𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕝 𝕀 𝕂𝕟𝕠𝕨 | ℂ𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕂𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕝

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎

Morning came quickly, and a soft knock on my door awoke me. I stretched as I stood up to answer the door. To my surprise, Portia greeted me from the other side, holding a small stack of neatly folded clothing before holding them out toward me.

"This is your training uniform, my dear. Get changed, and we'll meet you in the dining room for breakfast," She said with a warm smile before walking away, no doubt toward the dining room. Changing my clothes and putting my hair in a ponytail didn't take long. I made it to breakfast in record time. Everyone was seated at the table, and I sat between Cato and Clove, the latter to my left. No one said a word, most likely the aftermath of last night.

I grabbed an empty plate to fill and stopped when I deemed it enough to get me through the day. Not long after, a fried egg was placed on my plate by the girl next to me. I turned to look at her, only to find her not looking at me. I returned to my food, hiding the smile forming on my face at the gesture, understanding it was her way of comforting me. We spent the rest of the morning listening to the tips provided by Brutus and Enobaria before heading to the Training Center.

All tributes stood in a half circle, most of us sticking with our district partners, as we listened to the head trainer, Atala, explain what we'd be partaking in the next two weeks.

"In two weeks, 47 of you will be dead. One of you will be alive," At that statement, I felt Cato nudge my shoulder, and I saw him with a prideful smirk, causing me to shake my head with a smile. "Who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next four days. Particularly to what I'm about to say. First, no fighting with the other tributes. You'll have plenty of time for that in the arena." A few chuckles can be heard from Cato and Marvel of District 1 while Clove stands, arms crossed with a smirk. "There are four compulsory exercises. The rest will be individual training. My advice is: don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword, but most of you will die from natural causes—ten percent from infection, twenty percent from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife." At this, everyone had split ways, each heading for different stations.

I stood in the middle of the room, observing each tribute and station. I saw Marvel wielding a spear as he easily dodged a trainer's swings. Cato held a sword before swinging and slashing in the air, most likely trying to get a better feel for the weapon. Thresh from 11 was in one of the target stations trying to throw a spear, missing by about a foot, before trying again. In the station next to him, Glimmer from 1 was with another trainer who was teaching her how to shoot a bow and arrow. She misses her target as well, letting out an overdramatic sigh before nocking another arrow. A few feet away from them, two tributes fought each other in hand-to-hand combat with a trainer to supervise, ensuring no one gets seriously injured. Clove was the only one in the knife-throwing station. She was hitting each target with excellent precision. I've decided to join her, sliding into the station beside her before grabbing a few throwing stars. After taking a deep breath, I threw the stars at a decent pace, each star hitting the target right in the middle. I looked at the girl next to me and gave her a small smile. Clove opened her mouth to say something before she was interrupted by another voice.

"Della! Hey!" Dani yells while jogging closer to my station. "I saw what you did. That was pretty good. I should get some lessons from you sometime. Do you wield any melee weapons?"

I looked behind them to see that Clove had returned to her training with a look of annoyance on her face. I turned my attention back to Dani before answering their question. "Yeah, actually, I use a katar. Why? You wanna duel?"

"Don't mind if I do," they said before heading toward the fighting mat near the middle of the training room. I made my way to the table that held some melee weapons and grabbed a pair of ornate bronze-handled katars. Dani headed to a rack that held multiple spears and grabbed a bladed staff, swinging it around for a few moments before disconnecting it, now wielding two short blades. Once on the mat, we circled each other, both swinging our weapons to get a better handle on them.

Dani was the first to strike, swinging their left blade a little low, clearly aiming for my side. I blocked their blade using my left katar with ease before spinning around and elbowing their nose, causing them to stagger back. They wiped some blood from their nose, letting out a low chuckle before charging. They managed to get a few good hits before catching me off guard by sweeping my legs, causing me to fall on my back. Dani proceeds to straddle my waist. I braced the katara in front of my face right before they brought the blade down. They pushed as hard as they could against my katara, and I knew I wouldn't be able to overpower them in this position. I focused my strength on my legs and thrust my hips while swerving my head to the side. The force caused them to fall forward, with their blade hitting the mat right beside my head. In their weakened state, I pushed them to the mat and had my blade against their throat, indicating my victory. I gave them a sly smile before standing up and offering them a hand.

"Not bad, Two. I almost had you," Dani said with a small smile, and I handed them a towel for their still-bleeding nose.

"Almost, but not quite. Maybe next time."

"I'll hold you to that," After that, they walked away and headed to one of their district partners, and I finally took notice of the crowd that had gathered to watch our fight. One of them being Clove, who wore a proud smile. I walked toward her, and she handed me a water bottle.

"That wasn't too bad, Sinclair."

"Just say you're proud of me and leave it at that," I responded with a teasing smile. My expression drops when I hear yelling from behind me.

"Jason, where's my knife? You took my knife!" Of course it would be Cato that would start a fight on the first day.

"Don't touch me!"

"Fuck! You took my knife!"

"I didn't touch your knife! I didn't touch your kni-"

"You liar! You little punk! You took my knife!"

I noticed Katniss and Thresh looking up with smiles on both their faces. I did the same and spotted Rue from 11 hanging by straps, holding what I would guess is Cato's knife, with a mischievous smile on her face. I looked back to see the situation had escalated with Cato about to hit Jason from 6. I've decided that was enough, and I needed to intervene.

"Cato, that's enough. Let's go," I said with a stern voice while dragging him away by his arm.

"He took my knife!"

"Okay, first off, it's not your knife. It belongs to the trainers. Second, you can kill him later in the arena. I'll help you do so," I told him before seeing him give a hesitant nod and walking away.

"You just wait for the arena. You're the first one I'll get, so watch your back!"

"Come on, Cato."

The trainers have gathered everyone to form a single file line as we wait our turn crossing through the obstacle course. The boy before me ended up slipping and hurting his leg. Soon enough, it was my turn. Before I could move forward, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked behind me to see Clove.

"Good luck," Was all she said. I gave her a playful smile before answering.

"I don't need it."

I walked up to the course before taking a few steps back to gain momentum. I took off in a sprint before jumping to reach the rope. I climbed as far up as needed before swinging back and forth and then leaping forward to grab hold of one of the rings. I made my way through the rings with ease before landing on the other platform. I turned around to watch as Clove went through the course herself. She started off with the same run-and-jump tactic before taking everyone by surprise when she pulled herself all the way up and walked on top of the bars that held the rings, then landed on the platform in front of me.

"That was impressive, Kentwell."

"Just say you're proud of me and leave it at that," She said with a sly smirk before walking off. I shook my head before letting out a soft laugh at her reference.