AUTHOR'S NOTES: I suppose one of the interesting highlights of this chapter is that the sister of the previous year's victor is a character in these games. Unfortunately, it does not end quite as well for her. Either way... the arena was really fun to design, and so there's at least that going for us here. I can also promise that next week's chapters are going to be quite intriguing.
Happy Reading!
The 78th Annual Hunger Games
The nation of Panem was still in a frenzied uproar over the notion of how a little 12-year-old had somehow managed to not only win the Hunger Games, but also slay 10 other tributes in the process in an extremely elaborately crafted trap and scheme. It would be a year that forever lived in infamy as the greatest upset in Hunger Games history.
As such, the Gamemakers were a little frazzled during the preparation for the 78th Annual Hunger Games, with all of them wondering how they would top a game that memorable and that legendary. Perhaps they wouldn't, and would just have to acknowledge that this year might just have to live in the shadow of its predecessor. They could make an exciting arena, but if the tributes weren't as colorful as last year or any particular year, they would have trouble standing out.
Most of the tributes did seem to be rather standard fare this year, falling into archetypes that had formed over the decades based on the general behavior of 77 years of tributes: District 1 and District 2 were strong, gung-ho careers; District 3 and District 5 produced conniving tricksters that would likely excel at traps or constructed weapons and that would potentially join the careers; District 6, District 7, and District 8 producing various fighters of varied strength; District 4 producing wildcard tributes that could range from bloodbath fodder to deadly careers to anything in between; and District 11 and District 12 producing dangerous, subversive survivalists. Even District 9 and District 10 didn't exactly look like bloodbath fodder, and the boy from '10 scored fairly high in training no less.
Perhaps there wouldn't be a bloodbath at all this year. It would certainly make the 78th games memorable in some way, as to not get overshadowed by the year before. Maybe the arena would do that instead. Time would tell.
If anything, a lot of people began throwing bets towards the tributes from Districts 3, 5, and 6 once they saw the arena. Inura Ortolani from District 3 seemed particularly promising, considering that she was the older sister of victor Ikki Ortolani from the year before. Perhaps District 3 would join its comrades from '1 and '2 as a district to have back-to-back victors. The arena would play a part for better or for worse. It looked like a massive military base built in the middle of the ocean. Heavy rains and torrential waves lashed at the support columns (for the base was elevated several feet above the water) but the supports stood firm and were unlikely to collapse. It was clear, however, that if anyone fell off of any of the walkways or railings that they wouldn't be coming back—not even District 4.
Josh Mauze, the boy from District 10 who had scored rather high, began taunting and showing off on his pedestal during the countdown, only for the neighboring tribute, Ryuka Satoru from District 6, to feign throwing his boot at him. Josh flinched only for a second, and lost his footing, slipping off his podium and getting blown to smithereens. Ryuka as well as Sandria Rielley, the girl from District 2 who was on the other side of Josh's pedestal, got sprayed with some of his blood and remains, but neither of them were terribly fazed, for both of them anticipated getting rather bloody in the next few minutes anyways.
To their surprise however, there weren't any weapons in the cornucopia. The supplies were mostly just packs and sacks of food. A few of the more violent tributes tried to bludgeon other tributes with them but all it really did was make a mess of the food inside. Dwayne Cobalt, an enormous boy from District 1, did attempt to strangle the smallest tribute, 14-year-old Aspen Hinoka from District 7, but she managed to struggle out of his grasp and escape.
As a result of this mayhem, there really wasn't a bloodbath to everyone's surprise (except perhaps the Gamemakers), and so only 1 death happened that morning due to Josh Mauze's carelessness and desire for attention.
It was lucky that the arena was complex and full of winding rooms and hallways, for it needed to handle more tributes than most other years short of the 2nd Quarter Quell (where twice the usual number of tributes were reaped). 23 tributes escaped the cornucopia that morning and scattered throughout the various levels of floors of the structure they were fighting in.
Tributes discovered weapons in some of the old rooms or corridors of the arena, and further exploration proved that the arena was essentially a large rectangle. The base was about three stories high in most places, with access to the rooftop as well. Ryuka and his partner Dento got to work on building weapons of their own rather than searching for some. There was a lot of technology in some of these deserted (albeit very well-lit) corridors, and the two of them figured they could put it to some use.
They weren't the only ones with that idea though: District 5 and District 3 were on it as well, albeit in different parts of the arena.
The first 5 days were the "bloodbath" so to speak, with ten different tributes dying either from electrical malfunctions, other tributes who had discovered weapons somewhere in the base, or a couple of unfortunate wanderers from District 9 and District 7 got attacked by the pair from District 11, who had climbed underneath the walkways and support beams and ambushed the tributes as they wandered over the area.
The rain and the torrential waves below them continued to rage on day after day, but the structural integrity of the base held up without so much as a tremor, and the insides of the base were high and dry. The tributes were safe from these hazards, although they were not safe from each other. Dwayne, Sandria, and their partners recruited the pair from District 5 to join their career alliance (not leaving them much of a choice either way), and together, the six of them wiped out the tributes from Districts 3, 4, and 8, including Inura, thus crushing her dreams of one-upping her sister.
All the while, Ryuka found a vantage point near the roof of the arena, and remained hidden there as he watched face after face appear in the sky. He hid himself at the top of a flight of stairs under a metal canopy that allowed him to look out upon most of the roof, and glance down the stairs in case someone tried coming up.
On day 10 he saw Dento's face in the sky, leaving only 6 other tributes apart from himself. Using some of the metallic resources he had collected from the arena, he set up a tripod and essentially built a giant ballista-like crossbow with a rotating turret and a scope. He secretly went around and started rigging up certain hallways of the arena to try and force out some of the other tributes, and because of his efforts to try and bring some of the others together, the Capitol didn't stop him.
Ryuka used his giant crossbow like a sniper, taking out the rest of the career pack, and drawing the remainder of the tributes towards him. He ran out of bolts as another tribute came into view: Aspen. She threw her axe at his weapon, disabling it and causing the whiplash to knock Ryuka back. As he came to his senses, he glanced over and noticed that she had disappeared. However, he didn't have to worry about her attacking him, for she had triggered one of his traps on the way up to the rooftop where he had hidden and waited. Ryuka's tactics, however cheap, had ultimately paid off, for they had just made him the 6th victor from District 6, and the 78th victor of the games.
While it was not as notorious as the previous year, the 78th Hunger Games managed to become memorable for its lack of a bloodbath, and for its unique arena. Ryuka did not gain too much notoriety as a victor, and so the Capitol left him alone, where he lived peacefully in District 6, doing drugs like most of his district's citizens did, and otherwise returning to a fairly normal life. The games to him had just been business—little more.
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)
52HG: Chaff Mitchell (#5, District 11)
53HG: Brutus Gunn (#10, District 2)
54HG: Tiffany Waxler (#2, District 10)
55HG: Zak Dreggite (#4, District 4)
56HG: Zoroka Chandaki (#9, District 1)
57HG: Cecelia Sanchez (#4, District 8)
58HG: Meili Meisha (#5, District 6)
59HG: Zhin Lyautey (#6, District 3)
60HG: Lucas Drazen (#10, District 1)
61HG: Kara Petersen (#5, District 7)
62HG: Enobaria Taos (#11, District 2)
63HG: Gloss Zianja (#11, District 1)
64HG: Cashmere Zianja (#12, District 1)
65HG: Finnick Odair (#5, District 4)
66HG: Elroy Trujillo (#12, District 2)
67HG: Varric Svenja (#6, District 11)
68HG: Carver Tabris (#2, District 9)
69HG: Bethany Shanza (#8, District 5)
70HG: Annie Cresta (#6, District 4)
71HG: Johanna Mason (#6, District 7)
72HG: Immanuel Cox (#3, District 10)
73HG: Paige DeSiete (#5, District 8)
74HG: Clove Kazera (#13, District 2)
75HG: Katniss Everdeen (#3, District 12)
76HG: Johnny Stallings (#9, District 5)
77HG: Ikki Ortolani (#7, District 3)
78HG: Ryuka Satoru (#6, District 6)