AUTHOR'S NOTES: Apologies for the very lengthy delay on this fic. my muse and inspiration had left a while back as I pursued original fiction works, but I am not the type to flake out and not finish a fanfic. As such, here is the next chapter in the series. I know that Seeder, Wiress, and Beetee are all coming up soon, and so is Leto, a District 2 character that I have spoken a lot about, as "the Terror of the 35th". So sit tight and fear not. Zulera301 is still around, and I'm gonna finish this story if it kills me.
Happy Reading!

The 29th Annual Hunger Games

Despite the twists and quirks of the last few years' arenas, the Capitol was never done trying to improve upon their old formula, which had kept crowds (at least among the Capitol) amused for nearly three decades. With each new passing year, they came up with something different.

As a result, the 29th Annual Hunger Games were a twist in the myth as well. Gilliam Lemongrass from District 1 led the career pack that year, all of whom managed to score 9s and 10s in training. Districts 7 and 5 also proved to be contenders this year, with the boy and girl from the former scoring a 9 and an 8, and the latter two scoring 8s as well. Gilliam did not possess the same power and charisma that the victor Lyme had from the year before but he did show promising potential.

This proved to be further true as he slew three tributes in the bloodbath alone, getting him and his crew off to a good start. The District 7 pair, on the other hand, managed to escape into the forest, although both Gideon DeVora and Ash LosDias kept their guard up. They didn't think that this would just be an ordinary forest. Perhaps it would be like one from a few years ago, which, while dark and eerie, had been devoid of animal life, and instead would just have an ominous road circling the place.

Such did not appear to be the case this time around. Instead, the trees were infested with hundreds of monkey mutations of various colors. Some of them seemed to be color-coded. There were red ones that spewed fire, yellow ones that could use their tails to shock tributes with powerful electric jolts, blue ones that shot out icy gusts from their hands, and green ones that were poisonous to touch. The only ones that tributes could not figure out the secret to were the brown ones. Maybe these were just normal monkeys, even if they were fairly aggressive. The 'elemental' monkeys were a right nuisance though. 8 tributes died in the bloodbath, but another 5 died by the 2nd morning either because of other tributes or because of these monkeys.

On the other hand, food was scarce, and so many of the careers found themselves lacking too. It was Ash that finally got the idea to try eating the monkeys, but she knew better than to try the elemental ones—those poisonous green monkeys were certain death.

Ash showed the Capitol what she could do with just a small hatchet, surviving well into the 6th day when there were only 5 tributes left. While Gilliam was still alive himself, his career pack had been decimated by the electric monkeys, and by a "peace offering" given to them, by a District 3 boy. He had killed and cooked one of the poisonous monkeys, and sure enough after they ate it, the pair from District 2 keeled over. Gilliam's own cautiousness had prevented him from receiving an untimely death like that, and as such he put the boy from District 3 down with a well-aimed spear.

Gideon, however, did not want to see another career victory, when the last three games had been won by someone from District 1 or District 2. As such, he kept his alliance with Ash up, and the two of them went on the prowl to try and take down Gilliam, spending the next 4 days trying to find him (during which time only one other tribute, a boy from District 9, died).

They were beaten to the punch though. While hiding in the trees, they witnessed him being attacked by some of the ice monkeys, but then saw him get picked off completely by a girl from District 4 who lodged a trident firmly in his back. Gideon wasted no time in jumping down to attack her, while Ash watched from the trees. There were only three tributes left at this point, which meant Ash's cunning was setting her up to be the victor. However, despite Gideon's alliance with her up until this point, he realized this too and didn't want to sacrifice himself. Both he and the District 4 girl stopped and threw their weapons at her so suddenly that they struck her—right in the palms…

…with the handles. Catching the axe in her left hand and the trident in her right, Ash jumped from the tree, planting the trident in the girl and the axe in the boy.

"I'm sorry, Gideon," she whispered as the two tributes took their last breaths. Ash stood alone above them, and was crowned the champion of the monkey-infested arena. Ash LosDias had become the 3rd victor from District 7, and the 29th victor of the games overall.

She managed to remain fairly normal in comparison to some of the other tributes and victors that had emerged from the traumatic and deadly Hunger Games arenas, but naturally, she was not terribly fond of monkeys after that. The bright colors of their fur were also off-putting, but luckily for her, she was from the lumber district and not the textile district, and so most of her colors were dark greens and browns instead of bright arrays of colors like District 8 had. Her cunning put her right up there with her mentor Leah in terms of respect, however, and the two became good friends.

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)
22HG: Gleam DiFronzo (#4, District 1)
23HG: Ivette Coronado (#3, District 5)
24HG: Olivia Thurman (#1, District 9)
25HG: Laurel Fox (#1, District 12)
26HG: Daron Armstrong (#5, District 2)
27HG: Cobalt Evans (#5, District 1)
28HG: Lyme Golding (#6, District 2)
29HG: Ash LosDias (#3, District 7)