3) This can't be good…

Stoick sat on the throne, overlooking the tournament when Gobber appeared next to him with a puzzled expression on his face. Normally Stoick wouldn't bother to question why his dear old friend had that face, but after Hiccup disappeared Stoick had changed in more ways than one.

"What's the matter Gobber?" Stoick asked, with grump voice. "Is there something wrong?"

"I don't know," Gobber looked around confused, unsure if whatever it was mattered or not. "It just that I keep thinking over what he said just before I left."

Stoick turned to see Gobber and trying to understand what he had just said, because he had gotten Stoick curious over whatever words had been exchanged.

"Who?" Stoick said.

"The next fighter," Gobber answered, before he pointed out the man who was standing in the arena. "He said something that reminded me of something that I can't recall. It was almost like I had heard it before."

Stoick nodded and looked over at the fighter in the arena. The lad was lean and slightly muscled and was covered in partly leather around his upper body with a type of armor along with arm brackets; his pants were dark brown and have straps around them with a leather boot on his right foot. Stoick noticed a prosthetic that was different from anything he had ever seen before, but what took Stoick's attention was the spiked mask covering his face. Stoick glanced between the lad and Gobber and was just as clueless as Gobber. He had never seen this person before and as chief it was his duty to know everyone and anyone who came to the village. So who was this young man in the arena?

"Do you know who it is?" Stoick asked, slightly skeptical over this unknown man in the arena. He was chief of Berk and he knew everyone in the village, but this man didn't remind Stoick of anyone who lived on Berk. This made him think that the man was an outsider. Did any of their enemies try to get into Berk using him as a distraction?

"Nope," Gobber said, while popping the 'p' in careless manner. "But if he is an enemy then getting killed in the arena might be suitable punishment for entering Berk in the first place."

Stoick nodded in agreement, but he didn't think it was suitable for the stranger to just be sent to fight his youngest and strongest warrior. There was the possibility that this lad could be a good fighter despite his physique. No, the best way to make things difficult for a stranger is to challenge him with something unexpected and Stoick already had an idea of how to do it.

"Gobber, what do you think if we made this match more interesting?"

Hiccup was actually shivering down to his pants in fear of fighting Astrid. Not that he was afraid of her, since he had met more dangerous and fearful enemies away from Berk than he could count, but more or less intimidated by her tough and beautiful exterior. She had most certainly matured during the five years he had been gone. Her blonde hair was more neatly and was parted to her left with her hair still braided in the back. She wore more fur now around her shoulders, which took a form of a hood, along with replacing her blue-gray shirt with a red shirt. Her beloved shoulder pads was still there, but her armbands were larger and with fur. And of course she still had the axe Hiccup had made for her thirteenth birthday, and it was currently ready to slice him to pieces with it. Hiccup wished that Toothless was here, his dragon would surely have enjoyed getting a chance to fight a little since its been a while, but Hiccup on the other hand preferred a more peaceful way of solving problems. Too bad the rest of the Vikings on Berk didn't feel the same way about his method.

"Hey, how about we say that you won this and we don't have to fight?" Hiccup said heedfully, in attempt to avoid fighting Astrid. He knew too well that despite him getting some fighting experience the last five years, there was no way he would be able to beat or stay alive long against Astrid who had trained since the time she could more or less walk. Besides he didn't want to reappear to his father again as a dead man without showing off some of his accomplishments. The question was if he ever chose to reveal the truth to his father.

"Are you stupid?" Astrid said bluntly, while positioning herself in a fighting stance. "Vikings never runs away from a fight, meaning that we have to fight."

"But…aahh," Hiccup yelped as he took a step back, barely dodging the blade when Astrid began swinging her axe on him. Then she began swing her axe again and Hiccup barely manage to dodge it. She didn't give him any time to pull out his sword to defend himself with it either, since that he could at least block her swing instead of just dodging her, but the worst thing was that her movements came faster and faster for each swing. Hiccup kept moving backwards and dodging the attacks while keeping a calm demeanor, but on the inside he felt frustrated and helpless like he used to be when he lived on Berk. Back then he was useless and couldn't even lift a weapon on his own, but now he was more than capable to wield a weapon and even more if it was one of his own inventions. But that wasn't much of help if he couldn't do anything else than dodge and evade attacks.

"HALT THE FIGHT!" A voice called out through the arena, overpowering the rest of the audience. Everybody went silent and Astrid stopped attacking and turned her attention to who had stopped the fight, meanwhile Hiccup felt his whole body stiffen from the sound of that voice. He remained perfectly still and didn't turn around to see his father rising from his throne. This can't be good, Hiccup thought to himself, while discreetly grab a hold of his sword that was attached to the side pocket on his right leg. Even though he and his dad never seemed to know or understand each other very well, Hiccup knew that if he dad halted the fight it would mean he had something going on. For most of Hiccups circumstances his dad tend to make the situation more complicated than helpful, leaving Hiccup in more problems than he already was in. For instance when his dad had entered him into Dragon Training meanwhile he had come to realize he couldn't kill one and that he had started to befriend a certain dragon. And see how that turned out, he ran away from home and been moving around for five years with his dragon and his dad had not clue about it.

"Seeing as we have a visitor here on Berk," his dad said, but moved his head towards Hiccup as an indication that he was the 'visitor'. "Our champion and our visitor shall not fight each other, but instead fight one of the dragons we hold captive here on Berk."

Applause was ecstatic and many cheered over the suggestion, but to Hiccup it was dread that consumed his mind. It was just as he thought his dad was going to make the situation more complicated. He wasn't worried about the dragon, but he was more worried about getting out of this mess without hurting the dragon or exposing himself in front of the entire village. Better yet not get killed from doing the one thing a Viking won't do with dragons.

"AS THAT SAID, LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!" his dad shouted to the crowd. Hiccup realized he hadn't really listened to whatever his dad had said, but he didn't have the time to dwell on it as Gobber opened the hatch and a scarlet Monstrous Nightmare burst into the arena setting itself on fire. The Nightmare was furious probably from being locked up and was more than determined to win this fight than Hiccup was, but then again other Vikings had the tendency to fight to death. Astrid started to charge straight towards the Nightmare with her axe held up to attack. However Hiccup reacted slightly quicker than Astrid as he followed after her and threw himself over her, grabbing her axe and threw it as far as possible. He could hear Astrid shriek in anger as she hurried back to pick her axe, meanwhile giving Hiccup enough time to try and calm down the Nightmare. Slowly he walked towards the Nightmare until he stood only a few steps away from the dragon, who looked at Hiccup with confusion along with the rest of the village. Hiccup was on the on other hand confident as he activated the mechanism on his sword and the blade turned into a fire torch that he swung around the dragon. The arena gasped in astonishment and surprise, never had they seen such blade as well as being handled with such efficiency either. The question that went through their minds was who was this stranger?

The Nightmare followed the movements from the fire blade that this unusual Viking was swinging around with. Strangely enough the Nightmare wasn't frighten or overly cautious about this Viking, because he had the distinct smell of forests and a dragon and not the smell of dead dragons and sweat like the others. This man was a calming individual to the dragon, making him take out the fire on his body, and when he reached out his hand, the Nightmare perplexed over this action. Was this man willing to trust him not to hurt him?

"It's okay. I'm not like them, I'm not going to hurt you," the man looked at the Nightmare. The dragon couldn't see anything except the forest green eyes that showed kindness and courageousness. The man trusted him and the Nightmare knew that the man wouldn't hurt him, so he decided to trust this strange Viking by pushing his snout into the Viking's hand.

"Thank you," the man whispered. He patted the Nightmare's snout gently and the Nightmare could see the Viking's eyes filled with happiness. However the other Vikings that was glancing over them was shocked and most of all were furious over what they were witnessing, but the one who was most furious was the chief.

"STOP THE FIGHT!" Stoick bellowed, before hammering on the metal rods. The loud sounds scared the Nightmare, making him want to attack the Vikings who were making their way into the arena, but the young man wasn't willing to let the other Vikings get close to neither of them. Instead the young Viking climbed on to the Nightmare's back, telling that it's time to get out of there. The Nightmare understood and began flying over the arena, making his way out of the hatch where few of the Vikings entered into the arena.

The young Viking was riding him with no hesitation, leading him towards the forest. Then the man asked him to land into a cove and the Nightmare complied the request and landed close to the lake inside the cove. The Nightmare noticed there was another dragon inside the cove and he looked and saw his former comrade during the raids, the Night Fury. The Nightmare was surprised since he haven't seen the Night Fury for five years since the last raid before he was captured and locked up in cell. What have happened those five years ago and why was he here now?

"Sorry, Toothless," the young man said. He rubbed his neck with his left hand in embarrassment. "I got myself into some trouble back at the village." The Night Fury looked more or less annoyed with the young Viking, almost like he didn't believe he had just gotten into some trouble. The Night Fury then turned his attention to the Nightmare and asked what had happened. The Nightmare told the Fury as much as he could and the Fury nodded his head in understanding.

"Looks like this whole situation turned a little more complicated," the young man said. He shrugged his shoulders and took of his mask. The man had scraggy and unkempt brown hair with two small braids, very different from the other Vikings in both smell and appearance. Still looks didn't seem to be his first priority, since there obviously something these two was going to do here on Berk that was far more important than looks and popularity. The young man sat down on the ground and pulled out a small book and began writing something down.

"It's time to make some plans," the young man said with a sneaky grin on his face.

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Here's a new chapter to all of you, in celebration for my one year anniversary since I started the my fan fiction account. I know that it's been a while since I have updated this story, because I have put my priority on my other stories. I still plan on completing this story, but it will take some time since I will start my university education in august.

Anyway thank you for all your reviews, followings and favorites. And please continue doing so.

xXrebelgirl07Xx