The next days of proving my talent of training dragons, instead of fighting them had gotten me far, and popular. Every day after dragon training or a day off from the forge and training, I would go and play with Toothless. Through the whole week I've been taught more about protection and survival in the wilderness, but of Toothless? He showed me the dragons' weaknesses because he trusted me, and also let me help him with his tail. I struggled, trying to make him allow me to place his tail on. But every time I did, he backed away, whining. As if he was still hurt. That's when I decided I would wait a few more days, by earning his trust. He taught me that eels were bad for dragons; a scratch underneath the chin would paralyze a dragon for a few minutes, his daily habits, and once I forgot to leave my hammer behind, but am I glad I did? Yes I am.
It happened once I was on my way to give him his breakfast after training. Unfortunately, I slept for too long, and I almost forgot to attend in training that day. Which made Gobber a little mad. Toothless was a bit grumpy when I came with the fish, because I would always come before training instead of after. That's when I remembered my small hammer. Turns out the sun reflected on it, shining back on the ground. First I didn't understand why Toothless left his pile of fish, but whenever I moved he did too. Then I noticed the light he was chasing, came from my hammer. I took it completely out of my sleeve where it had settled itself, and started to lay around with Toothless. The next day of training I used one of the shields to reflect the sun to the ground. The so called Terrible Terror chased it and I managed to lure it back into its cage again.
Today I decided to try again on attaching the tail fin I had built for him. He hesitated, but allowed me to try it on. As I had attached it I noticed something was needed for it to hold up, but Toothless got too excited and taught it was finished, then with me on his tail he began to fly. Lucky for him, I was there to prevent him from crashing to the ground by opening the tailfin. The wind had pushed it back in being unable to hold still on his own.
"Toothless, we have to land. There's a problem," I said, struggling to hold the tail fin open because of the wind blowing on it as if begging it to close. He obeyed and landed not far from the basket I had with me, and looked at me confused.
"The tail won't be able to stay open by itself, but don't worry. I will find a way of getting you back up in the air. I promise," With that I sat down, thinking of a way to fix the problem. My first thought was a rope. A rope to hold it up, but then again I will need something to hold on to. I started drawing a saddle next to a list of materials I would need to make this. To the saddle I needed something for safety, so I wouldn't fall of by a sharp turn. Maybe a flight suit too? For protection of shoulder, elbows and it could connect to my harness around the waist.
"What do you think bud? Think that will be good enough?" I asked, showing him my sketches. He gave me an approving smile, lying back down beside me. Ever since that one night in the cove, where I fell asleep and Gobber almost cut my head of the next day, he allowed me to lean onto him. Even sleep with him! Ok, not that way. Eww, gross.
After staying with Toothless for a while, I finished sketching my new inventions and went back to the forge. Gobber wasn't there so it would be easier for me to hide the project from him. To start with I got the rope, and went back to the cove to test it. It didn't work very well. I figured the problem was that his tail was in the wrong position. I always thought the tail would stay in one position, but it changes when he change his flying 'mode'.
After making a new sketch, I found a way to fix the problem a bit. My first taught was fest the rope to my foot, but then I needed support for my foot to stay on. Once I fixed that, I went back and tested it, but it was still not good enough. Then I got an idea. By connecting the rope to the foot supporter, making that the 'leader' of the tail. It made progress, but I still fell off. Then it hit me. The problem was that the tail needed support! I made long metal pieces to keep the rope from jumping out of its spot. That way, I was able to get him steady in the air. Now I only needed to learn his way of flying.
"Okay, Toothless. Ya think you could teach me the tail fin thingy now?" I asked, he grumbled, continuing to eat his pile of fish. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile," I muttered the last, but surprisingly he heard it. Out of nowhere he slapped me in the face with his tailfin.
"Ha ha, very funny," I said sarcastically.
He finished eating and I flew out of the cove by leaning my foot forward with pressure. Unfortunately, we crashed. I landed a few feet away from Toothless, and found him enjoying the grass. Maybe all the dragons like this? I picked up some and placed it in my sleeve. It was hard to get Toothless out of here, but eventually he gave in and followed me to a cliff.
"Let's take this nice and slow ok?" I tied a rope around a broken tree branch and attached it to the saddle. Toothless flew a foot up in the air, gliding as the wind held us up. I pulled out my sketch book, and did some test's on how to control the tailfin properly. It took an hour or so, with falling and trembling down the cliff side, but eventually I managed to find the proper positions for the different flying modes.
"What do you say we take this to the next level?" I asked him, untying the rope to his saddle. He gave me a growl, nodding I hope, and we set off to the sky. We did some tricks, dives and drops which was not my idea. Looks like he thought it was funny, listening to me screaming for my dear life.
"Let's get back, I think I'm about to puke," He snorted, diving down to the cove but keeping a low cover. "I'll come back tomorrow after training, last day of being selected. I just hope it's not me," With that I left.