The Nord sang a little prayer to Mara as he splashed water on his face. I must look my finest, he thought, smiling, because that mer is stubborn. But what a gift from the Divines! A woman of integrity and honor, and ravishing as well!

His room was fairly large, consisting of not only a bed and a closet for clothes, but also a mannequin for storing his armor and several small shrines. He moved away from the basin of fresh water in the corner and to a shrine shaped vaguely like a sword planted in the ground.

"Great and mighty Talos," he prayed earnestly, "let my Thu'um be strong, my feet swift, and my sword sharp."

He sat on the bed and waited for the call. It didn't take long.

"Dovahkiin," stated the characterless voice. "You may now exit through your door. It will lead to the prep room with your team."

The Dragonborn rose, and, taking his helmet, he walked through the door. The prep room was incredibly wide, and down its length were various piles and racks of equipment that belonged to the other members of his team, who were also emerging. He put on his horned helm, iron bracers, boots, and tunic. He noticed that there were no weapons, but realized that those must be at the cache that the Master of Games mentioned. It didn't matter, for the Dovahkiin was as well-armed with his voice as he was with any sword. He walked down the wide room toward the mage who requested that he join.

"Aah, yes. The Dragon-Born, if I'm not mistaken," The old man said and puffed on a pipe.

"It is as you say, great mage. You said that you would explain the true purpose of this Grand Combat."

Another of the team members approached. The thin man wore an elaborate white robe with a hood pointed like the mouth of a dragon.

"Sí, Signore Gandalf. You had better make this worth our time and allegiances."

The wizard surveyed the other warriors. The Spartan king Leonidas heeded his call, and the magical and mouse-like Pikachu had found Gandalf trustworthy.

"Now that you're all here, I can explain. It doesn't take much to realize that our presence here is no technological occurrence. Such transport across dimensions and planes of existence is only capable through the highest kind of supernatural power."

The hooded man caught on.

"So, this is all the work… of a god?"

"Correct, Ezio. And not a particularly benevolent one either. Most of our universes have pantheons of some sort. There are all of your basic representative deities; the sky, the sea, the earth, and so on. But a consistency through all of these are taboo and bizarre deities. Corrupt, unearthly, and ancient, these elder gods are not found in most pantheons. They are worshipped by outsiders. Cults, the insane, and the like. Their feuds for power are particularly bitter. We are in the midst of one."

The warriors nodded, and Gandalf continued.

"The Great Old One Cthulhu and his brother, Hastur, have been fighting each other since the day their tendrils sensed the other's presence. Cthulhu, the smarter and weaker of the two managed to just about kill his brother off. Hastur is a being of pure malevolence, so logically the very presence of strife makes him stronger. It is my belief that, with whatever strength he had left, Hastur summoned us here to battle so that we will heal him."

"And how should we respond to this? We cannot avoid combat," the Dovahkiin questioned.

"My best answer is to feel as little hate toward your opponent as possible. It may not help much, but it may be the least we can do." Gandalf said with an air of despair.

The Dovahkiin's thoughts turned at once toward the lovely Miss Short. Surely, that would be one opponent he couldn't bring himself to hate. The doors of the prep room unlocked, and the team filed through onto the most bizarre skyline the Nord had ever seen. The sun was setting behind a mess of massive buildings.

"Is this… a city of the Divines?"

"Perhaps," the wise mage figured.

"What is our plan of battle? We should have made some decision before the sun sets," queried Leonidas, the resident tactician.

Ezio stared at the long road in front of them that led into the heart of the city.

"For now, we walk."

***

Every step was a nightmare. That little slab of sidewalk, would it give way to a bottomless pit? Could that streetlamp find a clever way to impale her? Katniss couldn't help but thinking of the awful slog through the streets of the Capitol. Every block at the cost of another life, any progress made balanced by bloodshed.

"Katniss, you okay?"

The voice of Amuro snapped her into reality, and narrowly stopped her from running into a stop sign.

"Oh! I… no. No. I'm not okay."

The boy seemed a little off-put by her response.

"Well, I guess you have your reasons. We all do, don't we?"

"Shut up back there," hissed Holly. She was leading the little file of warriors, with the adolescents behind her and Date and Chuck at the rear. They all felt a bit more vulnerable without their favorite weapons. Holly, Amuro, Chuck, and Date had no weapons at all. Katniss had only the knife that had seen her through the Seventy-Fourth Games, and had it in a white- knuckle grip since they had begun travelling. That knife wasn't enough. She had to get a bow. For so long, a bow was sustenance, companionship, protection. It was empowerment in a bleak world. Being in harm's way without one made her feel naked.

"How are we going to find the weapons cache?" Katniss whispered, hoping for simple directions to her bow.

"Do I look like I know any more than you? By Frond," the elf sighed.

"Now keep it down. We don't want to get caught unprepared." Holly brought them to a stop at an intersection. The whole city was empty and silent. She really hoped that there wouldn't be a sudden sound of footsteps that weren't theirs- there wasn't. Good. We're in the clear.

Something hit Holly's head, prompting her to draw her Neutrino- which wasn't there. Date stooped to the ground and picked up the object responsible. It was a wad of paper, weighted with something inside. He opened up the paper and handed the contents to Katniss. A Mockingjay pin. Our token. Figures. She threaded it into her jacket.

"Well, we've got our team's token. Those directions?" Holly inquired of the samurai.

"Yes. Unfortunately, it appears to be in a riddle."

"Always a catch, isn't there?"

"'Within knowledge, strength'."

"Knowledge. Like… a library." Mr. Chuck reasoned.

"Well, that's not going to fly. I think I've got books I haven't returned in months," said Holly, leaving a pause. No one laughed.

"You're no fun."

The team set off toward the setting sun, keeping an eye out for libraries. They continued until the last few rays of sunlight licked the tallest of the buildings. Still nothing.

"Should we set up camp, or something?" Amuro suggested.

Katniss concurred. "Sounds like a plan to me." The team found what appeared to be a coffee shop and scuttled inside. Chuck began to fire up one of the espresso machines. Holly found an incredibly tacky couch to kick back on, the warrior Masamune picked a wall to lean against, and Amuro and Katniss sat down at a cast-iron table with an intricate design. However, as the team began to expect, the respite was interrupted by the Master of Games' voice.

"Good evening, Contestants! I trust you are all making progress. I just wanted to fill you in on a last-minute rule change."

"You've got to be joking," moaned Katniss, who was in the process of getting some shut-eye.

"I've decided to add a fourth team of five, just to mix things up a bit! Careful, though, as these bad dudes are really nasty! And it sure looks like they've already got their weapons and are closing in on one of your teams now! Well, that's all for now. Good luck- you'll need it."

The team members became deathly silent. Cautious glances were cast out the window and around the room. No sign of a new or deadly enemy. Amuro was about to rest his head back down on the table when he noticed the mug Chuck had been sipping espresso from. Three red dots decorated the side.

Not decorations. It's a laser sight! His mind was filled with visions of explosions and energy beams. He leapt up from the table, flung himself over the counter, and knocked Chuck down only an instant before the beam he had seen in his mind ripped through the coffee shop and turned a hot cup of espresso into dust. The team members scampered to their feet and prepared for combat as best they could.

From outside, there was an awful roar accompanied by steady footfalls. Holly saw the source first- a Tyrannosaurus rex. It rounded the corner of the street and came to a stop by the shattered window of the shop. Its beady red eyes glared in, taking note of each cowering warrior. Then, to everyone's surprise, it spoke.

"What's this? One of our opposing teams? And they haven't even gotten their weapons yet, how sad! I believe I have more pressing matters to attend to, like securing that wizard's little entourage, yesss."

The little team's fear kept them quiet.

"Shaking in your boots, yesss? You'll have more reason for that soon. Predator! Kill them all."

The ridiculously-colored dinosaur strode off, leaving the team confused.

"Predator- you mean like-" Mr. Chuck was cut off by rapid action on the part of Holly Short. She dashed to the center or the room, wound up, and punched at midair. The little fist connected, and Holly really regretted it. Firstly, it caused the massive creature to decloak and scare the living daylights out of the teenaged team members, and secondly, because it really hurt her hand.

The dreadlocked alien swatted the petite elf aside, sending her crashing through displays of fine South American coffees. Date and Chuck gave each other a nod and moved to flank the beast, but it moved with horrifying speed toward the samurai. Within moments, the masked creature had pinned Date to the ground. It raised an arm as if to punch him, only to flick out a pair of deadly-looking blades. It cackled with delight.

Mr. Chuck would not let that last, as he delivered a karate strike that would have killed a human onto the creature's broad, exposed back. It wailed awfully and rolled along the ground, getting up to face the martial artist. The plasma caster on its shoulder popped up and began to whine. Three red dots centered on his chest.

The next few moments seemed to play out like an orchestra's big fourth-movement high point. Chaotic shouts from the team to duck were followed by the sound of breaking glass and rapid, heavy footfalls. Chuck swung his legs out from underneath him as a wall of sage-green metal soared overhead at fifty miles per hour. The massive power-armored man tackled the Predator with such force that they sailed into the building across the street. There was a brief calm as the battered team attempted to figure out what just happened. For an instant, no one knew how to react. But something inside Katniss clicked into place. Her scattered, meandering thoughts assembled themselves into a single, clear message. SURVIVE.

"WE NEED TO MOVE, NOW! GO GO GO GO GO!" she barked, taking herself by surprise. She was already sprinting out the door and onto the street in the direction of the tackled Predator. She hung a left and kept running full tilt down the street and toward the nearest intersection. Craning her neck back revealed that the others were following her lead. Good, she thought. Sticking together. Strength in numbers. She was all the way to the intersection before she noticed their amazing luck: the building on the corner was clearly marked

CENTRAL LIBRARY

She gave what she hoped was a coherent command for let's go in there, but she realized it was probably just senseless arm-flailing. Upon approaching the door, she saw that this was no ordinary library. The doors were of the heavy, armored strong-bolt type that was generally used to keep her from a place she would rather be. With a hard yank, she pulled the door open, let the team sprint inside, swung herself in and shut it tight. Presently she could hear nothing but her own heart racing. She caught her breath and looked around.

The doors weren't the only special thing about this library. There were, in fact, no books in it at all. There were a few racks of weapons close behind the door, but the room was mostly empty, with the exception of some large struts at the far end that seemed to be some sort of lift system. The fluorescent lighting flickered a little across the bare concrete floor.

"Way to take some initiative there, Katniss!" Holly patted the dazed girl on the back.

"Tell you what," the elf continued while holstering a Neutrino blaster, "we need a team name. I figure since we all owe you, at least a little,"

She clipped a utility belt into place.

"You can pick out something catchy."

"Does it matter if it's original?"

"I don't think the computers are grading that."

"Well… they already gave us a Mockingjay pin as our token."

"So," affirmed Holly as she clasped the strap of a helmet under her chin, "Team Mockingjay it is! Whatever that means."

"Is everything going to be bird-themed with her?" called Amuro, who was standing by an elevator on the far left side of the building.

"'Cause if it is, I'm going to be sorely disappointed."

He tapped the only button there and slid through the doors. The elevator whirred loudly as it descended.

"Where's he headed?" questioned Chuck as he adjusted the sight on an automatic handgun.

"He said he was a pilot," mentioned Katniss. "Maybe the plane's downstairs. I think he said it had a name, something odd."

A whirring much louder than the elevator stopped the conversation as the floor past the weapon racks slid open. The huge lift rose, supporting what appeared to be a giant warrior clad in white metal.

"It's called a mobile suit," confirmed Amuro over the machine's loudspeaker. "And this one's code-named Gundam."

"Wait- you're in that thing?" cried Katniss in disbelief.

"I said I was a pilot. Guess none of you guys' universes had anything remotely like a mobile suit."

Team Mockingjay took some time to mutter in disbelief.

"Is it fast?" questioned Holly.

"Yes. I've piloted faster, but in its day, the Gundam was untouchable."

Katniss had been fiddling with her bow, which she was pleased to find was her old one from District 12. She strung an arrow and let it fly toward the mechanical monstrosity. Date and Holly jumped a little at the sudden response, then moved out of the way as the girl strode over to where the arrow had hit. It had bounced off the machine's lower leg.

"Didn't even scratch the paint- what this thing made of, anyway?"

"Lunar titanium. Finest light armor of the One-Year War!"

Gods, thought Holly. The Mud Men mined the bloody moon! There would be demon riots if that happened in my universe.

"Well," said Date, sliding a katana into its sheath. "We're ready to move out."

Katniss shook her head. "This place's indestructible. We hole up here for the night."

Date was prepared to argue about the chain of command, but how tired he was caught up to him.

"Fine then, archer-girl. Wake me in an hour so I can take my shift on guard," he muttered while finding a good spot on the wall to lean against. The other team members tucked in around the feet of the Gundam, which provided a decent sloping surface to lie on. Katniss strung an arrow and began the long wait for her shift to be over.