Defying The Rules

A problem in the ring

Thalos looked over and saw Astrid crawl under the arena door. He immediately jumped in through a gap in the chains. He landed and rolled on the ground. Quickly, he stood up and watched as Hiccup clumsily ran around the arena, trying to avoid being killed. He needed to get in that fight right now.

The large dragon plowed over the wooden weapon rack and knocked it over. Hiccup grabbed a shield and held it up, but the large beast ran over him, causing him to loose his grip on it. He yelled in fear as he continued running.

"Hiccup!" Astrid called, watching him duck to avoid a blast of flame. She quickly ran to the weapon rack, grabbed a hammer, and chucked it at the Monstrous Nightmare. The weapon slammed into the dragon's head, the force causing the beast to fall.

"Astrid, look out!" Thalos shouted as the dragon quickly got back up and charged her. She gasped in surprise and ran, almost becoming a meal for the dragon herself.

Thalos ran up to the weapons rack and grabbed an axe. He ran to the side of the dragon, swung the axe, and hit its head.

"Over here!" The Chief called, opening the gate to the arena to get the teens out. Thalos's blow to the dragon allowed Astrid enough time to get to the Chief, who protectively wrapped an arm around her.

"Hiccup, come on!" Thalos shrieked, ducking to avoid a fiery blast. His heart was racing. Thalos ran with Hiccup to the entrance, but the Monstrous Nightmare shot a blast that hit the wall beside Hiccup, causing him to stop in his place and run the other way to avoid it. Thalos made it beside the Chief, but Hiccup didn't.

The poor Viking kept screaming as he ran. Thalos didn't hesitate to run back out into the arena when he saw Hiccup didn't make it.

"Thalos, get back here!" Stoick ordered, but Thalos ignored him.

Thalos's eyes widened when Hiccup tripped and the massive dragon trapped his small frame under its claws. Thalos raced up to the dragon, but just as he was about to swing his axe at the dragon's head, a high-pitched whistle came into earshot. It grew louder and louder. Thalos quickly knew what that was and immediately dove out the way, hardly missing a blast from an outside dragon. A black dragon blasted the chains above the arena, destroyed them, and dove right in.

"Somebody get in there and help him!" A man shouted, the entire crowd getting riled up. Smoke and dust clouded the arena, preventing the Vikings from seeing Hiccup, Thalos, or the two dragons. This made it very unsafe for anyone to jump in and help.

Thalos swatted the clouds of smoke and dust away, trying to see Hiccup, but not even he could see much. "Hiccup!" He called, standing up, his blue eyes scanning the arena. He coughed, the particles getting into his lungs. He couldn't hear much of anything. All he heard were various sounds coming from above and grunts and roars from the Monstrous Nightmare and the dragon that had jumped in.

He jumped back when dragons slammed their way past him. His eyes widened. He knew a Night Fury had jumped in here, making the scene even more dangerous. He kept looking around, trying to find Hiccup.

"Hiccup!" He called again, walking around the smoke, holding his axe tight. Thalos's heart raced faster than he could comprehend. He breathed heavily, his mouth and throat drier than ever. This was the adrenaline that every Viking sought after, right? He was living the Viking dream, right? NO.

The smoke started to die down, and the two dragons came into view. The Night Fury and Monstrous Nightmare tackled each other, the Night Fury looking like it was winning.

"Night Fury!" Gobber said in an astonished voice. Thalos shook his head. No duh! What did you think it was, an oversized yak!?

Thalos kept looking around. He soon found Hiccup curled up on the ground. He immediately ran towards him and helped him up.

"Are you okay?" Thalos asked, grabbing Hiccup's arm and pulling him away from the fighting dragons.

"I'm fine, but what about Toothless!? They'll kill him! He's just protecting me!" Hiccup said, exasperated and out of breath.

Protecting him? Thalos shook his head and watched in horror and awe as the two dragons fought. By now, the smoke was mostly cleared up, and the fight was easily seen. The Monstrous Nightmare pinned Toothless to the ground, but the black dragon harshly kicked the larger dragon off of him, throwing it to the ground.

Toothless roared aggressively and backed up towards Hiccup and Thalos in a defensive stance. The Monstrous Nightmare lunged a couple of times at the black dragon, but he ran forward, keeping the red dragon back. After a few tries of getting at him, the Monstrous Nightmare retreated to another part of the arena.

The red dragon was soon apprehended by the older Vikings and thrown back into its pen. Hiccup soon pulled his arm out of Thalos's grip and ran towards the Night Fury.

"Hiccup, what in Thor's name are you doing!?" Thalos shrieked, running to go get him.

Hiccup ignored him, and instead spoke to his dragon. "Alright Toothless, go. Get out of here." He said in a panicked tone, pushing on the dragon's head to get him to leave. The dragon stayed by Hiccup's side defensively.

Thalos was about to get in there, but he was thrown back by the swarm of Vikings now jumping into the arena to apprehend the Night Fury. Apparently everyone had been watching the dragon fight intently, waiting until the fight was over before they jumped in.

"Go! Go!" Hiccup continued trying to push Toothless away, but the dragon stood his ground and didn't move. Hiccup's and Thalos's eyes widened as Stoick ran into the arena with an axe.

"Stoick, no!" Astrid called to the Chief when she saw his actions, but the big man didn't seem to hear her.

"No, Dad! Dad, Dad! He won't hurt you!" Hiccup shrieked, continuing to push on his dragon's face as his father came running towards them.

Toothless roared defensively and aggressively charged Stoick, running into and bumping away angry Vikings with weapons that were also charging him.

"No, no, no. Stop! You'll only make it worse!" Hiccup said to the Vikings running at his dragon.

The black dragon jumped onto Stoick and tackled him to the ground. The beast growled and and pinned him down.

"Toothless, stop!" Hiccup cried out, not wanting his father to be killed. The dragon started charging up its plasma blast. Thalos immediately started running towards the dragon to get him off Hiccup's father.

"No! Noooo!!!" Hiccup shrieked, horrified for his father.

Thalos stopped in his tracks when Toothless closed his mouth and looked softly at Hiccup. He took a breath of relief, but that relief was soon gone when Toothless was punched and slammed to the ground.

The other Vikings had taken this opportunity of the dragon not being in attack mode to make their move. They grabbed his head and smashed it to the ground, pressing it against the hard stone. One by one the Vikings grabbed the dragon, pinning its wings, legs, and tail to the ground, making it unable to move.

"Oh no, no, please! Just don't, don't hurt him!" Hiccup was about to run to his dragon, but Astrid grabbed him and pulled him back, knowing it wouldn't do any good. "Please don't hurt him..." he said sadly, watching as they kept his dragon from moving.