"Today is your final day of training," Shadow told the Tributes as they gathered in the Training Room. "You've all worked hard these past four days now, building and expanding your skills. Today, you're gonna work harder than you ever have before in your lives. Make your last day count!"

She slithered off into her usual corner as the twenty-four teens split up once more. Destiny and Cara raced each other neck-and-neck in the air, their powerful wings flapping as they propelled themselves around the room high above. With strong swipes from his hockey stick, Casey sent puck after puck flying, knocking training dummies over. One puck went sailing through the air, nearly nailing Raphael in the head. He ducked just in time.

"HEY! Watch where you hit those things!" he hollered at Casey, eyes blazing with fury.

"Sorry!" the teenage boy called back, a sheepish smile on his face.

Raphael growled in annoyance, returning to his activity. He regained his focus just in time to dodge as Marcus's scythe came bearing down on him. The two of them were sparring, scythe against sais. With a huff, the red-masked turtle lunged forward, landing a solid kick to the wolf-boy's gut before leaping backward. Marcus stumbled back with a sharp gasp, but he regained himself quickly.

"Not bad, turtle," he said approvingly, plunging in for another attack. "Not bad at all!"

"Thanks," Raph grunted as he blocked his opponent's attack with his sais, shoving him back. "You're not terrible yourself."

"What do you say we ally?" Marcus asked. "It wouldn't hurt to have someone with your skill with me in those Games. And I can be of use to you as well."

Raphael pondered this for a moment.

"Sounds good," he responded. "On one condition–I'm going to fight to keep my sister as safe as possible. Tell me you'll be doing the same, and we're allies."

Marcus's ears flattened thoughtfully, his expression turning slight pensive. At last he flicked his fluffy tail decisively.

"Deal," he said. "Nice doing business with you, ally."

"You too."

The two boys continued their mock battle, both of them smirking with newfound satisfaction.

Nearby, three mutants stood before a large screen, working together to sort out edible plants and insects from poisonous ones. Donatello and Sarina worked expertly, sorting rapidly and correctly. Penelope was a whiz, her scaly fingers flying across the screen as she sorted alongside them. Donatello looked impressed at her skill, and Sarina's blue eyes flashed with surprise.

"Goodness, Penelope," she commented. "You certainly do possess skill in this part of the Games."

Penelope shrugged, flipping a springy lock of black hair off her shoulder.

"It's nothing," she said modestly. "There are a ton of bugs and plants back in District Four. You learn to recognize some of them after sixteen years of living there."

Sarina's eyes flashed with understanding. Donatello gave her a questioning look, gesturing to Penelope, and the cyborg girl nodded approval in response.

"Well, Penelope," Donnie said. "Sarina and I are allied. You're welcome to join us, if you'd like. We geniuses have to stick together, after all."

Penelope turned to face them, her expression shocked and joyful all at once.

"I'd love to!" she smiled, and then her face fell. "But I can't. I'm already with the Career pack."

Donatello face-palmed, his face growing hot with embarrassment. "Agh, of course. How could I forget? You're in District Four."

"Quite alright," Sarina assured the lizard girl. "In that case, good luck in the Games."

"Thank you. You too."

The three of them continued to sort in silence.

Katrina focused on the punching bag in front of her, tending her barely nonexistent muscles. With a grunt, she threw a punch as hard as she could at the bag, but it barely moved. The teenage girl punched and kicked over and over, her ponytail swinging crazily behind her, but the punching bag barely budged.

Oh, who am I kidding? she thought, burying her face in her hands. I'm strong mentally, but physically? Heck no. I'm dead meat in these Games.

A loud clanging noise behind her made her jump. Katrina turned to see Cyn standing in front of a training dummy with a metal bat raised above her head, that familiar crazed look in her eyes. Giggling wildly, the girl whacked the dummy with her bat so hard that it left a dent. Katrina flinched, suddenly feeling terrified, as Cyn began mercilessly beating the dummy with powerful swings of her arms. She was smiling crazily, creepily, as if she was enjoying it. At last, the teenage girl landed a final blow, one so hard that it blew a hole in the dummy and stuffing came pouring out. Cyn stood over the dummy, still giggling.

Katrina backed away, feeling sick.

Imagine if that was an actual person and not a dummy...

She hurried as far away from Cyn as she possibly could.

"All right, everyone!" Shadow called suddenly. "Training's over. All of you get back to your apartments."

Murmurs of disappointment and cries of relief arose from the Tributes as they dropped their weapons and left their stations, heading for the exit.

"Bye, Elsie!" Scarlet waved good-bye to the little fox mutant, beaming. Elsie waved back as she hurried off to join Sofie.

In a flash, Raphael was by her side, glaring with distrust at the fox girl. Scarlet, turning her head, noticed him and smiled wider.

"Oh, hi Raph!" she chirped. "You just missed Elsie. She's really nice! You guys should totally meet–"

"I don't want you talking to her," Raphael interrupted her, his voice cold. "I don't want you talking to any of these people."

Scarlet looked genuinely surprised, her eyes widening. "Why not?" she asked, shocked.

"Because we don't know them. And worse, they're going into the Games with us. We can't trust them, Scar–most of 'em would try to stab us in the backs first chance they get."

"Weren't you talking with that Marcus guy earlier?" the younger girl accused, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I was. Because he's our ally."

Scarlet looked even more shocked. "He is? Since when?"

"Since we both agreed to work together and protect you in the Games."

"Raph–"

"I know, I know, I'm an awesome big brother. No need to thank me. Now, c'mon."

He picked up the pace, jogging out of the room. Scarlet hesitated, confusion and surprise swirling inside of her like a storm. At last, she followed her red-masked brother, leaving the training room empty until the next Hunger Games.