Chapter 10 : Nip That In The Rocks

-EoT-

The landing had been pretty rough. After getting thrown from Toothless' back, Hiccup had flipped head over kettle and landed on his left leg, hard. Thankfully, the flatspin had turned most of their downward velocity into outward force, and he'd skidded to a stop with only minor scrapes, on top of a sprained left ankle.

Toothless on the other hand... was... fine?

The dragon had recovered pretty quickly from the landing and was now rolling around in the field.

Hiccup watched as the dragon rolled by again, tongue lolling out and eyes completely relaxed. Entering a patch of grass he hadn't been in yet, Toothless took a deep sniff of the plants and collapsed to the ground.

Hiccup picked up a blade of the grass and looked it over. It was just a pretty common weed, found in several places across Berk. Apparently, it had some kind of undocumented effect on dragons.

Taking a few handfuls of the grass, Hiccup stuffed them into his vest pocket with his journal. Looking back to his favorite fire-breathing reptile, he considered how to deal with the situation. Toothless appeared to be attracted to the grass, but smelling too much of it causes him to collapse bonelessly. Hiccup considered for another moment, then realized that Toothless' nose was on top of his head.

Painfully, Hiccup stood up. His left ankle protested loudly at its use. Limping heavily, Hiccup hopped his way over to Toothless, and took a handful of the grass off the ground. Holding the grass a small distance from Toothless' snout, he waited.

Toothless sniffed, then began to raise his head toward the new source of the grass smell. Hiccup hopped backward, keeping the grass a slight distance from the dragon's snout. Toothless whimpered, and followed the retreating grass. Hiccup noted how the dragon seemed to ignore all the other grass in the field, and just focused on the grass that was close to him.

After two minutes of this, the pair finally left the field and entered the trees. Once Hiccup had the entire dragon ensconced in the more standard vegetation - away from the field's grass - he tossed the handful he'd been attracting the dragon with behind himself. Toothless, unwilling to let the grass go, pounced after it - and through Hiccup. The scrawny Viking was knocked aside and to the ground while his dragon buried his snout in the handful of grass on the forest floor, and promptly collapsed to the ground again.

"That must be pretty strong stuff bud." Hiccup chuckled, sitting up and reclining against a tree root, "You're like a Viking going after a morning cup of mead."

The euphoric dragon gave no response.

Hiccup chuckled again, then groaned as the last couple of minutes hopping around with his sprained ankle caught up with him. Gingerly, he lifted his foot from the ground and rested it across his other knee. He removed his boot and inspected the joint. It hadn't swelled visibly, and he could roll it forward and backward without pain. Left-right rotation and load-bearing, however, brought bursts of pain that told him something was definitely wrong.

Any other Viking would probably be up and walking with the injury already. Being Hiccup, he'd probably be fine after a day or so.

He gave the foot one last forward-backward roll, then paused, considering.

His arms had to do a lot to help him balance in flight (not to mention to help him hold on at all) and certainly weren't very accurate for pulling the tailfin open and closed. However, his feet remained in place gripping Toothless' neck the whole time. If he used the rotation of his foot to pull a rope connected to a gear, which then fed into another pulley or two on the tail, which then fed into the tailfin, he could use the gear to amplify the pedal's motion, and the tail pulleys to keep the length of the rope proportional to the length of the tail!

Hiccup jumped to his feet, boot left forgotten on the ground. "Bud! I have an idea!"

In response, Toothless poked his head deeper into the handful of grass, took another sniff, and collapsed again. Hiccup followed his scaly friend back to the ground, as the scrawny Viking's injured foot caught up with his movement.

"... Don't get too excited, it isn't healthy for you." Hiccup muttered. He waited for his useless reptile to take another sniff of the grass, then crawled over and picked up the handful, making sure to take every blade. Before Toothless' senses returned, Hiccup crawled back over to the tree branch and shoved the grass beneath it, burying the small pile in some loose dirt. He then crawled back nearer to Toothless and waited.

After a moment, Toothless blinked, then sat up, then huffed in annoyance.

"What, was I supposed to leave you there?" Hiccup asked.

Toothless gave him an annoyed glare that clearly indicated, "Yes."

"Well, that's not going to happen. Sorry bud."

Toothless snorted indignantly. Hiccup crawled around to his tail and began unfastening the rope attached to the tailfin. Once he had it off Toothless, he wrapped it several times around his left ankle and tied it off. Gingerly, he stood on the joint.

"Eh, not too bad," he muttered. He took a few steps over to where he'd left his boot on the ground, and slipped it on over the ropes lashed around his foot.

"Okay bud, let's go back to the cove."

Toothless hummed in agreement.

-EoT-

It took most of the afternoon for Hiccup to limp back to the cove. The two of them enjoyed the sights and sounds of the quiet forest - or at least Hiccup thought his new friend was enjoying it. The massive dragon didn't seem too upset or impatient with the long walk back. Hiccup, on the other hand, was very impatient. He wanted to get back to the forge and build the pedal-driven tailfin! However, he took the walk back slow, for his foot.

When they arrived at the lip of the cove, suddenly Toothless turned around and headed back into the bush behind Hiccup. "Woah, wha-? Where do you think you're goi-?"

His question was cut off as the dragon leaped out of the bushes, dove between Hiccup's legs, then leaped off the lip of the cove. Hiccup gave a very un-Viking-like screech as he slid down the dragon's back, past the wing joints, before wrapping his legs around Toothless' tail.

Very quickly, the glide began to deteriorate (due to the useless prosthetic being useless.) Quickly, Hiccup reached out and pulled open the prosthetic, correcting their glide-path. In a few moments, the two of them safely landed on the far side of the cove's lake.

Once Toothless came to a stop, Hiccup relaxed his legs and dropped onto the ground. The scrawny boy waited for the hyperventilation to die down, then spoke up, "Bud, you have got to stop doing that."

Toothless turned around and gave Hiccup a gummy grin, before bounding off into the lake.

Once he finally felt the adrenaline wearing off from their short, unplanned flight, Hiccup got up and exited the cove. At his rate, he'd make it home by nightfall if he was lucky. Hopefully, his dad wouldn't notice him come in. Even if he did, he had some excuses brewing.

He'd told his dad he was testing the fireproofing on a Nightmare-capturing device. Well, obviously he should say something along the lines of, 'Hey, dad. The thing I tried didn't work and burst into flames and all. I sprained my ankle running away from it when it exploded. Don't worry, the fire went out pretty quickly, I guess the tanning fluid I used on that leather was fire accelerant rather than retardant. I'm going to get some sleep then do dragon training in the morning. Love you dad, goodnight.'

… He was sure that'd go over well. Probably.

-EoT-

There was no way that'd go over well. Rather than head home, Hiccup went to the forge to get started on his idea. Working late in the forge was something both he and Gobber did all the time. Nobody would notice, and his dad would probably see his work as continued attempts at the Nightmare capture device. It'd add credibility to that frankly terrible excuse.

The pedal had been a snap to make, as he really just needed to bolt it onto a plate which he attached to leather straps to go around his friend's neck. He'd dropped the gear part of the idea when he realized that by tying the rope to the leading spar of the tailfin at such a tiny angle, he didn't need to amplify the motions of the pedal. Rotating the pedal a few degrees would pull the tailfin open roughly the same amount. While he was working on the straps for the pedal he'd added a bit more leather over the top to pad it, like a saddle. The pulleys were a bit harder to figure out, though. He needed to determine the length of the tail as it curved to the left and right, and adjust the distance between the pulleys accordingly to maintain the relation between the angle of the pedal and the angle of the. . .

"Hiccup."

"GYAAAH!" Hiccup shouted, jumping a few inches off his seat. He looked down at the diagram he'd been drawing, which now had a hole torn through both it and the page behind, looked up at his dad, and slammed the book closed.

"D- Dad! Y- you shouldn't scare me like that!" Hiccup complained.

Stoick sighed at his son's inattentiveness. "Would it kill you to pay more attention to your surroundings?"

"Well, actually, perfect hindsight makes it kinda easy to figure out where you went wrong, but when you're actually in the moment it's kinda..."

Hiccup's babbling was interrupted by another heavy sigh from his father. The young Viking trailed off into silence.

"Hiccup. Tell me the Nightmare capturing contraption at least went well."

"Er... Y'see... Um..." What was his excuse again? Oh! Right! Fire accelerant! "Th-the leather portion of the fin-er-thing was treated with the wrong tanning fluid, and it burst into flames. The I sorta sprained my ankle as I ran away and..."

Another heavy sigh. He felt kinda terrible, how much disappointment he was giving his father.

"Look, I'm just going to finish this upgrade for the control mechanism and then-"

"No. Tomorrow Gobber is doing training in both the morning and the afternoon, I want you rested and ready to go for both sessions. You're coming home now."

"But dad-!"

"No."

Hiccup gave a sigh of his own. "Fine."

"Good. Come on then." His father ordered, taking his son by the shoulder and guiding him out. Hiccup limped his way home, not resisting his father's guidance. Once he'd labored upstairs, his father went into his downstairs room.

Hiccup pulled his journal out of his vest. He'd slipped it off the table when his father had reached for his shoulder. He worked his way over to his bed, and collapsed into it, cracking open the journal to the page he'd torn.

Working under the moonlight from his window, he continued to think about the pulley problem.

-EoT-

Astrid, hanging sideways from her ax buried in a tree. She was reaching out to him, where he hung from a tree branch. "Hiccup, it's time to get up." She said.

"Hiccup?"

He slipped, losing his grip on the branch. The cove, Toothless, and everything else flashed past.

"HICCUP!"

"Agh! Yeah! Yeah, I'm awake dad." Hiccup grumbled, rolling off the…

Huh. It appeared that he'd fallen asleep on the incredibly uncomfortable window sill. Oops. Not his sharpest move. His dad shouldered his way through his son's door, spotting his slowly rising son immediately. "Good, you're dressed. Come on now! You don't want to miss practice against the Gronckle, do ya?"

"Well, actually, yes. I'd love to." Hiccup thought but did not say. "Sure," he mumbled, noncommittally.

His father's massive hand descended on his shoulder, leading him outside into the morning light. Once they descended the front steps, Stoick gave him a push. "Good luck out there, son! I'll check in with Gobber on how you did. Until then, chiefly things to do!"

Hiccup meandered through town and across the kill ring bridge in a sleep-deprived haze. It wasn't until he entered the arena that he realized he totally forgot the ax and the breast-hat.

Oops.

"Hiccup! On time for once. Well done," Gobber praised.

"Wait, even your teacher thinks you're always late for things?" Tuffnut asked.

"Never would've guessed," Ruffnut added, sarcastically.

"Well, at least the dragons will eat him first," Snotlout said. The others gave him blank looks. "If he's late, he'll be last!" Snotlout defended. "If he's last, he dies to the dragons first!"

Tuffnut rolled his eyes. "Dude, that made absolutely no sense."

"Well, actually," Fishlegs began to mumble.

Gobber cleared his throat, hand still resting on the cage lever. Everybody shut up.

"Alrigh'. Let's get started," he said. With a quick motion, he dropped the cage door lever, then began limping away across the arena.

"Wait, which dragon is…" Fishlegs began to ask. His half-spoken question was answered as a Gronckle burst out of the door, it's appearance followed by a shot directly at the group of teens. The teens scattered, taking up positions all around the arena. Gobber, now safely ensconced in the Kill Ring's entryway on the opposite side of the interior gate, shouted out to the group: "Today is about survival. If you get blasted… you're dead. Quick, what's the firs' thing you need when fighting a dragon?"

"A shield?" Hiccup asked.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs offered.

"Very good, Hiccup! Shields, go! Your shield is your most important piece of equipment. If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield."

As his voice quieted, two others piped up. "Get your hands off my shield!" shouted Tuffnut.

"There're like a million shields!" shouted back his sister.

"Take that one! It has a flower on it. Girls like flowers," Tuffnut countered indignantly.

Ruffnut wrenched the shield away from her brother and whacked him in the face with it. When her brother recovered, she handed it back to him sarcastically. "Oops, now this one has blood on it."

The Gronckle, attracted by their shouting, fired a blast at the pair. Luckily, it collided with the shield they were bickering over. The shield exploded, sending both to the ground.

Hiccup rolled his eyes as the same Gronckle training scenario repeated itself. Really, couldn't time get any more original?

When Gobber finally called out Snotlout and told him to "get in there!" Hiccup decided to do exactly the same thing as before, jogging over toward Astrid.

"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" he asked, focusing on the Gronckle.

"Nope, just you."

Hiccup ducked the Gronckle's fireblast, reaching into his pocket and nabbing the handful of grass he'd put there when playing with Toothless the day before. He held it up just as the rotund dragon flew over his head.

Its wings immediately stalled, and it dropped on top of him.

Gobber just had time to shout, "Hiccup!" before his head hit the stone.

And…

-EoT-

Hiccup woke up screaming. "Gods damn it! Seriously?! Right after I spent a whole night doing a pedal design?!"

His eyes barely had time to adjust to the darkness before a roaring, flaming dragon crested the ridge, crushing his bola launcher.

He pointed at the dragon, still sitting on the ground. "Y'know what? No. Not this time. Just no. Nope. Not happening."

The Nightmare roared in his face, some unlit saliva splattering his skin. Hiccup frowned at it, annoyed. Apparently bored by unresponsive quarry, it flew off.

"Oh, what, REALLY?! That was it? Oh go figure, I mean, it's always the simple…" he trailed off, memories returning of his work on the pedal designs. "Simple! Right! Don't build a pulley system, just build the tail movement into the usage techniques!"

The din of battle echoing up from the village below ignored his breakthrough. One of the bits of metal bent out of shape by the Nightmare gave a half-hearted pop as it tried to return to its original form.

"Well, let's see what dad does this time," Hiccup muttered, clambering to his feet and strolling down toward the village.

When he made it to the square, a familiar one-legged form came limping up. "Hiccup! Now wha' did I tell you?"

"You told me to 'get in there'?" Hiccup muttered under his breath, recalling what had been a few minutes ago for him, but might not even happen for Gobber.

"I gave you one job, an' tha' was ta stay put! In the forge! Where i's safe!"

Hiccup couldn't hold back his sarcasm. "Oh, yeah, 'cause a wooden building is certainly safer being outside, where I can run from the fire."

"Oi! Gobber!" The villagers at the forge finally noticed the smith, chatting with his apprentice. "There are still dragons about!" "You done with my ax yet?" "My sword's been bent in 'alf!"

"I'm comin' all you!" Gobber shouted back. He grabbed Hiccup by his collar. "C'mere, you. You're going ta help me catch up on all these repairs!"

"Great," Hiccup groaned.

-EoT-

In the grand scheme of things, not fighting the Nightmare caused about the same situation as screaming and running uselessly, though without all the damage and infamy. This time around, Gobber put him to work in the forge for most of the night, until Stoick proposed the nest hunt to the village.

Gobber dragged Hiccup along for that, much to the young Viking's chagrin.

"One more search, before the ice sets in!" Stoick's booming voice filled the great hall, easily reaching (and injuring) every ear within.

Various grumbles halfheartedly rung out from the crowd. Someone spoke up, "Those ships never come back!"

Hiccup began chanting to himself. "Please go with him. Please go with him."

Stoick had none of that. "We're Vikings! It's an occupational hazard! Now who's with me?"

"I'm with you, Stoick!" Spitelout volunteered. The rest of the room was utterly silent.

"We managed to protect three-quarters of our flock this time, and we captured two of them! Two Nadders! This is our chance to strike back!"

A few grunts of assent broke the silence, but the majority of the crowd still seemed noncommitted.

"Fine." Stoick stood up. "Those who stay will be on fish gutting duty to make up for the lost sheep."

Immediately hands shot into the air. Hiccup let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding. With a few more words, Stoick dismissed the crowd of Vikings to move about the village and prepare.

"I wonder if I coul' get in on that…" Gobber muttered, half for his own benefit and half for Hiccup's.

Stoick, already working his way through the crowd, shook his head. "Gobber, you know you have to stay behind and train the…" He spotted Hiccup. "Son, I was wondering where you'd gotten off to."

Hiccup shrugged. "I decided to… y'know… stay in the forge."

Gobber shook his head. "Now, Hiccup, don' be like that." He turned around on the bench, catching the chieftain's attention. "Stoick, I was going to suggest that while you're away, perhaps we coul' put Hiccup into training with the others."

Stoick stopped dead in his tracks. "Hiccup? Around dragons? Don't be ridiculous, Gobber."

Hiccup winced. Stoick didn't notice.

"Just keep up with repairs, and get some done before the boats leave. I remember you telling me about an idea you had for merging weapon repairs and dragon training…"

Hiccup slipped off, guessing where the conversation would go. All that really mattered was that he was off the hook for dragon training. Now he could try building the pedal control mechanism.

-EoT-

Hiccup clambered down into the cove with the new saddle. It was late morning, but that didn't matter. This new timeline had an open schedule! He bounded down the rocks and out into the open space. "Toothless, you here?"

Silence greeted him.

"Hello?!"

A mute whine came over the clifftop, back in the direction he'd come. Hiccup whirled around, climbing back up and out immediately.

He found the broken tree at the top of a nearby hill, next to the groove of earth. After the previous timeline's few days of peace, Hiccup had entirely forgotten that the new timeline brought a new crash. Toothless had probably forgotten that too.

Hiccup leaped over the ridge, dropping the saddle and running down to Toothless. The dragon was splayed out on his belly, the bolas wrapped around tugging his legs and wings in. The gash where once there had been a tailfin was crusted with dirt.

"Oh Gods, Toothless, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to end up dead again. It just… happened."

Toothless moaned quietly. Hiccup took his knife and cut away at the ropes held taught between the wings and legs, well away from anything vital like the neck or belly. The bolas fell away in moments, and he chucked the knife away into the forest.

The Night Fury leaped up as soon as the knife landed, licking Hiccup in what the young Viking guessed was appreciation. That guess didn't make the licking any less disgusting. "H- Hey! Oh, eww. Gods, s- stop!"

Toothless stopped, giving him an inquisitive look.

"Yeah, okay, y' big, crazy lizard," Hiccup muttered. Toothless snorted in indignation. "Oh, what, you don't think so?" Hiccup laughed. "Well, I guess it doesn't really matter, I mean, only one of us weighs a thousand times more and can breathe fire."

The dragon glared at him, clearly not impressed with all of his talking.

Hiccup guessed at what he was really waiting for. "Oh, right, a new fin! I left it just up the ridge. Let me run up there-"

Toothless shot forward, snagging Hiccup's shirt in his mouth.

"W- woah!"

He shot up the ridge, dragging the young Viking behind him.

"Yeah, th- OW- thanks. This is -Agh!- way better than walking. Really," Hiccup said sarcastically, in between bouncing over rocks.

Spotting the bundle of leather, Toothless unceremoniously dropped Hiccup on it.

"Ow. Just, gimme a minute to-"

Toothless was having none of that. Impatient, he nosed Hiccup off the bundle and started nipping at the straps, trying to open it up.

"Hey! You're going to damage it like that!" Hiccup snatched the saddle away. Toothless gave him a reproachful look. "Don't look at me like that! You do want to fly, right? Let me get this untangled so I can hook it up to your…"

Hiccup stared at Toothless' tail. There was one fin attached to the thick limb, the real one. He hadn't made a prosthetic in this timeline yet.

"Oh Gods, please tell me this isn't happening."

Toothless stared at Hiccup, waiting. The young Viking let his head fall into his hands, dropping the saddle.

"For Thor's sake!"

-EoT-

Getting back to the village without being followed by a curious reptile was very nearly an act of futility. As Hiccup carried the (useless, tailfin-less) saddle, the dragon kept nosing into it and, by extension, him. Eventually, Hiccup threw down the saddle and unstrapped everything, laying it out on the ground and showing it all to the Night Fury.

Though the dragon seemed to logically understand that the thing was, apparently he couldn't resist rolling around on it.

"H- Hey! You're going to break something! It took me forever to get that pedal guard- Oh. Great. Now it's crushed."

When the dragon calmed down, Hiccup found it laying in exactly the necessary position for him to attach the saddle. Toothless grinned at him, lopsidedly.

"Ugh. Fine. I'll put it on. But I have to fix that pedal!"

After putting on the saddle and detaching the pedal, Toothless bounded off into the forest. Hiccup sighed with relief, continuing on back toward the village.

"Geez. Maybe I am just messing this all up. I mean, I keep helping him and I keep doing the same few days over again. Maybe the Gods were trying to… help me kill him? Without dying?"

The ferns Hiccup passed rustled. They didn't seem much for conversation.

"Yeah. Great job with that, Thor and Odin and all the rest. You guys REALLY picked just the right person for that job."

Hiccup could see the village ahead, through the trees. He took a deep breath and then fell to the ground under a massive weight.

"Oof! T- Toothless?! Get off me!"

Toothless was looking at the village… and growling.

"No, bud, I have to go back. I can't fix this pedal or make a tailfin out here!"

Toothless let him up, whining.

"I'm coming back, Toothless. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Hiccup took a few steps toward the village. Toothless followed.

"No. Stay. Stay here." Hiccup walked backward as he spoke. "Just stay in the forest, where nobody can see you." He cleared the treeline. "Stay where it's safe. Sta-"

"Hiccup?"

Hiccup shouted in alarm, spinning around to find Astrid right behind him. "AAAH! A- A- Astrid! H- Hey Astrid? Hi, Astrid. W- What are you doing-"

Astrid spun her battle-ax in one hand. "Going to practice." She nudged her chin toward the trees. "Who were you talking to?"

Hiccup shot a nervous glance back. He couldn't see Toothless. Maybe the dragon had taken his advice? "I- I- I w- was talking to… myself!"

"Yourself?"

"Yep! Stay here, Hiccup! Stay, in the village! Where it's safe! Don't do something…" He chuckled nervously. "i- incredibly stupid. Yeah. Stay… not doing… any of that."

Astrid rolled her eyes and walked past him. Hiccup nervously watched her enter the trees, keeping an eye out for any sign of Toothless. He thanked whatever Gods were listening to him and his absurd problems as the dragon didn't appear.

-EoT-

"Hiccu'" Gobber bellowed as the named Viking ducked into the forge, "been wonderin' where you were! Later today, at dragon training, I coul' really use a hook moving all my hands…"

Hiccup disappeared into his back room, avoiding any kind of conversation.

"Er… a hook moving my hammers, no…" Gobber continued trying to sort out his sentence. "Aha! A hand movin' all my hands!"

When his apprentice didn't answer, Gobber stuck his head into the back room of the forge.

"Hiccu'?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll- I'll be there," Hiccup lied.

Gobber gave him a funny look. "Something up with you? Ya seem a little… off."

Hiccup shrugged, drawing a rough shape on a piece of leather. It stretched pretty well, he could always make it better later. "Well, great! Because, I'm great. Really. Everything is just fine."

"Whatever you say, lad," the old smith said, pulling his head out of the back room. "Jus' try not to burn down the village with whatever new thing you're buildin' there."

"I'll try," Hiccup muttered.

"Oh, an' don't forget, training's in an hour. I know your father didn't really want you in the training, but I coul' use some help with a part of it that'll keep you outside the gates. Nothin' to worry about."

"Right, sure," Hiccup said through the wall, loudly enough for Gobber to hear. Shaking his head, he muttered the lie to himself again, "I'll be there."

-EoT-