The next day Tuffnut was a wreck. A nervous wreck. Ruff tried to calm him down, but she really, really sucked at pep talks.
"Don't worry bro, I'm sure that you can beat Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third. The best sword fighter Berk has seen in a hundred years. Trainer of the Nightfury and downfall of all our enemies. The best-"
Tuff cut her off, unwilling to hear anymore of his upcoming defeat.
"Has anyone ever told you that you stink at cheering people up?" He asked her.
Ruff smiled. "Yeah, it's come up once or twice before." She saw how miserable he looked and came to sit down beside him on the bed. "Don't worry about it bro, ok? Hiccup may be the best sword fighter Berk had ever seen, but you are the best mace-man in the entire history of ever! You can take him no problem."
Tuff looked up at her. "You really think so?"
She was about to reply when Tuffs father burst into the room.
"Okay son! Today is the big day!" He stuffed George into Tuffs hands and herded him out the door. "You go and practice down at the arena, alright? Come time we'll be root'in for ya! And remember," he said as Tuff started to walk away. "Do not let this family down!" And with that he slammed the door, leaving Tuff alone and feeling more nervous than ever.
Ruff came running around the house, Macey in her grasp.
"Hey, I brought Macey! I know that you wouldn't be able to fight without her!"
Tuff gave his sister a grateful look and swapped George for Macey, her grip feeling better in his hands than George's ever could.
"Ruffnut!" Came a yell from inside.
Ruff scowled. "Shit, I forgot to do the chores!" She gave her brother an awkward sibling hug and then ran back around the house to climb back in through the window.
Barf and Belch were out hunting, so Tuff walked down to the arena.
By the time he got there Astrid and Stormfly were already there waiting for him.
When she saw him Astrid jumped off her dragon and ran over to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He could tell she was really excited, but just as nervous as he was.
"Are you ready!" She asked, bouncing up and down like a child on Snoggeltog.
"Ummmmm, yep!" Tuff tried his best to banish the strange feeling in his gut. "Totally ready!"
"Great!" Astrid walked over to a rack of weapons and pulled off a mace.
"You are going to train with me all morning, then we're gonna go over strategy during lunch and before the duel."
Tuff nodded, feeling quite sorry for his future self. Fighting with Astrid, even as a training exercise was probably going to be painful. Very very painful.
"Let's start." Astrid ran at him, bringing her mace down right where he had been a moment ago. Tuff dived and rolled to the side, bringing up Macey to block her next blow.
This went on the the rest of the morning, and ended with Tuff and Astrid laying on the ground, sweaty and out of breath. The former with some considerable bruises.
It was time for lunch, so they took Stormfly and flew to the great hall, where they ran in, grabbed lunch and ran back out, eating on Stormfly's back on their way back to the arena.
When they got back they finished eating and Astrid laid out some plans.
They discussed strategies, how to use the terrain, and most importantly, what weaknesses Hiccup might have and how Tuff was gonna exploit them.
"The Stinger venom will have worn off completely by now, so he will have little to no hindrance, but he will be a bit stiff and out of practice, so you could use that. But the better thing to do would probably be to go for Hiccups foot. If you can somehow get it to come off of his leg then he'll be weak and vulnerable, making it easy for you to sweep him off his feet and win."
She looked over at Tuff and saw that he was paying absolutely zero attention to what she was saying.
She rolled up a piece of parchment and smacked Tuff on the head with it.
"Hey!" Tuff complained. "What was that for?"
"You need to pay attention Tuff!" Astrid said, smoothing the paper back out and putting it on the ground.
"Well, your honour, in my defence this is very boring and you are very beautiful, which is extremely distracting, so if you really think about it, it's your fault."
Astrid stared at him in disbelief. "My fault?!?" Then she got an idea.
"If you don't pay attention then I'm going to have to marry Hiccup."
Suddenly Tuff was paying very close attention to what she was saying about strategy.
"So what was that about Hiccups foot?" He asked, leaning forward.
They continued to talk and plan for the next hour, then people started drifting into the stands, and Astrid and Tuff put their papers away.
Astrid gave Tuff a kiss for good luck then went over to the stands and found a seat in the front row, Tuff watching her the whole time.
Then he heard someone calling his name. He turned and saw Ruff calling to him from the gate. He jogged over to her and she slapped him.
"What the hell was that for?" He asked, rubbing his face.
"Sorry, nerves."
"Uh huh."
"Are you ready?" She asked.
"Umm, I think so, I mean… yeah, I think so."
Ruff looked at him with a piercing gaze. "Where's your armour?" She asked.
"I'm not wearing any." Tuff said. "I've never needed any before."
Ruff slapped him again. "As fun as it would be to watch your brains get bashed out, I don't want Hiccup to be the one to do it, so at least use a shield."
Tuff nodded, then looked past her and saw that Hiccup was coming towards him, Stoick and Gobber in tow.
"Okay, thanks for coming to check on me, yes I'm gonna get a shield and bye!" Tuff pushed her out of the gate and Ruff went to go sit down beside Astrid.
Hiccup walked passed him and offered him a small smile which Tuff did not return. He was ready to totally beat Hiccup, beat him so bad that he'll be sore for a week.
Gobber gestured for Tuff to follow them and the four of them went into the centre of the arena.
"You all know why you are here!" Boomed the loud voice of Stoick.
"There has been a challenge issued for the hand of Astrid Hofferson! The competitors are my son, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, and Tuffnut Thorston! The rules are simple; use your weapon to knock the other onto the floor and beat them unconscious. The last Viking standing wins!"
There was a huge roar from the bloodthirsty crowd, everyone cheering and clapping. Tuff looked for Astrid but couldn't locate her amongst the sea of Vikings.
Hiccup and Stoick went over to talk about something and Gobber came and led Tuff towards the weapon rack.
"Do ya have a strategy lad?" He asked, looking slightly concerned.
Tuff looked at him incredulously. "Of course I have a plan Gobber! Jeesh, where's the faith. I may be an idiot but I'm not stupid!"
"Okay, if you say so."
Gobber retreated along with Stoick as the horn sounded, and Tuff hefted his mace. Hiccup looked uncomfortable with a mace as his weapon instead of his usual sword, but when he ran at Tuff and swung it, Tuff decided that maybe he was pretty good with a mace too.
Hiccup ran at Tuff again and Tuff dodged, rolling out of the way and bringing up his shield to block the next strike. He could hear the crowd cheering, but the sound was distant.
This time he ran at Hiccup, bringing his mace down on the brunette's shoulder, but he leapt away at the last moment, the mace only brushing his arm.
The boys danced around with each other for a bit, attacking and dodging, deflecting strikes and trying to tire the other out. Unfortunately, it was working.
Tuffs arms were screaming in protest as he hefted Macey again to block Hiccups next strike, and he bashed his shield into Hiccups side to fend him off.
The only good thing was that Hiccup looked just as worn out as Tuff, if not more so. Hiccup was clearly not used to having such a bulky weapon, and not moving for the last week and a bit probably didn't help.
The crowd was going wild every time either of the boys landed a hit, which was surprising often.
Tuff was getting very tired and he didn't want to drag this out anymore than he had to. He thought back to earlier when he and Astrid had talked about strategy. He hadn't remembered anything she had said, but now one important thing came back to him.
Go for his fake foot.
If he could get it loose, or even better, to fall off, then he was guaranteed victory.
Tuff focused all his attention on Hiccups foot. Hiccup swung at him but Tuff dodged and swiped the weapon for Hiccups foot. It was going great, until it wasn't. Hiccup caught the mace on the edge of his shield and twisted it out of Tuffs grasp, then swept his feet out from under him and sent Tuff crashing to the ground. The crowd gasped, some cheering, and Hiccup lifted his mace to make the knock out blow.
Hey guys, if you're still here, thank you so much! I know it's been forever since I last updated, and I'm sorry for that. But I'm having trouble deciding the ending. It's between Hiccup winning, or Tuff winning, and I have ideas for both scenario's. If you want Tuff to win comment Tuff, and if you want Hiccup to win, comment Hiccup, and hopefully the next update won't take a month :)