Future Chief!

Contrary to what the people of Berk believe, Hiccup's intelligence coupled with his adventures and experiences on other islands has more than prepared him for his role as the future chief of Berk. As a matter of fact, at the ripe old age of 16, Hiccup is already putting plans in place for Berk's future.

Disclaimer: I rarely, if ever, write cannon. I write how the story takes me.

Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or any of their characters. In other words, I Own Nothing.

Chapter 2: Duel

The next morning at daybreak, Sven walked into the arena with his broad sword. He looked around and saw Hiccup already in the arena waiting for him. He looked up in the stands and saw Astrid, Ingrid, Stoick and Gobber sitting there. No one else knew about the insult or the duel since it had just happened last night. Sven walked toward Hiccup and stopped several feet from him. He looked closely at Hiccup and saw he did not have a weapon.

"Where is your weapon, boy?" Sven snarled.

"I don't need one for this." Hiccup replied. "Shall we begin, I have a busy day ahead of me and I don't have time to stand around talking to a fool." Hiccup stated calmly.

Incensed by Hiccup's calm reply, Sven charged at Hiccup and started swinging his sword left to right trying to decapitate Hiccup. Hiccup calmly avoided each swing and thrust. After five minutes of this, Sven was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Hiccup looked like he hadn't even broken a sweat yet. Sven charged Hiccup again but this time, instead of defensive moves, Hiccup went on the attack. As Sven swung the sword at Hiccups neck, Hiccup ducked and lashed out with a vicious side kick to Sven stomach. The kick was so powerful that it briefly lifted Sven off the ground before he fell to his knees gagging and vomiting. When Sven recovered, he tried to surprise Hiccup by starting his swing up high as though he was going for Hiccups throat again and quickly brought it down to try to chop off Hiccups legs. Hiccup jumped over the blade and performed a round house back kick while he was in the air kicking Sven in the face. Sven spun around from the powerful impact of the blow and found himself on his back seeing stars. Hiccup had landed silently back on his feet as though nothing had happened.

Everyone in the stands was amazed at Hiccups fighting skills. Hiccup was calmly and easily taking apart one of the best fighters on Berk without breaking a sweat. If that wasn't astonishing enough, he was doing this without a weapon. Gobber, Stoick and Ingrid all looked at Astrid for answers. Astrid just shrugged her shoulders and told them she didn't know he could fight like that.

Sven tried to stand, staggered and fell back down. He got up again and stood, swaying from side to side. Sven glared at Hiccup even though he had a new found respect for the boy. The promise that Hiccup had made to him last night came back into his head;

"Rest assured I will not kill you only because you are her father but there will be no question that I could have and you will apologize to Astrid when we are done."

Hiccup took off running toward Sven and when he was still a several feet away he leapt in the air and executed a flying kick to Sven face knocking him out. Hiccup, again, landed softly on the ground. He went over to Sven, knelt down and picked up his sword with ease. Everyone held their breath as Hiccup raised the sword above his head and stabbed the sword into the ground less than an inch from Sven's head. Hiccup then went and got a bucket of water and poured it on Sven. Sven didn't come to right away. Hiccup's powerful kick had really put him out. He came too slowly. He finally opened his eyes trying to figure out where he was and why he hurt so much. He started to turn his head when it was stopped by his sword sticking in the ground. He looked up and was finally able to focus on Hiccup standing over him. Now it all came rushing back to him and he knew what the sword stuck in the ground by his head meant.

"As I could have killed you, your life is mine." Hiccup began. I give you a choice. Apologize to my fiancé and you can have your life. Don't apologize and you must leave Berk."

"Now Hiccup, you don't have" Stoick started before Hiccup barked.

"Silence Stoick, this does not concern you. Even as chief, you do not have the authority to mettle in a man protecting his woman's honor. As Viking tradition dictates, I can slit your throat right now for overstepping your authority and no one, not even the elders of the tribe, would be able to say a word against me. Just be lucky that the only people here are all trustworthy or I would be forced to carry out that punishment." Hiccup shouted at Stoick.

Even though Stoick knew Hiccup was right, his pride at being put in his place by his son would not let him leave well enough alone. The situation might have escalated to the point of Hiccup killing Stoick if Gobber had not stepped in. As Stoick opened his mouth to shout back at Hiccup, Gobber beat him to the punch.

"Stoick, shut up!" Stoick closed his mouth and looked at the angry face of his best friend.

"What are ye trying to do, force your son and heir to have to kill you? Is that what ye want? Is that how ye want the village to remember you? Is that what ye want the village to see when they look at their new chief, the man who killed the former chief, his father? For someone who continually argues that he loves his son, ye have a strange way of showing it. Everything that boy has said to ye is absolutely right. You keep cramming customs and traditions down everyone's throat yet here ye go busting them wide open like they don't pertain to you to."

Stoick did not have a comeback for Gobber. He knew Gobber was right and he was wrong. He knew he had overstepped his authority. Stoick did love his son in his own way and did not want his son going through life with the distinction of having killed his father. Stoick swallowed the big lump in his throat and swallowed his pride as he spoke to Hiccup.

"You're right son. I apologize for interfering in your affairs."

"Thank you for that." Hiccup replied. He then turned his attention back to Sven.

"Well, what's it going to be?" he asked the fallen man.

Sven also had to swallow a lump in his throat as he knew what he had to do. This seemingly young slip of a boy had just soundly beaten him defending his own daughter's honor. Sven loved his daughter and had made that statement in anger. He was proud of the fact that this boy took his daughters honor seriously and was ready to do battle to protect it. His daughter loved this boy. His wife loved this boy. He was the heir to Berk and he had just proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could protect Astrid if need be. Sven got up slowly, groaning as he did so thinking, for a little fishbone, that boy packs a wallop in his punches and kicks. Sven walked over to where Ingrid, Astrid, Stoick and Gobber were sitting. Looking up at them, he addressed Astrid.

"Astrid, I'm sorry for being an arse. That statement I made to you, I did not mean it. You are a wonderful daughter and I would want no other. You have always honored the family name and made us proud. I think I just panicked at losing my daughter so soon. Your fiancée was right to take me to task for smearing your virtue and honor. I am proud of the young man you want for your husband and I am proud of you."

Astrid ran down to the bottom of the arena and dove down into the ring the way her father had taught her. Sven caught her as he had done all of her life. He had taught her this when she was a wee girl. She was scared at first but her trust in her father was unshakable and she had leapt and was caught by her father then and every single time thereafter. Sven hugged his daughter as she hugged him back with all her strength. Finally, Sven put his daughter down and looked at her.

"You are as beautiful and strong willed as your mother and before you get all riled up, that was a compliment" Sven stated chuckling.

Astrid laughed as they both looked up and saw Ingrid standing with her hands on her hips glaring down at her husband. Normally, Sven and anyone else close by would fear for Sven's life but everyone could see the glint in her eyes and small upward turn of her lips that she was fighting to hide.

Hiccup walked over to where Sven and Astrid were standing and addressed Sven. Holding out his hand for a shake he said

"No hard feelings sir?"

Sven looked at Hiccup's hand and then up to Hiccup's face. He stepped in and picked Hiccup up in a bear hug walking around the arena and laughing. He ended up back where Astrid was standing as he put Hiccup down and said.

"No son, there are absolutely no hard feelings." Sven said smiling. "As a matter of fact, this little duel answered one of my main concerns with this marriage which was how you would protect my daughter. Well Hiccup, you don't have to worry about any problems from me. I am looking forward to having you as a son-in-law."

With a big smile on her face, Astrid sauntered over to Hiccup and punched him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked while rubbing his arm.

"You, Dragon Boy, have not properly greeted your fiancé today." Astrid said as she turned her back to him.

Smirking, Hiccup turned her around and placing his hands under her arm pits, picked her up. Astrid instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. Smiling up into her surprised face he said "How is this for a proper greeting" as he proceeded to give her a mind blowing kiss. He placed a dazed Astrid back on her feet and smiled at the goofy expression that was on her face. Astrid was snapped out of her stupor when she heard all the grownups laughing at the effect Hiccups kiss had on her. Blushing beet red, she responded nonchalantly

"Yeah, I suppose that will do."

Her attempt at nonchalance just caused them to laugh even harder.

"Well, I've got a tomb to raid for a sword so I will see you later." Hiccup said. He gave Astrid another quick kiss before jumping on Toothless and shooting into the sky.

"What did he mean about having to raid a tomb?" Astrid asked Stoick.

Laughing, Stoick responded "It's tradition for a Viking to give the bride a sword from his ancestor. The only way to do that is to go into the tomb and get one they were buried with."

"Oh!" she said not liking the idea of being given a dead man's sword.

Laughing at the expression on her daughter's face, Ingrid said "Come along child. We have a week to plan a wedding and get you a dress.

As everyone left the arena, Sven addressed Stoick.

"Chief, what fighting style was that Hiccup was using and where did he learn it? I've never seen anything like it but I can definitely attest to how affective it is."

Stoick got a puzzled look on his face. "I don't know; I've never seen anything like it either." Stoick pronounced.

No one knew that during one of Hiccup's and Toothless exploration flights they had come across a village that was having trouble with dragons. Of course Hiccup and Toothless were able to help them with their dragon problem. As usual, the only fee that Hiccup asked for was to be trained in their fighting style and fish for Toothless. Unknown to Hiccup, the village had a protector known only as Chen. They had pulled Chen out of the ocean and nursed him back to health. In return, Chen swore allegiance to them and protected them from Viking raids. Unfortunately, Chen would not slay a dragon because where he was originally from, dragons were worshipped and idolized. Chen did not look like any Viking Hiccup had ever seen. Chen was short and had slanted eyes and had a strange but very effective fighting style. For helping the village, Chen agreed to train Hiccup in this very strange fighting style called martial arts. Chen lived outside of the village in an isolated area. The chief of the village had offered Chen a large house in the village but Chen had refused choosing instead to live outside of the village.

Chen started Hiccup's training right away. Before Hiccup left after the first day of training, Chen noticed he was limping. He signaled to Hiccup to remove the prostatic and saw how red, raw and bloody Hiccups stump was. Chen brought out a mixture of herbs to put on it. He soaked a cloth in the herbs and then wrapped Hiccups stump with it. He knew they would have to come up with another type of prostatic for Hiccup so he could endure the training. After Hiccup left, Chen started making some drawings on how to improve Hiccups prostatic and ease some of the pressure off of the stump. After training the next day, Chen again fixed his herbs and dressed Hiccups stump. Before Hiccup left, Chen showed him the rough drafts for the new prostatic. Chen didn't know that Hiccup was basically a genius and inventor himself so he was very surprised that Hiccup not only understood his drawing but started making some improvements to it. When he was done putting his input into the drawing, he showed it to Chen and that earned him the first smile from the protector. The coils and springs that were to be included on the new prostatic would absorb just about all of the shock from walking, running and jumping. The springs and coils would also allow Hiccup to jump higher when pushing off with his prostatic leg. As tired as Hiccup was, he went right to work on the new prostatic when he arrived home. Hiccup also decided to use a new kind of metal, Gronckle Iron, which was the strongest and lightest he had ever seen. It had been discovered by accident when Meatlug, Fishleg's Gronckle, was sick. It was later found out that Fishlegs had fed him a combination of different rocks found near a dormant volcano on the island. Meatlug vomited a huge amount of lava that later became known at Gronckle iron. Hiccup finished the new prostatic and found that it worked perfectly.

When he arrived for training, he showed Chen the new prostatic. Chen had him take it off so he could examine it. After doing some test with the prostatic to make sure it was strong enough since it was so light, Chen was satisfied it would hold up. He gave it back to Hiccup and then the real training began. He had all kinds of different exercises that he made Hiccup do. The first thing Chen worked on was Hiccup's endurance. He had Hiccup run around the island. Of course Hiccup was not even close to making it around the island. Hiccup had no endurance to speak of but Chen never let up on Hiccup. He gave exercise after exercise that improved his endurance, strength, balance, flexibility and acrobatics. He was pleasantly surprised at Hiccup's determination to master everything Chen taught him. Hiccup never complained and did everything that was asked of him. He trained Hiccup how to fight with and without his prostatic leg on. Chen spent extra time working with Hiccup on his balance and mind while training him to fight without his prostatic. He not only needed Hiccup to be able to fight without it but he needed Hiccup to know that he could. He needed to have the same confidence in himself with or without the prostatic. To the protector's surprise, Hiccup was a very astute student and mastered every different style of fighting he taught him very quickly.

What Chen didn't know was at the end of the day when Hiccup returned to Berk, he continued training with Toothless. With the help of Toothless, Hiccups endurance increased dramatically. Racing a night furry around an island everyday would do that to you. Even though Hiccup could never beat Toothless, he was able to easily run around the island with him at top speed several times. Since Hiccup and Toothless were buds, they wrestled and play fought all the time. Along with the exercises Chen gave Hiccup, wrestling a night furry tended to build up your strength rather quickly. Hiccup was growing stronger by leaps and bounds but did not know it. He did not notice that even though he could never match Toothless strength, he was able to move Toothless around more and more. He always thought Toothless was taking pity on him and allowing him to do it. Only Toothless knew different. His reflexes and speed also greatly increased. Toothless was about as quick and fast as any dragon and trying to avoid his tail and his strikes was paramount to Hiccups well being. In the beginning, Toothless could easily hit Hiccup without really trying. Now, Toothless is going at full speed and still can't seem to land a blow on Hiccup. What Hiccup and Toothless both like the best is when they trained fighting together. They became so in tuned with one another that they could anticipate the others moves. They moved with perfect synchronization. There was an incredible beauty to the way they moved together that sometimes made you forget how extremely lethal those moves were. They trained over water, in water, over the forest, in the forest, in the air and on the ground. Hiccup tried to train for every possible scenario so he and Toothless would never be caught off guard. Hiccup and Toothless were poetry in motion the way moved together. The most important part of their fighting style, which could not be taught, was trust. The trusted each other unequivocally.

So, unknown to Berk, Hiccup had not only learned to fight but was the best warrior on Berk. Because Hiccup was, well, Hiccup, he didn't go around bragging that he could fight now or anything like that. In fact, he continued to let everyone think he was the same Hiccup. Of course, after the duel a few more people would know but he wasn't worried about them.

The other thing Chen had taught him was what pleased a woman. Hiccup had told Chen about Astrid and Chen had asked him if he knew a woman's body. Blushing, Hiccup told him no. Chen took a book out of his bag and had Hiccup read it. He then explained the things he had read. He taught Hiccup where the pleasure points on a woman were and how to touch a woman. He also taught him that stamina was very important when pleasing a woman. He taught Hiccup techniques on how to control his body. Unknown to Astrid, Hiccup would practice on her. Just like with the martial arts, Hiccup was an astute student and mastered this art also. Most of the time, Hiccup had Astrid climbing the walls with the way he had her body humming. Astrid had no idea how he did this to her. Of course, she didn't have any complaints but it got the point where he could just look at her and her body was aflame with heat. Astrid had no idea what would happen when they were finally married and hiccup would be free to complete their union. If what he was doing to her now was any indication, she didn't know how she would be able to walk around the village without blushing.

With all his martial arts training, Hiccup was more confident in everything he did. The village slowly started responding to this new confident heir. Hiccup went around helping the villagers with their problems before Stoick even knew about them. Sometimes, Stoick would show up somewhere stating he was there to help with whatever problem they had only to be told Hiccup had already been there and solved the problem. He also noticed there were less and less people coming to the great hall with problems for him to solve. Apparently, Hiccup didn't just give them words but also pitched in to make sure the problem was actually solved. As Stoick walked around the village, he would see Hiccups inventions on farms and houses' doing whatever it is they were designed to do. The villagers would come out and report to the chief that Hiccup was going to make a fine chief as he was already taking his responsibilities very seriously. Then they would show him what Hiccup had made for them and how great it was working. Stoick found he was having more and more free time on his hand. What was amazing was Stoick still didn't see Hiccup much. They traveled the same paths but it seemed Hiccup was always 5 steps ahead of Stoick. When they were together and Stoick tried to teach Hiccup the traditional way of being a chief, Hiccup would tell him that way won't work for him since he is trying to take Berk into the future so they don't die out. Hiccup has tried to explain to Stoick numerous times that for Berk to survive; they have to come out of the dark ages and into the future. Stoick still can't wrap his head around what Hiccup is trying to explain to him so Hiccup just continues with his plans without involving Stoick. The only plan they can agree to work on together is the wedding plans. That's only because Hiccup doesn't care what they do as long as he gets to marry Astrid. Once he is married and life returns to normal, he will continue with his agenda but for now, his agenda is Astrid.