The Demigod Games (PJO/THG)

29 - Woah, Chocolate Cake

- Frank

The training arena... how to describe it?

If I had to use two words to sum up what the place was, I think the most accurate response would be an organized mess.

Organized... because everything was neat and clean, separated dorms for each district, specialized training grounds, weapon stowaways holding every possibly harmful object that could've roamed this planet, breakfast at 8:30, lunch at one, dinner at eight, lights out at ten. Repeat.

A mess... because everyone was absolutely all over the place.

It's like we had been thrown into an arena and given the orders to just train.
Oh, wait - that was exactly what happened.

Except no-one seemed to know where to start. The only people willing to help were the Avoxes, and their insight wasn't the most helpful, obviously. The rest just sort of sat around, making a point of honor to keep a permanent scowl plastered on their faces whenever they knew we were looking at them, just to make it crystal-clear this was the last place they wanted to be.

And I won't even talk about the tributes - you'd expect most of them would do something, at least try to learn some fire-making skills or to recognize which plants were dangerous or not, in order to be a little prepared before the ordeal that awaited us all.
But no... they just milled around, fear overriding all their sense of logic.
Because no matter what the Capitol forced onto them, these "tributes", pretended warriors, were no more than scared little kids.

As for Hazel and I, on the first day, not really needing most of the training, instead used our time to get as many information from the other tributes about Panem as possible without looking suspicious - which was the hardest part, considering how blind we were in the matter. We'd started on a clean slate, and I was actually surprised by how many hints we'd managed to gather in just under four hours.

Sitting down on a dark metal bench with cushions on the corners - a desperate attempt to prevent suicide, I realized - Hazel and I put our notes we'd taken during the day in common.

"So," I started, "I think we've got the big picture here. Society set in roughly a hundred to a hundred and fifty years in the future, where the entire planet has been submerged due to global warming."
Hazel nodded. "Apparently, they've been brainwashed into thinking this Panem place is the only last surviving society on earth - although we know that's not true, because there are many places that are much higher in altitude and safer from global warming. Nepal, The Alps, for instance. There are many more surviving societies, these people just apparently don't know or refuse to face the evidence."
I agreed with Hazel - but of course they didn't know, considering the governmental situation here. "Well, apparently from what we gathered we're in a dictatorship, so I think it's in the government's best interest to convince the people there's nothing else but sea out there. Prevents people from trying to flee, I suppose."

Hazel exhaled quietly, seemingly pondering the idea. Outside, the sun was reaching its peak point above our heads, as the tributes began to stop their activities in preparation for lunch. We hadn't mingled with much apart from those we questioned, and were waiting for the midday common meal to meet most of them.

"So, the country's divided into thirteen parts - twelve districts and the main city called the Capitol. Each district serves a different purpose in serving the country's needs - coal extraction, wheat, fishing, cattle... the strongest districts, thus the strongest tributes, are called the Careers and are numbers 1, 2 and 4. The poorest districts are 10, 11 and 12. we're in the Capitol right now, in preparation for the Games next week. We'll individually be going through a..." -she stopped to check her notes- "... private training session where we show off our strengths, and be given a training score."

We continued establishing everything we knew about Panem, the district and  most important, the Hunger Games. We'd split up to be more effective over the past few hours, and we'd gathered enough information to know what we were facing  - a new arena every year, with only one unchangeable feature, a Cornucopia at it's dead center, where we'd have everything we need - providing we managed to get to it. Which honestly, seeing the scrawny kids in the training grounds right now, didn't seem like much of a hard task.
Usually there'd be a bloodbath at the start, and it was best we lingered there for as short as possible before taking off.
You could make alliances, but it was risky, considering you had a solid chance of getting a knife behind your back- at least us being two gave us a little advantage over the others.

The Gamemakers enjoyed adding as many hazards as they could to "spice up" the games, so we'd have to be really careful on that ground.

We continued on, and at the exact moment we finished off, a shrill bell rang, obviously signaling dinner, at exactly 1pm. We took our plates - pasta, roasted beef, cheese, and a slice of chocolate cake for dessert. Much better than I'd been expecting - and from the bewildered looks on most of the tributes' faces, almost none of them had actually tasted cake before.

I scanned the room, glancing at the tributes' faces one by one - and I knew Hazel was too. We were sharing the same thought... here are the people we'll have to fight, and kill. I took in their features, their tired expressions and creases under their eyes, sharing a common hint of permanent fear. And I promised myself - I swore on the river Styx - that I would never hurt them unless they directly attacked me.

Big mistake, my biggest yet. But we'll get to that later on.

My eyes jumped from table to table, each pair of tributes staying together and generally refraining from mingling with others, except the districts 8 and 9 who'd seemed to have regrouped, and the Careers, chattering excitedly and laughing out loud in the middle of the room. They seemed to be the only ones who didn't have that wariness in their eyes... like they thought the entire thing was a game.

I inspected each of the twenty-two other tributes, until my gaze fell on the last table at the same time as Hazel, a group of three talking quietly - a rather tall blonde dude inspecting the room, a chocolate-brown haired girl with Native American traits, and a guy with deep sea-green eyes reminding me of seaweed-

Wait, what?

Hazel and I exchanged a glance, and the same thought flashed through our heads as we squinted to get a better look at the trio at the far back of the room. Were they really-
Almost by magic, at the same time, the blonde guy's gaze fell onto us and his eyes widened almost comically - if we were in a cartoon, three red exclamation marks would've appeared above his head. He shook the two other's shoulders and nodded towards our direction, and all five of us shared an identical expression of utter shock, before widening into a huge grin.

There was no doubt anymore - they were here.

We weren't alone.

- June 26th, 2020.

Hey there! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote if ever you liked it :) School has just finished for me (well, it was back on for one day) so I'll be free to write until summer vacation, where I'll be way less active due to me leaving with my family. I'll leave a message on my account when that happens to keep you guys updated, in the meantime... see ya around! xx