Hiccup's POV:
Being a Viking is not easy, especially if you live on Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village in a word? Sturdy. It's been on this rock for several generations, and every single building is new. We have lots of great stuff here, from fishing, hunting, a charming view of sunsets and one other thing, nothing to crazy.
While most people deal with pests like mice or mosquitoes, we have... dragons. While most people would leave, we stay and fight. I mean we are Vikings, which means we have some serious stubbornness issues, and fighting dragons is a normal day for us.
My name is Hiccup. I know great name right? Apparently having hideous names will somehow scare off trolls and gnomes as if our Viking charm didn't do that already. We Vikings are almost constantly bombarded by dragons that come to raid us almost every day so being a Viking is an occupational hazard. When they do come, we are mostly... prepared. We have traps, a very crude system to put out fires, and our loudness... but in the end, it works out. Well, most of the time.
My father, Stoick the Vast, is the Chief of Berk. If you met him, you would probably run away in fear... I mean he always has some sort of weapon on him at all times, which makes him even more intimidating. Unfortunately, I am basically the exact opposite, everyone on Berk doesn't believe I'm his son and doesn't expect me to kill any dragons... and I plan to prove them wrong, all of them. Honestly, I don't think I need big muscles to kill one, I just need my brain to find a way to bring a dragon down. This is why I'm an apprentice to Gobber in the forge where I fix broken or bent weapons, where I also tinker with my... inventions. Other teenagers like Snotlout, Fishlegs, the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut and Astrid get more... intense jobs.
As I continue to run towards the Forge, they are right in front of me now grabbing buckets of water and putting out fires, well Ruffnut and Tuffnut aren't really helping... Astrid is throwing that bucket effortlessly, and I bet she can take down a dragon just as well. There's no way she'll be my friend if I can't even kill the smallest of dragons like a Terrible Terror.
Killing a dragon is everything here, and it's no small feat. A Deadly Nadder has multicolored scales, and it has many ways to kill you. Not only does it have the hottest fire which can burn through anything, but it can also shoot large poisonous spikes at you. Killing one will only just get me noticed.
A Gronckle is tough since it can shoot molten rocks at you and has a club as a tail that can hit like a boulder. It's wings flap so fast that it becomes a blur. Taking one of these down would be enough to get me a girlfriend.
A Zippleback? Very difficult since it has two heads. One head shoots out gas from its mouth while the other ignites it. And one bite can be extremely fatal since it is very poisonous. Twice the heads, twice the status, which means I would get very popular. Not a lot of Vikings manage to kill a Zippleback as far as I know.
The best Vikings go after the Monstrous Nightmare. It has a nasty habit of setting itself on fire along with the fire that sticks to whatever it touches, so stay far away unless you want to be cooked thoroughly. Killing one is very hard, but worth it if you survive. There's only one person that has killed one that I know of and lived, you guessed it, my father.
Then there's the ultimate prize... the Night Fury. No Viking has ever seen one nor killed one since it strikes in the cover of the night and it never misses its target with its powerful plasma shot. Once you here its screech rising you take cover immediately. After all, one shot can take out a catapult or building, which makes it very dangerous.
And I'm going to be the first to kill one. Go big or go home right?
I open the door to find Berk under another dragon raid and start running towards the Forge where Gobber is currently being stationed.
"Good morning Hiccup! Wait what are you doing outside?" shouts a Viking as he runs by.
I grin and continue while dragons soar overhead as one almost hits me with its fireball which only makes me stumble, but I manage to make it to the Forge alive and intact.
"Hiccup, you're up early... Hurry and get those weapons heated and start hammerin'!" orders Gobber.
I immediately take the pile of bent axes and swords and start pumping heat onto them, making them glow orange. That's when I suddenly hear the all too familiar rising screech.
"Oh no... lad you'd better stay... Put... There. I have to go help the others... and don't cause a disaster while I'm gone," says Gobber as he runs off and replaces his hammer with an axe.
Well, this is my chance to prove my worth, I think to myself. I quickly unravel a tarp to reveal a giant crossbow and drag it from the back of the Forge to a hill far from the village. By the time I reach the hilltop, I'm practically dying. I put a large bola into the crossbow and wait silently. I hear the screech and see a plasma shot make a catapult explode in a fiery death, making a few Vikings jump off into the water. Yikes, that's gotta hurt. Alright HIccup, you got this, just gotta time this right... only got one shot, no pressure right? I steadily wait for it to reveal itself and got a glimpse, so I carefully try to track its movement. As soon as I see a glimpse of the Night Fury, I shoot wildly as I get flung back because of the recoil.
"Gah! I completely missed... I probably didn't even come close to hitting it! The gods must really hate me to make me this weak..." I shout in frustration. Then I see the Night Fury cry out and crash down into some trees near what I think is Raven Point. I did it! I shot it down! I, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, is the first Viking to shoot down a Night Fury!
Of course, as luck would have it, a Monstrous Nightmare lands in front me and interrupts my victory dance.
"Aw crud," I groan in disappointment.
Then I start to run for my life as much as my skinny legs could carry as it sprays its sticky fire right behind me and run straight towards the village with the Monstrous Nightmare chasing me all the way. I could feel its hot breath on my neck which only made me run faster. When I reach the village, I hide behind a pole and look to my right to see where the dragon is, only to feel its hot breathing right behind me.
"Great just as I shoot down a Night Fury, I get killed right after..." I mutter, annoyed at my current circumstance.
That's when my father jumps onto the Monstrous Nightmare's head and when it tries to spray fire at him, a few drops of fire came out.
"Ha! Ran out of juice didn't ya!" my father shouts triumphantly as he starts to drive the dragon away in fear and the other dragons began to fly away with our sheep.
I run towards my father and say, "Hey dad, I shot down a Night Fury, if we get a search party to Raven Point we can still kill it!"
Of course, my father glares at me instead and walks away to fix the damage when I realize the Monstrous Nightmare's fire just burns through a pole holding a giant cup of burning wood, rolling down the hill, destroying several houses. It also set free a few Deadly Nadders trapped in a net and flies away with our sheep and eventually reaching the docks where it splashed into the water, making several Vikings jump into the water again. Actually, I'm pretty sure they're the same ones that I saw jumping from the catapult. I laugh nervously, seeing all the Vikings glare at me. I am prone to destroying anything nearby, also being very clumsy does not help.
Gobber made sure I arrive at my home so I wouldn't do anything stupid since everyone thinks I am delusional for saying that I shot down a Night Fury and mad at me for destroying many of their houses. Heck, even I think I might have hallucinated shooting down that Night Fury.
I have to find that Night Fury, I tell myself. I have already explored much of Berk, so I know my way around this rock, and using my handy hand-drawn map, I made my way to where the Night Fury should've landed, near Raven Point.
"Where is it!? I know it has to be here somewhere! Great, some people lose their socks or their knife, but no, I lose an entire dragon!!! The gods really must hate me..." I cry in frustration and slam my book shut when I suddenly notice a broken tree. Hmm, could it be? I continue down the slope to find dirt and rocks scattered from what clearly looks like something crashed down here. This is it! It has to be here somewhere. I climb a rock to get a better view when I see it, a Night Fury trapped in my bola, still unconscious.
Haha! I did shoot it down, this is my chance! I'll bring its heart to my father and he'll finally be proud of me and everyone on Berk will respect me. Even Astrid will maybe like me! I make my way down to see the unconscious Night Fury and I look at it in wonder. It doesn't seem that scary up close, it has no horns or spikes protruding on its body. It has two pairs of wings, the main ones for speed while the smaller pair underneath for what I assume is used for control. No wonder it has such amazing accuracy. Its scales are jet black and are pretty smooth compared to other dragons. I shakily take out my knife... I can do this. Just one thrust and I'm famous. No pressure. I close my eyes and I as I'm just about to stab it... I see the Night Fury looking at me.
No no no no don't look at me like that... I sigh to myself, staring at the Night Fury's eyes.
Darn it, I can't do this. Who am I kidding? I'm no dragon killer. I can see the fear in its eyes and see myself in that situation, I'd hope that I wouldn't be killed, so I just decide to walk away, but then walk back to cut the ropes to free it. I mean I couldn't just leave it to die of starvation or worse. It's probably one of the worst mistakes of my life.
As I finish cutting the last rope, the Night Fury immediately jumps on me causing me to hit my head on a rock, dazing me. Great. Now I'm about to die, killed by a dragon which I couldn't kill... what a joke. When I look at its mouth that is one inch from my face, then I look into its eyes, I get a weird feeling, it's as if it's looking into my soul. It blinks and stares at me intently, unsure of what to do I stay there paralyzed ready to soil my pants. I see it look towards something in front of me, a Monstrous Nightmare. I can see it wants to eat me... Why would any dragon want to eat me?! I would probably taste as bad as Gobber's undies... Before I can react, the Monstrous Nightmare charges at me and bites my leg, dragging me into the forest. I guess this is it... Me being eaten by a dragon...
I'm not sure if I am seeing right since the sheer pain of the Monstrous Nightmare's bite is making me blackout, I see the Night Fury charge at me...? That's when I blackout before I become dragon dung.