Disclaimer : Dreamworks owns everything

I just found a freaking website that does accents and translations. Hello correctly accented Gobber… It's called 'Whoohoo'

Chapter Four : Depth

The trainees were in the arena, with Gobber and Hiccup standing above them leaning on the chains that spiderwebbed over the arena.

Today was about agility, and so Gobber had them run… and run… and run. Since today was laugardagur, it was all fine and dandy to get sweaty and grimy. It was washday - all day - after all. Large wooden walls stood in a maze formation, and Gobber used earthbending to chase the trainees with a stone.

"Laddie, ye willnae believe whit Ah saw yesterday." Gobber said, glancing at his apprentice.

Hiccup wasn't paying much attention. "Uh huh?"

Ruff and Tuff rounded a corner, reaching a dead end. "Augh, do you ever bathe?" Ruff asked in disgust.

"You don't like it, find your own way out!" Tuff pushed her away, starting an arguement between the two twins. One of Gobber's rocks flew past them, and they scurried off to another part of the maze.

"I saw a dragon wi' big black wings zoomin' across te sky." Gobber's statement perked Hiccup straight up, and he noticed. "Did ye see it, Lad?"

The auburn haired teen didn't get a chance to answer Gobber's question, as Fishlegs ran into a wall screaming, "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" A few stones pelted the wall, punching holes through the wood at high speed.

Unfortunately, Fishlegs' impact caused a domino effect of the wooden walls falling. The others shouted in fright as the walls collapsed, and Astrid was ran up one of them. Before he knew what he was doing, he had jumped into the ring and rolled with the impact, and raced to catch Astrid.

Her scream as she jumped off the wall made it clear she was shocked. "HICCUUUP!" Astrid landed in his arms, and instinctively gripped his collarbone to make sure she wouldn't fall.

"Ooohh Love on the battlefield!" Ruffnut teased, and Tuffnut imitated a gagging noise along with Snotlout, who was scowling.

The duo blushed, and Astrid nearly jumped out of his arms, and she turned to Fishlegs with a fiery glare. "Is this some kind of joke to you!? We could've been hurt!"

Hiccup rested a hand on her shoulder. "That's enough, Astrid. It was an accident." She glared at him.

"Don't touch me!" She snapped, pushing him slightly. "Why aren't you in training, huh? Is this a joke to you too!?" Astrid advanced towards him, prodding his chest with an index finger.

"Righto! Training's over. We'll be meetin' on top the old watchtower." Gobber stated, gave the group of kids a look over, and turned around to leave the arena. The twins, Snotlout, and Fishlegs didn't hesitate to run to their homes to collect soap and towels for their baths, leaving Astrid and Hiccup in the arena.

She hesitated to say anything, because she didn't know how he would respond. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I've got… stuff I need to do. I'll be in the forge later." Hiccup walked briskly out of the arena, welcoming the cool autumn breeze.

He walked to the edge of the forest, before thinking about the dragon. 'Toothless?' He thought to himself. 'I guess any name is better than no name. Ach. He might be hungry.' Hiccup returned to his home, and grabbed a wicker basket and filled it with fish from the ice box. Yes, a 'Hiccup' idea that succeeded, long story short, earthbenders made stone cases, and waterbenders made ice and snow to fill them. On the way out of his house, he grabbed a bar of soap and a towel.

He set out on a hike to the cove, where he had seen the dragon - Toothless. Why Toothless one might ask? Retractable teeth were the best reason Hiccup had. Traveling through the green woods quickly, well… as quickly as he could with all the fish in the basket. The midday sun reminded him of the fact that it was indeed laugardagur.

The Cove was as pristine as ever, the tree stood tall and proud, and the grass was green. The black dragon was napping at the base of the tree, with his wing hanging out limply. 'Maybe it's broken?' Hiccup thought to himself. "Hey Toothless~!"

Toothless raised his head and recognized the boy, then approached him cautiously. "I brought food. You like fish, right?" At the mention of fish, Toothless perked up and purred. "Alright, cool. Well here ya go." He dumped the basket over, causing several fish to slide out. "Augh that's disgusting," he grimaced.

Toothless began devouring the fish, ignoring the teen. Hiccup went to a large rock not far away and sat on it. He picked up a stick and began to sketch Toothless. A large shadow overtook Hiccup, and he stiffened, knowing the dragon was right behind him, but still added lines to the sketch.

To his relief, the dragon stomped off on his hind legs, and then Hiccup heard a snapping noise. He peeked over his shoulder, only to catch the swing of a small tree branch with his face. "Ow!" Toothless ignored the boy, and gripped the branch with his teeth, and began making swirling and crossing patterns on the ground.

Hiccup was astonished, a creature was mimicking him! Sure fire-ferrets could walk on their hind paws, but this was intelligence, imagination!

The dragon tapped the branch on the ground and looked towards the boy, wiggling his tail with excitement with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. The teen stepped forward, eliciting a growl from Toothless and he looked down, realizing that he had stepped on one of the lines. He lifted his foot, and the growl turned into a purr. He repeated the process of lifting his foot and stepping down. Growl, purr, growl, purr, snarl. Okay, enough of that.

He stepped over the line, and began watching where he placed his feet, swinging his arms about to keep balance. Hiccup stepped backwards one last time, and felt a huff disturb his hair. He cautiously turned around, coming eye to eye with the dragon, and he slowly reached up wit his hand.

Toothless growled slightly, instinctively leaning away. Hiccup stared through the spaces between his fingers, then turned his head and closed his eyes, giving his complete trust to the dragon. A moment in silence passed, and he felt warm, leathery skin on his palm. He felt fire course through his veins. He breathed in and out deeply, and felt himself connect to the dragon's spirit and flame.

000 Spirit World 000

When he opened his eyes, he blinked in shock and took a step back. This wasn't Berk. Hiccup gazed at his surroundings, seeing tall magnificent trees, full of color and life on every branch. In the distance he saw a field of flowers of white, red, blue, purple, and even orange flowers. He gaped, and smiled.

But… where was he?

"A splendid view, is it not?" A voice interrupted his thoughts, and he whipped around to see a turtle balancing on a wooden staff. "What is your name, human?"

"Uhh… Hiccup. Uhm… where am I?"

"Hiccup?" He was a bit freaked out by the speaking turtle. "What a weird name." The turtle said, then answered his question. "We are both in the Spirit World, and so is your friend."

"My friend?" Hiccup questioned. "I don't have many friends." The turtle blinked oddly, closing his right eye first, then closing his left a second later. To his surprise, Toothless landed on the cliff edge nearby and sat near the turtle. "What is your name?"

"My name is Oogway." The turtle said. "Why are you here, Hiccup?" He asked rhetorically.

Hiccup glanced at the open fields again, and the forest. "I'm not sure. I touched Toothless, and poof! I'm here."

"Not here physically, but spiritually." Oogway said. "You have bonded to a Night Fury, Hiccup."

"W-what?!" Hiccup exclaimed, immediately thinking of the warning from Gothi's book. "I-I thought drakons always went for the kill."

"So much fear for so little understanding." Oogway said, patting Toothless' head. "Drakons are creatures of another realm, and some have powers beyond our imagination. He was sent to you for a reason, Hiccup." Oogway limped towards the boy, and reached a claw forward, and tapped Hiccup's forehead.

Multitudes of visions flashed in his mind, some of dragons, some of beautiful landscapes, and a fire. Not a fire of destruction… but a calm, breathing fire. "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery… but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present." The turtle stepped back and Toothless moved forward, nuzzling Hiccup's side. "He will teach you to wield a dragon's flame. I wish you luck, Hiccup."

000 Physical World 000

Hiccup snapped back into reality, and held a hand above his eyes as he looked up seeing the sun at high noon. Toothless snorted, and licked him. "That was weird." Toothless nodded, and shook his head to clear the side-effects of spiritual travel. "What was all that about a dragon's flame?" Hiccup asked himself, but heard Toothless grunt and huff at the mention. He looked at the dragon.

Toothless spat a small blue flame out, and Hiccup understood what he had to do. He focused on the air in front of him, and concentrated. A millisecond passed before a flame erupted in Hiccup's right palm, and he passed it to his left hand. Toothless gave a gummy smile, and nudged his right hand.

"Sorry bud, I've gotta take a bath. I'm sure Astrid's expecting me at the forge soon." Hiccup said, remembering his advice to the girl from the day before. Toothless rolled his eyes, and stalked off towards the tree. "Oh, Toothless! Lemme look at your wing."

Toothless turned around, and extended his left wing slowly. It was bent awkwardly, and Hiccup determined a splint would work to keep it in place. He picked up the branch Toothless had drawn with, tore a strip of his sleeve off, and tied it in place in alignment with the dragon's wing.

Hiccup looked over to the waterfall, and picked up the soap and towel. The sound of water drowned out every other noise, and he chose his steps carefully as he traveled behind the waterfall. There was a cavern with hot-tub-like bowls that one could wash themselves in, and he sighed in satisfaction as he slipped into the water.

0-0-0-0-0

It was getting around suppertime and Astrid still hadn't come by the forge. Hiccup was sitting in the backroom, manipulating fire to produce different images. Fire looped and twirled around his fingers and above his hands, dancing to an old wedding tune his mother had taught him, and in the fire he saw passion and warmth. He changed up the tune a little, and with each higher note the flame intensifies, on each lower note, the flame soothes.

A horse appeared in his hands, galloping across the flat of his palms, and he smiled. A clang interrupted him, and he extinguished the flames quickly and lit a couple candles with a snap. "Hiccup?" Astrid asked aloud, wondering where he was.

He stepped out of the backroom, moving the curtain separating the two rooms. "Hey Astrid." He said casually. "Did you bring your axe?"

She nodded, and took it off her back and held it out to him. It had a plain wooden handle, and was double bladed. He gripped the space just above her hands firmly and accepted the weight easily. Astrid nearly gaped when he lifted it without ease, taking it to a worktable.

He used a few different tools to disassemble the axehead and the grip while Astrid watched over his shoulder, impressed. She spoke while he worked. "I… I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to blow up."

Hiccup hung his head, looking over the axe, and smiled. Astrid Hofferson was not usually one to apologize. "It's alright. Training today was a little intense." He handed her the axe back, and she stared into his eyes, realizing that he was slightly taller than her. "I think you owe Fishlegs an apology too, he needed a new pair of pants after you snapped at him."

She laughed lightly and grinned. "Thanks Hiccup." Then she punched his arm. "That's for making me apologize." He sputtered for a second, trying to say that it wasn't his fault, then she reached forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, giving him a hug. "And that's for everything else."

He was blushing hard, and he watched her run off with the axe to the Great Hall.

000000000

Yup that's right. I just freaking included a Kung Fu Panda character in here. Asking why? Well all the bending forms are based off of actual Kung Fu techniques and practices. And since Oogway is all wise and whatever, I thought he'd fit best in the spirit world.

More fire-scenes are going to come. Just to let you know.