"Was it like that for you and mom?" Hiccup asked.

"Gods above, Berk would have burned down ages ago if she hadn't been there for me." Stick laughed. "I'm lucky enough that we were together long enough that I can guess what she'd say to me." The group went silent for a while.

"Well um, Toothless and I came up with a few things to do so that you guys aren't just sitting around again."

"Like what?"

"Yeah?"

"Hmm?" Multiple of the humans asked.

"Well we were thinking that you could work for your food, and we could go hunting. We'd give you your weapons back and if you wanted we could make it a bit of a competition for some fun." Toothless nudged Hiccup. "You seriously want me to ask?"

"Humor me." Toothless said. Hiccup rolled his eyes and sighed.

"And Toothless would like to offer the chance to fight him." Toothless stared right at Stoick.

"What?"

Why would we want to do that?" But when they looked to Stoick they saw him staring down the Night Fury.

"Your beast can understand me right?"

Hiccup sighed and nodded.

"We never did get a proper fight in, did we?" Stoick asked. Toothless smiled. "How about we change up the rules. Me and this big guy against you two?"

The Rumblehorn shuffles himself away from Stoick. "Tell this insane human that that I'd rather have my plates ripped off than to fight you two."

"Uhm yeah that won't happen. Toothless is the best we have and helps train everyone else. Many won't spar with him cause they're not ready or willing to go against him. Even if there isn't anything for them to lose. And last time Toothless fought a Rumble horn he crushed all of their plates. We had to cut them off so they could regrow properly. It was part of the reason I started to think up armour for my dragons."

"Why don't you fight him?" Toothless quietly hissed into Hiccup's ear. "Show him what you're made of."

"Toothless, quit." Hiccup ordered.

"May I say one thing?" Toothless asked. Hiccup deadpanned.

"What?"

"You could take him."

"Why did I let you say anything?" Hiccup groaned. His dragon chuckled.

"Hiccup, what's going on?" Stoick wondered.

"Now he wants me to fight you."

"Hey I didn't say I wanted you to do that, I merely suggested it." Toothless huffed. "Besides we don't know if any of the training you do with me and the others will help against humans. Other than the odd position we find ourselves in with the Bewilderbeast, we're more likely to be attacked by humans than dragons. So why not take the chance to see if you or more accurately we, need to train differently against humans. Cause as often as I get to go up against you, few others get the chance and out of those only a few make it out without getting seriously injured or worse. At least in regards to those who attack you thinking they can win, versus those of us who get to spar and train with you."

"Would you like to Hiccup?" Stoick asked. "Because you left I haven't had the chance to teach you to fight. Being a Haddock you're probably a natural with a sword in your hand. But given that you don't carry one around tells me that either you don't need one because of the monster that's replaced your shadow, or you don't think you need one at all anymore. Given that none of them can use a sword my guess is that you've learned a different way to defend yourself." Stoick smiled. Hiccup didn't know what to say to his father. "It's just a thought Hiccup. Just so I can see how far you've come."

"If that's what you want." Hiccup stood up and brushed himself off. He tried to take a step but was blocked by Toothless.

"No claws. It's easier to heal bruises than cuts." The dragon warned. Hiccup nodded and Toothless let him through. "Show him what you're made of." Toothless cheered. Hiccup cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders and neck. Meanwhile Stoick had also stood up and made his way to the clearing near where Hiccup was standing. "Tell him the rules are that the match ends when one of you surrenders or I end the match." Toothless called out to Hiccup. Who relayed what was said to his dad.

"No holding back son." Stoick smirked, punching his hand.

"If I don't hold back you'll get seriously hurt." Hiccup warned. "I'm a lot stronger than I look."

"Well see."

"Ready?" Hiccup asked, and Stoick nodded. The two men stared each other down before Hiccup began to move slowly, picking his spot to attack. The group silently watched the two men try to figure out the best way to go in. Toothless watched more critically, analyzing each of their movements so he could give Hiccup tips later on, and to see how Stoick would fight someone. Not so much a dragon but any information on a potential opponent he deemed was a good thing for him.

Then all of a sudden the fight started in a flash. Hiccup moved quickly towards his father, readying a strike. Stoick saw the motion and prepared to block but last second Hiccup faked him out and caused the man to step awkwardly forward. Allowing Hiccup to hook his foot into the back of Stoick's knee and press down, forcing the large man onto his knee. Hiccup put his hand on Stoick's chest and pushed hard, making his father fall onto his back. Hiccup lightly put his foot on Stoick's neck.

"You're dead." Hiccup said. He lifted his foot and took a couple of steps away, getting ready for the next round. Stoick spent the next hour mostly on his stomach or back. Even in rounds where he tried to overpower Hiccup with fast, heavy strikes, that against someone normal would easily tire them out, having to block, or try to redirect, and to be hit by one would have basically cost you your life. In a real fight. Stoick tried valiantly to break Hiccup's guard, but no matter what he tried he couldn't seem to find a way past. Toothless, getting bored of watching nothing happen, shot a small blast at the two's feet. It hit the ground near them and popped and sparked, making both men jump back surprised.

"This is going nowhere, break it up and start again." Toothless called out to Hiccup. Hiccup nodded and readied himself again, but standing across from him was a man sucking in deep breaths, his hands on his knees very much not ready to continue.

"I forfeit." Hiccup waved his hand and retreated to the comfort of his dragon's side.

"Well done." Toothless praised his human. He licked at Hiccup's back and neck. Stoick looked unhappy while he sat back down in his spot, still breathing heavily. "You should give him some words of encouragement." Toothless whispered. "He was a lot closer to breaking your guard than it looked."

"You noticed that?"

"Of course. It may not have looked like you were struggling but I bet you're arms hurt more than you're letting on. You were slowing down the longer he laid into you. Given a minute or two more, he would have gotten through and you would have taken at least one good hit from him. And that could have spiraled out of control if that had happened."

"You saved me?" Hiccup asked.

"No. You're smart enough, and experienced enough that you would have done something to stop his onslaught. But it was getting boring to watch so I made you stop."

"Hey dad?" Hiccup said. The large man looked over. "You did great. It might not have looked like it from your end but you were really close to turning things around in a bunch of those rounds."

"Really?"

"Well yeah. It's sorta hard to tell since nothing was seemingly going your way. But in 'fake' fights like that it's hard to tell if you're doing something wrong. There's a lot missing from this compared to a real life or death situation. You've gotten this far fighting dragons. A sparring match like that doesn't really tell us much. If anything, you just know that you need to brush up on you hand to hand a bit." Hiccup smiled.