How to start a Dragon Academy 2
There was a dragon staring at me.
His golden reptilian eyes held his slitted pupil that seemed to pierces straight through me.
Normally one didn't look straight into the eyes of an unfamiliar wild dragon.
But this one, he held my gaze.
His scales were brown and could tell he was old. He held spikes all around his body and his wings seemed ragged. He wasn't much bigger than a terrible terror.
But for such a small and old dragon, he was very intimidating.
I couldn't look away now, couldn't find it in me to move. Suddenly, he huffed, small puffs of smoke leaving his mouth.
He then turned and walked away, seemingly dissipating. He didn't say anything. But I could feel like a message was broadcasted.
Finally, I've found you three.
******
Today was beginning to look like a disaster. After yesterday's little skirmish with Mildew my brother wanted to try to keep the dragon's out of trouble and out of the viking's way.
I however knew this was not going to end well.
I groaned as I watched him run all around the town plaza. First, he tried to stop a Deadly Nadder who was getting bread from a woman's cart who wasn't too pleased.
It worked at first and he managed to calm the Nadder but then a Gronckle crashed into some carts chasing chickens. The Nadder joined in.
Then he tried to stop a Monstrous Nightmare from fighting another Nadder. Unfortunately some of the sheep caught on fire and were running everywhere in terror.
Fire.
It was everywhere enclosing me.
I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head.
Right, back to the matter at hand. Honestly, things were getting worse if you asked me because he seemed to be adding more to the destruction. It was like he was a puppet and Loki was pulling on his strings to add to the chaos.
"You know you could help, Hicca!" he yelled.
"I am" I yelled back pointing to myself. "I'm staying out of trouble!"
Then Astrid followed by the other teens walked up to me.
"What is he doing?" Snotlout asked.
"It looks like he's helping dragons break stuff" Tuffnut said
"Cool!"
Hiccup then tried to put out the fire that was on the sheep but said sheep wouldn't slow down and ended up tripping him.
"Wow, he could really use our help" Astrid said and I shrugged.
"He's doing fine to me" I said
Cue the deadpan look from Astrid.
"Fine" Ruffnut said
"In a minute" Tuffnut said.
Hiccup had finally managed to put out the sheep by dousing it with a bucket along with apologizing.
But sounds of growls and wings caught my attention as they started to fly over.
"It's three o' clock" I said
I then looked to my defeated brother.
After everything, I joined my brother along with Toothless in our room.
"Oh, everything hurts." My brother said to us and rubbed his arms before picking up his peg leg. "Even this"
"Hiccup? Hicca?" Called a voice. We looked at our door and Hiccup panicked.
"Astrid?" He said and then put back on his peg leg and tried to fix himself and sarcastically muttered a perfect.
"I don't look to beat up, do I?" He asked us.
Toothless looked at each other and then back at my brother. Toothless gave a soft croon and I nodded yes vigorously.
My brother's face fell on our response.
"Great dragon pity and sister insults." He said but then straightened up when Astrid's footsteps echoed up our stairs. We saw her soon after.
"Oh hey Astrid!" My brother exclaimed, trying to be enthusiastic. "What a nice surprise"
"So how was both of your days?" She asked mostly meaning Hiccup because she knew exactly what he was doing and was with me watching.
"Uhh, uneventful. Hung around the plaza. You know, the usual." He said. At this point, Toothless settled down on his bed and me with him. His tail and wings tightened around me when I yawned.
"I do know. We saw you out there" Astrid said, taking some rubble off of his shoulder. "Hard to believe your still standing"
At this Hiccup groaned, giving up his façade. Oo, big words Hicca. The twins are rubbing off of me.
Anyway, Hiccup flopped down on his bed. "I'll be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month"
"Hiccup! Hicca!" Dad called and I groaned. Toothless fully covered me with his wing to hide me.
Dad's footsteps echoed into our bedroom as he complained about the plaza being a war zone.
'Have you talked to your Dad yet Hicca?' Toothless' voice echoed in my head.
'No' I replied. 'Haven't been given the chance to'
'You have to tell him eventually'
'I know' I said
We were then drawn back to the conversation when Dad asked where I was.
"Ugh, Hicca's at the forge. She'll be back soon" Hiccup said
"Oh. Well anyway, this plan better be real. Because Mildew stirred up the whole island."
'Of course he has' I thought angrily.
"And if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads."
My eyes widened and I rubbed Toothless' side.
'No one's taking your head' I said angrily and Toothless removed his wing from completely covering me since Dad left.
"She's right," Hiccup said, agreeing with me.
"You do realize they're like a bazillion dragons out there and only two....well....one of you. Hicca's out of commission. She needs rest." she said and at this point Gothi's little remedy had kicked in and I had grown sleepy. The last thing I heard was Hiccup's words.
"I have a plan."
****
"This is your plan?" Ruffnut asked.
"You want us to train dragons where we use to kill them?" Tuffnut asked
"Right and we don't do that anymore" I spoke up.
"So it's available," Hiccup said.
"Actually the dragons do seem a little nervous" Astrid said, stroking Stromfly's hide.
"Especially Meatlug." Fishlegs spoke up.
"She's sensitive." He whispered. "She lost a cousin here. We try not to talk about it"
But Meatlug still heard him and her mood dampened again. Astrid then spoke up.
"It's amazing your father just gave us the arena"
Hiccup and I straightened and glanced at one another.
"It would be" I started, which really would be great.
"If he did, but he didn't" Hiccup said.
"And that's one of the things we can add to the list of "not talking about". I said.
Astrid's eyes widened. "Wait So We're going behind your father's back."
I rolled my eyes. "There you go talking about it" I said
Hiccup scratched his head and walked towards the group.
"Look guys, the dragons are out of control. We want them to live in our world without destroying it but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village, we gotta do something about that" Hiccup said.
"Got it!" Tuffnut yelled "help dragons blow things up. We can totally do that"
The two blonde twins looked at each other and grinned evilly.
"No I don't think I-"
But hiccup was cut off by the twins explaining their big plan.
"First we make them really angry," Ruff stated.
"No problem. We anger everybody" Tuff agreed.
But this wasn't a joke. We could lose our new friends. We could lose Toothless!
"You do! And right now you're angering me!" I shouted and walked up to where my brother was.
"Guys, this is serious. Mildew wants ALL of our dragons caged. And I don't know about you, but that is NOT okay with me." I yelled.
"Sister snapped" I heard Fishlegs mutter and I glared at him.
The twins looked at me surprised before Tuffnut agreed and apologized for his sister which in turn glared at him. I crossed my arms
"Okay, next problem. The dragons are eating everything in sight" Hiccup said as he walked towards a basket and took out a loaf of bread.
I zoned out and looked around me remembering the last time I was here. Where everything went wrong.
I remembered walking into those doors and it shutting behind me. Vikings everywhere on those now empty seats. I remember the cage door being opened that is now empty. I remember the ferocity of Hookfang.
Everything was fine until the pounding of Dad's hammer hitting the ring echoed in the air.
I yelped when Astrid tapped me on the shoulder. She raised an eyebrow at me and I held my chest where my heart wanted to leap from.
Her expression softened. "Are you okay?"
I swallowed and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine"
"Okay, we are going now to put our training to work." She said and I followed behind the group as they walked into the town.
Which by the way was strangely quiet. I mean like not a sound. No growls or wingbeats. No Viking curses or threats. Just quiet.
"I have a bad feeling about this," I muttered.
Where was Toothless anyway. I haven't seen him since the arena.
"Where are the dragons?"
Then a huge explosion that shook the ground sounded to our right. Orange and black smoke rose to the air.
Oh no.
"Something tells me that direction" Astrid said and they ran off towards the smoke with me following a little behind.
Dragons flew from that direction to which we saw now was the store room.
"Stormfly?" Astrid asked, shocked. Said dragon looked around.
"Hookfang?" Snotlout said
Hiccup then ran into the building. It was charred and slightly destroyed.
"Eaten everything. We've got nothing left for the freeze" dad said angrily.
And if this couldn't get any worse mildew walked up.
"I warned you, Stoick. But did you listen to me? No. You put a bunch of teenagers in charge!" He said as he glared at us. Hiccup and I especially.
I clenched my fists angrily at the dirty, old man.
"Now look at what the dragons have done. Caging is too good for those beasts" he said getting all up in Dad's face.
Hiccup then started to explain but was cut off by Dad.
"Enough Hiccup. How can I trust you to control all the dragons; when ya can't even control your own." He said pointing at Toothless.
I gasped. Toothless looked up and bounded to me with fish in his mouth.
'Look, Hicca. I brought you fish to eat.'
I smiled sadly at his generosity but how he would get into trouble.
"Oh Toothless" I said nuzzling his face.
Dad then went back inside and grabbed baskets.
"Bucket, Mulch, man the boats. We've gotta catch more fish." He said
"It's too late, Stoick" Mulch said as he grabbed a basket. "It took us six months to catch all that fish."
"Don't tell me it's too late." Dad spun around angrily. "We've got to try"
My attention was then caught by toothless again. 'I got you fish because you still weren't eating enough' he said
My eyes widened. He was only looking out for me.
"You're such a sweetheart" I said and kissed his forehead which made him purr.
But then Dad said something that broke my heart.
"By tonight, I want every last dragon caged"
I looked up quickly. "No!" I yelled
And what was worse. Mildew couldn't stop there. He had to go further.
"Caging isn't good enough!" He shouted and the crowd of Vikings agreed.
Dad, not being able to handle it anymore, agreed. After all, he had to do what was best for his people.
"You're right, mildew. You'll cage them tonight and by tomorrow Hiccup and Hicca will send them off the island" he then looked at us. "Sorry children"
"He should end the abomination that is their relationship as well!" Mildew muttered. Hiccup and I caught it but fortunately Dad didn't.
Toothless nuzzled my hand. 'I'm so sorry Hicca. This is all my fault'
There goes the rest of my heart.
*****
It was now night and everyone had met up in the Great Hall. Toothless hadn't talked to me since the incident and he was still upset. He kept putting himself down. I could feel the disappointment in himself through our link.
Even when Hiccup and I told him that it wasn't his fault.
I sat at the table with everyone. I hadn't touched my plate. Once again I couldn't bring myself to eat. Nobody could.
My chest felt tight and everything felt numb. Toothless was being caged. Toothless was leaving us. Leaving me.
Dad hadn't said anything to us since either except a "I'm sorry children".
This is probably my last night with Toothless. I was wrong. I did manage to screw this up. Us up.
Toothless only wanted to help me.
"I can't believe we have to send them off the island!" Snotlout exclaimed.
"It's going to be weird," Astrid said, stirring her soup. "I got accustomed to Stormfly's face being the first thing I see in the morning"
"Every night before I go to sleep. Meatlug would lick my feet." Fishlegs said as he put down his empty bowl. I saw Ruff and Tuff glance at each other to his statement.
"Who's gonna do that now!" He exclaimed, slumping on the table.
"I volunteer Tuffnut," Ruffnut said, trying to make a joke but even her voice didn't sound convincing.
Her brother, not getting it in his sad state, answered. "Great. What time should I be there?"
"Come on guys let's get this over with" Astrid said standing up first the other following.
My heart beat rapidly in my chest and I could feel my eyes start to water.
"This is the worst day of my life!" Fishlegs exclaimed. "We're never gonna see our dragons again"
"We can't let that happen" Hiccup said as he walked over to where Toothless was lying down a little away from the bench which I hadn't moved from.
"You're my best friend, Bud," Hiccup said to which Toothless agreed.
"Aww toothless, I'm gonna miss you so much" Mildew cooed mockingly to which Toothless growled angrily at.
Then Mildew turned to face my brother. "You know what your mistake was? Thinking dragons could be trained. A dragon is gonna do what is their nature. And nature always wins."
I could see my brother clench his first and toothless slowly got up. Then he turned to me.
"And yours? Falling in love with a beast" he said and I abruptly stood up but he walked away casually.
All three of us glared at his back. Until a cold breeze from the door being opened made me shiver and blew out the fire in the room making it dark.
Toothless relit the fire which I flinched to and then ran over and curled around me keeping me warm. I smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Thanks Toothless" I mumbled along with Brenda the cook then I got an idea.
"How funny but he's right," I said.
Hiccup and Toothless looked at me. I quickly got up and ran out of the hall. "Come on!"
I quickly climbed onto Toothless, my brother behind me and we flew to the arena.
I explained my breakthrough to which Hiccup agreed to. We got there just in time to see the gates closing.
"Don't close it!" Hiccup yelled and the teens looked up at us.
Toothless landed and Hiccup jumped off, opening back the gates before they had shut completely.
"What happened? Did you change your father's mind?" Astrid asked excitedly. The light from her torch made her eyes sparkle until they turned normal again.
"Or are we going behind his back again?"
"Ugh, one of those" Hiccup said, the dragons leaving the arena from behind him.
"Look! The dragons are gonna do what they're gonna do" I said from atop Toothless' saddle. "It's their nature. We just need to learn how to use it"
The teens stared at us confused before Hiccup and I explained the plan. Agreeing we flew to our respective homes.
Toothless entered our window quietly so that Dad wouldn't hear and Hiccup went to bed. I went to mine and Toothless went to his. It was quiet for a while.
'I'm sorry'
I turned to face him, meeting his beautiful eyes.
"It's not your fault. If anything I'm sorry. You were worried about me."
"Look. It's no one's fault but Mildew. And we'll fix that so it makes no sense being hard on either of you" Hiccup said, drawing attention.
We agreed and it was quiet again.
Suddenly the reptilian eyes flashed before me.
"Random but, I had a dream last night" I started.
This got the boys' attention.
"About a brown old dragon"
"With golden eyes" Hiccup finished.
I looked at him. "You saw him too?"
"I think we all did," Toothless muttered.
"But what could that mean? What does he want?"
We couldn't answer that question.
"Let's tackle one problem at a time" Hiccup said and we agreed.
"Night guys" Hiccup said and he dozed off. I wish it was that easy.
The remedy Gothi had given me was gone now since it was only a sample and everything was running through my head. I hadn't realized I left the bond open. But Hiccup was probably so deep in sleep it didn't bother him.
I heard Toothless sigh before he shifted.
He climbed into the bed next to me and I instantly wrapped my arms around him.
"I love you" I said feeling a little overwhelmed by everything today. Hopefully our plan worked and he wouldn't have to leave me.
"I love you too"
Sleep came after that. Even though I didn't have the remedy, I slept until morning.
******
"Follow me" Hiccup said as we flew towards Mildew's house. How I wished it was so we could set it on fire but we were there to help him.
"Good afternoon Mildew" Astrid said as she flew Stormfly down to his field where she used her spines to plough the ground. We then flew in and dropped seeds into the soil.
It was just in time because dragons flew over at three o' clock.
"Time for the fertilizer" Hiccup said. The look on Mildew's face was satisfying.
"Smile Mildew. We just stopped you from having to do three months worth of work" I said and Hiccup clicked the tail making us fly off to do something else.
We then chased boars from out of the forest which was actually pretty fun.
Every turn they made we were there to conquer it. We then drove them straight into the boar house where we would use them later.
"Yess!" I cheered happily and we landed.
"How did you know that would work?" Ask astrid.
I grinned at her. "Because they're dragons. It's their nature and we just needed to learn to work with it"
"Funny. We should actually be thanking-"
Speak of Hela.
"There they are Stoick. Those dragons don't look like they are in cages to me" He said walking over with Dad.
"No, this is not what I asked for"
Dad had insisted on all us walking towards the arena with an addition of Gobber.
All of us teens were inside as the adults entered dramatically. The rest of the village on the outside.
Oh gods.
Hiccup and I glanced worriedly at each other.
Dad and Gobber had their stern faces on and were walking towards us angrily.
"You all disobeyed my orders and there will be consequences!" Dad said.
Astrid whispered to my brother on how she knew we were gonna get into trouble.
I sighed.
"Dad, this was my idea-" I started but was cut off by my brother stepping up with me.
"Our idea. We take full responsibility" Hiccup said and I nodded.
"Nope. You all had a hand in this."
Dad then started to pace in front of us. Never a good sign. Look at the last time he paced in front of us.
"You took over this place without asking, you released the dragons against my wishes" he said and I flinched as he made gestures.
"Things are gonna change around here" he said but was cut off. "That's why-"
"You're getting a dragon training academy!" Gobber shouted and everyone gasped.
My eyes widened. What?
"GOBBER, I wanted to tell them!" Dad said
We looked at each other relieved.
"I'm sorry Stoick, go ahead" I couldn't help but watch as the two argued. It was quite funny. Then dad sighed and looked at us clasping his hands.
"Hiccup, Hicca, no; all of you made me proud" he said and me and my brother smiled brightly. He then walked over to the cave where he had put the dragons before our y'all.
"This dragon academy is for you!" He said and pulled the lever. The dragons bounded over to us happily.
Toothless came over and started nuzzling and licking both of us while we giggled. The village cheered at us. I looked up to see Mildew walking away angrily and I grinned.
"Now all you've got to do is train 'em" Dad said with his hands on his hips.
Hiccup and I looked at one another. "Not a problem"
I watched from the safety of next to Toothless, Hiccup drawing in his notebook. It was a picture of us with our respective dragons.
"How about we go flying?" Toothless asked
I grinned as he started to pull me along with him.
"You coming Hiccup?" I asked.
"Nah, you two have fun" he said as he stood beside Dad, the two watching us with smiles.
"What are you planning?" I asked toothless as I mounted the saddle.
He grinned. "To make you happy"
And with a powerful flap of his wings, we were off.
'Dragons can't change who they are'
Mildew went home in his anger I suppose. Too bad.
'Honestly, Who would want them to?'
I could just imagine everybody sleeping peacefully with their dragons. Like I was going to do next to Toothless under his protective wing.
'Dragons are powerful, amazing creatures. '
The next day we fixed up the arena and added the Berkian Hooligan Tribe crest to the front over the doors.
'And as long as it takes, me and my brother are going to know everything we can about the amazing creatures.'
"Berk Dragon Training Academy," Astrid said. "I like it"
And she playfully hit my brother's shoulder. Toothless squeezed my hand and I his as we grinned at the two. He wasn't leaving me.
'Wouldn't you?'