Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Hunger Games!
Training
Once again, I was woken up by Aliana, but this time it was much earlier. "Training's at 10, yeah?" I replied by way of nodding my head sleepily, and then she left me alone. I grabbed my glasses, then I reluctantly climbed out of the bed, pulled on a fluffy, white dressing gown, and started the search for my training outfit. I eventually settled on a loose t-shirt, and some three-quarter length leggings, that both allowed me to move freely. I went down to breakfast, where I ate a delicious mix of banana, and a strange yellow fruit Glissa called a 'banana'. Barry looked desperately tired, and really nervous. This time, he didn't revert back to arrogant Barry, so maybe he'd turn out all right. I had a second helping of porridge and banana, and after that it was time for our first training session. Glissa walked us to the lift, and from then we were on our own. I tried to make conversation with Barry, but he only replied in terse monosyllables.
We reached the training room, in the basement, quickly, and luckily we were neither the first or last there. The Head Trainer gave us some sort of pep talk. I didn't listen to much of it because this was the first time I'd seen all of my rivals together. One person that caught my eye was a black girl, who was standing next to the boy from district 1 that I saw in the stables. This threw me slightly, as she didn't look like she was from district 1, she looked more like she was from district 11, but the district 11 pair were on the other side of the room, sickly looking blonde girl, and a forgettable olive skinned boy. Overall, apart from the proper careers, they all looked fairly beatable. Maybe I did have a chance of winning after all. As soon as the Head Trainer had finished, I headed straight to the edible plants skills, and then I meant to work on my general outdoor survival skills, with maybe a bit of weapons practice, so I wasn't entirely defenceless. Interestingly, the black girl from district 1 dithered about a bit, before going to the knife throwing station. I stopped what I was doing to watch how she did. She was amazingly mediocre. She at least hit the target, but she didn't get anything near a bulls eye. I returned to my plant sorting, and after a few minutes, Barry came over and moved a plant with blue berries from the 'harmless' side, to the 'poisonous' side. "That stuff's deadly. If you ate that, you'd be dead before you realised your mistake." He said, suddenly blushing, as if he didn't want to be here. "Well, uh, thanks, I guess." I replied, smiling uncertainly. I quickly finished on that station, and moved to have a go at fire starting. I mastered that fairly quickly, then decided to have a go with the spears. It was quite a popular station, so I had to wait for a while before it was my turn. The people in front of me were obviously careers, hitting the target right in the centre every time. I refused to be intimidated, but by the time it was my turn, I was a bit nervous. On my first throw, I missed the target completely, and I could hear the laughter of the careers behind me. I kept trying though, and after a quite a few tries I was at least hitting the target, even if I wasn't getting bulls-eyes. It would do for now.
I did pretty much the same over the next few days, working on survival skills, and then having a go with some weapons. I also tried to find out as much about my fellow tributes strengths and weaknesses as I could. For example, by now, I knew that the district 1 girl wasn't very good with weapons, but was very smart. The girl from 10 was pretty good in a fight, but was very impulsive, and didn't think before she acted. There was a tough looking girl from district 5, who was amazing at building fires, but appalling at making traps and snares. I stored all of this information away in head – it would be useful in the arena. After those few days of training, I was proficient in almost all of the survival skills, and pretty dangerous with a spear.
The Private Sessions
After our three days of training, it was time for our private sessions with the game-makers. I was planning on showing them my skill at making electrical traps, as I'd seen spools of wire on a rack in a corner of the training room. I was talking to Barry at breakfast and he said he'd show them his climbing skills, and maybe his knife throwing. It was weird – all of a sudden Barry was a lot more humble when he was alone with me, Aliana and Glissa. Interestingly, he still kept up his arrogant act whenever Jonas was around, which frustrated Jonas, as Aliana had told him how much Barry had changed when he wasn't around.
Glissa took us down to a communal dining room, and told us this is where we'd wait until it was our turn with the game-makers. The tables were laden with food. Barry and I were the last to arrive, and I saw that the careers were sitting together, and it seemed that a few other small alliances had formed too. Both from 6 had teamed up with the girl from 3, and the boy from 3 was trying to get in with the careers, as was the girl from 9. Both from 10 and 11 were sitting together, and everyone else had tables to themselves, obviously wanting to avoid the complications that alliances brought. I tried to sit by myself, but Barry followed me. I let him sit with me, mainly because I felt sorry for him – he was only 13. We ate in silence, and soon a Capitol attendant started calling us in to our private sessions. First, of course, was the district 1 girl. She got up and walked into the training room confidently, with the careers cheering her on. After about 15 minutes, the Capitol attendant called the district 1 boy. He sauntered off, smirking. Every fifteen minutes or so, the attendant returned and called the next person. It seemed like no time at all before the attendant called for me.
I walked in nervously, and glanced at the game-makers. Only a few were watching me, but I carried on regardless. I headed over to the wire rack, and grabbed a spool of wire. There was a special area set up for making electrical traps that had electricity sources. I laid out some wire and set to work. I had to work quickly, as I only had 15 minutes. I was aiming for a simple, but effective trap, that I'd be able to use in the arena, providing I could find a power source. I pulled the wire taut, and tied it to the metal conductor. Then, I borrowed a dummy from a weapons station, and a long stick from the fire-starting station. I stood the dummy right in front of wire, and then gingerly pushed it forward with the stick. As soon as the dummy touched the wire, there was a sizzle, and it fell to the ground, smoking. The sizzle seemed to grab the game-makers attention, and suddenly I found I had their full intention. Thinking on my feet, I grabbed another dummy, and cranked up the power level. I repeated what I did before, except this time when the dummy hit the floor it was charcoal. The man I assumed was Head Game-Maker, said "Thank you… Lyra. You can go now." I did as he said, and left.
I headed back to our floor, and to my room. There, I had a shower and got changed, just for something to do. Then I went into the sitting room, where Aliana, Jonas, and Glissa were waiting. Barry came in straight after me. Aliana asked me what I showed the game-makers, and I told her what I did, and she looked impressed. Jonas, who was still trying to get Barry to trust him, asked Barry the same question. "I didn't do anything. I didn't want to" said Barry, shrugging. Jonas and Glissa looked dumbstruck, and Aliana was shaking her head. After a few moments of silence, Glissa regained her composure and said "Well, if you want to find out your scores, we'd better turn on the TV". An Avox came in and turned it on. Caesar Flickerman greeted us with a winning smile. "Right then, now it's time to find out this years tributes' scores!" We were all watching and listening intently. The careers, and the other two that were sitting at their table all got eights, nines, and tens. I got a seven, which I was quite pleased with. Barry got a zero, which didn't surprise any of us. All the others got fives to eights.
Now the only thing between us and the Games were our interviews.
A/N: Thanks for reading, and please review!