The land the foursome passed through was very beautiful, but Rue didn't seem to notice it. She kept looking across the surrounding area, particularly at the woods that overlooked the river they were following. Finally, Ash asked, "What are you looking for?"
Rue jumped, as if she had forgotten that the trio were still with her. "Just... other tributes.", she said, nervously.
The trio gave each other strange looks. "Tributes?", said Brock. "Like... what you give gods as offerings?"
Rue gave them another look that plainly said that she was trying to figure out if they were being stupid on purpose. "Never mind.", she finally said, and continued along the makeshift trail.
They walked in total silence for a while, before Misty leaned over and whispered in Ash's ear. "I don't see any Pokemon around here, do you?"
Ash blinked. Now that Misty mentioned it, Ash hadn't seen a single wild Pokemon at all. He looked to Rue. "Hey, aren't there any Pokemon in these woods?"
Rue gave him another strange look. "What... what's a Pokemon?"
Ash blinked. "Um, you know... Pokemon?" Another blank stare. Ash pointed at Pikachu on his shoulder. "Like Pikachu, here."
"Pikachu...", said Pikachu, who also had a confused look on his face.
Rue gave a quick glance at Pikachu, then muttered, "I thought that was one of the Capitol's mutts."
As they continued walking, Ash heard Misty whisper, "Mutt?", to Brock, who merely shrugged in confusion.
They continued walking, Rue taking the lead. She occasionally shot back nervous glances at them, but otherwise kept to herself. Finally, Ash could take it no more. He was about to ask Rue every question he could think: where they were, how did she not know what a Pokemon was, and what were the hunger games and this capitol.
However, before he could ask these rather important questions, Rue suddenly dived under a bush. Ash, Misty, and Brock all blinked once, nonplussed. Rue motioned for them to duck under the bush as well. "C'mon!", she said, urgently. "Just... do as I do!"
The trio gave each other odd glances, then kneeled under the bush as well. "So, why are we hiding?", asked Brock, somewhat nervous.
"Shh!", said Rue. "Listen!"
As the group quieted it down, Ash started to hear something. The sounds of laughter and goofing off that can only come from teenagers. "Are there more kids here in this... arena?", asked Misty.
"Yeah, there are.", said Rue, somewhat distractedly. She then emerged from behind the bush, and began walking in a crouch towards a nearby ridge. The trio glanced at each other, then followed her, mimicking her movements. They came to the ridge where Rue was currently peeking over.
On the other side of the ridge were three athletic teenagers splashing about in the water. They seemed to be trying to catch some fish, as the big, burly male of the group managed to catch one, only for it to slip out of his fingers. Another thing: they were all carrying wicked looking weapons, mostly knives.
For some reason, Ash felt incredible unease just at the sight of them. "Who are they?", said Ash. "Friends of yours?"
"Hardly.", snorted the girl. "Those are the... career tributes." She didn't elaborate further, further confusing the trio.
Brock tilted his head at a far-less athletic tribute seated on the shoreline, watching the tougher ones fish. "Is he one of them?", said Brock.
Rue narrowed her eyes in puzzlement at the boy. "No. I thought he was from District Three; not one of the career districts."
"Look, can you just explain what the heck is going on around here?", said Ash, really exasperated at this point.
"Yeah, and why do you look so nervous about these guys?", said Misty.
Rue, once again, didn't give a straight answer. "There's only three of them; where's the fourth?", she said to herself, looking intently at the group.
Ash rolled his eyes, finally giving up, and turned around to see a wickedly sharp spear pointed at his face. The spear was being held by a handsome, but tough-looking, boy.
"Hey, District Eleven.", said the boy casually. Rue started, and looked back in fear at the boy. "I see you've made some new friends.", continued the boy. Despite his casual voice, Ash could tell the boy was somewhat confused by Ash, Misty, and Brock's presence.
The boy jerked his spear towards the farther away group. Taking the message, Ash, Misty, and Brock stood up and began walking towards the group, their hands in the air. Rue didn't hold her hands up, just looked resigned about something.
"Look what I found, Cato!", said the boy, as they had gotten closer to the group. The big, burly guy looked over, saw Rue, and smiled a deadly grin. "Finally!", he said. "I thought we'd never find your scrawny, little ass."
"Language.", said Ash, without thinking. The whole group looked at him; Ash felt like kicking himself, he sounded so much like his mother just then.
Cato's eyes went wide at the sight of the trio. "Who are these guys?", he said in bewilderment.
The boy who had captured them shrugged in response. Cato moved towards the trio, eyes taking them in one by one. "Did the gamemasters send you in here? To fuck with us!", he finally said.
Ash gulped. He had no idea what was going to happen next, but he was sure they weren't going to like it.
He was right.
Cato motioned distractedly at Rue. "Slit her throat. Leave her here, and we'll take these three with us back to the Cornucopia. We'll get to the bottom of this, one way or another." He fingered the sword at his belt threateningly.
As one of the girl Career Tributes moved towards Rue, the trio went into a state of shock. "K-kill her?", said Misty. "What do you mean kill her?"
"Shut her... them up.", commanded Cato. The blonde, prettier career tribute female covered Misty's mouth roughly. The other boy did the same to Ash, while the District Three kid tried to hold on to Brock.
The girl holding Rue flicked out a small knife from inside her sleeve, and held it up high. Ash's eyes widened in horror, as the knife went down.
It was a somewhat good thing that right then and there, the world exploded...