Broken by the Games

Training Bond

Author's Note: Melvin looks kind of douchey in this chapter, but he really is a great guy and his name isn't actually Melvin. (to my knowledge) So yeah, I love Melifiry and his amazing anime intro covers which everyone should go check out. Love you all, bai.

Still in the trance from the event, I didn't even notice Fawx standing there congratulating us until he patted me on the back. Well, it was more like a hard bitch-slap but I'll take it from a guy who's gone from "You could be worse" to this just because of some gimmicky chariot ceremony. While all of the other tributes were receiving their praise, I noticed Lee glaring at me from afar. Upon looking at her giving my a death glare while in a green dinosaur suit, I accidental let a tiny giggle slip out. Bad move, her death glare intensified and I think she showed a little bit of tooth like a growling animal. I quickly looked away and moved along with Fawx and Meena to our rooms.

I can't even go into detail as to how amazing that room was. It had a hologram of a scented candle by the bedside table, and the actual scent part being blown in by a vent. And by the way, it wasn't one of those "$2.50 at the nearest grocery store" type of candle smell, it was like the cinnamon apple shit that you win at local archery tournaments. I later found out that upon touching the candle hologram, the color changed and within five seconds the room smelled of lemon cucumber or strawberry melon. I would have spent hours playing with that thing, but then I saw the view from the window. The lights from the city were so unique and genuine, the cars sped by below and most left a trail of colored light behind them. I was really surprised that there where no accidents from how distracting those trails were, until I put my finger to the window and it instantly tranformed into some sort of lush, rainy forest. I hit it again and it became a night sky on a flat grassy area. I messed around with it for a bit until I decided it would be best if I were to get my rest for the traning arena tomorrow. I took one look at the bed and instanly had to push the five-year old side of me down to try to keep myself from jumping all over it. I undressed, changed into the silk pajamas they provided, and climbed into the bed, which without a doubt was the softest thing I had ever felt in my life. Oh, and by the way, you know how people always say that they couldn't sleep because they were anxious about the games and the training arena test? In this case at least, it was bullshit, I swear I was asleep in seconds.

*Skip forwards because waking up and being escorted to the training arena is boring and because I'm a scumbag*

"You are provided three days to train here before you are tested in your skills and scored before your interview and then the games." the very professionally dressed woman said. "There is very close watch over all of you so don't think for a second about harming another tribute, now get training at whichever stations you like and don't start any trouble."

Okay, apparently I'm the only one that thinks that putting 24 murdereous teenagers in an arena stocked with loads of weapons is a terrible idea? Yeah, we're all under watch by trained officials, but what if that crazy Lee broad were to stab me while pretending to be waiting in line, even if the officials stabbed her right back, I'd still be dead if she aimed well enough. I tried to put that thought out of my mind and get to slashing in the swords section, but it was only a second later that my legs were swept from under me by none other than Mel, who had also somehow managed to snatch up the majority of the swords

"Oh thats real reassuring, they didn't even see him push me do-" My train of thought was interrupted as a hand moved down infront of my face. I looked up, dumbfounded, and saw Eddie, who looked at me expectantly to take it which I did awkwardly and without question. "Thanks" was all I could muster out. "You're welcome pal, what a douche that Melvin guy is, everyone just needs to realize that right now, we're mostly all in the same boat. I'm not saying that we have to help them kill us, I'm just saying that we should all show a little courtesy." I agreed that he had a good point, but I was more interested in why he was wearing some sort of ball cap on his head, which I then asked him about. "Oh, it's a little going-away gift from my mother. I talked with my stylists to convince the gamemakers to let me keep it with me in the games since I can't hurt anyone with it. What I'm really wondering about is that necklace you have, how'd you convince them to let you keep it?"

"It's just good luck charm I like to keep around, my dad gave it to me before he died from disease. And what was that about convincing them to let me keep it?" I said, relatively puzzled by his words. Quick as a fox Eddie grabbed my dogtag and shoved it under my shirt so that it couldn't be seen.

"Eddie what the he-"

"SHH" he said, jabbing me in the ribs and pointing to the nearby official with his eyes.

"Having fun there boys? Well you'll be having much more fun with a knife through your throat in the games because you didn't train in the time you were given."

And with that, we said a quick goodbye and started walking off in opposite directions. "Oh, and Eddie," I said and he turned around, "thanks."

He smiled, "You're welcome Mitchell, and by the way, quit that Eddie bullshit, just call me Sly, good luck!" He called with a silly grin. "And get that dogtag of yours worked out!"

The moment he was out of my eyesite I did a literal facepalm. "Damnit Mitchell, you're sitting here making friends in this goddamn tomb of murderers? These people will be dying at your hands soon." I decided that I should finally get training because it's not like I had spent my life doing the exact same thing. Seeing that there was now a line at the swordstation, I sauntered over to the abandoned archery station and looked for a bow that felt right. I decided on a heavy black bow and grabbed some arrows. Going left to right with three targets I decided to use two arrows on each target and I only had three seconds from the time I loaded the bow to the time I fired. For target one I was two spots away from the bullseye for the both arrows, for target two the first arrow was still two spots away but the second was only one. For target three, the first arrow was so close to the bullseye I was too excited to shoot to notice Jerome of District seven walking quite near the target. A moment after I fired I saw arrow headed straight for the Bacca and the one thought in my mind was "holy shit the officials are going to kill me and Emily and Matt and everyone I've ever known and loved and then shit''s going to go down an-" I realized that I had my eyes closed, not wanting to see the arrow find its way to the Bacca and when I opened them I saw Jerome still standing there, very much alive. Thats when I looked to the floor, the Bacca had chopped the arrow out of midair with an iron axe and it was now a pile of splinters on the ground.

Jerome immediantly ran over to me, I prepared myself for loads of yelling at how I almost killed him and then...

"OHGAWD I'm soosososooso sorry! I didn't mean to mess up your shot, it was just coming at me a- GAH why couldn't I have just paid attention! That was going to hit the bullseye an-"

I cut him off "You shouldn't be apologizing to me, I nearly just killed you because I wasn't paying attention! If you weren't so amazing with an axe, then I don't know what havoc could have ensued. In a roundabout way, you've just saved my life by saving your own." I thought about something for a second. "And I know that after nearly putting an arrow in your face it isn't the time to be asking for favors, but would you mind showing me some pointers on axe-wielding?"

His face lit up with excitement as he said, "Only if you teach me how to do things like that with a bow." I grinned, "Deal! Training partners?" I said while sticking my hand out for him to shake.

"Training partners!" he said, grabbing and shaking my hand with a smile on his face just as big as mine.

"Goddamnit Mitchell" however was what soon found its way into my mind.