Strikers POV
I jerk awake and find myself slowly standing up. I stretch my body and find that I feel well enough to fly. But where would I go?
The queen is NOT an option.

I stretch open my wings. I mean, they feel okay. I recon I will be fine to fly. They just needed a small rest.
Hmm, I guess I'll just figure it out, where to go, that is.

I shake myself, ready to get out of here.

I pump my wings, leaping off the ground. I aim for above the rocky wall.
Closer.....closer....almost there!

But I don't make it.

I feel myself uncontrollably fall back to the ground.
What the Eel?!
Go again!
I fly again, but I get the same result.
Damn it. Why is this happening? Again!

I try one more time. And I fail. I fire at the ground, frustrated.
How?!
I bring my tail in front of me to see a big problem. My eyes widen momentarily and I look away,
WHAT THE HECK?! NO, NO, NO! THIS IS SO BAD!
My tail. It's missing a fin. I can't believe this! I must of been too tired before to notice.

I can't fly with only one tail fin! I'm useless without it! Every dragon knows that! A dragon without a wing or a fin is a dragon with out a life!
I slam my tail on the ground angrily.

Suddenly, I hear a noise and I look up. Crouched at a high platform thing is a little viking male. Quite scrawny, really.
Hang on, it's THE little Viking male!
I tilt my head slightly in recognition and we hold a stare down.

Well....... I don't have time for this.
I turn away.

Soon the Viking leaves.
I try again to get out of the cove once again, but fail.
Grumpily, I curl up and try to go to sleep, but my tail is a reminder so I move it away from my view.
I just can't believe this. Unacceptable.
Hiccup's POV
As soon as I get the chance, I dash out of the arena, with one thought in mind.

Gobber said "Remember: Dragons always-- always-- go for the kill."
So Dragons always go for the kill. Just like that Gronkle did.
Always.
Always.
I track through the forest again because I want answers.
ALWAYS.
I approach the bola and pick it up, weighing it with my hands.
"So, why didn't you?" I ask out loud, to no one in particular.

I see a trail, my curious side gets ahold of me, so I follow it.

I leap over a log and come to a rocky area.

It leads to a big cove. I look around and notice it's emptiness.
"Well, this was stupid!" I sigh. I spot three circular black things on the ground, so I drop to a crouch and pick one up.

Is it what I think it is?
I go to touch it with my other hand when suddenly something swoops by me with a screech, causing me to stumble backwards, dropping the black object.

U turn my head to see what it was. I watch in surprise as the Night Fury claws and grasps at the wall but let's go and falls back down to the ground, just managing to miss the water.
It's still here?!
My eyes widen and I smile a little, before looking to my left and hopping over a big tree route and stopping at a closer ledge, trying to get a better look.

I watch as the dragon leaps off a log and flaps its wings, but fails again to get out and falls back down to the ground.
I continue to watch the dragon as it tries to fly again but fails. I let out a small gasp.
I should try and sketch it.

I quickly pull my journal out from its pocket on the inside of my right side of my vest, scrambling to get my pencil and a fresh page.

I look up with my pencil ready. The dragon takes off and tries to escape, but the poor creature fails again and lands back down, letting out a screech of frustration.
Did I just think this creature is poor?! It almost killed me!
....almost. Almost, not definitely killed me. That's something.
I hurriedly sketch the dragon from a birds eye view, finishing the little sketch in a matter of seconds.

"Why don't you just... fly away?" I wonder quietly, finishing my sketch and focusing on the dragon.

As I look at the dragon firing angrily at the ground I notice that the Night Fury is missing one of its tail fins, it's left one. Hmm....

I erase the fin on my drawing and see the dragon take off but fail to fly out.
It lands near the waters edge and after a few seconds gets up and walks together. I suddenly see it lunge its head into the water.

I bet there's fish in there.
It fails to catch any and I look down at my drawing......but accidentally, being me, I slip and drop my pencil, drawing the Night Fury's attention. It stares up at me. I tilt my head in curiosity. It isn't attacking.

I think it recognises me.

It also tilts its in recognition. I hold its stare, our heads tilted.

I hold his...I mean it's....stare, before it turns away and I notice the time. I head off.
I just drew, for the first time in viking history, a Night Fury. Bot the mention I just cheated death. Again.
+++
I slip through the big double doors to the great hall, hearing Gobber and the other teens speaking.

Just my luck, by the way, that Thor decided to pour down buckets of rain, drenching me from head to toe on my walk here.

"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." Astrid confesses.
"Yeah, we noticed." Ruffnut says sarcastically.
"No no, You were great, that was so 'Astrid'!" Snotlout says, trying to suck up to her.

"She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves. Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Gobber asks as I come closer.
I grab a plate that has some chicken on it and Snotlout glared at me. I walk over to the opposite table and sit down, playing with my food because I'm not actually that hungry.
Here we go....

"Uh, he showed up?" Ruff says.
"He didn't get eaten!" Tuff says.
Geez thanks guys.

"He's never where he should be!" Astrid says.
Right on the money.

"Thank you, Astrid! Now, You all need to learn to live and breath this stuff. The Dragon manual. It has everything we know about every dragon we know of!" Gobber says, pushing a bunch of stuff off the table and dropping the book down.
(If you guys didn't know by now, I tweak the original lines. Just a bit.)

Thunder roars outside, making me flinch slightly.
A memory flashes in front of me.
*flashback*
"WHAT'S THE MATTER, SCARED OF A STORM?!" Snotlout shouts over the rain pouring down. I hug my papers closer to me, trying to shield them from the wetness.
"N-No! Just trying to stay dry!" I stutter, managing to stuff the drawings through my door.

"Well, why don't I show you how to be dry?!" Snotlout says, grabbing me by the collar and slamming me into the house.

Seriously?! How does this show me to be dry?! Oh and not to mention that It's MY house!
He pulls his fist back and punches me in the face twice, one on my jaw and the other in my mouth, he kicks me in my ribs three times and grabs a fistful of my hair.
"Stay away from me, useless!" He says, slamming my head into the ground and stalking off.
He's the one that came to me!
*flashback over*

"No attacks tonight. So, study up!" Gobber says. He leaves.
Tuffnut looks offended. "Wait, you mean, read?"
"While we're... still alive?" Ruffnut adds.
"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?"

Well how can you kill the "stuff" the words tell you about if you don't know anything about it?

Fishlegs chimes in. "Oh! I've read it like, seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays this, boiling water at your face. And--And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week--"

Tuffnut interrupts him. "Yeah, that sounds great. See, there was a chance I was going to read that..."
"...But, now..." Ruff adds.
"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff!" Snotlout announces.
What? A chicken? Or maybe it'll outsmart you.

"Oh, and there's this other one that has these spines that look like trees..." Fishlegs rambles, following them out.

"So I guess we'll share?" I offer Astrid, as she's the only one left in here.

"Read it!" Astrid says, pushing the book as she gets up.
Ouch.
Everyone leaves it the door.

"All mine then. Wow, uh okay. So, I'll see you, uh..." I'm interrupted by the door slamming. "...tomorrow!" I sigh.
Yay me.
+++
The rest of the Vikings in the hall leave and it's now dark. I had waited a while to start reading the book, because one I wanted to try out nd two because I sometimes read out loud...and that can piss Vikings off. I  grab a candle that is by the doors and walk over to the table, setting it on the left side of the book, with another candle that's been burning for a while is on the right.

I go to the book and flip open it, reading its contents.

Maybe I can find something on the Night Fury.
" Dragon classifications. Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class!" I read aloud.

"Thunderdrum: This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. " I read.
Useful. I think sarcastically.

"Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight!" I read.
So that's what Fishlegs was talking about.

"Scauldron: Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous." I jump as lightning flashes. I take a deep breath to calm myself down and continue.
"Changewing: Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."
I'm beginning to see a pattern here.

"Gronckle, Zippleback, The Skrill, Boneknapper, Whispering Death! Burns its victims, buries its victims, chokes its victims, turns its victims inside-out! Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight..."
Yuck, why would a dragon want to turn its victims inside out? And how would it even... my thoughts begin to wonder so i change topic, mentally.

This isn't helpful at all. All it says is that it's extremely dangerous and they you should kill it. Doesn't say how to. Or when to, Except for on sight! So what I see a Thunderdrum on the horizon so I quickly rush over and kill it on sight. What happens when no boats are available and it flies off? Would that mean I failed at being a Viking 'cause I failed to kill it 'on sight'.

Finally I flip to the Night Fury page. There is no picture and very little information.
How helpful.
"Night Fury. Speed, unknown. Size, unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you!" I read.
Huh.

I pull out my journal and flick to the drawing I did earlier. I drop it down on the Night Fury page, where the drawing should be.
I need to find out more about this dragon.

I head home, it's still storming and I am now completely drenched. From head to to. Again.
Yay me.
At least I don't have to go far to get to my house! But it rained down twice as much rain then I would usually get rained on from walking from the forge to the docks. In other words, what I said early about it raining buckets...it's really raining barrels.

I get the fire going and curl up in front of it, not bothered to go up to bed, as I try to dry off.
The dragon spared me. I saw it today, and yet it still spared me. Again! It didn't even look angry!

It looked curious! I realise, surprised. And maybe a little suspicious.
I slowly drift to sleep, the nest of the fire doing little to warm me.
++++
"Useless!"
"Fishbone!"
I'm standing in a dark room, the only light coming from a few torches and candles. I don't see anyone, but I can hear them.

"Traitor!"
"Dissapointment!"
I spin, looking for the people. I don't see anyone.
"Hello?" I call.

"DISSAPOINTMENT!"
"RUNT!"
"USELESS!"
The voices get louder, to the point where I'm covering my ears.

To my horror, I realise that the voices are inside my head.
"Get out!" I beg.

"FISHBONE!"
"INCAPABLE!"
"Get out!" I cry, desperately.

"UNWORTHY!"
"SO USELESS! "
I start screaming and yelling.
"GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!"

I burst up. It was a dream. Just a dream.
Its okay. Its not real. I'm fine! It's just a dream. Calm down.

I take a deep breath and lie back down, still in front of the burning fire. I know I won't be going to sleep for quite a while now.
-----
Thanks for reading :)
I was trying to make the last bit dramatic. Did it work?
Suggestions?

Bye:)