27th Hunger Games

Winner: Emerald District 1

Despite the Career districts training their tributes to win the Hunger Games, they hadn't actually been doing that well in the Games over the past few years.

Yes the Careers had won more than all the other districts but the arenas that the Gamemakers had come up with meant that Districts 1,2 and 4 weren't winning as many as they hoped to. District 1 in particular weren't happy as they hadn't won since the 16th Hunger Games and felt they were wasting time and money on training them. The families of the tributes were also getting upset as their children had assured them they'd been trained well when asking their approval on volunteering, but they obviously weren't as so many came back in boxes.

District 1 was determined to win or at least beat District 2 who were taking the top spot of being the Capitols favourite. The tributes they sent out this year were not only trained in combat but trained to handle different conditions that could come up in the arena. The tributes were Emerald and Onyx and they weren't ordinary Careers.

In training, Emerald and Onyx still ignored the survival stations as they couldn't let the other Careers know that something was different. Besides, by sticking to the weapons, they could intimidate all the other tributes which was always a good thing to do. They both scored a 10 and nobody thought that anything was different; they were clearly typical Careers, good with weapons, bad with arenas and in an alliance with the other Careers.

The Gamemakers tried to make it an even playing field this year by creating a difficult arena but giving the tributes a chance to fight as well. They knew the Careers weren't happy but their main goal was to keep the Capitol interested even if that meant making difficult arenas that the Careers weren't trained for. The arena this year was like a valley full of volcanoes.

And the volcanoes weren't dormant.

Fire spewed under a blood red sky and as the tributes rose up to the arena they started to cough and splutter as the smoke filled their lungs. The Cornucopia was nestled in the corner of the arena instead of the centre as it usually was. The only way the tributes could go was between two volcanoes that were smoking and hissing dangerously.

That might be why so many tributes joined the carnage over the weapons; no one wanted to be the first to venture into the valley. Emerald and Onyx joined the rest of the Careers in guarding the Cornucopia from the other tributes. They proved themselves as Careers when Emerald sent a spear into another tributes stomach when they dared to come to close and then Onyx got two tributes with the same arrow. Whilst they guarded the Cornucopia, the other Careers finished the other tributes who hadn't already fled.

Once this was over, they turned to the weapons and began to share the spoils.

Well, four out of the six Careers turned to the Cornucopia, the District 4 tributes went to their swords and started to creep up to the other four. District 4 like District 1 was desperate for a win, frankly they needed as many as they could get.

Quite a few years had passed since District 4 had become a "Career' district but even now they still felt like they were outsiders compared to Districts 1 and 2. So they had to come up with a plan but it was quite different to District 1's plan. The two District 4 tributes should backstab the others. But they had gone to early and back at the Capitol, the District 4 mentors were screaming at the television screens.

They should've waited! After the bloodbath was too early! What happened to waiting until all the other tributes were dead?

But the mentors could only watch in horror as Onyx heard a noise behind him, turned round and saw the District 4 tributes brandishing swords, alerted the others who slit the District 4 tributes throats on the spot.

It would take a long time for District 1 and 2 to forget this betrayal, especially with it only being the first day of the Games. One day into the Games and already two Careers dead. Emerald and Onyx weren't sure how to react but they decided to go along with the District 2 tributes and go and hunt down the other tributes.

This, for once, was quite an easy task as the remaining tributes hadn't gotten very far, mainly because the volcanoes kept spewing lava at them. Then as one tribute tried to avoid a volcano, another tribute would come up behind them, kill the first tribute but then get trapped themselves. The cycle continued until the Careers came and killed the last remaining tribute but then helped each other cross the puddles of lava that kept appearing. Now that the fear of 'death by volcano' was gone the Careers could focus on hunting the other tributes down. The game was on.

The other tributes had scattered across the arena but there wasn't really anywhere to hide as nobody wanted to risk climbing up a volcano when it was unlikely they'd come back down in one piece. This made it all too easy for the Careers with their talents with weapons and their teamwork in avoiding flying molten rock. Emerald and Onyx worked together in cornering tributes before killing them whilst District 2 took the direct approach and charged at one or two tributes at random. This worked out great for tributes who could fight, and could therefore escape, not so great for the ones without weapons or just the weaker tributes in general. After a few days the Capitol actually began to feel sorry for the weaker tributes who were either being attacked by the arena or hunted down by the Careers. They began to send them little tokens of hope, which of course did nothing. But the Gamemakers could tell that they needed to make a change, to stop the endless bloodbaths. They needed to even out the playing field. So they altered the arena. The volcanoes stopped spewing out lava and molten rock, for a while. It was as peaceful as it could get in the Hunger Games...until the volcanoes erupted into scientifically developed fire. This didnt kill the tributes instantly like the lava did earlier but it left them with severe burns and the heat was extremely intense. The Careers stopped hunting tributes so they could focus on surviving instead as there was no shelter anywhere in the entire arena. You'd think that as none of the tributes were interested in killing each other, the death toll would drop and it did for a few peaceful days. But then as more tributes were burnt, they became weak and couldnt find the energy to move when a fireball came hurling towards them so they were burnt alive. This wasnt pretty or quick or gory but the Capitol still seemed to love the idea so the Gamemakers increased the level of difficulty for the tributes. By now there were only six tributes left and four of them were Careers. The Careers were on a break from killing, they were more interested in surviving but once the arena stopped trying to kill them, they would hunt down the remaining two tributes. But the Gamemakers intervened before that could happen. It was about a week and a half into the Games and the volcanoes were still burning. All the remaining tributes were pretty close together, even if they didnt know it and the Gamemakers liked that as sooner or later there would be a confrontation. In fact they liked it so much, they wanted to help speed up the process a little. So the volcanoes burnt even higher and fire poured out from the tops of them and rained down onto the ground. But it didnt go out. The flames kept burning and the fires got bigger and bigger until eventually, you couldnt see the volcanoes for a wall of fire.

And then the fire began to move.

The tributes ran the only way they could, towards the Cornucopia. The firewall pursued them, occasionally spitting out fireballs at the tributes, who were no longer bothered that all six of them seemed to be running side by side. But it was alright, they would reach the Cornucopia and then the fighting could commence. Right now, however, there was a more urgent matter to deal with. Another firewall had appeared, blocking the path to the Cornucopia; between the two fires and the volcanoes, there was no escape. The six tributes were trapped.

It took a few moments for everyone to work out what would happen. The fire was still getting closer so if there wasnt a victor in a few minutes, they would all die anyway. The Careers took action and Emerald and the girl from District 2 quickly killed the other two tributes with two well-placed swords to the stomach.

This could be ended in a few moments but the Gamemakers didnt want a fight, they wanted a show.

Huge fireballs the size of elephants burst out of the fire towards the four remaining tributes that hadn't yet turned on each other. Emerald and Onyx, remembering their training, immediately dropped to the ground but the District 2 tributes had no idea what to do except try and dodge them, so they panicked and ran around like headless chickens, knowing that sooner or later they would die.

As the fireballs got lower and lower, Emerald and Onyx got up and seemingly started to dodge the fireballs like the tributes from District 2. But the District 1 tributes had been trained with the scientifically developed fire that the Gamemakers used so they were able to tell where the next fireball was coming from.

The District 2 tributes were not faring as well. They were both covered in burns and eventually the boy from District 2 fell to the ground in agony and didn't get back up. The girl sensing that she couldn't beat the District 1 tributes, decided to charge at them instead and weak as she was, managed to knock Onyx to the ground before falling herself and being swallowed up by the flames.

Meanwhile Onyx was seconds away from death. He'd hurt his ankle in the fall and couldn't get up in time to avoid the fireball both him and Emerald saw. Emerald could've helped him up, she was stood right next to him.

Of course, she didn't. There was nothing about playing fair in the rules of the Hunger Games and technically her own District wouldn't turn on her as she hadn't actually killed him. So Onyx died and Emerald was the victor.

District 1 was overjoyed as they'd beaten District 2 and their plan had actually worked. This left District 2 intent on revenge but they tried not to show it. More importantly, the 27th Hunger Games had left ill feelings between the Careers, especially against District 4 who had betrayed the alliance, which would affect the Games in the future