How to Train Your Friend

Chapter 4

Nod Off Nadder

Every young dragon trainer on Berk rose very early that day, this obviously included Jorvar and Hiccup. The day burned with the same hope the sun does each morning, and with each step that Hiccup and Jorvar took towards the Berk Dragon Academy, each felt their past friendship slowly being reignited, stronger and fiercer than ever before. They chose to walk to the Academy by Jorvar's request, as one thing he was definitely not going to be ready for on his first day was flying. To Jorvar, training and befriending a dragon was difficult enough to grasp, riding one and calling it his own was another day's lesson. Hiccup could feel the tension dangling between himself and his friend, and the fact that Toothless was following right behind them the whole walk wasn't very comforting, especially to the conversation that ensued. Both Vikings were very mellow in how they spoke, this was mostly due to the fact that Hiccup was essentially a Dragon Training Master, and Jorvar wasn't even a Novice, most likely not even a Rookie.

Every time the wooden boards under their feet creaked on the pathway, Hiccup drew his breath to speak, but then in the same second withdrew. There was so much Jorvar was going to have to learn in such a small amount of time if he wanted to become a full member of the Berk Dragon Academy, not that he even knew if Jorvar wanted to become one. It was confusing in Hiccup's mind, but he was sure of at least one thing, training Jorvar in the art of handling dragons was going to be much easier than telling him Berk had changed, of that he was sure. Jorvar was still nervous to see a dragon walking behind him, but the awkwardness grinded to a halt. "So…" He tried. "You're not going to have me riding a dragon or anything today are you Hiccup?"

"What…? No way, of course not. Actually getting on a dragon is a very lengthy process Jorvar, something I wasn't even ready for the first time I did it. There's no way I'd put you on the back of a dragon by yourself on your first day." This was reassuring, but still not so comforting to say the least. Though Hiccup was sincere, Jorvar was still quaking, and his heart beat fast. It wasn't much long after that when the brim bars of the Academy came around the corner in the distance.

All the members of the Academy had already arrived by the time that Hiccup walked in with Toothless and Jorvar following behind him. It was clear, sunny day, almost as clear has Hiccup's head was starting to become. He took a moment to pause and listen to the waves crashing on the cliffs outside the Academy. He also stopped and watched birds fly overhead. In his mind, suddenly, he wasn't so worried. Odin had given them a spectacular day to train, and it wouldn't do Jorvar any harm to learn under such bountiful conditions. He turned back to his old friend, and gestured towards the other trainers that had already lined up their dragons. It was decided the previous day after Jorvar had been rescued that they would teach him in the classical method, and that meant starting by enabling him to identify each species of dragon by scale colors, patterns, horn and spike placement, and intensity of their fire. It was all around looking to be going smoothly, and Hiccup smiled thankfully that Snotlout and the Twins hadn't messed up the procedure, though he was holding his breath on the latter.

"These Jorvar…are the most common species of dragons that you're going to encounter now that you live on Berk. While I find the easiest way to tell each dragon apart is by their obvious differences in coloration and body structure, there are other methods. But we'll dive into that a bit later. Astrid…" And she stood ready next to her dragon. "Please introduce our friend here to the Deadly Nadder." She nodded, and her dragon, Stormfly looked like she was well behaved and ready to carry out her task.

"Glad to Hiccup…" And then in a flash she suddenly became very stern with Jorvar, almost like he was back in his early days of schooling with the foulest substitute teacher imaginable. "Alright, if there's one thing you need to remember about the Deadly Nadder…it's that you can't let her looks deceive you. Her scale pattern is very beautiful I admit…but she also possesses tail spines, and believe it or not…a Nadder also had the hottest fire of any dragon species currently known. They're generally friendly as long as you make sure they know you're not a threat, but step out of line just one time, and they'll hammer down on you like a mother bear."

Nothing Astrid said was well received by Jorvar; if anything, Astrid had just made him terrified of the Deadly Nadder. Following her necessary ramble, Astrid picked up a wooden shield and threw it up in the air and gave Stormfly a hand signal, which was followed in succession by her turning about and flicking her tail. Jorvar heard a deadly whistle noise creep through the air and saw that the shield had been impaled to the side of the arena by four large spines that had no doubt come from Stormfly's tail. Astrid made her dragon ease up afterwards and crossed her arms, as if she had just proven a point. Hiccup stepped in to try and calm his friend's nerves down.

"Okay…thank you Astrid…" And he slowly moved Jorvar towards the next dragon in the line-up, the Monstrous Nightmare.

During the brief change, Jorvar looked over his shoulder and stole a glance at the Deadly Nadder. He checked out her features for himself, as he was a bit too distracted by her frightening display of accuracy to actually admire the dragon in all her splendor. She had very long, bent claws; claws such as those were probably capable of tearing through iron and the hull of ships alike. He also noticed the mild flaw in her horns. With the majority of the Nadder's horns pointing backwards, flying at high speeds could be a risky move, as if she were to suddenly stop, the rider's face would most likely be skewered on those horns. The news that the Nadder's fire was the hottest was also a mild set back to Jorvar. That, coupled with the risk of accidental death on her horns was enough for him; the Nadder was most surely not his dragon of choice. He hoped that the Monstrous Nightmare was better, but with Snotlout as its trainer, he had very low expectations. He could assume so by the attitude on Snotlout's face as they approached him.

"Snotlout…" Hiccup cautiously began, "Please…if you will." And he gave the okay for Snotlout to introduce Jorvar to Hookfang's species.

"Thank you Hiccup…please…Jorvar…" He boasted and widened his arms out, almost like he was an usher exaggerating the exceptionality of a stage production. "Never before have you seen anything as awesome as the Monstrous Nightmare…aside from me of course." Snotlout took a moment to look over to Astrid and wink, to which she crossed her arms and scowled. Snotlout shrugged it off. "She digs me…" He loudly whispered to Jorvar. "Anyway…the Monstrous Nightmare is the only dragons that fits the standard set for riders like you and me my friend. If you want fire…the Nightmare has got all the fire you want!" And he turned around and kicked Hookfang in the lower jaw, causing the beast to jump up in shock, while simultaneously setting itself ablaze. What followed was a quick roar noise, and within seconds, Snotlout was dangling from Hookfang's mouth, in the usual playful sort of way that Hookfang intended. Although, it was anyone's call the day this would end and Hookfang would really try and gobble down his incompetent rider. From within the jaws of Hookfang, a distraught Jorvar, mostly from the pyrotechnics he had just witnessed, heard Snotlout's muffled voice say, "See…? What did I tell you…? You want one…?"

Jorvar most certainly didn't have to second guess himself on this one. The unnecessary display of the Nightmare's natural control of fire aside, Jorvar could tell purely by eye scanning the dragon that this wasn't going to be the right dragon for him. Not only could he tell that these things had a natural instinct to light up when it became cold, which was something he couldn't control regardless, there were other sporadic details among the creature that turned off Jorvar. Not only was it one of the loosest cannons he'd ever seen, it was much too big. Jorvar was still taken aback by the daunting task of training a dragon, and he wanted to start small; or at the very least, smaller. Not only that, but the spines protruding from Hookfang's neck, a trait all Nightmares probably had, would make for an extremely uncomfortable saddle placement. He'd be prying wedgies out from his undergarments every time he got off from a ride. He'd prefer a dragon that had a slender shape for an easier ride, much like the Nadder he'd previously seen, which no doubt needed to be ridden by the thighs. All in all, he'd seen enough.

"Can I see the others now…?" Jorvar peeped to Hiccup. Only a mere second went by, and Jorvar had completely his mental analysis of the Nightmare, he had decided, and now he was ready for the next specimen.

"Alright…Ruff…Tuff…" Hiccup said and directed Jorvar's attention to the next dragon, or dragon(s).

Before they even began to inform Jorvar, if one could call it that, about the Hideous Zippleback, Ruffnut swung her arm over her head and clocked Tuffnut in the head. He was dazed for a moment, but recovered quickly and used a hammer fist on his sister's helmet. It quickly enveloped into a head bashing contest that one would compare to mountain goats fighting for a mate. It was amusing to watch the first few minutes, but soon Jorvar just got bored. He did find it humorous how they could break out into such a simple fight without exchanging a single word between them. It was true, the whole conflict, even from the initial hit; there was no evidence of verbal communication making a cameo, only physical.

While the Twins roughly settled one of their many pointless conflicts, Jorvar decided it was time to scan another one of Hiccup's possible dragons. The major con that Jorvar saw with a Hideous Zippleback was the fact that it was a single dragon with two heads. This simple fact alone meant that the Zippleback needed two riders, so even if he had decided to choose one of these dragons, he'd have to wait until someone else picked the same dragon. Two heads are better than one, but not when you're a Rookie dragon trainer trying to learn the personalities of the different species. Not only that, but Jorvar also made due to mention that no two Zippleback heads have the same personality, so he'd have to keep track of and manage both heads of his Zippleback should he acquire one. It wasn't out of the question that a skilled dragon trainer could likely control both heads and ride it as a single dragon, but Jorvar was no such rider. He felt as if one head to manage was difficult enough, so again, the Hideous Zippleback was an interesting dragon, but he'd have to pass.

Without a word, Hiccup and Jorvar moved onto the final dragon in the lineup, the Gronckle. Before Fishlegs even got a word out to Jorvar, he could by default clue together the rigid features of this dragon. It was also a factor that Jorvar had seen how Meatlug acted around the other dragon, in which it was more of a giant playful ragdoll than an actual dragon. That minor mishap in its personality, at least what the Rookie considered a mishap, plus its small body structure and stubby wings which would no doubt beat like a hummingbird, or maybe an insect like a fly at best, there was no way Jorvar was choosing a Gronckle. Hiccup had explained to Jorvar that Fishlegs was one of the more well-read students, if not, the most well-read student at the Academy, and he wanted to cut the broad Viking some slack, but in this situation with the dragons he was faced with, he couldn't spare any sympathy.

"Actually…" He chimed into Fishlegs' opening statement before it began. "Hiccup…may I speak with you a second?" Hiccup couldn't say no to a simple request such as that. They walked out of hearing distance, and Jorvar was sure to check to make sure the Twins weren't listening before he spoke. Verbally groveling, Jorvar decided to be concise. "Hiccup…please tell me you have another Night Fury around here. These dragons are just…" he desperately tried to think of a less offensive term than the ones already jumbling around in his mind, "Not…doing it…for me." Hiccup understood.

"Sorry Jor…Toothless is the only Night Fury I've ever seen…actually the only Night Fury anyone has seen. When the time comes for you to pick your dragon, it's going to have to be one of these. There's not much else to choose from, not unless you want a Terrible Terror or a wild Changewing." Not only did Jorvar swell with disappointed and mild feats of anguish, he also bulked with submission.

"Change what…?" Hiccup shook his head; he was going to have to teach his friend a lot.

"Come on Jorvar…you can pick a dragon later…for now, how about some basic lessons?" Jorvar gulped so loudly, you would've thought Thor had brought the hammer down on a nearby town.

Daylight crept over the Academy's metal bars like multitudes through the crags of desert sand. The whole passage was seemingly pointless, as Jorvar hadn't made contact with a single dragon. He started to wonder after a point what the reasons for his failure could be out loud. For some reason unbeknownst to him, the Twins seemed to have their minds set that the answer was simply that the dragons hated his hair. According to Ruffnut, it 'wasn't the right shade of brown to make the dragon feel comfortable.' It didn't matter to Jorvar, he'd heard weirder things throughout his life from even weirder people, as impossible as that may sound.

"What's my problem…?" He continued to think aloud. Tuffnut huffed and snorted, somehow at the same time.

"Maybe the dragons just hate you…ask Snotlout…he can give you advice on that…" He said.

"That's ri…hey…!" Snotlout boasted from Hookfang's saddle. Hiccup was also pondering the situation.

"Hey Jorvar…!" He called over. "I got an idea…" He said and pulled himself onto Toothless' back. The agile dragon then walked over to Jorvar and Hiccup pulled him up. "Hang on…as always…" With no further notice, they were gone in seconds.

Hiccup still wasn't a master dragon trainer, but he could spot laziness where it was present. He was able to do this by having Snotlout and the Twins in his dragon classes all these months. Hiccup had flown them to a spot by the beach where they used to play, namely the beach that was said to have 'pink' sand because of the way it looked at sunset and dusk. Toothless touched down on the riptide meeting and modeled across the sand until Hiccup halted him to a stop. He hopped out and Jorvar, still not used to flying, needed to hold his stomach for obvious reasons. Hiccup sat down on a rock and picked up a shell to admire it for a moment while a Jorvar held down his lunch and sat next to him. Hiccup put the shell down and faced Jorvar, intent with truth.

"So Jor…" he began, "Care to explain to me why you're not actually trying to befriend those dragons…?"

"What…?" The sarcasm dripped like snake venom from his sailor's lips. "Not trying…? I was really…you think I…" Hopeless cause from start to finished, because as mentioned, Hiccup could see right through it. Jorvar picked up on this immediately, and dropped the act. Yes, it had all been a one man play under his direction. Even the thinking out loud was a coup to get them to think dragons didn't like him. He hadn't been hitting them or making them face down eels, so why had he done what he did? Jorvar sighed. "I don't Hiccup…it's just…seeing you so comfortable with those dragons…it sort of makes me feel like I've lost my best friend. I mean, we both dreaded those things as children, and now…well, it's just sort of hard to accept. You know…?"

"Yeah…I know. Trust me Jor, I know probably better than anyone in the Academy. I know we made promises to protect each other from dragons, but is that promise really necessary now? Look at us Jor…we've been apart for years, and even back then the only real thing that we bonded over was dragons, dislike for them or not…at our friendship's heart…dragons were there. They're the reason we're friends, and now…we can grow off of that…but this time…in a more positive way. Don't you think…?"

Before Jorvar responded, he thought back over his past friendship with Hiccup before he and his family left Berk. Now that Hiccup had reminded him, he realized that everything he said was true. They became friends over dragons, even though at the time, it was over a mutual fear of them. Now, all these moons later, they did have the chance to use that common epicenter again, but this time as aspiring dragon trainers, not dragon slayers. Jorvar was still thinking over what he could say, but a sudden whiplash of roars broke the streams of morality in his cerebellum.

"What was that…?" Jorvar asked.

"Deadly Nadder…and by the sound of it…a lot of them too…" Hiccup said standing up and listening carefully as the roars echoed again. "Come on…"

And they flew off into the rocks around Berk to look for the Nadders. Circling the island, they found the light to spot a group of traveling Nadders that seem to have landed on Berk for a midflight injury. Hiccup assumed that it was their migration leader that had been injured, as the others seemed too young to know how to migrate on their own, instincts or otherwise. Jorvar counted up about eleven Nadders, a fairly small number for a dragon migration as a total, but large for a group consisting of only one species. They immediately flew back to Berk and the Academy, gathering all the help they could, this included herbs for the wounded leader. Amidst the extravaganza, Jorvar got to observe Hiccup and the others, namely Astrid, befriend the wild dragons, enough so to move the dragons back to the Academy, out of harm's way and safe enough for the time being.

"Where did they all come from…? The Deadly Nadder isn't supposed to be migrating for another month." Astrid was always the keen one, she knew everything about the Deadly Nadder. Hiccup was as baffled as she was.

"I don't know Astrid, but there's a reason, and I'm sure it won't be long before we figure it out." Hiccup looked over his shoulder and saw the Nadders nestling in around the leader, like a giant pile of Viking laundry. Though the thought made him quiver, he knew that it was time to call it a day.

"Alright…let's head back home. That's all I can really take for now." He didn't have to tell anyone twice, especially Snotlout and the Twins, they were already gone. However, when Jorvar tried to join Hiccup on Toothless' back, he stopped him. "Jor…these Nadders aren't going to be territorial, this isn't their home. And…since you were being a little dishonest in class today…" Friends…? Yes, but Hiccup was still Jorvar's teacher, technically speaking anyway. "I think you should stay here with the Nadders tonight." It wasn't a suggestion. Before Jorvar could respond, Toothless had vanished against the diminishing light of day, the transition from dusk to evening.

Jorvar turned around, quaking like a low magnitude earthquake and insulted himself under his breath. "Dunga fifl…"