AUTHOR'S NOTES: with '93 (mostly) out of the way, I was able to kick this story back into operation, and will hopefully be able to continue to do so. All I will say at this point is that there are definitely career tributes that win more than others.
Happy Reading!

The 21st Annual Hunger Games

There were many dark connotations with the Hunger Games among the districts that had formed as early as its inception or perhaps the 2nd year of their existence. By this point, most of the rebels and rebel children had grown up, but now they were having children that were eligible to be reaped into the games, and many of them were. The Capitol did not forget too easy.

Thus, when the 21st Annual Hunger Games rolled around, that suspenseful moment rolled around where 24 boys and girls were taken from their homes, and all but one would never return.

One of the most discomforting things about the games apart from the obvious notion of children slaying innocent children, was how eerily beautiful many of the arenas were. Almost as if the Capitol had expected a powerful band of tributes for this year's games, the arena was set to be an interesting one.

It appeared to take place in a massive cave, except that it was lit with a wide and awe-inspiring array of bioluminescent flora—and as they later discovered, fauna as well (in the form of mutts). Still, it was not enough to faze District 1's Holt Cramer, who led the career pack this year with his partner as well as the two tributes from District 2, James Duval and Kada Lahka.

The 60 seconds used to count down the seconds before the games kicked off were all pretty much used by the tributes to look around in awe at the ceilings lost in darkness, occasionally peppered by the faint glow of some rock or plant life that gave off lights of various colors, albeit usually shades of blue, green, or indigo. It was almost like those 'eternal night' arenas except that the faint lights didn't go away.

Incidentally, the most dangerous tributes for the career pack were District 12, who lived under the rocks and stone deep in their dark, dank mines. Oddly enough, District 8 also fared rather well, using the colors to camouflage, and acquainting themselves with their cramped conditions. They quickly formed an alliance with Haley Carrigan, the girl from District 11 who had survived the bloodbath (where 10 tributes had died). The next few days consisted of these "outlying tributes" going on to resist the careers, opening their game up by nearly offing their leader Holt, which caused confusion in the career pack after their 5 days of being together.

But it was after these 5 days that things started getting stranger. Water sources began to be more restricted, as previous bodies of water became salty, and thus unsuitable to drink. Of course, the survivalist nature of the kids such as Haley and the District 12 pair had them finding water in no time flat. Suspicion arose, however, when Kada left the career pack, and disappeared from anyone's sights. James, Holt, and his partner Lucia grew suspicious, figuring that she was up to something. In truth, all Kada found was some poisonous fog that nearly started eating her skin, had she not jumped into the nearest body of water to alleviate the pain. Her eyes stung after an event like that, but the salty water alleviated the acidic pain, and so all in all, the only real damage done was that most of her clothes were gone, except her shoes, belt, and underwear, which did not seem affected.

It was around this time that Kada started to make a shift in her 'personality'. The quiet and fairly demure but gifted fighter that she had portrayed herself as, turned around and became a bold and audacious (and somewhat lewd) young woman who was ready to go on a killing spree, and also got a few good laughs by showing her (thankfully not bare) butt to the hidden arena cameras and making vulgar gestures and expressions.

As trivial as it sounded, Kada's secret to success was using the glowing rocks to her advantage. She had a wicked throwing arm, and so even though she was devoid of weapons, she could lob a rock hard enough to crack a skull or crack a limb. She managed to cause a small rockslide that killed the girl from District 12 and both kids from District 8, killing the District 12 boy a few minutes later with his own weapon. As soon as Holt, Lucia, and James realized that five tributes had just died on night 10, they knew what they were going up against.

Dubbed "the Laughing Bandit", they concluded that Kada had gone off the deep end, and in a way, she had. Nearly getting her flesh eaten off (even if those nasty, painful boils had subsided, doing little harm to Kada's skin apart from making parts of it pink and tender) and fleeing from an alliance that had not tried to help her did sort of spook her, but after shedding her concerns and deciding that there was no point in being scared, her rate of success skyrocketed.

However, even with their tributes keeping watch, Kada still managed to kill Lucia without James or Holt noticing. Holt, thinking that James had allowed it to happen given that Kada was his partner, fought the boy, and the end result of the fight had Holt walking away alive. It was now down to just him and Kada, where he went on a valiant hunt for this 'Laughing Bandit'.

Holt became famous for his final words in the Hunger Games, which were literally "oh shit…". He glanced up a moment too late, noticing Kada clinging to the ceiling almost like a starfish, before she let go, dropping on top of Holt with sharp rocks in hand, giving him a bloody but swift end, where a cannon rang, signaling his death and thus the end of the games. Kada had become the 4th victor from District 2, and the 21st victor of the games overall.

Not only did this solidify District 2's position as a domineering force in the Hunger Games, but it also gave them the wild and ruthless reputation that they were arguably famous for in the later years. Kada was already a bit crazy from the start, and so she was minimally affected overall apart from laughing and occasionally throwing stones at things. She was mesmerized by the night sky and by things that glowed, although she also had few people visit her, as she was considered an eccentric madwoman. Still, despite that, she was respected and people looked up to her—and to her, that was all that mattered. The games were a brutal pageant, and not even the staunchest loyalists from District 2 questioned that…

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)
13HG: Hilda White (#1, District 10)
14HG: Minali Otoyome (#2, District 3)
15HG: Willow James (#3, District 1)
16HG: Lark Chandnea (#2, District 11)
17HG: Woof Casino (#1, District 8)
18HG: Leah Holden (#2, District 7)
19HG: Zeruda Mezkiel (#2, District 6)
20HG: Muscida Lee (#2, District 4)
21HG: Kada Lahka (#4, District 2)