Author's Note:

Hello everyone and welcome to another chapter. This one is actually has all the original sections as they were but I added a considerable chunk to the middle. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Zipplebacks and Quick Improvements

"Today is about teamwork. Work together and you might survive."

Snotlout had a tight hold on his bucket of water as Gobber spoke and it tightened as one of the pens burst open allowing green gas to pour out. He heard Tuffnut do something similar behind him and he mentally grumbled at being stuck with the male twin for this. He'd been hoping to pair with Hiccup as that would've been much better for both of them but he hadn't seen his cousin after leaving the forge last night until the older boy came hurrying in late for training, by this time Gobber had already sorted the pairings so there wasn't anything to be done about them.

"Now a wet dragon head can't light its fire." Gobber continued his lecture, "The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which."

As the gas swirled around them he and Tuffnut were back to back and Snotlout was definitely nervous. Peering through the green fog he spotted a horned shape approaching and instantly yelled out, "There!"

He and Tuffnut hurled their water at the shape and were greeted by outraged cries from Astrid and Ruffnut.

"Hey!"

"It's us, idiots."

The girls loomed out of the fog obviously soaked and Tuffnut just smirked, "Your butts must be getting bigger. We thought you were a dragon."

Seeing the glares they were getting Snotlout tried to diffuse the situation, "Not that there's anything wrong with a dragon-esque figure."

He was rewarded with a punch to the face from Astrid as Ruffnut flung her bucket at Tuffnut. The next few moments were a bit of a blur as he recovered but he dimly heard Tuffnut shouting something about being very much hurt and some yelps from the girls. He managed to recover from his daze to find that at some point Gobber had pulled him away from the fog and he saw the Zippleback looming over Hiccup and Fishlegs. One head came right up to Fishlegs and the boy quickly doused it with water, the head appeared to grin at him before it began spewing gas. Fishlegs stared at it blankly for a moment.

"Oh. Wrong head."

He then ran screaming, waving his arms in the air and abandoning Hiccup as the second head prepared to light the gas. Gobber quickly shouted to the remaining teen, "Now, Hiccup!"

Hiccup hurled the water for it to only arc up and fall pathetically back down to earth leaving the target dry.

"Oh come on!"

"RUN, HICCUP!"

Gobber began running forwards as the two heads moved in for the kill only to stop short suddenly as the beast suddenly backed off in fear. Hiccup appeared to be warding it away with his hands and began backing it into its pen speaking commandingly as he did so, "BACK! BACK! BACK! Now don't you make me tell you again! Yes, that's right. Back into your cage and think about what you've done."

Snotlout stared slack-jawed with the rest as Hiccup closed the pen doors and turned, stopping in the middle of brushing his hands on his vest when he saw them. The only sound was an audible thunk and Snotlout guessed that Fishlegs had dropped his empty bucket in shock. Hiccup stood awkwardly for a moment as they all stared at him before finally speaking, "Okay! So are we done? Because I've got some things I need to…Yep …See you tomorrow."

He hurried past them all and Snotlout noticed the suspicious look Astrid was giving his cousin and he was certain she was thinking the same thing he was.

How had Hiccup done that?

Over the following days Snotlout saw less and less of Hiccup out with dragon training and although he was dying to know what his cousin was up to he kept to his task of keeping everyone else away from the Cove.

It wasn't that difficult a job because the Cove was rarely visited by other Vikings because it was away from the village and the farms. That's why he and Hiccup had loved it so much when there were younger, it gave them somewhere to get away from the village and all the negative emotions and bullying that came with it. Though they'd gone less in recent times Snotlout still felt that the Cove was very much their's and he really wanted to know what Hiccup was hiding there. He could've easily gone to the Cove to find out but he held back from doing so, there must be a good reason why Hiccup wasn't telling him what was there and he had faith in his cousin's judgement.

As the days went by Hiccup began improving drastically in dragon training and Snotlout was certain it was directly linked to the older boy's big secret. As more and more dragons were bested by his cousin Snotlout began to notice that the creatures weren't actually harmed in any way. He was about the only one who noticed this because everyone else was so shocked by Hiccup's sudden skill they flocked to him in appreciating hoards, more than once Snotlout had been bulldozed aside or nearly trampled by Vikings desperate to speak to their new hero and hadn't noticed that Snotlout was there with him. Many people would have seriously jealous of Hiccup but Snotlout wasn't because he could see how much his cousin hated the attention and wanted to get away from the masses, for this Snotlout helped where he could and had created several diversions (such as 'accidents' with things like runaway empty barrels and wooden carts) so that his cousin could get well away before anyone realised where he'd gone. While this was enough to throw most people off following Hiccup it didn't stop everyone and Astrid was proving particularly difficult to get rid of.

She seemed to hate the fact that Hiccup was better than her and had become determined to find out what he was up to and Snotlout had to admit he loved seeing her being beaten by one of the very people she was often so disparaging of. She'd had noticed his disappearances and was doing her utmost to follow him and Snotlout now had his work cut out for him in keeping her away, more than once he'd risked being hit by an axe as he interrupted her training in the woods so Hiccup could sneak by unnoticed. It was after one of these encounters and he'd escaped the irate Astrid that Gobber told him that they had word that his uncle was returning soon.

Snotlout was there to greet his uncle when he returned from the nest search. He and his chosen warriors were a sorry sight has they arrived crowded in a single, barely floating ship. Thankfully it didn't look like they'd lost anyone but it was obvious the search was far less than successful. Gobber met the chief and Snotlout could see from their expressions and body language that he'd told Stoick about his son's skill in the arena greatly lightening the chief's sombre mood. His uncle was positively beaming as he met him at the top of the ramp to the docks and clapped him on his shoulder.

"I've been hearing good things from Gobber Snotlout. He says you've improved greatly and as for your cousin."

Snotlout grinned at his uncle's joy, "I guess he surprised us all, huh?"

"Aye, it looks like one day I can say I reared two of the finest warriors in Berk." Stoick began walking with Snotlout up the hill and looked around as he did so, "Where is Hiccup?"

Snotlout shrugged, "I don't know, I haven't seen him since training this morning."

Stoick looked slightly disappointed before smiling again, "No matter, I'm sure he'll turn up soon."

As had become normal for the last few days Snotlout didn't actually see Hiccup until the next morning when he was awake before him for the first time since his uncle had first taken him in. It had taken a bit of effort to wake his cousin and they only just made it to the arena in time.

It had been set up with several short barriers and Gobber had told them that the best recruit would be chosen today. As such everyone was focused apart from Hiccup who was wearing a new helmet Snotlout assumed had been given to him by Stoick and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but the arena.

The Gronkle was released and there were Vikings ringed around the arena cheering on the recruits. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were out first as they got into another one of their fights and Fishlegs closely followed them. Snotlout was next to go due to mistiming his transfer from one barrier to another allowing the Gronkle to blast his shield from him. This left Hiccup and Astrid and Snotlout saw her shove Hiccup's shield down and threaten him to not beat her, this proved in vain however as the Gronkle approached Hiccup while she came round the back of it allowing him to subdue it just as she began her full Viking charge.

It was quite funny to watch as she effectively threw a temper tantrum at her loss but he noticed Hiccup trying to leave and be hooked by Gobber. Still in the middle of her rage Astrid rammed the top of her axe at Hiccup's throat just before Stoick's voice rang out from above.

"Okay, quiet down. The elder has decided."

Gothi stood beside the chief ready to reveal her decision. Gobber held his hook above Astrid's head and Gothi shook her head, there was a surprised murmur from around the arena as he held his other hand above Hiccup's head. Gothi nodded once and the area erupted with cheers.

Astrid glared at Hiccup while the rest charged him and Fishlegs hoisted him onto his shoulder. At first Snotlout cheered as loudly as the rest of them but then he noticed that Hiccup didn't look happy, in fact he looked panicked.

Whatever Hiccup was up to in the Cove it obviously did not work well with Hiccup being the chosen recruit and Snotlout decided that he needed to know very soon what his cousin had been up to.

PS-So how was that? Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.