This year was the most popular year which had an underdog winner. He was also known to have used psychology to win.
Reaping Ceremonies
The reaping ceremony in district 5 was, to say the least, explosive. As Hathor drew the name this year, one youth spat on her while others threw pieces of paper and firecrackers at her. Two specific youths were dragged out as more bullets were fired, killing most of the youths in the reaping square. As the duo stood up, Hathor told them to announce themselves. As they were about to reveal their names, James shouted "what the hell Michael? That wasn't supposed to happen until later!" The girl stated that her name was 17 year old Granite Crater. Granite looked at Michael abs whispered "sorry baby. I genuinely thought we got the signal." The boy stated that he was 18 year old Michael Logan. James shouted and cursed at his brother while he hopped on the train.
District 6 was a rather scandalous reaping as the escort helped choose the names. As Hathor opened the piece of paper for the female, she whispered to the escort "jeez, there's another Paris in 6?". However, she then revealed the name to belong to 12 year old Atlas Paris. Atlas swore under her breath and walked forward. Caesar commented "a carbon copy of London." Claudius commented that he agreed. When she revealed that the boy was 18 year old Cruz Jacksonville, a bunch of people stepped away from him as his shirt had been ripped and his muscles showed through the shirt he was wearing. He whispered to Atlas "Let's go Monroe." Viewers gasped as she saw that the fan was blowing her dress everywhere. She tried to hold it down but to no avail.
District 9 was sad at the reaping ceremony. As Hathor drew out the name, she revealed that the girl was 13 year old Zea Sanchez. Zea swallowed and walked forward as her infant brother cried from far back in the taped off areas for the family. When viewers saw this moment, most of them cried at Zea kissing her little brother's forehead. When Zea stepped on the stage, she curtsied at Hathor who blushed. As the name of the boy was drawn, she whispered "please God, don't let it be Dough. Please God, please God, please god." However, Hathor read out the name of 15 year old Dough Array. Zea whimpered and muttered "no, not him. Please tell me it's a lie." When Hathor shook her head, Dough hugged Zea, telling her that it's ok. The pair left to go to the train.
Games
This year's arena was antelope canyon in Arizona¹. During the countdown, the girl (1) shuffled her feet, causing her to explode and sounding her cannon. Dough whispered "Jesus fucking christ." As the countdown restarted while multiple people screamed, Zea sat there quietly and waited for the yelling to calm down. As the gong sounded, Cruz tackled the boy (1) and killed him with a stalactite. This shocked some people throughout the arena as they didn't expect him to kill someone. When Cruz stood up to run away, his partner Atlas got caught strangling Lipton (7) to death. As Atlas grabbed a weapon and some bottled water, she shouted at Cruz to catch a bottle. He caught it and shouted "thanks Atlas!" She smiled and ran another direction. As Michael and Granite ran away, three cannons sounded. When day 1 began, Dough, Cruz, and Atlas all came up with the idea of camouflage as people picked parts of the girl from 1 out of their hair and clothes. As some threw up while doing it (mainly the ones on the ground), Granite crept around the arena and tiptoed past other tributes. As she grinned while seeing Bruno (10), she attempted to stab him. However, he snapped her neck and sounded her cannon instantly, causing Michael to cry. That night, as all the tributes fell asleep, the fallen tributes were shown to be the boy (1), the girl (1), Granite Crater (5), and Lipton (7), leaving 20 tributes remaining. As viewers sat there, nobody bet on Dough or Zea due to their young age. This would be their biggest downfall and would cause 20% of sponsors to lose their money.
On day 2, Zea woke up to a loud war cry. As she saw Jungle (11) fight Mina (12), she looked like she was pensive. However, when Jungle killed Mina, Zea jumped up onto Jungle and did something no one expected. She tackled him and bit into his neck. As she ripped it out, viewers were grossed out. Meanwhile, when Dough saw this happen, he seemed rather impressed. As he recognized what was going on, Michael seemed disgusted and continued to stare off into the distance. When Atomic (3) finished setting up an explosive, he muttered "that should do the trick." As he spotted Peel (11), he noticed that she was joking around with the boy (7), he set the explosive close to them. As he put the detonator in his back pocket, Peel noticed it and thought about grabbing it. However, the pair (2) advised them against it. When they ignored the pair, the girl told them to "suit yourselves." However, when they held it, Atomic giggled and let out a sly grin. That night, as Michael, Dough, and Zea went to sleep, Atlas said that she "felt a disturbance in the force". This gave sponsors a chuckle and viewers noticed that the fallen tributes were shown to be Jungle (11) and Mina (12), leaving 18 tributes remaining.
