Ch. 2
A few days later, Hiccup and Astrid reluctantly went back to Berk, and found that Gobber, Stoick, and the Elder waiting for them.
"Hey dad, you guys miss us?" Hiccup asked with a smile.
"Come with us you two, we have something we need to talk about." Stoick said.
"Are we in trouble?" Hiccup asked, and the three old Vikings shook their heads, but it didn't make Hiccup feel any better. The five walked over to the Feast Hall, and Stoick closed the doors.
"Son….sit down." Stoick said, and Hiccup replied, and he found that everyone in the room, even Astrid, was staring at him with anxiousness.
"What's going on?" Hiccup asked.
"Hiccup, I think it's time you begin combat training." Stoick said.
"What! But dad, you know I can't hold anything more than a dagger! How do you plan on training me!" Hiccup screamed in shock.
"It's for your protection Hiccup; there won't always be someone out there to help you, and if you ever come across a dangerous enemy by yourself, you need to have a fighting chance." Stoick said. "We've all talked it; myself, Gobber, the Elder, and even Astrid, and we all believe this will be for your benefit."
"But dad…."
"Please Hiccup, this is for your protection; you need to know how to fight." Astrid said, putting her hand on top of Hiccup's.
"Why are you asking me to do this? Why now? I have Toothless, and he and I are hardly ever separated."
"Because Hiccup, the Elder has told us some troubling news; she believes that there is a new evil heading this way, and it's going to result in a bloody battle for survival. We all know Toothless is a powerful dragon, but even he's not invincible. If you won't do this for me, do it for Astrid….." Stoick said, and Hiccup just sighed and looked over at Astrid, who was giving him pleading eyes.
"Fine…" Hiccup said with a sigh. "I'll train, but with what? I can't use any Viking weapons."
"Which is why you won't be usin' Viking weapons." Gobber said. He then walked out of the Feasting Hall and Hiccup and Astrid followed him to his shop. Gobber grabbed a crate, reached inside of it, and got out three items; a dagger, a shield with a large slim spike on it, and a hammer with a blunt end on one end, and pike on another. "Here." Gobber then gave the items to Hiccup, and he was surprisingly able to hold all of the weapons.
"Wow, these sure are a lot lighter than I expected. Where did you get these?" Hiccup asked.
"One of our traders came across them on a trip to Scotland." Gobber said.
"I still probably won't be able to use them." Hiccup said, lowering his head, but Astrid lifted it up quickly and forced him to look her in the eyes.
"Don't you worry about that; I'll hold your hand every step of the way. I'll train with you everyday until you get the moves down perfectly, even if it takes years." Astrid said confidently.
"Thanks Astrid, this might not be so bad after all." Hiccup said as he put the shield on his arm, the dagger on his waist, and held the hammer in his hands. Hiccup looked at the hammer, and he noticed it looked like a regular construction hammer, but it had a larger blunt in where you would hammer things down, and on the other side, there was a small curved spike. "So when do we start training?"
"Right now. Come on!" Astrid said, grabbing Hiccup's hand and making him run towards the cove. But the two were swept from under their feet by their dragons, seeming to already know where they wanted to go. A few minutes later, they arrived at the cove, got off their dragons, and got ready for training.
"Hey Astrid, don't you think my bad leg will get in the way of training? Maybe this isn't such a good…" Hiccup said, examining his leg rig.
"That's not going to work Hiccup, you can't use your leg as an excuse for everything." Astrid said. "Okay, now before we actually start training with the actual weapons, you're going to have to get used to the movements, so we'll start training with these sticks." Astrid said, and handed Hiccup a small stick. "Now, follow my movements." Astrid said, and Astrid started performing the movements of swinging a sword, and Hiccup copied her. Astrid started out moving slow, so Hiccup could watch what she was doing. After a few hours, the two stopped for lunch.
"So, how badly have I messed up so far?" Hiccup asked.
"Not as bad as I was expecting, but there's still a lot of room for improvement." Astrid said.
"That's probably because I'm not meant to wield weapons." Hiccup said.
"Hiccup, just give yourself some credit; you will improve, I know it, but it'll take time, practice, and patience." Astrid said, and she punched Hiccup in the shoulder. "That's for not having faith in me and yourself." She said, and quickly followed with a kiss. "That's for agreeing to let me train you."
"Thanks Astrid, I needed that. But I have a question; did the Elder explain what trouble she was sensing?"
"No, she just said that if you don't master at least one type of weapon, you'll die." Astrid said grimly.
"Well, that's a motivator to learn." Hiccup said, smiling and wrapping an arm around Astrid.
"Don't worry Hiccup, I'll make sure you master this; I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Astrid said as she finished her fish. "Okay, now, back to training!" Astrid said.
Later that night, Hiccup was dragged into his house by Toothless, and found that his dad was picking at the burning wood in the fireplace. Stoick turned to look at his son, and walked over and picked him up.
"Hiccup! So how was your first day of training with Astrid?" Stoick asked with a smile on his face. Hiccup, however, just groaned in pain and exhaustion, as Toothless put the teenager at a nearby chair. Stoick went over to a barrel and got a fresh fish out of it and threw towards Toothless, and the dragon caught it in mid-air. After Toothless yawned and laid down to go to sleep, Hiccup sat up and straight and looked at his father.
"Hey dad, can I ask you something?" Hiccup asked.
"Of course son, what's the problem?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to know….how did you know that you wanted to marry mom?"
"Oh…well…that's kinda hard to answer; your mother and I loved each other, don't get me wrong, but….we were more pushed into marriage by our parents. Why?" Stoick asked.
"Because….I think I want to marry Astrid…" Hiccup said, and if Stoick was going to faint or jump for joy, Hiccup couldn't tell.
"Son…." Stoick started off, moving over to his son. "…This is wonderful! But are you sure you're ready for this?"
"Dad, I just went through fifteen hours of non-stop training with Astrid; she's made every bone and muscle in my body ache beyond healing, and I'm going to be going through this for quite awhile, and I still feel like I'm ready to marry her. Yes, I'm sure." Hiccup said, and Stoick just couldn't stop smiling. The two continued to talk and ask questions about marriage, and the next morning, Hiccup got up early to make sure he could talk to Astrid's father about marrying his daughter, without Astrid over-hearing him. When Astrid's father, Boulder the Mighty, answered the door, he was shocked to see Hiccup.
"Hiccup, if you're here to start training with Astrid, I'm afraid she won't be up for another hour." Boulder said.
"I know, I need to talk to you." Hiccup said.
"What is it?" Boulder said.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to do this to Astrid? She was really upset with me telling her you guys won't let me and her get married." Hiccup said
"Don't worry Hiccup. If you're worried about Astrid hurting you because of what we're plotting, don't, I'll take care of that. But Hiccup, are you going to take good care of my daughter? "
"Yes. I'll make sure she's the happiest Viking wife in all of Berk. I'll do whatever it takes for her to be a happy wife." Hiccup said, and Boulder patted Hiccup's back.
"Good. I have faith that you'll make Astrid a happy woman, but I hope you won't try to keep Astrid restrained; she's going to do whatever she sees as right, and there's nothing you can do to stop her."
"That's one of the things I love about her; she's so independent and determined! If it wasn't for her, I may have never gotten used to my new leg. She worked day and night with me to get walking and running down again, and she never gave up on me, even when I already gave up on myself.
"That she did. You're a lucky guy, Hiccup." Boulder said, and Hiccup nodded.
"I know." Hiccup said.
"Hiccup?" A soft, groggy voice said, and Hiccup and Boulder turned around to see that the voice belonged to Astrid.
"Astrid! You're up early!" Boulder said.
"I heard voices." Astrid said with a yawn. "Hiccup, what are you doing here?"
"I'm waiting for you so we can start training." Hiccup said.
"Okay, I'll be ready in a couple of minutes." Astrid said, and she walked up the stairs and closed the door to her room.
"That was a close one…" Boulder said, and Hiccup nodded.
"No kidding." Hiccup said, and a few minutes later, Astrid entered the living room, ready to go.
"Come on Hiccup. We're training until nightfall today." Astrid said, and the two left the house, got on their dragons, and flew towards the cove to start training again. As soon as they got off the dragons, Astrid tackled Hiccup.
"We're going to start with wrestling today; try to get me off of you and try to get on top of me." Astrid said, and Hiccup grabbed Astrid's shoulders and tried to throw her off, but she had a tight grip on Hiccup, and it was causing trouble for Hiccup to wrestle Astrid off of him. After about twenty minutes of struggling, Hiccup gave up and laid on the ground while Astrid sat on him cross-legged.
"I give up." Hiccup said, and Astrid shook her head.
"Hiccup, you can't give up at everything - especially fighting." Astrid said, and Hiccup just looked at her.
"I can't win Astrid; you're too…"
"Watch it!"
"…strong." You're too strong, Astrid." Hiccup said, with a goofy smile on his face, and Astrid rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Hiccup. You have to keep trying." Astrid said. "Maybe this will encourage you." Astrid then leaned down and kissed Hiccup on the lips, and Hiccup immediately grabbed Astrid's shoulders again and tried to roll Astrid off of him. After about fifteen more minutes of struggling, Hiccup suddenly moved Astrid forward, and he was suddenly on top of her, with him holding her arms down by her wrists.
"Wow…" Hiccup said, and Astrid nodded in approval.
"Good work, Hiccup. I knew you could do it." Astrid said, and she quickly but gently pushed Hiccup off of her, and helped him back on his feet. "You're a fast learner, Hiccup."
"Well, you gave me a bit of inspiration." Hiccup said, and Astrid smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
"Don't get too comfortable Hiccup. This wasn't even an hour of training. Now I want you to try and tackle me, and keep me down for five seconds." Astrid ordered, and Hiccup took a few steps back, and charged at Astrid, but she just took a step to the side, and kept one foot out and tripped Hiccup. Hiccup got back up and charged at Astrid again, but the same thing happened. Hiccup then tried something new; charged, and when Astrid stepped to the side, he matched her position and jumped at her, but Astrid ducked, and Hiccup landed in the pond. "Hiccup, try thinking before charging." Her answer was Hiccup splashing water at her, soaking her.
"I'm not enjoying this, Astrid!" Hiccup said, and Astrid held out her hand to help Hiccup out of the water.
"This is training Hiccup; it's not made to be enjoyable. Now get serious!" Astrid ordered, and Hiccup charged at Astrid and she just stepped to the side again, but didn't trip him. When she turned around however, Hiccup was nowhere to be seen. "Hiccup?" Suddenly, Hiccup jumped from behind some rocks and tackled Astrid from behind, and was able to hold her down for five seconds.
"Serious enough for you?" Hiccup asked, and he helped Astrid back up.
"That was good Hiccup, but you won't be able to rely on sneaking every time, so try and tackle me on the first charge." Astrid said, and Hiccup nodded and tried again.
A/N: That's Ch. 2, though the ending sucked, I feel the story is moving nicely in my opinion, and I want to tell you that these training segments in the story are important, and you'll see what I mean later on in the story. Apparently Hiccup and Boulder are plotting something and Astrid has no idea. And what could this new evil be that the Elder is worried about.