Disclaimer: By this point, I would assume that most people who have common sense would know that I don't own The Hunger Games
Sadly, in my life, I have come to learn a very important lesson: most people do not have common sense.
It sucks
So for the beginning of EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER I have written, I have to explain, in long, boring sentences, that guess what?
"What, O great Enzonia?"
I DON'T OWN THE HUNGER GAMES.
"No way, Enzonia! Tell me more!"
Reallly? Fine. This is my story.
Well, MY story. I mean, the story about ME. Not the story I wrote that you can skip right down to it. That is, if you know that I don't own The Hunger Games.
Okay. Let's start at the beginning. The VERY beginning. Really.
One day I was born.
Then, a number of long, boring years later, I decided to start to write a story. It was a story about The Hunger Games. It was perfect in every way. Really, except...
It turns out that, apparently, I'm technically not allowed to write stories about The Hunger Games unless I owned The Hunger Games. If I didn't, (which I don't) then the I would be arrested, taken to jail, and then hung on the gallows and humiliated in front of all of . Then, to be sure that I'm dead, they would shoot me a few times, tear out all my vital organs, and eat them for dinner. Like Zombies
As I said before, it sucks.
But then I had an amazing plan! I would write a disclaimer explaining how I didn't own The Hunger Games!
It was a genius plan. But as I soon found out, people already had this plan, and I wasn't allowed to sue them over it. So I sued the government over this flaw, but that is another story.
Anyway, the other people had boring disclaimers, blah, blah, blah, so I made my own interesting disclaimers.
THE END!
ONWARDS!
(Borrowed from nony0mous, thanks very much for an awesome disclaimer!)
Oh, also, Aalgae isn't going to fall in love with Kai. Urgh, too Clichéd. Unfortunately, I must backtrack somewhat, to fit one of my new ideas in. I'm just so full of them!
Chapter 11 – The Tested
EARLIER - I wander downstairs and find myself a seat by the mahogany table. I sigh slightly and ready myself to spend some time bored and waiting for daylight.
"Couldn't sleep?" I whirl around and to my surprise see…
NOW – I jump up, and spin round, picking up the nearest object to me as I whirl around. All that training yesterday must have paid off, as I feel in control, either now. I hold the object in front of me like the sword I was training with two days ago. (Not very well, I might add, though I learnt more yesterday so I'm not that bad… I think.) 30˚ away from your body, slight angle away from your dominant hand – left – to help block oncoming attacks more easily. My body reals off this information easily and automatically, even in the voice of the instructor who taught me to wield a sword. (God, he sounds bored doesn't he? Got anything better to do instead of training teenagers to fight one another?) I clutch the stick hard and firmly in my hands as I prepare to smite my attac… Lyna. My heart is leap-bloody-ing with joy at the site of her face. I lower my weapon slightly once I see her expression of superiority and sarcastic-pity. Like normal pity, but without feeling sorry for me. Just contempt then.
"And thus, the great Lyna Fabroski was slain on the eleventh morn. Not by sword or any other weapon bound by mortal coil or any other instrument of death, but by the most vicious weapon of them all. Apium Graveolens. The common or garden Celery." Lyna leers at me. Like always.
I look down at my 'weapon' and see that I am indeed holding a stalk of limp Celery like a sword. I now know the reason for Lyna's sarcastic expression. Well, part of the reason. I think she was born with that smirk on her face to be completely honest. Kai probably was too, come to think of it. Suddenly, I get a fleeting image of Kai's face, a smiling Kai, looking happy, before the image vanishes, like the spray falling back into the seas. I frown instantly. Where did that come from? I'm pretty sure I've never seen Kai smile in any way that doesn't involve smirking or sarcasm. Or both at once. I try to forget it. It'll come back when I'm not trying to remember it. The mind enjoys messing with you, doesn't it? I attempt to scowl at Lyna, while also attempting to sound cool and collected, like Lyna does. I must say it comes out more like a whinge.
"I could have hurt you, you know?"
Lyna raises an eyebrow, "Really? Celery isn't known for its lethal properties, that's probably why we can eat it. Unless you want to shove a knife down your throat." She snaps the end off the celery stick and swallows it whole, before continuing "Actually, if you did do that, you'd save yourself a lot of pain rather than dying in the Bloodbath."
I chuck the remaining chunk of celery down at the table, irritated - It takes a lot of self-control for me not to chuck it at her stupid face – before sitting down again, on the table this time (there's no Gaia to say 'Manners!' in a scandalised voice, so what the hell, If I want to sit on a table, I damn well will!)
"What do you want anyway?" I ask, moody now. My earlier attempts at wittiness failed miserably.
Eyebrow number two is raised, creating a matching pair of pale bristly eyebrows hovering above her grey eyes.
"So touchy" Lyna says, with as much condescension as she can muster. Otherwise known as a hell of a lot. She continues in a fake-hurt voice. I can tell this because I don't think anyone has ever hurt Lyna before. She's too bloody thick-skinned! "I was just rudely woken up this morning by an antisocial tribute of mine tramping across the hall like a drunken elephant. And when I kindly decided to come over here, to see if I could comfort the aforementioned tribute - who has been moping around all the live-long day because they might get hurty-wurty – they are incredibly rude to me, as well as threatening me with a lethal fruit!" She smirks at me again, contrasting my scowl quite nicely.
"Celery's a vegetable" I tell her "and if I'm going to die in… two days, I'm allowed to be anti-social. I mean, you're anti-social all the time, what's you excuse?"
Lyna laughs again, and shockingly it isn't the nice kind, more like one that makes me even more sure that she's mad (though I getting certain vibes earlier). I sit there, unnerved slightly by the demented laughter. My nervousness-levels are not lessened when I remember that Lyna has ruthlessly killed before, and could easily do it again. I try to back away without anyone (read: Lyna) noticing. I am around 30 cm further away from the deranged murderer when she stops laughing, in a way that unnerves me further.
"Celery is a fruit. And who cares? I don't come from district-bloody-8!"
I open my mouth to argue back, and to remind her that District 11 would do celery, not District 8, before remembering who I am talking to
"Anyway, you're right about one thing." She steps forward, covering the foot of distance I had put between me, and her, and leans over, and whispers into my ear.
"You will be dead in two days, in the bloodbath, you little coward." She then turns around and skips out of the room. Right I think to myself that wasn't scary in the slightest. Mental note, avoid the schizo-murdering-lunatic next time.
Sadly, my mental notebook is probably out of space now. Screw it I think Erase all mental notes.
I don't think I could remember any of them anyway.
There is no more training today. Today we have the private sessions, where we must show the Gamemakers that we possess the skills to win, no that we possess the stamina to murder innocent people and, even better, torture them while you're at it. Joy, sweet joy. And that's what I am looking forward to now, with Kai blathering on beside me. Seriously, he won't shut up! He's not normally that talkative, and if I didn't know better, then I'd say that he was nervous. But I do know better, and Kai was trained his whole live for this moment, and so he's not nervous. I, most surprising, am not nervous. I think I'm too numb to feel anything right now. It just doesn't really feel real. I imagine for a second that this is not real, of being at home, on our beach, lying lazily on the sand. Marlin and Nymph are there, and then Nymph goes, quickly. It's evolved into the way all my daydreams evolve. Into another Marlin and Me fantasy. I enjoy myself here for some time until Kai's endless tirade bursts into my daydream.
"…and I was thinking of showing my Dirk skills, because I feel quite confident with that, but maybe I should use spears 'cause, you know, we're District 4 and maybe we should just give them what they expect, but I don't know, maybe if I do I'll be forgotten, but then again, if I do something different maybe then I will end up being forgotten anyway because everyone knows that District 4 is the lesser volunteer District, we almost always get lower than 1 or 2, and I'll get lower than you because you're the rage girl and it doesn't matter what you do so maybe I should use the Dirk but what do you think?"
It takes me a few seconds to realise that he is asking me a question, and a few seconds more to realise what he was saying earlier so I can answer. When I do answer, my mind is still on other things (read: Marlin) and so my answer is sort of confused.
"Mar… Kai I don't think it matters what special moves you do with your Dick, I mean, Dirk. You'll do fine, now shut-up because this lift-ride is really uncomfortable right now. Also, do you want Loki, Copia and Camulos thinking you're scared?"
Kai shakes his head, still smirking at the knob-reference. "It's not just them, also Pomona."
"Pomona?" I repeat, my mind blank.
"Pomona" he says, "the bulky girl from 11. The one you shouted at."
"Oh" is all I say, but inside I'm thinking more. I have little time to dwell on these thoughts, because before I know it, the lift 'dings' and the doors open. We walk out, and an Avox directs us to a door on the right. We walk through to see all the other tributes, some pacing up and down, some sitting solemnly on the benches opposite the large door. One tribute is openly crying in the corner, while the Careers watch and snicker. I walk over and sit down as far away from Kai and the others as possible, especially Pomona. I think I might be one of the targets higher up their list. Maybe Kai will lower my rating. As I look at Pomona, I realise that they have replaced me, probably with someone better than me. 3 girls, 3 boys. 5 Careers, 1 Reaped. It's pretty obvious to anyone with common sense who will be the first to die when the alliance breaks down. Pomona looks like she might not have any common sense though, so she'll probably stay until she dies.
The big door opens, while a voice on the intercom states "Copia, District 1." Copia strides in, hair down like a golden sheen. Around 5 minutes later, a slightly dazed voice says "Loki, District 9, I mean 1" I catch Kai's eye and mime drinking. He flashes me a nervous smile, which he quickly disguises as a smirk. District 2 comes after them, each session lasting (so far) between 5 and 10 minutes. I wonder if this correlates with the scores. If so, after Kai's go, the session lengths will shorten considerably, except for Pomona. I hope Dou gets a 6 or something. Not too high, not too low. I'd like a 10, but I think I'll get a 9. Maybe an 8. I think through my routine. I thought it up last night. Nothing too risky, but just right for a half-crazy girl. Like me apparently. District 3. These sessions both last 2 minutes. The tributes did look pretty awful. I realise that this means I am next, and before I know it, the intercom is saying "Aalgae, District 4". I flash Kai a smile and walk into the room.
I stand there for a millisecond, before the door slams shut behind me. This jolts me into moving. I remember my first step with ease. Taking a deep breath, (trying not to look up at the gamemakers, who are leering over the edge at me) I utter a loud war-cry and rush headfirst at the training dummy furthest from me. Diagonally across the hall, just like I remember it. This isn't what I thought I'd be doing, but it seems to impress the gamemakers by the group inhalation that I can hear. I dive at the dummy, and start kicking and biting and scratching randomly. I just need to seem mad for half a minute. After leaving some scratch marks on the surface on the dummy (and one or two bites) I leap up, grab a spear from the rack near the dummy (also planned perfectly, if I do say so myself) and lunge with it into the dummy. It goes all the way through, like I expected it too, and I hand from the spear for a few seconds, before putting my feet on the floor, jumping up, and then putting all my weight onto the spear handle again. It snaps in two. Sadly, this leaves me a little winded, not really what I was hoping for. I lie on the floor for a second or two, clutching the stick which was a spear – hopefully they're not too angry at me for breaking their weapons – and then I make myself sit up. I grab the stick again, and chuck it a the dummy now furthest from me, breaking its arm off. Wow, wasn't expecting that to happen. Lucky, lucky me.
Now what? I panic for a bit as I try to remember what I have to do next. To fill this lapse in my memory, I scream. No idea why. Seemed like a good idea at the time. A light bulb flicks on over my head. I remember now. I grab 4 spears, and a couple of knives, and head over to the ropes. This probably surprises them; I don't think many Careers come to this particular station. I grab some rope, and quickly knot together a belt. Handy and it looks awesome to someone who doesn't come from District 4. I grew up making knots like these. I put the rope-belt on, and attach my spears onto it. Moving onto another part of the station, I weave a quick bag out of leaves. It would break after a day, but who really gives a rat's arse? I only need it for now. I attach it quickly on, wondering how much time has elapsed, and how much I have left. Do they tell us to go? Or do we dismiss ourself? I have secured my weapons on now, and I go to the climbing station. No, not go, I sprint over. I throw myself at the wall, and utter another war cry, now I'm actually enjoying myself again. I manage to get to the top without falling too much, and now for the tricky bit. I have to leap from it to the roof of the weapons stall. Not too hard, but it might wind me. Well, I've done stupider things I think, while running my fingers through my short hair. I scream again and push myself away from the wall…
…And I land safely on the netted roof of the weapons stall. I'm quite surprised that it didn't break under the strain (though that would have looked very cool), but now it's worked, so onto stage two. I walk forwards, cautiously, towards the edge. When I arrive there, I pull the spears out. I have a perfect view of the Camouflage station. Aiming carefully with the spears (my spear aim is better than my knife aim) I chuck one at the bucket of red dye. It pierces the top exactly. Not actually a hard shot, the bucket's around 1m2, and it's only about 5 m away, so it was pretty hard for me to miss to be honest. I don't tell the Gamemakers that though. They sound impressed, from the sound of a few murmurs. Or maybe they're gossiping. It's really hard to tell from here.
I pick another spear and aim for the brown. It's not the best shade, but it'll do. I miss that one, though it does hit the edible berries poster in the middle, so I can pretend it did what I wanted it to do. That's why I brought 4 spears. I aim for brown again, and hit it, causing the colour of dried blood to spill onto the floor. The last spear was also a spare, so I chuck it at the first spear, and it embeds pretty close, around 10 cm from it. The knives now. I chuck one after another at the spear (I wasn't going to use them originally, but I have them now so what the heck!) Most of them hit, except one that wobbles slightly 50cm away and falls off. I jump off the stall roof net and land neatly on the floor. Another surprise. I pick up the fallen knife and smear it in the red and brown camouflage paint. Perfect. Looks like blood. Picking up a handful of the paint in my left hand, I run over to another dummy, and smear my hand across its throat, before stabbing it in the same place. The muddy-red seems to burn against the clear white of the dummy. I then turn to the gamemakers are let my hands fall to my side, allowing the blood-coloured mixture to drip slowly off my hands.
"You may go" the fat one tells me. Though they're all pretty fat. I nod and leave.
Well I think to myself I think that went OK.
OK, I have had 2 exams this week, and I have one tomorrow, and one the day after, and I'm sitting here writing this :O. If I fail Maths or Geography it will be 's fault! I must leave now and do a Geography GCSE mock. Now review or I will fail! IF YOU DO NOT REVIEW ANY FAILURES WILL BE YOUR FAULT! Another note, I do not like it when in Fanfics, the main character does an awesome routine and gets a 10, so I will make something clear. In my Hunger Games Universe, the Careers plan their routine (Kai was just stressing) so what Aalgae did wasn't that extreme. In case you are wondering, Copia did some acrobatics in her underware, which is why the gamemakers were so dazed. I really don't know why. That's sort of why Careers score so high, they plan what they do, they make sparks and leap everywhere and generally look like Ninjas. The Gamemakers think Aal is a Career, so they sort of expected what she was going to do. Just in case you wanted to know. Now…
REVIEW!