Chapter 8: The Zippleback

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Valia was waiting at the arena for Hiccup with her clawed gloves tied around her belt, as Hiccup had snuck out of the house early that morning without leaving a note. Blue had snuck out of the house and followed her to the arena when she left, but this time, he had a small blanket over him, it surprisingly covered him and blended in with his surroundings pretty well.

When the other teens arrived at the arena for training, they were met with a very upset and over worried Valia, who had her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face.

Snotlout: Whoa! Okay, who upset Val this time? Because it wasn't me.

Tuffnut: It wasn't me or Ruff.

Gobber then walked up from inside the arena and stood beside the upset Haddock sister.

Gobber: Hiccup left early this morning without leaving her a note. So don't worry, you're all safe.

Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins let out sighs of relief to hearing that none of them had upseted Valia, but Astrid was suspicious of where Hiccup could have gone if he wasn't already at the arena when he had left early.

As soon as Valia saw Hiccup walking towards the arena for training, she walked up to him and gently smacked him in the back of his head.

Hiccup: Ow! Why- Oh, right. Sorry, Val, I forgot to let you know that I left early, I promise it won't happen again.

Valia: ( to Hiccup, quietly but everyone still heard her: ) No it won't, young man. I don't need to wake up in the morning worrying about where you disappeared to!

Tuffnut: What is she, your sister or your mother?

Valia: ( honestly: ) I honestly don't know sometimes from the amount of heart attacks he have been giving me since we were kids.

( Slight time skip )

The Haddock twins and the other teens were in the arena and they were put into groups. Valia was with Astrid and Ruffnut. They all were carrying buckets of water as the arena was covered in green smoke. Valia was wearing her gloves as she held her water bucket, she had her guard up completely as she looked at her surroundings for any signs of movement. Blue watched from underneath the bleachers above the arena on the other side of where Gobber was.

Gobber: Today's lesson is about teamwork. Now, a wet dragon head can't light it's fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which.

When hearing this, Valia had an idea and decided to share it with the other two girls.

Valia: ( to Astrid and Ruffnut, in a whisper: ) If we see one of the heads, only one of us should throw water at it. If it's the wrong head, I'll distract it by scratching the head's cheek so it's attention turns to me while the other throws water at the right head.

Astrid: ( whispers back to Valia: ) And what if you get hurt?

Valia just shrugs her shoulders in response without a care.

Ruffnut: ( whispers, to both Astrid and Valia: ) I'm okay with having some kind of a plan instead of none-

Snotlout: There!

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