Hello agian peoples! It's Chocobo Scribe! After Toothless's Tale and seeing how many people read it, I decided to see what I could do with Hiccup. I know that the "Movie Novelization fic" is being done by other people as well. But I have my reasons for doing this-mostly emotional. Some of my oen expereinces in 4-6 grade were pretty similar to what Hiccup went through sans the Dragons. I was actaully a little reluctant to do this, but while watching Treasure Planet and "I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme)" started playing the Muse of fanfciton attacked and I started writting. I thoguht "What the heck? Might do me some good." and I will be using segments of "I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme)" as epigraphs for each chapter.
So, I hope you enjoy this the same way you enjoyed Toothless's Tale.
Disclaimers: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon or Dreamworks, and the Song "I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme)" belongs to John Rzeznik.
Now R&Rb and enjoy!
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
I'm Still Here: Hiccup's Tale
Companion to How to Train Your Dragon: Toothless's Tale
Chapter One: I trash the Village…Again…
I am a question to the world,
Not an answer to be heard,
Or a moment that's held in your arms…
0o0o0o0o0o0
This is Berk. It's just twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. Located solemnly right on the meridian of misery. In a word, sturdy. The village has been here for seven generations, but the buildings are all new. We have hunting, fishing, and charming views of the sunsets.
The only problems are the pests. Y'see, some places have mosquitoes or mice. Not us.
We have a much bigger problem…
The sound of the alarm bell jolted me out of my sleep. I fell out of bed falling to the floor with a thud. I heard a loud roar and the alarm bell still being banged away at. I quickly shoved on my leather boots and pulled on my fur vest and ran downstairs. Once at the front door I opened it-and immediately slammed it shut just barely in time to avoid being burned to a crisp!
"Dragons…" I said. It was another raid!
"Better use the back door…" I muttered to myself glancing at the smoldering front door and sprinted out the backdoor, and into the village. I tripped and fell-I'm a bit clumsy-A large Viking appeared over me with a loud : "AAARRRGGHH!" then saw it was just me.
"Mornin'!" he said sloppily and ran off into the fight. Yeah, great thing to wake up to.
My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. I know, I know…Not the best name there is, but not the worst. The townspeople believe that a hideous name will frighten off Trolls and Gnomes. Though I haven't seen any proof of that.
I dashed through the village weaving my way through the townspeople all rushing out to defend the village from the Dragons. Yes, the pests are Dragons. Why don't we just leave you ask? We're Vikings, we have…stubbornness issues.
"Get inside!" A large female Viking shouted after me as I ran by. Well…just about everyone dwarfs me, but at least I can run pretty fast. I kept running down the path to the forge where Gobber was most likely waiting for me-and was suddenly grabbed by the back of my vest and jerked back as Dragon breath shot out in front of me.
"What are ye doing out here Hiccup? Get back inside!" A large red haired and bearded man in typical Viking armor thrust me towards the nearest house with enough force to knock down a door. That was Stoick the Vast, the chief of Berk-and my Dad. It's said that when he was only a baby, he popped a Dragon's head right off its shoulders.
Do I believe that?
Yes Ido.
I put on an extra burst of speed and dodging flaming debris and trying to avoid being snatched up by a Dragon I made it to the forge. I quickly took off my vest and replaced it with a blacksmith's apron.
"Ah, Hiccup. Nice of ye to join the party." Gobber said. He was a large blonde Viking with braided mustache, interchangeable prosthetic hands, and a peg leg. He was the town blacksmith I've been apprenticed to him ever since I was little.
Or, littler as the joke goes.
"I thought ye been carried off lad."
"Who me? Nah, c'mon, I'm way too muscular for their taste." I said flexing my arms without much effect, "I mean, they wouldn't know what to do with all this." Truthfully, I was too fast to be caught, compared to nearly all the other Vikings, I was a toothpick. Then there was also the fact that during every Dragon raid I can remember I was either in the forge with Gobber or in my house.
"Well, they need toothpicks don' they?" Gobber said teasingly attaching a set of coal tweezers to his prosthetic hand base which was strapped to his left arm by several bands of leather. I ignored him and went to work sharpening the pile of dulled and dented axes and swords next to the grinding wheel.
After I finished, I picked up the ones I could carry and ran over to the drop off window just in time to see the bucket brigade try to douse one of the houses that caught on fire. I recognized them, Fishlegs, he knew just about everything about Dragons-though the way he spouts it out can get really annoying after a few minutes. Snoutlout a big brawny guy and a bit of a bully-and my cousin. Tuffnut and Ruffnut, the perpetually arguing twin brother and sister-who were at that very moment fighting over who'd use the bucket, and…
"…Astrid…" Astrid, the most beautiful girl in the whole village straightened up in a graceful arc as the house she and the bucket brigade had been trying to douse exploded into a huge fireball, Their job is BEYOND awesome…I wish I could be out there with everyone else and…Astrid…I just stood there in a daze staring dreamily at Astrid.
She and the other teens were headed right for the forge, I was about to think of something cool and impressive to say, when Gobber jerked me up with his tweezers and spun me around.
"Oy! Back to work lad!"
"Oh come on!" I protested, "Let me out please! I need to make my mark!" Gobber set me down as I turned to face him.
"Oh you've made plenty of marks lad. All in the wrong places!" Gobber said poking me in the chest. Okay…Maybe I did blow a hole in the roof of his house with the bola ballistae I was working on. It was an accident! I was only trying to ferret out any faulty parts I might have missed!
"Two minutes, please!" I said earnestly, "That's all I ask. I'll kill a Dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date!"
Gobber looked at me slightly exasperated; we had this conversation more times than I could count.
"I'm sorry to say this Hiccup, but ye got no chance of being any kind of Viking!" Gobber said and proceeded to tell me why-again, "Ye can't lift a hammer, ye can't swing an axe…" He lifted a pair of bolas.
"Ye can't even throw one o' these!" and handed the bolas to a Viking at the drop off window who immediately threw it at a large pig like Dragon-A Groncle. The bola got tangled in its tiny hummingbird like wings and it crashed to the ground nose first. Fortunately, I was prepared for the whole "you-can't-even-throw-a-pair-of-bolas" thing.
"But this," I said gesturing to my latest invention the bola ballistae, "This will throw it for me." I patted it self-satisfyingly. The moment my hand touched it the ballistae popped open and a pair of bolas shot out hitting a Viking right in the middle of his forehead knocking him out cold.
"Hiccup," Gobber groaned, "This is exactly wha' I'm talkin' about!"
"I-it was a mild calibration issue!" I said trying to recollect my wits, "I can easily fix that!"
"No, I'm not talkin' about that contraption of yours." Gobber said, "If ye want to get out there and fight Dragons, ye need to stop all of this." He traced his hands around me. There was a stunned silence for a few seconds.
"But…You just pointed to all of me…" I said confused.
"Thas' right!" Gobber said, "Jus' stop bein' all of ye!"
I stared at him slightly dumbstruck for a few seconds, then, my impulsiveness getting the better of me I immediately said as sarcastically as I could, "Oooohhh..."
"Oooohhh." Gobber mimicked.
"You…You sir are playing a dangerous game." I said getting into his face, "Keeping this much…raw Viking-ness contained. THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!" I stabbed the air with a finger to make my point.
My words had absolutely no effect whatsoever.
"I'll take my chances…" Gobber said taking a banged up sword from a Viking at the drop off window, "Sword! Sharpen, now!" he dropped the dulled and banged up weapon into my arms.
"Ugh!" I grunted and staggered under its weight, the sword was almost as long as I was tall! While Gobber was helping with other broken and banged up weapons I staggered over to the grinding wheel and started sharpening the sword. One of the benefits of being a blacksmith's apprentice, I've become very good with my hands. I'm always inventing things to try and make up for my lack of physical strength.
One day…I'll get out there…I thought, I'll get the chance to prove myself.
Because around here, killing a Dragon is everything. The Deadly Nadder will get me at least noticed. A Groncle, those guys are really tough to take down, that'll get me a girlfriend for sure. Hideious ZippleBack, exotic, two heads, twice the status. Then there's the Monstrous Nightmare, only the very serious Vikings (like my Dad) go after these guys. They have a very nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.
But, in my case, I have to go for the ultimate prize. The elusive Night Fury. No one has even seen it. All we know is that it never steals food, never shows itself, and never ever misses. Nobody, nobody has ever killed or let alone seen a Night Fury and lived to tell the tale.
That's why I'm gonna to be the first.
Suddenly there was a huge explosion and a loud cry of: "NIGHT FURY!"
"Man the forge Hiccup!" Gobber ordered, "They need me out there!" he swapped the tweezers for an axe as he said this. He started to dash out the door then stopped, turned, and pointed to me.
"Stay. Put. Right there." What was I? A dog? Gobber turned back around and with a loud, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHH!" ran out to join the fight axe hand held high over his head.
"Yeah…sure…" I said in mock innocence, "I'll stay right here…"
As soon as Gobber was out of sight I quickly took off the blacksmith's apron and put my fur vest back on and ran over to my bola ballistae and ran out pushing the ballistae along like a wagon. I ran past several other people all running in the opposite direction most shouting out at me annoyed because I ran over their feet and that I was outside in general.
Finally, I reached a clear spot overlooking the bay. No one was there. Not a cloud in sight, a full moon. Perfect conditions. Maybe the gods were finally cutting me some slack. I pulled down the handles of the ballistae so that it was pointing to the sky and pulled back a lever causing the shell to pop open revealing a set of bows which would pull back on and launch the bolas I had already loaded in.
"Come on…"I murmured scanning the night sky, "Gimme something to shoot at…" I kept scanning the star strewn sky, looking for any distortion. Listening for the tell tale shriek and swooping noise. My finger was only a hair's breadth away from the trigger, I wasn't even blinking.
First, I saw it. A blurred ripple across the stars, then I heard it. A horrible shriek filled the night air as a violet fireball shot at the watch tower causing it to explode with a white ring spreading out from it. Then…
THERE! I fired the bolas at a dark shape revealed by the light of the explosion. I was thrown back be the recoil! The bolas sailed through the air, and, somehow, impossibly, I heard another loud shriek and a dark shape sailing down to earth towards Raven Point.
"I…I…I hit it!" I shouted throwing my arms up, "YES! I hit it!" I check to see if anyone had been watching.
"Did anyone see that?" I said feeling proud of myself. I turned back to my bola ballistae and froze. A Monstrous Nightmare had crept up on me.
"Except you." I said lamely then ran as fast as my feet could carry me.
I'd love to tell you that I had a brilliant Plan B up my sleeve. That I was cleverly leading the Nightmare into a trap I set up ahead of time just in case this happened. To be honest, my only thought was: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"
I weaved my way through the fighting with the Nightmare hot on my heels. No one even noticed-naturally; which just proves my theory that everyone in Berk secretly hopes I end up as a Dragon's lunch. I felt hot air, and the sharp intake of breath and I knew if I didn't dive for cover, I would be a burnt cinder! I just barely managed to get behind one of the torch pillars as the Dragon's hot breath blasted the wood and parted around me! I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my head with my arms to shield my face from the smoke.
Suddenly, the flames stopped. I stood there gasping, heart hammering and trembling slightly from my near death experience. I lowered my arms and peered around the torch pillar and saw the Nightmare's tail. Then it's head must be…I felt hot air on the back of my neck. Then a large hairy form rushed past me knocking hard into the Dragon! Dad had arrived just barely in time. The Nightmare tried to breathe fire again, but all I heard was a gagging burp. The Nightmare had reached its shot limit.
"Yeh all out." Dad said to the Nightmare. He let out a fierce war cry and there was a sickening crack as he hit the Nightmare over the skull with something very hard and heavy. It would defiantly end up in the Kill Ring for practice fights.
The wood pillar creaked and smoldered ominously. I turned and stepped back and it wobbled and fell over to my left revealing my Dad looking very disappointed. I turned back around, the torch set on top of the pillar crashed onto one of the many wooden walkways. The Viking standing there only jumped out of the way just barely in time. The torch burned its way through the walkway and fell through and proceeded to crash its way through the village. I winced each time I heard a crash. This was going to be a very bad day…Again…and just to make that point, the Dragons flew off with half our livestock.
"Dad…" I said turning to face him extremely embarrassed, "I'm sorry…"
No response.
"Okay, I screwed up." I admitted, "But, I hit the Night Fury!" As soon as the words were out of my mouth he seized the back of my vest and started dragging me through the village back to our house,
"It's not like the last few times Dad!" I protested, "I really, really did hit it! I had a very clear shot. I shot it down when it took out one of the watchtowers, the rest of you guys were busy. It went down towards Raven Point, if we get a search party we can find it before-."
"STOP!" Dad shouted releasing me. I flinched, he continued in a calmer tone, "Just…stop…Every time ye set foot outside, disaster falls. Can ye not see I have bigger problems to worry about? Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed."
"Well, between you and me the village could do with a little less feeding don't you think?" I blurted out.
Me and my big mouth.
"This isn't a joke Hiccup!" Dad shouted exasperated, "Why can't ye follow the simplest orders?"
"I-I can't…I can't stop myself!" I stammered trying not to go to pieces, "I…I see a Dragon and I just have to…kill it...Y'know? It's who I am Dad." I said this as I twisted the head off an imaginary Dragon. Dad sighed, disappointed, as usual…
"Ye many things Hiccup. But a Dragon Slayer isn't one of them." He gently pushed me towards our house, "Now, get back to the house. Gobber, make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up."
Gobber tapped me on the back of my head in what he intended to be in a friendly way, but it felt more like a head slap to me. I started on my way back to my house when Snoutlout spoke up.
"Wow. I have never seen anybody screw up that badly. That really helped." He sneered. I didn't make eye contact, I was too embarrassed to.
"Thank you, thank you." I said trying to keep a stiff upper lip, "I was trying…" why was it every time I tried to help, I made things even worse? I stewed in my thoughts as I trudged along the walkway to my house with Gobber following me. Finally, I couldn't hold it in any longer.
"I really did hit a Night Fury." I said all my energy had abandoned me.
"O' course ye did lad!" Gobber said just trying to humor me in one of his many failed attempts to cheer me up. I clenched my fists.
"HE NEVER LISTENS!" I complained.
"It runs in the family." Gobber said. It was true enough.
"And when he does it's…always with this disappointed scowl, like someone skimped out on the meat in his sandwich." I walked up the front steps to the front door. I turned around, planted my fists on my hips, puffed out my chest and doing my best to copy a thick Scottish accent mimicking my Dad, "Excuse me barmaid! I believe ye 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 talkin' fish bone!" I really got into my ranting, acting as if I had freakishly huge biceps and as if I was shouting at the whole world in general. I sighed, dropped my arms to my sides in utter defeat.
Gobber gave me the "Don't-be-ridiculous" look, "Now, ye thinkin' this all wrong lad," he said, "It's not wha' you look like he can't stand. It's whas' inside he can't stand." Great work Gobber, what a way to pour salt on the wound.
"Thank you for summing that up…" I said tonelessly turning to open the door.
"Look.." Gobber said, "Jus…Jus stop tryin' to be somethin' ye not lad."
I looked at him over my shoulder, "I just…" I said sadly, "I just wanna be one of you guys…" I opened the door and shut it behind me. I picked up my notebook and pencil from a nearby table and making sure my dagger was securely in place at my belt, walked across the room to the back door and slipped out into the forest to look for the Night Fury.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
And that's the first chapter! Let me know what you think!
Kudos to John Rzeznik for writing such an awsome song. I'm sure everyone who saw Treasure Planet and saw HTTYD dragon must of thought of "I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme)" I mean, that song totally fits Hiccup doesn't it?
Chocobo Scribe