Previously in Httyd: The Terrible Duo
"Come on, Hiccup. Better prepare for training."
Hiccup nodded and followed me. Gobber then went to his own business. Probably preparing to teach in training... Curse our bad luck... Gobber's gonna be all "I believe in learning on the job." on us... I hope we can still live to see the light of day again.
Marcus's House
Couple of minutes before dragon training
I marched up my bedroom and plopped down on my bed. Again. I stared at the ceiling and thought about yesterday's events.
Waking up and fighting in a raid. Normal.
Hiccup Shooting down a Night Fury. Shocking.
Received News that the chief is going on another nest hunt. Odin help them.
Finding shot down dragon, Releasing it and almost died. Why must the gods play pranks on us?
And last, but not least, helping Hiccup say goodbye to his dad and preparing for dragon training. Interesting.
That seems about it. I sighed and got out of bed to get something to eat. Maybe some bread? Yeah...
As I reached the kitchen, I heard a dragon-like chirp from behind me. It was swift. I lightly jumped from surprise but managed to stop myself from yelping. Jeez, That dragon likes to sneak up on me.
"Oh hello, Swift. Where have you been?" I asked him. I know he understands me. The only issue was if I can understand him. Swift weakly growled. I raised an eyebrow questioningly. Was there something he wants to tell me? "Swift, You know I don't speak dragon. And even If I can, I got a few Important things to do... Like keeping Hiccup from being roasted alive." I told Swift. Swift crooned and cocked his head to the left in a curious way. I rolled my eyes and just grabbed a loaf of bread and took a bite.
Swift stared at me. I ignored him and finished my seemingly light breakfast. "I'll be back, Swift. Don't mess up the house like you did last time, please." I told him. Swift growled. "I'll take that as an okay." I said.
And with that said, I grabbed my equipment, prayed to the gods that we live and ran out of the house.
Dragon Arena
On the way, I spotted Hiccup talking to Gobber, while the others were ignoring them and waiting for Gobber to let them in the arena.
"Do I have to?" Hiccup whined.
"Your father thinks It will help you fight dragons better. Besides, Frost bite's not gonna be always around to bail you out of trouble." Gobber told Hiccup, using my Nickname. I groaned. I don't hate my nickname. It just gets really annoying. Hiccup snorted and was rewarded with a smack to the head.
Gobber walked towards the door and swung them open. "Welcome to dragon training!"
All the other teens walked in excitedly. "No turning back." She said in a low voice.
I rolled my eyes at that. I took a moment to analyze all of their weapons. Astrid carried her axe. Snotlout has a mace. The twins have dual spears. Fishlegs has a... club. Hiccup has the axe his father gave him and I... have a sword.
All the teens gawked at the arena. "I hope I get some serious burns." Said Tuffnut.
Followed by his twin. "I'm hoping for some mauling. Like on the shoulder or lower back." She said .
Then Astrid. "Yeah, It's only fun when you get a scar out of it." She added. I snorted(Though not enough for them to hear). Yeah, sure Astrid. A scar... If you think having a scar is cool, Try working in a blacksmith. It'll give you a fair share of scars.
"Yeah, No kidding, right?" I heard Hiccup say sarcastically. "Pain. Love it." He added.
"Oh great. Who let him in?" Whined Tuffnut.
"Let's get started!" Gobber called out. "The recruit who does best will win the honour of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."
"Hiccup already killed a Nigh Fury." Snotlout sneered. "So does that disqualify him or..." Before He could Finish, I glared at him and threw a dagger at his direction. Of course that would have hit him, If I wasn't too kind enough to miss. All of them shut their mouths after that(While Snotlout was whining about how I almost killed him).
"Don't worry." Gobber whispered to Hiccup. "You're small and weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead." Gobber chuckled.
"Wow, Gobber. Never knew you could be so motivating. Maybe next time, You'll convince all of us to jump off a cliff while smiling like an idiot." I said sarcastically. Gobber merely chuckled again. Hiccup took his place next to Fishlegs. I stood next to Hiccup.
"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight!" Shouted Gobber, marching around the cages. "The deadly Nadder."
"Speed 8, Armour 16." Started Fishlegs.
"The Hideous Zippleback."
"Plus 11 stealth. Times 2."
"The Monstrous Nightmare."
"Firepower 15."
"The Terrible Terror."
"Attack 8, Venom 12!" Shouted Fishlegs, eyes widened and an eager smile spreading across his lips.
"Can you stop that?!" Shouted Gobber. Gobber rolled his eyes, and then a Mischievous and Evil smile spread across his lips. "And.. The gronckle." He said, putting his arm on the lever.
"Jaws strength 8." Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup.
Snotlout looked panicked. "Whoa, Whoa! Wait, Aren't you going to teach us first?!" He said, hoping Gobber was just threatening them.
I laughed. "Awww... Scared Snotlout is scared? Too bad! When Gobber's the teacher, You need to learn on the job!" I said mockingly. That was payback.
"Unfortunately for all you Marcus is, in fact, correct."
And with that, Gobber opened the cage. The Gronckle burst out of the cage and charged at us. We scattered. "Today is about survival. If you get blasted, You're DEAD!" Gobber Instructed. The Gronckle slammed on the wall and ate a couple of rocks lying around... Interesting. Their diet consists of rocks... Why bother with sheep and fish? "Quick! What's the first thing you're going to need?" Gobber shouted.
"A doctor?" Hiccup suggested. Silly Hiccup. That's what we need after this.
"Plus 5 speed?" Added Fishlegs.
"A shield!" Astrid answered confidently.
"Shield. GO!"
The teens scattered and searched the arena for shields. "The most Important piece of equipment is your shield!" Gobber said. "If you are to make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield!" Added Gobber.
This is crazy. I mean, I fought dragons before but this is ridiculous! I grabbed a shield and saw the twins fighting over a shield with a skull and flame marks on it. 'Really? Now?! They do realize that there's a dragon here with us, right?!'
"Get your hands off my shield!" Yelled Tuffnut.
"There's Like a million shields!" Argued Ruffnut.
"Take that one. That has flowers on it. Girls like flowers." Suggested Tuffnut
Ruffnut yanked the shield out of his brother's grasp and smacked it on to his head. "Oops. Now this one has blood on it." Ruffnit said. The twins still fought over it, Giving the dragon enough time to blast the shield off of both of them. "Tuffnut, Ruffnut. You're done!" Gobber shouted. The twins were still dazed and both muttered "What?".
"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise! Make lots of them. Throw off a dragon's aim." Instructed Gobber.
Automatically, We banged our weapons against our shields. The dragon seemed dazed and tried shaking the ringing off of It's head.
"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" Asked Gobber.
"Five?" Guessed Snotlout.
"No, Six!" Answered Fishlegs.
"Correct, Six! That's one for each of you!"
The dragon shot It's flame towards Fishlegs and knocked his shield out of his hands. Fishlegs ran and screamed like a girl(Well, I'm not one to judge... Seeing as me and Hiccup did it before).
"Fishlegs, Out."
Ah, crud... I spotted Hiccup hiding behind the weapon rack. "Hiccup! Get in there!" Shouted Gobber. Hiccup tried but was sent back hiding by a shot of the Gronckle.
Then, I saw Snotlout trying to Flirt with Astrid. "So anyway, I was moving into My parent's basement. You should come by to work out. You look like you work out." He said, before getting shot by the dragon, which sent him tumbling. "Snotlout, You're done!"
Hiccup finally got out of hiding and stood behind Astrid. I ran next to them. "So It's just... You and me?" He said. Astrid's eyes widened and mine did as well as I saw the dragon fly towards us. "Nope, Just you." Answered Astrid. 'Oh, Shit!' I cursed.
"Hiccup! Out of the way!" I shouted at him and shoved him out of the way. The dragon's shot hit me instead and knocked my shield off. "One shot left!"
Hiccup was busy trying to grab his shield. Hiccup! You idiot! I just risked my life to save you! Again! The dragon charged towards Hiccup. "Hiccup!" Yelled Gobber with worry, as the dragon cornered Hiccup. Not on my watch, you overgrown sausage!
As fast as I could, I ran towards the dragon and used my body to tackle it. It worked. The dragon's shot missed and Hit the wall next to Hiccup instead. The dragon roared at me and tried biting me. Only for Gobber to use his fake arm and grabbed it by the mouth. "That's six. Go back to bed, You overgrown sausage!" Gobber said as he thrown it back to it's cage.
"You'll get another chance. Don't you worry. Gobber said. "And remember... A dragon will always... always go for the kill." Gobber finished, directing It to Hiccup.
The others left while Hiccup was staring at the scorch mark on the wall. I knew what he was thinking. I lightly punched him on the shoulder. "That's twice I have to save your trouble loving life today." I told him. Hiccup just rubbed his Shoulder.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Asked Hiccup. I laughed. "When did I ever not?" I joked. Hiccup chuckled and left the arena, with me behind him.
At the Forest...
I surveyed the area and stared at the bola that laid on the ground.
"So... Why didn't you?" Hiccup mused, grabbing the bola. I was thinking the same thing too. Hiccup wandered off to the direction where It flew and I followed him.
We soon found ourselves in the entrance of a Cove. It was actually quite beautiful. Like a paradise. Away from the ugliness of reality... I'm musing to myself again... "Hey... Hiccup, if we do find it, what do we do with it?" I asked. Hiccup shrugged and crouched down to examine the black scales... Night fury scales?
FWOOSH!
A very frustrated looking dragon launched to the air, surprising me and Hiccup. It was the Night Fury! The dragon tried climbing up but to no avail. The dragon crashed to the ground and roared in anger. Damn, that nearly gave me a heart attack!
Hiccup jumped to a rock by the cliff to get a closer look. I stayed up here. The dragon tried flying out of the cove. Only for it to slam to the ground. Hiccup looked at the dragon, curiosity filling his eyes. That look is sometimes contagious because I found myself wearing the same look as Hiccup. The night fury was... smaller than I thought It would be. No bigger than a Nightmare.
Hiccup pulled out his notebook from his vest and tried drawing the dragon. It tried but failed again. I was in utter disbelief... The dragon seemed to fly well on the raid... How come It can't fly now?
"Why don't you just... fly away?" Hiccup whispered. That made me look at the source of It's misfortune... It's tail fin. Half of it was ripped off. The crash! The tail fin must've been ripped off when It crashed into the forest! Immediately, I felt a metaphorical hammer hit me square in the chest(Otherwise known as Guilt). And I'm pretty sure Hiccup feels the same way as he stared at the Night Fury.
The dragon yet again tried but crashed. Tired and Exhausted from the attempted tries, It searched the water for food. It lunged at the fish but missed. Again, that heavy hammer hit me on the chest. I looked at Hiccup and saw that he's on the same boat as I was. And, of course, He dropped His pencil. 'No, No, No, No!'
The dragon's ears perked. And It looked up. Straight at us. Then, I saw what could've been a trick of the mind but was too real to be fake... The dragon stared at us with mild curiosity as We had before. No aggressiveness. No signs of ripping us apart or setting us on fire... Just Curiosity. How Interesting...
Me and Hiccup tilted our heads and the dragon mimicked us.
'Well now. That officially proves that dragons are smarter than even I gave credit for.'
A couple of Minutes later, Hiccup decided to leave. The pencil, still at the cove, was completely ignored. As Hiccup and I left, I couldn't help but look back and wave goodbye. The dragon looked confused and tried Mimicking the gesture. I weakly chuckled.
With that done, We ran back home. Hopefully, It wouldn't rain on the way back.
Later that Evening
"I hate our Luck!" I ranted as Me and Hiccup ran towards the Grand Hall.
"Hiccup, be a good friend and make a shield that'll block the rain someday." I said to Hiccup.
"Definitely." Answered Hiccup.
We were drenched so bad, We looked like we showered In a lake with our clothes on.
As we entered the Great hall, I can hear Gobber saying "Alright, Where Did Astrid go wrong at the ring today?"
"I mistimed My somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." Astrid Explained. Not that anyone cared.
"Yeah, We noticed." Ruffnut said sarcastically.
"No, No. You were Great. That was so "Astrid"." Snotlout said, In another attempt to flirt with her. Damn Kiss ass, half brained(Perhaps no brain at all?) Idiot.
"She's Right! You have to be tough on yourselves! Where did Hiccup go wrong today?" Gobber said, Finally noticing our presence.
"Uh... He showed up." Remarked Ruffnut
"He didn't get eaten." Commented Tuffnut
"He depends too much on Frost Bite." Added Astrid.
'Girl, could you get anymore colder?' I thought, then finally noticing that Nickname again. 'Will they ever let that go?'
"Thank you, Astrid." Gobber said. I have no idea if that was supposed to be a genuine compliment or a sarcastic one.
Hiccup grabbed a chicken leg and plate before He sat on a table next to the others. I followed suit, sitting next to Hiccup.
"You need to live and breathe this stuff. The dragon manual. Everything we know of every dragon we know of." Gobber stated. A low rumble echoed from the outside to here. "No attacks tonight. Study up." Gobber said, then walked out of the hall.
"Wait. You mean read?" Tuffnut said with disbelief.
"While We're still alive?" Ruffnut Agreed. 'Why? Can you read when you're dead?'
"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout asked.
"Because, Snotface, If you fight a dragon that you know nothing about, You'll die before I get a chance to kill you."I scoffed, then laughed at my seemingly threatening Joke. Snotlout gulped nervously.
"Oh, I've read it like seven times...!" Oh... So It was seven. "...There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face! And there's this other one that buries it-!" Fishlegs was Interrupted by Tuffnut.
"Yeah That's great. Now there were chances I was gonna read that."
"But now..." Added his sister.
"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout said, getting up from the table. The others followed him. Leaving only me, Hiccup an Astrid.
"So... I'll guess we'll share?" Offered Hiccup.
"Read It." Astrid answered bluntly.
"Oh... Just me and Marcus then! I'll see you..."
SLAM
"... Tomorrow."
I sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Why do you even try, Hiccup? She's not gonna acknowledge you any time soon. If you ask me, She'll probably rather date Tuffnut." I told him. "A guy can dream, can he?" Answered Hiccup.
As the Grand hall became emptied with only me and Hiccup in it, We grabbed a couple of candles and sat down. We opened the book.
Dragon classifications. Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class...
We turned the page and took turns on reading out loud the dragons documented on it.
"Thunderdrum: This reclusive dragon Inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, The dragon produce a concussive sound that could kill a man in close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight." I read out loud.
"Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that could slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight."
"Scauldron: Sprays scalding waters at It's victim. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight."
A loud clap of thunder echoed from the outside. Hiccup and I yelped in surprise and turned our heads to the door... It was open. That wasn't open before. I should know, I closed it! Ignoring that, We continued.
"Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."
As we continued, I heard A growl from behind and both me and Hiccup jumped in surprise. We turned our heads behind and saw... Swift making a noise that sounded like laughter.
"Damn it, Swift! We thought you were a ghost!" I shouted. Hiccup nodded in agreement. Swift merely chirped and sat next to us.
Continuing, We noticed that all dragons in this book was labelled Extremely dangerous and Kill on sight. I yawned at that boring repetitive label.
"This books need to be updated." I said with a bored tone.
"Tell me about it. Some of these dragons don't even actually fight you unless provoked." Hiccup said back as he reached an almost blank page with the words on top labelling: Night Fury.
"Night Fury." Whispered Hiccup. "Speed Unknown. Size Unknown. The unholy offspring of Lightning and death itself. Never Engage this dragon. You're only chance: Hide and pray It does not find you."
"Most Interesting..." I whispered as Hiccup threw in his sketch of the Night Fury.
Swift crooned and gestured to the drawing. I noticed it answered him. "Oh, That's just a sketch of the Night Fury we found at the cove. Swift growled. "Wait... You knew that we found a dragon?" I asked. Well, more like guessed. Swift nodded. Oh... So that's what he was trying to tell me. "He knew?" Hiccup asked. "Yeah... Smart dragon." I said, patting the speed stinger on the head.
Me and Hiccup said our goodbyes and went to our separate ways. Swift followed me back. Good thing the rain died down a bit. Now... There was only a few things in mind...
'How can we get close enough to the Night Fury without looking like a threat? Is it even possible to tame that dragon? No matter. We'll find out tomorrow... Most Interesting Indeed.'
A/n: Hello Everyone! If you are reading this, and not feeling boredom(Or Disappointment) in anyway, Then I would like to thank you! Oh and as always, Thanks to all the Reviewers, Followers and Readers! Means A lot to me! Anyway, Tell me what you think and I'll see(metaphorically) you in the Next Chapter of HTTYD: The Terrible Duo! Peace out!