Chapter 2: A Day in the Life of a Hiccup

"Day" being the relative term here.

Hiccup awoke to the feeling of someone vigorously shaking his shoulder. When his eyes blinked open, he expected to see his father, but instead found a Snivy standing over him. He was confused for about half a moment, then he remembered the sequence of events from the previous day that had resulted in him bringing a wild Pokémon into his home.

"What?" he asked, muddled and still sleepy. "What is it?"

The answer he got was a loud roar from outside.

A raid!

Now fully awake, Hiccup practically flung himself into a sitting position. The sun hadn't risen yet; it took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the dark of what he guessed was the early morning. He threw the blanket off, grabbed the Snivy, and bolted down the stairs.

His father was absent, as to be expected. If Hiccup was right about what was happening outside, and there was very little doubt about it, then his father had to be busy defending the village from the hostile invaders.

"Sni Snivy vy?" the injured Pokémon questioned, his voice wavering fearfully.

Hiccup was quite afraid himself. He didn't have a reason not to be scared. But he managed to cover it up with a layer of snark.

"This is Berk," he narrated, a sarcastic edge in his voice. "It's five days north of hopeless, and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery."

The Snivy in his arms shivered, either from nervousness or the thought of the cold.

"It's my village," Hiccup continued. "In a word - sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We've got fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests."

"Vy Snivy?" The Snivy climbed up his lanky arm onto his shoulder, perching there like a pet parrot.

"You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes," Hiccup said, walking to the door. "We have..."

He opened the door, and the outline of a huge beast appeared, hovering outside. Noticing them, it spat a wave of fire in their direction. Hiccup barely managed to close the door before he and the Snivy could be incinerated. The roaring flames licked at the edges of the door, the heat pulsed through the wood, and the two occupants were overwhelmed by fear.

Hiccup finished his statement in a whisper. "...Dragons."

It took a minute for the heat to die down, and even then the front door was still smoldering. But Hiccup had had plenty of experience with raging fire and intense heat, and he knew very well how to handle it. He yanked the door open, the Snivy still hanging onto him, and emerged into a scene of pure chaos.

The sky was filled with dragons, each a different size, shape, and color. Some of them scorched the ground with their fire breath, others grabbed hapless sheep that were grazing in the fields. The central plaza was practically an inferno, the flames eating away at the wood houses like swarms of termites.

Just ahead of Hiccup, a large birdlike dragon swooped down and snagged a sheep in its claws. Seconds later, a well-armored Viking ran in from out of nowhere and jumped up, grabbing the dragon's legs in an attempt to retrieve the wooly animal. Another dragon, this one green with insectoid features, flew in and clawed at the Viking's back. A pudgy brown dragon then flew by, its wings beating like a bumblebee's, with a Viking trapped in its jaws. The mighty warrior beat the dragon's face with a hammer over and over again, but the beast didn't relinquish its grip.

"Most people would leave," Hiccup commented. "Not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues."

The Snivy made a sort of scoffing noise, which probably meant something along the lines of, "You don't say."

"My name is Hiccup," he uttered, as if all the chaos and fire happening around them was completely normal. When he noticed the Snivy looking at him like he'd just grown a second head, he promptly added, "Great name, I know. But it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls - like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that."

A fireball sailed in and exploded against the ground nearby, the force of the impact knocking Hiccup off his feet. His back hit the ground hard, and before he could blink a Viking warrior suddenly stooped down and bellowed in his face, then gave him a cheery, "Morning!" and charged off.

Hiccup scrambled back up and headed further into the village, the Snivy clinging to his shoulder like a lifeline (which, at that point, it probably was). As he ran, Vikings all over yelled to him, "What are you doing here?" and "Get back inside!" Ignoring them, Hiccup turned a corner, only to have a passing dragon nearly scorch him as it shot fire at the ground in front of him.

A hand flashed out and snagged the back of Hiccup's shirt. He could hear the Snivy cry out in surprise at the sudden halt, and the pair of them found themselves staring at the bearded face of the biggest Viking anyone had ever seen.

"Hiccup!" shouted the large man. "What is he doing out again?! What are you doing out here?! Get inside!"

He set the boy down, and Hiccup continued on his way, a thoroughly freaked out Snivy still on his shoulder. "That's Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe," he informed the frightened Pokémon. "They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head right off of its shoulders. Do I believe that?" He paused before answering with absolute certainty, "Yes, I do."

It felt weird to be talking to a Pokémon, especially one he'd just met the day before, but it was satisfying to have company for a change. Even if said company couldn't really talk to him.

His path was suddenly blocked by a hulking white bear with a beard made of icicles. The Beartic opened his mouth and breathed an icy-cold wind on the flames, snuffing them out.

"Stoick's partner, Brumous," was Hiccup's blunt introduction.

Avoiding another fire blast from a dragon overhead, he ducked into the building that he was hoping to find. It was a blacksmith's workshop, and it was already occupied.

"Oh, nice of you to join the party!" said the large Viking who was busy at the anvil. One of his hands was missing, replaced by a large hammer. "I thought you'd been carried off!"

Taking off his fur vest and replacing it with an apron, Hiccup replied, "Who, me? No, I'm way to muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all this." He flexed his pathetically skinny arms, trying to show at least a little muscle.

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?" the Viking asked jokingly as he replaced his hammer with a set of tongs.

Hiccup opened the window to the forge, and was met with a boatload of weapons in need of repair. "The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber," he breathlessly told the Snivy, who had hopped off his shoulder and was now sitting on a nearby worktable. "I've been his apprentice ever since I was little - well, littler." He nodded at a blue rock-like Pokémon that was hovering in the nearby corner, adding, "And that is his partner, Norward."

It was hard not to hear all of the noises from outside - the courageous battle cries of the Vikings, the snarls and thundering roars of the dragons, and the cries of the wounded. There was a burst of light and heat, and another house was up in flames.

"See?" Hiccup commented wryly. "Old village, lots and lots of new houses."

Then, over the sounds of battle, he heard a Viking near the new fire hazard call out. Hiccup's heart skipped a beat, and he momentarily abandoned what he was doing to stick his head out the window. He was just in time to see a small group of teenagers - the group of teenagers - rush onto the scene with a barrel filled to the brim with water. A thrill coursed through him as he searched for a certain someone.

Something moved in the corner of his eye, and seconds later the Snivy hoisted himself up onto the window frame. The Grass Snake Pokémon pointed at the group and asked, "Snivy Sni?"

"Who are they?" Hiccup guessed. When the Snivy nodded, he answered, "that's Fishlegs and his partner, Pad. Snotlout and his partner, Heat. The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and their partners, Sarin and Ricin..."

Jus outside the forge, the group of eight was rushing to put out the fire with buckets of water. A ridiculously chubby teen and his Lombre, a buff teen and his Magmar, and a pair of twins fighting over the same bucket with their Nidorino and Nidorina. All at once, the feuding foursome was knocked aside by the appearance of another.

A feisty feathered figure pushed the twins and their partners aside, obviously making room for someone. "That's Blaze, the Combusken," Hiccup said. He then pointed to a new figure who nodded at Blaze in thanks, shouldered past the Combusken, and then doused out a small fire with her bucket of water in one elegant motion.

"And that's her trainer," Hiccup paused and then called the girl by her name. "Astrid."

Merely a second later, another fireball came blazing in from above, framing her magnificently in an explosion of red and orange flame. Mesmerized by the display, Hiccup was completely ignorant of the others that regrouped to join her, his spellbound gaze focused solely on the most attractive girl this side of the archipelago. The blonde bangs hanging over her left eye in a way that seemed to summarize her beauty and awesomeness, the way she walked with her head held high, and her stunning blue eyes shining with immeasurable confidence and pride...

She was gone before he could get a better look at her, although he certainly tried his best, almost falling out of the window as he leaned farther out. What he wouldn't give to be even a fraction of what she was - strong, fearless, coordinated; everything a Viking should be. Privately, he thanked that random dragon for helping to deliver such a stunning spectacle.

"Oh, their jobs are so much cooler," Hiccup breathed to no one in particular.

The sound of someone snickering reminded him that he wasn't alone. He looked down and, to his complete embarrassment, saw the Snivy giving him an incredibly smug look.

...How much of that did I say out loud?

Suddenly, Gobber hoisted him away from the window and plunked him down inside the forge. "Oh, would you let me out, please?!" Hiccup complained. "I need to make my mark!"

Gobber snorted. "You've made plenty of marks," he told Hiccup, jabbing him gently with his tongs. "All in the wrong places."

Before Gobber could continue the conversation, Hiccup jumped back in. "Please, two minutes," he pleaded. "I'll kill a dragon, and my life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date!"

That last part made the Snivy snicker.

It was Gobber's turn to roll his eyes as he made a list on his fingers: "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these!" He held up a bola, which was quickly grabbed by a Viking outside the window. The Viking took aim and threw the bola at a passing dragon. The weapon snared the dragon's legs and wings, causing it to plummet to the ground with a dull thud.

"Ah," Hiccup said, moving over to a wooden contraption on wheels - one of his many inventions. "That is why this will throw it for me," he finished smugly, giving the device an affectionate pat. The launcher spontaneously unfolded at his touch and sent a bola hurtling across the room and colliding with Norward's head-shaped body. Unfazed by the attack, the Probopass folded up and went to sleep, clearly annoyed.

Gobber looked like he had enough. "Now this right here is what I'm talking about!"

"A mild calibration issue," Hiccup tried to explain, only to be cut off as Gobber continued.

"If you want to get out there and fight dragons, you need to stop all...this." He gestured with his hand and tongs.

"You just pointed to all of me!" Hiccup said, appalled.

"Yes, that's it!" Gobber said in a satisfied way. "Stop being all of you!"

Not wanting to be so easily swayed, Hiccup channeled his frustrating into what he hoped came across as an intimidating glare. "You, sir, are playing a dangerous game," he warned ominously. "Keeping this much raw...Viking-ness...contained? there will be consequences!"

Gobber gave him a flat look, unconvinced. "I'll take my chances," he deadpanned, before casually slapping a dulled sword into Hiccup's hands. "Sword. Sharpen. Now."

Nearly staggering under the weight of the weapon that had been handed to him, Hiccup stumbled over to the grindstone and set the flat of the blade against it. The Snivy, who had been watching the exchange from the window, resumed his position up on the boy's shoulder, watching him work with interest.

"One day I'll get out there," Hiccup promised to anyone who was listening. "Because killing a dragon is everything around here."

He felt the Snivy's curious gaze resting on him, but Hiccup's eyes never left the sword on the grindstone. He watched the edge get even sharper and imagined it sinking into a dragon's hide, driven into a fatal wound by his own two hands.

"A Deadly Nadder or Flygon head is sure to get me at least noticed," he monologued.

As Hiccup griped to his new friend about his lack of social standing whilst holed up in the safety of the forge, the invasion outside was still going strong. Not all of the dragons and Dragon-type Pokémon were rampaging like mindless monsters throughout the village; some of them had a purpose in mind. Around one of the sheep barns, bird-like Deadly Nadders stalked, accompanied by Flygon, cawing and growling and squawking amongst themselves as they searched for a way in.

"Gronckles and Sliggoo are tough," Hiccup continued. "Taking down one of each of those would definitely get me a girlfriend."

Cue another snicker from the amused Snivy.

Nearby, some of the tougher dragons were raiding one of the food storehouses. A group of the portly dragons, each with a snail-like Pokémon on their back, greedily scooped up drying fish from the racks they hung from into their mouths. One of the Gronckles didn't bother with individual fish, simply uprooting the entire rack in its jaws before fluttering away like an overgrown bumblebee.

"A Hideous Zippleback and a Zweilous? Exotic. Two heads each, twice the status."

The food storehouse itself was the current target of a dual-headed dragon - one head sprayed flammable gas all over the vicinity, and the other ignited it with a spark or two from the back of its throat, blowing the building to smithereens. Its destructive work done, it swooped off, its aide, Zweilous, riding on its back, using Protect to block off any flying debris that might hit them.

Stoick and Brumous witnessed all of this transpire from their perch atop one of Berk's catapults, their best defense against a horde of this magnitude.

"They've found the sheep!" a Viking shouted. The Deadly Nadders and Flygon at the sheep barn had torn a hole in the roof and were making off with a sheep each.

Stoick was not about to let them get away. "Concentrate fire over the lower bank!" he ordered, triggering the catapult. A boulder smashed into the company of Nadders, knocking one out of the sky and scattering the rest.

At that moment, the air around the catapult was filled with the scent of burning wood. The smell was all over the village by now, but this was much stronger and had come without warning. It was close. Stoick looked around for the source of the new blaze, but soon stopped in his tracks. A flickering light was coming from beneath him.

"And then, there's the Monstrous Nightmare and Salamence. Only the best Vikings go after those. The Monstrous Nightmare has this nasty habit of setting itself on fire."

Stoick peered over the edge of the catapult tower, and a burst of heat and light erupted from beneath him as a flaming beast burst through the burning wood to sink its claws into the deck. Red-hot flames danced across its fireproof scales, its yellow eyes burning almost as brightly.

The Monstrous Nightmare snarled as it opened its fanged jaws in a roar that would make any other Viking soil his pants.

But Stoick wasn't just any other Viking. "Reload!" he shouted over his shoulder. Readying his hammer, he growled, "I'll take care of this."

He swung, striking the dragon in the head. Back and forth he bashed it, refusing to let the powerful beast get so much as a half-hearted snap in edgewise. It hissed, as though it were made of fire itself, and lunged in retaliation. Stoick, though, was relentless, avoiding its jaws and giving it one last stone-crushing strike.

Then, the dragon looked away from the chief, at something only it could see. It spared Stoick a final, murderous glance before swooping away as swiftly as it had come, taking its inferno with it.

And that was how Stoick knew that Berk's worst enemy had arrived.

"But the ultimate prize is the dragon that no one's ever seen before. We call it the..."

It was as though speaking of it had summoned it right to Berk. Without warning, a piercing screech tore through the village, getting steadily louder and louder.

A lone Viking hollered the unknown creature's name. "NIGHT FURY!"

"Get down!" another warned.

All across the village, Vikings and Pokémon alike ducked down, and a huge burst of blue flame shot down from the sky and exploded, taking the entire catapult down. There was a whistling noise as the unknown dragon shot by overhead, too fast and too dark to be seen. Stoick, Brumous, and the other Vikings and Pokémon manning the now destroyed catapult jumped to safety before the structure could crumble on top of them.

Hiccup continued in a whisper to the Snivy, now thoroughly spooked. "This dragon doesn't have a partner, it never steals food, never reveals itself, and" - another catapult exploded - "never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why" - he stood up straighter in an attempt to look bold - "I'm going to be the first."

The Snivy looked at him with wide, fearful eyes.

Barely a few feet away from them, Gobber suddenly abandoned his tongs and replaced them with a sharp axe. "Man the fort, Hiccup," he ordered. "They need me out there." Just before he stepped outside, he said more firmly, "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean."

Without waiting for a reply, the blacksmith let out a battle cry and charged out into the fray on his leg and a half.

As soon as he left their line of sight, Hiccup threw off his apron and replaced it with his fur vest, grabbed his homemade weapon - which he called "the Mangler" - and wheeled it to the door. "Let's go kill a dragon," he said to the Snivy, and rushed outside, towing his invention before him like an oddly-shaped wheelbarrow. He swerved this way and that, shouting apologies to each person and/or Pokémon he nearly ran into.

Flinching at a stray blast of dragon fire, the Grass Snake Pokémon uttered into his human mount's ear, "Vy Snivy Sni Snivy."

What I wouldn't give to know what that meant...

The last catapult tower on Berk stood on a lonely, quiet clearing a good distance away from the main plaza. Here, the sounds of battle were faint and barely registered in Hiccup's mind. Upon reaching the tower, he parked his cargo and set up the Mangler with practiced ease. In seconds, the protective casing was opened, the launcher erected, and the trigger pulled back. Finally, he aimed the barrel at the catapult tower, ready to fire at the slightest movement.

Snivels had to admit he was impressed with this odd human. What he lacked in brawns, he made up for in intellect. If Snivels didn't know any better, he'd say that Hiccup was definitely not a Viking.

But he was one of them - a scrawny miniature of one of them, but still. He strove to kill dragons, like every other human on this island called Berk. And now here he was heading out to the outskirts of the village to hunt for one of the rarest dragons known in Viking society - the Night Fury - and he was taking Snivels with him.

Snivels wanted it all to stop - no more fighting, no more stealing, and, most importantly, no more death. But he couldn't convey those feelings to the Vikings, not unless they had some level of understanding the Pokémon language. Considering how stubborn and ignorant they all were, the chances of that were very slim, if not none.

Maybe...he could try speaking in their language.

He'd heard of Pokémon who could communicate with humans telepathically, but that was mostly Psychic-types or Legendary and Mythical beings. The Snivy evolution line possessed no such ability. He'd have to speak verbally.

English would probably be the simplest to master, since his species' name was made up of English words. But the Vikings only understood their own language - Norse.

One step at a time. You can do it. "My name is Snivels."

"Vy Snivy Sni Snivy."

He didn't expect to nail it on his first try, but it was still disappointing. This was going to be harder than he thought.

Try again. Don't give up. You know what they say - with repetition comes perfection.

"Vy Snivy Sni Snivy."

Again.

"Vy Snivy Sni Snivy."

And again.

"Vy Snivy Sni Snivy."

He barely noticed when Hiccup stopped near the edge of a cliff to set up his contraption, and he ignored how his injured tail throbbed painfully every time he moved. He had to stay focused and keep trying.

"Vy, Snivy, Sni, Snihvy."

...Was it his imagination, or did that last "I" sound less like "eye" and more like "ih"?

It's working!

Unfortunately, his little moment of personal triumph was interrupted quite suddenly by an explosion of blue fire. Just a second later, Hiccup was flung backwards; the young human collided with the ground, and Snivels was thrown off his shoulder and sent tumbling into the grass.

Snivels heard something snap, then the unmistakable screech of the Night Fury, and his heart sank.

The seconds ticked by, but it felt like forever to Hiccup. The Snivy was mumbling to itself, but he droned out the sound. The catapult tower stood resolutely in front of them, shrouded in darkness without the illumination from the village torchlights.

"Come on, give me something to shoot at," Hiccup murmured, crouching into a ready position. "Give me something to shoot at..."

There was no movement in the skies - or was there? A nearly invisible shape blocked out the stars as it flew by, almost like a shadow. Instinctively, Hiccup knew that this was the dragon that he had been waiting for.

The Night Fury.

A screech rang out as it prepared to strike. Diving towards the catapult, the Night Fury's shriek reached its peak as it spat a bolt of blue fire straight at the structure. The flame hit its mark dead on, tearing through the wood and exploding violently. Desperately, Hiccup fired a bola at the dragon, the force of the shot throwing him and Snivels backward. He was already waiting for the realization that his shot had missed.

There was the sound of rope slamming against flesh, a surprised shriek, and the outline of something caught in the bola began to fall off into the far-off forest.

"I hit it," Hiccup breathed, the implication of what he'd just seen dawning on him like the rising sun. He jumped up onto his feet and cheered, "Yes, I hit it! Did anyone else see that?!"

As if in answer, a large orange-and-black dragon clambered up over the hill, crushing the Mangler under its foot.

A Monstrous Nightmare. And right next to it was a blue draconic Pokémon with large red wings.

"Except for you guys," Hiccup finished in a snarky tone, already anticipating what was to come.

The Nightmare roared, and Hiccup took off running, stopping only to pick the Snivy up off the ground. He tucked the injured Pokémon under one arm as he fled, the Nightmare and the Salamence right behind him.

The Dragon Pokémon breathed a red-orange stream of fire at them, but missed. Scrambling, Hiccup ducked behind one of the giant torches. The Monstrous Nightmare opened its jaws and spewed a massive rush of flames that engulfed the torch. Despite his fear, Hiccup remained perfectly still. It was fortunate that he was able to avoid immolation on account of being small enough to hide behind the torch.

The flames burned themselves out, leaving Hiccup and the Snivy's hiding place thoroughly scorched. Moving slowly, Hiccup started to peek around the side, trying to see if the dragon was still there. It wasn't - but what he didn't realize was that it was right behind him, ready to bite his head off.

But it never got the chance. A sudden movement caught Hiccup's eye, and he turned to witness a shocking sight. Stoick the Vast had appeared from nowhere and was now battling the dragon in one-on-one combat.

Just a few feet away was Brumous engaging the Salamence in a similar duel. The Beartic sucked in a breath, then let it out in an intense Blizzard that left patches of frost on the Salamence's scales and wings. The Dragon Pokémon responded with a Flamethrower, but Brumous ducked under the flames and slashed his claws across the Salamence's legs.

Stoick, meanwhile, faced the Monstrous Nightmare without a hint of fear. The dragon roared loudly, a pathetic blast of fire, which didn't even reach the chief, spewing from its maw. The next blast was nothing more than a few embers. The Nightmare whimpered, looking less like a bad-tempered reptile and more like a kicked puppy.

"You're all out," growled Stoick, before letting loose with a series of kicks and punches. The Nightmare, deciding not to risk a fight without any of its fire, left. It was soon followed by the Salamence, whose hide was covered with slashes from Brumous's claws.

Once he was sure that the two dragons wouldn't be coming back, Stoick turned his attention toward the torch, which had been severely weakened by the Monstrous Nightmare's fire. It snapped, then fell to the ground, revealing a scrawny misfit of a Viking standing behind it.

"There's one more thing you need to know," Hiccup muttered to the Snivy.

The moment it hit the ground, the great bowl of fire that sat upon the torch toppled off and rolled away, doing major damage as it went. Vikings, Pokémon, and dragons alike scrambled to get away from the runaway torch.

Hiccup tried, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the mess. He winced as the torch continued to roll and crash throughout the village, causing damage wherever it went. He didn't need to turn around to know just how intensely Stoick was glaring at him; he could feel it. He shifted his gaze to the ground and sighed...

"Sorry, Dad."

Ah, gravity, thou art a heartless jerk.

The idea is that all Pokémon have an innate understanding of most, if not all, of the human languages, and need to learn how to pronounce its sounds, or establish a telepathic connection, in order to speak.

(In the original story, I had Snivels talking from the beginning, but I've wised up since then and realized that wouldn't be realistic, even though this is a fantasy series. I also wanted to give him a more, for lack of a better word, solid motive for wanting to learn to talk.)

Also, our first glimpse of Hiccstrid, my OTP. It wouldn't be one of my HTTYD stories without Hiccstrid. We'll get to see more of that later. ;)

Be sure to review! I always appreciate the feedback!