I was going to do an actual drawing but didn't like how it turned out so you just get Hero :D
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Their second day of training was going marvelously. Not really.
The arena got turned into some sort of maze and Gobber released a Deadly Nadder on the teenagers with the purpose of teaching them how to attack.
"I'm not fighting that thing!" Hero shouts, ducking out of the way of the Nadder.
"Yes you will, Hero!" Gobber shouts before announcing to the rest of the class. "Nadders are quick and light on their feet. You need to be quicker and lighter!"
Hero rolls their eyes at his words and continues to run around the maze until they come across Astrid and Snotlout and just stick to those two.
"Look for its blind spot! Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it and strike."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Hiccup calls, getting Gobber's attention. "So how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"
"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!" Gobber shouts.
"I know but-"
"Hiccup!" Astrid hisses as she, Snotlout and Hero were crouched near the wall. "Get down!"
Astrid then looks over the corner to see the Nadder looking around. She takes a deep breath before quickly rolling across the gap of the wall. Snotlout and Hero follow behind. Hiccup tries to also roll across but his shield weighs him down and alerts the Nadder. He quickly screams and runs away as the Nadder chases him before it sets its sights on the other three.
Astrid was getting ready to attack until Snotlout pushes her out of the way and tries to throw his mace. He misses and the Nadder laughs at him as Astrid and Hero glare at him.
"The sun was in my eyes!" He complains to them before dodging the Nadder's attack. "Do you want me to block the sun? I mean I can do that for you two but I don't have enough time-"
Snotlout gets separated from Astrid and Hero as the Nadder continues to chase after them, destroying the maze along the way.
They had to literally jump on top of the maze to escape the dragon.
"Hiccup! Move!" Hero shouts as they and Astrid jump down to where he was and crash into him. Astrid and Hero fly across the ground with Astrid's ax getting stuck in Hiccup's shield and Hero losing their spear. "Shit, fuck!"
Astrid runs to where her weapon is and tries to pull it out with Hiccup also trying but mainly just getting in the way, forcing Astrid to push his face away from her.
Hero looks around for their weapon, noticing the Nadder was running directly towards them.
"Fuck it!" They grab the shield next to them and throw it towards the Nadder, hitting it on the side of the face. Astrid, who also gave up in trying to tear her ax away from Hiccup's shield then smacked it in the face with her weapon, making the dragon cower in fear and walk away.
"Nice teamwork, you two!" Gobbler congratulates while Hero's legs give out on them and they just lay on the ground, breathing heavily.
Astrid glances at them before turning to glare at Hiccup. "Is this some kind of a joke to you!?" She shouts. "Our parent's war is about to become ours, figure out which side you're on!"
Everybody, excluding Hiccup and Hero, leaves the arena. Hiccup slowly gets up from off the ground and walks over to Hero who was now staring at the sky.
"Are you okay?" Hiccup asks.
"I'm going to punch you in the throat." Hero threatens.
"Oh. That's great..."
Hero finally has the strength to sit up and takes a small book out of their cloak, throwing it towards Hiccup who fumbles around before finally catching it and reading the title of the book.
"A guide to killing StormStrikers." He reads.
"Mom's a nerd so I'm not surprised I found something about that blue dragon." Hero huffs.
"Your mom actually reads? But she's so aggressive..."
"The strongest people usually have the most knowledge. Why do you think Gobber wanted us to read that dragon book?" Hero questions. "Now, come on! Read the book!"
Hiccup opens the book and starts reading through it.
"There's not much known about this dragon as they are rare and secretive but this book will teach you how to properly kill them."
"Not like we care about that part." Hero comments with a small laugh.
"StormStrikers are a part of the tidal class. It is unknown how long they can stay in water for but some suggest more than a week. Some can turn invisible and some can glow bright white-"
"Nice."
"And there's an ongoing rumor that StormStrikers can teleport and make doubles of themselves. This dragon is extremely dangerous and fast. If you want to survive, you'll have to sneak up from behind it. They're not friendly and only a few have lived long enough to give us these tips and tricks on how to kill a StormStriker."
"So what I'm hearing is my dragon sounds awesome and I actually have something to look forward to for the rest of the day." Hero shrugs with a small smirk. Their smirk widens when they see Hiccup staring at them in shock at how optimistic they were being.
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"That shield isn't going to protect you." Hero comments, slightly giggling at Hiccup who was holding a shield in front of the both of them as they got closer and closer to the clearing.
"It's better than nothing." Hiccup huffs.
"Hey, I'm just saying."
Hero moves around Hiccup and walks directly into the clearing, ignoring all of Hiccup's protest and calls. They walk around the pond until they stab their spear into the ground below them and balance on top of it. Suddenly the StormStriker shows up in front of them with a goofy smile on its face, making Hero smile back.
Hero turns to see Hiccup was still hiding behind his shield and huffs, motioning for him to come on before turning back to the StormStriker and watching it jump into the pond.
"I get why you like water so much now." Hero chuckles, taking their cloak off, getting off their spear and slowly walking into the pond, trying to get a feel for it. "It's wonderful, right?"
The StormStriker excitedly swims towards Hero with a fish in its mouth and hands it to them. Hero looks at it in confusion before reaching to grab their spear. They then pause when they hear the dragon growl next to them.
"No, no, it's fine!" They reassure, going under water and using their spear to catch another fish. "See? I barely use this weapon as a...weapon. Heh."
The dragon slowly swims closer to the spear and sniffs at it before taking the fish off the spear and throwing it to where the other one was.
Hero smiles gently at them before stabbing another fish with their spear.
"It's good to know you're getting along with your dragon." Hiccup chimes in, walking towards the two with his hands in his pockets.
"I'd befriend all the dragons in the tidal class if they were as friendly as this one. Maybe even make an army out of them." Hero says, swimming to the edge of the pond so they could get a better look at Hiccup. "You look sick. Why?"
"Ate a raw fish."
"Why!?"
"I-I don't know! It was to befriend the Night Fury. I guess it kinda worked though because now he just seems mildly annoyed by me instead of being scared."
"I mean, you're not much of a threat."
"Thanks." Hiccup huffs, making Hero laugh as they try to explain themself.
"No, I'm joking, I'm joking! I'm just guessing that since you untied the dragon and gave it food, it thinks you're a nice person. You're just nosy sometimes. What are you even trying to do?"
"Did you ever notice that one of the Night Fury's tail fins is gone?" Hiccup asks.
"No, I didn't. So you've been trying to inspect his tail fin this entire time?"
"Yeah."
"Oh. Yeah, you're annoying the crap out of that dragon. Good luck with that."
Hero gives him a fake salute before swimming back to the StormStriker who already created a medium sized pile fish.
"Damn!" Hero exclaims, extremely impressed. "You'd be very loved in the village if you weren't a dragon."
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Later in the afternoon, the StormStriker went to go to sleep and Hero noticed Hiccup sitting on a small boulder by himself. They frowned and swam out of the pond, grabbing their cloak along the way. They then move to stand in front of Hiccup who looked up at them in confusion.
"So...guessing it didn't go that well?" Hero guesses, tilting their head at Hiccup with a small smile.
"Nope. He's still annoyed by me." Hiccup sighs and picks up a nearby stick, using it to aimlessly draw in the sand.
Hero's smile stays as they move to sit next to Hiccup on the small boulder. "Well...I'm sure he'll warm up to you soon enough. Better than knowing he's not going to kill you."
"I guess." Hiccup then pauses his drawing and turns to Hero who shrugged their shoulders. "I just realized I've never really seen you out of your cloak. You look pretty."
"What?"
Hiccup's eyes widened when he realized what he just said. "Wait, no! I mean-"
"No, you're okay, you're okay!" Hero interrupts with a laugh. "Thank you for the compliment, it was sweet!"
Hiccup covers his face with a groan before looking back at Hero who was smiling at him. He gently smiles back and picks up the stick he accidentally dropped on the ground. He then continues drawing, what he just now recognized, as the Night Fury. He didn't even know he was actually drawing that.
Hero watches in awe, amazed at his art skills before freezing when they feel someone breathing behind them. They turn to see the Night Fury looking at Hiccup's drawing in curiosity and silently turn back around and nudge Hiccup's shoulder, alerting him as well. Hiccup noticeably freezes but continues drawing the Night Fury.
The Night Fury tilts his head at the drawing and walks away, grabbing a branch and dragging it along the ground making his own sketch as Hero and Hiccup watch in awe. The dragon was twirling around them, trying to draw like HIccup. Even accidentally hitting the man on the head. Once he finishes he drops the branch and nods proudly at his work. It was a mess and hard to make out what the Night Fury was trying to do but Hiccup was just surprised that he tried to copy him at all.
Hero stays in their spot as Hiccup stands up and takes a step forward. The Night Fury suddenly growls at him, startling him. He looks down, seeing that he was stepping on his drawing and lifts his foot, earning a small purr from the dragon. Hiccup smiles at the dragon and steps over the drawing.
Trying to get out, he tiptoes around the drawing, making sure not to step on it.
"Hiccup!" Hero hisses, making him suddenly freeze in place, feeling something breathe behind him. Hiccup turns around to see the Night Fury and starts to reach his hand out towards him. The Night Fury growls and he retracts his hand. He then turns to the side and reaches his hand out.
Hero watches the scene in slight fear, not wanting to be the witness of a murder.
The Night Fury examines Hiccup's hand and hesitates for a second before softly leans into it with his eyes closed. Hiccup flinches a bit at the touch and slowly looks up at the Night Fury in disbelief. The Night Fury moves away from Hiccup's hand. His nose twitches and his eyes turn into slits before he dashes back to the StormStriker who was sleeping on a boulder.
Hiccup looks at his hand in shock before turning to Hero who looked even more shocked with their mouth wide open.