyway, thanks for reading everyone. Take care, have a nice day and all that!
~Chase
Tribute list – So far
District 1 – Luxury Goods
Male: Obsidian Gold – Danny Takuto
Female: Elizabeth Grace Morgan "Belle" – Rosemarie Benson
District 2 – Masonry
Male: Nero Valentine – Nightlock Stained Lips
Female: Valariea Heroin – HarryPotterNut1
District 3 – Technology
Male: Oliver Mullins – JaceWillcutt
Female: Lattice Kerr – GreenApple312
District 4 – Seafood and the like
Male: Open!
Female: Marina Caspian
District 5 – Electricity
Male: Open!
Female: Celia Crossan – AlisonBlock
District 6 – Transportation
Male: Open!
Female: Open!
District 7 – Lumber
Male: Justin Myer – Danny Takuto
Female: Reserved – ThatMusician
District 8 – Textiles
Male: Open!
Female: Lacey Spool – Kittens In The Closet
District 9 – Grain
Male: Holden Stross – hollowman96
Female: Luna Marissa Moonlight Starbright (Joke tribute/Bloodbath) – Hi
District 10 – Livestock
Male: Open!
Female: Lauren Lancaster – Hi
District 11 – Agriculture
Male: Akakios Hibbert – The Koala of Doom
Female: Rebecca Thorne – Comettail76
District 12 – Coal
Male: Aspen Northill – LincsStef
Female: Reserved – Danny Takuto