Act 6
'The Gauntlet'

First up on the obstacle course was the District One male. I heard the District One girl call him Paris.

He looked like a typical person from One, at least from what I have seen in ads and such. Platinum blonde hair nicely styled. With no split-ends or unevenness, you could tell he took care of his hair. With his soft face and matching soft blue eyes, he looked like a model, not a warrior. He probably wasn't going to win, but I still wouldn't get in his way. He was from a career district and who knows what was behind that baby face of his.

Paris jumped from log to log; actually preforming quite nimbly.

From what I heard, the Gauntlet changed every few years. I heard that a couple years back it looked like an elevated jungle gym. Now that may seem fun, but I don't think anything the Games produces would ever be "fun". While this year, this year it had a slight nature/natural theme. I heard the District 12 tributes call it something like Par-or or Payor… No, they called it Parkour.

Anyway, the Gauntlet consisted of four major parts. The first were some uneven logs. As it sounds, it was a handful of logs standing up flat. The goal was to jump from one to another to make it across the gap. Thing is they were spaced pretty far apart and were also uneven, so that added to the challenge.

The second part was monkey bars. That was simple enough, but it was just making you feel better before you hit the third challenge. The third part was a rope ladder. Problem with it was that if you did not balance properly, you would defiantly fall. The Fourth and final part was a rock wall climb down to the finish line.

The point of the Gauntlet was to get through it the fastest you possibly could. And Paris was doing pretty well. He had come to the ladder part and seemed to falter at first.

"Hurry up, Paris!" The First District girl shouted.

He nodded and quickly climbed on the rope ladder. It swung a little bit when he got on it, but it steadied itself out when he finally got fully on. But after just a few seconds on it, he swung completely over and fell to the ground.

I cringed as I witnessed him fall onto his shin. It looked rather painful.

A few of the trainers came to his aid and helped him out of the way. The floor of the Gauntlet were padded, but it still had to hurt falling onto your bones.

Next up was the girl from District One. She didn't get much further than Paris. She just didn't get hurt like Paris; I don't know if I should have thought that good or bad.

Who I wanted to see was Helena. She sounded like someone to fear just by description, so I wanted to see her in action.

She lined herself up at the starting line, readying herself for what seemed like anything. When the trainer said so, she took off, leaping from log to log. She looked so determined. I swear I could her almost snarling at the course.

Once past the monkey bars, she balanced herself on the end of the rope ladder. Using her knees to help balance herself out, she climbed the ladder steadily.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I felt uneasy at her athleticism.

She hoped off of the rock wall and finished with one of the best times the trainers had ever heard of. And it was obvious too, just by the looks of their face.

"She's going to be hard to beat in the arena," whispered Dezji.

I nodded in response.

She had to have a weakness, though.

Helena didn't even pause after finishing and went to the sword training station. After her went some girl from District Five. Dezji said Douglas called her Seraphim or Seraphina or something weird like that. She wasn't very good and fell of the logs before even making it to the monkey bars. After she got up and brushed herself off, the young girl from District 11 was up next; Nova. This may sound horrible, but I did not want her to do well.

Once on the starting line, the little girl lined up her tiny frame, ready for the signal.

"Go!" said the trainer, and so Nova did.

She was quicker than I expected, but I should have figured someone so small would be good at running away. She hopped from log to log, taking a little bit of time at each to gather her breath. She seemed to exert a lot of energy keeping up the appearance she knew what she was doing. Still she finished the logs rather quickly; enough to compete with Paris and Aur on that part.

Once at the monkey bars, as I slightly expected, she breezed past it. She was a good climber. One could tell just by how she held herself when sitting in the tree. One word to describe her was confident. So the monkey bars were nothing for her. But as she got to the rope ladder, that harsh expression housed on her small face faltered.

She can't do this, I thought.

She shook off the feeling and tried to mimic Helena's positioning on the rope ladder as she began to climb. I stood there as I began to watch the ladder swing side to side.

She kind of deserves this, I thought. But I quickly felt bad for thinking such things about a 12 year-old.

"Ah!" Nova screamed as the rope ladder suddenly and ferociously spun.

I swear I counted it flipping over like six times.

Nova plummeted to the floor, landing with a heavy thump. A few trainers rushed over to her side to make sure she was alright. Before they could even mutter a word, she hopped up and brushed them away.

"I'm fine," she muttered.

She continued to walk away, but I insist I saw her walk with a slight limb in her right leg.

"That's two that been hurt," I whispered to myself. "I don't think I want to make it to the rope ladder."

"You think the Gamemakers would have made sure the training was safe," whispered Dezji. "They are risking the lives of the tributes before they even enter the arena. That isn't very smart."

I gave a swift nod, totally agreeing with Dezji there. I have to wonder what the Gamemakers were thinking, if anything.

After Nova's fall, people were cycled through, but none of them made it to the rope ladder. I have to think they were trying to avoid it after what happened to Paris and Nova. Not that I can blame them, as I had previously just admitted wanting to avoid it to.

It wasn't long before Gavin was up next. The poor boy looked beyond scared; actually shaking. He had probably never thought he would ever be in the Hunger Games.

He stood at the starting line; just standing there. When put up against Nova and Helena, he didn't look like he belonged. And when instructed to go, he stumbled about.

"Poor kid is letting his nerves get ahold of him," I said.

He slowly hopped from one log to the next, taking considerable time as if to make sure he didn't fall. He managed to clear that stage surprisingly. The way he acted, I half expected him to fail. And once at the monkey bars, he once again went slowly. Still he managed to pass it. Next up was the rope ladder.

"I'm surprised he hasn't failed on purpose so he wouldn't have to deal with the rope ladder," I muttered.

The kid positioned himself on the ladder and went slowly. He remained on his knees, using his position to help balance his weight. It took a while, but the kid cleared the rope ladder.

"What?!" I almost shouted.

I wasn't alone either. The rest of the tributes watching were either speechless or gasping like myself. Gavin climbed down the wall and became the second tribute to finish, much to everyone's astonishment and disbelief. I continued to gawk as the trainer seemed to come to his senses and called me up. I shook my head to shake any thoughts from my head. It would be best to keep my mind blank or I would risk distracting myself.

I readied myself at the starting line. I knew I wouldn't get as far as Helena or Gavin, but I was planning to do what I could.

The trainer signaled me to start and I rush to the logs. It was harder than it looked. I felt like I was going to fall at any second. Only thing keeping me from falling was me holding my breath. I know they say you should breath regularly, but breathing was throwing me completely off. Besides, I managed to get passed those pesky logs.

Next up was the monkey bars. Now I had no confidence in my upper-body strength, and neither did Dezji. I could see him in the corner of my eye, stretching and getting ready to go next; as if he knew I was going to fail soon enough.

I let out a large sigh before gripping onto the warm, tough metal. I could feel it scrapping away at my skin as my hands began to slide. I tried to rush through it as I could feel myself losing grip, but I just couldn't manage it. I fell straight on my bum.

"Ouch!" I said as I go up, brushing off my bruised backside.

I was escorted out of the way so Dezji, who was already ready, could begin.

At least I didn't have to deal with the rope ladder, I thought. Now Dezji was acting all strong, let's see if he will get any further than me.

Instructed to go, Dezji rushed through the logs. His footing was rather graceful, as if he had practiced running in such conditions. I wouldn't put it passed someone in District Eight having such experience. I personally never needing the knowledge, but there are a lot of places in District Eight that you would need to know how to get away fast and the escape route wasn't always a straight line.

I have to wonder if Dezji has ever had to do that? I thought to myself. Run away…

He easily made it to the monkey bars, not even out of breath. I envied his skill. Even if he was from District Eight, which is known for their lack of muscles, he at least has the stamina.

Dezji wrapped his hands around the first bar and began to swing from one to the next. I easily recognized Dezji's plan though, as he rapidly moved from bar to bar. I had tried doing it due to my hands sliding and it appeared Dezji was having the exact same issues I was having as his face told it all. Much to my expectations, he fell a little further from where I did.

"Shit," he cursed as he hit the floor.

He continued to mutter as he shuffled to the edible insects station. I continued my training as well. Because Nova had moved on to a more "interesting" station, the knife station, I went back to the tree climbing station. I could only hope that without the judgmental eyes of the pre-teen, I could actually gain some knowledge on the skill.

And with that the first day of training ended, having given us many lively events and much surprises. I could only hope that the next day would be a little more mundane so I could focus on my training and further my chances of survival for the upcoming games.

So next chapter will be the scoring and Calico's private training session. It will not be so long, at least from what I can guess. I have not written it, so I don't know. But I do not expect anything too long. After that will be the interviews, which will be long as I will show [short] interviews for everyone.

I have a poll up on my profile for which story I should write next. After this story is finished, which I predict ending sometime in January, I will be beginning a new one. There are three choices; another Hunger Games, a Walking Dead, or a Game of Thrones story.

The Hunger Games story would be based around the 50th Hunger Games. The Walking Dead story would feature mostly OC's in Florida. And the Game of Thrones story would focus around OC's in the region, the Reach, during the cannon storyline (some things will change, obviously, as the story goes on).

Remember to vote, review, fav, and follow. :)