Hiccup lifted his mace for the knockout blow and it felt like everything was going in slow motion. Tuff could hear the Vikings in the stands, some cheering for Hiccup, others yelling for Tuff to get up. The sound was distant though, like he was under water. All he could think was "Shit. I am going to loose, and Astrid is going to have to marry Hiccup. This is not good." For someone who's life was about to be ruined, and the girl he loved was going to have to marry someone else, he was strangely calm. Well, not calm exactly, it was like his brain was empty, which was very odd for him. Usually there was always at least something in there. As the mace swung closer, Tuff heard a scream from the stands.

"NOOO! Tuff his leg! Go for his leg!"

That caught his attention. It was Astrid, and the desperation in her voice made him wince. Here he was, feeling sorry for himself, when it was Astrid who was really going to suffer if he lost the fight. If he didn't win, she would have to marry that jerk, Hiccup. She wouldn't get a say in it. He had to win, for her.

When Astrid cried out, not only did it give Tuff a burst of energy, and make him want to win even more than he already did, it also made Hiccup hesitate. In the half second that Hiccup wavered, Tuff made his move. Using a move that he had seen Astrid do a hundred times, he twisted on the ground and thrust out his leg in a sweeping motion, his ankle connecting with Hiccups prosthetic. It knocked him off balance just long enough for Tuff to make a dive for his mace. He grabbed it, rolled, and came up standing. The arena was dead silent, like everyone was holding their breath. The only sound was Hiccup and Tuff's ragged breaths. Hiccup looked shocked, then determined. He rushed Tuff, but Tuff was quicker. He dodged Hiccup and ran to the edge of the arena, where Astrid was holding something. He grabbed it from her as Hiccup came at him again.

Tuff, with Macey in one hand and the Changewing skin in the other, ran to the other side of the arena. In the time it took Hiccup to get there, Tuff had unfurled the cloak and slipped it on.

Hiccup was angry. He was tired, and he just wanted to beat Tuffnut, have Astrid like him again and take a nap. Was that too much to ask for?!

Apparently it was.

Tuff ran to the side of the arena, where he grabbed something from Astrid. Hiccup rushed at Tuff, but he dodged and and ran to the far side of the arena, leaving Hiccup to skid into the side, the crowd gasping in sympathy. That only made him madder. But just as he turned around, seething with anger, Tuff did up the final buckle and vanished into thin air.

Hiccup looked around wildly, but it was as if Tuff had vanished. Which he kind of did. Because, as we know, Tuff had a Changewing skin cloak.

The crowd gasped as Tuff vanished from sight. Hiccup, very confused but quickly figuring out what happened, slowly turned in a circle, looking for anything that might give away Tuffnuts position. Gravel crunched to his right and Hiccup turned and lifted his shield just as Tuff struck him with his mace, sending him sprawling on the ground. Hiccup quickly got up, cursing, and looked around for anything that might tell him when the next attack would come. There was a sound to his left, and he lashed out with his mace, silently cursing its extra weight, which made his movements sloppy. His mace sliced through the air, but connected with nothing. He brought his mace down to his side, confused, when something connected with his back, knocking both his shield and mace out of his grip. The crowd went silent, trying to figure out what happened, because if you hadn't already noticed, most Vikings really aren't that smart.

Hiccup moved around, trying to figure out where Tuff went, and then he felt a blow to his back, knocking him over. Turns out Tuff kicked him, and Hiccup fumbled around for anything that he might be able to grab, hit, or kick. Hiccup felt scaled cloth under his fingers, and without thinking twice, he grabbed it and yanked. The cloak came off of Tuff, which made him loose his balance and nearly fall, and Hiccup threw the cloak away, too far for either of them to get wit out making them vulnerable to attack. Both of them stared at each other for a second, then they both got up and circled each other, Tuff throwing down his mace, to make it fair or something. I never did understand why people did that. Anyway, you can hear Astrid and Ruffnut groaning in the stands. Back in the ring, Hiccup lunged at Tuff, but he dodged and he gave Hiccup a blow in retaliation and it connected with his side, and it made Hiccup wobble, but he caught himself, and lunged for Tuff again, this time hitting him, and sending him sprawling.

The boys fought hand to hand, for a good long while, long enough that Astrid decided that it was time to do something to end it. Hiccup and Tuff weren't getting anywhere, and they were both near collapsing. So, she decided to do something crazy. Astrid stood up and and walked down to the entrance of the ring.

You see, the night before the fight, Astrid looked through the rule book again, and then again. Then, after looking through it so many times she could almost recite it word for word, an idea came to her. Now, there were some rules and customs that were stated in the book, but there was nothing saying that if things went bad, the girl in question couldn't fight for herself.

Astrid took a deep breath, and opened the gate into the ring.

As soon as she took her first step in everything went dead silent. The boys even paused their fighting to stare at her. Then Tuff took a shot at Hiccup, and with him being distracted, the blow landed, which made Hiccup very angry, and the fight resumed. Astrid calmly walked up to them, took Hiccups hand, and then promptly flipped him over her shoulder, Hiccup landing on the ground with a dull thud. Then Astrid turned and did the same to Tuff.

There was an immediate uproar from the crowd. Girls couldn't fight in duels! Well, apparently someone forgot to tell that to Astrid. Stoic calmed everyone down and came into the ring, followed by Gothi and Gobber.

"Astrid, what is the meaning of this?" He asked her. "Well chief, it's simple. I was going through the rule book last night and I discovered that no where in the whole damn book does it say that the girl can't fight for herself, especially if the boys are being morons and taking forever." She threw a look over her shoulder at the two boys who were still on the ground.

Stoic motioned for Gobber to bring the book forward, and they both looked through it furiously, trying to find anything that might say that what Astrid did was against the rules. They found nothing.

"Well," said Stoic, slamming the book shut. "There is absolutely nothing in here saying that what you did wasn't allowed." then turning to address the crowd; "We have checked the rules! What Astrid did was completely allowed! So in accordance to Viking law, Astrid is the winner of the duel! And, she can marry who ever she wants!"

The crowd was silent, then they erupted, cheering her name and just generally going wild. Which, as you know, is a Viking specialty. Most of the crowd was at least slightly confused, because, as I have mentioned before, Vikings aren't the smartest, but they realized that someone won, and someone else lost and got beaten up along the way, and that was good enough for them.

Stoic turned to Astrid and asked her who she wanted to marry, although he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Astrid ran to Tuff, without so much as looking at Hiccup, and kissed him, like they were the only two people in the world.

Done. Finally. I've been working on this story for a very long time, and I think it's finally finished. I really hope that you all like how it ended, and that you are happy with how everything turned out. I know you guys wanted Tuff to win, but I couldn't resist. Now, I am very tired, so I am going to go take a nap. Once again, thank you for reading and feel free to check out my other works.