Third person view
"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Gobber yelled out opening the gate to the Dragon Training arena. It was a circular arena sunk into the ground with several large doors with large logs used for locks and a chain link covering. Up above the arena were stands for spectators to watch anything that might be going on in the arena. Dragon fights, Viking fights, Thawfest games.
Standing in the sloped entrance of the area was the fire crew standing with weapons. Astrid had her axe, Snotlout had a mace, the twins were both armed with spears with heads on both ends and Fishlegs had a hammer.
"No turning back" Astrid said as they followed the hook handed man into the large arena, looking around it with awe.
"I hope I get some serious burns" Tuffnut said excitedly with a smile.
"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back" Ruffnut said.
"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar outta it" Astrid said.
"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain, love it" Hiccup said making his presence known at the back of the group. He was armed with a medium sized sword instead of the axe his father had given him. It was still heavy for the young boy but at least he could swing it if need be. Besides due to his short sword training, he's already familiar with the type of weapon unlike the axe.
"Oh, great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut said as everyone else was confused on why, or how, he was there.
"Let's get started!" Gobber yelled getting everyone's attention as he came up to the group.
"The recruit who does best, will win the honor of killing their first dragon in front of the whole village" he added making some gutting gestures with his hook hand.
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or...?" Snotlout said as the twins laughed out loud at his joke. Fishlegs also chuckled but it looked at Hiccup with a 'sorry' look while Astrid just shook her head. Hiccup knew that the husky boy didn't tease him because he wanted to, it was because he was scared to become a target himself. That's the same reason Astrid had turned her back on him back when they were friends, back when they were all friends
Before anything else could be said, a one headed spear embedded itself in the floor of the arena just in front of Snotlout's feet, making him scream and fall backwards onto his back.
Looking in the direction of where the spear came from, the group of young teens seen DJ was standing up outside of the arena up near the stands.
"Nice girlish scream, Snotlout. Real warrior-like" he said with a chuckle as the rest of the teens laughed at their fallen friend.
"Oh, come on! Do you always have to defend him?!" Snotlout said angrily getting to his feet.
"First of all, yes I do and yes I will. And if you or anyone else thinks they can stop me, then this arena won't just be for dragon fights today" DJ said with a sadistic smirk. Nobody was brave enough to speak up as Hiccup just chuckled as quietly as he could.
"And second, that's not why I'm here. Gobber?" DJ said leaning against the chain link cover.
"During your first and last dragon fights, the chief watches because yes the recruit who does the best will kill their first dragon. But if you've improved or impressed the chief, then you may get moved to a different job during a raid. In this case DJ is acting chief, so he will watch both lessons then discuss it with Stoick when he gets back" Gobber said which caused some of the teens to grow nervous knowing that a seasoned warrior was watching them.
"You can watch me anytime, DJ~" Ruffnut said running a hand down the left side of her body and biting her bottom lip. DJ shuttered and was tempted to run away from his duties that his father had left him.
"Move on with the lesson, Gobber!" he ordered. The hook hand man just laughed before he pushed Hiccup next to the other teens who were all standing in a line.
"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight! The Deadly Nadder!" Gobber said going over to the doors and walking down them, all of which were now shaking having heard voices and smelled humans.
"Speed: eight. Armor: sixteen" Fishlegs said.
"The Hideous Zippleback!" Gobber said getting to the next door.
"Plus eleven stealth times two"
"The Monstrous Nightmare!"
"Firepower: fifteen"
"The Terrible Terror!"
"Attack: eight. Venom: twelve!"
"CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" Both DJ And Gobber yelled at the husky teen, having had enough of his dragon statistics.
"And... the Gronckle!" Gobber said getting to the final door and placing a hand on a lever next to the door.
"Jaw strength: eight" Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup who was next to him. Suddenly Snotlout, who was at other end of the line, realized what Gobber was about to do.
"Whoa, whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us anything first?!" He said as more teens' eyes went wide also realizing what was going to happen.
"Gobber believes in learning on the job. You also may wanna get away from the door, they come outta there pretty fast" DJ yelled out as Gobber pushed down on the lever.
The large log holding the door shut was then lifted via chain and a brown Gronkle with yellow eyes came flying out of the pen.
Instantly all teens rushed away as the dragon flew where they had just been standing before it collided with a wall, having not flown in a while. It then seen a pile of rocks and quickly began eating them.
"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead. Quick what's the first thing you're gonna need!?" Gobber called out.
"A doctor!"Hiccup said as his brother face palmed.
"Plus five speed!" Fishlegs said as Gobber facepalmed next.
"A shield!" Astrid said.
"Shields! Go!" Gobber yelled as everyone rushed to get a shield.
"The most important of equipment is your shield. If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield!" Gobber said helping Hiccup get his shield on before pushing him into the fight.
"If need be you can turn a shield into a weapon, but you can't turn a weapon into a shield!" DJ called out, deciding to also throw some of his knowledge into the mix.
"Correct!" Gobber said, happy to have an assistant. However he frowned at seeing the Thorston twins grab the same shield which had two skulls on it surrounded by fire and began fighting over it.
"Gets your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut said pulling the shield towards him.
"There's like a million shields!" Ruffnut said also pulling the shield towards her.
"Take that one, it had a flower on it. Girls like flowers" he said. Ruffnut then pulled the shield out of his hands before bashing him over the head with it.
"Oops, now this one has blood on it" she said mockingly offering it to him, which he took and the tug of war began again.
Unfortunately neither one saw the Gronkle approaching until it shot a ball of lava at the shield in their hands, destroying it and sending both twins to the ground.
"Tuffnut Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber called out as both only answered with a dazed 'what?'
"Those Shields are good for another thing, noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim" Gobber said.
Immediately the recruits began slamming the heads of their weapons against their shields or in Hiccup's case, the hilt of his sword.
And it was working as the dragon began shaking his head as the noise was making it harder for him to aim his shots and fly so everyone then surrounded the dragon.
"Every dragon has a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronkle have?" DJ called out.
"5?" Snotlout suggested.
"No 6" Fishlegs said stopping dead in his tracks which the dragon noticed.
"Correct, 6. That's one for each of you and since the twins got out with one, there's one extra" Gobber said as Fishlegs raised his shield in the air in victory.
Until it was blasted right off his arm by the Gronkle.
"Fishlegs out" Gobber said as the husky teen then ran away screaming leaving his hammer behind.
Meanwhile Hiccup was hiding in between a platform made out of wood and the arena wall.
"Hiccup, get in there!" Gobber called out as Hiccup began moving out only to have a shot nearby scare him back into cover.
The Gronkle then looked around and seen two more of the last humans in the arena and began flying towards them.
"So, anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out!" Snotlout said trying to flirt with Astrid who quickly somersaulted away from the boy who's shield was then hit by a shot.
"Snotlout, you're done!" Gobber called out as Astrid stopped near Hiccup who had finally come out of hiding.
"So guess it's- it's you and me huh?" He said trying to be friendly.
"Nope, just you" Astrid said running away as Hiccup looked to where she had just come from and just barely raised his shield in time to block a shot from the dragon.
Unfortunately the shot made him drop his sword in surprise and also sent his shield rolling away so he quickly ran after it remembering what his brother and Gobber had said.
"One shot left!" Gobber called out as Hiccup chased after his shield with the dragon close behind him.
"Hiccup!" Gobber called out as the dragon cut the young boy off from his shield and before he could do anything else, it had him pinned against the wall of the arena.
It then hovered inches from him growling before it moved back slightly and opened it's mouth as an orange glow appeared in the back of it's throat.
Hiccup welded his eyes shut, knowing that this dragon wouldn't be like the Night Fury and let him off with a warning.
Fortunately, rescue came to him in the form of a shield which soared through the air and wacked the dragon on the side of it's head causing it to swallow it's blast.
It then looked around for the culprit and found it to be DJ who was now inside the arena and standing in front of the open doors to it's pen.
"Come on, big boy. You want a meal? you gotta earn it!" He called out challenging the dragon who took the bait and flew towards the human.
DJ then picked up a nearby shield just as the dragon fired it's last shot. His shield was destroyed but he successfully blocked the shot.
He then took out his axes and began slamming them together, making the dragon shake it's head and fly zigzag towards him.
At the last second, DJ put his axes away before front flipping, rolling over the dragon's back as it passed by him before it continued inside, slamming into the back wall of the pen.
DJ then closed the doors before quickly pulling the lever up, letting the log drop down into place. Seconds later, a loud bang echoed from inside as the dragon growled in frustration.
"Thank you, DJ, for showing the recruits how to do things correctly. Now everyone line up" Gobber said helping Hiccup to host feet before once again pushing him over into the line-up.
"Okay" DJ said standing in front of the recruits.
"I wish to say even before I started doing this for job while my father is away, I've never seen a group of worst recruits" he said making everyone frown.
"I'll go by deaths" he said standing in front of the Thorston twins.
"Fighting over a shield with skulls on it? Really? A shield with flowers on it is gonna save your life as much as a shield with a skull on it will" he said before looking over at Fishlegs who cowered under his gaze.
"Knowing facts about dragons is great, something every warrior should know. But you need to keep your head in the fight, otherwise the next shot a dragon fires at you will take your head off shoulders instead of your shield off your arm" he said before looking at Snotlout who was smirking like he was the only one who didn't do anything wrong.
"Flirting on the battlefield is a good way to get yourself and the person you're flirting with on a funeral boat. And even so what's the result? the two of you plowing while your fellow warriors die" DJ said as Astrid immediately dropped her shield and axe to cover her mouth and gag while Snotlout just scoffed.
"Whatever you're just-" Snotlout began but was interrupted.
"Shut up!" DJ said making Snotlout instantly shut his mouth and cowered in fear.
"You wanna try and get your plow-sword sheathed? Do it after lessons!" he said before his gaze found Astrid who stood at attention with a stern gaze.
"Now Astrid, help me out here. The Gronkle was out of shots after it fired at me, yet I didn't see you get hit. Did you?" He asked.
"No I didn't" she said with pride in her voice.
"Ah, okay. So why did you run and leave a fellow viking who was unable to defend himself seconds later and not even return to help him?" DJ then asked as all pride left Astrid who now stayed silent.
"We're on a battlefield, it's not our job to protect a runt we don't even like" Snotlout said as DJ instantly glared at him which made him shrink back, wishing he hadn't opened his mouth.
"Is that so? Well I don't like any of you guys. So if years later, we're fighting dragons together and I see you guys are outnumbered or unable to defend yourselves, I should just walk away and keep doing my own thing?" He questioned. However nobody answered his question.
"Battle isn't about helping who you like or don't like while fighting, it's about fighting the enemies while making sure you do everything in your power to make sure as much of your fellow Berkians get to go home as possible" he said before looking at Hiccup.
He quickly shot his brother a 'sorry' look before walking in front younger boy.
"Look I know this stuff is scary, and I know what it's like to be thrown right into the fight. But if you don't get out into the lessons, you ain't gonna learn anything and you'll never move up the ranks in the tribe" he said as Hiccup nodded and looked downwards, a little ashamed.
Growing up, he looked up to his brother more than he did to their father. DJ was the one who taught him how to hunt, how to fish, how to fight.
Yes Stoick took Hiccup out fishing and all that but with DJ if they weren't catching anything or seeing any animal sign, they would play games like tag, hide and seek or Dragons vs Vikings or even just explore around where they were. Stoick would just keep on task and would scold Hiccup for loosing focus.
So this first lesson, going the way it did, it got him a little down.
"But that's not to say none of you don't have potential. But if you ever want to get off the fire crew and join the next generation of warriors, you have to work for it. Oh, and don't think of remembering what I'm looking for and only 'improving' in the last lesson because I'll come by for a lesson every now and then" DJ said stepping back and addressing the whole group.
He then patted Gobber on the shoulder, who was standing next to him, before shooting his brother one more sorry look before he began walking out of the arena.
"Don't worry, you lot will get another chance at the Gronkle. But remember a dragon will always, always, go for the kill" Gobber said directing his last question at Hiccup as he was the one who came closest to dying.
At his words Hiccup began to think. If every dragon always goes for the kill-
"Then why didn't you?" Hiccup said to himself now back at the spot where he had freed the Night Fury.
It had been left untouched by anything and left exactly how Hiccup had left it. He had planned to come back for the ropes and bolas anyway because they were valuable and even his brother would scold him if he just left them in the woods.
He then got up from his kneeling position and began walking in the direction that the Night Fury had flown away.
After a few minutes of walking, he seen the dirt was beginning to turn into rocks and head upwards, almost forming a rock wall.
He then seen a small opening in the rocks that headed downwards, no doubt carved over time by a stream that had long dried up.
Squeezing through as it was just barely large enough for him to make it through, Hiccup found himself staring at a beautiful cove with a pond in the middle of it and a few tree roots that's branched down over the walls of the cove.
Unfortunately, with the exception of some bird and fish in the pond, the cove was empty.
"This was stupid" Hiccup muttered. Once it was freed, the dragon probably flew off at sonic speed back to the nest.
He was about to turn back when something caught his eye. On the ground was jet black dragon scales about the size of the palm of Hiccup's hand.
Kneeling down, he picked one up and began looking it over and feeling it.
Suddenly a black figure erupted upwards in front of Hiccup sending him backwards with a slight shout of fright. He quickly got back up and looked around the corner of the entrance to see the Night Fury was feet away from him, trying to claw it's way out of the cove.
Unfortunately it couldn't get a good grip with it's claws and his weight was pulling him downwards.
Finally he had lost too much height and was forced to glide over the pond and land on the other side.
Hiccup smiled in shock before he began silently working his way across a ledge to where he could get a better look at the creature.
He got a few steps over before he had to hunker down as he seen the dragon run and try to take off again. However just like when it first left Hiccup, it wobbled in the air and wailed until it landed just below where Hiccup was sitting.
As it tried once more to fly out of the cove, Hiccup realized this was probably a once in a lifetime chance and took out his journal and pencil and began sketching.
"Why don't you just fly away?" He wondered to himself as the dragon shot a small purple blast out of frustration that scorched the ground in front of it. By now Hiccup had a drawing of the Night Fury from up above with it's wings spread out.
He then noticed his drawing wasn't completely like the dragon and got rid of the left tailfin on the end of the long tail.
He then watched as the dragon tried once more to fly away only to land hard on the ground on the other side of the pond.
It then let out a low groan and stayed in place, signaling that it was tired and defeated. For now.
Suddenly a fish's back broke the surface right at the edge of the pond. Getting to all fours, the dragon then peeked into the pond and seen the amount of fish swimming within the water.
It then quickly lunged forwards, burying it's head up to the shoulders into the water and snapped at the fish. Unfortunately for the Night Fury, all of them were able to avoid the jaws of the beast.
It then pulled it's head back out of the water and another low grumbled echoed from it. This time however, it was from it's stomach.
Hiccup, who was still watching from up above, let his arms fall to the ground as a wave of sadness washed over him. There was obviously something wrong with this creature and because of that it wasn't able to get food.
However when he let his arms fall, he also let his hands relax which resulted in the pencil slipping from his grasp and falling down the ledge and landing on a hard spot on the ground of the cove, creating a small thud.
Alerted by the noise, the dragon lifted it's head and looked up and seen Hiccup sitting there on the ledge.
Hiccup gasped in shock and fear that the dragon would shoot him to try and knock him down as he knew it was hungry. However the dragon just stared at him.
'Why isn't it attacking?' Hiccup thought to himself. Although now that he thought about it, he'd never heard of a dragon eating a viking.
Yes, Gobber had his arm ripped off and swallowed by a Monstrous Nightmare and then soon after a Nadder took his leg but he had been attacking them trying to save their food.
Other than that, Hiccup can't remember a dragon actually killing a viking to eat them. Self defense only.
Hiccup slightly turned his head confused and the dragon immediately mimicked the boy. Both fascinated by the strange being they were watching.