Hi everyone, I've been reading Chasing Thunderstorms lately (great story by the way) and it just looked so fun writing about modern version of how to train your dragon so I'm going to give it a try.

(P.S Jemiskneir will be involved but there will be no spoilers for A Strangers Arrival).

( I'm going to try to right it in first person but I will probably be destroying that goal very quickly)

My name is Henry 'Horrendous' Haddock the third, but everyone calls me Hiccup. Great nickname I know, originally it was just my grandmother who called me that (something about instead of crying when I was born I Hiccupped I don't think about it that much) but after an embarrassing incident in my kindergarten play everyone started calling me it.

I live in the small Scandinavian settlement in Alaska named Berk. It's a small humble town lovely weather only snowing 9 months a year and hails the other 3. Are town is located on the coast along with several other Scandinavian settlements Bogson, berksakville, Meatown etc. in one word I would describe are town as sturdy, it's been here for Generation but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets (when you can actually see the sky that is).

Are only problem is the pests, you might have rats, wolves or mosquitos we have….

Dragons.

You probably think I'm crazy "dragons aren't real" you would say but you've never been to Berk.

And a dragon is exactly what I opened my door to at 4 in the morning. As soon as I saw it I closed the door just in time as a wave of fire crashed into the front of the house. I reopened the door just in time to see the milkman (everyone called him Bucket) jump onto the flying Beast and beating its head with are Mailbox.

Most people would probably leave not us thou, were as close as you can get to Vikings, were Big, Strong, Tough and as stubborn as a brick wall. Me well I got the stubborn bit down… but other than that I'm a walking fishbone.

I ran through the main street watching as several buildings caught on fire I couldn't help but think to myself 'old town lots of new houses'. i was broken from thought land by the sudden movement of a man landing in front of me. I jumped backwards in fright, at first I thought he was dead but that was before he jumped up and cried "morning" before running of to attack another Dragon.

That was the nicest Greeting I got as I ran through the streets of Berk. As I ran I could hear people cry out "Get inside!" or "Get out of my way!" as I ran past people.

I was so wrapped up in getting to my destination I didn't even notice that if I took another step I would have been singed by a dragon if I took another step. And knowing my luck I would have if someone didn't grab the shirt of my collar and pulled me back and of my feet. I looked to see a large man with an oversized red beard as my saviour but he didn't look very happy to see me 'I just can't figure out why' (insert sarcasm here).

"May I ask what you are doing out here?" asked the tall beard man. I was about to answer but before I could utter a single word he shouted out "what's he doing out here?" pointing at me like I was some sort of lose dog. When he didn't get an answer he dropped me on my feet and pushed me away shouting "Just get inside!" before running of to join a group of people trying to protect a meat truck.

If you haven't worked that out yet that's Stoick Mayor of the town, no one is really sure is Stoick is his real name thou probably not even himself. His family has been the longest, and he was probably the Strongest and most Viking person in the whole town, they even say when he was a baby he popped a dragons neck clean of its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes I do.

I watched in amazement as the mayor tossed a dumpster at a low flying dragon then tackle one of the larger ones. I then began to run towards the mechanic/blacksmith/workshop/ small house repairs. "Nice of you to join the party" said a large blonde man with a long moustache sweltering over a hot forge. "Thought you would have been carried away by now" he continued smashing his hammer hand on to a hot metal rod. "Please they wouldn't know what to do with all this" I said as I attempted to pick up a war hammer. "They need toothpicks don't they?" he replied grinning at me.

The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gabe Bober but everyone called him Gobber. His is the Mayors right hand man (that works well because he only has a right hand) and runs the store he's also the sport, workshop, arts and craft and of Couse dragon killing teacher at are school. I've been his personal assistant at both the shop and school ever since I was little… well littler.

Gobber barked at me to grab the already stock pile of broke weapons littered on the shops window. I grabbed the closest weapon to me an axe and began to sharpen it. You probably be saying to me, if you could talk to me (well then someone would be). It's the 21 century why are using axes and swords when you could use automatic weapons? Well you see Dragon hide is a tuff as stone and we discovered that shooting small pieces of lead at a dragon generally just tick them off. Axes and swords on the other hand can penetrate a dragons hide, and if you wanted to break something important without penetrating the skin you could use a hammer or a mace. If you were accurate or you just couldn't wait for one of them to come down and face you, you could use a spear, crossbow or even a bola.

You would probably be asking me Hiccup why do you know so much about killing dragons? Well in my town killing a dragon is how you get noticed around here. And the only time I'm ever noticed is when I mess up.

As I look outside the shop window I see the five most common dragons to attack are village and can't help but think of the type of status killing one of them would get me. The Terrible Terror smallest of the dragon that attack berk but don't let is size fool you those things are furious in packs, killing one of thous will get you at least noticed. The Deadly Nadder, fast and like the name say deadly, its flame can turn a man to ash in a matter of seconds and it could toss poisonous darts from its tail, killing one of those would get a guy like me friends. Gronkles, in basic terms a flying tank there tuff, heavy and has a fireball that could blow up a building, statues would land me a girlfriend. The Hideous Zippleback, exotic to say the least, a two headed dragon one head breathing a thick green gas and the other head lighting this thick green gas that also 'just' happens to be explosive, statues? Trice the status. Then there was The Monstrous Nightmare, the names soots it really it has a nasty habit of setting itself on fire, only the best go after those.

There were other dragons too. Thunderdrums were powerful sea dragons that had a roar like thunder, Timberjack whose wing could cut threw full grown trees, Changeling's which could blend into any surrounding just to name a few of the less common ones. On 'special' occasions we would get attacked by something a little rarer like a Scauldron or a Whispering Death and if you killed one of those you would be considered a hero.

But there was one dragon that no one ever killed we call it the… "NIGHT FURY!" screamed a voice snapping me out of my deep thought just in time to see one of the several defence systems surrounding the town explode in a blue light show. I couldn't help but admire it. it never shows its self, never steals food, never picks a fight and never misses. I thought as it blew up another one of are anti-dragon guns. A Night Fury has never been shot down before (there was a story about it thou but the story also involved someone befriending one but that's ridiculous imagine befriending a dragon).

'But this was all going to change I was going to be the first to shoot it down' I thought as I walked over to Gobber who was tightening his Axe hand to his stub. "Man the shop Hiccup they need me out their" he said hobbling over to the door. He turned to me just before exiting the door "stay… putt…their argh you no wha' I mean!" he said before charging out the door.

Like always I don't listen to him and I run of with my latest invention a sort of bola launcher if you will. And set it up on the outskirt of the town facing one of the Anti-dragon guns. I sat there in silent watching and waiting. I was about to give up when suddenly I heard the faint sound of the Night Fury, the sound it made when it was about to attack, the only sound the creature made. I sat their waiting aiming at the gun.

Why am I doing this? You may ask. The thing is I am observant and I notice the smallest detail that most people miss, one of the many details that I have observed is that the Night Fury likes or has to fly through his Kamikaze explosion attacks ether because it has to pull up from the dive or because it likes to see its handy work up close I'm not sure.

Then the think exploded in the familiar blue explosion. This caught me by surprise and I accidently fired the bola into the air at first I thought I missed it but that was before I heard a strange cry and a black shadow fall into raven point forest. I couldn't believe it I did the unthinkable, I shoot down the unhittable I began to do a little victory dance like the one you see sports players do when they win and cried out "did anyone see that?". No one replied of Couse but hay I did it! Could this night get any better?

Apparently it can't but it could get a whole lot worse. I found that out when I heard a large CRACK from behindI turned to see my invention in peace's, the culprit a Monstrous Nightmare and it was pissed. "Except for you" I said before running back into the town.

It must have been the dragons roar that gave us are location I defiantly wasn't screaming… oh who am I kidding I was screaming like a child As I ran and hid behind the statue just outside the town hall. The Nightmare had just turned half of the bronze statue into a pile of sludge and I knew I was next. Just before the dragon had time to eat his little 'snack' Stoick tackled it to the ground and began to beat the beast with his own hands until it flew in fright joining its comrades on its flight across the sea.

Stoick turned to the Statue in disbelief and then to me with anger. By the way there is one more thing you need to know… "Sorry… dad" I said as a molten pile of bronze sludge fell from the statue. "Hiccup how many times must I tell you don't call me that while I'm working" said Stoick looking at me like I failed him again which I probably did. "Sorry… Stoick... but I hit a Night Fury" I replied already knowing his reaction. "Hiccup that statue has been here for countless Generations… you what?" he asked looking at me confused. "I hit a Night Fury…" I replied feeling like I was growing smaller. He gave me a look that I knew all too well 'not this again'. "Gobber drive him home… and make sure he stays their!" he said before walking of muttering something about the boy who cried Dragon.

"He never listens" I said to myself as I sat in the passenger seat of Gobbers old Ute. "run in th' family" he replied looking out his side window at a burning house muttering something about that was going to be hard to fix. I knew he was talking about me but I personally didn't care, it wasn't an insult and if it was it was a lot better than the ones at school. "And when he does it's with this disappointed school like someone skipped the meat in his sandwich" I said looking at Gobber this time. "A sandwich sounding good right about now" he muted. "EXCUSS ME WAITRESS it think you brought me THE WROUNG offspring I ordered and EXTRA large BOY with beefy arms and a few more tones of the VIKING gene, this here is A TALKING FISHBONE" I said putting on a deep Scottish accent my father has. "Now, you're thinkin' about this all wrong. It's not so much what you *look* like, it's what's *inside* that he can't stand." Gobber said as they pulled up onto Hiccup house driveway. "Thank you for summing that up" I replied sarcastically getting out of the Ute. "Look the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not!" replied Gobber looking at me through my half closed door. "I just want to be one of you guys..." before closing the door and walking off. As Gobber drove off I couldn't help but stare at the looming house in front of me. I should probably describe my house it was big (well what do you expect from a mayors house). It was made of marble and wood and it was very old it's been in my family for generation it was my house, it was where I lived but it just never felt like home…

There was one thing I liked about the house thou it was on the edge of Raven point forest and that meant free access into the forest the Night Fury was shot down into…

I ran inside grabbing my backpack putting a few snacks for my breakfast, my journal for drawing the thing when I find it, a map and a few pencils. As I packed I went over the night and what a night it's been. As I exited the house back door the sun was rising and with that I entered the forest in search of my destiny…

Well what do you think? Is it modern enough? Any requests? Any questions? Any problems I should fix? Can anyone think of any more questions I could ask?