At dawn the next morning, the two combatants got up to prepare. They had until sundown to present Shadow with whatever spoils of the hunt they could get. Phantom was sure he could win this. With his unmatched skill in stealth, he could stalk twice as many animals as that scrawny fishbone in half the time, providing much more food than he possibly could. Hiccup was no hunter, he thought. This contest was in the bag.

Hiccup on the other hand, was smirking to himself as he went over to the stables on Dragons edge. He had already formulated a plan to win, and was absolutely certain it would gain him favour.

He watched as Phantom went to the armoury by Astrid's cabin to retrieve a bow and quiver, but he made no move to follow, or any move to give away what he was up to.

When he went into the stable and found Toothless, he couldn't help the devilish smirk on his lips. Excitedly, he grabbed the saddle and prosthetic tailfin and started attaching them to the Night Fury.

"Come on bud. You up for a morning flight?" he asked cheerily. Toothless warbled in happiness and licked his face. Laughing, Hiccup went over to the stores and grabbed a net and some rope, storing them in the saddlebags.

"Good, 'cuse we are on a mission. We are going fishing. And I'm going to need your help."

.

Phantom stalked silently through the undergrowth on the island, his feet not making a single sound. It was uncanny how well he could ghost through the trees in pursuit of his prey.

It was already noon, and he was still on the prowl for boar. Two of the beasts were back at his temporary camp, bleeding out and gutted, ready to be taken back, while he searched for another one.

But this was when his misfortunes started stacking up against him. Those blasted twins were hunting boars too for their stupid pit, and with their Zippleback helping them, he was the unfortunate one, and had trouble finding one before they did. The twins caught boars left, right and centre, while he couldn't keep up.

Finally, he managed to find and kill two more before the twins got them. Four boars should be enough to please Shadow, he thought. But before he could start moving to get them back to camp, the Zippleback landed behind him.

"Hey, what do you think you are doing?" yelled one of them.

"Those are out boars!" yelled the other one.

Phantom turned and stood his ground against the two headed dragon and its two riders. "Aren't you aware of the contest between me and your leader for Shadow? The contest is meant to decide who hunts better. And you are getting in my way." He said calmly.

"Still, those are out boars, you cant just take them." Said the twin on his left. The female twin he thought.

"How many boars do you have?" he asked slyly. The male twin puffed out his chest in pride, like it was him that actually did all the work. "We have fifteen."

Phantom's eye twitched. "Whats one more boar to you? Your fifteen to my two, surely you could allow me to hunt more than that since there are obviously plenty to go around."

"Well you see, my good sir," said Tuffnut. "We cannot simply give these boars away, oh no. that would be un-profitable. I will however allow you to take one if you can prove your worth." He said.

This time, the female twin butted in. "If you really want, you can fight him of one."

Phantom smirked. This was something he could easily do. "Alright then, I accept your challenge. What do you have in mind in exchange for the boar?"

"I vote for a headbutting contest." Said the female twin. "We aren't going to make things easy for you. Tuffnut here has one of the hardest skulls in Berk. I know, because I've tried to break it a few times. All you have to do is bash him over the head with your own until one of you wins."

Oh this was too easy, thought Phantom. Tuffnut dismounted his dragon and walked up to him. The two stood ready for a moment while Ruffnut called the count.

"One, two, three. Smash!" she called.

Tuffnut lunged forward with a war cry, and Phantom lunged forward with a growl. Their heads connected with a smash and a dull thud. Tuffnut fell backwards, completely dazed, and fell on his ass. Phantom shook his head to clear it, and get rid of the stars buzzing around his vision. Thankfully, a Black Moon's skull is exceptionally tough for this very sort of thing.

Tuffnut, despite his hard skull and metal helmet, was no match for him. Consequently, he was now lying on the floor, his eyes unfocused, and mumbling incoherent words.

Smirking with triumph, Phantom walked over to the huge net the Zippleback was carrying, and lugged out the largest boar as his spoils. Five boars in total, that should help him win the contest for sure.

Slowly, he dragged the three boars with him back to his temporary camp, thinking how he could get all five back before sundown. But as soon as he entered the clearing, his face paled in horror. One of his boars was already eaten, and the second one being devoured by a trio of Terrible Terrors. A red one, an orange one, and a yellow one.

"Get out of here you dirty scavengers!" he screamed. The three Terrors fled.

There was no way he could present that half eaten boar to Shadow, and obviously he couldn't give her a pile of bones. Boar count: three.

.

.

.

Half an hour till sundown and finally, finally, Phantom managed to drag his three boars back to Dragons Edge. Each one had been blead out, gutted, and skinned, ready to be cooked over an open flame later tonight for a feast.

Everyone was gathered outside the entrance to the Dragon's Lair, ready to present the two offerings to the female Black Moon. But Hiccup was nowhere to be found. Neither was Toothless. Everyone was starting to get worried.

The sun was setting fast, and if he didn't show up soon, he wouldn't be counted. A win by default to Phantom. But just before the drake could get his hopes up on an easy victory, they heard wing flaps overhead.

Toothless flew towards the cave entrance, with something large in his claws and Hiccup on his back, who was smirking in triumph. The Night Fury dropped the enormous package with a thump, and landed on a section of clear ground.

"Thanks for your help with him bud." He said as he scratched Toothless under the chin.

Curiously, Phantom sniffed the massive bundle, wrapped in a large net. Hiccup started to pull the net away to expose his hunting spoils. The thing was twisted and bundled up in the net pretty good, but after a time, he managed to pull it off. Inside was a massive great white shark, with claw marks on its head and its brains smashed in, its jaws open and gaping in death with its eyes glazed over.

A massive and impressive kill. A Black Moon's favourite food.

"He put up quite a fight didn't he Toothless? Almost got away from us." He said to his dragon. He looked back to the other teens and asked if they were ready, and they all nodded. Phantom was growling softly.

A few minutes later, the boars and the huge shark were being carried into the cave by the teens, while the two competing drakes waited outside for the verdict. The two of them stood and glared at each other, promising each other that they would come out victorious.

Long minutes went past and neither of them moved, only allowing their eyes to communicate their thoughts. Phantom was trying to tell him to back off, that he had rights to Shadow before he did. And Hiccup was telling him mentally that she had chosen him and was planning on keeping her.

They waited and waited, until finally, Astrid came outside to deliver the news. She looked back and forth between the two and took a breath. "The victor for round one, is Hiccup." She announced.

Phantom snarled and stomped off. To make plans for the second contest, while Hiccup was welcomed inside. They had quite a lot of food with them that night, so they might as well have a feast. Boar and shark was on the menu tonight.

Grinning victoriously, Hiccup went inside.