AN: Well, as this is an odd-numbered chapter, Tyira wrote this. I really liked writing the animosity here, and I hope you guys get a laugh out of it every so often. Thanks for reading! Reviews appreciated!
"Each meeting occurs at the precise moment for which it was meant. Usually, when it will have the greatest impact on our lives."
Nadia Scrieva
Jack sat in the back of the car, trying futilely to ignore Eira and her brother Leon's incessant bickering. The seventeen-year-old stared out the window, head resting in the palm of his hand, and thought about the past years of his life. He had moved in with his mentor and her brother when he was thirteen. His family had to move on again, but Jack still needed his mentor, so he'd stayed.
This would be his sixth Tintagel. Tintagel was the yearly celebration of the Society, occurring every year on the fifth of November. A different company hosted every year. This year, Tintagel was being hosted by the High Flyers, which was the company of winged beasts. They would choose the location and put on the entertainment for the night. This year they'd chosen the side of a mountain. Kind of an inconvenient location, isn't it? he thought.
Eira and Leon's 'conversation' got louder and they began to pepper their sentences with profanities. Jack squeezed his eyes shut and inwardly groaned. Don't get him wrong, Jack cared about his second family, but they sure could be annoying at times.
Time flew by after Jack somehow managed to tune out the adults in front of him until before he knew it they had made it to the spot where Tintagel would be held. No "normal" people were anywhere in sight. As today was Guy Fawkes Day, no one would even care if a group of folks gathered on the mountain to dance and sing around a giant fire like a bunch of lunatics. The three unloaded and made for the large group of people. They were late, of course. Just as they rushed into their groups of respective companies, a hush fell over the crowd.
"Welcome to this year's Tintagel!" yelled a woman through a megaphone, standing on a wooden dais. "I'm Nixxy Douglas, and I'm the leader of a chapter up north-ish." A cheer erupted, scattered artistically around the crowd. "Yeah, those folks are mine." She cleared her throat. "This year the High Flyers host Tintagel. So we'll begin with a creative little show choreographed by my chapter's griffin companion Astrid Hofferson."
Jack watched the show half-heartedly. This wasn't his first rodeo. The High Flyers always did an aerial show. It's easy to see why, but in Jack's honest opinion they needed to shake it up a little. Jack snapped out of his daze to find that the girl, Astrid, and her griffin had finished their routine. A group of High Flyers took the stage and began to play music, some of their companions crooning along.
After the brief performance Nixxy came back to the dais. "Now on to the fun part! For the first time in Tintagel history, we will have a Tintagel Olympics!" At this, Jack's ears perked up. This was shaking it up. "We will have four people eighteen and under randomly selected from each company. First we have the Elementals!" She took a paper from her pocket with a flourish.
"Jackson Overland, Lauressa Sigurdsson, Nancy Damyanov and Aleksander Schwartz."
Eira shook Jack's shoulder roughly. "Go up!" Jack rushed to the dais, along with the three others.
"From the Two-Fours, Marie Cipris, Rapunzel Corona, Sean Van Nifterick, and Wilhelm Locatelli."
Those four came to the stage.
"From our High Flyers, Josiah Sedlak, Andrea Mohren, Merida DunBroch, and Russ Bristol. And finally, we have our Sea Snakes: Aisling Faolan, Irina Stefansson, Jared Pechacek, and Hiccup Haddock."
The sixteen Society members stood awkwardly on the stage. Jack noticed some of them looking in the audience, no doubt looking for friends or family.
"There's no way we can have Olympic events on this tiny dais here," proclaimed Nixxy, "so we'll move you kids to the grass over here." She herded them to a spot she deemed satisfactory. "Now, line up-face me, hon-that's right-just like that." Nixxy turned to the audience and through her megaphone yelled, "For our first event, we'll have something traditional. The one-hundred meter dash!"
Hiccup groaned audibly. He was a skinny stick with little to no athletic ability. Why on earth did he get picked for the Tintagel Olympics?
"Hm?" Nixxy asked, lowering her megaphone. She noticed Hiccup's prosthetic leg as he rolled his jeans up. Trotting over to him nervously, she asked, "Did you want me to replace you? If you can't do it…"
"I can do it!" exclaimed Hiccup unhappily. "Disabled doesn't mean useless. I can barely tell it's there! It's like a regular leg! I-oh, forget it. I'm still in." Hiccup steeled himself for the race, very determined to prove he wasn't hopeless.
Nixxy nodded her head at the Sea Snake. She yanked a gun from her jeans and said, "Runners to your marks, get set..." A blank was fired as Nixxy yelled, "Go!" The runners took off. Needless to say, Hiccup came in last. Only, he assured himself, because he tripped. He'd have made first otherwise. Or close to first.
"Congratulations, Jack Overland!" came Nixxy's excited voice.
Hiccup eyed the winner warily. His pale skin and dark brown hair contrasted one another greatly. There was nothing remotely interesting about him, except the crooked walking stick he held. As the sixteen regrouped, he heard one girl-she had short brown hair and a purple dress-ask politely why he had the stick and if it was hard to run with.
"I'm a companion to frost wolves," he said, "and this is our throwing stick."
"Oh," she said with interest.
"Yeah. I throw it real far-it's a lot lighter than it looks, see?" He handed the girl his stick and she hefted it, impressed. "Yeah. And then Elmfloe will run as fast as he can. I'm on his back. It's really fast. And fun."
The girl's mouth was a circle of awe. "So, are you American?" she questioned carefully.
At this point, Hiccup was finished listening. He decided right then and there that he hated Jack Overland. He was a stuck-up jock who was clearly trying to win the girl. That stupid lady-winning smile, that casual stance... yeah, Jack was no better than Snotlout. Well, at least the Frost Wolf companion appeared to have more intelligence than his dimwit bully of a cousin.
"Now," exclaimed Nixxy, "we will repeat the hundred-meter-dash..."
Hiccup's head dropped in annoyance into his hands. Again?
"...with your companions!"
From behind the groups of people, sixteen creatures either perked their ears or lifted their heads in excitement. Toothless ignored all social norms and took a great leap over the crowd to his companion. Many ducked and scattered in an attempt to avoid the great mass of the creature.
"Come on, stupid," murmured Hiccup to Toothless, stroking his nose. "You freaked out everyone in the crowd. Could you be more... polite?"
Toothless rolled his eyes in annoyance. Yeah. Absolutely. I love being polite.
Shut up, you useless reptile, hissed Hiccup, earning a whack from Toothless' tail.
Nixxy just blinked at the unusual entrance and signaled for the other creatures to come and join their companions in a more respectable manner. "Those that can ride or be carried by their companion creatures are to do so. Those that cannot-" she motioned to a Japanese girl's tiny faerie "-are to send their companions on their own." She clapped her hands. "Companions, to your line."
Hiccup climbed clumsily onto Toothless, ignoring Jack's graceful leap onto Elmfloe. His thoughts of hate, though unintentionally, drifted to Toothless.
Hiccup could hear the grin in Toothless' mental voice. Don't worry, kid. We're going to kill that frost wolf.
Um, literally? Or in the metaphorical way? Because I'd like to keep my head.
Toothless snickered audibly but didn't answer. Nixxy raised her gun and fired another blank. Toothless was over the line almost before Hiccup could think.
Nice job, bud, Hiccup complimented. You keep this up, we'll win the very first Tintagel Olympics.
Nixxy congratulated Hiccup and Toothless. Hiccup waltzed over to Jack while Nixxy organized the next event.
"Guess I left you in the dust, huh, Frosty?"
"You didn't do squat," snarled Jack, though visibly ruffled by the loss. "If you and me got in a fight, there's no question who'd win. You're just using your stupid beast to win the glory for you. I can do it on my own."
Upon hearing "stupid beast", Toothless whipped around to stare the boy in he eye, a glare that was met unflinchingly.
"You will lose, Haddock," hissed Jack, his eyes never leaving Toothless's. "And I don't doubt it for a moment." He turned away, his staff swishing dramatically behind him.
Nixxy called them all to order, stating the next event to be the high jump. The brown-haired girl won that one, even in her dress. Jack's companion Elmfloe won for the companion round.
Many events unfolded afterward, including the long jump, a discus throw, and a tag team battle. Finally, four competitors and their companions were left; coincidentally there was one from each company. They had won the most events of the night and one of them would win the first Tintagel Olympics. The four remaining were Hiccup, Jack, the brown-haired girl Hiccup learned was named Rapunzel, and a girl with a crazy mop of orange hair called Merida.
Nixxy raised the megaphone to her lips and declared, "For our final event-a less Olympic one-we will have you and your companion choreograph a dance. Our audience will choose the winner here. You have ten minutes."
Jack and Hiccup locked eyes and each confirmed in a moment that the other was going down. Way, way down.
"So, what're you going to do?" asked Merida.
"Actually," said Hiccup with a proud grin, "I was thinking of-"
"I'm not sure," replied Rapunzel. Hiccup realized in annoyance that Merida's question wasn't aimed at him. "If you can't see it from above, you might miss the beautiful twists and turns Acantha has. I'm not likely to win since she can't fly."
"She doesn't fly on rainbows?" joked the red-haired Scot.
"No, of course not. But we'll figure something out."
"Five minutes," interrupted Nixxy. Hiccup watched the other three scramble around, fitting in last-minute ideas. He wasn't worried.
When the final five minutes were up, Nixxy called up Jack and Elmfloe to the dais to perform their dance. Elmfloe was nowhere in sight. Jack put a bit of frost on his lips from a thermos he held and howled. It was an eerie yet excited and very real-sounding howl. White paws materialized like snow blowing in to fill a mold. Next came legs, then the thick, strong body of Elmfloe. Finally the head appeared and the frost wolf echoed Jack's howl. Jack ran toward the horse-sized animal, grabbed his neck, and swung over so he was resting comfortably on the wolf's back. He threw the stick effortlessly over the crowd's head. Elmfloe charged around the crowd and leapt into the air, catching the stick in his powerful jaws. He blew frost from his nostrils onto the back of the crowd, earning a soft whack from Jack. He apologized to the shivering people. Elmfloe leapt into the air and completed a backflip successfully, even managing not to launch Jack. The wolf took three great leaps and landed on the dais, where the two bowed before the applauding crowd prior to leaving.
Next came Rapunzel and her unicorn Acantha. They began on the dais where Rapunzel rode sidesaddle on the animal. Acantha trotted regally off the dais. Rapunzel put her hands on her companion's horn and slowly stood on her back, even as the unicorn began to gallop. Her stance was like a surfer's. There was a whistle from the crowd and Rapunzel grinned and found the goatee'd man, to whom she waved. This set her off-balance, and she tumbled to the ground. Clutching her bruised knee, she apologized to the crowd and limped back to the other finalists.
Hiccup flashed Jack what he thought was a "I'm going to kick your butt" smile. It actually came out awkward, but what Hiccup didn't know wouldn't hurt him. He clicked his prosthetic into Toothless' saddle and whispered, "I don't care what you do. Just wow 'em, bud." So Toothless did just that. He took off into the air, at first circling above the crowd like a buzzard. Then he launched into the air and climbed. He flew above the clouds, circled a bit then pulled his wings to his side and dove. Hiccup unhooked himself from the dragon's saddle and fell alongside him. The people screamed as Toothless swooped over their heads, catching Hiccup. Then he flew above the dais, twirled head-over-heels, then twirled together like ballerinas in a pirouette a few times and landed. Hiccup and Toothless bowed just as Jack and Elmfloe had done before exiting the stage, where Hiccup gloated to Jack.
Finally Merida and her phoenix called Enya took to the stage. The phoenix grasped Merida's outstretched arms, the traditional Celtic dress she wore flowing beneath her. Enya raised Merida with a few flaps of her wings, then blew a circular wall of fire around them reaching at least twenty feet in the air. They were shrouded by the fire, but suddenly both emerged in the same spot albeit twenty feet apart. Merida danced a slow version of a Scottish jig, her movements wide and graceful, her face a mask of concentrated serenity. The phoenix above her mirrored her movements in a more birdlike fashion. Suddenly Merida leapt into the fire, hearing the crowd gasp. Enya's fire could not harm her, however. From her point of view, she saw the orange ring around her for what seemed like miles up. She jumped out on the other side, trying to keep her face peaceful as she saw her best friend above her, doing just as she was. They danced gracefully, fully realizing the crowd's awe. To finish, they both jumped into the wall. The fire disappeared and Merida and the phoenix were suddenly twenty feet up. Enya slowly lowered the girl to the dais where they curtsied and bowed and left to join the other competitors.
Nixxy returned to the dais and raised the megaphone to her mouth. "Thank you, finalists! To vote, simply come up here, where we will have slips of paper and a box to put your vote in. The finalist with the most votes wins the Olympics! You are free to mingle amongst yourselves and those of other companies while we wait."
She dismissed the competitors and their companions, who left, conversing casually. Jack and Hiccup stayed far away from each other, each one talking to one of the girls.
"That's some dragon you've got there," Merida complimented.
"Thanks. He's one of the Legendary dragons. Very hard to manage, but fully worth it."
"Legendary?" Merida questioned. "What's the difference?"
"Oh. A Legendary dragon is one of the ancestors of today's dragons. They've been around thousands of years, some even more. At the moment there are a little less than ten known Legendaries. My dragon, Toothless, is known as the Night Fury and is the youngest Legendary dragon. Many call him the unholy offspring of lighting and death, but he's no monster. The real monsters are the Deaths. The Red Death, the Green Death, and that sort of thing. Just different and special dragons, is all."
"Cool." She turned to Rapunzel, who had just asked about her dress. "Oh. You know, a traditional Celtic one. My mum made me wear it. It's nice, and it worked great for the dance, but I don't love dresses."
"Really?" Rapunzel looked down at her own dress and grinned sheepishly.
"Yours is pretty, though," Merida assured her. "I like the flowers."
Hiccup rolled his eyes. Astrid would never have this conversation. "Speak of the devil," he murmured to himself as Astrid herself swaggered up to the group.
She put an arm around Hiccup and shook him affectionately. "Good job, Hic!"
Jack raised an eyebrow in interest, earning a death glare from Hiccup. Merida and Rapunzel looked expectantly at Hiccup.
"Oh! This is Astrid Hofferson, my fr-"
"I'm his girlfriend."
Hiccup reddened considerably, and Jack's eyebrow dropped. His expression changed and he started to snicker. That little stick had her for a girlfriend? She could do better.
"You're dating him?" he exclaimed. "He doesn't deserve you. You need... someone with personality. And good looks."
Quick as lightning the girl had stepped forward and left a stinging mark on the pale boy's skin. Jack started to rub his cheek where the Viking girl's hand had connected with his face. His eyes glanced upon a well-built man with brown locks and a goatee to match.
"Oh! Eugene!" called Rapunzel, waving.
"Hey, Punzie," he greeted, joining the little group of five.
"Right. Guys, this is Eugene Fitzherbert. He's my boyfriend."
Eugene offered a hand to the rest of the group as they introduced themselves. Jack clearly had no interest in meeting him, and Flynn suspected why. Much like Hiccup, Eugene had an almost immediate hatred towards the frost wolf companion. He could also tell Hiccup had a similar hatred toward the boy, and so began to socialize with the Viking boy. Those two became quick friends.
Rapunzel and Jack talked comfortably about their lives, Merida and Astrid discussed archery, fencing and other pastimes, and Flynn and Hiccup bonded through mutual hatred and the fact that they actually had girlfriends. They conversed together for a few hours, quickly becoming friends.
Finally Nixxy came again to the dais to name the winner of the Tintagel Olympics. "Alright, folks. A few volunteers have counted the votes, and I have the numbers right here." She waved four slips of paper.
Hiccup gave Jack a grin. "I'm going to kick your butt," he whispered. Eugene patted the younger boy on the back.
"I hope you will," he agreed.
"Rapunzel Corona: one hundred and forty-two votes."
Rapunzel jumped into Eugene's arms. "Almost two hundred votes!" she squealed. "And I fell off!"
"Jackson Overland: two hundred and ninety-four votes."
Jack grinned at Hiccup confidently.
"Hiccup Haddock: two hundred and ninety-four votes."
Jaws dropped. Eugene tried to hold Hiccup back as he tried to run toward the equally-surprised Jack.
"Merida DunBroch: four hundred and three votes."
Dozens of sets of eyes turned towards the Scot, Jack and Hiccup especially. Those two had been so focused on which of them would win that they forgot about the other competitors. Merida gasped in excitement and laughed as Astrid threw an arm around her. "Great job!" The Viking descendant moved aside to let Rapunzel hug Merida. Rapunzel's hug almost sent Merida bowling over.
Still laughing, Merida walked to the dais to accept a thin gold medal with the logo of the High Flyers on it. "Thank you," she said, both excited and embarrassed by a thousand eyes on her.
"You've also won fifty dollars," Nixxy said, handing her a fifty-dollar credit card, "and a coupon for a free ice cream."
Merida thanked Nixxy again, lifted her skirt and ran back to the group, where Astrid, Eugene and Rapunzel were trying very hard to keep Hiccup and Jack from killing each other.
"And that concludes this year's Tintagel!" said Nixxy cheerfully. "See you next fall!"
The crowd dispersed, except the group of six, who exchanged numbers before separating so they could keep in touch, although a few did so begrudgingly. Just as they broke off to go home, a cynical bolt of golden lightning lit up the sky.