'This is Berk'

'It's twelve days north of Hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death.'

'It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery.'

'My village, in a word, sturdy. And it's been here for seven generations, but, every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets.'

'The only problems are the pests.'

'You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have...'

Hiccup opens a planked wooden door to reveal a large dragon hovering over a flock of fleeing sheep. The dragon spots the feeble boy and is about to blast him with a breath of flame, before he quickly slams the door, separating him from death.

"…Dragons." Hiccup breaths before peaking out to see if the dragon had gone, and, when he had made sure it was, began dashing through the village.

'Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have, stubbornness issues.'

'My name's Hiccup. Great name, I know. But, it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanour wouldn't do that.'

A nearby fire blast knocked Hiccup flat on his back, just in time for another Viking to battle cry right in his face.

"Mornin'!" he greeted before her ran off to behead some overgrown lizard. As Hiccup ran on, other Vikings called at him, but he promptly ignored them as he sped on. Right before he was snatched up by a burly Viking with a large horned hat and a long ginger beard.

"Hiccup?! What is he doing out aga-?!" He looked at Hiccup "What are you doing out?! Get inside!" He shouted as he threw Hiccup away and looked to the oncoming dragon horde.

'That's Stoick the Vast. Chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. Do I believe it?

Stoick grabbed a nearby cart and launched it at a two-legged dragon with a spiny tail, knocking it out mid-air.

'Yes, I do.'

Stoick turned to another Viking. "What have we got?"

"Just the garden variety stuff," The Viking replied, "Gronckles, Nadders, Zippleback, a Monstrous Nightmare or two…"

"Any Night Furies?"

"None so far."

Back with Hiccup, he ran across a yard to arrive at the town blacksmith, hastily tying an apron around himself.

"Ah! Nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off!" A blonde, one-handed peg-legged Viking with a braided moustache said sarcastically.

(AN. Fun Fact: Vikings invented sarcasm!)

"What, who me? Nah, come on! I'm waaaay too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all..." Hiccup said as he pitifully flexed, "...this."

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?"

'The meat-head with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well... littler.'

"Hey Hiccup," Came a voice from behind him. He turned around to see a raven-haired girl with short hair roughly cut around her neck. She was most noticeably wearing a red bandanna around her neck, and a black leather long coat with yellow stitching.

'Oh, and that's Jodis, she's the closest thing I have to a friend around here. She doesn't really talk to others much, but she can stand to be around me, which is more than others could say. I don't really know where Jodis came from, she kind of just appeared one day. Since then she took to hanging in the forge when dragons attack, and that's how we met."

"FIRE!" A Viking shouted, alerting the nearby Vikings to a new burning house.

"See? Old village, lots, and lots, of new houses."

A young, blonde-haired girl ran up with a group of other young Vikings following her. "Alright, let's go!" she commanded.

'Oh, and that's Fishlegs, Snotlout, the Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and…' Hiccup pauses to admire the blonde girl, '…Astrid. Oh, their job is so much cooler.' Hiccup looks to Jodis, 'Sometimes I wonder why Jodis doesn't hang out with them, they'd definitely like her much more than they'd ever like me.'

Just as he was about to leave the blacksmith, Gobber bonked Hiccup on the head with a hammer before turning back to work as Hiccup massaged his new bump.

"Oh, come on. Let me out, please? I need to make my mark!" Hiccup pleaded.

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks." Gobber smiled, "All in the wrong places!" he finished as his brows furrowed.

"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date."

"Hiccup," Jodis spoke up, "I'm the only girl on this island who'd date you, and while you're a nice guy, I' not looking for a relationship." She smirked cheekily.

"But that's what I'm talking about!" Hiccup gripped his head, "If I kill a dragon, every girl in Berk will want to date me!"

"Oh please," Gobber said as he set down a new pile of weapons, "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these!"

"That's a bola Gobber," Jodis corrected before another Viking snatched it from Gobber's hand to use for themselves.

"Okay, fine, but this will throw it for me." Hiccup patted a wooden machine that abruptly sprung open. Gobber and the nearby Viking's covered their faces as to not get hit by whatever would fly out of the contraption, but it never came.

"I unloaded it before you got here," Jodis explained. "You're welcome."

"Thank you Jodis, just a… mild calibration issue…"

Gobber rolled his eyes, "See, now this right here is what I'm talking about! If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all... this." Gobber gestured to Hiccup.

"You just gestured to all of me," Hiccup told Gobber. Gobber then lay a hand on Hiccup's shoulder.

"Exactly." Gobber shoved a sword into Hiccup's hands. "Sword. Sharpen. Now." He demanded before turning to Jodis. "If you're just going to hang around here, you may as well make yourself useful, go get those fresh iron and bone pieces over there."

"Yes, sir…" Jodis complied as she got up and began the task.

'One day, I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here.'

'A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed. Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend. A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status.'

'And then, there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.'

'But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the—'

"NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!" A Viking yelled out to all the people present, right before a catapult was blasted to smithereens.

'This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and... never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first.'

"Man the fort you two, they need me out there!" Goober told them as he attached an axe to his hand, running out of the forge with a battle cry. Hiccup spun to Jodis.

Jodis shrugged. "I'll give you a thirty-second head-start."

Hiccup grinned, grabbing his bola launcher, some bolas, and began carting it through the village.

As soon as he was out of sight, Jodis picked up a sack filled with various materials and headed out of the village.

'The boy you just saw run off was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, the son of our chief, Stoick. I guess you could call him my friend, not that he'd want to be if he knows what I did at the end of every dragon raid…'

'Anyway, this is where I live. It's twelve days north of Hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery.'

'Berk, In a word, sturdy. And it's been here for seven generations, but, every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets.'

'The only problem is the inhabitants. Vikings.'

'If it were anybody else they would of, left by now, but not these thick-skulled beef brains.'

'If they had just left, it would just be the dragons.'

'The dragons and me.'

'I am Jodis Admarila, and this is Berk.'