11 - The Ultimate Challenger

Skuf panted as he stared at his opponent. His sword arm pulsed rapidly in tempo with his heartbeat. Sweat beaded down his face. His whole frame shook from the effort. He straightened his posture and slashed again, but his opponent still stood undaunted.

Of course, when fighting against the trunk of a sugar maple tree, one should not expect it to fall so easily, even if it was dead and rotting from the inside out.

It was part of an old routine that brought the comfort of familiarity. Back on Berserker island, he had always taken his training as a warrior very seriously. Being the best was what mattered most to him in life. He was the top of his class and it was not just because of his ability to hear the unspoken words. He conditioned his mind and body to be relaxed and ready in any environment through daily training and meditations.

This training was inspired by his close friend, Svein. He was Tofa's father and a well-respected warrior who served as chief Oswald's bodyguard.

Until a violent coup killed the chief and anyone who was there to defend him.

Skuf recognized his mood turning sour, so he stopped, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. It would not be wise to get all worked up during an exercise that was supposed to be calming.

It was Svein who started Skuf on this daily routine. Wake up early, go for a run around the island, find a quiet spot in the woods to meditate, and train with the sword. He would always drink enough water at night so that he would awaken early enough to have time for some individual training before breakfast with the tribe.

His runs were not too strenuous, but simply got him moving. The meditation was very straightforward. The conditioning built up by something so simple as to focus on the wind or his own breath every day for an extended period of time allowed him to exercise control over his emotions and what he projected. The ability to choose to be a calm harbor amid a raging and stormy sea was the one thing that allowed Skuf to befriend Skullcrusher in the arena over a year ago instead of getting eaten by him.

After the meditations, Skuf would find different locations to train with the sword on different types of surfaces: hard rock, sand, loose dirt, a bed of leaves, grass… any interesting surface available. Sometimes, a colleague would join him for a few days, but would soon become disinterested. However, those days when Skuf had a fellow warrior with him made the exercises infinitely more interesting as sparring against a person was much more fun than slicing thin air with the sword.

Unfortunately, Skuf did not have anybody to spar with this morning. The silly Vikings here had this firm belief that they were incapable of doing anything before eating half their weight in meat and bread. Hiccup had joined him on occasion, but he was busy preparing for his trip to visit the Bog-Burglars to try to get Camicazi to see dragons the way he does. Besides, the early morning would be toward the end of the day for Hiccup's nocturnal sleep schedule, so he would be slowed down with tiredness, heavy food, and, on rare occasion, mead.

Consequently, even on the days Hiccup joined Skuf, he rarely even bothered with sparring. However, he has taken up some running when his stump would allow it, with his Night Fury gleefully prancing alongside, encouraging him along. Nothing would stop him from joining Skuf for his meditations after his runs. Casually mentioning how it would help him hear his dragon suddenly morphed such an activity from a quaint thing to do when one is bored into the most important thing in the whole world. Toothless, though, would just silently stalk around instead of join them.

Fishlegs had joined Skuf in meditations on numerous occasions, too. His Gronckle, Meatlug, would also meditate, surprisingly enough. She would lay there by her rider, eyes half-closed, but still awake and aware. Both rider and dragon were quite interesting. They had a certain tender closeness and delight in each other's company that most of the other dragons and riders lacked. Hiccup was already starting to hear dragons to some degree and Fishlegs would certainly follow suit.

Also, to everyone's surprise, Ruffnut said she would join Skuf one of these mornings... except not today.

It's always some future day.

Regardless, Skuf was convinced this was the absolute best way to begin any day. Who knows, maybe he'll even get Astrid to stop tossing her ax around and sit still for more than a heartbeat.

Skuf had recently finished his meditations deep in the forest. For sword training, he used a nearby tree. The sugar maple, decaying from the inside out, almost void of any limbs, stood absolutely no chance of defending itself.

He jabbed, sliced, and danced around it, even delivering some blows with his fist or elbow to an "X" he had slashed. The ground had become firm as the all-too-brief Summer slid into Fall on Berk. The leaves haven't started to turn, yet, with the exception of a few early colors, but he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to train on firm soil and grass.

As he took a step back to catch his breath, a shadow fell over him and a large form hurled into the tree, violently knocking it down, its shallow and decayed root ball spraying chunks of dirt into the air. Skuf, shortsword still in hand, frowned at the intruder, who seemed to be rather enjoying what he had done.

The intruder was radiating an almost childlike joy at this feat. {I win!}

Skuf was unimpressed. {My way of defeating an enemy is more interesting, at least.}

Skullcrusher took a step away from his defeated maple foe and hopped up on his hind legs, crashing down on the middle of the trunk, snapping it in half.

{Your dance with the shiny claw is adorable.}

Skuf smiled as he sheathed his sword and walked over to his winged friend to scratch his muzzle. {I was using that tree. Welcome to my humble abode, you big bully. What brings you here?}

The two of them had spent a lot of time training together, but the dragon was never interested in joining Skuf for his morning routine, so there must be some special purpose. It was fairly common for all dragons on Berk to do some flying and hunting on their own while keeping tabs on their riders whenever they weren't training together. Toothless was the only exception, spending almost every waking - and slumbering - moment with his rider.

Since Skullcrusher was here, Skuf took the opportunity to walk around him, inspecting his flank, wings, and haunches, giving a couple affectionate slaps against the scales and carapace plates. It was still hard to believe just how quickly the dragon recovered from the atrophy of his cage. Skuf pushed him hard, but he pushed himself even harder. He would fly until he could no longer remain airborne, run until he collapsed, rest, catch as much food as he could stuff in his belly, rest, then repeat the next day.

That first, short flight from Berserker island was a real eye-opener. The dragon made it a couple leagues to the incoming Outcast vessel, but only by the skin of his teeth. He barely had the strength in his legs to scamper back onto the deck after splashing in the water to rinse off the grime and dried blood Skuf had loosened.

Now, though, Skullcrusher truly looked formidable. Large muscles shifted as he swayed on his legs and lifted a wing to allow his rider to pass underneath in his circuit. In the air, he now has the strength in flight to keep up with the rest of the dragons. For what he lacked in raw speed and climbing rate, he could lock his massive wings to catch the most gentle breeze and cover great distances without rest. On the ground, he could run without ceasing and topple anything that stands in his way.

The dragon's confidence strengthened along with his body. He would often follow his rider around the village, sniffing at people along the way. He had a gentle and kind heart beneath that hardened carapace, but it was always so funny to watch the wary Vikings jump at a friendly prod of the dragon's snout. There was just something about his appearance - the horns, the overbite, the set of his features - that gave him the perpetual expression of one contemplating the most entertaining way to dismember someone.

In fact, as if to prove this point, it was only a couple days ago that Skullcrusher saw a couple large Vikings and a harnessed yak all working in tandem to drag a bundle of large logs to the mill. They were overburdened, though, and struggled as the logs dug into the grass. Skullcrusher simply shoved his way in, used his teeth to grab the ropes the Vikings were using to haul the load, and started to pull it all by himself. Of course, the yak was scared senseless and tried to run away, but ended up getting dragged along by the harness that was tied to the load.

Needless to say, delicacy was not the dragon's specialty.

As Skuf finished his circuit and came back around to the horned head, Skullcrusher took a step back and looked at his rider, as if sizing him up. {I want to fight.}

The Viking put up his fists and lowered his stance mockingly. Skullcrusher snorted.

{Not with you, Dragon Whisperer, and you know that. I'm not Toothless. I'm not a kitten. Even play-fighting is risky. You land-striders are very squishy. I don't want to accidentally bite you or crush you with my weight should you stumble and take a hit.}

Skuf could see images from the dragon of all the ways he could accidentally kill someone if he tried to playfully wrestle a Viking the way Toothless often did. It all ended with flattened bodies, torn limbs, and shattered bones. While many people on Berk have seen how Hiccup and Toothless like to wrestle with each other, it's mostly "their unique thing." Toothless would sometimes play with the other riders and has it down to an art form how to chase someone while making it look like it's a close call or tackle them without actually hurting them.

However, most other dragons never felt comfortable roughhousing in quite that manner with their riders and for good reason. Imagine accidentally running into one of the large spikes adorning the head of a Deadly Nadder. What would happen if a Monstrous Nightmare took a playful swipe with those very sharp claws and his target doesn't actually dodge in time?

Skuf started to playfully punch Skullcrusher along the sides of his jaw, in front of his recessed eyes. Of course, the dragon didn't even feel the blows. {Don't worry about that, Skullcrusher. We'll find you a bear somewhere down South. You can even give it time to react before you plummet onto its back from the sky this time.}

He thought back to the last time he saw Skullcrusher dive down on a bear. The beast didn't even hear or see the dragon coming. Then, suddenly, it was flattened to the ground with claws raking its back and teeth tearing its neck to shreds. While it was quite the macabre sight, Skuf couldn't help but stare in awe at such a display of raw fury and power.

Skullcrusher shoved his rider to the side with his snout. {No, I want to fight prey.} He projected memories of his arena matches on Berserker Island. They were the only interesting part of his life at that time as such fights signaled a temporary pause in his starvation and boredom in his cage. {I know I shouldn't be thinking of this, but I miss the fights in my old cage before I came to live here.}

Skuf smiled at his friend. {I'm sure if you fly back to your former captors and ask them real nice, they'll put you back in that cage and let you fight prey every now and then.}

Skullcrusher reared and huffed in annoyance. {That's not what I meant and you know it!}

Skuf started stretching, reaching his fingertips towards the sky. He slowly brought his arms down, stretching them out to the sides, flexing the wrists in circles as he did so.

{I know; You could tell I wasn't really serious about that.}

A hard blast of hot was the dragon's only answer.

Skuf continued as he reached for his toes. {I have anticipated this would come up. I have just the opponent for you. I'll finish my workout by running back to the village and eat, then we can saddle up and fly out.}

{Who is this new opponent?}

{I'll tell you when we get there.}

Skullcrusher nuzzled his rider's shoulder and crooned. Skuf returned the friendly gesture by grabbing one of the horns that jut out of the side of his head, shaking it back and forth. The dragon took a step back and turned to the side, bouncing forward once before taking off into the sky.

Never one to pass up an opportunity, Skuf finished his sword training while balancing on the trunk of Skullcrusher's Maple victim. He had never done that before and enjoyed the new challenge of trying to keep his balance during his thrusts, slashes, dashes, and punches.

After getting his fill of swinging his blade through the air, he gathered his coat and made the trot back to town to eat up at the mead hall and saddle up at the training arena, which was formerly the dragon arena called the "Kill Ring". This location now served as a place for practicing sword fighting when it wasn't used for the dragons to train in various activities. What used to be cages dug right into the foundation of stone now served as storage that held various equipment for the dragon riders.

Skuf hauled out his dragon's saddle, which was designed by Hiccup and Gobber to be a simple seat that sits on top of the dragon. He held one end of the wide leather strap and tossed the seat on top of Skullcrusher. The other end of the strap slid down the other side so Skuff could secure it under the belly. WIth the saddle secure, he vaulted up the side of Skullcrusher's neck to the seat by grabbing onto a large metal ring that connected the saddle to the mounting strap. A leg hooked over the wing to push himself up high enough to grab the seat handle and haul himself the rest of the way up.

Skullcrusher picked his belly up off the ground and started to walk to the edge of the cliff. From his elevated perch, Skuf scanned over the village. A certain Monstrous Nightmare braced himself against the side of a house and scratched at a closed window shutter with his wing claws. When it opened, he lunged his head in, fished out Snotlout by his coat, and expertly flipped the rider up into position. The two flew away with Snotlout yelling "Bad dragon! Hookfaaaang!"

Up on a hill, Gothi hung some bundles of herbs on a lattice structure to dry, aided by her ever-present and nimble-clawed Terrible Terror, Nose. That old lady held a closely guarded secret that only the dragons and dragon whisperers would ever know. She, too, has been a dragon whisperer for the past couple decades. She has always kept it a secret from the Vikings for reasons she never cared to share. However, It's clear Hiccup has developed a suspicion that there was something special about Gothi and the dragons ever since he killed the Red Death.

If he had any doubts, they were blown out of the water only a few days ago. Stoick had somehow gotten it stuck in his head that dragon whisperers were miniature Red Deaths that could control a dragon's mind. The chief was conjuring scenarios in his head of enemy tribes with dragon whisperers coercing dragons to accept riders to build up an army to attack Berk. When Hiccup, Toothless, and Skuf found some seclusion to test this theory, Gothi actually joined them - at the Night Fury's own insistence. With the bug planted in his mind, he just had to know if a human could control him. Skuf, Tofa, and Gothi all tried their best to control Toothless by trying to make him stand when he's sitting and other silly tests like that.

Through it all, Skuf learned a lot about forcefully projecting raw sensations like pleasure and pain to influence a dragon. He learned that, for example, if he drew close enough, he could knock a dragon unconscious like when someone scratches them in just the right spot under the chin. However, for all his and Gothi's efforts, they had no more dominance over the dragon's mind than a charismatic speaker over a crowd. They could trigger certain knee-jerk reactions, but that was it. They could try to persuade the dragon and apply something like peer pressure, but they couldn't actually control him. Needless to say, both Toothless and Hiccup were ecstatic.

Skuf's breath caught in his throat as he flailed to steady himself in the sudden weightlessness. Skullcrusher had decided to snap his rider out of his daydreaming with a leisurely dive off the edge of the cliff and even had the gall to chortle at the reaction. Skuf grinned as his dragon spread his wings to ascend again and affectionately thumped his carapace plates. Somewhere behind them, Toothless roared his farewell as he and Hiccup strolled down the steps of the great hall on their way to bed. Up above, Snotlout wrestled with the horns on his dragon's head to try to get him to fly back to land and to stop lighting himself on fire. Both rider and dragon were trying to get the other to respect him in the absolute worst and most ineffective way possible.

Skuf directed his dragon Southeast to an island called Toothless Tackle, which they occasionally visited to hunt. Apparently, a certain Night Fury must have been feeling restless when Hiccup added this to his own map of all the islands in the area... or maybe Hiccup had some salty comment regarding his dragon. It was a dozen leagues away from Berk, well beyond the so-called "dragon safe islands" that many of the Red Death refugees ended up inhabiting. Apparently, they all initially tried cramming themselves onto Berk, but dragons and Vikings both needed space, so the surrounding islands were the best compromise.

The sun was now climbing over the horizon and, without any responsibilities until noon, the dragon and rider planned on taking their time with this trip. Skullcrusher didn't ask what his rider's plans were. He knew they would get some flight training in and also find something for him to eat. He simply enjoyed the suspense of knowing his rider had a plan, but trusted him to reveal the details when he thought it was the right time.

As they approached the island, Skuf directed Skullcrusher to land on top of a lone sea stack off the coast. The top was flat rock, jutting high over the sea, with enough room around them to feel comfortable that they wouldn't fall off. After landing, Skuf slid down his dragon's neck and sat down right where he landed.

He dramatically gestured with his hand. {Behold, Skullcrusher, I present your opponent. I assure you it will be a tough battle and I predict you will be defeated, but don't worry; you will survive.}

Skullcrusher did not seem impressed as he slowly looked all around from the top of their sea stack. {We went over this already. I can't fight you. Besides, if you fall off the edge, I don't trust myself to be able to catch you in time. I'm not that fast.}

Skuf smiled at his dragon. {Don't worry, you won't be fighting me. Your opponent is much more capable than me.}

Skullcrusher stared at his rider. His confusion was starting to transition into irritation. {There is nobody else here to fight.}

Skuf made a fist and extended his index finger, poking it into his dragon's snout. {You will be fighting yourself.}

The dragon blinked in confusion as he projected an image of himself fighting another identical Rumblehorn with both combatants mirroring each other's moves exactly. {How am I supposed to fight myself, you silly land-strider?}

Skuf dropped down and crossed his legs, resting his elbows on his knees and formed loose fists with his hands. He sat there with his back and neck straight, looking ahead towards the sea. Skullcrusher was laying down right beside him so that his head was right next to Skuf.

Skuf took in a deep breath as he instructed his dragon. {Think back to the time you first met me. I was in the arena on Berserker Island. You were starved to the point of madness. I was supposed to be your prey and my death was supposed to serve as entertainment to the onlookers. Do you know what was unique about me that stopped you from killing me?}

Skullcrusher didn't even take time to think about this. He had pondered it on his own often enough. {Pity. You felt pity towards me. It knocked the breath out of me.}

Skuf reached a hand up to pat his dragon's snout. {There's more to it than that. It's not just what was there, but what was not there. There was no panic or anger or fear. Instead, there was peace. Firefly is also unnaturally good at maintaining such a mindset and I have no doubt that allowed his success in allying himself with the dragons on his island. While Firefly developed this mental discipline as a natural consequence of surviving as a runt, I have been doing these meditations for years before we met. I firmly believe that if I had not done these, I would be dead and you would still be in that cage.}

Skullcrusher puffed uneasily as he shifted his weight between his legs. {Then I am very happy that you did these meditations. Is that what we are doing now?}

{Yes. Settle down into a comfortable position. We will be here for quite some time. I want you to focus on your breathing and nothing else. Control every breath. That is your challenge. You can decide how fast or slow you breathe, but you must be in control of every breath. Everything must be deliberate.}

Skullcrusher sent a silent acknowledgment to his rider. He had watched Skuf meditate on several occasions ever since he flew to Berk, so he knew the basics of what he should be doing. He took in a deep breath through his large nostrils, allowed his sides to expand out, held it for a moment, then forced all the air out.

{So, this is how I fight myself?}

Skuf glanced over at his dragon. {Yes, and I pity you – I think you don't stand a chance. Head off the ground, eyes closed. Don't fall asleep on me.}

Time passed by. Seagulls and gannets called out. Waves crashed against the stone. Skuf made a mental note to visit this area more often. Everything here was so idyllic. Skullcrusher's breathing became shallower and more rapid, then ragged and sporodic.

Skuf thumped Skullcrusher's side. {Are you controlling your breath?}

Skullcrusher took a deep breath. {Yes.}

{You are now, but you weren't for a while. You lost focus on your breath and got distracted.}

The dragon snorted in annoyance. {So what? Why does it matter?}

{It matters for two reasons. One, you asked me for a challenging opponent to fight and I can think of nobody who is more challenging to you than yourself. You are a worthy opponent since you just defeated yourself. Second, it is good training. Perhaps the day will come when you and I can convince Toothless to do this, too.}

Skuf opened his eyes for a moment to see that Skullcrusher had suddenly raised himself up to his feet, loudly stomping around as he glared at Skuf. He was not comfortable with the direction of this conversation. Skuf, though, just continued his deep breathing with his eyes closed.

{Please don't kill me, Skullcrusher. If you throw a fit and knock me off this sea stack, then I would agree with your assessment that you would not be able to catch me before I fall to my death.}

Skullcrusher continued to pace around their small sea stack, stomping his paws on the ground as he worked through his frustration. {How can you say I defeated myself? It doesn't make sense!}

Skuf continued his breathing as he explained. {You made a commitment. You agreed to control your every breath. You failed. That is why you defeated yourself. Don't beat yourself up. Everyone fails. Come back here and try again, please.}

After some more stomping around, Skuf could hear his dragon walk up and lower himself down to the ground again, his breathing gradually slowing down. Skuf continued his lesson. {You could not control your breathing because you were worried you would lose control. The fear of failure is so often the cause, too. One mistake could make a world of difference. One instant in which you lose your focus could result in your death or the death of someone you are trying to protect. The briefest moment in which you allow your emotions to control you could cost you dearly.}

Like with Svein and Oswald.

Skullcrusher huffed and chortled in that strange imitation of laughter he picked up from Toothless.

{I am not the only one who has been defeated, today. You just did it to yourself.}

Skuf smiled at his friend as he took a deep breath. It was true. He allowed himself to get distracted. {Yes, I did. It is comforting to know I am not perfect or life would be quite boring. Now that we have both tasted defeat, let us try again.}

Skullcrusher started to take deep, deliberate breaths again. {I don't understand what I am accomplishing here, but I will do it anyway because I trust you.}

{I cannot tell you exactly what you will gain from this – aside from a fight with your most challenging opponent. I have told you what I have gained from this, but I cannot tell you what you will gain. Still, I thank you for your trust.}

The meditations continued for an indeterminable amount of time as the sun rose in the sky. At certain times, Skuf could hear Skullcrusher's breathing become ragged and rapid, followed by snorts of annoyance and stomping around, but the dragon always returned to his side to resume the meditation. At one point, Skullcrusher flew away from the sea stack to land on the nearby island with a heavy thud. He roared his frustration and knocked down trees, but returned soon afterward.

After a while, Skullcrusher maintained his steady breathing for what Skuf deemed to be long enough. Skuf opened his eyes and reached over to put a hand on the dragon's snout. {I think we've been at this long enough. How do you feel?}

{Tired.}

Skullcrusher opened his eyes and bumped his rider – not hard enough to knock him over, but hard enough to show he was glad this was over with. He was shaking ever-so-slightly, which was not surprising. The truth that something so peaceful and seemingly simple as meditating on just breath can drain anyone never seemed intuitive.

Though the dragon didn't admit it, Skuf could tell Skullcrusher was glad to have a new challenge to overcome with how physical training has become less of a struggle. The dragon seemed to be the type who always needed some obstacle to overcome.

{Good!} Skuf nodded his approval. {It was a hard fight, but you won in the end. I think we're ready for a much easier opponent, now. Let's go find that bear and get you fed.}

{I like the way you think!}

Skullcrusher leaped off the edge of the sea stack towards the island. After a few moments of circling around, he dove down to the ground. Even at this distance, through the foliage of the trees, the sounds of bones breaking echoed off the stone cliffs.

Sitting on the top of the sea stack all by himself, Skuf enjoyed the sights and sounds around him. He felt proud of himself. Not only did he give his dragon something to keep him out of trouble, but this could be a new exercise to help draw the riders and their dragons closer together. Getting the dragons involved would require getting more riders than just Hiccup and Fishlegs involved, though.

Skuf grinned as a thought crossed his mind. With enough rope, even Snotlout could be made to sit still...

The rising sun caught Skuf's attention. It was already high in the sky and, with so much food in his belly, Skullcrusher wouldn't be able to fly until mid-afternoon. He hadn't thought about that little detail until now. He had students to train with the sword today.

I suppose sword training will simply have to wait.