#apogtraining

I want to do something crazy. Something me. Well, you know, me enough without getting an ass whooping. So far I have done great. Sure I pissed off Carly Beth and maybe Clifton, but no heads have been broken yet. I can't ruin it now, doing something stupid. Believe me, I'm itching. I just don't think its worth it, especially with Caradoc and my life on the line and the potential satisfaction of the Coalition coming. 

I don't remember how many laps I swam before I start thinking  about the even bigger problem. The Coalition expects both Caradoc and I alive after the Games. I have two options. Or three, depending how I look at it. I could fake my death. Again. Not a very good idea especially since my face is circulating in Panem's system under two different names. A third would definitely have them asking questions.  I could find some bitch to pretend to be me if I die. That would be suitable, but who could I possibly find in this short amount of time...  Or I could let the Coalition win. I could let Cara and I die. I could let the Coalition be happy. I could swallow my fucking pride.

 Like hell I would do that. This is me who they were fucking with. The girl who survived roaming around Panem! The bitch who made them the wealthiest fucking gang ever to grace Panem. There's no fucking way I'm letting them win. Maybe if I just spoke the gamemakers... Better yet? Why don't I get the Capitol to annihilate them? That's revenge enough for me - I could die happy. 

The trainer waves me to come over. I swim until I can hear him somewhat. "5 minutes, 29 seconds!" He says. I wave, and dive back under the water. There won't be two winners this year. Especially with Shamus and his useless, knocked up girlfriend having won the games last year. I sigh under the water, the giant bubbles rising to the surface signally my defeat. 

The movements were familiar and comforting. Letting the memories of my brothers teaching me for the first time when I was ten, and then working with me on the weekends, hidden away in the basement of the power plant in order to keep it a secret from my mom.

As I worked over the bag, I let my mind drift back to my brothers. What were they doing now? Were they safe? Happy? Well, not happy, but in a relative sense, okay? The look on Torque's face when I had been Reaped was one I had never seen before.

Pascal was the most level headed of all of us, and I doubted he would cause to much trouble, but Flux had always been a loose cannon. The best I could hope for was that Torque and Pascal would keep him from doing anything stupid. 

I could feel my frustrations grow the more I thought about it. All of this shit was so fucking unfair. It was unfair that I was here, and that I was away from my family and friends. That my future had been basically stolen away from me and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it but letting my frustrations out on the bag helped. 

I went into the changing room and put on the swimming trunks I was given by the trainer. They fit snuggly, but I could move enough to stay afloat.

Now swimming isn't my strongest area of expertise. I can stay afloat, sure, but I am not the best at swimming fast or in good form. I was way better on land. I wish there was such a thing as land sharks and not sea sharks, so I wouldn't have any reason to learn how to swim fast. 

But I still needed to practice for a bit. With the swamp and rainforest biomes present, I feel like there will be water in some capacity, so it would be best to remember how to swim. 

My feet padded against the tiles of the ground surrounding the swimming pool and I felt the water cool my skin. I climbed onto this raised platform and readied myself for the full immersion of my body into cool water. 

On the count of three, I dived into the water. My form was poor and most of my stomach hit the water with my arms. I shook my head underwater, annoyed with myself. 

I broke the surface of the water sending more ripples towards the sides of the pool. With a bit of determination I set a plan to do 5 laps without stopping. 

My hands lifted above me and I started with the front crawl. The rhythm of the movements soon became easier and it allowed my mind to wander a bit. 

My mom had told me when she called me the night before the Reaping she would come and visit me in the Training Centre. Well, I was almost ready to do my private training and interviews and she hadn't come. I wasn't really that surprised, but a part of me was still a bit disappointed. If I could sigh underwater I would. Whatever. Maybe once I win this thing she'll be more inclined to come see me and spend less time at her stupid Capitol parties. 

Speaking of winning, I think I had a pretty good chance this year. Based on skill alone, I was definitely one of the top contenders. Even Nausicaa told me that I was one of the favourites. I wonder what my odds are. Maybe 2 to 1 or 1 to 1. 

Before I knew it, I had finished the laps I was planning to do. I climbed out of the pool and sat on the edge with a towel around my neck. I swirled my feet around in the pool for a little bit. I was taking it a bit easier today, considering my hectic day yesterday. 

The trainer set me up with a pair of gloves he said would fit me best.  Tatum grabbed her own and we moved onto the bags.  I looked up at the screen to figure out what the proper stance was.  Like I said, I knew how to throw a punch, but if there was a better way to do it, I wanted to learn how.  I bent my knees a bit and focused in on the punching bag.  After a few moments, I slammed my fist into the center.  Nothing happened.  I don’t know what I was expecting, for the bag to go flying off it’s chain like I was some superhero?  That wasn’t likely even for a Career.

“Keep going,” Tatum urged.  I punched the bag again, and again, and again, but every time, it didn’t budge.  Eventually, trainer walked over, obviously noticing I was having some trouble.  He grabbed my arm. 

“Use your whole arm.”  He instructed.  “Use the strength of all your muscles and your shoulder.”    He punched the back and it swung.  As it swung back towards him he punched it again.  I nodded, eager to try.  I punched it as hard as I could, and it still wasn’t moving.  I sighed in frustration.

“C’mon Tess, you can do it.”  She said, looking over at me.  “Remember what we did last time?  When you couldn’t do something?  We changed it up,” She reminded me.  “You just have to do something different.  Try a different approach.”  I nodded.  “Stop trying so hard to focus and just go at it.  Let loose, go crazy.”  She smiled.  “Be Tessa.” 

I rolled my eyes but I knew what she meant.  She was right.  I stood in front of the back and slammed my fist into it.  I yelled, smashing in my other fist, and rapidly repeating my hits.  I even kicked the bag a few times.  I didn’t even care that I was grunting and probably making a fool of myself.  I was determined to beat this bag to a pulp.  

After a few minutes, I stopped to catch my breath.  I looked at the bag as it gently rocked back and forth.  I breathed heavily, and started to laugh as I realized how ridiculous I had probably just looked, but hey, I did what I came to do.  I looked up at Tatum, who had a stupid grin on her face.  

“What would I do without you?”  I asked jokingly.

“Go insane, probably.” She teased.  

“Hey, that’s not funny.” I said, but soon my lips formed into a smile.

“Just keep going you goof.”  Tatum smiled.  I nodded and fixed my gloves before continuing to punch the bag. I kept going until the lunch bell rang.  I had plans to eat with everyone in the suite, so I cleaned up and headed up their with Tatum.

“You did good sis.”  She said with a smile.  I smiled back.

The trainer nodded and suggested that I learn the armbar and shoulder lock, easy and effective ways to dislocate or break an opponent's arm.  He explained that this move will help me disable opponents larger and stronger than myself, a helpful tactic since many of the other male tributes here are larger than me.  The moves pit full body leverage versus brute force and muscle.  I keep this in mind in case I ever come across Zeke in the arena and he's still pissed at me for getting him in trouble with Xanthus.

He began to demonstrate to me with a dummy, locking his legs across its chest and hyperflexing its arm in an unnatural and painful position.  Had that dummy been alive, I would imagine the arm snapping instantaneously before it could try to tap out.  After the trainer had given his demo, he motioned for me to try.  Mimicking his actions, I do the same as the trainer does to the dummy and I practice securing my legs in the correct positions.  Then, I practice shifting my weight correctly so as to effectively pop the arm out.

At the end, the trainer advised that I should consider ambushing the armed opponents when using this move in order to nullify the advantage of having weapons.  I nodded and keep all this in mind.

First, I asked to learn how to make traps that involve rope.  I explained that I had some extensive knowledge of knots (the trainer nods and smiles) and I ask if I could take that to another level.  He suggested that I try using more than just rope by including other materials.  He also added that most the knots that he's seen me do or more than sufficient for trapping and binding.

The first trap that we tackled is the tree spring noose trap, a trap that literally springs to catch prey.  The trainer explained that this is the trap that is most often seen in media and all the Capitol shows.  He handed me some rope, sticks, and a knife.  Using a faux branch, he taught me what to look for, how to set it up, how to tie it down, and how to camouflage it.  My art skill lacked a bit and the trainer jokingly suggested that I give the camouflage station a visit.  I decided that that might be a good idea.  Pretty soon, I was able to make the trap consistently of various sizes within six minutes without guidance or mistakes.

I'm surprised how well I do. I quickly find a rhythm, reaching for closet branch, pulling myself up, reaching again, and so on. Before I know it I'm as far up as possible on the swamp tree. From below the trainer claps his hands together, signaling his approval. 

During the next hour I climb roughly four more trees. The trainer tells me I seem to have trouble coming down the trees rather than going up. I listen to this advice he has to offer. I'm not afraid of heights, but I suppose I'm weary of the danger climbing down a tree has to offer. 

I don't want to leave the station yet, however. Inside I decide to work on raft building and fishing. Building the raft proved complicated. The wooden planks needed to be secured with elaborate knots in various places. I'll have to spend sometime learning about knots in order for me to skillfully craft a suitable raft. After a few tries the trainer gives me an okay. I ask him about knots, mainly to see if he has anything to offer, but he instructs me to find a trainer named Chelsea. It's getting to late for that. I'll probably go in the morning. 

I ask the trainer to accompany me on my raft while I fish. It's a sedentary active, one that I would normally find boring. But with the start of the games actually approaching, I find myself able to appreciate it. Plus, how could I hate an activity that provides food?

The trainer was kind and patient with me, but was soon impressed by how quickly I picked up the tricks.  Making a fire wasn't the same as playing and performing with fire.  Using shrubbery and green leaves, I discovered that I could smoke out a predator, or a tribute, or use it as a smoke signal.  When I lit my pile of fresh greenery, I nearly set off the smoke detector, forcing me to fan it off, which kinda made it worse.  I laughed as the trainer dumped a bucket of sand on it.

Then we started working on creating a fire with common objects like some rock and flint, a mirror, metal scraps.  I found the mirror to be the easiest but it was also the one that took the longest to create a spark.  When we did bonfires on the beach, we just used a match and gasoline.  Simple and easy.  But it was nice to learn how to light fires in other ways.

After that, we tried expanding the fire and learning how to control it. Moving from simple shrubbery and dried leaves, the trainer handed me some logs to use.  It was similar to making a bonfire, except bonfires didn't focus on control of the size or anything.  In the arena, though, it'll be important to know how to maintain the flames without attracting attention.