"Welcome to Dragon Training," Gobber said opening the gate to the arena the next morning.
"No turning back," Hiccup heard Astrid who was leading the teens into the kill ring say.
"Well then how are we meant to leave then?" he thought rolling his eyes not listening to the Twins, but caught Astrid's 'It's only fun if you get a scare out of it.'
"Yeah no kidding right?" he said sarcastically "Pain. Love it."
"Aww great," Tuffnut said "Who let him in?" he asked getting nods of agreement from the others.
"Lets get started," Gobber said coming over "Now the recruit that does best, will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the whole village."
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury," Snotface (sorry I mean Snotlout) said smugly "So does that disqualify him or..." he said laughing with the twins.
Seeing his apprentice looked upset Gobber went over to the boy and gave him some words of advice.
"Now don't worry Hiccup," he said "You're small and weak. That will make you less of a target. They'll think of you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking like kids instead."
After that, and the kids had lined up, the blacksmith continued walking to the door speaking to the whole class now.
"Behind these doors are just a few of the many beasts you'll learn to fight," he said smiling. "The Deadly Nadder..."
"Speed 8 Armour 16," Hiccup heard Fishlegs who was next to him say.
"The Hideous Zippleback,"
"11 Stealth Times 2"
"The Monstrous Nightmare,"
"Firepower 15"
"The Terrible Terror"
"Attack 8 Venom 12"
"WILL YOU STOP THAT?!" Gobber cried to the boy then taken a deep breath to calm him self said pressing down on a leaver next to the cage "And... The Gronkle."
"Jaw strength 8," Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup, who didn't really care.
"Whoa whoa, wait. Aren't you gonna teach us first?" Snotlout asked a bit panicky.
"I believe on learning on the job" Hiccup thought getting ready to run.
"I believe on learning on the job," Gobber said grinning opening the door.
Suddenly the Gronkle was out and buzzing around the arena deciding who to go for first.
"Today is about Survival. If you get blasted, you're dead." Gobber said to the class "Quick! What's the first thing you're going to need?" he asked.
"A doctor?" Hiccup said eyes on the dragon.
"Plus 5 speed?" Fishlegs asked running away.
"A shield!" Astrid said firmly like it was obvious.
"Shield go!" Gobber said pointing to the shield's. "The most important piece of equipment is your shield," Gobber said as the students rushed to the round wooden discs.
"If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield." he added helping Hiccup with his one then turning back to the dragon, seeing it fire it's first shot at the Twins who were fighting over a shield even though there were loads still to choose from.
"Tuffnut, Ruffnut,you're out," he said.
"What?" they said together looking confused.
"Those shields a good for another thing. Noise," Gobber said proudly. "Make lots of it to through off a dragons aim."
With that everyone who was left began hitting their weapons on their shields.
Hiccup blinking and shaking his head a bit to block out the noise, just like the Gronkle, Gobber noticed but now wasn't the time to think about that - he was teaching a lesson.
"All dragons have a limited number of shots," he continued after the teens had stopped banging their shields. "How many does a Gronkle have?"
"Five?" Snotlout asked running across the arena.
"No six!" Fishlegs said stopping to answer the question.
"Correct six," Gobber said "That's one for each of you."
Just then the Gronkle shot her second blast at Fishlegs' shield.
"Fishlegs out," Gobber said getting a scream from the boy who immediately came running to join him and the Twins.
"Hiccup! Get in there," Gobber said to the boy who was hiding behind a weapons rack.
Doing what he was told Hiccup began to come out of his hiding place when a shot hit the wall right next to him, making him go back.
The Gronkle then looked around and spotted the other two teens and began to fly over to them.
"So anyway I've moved into my parents basement," Snotlout began tell Astrid who wasn't listening. "You should come by sometime to work out," he said as she rolled away, not paying attention. "You look like you work out."
Suddenly he was also hit by a blast from the dragon.
"Snotlout, you're done." Gobber said.
Astrid ended up next to Hiccup who had finally come out.
"So I guess it's just you and me huh?" he asked smiling.
"Nope," she replied "Just you," with that Astrid ran off leaving Hiccup standing their, to get his shield blasted out of his hand.
"One shot left," Gobber said as Hiccup went for his shield and Astrid was getting ready to attack the beast should it come to her.
But it was going for the boy. For some reason, there was something different about him that the Gronkle liked.
"HICCUP!"
Tripping up, Hiccup was now pressed against the wall the Gronkle sniffing him. Getting mad that she didn't understand what this boy was, she ignited her last shot getting ready to fire.
Suddenly Gobbers hook made it aim for something else just as it fired, singeing the wall.
"And that's six," he said pulling the dragon back to it's cage. "Go back to bed you over grown sausage. You'll get another chance don't you worry." he told the beast.
"Remember, a dragon will always," he said to the class then pointing to Hiccup "Always... Go for the kill." he said helping the boy up, knowing for a fact this was a lie because of them Night Furies that dropped the kid off all them years ago. But that was a secret that he promised to take with him to Valhalla.
With that, everyone left leaving Hiccup to stare at the wall, and then around the arena seeing all the marks of left over fights.
Thinking about that Night Fury he rushed back to the woods.
***A DRAGON SOUL ***
"So why didn't you?" Hiccup asked as soon as he got back to the bola in the middle of the woods speaking to the not there Night Fury.
Dropping the bola, Hiccup got up and set off in the direction the Night Fury flew off in and came out from between two rocks at the top of the cove to see...
Nothing.
"Well this was stupid," he said spotting something on the ground.
A medium sized black disc something.
Crouching down, he picked it up and was immediately pushed back by a gust of wind and a bigger black something that was trying to get out of the cove.
Noche Oscura once again tried to get out of this hole he was in, scratching at the cliff but in the end began to fall and so glided back to the bank next to the pond.
After collecting himself, Noche took off again but didn't make it very far, before he lost his balance and came crashing down once again.
After a couple more tries and fails he shot at the ground in anger cursing the 'Viking' that did this to him, and Smaug for teasing him by making the rocks so high, and Draco for starting this off by making his brother not a dragon meaning he had to come here in the first place, in the first place.
'One more try,' he said jumping up, flapping his wings... and came crashing down again next to the pond.
Sighing, seeing something in the water, he stuck his head in trying to get some fish, but they were too fast for him.
'TAP' 'TAP' 'TAP'
A noise caught Noche's ears as he spotted a stick fall down from a cliff. Looking up he saw it was the boy from yesterday.
Not wanting to do anything in case he did something, Noche just stared at him, tilting his head when the boy did to keep eye contact with him.
Hiccup was holding onto his sketch book, which now had a sketch of the dragon below him in.
But as he was checking it over, he dropped his pencil catching the Night Fury's attention.
Not wanting to do anything in case he did something, Hiccup just stared at it tilting his head curiously and surprised to see the dragon did it as well.
After a few more minutes of the staring contest, Hiccup noticed the sun was going down and slowly got up and, Keeping an eye on the dragon, left and began to head back to the village.
'Well that was weird,' Noche Oscura said out loud confused. This was the kid who had tried to kill him the day before.
But then set him free.
But that ended up with him being stuck in here.
Then when he came to him today, Noche hadn't sensed any danger against the boy at all. As if, he only came to see if he was alright.
'Or maybe he came to see if I was indeed still here,' Noche suggested to himself 'And he's going to go back to that 'Village' to tell his people and then they'll all come and attack me, and kill me, and because I can't fly I wont be able to escape.' he continued getting more scared with each suggestion.
'Err mind if I ask a question?' a voice asked from one of the trees confusing Noche, but getting him to look at it 'What happened to... 'I will not cower before them like a Tiny One' hmm?' the voice said smugly getting Noche annoyed.
'And who are you?' he asked still not finding anyone but sensing there was something there.
Suddenly one of the branches of the tree moved and a red dragon, with horns on it's head, and a long snout appeared out of nowhere.
'My names Rainbow,' the Hider (Changewing) said bowing slightly. 'Oh and no need to tell me yours, Noche Oscura, I heard you say it last night when you were trying to motivate yourself.'
'Then you also heard why I'm here?' Noche asked coming over halfway.
'Perhaps,' Rainbow said vanishing then coming up next to the boulder by the pond. 'But perhaps my ears was blown off and ran away because of your wining.'
'I'm here to look for my brother...' Noche Oscura said growling a bit at this Hider's first impressions.
'Well if it's other Night Furies you're after Sweet Cheeks you're out of luck,' Rainbow said now clinging to the cliff side. 'You're the only Night Fury around your age I've seen around here. In fact you're the only Night Fury at all I've seen around here since that weird kid came here 15 snows (years) ago.'
'Wait, 15 snows..?' Noche Oscura asked blinking confused and looking to where the kid had just been.
'Yes 15 snows,' Rainbow said 'The Human's story is that he washed up on one of their beaches because he was cast out from another clan,' she began. 'But the Dragon's story is that he was found, or something, by a couple of dragons, and left on the king and queen's wooden cave's front step.'
But Noche wasn't paying attention to any of that.
Instead he was trying to work out how that 'Viking' was supposedly his brother.
He smelled like him, he had the same eyes, he was 15 snows old - just like him, and Rainbow just said that he was brought here by a couple of dragons (possibly Night Furies), which was what his ma and pa said they did to protect him.
He was about to ask Rainbow something else when he heard wings flapping and spotted her fly away him just spotting a smug look on her face.
Deciding that he was finished for the day Noche Oscura went into the cave to stay dry from the sky water, and tried to curl up and go to sleep. But when your minds full of stuff like what Noche had in his head, it was a bit difficult.