Through All The Ups & Downs
Couple; HarrisonXAddilyn
Rating; Mature
*Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any songs I might use!
Characters;
Second Lieutenant; Harrison Haddock(Hiccup)-with Toothless the Night Fury
Private; Dexter Bazirk(Dagur)-Strikebolt the Skrill
Specialist; Trevor Vollan(Thuggory)-Silverspine the Razorwhip
Private; Syrus Jorgenson(Snotlout)-with Hookfang with Monstrous Nightmare
Corporal; Skye Ostberg(OC)-with Phantom the Changewing
Specialist; Andy Kingston(OC)-with Shiftscale the Hobblegrunt
Sergeant; Briana Grayson(OC) with Nightstar the Night Fury
Private; Olivia Holgerson(OC) with Wildfire the Monstrous Nightmare
Private First Class; Chelsea Boggs(Camicazi) with Mimic the Changewing
Major; Aaron Hagebak(Alvin)-Leader of Sky Striker Company-with Flarespike the Deadly Nadder
Addilyn Hofferson(Astrid) with Stormfly the Deadly Nadder
Hailey Bazirk(Heather)-Windshear the Razorwhip
Frankie Ingerman(Fishlegs) with Meatlug the Gronckle
TJ Thorston(Tuffnut) with Belch the left head of a Hideous Zippleback
Regina Thorston(Ruffnut) with Barf the right head of a Hideous Zippleback
Spencer Haddock(Stoick)-Chief of Police-with Skullcrusher the Rumblehorn
Viviana Haddock-Principal of Berkville Academy-with Cloudjumper the Stormcutter
Nathaniel Haddock with Sharpshot the Terrible Terror
Second Lieutenant; Glenn Belmore(Gobber)-Leader of Wind Rider Platoon-with Grump the Hotburple
1) I Was Home
{Harrison's POV}
[Monday, October 21st, 2014]
"Men and women of the 45th Drake Brigade, give yourself a pat on the back boys and girls! After four hard months, you graduate today as soldiers of the army in the Arc Isle Military Forces! Congratulations, and I know you'll do our island proud!" announced an older man wearing a uniform. I stood there wearing my set of formals at the position of 'Parade Rest' while the family and friends of everyone standing on the field began to clap and cheer for our success on graduation Basic, Advanced, and Dragon Training. It took four long months, but we had done it! My family wasn't here, not even my friends. Nobody knew where I was but they would when I left here today and returned to my hometown; Berkville in Archian City of Arc Isle.
My name is Harrison Haddock, eighteen-years-old with short auburn hair on top and a faded shave around the rest of my head and emerald green eyes. Bet you are wondering why I'm in the army and nobody knows where I am? Well, I'll tell you! I dropped out of High School at the end of Junior Year in June after bonding with a dragon just after my eighteenth birthday. I'm a leap-year baby, February 29th, 1996 is when I was born. Right, back to why I'm here and not in school enjoying what should be my Senior Year.
My bonded dragon is a Night Fury; the rarest of all dragons to humans. I named him Toothless because when he retracts his teeth he's well, toothless and I thought it was fitting. My dragon only shows his teeth when he's angry. Otherwise, he's happy as can be. So, I bonded with Toothless in March and joined the Army towards the end of April, then shipped off for Reception Week at the end of June. The training that I just finished had started back on July 1st, 2014.
Did I join because my life wasn't going anywhere? No. In fact, I had everything I could ever want without the military. I have parents, a little brother, and tons of friends. Hell, I was a star athlete at my school. I even had a job, one I'd been working since I was fourteen. I started as just a cashier then, I put in my two weeks before leaving for Reception Week and left at the position of a shift supervisor. Not bad for four years there, right? So why did I join? I've always wanted to protect people the care about, my home island. Sure, I could have been a police officer or firefighter, but I knew I could protect on a bigger scale by joining the army.
What good is having everything you could ever want but not be able to protect it? That was my thinking when I made this choice. Why didn't I tell anyone I dropped out and left? I know they wouldn't approve. I plan to inform them as soon I get back to my town, but first I had to finish this ceremony. The lead officer was just telling everyone how the rest of the day was going; we could leave at 4 pm. Right now it's only 3:15.
My family consists of my father, Spencer, my mother, Viviana, and finally, my little brother, Nathaniel but everyone calls him Nate; he's only twelve, turned it twenty days before I turned eighteen, in fact, we're seven years apart. So, my Dad is the chief of police, hence the idea to be a police or fireman. My mom was the principal of Berkville Academy; a huge chunk of land to run to High School and train dragons because as long as we were sixteen we were allowed to try and bond with a dragon, holding a permit to train and fly them. We received the license at the end of Senior Year when training got completed.
Me joining the army let me skip the permit and go right to license at the end of military training. Awesome, right? My friends are Frankie Ingerman, Regina and TJ Thorston; their twins, Addilyn Hofferson and Syrus Jorgenson, who is oddly enough here with me at Fort Fury, Archian City. Syrus was shocked to see me here but agreed not to tell anyone that I was, explaining my reasons for doing so was to avoid the disapproval. Syrus is bonded to a male Monstrous Nightmare he calls Hookfang, a very stubborn dragon and yet, a perfect match to Syrus because he was equally as stubborn.
"Sky Striker Company, dismissed!" yelled Aaron Hagebak, our group leader. Major Aaron Hagebak has bonded to a male Deadly Nadder he named Flarespike. Okay so, I'm in a company called Sky Striker because all of are members of the Dragon Aerial Force. The team is made up of two platoons. I'm in the Wind Rider one with twenty-seven others, Syrus is in it too. Syrus and I managed to make some other fantastic friends too. Trevor Vollan, he's eighteen and from Meatford. There's also, Dexter Bazirk of Bersdale, he's twenty-two-years-old and has a little sister, Hailey who is eighteen and just transferred into Berkville Academy, so I bet my friends have met her by now.
We had two girls on the team too, Olivia Holt, eighteen years of age and Chelsea Boggs, also eighteen. Both of these girls are from Boghurst. Oh, and our unit is named Alpha by us, well, it became an adopted name because of the types of dragons the six of us use. I have a Night Fury, Syrus has a Monstrous Nightmare. Dexter has another rare dragon, a male Skrill he calls Strikebolt. Trevor bonded to a male Razorwhip he named Silverspine. Olivia has a female Monstrous Nightmare she gave the name of Wildfire to and finally, there's Mimic; a female Changewing that belongs to Chelsea.
The training we've endured was, well, I don't have a word for it. Difficult and trying if I had to pick two alone to describe it all. First was eight weeks of Basic Combat Training, then it was a month of Advanced Training; this is where we learned how to do our job more efficiently. Lastly, there was Dragon Training, and this lasted a month also. I was a little surprised that it only took us a month to complete DT. Usually, it depends on your dragon type to cover everything.
In DT, one would learn how to train, care for, and ride their dragon. I suppose that since Dexter and I had Strike Class dragons, there wasn't much the trainers could teach us since they knew very little as well. Caring for our dragons wasn't hard to manage, that took two days to learn. Training them to follow hand signals and voice commands only took a week. The most difficult part of it all was riding, so much needed to go into that and it took the final three weeks to master. Toothless and I worked perfectly together, so we graduated top of DT in our company.
"Harrison! Hey, did you hear me?" I was brought out of my thoughts by Syrus, he had his hand on my shoulder, and I saw the other four members of the Alpha Unit standing around us.
"Sorry, Sy. I got lost in thought, what did you say again?" I questioned.
"Major Hagebak dismissed us; we're free to break off and return to the barracks to pack up and leave now if we want," Syrus informed.
"Yes, now all of you get going. We'll see you back here for November drill weekend. Remember, that they are the LAST Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of every month unless directed otherwise," came another voice, Glenn Belmore, he is our Platoon Leader at the rank of Second Lieutenant and bonded to a male Hotburple named Grump.
"Understood, Lieutenant Belmore!" the people of Wind Rider Platoon replied to him. Glenn lived in Berkville too, and I think Aaron was from Outbury, not that it was far, maybe a fifteen-minute flight but a much longer drive.
"Ready to go home and tell everyone where you've been for four months?" Syrus asked me, and I shook my head.
"You know what my family is like, Syrus. I expect to get scolded and told I'm an idiot and smarter than this," I sighed heavily. Those would be my father's words for sure. I probably should text them and inform my family I'm returning home, but I don't feel like getting the mass of calls and messages asked where the hell I've been for this long.
"It's gonna be okay, Harrison," Dexter smiled. "If nothing else, you can come stay with Hailey and me at our apartment," he offered. Dexter moved to Berkville from Bersdale because his mother had died in a car crash eight years ago and his father just recently passed away from lung cancer. Dexter joined the army to take care of Hailey himself; they moved to Berkville because its a small town with cheap apartments to live in. Hailey can stay home alone, but Dexter pays for everything.
"I'll bear that in mind, Dex, thanks," I smiled at him. I walked with them to the barrack and started packing my things up. I only took my phone, few sets of clothes, and pictures. Toothless was in the stable behind the barrack; I would be getting him as I left. Syrus, Dexter, and I would be flying to Berkville together. Trevor lived ten minutes away from us in the Southeastern direction. The girls; Olivia and Chelsea lived about fifteen away, Southwest of Berkville. I threw my backpack over my shoulders and took a deep breath while heading out the back door to get to the stables.
"Ready bud?" I asked Toothless as he warbled at me lightly. I positioned the saddle on him and climbed in, putting my feet in the stirrups and rubbing the top of my dragon's head. Syrus and Dexter got themselves ready too, not more than five minutes later, we were in the sky heading for Berkville.
[Berkville; 4 pm]
Right on time as planned. We left Fort Fury at 3:20 pm and Berkville was a twenty-minute flight from the city. Driving, however, it was almost an hour. I was closing in on my house, Dexter and Syrus already broke off to get to theirs. Hovering over the Haddock Household, I saw that my father and mother were both there. Mom being the principal was always home by 3:45 pm, my Dad typically didn't work past 4 pm. My little brother got off the bus at 3 pm, but he would at home with Addilyn, she babysat him since the High Schoolers got out an hour before the Middle Schoolers did.
On average, Frankie, Regina, TJ, and Addilyn would all go to my house after school, we all used to do our homework together, and someone would always be able to play with Nate or help him with his homework. From what I could see, they were all there right now. Wasn't this going to be fun? Not. I landed Toothless in the backyard carefully where Skullcrusher the Rumblehorn and Cloudjumper the Stormcutter dragons were up instantly to inspect the newcomer being Toothless.
"Easy guys. It's just me, and this is Toothless," I introduced to calm them down. Skullcrusher was my Dad's dragon, Cloudjumper is my Mom's. Nathaniel had a Terrible Terror, well, it used to be mine, but when Nate turned twelve, I handed over the responsibility to him to take care of Sharpshot. "Stay here pal," I instructed Toothless as I moved to the door that would lead into the laundry/mudroom. It's basically where the washer and dryer were but also where we left our shoes, snow shovels, hung the coats and scarfs.
This room led to a small hallway where on the left was the kitchen and to the right rested the living room. Straight across was a half bathroom. I opened the door and walked in slowly; I took another deep breath while making my way through the small room, then going right and entering the living room where I saw Mom, Dad, Nate, and my friends sitting around.
"I'm home," I said to get their attention. Instantly, the seven of them whipped around in shock, eyes widening to see my figure standing there after I hadn't been seen in four months. I was finally home.