After they had set up their campsite, their bedrolls and furs laid out around the prepared fireplace, Shadow sat down with the others to teach them how to speak in the dragon's tongue. The twins and Snotlout weren't the best at imitating the draconic sounds, but showed some promise. Astrid was very good at recreating the hisses and growls needed to speak the language, but she had trouble making the lower pitched sounds like low rumbles and roars. Hiccup and Fishlegs were by far the best, Fishlegs being able to match the correct pitch for each sound, but Hiccup surpassed them all. He was soon forming coherent sentences that Shadow could clearly understand, even with his strange Night Fury like accent.
Once the other dragons understood what they were doing, they eagerly joined in with attempting to communicate. Soon, everyone was able to speak and understand simple phrases, with Hiccup beginning to have more complex conversations with Toothless.
After they took a break, Hiccup came back with a suggestion.
"Would it be at all possible to speak to and tame the Black Moon dragon?" he asked. Shadow lifted her eyebrows. "I mean, think about it. The new moon is in two weeks, and that's the time when it's supposed to return. What if we could speak to it, show it that we are friendly, and possibly tame it?"
Shadow was apprehensive of the idea. She knew how unpredictable the beast could be when faced with humans so early after the transformation, and she doubted it could go well if they sought it out. She voiced her opinion of the matter, but Hiccup didn't give up his idea.
After half an hour of discussion, Shadow sighed.
"How about I teach you what to do if you ever come across it and wish to live to see the next sunrise?" she suggested.
The others looked at her with an expression of perplexity, and she elaborated. "The Black Moon can be very unpredictable, especially around humans. If you don't know how to react properly it may very well see you as a threat and try to eat you, but if you know how to react and address it properly you might have a chance at living. I am willing to teach you this, but I cannot offer anything on how to train it."
They looked at each other for a moment and then agreed. Hiccup was chosen to be the first to learn. Shadow instructed him to stand and face her.
"What I'm going to teach you is how to react if you ever come across this beast. I would recommend running away before attempting this however, portraying yourself as a subordinate is the best way of getting it to leave you alone. If you intentionally show yourself as the weaker one in the equation, it should see you as not worth the effort to incinerate. But if you have no choice but to face it this is what you do." She said.
Shadow took a fighting stance and puffed out her chest, growling.
"Now, for this, I want you to imagine that I am the Black Moon, and I have perceived you as a threat. You want to make yourself appear to be my equal, and that your intentions are non aggressive towards me. Mimic my stance and copy what I do, with more intensity if possible."
Hiccup took a fighters stance and puffed out his chest. It was a pitiful achievement due to his small stature. But he produced an impressive growl.
Shadow stomped her front foot on the ground with a loud thud and Hiccup flinched.
"No. you cannot flinch. If you relent to its force, you've lost. Possibly your life if it chooses to kill you for it. You must not react to it at all. Show your dominance and strength."
She stamped again. Hiccup only blinked in surprise as her foot came down. "You cannot blink either. Again."
This time, when she stamped her foot, he didn't react. He was getting the hang of it. Then she snarled aggressively at him, baring her sharp teeth and he stiffened. "Do not react. Try again."
They did it two more times before he could stand there and take it without flinching. Then she instructed him to do it at her. His stomp was weak, but the growl showed much promise. She had him do it a few more times before he got it right.
She smirked at him mischievously at him before stepping forward with her back leg and stomping again, opening her mouth to snarl loudly at him. Hiccup was surprised at her hostility and took two steps back. He lost again.
This time, it many more tries before he was able to not flinch at her sudden movement.
"Remember, the Black Moon is a lot bigger than I am. Much bigger than your Night Fury is too. Its growls and roars will be a lot more ferocious than mine, so you have to take that into account." She smirked. "If you came across a hatchling, you might have a chance."
He huffed at her and stomped again, surprising her with a loud roar of his own. He snarled at her for emphasis. Shadow was impressed, he caused her to take a step back.
She smiled and nodded, he was getting much better. She secretly hoped that he would never need to use this information, that she would be gone before he ever had a chance to see it. But she was glad that he would have a good chance at living if he was ever unfortunate enough to meet the great black beast.
They continued the challenge quite a few more times until she was satisfied. Hiccup could withstand her roaring at him, and could dish it out almost as good, but she wouldn't admit that. She explained to all of them that the challenge could go of for quite a while before one of the combatants yields to the victor.
Toothless walked up to her and mimicked her stance, initiating the challenge, but he warbled to her that he wanted to try it against her as a practice. She saw the glint in the Night Fury's eyes, he just wanted to have a little fun and copy his rider.
Shadow smiled and went up against Toothless, their low growls became hisses and then snarls, and the snarls increased in volume until they became full blown roars. Neither seemed to want to give up, but the sound of yips and munching caught their attention at the same time.
Terrible Terrors had been eating all their food while they were distracted. The little dragons realized that they were growling at each other and used their lack of concentration to get a free meal.
The teens groaned as they realized their dinner had already been eaten, and they were left with nothing.
"Well, do we want to go all the way back home for more food or what?" asked Snotlout.
Shadow narrowed her eyes curiously. "Why don't you just hunt for more food? I'd say that's the easiest option here."
Then she realised, none of them had proper hunting weapons. None of them could use a bow. Neither did they have one. She facepalmed.
"How do you guys even get meat in the first place? Do you just farm anything?" they nodded. "Can any of you hunt anything other than fish?" their heads shook.
Shadow sighed and stood up. Fishlegs called out to her and asked what she was up to. A few minutes later she came back with a few long, bendy branches and sat down with her knife...
this chapter was starting to get a bit long so I had cut it short. the next chapter continues directly after this. I didn't have much to do today so I just binge wrote the next three chapters. lol. anyway. rate and review! Pretty please.