There was a loud banging of metal that reverberated through the forge. Hiccup wiped the sweat from his brow in the sweltering heat of the furnace that seeped out into the enclosed space. He quickly lifted the small device to gather a closer inspection. He returned the device to the anvil before he began banging away. Shortly thereafter, the device was finished. He let out a slow breath and relaxed backwards, cracking his sore back in the process.
His newest invention was a device capable of capturing the demons. Simply slide the small cube under a demon and after a delay it will deploy a net that will enclose and capture it. Captured demons are worth much more than dead demons as it allows the knight order to train new recruits and study their erratic behaviors. The only issue was getting the cube under the demons. He would need to create a device able to slow or immobilize the demons before throwing the cube catcher (The name he gave the device. A cube that catches).
He gazed over into the corner to see a large block that had wires splayed out in every direction and a large subwoofer attached to the right side. Once complete it would be his best chance to slow them down. The demons were elusive and hard to catch. They may seem mindless or unstrategic, but their instincts allow them to be far more formidable than expected. Hiccup picked up the cube and placed it onto a cart filled with more of these cube catchers. He stood up and pushed the cart out into the adjacent room where the E-rank knights were training. One of the knights caught a glimpse of Hiccup rolling his cart over to them.
"Great. . . here comes our support engineer." A 15 year old boy with dark and messy hair whined, rolling his eyes. "I wonder what he's going to break this time."
"Not sure Gustav." Another female blonde knight strolled up next to the smaller boy joining his side with a wicked grin. "But it'll be awesome I bet!"
"You are just like your crazy cousins aren't you Lupnut?" The blonde nodded enthusiastically.
Hiccup set up a fake training dummy with a large target on its chest in the corner. What he didn't see, but should have expected, was the mischievous Lupnut going behind his back and stealthily pocket one of the cubes on the cart. Hiccup finished with the dummy and grabbed one of the cubes and summoned the E-rank knights.
"This is very simple." He said holding up the cube in his left hand. "Simply push this button here." He pressed the button and the device began beeping. "Then throw it under the demon." The cube slid over directly under the training dummy before the beeping increased rapidly into a constant tone before a net shot out the top of the cube and wrapped around the training dummy. The momentum of the net caused the dummy to fall over and crash onto the floor. He turned around to find a sea of shocked faces. They clearly didn't expect his invention to not cause destruction much less actually work.
"Well this makes our lives easier. Now we can tangle the demons up then execute them while they are defenseless." Gustav mused and Hiccup pinched the bridge of his nose.
"No Gustav, we need to capture them for training recruits and studying." The E-rank scholar of the group, Lire, was nodding profusely.
"He's right. We can gather a lot of information from a captured demon," She said.
"Boring." Gustav waved her off. "We are knights. We are here to kill demons, not keep them alive. A good demon is only a dead demon." He waved the group away. "Come on guys we don't need this," he gestured to Hiccup, "we can kill demons all on our own."
Lire opened her mouth to disagree, but Gustav glared at her. She closed her mouth and followed behind the rest.
However, Lupnut spoke up, "Come on Gustav I'm sure it's useful for something." Before anyone could react, Lupnt pushed the button on the hidden cube in her pocket. Hiccup's eyes widened at the sound and sprung into action. Lupnut threw the device towards Lire and it slowly slid to a halt near the frightened teen. She was frozen with eyes bulging and staring at the intrusive device. The beeping started to quicken and Hiccup reached her and pushed her out of the way. No sooner than she hit the ground did the beep reach a constant cadence and fired its net capturing the tall, lanky support engineer.
Hiccup flew onto the floor trapped in his own device. Gustav and Lupnut both broke out laughing at the young adult's struggle in the net. Lire tried her best to free their engineer, but to no avail. The door on the far side of the room slammed open and a grumpy man with graying dark brown hair trudged into the room. His cerulean eyes fell on the helpless shape struggling to free himself. He sighed as he walked over and stood above Hiccup with his arms crossed. Lire backed away timidly and hid behind the now silent Gustav and Lupnut.
Hiccup flopped around a few more times before he was able to free his hands and started cutting the net around him. As he was halfway through the first rope he noticed two large boots in front of him. He glanced up and saw the disapproving scowl of Spitelout Jorgenson, a B-rank knight.
"Care to explain what's going on here boy-o?"
"U-uncle Spitelout," Hiccup quickly cut the rest of the net and freed himself to stand a few inches above his Uncle. "Good to see you, have you gotten taller?"
"I don't need flattery Hiccup." The man sighed, "can you explain what you were doing flopping around on the floor in a net, like a fish caught for supper?"
Hiccup gave a wan smile, "You mean like a haddock?" His uncle's raised brow signified he did not understand or care for the joke. "Erm-I was," his eyes quickly searched the premises trying to come up with an explanation, "testing my newest device to capture demons."
Spitelout peered at the cut net below Hiccup's feet, "And you caught yourself instead?"
"No, no," he quickly claimed, "it was a major success. I had one of the E-ranks try the device on me to test capturing a moving opponent and it seems–"
Spitelout put a hand up to silence the boy. "Boy-o, I don't think capturing an E-rank support engineer can compare to even an F-rank demon."
A flash of hurt played across Hiccup's face before he tried again, "Well, either way, the test shows that we can capture demons."
"That's great and all Hiccup. But how does that help us kill the demons?"
"That's what I'm saying!" Gustav piped in from the peanut gallery.
Hiccup shot a quick glare at the boy trying to silence him. "It helps us gain information about the demon's capabilities and gives the scholars–"
Interrupting again, Spitelout sighed, "Look Hiccup. I don't hate you, I disdain you." Hiccup gave a hurt look as he then placed both of his hands on the auburn's shoulders. "You've been an E-rank support engineer for a long while now. What, 5 years?" The young adult nodded in confirmation. "Thought so, now I don't care about studying the demons. You are a support engineer. Meant to support the knights. And all I'm seeing is this." He gestured around the room.
Spitelout began to walk away and stopped turning back to Hiccup, "You don't belong here. Become a D-rank engineer and prove me wrong or I will submit a request for your dismissal from the Order." He then left the room muttering things under his breath.
Hiccup sat there defeated. He always tried his best, but it never seemed possible to please anyone. He picked up the used cube and slowly inspected it. It executed perfectly and worked to his exact standards but it still wasn't good enough. Not good enough to be noticed by his Uncle. Not good enough to be noticed by Gobber. And definitely not good enough to be noticed by his father. It worked perfectly but was still not good enough for the Order.
He threw the cube across the room in a fit of rage as Lupnut walked up to him, "Hey Hiccup. I thought the device worked really well. We were just messing around, you know."
Hiccup looked at the teenager, his eyes filled with sorrow. "It doesn't matter now, Lupnut. I need to become a D-rank support engineer or I won't have a job. That means one of you will need to take the test with me so I can support someone for the test."
Lupnut looked down at her feet, "Well, Hiccup you know how busy we are and we aren't the best suited for helping you with the test."
"You are my cohort. I've worked with you all for nearly a year. If you aren't suited then who is?" Lupnut opened her mouth to reply, but closed it when she found nothing coming to mind. "Yea, thought so," Hiccup turned and began to leave. Lupnut reached forward to try and stop him, but he just shrugged her off. "Don't even bother. I know what you all truly think of me. You could have at least made it a little less obvious." Hiccup left the room in search of someone who could help him pass the D-rank test.
He stood before the door. He took a deep breath in and out trying to calm his nerves. He never knew he would be here. He wished that one day it might come true, but not for this reason. His wildest dreams would be to walk through these doors one day. But now it just felt like a chore. A necessary evil to stop himself from losing everything. A tall gate between him and his last chance at salvation. He shut his eyes and said a silent prayer that one person would be willing to help him. He pushed the door open.
The room was a large banquet hall. Many tables strewn throughout the space filled with people. The slow murmur of voices filled the air and the smell of a well cooked meal. He knew this wasn't his place, but he was out of options. He looked around the room and saw many faces. A few of them are familiar. Like always it seemed that no one paid any attention to the man. He knew exactly who he had to talk to. The problem was that he had to talk to them with clear and rational sentences. That was the tricky part. His eyes perused the crowd before he caught a glimpse of his target. He tried his best to walk with confidence across the hall. He stopped at the table.
The rest of the occupants of the table looked up. Some confused, some curious and one looked furious at the intrusion. As expected. He mustered up the courage to try and say a few words to express the dire straits that he was in.
"H-hey A–a-astrid," Great already stuttering. Nice. He thought. "I-I was wondering if you would, um. . ." He scrunched his face trying to find the right words. "If you would be able, no, willing to–" She stopped eating her food and with a defeated sigh she looked up at the stumbling man. All words that he tried to formulate immediately died on creation. He knew she was pretty and assumed that she would get even more attractive over time and these 5 years. What he did not expect were the azure eyes of a goddess to stare back at him.
"Listen, you seem," she looked him up and down, "nice?" More of a question than a statement. "But I just got out of a relationship and I am really not looking for another one right now."
"W-what?" Hiccup blinked, not entirely sure she was talking to him.
Astrid huffed, now getting frustrated slamming her spoon down on the table. "I tried being nice for once but it appears men don't get that!" She stood up, poking him in the chest. "Go away. I don't want another boy trying to get into my pants a few days after I just broke it off with another one."
Hiccup slowly grabbed her hand and tried to gently push it down away from him. She slapped his hand then continued poking him roughly trying to get the point across.
"I don't think you understand, Astrid, I'm not trying to ask you out."
She sank back into herself, "Wait, you're not?"
He shook his head. "Do I look like I have a chance with you?"
"T-then what are you here for?" She crossed her arms and glared at him.
"I'm a support engineer and I need a partner for the test." He noticed that her cheeks were tinged slightly pink. Hiccup never realized it was possible for the Astrid Hofferson to get embarrassed. "None of my cohort wanted to help out. . . or anyone else for that matter. You are kind of my last hope."
"Alright. I'll help you." She said not to make eye contact with Hiccup.
"It's alright I understa–" his eyes widened, "wait what did you say?"
"I said yes. Sorry about the misunderstanding." Astrid said still refusing to make eye contact.
He stared at her incredulously. She actually said yes! Maybe there was hope for him after all. "Great!" he exclaimed. "I'll see you tomorrow around noon in the testing hall?" Astrid nodded and then returned to her food. Hiccup left the hall on cloud nine. Not only did he manage to talk to Astrid without making a fool of himself. Mostly. She actually said yes! Maybe; just maybe things are going to work out.