The next day, both Hiccup and Emily were both awakened by Gobber and Emily almost knocked another of his teeth out by accident when he barged in while they were still sleeping. So both he and Emily are heading to the Dragon Training Arena with their representative weapons while talking amongst themselves quietly.
They made it just in time and stood a little ways away from the other teens as Gobber soon lifted the gate of the arena to let them all in.
"Welcome to Dragon Training!" He cheerfully said as Astrid took a deep breath and went ahead with the rest following.
"No turning back." Astrid said as she walked forwards.
Both Hiccup and Emily felt uneasy by the whole training and fighting against dragons but they have to if they want to get the whole day to be over with so they can find that Night Fury and meet up with Optimus.
They looked around the arena with the other teens talking excitedly about their first day in dragon training.
"I hope I get some serious burns!" Tuffnut said eagerly as his twin nodded in agreement.
"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut said with equal eagerness that she and her brother shared.
"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astrid said as they stopped in the middle of the ring as she had a determined and ready aura around herself.
"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." Hiccup sarcastically added as the teens turned towards him with annoyed looks in their eyes as Emily just stood beside Hiccup.
"Oh, great. Who let them in?" Tuffnut asked in annoyance before freezing as Emily directed a glare towards him.
"You better watch what you say, Thorston. Or you'll end up with a broken nose like Snotlout here." Emily told him off as Snotlout gave her a glare.
Gobber quickly intervened before a fight could even start.
"Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village." Gobber explained as Snotlout decided to mock Hiccup about how he shot down a Night Fury
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury with Winters, so, does that disqualify them both or...?" This made him and the twins laugh out mockingly at them as they resumed their walk in front of one of the gates.
"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Tuffnut asked as Hiccup just out a sad sigh before Gobber put a hand on his shoulder as they walked to where the other teens were.
"Don't worry. You're small and you're weak. And Emily is fast and smart. That'll make you two less of a target! They'll see you both as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead." Gobber encouraged them before pushing them in line with the others as Fishlegs was bouncing in excitement.
"Hey, Fishlegs." Emily whispered as he greeted her back.
"Hey, Emily. Hey, Hiccup." Fishlegs greeted them both as Hiccup just smiled and adjusted his hold on the axe.
"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight! The Deadly Nadder!" Gobber said and introduced each dragon as each gate was shaking with dragons growling behind them.
"Speed: eight; Armor: sixteen." Fishlegs noted as Hiccup looked at him weirdly but Emily just shrugged at him when he mouthed 'does he know more about dragons?'
"The Hideous Zippleback!"
"Plus eleven stealth times two."
"The Monstrous Nightmare!"
"Firepower: fifteen."
"The Terrible Terror!"
"Attack: eight; Venom: twelve!"
Gobber was getting fed up with the burly teen's yammering, he snapped at him before calming himself completely.
"CAN YOU STOP THAT?! And... the Gronckle!" Gobber said before giving the teens a mischievous look while putting a hand on the lever that kept the gate closed.
"Jaw strength: eight." Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup and Emily are both tensed and got ready to run.
"Whoa, whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" Snotlout asked in a panic when he caught the mischievousness in Gobber's eyes.
Hiccup rolled his eyes at that as Emily snickered.
"I know Gobber and he'll just go with the 'I believe in learning on the job'." Hiccup said as Snotlout gave him a small glare as Gobber just smiled.
"As a matter of fact, Hiccup is correct." Gobber said.
"See you later at Gothi's." Emily said as she and Hiccup made a run for it with the rest as Gobber released the Gronckle from its cage.
"Today is about survival. If you get blasted... you're dead! Quick! What's the first thing you're going to need?" Gobber yelled over the ruckus as the Gronckle found some rocks and proceeded to eat them as Gobber asked what they needed first.
"A doctor?!" Hiccup guessed.
"That will only happen after that if we survive this training!" Emily exclaimed.
"Plus five speeds?!" Fishlegs squeaked out.
"A shield!" Astrid answered correctly as Gobber nodded.
"Shields! Go!" On cue, all of the teens scrambled to where the pile of shields were as Hiccup was having a hard time picking his shield up. Emily went up to him and helped him pick it up.
"Your most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield!" Gobber said as both Hiccup and Emily made sure to avoid getting chased by the Gronckle who decided to chase Fishlegs for some reasons.
Both Hiccup and Emily found a hiding spot and peeked from it to see what was going on and to their surprise the Thorston twins went after the same shield that had flames and skulls painted on it and were in a tug of war.
"Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut argued.
"There's like a million shields!" Ruffnut argued back.
"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut taunted and it only just makes Ruffnut to snatch the shield and slams it on her twin's head.
"Oops, now this one has blood on it." Ruffnut said as they continued to fight over the shield.
They didn't notice the Gronckle heading their way until it blasted the shield out of their hands and they were forced to spin like tops from the impact and fell on the floor and were both dazed from it.
"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber called out as the twins got up, still dazed from the ground.
"What?" They both asked in confusion as Gobber looked at the other teens that weren't taken out yet.
"Those shields are good for another thing: noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim!" Gobber told them and they started to hit their weapons against their shields and Emily and Hiccup took note that the Gronckle was disoriented from the noise.
"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber asked as everyone made a run for it to avoid getting hit.
"Five?" Snotlout guessed while eyeing the dragon nervously.
"No, six!" Fishlegs exclaimed.
"Correct, six! That's one for each of you!" Gobber said as he was glad that one of the trainees knows a dragon's shot limit.
Fishlegs was caught off guard as his shield got blasted out of his hand but the Gronckle.
"Fishlegs, out." At this, Fishlegs runs off to the side to join the twins with Gobber as the blacksmith spotted Hiccup hiding behind a weapons wrack.
"Hiccup, get in there!" Gobber called out.
Emily told him that she'll go out first only for her shield to get blasted away by the Gronckle and she landed on the ground with a pained grunt.
With Astrid, she was focusing on the training and ignoring Snotlout who was trying to get her attention with suggestions.
"So, anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out!" Snotlout suggested only for Astrid to roll away from him and out of the way while his shield was blasted away by the Gronckle.
"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber called out with Emily watching the sight in front of them as the teen walked to join the others.
Astrid stopped and was inches away from Hiccup, who saw his chance to talk to his crush.
"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Hiccup said with a nervous smile.
"Nope, just you." Astrid tells him shortly and runs off while Hiccup just watches her but was startled when his shield was blasted away by the Gronckle who was aiming at them but missed.
Hiccup loses his shield and makes a run for it unaware that the Gronckle was flying towards him. He saw that and left the shield and tried to make a run for it away from the dragon.
"One shot left!" Gobber called out before he saw the situation and grew extremely worried.
"Hiccup!" Gobber called out worriedly in a panic as Emily was making a run for it to Hiccup to save him.
Hiccup was about to make a turn but trips and the Gronckle corners soon corners Hiccup as he gasps for breath. The Gronckle sniffs him a bit before opening its jaws and taking its aim for the finishing blow.
Hiccup quickly looks away while shutting his eyes tight in fear until something slammed against the dragon and misaimed its shot as it fired at the wall just above Hiccup's head.
He let out a startled cry and curled up in a fetal position with his arms above his head while gasping for breath as he saw Emily standing in front of him while she was panting heavily. Gobber quickly got to where the Gronckle is as it was recovering from the hit it got and quickly tugs it away while wrestling it back to the cage.
"And that's six! Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage!" Gobber scolded the dragon before locking it back in its cage as the teens all slumped down and tried to catch their breath while they were shaken from the ordeal.
"You'll get another chance, don't you worry." Gobber reassured them
"Remember: a dragon will always, always go for the kill." Gobber told Hiccup who was still shaken from his near death experience and helped him up before looking at Emily.
"A very risky move, Emily. Yet very courageous." Gobber said with a nod as she nodded back while panting.
He and the other teens left the arena and left the two behind as Emily went to check on Hiccup.
"You okay?" Emily asked him as he looked at her shakily.
"Shaken but other than that, I'm okay." Hiccup said before they looked back at the blast mark the dragon left and were both pondering what happened yesterday with the Night Fury.
When afternoon came around, both Hiccup and Emily were trekking through the forest again as they stopped at the area where they last saw the black Night Fury.
Hiccup kneeled down while weighing the bola that he used to shoot it down while pondering on why it didn't kill him.
"So, why didn't you?" Hiccup muttered as Emily looked around.
He set the now useless bolas down and started to follow the direction that the Night Fury flew to. They came upon an entrance and walked through it and were now looking over a peaceful and majestic cove.
"Well, this was stupid." Hiccup muttered since he noticed that the place was empty.
He heard a snort behind them and noticed that the other Night Fury, Optimus, was there and was looking down at something as Emily pointed near his feet. He followed their eyes and found some shiny black dragon scales on the ground.
He kneeled down and picked one up and marveled at how smooth the texture is of the scale and he could almost see his reflection to it. Then out of nowhere, the Night Fury swooped past them and it startled Hiccup and Emily as the 15 year old fell back while dropping the scale. They quickly recovered and watched as the dragon was clawing the walls of the cove in an attempt to escape but it proved to be useless as it glided back down to the ground across the pond. Hiccup watched it before making his way down to a boulder and hid behind it as the Night Fury tried to fly again but it was proven difficult again as it fell back down to the ground.
Hiccup took out his notepad and started to try and make a sketch of it when it would stay still. He stopped after he made an almost replica drawing of the drawing before looking back at the dragon again in confusion why it still hasn't flown away yet.
"Why don't you just... fly away?" He wondered.
Emily nudged his shoulder as he glance at her to see that she was beside him already as she seemed to be pointing at something. Hiccup looked to where she's pointing and finally noticed that it was missing a tailfin. He removed the tailfin from his sketch and couldn't help but feel saddened and guilty by this revelation.
He looked down in guilt as he saw it trying to catch some fish but it was weakened. He didn't pay attention to his pencil until it was too late when it slipped from his hand and it bounced on the smaller rocks from below and grabbed the Night Fury's attention as it looked up to them and realized that it had unexpected visitors. It stares up at him in recognition while it stares in confusion towards Emily and sees the other dragon, a Stormcutter.
Hiccup tilted his head a little and the Night Fury's ears perked up slightly while it was emitting some kind of purring sound while its pupils were dilated slightly into slight ovals while tilting its head like Hiccup.
Emily glanced at Optimus whose fins were perked up slightly in curiosity as one thing went through both of their minds.
Destiny is at play...