Hi! Thanks for the reviews and follows. Heres the update! And its the start of the games as promised. A/N: I'll update slower the next few times (maybe once every couple of weeks). I havent told the readers in this story, but all my other stories are supposed to be on temporary hiatus, until my exams are over. But this is NOT permanant, and im NOT abandoning this crossover. I repeat, I have plans for where this is going, and ill continue it when im free.
To ArtofBoom: I watched the movies and read the book for both stories. They are great! Although PJ movies are inaccurate to the book, I think its good in its own way, unlike how the majority of the book fans hate the movie. Yes, I wished it stuck to the book, but I know its hard to make it so exact. But as a seperate movie on its own, I think its perfect :) I actually checked out the story Percy meets Katniss when you mentioned it...its great! But my story is not a Percy/Katniss pairing. For all my fanfics, I stick to the original Percabeth pairing. And to tell the truth, I just cant write romance stories, just not my thing. I prefer action and fast bits. Thats a reason why I left Annabeth out of this fic, so I have an excuse to not write cheesy Percabeth romance. I simply am bad at writing romance.
Anyway...read on!
Katniss
She woke up early the next day. Today was the start of the Hunger Games. She had to prepare herself. Katniss went to take a quick shower, wondering when she would even be able to have a next one. She did up her hair into a single braid, and went down for breakfast. This time, she was the only one at the dining room. She scooped portions of food, though she didn't have much of an appetite. But she forced herself to swallow some food and water. She might not have the luxury of food in the arena.
As she was eating, Peeta, Haymitch and Effie came down to join her. Thankfully, the nurse had managed to stop the bleeding in Peeta's hands. They ate in silence, not knowing what to say.
Then, Katniss was led out of the training centre, and was loaded onto a hovercraft. A tracker was inserted into her wrist, so that the gamemakers could locate her in the arena. Looking out of the windows, Katniss could see the hovercraft flying past plains and fields and forests. She prayed that the arena would have a forest. She was particularly goods at climbing trees, and it would definitely be to her advantage. Then, the windows darkened, and she could no longer see outside. That meant that they were already arriving at the arena.
As if on cue, the hovercraft landed, and she was escorted to an underground walkway, into a small room, with a glass cylinder in the centre of the room. Her stylist, Cinna, was sitting on one of the armchairs, waiting for her. He showed her the mockingjay pin Madge had given her.
"Your District token." He said, helping her to pin it onto the inside of her jacket.
Katniss took the seat beside him.
"Are you alright?" Cinna asked.
"Just nervous." She said. She didn't mind being truthful towards Cinna.
"You'll be fine." Cinna assured. "Would you like something to eat?"
"No, I'm fine." Katniss replied. But she accepted a glass of water.
She sipped the water slowly. No one talked.
Then, a voice from the speakers said, "Launching in one minute."
Cinna got up, and Katniss followed, steadying her nerves. She quickly recalled all Haymitch's advice, and hoped she could find Percy without trouble.
"Thirty seconds to launch." The automated voice said.
Katniss stood in the cylinder, and turned to face Cinna.
"Good luck. If I could vote, I would place all my bets on you, Katniss." Cinna said.
Katniss nodded, she was too nervous to speak.
"Fifteen seconds to launch." The voice announced.
Cinna waved at her, and then made a thumbs up sign.
The cylinder started to move upwards, pushing her to the surface, into the arena.
She had one minute. One minute to wait before stepping of the plate. Step off before that minute, and the mines are set off, blasting you to smithereens.
She scanned her surroundings. Twenty Four tributes were standing in a large circle, with the cornucopia in the centre. Weapons, supplies, food and all the bounty were stashed in the cornucopia. A bow and arrow was there too. Notched and loaded, ready for the user. The items further from the cornucopia were less valuable, like a plastic sheet, and a few backpacks.
She turned to see the landscape. There was a lake to her right, and a large covered forest lay behind her, shielding anything behind from sight. Then, there was a wide plain far in front of her, dipping into a valley, with long grass the height of a person.
She concentrated on the bow and arrows. If she sprinted there, she was sure she could reach it before the other tributes. She was one of the fastest runners in school, due to her built. But again, Haymitch's words rang in her mind. "Get out of there fast."
Peeta was three plates to her left, and Percy was eight plates to her right. Percy was looking at her, his eyes flickering between her face and the lake, as though trying to tell her to run to the lake. But no, she couldn't do that. The lake was too exposed. They had to find cover in the trees. She shook her head, and cocked her head in the direction of the woods.
Peeta on the other hand, was mouthing to her, "Don't go for the bow." But she didn't have time to think about it as the gong sounded.
That was when the absolute mayhem broke out. Most tributes were running for the cornucopia, scooping up supplies. Some just turned and ran. Katniss silently cursed Peeta for distracting her. She ran for a backpack nearby, and a loaf of bread.
Someone tugged the backpack away, but she held her grip on it, swinging it at the attacker. He ducked, and clawed towards her. Peeta appeared right in front of her and stomped hard on his fingers, and his grip on the backpack slackened. Katniss was able to pull it free, and they ran for the woods.
She and Peeta stopped in front of the woods. She scanned the area, trying to find Percy. She couldn't go without him. He was essential in her plans. If he left her, she would not get the chance of killing him when he was off-guard. Then, he spotted Percy, running towards her, a bronze sword in his hand, the same one that he had used on Cato in the training centre.
"Go!" He yelled.
Katniss continued running with Peeta and her side. She sprinted deep into the woods, and carried on jogging at a steady pace. Peeta was panting hard at her side, and she was not sure if he could keep up with the running any longer. So she stopped, they had been running for half an hour already. The other tributes shouldn't be able to catch up with them any time soon.
She dropped her backpack on the leaves. Percy was behind them, and he wasn't even breathing hard. He looked like he'd done a lot of these kind of strenuous exercises in his free time. She made a mental note that she would not be able to outrun Percy.
"We can stop here for a while. Did you get anything?" Katniss asked.
"Yep. Just this sword. And a blanket." Percy said, showing her his items.
"That's the same sword you had in the training room." Katniss pointed out.
"I-uh, I kinda found it again." Percy replied.
"Okay. I have a backpack and some bread." Katniss said.
"What's in it?" Peeta said.
She opened the pack and looked around in it. Then, she took out a bottle, which was empty. There was also a small bottle of iodine, a coil of rope, some beef crackers and a sleeping bag.
"What about you, Peeta?"
Peeta showed them a long knife, and a large but empty water container.
"No water?" Katniss cursed. "It wouldn't have been that hard for the gamemakers to fill their bottles with water before the games."
"It's okay, I saw a lake out there, maybe we should go back there?" Percy suggested.
"No. We can't risk it. Let's just continue walking and find another water source. There's got to be other springs or lakes around." Katniss said.
"Fine. But how do you know which way to walk? What if we accidentally meet other tributes? Those from District seven are quite good." Percy asked a hint of nervousness in his voice.
Katniss thought. So Percy was afraid of the tributes from seven, Thalia and Nico. Maybe if they met, those three would start fighting each other until all of them were taken down. That would eliminate the best three tributes of the games. She had to find a way to make that happen.
"That should be no problem with your sword skills." Katniss said. "Let's go."
"But we're in the middle of a forest, and Thalia is a hunter of Art-" Percy stopped suddenly.
"What? What's wrong?" Katniss urged.
"I- What I meant was that Thalia takes hunting as an art. She's skilled at it." Percy replied.
"So? I'm good at this too. Now walk forward, it's a downhill slope. If we keep walking, the bottom should have some sort of lake." Katniss said.
Percy thought for a moment, and he agreed. "You're good at it too." He smiled.
So the three of them walked briskly in the direction Katniss had suggested. Katniss couldn't help noticing Percy's eyes darting all over the place, as though he was worried on being spotted.
Oooooh. Another chapter completed. Pls just leave a review. Thank you in advance! :)