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 23rd, 18:00 – The Capitol, a Prison Cell
Ian Partridge sits in his lonely prison cell; the walls are of grey concrete and the iron bars remind him of how trapped he is—trapped into looking after Ivre and his drunken delusions. The singular bed that is basically just a board with a blanket serves as no comfort to him—he has been imprisoned, while the still drunk President Ivre has been pardoned.
Sighing in his lonely, downcast state, he suddenly hears a whirring sound. "What the hell…?" he mutters, running over to the back wall; he hears the sound coming from behind the short window set inside it. Looking out of it, he sees… "*sigh* Bloody hell, Ivre…"
Yes! Alexandre Ivre is driving a machine with a large drill toward the intern's cell wall, staring determinedly ahead—despite being drunk, he is still at the point where he acts sober… even though he's undeniably drunk. "Don't worry, Zero! I am on my way!"
"Why is it always me?" moans Ian sadly, staring up at the stone ceiling and shaking his head.
"Ready to die?"
Those are the last words that come out of Barker's mouth. Well, actually the last words would be, "Damn." The boy from District Ten has apparently cornered Paisley, the tiny fifteen year old female of District Eight, in a small armoury in one of the lower rings. She has a small knife which seems to be a mere toothpick in comparison to the boy's axe (it actually makes Paisley appear even smaller in his eyes); he hefts the axe over his shoulder and swings it at her after he says those words, but feels a sharp pain in his stomach as Paisley stabs the knife into his stomach and drags it across, running away from him. He falls down, dropping his own axe and nearly falling onto the blade. Thus dies Barker Banner, only child of Bruce Banner, richest man in District Ten; he also marks the first death since the Bloodbath—an event that happened two days before.
Across the city, even more hell is breaking loose—the Careers have found Finch and Elaine, of Districts Eleven and Six. Finch has been casually playing golf this entire time with a club he found in a house, while Elaine has been stalking him (in a similar manner to a certain lavender-haired girl in one of Ivre's favourite anime) from behind walls and such, blushing whenever he'd look her way.
Of course, Finch has never been the wiser.
However, after Sapphire drags Elaine out from an alley and sits her down on her knees in front of Finch, she was too shy to speak—instead she merely squeaks, blushes and covers her eyes. Upon this sight, Finch breaks out of Garland's strong grip (Hey, Finch is named after a badass—how could he not?) and cuts him down with his sword.
At this sight, Orman whines, "Come on, man! If he won my old man was gonna get him a… er..."
"A what?" asks Finch.
"Well, I'm not so sure I can say it on live television… considering their profession is… technically illegal. You get what I'm saying?"
"Oh. So… oh." Finch says, sudden realization dawning on him.
"Yes." replies Orman.
"You mean a… p… p…"
"Yes."
"…You're a good friend." Finch says, nodding repeatedly. "A very good friend."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," says Finch, his hand moving to his sword (considering none of the Careers have restrained him yet). "Now DIE!" his sword cleaves into Orman's chest, cutting through it like butter. Sinewy, muscular butter, but butter nonetheless. He turns on Sapphire now, since she is the closest to him.
"SAPPHIRE!" yells Helios as the sword strikes toward her, snapping her out of her daze. Helios spears Finch right through the chest and pushes him away from Sapphire… but not before Elaine tries to stab him with her small knife and manages to get a small cut on his wrist, causing him to let one end of his spear drop.
"Get away from him!" cries Sapphire as she picks up the smaller girl, throwing her headfirst into the wall. Sapphire stalks over to Elaine and slashes her throat quickly. She looks over to Helios, a look of concern on her face. "Are you alright, Helios?" she asks softly, walking over to the boy from Two and taking his hand softly.
"Yeah…" he says quietly, turning to face her.
At the same time, Marlene is just awkwardly standing there, watching the pair with an expression that is a mix of shock, exasperation, and utter "why me?"
Meanwhile (just gonna leave the ending to Sapphire and Helios's conversation to your imagination ;) ), in the outermost wall, Ariana of Twelve is hiding in a shop made of sunbaked bricks. In the back of it is a small bit of meat and water, and she found a butcher's knife in there as well. She knows that while she may not have the greatest chance to win, at least now she stands a chance.
…Or does she? Throughout this whole day a large creature had been stomping around the same ring, wearing much armour and heavy boots; from what Ariana was able to glimpse, it also carries a huge battle axe. She is actually rather terrified of it, so that previous statement about her feeling that she has a chance was… a little less than true. And by a little less than true, of course that means that it's a complete and total lie. ("JUST LIKE EVERYTHING CHASE SAYS!" yells Ivre from very, very far away)
A few seconds of cowering later, and she decides to make a break for the armoury a few houses down. She hasn't heard stomping in quite a while, and if she can get into the armoury, there may be weapons… maybe even armour ("WHY THE HELL WOULD THERE BE ARMOUR IN AN ARMOURY?!" Ivre screams again. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?!" Ian Partridge says, shaking the president's shoulders).
"HAAAH!" comes a screaming from a way's down, though definitely still in her ring. A cannon fires, followed by four more.
"Jeez, five people dead within minutes of each other, what are the odds?" Ariana muses, moving out from behind the shop's counter. She makes her way to the empty doorframe and pokes her head out ever-so-slightly. She sighs in relief, "It's nowhere near…" and she takes off running down the street toward the armoury.
However… she has no idea that she's being watched from a wide alleyway nearby; the silhouette of a giant creature in armour with piercing red eyes has its eyes locked on her, a giant battle axe hefted over its shoulders.
"Zero, stand back!" calls Ivre as the drill breaks through the wall. The rubble crashes down, with Ian Partridge taking cover under his board-bed. "Get up in here, my faithful lobby boy!"
"For once, sir, gladly!" says Ian, climbing up into the cab of the drill.
"Yes, let's go steal back Boy with Apple, eh, Zero?"
"I think we should get back to the mansion, sir."
"There will be time to return to the hotel when this is done! There is still more to do, much more thieving to do." Ivre says happily.
Ian sighs once more. "What are you even talking about, sir?"
"You see, Zero, there are still faint glimpses of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was known as humanity. Indeed, that's what we provide in our own modest… screw it. We're stealing Boy with Apple again."
"NOOOO!"
Night has settled on the arena once more. The sky is afire with the seal of Panem, though this time it appears to be cloaked in a blazing fire. The national anthem is played with the background of a crackling fire. The fallen tributes begin to appear one by one. Paisley watches this with distinct interest.
Garland of District One appears first, followed by Orman of District Four; "Strange. I wouldn't have expected two Careers to die in one day," Paisley says quietly. Elaine of Six and then Paisley's own partner, Jasper. Finally there is Finch of Eleven, after which the sky grows dark once more, lacking even the artificial light of the fake stars.
"Seriously, how the hell do I get into this stuff…?" Ian asks as he and Ivre are carried away, once more, by Peacekeepers—though this time with several paintings.
"HEY! Get your hands off my lobby boy!" Ivre cries, thrashing about.
"Settle down, Mr. President, I don't want to use it, but I will tase you, bro." says one of the Peacekeepers as they are hauled away. That settles Ivre right down.
There you go everybody. This chapter is a bit more light-hearted, per usual. Also, hopefully you've figured out Finch's namesake before now (it's Paul Finch from the American Pie movies) ;) . As usual, there are several references to The Grand Budapest Hotel, one of my favourite movies of the year. Anyway, we're starting to get down to business with tributes, only a few spots left (hell yeah!) so I'm planning to start writing the Reapings soon. Would you guys want me to alternate between Reapings and these chapters after I do, so I have more time to write the Reapings? Because honestly, the Reapings would take a bit longer to write than this since these are my own characters—I want it to be as perfect as I can get it when I write yours. 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: Reserved – LokiThisIsMadness
Female: Marina Caspian - o Sweet Disposition o
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: Capri Dusk – 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: Axel Adamik – The Koala of Doom
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: Jasmine Polk – Danny Takuto
There you go, folks! Exactly four spots left (I might actually make a male for D6, just for the heck of it) before we can really get this stuff in gear! I'm allowing everyone to make up to three tributes now, seeing as that's how many Danny-san did. Just remember, they're at a great risk for the. Bloodbath if you do ;) I absolutely love the bloodbaths... for my own reasons. W-what? Don't look at me like that!