Author's Note: Tomorrow's Monday. I'm crying on the inside. =')

Hello, hey, hello, everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of "Sticks and Stones!" =D I...still don't really have much to say this time around (arghhhh...), so I hope you guys enjoy this next part of "How to Talk to Your Dragon!"

Summary: After escaping his cage, Hiccup sets out to find Toothless and help his friends destroy the remaining ships in Dagur's armada. (DOB.)

How to Talk to Your Dragon, Part Four

There he was, standing face to face with his "brother," Dagur the Deranged. Only a thick metal cage door stood in between them. Only a thick metal cage door stood in between Hiccup and freedom.

The young viking didn't know where the Berserkers had put Toothless; they had been ripped away from each other faster than a lightning strike. Hiccup hoped that the Night Fury wasn't too far away, and maybe he knew of an escape route from where he was. He did say that he was familiar with the island after all.

But despite that reassuring fact, Hiccup knew that Dagur did make the chance of escape difficult for both him and Toothless. Hiccup heard the sounds of explosions coming from afar. The loud booms were followed by large, billowing clouds of orange and gray. Whenever a ship was destroyed by dragon fire, the ground would quake from the force of the explosion, but Dagur seemed to ignore all of the noise around him and continued to penetrate Hiccup with his sharp, steely glare. The auburn-haired boy stared at him with a look just as hard.

Dagur didn't take his eyes off of Hiccup, but he sent out his men. "Go and stop the Dragon Riders," he demanded. A group of Berserker soldiers nodded respectfully, grabbed their weapons, and marched off toward the direction of the shipyard, leaving Hiccup and Dagur alone.

After a few moments of tense stillness, Dagur began to pace in front of Hiccup's cage. The young viking's green gaze never left Dagur, but not even that stopped him from flinching when Dagur suddenly threw himself toward the cage and grabbed at the bars.

"Give up, Hiccup!" said Dagur. "You, Stoick, and all of the Riders are on MY territory. You might as well give up now. No one will get hurt if you surrender." The Berserker chief paused. "Well," he said with a diabolical chuckle. "At least not right now."

Hiccup's brow furrowed. "The Riders, my dad, and I aren't surrendering, Dagur," he said emphatically. "Now let me go. You're only hurting yourself keeping me hostage, and my friends will come and blow this place to pieces if you don't release me." Hiccup stepped forward bravely. "People are gonna get hurt," he said. "But those people won't be me and my friends."

Dagur sucked in a sharp breath, and Hiccup knew that he had crossed a line, but he knew he had to. Dagur needed to know what would happen if he continued to terrorize Berk. Every single plan that he had crafted had failed, and Hiccup knew that it wouldn't be long until the Berserker Chief brought himself to his own downfall.

But regardless of the witty remark, Dagur didn't open Hiccup's cage. Instead, he spat, "You're going to regret ever stepping foot on this island." And with that, the Chief of the Berserkers stomped off, screeching orders at his men to cut down the Dragon Riders and shoot them out of the sky.

Once Dagur was gone, Hiccup sat down in his cage and leaned against the bars. He let out a long, exhausted sigh. His arm was still hurting from the crash, but he did his best to ignore it. He was more worried about his friends, father, and Toothless than he was about himself. He didn't even know where Toothless was or if he would be able to get to the Night Fury in time to warn the others about Dagur's imminent attack. Hiccup closed his eyes and sighed again. What was he going to do?

Where are you Toothless…? thought Hiccup. It seemed as if all hope was lost. Dagur was going to win, Toothless was caged, and there didn't seem to be any way of escape—

"Inside a cave in the dark. I greatly despise it here; it smells like Whispering Death and oh how I loathe Whispering Deaths…"

Hiccup's eyes snapped open. Toothless?!

Toothless' voice didn't reply. Hiccup frowned in confusion. How had he been able to reach through to his dragon? They weren't even in range! Hiccup then got an idea, and he closed his eyes once again. His arm began to pierce with pain, but he ignored it and concentrated all of his thoughts to connect with Toothless', and suddenly, his dragon began to speak again!

"Hiccup? Are you still there?" asked Toothless.

Yes, yes, I'm here! replied Hiccup happily.

"Oh, good! I thought I lost connection with you for a second. You broke off so suddenly," said Toothless.

Sorry about that… Hiccup apologized. I just found out that we can still talk to each other.

"Yes, we can, my friend, I could hear you from my holding chamber," said Toothless.

Did you have your eyes closed? asked Hiccup.

"No, answered Toothless in slight bemusement. I was just thinking about you, and then suddenly, I heard you."

Huh…I can only talk with you long distance if my eyes are closed… Hiccup told his dragon. A wave of fatigue washed over him, and his arm burned with pain. And it requires a lot of concentration too…

"That's probably because we're different species," Toothless explained. "Most dragons are bigger and do a better job at focusing than humans do. We have a sharp brain for survival, so concentration isn't all that hard for us."

Y-Yeah…

Hiccup felt his arm blazing with white-hot pain. He flinched sharply as another jolt of pain came from his left arm.

"Hiccup? Hiccup?" called Toothless. He hadn't heard anything from his rider in a while. "Are you there?"

Y-Yeah…I-I'm here, Hiccup answered feebly.

"Are you okay?" Toothless asked worriedly. "You sound like you are in pain."

I-I think it's the long-distance communication, said Hiccup. My left arm is hurting like crazy and I'm getting really tired…

"Then you should stop," said Toothless. "The last thing we want is for you to hurt yourself."

You sound like my dad, quipped Hiccup.

Hiccup could envision Toothless rolling his eyes. "Yes, yes, sure. Anyway, before we cut off, where are you? I can try to get to you."

No, Bud. Stay where you are. I'll come and get you. You said you're in a cave, but where on the island are you?

"The south side," Toothless replied. "The cave is sitting next to a pile of old weapons and other junk. I think they use this cave for disposal…"

Okay, Hiccup said. I'll go there as soon as I find a way out of this cage…

"Good luck, Hiccup," Toothless said kindly. "And please make haste, friend. It smells like moldy eels here too."

I-I'll try…

…

Hiccup's eyes snapped open, and he gasped. All of his senses returned to him, and he looked down at his left arm. The wound had reopened; it was leaking red. Hiccup frowned; he didn't have a roll of gauze with him to wrap the bite, so he decided that he would find some water to clean it up once he found his way out of the cage.

Hiccup took in a few more breaths, and once he was feeling well enough to leave, he stood up slowly and looked around. There were a few Berserker soldiers lingering in the area, no doubt had Dagur had sent them there to keep watch on him, and there were a few other cages surrounding Hiccup's too. Hiccup didn't know what the Berserkers were expecting to find on the island, but he was glad that there did not seem to be any dragons around to be captured by such malicious people.

The green-eyed teen continued to observe his surroundings, and he broke into a grin when he spotted the keys sitting in the moonlight, sparkling like gold on a rock just a few feet away from his cage. It was like the Berserkers wanted him to escape! Hiccup's eyes darted around his enclosure, searching for something that he could use to grab the keys. There wasn't much inside of his cage except for a few bones (which sent shivers down Hiccup's spine), rocks, and a rather long stick. Hiccup picked the stick up and stuck it out between the bars of his cage; it was the perfect length to grab the keys. Hiccup pulled the stick back in before any of the soldiers in the area saw what he was doing. The young viking waited until the number of soldiers lingering around lessened, and once the coast was clear, Hiccup poked the stick through the cage bars again and inched it toward the cluster of keys sitting on the rock. Hiccup pushed the stick further and further until…got it! Hiccup poked the stick through the ring that the keys were being held on and lifted them up. They jingled, and Hiccup winced, hoping that no one heard the sound.

Hiccup quickly reeled in his stick and grabbed the keys triumphantly. He fumbled with them for a little while until he found the one he needed. He took the correct key for his cage and shoved it into the lock and turned it. With a satisfying chunk, the cage door opened, and Hiccup was free.

Hiccup stepped out and closed the door to his cage. Then, he ducked behind a pile of nearby rocks to avoid detection from the Berserkers surrounding the area. Hiccup recalled what Toothless had told him earlier; he was locked inside of a cage surrounded by piles of old weapons and junk, and it oddly smelled of Whispering Death and moldy eels. Hiccup hadn't seen any caves on the flight around the island, but now that he knew the cave was on the southern side of the island, it made more sense why he hadn't noticed it since he and his friends had been spending most of their time on the northern side and eastern side.

The young viking began to make his way south, occasionally hiding behind rocks, bushes, and trees to avoid being seen by the Berserkers. His escape hadn't yet been made known, and Hiccup hoped that it would be a while until the Berserkers realized that he was gone. He stumbled upon a small lake on his way south, and he washed his arm in it. Soon, Hiccup's left arm looked like it had not even bled one drop.

After venturing through the open forest and hiding from the Berserker's attention, Hiccup eventually came across the cave Toothless had described. He could see why his dragon didn't like it; the cave was meant for junk. Old, useless weapons were stacked off to one side, and there were several worn flags, ship parts, and even old armor stacked on the other side. There was even more junk inside of the cave, and the fact that Toothless had been put inside of there with it made Hiccup angry. The Berserkers had no respect for dragons whatsoever.

Hiccup stepped inside, and he saw no Berserkers. Hiccup looked around and he spotted Toothless inside of a dragon-built cage at the far end of the large cave. Toothless was trying in vain to get rid of the muzzle around his snout, but when he saw Hiccup, he stopped struggling and his tail swished behind him.

"Hiccup!" exclaimed Toothless. "Finally, you're here! Now please get me out of this cage before this muzzle suffocates me!"

Hiccup smiled and laughed as he pulled out the keys and unlocked Toothless' cage. Hiccup ripped off the muzzle that was clasped around Toothless' mouth and embraced his best friend.

"Thor, I thought I was going to lose you," he murmured. "I'm glad you're okay, Bud."

"I'm glad I'm okay too," said Toothless. "As well as you, Hiccup."

Hiccup nodded and he examined Toothless' tailfin, which had become increasingly more torn on the way to the cave. "We're going to need something to replace your tail. There's no way we can fly like this."

"I saw a flag around here somewhere," said Toothless helpfully. "You can use that to repair the tail."

Toothless led Hiccup to the flag that he had spotted earlier, and Hiccup got to work. He fixed the tailfin and looked it over.

"It's not much," said Hiccup. The flag was worn and faded, and it didn't look like it would hold up for very long. "But it'll have to do."

Hiccup mounted his Night Fury and gave him a pat on the head. Then, the two took off into the sky, heading toward the explosions coming from the north.

…

Hiccup and Toothless arrived at the shipyard and saw the Dragon Riders flying through the air, blasting at multiple ships below. They had destroyed half of Dagur's armada in a short amount of time. The Berserkers were down below, trying to stop the Dragon Riders, but they were late to the battle and couldn't make up for lost time. The Dragon Riders were winning, and the Berserkers were ultimately losing.

Hiccup was even more satisfied to see that his friends were okay, but Dagur's threat was still ringing through his mind. Toothless looked up at his rider.

"What's our next more?" he asked.

"We're going to help the others destroy the last of Dagur's armada," replied Hiccup.

"I like that plan."

Hiccup and Toothless flew over to the other Dragon Riders, and Astrid was the first to notice them. The Hofferson flew up to Hiccup with a smile on her face.

"Hiccup! Thank the gods you're okay," she said happily.

Hiccup smiled. "It's good to see you too, Astrid. Now, what happened while I was gone?"

Astrid nodded and gestured to the battle below. "Stoick has been leading the attack on the ships below while you were gone, and the Berserkers arrived not too long ago and started defending their ships."

Stock flew over and regarded Hiccup with a smile; the young viking could tell he was relieved to see he was okay even though he didn't say anything out loud. Stoick then reverted back to battle seriousness. "We have a few more ships to destroy before we leave."

"Destroying a few ships shouldn't take us long." Hiccup scratched Toothless affectionately. "Especially since we have a Night Fury on our side."

"Aw, thanks Hiccup."

Hiccup, Astrid, Stoick, and their dragons flew dived down toward the battle below, blasting and firing at ships. The ships exploded and burst into flames when fire was launched upon them, and Hiccup could imagine Dagur feeling incredibly enraged that his armada was being blown into pieces.

There was now only one ship remaining, and Hiccup went for it. That ship was the largest one, and Hiccup guessed that it was going to be the one Dagur was going to sail on when the armada was launched. Hiccup patted Toothless on the head, and the Night Fury divided toward the last and final ship.

"Take the shot, Bud!" Hiccup shouted, and Toothless opened his mouth and a plasma blast charged at the back of his throat. He was about to fire when a net was suddenly thrown in their direction. It wrapped around Hiccup and Toothless and the two crashed onto the hard, wooden deck of the ship. The two looked up to see Dagur walking up to them, chuckling madly.

"Ah, it looks like I've finally caught you two nuisances who were trying to stop my plan," said Dagur. He pulled out a large axe and it glittered with a threatening orange light from the fire surrounding them.

"And now…" he said slowly. "You're going to pay for it."

Author's Note: ...Another cliffie. Yay. =D

I hope you guys enjoyed this part of "How to Talk to Your Dragon," and I'll see ya in the next one! (Which is actually the last one...dang). X)

Until the next chapter!

-BeyondTheMoon1203