━━ chapter seven
worst in show

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    ━━"Yes, Hookfang!" Snotlout cheered loudly as he snatched up the sack dummy from the boat. He and his Monstrous Nightmare shot straight back up into the air in just seconds flat and Fishlegs glanced at the sun-dial, begrudgingly impressed. "Victory loop!"

    Valkyrie grumbled, arms crossed. He was not supposed to get better. Snotlout wasn't supposed to be competition. He was supposed to be easy to beat.

    Hiccup arched a brow, surprised. "You know," he said and Val glanced at him, "I hate to admit it, but Snotlout actually looks like he's worked on his rescue training."

    Suddenly, Hookfang turned in midair and jetted straight down to the ocean. Snotlout's screams were dampened by the water as they ducked right under. Astrid snickered, "Eh, I wouldn't say that," she smirked and she and Valkyrie shared a high-five.

    They reappeared at the bottom of the sea-stack, shooting up at a full vertical before landing. Snotlout was a little pale in his shock before he shook out the water in his air like a dog and chucked the rescue dummy onto the ground. "Another victim saved!"

    The head of the dummy ripped away. Zephyr winced for Snotlout.

    "Yeah," muttered Fishlegs, rolling his eyes. "You got the victim part right."

    "Shut up, Fishface!" he veered Hookfang back into the line on the seastack in between Valkyrie and Hott. "Big deal. So his head fell off. It's not like he's on fire or anything." Hearing the word, Hookfang set fire to the sack dummy before jumping forward and stamping it out. Snotlout glowered at his dragon and then Fishlegs's smug face. "Shut up, Fishlegs."

    "Well," Astrid smirked, "I guess it's my turn now━Stormfly, sky!"

    They launched up and around. Hovering near the base of the sea stack, Astrid leapt off and to the bottom rocks. She gestured for the Nadder to get back into the sky and spread out her fingers. She motioned to the rock and Stormfly squawked before jettting out volleys of spikes for Astrid to climb. As she got higher and ran out, the Nadder kept throwing out more and more until she reached the top.

    Valkyrie pursed her lips, seeing her jump back up with the rest of them, very proud of herself. She'll have to watch out for her, as always. Valkyrie rubbed her hand down the scales of Zephyr's neck, and he let out a competitive growl.

    "Great work, Astrid," Hiccup grinned. Val sat up straight, arching a brow at him. He frowned at her━Hiccup was innocent to the competition the others were apart of. He didn't even need to try; he had a Night Fury, he was immediately the top. The rest of them had to work to be second and the best out of their group.

    Snotlout scoffed, "'Great Work'? Pfft! Try lame work. Hello?!" he gestured to Stormfly who landed next to Astrid. "Flying dragon? Might be a little quicker to get to the top of the sea stack."

    "What if your victim is trapped on the side of the cliff and your dragon can't get you close enough?" Astrid quirked a brow, hands on her hips. "You ever think of that?"

    Snotlout crossed his arms, "Yes!" he argued before going red. "No. Shut up, Astrid."

    "Okay!" Hiccup eyed Snotlout, a little incredulous, "Hott. Looks like you're up."

    Hott cracked his knuckles. "Be prepared to be amazed━!" then he and Spikemoth hit the sky.

    Tuffnut wiped away a fake tear from his cheeks on Belch's saddle, "He's fitting in so well."

    Ruffnut gave him a pat on the back, "The Little Frode is growing up."

    Hott heard them, "I'm fourteen!" he shouted from above as he spun Spikemoth around. "Spikey━let's go!"

    And like that, he stood onto the back of his dragon. Valkyrie's breath hitched, and she froze, rushing to the edge. Her heart raced for her brother, wondering what in the name of Thor he was doing━

    With amazing balance, her brother managed to stay on the saddle as Spikemoth as she got faster and faster towards the sea-stack where he had pre-set a sack-dummy. Waiting until the right moment, Hott leapt off and landed running. He snatched up the dummy and met his dragon on the other side, jumping back onto the saddle and they spun back towards the others.

    "Take that!" he landed back down, setting the dummy gently with a smug wink to Snotlout. "Head attached and all."

    Snotlout narrowed his eyes at him, trying to think of a comeback but ended up just saying, "Shut up, Hott."

    "Where did you learn that?" Astrid asked, quite impressed.

    Hott shrugged, pleased with the attention, "Spikey and I love to learn new tricks."

    Valkyrie refused to show how impressed and proud of her brother she was. "I think it's my turn, now, and you are going down, Hott."

    Hiccup frowned at the tone, but she didn't let him ask anything, nodding Fishlegs to start timing her. Then, her and Zephyr took to the sky. Prepared to show off, she tilted them back and over so they soared down backwards.

    Snotlout grumbled a, "Show off."

    Valkyrie tapped a pattern on Zephyr's neck as they travelled to the ocean. He understood and spun them out of the dive to shoot right across the ocean so fast the water parted. She decided to actually do her trick, now, racing back up and towards the sea stack.

    Snotlout frowned up at her, "That was your trick? Please, Val━"

    Valkyrie grinned, "Zephyr━" she pointed to the Jorgensen, "━fetch!"

    He bobbed his head, excited and they dived down a vertical. Snotlout screamed when he was grabbed from his saddle and into Zephyr's claws. Valkyrie laughed, pulling Zephyr back and he extended his wings. They turned around back to the others, dropping Snotlout onto the grass and landing gracefully.

    Valkyrie flexed her shoulders, batting her eyelashes, "You were saying, Snotlout?"

    He crossed his arms from where he sat on the ground, "Shut up, Val."

    "Well done, Val," Hiccup smiled at her, and she scratched Zephyr fondly as a good job.

    Next to go was Fishlegs. He had Meatlug hover into the air high above. With a shout, he called down from the skies, "I call this the stop, drop━"

    Meatlug folded her wings.

    Like a rock, she and Fishlegs fell right back down to the sea stack where Snotlout was still composing himself on the grass. Looking up, he screamed and prepared to be flattened except the Gronckle and her rider stopped, hovering just over him.

    "━and hover!"

    Hiccup grinned, "I like it, Fishlegs!"

    "Oh, come on!" Snotlout whined from the shadow of Meatlug. "That's not rescuing. That's falling!"

    "Actually," Fishlegs patted Meatlug knowingly, "this is falling."

    He dropped and slumped right onto Snotlout. He groaned, flattened. His fist stretched out from under Meatlug's belly towards his dragon, "Hookfang━" he clenched it into a fist, "━rescue!"

    The Monstrous Nightmare just growled and took flight, leaving his rider. Snotlout dropped his fist with a yell of, "Thank you!"

    Hiccup sighed but turned to the Twins, "Okay, guys, you wanna show us your rescue skill now?"

    Tuffnut grinned, "Sure!"

    He and Ruff didn't move. They just sat on their saddle, staring at the horizon.

    The rest of the Riders were perplexed.

    "Uh ..." Hiccup scratched his head, "so ... let's see it?"

    "Uh, you are seeing it?" said Tuff, chuckling at him as if he was stupid.

    Ruff flicked one of her baids over her shoulder, "Pretty cool, huh?"

    "Our rescue skull is not falling off this sea stack. That way, no actual rescue is necessary!"

    "Ta━da━!" in her triumph, Ruff accidentally kocked Tuff right off his saddle. His screams slowly got softer and softer as he landed into the water below. She winced after him, "We're ... still working out the kinks."

    Finally left to show his rescue trick was Hiccup. Taking to the sky with Toothless, he beat them all with a showcase of rolls and multiple blasts that destroyed the Outcast targets he set without a single miss.

    Valkyrie smiled, clapping for her boyfriend. Seeing her, Snotlout threw his head back, annoyed

    "Oh, come on!" he snapped, "That's not even a rescue skill!"

    She crossed her arms at him as Hiccup returned.

    "Of course, it is," said Fishlegs. "You always need cover fire during a rescue. Everyone knows that. Very impressive, Hiccup."

    Snotlout rolled his eyes, "Hey, Fishlegs. You need some help getting your nose out of Hiccup's━"

    "Snotlout!"

    "It's okay, Hiccup," Fishlegs said calmly. "He's just mad because he was dead last in the rescue competition. But what else is new?"

    Hiccup froze. He stared at them all, finally realising why they were all so determined to even get out here so early in the morning. "Uh, guys," he reminded them, "this isn't a competition."

    Hott scoffed and Tuffnut said, "Uh, yes it is."

    His sister nodded, agreeing, "You know, they say competition is the very essence of life itself."

    Astrid and Valkyrie stared at her in shock.

    Eventually, the blonde said, "It's true ... weird that she said it like that, but it's true. It's always a competition."

    "Always," added Valkyrie, jutting her hip out.

    "We are a team," said Hiccup, gesturing to them all. "Everyone has a role. No one person is better or more important than another."

    The lot of them broke out into laughter. Hiccup stared, taken aback.

    "You really don't buy that, do you?" said Snotlout through his hysterics.

    "Uh, I do, actually. Yes!" he propped his hands on his hips, eyeing them all in shock. "Wait, do you all feel the way Snotlout does?"

    Valkyrie pursed her lips, making a face he knew was a yes but she didn't want to say it. He sighed, pinching his brow.

    "Hiccup," said Fishlegs. "You ride Toothless, a Night Fury. And the Night Fury is the top of the charts for intelligence, speed, accuracy, and ... well ... everything." Meatlug growled up at him and he quickly wrapped her up in a hug. "No offense, girl."

    Snotout leaned back against Hookfang who had returned. "You wanna know what I think?"

    "No," they all said.

    He continued anyway, "I think we'll never know who the best dragon trainer is because we don't have a level playing field."

    Valkyrie arched a brow, he did have a point. Fishlegs tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Hang on a second ... what if we did have a level playing field? What if we could prove once and for all, who's got the skills and who doesn't?"

    Snotlout laughed again, "Oh, trust me, Fishface. You don't want that."

    "Oh, I think I do."

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    ━━"Terrible Terros? This is your level playing field?"

    The group of Dragon Riders all stared at the Terrible Terror heads that peeked out at them from the crate. They eyed them, tongues slithering out or sticking to their eyes. Fishlegs stood next to them smugly.

    "As a matter of fact," he said, "yes. We'll all choose a Terrible Terror and have a day to train it. And then we'll find out who's best."

    Snotlout burst out into laughter, doubling over and wiping away tears. Fishlegs watched him, unamused. "Oh, man," he chortled. "I can't keep a straight face."

    Fishlegs narrowed his eyes, "I fail to see the humour, Snotlout."

   Hiccup tried to step in before this got too far, but Valkyrie was already examining the Terrible Terror's to see which one had the most potential. "You guys, the point of all this is━"

    "You don't have a chance to win this, Fish-Face," Snotlout got into Fishlegs's face, "and you want to know why? Because there are readers, and there are doers. And while you've got your nose buried in the Book of Dragons, I'm out there kicking names and taking butt!"

    Hott frowned at him. "I think you meant that the other way around."

    "I mean ..." he flushed. "Shut up, Hott."

    Hiccup tugged at his hair, growing frustrated, "Uh━guys, come on━"

    "I'll tell you what, Snotlout," countered Fishlegs. "If you're so confident in your dragon training superiority ... why don't we make this interesting?"

    "All ears."

    "Losers clean the winner's stall ... for a month."

    "Done!"

    Valkyrie picked out her Terrible Terror, already picking her up into her arms, "I'm in!"

    Hiccup stared at her, disappointed, "Val━"

    "In," added Astrid, shoving forward to take a look herself.

    "Come on, we're not really going to do this, are we?"

    "I want the orange one!" Hott pushed in between the girls, taking the one that was a little cross-eyed. "All of you are going down. We━" he gestured between Val and himself, "━already live with trained Terrible Terrors. We are the superior trainers already."

    Snotlout laughed at him tauntingly, "Oh, please━Mak and Erik's Terrible Terrors don't even have half a brain! You all better strap on your helmets 'cause this guy right here ... he's bring the pain━" the purple Terrible Terror latched onto his arm and he cried out in pain. He tried to hide it with a set of his jaw. "Oh━Guess I'll take this one. Bringing the pain!"

    The Riders all took a Terrible Terror and left the Academy. Hiccup sighed and grabbed the smallest of the lot; a green Terror that eyed at him ferociously.

    "Remember!" he shouted at the leaving Riders. "Not a competition!" none of them said anything and he sighed, glancing down at the dragon in his arms. "This is really gonna go bad in a hurry."

    Val was still in ear shot, letting Zephyr sniff at the Terror she had picked. He sighed at her, trying to at least get to understand. "Val, you can't seriously think this is a good idea?"

    She glanced back at him, watching him approach her. "It could be fun," she stated simply.

    "You don't see what I'm seeing? Fishlegs and Snotlout━?"

    "It'll be fine," she stressed, facing him with a mischevious smirk. "And besides, I would love to have someone else muck out Zephyr's pen for once. This is good━we all have a common interest, and even the Twins will learn something from this."

    Hiccup frowned, "We should be focusing on training in case Alvin comes━"

    "Hiccup," Valkyrie set the Terrible Terror on the saddle and pouted her bottom lip at him, slumping her shoulders. "We train every day in case they come. I know━I know you're scared, and that you're worried, but ... let us have this? Have a break━to just, do something for fun, and not for the stress that we'll need it to save ours or others lives. Alvin can wait a day."

    Hiccup pursed his lips and thought about it, "Maybe your right," he mumbled. "Maybe everyone does need a little break."

    Val smiled, eyes lighting up. "You need a break," she told him, leaning in and kissing his cheek. "Especially when you will be cleaning Zephyr's stall for me."

    With that said, she pulled herself into her saddle, holding the Terror to her chest for stability. Winking at Hiccup, Valkyrie left and he was alone, the smile he had on his face falling.

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    ━━The next day, the Dragon Riders all returned with their Terrible Terrors, eager to show what they had taught them. All except Hiccup, who had his Terror, Sharpshot perched on his shoulder and sat down next to Toothless, watching the rest of them coax their dragons before the show with a frown on his face.

    Valkyrie scratched her Terror she named Rosewing under the chin, hearing Meatlug hobble in with a sheep gently set in her mouth (away from her teeth, of course). She made her way over to her rider, but he was too busy giving attention to his Terrible Terror, Iggy to give her the time of day. Val's shoulders slumped to see her eyes falter and she huffed, making her way to the edge of the arena and lying down. She spat the sheep out and he sat down beside her.

    Val remembered what Hiccup said━how this could go really wrong, and while she loved a competiton, she started to see his point. Fishlegs was so determined to beat Snotlout he was neglecting Meatlug, and she was a dragon who thrived on attention and love.

    She held up a hand to Zephyr, glad she hadn't neglected him. He leaned into her touch, purring.

    "Okay," Fishlegs set Iggy onto the barrel beside him. "Time to show off what we've trained our Terrible Terrors to do," he eyed Snotlout. "Why don't you go first, Snotlout."

    "Why don't you go first?" he crossed his arms, arching a thick brow.

    Fishlegs shrugged, "Fine. I'll go first."

    "Oh, no!" Snotlout didn't expect him to do that. "No, you don't━I'll go first!"

    "First, second, third ..." the pudgy Viking shrugged, eager, "doesn't matter. 'Cause in the end, you're gonna come last."

    "Whoa..." Tuffnut leaned in close to Valkyrie to say, "what got into Fishlegs? Looks like finally grew some ba━"

    "Whoa━!" Hiccup stopped him before he said too much. He stepped in between the two boys and announced, "How about I go first? Especially since I don't care whether I win or not because this isn't about winning or losing."

    "Yeah," Snotlout scoffed, "you keep selling that. Loser━" he finished in a sing-songy voice. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

    He held out his arm and Sharpshot flew to it, landing on his elbow. He peered at the wooden ducks set out on Toothless's wing. Hiccup nodded to his Night Fury, "Ready, Toothless? Now!" he flicked his wing and the ducks flew up into the air. "Sharpshot, fire!"

    The green Terrible Terror hit each one and they broke apart.

    Astrid crossed her arms, brow arched, "Not bad. You're starting off the competition with a bang, Hiccup."

    "It's not a competition!"

    Valkyrie frowned, recognising the ducks finally. "Hey ... aren't those your father's wood-work ducks? Does he know you just blasted them apart?"

    Hiccup met her gaze, and there was a sheepish smile on his face. Valkyrie scoffed, shaking her head. He didn't see this as a competition, but she was glad there was some part of him that allowed himself to be let loose and stop worrying about Alvin enough to put that effort in. She smiled back and held out a hand, motioning him to come over.

    "Ew," Tuffnut stepped away from her as Hiccup sat down at her side. He rolled his eyes at him and threw an arm over Valkyrie as she continued making her flower crown for Zephyr and Rosewing.

    It was Hott's turn next. He grinned as he set his Terrible Terror, Firestripe onto the ground and sat down with him. Snotlout scoffed, "What's this supposed to be━?"

    Hott shushed him with a finger, watching his Terror. Then, he whistled.

    Amazingly, the Terrible Terror copied his whistle to the exact pitch. He whistled a different tune, and he copied that, too. Valkyrie's eyes widened, surprised.

    "No way," she murmured as Hott gave Firestripe a small treat as a good job.

    He grinned, picking up the Terror and waving to them like he had just performed a stunning show. "Thank you, thank you. Please, die down the applause."

    Astrid rolled her eyes, "Don't get too cocky, yet, Frode. Your Terror may sing a nice tune, but look at this━" she held out her hands.

    Nothing happened.

    Hott arched a brow, "Look at what?"

    She propped her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes at him. "My dragon's stealth skills."

    He looked around him before meeting her gaze again, snickering. "Right. What━did he not just show up━whoa!" out of nowhere, the blue-green Terrible Terror was suddenly on Hott's head. He shouted in alarm. Astrid grinned, smug.

    Then, she was gone. Tuff laughed. He turned to his sister━ "Odin's Ghost!" She was now on Ruff's helmet, chirping happily. "Oh, she's good."

    Ruff hadn't noticed. "Yeah!" she frowned. "Who's good?" She heard the chirp and looked up. "Whoa!" she grinned. "Sneaky!"

    "What's your trick, Valkyrie?" Astrid quirked a brow at her favourite competitor.

    Val looked up, tying up her last flower for the crown. She had a few stems in her mouth with flowers drooping down past her chin. "What?" she said, voice muffled. "Oh, right. Hang on━" she took out the flowers and passed over the crown to Hiccup. Standing up, she turned to Rosewing. "Come on, girl."

    She followed her at her shoulder to the centre of the Academy. Fixing herself in the centre, Valkyrie rubbed her hands together for extra suspension before she clicked a quick signal. She brought her fingers up and down, and Rosewing understood. She chirped and took higher into the air. She stared to perform multiple tricks; flips and turns and spins, darting in and around Ruff and Tuff, around Hookfang's neck and under Spikemoth's underbelly at extreme speed before landing on Valkyrie's shoulder.

    She crossed her arms, proud.

    Fishlegs frowned at her, "How is that training your dragon?"

    His comment caught her off guard━it was harsh; not something she'd expect from him. "I picked Rosewing specifically for the strength in her wings," explained Valkyrie. "That naturally gives her more speed, which means she would be great in evasive manouvers for rescue. I thought ..." she glanced at Hiccup, frowning. "I thought we were using this as an addition to what we were doing beforehand; a little fun activity."

    Astrid arched a brow, taken aback by Fishlegs's tone, too. "I thought that, too." She was at Valkyrie's side, ready to defend her.

    Fishlegs scoffed, "Okay," he said, sounding quite like Snotlout━so much the Jorgensen arched a brow, shocked. "I don't know how Rosewing would be able to carry a rescue mission without knowing what she's searching for, but okay."

    Valkyrie stared at him, mouth open. "Okay," she mocked his tone. "Well, how about this━?" she raised a hand to slam it into his stomach, quite hurt by his words. She would have done it if Hiccup didn't motion for Zephyr to take her and bring her back. Valkyrie glared at Fishlegs as she dangled from Zephyr's jaw.

    Hiccup frowned at his friend, "That wasn't nice, Fishlegs. Valkyrie did a really good job."

    "I'm not making you a flower crown," she grumbled as she was set back down. She took the crown back from Hiccup and continued with much harsher movements.

    Tuffnut and Ruffnut were also there to defend Valkyrie. Tuff let out a strong, "Yeah! What Hiccup said! Then again, I bet you she can't do what Butt and Head can do."

    Valkyrie takes that back.

    She shot a scowl over at them, not in a good mood anymore, "Let me guess," she said dryly, "they're gonna run into each other?"

    Tuffnut made a noise in disagreement, like a honk from a goose. "Wrong."

    Butt and Head shot at each other, slamming their heads against one another and falling to the ground, dazed.

    Ruffnut nodded, proud, "They flew into each other."

    "Yeah, totally different."

    "Whatever," Valkyrie turned back to the flower crown and set it on Rosewings head. She began to work on one for Zephyr, feeling Hiccup's concerned gaze on her. That was when she felt him place a flower into the twist of her bangs into her braid. She met his gaze, and couldn't help but blush and smile softly; usually she always put flowers in his hair.

    "You were right," she then murmured, nodding at Fishlegs as he cleared his throat and approached the centre of the Academy. "I think this competition went a little too far for him."

    "You were right, too," said Hiccup, though. "I think I needed a little break, to be honest."

    "So, we're both right."

    "Yup."

    Valkyrie grinned. She liked that━them both being right. It meant no arguments, just a settled decision. She was tired of the arguments they've had recently. She leaned her head on his shoulder, continuing to make her flower crown.

    Fishlegs did do a very good job training his Terrible Terror. Iggy could correlate picture to object immacualetly. Whatever Fishlegs showed him on the card, he brought foward from the choices. He paised him with such affection it made Meatlug whimper from where she sat alone with her sheep. Valkryie's heart ached for her.

    Snotlout hated how good it was. "Big deal!" he chucked away the bucket Iggy brought and dropped onto his head. "So he plays fetch."

    "Well," Fishlegs arched a brow, "what does your Terrible Terror do?"

    "This!"

    Snotlout opened up the crate he brought with him. The purple Terror launched out and immediately latched his gums onto Snotlout's right leg. Terrible Terror had small teeth, almost invisible; but this one seemed to have such strength in his jaws he didn't need big teeth; he could latch on and not be pulled off.

    Snotlout growled with his pain, hobbling over to Fishlegs and pointing to the Terror as stiff as a javelin by his leg.

    Fishlegs laughed. "So ..." he chortled, unable to keep it in. Valkyrie didn't think he wanted to. "Let me get this straight: you trained him to bite you?"

    "Try and pry him loose," said Snotlout, holding out his leg. "I dare you. Took Gobber all day yesterday to get him off this leg━" he pointed to his left.

    "You're ridiculous," scoffed Fishlegs. He turned to Val and Hiccup sitting and watching. "Just tell them I won, Hiccup."

    Valkyrie sat up, frowning, "Whoa, hang on━I'm sorry━you won? You can't just say you won!"

    "You won?" Snotlout jabbed his finger at him. "Ha! Get real."

    "It wasn't even close!" argued Fishlegs. "Iggy is the smartest of all the dragons!"

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Astrid stepped forward. "My Terror's stealthiness is pretty awesome, too!"

    "Yeah! And Rosewing's manouvering was really intricate!" added Valkyrie.

    Fishlegs turned to them, sympathetic. "Astrid, Val, please, there is no brains involved teaching a Terror to hide and fly."

    "Excuse me?!" Valkyrie shot onto her feet, storming over with her eyes blazing with fury.

    "What about mine?" Hott gestured to Firestripe. "He is a master singer!"

    "Terrible Terrors sing all the time! It's annoying!"

    "Hey!" Ruffnut stepped forward, hands on her hips, "our trainees ram their heads together at high speed. That takes brains!"

    "Yeah!" added Tuff. "Really hard━" he whacked his helmet with his fist, "━rock-like brains."

    "Oh, come on━!"

    The Riders all began to argue, defending their Terrible Terrors with Hiccup watching, stressed in trying to stop them. None of them noticed Meatlug on her feet, sniffing around with a growl. She started to the entrance, teeth bared.

    It wasn't until she roared did the argument grow silent. Fishlegs's eyes widened, and he cried, "Meatlug?" he looked around for her, seeing her at the top of the Academy running after a group of three familiar figures. Alvin, Savage and Mildew? "Meatlug!"

    Valkyrie gasped, eyes wide.

     No one wasted time to run after her, desperate to reach Meatlug in time. But they were too late. Alvin punched the Gronckle right in the nose and she was knocked out. They muzzled her with tight rope, tugging her further and further away. The Riders skidded to a stop, all realising what they did━especially Fishlegs. He had been so caught up, he failed to notice his dragon; at all.

    They followed them until they couldn't any longer. They disappeared into the Whispering Death tunnels, out of sight.

    "No!" gasped Valkyrie, running to the edge to try and see where they could have gone; but it was a maze under there, they could be heading anywhere. She glanced up at the others, "We'll never find them inthere! Those tunnels go all over the island!"

    Fishlegs whimpered, starting to get tearful as his guilt overtook him.

    Tuffnut frowned, "Well, they don't really go 'all over' the island." The Riders stared at him as he shrugged, peering down into the dark. "Like, six yak farms━"

    "━A couple of sheep pens━" added Ruff.

    "━Mildew's cabbage field━"

    "━Gobber's outhouse━" they both shuddered at that.

    At everyone's annoyed gazes, they shrugged.

    "What?" demanded Tuff. "We've spent a lot of time in those tunnels. It's a tunnel of fun," he chuckled at his joke.

    "Okay," said Hiccup, trying to come up with a plan. "We'll have to split up, cover all those places."

    "Great!" grinned Tuffnut. "Dibs on the beach!"

    Hiccup froze. He spun back to the younger twin, a chip in his jaw. "Uh━" he tried his best to stay calm, "━what beach?"

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

    ━━By the time they made it to the beach, the Outcast Ship was far into the ocean. Valkyrie gritted her teeth as she egged Zephyr to go faster. Rosewing was flying over her shoulder, having not left her side. None of the Terrible Terrors have left their trainers. The flock of Riders and their Dragons soared down to the ship that had Meatlug hostage; she tugged at her restraints, crying up to the them.

    Snotlout took the first hit. With a cheer, Hookfang lit the side with fire and they were gone as quick as they dipped down. Alvin doused the fire with water, glaring up at them all furiously. Their arrival was expected, and so Valkyrie wasn't surprised by the arrows. Hiccup didn't have to tell the Twins to give them cover with an explosion. It rocked the entire boat and send the archers stumbling back.

    "Ha!" grinned Tuff as they flew out of range again. "It's like shooting yaks in a barrel!"

    His sister laughed, "Yeah! That was fun!" They high-fived.

    Hott took their position, having Spikemoth shoot a volley of spikes to the Outcasts that tried to take their fallen comrades place. They yelled and backed away from the crossbows again. Astrid fired from the otherside, separating Alvin and Savage away from Meatlug.

    Valkyrie dived down with Zephyr, snatching up the captain steering the ship. He screamed as Zephyr dropped him overboard into the ocean. As she returned to the skies, Hiccup with Fishlegs behind him had Toothless ready a shot, but Alvin stopped the plan right in its place.

    He drew his sword, jumped over Stormfly's spikes and pressed it to Meatlug's throat. "Back off!" he shouted. "Or I'll run the Gronckle through!"

   "NO!" screamed Fishlegs. "MEATLUG!"

    Hiccup's eyes widened. "HOLD YOUR FIRE!" he shouted to the rest of them. "FALL BACK!"

    "What? No!" Fishlegs was miserable. "We can't just leave her there!"

    "Don't worry, Fishlegs," the chief's son glanced at his Terror with a smirk. "We're not going to."

    Valkyrie grinned as she understood the plan, too.

    It was Battle of the Terrible Terrors. Astrid's sneaky trainee caused panic in the ranks as she appeared and disappeared on different helmets and backs. Savage ended up whacking Alvin right across the head in his attempt to strike her, which caused for the Outcast leader to yell in fury. Hott helped with Firestripe, whistling different tunes that caught the Outcast's attention where he'd return with the same tune on the other side, making them spin back around with disorientated yelps. Iggy and Rosewing dived in and snatched up weapons right from the Outcast's hands, dropping them into the ocean. Butt and Head rammed into Mildew's head, which was the most satisfying thing for Valkyrie to see. Sharpshot fired accurate blasts to Meatlug's shackles, breaking her free. She pushed to fly almost reaching them when Alvin threw his rope. It latched around her ankle and tugged her back. But Snotlout came to the rescue. He wretched free the Terrible Terror's jaw from his neck (the others winced) and threw him like a javelin to the ropes. His jaws snapped them in half and Meatlug rejoined them in the sky.

    Fishlegs was beyond joyful, jumping back onto his saddle and wrapping his arms about the most important thing in his life.

    They left the Outcast ship in shatters, the men in scrambles to try and grab broken parts to float home. They wouldn't be bothering them for a little while longer.

    "You know," Tuffnut smirked as they made their way home, victorious. "Maybe that competition was worth something."

    "Oh, for the last time!" cried Hiccup. "It wasn't a competition!"

    Valkyrie laughs slowly disappeared as they got further and further away from the burning ship, having won another day.

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

    a/n: oh, poor hiccup. it is always a competition with this group; you'll learn.