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The Dragon Manual

"Let's review on the events of the first dragon fight," Gobber says as he paces around us in the Great Hall. We had been called here for an emergency meeting. The twins thought that it was because they were going on some strange mission to fight in the wild, which I thought was pretty strange, even for them.

Snotlout thought that we were going to go find her ancestors jewelry. Ashter thought we were going to do some back-up training. Fishlegs thought that we were going to have a make-up test. But, unluckily for all of us, it was none of the above. Instead we are reviewing the events of the first lesson which I am pretty sure that the twins and Snotlout had forgotten about.

Where did the twins go wrong today?" Gobber asks. I start zoning out until I hear my strange cousin make her usual flirty comment about Ashter.

"No, no, you were great," she says. "That was so Ashter." What a kiss-up, I think as I roll my eyes.

"No, Ashter's right. You need to be hard on yourself." Gobber turns to me. "Where did Hali go wrong today?" I glare at him. He just loves to mess with me sometimes.

"Uh, she showed up," Ruffnut comments.

"She didn't get eaten," Tuffnut counters.

"She's never where she's supposed to be," Ashter says flatly, probably shooting a glare at me. Well, at least he can come up with a good answer.

"Thank you, Ashter," Gobber says, happy to have a sensible answer. "You need to live and breathe this stuff: The Dragon Manual." I hear him push a plate to the side and plop a book onto the tabletop. "It's everything we know about every dragon we know of." He looks up for a moment, listening for something. The Dragon Manual, huh? Maybe I can find some more information on Night Furies.

"No attacks tonight," he mutters. "Hurry up."

Tuffnut drops the dagger he was playing with. "Wait, you mean... read?"

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut looks as confused as Tuffnut.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about," Snotlout asks. I roll my eyes. So you know what to do, idiot, I think.

Fishlegs bounces excitedly in his seat. "Oh! I've read it about seven times. There's this water dragon that spits boiling water at your face! And there's this other one that-"

Tuffnut cuts him off. "Yeah that sounds great. There was a chance I was going to read this thing..." He leans back.

"... but now..." Ruffnut says.

Snotlout pushes the bench back. "You guys can read this, I'll go kill stuff." Tuffnut shoves his sister over as Fishlegs continues his excited muttering. I stand and walk towards the manual.

I see Ashter sitting there, and being the ridiculous person I am, I try to make a conversation with him. "So, I guess we'll share?"

Ashter glares at me. He shoves the book away from himself as he stands up. "Read it."

"All mine then, okay. So I guess I'll see you..." The door slams closed. "... tomorrow." Rude.

Later that night, I come into the Great Hall with a lit candle. Gobber said that he left the manual in there. I place the candle next to the book as I sit down on the bench. I hear the thunder booming in the sky. It just adds to the empty a darkness of the Great Hall. The only light I see are the candles that are lit around.

"Dragon classifications," I read. "Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class." I flip the page. "Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. Why would anyone want to go down into the depths anyway?" I shake my head as I continue reading. "When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight." I look over to a violent drawing of decapitated Vikings.

I flip a few pages to see a, "Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees... extremely dangerous, kill on sight." I watch as the drawings seem to come to life in the candlelight.

More page turns. "Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Are there any dragons that don't say extremely dangerous?" The storm rages outside, startling me. I glance nervously behind me, the thundering spooking me more than it should.

I go back to the book. "Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight. What, this one isn't extremely dangerous?" I start flipping the pages quicker. "Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death." Nothing I need here.

"Burns its victims, buries its victims, chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside out?" I think I just gagged. "Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous. Kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight..." I flip to the last page in the book and it's the one I am looking for.

"Night Fury..." It's blank. I guess no one has the guts to go up to a Night Fury. That is, except for me. I see nothing on here but just a few details and it isn't much. "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." I pull out my journal and flip to the first drawing I had made of Toothless.

"Today is all about ATTACK!" Gobber instructs as we run in the maze, trying to stay away from the Nadder.

"Why can't... you just... hold still?!" The Nadder squawks at us. She, I believe it's a she, shoots spikes at Fishlegs. I hear him scream and spikes hitting his shield.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" he calls.

"Aren't we all, Fishlegs?" I ask as I roll behind the Nadder.

"Every dragon has a blind spot," Gobber tells us. "Find it, hide in it, and strike!" I stop running and hide behind a wall as I watch the twins stop in front of the dragon. Oh this won't end well, I think as I watch Ruffnut inhale deeply.

"Ugh," she groans. "Do you ever bathe?" They move to keep in the blind spot.

"Well, if you don't like it then get your own blind spot!" Tuffnut says angrily as he shoves his sister back.

Ruffnut jams her helmet horn into his. "How 'bout I give you one!" They shove each other before the Nadder squawks at them. She then fires at the twins causing them to run away.

"Blind spot, yes," I hear Gobber say. "Deaf spot, not so much." He chuckles. I stop my running and stand right in front of Gobber. "Get in there Hali!" I jump and back up.

"Hali," I hear Ashter hiss at me. "Get down." Snotlout nods her head and I do as he said. He pokes his head around and snaps it back. The Nadder is right there. I watch as Ashter and Snotlout roll silently past the Nadder. I try to do the same, but the shield weighs me down, causing me to slump on the ground.

The Nadder, as expected, hears me and runs towards me. She shoots spikes at me. I dash towards where I was before and slam my back against the wall. Too much, I think as I watch the Nadder chase everyone. Way too much. What did my dad think would come out of this? I see Ashter jumping from wall to wall as he's being chased by the dragon.

"HALI!" Ashter calls as he jumps off the last falling wall. That's the last thing I see before I am on the ground with Ashter keeping my head down.

"Thank you for that lovely take-down," I mutter as he gets his axe out of my shield, and very forcibly at that. He shoves me onto his back and hits my chest, hard. Okay, that's crossing the line. I shove him off of me. I hear him hit the dragon with the shielded axe. I run my hand over my chin which was scuffed from the hard ground.

"Is this some kind of joke to you?" Ashter asks me as I tentatively stand up, my arms crossed over my chest. "Our parents' war is abou-" He finally notices my stance. "Oh gods..."

I glare angrily at him before I dash out of the arena and head to the forge. I ignore Gobber calling my name. Even he won't be able to cheer me up. But I know who will. but first I need to make a saddle for Toothless. Then I'll go see him. He knows how to cheer me up no matter what.

I feel like I'm just piling chapters onto you guys. Anyways. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. See y'all later!