AUTHOR'S NOTES: These next chapters are shorter than the last few, but not overly short. It's obviously going to be hard to top that Quarter Quell, so while the Capitol won't shoot that high, we still hope to provide an entertaining experience.
Happy Reading!

The 51st Annual Hunger Games

No one was quite sure how the Capitol planned to top a Hunger Games as thrilling as the last year's, unless they made the 48-tribute rule a permanent one instead of just a one-time rule change for the Quarter Quell. When it became clear (much to the relief of the districts) that this rule change would not in fact be permanent, the nation heaved a sigh of relief. On the other hand, it also meant that the 51st Annual Hunger Games had some rather large shoes to fill.

Indeed the wake of the Quarter Quell would be difficult to top, what with its breathtaking but deadly arena, twice the number of tributes, another upset win by a District 12 tribute, and overall intensity, but since most of the arenas were built a few years in advance, the Gamemakers had just the thing.

The career pack would not reach 13 tributes this year like it had the previous time, but there was an intriguing set of tributes that would make it to the games this year.

District 12 produced a messy pair of tributes named Lars and Nina, who oddly found favor with District 2's Gunther James and Leliana Lee. District 1's volunteers included Masey Evans, daughter of victor Cobalt Evans; as well as Zeke Vermillion, one of the more popular candidates from his district.

District 5 was another set of tributes that people had eyes on. While they didn't join the other careers despite their performances in the training center, Lynn Luxio and Derrick James went and in turn allied themselves with the District 11 pair, Hunter and Felix. With '5 and '11 going after '1, '2, and '12, the twist in this year's games had just been established as the different lines of allegiance were drawn. All of the tributes from these five districts scored between 9 and 12, although the pair from District 7 also scored 9s even if they were not part of an alliance.

As such, they were among the survivors of the bloodbath, although 7 other tributes not part of any alliance were the first victims of this year's games. The remaining tributes got to witness the grandeur and dazzling beauty of the arena around them. Some even spent a few minutes taking it in after the frenzy at the bloodbath had subsided.

The arena this year appeared to be a massive network of caves loaded with glittery stones. The cornucopia was lit by fluorescent stones and flora that gave off soft glows that were bright enough to illuminate everything, just as it had illuminated the supplies (weapons, food, medical kits; the usual standard fare) at the cornucopia. While most of the arena was bathed in darkness or dim light, many of the stones and even plants were able to be removed and used as light sources. Some of the tributes used these to throw others off their path, and Lynn and Derrick even worked to make traps out of them and lure tributes into pitfalls.

As such, the next few days were fairly silent as tributes explored the arena and rigged up traps. A few of them encountered insectoid mutts that could only really be described as 'cave crawlers', but after some of the more recent debacles tributes had gone through in earlier Hunger Games, most tributes considered it second nature to just attack anything that moved, and to slay anything non-human on sight (unless of course the 'humans' in question were those horrifying humanoid muttations tributes called "Night Witches"; those were things that needed to be slaughtered immediately).

While District 12 was more than comfortable deep in the ground, the career pack was not so accustomed to it, particularly not District 1. The masons of District 2 were a bit more used to it, but they were used to working under the sun on the surface stones, rather than in the depths mining them out.

Hunter and her partner Felix took full advantage of this while their District 5 allies were off building another of their traps. By making fake noises around certain tunnels of the cave, they managed to split the careers three ways. Felix followed the pair from District 12, while Hunter went after the pair from District 1. Of the three pairs of tributes, District 11 considered District 12 the largest threat since they knew the most about District 11's behavior and antics.

Felix overheard them discussing the odds of how well they would do if they broke away from the career alliance, while also weighing the cons of such an act. Felix couldn't speak for the rest of his clan, but he wouldn't mind having Lars and Nina as allies, considering how high they had scored.

However, their ideas changed as two cannons went off. Hunter had just lived up to her name and taken down the District 1 pair on her own. The closeness of the shots meant that it had to have been two of the career tributes, and thus Lars and Nina turned tail and ran back the way they came to rendezvous with Gunther and Leliana. Felix in turn reunited with Hunter, and then with Lynn and Derrick as they formulated their next plan of attack.

It took them a couple more days before they found any more action, and unfortunately, they found it the hard way. Someone (and they all had a shrewd idea who, given the seditious nature of these traps) had rigged up a rather elaborate trap in plain sight, and the '5/'11 alliance had walked right into it, effectively wiping all of them out except Derrick, who still sustained serious injuries from the darts, poison, and rocks that had assailed them in the last few moments. Hunter was still gasping for breath, but one look at her body told Derrick that even if he tried helping her that she would still die. Those jagged rocks sticking out of her told him those wounds were mortal, and after softly apologizing, he put her out of her misery as he crawled away. He glanced back at his dead friends peppered with darts and jagged rocks, before limping to safety and using what few supplies he had to revitalize himself.

However, his location was strategic, and so while he managed to go a full four days without being seen, he was surrounded by light traps that he and his partner Lynn had made. When the careers saw the still slightly battered tribute laying there seemingly out in the open, they rushed him. Normally they might have suspected a trap, but Derrick had positioned himself in such a way that he appeared very dazed and disorganized, and in a much worse condition than he actually was.

Luckily for him, his opponents took the bait hook, line, and sinker, triggering his trap and ending all four of their lives in a single stroke. As the final four cannons rang out, Derrick gave a satisfied smirk, knowing that his little stunt here had just made him the 7th victor from District 5, and the 51st victor of the Hunger Games overall.

While it was no Quarter Quell, the trap-laden light cave was still a memorable arena full of all sorts of devious debauchery as tributes worked to construct mechanisms and contraptions to end each other's lives. District 3 was notorious for this sort of thing, but Derrick's victory was a reminder that District 5 was not only full of wily tributes who often made good warriors, but was also full of devilishly cunning tributes that made good mechanists. He aimed to maintain that reputation as well.

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)
33HG: Seeder Howell (#3, District 11)
34HG: Price Emerson (#6, District 1)
35HG: Leto Irizari (#7, District 2)
36HG: Jackson Kjelle (#5, District 5)
37HG: Zerviah Hawke (#3, District 6)
38HG: Wiress Plummer (#4, District 3)
39HG: Nephi Lott (#3, District 4)
40HG: Miriam Luxio (#7, District 1)
41HG: Marcelina Kovac (#6, District 5)
42HG: Niles Lincoln (#8, District 2)
43HG: Blight McKay (#4, District 7)
44HG: Sagittaria Svenja (#4, District 11)
45HG: Dezna Meraxa (#4, District 6)
46HG: Alice DeSiete (#3, District 8)
47HG: Aurum Zianja (#8, District 1)
48HG: Layla Aranai (#9, District 2)
49HG: Chip Sangster (#5, District 3)
50HG: Haymitch Abernathy (#2, District 12)
51HG: Derrick James (#7, District 5)