First official chapter :D
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Once again, I do NOT own HTTYD
Chapter 1: This is Berk
'This…is Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery…' I thought as I surveyed the area from my house's garden, readying my battle sticks and shield.
So far…nothing…
'My village? In a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations yet every single building is new.'
Deciding to patrol a wider area, I put a mesh net over my vegetables for protection and ventured out of my home area which is located on a slightly elevated part of the village.
'We have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests…'
I saw a pair of sheep grazing in a field nearby without a care in the world. Suddenly…something huge swooped down and carried one poor sheep off. The other one merely moved to the spot its buddy had been standing and continued munching.
It's starting…I began to run to the village plaza.
'Most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have…'
A loud roar split the air and I momentarily ducked as a scaly, red beast with wings flew above me, its body cloaked with flames that set a bunch of houses on fire. "Dragons." I muttered, tightening the grip on my sticks and joined the action.
Most people would leave but not us. We're Vikings. We have…stubbornness issues. In other words, it's fight to live and live to fight for us every day. Dragons have been a constant nuisance to us here on Berk. They've been stealing livestock from us almost every night when they raid so almost every night the village is a war zone from sunset to sunrise. I shouted a few greetings to some older Vikings including my parents. My dad, Edgar Fiersome, was waving a sword in a Gronckle's face egging it on. They're these huge Boulder Class dragons that look like giant boulders when they're asleep, usually after they've eaten a big meal. It's almost impossible to tell a Gronckle's head from its tail when asleep but I figured out a simple way. The big end's usually the head while the smaller end is the tail.
"Take care, sweetheart!" my dad shouted before rolling to one side to avoid the Gronckle's lava blast. "Be careful, love!" my mom, Henna Fiersome, told me before decapitating a Deadly Nadder, a Sharp Class dragon with pretty scales and poisonous spikes on its tail that can launch themselves at will-definitely a deadly dragon with a hot as the sun magnesium fire.
Oh yeah! My name's Zenna, Zenna Fiersome, by the way.
I may be a girl but don't judge me by my long, silky black hair, bright violet eyes, pretty face and small stature! I'm as tough as any seasoned warrior and have taken down my fair share of dragons in my fourteen years of existence namely: four Terrible Terrors, two Deadly Nadders and one Gronckle.
Yeah, only seven so far but seven's a lucky number.
"'Kay mom and dad! See 'ya on the battlefield!" I grinned as I continued running towards the plaza.
A Nadder tried to ambush me but I quickly got in its blind spot right under its nose and jabbed it in the chest with my sticks. It doubled over in pain, giving me enough time to deliver a hard blow to its head putting it out of its misery. You might've noticed that I only use sticks to fight dragons. While everyone else in the village use swords, spears, bludgeons, bolas and other sharp or heavy weapons, I prefer to fight light. My sticks are long, smoothed & polished to perfection and carved from super hard wood. A lot of times my peers have scoffed at how pathetic my weapons are. But when I personally showed them what these babies could do in a previous raid, they hushed up. Plus, I have a fool-proof and mess-proof way of killing dragons. While others would rid them with slashes and gashes, I would strike in either the chest or neck area to stun them before dealing a hard strike to their heads. Less blood; the better, I always say. I've never really felt comfortable with slashing a dragon to pieces because…well don't tell anyone…I have quite a bit of respect for them.
Alright, back to the here and now!
After I got rid of the Nadder I spotted my best friend, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, running through the chaos of the battle. As usual, the other Vikings were yelling at him to get inside. He's kind of well…accident prone, you see.
"Hey Hiccup!" I hollered. Hiccup's a lot smaller than me mostly due to his lack of muscle. I call him 'Fishbone' sometimes which usually annoys him. He's scrawny and lean as a twig, has auburn hair, a freckly face and piercing emerald green eyes. I'm pretty much the only one in the village who knows that under that scrawny body is an intelligent mind. And mind you, an intelligent Viking is hard to find in Berk. I'm glad I'm friends with Hiccup. Not only is he a fun and caring person for me to hang out with, he's the only one who thinks before he acts while everyone else charges willy-nilly into battle.
Then again, he's also not really allowed into battle.
"Morning Zenna!" he grinned at me with his signature crooked grin. It was still dark but the sun was going to rise soon. We jogged on over to each other and high-fived. Suddenly Hiccup was picked up from the ground by a large, burly Viking with a red beard and dressed in authorative Viking wear.
"Hiccup! What is he?! What're you…?! Oh, get back inside!" he shouted exasperatedly before putting him down. That's Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off its shoulders. Do I believe it? Well, for all I know it could've been just a Terrible Terror's head he had popped off. But don't tell anyone I said that. I could get into serious trouble with the Chief if that bit of info got leaked out into the village.
"What've we got?" he asked one of the town's watchmen who had marched over to him. "Gronckles, Zipplebacks, Nadders. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare." He reported. "Any Night Furies?" Stoick asked him. "None so far." The watchman shook his head. "Good." The Chief said before turning to me and Hiccup. I instantly stood straight as this is the Chief of Berk we're talking about.
"Zenna…" Stoick began, looking at Hiccup for a minute before looking back at me. "Keep an eye on him." Stoick told me. "Yes Sir." I replied before he left. I glanced over to Hiccup. "To the forge?" Hiccup asked me. "Yep. And we better get moving." I answered him.
Quickly, we sprinted over to the forge. "Oh, nice of you to join the party. I thought you'd been carried off." A two limbed Viking with a blond mustache chuckled upon seeing Hiccup. "What, me? I'm way too muscular for their taste. They won't know what to do with all this." Hiccup said, taking off his fur vest to put on an apron and lifted up a hammer off the weapons rack before confidently striking a bodybuilder pose. I had to laugh. Another thing I like about Hiccup-his sarcastic jokes are hilarious. "Well they need toothpicks, don't they?" the two limbed Viking joked.
The big dude with a peg leg and interchangeable hands is Gobber the Belch, village blacksmith. Hiccup's been his apprentice since he was well…littler. Hiccup got to work while I lingered by the armory, swatting a dragon or two away every now and then. A dragon had set a house on fire and the village's fire brigade quickly rushed over to put it out. The brigade consists of five other teenagers the same age as Hiccup and me.
There's Snotlout Jorgenson, Hiccup's cousin who is what I like to call him 'a boastful and brainless bruiser'. He gave me a wink as he ran past me while I just rolled my eyes. He's always hitting on all the cute girls in Berk.
The next one to run past me is husky Fishlegs Ingerman, the smart one. Well, close to Hiccup that is and a walking Dragon Encyclopedia. Ask him any question about dragons and he'll give you the answer and then some in an instant.
Following him are the adrenaline junkie twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston. As usual they were arguing again but that's how they communicate. They don't really hate each other but man, do they take sibling rivalry to a whole new level.
Last one to go by me is Astrid Hofferson, the tough-as-nails Viking shield maiden and Hiccup's longtime crush. She gave me a curt nod and wave which I returned as she and the others put the fire out.
A house exploded nearby and the fiery background made the five of them look like the ultimate Viking dream team.
A team Hiccup really wants to be a part of.
I then noticed Hiccup try to get out of the forge before Gobber hooked him up by the tunic with his left hand. "Oh please let me out! I need to make my mark!" he protested. "Oh you've made plenty of marks-all in the wrong places!" Gobber told him. "Please! Just give me two minutes and I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better…I might even get a date!" he pleaded. I sighed. I feel sorry for him but I had to agree with Gobber on this. Hiccup's made some rather elaborate and impressive contraptions to try killing dragons. Unfortunately they backfire most of the time and land him in trouble. Anyways, Gobber said exasperatedly, "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe. You can't even throw one of these!" holding up a pair of bolas to emphasize his point before someone grabbed them and used it on a Gronckle, taking it down. I saw Hiccup move to the back of the workshop. "Ok fine. But this will throw it for me." He said, running a hand across a cannon-like doohickey he calls the Mangler. Then he accidentally hit the switch and a pair of bolas launched out of it. Luckily I ducked before I got hit. The bolas beaned another guy on the head, knocking his helmet off. I cringed as Gobber gave Hiccup a telling-off.
"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about." Hiccup tried to speak up. "Mild calibration issue…" he said before Gobber cut him off. "Hiccup! If you ever want to get out there and fight dragons…" Oh boy, here it comes. Time and again, I've seen adults use this on the poor guy…
"…you need to stop all…this." Gobber finished, gesturing to Hiccup's entire body. "But you just pointed to all of me!" Hiccup exclaimed.
Yep. There it is-the whole assessment gesture.
"Yes, that's it! Stop being all of you!" Gobber pointed out. "Like that's ever possible." I muttered under my breath. Hiccup will always be Hiccup. That's what he does best…and what I like about him. I heard Hiccup challenge Gobber saying, "Oh you sir, are playing a very dangerous game. Keeping this much raw 'Vikingness' contained? There will be consequences!"
To which Gobber replied, "I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now." Giving him a blade to work on.
I sighed as I kept an eye out for any approaching dragons. Just a few days ago, I told Hiccup that for a specific type of dragon, his reputation would get different results.
Nadder head? Sure to at least get him noticed.
Gronckles? He'll definitely get a girlfriend if he took one of those down.
A Hideous Zippleback? With its two heads comes an exotic double the status guarantee.
And there's the Monstrous Nightmare. With a nasty habit of setting itself on fire, only the best Vikings can go after it.
But the ultimate dragon prize is the dragon no one's ever seen…and lived to tell the tale. We call it the…
"NIGHT FURY!" "Get down!"
By instinct, I ducked under my shield so as not to be the elusive beast's target. But I caught a quick glimpse of its great wings and pitch black body as it finished off a catapult Stoick was standing on with a plasma blast. Good thing the Chief jumped off before he got caught in the crossfire. This dragon is definitely one to be labeled as a force to be reckoned with. It never steals food, never shows up and…
BOOM! There goes another catapult.
And it never misses.
I got up from my defensive stance to see Hiccup keeping his eye on the creature. I knew what he was thinking. No one has ever killed a Night Fury…and Hiccup wanted to be the first. "Man the fort, Hiccup. They need me out there." Gobber told him as he replaced his hook with an axe. "Stay. Put. There." He reminded him before looking at me. "And you, make sure he does." With that, Gobber left to join his comrades in battle. I looked at Hiccup. "You're gonna keep me in here, aren't you?" he asked sulkily. I shook my head. "I'd like to see how that thingamajig of yours works." I said, a sly smile appearing on my face. Hiccup grinned as he got his Mangler out of the forge and we headed out.
Oh yeah, one more thing Hiccup and I have in common-we both love to disobey orders.
"Hiccup! Get back inside!" Phlegma the Fierce snapped as we ran past her. "Sorry! Be right back!" Hiccup yelled, pushing his Mangler across the field. "It's cool, he's with me!" I hollered before we managed to find a safe spot to set up. I knew there was a 99% chance I'd get in trouble if Hiccup did but well, he's my friend & I gotta look out for him. Plus, I know he'd do the same thing for me.
"How many bolas can this thing fire?" I asked as Hiccup got ready. "One." He replied, readying his crosshair. "Make it count." I reminded him. We carefully scanned the sky, both mumbling "Give us something to shoot at…"
Then it appeared.
"Coming in at 3 o' clock, Hiccup! Shoot it down now!" I shouted as the Night Fury finished off a catapult with a plasma blast, its pitch black form slightly illuminated in the light of its fire. Hiccup quickly took aim and fired. He fell backward due to the sheer force of it but I saw the bolas hit the dragon and it spiraled down to the ground, shrieking as it did so. Hiccup saw that and whooped, "Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?!" with a huge smile on his face.
It only took me a nanosecond to let the reality that my scrawny friend had taken down the most feared dragon known to our entire tribe sink in. Then I joined him in celebrating. "Thor Almighty, Hiccup! You actually did it!" I cheered as we jumped around in excited circles, laughing.
Suddenly, I saw a Monstrous Nightmare creeping behind Hiccup! I tensed up. "Hiccup…" I said in a low voice, carefully backing away. He turned around, took one look at the dragon and paled. "Except for Zenna and you…" he deadpanned.
We both began to back off. Too bad the Monstrous Nightmare was aggressive right now and it roared at us in our faces in an outrage, flames covering its body! "RUN!" I screamed, giving Hiccup a head start shove before I took off as well. We frantically tried to lose it in the battlefield but unfortunately, that thing was hell-bent on roasting us. It spat fire at us while we ran.
As we neared the plaza, I yelled "Go! Hide!"giving Hiccup another push. He quickly hid behind a grand torch just in time before the Monstrous Nightmare fired another blast of flame at it. Luckily, he was protected by the torch and it didn't fall on him. I turned to face the Monstrous Nightmare, determined to not let it get any closer to my best friend.
'Come on big guy, let's dance…' I thought as I tightened my grip on my battle sticks. "YAAAAAHHHH!" I shrieked as I charged.
But then, Stoick burst in. With a few blows from his hammer, he sent that Monstrous Nightmare on the run. But that was also when the torch Hiccup was hiding behind toppled over, destroying a walkway. Now you know, old village but lots of new houses and other structures thanks to the dragons and sometimes, Hiccup's backfiring plans. I looked around at the carnage before my gaze finally landed on Hiccup who nervously looked at Stoick, who looked really pissed off. Oh boy…
'Oh, right. There's also one more thing you should know about my friend Hiccup…'
"Sorry, dad…" Hiccup mumbled.
Surprise, surprise huh?
