━━ chapter six
hiccup the horrendous
(not so horrendous?)

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

    ━━"Today is about teamwork."

    Valkyrie believed Gobber paired her with Astrid on purpose. Considering their previous attempts at teamwork in the arena, it was soon common knowledge (if it wasn't already) that inside the ring, the friendship didn't exist. Both girls wanted to win this. Both girls were equally as competitive as the other. And both girls would do anything to get what they wanted: and that was the kill the Monstrous Nightmare at the very end, and receive all the glory. So, Valkyrie wasn't surprised when Astrid tried to trip her and her water bucket over with a Zippleback in the ring.

    "Astrid!" Valkryie shouted back and went to raise the bucket of water to douse her. "Show yourself! I'll dunk this over your head instead of the dragons━come on!"

    (Oh, yeah, that's something she might've forgotten to say. Hiccup may bring out her anger, but Astrid brought out her playful ... well ... as playful as she could be being competitive in a ring, side. Best friends, remember? Just ... complicated best friends. Viking best friends, that's it!)

    "That's not teamwork, Valkyrie, Astrid!" Gobber shouted from above, and Valkyrie stopped with her bucket mid-strike over Astrid's head.

    "No, let them do it!" cried Ruffnut, clapping her hands together eagerly. "I wanna see them fight!"

    "I love it when girls fight!" came Tuffnut's voice somewhere amongst the green gass that filled the arena.

    "Oh, gross!" Ruffnut said, and she might've thrown her water bucket at her brother as well, but Astrid stopped her. The twin gaped at her. "Oh, so you and Val can throw buckets at each other, but I can't? So unfair."

    Gobber sighed to himself, but Valkyrie couldn't see where he was anymore. Now shrouded in the foggy gass of the Hideous Zippleback, the need for competition and victory seemed to flutter away slightly as Valkyrie shuffled back towards Astrid, and the three girls stood back to back, trying to see where the dragon could be.

    "Now," went on Gobber, "a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head, lights it. Your job is to know which is which."

    "Astrid?" murmured Valkyrie.

    "Yeah?" the blonde girl replied.

   "Trip you after we can see the dragon?"

    "Yeah," she nodded nervously, eyes darting around. "I can agree to that treaty."

    "Eurgh," muttered Ruffnut. "You guys are boring."

    Amongst the green, Valkyrie could hear the whisper of Fishlegs, "Razor-sharp serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims━" and Hiccup snapped a reply (that honestly caught Val off guard), "━Will you please stop that?!"

    Valkyrie, Ruffnut and Astrid shuffled along the stone floor of the arena, breath's hitched and buckets held tight to the chest. They kept their eyes and ears piqued for any sound, any movement━anything that could be a two-headed green dragon.

    She heard Snotlout mutter to Tuffnut, "If that dragon shows either of his faces, I'm gonna━there!"

    Feeling the water hit her face, Valkryie let out a shriek of surprise. She coughed, rubbing water off her face to glare at the two boys as viciously as she could. Snotlout whimpered at her scowl. "Hey!" snapped Ruffnut. "It's us, idiots!"

    "Your butts are getting bigger," said Tuffnut, sniggering. "We thought you were a dragon."

    At the sharpen of their glares, Snotlout quickly added, "Not that there's anything wrong with a dragonesque figure━Ow! Astrid!" said girl had punched him right across the face before grabbing her bucket and slamming it over his head, drenching Snotlout from head to toe. (Anger issues). Ruffnut, on the other hand, just threw her bucket right at her brother's nose, and he fell back with a yelp.

    "That's what you get!" seethed Astrid, jabbing the butt of her axe onto Snotlout's torso. He coughed.

    Valkyrie thought she might as well join in on the fun, raising her water bucket up to throw it at Snotlout as well, only to stop in seeing Tuffnut be pulled into the green fog by his backside. He shouted in alarm, nothing left except his helmet that clattered on the ground.

    They heard his shouts, and Ruffnut tried to rush forward to help, but Valkyrie held her arm out in front, listening. "Wait ..." she murmured. Valkyrie gripped the handle of her bucket, searching through the mist━ "Gah!"

    A tail swept under them, and the three girls were knocked off their feet. Valkyrie's bucket went flying, and following it, stumbled Tuffnut away from the dragon, wailing, "Agh━Oh━I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!"

    Valkyrie gritted her teeth and sat up. Annoyed, she slammed her fist on the stone. She cursed in the name of Loki. "Ugh! I had him!"

    "No, you didn't," muttered Ruffnut, and Valkyrie elbowed her in the side. Ruffnut retaliated, and soon, Val had the twin's fist to her jaw.

    "Hey!" she shouted back. She tried to throw a punch back, but missed and instead hit Astrid, who was not happy about that. She launched herself at them, and the three girls were a mess of tumbles, kicks, hair-pulls and punches.

    "Girls!" Gobber shouted from their left somewhere. "No━stop fighting━you're meant to fight the dragon! Teamwork━oh, for the love of Odin..."

    The only two remaining were Hiccup and Fishlegs, the least likely out of all the recruits. The two Viking boy's shared a nervous glance. The former held his bucket closer with trembling arms, "Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now..."

    When Valkyrie heard the gurgle of the Zippleback, she froze. Gasping, she pushed Ruffnut's face away from her and held Astrid's fist from punching her again in the jaw. "Guys━" she whispered, and could feel her heart rising.

    The other two faltered, and all three of them listened. Realising they were about to become dragon lunch, their fight immediately dwindled and they quickly helped each other to their feet, running away. That was teamwork, right? (Was that progress? Did that get her brownie points from Gobber? Will she get a chance to fight the Monstrous Nightmare, now?)

    One of the heads appeared out through the smoke, a round, small green ball of spikes, wide smile and large yellow eyes. Hiccup and Fishlegs both froze up, gaping at the head of the Zippleback that watched them curiously. The son of the chief shuffled back, feeling a little too much similarity with Toothless as the head narrowed its eyes and sniffed at Fishleg's bucket━it reminded him of the Night Fury searching for food, and Hiccup hesitated for a second.

     "W━whoa━whoa!" Fishlegs's legs trembelled. The dragon head grew closer, weaving in and out like a python. Fishlegs screeched and threw the water at the head. Hiccup watched, and felt his whole stomach drop when he saw not fire come out of the head's mouth, but instead toxic green smoke. It made that gurgle in the back of its throat; the same gurgle the Nadder made the other day. The same gurgle Toothless makes. Hiccup couldn't help but wonder whether the dragon was laughing.

    "Oh, heh!" Fishlegs muttered nervously. "Wrong head..."

    In response, the head of the Zippleback sprouted out the toxic gas right at Fishleg's face. He screamed and ran away, Hiccup heard Gobber call out his name, and then out of nowhere, a body latched onto the neck of the Zippleback and forced it away from Fishlegs. Valkyrie clung on like a Nadder, wrestling the first head long enough for Fishleg's to get out of the way before she let herself be flung. Hiccup watched her━a bit in awe━as she did a flip mid-air and landed in a crouch position, safely back on the ground. Too busy watching her, Hiccup didn't see the second head leer in front of him. Her eyes widened.

    "Hiccup!" she pointed, and he jumped. Scrambling back away from the second head, the first head rejoined, and now Hiccup was surrounded━both sets of Hideous Zippleback eyes glaring at him. The second head sparked, and his breath hitched. He fidged his grip on the bucket handle, getting ready to throw it.

    "Now, Hiccup!" cried Gobber.

    With a yell, Hiccup threw with all the strength he had ... except that wasn't much, and he had no strength whatsoever, so the water just went up, and fell straight back down short of the head. The Zippleback heads stared at it, and he grimaced. "Oh, come on."

    The second head roared at him, the Zippleback's wings jerking out feircly━like an animal declaring dominance. Hiccup gave them that dominace━well, let him think he did, because he certainly did not trip ... at all ... what are you talking about?━and fell back onto his backside, shuffling away from the snapping and snarling heads. He heard Gobber cry out his name again, even Valkyrie (and Astrid, if you could believe it) seemed ready to help him, but Hiccup didn't need their help.

    As the dragon heads got closer, they smelt something that immediately made them rear back. Hiccup breathed a small grin to himself, it worked! He stood to his feet, holding his hands out. The Hideous Zippleback continued to back further and further away, returning to his cage. Hiccup held the flap of his fleece vest out more, showing them what they had feared from their smell: an eel. At the sight of it, they sqwarked. He grinned.

    "Back!" he ordered, stepping closer while they stepped back. "Back, back!" Behind him, the rest of the teenagers and Gobber all stood silent, frozen with surprise. Hiccup paid them little mind, just focusing on the dragon in front of him. He herded him further back, hands outstretched, eel in sight. "Now━don't make me tell you again! Yes, that's right! Back into your cage━" he managed to get the dragon back inside it's enclosure, a little surprised himself. "Now ..." he reached for the eel under his jacket, gripping the end of its tail, "think about what you've done━" he threw it in there, and the Zippleback scrambled to the corner of the cage, desperate to get away from it. Hiccup closed the doors, locked them, and dusted off his hands like he had just finished sharpening someone's sword.

    Sighing, Hiccup glanced back, and met everyone's gazes. Gobsmacked, the lot of them. He had never seen any of them so surprised━even Valkyrie, who's grip on her weapon slipped down to the ground to gape at him. Fishleg's dropped his bucket.

    Hiccup forced an awkward smile on his face, "Okay!" he let out, trying to break the tension. "So, are we done? 'Cause, I've got some things I need to━uh ... yep, I'll━uh━I'll see you tomorrow!"

    Valkyrie watched him leave, astounded. How did he━? How could of he━? Valkyrie has known Hiccup since a babe, they all have, whether they liked to admit it or not. He was that annoying little boy who tried to follow them around and got so annoying that Valkyrie pushed him away━literally━and off the docks. Hiccup. The runt of the litter. Hiccup the Horrendous they called him, because he was so terrible at everything. Hiccup the Horrendous━the same Hiccup who had just herded a dragon, a Hideous Zippleback back into its cage like it was some sort of yack or sheep.

    She couldn't believe her eyes.

    And the fact that he had suprised her so much ... caught her off guard, well, that just brought her anger back tenfold. She was supposed to be good at this. Hiccup was supposed to be bad. What in the name of Thor had happened overnight?

    (Maybe it's a one-time thing ... yes, that's it. He'll be worse again tomorrow. Valkyrie had nothing to worry about ...).

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

    ━━Leaving Dragon Training and making the long trek home with Astrid at her side, the angry blonde Viking was swinging her axe and scaring away the birds that had nestled on the wooden pole beside them. "Eurgh!" she let out after a mighty swing that sent them squawking. "How does he do that?" Astrid spun to Valkyrie. "How can he just put a Hideous Zippleback into Timeout like that?"

    "I don't know," Valkyrie was perhaps just as frustrated (and if not confused) as Astrid was. She just wasn't throwing around her weapon ... she did that once, and only once━that had been embarassing enough. She wasn't cut out for the expressive aggression type Astrid showed herself to be.

    "It was strange, that's what," Astrid gritted her teeth. They passed a few children playing amongst the docks. Valkyrie saw the girl she had given the flower to the other day. The sky was light and sunny, but the wind of winter was getting worse ... everyone could feel it in their bones. Winter lasted a long time in Berk, for most of the year. They were used to the cold, but they still had to be on their toes for the harsh winter snow storms that arrived in the next two months. Usually by the second moon cycle after this one, they were knee deep in snow.

    "It's Hiccup," Valkyrie wasn't sure who she was assuring; Astrid or herself. "He just had some good luck, or something ... he'll be bad again tomorrow."

    "I sure hope so," said Astrid. They headed up the slope and back towards the main cliff. "Because if he keeps it up like that, we're both going to lose our chance at taking on the Monstrous Nightmare."

    "He won't," said Valkyrie, all though, her gut seemed to whisper, don't be so sure. "It's Horrendous Hiccup. He can't even hold his shield up straight. We'll be fine."

    "Maybe," her best friend swung her axe more. Seeming to find a flaw, she stopped and tightened her wrist straps; untying them at the foot, before rewrapping them up and down her arm. They took the left and up a set of stairs. They passed Valkyrie's brothers, Erik and Mak playing hide and boulder━it was kind of like hide and seek, except instead of seeking, you threatened to hit the hider over with a rock if they were found. It was a game they weren't allowed to play, and when Valkyrie saw them, she sighed and shouted:

    "Hey! Mak, Erik━cut it out!"

    They both turned to face her and Astrid. Erik held the rock up higher over his brother's helmet. "You're not our mother!"

    "Yeah?" she held up her mallet threateningly. "You wanna bet?"

   They stopped, and Valkyrie sighed. Turning back to Astrid, they made it to her house, and stopped by the door. Val fixed a flower on her mallet handle while Astrid pursed her lips. Before she walked through the wooden door, she spun on her boots and said to Valkyrie, "You might not feel threatened by him, Val, but there's something off about him━more than usual."

    She entered her home after that, leaving Valkyrie outside in her thoughts. Swinging her mallet herself, she started to make the trek to the woods for some fresh flowers for tomorrow. Astrid's words made her worry slightly━which frustrated her. She shouldn't need to worry over Hiccup the Horrendous. He wasn't like them. He was different. He was never what a Viking should be, unlike Valkyrie. She didn't need to worry about him, at all. It was just one time.

    One time.

*

a/n:

no one:
valkyrie, ruff and astrid in the ring: *does something* oh, so you have chosen death, have you?

also pls comment!! I love reading comments and chatting back. how about an answer to a question: what dragon would you train and ride? i'd definitely be a deadly nadder girl