AUTHOR'S NOTES: We're still in the middle of that string of "Catching Fire" victors. Most of the games from here to at least around 50, are either canon characters we met in the 2nd and/or 3rd books, or are old victors that I've references in some of my other stories, such as the 91st, 92nd, or 93rd Hunger Games. That said, things might slow down during the holidays, but that's normal. I'm still scheduled to finish this story.
Happy Reading!

The 32nd Annual Hunger Games

After so many years of Hunger Games, the Capitol Gamemakers felt confident that they knew their way around making a thrilling arena to the point where they were no longer too concerned about producing a game that would be too boring or uninteresting. Of course, there was one consistent variable each year: the tributes that were taken to the arena. While they could almost always get volunteers from districts 1 and 2, and often get volunteers from '4, '3, and even '5, the tributes from the outer districts were always much less willing. Some years they felt like the tributes from the farthest and most rebellious districts like '11 and '12 were just saboteurs more than anything.

For the 32nd Annual Hunger Games, they actually looked formidable. District 12 produced Calder Liao and Viridi Kuro, a pair that both scored 9s in training, while District 11 produced Mario Deal and Azura Caroso, both of whom scored 9s. The career pack all scored around the same, with their only other competition being from District 5, where Jack Sanders scored a 9 and Fletch Crossley scored an 11. Both of them were recruited into that year's career pack, which caused an unusual reaction among the tributes from Districts 3 and 4. Instead of staying neutral like they often did when not recruited into the careers, they formed a faction with the tributes from '11 and '12.

The arena was eye candy to an extreme. Similar to the cave from a decade or so ago, this year's arena was dark and bioluminescent, except that instead of the cave, this was a jungle. Blues, greens, purples, and blacks surrounded them, which meant that it was not likely to ever become "morning" again. The cornucopia was surrounded by a canopy of glowing plants, brightly illuminating the weapons and supplies that lay within.

Despite the two large groups of tributes forming factions that year, Jack and the tributes from district 4 died in the bloodbath along with 7 others, bringing the bloodbath death toll up to 10 this year. Two nights later, this count was up to 16. Calder and Viridi had discovered how to taint the water, and so they poisoned the entire career pack apart from Fletch and the boy from District 2. In retaliation Fletch managed to electrocute Calder, also separating Viridi from Mario and Azura. She had quickly learned that the bioluminescence in some of the plants was not real, and that they were charged with electricity. As an electrician from District 5 herself, Fletch knew that this was her arena.

Despite these claims, Viridi was not to be fazed, even after the remaining two careers gave her last two allies a grizzly ending. The survivalist in her kept her hidden as Fletch rampaged through the arena. She managed to catch Fletch's District 2 friend off guard and kill him, which sent Fletch into something of a frenzy. The ensuing battle wound up costing Viridi her right arm, which proved to be a mistake. Since the tributes' trackers were located in their right arms, and Viridi's arm from the elbow down was now disconnected from her body, the tracker registered her as being dead. Since she knew how to conceal herself so well, the Capitol was unable to find her. They went on a body hunt, but fired the cannon anyways.

Night 7 saw Viridi's face in the sky, which caused the one-armed District 12 girl to laugh. She had managed to bind her old wound to prevent it from bleeding out, but she knew that she was out of commission at least for a couple days until she could numb the pain. She did actually get some medicine as a sponsor gift for outsmarting the Capitol, and Laurel actually even left her a note stealthily insulting them, reminding Viridi that rebellion was still alive and well out in District 12.

It wasn't until day 10 and only three tributes were left that the Capitol realized their mistake after catching Viridi wandering through the jungle. They couldn't just accidentally kill her, because it seemed that everyone else knew she was alive and she had many adoring fans at this point. On the other hand, they had to fairly let the other tributes know that she was still alive.

"Attention tributes—a few days ago we made the mistake of announcing the death of Viridi Kuro of District 12. It has recently come to our attention that she is in fact still alive in the arena. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Viridi was a bit miffed that they had given away one of her best-kept secrets, but even though they had spotted her, that didn't mean they could find her again. Initially, they started destroying parts of the arena through hazards to try and draw Viridi out and tried to motivate Fletch, the last remaining tribute, to find her (simply to let them fight to the death, rather than to try and force Fletch's hand), but had limited success. District 12 figured that despite their last tribute missing an arm, that they might have stood a chance this year.

Viridi knew that she would get cut down in single combat, and so she began working on sabotage, and on rigging up the arena in various ways to try and trap the District 5 girl. It came down to whoever caught the other first. If Fletch caught Viridi in combat, she would emerge the victor. If Viridi's traps caught Fletch, there was no doubt that she would win.

It took Fletch 5 days from the announcement for her to finally root out Viridi, where despite the difficulties the one-armed girl had given her, Fletch made it quick and ended it immediately. The gripping finale of the games had come and gone, rendering Fletch the 4th victor from District 5, and the 32nd victor of the Hunger Games overall.

Like many from District 5, Fletch returned to her old cunning ways, and helping to establish District 5 as a viable threat in terms of producing victors of the games. Rich but not careers, the intellectual whizzes that emerged from the district continued to play a formidable role in the games—much like the wily tributes from the outer districts or the clever tributes from '4 or '3. As such, the games went on. Still, there was talk buzzing around about Viridi from the 32nd hunger Games. If she could lose her tracker, perhaps there were other ways around that system too…

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)
30HG: Challis Worth (#2, District 8)
31HG: Beetee Latier (#3, District 3)
32HG: Fletch Crossley (#4, District 5)