Disclaimer: I do not own anything from How to train your dragon
Soon they arrived at a familiar place in the forest.
"So why didn't either of you kill us?" Hiccup wondered out loud while picking up a piece of the cut up bola.
"Are we crazy for coming back and looking for those dragons that nearly killed us?" Hicca questioned.
"We're always crazy." Hiccup answered with a shrug.
Hicca considered that and then nodded. "Good point."
The two then walked in the direction where the dragons flew off. They soon arrived at a passage of a secluded cove.
"Well, this was stupid idea that got us nowhere." Hiccup said realizing that the two dragons were probably far away from the island by now. Hicca was about to agree when something on the ground caught her eyes.
"Hiccup look!" She said picking up some black scales "Night Fury scales. Black as the sky at midnight." She stated admiring the scales.
"Yeah, hence, the whole 'camouflage at night' part."
Suddenly, they got the shock of their lives as a Night Fury came into view, making both twins fall backwards. However, it did not look like the dragon noticed both of them as it fell to the ground. Slowly and quietly Hiccup and Hicca move towards some nearby rocks and observed the two Night Furies, one male the other female, below them. The male Night Fury kept trying to fly out of the cove only to spiral downwards every time and the female Night Fury just sat there watching with a hopeful look on her face. Hicca then got her notebook and charcoal out of her satchel and started making a drawing of the female Night Fury. "I sketch one, you sketch the other." She whispered. Hiccup nodded in agreement.
When she finished, she then handed the book to Hiccup to draw the male Night Fury. As he finished his drawing, he noticed that the male Night Fury did not have a left tail fin so he erased it in his sketch.
"I don't get it, why don't you two just... fly away?" He wondered. Then Hicca noticed something.
"The female Night Fury has a left tail fin but the male Night Fury doesn't." She pointed out, and then a realization hit her as she suddenly felt guilty. "We did that. His tail fin must have torn when he crashed landed after we shot him down. That's why he can't fly away." This made Hiccup feel guilty as well. "Yeah and the female Night Fury is still here because she doesn't want to leave him behind." He added just before he accidently dropped his charcoal pencil, which fell right in the Cove, alerting the two night furies of the two humans' presence!
Hicca silently scolded Hiccup, hitting him on the shoulder before she and her brother turned to look at the Night Furies who were now staring back. For a moment no one said or did anything as both sides stared at each other with more curiosity rather than hostility. Then Hiccup broke the standstill. "Come on. We've pushed our luck enough for one day. Let's go" he said as he got up and then pulled his sister up.
One glance back to the dragons, who were still staring at them with curiosity, the twins made their way back to village just as it started to rain. Completely drenched, they then made their way to the Great Hall for dinner where they joined Gobber and the other teens, who were discussing the training.
"Alright, what mistake did Astrid make in the ring today?" Gobber asked.
Astrid answered that question herself "I mistimed my summersault dive. It was sloppy and it messed up my reverse tumble."
"Yeah, we noticed." Ruffnut said sarcastically.
"It was a horrendous mistake to make." Raeda said with equal sarcasm, while waving to Hiccup and Hicca.
"No, no, you were perfect. That dive was so 'Astrid'." Snotlout said, obviously trying and failing to flirt with Astrid.
"She's right; you have to be tough on yourselves and only then you'll get better. Where did Hiccup and Hicca go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber then asked noticing the Haddock twins arriving. This question set off the usual taunts as Hicca and Hiccup had to sit at a nearby table when the others didn't give them room to sit next to him.
"Uh, they showed up?" Ruffnut sneered.
"They didn't get eaten or burned?" Tuffnut suggested.
"They're always at the wrong place, at the wrong time." Astrid said annoyed.
Before Gobber could say anything, Hicca, hurt and frustrated at Astrids' comment, spoke up. "Uh, Gobber? Back to where Astrid went wrong, I'd like to add another thing. Astrid left us to fend for ourselves against the Gronckle instead of giving us a warning. Hiccup nearly got killed back there if you didn't intervene. It should be noted that Astrid has a tendency to abandon people whenever she wants to and it makes her completely unreliable." This caused Astrid to glare daggers at her, which she returned, while Hiccup looked at his sister with awe and admiration and Raeda, who got up from her seat to join the Haddock twins, gave her a thumbs-up as she sat down. The others just stared at Hicca with shock not expecting that at all. Wanting to avoid another potential argument, Gobber then spoke up bringing a book with him. "Uh, thank you Hicca. Like I was saying you need to live and breathe this stuff. The Dragon Manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of."
As he set a thick book on the table, he was then interrupted by the sound of thunder. Realizing that it was still raining, he then announced before leaving "Definitely no attacks tonight. Tonight's assignment is to study up."
This surprised and disappointed the Thorston twins and Snotlout.
"Wait, you mean, read?" Tuffnut asked in disbelief
"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut asked in equal disbelief.
"Ever seen a dead person read?" Hicca muttered.
"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout asked, not to happy about the idea of studying.
"This is important. You need to know your enemies weaknesses so that you can make a plan based on that. Otherwise you're fighting blindly." Raeda argued.
"Oh! I've already read it like, seven times. It is so fascinating! There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face." Fishlegs said enthusiastically.
"Scauldron." Raeda said.
And-And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week-" Fishlegs continued to explain excitedly before being cut off by Tuffnut.
"Yeah, that sounds really interesting. I was definitely planning on reading that..."
"...But, now..." Ruffnut added, bored by this.
"You guys read this boring book, I'm going to go kill stuff." Snotlout boasted before he left with Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs in tow, leaving Astrid, Raeda, Hiccup and Hicca.
"So I guess all four of us will read it together?" Hiccup started to offer before Astrid dismissed him
"Read it" she simply said.
"Of course you did, Miss 'Perfect-star-pupil." Raeda taunted. Astrid turned around, looking like she wanted to attack the Henderson girl but she decided not to. Hicca and Raeda were the only ones who would dare to speak anything against her to her face. Hicca, because she knows the real Astrid and is not afraid of her and Raeda because, although she's not a fan of fighting, can match up to the tough Hofferson whenever she wants in combat. So Astrid decided to just leave, slamming the door behind her.
Raeda then turned to Hicca and Hiccup "Nice job, standing up to Astrid, Hicca. Hiccup you can definitely learn something from your sister." Hiccup just smiled, proud of his sister for standing up for herself while silently agreeing with what Raeda said.
"Thanks Rae. So I guess the three of us will share?" Hicca asked
"Oh, I've already read it. Actually I was thinking of doing some training right now. Training with this thunderstorm might help me be more alert for tomorrow." Raeda said.
"Be careful out there. And if you're free tomorrow, then maybe the three of us can hang out at the forge or something." Hiccup said, wanting to make up for ditching his only friend. Hicca nodded in agreement with the same thoughts.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Raeda agreed and then left.
Afterwards, when everyone else left, Hiccup and Hicca brought lighted candles and then opened the dragon manual to start their study night.
They decided to take turns reading each chapter. Hiccup then started reading "Dragon classifications. Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class. Thunderdrum: This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight." He then let Hicca read.
"Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."
"Scauldron: Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous."
"The one Fishlegs and Raeda mentioned." Hicca commented before taking the book. "Changewing: Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight. Is there chapter here that doesn't have 'kill on sight' written on it." Hicca wondered while Hiccup continued to read
"Gronckle, Zippleback, the Skrill, Boneknapper, Whispering Death. Burns its victims, buries its victims, chokes its victims-"
"Turns its victims inside-out!?" This made both of them shudder. They made a mental note never to cross path with that dragon! Hiccup then continued.
"Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight..." Then an almost blank chapter made him stop and stare along with his sister. "Night Fury: Speed, unknown. Size, unknown"
Hicca then took over reading "The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you."
This made the two stare at each other in shock, before Hicca spoke up. "Well we sure defied that order."
Hiccup then pulled out his journal, turned to the page which had the drawing of the female Night Fury, and set it on top of the Night Fury chapter which had no drawings of its own.
"We're going to be seeing a lot more of those Night Furies aren't we?" Hicca asked, knowing the answer. Hiccup only nodded in reply.