AN: I've starting doing an extra math course at home after school each day, which uses up nearly all of my spare time, and there's Christmas to prepare for, so my rate of writing has dramatically decreased. I should have enough prepared material to last for a while, and I'll have more time during the Christmas holidays, but I'm going to warn you now that there might be a longer gap between stories in the future.

REVIEWS:

Dragon-Princess97: Yes, this will have a total of six parts.

dbfox007: Thank you :)

JustANormalHTTYDFan: That would be a really good idea... It's not how the story goes, but I can see myself writing a what-if fic about it.

Tim2060: Last, but certainly not least—THAT WAS THE BEST REVIEW EVER! You have no idea how much I loved hearing that! Thank you for your ongoing support, you really know how to make my day! I'll try to keep posting at a steady pace, so it'll keep building up.

You guys are the best!

AGILITY

"I did what last night?" Snotlout repeated, staring at me in the middle of the arena incredulously.

"You challenged me for Toothless," I said calmly, though I was barely holding back my anger. I always tried to avoid holding grudges, but this challenge was definitely overstepping the line.

Snotlout gapped in disbelief for a moment, and I thought that I might have to tell him what he'd done for the fifth time, but it seemed to finally sink in. His face crumpled for a moment, then he saw his dad watching and started to laugh, though a little hesitant at first.

"What do you know, just when I thought that I couldn't get any better, hahahaha!" He started laughing much harder, and I stared in disbelief. I'd thought that he might try and take it back, claim that he was out of his mind and argue against the whole thing, but he seemed to relish the challenge. Maybe I could let Astrid loose on him…

"Uh, oh… Um, I've been meaning to do that for ages… Yeah! I just couldn't stand facing Uncle Stoick," Snotlout declared to anyone who would listen, which was half the town who'd arrived to witness the first event. I might have been imagining it, but I could have sworn his voice trembled a little. "As the best Viking in this generation, it's only right that I get the b—best dragon. Of course, I'll need Useless to build him something so that he can fly on his own."

I turned away in disgust. Toothless half spread his wings to look intimidating and hissed at Snotlout, 'I fly with Hiccup, or not at all.'

"It'll be alright, Toothless," I reassured him, scratching his head.

'I hope so,' he muttered angrily. 'I am this close to barbecuing him.'

"So, babe," Snotlout approached Astrid flirtatiously. "When I have the Night Fury, how about I take you on a flight? Just the two of us." He blew her a kiss, and Astrid ran her finger along her axe blade, showing off how sharp it was.

"I don't even want to look at you, son of a half troll!"

I sighed, turning to the others. "Alright, so classes are cancelled for this week. You can have a break."

The twins cheered, and Fishlegs looked disappointed.

"But this'll put me a full week behind schedule, and I was planning to—"

"I didn't ask Snotlout to challenge me for my best friend!" I shot sharply at him, then looked away guiltily as Fishlegs shrunk back. "Sorry, Fishlegs. I'm just—"

"No, it's okay. If it were Meatlug…" Fishlegs trailed off, and I sighed in relief. I hadn't lost a friend because of my temper.

Dad walked into the kill ring, and the crowd murmured in anticipation. Astrid and Fishlegs dragged the twins out of the ring, and they rapidly reappeared on the seats above the ring.

"We are here today to witness a challenge between two exceptional Vikings," the Chief said, his voice echoing over the entire village easily. "Snotlout Jorgenson has challenged Hiccup Haddock for the possession of his Night Fury."

Toothless snarled beside me, and I laid a restraining hand on his head. "Steady, Bud. It's just a ceremony. They know you're not an object to be transferred from one person to another."

"The first event is designed to test the agility and light footedness of the contestants, both on foot and in the air. There will be three parts to this challenge: humans on foot, dragons on foot, and together in the air." The crowd muttered appreciatively. The only thing Vikings liked more than a competition was three competitions in one.

"For the first part, Hiccup and Snotlout will run three laps around the arena. It is the Thorston twins' job to throw paintballs at them." Well, at least no one could accuse the twins of being unfair—they loved paintball fights, and they'd never leave a person unharmed. "The boy who is hit the least is the winner of this part of the first event. Let the competitors line up."

I walked over to the start line, and glanced up. The twins were riding Barf and Belch, armed with paintballs of every colour imaginable.

"On your marks…" I bent down, ready for the signal. It was only three laps, I could sprint that easily.

"Get set…" Snotlout glared at me. You should just give it to me, he mouthed, and my anger rose sharply. Toothless is a he! I mouthed back, and he rolled his eyes. Whatever.

"Go!" I took off, and a paintball splattered on the ground just behind me.

"Yeah!" Ruffnut yelled, and I knew that she must have hit Snotlout. I started zig-zagging, trying to be as unpredictable as I could. A blob of blue paint whizzed past my ear and I yelped, stumbling slightly to the left. Snotlout pushed past me on my right, relying on his speed to carry him through. He already had three different colours plastered across his back, and I was feeling pretty good, until a purple paintball hit me in the face. It was worse than the time I got soap in my eyes! They burned and itched unbearably, effectively blinding me.

'Go left!' Toothless yelled and I swerved to the left, trusting him completely. I heard the splat of another paintball hitting the ground right next to me. The crowd oohed, and Tuffnut yelled in excitement. Desperately wiping my eyes, I turned and tried to return to my original course, hovering near the edge of the ring. A wall bumped into me, and I felt along it, slowing to a jog as I made my way around the ring.

"Snotlout Jorgenson has finished his first lap!"

'Stop!'

I stopped dead, skidding slightly and almost overbalancing. Another colour burst across the ground right in front of me and soaked through my shoes. I cracked my right eye open a little. Everything was blurry, and my eyes still stung horribly, but I could see where the edge of the ring was. Stepping over the puddle of colour, I kept running, my breath coming in gasps.

'Faster!'

I took a massive leap, but the paintball hit me on the back and almost sent me to the floor. I staggered forwards a few steps before regaining my balance, and pushed on and cleared the start line.

"Hiccup Haddock has finished his first lap!" Dad yelled, then carried on. "And Snotlout Jorgenson has finished his second lap!"

What? A paint covered blob ran up beside me and shoved me to one side, straight into another paintball. It hurt, the twins throwing the balls with unnecessary force, and I spun in a full circle before continuing.

My sight gradually improved as I finished the second lap, until I could see individual people in the crowd.

"Snotlout Jorgenson has finished his third lap. Let the judge come down to count how many times he was hit."

Squeaking, Fishlegs scurried over.

'Watch out!'

Despite Toothless' warning, I put my prosthetic foot down in a puddle of yellow, and slipped badly, sending shooting pain through my tailbone as I landed on it. Splat! Splat! One paintball from each twin landed on my shoulders, and I rolled to one side, covering myself in the yellow paint. Scrambling to my feet, I staggered forwards and lurched from side to side as the twins pelted me with their multicoloured ammunition. Now that Snotlout was finished, both twins focused on me, and I was completely covered by the time I staggered across the finish line, bruises forming wherever a paintball hit.

"Hiccup Haddock has finished his third lap!"

Fishlegs had finished with Snotlout by now, muttering to himself. He walked over to me.

"Hold your arms out."

It was weird, standing with my arms outstretched and dripping paint all over the floor as my friend peered closely at every inch of my body.

"Pistachio green, olive green, periwinkle blue, baby blue, indigo, lilac, sunshine yellow. Is that butter yellow? No, it's sunshine yellow again," he muttered to himself, and I stared in surprise. It looked like green, blue, purple, and yellow to me, but he could obviously see more than that.

"Chief?" Fishlegs called when he was finished.

"The results are in!" Dad yelled, and the whole crowd quieted.

"Snotlout was hit a total of seven times, and Hiccup was hit eight times!" The crowd burst into muttering, and I saw some chickens being exchanged as bets were collected. Just as I'd expected, I'd lost to Snotlout. If Toothless lost the dragon's foot competition, then we'd probably lost the entire event.

Splash! The twins threw buckets of water at me and Snotlout, dousing us from head to toe. The paint mostly washed off, but left interesting streaks down my back and sides. Snotlout looked like he'd been dipped in a bucket of paint and then left out in the rain overnight, a bit like Tuffnut's war paint, and I probably looked the same. I bit back the rude comment of my lips. We didn't need a rivalry like during the Thawfest games.

Toothless bounded over and licked my face comfortingly.

'You did your best, Hiccup. Don't worry, we can still win this thing.'

Then he gagged and pawed at his tongue. It had gone an interesting purple colour, and I yelled to the twins, "Hey, can we have some more water please?"

Another shower of water later, and all the paint was on the floor where it belonged, mixing into a brownish mess that Fishlegs called 'umber'. Astrid walked up and punched me on the shoulder.

"Don't give up, Hiccup!"

Honestly, it was like everyone thought I'd go home and cry the moment I lost anything! Gods, if there was one thing I was used to, it was losing—even if the stakes were impossibly high. It helped that we'd calculated which events we needed to win, and Toothless was confident in his ability to outmaneuver Hookfang. Snotlout smirked at us, his eyes flashing triumphantly. "The 'best' dragon trainer is going to lose his dragon! Uncle Stoick will be so disappointed in you."

"The second event: dragons on foot, will be conducted in the forest!" Dad interrupted, and the crowd became as quiet as a large group of Vikings could. "The dragons will take it in turns to run through the forest behind Astrid and Stormfly. I will ride behind them on Thornado, counting how many times the dragon runs into a tree.

"You must try and stay as close to Stormfly as you can, but you will lose points for hitting trees. Toothless, if you would go first please."

I looked at Hookfang. If Snotlout won Toothless, what would happen to him? Hookfang's head was set determinedly, and he looked ready to fight.

"Why are you doing this?" I muttered quietly, but Hookfang heard.

'Hookfang rider think Hookfang weak. Hookfang win, Rider pleased, not want Toothless.'

Poor Hookfang, so naive. Snotlout didn't deserve such a loyal dragon, but then, who did deserve their dragon? Certainly not me.

Astrid arrived on Stormfly, and they walked to the entrance of the ring. "Are you ready, Toothless? We'll be going up to the cove and back again."

Toothless nodded, crouched and ready to start by the entrance of the ring. Dad whistled, and Thornado flew into the ring, bending to let him climb on.

I stood in the middle of the ring, dripping water onto the floor and shivering. We might have just celebrated the thaw, but it was still cold, and wet clothes definitely didn't help. Gobber grabbed my arm.

"Go home and get changed, lad. You'll be back in time to see Toothless finish. It's a long way to the cove, you know."

"Just let m—me see him start," I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself.

"I'm going h—home too," Snotlout stuttered, trying not to show how cold he was. "To do some tr—training, Dad!"

"On your marks…" Stormfly shuffled from foot to foot, ready to take off the moment she was allowed.

"Get set…" Astrid leant forwards in the saddle.

"Go!" Stormfly launched into the air, flapping low to the ground, and Toothless sprang after them, his eyes glued to the tip of Stormfly's blue and yellow tail. Thornado rose into the air slowly and dignified, and flew off with Dad to keep score.

I turned away and started walking home. Halfway there, I forced my tired legs into a jog to warm myself up, but I was still freezing by the time I pulled the door open with numb fingers. I couldn't be bothered to start a fire, so I just stripped off my wet clothing and dumped it on the floor. Retrieving an identical outfit from my clothes' chest, I pulled on the green shirt and darker leggings. They were dry and warm, and my shivers quickly stopped .

Tripping down the stairs, I tumbled to the bottom and stood up. While it wasn't pleasant, I'd definitely gone down faster than I would have walking carefully, and I smiled. Dad would've have a fit if he'd known the way I thought, but Toothless never let me do anything too stupid or dangerous when I suggested it. I pushed the door shut and started walking down the hill, too tired to run any more.

Ten minutes later, I came alongside Fishlegs, and he jumped.

"Gods, Hiccup! How are you so quiet?"

I shrugged. "Practise." Mostly hiding from Snotlout or the twins, or the dragons in raids, but I was definitely better at walking quietly than most Vikings. After all, what's the point of surprising your enemy if you're a big Viking with an axe about to chop them in half?

"How's it going?" I asked, tension coiling in my chest and making it hard to breathe.

Fishlegs stared out into the distance. "If I have his stats right, we should see Toothless in about two minutes."

"You got stats?" I said incredulously, "When did you do that?"

"Um, Astrid persuaded Toothless to help me while you were recovering from the Red Death."

"Here they come!" Gobber's voice rang out, and the crowd quieted slightly. Slightly. There was a blue and yellow shape coming over the hill, with a black shape sprinting about thirty meters behind it. Fishlegs stared, aghast that his facts had been wrong. He pulled out his cards, and I handed him a pencil.

"Is that good?" I asked Fishlegs, and he shrugged, scribbling over the top of Toothless' card.

"Depending on how many times he touched the trees, I'd say that's very good."

A darker blue shape hovered high in the sky, following the two lower dragons. Within minutes, Stormfly flew through the gates of the arena, and Toothless ran in behind her. He skidded to a stop in front of me, sides heaving, and I grabbed a nearby bucket of water.

"Here."

He dipped his head in the bucket and drank deeply, emerging with a gasp to gulp more air. His legs trembled slightly, so I sat down and pulled his head onto my lap, making him lie down. He closed his eyes willingly, still panting hard, and I absent-mindedly stroked his head.

Hookfang stamped over to the starting line and stared challengingly at Stormfly.

'Toothless weak, Hookfang strong. Hookfang win.'

Stormfly shook her head. 'Toothless Alpha, Toothless Night Fury. Hookfang strong, Toothless more strong.'

Hookfang snorted fire, and Astrid yelped as it almost set her hair alight.

"On your marks…" Hookfang bent down, ready to run.

"Get set…" Stormfly flicked her tail from side to side.

"Go!" Hookfang ran forwards, chasing after the fast Nadder, and they soon disappeared over the slope of the hill.

Thirty minutes later, we were still waiting. Toothless recovered quickly and stood up, inviting me to do the same. I let him pull me to my feet, staggered slightly on my prosthetic, and we walked over to the entrance of the ring. Snotlout swaggered in, lightly covered in a sheen of sweat, then started running laps around the ring under Uncle Spitelout's watchful eyes. The rhythmic thud of his footsteps was reassuring, and I found my foot tapping to the same tempo.

'I think we won this one,' Toothless commented as Gobber flipped the sand timer on its end again. 'I only touched the trees once or twice, and never had a full collision.'

Finally, a dark blue shape appeared over the hill, followed by a lower blue and yellow shape. After half a minute, a red shape appeared over the hill and sped up slightly, energised by the sight of the goal. Astrid landed smoothly in the arena.

"Sorry, Gobber, we had to double back a few times when he got left behind."

Snotlout scowled at the panting Hookfang, who lowered his head in shame. 'Sorry Rider. Hookfang win next. Hookfang strong, Toothless weak. Toothless lucky.'

'Snotlout eel-for-brains,' Stormfly hissed, and Hookfang glared at her.

"Well, it is my pleasure to announce that Toothless won this round," Dad boomed sincerely. "We will proceed to the third part: mounted pairs. The contestants will fly through the sea stack maze, following the directions myself and Spitelout will provide. If you touch a rock, then you're out and the other team wins."

I easily swung myself onto Toothless' back, and shivered in anticipation of the oneness flying brought. Whenever I flew with Toothless, our connection deepened until I could almost feel the air in my own wings, the saddle on my back, and more importantly, how the tailfin had to move to keep us balanced. It worked both ways; Toothless could feel the ache in my fingers and thigh muscles after a long or fast flight, and he always made sure that I got some rest when we landed. It was less of a "me" and more of an "us" when we flew. If it wasn't, there was no way we could have survived the sea stack maze on our first real flight.

Dad collected two wooden boards and held them under his arms, then mounted Thornado. "You're following me, Snotlout." Each Viking was going to be as tough as he could on his nephew, so Dad had once again made it impossible for anyone to complain of favouritism.

"Hurry up, Hiccup," Spitelout ordered, and Toothless followed him as he mounted Kingstail.

The beautiful Nadder tossed his head, and took off. 'Kingstail hope Toothless keep Toothless Rider. Kingstail want close with Rider like Toothless close with Toothless Rider.'

"So, this is how it's going to work, boyo," Spitelout said loudly. "I am going to be flying above the sea stacks, holding these signs." He held up two boards. "You will fly through the sea stacks, and I will hold up one of these boards. You will read it, then direct your dragon either to the left, or the right of the approaching sea stack. Clear?"

"Clear."

A horn sounded, and Kingstail started flying. Toothless eased out of his hover, and we plunged into the maze. The first sea stack was approaching rapidly, and I peered at the board Spitelout was holding up.

"Left."

We easily slid between two sea stacks and emerged to see Spitelout holding up another sign.

"Right."

"Right."

"Right."

"Left."

It became monotonous: read the sign, translate it for Toothless, take the turn. Then Spitelout decided to increase the speed of his signs, and Kingstail raced ahead. Toothless started flapping faster to keep up, and we barely had time to twist desperately out of the way of each sea stack before seeing the sign for the next turn. We had to concentrate hard every single second, and it was mentally draining. I looked up after a particularly hair-raising turn, to see Spitelout holding up his sign again.

"Right," I squeaked, watching the next sea stack approach alarmingly fast. There was no way we'd get past that!

We swerved violently to the right, missing the rock by inches, and almost flew straight into Hookfang and Snotlout. Toothless tucked in his wings and ducked under them, spreading his wings a moment later to continue. Spitelout was calmly holding the next sign.

"Left," I patted Toothless' head, and we flew through a narrow gap between two sea stacks, almost brushing the rocks on either side, but staying a few precious centimetres away.

Then there was a roar from Thornado, and I twisted round to see Hookfang tumble towards the water below, Snotlout yanking hard on his horns and red in the face with yelling.

"Stupid reptile! I kne—" They plunged beneath the surface and emerged moments later, Snotlout soaked for the second time that day.

Dad pulled Thornado into a hover, and we followed Spitelout up out of the sea stacks. "You can go home, son. I'll let the villagers know, and probably have to give them a blow-by-blow account." He rubbed his eyes. "Why we didn't pick something that everyone could have watched from the stands, I don't know."

Revelling in our victory, Toothless and I played and flew until the sun set and painted the sky in hues of orange and pink. If Fishlegs had been there he'd probably have told me which cloud was which shade, but I didn't really care about that. It was beautiful, and that was all that mattered.

'We have to win,' Toothless spoke up as we glided across the darkening sky. 'I am not about to become Snotlout's slave.'

"We will," I reassured him, buoyed by our first success. "We've already got one point, and we'll definitely win the speed event. Then we'll win either the fighting event, or the fire event. I bet it's fighting tomorrow."

'No, it's going to be strength.'

I laughed. "We'll just have to wait and see."

My stomach gurgled suddenly, and Toothless chuckled.

'Let's get you home, Rumbles.'

Blushing, I slapped his ear. "I was too nervous to eat lunch today! I bet you're just as hungry as I am."

'Nope, dragons don't get hungry like you humans.'

We started gliding towards the slope behind our house, and Toothless growled.

"What's wrong?"

He stiffened. 'Nothing.'

I shrugged, and settled down. Then he growled again. A wicked grin spread across my face as I realised that the noise was coming from beneath me, not from his mouth. For all his proud words, Toothless was hungry!

"Did you hear that? I'd better check with Bucket, it sounds like there might be a storm moving in."

'I didn't hear a thing,' he stubbornly maintained.

"Oh, okay." Pretending to change the subject, I stretched my arms above my head. "I bet you'll sleep well tonight."

'Yeah, we did a lot of flying today. My wings are getting tired.'

"It takes a lot to do that."

'Well, we went for a long flight in the morning, then there was the mad dash through the sea stacks, and I don't think we've landed since then.'

"We'll go to bed straight after supper. I wonder what Dad's cooking tonight." I brought the conversation back to food again. "Cod? No, we had that last night. Maybe trout. What do you think?"

Toothless' stomach growled again, and I couldn't keep a straight face. I burst into hysterical laughter. 'I think you're a wicked human,' he mumbled, ears flat with embarrassment.

"Whatever, Rumbles."