Going slow, but still kicking. I have been doing some other stuff on the side, too, just so you know. Starting to line up some updates to an even more slowly updated fanfic.

Thor'sday Thursday:

The day had finally arrived; Thor'sday Thursday, by which the Initiation Test would commence. hiccup and toothless had been doing great, toothless fired up and determined to show off.

The island was full with people, another tribe evidently joining for the festivities. hiccup called them the Meatheads. It wasn't a name Hiccup was familiar with, so he wondered what tribe they were supposed to somewhat mirror, despite knowing he was probably never going to get the answer. The Meatheads were just as brutish as the Hooligans of this world, and it was hard to try catching names with all the crowds.

Hiccup and Toothless were currently hidden within a cave at the beach near the area the test was going to be. hiccup told him it would begin at 2:00, whatever that meant, though he did mention it would be past midday. As Hiccup looked up to the sky, clouds rolling in, he estimated it wouldn't be long before people began filing in. He wasn't wrong, as only a few minutes later, he heard the sound of a horn.

000

hiccup was incredibly nervous as he made his way to the beach. toothless was doing well, but he still worried toothless might just decide the last second he didn't feel like cooperating. Arriving to the wet sand of the beach, he was the last to arrive, all the other boys of both the Hooligan and Meathead tribes chatting excitedly to each other with their dragons hovering above them. He didn't see Hiccup or Toothless anywhere, but knew they were watching, counting on him to succeed.

As a crowd began to form at the touchline, hiccup tried his best to ignore how his father was blasting his way to the front shouting, "Out of my way, I'm a CHIEF!" Then he was bragging, making bets with Magadon the Meathead, Chief of the Meathead tribe; it was all more attention than hiccup would have liked.

000

As the test looked like it was gearing up to start, Hiccup couldn't help but notice that all the candidates were boys. Were girls exempt from the test? But why? The more Hiccup learned about this place the more questions he had. Maybe they just had a different initiation, though Hiccup wasn't quite sure why they would separate it. It was just dragon training, wasn't it?

A little while later, they were finally starting.

"The boy and dragon who most impress the judge, and that is ME, will receive the extra glory of being called the Hero of Heroes and Most Promising Dragon. The boys and dragons who FAIL this Test will say farewell to their families forever and leave the Tribe to go, where we do not care."

Hiccup still found that harsh. What was this test supposed to prove that warranted complete exile if failed? Toothless seemed to agree as he rumbled beside him.

"HEROES OR EXILES!" they chanted.

000

Eons of humiliation later on hiccup's part, all because of toothless' small size and stature when gobber came to inspect his dragon, the test was finally going to begin.

"Okay, toothless, this is it", he whispered into toothless' ear. "Catch lots of fish here, and we'll finally show that snob, fireworm, who's the real dragon."

"toothless will c-c-catch s-s-s-so many fish, s-s-she will eat toothless' dust."

The horn blew, and the race was on. toothless sped to the ocean with a goal, his tiny wings working to show up snotlout's stuck up Monstrous Nightmare. Minutes passed, and though toothless only caught about ten compared to the others' twenty, hiccup's hopes were still strong.

'I might just actually pass', he thought.

Landing with another successfully caught fish, their pile steadily growing bigger, toothless puffed out his chest and began to gloat at fireworm. "Who is the l-l-little b-b-bunny now, s-s-slobby snob?"

"What did you say?" fireworm hissed, when snotlout yelled at her to get back to catching fish. She listened, and shot out to the ocean, catching a fish and bringing it back in less than five seconds, not even granting toothless a glance.

000

Hiccup and Toothless looked on from their spot in amazement, watching as snotlout's dragon and toothless practically raced each other for who could hunt faster. toothless was lagging behind, but the competition was definitely keeping his motivation high. Then the horn blew, and the test was done.

toothless landed on hiccup's forearm, sitting proud with his catch. Hiccup smiled to himself as each boy was announced to have passed, and with pride, hiccup included. The tribe cheered with elation, stoick the loudest of them all, and it reminded Hiccup of when he'd won Dragon Training. Everyone had been so happy he was finally going to be one of them, a dragon killer, but this was different. hiccup wasn't being praised for a lie, but something real, something he and toothless could actually be proud of, and he only wished him the best.

Once the crowd thinned out, Hiccup and Toothless stepped out of the cave, and made their way to the forest. As Hiccup mounted up on Toothless away from the village, Hiccup looked back for a moment, back to the village and hiccup.

"Guess this is it, bud", he then said. "What do you say? Ready to go home?"

Toothless whined in response, and Hiccup could tell he was feeling the same as him. It didn't feel right not saying goodbye.

"I know, bud", Hiccup said as he gently pet Toothless' head. "But our job is done now; it's time for us to go back, and hiccup and toothless to celebrate with their tribe."

With a grunt in return, Toothless took off, and they headed for the cave that started all this.

000

hiccup was being paraded around by his father, his dad boasting about how he won his bet with Magadon, and hiccup was a mix of amazement, elation, and a bit of embarrassment from stoick. Through it all, though, he couldn't help but look back for Hiccup and Toothless in any of the shadows, but instead of seeing the two pairs of green eyes, he saw the backs of the two flying away, probably to the cave that brought them here, and somehow that sight saddened him.