Chapter Six (District 6 v District 13)
Training and Private Session
Crystaler Monts, 17
District 6, 5th Male
On the day after the dreadful parade (seriously, our stylist thought bus costumes was a good idea. What the hell?), I woke up to Werntius knocking on my door, calling me to breakfast. I got up, stretched, and headed out to go down for breakfast. On the elevator, I ran into Kentucky and Lexi, who were deep in conversation. As the doors opened, I overheard the words "take out the Careers" before Kentucky stopped talking abruptly. I walked onto the elevator, and the doors closed behind me. The elevator started moving. When we got down to the ground floor, I stopped the girls leaving the elevator.
"Can I quickly talk to you both?" I asked. They looked at each other nervously. "I heard you talk about taking out the Careers. I am guessing you are trying to form an anti-career alliance, yes?"
"Yeah, we are," relented Kentucky. "It is just me and Lexi right now."
"Do you want in?" I said. "Me, Chelsea, Axelle and Ariel already made an Anti-Career alliance on the train. Do you two want to join?"
"Why should we trust you?" asked Lexi. We all three had walked out of the elevator by now, and were standing off to the side.
"Because you need more than two people to have a good Anti-Career alliance. I can use knives and I know how to purify water. I lived on the streets for three years." The girls looked at each other, before Kentucky turned to me and nodded. "We will join," she said. "But be quiet about it. We want it to be a surprise in the Bloodbath. Try to get around an eleven to fourteen as your score." I nodded. We had already made that plan. The elevator opened again, and Buster, Saturn, Holly, Jacobi and Kieth walked out. They looked at us, and me and Lexi shrunk back a little. Saturn smirked.
"See you in training bitches," said Jacobi, laughing. "Kentucky, how about you come with us? You should have good skills."
"Maybe. Let me see how good you lot are first, and then I might join you," she said back. Holly made to speak, but Saturn stopped her. "Leave her be Holly. She will see we are the best soon enough." Other tributes were coming out of the elevator by now, so the Careers moved on and we followed.
After breakfast, we left the District Six building, and got into a line of cars, that drove us the five-minute journey to the tribute building. When we got there, I saw that the District Thirteen tributes were already there. We all got out of our cars, and walked into the building. There was a set of ten Peacekeepers there to lead us into the training room. When we entered, we saw the Head Trainer standing in the middle. She called us all over and began her speech, that I could tell she had rehearsed so often, that it was almost void of emotion.
"Hello tributes. My name is Hydra Moscona. I am you Head Trainer. You have three days here, instead of the usual five. As you can see, due to the fact that the bottom four floors are not being used, the training room has been extended up to account for the endurance test and high rope course. We have also made the room longer and wider, back to how it was one-hundred years ago, when two-hundred-and-eighty-eight tributes were here. This is due to the number of tributes and number of Games there will be. Over the next three days, you will need to pay attention to everything me and the other trainers say, as in two weeks, seventy-two of you will be dead, all from the hands of others. Now, some of you may disregard the survival stations, as you may not view it as important due to how none of you will die from dehydration or mutts. But I would still recommend that you pay attention to them. The Gamemakers can just send someone over to kill you if you have passed out from dehydration, infection or a bad injury, so knowing how to purify water, identify edible bugs and plants and how to dress a wound may still be the key to your survival. In between the end of this Games and the start of Round Two, your injuries will be healed. There are two compulsory exercises: the endurance test and the gauntlet. Other than that, it is up to you what you learn. If I could offer some of advice, do not ignore the survival station, as I have explained, and if you do not know how to use any weapon, try to learn how to use a knife, as it is extremely versatile. You may begin."
I saw the Career Pack form. As I thought, Buster, Saturn, Holly, Kieth, Jacobi, David, Queenie and Nuclear were all Careers, but Cylinder, Izzy, Julia and Polly had joined them, bringing the total number of Careers to twelve. They moved over to the weapons area. I saw them pick up a whole different range of weapons, and start using them as if they were an extension of their own arms. Kentucky grabbed my shoulder, and lead me over to the corner where the endurance test is, where Lexi was already waiting. When I got there, I waved for Ariel, Chelsea and Axelle to join us. It was made up of a long set of monkey bars, about ten meters. Then, there was a series of winding tunnels that you had to crawl through, totalling twenty meters. These tunnels went up, down, left, right and changed size as well. After the tunnels, there was a running track that went outside, and was one kilometre long. Finally a rock-climbing wall, that was fifty meters tall. Chelsea, Ariel, Axelle, Kentucky, Lexi and I were together.
"Who wants to go first?" asked the trainer. Lexi held her hand up. "OK. You have thirty minutes to do this. You cannot stop moving, apart from in the tunnels, when you come to a split, or you will have two minutes added onto you time and also have one point knocked off your training score. For the first time, the person who has the fastest speed will get an extra one point onto their training score. So, you could get a twenty-five if you are perfect. Three, two, one, GO!" Lexi jumped, and grabbed onto the first bar. She swung quickly from bar to bar, and made it to the end, as I started.
The monkey bars were annoying. I had never been the best at holding my own body weight, and this was doing that and swinging across ten meters. It took me a little longer than Lexi, around five and a half minutes. I dived into the tunnel, and started crawling. These were awkward. There were several moments where I slowed down, but kept moving. I ended up taking a wrong and coming out a little above the ground. I managed to turn myself around, and lower myself down slightly, before dropping to the floor. The tunnels took me ten minutes and six seconds of crawling in total. Now the run. I was good at running, having the District record. I sped off, and completed the one kilometre run in six minutes and two seconds. Finally, there was the rock-climbing wall. I saw Lexi at the top, waiting for the rest of us. The climbing was difficult at first, but got easier quickly. It took me seven minutes and three seconds to complete the rock wall.
I managed to finish the entire course in twenty-eight minutes and forty-one seconds. This was about twenty seconds slower than Lexi. Me and her sat down, and watched as Ariel, Kentucky, Axelle and Chelsea completed it in that order, with Fission and Remus from Thirteen doing it as well. Chelsea managed to get the fastest out of us, at twenty-five minutes and eleven seconds. After that, we had a quick drink, before going to the weapons. Here, a group of tributes from District Thirteen came up to us. Fission, Ximop, Remus, Terra, Philip and Hadrian introduced themselves.
"Are you lots open to an alliance with us," asked Ximop. I looked at Kentucky and raised my eyebrow.
"Kentucky here is in charge. She is the best out of us." I said. I had already told this to Chelsea, Ariel and Axelle.
"Depends on what you can offer and what my allies say. Also, we are hoping to keep our skills quiet, aiming to get a middling score." Kentucky replied.
"Well we want to have an anti-Career alliance. Remus, Terra and I all attended the Academy in Thirteen, and Fission, Philip and Hadrian are all miners and are strong." Said Ximop.
"OK," said Kentucky, before turning to the rest of us. "What do you five think. I am ready for it. It looks like the Careers will be eleven strong, while it is only us six."
"Well I am all for it," I said. "It is not like only one of us can win this Games. By the time it come to Round Two, we may have more allies. It is a good idea to have a large crowd right now. Offers more protection and increases our chances of getting to the next round."
Axelle, Lexi and Ariel agreed with me, while Chealsea was the only one not up for accepting the tributes from Thirteen, however she admitted defeat as she was outvoted, and our alliance grew from six to twelve.
We all picked our various weapons, and got ready to show how well we knew them. I picked up my daggers. Kentucky, Fission, Ximop and Hadrian all took swords. Chelsea and Lexi both had a spear. Ariel had a bow, while Axelle had a crossbow. Remus and Terra both had throwing knives, and Philip had a spear in one hand, and a katana in the other. We trained as a group for another hour, fighting against holograms, trainers and each other. It was hard work, but we got to watch the Careers fail to beat Chelsea's time on the endurance test, which amused me and pissed them all off, until Izzy, who was last to go, managed it.
After that training, it was time for lunch. We all headed into the lunchroom, and everyone sat down at a table. The Careers sat together, as did a group of girls and a group of boys. My allies and I also sat as a group, and started talking strategy. For some weird reason, the escorts, who were overseeing us here, decided to call us up one-by-one in alphabetical order of our surname. So Holly Abe was first, and Fission Wretilp was the last. I went Sixty-Seventh. By the time I had got my food, Holly was finished. When Fission was eating, most of the tributes, were staring at him, all willing him to hurry up. Even I was hoping he would be quicker, as I wanted to go back to train. Eventually, he had finished, and people started rushing back into the training room. I followed, and the me and my allies headed over to the Gauntlet.
Colma Klasson, 17
District 6, 15th female
I had spent the morning of the first day of training talking with a few of the other girls. By the time lunch was over, we had agreed to an alliance. It was me, Severa, Madeline, Mandria and Azalea from Six with Celestina, Waverley and Sophia from Thirteen. We had spent the morning at the Gauntlet. It was hard, jumping from platform to platform, avoiding attacks from the trainers and each other, but I knew that it would probably help me in the future.
We had all decided to go to survival training now. I headed over to the fire-starting station along with Celestina. We knelt down and listened as the trainer as he explained how to light a fire with different tools, including matches, a lighter, wood or glass and the sun. I spent a while there. The matches were quite easy to use, as I had been using them for a while. The lighter was also easy, as it was so simple. The wood was tough. It took a long time. I started by just rubbing two sticks against each other. The trainer started showing me how to do it properly. After that, it only took me ten more minutes to be able to do it properly and get a flame. The glass was a interesting one to use. You had to be careful, and aim in a specific angle to catch the light in the correct way and angling it to hit the flammable material in the correct way. It was actually easier than the wood for me. Celestina found the wood quite easy, and the glass quite tough. We both managed to get all four in the end. After that, Celestina and I moved onto the edible plants and bugs station. The rest of the pairs in my alliance, (Severa and Sophia, Madelina and Azalea, Mandria and Waverley) also moved to their next station, with Severa and Sophia going to shelter building, Madelina and Azaela moving to water purification and snares and Mandria and Waverley going to fire starting. We had all agreed that every ninety minutes we would rotate who is at which station.
At the edible plants and bugs station it was a giant screen with over a hundred plants and over one hundred bugs. There were seventy-five edible plants, and seventy-five edible bugs. There were cards with the edible ones one, and you had ten minutes to look through them before taking a test on the screen, where all the options were shuffled around the screen, and then you had to tap on all the edible answers. On my first go, I fail catastrophically, only getting seventy-two out of one hundred and fifty. Celestina on the other hand got only twelve wrong. My next turn was not much better, as I scored eighty-nine. However, my third go was really good, where I got one hundred and forty-seven. Just three wrong. I watched Celestina do her second and third try. She scored one hundred and forty on her second, and a perfect one hundred and fifty on her third.
We headed to our next station, which was shelter building. Here, we had a collection of different materials, from branches to metal sheets and plastic tarps. There were also different small setups in the station, for building a shelter in a city, a forest, a desert and other places. I started by learning how to build a shelter in a forest out of branches, as it was the easiest by far. I got quite good at it quickly, and moved on to a harder set up. The second time, I was building a shelter out of bedding in a bedroom of a castle. This was tougher than I thought it would be at first, as the pillows were not very solid, and kept on collapsing, causing the quilt ceiling to fall. Eventually, I managed to do it. I used some items from the bedroom, namely a lamp, some books and a footstool to keep the roof more stable, and used the pillows as padding on the walls. I had time to do a third one, so I did. This time, it was a desert. This was easily the hardest out of the three I did. All I had were some rocks, a cloth the size of a blanket and cacti that were around. This one was the hardest of the lot. Even after trying for an hour, I could not manage to build a suitable shelter.
Finally, me and Celestina moved to water purification and snare setting, as they were right next to each other. I started on the water purification/ I was shown the three ways of doing it. The first way was to use sunlight to heat up the water, pass it to a second container, which left (mostly) drinkable water. This one was slightly flawed, as it would not always get rid of everything, but it would still work very well. If you did not have a fire, or any iodine, then this would be your best bet in getting drinkable water. The second way was by boiling the water over a fire, then having the steam condense on a sheet, before transferring into a second container. This ended up taking longer to get started, but after it started it went quickly. The perk of this method was warmth, as the fire would keep you nice and warm, and it could be done at night. However, you still had to be careful with it, as people could still see the light of the fire. The third and final way was with iodine tablets. This was the quickest and easiest way to purify water. All you had to do was add one iodine tablet for each bottle of water, and wait half an hour. It was good to know this, but as the trainer had pointed out, most water in Arenas was drinkable, ever since the Thirty-Third Hunger Games when eight tributes died of dehydration. It was the same with food. After the failure of the Sixty-Sixth Hunger Games, which resulted in a tribute from Six eating fellow tributes, every Arena had a source of safe and edible food. This didn't stop some people guarding the only food/water in the arena, preventing anyone getting to it. Hesmin Rennolls had used this strategy to win three years ago, preventing any other tribute getting access to the only drinkable lake in the arena. For the final hour of the day, I practiced setting snares in various locations, from a forest to grasslands and in a stream. This was the one I struggled with the most, and I had not made any progress at the end of the hour. I just could not understand how the knots worked. I let out a string of swear words when Head Trainer Hydra Moscona called the day over. "All of you go and get some rest, be back here at seven sharp. You are dismissed!" She shouted.
Groups of tributes made their way out of the training room. I saw a giant crowd of tributes, none older than thirteen leave first. The Careers left next, all laughing together, followed by a few tributes alone or in pairs. We left after that, and hung around in the lobby to talk about how we each did. Severa and Mandria were the best with snares, Celestina, Sophia and Madeline were the best at food while Azalea and I were the best two at shelter building. Waverley meanwhile was decent, but not the best, at everything. We made the plan to do the endurance test and high ropes course the next day, with the gauntlet and weapons on the third day. Severa, Madeline, Mandria, Azalea and I headed back to the District Six building, and all met up on the floor I was on. Nelson was already there, and went to his room as we walked in. Me and my allies sat down on the sofa and chairs together.
"OK, we have about one hour before we are expected downstairs for dinner," said Azalea. "What do we think about our allies from Thirteen?"
"I trust Celestina," I said. "We got along quite well during training."
"Waverley is nice," interjected Mandria "However, no matter how nice they are, we cannot trust them fully. For round one, we can only trust each other. If one of them can only save one of us, or someone from their District, they will leave us to die."
"Why would they do that. If it is a choice between say me and Julia, then surely, they would save me instead of a career?" asked Severa
"Remember the last part of the twist?" I asked rhetorically. "The more tributes from a District survive, the more supplies their District gets, and the first District fully eliminated has to supply four tributes. Everyone will be trying to ensure that it is not them."
"Except maybe Two. I would not be surprised if they want to be the first District eliminated," said Azaela.
"In any case," Madeline said, "Us five have to agree to not hurt each other, at least till the end of Round One. We can see then how many people we can make an alliance from then."
We carried on talking and planning for the rest of the hour, before heading down to the ground floor for dinner. I saw Buster, Cylinder, Izzy, Saturn, Kieth, Jacobi and Holly, the seven District Six careers at one end. Chevy, Chassis and Apollo were all three sitting together and there were a few sets of other tributes. I didn't really look at the rest, as I we more focused on getting my food, and then talking with my allies.
After the meal, I returned to my room, and lay on my bed. My mind drifted back to home. I missed my family. I had two brothers and a younger sister. My mother works as a seamstress and my father is a doctor in the District. They had been married since they were eighteen, after they had my older brother, Fordus, at fourteen. He is now thirty, with a wife and two kids himself. He was an engineer, like a lot of the District. My other two siblings were younger than me. Lex and Artemis were playful and innocent. Lex was thirteen years old, with Artemis was six, and was so cute. The goodbyes were very hard for all of us. Fordus and Lex cried very hard. Artemis also cried, but she didn't know very much about death, as we had tried to protect her from the worst of the Hunger Games. We had averted her eyes from most of the death, as we didn't want her to see that. I took a deep breath, and pushed my family aside. I could not think about them right now. I had to focus on myself and my plan with my allies. I had to survive three different Hunger Games before I could see them again.
POV: David Catamonga, 17
District 13, 5th Male
I met up with my allies at the start of the second day of training. There were eleven of us Careers, with only five of us from District Thirteen, while there were seven from District Six. I would have preferred it if there were more tributes from District Thirteen, maybe even more than tributes from District Six in the pack, but there was nothing I could do. I was the third strongest, behind Nuclear and Saturn. As none of us trusted Nuclear, Saturn was the leader, and I was third, behind Izzy. We had not told Nuclear this, and let him believe he was in charge, as there was a chance he would kill us just because we didn't do as he said. I was already planning to kill him right after the Bloodbath. The rest of the alliance had agreed that it was best to wait until then, so he could take out a lot of other tributes hopefully.
Yesterday, we had practised with weapons, done the endurance test and the gauntlet. We were doing more weapons today. I walked over and picked up my favourite weapon, the sword. Some people thought it was overused, but there is a reason that eight of the first ten Career Victors used a sword, be it a katana or a two handed sword, it is because the sword is the best weapon to use in terms of balancing reach and power. The sais and daggers mean you are too close, while the bow, spear and other ranged weapons sacrifice some power and damage to achieve the range they have. The sword is the perfect middle ground.
I walked towards the holographic training grounds. Starting with the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, the Third Quarter Quell, the Gamemakers had stopped using physical dummies in favour of Holographic Attack Dummies, or HADS, as they can move, block and attack. I selected the hardest difficulty, which had ten increasingly harder waves. I held my sword tightly, with Polly standing behind me holding hers. The five of us from District Thirteen had agreed we will each do four waves with each other. I was doing wave one with Polly, wave three with Julia, wave seven with Queenie and Wave ten with Nuclear
The HADs started appearing. There were two people right now, but I knew there would be more in this wave. I ran towards one, and swung my sword at it. The HAD went to block it, but at the last second, I lowered my sword, and cut through its legs. The HAD fell down, and I skewered it's head. Polly had destroyed the other one. An 'arrow' flew past my ear, and I spun around. There were five HADs on a balcony above us. I dropped behind a wall that had just rose up out of the ground, and looked for a way up to the balcony. I saw a set of steps, with alternate ones missing, against the wall.
"Polly! Keep them distracted," I called her. She nodded and then ran out from where she was hiding, using other bits of cover to hide from the holographic arrows. I snuck over to the staircase, and moved up it as quickly and quietly as possible. I came up to the balcony, and dived towards the HADs. I swung my sword, decapitating three of them, then plunged my sword into the fourths ones chest, right as Pollys; thrown sword cut through the final one.
"Wave one, finished," said an automated voice. I took a deep breath, and swapped places with Nuclear. We went on like this for the next few hours, until every wave was complete. Wave ten was definitely the hardest especially because I was working with Nuclear, who didn't plan anything, he just went wild, leaving me to take out the ones he missed, which was most of them.
After lunch time, we headed to 'The Gauntlet'. The Gauntlet was a set of platforms at various levels, with a few thin paths, ropes and ladders connecting them. We had to climb all over the platforms while trying to dodge the Trainers. The Trainers all were holding soft batons and blunt throwing knives they attacked us with. It was hard, but honestly was also fun. Me and my allies carried on using the gauntlet. I was the only male to find it quite easy. Izzy, Holly, Queenie, Julia and Polly found it easier as well. Nuclear got quiet annoyed with how hard he found it. He eventually got so pissed off that he ended up attacking one of the training staff. Peacekeepers ran over, and dragged him away.
"OK. What is wrong with him?" asked Saturn.
"He is a narcissist and psychopath. He thinks he is the best person on the planet, and gets annoyed at anything that doesn't obey him. That is why we told you to pretend he is charge. Me and Queenie have already planned to kill him in the Bloodbath." I said, quite monotone.
I noticed the Six's raised eyebrows.
"I have known him twelve years. I get asked about him often." I said in response to their silent question. "I don't like him."
"I was told by one of the leaders of our training centre to kill him if necessary," said Queenie. Julia and Polly both agreed that Pauline had said the same thing to them. Buster shrugged, before leading the way over to the elevator, as the day had just ended. I headed up to my floor, which I shared with little Willa Harknow, who is twelve. During the parade, I knew she had been scared of me. I don't blame her for this, as I am a tall, well-muscled eighteen-year-old, and she is a shorter than average, weak twelve-year-old. However, she was very similar to my little niece. So, after the parade, I sat down next to her, and started talking. Over the next two hours, I comforted her. She had had a bad day the day before, as she had tried using daggers, but had slipped and wrenched her ankle. She had spent most of today sitting down at the camouflage station, leaving her ankle stretched out. She was already sitting on the sofa when I got in.
"Hey," she said.
"Hi Willa. How are you?" I replied.
"Scared. They are refusing to repair my ankle. I will be going into the arena with a sore ankle." She said, shakily.
I sat down next to her, and pulled her into my arms, stroking her head. I felt her slowly start to cry, before finally letting all her tears out. She shook as she cried in my arms. She cried for over an hour, before I finally coaxed her into eating some dinner. While we were eating, Winter walked in, with Niler following, looking pissed off.
"Good, you two are eating," Niler said sharply.
"Boy, go cool off," snapped Winter. "Phaedra is annoying and arrogant, but being in a constant bad mood about it will not help with the mentoring. You have been rude to all tributes so far. I can do the rest. Go find Gemma. I saw her at 'The Hungry Tribute' yesterday."
Niler nodded, before stalking off. I look at Winter with my eyebrows raised, silently asking what was happening.
Winter sighed. "Niler is still annoyed that it is only us two mentoring. Gemma is a Victor from District Fifteen. Those two get along quite well, almost like siblings."
I remembered Gemma. "Gemma Erikson aged Seventeen from District Fifteen. Won the Nine-Hundred-and-Eighty-Seventh Hunger Games. Got fourteen as her training score. Had no allies. Used grass and vines in her jungle arena to make strong ropes, which she used to trap and kill tributes. Killed the boy from Eight, girl from Fourteen and boy from Twenty-Three, from whom she took a knife, before facing her District partner in the final. She won using the knife she took." I recited.
"Exactly," replied Winter. "Now, David, I understand you are in the Career pack."
"Yes Sir," I said, saluting.
"What is your angle?" He asked.
"I am hoping to be strong and tough, but with a softer side that I will slowly reveal. The softer side will be shown through my loyalty, and how I would help my injured allies. I would show how I can be caring."
"That may help. You also need to get at least two kills in the Bloodbath, to stand the chance of being noticed. The usual stigma over killing your District Partner is non-existent this year. The only thing may be killing your floor partner. So do not kill each other."
I nodded, and looked at Willa. She was pale and looked terrified.
"Willa, I suggest you try to pull off the young innocent girl. Your ankle should help with that. Do not go into the Bloodbath. Run-away instantly. Try to put as much distance between yourself and the Bloodbath as you can. Once you get far enough away, start looking for drinkable water and food. Water is more important as you can survive longer without food. All the Gamemakers have been told to supply enough safe water and food throughout the Arenas so most of the deaths will come from tributes killing each other." Said Winter, without pausing for breath.
Willa gulped and turned even paler, but nodded.
"Tomorrow, David continue with weapons and gaining the trust of your allies from Six. Willa, focus on the edible plant and bug, and water gathering stations. Spend all your time there. Do you both understand?" Winter commanded.
"Yes Sir," I said, while Willa nodded again.
"Good. Now, I need to go to upstairs. I shall see you both tomorrow."
With that, Winter walked out of the room, and I heard him call the lift to the next floor. Willa shakily got up, before leaving for her room. I watched her go, before getting myself some more food, then heading to bed myself,
POV: Victor Flowndres, 17
District 13, 15th Male
It is the third and final day of training. While normally, today would be a half day, and after lunch we would have a ten minute private session, after which we would then get out training score. However, due to the number of tribute, today was a full day of training, and tomorrow we would each get our private session.
I was in an all-boys alliance. It was Chevy, Chassis, Lincon and Apollo from District Six had joined Mike, Elijah, Luke and me. Day One, we had done the Gauntlet and obstacle course. On Day Two we had focused on survival stations. Today, we were going to weapons. I had been in the training centre in Thirteen occasionally, but was not a strong person. Still, I had some skill in wielding knives.
I headed down to the ground floor of the apartments with Taliah, my floor partner. We had barely spoken to each other, other than wishing good luck, saying good morning and goodnight and one very quick discussion of alliances. She was flying solo, as she said she did not want to get attached to anyone, before having to kill them. We headed to the training centre together, before she walked off to the Gauntlet. Most of the rest of my alliance was already there, apart from Lincon. We walked over to one of the weapons stations, and all selected our weapons. I picked up knives, Chevy got a sword, Chassis got a knife, Apollo picked up a baton, Mike picked up a bow, Elijah took a dagger, and Luke took a belt of throwing knives. We started training, and were only doing it for about two minutes, when Lincon walked in with his floor partner, who I remembered was Valsa, the youngest tribute ever in the Hunger Games. I did feel sorry for her, as she was almost certainly going to die. Lincon picked up a crossbow, and started practising himself. The day went by completely normally until lunch. After lunch, we were all called over to the Obstacle Course.
Head Trainer Moscona was standing in front of us. So far, eighty-eight of you have completed the obstacle course. So, as a small penalty for not doing it yet, the remaining eight of you will do it now, in front of everyone. The eight left are Cowl Shappo, Ryder Hasslett, Jason Faye, Tank Leyce, Laurel Fox, Taliah Napomsa, Ezra Collins, and Easton Nards." The entire group gasped, and the eight people paled. Peacekeepers came forward, and pulled the eight to the front. "Cowl, you are first. The time to beat is twenty-three minutes and forty-six second set by Izzy Arduini. The lowest time is thirty-six minutes and seven seconds. Set by Victor Flowndres. You cannot stop moving, apart from in the tunnels, when you come to a split, or you will have two minutes added onto you time and also have one point knocked off your training score. For the first time, the person who has the fastest speed will get an extra one point onto their training score. So, you could get a twenty-five if you are perfect. Three, two, one, GO!"
Cowl jumped forward onto the monkey bars. It was interesting to watch. I had five minutes added to my time because I fell of the climbing wall. It was very annoying, as I had a good pace. The bigger worry was the fact that I would be losing a point off my training score unless someone did worse than me. I knew I had to do really well tomorrow to get a decent score.
I watched Cowl go over the monkey bars. She struggled, but managed to get passed them. She then went into the tunnels, and as we could not see where she was, we just had to wait. Around ten mins later she came out. She also was quite slow at the run. She also was slow on the wall. She defiantly would be one of the slowest. She finished in thirty-five minutes and four seconds. I watched as the rest of the of the eight tributes complete the course. No one beat Izzy's time, meaning that she would get the bonus point for her score. However, thankfully for me, Ryder did worse than me. He completed the course in thirty-nine minutes and eighteen seconds. This meant that Ryder would get a point knocked off his score. Everyone could tell he was pissed off, but I was extremely thankful for it.
With that, the day was ended early. We all headed to our apartments, to get advice from out mentors about the next day and to have a full night sleep. Me and Taliah headed back up to our floor. As we were the fifteenth pair, We had a while to wait. Even if Winter and Niler were doing it alone, and taking twelve floors each, we would still have to wait. While I waited, Taliah had already gone to her room, I sat on the sofa, and turned on the TV. It was showing a replay of the nine-hundred-and-Twenty-Fifth Hunger Games. In this games, the twist was that there was a third reaping bowl in each District, that combined names of both boys and girls. One name was drawn from the male bowl, female bowl and mixed bowl. For example, the winning District, District Fourteen, had Alex Fawcett and Peter Yillas as two male tributes, and the Victor, Clair Addams, as their only female. District Thirteen on the other hand had two female tributes and one male. I watched twenty-one people die in the Bloodbath, and the rest run out into the farm arena. Before anything else could happen, Niler walked in.
"Taliah and Victor, on the sofa now please!" He called. Taliah came out of her room and sat beside me. "OK, Your training is now obviously over. Tomorrow you both will have a twelve minute private session with the Gamemakers, where you will show off the skills you have learned over the past few days, after which you will be scored, on a scale of 1 to 24. As neither of you placed the highest or lowest in the Obstacle Course, neither of you will have an adjusted score. Now, what do you two think you will do? Taliah, you first."
Taliah looked shocked for a second, before replying, "I was planning to show my knowledge of poisonous plants and use a knife."
"OK, based on previous tributes, I say, depending on how well you do, you're looking at between a nine and fifteen. Victor, what are you going to do?"
"My idea was to use knives, set snares and then tree climb," I said. I hadn't realised that I was planning that until I said it. My brain must have been working on it in the background during the last few days without me being fully aware.
Niler nodded. "I would say around a sixteen at max for you, maybe if you do absolutely amazing, a seventeen. Now, both of you eat some food, and go to bed early. You will need a good night sleep tonight, so you have energy for tomorrow." With that, Niler got up, and left to go to his next floor.
Me and Taliah looked at each other, before grabbing some food. While I ate, I watched more of the Hunger Games. Claire was alone for the entire Games, refusing to ally with anyone before the Games started, and then killing the District Three second male when he tried to ally with her. When a feast was called on Day twenty, when eleven people were still alive, Claire went to it, collected the food left for her, and killed the pair of girls from Eight. After the Feast, there were only six tributes left. The end of the Games came three days later, when Claire met the District One first female, and managed to trick her, allowing Claire to emerge the Victor.
After the recap finished, I headed to my room. I took a quick hot shower, before settling into bed. I was quite nervous about tomorrow. I wanted to do well. I was aiming to be middle of the pack, as being too strong would get me killed as I would be a threat, and being to weak would get me killed for being cannon fodder. Oddly enough, I did not want to die. I took a deep breath. I couldn't afford to think about that now, as I needed to sleep.
POV: Mimosa Seathorne, 31
Head Gamemaker
I sat behind my desk, waiting for my Vice Head Gamemaker, Nefertiti, to come and give me the list of results. Nefertiti had been the Vice Head Gamemaker for the past eight years, and was The training scores had changed a lot just before the Five-Hundredth Hunger Games. It was getting hard to accurately score the tributes, as sometimes two tributes deserved a ten, but one only just got it, and the other was only just off eleven. There was no difference between them. So, for the Four-Hundred-and-Ninety-Ninth Hunger Games, there was a trial done. The Head Gamemaker at the time, Percious Moltanic, trialled a new idea. Instead of whole numbers, he tried adding .5 in. So people could now score 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 and so on. It was somewhat well received. The next year, he changed it to being 1-24. This was very well received. He also added the rule that the Head Gamemaker did not watch the private sessions after an assassination attempt on him. This is why Vice Head Gamemakers were added, to take the lead in the private sessions. They, and all other Gamemakers, would rank the tributes on their various skills out of twenty-four based on how well they did. These would then be given to the Head Gamemaker, who would then give each tribute a score. With training centres in every District, and a law passed the year of the Nine-Hundredth-and-Second-Hunger-Games, which stated that everyone must go to the centres for at least three years, meant that most tributes got scores of 4 or above, and scores below 10 were very rare.
A knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts. Nefertiti walked in, holding a folder. She nodded to me, and placed the folder on my desk. "If you need any help, call me," she said, before leaving. I sighed and opened the folder.
Training Scores for the Tributes of the One-Thousandth Hunger Games, the Fortieth-Quarter-Quell, Round One, District 6 vs District 13
District Six
Pair One
Male: Buster Slosser; Daggers (22/24), and Crossbow (22/24), Recommended score = 22
Female: Chelsea Gripolik; Spear (19/24) and Fire Starting (19/24), Recommended score = 19
Pair Two
Male: Railson Naftali; Poisonous Bugs and Plants (10/24), Recommended Score = 8
Female: Mercedes Honore; Fire Starting (12/24) and Knife (3/24), Recommended Score = 7
Pair Three
Male: Chevy Irplon; Sword (14/24) and Snare Setting (11/24), Recommended Score = 12
Female: Severa Ciders; Snare Setting (15/24), Fire Starting (8/24) and Shelter Building (6/24), Recommended score = 7
Pair Four
Male: Rivet Evangeline; Knife (10/24) Slingshot (13/24), Recommended score = 10
Female: Cowl Shappo; Bow (14/24), Recommended Score = 12
Pair Five
Male: Crystaler Monts; Daggers (18/24), Sword (16/24), Recommended score = 17
Female: Axelle Hartzog; Crossbow (20/24), Knife (20/24), Recommended score = 20
Pair Six
Male: Lincon Beltran; Crossbow (15/24), Poisonous Plants and Bugs (24/24), Recommended Score = 16
Female: Valsa Gates; Knife (2/24), Shelter Building (10/24), Recommended score = 5
Pair Seven
Male; Chassis Delegarza; Knife (14/24), Recommended score =11
Female: Nuvi Kipponal; Fire Starting (11/24), Blowgun (15/24), Recommended score =12
Pair Eight
Male: Cylinder Musto; Katana (22/24), Rapier (22/24), Recommended score = 22
Female: Mitt Vires; Sais (13/24), Tree Climbing (20/24), Recommended score = 15
Pair Nine
Male: Slanten Bowen; Dagger (1/24), Fire Starting (2/24), Recommended score = 1
Female: Madeline Wompanog; Poisonous Bugs and Plants (17/24), Dagger (11/24), Recommended score = 13
Pair Ten
Male: Texas McNickle; Flail (13/24), Fire Starting (11/24), Recommended score = 13
Female: Porche Monroe; Sword (20/24), Throwing Knives (22/24), Recommended score = 21
Pair Eleven
Male: Charlie Kemper; Tree Climbing (14/24), Camouflage (16/24), Recommended score = 14
Female: Lexi Dobbens; Spear (19/24), Recommended score = 16
Pair Twelve
Male: Arizona Gershwin; Fire Starting (6/24), Dagger (8/24), Recommended score = 7
Female: Guega Rosewell; Axe (16/24), Knot Tying (22/24), Recommended score = 18
Pair Thirteen
Male: Ryder Hasslett; Sword (2/24), Fire Starting (5/24), -1 from Obstacle Course, Recommended score = 2
Female: Izzy Arduini; Sword (23/24), Bow (23/24), 1 from Obstacle Course, Recommended score = 24
Pair Fourteen
Male: Bentley Keller; Knife Throwing (17/24), Shelter Building (14/24), Recommended score = 15
Female: Zoey Maurios; Dagger (18/24), Poisonous Plants and Bugs (18/24), Recommended score = 17
Pair Fifteen
Male: Nelson Callow; Dagger (8/24), Recommended score = 6
Female: Colma Klasson; Water Purification (16/24), Shelter Building (17/24), Fire Starting (14/24), Recommended score = 15
Pair Sixteen
Male: Jason Faye; Dagger (10/24), Axe (13/24), Recommended score = 11
Female: Azalea Torrac; Shelter Building (14/24), Knife (9/24), Recommended score = 12
Pair Seventeen
Male: Ford Marinez; Hatchet (12/24), Poisonous Plants and Bugs, (11/24), Recommended score = 11
Female: Damla Supple; Bow (17/24), Climbing Trees (14/24), Recommended score = 15
Pair Eighteen
Male: Apollo Ritter; Baton (15/24), Rope Use (20/24), Recommended score = 17
Female: Mandria Lombrossa; Snare Setting (11/24), Knife (15/24), Recommended score = 13
Pair Nineteen
Male: Saturn Tulin; Axe (23/24), Sword (23/24), Throwing Knife (23/24), Recommended score = 24
Female: Raven Harper; Sais (14/24), Fire Starting (18/24), Recommended score = 15
Pair Twenty
Male: Paxton Nirae; Dagger (11/24), Shelter Building (14/24), Recommended score = 12
Female: Holly Abe; Whip (21/24), Katana (22/24), Recommended score = 22
Pair Twenty-One
Male: Kieth Harlod; Sword (22/24), Mace (21/24), Recommended score = 21
Female: Ariel Dupioni; Bow (19/24), Knife (21/24), Recommended score = 19
Pair Twenty-Two
Male: Dasher Fran; Blowgun (15/24) Knife (13/24), Recommended score = 14
Female: Maddison Greytrap; Sword (4/24), Recommended score = 2
Pair Twenty-Three
Male: Jacobi Inlobe; Sword (21/24) Chakram (18/24), Recommended Score = 19
Female: Bonnet D'Ambrose; Fire Starting (5/24) Knife (8/24), Recommended Score = 7
Pair Twenty-Four
Male: Tank Leyce; Dagger (14/24), Antidote knowledge (24/24) Recommended Score = 17
Female: Kentucky Baquet; Sword (22/24), Bow (21/24), Edible Plants (19/24), Recommended Score = 20
District Thirteen
Pair One
Male: Graphite Gronmack: Hatchet (18/24), Recommended Score = 16
Female: Sophia Huwgan: Edible plants and bugs (19/24), Daggers (14/24), Recommended Score = 16
Pair Two
Male: Ernie Koplonkitana: Fire starting (10/24), Knife (12/24), Recommended Score = 11
Female: Queenie Silver: Bow (22/24), sword (23/24), Recommended Score = 23
Pair Three
Male: Mike Bleck: Bow (16/24), Climbing (14/24), Recommended Score = 15
Female: Celestina Naoma: Edible plants and bugs (15/24), Hatchet (12/24), Recommended Score = 13
Pair Four
Male: Birdie Vice: Fire building (18/24), Recommended Score = 15
Female: Kessie Coin: Climbing (16/24), Crossbow (12/24), Recommended Score = 14
Pair Five
Male: David Catamonga: Sword (22/24), Wrestling (21/24), Recommended Score = 22
Female: Willa Harknow: Camouflage (17/24), Water gathering (17/24), Recommended Score = 16
Pair Six
Male: Miles Jabneck: Baton (20/24), Climbing (22/24), Shoge (24/24), Recommended Score = 23
Female: Poilkam Hashe: Knife (2/24), Fire building (12/24), Recommended Score = 6
Pair Seven
Male: Harlow Pastmake: Trap setting (15/24), Cleaver (12/24), Recommended Score = 13
Female: Laurel Fox: Dagger (14/24), Camouflage (23/24), Recommended Score = 16
Pair Eight
Male: Toni Osk: Baton (16/24), Rope use (20/24), Recommended Score = 16
Female: Ember Jackross: Fire Starting (14.24(, Shelter building (14/24), Recommended Score = 14
Pair Nine
Male: Nuclear Dronestop: Sword (24/24), Baton (24.24), Bow (24/24), Recommended Score = 24
Female: Clara Fripmin: Dagger (9/24), Fire Starting (8/24), Recommended Score = 8
Pair Ten
Male: Luke Glowfree: Throwing knives (17/24), Recommended Score = 15
Female: Delia Westshack: Dagger (13/24), Fire building (15/24), Recommended Score = 14
Pair Eleven
Male: Callisto Hipmons: Katana (17/24), Fire building, (12/24), Recommended Score = 14
Female: Pauline Bromal: Water collection (11/24), Dagger (2/24), Recommended Score = 5
Pair Twelve
Male: Elijah Koplins: Dagger (15/24), Snare setting (15/24), Recommended Score = 15
Female: Bellamy Krenka: Rope use (11/24), Katana (4/24), Recommended Score = 8
Pair Thirteen
Male: Philip Freshban: Spear (16/24), Katana (10/24), Pickaxe (20/24), Recommended Score = 16
Female: Trinity Tormo: Fire starting (8/24), Knife (5/24), Recommended Score = 6
Pair Fourteen
Male: Lupus Canmen: Shelter building (10/24), Dagger (4/24), Recommended Score = 7
Female: Ivy Symmonds: Throwing knives (14/24), Camouflage (16/24), Recommended Score = 15
Pair Fifteen
Male: Victor Flowndres: Knives (14/24), Set Snares (16/24), Tree Climb (10/24), Recommended Score = 14
Female: Taliah Napomsa: Edible plants and bugs (16/24), Knife (12/24), Recommended Score = 13
Pair Sixteen
Male: Fission Wretilp: Sword (18/24), Axe (18/24), Recommended Score = 18
Female: Alma Itocia: Knife (8/24), Trap Setting (5/24), Recommended Score = 5
Pair Seventeen
Male: Ezra Collins: Crossbow (14/24), Rapier (13/24), Recommended Score = 13
Female: Waverly Bonncas: Knife (3/24), camouflage (19/24), Recommended Score = 9
Pair Eighteen
Male: Percy Lizbeth: Sword (20/24), Edible plant and bugs (24/24), Fire Starting (16/24), Recommended Score = 20
Female: Namora Jadrin: Axe (16/24), Trap Setting (16/24), Recommended Score = 15
Pair Nineteen
Male: Lucian Raindrop: Dagger (6/24), Fire Starting (8/24), Recommended Score = 6
Female: Emily Olpis: Rope Use (15/24), Chakram (18/24), Recommended Score = 14
Pair Twenty
Male: Hugo Backdew: Throwing Knives (21/24), Climbing (18/24), Recommended Score = 19
Female: Ximop Newstar: Sword (17/24), Spear (17/24), Recommended Score = 17
Pair Twenty-one
Male: Martin Ernicle: Dagger (16/24), Snare Setting (20/24), Recommended Score = 17
Female: Julia Fredras: Bow (23/24), Wolverine Claws (21/24), Recommended Score = 21
Pair Twenty-Two
Male: Easton Nards: Hammer (23/24), Baton (22/24), Brass Knuckles (22/24), Recommended Score = 23
Female: Catherine Kolpon: Bow (18/24), Fire Startin (13/24), Recommended Score = 14
Pair Twenty-Three
Male: Remus Turpin: Throwing Knives (22/24), Swords (19/24), Recommended Score = 21
Female: Terra Vikrash: Throwing Knives 922/24), Shogei (18/24), Recommended Score = 20
Pair Twenty-Four
Male: Hadrian Westlove: Sword (18/24), Trap Setting (17/24), Recommended Score = 18
Female: Polly Greenway: Sword (16/24), Crossbow (24/24), Recommended Score = 19
Current Alliances:
Careers: Buster, Cylinder, Izzy, Saturn, Kieth, Holly, Jacobi, David, Nuclear, Queenie, Julia, Polly
Anti-Careers: Chelsea, Kentucky, Lexi, Crystaler, Ariel, Axelle, Fission, Ximop, Remus, Philip, Terra, Hadrian
Boys club: Chevy, Chassis, Lincon, Apollo, Mike, Elijah, Victor, Luke
Girl gang: Severa, Madeline, Colma, Mandrai, Azalea, Celestina, Sophia, Waverley
The Kids: Mercedes, Railson, Valsa, Nuvi, Porche, Arizona, Paxton, Dasher, Bonnet, Willa, Pauline, Lupus, Alma, Lucian.
Unnamed Alliance: Cowl, Mitt, Percy, Namora, Bellamy
Pairs: Damla and Emily, Zoey and Bentley, Ford and Raven, Kessie and Birdie
Solo (for now): Rivet, Slanten, Texas, Charlie, Guega, Ryder, Nelson, Jason, Tank, Graphite, Ernie, Poilkam, Miles, Laurel, Harlow, Ember, Toni, Clara, Delia, Callisto, Trinity, Ivy, Taliah, Ezra, Hugo, Martin, Catherine, Easton