Chapter 2: Facing Dragons

"Welcome to dragon training," with those words, Gobber opened the gate to the arena.

Astrid realized that more than just the arena was opened. She was walking through the gate to the rest of her life. Inside that arena, she would learn the skills she would need to survive fighting against the dragons. Here, she would kill her first dragon. Here, her journey towards becoming a great warrior would start.

"No turning back," Astrid said, as she walked into the arena. It was a simple ring, with locked gates of various sizes the only thing stopping the dragons inside from attacking them. A net made of heavy chains covered the roof, preventing any dragons from escaping.

"I hope I get some serious burns!" Tuffnut said as they walked towards the center of the ring.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back," Ruffnut retorted. The twins always had to one-up each other, Astrid thought. While she knew better than anyone that competition could be beneficial to your performance, the twins often seemed to be more interested in outdoing each other than actually learning the things they needed to get better.

While Astrid was often disturbed by the twins actively seeking out pain, she partly agreed with them about the scars. She knew that all great warriors had scars. Behind every scar was a great story of heroic fights against overwhelming amounts of enemies. Every battle has casualties, and in all the ballads she heard in the Great Hall the heroes had to sacrifice things to achieve victory. She understood that great things often could not be achieved without great loss.

So Astrid said "Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

But then a nasally voice she did not expect replied: "Yeah, no kidding right."

She turned around and there was Hiccup, holding an axe he could barely seem to lift and looking extremely uncomfortable. "Pain. Love it!" he continued in a sarcastic tone.

Astrid was annoyed by his attitude. No one likes pain. Well, maybe the twins do. But pain is a part of dragon training. A part of war. A part of life. So he better get used to it. Also, wasn't he happy to be in dragon training? Yesterday, after the raid, he had made it pretty clear that he wanted to kill dragons, so why did he seem so reluctant now?

"Oh, great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut said what Astrid was wondering as well. Why would Stoick let Hiccup enter dragon training if he didn't even get to join the fire brigade?

But Gobber interrupted her thoughts by explaining that the best recruit would get to kill their first dragon in front of the village. Astrid already knew this, but she hoped the incentive would cause her classmates to take training more serious.

But that was too much to hope for.

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury. Does that disqualify him, or...?" Snotlout jokingly asked. Hiccup's face fell at that, and the others laughed. Astrid didn't laugh, though. There is no room for laughter or fun on the battlefield, her father always said.

They walked forwards and moved into a line. A few seconds later Hiccup joined them at the very end of the line, and Gobber moved in front of them. Gobber started to list of the dragons they would fight. Annoyingly, Fishlegs started to put weird statistics with each dragon. Astrid didn't see the point of that. What use is assigning a number to a dragons firepower or jaw-strength? On the battlefield you don't have time to do math or think about numbers. All that matters is that you know how to kill it.

Gobber seemed to agree with her. When he got to the last cage, he couldn't stand it anymore and loudly yelled "Can you stop that!" to Fishlegs. He then put his hand on the lever and listed the last dragon: "The Gronckle."

Astrid and Snotlout realized at the same time what Gobber was planning to do. Astrid was eager. She would finally face her first dragon!

Snotlout didn't feel the same way: "Wait, aren't you gonna teach us first?" He asked, voice laced with panic.

Gobber merely smiled, and said "I believe in learning on the job," as he moved the lever down, releasing the dragon.

The teens scattered as the Gronckle charged through their line and hit the opposite wall. "Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead," Gobber continued.

Most teenagers seemed to run in random directions, but Astrid stood her ground. She would show that dragon what she was made of. She had been training her whole life for this, she wouldn't screw it up now. She had never felt so alive.

"Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?" Gobber asked them.

"A doctor?" Hiccup answered. "plus 5 speed!" Fishlegs yelled.

Astrid couldn't believe it. Did they think this whole thing is a joke? The answer is obvious: "A shield," she said.

"Shields. Go!" Gobber said, and Astrid felt proud that she had been correct. Everyone ran towards the pile of shields, desperate for some protection from the rampaging dragon. Astrid grabbed the first shield she could reach. In the corner of her eye she saw the twins fighting over a shield. She mentally sighed. This was what she meant when she worried about the twins' need to one-up each other. They were surrounded by shields, but they were both too prideful to let go of this one.

They paid the price for that when the Gronckle shot the shield they were fighting over and they were both disqualified by Gobber.

With the twins out, the Gronckle faced the other teens, grouped together in the middle of the arena. "Those shields are good for another thing. Noise. Make lots of it, to throw off a dragon's aim," Gobber told them.

Astrid hadn't known about that, and was glad she got to enter dragon training. There was only so much she could learn by herself while fighting trees in the forest. She immediately adopted the advice, banging her axe to the metal ring around her shield as loud as she could. The others followed suit, though Hiccup seemed to have trouble holding his axe in one hand.

It seemed to work, as the Gronckle seemed to become confused and unfocused. Gobber then asked them about the shot limit of Gronckles. "Five?" Snotlout seemed to madly guess. Fishlegs stopped running from the dragon and confidently said "Six."

However, Fishlegs was punished for forgetting the dragon, as his shield was blasted from his hand as Gobber told him he was correct. Fishlegs promptly ran away screaming.

Astrid quickly looked around. Only Snotlout, Hiccup and she were left. She was surprised that Hiccup had survived this long, but when she saw him, she knew why. He was cowering behind a piece of wooden cover. While she had to admit he was achieving the day's objective of 'survival', there is more to battle than hiding behind a wall! "Why isn't he flanking the dragon or something?" Astrid thought. Hiccup briefly came out when Gobber yelled at him, but immediately jumped back in panic when the Gronckle barely missed him.

With Hiccup back to hiding, the dragon focused on the remaining recruits. Astrid saw it coming towards her, and tried to focus. However, Snotlout decided that this was apparently a good moment to try and make a move on her. "So, I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out," he said to her.

Astrid's only reaction was a roll to the side to avoid the incoming dragon. She was disgusted by Snotlout as he kept staring at her instead of the dragon, which took the chance to blast the distracted teen.

Astrid jumped out of her roll and to her feet easily, like she practiced a thousand times. However, she hadn't expected to land next to Hiccup, who had finally gone out of hiding. "So, it's just you and me, huh?" he said. Astrid couldn't believe it. Did none of these people take this seriously?! Why was he standing with her instead of trying to sneak up on the dragon or flanking it? This was not a time to make smalltalk! She hoped Hiccup wasn't trying to hit on her as well.

She saw the Gronckle preparing to attack and jumped out of the way, while telling Hiccup she wasn't interested in any dates he may have to offer: "Nope. Just you."

Hiccup's shield was blasted out of his hands and rolled away. Hiccup immediately started chasing it while the Gronckle followed him. But Hiccup was not as athletic as Astrid and was soon pinned to the wall. Astrid could see the Gronckle preparing its final shot when Gobber intervened. The blast missed Hiccup and Gobber dragged the dragon back to its cage.

Astrid finally relaxed as she realized the session was over, but she didn't drop her weapons like the others did. A true warrior never parts from his weapon, her father always said. Hiccup was still sitting against the wall, breathing heavily.

"You'll get another chance, don't you worry," Gobber told them. "And remember: A dragon will always, always go for the kill."

He turned to Hiccup as he said that, as if he wanted Hiccup to realize how close he had been to death. Yet Hiccup didn't seem terrified. Astrid saw no fear in his eyes, only confusion.

She didn't understand that. Gobber had been clear enough: Dragons always go for the kill. What's there to be confused about? Part of her wanted to tell Hiccup that he should listen to Gobber if he wanted to make it through dragon training, but she didn't. He should figure it out by himself, and she didn't want to be ridiculed by Snotlout for 'helping' Hiccup. As much as Snotlout seemed to be infatuated with Astrid, his hatred of Hiccup seemed to be even greater.

As Hiccup stood up and joined the other teens, Gobber spoke again: "Okay, that's it for today. We'll eat together in the Great Hall tonight as we discuss how we all did. I'll see you there just at sundown."

Astrid was kind of disappointed that it was already over. She had hoped for another try with the dragon, she didn't even get the chance to attack it!

She decided to go to the forest to train. She needed to work on her somersault dive. She mistimed it when she jumped away from Hiccup. Astrid wondered what had gone wrong. She had done that move perfectly a thousand times. It must have been the fact that there was a dragon after her. There was no way that she had been distracted by Hiccup, right?

Well, at least with the way the others had performed Astrid was sure she would get to fight the Nightmare. She just needed to get that somersault right.

"A dragon will always, always go for the kill."

That's what Gobber had said, but Hiccup knew it wasn't true. He had experienced firsthand how a dragon had him pinned and then let him go. And that was why Hiccup was back in the forest, looking at the torn up bolas and wondering what was different about the Night Fury.

He knew he shouldn't be out here alone. He should be glad he survived dragon training that morning. Hiccup was still surprised he hadn't been eaten yet. He had made a total idiot of himself in front of Astrid though. He knew he must have looked weak and pathetic, given that he had to be saved by Gobber. But he felt a strange need to come here and seek out answers.

"Why didn't you?" Hiccup asked out loud, wondering if the Night Fury could hear him. It clearly wasn't here anymore, so Hiccup walked in the direction he saw it fly off to after his near-death experience. The dragon's path was not hard to follow. Claw marks covered the boulders around him and trees had been splintered by the dragon's fury.

After following the trail for a few minutes, Hiccup arrived at a narrow hole in the side of a hill. He squeezed through and gasped at the sight. Before him was a beautiful cove. Steep walls shielded the valley from the outside world, and a large lake filled a large part of the cove's surface.

But Hiccup couldn't see the Night Fury anywhere.

"Well, this was stupid," he sighed, as he realized he must have lost the dragon. But then, he noticed something shiny on the ground near his feet. He got to his knees and examined one of the black discs. "Dragon scales!", Hiccup realized. The Night Fury did pass through here.

A moment later, his hypothesis was confirmed as a loud scream pierced the air and a black shape narrowly missed Hiccup. He fell down and looked up just in time to see the Night Fury trying to maintain a grip on the smooth rock wall. It slid down and glided over the lake to the other side of the cove.

Hiccup was thrilled. "I found it!" he thought as he scrambled to grab his sketchbook and charcoal pen.

He realized this was his chance to learn more about the mysterious dragon. He would be the first to draw the illusive Night Fury!

Hiccup climbed down to the rock below him for a better view and laid down. He saw the dragon repeatedly try to climb its way out of the valley, only to be foiled by the smooth rock walls. Hiccup drew its shape as quickly as he could, marveling at its odd head shape and large wings. He also realized the dragon was a 'he' when he took a closer look. He wondered why it, he, tried so hard to climb out.

"Why don't you just fly away?" Hiccup asked out loud.

When the dragon shot a fireball in frustration, Hiccup realized that his symmetric drawing was wrong. The dragon only had a tail fin on the right side of his body. "Is that normal?" Hiccup wondered as he erased the left tail fin from his drawing.

When the dragon tried to fly again Hiccup suddenly understood everything. While the first part of the flight went well, the moment the Night Fury tried to turn it had crashed. Hiccup also swore he could see wounds where the fin should be. He realized that the bolas must have torn the tail fin off, grounding the dragon and trapping it in this valley.

Hiccup watched as the dragon tried but failed to catch fish in the lake, and wondered how long it would survive like this. He felt guilty. He had cut the ropes thinking the dragon would be free and alive, but instead he had apparently condemned it to starve in this natural prison.

Distracted by his thoughts, Hiccup accidentally dropped the charcoal pen. It fell over the edge of the rock with a loud clatter, and Hiccup tensed as he saw the dragon look towards the noise. He realized that he had been spotted when the dragon's green eyes connected with his own.

And again Hiccup didn't see any fury or hate in the Night Fury's expression. There was distrust, and perhaps a hint of curiosity. Hiccup slowly released the breath he didn't realize he was holding as he understood the dragon wouldn't shoot a fireball at him.

Hiccup slowly got up and gently walked back towards the gap in the hill through which he had entered. He wasn't willing to try his chances. While the dragon wasn't hostile now, how long would it take before he would consider eating Hiccup to quench his hunger?

As he left the valley rain started to fall. Hiccup looked up towards the sky and realized the sun was setting. He remembered he had to meet with Gobber and the other recruits for dinner.

It took Hiccup about an hour of wandering through the forest in pouring rain to find his way back to the village. It was completely dark by now, and Hiccup was surprised to find himself next to the hot springs behind his house. He mentally mapped the way he had walked back from the cove and realized that it couldn't be more than a fifteen minute walk from his house.

Hiccup ran to the great Hall as fast as he could in his soaking wet clothes. As he opened the gate he could hear Gobber asking the others where Astrid had gone wrong. As he walked towards to the table where the teenagers were eating Astrid talked about somersaults and tumbles and more terms Hiccup didn't understand. The others didn't seem to understand her either, as Ruffnut merely offered a sarcastic "Yeah. We noticed," and Snotlout took the opportunity to compliment Astrid again. Only Gobber seemed to be pleased, praising Astrid for her ability to be hard on herself while Hiccup grabbed the remaining plate of food.

He tried to sit down, but Snotlout prevented him from finding a place at the table. Hiccup mentally sighed and moved towards an empty table to sit there alone. Meanwhile Gobber asked the teens what Hiccup did wrong.

They were a lot more vocal about that than they were about Astrid's faults, but it was not very helpful advice, Hiccup couldn't help but think as they offered suggestions such as "He showed up," and "He didn't get eaten," Only Astrid made an attempt at constructive criticism by mentioning "He's never where he should be."

While Gobber thanked Astrid for her contribution to the discussion, Hiccup wondered if Astrid had really meant it seriously. What if she really meant that he shouldn't be in dragon training? Did she think he shouldn't be on Berk?

Before Hiccup's paranoid brain could investigate more possible interpretations of her words Gobber interrupted his thoughts by showing them the dragon manual, telling them they should study it carefully. He then left them alone to figure out how to share the book.

Luckily, that proved not to be hard, as Snotlout and the twins immediately expressed their hatred for reading, while Fishlegs proudly proclaimed he had it pretty much memorized. Hiccup decided not to say anything, happy that the others seemed to have forgotten about him for a moment.

When Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins left while arguing about the virtues of reading stuff and killing stuff Hiccup was suddenly alone with Astrid. He decided to try and strike a conversation, hoping they could study the book together.

"So, I guess we'll share?" he asked her, but she merely stood up and left while telling him she had already read it. Hiccup felt hurt by her cold attitude, but he was determined to look like he didn't care. So he put on his 'cool face' while saying "Oh wow, all mine then. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" when he heard the door slam, and realized he had no chance anyway.

He sighed and prepared himself for another solitary evening reading. He lit a few candles and opened the large book. He read the descriptions for the different dragon classes, and cringed at the drawings of dragons and Vikings killing each other in gruesome ways. He noticed the same instruction was repeated on nearly every page: "Extremely Dangerous. Kill on sight."

As Hiccup continued reading, he felt increasingly sick at the descriptions of the ways dragons hunted, and sometimes even more sick at the tips for killing dragons. Every dragon had the same addendum: "Extremely Dangerous. Kill on Sight". From the massive Monstrous Nightmare to the tiny Terrible Terror, all dragons were lethal monsters, deserving only death.

Hiccup felt pathetic as he thought about how he had failed that simple objective the day before, when he had found the Night Fury trapped in his bolas.

Finally he reached the last page of the book, and was surprised at the scarcity of the page. All that the book had on Night Furies was:

Speed: Unknown.
Size: Unknown.
The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself.
Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you.

Hiccup noticed that this was the only page that did not tell the reader to 'kill on sight', but that didn't make him feel better. He only felt more confused about the behavior of the dragon. Why had it not killed him when it had the chance?

Hiccup understood he would learn no more from the dragon manual. He figured he would just have to ask Gobber tomorrow during the next training session.

The next day Hiccup walked into the arena with the other teens. But it seemed today's session would be very different from yesterday's. The arena was filled with high wooden walls, creating a maze of sorts. Hiccup wondered if they were being tested in their ability to find their way through the maze. Was it some kind of treasure hunt?

He walked along the edge of the arena when he suddenly spotted Gobber on the spectator's ring above. Gobber seemed to be waiting until everyone had entered the arena to introduce today's challenge. Hiccup figured this was as good a time as any to ask Gobber about Night Furies. He called out: "Hey Gobber, I wanted to ask you something."

Gobber's only response was a quick "Not now, Hiccup" as he peered into the maze. Suddenly, he pulled the lever next to him down, but Hiccup didn't see any result.

He decided he might as well ask: "So... I noticed the book had nothing on Night Furies. So, is there, like, another book, or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet..."

Hiccup suddenly realized what the lever had done when a shot of dragon fire narrowly missed his head and burned his axe handle. Gobber had secretly released a dragon.

"Focus, Hiccup!" Gobber yelled at him. "You're not even trying."

Hiccup disagreed as he ran as quickly as he could, trying his best not to get scorched by the blue dragon attacking him. At least his weapon was much lighter now that the blade had fallen off.

"Today is about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter," Gobber told them while Hiccup finally managed to lose his pursuer. The Nadder had seen Fishlegs, and probably thought he was an easier target. Fishlegs certainly wasn't quick or light.

Fishlegs seemed to realize he wasn't going to do well here when he barely managed to deflect the Nadder's spine shot with his shield. Hiccup could hear him yelling angrily at Gobber about his teaching methods.

Gobber explained blind spots when Hiccup decided he might as well try to ask him about Night Furies again. He ran through the maze trying to find a way to Gobber, while he listened to the twins argue about blind spots. He saw Gobber at the same time as he heard the twins scream. Moments later they ran past him, their argument from moments ago forgotten.

"Hey, so, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" He asked Gobber.

Gobber's yelled at him "No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!"

Hiccup was surprised at Gobber's reaction. He was usually much more patient when Hiccup asked him questions about metalwork in the forge.

"I know, I know, but hypothetically...?" He asked Gobber, but he was interrupted by Astrid shushing him.

She was peering around a corner, while Snotlout was seemed to be focused more on her than on the dragon they could hear nearby. Hiccup immediately obeyed Astrid's command to be silent, and he decided to follow them. He hoped that maybe he could have a chance to impress Astrid.

Both Astrid and Snotlout got to the other side of the opening with a stealthy roll using their shields as leverage. It didn't look very hard to Hiccup, so he tried the same move. However, the shield was harder to move than expected and he got stuck in the middle of his roll.

While in full view of the Deadly Nadder.

He got up and started running in a random direction while fearing every moment could be his last. He could hear the dragon screech above him, but then it got distracted by Snotlout's attempts to hit it with his mace.

Hiccup suddenly saw Gobber above him again, and stopped to ask more questions.

"I was just wondering if you knew anything more about Night Furies?" He asked as he suddenly realized the dragon passed right behind him, charging at Astrid and knocking over the wall next to him.

"Has anyone ever seen one napping?" He continued to ask Gobber while the other teens ran past him, desperate to get away from the rampaging Nadder.

"Hiccup!" Gobber yelled, alerting him to the carnage behind him. He looked around and saw Astrid jumping across the wooden boards, the Nadder hot on her heels. She reached the wall next to him when the dragon charged it, knocking it over.

"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled loudly as she fell. Hiccup ended up lying on the ground with Astrid on top of him, her axe embedded in his shield. She desperately tried to get her axe free while the others joked about it.

"Ooh, love on the battlefield!" Tuffnut said. "She can do better," Ruffnut added.

In any other situation, Hiccup would probably be excited about Astrid lying on top of him and yelling his name. However his brain, already pumped with adrenaline, seemed to shut down when faced with Astrid's furious face inches from his own.

"Here... why don't you... let me..." Was all his mouth could produce, and Astrid decided to take matter into her own hands. She put her boot on his face and used the leverage to wrench the shield off his arm, ignoring his cries of pain. Hiccup saw her eyes widen, as he heard the Nadder charge.

Astrid jumped to her feet and swung her axe at the dragon, the shield still attached. The shield shattered as it connected to the scales on the Nadder's head. The Nadder was stunned for a moment, but then recovered. Astrid raised her axe as the Nadder shot dragon fire at her.

The white-hot dragon fire landed on the left blade of Astrid's axe, producing a sizzling sound as the iron started to melt. Gobber ran in and dragged the dragon to its cage as Hiccup pulled himself to a sitting position.

Hiccup looked up at Astrid and felt even more terrified than when the Nadder had charged him. Her back was facing him, but he could see she was shaking with anger as she looked at her axe, one half still covered in dragon fire. She turned her head slowly to look at him.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" She said to him, and the words hurt more than anything his father had ever said. He knew he had seriously screwed up, and now his chances with Astrid had gone from 'maybe if he was the last man on Earth' to 'never'.

"Our parents' war is about to become ours," she continued, as Hiccup was frozen in shame and fear. "Figure out which side you're on," she finished, as she suddenly moved her axe to point towards Hiccup.

But Hiccup never heard that last sentence. He saw Astrid suddenly swing her axe in his direction. As she did so, he saw a large clump of white-hot dragon fire fly from her axe. Straight towards his face.

Astrid's furious expression was the last thing Hiccup registered before he his senses were overwhelmed with pain and heat. His vision suddenly became completely white. But before Hiccup could make sense of what had happened, everything became as black as night.

So, this was the second chapter, and we've reached the point where things get serious. Please review if you liked it (Or give a review with constructive criticism if you didn't).

Are my chapters too long? I feel like they're long, but I'm trying to include a lot of character motivations and thoughts.

Please let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!