"The one upside is the pets."—How to Train Your Dragon-Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III

Astrid crossed her arms at the group of kids in front of her. There was ten teens here; all of them were about 14. Fresh meat, she thought. She was so happy when Hiccup had set her up to teach first years. They were young, ignorant, and almost willing to learn anything, just like she was when she was there age. But they had all been raised in a better time, a time when dragon and man were allies. A better experience made a huge difference. She could hardly wait until her own kids were out there.

Her brown haired daughter, named Aldis who was about 12 was watching from what used to be the dragon killing stadium. Her daughters brown hair was a mess, and she refused to put it in a braid, she'd rather let it hang with a few braids here and there. In her hand was a note book and a piece of writing charcoal. She stood with her little brother, 10 years old, who was named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock IIII, although everyone called him Junior to avoid confusion. He had blond hair that looked a mess as well. His green eyes flashed playfully as he grabbed his sister arm.

"Hey!" she shouted nearly losing her pencil.

"Show them how it's done mama!" Junior shouted into the pit.

Aldis rolled her eyes and kept a close eye on her mother, pencil at the ready.

Astrid smiled and waved at the two them, then returned to look at the teens that were all lined up. A short boy who looked more like an 8 year old then a 14 years old. A group of triplet boys, all of them except one had blond hair, the one had sandy blond hair. A red haired girl, blond haired girl, a muscular boy you could tell may have spent all his life on a farm. A girl who looked like a bean pole. Another blond kid, thin, with a pair of glasses that wouldn't stay on his nose. And finally Black haired boy with a tattoo. Tattoo? Hmm, best not to push it.

Astrid walked in front of them, back and forth. She watched as they giggled and shook and bumped into each other. All except the blond kid who kept trying to fix his glasses failed and tried again. He looked at the others grimly then paled at the sight of Astrid. Astrid was an intimidating person, not so much by her looks, although that helped, but because of her eyes. They watched and took in details of everyone she passed, not asking a question. And her death stare was no for anyone with a weak heart.

She stopped by triplets and raised an eye brow. They were giggling and pushing each other around, but stopped when they saw her. She leaned down, coming near nose to nose with the one at the end. Sweat on his brow betrayed his fear. She narrowed her eyes and stood up strait. "Hello everyone!" she said, her voice loud enough that it could be carried off. "I'm Astrid and I will be you instructor on how to train your dragons." She turned to them, "But first let me hear your names. How about we start with the triplets."

All three of the kids straightened there back as though they were in the army.

"Boe!"

"Coe!"

"Roe!" they said the three of them one after the other.

"Really?" Astrid raised an eyebrow at them. They all nodded there heads. "Your parents were creative." She said and the rest of the kids giggles, all except the boy with the tattoo who rolled his eyes. Astrid acknowledged him for a moment then turned back to the triplets. "Well, here you all will be known as the triplets, easier, I don't have to worry about you mixing each other up to confuse me or you playing any other pranks. All I have to do is call the Triplets. Understood?"

All three of them looked at each other and there shoulders slumped. Well there went any plans of switching dragons. She turned to the next teen. The red head, with her thick red hair in a braid, and face covered in freckles. Her green eyes seemed intelligent enough if not a little shy. "What's you name?" Astrid asked.

"Firefox." She said, she dropped her eyes when she heard the boys laugh.

"Nice to meet you." Astrid said. She walked to the blond haired girl who hadn't even bothered putting her wild blond hair in a braid. She had crossed her arms and smiled at Astrid. "Name?" Astrid asked.

"Comacazie." She said, she didn't stop smiling.

"Ooo, ooo! Me next!" the muscular boy was jumping up and down like a deranged grasshopper. Before Astrid could nod he said, "Bullhorn!"

"Nice to meet you."

The been pole kid crossed her arms, "Thorn." She said and threw back perfect red blond hair.

"Okay…" she looked at the kid with glassed who didn't see her at first but then put back on his glasses and said.

"Um, Trunk."

"What kind of name is that?" it came from one of the triplets, but when they all looked over they couldn't tell which.

Trunk dropped his eyes.

"Nice to meet you Trunk." He looked up to Astrid, "I'm sure I can trust you to keep this crew in line."

"Y-yes miss." He said pushing up his glasses again, and she nodded.

Finally she looked at the black haired kid, his nose was hooked, his face gray his body thin. He looked almost ghost like the way he stood there. His slicked back hair drawn strait from his face and his pointed chin, as though his whole body was made out of angels. She stopped in front of him and looked him up and down, "And what's you name?" she asked.

The boy scowled and crossed his arms, "Shark." He said scowling. And all the kids stared at him.

"Good." Astrid said as though she hadn't notices. Which seemed to annoy him all the more. He frowned and watched as she stepped back. "welcome again to all of you, we will start with the basics. Can anyone tell me what that is?"

"Ooo, Oooo!" Bullhorn raised his hands.

Astrid let out a breath, "Yes, Bullhorn?"

"Uh, pick a dragon."

One of the triplets snickered.

"Good guess Bullhorn." Astrid smiled, "Actually though it's not that. Anyone else?"

Firefox whispered under her breath.

"What was that Firefox?" said Astrid.

"Uh—I um…" she dropped her eyes.

Comacazie raised her hand, "The dragon picks you."

"Thank you Comacazie. And that's close, but not quiet, however we're getting there." She turned to Firefox, "What do you think it is Firefox?"

Firefox didn't look up; she stared at her feet and didn't answer.

"Come on; speak up."

"Um…You practice trust, because if the Dragon can trust you, and you trust it then you've chosen each other." She looked back down at her feet and mumbled, "I mean it's just a guess…you know…"

"Very good guess Firefox, very good indeed." She turned to the others, "Did you all get that?"

The teens nodded.

"Good." She turned back to Firefox, "And Firefox?" Firefox looked up, "Don't be so afraid to answer questions, you might surprise yourself."

Firefox smiled.

Up in the stands Aldis wrote down what she had just heard and leaned in to listen more. Only two more years, and she'd join them. She'd ride dragons alongside her father and mother and dance in the clouds. Some day she could even be the best dragon trainer of all time. She smiled then felt her arm being bumped by her brother as he shouted, "Yah! Firefox!" she gasped as her pencil flew from her hand and landed in the stadium. She peeked through the chains.

"Now look what you've done!" she shouted.

Her brother looked at the pencil lying at the edge of the stadium. He shrugged. "So get it." He said.

Her face paled. Get it? Get the pencil? In the dragon training stadium? She wasn't old enough to go in yet. How could she go do that? She would get in trouble. "I can't."

"Sure you can." He said.

"Just sneak around the edge of the wall."

"I don't know." She looked down. Dragons were behind some of those doors. Untrained dragons. Her father had taught her some things, but not everything. What if one of the wild dragons got out?

"Come on you big sissy." He said smiling, "Just go, no one will know."

I will, she thought. But she took a deep breath and walked to the dragon training entrance. She tiptoed, listening as she went; whispering dragon training tips like her father taught her. Her brother rolled his eyes as he listened to her mumble off the facts.

"Woosie," he said smiling.

She tried to ignore the comment as she moved closer to the door. She could hear her mother talking and took in everything she said. "Realize that Trust between a Dragon and its trainer will take time. You may find it difficult sometimes, but no pain, no gain." She said.

Aldis took the words in, and stopped behind her mom for a moment to listen to the next words. A story that she and her father had told her when she couldn't sleep. "Hiccup had shot off Toothless's tale fin. Normal Vikings would have killed this down dragon. But Hiccup looked beyond the claws and into his eyes. It wasn't until he did that, that both could see each other as they truly were and decided to-

"trust the other." Aldis said behind her mother whispering so should wouldn't be heard. "When you learn to trust one another, you learn friendship and friendship can lead to an unstoppable team."

She couldn't wait until that was possible for her. Flying in the clouds on a dragon. A team her and another dragon. She let out a sigh, then opened her eyes and was out of her day dream. Her mother was standing there, her arms crossed, all the teens were looking at her. She turned bright red. Was she going to be punished? She dropped her eyes.

"Very good Aldis." She looked back up, her mother was smiling. "You've been paying attention."

"Y-yes." She said.

"Hmmm, so what are you doing interrupting our class?" she said raising an eyebrow at her daughter.

"I was—Junior—um…" she rubbed her shoulder then saw the pencil at her feet, she picked it up, "I dropped my pencil."

Astrid smiled, "Oh, well now that you have it what are you going to do?"

"Um, go back to the stands?" she whispered.

"That's right." Astrid nodded to her daughter.

Aldis looked at them all standing there. Some of them snickered, others just smiled. As she walked out head down Shark said, "Getting a little ahead of your self aren't you." He laughed.

Aldis scowl at him. Just then Gobber came running in. Gobber was a large man with a huge mustache, iron teeth and interchangeable arms. It was one of Hiccups own designs, faster, easier, and stronger, fitting for a man of his size. He used to train kids on how to kill dragons. Now he mostly fixed there teeth. Gobber was frightening at first sight, but when you got to know him you'd find that he was loyal and friendly. As Hiccups father's best friend, he had been like a second father to Hiccup himself. Or the crazy uncle, your choice. Now running into the stadium he had fear in his eyes. Something that was never, ever seen in this now elderly man. Elderly or not he still had muscle and nearly slammed Aldis into a wall trying to get past her to Astrid. He was amazingly fast for a man his size and age. He stood in front of Astrid panting.

"Arrow—flying—" he said in between breaths.

"Whoa, slow down Gobber, what is it?" Astrid said place a hand on his shoulder to calm her old mentor.

"It's Hiccup." He said finally breathing.

Astrid and Aldis shared a look. Then they looked at Junior who stood up on the stands, staring down at them. Astrid could feel her heart skip a beat for a moment then she turned to the class, "Class dismissed until further notice." She said. The students didn't need to be told twice. She turned back to Gobber, "Bring me to him." She said.