I do not own How to Train Your Dragon. Direct quotes from the movie will be bolded.
Befriending a Night Fury
"Is he there?" Sunset whispered.
Hiccup motioned for her to be quiet. He tossed the fish they had taken from Bucket's supply into the cove. They waited a few seconds, but the dragon did not come to investigate.
The friends climbed out of their hiding spot and Hiccup retrieved the fish. "I wonder where he is."
"Uh...right there."
Surprised, Hiccup turned to see the Night Fury perched on a rock above them. He jumped down and slowly approached them, his yellow eyes narrowed into slits.
"Offer him the fish!" Sunset hissed frantically. "Before we become Night Fury dinner!"
"Alright! Calm down, will you?" Hiccup snapped. He cautiously held out the offering, hoping that the Night Fury wouldn't bite his hand off.
The dragon started to growl. Hiccup swallowed nervously. "What am I doing wrong?"
Sunset frowned and glanced at her friend. She noticed that the hilt of his dagger that was around his waist was showing. "He's uneasy about the dagger. Here-" She went to remove it, but when she touched the handle the dragon snarled. Sunset pushed down her nerves and gave a small (and hopefully comforting) smile at the Night Fury as she grabbed the dagger and tossed it away.
The dragon relaxed.
"Good job." Hiccup smiled.
The Night Fury approached the fish and opened his mouth. Hiccup was surprised to see that there were no teeth. "Toothless, huh? I was sure you had-"
Before Hiccup could finish his sentence the razor-sharp teeth emerged from his gums and the Night Fury grabbed the fish, swallowing it whole.
"Wow," Sunset said in awe.
The Night Fury came closer expectantly. Hiccup paled and held up his hands. "I'm sorry, but I don't have any more!"
The dragon sat in front of the two. After a moment the dragon regurgitated a chunk of fish and looked at the teens, waiting. Sunset pressed a hand over her mouth, unsure if she should be amused or disgusted. "I think he wants us to eat it."
"Of course he does," Hiccup muttered. He gingerly picked up the fish and took a small bite. He gagged, but managed to swallow. "Your turn," he rasped, handing the slimy fish to Sunset.
Sunset closed her eyes and took a bite. "Thanks," she muttered. She smiled, and the dragon mimicked her. "Aw, he's so cute!"
Feeling brave, Hiccup slowly extended his hand to pet the dragon. The Night Fury hissed and flew crookedly to the other side of the cove, where he heated the mossy ground up to a burning temperature and curled up like a dog.
"I think we've overstayed our welcome," Sunset whispered.
"Hold on." Hiccup carefully followed the dragon and sat beside him. The Night Fury eyed him for a moment before turning around and closing his eyes. Hiccup observed the dragon, amazed. Hesitantly, he went to touch the damaged tail.
"ROAR!"
Hiccup jumped to his feet and raced over to Sunset. "Yeah, we've overstayed our welcome," he said hurriedly and dragged her out of the cove.
Neither noticed the dragon snickering behind them.
...
"You know, he needs a name," Sunset said thoughtfully as the duo walked back to the village.
Hiccup rubbed his chin. "How about Toothless? I think it has a nice ring to it."
"Toothless the Night Fury," Sunset echoed. She grinned. "I like it."
Her friend suddenly started to laugh. "Can you believe we're naming a Night Fury rather than killing it, like other Vikings would do?"
Sunset shrugged. "I guess that's why we're different from the others. And I don't think that's a bad thing at all."
Hiccup stared at the orangey-red sky. "You know what? Neither do I."
A moment of silence passed before Hiccup spoke again. "If we get up early tomorrow, we could visit Toothless before training."
Sunset smiled. "That sounds like a great idea. One of the best you've had in a while, actually."
Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up."
...
Dawn had just broken over Berk, and the early morning found the two teens racing to the cove. They immediately spotted the Night Fury hanging from a tree, sleeping. "Let's wait and see if he wakes up," Hiccup whispered. He sat down in the dirt and picked up a twig. "What should I draw?"
"Why don't you draw Toothless?" Sunset suggested, lying down in the sand to watch him sketch.
The two did not notice when Toothless woke up. He glanced curiously at the teens and made his way over to them. He peered carefully over Hiccup's shoulder to see what he was doing. Hiccup and Sunset exchanged glances, but Hiccup did not stop drawing.
Toothless ran off and Sunset watched in disbelief as the dragon uprooted an entire sapling. He ran back and started to draw large, random lines in the sand. "I've never seen anything like it," Sunset whispered as she watched Toothless make his art.
The Night Fury stopped and surveyed his work, seeming quite pleased. The two kids got up, accidentally stepping on the lines. Toothless instantly growled and the teens quickly got off of the dragon's artwork. The dragon stopped growling once they did so.
"Huh..." Hiccup muttered and started stepping in between lines, attempting to see what Toothless had done. Sunset followed after him carefully, not wanting to upset the dragon by stepping on his work.
Hiccup accidently bumped into Toothless as he stepped around another line. Slowly, Hiccup glanced up to see that they were face-to-face. Sunset appeared behind him and peered curiously over her friend's shoulder. Hiccup closed his eyes and extended his hand. To his utter surprise, Toothless brought his muzzle forward and placed it against Hiccup's hand. Amazed, Sunset hesitantly reached out and petted Toothless' head, to which she got no protest.
Suddenly, Toothless rushed off. Hiccup and Sunset stared at each other with wide eyes before reluctantly leaving the cove.
Now that they had befriended Toothless, it didn't seem right to go to a place where they would be taught to slaughter his fellow dragon-kind.
...
After another gruelling training session, dusk found the teens and Gobber sitting around a bonfire in the abandoned catapult tower. Gobber was regaling the teens with his story on how his lost his limbs. Hiccup and Sunset (who have heard this story multiple times before) focussed on eating their fried fish.
"Wouldn't it be cool if you could still control your hand while it was still inside the dragon?" Fishlegs asked. "You could just tell it to squeeze the dragon's insides, and it would do it!"
"Careful, Fishlegs. You might upset Sunset with all this violent talk." Snotlout snickered.
Sunset scowled into the fire. Hiccup glared. "Back off, Snotlout."
"Ooh! I'm so scared! The Night Fury killer is mad at me!"
"Alright, settle down, all of you!" Gobber ordered.
"What's the best way to defeat a dragon?" Snotlout asked, mostly for the effect of making Sunset sick. Hiccup gripped the stick he was using to cook his fish and was about to yell at his cousin (sadly) for being so insensitive. Sunset put a hand on his shoulder before he could say anything and smiled with assurance.
Gobber hesitated, not wanting to make the girl he knew since she was a toddler uncomfortable. "Well..."
"It's cool," Sunset said and pressed her hands over her ears. "Just let me know when you've finished the gruesome, inhuman tale on how to properly kill a dragon."
"You have to damage the wings and tail, first of all," Gobber said quickly before the other teens could heckle Sunset for her hatred of dragon slaying. "You know, once a dragon is downed, it's as good as dead."
Hiccup swallowed thickly.
"Alright, off to bed, all of you. Tomorrow is when you fight the big boys. Soon you'll be facing the Monstrous Nightmare." Gobber grinned. "And I wonder who will get the honour of killing it."
"It's totally gonna be me," Tuffnut said confidently as Hiccup nudged Sunset to let her know that most of the gruesome talk was over.
"Oh, please." Ruffnut snorted.
"It totally is!" Tuffnut insisted. "Killing that Monstrous Nightmare is my destiny! I even got the birthmark to prove it." He rolled up his sleeve to reveal a red dragon.
"Yeah, that's a tattoo." Astrid rolled her eyes.
"It is not!"
Ruffnut snorted. "I've been trapped with you since we were born, and that was not there before."
"I've always had it," Tuffnut retorted. "You've just always been on my right side until now."
As the group continued to argue with Tuffnut, Hiccup silently got up and left the tower with Sunset right behind him. Astrid watched the two go with an unreadable expression on her face.
"Are you okay, Hiccup?" Sunset asked as they walked into the cool night air.
"A downed dragon is a good as dead dragon," Hiccup echoed Gobber's words. "It's my fault Toothless' tail is damaged. I can't just let him sit in the cove. I have to help him."
Sunset cocked her head. "How?"
"Well...I was thinking that I could make him a new tailfin," Hiccup said hesitantly, unsure how his friend would react.
"That's a great idea!" Sunset grinned. "You're just on a roll with these brainstorms, aren't you?"
Hiccup laughed. "Well, I figure that I'm bound to have a lucky streak at some point."
The two entered the blacksmith stall. Hiccup immediately got to work, sketching a mechanical tailfin on a piece of paper. Sunset sat down by the door of the stall and watched as her friend worked. She had no idea how to do half the things Hiccup could, but it didn't bother her. She enjoyed watching Hiccup as he worked with fire and metal, manipulating them into certain complex shapes and attaching pieces together.
"You're really good at this kind of stuff," she complimented as Hiccup unfurled the finished product.
Hiccup flushed. "It's nothing, really. I can teach you how to make things like these sometime, if you want."
"I may just take you up on that offer." Sunset smiled. "But right now, we really should be getting some sleep. I'm exhausted."
"Yeah, sure." Hiccup carefully put his creation in a safe spot. "We can meet here at dawn to show Toothless his new accessory."
"I'm sure he'll love it. That thing will make him the coolest dragon on the island."
Hiccup grinned. "Toothless is already the coolest dragon on the island-he's a Night Fury."
Sunset smirked. "Touché."
...
The two teens were now accustomed to getting up at the break of dawn. Sunset managed to snag a basket of fish from their food storage and the two friends made their way to the cove. "Be gentle," Sunset cautioned as they climbed through the rocky crevice. "I know I'd flip out if something wanted to attach something to my backend, so I can only imagine how Toothless will feel."
"It'll be fine," Hiccup said, although to assure himself more than Sunset. "And besides, that's what the fish is for. To keep him distracted."
Toothless was resting by the water and immediately sat up when the duo approached him. "Hey, Toothless," Sunset greeted, dropping the basket and kicking it over. The contents spilled out onto the grass and Toothless sniffed it eagerly.
"We brought you breakfast," Hiccup explained as he made his way behind the dragon.
"There's salmon," Sunset said as she tossed the fish in the air. Toothless nabbed it hungrily. "We got some Icelandic cod-you like that too, huh? Oh, here's a smoked eel-"
Toothless shied away from the seafood Sunset held out. He hissed violently and the girl quickly tossed the eel away. Toothless calmed down and started eating the rest of the fish. "I don't blame you. I don't like smoked eel either," Sunset agreed.
As his friend distracted Toothless with the fish, Hiccup carefully sat on his tail to keep it still. He bit his lip in concentration as he fastened the mechanical tailfin to Toothless' tail and pulled the fin out. "Perfect." He smiled.
Sunset frowned nervously when Toothless' head snapped up. "Uh, Hiccup, I think you should-"
Too late.
Toothless flew into the air. Hiccup shouted in surprise and clung to the Night Fury's tail for dear life. "Hold on a minute!" he cried frantically.
Sunset watched in concern as the pair started to dive back to the ground. "Hiccup!"
The boy realized that Toothless was losing control once more and discovered that the prosthetic fin had folded back up. He yanked it open and they swooped back in the air. "Yes! It works!"
"Go, Hiccup!" Sunset cheered.
Toothless sailed over the water and glanced behind him. With a soft snort, he flicked Hiccup off. The boy yelped as he landed in the chilly water. And without Hiccup to control the fin, Toothless soon followed, slamming into the pool and causing a wave to rise up-and crash over Sunset.
Sunset coughed and moved her wet red hair out of her eyes. "Hiccup! Toothless!"
"We're cool!" Hiccup called, a wide grin on his face.
Sunset giggled. "That was pretty awesome."
"Yeah, but I think I may need to go back to the drawing board." Hiccup climbed out of the water. The two teens watched as Toothless shook the water off of his scales.
"For a first attempt, it was a good try." Sunset smiled. "Come on, we better go dry off. I'd hate to think what Gobber will say when we show up to training soaking wet."
"Hey, maybe being wet will protect us from the-" Hiccup's eyes widened suddenly. "Sun! I have an idea!"
Sunset eyed him warily. "Is it another good one?"
"You bet it is! Toothless didn't like the smoked eel, right?"
Sunset nodded. "It was like he was afraid of-" She caught on to her friend's train of thought. "Wait, does this mean all dragons are afraid of eels?"
"There's one way to find out. Let's go! See you later, Toothless!" Hiccup called.
"Bye, Toothless!" Sunset waved and the two friends set off.
Toothless watched them go before curling up on the ground, a slight smile on his face.
