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 kingdom. In a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but almost every single building is new except the castle. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problem is the war. You see most places battle Romans, or that King Alfred (We concerned him about 50 years ago), but we fight...

"DRAGONS"

That there, dragons. Nobody knows how this war started exactly but there are rumors. Some say that it was when a dragon killed most of us about 400 years ago. I don't know if that is what happened but that is what most believe. Most would leave, but not us. We are Vikings of the kingdom Berk.

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 demeanor wouldn't do that.

But right now I am needed elsewhere. I make my way out towards the blacksmith shop.

"ARGGGHHHHH! Mornin'!"

"What are you doing here?!"

"Get inside!"

"What are you doin' out?"

"Get back inside!"

Everyone starts to yell all of this at me. It's not uncommon for me to...completely accidentally... destroy some stuff, like a building.

As I am running, someone grabs me by my collar. "Hiccup?! What is he doing out aga-?! What are you doing out?! Get inside!" That's Stoick the Vast. He is the king. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders.*Stoick throws a wooden cart at a dragon, knocking it out mid-air* Do I believe it? Yes, I do.

I watch as he walks up to one of the lookouts. Their job is to both make sure of what types of dragons are there and if any large weaponry or buildings are destroyed. Stoick asks with a deep voice," What have we got?"

"Gronckles, Nadders, Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare."

"Any Night Furies?"

"None so far."

*Burning embers land on Stoick's shoulder. He casually brushes it off.* "Good."

A lieutenant off to the side yells," Hoist the torches!"

I watch as two enormous torches are lite and raised. The dragons swarm around them. I run into the blacksmith shop, almost bumping into the master smith there.

"Ah! Nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off!"

Me: What, who me? Nah, come on! I'm waaaay too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all...," I gesture to myself,"...this."

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?"

Hiccup(Narrative): The meat-head with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well...littler.

Outside, the king is on the watchtower,"We move to the lower defenses. We'll counter-attack with the catapults."

A Nadder swoops down and sets another house on fire. See? The old village, lots and lots of new houses.

The lieutenant yells to the soldiers running the catapult,"FIRE!"

I can see some of the other Viking teens running with buckets. They are splashing water on some of the burning buildings.

"Alright, let's go!"

"We got this one!"

Oh, and that is Fishlegs the scholar, Snotlout the arrogant jerk, the Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, or more commonly know as mischief and mayhem, and...Astrid. Oh, their job is so much cooler.I watch as they slowly walk away from an explosion. Awesome. Without realizing it I had started to lean out the window to get a better look. Gobber grabs me and lifts me up and back into the shop.

I get a little frustrated at this and say," Oh, come on. Let me out, please? I need to make my mark!"

Gobber just chuckles at that. "Oh, you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places!"

As he sets me back down I beg," Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date."

Gobber rolls his eyes and gestures with his hands," You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an ax, you can't even throw one of these!"

As Gobber says this last part, he lifts up a bola. As he does, a Viking soldier comes by and grabs it. He then proceeds to shout as he throws it at a dragon, bringing it down.

I just shrug at that, conceding Gobber's point. "Okay, fine, but this will throw it for me." I uncover a machine and put my hand on it. Suddenly it opens up and shoots a bola at a random soldier outside.

"Arggh!"

"Sorry!"

Gobber shoots me daggers at that. "See, now this right here is what I'm talking about!"

I try to wave him off at that. "Mild calibration issue-"

"Don't you- no- Hiccup. If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all...," He waves his one hand at me from head to toes," ...this."

"But, you just pointed to all of me!" I say this completely flabergast.

Gobber gets a look on his face like I finally realized his point. "Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you!"

"Ohhhh..." I hold up a finger to his face.

"Ohhhh, yes."

"You sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw... Viking-ness... contained? THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!" I say all of this with fake rage at the older Smith

With a bored tone, Gobber says," I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now."

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, they are the foot-soldiers. Gronckles are the lieutenants and are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend. A Zippleback? They are the explosive experts. Exotic. Two heads, twice the status. Outside, a Nadder is stealing some sheep, a Gronkle has a basket of fish, and a Zippelback is pouring gas into a house. Oh, they just blew the house up.

"They found the sheep!" A panicked soldier yells out to command.

"Concentrate fire over the lower bank!" Stoick yells to the Catapult Operator.

He hears this and yells," Fire!"

And then, there's the Monstrous Nightmare, the special forces. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.

Even I can see from here as a Monstrous Nightmare growls and alights itself as it climbs up the catapult.

Stoick sees the Monstrous Nightmare and yells,"Reload! I'll take care of this." before hopping down and taking the dragon with him off of the tower. Stoick proceeds to fights the Nightmare, which even for him takes a few hits before it starts to retreat.

But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the-

"NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!"

A high pitched whistle is heard from the sky, causing several soldiers to panic. From out of nowhere an explosion tears the main catapult apart. Stoick sees that there are soldiers trapped on the catapult still and yells for them to jump.

The Night Fury is believed to be the supreme General, but nobody is sure. This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and... never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first.

Gobber apparently sees that majority of the soldiers are injured and yells to me," Man the fort, Hiccup. They need me out there!"

He takes off his attachable hand part and replaces it with an ax and begins to run outside, but before he does he turns to me and says," Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean"

I wait before he is out of site before grabbing the bola launcher and heading out the door.

"Hiccup, where are you going?!"

"Come back here!"

I hear all of them yell these things at me but just say,"Yeah, I know! Be right back!" before continuing anyway. The entire time I am pushing the cart with the automated catapult on it.

Off to the side, I get a glimpse of Stoick capturing some Nadders in a net and wrestles them to the ground. One tries to blast him with fire but misses. "Mind yourselves! The devils still have some juice in them!"

I make my way to an empty hill to set up my bola catapult and start looking around. Without realizing it, I start mumbling," Come on. Gimme something to shoot at, gimme something to shoot at."

I catch a glimpse of a shadow zooming past, blocking out the stars. It fires, and an explosion illuminates it, showing the shadow more clearly. I take my chance and shoot. A loud cry is heard as the shadow is seen plummeting down into the forest.

I can't believe my luck ad shout out as loud as I can," Oh, I hit it! YES! I HIT IT! Did anybody see that?"

At that point the Monstrous Nightmare appears, crushing my bola catapult.

"Except for you." Yep, that would be my luck.

I start running down the hill screaming, NOT like a little girl, and manage to catch Stoick's attention. He turns to see the Monstrous Nightmare chasing me. Thankfully he gets up to help.

Stoick turns to his brother and says," DO NOT let them escape!"

"Right!"

I run and hide behind a torch pole, just as flames reach around the corner. I look around to see nothing. But I start to feel something breathing on me, uh oh. At that point, Stoick punches the beast and jumps back to defend himself. The dragon tries to breathe fire, but only coughs up a few drops of flaming liquid instead, having exhausted its shots.

Stoick gives a little smile to the now scared looking dragon. "You're all out."

Stoick quickly defeats the Nightmare, which flees in terror. The torch pole collapses with the torch tumbling down the street, leaving ruin in its wake. The torch rolls onto the Nadders Stoick netted earlier, freeing them. The dragons manage to escape, hauling off most of the city's food and livestock.

Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know... As the last of the poll falls away, I turn to Stoick and say," Sorry, Dad. Okay, but I hit a Night Fury."

A\N:

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