The Finals
I stood outside the training grounds. There were flags and banners flapping wildly in the wind. There was a massive crowd surrounding the ring. It seemed like the whole island had shown up.
My father walked up to his spot, his face beaming with pride. "Well I can show my face in public again," he said playfully to the crowd. I tightened my lips, awaiting his speech. He chuckled, "If someone had told me that in a few short weeks, well... Hali, to placing first in dragon training... well I would've tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad!
"But here we are. And no one is more surprised or more proud than I am. Today, my girl becomes a Viking." He raised his voice, as if that were possible. "Today she becomes one of us!"
The crowd laughed and cheered. I didn't try to put on a smile as Gobber came up to me. "You feeling okay, kid?" he asked.
I shook my head. "Gobber... you know I'm not going to kill that dragon."
"I know. But what are you going to do?" He looked at me with more concern than I've ever seen.
I blew out a tight breath, gripping the helmet tightly. "I'm just going to have to go with the flow and see what happens." He squeezed my shoulder lightly before going back into the ring to check on the dragon. I looked around and locked eyes with Ashter. He put on a comforting smile for me so I gave him a small smile in return.
Toothless? I thought, hoping he could hear me.
You ready? he asked.
To be honest, I am not.
It's okay. You'll be alright. Just imagine me right next to you.
I scoffed, but smirked. Then I would have to imagine a billion Vikings trying to pin you down.
Even though his voice was in my head, I could just see the smile coming on his face. Well, ignore that part. Don't worry. You will do great. I know you won't hurt the dragon but don't get hurt yourself.
I won't. I'll be careful. With that, I watched as Gobber came up to me. It was time. Time for me to put my plan into action. What ever that was. I walked into the ring and put my helmet on as Gobber shut the gates behind me. I locked gazes with Dad. He gave me a nod with a smile. I tried to return it and thankfully, he bought it.
I turned to the weapons rack. Might as well make it look like I know what I'm doing. I hoisted a shield onto my arm and grabbed my weapon – a small dagger. I then turned to the heavy, bolted door behind it the Monstrous Nightmare I was about to face.
So with the strongest voice I could muster at the moment, I said the two words that would begin the test: "I'm ready." And up the bolts went. The shadows gave off nothing to hint the dragon out. The crowd went silent and for a few moments, there was nothing but silence.
Then all of a sudden – BOOM! The door flew open with sticky fire leaking down the edge. A Monstrous Nightmare followed out shortly after, covered head-to-tail in flames. It roared furiously as it climbed the walls and hooked itself into the chains making up the 'ceiling' of the ring. The dragon blasted fire at the provoking crowd who jeered regardless of the stream of fire.
Then the dragon spotted me. The crowd fell into silence once again, bracing themselves for the fight they thought was going to happen. The dragon descended, its eyes never leaving me. Once it was on the ground, I purposefully dropped my shield and dagger and started backing up slowly. The dragon tilted its head at me, baffled by my actions.
The dragon eyed my helmet cautiously as we continued a steady, slow pace backwards. I put my hands out, showing I was unarmed. Then I carefully put my hands up to my helmet. I realized that after this, it was a point of no return. With a deep breath, I took the helmet off and showed it to the Nightmare.
Remembering what I did with Toothless and the dagger, I tossed the helmet aside, its clang echoing throughout the silenced area. "I'm not one of them," I said in the best dragon-tongue I could. The Nightmare's anger was deflating, I could tell by the way its muscles relaxed and its pupils dilating. I held my hand out as I tried to ignore my dad's glare. The crowd's murmurs weren't loud enough to draw the dragon's attention, thankfully.
"Stop the fight," he demanded.
"No!" I shouted. "I need all of you to see this." The crowd started growing restless.
"What are you doing?" the dragon asked.
"Not killing you," I replied in dragon-tongue once again. Then I went back to talking to the crowd. "They aren't what we think they are! They aren't monsters. We don't have to kill them."
Everything was going smoothly, disregarding my father's glare and the murmurs of the crowd. The dragon wasn't attacking which was a good sign. Though I could feel the tension coming from Toothless. It was all going according to my last minute plan. That is, until my father had enough.
His hammer slammed down on the metal bars enclosing the ring as he commanded in the loudest voice possible, "I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!" Immediately all the peacefulness from the dragon in front of me disappeared, being replaced by anger and fear. It snapped at my hand. I yelped and stumbled backward.
The dragon took my sudden movements the wrong way. A stream of fire shot past me and I dove out of the way. Toothless was able to sense my abrupt fear.
Hali! he shouted, panic evident in his voice. I was about to say something to stop him from doing anything rash when I was stopped by another narrow stream of fire. Ashter cried out my name and from the sound of metal scraping against stone, he was trying to open the gates. I dashed to the weapon rack for reasons unbeknownst to me but it was soon destroyed by the claws of the dragon.
I saw, from the corner of my eyes, my father wrenching the gate open, allowing Ashter through. Dad jumped in as well. Ashter was at the demolished rack, picking up a hammer. Before I could stop him, he hurled it at the Nightmare, turning its attention to him. Then the dragon began to chase him.
"This way!" my father yelled. Ashter threw a quick glance at me and we both ran for the gates. Ashter made it through. I, on the other hand, did not. The dragon cut off my path by a stream of fire. I skid on the ground and made for the other direction. But it soon pounced on me and lowered its head to me menacingly. To top all this off, my back burned like it never had, which just added to the panic.
A shriek soon stopped it all. "Get off of her!"
"Night Fury! Get down!" Gobber shouted, though I could hear a touch of relief and fear in his voice. A bright purple plasma blast lit up the arena and soon covered it with smoke. I just barely had time to register the fury-filled bright green eyes before the Nightmare was wrenched off of me.
The Vikings were shouting things that I couldn't quite understand from the blood pounding in my ears. There was a flurry of wings cutting through the smoke and soon Toothless was seen locked in vicious combat with the Nightmare. Toothless kicked the other dragon off, still growling menacingly. He planted himself between me and the other dragon.
"What is going on?" the Nightmare roared.
"What's going on is you just attacked my princess who is supposed to end the war!" Toothless roared back. My jaw went slightly ajar. Not only did Toothless call me a princess but he called me his princess. If I wasn't under these circumstances, I would have been a lot happier.
"Look," Toothless continued, still keeping his position. "I'm sure Hali is going to find a way to fix this but for now just GO!" The Nightmare, finally getting a grasp of this whole situation, nods its head slightly and rushes back to the cage it came from.
I quickly rose to my feet and grabbed Toothless protectively. "Okay, Toothless you've had your fun but you need to get out of here!" I told him, trying not to let panic cloud my mind. The crowd grew livid. My efforts to get Toothless out were in vain as the Vikings started pouring into the ring, their shock not turned into their own aggressive ways.
"Go, please!" I tried.
Dad grabbed an axe set against the wall and charged in. "Stoick no!" Ashter shouted.
"Dad, no! He won't hurt you!" I watched as the Vikings tried to attack Toothless but he merely just batted them away like rag dolls. He then focused on Dad. "No, you're making it worse!" My words fell on deaf ears. Dad raised the hammer as he charged at my dragon. Toothless ducked and pounced, pinning my father to the ground.
"Toothless stop!" I called, but still he didn't hear. The familiar hiss of gas built and everyone braced themselves... except for me. With a voice that wasn't like my own, I cried out, "NO!"
That did it. Toothless swallowed the gas then turned to me, confusion in his eyes. I panted, sending out a simple sentence to him. That's my father. His ear plates went back and his shoulders tensed up yet he was distracted from the incoming Vikings as was I.
The world went into slow motion as it blurred around me. They rushed in, piling and taking Toothless down and off of their chief. I tried to run in but Ashter got to me first. He was saying something into my ear, though I couldn't hear him. I was pleading as if they could hear me. I was desperately telling them to not hurt Toothless, dearly hoping they would hear me.
My father commanded something that put Toothless with the rest of the dragons. Then Dad turned to me, his face burning with anger. I closed my eyes and went limp against Ashter, my eyes burning with unshed tears. Toothless... I am so sorry.
So who saw How to Train Your Dragon 2? I certainly did and it was amazing! Anyways, here's a nice little cliffhanger for ya! And after this story I will definitely be releasing an HTTYD 2 story. See y'all later!
BTW, Extended Experience, I know they are going to flip out at the now made inaccuracies. Heck, even I did. Oh well. Now I have a new story idea.