This was a fun chapter to write. And a billion thanks to my editor WolfWitchHuntress1318 for correcting a few grammar errors in the original draft.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HTTYD!

Chapter 6: Welcome to Dragon Training

"The presence of a god at the beginning of a sea voyage is always a good thing to have. The wind in their sails will always blow fast and true if a god is present at the harbor," Gothi said, polishing the bones hanging off her staff.

"You do remember that I'm the God of Mischief, right?" asked Loki as he stifled another yawn. For the life of him, he had no idea why he had to accompany the elder in seeing the ships off. He didn't have anyone to say goodbye to, after all.

Gothi stroked the wispy hairs on her chin. "True," she said then shrugged. "But a god's still a god either way. Now hurry up. We need to be there before they finish loading up the ships," she said, already heading out the door.

Letting out another yawn, Loki assumed his Erland persona and followed her.

Hiccup sighed as he watched his father load the last of the supplies onto the final ship. Their goodbyes had been nothing short of awkward, even with Gobber acting as the unofficial translator of their awkward glances.

Instead of dwelling on those failed moments of father-son rapport, Hiccup turned his attention to the other families at the docks. He felt his heart sink at the sight of a young boy hugging his father, the older man ruffling his son's hair while his wife held a baby girl to her breast. Every time an expedition set out, there was always the fear of never seeing a loved one return. Many a morning had Hiccup woken up to the wails of a brokenhearted family who had learned that their husband, wife, sister, brother, daughter, son, or another family relation had died in the search for the Nest. It never got easier, no matter how many search parties were sent out, to see those anguished faces mixed in with the weary.

Hiccup felt his heart drop all the way to his stomach when he saw Zenna embracing her parents. He walked over to the little family, making sure to keep a respectful distance. Part of him wanted to run to his father and beg him to let Zen's parents stay behind while the other wanted to see the family together for what he hoped wouldn't be the last time.

"No messing around with my loom, love. I've got a tapestry that still needs finishing. And remember to clean the house every day after training," Henna reminded, shouldering on a rucksack.

"Yes, Mom." Zenna nodded, smiling.

"And no parties, you hear?" Edgar added with a grin.

Zenna glanced at Hiccup. "So, no sleepovers with Hiccup?" she asked, giving her father the puppy-dog eyes.

Edgar looked at Zenna, with her violet eyes now widened to begging size, then at Hiccup, who shyly waved, before looking at Zenna again. A small whimper from his daughter had him caving in. "Alright. Sleepovers are allowed. But! No more than three people, including you. Got that, Zen?" he said, trying and failing to put on a stern face.

"Got it, Dad!" Zenna said and saluted him.

Smiling warmly, Edgar held out his arms. Zenna grinned, knowing just what her father wanted. She jumped up, letting her father catch her by the waist, and squealed with childlike glee as he spun her around like he used to when she was a tiny girl.

"My precious little gemstone," Edgar murmured, kissing Zenna's cheeks, and pulled Henna into a family hug.

Zenna melted into her parents' embrace. "Come back to me in one piece, you two," she whispered, hugging her parents tightly.

"We will, love." Henna tilted Zenna's chin up. "Now get out there and do your best in training," she said softly, a small sad smile on her lips.

Nodding, Zenna waved goodbye to her parents as they boarded a ship.

"Hiccup!" Edgar waved to Hiccup, now standing beside Zenna. "You and our girl take care in training!" he hollered.

"Will do, Mr. Fiersome!" Hiccup hollered back. He raised an eyebrow at Zenna who shrugged in resignation. Looks like they were both going to have to suffer Gobber's tutelage in dragon training.

Gothi and Erland arrived, the latter stepping back as the former began to go to each ship. Knocking her staff against each hull, Gothi silently asked for the gods to bless the voyage. After this, she stood at the center of the harbor and waved her staff in the direction of the sea.

It was time.

"Take care, loves!" Henna waved to Hiccup and Zenna as the boats launched out of the harbor. Hiccup, Zenna, and other villagers waved goodbye as the ships sailed through the calm waters, leaving the safety of Berk's shores and growing smaller and smaller until they disappeared into the horizon.

As soon as the ships were gone, Hiccup and Zenna looked at each other.

"You too?" asked Hiccup.

"Don't have much of choice," Zenna sighed, shrugging. But she smiled and clapped Hiccup on the back. "But, hey, at least we'll be fighting for our lives together," she said with a laugh.

"You know, Zen, sometimes I truly envy your optimism. You wouldn't mind if I could borrow some of it, would you?" Hiccup chuckled as they left the harbor to go to the arena.

Erland watched the duo go, debating in his head whether to follow them or not. A tug on the sleeve made him look down and he saw Gothi smiling. She waved her staff in the direction of the two teens and nodded.

Smiling a bit, Erland said, "Thanks," and followed Hiccup and Zenna. Along the way, he stopped by a fruit stall to buy three large red apples.

He might as well have something to munch on while watching what was sure to be a disaster.

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Gobber announced, lifting the heavy iron-barred gate to the arena.

Astrid squared her shoulders. "No turning back," she said quietly as she, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Snotlout entered.

Constructed on a rocky outcropping over the frigid sea, the killing arena was a sacred place amongst the Berkians. It was here where young Vikings trained to fight against the dragon scourge that plagued the entire Barbaric Archipelago. Viking teens entered this hallowed training ground and emerged as men and women ready to fight for Berk.

Today, Astrid and her merry band of followers hoped to do the same.

"I hope I get some serious burns!" Tuffnut grinned like a maniac.

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

"Yeah, it's only fun of you get a scar out of it," Astrid said, pushing her bangs away to one side.

"Yeah, no kidding, right?" a nasally voice dripping with sarcasm piped up.

Turning around, the teens saw Hiccup and Zenna come in.

"Pain. Love it." Hiccup's face was devoid of any excitement as he held onto his dad's battle axe.

The other teens rolled their eyes. "Oh, great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut whined then froze like a deer in headlights as Zenna moved to stand beside Hiccup, amethyst eyes glaring at them all. The message was clear.

You give Hiccup a hard time, you're dead.

Before Zenna had a chance to glare the other teens into submission, Gobber hollered, "Let's get started!" and joined them. "The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village," he announced.

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or…?" Snotlout asked mockingly, making the Twins laugh while Fishlegs, after hesitating a little, smiled.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Tuffnut requested, making Astrid roll her eyes.

Zenna scowled. While she hung out with the other teens, she wasn't exactly close to them. Except for Astrid, but that all changed when she had decided to focus more on becoming a shield-maiden.

Looking around, Zenna took notice of the shields and smirked. Her brother had passed on what he had learned in training to her and she was going to use what he taught her.

A whistle grabbed her attention and she saw Erland sitting in the stands. The boy waved and took a bite out of an apple he held in his right hand.

Rolling her eyes, Zenna waved back and moved to stand with the other recruits.

Hiccup slowly walked to the line, Gobber flinging an arm over his 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," he reassured him and walked to the front of the class, missing the disbelieving look his apprentice gave him.

The huge iron doors of the cages scattered around the arena began to vibrate as the dragons inside them smelled fresh blood.

"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight!" Gobber announced.

Fishlegs was bouncing on his toes with excitement, ready to spout off the statistics.

"The Deadly Nadder!" Gobber waved to one cage.

"Speed: eight; Armor: sixteen." Fishlegs recited from memory.

"The Hideous Zippleback!"

"Plus eleven stealth times two."

"The Monstrous Nightmare!"

"Firepower: fifteen."

"The Terrible Terror!"

"Attack: eight; Venom: twelve!"

"Oh, would you shut up?!" Erland yelled at the exact same time Gobber shouted, "CAN YOU STOP THAT?!"

Hiccup and Zenna couldn't help but smile a bit. It seemed that dislike for Fishlegs' overenthusiasm with dragon statistics was a shared thing between blacksmith and newcomer.

Seeing that Fishlegs was now visibly cowed into silence, Gobber resumed with his lineup.

"And… the Gronckle!"

"Jaw Strength: eight," Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup, unable to restrain himself.

As Gobber lumbered over to the Gronckle's cage, Snotlout began to panic. "Whoa, whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" he asked, seeing that the blacksmith's hand was already on the lever.

Gobber grinned. "I believe in learning on the job," he said then pulled the lever.

"Oh shit." Erland grinned as a mud-brown Gronckle buzzed out of the cage, scattering the teens. He sat back, taking another bite out of his apple. This was going to be fun!

"Today is about survival. If you get blasted… you're dead!" Gobber said, watching the Gronckle swallow some rocks he'd placed in the pit. It wouldn't be long now until those rocks were going to come back up as flaming projectiles. "Quick! What's the first thing you're going to need?" he asked his students.

Erland raised an eyebrow as Hiccup yelled out, "A doctor?!" Since when did the term 'doctor' exist during this time period?

"Plus five speed?!" Fishlegs squeaked, clutching his hammer close to him like a security blanket.

Zenna was already rushing to the pile of shields lying around in one corner of the arena and picking out two for her and Hiccup when Astrid shouted, "A shield!"

"Shields! Go!" Gobber shouted.

Zenna gripped one shield and dashed over to Hiccup, handing the other shield to him. The other teens scrambled to get shields of their own as Gobber carried on. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield!" He approached a struggling Hiccup, helping him get a firm grip on his shield.

"Oh dear Norns, those two are going to get killed…" Erland shook his head as he watched Ruffnut and Tuffnut have a tug-of-war match over who got the cooler shield with skulls and flames painted on it.

"Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut growled at Ruffnut who yanked on the shield he coveted.

"There's like a million shields!" snarled Ruffnut as they continued to bicker.

"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut motioned to one shield lying in the pile. In response, Ruffnut ripped the shield out of her brother's hands and slammed it onto his head.

"Oops, now this one has blood on it," Ruffnut said, pretending to hand over the shield, only for Tuffnut to grab it and resume their tug-of-war. They were so busy arguing that neither of them noticed the Gronckle until it was too late.

"Damn, that was a nice shot. Right in the shield's center," Erland commented as a lava blast knocked the shield away and left Ruffnut and Tuffnut in a daze.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber told the two Thorstons.

"What?" Ruffnut and Tuffnut looked dazed for a minute. When they saw the Gronckle hovering close by, they yelped and made a run for it.

"Great pranksters, but not so great at following commands," Erland sighed, seeing that his disciples were now out of the game.

Zenna was running around the arena, a shield in her left hand and one of her sticks in her right. She furiously beat her stick against her shield and the walls of the arena as Gobber instructed, "Those shields are good for another thing: noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim!" before ducking behind a wooden weapons rack propped up against a wall.

Erland nodded in approval at the young Fiersome's smarts. Then he frowned as he watched the remaining teens surround the Gronckle and beat their weapons against their shields. The Gronckle growled and shook its head.

"Arrggh! What's going on? Ack! I can't… why's everything all a blur?"

'A female. That's certainly a surprise,' thought Erland then winced as the Gronckle continued to shake her head, hovering in the center of the circle in a bewildered daze. He could only imagine the discomfort the poor thing was in right now.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber asked, making the teens pause from their noisemaking.

"Five?" guessed Snotlout.

"No, six!" Fishlegs shouted, raising his shield up.

"Correct, six! That means one of you will survive!" Gobber said just as the Gronckle blasted Fishlegs' shield right out of his hand. "Fishlegs, out."

"Baby," Erland sniffed as the chubby walking dragon encyclopedia ran off, screaming. He finished his apple and threw away the core.

Hiccup found a plank to hide behind, and he intended to follow Zenna's example and stay hidden until the Gronckle ran out of shots.

"Hiccup, get in there!"

"Doesn't hiding increase the chances for survival?!" Hiccup yelled at Gobber, exasperated, before sprinting away as the Gronckle advanced.

Snotlout, arrogant as ever, was trying to chat up Astrid. "So, anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out!" he told the Hofferson girl only to be ignored as Astrid somersaulted out of the Gronckle's path.

"Your chances with her are zero, Jorgenson!" Erland jeered as the dragon fired on Snotlout.

"Snotlout! You're done!"

Hiccup hoped he didn't look stupid, a shield awkwardly slung onto his arm and his father's battle-axe dragging on the ground, as Astrid vaulted over to his spot. "So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" he said to her.

"Nope, just you," Astrid said curtly before running away and leaving him behind.

Before Hiccup could even say anything, a lava blast missed him by a hair. His shield was knocked out of his grasp and went rolling away.

"One shot left!"

"No, no, no, don't go after it!" Erland shot up to his feet as Hiccup chased after his runaway shield, the Gronckle hot on his heels.

Hiccup gulped as the Gronckle cornered him.

"Hiccup!" Gobber began to frantically hobble towards his apprentice.

At the same time, a memory from his distant childhood surfaced in Loki's mind…

Trembling as he was backed up against a wall, a seven-year old Loki looked up at the trio of older boys armed with clubs. There was no way for him to escape. Not even his magic could help him as his fear was making him lose the focus he needed to wield it.

"Come now, friends. Can we not discuss our differences like civilized people?" he managed to say before he was shoved backwards into the wall.

"Quiet, runt!" the biggest of the boys yelled, spittle flying out of his mouth. "It's thanks to you that we made complete fools of ourselves during training today!"

Loki blinked his big green eyes at them. "What? Me?" he asked, resisting the urge to smile even just a little.

"Yes, you! You're the one who greased the hilts of our swords, causing them to keep slipping out of our hands every time we sparred!" another boy shouted.

Loki did his best to look innocent. "My, someone must have gotten up early to do such a thing!" he remarked then yawned. His gut seized up as he realized that he had just given himself away with that one yawn.

The boys yelled at him and began to advance towards him. Loki gulped and braced for the blows to come when…

"LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!"

The boys all turned pale as a young Thor barreled over to them, shoving them aside to stand in front of Loki.

Thor's sky blue eyes were stormy as he glared at the bullies. "Leave! NOW!" he thundered, clenching his fists to the sides.

Not wanting to instigate a brawl with the Crown Prince of Asgard, the three boys fled.

Thor glared at their retreating figures before turning to Loki. "Are you all right, Loki?" he asked softly.

Loki breathed a sigh of relief and ran over to Thor, throwing his arms around his big brother's middle. "I'm fine, Thor. Thank you," he whispered gratefully.

Thor laughed and hoisted him onto his shoulders. "I'll always be here for you, Loki," he said, grinning.

"You promise?" Loki looked at him curiously.

Thor's smile was as radiant as the sun. "I promise," he promised as they headed back to the palace.

Eyes widening at the memory, Loki looked down and saw Hiccup backed up against the wall, the Gronckle preparing to fire its final shot.

Narrowing his eyes at the dragon, Loki imagined his thoughts to be a ball that he threw at the beast with all his might.

'If you blast that boy's head off, I will have your hide to make into belts and handbags, beast! LEAVE HIM!'

Gobber stopped, jaw dropping open, as the Gronckle fired above Hiccup's head. The beast had the boy right in front of it, yet it misfired! What happened?

The Gronckle growled in confusion, looking around until her yellow eyes landed on Erland standing above and looking down into the arena. His hands were hanging limply at his sides and a stunned expression was on his face. The Gronckle growled, tilting her head.

"Was that you?"

"It… worked…?" Erland whispered to himself, staring at the Gronckle, dumbfounded.

Taking advantage of the Gronckle's distracted state, Gobber grabbed it with his hook hand. "And that's six! Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage!" he grunted as he tugged the dragon back into its cage and closed it.

"You'll get another chance, don't you worry," he said to the rattling cage door.

Zenna peered out from behind the weapons rack and sprinted straight over to Hiccup. "Holy Shields, Hicc, I'm so sorry! I should have pulled you along into my hiding spot!" she apologized, frantically checking her best friend for injuries.

"I-It's okay, Zen. I'm fine…" Hiccup mumbled, still trying to get his heart rate back to normal.

Gobber clapped his hands. "Ah, our lone survivor! Good job evading those blasts, Zenna!" he congratulated the young Fiersome, patting her on the back. "Although, I wouldn't recommend hiding for too long. If the Gronckle had hovered near your hiding spot and caught your scent, you would have been dead!" he reminded her.

"Noted," Zenna mumbled, blushing as the other teens looked at her in awe.

Gobber nodded to the other teens, waving them off. Walking over to Hiccup, he looked him in the eye and said, "Remember: a dragon will always, always, go for the kill."

Staring at the scorch mark on the wall, Hiccup wondered if his mentor was right. When he looked at Zenna, he could tell that she was wondering the exact same thing.

Erland was waiting for them at the entrance to the arena. "Oh good, you're not dead," he said, pulling two apples out of his satchel and tossing them to the two. "I was afraid I was going to have to do my chores by myself for the rest of the month." He grinned.

Hiccup and Zenna just rolled their eyes at him. The three of them lapsed into comfortable silence, Hiccup and Zenna slowly eating their apples, as they headed for the woods.

Then Hiccup finished his and spoke. "That Gronckle misfired on purpose," he said, getting Zenna and Erland's attention.

"Maybe it was disoriented due to all the noise we were making," Zenna piped up, biting into her apple.

"No. I got a good look at that dragon's face. It looked ready to kill me. Something must have startled it." Hiccup put a hand to his chin, stroking an imaginary beard. "But what could have spooked a dragon so much into missing a target that was right in front of it?" he wondered aloud.

Zenna looked up, thinking as well, while Erland put his hands behind his back.

"Maybe you just got lucky?" Erland mumbled, making Hiccup look at him.

For a moment, green stared into green. Then, Hiccup shrugged and sighed, "Maybe…" and the three of them lapsed back into silence once more.

Looks like Loki, despite having been regressed into the body of a mortal teenager, still has a few tricks up his sleeve. Could come in handy when face-to-face with a certain pair of Night Furies…

Okay, now that you've read this chapter, I have only one question.

Who, like me, lost their minds while watching the new How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World trailer?

Because, gods above, I certainly did. The animation has improved by leaps and bounds. The shots where we get to see the characters' hair blowing in the wind had me going loco!

And the sweet moments between Toothless and the Light Fury! I'm gonna call their ship name NightLight from now on ;)

Grimmel's a nasty piece of work, that's all I can say.

Valka's new hairdo!

ERET STILL WEARING THAT OWL PIN OF HIS!

ERET'S NEW ATTIRE AND ARMOR!

Baby Fishmeat on the battlefield had me LOLing :D Who wouldn't want to babysit that adorable ball of scales?

Tuffnut's war cry XD

The songs used in the trailer (Learning to Fly (Tom Petty Cover) by Hills x Hills and Are You Ready (On Your Own) by Distant Cousins) combined with the HTTYD theme had me swooning.

It's official… this final chapter to the Dragons trilogy is gonna make me an emotional wreck. Wonder how I'll integrate my OCs (and maybe even Loki) into the story…

Oh well, I'll just have to watch the film when it premiers and see what my imagination comes up with!

Fly high, dragonites!

-GuardianDragon98