AUTHOR'S NOTE: The saga continues, and here we get to catch the first glimpses of what would later become Career Tributes. Remember, if a particular chapter sticks out or you want to hear more about it, there's always a chance that I will be willing to comply. In the meantime, hopefully the early chapters where things are a little slow are not off-putting enough to keep you from the later ones.
Happy Reading!

The 2nd Annual Hunger Games

After the first Hunger Games, people thought that it was all just a bad dream and that this would be a one-time thing. However, the Capitol was far more ruthless than that, and so the year after, the 2nd Annual Hunger Games were born. After their losses in the 1st games, District 2 had put together a small training facility for kids to hone their skills and potentially do better at the games. This was technically illegal, but District 2 was responsible for producing nearly half of Panem's Peacekeeping force, and so another nondescript training facility was not noticed at first, nor really paid much attention to.

However, it was a hallmark for the 'games. These were the very first "career tributes". This wound up becoming a sign of things to come during the personal training sessions when these "career tributes" scored higher than usual. As a result, they also scored much higher than most of the other tributes. There were no 11s or 12s this early in the games because the tributes were still getting accustomed to this new pageant they were forced into every year, but it would not always remain this way.

The arena was slightly more creative this year. Instead of a mundane meadow, the arena was rather forested, which put some of the rural districts dealing with trees, such as '7 and '11, at an advantage. That did not deter District 2's Randy Ferris however, and he proved his ferocity in the training center before the games. He started mustering allies, saying that they would pick off the weaker tributes first and then have a showdown of strength.

Back then, the career alliance was far less organized than it was this year, and instead of recruiting District 1, Randy recruited his partner, as well as a boy from District 7 and a girl from District 10. They had thus formed the first career alliance.

Some of the kids were still a bit dazzled and shocked by the very notion of the Hunger Games, and a few were even wary of the incident last year where the guy had blown himself to bits by trying to jump the gun. However, this time as the opening gunshot fired, the four "career tributes" raced for the weapons, which in turn sparked the others to start running. Others were fixed on defending themselves, such as the pair from District 5. Fukaya, the victor of last year's games, had also become the first mentor, and so he was able to give District 5's tributes a few tips and tricks that they could potentially expect to see in the games.

The pair from District 2 managed to survive the defenses, but their allies from Districts 10 and 7 were not so fortunate. However, District 5's chance at producing a victor was also exterminated on that first day, as was the chance of a victor from Districts 10, 3, 4, and 9.

This year, only 14 tributes died in this opening bloodbath, which meant that the games would likely last a little longer than the ones the year before. The thick forests surrounding the cornucopia would serve as crucial hiding places for some of the more clever tributes, and so it quickly became a game of hide-n-seek, with the weaker tributes hiding from the stronger ones.

However, Randy Ferris and his partner were unfazed, and went on the prowl. Despite this, they were not the only ones hunting. District 11's Lucy Takamatzu swung through the trees, managing to outdo the girl from '7 in this regard, killing her on Day 2. These games were not terribly fast-paced, but tributes stayed on their toes.

The remainder of the games was a slow but intriguing game of elimination as the remaining tributes tried to outsmart each other. Randy was not only strong, but he was also smart, despite being slightly out of his element in these woods. Gradually, the others were eliminated until it was just him and the elusive but deadly Lucy Takamatzu from District 11. Well, he was fairly confident that he, a trained fighter, would be able to stomp a kid from a poor and starving district. His disadvantage came from the fact that she was very familiar with these trees, and with being able to survive without food.

In fine, poor Randy never even saw it coming. During the 6th and final night of the games, Lucy dropped from a tree, bludgeoning Randy's skull in with a warhammer, and then rolling into a crouched position as if poisoning to attack again. However, she was announced as the victor, having outlived 23 other tributes, as the rules dictated. Lucy Takamatzu was the 1st victor from District 11—and the 2nd victor of the Hunger Games.

Despite being so calm and collected in the 'games, Lucy was uneasy around trees after that. She'd always be looking up whenever she wandered through the orchards, as if she was worried that someone would drop on top of her the way she had done to that boy. No one else really understood her logic here, and she never bothered to explain. No one but Fukaya of District 5 knew what she had been through, and thus, the next time they met in the Capitol as mentors, they swiftly began friends.

And so began the trend of "Victor Culture". It was the closest thing to District Unity that the districts of Panem ever achieved, since these victors were the only ones who ever got to see all 12 districts other than some Capitol officials. However, while Lucy and Fukaya had done their time, they were aware that there would be many others who followed in their footsteps…

VICTORS BY YEAR:
1HG: Fukaya Kerezaki (#1, District 5)
2HG: Lucy Takamatzu (#1, District 11)