The Black fire (BOOK 1)

Almost ready

-Narrator: Hiccup.

It really took a long time for me to build the plane, a working plane at least.

Over a month and a half before, when I opened the box for the first time, I didn't know where to even build it, not to say how to build it. I had to steal almost a whole house worth of wood and a lot of metal from the armory for making the engine. And speaking of whitch, it was VERY complicated to design, specially because I didn't had anything to serve me as an example, and that means that all the doubts I had with any component, were a huge trial and error game.

I've been working hard from the first day, making every hour I had count, even harder than when I made the slingshot. But, finally, after weeks, several of Stoick's rages and more stupid jokes from the gang that I could remember, the damn engine started.

When I made sure I wasn't dreaming and that the airplane's engine was finally working, I got out of the cockpit and jumped, screamed, laughed and unleashed all the rage acumulated in all of those days in one single moment. ''Yeah! It works! Suck on that you stupid teenagers! Today, I win!'' I screamed so hard I felt my vocal cords complain. But I didn't care at all. I fell to the ground of the cave, exhausted. And looked at my creation complete for the first time.

In the time it took for me to finish the machine, I had been in a lot of risky situations, and most of them would had ended in my dad discovering that I was trying to replicate the machine. Thankfully, though, I managed to keep it in secret, excusing me by saying I was going to the death arena or to the armory to work. But in reality I was taking the materials and tools from the warehouse to build the plane. 

When I finished making the design of the aircraft, I had to think about a place safe but suitable for the task at the same time. After several hours of searching, I found the cave. It was a deep hole pretty close to the village. The floor was flat, and it had a big lanscape in front of it.

The plane itself was a very basic design compared to the original Henkel-122 of the book, as I didn't had the tools, time or formation for the task. My plane had, for example, an static landing gear, a four cylinder engine (instead of the V8 of Mark's), a shorter but wider  blades on the propeller and so on... The engine was also bulkier, and it showed up on the sides and on the upper part of the nose of the craft. The wings were basically the same, but mines didn't had flaps, and  the tail was almost identical to Mark's plane. The canopy was, again, a simplified version of the He-112's cockpit: It had a wooden seat tied to the ground with a stick I used to control the alierons, rudder and elevators. Then, in the control panel, were some levers and the most simple but important indicators, whitch thankfully, the manual guided me on how to make them: there was the speedometer, the altitude indicator and the fuel indicator. Then, to the left, the throttle and some more controls.

Making the engine start was one of the most challenging jobs when making the plane, as I didn't have any sort of battery and/or electricity for the starter. I tried several times making one, but it didn't work. Then, I tried making something Mark told me his plane had when the battery couldn't start the engine.

He called it ''shotgun start''.

It was basically a modified shotgun bullet that you fire inside of the engine to start the spinning of the propeller, to then connect the transission pole and the engine should start immediately. I thought it was a good idea and I tried making one; to my surprise, making the bullet wasn't very complicated, as I just needed a flamable material and something to cover it. The ignitor was the grease we used to flame up the torches and most of the fire of the village,it was easy to handle, fast to get and,most importantly, very flamable. When I tried these first bullets in the engine, yeah, they ignited for sure, but instead of making the force needed, they just created a fire. This got me to the conclusion that the grease by itself wasn't powerfull enough for making the engine start. I needed something more, something that creates more force than the grease. 

There was only one thing that could make that happen.

*(A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE)*

-Narrator: Gobber.

''Are you crazy? For what purpose do you want such a dangerous material?'' I roared. Not sure if I should give him what he asked or send him to Gothi. Uh... maybe he is crazy, I don't know at this point.

'' Listen, remember when I asked you the big wheel from the wheelbarrow because I needed it for the Slingshot?'' He asked, trying to seem calm, but he was shaking. ''Yeah... so what?'' I remember very well the machine Hiccup used for taking down the Black Fire... the ''Sling-shot'' as he likes to call it. ''Well, thanks to it I took the most dangerous enemy from the sky. So why don't you let me this time?''

''Because this is different!'' I shouted even louder. ''You are asking me to get in there, grab a dragon at take some of the flamable gas they use for their fireballs to... whatever you want it for!'' He nodded. ''Yup, and it shouldn't be that hard! You fight dragons all the time for-'' ''For our survival Hiccup, we don't do it because we want! What you are asking is risking my life for nothing!'' When I finished, I layed in the wall of the death arena, looking at Hiccup. He looked like he was about to cry. 

For some reason, he wanted the gas for something he doesen't want to reveal me. Maybe for fun? No... he seems more desperate than that. A new weapon maybe? It could be... but I don't think that's the case. I layed there for what it seemed like hours, and I finally gave up. I just coudn't  say no to him, specially after losing Mark. It was a big loss for him, as it seemed like he was the only one Hiccup considered as his friend. So, despite I knew I shouldn't, I was going to, just because of the fact that he may use it for something good.

''At least I hope so.'' I whispered.

-Narrator: Hiccup.

It seemed that it was impossible. That he wasn't going to do it, no matter what I said. After minutes of standing there, he finally gave up and said:

'' Fine... you win. But you do what I say. Understood?''

I nodded.

''Good. Now bring me some chains and a basket.''

He turned to face the cage of the Monstrous Nightmare.

''A big, metal basket.''