Hello again everyone! It's been a little bit since the last update, but I'm super excited to bring this one to you guys! This chapter will be shorter, since it's the launch, so I just want to make sure that I informed you guys. I hope you enjoy!

"Have they all arrived yet?"

"Yes ma'am. We're just doing a final check before we start loading the hovercraft."

"Good." Levana nodded, "We need to make sure that we're on schedule for everything, and so far, we are."

"Of course, ma'am."

The intern that Levana had been talking to strode off quickly, heading to her next designated job. Now Levana could finish up the other items on her checklist for the launch before she settled in to watch the chaos and carnage that would come from the Bloodbath. She was looking forward to it. The more tributes killed and entertainment caused would mean more money in her pocket and an increase in her already spotless reputation. It was her goal for the year to make the president and the Capitol as happy with her as possible.

Beeping in front of her, the large screen at the front of the room flashed up a new feed of live footage. Currently, it showed the tributes boarding the hovercraft that would take them to the arena that they'd spent a majority of their time in the Capitol preparing for. The flight would be around forty minutes, and Levana would be watching all 2,400 seconds of it. They would receive their trackers after they strapped in, so the screen directly to the right of the one that she was currently looking at already had the window for tracker statuses loaded up onto it.

Levana spent the next few minutes watching the tributes file into the hovercraft and strapping into their seats, then she turned and made her way back to her desk at the top of the staggered room. Momentarily, she would see the trackers being injected, then she would give the green light to the pilot for takeoff. Ah, yes. The final pre-takeoff process was beginning and it would be over quickly.

Once the syringes had been disposed of and the guards strapped into their places in the craft, Levana picked up her holopad and sent off her approval. Now, it was only around an hour until the Games would begin.

"Hera, may I quickly see the results of the poll?" she asked the woman a few desks over. This year, Levana had added a new way for the Capitolites to interact with their favorite tributes, and best of all, it was free. They'd voted for their favorite half of the tributes in order to have some weight on a few things in the arena. It was nothing too important, but it could end up being the difference between more important things in the coming days.

The woman in question brought another holopad over to her with the results loaded on the screen. Taking a look at it, Levana didn't really have any qualms about how the votes had ended up, so she handed the tablet back and thanked her coworker.

Taking another quick look at her own holopad, Levana didn't see any other major things that she had left. It was time to take a seat and let everyone else do the things that they did best, she guessed. The arena outfits had already been sent to launch rooms at the arena, and Levana herself had double checked them to make sure that they were correct and of the same quality before approving them. The seamstress had done excellent, as usual, and Levana was going to recommend her for a bonus after the conclusion of the Games.

This was going to be the best moment of her Career (so far), and Levana was truly looking forward to it. She was going to solidify the president's confidence in awarding her the position of Head Gamemaker, and she was going to show the entire nation that she was here to stay in the position.

The hovercraft landed with a thud and the tributes all looked up at one another with the realization that they'd all be thrust into the arena to survive in less than half an hour. They were taken to their launch rooms one by one, starting with Goldena and ending about five minutes later with Agri. Once they reached their designated launch rooms and met back up with their stylists, they would change from their simple gray travel clothes to the outfits that they would be sent into the arena in.

Half of the tributes would be dressed in a light, airy, and angelic white fabric and the other half would be dressed in a more heavy, coarse, burnished red fabric. Which half they were a part of depended all on their placement in the poll that had gone up for the Capitolites to vote in right after the interviews. In addition to this, they would be given a chain with a key on it that matched the color of their outfit.

They would be given fifteen minutes with their stylists to get ready, then it would be time to load into the tubes and to launch into the arena. Some of them were dreading this moment, and some of them couldn't wait.

The Careers, of course, were very eager to get into the thick of things, along with Georgette. Some really weren't too eager, but they weren't exactly dreading it either, i.e. Naymena and Val. And then there were a good majority of the remaining tributes who were wishing that fate could have pushed them in any other direction than this.

In those fifteen minutes before they would be sealed in their launch tubes, the Ones, Goneril, the Threes, the Fours, Taraji, Milo, and the Sevens would don the lighter, white uniform and Ruga, Zain, Anne, the Eights, the Nines, the Tens, and the Elevens would be the ones to dress in those heavier, rust colored outfits. The keys matching their outfits would be placed around their necks and some would be wished well by the stylists, while others would just be ignored and left to deal with their own thoughts in the silence of the gray and white rooms.

It would only take who knows how many days to learn who would emerge victorious over the other twenty-one tributes, and the Capitol was just buzzing as the live countdown began once all of the tributes were in their tubes and rising. When they reached the top of the tunnels, the minute long countdown would begin, and they would all be wished a final "may the odds be ever in your favor."

We're finally here guys. I cannot stress enough how much each and every one of these tributes means to me, and I really hate to have to let twenty-one of them go. Unfortunately, that's just how this type of story works. Just please know that if your tribute(s) die(s) I don't have anything against you or them, I just thought that it was the most fitting situation for them in the story. I'm hoping to have the Bloodbath released within a week of this chapter, but we might just have to wait and see. Also, I'm going to add the poll results down below so that it's easier for people to read (in District order, not actually the order of votes). Thank you guys so much for reading and I'll see you in the next one!

What do you guys think that the arena could be?

Top Half:

Goldena, Sublime, Goneril, Reverie, Zeno, Naymena, Kasai, Taraji, Milo, Val, Vince

Bottom Half:

Ruga, Zain, Anne, Georgette, Billy, Natalia, Elias, Kassi, Oscar, Indigo, Agri