Berk Academy Short Story Collection

A collection of stories staring riders and their dragons; if you are interested, please send me a PM and I will send the rules/form. Be warned there are two batches of four. This the first request:

The growth of School of Dragons has caused a sudden and large demand for more fish. In response, Hiccup sends Eria and a couple of young tween riders to find more near bye fishing spots. But with a bunch of reckless riders, can Eria focus on the task and keep everyone from the pods of wild water dragons below?

Story #1 - Down Below

Our survival depends on this.

Eria couldn't get those words out of her mind. They were the last she had heard from Hiccup before she, and the two tweens set out towards the open ocean. Her heart was accelerating; her palms sweating. It seemed like an easy task, go out to the ocean and search for new fishing grounds, be back before dusk falls. She knew she could handle it. There was no doubt about that; but the laughter of the tweens flying ahead in the sky, and the sight of hands from both parties aiming at each other was making Eria a little nervous. She had never been on a mission like this before, let alone been in charge of teenagers.

Antries and Aldranri are both under the water, allowing their back to be inches above to keep Eria from getting too wet. Eria wasn't too worried about getting wet, winter had just ended and there would be a few months of spring bliss. The wind sent a shiver down Eria's spine; Antries head popped out from under the water. Aldranri is still under the water, guiding them, "Focus Antries. I'm fine," The dragon watches for a few more moments, but obeys his master.

It was two hours into the swim, when Aldranri and Antries sped up. Automatically Eria holds her breath and the dragons dive. It was hard to tell that under those beautiful waves was a multitude of fish with a beautiful set of coral reefs. Eria looks around, the fish are plentiful, but her eyes fasten on to the coral reefs. She taps her dragon on the the and they shoot to surface, popping out of the water and into the sky.

Eria can see the tweens, even when she was still under the water. They had the smarts to stop, but her dragons were going to fast and the tweens were in her way. Antries and Aldranri let out a ear piercing sound, but the tweens are still arguing. Their dragons, a Monstrous Nightmare and a Gronckle, glance down as the dragon grows closer. Their eyes widen, and the dragons quickly fly in opposite direction just as Eria was to hit them.

"Wow!" Bubblefart, the male riding the Monstrous Nightmare exclaims.

Fat Billy clings to his Gronckle, "Heelppp!|"

Eria pats the back of the dragon, "Good job!"

"What was that for?" Bubblefary exclaims, "we may be younger, but you shouldn't treat us like that!"

Whether or not they were right, Eria knew it wasn't her fault. Telling them off was a good idea, something she should do. Otherwise they will disrespect her and never listen. What if something horrible happened and they wouldn't listen? She wants to speak, but the words just don't come out.

"Fish," She ignores it, "are down there. But not for boat fishing. Coral will damage the boat." Eria glances towards the ocean, it is calm, peaceful. Beautiful even, "we will keep searching."

The boys don't speak, despite being forward a moment before. Instead, they continue to fly, "Back to the water." Eria instructs the dragon. They obey, quickly and again, Eria is watching as the ocean calmly as her dragon scouts below the ocean.

Quickly, Eria pulls out a small notebook. Thankfully, the leather pack was located in front of her on the back of her dragon, but with the water crashing against her body as the dragon pushes their wings against the water, she had to be careful not to get the paper wet. She opens it and turns each page she see's a map. It takes up an entire two pages, and small, but useful. Eria makes a cross, making the best educated guess as to where the spot it. The classes in maps were a big help at the academy.

Just as she finished, a voice calls out, "Fish!" Eria glances up at Fat Billy, who points ahead, "I think I see fish."

"Good," Eria murmurs, trying to speak louder, "Alright boys. Head in that direction."

The boys look at each, making some comment, but they speak too low for Eria to hear.

She ignores them, their opinion didn't matter to her anyway. There was nothing wrong with tweens, but they still had more to learn. She tries to remember herself at that age. Even if she was shy, there were times when she made a wrong decision. Her superior was always kind, but would remind her of proper behavior, "Never forget," Her superior would say, "mistakes help you learn. You will be in my position one day. Don't let anyone get away with bad behavior."

True it sounded harsh, but it was for the benefit for the school.

She reaches the spot, it was hard to see fish from so far away. Eria holds her breath and the dragons, as if it were a routine, dive directly. It takes several moments before Eria can see anything, but when she does, there are fish. Lots of fish. No coral either. This was it. The spot they needed. It was one, but they needed at least one.

The dragons emerge from the water, Eria soaked again, but they don't speed towards the tweens. This time, after emerging, they fly slowly towards them. It would take all this time before Eria remind herself to speak to the boys. Communication was key, "Good job." She says as they hover above the water at the same level as the boys, "there are fish. We should head back now. Hiccup will want a report."

Bubblefart groans, "C'mon."

"Yeah. We can find more spots."

"We're on a roll."

Eria wants to shake her head no. We can't do that because we won't back in time, the afternoon is already beginning to creep up on us, and we still need to figure out which way is home, but Eria sighs, "Alright. We will continue on."

She should have said no, Eria knew it was stupid of her to say anything else. Something bad would happen, it was feeling Eria had. But who would know until it was happening, and as the sun started to set Eria knew she had made a mistake, "We should go back," Eria said softly after she and her dragon flew up so they could speak to the boys.

Bubblefart groans, "It's just night. We won't get hurt,"

"Watch this," Fat Billy exclaims. Below, Eria notices there were a lot of rocks, "no hands!"

"Oh yeah!" Bubblefart slowly puts his legs in front of him, "no legs!"

"Watch this," Fat Billy balances himself on his Gronckle, "standing."

Boys! Eria wanted to say, You will fall!

"That's nothing!" Bubblefart exclaims, jumping to his feet, "I bet anyone could..." But it was too late, Bubblefart trips over his other leg and falls down towards the rocks, "Ah!" By the time his dragon notices, he's already fallen on to a rock.

Eria gathers her courage, "Are you okay?"

"It hurts," Bubblefart had landed on a small, flat rock that was small, but big enough to hold Bubblefart, "my leg is broken."

"Devil!"Fat Billy calls, pointing to Bubble Fart.

The Monstrous Nightmare looks towards the rock and makes a screeching noise, diving towards his master. Bubblefart screams, "No Devil! Away!" The dragon obeys, flying back into the sky towards the other two riders, "Seriously Fat Billy?"

"What I was trying to help!"

"Trying to help? More like trying to kill me!" Bubblefart glares, "there isn't enough room on here for my dragon."

Under the water, Eria sees something. Its green...they are green, and they are just below the surface, "We need to get him out there," Eria says only loud enough for Fat Billy to hear, "we have company."

Fat Billy looks and gasps, "Scauldron."

"If we don't work fast Bubblefart will be gone for good."

"Can't you go down there,"

Eria shakes my head, "Dragons are afraid of Seashockers. But there are several Scauldron down there...I doubt they'd be afraid." She thinks, trying to get a idea or concept. Something, and then an idea hits her, "Fat Billy. Gronckles can hover. Try to get your dragon low enough for Bubblefart to grab his leg."

"Whose leg?"

"Your Gronckle."

"But that...no. That's putting me and my dragon at risk"

Of all the times, Eria tries to gather courage, "Right now, your team mate is at risk. I need you to do it. You'll regret it if you don't." Fat Billy thinks for a moment, but hesitantly nods.

They fly over Bubblefart and start to slowly hover, "Try to grab his leg when I get close."

"Whose?"

"My dragon!"

"Oh."

Eria starts to get nervous, the dragons are circling the rock underneath. Sure they didn't tend to eat humans, but you never know what a pack of hungry wild dragons would do. Minutes later, Fat Billy is only halfway, "Hurry up!" Eria manages to yell, "they are going to strike soon."

Fat Billy listens, speeding up a little, but not enough. As he reaches Bubblefart who grabs on to the dragons leg a shadow hovers over him. He turns, seeing a large pink Scauldron.

"Pull him up!" Eria yells at Fat Billy, "pull him up!"

For a moment, Fat Billy stares at the dragon, but shakes his head and quickly pulls Bubblefart up from the rock and into the safety of the sky. They fly away, faster than anything else. Fat Billy lowers Bubblefart on to Devil, "Woohoo!" Bubblefart exclaims, "that was fun."

The truth is, Eria was angry at the boys, and herself. She shouldn't have given in, otherwise this wouldn't have happened. But they were reckless, and that in this world, could be the most dangerous thing of all. Eria instructs everyone to stop, now they hovering in the air. She turns so she's facing them, and glares, "That was reckless. You almost got yourself killed. Do that again..." Eria pushes herself, she has to say this, "...and you will never ride that dragon again."

The boys say nothing, not giving the usual retort. Instead Eria speaks again, "I am reporting this to Hiccup. Now, lets head back."

And if there was one thing that Eria knew, it was that she would always speak up and never give in again.

A/N: There you have it! The first completed one-shot requested