Dragons and Guardians: Riders of Berk
Author's note: Remember readers, Hiccup rides on Toothless's back while Aniu flies using her wings. And Barf and Belch is one dragon.
Chapter 1: How to Start a Dragon Academy
"This is Berk. For generations it was Vikings against dragons. The battles were ferocious. Then one day, everything changed."
Hiccup Haddock, his male Night Fury Toothless and his best guardian friend Aniu flew over Berk and up into the clouds.
"I met Aniu and then we met Toothless. And together, we've shown people here that instead of fighting dragons, we can ride them, live with them, even train them."
Diving straight down and performing a barrel roll, Toothless and Aniu landed on a sea stack where their fellow dragon trainers, dragons and Nava perched on.
"Okay, guys. Best trick competition. Who's up first?" Hiccup asked. "Uh, me." Snotlout piped up from Hookfang's neck. 'Actually, I think it's..." Fishlegs objected on Meatlug's back. "Me." Snotlout snapped, pointing to himself.
"Here we go again." Nava muttered. "Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm, go!" Astrid snapped from where she was sitting on Stormfly's back. "Oh, don't worry, we'll go." Snotlout boasted grabbing onto Hookfang's horns. "And when we go, Hookfang and I are gonna light the sky on-fire! Aah!"
Hookfang, who had gotten impatient, took off before Snotlout was ready. He dived down the sea stack before levelling out and heading towards some sea stacks. "Ohhh-nooo." Snotlout wailed.
Hookfang flew close to one sea stack and tipped sideways so that Snotlout's helmet horns scraped against the rock wall causing sparks to fly. Snotlout continued screaming and Hookfang smirked back at his rider then he flapped his wings, soared high into the sky and plunged down into the ocean water.
The Monstrous Nightmare surfaced and flew back to the sea stack, performing a loop-the-loop before landing. Snotlout had not stopped screaming once. "I'm alive." Snotlout checked himself. "I'm alive!" He cheered, throwing his arms up in the air before noticing that everyone, including the dragons, were staring at him.
"Of course I am." Snotlout said quickly, trying to save his melted –down dignity. Astrid and Nava gave him looks of annoyance. "It's my turn." Fishlegs butted in. "Ready, Meatlug? Here we go." Meatlug growled and flapped her wings, rising up into the air and slowly circling the sea stack before landing. Hookfang, Barf and Belch snickered but Meatlug shot them a nasty look.
"Yes, new personal best!" Fishlegs whooped. Delighted, he leaned down to give Meatlug a hug. The female Gronckle gave him a big lick in response.
"My turn." Ruffnut immediately said. "No, my turn." Tuffnut argued. "Guys, same dragon." Aniu reminded the twins. "Oh, right." Tuffnut said before he and his sister fist-bumped and Barf and Belch took off.
"Go left." Tuffnut ordered, pulling Belch to the left. "No, right." Ruffnut snapped, pulling Barf to the right. "No, no, right." Tuffnut changed his mind. "No left." Ruffnut also changed her mind. But Barf and Belch accidently smacked their heads together when their rider riders tried to go in two opposite directions.
The Hideous Zippleback nearly crashed into a sea stack but pulled away just in time, accidently barrel-rolling. Barf and Belch smirked at each other as Ruffnut and Tuffnut desperately clung onto their horns before flicking their heads upwards, sending their riders flying high into the sky.
"Ohhh, nooo! Whoa!" Tuffnut screamed as he started falling. "This is awesome and scary! Aaaah!" His screams were cut off when Belch grabbed the back of his vest in his jaws. Ruffnut was also grabbed by Barf.
Both Zippleback heads flicked their back onto their necks and flew back to the sea stack. "We almost died." Ruffnut gasped out. "Ugh, I know. Wanna go again?" Tuffnut asked. Ruffnut was about to reply when Astrid interrupted. "Hey, it's my turn." Turning around, Astrid smirked at Hiccup.
"You might wanna take notes." She said. "Let's go. Yah!" Stormfly took off and flew towards the sea stacks. "Okay, Stormfly. Tail flip." Astrid ordered. Stormfly dragged her tail through the water. "Now, twirl." The Deadly Nadder folded her wings around her body and rolled multiple times.
"Quick, upward spiral." Stormfly stopped twirling, flew upwards and spiralled up high into the air. "All right, Stormfly!" Astrid cheered. She had become more fun-loving, teasing and happier since the war ended.
"Cool!"/ "That's nice." Tuffnut and Fishlegs praised. Snotlout waited until Stormfly had landed back on the sea stack so he could say something. "Yeah, but can you do it without the dragon?" He asked. Astrid immediately punched him in the shoulder. "Ow." Snotlout hissed, rubbing his shoulder.
"Okay, now it's my turn." Nava said. He flapped his black, gray, blonde, silver and white wings and took off into the sky. He performed a few loop-the-loops, barrel-rolls and dives before sending a blast of light blue ice magic into the sky, where it exploded into snow which rained down on him and the other gang members.
All guardians can use elemental magic but they each have an element which represents them and is the element they use most and are most powerful at. They can use the other elements but prefer using their signature element.
There are nine elements that guardians can use and each one is represented by a colour: red fire magic, light blue ice magic, dark blue water magic, white air magic, green earth magic, purple lightning magic, black shadow magic, yellow light magic and gray metal magic.
Nava's signature element was ice, Aniu's was fire, Namara's (Aniu's mother) was earth and Fengo's (Aniu's father) was fire like his daughter.
Nava sent his signature snowflake into the sky before turning into his Deadly Nadder with Monstrous Nightmare markings form and shot up tail spikes which soared through the gaps in the snowflake. Then he shot up flames which melted the snowflake into water before flying back to the sea stack and turning back into his human form as he landed.
"Great job, Nava." Aniu said. Nava smiled at his unofficial girlfriend and sat down to watch the rest of the show. "Aniu, I believe it's your turn." Hiccup said. Aniu flapped her black, brown, golden, blonde and white wings and took off into the sky.
She did basically the same things Nava did with a few differences of her own until she sent a blast of fire magic into the sky. She flew around it, leaving a trail of flames forming a Celtic knot behind her before letting the fire extinguish mid-air.
Then she turned into her Night Fury with golden-brown scales and green spines dragon form and breathed a long stream of fire, spinning around so that it surrounded her. Then Aniu made the fire explode with the radiance of the sun but it dissipated before it could burn anything.
"Aniu, that was so cool." Nava told her, wide-eyed as she landed on the sea stack and turned back into her human form. "Yeah, I've been practicing and I got inspiration for the fire thing from the Red Death, Hiccup." Aniu said.
Now that everyone else had done their tricks, they all turned their attention to Hiccup and Toothless. "Well, it looks like we've got our work cut out for us there, bud." Hiccup said, Toothless crooned in agreement and took off.
The Night Fury backflipped and dived straight down the sea stack. 'Steady, steady.' Hiccup thought as he watched the ocean water approach. When the time came, he reset Toothless's prosthetic tailfin and the Night Fury levelled out, skimming the water so that it rose on both sides of them like wings.
Hiccup and Toothless flew rapidly past several sea stacks and approached one that was shaped like an arch. Hiccup slowly stood up in his saddle and jumped off Toothless's back onto the arch when Toothless was very close to it. The boy ran across the arch as his dragon glided underneath it. Then Hiccup leapt off the arch and Toothless him caught on his back before soaring high up into the sky.
"Yeah!"/ "Oh, wow."/ "That's nice."/ "That's pretty good." The gang praised. The dragons also made positive comments. Then, for the grand finale, Toothless fired out several plasma blasts which exploded like fireworks in front of him and his rider.
"He, Aniu and Toothless are still the best." Astrid said. "Another win. Good job, bud." Hiccup said calmly. Toothless crooned and flew back to Berk with the gang right behind them.
"Yep, dragons (sighs). Most people would say life here is better since we made peace with them.
Hiccup, Aniu and Toothless landed in the village plaza only to see dragons chasing the farm animals and stealing food. A Gronckle ran past them chasing a yak.
"Unfortunately, dragons are still, well, dragons."
"Uh, dragon! Let go of my food! Drop it, pesky dragon!" A woman shouted trying to pull a piece of chicken away from a Terrible Terror. But the little dragon won the battle and a second stole the chicken bone. "Uh, dragons!" The woman exclaimed in frustration.
"Get off my roof, you pest!" A man yelled at a Deadly Nadder who perched on his roof. "Let go of that! These are my apples!" Another man shrieked at a Monstrous Nightmare tugging on a bag of apples the dragon held in its mouth.
Another woman was hanging up her laundry but another Nadder ran into the cloths line, taking her laundry with it. "Give me back my laundry, dragon!" She snapped.
"Get down, incoming!" A man yelled. "Look out! Dragon poo!" Another man shouted. Overhead, a flock of dragons flew over the village and began to drop their dung onto the poor village.
"Eww, gross, gross, gross." Hiccup and Aniu groaned, backing away to the safety of two umbrella-like shields held by two men. "Hey, Mulch. Hey, Bucket." Hiccup said. "Sorry about the ...um." Aniu apologised even though it wasn't her fault.
"Every day at 3:00. They're regular at least. A tip of the cap." Bucket, the taller of the two, said. The reason for his name was the bucket that he wore on his head to hide an injury he gained during the war when he lost part of his brain making him unintelligent, forgetful and dimwitted. He was a fisherman/ farmer and had a prosthetic hook instead of his right hand.
"Better than the days when it was kill or be killed." Mulch, the shorter one, commented. He ,along with Bucket, was a fisherman/ farmer and was always the one who helped Bucket with everything due to inability to work by himself without assistance. He had a prosthetic left foot and a hook for a right hand.
"Hey, we got some fish for that father of yours, Hiccup." Mulch remembered. "Bucket, give the boy the cod." Bucket held up a small sack with the bottom ripped off. "I ate it already. Did I enjoy it?" He asked.
"Um, no. Actually, Bucket, I'm afraid the...uh." Aniu pointed out a Terrible Terror pulling the fish away. When it noticed them looking at it, the Terror screeched at them and dragged the fish behind a house. Two more Terrors followed and they starting eating, causing bits of fish to fly up. Hiccup, and Aniu sighed.
"Most of us here on Berk are willing to take the good with the bad. But there are those who will never accept the dragons and will do anything to drive them away."
Later that night, on the far side of the village, Mildew slept in his old house. He hated dragons more than any other Viking on Berk and he also disliked Aniu and her fellow guardians.
Then, his roof started shaking and a sword fell of its mount. The old man's eyes opened and an axe fell from the roof, barely missing his old sheep friend Fungus who baaed in terror and ran to hide under his bed.
Muttering angrily, Mildew slammed the door to his house open and walked outside. He looked up and saw a Gronckle asleep on his roof, its snores causing the old house to shake.
"Dragons. I should've known. " He hissed angrily, picking up a piece of cabbage. "Helps himself to my roof and my cabbage." And when he turned around, he gasped. A group of Gronckles were eating his cabbage patch. "My whole field! Gone! 'growls'. That tears it, Fungus."
Grabbing his staff, helmet and Fungus, Mildew angrily marched to the village.
The next morning, Stoick was giving his daily instructions to the villagers with Gobber, Fengo and Namara standing beside him. "Stand the yaks up in the back. Fishing boats just came in with a big catch."
"Stoick!" Mildew called out, making his presence known. "Ah, here's Mildew with the complaint of the day." Gobber said. "No wonder he's called Mildew the Complainer." Namara muttered.
"You picked a bad time, Mildew." Stoick said. "I'm in the middle of storing food. Winter's coming." Hiccup, Aniu and Toothless arrived on scene as Mildew said before Stoick could walk away."It's the dragons again. Those demons are not fit to live amongst civilised men."
"Neither are you, Mildew. Why do you think we built your house so far outside of town?" Gobber butted in. Mildew scowled. "Ah, well. Make your jokes. Meanwhile, these dragons upend our village carts. Turn people's houses into piles of rubble. They even disturb an old man's rest. Can't you see these bags under me eyes?"
"He's right. He's hideous." Gobber muttered. By now, a crowd had started to gather." These dragons are wild and unpredictable beasts."
"Right you are." A man agreed. "They even cracked this man's skull like an egg." Mildew continued, tapping his staff on Bucket's bucket. "Eggs? I like eggs." Bucket said cheerfully, oblivious to the situation." Scrambled, over-easy, poached."
"You need to put those dragons in cages." Mildew hissed in Stoick's face. "I agree!" A man shouted. Hiccup and Aniu each placed a hand on Toothless's head in concern. "I you don't, they'll eat us out of house and home and destroy the entire village." Mildew finished.
"Listen to him, Stoick! He's right!" The villagers began shouting at their chief. "They don't mean any harm." Hiccup said, stepping forward. "They're just dragons being dragons." Aniu added.
"Look Mildew." Stoick said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "If there is a problem, I'll deal with it."
"Oh, there is a problem, Stoick." Mildew snapped." And I think I speak for everyone when I say you better do something about it." As Mildew left, the villagers rounded on their chief.
"Yeah, what are you gonna do? Mildew's right!"
"That old man seems to have a talent in getting people to agree with him." Namara sighed.
That night, Stoick paced in front of the fire in the Haddock household. "We can't just let the dragons run wild like they own the place. Hey, we could put up signs." Stoick said. "Signs? For dragons?" Gobber (who was whittling a wooden duck) asked. "No, for the people." Stoick corrected him. "Signs...for Vikings? We 're not big readers, Stoick." Gobber said. "Most Vikings will most likely end up ignoring the signs, you two." Namara said from where she was sitting beside her husband and Gobber.
"The dragons are still trying to adapt to this place and lifestyle, Stoick. " Fengo said."They're not used to living with Vikings." Namara added. Stoick sighed. "Then we'll build a huge net and stretch it around the plaza and show the dragons what's right and what's wrong." Stoick suggested.
"Nets? You do know they breath fire." The blacksmith said incredulously. "Most of them do." Fengo reminded him. "I know very well they breath fire, you two." Stoick growled. "Maybe Mildew was right. We have to figure out..."
Hiccup and Aniu, who were eavesdropping along with Toothless, decided to intervene. "No, Dad, wait." Hiccup said. "What if we deal with the dragons?" Aniu suggested.
"You two?" Stoick asked. "Who else?" Hiccup asked, Toothless walked forward and nuzzled his head under Hiccup's arm."If anyone can control them, we can. Aniu and I are the best people for the job. I'm nearly an adult, now."
"You're not a man yet, Hiccup." Stoick reminded him. "Not if you give me the chance to be." Hiccup argued. Stoick glanced at Gobber, Fengo and Namara. Each of them shrugged.
"Fair enough. You'll have your chance. Starting tomorrow." Stoick said. "We won't let you down, Dad." Hiccup said. "We'll make you proud." Aniu agreed.
The next day, the dragons continued being mischievous, running and misbehaving. Hiccup and Aniu walked confidently into the village plaza. "Okay, gang." They said." There's gonna ne some changes around here."
"Get out! Shoo!" A woman yelled at a purple Deadly Nadder, holding a basket of bread above her head. "For the last time, get your nose out of my bread."
"Hold on, we'll help you." Aniu said. The Nadder turned around to look at them. "No." Hiccup said sternly, placing a hand gently on the dragon's snout, the Nadder instantly calmed down. "All right." Aniu sighed in relief.
Suddenly, chickens squawked as they were chased by a blue Gronckle. The Nadder chirped and ran off to play with them. A Monstrous Nightmare and another Deadly Nadder roared and breathed fire at each other. A flock of sheep ran away from them, one had its tail on fire.
"Oh, come on. Toothless, stop that fight. I'll put out the sheep." Hiccup commanded, running off to find a bucket of water. Aniu ran off to stop a fight between a Gronckle and a Hideous Zippleback. Toothless looked at the two fighting dragons, groaned and rushed up to them.
In the village plaza, things were only more chaotic as a Viking ran past Hiccup, chasing a Nadder pushing a stolen cart. "Get back here with my cart!" The man screamed.
"Bring that back here!"
"Enough of these dragons!"
"What are they doing?" Snotlout asked, sitting on an abandoned catapult with the other teens. "Uh, I think they're helping the dragons break stuff." Tuffnut guessed. "Cool." Ruffnut smirked.
Hiccup panted as he ran at the burning sheep with a bucket of water. But the farm animal knocked him over, causing to slide down the hill. "Wow, he could really use our help." Astrid said.
"Aniu could use our help too." Nava said, pointing at Aniu who was chasing a flock of Terrible Terrors away from a group of chickens. "We'll get to it." Tuffnut started. "In a minute." Ruffnut finished.
Hiccup finally to throw on the sheep's burning tail. "Sorry about that." He said. Just then, a flock of dragons flew over the village again. "And it's 3:00." Astrid said. Hiccup looked up only to see the dragons dropping their dung on the village again.
"Oh, no." He groaned, seeing a piece of dragon dung fall down over him. Splat!
"Oh, everything hurts." Hiccup groaned that night, sitting on his bed in his house. Aniu and Toothless sat beside him. "Even this." He picked up his prosthetic foot.
"Hiccup."/ "Aniu." Astrid and Nava's voices drifted up the stairs. "Astrid? Perfect. I don't look to beat up, do I." Hiccup asked, buckling on his prosthetic foot and smoothing out his vest. Toothless stared at his rider in amusement. "Ah, just a little bit." Aniu said.
"Oh, great. Dragon and guardian pity. Oh, hey, Astrid and Nava. What a nice surprise." Hiccup said once they walked up the stairs. "So, how was your day?" Astrid asked, folding her arms over her chest.
"Uh, uneventful. Aniu and I hung around the plaza. You know." Hiccup answered. "Yeah, I do know. We saw you two out there." Astrid replied. "It's hard to believe that you two are still standing." Nava said.
Hiccup groaned and collapsed onto his bed. "I'm gonna be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month." He sighed. "And I'm gonna be seeing fighting dragons in my dreams for the next month." Aniu sighed.
"Hiccup!" / "Aniu!" Stoick, Fengo and Namara's voices called out. "What's going on out there, you two." Fengo asked. "The plaza looks like a war zone." Stoick said.
"We know it looks bad." Aniu said. "Really bad." Nava whispered in her ear. "But this is only phase one of our master plan." Hiccup said. "Oh, so you two do have a plan." Stoick said. "We do. Of course, we do." Hiccup assured him. "It's very complex, lots of drawings, several moving parts. Yeah, it's pretty wild."
"Uh-huh, well this better be real because Mildew stirred up the whole island. And if you don't get those dragons under control they'll be calling for their heads." Stoick warned them before leaving. "You four better do something soon." Namara said, stroking her daughter's hair. "Just remember, Aniu. Your mother and I love you so much" Fengo said.
"I love you, too. Mum and Dad." Aniu said. Fengo and Namara smiled and left. "I don't want them calling for my head." Toothless said. Aniu gave him a hug and translated his words to Hiccup. "Don't worry, bud. Your heads not going anywhere." Hiccup said, also joining the hug.
"You do realise there are like a thousand dragons out there and only two of you." Astrid said. "We really hope you two do have a plan." Nava finished.
"That's your plan? Train dragons?" Ruffnut asked the next day in the former dragon-killing arena. "Here? Where we used to kill them?" Tuffnut questioned, gesturing around the arena.
"Right. Because we don't do that anymore. That's why it's available." Hiccup said, carrying a basket over to Toothless and placing it in front of him. "Actually, the dragons do seem a little nervous." Astrid remarked, stroking Stormfly's beak-like snout.
"That's because they're very sensitive." Fishlegs said, hugging Meatlug who was looking around with wide, scared eyes. "Meatlug especially. She lost a cousin here. (whispers) We try not to talk about it."
"It's amazing your dad just gave us the arena." Astrid remarked. "Well, it would be if he did, yeah. But he didn't, so that's another thing we should try not to talk about." Hiccup said.
"Wait, so we're going behind your father's back." Astrid narrowed her eyes. "There you go. Talking about it." Hiccup said. "Everyone, here's the thing. The dragons are out of control."
"We want them in our world without destroying it but they can't without our help." Aniu clarified. "They've been blowing things up in the village. We've gotta do something about it." Hiccup finished.
"Got it, help dragons blow things up. We can totally do that." Tuffnut misunderstood. "No, I believe I said..." Hiccup began. "Here's how we're gonna do it." Ruffnut said, elbowing her brother in the arm. "First, we make them really, really angry."
"No problem, we anger everybody." Tuffnut agreed. "Guys, this is serious." Aniu interrupted. "Mildew wants all of our dragons caged." Hiccup said. "And I don't know about you, but that is not okay with me."
"You're right. She's sorry." Tuffnut said, causing Ruffnut to glare at him. "Okay, then. Next problem." Hiccup decided to move on. "The dragons are eating everything in sight." He selected a loaf of bread from the basket and showed it to the gang.
"Now, when a dragon grabs something it's not supposed to have... (he placed the bread loaf in Toothless's mouth) you can get it to drop it by giving the dragon a little scratch just below the chin." Gently, Hiccup scratched his Night Fury under the chin and Toothless let go of the bread loaf.
Snotlout snorted and grabbed the bread loaf. "Maybe that works for you and Toothless but Hookfang and me, we do things a little different." He tossed the bread loaf at his dragon. Hookfang grabbed it in his jaws.
"When I want this big boy to do something I just get right in his face and...Drop that right now, you hear me!" Snotlout said, screaming the last part. Hookfang did drop the bread but he grabbed Snotlout in his jaws and gently shook him around.
"See, he dropped it." Snotlout said in a muffled voice. "Should we help him?" Tuffnut asked, chuckling. "Yeah, in a minute." Astrid said. "Out of all of us, Snotlout and Hookfang have the worst rider-dragon relationship with each other." Aniu said.
"All right. We've got a lot of training to do." Hiccup reminded them. "But together, we can keep these dragons under control." He chose two more bread loafs from the basket.
Fishlegs, Astrid, Ruffnut and Tuffnut glanced at each other and moved forward to get their own bread loaves. "Uh, can someone do that chin-scratching thing?" Snotlout asked, with his entire upper body still in Hookfang's mouth, only his limbs stuck out. "Hello? You guys still there?"
"Nope, we're leaving now." Nava chuckled as Hookfang began shaking Snotlout around again.
Later that day, the gang walked into the village which was surprisingly quiet and empty. "Huh, no dragons." Fishlegs quipped. "That was easy." Ruffnut said. "Lunch?" Snotlout asked, gesturing towards the great hall."That's weird." Hiccup said. "If the dragons aren't here then where are they?"
"I hope no one are trying to put them in cages already." Nava said."Please tell me the dragons have finally decided to behave now." Aniu begged. Just then, something exploded and some Vikings screamed.
"Something tells me that way." Astrid said, looking at the big cloud of fire that had radiated out from the explosion.
When the teens reached the scene of the crime, they saw dragons flying around and Vikings running all over the place. "Stormfly?" Astrid gasped. "Hookfang?" Snotlout also gasped. Their dragons looked up from the fish in the baskets they were eating and glanced at their riders guiltily.
Hiccup and Aniu ran to the food storage and found the place virtually destroyed. Stoick angrily tossed a log away. "They've eaten everything. " Stoick exclaimed. "We've got nothing left for the freeze."
"I warned you, Stoick." Mildew said. The old coot could always be found at the scene of a crime. "But did you listen to me? No. You put a bunch of teenagers in charge." The gang frowned at the way Mildew said 'teenagers'. "Now look what the dragons have done. Caging is too good for those beasts."
"Dad, I swear Aniu and I can fix this." Hiccup said desperately. "We-we were just starting to..."
"Enough, Hiccup." Stoick said sharply. "How can I trust you to control all the dragons when you couldn't even control your own." He gestured at Toothless who was eating some stolen fish. He glanced at his rider and gulped the remaining fish down. "Oh, Toothless." Hiccup and Aniu sighed.
Later on, Stoick walked back into the food storage and picked up four baskets. The dragon riding teens stood outside Fengo and Namara, who had just been out flying, landed and walked up to him. "Bucket, Mulch, man the boats. We need another catch." Stoick said, tossing the baskets into the two men's arms.
"It's too late, Stoick. It took us six months to catch all of that fish." Mulch protested. "Don't tell me it's too late. We've got to try." Stoick snapped. "Of course we do." Mulch chuckle, putting his baskets down before whispering into Bucket's ear. "Uh, don't tell the chief it's too late. You're always so negative." He gently tapped his hook-hand on Bucket's bucket.
"I don't know what it is with me." Bucket said helplessly. "Dad, please. You gotta listen to me." Hiccup begged as his father walked outside with two baskets slung over his shoulders. "Aniu and I know dragons better than..."
"Not now, Hiccup." Stoick interrupted his son, placing the two baskets in a cart. "I have a village to feed. The dragons have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?"
"Bah! You can't just cage these dragons!" Mildew snapped. "You need to send them away now!"
"What is it with Mildew saying bah all the time?" Nava asked. "I think he spent too much time alone with his sheep." Aniu replied. Unfortunately, many villagers began shouting that they agreed with Mildew.
"You're right, Mildew." Stoick said loudly, trying to calm his people down. "We'll cage them tonight and in the morning, Hiccup and Aniu will send them off the island."
Toothless sadly nuzzled his to best friends. "I'm sorry, son. But a chief must do what's best for his people." Stoick said sadly, walking away. Hiccup sadly nodded and hugged Aniu and Toothless. "Don't worry, Hiccup." Aniu whispered. "We'll find a way to make things right." Hiccup sighed. "I hope so, Aniu. I really do."
" I wish that Vikings, guardians and dragons can live together peacefully but there always seems to be someone who wants to destroy that peace." Toothless sighed. Aniu translated his words to Hiccup. "We know, Toothless." He said to his dragon.
"I can't believe we have to send them away." Snotlout complained that night in the great hall as the teens ate their dinner. "It's gonna be weird." Astrid said sadly, stirring the soup in her bowl so it formed the shape of a Deadly Nadder. "I got used to Stormfly's face being the first thing I see in the morning."
"Every night before I went to sleep, Meatlug would lick my feet." Fishlegs admitted. Ruffnut and Tuffnut gave each other disturbed looks. "Who's gonna do that now?!" Fishlegs wailed, flopping onto the table.
"I volunteer Tuffnut." Ruffnut said. "Whatever. What time should I be there?" Tuffnut muttered, trying to make a joke.
"Come on, guys. Let's get this over with." Nava said, standing up from the table. "This is the worst day of my life!" Fishlegs wailed. "We're never gonna see our dragons again." Slowly, the teens left the Hall, except for Hiccup and Aniu, who had said nothing at all.
"We can't let that happen." Hiccup said in determination. "Toothless is one of the best friends I ever had." He and Aniu knelt down and hugged Toothless, who purred.
"Oh, Toothless. I'm gonna miss you so much." Mildew mocked, walking over to them. "You know what your mistake was? Thinking dragons could be trained. A dragon's gonna what a dragon's gonna do. It's their nature."
Hiccup's eyes widened as he realised something. "And nature always wins." Mildew finished, walking out of the great hall.
Two Vikings opened the doors and the wind blew the central fire out. Toothless spun around and fired a plasma blast, instantly relighting it. "Oh, thank you, Toothless." A woman said gratefully. "Happy to help." The Night Fury said.
"You know what?" Hiccup realised. "Mildew's absolutely right." Aniu and Toothless looked at him with 'what' expressions. "Come on, guys." Hiccup ran out of the great hall with Aniu and Toothless following him.
The teens sadly flew their dragons to the arena where they were to be caged up. Nava flew in and folded his wings upon landing. "Good bye, Hookfang." Snotlout sadly hugged Hookfang's snout.
"I'm sorry, Stormfly. Now go." Astrid ordered sadly. "I'll miss you, Astrid and Nava." Stormfly chirped sadly and followed her dragon friends into the arena. "It feels like big, sharp teeth are tearing at this thing in my chest." Snotlout groaned. "That's what it feels like when your heart's breaking." Nava said.
"I don't have a heart. I'm not a girl." Snotlout objected, but he knew he had a heart because what else pumps blood through one's body and allows them to feel emotions?
Slowly the gate lowered and the dragons and their riders stared sadly into each other's eyes. Astrid and Nava lowered their heads in grief
Then, as the cage doors were halfway down, two voices rang out in the night. "Don't close it!"
Hiccup, Toothless and Aniu flew down to them. Hiccup leapt off his Night Fury's back and opened the gate. The dragons looked up hopefully. "We are not locking them up." Hiccup said.
"What happened? Did you change your father's mind?" Nava asked hopefully. "Or are we going behind his back again?" Astrid asked. "Uh, one of those." Hiccup answered. Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf and Belch walked out behind him and Aniu.
"Look, the dragons are gonna do what they're gonna do. It's their nature. We just need to learn how to use it." Hiccup finished. Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Nava stared at him and Aniu hopefully.
"Just keep your dragons hidden until tomorrow morning." Aniu said as the teens rode their dragons home.
The next day, Bucket and Mulch were out fishing but so far they weren't having any luck. "Ah, the nets are empty again." Mulch sighed. "Did I eat them already? Did I enjoy it? Oh, am I being too negative?" Bucket asked him.
Hiccup, Toothless, Aniu, Snotlout and Hookfang flew overhead. "Snotlout, Hookfang, scare us up some dinner." Hiccup ordered. Snotlout nodded and Hookfang flew into a dive.
"Dragon attack!" Bucket screamed but Hookfang ignored them and plunged straight into the water with Snotlout still on his neck. The Monstrous Nightmare swam around the boat like an alligator and chased some fish into the nets. When Hookfang surfaced, the nets were full to the brim with fish.
"Whoo-hoo!" Snotlout cheered. "Hey, thanks dragon." Mulch called after them. "That's right! That just happened!" Snotlout whooped as he and Hookfang flew off to do their next job assignment.
"Come on! Follow us." Aniu ordered, guiding Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Stormfly, Fishlegs, Meatlug, Arrow (Stormfly's mate) and Nava to Mildew's cabbage field where the old man was hard at work.
"Afternoon, Mildew." Astrid chirped. Nava turned into his dragon form and he, Arrow and Stormfly used their tail spines to plough a small trench in the dirt, perfect for crops to grow.
Hiccup, Toothless and Aniu flew in and added the composting. "Three o'clock!" Hiccup called out as Mildew coughed. "Time for the fertilizer." Mildew could only ask "Fertilizer?" in a dumbstruck voice as Fishlegs and Meatlug flew in followed by Clobbertail (Meatlug's mate) and a flock of dragons.
"Okay, guys. Let her rip." Fishlegs called. Meatlug, Clobbertail and the other dragons dropped their dung onto the cabbage patch. But a stray piece of dung hit Mildew on the head. Nava looked around and saw a smirking Firesnow (Hookfang's mate).
"Smile, Mildew. We just saved you three months of work." Hiccup shouted down to the old man who glared at him.
Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Barf and Belch were having a blast causing explosions to scare a group of wild boars out of the forest. Toothless fired a plasma blast forcing the boars to head to the slaughter house. Gobber quickly slammed the doors shut and locked them after the boars ran inside.
"That was awesome!" Fishlegs exclaimed after Meatlug landed on the ground. "How did you know that was gonna work?" Astrid asked Hiccup as Toothless landed.
"Because they're dragons and they're gonna do what dragons do." Hiccup answered, getting off Toothless's back. "We just have to work with them and not against them. You know who we should actually be thanking..."
"There they are, Stoick." Mildew's voice interrupted them. "Those dragons don't look like they're in cages to me."
Mildew hobbled over to them followed by Stoick, Fengo and Namara. "No. This is not what I asked for." Stoick said, looking at his son. "Da-da-da, we're dead." Aniu said.
Sometime later, Stoick, Gobber,Fengo and Namara walked into the arena. The teens stood in the center while their dragons were locked up in the central cage. Vikings gathered around, waiting to see what would happen.
"Oh, no. What's Stoick gonna do to us?" Fishlegs nearly whimpered. "I'm too pretty for jail." Ruffnut complained, using the excuse that seems to be rather popular. "Hah, where did yah hear that?" Tuffnut scoffed at his twin sister.
"You all disobeyed my orders and there will be consequences."Stoick told them. "I told you we where gonna get in trouble. Oh, you never listen to me." Astrid hissed in Hiccup's ear. "Well, it runs in the family, Astrid." Aniu said. "I'm not surprised." Nava told her.
"Dad, if anyone's going to get in trouble, it should be me." Hiccup stepped forward. "No. You all had a hand in this."Stoick said. "Oh, this is gonna be great, Fungus. It's gonna get ugly." Mildew sneered to his pet sheep.
"You took over this place without asking. You released the dragons against my wishes." Stoick said, pacing in front of the teens. "Things are going to change around here. That's why..."
"We're getting a dragon training academy!" Gobber yelled before he could stop himself. Namara hit him on the shoulder. "What?" Mildew gasped in horror.
"Gobber, I wanted to tell them." Stoick snapped. "There goes the surprise." Fengo muttered. Hiccup, Astrid, Aniu and Nava looked at each other with gleeful looks.
"I'm sorry, you're right. Go ahead." Gobber said. "Well, you told most of it." Stoick told him in exasperation. "You can tell 'em the part about how proud you are of them." Gobber said. "Gobber!" Stoick shouted in annoyance before turning back to the teens.
"Hiccup, Aniu...well, what he said. You all made me proud. This dragon training academy is for all of you." Walking over to the switch, Stoick opened the gate and the dragons ran out to their riders.
"Hookfang! My buddy!" Snotlout yelled, trying to hug Hookfang only to get picked up in the Monstrous Nightmare's jaws. "Stormfly, I missed you so much." Astrid cried out, hugging her Deadly Nadder. "Who's Dady's little girl?" Fishlegs gushed, hugging Meatlug. The Gronckle wagged her tail in happiness. Ruffnut and Tuffnut affectionately rubbed Barf and Belch's heads. The Hideous Zippleback nuzzled his riders. "Hey there, bud." Hiccup laughed, hugging Toothless. The Night Fury purred and gave him a lick.
"Oh, I'll get rid of those dragons, yet." Mildew growled, walking away with Fungus."We're so proud of you." Namara said, Fengo chuckled in agreement and both guardians hugged their daughter. "Oh, Aniu." Namara remembered something. "Yes, Mum?" Aniu asked. "Your father and I are renovating our house and adding another bedroom so you can live in the same house as us now." Namara said. "Wow." Aniu said. She looked at Hiccup who smiled. "I don't mind if you live with your parents, now. At least our houses are right beside each other." Hiccup said.
"Now, all you have to do is train them." Stoick said, smiling at his son. "Your mother will be so proud of you." He whispered. "Not a problem and thanks,Dad." Hiccup smiled. "After all, I've got him." He gestured to Toothless.
"Ahem." Aniu cleared her throat. "And her too." Hiccup said. "Excuse us." Astrid said. "And them as well."
That night, Hiccup drew a picture of him, Aniu, Toothless and the rest of the gang.
"Dragons can't change who they are."
He smiled at Toothless who leapt off the rafters and breathed fire on his stone slab of a bed before lying down to sleep. Aniu folded her wings and pulled the blankets of her bed over her.
"But who would want them to?"
Fishlegs slept peacefully in his bed, snoring softly. Meatlug contently licked his feet with her tongue as she slept at the foot of her rider's bed.
Astrid woke up the next morning as the sun's rays light her room up. Stormfly stuck her head in. Astrid smiled and threw off her blankets. Nava also woke up, smiled and threw off his own blankets.
Soon, Astrid, Stormfly and Nava flew over the village of Berk and dropped bags of fish into a cart.
"Dragons are powerful, amazing creatures."
As Toothless and Aniu (in her dragon form) dropped their bags of fish into the cart, Hiccup spotted his father and Gobber smiling up at them proudly. Hiccup smiled back at them. Fengo and Namara flapped their wings and flew up to join their daughter.
Fishlegs, Meatlug, Snotlout and Hookfang hung a sign depicting the Strike Class symbol of A Night Fury rolled into a circle with one of its tailfins painted red as a homage to Toothless over the entrance to the arena which is now called the:
"Berk Dragon Training Academy." Astrid said, smiling at Hiccup before punching him gently on the shoulder. "I like the sound of that."
"Me too." Nava said, standing beside Aniu. Hiccup, Toothless and Aniu smiled at each other before Hiccup got on Toothless's back and they flew up into the sky.
"And as long as it takes Aniu and I, we are going to learn everything there is to know about them. Wouldn't you?"
Author's note: This chapter was 14 pages long on Microsoft Office.
Updated: 16.07.2015 Australian Time