Oh my GOD! 81 reviews? I can't believe it! Thank you guys soooooo much on the support! I am also sorry about my lateness on this chapter. I've been quite busy with school work and there's this original story I am writing. I am excited for the progress it will make! I hope this extra long chapter makes up for the long wait.
Getting Closer
I am about to start on the saddle but I jump when I hear Gobber call me. I hear the door slam closed and Gobber's prosthetic making dull clunks on the floor. I hope he isn't here to talk about what happened. That happened a few minutes ago and I really don't feel like it. But he's my mentor, and my closest friend besides Toothless, so if he asks questions, I'll give him answers.
"I'm back here!" I call back as I pull out the materials for the saddle. I take out my journal that had the saddle designs. He comes in my workspace, concern in his eyes.
"You alright, lass?" he asks me. Oh great. He does mean about what happened.
I shrug. "I guess. I mean, no blood, no foul, right?" I try to get working on my project, but Gobber stops me.
"Come on, lass. I know you and you look troubled." He lifts his prosthetic arm off my hands. "You know you can tell me, right?" Come to think of it, I guess I have been more troubled than I thought.
"Yeah, I guess. It's just..." I flop down in my seat as Gobber sits across from me. I glance around to make sure that the shutters and doors are closed. I drop my voice down to a whisper. "It's this whole princess thing and the ending the war. I don't know if I can do this. I mean look at me! I'm as thin as I fish bone and I can't even use my axe and-"
Gobber places his hand (and prosthetic hand) on my shoulders. "Hali, even though you don't see yourself as strong on the outside, you are one of the bravest, strongest and smartest warriors I know. You may not notice that you do this, but I've seen you make and test weapons. You're stronger than you think you are."
"But Merciless..." I say.
"You do realize that you aren't doing it alone, right?" Gobber asks, his hand(s) leaving my shoulders. I nod. "You and Toothless both are strong and stubborn at that. You didn't just take on stubbornness from your father. You have the heart of a warrior. You got that from both your father and mother." I smile at him from the mention of my mother. "And you've got her smile."
I chuckle. "Thanks Gobber." I get out of my chair and hug him, surprising him slightly. He pats me on the back.
"Come on," he tells me as I get off him. "We need to go back to the arena. Apparently Ashter wanted to try two lessons in one day. As if that would end well." He walks out of my workshop and I smile after him. Maybe after this training lesson I can go see Toothless. I race after him, leaving my project ready to be finished after the lesson.
"Today is about teamwork," Gobber says from the edge of the arena. "The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas and the other head lights it. Your job is to figure out which is which."
We had each been given water buckets and were told to team up. I went with Fishlegs, (I could've sworn I saw anger in Ashter's eyes when I paired up with Fishlegs) Tuffnut went with Snotlout and Ashter went with Ruffnut. We were facing the Hideous Zippleback and I had remembered a little thing my mother told me.
"Dragons have fears as well, hon," she had said to me.
"What would they have to fear?" I asked. There was no way dragons could be afraid of anything.
"They are afraid of eels believe it or not." At my confused expression, she added, "I'm serious sweetie. They are afraid of them. Remember that. You may need it someday."
And boy was she right. I brought an eel with me and hid it under my vest. No one will ever know. Fishlegs and I stand back to back as we look around, waiting for the Zippleback to show itself.
"If that dragon shows either of its faces," Snotlout says, showing off her big ego again. "I'm gonna... THERE!" I hear water splash and Ruffnut's protests.
"It's us, idiots," she says.
"Your butts are getting bigger," Tuffnut sneers. "We thought you were a dragon." Tuffnut laughs.
"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragonesque figure-" Snotlout says, looking at Ashter. For that, she earns a punch from Ashter. Ruffnut throws her water bucket at Tuffnut, knocking him over. Tuffnut sits up, but is dragged into the smoke, his helmet left behind. I watch as Ruffnut starts to move forward as Ashter stops her.
"Wait..." he whispers as he looks around. As he starts to pick up his helmet, Tuffnut sprints out of the smoke, knocking Ashter and Ruffnut over.
"OH I'm hurt!" Tuffnut shouts. "I am very much hurt!"
"Horrible grammar," I mutter. The other four teens walk, Tuffnut limping, out of the way, leaving me and Fishlegs to be the only ones in the arena.
"Our chances of surviving are dwindling. DWINDLING I TELL YOU!" Fishlegs tells me loudly.
"Would you calm down?" I ask, splashing a little water on his face. "We are going to be fine." This seems to calm him down a bit. I go back to facing the smoke, hoping to catch at least a small glimpse of the Zippleback. But then I hear whispering.
"Come on out, little humans..." a voice says from the mist, but it isn't a human. "We know you're here." It's gotta be the Zippleback.
"You nitwit!" The other head (I'm guessing) hisses. "The barbarian humans can't understand us! They can't even tell a dragon from themselves." I feel my back burning.
Why is it doing that? I wonder silently. It hasn't done that in a while. I watch as a small bit of green emerges from the smoke. Then two yellow eyes and after that, a full Zippleback with the two heads and everything. One head zips its way over to Fishlegs. I move out of the way to avoid being hit. Fishlegs starts to panic as he tries to maneuver away from the head. Guessing that it's the one that sparks, he throws his water onto the head. Unfortunately it's the one that breathes the gas, showing that by leaking it out of its mouth.
Move so you don't get eaten alive, My 'instinct' tells me. I'd do it now before that gas hinders you into unconsciousness...
I wish it would hinder you into hiding, I 'tell' it back as I focus on the dragon.
"Oops, wrong head..." Fishlegs mutters sheepishly. The head breathes a forceful stream of smoke, making Fishlegs scream. He drops the bucket and runs towards the exit.
"FISHLEGS!" Gobber and I shout. I turn around as the two heads show themselves. I accidentally breathe a bit of gas in. My mind fogs as my back starts to burn again. I watch one head shoot a couple of sparks in my direction.
"Now, Hali!" Gobber tells me. I lift the bucket and throw the water. Sadly, it doesn't go but a mere foot above my head.
"You have got to be kidding me..." I mumble. The Zippleback homes in on me which causes me to fall back. I start to scoot back. Think, come on!
"Hali!" Gobber calls. No way, Gobber! I can handle this. I remember the eel I have in my vest and I still have the smell on my hands. I am probably doing the most stupidest thing I could possibly do. I stand up, my hands in front of me as I hope the dragon gets a whiff of the eel.
"EEL!" It screeches. Good, it smells it.
"Back," I say. "Back, get back!" I start walking forward as the Zippleback makes a distance from me. "Now.. don't make me tell you again. Yep that's right, back into your cage." It's in its cage now. All that's left is the eel. I glance behind my shoulder to make sure no one sees what I'm doing. "Now think about what you've done..." I grab the eel, and in one swift motion, I toss the eel into the cage. The Zippleback backs up fearfully.
I push the cage doors closed, making a mental note to pick the eel up later. The doors slam closed and I turn around, wiping the eel slime off of my hands. I look up to see everyone standing in front of me, amazement written on their faces. Fishlegs drops his bucket.
"Alright, so are we done now?" I ask, hoping to get out of this situation. "'Cause I have some things I need to.. uh... yeah. Um, see you tomorrow!" I dash out of the arena with some hopes of getting that saddle done.
{Time Break} 2 hours later...
I wrap my hands with gauze because I had burnt my hand when I was heating up the metal. I had scraped it after I burnt it and it was bleeding horribly. But thankfully it's not too bad. I rub some of the cream I use on my hand to keep it from getting infected. I look down at the finished saddle. All I had to do was get it on Toothless. That was not going to be easy...
{15 minutes later}
I cautiously climb down the Cove walls with a basket of fish and the saddle with me. I jump down the last rock, landing soundly on the grass. I place the basket and saddle on the ground. I sat as my breathing and heartbeat return to normal.
It was hard getting here, more so than usual. I had to avoid wolf traps and wolves themselves. Apparently my hand wasn't completely scabbed over so some wild animals had traced my blood. It made me fear for my life when they started chasing me. Luckily, they can't get through as many places as I could.
I look around the Cove. I see no sign of Toothless in the open. I shrugged as I looked to my side. I jump back when I see a pair of glowing green eyes staring at me. Thankfully I recognize the eyes to be Toothless's as he steps in front of me.
"Hey, bud," I laugh as I put my hand on his snout. The hand wrapped in gauze. He sniffs it curiously before he retracts.
"Why does your hand smell like blood and... something strange?" he asks me. "And why is there stuff on it?"
"Oh, I just burnt and scraped my hand," I tell him, letting my hands go behind me for support. "No big deal, right?" His mouth hangs open.
"No big deal... It could have gotten infected!" He walks forward, practically standing on top of me. I'm not sure if this should be awkward for me.
"Calm down bud. I put some cream on it to keep it from getting infected. Trust me. It won't be a problem." He looks at my hand warily. I chuckle. "Come on. I've got food for you." He perks up, my hand being instantly forgotten, at least I hope so.
I stand up and take the basket of fish. I unlatch it and dump its contents on the ground. I watch as Toothless's eyes light up. He shoves his head into the pile but takes it out quickly. "EEL!" he screeches.
"What?!" I exclaim. There shouldn't have been an eel in there. I quickly take the yellow and black fish out of the pile. Toothless rears back, his wings expanding behind him and his pupils turning to slits. My mom wasn't kidding when she said that dragons were afraid of eels. I toss the eel a good distance away from Toothless.
"Sorry, bud," I say as I wipe my hands off on my tunic. "I didn't know that was in there." Toothless calms down as he folds his wings to his sides and his pupils dilate. He goes back to eating. "Once you're done, I've got something for you." At that, Toothless gobbles down the pile of fish and looks at me expectantly.
I watch as Toothless wags his tail behind him excitedly. I laugh a little at his expression. He starts nudging me which causes me to start laughing a little more. Toothless knocks me onto my back. He stands over me, a playful smirk on his face. Okay, should I be feeling awkward or should I get the feeling he's rough-housing with me.
"What are you doing?" I ask. Instead of answering, he puts his front paws on my arms and his back legs against mine.
"I've pinned you in less than three seconds," he says as he bends down. "Bet you can't beat me."
"I don't think I can. One, because you are keeping me on the ground. And two, you are way heavier than I am. Besides, don't you want to know what I've got for you?" Toothless nods. He gently steps off of me and waits for me to sit up. I shake my arms out to make sure they haven't fallen asleep. My back shoots a random spark through my body. Why is it doing that? I thought it stopped that. I'll just talk to Toothless about it later.
I pick the saddle up from the ground and hold it up to Toothless. He crouches, almost like a battle position. But his eyes show no hostility. His tail is wagging behind him so I guess that means he's happy. So if he isn't going to attack, he's going to play.
"Catch me if you can!" Toothless calls as he dashes away.
"Hey!" I shout. I hold the saddle over my head and dash after him. He looks back at me, shoots me a toothless smile (which makes my heart beat a bit faster) and dashes the other way, nearly knocking me off balance. His tail balances me out and then he runs, chuckling as he does so.
He turns in a circle and runs straight towards me. I yelp and crouch down, using the saddle as a shield. I hear a whoosh over my head. I look up and over to see Toothless crouching on the other side of me, panting a bit. I crouch as well, panting myself. I face him with the saddle in one arm and the other keeping me balanced.
We stay stone still, the only real sounds in the area are our heavy breathing and the birds chirping. My back burns slightly more than it had before. I give myself a small jerk, and before I knew it, Toothless is running around me. Unfortunately, his tail sweeps under my feet, knocking me to the ground.
"Why do I keep hitting the ground?" I groan as the saddle falls to my side. The burning starts to intensify. I ignore it and roll onto my stomach.
"Aah! Hali, are you okay? I'm so sorry!" Toothless panics as he runs to my side. He lies down beside me and starts nudging me. I put my hand on his head, rubbing it reassuringly.
"I'm alright," I say. "A little shocked, but I'm alright." I push myself onto my knees and grab the saddle from the ground. "Can I put this on you now?"
Toothless nods. I stand and start attaching the saddle to him. Strangely though, he's silent through the whole thing. "You alright, bud?" I ask. He jumps slightly at my voice. "Are you alright with the saddle?"
"Yeah I'm alright with the saddle," he tells me. He sounds nervous, like he's afraid something will go wrong. He looks at me worriedly.
"Don't worry, Toothless," I say as I buckle one of the straps together. "Nothing bad is going to happen." I finish buckling the last of the straps and I step back, taking a look at the saddle. "Is it too tight? Move around a little, make sure it works right." Toothless does as I asked and the saddle looks like it's in the right position.
"It doesn't make it hard to breathe, does it?" I ask, considering on of the few straps are around his lower neck.
"No, I can breathe just fine." He shakes out his wings and glances at the prosthetic tail fin.
"Okay, you ready to start?" I grab the saddle, pull myself up, and take the rope that is attached to the tail fin. Toothless gives me a nod and I get a firm grip on the rope. "On the count of three, take off. One, two, thr- WHOA!" Toothless takes off into the air. I pull the tail fin into a gliding position.
But I pulled the rope too hard and both of us went flying in different directions. Toothless went towards the ground and I went towards the pond. I dove head-first into the water. As always, with a head-first dive, you go downwards very fast. Which brings me to my next problem of not being able to swim.
I've seen some of the other teenagers do it. They reach out with their arms and pull them back to their side while they kick their legs. Shouldn't be to hard. Okay, reach out... pull back. Don't forget to kick! I run these thoughts through my head and miraculously, I reach the surface. My head breaks through and I take a quick gasp of air before I go back under and swim, fairly slowly, towards the shore.
"Hali!" I hear Toothless call. But his voice is halfway muted because of the water. I take my head out of the water and see Toothless looking at the other side of the pond, probably looking for me.
"I'm over here," I call as I pull myself out of the water. I sit on the shore and wring my hair out. He looks over to me, a panicked expression replaced with relief, and he bounds over to me.
"Are you okay?" he asks, nuzzling me. He obviously remembers that I can't - couldn't - swim well.
"Yeah I'm fine," I tell him. He still looks at me worriedly. "Oh c'mere." I hug him around the neck. He wraps one wing around me and rubs his head against mine. He pulls back slightly, just enough to look me in the eye.
"You better not scare me like that again." He licks the back of my neck. "Or else I will pin you when you least expect it." I laugh.
"I won't try to," I say. "Now come on, I want to try flying again." Toothless looks at me like I'm crazy but he agrees anyway.
Holy damned cows. This is so fluffy! I can't believe I wrote this. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed and I will hopefully update soon. Adios mi amigos y amigas! (I have Spanish homework to do.) -_-