"Today is about teamwork. Work together and you might survive."
Gas seeps through the cracks of a double wide door, and suddenly, It blasts open. A cloud of smoke engulfs the ring, swirling around the paired-up teens. Astrid with Ruffnut. Snotlout with Tuffnut. Fishlegs with me. Each carried buckets of water, poised to throw them at the dragon.
This was probably the worst time to be in the ring- at least for me, anyway. It had been exactly nine hours and forty-five minutes since I had seen the Night Rider, and my mind was clouded with nothing but thoughts of her. I had yet to tell anyone. I wanted to know her first. Ever since the first time I saw her soaring through the clouds on her Skrill, I had been interested in who she was, and what made her the way that she was.
So, as I stood back to back against Fishlegs, I found that this was indeed, the worst time to be in the ring...like...ever.
"Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire." Gobber explained. "The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head, lights it. Your job is to know which is which."
The smoke encircled us, cutting us off from each other. Biting my lip, I did my best to listen and watch for any sign of the dragon.
"Razor sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims in it's-"
I clenched my fist around the handle of my bucket and glared at Fishlegs "Will you please stop that!?"
Moving nervously through the fog, Snotlout sung to himself to calm his nerves. "If that dragon shows either of his faces, I'm gonna-" spotting an approaching shape, his eyes went wide. "-There!"
Snotlout and Tuffnut flung their water into the fog.
"Hey!" Astrid wiped her now wet clothes off and glared at Tuffnut and Snotlout as she and Ruffnut emerged from the fog.
"It's us, idiots." Ruff rolled her eyes.
"Wow, Your butts are getting bigger." Tuff shrugged, and Snotlout smirked. "We thought you were a dragon."
Snotlout licked his lips and eyed Astrid up and down. "Not that there's anything wrong with a dragon-esque figure." In response, she elbowed Snotlout in the face, while Ruffnut dropped Tuffnut with a punch to the throat.
"Wait..." They froze. A tail swooped out of the fog, taking them down. Their buckets spilled out and hit the feet of Hiccup and Fishlegs. They stared down at the puddles of spilled water and swallowed.
"Oh, I'm hurt. I am very much hurt!"
Nervously Fishlegs glanced around as the fog cornered them. "Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now..."
"Look out!" I suddenly said as the Zippleback's head- heads emerged out of the smoke. Fishlegs hurls his water at it, completely dousing the head. It leers and opens its mouth, spewing gas into the area.
"Oh..." his eyes widened. "Wrong head." Fishlegs fleed in a panic, screaming and dropping his water bucket, leaving me behind. Great I thought as I rolled my eyes. The dragon focused its eyes on me, and I backed up a bit, trying to remember which head Fishlegs had thrown his water at.
"Now, Hiccup!" Gobber yelled.
I hurled my water with all my might. It arcs and drops short of the dragon's sparking mouth. "Oh come on..." I dropped my shoulder as the dragon grinned, savoring the kill.
"Hiccup!" Gobber's voice rang in my ears as I reached into my tunic. The Zippleback hesitates, sniffs, then retreated. The teens get to their feet, watching transfixed as Gobber peeks through his fingers to see... The Zippleback backing away from me. I stood and held my hands out, as if controlling it.
"Back! Back! Back! Now don't you make me tell you again!" The Zippleback retreated through its door and into its cave, hissing. "Yes, that's right. Back into your cage." I slowly opened my vest fully, revealing the spotted smoked eel from earlier. I tossed it inside the door, then slammed it shut. "Now think about what you've done."
I turned to the teens and Gobber. They stared, slack-jawed "Okay! So are we done? Because I've got some things I need to..." I jogged out of the ring, past the speechless group. "Yep...see you tomorrow!"
************************************************************************
I ran through the forest, trying to make it back to the cove. If I had any chance of finding the Night Rider again, I'd have to start there. As I stumbled my way through the forest, not even notice the large shadow, following above him. I stopped, leaning my back against a large boulder, breathing heavily.
"This is useless..." I muttered to myself. The forest was huge. I didn't have a prayer in finding her. At least not in one day. I picked up my notebook, and crossed an X over where I stood. A noise behind me caused me to jump, pointing my pencil out in front of me for some sort of protection, which felt as ridiculous as it sounded. Another noise, this time to my left was definitely a breaking branch.
"Uh...h-hello?" I called, hoping it was one of the Hooligans. "Really funny, Snotlout...twins...ha-ha..ha." I turned in a full circle, looking around me. Come on, get it together he thought, shaking his head. You've hung around a dragon for Thor's sake. "Just uh...just come out, and things won't get hasty..."
Suddenly, a twig snapped behind me, and I whipped around. She stood there, but she wasn't wearing her night rider cloak, or armor. Now, I could see all her features. She was young. my age, probably. She had pale skin, with freckles adorning her rosy cheeks. Her hair was long, and red, pulled into a thick braid, and her eyes were a stormy blue, glaring right through me. Her dragon was nowhere to be seen.
"Are you um...are you the-"
"Who are you?" I wasn't sure what I was more startled by. The fact that she spoke, or the fact that her voice was so soft, yet so firm at the same time.
"I uh- I..." I stumbled back slightly as she slowly advanced forward. "Who am I?"
"I've had my eye on you." she said. "Dragon killing school must be keeping you busy, huh?" she asked, taking another step. "But then again, so is that Night Fury,"
Another step forward.
"I uh- I" I stuttered.
Another step forward.
"So tell me, Hiccup." I stumbled to the forest floor after tripping over a rock. She didn't pause. "Who are you?"
"Well, I uh..." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I...wh-who, who am I?" I asked, hopefully buying myself some time. I had left my dagger in the pond of the cove. I didn't have any other defense. "I um...I'm Hiccup Haddock...I uh- am the son of the chief of Berk? I don't really know what you-"
"Who are you, that makes a dragon restrain from killing you?" she asked. Another step. "Who are you, that sets a dragon free, when your whole village doesn't spare a dragon a glance before striking it down?" Another step forward. "So tell me, Hiccup...who are you?"
I thought for a moment. Why didn't I kill that dragon? I had every opportunity to. The village expected me to kill a dragon as my right of passage. And it was a Night Fury of all dragons. That would have gone down in history as the greatest kill of all time. The girl didn't speak again. She didn't even have her hand on the handle of her sword. She just looked at me. Waited patiently for me to answer.
"I...I don't know." I answered honestly, hoping I wouldn't regret it. "I...I couldn't."
The glare in the night riders' eyes softened, and she stopped walking forward. Her once clenched fists loosened, and she took one more step forward, and held her hand out. I didn't realize this at first, as I thought she was reaching out to finish me, but when I dared open my right eye, I finally realized what she was doing. Carefully, I took her hand, and she easily pulled him up. I wasn't exactly sure what this meant. She stepped back and eyed me, as I eyed her. Neither of us trusted the other.
"What are you going to do with that dragon?" she suddenly asked after an eternity of silence. "He can't stay in that cove forever, you know..." I looked down, my shoulder slumping. I didn't really know. A long sigh made me look up at her. "Look, I don't trust you. Not yet. I don't think you trust me either. But, I'd be willing to help that dragon. The only thing is, is that you're going to be the one who's doing the work, understand?" I didn't have a chance to answer, before she spoke again. "Meet me tomorrow in the cove. An hour before your training. Don't be late."
I opened my mouth to speak, but she turned swiftly on her heel and disappeared into the forest. My heart pounding, I did the same, running back to Berk, a new found determination in my step.
A/N: Sorry if this meeting felt a little rushed. I did the best I could. This book is based on the movie, and has most of the scenes in it. The only exception is that it is more like a book in the aspect that it'll have more detail, and more scenes. I'll be doing the same with all three movies, while both TV shows will remain as they are. More information about this will come out shortly. Thank you for reading.