11th Annual Hunger Games

The 11th Annual Hunger Games (Youtube/Tiktok) was held one year after the 10th Annual Hunger Games. A boy and one girl from each District, between the ages of 12 to 18, were reaped to be taken to the Capitol and fight to the death in an arena. Mags Flanagan from District 4 was this year's victor.

This year introduced a set of changes to the Hunger Games model, including a new arena, better conditions for tributes during transportation and their stay at the Capitol, pulse-detecting devices given to the tributes and deaths being announced through a gunshot by a Peacekeeper. Additionally, it also introduced a monetary prize alongside a home in the newly built Victor's Village, as well as the Victory Tour.

## Background

The 11th Hunger Games introduced many changes into the event's model. After all the problems that came with the previous year, and a lot of strings pulled to allow for a new year of the Games, it was crucial that everything would go smoothly for its eleventh year. Now with Coriolanus Snow studying under the wing of Dr. Gaul, this year's Games started being worked on quite early, to account for all the changes introduced, which included a new arena.

Despite last year's overall fiasco, the now-bombed Capitol Arena provided a new aspect to the games that inspired some of the changes introduced this year. As a replacement was needed, the decision was made to experiment with a open arena, for which an old hydropower plant abandoned after the Dark Days was repurposed for. This arena was greatly advertised in anticipation of the Games, promising to bring a lot more of the aspects and action to the Games that citizens were longing for.

## Trip to the Capitol

The means of transporting the tributes from the Districts to the Capitol was changed this year, to avoid any kind of accidents or tribute losses: each district’s tributes would be given their own wagon, under the watchful eye of Peacekeepers, to prevent communication between districts until arrival. Upon arriving at the Capitol, each tribute would then be advertised to the citizens.

## The Capitol

Once at train station, there was already a crowd awaiting the tributes - they were announced one by one, name by name, as the Capitol citizens cheered for their favorites. Mags Flanagan, from District 4, attracted the public’s attention from the very beginning, because of the way she dressed, her good manners and how she conducted herself. Mags showed up to the train platform with a beautiful dress adorned with various elements from her District, such as fishing lines, hooks and pieces of fish nets. Her friendliness and grace also contributed to her popularity between sponsors.

From the station, tributes were taken to the peacekeeper headquarters, where they could be closely monitored and were to be evaluated. Several physical and psychological tests were administered to each of them, in order to get a better idea of their winning odds. Interviews took place like the previous year, with mandatory attendance for all tributes.

Some other tributes also got enough spotlight to get the attention of some sponsors, especially the ones that made the two big alliances of that year. The first one was comprised of the tributes from Districts 1 and 2, strong looking, brought together by their Capitol mentors. In another alliance, there were the boys from Districts 3, 5, 7 and 10, led by the boy from 5 - being the bulkier of the bunch, he would order the other weaker ones around.

There were also some smaller and quieter alliances, such as the one with Mags, her district partner Mako and the girl from District 10, Remora, who claimed her family was originally from District 4, but got stuck in 10 during the war. There was also an alliance between the girls from District 5 and 6, and another one between the pair from 9.

## Arena

### Overview

The new arena consisted of a small abandoned hydroelectric power plant, split in two parts: a corridor where the water runs through, with the floodgates facing north and the turbines further south; and the riverbanks, which were full of vegetation of various types, extending far out of view.

Near the floodgates, in the north,  the arena was bordered by high walls, while around the other sides there was an electrocuted barbed wire fence. In order to prevent any tributes from attempting an escape, Peacekeepers were positioned in strategic spots to cover all of the premises outside of the fence.

The tributes were positioned in a circle, exactly in the middle of the corridor, and the weapons were left scattered in the center. To escape, tributes could climb the steep terrain that would lead them to one of the river banks by using the giant vines and root trees that had taken over the power plant.

### Day 1

The Bloodbath was notorious for having the two bigger alliances hunting down the weaker tributes, avoiding to engage in a fight between each other. Seven tributes fell, including the girl from District 1. Her allies, now realising they were outnumbered, decided to run off to the riverbank to the east, abandoning the remainder of the weapons. This left the other big alliance, led by the boy from District 5, the chance to remain in the center, with full access to the weapons - adopting the strategy to guard them for the duration of the Games.

Meanwhile, Mags and her allies ran off without picking any weapon, deciding instead to hide amongst the vegetation on the west bank of the river, to where most surviving tributes also ran off.

### Day 2

On the second day, the alliance between Districts 1 and 2 tracked and hunted down the couple from District 9, which did not have any weapons to defend themselves with. Due to new factors in the Games such as the arena's size and openness, there was little to no action for most of the time.

### Days 3 and 4

Tributes soon realised that the arena did not offer any means for food or water. The girl from District 12 soon succumbed to dehydration, as she did not have any sponsors to help her. Mags' solution was to make baskets out of leaves, while her allies collected rainwater and set up improvised shelters. These behaviours were rather new in The Hunger Games, as the old Capitol Arena did not offer the opportunity for such, leaving the spectators intrigued and entertained. However, that did not last long - the audience soon got bored by the lack of action.

### Day 5

By the fifth day, when a second tribute succumbed from the lack of food or water, the Gamemakers decided to take action. This year also turning into a fiasco after the last was not an option, not after all the promises that had been made about revamping the Games and turning them into a proper spectacle, alongside the big investment that it was to build the Victor's Village and advertise the Games.

Adding to the boredom the Games were bringing to the spectators so far, the alliance of boys led by Proton seemed unwilling to take any action, limiting themselves to guarding the pile of weapons. The Gamemakers decided to turn on the turbines and open the floodgates, allowing a strong stream of water to go through the corridor.

Caught by surprise, both the alliance and their weapons were dragged by the water into the turbines, giving the tributes a quick but gruesome death. All apart from Proton, from District 5, who was able to swim to the riverbank to save himself.

At the end of the day, the turbines were shut off and floodgates closed, returning the water to the canal which was accessible to the tributes to drink.

### Days 6 and 7

By the seventh day, the tributes still didn’t seem willing to engage in fights. To give more action to add to the success of the previous day, mutts were released secretly into the water canal leading to the corridor.

Boltsnapper, a species of electric eel with piranha teeth, was Dr. Gaul's latest project, engineered to attack in packs and discharge electricity. Once a prey is felt by its movements in the water or their smell, the mutt attacks by biting and electrocuting the victim until both tribute and mutt fall dead.

Three tributes fell victim to Boltsnappers: the girl from 5, the boy from 1 and the girl from 3. With their deaths, the other tributes realised staying by the water was no longer safe and started to avoid it - except for Mags and her allies. The three of them worked together to collect water using the baskets Mags had manufactured using the fishlines on her dress. It was then that Mako had an idea: to capture some of the mutts and use them as a weapon. The three tributes were able to catch and keep the two remaining mutts that were roaming the water, with Mags using accessories from her clothes to construct fishing hooks and then trapping the mutts in two big baskets woven by her.

### Days 8 and 9

On the 9th day, a gunshot caught everyone by surprise: the girl from District 7 fell by Proton’s hands, in an attempt to get sponsors, since no one knew anymore who to get water from the river safely, besides Mags and her alliance.

It was that same day that Mags thought of building a trap using the mutts, by hanging one of the baskets in a tree, using her wires on her dress to set it up in a way, that if a tribute was to walk through the wire, the basket would tip and mutt would fall on the tribute.

### Day 10

On the 10th day, it was announced to all tributes that the water was no longer dangerous and the water level was lowered to allow the tributes to walk from one side to the other, hoping to encourage tributes to move - especially the couple from District 2, Lazarus and Victorya, who were still isolated on the eastern side of the river. However, no one dared to cross, and the spectators were starting to get bored again.

Because both tributes from 2 were in a completely isolated side of the arena, away from other tributes, the Gamemakers decided to release hare-like mutts, engineered with the bite force of a pitbull, near the area where the tributes were located. Both were quickly found by the mutts, running towards the water. Lazarus hesitated by the edge of the corridor, afraid to jump down as he did not know how to swim. He ends up being caught by the mutts and eliiminated, while other tributes watched the scene from a distance. Victorya tried to cross the river by jumping into the water, but that was when Mako took the chance and threw one of the Boltsnappers they had kept in their baskets. The mutt woke from its slumber as it felt the movement in the water, quickly chasing towards Victorya and eliminating her.

At this point, only four tributes remained, three of them being Mags' alliance. They talked it over and decided they would stick together, since their last opponent was way stronger than any of them and could possibly be armed. They shared stones and tree branches to use as weapons, but they were of no use when Proton found them.

Knowing Mags was the audience's favorite, the boy focused on her first. Mako did not hesitate to block the attack, getting in front of Mags - however, Proton caught him by surprise, taking one of the knives he had hidden in his clothes and killed the boy. Panicking, Mags and Remora ran off towards the traps they had set. Remora was caught by Proton first, while Mags kept going towards the traps, as she was faster. Trusting it would work, she positioned herself in a way to attract the boy from 5 to the trap. When he walked through the line, the basket tipped over and the mutt fell on him. Mags turned her face away, not wanting to see the scene unroll, as her last opponent struggled against the mutt's fatal electric shock.

Mags Flanagan, from District 4, was then announced victor of the Eleventh Annual Hunger Games.

## Placings

* 1st - Maggs Flanagan (District 4) - victor.
* 2nd - Proton Rosengard (District 5) - killed by boltsnappers released in a trap placed by Maggs Flanagan (District 4) - day 10.
* 3rd - Remora Keslar (District 10) - killed by Proton Rosengard (District 5) with a knife - day 10.
* 4th - Mako LeBlank (District 4) - killed by Proton Rosengard (District 5) with a knife - day 10.
* 5th - Victorya Vaughn (District 2) - killed by boltsnappers released by Mako LeBlank (District 4) - day 10.
* 6th - Lazarus Thornbalt (District 2) - killed by pitbunnies - day 10.
* 7th - Moby Jupatim (District 7) - killed by Proton Rosengard (District 5) with a knife - day 9.
* 8th - Fiberne Overstreet (District 3) - killed by boltsnappers - day 7.
* 9th - Ken Golfetti (District 1) - killed by boltsnappers - day 7.
* 10th - Heidi Holzman (District 5) - killed by boltsnappers - - day 7.
* 11th - Aranor Brandt (District 3) - killed by the turbines after being dragged by the water flow released from the hydropower plant gates - day 6.
* 12th - Colter Dreyfuss (District 10) - killed by the turbines after being dragged by the water flow released from the hydropower plant gates - day 6.
* 13th - Kaius Pruce (District 7) - killed by the turbines after being dragged by the water flow released from the hydropower plant gates - day 6.
* 14th - Uli Herzner (District 6) - died from falling from a tree after feeling weak from dehydration - day 5.
* 15th - Marie Chomura (District 12) - died from dehydration - day 4.
* 16th - Sosa Ben Williams (District 9) - killed by Lazarus Thornbalt (District 2) with a machete - day 2.
* 17th - Emilio Bandle (District 9) - killed by Ken Golfetti (District 1) with a sword - day 2.
* 18th - Lapis Lazuli Mikitan (District 1) - killed by Emilio Bandle (District 9) with a machete - bloodbath.
* 19th - Rami March (District 12) - injured with an axe by Kaius Pruce (District 7) and killed by Proton Rosengard (District 5) with a sword - bloodbath.
* 20th - Melissa Vosoric (District 8) - killed by Victorya Vaughn (District 2) with a spear - bloodbath.
* 21th - Jerell Sarabate (District 6) - killed by Proton Rosengard (District 5) with a sword - bloodbath.
* 22th - Irina Shabayeva (District 11) - killed by Lazarus Thornbalt (District 2) with a knife - bloodbath.
* 23th - Momolu Diederich (District 11) - killed by Lazarus Thornbalt (District 2) with a knife - bloodbath.
* 24th - Wade Gallagher (District 8) - killed by Ken Golfetti (District 1) with a sword - bloodbath.

## Victory Tour

The Victory Tour happened for the first time this year, starting from District 12 until District 1 in reverse order, except for the District of the victor, which is saved for last.