Well this is finally ready!

Hi everyone, if you've come back for more I hope that this is 'more' enough!

Writing this is hard, HTTYD the movie(s) rely so much on spectacular visuals that I feel that writing it undervaules all the settings. Like the opening, Hiccup's descibing life at the village while we're drinking in the sight of Berk - I've got to do both and it's difficult to make it flow right ...

But I've managed somewhat, even if I believe it's less than awesome.

A few shout outs:

1) Toothless is not an abnormally large Dolphin! He is a big one, but a bottle-nose male is about two meters long, and remember Hiccup is SCRAWNY and short as hell in the first movie! So side by side Toothless will look very big, and even next to Stoic I think Toothless would be impressive, nearly as tall as him ...

2) Thanks to tothesea, Heartofadragon2014, and kitty.0 - your reviews were so nice to read.

3) I have seriously thought this through, I even have drawings of what Hiccup's outfit will look like and things. I hope that you'll all appreciate it when it's done.

bla-bla-blaugh - Disclaimer, intro, ENJOY!

Mornings on Berk are mostly cold, damp and covered with a healthy layer of fog; which was exactly what Hiccup woke up to.

The house was cold and empty, the fire gone from when his Father had finished watching it. But Hiccup didn't mind too much, even when his Father was home he was often absent or elsewhere. Being alone meant no awkward talks or even more awkward silences.

He took some bread from the barrels by the fire and ate in silence as he thought about yesterday.

Two strange things had happened yesterday. One was the sea creature, and the other was that his Father was actually allowing him to enter the village choosing with the other teens.

It sounded too good to be true, the only catch was that his Father wouldn't be around to save him should something go wrong – like it always did.

Hiccup wondered what the tasks would be, he doubted they'd be too complex, Vikings weren't known for coming up with complicated things. Vikings weren't secretive as a general rule since they liked to boast, but the tasks were, on the whole, only vaguely talked about. Hiccup theorised that the result was more important to talk about than the tasks themselves, that's what you could boast about the most, but it did make the day ahead that much more nerve wracking as he didn't know what to expect.

The top choices of professions were; Sea Hunter and Land Hunter. Sea hunter was most privileged, only elites got that as a profession. Land hunter was second best, you were allowed extra weapons, to have the best of your kill, you got first pickings after the chief, and it made you a respected person all round to provide for your village.

But it was the Sea Hunter that most kids either dreamed of, or silently admired with no intention of putting themselves within reaches of the dangerous sea. You were fighting to avenge your people and or rid your people of the monsters that surrounded the island. There was no higher honour.

Stoic and his uncle Spitelout were Sea Hunters. Snotlout was expected to become one, thought Hiccup had his doubts for his cousin; he wasn't sharp, fast or cunning like their Fathers. He did like to show off though …

Hiccup washes his breakfast down with a mug of water and then moved outside to the meeting place where all the teens would begin the tasks that would give them their designated place in the village, for life. In a way it was like their destiny.

The village was nice to look at this morning, the sun was burning off the mist and hitting the roofs so they shimmered, and the grass sparkled with dew drops. The paths were a little muddy, and the people were only just dragging themselves from murky sleeps.

Finally there was the ocean.

Hiccup was warily spellbound by it. The sun made it sparkle like dew, but ever shifting, the light looked gold and the sea was the colour of the dawning sky. It looked as fresh as the day felt crisp. Despite what had happened yesterday and a lifetime of fearsome stories about the sea, Hiccup was helplessly fascinated by it.

Just like his Mother, Valka, had been.

Due to that knowledge he had obediently, and sensibly, kept his fascination in check, and observed and wondered from a distance. His plan for better fishing which involved going onto the beach itself was a rarity and something Hiccup had been terrified to do. But it had turned out, more or less, alright. No harm was done, and he had escaped with his life and a healthy dose of reinforced fear.

Hiccup made his way down into the village, then up to the great hall. He could have walked directly to it, but wanted to see if Fishlegs was up yet. Apparently he was.

The great hall was within the mountain the village was based at. It had been carved into the mountain, fortified with wood and stone, and could hold the entire village plus their livestock if the winters were extra harsh and required it. It was also meant to be an army bunker – but, seriously, Meridian of Misery? Who'd want a base in the middle of that? Needless to say it hadn't been used for war that much. There were carvings of great chiefs, Viking heroes, gods, and monsters all made from the finest stone for decoration. Above the central fire pit there was a metal sea serpent speared by a mighty sword, frozen in a screaming demise. Finally there were many seats and long tables for the people to eat at communally.

Hiccup looked just inside the large wooden doors and saw the teens all waiting for Gobber and Gothi, they were sitting at a wooden table near the door and chatting loudly.

Hiccup took a deep breath and walked over to them, Fishlegs was there. Once the normal insults had passed from the bullies he could talk to him about Sea Monsters. Fishlegs loved to read and learn things, he would know what he had seen yesterday.

Tuffnut saw Hiccup approaching and stopped pulling his sister's hair to sneer in his direction "Oh great, who let him in?" he asked, slamming a fist on the wood.

Everyone turned to him. Snotlout and the twins groaned in disappointment, Fishlegs nervously glanced between them, and Astrid just stared him down for a second before looking away – Hiccup sighed, he wasn't even worth her acknowledgment.

Tuffnut grunted "No, seriously, who did it?" he looked at Ruffnut "Was it you?" he demanded.

Ruffnut glared "I was sitting right next to you, idiot!"

"You could have done it while I blinked!"

"Oh, like this?" Ruffnut hit him with her plate and sent him flying to the floor. She laughed in maniacal delight before Tuffnut dragged her into an all-out brawl under the feet of those still sitting at the table.

Snotlout smirked when Hiccup gingerly took a seat at the edge, wary of twins who could bit his ankles. The taller boy leered in his direction "So what are you here for? Keeping score while I … win?" he asked, kissing his bicep while glancing at Astrid, dramatic pause and everything.

Hiccup didn't reply, he just shrugged.

Snotlout then moved onto talking about how much he was working out, hoping to catch Astrid's eye.

Hiccup sighed when his attention was diverted, he looked a Fishlegs and smiled slightly "Um, hey," he offered lamely.

Fishlegs hesitantly met his eyes "H-hey," he returned lowly.

Hiccup cleared his throat awkwardly, Fishlegs was nice enough, but … interaction for Hiccup was just … hard. No one understood him enough to have a proper, open, relaxed conversation. Gobber was the exception due to years in each other's presences, they had been awkward at the start, really awkward.

But Hiccup forced himself to speak, his curiosity couldn't keep him silent. "I was just thinking that you know a lot about the sea monsters, because you know all the books," he began, Fishlegs taking more of an interest now. "I was wondering if you could help me find the name of one I heard about?" he asked

Fishlegs nodded at once "Sure, what did it look like?" he asked, his large meaty hands put before him with the sausage fingers locking in a thinking pose.

Hiccup smiled at the response. "It's big, slightly longer than a man, greyish in colour, small eyes, er, breaths air, and looks generally like a fish with a fin on its lower back," he recalled.

Fishlegs thought about it for a long time "Were there barnacles on its head?"

Hiccup shook his head "No, it's completely smooth."

"Any tentacles? Or large teeth that pierce its own mouth?" he probed.

Ouch, Hiccup winced, eating must be painful for that one. "No, small teeth and no tentacles."

The larger boy looked at a loss "I can think of something close, but not exactly what you described. I think you may have seen a small serpent, eel class. Only they don't breath air and they have a spike coming out of their backs not a fin," he admitted disappointedly.

Hiccup sighed and looked down "Okay, thanks anyway."

Fishlegs grinned slightly "If it's a new one you've heard about maybe you should talk to Old Pages, and he'll add it to the book," he suggested.

Hiccup offered a small smile "He'd probably think I was making it up," he laughed.

Fishlegs chuckled too and then turned his attention back to the group who were now taking bets on what the challenges would be.

Snotlout stood tall "A fight to the death! It's got to be it, only the strong survive, and our village is the strongest!" he argued.

Tuffnut tilted his head "Er … 'kay, there'd better be fire involved."

Snotlout looked frustrated when no one agreed with him past that. "Come on, it's makes sense, doesn't it? Even with a Profession everyone knows how to be a warrior," he whined.

The doors opened again and all the teens turned to it in expectantly.

Gobber lumbered around the corner and spotted the teens "What you doin' sitting in here? Get out there!" he called, pointing at the door with a hook prosthetic.

Everyone jumped to their feet and marched, or trailed, outside to where Gobber was pointing. He counted them all and gave Hiccup a 'subtle' pat on the shoulder for good luck. Hiccup's knees nearly gave out under him, but he smiled anyway, he knew Gobber meant well.

Gobber cleared his throat "Okay you lot, follow me to your first task, Gothi's waiting and we don't have all day." He started walking into the woods with his signature slight-limp due to his peg leg.

On their way through the woods idle, excited chatter started up again amongst the teens, all about what they were about to face. Hiccup had a few ideas, judging by the injuries he had heard about he could rule out anything like a death fight, or something spectacularly complex. Most of the injuries were broken bones, therefore strength or agility were key in these tasks – great!

He was clumsy and weak.

The path they were following was, coincidently, part of the path Hiccup followed when he met the sea creature. Hiccup glanced down the river towards the ocean with mixed emotions, burning curiosity, confusion, fear, and most of all wariness. He half expected the creature to come crashing out of the river below the log bridge and take him to his untimely death. Was a slap to his face really all it needed for revenge?

Hiccup licked his lips nervously and moved away, stepping close to the others and risking their attention just to feel safer from the sea.

When the trees thinned out once more, the group found themselves standing on a flat stone expanse next to a cliff, where Gothi's house was built precariously on the very top of a sea stack, with only a small wooden log bridge linking her to the main land. On the flat area were several things, running through it was a semi-deep stream, it be above the teens heads, but it wasn't very wide. The next thing was a few tall poles, a cliff wall filled with nooks and crannies, and large boulders sitting innocently in the dead centre. There were targets and stuffed sacks that looked like they had been well punched. It looked a lot like a training ring, only highly extensive.

Sitting on a wooden stool was Gothi herself, little, with frail limbs, and a body that looked too wide and stout for her thin arms and legs. She had no voice, but spoke with symbols that, frankly, only a few could translate – and even then she often rolled her eyes and shook her heads at them, so they were probably not very good. Hiccup smirked at the idea of a villager being smart enough to translate her symbols, we're not known for our brains.

She nodded in the teen's direction and picked up several bones, the bones of an animal of some kind, Hiccup didn't know what they were from, but each one had a carving of the gods on them as well as others. She rattled them in her just as bony hands and tossed them on the floor.

Gobber grinned "No wastin' time, once we know what you're doing, I'll set you up and your first task will be off," he explained cheerily.

Everyone watched with curious expressions as Gothi examined the bones, her face a mask of concentration. Eventually she picked up her staff and pointed to the pile of boulders.

Gobber followed her gaze "Okay, they're using the rocks, what for?" he asked.

Gothi tottered over thirty meters from the boulders and drew her staff in the dirt in a firm line, she then pointed at the rocks then back to the line, then moved to return to her stool.

Gobber clapped his hands "Very good Gothi," he grinned. "Let's get started! The first of you who gets their boulder over to the line will be the winner of this task. I'll choose your rocks so that they're all the same size, and then you can line up and have at it," he chuckled.

Hiccup paled at the sight of the mountain of giant rocks. Each one was up to his knees at least, and too big to put his arms around. They didn't look like they could roll easily either, not that he'd have much success rolling the rock, he would be lucky if he could even wobble it!

Fishlegs was humming to himself as he looked at the distance. "Smooth terrain, could carry it or drag it quickly."

Snotlout looked arrogant "I'll have that rock over my head before it's over the finish line," he wiped his nose in a proud way and sniffed imperiously to gain attention.

Ruff and Tuff were already arguing over which boulder they would use. "There's like a million boulders!"

"No! I want that one, it's … speaking to me," Tuff finished dreamily.

Ruff growled and shoved him "Rocks don't speak, idiot."

Tuff shoved her back and they locked helmets "If you dare to say something bad about my rock I'll-"

"You'll what?"

"I'll, er … I don't know, don't rush me."

Hiccup facepalmed quickly and then went back to sinking in his own doom. He didn't have a prayer.

Astrid had a determined face on and was tapping her foot impatiently. She probably had a path all figured out.

She was destined for Sea Hunting, she was sharp, strong, fast and cunning. She would survive. Plus Hiccup doubted she would accept anything less.

Gothi drew another line in the dusty earth and put a stick in the ground to stand for a timer, Hiccup felt both dread and relief. They were on a time limit; that meant that he would never be able to finish this, but that it also meant that he wouldn't still be here next week trying to do it. There was point in time where he would be told 'enough', and it was quite soon.

Gobber waved everyone over "Line up and when yer ready we'll get goin'," he hobbled back to Gothi and watched the sun make the shadow of the stick move.

The teens each looked at the rocks with dread and puzzlement, how to move these quickly? Hiccup saw that not even Fishlegs would be able to wrap his arms around these rocks in order to carry them. He had no hope.

Gobber cleared his throat "Ready in three, two-"

Snotlout jumped "Whoa, wait, aren't you going to tell us what to do?" he asked, his voice pitching slightly as he expected orders.

Gobber smirked "I believe in learning on the job," Hiccup repressed a smile of his own, how typical – he still had quite a few scratches and burn scars from his first time in the forge. Gobber finished "One! Go!"

Everyone at once tackled and wrestled with their boulders.

Gobber began to rattle off random bits of information "You have until the sun reaches Gothi's line, about three minutes I should think. There's no right or wrong way to go about it, just get it done."

Hiccup leaned all his weight into the rock and dug his feet into the earth, using all his strength. The rock actually wobbled, which was more than he was expecting. He shoved it again and it sluggishly rolled, but to the side. Hiccup looked at it in confusion, he had been pushing forwards … then he realised that the earth sloped towards the river, and the line was directly in front of him and parallel to the stream. Hiccup huffed and tried to correct his course, after all the fastest way from A to B was a straight line. That was the Viking's way.

He looked up after another few seconds of fruitless pushing.

Snotlout was attempting to lift it, cat calling in Astrid's direction while he did so. "Once I get his off the ground, it'll be a piece of mutton," he ground out between clenched teeth. "You know you should come by my parent's basement to work out, you look like you work out," he drawled, pausing to watch her move.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut had started another brawl when they accidently bashed heads while dragging their rocks about half a meter forwards. They were now rolling around and throwing punches.

Fishlegs was doing better. He was doing small lifts that were wearing him out, he would lift it an inch, lean forwards since he couldn't do much else, and dropped it about five inches from the last position. He was getting tired fast and was breathing hard and wincing at hurt muscles.

Astrid was having the best luck. She turned the rock so that the smoothest side faced where she wanted, then rolled it, very slowly. But she was nearing halfway.

Hiccup groaned and tried to copy her, but the rock once again rolled closer to the stream, and by 'rolled' … it was a pathetic wobble.

"Time's up!" Gobber yelled – he wasn't called The Belch for nothing, his voice was loud and god forbid if anyone was around while he was drinking.

Everyone groaned or looked frustrated at their progress. Astrid was meters ahead of everyone else, and about another ten from her goal. Fishlegs had made it four meters behind her, Snotlout had been too busy trying to get attention so had only moved about five meters from his start point. The Twins hadn't moved as they had fought the moment they started. And Hiccup might as well of sat this one out for the amount of progress he had achieved.

Gothi shook her head slowly at everyone.

Gobber winced and moved forwards waving his good hand "Okay you lot, that was your first attempt. Remember that you'll be doing something different tomorrow, but there will be, at some point, a repeat of this so go away and train and devise a strategy in which you can improve on last time."

Hiccup wondered if he could bring a tool to help him. He raised a hand hesitantly "Er, can we bring items to help us out or …"

Gobber, after a quick look towards Gothi, nodded "Yeah, why not? You've got to do yer best, so if you think that you can improve with a tool then bring it," he allowed.

Fishlegs looked pleased, Hiccup thoughtful, and everyone else didn't respond.

Gothi retreated to her house to listen to the gods, and Gobber began to lead them back to the village.

Fishlegs turned to Hiccup and cleared his throat softly to get his attention "Hey, Hiccup, I've been thinking about that monster you told me about," he began, hoping that no one else would see them talking.

Hiccup turned and looked at him with a curious expression.

"Maybe you should go look in the book of Monsters yourself, I mean, there could be a rare or obscure one that you heard about that I haven't remembered," he offered.

Gobber, who had been ambling slightly before them then turned and laughed "I doesn't matter what type it was. Who cares what they look like, all of them have the same personality; they're evil, vicious, and will always, always go for the kill," Gobber finished with a low tone of warning.

Hiccup blinked in surprise and, when no one was looking, darted down the path that lead to the beach.

"So why didn't you?"

Hiccup asked aloud minutes later. The tide was out once again, and he was looking down at the pool where the creature had been captured. The tattered remains of his net were still there, and according to Gobber, he shouldn't have been standing here looking back at the event. I should be dead.

But how could Gobber, and the book of Monsters be wrong?

Hiccup looked out towards the sea, as if it would shed light on his situation, but it was just an endless blue. He looked a little closer to home and saw the large sea stacks like a forest of stone rising out of the sea. Below the sea stacks were rocks and boulders and hollows worn and placed by the sea in pools of various heights. At some point they'd reach the wide ocean.

Hiccup wondered where the sea creature had gone, he stepped down on the rocks and began to follow the only dry path along the rocks closer to the sea. He shouldn't be doing this, but he felt that perhaps there would be a clue as to why he was spared yesterday. Curiosity was a dangerous thing in this world, but also something Hiccup had in abundance.

He got closer to the sea but then stopped when the path he was walking along cut off. There was a very deep pool below him, with rocks piled high all around it, keeping a wall between the pools and the ocean; a sea stack must have fallen in the storm. There were holes in the wall which stopped the pool filling up to the top, and so the wall was towering over sea level. However the sea mist made it hard to see until you were standing about ten meters away. The pool looked deep, he couldn't see the bottom, but there were some eroded parts in the rock that went down to the water level, and even gave it a bit of a shallow beach at one end.

Hiccup watched the ocean wave hit the wall and spray lightly over the top of the tall stones.

Some of the water hit his shoes.

The monster was obviously long gone, so why was he here? To look for answers that didn't exist?

Hiccup shook his head "Well this was stupid," he muttered, and began to pick his way back to the mainland.

However, just as he was about to leave the rocks around the deep pool there was a loud squeal that was horrifically familiar.

Hiccup gasped and fell back against the rocks, turning in mid fall to see his incoming doom!

But there were no teeth ready to bite him, and no evil eyes fixed on him, there wasn't even a tail ready to hit him like the last time. There was only a loud splash from the other end of the pool.

Hiccup hesitantly crawled to the edge of the pool and blinked when he saw the sea creature swimming in circles. Its fin cut through the water and the tail made the creature move in a curious galloping motion that was not seen in fish; their tail went side to side. The body looked perfect and sleek, moving through the water like an arrow through air. The creature surfaced for a second, then dove deeply, so deep Hiccup lost sight of it, then it launched itself out of the water towards the tower of fallen sea rocks.

It hit the rock about halfway up and fell back down crying out in obvious pain and frustration before splashing back into the pool.

Hiccup stared and quietly moved so he could peer out from behind some cover. He pulled out his notebook and watched the creature as it limply swam another few laps. Hiccup once again sketched the body, sleek, and detailed the shapes of the fins, as well as the shape and motion of the tail – as much as he could capture of it on paper. The odd hole in the top of its head, and even a hint at those intelligent eyes, Hiccup realised he needed a larger piece of paper to get half these details.

Hiccup watched as it dove down again. "How did you get stuck down there?" it wasn't a very good sea monster if it couldn't even tell where the deep pools were.

It tried to clear the wall to another pool, but was faced with the same problem; it was too high. The creature fell back with more squeals and whimpers of pain, splashing loudly. The sea creature then swam to a shallow edge of pool and rested its head on a low rock, breathing deeply.

Hiccup felt a stirring of pity as he saw how exhausted the creature was. When a fish, a simple sardine, swam too close the monster tried to snatch it, but there wasn't enough room to move in the pool. The tiny fish went in-between the rocks and out to sea while the monster remained stuck. It was going to starve here. The creature rested its head again and let out a long, sad, sigh.

Hiccup sighed with it and looked down at the rocks, pitying it and feeling sorry for its fate; to waste away to nothing. Unfortunately that moment of weakness made his grip on his charcoal pen lax, and it clattered down the rocks to the water.

The creature looked around at the sound of the splash. Then it moved out of the shallows and looked up. The tail went down into the water and moved fast to keep it's body 'standing' upright so it could peer at the rocks above the sea, including Hiccup's spot.

Hiccup saw it eyeing him and swallowed slightly, tensing to run away.

But the creature clicked and turned its head to the side, eyeing him with one intelligent black-green eye. it looked down the side of it's bottle-nose and stared at him so intently that Hicuup felt like it was analysing him.

Hiccup leaned back slightly before unconsciously copying the movement in his own form of curious wonder; was it questioning why he was here? Did it recognise him?

The sea air chilled Hiccup as much as the alien gaze did. It wasn't threatening or evil, but it was so inhuman and yet intelligent that it freaked him out trying to place it to a category. He picked up his book and backed away.

The sea creature clicked a few more times before diving into the deep once again.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief and turned and jogged back along the path of rocks and boulders, out of reach of the sea creature's jumping height ... and away from the trapped sea creature in general.

However, its eyes followed him in his mind all the way home ...

Hi There, you're still here? Oh good.

As I hope you can see, I tried to keep the character's dialogue as close to the moive as possible, or the episodes. Of course there are changes due to the AU-ness of my story, but I didn't want them to be unrecognisable. So they're going to be saying similar things or things that will keep them in character.

So Toothless is still trapped, and without food since Dolphin's rely on a pod for food on the whole and he's not in an ideal place to get fish. He's also unable to escape since the wall has drainage which will stop the sea filling it up enough for him to escape. Hope that made sense.

In the next chapter, there will be anoth task that Hiccup will struggle with, but will eventually overcome with the help of Toothless and what he's learnt in the water - that's right! Sooner or later Hiccup will become the first person on Berk who can swim!