Contests or Challenges- HttyD Style!

Which are better: Competitions or Challenges?

The stage is set:

The Dragon Riders were herding Silent Sven's sheep... again. To be fair, it was their fault that the sheep needed to be herded in the first place, but how else were they supposed to practice strafing runs over cowering, defenseless targets, laughing at their fear! Muahahaha...That's what the twins said, at least, when they were all faced by a very angry Stoick and a thoroughly concerned Sven. They had been running aerial combat drills in the skies over Berk, and the Thorston twins got a little... enthusiastic? Now Sven's sheep were scattered across Berk... again... and the Riders had to get them all -safely- back to the pasture. Hiccup just wanted to get the job done, but the other Riders, predictably, got a little... competitive.

It's all about the Competition!

"Last one back with a group of sheep has to do the rest themselves!" Snotlout shouted, wheeling away before being stopped by Hiccup.

"Does it have to be a competition? Again? I mean really, why is it always with the competitions! And also, no, loser does NOT get to do it all themselves. The only ones who MIGHT be doing it by themselves are the twins, but I don't trust them enough. This is not a competition, it is just us being responsible and cleaning up after ourselves."

"You're right, Hiccup," Astrid spoke up, "but competitions are good ways to test ourselves against each other, and to have fun. I understand what you're saying about responsibility and getting the job done, and you know I agree with you on that. But I don't understand your aversion to competitions, I mean, we're Vikings! We LIVE for the competition!"

"Yeah, Hiccup," Fishlegs surprised everyone by speaking up. "I mean, I never WIN competitions, but they're still fun: the chance to prove yourself, the pounding of adrenaline, the thrill of the fight! I may be a coward, but competitions are like safe fights, and the chance to beat someone at something? Astrid's right: that's what we live for."

"And the chaos!" Tuffnut exclaimed, "Beautiful chaos"

"So many opportunities, brother-"

"pranking-"

"tricking-"

"deceiving-"

"exploiting-"

"circumventing-"

"cheating-"

"not so loud!"

"oops, sorry bro."

"Regardless," finished Ruffnut: "competitions are the very best kinds of 'itions,' and you are never going to be able to stop us!"

"Wait!" Snotlout jumped in. "If Ruffnut was already talking, why is there a new paragraph?" Most of the Riders just looked at him in confusion for a moment, but the twins exchanged a knowing look and switched helmets...

What's the point without a challenge?

"Alright, alright I get it," Hiccup relented.

"Wait, really?!" All the other Riders exclaimed in unison.

"No."

"Ugh, stop getting our hopes up like that, Hiccup" Tuffnut complained.

"Yeah, we thought you were going to come join the tricksters again!" Ruffnut whined.

"...Sorry to let you down?" Hiccup said before continuing: "I don't get the need to pit ourselves against each other, and you should all know by now how I feel about 'The Viking Way,' but I do understand that this is, for some reason, important to you lot. I personally prefer a challenge: trying to defy nature and physics, trying to break your own records, trying, constantly, to improve yourself-"

"UGH!" The twins and Snotlout groaned together, although Astrid and Fishlegs were nodding along in total agreement, even if they didn't try to 'defy nature and physics' on a daily basis like Hiccup seemed to.

"However!" Hiccup said, reclaiming their attention: "perhaps there's a way to do both."

"Hmm?"

"Oh?"

"Indeed?"

"Do-"

"-Tell?

A compromise is reached:

"What if it was a challenging competition? Each of us goes out to gather some sheep and bring them back, right?" *nods of understanding* "Then, we all go out to bring back more sheep, but we have to bring back more sheep than the time before. At the end, we'll count up who has the most sheep, but any time you bring back less sheep, they don't count. We'll get Sven to stay here and watch, so no one can try and be sneaky."

The Riders all look at each other, and after a moment of thinking they seem to agree.

"Oh it's so on!" Snotlout

shouts. "Wait! It happened again! And why am I still shouting?!" The others looked at him strangely again for a few moments, and then realize that Hiccup and Toothless aren't there!

Game on!
Maybe I'll add a second chapter about the actual 'Challenging Competition' in a couple days, but I'm all written out for now.
Please, tell me what you think, and go find someone else to challenge with a competition!