First Day of Training:

Hester eyes flickered up to the sound of tweeting from outside her window. She turned her head and saw that a bird was perching on her window sill. She slowly sat herself up and tried to startle the bird.

"Morning, tweet, tweet," she greeted.

The bird tweeted. Hester pulled an apple from her satchel, took a bite to the core and took out the few seeds embedded in the core. "Want a seed?"

She held her hands to the bird with the seeds. The bird eat the seeds and chirped, happily thanking Hester for the seeds.

Hester stroked its head.

'Bang' 'Bang' 'Bang'

Startled, the bird flew away and Hester went downstairs towards the noise-making door.

She opened it revealing Sigmund and Garsir.

"Morning guys,"

"Morning, Hester," they greeted back.

"How you're doing?" Sigmund asked.

"Fine," Hester yawned a bit as she led them inside to some seats near the burned-out fireplace.

"Feeling tired?" Garsir asked as he took his seat down.

"Yes. I couldn't get to sleep for a long while last night," Hester yawned again as she poured the boys some yak milk.

She bought them over to them and they sipped it after a quick 'thank you'

"Your father was pretty mad at me for shouting back at me yesterday," Sigmund lamented sadly. "Yesterday, before he and the others left, he gave me a good shout at. My dad was a quite mad too but my mother wasn't. Fishlegs, unfortunately, is becoming more jealous than ever. I don't how much longer I can cope with it,"

"I'm sorry," Hester said.

"No, I deserved. I should have known better than to talk back to your dad like that,"

"Sigmund, you were only trying to stand up for what's right for Hester,' Garsir consoled. "And don't let what Fishlegs's jealously get to you,"

"Well, I thought you guys might be happy to hear that my father enrolled me into Training,"

"Isn't that great news?" Sigmund proclaimed out loud as he and Garsir cheered for their best friend.

"Aren't you happy, Hester?" Garsir asked expecting a yes.

Hester gave a small smile but then hung her head down.

"Hester, are you okay?" Sigmund asked as he crunched his eyes in confusion. As did Garsir. Why wasn't Hester happy? "Isn't that you what you wanted?"

Hester didn't answer. She just stayed silent, and still like a statue.

"Hester, whatever it is, you can tell us," Garsir consoled as they took a seat beside her.

"Guys...it's just…" Hester was torn between telling the truth and keeping the truth from them. "Something happened yesterday…"

"What happened?" Garsir asked.

Hester was struggling a lot.

"Hester, please tell us. Whatever it is, we won't tell anyone," Sigmund promised.

Before Hester could even give out an answer, Gobber burst in. "Come on, kids. It's time for training. No time for friendly chats!" he left the door open.

"Let's go, guys," Hester insisted desperate to get out as soon as possible. "I'll talk about with you guys later,"

She walked over and picked up her axe, hoisting it over her shoulders.

Sigmund and Garsir decided to go along feeling that it would be wrong to pressure her into telling them. If anything they might make it worse. That was not what they wanted for their best friend.

They walked out of the house carrying their weapons.

Sigmund had a sword with a dragon handle strapped to his back whilst Garsir had two small single-hand axes strapped to his belt. They made their way over to the Arena on the far side of the island.

It was carved in stone and its roof was a huge chain net. No dragon would get in or out very easily. Inside the arena were five pens, each closed and shut tight by strong gates of strong, stiff iron that wouldn't burn very easily.

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Gobber opened the iron gates with a simple push of a lever.

Astrid, leading the group and armed with her trusty double-headed axe, took a deep breath in, and a deep breath. She had been waiting years for this. "No turning back," she said to herself.

She led the other four inside. Fishlegs with a hammer. Snotlout, also with a hammer. And the twins, both with spears.

"I hope I get some serious burns!" Tuffnut was so eager for trouble and danger. If anything that showed how reckless and immature he was goanna be during lessons.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it," Astrid pointed. "And if you focus very precisly,"

"Don't forget, Astrid that you need to be trustworthy and look out for another's back besides your own," Hester's comment to her former best friend made her presence known to the teenagers. They, particularly Astrid, weren't happy at all to see him.

"Oh, great. Who let 'Hicca' in?" Tuffnut moaned.

"Why don't you just shut your mouth, Tuff?" Garsir defended. "Her dad did, so you be quiet,"

"Call her Hicca again, and it'll be the last thing you ever say," Sigmund's warning was made clear by his neck clicking his bones as he spent it right and then left. Tuffnut gulped in fear.

Gobber decided to cut in with his speech before an argument could start between his son and Tuffnut. "Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village,"

"Hester already killed a Night Fury, so, does that disqualify her or...?" Snotlout's cruel mocking was cut off by Sigmund.

"Say another insult and I'll punch the light out of your face," he threatened with a threatening finger pointing at him.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cooler Vikings?" Tuffnut asked Gobber.

"There are no cooler Vikings, Tuffnut," Garsir advised. "Only better, more formidable ones,"

Gobber came by Hester's side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "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,"

"Dad!" Garsir whinned pulling Hester away. "How's that goanna help her?"

Gobber just continued on with his speech to everyone. "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight!"

The students gathered in a line and watched as Gobber motioned to all the cages whose doors were being banged against from the inside from its prisoners. "The Deadly Nadder!" he showed the first one.

Fishlegs (a very smart Viking Dragon knowledge) muttered "Speed: eight; Armor: sixteen,"

"The Hideous Zippleback!"

"Plus eleven stealth times two."

"The Monstrous Nightmare!"

"Firepower: fifteen,"

"The Terrible Terror!"

"Attack: eight; Venom: twelve!"

"Will you just stop that?!" Sigmund shouted into his face. "For nearly all my life, my tolerance with your stupid muttering on boring, already easy-to-know facts was hard to deal with. But's it's reached its end,"

"Hey, you can't tell me what to do!" Fishlegs shouted into his adoptive brother's face. "And just so you know I will not stop resenting you for being mum's favourite boy,"

"Don't you two start shouting?!" Gobber shouted. "And... the Gronkle!" he placed his hand on a lever to open the door.

Fishlegs whispered this time. "Jaw strength: eight,"

"Whoa, whoa, wait!" Snotlout shouted becoming scared. "Aren't you gonna teach us first?!"

"I believe in learning on the job," Gobber answered. He pressed the lever unlocking the cage doors and outburst the Gronkle, who promptly renegaded at the teenagers. They dodged out other way. The huge, bolbous dragon bumped into the wall and procceeded to attack agan.

"Today is about survival. If you get blasted... you're dead! Quick! What's the first thing you're going to need?"

"A doctor?!" Tuffnut guessed.

"Two doctors?!" Ruffnut guessed.

"Plus five speed?!" Fishlegs shouted.

"A shield!" Both Astrid and Hester answered at the same time. They both glared at each other at the same time.

"Shields! Go!" Gobber ordered.

The teenagers dashed over to a huge pile of shields and started picking them up by the handles. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield!"

Sigmund noticed Hester was having a bit of trouble. He dashed to her side and quickly helped her lift up his own.

"Thanks, Sig," Hester thanked Sigmund by his nickname.

"You're welcome," he replied before taking his shield and running with Hester into practice.

Tuffnut had got his hands on a green shield with skulls on but Ruffnut grabbed it too by the other side. "Get your hands off my shield!"

"There's like a million shields!" Ruffut bickered pointing out to all the other laid-out shields.

"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers,"

Ruffnut still wouldn't have it so she snatched the shield full out of her twin's hands and slammed it onto his head.

"Oops, now this one has blood on it," Ruffnut gored and they started fighting over it again like children.

The Gronkle flew towards the Twins. Seeing that they were distracted by endless squabbling, it took the chance to blast their shield with a fireball, leaving them dazed on the ground after they span round and fell to the ground.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber shouted.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut both dazed asked: "What?" clearly showing they didn't pay attention.

"Those shields are good for another thing: noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim!"

The remaining teens began hitting their weapons against their shields, making the Gronkle shake its head, confused. Its visions started becoming blurry. The teenagers started splitting up so they could divide and conquer.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronkle have?" he asked out loud.

"Five?" Snotlout guessed.

"No, six!" Fishlegs corrected.

"Correct, six! That's one for each of you!"

Fishlegs was so focused on answering Gobber's questioned that he didn't notice the Gronkle was behind him. It blasted at him and the' shield got blasted out of his hand. He ran away screaming.

"Fishlegs, out!" Gobber noticed Hester hiding behind a hunk of wood. "Hester, get in there!

Snotlout and Astrid were with each other. "So, anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out!"

Astrid ignored him and cartwheeled out of the way. She was typically not a boy person. She was a warrior person. One who was keen to be number one.

The Gronckle fires at Snotlout knocking him off his feet and blasting his shield.

"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber called.

Both Garsir and Sigmund smirked. For a Jorgenson, whose a bullying cousin to their best friend, and who arrogantly claims that he's strong and bold, he was not living up to those expectations.

Astrid landed near to the Hester much to their disgust.

"Hey, stay out of my way, Hester!" Astrid warned keeping a clear eye on the Gronkle. "I won't have you mess up my chance,"

"Your threats don't scare me, Astrid. You can be number one in training for all I care," Hester responded. "But I don't think you will with lack of trust,"

That did it for Astrid. Astrid kicked Hester to the side.

The Gronkle fired at them, but it missed. Hester quickly rolled out of the way but she suddenly lost her shield. It was rolling away on its side so she ran after it. But the dragon hot on her heels. '

"One shot left! Hester!" Gobber shouted.

"Hester, look out!" Sigmund shouted.

The Gronkle cornered Hester. She fell on her butt and backed against the stone wall. taking its aim. Before she could be roasted, Gobber quickly tugged it away with his hook in its mouth. It caused it to misfire its last shot.

"And that's six! Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage!" Gobber shoved the dragon back into its cage and locked it. "You'll get another chance, don't you worry," he assured the other students. "Remember: a dragon will always - always - go for the kill,"

He pulled Hester to her feet and left the arena with the others. All but Astrid and Fishlegs were laughing at how Hester nearly got killed.

But it was cut by Sigmund and Garsir glaring so hatefully at them and stomping up behind them and shouting at them.

"Hey it's not funny! Hester could have been burnt alive!" Garsir shouted.

"Don't any of you learn to show respect to your future chieftess?" Sigmund asked, reprimanding them for being so selfish.

"Don't you ever learn to show respect to your future chief?" Snotlout demanded gesturing to himself.

"You call yourself a future chief?" Garsir asked, almost bringing himself to the point of laughing. "If anything, you're an arrogant, pompous teen who will never put the needs of others above his own,"

"Pompous? POMPOUS?!" Snotlout ear-pierced with his bellowing voice as bold as a buffalo. "You didn't just say that!"

"I just did!" Sigmund retorted back.

"You know Ruff and Tuff, just for the record, you guys look skinny yet you still bully Hester for what she looks like,"

"We're not skinny!" Ruffnut shouted back offended.

"Yes, you are. So if you guys are, yet do not bully each other for it, then don't bully Hester," Garsir ordered agreeing with his best friend's statement.

"Astrid, you could have gotten Hester killed," Sigmund berated pointing a hateful finger at her.

"She got in my way,"

"No, you were just lacking trust, Astrid," Garsir counter argued. "In all my years, since our friendship ended, never have I seen you do something as reckless and unreliable as this,"

"Someday, soon Astrid, your lack of trust will lead to your downfall," Sigmund warned.

Both he and Garsir turned to walk over to Hester but they halted in their steps when they saw she had disappeared.

"Where'd she go?" Sigmund wondered.

"I think I might know where she's gone," Garsir whispered making sure no one could hear them.