This chapter takes place on the same day that Hiccup got to know and made an enemy in Dagur. While that was happening, Toothless also made an enemy – an enemy almost as worse as Dagur, an enemy that he would eventually come across again once he was settled in his new life with Hiccup.

Chapter 24: The Start of a Grudge

Temporary Island #1

June 3

The trees were on fire. Black smoke filled the sky. The round, shiny things were clanging. Toothless was practically breaking his teeth as he tried to chew the tan vine-things that trapped his mother.

"Go! Hide! Stay hidden! Don't let them see you!"Sapphire pleaded.

"But Mom-!"Toothless protested.

"GO!" Sapphire screeched.

Toothless knew this was no time to argue. He flew off into the forest, leaving his mother to her fate. It was the last thing he wanted to do but he dare not disobey her.

Toothless flew all around the trees until he found himself at the edge of a high cliff overlooking the ocean. On one side of the cliff was a large pile of boulders all stacked up.

Toothless could see the sea stacks in the distance. Maybe he could fly towards them and hide there. No. Those tusked intruders would most likely track him down.

There has to be another hiding place around here somewhere.

Toothless looked down over the cliff and he saw it: just a few feet down below was a large hole in the rocky cliff wall just big enough for him to hide.

The only problem was that the tusked strangers would track him down into that hole as well.

Unless…

Toothless turned to the pile of boulders and got an idea.

He blasted several plasma blasts against the pile of boulders. With each blast, the boulders slowly began to dislodge until finally they all began to fall towards the ocean. That falling pile of boulders would be enough to crush anything in its path to dust.

Toothless jumped from the cliff with his wings stretched out on either side of him and pretended to fall right next to the falling boulders. He kept a good distance from them so he couldn't be struck or crushed by them. As he pretended to fall, he let out a loud, screeching roar.

Then he paused and watched as the boulders produced a huge, loud splash as they hit the water. Then he hurriedly flew over to the hole in the cliff…

…only to find the lead tusked dragon curled up inside waiting for him!

The tusked dragon opened its mouth, saliva and blood dripping from his sharp tusks and teeth.

Toothless had no idea how he had gotten into that hole before him but he had to escape. Toothless flew up to the cliff and started to escape through the forest.

Suddenly, a black-and-red tusked face popped out of the trees startling him. It was another tusked dragon!

Toothless looked behind him and saw the lead tusked dragon advancing towards him.

He was trapped.

He was too scared to move and watched helplessly as the two dragons lifted their pointed, poisonous tails…

Toothless' eyes flew open and he scrambled to his feet. He looked around frantically.

Whew. It was just another dream. He hadn't had one of those in ages.

Toothless couldn't help but feel relieved and happy that he was in his mountainside den and that there were no tusked dragons around. And outside, it was a rather cloudy day, hardly any sunlight. But it was still a nice day for flying with the other dragons.

Still, Toothless felt a little uneasy. He didn't know why but he couldn't help but feel like there was something wrong on the island. Toothless sniffed the air, searching for any scents that seemed unfamiliar to him. He stepped outside and looked around the mountainside to see if there was any danger nearby.

There didn't seem to be any danger around but something still didn't seem to be right. Maybe it was just the clouds in the sky that made the day seem off. Toothless decided to shrug it off for now. Maybe a roll in the tall, sweet-scented grass would take his mind off things.

So Toothless flew all the way to the sweet-smelling field and plunged nose-first into the tall grass-like plant. The blades were bended backwards and flattened against Toothless' body. He began to roll around in the field.

He tried to enjoy the soft feeling of the grass against his body and the sweet scent that coated his scales but Toothless still couldn't get rid of that uneasy feeling he was having just now. Toothless stopped rolling and looked around. None of the other dragons of the island were at the field to savor the grass' soft feeling and sweet scent.

Speaking of scents, it was then that Toothless realized that there was a new one in the air. Toothless sniffed again. His pupils constricted and his ears pricked back. This new scent told him that something was on this island – something dangerous.

It was then that Toothless heard the cries of some of the other dragons on the western side of the island. He decided to check it out. Spreading his wings, he took off from the field and headed westward.

On his way to the western side, Toothless looked around for any signs of danger and sniffed continuously. The scent was getting stronger now and his instincts were telling him that it was a good thing he was flying over the ground and not walking on it. For whatever the new danger was, it seemed to be coming from…below.

Once, he arrived at the western side of the island, Toothless was greeted to a horrible sight.

The first thing he noticed were a small herd of Terrible Terrors standing around some other Terrors who were lying down. And the Terrors that were lying down looked like they had been…mangled. It was as if something had chewed them up. Dried blood streamed down against their brightly colored bodies and some of their tongues hung limply out of their mouths. The living Terrors that surrounded them let out a choir of sorrowful howls.

Toothless' heart went out to those Terrors. As pesky as these small dragons were, he understood their pain of having one of their family taken away from them. He should know.

Then Toothless heard some more howls. Not from the Terrors but from the Gronckles. Some of the mother Gronckles and their babies were standing around some other babies who were lying down. It was then that Toothless realized those dead baby Gronkles were mangled up in the same way as the dead Terrors.

Something or someone had invaded this island and killed those Terrible Terrors and baby Gronckles. But what?

Toothless looked away from the mourning dragons and the dead ones and looked over at a group of Nadders, Gronckles and Terrors standing around something. Curious and cautiously, he began to approach the group and whatever they were standing around.

As he got closer, he realized that they were standing around a large, freshly-dug hole. That had never been there before.

The dragons surrounding the hole looked up as Toothless approached. Some of them had suspicious glints in their eyes and backed away as if he was the one who had killed those Terrors and baby Gronckles. Toothless paused, giving the dragons some space and letting them know that he had nothing to do with the strange, new events that had been occurring.

After about a moment, the dragons allowed him to approach. Toothless began to walk a little slower towards the hole, in case whatever or whoever dug it was still hiding within it. When it seemed that the coast was clear, Toothless looked down into the hole. He couldn't see anything down there but he was certain it was hiding within the tunnels.

Toothless sniffed into the hole and the new scent he had smelled earlier was so strong and so disgusting it was enough to make one vomit – it smelled like a mixture of dirt, pebbles and blood. Toothless jumped back, shook his head uncomfortably and roared disgustedly.

Then he straightened himself and glared at the hole. Whoever had made this hole and killed those baby dragons was still down there and he was gonna find what it was and drive it out of here.

He looked up at the other dragons. "I'm going in."

He plunged into the hole as the dragons looked on with concerned eyes.

It wasn't a long way to the bottom. In fact it was just a few feet above the surface. Toothless looked around cautiously. Under the hole was a series of tunnels. He had to be careful for whatever made these tunnels might hiding in one of them.

Toothless kept perked up his ears. He could hear some movement coming from the left side of the tunnels. Toothless turned to the left side. He opened his mouth and letting out a high-pitched cry, emitted purple waves from his mouth. The waves traveled down the tunnel. They didn't bounce against anything so Toothless walked down the trail a little further until he found himself at a dead end with tunnels at the right side and left side.

Toothless perked his ears again and he thought he could hear something at the left side. Turning to the left, Toothless released more purple waves and this time they bounced against something and traveled back again.

Toothless arched his back, his teeth bared. There was something at the far end of the tunnel. Even in the darkness, he could make out a large, round shape with glowing white eyes.

"Show yourself!" Toothless snarled.

"I will," snarled the creature.

And before Toothless knew it, whatever it was on the other side was quickly burrowing its way right towards him. Despite his determination to chase off this intruder, Toothless knew that it would be suicide to just stand here and let the creature charge at him. Unfolding his wings, he took off from the spot and began to fly back the way he came. As he flew down the tunnels, he could hear the rapid burrowing right behind him.

Despite the cloudy day, it was still light enough for Toothless to see the entrance to the tunnels above ground. He flew right up above the entrance and looked down at the dragons who were looking up at him anxiously.

"Everyone, get out of the way! He's coming!" Toothless roared.

The Gronckles flapped their skinny wings and flew away from the hole as fast as they could. The Nadders and Terrors took flight. The only dragons that hadn't left were the mourning Terrors and the Gronckle mothers and babies.

"Get out of here before he comes after you too!" Toothless screeched.

The Terrors and the Gronckles looked up, still looking too depressed about their loved ones to even move.

The burrowing sounds were coming closer.

"GO!" Toothless screeched.

Still, the grieving dragons did not move.

Toothless knew that there was no time to explain or argue. The creature sounded real close now. He had to face this creature now if he wanted to drive it out.

POW!

The intruder burst out of the hole causing a shower of pebbles and dirt around the hole. The intruder had a large, round, gray-colored head with white, pupil-less eyes, six rows of sharp, drilling teeth in its gaping mouth and a long, snake-like body aligned with sharp red spikes.

It was a Whispering Death!

Toothless stared at the Whispering Death in awe and hatred. He had never seen anything like this dragon before but there was something about him that filled his heart with hate – almost as much hate as he formed with the tusked dragons that killed his family and destroyed their home.

"Who do you think you are invading our island and killing friends and young ones?" Toothless snarled.

"Who are you to tell me what to do and what not to do?" the Whispering Death snarled back. "I've been traveling without rest for days and now I claim this island as my home. And you and your friends better stay out of my way if you know what's good for you. And some of your friends learned that the hard way."

Toothless turned to the Gronckle and Terror families. He looked up from the ones who were still alive to the dead, mangled ones. So the dead Terrors and Gronckles had somehow found their way into the Whispering Death's territory and had paid dearly for their unintentional intrusion. The dragons that lived on this island weren't exactly his friends. They were more like acquaintances actually. But friends or not, Toothless knew that these dragons didn't deserve to be driven out of their homes and mangled by an intruder.

He turned back to the Whispering Death. "I'll give you a chance. Leave our island quietly and we'll forget this ever happened and you and no one else will get hurt."

"Never," the Whispering Death hissed. "I was already driven out once before and I won't be driven out again."

"Then I have no choice but to drive you out myself," Toothless grunted.

"Try me if you dare," the Whispering Death hissed.

Toothless turned to the other dragons. "Go!"

And with that, the Terrors and the Gronckles turned and flew off. They knew that this was not their fight and they had no right to interfere between two dueling dragons.

Before Toothless knew it, the Whispering Death began to fly right toward the escaping dragons.

"No!" Toothless roared.

Toothless released a plasma blast from his mouth which blasted against the Whispering Death's tail. The Whispering Death was knocked down and he landed on the ground, scraping some grass along the way.

Slightly disoriented, the Whispering Death looked up at glared at Toothless. Then lifting himself back up, he released rings of golden fire straight at the Night Fury. Toothless dodged but the flaming rings caught onto the leaves of a tree. Toothless watched in horror as his new rival's flames spread faster and faster throughout the tree's branches and leaves.

Toothless glared at the Whispering Death who lifted his tail and released some of his red, sharp barbs at him. Toothless dodged again and the barbs ended up stabbing the top of the burning tree's trunk instead.

Toothless glanced at the burning tree angrily. He had grown up around trees long enough to know that they were living things too. He sent another angry glance at the Whispering Death. The Whispering Death was glancing angrily back at him and then he gave chase.

Toothless took off with the Whispering Death right behind him. The Whispering Death was fast but Toothless was faster. Once the Whispering Death was far enough, Toothless flew all the way back to the field of sweet, tall grass. But instead of hiding in the tall grass, Toothless hid behind the trees surrounding the field.

Toothless glanced from behind the trees but just enough to watch the approaching Whispering Death so that he wouldn't see him. The Whispering Death rested his snake-like body, moving his head from left to right trying to find his prey. His nostrils flared as he sniffed him out.

Toothless couldn't be so sure but he thought the Whispering Death was starting to look a little ill. But the burrowing dragon shook his head as if trying to shake off his discomfort and kept sniffing and looking around.

"You can't hide forever!" the Whispering Death snarled.

Suddenly, his nostrils twitched and his eyes watered and before Toothless knew it, it let out a monstrous sneeze. The force of the dragon's sneeze caused a massive breeze which sent the tips of the tall grass flying backwards.

Toothless had to hide behind the trees fully in case that dragon's powerful sneeze blew him back too. He glanced over again slightly. The Whispering Death had resumed looking around and sniffing but his pupil-less eyes continued to water and he let out a few more sneezes. They were smaller this time.

Something seemed to be giving the intruder an allergic reaction. But what?

Toothless looked at the tall blades of the sweet grass.

He wondered.

Toothless jumped from behind the trees and declared, "Here I am!"

The Whispering Death turned to him, his eyes narrowed and still watering. "Good. Now I shall finish you off!"

"Not if I finish you off first!" Toothless roared.

Toothless snapped off a mouthful of blades and resisting the urge to swallow them, he through them right in to the Whispering Death's round face. The intruder roared and shook his head in disgust and let out a few more sneezes.

Good. It was working! Now hopefully, it would become so unbearable for him, he would have to leave.

Toothless snapped off a few more tips of the grass and threw them against the Whispering Death. And each time that happened, the dragon let out some more sneezes.

Finally, the Whispering Death couldn't take it anymore. He let out an ear-shattering shriek at Toothless. But instead of taking flight away from the island, he released rings of fire against the sweet field. Then rotating his body around, he released more flaming rings all around him and each flames caught onto the trees.

Toothless' clawed feet grasped the ground beneath him. He watched in horror as the tall grass-like plant disintegrated from the intruder's flames. Its sweet smell still lingered but it wouldn't be long before this plant disintegrated into ashes. Then he looked up at the burning trees surrounding him. Golden flames danced against the disintegrating leaves and black smoke filled the air above them.

Then Toothless looked over at the distant smoke and golden sparks coming off the trees in the spot where the dead Terrors and Gronckles lay. In other parts of the island, more dragons and birds were flying away from the island. Toothless felt sorry for the birds who were forced to abandon their nests in order to avoid being burned or inhaling too much smoke.

All around him, Toothless could hear panicked chittering and he watched as the squirrels, field mice and rabbits ran past him and the Whispering Death. Toothless felt even sorrier for the smaller animals for they had they no wings to get off the island. And because they were surrounded by water, there was no escape for them and they probably weren't the best swimmers.

Toothless was suddenly having serious flashbacks of the day those poisonous, tusked dragons had invaded his island, finished off his family and destroyed everything they ever loved for no apparent reason. Now here he was taking on a dragon that was no different to the tusked intruders – invading other dragon's territory and destroying everything in his path.

Toothless glared at the dragon – a deep hatred filling his heart.

"You intrude this island, you've killed smaller dragons that never did you any harm and now you've burned down everything in your path. This makes you no different than the dragons that killed my family."

"Oh really?" the Whispering Death taunted. "Then maybe your family deserved to die. If they hadn't been standing in another dragon's way, then they wouldn't have to have been killed. They probably deserved to be killed just as those smaller dragons deserved to be killed for standing in my way."

That insult really set Toothless off.

Before Toothless could think to stop himself, he pounced towards the Whispering Death and pinned his feet against his body, knocking him down.

And then…

…opening his mouth as widely as he could open it, he sank his teeth into the Whispering Death's side.

The Whispering Death let out yet another ear-shattering roar. He tried to shake Toothless off his side but the Night Fury was so angry, he just kept his teeth firmly clamped onto his skin.

Finally, the Whispering Death whacked his spiked tail against Toothless' side. None of the spikes stabbed Toothless but their sharp tips were still enough to startle Toothless enough to release his teeth from the Whispering Death's side and jump back a foot.

Both Toothless and the Whispering Death looked at the latter's side. A fresh bite-mark was imprinted on the Whispering Death's side, fresh dark blood dripping down from the teeth-shaped cuts.

The Whispering Death glared at the Night Fury. "You!"

The Whispering Death lunged for Toothless who dodged out of the way. As his round head hit the ground, the Whispering Death let out a pained cry and laid still for a moment.

Then he looked up at Toothless again and lunged at him again but he cried out again and stopped moving. He looked over at the bite mark against his side again.

Toothless was starting to realize that his biting the Whispering Death's side had weakened him and now the burrowing dragon was in too much pain to fly or even fight him for the time being.

The Whispering Death laid his head down and remained still but he still glared at Toothless, a deep hatred in his pupil-less gaze.

"I will never forget what you have done to me," the Whispering Death hissed softly.

"And I will never forget what you have done to me and the other dragons," Toothless hissed back. "Now that our home is destroyed, I have no choice but to find a new one."

"Because I am temporarily weak, I will not follow you," the Whispering Death replied. "But I believe that one day we will cross paths again and if we do, I will finish you off."

"Not if I finish you off first," Toothless retorted. "If we ever do meet again, I will be ready."

"So be it," the Whispering Death hissed.

Toothless nodded and then he turned and spreading his wings, he took off from the resting Whispering Death and the burning island. He didn't have to worry about the Whispering Death burning alive. After all, like most dragons, his scales were strong enough to handle even the hottest flames.

Flying a wee bit higher, Toothless looked around for the other dragons that had escaped. Sure enough he could see the small specks of different dragon shapes and flapping wings in the distance. Toothless flapped his wings to pick up the pace.

It didn't take long for him to catch up to the herds. But from the minute they saw him, some of the Nadders and Gronckles and even the Terrible Terrors hissed at him. Some even snapped their teeth together.

Toothless turned around and flew a bit away from them. Looking back at them, he could see that they were still glaring at him.

Toothless understood why they were rejecting him. He was just responsible for the destruction of their island as the Whispering Death was.

He knew they no longer wanted him around so Toothless respectfully turned around and flew away from the herds. Instead of returning to the burning island where the Whispering Death was sure to be waiting for him once he recovered, Toothless went off into the direction between his former home and the retreating dragons.

With another home destroyed, it was time for Toothless to find yet another one…wherever it was.