Gobber lifted up the heavy door and gestured to the arena inside. He turned around and gestured for the other teens to follow him inside.
"Welcome to Dragon training!" Gobber introduces them.
The teens inside took a deep breath and walked into the arena, Astrid took in a huge breath of air before proudly walking in, an ax in her hand. The rest of the teens all walked in and gazed at the large arena looking amazed at how it looked from the inside as they'd only seen it from the outside.
"No turning back," Astrid commented.
"I hope I get some serious burns!" Tuffnut said as he walked up behind Astrid.
"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder, or lower back," Ruffnut replied.
"Yeah, it's not fun unless you get at least a scar," Astrid said looking around the arena.
"Yeah, I know. Right?" Someone said. Everyone turned around to stare at the newest arrival. Hiccup. "Pain." He replied sarcastically and wasn't exactly into this. "Love it!"
"Oh, great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut asked, sounding more annoyed than usual.
"All right! Let's get started!" Gobber barked, coming up behind his apprentice. "The recruit who does best will get the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village!"
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury so does that disqualify him?" Snotlout said before turning away and laughing.
"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Tuffnut asked before walking off.
Hiccup hung his head.
"Don't worry. You're small and weak. That will make you less of a target!" Gobber promised as he grabbed Hiccup and drubbed him over by the shoulder. "They'll see ye' as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead!" He pats the boy on his shoulder and pushed him into position next to the others. "Behind these doors are just some of the many species you will learn to fight!" He gestured to one door that had begun pounding, "The Deadly Nadder!"
"Speed: 8, Armor: 16," Fishlegs said.
"The Hideous Zippleback," Gobber said as he walked up to another door.
"11 stealth times 2." Fishlegs continued.
"The Monstrous Nightmare!" Gobber kept continuing as he gestured to the next door.
"Firepower 15!" Fishlegs is still going.
"The Terrible Terror!" Gobber moved on to another door.
"Attack; 8. Venom; 12." Fishlegs kept going.
"WOULD YOU STOP THAT?!" Gobber yelled at Fishlegs. He then took a breath to calm down before grabbing onto a handle. "And the Gronckle."
"Jaw strength 8…" Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup.
Snotlout stepped forward when he noticed what Gobber was gonna do. "Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us something first?"
"I believe in learning on the job," Gobber said as he pulled down the leaver to the cage.
The cage door flew open and a brown Gronckle dragon burst from the cage. It immediately flew around, causing the teens to jump and try to escape it.
"Today is about survival. You get blasted...you're dead!" Gobber told them while the twins cried out as the Gronckle charged headfirst at them. "Quick. what's the first thing you're going to need?"
"A doctor?" Hiccup asked, unsure what to do.
"Plus-five speed?" Fishlegs asked.
"A shield!" Astrid said with confidence.
"Shield! Go!" Gobber said, gesturing to a wall with shields.
Everyone scrambled to grab a shield. Hiccup having trouble getting his on.
"A shield is your most important piece of equipment! If you must make a choice between a sword, or a shield, take the shield!" Gobber said as he went over to Hiccup and put the shield on his arm and pushed Hiccup onto the battlefield.
The twins both reached for the same shield, and a fight broke out over who got to keep it.
"Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut said to his sister.
"There's like a million shields!" Ruffnut replied.
"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut said, gesturing his head to a shield next to the one they were holding.
Ruffnut ripped the shield out of her brother's grip and smashed it onto his head. "Oops." She then held it out to him. "Now this one has blood on it."
Their fight continued until a fireball knocked them off their feet and sent them flying while destroying the shield.
"Ruffnut, Tuffnut! You're out!" Gobber announced to them.
"What?" The dizzy twins called out.
"Those shields are good for another thing! Noise! Make lots of it, to throw off a dragon's aim!" Gobber told them as the teens quickly beat their weapons against their shields. Almost immediately, they started to receive a result as the Gronckle began to sway side to side in mid-air and shake its head.
"All dragons have a limited number of shots! How many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber asked the teens.
"Five?" Snotlout guessed.
"No, six!" Fishlegs answered, proud that his knowledge was useful for once.
"Correct, six! That's one for each of you!" Suddenly the Gronckle regained itself and fired at Fishlegs, knocking his shield out of his hand. "Fishlegs. Out."
The boy screamed in terror and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
Hiccup screeched and ducked behind a weapon holder when Gobber noticed him. "Hiccup, get in there!"
Hiccup reluctantly did as his mentor said and was almost immediately shot by a fireball and hid again. Astrid was currently bouncing on her heels, ready to dodge a blast. Snotlout was right behind her, trying to hit on her.
"So anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out." Snotlout tells her as Astrid cartwheels out of the way of something. "You look like you work out-"
Turns out she moved because she was allowing a shot to shoot past her and hit Snotlout's shield. He was then blasted and the shield was blown up as he fell onto his back.
"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber proclaimed.
Astrid ended up rolling to a stop beside Hiccup, who stirred awkwardly, trying to look cool. "So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?"
Astrid suddenly looked afraid when she saw the Gronckle coming towards them. "No. Just you."
Astrid then rolls away just a split-second later a lava slug knocks Hiccup's shield clear off of his arm. Hiccup is now exposed and was worried of what would happen to him.
"One shot left!" Gobber called out.
Hiccup panics and chases after his shield as it rolls across the ring. The sudden movement sends the Gronckle chasing after him, leaving Astrid in the clear.
"Hiccup!" Gobber cried in worry.
The Gronckle drives straight toward Hiccup, pinning him against the wall. It opens its mouth and cocks its tail, ready to fire point-blank. Gobber lunges in and hooks the Gronckle's mouth at the last second, causing its head to jerk back and fire against the stone wall above Hiccup's head.
Gobber was rattled but masked it. "And that's six!" He wrestles the irate Gronckle back into his pen. "Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance, don't you worry."
Gobber then slammed and locked the door with the Gronckle. Gobber turns to the recruits who are all shaken up from the experience.
"Remember... a dragon will always..." Gobber then turned with a stern look to Hiccup. "...always go for the kill."
He hoists Hiccup to his feet and walks off. Hiccup looks overhead to see a steaming pit in the solid stone wall.
Hiccup, battered after another disastrous day in the ring. He studies the remnants of the discarded bola revealing that he's back at the scene of the crime. He was still trying to figure out what happened that day and wondering exactly why that Light Fury stopped itself from killing him. Not to mention the fact that he was still not sure if the dragon talked to him or not.
The Gronckle didn't seem to understand him. He didn't seem to understand the dragon.
Maybe it was all a dream.
"So, why didn't you?" Hiccup asks the ground.
And that was when he heard a twig snapping in the woods, which got him to look around and wondered where it came from. Then he began to hear shuffling and knew that something was watching him. Or at least was retreating now.
He drops the bola and presses on in the direction that the noise came from. He drops into a rocky crevice and follows it to his isolated cavern. He scans the high stone walls...then notices a single black scale he's never seen before on the ground. He crouches and picks it up, studying it. He has never been there during the day and wondered what kind of creature it came from.
That's when he saw it. He heard a small purring and looked over to see the Light Fury was inside the cavern. He wasn't entirely sure how he could see it, but he could see that the dragon was there. Without even seeing it.
The Light Fury was trying its best to hide, but ended up realizing she was spotted and opened her eyes, where she and Hiccup then made eye contact. The two just stared, but still scared out of their mind, Hiccup didn't even say anything, spooked by the idea that it might talk to him, he just ran.
Restarting the day, the Light Fury was resting in the forest while staying as far from the village as she could. They weren't exactly looking for her, but she figured it would be best to stay and keep a distance from them either way. Then she heard the front door open from the house open and she noticed the scrawny Viking making his way out of his home.
It didn't seem that he was exactly happy with wherever he was going. He kept mumbling to himself, something she couldn't entirely hear from the distance she was keeping. If he was responsible for whatever happened to the Night Fury she met, she didn't wish to learn what happened to him firsthand. She just needed to find out what happened to him and watch the boy. He didn't seem so dangerous, but she didn't wish to test him.
Then when he reached the other end of the island, she decided to fly around the coast and made her way around to the ledge where she saw the giant cage. She watched as the old man with one arm and leg opened the giant cage. There were a few of the younger Vikings who followed him into the cage.
"Welcome to dragon training!" Gobber said as the other teens entered.
Then she watched as they were all enthusiastic about the idea and entered the cage. But then she saw the scrawny Viking wasn't as enthusiastic about the idea as they were. Then she had to sit back and watch when the one-armed and leg man opened up a cage within the cage and she watched a Gronckle come out of the cage.
It started to attack and the Light Fury only began to watch as the teenagers were picked off one by one. She had to admit, she was getting some sort of gratification when she watched these pain-in-the-back children get easily beaten by the dragon.
When the dragon was thrown back into the cage within the cage, the Light Fury then watched as all of the other young Vikings marched out of the cage. A few of them were talking about how well they did, basically congratulating themselves for failing miserably. But she looked and noticed the boy she smelled the Night Fury on was standing near the entrance to the cage. He was just looking out to the forest, in the same area where she was once shot down.
The boy then started to walk off toward the forest and she started quickly followed after him to see where he was going. She figured he might be going to see the Night Fury, and she could understand why he had the scent on him. But as she followed him deeper and deeper into the woods, he then found his way to the location where he shot her down.
She watched as the scrawny Viking boy picked up the rocks that were attached to the ropes he shot her down with and studied them. "So, why didn't you?"
She was starting to approach him, but that was when she accidentally stepped on a twig, causing a snap to be clearly heard. Then the scrawny boy looked over towards the area she was hiding in and she figured she was spotted. She then started to slowly move away and try and sneak away. But the boy started to walk in her direction, meaning she could have been spotted.
When she sneaked Fuehrer enough away, she managed to reach a cove where she figured she could hide. But it didn't take long for him to pin down where she was and not even approach. She made herself visible, seeing it was a waste of her energy to hide if he can clearly see her. But then she watched as he seemed afraid of her and quickly took off.
But she wasn't going to let him get away that easily and wanted to talk to him. She took off to the sky and quickly located him in the forest. She then quickly dived down and grabbed him in her paws, listening to him scream in terror. She then flew back into the cove and dropped Hiccup safely where she then landed and blocked his exit.
"Please." The Light Fury tried to see if he could indeed hear her, and due to his look of horror, she had to guess that he could. "I...I just want to talk. You can understand me."
Hiccup froze and wasn't entirely sure what to say. "WHY?! WHY CAN I UNDERSTAND YOU?!"
The Light Fury then froze as both of their minds began to race with questions. Neither of them was entirely sure where they were going to do at this point. It was now just the two of them. The two of them that for some reason could understand each other.
And neither knew what they were going to do now.
