Disclaimer: I do not own anything from How to train your dragon
Chapter 4: Teams
The next morning, Hiccup woke up to cheers coming from outside his home. Curious, he walked outside followed by Toothless, only to find that the other teens have started a dragon race and all the villagers were watching and cheering from below!
"Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi!" Snotlout chanted, after grabbing another sheep.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding." Hiccup muttered.
"Yeah!" Tuffnut cheered as he and his twin grabbed a sheep at the same time Astrid did.
But the Hofferson girl was able to snatch it right out of his hands. "Thank you very much!"
"Hey, half that sheep is mine!" Tuffnut complained.
"Yeah, and half of that half is mine!" Ruffnut added.
"Sorry!" Astrid said insincerely.
"Come on, Sparkfire. Two sheeps dead ahead!" Raeda exclaimed.
The purple Nadder quickly shot a series of spines around the two sheeps, creating a pen. Sparkfire was about to swoop in a snatch the sheeps when Midnight beat her to it!
"Hey!" Raeda called out.
"Thanks so much Rae. I appreciate it." Hicca exclaimed to her best human friend.
"Oh, really, Astrid, Raeda and my own twin? Where's the love for the Acting Chief?!" Hiccup wondered as he got on Toothless and flew up, intent on stopping the race.
Eventually he managed to gather all the dragon riders and call of the race. Unfortunately, that announcement was not well-received by the rest of the villagers who started to protest. This led to Hiccup calling everyone to go to the Great Hall to discuss the matter.
"Thanks for being on my side in the matter you two." Hiccup said to Hicca and Raeda, the two girls who would back him up no matter what, as they made their way to the Great Hall.
"We're sorry, Hiccup. But remember I did promise that we would focus on Regatta preparations in the afternoon. We were just going to play one quick game before we start the preparations." Raeda explained.
"I was curious about the game, bro. And it's a lot of fun! Seriously, you need to play, you'll love it! It could be like an opening act for the Regatta. Better yet, it could replace the Regatta altogether." Hicca suggested.
"Yeah, we're also working on some banners and flags for the dragon race." Raeda agreed.
"No, sorry girls. I promise dad my sole focus would be on the Regatta and it will go to the Regatta. We can put the dragon races some other time but not now." Hiccup said firmly as he, the two girls and the other dragon riders took their seats at a long table in front of the viking crowd, who started chanting "Dragon Race" over and over.
"Come on, everyone, just take a seat!" Hiccup pleaded, trying to get his voice above the villagers shouting. When that wasn't working, he turned to Toothless. "Can you help me, bud?" Toothless fired a plasma blast above the crowd which flew out the parted doors of the Great Hall. That brought silence to the villagers. "Okay, I know you had a lot of fun today with the Dragon Academy doing exactly what they promised they would not do-" With that, Hiccup gave a stern look to the rest of his friends
"I didn't make any promises. Did you?" Tuffnut chimed in, asking his twin.
"Not a one." Ruffnut answered happily.
"They have a point bro, only Astrid and Raeda only back us up. none of them technically agreed to it." Hicca pointed out.
"Not helping." Hiccup then continued. "Alright, I know you all want to blow off steam but hey what could be better than a spirited Regatta. Ha, ha, ha." The attempt to rally the crowd for the Regatta earned several unimpressed looks.
"I tell you what's better, anything not named Regatta." Tuffnut answered. "And how about a Dragon Race!" With that he and his sister got the crowd chanting "Dragon Race" once more.
Hiccup looked at his twin, silently asking for back-up. "Come on, bro. One dragon race won't hurt anyone. Dad is gone for a few days, he doesn't have to know."
"Since when were you this rebellious?" Hiccup questioned.
"Since we first befriended Midnight and Toothless behind the whole villages backs." Hicca answered.
"Not to mention the other acts of rebel after that, such as Dragon Flight Club." Raeda pointed out.
"What's wrong, Hiccup? You afraid you and Toothless are no match for 5,000 pounds of muscle?" Snotlout challenged, putting an arm around Hookfangs' neck.
"For once, I'm glad Snotlout is trying to rile up Hiccup." Raeda whispered to Hicca, who nodded in agreement.
"Wow. Sounds like Snotlout's calling someone out." Astrid said to Hiccup.
"You're supposed to be on my side too, Astrid." Hiccup sighed.
"All I'm saying is, Hicca is right; Stoick isn't going to be back for a few days and isn't this a great way to blow off steam, too?" Astrid pointed out.
Seeing as he was the only person on Berk who is against the dragon race, Hiccup give in and allowed for one game, causing a massive cheer in the crowd. He and the other teens with their dragons went to the Academy, where he worked with his sister with the rules.
"The sheep start at Silent Sven's farm." Hiccup explained pointing to an area in the map of Berk. "The racers will be at the Academy."
"On the start, the sheep are released. Once caught, we drop them into baskets." Hicca continued.
"And?" Raeda prompted.
"And tearing of sheeps will lead to negative points." Hiccup added. "Any other suggestions?"
"Teams." Snotlout said.
"What do you mean 'Teams'?" Hiccup asked.
"We should have teams." Snotlout explained.
"Really? And how do you propose we pick these teams?" Hicca asked.
"We already did. Me and the Thorston Twins against you and Raeda against Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishface."
"We even have a team name." Tuffnut added.
"Snotnuts." Ruffnut declared proudly.
"Wow, how did I not think of that first?" Astrid wondered as Hicca and Raeda hid their snickers, before they started discussing something in whispers.
"I think that's pretty obvious, we're sort of the more creative element of the group." Tuffnut said.
"This is gonna be too easy." Astrid said to Hiccup.
"Hey, don't forget you'll still be facing me and Hicca." Raeda pointed out.
"And we already came up with a cool team name. And don't even think about stealing it." Hicca said, pointing a finger at them.
"Why would we want to take your team name?" Hiccup asked them.
"Because we named our team based on our dragons species, not our own names." Hicca answered.
"Yep, we're team Deadly Fury." Raeda announced.
"Fine you guys can have keep that name if you want." Hiccup said.
"And we do." Raeda said.
"It's not a big deal anyways, it's just a name." Astrid said, before she and Hiccup left with their dragons to get Fishlegs.
"That is a really good team name." Astrid said to Hiccup, once they were away from the two girls.
"I know I wished we could have thought of that one. Of course with Fishlegs and Meatlug on our team, we would have to make it 'Team Deadly Gronckle Fury'." Hiccup agreed.
"Sorry, Hiccup, can't do it." Fishlegs said, once Hiccup and Astrid told him about the Dragon Races. "Can't afford to take one moment away from my preparation. And frankly I am surprised you would shirk your responsibilities as Acting Chief and give over to the wims of the masses."
"What?! I'm not giving over to anything!" Hiccup protested.
"Come on, Fishlegs. wouldn't you love to take out Snotlout and the twins? Or should I say Snotnuts?" Astrid said.
"'Snotnuts'? How long did it take them to come up with that?" Fishlegs chuckled. "As tempting as it is, Meatlug and I have one thing on our minds and one thing only, we are going sailing. Now if you excuse me, my first mate and I have some last minute preparations to do." With that, he joined Meatlug under the curtain, closing it in front of Hiccup and Astrid, leading the two teens to exchange looks.