The Friendship

Chapter Thirteen | Top Student

~LITTLE HICCUP~

I had quietly shut the door behind me, glad that Tufflout was doing better. Underneath my animal skin vest I hid a smoked eel. Toothless hated eels, which I had found out earlier yesterday before Tufflout's dragon, Blueflame brought his injured rider to me. The eel was to ward off the dragon the other recruits and I had to face that day. I walked in silence, listening to the little amount of chatter that came from among the remaining villagers on Berk.

"Hey, Hiccup! Ready for another major butt-kicking?" Unsurprisingly, I turned around to see Snotlout strutting towards me, a vain smirk streched across his face. The other recruits followed. Ruff and Tuff were slapping each other in the face, and Fishlegs was rereading the Book of Dragons. Astrid was sharpening her trademark weapon- an axe- with a large, rounded stone.

"Great," I groaned, "How very nice it is to see you. Having a nice day?"

He chuckled. "Oh, it will be, once I see you fail again today."

"Yeah," Tuffnut laughed, "Once you mail again, with a capital 'M'!"

"He said 'fail', not 'mail' you bucket head!" Ruffnut scolded, smacking him right-side the head. Tuffnut yelped, rubbing the spot where a bump would surely form.

"Oh, that makes so much more sense! Who would mail something to Hiccup?"

~~~

"Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky," informed Gobber, who disappeared into a cover of Zippleback gas. The burning sun heated my already sweaty face, shining down through the interconnected chains above me. Gas swirled in menacing clouds around me, my vision useless. "One head breathes gas, the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which." Each viking held a small bucket of water to extinguish the correct head.

I circled back-to-back with Fishlegs, who's muttering was making me uneasy. Well, even more uneasy than I already was. "Razor sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims in its..."

Frusterated, I whispered in an irritated tone, "Will you please stop that?"

We heard the rest of the group bickering somewhere in the green cloud of gas. Snotlout and Tuffnut were failing miserably at trying to cover up the unintentional (on Snotlout's part) insult of the girls having dragon-sized bums.

Following screeches coming from Tuffnut, a sweeping sound could be heard, most likely one of the tails of the two-headed creature. Tuffnut emerged from the gas, bare-headed and running past us to the other side of the arena. "Oh, I'm hurt. I am very much hurt!" shouted the young viking, as the others came into view.

Fishlegs made no attempt to lighten the situation."Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now..."

"Look out!" I warned. Out of the fog slithered a green dragon head, it's long, thin neck covered with a row of rounded red plates. Panicking, Fishlegs drenched the head, which soon after seeped gas from it's mouth.

"Oh. Wrong head." The dragon head sprayed Fishlegs with enoumous amounts of flammable gas, who fled from the scene. The head then turned its attention to an easier target. Me. The other head appeared moments later. Sparks flew from it's mouth onto the cold stone floor as it tried to light the ominous mist.

"Now, Hiccup!" shouted Gobber, encouraging me to finish the job.

I threw the water towards the head emitting sparks. The dragon head was too high, and remained dry. "Oh, come on!" Gobber was shouting, but my head was ringing. I was going to die. In the rush of adrenaline I almost forgot about the smoked eel under my vest. I extended my hands out, and walked towards the dragon. The Zippleback retreated in a cowardly manner, as if some invisible force was pushing the dragon back. Once in their cage, I tossed the eel towards them. "Now think about what you've done."

The Vikings stared at me in awe, eyes wide and a few open mouths.

"Okay! So are we done?" I asked politely to the silent crowd. I rubbed my hands on my vest removing the eel's slimy residue from my skin. "Because I've got some things I need to..." I trailed off, leaving the unresponsive group behind me. "Yep... see you tomorrow." I felt their gazes follow me through the gate, until I rounded the corner, out of sight.

~~~

"Hey, Hiccup! Wait up!" The fading golden-orange sun was a semi-circle in the cloud-scattered sky. The creatures on Berk were returning to their abodes, sheltered by a canopy of leaves and pine needles. I halted on the stone steps, having left the brown, leather saddle I created for Toothless at the cove. I turned around, and was shocked to see Fishlegs, followed by the rest of the gang, heading towards me. Except for Astrid.

I plastered a false grin on my freckled face. "Oh, uh, hey there, Fishlegs. Snotlout, Ruff, Tuff."

Snotlout slapped me on the back like we were best friends, not like he- as well as the others- tormented me for as long as I remembered. "Nice job out there in the ring. How did you know dragons don't like eels?" he wondered, scratching his arm.

Stuttering, I told a white lie. "I'm- just observant, I suppose."

"It was awesome!" The twins shouted in unison, banging thier helmets together.

"Have you seen Tufflout lately?" inquired Ruffnut, "He wasn't at dragon training today. Is my man all right?"

I stumbled on my words. "He's, uh-- not doing well. He's sick."

"Too bad. I wanted him to see my dragon-slaying skills."

"You'll see him tomorrow," I said, retreating to my home.

~~~

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xoxo -@DragonMaster1908