I'm back with another story for Words. This story will center on another important word—so important, even, that it's found right in the title of the movie! Hope that you enjoy this story!


Train

Training was important. Even the Vikings of Berk—rough and reckless as could be—knew to first receive some form of instruction before racing headlong into a fierce battle.

On Berk, Viking youths entered training as teenagers and left as men (or women) ready to fight the dragons that plagued the village. Well…maybe that wasn't necessarily true. Physically, they were prepared to the fullest extent. Mentally, they still felt like the scared little teenagers that they had been at the start of the training.

Year after year, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III grew and watched class after class of dragon training. Because he had no friends, Hiccup would often spend his days up in the spectating areas of the arena, looking down upon the dragon training classes until his father found him and dragged him away for the area "for his safety". Hiccup did not understand this. He never put himself in harm's way and he absorbed the teachings, watching intently as the classes progressed.

Little Hiccup could not wait until he could finally enter dragon training. Maybe then he would finally prove to his fellow villagers that he had what it took to be a Viking of Berk.

As his fifteenth birthday approached, he heard the talk from the other kids his ages as they excitedly awaited the day they would step onto the arena floor for the first time. Hiccup couldn't wait. He was ready.

888

"You're not ready."

Those were the words Hiccup's father had greeted him with one morning when the fourteen-year-old boy had asked about dragon training. Hiccup, being the stubborn young Viking he was, had pleaded with his father to reconsider, but eventually Hiccup had stormed upstairs in frustration and spent the rest of the day in his bedroom alone.

As Hiccup often did when upset, he eventually sat down at his desk and pulled out his sketchbook. Determined to prove himself, Hiccup set to work crafting plans for a new invention that would help him to succeed during the dragon raids. After much planning, Hiccup had designed a contraption that could potentially work. Loaded with bola weapons, the handler of the machine would be able to fire them with a simple switch of a button. He could not wait to build it and test it out.

888

It had taken almost a year to build his new invention, but Hiccup was confident with the result. Though he knew that Gobber was less-than-satisfied with the contraption and it still had some minor calibration issues, Hiccup felt that it was time to test it out.

The raid that night was an exceptionally bad one. On Berk, four main types of dragons—Deadly Nadders, Hideous Zipplebacks, Gronckles, and Monstrous Nightmares—arrived often to ravage the village. Tonight, Hiccup had seen at least one of each of these dragons. Not to mention, he had heard the familiar screech of the most feared of all the dragons—the Night Fury. Known as "the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself", no Viking alive had ever seen this dragon. Still, Hiccup refused to be deterred. He would find this dragon, bring it down (with his new contraption) and kill it!

Dodging Vikings as he raced through the village square, Hiccup finally situated himself on one of the cliffs high above the village of Berk. With ease, he set up his new contraption and waited. Soon an unsuspecting dragon would fly overheard. Surely, he wouldn't have to wait all night.

That familiar screech sounded overhead and Hiccup perked up. This is too perfect!

The Night Fury was fast and Hiccup could barely keep it within the target lens he had built into the contraption. Before Hiccup could confidently aim his shot, the Night Fury fired, destroying a nearby watchtower. The shot set off the calibration again and Hiccup's creation fired its bola, sending Hiccup to the ground on the rebound. As Hiccup made to stand once again, he heard a painful screech and watched the shadow fall towards the ground. "I…hit it? Yes, I hit it!" He jumped up and cheered at his rare stroke of success.

The moment was short-lived though as a hiding Monstrous Nightmare decided that the scrawny Viking would make for a nice late-night snack. That was how Hiccup returned to the village and why he was forced to endure another lecture from his father, the Chief of Berk. Well, maybe if you'd let me enter dragon training this would stop happening! Even when Hiccup mentioned that he'd managed to down a Night Fury, the villagers just laughed it off. Hiccup knew what the laughing meant. There's no way Hiccup the Useless could down a Night Fury! That's what they were all thinking.

Immediately after Gobber left Hiccup back at the younger's house, the heir set off to the woods to find his downed prize. Mapping out the area, Hiccup trudged through the forest and still began to doubt what he had seen earlier that morning. I imagined it, didn't I? There's no way I actually brought down a Night Fury…especially with that shot.

That was when he saw it, a large ditch in the ground, fresh, as if something big had recently hit the ground and slid across it, tearing right through the grass. Hope restored, Hiccup followed the ditch and spotted the dragon.

Creeping slowly toward the dragon, Hiccup pulled out his small dagger. His father had never allowed him to have larger weapons for multiple reasons, mainly his size but also his tendency to bring about disasters. This was it! The moment Hiccup had been waiting for, had envisioned for years. Without any training at all, he would kill a dragon and bring its head to his father…or maybe Hiccup would bring the heart. He could determine that later. After the dragon was dead.

Before Hiccup could lower his dagger and bring an end to the dragon's life, the dragon opened its eyes and stared upon him. Making the mistake of looking right into the dragon's eyes, Hiccup felt himself falter. Could he really take a life? It's just a dragon. They'd caused so much chaos to Berk over the last 300 years and this one, the Night Fury, was the most dangerous and feared. This wasn't a Viking. It was a dragon, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. I can do this. I can do this. I can't do this.

Lowering his dagger, Hiccup looked at it as he made his decision. Stooping down, Hiccup slid the dagger across the ropes, loosening them one by one until the Night Fury was freed.

In its first moment of freedom, the Night Fury pounced upon Hiccup, cornering the poor young Viking with his back against the rock he had peered over earlier. I made a stupid decision again, didn't I?

The dragon spared him, though, and Hiccup, in my mind, played back his entire encounter with the Night Fury. It was on this afternoon that Hiccup understood. Regardless of whether he entered training or not, it wouldn't matter; he would never kill a dragon.

888

"You get your wish," his father had said. "Dragon training. You start in the morning."

I should have told him. I should have told him. How would his father have reacted if Hiccup had told him about the realization he'd come to just that very afternoon? Besides, Hiccup couldn't stand up to his father. If Stoick the Vast commanded something of you, you obeyed.

That was how Hiccup had ended up here. In the dragon killing arena with the Haddock family axe in his hands. He really did not want to be here. Not anymore. But he didn't have any other choice.

It won't matter as long as I don't have to kill any dragons. That shouldn't happen, though. Only one person ever gets that opportunity during training. The best student in the training class. That definitely won't be me, so it should be fine. All I have to do is show a small ounce of interest and let my unluckiness make up for the rest. Blame it on my "lack of ability". This could work. Everything will turn out just fine.

888

In the afternoons, once dragon training had finished for the day, Hiccup would disappear to a cove he had found. That cove, he'd learned, was where the Night Fury had become trapped. It could no longer fly due to a missing tailfin and Hiccup felt guilty. That was why he'd created an artificial tailfin, a prosthesis that he could control with the mere flick of his foot. He just needed to convince the Night Fury—Toothless, he had named it—to see him as a suitable rider.

888

The bond between Hiccup and Toothless (who seemed to be starting to accept the name Hiccup had given) grew with each day. By sheer dumb luck, a strange concept for Hiccup, the young Viking learned several tricks about dragons just from his time with Toothless. When he took those tricks back to dragon training, the others were stunned. Hiccup could see their questioning stares and he endured endless questions. What did he do to bring an attacking Nadder to the ground? How did he know to reflect light off his shield to return an intrigued Terrible Terror to its cage? As best he could, Hiccup dodged the questions. He didn't even know how he could possibly answer them? If they knew the real reasons as to how he'd found all this new training knowledge…

888

My father…the other fighting Vikings…they're all making a terrible mistake! They did not see the size of that dragon. There's no way they can defeat it with some mere catapults and fire.

Still, what could Hiccup do? His father had technically disowned him, stripping him of his title and place within the village. Stoick had taken Toothless on the ships with him. There were no ships left and, besides, Hiccup knew he'd never catch up to the rest of the Vikings before they arrived to Dragon Island.

Hiccup glanced out over the waters when Astrid arrived. Just yesterday, she had hated him for his sudden improvements in dragon training. Then, Toothless had taken them on a nighttime ride, overlooking Berk and eventually accidentally leading them right into the mountain of the evil massive controller of dragons. After that adventure, Hiccup could confidently say that he and Astrid better understood each other.

It was Astrid that pulled Hiccup from his sadness. She reminded him that he was Hiccup and the master of crazy ideas. Honestly, that was definitely the best way to describe this new plan of his.

Gathering all the other Vikings from dragon training, Hiccup led them on a crash course about riding dragons, opening their eyes to something completely different than the norm. The training session was brief, maybe only about ten minutes, but Hiccup had little time as it was. Hopefully, the training would be sufficient for what was to come next.

888

Berk was truly changed by Hiccup's actions. After the demise of the evil dragon queen, the island became a sanctuary where dragons and Vikings could live together in peace. There were positives and negatives to this new living situation, but Hiccup vowed to smooth the rough patches and make it work.

That is the reason why Stoick the Vast chose to dedicate the dragon killing arena to a new purpose. He tasked Hiccup to train his friends and their dragons in the arena, turning the open space into The Berk Dragon Training Academy. Leading the training would not be easy. Hiccup found that out quite early. Still, it allowed him to continue learning all there was to know about dragons. Besides, training was important.


This turned out to be way longer than I'd planned. See how important the word "Train" is! Haha. So…I have to find my list of words. I don't remember what the next one is, but when I find the list, I'll write a story about whatever word it is.

Suggestions are accepted! Only one word per chapter, please!

Thank you all for reading and supporting Words!

Posted: January 2, 2016