AUTHOR'S NOTES: This chapter and its predecessor will seem very familiar. The good news is that no, it's not a sign of my lack of creativity—just a little trick I decided the Gamemakers would do. Subsequent chapters will not repeat any zany trends or anything like this either. This is a unique twist that merely binds the 11th and 12th Hunger Games together in an unusual way we won't likely see again soon.
Happy Reading!
The 12th Annual Hunger Games
The 12th Annual Hunger Games was the reason that the previous year's games were seen as an oddity—and by extension, the opposite rang true as well.
Maius Karuha had won the crown for District 2 the previous year. This year, however, his older brother Iunius, now 18, managed to make it to the tribute stage. His skills were similar to those of his twin brother, and so he knew that his odds were similarly very high.
However, also similar to last year, an ambitious boy named Gabriel from District 1 was eyeing the crown with fervor, and his partner Azalea with right up there as well.
With his twin brother Maius as a mentor (as well as Naisha Szasz from several years ago), he warned them that District 1 might be trouble, but that it was still fully possible to organize the career pack.
And thus, that was exactly what Iunius Karuha and Junichi Lenford wound up doing. Surprisingly, Azalea and Gabriel agreed to form the pack.
Similar to the previous year, there was no real competition, and given the training scores, it looked like it was going be another career victory once again. Even the nature of the tributes seemed to strike people as odd when compared to the games last year, (including the not-too-powerful looking kids from Districts 11 and 12 that would probably manage to escape the bloodbath) but it was the arena layout that had everyone from tributes to mentors to district citizens intrigued.
The arena layout was almost exactly identical to that of the 11th Annual Hunger Games arena, complete with the rocky landscape, the narrow crevices with the creeks and the otherwise barren "overworld".
A few of the more observant tributes, such as Kylene and Tomas from District 3, decided to check around the place after they escaped the bloodbath unharmed. The stones that had been turned in the previous arena were unturned in this one, which led many to believe that this was not in fact the Capitol reusing the 11th arena like they suspected—but simply that the 12th arena was an exact replica of it.
Taking after the idea of his brother Maius, Iunius did the exact same thing that he did, and took an offensive as they worked to flush out the other tributes.
Even the rain patterns were the same as the year before, with rain falling during days 3 and 4, stopping for days 5 and 6, and then resuming during days 7 and 8.
This time, however, it was the boy from District 1 that died on day 9 instead of the girl, as Gabriel met his match in the form of Kylene, one of the rogues from District 3.
Unlike the previous year though, this time it was the District 3 pair, as well as Nala, the girl from District 11—that served as the final tributes against the three remaining careers, and it was them this time that made it to the lake where the forcefield was. They still didn't know what it was (Tomas and Kylene had a few theories, but nothing set in stone), but they had secured the vantage point that year for the arena.
Unlike the previous year, the District 2 pair did not backstab their District 1 ally, and instead the trio started formulating a way to take down the kids from District 3, as well as that District 11 girl. 10 days into the games, and they were down to the final six tributes already.
However, despite their best efforts, Nala, Kylene, and Tomas managed to evade the careers for two more days. It was later into Day 13 that they finally managed to engage in combat.
The District 3 pair were devious, and had developed some sort of electrical machines to charge their weaponry, but it proved to not be enough against Junichi and Iunius, who managed to best them. Azalea and Nala were still duking it out in the meantime, and much to the surprise of many, she managed to best the District 1 girl, striking her down with her mace before booking it, knowing she couldn't take them herself. However, instead of pursuing her, the two careers waited—knowing the Gamemakers would force them together again.
Sure enough, the next morning, Nala was forced back to meet Junichi and Iunius, where the former finished her off, only to get stabbed in the back a moment later by her partner.
Like his brother, Iunius admitted that it was simply business that he would rather end quickly. However, several things happened this year: Iunius became the 3rd victor from District 2 and the 12th victor of the Hunger Games, and had simply done what he needed to in order to survive. The weirdest part was how familiar it was to his brother's games. To Panem, the 11th and 12th Annual Hunger Games seemed like one big déjà vu, which is what made both games go down in history as rather strange indeed…
VICTORS BY YEAR:
1HG: Fukaya Kerezaki (#1, District 5)
2HG: Lucy Takamatzu (#1, District 11)
3HG: Naseru Litzak (#1, District 3)
4HG: Naisha Szasz (#1, District 2)
5HG: Jade Prima (#1, District 1)
6HG: Cedar Hardin (#1, District 7)
7HG: Susan Jackman (#2, District 5)
8HG: Malcolm Reed (#1, District 6)
9HG: Mags Cohen (#1, District 4)
10HG: Faren Dragmire (#2, District 1)
11HG: Maius Karuha (#2, District 2)
12HG: Iunius Karuha (#3, District 2)