Author Note: Thought I should just start off with this thing:
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD. The O.C. of Halburg, his dragons and other characters who are not avatars in School of Dragons or HTTYD all are property of me. All avatars of School of Dragons have been used with the permission of their owners.
'This is Berk. It's a giant rock cast out in the middle of the ocean where brilliant infrastructure and terrible yak references litter the place and recently saw the attack of Drago Bludfist, thankfully the spikes of ice are gone.
The main upsides are the pets. Where most places prefer dogs or donkeys, we prefer our dragons.
Though they used to be a problem, they are now a huge part of our society. So much so is the importance of dragons, that the dragon trainers created the 'School of Dragons' to train the new dragon riders and dragons.
In this School, many tales have gone down the years of heroic students preforming acts of bravery and putting their lives on the line for the defence of Berk and the School. Even students discovering NIGHTFURIES has happened!
However, I think that my introduction should finish and our tale shall begin in Berk'.
Gobber looked through his tool box in search of a hammer for a sword he was working on earlier that morning. "Thorston, have you seen my hammer?" asked the burly man. "It's on the rack, like it always is" replied a voice before adding "Boys, give him his hand". The voice chuckled at his own joke as Gobber merely growled.
Two, orange with purple markings and a yellow underside, Hideous Zippleback heads poked through the open windows of the forge. The left head passed the hammer from the rack to Gobber who was slightly annoyed by the boy. The boy, only aged sixteen, walked out to be greeted by Gobber saying "Ah, find what you were looking for?"
"Yes Gobber and you should be more patient" replied the Boy as he set down a crate of metals and rocks on a nearby bench. "Halburg Thorston, honestly I think Hiccup was less stressful. Actually nobody is more stressful than a Haddok" replied Gobber. Halburg rolled his eyes and began to search for his own tools.
Three years ago, Gobber had taken on the Thorston boy as an apprentice after seeing his skill at the School of Dragons since Hiccup was pretty much fine on his own. Halburg was tall and very skinny with only slight and subtle muscles on him. His eyes were a vibrant pink and hair a dark green, both resulting after an incident with a rogue Hideous Zippleback fighting a Prickleboggle. He currently was just wearing a green tunic, black pants, brown boots and a brown apron.
Halburg took out a small book from his crate and flicked through it before landing on his chosen design. "So, who is this for?" asked Gobber. "It's for me, why do you ask?" quizzed Halburg as he took out a long shaft off wood to carve. "Never know, may be for that special lady" grinned the old man. "Yes because the green hair brings women to their knees" said Halburg while he gestured to his hair as he cut the wood.
Gobber looked at the design and then looked up at Halburg. "Are you sure about this design, it seems very unusual" questioned Gobber. "Ok, I need a weapon and a dragon training tool. Two birds with one stone I always say. Besides, my war scythe is a bit heavy so Gronkle iron is a perfect design along with oak" replied Halburg which was followed by Gobber looking at the long pole-arm resting by the door.
Gobber resumed his work as did Halburg while the Hideous Zippleback looked over each shoulder of Halburg as he worked. The Zippleback was Halburg's first dragon and was named Smoke and Spark (Ok, it wasn't original but now nobody can think of a better name for them so deal with it). Gobber often found Smoke and Spark to be quite useful in the forge, more so than Grump he also thought.
Halburg whistled some tunes to himself which kept him and his Zippleback content and oblivious to Gobber who had left the forge for lunch with Valka. Halburg had started work on the metallic bits of the design after finishing up with the wooden section.
As the Thorston worked, his impatient Zippleback started grumbling. Halburg turned his head and said "What is it boys?" The dragon turned their heads in the direction of his satchel. "What are you two on about I never know" said Hal who began finishing up on the moulds.
Smoke and Spark turned their heads to face the other but then grinned. Hal suddenly found Spark's neck lift him up onto the back of the neck. "Boys, what are you two doing" cried the blacksmith apprentice as he held onto the two rear horns of Spark's head.
The dragon walked outside and walked to the back of the shop where a ton of dragons, aswell as a Timberjack Halburg knew as Stokehead, all with Vikings on top of their backs were leaving in a direction that was all too well known to Halburg.
"For Thor's sake, thank you boys, I will be back in a second" cried the Thorston as he hopped off the Zippleback and rushed back inside to tidy up his work and change his clothes aswell as grab his stuff.
Halburg came back out in his usual blue tunic, black vest, straight-ram horn helmet, green trousers and boots wrapped around with strong string. He had his spiked bracers on his lower arms and his war scythe in his hand aswell as his light-green wooden shield on his back and his satchel over his shoulder.
He found Smoke and Spark with decorated saddle out and on their back, ready for Halburg to tie it. Halburg smiled and quickly tied it before jumping onto their back and the might dragon took flight in pursuit of the others.
The target quickly came into view of an island with an area surrounded by tall mountains but a giant groove into the cliff face carved by Whispering Deaths to act as a quick passage. Beyond the walls were wooden buildings all of great structure aswell as passages for foot dwellers to go to other parts of the island. Stokehead was seen in his stage for use as a 'Taxi'.
Halburg sped past the docked boats and soared to a building where Deadly Nadders, Monstrous Nightmares, a Raincutter, a Skrill, Sand Wraiths, Whispering Deaths, Prickleboggles, a curious looking Death Song and Snow Wraiths lying stables and around a fountain. Smoke and Spark joined them while Halburg sprinted to the door with War Scythe and satchel in hand.
The wooden doors burst open at the side entrance to reveal all eyes from both juvenile dragons and fellow riders. Halburg quickly stopped his fast pace movements and slowed down but once he got past the obstacle viewing of a column, he met the gaze of a not to happy Astrid Hofferson. "Halburg, sit down, we will talk later" she spoke.
Halburg did as asked of and sat next to his friend Jhrpiy, owner of a Sand Wraith coloured silver and blue named Sandstorm. "Seems the Zippleback gas that died your hair has got to your timing" she joked and poked Halburg in the side, causing him to jump and drop the War Scythe he was already putting down. Halburg glared his pink eyes and her closed blue ones which were closed for her fit of silent laughter.
The two then turned their attention back to their teacher. "Alright class, since this is our first class of the New Year that Odin bestows upon us, we shall start with a new topic. Master Thorston, since you were late you might wish to stand and tell us what you know of the former Fear class and its' dragons" said Astrid.
Halburg stood, with his long thin arms clasped together with his spindly fingers and spoke with slight stutters of nervousness "The, uh, Fear class dragons are the Hideous Zippleback and Snaptrapper, both now residing in the Mystery class. Fear class dragons were defined by, umm, their traits of being sly, sneaky and surprising aswell as mostly boasting two or more heads. The class was dismissed and resorted due to nobody fearing them anymore because of both dragons being able to be trained".
"Perfect answer, if only your timing was as good as your knowledge then our world would be perfect. You may sit Halburg" she said to which he obliged. "Right, so I think that Halburg has pretty much covered the entire topic of this class but there are other classes of dragons out there. The Stoker, Boulder, Sharp, Tracker, Mystery, Tidal and Strike are what we shall discuss" she said.
The class continued discussing the topic for about an hour before the loud call of a Thunderdrum to signal the end of the class. Most of the class disbanded but just when Halburg was about to turn and leave with satchel over shoulder and War Scythe in grasp, he heard Astrid say "Not so fast Halburg".
Halburg groaned and walked up to the front of the classroom where she stood with her axe in one hand but the end slung over her shoulder. "So Halburg, excite me. Why were you fifteen minutes late" she asked. "Got held up at the forge" he replied, leaning on his War Scythe.
"I see, well I will leave this up to Hiccup to decide but you are dismissed. I will expect you on time after break for sparring class" she replied. "Thank you Astrid" replied Halburg and quickly sped off leaving Astrid to sigh.
Halburg walked outside and was greeted by Smoke and Spark idly chirping in their way as they watched all the other riders depart. Halburg watched as Jhrpiy and some of his other friends such as Clazit, Sky & Ocean, Aniu Ravenwolf, Maddy Cool, Jessica Ral and Nataly Rose, to name a select few were flying off to do whatever they wished.
"I have not enough guy friends" thought Halburg as he hopped onto Smoke and Spark. Then again, Halburg was not the most sociable character in the school. He often paid most of his attention to the forge, books, exploring, dragon writing, mineral collecting and looking after his own six dragons.
His mother and father had their own dragons but as they were away for a month with some others on an errand for the chief, Halburg only had himself and his six with him. Aswell as Smoke and Spark, he had a white female Monstrous Nightmare with blue stripes, a green male Grapple Grounder with red dots and underbelly, a yellow female Flightmare with pink lining and green underbelly, an orange male Hobblegrunt with blue and black markings and a green female Raincutter with orange markings. They were named Blizzard, Twist, Belle, Frill and Spines (Name order reflects the species named the same).
Halburg smiled as he flew to the Training Grounds thinking of his beloved dragons. His mother and father always thought he should socialize more and less with his dragons but he always retorted with how much they loved their orange and purple Changewing named Whip, blue Terrible Terror named Crawl and red Scauldron named Steam.
Smoke and Spark set down on the beach to which Halburg showed his difference to the younger, older and similar aged students near or on the beach. Most there were fishing, swimming, relaxing or chatting but Halburg was searching for minerals and rocks.
Halburg would crawl along rocks and chip away parts of minerals or take the entire ore, placing them into a storage space in his saddle. Spark would often lift up higher on the cliff wall aswell as spark at rocks to see what were what.
Halburg was on his Zippleback's head when a spine shot flew over his helmet and seemed to hit his War Scythe and knocked him onto the sand, his War Scythe leaving his grasp. When Halburg looked up, he found a red Razorwhip and black Catastrophic Quaken with a male and female rider, both his age laughing at him. Halburg growled as he stood up with his War Scythe while Smoke and Spark stood behind him but each head on either side of him, stretched past.
The boy with black hair, blue eyes and a much stronger, visible muscle, broad shape, holding a chief worthy hammer and confident as Helheim, was Magnus Doyle who was a bully to Halburg and though Halburg was slightly taller, his scarecrow like body was eclipsed by that of Magnus' macho design. The girl with blonde hair, green eyes, a lean figure and wielding a falx, was Magnus' girlfriend, much to the disappointment of most other girls, was named Natania Stokes.
Magnus spoke in his rough, manly voice "What's the matter Thorston, can't take a fall". His Quaken seemed to also grin. Natania then added while petting her Razorwhip "Who can blame your parents for leaving their feeble rider behind; after all he did choose a Zippleback over a proper dragon". It was a well-known fact that Natania and Magus, along with their large range of similar aged 'fans' hated any dragon with multiple heads, particularly Zipplebacks and Snaptrappers. The reason why was unknown but nobody cared.
Halburg growled and retorted "Well my Zippleback is better than your hedgehog and dwarf Windstriker". Smoke and Spark laughed however Magnus glared and walked over. "Listen here Thorston, you had best take that back" he snarled. "Or what, you will try and attack me before my dragon fills you with gas" asked Halburg, which Smoke put himself between the two and let out some of his green gas.
Natania pulled Magnus away and as Magnus flew off, Natania glared at Halburg and stated "Pray you don't spar against me or him".