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The dragon training grounds were more run down than Skadi expected them to be. The stone fighting arena was very dusty, with weapons, armor, and shields tossed all around. There were some barricaded and locked doors, but every so often they would shake, like something behind them was trying to get out.
"Welcome to dragon training!" Gobber said as he yanked the arena's iron gates open, allowing the trainees to waddle in like sheep. The young Vikings all huddled together as they took in the frightening arena.
"No turning back." Astrid said, narrowing her icy blue eyes at one of the scorch marks on the walls.
"I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut, breathing deep the smell of ash. Skadi grimaced at the thought of getting burned, her mismatched eyes bouncing around the stone arena.
"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut said, toeing at one of the deep scratches in the stone. Skadi felt her hands shake at the thought of how strong a beast would have to be to make a deep groove like that into the stone.
"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astrid said, the tone of her voice making Skadi question if she was being serous or not. Skadi sighed again, hanging her head a little. She was nervous in the group, since she never really hung out with any of these Vikings, other than Fishlegs once and awhile. Skadi would have thought that one of her cousins would have joined her, but none of them apparently "needed" it as she did.
"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." A sarcastic sounding tone said, breaking Skadi out of her self-loathing moment. Skadi brightened up, turning around to see Hiccup wearing a ridiculously large horned helmet. The rest of the trainees groaned loudly at the sight of the auburn haired teen.
"Oh great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut said, throwing his helmet to the ground in annoyance. The other trainees seemed put out by Hiccup's arrival, but Skadi was not. Hiccup's frown perked up into a small smile as the Celt-Viking practically leapt to his side, a relieved smile on her face.
"Thank the Divines you didn't leave me." Skadi said, making Hiccup let out a small laugh. Just when Hiccup was going to comment on how if not for his father's bullheadedness, he might have left her, when Gobber's loud voice made all the trainees snap to attention.
"Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village!" Gobber said, hobbling around in front of the trainees.
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or...?" Snoutloud snickered, getting the rest of the trainees to laugh. Hiccup sighed, rolling his eyes to the sky in silent annoyance. Skadi nudged Hiccup with her hip, telling him to buck up and ignore the laughing trainees.
"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Tuffnut groaned, scowling at the ground. Gobber frowned at the disappointed look on Hiccup's face and threw his meaty arm over Hiccup's shoulder.
"Don't worry. You're small and you're weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead!" Gobber tried to give Hiccup a pep-talk, which only made the auburn haired teen feel worse. Gobber let go of Hiccup to waddle over to one of the reinforced doors, kicking at the shaking wood.
"Don't think about the negative." Skadi whispered up to Hiccup as Gobber started talking about the dragons that were locked behind the doors.
"I'm not thinking about the negative. I'm worrying about the negative." Hiccup whispered down at the courier, who sighed in exasperation. Skadi felt herself smile as she caught the sound of Fishlegs murmuring about the different species of dragons.
Skadi felt herself relax as Gobber kept on explaining about dragons. She guessed that the first few classes would be lectures only, but that thought was quickly dashed as Gobber yanked a lever, which raised the cross beam that blocked one of the doors.
"Woah!" Hiccup yelped, seeing the wooden beam pull away from the quaking door.
"Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first!?" Snoutlout said, nervously searching for cover.
"I believe in learning on the job." Gobber smiled as a dragon burst from the door, charging into the stone arena. The dragon was a Gronckle, a chubby dragon with a rather distinct smell.
She felt her mouth dry up when the Gronckle started charging around the arena like a wild steed. All the others scrambled to get away from the rotund dragon, except for Ruff and Tuff, of course.
"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead. Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?" Gobber said calmly, as if his students weren't about to be eaten by a bloody Gronckle.
"A doctor?" Hiccup said, his sarcasm never failing, even in such a situation as this.
"Our last rights before we join our ancestors." Skadi followed Hiccup's sarcasm, earning an eye roll from Gobber.
"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs said, scrambling away from the Gronckle. The massive Viking grabbed onto the back of Skadi's shirt and yanked her away. She paled as she spied a scorch mark on the ground where she was once standing.
"I owe you one, Fishlegs!" Skadi muttered under her breath, but the large boy seemed to have heard.
"Shields! Go!" Gobber shouted, gesturing wildly to the haphazard pile of wooden shields that were tossed into the stone arena. The Vikings dove for the shields, trying to quickly find one that would protect them from the flaming Gronckle.
"Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield." Gobber said, shaking his head as he watched all his students scramble around. Skadi leapt over a squabbling Ruff and Tuff to snag a shield that had a blue horse painted on the aged wood.
Skadi let out a small shout as the Gronckle let out a blast of fire at the twins, who were sent spinning across the stone arena. The fire licked at the brown haired girl's legs enough for her to feel the heat, but not to be burned.
"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber said, jerking his head to the side.
"What?!" Ruff and Tuff shouted together in confusion, shooting each other identical dirty looks. The Gronckle started to eat some rocks, the clever creature that it is, which gave the remaining trainees time to regroup on the far side of the stone arena.
"W-what should we do?" Skadi gasped, slightly out of breath. Gobber sighed, slightly frustrated at seeing them floundering around.
"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim." Gobber shouted, waving his hand in the air. The trainees nodded, rushing around the arena to find something to hit against the shields.
Terrified, Skadi picked up a piece of splintered wood and started smashing it against her shield. Her hands were shaking slightly and her teeth were chattering, but she started to notice that the Gronckle was shaking its head in confusion.
"It's working!" Astrid said, narrowing her eyes as she banged her axe harder against her shield. Hiccup started to hit his axe harder against his own shield, mimicking Astrid.
"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber asked, seeing that the dragon's throat was starting to bulge with fire.
"Five!" Snotlout shouted, still hitting his shield.
"Enough to kill us all!" The courier chimed in, earning a disappointed look from Gobber.
"No, six." Fishlegs said, turning his attention to Gobber. "I really don't think my parents…"
Fishlegs was interrupted by the Gronckle's fiery blast. Thankfully the only thing that took damage was his shield, which signaled that he was out of the arena. She tried to look around for somewhere to hide, but it seemed like Hiccup had the same idea and had taken the prime hiding spot for himself.
"Divines." Skadi hissed to herself, making eye contact with the chubby dragon.
"Skadi, move!" Gobber shouted, but it was too late. The Gronckle's eyes were locked on Skadi's and he let out a violent fire blast. Her shield was blown to bits and she was knocked flat onto her back. The courier groaned, feeling the ache in her spine.
"Don't feel bad, it's only the first day." Fishlegs said to her as she crawled over towards the other exiled trainees. Ruff and Tuff were both blaming each other, but Skadi was happy she had a sane companion in Fishlegs.
"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber shouted, alerting the others to the small Viking that was stomping in our direction. He was grumbling angrily to himself under his breath and knocked Fishlegs and Skadi onto their behinds as he pushed past them.
"How rude." Skadi murmured, earning a nod of agreement from Fishlegs. They couldn't make themselves watch Astrid and Hiccup fight for their lives, so they turned their backs to the arena and started talking about their hopes for future dragon training classes.
"Hopefully this whole "experience" is only a one-time thing." Fishlegs said, shaking his head. Other than family and Hiccup, Fishlegs was the only other person that Skadi was semi-comfortable with. She answered the massive Viking with a hum and a head nod, which is all Fishlegs needed to keep talking.
"I hope my parents don't find out about this, or they'll take me out of training." Fishlegs said nervously, his shoulders sagging. Skadi pat his shoulder in silent comfort, nodding her head. Who knows what her father would do if he found out.
"I'm surprised that Hiccup and Astrid are still putting up a fight. Well…Hiccup is trying hard to show off for Astrid." Fishlegs said with a sigh, putting his face in his hands and his elbows on his knees.
"Don't worry about what everyone else is doing." Skadi said softly, trying to soothe the upset bookworm. A loud boom made Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruff, Tuff, and Skadi turn to look into the arena, but Fishlegs covered the courier's eyes.
"You don't want to see this." Fishlegs warned, ever the worrier. Skadi heard the sound of fire hitting wood and stone, but that didn't tell her too much. She found her heart pounding in her chest as her eyes flickered underneath the cover of Fishleg's hand.
"Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage!" Gobber yelled, and the noise of a slamming door and door bar reached her ears. Fishlegs uncovered her eyes, which made the sun flash brightly in her orbs. Wincing, Skadi followed the others back into the stone ring, where Astrid was standing tall and Hiccup was sitting on his rear.
"Remember... a dragon will always, always go for the kill." Gobber said, shooting Hiccup a disappointed look. Behind Hiccup was a huge hole that was blasted into the stone wall, and it was still smoldering!
"Holy Divines." Skadi whispered, slowing inching towards Hiccup.
"Are you alright?" The courier asked, getting down on her knees next to Hiccup. Hiccup frowned, rubbing his head. He looked towards Astrid with a sad look on his face, but he smiled back at Skadi.
"Just a bit of a bruised ego." Hiccup joked, cracking his head. Gobber told the group that training was over for the day and that all of them should head home. Skadi offered Hiccup her hand, which he shakily took to hoist himself up.
"C'mon. Let's get going." Skadi said softly, feeling tired.
"What's your favorite color?" Hiccup asked randomly as they left the stone arena, following a few yards behind the other trainees. Question time, eh? Skadi felt herself becoming nervous. Sure, she found it easy to talk to Hiccup, but they really didn't know much about each other.
Only that their mothers were dead.
Well…that's depressing.
"G-green. Yours?" Skadi said softly, watching her bare feet kick up dust as they walked. It felt nice that someone was asking her seemingly stupid little questions. It made Skadi feel like maybe someone cared about what she thought, or even was slightly interested in her as a person.
"Red. N-now you…ah…ask a question." Hiccup said nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Uhm..what's your favorite…food?" Skadi tried to think of a question that she didn't think was wasn't completely idiotic.
"Chicken and rice." Hiccup said, looking at her for an answer.
"Mines potatoes and bacon." The Celt-Viking said, nodding at him to signal that it was his turn to ask a question.
They asked each other pointless questions all the way home.
