"Welcome to Dragon Training!"

Today is the official start of dragon training. Right after the "moment" with Astrid, I went straight to the forge and got started on the prototype fin for Toothless. It's a good thing that I have my own section of the forge, or else I would never have been able to hide all of the work that I was doing. I got all but complete the basic design, with all the forging and cutting completely done, all I need to do is put it all together now. Toothless will be thrilled about this, I only hope not to the point to give me another fishtail

Currently, I am at the back of a semi-large group of trainees, ranging from about my age to about ten years of age. Age of five years old is about when most of us Vikings start their weapon training, and about eight is when they learn to properly use them. The same goes for me, but instead of joining a group like this, being the prince meant that I got special tutors to teach me. Fun, fun, fun... not. I would like to bash some of those tutors heads in.

I still can't believe that my dad had to take the usual head teacher and left Gobber to run the academy. Did he really think that was a good idea? Oh well. I look up again and see Gobber continue with his yelling.

"Alright now, most of you know what to do. First, second, and third years follow Willick. Fourth, fifth, and sixth go with Grimmie. Everyone else, follow me to the arena. But first, I got to go water the garden." I hope he means actually water his garden and not...nevermind.

Before I can take a step, I feel a tug on my pants. I look down and there is a little girl of about six years old. She has long red hair that is braided into a ponytail down her back. Big brown eyes are looking up at me with a few flakes of gold all through them. She is smiling at me with a smile that takes up her entire face. At one look at her and I can tell that she is smaller than most her age. If I had to guess, she is also hiccup like me. She pulls on my pants again and says," Hello, who are you?"

I kneel down in front of her so we are about eye level. I hold my hand out and say," Hello to you too. My name is Hiccup, what is yours?"

Somehow she smiles even bigger before taking my hand and saying," My name is Jackie. Daddy says that I was supposed to be named Hicca but Mommy wouldn't let him name me that, she says that she likes my name, Jackie, more."

"If I may ask Jackie, what are you doing here? I believe that you are a bit young for these classes."

She points over at Gobber and says," Mommy asked me to go with Mister Master Gobber today to watch the big kids train so that even though I am small, I can be tough as well." she says this last part with a fist in the air.

I frown for a second at her before I ask," But why would you need to learn from the big lids and not your own age group?"

She looks down, her bottom lip starts quivering. She shakily says," T-the other k-kids are meanies."

Why do people always bully the smaller people here? Well, I can't leave her here all sad. Wait, I have an idea to cheer her up. I quickly pick her up and spin her around so that she is on my back, with her squealing along. Once she is safely on, I stand up and say," Well then, now they can't reach you. Come on, if you are going to be going with us, let's get going."

Gobber walks in then and motions for us to follow him. We walk the short way to the battle arena and stop in the middle of the large area, with the giant net over all of it. Along the way, I drop Jackie at the entrance to watch from a safe distance. I can easily see all of the claw marks on the walls and the floor. Those in the arena are Gobber, Fishlegs, Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and of course, me.

Bobber turns around to us and says," Alright. Last year, you learned Human Combatant Class. Now, Welcome to Dragon Combatant Class. And for those of you who think that the last class was hard, think again."

Astrid mumbles,"No turning back."

Tuffnut yells out while clenching his fists in front of him,"I hope I get some serious burns!"

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

Astrid nods her head to them. "Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

I walk up from behind them and say, "Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." Seriously, why are they fascinated with pain? There is no gain from just pain. (Pun intended)

Everyone turns around to look at me, most with disgust. Tuffnut role his eyes and says," Oh, great. Who let him in?"

Gobber doesn't seem to notice any of the looks being given to me, or he just doesn't care. He claps his hand(pun intended) and says," Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the whole Council."

Snotlout snorts and says while pointing his thumb at me," Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so, does that disqualify him or...? Besides, he is just joining so shouldn't he be with the first years?"

Tuffnut raises his hand and says," Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?"

Gobber doesn't comment on any of that and instead leads us to the wall. While walking, he comes to me and says," Don't worry. You're skinny 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 gets in front of us and we all lineup. I am at the end of the line with Fishlegs next to me. I nod at him and he smiles back. He is probably the nicest out of anyone else our age to me. Bobber waves his hand behind him and says," Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight!" He points directly at himself and says," The Deadly Nadder!"

Fishlegs widens his eyes and says," Speed: eight; Armor: sixteen."

Gobber continues down the line before continuing. "The Hideous Zippleback!"

"Plus eleven stealth times two."

"The Monstrous Nightmare!"

"Firepower: fifteen."

"The Terrible Terror!"

"Attack: eight; Venom: twelve!"

"CAN YOU STOP THAT?! And... the Gronckle!"

Fishlegs leans over to me and whispers," Jaw strength: eight." I think someone might be excited.

We watch as Gobber suddenly reaches for the leaves for the gate holding the Gronckle. Snotlout gets a freaked out look on his face and says while backing up," Whoa, whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!"

I snort at that and say out loud," He believes in learning on the job." Wait, crap. I just realized how much Gobber believes this. RUN!

Gobber chuckles and says," Right you are."

He then releases the lever. The Gronkle burst through the door and swallows some rocks to the side of the door and changes us.

We promptly start running for cover, while Gobber just stands there unaffected. (Why is the dragon not going for him?) He watches us for a second before saying," Today is about survival. If you get blasted...you're dead! Quick! What's the first thing you're going to need?

"A doctor?!" I yell out.

Fishlegs pokes his head out and says," Plus five-speed?!"

Astrid, being the most dedicated student, yells out," A shield!"

Gobber snaps his fingers and points at her, saying," Shields! Go! Your most important piece of equipment is your shield!" He walks up to me as I pick up a shield. " If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield!"

Suddenly everyone is making a mad dash for a shield.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut apparently both want the same shield and start fighting over it. Tuffnut yanks it towards him and yells," Get your hands off my shield!"

Ruffnut yanks it back before yelling,"There's like a million shields!"

Tuffnut nods his head to another shield and says," Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers."

Ruffnut suddenly pushes the shield towards her brother. He doesn't expect this and busts his lip on the shield. He falls over and when he does, Ruffnut holds the shield out now and says," Oops, now this one has blood on it."

The Gronckle flies towards the Twins and blasts their shield with a fireball, mocking them over and leaving them dazed on the ground. Gobber sees this and yells at them," Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut stare at him and say( In a way only twins can do) "What?"

Gobber ushers the off to the sidelines before turning back to the rest of us. He yells out," Those shields are good for another thing: noise! Make lots of it throw off a dragon's aim!"

We all grab a weapon and begin hitting our weapons against our shields, making the Gronckle shake its head in confusion. Either way, it just keeps aiming for us. Gobber sees this and yells to us,"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?"

Snotlout yells( how is he still alive?),"Five?"

Fishlegs being the genius yells," No, six!"

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

Fishlegs' shield gets blasted out of his hand and he runs away screaming. Hey, I said he was a genius, not brave.

Gobber yells out,"Fishlegs, out." He sees me hiding behind a plank (hey, never said I was brave either)and irritatedly yells to me," Hiccup, get in there!"

Snotlout is standing by Astrid not caring about anything. He just keeps trying to start a conversation. "So, anyway I'm moving into my parents' come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out!"

The Gronckle fires at Snotlout, destroying his shield. Gobber yells out again,"Snotlout! You're done!"

Astrid ends up next to me and I mumble out to her," So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?"

Astrid apparently hears me and says," Nope, just you." And promptly runs away, leaving me to defend myself.

The Gronckle sees us and fires but misses. I lose my shield and run after it, the dragon hot on my heels.

Gobber starts to get worried when he sees this. "One shot left! Hiccup!"

The Gronckle corners me, taking its aim. Time to see if I can be bilingual or not. Let's make those lessons count.

I look into the dragon's eyes and whisper,' I am not your enemy'

The Gronkle stops mid-fire, not expecting me to speak its language. For a second, we look at each other and at that moment, I can tell that it understands me perfectly. Gobber, not noticing what exactly is happening, quickly hooks the dragons massive jaw and tugs it away, locking it up back in its cage

While he is walking, he says, "And that's six! Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance, don't you worry." He turns back towards me and gets right in my face and says,"Remember what I told you: a dragon will always -always- go for the kill." To everyone," That's enough for today, all of you head on home"

Jackie runs up to me and I kneel down to her. She excitedly says," That was awesome!" she leans closer to me and whispers," I was you whisper to it. What was it that you said to it?"

"I-I don't know what you mean. Come on, let's go." And with that, I walk her back to her mother that is standing at the side of the arena. Along the way, she slips her hand into mine. Once we reach the top, she hugs my leg before running the rest of the way. I have a feeling that I will be seeing her again soon.

And now I believe I will go finish my present for a certain dragoness.

A\N:

I was planning on posting this on the weekend but I was so late on the last one, I went ahead and gave you all this one. What does everyone think of Jackie? Cute little bugger. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Results of the main romance pole so far. (Votes do include any PM that was sent.):

Fem. Toothless\Hiccup - 16 - Why are so many of these PMs?

Fem. Toothless\Hiccup\Astrid - 8 - I was starting to like the idea but too late.

Hiccup\Astrid - 15 - The most basic pairing ever, very ease, that is good and bad

Hiccup\Astrid\Ruffnut\Fem. Toothless\Fem. Stormfly - 5 - didn't expect a harem but OK.

Hiccup\Fem. Toothless\Astrid\Heather\Cami - 1 - sorry but I think you lost this race

And there are the results so far, fun fun fun. Thanks to those who also sent an inspirational message as well.

This is the last chapter you get to vote, next chapter marks the end of this poll.

Lemon votes:

YES:8

NO: let's face it, no one is going to vote no

The next poll will be any side romances you want. This won't include anyone from the main romance above, obviously. If you want to start that, I ask that you send it as a PM for now, at least until the next chapter so that I can keep a better track of everything. And if you have any questions, I will answer them right here in the following chapter, don't be afraid to voice your opinion.