━━ chapter one
how to train your dragon
part two!

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    ━━Hiccup ought to remind you, there are many beginnings to a story. And just as he told you what happened the morning everything started to change for Berk, he will tell you now that that had only been the beginning. Now, he will continue the story, and━of course━he could skip part of it; jump straight to the part where everything is fine, and perfect with no troubles whatsoever (uh ... kind of ...), but he won't. Instead, he'll show you the struggle, the journey to the end with everything in between.

    And so, let him welcome you back to his home:

    He is sure you remember Berk; a wonderful island told to be a haven, with beautiful streams, and mountainous landscapes and many sea-stacks spread out along the ocean that looked as though arms reached out of the water and up to the sky. A place where it is winter for most of the year and hails for the rest; located solidly on the Meridan of Misery ... For generations, Berk was a place of war in the early morning: three hundred years of Viking against dragons━where the battles themselves were ferocious ... Until then, one day, as you all know, everything about that changed. Hiccup met Toothless, his best friend, and together (with the help of some friends), they showed the stubborn Vikings of Berk that instead of fighting dragons, they can ride them, befriend them, live with them, and even train them.

    And, of course, teach them a few master tricks here and there. Which━of course━became a lovely competition for the likes of Valkyrie Frode, Astrid Hofferson, Snotlout Jorgenson, the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston and Fishlegs Ingerman. Always a competition.

    So, here they were, where Hiccup will continue this story: on a sea-stack, facing out into the ocean, about to see who had the best dragon tricks up their sleeves. Nothing much has changed in the short time since their mighty adventure against the Red Death. Snotlout was still obnoxiously annoying, the twins Ruff and Tuff were still causing trouble, Astrid was still far too aggressive, Fishlegs still had his nose stuck in a book, and Valkyrie was still, well ... Valkyrie ...

     "Okay, guys," Hiccup gave them all each a glance. He steadied Toothless down onto the sea stack next to Valkyrie and her Winstriker, Zephyr. He will assure you, he did not ask for a competition, they did. (As usual). "Best Trick Competition. Who's up first?"

    Fishlegs leaned forward on Meatlug, his chubby and sweet Gronckle, "Uhh..."

    Snotlout pushed in front of him, holding a fist up in the air to exclaim, "Me!"

    Fishlegs frowned at him, annoyed, "Actually, I think it's━"

    "Me!" the teenage Viking glared at Fishlegs, pointing to himself and daring for anyone to try and stop him.

    Astrid rolled her eyes, "Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm," she grumbled and pointed out into the ocean, "Go!"

    "Oh, don't worry, we'll go," said Snotlout, giving Astrid a miffed glance. "And when we go, Hookfang and I are gonna light the sky on━FIRE━!"

    Valkyrie urged Zephyr closer to the cliff edge to grin down at Snotlout and Hookfang dive straight down into the ocean. His yells echoed up and made her and Astrid laugh at his misfortune. Hiccup sighed, this was a daily occurrence.

     Hookfang veered him and Snotlout in and out of sea stacks, up and over, around and between. The Monstrous Nightmare was quite a ... character, one could say. Strong-minded, opinionated, never listened ... very much like his rider, in that regard (not that Snotlout would ever admit it). The two shot up into the sky, and dived back down into the water with a quick spin. Snotlout's cries of, "HOOKFANG!" were loud enough for the other end of the Archipelago to hear.

    They reappeared out from under the water, spinning wildly back to the rest of them waiting on the sea stack. As soon as Hookfang's claws touched the grass and rock, Snotlout gasped, felling his chest. "I'm alive?! I'm alive!" he stopped, glancing at the others. Quickly, he cleared his throat. "Of course, I am."

    Valkyrie rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "Snotlout, Snotlout, oi, oi, oi."

    He glared at her and mumbled, "Shut up, Val."

   Zephyr laughed in the back of his throat, and Snotlout's glare turned onto the Windstriker. "You too, Zeph."

    Feeling the tension grow, Fishlegs swiftly interveined. "Ooh! Ooh! My turn━" he looked down at his dragon, "Ready, Meatlug?" she flapped her wings eagerly, and Fishlegs giggled, "Here we go!"

    They fluttered up into the air. Valkyrie watched, brow arched as they took a small lap around the sea stack and back to where they began. She shared a glance with Astrid as Fishlegs pumped his fist, "Yes!" he exclaimed. "New personal best!" leaning down, he hugged Meatlug and welcomed the affectionate lick she returned.

    Ruff clapped her hands together, "My turn!" she said.

    Her brother gaped at her, "No!" he said. "My turn!"

    "Guys ..." Hiccup sighed, "Same dragon..."

   "Oh, right," said Tuffnut. He shared a quick fist-pump with his sister and the two set off at a dive.

    Valkyrie sighed. Leaning closer to Astrid, she muttered, "This isn't going to end well."

    (Like Hiccup said, a lot of things haven't changed...)

    Almost immediately, the twins arguing got in the way of their dragon. Tuff wanted to go left, while Ruff was determined to go right. The problem with having two heads, one dragon and aggressive twins was that they could make their dragon head go the way they wanted, only to realise they were connected far too late. Hiccup winced when they hit the next sea stack head on.

    They spiralled off course━literally. The twins barely hung on as Barf and Belch spun their way back to the track. With a cheeky exchange of looks, they simoultaneously chucked their riders high up into the air. Hiccup winced again (all though, he was sure the twins were enjoying this). Barf and Belch caught their respective riders by the teeth, and flipped them back onto their necks.

    "That's ... a little impressive," muttered Astrid, her and Valkyrie judging each moved by each rider. They were the most competitive out of all the Vikings.

    "Still could do better," said Val, eyes narrowed as she watched the twins land back on the sea stack.

    Ruff and Tuff were pale and heaving, eyes wide. Ruffnut slumped against Barf's head, "We almost died," she breathed.

    Her brother took a deep breath, "I know ..." then he grinned and shot up, meeting his sisters gaze, "Go again?!"

    "Hey!" Astrid snapped, pointing her finger at them. "It's my turn." She turned to Valkyrie and smirked, "You might wanna take some notes. Let's go," she whispered to Stormfly.

    Valkyrie and Astrid spent most of their time training and practicing triks with their dragons, so Hiccup wasn't surprised to see Val narrow her eyes in a scowl after her best friend. They had a ... complicated friendship. They were there for each other, and had each other's backs, and could be said as attatched to the hip, but if you put the two of them into the ring or any competition, all of that was just thrown out of the window and they became two Berkian boars with a thirst for a win no matter what.

    And Astrid was definitely out for the win this time. She started off the run with a tight spin as she and Stormfly dived down to the water. With an order, her dragon stuck her tail into the water, sending a sprout up to the others and the cool mist hit their faces. Deadly Nadders were quick, and it showed in her manouvering skills around the sea stacks and into an upwards spiral. Hiccup heard Valkyrie scoff to herself, and he smiled, amused.

    When she returned, the others applauded save Val and Snotlout. The latter crossing his arms and muttering, "Yeah, but can you do it without the dragon?"

    Astrid punched him across the shoulder in reply.

    "Okay, okay," Valkyrie announced her turn to the rest of the team, backing Zephyr up. Oh, here we go, Hiccup thought to himself. "That was great and all, Astrid, but, can you do this?" Eyes flickering to Hiccup, she smirked. "Watch and learn, your Highness━"

    With that said, they were off. The mighty breeze caused by Zephyr's wings flew their hair back, and Hiccup smiled after Valkyrie, watching the two of them work as one down towards the ocean.

    "Zephyr!" cried Valkryie over the wind. "Side-bomb!"

    Zephyr stopped midflight, and with a tilt to the right, the dragon and rider fell to the ocean sideways. Hiccup heard Val scream in triumph before leaning to the left and she and Zephyr spun out of the drop. They shot through the sea stacks, weaving in and out much like everyone else. Once they reached the end, Valkyrie guided Zephyr up vertical and over, somersaulting back and under the last sea stack again before trailing low amongst the water. They blended in with the blue of the ocean, the tips of Zephyr's wings skidding the surface. Rounding the sea stack they all stood upon, Valkyrie and her dragon returned to their place with a final spin in the sky before landing soundly on the rock.

    Valkyrie cracked her knuckles out in front of her, blowing her hair and flowers out of her face. She sent Hiccup a look that said, try and beat that.

    Hiccup fought a chuckle. Leaning in close by Toothless's ears, he rubbed his scaly brow and said, "Well, looks like we got our work cut out for us here, bud." Toothless growled lightly in reply. 

    With a swift tap to the dragon's sides, Toothless lifted off. Clicking his tail into the right position, Hiccup led them upwards and back over, dive-bombing straight down the side of the cliff and to the water. At the last minute, Hiccup pulled them away and they blasted across the water with a gust of sea spraying up behind them.

    Darting through the sea stacks at an amazing speed that rivalled the Windstriker and Deadly Nadder, Hiccup grinned to himself as he and Toothless neared the final sea stack. Locking Toothless's tail, he readied to jump. Disconecting his prostetic leg from the saddle, Hiccup stood up on the Night Fury's back and leapt up to the tip of the sea stack. With the wind in his hair, he landed on the rock and ran.

    He reached the edge and let himself fall. Toothless was there, ready as ever to catch him, and Hiccup clicked in his leg. Snap, he pushed the lever back and they were off, spinning up towards the clouds. The others sitting and watching breathed out cheers and gasps of awe. Hiccup didn't need to glance back to know Valkyrie was begrudgingly smiling at his flying. That thought made him hike around and have Toothless shoot four plasma blasts into the sky.

    Back on the sea stack, Valkyrie crossed her arms and muttered with a stifled impressed smile, "They're still the best..."

    Hiccup smirked as they passed through the blue and purple mist from Toothless's fire. "Another win," he told the dragon. He gave him an affecitonate scratch on the ear. "Good job, bud."

    So, yeah, that was it; dragons. Most people here on Berk would say life is much better since they all made peace with them. Unfortunately, dragons are still ... well, dragons. And with that, came quite a lot of troubles. Hiccup wished it wasn't the case, but like every other animal, no matter how intelligent they were, they still followed their instincts. And while that might not be to hurt humans if they weren't threatened, the dragons of Berk liked to make their home too much their home. They liked to chase the stock for fun and games, they stole their food of fish and chicken, accidentally set fire to houses, nestled on roofs, and at three o'clock, on the dot, every afternoon, came ... well ... the droppings.

    And sure, most of them on Berk were willing to take the good with the bad (Hiccup, obviously included), but there are still those who will never accept the dragons and will do anything to drive them away; and that was just natural, no matter how much Hiccup hated it. Change came with its obstacles, and there was still a lot of change to occure before dragons could truly be accepted into life on Berk. For generations they had slayed them, and still, some wished it stayed that way.

    Now, Hiccup wasn't pointing any fingers (Mildew), but that was the painful and harsh truth.  Sooner they accept that, the sooner they can change it.

    At least, Hiccup hoped.

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━━The morning sun rose with trouble on its tongue. (And no, it wasn't the trouble Valkyrie was having with trying to shove Hott's Deadly Nadder, Spikemoth, away from Zephyr's fish supply━all though, that was a really annoying way to start the day. Also, who names their dragon Spikemoth?). The chilly weather that closed in on winter more and more each day bristled through Valkyrie's hair as she sat down with Zephyr making today's flower crowns in the square. Her Windstriker was enjoying the morning sun after a quick fly around the island with some shut-eye, wrapping up around Valkyrie and letting her use his long neck as a table for her flower crafts.

Tying up the stalks of some bluebells, Valkryie tightened them up and fixed them in with the others. Holding it up, she studying her work in the morning sun and wondering whether Toothless would like it. The Night Fury had gotten so used to her making him flower crowns that if she didn't show up with a new one per day, he was upset.

"What do you think, Zeph?" she asked her dragon, and he peaked a tiny eye open. Grinning, she showed him her flower crown. He huffed through his nose a reply, and her shoulders fell. "Too blue? But Toothless looks great in blue. He's having blue."

Zephyr rolled his eyes as if to say, well, then, why did you even ask? before settling his head back down on the warm stone. She frowned at him, "Hey, don't give me that look," she scolded. "You had the blue flower crown yesterday, I'm going to make you a yellow one today." Propping her hands on her hips, she narrowed her eyes at her dragon. Zephyr looked up lazily and huffed in her face. At the hot wind, she closed her eyes, pulling back. "Oof━gods, Zeph, we need to fix your dragon breath."

Valkyrie was expecting a smart dragon reply, but Zephyr's eyes instead perked to the left. Looking over, he let out a low growl. Val immediately placed her hand on his snout to calm him down. She knew what he was growling at and scowled.

She was surprised she didn't smell him first. The hunched over, bony figure of Mildew hobbled up to the steps of the Storage House with his hook staff in one hand and his equally annoying sheep, Fungus under his other arm. Oh, gods, this wasn't going to be good.

Val stood up from where she sat, her hand still holding Zephyr back. He didn't like Mildew, and she didn't blame him. Some Vikings of Berk were not happy about the change in relations with dragons, and Mildew was one of them.

Approaching Stoick and Gobber standing at the stairs, she saw the blacksmith sigh and mutter to the chief, "Ah, here's Mildew with the complaint of the day."

Stoick sighed, annoyed. Raising his voice, he addressed Mildew with a stiff, "You picked a bad time, Mildew. I'm in the middle of storing food. The Freeze is coming."

"Bah!" he scoffed in reply. "It's the dragons again," he limped up the stairs. Valkyrie frowned. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hiccup and Toothless round from the corner, as if sensing the argument that was brewing. "Those demons are not fit to live among civilised men."

Zephyr growned again, and Valkyrie soothed him down with a soft stroke down the nose, "Hey, it's okay, boy."

"Neither are you, Mildew," said Gobber. "Why do you think we built your house so far outside of town?"

The old Viking narrowed his eyes, "Ah, very well," he sneered, "make your jokes. Meanwhile these dragons up-hend our village carts!" he gestured to the main square around them, where some Vikings were still cleaning up from a few of the dragons afternoon activities from yesterday. Val pursed her lips, and brought Zephyr closer to her protectively. "Turn people's houses into piles of rubble!"

"Aye!" A Viking called from the damaged rooftops. "Mildew's right!"

Valkyrie gritted her teeth. She met Hiccup's worried gaze across the square, and they shared a silent conversation; both agreeing that this was going to get worse from here as villagers began to surround the storage steps.

Mildew continued, pulling at the saggy skin under his eyes. "They even disturb an old man's rest!" he said. "Can't you see these bags under me eyes?"

Despite the growing tension, and some agreeances to Mildew's words among the crowd, Gobber's brows jumped, "He's right," he said to Stoick, "he's hideous."

"These are wild and unpredictable beasts!" Mildew ignored Gobber and turned to the ever-growing crowd. Valkyrie stepped back with Zephyr, not sure whether she should get him out of here, or not. "They even cracked this man's skull━" he hit Bucket on the tip of his━well━bucket, "━like an egg!"

Bucket blinked, "Eggs?" his eyes brightened. "I like eggs! Scrambled━over easy! Poached!"

"You need to put those dragons in cages!" Midlew pointed his staff fiercly at Stoick. Valkyrie held Zephyr closer. "If you don't, they'll eat us out of house and home and destroy the entire village!"

The crowd was half and half. Some agreed, yelling words of encouragement towards Mildew while the rest was against it all. Either way, it was getting louder and louder by the minute. Hiccup quickly stepped forward, trying to intervene with a desperate, "They don't mean any harm! They're just dragons being dragons."

Stoik set a hand on his son's shoulder, pushing him gently behind as he addressed Mildew, "Look, Mildew, if there's a problem I'll deal with it."

"Oh, there is a problem, Stoick," he said. "And I think I speak for everyone when I say you better do something about it."

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━━"This Mildew thing is getting a bit ridiculous," stated Valkyrie as she paced around the watchtower. The group of them━save Hiccup━took to the watchtower to hang out, looking down at Berk below. It was Ruff and Tuff's idea, considering they loved to see the dragons mess around and cause destruction. The rest of them just followed because ... well ... what else was there to do while their dragons were hanging out with each other? "You should have seen him yesterday, he got the whole crowd riled up."

"Ooh!" Snotlout held his hand up from where he sat on the egde. "I say we find him and toss him off the clif by his farm. That should get rid of him for good."

Astrid frowned at him, "Snotlout, we're not going to kill Mildew."

"Why?" he shrugged. "It's not like anybody's gonna miss him."

"He's got a point there," said Tuff. "I propose a whole Barf and Blech approach━gas him then light up him up and over the cliff━"

"Guys," Valkyrie propped her hands on her hips, "we are not killing Mildew!"

"Ugh," Ruff crossed her arms, swinging her legs off the edge. "You guys are no fun."

Fishlegs frowned at her, "Not commiting murder is not being fun? I think you might need to reset your priorities, Ruffnut."

"Oh━oh━oh, look!" Tuffnut shoved his sister and pointed down below at the plaza. "It's happening━it's happening!"

"Whoa ..." Ruffnut completely ignored what Fishlegs had said, looking down at the disaster starting that was the dragons against the Viking way of life; stealing food, wrecking houses, accidentally setting sheep on fire ... just the day-to-day routine. She let out a laugh. "Look! Those Terrible Terrors stole Mulch's fish again!"

Valkyrie tugged at her hair, shooting her gaze up to the sky in her annoyance. "Great! Now Mildew will have something else to complain about and everyone will agree with him again!"

"I still vote for getting rid of him," Snotlout peered down witht he twins. "We could always just tie him to a ship and send him and his dumb sheep to the end of the world, and he can just fall off the edge." Astrid whacked him upside the head. Snotlout jumped. "Ow! Astrid!"

Val rolled her eyes, wondering whether Snotlout will be gone forever if she shoved him off the watchtower right now, but held back. Back to pacing, she crossed her arms and looked down the opposite way to check on their dragons. Meatlug was sleeping, Barf and Belch were annoying Hookfang, and Stormfly and Zephyr were playing fetch between themselves ... so, the usual.

"Wait, is that Hiccup?" Snotlout's words brought her attention back to the plaza. Walking to the edge, she looked down trying to find him. "What's he doing?"

That would be a good question; one that none of them had an answer to. Valkryie frowned down at the plaza, blinking in alarm to see Hiccup desperately running after all the dragons━throwing water at ablaze sheep, nearly getting toppled over by stray apple barrels and angry Vikings ...

Tuff leaned forward, "Uh ... I think he's helping the dragons break stuff."

Ruff followed suit, a grin forming on her face. "Cool..."

Seeing Hiccup be barrelled over by a running, aflame sheep, Valkyrie winced. "Should ... um━" she glanced at the others, "━I think he could really use our help."

"We'll get to it," said Tuff.

"In a minute," finished his sister.

(Long story short, they didn't get to it in a minute ... or at all that day).

As the sun set, Valkryie thought it would be a good thing to check up on Hiccup after his ordeal that afternoon. She was welcomed into the house, passing Stoick with a polite greeting as one should towards their cheif before making her way up the stairs. Considering they didn't end up helping, Valkyrie wanted to be a nice friend and make up for it━and besides, she had a new flower crown for Toothless.

The relationship between her and Hiccup was ... interesting, to say the least. She kissed him at Snoggletog; and it was sweet, and full of holiday cheer, and now ... well, they were back to being friends. It wasn't as if it didn't happen, because it did; and one could tell by the air between them, the subtle glances when they thought the other didn't notice. But did Valkyrie act upon it? No, she didn't, and to be honest, she wasn't sure why. She had been so keen to ask him for that dance, and now, she was scared. She was fifteen; she had so much more to worry about than Hiccup and whether she likes him or not. She didn't want to be fifteen and stuck in a relationship; expected to be betrothed in the future ... it was a lot to suddenly think about. And so, she shied away from it. That didn't make her a coward right? She ... she was allowed to be fifteen for a while, right?

Nearing the entrance to his chambers, Valkyrie called out, "Hiccup?" to check whether he was decent. She heard him speak, so at least he was here, because as one knows, Hiccup liked to just go anywhere he liked and not tell anyone, so ...

She stepped up the last few steps, and Hiccup jumped. Spinning around to greet her, he sent a nervous smile, "Hey, Val! What a nice surprise!"

Valkyrie saw right through him. She crossed her arms and arched a brow. "Uh━huh..." she nodded. "So, how was your day?"

Hiccup scoffed, his shoulders wiggling and his hands moving (like the usual whenever he talked), "Uneventful," he lied. "Hung around the plaza, you know..."

"Yeah, I do know," Val chuckled, stepping over to Toothless and letting him sniff the flower crown she had made for him. He soon grinned, and she happily set in ontop of his head. He grinned at Hiccup, showing it off. "We saw you out there," she turned back to him. "Honestly it's hard to believe you're still standing."

Realising, Hiccup dropped his act. Throwing himself back onto his bed with a loud sigh, he said, "I'm gonna be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month!"

"Eh, better than flaming houses..." Valkyrie picked some dust off the edge of his bed-post, "Oh, wait..."

He met her gaze, "Oh, ha, ha, very funny, Milady," she grinned at the nickname; her heart fluttered. He sat up, "Well, just for your information, missy, I━" Hiccup was cut off by the shout of his father from downstairs.

"Hiccup!" the stomps of Stoick's big feet echoed up the stairs, and Hiccup jumped to his feet next to Valkyrie, both teens turning to stare at the chief as he entered. "Hiccup, what's going on out there? The plaza looks like a war zone!"

Hiccup grimaced, "I know it looks bad..."

"Really bad," Val added in a whisper, and he sent her a look.

"Yeah, but this is only Phase One of my master plan," he pointed a finger up into the air.

Stoick's brows rose, "Oh? So you do have a plan?" he asked his son.

"I do!" Hiccup said, far too quickly for Valkyrie to believe him. "Of course, I do! It's ... very complex. Lots of drawings, several moving ... parts. Yeah, it's━uh━pretty wild."

By the look on his father's face, Valkyrie had a feeling he didn't particularly believe it either. "Uh━huh," he said slowly. "Well, this better be real. Because Mildew's stirred up the whole island. And if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads."

Valkyrie's stomach twisted at those words. She wasn't the only one worried. Toothless's ears fell back, and he made a sound out of the back of his throat that caused for Hiccup to walk over to him and say, "Don't worry, bud. You're heads not going anywhere."

Val joined him, placing her hand on Toothless's snout. "Hiccup, there are thousands of dragons out there and only one of you ... I really hope you do have a plan..."

Hiccup's nervous grin returned. "It's me, Val! Of course, I have a plan!"

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━━"That's your plan? Train dragons?"

Ruffnut's incredulous tone was shared with the rest of the teens as they stood with their dragons, staring at Hiccup back in the Dragon Arena. Valkyrie kept her palm on Zephyr's horn at the tip of his snout to keep him calm. Being back in here made him agitated; his eyes flickered back and forth to every possible exit.

"Here?" went on Tuff. "Where we used to kill them?"

"Right," said Hiccup, lugging a basket towards Toothless who seemed to be the only at ease dragon with them. Valkyrie placed her other hand on Zeph's cheek, trying to assure him that everything was okay. "Because we don't do that anymore. That's why it's available."

"Actually," Astrid frowned at Stormfly's twitching head, trying to calm her, "the dragons do seem a little nervous..."

"That's because they're very sensitive," said Fishlegs softly. "Meatlug especially. She lost a cousin here━" he lowered his voice to a whisper and covered Meatlug's ears with his hands, "━we try not to talk about it."

"Honest?" Valkyrie spoke up, scratching Zephyr's long neck, "I'm surprised, Hiccup. It's amazing that your dad just gave us the arena."

Hiccup paled. Valkyrie arched a brow at him, seeing the awkward purse of his lips, and the sheepish laugh that followed. "Well, it would be, if he did, yeah, but, he didn't, so that's another thing we should try not to talk about."

She crossed her arms, frowning at him. "Wait," she said, "so we're going behind your father's back?"

Hiccup pointed at her, "There you go, talking about it!" he scratched the back of his neck. "Uh ... all right. Everybody, here's the thing," he turned to the rest of the team. "The dragons are out of control. We want them to live in our world without destroying it but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village ... we've gotta do something about that."

"Got it!" nodded Tuff. "Help dragons blow things up! We can totally do that!"

Hiccup winced, "No. I believe I said━"

Ruff smacked her brother's shoulder, excited, "Here's how we're gonna do it: First, we make them really, really angry━"

"━No problem. We anger everybody━"

"No, you guys," the son of the chief held his hands up to cut the twins off, "this is serious! Mildew wants all of our dragons caged. And I don't know about you, but that's not okay with me."

Tuffnut pursed his lips, "You're right," he pointed to his sister. "She's sorry."

Ruff shoved him.

"Okay, then," Hiccup eyed them warily, making sure they didn't start fighting in the middle of the arena. "Next problem: the dragons are eating everything in sight," he reached into the basket and pulled out a freshly baked loaf of bread. Showing it to them all, he held it out to Toothless who happily took it from his hands. "Now, when a dragon grabs something it's not meant to have, you can get him to drop it by giving him a little scratch just below the chin━" he does as he says, and Toothless let go of the bread without struggle.

Snotlout scoffed and stepped forward, "Oh, no, no, no━Maybe that works for you and Toothless," he snatched the bread from Hiccup, "but Hookfang and me? We do things a little different." Tossing the bread to the Monstrous Nightmare, he caught it between his teeth. Snotlout approached his dragon, "When I want this big boy to do something I just get right in his face and━Drop that right now! You hear me?!"

Valkyrie hid her snickers as Hookfang dropped the bread and snatched up Snotlout in his mouth instead━gentle enough that it left no terrible damage, but hilarious all the same to watch him be shaken around like a toy. Muffled in Hookfang's mouth, Snotlout said, "See? He dropped it."

Tuffnut sniggered, "Should we help him?"

Astrid set her hands on her hips and smirked up at Snotlout, "Yeah," she mused, "in a minute."

Hiccup pinched the bridge of his nose. Taking a deep breath, he announced, "All right! We've got a lot of training to do, but together, we can keep these dragons under control." He passed them loafs of bread, leaving Snotlout still dangling from Hookfang's mouth.

"Uh..." he called, "can somebody do that chin-scratchy thing? Hello? You guys still there?!"

Valkyrie and Astrid decided they should let Snotlout down after a good five minutes. (Mainly because Snotlout's whining grew far too annoying). Now with him on his feet again, and his pride restored, the seven of them set out for the plaza, ready to train as many dragons as they could.

Even with the sun out, and the sky clear, there was still a cool breeze coming from the ocean that made Valkyrie rub her hands against her arms to warm them up as they walked. Hiccup led the pack, and they arrived at the plaza with frowns upon their faces to see it completely deserted of dragons.

"Huh..." muttered Fishlegs. "No dragons."

Ruffnut crossed her arms, "Well, that was easy."

"Lunch?" suggested Snotlout, and Valkyrie shot him a scowl.

"That's weird," murmured Hiccup. "If the dragons aren't here, where are they?"

Boom!

An explosion followed with screams echoed down from the far slope. The teens spun towards the sound, and their eyes widened to see the storage house burst into flames. Astrid grimaced. "Something tells me that way ..."

"Come on━" Valkyrie started towards the storage house at a run. She heard the angry shouts of Vikings, and the shrieks of dragons, and her stomach churned at the thought of how bad this will be━the consequences. This will give Mildew exactly what he wants.

Arriving at the scene, the storage house was nothing but a burnt scaffold of wood and empty crates. Smoke billowed up into the sky, and dragons dragged their crates and wagons of food out into the open. Valkyrie's heart fell when she saw a familiar set of blue, white and yellow scales amongst it all.

"Zephyr...?" she breathed out, shoulders falling.

At his name, Zephyr glanced up, a carp in between his teeth. Valkyrie frowned, shaking her head slowly at him. He tilted his head at her, confused as to why she was upset. He wasn't the only familiar dragon in the mess. Stormfly and Hookfang scouraged with him. Valkyrie saw her youngest brothers' Terrible Terrors fight over a loaf of bread.

Hiccup pushed past to run up to the scorched inside. Valkyrie was quick to follow him, skidding to a stop to hear Stoick shout in anger, "They've eaten everything! We've got nothing left for the Freeze!"

"I warned you, Stoick," Mildew appeared out of nowhere, and Valkyrie gritted her teeth. He was like a pest, everywhere you didn't want them. "But did you listen to me? No. You put a bunch of teenagers━" he gestured to Hiccup and Valkyrie with his staff, "━in charge! Now look what the dragons have done! Caging is too good for those beasts."

Valkyrie's hands curled into fists, and she would have had a go at Mildew if Hiccup didn't place a hand out in front of her and said, "Dad, I swear I can fix this. We━we were just starting to━"

"Enough, Hiccup!" his father cut him off. "How can I trust you to control all the dragons, when you couldn't even control your own?" he pointed to Toothless, and Hiccup's face fell in seeing him digging into a basket of fish.

"Oh, Toothless ..." he sighed.

Stoick gritted his teeth and spun on his feet to storm back into the smouldering storage house. "Bucket!" he called. "Mulch! Man the boats! We need another catch!" he picked up a heap of baskets and threw them over to the pair of Vikings. They caught them with a stumble.

"It's too late, Stoick," said Mulch miserably. "It took us six months to catch all that fish."

"Don't tell me it's too late!" snapped the Chief. "We've got to try!"

Mulch gulped, "Of course, we do!" he laughed nervously and smacked Bucket in the arm. "Don't tell the Chief it's too late. You're always so negative!"

Bucket frowned and scratched the bucket on his head. "I don't know what it is with me," he said, believing his friend.

"Dad━" Hiccup followed his father out of the storage house. Valkyrie scuttled after them, keeping a distance, but close enough to overhear their conversation, "━please! You gotta listen to me. I know dragons better than━"

"Not now, Hiccup!" the Chief threw some baskets into a wagon ready for travel to the ports. "I have a village to feed. The dragons have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?"

Valkyrie's eyes widened. Her breath fell away, he wouldn't━?

(It only got worse from there).

"Bah!" Mildew leered into the conversation, shaking his staff madly. "You can't just cage these dragons! You need to send them away, now!"

His words caused for a roar of approval amongst the other Vikings. Valkyrie's heart raced, and she glanced back at Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins in worry. Her eyes fixed on Zephyr, who watched the exchange innocently, just munching on his fish.

"You're right, Mildew," decided Stoick, and Valkyrie's gaze snapped back to him, outraged. "We'll cage them tonight, and in the morning, Hiccup will send them off the island," he placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "I'm sorry, son."

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

━━Dinner was spent in the hall that night in glum silence. Valkyrie couldn't eat. She stared at her soup and tried to wonder what life would be like without Zephyr. It was so strange. She spent most of her life without him, slaying dragons and hoisting their heads as war triumphs. But after Hiccup showed her a different side to these intelligent creatures, Zephyr had become so much a part of her daily routine that she knew she would be miserable without him. She usually didn't cry, but she felt the need to, right now, and she didn't have Zephyr with her to nestle his head against her cheek to comfort her.

"I can't believe we have to send them away!" exclaimed Snotlout, breaking the silence.

Beside Valkyrie, Astrid let out a sad sigh, "It's gonna be weird," she said. "I got used to seeing Stormfly's face being the first thing I see every morning."

"I got used to Zephyr annoying me all the time ..." murmured Valkyrie, but her insult was useless in the misery of her tone. Her shoulders slumped, and she pushed her food away. How could she eat? Her stomach was full with the guilt of what she had to do. Mildew got exactly what he wanted, and now, it seemed like there was nothing they could do to change it.

Hiccup sat down with them, taking the other spot by Valkyrie's side. Even he couldn't seem to stomach his soup. He shared a sorrowful glance with Val, and she wanted to ask him what to do now, but there was nothing to do except say goodbye to their best friends.

"We should of just thrown Mildew off the cliffs," said Snotlout, spinning his spoon around his bowl glumly. "Or Old Man Björn's Well. That would have worked, too."

"Then we would never be able to give Gobber a bath..." Astrid tried to joke, but it fell dry.

Fishlegs sniffled, wiping a tear from his cheek. "Every night before I went to sleep, Meatlug would lick my feet━" the twins shared a disgusted look, "━who's gonna do that now?!" he threw his head into his arms, body shaking with sobs.

Ruffnut did her best to lighten the mood, elbowing her brother to say, "I volunteer Tuffnut!"

He didn't care, or maybe didn't listen━either way, Tuffnut just stared blankly at his food and lamented, "Whatever. What time should I be there?"

Astrid gritted her teeth and stood up, "Come on, guys," she tried to stay strong for them. "Let's get this over with."

Valkyrie was the last to follow, standing up from the table. Hiccup watched her miserably hug Toothless around the neck, and he nudged his nose against her face, wondering why she was so upset. With everyone gone, she managed a small tear and placed her last flower crown on his head.

Passing Hiccup, he stopped her to say, "We can't let this happen."

She sighed and met his gaze, "Hiccup ... we tried what we could. But you saw the village ... Mildew won ..."

Leaving, she dared not look back at the sad whimper Toothless cried after her, sniffling away her tears and following the rest of her friends out into the night. Valkyrie wished they spent more time together. She wished they realised the beauty of these wondrous beasts earlier, instead of spending so much time trying to kill them. She wanted to spend the rest of her days with Zephyr by her side, flying to skies, feeling the freedom. Valkyrie felt like she was saying goodbye to half of herself, and she knew she'll never be the same without him. When she first looked at Zephyr, she saw herself, and now she'll have to see herself again to say goodbye.

Reaching her home, she stepped into her separate room from the back door they had built because Zephyr loved to sleep at her side, and he was so big he couldn't fit in the main room. They had done that for all of their dragons, and now, the house will be so empty.

Hearing her step inside, Zephyr's eyes opened and he perked up. He had been waiting for her, by her bed. When she saw her, Valkryie's heart clenched to see his eyes brighten up, and he gave her best smile and bounded towards her. Like usual, he wrapped her up in his neck for a hug, and Val couldn't keep it in anymore. She threw her arms around his neck and sobbed into the nook by his head.

She heard Zephyr falter, and whine in realising she was upset. It only made her cry harder, holding him closer as he nudged her cheek with his horn to check whether she was all right. "I'm sorry," she whispered to him. "I'm so sorry, Zeph ..."

He whined again, and she pulled away. Hand on his snout, Valkyrie scratched gently under his chin. "Come on," she murmured. "Let's go..."

Grabbing some fish and throwing them into a small basket, she slung in over her shoulder and sat on Zephyr's neck. Securing herself with the ropes, she led him out of the doors (yes, they were big enough, she had always made sure of that) and with a nudge to his sides with her ankles, they were up in the night air.

The cool night wind tickled her cheeks and braid, blowing some flowers out of their nooks, but she didn't enjoy it like she used to. With a brave breath, Valkyrie steered Zephyr away from the ocean he was heading towards (thinking it was any other flight) and towards the old dragon arena.

He made a confused sound in the back of his throat, but Val didn't answer, she just continued. She was scared that if she did, she would turn them back around right now and leave with him instead of saying goodbye.

She met up with the other dragon riders who were to start the caging of their favourite creatures, and dearest friends. Fishlegs was a sobbing mess, Astrid hugged Stormfly as they flew down to the gates, the twins didn't fight each other, and instead just held onto Barf and Belch━even Snotlout showed emotion, his palm on Hookfang's neck before guiding them down.

They set them on the stone floor of the arena. Valkyrie hopped off Zephyr's neck, and placed the basket of his favourite fish on the ground next to him. She heard Snotlout whisper, "Goodbye, Hookfang," and Astrid sniffle, "I'm sorry, Stormfly."

Valkyrie met her dragon's eyes. He might not know what was happening, but he knew his rider was upset, very upset. Closing his small eyes, he set his horn against her forehead, and Valkyrie held his face, feeling the cool surface with a few tears tracing her cheeks.

She stepped back, and pointed to the pens, "Now go," she told him.

Valkyrie couldn't look at him as Zephyr led the dragons to their cages. Once she knew their backs were turned, she glanced up and the rest of the dragon riders lined up alongside her, saying goodbye to their dragons.

"Ugh," croaked Snotlout. "Feels like big sharp teeth are tearing at this thing in my chest."

Valkyrie swallowed her sobs, "That's what it feels like when your heart is breaking."

He snapped at her weakly, "I don't have a heart! I'm not a girl..."

Astrid pulled the lever, and the gate to the dragon arena slowly began to close. Zephyr glanced back at the sound, and his head bowed as if finally realising. Valkyrie's bottom lip trembled. Stay strong, she told herself. Stay strong, be a Viking ...

"Don't close it!"

Hiccup's voice made them all gasp and look up. He and Toothless soared down in the light of the moon, landing on the grass by the gate. He ran to the lever and pushed it up, freeing their dragons with a grunt.

"We are not locking them up!" he said, and Valkyrie frowned.

"What happened?" she asked, trying not to show how her heart lifted at the thought. "Did you change your father's mind?" Realisation hit her, and she narrowed her eyes further at the chief's son in suspicion. "Or are we going behind his back again...?"

Hiccup gave her a nervous grin. Yes, yes they are. "Uh ... one of those. Look," he quickly changed the subject. "The dragons are gonna do what they're gonna do. It's their nature. We just need to learn how to use it!"

Astrid managed a small smile of hope, "I sense a plan..."

Hiccup nodded, eyes brightening. "Yes━and here it is ..."

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

━━The plan was quite smart, which Valkyrie was not suprised by. They used their dragon's nature to help, rather than to fight against it. Val and Zephyr used a Windstriker's speed and dive-bombing to capture enough fish to fill up the store house again━something that was natural to his instincts. Astrid toiled Mildew's cabbage garden for him with the spikes of Stormfly's tail, and Fishlegs and Meatlug led the three o'clock droppings as a natural dragon fertiliser. Snotlout, Hookfang, the twins and Barf and Belch herded the boars back into their pens by scaring them (something a dragon always did, except it was used to their advantage this time). Valkyrie could only now hope that it would be enough to change the village's mind━and it worked! Until Mildew came around with Stoick at his heels, and the team were made.

"We should have thrown him off the cliffs," Valkyrie begrudgingly agreed with Snotlout as the Riders stood in a line in front of their caged dragons back in the arena. The village had come to see the result of what Stoick had for them, and it made her scoff.

Crossing her arms, she tried not to look as worried as she felt━which was easy when it was her, but when it came to her dragon, Valkyrie's emotions ran wild.

"Should have listened to me," Snotlout said, hands on hips. "Not gonna say I told you so, but━"

Valkyrie gritted her teeth and went to have a go at him, but Hiccup stopped her; he was the only thing standing between Val and Snotlout. He was just glad that Valkyrie let him hold her back.

"We'll figure this out," Hiccup promised her, and Valkyrie sent Snotlout a final glare. "I'm not going to let them send our dragons away."

"I hope so..." murmured Astrid as Stoick and Gobber entered the arena, both not looking at all happy. "Because this is not looking like it'll end well."

"Oh, no!" Fishlegs whimpered. "What's Stoick gonna do to us?!"

"I'm too pretty for jail!" cried Ruffnut.

Tuff arched a brow at her, "Ha!" he snickered. "Where'd you hear that?"

She might've shoved him, but Stoick's words made them all freeze, watching him and Gobber approach with nervous stomachs. "You all disobeyed my orders," he began, "and there will be consequences."

Valkyrie nudged Hiccup, frustrated. "I told you we were gonna get in trouble," she said in a whisper. "Ugh! You never listen to me!"

He just held his hand up to stop her, and stepped forward. "Dad," he said, "if anyone's going to get in trouble, it should be me."

"Nope," said the Chief. Well, there goes that plan. "You all had a hand in this. You took over this place without asking. You released the dragons against my wishes. Things are going to change around here," Valkyrie's gaze fell, and she twiddled her thumbs. "That's why I━"

"You're getting a Dragon Training Academy!" Gobber interrupted, grinning at them in front of Stoick. Valkyrie blinked, startled. What did he just say? She shared a quick, shocked look with Astrid.

"Gobber!" exclaimed Stoick the Vast. "I wanted to thell them!"

It took a few seconds for this news to settle in, and when it did, Valkyrie breathed out a bright and beaming smile. They're dragons are not going away?! She turned to Hiccup to see him already grinning at her.

"I'm sorry," Gobber was saying. "You're right. Go ahead."

"Well, you told most of it!"

"You can tell him the part about how proud you are of them!"

"Gobber!" Stoick tugged at his long and thick red beard in frustration. Sighing, he turned back to the teens to say, "Hiccup━well, what he said. You've all made me proud. This Dragon Academy is for you."

He walked to the lever, and with a mighty pull, the cage door opened. Immediately, the dragons bounded their way to their riders, and all of the Vikings cried their names in joy. Valkyrie leapt towards Zephyr, holding him close. "Oh, gods━I missed you!"

Stoick smiled at them, especially his son who hugged Toothless tightly. Walking over, Hiccup glanced up, not sure on what to say. He didn't need to, for his father placed a proud hand on his shoulder, and said, "Now, all you have to do is train 'em."

Hiccup waved an arm dismissively, "Not a problem, Dad," he said. "After all, I got him━" he grinned at Toothless.

"Ah━hem?" someone cleared their throat. He looked back, and chuckled at Valkyrie who stood with the others, brow arched awaiting recognition.

He shook his head, amused, but said all the same, "And them, too."

Valkyrie smiled.

*

a/n: god if Val can't deal with caging zephyr up she ain't gonna deal well with saying goodbye in hidden world.

also; cuteness all around. I love the tv shows, gives me happy memories and childhood nostalgia