Dragon training was incredibly hard. The first three weeks was spent right in Hanson's office going over the dragon classes, species, habitat, colors, food source, and stats. Four weeks following that was anatomy and care. Now starting on the eighth week, they were finally getting to move to the arena to work on dragon calls, hand signals, and more. Hanson wouldn't let anyone start riding or flying until he knew they knew everything else first. Flying took the longest because the soldiers in training had to learn where to sit, what to hold onto on their dragon, how to lean or even how fast. Hanson needed to make sure they would be ready, and it was entirely his call when that happened. There were a few promising trainees he already noticed would excel quicker than the others.
Aubree, Heather, Franklin, Dustin, and Gustav. The rest still needed work which is why they hadn't advanced a lot since starting two months ago. The month was November in the year 2017, getting colder on Berk and the soldiers noticed that Hanson already had it prepared for Winter to hit. It was just after dinner time, the start of the great two hours where Hanson could tell stories, answer questions, or scold them and the worst part is they never knew what would happen because the man could change moods faster than a dragon recharged its blasts. After the soldiers filed into the barrack, used the bathroom and got comfortable on their beds, Hanson came in looking at them.
"Alright, let's get this out of the way first. Today was horrible, by far the worst training session I've ever seen." Hanson remarked with his hands on his hips as the others bit back a little. Today had been terrible. The twins couldn't get along on their dragon, they each wanted to command a head but kept forgetting that it was still one dragon and they had to work together. Sylvia was finding out that it wasn't so easy to tame a Monstrous Nightmare. Eli learned that Thunderdrum's were very stubborn and hard of hearing, so they required more effort to train. Stormfly loved to play, and Aubree had trouble getting her to stay serious. Sawyer and Hookfang were always butting heads. Meatlug liked to eat when she was stressed out. However, Heather, Dustin, and Grant were doing exceptionally well with their dragons.
"Eli, with Thornado you have to use more signals than talking. Thunderdrums have an ear deafening roar, and that makes them hard of hearing unless you're yelling and that is no good for anyone else. Especially on missions that require silence." Hanson began, then turned his attention to Sylvia and Sawyer. "Monstrous Nightmares are naturally aggressive and stubborn; you need to appeal to their nature. Demanding them to follow orders is not going to work, find another method," he ordered.
"Yes sir, sorry," Sylvia replied with her head down while Sawyer just nodded showing that he understood.
"Aubree. Stormfly is incredibly playful. You can't use sticks or toys to train her because she just thinks its play time, try another approach. Perhaps snacks, as if you were training a dog and then use toys as the reward after a long day of training." Hanson informed firmly.
"I will do that, sir," Aubree replied.
"And you two!" Hanson suddenly yelled as Raelyn and Taylor flinched in fear of their beds getting flipped again. "I don't know how many times I have to say or in how many languages, but you have to work TOGETHER! Barf and Belch is ONE dragon with two heads. You cannot command them separately unless you're using their blasts in which case Raelyn would control first for the gas, and Taylor, you would be second with the spark to ignite it. Anything else, you work as a team and to make sure you don't forget that lesson. I'm adjusting battle buddies."
"I thought we didn't change battle buddies at all," Sylvia mentioned quickly.
"Normally, you don't. However, this needs to get done, or these two will never learn. Raelyn and Taylor, you two are now battle buddies. Aside from using the bathroom and showering, you're stuck with each other. For the rest of you to make things easier; Dustin and Heather, Aubree and Sylvia, Eli and Franklin, Grant and Sawyer. Anyone have a problem with that?" Hanson crossed his arms over his chest with an irritated look in his eyes.
"No, Lieutenant Colonel Haddock, we don't." they replied slowly.
"Good. You don't have to switch your beds around, but when it comes to training, you work in the pairs I have assigned. Is that clear?" Hanson asked, and they nodded to him. "I can't hear you,"
"Sir, yes sir!" they responded loudly.
"Much better. See, things run smoothly when you do as you're told." Hanson stated. "With that out of the way, I expect more progress tomorrow. If we have to go back to doing PT, we can. I can have you all up on my alarm which goes off at 0400 if you prefer?" he suggested.
"Why in the name of Odin would you get up so early?" Sawyer questioned with his hand up a little.
"Because I go running before I start my day. How else do you think I stay in peak form and rarely get sick? I do a mile run, twenty situps and pushups then walk back to shower and get dressed before the lights come on to start the day," Hanson replied.
"Certainly explains why you're never in the barrack when we get up," Eli laughed a little.
"No, that's because I go flying with Toothless as the sun is coming up. We take a sunrise, sunset, and night flight every day," Hanson chuckled in reply. "I'm up at 4 am and in bed by midnight, sometimes later. I don't sleep a lot," he shrugged to them.
"So, with it being Drill Sergeant Time now, can we ask questions?" Heather asked.
"Sure," he sat down on his bed and looked at them.
"I gotta ask. What was dragon training like for you?" Dustin questioned.
"Pretty easy, Toothless and I make a good team. It helped that I did a lot of dragon studies before I joined too," Hanson answered.
"You've said that it takes a different amount of time for everyone, how long were you in DT for?" Grant inquired next.
"Three weeks," Hanson looked at them seriously when he saw the disbelief rise to their faces.
"He's not lying either. Hanson holds the record for fastest time completing dragon training in the entire Archipelago Island Guard." Vincent added affirmatively.
"I had learned about Toothless before I joined, it was part of our bonding I guess you could say." Hanson shrugged again.
"How did you two bond?" Aubree asked now.
"It happened over the weekend and Dad was out of town for some police convention, and all of you were busy, so I went hiking in the woods behind my father's house. I went to the cove, you know, that area where our Dad's took us camping. I was enjoying a fish sandwich when Toothless landed there and scared the daylights out of me, but he didn't attack, just curious. Toothless kept staring at my sandwich so I offered it to him and he ate it, then I gave him my extra one. Toothless let me look at him, inspect him in a way, and that's how I learned he has retractable teeth, had a wing span of forty-eight feet, no shot limit, and was very friendly. We hung out in the cove all day, but he never let me touch him until sundown when I tried, and he growled at me. That's when I turned my head with my palm out, and he put his nose into my hand, then we went flying together doing rolls, flips, twirls and more," Hanson explained.
"And then you joined the military?" Sylvia looked at him.
"Not right away. Initially, after we returned from flying over two hours, there were soldiers on leave in the cove for a small camp out. They saw me riding Toothless and were beside themselves about it all and asked how I managed to train a Night Fury of all dragons, wondered how I even found him because they haven't been seen in about one hundred and fifty years. I was nervous they'd take him away from me but Toothless defended me, and that's when they realized Toothless was my bonded dragon. It turned into an entire issue about my age, that I trained and rode a dragon without any training of my own on how to bond, fly, or train a dragon." Hanson continued.
"And what happened with all that, the solution was to join the military?" Taylor pushed. This was the story they'd been wanting since they arrived at Fort Riddari and found out he was the base leader and had been in them military for eight years.
"Yes actually, it was. Because I was a minor but had a bonded dragon that I successfully trained without certified training of another dragon trainer, the soldiers told me I could do well in the military and get to keep Toothless. The law stated that I wouldn't have been able to keep him being I was under eighteen. Toothless would have gotten taken away and forced to stay at some sanctuary for dragons where I could only visit on weekends until I was old enough to get into a dragon training program. However, in the military. It comes as a package deal to get trained as a soldier and dragon rider." Hanson informed.
"But you were fourteen, Hanson, the earliest you can join is fifteen," Raelyn pointed out.
"Loophole in the law. I was fourteen but within six months of turning fifteen and had a bonded dragon. I also had to prove I had what it took to join early by doing twenty-five pushups, situps, and a mile run in under twenty minutes as a whole. After that, it was all normal process to join and went fast which is why I didn't have time to tell you what was going on," Hanson looked at them now.
"So you joined to stay with Toothless?" Heather said now in a soft voice.
"Yes, that would be the main reason why I did what I did," Hanson nodded.
"Then what were the other reasons?" Aubree asked now.
"The military offered me more challenging aspects of life. Come on; you know how easy school was for me. I was a straight A, model student since the second grade and you knew that. I took the GED exam right after Basic and passed with A's and B's at age fourteen. My Basic was from October 2008 to December 2008. Advanced from January to February 2009. Then Dragon Training for three weeks March. It took the others until after the second week of April; then we immediately shipped out to Syria for the first tour which lasted thirteen months. Like I said, didn't have time just to call and let you know what was going on," Hanson sighed.
"It's no excuse!" Aubree yelled at him as he blinked a bit, "We were your best friends, Hanson, and you abandoned us for your dragon! You didn't tell us anything. No calls, no letters, and you didn't even let your dad say on the numerous occasions we asked about our friend who we were worried for! Okay, I get joining, the fast paced, getting shipped off for over a year. But what about when you came back? Hm? You got leave time; you could have told us then!"
"What part of busy didn't you hear me say?! I was Sergeant Major and lead dragon trainer! I was training much larger groups of soldiers just like you when I was sixteen years old. I didn't have fucking time to call old friends who wouldn't understand why I did what I did, just like you don't get it now! Yes, I did take off to stay with my dragon. Maybe you can tell me now that you have a bonded dragon how it feels to have that kind of a friend with you. If you bonded to Stormfly when you were fourteen, would you have wanted to lose her?!" Hanson stood up now with narrowed eyes. "Well, answer me. That's an order!" he added.
"No, I wouldn't have," Aubree replied.
"Then don't talk to me about abandoning you for my dragon when you would have done the same thing! I get it; you're pissed off that I just left without a word and I'm sorry for that. My life kicked in high gear, and I didn't have time to stop to get you up to speed on everything. But you know something, Aubree, I don't think this has anything to do friends. I believe that it has everything to do with the fact you're madly in love with me and know I don't feel the same for you." Hanson remarked.
"That's not true!" Aubree argued.
"Oh, really? I wouldn't advise you to lie to me. Don't think I don't notice how jealous you get when Caylee calls me. Don't think I don't see the eye roll when I tell her that I love and miss her. And don't think I didn't see how upset you got when you found out I was going to propose to her. This has NOTHING to do with the fact I didn't tell anyone about where I went. It has EVERYTHING to do with you hating that you missed your chance to tell me when I was there. You've been crushing on me since the seventh grade, Aubree. I left a month after freshman year started. You had two years to tell me, and you chose not to." Hanson retorted.
"I was scared it would ruin our friendship if you didn't feel the same!" Aubree said trying not to cry.
"It wouldn't have because believe it or not; I had a crush on you from the first day I met you. I knew you had a crush on me; it wasn't hard to miss. I just wanted the right time to tell you, and I planned on it when that weekend was over because I was going to ask you to the homecoming dance. Then I met Toothless, and everything changed. I couldn't lose my best friend, and now with a bonded dragon of your own, you understand what I felt eight years ago. Tell me you wouldn't have made the same decision in my position, Aubree. Go ahead, tell me you would have chosen your dragon over your crush." Hanson invited her.
"Okay fine, I would have chosen my dragon over my crush," Aubree replied fighting back the tears.
"Aside from being beyond busy and not having time tell you what was going on, there was another factor. And that would be I knew this here would happen. That it would play out EXACTLY as it is right now, so I decided to let my feelings for you go because I didn't want to feel that hurt when you got mad at me for what I chose to do with my life. You don't know half of the shit I've been through, and the worst part is that even though you were my friends, I knew you wouldn't accept this being my life. I let it go, and I was miserable. Caylee was there for me, and I fell in love with her, so I'm sorry if that bothers you, but that is the way it is, Aubree." Hanson informed.
"I would have understood," Aubree lowered her head slowly.
"No. You wouldn't have because even now with the explanation, you got mad at me and admitted to not understanding the choices I made eight years ago to protect my best friend. You're not mad that I joined the military, you aren't mad that I didn't tell anyone where I went. You are angry and upset at the fact that you finally found me again and realized your chance to be with me is gone because I'm with Caylee and plan to marry her." Hanson told her firmly as she seemed to have no response which only proved what he had said was right.
"Now, if you don't like the fact you're in my platoon and have to see me every day knowing I'm with someone else, I'll arrange a transfer to another island. Where you can be in a different platoon and a part of a new company," Hanson stated calmer but still holding narrowed eyes. "And before you ask why another island altogether, remember that any company, platoon, squad, and unit stationed here is under my command here at Fort Riddari. As long as you are in the military and on this base, you have to deal with me. You would do well to remember that I am not your friend and this whole situation of you seeing me again after eight years means nothing to me. That being said, if you decide to stay here with your friends, then you best not forget I am your commanding officer, and I will not tolerate the disrespect for any reason at all. Is that understood, Corporal Hofferson?"
"Yes sir," Aubree replied meekly.
"Good. Make your choice by tomorrow morning," Without another word, Hanson left the barrack silently and very irritated. From the window all they saw him get on Toothless and take to the star-filled sky above. After he was gone, the nine friends looked at Aubree sadly.
"It would be in everyone's best interest to be in bed and sleeping before he gets back. Trust me; he'll be gone for a while with that level of anger." Vincent informed.
"Yes sir," the others replied. All any of them knew is that Aubree was given a solid choice to be transferred and away from Hanson, or to stay and put aside personal feelings as she would have to see him as her commanding officer only. And she had until tomorrow morning to make her choice about what she wanted to do.
