(Hiccup's P.O.V.)
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 village. In a word, sturdy.
And it's 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.
You see,
most places have mice or mosquitos.
We have...
...dragons.
Most people would leave.
Not us.
We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues.
See that small boy running throw the seas of Vikings and Dragons, that's me.
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.
A large man with a beard down to his chest, running towards me, waving his axe above his head and screaming. He crashed into me nocking me over. Looking down the man in a cheery voice, said "Mornin'!" Before running of. I picked myself up and continued running, dodging through the rather large Vikings, past there angry shouting of 'what you doing out' and 'get back in'. I ignore them at least until, the largest of them, a man named stoick. Pulled me away from a charging dragon, lifting me up he turned his face to the other Vikings and said accusingly to them "What is he doing out again?!", when he got no answer from them, Stoick turned back to me and stayed "What are you doing out?! Get Inside!". He sets me back down and I scamper of to the side.
That's Stoick the Vast.
Chief of the tribe.
They say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders
Do I believe it?
I look on in awe as the man grabs a wooden cart and throws it into the sky knocking a dragon out of the air.
Yes I do.
Somewhere behind me Stoick yelled "What have we got?", further away I heard someone another Viking yell back his reply "Gronkles. Nadders. Zipplebacks, Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare". Stoick asked "Any Night Furies?", and the unknown Viking yelled back "None so far". Stoick replied in a slightly relieved tone " Good".
As I reach the place I was going to, I saw the torch's get hoist into the air revelling a swarm containing thousand of dragons. I lowered my head back down, and walked in. The place was a blacksmiths, coal in the blazer, blades cooling in a basin of water and in the middle of the shop, reshaping a sword was a enormous man with one arm and a peg-leg, my mentor, Gobber. He says "Ah! Nice of you to join the party. I thought you'd been carried off". Grabbing an apron I said "Who me? Nah, come on! I'm way too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all this". I strick a pose, showing off my pathetic muscles. Gobber replied "They need toothpicks, don't they?" I scampered around, putting away the swords he had already fixed.
The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber.
I've been his apprentice ever since I was little.
Well...littler.
I watch longinly throw the window, as a dragon flew down setting fire to a row of house.
See? Old village.
Lots and lot of new houses.
I look on as four teenager's run towards the fires with buckets of cold water. I lean slightly out of the window to watch them.
Oh and that's Fishlegs, Snotlout,
The twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut.
And...
My heart spear up as I saw her as if she was in slow motion. I look at her dreamily.
Astrid.
Their job is so much cooler.
I try to go out the door, but Gobber stops me. I pleaded with him "Ah, come on. Let me out, please. I need to make my mark". But Gobber just replied with "Oh, you've made plenty of marks, All in the wrong places". I continued pleadingly "Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date". He looks at me "You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe" he picks up a bola and continues "you can't even throw one of these" just as he said that sentence another Viking runs up, grabs the bola out of Gobber's hand and those it towards a dragon, binding its legs together. I reply hopefully "Okay fine, but" I wheel out a large contraption, placing my hand on it I continue "this will throw it for me". Unfortiunitly as I placed my hand on it the fragile mechanism, fired a bola towards Gobber narrowly missing him but hitting a man approaching the shop, knocking him out. Gobber looked annoyed and said "See, now this right here is what I'm talking about". Begining to look downcast, I replied "Mild calibration issue". Gobber looked at me and said "Hiccup. If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all" he gestured to me "this". I sounded offended as I said "But" pausing i continued "You just pointed to all of me". Gobber sounding happy, said "Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you". I said "Ohhhh", Gobber replied "Ohhhh, yes". I was starting to get annoyed as i said "You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw, Vikingness contained", Gobber turned around and went back to his work, I shouted over "There will be consequences!". He throws a sword over to me, barley catching it as he said "I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now". I started working on the sword, and I vowed to myself that one day I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here. I look out at the hoards of dragons.
A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed.
Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend.
A Zippelback? Exotic, exciting. Two heads, twice the status.
A look into the distance where stoick was standing atop a catapult, as it was fired into the sea of Naders. All of a sudden a burst of flames hits the catapult and out from the flames crawled a large, dark blood red dragon.
And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare.
Only the best Vikings go after those.
They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.
I hear Stoick yell at some Vikings to reload the catapult whilst he took care of the dragon. But just as he raises his hammer to strike the dragon, a load whistling came from the air and a ball of a soft of purplish fire struck the catapult as it exploded in flames.
But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen.
We call it the...
"Night Fury!" I heard someone yelling, from near the wreckage of the catapult.
This thing never steals food,
never shows itself,
and,
I watch as the Night Fury flys back into the darkness. The only evidence of it ever being there, was the remains of the catapult.
never misses
No one has ever killed a Night Fury.
That's why I'm going to be the first.
I look over and see Gobber changing his hammer for an Axe as he ran for the door yelling "Man the fort, Hiccup, they need me out there!", pausing to give me a threatening look he continued, "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean". I watch smirking as Gobber ran off into the night. After a few minutes, I grabbed the catapult, loaded a bola into the catapult and wheeled itbout the shop.
I could hear the yells of various Vikings telling me to get back in the shop but I just kept on running. I just yelled back over my shoulder "I know. Be right back!", looking back I could see Stoick wrestling a Nader, who had clearly just escaped from a net. I reach a cliff and go about setting up the catapult. After a couple of minutes I managed it andvgot behind it looking into the sky. I could hear the faint Hume of the Night Fury, going in for another attack. I spun the catapult around, closed my eyes and fired. I opened them and saw a black mass in the sky jitter and fall straight into the forest. I hit it.
I started jumping up and down, in excitement yelling Oh I hit it! Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?" Suddenly I feel I hot breeze on the back of my neck, turning around I see a Monstrous Nightmare, I mumble suddenly afraid "Except for you". It reared upas if to attack and I ran. After running for several minutes, we had eventually we reach the village, I ducked behind a large post. To dragon approach opened its mouth wide and sprayed fire at me, it licked around the post barely missing me. As the dragon starts to move around the post to get a better shot, a heavy ball smashes into the dragon knocking it sideways, of was Stoick. The dragon opens his mouth wide and attempts the breath fire but only smoke comes out. Stoick looks at the dragon and said "You're all out" as he hits it repeatedly in the face until it took flight.
Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know.
The brazer on top of the pole i was hidding behind fell to the ground and bounced down to the docks smashing varous parts until it landed in the water. Looking at my feet i mumble "sorry, dad".
Behind me I hear flapping as the Nader's the others had caught flew away, there net clearly having been burnt by the runaway brazer. "Okay, but I hit a Night Fury" I stayed quickly as my dad clearly not believing him draged him away, "It's 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 it" I started before I was interrupted by my dad who sounding annoyed said "STOP! Just...stop" pausing to calm down he said "Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!". I look around before saying "Between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don't ya think?". My dad who was starting to get annoyed, replied "This isn't a joke, Hiccup!" Shaking his head he continued "Why can't you follow the simplest orders?". I replied "I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just... kill it, you know? It's who I am, Dad". He sighed saying sadly "You are many things, Hiccup. But a dragon killer is not one of them" he continues "get back to the house", facing Gobber he said "Make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up".
My dad lumbers of in the direction I came from. As Gobber walks me home I her one of the teenagers say how much I helped, I shouted back "Thank you, thank you. I was trying, so". Avoiding Astrid's glair I continued towards my house, I looked at Gobber and said "I really did hit one". Gobber replied disbelievingly "Sure, Hiccup", not hearing his tone I said "he never listens". Gobber just replied with "Well, it runs in the family". Ignoring this I continued "And when he does, it's always with this... disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." I stop and then say in a bad impersonation of Stoick "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 is a talking fish bone". Shaking his head Gobber said "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". I looked at him and said sarcastically "Thank you, for summing that up". He said sounding serious "Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not". I sighed and looking dejected I said "I just want to be one of you guys". I notice a sympathetic look on his face as I closed the door. I waited until I was sure that Gobber was gone before I darted out of the back door, towards the forest, in search of the Night Fury.