IMPORTANT NOTICE
As some of you are aware, I had to take this story down for a little while because apparently I was in breach of Copyright :( So, straight off the bat, I want to make this clear that all rights to the characters, setting and storyline belong to DreamWorks. I own nothing. Zip, Nadda, Naught, Diddly squat... Nothing.
I'm going to put a similar notice at the beginning of each chapter just to make it clear for everyone, I don't want to have to take this story down again.
Thank you :)
Anyway...
This is the How to Train your Dragon TV series, Riders and Defenders of Berk, with Fem!Hiccup :)
There will be some other genderbent characters in this, so I will let you know when we get to them :) Some of the scenes and dialogue will change to accommodate the gender swapped characters, but aside from that, the storylines will mostly be the same :)
Hope you all enjoy :)
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Episode 01
How to Start a Dragon Academy
Hiccup – Hicca
Astrid – Arvid
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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... even train them.
In the sky above berk, a midnight dragon swooped and dived amongst the fluffy white clouds.
It had been a month since the defeat of the Red Death, and now Hicca was able to fly Toothless in the open, free as a bird alongside the other teens her age. Hicca was still getting used to her prosthetic, it was often uncomfortable, and she experienced phantom pains now and again. But on the back of Toothless, with her long hair tied back and the wind whipping passed her face, she didn't even notice.
Her metal foot slotted into the peddle at Toothless's side, allowing her to control his new, red, artificial tail fin. They both had missing limbs now, but in a way, it made them closer.
But it wasn't just the two of them sailing through the sky nowadays, the other teens on Berk also had their own dragons, and Hicca and Toothless were on their way to meet them now.
The south side of Berk was dotted with tall sea stacks, some on the verge of crumbling, but most standing firm. At the very top of one of the tallest stacks, four other dragons and their five riders were waiting for Hicca and Toothless.
Toothless glided gently onto the rock column, landing next to Stormfly with Arvid riding on her back.
"Alright guys," Hicca announced, drawing the other teens attention. "Best trick competition, whose up first?"
Fishlegs was about to respond, when Snotlout stood up on Hookfangs neck, effectively blocking the larger blond from Hicca's line of sight. "Uh, me!" He stated proudly.
"Um, actually," Fishlegs spoke up nervously. "I think it's-"
"Me!" Snotlout stated again more firmly, clearly he was either trying to prove his dominance, or he was looking for a challenge.
Either way, he was already beginning to annoy Arvid. "Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm. Go!" He ordered.
No matter how many times Snotlout tried to assert himself, Arvid always came out on top. But Snotlout didn't back down completely, "Oh don't worry, we'll go. And when we go, Hookfang and I are going to light the sky on fir-AHHHHH!"
Whatever smug remark Snotlout had been planning, was soon drowned out by his screams as Hookfang took off, only to dive downwards parallel to the sea stack.
The Monstrous Nightmare with the teenage screaming Viking on his back, swooped up, over and around the sea stacks, almost like he was showing off how agile he was, and at the same time giving Snotlout the ride of his life. Hookfang weaved in and out of the rock columns barely dodging them, at one point, he flew so close, that the horns on Snotlout's helmet ground against the rock face, sparks flying in their wake.
Hookfang gave an evil grin, he swooped into the sky and then plunged into the water. It was actually rather interesting that Monstrous Nightmares, although able to light themselves on fire, actually really enjoyed swimming. Maybe it helped them cool off. Finally Hookfang shoot out of the water and landed back on the sea stack, exactly where he had been before between Stormfly and Meatlug.
Snotlout's knuckles had turned white from how tightly he had been gripping Hookfangs horns, but once they landed, he quick checked himself over for injuries. "I'm alive? I'm alive!" He cheered in relief. But as soon as he noticed Hicca and Arvid looking at him, he quickly went back to his arrogant persona, "Of course I am."
"My turn," Fishlegs piped up excitedly. Among all of the other teens, including Hicca, Fishlegs was the most excitable when it came to dragons. Especially when it came to his Gronckle, Meatlug, which they only found out recently, was actually female. But if anything, it just made him love her more. He was still nervous about flying sometimes, but he was more than happy to give Meatlug a chance to shine.
"Ready girl? Here we go!" He asked his dragon. Meatlug seemed to nod, and she took off, her wing beats buzzing. But compared to Hookfangs neck-breaking speed and hair-raising tricks. Meatlug went at her own pace, buzzing in a small circle around the other riders before coming back to land.
Despite her performance being the exact opposite of Hookfang's, Fishlegs' response was still very positive. "Yes! New personal best," he leaned down to hug his dragon, allowing Meatlug to lick his face lovingly.
But of course, this loving scene was soon interrupted by arguing. Namely, from Ruffnut and Tuffnut.
"My turn!" the female twin piped up.
"No, my turn," her brother argued back.
Thankfully, Hicca broke their argument up quickly, "Guys, same dragon." It was surprising how often the Thorston twins forgot this.
"Oh, right," Tuffnut responded. He and his sister bumped their fists together, and then took off on their Hideous Zippleback.
Surprisingly, they did well at first. Swooping down the side of the column, and then straightening out in a smooth arch. Unfortunately, that was when things took a turn.
Tuffnut directed Belch's head to the left, "Go left!"
But Ruffnut ordered Barf's head right, "No, right!"
"No, no, right!"
"No, no, left!"
The Zipplebacks necks tangled around each other, then snapped back, slamming the twins against each other. The tangled necks caused the dragon to start spinning, whirling the two teens along with them. Fortunately Barf and Belch were more used to this, and were able to straighten themselves out, then they both flicked their heads up, and sent their two riders flying into the sky.
The twins yelled and screamed as they arced in the air and then came falling down. "Oh no! Whoa! This is awesome and scary! Ahhhh!" Tuffnut screamed, not really knowing what to feel.
But just as the ocean was starting to get a little too close for comfort, something caught Tuffnut and Ruffnut by the back of their jackets. The two looked up in surprise and relief to see that their dragons had caught them. They were flung into the air once more, and landed back onto their dragon's necks. Then the Zippleback flew back towards the sea stack, landing a little less than gracefully.
He twins collapsed on their dragon's heads, panting heavily from the adrenaline rush.
"We almost died..." Ruffnut said weakly.
"... Yeah... I know..." Tuffnut panted.
But just as it looked like the twins were on the verge of passing out, they both shot up into a sitting position, huge grins on both of their faces.
"Go again?" Tuffnut asked hopefully.
"Hey! It's my turn." Arvid called out, then he turned to Hicca with a confident look. His shoulder length blond hair whipping round to cover his left eye, "You might want to take notes. Let's go!"
Hicca watched with a smile as Arvid directed Stormfly expertly.
"Okay Stormfly, tail flip!" At his command, the blue Nadder ran her spiked tail along the surface of the water, leaving a splash trail in their wake. "Now twirl!" Arvid held on tight as Stormfly tumbled to the side spinning like an arrow through the air, then she levelled out and zigzagged between the rocky pillars.
"Quick, upwards spiral!" They started spinning again, this time flying straight up. Once they reached the peak of their spin, Stormfly levelled out and held her position, as if she'd just finished a dance in the sky. Arvid cheered from his place on her back, "Alright Stormfly!"
As he landed gracefully, Arvid heard Fishlegs and the twins give small cheers, while Snotlout just scowled. "Yeah... but can you do it without the dragon?" He jeered at Arvid, unsurprisingly receiving a punch to his upper arm, "Ow!" Thankfully, Snotlout thought it best to stay quiet after that, while Arvid turned to his somewhat girlfriend, giving her a small smile.
"Well... looks like we've got our work cut out for us there bud," Hicca leaned forward and patted Toothless on the head, silently telling him she was ready. Toothless took off suddenly, but it surprised the other riders when he started flying upwards, only to come shooting down parallel to the sea stack they had been perched on.
Hicca leaned in close to Toothless and prepared herself as the water drew closer. She suddenly tugged on his reigns, pulling them up just at the last moment to fly with Toothless's belly skimming the water. They swooped over and around, in and out of the rock formation at startling speed, much like they had done with the clouds earlier. Needless to say, compared to the others, Hicca and Toothless were well practiced. Then it came time to show their latest perfected trick.
Hicca steadied Toothless's tail so that he was flying right at a bridge between two sea stacks. Just as it looked like Hicca was about to get hit by the rocky bridge, she jumped off of Toothless back. The Night Furry sailed under the bridge, while Hicca took off into a run over the top, her prosthetic not slowing her down in the slightest. Once she reached the other side, she confidently jumped down and landed back onto Toothless's waiting saddle.
They took of high into the sky again, both of them cheering to themselves, that stunt couldn't have gone more perfectly.
Back on the sea stack, the other riders and their dragons were also thoroughly impressed, even Snotlout was cheering his cousin on. Arvid watched Hicca as she flew with grace and skill, he smiled fondly to himself.
As Toothless grew closer to the starting rock column, he let out a series of Plasma blasts. They exploded in front of the riders like fireworks, creating a ripple of purple fumes in the sky. "They're still the best," Arvid said to himself.
Toothless flew through the last remaining fumes, while Hicca smiled down at him, "Another win. Good job bud."
Since it was obvious who'd won, Toothless and Hicca started their flight back to Berk.
Yep, dragons... Most people on Berk would say life here is better since we made peace with them. Unfortunately, dragons are still... well... dragons.
/LINE BREAK/
Toothless landed at the edge of the village and allowed Hicca to dismount, but the scene in the plaza, was one of chaos, yelling and screaming. The dragons had certainly made their home here, which included eating every bit of food they saw. As Hicca and Toothless walked through the village, a couple of yaks ran passed while being chased by a Gronckle, and one of the Viking women was being terrorized by a Terrible Terror.
Just as she threatened the first Terror with her spoon, another swooped in and took the utensil from her. To Hicca's left, another villager was yelling at a Deadly Nadder that had decided to take a nap on his roof. In front of her, a Monstrous Nightmare was playing tug-of-war with someone's sack of apples, eventually spilling the contents all over the ground. And to her right, another woman had her washing line, and all the items hanging on it, stolen by a purple Nadder.
Hicca was so distracted by the trouble around her, she almost bumped into someone. Then again, it was also his fault, he was walking backwards and not paying attention to where he was going, instead he was looking up worriedly at the... sky... oh no.
"Dragon poo!"
The other Vikings around her stated fleeing in terror, as a wave of dragons loomed over head. It was that time of day already. At almost the exact same time, the dragons flying over head all started... evacuating their waste... all over the village.
Hicca back peddled, not wanting to get hit by any of... that. "Eww! Gross, gross, gross! Oh, that's disgusting."
Thankfully, Hicca found shelter with Bucket and Mulch, the two men were holding their shields over their heads like wooden umbrellas. This happened every day at three o'clock, and the two older men were prepared for it.
Hicca watched as more problems unfolded, wincing as she thought about what her father was going to say about this.
Most of us here on Berk are willing to take the good with the bad, but there are those who will never accept the dragons, and will do anything to drive them away.
/LINE BREAK/
At the top of the hill, hidden behind the large mountain that jutted out from the side of the village, Mildew's house was nestled against the rock wall. Mildew hated the dragons. Actually... he seemed to hate everything apart from his beloved sheep, Fungus. He was glad his house was so far away from the village, and the commotion of the dragons during the day. But that night, he was awoken by the thunderous noise on his roof.
Mildew awoke to see the weaponry above him swinging dangerously, the noise that had awoken him sounded like a storm raging outside. Either that, or his roof was creaking and groaning under the weight of something large, and most likely... scaly.
The old Viking grumbled as he stomped out of his house, glaring up at the Gronckle that was now sleeping on his roof.
"Dragons..." He grumbled, "I should have known. Helps himself to my roof, and my cabbage... " Mildew picked up the remains of a half eaten head of cabbage, looking at it with disgust. But as he turned, he saw the rest of his field. There were massacred cabbages everywhere, their remains littering the field. Mildew stared in disbelief, "My whole field! Gone!"
Mildew growled in anger, "That dose it Fungus." He stormed back inside his house, put on his helmet, picked up his staff and sheep, and started marching towards the village. It would take him a while to get to the village, but he didn't care, something had to be done about these dragons.
/LINE BREAK/
The next morning, Stoick was giving out orders to the other villagers at the food storage. Some of the fishing boats had just come in with a new load, so they needed to make room. Unfortunately, that was when Mildew decided to show up.
"Stoick!" He called out, still annoyed about last night.
Gobber gave a sigh and turned to Stoick, "Ah, here's Mildew with his complaint of the day."
Stoick stood tall and turned to the grumpy old man, he really didn't like dealing with Mildew, and his complaint was always the same. "You picked a bad time Mildew. I'm in the middle of storing food. The freeze is coming."
But as he turned to get back to work, Mildew called out to him regardless. "It's those dragons again. Those demons are not fit to live among civilised men."
Hicca had stopped by to see her father, but she stopped when she heard Mildews words. Thankfully, Gobber had a snarky reply ready, "Neither are you Mildew, why do you think we build your house so far outside of town?"
Mildew glared back at him. "Oh very well, make your jokes. Meanwhile these dragons are turning the village upside down! And turning people's houses into piles of rubble! They even disturb an old man's rest!"
Hicca watched worriedly as Mildews loud words drew in a crowd, it was clear he wasn't the only one who was aggravated over the dragons. They were even crying out in agreement to Mildews words.
"These are wild and unpredictable bests! You need to put those dragons in cages!" Mildew spat his words in Stoicks face. For a moment, Hicca though her father was going to punch the older man. But Mildew continued, "If you don't, they'll eat us out of house and home, and destroy the entire village!"
The crowd cheered again in agreement. But before Stoick could try and calm them, Hicca stepped forward instead.
"They don't mean any harm, they're just dragon being dragons," Hicca didn't yell over the crowd, her much softer words seemed to calm the people down, at least a little.
Stoick placed a hand on his daughters shoulder and stepped forward. "Look Mildew, if there's a problem, I'll deal with it," he said firmly.
Mildew pulled himself up to look Stoick in the eye, "Oh there's a problem Stoick, and I think I speak for everyone when I say, you'd better do something about it."
With that, Mildew trudged through the crowd and left, leaving Stoick to deal with the angry mob that he'd created. The villagers roared in anger, challenging Stoick and jeering at him, all of them wanting to know what he was going to do about the dragon infestation.
But for once, Stoick didn't have an answer.
/LINE BREAK/
That night, Stoick paced in front of the fire pit, stress and worry showing clearly on his face. Gobber sat nearby witling away at a block of wood, making what appeared to be a small wooden duck. He was there to give advice, but instead of giving helpful suggestions, he was poking holes in Stoicks ideas instead. He spent a lot of time at the Haddock household, maybe he got lonely sometimes, Hicca mused to herself. The young girl sat a little distance away, listening to the two and stroking Toothless's head, she heard her father give another heavy sigh.
"We can't just let dragons run wild like they own the place," He said, trying to think of something. "Hey, we could put up signs."
"Signs? For dragon?" Gobber asked with a slight smile.
Stoick shook his head, "No, for the people."
"Signs? For Vikings?" Gobber asked again with a slightly bigger smile. "We're not big readers Stoick."
Stoick gave an annoyed sigh, "Then we'll build a huge net and stretch it around the plaza."
"Nets? You do know they breathe fire?"
"I know very well they breathe fire, Gobber." It was clear that Stoick was starting to get frustrated. "Maybe Mildew was right, maybe we have to-"
Hicca knew what he was about to say, so she quickly spoke up, "Uh, Dad wait. What if I deal with the dragons?"
Gobber and Stoick both looked at her in question. "You?" Her father asked.
"Who else? If anyone can control them, I can. I'm the best woman for the job," Hicca spoke confidently as Toothless wrapped around her, in a small way proving her point. She was the first to train dragons, so maybe she could train them all.
A strange look grew on Stoick's face, "You're not a woman yet Hicca."
Gobber gave a chuckle from behind him, "Not yet. But once she's old enough, there'll be a line of suitors outside the house," Gobber only really said that just to see the looks on the father and daughters faces. Making them squirm was fun.
Hicca shook her head at the thought and turned back to her father, "Dad, just give me a chance."
Stoick and Gobber shared a look. Then Stoick decided, "Fair enough. You'll have your chance, starting tomorrow."
He gave Hicca a look, and Hicca smiled back, silently promising not to let her father down.
/LINE BREAK/
But the next day, it seemed as though the dragons had made it their mission to make Hicca's work difficult.
As Hicca only just managed to calm down a Deadly Nadder, a blue Gronckle chased a group of chickens right into the Nadders line of sight, awakening it from its calm trance. The rest of the day followed a similar path. As soon as Hicca put out one fire, two more burst forth, literally.
Dragons were playing with each other, fighting each other, setting things on fire, knocking stuff over, stealing food, scaring livestock. It seemed endless. Toothless was there to help break up the dragon fights, but even with his help, Hicca was overwhelmed.
Unbeknownst to her, the other teens were watching from one of the old catapults.
"What's she doing?" Snotlout asked, watching Hicca as she ran around after the dragons and terrified sheep.
"Uh... I think she's helping the dragons break stuff," Tuffnut suggested
"Cool," his sister responded. The twins loved nothing more than destruction, especially where they weren't the ones getting in trouble for it.
"Wow, she could really use our help," Arvid said worriedly. He had offered, but Hicca had wanted to do this herself, so he wasn't interfering.
"We'll get to it."
"In a minute."
The twins didn't plan on helping, they were just enjoying the show, the best part was about to start. As a swarm of dragons flew over the village, it became clear that it was three o'clock, and that meant only one thing.
Hicca didn't have time to run for cover.
/LINE BREAK/
That night Hicca sat on her bed, wincing at all the aches and pains in her body. She had known things wouldn't have been easy, but she never could have guess they'd get this out of hand.
"OW, everything hurts," She told Toothless tiredly. "Even this," she added, picking up her metal leg from the floor. The Night Fury was resting beside her, the day had worn him out as well, but it wasn't as bad for him as it was for Hicca.
"Hicca?" She heard Arvid call from the bottom floor of the house.
"Arvid? Perfect," Hicca groaned as she quickly reattached her leg and stood from the bed, brushing down her clothes and adjusting her ponytail, trying to make herself presentable. "I don't look too beat up, do I?" She asked her dragon.
Toothless gave a warble and tilted his head to the side, giving her an unsure look.
"Oh great, dragon pity."
Just then Arvid appeared at the entrance to her room, his clothes immaculate compared to hers. While her green tunic, fur jacket and brown legging were spotted with mud and scorch marks, Arvid's blue tunic and brown legging were spotless. His shoulder guard were polished and shiny, and from the left side of his belt, not a single one of the studded leather pleats was out of place.
"Oh hey, Arvid. What a nice surprise," Hicca said trying to sound cheerful.
"So, how was your day?" He asked as he folded his arms over his chest, and gave her a knowing look.
Hicca avoided eye contact, "Oh, uneventful. Just, hung around the plaza, you know."
Arvid raised an eyebrow and looked down at Hicca with a slight smile, "Yeah, I do know. We saw you out there, hard to believe your still standing."
Hicca let her guard down and collapsed backwards onto the bed, letting out a huge groan as she did so, "I'll be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month."
Just as Hicca was starting to relax, he fathers yell sounded from downstairs.
"Hicca!" Said girl jumped back up onto her feet, just as her father appeared at her doorway. "Hicca, what's going on out there!? The plaza looks like a war zone!"
Hicca held up her hands in defence as her father towered over her and Arvid, "Dad, I know it looks bad."
"Really bad," Arvid corrected.
Hicca racked her brain to come up with something to say, "Uh... But this is only... Phase 1 of my master plan."
Stoick seemed to calm a little at this, at least he wasn't yelling anymore. "Oh? So you do have a plan?"
"I do... Of course, I do," Hicca lied through her teeth. "It's very complex, lots of drawings, several moving parts. Yeah, it's... pretty wild."
Stoick gave an unsure look, but he seemed to buy it. "Uh huh... Well this better be real, because Mildew stirred up the whole island. If we don't get the dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads." Stoick was just about to leave Hicca's room, when he suddenly turned once more. But this time, he was looking at Arvid. "And you, no funny business with my daughter."
Hicca blushed while Arvid and Stoick exchanged a serious look, then the blond boy nodded politely, "Yes sir."
Stoick gave a nod and left down the stairs.
Toothless turned to Hicca and gave a worried warble, she stroked his head to calm him, "Don't worry bud, your head's not going anywhere."
"You do realise, there's about a million dragons out there, and only one of you. I hope you really do have a plan," Arvid asked her worriedly as he brushed his hair out of his eye.
Hicca thought for a moment. Maybe she did have one.
/LINE BREAK/
The next day, Hicca called a meeting of the dragon riders at the old killing ring. Now referred to as just, the Arena. There, Hicca told the others her plan.
"That's your plan? Train dragons?" Ruffnut asked.
Her brother joined in, "Here? Where we used to kill them?"
They both had a point, there were definitely some flaws in Hicca's plan.
"Right, but we don't do that anymore," Hicca said as she set down a basket next to Toothless. "That's why this place is available."
She was right, the only time they used the arena now was to store food and water sometimes. But the dragons still hated the arena. All of them aside from Toothless were shaking where they stood, clearly they still had bad memories of this place.
"Actually, the dragons do seem a little nervous," Arvid noted as he stroked Stormfly's beak.
Fishlegs nodded in agreement as he hugged Meatlug, "That's because they're very sensitive. Meatlug especially, she lost a cousin here. We try not to talk about it," he added in a hushed tone.
Hicca nodded in understanding. But still, it was a small space where they could practice and not damage anything or anyone.
Arvid understood this, and tried to change the subject. "It's amazing your dad just gave us the arena."
But Hicca suddenly looked a little nervous, "Well, it would be... If he did, yeah... but he didn't, so it's another thing we should try not to talk about."
"Wait, so we're going behind your father's back?" Arvid didn't like the sound of that. Stoick was already wary of him because he was technically dating Hicca, even if the two of them never really mentioned it out loud, so he didn't feel comfortable doing things behind the chiefs back.
But Hicca didn't really give him an answer. "There you go, talking about it... Uh... Alright everybody, here's the thing," Hicca started as she addressed everyone. "The dragons are out of control. We want them to live in our world without destroying it, but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village, we've got to do something about that."
Unfortunately, the twins misunderstood. "Got it, help the dragons blow things up. We can totally do that."
"No, I believe I said..." Hicca tried to interject.
But Ruffnut continued scheming with her brother, "Here's how we're gonna do it. First, we make them really, really angry."
"No problem, we anger everybody."
"You guys this is serious," Hicca raised her voice slightly. "Mildew wants all of our dragons caged, and I don't know about you, but that's not okay with me."
Thankfully, the twins seemed to understand. "You're right, she's sorry," Tuffnut said with a slight apologetic look, receiving a glare from his sister.
"Alright then, next problem..." Hicca walked over to the basket and opened it, she reached inside and pulled out a long loaf of bread. "The dragons are eating everything in sight."
Toothless perked up at the sight of food, and when Hicca waved the loaf in front of him, he instantly jumped forward and grabbed it in his mouth. "Now, when a dragon grabs something it's not supposed to have, you can get him to drop it, just by giving him a little scratch under the chin."
Hicca demonstrated on Toothless, and sure enough, she was able to take back the loaf of bread with no trouble at all. It was a little trick she'd learnt one of the many times Toothless had tried to steal her dinner.
But Snotlout didn't want to listen to his cousin, "Maybe that works for you and Toothless, but Hookfang and me, do things a little different."
With that, he snatched the loaf from Hicca and hurled it at Hookfang, the Nightmare easily catching it in his mouth. Then Snotlout strode over to him confidently, "When I want this big boy to do something, I just get right in his face and... Drop that right now! You hear me!" He suddenly yelled at his dragon, making Hookfang jump a little in surprise.
But Hookfang soon got over his surprise. He spat out the bread and nabbed Snotlout in his jaws, gripping his rider's head and torso in his mouth and shaking him slightly, leaving just Snotlout's legs and arms hanging out. He wouldn't bite down or harm his rider, he was just going to hold him there, until he felt the human had learnt his lesson.
"See? He dropped it," Snotlout's slightly nervous and muffled voice sounded from inside the dragon's mouth.
Tuffnut gave a chuckle as he and the other riders watched, "Should we help him?"
"Yeah, in a minute," Arvid said with a smirk.
Hicca just gave a sigh and turned to the others, "Alright, we've got a lot of training to do. But together, we can keep these dragons under control."
The others shared a look and followed Hicca's lead, leaving Snotlout still hanging from his dragon's mouth. "Um... can someone do that chin scratchy thing?... Hello?... You guys still there?"
/LINE BREAK/
Eventually, Hicca made Hookfang spit her cousin out. Then the teens made their way back to the village, ready to put their lessons into practice.
But strangely enough, as the six of them walked through town, they didn't see a single dragon.
"Huh... no dragons," Fishlegs stated.
Ruffnut gave a small chuckle, "That was easy."
"Lunch?" Snotlout suggested.
Hicca looked around the village, she had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. "That's strange... If the dragons aren't here, where are they?"
As if in answer to her question, a sudden loud explosion and a scream came from their right, and a large fiery plume of smoke rose into the air.
"Something tells me, that way," Arvid answered.
At the food storage building, the villagers were running around in panic as the dragons tore the building apart. The teens ran towards the sounds of yelling and screaming, but they were too late. They did however arrive just in time to see Stormfly and Hookfang joining in on the feast, leaving Arvid and Snotlout to stare at their dragons with sad disappointment.
Hicca looked around worriedly, then she rushed into the still smouldering building. He father had been here all day making sure the new boat loads of fish were properly stored, but Hicca had grown worried when she hadn't seen him anywhere outside.
She was relieved to see her father was alright inside the remains of the building, but it became obvious that Stoick wasn't happy as he threw a piece of rubble aside. "They've eaten everything, we've got nothing left for the freeze!"
Of course, Mildew just had to show up then of all times. "I warned you Stoick. But did you listen to me? No! You put a bunch of teenagers in charge, now look what the dragons have done." Mildew glared at Hicca and the other riders as he spoke, Fishlegs and the twins looking worried, while Snotlout and Arvid glared back at him. The old man turned back to Stoick, "Caging is too good for those beasts."
"Dad, I swear I can fix this. W-We were just starting to-" Hicca tried to explain, but Stoick cut her off.
"Enough, Hicca. How can I trust you to control all the dragons, when you couldn't even control your own?" At first, Hicca didn't understand what her father meant, but Stoick just gestured to his left.
Sure enough, Hicca turned to see Toothless with his head in a fish basket, chomping down on the very last morsel from the bottom of the barrel.
"Oh, Toothless..." Hicca said quietly as she was filled with nothing but dread.
Stoick turned and stormed back inside the burnt building, picking up as many fish baskets as he could. "Bucket, Mulch, man the boats. We need another catch."
He threw the baskets over to the two men, but Mulch just gave him a troubled look. "It's too late Stoick, it took us 6 months just to catch that last haul."
"Don't tell me it's too late! We've got to try," Stoick ordered them. Mulch nodded nervously, he and Bucked did as they were told and followed the chief out of the former storage building.
Hicca trudged after her father, trying to reassure him. "Dad please, you've got to listen to me. I know dragons better than-"
"Not now Hicca. I have a village to feed, and the dragons have done enough damage." Stoick loaded the baskets onto a wheelbarrow, he turned back to his daughter with a stern look. "By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?"
Hicca was shocked silent, giving Mildew enough time to worm his way into the conversation again. "You can't just cage these dragons," he scoffed. "You need to send them away, now!"
Once again, Mildew's words stirred hatred in the other villagers. They all started yelling and jeering in agreement, they wanted the dragons gone.
And unfortunately, Stoick also agreed.
"You're right Mildew. We'll cage them tonight, and in the morning... Hicca will send them off the island." Stoick looked at his daughter, his heart almost breaking when he saw her wide and sorrowful emerald eye, her arm around Toothless protectively. "I'm sorry, Hicca."
With that, Stoick turned away.
/LINE BREAK/
At the great hall that afternoon, the teens all sat together, a cloud of despair hanging over them.
"I can't believe we have to send them away," Snotlout said, breaking the silence.
"It's going to be weird," Arvid spoke up quietly, absentmindedly stirring at his broth. "I'd gotten used to Stormfly's face being the first thing I see every morning."
"Every night before I went to sleep, Meatlug would lick my feet... Who's going to do that now!?" Fishlegs collapsed onto the table in despair.
"I volunteer Tuffnut," Ruffnut piped up, trying to make a joke to cheer up her brother.
But Tuffnut was too miserable, he honestly didn't care. "Whatever... What time should I be there?"
Arvid gave a sigh, he stood from the table and abandoned his food, "Come on guys. Let's get this over with."
One by one the teens filed out of the hall in sombre silence, until it was just Hicca and Toothless left at the table. She wanted to do something, there had to be some way of stopping her father and saving the dragons. But what?
"Oh Toothless, I'm going to miss you so much," Mildew's sickly tone sounded. Hicca gave him a small glare and Toothless gave a low growl, but the old man pretended not to notice. "You know what you're mistake was?" He asked Hicca, "Thinking dragons could be trained. A dragon's gonna do, what a dragons gonna do, it's there nature. And nature always wins."
If Hicca wasn't the peaceful kind, she would have punched Mildew right then, or at least set Toothless on him. But how would that have helped? So instead, Hicca just let Toothless growl at him as he slinked away.
As Hicca stood there silently, the large doors to the hall opened and a cold wind rushed into, the freeze would be upon them soon. It suddenly got colder as the strong wind blew out the remaining fire pit at the centre of the hall. As Hicca and a few other villagers let out a shiver, Toothless turned and spat a plasma blast into the fire pit.
One of the Viking women was surprised for a moment, then she thanked the large Night Fury. Hicca watched the fire for a moment, as the wheels in her head slowly started turning again.
"You know what... Mildew's absolutely right," Hicca said as she suddenly had an idea. "Come on bud," she and Toothless ran for the entrance to the Great Hall. She had to tell the others as soon as possible.
As the sun finally set, the other teens were saying their final goodbyes to their dragons, some even apologizing to their dragons for not being able to help them. Slowly and sadly, the dragons slipped into the arena, ready to be caged away behind its heavy doors.
"It feels like big sharp teeth are tearing at this... thing in my chest," Snotlout said sadly, not knowing what he was feeling.
"That's what it feels like when you're heart is breaking," Arvid answered solemnly.
But Snotlout just had to act like himself again, "I don't have a heart, I'm not a sissy like you."
But for once, Arvid was too upset to even roll his eyes at the other male. As the heavy chains lowered the wooden doors into place, the teens could only watch as the miserable faces of their dragons were thrown into shadows, like prisoners.
"Don't close it!" Hicca's voice suddenly sounded from above.
Toothless slowly emerged out of the night sky, and swooped over the teen's heads. When he landed, Hicca jumped of his back and rushed over to the lever that controlled the arena door, pushing it back to open the doors again.
"We are not locking them up," she told the other teens firmly.
"What happened? Did you change your father's mind?" Arvid asked excitedly. But then his face changed to an unsure look, "Or are we going behind his back again?"
Hicca shuffled a little nervously, "Uh... One of those. Look, the dragons are going to do, what they're going to do, it's their nature. We just need to learn how to use it," Hicca loved being able to use Mildew's own words against him. Then she told the others her plan.
/LINE BREAK/
The next morning bright and early, Mulch and Bucket were following Stoicks orders, trying to catch enough fish to refill the stores. But once again, the nets came up empty, they were starting to lose hope.
But just above the fishing boat, Hicca and Snotlout flew into position.
"Snotlout, scare us up some fish," Hicca called to her cousin.
While she went off to check on the others, Hookfang swooped up and then came plummeting back down again. When Mulch and Bucket spotted him, their first instinct was to run and hide, but that soon turned into confusion when the Monstrous Nightmare dived into the water.
Underneath the surface, Hookfang swam in a large circle around the boat. Slowly getting tighter and tighter, until the fish had nowhere else to go, but straight into the fishing nets. When Hookfang shot out of the water, Snotlout couldn't help but give a cheer of triumph.
Meanwhile, Hicca took Arvid and Fishlegs towards Mildews fields, they were about to give the grumpy old man quite a surprise.
"Morning Mildew!" Arvid yelled and he and Stormfly flew in low over Mildew's fields. The Deadly Nadders long spiked tail dragged across the earth, digging a deep groove as she went. Then Hicca and Toothless flew right behind them, scattering seeds along the newly dug trench. Hicca flew back up into the air, and spotted Fishlegs and Meatlug leading a large group of dragons right towards them. Right on time.
"Three o'clock, time for the fertilizer," Hicca called down to Mildew. That was the only warning he got, before the dragons did their business all over his field. All the while, Mildew just watched in bewilderment. "Smile Mildew, we just saved you three months of work," Hicca smirked down at him and took off once more.
At that same time, the twins were doing what they did best. One top of their two headed dragon, they were rampaging through the forest, making huge explosions and causing a stampede of frightened wild boars. Then with Hicca and Toothless's help, they directed them towards one of the waiting farm houses nearby, closing the doors behind them.
"That was awesome!" Fishlegs cheered.
Arvid gave a huge grin and looked up at Hicca, "How did you know that was going to work?"
"Because their dragons, and they're going to do, what dragons do. We just have to work with them and not against them," Hicca said as she dismounted. "You know who we should actually be thanking?"
"There they are Stoick." Speak of the devil.
Mildew trudged up the hill, with the chief at his side. "Those dragons don't look like they're in cages to me"
Stoick nodded, "No, this is not what I asked for." He turned to Hicca and the others with an unhappy look.
Stoick order for the dragons to be put in cages at the arena, and for all of the teens to also be there, he was going to have a serious talk with them. This time there was no arguing.
With the teens and dragons all in the arena, the villagers gathered around the outside to see what Stoick was going to do. As he entered with Gobber at his side, the teens shuffled nervously. They had done some much good work in one day, but in doing so, they had gone against Stoick's orders.
"Oh no, what's Stoick going to do to us?" Fishlegs asked quietly as he hid behind Arvid.
"I'm too pretty for jail," Ruffnut whined, causing Tuffnut to give a chuckle.
"Where'd you hear that?"
But just as Ruffnut was about to retort, Stoicks booming voice sounded. "You all disobeyed my orders, and there will be consequences."
"I told you we were going to get in trouble, you never listen to me," Arvid hissed at Hicca.
Hicca winced slightly, but then stepped forward to stand in front of the group. "Dad, if anyone's going to get in trouble, it should be me."
But Stoick wasn't having any of it. "No, you all had a hand in this." As Stoick paced in front of the teens, worried murmurs started to rise from the crowd, but Mildew was watching everything unfold with obvious glee. "You all took over this place without asking, you released the dragons against my wishes... things are going to change around here."
Stoick stopped pacing and turned to face them all, "That's why I-"
"You're getting a Dragon Training Academy!" Gobber suddenly but in.
His outburst sending a wave of surprise and shock through the teens and the rest of the Vikings.
Stoick looked at Gobber with annoyance, "Gobber! I wanted to tell them."
"I'm sorry, you're right," Gobber apologized. "Go ahead."
"Well you told most of it."
"You can tell them the part about how proud you are of them."
"Gobber!"
Hicca couldn't help but give a slight giggle, sometimes Gobber and Stoick really did act like a married couple, it was nice having two dads.
Stoick groaned and turned back to the teens, "Hicca... well... what he said. You've all made me proud." He walked over to the caged dragons, and put his large hand on the lever to the side of the cage, "This Dragon Training Academy... Is for you."
With that, Stoick pulled down the lever, and released the dragons. Each one of them shooting out to reconnect with their human, Hicca hugged Toothless tightly. It had only been a short while, but she had missed him so much.
Stoick walked up behind his daughter, "Now, all you have to do is train them."
"Not a problem dad. After all, I've got him," Hicca added as she scratched Toothless under the chin. She gave another laugh as Arvid clear his throat behind her, "And them too."
Hicca looked out at her friends and their dragons, she could feel this was the start of something big.
Dragons can't change who they are. But who would want them to? Dragons are powerful, amazing creature, and as long as it takes me, I'm going to learn everything there is to know about them. Wouldn't you?
End of episode 1.
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So what do you think? This is the start of brand new 40 chapter story, covering the first 2 seasons of Riders and Defenders of Berk. I will then cover the Race to the Edge season if enough people want me to :)
Let me know what you all think, and I'll see you all next time :)