How To Train Your Mandalorian;
Prologue
Characters: Hiccup Haddock, Stoick the Vast Haddock, Gobber, Astrid Hofferson, Snotlout Jorgenson, Spitelout Jorgenson, Ruffnut Thorston, Tuffnut Thorston, Fishlegs Ingerman
Ships: Hiccstrid, for now
Description:
Mandalorians, fiercest warriors in the galaxy and often some of the most stubborn organics, or inorganics, you'll ever meet. Enter the idea to colonize a planet in wild space well outside of normal territory. This world was called Arteo. Watch as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Third tries to make himself a proper Mandalorian as he and his people face the threat of dragons.
Disclaimer:
I do not own Star Wars, I do not own How to Train Your Dragon. I am but a humble fan trying something I haven't done before in mixing these two together, may Disney, who may soon be the entertainment overlords please spare me their wrath and lawsuits, I wouldn't have much to give them anyway.
A/N: I just saw HTTYD 3, I started this not too long ago but I just had to post it. HTTYD 3 is an amazing movie and is more than well done, its two wings up and some talons too, plus a gummy smile. Go see it. Hope you all enjoy my first foray into HTTYD universe.
Arteo
Dark clouds hover in the sky, their greyish black colouration hiding the moon from view as they moved towards the sharp shard of rock sticking from the ocean breaks the horizon in two. A small layer of fog and mist clings to lines of the ocean blurring the horizon further, but creating a definite line between the deep azure ocean and the blue lit night sky with the glimmer of distant stars adding a bit more light that manages to break through the clouds.
"This is Berk, its twelve parsecs North of hopeless and a few degrees South of freezing to death, it's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery."
Metal barracks and homes come into view, a few roaming Bergruutfa and Banthas wander between massive metal poles serving as a fence to keep the creatures within. Each home shines in the moonlight, the walls not hindered by even the slightest orange tint of rust or even more than a bit of dirt. The entire place looked like someone had taken different stacks of jutting rocks with varying heights and grassy covers atop them and pushed them together to create the groundwork of the village. The homes and barracks look almost peaceful despite the runny paint of symbols across their sides and random assortment of weapons leaning by their sides.
"This is my village, in a word, sturdy. Its 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."
One of the Banthas leans down, it's jaws clamping on a bit of grass and chewing. A few large shadows flit overhead before a massive pair of scale covered legs with glinting sharp claws roughly the size of a vibrosword impale one of the large brown furred Banthas. The ground falls away from the poor creature as the sky whips at its fur and it slowly rises higher and higher.
"You see most places have Acklays, Massifs, or Gundarks... We have…"
A few shouts alongside the cry of Banthas and Bergruutfas causes a young man to shoot out of bed, making a break for the door. His hands pulled it open. The door swung wide the startled cries from the Banthas and Bergruutfas stopped dead. His emerald green eyes widening to the size of dinner plates as a red scaly beast with black twisting horns and a single pair of wings and legs flaps to a stop and turns its slit, black pupilled yellow eye to the door as its metal hinges creek. The beast's jaw drops slowly and the massive neck coils slightly as it turns its head to glare at the offending Human. An orange almost red glow flows up from its insides and those wide eyes suddenly narrow. The boy flails for the door, catching its edge after two or three swings and slamming it shut before flames engulf the other side, some spilling through from the outside. The temperature rises making sweat bead on his skin and darken his clothes until the cool breath of the air unit lowers the temperature and the sweltering, breath halting heat from the other side cuts off.
"...Dragons." Around the village, like the act of just a single burst of fire was enough and the cracks of slugthrower rifles and shouts of people echo around. A dragon swoops out of the sky, arcing along the ground and unleashing a column of fire that catches on the still damp grass as one of the Anoobas that a family owned pumped its legs in a steady pace to basically fly away from the massive scaly beast alongside its owners.
"Most people would leave. But not us, we're Mandalorians. We have stubbornness issues." A big bulky dragon, looking to have more in common with a segmented stone log than a reptile flutters through the air with wings that seem far too small for its size, a man clad in shining green and gold armour beating at the yellow eyed beast's snout with a hammer before a scream escapes his lips and he falls towards the grounds below. The young man quickly opens the door bursting as much speed as his legs could gather as he charges out of his home towards the cliffs at the other edge of the village.
"My name is Hiccup. Great name I know, but it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off Ghosts and Specters… as if our charming Mandalorian demeanor wouldn't do that." The brown haired, green eyed, skinny limbed boy clad in a basic black bodysuit with a bantha-fur vest and pale almost olive green shirt on him lets his gaze flip from soldier and warrior to dragons both sides lit up by the fires caught on the buildings casting disturbing glows over the grassy village. Something smacks into Hiccup sending him flipping onto his back, a green back-lit black T-shaped visor coming into view cast against the dark sky above before the electronic shout dies out and the warrior cocks their head to the side.
"Morning!" he shouts before peeling off for another area. Hiccup gets up bouncing along the metal gangways and ground as the beskar clad soldiers move with rifles and melee weapons in hand, some carrying giant crates like they were nothing but a backpack. Shouted words reach the young boy's ears as he continues to move.
"What are ye' doin' here?"
"Get back inside!"
"Hiccup get inside!"
His head turns towards the feminine voice who had called out the last one and he missed the tell tale whistle of whining beasts before a hand like a Gundark snatched his back pulling him back before fire roasted the ground where he'd have been but a few moments later.
"Hiccup!" shouts the detached voice. "What is he doing out again- What are you doin' out! Get inside!" Hiccup's legs and arms simply swing form the force of being bodily hauled into the air staring at the massive shouldered Mandalorian in smudged and paint scraped green, gold, and red armour. The form of the man was fitted well with beskar plates decorating his chest, sides and gut with a helmet with two horns on either side sitting over his head. A large Bantha-fur cloak covered his shoulders and hung down to roughly just past his knees. Tossing the boy towards the ground Hiccup takes off at a dead sprint.
"That's Stoick the Vast, Chief of the clan. They say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head clean off its shoulders." As if to emphasize Hiccup's inner monologue Stoick snatched one of the broken metal repulsor lifters and tossed the entire thing into the air, catching a Dragon unaware and causing it to screech in pain only barely getting its wings back in order and flying away at a pale limp. "Do I believe it…. Yes I do."
"What have we got?" Stoick turned to a green clad Mandalorian standing just off to his left, a hand holding his buy'ce in place.
"Gronckles, Nadders, Zipplebacks, oh and Hort saw Monstrous Nightmare." A ball of flame slammed into the ground next to the pair and the other Mandalorian ducked covering his head with the shield on his forearm. Stoick stood fast, not even registering the scorch mark but two feet from him.
"Any Night Furies?" A piece of burning metal landed on Stoick shoulder only for him to swipe it off.
"None so far."
"Good." Lights quickly blazed to life over the village rising from their housings on the ground to shed light for all to see. Illuminating the shadows zipping and swiping through the air while the Mandalorians charged from point A to point B.
Hiccup jogged into the forge its dull metal coverings lit by the few yellowing lights in the ceiling while the forge casting a reddish orange glow flickering across the walls.
"Welcome to the party! I thought you'd been carried off!" Bellowed a heavyset best of a man with his braided yellow hair and blue eyes from his place slamming his hammer down on one of the swords to try and straighten out the bent mess of a blade.
"What, who me? Aw come on, I'm way too muscular for their tastes. They wouldn't know what to do with all this-"
"Well they need toothpicks don't they?"
"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 defenses. We'll counterattack with the missiles." Stoick takes off running down the walkways towards some of the lower cliffs on the island. The troop of warriors pound their feet, the weight of their armour and weapons making it sound like an angry Gorog was moving through the village. Another burst of flames and searing pieces of molten metal collapsed towards the running Mandalorians.
"Old town, lot's of new buildings."
As the house burned one of the Mandalorians stopped dead.
"Fire!" A group of teenagers shot past the window where Hiccup was currently trying to straighten some kind of order out of the mass of weapons tossed onto the sill in front of him. He tracks upwards watching as the group of teens drop the massive water tank's repulsors and start trailing hoses out.
"That's Fishlegs, Snotlout, The twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and… Astrid." A stocky very husky boy probably around sixteen with brown and green armour covering almost his entire body runs forward blasting his hose off at one of the melting homes. A short but muscular man in black and orange armour starts attacking the blaze of another building. The pair of yellow and orange, almost exactly similar, twins fight over the hose each having a grip on it. The final in a mix of blue, green, and red armour releases a burst of water onto the building before it cuts out, as she turns a blast of fire obliterates the building behind her. The group of teens walk in line to get back to the tank and get the water's repulsorlift active again.
"Oh their job is so much cooler." Hiccup puts his hands down and slowly starts shifting his weight to rush out the window before a claw like hook catches the hem of his outer shirt lifting him off the ground and moving him back into the forge.
"Oh come on, let me out please? I need to make my mark."
"Oh you've made plenty of marks all in the wrong places." Gobber releases the poor boy further into the forge as he starts manning the window.
"Please two minutes, I'll kill a dragon and my life will get infinitely better… I might even get a date?" Hiccup throws his arms about as he glares at the older man. Gobber starts using his false arm to count along his fingers as he talks.
"You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe," reaching down and picking up a thrown bola to wave it in Hiccup's face. "You can't even throw one of these"
As Gobber rattles the weapon at Hiccup another Mandalorian sweeps into the window and snatches the the bola twisting out and taking roughly three steps before letting it loose on a Dragon and trying its legs together shifting it towards the ground to crash.
Hiccup nods, walking backwards towards a contraption in the back of the room.
"Okay fine, but this, will throw it for me." Patting the device it fires the bola out the window as Gobber ducks away striking another Mandalorian in the face and taking them down.
"Now ya see this right here is what I'm talkin' about." Waving his false arm Gobber strides towards the young boy.
"It's a minor calibration issue-"
"Hiccup if you ever want to get out there to fight dragons you need to stop all… this." Gobber's hands motion to Hiccup.
"But you just pointed to all of me?" Gobber jabs him in the chest with his pointer finger.
"Yes, that's it. Stop being all of you." Gobber cuts through the air with his prosthetic locking eyes with Hiccup.
"Ohhhhh-"
"Ohhhhhhh yeahhh" Gobber interrupts as Hiccup starts shaking his arm and pointing his finger.
"You sir are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw Mandalorian-ness contained" Hiccup's hands float around each other miming a grip on a neck and twisting it. "There will be consequences!"
"I'll take my chances." Gobber spins on his peg leg grabbing a sword off a pile of weapons and tossing it back to his apprentice. "Sword. Sharpen. Now."
Hiccup catches the Vibro-sword's large blade in his two arms and heads over to the still spinning grinding wheel. Sparks fly off the weapon as he watches them light up some of the darkness this far away from the forge's main fires. It was like listening to a beast roar in your ear the way the grindstone moved.
"One day I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here. A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed." The spike crowned and brightly coloured Deadly Nadder along with a few of its fellows were tearing through a wall as some young Banthas made an attempt to run before being caught by the Nadders and flown off disappearing into the night sky.
"Gronckles are tough, taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend." The stony looking beast covered in bumps grabbed one of the boiling pots of fish that had been cooling and took the entire thing, stand, stove, fish, and all, fluttering away on its much too small wings.
"A Zippleback, exotic. Two heads twice the status." One of the two headed beasts lowered itself down to the ground next to a house one head bashing through the shut fire vent on top and releasing a stream of greenish hazy smoke into the building, the other head twisted around slamming through the backdoor, its jaws parted and like a lighter a few sparks jumped into the cloud of gas blowing the entire building apart and silencing the coughs within.
Stoick finishes climbing up the tower where one of the missile silos from the colony ship had been placed. A Mandalorian turns as Stoick sets foot on the platform.
"They've found the Bantha's young!" Stoick grabs the controls and begins inputting coordinates before tossing it up to the Mandalorian commanding the battery.
"Concentrate fire on the lower bank." The roar of technological terrors filled the sky as a missile loosed from the battery and sped right into a Nadder blasting the poor creature backwards before it's mangled corpse skipped like a rock on water and fell towards the darkened sea below.
"And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Mandalorians go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire." Stoick sniffed at the air, something burning meat that's been left on the stove for too long reaching his nose. Leaning over the tower Stoick's emerald eyes locked with the fire slowly melting away the catwalk as a Monstrous Nightmare, its orange and black scale covered hide burst into view, its entire body wreathed in flames. It snaps its jaws and releases a growl at the Chieftain.
"Reload! I'll take care of this." Stoick flips the vibro-axe off his belt and hoists it into the air and slamming the weapon's head into the beast right as he flicked the switch to on. Sparks flew as the weapon vibrated faster than the human eye could track and slammed against the hide of the monster who roared in answer.
"But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one's ever seen." A high pitched whistle pierces the sounds of the fighting growing in volume with every passing millisecond, even the Monstrous Nightmare backed off from the missile battery as it approached. "We call it the-"
"NIGHT FURY!" shouts a Mandalorian.
"Get Down!" screams another. A blast of purple and red flame slams into the side of missile battery's support structure a shockwave pulsing outwards as the structure leans left, then right, and then the missiles explode within their launchers.
"JUMP!" Stoick shouts as he launches himself away two others weren't as lucky the blaze consuming their armour and sending them screaming off to the icy waters below. Another leaps for the island, her hands missing the edge as she tumbles down to the rocks below.
Hiccup drops the weapon he was working on, looking from side to side, eyes scanning the sky for any trace of the beast that had destroyed the weapons emplacement.
"This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and never misses." As Hiccup leans out of the window another purple blast strikes the tower sending the unstable mound of metal and rock collapsing into the ocean. "No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm gonna be the first."
Hiccup dashes back into the forge as Gobber swaps out the claw for an axe head on his false arm. Gobber twists and locks the large axe head onto his arm and hobbles out, his leg moving at an odd angel because he didn't have a knee join in his prosthetic leg as of yet. Hiccup just followed the large man's movement as he grabbed his buy'ce and slid it on at the door. Then slowly he turned back to look Hiccup directly in the eyes.
"Stay… put." Turning his head, then swinging back around. "There. Ya know what I mean. YARRR!"
The large armoured Gobber charged as fast as his fake leg could carry him into the fray of the battle. As soon as he was gone, his back just retreating into the hazy smoke filled mess of a town Hiccup ran for the bola launcher in the back. Pushing the machine past the angry Mandalorians waiting at the forge Hiccup muttered a few sorries and aplogies as he ran through the town heading for a cliff where the fighting was thinnest.
Stoick hauls a durasteel cable net over towards a small group of Nadders who'd cornered some of the young Banthas. With shout he swung the net out catching the three Nadders before they could get off the ground with the young Banthas. A small contingent of warriors jumped at the chance to capture the beasts as a searing blast of dragon breath burned through a section of the net. Stoick jumped the beast using his massive arms to hold the dragon's jaws shut and muscle it to the ground.
"Mind yourselves! The Devils still have some juice in them!"
On the opposite side of the village Hiccup stopped the repulsorlift right at the edge of the cliff and clamped down the inertial dampeners the launcher ready and waiting for him to fire. He stood, hands on the controls eyes peeled at the sky in the surprising quiet with only the distant shouts of warriors and dragons at his back.
"Come on, give me somethin' to shoot at. Give me somethin' to shoot at." A growl echoed from nowhere and some of the stars were blotted out. Hiccup's eyes narrowed focusing on the blur cruising through the sky. The whistle came again right before the unused missile battery next to Hiccup was lit up by a purple blast of fire and as he tried to track the beast his finger slipped firing off the bola. A pained cry the only answer to his actions. "Woah. I hit it! Yes I hit it! Did anybody see that?"
The Monstrous Nightmare pulled itself up the cliff face and crushed the machine under its wing talons. Drawing Hiccup to turn around as the beast's head slid almost next to him. "Except for you."
Its roar bounced off the burning houses and Hiccup charged down from his position on the cliff avoiding wreckage and body parts, primarily dragon body parts, as he rushed towards the vertible safety of the inner village.
Stoick groaned as he slammed the Nadder's head to the ground and looked at the thin small form rushing down the center road. Shaking his head and turning on a dime despite his size Stoick booked it away, shouting at the warriors surrounding their captured Nadders.
"Don't let them escape!"
Hiccup slid almost hitting the wall next to the stairs for the Great Hall as a blast of fire caught the side right where'd have been had he not turned. Rushing into the center and taking cover behind a poll fire and heat filled the outer layer of his body as the dragon unleashed a volley of blasts at him. Right as the blast died Hiccup turned looking out for the Monstrous Nightmare, as its head twisted around behind him.
Stoick slammed into the beast with a kick sending the pair tumbling to the other side of the courtyard. As he squared off with the beast the dragon tried to release one more breath, taking out this warrior before it, only for a tiny puddle of semi-liquid fire to drop out and fall very short of its intended target.
"You're all out." Rolling his neck and cracking his knuckles Stoick dove towards the beast punching its snout left, right, left and sending the creature flying to safety through one of the gaps between two homes. Stoick turned to glare at the massive pillar as the fire finally finished eating through it to send it tumbling towards the ground.
"And there's one more thing you need to know." Hiccup cringed as the pillar which was holding up one of the spotlights sendt the machine tumbling through the town wrecking walkways and sending people rushing out of the way. Stoick's gaze hardened with every shout and crunch as the light made its way to the edge of the cliff. "Sorry… Dad."
Startled the Mandalorians holding the Nadders scattered letting the Dragons use their net to bring the young Banthas with them as they took off into the night. The warriors around the village began muttering and grumbling amongst themselves as they watched Hiccup and Stoick, father and son, stand in the center of the town market.
"Okay, but I hit a Night Fury." Like a young Anooba mother snatching its pup Stoick had Hiccup by the back of his shirt and hauled him into the air. Pulling him away. "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-"
"Stop!" Stoick dropped his grip on Hiccup and crouched down to get into his face. "Just stop. Everytime you step outside disaster falls, can you not see I have bigger problems! Winter is almost here and I have an entire town to feed."
"Between you and me I think the town could do with a little less feeding don't ya think?" One of the warriors grabbed at himself in annoyance behind Hiccup.
"This isn't a joke Hiccup! Argghhh. Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"
"I-I-I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have ta just… kill it ya know," Hiccup's arms twist the head off an imaginary dragon. "It's who I am Dad."
"You are many things Hiccup, but a Dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house. Make sure he gets there," his voice carries to Gobber. "I have his mess to clean up."
A few of the Mandalorians throw some jeers Hiccup's way and as they pass by the other teens Tuffnut smiles.
"Quite the performance," the male twin smirks while his sister openly laughs in the beside him.
"I've never seen anybody mess up that badly, that helped!" Snotlout smarted off.
"Thank you, thank you. I was trying so…" Hiccup answered. Astrid and Fishlegs left it well alone, but even Astrid couldn't help the way her lips twisted sadly at the tone of her friend's retort. Gobber practically threw Snotlout to the ground by his helmet as the larger Mandalorian passed by. The young man laughed as he stood up only to take haft of Astrid's vibro-axe to his unprotected face.
"I really did hit one Gobber"
"Yeah."
"He never listens."
"Runs in the family."
"And whenever he does its always with like his disappointed scowl, like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." Hiccup and Gobber reached the door to his house all the way up on the hill, Hiccup turning to face his master and mentor. "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 here is a talkin fishbone."
"No no, 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 gestured. Hiccup's single raised eyebrow fell to a flat expression as he turned around.
"Thank you, for summing that up."
"Look the point is that he wants you to try things his way."
"Kinda hard when no one will teach me except Astrid," grouses the young boy. "Not like he ever took the time to show he cared."
Hiccup disappeared through the door as the sun finally alighted across the wrecked village leaving Gobber at the door his eyebrows low, and jaw hanging slightly open, and in a soft voice he answers.
"He does Hic'ika, he does."
Later that day
Berk, Great Hall
Gobber hobbled into the hall just as the door's closed and Stoick started the meeting. Voices and clatters of plates and mugs bang around the large circle of tables that had been set up. Stoick stood, his back to mountainside of the hall and surrounded by Mandalorians, the shades of their armour making it look like a rainbow bomb had gone off.
"Either we finish them or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them! If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home." His voice booms through the Great Hall, bouncing off the walls and becoming lost in the crowds. They all had heard it before. Every time the raids ended for the season this happened, and the outcome hadn't yet changed. The mood in the room died along with the hushed whispers, all helmets and eyes turning to watch Stoick who had driven a knife into the flimsi map of the world on the table in front of him. "One more search, before the ice sets in and we can't keep our ships in the air."
"But those ships never come back… or at least almost never." Someone pipes up from the crowd.
"We're Mandalorians, it's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me?" Stoick massive arm shoot into the air. His eyes wandering the crowd as they shift from foot to foot, clutch at their arms and avert their gaze.
"Oh I don't know…"
"I think I need to do my axe returns..."
"Is it really for the best..." voices come out of the crowd reaching Stoick's ears and he has to bite his tongue to stop from letting out a string of curses.
"Alright, those who stay 'ill look aft'r Hiccup." It was like someone had doused them in water and told them they'd be left to freeze if they stayed as hands shot up throughout the room. The pounding of their footsteps was like coming thunder leaving Spitelout, Gobber, and Stoick alone in the hall.
"Stoick ya know we can't both leave… that fishbone ya call a son isn't ready to lead." Spitelout sits down next to his brother. Glancing at the black haired man, his black and blue armour covered in scorch marks, talon scars, and even a few burns.
"We have ta. Hiccup will get by, especially if I leave him a helping hand. Now go and prepare, tell Snotlout he starts Dragon Training with the rest at the end of the week when we leave." The chair screeches across the floor and a heavy weight settles on Stoick's shoulder for a bit before he looks over to Gobber.
"Let me guess, I h've ta stay and train the new recruits?"
"Aye."
"Oh, perfect. And while I'm busy Hiccup can c'ver the stall. Molt'n durasteel, razor sharp blades, time to himself… what could possibly go wrong?" With every word Stoick sinks further and deeper into his chair, his shoulders slumping and face falling.
"I don't know how much time he'll have… but honestly. What am I going to do with him Gobber?"
"Put him in training with the others." Gobber's eyes were fixed on Stoick as the other man just rolled his shining green orbs.
"No, I'm serious."
"So am I." Stoick locks with Gobber, his brows pulled together and his lips set like a thin line.
"He'd be killed 'fore you let the first dragon out of its cage."
"You don't know that."
"I do though."
"No ya don't."
"Yes I do!"
"No ya don't!" Gobber and Stoick's voice having raised before Stoick lets his hand fall onto the table sending the dishes there clattering.
"Listen! You know what he's like. From the time he could crawl he's been… different. He doesn't listen. He has the attention span of a sparrow. I take him fishing and he goes hunting for… for ghosts."
"Ghosts are real! They steal yer socks." Gobber tosses his false arm about making the mug attached to it spill some of the brandy within it. "But only the left ones… what's with that?"
"When I was a boy..."
"Oh by the Manda… here we go again."
"My father told me to bang my head against a rock, and I did it! I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And ya know what happened?"
"Ya got a headache..."
"The rock split in two. It taught me what a Mandalorian could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy I knew what I was, what I had to become… Hiccup is not that boy." Stoick was miming some of the actions as he spoke, animatedly tossing his arms before running his palm over his face and letting a sigh explode out of his mouth. Gobber leans in, so that Stoick could see him, and let his real hand fall onto Stoick's back.
"Ya can't stop 'im Stoick. You can only prepare 'im. Look… I know it seems hopeless. Truth is you won't always be there to protect him. He's gonna keep goin' out there, Shab'la he's probably out there right now." Stoick nodded, head still cradled in his hands.
Raven's Point Forest
"Ugh! The Manda hates me! Some people lose their knives or socks. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon!" As he shouts into the woods, his words bouncing around the trees he smacks his head right into a branch. Falling backwards he grunts as gravity pulls him down and blast of air escapes as its forced from his lungs. Reaching out for his fallen notebook Hiccup's eyes track around, trying to gather where he was at the moment. Of course as he did that he caught sight of a tree broken about a quarter of the way up and laying across the ground, dirt and a massive trough driven through the ground. Hope renewed Hiccup jumps over a tree and starts weaving in between many of the broken pieces of wood he now found. Slipping around his eyes sweeping left and right before catching sight of a black shape wrapped in silver cords and glinting in the sunlight. His eyes go wide and his jaw drops before he sprints up to it and places his foot on it and shaking his fists in the air.
"YES! I have brought down this mighty beast!" Hiccup's cheering is cut off as the dragon below him shifts his weight causing the boy to lose his footing and fall onto his back once more. Shooting up from the ground and drawing his vibrosword from its sheath he flicks it on and holds it over the Night Fury, whose head is now turned to him, that acid green eye with its black slit like pupil latched onto him. "I'm going to kill you Dragon. I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. Then I'll be a true Mandalorian..."
"I am a MANDALORIAN!" The sword raises over the boy's head vibrating so fast that it was imperceptible to Hiccup himself. The blade however begins to shake for another reason as Hiccup is caught staring at that baleful eye. Then the dragon closes its eye and turns to expose its neck to Hiccup. The shaking in his wrist groes and Hiccup lets out a shout before burying the sword into a nearby tree. "I did this..."
About to grab his sword the hand stops short, Hiccup turning his back away from it he pulls the vibroknife from his belt and kneels down next to the Night Fury and slowly begins working the vibrating blade through the durasteel cords. It was slow progress as his mind seemed to highlight the right cords and he moved the blade back and forth like he would work something on a grindstone.
Three cuts later and the metal cords fall away freeing the dragon. In an instant Hiccup felt himself slammed against a rock one of the dragon's paws up against his chest while its talons put pressure near his neck and heart. The slitted pupils stay staring down at him before opening its jaws wide revealing teeth that the light glints off the points of.
A roar like the whine of a missile battery firing off a volley pierces the quiet sending some of the birds and other creatures fluttering from their hiding places and shaking the branches of the tree leaving Hiccup plucking at his ears. When the young Mandalorian finally started to hear a bit of ringing in his ears he caught sight of the retreating black shape.
Berk, Chieftain's Home
The door swings lazily in, the dark of the night being cast aside by the flicker of the indoor lights, blanketing Hiccup as he attempted to sneak into his own home. The durasteel outside was rendered softer by the mute browns of woods used for the floors, and even accenting to some of the cabinets breaking the dull and unpainted greys. A green and red carpet lays beneath the metal table keeping Stoick's tapping foot silent as the flood of a thumping music plays in the background.
"Ah! Son, I've been looking for you. There were somethings I wanted to speak to you about." A groan escaped the chair as Stoick's still metal and fur covered form rose up, his head nearly brushing the ceiling. His fiery red beard hung down hiding most of his chest from view with its braids and locks. The horned helmet sat next to his Tihaar shot glass, and the clear bottle was only about half full.
"Actually dad, there was something I wanted to talk to you about too." The nasally voice answered. Stoick grabbed the remote off the table and silenced the player before facing his son. "Why don't you go first dad."
"Son, you get your wish, Dragon Training. It'll start just before I leave for the next nest hunt at the end of the week." Stoick's eyes locked with his son, and his lips twitched upwards as he waited for Hiccup.
"Oh… I really should have gone first… you see dad, I was thinking there weren't enough cooking Mandalorians or maybe forging Mandalorians, maybe I could do one of those?" Stoick raises a hand cutting off Hiccup and waiting for the boy to shut his mouth.
"Hold on Son, I'm not finished though we'll circle back to that for sure, there's something else I need ta' speak to ya about." As Hiccup leaned on the railing his lips pulled tight and his brows furrowing. "Son, as you know winter will be coming soon, as such it's time for another hunt. Normally Spitelout would stay behind and watch over the town or I would. The most recent raids have lost us too many warriors to spare him for such a duty. You've studied for years to take over when I'm gone. Once I leave you'll have Solus and Gobber to help ya through the day ta day of carin' for these people. I know you can do this Son. You're smart and if you'd just stop all this-" Stoick motions to his son, from head to toe.
"You just gestured to all of me." Interjected the boy as his brows pulled together and his eyes hardened.
"I know ya can manage the town, keep the clan strong. Maybe ya might someday make a proper Mandalorian… but ya can't do it alone. So ta secure your future, and that of the clan I've decided it's time for ya ta get married. You'll take your vows the day fore I go, maybe she can make you the Warrior I couldn't, Manda knows you listen to her more than me." Stoick finally glanced from his combat boots up to his son, Hiccup's jaw was hanging like the banners of the Haddock clan on the exterior of the Great Hall. For a second or two Stoick thought he'd broken his poor boy before Hiccup's eyes went wide and he began waving his arms about, mouth clamping open and shut while trying to form words.
"WHAT! You arranged my marriage! I'm like 17 years old Dad! What about all that stuff about how a Mandalorian may wed for love, that I wouldn't have to have a marriage like you and Mom? Who am I even supposed to marry?" Stoick's hands were almost the same size as Hiccup's head, and slowly he lowered it onto Hiccup's shoulder.
"I know wha' I said, and I know ya won't like it… I didn' see any other way Hiccup. I hate ya do this to ya, but I have to protect the clan. I am Chief, and you are the heir. This is bigger than all of us. Solus will school you in how ta do some of the more simple things I haven' had time ta show ya yet. You can do this Hiccup… I know you can." The last piece of Stoick's lecture died out before Hiccup could catch, but the boy just stood there, still as a rock.
"Who am I supposed to marry?"
"Astrid Hofferson."
A/N:
Yes I have finally started it. Just an FYI I'll try to keep a dictionary of words used in each chapter and I promise this won't just be a straight rehash of the first movie or other fics with an arranged marriage between Hiccup and Astrid. Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading!
-Six out