The Lost Boy V - Short stories

Worst in show

(set after the first chapter of Book 2)

It went down from nothing. Just a simple arguing between Snotlout and Fishlegs, a comparison between their dragons and their dragon rider skills... knowing who was the best tamer... add to this the competitive spirit of the other riders and it ended up in a contest to know who was the best. Hiccup kept on repeating this was not a competition, but visibly he was the only one thinking so.

Fishlegs had the idea of testing their skills with a level playing field, with the same dragon. So he had captured a few Terrible Terrors roaming the village, and each rider was going to befriend one of them, train it, bound with it and teach it some tricks. They had decided on a time limit of one week. To add some spice to the competition, Fishlegs and Snotlout even decided to add a dare. Loser cleans the winner's stall for a month.

Snotlout had ended up with a purple Terrible Terror who volunteered himself by bitting his arm. The twins had choosen two identical bright yellow fellows. Fishlegs had taken the one with vibrant red-orange colors with a seemingly calm behaviour. As to Astrid, she had chosen the most energetic one, which ended up having blue-green colors reminding of a Deadly Nadder's. Joke's dragon, like Snotlout's, had volunteered too but in a different way. His big yellow puppy-eyes, contrasting with his pale blue robe, had not left Joke until the boy had picked the dragon up. Hiccup, not enthrilled by the contest, had just taken the last dragon left, a Terrible Terror with common green and brown colors.

And one week later, after training on their own without telling anything to the others, the dragon riders had gathered again in the Academy to demonstrate their work and determine who was the best. Competition and rivalry was at the top between Snotlout and Fishlegs, who even argued to know who was going first.

''Do you wanna start, Snotlout ?''

''What about you ?!''

''Okay, I'm first.''

''No way, I am first !''

''First, second, third... It doesn't matter because, in the end, you will be last !''

''Wow,'' Astrid chuckled. ''What happened to Fishlegs ?''

Next to her, Tuffnut snickered.

''He finally decided to grow some-''

''Okay, calm down guys !'' Hiccup claimed. ''What about I go first, huh ? Since I don't care about loosing or winning since it's not about loosers or winners.''

Joke shook his head with a big smile, holding from laughing, then all of them looked at the auburnet taking place at the center of the arena, in front of them. Hiccup was holding his dragon on his arm, perched like a bird of prey, while Toothless stood in front of them, three small wooden sculptures balanced on his outstretched wing.

''Ready Toothless ? Now !''

With a swift movement, the Night Fury threw the sculptures in the air.

''Sharpshot, fire !''

The little green Terror took off and spat three little fireballs that shot dead in each of the targets. Astrid picked them up to check if each really had dark marks on it. Visibly, Hiccup had not picked up the name for nothing. After his deed, Sharpshot perched back on the viking's arm.

''Not bad,'' Astrid praised, truly impressed. ''You're off to a flying start, Hiccup.''

''Not a competition !'' The chief's son repeated for the hundredth time.

While they were talking, Snotlout and Fishlegs had started a glare battle. Then it was Astrid's turn to present her dragon. She stood in front of her comrades and opened up her arms.