Gobber lifted the arena gate and turned to face the teens, "Welcome to Dragon Training."
Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, Fishlegs and Astro entered the arena in expectation.
Tuffnut was the first to speak after they observed the arena, "I hope I get some serious burns!"
"I'm hoping for some mauling." said Ruffnut, "Like on the shoulder or lower back."
"Yeah," commented Astro, "it's only fun if you get a scar out of it."
"Yeah. No kidding. Right?" added a sarcastic, female voice. Everyone turned to the entrance. It was Hiccup. "Pain. Love it!"
"Aw! Great!" groaned Tuffnut, "Who let her in?"
"Let's get started!" boomed the enthusiastic voice of Gobber, "The recruit who does best will win the honour of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."
Snotlout looked at Hiccup, "Hiccup's part dragon…. Does that mean the winner's gonna remove that problem?"
The twins burst with laughter.
If I had the chance, thought Hiccup, I'd gladly remove mine.
"Don't worry about it, Hiccup," said Gobber in a comforting tone, "you're small and weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead. They'll even resist killing since you're one of them."
Gobber shoved Hiccup, making her join the line of teenagers.
He walked along the dragon cells as he began to explain, "These dragons are some of the many species you will learn to fight:"
As Gobber spoke, Fishlegs listed some facts about each dragon. After Fishlegs listed some facts about the Terrible Terror, Gobber turned to Fishlegs and yelled, "Will you stop that?"
"And," Gobber continued as he reached for the lever that locked the gates for the cell that held the last dragon, "the Gronckle."
Fishlegs whispered into Hiccup's ear, "Jaw strength, eight."
"Wait!" said Snotlout, "Hold on! Aren't you gonna teach us first?"
Gobber smiled. "I believe in learning on the job." With that, he pulled the lever.
The lock was raised and the Gronckle burst through the cell doors.
Six Viking teenagers spread out in all directions.
Gobber began to explain, "Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead. Quick! What's the first thing you're going to need?"
"A doctor?" asked Hiccup who didn't really think twice about her answer.
"Plus five speed?" asked Fishlegs.
"A shield!" shouted Astro.
"A shield!" repeated Gobber, "Go!"
The teenagers ran to a pile of shields and scrambled to get one.
Gobber continued, "The most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must choose between a sword or a shield, take the shield!"
Ruffnut and Tuffnut picked up the same shield and began fighting over it. Both yelled at each other.
Tuffnut, "Get your hands off my shield!"
Ruffnut, "There's like a million shields!"
Tuffnut, "Take that one! It has a flower on it! Girls like flowers!"
Ruffnut heaved the shield out of Tuff's hands and hit his head with it, "Oops! Now this one has blood on-"
A blast of fire obliterated the shield and sent the twins falling onto their backs.
"Ruffnut! Tuffnut!" called Gobber, "You're out!"
"What?" asked the twins in unison.
"Those shields are good for another thing: noise! Make lots of it! It'll blow off a dragon's aim!"
The remaining teens slammed their weapons against the shields as hard as they could.
Gobber continued teaching. "Each dragon has a limited number of shots! How many does a Gronckle have?"
"Five?" asked Snotlout.
"No! Six!" said Fishlegs with confidence.
"Correct! Six!" nodded Gobber, "That's one for each of you!"
The Gronckle shot the shield out of Fishleg's hands.
"Fishlegs! Out!"
Fishlegs screamed as he ran for cover.
Hiccup crawled out from behind a wooden barrier that was leaning against the wall. The Gronckle shot at Hiccup but missed. Hiccup frantically crawled back into her hiding place.
Snotlout ran up to Astro. He had a habit of trying to become Astro's friend to increase his popularity, since Astro was very skilled in combat.
"So," Snotlout began. "I moved into my parents' basement. Maybe you could come by sometime to work out. You look like you work-"
Astro jumped away as another blast barely hit Snotlout's shield and broke it.
"Snotlout!" called Gobber, "You're done!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Hiccup, now out of her hiding place and standing next to Astro, "I guess it's just you and me now. Right?"
"Nope!" answered Astro, "Just you!"
Astro ran away. Hiccup saw the Gronckle just as it shot at her. She blocked the shot. Nearly losing her shield. The blast only singed it.
The shield was knocked out of Hiccup's hand. Gobber announced, "One shot left!" as Hiccup desperately ran after her shield. She knew she'd most likely be called out if the shield broke. But she had a feeling that she'd be dead if she didn't get to the shield in time.
She looked over her shoulder and saw that the dragon was right behind her.
She stopped before she collided with the stone wall.
She turned around in time to watch the Gronckle stop in front of her. It stared right into Hiccup's eyes.
"I'll teach you humans to hurt a dragon!" growled the Gronckle.
The dragon opened its mouth to shoot at Hiccup's head.
Hiccup closed her eyes and braced herself.
Gobber hooked the dragon's jaw and pulled it away just as it shot its fire.
Hiccup covered her head to protect it.
She looked up and saw Gobber pulling the dragon to its cell.
"And that's six. Go back to bed ya overgrown sausage!"
Gobber threw the dragon into the cage and locked it.
"You'll get another chance! Don't you worry. But remember, a dragon will always," Gobber leaned closer to Hiccup, "always, go for the kill."
He pulled Hiccup to her feet.
As he walked away, Snotlout walked up to Hiccup. He pushed her to the ground and pressed one foot on her back, holding her down, "You have got to be the wimpiest dragon I've ever seen. You wouldn't even hurt a fly."
The twins laughed.
Snotlout gently kicked the back of Hiccup's head and walked away.
Hiccup remained still until she was the only one in the arena.
When everyone was gone, Hiccup stood up and looked at the scorched wall.
"So why didn't you?" Hiccup asked no one as she examined the ropes that held the Night Fury. She had walked back to the clearing to find some answers.
She dropped the ropes and walked in the same direction that the black dragon had flown the day before.
She walked until she came to the edge of a cove. It looked as if nothing was there.
"Well this is stupid." she said to herself.
She noticed some black scales on the ground. As she kneeled down to examine them, a black blur jumped up next to her.
Hiccup fell backward. She watched a black dragon struggle to climb the cliff and fail. The dragon glided back to the ground.
Why is the Night Fury still here? Hiccup wondered to herself.
She jumped to a lower platform to get a better view of the Night Fury.
The Night Fury obviously wanted to fly away. But he never flew higher than twenty feet.
Hiccup pulled out her sketchbook and drew the Night Fury. As she finished at the tail, she indirectly asked the Night Fury, "Why don't you just…. fly away?"
She looked closer to the tail. And corrected one mistake of the sketch by rubbing off the left tail fan.
Because you can't. Hiccup answered.
She looked back to the dragon. The Night Fury tried once more to get off the ground, but failed again.
The dragon spotted fish in the pond. He tried to catch the fish. But the fish were too quick.
Hiccup felt pity for the dragon. It was bad enough that he couldn't fly. It was worse that he couldn't even catch his food.
He must be starving…. Hiccup began to think. She quickly realized that she was dropping her pencil. She tried to catch it but it fell into the cove below.
The Night Fury saw the pen and looked up at Hiccup.
"That stupid girl." he mumbled to himself.
He looked at the Viking girl a few seconds more, "But I gotta give it to her. She's definitely not a coward."