"The first type of dragon we're going to teach you about is the Night Fury. Up until recently, not much was known about them, and we still have a lot to learn, but I'll tell you what we do know." Hiccup rested a hand on Toothless' head as he continued, "Most of you have probably already seen Toothless around." There were nods and murmurs of confirmation from the children, who were, so far, rather well-behaved. "Toothless is a Night Fury. As is this little one in my arms here, Koda, and the blue dragon off to the side, Sky. These are all Night Furies."
Dahlia, the red head that so reminded Hiccup of Astrid, raised her hand, not waiting to be called on before asking, "Why do they all look different?"
"Well, that's a good question," Hiccup sat on the ground cross-legged, as the children already were, "All dragons are different. There are different colorations and different markings on them... But in this case, it's not just the colorations that are different. Koda here is still just a baby... Now, Sky is an average-sized Night Fury, though his color is a bit unusual. Most of them are shades of black and gray, like Toothless, but there are some exceptions, like Sky and Koda. Toothless is a bit smaller than most Night Furies, and Koda is for her age as well. They're considered 'runts,' or 'Pixies.'"
"Pixies? You're just making this stuff up as you go along!" Snotlout accused, earning a plasma blast to the dirt near his feet from Toothless as punishment.
"I learned a lot while I was on that island, Snotlout. Unlike you, I spent my time learning rather than causing trouble and eating things that are not to be eaten." Hiccup said dismissively, "Anyway, Night Furies are extremely rare because they only mate once in a lifetime, and have small clutches compared to other dragons. While Gronckles might lay twenty to forty eggs at a time, multiple times in their lives, Night furies only lay, on average, five eggs in their entire lives. They live on a special island, where there are no other dragons because Night Furies are extremely proud and generally wouldn't associate themselves with other dragons."
"So why did Toothless?" Dahlia pressed, acting more and more like Astrid by the second.
Smirking a bit at the resemblance, Hiccup explained, "Well, he's... Toothless isn't like other Night Furies. He saw things differently than the others, and got into a lot of trouble because of that, and was eventually banished from the island by his own father." Toothless growled a low warning, "I know, I know bud, educational purposes," Hiccup murmured, gently stroking the dragon's scales before continuing, "Night Furies and Vikings have a very similar social structure to ours. They all live in one pack, where there are two alphas, or "chiefs" as we call them. The alpha male and alpha female, who are mates. The finest son of the clutch of the alphas becomes alpha himself when his father's reign comes to an end. Toothless is the only son of the alphas."
There was a chuckle from Tuffnut, "That sounds familiar." Astrid hurled a rock at the boy's helm, rolling her eyes.
Sky snorted under his breath, "And some son he is."
This didn't go unnoticed By Hiccup, who reacted immediately, accidentally dropping Koda to the ground as he put his arms around Toothless neck to keep him from attacking, "Size isn't everything," He said, more to Sky than the children, "It's not about how proud, big, and strong you are. It's about how cunning, determined, and compassionate you are." Toothless calmed a bit, though he was still glaring at Sky, and Hiccup finally released the dragon, noticing that everyone's eyes were on him, questioning that sudden movement. "There was a bug." He excused lamely.
"More like something bugging us." Toothless corrected with a scowl at Sky.
"You sure it wasn't just your brain falling out of your head?" Snotlout teased, earning a bit of laughter from the crowd.
Unfortunately, Sky caught that remark from Toothless. "You got something to say?" The larger Night Fury challenged, getting to his feet.
"One thing about Night Furies is that they have are very expressive, moreso than most other species. For example, the pose Sky is demonstrating there is a challenge to a fight," Hiccup turned to Toothless who was already bracing himself to attack, and said, "Leave it, Toothless, it's not worth it."
"Hiccup, what's going on?" Astrid asked worriedly, as the dragons were now circling one another, the children the only barrier between them.
Thankfully, poor Koda who'd been all but forgotten, clawed her way up young Sissel's body, much to her brother's dismay, though he was a bit too scared to do anything about it, and perched herself upon the blonde's small head. "Both of you knock it off! This is a big day for Hiccup, stop ruining it for him!" This seemed to be enough to get through to Toothless, who slunk back to Hiccup's side, defeated, but Sky was still ready for a fight. "You too, Sky! Is this any way for a proper Night Fury to behave? You should be ashamed of yourself, making such crude insults and starting fights- don't forget you're a guest here!" She was suddenly plucked off of the girls head and placed in her lap, replacing the plush bunny that had been there previously. Noticing that she'd actually done quite a bit of damage scratching the girl, Koda raised her head and began licking the wounds.
"Eww, what's it doing?" Kylan, Sissel's brother, asked, eyeing Koda.
"Ah, the saliva of Night Furies has great healing properties. She's trying to make Sissel feel better." Hiccup explained.
"And what was she doing on Sissel's head in the first place?" Another child asked.
"Preventing a dragon fight. That's usually Toothless' job, but in this case, he was part of the fight, so..." Hiccup heaved a sigh, "When there are squabbles among the dragons, one will usually step in to break it up, just like we Vikings do, outside of battle or training. So thank you, Koda." He finished.
Koda shot a glare at Sky that clearly said 'this isn't over, don't do anything stupid' before allowing the small girl to forcefully hug her, as she usually would her bunny. "But why were they fighting?" Young Dahlia inquired.
"Well, like I said, Night Furies and Vikings aren't all that different," Hiccup explained, "Sky and Toothless are just like Snotlout and I. Sky and Snotlout are perhaps physically better suited to the position of chief and have the traditional ideals, but Toothless and I were born of slightly higher rank, and although our moral compasses might point in different directions from those of our parents, being a compassionate individual isn't something to be ashamed of. In fact it's something both Night Furies and vikings could do with a bit more of... And whether anyone here likes it or not," He looked from Sky to Snotlout before returning his gaze to the children, "Inside this, this..." He struggled for a moment, gesturing around himself before finally finding the word, "-Academy, I'm in charge. That means what I say goes, and Toothless, don't you dare start getting smug about this, you're in trouble, too." Toothless, who had been looking rather proud moments before, deflated again and blinked at Hiccup apologetically. "Sky was in the wrong, but you can't let him get the better of you, because in the end, you're the one that lives here and will have to deal with the consequences, not him. He can just leave with no skin off his nose... Plus, he can summon a herd of angry Night Furies, and nobody wants to see how that ends."
"Actually-" Tuffnut began, but was elbowed by his sister.
"Be quiet, will you? Hiccup's being cool again!" Ruffnut chided.
Snotlout rolled his eyes, "Coolness is a matter of opinion."
"The fire on your pants is a matter of fact." Hiccup countered with a smirk.
Snotlout's eyes widened as he examined his pants. "There's no-" As he turned to look at his behind, a fire suddenly erupted on his ample bottom, courtesy of... Well, Stormfly, after she bypassed the debate between Hookfang, Barf, and Belch about who would get to do it. "Gyah! Bad Stormfly! Bad!" He ran to a conveniently placed barrel of water and plopped his bottom down in it, getting stuck in the process.
Turning away from the highly amusing scene of Snotlout trying to get himself out of the barrel while shouting "This isn't funny, get me out!" Hiccup continued, "But that goes both ways. Sky, if this continues, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Please don't make me say it again."
"You heard him," Stormfly supplied, "Next time, it won't be a warning. I've said it before and I'll say it again: We will never let anyone cause Toothless harm. Especially not over some ridiculous rivalry over something that doesn't even apply here!" The other dragons had stopped their bickering to glare daggers at Sky, showing their support for what Stormfly was saying.
"This doesn't concern you!" The sapphire Night Fury growled.
"Sky," Hiccup said in a low, warning manner that was eerily calm.
When silence and relative peace was restored to the arena, Dahlia asked, "Are you done teaching us?"
"No, I'm sorry, where was I..." Hiccup rubbed his temples, trying to calm himself. Of course, hearing what Stormfly had to say made him feel a bit better, but still... If this was how it was going to be the entire time Sky was here, maybe it would be better to just forget about the other Night Furies altogether like Toothless wanted in the first place. "Ah... Night Furies... Right, they have a social system similar to ours, where runts like Toothless and Koda are at the bottom."
"But you said Toothless is above Sky." Gustav pointed out softly.
"Right, but Toothless is the alpha's son, so they cut him some slack. At least until he was banished. Anyway, enough about that, um... They live in a system of natural tunnels, and the floor of their nursery is coated with shed scales that help break the fall for the young ones who are learning to fly... Oh, and they have a special and admittedly really weird ability to see with sounds. They send out this weird noise that bounces back to them and they can somehow see using the sounds. Their fire is also unique, sometimes they do what's called a plasma blast-" Toothless demonstrated by shooting the barrel that Snotlout was in, exploding it out from under him. "Thank you, Toothless," Hiccup murmured appreciatively, "Or they can hold their fire," Again, Toothless demonstrated, this time using it to heat the ground in a circle before curling up on it to take a nap, just like he always did with his bed at home, "Like that. Their flames are always that shade of blueish purple, and as far as we know, Night Furies are the only dragons that can unleash an unlimited number of shots without a rest period."
Unfortunately for Toothless, Hiccup had other plans in mind for him. Scooting closer to his dragon, Hiccup lifted Toothless' tail to show the fins to the crowd, "A dragon's fins, wings, and tail are extremely important to their survival. Without them, they'd be unable to fly, and, as a wise man once told me," He cleared his throat, and, in the best imitation of Gobber he could manage, said, "A downed dragon is a dead dragon." He then shot a look of appreciation to his former instructor, who smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Ignoring Toothless' complaints and half-hearted attempts to shake Hiccup free of his tail, the boy only held tighter as he looked back to the class, "I'm sure by now most of you have heard the story about Toothless and I facing off against the Red Death, but how many of you know how we met?" When none of the children responded, Hiccup told the tale of Toothless' tail and how they had become friends and discovered the Red Death.
"Why didn't you kill him?" Kylan asked.
"Why does everyone ask me that?" Hiccup wondered aloud, "Because I just... I looked at him, and... I saw myself. I still do." He smiled as he finally let go of the dragon's tail, "Normally, at this time, we'd have you try to get the feel of the dragon, try to get on it's back and ride him, but Toothless is a special case because of his tail controls... Koda, I don't know if she can fly yet herself, and Sky is just a visitor here. Besides, you'll probably never get the chance to ride a Night Fury again, anyway, so we'll start those lessons tomorrow with the Gronckle. Other than that, there's... really not much to tell. We don't know all that much about Night Furies yet... So, does anyone have any questions?"
Sissel raised her hand and asked in a voice so soft and delicate with childlike innocence that Hiccup almost wondered if she was too young for this. "Can I keep it?" She asked, glancing between Hiccup and Koda, who was still pinned against the girl's chest.
"Save me." Koda squeaked.
Hiccup smacked a hand to his forehead, "No, I'm sorry... She's just a baby, she needs a grown up dragon to look out for her, like Toothless,"
Sissel was visibly disappointed, but let go of Koda anyway, and the young dragon raced back to Hiccup's feet and wasted no time in scaling his body to his shoulder, where she cowered against his neck. "She's stronger than she looks." Koda whimpered.
Hiccup lifted Koda off his shoulder and into his arms, "If that's all, go on ahead home, we'll meet back here tomorrow, same time, same place." The children began filing out, and Hiccup turned his attention to the dragons and teens, "You all can go, too. I just need to clean up the mess Snotlout's butt made."
"Hey, that was your dragon's fault!" Snotlout accused.
"What, Toothless? Nah, he was just trying to help, weren't you, bud?" Hiccup asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, something like that," Toothless jeered, giving up on sleep entirely for the time being.
Snotlout seemed unconvinced, but stalked off regardless, his striped knickers now showing through the back of his pants where they'd been singed. The majority of the group followed suit until only Sky, Koda, Toothless, Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs remained. Hiccup pretended not to notice as he began gathering the bits of wood that were scattered about. "Good work today, Hiccup," Gobber encouraged, "Keep it up, and remember, you'll be chief of these kids some day." With this, the man hobbled off.
"Yeah, can't wait," Hiccup grumbled to Toothless, who was helping by carrying Koda and allowing Hiccup to put the debris in his saddle.
"Hiccup," Astrid began, her voice on edge, "What are you not telling us?"
Hiccup heaved a sigh and straightened, finally turning to face them, "You ever get the feeling you look too closely at things, Astrid?" He challenged, not particularly wanting to explain what all was going on with Sky and Toothless in front of said dragons.
"When you're involved, there's always more than what meets the eye." Astrid replied with an innocent smile, "Come on, we can't help you if we don't know what's going on."
"Don't." Toothless warned.
Hiccup sighed and bent down to scoop up another chunk of wood, pausing while his head was Near Toothless' to whisper, "It's got to come out at some time or another, Toothless. Do you want to be unprepared when Sky comes at us with an army of Night Furies or do you want to stand a chance by letting them in a little. It's just Astrid and Fishlegs, I won't tell anyone else, I promise."
"You're not the blabbermouth I'm worried about." Toothless muttered, flashing his eyes to Fishlegs. "Don't let them tell anyone else. I don't want the other dragons to know." With this said, he turned tail, and, with a few sharp words to Sky, led the other off to have lunch with the other dragons. Thankfully, Stormfly and Meatlug were waiting at the gates, as they'd been expecting their riders to follow, but when Toothless, Sky, and Koda came out, they followed them instead.
Straightening and moving to the other teens, Hiccup glanced over his shoulder to make sure Sky was really gone before returning his gaze to them and lowering his voice, "Toothless really doesn't want me talking about this, but I have to tell someone... Just... Don't tell anyone else, especially not your dragons. For some reason, he doesn't want them to know. Pride, probably."
"What happened?" Atrid pressed, edging a bit closer to drink in all the details of whatever deep, dark, secret Hiccup was about to spill.
"Could be nothing. Could be everything." Hiccup fumbled, "Dangerous? Oh yes, lots of danger."
"Hiccup!" Astrid commanded, snapping him to attention, "Does this have something to do with what you said yesterday? To keep an eye on our dragons?"
"Yes! Actually, it has everything to do with that." Hiccup heaved a sigh to calm himself, "Well, when we were going to get Dumb, Dumb, and Dumbest, Barf and Belch started talking, saying they overheard Sky talking in his sleep, saying he was going to kill Pixie." Astrid and Fishlegs stared at him blankly. "Did you listen to me at all? Pixie is what they name their runts, he could be talking about Toothless or Koda, and Toothless has a strong feeling it's him!"
Fishlegs raised a brow, "Are you sure he wasn't just having a bad dream? Maybe it was heard out of context?"
"Yeah, that's what Koda said at first, but on the way back, we were flying a little ways away from the others so they wouldn't hear us, and Toothless... Toothless said something that's had me on edge ever since. Apparently, it was no accident that Toothless is a runt, or that he's the only survivor of the alpha's clutch. There were three eggs in his clutch, and of those three, he was the only one to hatch. Sky's always hated him, been out for blood against him. I used the example of Snotlout and I, but even I know Snotlout wouldn't really do anything to get me killed. Not on purpose, anyway. But apparently his relationship was Sky was always darker than that from the day he hatched, maybe even before..." Hiccup inhaled again, trying his best to slow down and make sense to the two.
"What do you mean before he hatched?" Astrid wondered, confused.
"Well, long after Toothless hatched, his mother kept the eggs close, as if willing them to hatch would make it so... But on the night toothless was banished- which, he knew was going to happen- he went to the eggs and cracked them open. Inside was nothing but charred remains. Not rotten, charred. Night Fury eggs are black, so burns wouldn't be visible on the outside. It wasn't that the alphas were infertile, it was attempted murder. One of the other Night Furies must have gone in there and cooked the eggs from the outside, it probably happened to Toothless' egg, too, but there was still enough for him to survive, meaning whoever tried to kill him didn't heat his egg long enough." Hiccup's eyes darted around again, making sure none of the other dragons were near, "And Toothless is positive that Sky's the one who did it, because of his position. Sky is the son of Toothless' father's only sister. In other words, he'd be next in line for alpha if Toothless weren't around. Of course, he is now that Toothless has been banished, but since I'm trying to make peace with the other Night Furies, that old hierarchy might come back into play. Sky had the most to gain from torching those eggs, and he's close enough to Toothless' parents that he might have been able to sneak in and do it." Hiccup heaved a sigh, "And the closeness between Sky and the alphas is even more concerning, because if he turns around and tells the alphas we're no good- or if he fails to return to the Isle of Night by the end of the month, the Night Furies will wage an all-out war on Berk."
Astrid's jaw dropped, "And you agreed to this?!"
"I didn't know how deep their rivalry went before, Astrid!" Hiccup pointed out, "There's nothing we can do about it now. Just make the best impression we can and hope everything works out alright... and keep a close watch on him and Toothless... So I'm going to do that, if you're satisfied with this explanation." When neither Astrid nor Fishlegs protested, Hiccup turned and ran out of the arena to go find Toothless, Sky, and Koda.
A few things... For one, I'm sorry that took so long, but more importantly... AlexJohnD said in a review "Whoa whoa whoa, your going to reference all of those kids in the future!? That IS a lot of characters! Good luck with that..." It goes on, but this is the part I'm referencing here, yes, there are a lot of kids, and I'll be giving them all little roles to play. For example, I plan on having all of the teens take a liking to one child or another, form that beautiful teacher-pupil bond like Hiccup and Gobber had. The rest I have other things in mind for... So yeah, they will be referenced, but it will be like, in one-on-one basis scenarios for the most part... if that makes sense.
Anyway, thank you, and please read responsibly! (by reviewing)