Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Please review; It tells me what I need to improve on so I can write the next chapter with better quality. Also, if you enjoyed my story so far and you want it to continue, REVIEW! It's my motivation!

Just for reference, I always viewed Hiccup and his friends as the age of around ~15. Just in case if some of you are wondering.

Surrounding Hiccup was a lush green forest with small streaks of sunlight peeking through the leaves of the trees above. He noticed that he was in a clearing, standing on green grass peppered with a multitude of different flowers, some he could name off the back of his hand, and others he had never seen. The young Viking gazed around, admiring the beauty of the expanse he was in. A few yards in front of him was a familiar Night Fury, who had his back turned towards him.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called, overjoyed to see his dragon. The boy began running towards Toothless. As he ran closer, the dragon seemed to tense up, his claws dug into the ground and no part of his body seemed to stir.

"Toothless, bud! I missed you so much!" Hiccup said as he ran up to the side of the Night Fury. He brought his hand up the dragon's neck, about to give him a scratch when Toothless suddenly leapt up into the air and pinned the boy to the ground with his paw. Hiccup felt the paw digging into his chest, limiting his ability to breathe. The dragon's breath smelled of rotten fish and the eyes looked of anger and pure hatred. Hiccup heard his heart pounding like a bass drum in his ear, his breathing short and irregular.

"T-Toothless! It's me Hiccup!" Hiccup pleaded to his dragon. The Night Fury opened his mouth with its teeth retracted and pulled his upper body off the ground, green gas now collecting in its mouth. The dragon aimed his mouth down at the boy, the gas now turning blue. The dragon breathed in through its snout as Hiccup slightly tilted his head away, his eyes still fixed onto the dragon with fear.

With a ear deafening blast, Hiccup watched in horror as the bright blue plasma ball launc-

The boy abruptly jumped up out of his sleep, his hand clenching his chest as he looked around, relieved that he was still in his shelter and it was all just a dream. His shirt was drenched in sweat and his heart was beating like crazy.

"It.. It was just a dream…" Hiccup sighed as he climbed out of the depression. The forest was dimly lighted, small peaks of early morning sunlight shining through the trees in certain spots. He could hear the birds chirping in the trees above, singing their usual morning songs. Hiccup ran his hand down his injured leg, checking to see how the wound was healing. Luckily, the wound wasn't unusually painful to the touch, and there were no signs of infection. Finally, some good news for Hiccup.

The young Viking stood up and stretched his arms, suddenly reminded by his stomach about how hungry he was; His stomach ached with hunger, and his throat was sore from a lack of water. He quickly scanned around the forest for anything that could be edible or drinkable. The teen slid his knife into his belt and began treading through the forest, leaving the fin behind in the shelter as he expected to return later.

Hiccup badly wanted to find Toothless to attempt reacquiring his memory back first, but his stomach strongly disagreed. He knew he wouldn't be able make rational decisions when he was weighed down by hunger and thirst.

Exploring the forest nearby his shelter, he stumbled onto a bush that was dotted with different berries. Some berries were red, or purplish black, but most of them were black. The stems were covered in small spikes, and under each berry were about five smaller leaves. Hiccup carefully plucked one off its stem and examined it, trying to recognize what kind of berry it is, and to see if it was edible.

It looked sort like a raspberry, but the thorns were too big and the color was much darker. On Berk, there were no berries like this, so Hiccup assumed this species of plant must be indigenous to this area only. A growl emitted from Hiccup's stomach as he stared at the berry, debating whether if he should eat it or not. Normally, he wouldn't even think about eating a wild berry that he couldn't identify, but he was just so hungry…

He popped the berry into his mouth, squishing it around his teeth, hoping that it wasn't poisonous. As he chewed on the berry, Hiccup's eyes widened at the realization of how tangy and sweet it was.

The young Viking ravenously picked as many of the unknown berries as he could without touching the thorns and shoved them into his mouth. Red juices dripped off the side of his mouth as he inhaled handfuls after handfuls of berries.

After eating a considerable amount, he happily wiped his mouth with his sleeve. The pound of berries he had consumed had staved off his hunger, as well as his thirst. Now he could focus on Toothless. Hiccup, now satisfied with a full stomach and a red stained mouth began walking back to his shelter.

"Now, how will I get Toothless to remember?" Hiccup pondered as he ducked under a branch. "Maybe I could get a fish and try offering him it again? It seemed to work well last time…" Hiccup disregarded this immediately because, one, how would he get a fish? He doesn't have a fishing rod nor any other fishing equipment. Two, Toothless would probably have an easier time to find food here and therefore less likely to accept it from Hiccup since he isn't stuck in the valley like the first time they bonded.

"I wonder if I'll ever get his memory back…" Hiccup sighed with guilt as he came into sight of his shelter. He reached into the shelter and grabbed the fin as he set off for the clearing where he encountered Toothless.

***LINEBREAK****

As Hiccup entered the clearing, a chill went down his spine as he remembered the events of the night before. The boy inched closer to the center of the clearing, still a little shaky. Hiccup distinctly remembered that there was large mountain over the trees in the direction that Toothless leapt into. Hiccup surveyed the treetops surrounding the clearing, pinpointing the mountain that his dragon headed to. The boy began trekking into the thick bush in front of him in the direction of the mountain, hoping that Toothless hadn't turned when he left the clearing.

Hours had passed from hiking through the woods, his leg extremely sore and again, his stomach gnawed with hunger. But by then, the forest had thinned out into a more grassy plain, with trees here and there, but mostly grass that reached up to his knee. Fortunately for Hiccup, Grass was much easier to traverse than thick northern growth.

In the distant, a small shimmer of light shone from the surface of the ground. Curious, Hiccup got closer, realizing that the shimmer of light was from a small pond, and in front of the small pond was a cave embedded into the side of the wall of rocks that lead up the mountain.

"Toothless!" Hiccup hollered as he got closer to the pond. No response. Hiccup sighed with disappointment as he walked closer to the pond.

Gazing down, he caught a glimpse of a lone black scale sticking out from the plentiful rocks that surrounded the pond. He lift the scale up, it had the same jet black and the glossy properties as the one from the beach, no doubt that his dragon had been here before. He stepped up to the edge of the small pond and crouched down, staring at his reflection. At first glance, he couldn't recognize that this reflection was him! His face was dirty with grime and brown splotches of dirt, with dried blood on the side of his cheek. Hiccup cupped his hands, splashing water up to his face as he sighed with content at the feeling of the cool water washing away the filth.

A hot puff of air blew over his neck, compelling him to freeze as the hairs on his neck standing straight up. He heard distinct snort coming from behind him along with a continual low growl. He carefully stood up, slowly inching his way off the ground, trying to not startle whatever creature that was behind him. The young Viking turned around discreetly. He was ecstatic at the sight of Toothless, but at the same time, petrified that the dragon could kill him without thinking twice.

Hiccup took a step back, paralleling the side of the lake. The Night Fury stood its ground, teeth bearing and a growl emanating from its throat. Hiccup slowly moved his hand into his jacket and pulled on the handle of his knife. The dragon growled louder, asserting that if he even dare try to use it, the result would be messy.

The teen used two fingers and lifted the knife by its handle, moving it away from his body. The dragon nodded his head to the side of the pond, informing Hiccup that if he didn't want to be a Night Fury's dinner, he better dispose of that tool. Hiccup obliged and dropped it, a splash rippled the pond as the blade hit the water.

The dragon slightly dropped its guard as it relaxed its stance into a more docile one, its eyes still slits, but now less aggressive looking and more passive.

"Toothless, its me, Hiccup. We slain the dragon queen together… Remember bud?" Hiccup asked in a calm voice. He glanced over the red blotch of blood on Toothless's head. The wound was still visible, a poignant reminder of what a careless mistake did to his best friend. The young Viking stepped closer to the dragon, extending his hand with the artificial fin towards the Night Fury. Curiously, Toothless advanced closer to the fin, sniffing it a little.

"Recognize this Toothless? It's the fin I made to replace yours when I shot you down…" Hiccup spoke as he pointed to the missing half of Toothless's tail with his other hand.

The dragon huffed and trotted back to the direction of its cave, oblivious to what the human was saying. Toothless laid down in the mouth of the cave, its tail wrapped around the front of his body. The dragon knew that without the shiny object, Hiccup was just as dangerous as a rodent. With that, the Night Fury closed its eyes and snoozed off, his ears still trained to what the young Viking was doing.

"Well, what do I do now?" Hiccup said in sadness as he took a seat on the side of the pond, sulking. "I guess I really am a failure…" Hiccup said as his stomach rumbled loudly. Seemingly, the Night Fury heard this as well and got up, going further into his cave. Hiccup focused his eyes on the dragon as he walked back out, nothing different about him. The dragon treaded closer to Hiccup as the boy shifted anxiously as to what the dragon was up to. The dragon now loomed over Hiccup, who was now using his forearm to form a barrier between him and the dragon.

"T-Toothless, don-"

"UURK, HRRCH, HRRCH"

A sound was heard from the dragon as he deposited onto Hiccup's lap, a what seemed to be, the back half of a partially eaten rabbit with the tail still jutting out of the rump.

"Ugh." Hiccup recoiled from the foul smell of the rabbit on his lap. Raw fish, he could manage to swallow, but an uncooked, half-eaten rabbit with fur still attached? The teen looked up as the dragon tilted his head, questioning why Hiccup wasn't eating, since the boy was obviously hungry.

"Uhh, no thanks, here you have it." Hiccup offering back the half-eaten rabbit. The Night Fury shook its head, signifying that it was for the teen.

"What's that over there?" Hiccup thinking fast, pointing in a random direction. Toothless followed his finger and stared in the same direction, confused as to what the human was gesturing to. Hiccup took advantage of this brief moment and chucked the rabbit into the pond.

Toothless turned his head back to Hiccup, who was rubbing his stomach with forced grin appearing on his face. In his most convincing voice, Hiccup said "I guess you missed it! And yum, that was a tasty rabbit!"

The Night Fury glanced over to the small pool of water, and seeing the floating remains of the rabbit, untouched. The dragon snarled at Hiccup, insulted that his offering was rejected.

The young Viking crawled back, with an insulted Night Fury unfurling its mouth to show its fearsomely sharp teeth. Hiccup stood off the ground shaking while the aggravated Night Fury ambled back to its cave.

"Toothless gave me a chance and I BLEW IT! Great job Hiccup." The teen remarked, slapping the side of his forehead in failure. The boy slowly walked away from the pond, giving up for the day to search for a place to call home when a roar rung in his ear fro direction of the pond. Hiccup turned around and sprinted back to Toothless, another roar was heard, this time he recognized it as Toothless's.

Hiccup sped up, sprinting as fast as he could without hurting his leg. He halted to a stop, couldn't help but gasped at the sight in front of him. Toothless was snarling fiercely, his stance the most aggressive he had ever seen, and the receiving end of the snarling was another dragon; brown in color, and its tailfin looking like a burnt mess. The other dragon was the one he would never forget; it was the one that that they had to confront and was a partial cause for the crash.

"Oh gods, the Skrill…"

Ooh, another cliff-hanger, that's how much I love you guys. PLEASE REVIEW MY FANFIC. IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE NEXT CHAPTER QUICKLY, PLEASE REVIEW!

I don't mean to be rude and forceful, but reviewing improves my writing, but most important of all, it motivates me to keep writing. So now about the berries; I was referring the unknown berries as blackberries, which come in reddish purple, and black, depending on how ripe they are.

On a lighter note I cant help but notice that, after every chapter I write, the next one gets longer:

CH1 = 1373 words

CH2 = 1864 words

CH3 = 1972 words

CH4 = 2117 words

CH5 = 2633 words

Thanks for the last time, WandaCosmoForever for the idea and Annabeth The Unicorn for the confidence to go with it.