AUTHOR'S NOTES: Another short-ish chapter as we kick off some of the faster, wilder Hunger Games out there. Obviously there are no more "canon" victors at this point, but those who have read my other fics might be pleased to know that the next two chapters are going to reveal the horrors that Katsuo and Kaede saw, which was why Clove remained the mentor of District 2 for so long. Similarly, just a reminder that the next chapter will be posted on Saturday instead of Friday, but that otherwise the update schedule will be normal (and next week it will be on Friday again). Also coming up are Vigo's games, parts of which he hinted at in my 91st Hunger Games fic.
But that's enough self-promotion for one night. Happy Reading!

The 80th Annual Hunger Games

While it was not unheard of for an arena and its schematics to be puzzlingly complex and sometimes downright difficult for the tributes involved to figure out, the Capitol Gamemakers also knew how to make certain things simple or complex; easy or difficult. Decades of tricks from past games to draw from coupled with devious new Gamemakers with fresh minds and ideas meant that even if they went with something simple this year that it would still be deadly.

Such was the nature of the 80th Annual Hunger Games. The volunteers from District 1 and District 2 seemed fairly standard fare, but by this point a "standard fare" career tribute almost always scored a 10, 11, or 12. District 1's Zihark and Shijin both scored 10s, while District 2's Soren scored a 12. His partner, Kai, scored an 11. It was clear that they would be formidable opponents this year.

On the other side of the spectrum, District 11 was fixing to do the same. The boy, Naseru Vel, scored a 10 by proving his skill with a sword; while his partner Zenzi Tallarico scored an 11 after proving that she was as potent with an axe as most of the usual kids from District 7 were. Surprisingly, they were joined by Lars and Nina from District 12, whose scores of 9 were not shabby at all either. Katniss' victory a few years earlier had marked a changing trend in the behavior of District 12 citizens, and, while they had always had a proud, rebellious streak in them, it was not more prominent, even if they kept it subtle. The four of them hoped that their strength as well as cunning and sabotage skills would keep them safe from dying in the arena's bloodbath, and maybe even help them take out one or more of the career tributes. Time would tell.

10 tributes were slain the ensuing bloodbath, and the types and amounts of supplies at the cornucopia hinted that there would not be much in the ways of camping out there. There were weapons, but almost no actual food, water, or other edibles. As such, the careers took what they needed (and wanted) before heading out into the surrounding stony wilderness to scope out the arena.

The arena was full of a consistent humming and soft grinding noise, as if someone was pushing large stones around. It was daunting enough that there were high walls of solid stone in every direction, but it also caught them off guard as one passageway got closed off by a moving wall of stone, while another one opened. They were in what appeared to be a concrete maze.

It might not even have been a maze at all. Even if the walls did move, there didn't seem to be any dead-ends, meaning that it was actually more similar to a maze out of Pac-Man than anything. There were packages of food (and some natural resources) at various intersections of the ever-changing maze, and a few corridors filled with fresh water at various intervals. The hard part would be finding other tributes, although almost all of them were certain that the Gamemakers would provide enough hazards along the way to prevent things from getting too boring.

Ultimately despite being thrown into the maze without any supplies like they were used to, the career pack ended up taking the offensive, chasing down Lars, Nina, Naseru, and Zenzi. The four split up, although the paths that the former three took ended up leading them back together, where they turned to confront the careers. The ensuing battle killed Kai and Soren, injuring Zihark and Shijin, and eliminating three of the four members of the outlying alliance. District 1's biggest threat at this point was Zenzi, somewhere else in the maze.

There were no mutts in the maze, but there did appear to be some form of monsters: humanoid creatures with glowing red eyes, grey-brown skin, and ashen black hair that wielded weapons with deadly proficiency. These humanoid mutts had appeared a few times in earlier games, and nowadays, most of the tributes simply knew or referred to them as "Night Witches".

Ultimately, these creatures would spell the beginning of the end for the District 1 duo, as well as heralding the ending of the 80th games. In one of the far corners of the maze, Zenzi managed to use a bottle of honey she had found to calm these savage beasts. They seemed to be sedated by the sweet amber liquid, and almost seemed docile, even. While neither she nor any of the other tributes realized it, the creatures were based off of some of the earliest victors at a younger age. How the Capitol was able to re-create them was not something many people wanted to know the answer to. Whatever the case, Zenzi decided not to take chances trying to order those things around, and so wandered through the maze, hoping to find the careers, and any other tributes.

Three more cannons over the next few days meant that by day 10, she, Zihark, and Shijin were the only tributes that remained. The Night Witches were nowhere to be found, but luckily for Zenzi, her mentor had realized the usefulness of the honey, and had managed to convince another sponsor to drop her a bottle of it.
This was Zenzi's saving grace in the final confrontation. Throwing the honey at the Night Witches, they did not attack Zenzi, but forced Zihark and Shijin into the defensive as Zenzi went in there with her hatchets a-blazin', and within a few bloodsoaked minutes, they were dead, two cannons fired, and the Night Witches disappeared (as to not attack the final tribute). Zenzi had just become the 7th victor from District 11, and the 80th victor of the Hunger Games.

Her games had been swift and simple: a stone maze with shifting walls, with food in plain sight, and monsters that resembled other people. This simplistic, minimalistic formula was all the Capitol needed to keep an intriguing game. Zenzi enjoyed her victor-dom fairly well, all things considering. For a while she was shaky around people, but she warmed back up to the people of District 11, and lived a fairly happy life after 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)
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)
79HG: Nailah Zoraki (#13, District 1)
80HG: Zenzi Tallarico (#7, District 11)