It was a beautiful morning for the Edge. As the sun rose above the horizon, it colored the surrounding ocean in a streak of orange and yellow colors. The shadows on the island would start to shrink as the sun slowly rose higher. Early morning dragons chirped happily like roosters ready to start the day. Unlike our heroes.
The riders and mercenaries were sleeping soundly in their respective abodes, not caring that dawn had broke. That is except for one of them.
Astrid was sleeping in her bed, quietly breathing in and out and dreaming of a beautiful day with just herself and Hiccup when she was rudely awoken by an earsplitting boom that resonated through the whole island. She tumbled out of bed in a panic and was hastily pulling on her usual armor when the earsplitting boom sounded once more and forgetting about the lopsided armor, she ran towards the door, grabbing her favorite axe as she left.
Outside, she found her fellow riders also running out in a disorientated panic. Fishlegs still had his nightcap on and was missing a boot. Snotlout ran out of his house with no armor on and proceeded to run into the doorframe of his house before actually succeeding in exiting. Ruffnut and Tuffnut both stumbled out fully dressed (Astrid assumed thats how they slept) but kept bonking into each other as they stumbled outside. Finally Hiccup came out and Astrid's heart broke slightly when she saw him. His face was sallow and his eyes had bags under them. She knew he usually stayed up studying maps and dragon science so to be awoken so early must of been a huge a pain for him.
She was about to go to her boyfriend and tell him to go back to sleep, when the earsplitting boom sounded for a third time. They all looked towards the hill where they had built the emergency alarm, a massive horn that would be used in case of an attack, and scowled. On one hand, it was a relief that they weren't being attacked by some unfriendly intruders. On the other, if they were all here, one of the mercenaries had to be behind it. Astrid grit her teeth in anger and ran towards the newly built house that the mercenaries resided in. Before she and the others made it however, the door was flung open and the mercenaries spilled out, all as sleepy and pissed as the riders.
"DAMMIT SOLDIER! EVEN HERE YOU CAN'T LET US HAVE A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP YOU FREAKIN STUPID PATRIOT!" Scout tried to yell, but it came out as a very loud yawn. He was hanging on to his new Speed Stinger, more specifically the Alpha Speed Stinger Red. Charlie, Echo, Delta, and Blue had also come out and were calling to each other. No doubt wondering what the sound was.
The riders looked at Scout confused before realizing that Soldier was not present with the other mercenaries. Hiccup yawned and to Astrid's credit was somehow able to phrase his question in a calm and professional manner despite the situation.
"Is Soldier the one up there waking us up?"
The mercenaries all nodded as a group and began to get up from the pile they had made at the front of their house. The moment they were all up, besides Scout who decided to hold on to Red and Echo and let them help him walk, they began running towards the cliff where the horn was. The riders quickly followed but they were all saved the trouble of climbing when a familiar helmeted man, using a pickaxe, came down on one of the makeshift zip lines that connected the top of the horn cliff to the ground. As he straightened up, it was obvious that unlike his fellow mercenaries and the riders that Soldier was completely devoid of exhaustion and was ready to start the day strong.
"Good morning Maggots! Are we ready for the routine morning exercise?!" Soldier called out to the group as they stopped running towards him and all lined up in front of him, not to appease him but because they all wanted to scowl angrily at the American. He didn't seem to care at all and just stared at them expectantly. When no one moved his stare hardened slightly.
"Lets move maggots! Push ups! Sit ups! Laps! Planks! Work!"
No one moved. They all just kept scowling at him. His hard stare suddenly turned to rage and his chest puffed out. Astrid was just about to ask if they could all back to sleep and not deal with this nonsense when the man in front of her bellowed so loudly, that her ears went temporarily deaf.
"I SAID MOVE YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING SLACKERS! MOVE MAGGOTS! YOU ARE WARRIORS NOT CIVILIANS! NOW CUPCAKES NOW!"
Astrid and the other dragon riders recoiled backward as the sound hit their ears. Next to them the eight mercenaries fell to the ground and immediately started doing push ups except for Scout who just slumped to the ground face first. His loyal Speed Stingers crowed around him and tried to get him up, but he just murmured something about dying and didn't move. Soldier seemed satisfied as he watched the mercenaries do the warm ups and turned his gaze on the riders.
"Now that is motivation maggots! I expect the same from you now!"
The dragon riders gawked at the man. They hadn't been expecting him to ask them to do these exercises. Snotlout stepped up, a little shakily, and said, "But we exercise differently and-"
Soldier lunged forward and grabbed Snotlout by one of the horns on his helmet and pushed him to the ground. Snotlout tried to struggle but found it futile and hurriedly did push ups so as not to be pummeled by the crazy American. Soldier looked up at the other riders and they all got down as well. All except for Astrid. She just took on her sassy stance and crossed her arms. Soldier looked at her and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Whats the matter cupcake?"
Astrid scowled back and said cooly, "Im not doing this."
Everyone stopped and gaped at her. Even Scout raised his head from the dirt and stared in disbelief. Beside him, Engineer tried to whisper to Astrid, "Don't anger him partner! Just do what he says and it will all be over."
Astrid ignored the Texan and kept her eyes on Soldier who was beginning to swell up once more. Just when she about to brace herself for the impact of his scream, he suddenly deflated and in a surprisingly calm voice asked, "Then what do you do to become and keep on being a warrior?"
This calm manner took Astrid and everyone by surprise but it was a welcome sound compared to the earsplitting yells from earlier. Astrid just smiled confidently.
"Well we do these types of exercises at times, but we prefer axe throwing, sword fighting, sparring matches. Our training lessons can be as dangerous as the real battlefield."
There was a short pause as Soldier considered this. Then he smiled.
"Then show me what you vikings are made of."
Astrid led Soldier and the still slightly tired group towards the arena dome where she proceeded to set up a large wooden target with white rings around a red dot in the center. Soldier stood beside the target, examining it as it was put up. Once that was complete, Astrid grabbed a crate full of battle axes from one side of the arena and brought it to a spot ten feet away from the target. Once that was done she straightened up and cleared her throat to gain everyones attention.
"So this is how this is going to work. We are going to have an axe throwing competition. This activity is mainly supposed to see how good you are at strength and hand eye coordination, but i have decided to make it a bit more competitive. Each person will go and throw an axe and only an axe, no personal weapons, and the score will be based on how close you get it to the center. You only have one shot. Me and the vikings will go first and then Soldier and his group will follow. Is that understood?"
Everyone nodded. Soldier went down the line of mercenaries and organized them into a horizontal line of people going first to last. Astrid did likewise before she stepped up next to the crate of axes and grabbed one. There was silence as she stared at the target in front of her. Then, in one swift motion, she pulled her arm back with the axe pointing behind her and flung her arm downwards, letting go of the axe just as it was falling level with her head. The axe spun in midair and dug into the red bullseye on the target.
Astrid straightened proudly as there was a round of applause from her fellow vikings and a few of the mercenaries. Soldier didn't clap but nodded approvingly as he wrote down the score on a piece of paper that Fishlegs had brought out. Astrid went to the target and took out her axe and motioned for the next person to come up. This person was her boyfriend Hiccup. He walked to the crate and grabbed an axe. He was sweating slightly as he took aim. He wasn't the best with combat, especially axes. He preferred swords and dragons. It didn't help that he was doing this to try and help his girlfriend prove something a crazy man. His grip tightened on the axe he squinted through the beads of sweat trickling down his face. He swung forward and let go of the axe at the right time but due to the sweat, the axe slipped slightly and instead of hitting the center of the target, it hit a spot between the center and edge.
Hiccup breathed out a little as he calmed down. He walked forward and and took it out. He glanced towards Soldier and saw him just jotting something down on the paper but with no real emotion. He turned to Astrid who was keeping her eye on Soldier but she nodded to him to say that he did fine. He went back in line and Snotlout replaced him. Unlike Hiccup, Snotlout strutted up to the crate full of confidence. He took an axe and with barely a second of preparation he threw it towards the target. To his surprise and anger it flew askew and hit the very edge of the target.
"WHAT!" Snotlout yelled angrily, "BUT THAT WAS A PERFECT THROW!"
Astrid face palmed, groaning slightly as Scout and Sniper laughed at the temper tantrum that Snotlout was throwing. The viking in question was just taking the axe out and claiming that the throw didn't count and it was just a warm up when Soldier boomed, "NO, THAT WAS A THROW NOW BACK IN LINE CUPCAKE!"
Snotlout jumped back in fright and obeyed the command. Fishlegs walked up next and looked even more nervous than Hiccup had as he picked up an axe and stared at the target as if it was the gallows. He took in deep calming breathes and told himself that he could do it over and over as he pulled his arm back. When he let go, the flew strong but it was a weak throw and though it hit the target, it hit near the bottom edge. Fishlegs turned nervously to Astrid and tried to apologize but Astrid just beckoned him to get back to his spot in line.
Next was Tuffnut. He went up and then, to everyones surprise, past the crate and to Soldier who was just finishing putting down Fishlegs's score. Soldier looked up to see the viking in front of him and yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE MAGGOT? GET AN AXE AND THROW!"
Tuffnut just smiled and asked, "Well I would, but I really prefer maces. Can we bend the rules a little and-"
"NO!"
Both Soldier and Astrid yelled at Tuffnut at the same time and he backed off. He turned back to the crate and picked up an axe and spitefully tossed it a few feet where it fell in front of the target. He picked it up and tossed it back into the crate and went back in line ignoring Astrids angry comments. Soldier shook his head in annoyance and jotted down a large zero next to Tuffnuts name.
Ruffnut then came up and unlike her twin brother, was fine with using an axe. As she picked up an axe she called to her brother in a mischevious voice, "Im totally going to beat you and your going to have to clean Barf and Belch next time!"
"No way, this was unfair and they wouldn't even let me use maces!" Tuffnut replied back. They began arguing back and forth for a few seconds before Soldier decided he had had enough. Instead of telling them to stop, he marched over to Ruffnut, pulled her arm with the axe in it and did a swinging motion with it, making her let go of the axe. Since there was no real power and accuracy to the forced throw it just fell a few feet in front of them.
"There! Now neither of you win!" Soldier said triumphantly as Ruffnut stared at the axe a few feet in front of him. Before she could argue, Astrid stepped angrily.
"How is that fair?! You basically sabotaged one of our throws!"
Soldier turned to Astrid and his eyes narrowed. "Your warriors lack discepline. In a real battle, if they argued like that they would die!"
Tuffnut raised his hand slowly and said, "But we argue in battle all the-"
Soldier head snapped towards him and he roared, "DID I STUTTER!"
Tuffnut closed his mouth quickly and shrunk back a little. Soldier kept his eyes on him before turning back to Astrid. He didn't say anything and waited for her say on the matter. There was a few seconds silence where Astrid thought hard and Ruffnut crept back towards the others and huddled close to her brother. Finally Astrid looked up at Soldier and reluctantly nodded.
"He's right. Discipline is vital."
Soldier grinned a little as he handed the scoring paper to Astrid and picked up an axe from the crate. He stood sideways, shoulder facing the target and stared at the red dot in the center. Then, exactly like Astrid, threw the axe in one fluid motion and the ace spun beautifully towards the center and stuck there. His grin didn't disappear as he took the axe out and placed in the crate and went next to his line of mercenaries. Astrid was slightly taken a back by the sheer power and accuracy he delivered and wrote down his score.
Replacing Soldier, Scout came out onto the playing field and hoisted and axe from the crate. Behind him, Charlie, Echo, Delta, Blue, and Red yapped their support for him and he smiled back at them saying, "Yeah, yeah thanks!"
He turned back and tossed the axe up and caught it by the handle once more just like he does with any melee weapon he ever uses and with out stepping back he flings the axe towards the target. It fly's hard and fast, but it hits one white ring away from the center. Scout gapes at the result and is about to complain when he notices Soldier looking at him and immediately changes his mind.
"I was going easy," he decided to say as he walked up to the target and took out the axe in annoyance. As he walked back in line, Pyro stepped out and grabbed the axe from Scouts hand. Scout raised his eyebrows but decided not to question it and stepped back in line muttering, "creepy weirdo."
Pyro stepped up to the point, and stared directly towards the center of the target. And there it stood. Pyro just stood there. No one said anything. No one quite wanted to. The mercenaries where still slightly uneasy around the mysterious thing and the vikings were even more uneasy around it. Finally, Soldier yelled, "GET ON WITH IT YOU MUTE!"
Pyro turned to him and said some muffled things in an irritated manner before turning back to the target and aiming the axe. He eventually threw the axe and it hit a dew inches from the center and Pyro clapped happily like a little girl. Slightly bewildered, Astrid watched as Pyro skipped to the target took out the axe, placed it back in the crate and skipped back in line offering Heavy a high five which he accepted uneasily but with a small grin on his face.
As Demoman walked up to the crate and picked out an axe, he suddenly look towards the riders and asked, "Aye, where are you dragons? Wouldn't they have been woken up by Soldier as well?"
"No necessarily. When I was woken up, Toothless just put his wing over his head and kept sleeping," Hiccup explained, "Im guessing the other dragons did the same in the sable house. We haven't come for them so they haven't needed to come out and are just getting some extra sleep."
Demoman nodded his understanding of the situation and proceeded to carry out the activity. Due to his experience in axes before, he scored a perfect bullseye like Astrid and Soldier and proudly took out the axe from the red dot in the midst of some applause.
Heavy was next and he picked up an axe uncertainly. "Not usually my job but..." he chuckled a little and pulled his arm back and through the axe as hard as he could. It flew from his hand at high speeds, but with absolutely no aim and it landed right between Scouts feet. Scout jumped up in surprise as the axe planted itself right between his legs, missing his crotch by an inch. He glared at the large Russian and yelled, "WATCH WHERE YOUR THROWING THAT LARD FAT!"
Heavy turned to Scout furiously. "WHAT DID YOU CALL HEAVY?!"
Scout stepped back a little as the angry Russian started towards him and he began to run. Heavy made to go after him, but Astrid stopped him.
"What are you doing-"
"Just watch," she assured him. Taking an axe from the crate, she aimed towards the laughing and taunting Bostonian and threw it. The axe soard throw the air with beautiful spins and hit the ground right in front of Scout. He was just about to taunt about how it had missed him, when he tripped over the handle of the axe and fell on his face.
He began getting up, spitting dirt from his mouth when a shadow loomed over him. He looked up just in time to see a fist come towards his face and he fell back on the ground with a black eye. Heavy walked back in line, cracking his knuckles muttering, "Never call me fat." Before he could get back in line though, he was instantly surrounded by five dragons. Scouts Speed Stingers circled the large Russian, hissing at him. Heavy was not amused.
"Who sent all these babies to fight?"
The Speed Stingers responded by hissing angrily at him and where just preparing to attack when Scout called out from his spot on the ground, "Um, a little help here."
They immediately forgot about Heavy and trotted over to their beaten down master and helped him up to his feet. Scout shakily stood on his feet and looked towards Heavy and after a moments hesitation said, "Alright I guess we are even."
Heavy smiled and pulled out a sandvich. He lumbered over to Scout and offered it to him which Scout gladly took and dug in. All the while, the vikings watched this in utter confusion and were even more confused when Scout finished and double jumped in the air fully healed calling out, "Alright, I feel good!"
"How?" Hiccup asked Engineer. Engineer exchanged a glance with Medic before smiling and explaining, "Heavy's sandvich's are so good that they can heal terrible wounds and bruises. There isn't much else to it."
Hiccup was astounded and was about to ask for more details when Soldier walked up to them and pointed to Engineer.
"Your turn Canadian!"
Engineer sighed and walked towards the crate while saying, "For the last damn time Soldier, I am not a Canadian! I am an American like you. From Texas!"
He grabbed an axe in his robotic hand and gripping tightly he aimed it towards the target, closing one eye for extra accuracy. When he found his point, he let the axe fly and it dug into a point a few inches from the center, just like Pyros. Engineer grinned a little and took out the axe. "Guess that will do."
Astrid watched Medic step up and looked down at the score sheet. The numbers were defiently pointing to the mercenaries. It didn't matter that there were more of them. It mattered how well on average each side did and her side had very little promise. She could have stopped the exercise now, but she decided to let the last three mercenaries take their turns. Besides, she thought excitedly as Medics axe hit the very edge of the target, the next activity was the going to be the more interesting one.
As Medic took out his axe, muttering slightly about the stupidness of the game, Sniper walked up the crate emotionlessly, picked up an axe and after looking at the target for two seconds threw the axe with incredible speed and power right in the center. He just as emotionlessly walked up and dug it out from the center and tossed back in the crate, ignoring the light clapping from a few of the people present. All about efficiency.
Finally, Soldier gestured for Spy to come up and the suited Frenchmen obliged. As he inspected an axe from the crate, he took note of the slightly intrigued faces of the vikings. He knew he was a very strange sight for them. A warrior dressed in a suit isn't the most prevalent around here he supposed. He grinned a little. Time to show them that he was no push over. Choosing an axe he crouched slightly and held the axe next to his head and locked his eyes on the red dot. There he stood for a few seconds before taking one step forward and letting the axe fly. It spun well and hit the inside the last ring but just outside the center. He swore on the inside, but then realized that compared to many of the others it was not bad at all.
As Spy took out the axe and tossed it in the crate, Astrid cleared her throat once more and everyone turned to her. In her hand she held the paper with all the scores. With a forced smile on her face, she announced, "Good work everyone. We have completed the first exercise. Before we move on, I know you all want to know your scores."
She looked around to see some nodding faces before beginning to read down the list.
"For the vikings, I got 10, Hiccup got 5, Snotlout got 1, Fishlegs got 3 and both Tuffnut and Ruffnut got 0. For the mercenaries, Soldier got 10, Scout got 7, Pyro got 9, Demoman got 10, Heavy technically got 0 but he punched Scout in the face so we will give him a 5 (Scout: What!), Engineer got 9, Medic got 2, Sniper got 10 and Spy got 8."
Astrid finished with a sour taste in her mouth as the mercenaries grinned in triumph, Soldier being most prominent with his chest puffed out. The only mercenary who was not happy was Scout, who was still annoyed that Heavy got points for punching him.
The other riders looked towards Astrid. Hiccup and Fishlegs looked very apologetic. Snotlout just scowled and muttered angrily. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were ignoring the scores completely and arguing between themselves.
Astrid sighed, but then remembered what was next and a smile crept onto her face. She cleared her throat once more and everyone stopped doing their own thing and listened to her as she spoke.
"Our next activity is going to only involve some of us. But it will be the most intense," she let it hold in the air for effect before finishing, "sparring."
There was complete silence as her fellow vikings gaped at her and the mercenaries slowly began to grin. Then, Soldier stepped up next to Astrid and broke the silence.
"Excellent idea! Me and Astrid here will nominate one of our own and the two will have to engage in a sparring match," he turned to Tuffnut and raised his voice a little, "and if you are chosen you can use your own weapons!"
Astrid nodded in agreement. "We will only do two sparring matches. So only four of you will be-"
"Three."
Astrid turned to Soldier, surprised by the interruption and raised an eyebrow.
"Three?"
Soldier nodded and his crazy smile formed. "You and me must spar as well girl."
Astrid was silent for a second. She was not completely sure if sparring against someone like Soldier was the smartest idea, but she couldn't back down. She smiled back and nodded before turning towards her fellow vikings to nominate the first fighter. As she looked over each of them, Hiccup stepped up and said quietly to her so the mercenaries wouldn't hear, "This is to dangerous. We don't have to do this."
Astrid locked eyes with him and said calmly, "Hiccup, we are vikings. We are born to fight. We must prove something. I understand you prefer dragons and I love Stormfly, but I am also a warrior."
She stared into his eyes and he stared back. Finally he reached his hand to his hip and unsheathed his short sword and smiled. "Then I will fight for you."
Astrid was taken aback but then grinned and as Hiccup was making towards the arena she turned his face to hers and gave him a quick kiss. He looked surprised when she pulled back and she smiled warmly.
"For luck."
He grinned and held her hand. This touching moment was interrupted by a harsh and rude voice cutting in.
"Smooching is for later!"
Astrid and Hiccup turned to Soldier who had walked up to them followed by Demoman. The black Scottish cyclops was smiling in a friendly manner, but he held the sword Hiccup and Astrid had met him with and what he called the "Eyelander."
"Aye, are you me opponent lad?" Demo asked Hiccup. Hiccup nodded and they stepped into the arena. They stepped back from each other and crouched into fighting stances. Hiccup pressed a small button on the hilt of his sword and the blade lit up in fire. Demoman's one eye widened.
"How did ye do that?"
Hiccup grinned as the waved the ignited sword around. "It's powered by Monstrous Nightmare gel hidden in the hilt. If done properly, this gel can ignite anything."
Demoman stared for at the sword for a few more seconds before chuckling slightly. "Well lad, your gonna need more than a fiery sword to beat me!"
They began to circle each other, waiting for the other to make a move. The arena was absolutely quite except for the crackling of Hiccups sword. Finally, Demoman yelled a loud battlecry and charged forward, holding the Eyelander next to his face and slashing downward on Hiccup who quickly rolled out of the way and struck from the side. It hit Demo, but the cut and fire didn't seem to bother him that much. He straightened and slashed across forcing Hiccup to jump backward. Demo followed up with some quick slashes and keeping Hiccup on his toes. Hiccup tired to get back on the offensive, but was unable to even move away with each strike coming in hard and heavy. He noted that they weren't particularly fast swings, but the reach and sheer power of the sword was able to compensate for that. Demo kept his relentless attack and Hiccup realized his backing him to a corner and thinking quickly he waved his fiery sword in front of Demo. This blinded him for a second and Hiccup was able to roll behind Demoman. Before he could do much more though, Demo turned and they stared at each other. They were both panting and Hiccup noticed he was bleeding from a few cuts on his arms. Demoman hadn't sustained any other damages other the slash to his side which was bleeding as well. He smiled up at Hiccup and said though his heavy breathing, "Aye your quick like a little bunny. Kinda like Scout. And you have skill in your fighting. But without proper power lad you cannot win."
Hiccup returned the smile. "Power isn't everything. But you are surprisingly resistant to my fire."
Demo chuckled a little. "Aye, when you battle everyday with a person who uses a flamethrower on ya to burn ye alive, you get kinda used to it." he gestured to Pyro who waved cheerily. Demoman turned back to Hiccup to see that he wasn't there anymore. He looked around just in time to see Hiccup attack him from the right and disarm him. Demoman cried out as his Eyelander clattered to the ground and stood at sword point. There was stunned silence as Hiccup looked into the demolition man's eye.
Then, suddenly, Demo threw back his head and laughed. Hiccup lowered his sword and stared as the man in front of him laughed and laughed. He was going to ask if he was okay, when Demo regained some of his control and wiping a tear from his eye he choked out, "Aye that was incredible mate!"
Everyone in the are stared at him as he smiled genuinely at Hiccup. Hiccup look down towards the Eyelander which was a few feet away, wondering if this was a huge trick. Demo noticed and raised his hands up in surrender.
"No lad, I ain't gonna do that. You won fair and square. I'm just so happy you could give me a good fight." Demo extended his hand out and Hiccup smiled and accepted it. Behind them, Astrid and Soldier walked out followed by Medic with his Crusaders Crossbow in hand. The german went up to demo and shot a syringe into his side and the wound that Hiccup had inflicted on him immediately vanished. Medic turned to Hiccup and before Hiccup could do anything shot a syringe into him as well. Astrid stared and was about to scream, when she noticed Hiccup straighten up fully and completely healed up. He to, stared at Medic in shock as.
"How-?"
"My syringes carry my special medicine which can heal wounds in an instant," Medic said, giving him the short version as he and Demo walked to the edge of the arena and joined the others. Hiccup just stood there, wanting to know more for the second time that day, but Astrid took his hand.
"Good job Hiccup," she said warmly. Hiccup smiled back and they were leaning in when Soldier pushed them apart. "I SAID SMOOCHING IS FOR LATER NOW YOU GET OUT OF THE ARENA! ITS TIME FOR THE NEXT MATCHUP!"
The two frowned at Soldier, but Hiccup obeyed and joined his other vikings. Meanwhile, Astrid and Soldier where examining their fighters and wondering who to pick. Then, Soldier pointed to Scout and yelled, "SCOUT! HERE! NOW!"
Scout groaned and made his way into the arena, equipping his Three-Rune Sword. Astrid considered Soldier's choice and then smiled.
"I see. How about this? Your loudmouth versus our loudmouth."
Soldier chuckled a little as Scout shot Astrid a dirty look. Astrid ignored him and turned to her group and called out, "Snotlout! Your to fight Scout!"
The cocky viking perked up and ran into the arena, axe in hand faced the Bostonian.
"Thor yes! This should be easy!" Snotlout jeered as Astrid and Soldier left the arena and left the two combatants to fight. Scout just sneered back.
"Screw you pally! I'm going to beat on your skull until I hit tonsils!"
Snotlout looked confused, not knowing what tonsils were, but he understood what Scout said enough to get angry. He swung his axe at the skinny mercenary only to find it hit nothing. He glanced to his side to see Scout yawning a little while twirling his weapon.
"Psyche!"
Snotlout growled and charged him again. Scout calmly double jumped over him and Snotlout tripped over himself trying to hit him in the air.
"Oh what, you gonna cry? You gonna cry now?"
Snotlout got up and charged again and again, each time missing the speedy mercenary and each time getting a different taunt.
"Hit the bricks, pal. Your done."
"Look at you! You look like you ran through traffic!"
"Hey knucklehead, you ain't gonna win!"
At this, Snotlout stopped and glared at him, gripping his axe so hard that his hands began bleeding. Scout just cackled and taunted, "Yeah I dare you, rage quit! Come on, make us both happy!"
Snotlout roared in outrage and threw done his axe. "AT LEAST IM TRYING YOU SKINNY BARNACLE! JUST DO SOMETHING ALREADY!"
Scout stared for a second before twirling his sword once and without warning he ran at Snotlout and slashed him once on one knee, once on each arm and then held the sword an inch from his neck. Snotlout gaped at the sudden wounds he had and turned his head slowly to stare at Scout. Scout just looked down at him, not smiling. Then he made an evil grin and he opened his mouth and let out one last taunt.
"I wasted you!"
Scout took the sword from Snotlout's neck and left the arena whistling. Just as he was about to join the others, he turned around and said to Snotlout.
"You ain't bad. Just slow. Besides that, I had fun."
And with that he joined the others. Medic got up and shot a syringe into Snotlout, healing him and Snotlout got up and left still unable to say anything. Replacing him, Astrid and Soldier slowly walked onto the arena. They didn't say anything. Astrid was holding her favorite axe in one hand and Soldier was holding the Equalizer, an iron pickaxe, in his hand. No one spoke. It was as if two gods had met and were to do a battle to the death.
Astrid raised her axe and jumped forward, slashing across. Soldier blocked the attack with his Equalizer and hit her once before pushed the viking back, but made no move to follow up with the attack. Astrid launched another attack and Soldier once again stood grounded blocking a few strikes but was unable to block all of them before he pushed her back once more. As Astrid skidded back and came to a stop, she wondered why he wasn't pursuing her. He wasn't even putting much effort in blocking her attacks. He was just standing there, his face set and hardened. She pushed the thought away and charged again. This time he only blocked a few and was hit multiple times on each side. As he pushed Astrid back for the third time, she straightened up and called to him.
"What is wrong with you? Are you taking this seriously?"
Soldier didn't respond. Astrid was about to ask him again when, from the sidelines, Spy spoke.
"He is taking this seriously. If anything, he is taking it too seriously."
Astrid stared at Spy confused before turning back to Soldier. She had no clue what Spy meant but decided that if this is how this fight would be then she would just beat him like this. She crouched once more and jumped at Soldier again. As her axe neared him, Soldier suddenly put up his Equalizer and easily blocked the blow and countered with a powerful strike to Astrids side. She cried out and strafed to the left as not to take any more damage and stared at the man. She put her hand to her side and almost cried out once more from the pain. She stared at him. Her eyes then lowered to the pickaxe he was holding and she put two and two together. It seemed impossible but-
"Is your pickaxe getting stronger?"
Soldier didn't respond. Instead he just grinned and brandished the Equalizer and began to advance. Astrid gripped her axe tightly and charged forward to meet the man and slashed forward, cutting him on his shoulder. He winced slightly, but had made no move to block it. He had purposely let it happen. Astrid stared at horror at the man as he raised his pickaxe and suddenly began attacking. They weren't fast strikes but they were hard to block and when he finally hit her, it was clear that it was much more painful than the last time he had hit her. She was barely able to jump back, the pain was incredibly harsh, and she panted out, "does that pickaxe deal more damage the more injured you are!?"
Soldier looked at her and laughed. He lowered his face a little so Astrid could see his eyes fully from under his helmet.
"This is my world! You are not welcome in my world!"
He readied his Equalizer and charged forward for the first time and Astrid found herself trying to keep as much distance between herself and Soldier as possible. Every once in a while, she would dart forward and deal some more damage, but would have to get out just as soon as she did to avoid being destroyed. Once or twice she failed to dodge an attack of his and had to fight the urge to scream in agony. Each strike was like a hot rod being smashed into her skin and held there.
On the sidelines, the other vikings were getting very nervous. They knew Astrid would not forgive them if they stopped the fight, but at the same time it was obvious that this was beyond a normal sparring match. Soldier was not taking this lightly. He was taking it seriously alright. When Astrid got hit once more and couldn't hold back a small cry of pain, Hiccup got up and yelled, "Astrid! This is getting too dangerous! Let's stop this!"
Astrid heard this but didn't head his warning. She was not going to be beaten so easily. She turned back to Soldier, to see that he had closed the distance quite quickly and was getting ready to strike. Thinking fast, she slashed his chest and rolled from under him as he crunched over in pain and fell to the ground. She panted as she finally seemed to have one. She approached him to put her axe to his throat and claim victory, when to her utter horror and astonishment, Soldier climbed to his feet and faced her once more. He was bleeding from his arms, legs, chest, back, shoulders, and even his cheek had been cut but he was still standing. The two fighters stared into each others eyes. Then, Soldier straightened up and tossed his Equalizer to the side.
"C'mere cupcake!" he said and he unclipped the two grenades on his vest. Astrid didn't know what he was doing but knew it was bad by the immediate reaction from his fellow mercenaries. They all jumped from their places on the side and piled onto the American. Scout grabbed the two grenades he had been holding and threw them as far as he could towards the forest. Astrid and the other vikings watched the two grenades soar through the air before disappearing into the trees of the forest. They were still wondering what the big deal was when the all of the a sudden two large explosions were heard from inside the forest and a few seconds later, a trail of smoke appeared.
Astrid and turned back to the dog pile of bodies which were the mercenaries and was lost for words. Soldier was going to take himself out to take her out. Over a sparring match. She knew she took this very seriously as well, but that was insane!
Hiccup approached her and she fell into his arms, the pain and shock from the fight beginning to settle in. Hiccup held her tight as Fishlegs approached the still writhing mercenaries and asked for Medic. Somehow, Medic heard him and extracted himself from the pile and took out his Crusaders Crossbow and fired two syringes into Astrid just to be safe.
Astrid was straightening up with Hiccups help when a roar from the forest boomed out. Everyone stopped moving and turned to the edge of the forest. Rustling bushes was heard before a dragon jumped into the open, angry eyes locked on them.
It was a stockily built dragon with armored plates on its back that resembles an armadillo's, two legs and brown leathery wings. It had two ear-like appendages on its head. The most notable feature has to be its thick, braided tail that was unwinding and splitting into three thinner ones. Each tail was equipped with a stinger much like a scorpion's. Its forelimbs act as pincers, which also resemble a scorpion's.
The newcomer roared at the group, clicking its pincers menacingly. The mercenaries dragged Soldier to the side before returning to the riders, ready to fight. Scout's Speed Stingers came to attention next to him and watched the new dragon closely.
The dragon riders themselves seemed to be not so worried. When the dragon came closer, Tuffnut exclaimed happily, "look its our Triple Stryke buddy, Sleuther!" Hiccup nodded and approached Sleuther slowly and held his hand out. But Sleuther growled and lashed one of his tails in front of Hiccup forcing him to step back.
"I think Sleuther isn't happy about those things that just exploded in the forest," Hiccup ventured as Sleuther roared again. Suddenly from behind them, multiple dragon calls were heard and they turned to see Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang and Barf and Belch flying towards them. Each dragon landed next to their respective owners and hissed at Sleuther. Scout also stepped up next to the riders along with his pack of Speed Stingers and they surrounded the angry Triple Stryke. Despite being surrounded on all sides by six different dragons, Sleuther roared defiantly and readied himself to fight.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS MAGGOTS?!"
The yell was sudden and startling that everyone jumped in shock and looked behind to see the still battered and bleeding Soldier on his feet and walking towards the Triple Stryke. Every step he took was hard and heavy and his being radiated fury. He pushed past Hiccup and Fishlegs and went right up to the Triple Stryke. Sleuther roared at the crazy American, but Soldier just stood there unmoving. Then he began to speak.
"You are undisciplined. You have power. You have courage. You have deadly weapons. But you don't have discipline. You have no chance to beat all of us with just power, courage and deadly weaponry. But you would have a chance with proper discipline. But I can teach you! So you can kill me now or join me and become the best American dragon ever!
He stopped and stared at the dragon. It was obvious that Soldier was not fully right. His talking did not make sense in many ways. But he got his point across. Sleuther roared and then, to everyones utter bewilderment, coached down in front of Soldier and growled quietly. Soldier reached out and put his powerful hand the head of the dragon and the bond was constructed. He turned triumphantly to the group and yelled.
"Me and Sleuther are going to the best team ever!"
Then he promptly fell on his face and blacked out.
Later that evening, Astrid and Hiccup were walking along the beach together all alone and enjoying each others presence. Since the crazy morning, everyone had decided to just rest for the remainder of the day. Soldier had been moved to his room in the mercenaries house where he could sleep peacefully along with his new dragon.
As the two walked down the beach, Hiccup glanced at Astrid and saw past the small smile she had on, the confusion and shock from earlier.
"Your still thinking about what happened with Soldier?" he asked quietly and Astrid jumped in surprise. When she regained herself she nodded. "I didn't think he would go to such lengths. I knew he was a passionate fighter and a man not to be trifled with, but he went to the point of insanity."
"Thats what war is about."
The two stared up in surprise to see Soldier riding Sleuther just above their heads. He directed the Triple Stryke down and landed smoothly next to them. He got off and approached the two. His wounds from earlier were gone, but his face was just as serious and warlike as when they had met.
"You told me your training sessions are dangerous. You know that warriors have pride and honor. So why did this surprise you? Is is insanity? Or is the way of the battlefield? The Art of War?"
Astrid didn't respond immediately. She just stood thinking. Hiccup was getting a bit worried, when she finally looked into Soldier's eyes and nodded. "You are right. In a way that is. It is the Art of War but it is not the art of training. Training hones skills that can be used in any situation of battle. But what you did in the end was a last ditch attempt. When all else fails."
She let that sink. Soldier stood quiet. Then he extended his hand towards Astrid. "You are good. Real good. Maybe even the best."
Astrid looked at the hand and than up at the man that had almost killed her and himself. But thats what a Soldier is. She extended her own hand and the two fighters gripped each others hand and shook.
When they let go Soldier turned and walked towards his dragon but then he turned back around and said smiling, "Now is the time for smooching."
Astrid and Hiccup both blushed deeply. Soldier just cackled and then gave them one last salute before climbing onto his new trainee and flying back towards base.
