"Welcome to Dragon Training!" The blacksmith introduced.

"No turning back." Astrid said.

"I hope I get some serious burns!" Tuffnut grinned.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut grinned back.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astrid smirked to the twins.

"True." Atticus said.

"Welcome to the team." The blacksmith told him.

"What's your name, sir?" Atticus replied.

"Gobber." The blacksmith said.

"Well, thank you, Mr. Gobber." Atticus smiled.

"Yeah, no kidding, right?" Hiccup muttered. "Pain. Love it."

"Oh, great," Tuffnut scoffed. "Who let him in?"

"Let's get started!" Gobber announced. "The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."

'Kill?!' Atticus thought to himself.

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so, does that disqualify him or...?" Snotlout began to ask.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Tuffnut requested.

"Don't worry. You're small and you're weak. That'll make you less of a target!" Gobber advised to Hiccup. "They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead such as your new friend."

Atticus soon noticed different doors which he guessed were for dragons.

"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight!" Gobber informed.

Atticus nodded, taking in that information.

"The Deadly Nadder!" Gobber began.

"Speed: eight; Armor: sixteen." Fishlegs rated.

"Whoa." Atticus said.

"The Hideous Zippleback!" Gobber continued.

"Plus eleven stealth times two." Fishlegs added.

The two soon went back and forth a little while.

"The Monstrous Nightmare!"

"Firepower: fifteen."

"The Terrible Terror!"

"Attack: eight; Venom: twelve!"

"Uh, Fishlegs, I think that's enough." Atticus said.

Fishlegs smiled sheepishly as Gobber looked annoyed.

"And... The Gronckle!" Gobber then concluded.

"Jaw strength: eight." Fishlegs whispered to let it out.

"Whoa, whoa, wait!" Snotlout panicked. "Aren't you gonna teach us first?!"

"I believe in learning on the job." Gobber said before releasing the dragon.

"So, basically learn as we try and survive the Gronkle's fire?" Atticus guessed.

"Yes." Gobber replied.

"So much like my own school..." Atticus muttered about the force between life and death in situations.

"Today is about survival," Gobber told the teenagers. "If you get blasted... You're dead! Quick! What's the first thing you're going to need?"

"A shield!" Atticus answered.

"Shields! Go!" Gobber nodded. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield!"

All the recruits head for the shields, and of course, the twins fought over a shield, glaring at each other. Atticus simply sighed from their fighting. The Gronckle flies towards the Twins and blasts their shield with a fireball, leaving them dazed on the ground.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber told the twins.

"What...?" The twins replied in a daze.

"Those shields are good for another thing: noise!" Gobber educated. "Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim!"

Atticus soon began to make plenty of noise.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots," Gobber continued. "How many does a Gronckle have?"

"Five?" Snotlout guessed.

"No, six!" Fishlegs replied.

"Correct, six! That's one for each of you!" Gobber replied before pausing a moment. "Wait..."

"For what?" Atticus asked.

Gobber counted the teenagers. "Ah, seven, seven of ya!"

"Uh... Yeah..." Atticus said sheepishly before gasping and rushed away as the dragon fired toward him only to knock Fishlegs's shield out of his hands.

"Fishlegs, out," Gobber called before calling to the teenage boy who was hiding. "Hiccup, get in there!"

"No, Hiccup, stay hidden!" Atticus told him. "As long as the dragon doesn't see you, you're safe!"

"Are you sure?!" Hiccup called back.

"Positive!" Atticus called.

Hiccup soon stayed where he hid.

"So, anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement," Snotlout smirked to Astrid. "You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out!"

The Gronckle then fired at him.

"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber called out.

"No surprise there." Atticus smirked.

"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Hiccup asked Astrid.

"Nope, just you." Astrid replied before abandoning him.

The Gronckle soon came towards Atticus, Astrid, and Hiccup and breathed fire at them. Atticus soon dodged the fire.

"Two shots left!" Gobber called out. "Atticus! Hiccup!"

The Gronckle came towards Atticus and Hiccup while getting ready to fire. Atticus soon began to make himself the target. Hiccup gasped in worry for Atticus's safety. The Gronckle soon snarled and fired at Atticus. Atticus soon dodged again so then the Gronckle could be lured away from Hiccup. Hiccup loses his shield and runs after it, the dragon hot on his heels.

"One shot left! Hiccup!" Gobber called.

The Gronckle corners Hiccup, taking its aim. Gobber quickly tugs it away, causing it to misfire its last shot, and locks it up back in its cage.

"And that's seven!" Gobber soon announced. "Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance, don't you worry," He then turned to Hiccup. "Remember: a dragon will always, always, go for the kill."

Dragon Training was soon over.

"Phew!" Atticus wiped his forehead. "What a workout."

Spyro nodded before a light growl was heard.

"Aw, you're hungry, aren't you?" Atticus smiled as he then took out a box of some treats for him.

"Uh, Dad, that wasn't my stomach." Spyro spoke up.

"Oh... Then what was that?" Atticus wondered.

"Not sure." Spyro said.

Suddenly, something swooped over them.

"Whoa!" Atticus yelped. "What was that?!"

"Maybe that was that growl..." Spyro suggested before looking. "It's that black dragon!"

"We better check on it." Atticus said.

Spyro nodded as he hid away for safety. Atticus then ran towards the flying black dragon into the forest as Hiccup was alone as he was coming into a cove, not knowing about the dragon yet, and where he soon saw the black dragon's tail was different than most dragons. Hiccup picked up one of the dragon scales and yelped, suddenly dropping it.

"Whoa, sorry about that, Hiccup." Atticus said as he came up behind him.

"Where'd you come from?! Jeez!" Hiccup winced.

"I was following the black dragon." Atticus said.

The dragon swooped by again, just missing them, but not flying.

Hiccup soon felt inspired and decided to sketch the creature. "Why don't you just... Fly away?" He then asked the dragon, as if it would even respond back.

The dragon simply stared at him, keeping calm and quiet.

"I think it's because of his tail." Atticus said,

"Hmm..." Hiccup hummed in thought as he sketched, wondering if that was a possibility.

The dragon just sat there and Spyro looked right at him from where he was hidden. He could then see him trying to get some fish.

"You must be hungry..." Atticus gave a small smile.

They soon saw that the black dragon failed at getting a fish. Hiccup had drawn fins, but soon erased them. Atticus frowned and decided to see if he could help the black dragon. Hiccup soon accidentally dropped his pencil.

"Oops." Atticus said as he saw that.

The black dragon stared to Hiccup in recognition and Hiccup soon stared back. Atticus and Spyro looked hopeful as this could form a bond like that they had with each other since the Dragon Games in Ever After High.

Later, at the Meade Hall...

"Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber questioned.

"I mistimed my somersault dive," Astrid confessed. "It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble."

'That would be my guess.' Atticus thought to himself.

"Yeah, we noticed." Ruffnut muttered to Astrid.

"No, no, you were great," Snotlout disagreed. "That was so 'Astrid'."

'Oh, brother.' Atticus thought to himself with an eye roll.

"She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves," Gobber told the teenagers. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

"Uh, he showed up?" Ruffnut guessed.

"He didn't get eaten." Tuffnut added.

"Do you know?" Astrid whispered to Atticus before she would answer as he seemed smarter than he looked.

Atticus simply shook his head.

"He's never where he should be." Astrid soon answered Gobber's question.

"Thank you, Astrid," Gobber replied before looking to the others. "You need to live and breathe this stuff. The Dragon Manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of."

"Um, but what about Night Furies and purple dragons?" Atticus asked.

"Purple dragons, eh?" Gobber replied. "You mean like a Deep Purple Fleshfang?"

"Um, no, I mean purple dragons, and where some might have horns and some not so much." Atticus said.

"That's interesting..." Gobber commented before thinking about it. "Can't say I've seen a dragon like that around here before."

This caused Atticus to sigh out of relief.

"I'll look into it though." Gobber said.

"Of course, sir." Atticus replied.

Thunder was heard rumbling outside almost like a storm.

"Whoa." Atticus said.

"You're not scared of storms, are ya?" Astrid smirked.

"No!" Atticus replied. "Just surprised."

"No attacks tonight," Gobber told the teenagers. "Study up."

"Wait, you mean, read?" Tuffnut asked.

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut added.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout scoffed.

'Wow.' Atticus thought to himself.

"Oh! I've read it like, seven times," Fishlegs spoke up. "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. A-And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week-"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Tuffnut said. "See, there was a chance I was going to read that..."

"...But, now..." Ruffnut added.

"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout suggested.

"Oh, and there's this other one that has these spines that look like trees-" Fishlegs continued.

'Doesn't this guy ever stop talking about information on dragons?' Atticus thought to himself.

"So I guess we'll share?" Hiccup asked the blonde girl he seemed to like.

"Read it." Astrid said before leaving with the others.

"That was kind of rude." Atticus said.

"All mine then," Hiccup softly said. "Wow, okay. So, I'll see you, uh-"

The next sound was a door slam and Atticus and Hiccup were left alone together.

"Tomorrow..." Hiccup sighed.

"Time to do some reading." Atticus said.

"I guess so..." Hiccup replied.

The two soon began to read what they had to all about the many different kinds of dragons. Each one was more terrifying than the last.

"Hey, here's a Night Fury..." Atticus said as he found a page, but it seemed to be useless. "'Speed, unknown. Size, unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you'."

Hiccup soon brought out his drawing of the Night Fury. Atticus and Hiccup looked to each other in both shock and concern.

"But if the information about the Night Fury is true, then why didn't he kill us?" Atticus asked.

"I-I'm not sure..." Hiccup frowned. "Maybe it's trying to trick us?"

"Maybe." Atticus said.

Spyro looked curious himself.

"I think we should tell the others." Hiccup suggested.

"And do you really think they're going to believe us?" Atticus asked.

"Why wouldn't they?" Hiccup shrugged until he soon remembered how the others didn't believe him about taking down the Night Fury.

Atticus waited for his answer.

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Hiccup asked.

"We ask Gobber and see if he knows more about Night Furies." Atticus said

Spyro nodded inside of Atticus's pocket in agreement.

"All right then, let's go." Hiccup suggested.

They soon went to get some sleep for some more Dragon Training tomorrow.

"I don't like hiding." Spyro pouted as he and Atticus were alone for right now.

"I know Spyro, but we can't let any of the Vikings see you." Atticus said.

"I know..." Spyro sighed as he curled up for a moment.

Atticus hated to hide Spyro. Spyro sighed before yawning and going to sleep. Atticus gave him a blanket and soon went to go to sleep himself.