Chapter 4 The Hit Back

  I went straight for my desk. I opened my notebook to the page I wrote about Stormcloud. I decided to rewrite all of it because, that's what I do: take things I figure out then write about them. I knew that the Night Fury had secrets, but no one would tell me what they were.

They always said every dragon had its secrets, and you had to figure them out on your own. A part of me found it annoying, but the other part knew that it was true. Your dragon has to trust you before you can find the secrets within that dragon. I bang my head on the desk.

"How am I ever going to get Stormcloud out of there?" I was getting stressed out. It was going to take a life time to get that dragon free. 

     I decided to go to bed, a lot has happened today and I felt there's more coming.

  Walking into the academy there were wooden walls set up all around the place like a maze. Gobber himself had to lead us himself to the back of the arena.

  "Today you will train a Nadder!" Gobber shouted out to the young group of dragon trainers. 

"A Deadly Naddder to be exact." Salmonfoot corrected Gobber.

"I'm getting too old for this." Gobber said partially to himself.

"When are we going to train the other, more rare, dragons?" Scruffnut asked.

"We don't... actually... know how to do that." Gobber answered.

"But they've been here for, like, five years!" Buffnut protested.

"Eight years to be precise." Salmonfoot corrected him, again.

"Would you all be quiet?" Gobber sighed, "I want to get on with this, I have dragon teeth to make. Know today I want you to learn how to use a dragon's strengths against them." Gobber said wobbling to the steel gate that held a dragon. 

"What's with this lecture? We didn't have one last time." Bottonlout shouted out.

Gobber sighed. " That Gronkle was just a practice run. Easily trained, those things. But now the real challenge begins, with actually learning about what a dragon really is." Gobber pulled down the lever. A first all I could see was darkness, then a flash red and black zoomed past us all. It perched itself on top of the wood wall in the center of the maze. It roared out and a line of yellow fire, as hot as the sun, went into the sky.

   I scrambled to the corner where they held the sheilds. When I got there they were no where to be seen. I looked around to find where Gobber was and I saw that he outside the arena looking pretty happy.

"Gobber where are the shields?" I yelled at him.

"Oh I forgot to mention, all the shields are hidden somewhere in the maze."

"What! Are you trying to kill us?" Salmonfoot shouted.

"Maybe." Gobber replied.

  I ran into the maze in seek of a shield. That black and red Nadder landed in front of me the first few steps in. I tried my best to stay in its blind spot. Moving side to side trying to figure out what to do. I leaned in and scratched the side of its head that I could reach. I was trying to make my way to the most vulnerable spot to the dragon.   The neck is full of nerves and if scratched the dragon faints of so much pleasure. I was just about to reach the neck until Bottonlout a.k.a muttonhead ran into me. When he did I fell on the dragon. It flew away crying a shriek of terror. I turned around to face Bottonlout.

"You muttonhead!" I growled to him.  

"Sorry babe." He answered with a smirk.

"Ew, don't call me that." I told him. It was revolting to hear someone call me that, especially if that someone was him.  

"Well, we did have dinner together." He responded. 

"What!" A voice behind me called out. I turned around to see who it was and it turned out to be no other than Comet.

Comet looked furious.

 I didn't know what to say, and Bottonlout didn't either, but he opened his fat gob anyway.

"Yup that's right Freya and I had dinner together." Bottonlout leaned on me and put his arm over my shoulder. I nearly barfed just being so close to him. I shrugged him off and pushed him aside.

"Get off me!" I told him. Comet gave me a dirty look then ran off into the maze. I tried to run after him, but the Nadder landed in front of me. It scared me so much, but I has so anxious I was prepared to do just about anything. The Nadder roared, and lifted its tail.

    "You've got to be kidding me." I said to myself. I quickly turned around and spun behind the closets wall. The Nadder's spikes just nearly miss me.   Then I thought to myself. "At least I'm not as afraid of dragons then I used to be."  I admitted to myself that it was a stupid thought, but I couldn't help it. I realized I've been, some what, more open. Especially with dragons. Right now if I was going to see, no, free my dragon I had to get out of here. But that wasn't going to happen without one of us taking care of this dragon, and that wasn't going to happen without a shield. Next task: find a shield then get out of here.

  I poked my head around the corner to see where the Nadder was. I couldn't see it, so I made a dash, keeping my eye on the ground and the sky. I could hear the thing jumping around from wall top to wall top. I was looking to the sky until I saw wood.

"A shield! Perfect." I thought to myself. Now all I had to do was find the dragon.   I had the shield in one hand and my other hand was free. I tried my best tracking down that dragon, but wherever I went it seemed that it went to the opposite side of the arena. So I decided for it to come to me. I put my back against a wall and slide down. 

  I hoped for the dragon to come to me, but just my luck the one who found me was Comet. I knocked the back of my head against the wall. I'd much rather it be the twins than him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Comet said calmly.

"Waiting." I answered.

"For the dragon?" 

"Yup." I hesitated." Why are you talking to me." I turned my head to face him to find that he was sitting next to me.

"Well why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know, you looked pretty pissed earlier." 

"Well I just..." 

"You know he was lying?" I interrupted him.

"What?" 

"We didn't exactly have dinner together."

"What do you mean exactly?"

"Well, you see, I left my knife at the dam, he brought it back, and as punishment my dad invited him in for dinner." I explained to him. 

"Wow. Well, sorry about that." He continued.  I looked at his face, and it looked almost like Bottonlout's expression at the dam.

"Feel guilty?" I asked him after a while.

"Yea, was that your plan?" He asked with a smile.

"Maybe." I answered.

"Well, it seems like you've gotten  a lot  less afraid of dragons."

Where did that come from? Flash backs of that first day of the academy came into view.

"How do you know?" I told him, watching for the Nadder.

"Well, I'm not sure about the others, but its obvious to me." He answered.

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"It's hard to explain. You see..."

"Shh!" I interrupted him again.

"Okay, I won't tell you." 

"No I mean be quiet. Can't you hear it?" I stood up slowly staring off into something unseen by anyone else. I didn't focus on what I could see, I focused on what I could hear. Turning my head slowly, trying to pin point the source of the sound.

"What? I don't hear anything." I heard Comet say.

"The Nadder is getting closer." I whispered, loud enough for him to hear.

"How can you tell?" He asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I told him. There were a few moments of silence, before I snapped back into reality. "Get down!"I put my back against the wall again and tucked my knees into my stomach. A blast of wind ruffled my red hair. I looked up and saw The dragon looking at Comet and me. I slowly stood up keeping my breath low. The dragon flinched and took a step back. "Shh, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." I slowly stretched out my hand. I took a step closer, then another, and then another. I made sure to stay where the dragon could see me, I placed my hand on the side of its head. 

"Hey does anyone know where this dragon is?" Bottonlout said, running around the corner. The dragon's mouth flooded with a red glow.

 "Oh Thor!" I said to myself.

Before the the Nadder could turn I scratched its head and moved for the chin. The dragon fainted right when I reached the chin. Once the dragon was down I turned to Bottonlout.  I was about to tell him off for almost getting all of us killed, but Comet beat me to it.

"You idiot! You could have gotten us killed!" Comet stomped up to Bottonlout, looking like he was going to punch him.

"Well excuse me, for trying to find a shield so I could live!" Bottonnlout screamed to Comet.

"And while you were doing that, you were trying to get us killed!" 

"Calm down you two!" Gobber said, limping in out of no where. "Let's get going, we're not going to the Great Hall today." Gobber said limping away. 

"Then where are we going." I asked, following him.

"To one of the high rises." Gobber answered. We were all making our way to the chain gate, waiting for the others to blindly make their way to the front of the arena. 

  Once the others came into sight, we made our way to one of the high rises that were meant, once upon a time, to watch for dragons. Know, apparently, the place where we judge how the others did in the arena. Once we got there Gobber brought out a large chicken and set the fire, that was in the middle of the circle of teens. 

"Lets get in with this, its midday and I got things to do." Gobber said sitting.

"Lets start with Scruffnut. Did anyone see anything wrong with what she did?"

"Yea, she pushed me out so the dragon could kill me!" Buffnut said.

Scruffnut chuckled and said "Yea and it was so worth it to hear you scream like a little girl."

"Is that what I heard?" Salmonfoot asked. "I thought that was Freya, or at least Bottonlout." 

"Why would I do that?" I asked. I was offended to hear that someone would think I would actually scream. 

"And why would I do that?" Bottonlout questioned. Nobody said a word, neither did Bottonlout. He was too busy sulking. We went through Salmonfoot and Scruffnut, but no one really said a word until it was Bottonlout's turn.

"So what did he do wrong." Gobber asked us.

"The idiot almost killed Freya and me." Comet told Gobber. Gobber looked at Bottonlout.

"Really?" He said, with a straight face.

"It's not my fault I was trying to survive while they were just sitting there." Bottonlout responded.  Gobber then looked to me. 

"Why were you just sitting there?" He asked, with disbelief on his face.

"Waiting." I answered. 

"Well since I'm already talking to her, what did Freya do wrong?" Gobber finally said.

"Probably kissing Comet!" Scruffnut shouted out. I didn't know how to feel about that. I felt angry, though I also felt something I never had before.

  "We weren't kissing you little..." I began, pushing the feeling aside.

"Anyone else?" Gobber, hastily interrupted me. No one said anything. I guess that was for the best, I didn't want to hear any of their voices anyway. 

   Once we went around the circle we were free to go. Keeping a promise I headed straight for the beach. I kept looking behind me making sure no one was following me. Then I ran straight for the cliff. I looked down onto Stormcloud from the top of the cliff. Stormcloud looked up at me and made something that sounded like a purr. I walked down the narrow path and approached her.

"I'm sorry Stormcloud, I forgot to bring fish." I said, climbing the hill of rocks. "But, like I promised, I'm going to get you out of here. It's just going to take a while." I added to myself.  

  Following the advice that was given to me, I started to brush the small rocks off the top of hill. The farther down I went, the bigger the rocks were, and the more tired I became. I eventually couldn't lift another rock and I carefully climbed down the hill of rocks, and sat down next to Stormcloud. She looked at me, then to the rocks. I looked up and saw that I barely made a dent in it. 

"Oh, this is going to take forever!" I complained. Stormcloud layed her head in my lap, and I realized I wasn't the only one suffering.

"Sorry Stormcloud, this must be worse for you than it is for me." I knew this would take a while, but it might take more then that.  "Want some fish, Stormcloud?" I remembered that I hadn't bought her food in days, and with the ocean so far away she couldn't fish for herself.

"So what would you like?" I asked her, "yak meat, mutton, chicken... eels?" Stormcloud eyes narrowed and roared a high-pitch scream of terror.

"Okay, you're afraid of eels." The only dragon that was known to not be terrified of eels was the  Typhoomerang.  "Then what about eggs?" I guessed. All traces of terror left Stormcloud's eyes and was replaced with suspension. "Eggs it is then." I stood up and scratched Stormcloud's head goodbye. 

    I walked throughout the village and I noticed that everyone had a smile on their face. That wasn't unusual, but it was what they were talking about that intrigued me.

" I can't wait for the dragon races tomorrow," and  

" Those dragon races are going to be so much fun." They were saying.

  I totally forgot all about them. These games are going to be ridden by the the riders-in-training and their parent's dragons. It was suppose to be in honor of the training of the new students. I couldn't think about it now I would have to go to the market place. 

    Once I went to the market place, I walked up to a booth and the person who was behind the counter was, with my luck, non other than Comet. I was actually  surprised to see him. When he turned around to face me, I could tell he was just as surprised as I was.

"You have a job?" I asked.

"Yea, well it's my cousin's job. I'm just filling in for him while he's sick." He answered.

"How nice of you." I said. I set down a small bag of coins. "I need one dozen eggs, please." Comet went to the back of the booth then came back with a basket full of eggs. I checked a few of them to see if I was getting my money's worth.

"So, uh, are you excited about dragon races?" He asked me. 

"I guess. To be honest I forgot about them until now." I responded.

"It's the only thing my Mom talks about. But I'll have to find a dragon of my own."

"What do you mean?" Nearly everybody had a dragon on the island, and to hear that he would have to get another, confused me. 

"But I thought your Mom had..." 

"She has a Terrible Terror." He interrupted me.

"Oh. Well I'll be riding Toothless tomorrow. And...well...I guess, if my Mom says it's alright, you could ride Stormfly. " I couldn't believe I actually hesitated that much. It's not like I liked him. Right? 

   "Well, I mean if that's okay with your mom. I'd like that." He said. I could sense hesitation in his voice as well. It made me wonder why each of us seemed so nervous. I looked into his eyes, and felt my heart starting to melt. Thor only knows how long we were trapped in eachother's gaze, before the burning sensation in my chest, reminded me of a dragon.

 "Uh, I should be going." I hastily said.

"Oh, yea yea, of course." Comet said. He was blinking rapidly like he just saw day light for the first time. "So, I'll see you later?" Comet said as I turned to leave. I turned back, surprised he said something like that to me.

"Yea." I smiled then turned to leave. 

     I made it back to to Stormcloud without running into anyone else. Thank the gods for that. I layed the small basket of eggs in front of Stormcloud's nose. She looked at them as though she never seen anything like them before.

"Go on, eat them. They're good." I said to her, making my way up the rocks. Once I made it to the top  looked back to see the Stormcloud was quickly making her way to the bottom of the basket. devouring every egg in sight. Seeing that she was happy with my gift, I started to push the rocks down into the ocean. I was trying my best to throw every rock from its place until I was disturbed. Stormcloud was roaring at me, like she wanted my attention. 

"Yea girl, what is it?" She looked at the now empty basket, then back at me. She roared again.

"Don't tell me you want more eggs." I moaned. She widened her eyes and called to me once more. 

"Fine." I said giving into the greedy dragon. I made my way to the bottom of the hill, sliding down from rock to rock. I knelt down next to Stormcloud before I left. "You really need to slow down on the food, I'm running out of money." I got to my feet and ran back to the village. 

   Once again I walked up to Comet's booth. He turned around and looked at me in surprise. "You know when I said 'see you later ' I didn't think you'd be back so soon." 

"Well, if you want I could go." I half turned and pretend to leave.

"No!" Comet reached out and grabbed my shoulder. It seemed that the whole world stopped and all the noise around me faded. I looked up at Comet, and he quickly took his hand away. The world left its stand still position an began to move again. 

"I mean, how can I help you." He quickly said. I quietly laughed at his failed attempt to pull off a moment that was obviously embarrassing for him. 

"Uh, I need more eggs." I said. I reached into a small bag attached to my belt. The more I dug around, the more I got worried. I looked into my bag and desperately search for the item in my mind. Comet placed another small basket of eggs on the thick, small, wooden counter that was separating me from him. 

"Oh, never mind. I'm out of money." I told him. 

"Don't worry, just take them." Then smile. He made me feel a hear pound against my chest. It was so hard to ignore it while I spoke. 

"Are you sure that's okay?" I looked suspicious at him.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. All you have to do is answer a question." I was puzzled at his tone of voice. It sounded more like the mischievous Bottonlout, then the sweet Comet. 

"What's that?" I asked, suspicious.

" Why so many eggs? You've taken at least two dozen." He said. The question was a little more, common then I expected. But it was so easy to answer that I couldn't. I don't know why, but something told me not to tell anyone about Stormcloud. They would probably leave her alone and say she was a lost cause. 

"Oh, no reason." I lied. Comet didn't seem convined, but gave me the basket anyways.

"So, see you then next time you need eggs?" He joked.

"Yea, see you later." I said. I took the basket and made my way to the beach.

    Once again, as I slowly knocked off each rock, Stormcloud ate through every egg she could get her teeth on.

    The sun began to crawl down to the mountains, and the time came for me to head home.  I again slid down the rock and finally made it to the sand. Stormcloud made a rumbling sound in her throat. I grabbed the two empty baskets that had pieces of egg shells and yolk at the bottom then turned to the dragon. 

"What is it?" I asked her, getting concerned. Stormcloud rested her head on top of her claws and looked up at me with wide, shiny eyes.

"What, I can't stay here." I told her. Stormcloud made something that sounded like a whining sound. I scratched her head, then left. I made my way to the market one last time. This time I had to run. The market closed once the sun was behind the mountains.  

  Once more I had to stop by the stand Comet was in, one last time. When Comet turned around he didn't look so surprised.

"Back for more eggs?" He teased me.

"No, just here to return the baskets." I held out both the baskets and waited for him to take them.

"Gone? All of them, already?" He seemed surprised this time. "What were you doing that made two dozen eggs disappear in under a day?" 

"Didn't I answer that question already?" I was starting to get suspicious about him asking me questions. I could handle pressure just fine, but it was the lies I was telling him that worried me. I already knew that he was getting suspicious and I just wanted to leave.  

"Well, you didn't really answer it last time." He corrected me. I was finished with this conversation. I placed the two baskets on the small wall that was between us.

"Well, I better be going home." I said, trying to rush things. I didn't wait for him to answer. I turned around, but before I could leave I bumped into Bottonlout. 

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the worm." He said, looking at Comet. He didn't even seem to notice that I was there. I followed Bottonlout's gaze to Comet. It looked like all traces of Comet had vanished, and had replaced with someone brutal, and ruthless.

"And there's the mutton head who nearly killed us." Comet retorted. Bottonlout looked at me and completely changed personalities.

"Hey babe how's it going." Bottonlout put his shoulder on the counter and tried to move Comet to the back of the booth. 

"Don't call me 'babe'." I rolled my eyes and turned to leave.

"Woah, wait where're you going?" Bottonlout grabbed onto my shoulder. Before I resisted I noticed that when Bottonlout grabbed me it didn't feel the same way as when Comet did. I geussed that it was because that he nearly killed me. 

"Take a hint, she's trying to get away from you, you big lunk." Comet said, as I pulled away from Bottonlut.

"You're one to talk! You're just a worm and a waste of space."  Bottonlout said, turning around to face Comet. It seemed to me that an aurgument was about to happen and I had no idea weather to take flight or stay and fight. So I decided to do neither. I decided to stand and litsen, and find out how this was going to end.

"Oh wow that really hurt. You're the one who's been trying to hit on a girl who doesn't even like you!" Comet jumped over the counter and started to get into Bottonlout's face. 

"Well at least I've acually had dinner with her." Bottonlout smirked and was acting like he won the argument. Comet's eyes seemed to turn red and he did something that I would never geuss he would do. Comet clenched his fists and punched Bottonlout's cheek. I was so surprised I nearly gasped out loud. Bottonlout seemed just as surprised. He was gasping and holding his cheek.

"You... you hit me!" Bottonlout gasped.

"I can only take so much of your stupidity." Comet said back. He was holding up his fists in a fighting stance, ready if Bottonlout punched back. 

"You're going to get it worm!" Bottonlout tried to puch Comet, but he doged it.  I had enough of both of their stupidity. I say where the aurgument had gone and it led to a pointless fight. I tried to make my way to both of them while trying my best to avoid their punches. 

"That's it I'm finishing this, worm!" Bottonlout shouted.

"Oh, I thought I already won." Comet smirked. Bottonlout shouted in rage and attempted to hit Comet. Comet ducked just before the fist could reach him, but the one who he acually hit was me. When Comet ducked Bottonlout's fist somehow hit me in my nose. I fell over in pain, holding onto my face. I was too hurt to even speak and I couldn't possibly let those two see me cry. Not again.

"You idiot! First you try to kill her, now you hit her!" Comet yelled at his opponent.

"I didn't mean too!" Bottonlout yelled. His expression changed from anger to concern and guilt. I took my hand away from my face and saw that it was soaked with blood. 

"Get away from her! You've caused enough trouble!" Comet was pushing Bottonlout further and further away from me. I was finally out of shock, I stood up. Both Comet and Bottonlout came rushing over to help me up.

"I said get lost, loser." Comet said taking my hand and gently lifting me up.

"Just trying to help, worm." Bottonlout said, lifting me up from my back. Once I was on my feet I looked at my hand once more. There wasn't as much blood as there wa before and most of it had dried. I wiped the new blood away from my face with my bare arm. It was still bleeding, but not as bad.

"Is it broken?" Bottonlout asked. 

"Why would you care? You're the one who hit her." Comet said.

"It's not like I meant to, worm." Bottonlout said back. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. After everything that has happened, they were still fighting! And the thing that agitated me most was that I didn't even know why they were fighting!

"Would you two stop!" I shouted at them. "You both are a couple of mutton heads who can't even tell when to stop a fight!" These boys were starting to get on my nerves, and if  I wasn't home soon my mom would have my head.

"That's it I'm going home!" I turned to leave.

"Wait!" Bottonlout shouted at me. He stretched to grab my hand, but this time I pulled away.

"Wait for what? For you two to grow up?" I yelled back. They both finally shut up and hung their heads in shame. I stormed away from them.