How to Train Your Dragon: the Novelization

Chapter 6: Dragon Training… and Being Trained by a Dragon; Make a Viking Out of You

Next Morning

Dragon Training Coliseum

Once again, for the next day, Dragon Training for the Viking teenagers, was what awaited for them all. Hiccup, who would have been usually non-excited about this, like the other two times, seemed not to mind this one. In the arena, several boulders, small and large, had been moved all around the arena, creating a sort of canyon environment. How Gobber them in there in the first place, nobody even knew at this point.

At this point, all they had were their shields, Hiccup with his arm gauntlet in shield mode. But instead of their usual weapons, they had with them a set of bolas. They were wondering within the arena, with their bolas at the ready. Well, six of them anyway, Hiccup was having trouble trying to set his up, in which they were all tangled. However, as they were walking and wandering around the arena, a large lizard like shadow loomed over them.

"Today, in Dragon Training," Gobber stated as he addressed the students from atop the stadium, and this time his had was changed into a fan as he waved himself. "It's all about Aim and Immobilization."

Suddenly, from where Hiccup was walking into, a huge blast of the brightest red flame shot out nearly five feet in front of him, searing the floor at where he was about to walk into. As soon as the mighty stream of flames died down, Hiccup had reason to worry. Right where he was about to walk into, was now a black and red mess, with spots oozing with molten hot lava; even the rocks that had been making the path were searing and melting by the heat. It wasn't until Hiccup had heard a low rumbled growl that he looked up in fear.

There, latched onto one of the larger rocks, the dragon of the day was located. It was similar to Toothless, the Night Fury, though it appeared to be thirteen feet in length, but just around the same height as him. The dragon's body appeared to be a mixture of two reptiles; one turtle and the other a frilled lizard. The body was colored dark orange, and was strong built in the front, with two very powerful looking arms, but thin by waist, thigh, and very powerful running hind legs, both thighs had two grayish black triangular ports that flexed in and out, the same on the forearms, letting out what appeared to be smoke. The long whipping tail was covered on top open volcano mouth-shaped ports, the inside of them glowing lava red and smoke coming out of them as well. On the upper back, going from neck to mid-lower back, was a grayish black turtle-like shell, which on either side, had two hexagon-shaped red spots, and on top, one open hexagon port that glowed red, spewing out smoke, and the shell was split from shoulder blade to tail. The upper part of the shell was shaped curved like, almost as if it was meant to have a saddle placed there, the neck and shoulder area were nearly covered by the shell's trimming. The forearms were cylinder shaped and at the ends, split into four places, with four velociraptor claws on each end, including three on its back feet. Its neck was elongated enough to resemble a turtle's, and its head was turtle shape as well. However, one difference was that on top of the head, shading the eyes, a boomerang shaped protrusion grew there, shading the eyes and looking like some sort of hammerhead. Two sharp teeth stuck out from the bottom, and it had the darkest red eyes you'd ever seen. This was the Vicious Volcanoback, much like the Monstrous Nightmare, it was one of the deadliest of the dragons.

Hiccup gulped as he told himself, "And now the running begins." And immediately bolted as the dragon's drooling lava mouth spewed out a stream of the same colored flames at Hiccup, missing him as he ran a corner.

"The Vicious Volcanoback," Gobber stated as he lectured the students. "Next to the Deadly Nadder, this beast has the most vicious fire breath of all the known dragons." as Gobber went on with the lectures, the Volcanoback's back opened up like a ladybug's shell. Out of it came two red membrane wings that flapped like a dragon's wings would. Inside the back, were two ports that seemed to breathe as well, but started to glow bright red as heat was pumping through them.

"Also the most unusual of the dragons, close to the Zippleback," Gobber added as he fanned a bit, "Unlike most of the dragons, it does fly, but not just by its wings, but by the ports on its back that blast fire to propel it at another target."

And just like Gobber said, the ports in its back immediately blasted out fire, as it propelled the dragon off the rock and towards another one, acting like an organic jetpack to the beast.

The twins and Syn were waltzing around, cautiously looking upward, keeping an eye out for the dragon. Syn was keeping a close eye out for the dragon, even if she was looking to get burned. However, the twins were exactly cooperative, as once again, they were arguing. This time, they were playing a game of tug-o-war with their bolas, as they tried to bite each other's heads off.

"Give me the bola," Ruffnut shot at him.

"You throw like a girl," Tuffnut.

"That's because I am a girl, idiot," shot Ruffnut.

"Really?" Tuffnut started, pushing into his sister, "If you are a girl, then you must've got beaten with an ugly stick."

"Oh yeah?" Ruffnut shoved back, "Then if you're a boy, you must've got beat with a beauty stick, 'cause you look more like a girl."

Syn slapped herself on the forehead, then turned to the twins, "Can you two stop arguing for two little minutes?"

Suddenly, the Volcanoback came into position as it perched itself above them, snarling right at the trio. Syn sighed as she stated, "Get your bolas at the ready." she turned around and spotted the two still fighting over it, despite the obvious danger they were in. She sighed as she looked to the Volcanoback that came down at her, "Alright, I'll take it on."

"Look out," Hiccup shouted as he ran to their corner, and crashed into Syn.

The two groaned as Hiccup got up on his knees, as did Syn. Then the twins decided to poke fun at them both as Ruffnut mocked, "Now she's his type."

"Hope Astrid doesn't get jealous," Tuffnut joked.

However, the twins were no longer joking, as the red flames nearly got them, they were now running for their lives. Hiccup saw this as he got up, helping Syn up as well. "C'mon, let's go," he started as he grabbed her arm and tried to get out of there. Unfortunately, Syn wasn't budging from her spot, as he nearly panicked in his shout, "Syn! Will you get a move on; we're gonna get fried!!!"

However, she didn't stand there, scared stiff like a board because she was scared. It was made evident when she shouted, "C'mon, Big boy! Blow me with your flames!!!"

Then, as if to answer her request, the dragon gave her what she wanted, as it fired blast right at her. Fortunately, Hiccup pulled her down just in time, as the flame shot went over them, but still Syn felt the heat of the flames pass over her. The smile on her face lit up, as a twinkle in her eye was shown. When the flames died down, Hiccup and Syn got up, with Hiccup noticing that the bolas she had, were now burnt to ash. He then turned to her as he asked, "What is with… you?" he finished as a look of confusion was on his face.

Despite the horrifying ordeal they went through, Syn seemed rather… elated at this moment. Her cheeks were flushed, a sparkle in her eye, as she hugged herself embracingly. She sighed as she let out a small moan of pleasure, "That… was… spectacular. Oh, the ecstasy."

Hiccup just helped her up, while she went through her ecstatic experience, "Okay, you get excited and all warm inside whenever fire gets near you, I get it, Syn." he then pulled her away as they both ran for it, "Let's move it!!!"

"Wait, hold on," she fought for a moment, as she reached for her belt, and pulled one of the canisters.

As soon as the Volcanoback came rushing down on them on ground level, Syn was ready. While it was still on the wall, she threw the canister, as soon as she could. When it hit the wall, it suddenly blew up, causing the dragon to lose its hold on the wall, and tumble down. It crashed on its side as it scudded to get back up again.

"Alright," Syn called out, as she and Hiccup ran for it.

"Great, now let's move it!"

The two ran through the maze, even with the Volcanoback chasing after them with its wings out and the flaming ports in its back. "Focus, Hiccup. It's all good to run, but when it comes to the Volcanoback, you've got to stand and fight," Gobber called out.

The two were running for a while, until Hiccup ran into Astrid, who wasn't expecting him. He plowed into her, right as the two bounced into Fishlegs, and fell back on the ground. The two started to get back up, with Syn teasing them both, "You two just find the biggest excuses to get together."

"Um, sorry, Astrid, I…" Hiccup started to apologize to the female Viking warrior.

But she cut it off, with a swift elbow butt in the stomach, knocking all the air out of Hiccup, as he fell back to the ground. When Fishlegs saw this, he muttered, "Forgiveness - -6; Aggression - 10; Chances of survival…" suddenly, the Volcanoback's flames shot to the side, melting a hole in the rocks, and striding right in there, and turned to look at the teens, with its mouth drooling with steaming hot drool, and attacking intentions in its eyes. At this sight, all Fishlegs could squeak out was, "… dwindling."

However, Astrid grabbed her bolas, and was about to make sure those chances rose back up. She swung the bolas long enough to get a good momentum. However, the dragon saw this and prepared to charge up another shot. Syn spotted this and grabbed another cylinder canister and tossed it at the rock next to the Volcanoback. When it went off, it unleashed a compressed cloud of smoke that nearly covered the Volcanoback, but was enough to distract it and look in the direction of the smoke. Astrid saw her chance, and threw the bolas right at the beast's maw, closing its mouth and holding it in place.

"Good, Astrid. Job well done," Gobber cried out. But then his smirked all-knowingly, "But it's not over yet. For you see, the Volcanoback is one of the few dragons that don't just blast fire from its mouth…"

And it was made evident, as the dragon lifted itself off the ground, and stood on its hind legs. It then pointed its forearms right at them, with the palms revealing to be nothing but open ports, glowing red with flames. "It can also fire flames from the open ports in its hands," Gobber pointed out.

Then suddenly, the beast shot out two streams of fire from its palms, hitting only the walls that the teens were between. The area around them was smoldering in molten fired rock, with no way for them to get out. The beast loomed right at them, preparing to fry them out, until Snotlout came charging in from behind, screaming out, "SNEAK ATTACK!!!"

However, the Volcanoback took notice of this, and its face was more tried annoyance than rage. It didn't turn to face the charging Viking teen, though lifted its tail up, going unnoticed by Snotlout. Then, it struck Snotlout in the head once like a mallet, then a second time, and then a final third time, until the Viking incoherently blabbed out, "Last call… already?" And then plopped to the ground, unconscious.

The dragon snuffed, seeing that one last obstacle was taken care of. It then turned back to the other Vikings, as Astrid threw another set of bolas… right at its hind legs. The beast was no longer able to hold its footing; the imbalance of its chest and legs, both different sizes and without the legs spread apart to help balance itself, there was only one way to go. The beast toppled over and fell flat on its chest, struggling to get itself back up again, but Astrid wasn't about to let that happen. Smacking Hiccup from getting up again, thinking he was gonna do something stupid again, he fell back down as she grabbed her shield and ran straight for the Volcanoback. She then smacked the blunt end of the shield into its eyes, knocking it out cold, ending the training session.

"Excellent job, as always, Astrid," Gobber pointed out, as he was now in the arena, and dragging away the knocked out Volcanoback, "Next time, will be the Hideous Zippleback. That's when things get tricky."

Hearing that name, Syn seemed to nearly freeze up, looking a little terrified by that name. Astrid caught her breath and turned around to face Hiccup, who was getting back up on his feet. He rubbed his chest in slight pain for being elbowed for no apparent reason. He stood straight up as Astrid shoved him forcefully, venomously as he defended, "What? What'd I do? I stayed out of the way."

She turned around sharply, almost dared to answer those questions. And she did as she got into his face, jabbing him in the chest, "Let me see: you're weak, you cringe whenever there's a dragon around, you're barely able handle any weapon, you basically don't belong here."

"What?" Hiccup shook his head in defense as he tried his best, "But this time, I wasn't…"

"That's just it! You weren't doing anything. That's why you don't belong here," she jabbed her finger into his shoulder, pushing him back while she continued, "You're an embarrassment of this Training, as well as being a Viking," she leaned towards him and put her ax in his face. "So if you have any respect for us, and what we do, you won't show up tomorrow." She turned around and walked away, the other Viking teens following her, and leaving Hiccup alone with what she said.

However, all he could muster out, clearly hurt by her words, groped for a response was a wave and a weak, "Okay…"

Later that Day

Toothless's Canyon Home

Hiccup had arrived to the Night Fury's canyon home, but he wasn't exactly in a good mood. He climbed down the canyon and just sulkily walked in, kicking a rock as if it were a ball. He huffed to himself, feeling rather upset; the words that Astrid had shot to him stung deeply, and in truth… she was right, as he slowed down, the anger leaving his heart. He sighed as he didn't notice Toothless get up, his ears twitching, obviously excited to see the boy. But stopped as he saw the frown on the young Viking's face.

Hiccup felt a little nudge on his shoulder, as he noticed Toothless now, and gave the dragon a sad smile. "Oh, hey," he stated, as he patted his friend's nose. Toothless cocked an eyebrow as he looked to Hiccup, asking silently about the day today, "Sorry, boy. Today… hasn't been the best one lately." He then looked around, trying to wonder where the Golden Fleece Dragon was, considering he had told him that they would begin the training today. "Hey, where's that other dragon?"

Toothless pulled back for a moment, and headed towards the end of the canyon. Deciding on it, Hiccup decided to follow after him.

Out of the Canyon

After a quick climb, the duo finally reached the edge and pulled themselves up. As soon as they got up, both Hiccup and Toothless were widely amazed in surprise as to what they saw. There, where forest used to be was an entire setup of exercised designed for Hiccup. In the middle of the grounds, stood a mighty tall tree with all its branches cleaned off. In one corner, was a halfway tree, with ropes tied around it, making some sort of intricate web. In another corner, were a couple of dummies, set up on a rig system to move around when a rope was pulled. Another corner had small and large boulders with vines on them; this was probably the weight set. There was even some strange sort of hallway with hollowed out trunks that looked like pipe tubes, leading to one lip whistle. There were other training obstacles, but Hiccup's eyes now trained on to the Golden Fleece that landed back on the ground.

"Ah, Hiccup," the Fleece smirked seeing the boy as he strode over to the due, "Glad you finally made it; I thought your training with this Gobber you mentioned before, may have worned you out."

"Ah, I'm not that exhausted," Hiccup stated, though he wasn't successful in ridding himself of his depression. "But… how did you get all this set up in one day?"

"I told you…" the Dragon stated confidently, as he scratched his chest, cleaning his claws in confidence, "I can go without sleep for 2 to 3 weeks. It was simple enough to get all this set up."

Hiccup just sighed as Toothless looked around the place, curious as to much of it at all, "Well… at least you'll get your sleep's worth… probably."

The Golden Fleece took notice of this depressed tone and asked, "Why do you sound upset?"

"Upset?" Hiccup immediately covered up, trying to deny it, "I'm not upset, why-why should I be upset?"

Not fooled one bit, the dragon looked to the boy and asked, "So why are you upset?"

There was a moment of silence between all three of them, until Hiccup sighed sadly as he leaned on one of the trees. "I probably sucked more than anyone today at training, than anyone in the history of Dragon Training," he huffed as he went on, "In the history of Berk. In the history of sucking."

The Golden Fleece shrugged about it, "Probably."

"And the other teens! Man, you've should've seen them; all of them, even Astrid, hate me!"

"Perhaps."

"I'm serious," Hiccup shot back, nearly causing Toothless to back away from the shout. But he and the Fleece looked in concern at the young lad, as he stated, gesturing to all of himself, "How are you gonna turn all this, into a Dragon Fighting Viking, when the whole problem is that I need to stop being all of… this."

Both Toothless and the Golden Fleece looked to each other, with a cocked eyebrow, and back to the boy in confusion. Trying to confirm as to what they heard, the Fleece asked as he pointed to the boy, "But you just pointed to all of you."

"Exactly," Hiccup stated as he sighed, crossing his arms, "I'm not like the other teenagers. I'm not as brave, strong, athletic, or dedicated as Astrid is. I'm not as knowledgeable as Fishlegs. I'm not as determined as Syn, not even as durable as Snotlout. Even the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut… okay, they're not the best fighters, but they make up for it by being adrenaline junkies." He took in a deep and heavy sigh as he lightly banged the back of his head by the tree, "I don't know. Maybe this was a huge mistake. Maybe I should just take Astrid's advice… and just go back to being a Blacksmith apprentice."

Toothless seemed to be going depressed himself as he looked to Hiccup. But the Fleece smirked as he stated, "Quit. Don't quit. Blacksmith, no blacksmith." He then leaned forward to talk to Hiccup, face-to-face, "My boy, you are far too concerned with what people think of you, what was, and what will be." He pulled back as he got Hiccup and Toothless's attention, "There's an old saying that I had picked up from a region in China once: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift." he then smirked to the boy as he whispered to both him and Toothless, "That is why it's called 'the present'."

In truth, Hiccup didn't really get it, but for some odd reason, his hope had been rekindled. Toothless took notion to his friend's attitude change, and smiled as well, as Hiccup got up, and looked a bit more happier as he stated confidently, "Alright, Fleece, let's do this."

"Before we begin the training," the Golden Fleece stated, getting Hiccup's attention as he looked to the boy, and to Toothless, "You will recite an oath with me."

"What?" Hiccup stated, not sure if he would where this was gonna go, "Why do I have to… ?"

"It's an important oath that keeps you to the training. It will remind you why you nearly break every bone in your body and tear your muscles just to make both stronger, teach you the secrets and techniques for handling Dragons, and to uphold their true uses, as well as the oath's beliefs," the Golden Fleece stated, and looked to Toothless, "And you're going to recite it with him."

Toothless went wide eyed by this as he growled off what appeared to sound like 'why do I have to? Hiccup's the one that's training' to the Golden Fleece.

"Because you're his dragon, Toothless," the Golden Fleece stated, "So stop whining, both of you, stand side-by-side, and recite this oath with me."

The two looked to each other, and sighed in defeat as the two moved and stood six inches from one another. Then the Golden Fleece walked in front of them and stood ten feet from their position, and looked down upon them seriously as he demanded, "Remember these words spoken to you both. Recite them each night, as if they were a prayer. Take the words to heart… and always live by the beliefs they represent." he then looked to the two as he began, "Let us begin: A Rider and his Dragon are sworn to Valor…"

"A Rider and his Dragon are sworn to Valor," Hiccup spoke out, and Toothless growled with them.

"Their Hearts know only Virtue…" the Fleece recited.

"Their Hearts know only Virtue."

"Their Blade and Claws defend the Helpless," the Fleece continued.

"Their Blade and Claws defend the Helpless."

"Their Strength and Might uphold the Weak," the dragon continued.

"Their Strength and Might uphold the Weak."

"Their Word and Roar speak only Truth," the Golden Fleece pressed on.

"Their Word and Roar speak only Truth."

"Their Wrath and Courage undoes the Wicked and Evil," the Golden Fleece finished.

"Their Wrath and Courage undoes the Wicked and Evil," both Hiccup and Toothless finished.

After hearing that last verse, the Golden Fleece smiled bright as he looked to Hiccup, "Good. Now let's get started."

"Alright, okay. Let's do this," Hiccup told out loud confidently. "So what are you gonna teach me first? How to lasso a Gronkle? Overpower a Nightmare? Or maybe how to outsmart a Zippleback?"

"Nothing like that yet," the Golden Fleece defended as he reached for his chest. Then, as to further amaze the boy and Night Fury, he lifted up the fold, and out fell something that was caught by the dragon's claw. In his hand now, was a tooth, as large as an oversized sword as he looked to Hiccup, "This is the tooth of the Red Death, a dragon that is much more dangerous and powerful than the Monstrous Nightmare. The tooth itself is harder than steel, but only when it's not heated; that's when it becomes pliable." The Golden Fleece then strode over to the tall post, and stuck the tooth directly into the top of the pole, and looked to Hiccup, smirking, "All you have to do… is retrieve the tooth."

Hiccup looked up at the pole, and seemed a bit confident in all this as he walked towards it, "Sure no problem. I've climbed houses, watchtowers, and even trees." he then stopped at the pole as he was about to climb it, "This should be a piece of cake."

"Hold it, Hiccup," the Fleece stated as he picked something up, "You're forgetting something." then the dragon suddenly tied a boulder, about as big as a bowling ball. He lifted Hiccup's arm as he stated, "This represents Discipline and Harmony." he let go of the weight as Hiccup's arm fell to the ground, even as the dragon did it once again to the other, "And this represents Strength and Focus." and once again, dropped the arm, taking Hiccup with him. The Golden Fleece walked away as he then finished, "You need these two polar opposite forces to work together, in order to get the tooth."

The boy was barely able to stand at this point, as he looked at the heavy weights that nearly anchored him down, and looked up at the tree. He stated aloud, "This is impossible! I can't do it."

"There are no cant's in this, Hiccup, there are only solutions," the Golden Fleece answered, waiting for him to make the first move.

Sighing in defeat, knowing there was no way to talk out of this, he hopped to it. He tried to climb it at first, but the weights kept his advance upward from grasping onto the wood, or pushing himself up with his feet. Even when he fell flat on his butt, he continued to try and climb up. But every attempt met with the same result, with him falling on his back or his butt in utter defeat. Finally, after the Golden Fleece had called it quits, Hiccup limped away for a break, as the sun yellow dragon watched the boy in what was ahead of them both.

"We've got a lot to do before I can make a Viking out of you," the Golden Fleece told himself, looking at Hiccup's retreating form.

Later On

The training continued as Hiccup was being pushed to his limits. The Golden Fleece had him tie four heavy rocks on both his wrists and ankles, acting as weights, as well as two others on his back. This would allow him to build the necessary muscle that the dragon thought he needed. If the rocks didn't crush him first. They had been put through everything as the boy went through pushups, sit-ups, etc. the Fleece explained that when he could jump over a simple tied vine that he had placed, then Hiccup would have had the msucle then.

Then, the next exercise was Bola throwing. In this, the Fleece had told Hiccup, who was supposed to hit five moving targets. The Fleece had told him the trick was to have his wrist move the bolas in the swing, not let the arm do the work. Hiccup had managed to get it right… except for his aim when he threw them at Toothless by mistake instead of the dummies.

And then there were other obstacles that came later. One was fire dodging, in which both the Fleece and Toothless shot at Hiccup, who was doing his best, though got hit in the butt more times than he cared to count. The next was shield use, in which they bombarded him with shots, while he used his shield to protect him. Lately, he felt more like a test dummy than doing actual training.

The whole training itself, in Hiccup's perception, was far worse than the way Gobber taught him or the other teens.

Later That Night

Hiccup knelt near a still dead fire, using his gauntlet blade as a which for the flint stone he scrapped it on. The boy looked halfway exhausted at this point, not even so much as able to focus on the fire. Even Toothless seemed to take pity on the poor boy's condition, even as he nibbled on the fish head that the boy had given him. The Golden Fleece had been watching the boy for some time, about fifteen minutes for the fire t go on. So far, nothing had been finished.

The Golden Fleece sighed as he pointed out, "I think I saw a spark."

Hiccup looked hopeful as he looked to the fire. So far… no sparks. The young Viking sighed as he looked at the dragon and dryly replied, "Very funny."

The Fleece chuckled, but then stated, "You know, we could, ah…" he pointed at the fireplace, getting Hiccup's attention, "We really could, you know."

But the boy went back to his work, silently denying the offer. However, Toothless was getting pretty hungry right now, and wanted to try this new smoked fish meal. so, taking a deep breath, the Night Fury fired a shot at the flames. It nearly erupted, causing Hiccup to jump up. He brushed himself off to make sure he wasn't on fire, and sighed, looking at both Toothless and the Golden Fleece, extremely irked at not being warned.

"Sorry, Hiccup," The Fleece chuckled as he pointed out, "Well... at least it'll be well-done."

Later on, after their dinner, the three were merely sitting down, taking the time to relax. Toothless was lying on his burnt ground bed, enjoying the made warmth it created. The Golden Fleece was merely watching the sky as the stars were finally shining out brightly. Hiccup, on the other hand, was working on what appeared to be a lanyard-based whip of sorts. So far, he had tied and stitched the leather construct very well, almost making it look like an art of sorts. But the shape of it, was definitely an eel.

But all a while, Hiccup had one thing on his mind as he looked to the newest dragon. It… no, He had trusted the boy pretty well enough to train him. But for some reason, he felt the dragon resented being near a human at all. So stopping his work and turning away, he sighed as he spoke aloud, "You must've hated our kind pretty well, Fleece."

"Hmm?" the Fleece stated, knowing full well what Hiccup was insinuating. He did after all, brag about having a collection of corpses in his cavern. The dragon shuffled his tail as he sighed, "No. no, not really. I only hated one of your kind. Those kills were all in self-defense, but times chance, I always pictured the face of the one human I hated." He looked to Hiccup, as if asking if it was his Great-Grandfather, but the dragon shook his head reassuringly, "Don't worry. It's not your great-grandfather I hated."

"Really?" Hiccup asked, now a bit more curious on the subject, "So then… who was he like? This human you hate."

The Golden Fleece was silent, almost not wanting to answer that question, as if bringing back painful memories would bubble up. Then finally, the dragon sighed heavily, as he answered, "He had a broken heart when I first met him. But it eventually oozed from the wounds, hatred and malice. Despite all the training I had given him."

Hiccup absorbed all that, until his head shot up with a surprised look of confused shock on his face appeared. "Training?" he then stood up as he interrogated an answer, "Is there something you're not telling me?"

The dragon sighed, knowing full well he had let the cat out of the bag. "Well…." the Dragon stated as he scratched the back of his head, and sighed, "Well, you weren't exactly the first one that I trained this way. To all dragons, this boy would have been their hope, but instead became their doom." he then huffed as his anger was starting to rise up, "He was nothing more than a spoiled, ungrateful child, that was given a great gift of knowledge. And he ended up corrupting it!" He sighed, his anger becoming less now, "I taught him the Code, just as I taught it to you through that oath. I taught him the ways of honor, and right." he then sighed heavily, as the weight of it all now took its toll on him, "And then he betrayed his own kind and the dragons. Just as he betrayed the very dragon who raised him… and whose dream and heart he broke."

Hiccup felt a bit guilty at this point, and sighed in depression, "Sorry about all that, Fleece."

"STOP! CALLING ME! FLEECE!" the Golden Fleece roared out annoyingly at Hiccup, causing him to flinch as he continued, "I have a name!"

"Well, what is it?"

"Ha. It's only spoken in Dragonese: the language of the dragons," the Golden Fleece scoffed. "I doubt you'd be able to pronounce it in your tongue."

Hiccup crossed his arms, as Toothless watched all this, "Try me."

"Well, it's…" the Fleece stated, but then stopped as his face twisted in pain at this point.

The dragon fell over, clutching the left side of his neck/shoulder, three red marks revealing themselves. Hiccup saw this as he bolted up, in worry of the Golden Fleece, as his face twisted in a pained agony, "Toothless!" the Night Fury turned to him as he ordered, "Keep an eye on him; I'll be right back!"

The Night Fury did as he was told, as Hiccup ran to the lake as fast as he could. He took off his vest as he dunked it in the water, making sure it was soaked as much as possible. Then, as soon as he felt it was ready, he sped over back to the Fleece, who was now lying on his stomach. Toothless looked to the boy and backed away to make room for him. Hiccup then draped the soaked vest onto the claw marked wound. When it made contact, the wound started to sizzle as the heat began to die down from the wound; the red glow disappeared but the scars on the shoulder remained.

The Fleece sighed in relief as he looked to the boy, "Thank you. It'll pass now."

Looking concerned for him, Hiccup asked as he looked at the scar, "What is this?"

The Fleeced sighed as he answered, the fatigue in his voice evident that the injury took a lot out of him, "An old reminder of that human. It reminds me of what happened that day, and what went wrong. It only acts up whenever I think of him, now and again."

The young Viking couldn't hepl but feel responsible for allowing this to seep up. Maybe if he had kept his mouth shut, the scar wouldn't have done such agony on to the dragon. Looking down at his feet shamefully, eve as Toothless looked to the lad, Hiccup apologized, "I'm sorry, if… if by drudging up your past caused this."

The Dragon lightly shook his head as he defended, "Don't be that way, boy. It wasn't you."

The Dragon finally sighed, as he relaxed his massive body, and fell into slumber, with not a care in the world. Both Hiccup and Toothless looked to each other and silently agreed with one another, as Hiccup grabbed an extra blanket. Toothless walked over to the Golden Fleece, curled up like a cat would, but let Hiccup sit in the center, allowing the boy a comfortable place to sit/sleep at, while he and the Night Fury watched over their large mentor.

Much Later that Night

The Golden Fleece finally stirred awake, albeit a bit groggy, but now fully awake and recovered. He looked around, and spotted both Hiccup and Toothless, sitting right beside him. Though Toothless was wide awake, it was Hiccup that was asleep, leaning on the Night Fury's side. The Older Dragon just smirked in wonder, knowing full well that this boy didn't leave either dragons' side.

He then took notice that Hiccup was starting to wake up, and spoke to him, "Evening, Hiccup."

Turning to his direction, he and Toothless saw the Golden Fleece wide awake. Hiccup shot up as he smiled in relief, "Hey! You're awake."

"Hmmm, yes," the Golden Fleece stated as he sighed, "Have you been awake all night, just keeping an eye on me?"

Hiccup nodded, and looked to Toothless, who nodded as well, as both turned their direction to the larger and older dragon. "Well… we've also been thinking," Hiccup confessed.

"About what?"

"Well, lots of things," Hiccup answered as he walked to the Dragon's head, "Well, mostly on what to call you." He then looked to Toothless as the dragon motioned for Hiccup to go for it, and the young Viking looked to the dragon and answered, "I think we found you a name."

The Golden Fleece chuckled at this lightly as he replied, "You say it as though you've reached for it, and plucked it from the heavens."

Hiccup let out half a smirk as he turned towards Toothless, "Well, actually… he did. I just read up about it." he and Toothless then turned up towards the night sky, and pointed to the stars, "Up there. Do you see that group of stars up there?"

The Golden Fleece turned his gaze up there, and saw it in the sky. A group of stars that lit up brighter than the others, taking the shape of something that would only be seen in a portrait. A constellation that only the Golden Fleece knew of, as did Toothless, as both dragons looked with the boy on it.

The Golden Fleece smiled warmly as he nodded, "Oh yes. I know those stars all too well. Every dragon knows of them."

"Do you see the shape they make?" Hiccup asked.

The Fleece nodded, "Yes, Hiccup. Indeed I do know what shape they're in: a dragon."

"Yeah," the boy replied as he turned to the larger dragon. "In the scholar's books in the Library, the constellation is called Draconis, or Draco for short. It means 'Dragon', in the scholar's speech. It's also the name of the Dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece that Jason and the Argonauts were after. They say that when that dragon fought and died a glorious death, the gods placed his soul in those stars to watch over all the dragons on the earth."

The Golden Fleece, or Draco as Hiccup was applying the name now, merely chuckled and smirked at the boy, "So, instead of calling me Dragon in your tongue, you'll call me Dragon in another."

Hiccup sighed in defeat as he hung his head down, and sadly smirked at the Dragon, "Yeah, you're right. It was silly and stupid for me to think so."

"No," Draco defended as he brought the boy's and Toothless's attention back to him, "No, I would be honored to be named after those stars. I-I truly would." he smiled warmly at the Viking boy and the Night Fury as he finished, "Thank you, Hiccup. Toothless. Thank you both."

The three smiled to one another, now giving a name to their newest friend the boy and Night Fury joined Draco as they all looked to the stars.

Next Chapter: Taking Flight Once Again; A New Dragon Fighter's in Town

This last part in the chapter always gets me deep in the heart. The Song, Look To the Stars, always gets me to tears.