Post by mrjop2 on Feb 2, 2011 18:32:23 GMT -5
Chapter 1: Dragon Training
There was a time where befriending a dragon was cause for one to be banished from the tribe. It was pretty much a law that did not need to be spoken; for Vikings and dragons had been at war for many generations. No one really remembered how the war started, but how it ended was a different matter, altogether.
Just a few months ago, things began to change thanks to an unassuming young boy named Hiccup. He was the epitome of everything a Viking was not. He was a scrawny boy, whose demeanor would not even intimidate a fly. He was more of the type to be ignored by everyone in the village. Plagued by an acute case of ineptness, he was once seen as the embarrassment of Berk. No matter what the boy did, trouble was never far behind.
The problem was that he had tried too hard to fit in as a dragon killer. All he really wanted was to be treated with respect, just like everyone else, instead of being treated as…well, a hiccup. He was tired of being treated like he was worthless. Yes, he may not be your beefy, gritty, typical Viking, but what he lacked in muscle, he made up for with intelligence. Unfortunately, at that time, strength was more impressive than smarts.
However, Life provided something even better for the boy; although at first, it hardly seemed better. Hiccup’s quest to kill a dragon brought him across Toothless. Toothless was a Night Fury; a very rare breed of dragon. Unmatched in it’s speed, and stealth-like maneuvers, the Viking’s of Berk once feared it over any other dragon breed. Hiccup, on the other hand, found Toothless to be the most exotic dragon of them all.
When they first met, it was after Hiccup had shot him down with his bola shooting invention. Toothless was ensnared by the bola, which cost the dragon half of it’s tail fin. When faced with the opportunity to kill the dragon, and gain the respect he long desired, he could not bring himself to do it. He released the dragon from the Bola, but it could not fly due to the damage to his tail fin.
As Hiccup built his saddle and artificial fin, he learned the truth about dragons. He learned that they were not the mindless, violent creatures that all the Vikings made them out to be. They were actually quite friendly creatures who shared very similar human characteristics. After he and Toothless took on the dragon queen, which the Vikings later named the Red Death, the dragons had become more like pets. He had opened the eyes of his tribe to this fact, and now they lived together in harmony.
In that battle with that enormous dragon, Hiccup had lost his left foot up to just past the shin. Now, he and Toothless were nearly identical. The two of them depended on each other through thick and thin. They were highly respected in all of Berk; so much so that he had been put in charge of retraining the older Vikings about dragons as well as training young, new ones.
It was not easy training some of the more stubborn Vikings; a generation of misinformation was very hard to overcome. There was more to it than just training them how to fly on dragons; it was learning how to communicate with the creatures. They had to get it out of their minds that dragons were not dumb animals; in many ways, many of the species were actually smarter than they were.
That, of course, depended on the breed. The Gronckles were probably the least intelligent of the dragon breeds that they knew of. On the higher of the scale, next to Night Furies, the Monstrous Nightmare was perhaps the smartest breed, followed by the Deadly Nadder.
On sunny days like this one, Hiccup liked to demonstrate communicating with the dragon. The best way to do so was to take Toothless for a ride, and that is what he did on this day. Flying high overhead, they rip through the sky with great speed and agility. “Okay toothless, it’s time to give them a show. Are you ready?”
Toothless gave an affirmative growl, clearly excited about what they were going to do. Down below, the three adult Vikings looked like specs inside the small canyon. That canyon was the very one that Toothless was trapped in before Hiccup had made the artificial tail fin for him. It was also where he hid the dragon from his Vikings while attending dragon training. It seemed to be the best, most opened area to be able to train his fellow Vikings.
“Let’s do it!” Hiccup used his artificial foot to press down on the Pedal, to expand the manufactured fin. He pulled up on the reins and Toothless pulled upward to climb higher and higher into the sky. The second the air started to become thin, he used his reins to pass on the command to dive. Unnecessarily, he also gave the command verbally. “Let’s dive!”
Toothless arched his back, folded his wings back, and pulled forward to dive downward as fast he could. “Okay, let’s spin!”
As Toothless dived towards the ground, he began to spiral rapidly. Hiccup could remember his first time doing this trick; he had become so dizzy, that he nearly lost his lunch. Over time, he had been able to adjust how long he was capable of handling it before the sensation of nausea settled in. He learned how much his body could take, and when it was nearing it’s end.
Just as the moment was arriving, he pulled on the reins and Toothless stopped the spiraling. Another tug on the reins, and Toothless pulled his head back and expanded his wings to break out of the dive. The pond in the canyon was quickly approaching as the Night Fury successfully pulled out of the dive just feet away from crashing and again climbed upward. For the brief second, Hiccup could hear the Vikings cheering him on.
“Okay Toothless, let’s do a loop before we land.”
That’s exactly what Toothless did, as he did one large loop over their heads before he came in for a soft landing in front of three Vikings. Hiccup nearly stumbled out of the saddle; he was still having troubles getting his artificial foot to unlatch from the pedal. He was going to have to make adjustments to it sometime soon.
The Vikings did not seem to notice his small mishap; they were all still cheering for the demonstration that he gave. “It’s really, rather simple,” Hiccup said to the three Vikings. “Over time, Toothless and I have gotten to the point that we know what the other is thinking. If you make an attempt to do the same with the dragon, you will get along just fine. First though, you have to establish trust.”
Hiccup led the three Vikings over to a Monstrous Nightmare that he was able to bring to this canyon. The orange stripped dragon had watched everything happily and lazily, with occasional sips from the pond. As they approached the dragon, he seemed happy to finally be getting attention.
This reaction was a far cry from the reaction Hiccup had gotten with his first encounter with one. Hiccup had to disarm himself of his weapon and helmet to get the dragon to trust him, and that trust was shattered when his father used his mallet to hit the cage. Hiccup never blamed the dragon for trying to kill him after that. That was before the Vikings and the dragons had formed a friendship. It probably did not help matters any by the fact that it had been imprisoned for who knows how long.
“So who wants to pet the dragon first?” Hiccup asked, trying to act as if this was a privilege to be desired. Knowing these three Vikings, he knew that they would not see it that way.
True to form, the three Vikings lost their enthusiasm immediately, and stood there wide-eyed and silent. After a brief pause, one of them sheepishly stepped forward to volunteer. “Don’t worry,” he assured the volunteer. “He won't bite; just don’t make any sudden motions.”
Hiccup remembered Snotlout’s first time touching a Monstrous Nightmare; his reaction was pretty much the same. Hiccup took the Viking by the wrist and gently places his hand on the dragon’s nose. The Dragon instantly began to purr and his eyes lit up with pleasure. The Viking looked back at his friends, proud of his accomplishment.
“Hiccup!” A familiar voice called out. The Viking softly removed his hand, careful not to make any jerky movement, and the dragon turned around and commenced drinking from the pond alongside Toothless.
Hiccup turned to see the woman of his dreams running up to him. Her name was Astrid Hofferson. He had had a crush on her for most of his young life. Only months ago, she, like everyone else, pretty much thought of him as an embarrassment. It was not until he took her on a flight with Toothless and opened her eyes to the truth about dragons, when things started to change between them.
To this day, he could not explain how she could like someone like him. They were polar opposites. He was docile and weak, while she was aggressive and strong. It was those traits about her that attracted him to her. He used to wish that he was anyone but himself, so he could be strong and spectacular to be able to impress her.
Seeing her smile towards him as she walked closer was exciting. Just being around her was the highlight of his day. Her icy-blue eyes were part of her arsenal to show off her strength. They could penetrate anyone’s nerves with just the right look. Seldom do they reflect passion. Even towards hiccup, they looked upon him with a mix of the two emotions.
Her eyes painted her round face beautifully, and also complimented her golden hair. She kept her hair braided into a ponytail n the back, and had long golden bangs that covered the left side of her forehead. The rest of her hair was neatly tucked under her brown, leather head band. She wore her typical green striped shirt with spiky metal shoulder pads. Her maroon, armored skirt also had spikes all over, and a row of white wooden-carved skulls served as the belt.
“Hiccup, your father needs to see you right away. Something big is going on; he is ordering all the dragons to be removed from the village.”
“What? Why?” This news made no sense at all. He thought his father had finally accepted dragons as part of the village. This was going against all the progress that was being made in the last few months.
“I don’t know what’s going on. I think you should come back to the village now.”
“You’re right,” Hiccup replied. He turned towards the other Vikings, who were trying to mind their own business. “Uh, that’s it for today, I suppose.”
NEXT CHAPTER COMING 2/9/11
I feel bad for him. If I were on beer I would definatley stay with the dragons specially Tooyhless. I can't wait to read te next chapter, and know why the story is called 'Flight of the shadow lord dragon'