Hello! I am excited as we are now about 4 more chapters from the end! I know, I know... It will suck once the story ends, but I am sure you will like the ending. At least I hope so. Anyways, just cuz I love to prolong the inevitable, here is this chapter. Enjoy and forgive my mistakes.
The next day arrived. Everybody was anxious because the next day, the surprise attack on Gaozong and his men would happen. In the meantime, the militia did miscellaneous things like fishing, grooming themselves, etc. Although, there was one thing that caught most of their attention that day. Today was they day where Re would unlock his Titan Wing.
Half of the militia, gathered to witness the event, having known full well how the process goes as Windwalker went through it-and guided them through it-with all of them. Re was in the middle of the gathering. Windwalker faced him, staring at him.
"After witnessing what you saw with Toothless, are you willing to follow through with this?", Windwalker questioned him.
Re squinted his eyes in thought. After hearing from Hiccup himself that he was in no real danger, he figured nothing bad would happen to him. At least nothing too bad.
Re then bore a solemn expression. "Yes"
Windwalker smiled at him. "Good. Now, remove your armor"
Re's expression turned to one of confusion. "I'm sorry. What?", Re asked.
Windwalker snorted, "Remove. Your. Armor… Unless of course you don't want to unlock your Titan Wing that is", Windwalker said innocently.
Re paused briefly, then began to remove his golden armor, and crown. As he did this, Windwalker spoke. "My brothers and sisters, hear me. You have seen the extent of my abilities, and you shall witness them again. I can unlock any dragon's Titan Wing, and I have not failed yet to do so. Now, I will do the same, with the King of the dragons' homeland, known as Draconia. We shall see if he has what it takes!", Windwalker boomed. The dragons roared and cheered in excitement. Although, the Draconians and Berkians on the other hand were worried, especially Aurora.
Windwalker faced Re just as he finished removing his armor, bearing his emerald green scales, and kelly green underbelly to the crowd.
"Are you ready?", Windwalker asked. Re nodded.
Windwalker turned back to the group. "Alright. Now, all of you, if you wish witness his transformation, follow me and Re", Windwalker declared as she spread her wings and took off, with everybody following suit.
They all landed near the edge of a massive lake. Up above, a tiny speck dotted the sky. Dragon eyes could barely identify it to be Tiir, the yellow Hackatoo, hovering lazily high above the lake, with Chris standing on her back.
"Re, step forward"
The King did was he was told.
"Every dragon's metamorphosis into their Titan Wing is different. They each unlock theirs in certain ways. Yours starts up there". As Windwalker said this, she gestured with her head to Tiir and Chris. "Go"
Re looked up at his far away son,spread his wings and took off, vertically climbing the sky until he met his son and the dragon holding him aloft in the air.
Windwalker waited, until Re was but a speck in the sky, accompanying her rider.
"Re's task is simple. He must not hit the water. If he does, he will drown. Will he have what it takes to unlock his Titan Wing?", Windwalker announced.
The mountain-nest dragons looked on, waiting to see the King perform his task. His allies though, were confused.
"Wait, I don't understand. What do you mean 'drown'? Re is a good swimmer", his mate Aurora, questioned puzzled.
Windwalker turned toward the queen. "Not if he can't move his muscles", Windwalker replied. After she said that, Windwalker looked up toward her rider and fired a plasma blast, signaling for him to start.
Meanwhile, up in the air, Chris was chatting with his father.
"So, how are things in the kingdom?"
Re was hovering in the air besides Tiir. "Oh, things are running smoothly. Nothing major has happened besides a few volcanoes erupting", Re said.
"I thought those volcanoes were dormant", Chris commented.
"Nah, those things erupt here and there, luckily Aurora, Tenor, and I are able to handle the situation"
"I'm sorry…", Chris apologized after a few seconds.
"For what?"
"For not coming back. I wanted to really, but after forming a close bond with Windwalker and being caught up in the dragon-Song war for these past 10 years, I couldn't go back. Not until I defeated the Song. Once they weren't a threat anymore, I did plan on coming back to Draconian. Not a day went by without my mind on you, mom, Tenor, and Serenity. I swear it", Chris explained.
Re looked down, then gazed back at his son. He sighed. "It's okay. I understand that now that you are a man, I cannot restrict you anymore, but I need you to understand that we all missed you. THe kingdom wasn't the same without you. We were faced with a sudden change. We all had to adjust without you in our lives, especially Serenity. We had to carry on with our lives. But we NEVER forgot. We always had your memory in our hearts. Yes, it saddened us, but we knew you wouldn't want us to be sad, so we moved on. But we NEVER forgot. We would count down the years without you. Whenever I went flying, I would remember you on my back, embracing the sky. Whenever Aurora would lay down beside a fire, she would remember you snuggling up to her, under her wing. Whenever Tenor was sparring, he would remember teaching you basic combat skills, striving to be the best fighter in all of Draconia. Whenever Serenity was healing wounded dragons, she would remember practicing her healing abilities on you, whenever you had a minor scrape or cut. We NEVER forgot. I love you Chris. We all love you Chris. Some call me crazy, for loving a human as a son. I didn't care what they had to say. You will forever be my son", Re spoke valiantly.
Chris's eyes beamed with happiness. Tearing up slightly, he jumped from Tiir's back, to his dad's. He smiled. "I love you dad", Chris said happily as he kneeled down and hugged his dad's neck.
"I love you too son", Re replied as he turned his head around and rubbed it against his son's head.
At that moment, Chris spotted Windwalker's plasma blast, signaling him. Chris grinned as he broke apart from the embrace.
"Do you trust me, dad?"
"Of course I do", Re responded.
"Good...And I'm sorry"
"Chris there is nothing to be sorry about, I forgave you just now", Re replied confusedly.
"Not for that, for this", Chris smirked. As he finished his statement, Chris pulled back his arm and balled up his fist. He then sent his fist straight into the space between Re's wings, hitting a pressure point at the center of the wing base.
Re gasped as his wings failed him, falling from the sky. Chris simply fell off of him as his father tumbled around helplessly. Tiir dived after them and positioned herself near Chris, allowing him to grab onto her neck and ride her bareback.
Back on the ground, the group watched in horror as the King fell from the sky.
Aurora instinctively spread her wings, ready to take off and fly to her mate's rescue. However she was blocked by Windwalker.
"Get out of my way!", Aurora growled.
"No, every other dragon in my nest has overcome their challenge. If they can do it, Re, the king, can easily accomplish this",Windwalker soothed the worried queen.
"Every dragon can't swim without wings! We all rely on them as we do in the sky. We 'swim' by flying through the water", Stormfly squawked.
"Aurora, do you love Re?", Windwalker asked the queen.
"Why are you asking me this now?! Of course I love him!", Aurora yelled.
"Then trust him. Trust Re to do this", Windwalker calmly spoke.
Aurora looked up at Re, who slowly started to get bigger as he descended toward the water.
"Please tell me you have taken some sort of safety measures, like you did with Hiccup", Aurora pleaded.
Windwalker smiled. "Of course I do. I have my best dragons gliding over the lake. If Re hits the water, all of those dragons will converge to where he crashed and heave him out of the water. All your mate will suffer is a sore body from impacting the water. I assure you everything is under control"
Aurora looked at Re with worry as her mate got even closer to the water. She hesitantly furled her wings behind her back. "If he does hit the water, you will not stop me from rescuing him", Aurora said ferociously.
"Understandable", Windwalker said as she activated her Titan Wing. She then focused all of her power on Re.
Re was but a mere marionette at the hands of the sky. He roared in anger and fear. He tried to move his wings but that just made him flip and turn in the sky some more. Chris pulled up alongside him.
"Focus dad. Summon your Titan Wing".
"Easier said than done!", Re yelled.
"Dad, remember when you felt helpless for not being able to find me in the sea", Chris mentioned.
Re, despite his haphazard tumbling, recalled the horrible memory.
"Use that feeling dad. Let it motivate you. Make sure you never want to feel that ever again. Let it be your motivation. Save yourself, dad. I know you can do it", Chris bellowed with determination.
Re glanced at the rapidly approaching lake. He closed his eyes. He couldn't let his son down. He couldn't let his mate down. And for sure he wasn't going to let his himself down! He opened his eyes and looked at the lake. They were barely 600 feet above the lake. He replayed the memory of Chris falling of his saddle. Only this time, he was going to catch him! Re growled as he started to change. He closed his eyes as he tensed up, transforming. A good 20 feet from impact, he spat fire at the water, and spread his wings wide, immediately stopping him from hitting the water, and zoomed towards the stratosphere.
From the ground, the crowd grew anxious. Hiccup and his party were worried that he wouldn't make it in time. Tenor and Aurora hastily spread their wings, preparing to save their king. However they were stopped when they heard Windwalker utter 'I got him'.
They looked at her, utterly muddled. They snapped their heads towards Re, about to hit the water. Just as they were about to take off, a huge spout of water filled the sky, and an object zoomed towards the sky. The object was but a blur as he then dived back down to the ground, in front of the group. He then unfurled his wings at the last second and landed on the ground hard, but with his activated Titan Wing, he felt nothing.
The group gasped when they realized the object was Re, but he looked different. His kelly green underbelly turned aureolin yellow. His horizontally straight-ridged underbelly adorned a new form. They were now shaped like horizontally-stretched, upside-down V's. Every other ridge extended his newly-yellow scales up around his body, and stopped along his spine, forming incomplete circles. To the viewer, it seemed like Re had an upside-down yellow rib cage. His tail grew longer and a third of his tail was now covered in aureolin yellow scales. His horns grew longer and the membrane between his wings were now aureolin yellow. His face changed as well. He now had small yellow arc on his forehead. Under his eyes, there were 2 obtuse yellow triangles, one for each eye. He breathed a strong flame of fire and roared in triumph, spreading his wings wide in victory.
The group cheered, joyed that another dragon unlocked his Titan Wing.
"Re!", Aurora called out.
The king turned just in time as Aurora ran up to him and nuzzled him feverishly.
"You scared me!", the queen exclaimed, "I thought I was going to lose you"
Re smiled and nuzzled her back. "I not leaving you anytime soon, Aurora".
As they finished nuzzling each other, the people of Berk approached the king, giving their congratulations.
"My king, you look nice", Meatlug commented.
"I knew you could do it", exclaimed Belch.
"You are now stronger than ever", Cloudjumper complimented.
"I never doubted you for a moment", Toothless added, then he bowed down to his king. The rest of the Berk dragons followed suit.
Re blushed. "Rise"
They did as they were told.
At that moment, Tiir landed and Chris hopped off, moving toward his father. "See. I knew you had it in you", Chris chuckled.
Re beamed and nuzzled his son, who in turn hugged his head.
Windwalker approached them, still bearing her Titan Wing. "You passed...obviously. Now much like I told Toothless, I need you to remember this , remember the surge you felt. Whatever you thought of, remember it every time you want to activate your Titan Wing. It is crucial. Expand on it, let it take you. Let it guide your body. Do not deny the power, accept it. Can you do that Re?"
Re nodded and bowed his head, in respect. "Thank you Windwalker, for helping me unlock my TItan Wing. I appreciate that". Windwalker smiled.
"Um, how do I turn it off?", Re asked sheepishly.
"Oh, that's simple. It goes away after some time, but once you feel that whatever task is over and done with, just see yourself as your former self. Your body should take care of the rest. In your case, once you are done being excited with your new change, you should be able to revert back", Windwalker answered.
Re grinned, overjoyed that he has become the first Draconian to unlock his Titan Wing. Not only did he plan to use his new-found ability to defend his loved ones and his country, but planned to help win this dreaded war, starting with the ambush the following day.