How to Train Your Dragon the Hard Way

It was a very cold night in Berk. The Vikings that didn't dare leave the great hall because of the hail storm outside all huddled close to the fire that went out every few minutes.

"Stupid dragons, they can't even maintain a fire lit!" one of the Vikings cried out before he using a pair of thongs to pick a fire-worm from a cage. He brought the small dragon over the firewood and then squished the little dragon. So great was his anger at been so cold that he didn't measure his strength, and the little dragon was killed even before it could try to spit one little bit of fire. The Viking cursed before throwing the little body into the wood and reaching for another one. However, the fire-words had just watched the youngest of their group die cruelly.

"Curse you human!" they shouted in tiny dragon voices, "Revenge!"

This was said in Dragonese, so the Vikings did not understand a word of it. So, it was a rather big and unpleasant surprise when the dragons jumped out of their cage and attacked the Viking.

"Get them off me!" he shouted as they burned through his clothes and beard, "get them off!"

"REVENGE FOR ALL DRAGONS!" they shouted before taking on the other Vikings who at first had just been laughing at the misfortune of their companion.

"The dragons have gone crazy!"

"Help!"

"REVENGE!"

Soon the great hall was enveloped in flames, and in their fear and panic the Vikings left the great hall without even looking back once. If they had, they would have seen one of the fire-worms hover over an old book. The book had been standing on a beautiful wooden pedestal. The dragon thought it was beautiful too, and it also burned beautifully along with it the Dragon Manual.

The following morning, on the remains of the great hall the ashes of said manual and pedestal were found.

The chief at that time looked at his son worriedly before they called the whole tribe to the spot.

"Our Dragon Manual is gone, but the knowledge is not! All of us read that manual at one point in our lives, therefore we should be able to rewrite it!" his son thought it sounded very inspiring, but when they saw the faces of the rest of the tribe he thought maybe he was mistaken.

The Hairy Hooligans looked at each other with suspicion. The Hofferson didn't fell like sharing what they knew of the Nadders, as they were the best Nadder riders. The Thorston felt the same about what they knew of the Zipplebacks, and so on and on.

At the end, each family decided not to share much with the chief. This resulted on a very light version of the manual, but the chief knew he couldn't force them to say more because he also was keeping information on the Monstrous Nightmare. Each family silently agreed that they would guard their secrets and only pass them on to their family members. And so, the wonder that was the Dragon Manual was lost.

A long time after that a young boy came to live on the same tribe; he was the son of the chief and a rather odd one. You see, this young boy was very curious about dragons, and not just the ones his family trained. He was curious about all dragons and made his goal, without knowing, to know everything he could about dragons. This makes him the hero of our story.

A message from our brave hero:

Though I am very old now, I can still remember how hard I had it as a young Vikings. I was not strong, or big, or even scary. I was a walking fishbone, and many still consider me to be. Though I learned over time that intelligence, bravery, and honor were a lot more important my younger self was lost in a tribe of burly, rude, and hard headed Vikings. I don't envy, for exception that he was very young. One of the hardest and first challenges that I tackled over the years was training my first dragon. That rude, selfish and self-centered reptile made me pass many bad situations and turned bad situations into even worse situations. I miss him. It feels so quiet without him.

Anyways, soon you will hear my story on how I trained that dragon without any of the un-pleasantries cut out. You better have a strong stomach as the waves are restless, there are wild un-trainable dragons nearby, and there is danger lurking everyone you go.

Chapter 1: Loud Vikings and Their Crazy Rituals

It was a very cold day a long time ago; this is how Hiccup always remembered it. It was probably of the coldest in his memory for he had been very young and standing on white glittering snow up to his knees. Around him teens of his tribe stood rigidly, about seven boys and three girls, all trying not to shake on their boots under the horrible weather. The cold was unbearable, but none of them would admit it. Cold was something to be expected if you wanted to a Viking, and whining about it wouldn't get you there any sooner. Hiccup took a moment to compare his thin and small frame to them. All of them were older than him, and the girl that was closes to his age was about his size but she was the fiercer than any of them.

"Now listen here you bunch of seaweed filled skulls!" shouted Gobber the Belch, who was at charge of training new Vikings into the tribe, he swung his hooked hand threatening "today you miserable slobs will give the first step into becoming full members of the Hooligan tribe. Today! You catch your first dragon!"

The kids started shouting in excitement at the thought of finally having their own dragons. No more borrowing from their big sister or brother, or even getting scolded by their parents when they tried to take their dragons for a small ride; it was a dream come true!

"And I will lead you all" said Snotlout puffing his chest trying to look bigger, which wasn't necessary as everyone already knew he was the toughest of all the teens. Though Hiccup and most of the tribe couldn't stand Snotlout, the boy was still the strongest, meanest, and more skilled of the boys. Well, for exception of that fierce girl, who was fiercer than even some fully fledged Vikings.

Gobber had walked towards Snotlout and leaned down so he could make sure the kid was looking into his wild eyes "Is that so? I don't remember assigning you Snotbrat"

"W…well, who else but me!" the dark haired boy almost lost his wits for a moment but then replied meanly, "Hiccup?" he jeered and glared so the rest would laugh. Most did, for exception of the fierce Hofferson girl and his geeky friend Fishlegs.

"As a matter of fact, yes!" shouted Gobber to Snotlout who did his best not to look scared. Everyone knew Gobber was one mean Viking, second best only next to their chief. Thorn only knew how mean he would be if he wasn't missing an arm and a leg, thought Gobber made his replacement work quite well.

"Me? Are… are you…" small Hiccup asked wanting to go back to the background. He hated how just about everyone was looking at him. They knew he was not as strong, big, or as scary as them, so why should they follow this fishbone?

"Ye… yes Hiccup!" shouted Gobber in exasperation, "unless you have a twin that we were not aware of you are the heir of the tribe and so you have to start somewhere, right?"

"Right," though he didn't sound excited about the prospect of leading them at all.

"Yeah Hiccup," Snotlout sneered with hatred, and his glare promised a lot of pain for when the adults weren't around.

Oh, how he wished his father had postponed this for another year. Maybe by then he would have grown a little more, or filled out like his father always claimed at great hall. But no, he had to be placed on the same year as his cousin Snotlout; the biggest bully in the island and probably the whole Viking archipelago. Not to mention Astrid; the fiercest, most talented of them all and the girl he admired. Then there were the other block heads of the tribe, for exception of Fishlegs of course, who was more awkward than him.

"Silence!" shouted Gobber though no one was speaking anymore, "Hiccup will lead you and that is the end of it!"

"Useless," muttered Snotlout under his breath, just loud enough for Hiccup to hear.

Gobber pushed a torch into Hiccups cold hands before continuing, still shouting.

"You will go to the Wild Dragon Cliff!" he pointed with his hooked hand at the high cliff seated not far from them. It was the tallest of all, chosen by the dragons for a home and hibernation place during those cold winter months. When the winter was gone, the cliff was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of dragons. But at that time it was deadly quiet, which made it just as scary to approach as if they weren't in winter. It's entrance, though Hiccup wondering if it was mere chance, was shaped like a skull, "you will take the first tunnel to the LEFT! Nowhere else! And march on until you reach a cave where the younger dragons sleep!"

Not for long, though Hiccup, with all the shouting that Gobber was doing they were bound to wake up any moment.

"There you will find around… three thousand young dragons to pick from!" most teens cheered excitedly though most would just go with the dragons their families specialized at.

They were so dead, even before they made it to the cave. Hiccup wondered what a cranky dragon looked like when it was awaken from deep slumber. Well, at least he would learn something new. From among all the teens, without a doubt, but maybe for exception of Fishlegs, no one knew more about dragons than him. He was naturally curious, something that got him into constant trouble. At least no one could accuse him of been close minded.

"You will enter QUIETLY!" so very dead, "And you will place ONE sleeping dragon inside one of these baskets" he said pointing at them, "no fooling around YOU HEAR!" he glared at all of them to make sure they were listening, "AND in the case one of you have trouble getting a dragon, which you would have to be very stupid not to do, take this advice as encouragement. If you return without a dragon you will be BANISHED! The Hairy Hooligans had no need for cowards!"

It was said that Rome was beautiful in that time of year. Hiccup wondered if he could adopt a new last name too.

"Now get your baskets and get going!" he shouted before looking for a nice boulder to sit on as the teens rushed to get their baskets and strap them to their backs.

"We are so dead," said Hiccup as he started to walk alongside Fishlegs.

"Hey, look in the bright side … oh, that's right, there isn't one" sighed Fishlegs shaking his head full of straw-like wild blonde hair.

"Would you two shut up," said Snotlout before taking the torch away from Hiccup and pushing him to the snow, "now, I will lead us, and whoever says anything will get a visit from my fist!" he shook said fist to emphasize his point.

"Whatever Snotlout" said Astrid Hofferson said carelessly as she uncoiled the rope Gobber had entrusted her knowing well she would take charge, and started instructing all of them into tying themselves to it before they started climbing.

"I am at charge Hofferson! I am the next heir!" he sneered very close to her face with his dark piggy like eyes, but Astrid stared at him unimpressed.

"Yo…you are speaking treason," said Fishlegs, "Hiccup is the…" but a single glare from the mean boy made him stop speaking.

"Shut up you nipply Big-Baby, no one is listening to you," Snotlout sneered. No one there, even Astrid, would speak of what they heard. Snotlout was known also for getting what he wanted, no matter the obstacle.

"You can lead Hofferson, but only because you will be my wife one day" Snotlout said with a disgusting smirk, "you have to prove yourself worthy of being a chief's wife"

"In your dreams" she spat disgusted before trusting the end of the rope to Hiccup to tie himself. Without meaning to, she brushed her fingers lightly with his. Well, at least everything wasn't so bad.

BetaReader for this chapter DinoMaster316, thank you so much for your help.

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