Part 4 – Chapter 25
They quickly arrive at dragon island. The villagers of Berk are in shock. Are those the trainees, riding on dragons? Some are outraged. How much treachery will happen today? But for the others, the little voice in the back of their minds are saying that maybe, maybe, Hiccup might be right about the dragons.
Hiccup does his best to ignore the looks. He really doesn't want to see their faces of anger and disappointment, he knows that he can't handle it right now. So, he focuses his attention on the new dragon riders. "Fishlegs," he calls out to the dragon-intelligence gifted boy, "Break it down for us."
Fishlegs goes into the stats about the dragon, and Hiccup formulates a plan from it. He has the Twins irritating the dragon, and Fishlegs and Snotlout making noise. He doesn't know how much it will do, but he hopes it prevents it from doing much while he and Astrid find Toothless. Who is on a burning boat, Hiccup notices. He swears silently, and hopes that he'll be okay. Astrid drops him off the boat, and he's pulling the muzzle off when a flaming beam hits the deck, sinking the ship with Hiccup and a chained up Toothless on it.
Snotlout caught a flash of what was going on in the back of his mind. He instantly starts panicking, especially when the boy and the dragon don't immediately pop up out of the water. He starts worrying that everything he's done that has led up to this moment may have been for nothing when he sees Stoick dive in after his son. Snotlout sighs in relief, and goes back to his assignment. He can't fail Hiccup now, so for Thor's sake, he is going to make as much noise as this world can handle.
Stoick throws his son onto the shore, not even pausing to catch his breath before diving back in to save the dragon. Using the sound of Hiccup's feeble coughing just as he hit the water as his mantra, he swims down back to the beast – Toothless, he corrects himself – he swims back down to Toothless. A moment passes as the man and dragon share eye contact. Mutual agreement passes through them. For the boy, they're doing this for the boy. Stoick rips the wood and chain collar from the Night Fury, and in return, Toothless launches himself and the chief from their position at the bottom of the bay, quickly resurfacing. Hiccup jumps onto his friend's back, and is about to join his peers in battle, but Stoick stops him. He has to say this now, when he means it most. He can't chicken out, "Hiccup," he says, with all the clarity and remorse he can muster, "I-I'm sorry."
"I am too, dad," Hiccup responds, and he is. He never wanted things to turn out this way. Stoick says his line, and the whole, I'm proud to be your dad thing, and then, y'know, you don't have to go out there. Then Hiccup says, "We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard," because for the love of Thor, he is a Viking, alright? He's a Viking who can't help but see the good, and he can't help but understand why it's there. And he never meant for things to turn out this way, but they have, and now it's time to deal with it. He's no coward, he realizes now, no matter what they've always said, he's not a coward. He's going to fix this mess. And he doesn't have to do it alone.
Hiccup nods at his father, more mutual understanding, yay, and he and Toothless shoot into the air. "He's up!" Astrid and Snotlout cry out at the same time. They glance at each other, acknowledging the kinship either of them have with Hiccup, and smile, in a sort of comradery type of way. This, however, distracts Snotlout from his disoriented Nightmare, who falls from the air while he falls onto the Red Death. Fishlegs and the Gronkle fall too, crashing into the pebbles below. Hiccup notices this and holds back a laugh – classic Snotlout – and asks the Twins to get him out of there. In some weird ninja, physics-defying way, it happens. Astrid is about the get sucked up by the Death, but Hiccup swoops in and saves her. Astrid briefly acknowledges that she likes that before brushing it away. Hiccup calls for them to regroup.
They fly somewhat lazily, well, as lazily as you can around a 100-foot-tall fire-breathing lizard, and they discuss their game plan. "The thing has wings," Hiccup explains, "But I don't know if he can use them." Hiccup goes on to tell them that he wants it in the air. It's been stuck in that mountain for who knows how long, so it probably won't be the best at quick movements. So, they all start attacking the Red Death, firing repeatedly until it stood up and eventually flew. Hiccup and Toothless had the dragon chase them around some sea stacks, which the Red Death quickly destroyed. When possible, the teens got some blasts in at the wings, but the real magic happened when Hiccup and Toothless took the clouds, the Red Death on it's heels. A Night Fury is at home in the dark, and Toothless had several well placed plasma blasts to the wings, starting some new holes in the membrane, and opening up other smaller ones. Then, when the Red Death could clearly see them, they dove. The Red Death was right behind them, building up gas in it's mouth, ready to obliterate them all when.
Bang.
Plasma blast to the mouth. Straight into the gas. Instant fire in the mouth. Hiccup and Toothless swiftly moved out of the way. An explosion on contact with the ground. The blast wave knocked the dragon and rider back. Hiccup then realized that Toothless' artificial tail wasn't working. It wasn't there. Had been burned sometime in the last few minutes. No control, and a mighty bludgeon of a tail was quickly approaching. Knocked Hiccup off of Toothless. Hiccup fell unconsciously into the blaze. Toothless dove after him. Toothless grabbed Hiccup's leg in a desperate attempt to save his best friend. Toothless hit the ground with his rider in tow. The dragon's legs and wings reflexively wrapped around the boy. Toothless tried to ignore the taste of blood that had filled his mouth.