Author's Note: Hi guys! It's crunch time right now, I'm racing against my Friday deadline. It'll be tight, but I think I'll make it. In the meantime, here's another chapter for you! This has Hiccup learning all about how to take down dragons. Plus, I've added a tiny bit of backstory for Mildew. I don't really like him, but he won't go away! Lol. Anyways, hope you all enjoy this chapter. If so, review/refer/follow/favorite, etc. Thanks always! ~Bkw3rm
Mildew maneuvered the boat closer to the rocky pillars. "This is as far as I go!" he yelled over the wind and spray from the sea. "I'm too old to climb up there anymore. You have climb to the top and make your way over to that peninsula over there," pointing at steep cliffs jutting up from the ocean. "The boat will be smashed if I get too close or if we stay here too long. Be back in an hour or I'll leave and get you tomorrow!"
Hiccup looked up at the towering sea stack, then turned to Mildew. "What do I do when I get up there?" he yelled.
"Observe, if you're lucky. I've seen dragons land there lots of times. As far as I can tell, it's a resting spot for them. You'll get to notice behaviors that you'd never have time to realize during an attack." Mildew called back.
Hiccup nodded and climbed onto the pillar. Carefully, he began to make his ascent, the Zippleback boots slung over his shoulder. Once he made it to the peninsula, he had about a half hour to find the dragons before had to leave. He shook his head, realizing that if this worked, he would have to start earlier the next time. He put the boots on and started to explore. As he rounded a corner, he saw them. Instinctively, he froze. Then, realizing he was downwind and out of their line of sight, he relaxed. Dropping into a crouch, he cautiously moved closer to the reptiles. There were about 7 dragons on the plateau in front of him, a couple of Nadders, Nightmares, and Gronckles. No Zipplebacks though. Hiccup silently cursed his luck. What if the dragons noticed his tracks later and realized there had been no Zipplebacks there that afternoon? He immediately dismissed that thought, the animals weren't that smart. Besides, at this point the ground was far too hard to leave tracks.
Hiccup quietly got out his notebook and started writing. As far as he could tell, the dragons were just… relaxing. They were sort of lounging about, not doing anything. A group of Terrible Terrors landed amongst the larger dragons and started running around. The larger dragons mostly ignored them, but one Terror seemed insistent on picking a fight with a Gronckle. The Boulder Class beast had been eating rocks, but the Terror grabbed one of its smaller stones and was attempting to fly away with it. It chattered incessantly at the irritated Gronckle, darting this way and that, mocking it. Finally, it took a breath to blast the Gronckle with fire, but the Gronckle fired first. It hit the Terror full on in the face, causing the small dragon to drop the rock and flop to the ground. It lay there for a full minute, barely breathing. Then it apparently recovered; it hopped up and called to its pack. The Terror pack took the sky and flew off, chattering angrily the whole time.
Fascinated, Hiccup recorded the incident, writing furiously. If the dragons could be harmed by fire inside their bodies, then they must have a special stomach chamber specifically for making their flames. The Vikings could fight fire with fire, literally, if they could somehow launch fire into an attacking dragons mouth. It seemed to incapacitate them temporarily, which could be just enough time to finish it off. He would need to keep watching to make sure that this wasn't just a weakness of a Terrors.
Something was happening up ahead. A Nadder and a Nightmare were squaring off, shaking their heads and tails, stamping their feet and calling angrily at each other. Hiccup couldn't tell what started the fight, but both dragons seemed quite agitated. The Nadder lunged at the Nightmare, aiming for its neck. The Nightmare sidestepped the attack, beating the Nadder about the head with its large wings. Enraged, the Nadder spiked its tail and shot the spines at the Nightmare. It ducked, a ridiculous move for such a large creature, but one spine hit it right on the nose. Screaming in pain, it charged the Nadder, knocking it off its feet and into a sleeping Gronckle. Startled awake Gronckle yawned, then reached out a leg and scratched at the Nadder's neck. The Nadder, which had been climbing to its feet, dropped to the floor immediately unconscious. Hiccup did a double take. The Nightmare had been looming over the Nadder, ready to fire, but when the Nadder was no longer conscious, it held its fire and waddled off. Hiccup noted that the beast looked weirdly disappointed. Suddenly he realized how late it was getting. He only had a few minutes to get back to Mildew, and he did not want to stay overnight, regardless of how much he might learn.
When Hiccup made it to the boat, Mildew chuckled. "You just made it. I was about to leave when I saw you coming."
"How often are they here?" Hiccup asked. His mind was racing with the things he had learned. He wanted to know so much more!
"I'm not sure. It varies. You'll rarely see the same dragons twice." Hiccup's face fell. "But, I used to come every day when I was younger." The teens face brightened again.
"I'm coming back then. Everyday until I'm the best in dragon training." Hiccup punched his fist with his palm. "I have to kill that dragon."
The next day in class they were facing the Hideous Zippleback. Hiccup and Fishlegs had ended up being paired together as the dragon entered the arena. The noxious gas slowly blotted everyone else from view, keeping the teens on edge. Fishlegs was nervously spewing facts about the dragon. "Will you stop that!" Hiccup snapped. Then he reconsidered, Mildew's words coming back to him. The two heads of the Zippleback can be easily distracted into looking in different directions. "Actually, Fishlegs, keep talking," he said, quickly coming up with a plan. He could hear Tuffnut complaining about being 'very much hurt', so the creature would likely be coming toward them next.
"Fishlegs, when one of the heads appear, I want you to talk to it. Just distract while I try something. If it gets nasty, duck."
"Um, Hiccup? It's a dragon. I'm pretty sure that qualifies it as nasty already."
"Just do it!"
Time was up. One head came through the fog right at Fishlegs. He threw his bucket of water on it, just as the dragon revealed the mouthful of sparks it was about to unleash. "Good, Fishlegs. Now just keep it distracted." That leaves me with the gas-breathing head, he thought. Suddenly the head appeared, rushing straight at him. He readied his bucket and then shoved it onto the dragon's head. Before he could let go of the bucket, the blinded head reared back into the air, dragging him along. The Zippleback whipped its neck back and forth, trying to dislodge both boy and bucket, but Hiccup clung tightly to his perch.
"Hiccup! What're you doing?" yelled Gobber.
"Uh, improvising!" he yelled back. This wasn't part of the plan. The other head was no longer distracted by Fishlegs rambling and was coming straight at him. With seconds left to save himself, Hiccup made his decision. It was crazy, but it just might save his life. As the other head loomed over him, Hiccup reached for the blinded heads neck and scratched for all he was worth. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the blinded head dropped like a stone, unconscious. Hiccup was thrown clear, landing painfully on the stone floor. Dizzy, he sat up to view the results of his work. The Zippleback was confused, trying to move about, but was unable to because of the deadweight of its other half. Gobber picked up the sleeping head and fairly threw the dragon back in its cage.
Hiccup became aware of the other teens staring at him. He could hear them whispering: How did he do that? I've never seen a dragon react like that before. He abruptly stood up. "Right, so, are we done here? 'Cause I've got a thing to, um, yeah-" He scurried out of the arena and down to the docks to meet Mildew.
Every day after class, Hiccup would make his way to those clusters of islands out in the middle of the ocean. He would watch the dragons from afar, taking copious notes on the things he observed, then put those observations to work in class.
Gronckles would overeat if given the chance, so he started collecting small stones and boulders to divert it from attacking the teens in the arena. The Gronckle would contentedly munch on the rocks until Hiccup was able to subdue it.
Once, on a cloudy day, when the sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds, he noticed the Terrors chasing the rays of sunshine. Later in class, he was able to trick one back into its cage by reflecting light off his shield.
Nadders were quite vain and would spend excessive amounts of time grooming. Armed with this knowledge, he filled a trough with water and distracted the dragon with its reflection. He then was able to render it unconscious by scratching its neck.
He quickly rose in rank through the class, even besting Astrid at times. Their rivalry started to attract visitors to the arena, cheering them on. Astrid's cheering section started out as larger, but as time went on, an equal amount of Vikings started cheering Hiccup on as well. It gave him a smug sense of satisfaction whenever his methods beat hers. She would get so frustrated, stomping off angrily once class was over. Hiccup even caught her trying to follow him a few times. She finally confronted him one day. "Who are you training with?" she demanded. "Nobody gets as good as you do in a few weeks. Especially not a hiccup like you! Who's teaching you?"
Unfazed, Hiccup had smirked back widely. "Why, Astrid, I didn't know you still cared!" he shot back sarcastically. "I thought you considered the old ways the best. I wouldn't want to corrupt your ideals." He stole away before she could come up with a reply, slipping past the Vikings the twins had dubbed 'his adoring fans' to get down to the docks.
Later that day, a dragon not classified in the Book of Dragons showed up on the island. The dragons would usually eat large quantities of fish while on the island, but this dragon brought a catch of eels. The other dragons were afraid and agitated by this, and all left the plateau. Hiccup took note of this — if the dragons were scared of eels, that could be helpful in the arena. The gigantic dragon settled down and consumed its meal. Its body shape was similar to that of a Timberjack dragon, but this one had had legs as opposed to the Timberjack's snakelike structure. He sketched a quick drawing of it, determined to commit it to memory if he ever saw it again. A short time later, the dragon took off in a spiral pattern, leaving a scorched char on the ground. Fascinated, he brought the topic up to Mildew when he got back.
"I saw a new dragon today," he said, showing Mildew the sketch. "Have you ever seen anything like it?"
Mildew looked it over thoughtfully. "Can't say that I have."
"There's something else too. It eats eels. The other dragons hate eels, apparently. They like fish much better. Which raises a question." Hiccup frowned. "Why are the dragons eating fish? That's all I ever see them eat there. I've never seen a single sheep. Why do they keep attacking and stealing sheep if they eat fish?"
"Does it matter?" Mildew asked. "They're terrorizing Berk. That's all that I care about. My grandfather was a chief, you know." His gaze grew distant, lost in memory. "Bandlaw the Braveheart was his name. He was good and fair chief, very different from your father in the way he ruled his village. He had matters always in control, with a firm hand." Mildew nodded twice to himself in confirmation, ignoring Hiccup's black scowl at the insults to Stoick. "But dragons were attacking our island. No matter what we did, we couldn't get rid of the pests. There were attacks every night. Soon no one had a place to live; every time we started work on a house, the dragons would destroy it as soon as night fell. Our food was gone, our homes were gone, our weapons were wearing out. All we had left were our ships." Mildew fell silent momentarily. "Bandlaw the Braveheart scattered his village into different directions on the open sea, hoping to find refuge on other islands. My mother and father and I washed up on Berk forty years ago, never to hear from the rest of our tribe again." He took a deep breath. "And that, Hiccup is why I've sworn to rid Berk of dragons. They cost me my home once, but they won't do it again. Heaven help anyone who gets in my way!"
Hiccup was silent. What could he say? When they reached Berk, he got out and headed home. Mildew is wrong, he thought. If they're not taking the sheep for food, then there must be another reason. If we could find out what that is, maybe we could get rid of them forever.