Hiccup crept inside his house. Stoic was tending to the fire and hardly moved when he came in.

Hiccup thought he might get away with being gone for so long, and he quickly headed for the stairs. He hadn't gone more than two steps up when Stoic said, "Son. We need to talk."

He sucked up his pride and said, "Yeah... I've got something to tell you, too."

They both took a deep breath, and spoke at the same time.

"I've decided it's time for you to fight dragons."

"I've decided I don't want to fight dragons."

They stared at each other. They hadn't understood a word the other had said. "What?" they asked in unison.

"You go first," Stoic said.

Hiccup walked down the stairs and said, "No, no you go first." Had he actually heard what he'd thought he'd heard?

"Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning."

Hiccup stopped, and nervously fiddled with his hands. "Oh, man... I should've gone first. You know, I was thinking, we have a surplus of dragon fighting Vikings, but do we have enough-" He paused to think of a word to use. "-bread making Vikings? Or small home repair Vikings?"

His father ignored him. "You'll need this." He dropped a huge, one sided battle ax into his son's arms.

"I don't want to fight dragons," Hiccup pleaded.

His father laughed. "Oh, come on. Yes, you do."

"Rephrase; dad, I can't kill dragons."

"But you will kill dragons!" Stoic was practically beaming behind his crazy red beard.

"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't."

"It's time, Hiccup."

"Can you not hear me?!"

"This is serious, son. When you carry this ax-" He held up the battle ax he'd handed to him earlier. "-you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us, talk like us, think like us.

"No more of... this." He gestured at Hiccup's teensy frame.

"You just pointed at all of me."

"Deal?"

"This conversation is feeling very one sided-"

"Deal?"

Hiccup sighed. "Deal..."

"Good. Train hard. I'll be back." He placed his helmet on his head. "Probably."

"And I'll be here... maybe..."

~~~~

Gobber threw up the gate to the arena. "Welcome to dragon training."

Astrid, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, and Fishlegs walked in, looking ready for battle. "No turning back," Astrid said.

Tuffnut looked around eagerly, like he couldn't wait for whatever was about to happen. "I hope I get some serious burns."

His twin Ruffnut, who looked almost exactly like him, except that she was a girl, had the exact same expression. "I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." They both seemed to be more concerned about their appearance, then anything else.

Astrid nodded as she took in the arena. "Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

Ember raises her eyebrows. "Phewee," she breathed, while shaking her head.

"Yeah, no kidding," came a fake, deep voice," Pain. Love it."

They all groaned. "Oh, great," Tuffnut said, "Who let him in?" Hiccup had come into the arena unnoticed.

Gobber, who must've smelled trouble, interrupted with a statement guaranteed to get their minds off of Hiccup. "Let's get started."

They all lined up, and Ember whispered to Hiccup, "Don't pay attention to those idiots." She looked around to make sure no one was nearby. Her voice dropped to barely a whisper, "Did you find the Night Fury?"

Hiccup gave her a sharp look. "You believe me?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

He blinked. "Well... No. I didn't." He looked at the ground to avoid meeting her bright gray eyes.

Gobber cleared his throat. "The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."

Snotlout snuck a sneaky look at Hiccup and put his hand in the air. Without waiting for Gobber - which he wasn't gonna do anyways - and said, "Well... Hiccup already shot down a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him, or...?"

The rest of the recruits laughed. "Hey," Tuffnut said, "Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" They roared with laughter again.

Ember whacked Snotlout in the back of the head and came up behind Tuffnut, who suddenly found his that legs weren't under him.

Gobber walked over to Hiccup and pulled him a little ways from the rest of the group. He turned to him and said, "Don't worry! You're small, and weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go for the more Viking-like teens instead." He placed Hiccup back in line, right next to a chuckling Ember.

"That's was great!" he whispered.

She gave a little mock bow. "Why, thank you."

Gobber slammed his hook-hand against a thick metal door, the resounding bang shut them up.

He began to walk. "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight," he said.

Fishlegs, who was on the other side of Hiccup, looked ready to blow his head off, he was so excited.

"The Deadly Nadder." A short, high roar echoed from the cage behind the doors, along with several dull pings.

Fishlegs whispered, mostly to himself, "Speed 8. Armour 16"

"The Hideous Zippleback." A soft hissing came from that cage, and it almost sounded like two voices.

"Plus 11 stealth. Times 2." He didn't realize he was steadily growing louder.

"The Monstrous Nightmare." A loud and terrible roar slammed into them as the dragon tried to get at Gobber.

"Firepower 15."

"The Terribly Terror." There were several quick clicks, most likely from the creature's claws tapping the stone floor.

"Attack 8. Venom 12." Everyone's eyes were bouncing back and forth from Gobber to Fishlegs.

"CAN YOU STOP THAT!" Gobber bellowed.

Fishlegs blinked.

Once he was sure Fishlegs wasn't going to start up again, he continued, "And... the Gronkle."

Fishlegs just couldn't hold it in. "Jaw strength 8."

Gobber gave him a look, and then reached for a lever on the wall. The heavy doors were beginning to open.

Everyone looked shocked. "Wait, what?!" Ember looked shocked.

"Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" Snotlout added.

"I believe in learning on the job," Gobber replied, unconcerned.

The Gronkle burst through the heavy doors, it's little wings fluttering like a hummingbird's.

Everyone except Ruffnut and Tuffnut ran backwards - those two ran forward.

Gobber looked almost bored. "Today is about survival. If you get blasted; you're dead. Quick, what's the first thing you're gonna need?"

"A doctor?!" Hiccup said. He looked terrified.

Fishlegs looked astounded, more than anything else. "Plus 5 speed!"

Ember spread her arms. "Really?!"

Astrid rolled her eyes at them. "A shield."

"Shields. Go." Gobber said with a nod.

They sprinted for shields scattered on the arena floor.

"Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you ever have to make the choice between a shield and a sword, take the shield."

Hiccup was struggling to lift his shield, so Ember helped him and then they scattered, out of the way of the surprisingly speedy Gronkle.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were standing in the middle of a fallen stack of shields, but there was only one with a skull on it. They both tried to grab it. "Get your hands off my shield," Tuffnut cried.

"There are like a million shields!" his twin snapped back.

Tuff gestured toward another shield. "Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers."

Ruff scowled and bashed him on the head, but he still didn't let go. She smirked. "Oops. Now this one has blood on it." She held it out, mocking Tuffnut. Neither of them noticed the Gronkle flying their way until it blasted the shield between them.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut! You're out!"

At the same time, they looked up, dazed expressions on their faces. "What?"

"Those shields are good for another thing; noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim."

The remaining teens started slamming their weapons against the metal rims of the shields. The Gronkle shakes it's head, almost like it was trying to clear the noise from its ears.

"All dragons have a limited nip umber of shots. How many does a Gronkle have?"

Snotlout yelled out, "Five!"

Fishlegs smiled and corrected him. "No, six!"

Gobber, with a bored expression, said, "Correct, six." He seemed cheered slightly when he added, " That's one for each of you!"

That made Fishlegs pause. "I really don't think my parents would-" His attempt at getting out of training was interrupted when the Gronkle blasted his shield.

"Fishlegs, out."

Gobber noticed Hiccup hiding from the action, and pulled him out of the little nook. He plopped him down in the middle of the ring.

Astrid hopped out of the path of the charging dragon, and Snotlout attempted to flirt. "So, anyways, I'm moving into my parent's basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out-"

Not paying any attention to him, she cartwheeled out of the way, letting Snotlout take the hit.

"Snotlout. You're done."

Astrid landed on her feet by Hiccuo, who attempted to seem cool. "So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?"

"Nope, just you." She sprinted away.

Suddenly, a molten slug blasted the shield right off Hiccup's arm. He chased after it, pointing all the dragon's focus onto himself.

"One shot left!" Gobber yelled.

Ember noticed and dropped the heavy shield, and sprinted after her friend. "Hiccup!" she called as the Grinkle cornered him against a wall.

As the dragon prepared to fire point-blank. She slammed her shoulder up into its jaw, sending its head jerking up. The blast that would've toasted Hiccup, slammed harmlessly into the wall above his head.

Just then, Gobber got there and used his hook-hand to latch under the beast's gum. "And that's six..." After several minutes of wrestling the cranky dragon back into its cage. "Go back to bed, you over grown sausage. You'll get another chance, don't you worry." The door slammed and locked. He turned back to his class, where Astrid, the twins, Snotlout, and Fishlegs were staring at Hiccup and Ember, who were staring at the smoldering dent in the wall. "Remember... a dragon will always-" he looked Hiccup in the eyes "-always go for the kill."

~~~~

Holding a metal weight held on rope, Hiccup stared out into the forest.

"So, why didn't you?"

~~~~

The Night Fury spent his lonely day attempting to fly away. He never got to the rims of the bowl, as he thought of it. If his dark scales were any other color, numerous bruises would've been apparent on his flank and legs.

Eventually, he just gave up trying.

He spent the rest of the day thinking. He pondered what he should do next. Maybe the Boy would come back- Wait. He couldn't look forward to see a Man!

Men were monsters - their anger and pointless fury knew no bounds. They were murderers. And a Man will always, always go for the kill.

He looked back at his torn tail.

So why didn't you?

~~~~

I feel like I've been neglecting you, folks... and my stories. But I'm back now! (School was nuts.)

Anywho! How was it?

I hope you're enjoying this as much as I'm enjoying writing it. And this is one of my FAVORITE things I've ever written. (Along with Where We Belong, of course. And yes, IHeartBooks01 . I'm getting to classes and the actual good stuff. Finally.)

But I'll try to update more often for you guys. I promise!

Thanks for being awesome!
~ Cinder