The second final lesson was early the next morning. Nearly the entire village was eager to see Hiccup's success in fighting a dragon.

Hiccup and Astro were the only ones left. The dragon for today was the Gronckle.

Hiccup was leaning against a small wooden barrier. Astro sat down next to her. The boy grabbed her shield, leaned towards Hiccup's face and said very crossly, "Stay out of my way. I'm winning this thing." Astro stood up to move to a different barrier.

"Good!" called Hiccup as the boy ran away, "Please! By all means!"

She stood up and looked to the crowd. Stoick was there. Expecting her to win easily.

Hiccup didn't want to win. She decided to make the dragon mad enough to hurt her, then Astro would take it down and be the hero and winner. He'd win the honour instead of her.

Hiccup turned around as the Gronckle flew toward her.

Meanwhile Astro was following it stealthily from behind. He closed his eyes and promised, "This time. This time. For sure."

Astro kept over the barriers, ready to attack the dragon. But only found it lying on the ground next to Hiccup.

Hiccup didn't even do anything. The dragon just collapsed before her. Hiccup looked at Astro with Fury, wanting to scream, "Why didn't you take the chance? You were supposed to win you idiot!"

The crowd cheered.

"No!" screamed Astro, "You son of a half-troll, rat-eating, lunch bucket!"

I feel your pain. thought Hiccup.

"So, later-" Hiccup tried to slip away unnoticed, but Gobber hooked Hiccup's coat, "No you don't! Not yet."

"Quiet down everyone!" yelled Stoick, "The elder has decided."

Please don't choose me. Hiccup pleaded, Please. Don't. Pick. Me.

Gobber gestured to Astro. Gothi, the village elder, shook her head.

Hiccup internally screamed in terror. Astro wasn't chosen. That meant….

Gothi nodded confidently as Gobber pointed to Hiccup. Everyone cheered. Everyone, that was, except for Astro. He was too busy giving Hiccup a glare that would've made her drop dead on the spot.

"You've done it!" exclaimed Gobber, "You get to kill the dragon! Your first dragon!"

Stoick laughed with joy, "That's my girl!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Hiccup on false enthusiasm, "Yes! I can't wait! I am! So-

"-leaving!" Hiccup announced to no one as she entered the cove, "We're leaving. Let's pack up! Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation-forever!"

Hiccup set down a large basket, in which she had packed her belongings. She took out her riding belt and put it on.

Just then, she heard the sound of a rock sliding against metal. As if a weapon were being sharpened.

Hiccup looked up. Astro was sitting on a boulder, sharpening his axe.

Hiccup yelped in surprise. As she jumped backward she lost her footing and fell. Hiccup panted a few times before shouting, "Don't sneak up on people like that! What are you doing here?"

Astro dropped the rock and stepped off the boulder, walking towards Hiccup, "I wanna know what's going on. No one just gets as good as you do. Especially. You."

Hiccup staggered backwards, trying to back away from Astro. But the boy kept walking closer.

"For someone who hasn't used their powers for a few weeks, you seem to have improved at them hidden." suspected Astro.

"I've figured out what I feel when I'm about to use them."

"Start talking, Hiccup, are you training with someone? A dragon personality, perhaps?"

"Uh…"

"You've been using your powers here so that you could win. Haven't you? That's cheating!"

"Look. This may be hard to understand, but-"

Something caused a few branches to shake. Astro heard the noise and turned to where Toothless would sleep.

Toothless! Why? Hiccup mentally complained.

Astro began to walked toward the source of the sound.

Hiccup scrambled to get between Astro and the tree, trying to get him out of the cove, "You're right! You're right! I through with the lies! I've been using my powers to find out what weaknesses dragons have so that I could prove that I can be useful."

Hiccup grabbed Astro's hand, "You got me. It's time everyone knew. Drag me back. Go ahead. Here we go-"

Astro twisted Hiccup's arm.

After yelling "Ow!" Hiccup asked, "Why the hell did you do that?"

Astro kicked Hiccup to the ground, "That's for the lies. And that's," he dropped his axe so the handle hit Hiccup's chest, "for everything else!"

Growling was heard from the tree.

"Oh no." groaned Hiccup. She stood up, only to be tackled by Astro who yelled, "Get down!"

When Hiccup looked up, and saw Astro getting ready to throw his axe at Toothless.

Hiccup blasted the axe out of Astro's hands and jumped between him and the dragon.

"Stop!" she yelled to Astro, "Don't hurt him!" She turned to Toothless to calm him down, "Toothless! It's okay! He's a friend."

"He's also the one who nearly spotted me in the blacksmith shop!"

"Just calm, down! I'm sure he was just curious."

Hiccup turned to Astro. Shock, fear and disbelief were in his eyes. "It's okay," soothed Hiccup, "you just scared him."

"I scared him?" questioned Astro, scrambling to get to his feet, "Who the heck is him?"

Hiccup smiled nervously and gestured to the dragon, "Astro, this is my friend and trainer, Toothless." Then she looked to Toothless and gestured to Astro, "Toothless, this is my fellow trainee, Astro."

Hiccup was hoping that Toothless would at least try to be friendly. But all Toothless did was growl at Astro.

Astro looked at Hiccup, "Obviously, I made a mistake in telling you to pick a side. You're converting to the dragons' side."

"No!" protested Hiccup, "It's nothing like that!"

"I'm telling Stoick."

"No!"

"He needs to know that there's a traitor on his island!"

Hiccup watched in terror as Astro ran away.

"Dut-du-duh!" she sang, "We're dead."

"What do you mean 'we'?" asked Toothless. He turned around and began walking back to his tree, "You're the one that came here every day. Someone was bound to find out."

"You told me to!"

"No! I gave you to option, and you took it."

"We'll discuss this later! First we have to stop Astro!"

"No! No! You're stopping him. I'm staying here."

"Fine! I'll stop him."

"Thank you!"

"Or fail to stop him because I can't fly and I'm a slow runner and that will cost your life."

"…. You are the most annoying human I've met!" Toothless ran past Hiccup, letting her mount up onto his back.

"You're not the first to say that!" replied Hiccup.

Both ran after Astro.

Astro was jumping over a log when a big, black paw caught him by the arm. "No-o-o-o! No!" Astro screamed as he saw the ground below him become distant.

Toothless dropped Astro on a tree branch. The tree was just leaning over the cove. Astro struggled to hold on.

He looked up and saw Hiccup sitting on the dragon's back. "Hiccup!" the boy yelled, "Get me down from here!"

"You need to give me a chance to explain!" Hiccup pleaded.

Astro shook his head, "I am not listening to anything you have to say!"

"Then I won't speak." suggested Hiccup, "Just let me show you, Astro."

Astro didn't answer.

"Please."

Astro began to climb up. He seemed to have accepted the fact that riding the dragon was his only safe way down. Toothless growled warningly as Astro sat on the dragon's back behind Hiccup. Astro said the first thing on his mind, "Get me down."

"Toothless," Hiccup purred, "down. Gently."

Toothless spread his wings and let the wind raise him slowly.

"See?" asked Hiccup, "Nothing to be afraid of."

"Think again." Toothless growled.

Before Hiccup to say "No." Toothless took off into the air at a high speed. Astro wrapped his arms around Hiccup in order to hold on, screaming uncontrollably as Hiccup yelled at Toothless.

"Toothless! Stop it! Stop it right now! Bad dragon!" She turned to Astro and chuckled nervously, "He's not usually like this."

Toothless flipped himself so he was upside down, and let himself fall into the water below.

Toothless kept diving in and out of the water. As he did, in between dives, Hiccup yelled, "Toothless what are you doing? We need him to like us!"

Hiccup didn't know that Toothless was trying to make Astro apologize for hurting Hiccup.

Toothless flew up and began spiralling wildly.

"Well thank you for nothing!" Hiccup said sarcastically, "You useless reptile!"

"One to talk, Hiccup!" said Toothless.

"Okay!" yelled Astro, closing his eyes and holding on to Hiccup as hard as he could, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off of this thing!"

Toothless heard Astro's trembling voice. The boy was terrified.

Toothless stopped flying wildly and began to glide gracefully.

Astro opened his eyes. Everything was calm. He loosened his grip on Hiccup and looked around. Everything in sight was breathtaking. The clouds were painted red, purple and pink from the setting sun. The ocean waves danced around in the wind. Astro stared all around him wide-eyed until the sun was gone and the sky was only lit by the Northern Lights. Toothless smiled at Astro, wearing an expression on his face that said "not so bad now is it?"

"Alright," Astro said at last, "I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's…. amazing." He began to rub Toothless' shoulder, "He's amazing."

Hiccup nodded.

"So what now?" Astro wondered. He remembered what he had previously followed Hiccup for, "Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow. You know you're gonna have to-" he remembered that Toothless was with them. So he whispered, "kill a dragon."

"Don't remind me." replied Hiccup, "I was kind of hoping that you'd win. I was really upset when I ended up being chosen."

"You're here!" exclaimed a deep, male voice. Hiccup looked around confused, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" questioned Astro.

"That voice." Hiccup explained. "Like a male voice."

"That must be Toothless."

"No. His voice sounds different. Did you hear that voice Toothless?"

Toothless didn't even acknowledge that he was spoken to.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked, "Can you even hear me?"

"The Night Fury is busy." explained the voice, "He's finishing a mission I sent those dragons on long ago. He's taking you home."

"Who are you?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Hiccup?" questioned Astro, "Are you talking to someone? What are you growling at?"

"I'm waiting for you." continued the voice, "I've been waiting for quite a while. My dragons have been watching you. I allowed the dragon to help you learn who you really are. He unknowingly lead you right to me."

"You're the one they sent." Hiccup realized aloud, "You're their master."

"Intelligent. Just like a dragon."

"What do you want with me? Why am I so important to you?"

Hiccup could hear Astro still asking her, "Hiccup, who are you talking to? Why are you growling?"

"You should warn your friend to hold on." The voice warned, "It's going to be a bumpy ride."

"Astro?" Hiccup asked.

"Hiccup," said Astro, "what were you doing. We're you talking to someone?"

"Hold on."

"What?"

"No time to explain. Just hold-"

Suddenly a swarm of dragons emerged from the clouds. They realized that they were in the middle of Hellheim's Gate. Dragons were all around them, carrying food. Hiccup looked at the dragons. They seemed to be in some sort of trance. Almost as if they were hypnotized. Hiccup looked at Toothless. He behaved the same way.

Every dragon began to dive. They flew around many sea-stacks and flew toward a volcano. There was a strange noise. It was like hissing and purring combined. The dragon's flew into the tunnels of the volcano. They flew through the maze of tunnels until they reached a large cavern.