Competition

The whole courtyard was buzzing with excitement as the students were eagerly awaiting the first duel they'd seen in a long while. Aster had both Merida and Snotlout step into the fighting arena, and once in place he activated the magic barrier around it meant to contain magic and avoid damage to the surroundings.

Merida stretched, Rapunzel still in bow form and in her hand as she psyched herself up. She'd never faced another Knight before. She and Rapunzel were used to battling bandits and monsters, so they were expecting this to be their hardest battle yet. Snotlout had his arms cross over his chest, keeping his face casual at an attempt to look cool for his fellow classmates and friends.

Outside the ring his friends and tribesman took in his opponent, the newcomer who they'd never seen before. A blonde girl with a braided ponytail looked the redhead up and down. She was certainly confident, that was a fact. Now it was time to see if it was all talk or if she had the skills to back it up. Snotlout was good, having earned his B-rank. Could a D-rank hope to beat him?

"Alright kids, I want a clean match. Pretty much anything goes, but please, try not to kill each other," Aster said to them. "Got it?" The two teens nodded. "Well alright then, get to it!" Aster shouted.

The dragon on Snotlout's shoulder opened it wings, looking at Merida with yellow eyes and puffing smoke before flapping his wings and leaping off to hover just before the boy. The dragon tapped into it's own magic, his whole body igniting and becoming enshrouded in flames. They got bigger and wilder, temporarily seeming to swallow up Snotlout, but they soon vanished.

"Well, how do you like me now?!" Snotlout called out cockily as he swung his eight foot long red and orange broadsword in a large arc before him. There were what looked like horns near the pommel, and the blade was flat and looked like Hookfang's jaws.

"Meh, not impressed," Merida said to irk him. It worked as he growled and charged her. Merida smirked and got ready, dropping into a slight battle stance. When Snotlout came within striking distance he swung, aiming at her left side. Merida waited, letting the blade come at her before she rolled under it.

She sidestepped as he followed it up with an overhead swing, driving his blade into the ground and smashing the surface where it made contact. Snotlout let loose a battle cry as he kept swinging at her. Merida and Rapunzel assessed him. Though he was undoubtedly strong by his stocky physique to use a sword of that size like he did they assumed he was using his magic to augment his strength.

Unlike Implements their partners had very little magic in comparison. So generally Knights used their magic to enhance their physical abilities, like Snotlout did for great strength. Even Merida learned how to do this, usually opting to use her magic toward speed, agility, and her eyesight.

This allowed her to easily evade and read Snotlout's attacks and movements.

With a huff Snotlout dropped let his blade rest on the floor. He glared at Merida, standing a few paces away and smirking at him. "Why haven't you been fighting back?" he growled at her.

"Waiting. I intend to beat you with just one shot," Merida told him with a confident smile. The students whispered amongst themselves, wondering if Merida and Rapunzel were powerful enough to beat a B-rank with just one attack.

"Yeah right. Don't make me laugh!" Snotlout cried as he charged her again.

"You know while it's impressive how you can wield that, such a big weapon makes you very easy to read," Merida stated as she dodged his next series of attack. "You can really only swing over hand or horizontally. Very predictable," she teased. She leapt over a low swing before dropping to her knees as he swung at her midsection. She smirked all the while as she always danced just out of reach. "Predicatble," she repeated with a click of her tongue.

"Predict this!" Snotlout called out. His next swing was an overhand one. Merida saw it coming and twirled out of the way. But this time when his blade made contact flames burst forth. Merida was too slow to some of the flames licked at her arm and singed her hair. She leapt back, hissing and wincing in pain as she looked to see her arm had been burned.

'Oh my gosh Mer, are you ok?' Rapunzel asked in concern.

"Aye Punz, I'm fine," Merida muttered under her breath.

'Maybe I should-'

"Nay. Just keep preparing," Merida insisted.

'Mer I know you said you wanted to beat him with on attack, but maybe-'

"I said we'd beat him in one attack and I meant it. A Knight honors his word," Merida replied stubbornly. Rapunzel sighed as she let Merida do as she pleased, hoping that she could just stay conscious until they were ready to counter attack.

Snotlout pointed the end of his sword at her and remained on the spot. Merida arched a brow, wondering what he was waiting for when suddenly the blade split in half and parted, opening like the jaws of a dragon. From between the two halves the air started to sizzle before fire bloomed and then leapt out at her.

Merida darted around the field, dodging a torrent of flames and fireballs the stocky boy was sending at her. Aster watched from the sidelines, wondering why the red head wasn't fighting back. What was she waiting for? Snotlout meanwhile attacked with no real strategy, just overwhelming attack and flames.

Merida ran to the side as she avoided the fires, only to skid to a stop as a wall of them leapt out in front of her. Then another appeared behind her, and another from the other side until she was closed in, the only opening blocked by Snotlout himself.

Snotlout smiled proudly, puffing out his chest. "And that's what we call strategy," he boasted. With a cry he pointed his sword at her and sent a wave of fire. Merida grit her teeth and cursed as she leapt back, into the wall of flames behind her and out the other side.

Her hair and clothing were singed, smoke wafting off of them, but she had no time to spare as Snotlout leapt through the flames and at them, sword cocked back before he swung. Merida had no time to dodge, having been caught off guard, she simply held up her bow, letting the blade collide with it.

There was a loud clang of metal as the strength of Snotlout's swing sent Merida flying. She hit the ground hard before getting her feet under her and sliding to a stop.

Aster admired her tenacity. But unless she planned to do something she was sure to lose.

"Sorry Punz. You ok?" Merida whispered.

'Yeah. I'm fine. But I hate when you use me to block attacks. That hurt,' she complained.

"Aye. Sorry," Merida apologized. Merida glanced upward, taking in the sun's position. She smiled, seeing exactly as she'd hoped.

Everyone looked on, a little disappointed at the boring battle. They thought the redhead would have had more to show them.

Snotlout only smirked. He knew he would win. It was strange that she hadn't fought back, but maybe she was just stupid. Or maybe he'd just been too awesome and she'd frozen up. Either way, this duel was-

He blanched as he noticed her bow starting to glow. Not only that the burn marks on Merida's arms began to fade. Everyone else notice it as well, they gasped in amazement. Aster noticed that and more. Her bow continued to shine, getting brighter and brighter by the second until it became almost hard to look at.

Not only that, he could sense something interesting. Merida and Rapunzel's magic power was starting to climb drastically.

"Well I hope you've enjoyed beating me around a little Snotface. But now I'm going to finish this, just like I said I would," Merida stated. She pulled back on the drawstring and took aim. Immediately an arrow of pure light materialized in the place a real arrow would. But it got bigger, and bigger, and bigger.

Snotlout stood on the spot as her bow emitted an intense golden aura.

"My partner here can use her magic to not only heal wounds, but also fire off arrows made of pure sunlight," Merida informed him. "And when the sun is at it's peak, so is her power," Merida added. This is what they'd been counting on. Their trump card.

It was noon, and the sun was at it's highest.

Rapunzel and Merida started to focus their magics, letting them converge and pool together.

Snotlout did the same with Hookfang, the entire length of the blade became wrapped in flames. He swung it over his head, sending out a torrent of flames right at her.

Merida held her stance, letting the energy build and build before she finally let it loose.

In a golden flash her arrow flew across the arena, carving a trench in the ground before meeting the advancing flames and ripping through them. Snotlout flinched in surprise and was too slow to get out of the way. The light of the arrow blinded him as it collided with him.

Aster and the other students gasped and covered their eyes. Aster looked in amazement as the arrow of light continued across the arena, eventually reaching the barriers meant to contain magic. He watched as cracks appeared on the very air. He could hardly believe it, their magic was breaching the barriers.

A hole was pierced through them, freeing the arrow of light.

"Everyone down!" Aster shouted. All student hit the floor as the arrow flew over their head, flying and then colliding with a far courtyard wall with a loud explosion, scattering smoke and bit of it everywhere. When the dust settled Aster looked to see a large chuck of the wall missing, leaving a scorched, smouldering, gaping hole in it.

He looked to the arena to see Snotlout on the ground, hole front of his body scorched, eyebrow burnt off and with Hookfang back in his normal form and splayed out on his wielder unconscious.

'I wonder if we went a tad too far,' Rapunzel said sheepishly.

Merida hummed as she inspected the damage they'd caused. A deep trench carved into the ground and a gaping hole in the courtyard wall... "Perhaps we went just a smidge too far," she conceded to her partner.

Lunch came around after the duel, Snotlout was taken and being treated in the infirmary and the mess hall was buzzing with talk. People flocked to Merida and Rapunzel, showering them with admiration and praise. Rapunzel soaked it all up with a smile, always the social butterfly as she made new friends. Merida had no interest in making friends, she took it all in stride, answering questions casually as she continued to eat.

"I could have beaten that Lout within the first thirty seconds if I wanted. I was just showing off," Merida said to one person. "I can shoot the wings off a fly without killing it from half a mile away," she bragged. Everyone oohed and awed in wonder at the new students.

Eventually lunch ended and during the short break before their next class the girls went and found their lockers. They were happy to see theirs were right next to each other. They put their books into their lockers and were about to head to their next class when they stopped, staring at Toothless who was scratching at the bottom of a locker and whining.

Rapunzel cocked her head to the side and approached. Toothless turned his head to look at her and whined, eyes flicking to the locker.

"What's wrong Toothless? Where's your boy?" Rapunzel asked.

"He's stuck," came a voice from the locker.

Rapunzel looked up at the locker door. "Hiccup?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's me. Rapunzel right?"

"Yes."

"Cool...can you get me out of here? Please?" Hiccup asked sheepishly. He relayed his locker combination. Rapunzel opened it, leaping back with a yelp as Hiccup fell out ungracefully. His partner nuzzed and crooned him in concern. "I'm ok bud," he said as he picked up his dragon and stood up.

"Are you ok? Why were you in there?" Rapunzel asked.

"Comes with being on the bottom of the totem pole," Hiccup said referring to his E-Rank. "Usually my buddy let's me out. But he's out on a quest right now," he said with a shrug.

"Alright Punz, time to go," Merida said as she grabbed her friend by the shoulder and turned her around.

"Oh, ok. Bye Hiccup!" Rapunzel called back. Merida glanced back at Hiccup with a frown. He gave them a small wave. She snorted and rolled her eyes. No way were they going to be seen with him, the bottom of the barrel.

Their next class was taught by the very same person who'd recommended them to the academy. The fairy named Toothiana. she smiled and gave them a small wave before getting into her lecture. She explained the history of Knight and Implements and how their powers worked.

She explained how the bond between Knight and Implement played a powerful part in their abilities. The greater the bond the greater their magic.

"As your bond grows you'll find yourselves able to use a more wide and powerful range of abilities. In some cases an Implement's weapon form can even take on a spontaneous change," she revealed. Merida and Rapunzel shared a glance, that was new information to them.

"So, as an example. Let us see how strong some of your bonds are," Toothiana said to everyone. She gestured to a circular glyph on the ground, explaining how the glyph could measure the bond strength between Knight and Implement and convert it to a numerical value.

"Any volunteers?" she asked.

"Right here," Merida called out as she raised her hand. She and Rapunzel got up and made their way to the glyph.

"Alright. Just stand right there please and wait," Toothiana said. The girls did as told, standing in the center of the glyph as they awaited their results. Merida and Rapunzel figured their value would be very high. They were best friends after all.

Toothiana looked at her Speculum as the glyph gave her their value.

"Oh," Toothiana said quietly. "Looks like you have a value of 48," she relayed.

"Oh, well that sounds high," Merida said unconcerned.

"Out of 100," Toothiana added.

The girls blinked as that sunk in.

"What?!" Merida cried in disbelief. "Forty eight? That can't be right. We're best friends," she insisted.

Toothiana only shrugged. "Well that just means you have room for improvement," she tried to say to reassure them. The girls went back to their seat, Merida grumbling and scowling all the way. Rapunzel was silent, but also disappointed that their bond was apparently so weak.

After that lecture the girls were done for the day. Anna joined them, having come to be on friendly terms with them. They stood at their lockers as she tried to reassure them that their bond was strong despite the numerical value.

"Well I think that thing is wrong," Merida said with a huff.

Anna pursed her lips and rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to think of a change of subject. "Oh, maybe you should check your ranking now," Anna suggested.

Merida and Rapunzel looked at her. "Why?"

"Well like I said, now that they've seen what you can do it might have gone up. Battling higher ranked Knights is one way to increase your ranking."

The girls hummed in thought before pulling out their Speculums. They thought of themselves. Their profiles were pulled up.

"C-rank!" Merida cried angrily. She cursed in frustration.

"Well it's better than D-rank, right?" Rapunzel said to try and calm her down. Merida grumbled unhappily but her words sated her slightly.

"Maybe we should challenge an A-rank next. If we beat of one those I'm sure we'll be A-ranked too," Merida thought. She looked to Anna. "So Anna, who's an A-rank in our class?"

Anna looked around before picking out several of them. "See that blonde with the dragon on her shoulder," she said as she pointed the girl out.

Rapunzel and Merida looked. They took in a blonde with a small blue bird like dragon on her shoulder. "That's Astrid. She and her partner Stormfly are A-ranked," she explained. Suddenly a black haired girl came to stand beside her, grabbing her attention as they made idle conversation, and on her shoulder was a small metallic looking dragon. "That's Heather, also an A-rank."

Suddenly another girl walked right by the two of them. Rapunzel and Merida couldn't help but stare at her pale complexion and platinum blond hair placed up in a tight bun. "That's Elsa. Also A-rank," Anna said, the girls hummed, and they couldn't help but notice how her eyes lingered on Elsa. The girl even glanced at Anna, maintaining eye contact as she walked by.

"There's another guy named Hans," Anna paused to sigh dreamily. "He's super cool. A true Knight," she said as she blushed to herself. "Anyway, while I do think you guys are pretty strong, I'd suggest not challenging an A-rank right off the bat."

"Well I-" Merida was saying before her Speculum started to flash. She stared down at it, wondering what this meant. Rapunzel's was flashing too. Anna pulled out hers, also flashing. Students murmured to themselves, all of them holding their mirrors which her flashing.

"What's going on?" Rapunzel asked curiously.

"Someone has issued a duel," Anna explained. "I have to go. See you guys later," she called as she ran off. They looked after her as she ran off before looking back to their mirrors. They still didn't know how they fully worked, so they opted to follow the students as they came to fill a hallway with a view of the courtyard.

They managed to find a good spot to observe, only to see Elsa standing in a large arena. Her opponents looked to be two older students, they assumed they were in a higher grade. Elsa was standing alone, making them wonder where her partner was when suddenly a figure ran out onto the courtyard and to her.

Merida and Rapunzel gasped, recognizing who it was almost immediately.

"Anna?" Merida said in surprise. Merida looked to her Speculum, thinking of Anna and pulling up her profile. And to her amazement Anna was also an A-ranked knight.

Anna took a few breaths as she stood by Elsa's side. "Sorry. Got here as fast as I could," she said to her partner.

"Hmm," was all Elsa said in response. Anna sighed, same old Elsa. "Ready?" Elsa asked. Anna nodded. A teacher came to observe and referee the duel, and at his signal the two sides prepared to face off.

One of the boys facing her turned into a large double sided axe, his partner smiled maliciously as he stared down the girls.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "We beat these two like two weeks ago. What do they think has changed since then?"

Anna only shrugged in response. With a breath she closed her eyes, tapping into her magic as her body began to unravel. She took on a crystalline look, her became transparent and see through before shattering, turning into what looked like snowflakes as they swirled around her partner. They converged on her right hand, aligning and taking on a new form.

With a flash of white light her form regained a solid state. And in Elsa's hand was a halberd, nearly six feet long with a pure white shaft and a shining head. Elsa gripped her partner firmly in hand before she began to spin her around her body at blurring speed.

'Getting dizzy!' Anna said in her partner's mind.

With one more spin Elsa held her weapon firmly in both hands and leveled it at her opponent. The Knight charged her, axe cocked back before he swung. Elsa weaved under the attack before trusting pointed end of her halberd at him. The boy barely jerked his head to the side, but received a shallow scratch to his cheek.

He hissed and howled in pain as his scratch began to burn, but his cry was cut short as Elsa struck him squarely on the side of his face with the shaft of her weapon. The boy stumbled to the side before spinning on his heel to retaliate, only for his axe to be parried and batted away.

He reeled back, swinging wildly as Elsa advanced on him, expertly spinning and twirling her weapon in her hands at dizzying speeds. It was like a whirlwind of blades circling her as the boy was unable to get in a strike. He cringed and winced in pain as he kept getting his. His legs, face, neck, and torso all received painful smacks by Elsa. Everyone couldn't help but admire Elsa's form as she deftly adn gracefully used her weapon, eyes narrowed in focus, and form perfect.

'Stop with the spinning please! I can't even puke in this form! It's awful!' Anna reminded her.

Elsa rolled her eyes as she rammed the but end of her weapon into the boy's gut. Sending him rolling and tumbling backwards.

'Let's just end this already,' Anna said in boredom.

"Indeed," Elsa said with a short nod. She and Anna began to pool their magic. The winds around them began to stir. The air began to chill. Even the student could feel it from where they were watching. The boys finally managed to get up, staring at Elsa and Anna as they prepared to end the duel.

With a cry Elsa struck the ground before her with the blade of her halberd. Ice bloomed and shot outward across the ground toward the boys. And when it made contact with them it it exploded out of the ground and upward.

The students gasped as a giant icy protrusion loomed over courtyard, casting a shadow that covered nearly everything. The girls' opponents were trapped, shivering, weak, and unable to continue. The teacher declared Elsa and Anna the winner, prompting them to use their magic to make the ice recede.

With their victory Anna changed back to her regular form with a flash of light. She cheered and turned to give her partner a hug, only to find Elsa already heading back inside.

Her shoulders sagged in disappointment. "'Good job Anna. Gee, thanks Elsa'"" she muttered to herself. She dropped her head as she followed after her.

Merida and Rapunzel stared in wonder at the two girls as they made their way out of the courtyard. So this was the power of an A-ranked Knight? They exchanged a glance.

They had competition.

chapter 2. So becuase of the positive reviews I guess I'll contiue the story.

Atom King: Maybe, maybe not. Hard to think of ideas for what or who their partners would be and what they'd use as weapons. Got an idea? I'm open to suggestions.