That evening, when Hiccup returned home from the forge, he found his father waiting there for him.
"Hi dad," Hiccup says.
"Hiccup, I have to talk to you," Stoick says very calmly, almost soberly so.
"Alright," Hiccup says pulling up a seat while Stoick stokes the fire.
Stoick inhales deeply. "It's time you learned how to fight dragons."
Hiccup blinks before leaning back in his seat. "Alright," Hiccup says before looking at the pack. "Going somewhere?"
"Ay. Going to search for the nest again," Stoick says.
"Ok…dad…there is something I want to talk to you about as well," Hiccup says.
"What is it?" Stoick says.
"Dad…I am worrying we need to change our tactics," Hiccup says.
"And where did this come from?" Stoick asks, wondering when did he get into tactics of just swinging an ax.
"How many we keep losing every raid. I have noticed most, if not all the tribe, uses only melee weapons, but we need more than that. We need archers," Hiccup says.
"Archers? We need archers?" Stoick questions, a bit fazed by this.
"Yes. We need to be able to hit the dragons from a distance and quicker than just our catapults. Archers can also help us support those who are in the melee, distracting or even killing them while they are focusing on that viking or vikings," Hiccup says as his words sound like he put a lot of thought into them to his father. Stoick just sat there in silence stunned as he thought about the idea of it. "So what do you think?" Hiccup asks after giving him some time.
"The idea has potential," Stoick says.
"So…can we get started on making some archers?" Hiccup asks.
"We will see when I return," Stoick says getting up, forgetting the rest of the lecture he had prepared for this.
"Alright…come back alive, ok?" Hiccup asks.
"I…will try," Stoick says before leaving.
"So how did it go?" Gobber asks as vikings were loading their longboats.
"Well…he actually gave me advice. Didn't even object to the whole idea of training to fight dragons," Stoick says, still in surprise.
"Oh, what was this advice of his?" Gobber asks.
"We have to have archers as support," Stoick says looking to him.
"Oh, that's a good idea," Gobber says as Stoick gets on the boat.
"We will be back soon. Make sure the recruits are trained well and watch after those two," Stoick says.
"I will try to make sure they don't swing axes around like crazy," Gobber promises smirking.
For the next few days, Hiccup was alone and started carving on some wood, trying to make a bow, only really leaving the workshop for food. This went unnoticed by most as Gobber was busy readying the dragons and Thorve were dealing with her family. The only one who saw him at the shop was Astrid who had come to him to sharpen her ax.
"Alright. Wood treated and everything. Bowstring attached. Let's give you a test," Hiccup says getting one of the arrows he made and notches it before firing at the target he set up in the workshop as Gobber enters in time for it to hit the target right in front of his face.
"You're going to poke someone's eye out another day," Gobber says looking at the arrow before looking back at him.
"That's part of the point. Along with the 'Do Not Enter' sign on the door," Hiccup says putting the bow down.
"Make it bigger and say 'By Gobber'," Gobber advises.
"Soon. When do we start training tomorrow?" Hiccup asks.
"Be an early riser at the arena," Gobber says smirking.
"Right. If you need me, I'll be in the forest," Hiccup says grabbing the arrows he had made before putting them in a quiver and grabs his bow.
The next morning, Hiccup woke up early and headed to the area with the ax his dad had given him where the other teens were at and even talking about possible scars.
"Is anyone going to question the limb loss that won't allow you to fight anymore?" Hiccup asks himself. Spying shields littered around, he grabs one as Gobber was explaining the dragons before releasing the Gronkle. Seeing this, everyone scattered.
"Quick. What is the first thing you are going to need?" Gobber asks.
"A doctor?"
"Plus five speed?"
"A shield!" Astrid calls before everyone scatters to get one.
"A little slow on the uptake, aren't you guys?" Hiccup asks, already having his shield up in a defensive position as this seems vaguely familiar as the gronkle goes after the twins fighting over a shield and blows it to pieces as it passes over.
Hiccup kept watching the gronkle, intently studying it, noticing it was moving like a helicopter would. 'I see,' Hiccup thinks as he watches it circle around before Astrid rolls beside him, avoiding a shot. "Is it me or does it turn a little slowly?"
"Nope. Just you," Astrid says before quickly moving to the side.
"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise. Make plenty of it and it will confuse the dragon," Gobber calls.
'Oh yeah. Great lesson plan Gobber,' Hiccup thinks as everyone used their weapons to bang on their shields, seemingly disorienting it. Hiccup, seeing this, keeps trying to move to its blind spot. Astrid took notice of this and wondered what he was doing, but Gobber saw this and smiled, understanding what he was doing.
As the gronkle kept moving, it took a shot a Fishlegs as he had stopped hitting his shield and allowing it to get a clear look at him, destroying his shield. 'Am I strong enough to make it work?' Hiccup thinks.
"Fishlegs, out," Gobber calls out a bit disinterested. "Thorve! Get in there!" he calls seeing her hide behind a weapons rack before ducking back down as a shot hits above her head.
'Three out of six,' Hiccup thinks continuing to hit his shield and watch it turn not as fast. 'So you don't like to turn fast when I do this, huh?' Hiccup thinks as Snotlout tries to flirt or asks Astrid out. Hiccup couldn't tell which as it was that bad. 'Is that intentional or is he really that bad?' Hiccup thinks smiling.
Thorve meanwhile was watching this and move to Hiccup's side. "What are you doing?" she asks.
"It can't see me from this side. So using that to my advantage and waiting for an opening to exploit," Hiccup says.
"Oh, that is smart," Astrid says joining them after Snotlout's shield was destroyed.
"Yes, and why aren't you both banging your shields now?" Hiccup asks continuing to do that and tries to get back into the gronkle's blind spot as the three of them were grouped together. "Two shots left. Keep moving and hitting those shields," Hiccup calls.
Astrid and Thorve keep doing this, waiting for something to happen when the gronkle shots another fireball and misses Thorve, but knocks her shield out of her hands and sends it rolling, letting the gronkle see her well enough and go after her. "Thorve!" Gobber calls as Hiccup, seeing this, charges at the dragon before slamming into its side. Getting its attention off of Thorve and onto him, but not fast enough to stop Hiccup from smacking it in the face with his shield as it shoots off its last fireball, making it explode in its face.
"And that's six," Gobber growls as he hooks a hook on the dragon's mouth and tosses it away. "Go back to bed you overgrown sausage," he huffs before turning to Thorve and sees her being looked over by Hiccup.
"You ok?" Hiccup asks throwing the damaged shield away.
"Yeah…just reeling from looking into the jaws of death," Thorve tries to joke and just gets a smile from him.
"Alright. That is all for today. Rest up and we will continue tomorrow," Gobber says.
Hiccup sighs as he helps Thorve up and leads her out. "Hiccup…can you help me with getting some wood?" Thorve asks looking at him.
"Ok," Hiccup says a bit confused.
Thorve smiles and grabs his hand before pulling away towards the forest as Astrid is a bit surprised at them and how they are acting together.
"Really? Just to look for it again?" Hiccup complains as he follows Thorve through the woods.
"It's got to be here somewhere," Thorve says.
"Thorve, it could be long gone. There is no point in trying to search for something you let free," Hiccup says, frowning at how much she wanted to see that dragon again.
"It's just something nagging at me. Why didn't it kill us?" Thorve asks wondering what could have made it stop from killing them.
"Not all creatures are mindless. I would say," Hiccup says as Thorve exploring eventually lead them to a grotto.
"Well, this is classy," Hiccup says to himself as they both look into it. "Still…we have to head back. Someone is going to notice us gone for a while," Hiccup says before they get startled by the nightfury flying past them, trying to get out of the grotto. "…I am big enough to admit, I was wrong on this," Hiccup says a few moments later.
"Big strong chieftain son admits that?" Thorve says almost teasingly before peering over the edge and spies the dragon on the ground as it shoots off a shot in somewhat of a tantrum. "This is weird. It's been a few days already. Why hasn't it left?" she asks as she takes out a book and starts to draw the dragon.
"Check its movements. Seems off balance or something," Hiccup says watching.
Thorve looks as well and sees it try to take off and hover before tipping on its side and hits the ground. Her eyes trailing down the dragon and see the tail and then looks back to her drawing. She erases part of the tail and looks back to the dragon. "I feel terrible…I caused this," she says somberly.
Hiccup says nothing and pats her shoulder before hugging her.
Thorve hugs him back before hearing clattering and realizes her writing tool is gone and gasps as she tries to reach for it and sees it has fallen into the cove. "Oh no…" she gulps before slowly looking up to see the dragon noticing and staring at them.
"We can get more," Hiccup says seeing the dragon watching them now.
"Yeah…come on," Thorve says, uneased by the stare the dragon is giving them and gets up before walking away as Hiccup kept staring for a bit longer and makes the dragon shake its head and turn away.
"So just you, me, and the Book of Dragons. You think Gobber is trying to tell us something?" Hiccup jokes.
"One, I doubt he is going for us to be like that. And two, it could be that one of these entries is how to make a hot spring from the scalding death," Thorve says reading a passage.
"You mind reading aloud so we don't have to fight over the book?" Hiccup asks.
"Why not sit by me so I don't have to shout?" Thorve teases smirking.
Hiccup doesn't say anything as he lays down on the bench she was on.
"I said sit. Not lay down and have a nap lazy chieftain," Thorve says almost giggling as she turns a page.
"Thinking," Hiccup says staring up at the ceiling.
"About the dragon?" Thorve asks looking down at him.
"Yes," Hiccup says as she started to read for a while. "I'm just wondering…we think of that dragon as the last of its kind…did we leave it to its death?" he asks looking up at her as she stops talking while she thinks about it as well.
Thorve puts a hand on his head. "We can't do anything about it right now."
"I actually feel guilty about the whole thing," Hiccup laminates as she flips through the pages before stopping on the last one to notice it almost devoid of information.
"Strange thing is…so do I. A pair of vikings who is feeling guilty about a dragon," Thorve says taking out her book and opens it to her drawing of the nightfury before putting it on top of the empty pages. "Is the world coming to an end?" she tries to joke to lighten the mood.
"Nope, but things have to change. At the rate we are going, we will destroy ourselves or be destroyed by the dragons," Hiccup says getting up.
"You have a plan or going to try to come up with one?" Thorve asks as she closes the books and stuffs them into her coat.
"Coming up with one," Hiccup says. "So you going to head back to your family home or…you want to come to sleep over at mine?"
Thorve blushes a bit and looks away. "Only if it's quiet and you got a spare bed. I'll hardly be missed anyway."
"Yeah, I do," Hiccup says blushing a bit himself.
Both of them say there in silence before Thorve clears her throat. "So…going to lead a lady at any point in time?"
"Oh, ok," Hiccup says getting up.
Thorve smiles a bit as she gets up and starts to follow him.
The next day, they had a lesson involving a Nadder in a maze set up which they all ran around as it chased them.
"Astrid, this isn't working," Hiccup says hiding with her from the nadder.
"It won't if you don't be quiet," Astrid hisses.
"I mean you need more impact. Use my shield. Embed your ax into it and turn it into a club," Hiccup whispers.
Astrid became slightly surprised at this before looking around and then back at him. "Okay…did that bonk to the head do more damage than we thought?"
"Fewer insults, more work," Hiccup hissed holding his shield up and bracing himself.
Astrid sighs before swinging her ax behind her and then slams it down onto the shield and gets it stuck. "There. That should do it," she says yanking the shield off of his arm.
"All yours now," Hiccup says getting up and goes into the open and bangs on a wall, trying to get its attention.
A caw like a bird is heard as its nose peeks around the corner before it shows its whole blue head and spy's him as it tilts its head a bit and starts to stalk towards him, always keeping one of its eyes on him
"Come on. That's right," Hiccup says moving back to keep it enticed as he gestured for Astrid to get ready.
The nadder caws and jumps in place as it ruffles its wings and snaps its jaws, ready to pounce on him.
"Now!" Hiccup calls rolling away from the nadder and Astrid comes around the corner and smacks it so hard, the shield shattered and the nadder was out cold.
"Wow…that actually worked," Astrid says to herself as she looks to her ax and sees a piece of the shield on it.
"Enough blunt trauma to the head will most certainly kill or knock out most," Gobber calls out as he was surprised at it was already over.
"Are you okay?" Astrid hears behind her in the maze.
"I'm fine. Just a small bruise," Hiccup says.
"Small? She smacked your arm," Thorve almost complains.
"It's fine," Hiccup says as Gobber came down.
"Alright. That's it. Lesson over!" Gobber calls into the maze.
"Let's go get our trophies," Hiccup jokes as he comes out of the maze with Thorve trailing behind him.
"Hiccup…nice call," Astrid says.
"Yeah…sure," Hiccup says walking past her, deep in thought, as Thorve gives a little wave at her as she kept following.
"What are you going to do now?" Thorve asks.
"I was thinking getting my bow and going to hunt wild boars," Hiccup says.
"But…?" Thorve asks knowingly.
"I will be back later. Don't worry," Hiccup assures.
"You know, with that head injury, you sure have been more outgoing and tougher on these things…didn't even try to kill it," Thorve adds as an afterthought.
Hiccup said nothing as he heads out.
"Where is Hiccup?" Gobber asks as the trainees and he was eating around a fire on the watchtower.
"He said he was going hunting," Thorve says as she holds a giant chicken leg and wonders how to eat it.
"Hunting? Hiccup?" Snotlout says before laughing.
"Hey! He is doing something that benefits the most of us," Thorve defends.
"Please. He couldn't catch anything," Snotlout says before laughing as a boar head showed up behind him on the watchtower.
"I wouldn't say that," Thorve says smirking and pointing the chicken leg behind him.
"Oh, so you don't want any of this," Hiccup says coming up with a boar with a few arrows in it.
"Bah…wha…bi…how?!" Snotlout finally demands from his stuttering.
"Nice work," Gobber says as he sat it in front of them and started teaching them all about how to skin a kill if they didn't know how to yet.
"And here I thought you were coming with two or three," Thorve whispers to Hiccup.
"Eat up everyone. Tonight we have cooked boar," Gobber says as Hiccup collected the hide before getting any of the cooking meat.
The night continued on with Gobber telling stories about his past until he told them to always go for the tail or wings to permanently down a dragon, giving both Hiccup and Thorve a pause in their thoughts.
Thorve immediately feeling guilty again and gets up before leaving as Hiccup notices what expression she had and follows her down the watchtower. "Feeling okay…or did he bring back the bad memory of grounding the dragon?" Hiccup asks Thorve as she was ready to run somewhere.
"He gave me an idea and a need to repay that dragon. To the workshop," Thorve says leading him there and for the entire night they worked and made a prosthetic tail with Thorve in the lead.
"The way your mind works sometimes astounds me," Hiccup says as they look at the final product.
"I could say the same about you. You certainly know your stuff and have new ideas for the tribe as a whole. I just do it for one thing," Thorve says closing the fin.
"It takes a lot of thought. Why do you think I am always laying down and thinking?" Hiccup asks before yawning as he notices how late it was.
"Is that what it was? I thought you were lazy," Thorve says teasingly and giggles before yawning as well. "Now you got me doing it," she strains stretching her arms a bit as she puts the fin in the back room.
"Let's get some sleep. We can give it to it tomorrow," Hiccup says.