Chapter 1: How to Start a Dragon Academy
The beginning of the Riders of Berk series! Finally!
Synopsis: Hiccup tries to train all of the dragons on the island and keep them all under control, while Snivels and Lockheed make new enemies.
This is Berk. For generations, it was Viking against dragon. The battles were ferocious. Then one day, everything changed.
I met Toothless. And together we've shown people here that instead of fighting dragons, we can ride them, live with them, and even train them.
"Alright, guys," Hiccup said to his friends, landing next to them on a huge rock "island" that towered up out of the ocean. "Best trick competition. Who's up first?"
Fishlegs started to volunteer, but Snotlout butt right in. "Me!" he shouted.
"Actually," said Fishlegs timidly, "I think it's – "
"Me!" said Snotlout again, pointing to himself confidently.
"Just go!" said an impatient Astrid.
Snotlout leaned back confidently on Hookfang and said smugly, "Don't worry, we'll go. And when we go, Hookfang and I are going to light the sky on – FIRE!"
His boasting ended in a terrified scream as Hookfang suddenly leapt off of the island and dove straight down towards the water. At the last second, the Monstrous Nightmare leveled out, taking Snotlout on a winding course throughout the maze of rock spires that Toothless and Hiccup had traversed months ago.
Suddenly, after a minute of hearing Snotlout scream without stopping to catch his breath even once, Hookfang soared high into the sky, then folded in his wings and dove straight into the water like a giant red gannet.
They stayed under for about four seconds, and then they burst out of the water. Hookfang made one last circle around in the sky, and then landed in his original position beside Stormfly and Meatlug.
Hookfang settled down with a satisfied grunt, and Snotlout examined himself all over. "I'm alive?" he asked in wonderment. "I'M ALIVE!"
Everyone looked at him in amusement. "I mean, of course I am," he snapped, sitting back down on Hookfang.
"It's my turn!" said Fishlegs excitedly. "Ready, Meatlug? Here we go!" The Gronckle gurgled confidently, and then thrummed off into the sky. However, she made a nice, slow circle around the island, and then landed right beside Hookfang and the Zippleback twins.
"Yes!" cheered Fishlegs. "New personal best!" He bent down to hug Meatlug, who gave him an affectionate lick on the cheek in return. Astrid gave Hiccup a look that said "you have got to be kidding me."
"My turn!" shouted Ruffnut; eager to best the others. "No, my turn!" interjected Tuffnut, never one to pass up an opportunity to argue with his twin.
"Uh, guys?" Hiccup said in exasperation, "Same dragon." He pointed to Barf and Belch, who shared a similar sibling rivalry. "Oh, right!" Tuffnut said, eyes lighting up. He and Ruffnut bumped fists before taking off.
Their flight started smoothly enough, but before long, they got into a heated debate over which direction to turn in. Barf and Belch lost patience after their heads slammed into each other, and simultaneously bucked their riders off of them and into the air.
As they started falling, their screams reached their peak. "This is awesome and scary!" commented Tuff with a highly amusing grin on his face. Three seconds before they would have plunged into the ocean, the Zippleback made a perfect, simultaneous catch, before flinging both Ruffnut and Tuffnut back aboard.
Barf and Belch flew back in with different expressions – Barf looked annoyed while her brother simply looked pleased. "Ugh…" gasped Ruff, "We almost died."
Tuff agreed. "Yeah, I know," he panted, before sitting up and asking enthusiastically, "Go again?"
Before Ruff could agree, Astrid spoke up. "Hey, it's my turn!" Then she turned to Hiccup and smirked, "You might want to take notes."
She and Stormfly did a magnificent takeoff, then executed a string of moves that even had them impressed – first a skim across the water, then a sharp upward turn and twirl with the Nadder's wings folded across her body, then an ascending series of quick spirals into the sky. And they did this all while navigating through the rocky maze.
When they were finished, Stormfly landed beside Toothless, with Astrid smiling.
"Yeah, pretty good," said Snotlout, "But can you do it without the dragon?" That earned him a savage punch on the shoulder.
"Well, looks like we have our work cut out for us, bud," Hiccup said nonchalantly to Toothless. The Night Fury growled confidently, and then they tensed themselves for what would happen next.
They didn't just dive – Toothless jumped headfirst off of the island, spreading his wings and diving straight down at impossible speed. Face rippling slightly, Hiccup pulled hard on the saddle, and they leveled out just above the water. They flew so fast and so close, they sent up a huge spray of water behind them.
Then, it was just like old times, zooming around every obstacle in their path. But the big finish was still coming as they neared a rock arch that stood separate from the others. As they rapidly neared it, Hiccup jumped off of Toothless' saddle and landed on the arch.
He ran across it, time slowing down for him. He knew that Toothless would be able to keep flying as long as he didn't try to turn, since the stirrup's design allowed the prosthetic fin to lock in its current position.
In the time it took him to reflect on this, he reached the edge of the arch. Jumping off of it, he landed right on top of Toothless, who had flown out from underneath it to make a perfect catch. Slipping his foot back into the stirrup, they turned and he coaxed Toothless to fire several celebratory fire bursts.
"Yep, they're still the best," Hiccup heard Astrid comment, and the others just gasped and cheered. "Another win, Toothless," Hiccup said, and Toothless gurgled in a satisfied way.
Yep… dragons. Most people on Berk would say that life here is better since we made peace with them. Unfortunately… dragons are still, well, dragons.
Snivels and the other Pokémon had been unable to make it to the trick competition that morning, much to their own regret. They had their hands full trying to take care of all of the dragons, especially the little ones.
The team had gotten stronger over the last few months, but things weren't the same without Verne. No one had any idea where he might have flown off to, and the team was never quite whole without him.
They were walking through the village, trying to think of a way to explain to their friends why they hadn't shown up for the contest, when they all heard a noise. They turned in the direction of the sound and could see utter chaos unfolding. Again.
With dragons pretty much making themselves at home in Berk, the people were having a very hard time controlling them. Snivels and Lockheed watched as a pair of Terrible Terrors stole food from one Viking, a Nadder perched on the roof of another frustrated Viking's house, and a Monstrous Nightmare tugging a sack of fruit from yet another's grasping.
"Look out, incoming!" shouted Gobber from his forge, and suddenly the air was filled with the thrumming of a thousand dragon wings.
"Dragon poo!" shouted several Vikings, taking shelter as quickly as they could. Then, dragons of all kinds flew over the village, dropping green, boiling hot dung all over the place.
"Gross!" Blaze exclaimed, backing away from the bombs. "That's disgusting." Snivels found himself beside a pair of older Vikings who were holding their shields over their heads like umbrellas.
"Hey, Mulch. Hey, Bucket," he greeted them with a sigh. "Every day at three," commented Bucket idly. "The regular at least. Tip of the cap."
Mulch said with regret, "Better were the days where it was killing or be killed." Then he suddenly cried out, "Hey! We got some fish for the chief! Bucket, give him the cod."
Bucket held up a torn-up sack without any fish inside of it. He looked at it, bewildered. "Did I eat it already?" he asked, totally befuddled. "Did I enjoy it?"
Snivels hastened to correct him, "Uh, no, Bucket, the, uh… dragons did." He pointed to a Nightmare and Salamence who was sitting behind a house, chewing loudly. At the sight of them, they roared and then retreated into the shadows.
Most of us on Berk are willing to take the good with the bad. But there are those of us who will never accept the dragons, and will do anything to drive them away.
A few minutes later, Stoick and Gobber walked up to Hiccup. He, Snivels, and Lockheed were in the middle of the mess that had been created. Suddenly, Snivels groaned and grabbed his nose. "What in the blazing name of Reshiram is that smell?" he asked. "What smell?" Hiccup asked his partner. "It smells like a bunch of rotten chicken eggs that have been sitting in spoiled yak milk for three days straight," Snivels groaned, still holding his nose. Hiccup cringed, "I'm sorry I asked."
"Stoick!" called out a voice brimming with hostility. Oh no… Hiccup thought in exasperation. He knew who the voice belonged to, of course – Mildew, his sheep Fungus, and his Banette Jekyll, who lived on the highest point on the island and who could always find something wrong or inconvenient about Berk that he always demanded Stoick to fix. It was Mildew's scent that Snivels had picked up. "Oh, here comes Mildew with the complaint of the day," commented Gobber sarcastically. The old man, possibly older than Gothi, slowly walked up to where Stoick was standing.
"You picked a bad time, Mildew," Stoick said harshly. "I'm in the middle of storing food. The freeze is coming."
But if there was one thing that Hiccup knew about Mildew, other than the fact that he was grumpy and did his best to spread that around, he was persistent. "It's the dragons again," he snarled, "Those demons are not fit to live around civilized men."
Snivels rolled his eyes. "Neither are you, Mildew! Why'd you think they built your house so far outside of town?"
Despite himself, Hiccup chuckled at the Servine's sense of humor. Mildew spared a heated glare for Snivels before turning back to Stoick. "Very well, make your jokes. Meanwhile, these dragons are rubbing our village raw! They're reducing houses into piles of rubble! They even disturb an old man's rest! Can't you see these bags under my eyes?"
Gobber and Stoick exchanged skeptical looks. Snivels scoffed lightly and muttered under his breath, "Yep, he's hideous all right."
Mildew ignored that, and turned to the crowd that had gathered. "These are wild and unpredictable beasts!" he claimed. "They even cracked this man's skull like an egg." He rapped Bucket on the head with his staff, and the bucket made an audible clanging noise.
"Eggs?" said Bucket himself. "I love eggs! Scrambled, over-easy, poached!"
Stoick kept up his glare as Mildew continued, "You need to put those dragons in cages. If you don't, they'll eat us out of house and home, and destroy the entire village!"
The crowd that had gathered was yelling in agreement and anger. "They don't mean any harm," Hiccup said quietly, stepping up with Toothless at his side. "They're just dragons being dragons."
As everyone argued, Lockheed noticed how much this was troubling his adopted brother, Snivels. The Speed Stinger narrowed his eyes at Mildew and approached the old man's cabbage-filled wheelbarrow.
Mildew continued to protest. "Those dragons are completely unable to live among us! Do you even see how much of a mess they can make?!" He was interrupted by the sound of what appeared to be a flowing stream of water. He turned to see Lockheed standing next to his wheelbarrow, his leg raised in the air. After a minute, the noise stopped, and Lockheed lowered his leg. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the young dragon had peed on the wheelbarrow.
Snivels gasped in surprise, though somewhat relieved that Lockheed had ended the old man's protests. But with everyone staring at the little Speed Stinger, he realized that he needed to somehow cover up his brother's mischievous action. "Lockheed, no!" He ran over to his stepbrother and mildly scolded him. "Not on the ugly, old hermit's wheelbarrow!" He picked up the young Speed Stinger. "I'm so sorry, I better take him to the outhouse!" As he walked away, Hiccup could have swore he saw a smug grin on Lockheed's face.
Stoick, at last, took charge. "Look, Mildew, if there's a problem, I'll deal with it." Mildew at last backed down. "Oh, there's a problem, Stoick. And I think I speak for the entire village when I say that you'd better do something about it." "And you should do something about the way you smell, dirt-bag!" Snivels shouted as Mildew walked away.
The entire situation was unnerving, to say the least. The dragons had only been living in the village of Berk for a couple of months. In those months, life was so much better. No raids, no hostility – OK, maybe some of that – but it had been a lot nicer than fighting to the death constantly.
Many of the Pokémon Go-Getters hadn't even met Mildew before then, but Hiccup and Astrid had told them plenty about him. Snivels had overheard even more from Stoick, who complained often about how difficult Mildew made his job.
While Stoick could certainly see that Mildew had a point about the other dragons, Snivels obviously thought otherwise. He often told them about what it was like for him to live among the dragons, learning their lifestyle and their languages. The people he once lived with, the Peaceables, had a generations-old habit of leaving the dragons alone.
Snivels always told his friends that the village was very much his second home, as much as he hated to admit it. Without the dragons, it wouldn't really be the same, especially since they had just started bonding with the dragonets from last Snoggletog.
"We can't just let dragons run around like they own the place," muttered Stoick, pacing the room. Then he seemed to get an idea. "We...we could put up signs!"
Gobber, sitting in the corner of the room while carving out what looked like a duck decoy, said skeptically, "Signs, for dragons?"
Hiccup sighed. "Not for the dragons, he means for the people."
Gobber looked even more skeptical.
Snivels piped up from his, and Lockheed's, position on the other side of the room, "Signs, for people? From what I've seen, you Vikings aren't exactly avid readers. No offense, Hiccup."
Now Stoick was beginning to look flustered. "Then we'll build a huge net and stretch it around the plaza," he said impatiently.
"Nets?" asked Gobber rhetorically, "You do know that they breathe fire, right?" Beartic and Probopass both rolled their eyes.
Stoick looked on the verge of giving up. "Maybe Mildew was right," he sighed, and Snivels frantically moved to change his mind. But before he could, Hiccup intervened for him.
"Wait, Dad," he said. "How about you let me take care of the dragons?" Stoick seemed surprised, whereas Snivels and his siblings were thankful for his offer.
"You?" asked Stoick in disbelief. "Who else?" Hiccup replied, as Toothless walked over to stand beside his friend. "If anyone can get the dragons under control, I can. I'm the best man for the job." As he said this, he scratched Toothless under the chin to prove his point.
"You're not a man yet, Hiccup," Stoick said bluntly. "Not if you don't give me the chance to be!" he protested in response. At a reassuring nod from Gobber, Stoick finally complied.
Snivels smiled to himself, confident that his friend would be able to get his comrades under control.
"Alright," Hiccup said, walking into the seemingly empty village with much confidence. "There's going to be a few changes around here." A solitary Nadder ran across his path and vanished. It seemed to have some destination in mind, so he decided to follow it.
Soon, he cornered it as it tried to steal food from a Viking. The Nadder was growing more and more agitated, so Hiccup got in between it and the Viking and said, "Easy, easy!" He placed a hand on its nose, and the dragon quickly calmed down.
"OK," he said with satisfaction. But he had spoken too soon – a flock of chickens suddenly appeared from nowhere and startled the Nadder, who went off to chase them. He quickly spotted the source of the terrified poultry – a blue Gronckle with a Sliggoo on its back was tearing its way through the village looking for food.
The situation quickly dove out of control. Dragons, Vikings, and Pokémon were running every which way, and every time he turned, it seemed as if there was someone or something that needed his help. He looked frantically round for something he could do, and finally caught sight of two dragons and their partners fighting each other in front of the barn. Several smoking sheep ran down the hills in terror.
"Toothless!" he called. "You stop that fight. I'll put out the sheep." As the Night Fury ran to do as he had been told, Hiccup raced after a sheep that had separated itself from its group.
Hiccup chased the sheep around and around the village, and just when he thought he had caught it, his jump fell short and the sheep ran right over him. He picked himself up painfully and resumed chasing the sheep.
The other teens and Pokémon, minus Snivels, were perched atop a catapult. They normally hung out there at that time of day, mostly to get away from the chaos that often happened on Berk.
"What is he doing?" Blaze asked, pointing to someone running frantically through the village. It was Hiccup, trying and failing to take care of the dragons. "I think he's helping the dragons break stuff," said Tuffnut uncertainly. "Cool!" smirked Ruffnut, settling down to watch.
Astrid watched the sheep run over him with a wince. "He looks like he could use our help," she said, not sure if they should go down after him into the thick of things. "Yeah, we'll help," Tuff said. "In a minute," Ruff finished for him. Amber scoffed.
Suddenly, there was the immense thrumming of dragon wings overhead. "And… it's three o'clock," Tito muttered. Astrid turned away, not wanting to see the dung come flying down on Hiccup.
Fortunately, she didn't have a need to worry, because Snivels arrived just in time to get Hiccup to shelter before he could be pelted by the waste. "Thanks," Hiccup seemed to mutter to Snivels. Snivels nodded, as if to say "Don't mention it."
"Oh, everything hurts," Hiccup complained that night as he was settling in for a good night's sleep, "Even this." He pointed to his prosthetic. Toothless looked at him with amusement and pity.
All of a sudden, there was a voice that sounded from downstairs. "Hiccup?" it called. "Astrid?" Hiccup replied, for indeed that was her voice. "Perfect," he muttered bitterly. "I don't look too beat up, do I?" he asked Toothless, trying to smooth his hair down. He just gave Hiccup another look, one with more amusement and less pity.
Hiccup turned to the sound of footsteps and saw Astrid and her Pokémon walking up into his room. "Oh hey, Astrid! What a nice surprise!" he said with false delight. "So," she replied, "How was your day?"
He took a second to think, and then waved it off. "Oh, uneventful. Hung around the plaza...you know."
She gave him a knowing look. "Yeah, I do know," she said. "We saw you out there. It's hard to believe you're still standing." Hiccup dropped all attempts to stay cool and flopped down on his bed with a huge groan. "I'm going to be seeing smoking sheep in my dreams for the next month," he said in exhaustion.
"Well, it could've been worse," Snivels said from his place in the corner, "At least you didn't get covered in dung, thanks to yours truly."
"HICCUP!" came Stoick's voice, followed by his and Beartic's characteristic heavy footsteps. "What's going on out there?" he asked when they had entered. "The plaza looks like a war zone!" Beartic grunted in agreement.
Hiccup hastily tried to calm him. The last thing he wanted was for the dragons to be caged up – or leaving entirely. "I know this looks bad..." he began - "Really bad," Astrid whispered – "But this is only, uh, Phase One of my… master plan."
That, at least, got Stoick looking curious and not mad. "Oh," he said simply. "So...you do have a plan."
Hiccup nodded. "Of course I do!" he exclaimed emphatically. "It's very...complex, with lots of drawings and, um, several large, moving parts...Yeah, it's, uh, pretty wild."
Stoick gave him a glance, and then nodded. "This had better be real," he said, "Because Mildew has stirred up the whole island. If you don't get these dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads."
Toothless shot Hiccup a desperate glance. "Don't worry," he assured them. "Your head isn't going anywhere."
"You do realize," Astrid interjected, "That there are, like, a bazillion dragons out there and only one of you? I hope you really do have a plan."
Truth be told, Hiccup didn't have a plan - but he was starting to get one.
What'cha think? You can go ahead and laugh, Cottonmouth25, the wheelbarrow scene was for you!
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