~~I pick up my tablet and turn it on. While it boots I open Sharpshots service panel and turn him off, and he slumps down offline. Once the tablet is booted I pull out a connection cable and connect it to him and the tablet. "How bad could this have gone."~
"Perfect, just perfect." I sigh as I place the tablet on my workbench, unplug it from Sharpshot, place 'him' in sleep mode, and prep for bed. "Once again I am used as an excuse to get people to go on those pointless missions"
I jump onto my bed and consequently launch off my pillow onto the floor."At least it was Snotlout and the twins to get them to go, but still. Used as a bargaining chip." I turn towards the left side of my bed and turn out the lights. "Time to start a whole new world of pain." And with that the my room is plunged into darkness.
-Location: Berk; Haddock Household-
-Date: [REDACTED] August 22nd-
-Time: 0630; Sunrise (7:30 Am)-
-Alert Status: Terror Green-
I wake hearing someone banging at the charred front door of the house. I lean up in my bed groggily and trying to rub the sleepiness out of my eyes. "What now?" The banging gets louder along with someone yelling my name.
"Who is it?" I yell from my bed.
Banging and yelling stops temporarily. "Lass! It's Gobber! Is this door open?"
I get off the bed and start to put on my regular set of clothing consisting of a green tunic with black long sleeves, black fingerless gloves, black leggings, brown fur boots, and a piece of brown torn fabric tied around my waist to act as a skirt. "Yeah, dad rarely locks it when he leaves! But just swipe your card just in case, just to keep the alarms from going off." And once they go off, boy does the house and hanger get loud.
They get so loud that I normally have to cover my ears with noise cancelling headsets so I don't get dizzy and fall over. You may ask why put the alarms in the house in the first place, well, that has something to do with my father and Alvin. But that's a story for another time.
I hear the front door click and creak open as Gobber hobbels inside."Lass, where are you?"
I sling over my cloak over my body and make sure that my wings and tail are completely hidden underneath. "I'm still upstairs Gobber." Sleepiness still detectable within my voice.
"Do you know what time it is, Helena?" Gobber questions as I meet him downstairs by the central fireplace.
"Not really." I reply whilst walking down the stairs with my cloak still down.
"It's 0638 now, you were supposed to help me bring your peers mechs down to the training hanger." A stern look over his face.
I stop at the landing of the stairs arms at my sides with a shocked look on my face. I turn to face Gobber turing my look of shock into an look of apology. Gobber softens his look into his cheery smile. "Don't sweat it Helena, you already had enough on your mind in the first place. And yes, I left you one mech unit to take down."
I give a sigh of relief as I'm glad I don't get another scolding about being late. As I start walking over towards the kitchen while placing my hair into my favorite messy braid, tossing it over my shoulder so it's visible from the front. And making a littler one and placing it over my bangs over the top of my head. As I finish my braids I start taking some fish out form the basket for a quick meal. "Whose mech would that be that graciously and willingly spared?"
"We both know whos mech it is." A grin of evil crawling over his face.
"Gobber, it is a simple question."
"You know." He starts a cheerful whistle
"Gobber. WHOSE mech." I'm starting to regret allowing him into the house, my patience levels are very low when I first wake up, as I take a bite of the raw fish.
I've never been a real fan of cooked fish, cooked fish has always tasted charred whenever I've had it.
"You know."
"You are testing my patience aren't you" I clench my teeth, eyes start turning into thin slits. "Gobber. WHOSE. MECH"
He starts chuckling as my patience is being depleted towards the negative zone this early after I awaken. He seems to always wish to do it, my knolage as to why, I still have no clue. Most of the time I feel like he's doing it on purpose."Fine, fine, you win, but I'll give ya a hint. It is currently residing in 'tent' mode."
I drop my fish onto my plate. My eyes widen into shock and fear once again. "Please no, any other mech is fine, but not his."
"Oh, come on Helena, I see the way you look at him."
"Yes, I know you see it, you practically always see it when you're around me when he is nearby. But why his? He barely acknowledges me, along with even talking to me. Let alone would accept me for what I truly am."
"You would never truly know that if you don't step out of those shadows that you created." His words burn their way into my mind.
As he starts to hobble his way towards the door from his spot around the fireplace. "Training starts at 0745, I'll be down there waiting for everyone Including you, and you also need to figure out something about getting yourself a mech before the training in general ends. Ok?"
"Yes Gobber." I respond as I turn back towards my fish.
"Ok then, don't be late, and don't forget about bringing down Ashton's mech for training also."
"Sure thing." My mind and heart start racing at the mention once again that I have to bring his mech down to the arena.
"But also keep what I said in mind. Not just for my sake, but for you. You can't keep hiding forever, I know that, your father knows that, granted he doesn't know half the story, you know this, and even that silly terror unit you built knows." He then turns to the door and opens it and then proceeds to leave.
He stops and turns his head around within the doorway. "Even your mother had to go though the same thing. You aren't as alone as you think you are." With that he closes the door thus completing his exit from the house and leaves me to my thoughts at the table.
"Ya da, ya da, great way to start the day, huh. Helena."
I look at the recently closed door still thinking on his latest words of wisdom. I then look towards the stairs where moms axe is sitting embedded into the third step of the stairs remembering my forced one-sided deal. I look away from the stairs back to the table and hit my head against it. "It's going to be a long day." I groan consistently hitting my head on the table with a solid thunk everytime.
-Location :Outside the Hofferson Household/Hanger -
-Time: 0730 (8:30 Am); 0015 Before Training-
-Alert Status: Terror Green-
As I make my way towards the Hofferson hanger I couldn't help but notice that Ashton and the others had meet up at his home are where starting their journey towards the arena.
Making sure no one of them are able to see me. I sneak my way towards the Hofferson hanger doors, and swipe my key card on the reader. It flashes green then a shade of purple signaling that my card had been accepted. Once the reader stops flashing the main doors start groaning open, metal scratching on metal. The scratching gets to the point where I have cover my ears to prevent myself from falling over. "Geez," I complain once the doors have stopped and I release my ears. "When was the last time they oiled the door."
With that said and done I sigh and walk into the darkened hanger. Suddenly the lights start coming on; one section at a time, until the who hanger is glowing with a humble feel too it, unlike mine. Anyway, I make my way down deeper into the hanger towards bay 3.
-Location: Berk Kill Ring and Training Facility-
-Time: 0745 (8:45 Am); 0000 Before Training-
-Alert Status: Terror Green-
Gobber is hobbling around singing his happy little tune while waiting for the recruits to arrive. He then spots all of them together except for one and decides it is time. "Welcome to Dragon training!" He exclaims cheerfully while hobbling over to the training arena primary doors. And pulls the lever, thus, opening the heavy reinforced door.
The training arena is has two sections, a smaller one that faces north side towards the village, the smaller one consists of weapons and shields around the sides of the arena with a chain link fence-like dome overtop. Along with bleachers around it for spectators to watch. On the southern side of the arena are the dragon cages that have openings on the front and on the back. The back side of the cages is where the dragon mech arena is located. The entrance to this arena is on the eastern side of the arena. The dragon mech arena consists of a vastly larger arena with a vastly higher chain link fence over top. The hangers for the mechs are located on the western side facing the forest.
"No turning back now." Ashton warns while walking through the opening door.
"Aw man, I can't wait go get some serious burns!" Exclaims Tuffnut following him in with the others.
Ruffnut agrees with her twin. "Yeah, I'm hoping for an awsome mauling, maybe even in the lower back!"
"It's only fun if you get a scar out if it." Ashton says as he turns around and starts walking backwards into the arena.
"Now, if yer all done having a rootin' tooin' grand ol' time, we are still waiting on one of ye." Gobber points to all of them whilst checking them off on his clipboard.
"Uh, who else is there?" Snotlout asks in disbelief.
Gobber smiles as a shadow passes over them heading into the training mech hangers. "Ah, there's yer answer."
"What!" All trainees exclaim all their faces stuck in disbelief. Gobber starts to bellow at the display.
"Sir, was that my mech unit?" Ashton questions while watching the shadow disappear.
All the trainees shake off their shock and look towards Gobber for an explanation. "Well!"
"Hold onto yer butts." Gobber then places his com mic up to his mouth. "Bay 2 that one goes to. Also you're late again." Gobber then places the mic back down and sees the other trainees putting their comms speaker volume up.
A female voice then comes through with a response. "Ok! And sorry about being late, The Hoffersons hanger door got stuck on its closing, I needed to be oiled! Be over in a few!" The com goes silent.
"So that was my mech. How did someone get it in the first place? Didn't you bring it down earlier this morning, Gobber?"
"First off, yes that was your mech. Second, no I didn't get to bring yours down because I needed something for her to do, and third, who else do you think had access to your family hanger."
Tuffnut is the first one to piece it together first. "Oh great, who let her in. Can I transfer out to the non-weird class."
"Who is it Tuff!" The others interrogate.
"Man, and Ruffnut and I are supposed to act dumb, it's Helena, you know, the ONLY one of us who can actually fly a Unit, because she's the one who designed and built them"
"Really!"
"Yeap." He confirms popping the 'p'.
Snotlout tosses his hands up and groans. "Great, class with mechless."
Helena then charges towards the group but doesn't see the glares being radiated from them. "Gobber! Sorry I'm-" She stops mid sentence when she catches the stern look of the others except for Fishlegs, who is trying to crack a small smile at her and Gobber who is full out grinning.
Helena then backs up a bit. "Oh."
Snotlout is the first to speak up after she backs up but starts stepping towards her, he starts making a fist in one hand and points at her accusingly with the other. "Who said you could take Ashtons' mech out for a flight HUH! WHO!" His fist getting white at the knuckles.
"I. Uh. I… um-" Helena starts stuttering
"THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT!" He then attempts to take a swing at her but is stopped by Ashton.
"Huh? Wa? Why are you defending mechless!"
"You already know who told her to fly my mech, Goober answered it when I asked if that shadow was my mech. So you have no reason to attack her." He then throws Snotlout's arm to his side and guides Helena away.
Goober then takes Helena from Ashton and puts her in a line the others have formed next to Fishlegs.
"Alright you two playtime is over. So get in line." He hobbles towards the first dragon cage.
"So, once again, welcome to dragon training. Now the recruit that does the best will have yhe greatest honor of killing the Monstrous Nightmare in front of the whole village."
Snotlout sneers and looks at Helena. "Uh, Mechless already killed a Night Fury so.." He pauses for a bit. "Does that disqualify her or?"
Gobber throws a rock at his head with perfect aim. Cuasing him to nearly fall over.
"Ow, hey!"
"Now if yer all done bein' disrespectful" He continues his previous speech.
"Here are some of the most common species of dragon you are going to learn to fight." He hits the first cage.
"The Monstrous Nightmare!" He announces and hobbels over to the next one and continues doing so.
"Firepower fifteen" Fishlegs mumbles out loud.
"The Hideous Zippleback!"
"Eleven stealth times two."
"Fishlegs quit it." Gobber warns. "Now then."
"The Deadly Nadder!"
"Speed eight; Armor sixteen." Fishlegs continues.
"A Titanwing Terrible Terror!" He snickers a quick laugh.
"Attack sixteen and venom twentyfour."
"FISHLEGS COULD YOU STOP THAT."
"Eep." And Fishlegs quiets down.
"Thank you, and the Gronckle." He stretches the name at the end as he grabs the release lever.
Fishlegs gently turns his head towards Helena and whispers "Jaw strength eight." Helena giggles a bit.
"WOAH WOAH WOAH, aren't you gonna teach us first!" Exclaims a panicked Snotlout.
Gobber turns towards Helena as she gets ready to run. His gaze saying what she should say. "He believes in learning on the job." Helena says and runs away from the line.
"CORRECT, THAT'S HOW I ROLL!." He pulled the lever. Thus causing a chain reation.
The Gronckle charges out of its cage slamming the doors onto the wall, it then charges those who are left in the line till they all scater, thus, causing it to crash into the wall causing some rocks to become dislodged from arena walls which it promptly consumes.
Gobber is seen standing next to the weapon rack next to the open Gronckle cage. " Today is all about survival, If you get blasted, yer dead. Quick what is the first thing you need when fighting a dragon!" He shouts.
"A better teacher?" Snotlout replied while dodging the charging Gronckle.
"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs suggested.
"A Shield!" Shout both Helena and Ashter.
"Correct, a shield go!" Gobber agrees.
Gobber walks over to fish who is having trouble attaching it to his arm and puts it onto it and shoves him off. "If you have to pick anything when you are out of your mech or can't get to it, whether that be a sword or shield laying around, go for the shield." He turns to see the twins fighting with a tug of war with a shield.
"Get your hands off my shield."
"What do you mean by your shield, I found it first."
"So, I had it first!"
Tuffnut then points out to a shield behind them. "Take that one, it has flowers, girls like flowers."
Ruffnut rips the shield out of Tuffnuts grasp and hits him on the top of his head. "Opps, now this has your blood on it." He fake hands him the shield as he gets up. But the Gronckle took advantage of the situation and fired a lava ball towards them. The lava ball explodes the shield knocking the twins onto the floor. "Ruff Tuff yer out!"
The twins recover from the blast and with confused looks shout, "What?" before having to run away from a charging Gronckle.
"Quick, how many shots does a Gronckle have?"
"Uh five?" Was Snotlout's unsure answer.
"Wait, NO, SIX!" Was Fishlegs sure answer, he then loses his shield when the Gronckle saw him waving it and it fired a shot.
"AH!"
"Correct six! That's more than enough for each one of ye." He chuckles. "Fishlegs out!"
"I'm starting to question your teaching methods right about now!" Yelled Snotlout as he dodged another charging Gronckle.
"Heh heh, ok fine we'll move on. Those shields are good for another thing. Noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragons aim!"
The remaining trainees excluding Helena started to bang on their shields causing both the Gronckle and Helena to start losing track of their surroundings. Seeing how the Gronckle is dizzy, Snotlout thought it would be a great time to try and get Ashton on his good side. "So I'm moving into my parents basement, you look like you work out, do you mind if we work out some time?"
An unamused Ashton glares at him and shrugs him off. "Not interested." The Gronckle then blasts Snotlout while his guard is down. "Snotlout, yer done!"
Helena regains her senses and groups up with Ashton. "So just you and me?" She questions.
His response. "No just you." He then proceeds to roll out of the way but gets blasted in the process. But at the same time Helena loses her shield and it rolls away, she then proceeds to chase it.
"Ashton yer done."
Seeing that Helena was distracted the Gronckle started to chase after her as she went after her runaway shield. "One shot left; Helena!" Gobber started to panic a bit.
But the Gronckle had other ideas. It backed her up between the wall and prepared a lava ball, but the fire started to die within the gronckel's mouth. The Gronckle slightly closed up it's mouth and started to smell Helena. "What are you?" A female voice came from the Gronckle.
Suddenly Gobber hooks his hook arm into the Gronckle and yanked up on the dragon, catching her off guard causing her to launch a fireball mere centimeters form Helena's head. "And that's it."
"Go back te' bed yer overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance don't ye worry!"The Gronckle starts to fight Gobber so he starts to spin and unhooks his hand from her mouth at the right moment, thus sending her back to her cage where it automatically shut upon the dragon slamming into it.
Once the door is closed and locked, the other trainees, who at this point have bruises, scrapes, cuts, and are aching from head to toe, come towards Gobber who is helping Helena up. Once he helps Helena up he turns to the others. "Remember, a dragon will always," He turns towards Helena who is rubbing a sore spot on her arm. "Always. Go for the kill." A stern look overcoming his face. He then turns around once again and exclaims.
"Class dismissed. Have Gothi and her team take a look at ye, just in case, also we meet at 2000 for a meal and to discuss today's lesson." And with that everyone walks out of the arena except Helena who is staring at the smoldering hole left from the Gronckle, to continue on with their day.
-Location: Raven Point Forest; Crash Site of the Night Fury-
-Time: 1100 (12 Pm Noon)-
-Alert Status: Terror Green-
After today's horrid training session I walked my way over towards the site where I cut the Night Fury from. Wondering the same words that Gobber had managed to drill into my mind. 'A dragon always. Always. Go for the kill.'
If that was true. Then why am I still here. Once I walk to the site I pick up one of the former bola weights. "So why didn't you?
I place the weight back on the earth and head in the general direction where it had 'flown' of towards. As I walking through the forest where I had seen it fly off and I start noticing a trail of black scales with the shine of blue on them, like the ones that I had, but these were much bigger. I follow the trail towards Raven Point Cove, hardly anyone knew it existed, I was one of the lucky ones. Mom used to take me here back before she was killed so that I could be me, this is also where I learned to fly and do some dragon type things, like breathe fire. I still came here, but I rarely came after mom died.
I follow the last visible scale though a opening in the coves 12 and a half meter ledges. I peer into the cove, the waterfall still flowing into the pond where fish swam, and on the other side a grassy ground with rocks setup to make a makeshift fire ring from my last visit. But I saw no Night Fury to be seen. "This was just a waste of time, surely it would have flown away by now."
As I turn to leave a giant quick mass of shadows shoots up from the ledge and I quickly turn around. "It's still here!" I whisper to the rocks and dive down to avoid it from seeing me.
The said dragon fails to clear the ledge and turns back towards the ground gliding it's way back to the ground safely. I take out my sketchbook, lower my hood to have a better look at what I'm doing, and quickly open to an blank page and start to sketch it out while it's shooting the water with what I can pursue as anger. I finish the sketch but I drew two tail fins instead of the one that it had. So I took my hand and rubbed out the left tailfin to match the dragon. "Why don't you just fly away?"
As soon as I say that I dropped my charcoal pencil, its soft clicks on the rocks as it falls down into the cove was enough to get it's attention. I desperately try to grab it before it falls but I miss. And it sees me dangling from my ledge. But instead of it attacking, it just stands and stares at me. And just like the Gronckle I hear a voice say "What are you?"
I pull myself back onto the ledge and slightly tilt my head and the dragon does the same thing as I. Interesting. Suddenly I look back up to the sky where I heard thunder and notice that the sun is starting to set. Was I really out this long? I close up my sketchbook and place it back into its pocket within my cloak and I back my way out of my vantage point and head back towards the village, placing my hood back on as I leave the cove.
As I start walking away I could have sworn I heard it say that I fascinated it.
-Location: Berk Great Hall-
-Time: 2030 (8:30 Pm); Sunset/Thunderstorm-
-Alert Status: Scauldron Blue-
I get to back to the village and head to the Great Hall for dinner, and consequently the discussion about today's training. When I stop at the hall's doors I'm completly drenched from head to toe and trying my best to keep the cloak from clinging to my wings and tail; all thanks to the storm. When I entered they were already talking about here Aston went wrong.
"Now, where did Ashton go wrong today?" Gobber asks.
"I mistimed my somersault, it was sloppy, it threw off my reverse tumble." Ashton replies.
"Yeah, we noticed." Groaned a bored Tuffnut.
Snotlout still trying to get on Ashton's good side tries to compliment him. "No, No, it was so," He paused again. "So Ashton."
Finally Gobber spoke up. "He's right, you shouldn't put this off lightly, you need to be hard on yourself if you ever want to become full time dragon killers and pilots." Completely disregarding the other comments.
I walk over to the table and grab the last plate of food and the last mug on the table. As soon as I grab it, Tuffnut and Snotlout scoot over to take up the rest of the tables seating so I couldn't sit with them. Like I would ever want to. So I walk over towards the empty table behind Gobber. As I pass Gobber he gives me his 'You're late' stare and I sit down with my plate and mug.
"So, where did Helena go wrong today?" He turns to me smiling.
My eyes open and stare at Gobber with terror and fear. "Please no."
A/N
LATE DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HTTYD AT ALL just ma concept they are in.
So, if anyone of you are returning readers like one person in particular. You would have noticed chapter name changes and the title name change in general. My reasoning for doing so is as follows, 1) Constantly saying "Of_ and_" got tiring and 2) Whenever I read the title I was constantly reminded of the book 'Of Mice and Men'. Mainly because of the ending. So enjoy the revamped chapter names and title.
And I would like to now thank those who reviewed chapters 1-3 and 4 as I'm editing this chapter with notes and fixes. And another round goes to all those who followed, viewed, and favorited this story. I means a lot as I have stated in my profile I wasn't expecting attention like I have received. Also if you wish take a look at a reasoning it took me a while to type this numba 4 up. Its ze 2nd story I got. Then again, it took me a 3 hour session to finish it in one go once my head way cleared.
P.s. There was a Jurassic Park reference in this bad boy.
P.P.s. Chapters will be getting longer. I'm trying to add more meat and potatoes here.
Notes edited [July 11th: Reasoning; Chapter 5 is underway.
Chapter Edited [July 12th: Reasoning; Fixed some grammatical errors, spelling errors, and added things I thought I had placed in, but left out.
-Updated Message sent: 0042 (12:42 Am)Wednesday, July 11, [REDACTED]-
-Sender: Winter Command Personnel 001-