Multiple Man began to close immediately charge towards them, but Heather quickly raised her hands.
"Time to blow you away!" she yelled and unleashed a mighty tornado from her arms.
Her attack slowed the clones down and Ragnar quickly made his move, he jumped into the air and stretched his harm to grab the floor above them. He then immediately grabbed Heather with his other arm and then pulled her to the second floor. Once he laid her on the floor, he then jumped up and landed beside her.
"It's a good thing we need a plan beforehand," said Ragnar.
Heather nodded. "Yes."
In the observation room, Hiccup and Fishlegs smiled at the teamwork.
"Nice!" Fishlegs cheered.
"That was some quick thinking," Hiccup smiled.
"That's good communication," said Recovery Girl as she re-entered the observation room. "They're talking to each other, it may not seem like much, but it is important. I don't just mean having a sidekick or teammate that you match well with. Real heroes need to be able to communicate with anyone."
Hiccup looked at her curiously. "You know we were talking about these finals and how each student is supposed to be facing their weaknesses."
Recovery Girl nodded. "That's right."
"What I don't understand is Ragnar and Heather's weaknesses?" Hiccup frowned. "I just don't see how Multiple Man is a bad matchup with them?"
Fishlegs nodded as well.
"Well, it's not good for Heather at least," said Recovery Girl.
"Why do you say that?" Fishlegs asked.
"Just keep watching and you will see," Recovery Girl smiled.
They turned to the monitors and began to watch the exam.
Ragnar and Heather were running across the second floor in a way to avoid all the clones.
"So you've decided to avoid a fight, good luck," said Multiple Man, whose real body was standing guard at the gateway.
Multiple Man had the ability to create copies of himself out of a plasm, he could create a total of 36. Ragnar and Heather already given a demonstration as more clones appeared right in front of them.
Heather then immediately blew them away with a powerful rotation from her arm knocking out a couple of them right off the bat. However while her attention was diverted, two more appeared directly behind her and one of them got dangerously close of striking her with his fist.
"I have you!" Ragnar yelled as he appeared out of nowhere and punched the clone hard in the face.
"Thanks," said Heather gratefully.
"Just what your back," said Ragnar as he immediately produced a thorn and stabbed the last clone behind them.
They then turned as more clones advanced towards them and Heather quickly created a rotational fist, but clones got used to her battle strategy and avoided the tornado she created. However before they could get anywhere close to him Ragnar quickly grabbed her and then with his free arm lifted themselves under the third floor. They were now standing before corridor that would lead them to the next building where they hoped was the location of the gateway.
"There's no end to them," said Heather.
"We have to keep moving," said Ragnar.
Then suddenly emerging in the corridor were more clones.
In the observation room Recovery Girl began to explain Heather's weakness to Hiccup and Fishlegs.
"Heather is quick and can attack from an afar, allowing her to keep her distance," Recovery Girl explained. "Those are all strengths, but looking at that another way it means that she is weak to close quarters fighting."
Fishlegs looked up. "Now that you mention it she was virtually useless against Astrid when she got up close to her in the Thawfest Festival."
"And Multiple Man clones can appear anywhere unexpectedly," Hiccup added.
"On the other hand there is Ragnar, a stellar student with no clear weaknesses," Recovery Girl continued. "He can provide support to his ally as powerful as they may be, but he is skilled in another way. His levelheadedness and ability to provide emotional support of the key to them passing."
Hiccup looked up. "Emotional support?" Hiccup then began to remember how helpful Ragnar had been over the school year. 'Now that I think about it Ragnar was always provided me with confidence and had sound advice. Not to mention practically controlled Snotlout during the B.A.R.F attack.'
Ragnar and Heather had just taken down the last of the clones in the corridor and they been keeping track of how many they took down.
"That was clone number 34," said Heather.
"Take a look at this," said Ragnar.
Heather quickly approached him they soon found themselves in the next building and standing in the centre was Multiple Man and behind him was the gate.
"It's the goal," said Ragnar and he looked at Multiple Man. "Which means that is probably his real body down there."
"Excellent job getting past the others, but tell me what will you do against threats?" said Multiple Man.
Suddenly he began to unleash a massive amount of ectoplasm that began to take form in a giant clone that towered above them.
"Just try and escape." The clone of Multiple Man then raised its fist towards them. "I may not be able to put out more clones now, but so long as I have you captured this one is all that I need!"
Ragnar then quickly grabbed Heather and tossed a safety before the giant clone grabbed them.
"Ragnar?" Heather cried.
Ragnar was now trapped in the clutches of the clone and try as he might he could break free of his grip.
"Don't worry about me! Just get to the gate and we can win this!" Ragnar yelled.
"Only I can get rid of this behemoth. So, what is your plan?" Multiple Man asked looking at Heather.
Ragnar was trying to break free of the clone's hold, but he was just too strong. "I can't break free!" He then immediately turned and looked at Heather. "Heather, you just have to get through the gate!"
Heather nodded and began to rotate her bottom half. "On it!"
She then immediately took off and began flying towards the gateway as quickly as she could, but Multiple Man appeared right in front of her and punched a hard in the stomach sending her back. Heather then attempted to unleash a powerful tornado from her wrist, but he merely sidestepped an advanced towards her and dealt a powerful kick right in the chest.
Heather then quickly voted bottom have an over towards Ragnar panting. "I don't think I can still a chance on my own."
Ragnar looked at her. "You just have to reach him and we can win this. I have a plan, but it requires timing."
Heather frowned. "How? Our only option is to get through the gate."
"Not exactly, but I need you to create some cover," said Ragnar as he closed his eyes.
Heather had no idea what he had planned but did as she was told and immediately unleashed a powerful tornado that hit them from view.
"Do you really think you can win by hiding yourselves?" said Multiple Man. "I know that you intend to draw me away from the gate so that you can pass through, but that is something I cannot allow. Every second you always brings you one step closer to failure, I want to see a student who can do away with an adversarial no matter what!"
Then suddenly Heather immediately shot out of the tornado and headed straight down towards him as quickly as he could.
"You've got this, because you're a hero" said Ragnar.
Multiple Man raised his fist and swung it towards Heather, but she quickly raised her hand a split second later. Heather was not backed by the impact of the punch, but she had succeeded in doing what she was meant to do.
Ragnar smiled. "I figured this was the only way we can win if he managed to capture or overpower us somehow. I'm able to make myself hollow while in my plant form so I hit the cuffs inside of me."
Multiple Man smiled as he saw the cuffs having placed on his hand. "How unexpected."
Hiccup and Fishlegs just stared.
"Whoa, they managed to cuff him," Fishlegs gasped.
"That means they passed," said Hiccup looking at him. "Those two make the perfect team in both speed and power, but the unstoppable with that kind of forwardthinking."
Fishlegs nodded. "We should expect anything less from them."
Multiple Man had released Ragnar from his clone's grasp and then approached the two of them.
"Team Ragnar and Heather have passed the final," said the computer.
"That was wonderfully clever, I must commend you both," said Multiple Man.
"Thank you, sir," said Ragnar gratefully.
"We work well together," Heather smiled.
Astrid and Ranger were in the waiting room and they heard the announcement.
"So Ragnar and Heather pass their exam," Astrid smiled and began to remember how Ragnar saved her from Flightmare. "I'm not surprised."
Speedfist and Sven were now taking their exam against Power Loader. Their exam took place at Ground Delta which was filled with building equipment and tons of earth. Power Loader was already digging his way through the ground creating tunnels making the ground completely unstable.
"We're running out of places to stand," said Speedfist.
"So what's the plan?" Sven asked.
"The topography gives our opponent the advantage, in order to keep injuries to a minimum and to defeat him our best choice right now is to go and find a hero who is better suited to take him on," Speedfist deduced.
"So in other words we should run," Sven simplified. "There's only one problem with that." He then asked struck a stone with his tail and the moment it hit the dirt most of the ground caved in. "There are traps between us and the gate, not to mention we have no idea where Mr Power Loader will attack next."
"We can still make it as long as we work together," said Speedfist confidently.
Sven nodded. "Let's do it."
Speedfist then placed his hand against Sven's head and grabbed his shirt. "Brace yourself, the last thing you want is whiplash."
Sven then immediately took off and dashed across the ground as quickly as he could. The moment he did the ground beneath and began to cave in and he was running as fast as he could to stay ahead of it.
'We're outrunning the traps he set,' Sven noted. 'If we keep this up…'
However, Power Loader then immediately shot out of the ground. "I don't think so, boys."
Hiccup grimaced as he watched the match. "Not good."
Power Loader's sudden appearance caused the ground in front of Speedfist and Sven to give way and they were going too fast to stop in time.
"We're going to fall!" Sven panicked.
Speedfist remained calm and looked at the situation. 'Remain calm, Speedfist.'
Speedfist then quickly jumped into the air and began running off the debris that was shot up into the air.
"Brace yourself," Speedfist warned.
Sven braced himself and suddenly Speedfist used his weight in order to spin around as fast as he could. Then once he was in a perfect position facing the gate he released Sven and he was sent flying towards the gate.
"I've got you!" Power Loader yelled extending his robotic arm.
Sven, however, was more than ready and quickly slammed his tail right on top of Power Loader. This added power to his momentum and he crossed the gateway a few seconds later.
"Team Speedfist and Sven have passed the final," said the computer.
Sven landed on the ground and smiled at Speedfist. "Nice one, man."
Power Loader looked at the two of them looking impressed. "It was kinda risk you move, but it put a quick end to the match and he managed to get your friend out of the ring without getting yourself injured. All in all, not bad, you pass. Congratulations."
Speedfist was a bit exhausted after running that fast. "Thank you very much."
Hiccup and Fishlegs smiled for the monitoring room.
"They're both amazing," said Fishlegs.
"Nice job, Speedfist," Hiccup nodded.
The next match was Astrid and Ranger against Eret and they were having their examine in the residence district on the campus.
"It's our turn now, let's go," said Ranger. He then noticed that Astrid was standing there as if she was on some sort of daze. "Astrid? What's wrong you nervous?"
Astrid immediately looked up, failing to realise that she blacked out for a second. "No, I'm fine."
"It's okay," Ranger assured. "With our opponent I don't blame you, don't worry I have a plan in mind for us."
Astrid looked at him and was about to say something, but then they heard the sound of a horn.
"Team Ranger and Astrid, practical exam, ready, go!" the computer announced.
The first thing that they did was running through the back alleys of the district, hoping to stay out of sight of Eret's line of vision.
"Astrid, listen, I want you to keep making small objects," Ranger instructed. "Once you are unable to means that Mr Eret is close by. Our success depends on whether which one of us finds the other first, once we spotted him I'll draw him to me and then you can run to the escape gate and win this thing for us. Just stay close to me until then."
Astrid looked at him as if she wanted to say something to him. "Come on, hurry up and start making things."
"Sure, no problem," said Astrid.
They then began running through the street and Astrid began creating Russian figurines out of her body.
"Hmm, I guess those work okay, but what are they?" Ranger asked as she attached the dolls to her belt.
"Oh, these things, they're just Russian nesting dolls," she explained.
"Right," Ranger nodded as looked at his hand and saw that he was still able to produce frost. "Let me know if you notice your power acting strangely at all."
He then immediately ran off, but Astrid hanged back feeling uneasy and then followed him still producing Russian nesting dolls as she ran.
"I would expect nothing less from you, Ranger," said Astrid.
Ranger frowned. "What you mean?"
"You were able to come up with a plan to use against Mr Eret so quickly. You knew exactly what was best before we even started."
"This is nothing."
Astrid then came to a stop. "No. You're wrong." She took a deep breath and looked at Ranger, who had stopped running as well. "For students who got to Berk under recommendations, we started from the same place but I'm starting to lag behind when it comes to hero needs. I haven't really done anything to stand out in my decisions have had everyone at risk. During our First Combat Training, Hiccup was two steps ahead of me and took my team down. Then at the Thawfest Festival, I just followed your orders then when I faced against Snotlout he took me down just like that. If that wasn't enough my actions during our internship put me in danger I would have been killed if Hiccup and Ragnar hadn't arrived to bail me out."
Ranger was about to say something, but that's when he noticed something very important. "Astrid, you're not making those dolls."
Astrid eyes widened when she realised that he was right, she had been so busy doubting herself that she failed to notice.
"He's coming," said Ranger.
"I'm sorry," Astrid panicked.
"If you know I'm here, then you should be acting," said a voice behind them.
Eret was hanging upside down using his scarf and was directly over them. Ranger quickly turned around to strike him, but he released his grip on his scarf and land on the ground avoiding his fist.
"I would suggest that you prioritise evasion," said Eret looking directly at him. "Since I have taken your powers."
Ranger then quickly performed a roundhouse kick, but Eret quickly jumped back. "Astrid, go!"
Astrid then immediately ran off leaving Ranger to deal with Eret.
"Is that what your plan is?" Eret asked and quickly wrapped his scarf around Ranger before he had a chance to do anything. He then quickly pulled on the scarf which was still wrapped around the telephone wires above them and suspended Ranger in the air. "Then this will be simple."
Ranger looked down at him as he tied his scarf to the post. "Do you think you've caught me? This is nothing, I can freeze these restraints in an instant."
"Do whatever you want, just be careful where you land," said Eret as he immediately tossed several caltrops beneath Ranger.
"Caltrops?" Ranger snarled. "This is your strategy? You pretending to be some kind of ninja?"
Eret just stood then pulled out some eyedrops. "This is very different from the B.A.R.F attack, I know your abilities and what you can do. I am perfectly prepared to defeat you both." Once he apply the eyedrops he stashed it away. "Your plan puts most of the burden upon yourself, it's nice to try to be considerate to the girl, but perhaps you should have talked this over with her."
He then took off down the direction where Astrid had ran off.
Ranger just hanged their thinking about what Eret had said. 'Talk it over with her?'
Astrid was running as fast as she could trying to find the exit. 'I need to find the gate, there has to be a shortcut. I just hope that Ranger is okay, maybe I should go back and help?'
Eret used his scarf in order to send into the air by wrapping it around the telephone wires. At this height he was able to see her running down the street and see that she was a bit frantic.
'She's completely lost her confidence after the incident with Flightmare,' he noted.
Astrid turned her head and saw Eret in midair. 'Mr Eret? Does that mean that Ranger has been…?'
Eret then immediately extended his scarf towards her and wrapped it around her arm. "I'm going to hit you where it hurts! Let's see which one of us is stronger!"
Eret began to pull on the scarf drawing Astrid towards him, thanks to his height advantage as well with his strength at was completely overwhelmed.
'Got to do something!' Astrid screamed in her head. Then suddenly she realised she was actually able to use her powers. 'What? My powers are not being erased.'
She then created a large ring of metal around her wrist extending the scarf and freeing her. She then took the opportunity to ran down the corner and was running as frantically as he could.
'I'm sorry, Ranger,' she cried.
Eret frowned. 'Changing direction? She let him let him make all the decisions. Comparing herself to Ranger, she decided that he was the superior student. And for better or for worse, he never seems to hesitate much and she's completely lost the ability to trust her own instincts and reactions. Emotionally she is still a child of 16. I would like to help her regain her confidence, but that's not my job right now.'
Ranger was still hanging in midair the only thing he could do was think about what Eret had said.
"Now that I think about it, she looked like she had something to say," he said thinking back.
"Ranger!" Astrid cried as she ran down the street.
"Astrid?" Ranger blinked.
"I'm sorry that I came back, I couldn't—"
"Hey, watch it, Mr Eret is coming!" he yelled.
Astrid turned and saw Eret was approaching them running across the telephone wires she found herself in quite the dilemma.
'Should I save Ranger or run? What do I do? The last time I made a crucial decision ion was got myself and my friends killed,' she panicked.
"Astrid!" Ranger yelled. "You have a plan don't you?" She then looked up at him. "I'm sorry, I should have asked before and not told you what to do, but you have an idea, right?"
"Your plan didn't work so there's no way the mine will," said Astrid clenching her fist. "I'm not a strategist like Hiccup and I'm not as levelheaded as Ragnar. We're going to fail and it's because of me."
"Spit it out already!" Ranger yelled. "Saying that you're the one that is better at this kind of stuff than I am, not me! When we were voting for class rep, you had three votes remember? One of those votes belong to me, another from Heather and the last one was from Hiccup. We chose you because we believe that you were the best in our class!"
Astrid just stood there staring at Ranger. 'I'm pathetic, but maybe…'
Eret had finally managed to arrive and was now directly over her. "Giving up?"
"Not yet," said Astrid she immediately grabbed the Russian dolls around her belt. "Ranger, close your eyes!"
She then quickly tossed the dolls into the air right in front of Eret.
"What are these?" he said knocking two of them aside, but ended up removing the tops from them and inside them he saw grenades and the pins had been removed. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. "Flash grenades?"
Astrid quickly took advantage of the distraction and lowered Ranger back down to the ground.
"You're right, I have an idea" she said. "A plan for us to win. This final exam isn't over." Eret land on the ground and was rubbing his eyes to regain his eyesight. "We can still beat, Mr Eret."
"So you got a strategy?" Ranger asked as he removed the scarf around his wrists.
Astrid nodded. "Yes. I've been thinking about it from the beginning, his weakness."
"Okay, just tell me what to do?"
The two of them then watched as Eret jumped to a nearby building still partially blind from the flash grenades and his eyes had grown tired. That was not surprising considering that they had suffered damage during the B.A.R.F attack.
'As a result of my injuries, I can't use my powers for as long and I have to rest more in between erasures,' said Eret placing his goggles back over his eyes. 'If she chose that attack, because she noticed that that she's pretty smart.'
Eret then immediately extended his scarf down towards them and they quickly jumped back. Ranger then outstretched his hand hoping to fire a burst of ice, but Eret had managed to reactivate his power just in time.
'Damn it, he erased it,' Ranger cursed.
"Ranger we have to hide together," said Astrid.
They then immediately began running down the street as quickly as they could.
"Ever since he was injured, his powers have become unstable," Astrid informed him.
"Because of what happened at the B.A.R.F facility?" Ranger assumed. "So were going to exploit that."
"Not yet, for now we need to get out of his field of vision. It's all a matter of timing, we are going to pass this final."
"Timing?" Ranger frowned. "How is getting out of this site going to help us with that? He can still cancel out our powers whenever he sees us."
"Just do as I tell you," said Astrid as they ran round the corner. "Keep on checking if you can use your ice power okay?"
Eret was jumping from buildings to telephone poles so that he could keep an eye on Astrid and Ranger. He then jumped into the air and extended his staff towards them as they were running down a street.
"Not fast enough kids," he said.
"He's wrong if he thinks he'll be able to keep our powers are raised the whole time," said Astrid. "There will definitely be a time, a single moment, a brief interval when Eret blinks before he can use his power again."
At that precise moment Eret blinked and Ranger saw ice forming around his hand. 'This is it.'
"I'll be counting on you in that moment to attack just like you did in the Thawfest Festival," said Astrid. "Creating a giant ice wall!"
Ranger then chose that precise moment created a massive ice wall that blocked Eret.
'Ranger's biggest move,' said Eret as he jumped back onto a building. 'They were waiting for this. They took advantage of their opponent, hit me where it hurts.'
"I blocked him with the wall the moment our power came back," said Ranger looking at Astrid. "We can use our powers again, but you think you can tell me the rest of your plan now?"
Astrid looked at him. "It will be risky and there's no guarantee that it will work, but it's our only option."
"I trust your judgement," said Ranger. "So what are we going to do?"
"The first thing we must do is remember that this is a residential area, mean that we need to keep raffle damage to a minimum. Eret has also able to move his own restraining bonds so quickly that it makes it difficult to catch him. So, this is my plan…"
In the observation room Hiccup and Fishlegs were wondering what was going on as Eret had moved a muscle.
"Why hasn't Mr Eret going after them?" Fishlegs asked puzzled.
"It's possible he overused his eyes," Hiccup assumed.
On the other side of the ice wall Astrid had just finished relaying her plan to Ranger.
"So what you think, Ranger?" Astrid asked. "I believe it's our best option and it's better than running. We'll only get one chance, is that all right with you?"
Ranger nodded. "Yeah, no complaints here."
Eret was on the other side of the ice wall waiting for Astrid and Ranger to make their move, he was positioned in a way that guarded the escape gate. There was no chance they would be able to sneak behind him and the moment he saw them they were done for.
"The escape gate is behind me, it would be better to watch the approach from here then to try and trace them," he said. As he crouched he began to remember that Astrid had a plan. "Let's see it."
Eret then saw movement and two figures emerged from the corner, the figures were completely covered in cloaks, but judging from the height they had to be Astrid and Ranger.
"Disguises, I can't use my powers if I can't see them," he said and jumped towards them and then he readied his scarf. "But there are disadvantage too."
He then immediately whacked his scarf around the two clubs figures, but the force of the attack revealed that they were in fact dumbs on mobile platforms.
'They were decoys,' he gasped.
He then slowly began to turn around, but it was far too late as suddenly ice appeared around his legs preventing him from moving. By the time he turned around range and Astrid were rushing towards him, he then quickly fired his scarf towards them, but Astrid summoned a battleaxe and sliced right through it. Next thing he realised Astrid slapped the cups around his hands.
Ranger then looked at Astrid with a smile. "It was exactly according to your plan, it was almost a little too smooth."
"I took some inspiration from Hiccup, the element of surprise one of his favourite strategies," Astrid explained.
"Either way it was an excellent plan," Eret admitted. "I see that your internship with Technora inspired you to use different tactics. Your powers mostly world with timing and concentration hard to do in the middle of the fight, but if you can distract your opponent long enough you can create the exact tools you need."
Ranger looked at Astrid. "It really was just a matter of timing just like you said, huh?"
Gothi smiled from the monitoring room. "My, my, turns out that man is a big softy after all."
"Team Astrid and Ranger have passed the finals," said the computer's voice.
A few moments later, Fishlegs and Olaf exam had started and they were located in the B.A.R.F facility. They were doing well until they reach the exit where they had lowered their guard and Black Hole appeared out of nowhere and began to suck them in with her power.
Fortunately the two of them had managed to grab hold of a guard rail and were holding onto dear life.
"We were so close!" Fishlegs cried.
"There's no way I'll let you get away that easy," said Black Hole as she advanced towards them.
"It's getting even stronger the closer that Black Hole gets!" Fishlegs cried.
"I may not be good at combat, but I am excellent in capturing," said Black Hole as she continued close the gap between them.
In the monitoring room Hiccup was watching everything with Ragnar and Heather and they were looking a bit frantic.
"It looks like escaping from Black Hole's power is next to impossible," said Heather.
"She practically has the powers of the black hole which is able to absorb everything, even light," said Hiccup.
"But how are they supposed to get out of this?" Ragnar wondered.
Fishlegs was trying to come up with a plan quickly, but Olaf wasn't exactly helping in that regard.
"I suppose you can say this power really sucks, doesn't it?" he said.
"Are you serious right now?" Fishlegs yelled. "We're in serious trouble here!"
"My costume is not just the show, it channels blasts through my belly button," said Olaf as he raised his legs. He then fired his laser beam directly out of his knee pads. "Which means you have nothing to fear monsieur."
Black Hole and shook her head as she absorbed the light. "You really need to study more on science, a black hole is able to absorb light."
Olaf panics slightly and his visor slipped off, it then was disintegrated the moment it reached the tips of Black Hole's fingertips.
"This is no joke," said Olaf.
"What is your problem?" Fishlegs groaned.
"I have no flaws."
Fishlegs shook his head and focused on the task at hand. 'This is a good, we're trapped. We need to figure out how to get out of this. Okay, what would Hiccup do?" Then an idea formed in his head. 'Something unexpected, I just hope this works.'