Chapter 1 - The Island of Berk
Sitting on a rock was a small village, sheep grazed on what little grass there was. It was night, but dark clouds blocked the moon and stars from sight.
This, is Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless, and a few degrees South of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery.
My village. In a word, sturdy. And it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitos. We have...
Some sheep are grazing peacefully on a hillside. Suddenly one is snatched. Another one walks forward and took its spot. A door is pulled open... as a DRAGON swoops directly toward it, BLASTING FIRE. The door is SLAMMED. The fire shoots through the slats of wood, illuminating a gangly teenage Viking.
"...dragons." He smiles, he re- opens the sizzling door, as leaps off of the front porch. He weaves through the erupting mayhem as Vikings pour out of the buildings, ready for a fight.
"Dragon" Someone yelled. More dragons swarmed in, setting rooftops alight and hauling off sheep
" Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues." Vikings sound the alarm. Viking men and women pour out into the streets, axes in hand. Apart from the teenage boy who darts through alleys, staying under eaves, making his way through the battle. "My name's Hiccup. Great name, I know. But it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanour wouldn't do that." Dragons sweep back and forth, dodging axes and blasting the Vikings who throw them. A burly warrior gets tossed in an explosion, nocking Hiccup to the ground
"Arggghhhhh!" A viking roared in the boy's face , then grinned "Mornin'!"
Hiccup gets to his feet and continues to rush past gigantic men and women. "Meet the neighbors. Hoark the Haggard..."
"What are you doing out!?" Hoark asked
"... Burnthair the Broad..."
"Get inside! " Burnthair told him
"... Phlegma the Fierce..."
"Get back inside!" Phlegma roared Hiccup passed a silent ox of a Viking, picking his ear. Then the biggest Viking of all comes from the smoke. He yanks Hiccup from the path of a strafing dragon and holds aloft to the crowd.
"Hiccup!?" He asked, he looked accusingly at the crowd "What is he doing out again?!" He looks at hiccup "What are you doing out?! Get inside!" The flames light up his scowling face and matted red beard. He sets Hiccup down and turns to the sky, searching.
That's Stoick the Vast. Chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. Do I believe it? Stoick grabs a wooden cart and hurls it, knocking the strafing dragon out of the sky. Yes, I do. An EXPLOSION forces Vikings to duck. Stoick stands firm, brushing flaming debris off of his shoulder.
"What have we got?" Stoick asked
"Gronkles. Nadders. Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare." A Viking said
"Any Night Furies?"
"None so far." "Good." Stoick nodded, he seemed to be relieved
"Hoist the torches!" A Viking commanded. Massive flaming braziers are raised on poles, lighting up the night sky... and revealing swirling dragons of all types. Below, Hiccup crosses an open plaza and ducks into an open building with a tall chimney. He crosses behind a counter, where a peg-legged, one-armed hulk of a Blacksmith reshapes blades with a hammer and tongs appendage
"Ah! Nice of you to join the party!" The blacksmith grinned "I thought you'd been carried off." Hiccup dons a leather apron and starts to put away the Vikings scattered appendages.
" Who me? Nah, come on! I'm way too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all this." Hiccup strikes a bodybuilder pose. They need toothpicks, don't they? " The Viking stated. Hiccup gets to work, transferring bent and chipped weapons to the forge as Vikings crowd the counter for replacements
The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well...littler
We move to the lower defences. We'll counter-attack with catapults." Stoick to his men
Armed men rush past, flanking others who carry sheep to safety. Stoick follows up the rear as, overhead, a dragon strafes the rooftops with Napalm-like fire.
See? Old village. Lots and lots of new houses.
In response, the fire brigade charges through the plaza five TEENS, tugging a large wooden cask on wheels. From it, they fill buckets of water to douse the flames. One among them is a cute, energetic Viking girl. Hiccup leans out of the stall to watch her
Oh and that's Fishlegs, Snotlout. The twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut. My Twin sister Ingrid and there is Astrid. Their job is so much cooler.
Hiccup tries to join them as they pass, but he's hooked by Gobber and hoisted back inside
"Ah, come on. Let me out, please. I need to make my mark." Hiccup complained
Oh, you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places." Gobber said "Please, two minutes. I'll kill dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date." Hiccup tried to reason with the blacksmith
"You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe..." Gobber grabs a bola
"Dragon"
"... you can't even throw one of these." A Viking runs by and nabs it out of Gobber's hand, hurling it at a dive-bombing Gronkle. The bola binds its legs, sending it into a heavy crash.
Okay fine, but..." He rushes to the back corner of the stall and presents a bizarre, wheel barrow-like contraption "... this will throw it for me." Hiccup opens the hinged lid of the device. An arm springs up, equipped with twin bows. They prematurely launch a bola, narrowly missing Gobber... and taking out a Viking at the counter
" Arggh!" The poor Viking cried
"See, now this right here is what I'm talking about." Gobber said
"Mild calibration issue." Hiccup
"Hiccup. If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all..." Gobber gestures in Hiccup's general direction "... this."
"But... you just pointed to all of me." Hiccup said
"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you." Gobber told him " Ohhhh..." Hiccup said
"Ohhhhh, yes." Gobber mimicked the teen
"You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much,raw..Vikingness contained. There will be consequences!" Hiccup told him
Gobber tosses him a sword. "I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now." Hiccup takes it begrudgingly and lobs it onto the grinding wheel. He stews... fantasizing.
One day I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here…. Nadders land, gathering like seagulls around a seemingly vacant house. A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed. The Nadders clamber onto the building, tearing the roof and walls apart. Sheep pour out and scatter. Elsewhere, hippo-like Gronckles pick drying racks clean of fish and fly off like loaded pelicans. Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend. A stealthy, snake-like dragon head peeks over a rooftop, breathing gas into a chimney. A Zippelback? Exotic, exciting. Two heads, twice the status. A second head pokes through the door and lights it. KABLAM! The two heads fly through the explosion, their necks zipping together to reveal a single body. It flies past Stoick as he climbs to the top of a
"They found the sheep!" Stoick growled "Concentrate fire over the lower bank!"
"Fire!" the catapult operator roared. Boulders are catapulted at the corralling Nadders... Just as a huge red dragon whips past, spraying the base of the catapult with sticky fire. And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on emerges from the flames, climbing the catapult with a leering, toothy grin.
"Reload! I'll take care of this." Stoick said. He takes on the Nightmare, face to hammer. Suddenly, a loud ballistic sound streaks overhead. The catapult crew ducks. Hiccup looks up from his work, reacting to the same sound. But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the—
" Night Fury! Get down! " Vikings everywhere take shelter. The moaning sound builds. The Monstrous Nightmare suddenly stops fighting and takes flight. Stoick looks skyward Stoick jumps….KABOOM! The Catapult EXPLODES as though hit by an artillery shell... sending Stoick and the crew leaping for their lives. This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and... The sound recedes, leaving the crippled catapult in flames...never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first! Gobber trades his hammer for an axe
" Man the fort, Hiccup, they need me out there!" He traded his hook for an axe. Gobber pauses. Turns with a threatening glare "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean." Gobber charges into the fray, hollering. Hiccup was standing as a smirk crosses his face
WHAM! Hiccup pushes his wheeled contraption through a wall of clustered Vikings. He weaves through the ongoing mayhem, as fast as his legs can carry him
"Hiccup, where are you going
"Come back here!"
"I know. Be right back!"
The Nadders have cornered the house-full of sheep. They close in, ready to spring upon them. Stoick suddenly appears, hurling fishing nets over them. The surprised Nadders are caught. Stoick and his men rush in. A Nadder blasts a hole through its net. Stoick leaps onto it, clamping his thick arms around its head, forcing its jaws shut.
" Mind yourselves! The devils still have some juice in them." Stoick warned
Hiccup reaches a cliff overlooking the smoking catapult and drops the handles to the ground. He cranks several levers, unfolding and then cocking the bowed arms of his contraption. He drops a bola onto a chamber and then pivots the weapon on a gimbal head toward the dark sky. He listens, with his eye pressed to the scope, hand poised on the trigger. He hears the Night Fury approaching... and turns his aim to the defense tower. It closes in for the final strike, completely camouflaged in the night
"Come on. Give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at." Hiccup muttered to himself. KABLAM! The tower topples. The blast of fire illuminates the dragon for a split second. Hiccup pulls the trigger. KERTHUNK! The flexed arms SNAP forward, springing the weapon off the ground. The bola disappears into the sky, followed by a WHACK and a screech. "Oh I hit it! Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?" Hiccup's victory is short-lived. A Monstrous Nightmare appears, slithering up over the lip of the cliff. "Except for you. Stoick was holding down the netted Nadders, Ingrid was helping, she was good at tying tight nots. He hears a familiar holler and looks up to see…Hiccup running through the plaza, screaming, with the Nightmarefast on his heels. Alarmed, Stoick abandons the Nadders and runs off
" DO NOT let them escape!" Stoick yelled, and other rushed forward to help the teen.
Vikings scatter as Hiccup dodges a near fatal blast. The Nightmare's sticky, Napalm-like fire splashes up onto buildings, setting them alight. Hiccup ducks behind the last standing brazier - the only shelter available. The Nightmare blasts it, spraying fire all around him. Hiccup peers around the smoldering post. No sign of the Nightmare. He turns back to find it leering at him, blocking his escape. It takes a deep breath. Hiccup is finished. Suddenly, Stoick leaps between them, tackling the Nightmare to the ground. They tumble and wrestle, resuming their earlier fight. The Nightmare tries to toast him, but only coughs up smoke.
"You're all out!" He smashes the Nightmare repeatedly in the face, driving it away. It takes to the air and disappears. Winded, Stoick turns to Hiccup.
Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know... The burnt brazier pole collapses, sending the massive iron basket crashing. It bounces down the hill, destroying as it goes and scattering the Vikings who were holding down the netted Nadders. The freed dragons escape... with several sheep in tow. "Sorry, dad." Hiccup said
The escaped Nadders fly past with sheep in their clutches. The raid is over. The dragons have clearly won. The murmuring crowd eyes Stoick, awaiting his response
"Okay, but I hit a Night Fury." Stoick grabs Hiccup by the back scruff of his collar and hauls him away, fuming with embarrassment "It's not like the last few times, Dad. I mean I really actually hit it. You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It went down, just off Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there, before it—"
" -STOP! Just...stop." He releases Hiccup. Everyone goes silent, staring expectantly. "Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" Hiccup looks around. All eyes are upon him. "Between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don't ya think?" Hiccup mutter. A few rotund Vikings stir self-consciously. This isn't a joke, Hiccup!" Stoick sighed exasperated.
"Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"
" can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just... kill it, you know? It's who I am, Dad." Hiccup said
" You are many things, Hiccup. But a dragon killer is not one of them." Hiccup looks around to see many nods of agreement. "Get back to the house." Stoick looked at Gobber "make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up." Stoick lumbers off in the opposite direction. Gobber leads Hiccup through the walk of shame. They pass the teen fire brigade as they snicker. "Quite the performance." Truffaut laughed
"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!" Snotlout grinned "Thank you, thank you. I was trying, so..." Hiccup sighed, He avoids Astrid's glare and heads up toward a large house, standing prominently on the hill above the others. Ingrid watched her twin and looked a the other teens, she knew what he was doing.
"I really did hit one." Hiccup told Gobber
"Sure, Hiccup." Gobber nodded
"He never listens."
"Well, it runs in the family." "And when he does, it's always with this... disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." Hiccup mimicked his father "Excuse me, barmaid. I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra-large boy with beefy arms. Extra guts and glory on the side. This here. This is a talking fish bone."
"You're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like. It's what's inside that he can't stand." Gobber told him
"Thank you, for summing that up." Hiccup sighed, feeling worse. They reach the doorway.
"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not." Hiccup signs heavily.
"I just want to be one of you guys." Gobber eyes him sympathetically. Hiccup turns and goes through the front door. And straight out the back door. He hurries off into the woods, determined.