Here's the next chapter. Enjoy Hiccup's newfound ability to annoy the hell out of Astrid without getting his ass kicked.
Something was weird about Hiccup, Astrid knew that for sure. He was always gone after training, and once or twice she found him off in the woods with mysterious packages under his arms.
Every day, he found a new way to calm the dragons and force them back into their pens. Astrid was soon violently thrown from first place by his sudden success. He became wildly popular with the village as the size of the audience grew to record numbers; almost the whole town turned out to watch Hiccup tame the dragons.
Astrid, however, did not enjoy this as much as the village did. In fact, she did not enjoy it at all. Often, the matches ended with her throwing her axe into the nearest wooden object in a fury.
For a while, her status dwindled, while Hiccup's status grew. Even the young teenage girls were beginning to flutter their eyelashes at him, and the men, who had just returned from another unsuccessful dragon-nest-seeking trip, punched him brotherly on the shoulder.
Finally, the last match came. This was the most important; it would determine who placed first in dragon training, which entitled the winner killing their first dragon in front of the entire village.
"Stay out of my way," Astrid hissed. "I'm winning this!" She pushed him away as he quietly muttered "Uh, please, by all means."
She sat crouched behind a small wooden barrier, one of many set up as obstacles in the ring. "This time," She whispered to herself. "This time, for sure!"
Three, two...now!
She let out a ringing war cry, jumped over two of the barriers, and charged the Gronkle...that was already subdued beneath Hiccup's hands.
"Wha-what?" Her beautiful, pale face turned a fiery shade of crimson. "No! You son of a half troll, rat-eating SLUDGE BUCKET!" Astrid let fly a volley of angry oaths that would offend any non-viking within a three-mile radius.
"Uh, alright, well, I gotta get going, I'm late for - "
"Late for what, exactly?" Astrid trapped him with the top arch of her axe around his thin, paling neck.
"Quiet!" Came a loud call from the chief and Hiccup's father, Stoik, who was standing just behind the elder. She looked as though she was about to speak.
Gobber stood behind Astrid and Hiccup. He put his hook-hand over Astrid's head, to ask silently if Astrid had placed first.
Astrid straightened up, put on a fiercely defiant face, and...watched the elder shake her old, wizened face from side to side. No.
The crowd let out a small, collective gasp. Astrid felt her composure slipping as Hiccup was pronounced the winner.
Gobber moved from between them to congratulate Hiccup. Astrid stood, eyes fixed to a small crack in the stone wall. "I, uh..." Hiccup started his apology, but never finished. The rest of the class hoisted him up onto their shoulders and took him out of the ring. Not even Snotlout noticed Astrid was missing.
Hope you at least enjoyed that. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it polished to perfection. In the meantime, why don't you review some more? ;)