The next two chapters that go up are not all that interesting, but without them the story would have a huge gap in it. If you know the storyline you can just skim through them. Chapter five, however, gets this party started.
A fierce joy emitted from Astrid as she strode through the town towards the arena, on her way to dragon training with her battle axe leaning upon her shoulder. Her father had informed her that she had finished his personal training and was ready to take on the public training of dragon fighting with the other young recruits. He was currently off on another expedition in an attempt to find the dragons' nest, along with Stoik's crew.
Upon entering the ring, Astrid and the rest of the bucket brigade took a wide-eyed look at the surrounding cliffs, seen through the screen of chains that encased the main center of the arena.
"I hope I get some serious burns," Tuffnut, the male twin, said in all seriousness.
"I'm hoping for some mauling, like, on my shoulder, or lower back." Ruffnut, his twin sister.
"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it," Astrid commented sarcastically.
Someone else had entered the ring as well. "Yeah, I know, right? Pain, love it," She heard Hiccup say drily.
"Oh, great, who let him in?" Tuffnut taunted. Astrid felt a strange need to come to his defense, but she pressed it down and turned away. A couple of the teens giggled and continued into the ring.
Dragon training was everything she had hoped for. Each day there was something new to learn and to apply to the ferocious and equally unique dragons themselves. She found herself exceeding past the expectations of the instructor, Gobber, and soon became frontrunner...while Hiccup mostly stayed in last place. Everything was perfect. Soon, the classes would be over and she could become a full-fledged Viking.
She would come home to the delighted and proud smile of her mother, who was always watching her performance in the ring and supporting Astrid fully. She gave helpful hints and prods in the right direction, always told her what she executed correctly, and told Astrid stories of her own time in the ring.
After a few days, though, something impossible happened. During a nasty fight with the two-headed Zippleback, Hiccup lost his water bucket, given to him to douse one of the two heads, the one used to start the fire that the other gas head ignites. As soon as the gas cleared, Astrid saw that the dragon was upon Hiccup, snapping it's horrid teeth dangerously close to him.
She almost ran to his defense, but Hiccup, squaring himself, lifted his empty hands, palms facing the dragon heads, and made pushing motions in the air against them.
"Back! Back! Now, don't make me tell you again!" The Zippleback, incredibly, obeyed him. They backed fearfully into the pen. Then, he reached under his vest and threw something into their pen before closing the large doors.
The class stood a ways from Hiccup. He turned, saw their incredulous faces, and quickly dashed out of the ring.
Astrid felt herself growing hot. She thought it was out of anger, and would have kept thinking it too...were it not for the way she ashamedly admired Hiccup's sudden burst of awkward bravery.
I told you it wasn't that interesting. The next one's a little better, and it's going up at the same time as this one.
Again, comment/review it. I thank you for the wonderful feedback, and for it I shall continue the story. Aren't you just ever so thankful? :D