~ Chapter 4: First Morning ~

This is not a glitch! This is a new chapter! I'm still alive! After hearing about and repeatedly watching the trailer for HTTYD 3, I was inspired to see if I can be a bit more active with this story. I also took a couple of updates off that was cluttering the chapter list and hopefully that doesn't mess up the order of the chapters.

Sorry to those that had checked this series a while back, only to find it a little on the abondoned side. But like I promised on my writer bio and sprinkled in some of my stories, I have no intention on abandoning any of the stories that I post.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own How to Train your Dragon. It belongs to Dreamworks and this is just for fun, NOT for profit.

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(Hiccup POV)

When I woke up, I found myself in a wet bed. Not the best way to start your day.

To say that I was a bit surprised and confused would be an understatement. I looked around, only to find that I wasn't in my regular room and a blond beauty was holding an overturned bucket over my head.

"Heard that you guys ordered a wake up call" she said with a faint smirk as she tucked the bucket at the crook of her arm.

It then hit me, all the events that happened yesterday from chasing after her. Astrid, who wasn't wearing a black cloak like before and I didn't see her wings. She wore a thin brown headband around her braided head, a red sleeveless top, roughed up metal shoulder-guards, brown skirt with spikes, and brown leather boots. Now that I was able to see her face, I was taken back with how blue her eyes were. That small smirk was something that I only saw on my (as Toothless said "annoyingly funny") cousin Merida, but on her it fits in a way that I couldn't quite place and made me stare at her probably longer than I should have. I was shaken out of my thoughts when I felt a drop hit my head from the bunk above me. Not a second after I see the other Hybrid (also with a bucket) come down wearing a similar outfit as Astrid, but with a short hair cut, golden eyes, blue top, & wearing gray instead of brown accessories, and a head-drenched Toothless following behind her. She looked between Astrid and I before giving a nod.

"Now that we've got the showers out of the way, get dressed and meet us outside in 10 minutes" she said in a somewhat imposing tone.

They both left so that we could change and our clothes weren't too bad. We were each given 3 pairs jeans and brown shirts. All the clothes had snap-buttoned slits on the back for wings and tails. We dried ourselves off and changed into our clothes to find that them sitting on a root fiddling with their pocket knives. When they saw us they motioned to follow them.

"Sorry for not properly introducing ourselves. I'm Snejana (*1), but everyone calls me Stormfly and this is my co-flyer Astrid." She pointed to each other as we walked with them.

"I'm Henry and this is my friend Thomas, but he sometimes go by Hiccup and Toothless." I said pointing to us.

"Pfff- what kind of name is Toothless and Hiccup?"

"What can we say, they just seem to stick." Toothless said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"If you don't mind me asking" I directed my question to everyone. "What happened to your wings? And when do I get to have mine."

"Sorry, I didn't tell you?" Toothless said sheepishly.

"No, you left that part out."

"Well, Svidur told me that it's one of the abilities that Dracomen naturally have. I haven't tried getting my wings out, but he said we'll be shown how when we learn to fly."

We eventually get to the to the Mess Hall and find it filled to the with hundreds of hybrids. The hussle and bussle of the crowd almost rivaled the the market cavern that we peeked at the other day. Stormfly explained/shouted as we went to get food.

"Follow us and stay close. Or else, you'll get lost in here."

Once my eye adjust to the activity I found that we were in line, we grabbed bowls and spoons as we went through the line and that shoveled rice and some type of stew into our bowls. Since most of the tables at ground level were filled, we went a few flights upstairs where there were overflow balconies along the wall and bar-like tables & stools along the railing. In these upper parts, there was also less noise and everyone below looked crowded. I tried the stew and found it to be like an oatmeal and a little bit bland, but not bad.

"So, why exactly is there a Mess Hall? If there is a market in the the Sanctuary?"

"Because not everyone can afford the food & produce in the market."Astrid answered a tad shortly.

"What she means to say," Stormfly said covering her co-flyer. "Originally there has always been a Dining Hall. However there has been times that the crops were not plentiful and food from the outside were needed. People sold food until they started to get more rare produce, spices, & dishes that couldn't be grown or made here. Nowadays most dragcomen still come to the Dining Halls or cook at home, but they could go to the market when they want to get something more than just stews and soups."

"What kind of things to thay have at the markets?" Toothless asked. "We were only able to get a peek yesterday."

"You'll get a chance to explore the the caverns tomorrow, but the market has a array of wears. There's the forementioned food stands & restrants, but as you go further into it, there are civilian workers such as: blacksmiths, leather workers, carpenters, map makers, artists, performers, potion makers, and booths for specifc spells-casting. But you can see that everything else at another time." Stormfly said as she finished the stew. "The quicker you learn to fly, the more freedom you'll have to roam & explore on your own. Now let's go to the gym."

We emptied our bowls and went to toss them into a shoot to the bus-boy system. As we went down, I peeked through the doors that lead to the back kitchen, where I could see the dirty dishes being wash with currents of soapy water magically swirling through air while pots of food were being magically stirred for the next round meals. When we left the Mess Hall, we made our way through the tunnels to go to the athletics cavern. We were walking like be did yesterday, but I noticed that Stormfly and Astrid were walking beside us instead of in front of us. And the next thing that I knew, we were grabbed and hoisted up by our arms to a hole slightly ahead & above us. Unlike the holes that lead outside, it glowed a green light as we entered it and opened up to a large cavern that looked like an enclosed stadium with rubber flooring. One area had a gerenal court for sports like: basketball, volleyball, or tennis, while another area had deadweights & general exercise machines.

"Here is were you'll train for for the most part." Stormfly said motioning to the whole arena. "Ready for the first step to being dracomen?"

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(*1) Snejana = Bulgarian name meaning "snowy". I may expand on why I chose that name for Stormfly, but that's a story for another one-shot.

Thanks for all those that reviewed, every little bit helps. If you're new to the story, please let me know what you think with a review. Constructive criticism is accepted, but no flames please. And don't be too shy to check out some of my other stories.