The Nadders flanking either side of Toothless sat silent for a little bit. Toothless was the one to break the silence.
"So you want to be one of our scouts than?" He asked them.
"No." The one to his left replied. "I think i'll figure something else out."
"Yes." The Nadder to his right said confidently. Toothless smiled to himself. 'Hot headed. He'll learn.' Toothless looked around for a few seconds before making a loud whistling. The dragons looked at him weirdly before the whistling was repeated back to him, and a group of dragons began to fall out of formation.
Quickly a group of ten dragons surrounded them, saying nothing. Each looking around vigilantly for anything odd or out of place. A voice from seemingly nowhere began to talk.
"Is there something you need?" The feminine voice asked. Her voice was smooth and calm, with a tone of seriousness that couldn't be turned off.
"This may be easier if you show yourself." Toothless commented. The voice giggled. Almost instantly the Changewing decloaked herself and was meer feet above Toothless. Both Nadders lost their wings and had to recover from the surprise. The female Changewing giggled again.
"If you think i'm scary, I wouldn't look behind you." The hot headed male disregarded her words and looked. Behind them a nearly fifty foot long Whispering Death flew silently. The male Nadders eyes grew wide and had to force himself not to scream. This time Toothless was the one to chuckle.
"She told you not to." He laughed.
"Yeah but I wasn't expecting that." He yelled.
"Ah." The changewing hummed. "You must be new than. Is our Alpha showing off his collection?" She laughed.
"There is no need to show off when you can look around and plainly see the variety we have here." Toothless commented. That made her giggle again.
"I suppose you're right. Anyway what do you need?" Her tone more serious than before. Letting Toothless know that she was ready to receive instructions.
"It's nothing too hard. This one," He nodded towards the male Nadder. "Is looking to join one of the scout groups. It seemed to me that after mentioning your group he wants to join yours." All eyes turned to the male.
"Is that true?" The Changewing asked the male. He was flabbergasted and barely knew how to answer.
"I mean, I-I would like to. I thought maybe, I mean I don't know how it all works here yet."
"Okay, okay calm down. Seems to me that Toothless has thrown you into the deep end. In reality it's probably a good thing." She giggled. "How about this. Since you want to join my group i'll help you get started. Number Eight." She called. "Give us a target."
The Whispering Death rose up above the group slightly. Second later a small flame floated through the air, racing out in front of them, until it exploded into the large ring of smoke.
"Hit that target." She commanded the male.
"With what?"
"You're a Nadder right. Try your tail spikes." The male rose up, readied himself and shot five spike, all going wide of the target. He was immediately embarrassed and he slunk his way back to his original spot.
"All you need to learn is how to control your tail better." Hiccup said. He'd been woken up by the loud explosion. "Believe it or not, you were closer than you think."
"Did we wake you up?" Toothless asked. More to be polite than to get a real answer.
"It's kinda hard to stay asleep when there are explosions going off near me." He smiled.
"Sorry." A small, almost inaudible voice said behind them.
"It's fine." Hiccup waved it off. "Continue what you were doing, I'm curious." The scout leader nodded.
"Give us another target, Eight. Further out." Again a small flame floated out. This time to the point that it couldn't been seen anymore before it exploded. The ring, although the same size, was tiny from where they were. "Number 3 please hit that target."
He took a second to line himself up but seconds later three spikes shot from his tail. The arc of his shot looked ridiculous. The group watched as the three spikes disrupted the smoke circle, breaking it apart. The scout leader smiled to herself.
"Great shot, Three." She complimented him. He fell back into place next to his companions.
"Truly good shot Three." Hiccup also complimented. "Although I wouldn't expect anything less from one of our top teams."
"One of?" The quieter of the two Nadders asked.
"There are quite a few human villages. Although it may not seem like they're particularly close, almost all of them have some way to access this sea. Which means they have access to Helheim's Gate. Luckily for us the fog only goes away when the freeze starts and even the dumbest humans aren't dumb enough to challenge the freeze. But I'm sure you know, humans are resourceful and always pushing forward. On top of that some of those villages have grudges or points to make. They want us dead and if that means creating ships that can break ice and keep people warm just so they can come after us, they will. Plus I'm here, and i'm sure that the word has spread that I've left them to be with you guys. If every dead dragon is a trophy than the human who betrayed them and the Night Fury he rides are the crown jewel." He played with his fingers. His voice became soft. "I wish they would just leave us alone." Hiccup cleared his throat. "But they won't. So we make scouting parties. We make sure that we see what they're doing. So that we can be ready. We've rarely had to interfere with anything so far. But that could change at any moment." Hiccup sighed. "You're dismissed. Thank you for the demonstration."
Toothless, Hiccup, along with there two Nadder companions watched as the group dispersed back to their original positions.
"We try to make sure that everyone is safe." Hiccup stared straight forward. "I wish we could sit around and watch as the world passed us by. But we can't. So we have to be smarter than them. Watch them and hope that they don't figure out a way to come after us." He turned to face the Nadder who wanted to join the scouting parties. "If you truly want to join one of the dangerous parties than go after it. Don't let people drag you down. Don't let them see your fear. Don't let them say no to you. And train. Train until you can't stand anymore. Train until you can taste blood in your mouth. Ask for help. Ask for tips. Ask to train against larger targets. Punch up. Do whatever it takes to get where you want to go.
That group you saw is the one that goes to Berk. They only take the best of the best. Their training regiment is strict and they are not afraid to tell you that you didn't make the cut.
If you want, I will tell them to allow you to train with them for one day, just to give you a taste of what it's like to be them. Cause it's brutal and you probably won't make it through the day. They push themselves further everyday, so you have a lot of catching up to do. The most important thing you can do, is believe in yourself. That may seem dumb and childish. But sometimes it's the only thing pushing you forward." Hiccup scratched at Toothless' neck. "Even if someone is there for you."