Sea Strike gave me a quizzical look when I rowed into the cove. He was taking a small swim at the mouth of the place, with just his long neck peeking out.

"What? Can't a guy visit the same dragon more than twice a day? Anyway, I got you something." I said as I opened the fish net. "Couldn't get much, though."

Sea Strike rose slightly out of the water and looked at my catch. There were three large salmon and, two small codfish, five fish. Sea Strike looked at me as if to say, "Is that it?".

"Hey, that's all I could catch in a short time, but if you don't want it-" I said as I reached the net. Sea Strike stretched his neck to the deck and aggressively bit down on one of the salmon. "That's what I thought,"

I laid down on the boat as much as possible and began to recount the day at training. "So today we were training with zipple backs," I started, "Confusing dragons. It's hard to tell which head lights the gas and which sprays it out. They're definitely not normal. I wonder what other dragons we'll be dealing with." I felt a slight nudge at my foot. I looked down and saw Sea Strike motion at the net. As before, the net was perfectly intact, not even a single severed rope from his sharp fangs. "It looks like you're a careful eater. Is it because you know it's my only net, or you're just being nice?" I asked. The dragon just looked at me and cocked his head to the side.

As I was folding the net to put it away, I heard something rise out of the water, and the next thing I knew, my feet were being pulled away from the boat's deck.

"Oh, Thor!"I exclaimed.

I looked up and saw that I was being held by Sea Strike's stubby little arm as he flew about ten feet into the air. Sea Strike looked at me excitedly, seemingly wanting to fly. I nodded reluctantly.

"O-okay, just don't pick me up like that again. Alright?"

The dragon carefully extended his long neck to grab by my shirt's collar, careful not to bite my skin and slung me across his back. There wasn't much to hold on to. Still, his back spines felt pretty sturdy, so I hung on to those, but they were uncomfortable across the rest of my body, especially my rear. His massive wings began to flap, and he soon flew around the island, careful not to go near the village and get spotted. Even though he was a pretty big dragon, he flew pretty high but not incredibly fast.

I couldn't help but smile and laugh as he flew me around the endless forest of Berk, giving me a bird's eye view of the island. The forest was littered with solid oak and ash trees. "This view is awesome!" I whooped. He flew across the woods, and I could get an even better view. I looked down, and my stomach dropped, realizing I was hundreds of feet in the air. It was terrifying, one small slip off his back, and I would have a one-way ticket to Valhalla. At the same time, though, looking down at the forest felt mesmerizing. The feeling is hard to describe, but riding on the back of a dragon and looking down at the forest beneath me felt incredible. I saw the cove where Hiccup and I met the Nightfury and saw him hanging down like a bat again. He seemed to like that sleeping position; I feel like he would get some kind of headache afterward. I didn't see Hiccup there; maybe we would have seen him if we had come later. I looked a little past the cove and saw someone running, but that person looked familiar.

"Hey, Sea Strike?" I tapped on his back, and he looked at me. "Do you think you could take us a little lower?" He gave me a curious look but complied.

I squinted my eyes and made out a long braid of hair and someone wearing mail armor running. "I… think that's Signe… What is she doing out here?" I wondered. I saw a giant circular and triangular tent as I looked a little past. "She must have some sort of hideout. It's not like it's my business, but now I'm curious about what she's doing." He pulled up, and I looked back at Signe. She didn't seem to notice us. It was a wonder I could see her in the first place. We flew out for a couple more hours and explored the archipelago. We visited unpopulated islands with dragons as small as the terrible terrors. Unless my eyes played tricks on me, some also had changewings. Most of those islands had many trees similar to berk, though a couple were barren and mainly stone.

"I think it's about time we get back," I yawned. "We've gone far from Berk, and I don't want to go back home during the night."

Sea Strike made an understanding gurgle and turned back around. I looked at his back, and the coloring of his scales was a little off. They turned a little grey.

"Your scales are looking a little pale there," I notified. "Are you alright?"

Sea Strike looked at himself and then looked at the water. He then started to dive at high speed. I could barely hang onto him and screamed before he finally crashed into the water. As he went in, my eyes were seared by the salt, taking in a massive gulp of seawater. He wasn't in the water long and jumped out of the ocean a few seconds later.

I gasped for air. "What was that about!?" I shouted as I regained my breath. Sea Strike smacked me by the ear with his tail. "Ouch!" as I rubbed my ear, I looked down and saw that his scales were back to their original blue color. "Oh… You needed the water to go back to normal?" Sea Strike nodded and chuffed. "Maybe we should work on a warning or something. Just to let me know to prepare for the water a bit."

For some reason, I felt drained from the ride on Sea Strike; even though he was doing most of the work, I felt sleepy. It must've been the sun that was beating on me. As we reached the mouth of the cove, the sun was about to set. I stretched when I got back to my boat "Dang!" I exclaimed, "We were out for a while. I'm surprised you managed to get us back home. I would have easily gotten lost without a map." I put the net where it belonged and grabbed my oars "Thanks for the joy ride," I said as I sat down. Sea Strike eyed me curiously. "Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow," I smiled.

I was dead tired when I arrived at the docks. I wanted to return to my house and take a nap. Still, I knew I would fall asleep immediately if I lay on my bed. Hence, I just decided to walk around the town until it was Gobber's nightly lesson.

I looked up and saw the watchtower's firepit being lit, so I began my walk. As I got close, I saw Hiccup walk over. "Hey man," I yawned. "What did you do today?".

"I spent my entire day making a saddle."

"A saddle, eh? Is it for your friend?"

"Yep. I made Toothless a tail fin last night and attached it this morning. Worked perfectly… sort of. I had to be on his tail for it to work as long as I held the string tight. Could use some work still."

"Is that what you're calling him? Doesn't seem very accurate since he does have teeth. Anyways, what's the saddle for?"

"It's to be comfortable while I keep the string tight on his back. That way, the tail fin stays spread out and not curled, and I'm not stuck on his literal tail end holding on for dear life."

"Look at you, smart guy. Didn't even know you did leathercraft."

Hiccup chuckled. "Well, it's not something I often do, but I think it goes hand in hand with blacksmithing, don't you think?"

"Yeah, probably."

"What about you?" he asked.

"Oh, not much. After training, I hung out with Signe for a bit and then spent the rest of the day with Sea Strike."

"Sounds like you had a fun time, and considering you're still alive, it doesn't look like he hates you."

"Yeah, it seems like it since he took me out for a ride."

"You rode him? Sounds exciting. I did that in the morning with Toothless. He flung me off his tail into the water."

"It was pretty cool. Seastrike flew around the island, and I saw Toothless in that cove from a bird's eye view. And I saw something else… or rather someone."

"Who?" He asked.

"I think I saw S-"

"Hi, guys!" Signe waved as she walked over.

Startled for a moment, I paused for a bit. "Oh, hey, Signe!" I responded.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing much," I yawned. "Just about our day today."

"You seem tired. You weren't like this in the morning. Working hard?"

"Yeah, I was in the sun for quite a bit. Must've made me tired or something."

"Seems like that'll do that to ya." Said Hiccup. "Maybe you should get something for shade on your boat."

"Maybe…"

"If you're tired, maybe you shouldn't attend the lesson." Suggested Signe. "I'm sure Gobber will understand."

"No, no. I think I'll be fine."

"Alright, just try not to fall asleep on the fire. I don't think I wanna fish you out of there, no pun intended."

"I'll try not to, but no promises."

My clothes felt oddly comfortable as we walked, almost as comfortable as my bed. I had to slap myself to keep myself conscious and not just take a dirt nap. Hiccup and Signe slung their arms beneath mine to keep me up. This helped much, but as we reached the stairs to the watchtower, I couldn't help but slip a couple of times. I felt like a drunk; we just needed to sing a song to make it authentic.

Snotlout laughed. "It looks like he's had a bit of that special juice, if you know what I mean." He snickered.

I groaned.

"Ignore him," comforted Signe. "You're just tired."

It felt nice for Signe to be propping me up.

As the rest of the group got to the watchtower, Gobber came up.

"So," he started, "What did we learn today?"

"Astrid packs a punch…" said Snotlout rubbing his cheek.

"Don't splash me with water; you won't get a second one." Warned Astrid.

"Zipplebacks are very confusing. How do you know which is which?" I asked.

"Right? They look nearly identical!" exclaimed Fishlegs.

"I could tell you," said Gobber as he stuck a chicken on a stick. "But where's the fun in that? You need to be the ones to figure that out."

Gobber never liked going easy on us.

"On an unrelated note, Fishlegs, why do you keep talking about the dragons while we're in class?" Asked Hiccup.

"I don't know why." Fishlegs shrugged. "It's something I do when I'm nervous. It keeps me calm."

"Well, it's very annoying. Can you keep it under wraps?"

"I can try."

"Hey, Tuffnut," I asked.

"What do you want?" Tuffnut Grunted.

"When you got grabbed by the dragon, where did he bite you?"

Tuffnut blushed. "He didn't bite me!" Tuffnut stood up. "Your eyes were playing tricks on you."

Ruffnut snickered. "He got bit on the butt. He was crying like a baby!"

The class erupted into laughter.

"Sis, what the heck!? You told me you weren't going to tell anyone!" Shouted Tuffnut

"Maybe don't splash me next time." she grinned.

"I guess you're the first to get a scar." Said Hiccup. "You wanted one, didn't you?"

"No, I said I wanted serious burns. A scar is completely different."

"Actually, they're not." Signe corrected, "Different form of wounds but still leaves a scar. One may just be more embarrassing than the other."

Tuffnut sat back down, groaning in embarrassment.

"Don't be embarrassed, Tufnut." Gobber comforted, "I can promise you you'll laugh at it in a couple of years too."

"But I wanted a cool burn or some scar on my face. Make me look more intimidating.

"Intimidating?" I asked, "With those sticks for arms? You couldn't scare off a sheep, much less a person."

"I think the only thing you'd be able to intimidate is a bug. Even then, I don't think you'd do much." Added Hiccup.

My eyes began to feel like anvils. I wasn't able to keep them up no matter what I did. My eyes closed, and the next thing I remembered was Snotlout snickering as I woke up, my head on Signe's lap.

"Get a room!" Chided Snotloud.

I was paralyzed with embarrassment for a second, and Signe was blushing deeply.

What am I doing!? I thought and stood right back up. "So sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Signe didn't say anything, but she did look at me. I felt like a jerk; any chance to possibly date her felt like it was going down the drain. Though I couldn't help but blush myself.

"So, Snotlout, what did you learn today?" Asked Gobber.

"Well, I should probably make sure who I'm throwing my water at."

"Tsk," Astrid scoffed. "Muttonhead…"

"Alright, Tuffnut?"

"I should be more aware of my surroundings unless I wanna get bit again. My butt's still sore from that zippleback." Tuffnut rubbed his rear.

"I can go next!" Fishlegs raised his hand, and Gobber nodded to him. "Two heads are better than one."

"Ah ha," exclaimed Gobber. "One Viking may be able to stand against a dragon, depending on the species. But if two or more Vikings fight one, you have a better chance of survival." He took a stick and gestured to all of us, "One fighter can distract the dragon while the other goes for its blindspot."

"Or you could use the other one as a human shield," grinned Ruffnut.

"You better not. If your partner is dead, how are your chances?"

Signe shook her head to escape her embarrassed state. "Very low. As Fishlegs would say, chances of survival would dwindle into single digits. Dragons are powerful creatures; you can't underestimate them for a second."

"Thank you, Signe. Even terrible terrors can mess you up badly. If it bites off your thumb, you can't wield your weapon correctly."

"I think I heard of someone who that happened to, except it was both of his thumbs," I said.

"Oh yeah!" Hiccup fisted his palm. "I remember that he walked into the shop asking for a mace. We sold it to him, but he struggled to hold it."

Gobber chuckled. "I shouldn't be laughing, but the poor guy dropped it right on his foot,"

The class laughed.