Author's Note:

I do not own The Hunger Games.

Time for another submitter check-in question! Let's do a more complicated one this time. If you could give one player other than yours one thing in the arena, who would you choose and what would you send?

Luminita Summerfield, 17

Score reveals in The Game turned out to be considerably less fun and excitable than those in the real Hunger Games. The players remained in the waiting hall that they'd been herded to, where labelled chairs had now emerged from the floor. They were marked for the Districts they'd been sorted into, but many of the players had moved themselves around to sit with their siblings, friends, or new alliances. Luminita sat uncomfortably beside Sorcha, twisting her hands in her lap.

"So, what weapons did you choose?" Sorcha asked.

"Kni–" Luminita started.

"Sword," said Calpurnia.

"Nice pick."

"Throwing knives," added Marcellina.

Apollo spluttered with laughter. "Ooh, you like a challenge, don't you?"

"What's that meant to mean?"

"Ranged weapons are handy, but hard to master. How'd you do with it?"

Marcellina shrugged. "I think I did pretty well. What did you pick?"

"Sword," Sorcha said.

"Ditto."

"Axe."

"Trident."

"Seriously, Artemis?"

Luminita sighed as Sorcha cut into the conversation to praise the coolness of tridents. Once again, everything was all about her. And her friends.

She shouldn't be surprised.

Etheria Arquette, 17

Radiance dragged her over to join his siblings to watch the score reveal. They seemed to be friendly with another group of girls, and were chatting excitedly as the last of the players took their seats.

"And now that we're all finished with the Private Sessions, we can begin revealing the scores!" came a computerised voice from… somewhere.

"First up, Magnus Calix! Score of… eleven!"

Beside her, Radiance's breath caught.

"What?" muttered his sister.

"The fuck?" muttered his sister.

"Is that good?" Etheria asked. In the real Hunger Games it would be, but she wasn't sure about here in The Game. Surely there had been occasions of players scoring high?

"Andreas Amandiel," said the voice. "Score of eight."

"That's… the highest I've ever known," Radiance replied.

"No one scores higher than ten," said his brother – Luminescence, she reminded herself.

"Harmony Tyrell. Score of eleven."

Radiance slammed his hands down on his chair. "Alright, what the fuck?"

"Araminta Capricorn. Score of six."

"I… isn't it more likely that they just have practice?"

"We have practice!" Radiance snapped.

"And my highest score is a nine!" Iridescence added.

"Thorin Marcoussis. Score of eleven."

Luminescence flung his hands up. "What the fuck is happening?"

Emeria Delilah Echavoque, 15

"Octavia Lyric. Score of eleven," said the announcer.

Silverie squeezed Emeria's hand. "How are they scoring so high?"

"I don't know."

Could they compete with that? Could anyone compete with that? Maybe it was because it was a quell, someone had adjusted the system to relax the scoring?

"Ares Gilmore. Score of eight."

They'd have to see their scores. If they were higher than a nine, that theory might be true.

Emeria held Silverie's hand as the names and numbers continued to scroll down the screen. No one scored higher than the kids sorted into One and Two with elevens. No one had even got close. Not that Emeria was surprised. Had she ever known anyone score that high in The Game? Her highest score had been a nine! How had these newbies ended up with elevens? It wasn't fair!

"Sorted into District Seven," boomed the announcer. "Zephyr Almon. Score of six. Bastion Prime. Score of seven."

At least all the scores after the kids in District Two seemed to be normal. Maybe a little higher than average, but that just meant they'd got a decent group of players together. But four elevens?

"Angelica Pierce. Score of six."

"Me next," Silverie whispered.

Emeria squeezed her hand. "You'll do fine."

"Silverie Erilea Amarendaje. Score of seven."

Okay. Reasonable. Higher would have pushed them into the next bracket up for sponsor points, but seven was decent.

"Good job!" Emeria cheered.

Silverie grinned. "I've definitely got better at this."

Emeria laughed. Their score during their first playthrough had been a four.

"Cyan Romeo. Score of seven."

"I'm wondering if they've loosened the scoring levels. You know, for the special."

Silverie frowned. "I guess that would make sense."

Emeria turned back to the screen as the kids sorted into District Nine appeared on the screen. Damn, some of this really was so tedious.

Maximillian Marcus Badondé, 18

An eight. Which wasn't bad, but he'd have liked higher. He'd outscored those damn girls that dragged him here though, which had to be something.

Maximillian watched the rest of the scores as they rolled past. After the kids early in the list that had scored high, he was actually one of the high scorers. There were a couple of kids with nines, but almost all the others were under him. His skill at archery had earned him something.

Maybe this so-called Hunger Games simulation would be easier than he thought.

"Players, please prepare for transport to Interview Preparation in thirty seconds," boomed the announcer.

Maximillian turned to glance at the kids sorted into One and Two with the high scores. They were among the oldest, like him, and seemed to all be allied together. Because of course they were.

A shimmering countdown appeared in front of his eyes, ticking down from fifteen.

"How did you four score so high?" shouted a boy with neon blue hair.

"Yeah, what is this?" demanded a girl.

One of the girls gave him a dazzling grin. "Not my fault you can't cut it."

"You–" shouted a boy, and the transportation kicked in, cutting the argument apart.