A/n: Another by trystrike, one more left of theirs I think. Three more suggestion spaces left (try to only put one idea at a time so that no one takes all three of them).
Also this is chapter 64 (64, 64 zoo lane) and no I couldn't help but make that reference.
On with the show!

Hiccup tilted his head to gain a better look at the dragon trapped in the ice. He'd been called over to the academy a few minutes ago by an excited Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who insisted that they'd found a new dragon species. The two were still there, having led him to the lump of ice and promptly started arguing over whether to name it a Ruff or a Tuff.

"Are you sure it's alive?" Hiccup asked. Sure, they'd found a skrill encased in ice before and it'd been fine, but this one looked like it had been in there for a while. He wasn't sure if he really wanted it to be alive, either; it was massive, and wouldn't have fit in the academy if not for the removal of the metal covering over the top. It almost seemed to rival the red death in size, though Hiccup hoped that it wasn't another of those.

"Yeah!" Tuffnut said roughly. "Tuffnut Junior wouldn't be dead!"

Oh great, they'd named it already.

"It's Ruffnut Junior!" Ruffnut corrected with a shove to her twin's side. Hiccup sighed as the two started up a wrestling match, and stared at the new dragon.

"Well, better thaw it out," he decided. "Toothless, you know what to do."

The night fury nodded, obediently warming up a flame in his mouth and sending a small but steady stream of it out at the ice.

"Is it done yet?"

"For the last time... yes?" Hiccup said. The ice had melted, having taken over three hours to do so. In that time, the twins had gathered everyone else, and they were all watching the ice wash away with varying levels of intrigue.

"What type of dragon is that?"

"A Ruffnut!"

"A Tuffnut!"

"Hey!"

"We don't know what it is," Hiccup explained, ignoring the twins - who had started fighting again. "That's why we're all here. To find out."

Whatever type of dragon it was, it had clearly been in the ice for some time. Its movements were slow, unsteady -

"Does it even have wings?" Snotlout asked, unimpressed.

"Doesn't look like it..." Hiccup said unsurely. He approached the new dragon with slight caution. It didn't respond to his presence - he wasn't sure whether that was a good sign or not.

The dragon stood up to its full, impressive height, and peeled its eyes open. It blinked a few times, adjusting to the light and having sight in general, then started inspecting its surroundings.

"What gender do you think it is?" Hiccup wondered, quite sick of having to refer to the dragon as an 'it'. He avoided it whenever possible, but it was hard to work out the gender of a new species.

"Why don't you ask?" Fishlegs hissed back, trying not to draw attention to himself as the dragon's gaze moved downwards.

'Umm...' Hiccup cleared his throat awkwardly. 'Hello.'

The dragon looked down at him inquisitively, tilted its head and opened its mouth.

'Would you mind telling me what you are?' Hiccup continued when the dragon didn't speak. It looked like it was trying to - perhaps its vocal chords just weren't used to working? - 'Species, preferably, and gender...'

The dragon continued to look at Hiccup. It was quite unnerving, really, and he was starting to feel more than a little unsettled under the intensity of it. It still hadn't spoken either, hadn't given any indication that it understood Hiccup's words, and the Viking was beginning to question whether it could actually speak Dragonese.

'Do you understand -'

The dragon got its voice back, and promptly cut Hiccup off with a massive roar that blew him back into Toothless. Hiccup's hands flew to his ears to block out the deafening noise, but it was completely ineffective. The dragon continued for a full minute before deciding that whatever point it was trying to make had been communicated, and turned to walk off.

Hiccup continued to stare after it as it walked off, his ears ringing. Astrid walked up in front of him, mouth moving without making any noise, and Hiccup frowned. She started waving a hand in his face, which was, quite frankly, annoying, and he pushed it out of the way.

Astrid carried on making her fish impressions as Hiccup stood up and dusted himself off, ready to go after the dragon and attempt a more civilised conversation. He made it halfway to the exit before his legs buckled and the ground came rushing up to meet him.

After a mad dash to catch Hiccup, and working out that the dragon's roar had probably deafened him - at least temporarily - Astrid brought him back home. Valka was there to greet her, and ask what had happened to her son. Astrid gave her version of events, and Valka listened with a slight frown on her face.

"It had no wings?" Valka checked, "And showed no signs of understanding Dragonese?"

Astrid nodded on both counts.

"Well, no wonder it didn't understand Dragonese - that's not a dragon!"

"What?" Astrid really wasn't sure what to think of that. Valka sounded serious, so it couldn't have been good, but what was it, then? She voiced that question.

"It's a dinosaur, by the sounds of it." Valka said grimly.

"A... dinosaur?" Astrid repeated. It didn't sound all that amazing. "So, it's like a dragon?"

"In strength and size, yes. But in intelligence? No dinosaur can be reasoned with. It'll destroy whatever's in its path."

"Oh." Astrid said. Now it sounded significantly more dangerous. "So, I suppose we have to go and get rid of it?" And without Hiccup's help? Great.

When Hiccup woke, his ears were still ringing. Not so much that he couldn't hear anything else, not anymore, but still enough to be annoying.

He opened his eyes to see Astrid, and, if he concentrated hard enough, the fish faces she was making started to become words.

"...gone now so... don't have to..." she said.

"Wha..." Even his own voice seemed to be too hard to listen to, and he wouldn't have had any idea hat the rest of the sentence was supposed to be if not for the fact that he was the one saying it. Astrid giggled at his words, and he frowned. Perhaps he had been saying something other than what he'd intended - his question regarding what was happening was by no means a joke.

"Sounds... you... not recovered, quite?" Astrid asked. Hiccup's frown didn't lift.

"What?" he said, perhaps louder than necessary.

"That dinosaur knocked you out," Astrid explained, in a slow tone that was just as loud as Hiccup's. Though he wasn't glad that she was being so patronising - he knew she didn't mean to, but she still was - it was nice to be able to hear her. "Gothi says you've been temporarily deafened." she continued, "It should last another day or so."

Another day? How long had he been out?

"Not that long," Astrid answered as if he'd voiced his concerns aloud - perhaps he had, without realising it - "no more than a few hours. Just enough time to miss all the action with the dinosaur."

That word again. So he hadn't misheard. He thought back to the dragon - dinosaur, apparently - and decided that he didn't care what its actual name was, so long as it didn't come back.