"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."

"We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have Dragons. Most people would leave. Not us. We're vikings. We have stubbornness issues."

"My name's Hiccup, by the way. Great name, right?"

"Oh, come on Hiccup it could be worse."

"How so?"

"Well, your name could be Snotlout. Snot, is the stuff that comes out of your nose when you sneeze and a lout is the same thing as a drunk."

"... I can never look at Snotlout the same ever again..."

"See? Told you.

"Oh, and my friend telling the story is Siff."

Hiccup and Siff run outside and saw a horde of dragons flying through the village. "Come on, Siff," Hiccup said, grabbing his best friend by the arm. "I'm sure we can get one this time."

Siff rolled her eyes but laughed as they ran outside. They raced through the village and dodged through other vikings fighting off the dragons. Suddenly the two of them were grabbed by the back of their shirts and pulled backwards.

"What are you two doing out?!" A mountainous man with a burly red beard shouted. "Get back inside!" He shoved them off.

"That's Stoick the Vast." Siff says. "He's the chief of the tribe."

"They say that when he was just a baby he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders." Hiccup says. "Do I believe it? Yes I do."

"I for one do not. But that's not the point."

Siff and Hiccup ran through the flames and into what was supposed to be a blacksmith's shop. "Oh, nice of you two to finally join the party." A man with a peg-leg, and crazy personality said. "I was afraid one of you had been carried off and the other was crazy enough to follow."

Hiccup put on an apron while Siff ran to get some materials. "Who me?" Hiccup asked. "Nah, I'm way too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all of me."

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

"The meathead with a troll's attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber."

"We've been his apprentices ever since we were little… well… littler…"

"Don't listen to him, Hiccup." Siff said quietly. Then she raised her voice so Gobber could hear. "At least toothpicks serve a purpose. If they ever took Gobber, they'd just chew him up and spit him back out. Like bad fish."

"I heard that, lassie." Gobber shouted back at her.

Siff stuck her tongue out at him and she and Hiccup quickly got back to work. Suddenly, a nearby house erupted in flames.

"See?" Hiccup says. "Old village, lots and lots of new houses."

As the house across the street started to burn, four other teenagers rushed over to put it out.

"Oh, that's Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut." Siff says. "And…"

The house exploded in a ball of flames nearly engulfing the last girl.

"Astrid." Hiccup says dreamily

"Oh give me a break Hiccup." Siff says, punching in arm. "But seriously, their job is so much cooler than ours."

As the other kids ran by, Hiccup tried to jump out of the window after them, but Gobber caught him by the scruff of his shirt. "Oh, come on!" Hiccup begged. "Let me out there, please. I need to make my mark."

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks." Gobber said. "All in the wrong places."

"Please, just two minutes. I'll kill a dragon, my life will get infinitely better and I might even get a date."

"Please Gobber." Siff said.

Gobber shook his head. "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, you can't even use one of these." Gobber picked up a bola and handed it off to a viking coming into the shop.

"You do have a good point." Siff said. "But this little beauty will throw it for us."

Hiccup tore off a tarp covering a catapult device and an arm sprang up with a bola set into the trigger. Then by accident, Siff prematurely launched the bola and it hit a viking in the head.

Gobber rolled his eyes. "See? This. This right here. Both of you. This is what I'm talking about."

"It was just a mild calibration issue." Hiccup insisted.

"No-"

"Gobber we can-"

"No stop. Both of you. Listen to me, if you want to get out there to fight dragons you need to stop all… this." He said, gesturing in their general direction.

"But... you just gestured to all of us." Siff said.

"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you."

"Ohhhh…" Hiccup said threatening.

"Ohhhh yes…" Gobber said mimicking Hiccup.

"You sir, are playing a dangerous game." Hiccup said, getting all up in Gobber's face. "Keeping all this raw… Vikingness contained. THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!"

"I'll take my chances." Gobber said, not amused. "Now both of you. Swords. Sharpened. Now." He grabbed two swords and tossed them at the Siff and Hiccup. They took the swords begrudgingly and started doing their jobs.

"One day we'll get out there." Siff says. "Because killing a dragon, is EVERYTHING around here."

"A Nadder head on a stick will at least get someone noticed." Hiccup explains. "Gronckles are tough. Killing one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend."

"A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status."

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

"But the Ultimate Prize, is the dragon that no one has ever seen. We call it the-"

A giant explosion came from the catapults and Stoick jumped off.

"Night Fury." Siff says. "This thing never steals food, never shows itself and never, ever, misses."

"No one has ever killed a Night Fury." Hiccup says. "That's why I'm going to be the first."

"We, Hiccup. We're going to be the first."

"Oh, sorry. Right."

Gobber started grabbing things from around the shop and trades his hammer-hand for an axe-hand. "Man the fort you two." He said. "They need me out there."

"Must be going badly if they need the one-legged wonder." Siff said, making Hiccup struggle to hold back laughter.

"I heard that, Lassie." Gobber said. He turned to face them with a threatening glare. "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean." He charged into the chaos, hollering like a madman.

Hiccup gave Siff a knowing look. Siff smiled and they grabbed their contraption and raced out the back door. They weaved through the ongoing mayhem as fast as their legs could carry them. The entire way, people were shouting at them to get back inside. They reached a cliff overlooking the bay and dropped the handles of the contraption to the ground. They got it all set up and then waited in anticipation.

"See anything?" Hiccup asked.

Siff scanned the sky looking for signs of a Night Fury. "No, nothing yet."

Suddenly, the sound of a Night Fury filled the sky. The sound was coming from the watch tower. They aimed their weapon and fired just after the Night Fury blasted the tower to bits. The bola flew into the air then disappeared. As soon as it was out of the sky, they heard a WHACK and a SCREECH.

"There!" Siff said, point to where a dark shape was hurtling down towards Raven's Point.

"Yes!" Hiccup exclaimed. "We did it! Did anyone see that?"

A Monsterous Nightmare climbed up the face of the cliff and their victory was short lived when they saw the hungry look in its eye.

"I don't think you wanted him to see that." Siff said.

"Nope."

They took off sprinting as fast as they could.

Stoick turned around from the battle to hear familiar yells coming from the hill above him. Siff and Hiccup were running through the plaza with the Monstrous Nightmare close behind them. It blasted a gooey fire across the streets, setting the houses ablaze.

Stoick abandoned the battle and ran after the two kids.

Hiccup took cover behind the last standing pillar in the square and grabbed Siff by the arm just before the Nightmare blasted it. He pulled her in close to him and they squeezed each other in fear.

Just then, Stoick tackled the Nightmare to the ground and smashed it repeatedly in the face. The Nightmare realized that it was beaten and flew away to avoid getting its head put up on a stick.

"Oh, and there's one more thing you should know…"

The pillar fell to the ground to reveal Hiccup and Siff standing there ashamed. "Hi… Dad…" Hiccup said. The entire town looked at them with scorn.

"Okay but we hit a Night Fury." Siff said quickly.

Stoick grabbed them both and dragged them off.

"It's not like the last few times dad," Hiccup said. "I mean we really actually hit it. You guys were busy and we had a very clear shot. It went down, just off Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there, before it-"

"STOP!" Stoick exclaimed, letting them go. "Just… stop. Everytime you go outside, disaster falls. Can't either of you see that I have bigger problems that constantly worrying about where you two are? Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed."

Siff looked around and saw everyone looking at them. "Between you and me, sir," Siff said. "The village could do with a little less feeding, don't you think?"

"Don't you start with me, Siff." Stoick said. "You were supposed to keep Hiccup from doing anything stupid. And yet, he still managed to drag you off and nearly got the both of you killed. You deliberately disobeyed me, both of you. Why can't you follow the simplest of orders?"

"I can't stop myself." Hiccup said. "I just see a dragon and-"

Siff elbowed him in the side, cutting him off. She shook her head to keep him from talking. "We're sorry, sir." Siff said.

"Gobber, take them back to the house." Stoick said. "I have their mess to clean up."

"I should probably explain this now." Siff says. "Stoick is not my dad and Hiccup is not my brother. My parents were good friends with Stoick and his wife. Then my parents were killed during a trading expedition to one of the other islands a few years ago. Their boat was attacked and… well… they didn't make it… Hiccup and I were already very close friends and Stoick took me in. But he made me promise that I would keep Hiccup out of trouble… I haven't been able to keep that promise very well."

Hiccup and Siff past though the other teenagers and immediately began being teased.

"Hey look, it's Hiccup and the Stiff." Snotlout said. "I honestly don't think I've ever seen anyone mess up that badly. That actually helped."

"Thank you," Hiccup said. "I was trying so…"

They kept walking and Siff didn't say anything.

"We really did hit one." Siff said once they were away from the other teens.

"Sure lassie." Gobber said.

"We did." Hiccup insisted. "He just never listens."

"It must run in the family." Gobber said. "And it appears that Siff has picked it up too."

"And when he does, it's always with his disappointed scowl. Like someone skipped on the meat in sandwich." Hiccup threw his voice to mimic his father. "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 fishbone!"

"I know how you feel, Hiccup." Siff said. "I'm like the extra meal that he didn't even order."

"No, no." Gobber said. "You're both looking at this all wrong. It's not what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand."

"Thank you, for summing that up." Siff said with a sigh, reaching for the doorknob.

"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not." Gobber said, realizing that he'd crossed a line.

"I just want to be one of you guys." Hiccup said, walking inside with Siff close behind him.

"We're not just going to sit here while there's a Night Fury waiting for us is there?" Siff asked.

Hiccup looked out the window to see that Gobber was far enough away. "No way." He said with a smile. "Come on."

They ran straight out the back door and headed off.