RECAP: Before they had walked off to the hall in order to be inside there for at least an hour in front of hundreds of vikings, Snotlout and Morgan had briefly summarised to each other what the plan was. In the midst of those specific discussions, however, they also spoke about Gustav's motive for leaving, how the lineup of vikings is concerning in terms of being able to out-perform the names in it, and a bunch of other things.
The darkness had completely swept over the sky of Berk, rendering the night time into existence, but that didn't stop the nearby torches on the wooden poles keeping the lightening to a bright point amongst the surface of the arena, which you can describe as nothing more than a miniature-dragon nest, given that they're all inside it at this point. Contrasting the huge pack of vikings surrounding the place earlier on with the gigantic amount of noises, it was as quiet as one would expect, with nothing but a small whistling of the wind occasionally passing by in it's tiny noise, but it's distinguishable feel, which swept amongst the scales of all the dragons.
The dragons who were in the arena at the moment were Toothless, Barf and Belch, Stormfly, Fanghook, Hookfang, Grump, Meatlug and Skullcrusher. Whilst it was pitch black in the sky, that only encouraged them to utilise their fire breathing tactics to create brief flames amongst the stone floor of the inside of the arena together. It was just something for them to do in order to kill off the time they'll have to ultimately wait until the debate is finished. The only dragon that remained from going inside the arena was Cloudjumper, and it wasn't because of his size. It was because he wanted to ensure that if his viking, Valka, for whatever reason, comes running back to his gigantic four wings in the event of a particular somebody attacking her, then he'll instantly be able to fly to the location of that person to deal with him. This was the motive that he had obtained from watching Morgan, with intent, being provocative just now. He occasionally looked in from the metal bars though, with his smiley-like expression amongst his yellow eyes, to the other dragons, upon which the main response he got was a glare from Toothless.
It was literally like a game of tag; the dragons were rushing around the inside of the arena rapidly, with some flying up in the air briefly. Grump however, remained against the wall of the arena as his eyes were kept in a closed state, thanks to his laziness. Toothless, Stormfly and Hookfang were mainly the ones who were playing, and what they were specifically playing was unique; basically, they'd try and chase each other around the arena despite there being a bunch of other dragons in there with them, but they have to emit a small amount of their flaming breath, so it wouldn't be dangerous or anything, onto their fellow reptile that they're chasing, and once they manage to get close enough to do that, the dragon that got flamed in a minority state would then turn around and start chasing the dragon that was initially chasing them; it was a good way of keeping themselves distracted whilst all of the vikings back at the hall were readying up to kick-start the debate, that'll take up an hour of their respective human's time.
Whilst they played with each other, it was also in the back of their reptilian minds that there was a ground-shattering event going on, one in which themselves, nor the vikings of Berk have ever seen before. The idea of being able to vote for a new Chief, or to simply vote for Hiccup to stay on, was one that was of a mixed reaction amongst the vikings mainly, but for the dragons, they went along with the flow, because they weren't particularly bothered by the strangeness of it. There was more than just that in the back of the mind of one obvious dragon, though, the alpha of them all. Toothless felt like the time was running out for what he want's, because sooner than later, the entire season will be over, and that'll mean that he'll have to, in desperation, get it done during a time where it'd literally only be him and his chosen one. Because of this, it was unpredictable about when he'll actually go through with it, but the fact that it feels like he's running against the clock here, means that anything could happen.
Hookfang felt dignified for once due to Snotlout's participation, but that still didn't mean he was going to obey him all the time. Grump really didn't have any sort of reaction towards Gobber being in it because all of his laziness would pretty much overtake any awareness of his, Stormfly felt extremely happy to see her viking, Astrid, in it, Skullcrusher was again, the same, and Toothless, despite Hiccup already being the current Chief, felt a sense of empathy towards Hiccup. The reasoning was a mixture of the emotional nights he had seen his human go through prior to calling this entire event, and due to the possible sweat and stress that he's going through to ensuring that those horrific feelings which had became the motive to calling the election would be eradicated for good. Toothless still had that special spot for Hiccup, and it's on full display within his brain and his heart.
Toothless stopped moving around, as did Stormfly and Hookfang, but it got to a point now where Toothless had found himself in the middle of the arena, where all of the dragons were surrounding him in one big circle. This arena is usually used for the vikings, but for this night, it's as if it's been turned into a miniature nest for the dragons specifically, so they can not only play, but potentially rest in it for the night with each other. As Toothless let off soft rumbles as he looked around to see his fellow reptiles surrounding him, Fanghook, breaking up the surrounding circle briefly, had walked over to Stormfly as his big neck had helped his head ascend up to a high point off of the ground. One by one, he moved across towards the Deadly Nadder with his vicious spiky wings, planting them upwards and downwards on the ground as he walked with his spiky-fronted paws. As it looked like the two Monstrous Nightmares, with the other obviously being Hookfang, were keeping their distance from each other because of how similar they both looked, Stormfly looked at the approaching Fanghook as the other dragons around them were directing their eyes to a different section of the arena. Toothless was sat down however, keeping his eyes on Fanghook's movement, as The Night Fury's black scaly body was surrounded.
Precision and focus are the only things that could be described about Toothless's eyes at the moment. The charming, green colour of them, and his black pupils, were just observing the two dragons ahead in Stormfly and Fanghook, it was as if Toothless knew what the Monstrous Nightmare was trying to do. Fanghook emitted a soft purr with a briefly open mouth, in which Stormfly had turned to face him with her light blue scaled, spike-above-the-nostril head, where her small yellow eyes were delivering a thought of confusion and resistance. As Fanghook tried to get closer, she suddenly started growling at him directly, in which Fanghook had instantly backed up and resorted to darting off of the ground to get to the metal bars. From there, Fanghook, hanging onto the metal bars carefully, started pacing alongside the inside of the metal bars from the arena, reminiscent of what Hookfang did when Hiccup was sent into the arena by Stoick to 'become a viking' after he gave a death-stare to him at the time, before Hookfang had dropped back down to the floor of the arena to attack Hiccup.
Fanghook scrambled amongst the metal bars as his entire body was situated in a diagonal position from hanging onto them from the inside, and eventually, after moving away from Stormfly whilst on them, he finally dropped back down to the floor of the arena, looking across at an isolated Toothless as the Night Fury was in the middle of the arena, once again surrounded by all the dragons. After seeing what he had just seen now between Fanghook and Stormfly, Toothless looked down at the ground of the arena, and started scratching his claws against it, looking as if he's missing somebody. It was quite clear that what happened just now had made Toothless vision the same thing happen to him, except for two things; he'd accept it, and the one he want's isn't here at the moment. His puppy eyes looked depressed as his mouth remained shut, and his tail was spread on the floor. He softly rumbled, suddenly hearing a couple of steps from his left and right emerging. He was nudged by none other than Meatlug, with her finally making an appearance after not seeing her for quite a while. All this did though, after she had gently nudged herself into the soft, smooth black scales of Toothless was bring his head up to look at her briefly, but he looked back down almost instantly to the floor he was scratching his claw amongst. There was a bigger dragon on his right side from the corner of his eyes, where it looked like it was Fanghook, but instead, it was Hookfang, who, upon approaching Toothless, placed one of his wings over the Night Fury, but Toothless didn't want any of it. Hookfang, knowing what Toothless's true intentions are, after being hinted at it from the Night Fury himself some days ago, recognised just now that he was in a state of sadness. The Monstrous Nightmare had it in the inside of his vicious, spiky red-and-darkened-as-it-leads-to-his-spikes head that it was possibly linked to the fact that the one he's chosen isn't here. Rather than be comforted by Hookfang, however, as Meatlug had remained by Toothless's side as well, Toothless, looking up to the direction of Stormfly, had reversed himself so he stepped back in a rapid fashion, successfully sliding himself from under Hookfang's wing. There, he turned his head to the entrance of the arena, where he started puffing slightly as he intended on getting out of it to stand on the outside. When he did get outside, the dragons inside the arena let off a few roars of communication, and when Toothless had gotten to the metal bars where he could observe the inside, he raised his ears up at the roars, not looking as perked up as he did previously.
It's hit on Toothless quite a lot, especially after seeing the attempt from Fanghook to be with Stormfly, that he still hasn't successfully convinced the guy he's chosen to go through with it with him. Hookfang looked confused, as did Skullcrusher, and pretty much, the rest of the dragons in the arena, not including Grump. Their attention was devoted mostly to Toothless after all, considering that he's the alpha, and as such, they put their focus on him the most.
Toothless, dragging his wings and his tail amongst the stone ground as he tried to find a place to relax for the night, started walking towards Cloudjumper, much to his unawareness considering that he has his black scaly forehead down to the ground. As he got closer and closer, the lightening of the torches had helped Toothless in identifying one gigantic shadow that had emerged in front of him, and it caused Toothless to look up at a sat down, yet still towering-over Cloudjumper. His yellow eyes looked at Toothless with a cheerful sense, where he looked like he was smiling more than ever despite that being how his mouth usually looks for the most part. When Toothless looked up at him, the Night Fury smiled, as the shine in his green eyes were clearer than ever. Cloudjumper in turn did the same; the two of them have had their ups and downs, but despite Cloudjumper being the most serious dragon, he just has that playful feeling that only Toothless could bring out. The two dragons nudged each other, putting their nostrils together, rubbing them out of pure friendship, before taking their heads away from each other. The darkness of the sky above had made the atmosphere feel more depressing, but that was stopped mostly by Toothless being with Cloudjumper. The wary personality of Cloudjumper, who was constantly looking out to the other bit of land over that small bridge that leads back to the village, made it look like he was paranoid with a threat that kept going back and fourth, like it was teasing the Stormcutter, from the other side.
Toothless, after exchanging purrs and smiles with Cloudjumper, moved over to the side of the Stormcutter, as the dragons inside the arena were mostly looking up at Toothless as he let off a fiery blaze on the ground he was standing on, raising his entire body upwards whilst walking in a circle. Afterwards, the Night Fury simply fell down to his black scaly belly on the ground, wanting to sleep everything off for the morning. Plus, deep down in the dragon's minds, there was an anticipation in their heads about finding out who won the debate, and who will challenge Toothless's human. Toothless had the most intrigue for it, considering that whoever the opponent is, he/she could potentially replace Hiccup should it go his/her way. Barf and Belch had suddenly started flying all around the metal bars within the arena, causing some of the dragons, like Skullcrusher, to roar aggressively at the movement of the two-headed dragon. None of this bothered Toothless, though.
Toothless suddenly felt one giant wing being rested onto his wing-covered body as he was descending off into a sleep; he looked up from the ground briefly to notice that Cloudjumper had intentionally placed his wing upon Toothless's body, but this only made Toothless purr even more. Cloudjumper briefly bowed down with his head whilst looking at a relaxed Toothless, where the Night Fury had simply accepted it; Cloudjumper's wing made for a pretty nice cover. Upon resting his chin back down onto the ground, he really felt like the finishing touch in all of this, in the position he was in at the moment, was to have his choice as a mate just resting on his body, where he could provide him with warmth, comfort, and somewhere for him to relax. He kept thinking about this as his eyes were closed, and what made it even better was that he could potentially curl up around him one day, to literally surround him and protect him. Toothless wasn't joking around with this Morgan business, he's being deadly serious with it all. As Cloudjumper continued to keep watch, presumably for as long as he can until he falls asleep himself, Toothless, feeling the warmth of Cloudjumper's large wing, once again closed his eyes, with the anticipation of finding out who the opponent to Hiccup's role as chief will be suddenly climbing up to an excitement level higher than the one he had just had.
It might come across as unusual that Toothless is behaving this way, and has only now just started to take in this type of behaviour, but it's something that's built up from the years that have passed. Toothless, being the only Night Fury, has had the hardest time of them all; he's not only not had the mating experience, he hasn't found love yet, and if it comes across as Toothless's sexual desires being strange and out of place, then that simply isn't true. It's just a matter of finding the perfect time to finally let it all out on who he's chosen. The only reason why he hasn't gone for it yet was because his choice is participating in the big event going on around Berk, and after that close call where Snotlout had nearly seen it, Toothless wanted to be more laid back about it. This mating season was a unique one not only for the dragons (because they're literally witnessing the Alpha grow a desire to mate with a human) but for Toothless himself, because of that exact reason.
As the dragon's were starting to settle in and around the arena for the night, the time has finally come to turn towards the debate that's been building up since the past seven days.
Never before has Berk witnessed something in the format that's currently being utilised at the Great Hall at the moment. The debate has truly sparked up a ton of excitement, for the worst or for the best. Whilst the dragons were settling at the arena, with Cloudjumper maintaining a stance that had shown paranoia and defence, the vikings, in their hundreds, were packed at the Great Hall for the next hour or so in order to observe how the entire thing will unfold. This was what Valka and Hiccup, some days ago, had agreed on for the format of this evening; firstly, each viking will get two minutes each to answer a question, and then once they've all answered the question that was provided, Valka, who has agreed to be in charge of the debate between the vikings throughout the duration of it, will open up the entire thing to a free-flowing debate about the topic provided from the question, where those who are in competition for Hiccup's spot will get to attack each other's views, and argue with each other and yell across to each other if they intend on doing that. This is where the secretive team of Snotlout and Morgan will thrive the most, because it's been agreed that Snotlout will elicit Morgan in order to make him look good in front of the hundreds of vikings in the crowd. Then, at the end of the debate, the crowd of vikings will get a total of 10 minutes to vote for one of the five vikings, based on their performance and what they've shown of themselves in the debate, to officially become Hiccup's opponent, and from that point, that's where the true test starts. It'll be the choice; the choice between Hiccup to stay on, and whoever the opponent will be to take over as Chief, not only for Berk, but for the Hairy Hooligans. It was going to be a crazy night.
After the reveal, the dragons themselves had remained at the arena so they could interact and play with each other, after acknowledging that they can't attend the debate, and thus, they wanted to do the above in order to kill off the time they'll have to wait until the debate itself finishes. But because it's now approaching the climax of the 'hidden' mating season with the dragons, Fanghook had tried to make it clear to Stormfly that he's got a keen interest, only for Stormfly to growl aggressively at the Monstrous Nightmare. Witnessing that, it dawned on Toothless that he has yet to make Morgan give into what he want's. This caused Toothless to grow slightly depressed, and although he was comforted by the likes of Meatlug and Hookfang, he ended up resting for the night on the outside, directly next to Cloudjumper, who ended up laying one of his giant wings over the Night Fury to keep him warm and comforted. The political side of Morgan, however, will now be revealed next time; it's a battle between three other vikings considering that he'll have Snotlout on his side. After this entire week of craziness, and finding out that a dragon actually want's him in that manner, what will be of the outcome of this debate tonight for Morgan? who's going to, by the end of tonight, be Hiccup's opponent?