Chapter 2

Hiccup joins Dragon Training!

Hiccup was annoyed, no he was downright irritated. First he comes home after the incident the previous Friday to find his parents waiting for him cheerfully as if they were children waiting for their parents to wake up on Snoggletog morning, they told him to get changed and they where going to The Bewilderbeast's Cavern, the most expensive restaurant in Berk as well as the state. Hiccup had just wanted to get a shower then sneak off into the woods behind his house to spend time with Toothless, but his father wouldn't take no for an answer, and when your father is the governor and has a Thunderdrum dragon spirit you avoid arguments at all costs, Hiccup had only seen his mother win against Stoick with a glare that could scare the britches off men several times her size. Hiccup slunk up to his room slipping a raw steak out of the fridge with a water bottle to throw out his window for his friend on the way before taking a shower and dressing up.

As it turned out his god father had taken the time to call his parents and inform them not only had Hiccup's dragon spirit finally ignited but how he also managed to fend off four older teens and stare down Dagur into leaving. If that wasn't bad enough Stoick announced that starting the next Friday that Hiccup would now be taking part in dragon training instead of serving as Gobber's TA, which meant he now had to use his dragon spirit even more, and couldn't spend the entire time sneaking glances at Astrid, who was likely going to break his arm for being stupid and jumping in front of Dagur's DSE blast and made her look like a girl in need of rescuing. He was not looking forward to Friday at all; thankfully he only shared two AP classes with the object of his affections and made sure to sit of the opposite side of the class as to not incur her wrath for as long as possible.

It was currently Thursday and the week hadn't improved for the auburn haired teen, word had spread like wildfire about what happened at dragon training and other students suddenly wanted to talk to him like they were old pals. He'd even got video email from his actual old pal Theodore, also known as Thuggory; he was so excited he accidently ignited his own spirit scared the hell out of his college roommate as a spirit Typhoomerang dragon appeared. That was the only time Hiccup had laughed since the incident without Toothless around. Then the call from his only female friend, Cami aka Camikaze (due to her Changewing spirit and her diving headlong into fights without a second thought.) came in and he had to hold the phone away from his head too avoid going deaf in one ear from the screaming mix of anger and jubilation, she then turned it into a party call and added Thug before threatening them into meeting up during Thuggory's next vacation for old times sake.

But all that paled in comparison to his father, the man practically danced around the house whenever they were in the same room. Hiccup received no less than a dozen cards of congratulations from people who worked for and with his father about his dragon spirit and well wishes in training; in all honesty he was just about ready to go live in the woods with Toothless for a few days, or months. Hiccup was just working out in his head how exactly he was going to provide the steaks his furry friend had become so accustom to since his part-time job tuning up car engines for Gobber's auto shop was still minimum wage, he loved being able to work with his hands and Gobber was his dad's best friend, but he sometimes felt he got the job mostly as a favor to keep him from building his own engine after the lawnmower fiasco. Shutting his locker and turning to head home after his last class of the day found Hiccup in front of him a rare scene: Snotlout bullying someone else. Torn between wanting to enjoy not being the one getting punched or kicked in the gut for once and not wanting anyone else to have to go through that either, Hiccup took a deep breathe.

Oh, the gods hate me

Astrid had been having a troubled mind all week, she'd come in Monday after stewing all weekend about what had happened the previous Friday at dragon training. Part of her knew she should thank Hiccup for what he did, she wasn't sure if he was acting out of instinct or trying to be macho like his numbskull cousin, but he did save her from Dagur's blast and that warrants a thank you. Another part wanted to punch him for being so stupid and thinking she couldn't look out for herself, granted she was in too much pain to move and the blast surely would have killed her, but that wasn't the point. Then there was a third part that said both the other parts were right, Astrid liked to think of that part as her inner warrior, giving credit where its due but being pissed for him taking the glory.

She'd tried to find Hiccup on Monday, but in the few classes she shared with him he showed up at the last second just before the bell rang and took the only seat which was the farthest from hers. When the classes let out he would dash out, with his book bag still half packed and be down the hall before she made it out the classroom door. And here she was on Thursday convinced she was going to punch him, thank him, and then punch him again for the entire week, she had just stopped by her locker to put away her books and was going to grab a light snack and water bottle before track practice when she heard the laughter.

It was easy to discern that it was Snotlout and a couple other boys with Nightmare spirits, most likely beating up some poor kid for having a dragon spirit they deemed inferior. Astrid usually avoided those kinds of scuffles; she wasn't one to pick on others just because she thought her dragon spirit was cooler, but then again the Nadder is one of the coolest dragon spirits around and she was sure when the dragons existed it was no different. Unfortunately today the sounds where coming down the only hall that led to the locker rooms and the scene was likely unavoidable, taking a deep breathe and steeling herself with a look of disinterest the blonde stepped into the hallway, narrowly avoiding a sophomore running out. She wanted to believe that the bullying was over, but she heard the laughter grow louder and guessed the younger boy was just late getting out of class.

She rounded the corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Half way down the hall was Snoutlout and two other boys she couldn't be bothered to learn the names of, holding Hiccup up by his arms as his beefier cousin socked him in the stomach with more force than simple bullying normally requires. "What the Hel are you doing Snotlout?!" The words left her mouth before she could stop them as the boy kneed his lanky cousin once again who let out a barely audible 'oof' for his troubles. Astrid had to give him some credit for one other thing, after years of being beaten by Snotlout and however many others, Hiccup had a ridiculous tolerance for pain even before his dragon spirit ignited a week earlier. She could only imagine how much more he could take if he were to ignite it for defense, especially if his dragon was one that was built for such things, like a Gronckle or a Rumblehorn.

Snotlout puffed his chest out in a pathetic attempt to impress her, he failed. "Nothing babe, I'm just reminding Hiccup here that just because he has a dragon spirit now doesn't make him anything special." He said as he sauntered to her and tried to sling his arm over her shoulder, he was met with the pain of a twisted arm. With a yelp of pain she released him and smirked as he held his reddening arm and looked at her as if she hasn't done it a thousand or so times before. Snotlout left still cradling his arm and the other two boys take off after him, unceremoniously dropping Hiccup, who just slumps to the floor leaning on the wall to keep from falling over completely.

Astrid takes another deep breathe, she had been trying to corner him all week and now here he was. "So why were they beating you up this time?" She asks walking over to him and ignoring the look of absolute shock that she is actually talking to him that he's wearing, outside of the arena and when she first met him freshman year she never spoke to him. "Well? You can either tell me now or on the way to the nurse's office, but either way you're going to tell me." Astrid wasn't sure why she was suddenly so interested in why the school outcast was being beat up, again, but she was and it would help her ease into talking about last week.

"I... I-I kinda offered for them to…" Hiccup replied; too say Astrid was the one shocked this time would be an understatement.

Hauling the taller boy to his feet and pulling by his arm in the direction of the nurse's office, Astrid was going to knock some sense into the boy, track practice be damned. "And why exactly are you offering to let your cousin and the muttonhead gang pound you to a pulp? You have a dragon spirit now Hiccup, you don't have to put up with that kind of stuff anymore if you don't want to." Astrid pointed out, thinking she can slide this to dragon training if she words it right.

Hiccup tries to slow but she gives his arm a firm yank and he picks up his pace again. "It wasn't like that exactly; I didn't really plan on throwing myself to the school jerks and beg them to punch me until I was as blue as my spirit energy A-Astrid." He retorted only faltering on her name as if he suddenly remembered who he was talking too and began trying to slow again, Astrid huffed and just gave another yank of his arm, with slightly more force than the first.

"Then why prey tell weren't you at least trying to get them to back off with your DSE? Worked well enough on those buddies of Dagur last week and he was doing all that in some twisted idea of coming to your aide. That reminds me, if the nurse says your ok I owe you a few punches for that stupid idea to be a meat shield for me." Astrid said, mentally patting herself on the back for finally getting the transition to the subject she really wanted to talk about, but she felt the need to uncover why exactly he refused to defend himself just now.

Half way down the large lunch room in the center of the building which the school referred to the great hall, the sophomore that Astrid had passed earlier came up to the pair and walked straight up to Hiccup. "T-Thanks for getting those guys back there to leave me alone." Hiccup smiled at the younger boy and patted him on the shoulder before actually pushing Astrid forward while the kid left. As they rounded the corner of the hall were the nurse's office was Astrid finally seemed to recover from her shock.

"So you were helping out that kid?" She managed to stop him and turn around; Hiccup swallowed and was silent but nodded regardless. "Do you know him? Is that why you were so willing to let Snotlout and his thugs do that?" Hiccup shook his head this time and ground, suddenly interested in the dust that clung to his shoes.

"I couldn't even tell you that kid's year if it weren't for the class shirt he was wearing." He began, forcing himself to look up at her. "I saw them picking on the kid because he had a fireworm spirit. I'm pretty familiar with being picked on for spirit related reasons and even more familiar with Snotlout's bullying style, no one should have to deal with that so I offered to take the his place and promised that I wouldn't use my spirit or fight back." Astrid just looked at him in a mix of confusion and admiration, she had clearly misread Hiccup, here she had spent the week convincing herself he did what he did in dragon training in some hair brained scheme to impress her and in reality he just naturally came to the defense of others, thinking nothing of himself, and that impressed her. Ever since she and Heather met on the first day of high school they took an instant dislike to each other and strived to be better than the other and as a result Astrid paid little attention to others. She thought back to the boy who had pushed her out of the way of that bus four years earlier at the cost of having his leg crushed under its tire, she should've worked to be like him and Hiccup, putting others safety first. It was going to take time but she vowed to better herself to be like them, and the first step was helping Hiccup. Maybe she could even be a friend to him, which could help her learn to help others while he could become more popular than just the boy whose spirit ignited late and fought off four guys.

"So you just jumped in help him without thinking about it? You didn't need to go meet with friends or anything?"

Hiccup snorted softly, "The only friends I have are either off in college, live in the Bog or my pet…" With that he left before she could say anything. She watched him walk away, any trace of pain gone, likely from the accelerated healing ones dragon spirit grants them. She was aware he wasn't exactly well liked within the school, but she thought he had to have some friends from before he thought he didn't have a dragon spirit. She reminded herself that he did technically; they were just in some college and living in the Bog which was a three hour drive away, all that left was his pet. Well Astrid resolved to change that, she heard that Hiccup was joinging training now that his spirit ignited and tomorrow was hand to hand combat practice, so she was going to partner with Hiccup and start building a friendship with him, after all now that he had a spirit he shouldn't be treated like a leper anymore.

The next day the students filed into the arena and waited as Gobber was using a small touch screen at the entrance which converted the arena into whatever design it needed for that days lesson, today it was raising wooden dividers creating a number of small alcoves. "Today is about hand to hand combat! Oh sure yer spirit should be your main line of defense, but sometimes ye can't use it, like if you burn out of DSE before the fight is ov'r. Now as you lot should know, a person's dragon spirit influences the way they fight. Like the Gronckle fer example, they can take a lickin' and then deliver a strong hit, but they tend ta be rather slow. Now, I want you to pair up and take a stall to spar in, nothing too rough since everyone learns at different rates." Astrid's first instinct was to pair with Hiccup, to her knowledge he still wasn't sure what dragon spirit he had, and he'd have to manifest it in dragon form before he could use the fighting style that one got from it.

However as she turned to look for him she found the large form of Fishlegs in front of her. "Hey Astrid, I was wondering if you'd be my partner today. Everyone else would spend the whole lesson as an excuse to just beat on me and I know you're not like that." He asked with big doe eyes, Astrid opened her mouth to explain she already had a partner in mind when she caught a glimpse of Hiccup, in a headlock from Snotlout being dragged to one of the stalls. With a sigh she looked to her chubby yet soft hearted friend and nodded, being sure to take the stall next to the cousins so she could help Hiccup when things inevitable got out of hand.

The lesson had been moving somewhat slowly, most students were more than eager to fight and that lead to Gobber shouting at them, and Hiccup was claiming he didn't remember how to ignite his spirit. It wasn't uncommon for people to have difficultly figuring it out after the first time which is beyond their control, but Astrid would've have thought he'd be practicing all week in order to at least ignite it at will. Gobber was giving Hiccup some pointers on how to ignite his spirit when the tablet at the entrance started beeping, he ambled over to it and tapped the screen a few times before dragging his meaty hand over his face and addressed the class again. "Alright class, I 'ave to take care of something in the front office. I'll be gone fer a bit, but I want ya all to keep with the lesson, and no funny business." He said and glared at the twins for the last bit.

Tuff leaned over to his sister, "Why does he always look at us when he says that?"

With that Gobber left up that ramp and the students either resumed sparring or flopped down to rest for a bit, Fishlegs was in the later group. Astrid leaned on the wooden wall beside him, deep in thought, so her plan to get to know Hiccup didn't really pan out like she had hoped, but she wasn't one to give up. She was going to The Dragon's Den with the twins and Fishlegs after training, maybe he'd like to join them? It worked for her anyway, since she and Ruff worked as waitresses there after school anyway, she wondered if Hiccup had a job, if not she could probably convince the manager to hire him on as a bus boy. Her thoughts were disturbed when she heard and loud thump and the wall she was leaning against lurched forward slightly.

She knew it was the wall she and Fishlegs shared with Hiccup and Snotlout, she walked around to see what was going on and found Hiccup being held against it by his cousin. "Come on Harvey, I know you can ignite it. You just don't want to because you know I'll beat your ass just like always, I mean not everyone can stand up to a Monstrous Nightmare's strength."

"If I admit it will you let me go? Samuel?" Hiccup retorted, Astrid had to admit he knew which button to press. Snotlout hated to be called by his real name, nicknames were everything once your dragon spirit ignited, and Hiccup got his for being seen as a mistake for not having his for so long. Astrid and Heather were the only ones who didn't have one, but then again her name meant Divine Beauty so she really didn't need one. Snotlout grit his teeth and brought his fist back to punch the taller teen, but then stopped and seemed to get another idea. He released his cousin and shoved him to the other side of the stall.

"Just ignite your stupid spirit already so I can thrash you properly Hiccup." He sneered as the orange spirit energy around him took the form of a Monstrous Nightmare. While manifested in dragon form the user can manipulate their energy to do things that the real dragon was able to do, including breathe fire. Hiccup regained his footing but still did not ignite his spirit; in fact he didn't even try as far as Astrid could tell. The commotion started to catch the attention of the other students how were now gathering to watch the scene, normally someone manifests their dragon spirit for only a few seconds unless they needed it for extended battle or they were injured and couldn't fight themselves. Apparently Snotlout was planning on using his dragon spirit to try and coax Hiccup into using his own, but the boy still made no move to ignite his, instead focusing on the shorter boy standing under the spirit glaring at him.

After a tense minute of staring at each other, Snotlout got tried of waiting. His spirit reared its head back and spewed flame at Hiccup, who managed to jump towards the back wall and away from the other students. Snotlout's spirit followed him, still spitting fire after him just far enough behind to keep from seriously hurting him, but close enough for him to feel the heat and keep moving. Just as Hiccup was attempting to get around it, the dragon spirit's tail flicked out and hit him smack dap in the middle of his chest, Astrid and several other students cringed as he was sent flying through the wooden barrier into the next stall. Fishlegs had still been resting against the wall, ignoring Snotlout had become well practiced by him and was sent rolling along when Hiccup burst through and they ended up on the other side of the small enclosure.

This seemed to snap Astrid out of her daze and she sprung into action, running to the larger boy and trying to help him up while he flailed about trying to meet the same goal, only to end up getting pinned beneath him and still pushing. She saw Hiccup stagger to his feet and the wall he came through burst into pieces as Snotlout's Spirit came after him, "Come on, Hiccup, scared of a wittle fire?" The bully asked in a mocking baby tone. The spirit reared its head back once more; Astrid saw Hiccup's head snap to where she and Fishlegs were still struggling to get him on his feet and then back to where the dragon spirit was building up its fire. Just like the week before Hiccup was jumped in between them and the fire as the Nightmare spirit let loosed the flames, this time his DSE igniting and burning dark blue as it did the first time. Unlike the first time however, Astrid knew that he wasn't doing it for any reason other than so no one will get hurt unless it's him, and with his spirit ignited he is as resistant to fire as any dragon.

Suddenly, Hiccup's spirit energy began to take shape. With the fire barreling towards them Astrid couldn't make out what shape it was, but she did manage to see wings before she was forced to look away to relieve the burning in her eyes. She wanted to look again, but the fire would just obscure her vision again, with luck if Hiccup accepted her invitation to The Dragon's Den after training he would tell her what dragon spirit he had, and she owe him a milkshake for doing this again. She could hear the flapping of powerful wings and the flames dispersed as the wind created redirected it from them, but when she looked at Hiccup again the dragon form was gone, Hiccup however had his energy burning around him. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the two behind him were ok; Astrid gave him a small nod, knowing what he was asking without words, returning his attention to his cousin Hiccup took one step forward.

"Well well, look how finally decided to- oof" Snotlout started to say but was cut off by Hiccup's fist finding his gut.

"Are you crazy or just plain stupid Snotlout? On second thought, don't answer that, I already know you're just that stupid." Hiccup said as he glared down at his chief tormentor who gave him a confused look, whether from Hiccup actually punching or not knowing what he was talking about Astrid didn't know. "You put Astrid and Fishlegs in danger with that stupid stunt, and all so I would ignite my spirit? Well congrats, it's ignited, and I'm gonna make sure you regret it." Without another word Hiccup brought his fist down on Snotlout again, with enough force that the stout teen slid back from the impact.

After the second hit Snotlout seemed to become aware that he was in a bit of trouble, and chose to put Hiccup on the defensive. He charged and swung his arm at his cousin, only for it to be blocked by a scrawny arm, he tried to kick his other side, but a metal leg met his own. Despite being the one attacking, Snotlout was moving backwards towards the concrete wall and Hiccup never wavered in his stride, the look of determination prevalent in his eyes once again. When Snotlout jumped back to put some distance between himself and Hiccup to catch his breath, the auburn hair teen acted.

He was on Snotlout in an instant, using the same speed he had used against the three boys who worked with Dagur and had landed several punches before anyone even realized. Snotlout tried feebly to block the hits, but Hiccup either struck too fast or too hard for him to do so effectively, if he hadn't literally asked for this and wasn't such a pain in the neck Astrid might feel sorry for him.

Hiccup delivered another kick with his good leg to Snot's midsection and he met the outer wall when Gobber hobbled back into the arena and witnessed the brawl that had broken out in his absence between his mild mannered god son and the class beef head. "What in the name of Thor is going on here?" Most of the students heard this and returned to their stalls, however the two boys didn't move. Astrid finally managed to get Fishlegs on his feet and off her moving to watch the scene unfold before her, she realized Snotlout was down but Hiccup didn't seem to have any intention of stopping. Then she noticed that his spirit was more outlining him than burning around him as a whole like it should, another common occurrence for those who are inexperienced using their dragon spirit energy: dragon mind. Hiccup had only used his dragon spirit twice now and as a result the mind of the dragon his spirit claimed was now running things and making Hiccup act more like a feral dog than a pissed off teenager.

"Snotlout wanted Hiccup to ignite his spirit and almost ended up barbequing Fishlegs and Astrid." Ruffnut answered while still watching as Hiccup walked towards the other teen still prone against the wall.

"Alright then, tha's enough now Hiccup." Gobber said, waving his arm to signal the boy to stop. He either didn't hear or didn't care as he continued to his movements, fists clenched and twitching ever so slightly. "Hiccup, I said tha's enough! Now knock it off!" Again there was no response was given, and Hiccup now stood over his cousin drawing his fist back.

The energy around Hiccup's fist flared as it reached its apex, Astrid knew that was a strike meant to finish an opponent, she'd seen her uncle Finn use it on criminals before. She had to do something, Hiccup might have wanted to give Snotlout a good pounding for his stupid stunt, but he surely didn't want him dead. Unfortunately even with the speed of a Deadly Nadder there was no way she could reach them before he brought his fist down on Snotlout. Hiccup's fist started moving back towards its target, when she did the only thing that could reach him in time.

"HICCUP!"

Snotlout opened his eyes and found his cousin's fist hovering right in front of his face by mere inches, Astrid had shouted Hiccup's name and he stopped before it buried itself in his face. There was absolute silence in the arena save for Hiccup's labored breathing as his spirit energy died down, he didn't move from the position of his almost punch, the only indication he was aware of what he had nearly done was the shaking in his still clenched fist.

Astrid approached the two carefully, when she reached them she brought her hand up and rested it on Hiccup's forearm gently, snapping him out of his frozen state. He looked at her with wide eyes that pleaded for her not to hate him for what he'd done; somehow she received the request despite barely knowing him and offered a small kind smile. "Come on Hiccup, let Snotlout up and let's get you out of here." She said kindly and pulled him back a few steps allowing the shorter teen to stand.

"Right then, why don't we jus' call it a day?" Gobber said while rubbing the back of his neck, "Oh! Also due to Damian's… impromptu lesson last week we will be havin' classes twice a week from now on so I'll see you lot Wednesday after class. We'll be moving to dragon class arts so there will some dragon class experts coming to help you learn." The students nodded as did Astrid who still held Hiccup's arm while leading him to the entrance. The Twins and Fishlegs caught up with the pair outside before Hiccup spoke.

"Thank you Astrid, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't snapped me out of it back there."

"It's ok Hiccup, you just need to practice at controlling your dragon spirit is all. Why don't you join us for shakes at The Dragon's Den and try to forget what happened? And if you want I'm sure we can help you with staying on top of your dragon spirits power." Astrid responded kindly. Hiccup looked around at the other teens, Fishlegs nodded happily and the twins gave him thumbs up before head butting each other for some odd reason. His gaze fell back on the blonde and nodded with a small lopsided smile.

"I'd like that."