Day two of dragon training involved a maze and Delvin's least favorite type of dragon, a Deadly Nadder.
It wasn't that they were particularly dangerous or difficult to deal with, as a matter of fact thanks to his training with Snap-pine, knocking away any spikes sent towards him was a simple matter. They just brought back bad memories for him, they reminded him of a time when he was weak and scared.
So of course he kicked its ass
The original point of the lesson was the use of blindspots, something every dragon supposedly had, a Nadders sat directly in front of their face, where their small eyes couldnt see you, although getting there was far more difficult seeing as they moved around like a seagull on opium
The twins had actualy accomplished this, both of them sneaking in front of the dragon getting a perfect chance for a counterattack, only to begin arguing and get sent flying
As gobber said "blind spot? Yes, Deaf spot? Not so much"
Once the twins had been taken out Delvin had stuck close to Astrid, knowing that his cousin was likely the only one who could keep up with him, which sadly also brought forth the annoying suitor that was Snotlout as the boy kept trying to clumsily flirt with Astrid
Delvin had half a mind to just let the Nadder eat him, which it almost did after the boy stupidly threw his mace at it, and MISSED the 2-meter tall dragon! And of course, it was the sun's fault as well.
Anyway, now that Delvin was doing his best to run for while the entire maze collapsed around them, courtesy of the nadder, he could still hear hiccup trying to ask questions about nightfurys, as if that weren't the most unsubtle method of information gathering in existence. Apparently, last night after training hiccup had discovered that the book of dragons had little to no information on Nightfurys and decided to ask who he considered to be the smartest person he knew
Gobber
"So has anybody ever managed to sneak up on a nightfury, is there like a nightfury pamphlet or something?!" Hiccup yelled to gobber who was sitting casually above the death cage, completely oblivious to the chaos behind him as the nadder began chasing fishlegs throughout the maze like a cat and very large mouse.
"Nobody has ever seen one and survived" gobber answered clearly frustrated by his student's low level of dragon-killing fervor "NOW GET IN THERE!"
He was lucky Delvin was nearby as he arrived just to knock away some spikes that were about to impale Hiccup like a chicken skewer with a nearby shield, before passing him said shield. "Stop focusing on that damn dragon and learn about how to kill it!" Delvin hissed, getting seriously tired of having to save his friend's ass "it's in the forest and you are in here, get your head straight!" he told him before running off, ignoring the look hiccup sent him, one of total shock
Did the kid seriously forget that he was there when he shot it down? Jeez he was hopeless
Running over to Astrid and crouching beside her Delvin whispered "any plan?" ignoring the cowering snotlout beside her
"Get in the blindspot and gut it!" she whispered, about to run off towards the dragon as it still pursued fishlegs, but Delvin grabbed her arm "what!?" she whispered, clearly annoyed
"I'll give you a chance to slip into the blindspot and you finish it," he told her, which she responded to with a nod
Running off in the dragon's direction and slamming the but of his halberd into the stone floor to create noise Delvin drew its attention "over here you ugly lizard!" he yelled, grabbing a shield and knocking it to create noise, causing the beast to flinch
Create enough noise and a dragon can lose complete control of itself, shutting down however he only deeded to create enough noise for it to flinch, which honestly wasn't that hard, slamming his shield against the nearby wall and his halberd against the stone, he was easily able to grab the nadders attention while also blocking the incoming spikes that shot at him
Honestly, it was far harder to deflect Snap-pines scales
Watching as Astrid slunk closer to the nadder, axe in hand, Delvin took special care to stay on the opposite side of her, ensuring the nadder wouldn't see her until it was too late. And after a few second Astrid was in position, directly in front of the dragon's nose, the dragon shook its head slightly to clear itself of the confusion Delvin had caused it with the noise
And then disaster/hiccup struck as he accidentally attracted the dragon's attention as he dropped his shield. Not even knowing that Astrid had been in front of it the east gave chase, following hiccup through the maze with a roar, Astrid gave a warcry and followed
Soon enough Delvin watched from the outskirts of the arena as the maze collapsed and the nadder and everyone inside either jumped out of the way or rolled to avoid being crushed
And when the dist settled Delvin could easily make out the conjoined figure of Astrid and hiccup, causing him to chuckle slightly. Astrid had jumped away from the jaws of the nadder only to land on hiccup and bury her axe in his shield, which she was now trying to pull free as the nadder came charging towards them.
Luckily for her and hiccup Delvin stepped in, scratching just below the nadders chin with his hand and causing the beast to collapse like a puppy wanting a belly rub. He learned that trick while he was giving Snap-pine a bath once, it caused him some issues when the dragon collapsed into the bases mini lake, bringing him with them
"Dammit is this some sort of joke to you!" Delvin turned his head to see Astrid yelling at Hiccup, brandishing her now free axe towards him "our parent's war is about to become ours! You need to pick a side"
However, Delvin could see that Hiccup already had, unlike himself who place berk first and Snap-pine second, hiccup clearly cared more about his dragon than the people he was going to lead one day
"That's enough Astrid" Delvin told his livid cousin as he placed a hand on her shoulder
"But he-" she began clearly still angry as she pointed her axe towards the already leaving form of hiccup
"Just don't," he told her with a shake of his head, causing her to give him a glare before walking off grumbling and begin sharpening her axe
"I think it might be time you and i had a chat hiccup" Delvin muttered as he watched Hiccup disappear out of the arena