Author's Note: Whaaaa? The last part of "How to Talk to Your Dragon" already?! Whaaaat?!

Hey, everyone and welcome back to mah one-shot collection "Sticks and Stones!" =D I hope you all are having an awesome evening (or morning, or night depending on where in the world you live X)), and man, I can't belive this is the last part of "How to Talk to Your Dragon." My final arc for "Sticks and Stones" has come to an end...*Cries*

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this final part of "How to Talk to Your Dragon." Excuse me as I go and find a pillow to sob in...*Runs off*

Summary: Hiccup and Toothless face Dagur for the last time but find themselves separated at the battle's end. Once reunited, they finaly head back to Berk and discover if their ability to communicate with each other is permanent or temporary. (DOB.)

How to Talk to Your Dragon, Part Five

He could hear his friends shouting for him up above, but they couldn't come down to get him. He was on his own with his dragon, Toothless.

Hiccup faced Dagur with a glare as hard as stone. The Berserker chief raised his axe, ready to strike the Hiccup and Toothless when the Night Fury suddenly launched a purple plasma blast at Dagur, knocking him to the ground. Hiccup stood by Toothless' side and looked at the Berserker soldiers that were approaching them.

"We need to get out of here," said Hiccup to his dragon. He heard Toothless grumble in agreement. There was only one ship remaining, which was the one that Hiccup and Toothless were standing on, and without the other ships, it was pretty much useless, but Hiccup still felt inclined to destroy it.

Toothless dodged multiple arrows and Hiccup grabbed a fallen shield from the ground. He used it to protect himself from the many hits Dagur took at him. Hiccup was surprised at how durable the wood was; the shield only groaned and whined whenever Dagur vehemently hacked at it with his axe. Hiccup blocked one more blow from Dagur and rolled out of the way and rejoined Toothless by his side, and both of them began to back up toward the mast of the ship. The large group of Berserker soldiers advanced on them, and Dagur stood in the middle.

"Give up NOW, Hiccup! I'm sick and tired of your puny little games!" shouted Dagur. "You have nowhere else to run!"

Hiccup quickly scrambled onto Toothless' back and the Night Fury spread his wings, knocking out two soldiers that tried to assault them. The young viking looked at Dagur with an impish glint in his green eyes.

"I hope you know how to swim, Dagur," Hiccup said, leaving Dagur completely bemused. But before he could even come up with a snappy retort, Toothless fired a plasma blast in the middle of the ship. The burning ball of fire ran straight through the wood, leaving a gaping hole in the center. The ship creaked and moaned as it began to sink. Several Berserker soldiers began to make their way to the small boats that hung on the sides of the ships, but Dagur stayed where he was, demanding for his men to return to their positions. None of them listened, however, as they were too busy trying to avoid drowning.

"Come on, Toothless. Let's get the heck out of here," said Hiccup.

"Finally."

Hiccup and Toothless immediately shot into the sky, and Toothless flapped his wings as fast as they could go. The two weren't going to risk getting caught by Dagur again. Unfortunately, the Deranged Chief still had one last trick up his sleeve to stop Hiccup and Toothless from escaping.

Dagur grabbed his crossbow from where it had fallen on the deck, and he quickly placed an arrow in it. He took careful aim, and he shot the single arrow toward where Hiccup and Toothless were flying away. The arrow sliced through the air and hit its mark: right in Toothless' tail. The Night Fury screeched in pain.

"Oh, not again!" cried Hiccup as he and Toothless fell to the ground. Luckily, Astrid was there in an instant. She gripped her saddlehorn tightly as she and Stormfly broke into a dive and sped toward Hiccup and Toothless. She extended her open hand toward Hiccup.

"Grab on!" she shouted. Hiccup took Astrid's hand and she yanked him onto Stormfly's back, but Toothless wasn't so lucky; he was falling too fast, and he was too heavy. Toothless desperately tried to slow his fall, but he wasn't able to in time. The Night Fury crashed into the ocean below with a shriek, and he didn't come back up.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup cried. "Come on, we have to go and get him out of there!"

"We will, Hiccup, I promise," reassured Astrid. She was equally worried about Toothless, but she tried not to let it show. "But we have to get away from the Berserkers first."

And she was right. The Berserkers were launching everything that they had at the Dragon Riders above. Rocks, boulders, arrows…anything that could harm or injure the Riders. Hiccup knew that Dagur wasn't interested in capturing them at the moment but finishing them off so they would never interfere with his schemes again. And Hiccup didn't want his friends to get hurt.

"Okay," Hiccup said at last. Astrid nodded and she told Stormfly to follow the other Dragon Riders, who were making their way above the clouds out of the Berserkers' firing range. Once they were a safe distance away from Dagur and his army of Berserkers, Hiccup scanned the area down below for any sign of his dragon.

"Uh, am I the only one feeling that something's missing?" asked Tuffnut.

"You're not the only one," said Ruffnut. She looked around. "Something is definitely missing here."

Snotlout rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Duh! Toothless is gone!"

Stoick flew up to Hiccup's side. "Did you see where he crashed?"

"Yeah," replied Hiccup as his green eyes darted around. "But I know Toothless would at least try to swim out of harm's way. I just don't know where to start looking…"

"Well, how about we start with the ocean?" suggested Tuffnut.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but where in the ocean?"

"The ocean is ocean," said Ruffnut. "It's everywhere."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "You two are such muttonheads."

Hiccup wasn't paying attention to the Riders' little argument; he was busy worrying about Toothless. Where could his dragon be? What if Dagur managed to catch him? All these thoughts and what-ifs flooded Hiccup's mind, but he did his best to ignore them. He knew that worrying wasn't going to help him find his dragon. He just needed to plan and find a way to get to him—

Wait.

He could get to Toothless. Faster than any dragon could. Hiccup nearly slapped himself; he had completely forgotten about their telepathy! Hiccup let out a sigh of relief, and he looked up at the others.

"I know how we can find Toothless," he announced.

"How?" asked Fishlegs.

"Just give me a second," said Hiccup. He then closed his eyes and began to concentrate, ignoring the comments made by Snotlout and the twins.

"How is closing our eyes going to help us find Toothless?" asked Snotlout mockingly.

"Maybe he can see where Toothless is through his mind," said Tuffnut.

"Quiet," said Astrid, and everyone silenced.

Hiccup continued to concentrate, focusing all of his thoughts on Toothless. At first, the connection was rather fuzzy, but after a little more concentrating, he knew that he and Toothless were connected.

Bud? Toothless? Are you there? Where are you? asked Hiccup.

"Good news: I'm on land," replied Toothless. "Bad news: I have no idea where I am."

Describe your surroundings, said Hiccup. He already felt his arm beginning to hurt. Are you still on the island we just left?

"No, no. I managed to swim away from that island after I crashed into the cold depths of the ocean. I'm on a different one not too far away from it, and there are three sea stacks surrounding it. You can't miss them."

Hiccup felt a wave of relief wash over him now that he knew where to look for his best friend. Okay, we'll come and find you. Just stay where you are and don't move!

"I don't have anywhere else to go, Hiccup," said Toothless.

Hiccup felt someone pat his shoulder. It was Astrid. "Hiccup? Are you okay?"

The young viking opened his eyes and found himself face to face with Astrid Hofferson. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Your arm is bleeding like a fountain," said Tuffnut.

Hiccup looked down at his left arm and saw that the wound had once again reopened and was bleeding. The auburn-haired teen then knew in that moment that whenever he communicated long distance with Toothless, his bite wound would reopen and bleed.

"It's just one of the side effects from communicating with Toothless long distance," Hiccup told everyone.

"Were you able to pin-point his location?" asked Stoick.

"Toothless said that he's on an island not too far from the one we just left. It's surrounded by three sea stacks," said Hiccup.

Fishlegs brightened. "Luckily, I know just where that is. I saw an island surrounded by sea stacks on our way here."

"Then lead the way, Fishlegs," Hiccup said with a smile. The Ingerman and his Gronkle then took the lead, and led everyone toward the island that Toothless had described.

…

The flight to the sea stack surrounded island wasn't long, but it wasn't very short either. Hiccup didn't know how Toothless managed to swim such a far distance without anyone maneuvering his tailfin. Maybe he used his wings to push himself through the water. Hiccup didn't exactly know for sure. All he knew was that he was extremely glad that his dragon hadn't sunk to the bottom of the seas.

The Dragon Riders arrived at the island that Toothless had told them he was on, and Hiccup examined it as he and the Riders circled around it. After a while of searching, Hiccup pointed down below when he spotted the familiar black scales of his dragon on the edge of the sandy beach below.

"There!" exclaimed Hiccup. "He's right there!"

Astrid steered Stormfly down to the beach below and landed. Hiccup leapt off of the Nadder's back before she even landed. The Haddock ran up to Toothless and the Night Fury ran up to him with an equal amount of enthusiasm. When the two finally met, Hiccup wrapped his arms around his dragon's neck in an embrace. The young viking pulled away with a smile on his face.

"Are you okay? Where's the arrow Dagur shot at you?" Hiccup asked.

Toothless shrugged. "It fell out when I hit the water. And yes. I'm fine."

Hiccup sighed with relief. "Thank goodness. I thought you'd be in worse shape."

"Hiccup, I'm a Night Fury. One of the toughest dragons in the archipelago. I don't get beat up too easily," Toothless said with a smirk.

Hiccup shook his head and smiled. "I guess you're right."

The other Dragon Riders landed on the beach. Stoick slipped off of Thornado and said, "We should head back to Berk before the Berserkers try to search for us. We don't want to get caught by them again."

Hiccup agreed. "And I really want to get some gauze for this arm," he said.

Stoick nodded. "Once we get back to Berk, we're taking you straight to Gothi's. That arm needs medical attention, and she might be able to answer the question about you and Toothless' communicating ability."

The Dragon Riders' mounted their dragon, and Hiccup was glad that the Berserker flag that he had used to replace Toothless' old talfin was still holding up. As he and the other Dragon Riders flew back toward Berk and toward the oncoming dawn, the young viking wondered if his ability to talk with Toothless would stay…

Or disappear faster than a light went out.

…

Gothi was the best healer on Berk, so Hiccup knew not to question her methods of examination or treatment. But the young viking couldn't help but wonder every once in a while if everything that Gothi did to her patients was necessary.

Hiccup winced as Gothi poked at his arm again. She stared at it, poked at it again, and then stared at it some more. Hiccup did know that Gothi was the best healer on Berk, but he still found her methods rather peculiar.

Finally, after a while of more poking, staring, and poking, Gothi pulled out a clean, fresh roll of gauze and wrapped Hiccup's left arm. After she was done, she tossed some dirt onto the ground and wrote out her conclusion. Fishlegs helpfully translated.

"Gothi says that the wound isn't permanent and that it'll eventually close," read Fishlegs. "But it will heal to become a permanent scar that will reopen every time he communicates with Toothless long distance."

"Has something like this ever happened?" asked Hiccup. Gothi wasn't just a healer, but she was the elder. She knew a lot of things that not even Stoick knew about, so she had to at least know something about dragon bites giving people the ability to talk with dragons.

Gothi shrugged, which told Hiccup that she, the one of the oldest and wisest people on Berk, didn't know. Only time would tell.

"I sure hope that our communicating ability doesn't fade away," said Toothless. "And if it does, we should make the most of it."

Hiccup smiled. I agree, Bud.

Hiccup and the Dragon Riders along with Stoick then left Gothi's hut. Since Stoick was the chief, he had to leave since he had chieftain duties to attend to, which left the Dragon Riders alone as they walked through the village.

"Okay, I wanted to wait until after we were done at Gothi's, so here's what I'm thinking," said Fishlegs. He pulled out a notebook and flipped through the pages. "We should start with an interview of Toothless and then—"

"Uh, no," interrupted Tuffnut. "We should start by seeing what Toothless thinks about Loki day."

Ruffnut nodded. "We both know that Barf and Belch absolutely love Loki day, but we've been curious about Toothless' opinion for a long time."

"Actually," said Astrid. "We should let Hiccup and Toothless rest after a long night."

"I guess that's fair," Fishelgs said as he closed his notebook. "But we'll get started on this right away once Hiccup and Toothless are well-rested. I am not missing the chance to get answers and information from an actual Night Fury."

Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins continued their way to the Dragon Training Academy, arguing about what questions they should ask Toothless, leaving Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless, and Stormfly alone.

Astrid tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "So…"

Hiccup swung his arms. "So…?"

Astrid sighed and shook her head. "I don't know how you do it, Hiccup. I can't believe we actually managed to destroy an entire armada of ships."

"Me neither," said Hiccup. "We had some pretty close calls."

"A lot of close calls," Astrid said with a small smile.

"Yeah, well…I'm just glad we're okay," Hiccup said.

Astrid nodded, and she leaned in and placed a small, quick kiss on Hiccup's cheek. "I'm glad you're okay too," she said low enough so only Hiccup could hear. Then, she mounted her Deadly Nadder and took off.

"I'll see you around, Hiccup!" Astrid hollered as she took to the air. Hiccup stood in slight surprise for a moment, but his expression soon shifted to that of a smile as he watched Astrid fly away. Toothless snuck up behind him, a small smirk on his face.

"So…is she going to be your mate or what?"

Toothless!

Author's Note: ...And that's the end. The. End. Fin. Finished. Done. Complete...

Okay, I'll stop now.

I hope you guys enjoyed the "How to Talk to Your Dragon" arc, and I'll see ya in the next one-shot for "Sticks and Stones." =)

Until the next chapter!

-BeyondTheMoon1203