Worlds Meet (Hiccstrid FanFic)

2. Training

ASTRID

I was in a bad mood the next morning after the horrible night before. Having that small, scrawny boy 'save' me was completely embarrassing. Everyone was talking about how lucky I was that I hadn't been killed by the dragon. I could have easily taken that dragon, I didn't need a stupid foreigner to help me. 

But he can't have been that stupid, not with that device that he had used to sedate the Deadly Nadder. I had never seen dragon act that way before. It unnerved me, not only this but also the fact that no one seemed to care where he was from, or why he was alone. All he said was that he came from his island on a boat and didn't plan on staying very long. I passed the chief's house as I went to the dragon fighting arena and saw him and Gobber outside. 

'Just give the boy a chance, Stoick.' Goober said trying to persuade him. Not wanting to be caught eavesdropping I moved on, away from their conversation. Hopefully the chief would get some answers out of this kid. For all we know he could be working with one of our enemy islands. 

At the arena it seemed that I was the last one to arrive. The twins were entertaining themselves by stomping around with buckets strapped to their feet. 

'What are you doing?' I said in exasperation, putting my hands on my hips. 

'Hey Astrid, happy about being saved by fishbone last night?' Tuffnut jerked a thumb at Hiccup who was staring at the iron doors that enclosed the dragons. A roaring could be heard from behind it. It seemed that the Deadly Nadder had finally come to. Hiccup spun round and stared at Snotlout. 

'Are those dragons in there?' He asked a horrified expression on his face. I gave him a strange look.

'Of course they are.' Snotlout said rolling his eyes. Aparently Hiccup's initial coolness seemed to have worn off. 

'Why are they in here?' He asked sounding slightly angry. It was kind of a ridiculous expression for Hiccup to wear, eyebrows scrunched up mouth downturned, it just made him look cute. Not cute, cute. Just kind of like you wanted to pinch his cheeks. 

'They are in here 'cause you are gonna be fighting them today.' Gobber had entered the arena, the steady 'clump' of his wooden leg echoing throughout the arena. Gobber signaled for us to come in closer. I couldn't help feeling excited, after all this training we finally got to start actually fighting dragons. 

'So without further a do, welcome to dragon training!' Gobber spread both arms around gesturing to the whole arena. 

'No turning back.' I said mostly to myself but a few of the others nodded. This training was pretty dangerous, at any moment one of us could be injured, or even die. 

I brushed my hair out of my face as I surveyed the arena, wondering what tasks might be created. There were long pieces of wooden boarding that looked like they could be used to create a maze. I didn't know much about which dragons we would be facing. So far I only knew of one dragon that they had successfully managed to capture and that was the Nadder that Hiccup had taken care of. Who knows what other beasts hid behind the iron gates. 

'I hope I get some serious burns.' Said Tuff enthusiastically. 

'I'm hoping for some mauling.' Ruff countered. 'Like on my shoulder or lower back.' 

'Yeah.' I said in an offhand voice, 'It's only fun if you get a scar out of it.' 

Hiccup chose this moment to chime in, in what he probably thought sounded like a cool voice. Really it just made him sound kinda stupid. 

'Yeah, no kidding right. Pain, love it!' We turned to him and I raised my eyebrows and shook my head. 

'And five has become six.' Tuff grumbled, at least he didn't sound very happy about it.

'Congratulations.' Ruff said, her twin looked confused. 'You learnt to count.' 

'Right,' Gobber shouted over our squabbling. 'The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village.' Hiccup flinched at the killing part. He's probably really squeamish I thought to myself. 

The lesson began pretty normally, we warmed up a bit and chose our weapons. Then Gobber walked over to the first gate on the far right. 

'First off, the Gronkle.' He said pulling the handle down. Everyone looked pretty startled at him launching a dragon on us straight away. Snotlout even called out questioning whether we were starting without any teaching. 

'I believe in learning on the job.' Gobber said as the doors to the Gronkle cage opened. 'The first thing you want to get is a shield. Noise confuses dragons so bang them with your axes, throws off their aim.' 

I sprinted to the far corner of the arena and away from the Gronkle that was now careening about near the top of the arena. When he realized he was trapped he turned on us, his beady eyes narrowing. I snatched a shield from the ground and began furiously banging my ax against it. 

I could see Hiccup trying to do the same, only he could barely hold his weapon up at the same time. 

'If you have to make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield.' Gobber said firmly, wrenching the ax out of Hiccup's hand and shoving him away with the shield. It seemed that his opinion of the fabulous'Dragon Conqueror', as the town people had started calling him, had began to drop. 

'How many shots does a Gronkle have?' Gobber shouted. 

'5?' Snotlout cried uncertainly. 

'6.' Fishlegs shouted raising his shield up, big mistake, it was blown to bits. Hiccup was skirting around the edges of the arena and seemed to be avoiding any contact with the dragon. I however I was more worried about avoiding Snotlout who kept sidling over to me. 

'Hey babe.' He said getting way closer than I found comfortable. I sighed and rolled my eyes, hoping he would get the gesture, of course he didn't. 'I just moved into my parents basement, you should stop by some time.' 

'Ughh.' I groaned diving out of the way as the Gronkle turned on Snotlout. It's blast sent bits of his shield splintering into the air. By now it was just Hiccup and I left. 

The Gronkle turned on Hiccup and he pressed himself further into the shadows of the arena wall. But the dragon had his sights set and wasn't straying from his target no matter how much Hiccup tried to hide. Gobber shouted a warning for Hiccup to move as the Gronkle built up its shot, ready to blow Hiccup's head off. 

But instead of that happening, the Gronkle stopped, landed and flopped onto its side. Tongue hanging out as Hiccup gave it a slappy pat. 

'Well, that happened.' Gobber said as he made forward to take the dragon back to his cage. He wrapped and arm around the Gronkle's thick tail and dragged him away. 

'What the hell was that?!' I asked Hiccup ready to punch him, or at least shove him up the wall with my ax.

Hiccup shrugged and made to leave the arena, no one else had stuck around. I didn't understand how no one was questioning his abilities. No one could wrangle a dragon like that and he made it look easy. 

'Hiccup.' Gobber said raising his hand and waving Hiccup over. 'I just want to have a word with you.' 

Gobber gave me a questioning look and I promptly left the arena, I hoped Gobber had a chat with Hiccup about what he had done. Because it certainly wasn't normal, and definitely unneeded on Berk.

~~~

Yep.. So lots more chapters coming up:) I have the day off school because i'm on all these antibiotics and shiz. So much fun coughing my head of every 5 seconds. 

Anyways, hope everyones day is better than mine:)

xx

ToothlessLover777