Chapter Text
The next day, Hiccup could barely get any sleep since dragon training was the next day and just when he thought of skipping dragon training, Gobber surprised him by practically carrying him out of the house with the axe in hand. He has to keep himself from falling back asleep while waiting for the other teens. Just when he was gonna nod to sleep, the other teens arrived chatting with each other excitedly and not even batting an eye which he was already used to. Once making sure everyone was present, Gobber went to the iron gate and raised the massive iron gate with ease as he walked through inside the vast stone arena.
"Welcome to dragon training!" He said with an eager smile.
The recruits followed suit with Astrid in the lead as the blonde let out a steady breath to steel her nerves.
"No turning back." She muttered and Hiccup was confused. Even at the back, he has a sharp sense of hearing and hearing her say that made him think that they're walking to their funeral.
Hiccup watches the other teens walk through the gates, taking in the sight of the huge arena in awe while he just lets out a small scoff. He's been here a few times already and there's nothing amazing about the arena. Well, at first it was amazing when he had to help Gobber clean the place up but after a few times he came to the arena with Gobber to clean up, it's not that amazing anymore. He followed behind the teens while overhearing their excited chatter.
"I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut said excitedly.
"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut said with equal excitement which just made Hiccup cringe his nose. Why would anyone want their lower back mauled? She'll be paralyzed their entire life if that happens for Thor's sake!
"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astrid added her own as she narrowed her eyes with determination.
"Yeah, no kidding, right?" Hiccup decided to add his own comment though his voice was dripping heavily with sarcasm.
His comment made the other recruits turn to see Hiccup lagging behind them and to say the least, a certain trio were displeased to see him, Astrid raised an eyebrow in confusion on why Hiccup was with them when he has no experience in training and Fishlegs was uncertain but didn't say anything bad and if anything, he was a bit happy to see him.
"Pain. Love it." He said while rolling his eyes slightly which elicited groans from the trio.
"Oh great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut asked in annoyance but Gobber quickly interjected.
"Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village." The blacksmith explained and Hiccup barely hid the fact that he flinched when Gobber twisted his hook on the word killing. Oh Thor... He knew should have stayed in bed today...
Snotlout decided to use the initiative to mock Hiccup about his latest achievement yesterday.
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or...?" He taunted his cousin who was trying not to roll his eyes at him.
That made the twins and Fishlegs laugh while Astrid rolled her eyes as they continued to the middle of the arena.
"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Tuffnut asked as Hiccup let out a heavy sigh. What is he even doing there? He's not wanted by the teens so what's the point?
Gobber throws a supportive arm around Hiccup who glances at him as he was ushered to join the others by Gobber.
"Don't worry. You're small and you're weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead." Gobber encouraged him with a cheery tone full of confidence which only made Hiccup cringe. Yeah, very helpful Gobber.
Gobber chuckled before sticking him in line with the others as he stood beside Fishlegs who eyed him while Snotlout gave him a scowl but Hiccup ignored them as he rested his axe on his shoulder. Gobber continues on toward five massive reinforced doors as terrible roars and bellows can be heard from the dragons within each pen.
"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight." Gobber started as he walked to each door.
Fishlegs was practically bouncing and giggled with excitement, barely able to contain himself and Hiccup eyed him curiously. Knowing Fishlegs, he's gonna spew out dragon facts.
"The Deadly Nadder." Gobber started as he walked to one door.
"Speed eight. Armor sixteen." Fishlegs muttered under his breath.
"The Hideous Zippleback." Gobber continues.
"Plus eleven stealth. Times two."
"The Monstrous Nightmare."
"Firepower fifteen."
"The Terrible Terror."
"Attack eight. Venom twelve."
Hiccup winced as he stepped a bit away from Fishlegs. As much as amusing the teen was at stating the statuses of each dragon, he knows that Gobber is gonna tell Fishlegs to stop.
"CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" Gobber yelled at the big teen who squeaked and stopped.
Gobber shook his head before stopping beside a lever with the last pen.
"And... the Gronckle." Gobber finished with a mischievous grin and Hiccup knows what's about to happen. Whenever Gobber has that grin of his, it's gonna be chaos.
"Jaw strength, eight." Fishlegs said quietly to himself.
Losing his cool, Snotlout panicked after seeing the grin on Gobber.
"Whoa, whoa, wait! Aren’t you gonna teach us first?!" Snotlout exclaimed in a panic which sent most of the teens panicking internally as Hiccup shook his head while secretly enjoying how Snotlout was panicking.
"It's Gobber. He believes in learning on the job." Hiccup said sarcastically as he practically could feel the adrenaline rush through his body.
"For all of you, Hiccup is in fact correct." Gobber said as he pulled down the lever.
A Gronckle thunders out of its cave, charging into the ring like an irate rhino with its small wings flapping like a bee. The recruits all scramble in every direction to avoid it except for Ruffnut and Tuffnut who rush towards it, like pumped-up rodeo clowns. Hiccup saw that and just facepalm in annoyance.
"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead." Gobber said as the Gronckle hit a wall.
It saw a bunch of stones and eagerly gobbled them up. How and where the stones came from is a mystery.
"Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?" Gobber asked loudly over the chaos.
"A doctor?" Hiccup questioned as he mentally slapped himself. A doctor will be needed after training if they survive unscathed that is!
"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs added nervously.
"A shield." Astrid calmly said as she shifted to run at a moment's notice.
"Shields! Go!" At that signal, all recruits scramble to where the pile of shields are located and they start to pick one up.
"Your most important piece of equipment is your shield." Gobber said as he went to Hiccup who was struggling to pick up his shield.
"If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield." He helped Hiccup with his shield who stared at him in bewilderment but he yelped when Gobber sent him running back into the ring.
While the Gronckle chose to chase Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut went to grab a shield that had skulls and flames painted on it but they grabbed the only shield that has the design at the same time which insight a tug of war between them.
"Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut exclaimed as he pulled the shield to him but Ruffnut pulled it towards her.
"There are like a million shields!" Ruffnut argued.
"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." He said, pointing to one of the shields and that made Ruffnut pull the shield away from him and used it to bash his face as he yelped in pain.
"Oops, now this one has blood on it." Ruffnut narrowed her eyes at him as the two kept arguing on who gets the shield but it gave the Gronckle the opportunity to take them out.
The Gronckle aims for the distracted twins and blasts the shield right out of their hands. The force of the momentum was enough to send the twins spinning like tops and falling down on the ground in a daze.
"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber started as the two got up dizzily.
"What?!" Tuffnut asked in a daze.
"What?!" Ruffnut asked in confusion.
The blacksmith managed to get the twins to the side as he turned to the remainder of the recruits who were trying to stay safe or avoid getting blasted by the Gronckle.
"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim." Gobber told them and they started to bang their weapons against their shields and it seemed to be working as the Gronckle was shaking its head, clearly disoriented from it as its vision was blurry with the recruits becoming muddled which gave the recruits to scramble out of the way as the Gronckle recovered and looking at which teens to take out.
"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber questioned them loudly.
"Five?!" Snotlout suggested as he was watching the Gronckle with a panicking expression.
"No, six!" Fishlegs corrected him unaware that the Gronckle heard him and didn't like that its shot limit was discovered.
"Correct, six. That’s one for each of you!" Gobber shouted in an impressed tone.
"I really don't think my parents would-" Fishlegs started only to be cut off by the Gronckle blasting the shield right out of his hand.
"Fishlegs, out." Gobber said loudly and the burly teen quickly made a run for it to the side to join the twins.
Gobber looked around, doing a headcount. There were supposed to be six of the teens. Then where's... Gobber spotted a mop of messy auburn colored hair hiding behind a cover.
"Hiccup, get in there!" Gobber shouted and Hiccup took a peek over his shield. He went for cover since the lesson was survival.
But he was caught so he had to get into the fray only for a stray blast from the Gronckle to surprise him as he went back into hiding. Nope! He's staying where he is! The lesson is about survival and that's what he was doing.
Meanwhile, Astrid bounces on her heels, ready to dodge a blast but Snotlout appears behind her and is trying to hit on her but failing in the process.
"So anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out." Snot said but Astrid cartwheels out of the way when the Gronckle was about to fire in her direction.
"You look like you work out-" Snotlout was cut off by a blast from the Gronckle hit.
She cartwheels out of the way, allowing a shot to shoot past her and hit Snotlout's shield. The blast sent Snotlout down on his back with a surprise cry.
"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber shouted to the Jorgenson youth who grumbled and went to the side where the twins and Fishlegs were.
Astrid soon rolls to a stop beside Hiccup, who sees his chance to try and stir up a conversation with his crush as he gets out of his hiding spot earlier though it was a bit awkward for him.
"So, I guess it's just you and me huh?" He said awkwardly with his voice breaking slightly. Oh this is so awkward! Why did he even try to talk to her when she's clearly not interested?!
"No. Just you." Astrid said as her eyes widened slightly before she scampered off immediately and left Hiccup watching her in confusion.
A second later, Hiccup yelped when he saw the incoming lava blast from the Gronckle and tried to block it but the lava blast knocked the shield clear off of his arm and left him exposed.
"One shot left!" Gobber called over the still ensuing chaos.
That sent Hiccup into a panic as he started to chase after his shield which was rolling around across the stone floors of the ring. But his movements didn't escape Gronckle's eyes as it immediately went after him, leaving Astrid in the clear. The sight of the Gronckle going after his apprentice/godson made Gobber extremely worried and scared.
"Hiccup!" Gobber shouted which caught Hiccup's attention and felt a surge of fear when he turned his head. Of for the love Thor!
He saw the Gronckle heading straight towards and he tried to find a way to avoid the dragon but the Gronckle managed to pin him against the wall of the arena and he started to gasp heavily in fear. Too much! It's too much! It's like that time with the Night Fury...!
The dragon paused as it sniffed him before narrowing its amber colored eyes.
"Smell-eel-ack...! You-armed-im!" It growled. But Hiccup understood it much to his shock and confusion. Did... Did the dragon just-?
His train of thoughts were cut off when the dragon opened its jaws and Hiccup saw the glowing of the lava blast of the dragon at the back of the throat as it got ready to fire at point-blank. The teen braced himself by shutting his eyes tightly but Gobber managed to intervene as he hooked his prosthetic hook in the Gronckle's mouth at the last second.
He redirected the head of the dragon and caused it to fire against the wall above Hiccup's head as the attack and blast startled the lanky teen who wasn't able to restrain a startled cry as he covered his head immediately. He peeked from his arms as Gobber was wrestling the very irritated dragon back into the pen.
"And that's six!" He grunted as he was extremely rattled from what almost happened but he was masking it so as to not worry Hiccup too much.
"Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage!" He reprimanded the Gronckle which was gnawing on his prosthetic arm.
He managed to get it back inside the pen as Hiccup watched, gathering his breathing back to normal.
"Excuse me?!" The dragon sounded offended by that and it sounds like a female?
Gobber lifted the lever which closed the doors locked and shut just as the dragon rammed against it as the blacksmith turned to the recruits who were trying to catch their breath. Most were out aside from Astrid who still has an intact shield in her grasp along with her axe.
"You'll get another chance, don't you worry." He reassured them.
"Remember... a dragon will always..." He started to tell them before turning to Hiccup and gave him a stern look.
"... always go for the kill." He finished as he concluded the training for the day.
He hoisted Hiccup back to his feet and walked off with the other recruits to take the rest of the day off.
Hiccup lingered behind as he turned to the still smoldering hole on the wall. He started to have second thoughts on what Gobber said and wondered if they were true.
If dragons always go for the kill, then...