Castor felt sick. He wasn't sure what he should show the Gamemakers. He had been trained, yes, but he was far from perfect with any weapon. He briefly considered showing his skills at a survival station, but that was what a district tribute would do. It would garner him a lower score.

"You may start, Mr. Bordeax," a Gamemaker told him.

Castor headed for the swords. He selected a long, light sword and attacked a practice dummy. His blade cut through the armor and canvas like butter. When he was done, the dummy had been hacked to shreds. Castor thought that his technique had been good, and that he had done a good job.

When Nancy entered, she grabbed a sword, too. This one was shorter and heavier. "You!" she called out to a trainer. "Face me."

The trainer picked up a sword similar to hers. Nancy made the first move, stabbing forward. The trainer parried her blow, but Nancy slashed at his head. He barely caught her sword on his own blade, and countered with a move of her own. But Nancy parried and went on the offensive again. Their fight went on for a few minutes, with Nancy forced to go on the defensive a few times, but ultimately winning.

Octavian entered and picked up two long knives. He hacked up a training dummy, cursing his bad fortune. Why hadn't he kept on training? He had stopped training when he was 14 because he had no interest in going into the Games. Still, he should have kept in practice so that if he did have to enter, he wouldn't be so messy. He knew that his form was sloppy, but he kept on trying, pulverizing the dummy and bowing to the Gamemakers before he left.

When Reyna entered, she went straight for a mace. She gestured to three trainers, and began fighting them. There was no denying that the girl had skill. She was able to successfully take down all three of them within 10 minutes, using the area around her to her advantage and combining brute force with refined technique. The Gamemakers were smiling by the time she left.

When Leo entered, he wasn't too worried. He headed for the electronics station, aware of the chuckles of the Gamemakers behind him. Picking up a hammer, some pressure plates, and wires, he went to work. Near the end of the 15-minute session, his creation was complete. He gently placed it on the ground and threw a piece of metal at it. For a moment, nothing happened, and Leo began to worry. Then, the creation exploded. "Yeah!" Leo hooted. " Who's Mr. Amazing? I am!"

Annabeth heard the sound of an explosion from inside the room and began worrying for Leo. Had he finally managed to blow himself up? But no, he emerged from the room looking ecstatic. Annabeth entered a few minutes later and observed a mat near the electronics station. So Leo had blown something up. Annabeth tried to ignore the smell of smoke in the air and went over to the knife station. Facing a trainer with a sword, she started fighting with a knife. The trainer seemed wary of coming at her at full strength lest he hurt her. Annabeth couldn't help but feel insulted, but knew that this was beneficial in that it made her look better. Still, she was glad to see that she had picked up some good skills over the last few days. She was able to block all of the man's attacks, and got a few strikes of her own in. But ultimately, the trainer was able to get her on the ground with his sword pointed at her throat. The trainer smiled at her apologetically, before getting up and turning away.

Annabeth threw her knife.

It smacked into the man's back and would have stayed there if he wasn't wearing armor. Annabeth hoped that what she had done hadn't made the Gamemakers mad. Still, there were no rules against it! If Annabeth's opponent during the Games was dumb enough to let her go and think that she would just lay down and die after beating her, then they deserved a knife in the back.

"You're dismissed, Miss Chase," a Gamemaker told her.

Percy entered the room after the blonde from 3 and picked up a sword and net. He had been trained using a trident and net, but Percy found that when he coupled his net abilities with a sword, he was even better. Not wanting to hurt a trainer, Percy demonstrated his abilities on moving dummies. He caught each in his net and stabbed them in vital areas, or simply hacked at them as they passed him. All in all, he only missed one dummy.

Clarisse went up against three different trainers with a spear, holding them off and smacking them around, showing off her abilities with a spear, but mostly showcasing her brute force. Jackson and Princess might have talked about refinement and skill, but Clarisse knew that once the Games started, strength was all that mattered. The strong tributes were the winners, not the nancing punks who played around all pretty with swords. Clarisse left feeling satisfied.

Jason showcased his abilities with a sword. He fought a trainer. He was on the defensive for most of the time, but whenever he saw an opportunity, he took it. He remembered what Ella had told him about using a diagonal sword as a shield as well as a weapon, and tried to follow her advice. Still, he lost in the end. Humiliated, Jason left.

Ella entered feeling scared. Ella is not good at weapons. Gamemakers like weapons. She headed for the Gauntlet, an obstacle course with moving parts and weapons to dodge. She started it by running up a series of moving platforms. Ella wasn't the most graceful, but she was able to do it. Her legs vibrated with every motion and her whole body hurt. Next, she had to dodge the attacks of trainers holding clubs. Ella tried ducking and rolling under most of them, but near the end, she ran out of steam. A club smacked her in the head, and Ella went down.

20 times 21 is 420…right? The tiny girl from 5 exited looking dazed, and Clovis went in. His head was swimming already, and Clovis knew that trying to hold a weapon would be a bad idea. 21 times 23…come on, come on…but Clovis could find the answer. Clovis tried to tie a knot, but his hands were slipping and he couldn't do it…with a sigh, everything went black.

The Head Gamemaker watched the boy from 6 fall to the ground, fast asleep. "Take him out the back way," she ordered a trainer.

"Shouldn't we give him another chance?" A Gamemaker asked.

"No point. He has narcolepsy. He's cannon fodder for sure."

When Clovis didn't exit, Rachel started getting scared. Had he fallen asleep again? A trainer called her in. Rachel went for the camouflage station. The berries and paints reminded her of her paint set at home. She proceeded to thickly layer on the paint and wedge herself between an artificial rock and bush, with a tree behind her. The different colors of the paint looked almost indistinguishable between the actual things and where her own body started. Rachel had used black paint to shellac her hair back, before painting it to blend into the tree. She stayed there for a few moments, until a trainer dismissed her. Where is Clovis? Rachel wondered. I hope he's okay.

Grover tried out the Gauntlet too, with a club of his own. He was nimble when it came to climbing and jumping, and Grover was glad. When he got to the trainers aiming clubs at him, he used his own weapon to knock them out of the way and even hit a trainer or two back. Still, when he got to the last moving platform, he jumped at missed. He fell through the air. Grover wildly grabbed out, somehow managing to get a grip on the platform, but he dropped his club and he was losing his grip. After a few seconds, Grover fell into the net below.

Grover smiled at Calypso as he exited, and Calypso smiled nervously backed. Hopefully, Grover had done a good job. Calypso entered and went for the medical station. She wanted to show the Gamemakers that she knew how to preform basic cauterization and stitches, but she didn't want to have to cut herself. Without anyone to preform her demonstration on, she was reduced to having to explain her methods verbally, and the Gamemakers were already getting drunk.

When Ethan entered, he went straight for the knives. The Head Gamemaker made a note that a lot of the tributes this year were weapon-oriented. Ethan picked up six tiny knives and put them between his fingers, making three claws on each hand. Ethan then beckoned a trainer towards him. He attacked quickly, using the knives as an extension of his already brutal fists. Ethan felt some satisfaction at the fact that he was beating the trainer. Then, the trainer disappeared. Ethan knew that the man was going to try coming up on his blind side. These Capitol people were underhanded cheaters! But Ethan would beat them. He would beat them all. He had been fighting with one eye for years! Did they really think that they could trick him like that? Ethan lashed out at the trainer, cutting bloody streaks down his face. Ethan laughed.

Piper, too, went for smaller knives. But instead of using them for hand-to-hand combat, she used them for throwing. There were 15 targets. She hit the bullseye on four of them and managed to land her knife in the inner rings for the rest. Piper curtseyed to the Gamemakers, and left, wondering if any of them had been paying attention to her performance.

Will was another tribute that went for the medical supplies, but he took a different track than Calypso. He took a knife and cut his arm open. A few Gamemakers shouted in protest, but Will ignored them. He took some hydrogen peroxide and cleaned the wound, before stitching it up messily and putting a bandage over it. It was one of the most painful things that he had ever done, and tears were coming out of his eyes by the end of it. Still, Will took deep breaths and tried to calm down. Worse than this would happen once the Games started.

Lou had absolutely no idea what she was going to do, and thinking about it just made it worse. Getting a crazy idea, she set the edible bugs test to a Yes/No setting, grabbed some knives, and stood about ten feet away from it. "The hand is quicker than the eye," she said to no one in particular, as she made a small knife appear to disappear. She showed both of her hands—empty. Then, she pulled the knife from behind her ear and threw it with all of her might at the YES button. Her knife smacked into it handle first, and the test moved on to the next question. By the end of 10 questions, Lou was feeling good about herself. (Cicadas were edible. Thanks, Will.)

Frank entered and shakily picked up a bow. The Gamemakers were laughing about something and not really paying attention to him, but Frank tried to ignore that fact. He drew back the arrow and fired. After a while, he got into a rhythym. After 15 targets, he had scored seven bullseyes and eight of his arrows were around that area. Frank smiled. He had gotten pretty good at this!

Hazel smiled at Frank as he exited. He looked pretty happy with himself. That was good! If he had done well, then they would have sponsors. But Hazel would have to score well, too. She picked up her longsword. Whenever she had practiced with it, it had felt too big in her hands. Hazel had asked the trainer, and it turned out that people used swords like this while riding on horses, and that it was illogical for the Games. That had just cemented Hazel's determination to use it. With the sword in her hands, she could pretend that she was sitting atop Arion, proud and free. Hazel nodded at a trainer, asking her to fight. The trainer charged Hazel with a sword. Hazel ran.

Something that she had picked up on was that it would be easier to use the longsword when elevated, so Hazel climbed on top of one of the rocks in the camouflage station and parried the trainer's blows from there. From that vantage point, Hazel did have a lot of force behind her blows, as well as a safe distance from her attacker. Still, when she forced the trainer back a step, she had to step onto the ground. That made Hazel feel offbalance. When her session had ended, she and the trainer were still locked in combat.

Connor entered the room, and noticed that the Gamemakers looked pretty drunk. Naturally, his first instinct was to rob them of whatever valuables they had. Connor quelled that though. Someone would notice what had happened, and anyway, stealing from them wouldn't be beneficial. Instead, going against all of his instincts, Connor emptied his pockets of all of the things that he had stolen from the Training Center. Fishhooks, rope, a screwdriver, all landed on the floor. "You're welcome," Connor said to the Gamemakers who were actually bothering to watch him, and walked out.

Katie entered the room and did the edible plants test, where she got a 29 out of 30. Cheeks burning at her mistake, Katie went to the climbing wall and scaled it. The wall shook and crashed around, but Katie managed to hang on. She dodged boiling water that poured over the edge and made it to the top. She wasn't sure whether the Gamemakers were watching, but the ones that were had to realize that she was doing a good job! It wasn't fair that people like her from the lower districts didn't get the full attention that they deserved!

The girl from 11 looked angry as she exited. Nico wondered if the Gamemakers had been particularly rude to her. He entered, noting that whatever he did, the Gamemakers probably wouldn't care. He attacked a few practice dummies with his sword before being dismissed long before his time was up. How dare they? Nico wondered. They have a job, why won't they do it?

Finally, after several hours of waiting, Zoe entered. She went over to the archery station and chose out a bow. It was silver, manufacture, and felt wrong in Zoe's hands. Zoe would not consider herself a master of bows, but she had enough experience to know when one was balanced wrong. She shot 15 bullseyes. The Gamemakers, though, were not watching her.

Cold fury ran through Zoe. These Capitol cretins were not even human enough to give her the attention that she deserved! Rather, they chose to pay attention to their meal, though they lived with the knowledge that food was not hard to come by! Zoe shot her arrow through an apple resting in a roasted pig's mouth. The instant that she let her arrow loose, Zoe knew that she had made a mistake. She was the master of her emotions, not the other way around. Yes, she had been chafed in waiting so long, and her annoyance may have been justified, but she had to keep herself under control.

"I apologize," Zoe told the Head Gamemaker, thankful that it was a woman she was giving her untrue apology to.

The woman nodded. "You can go, Miss Nightshade."

The minute that the girl from 12 had left, the Head Gamemaker turned to her colleagues. Most of them were drunk, but there was a new Gamemaker who looked sober. "What did you observe?" the Head Gamemaker asked him.

The young man looked surprised. "Um, a lot of the tributes favor swords."

"Good. More importantly, most are average with them."

Another Gamemaker interrupted. "Well, grading on the 1-12 scale, most are average. But I think that we often grade on the 1-10 scale and save 11 and 12 for the crazy, out of the world acts. So most of the tributes are above average."

The Head Gamemaker smiled. "Exactly. Most of the tributes are around the same level, excepting Districts 1, 2, and 4—"

"And the cannon fodder, Ella and Clovis," the female Gamemaker interrupted.

The Head Gamemaker gave her a thin-lipped smile. "Now, now. We don't know anything for sure yet. The point is, with so many tributes with similar skills, we can't trust them to kill each other."

"So?" the young man asked.

"So, it's our job to drive the Game forward."

XXXXX

Ella likes cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon rolls are good.

"Ella, maybe you should eat something else," Ella's mentor Iris (Irises are flowers deriving their name from an ancient word meaning rainbow. They are used in perfumes as well as some medicines) suggested.

"Ella likes cinnamon rolls. Ella doesn't like cheese. Cheese is bad. Bad, bad, bad."

Iris sighed. "Okay, then."

Notus patted his mouth with a hankerchief. "The training scores will be on soon! Let's get ready to go and watch them.

Ella will get a bad score, and Ella will die. Dying is sad. Dying is bad.

Jason looked worried too. Ella wondered how Jason had done. If Jason had done a bad job, then she certainly had, too.

Soon enough, the training scores came on. Castor had gotten an 8. Nancy had gotten a 9.

"Not bad," Notus commented. "Still, it could have been better. You should watch out for those two."

Octavian had only scored a 7. Ella felt good about that. But Reyna had gotten a 10, which Notus whistled appreciatively at. Leo had gotten a 7, good for District 3, where the average training score is 4. Annabeth had scored a 6. Percy had gotten a 9, and Clarisse had gotten a 10.

And then it was their turn. Jason's picture came up, and a 5 flashed up by his name. Jason turned red. Jason has gotten the worst score yet. Jason may have assumed that he would have scored better, although his expression directly after the session was not promising.

But Ella's was worse still. She had gotten a 4. Her cheeks burned. She was the youngest tribute, yes, but she had thought that she had done a good job on the Gauntlet! Now no one would sponsor her.

The screen flickered on to District 6. Clovis had gotten a 1. Ella felt relieved. She was not longer the worst-scoring tribute. But how had he managed to get such a low score? Rachel had gotten a 5, same as Jason. Grover from 7 had gotten a 6, and Calypso had scored a 4. Ethan Nakamura had a 7. Piper had a 6. Ella remembered that the dark-haired girl and Jason had been talking on the second day of training. Were they in an alliance? If so, then Piper's score was a good thing for Jason.

Will from District 9 had managed a 6, while Lou Ellen came up with a 5. Frank had a 6, too, while Hazel had a 5. Connor had only scored a 2, and his district partner Katie also had a 5. Nico had a 5 as well, and Zoe had an 11.

11!

How had that happened? 11s were incredibly rare, and Zoe wasn't even a Career! It appeared that the volunteer from 12 had known what she was doing when she stepped onto the stage and asked to go into a death match. Zoe was allegedly now Ella's biggest competition.

And obviously, she was competition that Ella could not beat.

I finally figured out how to create a poll, and there is now a poll on my page. It would be great if anyone could do it. I hope that the training scores made sense.

Here is a list of the tributes and their scores:

D1: Castor Bordeax, 8; Nancy Bobofit, 9

D2: Octavian Hill, 7; Reyna, 10

D3: Leo Valdez, 7; Annabeth Chase, 6

D4: Percy Jackson, 9; Clarisse La Rue, 10

D5: Jason Grace, 5; Ella Harrison, 4

D6: Clovis Sonan, 1; Rachel Dare, 5

D7: Grover Underwood, 6; Calypso Aterra, 4

D8: Ethan Nakamura, 7; Piper Mclean, 6

D9: Will Solace, 6; Lou Ellen Lerner, 5

D10: Frank Zhang, 6; Hazel Levesque, 5

D11: Connor Stoll, 2; Katie Gardner, 5

D12: Nico di Angelo, 5; Zoe Nightshade, 11