Chapter 47

Calla looked at the giant dragon in front of her and tried to process what she had just been told.

"So he's a Titan Wing dragon... because he's lived for so long?"

"Kind of" Blue shrugged "I think there are other ways, like when a dragon grows much stronger than what would be considered normal."

"But with a dragon, what's normal?" Calla asked.

"I don't know" Blue shrugged.

"You don't know?" Calla blurted out, her anger growing "Then how am I supposed to know if Windstorm is going to grow to be as big as Toothless some day?"

"Oh I'm pretty sure that'll never happen" Blue waved off the suggestion.

"Are you saying my dragon is too weak to become a Titan Wing" she snarled with her hands on her hips.

"No of course not; it's just so rare..."

Calla suddenly realised Blue was looking like a small frightened animal, facing a much bigger predator.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself "Sorry Blue it's just that... ever since Daisy came to fetch us, I thought something really bad had happened to you and... I guess I'm just overstressed."

"You're stuck in another underground cavern, surrounded by wild dragons; I think you have a right to be stressed."

As he spoke, Blue opened his arms and embraced the nervous girl. Unfortunately being held did not make her feel any better; because now that she wasn't being angry anymore, she was able to think about their current predicament. It was extremely unexpected and unpredictable, but she was sick of the unexpected and tired of the unpredictable. And as if things weren't bad enough, her latest unexpected experience came in the form of a massive Night Fury chuckling at her.

"What are you laughing at, you salamander on steroids?" she mumbled.

What Calla could not know, was how much joy she had brought to Toothless. Watching her snap at Blue while he desperately tried to defend himself, followed by a very rapid reconciliation, reminded him so much of past friends he had loved so dearly. Toothless looked at the Nadder who had brought the girl and then to the Nightmare. It was then he noticed the other girl who had been keeping out of the way. The first thing that stood out about her was how she was now comforting the Nightmare, petting him and speaking softly. The second thing Toothless noticed was her leg; so different to Hiccups, and yet so similar.

For the first time in over a thousand years, Toothless began to look back on his early life. The war with the humans, living as a slave of the Red Death, being spared by a boy when death was staring him in the face, and eventually having to leave that boy who had become his greatest friend and ally. Those days with Hiccup, Astrid and the rest of the dragon riders had been some of the best of his life. There may have been danger, but there was also much more.

Having to give up that life had been a necessary change, but it still had its own risks and downsides. Maybe the time had come to make another change, despite the new risks that such a change may bring.

"RROOOWL" the dragon called to get everyones attention.

Then with all eyes on him, Toothless looked around the circle of dragons and picked one of them out.

"Arrumph" he flicked his head back, signalling the dragon to come forward.

As his subject did as was requested, the Alpha continued to scan the surrounding dragons.

"Hurruf" he repeated the action when he had found a second mandatory volunteer.

The same order was soon given to a third dragon and when they had all assembled, Toothless nudged Blue in the back, pushing him towards the dragon sitting front and centre; a young, strong Night Fury.

"What um... is going on?" Calla asked.

"Just look at the dragons Toothless had chosen" Blue beamed "A Nadder, a Nightmare, a Gronkle, a Zippleback and... a Night Fury."

"But what does that mean? Calla said, confused.

"Yeah... what she said" Haley agreed.

"Well I'd guess it means... Toothless is getting the band back together."

'

'

After giving Haley a few pointers on how to ride solo, Blue spent some time getting to know his new team while Toothless watched on. The young Night Fury was quite playful, and seemed to be very pleased to have been chosen to join these new creatures. Unlike the stoic Nightmare and the inquisitive Nadder, the Fury was more excitable and eager. In stark contrast, the Gronkle and Zippleback both seemed more than just a little confused.

Indeed when Blue had first attempted to say hello to the Gronckle, the bulbous dragon had growled and snapped. He soon regretted his choice of action though when his Alpha snarled at the unfortunate Gronckle in a very threatening way. As a result he gave the young man a chance, figuring a weak human was a lot safer than a Titan Wing Night Fury, who could melt a mountain with just a badly aimed sneeze. In the end, the Gronckle discovered how delightful it was to have his lower jaw scratched and decided humans made great pets after all.

Becoming acquainted with the Zippleback though, had turned out to be a particularly disturbing experience for Blue. With his Fury and the Gronckle following close behind, Blue approached the two headed dragon cautiously, slightly unnerved by its size. In most cases, he would simply meet the dragon slowly from the front so as not to appear deceptive, but this Zippleback preferred to make that method completely impossible by craning each neck in the opposite direction until Blue was close enough, and then literally circling around behind him.

Before Blue knew what was happening, each head was examining him from head to toe. One of them sniffed his hair and then licked the back of his neck, while the other decided to find out what was in each of his pockets.

"Um... Toothless... ya wanna help me out here please?"

Blue was not sure why, but for some unknown reason the Alpha Dragon just sat there with an amused smile on his face.

"Hey, NO!" Blue waggled his finger at the Zippleback when he saw the dragon had his pocketknife "Bad dragon; give it back."

The left head started to growl but stopped as soon as she remembered how angry Toothless had been when the Gronckle had threatened the young human.

"Thank you... good dragon" Blue said sweetly when the stolen knife was dropped into his open hand.

The offending Zippleback head was then given a rewarding chin scratch; an innocent move that caused a jealous spat between the two heads. Fortunately though, Blue had two hands so they could both enjoy some attention.

"A lot of help you were" Blue said to Toothless, with more than just a hint of sarcasm.

Toothless just smiled to himself knowingly. He would have intervened if the Zippleback had gotten too rough, but at the same time the Alpha needed to see how Blue would handle a difficult dragon, and he liked the way the young man was firm, but quick to forgive.

With all introductions made between human and dragon, Blue returned his attention to the very inquisitive young Night Fury, who had been watching everything with great curiosity. As he looked into the eyes of the smiling dragon, Blue began to have an even greater respect for Toothless as a leader. Unlike the four Fury's that had been sent out to bring back any wayward dragons, this one was not as intimidating. This fact led Blue to the conclusion that the three dragons Toothless had chosen, were not just picked because of their species, the Alpha had given Blue a specific Gronckle, a specific Zippleback, and a specific Night Fury.

"Okay my fine dragon... let's talk" Blue said as he sat down and crossed his legs.

The dragon tried to emulate him but soon found the best it could manage was to sit up straight on its hind legs. When they both sat in this position, one of the first things Blue noticed was how big the dragon really was. When they stood side by side, Blue was just a little taller than the Night Fury but now the young dragon was almost twice his height and although they were more than four feet apart, the dragon's long tail still curved around behind the young man.

"You and me, we're gonna be partners, so um... how do you feel about that?"

The dragon turned his head slightly to the left, making him look like a confused puppy trying to understand differential calculus.

"We've got to get to know each other well, and work together as dragon and rider."

"Roulwf" the Night Fury grunted in agreement, even though he did not understand what he was agreeing to.

"But I get the feeling you'd rather play around for a while."

Blue could clearly see the impatient dragon was already getting a little fidgety, and did not really want to sit and talk any longer than necessary, so he instantly did something about it; he ran.

"Bet ya can't catch me" he taunted the dragon.

A broad smile spread over the dragon's face as it took off after Blue, intending to prove him wrong. It did not take Firefly and Daisy very long to join in the game, but the other dragons all seemed content to just sit and watch.

"COME ON DAISY; YOU CAN GET HIM!" Calla called out.

"I thought you'd be betting on your boyfriend" Haley laughed.

"Tell me honestly Haley, is wrong of me to enjoy watching him lose?"

"It's a bit mean, but not wrong; I quite enjoy it too" Haley admitted.

Considering he was just an earth bound human trying to escape from three creatures capable of flight, he did quite well for a few minutes, until a very biased Nightmare slipped the tip of its tail into Blue's path, tripping him over. Needless to say not long after he had hit the ground, the young man found he was unable to move because of the Night Fury and two Terrors piled on top of him.

"Alright... you win... now get off me before you break my ribs" Blue gasped.

He got to his feet as soon as the dragons let him, and jokingly gave the Nightmare a piece of his mind.

"I saw what you did" Blue pointed to the innocent looking dragon "and if you ever want to taste my barbecued tuna again, I suggest you play nice in the future."

The Nightmare just stared at Blue with a "Who, me? I didn't do nuthin" look on his face.

"Well done guys" Blue smiled at the victors and petted the Night Fury.

He started to limp back to the Alpha, but Haley quickly caught his attention.

"Hey Blue, does this guy have a name yet?" she asked about the Nightmare.

"No, why; do you have any ideas?" Blue answered.

"Boris" Haley grinned.

"Boris?" Blue half gasped.

"Yeah..." Haley hugged the dragon's face "You gotta admit it, he looks like a Boris."

It was a logic Blue found hard to dispute, so leaving Haley with the newly named Nightmare, Blue took the few remaining steps back to where Calla stood with Toothless and laid down on the soft moss.

"Oh Toothless, what have you done to me?" he sighed.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Calla said bluntly.

"I had a plan Calla... it may not have been a great plan, but it was all I had."

"Why don't you tell me about this not-so-great plan of yours?" the young girl said as she lay beside him with her head on his chest.

"Well... not meaning to brag, but apart from DeGroot, I'm the world's only dragon expert. So I figured that rather than take on the training of each dragon we encountered myself, it would be better to help train riders and dragons at the same time."

"So that was why you gave Windstorm to me?" Calla realised.

"Pretty much yeah."

"And also why you sent me to get Haley when we found the Nightmare?"

"His name is Boris now... and yeah. But look at us now; a team of five dragons with only three riders. And what's more, I have to get this right first time because the great and powerful Alpha is watching me" Blue gesticulated to the giant Night Fury.

"I think you're over reacting" Calla said plainly.

"Am I? Come on Calla, you should know better than anyone; I'm not really a dragon expert, I'm a novice, a beginner... a fraud."

Calla took a deep breath and thought about the truth behind Blues words.

"Yeah maybe, but for a novice, you've been doing a pretty good job so far, which means you're definitely no fraud. Also you're not alone anymore; I've had a few days with Windstorm, and Haley is putting her experience with Terrors to good use with Boris."

"Yeah... she really does seem to like him" Blue nodded.

"To tell the truth, I kinda told her about you giving Windstorm to me, and I may have suggested that she might be getting the Nightmare."

"Was I that obvious?" Blue smiled.

"You can hide nothing from me" Calla said with a little bit of menace in her voice.

While Blue tried his best to work out the best way forward with his new team of dragons, some of the nearby crowd crept closer to get a better look at these new human creatures. They stared, they sniffed and a few of the braver ones even reached out a claw to touch; all the while being sure not to upset their Alpha. As all this went on, a new idea started to form in Blue's mind.

"I just realised something."

He suddenly sat up, causing some of the more timid dragons to scatter.

"See; I knew you'd think of the answer" Calla smiled reassuringly.

"Well I don't know if it's the answer as such, but it's a start" Blue revealed "There are thousands, maybe millions of dragons here, and I doubt Toothless can keep them from finding their way to the surface forever; the way we came in may not even be the only entrance. So we really need to take the dragons to as many places as we can, to show people they don't need to be scared of them, but to treat them just like any other wild creature; give them space, leave them alone..."

"And give 'em a roast chicken if they want to make friends" Calla added.

"Exactly!" Blue nodded "I should have realise I couldn't teach everyone about dragons, but if we can introduce them and let the word spread naturally, then maybe we can avoid another dragon war."

"Ah... yeah... about that, we almost had a dragon war back at Simon's place" Calla admitted "It seems that some of the locals are even blaming us for bringing Windstorm and Boris to the Faroe Islands in the first place."

"Well then, that sounds like a good place to start" Blue stood up and offered Calla his hand.

"So we're going back?"

"Are you ready to face the angry men of the Faroe Islands?"

Blue smiled when Calla gave her simple reply.

"The real question is, are they ready for us?"

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So good to hear from so many this week :D

Happy to hear you still have work Draco, it is nice to have some consistency at this time. Funny thing though, I had to take my bus back to the depot today because with so little work about, the company I work for is cancelling the registration of most of the busses to save money (a wise move I'd say).

As to your question Vin, the lifespan of a dragon really depends on what author you are reading at the time. Some books have had dragons that are a few centuries old, but Smaug from The Hobbit was merely 171 years old. In contrast, the character Kanna from Miss Koboyashi's Dragon Maid was said to be a child because she was only 7000 years old (only?), and in some books dragons are simply immortal (unless they are stabbed in the soft underbelly by a short sword wielded by a small man with big hairy feet). I think the dragons in HTTYD live only a few hundred years but I'm assuming a Titan Wing Alpha could outlast the sun.

Good to hear from you again Guest (I assume you are the one from Florida and I like to pretend you are Lance Guest from The Last Starfighter... or did I say that before?) You could say the "I hate you"/"No you don't" line was a Doctor Who reference (I love those scenes with Matt and Alex the most; especially when Matt referred to Alex as Mrs Robinson), but I have seen it used many time in the past. In an odd coincidence, I saw it earlier today in a Steven Universe fan comic.

As usual, more story soon, Marty.