You get this chapter a day early because my younger brother will be hogging my computer tomorrow. Enjoy.

Of course, Hiccup practically moved into Gothi's house for the next couple of days to be with Toothless. They talked pretty much constantly and in three days time, when Gothi checked Toothless again, she was so sick of the two of them that she would have given him the okay whatever his legs were like.

Thankfully, Toothless had recovered rapidly, like all dragons, and was impatient to fly again. The moment he was declared free to go the dragon grabbed Hiccup's belt in his mouth and threw the viking onto his back. In the sky once more, Toothless let his tongue poke out of his mouth and flap in the wind. He probably looked silly, but he was so happy to fly again that it didn't really matter .

They spun and dove, performing all their most daring tricks together. Their flying had improved, Hiccup responding to Toothless a split second faster than normal. Toothless and Hiccup swept through the skies as naturally as a night fury flying on it's own. Having finally used up all the energy that had built up during his confinement and with his muscles feeling pleasantly tired, Toothless settled into an easy glide. Neither of them spoke, enjoying the break from the rushing wind that accompanied faster movements. Hiccup lay back on Toothless and watched the sky. They were in amongst the clouds, and earlier Toothless had pretended that the fluffy clouds were fluffy sheep and chased some of them.

"Hey, bud?"

Hiccup reached down and laid a hand on Toothless' wing.

'Hmm?'

"We should do this more often."

'Yeah.'

A red and black blur shot past the two of them, the slipstream sending Toothless into a clumsy spin. Snotlout looked back at them, a grin plastered across his face.

"Someone's out of practise! All that lying around in bed made you lose your touch!"

And he flew off laughing.

Hiccup looked at Toothless.

Toothless looked at Hiccup.

Together they swept across the sky after Snotlout. Toothless caught up to Hookfang in a few wing beats, then slowed down and kept pace with him while Hiccup shouted across to Snotlout.

"How about a race then? You and Hookfang should have no problem making it to Dragon Island before us!"

"Snotfang can beat you with our eyes shut!"

They set off without warning and Snotlout's parting shot; "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya." Faded off into the distance.

Toothless set off after Hookfang towards the small dot on the horizon that was Dragon Island. They were gaining quickly but Hookfang was fresher than Toothless, and was determined that just once, just once, he would beat a night fury.

Hiccup pressed himself lower on Toothless' back, if that was possible, and Toothless beat his wings faster, propelling himself through the air like a black bullet. The wind felt more solid, like water as it rushed over Hiccup's body.

Ahead of them Hookfang was labouring away, dragging his wings as fast as they would go to keep ahead of the speeding duo. He looked back and, seeing them on his tail, tried to force more speed out of his wings, tongue hanging out of his mouth and panting. Dragon Island was approaching fast now, maybe a few hundred metres away. The two dragons drew neck and neck, each striving to gain on the other in the last dozen metres. Snotlout and Hiccup peeked at each other, still keeping low to increase their aerodynamicness.

"You're going down."

Mouthed Snotlout as Toothless inched forwards. Time seemed to slow down as the shore approached. The viking bent over his dragon's ear and muttered into it. Hookfang's eyes snapped wide open and he redoubled his efforts, scooping the air with his wings desperately. Toothless knew he should slow down but he wanted to reassert his superior flying skills after three days on the ground. Before he could come to a decision time caught up with all four of them. The ground blurred and Toothless felt himself smashing into something incredibly hard. He and Hiccup bounced off a cliff face and rolled down a gentle slope, ending up groaning at the bottom. Snotlout came and loomed over them, for once seeming tall as they lay on the ground. Despite having a black eye and a scratch across his arm he was beaming from ear to ear.

"You two are in so much trouble."

Gothi whacked Hiccup with her staff as he dismounted from Toothless.

You should have done something gentle as his first day back on his feet! Not go rock climbing or worse!

Hiccup looked at the writing then back at Gothi.

"Well, it wasn't my fault! Snotlout came and challenged us. We had to uphold our status as the best dragon and rider on Berk!"

Judging by her stare and another, harder thump, Gothi wasn't convinced.

You need to be more careful.

Hiccup nodded hurriedly and the two of them left the elder's hut. Hiccup let out a sigh of relief.

"She scares me."

'Yeah. Who knew an old bat could be so fierce.'

They started walking home, wanting to be able to talk to each other without having to shout above the roar of the wind. A memory sparked in the black dragon and he spoke again.

'Hey, I just remembered. When I woke up in Gothi's hut, she spoke to me and - '

Hiccup interrupted.

"Gothi spoke?"

'Yeah, but she - '

"Do you know how rare it is to have an elder speak to you?"

'Yes, but she spoke without using her mouth, Hiccup!'

That shut Hiccup up, and Toothless felt a small sense of achievement before guiltily quashing it. When Hiccup spoke again it was in a quieter voice.

"And you didn't think to mention this before?"

'I was busy. It slipped my mind that Gothi could Theak.'

"Theak?"

'Think-Speak. Theak. It takes a lot of concentration and years of learning before you can do it. My mother started to teach me before the nest...'

Toothless shrunk away from hidden memories that threatened to cut him open if he didn't keep them locked up.

"Wow."

They reached Hiccup's house and the viking hesitated in front of the door.

'What?'

"What Gothi just did, it'll pale in comparison to what my dad's gonna do."

JustAnotherRandomPoster out. Please review if you enjoyed :)