Chapter 2

Hiccup Dragged himself up the stairs to his loft. He had never felt so exhausted in his life. He had known that the regimin was going to be hard, but this had far exeeded his expectations.

"I really had no idea that there were so many muscles in a body that could hurt so much" hiccup said aloud.

The last few days had been filled with enough sweat to create an ocean. on monday, him and the other riders had gotten up at the crack of dawn and walked to the arena. not flown on thier dragons like usual, but walked. the boy called Spectre said that walking would help wake them up for training. Snotlout had ignored this and flown on Hookfang to the arena. When they arrived he had a smug look on his face. that was quickly dispelled when he tossed them each a sack of heavy objects and told them to run all the way down to the village with them on their backs. after the first quarter of the run, Snotlout fell face first into a mud puddle. once they had reached the village, Spectre told them to take off the packs and open them up.

In Astrid's pack, there was a battleaxe and two knives. In Snotlout's pack, there was a heavy broadsword and two knives. In Fishlegs' pack, there was a collapsable war hammer, and two knives. In Tuffnut's pack, there was a collapsable trident and two knives. In Ruffnut's pack, there was a collapsable spear and two knives. In Hiccups pack, there was a strange looking sword, and two knives.

"why do we all have two knives in our pack? it seems impractical" Hiccup observed.

"Look a little closer at them. see if you can spot any differences"

Hiccup looked a little closer and saw what Spectre was talking about. the knives where serrated and curved back into a hook.

"these knives are designed to be used for as many purposes as possible. they are serrated for cutting meat that you might need to slice for a meal, tough and long enough for combat, and curved to act as climbing sickles."

Why do we need these in the first place?" Astrid asked. "We're already able to use the larger weapons to handle any situation that may arise"

Spectre held up a hand to forestall more questions from the rest of the group.

"You need them because we are going to be living in the wilderness for the next two months, and you will be going in there with only these weapons. oh and you can't fly on your dragons during the two months we are out there. you have to learn how to work as a unit. and in addition to that, you have to learn how to better operate without the help of your dragons. they are going with just for morale support. they cannot help you in any way shape or form."

Snotlout looked very put out by this.

"Are you seriously saying that Hookfang isn't allowed to help me? Thats just no right!"

Spectre gave him a shrewd look. "You are too reliant on Hookfang to get you out of these hazardous situations. You need to learn to rely on the other riders, and yourself. I'm going with you, but I will not be pulling anyone else's weight"

"However, we will be doing some training before we head out. I already scouted out where we will be starting off. I did a little bit of sailing recently, and found an island that is completely uninhabited by humans. but there are plenty of boar, dragons, and other creatures that would like to rip us limb from limb. We are going to survive there for two months or more. By that point we will sail back to berk."

And so it had begun. It became quickly obvious how Spectre had aquired his superhuman abilities. They regimin was built to make sure that evey single part of your body hurt by the end of it. after an hour of various exercises, Spectre hung six heavy bags of grain from the ceiling of the arena. He then had them start punching and kicking them in quick succession. after a while, he had them begin to perform certain punches and kicks as well as certain combinations of strikes. Afterwards, he drilled them with the weapons he had given them. He showed them how every weapon came with its own unique fighting style that could be changed to the wielders comfort. He started with Tuffnut, showing them how the end of a trident/spear could be just as effective as the sharp end. He also showed Snotlout various methods of using his sword to find weak spots in a sword, as well as how mastery of a sword was the blade becoming almost and extention of his arm. Astrid was shown some unique strategies for using the axe as a shield as well as disarming and opponent. Finally, he showed Fishlegs how to use the war hammer for defensive purposes, as well as recovering from a vertical strike.

The next day, he had the, simply jump into a pool of heated water, then jumping into an ice water pool. then, he had them shoot target with bows of 15 kilo draw weight to start. then he gave them the rest of the day off saying: "if you don't give your muscles enough time to recover, they will give out on you"

After ten days of hard work, Spectre had them pack the weapons they had been provided with. then, they sailed to the island Spectre had marked on the map.

"Now then" Spectre said in a pleased tone. "Lets get started"

End of chapter 2

Okay, This was shorter than the first chapter, but this was something I worked on for kicks. like I said before, I had no intention of posting this series in the first place.