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Chapter 9: Chapter 9 Where are you, Hiccup?

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"UAAAAAH!" *Boom*

"NEXT!"

"Stupid tiny muscled sword wielder"

*Smack*

"AAARGH!" .....*Boom*

"NEXT!"

"Can't believe this has happened. Why am I doing this anyway? Oh, stop waving that toy at me!"

Toothless literally punched the gladiator in the groin with his front right paw. The gladiator squeaked and fell down on the ground, collapsing. The lanista, who was watching from the balcony, slapped his face. "Gods, the damn dragon is taking down my men completely effortlessly. This is all a child's play to him for pity sake!"

"HEY, Agnor!" he yelled down at the training ground. "Get in there and show that beast how a real gladiator fights!"

Agnor nodded and readied his training sword and shield, and started walking towards Toothless with a mad look. He positioned himself before Toothless and raised his shield for protectiveness.

"You will regret stepping on this sand, creature" He grumbled.

"Oh I'm feeling so scared right now" sighed Toothless and rolled his eyes.

First they got caught in a sandstorm, and the next thing he knew was that he was being held captured in a ludas. These pathetic humans will regret doing this. Capturing me will be the biggest mistake of their lives. They don't know my--off!

Agnor had just made his first move. While Toothless was busier fighting his mind and had let his guard down, Agnor had performed a simple downward attack on Toothless' head. The impact could hardly be felt, but the force from it was enough to get Toothless aware.

"Dead" said Agnor and smiled mockingly.

"How dare you!" Toothless growled. This human just hit him. A huge mistake!

Faster than what any human eye could register, Toothless snapped the wood sword from Agnor and crushed it to bits between his jaws. And before he could do anything else, Toothless head butted him and lifted him up in the air. Agnor flew across the training area like a yelping dog and landed on his back several meters away from Toothless. He rolled a couple more before he stopped.

Toothless looked angrily up at the lanista. His just wanted to tear apart that smirking face.

"Isn't this what you wanted? HAVEN'T I PROVEN MY STRENGTH?" Roared Toothless at the lanista. A couple of gladiators backed away a bit, unsure about Toothless' sudden change of mood. Toothless puffed a good amount of smoke out off his nose and walked up to one of the walls that surrounded the training ground and settled down in the shadows. He didn't want to spend more time with these incompetent fighters.

The first day had been awful. To wake up and find out that you're neither in the place you're supposed to be, and then find out that you're alone, without Hiccup. Toothless did not handle that part well. It had taken him ten seconds after he had woken up to freak out. Ten more and the cage that he was in exploded to bits, and he had made a run for it. Hadn't it been for that human mentioning Hiccup, he would've been free already back then. That stupid fat lanista. Because he was indeed fat! At least for a human from these parts. He called himself Veron, but Toothless didn't see anyone here worthy of a proper name; these disgusting, selfish beings. Fat lanista seemed like a suitable nick for this mountain of a human. So, it had taken several hours for this fat lanista to calm Toothless completely down. They had placed him in a second cage, but Toothless destroyed that one too just to annoy the fat one. He needed to stop though when the lanista had threatened him to punish Hiccup for anything he did wrong. Toothless didn't know if he actually would, but he wouldn't take any chances.

Veron looked down at the creature below him. He nodded approvingly to himself. The dragon had shown impressive skills and power, and that was what he had been looking for. The gladiator matches had been rather dull as of late, and could use some fresh ideas. His brother was right. Throwing dragons into the games was a most interesting twist. And the emperor had surprisingly enough agreed on it! This plan was perfect. The only thing he needed to make sure was that the Darkscales stayed alive until the end of the games before the four months-break. Veron looked down at Toothless.

"Pft. This one will make it through no problem" he said crossing his arms confidently. They were at the end of the season, so it was not long until it was time. He hoped his brother's Darkscale was just as furious as this one. If they wanted the prize, both creatures needed to survive. It was clearly told by the emperor. Veron turned and went his way into his house. The Darkscales would prove a huge advantage in the games. And the best part of all this? He and his brother were the only on with dragons!

Well, as far as he knew at least.

Toothless lay in the shadows napping most of the day. It wasn't until what seemed to be the trainer of the gladiators came over to where he was and disturbed his sleep that he woke up.

"Up with you, Darkscale. You can sleep more when you're back in your cell."

Toothless opened one eye. "It's evening already? That storm must really have taken a lot of energy from me." Toothless got up and gave the man an annoying stare. The man stared nonchalant back and gestured with his head that Toothless should get moving. He was the only one left on the training ground. Toothless exhaled a sigh and started walking. This wasn't what he had expected from this trip. Sure, maybe they'd stumble upon a small problem or two, but this was overdoing it. He missed Hiccup. Before, he was used to be alone like this; that was what he had preferred. Night Furies hunted and lived alone, and rarely gathered in groups. All that changed when he met Hiccup. Now he couldn't stand being alone like this! He needed someone to be with, someone he could share conversations with. Someone who'd care for him when he was troubled. He needed his mate.

Toothless looked up at the evening sky. "Where are you, Hiccup?"

-{}-

"Okay, just stay close to me Hiccup and let's hope Verius doesn't decide to separate us. If we're lucky we get to have a spot for ourselves since you're...well, different from the other gladiators" Burrows whispered to Hiccup.

They slowly made their way to the middle of the training ground where the other gladiators stood lined up. They all had their eyes on Hiccup, showing both surprise and confusion of his presence. They whispered to each other, speculating why in all Parragrin there was a dragon amongst them. Many had probably only heard stories about them, and never really seen any with their own eyes. Verius showed himself upon the balcony and raised a hand to silence them all.

"Morning, my gladiators" He greeted in a cheering tone. "This would originally just been a normal day like any other, but as you may have already seen, we have a couple of new recruits with us today."

"What?" one of the gladiators exclaimed. "You're making this overgrown bat a gladiator? That's madness! This creature doesn't even deserve to step upon this very sand. He's better off in the underworld!" The gladiator's temper rose quickly and the others joined in too, and the whole place got filled with shouting and complaining.

"SILENCE!" Verius bellowed.

Everything got quiet.

"Neither of you have any say on this, so keep your tongues in." He took a zip from the wine one of the slaves had readied for him. He scanned his men as he drank. "The emperor and I have come to an agreement you see. The dragon will stay, and the dragon will fight, and there's nothing you or any other gladiators can do about it. Time changes, rules changes and each and every one of you are going to have to adapt to it. If not? Well, then you can kiss your miserable lives goodbye and have fun in hell, because that's where you're going if you're not prepared to meet up against one of these." Verius pointed at Hiccup.

A few of the gladiators looked over to Hiccup, watching him with evil looks. Hiccup answered by returning a deep growl back.

"Now that's what you notsupposed to do" Verius sighed. "Look what you just did now. You made it annoyed. If it's annoyed, it's also getting more aggressive. And that's a bad thing for you, gladiators. Do not make enemy with it, because it's not. Remember he's on our team, and you should be thankful that he is. Treat it as one of your own, instead of acting with such foolishness. That dragon is going to be our key to victory. Harm it, and I'll have your head on a spike." Verius looked down at the trainer and nodded.

"Now, start the training!"

The gladiators mumbled to each other, but otherwise started positioning themselves and do their normal training routines. Burrows and Hiccup was about to go over to the far left corner of the yard when Verius stopped them.

"Not you two."

Burrows and Hiccup turned around again, facing Verius with unreadable looks.

"Is there anything wrong, Dominus?" asked Burrows in a normal tone. Verius let out a short laugh.

"You ask if something's wrong? You're walking around with that Darkscale as if it were your puppy! Now what kind of spell have you used on it, hmm?"

"I've done nothing with him, if you must ask. You know very well that I cannot use powerful magic without any staff in my hand. I've merely talked with it."

"You can speak with dragons...?" Verius raised an eyebrow. It was disbelief in his words.

"Yeah well...you know, it's a family thing."

Verius frowned. "I'm a lanista. We can tell when people lie."

"Then you'd also know that I'm telling the truth" Burrows smiled back.

Verius thought about it. He looked at Burrows' eyes, his face expressions and body movement, but none indicated that he was lying. He was indeed telling the truth. Perhaps this could work in his favor.

"Excellent! Then you can be my translator. And since you two are getting along so nicely, I'll let you fight in the arena together as well now that we're on it. Apparently I need both of you alive now, so that's probably for the better."

"Perfect!" Hiccup thought. "That means we can protect each other when we're battling"

"And then I want to ask you, my dear translator; what is the Darkscales' opinion of this?"

Hiccup looked up and talked directly to Verius, although the lanista couldn't understand what he said.

"He says he's fine with it" Burrows said to Verius after Hiccup finished.

"That's good. Anything else he wants to mention to me while he now has the chance to?" Verius responded, looking at Hiccup. Hiccup let out a few more grunts and growls at him, and Burrows translated again.

"He says you better not have harmed the other Darkscale, or else he's going to rip your head off."

"Ah, he's fine" Verius assured Hiccup. "You got nothing to worry about. As long as the other Darkscale is good in combat, that is."

One of the slaves on the balcony walked up beside him to get his attention, saying something to him.

Verius nodded and shooed her away again. "Oh, work's calling, so I'll have to make my leave" Verius said down to the two. "Meanwhile, have fun training!"

"Wait!" Burrows exclaimed. "What about my staff? I'll need it if I'm going to fight."

"Change of plans, wizard-"

"Magician!" Burrows yelled irritated.

"Magician, whatever!" Verius sighed. "It's too much of threat to give you your power source back now that things have changed. Besides, you won't need any staff when you got a dragon by your side now do you?" he smiled. Verius then walked off before Burrows could answer him.

"That...that...damn bastard!" Burrows angrily said while walking up to a free spot.

"Is the staff really that important to you?" Hiccup asked.

"Important? It's fatal!" Burrows exclaimed. "Without it, I won't be able to fend myself. I'm not familiar with the handling of a sword. In my whole life I've been trained to use a staff alongside with magic. I won't even last a minute in the arena.."

"Hey, we're together on this, right?" Hiccup smiled. Burrows sighed and relaxed.

"Yeah" he said, returning the smile.

"But, can't you use magic without a staff?" Hiccup wondered.

"I can, but it's dangerous and very limited. You see, if you're not a master in the art of magic, which in most cases would take a lifetime of training to become may I point out, we don't have control of the magic inside us. We can call upon it when needed, but we don't know the outcome when we release it. You'd expect the spell to come out from our hands, right? Well in this case, it can come out anywhere."

"You mean...anywhere?" Hiccup smirked.

"AnyWHERE!" Burrows said starring wide-eyed at Hiccup.

"Ouch! I imagine that would hurt."

"Indeed!" Burrows nodded. "And that's why we always carry a staff with us. Because with those, the magic will be guided into them, making the spell more focused and powerful once inside the staff. The reason why-"

"Hey magician!" shouted the trainer of the gladiators. "Quit babbling with the dragon and start training before I make you!"

"He's right" Burrows said. "I'll tell you the rest later, but let's prepare ourselves for the arena."

Hiccup nodded.

"Alright, just position yourself right there. Yes that's good."

"What exactly are we going to do?" Hiccup asked.

"You're going to hit me."

"What?"

"Relax" Burrows chuckled. "Not like this of course. Every magician learns one spell at young age that can be used at any time, regardless whether he got a staff or not. It's called kraftzalir, or simply force shield."

Burrows uttered the word again, and this time a wall of energy was created around him, formed like an egg-shaped bubble. It was glowing with a faint blue color.

"You attack me as if I was an enemy, while I train my stamina by defending myself as long as I can. Got it?"

"Got it."

-{}-

Even as only one night had passed, Toothless had managed to make enemies with every single gladiator in the ludas! It was understandable, as he had made them all look weak. They, who many were one of the fiercest gladiators in the ring, beaten by the newcomer. Toothless didn't care how much he crushed their pride. He wasn't here to make friends.

"If this is what I'm going up against in the arena, I'll have the time of my life!"

One of the gladiators threw his sword and shield away, sighing heavily.

"Bah! There's no use in this. He's just too strong for us. He's too quick!"

Veron had spent this day having his gladiators fight Toothless. First one by one, then in pairs...before he let them attack him all at once. Toothless didn't even feel tired after the whole practice had ended. Their attacks were predictable, slow and definitely not thought through. They may have worked on another human, but not a dragon. With one swing of his tail, he had sent them all flying.

Not all of the gladiators had lost their spirits though. "Things would've been different if we weren't carrying wooden weapons. If I had a real sword, that dragon would've been without a head!" one of them said. Toothless eyed him and released a short growl.

"Yours would've been eaten long before that ever happened."

The rest of the day went as normal. Toothless eventually grew bored of giving the gladiators flying lessons, and settled down in the shadows for a nap. Veron didn't mind him doing that, since he was confident that the Darkscale was more than capable of surviving the matches that was to come. And it made his gladiators more focused, as they eventually got back to their normal routines and soon forgot about the dragon. It didn't feel long for Toothless before the sun disappeared behind the surrounding walls, and he again found himself in his cage. He decided to stay awake this night, as the trip to the city where the gladiator matches were being held, would take a good week to reach. It hadn't taken many hours before he had heard shouting outside, followed by the clinging sounds of swords meeting each other. Later, Toothless had overheard two guards passing by that one of the gladiators had tried to escape, obviously not wanting to attend the tournament. The matches were a fight to the death, and weren't for the weak minded. Yet the fat lanista recruited these people. Toothless wondered why, but didn't ponder about it for long.

Early next morning, Toothless was transported to a steel cage upon a carriage. He could easily break through it, the lanista knew it too, but it was probably to make anybody else feel safer. Toothless then heard a cry, and the carriage started moving. Dust rose from the ground as the gate opened, and dozen of horses leaved the ludas. Outside was an empty dry landscape, except for a few trees and bushes Toothless spotted a few miles away.

"This guy sure likes it private" Toothless mumbled to himself as he settled down in his cage. Six guards walked nearby, constantly watching over him. Toothless paid them little mind. Far west, he could spot a city, probably were the usual matches took place. Toothless had heard from the lanista that they were headed to the largest city in this region. Rome, he had called it. Home to over six hundred thousand humans!

"So many living together in just one place. How can they keep up with that? There's a lot of free land and good hunting grounds elsewhere."

Toothless looked up at the sky. He wondered how Hiccup was doing. Toothless swore to himself that he would rip apart anyone who had dared tried or would try to hurt him. None shall get away with hurting his Hiccup! Such fools need to be learned their place in life.

"I just hope he's alright."