The teens are learning to fight a Zippelback this training session, the catch this time is that there's two heads. One breathes flammable gas, the other lights it. And the heads are identical, so you don't know which is which until they start.

Asher eyes Bloom, who rolls her eyes and mutters something - he hears the word 'side' but doesn't hear the rest over the explosion of the Zippelback coming out of its cage. It immediately kicks up a bunch of dust, so they can't even see it, but then Ashur and Ruffnut get splashed with water by Snotlout and Tuffnut. And then Asher decks Snotlout when he says their butts are getting bigger and they mistook them for a dragon, while Ruffnut goes after her brother.

Fishlegs' voice murmurs "Chances of survival dwindling into single digits now…" There's another splash and then "Oh, wrong head…AAAHHH!" Fishlegs runs out at once, covered in green Zippelback gas.

That only leaves…Asher's eyes widen when he realizes it leaves Bloom.

The smoke clears just enough that they can see Bloom facing both heads - instead of dousing either head, she throws the bucket one way and dives the other, yelling "Is that all you got, big guy?" The gas ignites, making a cloud of smoke and dust that makes it impossible to see what's happening.

The same thing happens again, they can guess - Bloom taunting the dragon, an explosion happens, repeat.

After about the fifth cycle, Asher gets his axe out and moves to charge in...when there's suddenly a loud thud. When the smoke clears, Bloom's walking towards them - completely unharmed - while the Zippelback is lying on its back. Making weird sounds somewhere between a groan and a moan, to boot. Wyh, in all the Realms, would it sound content, of all things?!

Bloom walks over as the smoke clears, picks up her bucket, hands it back to Gobber, then heads out as everyone stares at her in varying degrees of utter shock.


Bloom gets a huge smile as she's walking out of the arena - that movement with her fingers works on Zipplebacks as well as Terrors. The only catch was that she had to get enough dust up discretely enough that nobody would think she was anything other than a 'normal' person. She never thought she'd be happy to be in Warrior Training, but she nearly bursts out laughing at the looks on everyone's faces every time she uses a simple fact of dragons to incapacitate them without hurting them in the slightest.

Like with the Nadder the time before, all she did was scratch the sweet spot all Nadders have under their chins. For Brightfire, it's just under the jawbone - made her go limp as a cooked fish, and she was purring for a good ten minutes afterwards.

She and Brightfire go for a test flight on the saddle, only for Bloom to fall off completely - luckily, her short-ish fall was broken by some tall grass she calls Dragon Nip. Brightfire lands in the grass to find her, only to start rolling around in it like a giant cat - oh, this is going to be good, just like old times.

Bloom quickly cuts a bunch of it with her knife, putting it in her pouch of stuff - then grabs another handful and starts rubbing it in Brightfire's face while talking in a playful voice…before tickling her. Which turns into a tickle war between the two of them. Yep, just like old times. They'd sneak out of the cove and over to this patch of grass a number of times over the years, when Bloom was done with practicing her magic or wasn't in a good state to do so, and they'd roll around, chase each other, and wrestle in it. Not like they didn't do as much in the Cove, but Brightfire loves this grass.


The next day, they're fighting the Gronckle again - all it takes for Bloom to take it down is holding a handful of that grass up to its nose. The Gronckle's eyes immediately dilate, signaling it's loss of aggressiveness, and she has it roll onto its back - she nearly bursts into hysterical laughter at the sight of the teens' and Gobber's shocked expressions, but just calls over that she's going to sharpen her knife at the Forge.

Asher gets to the forge, fully intending on asking Bloom how she's doing all this stuff, but stops when he hears…her whistling. A light, bouncing tune, sounding for all the world like she hasn't got a care in the world. She switches to humming after a few minutes, as she finally couldn't keep whistling due to smiling.

She finishes with her knife, then starts polishing it until it shines. All while humming away contentedly, when was the last time he saw her do that?

Or smile like that?

Asher's brain supplies an answer, not for years. Not since they started picking on her.

He notices she's stopped working and started writing in a small book - likely drawing, he's seen she's got a real talent for it. Back before…she stopped showing him things, telling him things…back before they all turned on her.

He leaves, goes home to try and wrestle with the sudden overwhelming amount of guilt in his chest.


Things only get more confusing the next training session, as they're fighting the Nadder again. Asher throws his axe, which the Nadder deflects on its headspines easily - he dives to go for it, but the Nadder heads for Bloom. He grabs the axe, charges with a war cry…and then the Nadder just collapses. Before he could even get halfway there!

Bloom didn't move much, her legs were maybe six inches from where he'd last seen her, but she just took down the Nadder with ridiculous speed.

Asher stares at her dumbfounded, his gaze moves to the very limp Nadder between them, and then back to…Bloom's back, as she's leaving. With a bounce in her step, he notes.

She's just vanished when they get to the bridge, though.

Gobber seems the least surprised with her inexplicable success, just like she was the only one that seemed unsurprised at his particular teaching style - of course, they've also worked together for years now.

Right, of course she wouldn't be surprised that he believes in 'learning on the job.' Is he giving her hints? Tips?

No, he always seems just as shocked as everyone else when the dragon goes down, but he just says he's always known she's got a mind sharper than Asher's axe and isn't surprised that Bloom's making a win out of her situation.

She doesn't show up for dinner, and for once everyone's asking where she is - it isn't uncommon for her to have a meal in her house, or just skip it altogether to avoid people, but everyone wants to know how she can take down a dragon so…easily.

It's honestly making Asher feel jealous, even though he knows he shouldn't be. He doesn't think to question why she wouldn't enjoy her newfound fame and celebrity status - because who wouldn't enjoy it?


The next time, they have to face a Terrible Terror - it jumps Tuffnut when he laughs, biting at his nose. Bloom, for her part, is the only one that didn't jump back at the sudden attack. Asher notices she buffs up the metal stud in the middle of her chosen shield, then walks forward - the Terror jumps off Tuffnut, who runs away yelling how he's 'very much hurt,' as the Terror heads back into the flap it came out of. Tuffnut rubs his nose, and mutters "Wow, she's better than you ever were."

Once more, Bloom disappears as soon as Training is done. And Asher's got no idea where she might've gone, since there's no sign of her when they get outside the arena - for all he knows, she might've jumped off the bridge and into the water.

He's close, she jumps off and floats under it - she's long since gotten used to floating things, even her own body, so jumping off the bridge and holding her body underneath it is no real challenge. The challenge is not bursting out laughing hearing them question where she went every day.


AN: Hey there, everyone! Another chapter is up! Yes, i kept the training scenes as a montage - mainly because it made for a decent-sized chapter. Me writing Asher wondering about her sudden success and skill for so long for four chapters or so wouldn't be that entertaining. Besides, Bloom already knows plenty about the dragons - she's not learning it as she goes, like Hiccup did in canon. Also, Brightfire has both her tailfins, so there's no working out the kinks with a mechanical tailfin.

Anyway, enjoy! More chapters coming soon! Please review, and stay safe and healthy!