Speedfist was running across the battlefield at a blinding speed, shattering the ice as he ran.
Jac could barely keep track of him. "Is he going to beat me with some new move I've never seen?"
"I can't control it completely…" said Speedfist as he passed Jac.
Jac didn't see him, but he felt the shock wave as Speedfist ran past. 'So fast!'
"…but at this speed, the trade-off is power!" Speedfist continued.
The ice beneath Jac's faith then shattered, and he was propelled upwards into the air. "Well, fair enough." He then switched on his breather. "I'm no match for this attack."
"You're under arrest, villain!" Speedfist yelled as he finally stopped.
However, he then saw Jac placing his hands on the ice. Realising what he was about to do, Speedfist raced towards him, but he only sank beneath the softened ice before your chance to grab him. Jac continued using his power, turning the ground beneath the ice into the mud and sinking into it. Thanks to the breather and his helmet, he was able to breathe inside the mud.
'I'm not one of those stubborn heroes in training; I won't keep writing so long as I'm at a disadvantage,' he said and began swarming through the mud. 'It's not the best idea to leave Speedfist in the wind, but I don't think I can stop him. It's market a hurry and find Tab and the others so I can help them.'
Speedfist touched the ice, which had hardened again, making it impossible for him to chase after Jac.
"The ice is gone back to normal. Is he planning a surprise counter-attack? No, he should understand now that wouldn't work. He probably left to support his teammates."
"Whoa, that's fast!" said Fishlegs.
"So he's able to break the sound barrier with that speed," said Hiccup.
"Yeah, it's because you keep on improving like every month or so," said Agnar. "Speedfist is working just so that you can stand out."
"No, I generally think it's because he wants to improve; I don't think he really cares about the spotlight," said Hiccup.
"Uh, you guys," said Ruffnut pointing at the monitor. "Eyes on Sven!"
Sven was still trying to fend off Eric, but he was getting pretty worn out. The equipment he was wearing on his fingers and legs meant that his punches and kicks dealt a powerful blow against his tail.
When Eric performed a spinning roundhouse kick, Sven quickly jumped back. He then pressed his tail against a pipe, using it as a springboard to launch back at Eric. Sadly, he was able to block Sven's attack and pushed him back.
"He's trying an ordinary fistfight," Ingrid noted.
"It looks like he's losing ground, but Sven's getting better like the rest of us," said Tuffnut. "You got this!"
Sven winced in pain as he dodged Eric's punch. 'Oh man, I can't keep this up.'
Eric smiled and kept up his offensive. "Don't you know you can't win if you just parrying!"
'I don't even have time to attack, but I just can't keep blocking,' said Sven as he blocked the attacks. 'Those support items of his will rip me to shreds. He may not have any long-distance attacks like Heather, but he sure makes up for it in pure power.'
Sven decided to try and keep his distance by swinging on the price with his tail. However, Eric pierced one of the pipes with his drill-like hand and sent vibrations through the pipe. The vibrations were strong enough to make Sven lose his grip, and Eric moved in for the kill.
"Gotta now!" he yelled.
However, before his attack could hit, Speedfist zoomed past and grabbed him.
"Speedfist!" Sven gasped.
"I'll throw Spiral in jail!" Speedfist yelled very quickly. "Forgive my brief abstinence as I do! Help the others, Sven! Mudman is probably heading towards them! I'll be back!"
"Yeah, you got it!" Sven yelled, but Speedfist was already gone. 'His talking gets faster too.'
Speedfist was spinning Eric around as he ran so that he couldn't attack him.
"Let go of me!" Eric yelled. "I haven't done anything to show up yet!"
"Silence fiend, I won't let one of your ilk boast," said Speedfist stubbornly.
"You let Jac go, didn't you? Even though you've seen how much of a pain he can be. You should have gone after him first! Do you really think it's smart too, but in on a one-on-one fight, Speedy?"
"This is what my brother would do, so I'll act accordingly," said Speedfist, stopping when they reached the prison. Once there, he then tossed Eric inside. "If I compromise my ideals in training, I would likely do so in a real fight as well."
"You're a real stick in the mud," said Eric.
"Yeah, I hear that often," said Speedfist closing the door behind him.
Meanwhile, Ranger was having problems fending off Tab, who just kept on smashing his ice walls. He released a surge of ice, but Tab broke through it and punched him hard in the stomach.
"Have a taste of my fist!" Tab yelled, sending him flying.
"Thanks to how resilient he is, Tab can still move even though he must be freezing," said Calder. "I mean, it's not like his skin is going to rip off or anything."
"So manly," said Dogsbreath. "I'll learn from your example."
"Blasting ice even though he knows it's useless; that's something only an idiot would keep doing," said Snotlout.
Tab was smashing through every single ice structure that Ranger summoned. "I'll smash your defences! Nothing is going to stop my steel fists of justice!"
"Then I'll go on the offensive instead!" said Ranger and unleashed a powerful blizzard at Tab.
Hilde began running from the blizzard. "So cold!"
Ranger looked at Magnus. "Magnus! Hilde is yours!"
"Right!" Magnus nodded, freeing himself.
'Pushing back… gain some distance,' said, Ranger.
"You still don't get why I'm your opponent, do you?" said Tab as he stepped out of the blizzard. "I thought it'd be obvious. Your powers have zero effect on me."
Tab's body looked as if it was covered in frost, but despite that, he was still able to move.
"Let's go!" Tab yelled.
"Do your best, Tab!" Hilde yelled as she retreated from the blizzard.
Tab then charge through the blizzard towards Ranger. "I've done some intense training to increase my resistance to hot and cold temperatures."
He punched Ranger in the face and began dealing him blow after blow.
"Tab has Ranger on the defensive and won't let him escape!" Blood King announced. "Given their close proximity, Ranger is unable to use any of his aerial attacks."
Tab then grabbed the hem of Ranger's shirt and lifted him off his feet. "You can't even put a scratch and may! Do you get it yet? I forged my steel into something that no one can dent by demolishing my limits!"
He then punched Ranger hard in the stomach.
Ranger then began thinking back to when he was training with his father.
'If you wish to get ahead in life, you need to go beyond your limit," said Iceberg after dealing a powerful blow into Ranger's stomach. 'If you wish to be here, you need to endure this kind of pain.'
Tab continue to punch Ranger. "The only thing left to do is to punch until your KO'd!"
'Ranger, you have a power inside that goes beyond anyone else can wield, even me,' said his father's voice.
'What he said to me… why am I remembering it now?' Ranger asked himself.
"All you can do now is take it!" Tab yelled, clenching his fist.
Tab's hand was suddenly covered in ice and immediately stung due to the cold. "Ow! That's cold!"
"Move!" said Ranger as he began unleashing a powerful blizzard around them. "Move!"
Everything in the entire area then began being covered in ice, and the camera began to short out due to the cold.
"Well, there goes the camera," said Blood King.
'I can decrease the temperature even lower,' said Ranger as frost began covering his body. 'Go further… freeze myself if I have to. To become who I want to be!'"
All the remaining cameras then began pointing towards Ranger as he unleashed an overwhelming powerful blizzard.
"It's too much!" said Tab starting to feel the cold. "I can't get close; this blizzard is crazy!" He then looked up at Ranger. "I get you, Ranger! I'm holding all this cold inside of me, same as you are, but I know it's gonna be hard on you, too, right? I don't think you'll be to keep it up along, in which case I won't back down!"
He then jumped into the heart of the blizzard, and Ranger raised his hand, unleashing a powerful arctic wind. Despite being covered from head to toe in frost and ice, Tab managed to grab his hand while his teeth chatted.
"Endurance contests are my speciality!" said Tab. He then kneed Ranger in the stomach as hard as he could. "I'm going to go beyond!"
"You're wrong," said Ranger. "Give up before I have to show you what I can do."
"If you're not willing to risk everything during training, then you'll never do it in a real fight either!" Tab then began dealing him blow after blow. "Our powers and limits of their to be surpassed."
Ranger just looked at him and smiled. "It's time for you to shut up."
He then made the arctic wind even stronger.
Hilde was far away from the battle as he flew around and her horns, but she could still feel the cold.
'I'm pretty far away, but I can still feel that,' she said and then suddenly she saw Magnus appearing out of nowhere, trying to grab her. 'I've got a hurry up and get back to our steely boy.'
She made it out into the open in quickly landed, pointing her four horns directly at Magnus.
"Sorry, Tentacole," she said. "I never look at the octopuses in the aquarium! They are not cute."
"I used to people being scared of me," said Magnus clenching his fists.
"Don't take it personally, okay? I'm trying to help us win."
"Bring it on," said Magnus as he created about a dozen hands on his tentacles.
Hilde then fired her horns at Magnus, who countered by smashing them with his extra arms. His fist was moving so fast that they were like a blur, easily keeping up with Hilde, who constantly fired her horns. Despite the onslaught of horns, Magnus was able to gain some ground and slowly began pushing towards her.
"Your—"
"Done!" Hilde finished as she by one of her horns a minute directly at his back.
However, before the horn made contact, he courted with one of his extra hands. He noticed the horn because he created a tentacle eyeball behind him, giving him eyes in the back of his head.
"Nice try," said Magnus. "Sven!"
Hilde looked up, and Sven Sven jumped down towards her. She quickly fired a pair of horns at him, but he easily smashed through them with his tail. He then grabbed her horns, just maybe grew, and wrapped his tail around her holding her waist in place.
"You may be good with those horns, but the know-how to you if you can't shoot them," said Sven.
"This is how you catch me?" Hilde complained. "It's so darn ordinary!"
"I'll take it to the jail," said Magnus. "You go and support Ranger—"
Suddenly they found themselves sinking into the ground, and Jac's head popped out of the mud as he had softened the ground beneath their feet, turning it into quicksand.
"Him again!" Sven cursed.
"I'll be taking my teammates back now," said Jac as he placed his hand in the mud, making it even softer. "If you didn't know, our class is pretty tight."
Sven was now in the mud up to his shoulders, and Jac dived down, swinging towards him.
'Tighten your grip all you want; your grip on her will only loosen,' he said, grabbing Sven's tail.
"You bastard!" Sven roared.
He then began spinning around with all his strength, and it was so powerful that Jac was sent flying backwards into one of the pipes. Magnus, too had been flung out of the mud, and he quickly caught a steel girder; he then quickly reached out and grabbed Sven, attempting to pull him out of the mud.
"Thanks for that," said Magnus.
"Likewise," said Sven.
"How did you so much force?" Jac groaned.
"You got a tally before you do something like that, Jac!" Hilde yelled.
Suddenly two horns shot out of the mud and slammed into Sven's tail, piercing it.
"I won't let you go!" Sven winced.
"It's cool; I'm not worried about that."
Then two more horns flew out of the mud and slammed into Sven's tail. The Four together were enough to cause Sven to slip out of Magnus' grip.
"Sven!" Magnus yelled.
"With the power of these four horns, I'll set you straight into the slammer!" Hilde yelled at the top of her voice.
Sven was flying through the air until he went straight through the prison door and landed in jail.
King Blood smiled. "It doesn't matter how she got inside. If he's behind bars, he's out. Right now, it's one-to-one."
Hilde was now free from Sven's grip that she was rather shaken with that fancy manoeuvres.
Ranger and Tab were still battling it out in an arctic blizzard which only seemed to get stronger by the passing second.
"What's wrong, Ranger?" Tab asked, chatted teeth. "You're getting slow!"
He then punched Ranger, but he managed to block it and notice how weak the attack was.
"I could say the same about you," said Ranger. The built-in radiator in his suit kept him warm, but he was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open. 'Getting dizzy… my movements are imprecise… sloppy. I want it warmer I need to get him to back off first.'
He then quickly moved and counted Tab's attack and then began to compress the cold air into his fist. He was about to strike Tab when suddenly his foot sank into the floor.
"Can't let you freeze, my classmate," said Jac as he popped his head out from beneath the ground.
"Oh, hey," said Tab, who looked as if he was about to pass out at any moment. "What's up?"
The soft floor began to shift the pipes and tanks that were weakened thanks to Ranger's arctic wind. A large piece of pipe struck Ranger in the back of the head hard.
'Crap, I'm going to pass out,' he said.
"Now harden," said Jac.
However, before he could harden the ground, Speedfist appeared out of nowhere and dealt him a powerful blow to the head.
"I didn't miss this time, Mudman!" Speedfist announced, and he zoomed by.
Jac's helmet was destroyed, and Speedfist dashed towards Ranger, who was now out cold.
"So cold," said Speedfist picking him up.
"Bastard!" said Tab. "I won't let you get away!"
Speedfist looked at Tab and could instantly tell that he was in no condition to fight. If he grabbed Tab carried him up to the jail, and they would be in the lead, but he would be forced to read Ranger behind.
His thoughts then turned to his brother. 'The coolest person you can be is someone who can help others. If you see a lost kid, help them find their way home.'
"I'll return for you, villain," said Speedfist zoomed past Tab. "My priority is rescue!"
Jac was about to lose consciousness. 'I'm losing consciousness after one hit? Even though he said that he didn't have control at that speed? It was a mistake leaving Speedfist for later. Man, does this mean we've lost? If I blackout, everything I softened will go back to normal. I couldn't even leave behind something to help like Astrid did. I don't feel frustrated or anything; we'll lose fair and square… but I don't want my friends to fail just because I messed up.'
Using what strength he had left, he pulled his way towards the nearest tank and pressed his hand against it. "Tab! Quickly pushed this!"
Tab quickly hardened himself and slammed into the tank with all his strength.
The sudden impact caused the tank, which had been softened, to collapse directly towards Speedfist. He saw the table in towards him and knew he could get out of the way in time, and it fell right down on top of him.
Everyone looked at the monitors, stunned by the sudden turn of events.
"This is a fight," said Blood King.
Jac and Tab were now completely unconscious, and the tower began to harden again. Speedfist was trapped beneath it, but just before it landed on top of you were able to toss Ranger to safety. Unfortunately, when it hardened, he was now trapped beneath it, unable to move.
"The four of them down!" Blood King announced. "But they are out until they're thrown in jail. What will happen in the final moments?"
Speedfist tried to free himself, but that was impossible. 'My left arm and leg are trapped. It's too much; I don't have enough strength to break out. To make matters worse, my time-limited oversight and vibrant my monocle to phase out.'
He then looked up at Ranger, who was unconscious on the ground. 'Ranger, apologies. If only I had been a little better, just one step faster, getting us out of here.'
"Speedfist can't escape a little building that fell on top of him," said Blood King. "It looks to me the struggle with Eric had a big impact on him. He brought back the entire time, and boy did it pay off. Good job, Eric! You're definitely MVP of this round!"
'The one-sided commentary is getting worse,' Clueless muttered silently.
"Both Class A and B have one person in their jails," said Fishlegs.
"And almost everyone is down for the count," said Ruffnut.
"Only two more left," said Agnar.
Hilde was flying away, trying to avoid Magnus grabbing her, which was easy. She quickly fired off two horns that hooked beneath the harnesses of Jac and Tab and carried them away. She then flew over to Ranger and picked him up, and began trying to put some distance between her and Magnus.
"Ranger!" Speedfist yelled.
'I can't let Magnus nap, my pals; we'll be done for sure,' said Hilde. 'So what should I do? I could beat Magnus even with all four of my horns free. I deftly would be able to fight him and protect my teammates. If I could put Ranger in prison, then we'll take the lead, but carrying all three of them is weighing me down. At this rate, I'll be caught before I make it to the jail.'
Magnus was certainly closing in on her.
'If I blow this, we lose,' she said.
"Give him back!" Magnus yelled, extending his tentacles arms.
"That's it!" Hilde yelled and took off into the air.
Magnus realised what she was doing, and there was nothing he could do to stop her. "No!"
Hilde kept on going higher and higher until she was over the buildings making it impossible for Magnus to get.
'I can go higher than he can reach and wait for this sucker out. That way, even if we don't win, we technically won't lose,' she said and looked down at Magnus. "Sorry, Tentacole! I won't be the reason why we go crawling back home as failures!"
Everyone looking at the monitors were rather confused by this move.
"Wait, she's taken everyone to the sky?" said Calder.
"Ah man, Magnus can't fly with his powers," said Dogsbreath.
"Huh, she's just running away," Snotlout huffed.
Fishlegs looked at Hiccup. "Hiccup, what do you think the plan is now?"
"It might seem strange, but she's taking the safe route," Hiccup explained. "If she left her teammates behind to escape and Magnus could put them in jail."
"But why take Ranger?" Agnar asked.
"If he comes to, he can attack her with ice even in the sky. This way, she can keep them knocked out or at least send him flying if he does wake up. It's like an insurance policy."
"But that doesn't make any sense. The whole point is there for the other team in training jail?" said Ruffnut.
"They won't win, but they won't lose," said Hiccup pointing at the monitor.
Their eyes turned to the monitor and saw the countdown had just reached 15 seconds until the end of the exercise.
"Oh no, the time," said Fishlegs.
The only thing anyone could do was wait until the timer it zero. The moment it did, a horn was heard across the entire area, signalling the end of the exercise.
"20 minutes have passed! The third match is over!" Blood King announced. "Each team put one person in jail, so we got ourselves a draw."
"Oh man, that's ridiculously unsatisfying," Clueless moaned.
"In a natural encounter running away and awaiting rescue can often be a reasonable option," Bear pointed out.
On the monitor, everyone could see that the robots were attempting to chisel Speedfist out of the collapsed building.
"Poor Speedfist," said Fishlegs. "He must be so upset."
"Yeah, but…" said Hiccup remembering how Speedfist tossed Ranger to safety. "…he was so awesome."
Once everyone had regained consciousness and Speedfist had been chiselled out of the collapsed building, both teams began having their reviews.
"Okay, what did you do wrong, and how could you have improved?" Eret asked.
"Opening up with that big ice move has become something of a habit of mine, so they usually anticipated what I would do," said Ranger. "I need to remember that some villains would have the power to counteract mine."
"I should've trained hard to gain control and take Jac out the first time around," said Speedfist.
"I should have found a way to stay on the offensive against Eric, he was pushing me into a corner, and I was barely able to keep up," said Sven.
"I should have moved faster and grabbed Hilde before she flew up into the sky," said Magnus. "There was absolutely nothing I could do when she was completely out of my reach. Should have been able to do something."
"It is easy to criticise yourself in hindsight, but all in all, you performed admirably," said Eret. "Ranger, you need to become more flexible when using your powers and using an all-out attack at once can leave you vulnerable. Speedfist, you did manage to catch the enemy completely by surprise, but it's just as you said that you need to control that speed. Sven, villains, won't give you time to counter. You need to work on using your surroundings and creating openings. Magnus, don't focus on what you cannot do. Work on things that you can do. Dismissed."
Blood King looked at his class. "All you are completely flexible and worked in conjunction, but once again, you need to watch your surroundings and keep collateral damage to a minimum. So far, Class A has been the only one able to keep damage to a minimum, and that annoys me greatly."
"Yes, sir," said Team 3.
"Man, no one pulled any punches in that battle," said Dogsbreath.
"And we still got two more to go," Calder added.
"Yeah, but in those two teams, we got a pair of powerhouses that will completely dominate the competition," said Clueless.
"Poor babies, your backed up against the wall," said Cael as he approached them. "Both Class A and B have one win. Lose this round, and there's no way you can say that you're better than us."
He then began laughing maniacally.
"It comes and goes in waves, doesn't it?" said Clueless.
"Oh, you have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this fantastic matchup," said Cael. "Why you ask? Because our beloved Wendy is in it! If I were Snotlout, I would be pretty worried about now."
Wendy then approached her team, which consisted of Yale, a guy with tasks sticking out of his mouth and green skin named Jack and a bulky guy whose head resembled a glue stick name, Bjorn.
"All right, let's go," said Wendy.
"Yes, Wendy Splitson, the other student in Class B who got in from recommendations," said Cael. "She can be a real nasty piece of work."
'Snotlout, I hope you know what you're doing,' said Hiccup.
Snotlout's team were already making their way to their base.
"Wait, bad idea!" said Ingrid. "Let's talk about this, okay."
"Yeah, you're not serious, right?" Calder asked.
"All, I'm serious," Snotlout smiled.
"We'll start once everyone is in position," said Blood King. "Fourth match! Prepare for battle!"