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.*･｡CHAPTER TWO.*･｡

——

Who would have known that Hiccup would show up to Dragon Training, two days later?

"Welcome to Dragon Training!"

Astrid let out a calm breath and nodded to herself once, leading the pack through the arena, "No turning back."

"I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut commented as though the idea was genuinely appealing, which made Vega frown from her spot at the back. She wasn't quite as enthralled by the arena as the rest of the group; her father had shown it to her when she was young, telling her all about her future. It was only a matter of time.

"I'm hoping for some mauling," Ruffnut snickered, pretending to claw at her back like an animal, "Like, on my shoulder or back."

"Yeah-" Snotlout grinned wickedly as he joined in the on the comments, "-it's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

"Yeah- no kidding, right?" A scrawny voice came from behind the group, causing each of the to turn in confusion. There was no way that Vega had spoken, let alone like that, which left only one person for it to be. "Pain. Love it."

Now at the front of the wolf pack, Vega swivelled on her foot and allowed her eyes to widen in slight surprise. She quickly changed this though and returned to her normal blank and mysterious expression, arms crossed over her chest as she took in the sight of Horrendous Hiccup making his way through the arena awkwardly. It was clear that he didn't want to be there, and she couldn't tell whether that was more down to the idea of killing a dragon, or being surrounding by the other teenagers from Berk. Both were rather dreadful.

"Oh, great." Snotlout sneered, raising a hand towards the boy as if no one else would see him otherwise. He narrowed his eyes and puffed air out of his nose, "Who let him in?"

Vega simply rolled her eyes at his comment and turned back to face Gobber the Belch, each of the group hesitantly following in suit. She heard Hiccup sigh in relief from behind her. It wasn't that she cared all too much if the teens picked on Hiccup — most of the village did it at this point — but this wasn't the time, nor the place.

This was the place that Vega Storm had come all those years ago, when her parents were still alive, to learn about her destiny as a Viking. She learnt about the types of dragons she would be faced with, the myths and legends of slaughtering a million of the species, where she had known she belonged. This was where her parents had learnt their fate, and where she would learn hers too. It was time for Vega to become a dragon slayer, a true Viking, a hero. It was time to make her parents proud.

And she most certainly was not going to let Snotlout's irritating comments destroy it.

   Gobber ignored the awkward silence and the pounding friction amongst the teenagers and clapped his hand against his hook, one of the many replacements for his skin and bone, "Let's get started!"

    "The recruit who does best will win the honour of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village!" He merrily continued.

The statement hadn't fazed anyone but Hiccup, whom gulped and sweated at the mere thought. The rest of the group actually seemed excited to be killing a dragon, or at least learn how to kill one; Snotlout grinned, Fishlegs shook in joy, the twins shoved each other and demanded that they would be the one to kill it, Astrid hummed, and Vega — well, Vega remained expressionless. That hadn't meant that she wasn't eager to get to it, though. All of them knew how skilled she already was, even if she chose not to show it off like Astrid. She didn't need to carry an axe all the time for people to know that she meant business; it was obvious.

Hiccup didn't quite understand any of it. He thought that this was who he was supposed to be too, but now he had changed his mind. He didn't belong there, not like they did.

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him?" Snotlout shot carelessly.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?"

Vega heaved a sigh and followed the group as they took foreword, exploring the arena in close detail. Vega seemed to be the only one ready — she didn't need time to marvel, she just wanted to get to it.

"Don't worry. You're small and weak," Gobber told Hiccup from behind her, swooping him between his arm and side and leading him onwards. She could hear the boys heels scraping the ground, "That'll make you less of a target! They'll see you as sick or insane, and go after the more Viking-like teens instead."

Vega pursed her lips, interesting tactic.

By the time that the pack had eventually come together again, Gobber was attracting their attention to the row of wooden, chained doors at the side of the arena walls. Vega shifted away from Fishlegs subtly, not wanting to get harmed in his fit of bursting excitement. The boy was quite literally quivering but not due to fear, rather she the fact that he was going to see the species up close. Sure, they might be trying to kill him, but at least he got a chance to advance his set of dragon cards.

"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight!" The blonde Viking explained, a skip in his wooden peg leg.

"The Deadly Nadder!"

Fish legs nodded, "Speed eight, armour sixteen."

"The Hideous Zippleback,"

"Plus eleven stealth," The podgy boy watched intently, reciting his cards off by heart, "Times two."

"The Monstrous Nightmare!" Gobber recited, trying to shout over the shaking boy. Vega found herself sighing, too underwhelmed by the situation to even bother scolding Fishlegs.

"Firepower fifteen!"

"The Terrible Terror-" he was cut off this time.

"Attack eight, venom twelve!"

"The Grim Gnasher!" When he was cut off again Gobber eventually pointed his hook at the boy and spat in anger, frustrating lacing his tone. Fishlegs wasn't even stunned at the words, "Can you stop that!"

It was silent.

"And the Gronckle." He then started to flick open the hatches and chains, several of the teenagers backing away from it.

"Jaw strength eight." Vega gave the boy a shove for this one and watched intently as Gobber began to exit the arena completely. She appeared to be the only one who wasn't totally shocked by his actions; apparently her father had been the only one to tell his child about the trials.

"Wait, aren't you gonna teach us first?" Snotlout panicked, his eyes flickering around the ring for means of escape.

Vega rose a brow, "Why? You scared, Snot?"

It was the first time that she had spoken since they had arrived and whilst it shocked Hiccup, the sudden words didn't seem to shock the other teens. In fact, they were rather used to it.

Snotlout sent her a glare, lips pouted, before posing with his fists in front of him. He wanted to look intimidating, but it was unlikely that a dragon would look at his fighting stance and flee. Hell, not even a Viking would runaway from him in that pose. Not even Hiccup.

"I believe in learning on the job!" Gobber explained with a grin. He began to pull back the gate, "Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead."

   And then the dragon was out.

   Immediately the teenagers broke out into a sprint, each heading in different directions in panicked screams and hurried breaths. Vega was the only one in a jog, not ready to waste all of her energy in running rather than fighting. It was going to get worse when it started shooting at them, so there wasn't much point in crying like a baby just yet.

    "What's the first thing you'll need?" Gobber quickly shouted over the group. Vega's eyes darted around the arena, hoping for some sort of advantage.

"A doctor?" Hiccup cringed, slowly stepping towards the exit gate.

"Plus five speed?"

    "A shield!" Astrid revealed the right answer, following quickly on Vega's tail, the brunette having already started towards them. The two girls had grabbed their shields before the rest of the group had even started running, and were both out of there in a flash.

    "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield!" The blonde Scotsman revealed as he observed the teenagers. He watched as Hiccup struggled to even pick up the shield in the first place, "If you must choose between a sword or a shield, take the shield!"

    "Let go of my shield!" Ruffnut cried out, trying to rip the wooden armour from her brother's grip.

    "There are a million shields!" Tuffnut retaliated, quickly grabbing one from his side and thrusting it towards her haphazardly. She scowled at the motion and knocked it away, "Take that one. It has a flower, girls like flowers."

   Without hesitation, Ruffnut smacked the shield that they both wanted on her twins head, laughing at his misfortune. She offered it to him, "Oops, now this one has blood on it."

   Before Tuffnut could respond, the Gronckle shot at them and the shield disintegrated, leaving both twins to run away screaming.

   Vega scoffed.

    "Tuffnut, Ruffnut! You're out!"

   Watching the scrawny boy struggle with his shield for a second time, Vega pursed her lips and groaned, finding herself rushing towards him before she could question it. She tugged the shield from the ground and shoved it onto his arm, the strap finally tightening, before pushing him away from her with a frown. He may have been a loser, but that would have been a pitiful way to die.

   Hiccup smiled sheepishly at her, a gesture she ignored, and the two quickly parted ways.

    "Shields are good for another thing!" Gobber informed them, raising a brow at the fact that Vega had helped Hiccup before shaking it off. "Noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim!"

   Without question, the remaining teenagers began to smack their shields with weapons or their hands. Vega watched as the Gronckle began to shake, quickly becoming disoriented and confused. She had never known that before and made a mental note to remember it at all costs.

    "All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?"

    "Five?" Snotlout suggested as they rotated around said dragon, continuing to make noise as loudly as they could. He scowled however, when Fishlegs piped up.

    "No, seven!" The podgy boy cried.

    "Correct, seven!" Gobber approved, "That's one for each of you!"

   Fishlegs began to speak once again, no doubt telling a random fact that no one else cared for, and raised his shield into the air only for it to be scorched with flames. He let out a shriek as the object flew away from him and into the wall, cowering to the ground and clutching his helmet.

    "Fishlegs, out." The trainer sighed as the boy ran away screaming. Vega rose a brow, somehow finding herself agreeing with Gobber — were they all this pitiful?

   The brunette girl looked around the group as she jogged away from the Gronckle that now seemed very fascinated in Fishlegs, noticing that Hiccup had disappeared amongst the madness. She looked around the arena and soon found him, hiding behind his shield and cowering behind the shield rack. She huffed out a breath of air, shaking her head and looking away.

    "Hiccup, get in there!" Gobber insisted, and the boy listened. It only lasted a minute because when he left his spot, the Gronckle took his shot.

   Hiccup screamed and returned to his shelter.

    "So, anyway, I moved into my parents' basement!" Snoutlout rambled to Vega, hiding behind her but still trying to act as though he had game. "You should totally come by sometime and work out, babe!"

   Vega groaned and rushed away from him, total attention on the dragon - something that Snotlout didn't have. It was heading right towards him.

   He grinned at her as she rolled along the ground, "You look like you work out!"

   The Gronckle shot at him and hit his shield, and the boy ducked under his hands and ran away as soon as she could. Vega would have laughed if laughing was appropriate in the situation, or if she even laughed at all.

    "Snotlout!" Gobber snickered, "You're done!"

Was it bad that Vega was happy with that statement?

Astrid was the next to go, throwing her shield for the Gronckle to fire at whilst she somersaulted away in her usual slick fashion, showing off as much as she could on her way out. Vega had almost rolled her eyes but realised that she was beyond used to the girl's superior attitude by now and instead allowed her eyes to flicker to Hiccup who was now at her side. She groaned.

"So it's just you and me, huh?" The boy wiggles his shoulders in a weird way that he often did when he spoke, and the brunette watched in curiosity.

She spoke with narrowed eyes, "Do you know that you wiggle your shoulders when you talk?"

"What?"

"Two shots left!" Gobber called over the pair, their attention going back to the Gronckle. Hiccup wasn't sure what he was more shocked at; the fact that she had told him that his shoulder wiggled (which he hadn't known) or the fact that Vega Storm had spoken to him at all.

Being that Vega was far more concentrated than he was, she easily dodged the next fire from the Gronckle and rushed to the other side of the arena. Hiccup, however, was left to last-minutely throw his shield up in the air to deflect the shot, losing his grip on it as it rolled away. The boy let out a cry and followed his armour, tripping over his own to feet as he attempted to catch it, all whilst failing to notice that the Gronckle was hot on his heels.

"Hiccup!"

Gobber's shouts were enough to catch his eye, his heart racing as he looked over his shoulder for only a second. It was chasing him. Great.

Hiccup changed his course of direction away from the shield and towards the walls of the arena, having no plan but to try and get away from the dragon. He realised that this wasn't his best idea ever, being that there was no way he could simply walk through a wall, and proceeded to shrink against it, hoping that he would be magically saved by someone or something. Fortunately for him, his prayers were answered.

Vega threw her shield at the Gronckle's head without hesitation, watching as the monster vibrated under the impact. She smirked, "Take that, you giant wart!"

The Gronckle quickly began to power up, but before it was able to fire at either of the teens, Gobber snatched it by the mouth with his hook and swung it away, leaving its shot to hit the wall.

"And that's seven." He tugged it along, "Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage!"

Soon after, Gobber slammer the gate shut, concealing the dragon inside. Each of the teens watched his nervously, apart from Vega, waiting to see what would come next. The man took this nervousness as disappointment in the fact that no one had really won so far, and he let out a chuckle and waved his hook.

"You'll get another chance, don't you worry." He ignored the way that Hiccup threw up in his throat. He peered down at the boy with a pointed glare.

"Remember," he spoke, "A dragon will always, always go for the kill."

——