Hello

Best Friends Stick Together

The pride of Berk woke up to the usual sound of Terrible Terrors singing on the roof. Hiccup was eager to get up because today was his day off. Once a week he took care of all his new chief duties the day before so he could spend extra time with Astrid and Toothless. Valka was always left in charge in case of anything urgent.

Hiccup sat up in bed and looked over at Toothless' stone slab bed expecting to see his dragon. The dragon's absence surprised Hiccup but he assumed he was just outside so he got up and got dressed. After saying good morning to his mother, Hiccup stepped outside and looked up at the roof. He did not see Toothless so he went to the back to see if he was hanging upside-down on the perch with Cloudjumper. Hiccup however was only greeted by the sleepy Stormcutter. Trying to stay calm Hiccup, went back into the house and asked Valka if she had seen him.

"Sorry no, but I did hear him groaning and scratching last night," said Valka.

"Yeah that happens sometimes when he can't get comfortable in his bed. I don't even address it anymore because I can't figure out how to help him," said Hiccup.

"Did you check Cloudjumper's perch?" Valka suggested.

"Yeah and now I'm getting concerned, Toothless never leaves before I get up…I'm going to get Astrid to help me find him," Hiccup said before saying goodbye and heading for the stables.

Hiccup tried not to worry too much, since Toothless could not get far without flying. And as far as he knew, the Night Fury had no reason to be upset and run off. He found his girlfriend at Stormfly's stable grooming her quills with a thick brush. She head him enter and turned to smile.

"Oh hey Hiccup, what's up?"

Her smile faded when she saw him frowning and noticed he was alone. "Where's Toothless?"

Hiccup sighed, "I need your help. He was gone this morning and I don't know where he is."

Astrid was about to gasp but she held it in not wanting to worry Hiccup any more. She hopped on Stormfly's saddle and motioned for Hiccup to get behind her. He grabbed her hand and climbed up as well.

"Should we get help searching?" she asked.

"No, Stormfly should be able to pick up his scent. We'll send a search party later if we have to," said Hiccup.

Astrid nodded and told Stormfly to fly outside and find Toothless. She flew above the nearby woods sniffing the air for her friend. Astrid did not steer so she just hung on while subconsciously enjoying Hiccup's arms wrapped around her.

After a quarter of an hour the Deadly Nadder still did not get a scent so Astrid turned sideways to Hiccup and suggested, "Should we check the cove?"

Hiccup thought for a second before replying, "No it's really hard for him to get out of there by himself. I can't see why he would go there."

Astrid nodded understanding his logic so they continued to rely on Stormfly. Suddenly the dragon squawked and flew down into a small clearing of the trees. When she landed both vikings dismounted and searched for Toothless. Hiccup called out for him but no one came. It was then that he began to notice the condition of the area was in. The grass was all torn up with a nearby fallen tree trunk broken to pieces. All the nearby trees were scratched with a lot of the bark ripped off.

Hiccup looked over to see Stormfly sniffing something on the ground so he went over to her along with Astrid. They both gasped to see it was Toothless' saddle.

"I don't understand, why would he take this off? He's never done that!" Hiccup exclaimed as his held back panic started to surface.

By the looks of the forest around them the Night Fury had difficulty getting the saddle off. Astrid was about to try and calm him down without knowing how when she saw something. She picked it up off the ground and examined it. It was a black dragon scale half the size of her hand.

"Hiccup, I think I found a Night Fury scale," she said and handed it to him.

Hiccup knew without a doubt that it belonged to Toothless and suddenly realized that they were all over the ground. Hundreds of different sized scales covered the ground somewhat hidden by the grass. It was then that Hiccup realized what had happened. It was something every dragon went through every few years.

"Of course! Toothless must of shed all his scales!" said Hiccup.

"But why would he run away?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup thought for a moment and answered, "Well it's never happened to him since I've known him…He must be embarrassed."

Astrid gave him a look that clearly asked why. "Well he is the Alpha after all. He probably doesn't want anyone see him vulnerable," said Hiccup.

After he said this, Hiccup knew where his dragon was. "You were right, he must be at the cove. No other dragon or viking goes there."

The two climbed back onto Stormfly and headed towards Raven Point. The second the Nadder landed in the cove, Hiccup and Astrid dismounted and called for Toothless. The Night Fury did not come but they did not give up. Hiccup checked behind a large rock perch when he heard a twig snap. He turned towards a small group of trees and spotted movement.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked.
The figure did not make a sound but Hiccup spotted Toothless' red artificial tail fin in the shadows.

"Alright Bud I know you're there. Come on out," Hiccup said kindly.

Toothless warbled the same way he always did when he meant "no". Hiccup crossed his arms and said, "I'm not leaving you so you might as well come here."

The dragon sighed and stepped into the light with his head down. Toothless did look different than usual. Without his black scales his whole body was a dark gray. The only part of him still black was his wings which never had scales to begin with. He had also shed his claws which was normal but now they looked like harmless paws.

When Toothless saw Hiccup looking at him, he covered his face with his wings and cooed sadly. Hiccup felt sorry for his dragon and said, "It's okay Bud. It's not that bad, you look fine."

By the way Toothless kept his face covered he knew the dragon did not believe him. Meanwhile Astrid and Stormily heard Hiccup talking and went over to the two friends. "You had us worried Toothless," Astrid said in a friendly way.

Hearing her voice alerted Toothless that she and Stormfly where there. He jumped up in the air like a frightened cat before turning away and covering himself now even more mortified.

"Tooth-less, it's just Astrid and Stormfly. They're your friends too." Hiccup emphasized.

Toothless did not move and Astrid did not see a way to calm him, especially since Hiccup was not having any success. Hiccup sighed and turned to his girlfriend.

"Astrid, could you and Stormfly give us a minute?" he asked.

"Sure thing Babe, We'll be back soon," she replied and took off with her dragon out of the cove.

With Astrid and Stormfly gone, Hiccup could tell that Toothless was a little less uncomfortable. He went over to his dragon hand moved his wing to see his face. Toothless did not protest but also did not make eye contact. Hiccup gently grabbed Toothless' muzzle and forced him to look at him.

"It's not that big a deal Bud. Every dragon deals with it. I remember Stormfly shed last year."

Toothless still had sadness in his eyes so Hiccup tried something else. "So what if you're not fireproof right now. You still seem pretty strong to me."

Toothless' ears perked up in curiosity. Hiccup used his hands to part the dragon's mouth wide open. He peered inside at his toothless gums and said. "Hmm I could of sworn you had some teeth in here."

Toothless exposed his teeth and Hiccup stood back excited. "There they are!"

Toothless laughed and Hiccup pet him on the head. "And I'm pretty sure you can still shoot plasma blasts…right?" Hiccup asked in a playful tone.

Toothless turned his head and blasted a nearby small tree to bits making Hiccup laugh. "That's what I thought!"

Toothless cooed happily but Hiccup was not finished.

"And I bet I still can't win doing THIS!" Hiccup said and tried to wrestle Toothless to the ground by his neck.

Toothless was unfazed and within seconds had Hiccup on his back with his paw on his chest. They both laughed hard before Toothless stepped back so Hiccup could stand up.

"See Bud? You're still the tough reptile I know. It takes about two days for a dragon's scales and claws to grow back, so how about we stay here until then?"

Toothless' instantly became excited and tackled him to the ground licking his face. Right then Astrid and Stormily returned at a distance to see Toothless very happy once again. Astrid smiled and went over to Hiccup to help him up.

Hiccup wiped the sloper off his face and said to Astrid. "Could you bring us some supplies to stay a few nights? We're going to wait till our Alpha is back to normal again," said Hiccup.

Astrid smiled and Hiccup whispered something in her ear. "Sure thing Hiccup. And I'll tell your mother she needs to fill in."

Hiccup kissed her check and waved goodbye as the two girls left. Toothless walked up and nudged Hiccup's arm for him to pet him. Hiccup scratched him behind the ears and without his scales it felt better than ever to Toothless. The Night Fury enjoyed the scratching so much that he thumped his tail and raised his wings with his tongue hanging out.

One week later

Hiccup and Toothless headed for their room after a tiring day. Like Hiccup predicted, Toothless was back to normal in two days so they got to return without anyone seeing the different Alpha. No one had any problem with Hiccup gone and but most did not know why. Astrid and Valka just told them that he and Toothless needed to be away for a few days for something important.

Toothless was about to get on his stone bed when Hiccup got his attention. "I have a surprise for you Bud," was all he said before going to his wardrobe.

Toothless watched him curiously as Hiccup took out a large rectangular object. It was about three feet wide and jet black. Toothless went up and sniffed it to discover it was completely covered in his old shed scales. He looked up at Hiccup wondering what it was for.

"It's a pillow Toothless. Humans use them to rest their head to be more comfortable in bed. It's stuffed with wool but coated in your scales so you can light it on fire too," Hiccup explained.

Toothless tilted his head to the side and Hiccup went over and placed it on the stone bed and waved for the dragon to try it. Toothless climbed onto his bed and lit it on fire along with the pillow. The pillow heated up but did not catch on fire thanks to the scales. Toothless laid down and rested his head on the pillow to find it very comfortable. After a moment he lifted his head back up and cooed happily in thanks to his rider.

"You're welcome Bud," Hiccup said petting his head.

After that neither viking chief nor dragon alpha was up at night from discomfort.