How to Train Your Dragon: the Novelization

Chapter 4: Know Your Dragon; A Forbidden Friendship

Late at Night

Berk Council Hall

Later that night, Hiccup had found his way back to the council building. There, he opened the massive wooden doors and peered inside. And as to be expected, the room was dark and empty. Using a candle for the only source of light available to him, he walked towards the table where the book lay. He set his candle down and sat on the bench, opening the large book.

"Dragon Classifications:" Hiccup read to himself out loud as he looked at the table of contents of the book, "Strike class, Fear class, Mystery class, Rare/Extinct class."

He turned to the first page, which bared a picture of a very monstrous looking dragon. The dragon looked like a jet engine with a tail and two wings on its limbless body.

"The ThunderDrum," He read to himself silently, as he began to read the description of the named dragon, "This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide-pools. When startled, the Thunder Drum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight." Hiccup cocked an eyebrow and a pondering frown, as he realized that he had never seen this dragon before. But after reading how it killed its opponents/victims, he didn't plan on meeting it anytime soon.

Hiccup then turned the page to reveal another dragon. "The TimberJack," the illustration showed a picture of a dragon with a long neck, beak, non-existent limbs, but it did have a pair of extremely large wings… that looked razor sharp blades. "This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

Hiccup turned the page again, seeing a dragon with a head resembling that of a turtle's. It was spewing water out at attacking Vikings, and they were either burned or melted. "Scaldron-" This was the dragon Fishlegs had been talking about. "Sprays scalding water at it's victims. Extremely dangerous… " Hiccup was cut off by a loud boom of thunder, which startled him. He turned and only saw the door slightly open, showing lighting and rain were still going on outside. Once he realized that nothing was there, he turned back to the book and began to read again.

"Change Wing-" he read to himself, as he turned the page again, "Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."

As he flipped through the pages he saw the more common dragons: Napper, Terrible Terror, Volcanoback, Gronkle, ZippleBack, Monstrous Nightmare, Bone-Napper. There were so many dragons, and all had nasty ways of killing it's prey. And they all said the exact same thing: Extremely vicious, Kill on Sight.

Hiccup continued to read them out loud, "Burns it's victims, parries it's victims, chokes it's victims, turns it's victims inside-out." Hiccup continued to flip through the many pages. Under most dragons was written 'Extremely dangerous' and under every single dragon 'Kill on sight.' was written in large, bold letters.

He stopped once he reached the practically blank page that was titled Night Fury, and he began to read what little information there was about it.

"The Night Fury," Hiccup read to himself as he read out what was known about it, "Speed: Unknown. Size: Unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you."

"Which is what most Vikings should do, souhd they ever come across the Night Fury."

Hiccup nearly jumped out of his seat as he turned around, and saw Unfer, standing there iwht a candle in his hand. Nearly having the wind knocked out of him, Hiccup gasped, "Unfer! Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same question," he defended as he walked over, and noticed the book of Dragons. He then nodded, "Ah, I see. Late-night studying, it seems."

"Yeah, pretty much," Hiccup stated, finally calming down and sitting back down. "I've been trying to find out some information on the Night Fury. But so far," he stated as he took a deep sigh of disappointment as he leaned on his left arm, and tapped the book with his right hand, "Nothing as much. All it says is to run and hide. And mostly every other dragon is Extremely Dangerous or Kill on Sight. It doesn't even mention any weak spots."

"Well, most wouldn't be able to," Unfer stated as he now stood next to Hiccup and leaned in on the book, "Most must learn from experience of a dragon's weak point." he then turned the pages of the book, to an illustration much older than the book itself, "Take this dragon for example."

Hiccup's attention was now turned to the illustration of what appeared to be an old-fashioned Western Dragon colored in a magnificent scaly coat of sun yellow scales. The dragon couldn't have been more than twenty-five feet on the height level of the picture, and its wingspan was probably 35 or 50 feet long. It had an elongated neck, as did most dragons, and a crown of horns adorning its head as well as its cheeks. It yellow catlike eyes, much like the Night Fury that he saw, but no nose horn either. Its hind legs were powerful looking, as was its forearms, and both limbs had four clawed appendages that the bone structure was resemblance to a human's. on its back and neck, as well as forearms, thighs, and tail, as well as its helmet styled head, brown armored plating scales were there. It had a noble and honorable aura around it, even if it was a drawing. On top of the illustration, it read only one name…

"The Golden Fleece," Hiccup began as he read the description, "Known to be one of the most powerful of the dragons, and the most combat experienced dragon ever. So named for the armor plating on its body; incapable of being penetrated, as well as its habit of flying in front of the sun, hiding in it to blind its enemies. This beast can spew out flames from both its mouth and throat, when come into contact, can cause explosive blasts from the flames. Its tail is also a defensive weapon, in changing into an ax/mace of sorts. Extremely dangerous, either kill or run away. One thing must be known: Fight at your own risk if facing against this dragon."

"Well, that's the part they tell you," Unfer explained as he pulled out his dagger, and used it to point to what appeared to be a red spot, shaped like a diamond, at the throat of the illustrated dragon, "What they won't tell you, is that there's an exposed vulnerable piece of flesh under the throat. That's where its heart is located and unprotected," he explained as he put the blade under Hiccup's throat, nearly making the boy flinch in fear, "You have to go in with a dagger or sword, either stabbing the heart or pulling it out. It's the only way to kill the Golden Fleece."

"Uh, yeah," Hiccup gulped as he tried to pull away from the dagger's bladed side, "That's um… that's, that's very informative."

"Isn't it?" Unfer chuckled as he pulled the blade away, with Hiccup rubbing his throat. Re-sheathing the blade, Unfer made his way into the shadows, but not before he let one bit of advice to Hiccup, "Goodnight, Hiccup. Watch out for Night Furies," and disappeared into the shadows with only his light showing as he finished, "I'm sure, even at night, your imagination is teeming with them."

As soon as he was gone, Hiccup sighed in relief as he muttered, "Boy, that guy's scary beyond all reason."

Hiccup pulled out his pocket book from the pocket inside his vest, and opened it to the page where the picture of the Night Fury was. Surely from what he saw in the canyon, this dragon couldn't be as bad as the manual said it was. Sure the species had destroyed hundreds of Viking houses, but with one flaw as simple as a faulty tail fin, this dragon was nothing harmful like he was.

Good as dead.

And plus, once it was freed from the ropes, it hadn't killed Hiccup when it had the chance.

Hiccup decided he better get to bed, he had another day of training in the morning. He put his pocket book away and closed the Dragon Manual. Grabbing his almost burnt out candle, he left the dark stone room and headed through the still raging storm to his house.

Though as he left to go home, he thought of his father, Stoick, and the deal they had made again. Well, the deal his father made in their one-voiced deal. He had been dwelling on it ever since he 'agreed' to it. He didn't want to disappoint his father, but he didn't want to kill any dragons, not after when he freed the Night Fury.

And even more so, he also wanted to learn more about the Night Fury in the canyon. It was only in his nature to want to know more. He may not have been strong like his father was, but he made up for it with his intelligence and curiosity. He decided that during training tomorrow, he would ask Gobber for more information on Night Furies, seeing as the manual didn't help him much.

Elsewhere

Out at Sea

The mighty fleet of Vikings ships continued to sail along the oceans, reaching the border of a fogged up section of the ocean. Stoick was fervently glaring at the map, obsessed with finding the nest. "It's out there," he told himself as he looked out to their next search target, "I can practically smell the dragons' brimstone."

The fog was so thick, you could barely able to see the ocean floor in it, let alone the skies that it blanketed. It was known to those of the Hairy Hooligan Vikings of Berk, as well as other tribes all over the European area, as the Gates of Helhydan, as some religious explorers had known to call it. And this was perhaps to where Stoick hoped to find the nest.

"Take us in," he ordered the others.

The ships then made their turns into the fogged up abyss, nearly disappearing as the last ship sunk right into it. It was quiet for only fifteen minutes… until the roar of a Monstrous Nightmare could be heard, and seen within the darkened thick fog were flames being spewed in all directions.

The Next Day

Back in Berk

Dragon Training Coliseum

Hiccup had woken up early enough, so that he could get ready and make it to the training arena in time for Gobber's next training lesson. Yesterday, Gobber had said they would be working with a Deadly Nadder today. Now from what every Viking, adult and teenager, had heard, Nadders were considered one of the less dangerous dragons, but they still seemed pretty deadly, even to Hiccup.

From what he read from the book last night, Nadders were normally a bright shade of blue, with pale yellow stripes, but they could range in different colors; from dark blue to even purple with orange stripes. They had large heads equipped with a large crown of spikes on the back, and one spike on the nose. In truth, their heads were shaped to be similar to a parrot, or some sort of bird predator. They had fairly big wings, in which some were considered to be tiny, and no arms, and their tails were covered with sharp quills that flexed in and out like a porcupine's, and that could be shot at their victims like darts.

He walked across the wooden suspension bridge, and at the other end of it was the arena. When Hiccup got close enough to see the ring, and ran on in, he stopped as he noticed a bunch of wooden barriers were set up inside. The walls had made maze like hallways and barriers. What Gobber had planned in this kind of training, only Gobber knew and wasn't telling.

As usual, the other Viking teenagers, including Astrid, were waiting for him when he got there. They all looked very displeased that they had to wait for him. Hiccup grabbed an ax and fixed his arm gauntlet to Shield Mode, and stepped inside. The other teens just did their best to ignore them

"Alright," said Gobber as he suddenly appeared from behind one of the barriers. Well, in truth, he was outside the coliseum, looking down at the teenagers, leaning down on one of the railings as his prosthetic hammer hand was swinging on the side. "I'll be lettin' the dragon out. Take yer places," he left the ring, and shut the doors behind him.

Hiccup backed up against one of the wooden walls, as he heard the door to the Nadder's cage open. He looked up and saw Gobber, watching donw on them. Hiccup decided that he'd ask him about the Night Fury now, of all times.

Unfortunately… this wasn't the best time for questions.

"Hey," he yelled at him, getting the veteran's attention, "I just happen to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there like, another book, or a sequel, maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?" Hiccup asked, not noticing the large ball of fire that was hurling towards him, destined to hit his ax which he was holding up at his side.

"Focus, Hiccup! You're not even tryin'," Gobber yelled, as Hiccup's ax was melted right off it's handle. Now the only weapon Hiccup was holding a metal stick that was glowing red on the end of it from the intense heat.

"Whoa!" He yelled in surprise as he ran through the maze. "I really hope the shield can hold up on this kind of heat," he silently prayed to himself as he made a turn down one of the corridors.

"Today," Gobber stated calmly as he began his lecture, "… is all about ATTACK! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. You're job is to be quicker and lighter!"

Jumping up and perched itself on the wall, was the dragon for the day. It was probably around eleven feet in height, sixteen in length, with the skeletal structure of an eagle. It was bipedal and its arms were twelve foot wings. However, its was colored a bright blue, with a light yellow/white underbelly, and its wings were a combination of yellow, orange and green. Its head was somewhat in bird-designed, with its one horned nose ending at a beak hook, and on the back of its head was a crown of spikes that flexed like a parrot's feathered head. Its long blue and yellow striped tail was coated with a series of venomous spikes that could flex out like the mane, but inject venom. This was the Deadly Nadder, the most beautiful of all the dragons, and one of the fastest, as well as having the hottest fire breath out of all the known dragons.

The Nadder was now perched on the wooden walls, jumping easily from one wall to the next. It lifted its spiked tail in the air and launched a battery of quills into Fishlegs' shield.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" He yelled out in a running storm, as he ran blindingly through the maze.

"Look for it's blind spot," Gobber said, looking bored as his students ran for their lives. "Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and then strike."

Hiccup ran through one of the passageways, going past the twins as he did so. Ruffnut and Tuffnut ran around a corner, just to find themselves standing face to face with the Deadly Nadder. Ruffnut was standing right behind Tuffnut, who was trying to get out of the dragon's face. It seemed to work, as with the twins standing six inches from its beaked maw. They had unintentionally found the blind spot, and were completely unseen, until Ruffnut took one whiff, and her face contorted with disgust.

"Yuck, do you ever bathe?" she asked Tuffnut.

"Marinate in it, Babe," Tuffnut said, pushing his sister back. "If you don't like it then get your own blind spot."

"How about I give you one!" Ruffnut threatened, as she pushed back.

Tuffnut didn't have time to respond, because right after she said it, the Nadder expelled a great deal of piping hot fire. Tuffnut and Ruffnut got out of the way before they became dragon food.

"Blind spot yes. Death spot not so much," Gobber commented.

Astrid, Snotlout, Syn, and Hiccup ran through the maze. While Hiccup was running, he spotted Gobber at the top and decided he'd try and get more information out of him.

"Hey," he said to Gobber, as he stopped running for only a moment, "So how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" He tried.

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale." Gobber replied calmly, until he yelled out, extremely annoyed, "Now… GET IN THERE!"

"I know, I know. But, hypothetically…" Hiccup said, as he backed up. However, he turned around, and saw Astrid, Syn, and Snotlout hiding behind their shields. Astrid was making a gesture that obviously meant, 'Get down!' Her scowling glare at him was obvious of that assumption.

Hiccup got down and hid behind them. Astrid peered around the corner of one of the barriers, and saw the Nadder sniffing at the ground. The very scene filled the young teen girl Viking with an adrenaline rush to help her in this test. She skillfully and quietly rolled passed the dragon to the other side of the hallway, Snotlout followed, as did Syn. However, Syn stopped for a moment, looking back at the hesitant Hiccup.

She beckened him to come along. "C'mon, Hiccup. Move it," she whispered to him.

When Hiccup tried to copy the three, as he took Syn's advice to move, he failed tremendously. His roll was perfect, except for one minor flaw at the finish. He didn't complete the roll, and came to a stop right in front of the Nadder, catching its attention. He quickly stood up and scurried away, just before the Nadder could take a bite out of him.

The dragon jumped up on the walls again and roared in frustration. It found both Astrid and Snotlout, and jumped down in front of them.

"Watch out Babe, I'll take care of this," Snotlout said, holding up his hammer, in another attempt to impress Astrid. He threw it right at the Nadder, but missed it completely as it went passed its left side, and slammed into one of the walls. Astrid shook her head as she looked at him, unimpressed.

"The sun was in my eyes, Astrid!" Snotlout stated, trying his best to make excuses.

The dragon blew a mighty stream of fire at them, as they ran down another passageway. As it did so, the teens continued to dodge the flames as Snotlout did his best to impress Astrid. However, that didn't do so well, even for his best material. "What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I can't do that, I.."

Snotlout ran down a different hallway than Astrid, and the Nadder followed her. The Dragon flew wildly at her. It's angry roars filled the arena. It knocked over anything in it's way. Despite the order that Unfer had given all the dragons yesterday after practice, when no one was around, the Nadder had other ideas on its mind. All it wanted now, was to get Astrid.

This was made evident as Syn popped up, as Astrid ran past her. The girl opened her arms out and shouted, trying to get the Nadder's attention, "Hey, I'm right here! Check it out: Fresh Meat!" but the Nadder just ran past her, leaving the female teen Viking in the dust, as she huffed, "Not again."

Hiccup was still trying to get some information out of Gobber, "Has anyone seen one napping?" but to no use.

Just at that moment, he turned around when he heard Astrid yelling. And adding much surprise to Hiccup, the Nadder was right on her heals.

Astrid was on top of one of the falling walls and jumped, landing right on Hiccup, who was knocked to the ground. As the dust cleared a bit, both the twins and Syn looked at the now somewhat awkward scene. When Astrid had fallen on Hiccup, she had indeed fallen on him. She was on top of him, while he was pinned down by her as she got up. Astrid's ax had gotten wedged in Hiccup's arm gauntlet shield, which was strapped on to Hiccup's arm.

To this scene, the trio decided to poke fun at this as Syn shot out with a smirk, "Awww, I didn't know you were interested in his type, Astrid. Snotlout's gonna be pretty heartbroken about this."

"Ooo, love on the battle-field," Tuffnut teased.

"She could do better," Ruffnut chimed in.

Feeling rather embarrassed, but more angry at this, Astrid tried to pull away. But to no avail as she shot out, "Let me…"

"Why don't you?" Hiccup added in.

He tried to figure out a way to get unstuck, but Astrid just stood up. As the two still continued to struggle free, the Nadder was charging right for them both. Astrid saw this, and bracing herself on Hiccup's face with her boot, she pulled on her ax, taking Hiccup's shield with it as it was ripped off the glove. The Nadder was coming around, straight for Astrid. But she held up the ax and hit it in the face with it, using the side of the weapon. The shield made contact with the Nadder's face; the shield shattering to pieces as the dragon staggered back a bit. The Nadder let out a yelp and hobbled off.

"Well done, Astrid," Gobber called out as he walked back on the training ground, escorting the Nadder back into its cage.

Astrid caught her breath and turned around to face Hiccup, who was getting back up on his feet. He rubbed his face in slight pain for being stepped on like that. He stood straight up as Astrid shoved him forcefully, venomously lecturing him. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?" "

"What? No!" Hiccup shook his head in defense as he tried his best, "I was just tyring to…"

"To what? Screw everything up? Like you always do?" she jabbed her finger into his shoulder, pushing him back with all three questions, "Our parents' war is about to become ours," she leaned towards him and put her ax in his face. "You had better figure out which side you're on." She turned around and walked away, her friends following her.

As they were leaving, Syn merely looked to him and shrugged, "I'm pretty sure she likes you. She just doesn't know how to…"

"Get moving, Syn," Astrid shouted, causing the other girl to run after them.

Hiccup got to his feet and looked around, seeing the main component of his arm gauntlet scattered to where Astrid had struck the Nadder. Gobber had already gotten the Nadder back in its cage, and was looking at Hiccup with disappointment covering his face. Gobber began cleaning up the carnage left in the training ring.

"Would you like me to…" Hiccup attempted to help clean up but Gobber cut him off.

"Get goin'. I got this," he said as he turned around, and started picking up scraps of wood. Hiccup sighed as he was about to leave, but stopped as Gobber stated, "Ah… sorry about your shield there, lad."

"Ah, no. it's alright," Hiccup defended as he began to leave the arena, "I, uh… I made spare parts for the glove. In case something like this happened."

Hiccup left the ring, and immediately decided what he was going to do. He immediately made it to his house, in which there was a spare metal piece to replace the one that Astrid destroyed. Fixing his glove, which looked like nothing had happened to it, he also took a fish he found in his house. He made sure no one was looking, and quietly and unnoticing made his way into the forest.

Deep in the Forest

When he got to the canyon that the Night Fury had trapped itself in, he found a lower entrance so he wouldn't have to climb in. He hid between two rocks just at the entrance and threw the fish inside, but nothing happened. He meant to walk inside, but the shield he had folded out from the gauntlet got jammed between the two rocks. Hiccup decided to retract the shield back into its default form, crawled through the rocks, and grabbed the fish again.

He walked around the area, but there was no sight of the dragon anywhere. Unaware of it, not one bit as he walked in there, the dragon was not far from him. Hiding behind the rocks behind Hiccup, the Night Fury was crouching on it, looking at the Viking teenager. The Night Fury crawled out from the rocks, causing Hiccup to turn around immediately and gasped. The dragon walked around him as it walked in a crouched position, carefully observing the Viking in case he tried to attack it again.

Deciding to try and make peace with it, he held out the fish in hopes that the dragon would take it nicely. The Night Fury immediately spotted the fish, and seemed to relax a bit. This was made evident as the slit eyes then dilated into bit round irises, almost as if the dragon was some sort of kitten/puppy. Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at this; the fear leaving him completely.

The creature inched forward and opened it's mouth, exposing healthy pink gums, not being noticed by Hiccup at all. As soon as it got close, realization came to its eyes and it backed off.

Hiccup immediately knew that it knew he had a weapon. "What? No, oh man. You've got it all wrong," he defended as he used the hand that still held the fish, and pointed at the gauntlet. "No! You don't have to worry," he stated as he slammed his palm on the sphere of the glove. Immediately, the metal isosceles diamond piece popped off as Hiccup kicked it behind him, "See? No harm done to you; no weapons."

However, the Night Fury was still hissing, as Hiccup realized that he had one more weapon. He reached into his vest and pulled out his knife, his only other weapon that he never used. The dragon growled at him, but he dropped it on the ground. The Night Fury motioned it's head towards the water, as if it… or he… was trying to tell Hiccup to kick the knife away.

Hiccup lifted the knife up with his foot, and tossed it into the water. As soon as the dragon heard the knife hit the lake it sat down, and it's haunches and looked at Hiccup with big, expecting eyes; it's ear twitching. Once again, this made Hiccup smile at this scene, thinking the Night Fury, the one Dragon that everyone thought was the devil, was some kind of innocent little kitten/puppy.

Hiccup held out the fish again and the dragon inched closer. When it got close enough it opened it mouth again. Hiccup now noticed the pink gums, not a tooth in sight.

"Huh, toothless," he said holding out the fish, "I could of swore you had…" Just as he set it, rows of teeth suddenly appeared in the dragons mouth. The not so toothless dragon snatched the fish out of Hiccups hands, bit it in two, and swallowed it. "Teeth." Hiccup finished as the dragon licked its lips with its thick forked tongue.

'They're retractable just like a cat's claws,' Hiccup thought as he looked at the dragon, 'That must be for when it shoots out a fire shot. To make sure it doesn't blow out its own teeth.' he then said aloud with a half smirk, "Hmm, that's useful."

The dragon looked at Hiccup and walked towards him, making low rumbling noises deep in it's throat. Hiccup backed up until he stumble into a large rock and sat down in front of it.

"No, no. No," Hiccup pleaded nervously, as the dragon got right in his face. "I don't have anymore," he told it.

The dragons eyes rolled back and it started to convulse. It opened it's mouth, and out came half of the fish Hiccup gave it. The fish landed on his lap, as he nearly gagged, "Ugh…"

And then the dragon sat down, human position-wise, and looked at Hiccup. Hiccup sat there uncomfortably while the dragon stared at him. He looked straight at the dragon, and the dragon just looked at him.

Hiccup cocked an eyebrow as he finally asked, "What?" and then the dragon gestured to him then the fish. Realizing what the dragon wanted Hiccup groaned, "Wait! You want me… to… ?" the Dragon merely looked at him, silently giving Hiccup the answer, as the boy sighed in disgust, "Ugh, great."

He slowly brought the fish up towards his mouth and bit into it. And immediately, it tasted absolutely disgusting.

"Mmm," Hiccup mumbled, trying to show the dragon that he ate the fish. But it was pretty obvious that it was smarter than he thought. The dragon made a loud gulping noise, telling him to swallow it.

Hiccup just groaned, humming out, 'You've gotta be kidding me.' With all his might, mostly from his stomach, he tried to force down the disgusting, once already-eaten-but-thrown-up fish. It took a few tries, one try to ensure he wouldn't puke it out, but he succeeded, as he gulped down the fish and shivered from the bad taste now swimming around in his mouth.

The Night Fury licked its lips again, and Hiccup looked at it and smiled a very, very, goofy smile. The dragon looked at him and squinted its eyes, studying the boy's facial features now. Then in a few seconds of silence, the sides of its mouth came up in a weird sort of toothless smile, since it had retracted its teeth again.

"Toothless" Hiccup thought aloud as the dragon heard him, "That's what I'll call you. Toothless."

He looked at the dragon's silly attempt at a smile, stifling a laugh or two of his own. Without thinking, he got back on to his feet, and reached out his right hand to touch the dragon. But before he could even touch him, it bared its teeth and glided to the other end of the canyon and landed roughly.

It lit the ground it stood atop of on fire, and laid down in the warm flames. He folded his wings in the back, but they were left open still and spread out on both sides, and had his tail curled nearly up to his stomach as he relaxed in his spot. Toothless looked up to see a bird taking off from it's perch on a branch and fly away, his ears standing straight up. When his gaze followed the bird his eyes fell on Hiccup, who had moved from the other end of the canyon and was now sitting Indian style on the ground beside Toothless.

"Hi," Hiccup said casually to the dragon, as if it was just common for the boy and dragon to act all buddy, buddy.

The dragon put his ears back against his head, and groaned. Though it wasn't an angered groan or a groan of anger or hatred, just more of annoyed. Toothless then shifted his body so that when he laid down, he could hide his face with his remaining tail-fin.

Hiccup sighed at this, knowing it wasn't gonna be easy to get on this dragon's good side. He then scooted closer to the dragon and reached out his hand, trying to touch him again. But right before he could place his hand on the dragon's tail, Toothless folded his tail fin down and out of the way, just in time to see Hiccup.

Not wanting the dragon to notice what he was trying to do, which it obviously did, Hiccup shot up, rotated 180 degrees around on his heel, and comically walked away. Toothless walked over to a large tree, then jumped up on one of the stronger branches, and perched itself on a branch. Amazingly, he was able to do this by hanging upside down by his tail, and hiding within his wings, like a bat.

Evening

When the sun was lowering in the sky, Toothless unfurled his wings and looked around the canyon. For a moment, he didn't expect the human Viking teen to still be around. But he was proven himself wrong as he took a gander at the lake. He saw Hiccup sitting on a small rock not facing him. The dragon was a bit amazed at this persistence; he had stayed the entire day, and didn't even run. Why did he do that? Why did he just stay and not try to touch him again? This human was a complete puzzle to the Night Fury indeed. He noticed the human was doing something over there, and curiosity brought Toothless to go investigate.

Hiccup was bored, and boy was he. He was mindlessly drawing in a dirt with a stick, when he noticed the large black beast watching him from behind. Deciding not to turn around, in fear that the dragon would just try to shoo him or just get away, Hiccup decided to continue with his drawing, almost acting like he didn't notice Toothless behind him at all. With a few motions of the stick the lines in the dirt began to take the shape of a dragon, and then it became the shape of Toothless.

The dragon watched intently with large eyes, as Hiccup drew him into the dirt. While he watched, soft purring noises came from his throat, and being the intelligent dragon that he was, Toothless got an idea. He stood up on his hind legs, and waddled back to where he was sleeping.

Hiccup looked back in confusing as he saw Toothless grab a large tree branch in his mouth, and drag it over to where he had been sitting. Toothless held the branch in his mouth, and pressed it against the ground and began to twirl around the rock Hiccup was seated on. He stopped a few times to look at Hiccup and make sure his drawing was correct, and then he continued to spin around and around has he copied Hiccup's ways.

Once he was satisfied with his picture, Toothless put the branch down a sat on the ground. Hiccup was in the middle of the drawing and he stood up to get a better view of the swirls in the dirt. After careful observation, Hiccup was astound as to what he figured what the swirls and scribbles were. It was an attempted drawing of himself; the dragon attempted to draw him, just as he drew Toothless.

He went to walk out of the drawing when he stepped on one of the lines. Toothless let out a furious growl, baring his teeth. Hiccup took his foot off the line and Toothless' expression became one of curiosity and wonder, and he began to purr softly. The previous anger immediately forgotten.

After seeing this, Hiccup decided to experiment on the subject, and put his foot back on the line. Sure enough, the dragon's expression became vicious again, and when he took it off Toothless began to purr again. Hiccup tried this a few more times but stopped before Toothless got too mad. The last thing he wanted was to get eaten just for stepping on a picture.

Hiccup smiled at the dragon and began to weave through the lines, placing his feet in the right places like a graceful dance. He twirled and swirled through the lines until he felt breathing down his neck. He turned around and looked up to see Toothless gazing at him, without any ferocity in his eyes.

Hiccup slowly lifted up his hand, and Toothless let out a growl, slightly showing his teeth, but this time he didn't back up or run away. Hiccup put his head down and closed his eyes, slowly putting up his hand again. It stopped a few inches before the dragon's nose.

Toothless' eyes open wide as he looked at the boys hand, and slowly, very slowly, he closed his eyes…

… and placed his head lightly in Hiccup's hand purring softly.

Hiccup lifted his head and looked at the dragon in disbelief. When Toothless opened his eyes and saw Hiccup staring at him he shook his head, pupils contracting, and he took off back to where he was sleeping. Hiccup just stood there for a minute to grasp on to what had just happened.

He decided that since he made so much progress with Toothless, and that it was getting late that he better start walking back to the village. He felt ecstatic as he walked; Toothless had actually let him touch him and the feeling of that was amazing. Hiccup couldn't wait for the next time when he'd get to see him again.

Next Chapter: Hiccup's Dragon Mentor; An Impasse Between Human and Dragon

And for your reading pleasure, here's a bio for one of the characters I've brought in.

Name: Unfer Goldeff

Viking Name: Unfer the Unbearable

Age: 48

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 190 lbs.

Likes: Power, Revenge, imagining Stoick getting beaten up by someone, or a dragon finally doing him in

Dislikes: Stoick the Vast, Vikings like Stoick the Vast, Anyone or anything that talks, idolizes, or even resembles Stoick the Vast, and finally… Hiccup

Family: Unknown

Background: Not much is known about the scheming Unfer, only that he holds a strong position of the Council of Berk. Although he's a member, he has ever since longed the position of chief of the village. However, Unfer lacks the insane strength that the other Vikings possess, much like Hiccup at first, for the rule of Berk is that Strength is the Key to Victory, to some. For this, Unfer has remained bitter at Stoick in particular, considering he's the strongest Viking there is.

Unfer eventually became jealous of Stoick's son, Hiccup, because of his future position as the next chief of Berk. Always sneaking off and coming back is his usual schedule, in which no one bothers to even try to find him.

But there may be a darker history to this character. More than Stoick or Hiccup will ever know. However, Toothless, Draco, and all the other dragons appear to have a feared experience with this Viking swordsman. The only question is: what is it?

Appearance: Unfer is elegant and poised, but his short black hair is unkempt and wild looking. He is perhaps the most noticeable skinny Viking of Berk; lithe and melanistic in appearance. Unfer also sports a black goatee beard with two braids sticking at the end, characteristic of villains, particularly the evil twin archetype which is fitting given his relationship with Stoick. And finally, Unfer has a thin, white gash over his right eye, which goes unnoticed and has no history as to how he received it. Some say it was in a sword/ax duel with Stoick, or it possibly could have been a dragon.

Personality: Vain, power-hungry, cruel, ruthless, evil, scheming, Cunning, Persuasive, Brute, Impatient

Concept: Unfer was inspired by most devious and scheming villains. Most notably Scar from Lion King, voiced by the equally evil-sounding Jeremy Irons. However, the true inspiration was heavily modeled after Unferth, voiced by John Malkovich, from the movie, Beowulf from 2007 (the best Beowulf film ever). In truth, he's a somewhat Anti-Hiccup; a vision of the future, if Hiccup ever turned bad, so to speak.