I do not own How to Train Your Dragon. Direct quotes from the movie will be bolded.
Deadly Nadders Are Deadly
"Hiccup, why are we looking for the Night Fury again?" Sunset asked in exasperation as she followed her best friend through the forest once more.
"I want to know why it didn't kill me," Hiccup replied. "I think I saw it go down in the cove."
"So, we're going into the cove with high rock walls, where there's no quick escape route in case the Night Fury decides to fry us to a crisp," Sunset said flatly.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it."
Sunset sighed. "The things I do for you," she muttered.
The two came upon the rocky crevice that led to the cove. They followed it and cautiously entered the circular area. A pool of water rested in the middle of the cove, and steep rock walls were all around them.
Hiccup scanned the cove thoroughly and sighed. "Well, this was kind of stupid."
"Not entirely," Sunset said as she bent down and picked up a black dragon scale from the grass. "He's definitely here."
Hiccup arched an eyebrow. "He?"
"Well, the Night Fury has to have a gender, and I don't want to keep saying 'it', so by default, it's a 'he'," Sunset explained.
At that moment the topic of their conversation flew past, latching onto the rock walls and attempting to climb them desperately. After a moment the Night Fury fell back to the ground, his wings flapping wildly.
Excited, Hiccup yanked out his notebook and started drawing madly in it. Sunset peered over his shoulder and shook her head when she realized he was drawing a picture of the dragon. "Because that's what Vikings do when they come across a dragon," she drawled.
Hiccup ignored her and finished his drawing. He glanced up and frowned quizzically. "Why doesn't he just fly away?"
Sunset spotted the problem. "His tail!"
Hiccup followed her concerned gaze and found that half of the Night Fury's tailfin was gone. Guilt welled up in his chest as he corrected his drawing.
It was then Night Fury noticed the two. He stared at them unflinchingly. After a while, Sunset tugged on Hiccup's arm. "Come on," she whispered. "We have to be at the Great Hall. Gobber said he wanted to meet with us and the other recruits."
Hiccup nodded, slowly tearing his gaze away from the Night Fury. "Yeah. Okay. Let's go."
...
A heavy wind blew outside the Great Hall, making the doors rattle. Gobber paced the length of the table where the recruits were sitting. "Someone tell me where Astrid went wrong in the arena today."
"It was my summersault dive," Astrid answered with a small frown. "I mistimed it, and it threw my reverse tumble off."
"I wish I could do a summersault, let alone a summersault dive," Sunset muttered under her breath, picking at her food.
"And where did Hiccup and Sunset go wrong?" Gobber asked.
Tuffnut snickered. "They showed up."
"We're never where we should be," Sunset admitted reluctantly.
Gobber smiled at her. "Exactly." He removed a large book from behind his back and tossed it in the middle of the table. "This is the dragon manual. I want you to memorize it. The information you get from this thing might just save your life."
"Wait, you want us to read?" Tuffnut asked in disbelief as Gobber exited the Great Hall.
Snotlout snorted. "Like reading words is gonna help us kill stuff."
"Did you guys know that there's a water dragon that breathes scalding water instead of fire?" Fishlegs asked.
"We do now," Tuffnut drawled.
"And now there's no point in reading." Ruffnut shuddered at the very idea.
"Okay, you dorks can read. I'm gonna go kill some stuff." Snotlout and the twins got up and left the Hall with Fishlegs hurrying after them, continuing to recite facts about dragons.
Astrid looked at Hiccup and Sunset disinterestedly. "You guys have fun," she said sarcastically before following her friends.
"And then there were two," Sunset sighed.
Hiccup dragged the book over to them and started flipping through it. "The Thunderdrum. This dragon is reclusive and is known to live in sea caves. The concussive sound the Thunderdrum makes when startled can kill a man. It is extremely dangerous-kill on sight."
"Lesson; don't startle a Thunderdrum," Sunset drawled.
Her friend flipped through the pages a little more quickly. "Timberjacks cut down full grown trees with their sharp wings. Changewings spray acid."
"And I'm guessing all of them are extremely dangerous and we should kill them on sight?" Sunset asked knowingly.
Hiccup nodded idly as he flipped to the last page, which was mostly blank save for the choppy title at the top of the page and a few vague details. "There is nothing known about the Night Fury. All this tells me is to avoid one at all costs."
"Well, of course there wouldn't be anything on a Night Fury." Sunset leaned against the table, her long red hair brushing her elbow. "I think we're the first ones to ever get close to a Night Fury. Probably the first to survive an encounter with a Night Fury."
Hiccup nodded thoughtfully. "I wonder if there's anything out there that has information on Night Furies."
Sunset shrugged. "If there is, it's not in the manual."
"Thanks for stating the obvious." Hiccup rolled his eyes. He snapped the book closed and got to his feet. "Well, we have another day of pain tomorrow. We better get some sleep."
"Because a good night's sleep is totally going to help us in the arena tomorrow morning," Sunset muttered. "Well, at least I have a house to sleep in now." She cast a glance at the storm outside before sighing. "See you later, Hiccup."
"Bye, Sun."
The girl raced into the rainy night. Hiccup took one last glance at the book before making his own mad dash for home.
There was something about that Night Fury that intrigued him. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was going to do what he could to fill the last page in the book.
...
"I hate this," Sunset grumbled, her back pressed against a wall of the makeshift maze Gobber had constructed. She could hear the Deadly Nadder moving about, attempting to find them.
Hiccup was crouched beside her, axe in hand. Since Sunset refused to handle a weapon of any kind, Hiccup had given her his shield while he used the axe. Sunset knew that she would be forced to use a weapon sooner or later, and she'd rather it be later.
Much later.
"Why can't we learn anything useful?" Hiccup complained. "Like Night Furies?"
Sunset shook her head. "The only way you're going to get the information is if you find it out yourself," she said distractedly as she peered around the wall. The Nadder had jumped on top of the walls and was moving about. "Hiccup, we need to-" She turned around to see a look of realization on his face. She groaned. "And I just gave you an idea."
"Why can't we find out information on a Night Fury ourselves?" Hiccup asked.
The Nadder suddenly landed on their wall. Its tail flicked up and spikes appeared. Sunset grabbed Hiccup's arm and they both jumped out of the way, seconds before getting impaled. "That's why!" Sunset snapped as they ran through the maze. "We tend to have many near-death experiences when it comes to situations like this."
"Come on, you're not even trying!" Gobber called down.
"Give us a hint on how to deal with this thing!" Snotlout hollered.
"Find its blind spot, hide in said blind spot, and attack. How's that for a hint?"
Ruffnut and Tuffnut were the first ones to find the blind spot-right in front of the Nadder's nose. But of course, they immediately started fighting. The Nadder's ears perked up and it started snapping at both of them.
"I said blind spot, not deaf spot," Gobber yelled.
The teens raced behind another set of walls as the Nadder went back into its position atop them. Hiccup and Sunset crouched behind the wall, a few feet away from Astrid. The feeling of safety was short-lived, however, as the Nadder jumped on top of Astrid's wall. The girl immediately rolled into its blind spot, confusing the Nadder.
Before she could attack Snotlout pushed her to side. "Don't worry, babe. I got this."
He threw his axe, which completely missed the Nadder. Sunset let out a soft sigh of relief.
Astrid glared at him. Snotlout threw his hands in the air. "It's not my fault the sun was in my eyes. What do you want me to do about it?"
The Nadder chased after Astrid, knocking down walls in the pursuit. Sunset gaped as Astrid executed perfect flips and cartwheels. "Why can't I do that?"
Hiccup inched closer to Gobber, who was observing from the stands. "So...are you positive there isn't any information on Night Furies? Not even-"
"Hiccup!" Sunset cried suddenly.
The boy glanced up to see a wall crashing down towards him. Astrid jumped and knocked them out of the way. The blonde landed on top of the flustered Hiccup.
"Ooh, talk about love on the battlefield!" Tuffnut cackled.
"Oh please," Snotlout snorted.
The Nadder emerged from the cloud of dust. Astrid tried to hank her axe from Hiccup's shield, but only managed in yanking the shield off Hiccup's arm. She spun around and threw the combined projectile at the Nadder's nose. The target was struck and the Nadder scurried off, whimpering.
Astrid glowered down at Hiccup. "Is this some kind of a joke to you? Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on."
Hiccup slumped as the teens left the arena. Sunset walked over and helped him to his feet. "Don't listen to her, Hiccup. We're not here by choice."
"I know." Hiccup sighed. "But it still stung."
Sunset slung an arm around his shoulder as they walked out into the sunny afternoon. "We got the rest of the day to kill. What do you want to do?"
Hiccup glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
Sunset shook her head with a small smile. "You want to visit the Night Fury, huh?"
"Am I that obvious?"
"Sometimes. Most of the time though, you're just plain weird."