Hiccup panted heavily as he pushed his legs to continue down the path. He was running out of time, and fast. He shot a quick glance at the setting sun, only an hour or so left of Leif Erikson Day. Would he be able to defeat Drago with enough time to get to the portal and return home? Otherwise, he'd have to wait until another portal opens up and hope to get to it in time, or wait for another year before this one opened up again. He glanced at another spot in the woods, he really hoped this would work. He came to stop at a hill to catch his breath. Just a few more feet, and he would soon be facing Drago. He just hoped everyone else was alright. How could he have been so stupid? He literally left them open to Drago's attack in his frantic search for a portal to take him home. He gritted his teeth and continued forward, he needed to take care of Drago, once and for all. In a matter of minutes, he had reached the enormous cave, but what he saw within nearly twisted his gut in anguish, though he would describe the pain as more akin to being kicked, rather hard. He had found the rest of his crew, Princess Merida of Avalon, Eret the Viking, and little, spunky Gustav, all in cages hanging from the ceiling, at a perfect height for a large dragon to simply open its mouth and torch them, or, in Drago's case, freeze them. Hiccup had to keep himself from glancing to the side, anything to keep Drago from suspecting that the final member of his crew, the friendly, lovable Toothless, was waiting for Hiccup's signal. Hiccup the sword at his side and let out a breath before walking into the cave.
"So, you did come after all," said Drago, rather surprised.
"Hiccup! What are you doing? You can't let Drago have the Dragon Sword!" blurted Merida from her cage.
"I can't let him hurt you either!" Hiccup shouted back, his hand on the hilt of the sword.
"So, you have decided that your friends are more important to you than going home. But now, you have to decide if keeping that sword from me is more important than their lives," said Drago as his large dragon reared up behind him. As Hiccup thought as he watched it rise with dread, the cages were at the perfect height, just in range of its mouth.
"How about a duel?"
Drago glanced at him questioningly. "What?"
"A duel, until the first one loses their sword. If you win, you keep the sword. But if I win, you and your dragon have to leave these islands, never to return. Either way, you will have to let them go." Drago stroked his beard as he sized up Hiccup. Hiccup knew the answer before he spoke since he began to grin.
"Deal. But, I'd like to add one more thing to my prize pool."
Hiccup gulped. "W-what?"
"I get to kill you."
"No!" cried out Merida.
"In exchange for your friends' lives."
Hiccup replied through gritted teeth, "Fine."
"Good." With a roar, Drago unsheathed his sword and charged. Hiccup barely had enough time to unsheath the Dragon Sword and block Drago's attack. He let out a yelp as Drago pushed down on the swords. That was clearly Drago's plan, win by sheer force. He was bigger and clearly stronger than Hiccup. But Hiccup had found out not too long ago, in fact, that being smaller was great, because you had brains to go with it. That was Hiccup's plan, to outsmart Drago. And he needed to put his plan into action, now. Hiccup pushed back as hard as he could, his muscles screaming with the attempt. Once he had pushed up Drago's sword enough, he dropped and quickly crawled under Drago. Drago let out a growl as he turned to bring his sword down on Hiccup.
"Hiccup, look out!" shouted Merida. Hiccup rolled, Drago's sword missing his head by mere inches. Hiccup rose quickly and took the opportunity to strike. But Drago quickly brought his blade up, blocking Hiccup's sword. The two paused for a minute as they glared at each other, Drago's hate seething in his eyes, before the two got into a flurry of swinging blades. The battle intensified, the clashing of metal against metal was the only sound that could be heard as Hiccup's crew watched mesmerized as the two kept swinging and blocking, parrying and thrusting. Hiccup had to sidestep Drago's blade a couple of times, but for the most part, he was holding his own rather well, which seemed to surprise Drago. But that allowed Hiccup to stay on the defensive, which let him lead Drago on, getting him into a position that would let Hiccup win.
"You've gotten pretty good," said Drago as he paused for a breath. Hiccup was glad for the pause, he was sweating and panting hard.
"Well, I have been practising," returned Hiccup before Drago rushed him again.
"That won't save you!" he shouted as he brought up his sword for a strike. Hiccup blocked it. His eyes widened as an evil smile grew on Drago's face. "Nor your friends." He glanced at his dragon, which began to open its mouth.
"No! Toothless, now!" A black streak zoomed into the cave and a ball of purple fire blasted the giant dragon.
"No! That's cheating!" blurted Drago.
"And you weren't?" quipped Hiccup before striking at Drago. Drago parried the attack, but he only growled in reply to Hiccup's question. While the two continued their sword fight, their dragons took up their own fight, Toothless keeping the larger dragon's attention on him so it wouldn't freeze up the cages. The large dragon, however, was finding it hard to keep up with Toothless. As Hiccup had figured, Toothless' smaller body gave him an advantage that the sheer force of the larger dragon didn't have, and could fly around it, attacking it quickly before it could turn its head to effectively retaliate.
"What are you doing? Fight him!" shouted Drago as he swung wildly at Hiccup's head. Hiccup ducked and stepped to the side, the blade missing him by inches. But he came back with a well-aimed kick at Drago, which tossed him to the side. The kick surprised Drago so much that he managed to lose his sword. "No!" shouted Drago when he realized he had lost, according to the rules laid down by Hiccup. He let out a growl as he crawled towards the sword, but Hiccup reached it before him and picked it up and aimed both swords at Drago.
"You lost, Drago, now, you and your dragon must leave, and never come back."
"Is that so? Very well," muttered Drago as he rose and walked towards his dragon.
"Toothless!" called Hiccup as Drago neared his dragon. Toothless landed next to Hiccup. "Go free the others, bud." Toothless gave a snort and licked Hiccup's face before heading towards the cages, releasing Merida first before heading towards Eret.
"Now!" yelled Drago. Everyone glanced at him, his dragon's mouth open as wisps of steam formed around its mouth.
"Hiccup, look out!" screamed Merida.
"Oh no!" yelled Hiccup. Toothless let out a cry as he left the two and rushed to Hiccup's side, getting there as a wall of ice formed around them.
"No! Hiccup, Toothless!" called out Merida as she rushed towards the ice as Eret freed Gustav. She pounded on the ice. "Hiccup! Toothless!" She turned to Drago, rage burning in her eyes. "You, you monster!"
"Merida!" called out Eret. She glanced at the ice, a blue glow was emanating from within. Merida quickly backed up.
"What the?" began Drago before the ice exploded. Toothless was glowing. He looked at Drago and his dragon and let out a mighty roar. He was not going to let Drago hurt his friend. He let out a fireball at the two, the force of which was so strong it sent them tumbling.
"Drago! I suggest you leave now, or I'll let Toothless finish the job!" Hiccup shouted, right as Toothless shot off one of the larger dragon's tusks. Drago let out a roar as Toothless sent out another fireball, catching both him and his dragon in the fire. Hiccup saw Drago say something to his dragon, and the two practically slithered away.
"I will be back, Hiccup! The Dragon Sword will be mine, and you will be dead!" shouted Drago before they disappeared.
"Alright, Toothless, that was awesome!" shouted Gustav as he hugged the Nightfury.
Merida turned to Hiccup. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"
"Better, knowing the two of you are alright." She took him by surprise by pulling him in for a kiss, though he quickly overcame his shock and kissed back. Toothless warbled as he grinned at them, sharing knowing looks with Eret.
Gustav interrupted them with, "Well, it's about time." Eret and Toothless laughed as the couple separated from their kiss and glanced at them.
"Well, I mean, I can't exactly become king of Avalon, I still want to go home and . . . the portal! Toothless, quick!" Hiccup climbed on Toothless and the dragon soared out of the cave, speeding towards the portal. Hiccup could still see it, but watched with panic as it began to close, and fast. "Come on, bud!" Toothless put on speed, shortening the distance fast, but the portal was closing even faster. "Come on! No!" The two were just mere inches away when the portal snapped shut. Hiccup let out a groan and a yell of frustration. "Come on, bud, let's head back to the crew." Toothless warbled sadly as he turned and flew back to the cave. The crew rushed forward to meet them as Toothless landed and he dismounted.
"We're sorry, Hiccup," said Merida, wrapping him in up in a bear hug.
"Yeah, man, sorry," echoed Gustav.
"You did try," said Eret, placing a reassuring hand on Hiccup's shoulder.
"It's alright. We can always look for another portal. And if worse comes to worse, we'll just have to make sure to get back here next year."
"Well, by then, you'd have at least visited Avalon at least once," stated Merida with a smile.
"You think we should head there?" asked Hiccup.
Merida nodded. "I've been away from home too long myself. Maybe my mother knows of another way."
"Well, that sounds like a plan. Alright everyone, back to the ship!"
"Woohoo!" exclaimed Gustav as he bounded towards the ship harboured in the cove just below. Eret followed him with a laugh, before turning and shooting a grin and a wink at Toothless. Toothless grinned back and bounded after the two, leaving Hiccup and Merida to take up the rear.
"So, um, about earlier, seeing as how that's the main reason why they left us some space," pointed out Hiccup. Merida let out a giggle before pausing and pulling him in for another kiss.
"I love ya, Hiccup Haddock the Third, and I'm sorry you didn't get to go home, but, I did kind of wish that you'd stay just a bit longer."
Hiccup wrapped his arm around her waist as the two began to walk down the hill. "Well, maybe staying here a bit longer won't be that bad, not with you lot keeping things interesting." He grinned at her as she chuckled. He pulled her in for a kiss. "I love you too, Princess Merida of Avalon. And maybe, just maybe, you could convince me to stay for good," he said upon breaking up the kiss.
"I'll take that challenge," said Merida with a smile and kissed him again.
"Come on you two! We're happy you two have finally realized that you're in love, but, we need to go!" shouted Gustav. The two laughed.
"We're coming!" Hiccup shouted back. The two continued on walking, joining up with their friends and getting the ship back out to sea, heading off for new adventures.