17th Hunger Games

Winner: Barley District 11

Following last years shocking reveal that Districts 1, 2, and now 4, had Training Schools which would give their tributes a huge advantage; the other districts knew that their tributes would never win. So they revolted. The other 9 districts demanded that the Hunger Games were changed so being trained with weapons wouldn't be an advantage. The Gamemakers were inclined to listen to them, they had to satisfy the districts in order to crush any thoughts of rebellion – the Capitol was still quite weak from the Uprising and could not afford another war. But what could the Gamemakers do? The Capitol loved the gore and death that weapons provided and in the previous games where the arena was the main enemy for the tributes, the Capitol had become bored with no gory deaths to look forward to. The weapons had to stay the main focus of the Hunger Games. Abolishing the Training Schools wasn't an option- the Capitol loved this new idea and the Gamemakers had already said that they were allowed as long as it wasn't publicised. The Hunger Games couldn't be changed.

However this still left the problem of the rebelling districts. The Gamemakers needed to change something as a compromise but what? Then it came to them. The 17th Hunger Games could be a one off non-weapon Hunger Games which would give the other districts a chance to win. This way the districts would be satisfied for another year and then they could go back to the way things usually were. As an added twist, the Gamemakers decided to only tell the district leaders to make them back down on the promise that no potential tribute would know before entering the arena.

The reaping went quite badly this year for some districts as the districts that had set up the volunteer system last year were finding it tricky not to reveal the non weapon rule for this year's games. After Fuchsia, last years victor, proved that the training scheme worked, lots of potential tributes from Districts 1, 2 and 4 were eager to sign up for this year's Games. A complicated volunteering system was set up that no one but the district leaders seemed to understand which involved the tributes being voted in by the rest of the district. Naturally the best were chosen from all three districts but it was hard for the districts leaders to vote knowing that these really strong tributes would probably not win this year. In District 4 the leaders nearly told the secret as they knew that their strongest tributes should be saved for next year. District 4's Training School hadn't been running as long as Districts 1 and 2's had so they were determined to beat them to prove that their tributes were just as good.

Meanwhile in the other districts, the reaping went rather well as all of the district leaders were confident they could produce a winner and this made the atmosphere of the reaping a little bit more joyful than usual, especially when a strong looking 18 year old was called out. This happened in District 11 when an 18 year old boy called Barley was picked. The districts leaders could barely hide their excitement – Barley was well known for being one of the best workers in the fields and he was tipped to become the head farmer during the harvest, once he had left school. Barley could hardly fail to notice the growing excitement from the top people in District 11 once his name was called out and this gave him a lot of confidence which would be vital once he went up against the other tributes.

To make sure that the tributes didn't think that anything was particularly different about this year's Hunger Games, tributes were still allowed to work with weapons during training and the scores were still based on weaponry skills. Barley scored a mediocre 6 by using a spear as he hadn't found anything he was good at as of yet.

During the interview, Barley was too shy to really show any if his personality and he had no mentor to help him choose what image he wanted to put across (District 11 didn't have a victor yet). The Capitol were impressed by his silent approach as Barley did look incredibly strong but he only had an average training score and couldn't tell the interviewer what his strengths would be in the arena. Barley's newfound confidence had vanished within days.

The arena this year was originally an amphitheatre but the Gamemakers had swapped the arenas of the 16th and 17th Hunger Games to provide better entertainment for the Capitol after it was revealed that one of the tributes had been trained. This last minute arrangement had actually worked out better for the Gamemakers as it wouldn't have been right for the tributes to be in an amphitheatre with no weapons. So this year's arena was a long thin beach that stretched on for miles with strips of sea on both sides.

The Gamemakers had made it so the arena wouldn't have an effect on the tributes; there was plenty of food and drink as long as you liked coconuts. The Cornucopia was situated in the middle of the beach surrounded by palm trees. The arena was one of the most beautiful arenas that the Gamemakers had made so far.

When the gong sounded, as usual, several tributes ran into the Cornucopia to get weapons but a shocking sight met them. There weren't any! For a moment most of the tributes stood in the Cornucopia in shock – how were they supposed to kill each other now? There was definitely enough food and drink and the arena didn't seem very deadly. Nothing happened for a few moments, no one spoke and no one made any attempt to do anything until…

Bang!

The boy tribute from District 5 had taken the opportunity to strike out against one of the District 1 tributes by sneaking up behind them, grabbing them by the shoulders and banging their head against the Cornucopia. The loud bang attracted the other tributes attention and they all looked round to see the boy from District 1 lying in a pool of blood. His skull had smashed against the Cornucopia and he became the first casualty of the 17th Hunger Games.

The tributes quickly realised that that was how this Hunger Games was going to be played out. It would require brute force and strength to win and several of the tributes, realising that they would not be able to fight another tribute, ran away from the Cornucopia whilst before the real fighting could begin. Barely, however, was one of the ones who stayed. He now realised why the district leaders had been so pleased when he had been reaped; it was because he might have a chance of winning. He was strong- the whole of District 11 knew that, and if it came to it, he might be able to kill another tribute. He definitely had more chance that the tributes that had been trained with weapons.

The death of the boy from District 1 had started the bloodbath, only with a lot less of blood than normal. Tributes had to kill each other through strangling and hitting each other. Many followed the example of the boy from District 5 by trying to sneak up behind each other but this wasn't too successful as you couldn't really sneak up on someone in the middle of everyone fighting. Barley did very well in the fighting as he was so strong, there wasn't any tribute that was a worthy opponent for him. He was the tallest and the eldest and had worked long hours in the fields, weeding, so was able to strangle people quite easily. By the time the bloodbath was other he had refined his technique of strangling.

The beach was absolutely huge which would mean that any tribute that couldn't fight without weapons would have a good chance of hiding. Barley wasn't particularly vicious but wanted to survive so he found some shelter not far from the Cornucopia and decided he would stay there until there were only four or five tributes left. However if he saw tributes come past his shelter, he would try to kill them as he had promised himself he would do whatever it took to survive.

A few days into the games, Barley had killed quite a few other tributes but there were still six tributes left. Finally Barley decided that he couldn't wait around all day and that he would go and find the other tributes himself. It took him several hours but he eventually found all the other tributes. The last tribute was the girl from District 3 and she had been hiding since the bloodbath. She was quick and agile but she wasn't really a match for Barley and his skills and strength. She tried to run but only kept it up for about half a mile before she started to slow down. Barley, who was much older had better stamina, quickly caught up and grabbed her neck as she slowed down into a jog. In just a few seconds she was dead and Barley had won.

The Gamemakers agreed that this had satisfied the districts enough and starting next year, weapons would be back which would provide more entertainment for the Capitol. The districts with Training Schools hadn't done well this year but they would make terrific comeback over the next few years.