This chapter was pretty hard to write. But I don't really have anything to say. So, enjoy!

Chapter Five: Stealth Match

"Begin duel!"

Drotning's loud and clear voice echoed throughout the entire island, reaching the ears of the participants. Grinning, Kodran patted his dragon. "Come on, Cambire. Let's show the Leiptr how it's done." Slowly, the Changewing turned into a green color, disappearing within the grass.

Tuffnut moved up and down excitedly on his saddle. "Oh great! It's starting!" he exclaimed. "Wait, what are we supposed to do again?" Ruffnut conked her brother on the helmet. "Did anything get in there? We're supposed to fight against another dragon."

"Oh, right," Tuffnut replied, putting his helmet back into it's proper position. "Where are they?"

"That's the point," Ruffnut grumbled. "We're supposed to be sneaky and find them before they find us."

"Okay. Can we go now?"

"Yes!" Ruffnut growled. "Barf, Belch, let's go." The Hideous Zippleback lowered it's heads. We have to stay hidden so the other side doesn't see us." Beside her, Tuffnut snickered. "This will be as easy as scaring Fishlegs."

"Achoo!" Using his forearm, Fishlegs wiped his nose as a sneezed escape his mouth a few seconds earlier. "Someone must be talking about me," he sniffed.

Meanwhile, Hiccup's heart started to pound against his chest. He had faith in the twins. Barf and Belch was trained along with Stormfly, Toothless and all the other dragons. They had the advantage of time, skill and bond. But anxiety made Hiccup swallow the large lump in his throat.

The other side had a major advantage: the dragon was a Changewing. It could shoot burning acid. It could blend into it's surroundings perfectly. And it's eyes... Hiccup sighed. If the twins were caught, it would end the match right then and there. Fishlegs, sensing Hiccup's worries, turned to Drotning. "When will a match end?"

"When one side is no longer able to continue," the dragon princess replied nonchalantly. Hiccup admitted to himself that he wasn't feeling any better. Snotlout hopped onto Hookfang's saddle. "Come on, why don't we go watch the fight?" he suggested enthusiastically.

"Because," Hiccup began, "if Kodran catches us looking at the twins, he'll know they're exact location." Hiccup paused, glancing a look at Thuggory and his team. "Look at them. I bet they're doing the same thing. We can't do anything but wait at this point."

Disappointed, Snotlout crossed his arms. "But that's no fun. Why do I have to listen to you?" he groaned.

"Do you want us to lose, Snotlout?" Astrid hissed, sending Snotlout an annoyed glare. A chuckling sound was suddenly heard. Whipping their heads around, Berk's viking teens faced their opponents. Thuggory stood in front them all, a smug grin written all over his face.

Fishlegs gulped. "He's laughing at us," he began nervously. "Isn't that a bad sign?" Hiccup clenched his fists. "Don't let him bait you, Fishlegs."

"My, my, someone sounds desperate," Thuggory jeered. "Worried that those twins are going to lose? I'll take care of that uneasiness for you. Kodran and Cambire are masters at stealth. Even without Cambire, Kodran can already sneak around without being noticed."

"As expected from my disciple, however," Camicazi cheerfully chimed in. The moment Hiccup saw Camicazi's face, he was at a lost for words. Her expression was transparent and her eyes showed the complete opposite emotion. She was faking it. Down in his gut, Hiccup could feel that something was wrong. If he remembered correctly, Camicazi wouldn't even say a single word to him ever since Thuggory declared the challenge back in the arena. Now she's suddenly cheerful?

Astrid raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Hiccup, is something wrong?"

"I don't think so," he answered. "We'll stay here and wait for the twins." With his hand, Hiccup placed on Toothless' head. The Night Fury turned to face Auki. The Skrill scoffed. 'Is your rider hopeless optimistic?'

'Don't underestimate my team that much, Auki,' Toothless snorted in reply.

"Hey, watch it!" Ruffnut exclaimed. "You're stepping on my foot!" Her brother turned and pushed his helmet against hers. "Only because you were the one who stepped on mine first!"

Ruffnut growled under her breath. "We don't have time for this." Pushing her brother's head towards the ground, Ruffnut lifted herself up. The horns on her viking helmet barely pierced above the bushes. Looking straight ahead, Ruffnut barely managed to make out their Zippleback hidden in the grass. She whipped her head left and right.

"Alright," she whispered to her brother. "They're not around here yet. Come on, we can't stay here. We'll head up into the trees." Getting up, Ruffnut went for the nearest tree and reaching for the shortest branch, hauled herself upwards. Tuffnut was dumbfounded for a moment.

Annoyed, Ruffnut rolled her eyes. "We need to hide so we can scare the other guys." Catching on to the idea, Tuffnut followed his sister to the tree. Ruffnut, using her foot, gave her brother a small kick in the face.

"Hey!" cried Tuffnut. "What's the big idea?"

"Get your own tree," she hissed before hoisting herself upward another branch. Pouting for a second, Tuffnut walked to a neighboring tree and started climbing. With one last effort, Ruffnut pulled herself onto one of the large branches of the tree. She was quite a way off the ground. Looking down, she could see Barf and Belch.

Seeing Ruffnut wave her hand, Barf moved his head. Ruffnut gestured for him to stay down. A tree or so over, Tuffnut did the same thing, earning a reaction from Belch. "This is great and all, but how is this supposed to be useful?"

"We'll hide here," Ruffnut replied. "When the other guys walk below, we signal for Barf and Belch to attack. The usual smoke then spark. That sound good?"

"All I get is that we get to blow things up, so that's good enough for me," Tuffnut answered.

Hiccup felt as if he was holding in his breath. Both his and Toothless' ears were alert for any sounds of an explosion that could have easily been caused by a Hideous Zippleback. In the corner of his eye, Hiccup saw Snotlout snickering. "Come on, the look you have on your face is pathetic," the jock sneered. "I know it's those clowns we're talking about, but their dragon is more reliable than both of them."

"I don't know about Tuffnut," said Astrid, glaring at Snotlout for a moment, "but I'm sure Ruffnut at least has some sort of plan." A smirk curled up her face. "The two may be twins, but Ruffnut has the superior brain in both of them while admittedly, her brother as a little more muscle."

"What? She's smarter than her brother?" murmured Fishlegs. "Then how come she still acts as dumb as her brother?" The air was knocked out of Fishlegs' stomach when Astrid slammed her fist into it, earning winces from Snotlout as Hiccup flinched. "Ruffnut says that their relationship works best when the two are equal at everything," Astrid replied. "The two of them argue a lot, but they still love each other."

"They're both girls," Snotlout muttered.

Something in Tuffnut's gut tugged him. "Is there someone insulting me?" he asked absentmindedly. Ruffnut sharply shushed him. "Don't talk unless it really matters. After the explosion, you rush in and attack the rider."

"Punch him?"

"That works."

Suddenly, the sound of rustling leaves were heard. The viking girl whipped her head around. Her heart beat began to accelerate twice as fast. In front of her, Ruffnut spotted Kodran walking into the field. There you are. The twins turned to each other and nodded.

"Barf, gas."

"Belch, spark."

On command, a fume of green smoke came from Barf's mouth. Seeing this, Kodran took a few step backwards. On Tuffnut's order, a spark followed, and the smoke bursted into flames. A loud shout escaped Kodran's lips.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Tuffnut. "Direct hit!"

A puff of green smoke rose into the air, followed by the sound of a large explosion, immediately catching the attention of all the vikings and dragons in the spectator area. "There!" Fishlegs shouted, pointing towards the smoke.

"An explosion," said Hiccup. "Ruffnut and Tuffnut made the first move!" Seeing the cloud of exhaust, Thuggory bit his lip, before an arrogant grin crawled up his lips. "As if Kodran would be beaten by something like that."

Slowly, the smoke began to clear. Sweat tricked down Ruffnut's forehead. "Did that get him?" Her question was followed by an eerie silence.

"Heh," a voice suddenly said. "Using hand gestures to give commands to your dragon. Not bad." Kodran strode out of the smoke, tall and proud, causing Ruffnut to curse. "But not good enough," Kodran continued.

Ruffnut felt something slam into her stomach in a flurry or green and brown. Air was forced out of her lungs. Ruffnut yelped in surprise as she was thrown off the branch of the tree, falling hard onto the ground below.

"Ruffnut!" Tuffnut cried. Quickly, Ruffnut regained her footing. "Watch out! It's the Changewing!" Tuffnut heard his sister's warning in time to sidestep just as he barely caught glimpse of a moving figure zip in front of him.

Kodran stepped in front of Ruffnut. "You're pretty sharp to notice Cambire," he commented. Ruffnut grinned. "It's all thanks to Fishlegs' notes and Hiccup's teachings."

Cambire turned dark brown as it leaped forward, digging it's nails into the trunk of Tuffnut's tree. The Changewing swung it's tail, prompting Tuffnut to jump out of it's way. Tuffnut landed on his branch with his balance intact. "Ha! It's not going to be that easy!"

Changing into a green color, Cambire blended in with the leaves he moved into above Tuffnut. Shooting his head forward, Cambire showered a large part of the branch in acid. Tuffnut's brain wasn't able to comprehend what was going on and the branch gave way. Tuffnut managed to leap off the falling piece of wood and land on the ground swiftly.

Barf and Belch emerged from it's hiding place, rushing to it's riders' sides. Cambire landed beside Kodran, turning a bright red color. Kodran brought down his arm, causing another shot of acid to be shot from Cambire's mouth, hitting Barf and Belch hard in it's abdomen. The twins watched in horror as their Hideous Zippleback shrieked.

"Barf!"

"Belch!"

Kodran laughed. "Now you can't use your dragon." The boy took out his axe and slowly started making his way toward the two. "So? What are you going to do now?" Ruffnut whipped her head left and right, her eyes carefully scanning the area. Kodran chuckled. "Don't tell me you didn't bring a weapon with you. Were you really reckless enough to come into a match like this without bringing a tool to help you with?"

Raising his hand high in the air, Kodran prepared to swing his axe. Ruffnut smirked. Kodran's expression changed into one of fear. When he looked at his arm, he was surprised to find it covered in gray smoke, and there appears to be some legs crawling along his arms. "W-what's going on?" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Smothering Smokebreaths," smirked Ruffnut. "Dragons that conceal themselves in smoke. They look for items to help build their nest. And their favorite material just happens to be metal."

Infuriated, Kodran shot Ruffnut a glare. The female twin grinned. "Tuffnut!" she yelled. "Distract the dragon! I'll take care of Kodran."

Tuffnut nodded. "Hey, Poison Breath!" he shouted, earning Cambire's attention. The Changewing started following the young viking. Tuffnut swallowed hard. "What do I do now?" Cambire suddenly dissolved into the grass. Tuffnut brought down his stance. "It's gone."

A sharp pain rushed through his mid-back and a cry escaped his lips. The force of the push forced Tuffnut hard into a tree in front of him, effectively knocking him out. Cambire once again appeared, snorting at Tuffnut's fallen body.

Ruffnut sharply shot forward as a surprised expression appeared on Kodran's face. Thrusting her fist forward, Ruffnut punched Kodran's face hard. Kodran's grip on his axe slackened and it was carried away by the dragons. The young viking slowly got back up to his feet.

"What's the matter?" Ruffnut asked him. "Not so tough without your axe?" She was about to throw another punch when pain erupted through her right arm. Falling to her knees, Ruffnut gripped her right arm tightly with her left hand. Looking at Cambire, she noticed that acid was dripping from the dragon's mouth. Her arm felt like it was on fire.

Seeing his chance, Kodran got back up onto his feet before laughing triumphantly. "Normally, I don't attack girls," he said before thrusting his foot into Ruffnut's stomach, making her shriek. "But today's the exception."

"Stop!" a loud voice boomed. Looking up into the sky, Ruffnut saw Drotning flying above them. Back with the others, Hiccup held his breath. Drotning turned to look at the spectators. "The result of the duel has been decided," she announced. "The winner is The League. Kodran and Cambire won the Stealth Match!"

With those two sentences, Hiccup felt his heart sink into his stomach. Not that anyone else from his team was having a better reaction. "They lost?" Astrid breathed.

"That's ridiculous!" Snotlout exclaimed.

"I can't believe it," Fishlegs murmured. On the other end, Thuggory laughed boisterously. "Told you, didn't I? Our dragons are strong. Our riders are strong. You guys don't stand a chance." For a moment, Thuggory met Hiccup's fierce gaze. Thuggory beamed slightly. "That's very scary, Haddock," he jeered before getting on Auki. "I'm going to see what's left of your friends. Assuming that Cambire didn't melt the flesh off their bones yet." With a flap of his wings, Auki flew into the sky up to where Drotning is, then down into the scene of the duel. Soon, the other members of the league followed.

"Let's go!" said Astrid, getting on Stormfly and taking off. "We have to check the twins for injuries and treat them." Agreeing, Snotlout and Fishlegs took off on their dragons. Hiccup was about to follow when a voice told him to stop. Hiccup looked to who called him. "Camicazi," said Hiccup, his gaze softening. "Is there something wrong."

Camicazi exhaled. "Look, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about this whole Dragon's Game thing earlier. And Thuggory's challenge too."

Hiccup raised in eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't get me wrong, I think you're a great guy, Hiccup," Camicazi continued, ignoring the blush appearing on both her face and Hiccup's. "But I still have to fight you. For the sake of my dragon."

Understanding, Hiccup smiled. "Don't worry about it," he replied. "I'm not holding anything against you. In fact, I pretty much have the same intention." As he said this, Hiccup patted Toothless on the head. "I promised that I'd give this battle my all. Since afterwards, Toothless and I will be able to go flying and hang around Berk together."

"I see," said Camicazi, her tone soft and calm. She reached out her hand. To Hiccup's surprise, Toothless allowed Camicazi to touch him. Camicazi smiled genuinely. "I can sense his warmth." She turned to face the dragon's owner. "You've picked a great dragon, Hiccup."

For his answer, Hiccup smiled at Toothless, the Night Fury giving his rider his signature Toothless grin. "Let's go," said Hiccup. Camicazi got on her Deadly Nadder and took off behind Hiccup.

The two teenagers landed at the site of the fight. Some of the trees were scorched or blown away. Fishlegs was pulling Tuffnut who had just regained consciousness and Astrid was already at work bandaging Ruffnut's arm. On the League's side, Kodran was rubbing his chin. "That girl packs quite a punch," he muttered.

Drotning suddenly landed. "Rest yourselves here tonight," she ordered. "Tomorrow's duel will be...Firepower."

Hearing this, Snotlout beamed proudly. "It's my turn to run wild."

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It's Snotlout's turn next chapter! Who will his opponent be?

See you next time!