AN: Hello guys! Back with Chapter 7! Hope you enjoy!
Song: Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC
Disclaimer: Do I own httyd! HELL NAW!
That next morning, I was wandering around the middle of town, before a certain bulky man came through, walking with a purpose. He seemed to notice me, and he slowly sauntered over to where I was standing. I wasn't facing him, and a mischievous smile lit up his face as he crouched and snuck up behind me, before putting his hand on my shoulder and saying, "Gotcha'!"
I shrieked like a girl, spinning on my heel to face the man, pulling my gun from the holster and aiming for the head. As I stared down the sights, the man yelled, "Don't shoot!"
"Gobber! Don't SCARE me like that!" I complained, putting my hands on my knees as I bent over and took a large breath. As if on cue, Gobber slapped me on the back, and I had to catch myself from slamming into the ground. I stood back up and faced Gobber, tears of mirth and laughter at another's expense rolling down his face.
"Yer face, lad! That was worth it!" He said in between laughing fits. I put my hands on my hips, waiting for him to finish giggling. He finally calmed down. "But, that's not why I'm 'ere. I want ye to come with me fer somethin'."
"What is it?" I asked, curious. "Ye gotta come along to find out," he said before walking off. He turned back as he realized that I wasn't following him, and he waved with his one good hand, motioning for me to follow. Even though I hated surprises, I was curious. I reluctantly fell in stride with Gobber.
We quickly crossed town, arriving a a giant chain-link dome, surrounded on two sides by cliffs, and one side by the mountain towering above us. I stood by the edge, looking down into the ring to see a flat floor, surrounded by giant doors, with a pile of shields off to one side. The doors had giant logs in latches over them, like giant locks. I wondered what exactly they were holding. Gobber and I walked down into the arena, and I stood there, admiring the chain-link roof. Then, the gate behind me opened once again, and I turned around. My eyes were met by the five teens and Ripper strolling through the gate into the center of the arena, Astrid in the lead. "Welcome to Dragon Training!" Gobber announced.
Astrid muttered something, but it was too low for me to hear. The twins, however, blessed all of us with their own retarded comment. "I hope I get some serious burns." Ruffnut said, completely serious.
"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back," Tuffnut replied, also dead serious.
Astrid even butted in, saying, "Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." 'God, these people are either weird or insane,' I thought.
Then, I heard another voice pipe up from the back. "Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." The group all turned around to see Hiccup, lugging an axe twice his size behind him. I felt sorry for him; that axe was way too big and heavy for someone of his stature. I heard groans escape from all of the teens.
"Who let him in?" Tuffnut asked. Gobber chose that moment to interrupt before more verbal abuse was heaped on Hiccup. "Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village." he stated.
Snotlout chose to insert a comment there. "Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or…?" he remarked snidely. I thought for sure that Hiccup would have exploded there, but it looked like it just slid off him, based on his expression. I was impressed, and a little angry for him that he took these insults so well.
"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Tuffnut questioned. Gobber went to Hiccup, talking about something like how since he's small, he won't be as much of a target. He then walked towards the cages. The eight of us stood there; me with my trusty Smith and Wesson, Hiccup with his battleaxe, Astrid with her battleaxe, Ripper with his broadsword, Fishlegs with his stone hammer, Tuffnut with his spear, Ruffnut with her spear, and Snotlout with his mace, all in a line.
Gobber walked in front of the cages, going slowly. "Behind these doors are a few of the many species you'll learn to fight." I could see Fishlegs next to me, bouncing up and down in pure excitement.
"The Deadly Nadder," Gobber began his list, and so did Fishlegs. "Speed eight. Armor sixteen."
"The Hideous Zippleback," Gobber continued, unaware of Fishlegs. "Plus eleven stealth. Times two." Fishlegs recited. 'Jeez, he sounds like a video game!' I thought.
"The Monstrous Nightmare," quickly followed by a "Firepower fifteen."
"The Terrible Terror," Gobber said, and Fishlegs added, "Attack eight. Venom twelve." Gobber was finally sick of that though. "CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" he bellowed.
"And, the Gronckle." Gobber finished. Fishlegs couldn't contain it though, as he whispered, "Jaw strength eight."
As Gobber reached for the lever that kept the wooden log across the gate, Snotlout stepped forward, saying, "Woah, wait, aren't you gonna teach us first?" with a tinge of panic in his voice.
"I believe in learning on the job," Gobber said with a smirk, before pulling the lever, allowing a dragon to burst out into the arena.
It was quite large for a dragon, at least compared to Toothless, and had much smaller wings than him. It was a brown color, almost like sandstone, and it was covered with bumps all over its body. It had a bulbous sort of a tail, looking like the head of a mace was attached to the Gronckle's ass. It thundered across the arena, smashing into the wall like an angry bull that had missed the matador. It quickly recovered, its eyes scanning the arena, looking for us.
"Today is all about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead. So, what's the first thing you're gonna need?" Gobber asked, leaning up against the wall of the arena, supervising our fight.
"A doctor?" Hiccup sarcastically asked, and a wide grin spread across my face at that one.
"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs suggested, and I facepalmed in the middle of the arena. I heard groans escape from the other teens, hinting that they shared my feelings.
"A shield," Astrid said matter-of-factly, and Gobber affirmed her. "Right, shields, go!" Everyone scattered to the shields laying around the arena. I picked up one, hoisting it on my shoulder with a bit of difficulty. I then pulled my gun out of the holster and held it. I smirked as I watched the dragon. I was ready for this.
"Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield," Gobber said, while lifting Hiccup's shield onto his arm for him. I sighed. Hiccup was even weaker than I was. I didn't think that was even possible, but Hiccup proved me wrong. From the corner of my eye as I began to jog around the arena, I saw the twins fighting over a shield, in the middle of a pile of shields. 'Really guys, you can't just grab different shields?' I thought. I laughed out loud as the Gronckle spotted them, and, taking the opportunity, blasted the shield from both their hands. "Ruff, Tuff, you're out!" Gobber called, which he was responded to by a confused and dazed "What?"
I saw Astrid doing the same thing I was, moving slowly around the edges of the arena. 'Well, great minds think alike,' I chuckled in my mind.
Gobber decided to help us out. "Those shields are good for another thing: noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim." Everyone began to beat their weapons on their shields, and I beat mine on the wall, seeing as how I didn't have an actual weapon. I saw that the Gronckle began to fly around in random directions, and its head shook, like it was trying to clear its head.
Gobber decided to quiz us on our dragon knowledge. "All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" I had never heard of a shot limit before, but I decided to go with it.
Snotlout said, "Five?" but he phrased it like a question, making it obvious that he didn't know. Fishlegs knew, however. "No, six!" he triumphantly replied, but making one fatal mistake: he stopped moving or paying attention as Gobber nodded. "Right, six. That'll leave two of you remaining when this is over. Let's see who it'll be."
"I really don't think my parents…" Fishlegs started, but was cut off as a Gronckle fireball came and blew his shield out of his hands. "Fishlegs, out!" Gobber called as Fishlegs ran, screaming like a little girl.
Gobber then spotted Hiccup, hiding behind a wooden barricade towards the side of one wall. "Hiccup, get in there!" Gobber chastised him. Hiccup made a move to get out of cover, but the Gronckle spotted him and sent a sludge bomb of what looked to be lava at him. It hit the wall behind him, but the point was clear. Hiccup quickly retreated back into his fortress. I saw Snotlout come up behind Astrid meanwhile, and since I was near them, I could hear what Snotlout said.
"So anyways, I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out," he said, trying - and failing - to flirt with her. The Gronckle saw the two of them and fired. Since Astrid was paying attention, she rolled out of the way. Since Snotlout wasn't, his shield got hit, he got blasted onto his ass, and Gobber said, "Snotlout, you're done!"
Only four remained. Me, Astrid, Hiccup, and Ripper were scattered around. Astrid's roll had brought her next to Hiccup, while Ripper and I were by ourselves. Hiccup and Astrid stood up, and the Gronckle focused on them, loosing a shot. I saw Hiccup talking, before Astrid replied something. She quickly ran, seeing the danger. Hiccup did not. His shield went sailing off his arm, flying across the floor. He quickly gave chase to it, but it rolled away from him. The Gronckle gave chase as well, but to Hiccup, following him across the arena. "One shot left!" Gobber called out. The Gronckle suddenly lunged at Hiccup, who was in a bad position. The Gronckle slammed into him, driving him into the wall. It opened its mouth, obviously about to blast Hiccup into oblivion. "Hiccup!" Gobber yelled, panicked. I suddenly knew what I had to do. I took the shield off of my arm and hurled it at the Gronckle, like a discus. It hit the Gronckle in the side of the face, canceling its shot. Angered, it got up off of the floor and found its assailant, me. It lowered its head and snorted, like a bull about to charge. I simply waited. The Gronckle charged, headbutting me, and the two of us hurtled into the wall. I was seeing spots, and my breath was gone, but I still smirked as the Gronckle opened up its mouth once more, yellow forming down its throat. All of a sudden, the Gronckle's eyes changed. They went from kill mode to a sleepy mood, its eyelids drooping down. As they finally closed, the Gronckle thudded to the ground, where it let out a snore. It was out cold.
I had brought my gun up and shot at the Gronckle's exposed underbelly, KOing him with a tranq dart.
I stood up slowly, staring at the Gronckle's sleeping form as I brushed the dirt off of my pants. I looked up to everyone. All of them, even Gobber, had their mouths wide open. They just stared in disbelief as I holstered my gun. I then leaned down to pick up the tranq dart I had fired. They were very valuable, as I couldn't make any more of them, having no glass or fine tools to do so. I examined it before closing my fist around it. I had taken down my first dragon. Everyone else in the arena had come to their senses, as they slowly walked over to me (with the exception of Snotlout, of course,) and congratulated me on taking down the Gronckle. But, as Fishlegs bumped up against my leg, I felt a prick. My eyes widened. Fishlegs had just inadvertently stabbed me with the tranq dart. My vision quickly grew blurry as I stumbled around, and all the rest of the teens took a few steps back, unsure of what was happening.
I managed to mumble, "Take me back to my house," before I fell to my knees, and then to my side, before blacking out once again.
AN: So yeah, that's the end of this chapter! Hope you guys…
OBJECTION!
Me: Wait, is that…
Phoenix: Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney! We can't end this chapter just yet, Your Honor! We could be missing crucial evidence! What happened AFTER, huh?
Me: Um - oh, that's easy! Gobber took him home.
HOLD IT!
Me: 'Shit.'
Phoenix: You just said that Gobber took him home, correct?
Me: Uh - um - yes.
OBJECTION!
Phoenix: Then you're a complete liar.
Me: What? How?!
Phoenix: Not once have you stated that Gobber knows where Brandon's house is, or if he's ever even been there!
Me: (visibly pales)
Phoenix: Your Honor, I demand a further explanation by the author!
Judge: Hmm, yes, it seems like that would be the best thing to do. Alright! Author, please continue your chapter.
Me: (snorts in frustration) Fine.
Hiccup's POV
I watched in utter confusion as Brandon stumbled around, his eyelids drooping. He muttered, "Take me back to my house," as he staggered to his knees, and then fell to his side, falling unconscious. My brain's gears began turning as I wondered what had happened to Brandon. 'He put that thing that made the Gronckle fall asleep in his pocket, and then Fishlegs... oh no.' Hiccup finally pieced the mystery together in his mind, before saying it out loud. "Fishlegs, you made that dart-thingy hit Brandon when you bumped his leg. It must have knocked him out cold." Everyone turned and glared at Fishlegs, who shrank into his shoes.
"Sorry, guys." Fishlegs said meekly.
"Well, we gotta get him home. He can't stay out here," Hiccup said. "Anyone gonna help me get him home?"
"No, he doesn't deserve to be lifted by my giant muscles," Snotlout said as he began flexing his biceps, kissing them as he flexed them. From the corner of my eye, I saw Astrid lurch forwards a bit, like she threw up in her mouth. I couldn't blame her.
"I will," Fishlegs said, "I mean, after all, I did cause this," he added apologetically. I nodded, giving my approval, and Fishlegs walked over and slowly hefted Brandon's body over his shoulder. Gobber opened the gate for the two of us as we began to march back to Brandon's home. Fishlegs grunted as he shifted Brandon's body higher onto his shoulder, and I felt a twinge of sadness for Fishlegs. Sure, 'Legs was more liked than me, but he hadn't even made friends with Brandon yet.
"Hey Fish, why haven't you talked to Brandon yet? You'd take a liking to him awful quick," Hiccup said.
"I dunno man, you know me. Impossible to socialize with," he joked, and I grinned.
"I got an idea. Why don't you wait for him to wake up, and strike up a conversation with him. He's certainly… interesting… to converse with," I proposed.
"You know what, sure." Fishlegs decided as we reached the door. I opened it and then walked in, followed by a stooping Fishlegs. We trudged up the rotting stairs, creaking escaping them at all of the weight put on them. We found Brandon's bed, and Fishlegs laid him down on it, before going to get a chair. I stood around, looking at the dilapidated state the house was in, before letting out a sigh. "This place needs an extreme makeover," I cracked a joke. "See you later, Fish."
"See you later, Hiccup," I heard the reply as I trudged out the door, closing it behind me.
AN: Frickin' Phoenix, making me expand my chapters! Anyways, POV changes will begin with this chapter. Hope you enjoyed the action (it's my strong suit in writing) and goodbye!