Capital Nights

Episode 3 ~ What are you Hiding?

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My alarm sounds at 5:00am sharp the next morning as I wake up for training. Crey and Adrian meet me in the dining room where we eat a light breakfast and then head downstairs to our private training room.

"I think we should work on hand to hand today," Adrian states as we step into the room. It's a small space but it's way nicer than anything at the academy.

Adrian suddenly swings at me and I duck out of the way just in time. Realizing that our hand to hand training has begun I quickly shoot my foot out to swipe the back of his ankles. This throws him off balance and I attempt to push him over but he grabs me and brings me down with him.

"You have to be more agile," he tells me as we get back up. "Move constantly and don't let them get close enough to hit you. Wear them out before going in for a hit. If I was holding a knife, I would have impaled you when you fell on me."

This is harder than I thought it was going to be. Luckily there's only four Adrian sized guys heading into this arena.

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Two hours later, we are back upstairs to eat a second breakfast and take a break before our group training session. Crey and I have decided that we will focus on weapons today to gain the trust of the other careers and to scare off the other tributes.

Adrian says we should save at least one skill  for the games, because if your allies know everything you're good at they can easily find your weak points. It's kind of hard to keep things from Crey as he's seen me at the academy but I think I'll keep my stamina a secret.

I may be young, but I go on runs every morning back in District 4. It helps wake me up and gets me out of the academy where I live and train. I always go early enough to the point where only the fishermen are awake.

I don't know what Rian would do if he knew I went running off on my own every morning. He'd probably tell me it's dangerous and forbid me from going. Luckily he sleeps late and I don't run past his house.

It's hard for me to pinpoint what Crey would hide. I know he's good with spears and he's strong but I don't think he's fast. Maybe he has knife skills but I haven't seen him train with one.

He's probably good with ropes and traps and I doubt the other careers would notice as long as he stayed away from that station. Either way I should observe him just as carefully as the rest of our allies.

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Heading into the training center, we are greeted by the other careers as well as the head trainer. The rest of the tributes avoid us and stare at the ground. I take my time staring each of them down, taking note of their body language and who they are hanging out with.

When the head trainer releases us, I immediately head towards the sword station. I spend my time feeling the weight and grip of each sword before settling on a smaller one. I also take note of the other careers' weapons.

Honey and Coco are congregating by the knives, with Honey reaching for the throwing knives and Coco grabbing some daggers. Khan grabs a machete off the rack and begins to twist it around in his hands. Crey is predictably at the spear station and Reece is destroying a dummy with a mace.

I walk over to some of the target dummies and begin training. The sword I have chosen is a similar weight to the one I practiced with at the academy so I'm wielding it with no difficulties. I slice and stab the dummy until it's in pieces on the floor.

"You're pretty good at that," Honey states as she appears next to me with Coco. "It seems us girls like sharp objects."

"Well it's easier to kill people when the object you are using is sharp," I laugh. I spend the remaining time until lunch destroying target dummies with Coco and Honey. I think the three of us will work well together.

After lunch, I practice different weapons with Reece and Khan. I show them moves with a sword while they give me tips on how to use a mace and a machete. Out of the two I definitely prefer the machete. It's more similar to a sword and a mace requires a lot more strength.

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At dinner, I discuss training with Crey. We decide that we like Districts 1 and 2 and ask Adrian to put in an official alliance request.

"I think the girls trust me more than the guys do," I tell them as I scoop some more rice onto my plate.

"Yeah but they trust me though so I'm sure they'll warm up to you," Crey states. "I think they're just a little wary about your age. Once we do our evals, you should be good."

After eating, we move to the lounge to talk survival with Mags. She goes over various plants we might encounter as well as how to purify water. Crey and I decide we will do the fire building station tomorrow in training as we can't exactly practice it in our suite.

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The next morning, Crey and I practice with each others weapons. Adrian also spars us using the weapons of the other careers so we can be prepared if they turn on us. In Adrian's games (the 56th), the career alliance imploded on the third day and he ended up having to kill the boys from one and two. The girls escaped but died a day later.

During group training, Crey and I practice various survival items before lunch arrives. The other careers think it's a little funny that we care so much about poisonous plants but you never know what you will encounter.

After lunch, we all spend time sparring with the trainers and watching each other. Out of all of us I think Coco is the weakest but I obviously don't tell them that. It's better to not reveal their own weaknesses to them.

Dinner passes and Crey and I decide to talk strategy with Adrian. Mags feels good about our survival progress so she lets us forgo her training tonight.

"You need to leave the alliance at the first sign of tension," Adrian states. "Try not to cause friction with one and two. Most likely, they will start the infighting in the alliance."

"How much tension is too much tension?" Crey asks.

"If people start arguing about strategy or actions, leave. If a career dies and emotions are high, leave. If two careers die then it's definitely time to leave," Adrian explains. "Also they will not hesitate to take you out if you get injured. If they believe you aren't of value to the alliance anymore then they will dispose of you. Whatever you do, don't kill another career while the alliance is still together. That is a sure way to get hunted down."

"How should we divy up watches?" I ask him. "Should we let them separate us or should we try to stick together?"

"Go along with whatever the alpha suggests," he replies. "Preferably stick together but they may become suspicious if you refuse to separate. Also watch for which of the others stick close together. If a pair sticks together, they may team up to try to take out other careers once the numbers go down."

"Always sleep with your weapon in hand and your supply bag nearby in case you need to jump into action," Adrian continues. "If you need to make a run for it, prioritize weapons over supplies. We should have enough sponsors to get you new food and water, but weapons are expensive. Make sure to loot the bags of any bodies you come across."

After a few hours of discussion, I climb into bed, absolutely exhausted by everything.

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AN: Sorry for the wait! It was a holiday weekend here in America so I got super busy. Working on getting the chapters formatted for Wattpad so I can post them quicker.
What do y'all think so far? What do you think is going to happen to the careers in the arena?