How to Train Your Dragon: the Novelization

Chapter 8: New Friends in the Fold; Everything Known is Wrong

A Night Later

Berk Council Galley

Hiccup was sitting at his usual empty table, with none of his fans swarming him over with buzzing questions. Though luckily, there hadn't been any dragon training for a while now, considering it was sort of an official holiday break for them that would last for a week. Which gave the boy enough time to look over his notes; the notes which held the right tail fin movements to help him steer Toothless. He spent a few quiet moments looking them over, and then closed the book, taking leave back to his home for a good night's rest.

However, he wasn't alone during his time in there, as sitting in the table far from him, was Astrid and Syn. The girls had come a while ago, only to see Hiccup sitting at the table far from their own. At first, Syn was planning to go over and talk to him, but Astrid stopped her in time. Though initially confused by the strange action, Syn stayed as the two girls only observed the boy even as he left. And as the doors closed, with Hiccup disappearing, it was time for the two to talk.

"So," Syn started as she sighed and looked to the deep in thought Astrid, "What's this all about?"

After a moment of silence, Astrid looked to the girl and started, "It's about Hiccup. He's been acting a little out of the ordinary. Even if it is him."

Syn's eye widened a bit at the subject at hand, but then sighed, knowing where Astrid was going with this. So far, ever since Hiccup had changed physically, and did much better in the training, Astrid had become suspicious of him. And this was slightly annoying to the blonde girl, as she sighed, "Oh, not this again."

"I'm serious, Syn," Astrid stated, being more serious in her tone. "He's hiding something; I can tell."

"No, he's not hiding anything, Astrid," Syn defended.

"Well, I think he is."

"No, he isn't."

"He is!"

"NO! he isn't!" Syn finished. "Can't you just be happy that you don't have to keep rescuing him during Dragon Training? Isn't that enough?"

"Look," Astrid pointed out, ignoring her defeat at the other girl's verbal battle. "The three months are nearly up, and he's shown a sudden improvement over time in the training. His physical body's developed in over five days he was missing: a physical development that should have taken over six months. That… and he suddenly pops up with moves and weapons that take dragons down in an instant blow." She then huffed with a scoffed tone in her voice, "While the rest of us take more than one hit to knock them out or beat them."

Syn shook her head as she simply replied, "Are you sure you're not jealous much about his recent success?"

Astrid immediately turned her attention to her blonde haired and one eyed associate, and immediately denied it, "N-No! why would I be jealous of that skinny witless wonder?"

The one-eyed girl gave the now 2nd best Dragon Fighter a cocked eyebrow with a half smirk as she asked teasingly, "Astrid. We both know he's no longer a skinny wonder. Not anymore." noticing the girl's questioned look, Syn pushed it further as she stated, while looking at her glove covered nails, "Though I'm surprised, Astrid. I know Snotlout's a lot more buffer than him, but still…" she then took a sideways glance to the beautiful blonde Viking girl, inquiring with a full smirk, "… I'm amazed you're not having an unspoken attraction to him."

That last part made Astrid's jaw drop and eyes wide with shock at this, as she shot up, and shouted, "ATTRACTION!" she then pointed to the doors as she shot out, "For that gutless wonder? Have you lost your mind?" Though she was angry, she had finally calmed down as she plopped down in her seat, and huffed to the side, crossing her arms as she defended her integrity as a warrior, "Besides… I'm not one of those prissy girls that wear dresses and gush over cute guys like that type of girl. I'm more of a take it down with an axe, and then lop its head off kind of girl."

Not wanting to go further, and fearing that Astrid might be good on her promise in lopping someone's head off, Syn shrugged as she stated, "Look, would it help if I follow him and figure out what's going on?"

Astrid was quiet for a while, silently thinking it over. Then, she finally turned towards Syn's direction, and finally nodded, "Alright." But she then warned, "But if it's something I don't like…" she then reached down from the side, and displayed her axe in plain sight.

"Oh, come on, Astrid Hofferson!" Syn protested, thinking she was gonna go after Hiccup with the axe.

"Oh, relax," Astrid reassured her as she put the axe down. She then looked away, and quickly shrugged, "Still."

The Next Day

Toothless's Canyon

Draco's Training Grounds

Draco was gone for the while, but that didn't stop Hiccup from trying to complete the task at hand. So far, Hiccup had done well during the other practices, but there was still one left. He had yet to retrieve the tooth belonging to the unknown Dragon, the Red Death, from the tall post while still dragging on him the four weights, Strength and Focus, Harmony and Discipline. He had off his fur vest as he continued to try and climb the pole… but as before in the beginning… he kept falling down due to the weight. Even if his strength had grown, the task of climbing was still far before him.

The boy finally crashed back down on his butt, but this time it was due to frustration. Hiccup huffed as he leaned forward on his knees, looking down as he groaned aloud, "This is impossible. How am I supposed to do this? No matter what, I can't do it."

As the boy wallowed in self-loathing over this difficult task, Toothless slowly made his way to the boy. The Night Fury then stopped by the boy's side, looking at him with pity in his green catlike eyes. The dragon then silently tried to think of a way to help with the boy's task. He looked at Hiccup and then looked back at the weights that he was still holding. Toothless looked at them for a moment, until finally, his eyes lit up with an idea.

Toothless got up and now stood in front of Hiccup, purring out to him. When Hiccup looked up to come eye to eye with his dragon, the Night Fury then grabbed the ropes with his teeth, and lightly pulled him forward. Getting up from the pull, Hiccup tried to resist as he spoke out, "Hey, Toothless. Stop it." But the boy's words didn't go heard as Toothless pulled him back to the pole, even as Hiccup continued to protest, "Okay, knock it off; I'm not in the mood! Hey, come on!" and finally, he did so as Hiccup yanked the ropes with the rocks back, as he finished, "Stop pulling on these, or you're gonna get them tangled up!"

It was only after did he say those final words, did Hiccup's eyes lit up. He then looked to the ropes, gaining an idea, and looked to Toothless, smiling. He then reached out and patted the dragon's nose, in which Toothless growled pleasingly at the boy, as he said, "Thanks, boy."

Hiccup then walked over to the pole, now more ready to climb up as he looked upward, smirking, "There are no cant's… only solutions."

He then raised the ropes quickly, causing the weights to go up as well. But this time he pulled back, causing the weights to spin around one another as the ropes that held them tangled up, locking up with one another. With this done, Hiccup hoisted them on the other side, and used his own weight to pull back on them, climbing up as he did so. With this method used, he did not fall down at all as he was halfway up there now. However, when he reached a quarter closer to the tooth, he had lost his footing and nearly fell down.

But suddenly, he felt like he landed on something, but still remained high up at his spot. Confused, the young Viking boy looked down, and saw that Toothless had used his claws to climb up after him. And now, he was still on the dragon's head, with the Night Fury smiling at the boy with his toothless grin. Hiccup smirked as he said back, "Good boy."

Draco came in to the training grounds, bringing with him a stolen net full of fish. He had decided to bring back a little something for Toothless and himself to eat while Hiccup trained for the day. But he looked around, noticing none of the two were there. He looked around, and called out, "Hiccup? Toothless?" He looked around as they gave no reply, and the Golden Fleece huffed with a scowl on his face, "If those two had slacked off, then…"

But the thought was cast aside as Draco took notice of something shot at the ground in front of him. He looked down and saw the Red Death's tooth lodged into the ground like an arrow would be. The dragon then took notice of something sitting atop the pole in which the tooth was lodged into. There, Toothless was perched on the pole, with Hiccup atop the dragon as the two smirked at the older and wiser dragon. The two then hopped off as the Night Fury glided down on the ground with ease as they stopped in front of the Golden Fleece.

The dragon then picked the tooth up, and smirked at the two, "Congratulations, you two."

He then handed Hiccup the tooth, earning much confusion on the boy's face as he asked the elder dragon, "Wait! Isn't this yours?"

"It's yours now," Draco replied.

"Oh great, just what I always wanted," Hiccup stated as he looked at the tooth uncertain, "A big tooth."

Draco then explained, "Use it to forge for yourself a weapon to fight against your enemy. The Red Death's teeth, as I said before, are stronger than any steel forged from man's ironworks. It will never break from any dragon's claws, and can slash at even the strongest dragon hide and armored steel. But in the hands of a talented blacksmith, it can be forged in any weapon he so chooses to give it."

Hiccup looked a bit stunned by this, and looked at the tooth, then back to Draco as he replied, "I'll try and get creative with this."

The Day After

Through the thick and darkened forests, the young Viking, Syn, along with a nervous Fishlegs, were seeking out one Viking in particular. Astrid had told her that Hiccup had been seen somewhere in the vicinity last time and had just disappeared before she could follow him. The two had made their way throughout the forest, keeping track of where they had been on the pocket map she carried with her. Putting X's on a map of where they had looked for the newest Viking warrior prodigy, and so far, it was without any luck. Frustrated, she scribbled out his map and put it away in his vest.

"Oh, Sif help us," she said to herself, "Some people can find their swords or their helmets." she then groaned in frustration as he hit a tree branch out of his way, "No, not me! I'm unable to find one person!"

"Then can we go back?" Fishlegs asked, nervously looking around, "We're way out of the Safety Zone of the village. We're not even qualified Viking Warriors yet to do this sort of thing."

"There's nothing out here, Fishlegs," Syn stated, looking to the larger Viking as she tried to reassure her easily scared comrade, whom she had reluctantly brought along to help with the search. "What do you think's out here? Dragons?"

But then suddenly, she fell down a small trail plowed beneath her. Fishlegs, in a panic, squeaked out, "AH! Syn!" he immediately scuttled over to her location, and looked down as she started to get up, "Syn, what is it? A Fissure Striker? A Tunneling Horror? A Burrowing Ant Lion?"

She was about to reply as she got up, but then she and Fishlegs looked up at the tree above them, and fear and frustration were both subsided. The tree had been snapped in half; almost as if something large and heavy plowed right through it at an angle. Then the duo realized that must have been the case, for underneath it, right where Syn was standing in, a deep trail was cut into the ground, like something had crash-landed there.

"Something big," Syn replied to Fishlegs's previous question, looking rather serious at the trail, "Something really big."

The two cautiously crawled down the path; not wanting to see or find out what it was they were following now. The trail then finally ended just as it met a small hill going down. The two peered over the edge, getting a good look at the end of the trail.

It was a huge spot, where the trail ended, and were there lay the remains of large bolas and ropes. There, Syn stood only a few inches to where the cut up bola ropes lay on the ground in front of her.

"What the heck was out here?" she asked herself out loud, kneeling down and holding up the ropes that had once trapped the unknown Night Fury to them both.

Fishlegs looked around cautiously, whispering to himself in RPG lingo, "Unknown variables. Search with extreme caution…"

"Can you stop that?" Syn asked out of annoyance as she stood up.

The two then walked a little further into the forest, in the direction that Toothless had flown away when Hiccup released him. It wasn't a hard task, considering the broken branches and paw prints. It seemed evident that whatever was trapped by those bolas, must have been hurt. Otherwise, it wouldn't have crashed so many times. They followed the trail until it led them to where the tracks and broken branches ended at.

Syn and Fishlegs were now at the end of the trail, or so they thought it was. They stepped between two large rocks, and behind them laid a small canyon. It was surrounded by tall rock walls, much like the ones in the training arena. It was full of lush, green plants, the sun was shining into it, and there were birds fluttering about inside it. Even in the canyon, was a small lake in it, either used for swimming or drinking in. in some aspect, it was like a small private paradise for anyone who wanted to get away… or to hide in.

The two Viking teens took a look into the canyon, a bit disappointed that they didn't find Hiccup. "Well this was a waste of time," Syn muttered, and then turned her attention back to the stoutly Viking. "C'mon, let's…"

"Scales," he muttered, as he knelt down, muttering again, "Dragon scales."

She looked down to his left and saw small black scales. He picked one up for the both of them to get a better look at it. There was no mistaking anything about it; the scales that he held in his hand were identical to a dragon's scales.

She looked at the scale in confusion, obviously being the first time seeing a scale of this color. "A pitch black scale?" she asked herself aloud, "What kind of…"

As if to answer her question, a large, black figure swept by right in front of them. They jumped back a bit, with Fishlegs landing on his butt, but Syn regained her footing as she looked to see what it was. It was a dragon unlike anything they had ever seen before. It landed back on the ground, a little bit clumsy at first, but enough for her to get a good look at it.

Her eye went wide as she whispered, "Night Fury."

Summing up enough courage to do this, Syn jumped down to a rock ledge so he could get a better look at the dragon, as it barely noticed her, or the clumsy Fishlegs stumbling with her. The two hid in cover of the rocks as they observed the once rare and mysterious of the dragons. So far it seemed to not have noticed them, as it created a bed of charred grass and earth with its flames, padded it with its feet like a cat would, and plopped down. They noticed the dragon seemed a bit bored… but then they took notice of what it was looking at.

On one of the larger rocks nearest to the dragon… was Hiccup's fur vest.

"Oh, Gods!" Fishlegs cried out in a panic, "The Dragon ate…!"

But luckily Syn pulled him down, right before Toothless took notice of them both. The Night Fury looked at the rock cliff side in which he first spotted Hiccup. He had thought it was him but it couldn't have been. Besides, his voice didn't sound that high-pitched like a girl's.

"Will you be quiet?" Syn hissed at the larger Viking, covering his small mouth. "The last thing we need to do is get its attention."

"But…!" Fishlegs nearly shouted, but then turned into a whisper, "But that dragon… it ate Hiccup."

"I know!" Syn shouted in an angered whisper, but then slumped her shoulders, as she looked away, hiding a depressed look on her face, "I know." She then looked down at the Night Fury; her gloved hands balling up into fists as she angrily sneered at the dragon, "But that thing is not gonna get away with it."

When they got to the canyon that the Night Fury had trapped itself in, the two Viking teens found a lower entrance so they wouldn't have to climb in. The two hid between two rocks just at the entrance and then made their way stealthily to the bushes. They looked at the Night Fury at the ready to attack it.

But Syn looked to Fishlegs as she grabbed one of her homemade grenades, "Okay, what've you got? Your hammer?"

"Uh, no," Fishlegs admitted, looking rather dismayed that he didn't bring it.

"Axe?"

"Nu-uh."

"Bolas?"

"Ah… nope."

Syn's shoulders slumped as she looked in a disappointed manner, "Not even your shield?"

Fishlegs's response wasn't one of reassurance as he looked away to avoid her gaze. But then he lit up as he pulled out a dagger no bigger than his finger, "I got this."

Syn looked disdained at this as she remarked sarcastically, "Oh great. It can pick its teeth if it gets us." She then turned around, seeing the Night Fury still looking bored as ever, and readied one of her grenades, "Alright. Let's do this."

"NO, wait! Do you know what that thing could do to you?" Fishlegs warned her, stopping her from attacking Toothless. "It'll grind your bones for its bread!"

"Well, actually, that would be a giant," a giant voice chuckled, getting the two teens' attention.

They whipped around to see where it came from… only to see that the owner of the voice belonged to a thought-long extinct Golden Fleece Dragon. The two jumped up in surprise and fear, as they backed away slowly. But Draco decided to play it a bit as he poked out, "Now, dragons, such as myself… Oh, they're much worse." It was starting to work with the way Fishlegs was starting to pale, sweat, and nearly squeaked out as he went on, "They'll use their claws to make a suit from your freshly peeled skin! They'll shave your liver with their teeth. And then, if they want to, they'll squeeze the jelly from your eyes!" He then dropped the act a bit, as he turned and tapped his chin in thought aloud with a smile on his face, "Actually, now that I think about it, it's quite good on toast."

But then his attention was brought back to the teens as Syn waved out a grenade, which in fact was a flash flare, as she waved it at him, shouting, "Back! Back, you beast, back! I warn ya!" However, Draco wasn't intimated one bit, as he licked his massive clawed fingers, and extinguished the flare like a match. Syn's rants went away, as she looked at the now put out flare, and nervously looked at Draco, "Right."

The two scooted back, turning around to get away, but only to come with a snarling Toothless blocking their way. They then turned around to see Draco, leaning down, and tapping his chin, slyly commenting, "Now then… what to do with all of you."

"What are you guys doing here?" a panicked voice gained their attention.

All of them, both human and dragon turned at the entrance to the canyon, to see none other than a confused and equally shocked Hiccup. Strapped to his back was the perhapsed weapon that he had forged from the Red Death's tooth. But it was not noticeable as while the dragons were distracted, Syn and Fishlegs ran up to him. Fishlegs ran past him, while Syn grabbed him by the arm, urging and pulling him to supposed safety.

"Hiccup, come one," Syn pleaded in her shout to him, while tugging him along, "We gotta get out of here, it's dangerous!"

Hiccup, now getting a clear idea on this, pulled apart from them as he sighed, "Boy, are you guys clueless." with this said and done, he got both their attention as he looked to Draco and asked, "What'd you say to them?"

Draco merely chuckled, as did Toothless, who was letting out a seal-like roar, and rolling on his back in the process. Draco calmed down a bit, but still smirking as he confessed, "Sorry, Hiccup. But they were spying around the place. I just thought I might try and scare them off."

Hiccup turned to them, seeing Fishlegs and Syn, both shocked and confused by all this. He then turned back to the dragon and replied, "Should've tried harder."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on a minute!" Syn finally snapped out of her shock, and ignoring the fact that a dragon was actually talking, and walked up to Hiccup to interrogate him on some much needed info. "Hiccup! Are you telling us you know this dragon?" she asked as she pointed right at Draco.

Toothless looked to the two Vikings in question of him, and then back at the two dragons. The trio sighed as Hiccup looked to the two teen Vikings as he confessed, "Well… they're pretty much my friends. One's a best friend, and the other's a mentor figure." He then pointed to Draco as he finished, "He's the reason I've been getting good at Dragon Training."

Syn and Fishlegs were a little stunned by this as she whispered to herself while turning away from Hiccup's eyesight, "Well, I guess it's safe to assume Astrid was right about him hiding something." but she shook that aside as she raced towards Hiccup and grabbed him by the shoulders, pleading him to come to his senses, "Hiccup, have you lost your mind? A Viking… friends with dragons? Hiccup, do you have any idea how much trouble you can get by being friends with a dragon? Do you know how much trouble you can get by talking about being friends with a dragon? You can get in trouble just by listening to some one talking about being friends with a dragon!"

"I know, I know," Hiccup defended, but turned his attention to the two dragons and back to Syn, "But, well um…" Hiccup didn't know how to put it into words as he scratched the back of his neck in trying to come with his thoughts. But he didn't, as he broke from her hold and walked up to Draco, holding the cloth covered item, "I, uh… was able to forge a sword out of the tooth."

"Tooth?" Syn and Fishlegs asked in confusion.

"Alright, let's have a good look at it," Draco suggested as Hiccup held up the clothed item.

Held in the dragon's massive hand, he used his other hand's clawed finger pull back the cloth, and revealed the blade for all to see. The Red Death's tooth had been forged into that of a Viking sword. The blade was firm and strong, but where the blade connected to the hilt, appeared to be a bit thinned out on the sides, making sort of an inside half-moon portion to it. Down the middle of the blade, an opening was made, perhaps to give it speed or to lock an opponent's blade in place. The hilt was tied in brown leather straps for a better grip, with a traditional styled hand guard for the sword. All in all, it looked almost too good to have been made out of a dragon's fang.

Draco tested it out by rolling it around his knuckles, and tapped it on his own fang. "It's a fine blade, Hiccup. Best ever crafted from a master blacksmith, if I ever met one," the Golden Fleece complimented after a careful observation, Draco smirked to the young Viking as he then stated, "When I first met you, Hiccup, you were so unsure of yourself, doubted by others and doubting yourself. But as the training past on these three months, I saw something in you, even before you asked for the training. I saw a heart as strong as a lion's and twice as big. And as we trained, it wasn't your skills that impressed me. No, it wasn't your skills."

"Thank you for summing that up," Hiccup stated as his shoulders slumped, hearing that comment about his skills.

"You showed something beyond that, beyond any Viking I've ever encountered," Draco defended as he looked to Hiccup, who seemed to brighten up a bit as he went on. "Creativity, versatility, Adaptation, intelligence. These are the traits that define a great warrior. These are the traits that define you. You once told me that you were unsure if you could become a Viking Dragon Fighter. Well, I believe that you are worthy as a warrior, a far better one than I've trained, other than my former student… the one who… well, you know." he then handed Hiccup his newly forged sword as he finished, "Keep in practice, Hiccup. For if you continue this path, you may become a great Viking… as well as a Dragon Rider, just like those of the Old Code."

"The Old Code?" Hiccup asked, raising an eyebrow at this.

The other two teen Vikings were confused by this, as was a still-on-his-guard Toothless. "You know," Draco pointed out, knowing full well what he was talking about to the boy, "The oath that we've repeated ever since the training. Like so: A Rider and his Dragon are sworn to Valor…Their Hearts know only Virtue, Their Blade and Claws defend the Helpless, Their Strength and Might uphold the Weak, Their Word and Roar speak only Truth, Their Wrath and Courage undoes the Wicked and Evil." after Draco had finished reciting his Old Code, he looked to Hiccup, who seemed to be a little bit clueless still, but he brushed it off as he brought his head down to come eye to eye with the boy, "But enough about that, today's the day for your final test in flight."

This earned a bright smile to both Hiccup and Toothless as the Night Fury left both a confused Syn and Fishlegs. The Night Fury stopped right next to Hiccup, eagerly wagging his tail like a dog in anticipation of the test to come. The two were feverishly awaiting to see the fruits of their training together with the saddle and tail harness.

But then, Hiccup remembered the two new Vikings among them and turned to look at them, seeing their confused looks. He then looked back to Draco as he pointed to them, "What'll we do about them?"

Draco looked to the two teens, and allowed a small smirk to spread across his face as he nodded, "Yes. That is a complexity of its own, isn't it?" he then looked to Hiccup and Toothless as he answered, "I just thought of a solution to better help this situation."

Berk Docks

The Vikings that remained behind were now at the docks, along with Unfer and Gobber as they welcomed the now returning search party. Or what was left of them. In truth, they all had returned, but they didn't come back in one piece. The ships were either burnt in some places, or chunks of them had been bitten or torn out. It looked like their search for the nest had nearly been a costly one for them all, considering the dragons they had come across gave them a fracas they wouldn't soon forget. But despite the happy thought that they had all come back, the Vikings that returned, including Stoick, all had sour and disappointed expressions on their faces. But none of them seemed more disappointed and foul-tempered at this moment, than Stoick himself.

As his friend, with his interchangeable hand now a paddle, was there to greet him, along with Unfer, the others were getting out and helped out by the other Vikings.

Gobber grabbed his pack as he asked his friend, "So… I take it you found the nest?"

"Not even close," Stoick grumbled, as he roughly pushed Unfer aside. The trio then walked side by side each other as they made their way across the pier. As they did, Stoick asked the two, "I'm hopin' you two had more luck than I did with Hiccup back here."

"Well, I can safely say that your parenting troubles are over," Unfer announced to the Viking chief.

This earned a confused look on the chief's face, but before he could ask what he meant by that, a few of the villagers rushed on over, passing them. And each of them congratulated on Stoick as they past them by,

"Stoick! Everyone in the village is so relieved now!"

"Out with the old, in with the new, eh?"

"No one's gonna miss that big nuisance, not one bit."

"Right before the Nightmare Battle, we're all gonna celebrate with a big party."

As the villagers left the trio from all that commotion, Stoick's face was one of worry. Apparently, he had misinterpreted their statements, saying that Hiccup was no more amongst them… alive, that is. Worried, he looked to his friend and asked, "He's gone?"

"Well, yes, most afternoons, but who can blame him?" Gobber shrugged, swaying Stoick's worries aside as he explained, "I mean, the life of a celebrity is pretty straining on the poor lad. What with being swarmed all over by his new fans and all. Who wouldn't want to disappear in the woods for the whole day?"

"That, and I believe he's trying to avoid Miss Hofferson," Unfer pointed out, scratching and stroking his small beard. "Ever since he became the newest prodigy in Dragon Training, she's been growing more and more jealous of his accomplishments, he practically overshadows her in skill and physical improvements."

It was after hearing all that, that Stoick stopped the two, and asked them both, "Are we talking about the same Hiccup here?"

Gobber nodded a yes to that as he smirked, "Yeah, I know. Who'd ever thought, eh? I mean, he's not as buff as me or you, but he's actually grown muscles on his toothpick body. And who'd ever thought of his success in the ring? With all the new moves and weapons he's been making himself, he's on a whole new field. And then there's the way that he fights the dragons. It's like he has some way with the beasts."

"Almost as if he's taming a bunch of pets," Unfer shrugged at that.

That earned a chuckled laugh from Gobber, "Pets, eh? That's a laugh; oh, I've gotta write that down in my notes."

As the other two Vikings were going over with each other, Stoick looked the other way, completely astounded of the news about his son.

Elsewhere

Far away from the village of Berk, or rather, high up in the sky, nearly hidden in the clouds, something else was going on. Soaring above the clouds, and the forests of Berk, Toothless was steadily flying in the air, with Hiccup on his back, steering him. After nearly three months of training and practice flight, the two were now ready to do the real thing this time.

However, they weren't alone, as Draco swooped up right in front of the two young ones. His mighty wings flapping in the air, allowing the mighty dragon to soar in the sky with no challenge or battle against gravity to be a problem. But as the beast soared through the cloud-filled and spacious airway, it wasn't all that quiet. For riding on the mighty Golden Fleece's back, Syn and Fishlegs were accompanying them all on this, holding onto the dragon by makeshift reins made of rope, tied to Draco. And for the two, unlike Hiccup who was used to this, they weren't exactly all too thrilled about this one bit.

"AHHHHH!" Fishlegs cried out, holding onto the rope for dear life. "I just thought they were gonna tie us up to a tree! I didn't think that this was what the dragon meant!"

A little more composed in holding her fear back, she turned to look behind to where Hiccup was. "I still can't see how you're not scared about all this?" she cried out to the boy, gaining his attention, "Any other person would freak out about all this! And you're not even flinching like you'd usually do!"

"I don't know," Hiccup called out as he shrugged to the girl. "I guess after three months, I've just gotten used to it." He then smirked at her, "Besides… it's kind of amazing to do this kind of thing!"

"Alright, enough chitchat everyone," Draco pointed out as he looked to Hiccup from behind him, "It's time to being Flying 101. Just follow my lead, Hiccup; your job is to steer Toothless. Get in synch with him with the movements of his tail. You too, Toothless, you need to read the boy as well as follow where he motions you to move." and then made a turn in the air, going to the left.

"Okay there, bud," Hiccup said to Toothless as he readied himself, on both the handle reins on the saddle and the steering foot/ankle guards. "We're gonna take this nice and slow." He looked down at the cheat sheet he had made, containing all the tail fin movements he needed to remember, and nodded as he spotted the right one, "Alright, we'll follow them with Position three… no, four."

With that move in his head, Hiccup turned the left pedal backwards, causing the tail fin to open wider now. Toothless spotted that, and looked back forward, knowing full well now where to go. The two then followed Draco, in a perfect turn after the Golden Fleece, along with his passengers. The two dragons stopped turning as now both of them were facing the ocean, with Hiccup looking behind him and saw that the artificial tail fin was working perfectly with Toothless's real fin. Draco then dived down gently to the ocean, and then soared over it to two rock formations, with Syn and Fishlegs still freaking out.

"Alright, here we go," Hiccup told himself as he and Toothless dived down after them.

The two soared over the ocean's surface, following Draco as he went into and under a rocky arch that connected to the island's rocks. Toothless, soaring over the water, as his wing gently touched the water in Hiccup's effort to balance him, looked at the rocky passageway, hoping not to crash into it. But luck was on his side, as Hiccup steered him perfectly through on the other side.

Hiccup had to smile at this achievement, "Yes. It worked." Now with this feeling of accomplishment, Hiccup felt it was gonna be a breeze. However, he overstepped his confidence, as he and Toothless slammed into a rock pillar, "Sorry about that!" and then another rock pillar. "My bad!" Toothless had enough of it, as he used his right ear to slap Hiccup hard on the right, snapping him out of it, "Ow! Yeah, yeah, I'm on it!"

"Focus, Hiccup!" Draco shouted to them, "You need to stay focused while in flight!" And then, he took off up higher into the sky.

"Okay, Position four… no, three," Hiccup stated as he changed gears. After the gears were changed, Hiccup and Toothless began flying after Draco into a vertical ascent. Rapidly gaining altitude, the adrenaline started to build up into him, climbing along with the altitude counter after Draco. Overwhelmed by excitement, he exclaimed, "Yeah! Come on, baby! Let's go! Ha ha…" Hiccup couldn't help but be happy about this as he shouted, "Ah, man! This is awesome! The wind in my face…!"

Back on Draco, Fishlegs was still a little wary, closing his eyes in fright. But Syn had completely forgotten about the whole dragon/human friend issue, and was steadily enjoying this new experience for her. This was made evident as she shouted, "Whooohooo! This is just awesome! The wind in my…" however, that moment was short lived, as the rope that she used to hold on to, snapped. She saw this, and all the excitement halted as she started to fall off, with Fishlegs shouting out.

"FLEECE!" Fishlegs shouted to the dragon, "Syn's chances of survival are dwindling… DWINDLING!"

Hiccup saw it, and then saw Syn's falling and screaming form past him and Toothless. His eyes went bug eyed with fright as he shouted, "SYN!"

Absent-mindedly, or perhaps intentional, he let go of the harness. But then he realized the mistake way too late, when he noticed nothing but 200 meters of air between the three of them and the ground. Toothless realized this, as without Hiccup helping him to steer, the dragon's equilibrium with the sky soon was shattered, as he too fell down along with Hiccup, who was making his way to Syn.

Finally, after a few seconds of steadying each other, Hiccup grabbed Syn's wrist, as he smirked in relief, ""I… I got ya!"

Ignoring the happy moment her friend caught her, she screamed at him in a panic, "You got me? Wh-Who's got you!"

Flailing around, Hiccup and Syn both saw Toothless falling down with them both, and also saw Draco nose-diving towards them. Not planning on waiting, Hiccup attempted to grab hold of Toothless and get back onto the saddle, while holding on to Syn. Toothless was roaring all over, bug-eyed and scared; he was starting to panic as well. Without Hiccup at the controls, he was unable to fly, and was also free-falling towards a messy death.

"It's alright, just angle yourself!" Hiccup shouted to Toothless, as now the three were falling down together.

However, Toothless was swirling around in a circle, and his tail had swatted Hiccup hard on the left side of his face. The boy was able to steady himself, with Syn's help, and only she noticed the swat had injured Hiccup. There, bleeding slightly a small horizontal scar was right under his eye. But it was obvious that he didn't care much, as by grabbing her, they both dived at Toothless.

Finally, the two Viking teens manage to pull themselves back onto the Night Fury, just as the Golden Fleece dived right next to them. "Pull up, my boy!" Draco shouted as he pointed below, "You're gonna crash!"

As Hiccup settled down on the saddle, with Syn sitting behind him and wrapping her arms around Hiccup's chest tightly, it was only then that the two saw it. They were heading down towards the shoreline, where a forest of rock pillars awaited them.

Digging his heels into the pedals, Hiccup re-established control and pulled the harness hard. This caused Toothless to spread his wings, slowing their descent. As they started to slow their pace, the cheat sheet that held the moves down, flew away, with Syn noticing it, as she shouted, "Hiccup, the cheat sheet!"

Hiccup took notice of the sheet, as did he notice they were coming in closer to the rocks. He then shouted, "Hang on!"

Letting his instincts and trust in Toothless take over, he switch gears on the fly, rapidly changing tail fin positions as Toothless swerved between the rock formations, diving and climbing through the air. If the situation wasn't a matter of life and death for the two teens and Night Fury, the all-new experience would have been an awesome ride. Despite leaving left and right, as well as the occasional spin, the rock formation wasn't letting up for them. While they did this, Draco flew overhead of the formation, trying to spot them out with a now calmer Fishlegs scouting out for them. Back in the pillar forest, Hiccup and Toothless, now in synch with each other, were dodging the pillars with the speed of… well, a very fast object.

Syn, now finally able to open her eye again, noticed Hiccup as they flew for dear life. The look on his face wasn't the face of the Viking that made sarcastic remarks, nor even a hint of fear on him anymore. Instead, he was more concentrated on getting them through this. And to this change, he looked… mature and courageous. This earned a half-smirk on the explosive expert's face at seeing her friend like this.

The trio then bolted right out of the rock pillars, now reaching clear ocean view. Draco and Fishlegs spotted this, as the two soared out from above them, and sighing in relief that they made it. Hiccup let out a sigh of relief as well, and Syn released her death grip on Hiccup as she put her hands on his shoulder guards now.

Punching his fists in the air in a sign of victory, Hiccup exclaimed in the joy of having cheated death, "YEAH!"

"ALRIGHT!" Syn cried out in joy as well, shook her fist in the air.

Fishlegs couldn't help but shout out as well at their successful feat, "Yeah, alright!"

"Well done, lad. Well done," Draco boomed out in laughter and a smile, seeing his pupil make it out of there alive, and in perfect synch with Toothless as well.

And in an act of agreement, Toothless releases a ball of plasma that bursts into a brilliant flame in front of him, Hiccup, and Syn.

Hiccup saw this, and unlike the happy Syn, his shoulders slumped as he groaned, "Aw, come on…"

And the last thing that happened, was the Night Fury swept on in through the flame burst, carrying his rider and the pyromaniac girl, right on in.

Later On

Other Side of Berk Shores

The five had landed on the rocky shoreline, far from Berk where they sat around a makeshift fire, eating fish. Hiccup and Syn were sort of slightly in the best of conditions, as they did survive the fly through the burst, but didn't come out as clean as whistles. The two were covered in soot, and Hiccup's hair was singed at the ends, pulled back as it gave him a new look. The cut under his left eye had been cauterized, so now it was a permanent scar now. Syn, on the other hand, was enjoying the last remaining tingle sensation when they shot through the fire.

As Hiccup blinked a bit, getting the flexibility back in his face, or at least watering his eyes once more, Toothless began to make another hacking sound. The young Viking could only remember that sound as he turned to his left, where he and Syn leaned back on Toothless, as he looked and saw Toothless hacking out a half-eaten fish.

"Ah, no thanks," He said holding up the fish he had on the stick, "I'm good."

"I'll take it," Syn popped up as she stuck the fish carcass on her stick and brought it over to the fire.

However, it was while this moment, in which Syn and Fishlegs both were a bit accepting the two dragons, that Syn pointed out as she cocked an eyebrow at Draco, "Y'know… I just realized… you two aren't like dragons at all."

Both Draco and Toothless looked to the girl, cocking eyebrows thinking that she thought she knew everything. And so, Draco leaned down to her eyelevel, nearly getting into her face as he smirked and asked, "Hmmm, well how many dragons to you know in person?"

Leaning back further into Toothless, she looked to him, and then to Draco, and answered with a shrug, "Well… you guys are the first."

"You shouldn't always listen or believe in dragonslayer stories, Syn," Draco advised as he explained, "A Dragon would never harm a human, unless they were provoked or attacked."

It was at that last part, Fishlegs's interest on the subject arose. "Really?" he asked as he looked up at the dragon, to whom he was sitting in front of, "Then why are a whole horde of them are raiding our village?"

That question got all the teens thinking the same thing as they looked ot the elder dragon for answers. Draco merely shrugged as he began, "Well, it's fairly simple: usually they would do that for several reasons. One, someone attacked the nest and they're retaliating. Two, they're probably trying to get you to leave. Or third, they probably can't find hunting ground to get large quantities of food…"

But then suddenly, a loud hissing and chirping sound caught all their attention. A small pack of Terrors flew in and landed nearby to them, drawn by the scent of raw food being cooked. The three teens were a bit surprised; with Hiccup acting a bit calm by the sudden surprised, but Syn and Fishlegs at their guard. Draco didn't seem to mind the smaller band of dragons coming in, but Toothless let out a low growl as he pulled his food closer to himself, as if warning the much smaller dragons to stay away from his meal.

In amusement, the three observe the little lizards try to steal a piece or two away, first by engaging in a little tug-of-war with Toothless; the winner was obvious from the beginning. And then one of the regular green and red Terrors, tried to sneak a piece away while he was distracted. Toothless caught the Terror in its tracks, and promptly snatched back the piece of meat. Angered at its failed plot, the smaller dragon tried aggression, drawing its breath and getting ready to shoot its flame at Toothless.

But before it can do anything, though, Toothless spat a small blob of bright blue plasma right into its open mouth. Surprised, the Terror's eyes snapped wide open, as it fell back from the impact. Smoking from its ears and mouth, it dizzily tottered about.

Hiccup chuckled as he looked at the dizzy Terror, "Heh. Not so fireproof on the inside, are ya?"

"Whoa," Fishlegs exclaimed in fascination, "That would save a whole lot of fighting, just by shooting flame in the dragon's mouth, right before it had the chance to fire a shot."

"That's impossible," Syn stated, "You don't know when it's gonna do that."

"Well, actually… you can," Draco stated as he explained, as he tapped the right side of his chest. "A dragon always blows flames from its fire lung, which is the right side. Before it can breathe, it has to draw enough air for the gas the fire lung creates to spew flames. When it builds it up in its mouth, the sound of it sounds like a man snoring. That's when you can strike at the dragon's most vulnerable time."

Partly out of pity, and partly because she didn't want Toothless to burn the poor thing to a crisp, Syn took one of the non-cooked fish and tossed it over to the Terror.

"Here you go." She said. The green Small One snatched up the fish and swallowed it whole. The green Small One tilted its head to the side as Hiccup settled back against my side and scuttled over to him curiously.

It curiously examined the female Viking and then the fish, then bit it with its teeth, and swallows the content whole. Full, it looked at her with its large round eyes, and scurried over to her. A little worried, she looked to Hiccup for answers, but he gave her a half-smirk. And then, much to her surprise, it scuttled into her lap, curled up into a ball, and cuddled up against her.

A look of unbridled surprise was on her face, as was Fishlegs's, and then a smile formed. Her hand subconsciously ran itself over the scales of the Terror. This one, strangely, wasn't aggressive like the one she and the others faced in the ring. The look on its face was one of peace and serenity; what girls would find to be cute. Its skin felt warm to the touch, and didn't give off any feelings of hostility.

No one would've been able to imagine this any time before this, but it was strange in a good way. None of the three Viking teens present didn't think that any other person in their village would be able to experience or truly appreciate this feeling, due to their attitudes against the dragons. But they misunderstand…

At that moment, Syn looked to Hiccup astounded by this as he nearly whispered in surprise, "Hiccup…"

"I know," Hiccup replied as he smiled at the scene in front of him. "Everything we know about these guys. Everything they told us, read to us, or even pound into our heads since birth about the dragons… is wrong."

Next Chapter: Who Kills Dragons, and Who Befriends Them; A Romantic Flight and Deadly Discoveries

Also, if you're wondering, the design for Hiccup's new sword, came from Ragnarok of Soul Eater.