Author's Note: Last chapter got quite a good reception. Glad to see this story is holding interest. With this chapter we're at roughly the halfway point of the first book.
Hiccup didn't get his wish. The next week passed in a blur, but no raids. The reactions of the teens to his new weapon was about what he expected. Fishlegs gave it stats, Ruffnut and Tuffnut admired its deadliness, Snotlout scoffed, and Astrid glared.
Over the week, Hiccup practiced under Gobber's guidance to safely swing the scythe, working to develop muscle memory that wouldn't end with him slashing his own leg open. Once he figured out how to not hurt himself, he could start figuring out how to hurt others, as Gobber had put it. In the meantime, he practiced solo and Gobber alternated fighting the other teens in his stead. Gobber wasn't stupid enough to put him against anyone until he gained basic control, despite what he had said before, for their safety as well as his.
In addition to weapons training, Hiccup built several small things to help himself incorporate the large weapon into his routine. A new customized back holster held the scythe secure so it wouldn't rotate and stab him while running around, and he even figured out a latching mechanism to remove the scythe without taking the holster itself off of his back. That had been tricky. He also built some special leather sheaths for the blades as an added safeguard when transporting the weapon, which ended up just living in the saddlebag while flying with Toothless. They could be taken off quickly, so having them on didn't hamper his reaction time too much.
He also spent a lot of time in the forge, though the workload was slowly fading down to normal. The rest of Hiccup's spare time was spent in with Toothless romping around the woods and flying around. All that changed was that he now snuck into his own house at night, and left before the sun rose. Stoick's insanely busy schedule assisted Hiccup in accomplishing the feat of not encountering his own father for an entire week, despite sharing the same house.
On the unofficial side of training, Hiccup and Toothless had persisted with running and the occasional stealth game. Most of Hiccup's training time was going towards practicing with the scythe. He knew that that was something he needed done as soon as possible.
After a solid week of training, Hiccup had it nailed. He smiled as he walked into the arena. Today was the day he would show Gobber that he was safe in using his weapon. Gobber had thought it would take at least two weeks. He hadn't factored in Hiccup's excessive practice because he didn't know about it.
The other teens began sparring, as usual. All but Fishlegs, who would have been sparring with Hiccup today. Gobber took one look at Hiccup and saw his determination.
"Lemme guess, ya think ya got it. Prove it." Gobber had told Hiccup that if he could swing a weapon for a full minute, in every way possible, without stopping or hurting himself, that was how he knew he had mastered moving it around safely. Apparently, there was a foreign weapon Gobber had once used that consisted of a spiked ball on the end of a chain that was just as dangerous as this. That was how the foreigners who used it trained the few visiting Vikings who wanted to try. Gobber had been one of those Vikings, and he remembered.
Hiccup had already tested himself yesterday in a similar way. He squared his feet and began moving the scythe, keeping his feet steady. There was no pattern, he was just moving it randomly, keeping up the momentum as he moved faster and faster, never stopping.
Fishlegs was the only teen watching, and he looked a bit intimidated. Hiccup was swinging around two sharp blades perilously close to himself. He stuttered something unintelligible, then shouted to the other teens. "Guys! Look at that!"
The other teens stopped to watch. Hiccup was in full gear now, concentrating on moving the scythe as fast as he could, in as many different directions as possible. It certainly looked impressive, though in combat this would be nigh on useless. It was just a way to demonstrate that one had committed how to use the weapon to muscle memory. That being said, two sharp blades being swung at all angles and never slowing was still cool to watch.
"And that's a minute. Good work Hiccup. Ye can start learning to fight with it now. And ye know what the best way ta learn is?" Gobber didn't give him a chance to answer. "On the job. Well, get to it Fishlegs!" He walked away.
Fishlegs stared at Hiccup. Hiccup stared at Fishlegs. Fishlegs hefted his hammer.
'Now you get to do something useful!' Toothless had been immensely proud of Hiccup getting used to the scythe, but he had wanted to see the weapon he helped design in action for a while now. 'Do you want my advice on how to attack?'
Hiccup considered it. He muttered under his breath in answer. "Sure, why not. It'll help me learn faster."
Hiccup spun his scythe so that the top blade spike was angled down, the weapon as a whole pointed straight at Fishlegs. Fishlegs gulped and readied his hammer and shield. Surprisingly, Fishlegs charged. Hiccup jumped back and swept his scythe around so that the other blade drew a line across Fishlegs' shield as he stopped his charge.
'You need to make distance.' Toothless was interrupted by Fishlegs swinging his hammer at Hiccup's side. Once Hiccup had dodged, Toothless elaborated. 'Your reach is longer. Use that to keep out of range of his hammer.'
Hiccup grunted in acknowledgment, and the fight continued. He wasn't used to fighting other people, and Fishlegs had had practice fighting pole-arms with a hammer. Still, Hiccup was improving as he learned the strategic aspects of his weapon in combat, and he had surprised Fishlegs enough to win two of the seven bouts. He went to the forest after, and after their meal and flight, Toothless watched Hiccup practice what he had learned and offered strategic advice. They were both focused on this because it was important, but also because they were waiting. Waiting for the raid. This time felt like the calm before a storm, and they both wanted to be as prepared as possible.
Training was happening every day now, so the next day Hiccup had to do it all over again. This time though, he was against Ruffnut. She didn't have the same raw strength Fishlegs put behind every blow, and she was using a spear. He managed to win four of their eight bouts. The last one was especially memorable. Ruffnut had stabbed at Hiccup, and in response, he had swept the blade of his scythe at her head, and when she ducked, used the blunt inner edge of the other blade to hook her feet and pull. Ruffnut was already off balance, and she found a spike at her chest when she made to rise.
"That was... impressive. That thing is cool, I give you that. Very sharp and spiky. You'll still get creamed by Astrid or Snotlout." Ruffnut sounded like she would enjoy watching that.
Hiccup helped her up. "Maybe. Maybe not. Neither of them uses a shield, and that gives me an advantage. I have better reach than Astrid, and better maneuverability than Snotlout." He knew he would probably lose against the people who had trained their entire lives to be warriors, but he was pretty sure he would at least make them work for it a little.
Toothless agreed. He wasn't looking forward to it though. As much as the dragon liked experiencing Hiccup fighting the other teens through the boy's senses, he was a bit worried. Astrid and Snotlout both had reasons to go further than sparring allowed and Hiccup was still a long way away from their level.
But it looked like Hiccup would be fighting them sooner than either he or Toothless thought. The very next day, Snotlout moved to face Hiccup in the arena.
"Time to show you what fighting a real warrior feels like. Try not to cry." Snotlout seemed almost nervous.
Hiccup wasn't sure why. Snotlout didn't seem scared of him. But he still seemed just a bit off. It made Hiccup cautious. Well, more cautious. His expectations were met as the fight began. Snotlout was constantly on the offensive and Hiccup had no time to retaliate in between strikes because of how hard Snotlout was hitting. That was worrying. One of these hits would do major damage if Hiccup was too slow. Snotlout didn't seem to be pulling his punches even slightly.
'He's getting more nervous now. Why? He's winning.' Toothless didn't like this at all. 'Go on the offensive, he can't move as fast as you can.' Toothless wanted this fight over, something wasn't right.
"I'm trying" was all Hiccup could grit out as he dodged yet another full strength chop. He saw a lucky chance a moment later and swung up the bottom half of his scythe as he moved to avoid the swing of Snotlout's sword. His scythe's lower spike stopped just below Snotlout's neck. Hiccup knew Snotlout felt it. The match was over in that moment.
'DUCK!' Toothless at that moment screeched in Hiccup's head.
Hiccup obeyed instinctively, still holding the spike to Snotlout's neck. Less than half a second later, the sword passed through where Hiccup's head would have been. That would have been a killing blow, and Snotlout had swung after the match was over. Toothless's warning had just saved his life.
Snotlout's eyes widened as Hiccup pushed the spike into his skin, just a little.
"In case you couldn't feel it before, the match is over Snotlout." Hiccup's voice was cold. He should have expected Snotlout to not give up so easily, even if he had lost.
Snotlout staggered away, hands raised. "Hey, sorry. Couldn't even tell it was there before." He was back to normal, arrogant and a bit angry. Probably angry that Hiccup had won. "Best two out of three?" He said that confidently and moved to pick up his sword.
Hiccup knew something was wrong. "No, I'd rather not."
"What? Come on, all fights are best out of three."
Hiccup was about to retort when Gobber interrupted them.
"Nae, all real fights are one outa one. Because one guy kills the other. Although Snotlout, I think in a real fight you mighta killed each other then. O' course, that last swipe o' yers was cheatin'. You were already dead. And Hiccup thought the match was over because it was. You could have killed him." Gobber's voice grew menacing as he spoke. "Sparring is great trainin', but it's dangerous if people cheat. Don' let me see you doin' tha again. Hiccup could easily have died." There was something else in Gobber's tone now, something directed specifically at Snotlout. Hiccup didn't know what it meant, but Snotlout paled. "Trainin's done for tha day. Asides, I got an announcement."
The other teens gathered around Gobber. Hiccup put his scythe on his back. That had sounded ominous. He wondered what it was.
"So Stoick, Ack, and I came up with a little trainin' exercise for tomorrow night." Gobber paused, letting that sink in. "Ye'll all spread out into the forest, anywhere's fair game. You will work alone. The goal is this. Whoever comes to the arena at sunrise with the most weapons wins. Ye can only get weapons by disarming Berkians who have volunteered to participate, and each other. They'll be in the woods too, and they will take your weapons if they can, though they can't win. Got it?"
Hiccup understood. And he didn't like it at all. Trainees wandering and exploring the woods at night, sneaking around. Berkians moving through the woods of the entire island, on alert, all night. He wasn't super worried about Toothless being seen. The cave was really well hidden at one end, and the other could be disguised before tomorrow night. The problem was, he would have to participate. Stoick's hand in this seemed like more than a coincidence. Hiccup remembered what he had said. He had listed distractions and other people as reasons for training in the forest. Stoick was now moving them all into the forest for an exercise. He was trying to make a point of some sort. Although, knowing that didn't mean Hiccup understood his point. But, if Hiccup won he would be proving to Stoick that he was doing something right. Both with his weapon, and his choice of 'training' locales.
Snotlout spoke up. "I'm definitely gonna win."
The twins had to argue that. "No, we'll win."
"Yeah!"
Gobber interrupted. "No, you two won't win. No teams. Period. You'll work alone, or I'll make ye run a hundred laps around the arena. And I'll make you count 'em yerself." The real threat was the last part. The twins couldn't count past nine, so he was threatening to force them to learn something and they were allergic to non-violent knowledge.
"Alright! Geez, no need to threaten. Sorry, sis, you're going down." Tuffnut dodged the punch thrown at him for once.
Hiccup said nothing. He wanted to win if only to spite Stoick a little. But he wouldn't risk Toothless. He faked a cough. "What do you think?"
'I think I'll be fine. The cave is near impossible to find in the day, let alone at night. And you are way stealthier than anyone here. You should crush them. Think of it as a field test for all the sneaking I taught you how to do. We've never had a chance to see you try it out for real.' He had a point. Unlike the running, Hiccup hadn't ever gotten a real chance to use his stealth training, unless going through the village before the last raid counted.
He had the rest of today and all of tomorrow to prepare. He left the arena with the other teens, all of whom were arguing about the upcoming event. Gobber hadn't said how many Berkians there would be in the woods participating. That made preparing harder. There might be two or three, or there might be twenty.
Hiccup made his way to the cave, thinking as he ran. They would need to disguise the exit that ended in the ravine. It was just asking to be explored. He would need to practice his stealth. And all of this was on top of flying and practicing with his scythe. Tomorrow would be a full day. Today, they only had time to do the usual flying and fishing.
The next day, Hiccup headed straight to the cave while Gobber was busy dealing with something over at the docks. Stoick was probably with him. It wasn't important to Hiccup. It just meant there was no one around to care where he spent his day.
'What do you wanna do first?' Toothless was well rested and ready for anything now that they had had their morning flight and meal.
Hiccup smiled as he outlined their first task. "We need to find a way to disguise the big cave exit. I was thinking, maybe a boulder?"
They looked around the nearby forest and found a boulder in short order. There were plenty of all shapes and sizes on a rocky island like Berk. Moving it turned out to be a bigger problem. Toothless was extremely strong, but he couldn't get leverage.
After a while, Hiccup remembered something they had both forgotten. "Hey, Toothless. Did we ever get that shield? You know, the one in the top of the tree?"
'I don't remember if we did or not. Why?'
Hiccup was looking around. "I was just remembering how it got there."
Toothless thought back, to the stuck shield which they had accidentally catapulted with... a lever. 'Do you think a lever would work here?'
Hiccup had found a long sturdy log. "It should. Help me with this."
The lever worked better than either of them had expected. When Toothless had put all of his weight on it, the lever started the boulder on a lopsided cascade down the forested hill.
Crash. Crash... THUD!
They both winced as it crashed towards the ravine. When they got there, Toothless and Hiccup discovered that the boulder had landed a few feet to the right of the cave entrance. One more careful use of the lever later and the boulder was leaned into the hole, sealing it quite firmly from the outside.
'That worked out well. It should be possible for me to move it from the inside, given the angle.'
"Really? Let's go in from the cliff and see if you can." Hiccup rode on Toothless as they worked their way around to the other side of the boulder-blocked passageway.
Toothless put his shoulder against the boulder and pushed firmly. He pulled back almost immediately. 'Yes, I could move it from here. It shifted with only a little bit of pressure.'
Hiccup was happy with that. It was another way out of the cave if something happened tonight. He had been worried about blocking the only entrance Toothless could use without flight or burning his way out the small exit. That wasn't a problem anymore. On to the next thing. "Think we can go flying again? I wanna make sure my map of the island's forests is accurate." This was more to kill time than anything else. The map would be almost useless in tracking moving targets at night.
'Sure.' Toothless was always up for a flight.
They ended up just goofing off in the sky for a few hours. Both Hiccup and Toothless had been feeling the strain of waiting in anticipation for weeks on end. This was a welcome chance to blow off steam without worrying about Hiccup needing to be back at the village so soon. Even so, they both felt like the remaining hours passed far too soon. Gobber had wanted the trainees to be at the arena an hour before sunset to officially start the event. Toothless eventually returned to the cave.
Hiccup left everything flight ready and only took his scythe and notebook with him. He wanted to be prepared for any eventuality. "Well, time to go. This should be an interesting night."
Toothless was feeling content, and excited. 'And I get the best seat in the world to watch!'
Hiccup laughed. He waved a finger admonishingly in front of the dragon. "Remember, no helping me with your senses unless I ask or you think something's wrong." Hiccup wanted to do this without cheating. He didn't think Toothless's advice really counted, but his superior senses definitely did. So, Hiccup had set some rules. Toothless could comment, he just couldn't give Hiccup hints. Hiccup didn't actually think Toothless would be able to restrain himself from giving last minute warnings, given his protective nature, but that was okay. There was always the possibility something could go wrong.
Hiccup ran through the forest, trying his best to focus. This was going to be fun. It was actually one of the only parts of Gobber's training he had ever looked forward to. A thought struck him. "Toothless, want to know something funny? We're the ones who caused this event."
'What? Stoick and Gobber and some guy named Ack did. As part of weapons training... that was started as a result of worry about the Outcasts... which was actually us. Hey, you're right! That is funny.'
Hiccup made it to the arena almost exactly an hour before sunset. The other teens were there. Snotlout and Astrid were taking this seriously and had dressed all in black. The twins were going all out, in their own way. They had apparently decided to darken their normal clothing, and faces, with charcoal. The end result was two Vikings who looked like they had fallen into a coal mine more than anything. Fishlegs was probably planning on hiding somewhere all night, so he didn't look very prepared. Hiccup hadn't changed. He was pretty sure he could still outrun anyone in the woods, even at night. It was supposed to be almost a full moon tonight, so visibility shouldn't be that bad. Movement would be more obvious than color.
There were also four adults, along with Gobber and Stoick himself. Stoick spared Hiccup a disapproving glare. This was the first time they had been face to face since that conversation over a week ago, when Stoick told him to learn how to fight with his weapon fast, or not at all, essentially, along with staying out of the woods. Hiccup had done one of those and entirely ignored the other.
'Hey, do that practice thing with your scythe while we wait.' Toothless didn't like the disapproval in Stoick's eyes. Hiccup would never think to show off like this, but if Toothless suggested it...
Hiccup pulled his scythe out. Fishlegs and the twins immediately backed a few steps away as he walked to the far side of the arena. He started swinging the scythe in the pointless exercise designed to demonstrate muscle memory. In a few moments he had lost himself in the exercise, ignoring everyone around him, moving faster and faster as he worked. He had been steadily improving with the scythe in general, and his skill was somewhere past adequate at this point. It was still quite masterful when compared to his abysmal skill with other weapons, except maybe the knife.
Stoick stared at his son's apparently absent-minded exercise and recalled a demonstration he saw on a visit to the Lava-Lout island on a diplomacy voyage nearly twenty years ago. The Louts had been doing it with a different weapon, but he remembered that it was to demonstrate control of a dangerous weapon without thought. He watched with something near amazement as Hiccup sped up, and then moved even faster, holding steady at a speed higher than Stoick had thought his clumsy son could move at all, let alone while spinning an extremely dangerous weapon around like it was an extension of himself without pause for what had to be several minutes now and still going.
Stoick was a veteran warrior, and now he could see what Hiccup might look like in a few years, once he had mastered this weapon. At that level of skill, Hiccup would be untouchable by things like axes and hammers. They simply wouldn't have the reach needed to get to him inside what would look like a cyclone of swinging blades. The spikes would be reserved for finishing moves against armored opponents. At that speed, one of those spikes plunged full speed would be able to end any opponent, especially as no armor was invincible. Hiccup would be able to find weak spots, and with that weapon, he only needed to hit them once.
What bothered Stoick was that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reconcile what he knew of his son with how the weapon was built to be used. His son was intelligent and fast. Stoick was having no problem with that. The problem was that the weapon was so clearly designed to be used almost brutally in combat, stabbing and slashing before the enemy knew what hit him. It was a weapon that obviously was good for all-out offense. That didn't seem like the Hiccup he knew.
He moved over to Gobber, who was watching in satisfaction. "You didn't tell me he got the hang of it."
"Eh, I had figured he would'a showed you by now. He's still learning how to fight with it, bu' he beat Snotlout wi' it last trainin'."
Stoick was intrigued. "How?"
Gobber knew what he was really asking. "Just how the weapon is meant to be used. He ended it with a spike under Snotlout's chin. Didn't think the boy really 'ad it in 'im to use a weapon like tha' one. In a real fight, 'e woulda put Snotlout's head on a spike then and there." Gobber seemed troubled as he spoke. This wasn't how he thought of Hiccup either.
Neither of them knew that Hiccup was being influenced by an outside source. The combination of death threats, courtesy of Astrid, and the challenges he knew he would have to face in the future helped, but the real influence here was Toothless. Hiccup had spent so much time with Toothless ready to protect him recently, and he felt in his heart that he needed to be capable of returning the favor. Toothless was teaching him to do that, the only way a dragon knew how. With predatory aggression. Hiccup knew that for what it was, and he was okay with it. If it let him protect the people he cared about, he would go as far as he had to. He was still in complete control of himself, and it gave him a tool for when all else failed. That was what this was to Hiccup. Another option. One he would only use as a last resort, but an extremely effective one. He knew better than to limit himself out of fear of what he could do. He would trust his conscience to limit him when the time came.
Stoick knew none of this and was left to draw his own conclusions. His son was, by all appearances, turning into what would be a brutally efficient warrior. But one who worked alone. Stoick still didn't like that. Other weapons could be used in tandem, teamwork was possible. With this, what had Hiccup called it, a scythe? That was it. With this scythe, Hiccup was training to fight alone. Not what a chief should do. Maybe he would still teach Hiccup another weapon later. A hammer, perhaps. Still. His son was finally developing his Viking characteristics. Now if only he would gain some visible muscle…
Hiccup was oblivious to the thoughts of Stoick. He finally stopped his spinning scythe a few minutes later, when Gobber shouted to get everyone's attention.
"Alright then. It looks like Ack isn't coming, for whatever reason. Maybe he'll still be out there. Who knows. That does mean we are short one escort to start tonight's activities."
Stoick cleared his throat. "I'll take his place. In the whole exercise." He looked at Gobber, who was somewhat surprised. "Who was Ack escorting?"
Gobber checked the parchment stuck on his hook. He looked at it a moment, scratched his head, and then decided to turn it upside down. His face brightened. "Ah, Stoick, Ack was going to be escorting..." He quickly scratched something off of the parchment and scribbled in something else. "...Hiccup. What are the chances o' that?" He winked at Stoick and whirled to cut off one of the other Vikings.
"I thought I was-"
"Change o' plans, didn't ya get the memo? Ack was goin' to take Hiccup into the woods. Ye'll be taking Fishlegs. The rest o' you know who you're with." He addressed the teens. "They'll make sure yer all spread out in the forest to start. At fifteen minutes after sundown, the contest begins. Yer escorts, each other, and anyone out in the woods in tha' middle o' the night is fair game."
Gobber clapped his hands. "Well, go on then! Who knows what crazy adventures await ye? Oh, and anything short of badly injuring or killing is allowed. I'd advise ye stick on the safe side o' badly injured. If I determine it was intentional," he glared at Snotlout for some reason, "Ye'll be severely punished." He grabbed Tuffnut and headed out of the arena. "Let's get goin'. Got a full night ahead o' all of us!"
Author's Note: Normally this is just for replying to guest reviews that need more than a generic 'thanks for the review.' However, Stig92 raised a good point that I felt I should expound on here.
'How long has this story lasted in universe? The way you present Hiccup running (both in skill and stamina/fitness) raising above all others seems like something that couldn't happen in days weeks, maybe even months of hard training, especially since the others aren't exactly couch potatoes either.'
Ah, I was wondering if that would come up. I strove to find a realistic rate of progression, and at the same time balance the demands of story, without unrealistically lengthening the timeline. Though it may feel unnaturally quick (and I can't argue that if it does) there are quite a few contributing factors I feel contributes to how this isn't too much of a stretch.
First, to answer the question… about a month now. Toothless started training Hiccup within a few days of their meeting, so at least four weeks of consistent training by the end of this chapter.
Skill: This is the easier one. Because Toothless is advising, the skill isn't entirely Hiccup. Speaking from experience, it doesn't take too long to get used to following precise instructions quickly and efficiently, even if you don't know what they'll be beforehand. Hiccup is figuring it out, but at the moment he isn't the skilled one, Toothless is.
Stamina: The harder one, and a combination of several factors. The first is that Hiccup likely got a lot of running practice (not diligent or good form, but still) in the past due to raids, Snotlout, and general lack of other means of defense. The second is that he's light, almost thin, and has long legs. Good qualities for runners. Third, he's got motivation and an effective teacher. Fourth, the height of his abilities at this point (outrunning Astrid and during the raid) were both relatively short sprints more focused on the agility portion rather than stamina. And he used pretty much everything he had with both of those.
As a final note… Hiccup beating the others isn't at all a stretch, because in this universe they (with the partial exception of Astrid and Snotlout) aren't battle-ready. It's been implied that dragon training is their first official combat preparation, and I highly doubt Fishlegs or the Twins were on any sort of personal training program. As for Astrid and Snotlout… Viking training focuses on strength and stamina… not running speed. No Viking would work to improve how effectively they can retreat! At least, that's the logic. Also, they have no experience running in the dense forest. Hiccup would be much harder pressed to beat Astrid on level, unobstructed ground.
I'm glad to see the question I've been half dreading and half anticipating asked. Hopefully this is a satisfactory answer.