Toothless and Hiccup continued their staredown while Stoick walked up to them.
"You two ready to lose?" The large man boasted while cracking his knuckles. The pair looked over to him, very confused.
"This might as well be a two horse race dad."
"Yeah, me and this big beast." He thumbed at Toothless. "I may not be a dragon but I've done more hunting than both of you combined. I wouldn't be so sure it's that cut and dry son. With age comes wisdom."
"And a beer gut it seems." Hiccup chuckled. Stoick slapped his stomach.
"Can't deny that one." He laughed. "Don't think it'll get you some sort of advantage though. I might have put on a few pounds but I'm still as strong as I was on the day you were born. You gotta remember Hiccup I used to wrestle with the damned beasts. Don't get as far as I have with having the muscle to back it up."
"I guess we'll see." Hiccup nodded.
"So then what are the rules for this?" Stoick asked. Their banter had made everyone else curious and had gathered around the trio.
"They're pretty simple actually. Toothless and I have done this before and so we'll just follow those rules. Firstly, you and I, dad, will go in first. Then Toothless will come in after us after waiting a bit."
"Why's that?"
"Because, and I hate saying this because all it's going to do is inflate his ego but, Toothless could clear a forest faster than we could run across a field of the same length. We would stand no chance of competing with him if he didn't wait for us, and gave us at least a little bit of a chance to find something before he came in. Plus he's way stronger so once he gets his kill, he won't struggle to get it back here.
So then, secondly, Toothless is not allowed to fly. That would obviously give him too much of an advantage.
Next, since you don't have any sort of natural weaponry, you can bring whatever you want in. This would normally cover a bow, but since we don't have any here, you're stuck with your sword.
Lastly, have fun. It is a competition but there's nothing to win but bragging rights. And those don't go very far when you've had to prevent one of the players from winning instantly.
So get in, get out, and we'll decide who got the best kill once everyone returns. And we'll have a nice big dinner before returning to wondering what's going on with this potential attack or whatever it is."
"That sounds fair enough to me." Stoick agreed. The entire group of humans and dragons moved over to the edge of the forest. The trio lined up.
"Ready dad?" Hiccup asked.
"When you are."
"Then let's go." Hiccup ran into the forest before his father had realized what he'd said. Stoick looked at Toothless confused as to what to do. The dragon lifted his leg and did his best to point into the forest.
"Oh!" Stoick ran into the trees as quickly as he could.
Toothless began to wait patiently as the other dragons grouped up around him.
"So what's your plan? Skullcrusher asked. "Gonna let them win or what?"
"Don't know yet. Hiccup and I have a side bet on this so I'm thinking I might just win."
"And what of the big human?"
"I'm planning on watching him for a bit, see how he moves around the forest. Help him corner a deer if need be.
"Think he'll have trouble doing that himself?"
"No, but this is unfamiliar territory for him. Want to see how he deals with that, see if he gets turned around or lost. He can't just fly up and find his way like us. And Hiccup's sense of direction is fantastic so I'm not worried about him getting lost in there. Plus we have to remember who he is. While I doubt he and the other humans pose a threat to us but, Hiccup's father became famous among all human villages for his ability to kill our kind. He may be out of practice given that we no longer attack his village, doesn't mean that he's any less dangerous to us. Until we can fully trust him and the others don't let your guard down. Be nice and respect them and tolerate their mistakes, but don't get killed because we become complacent with a new potential ally's generosity." Toothless cautioned.
"Still suspicious of them?"
"It's not about suspicion, so much as it is about trust. While they've shown a fair amount of trust in us they're still human."
"And so then what of Hiccup?"
"I'd choose your next words carefully." Toothless threatened.
"Hiccup is human too. Do you think that him being around other humans is going to cause issues in the future?"
"No." The Nightfury chuckled. "That idiot will always put us before himself. It's his biggest weakness. All I'm trying to say is, there's been a lot of promises but obviously no results from them yet. I know that we haven't put in anything yet either but Hiccup will make sure that we hold up our end. This has been his big dream for a long time. But as much as we've convinced his father, the other humans on Berk are a different story. Humans don't have the same leadership as we do. It's close to how Hiccup and I run the flock. We let all of you act freely, think for yourself and make your own decisions. But we retain the power to put our foot down and make a decision that cannot be challenged. Though we do so after careful deliberation and planning.
But for the humans, Stoick's word isn't final. He can try, and in the past has succeeded in doing so. The issue is his word doesn't carry the weight like an alpha's does. When we try to integrate there will be those willing to try. Likely those who haven't witnessed the fighting that used to happen. Witnessed the death we used to cause each other. Then there will be those who resist, not wanting to change even when faced with the truth. And then there are those who will go further than that. Those who will try and unfortunately succeed in killing us. Unfortunately again for us we're just going to have to take it. I will push Hiccup into making sure that those people will be punished appropriately but we have to the ones who approach this with open arms. No matter how much it's going to hurt in the beginning it will taper off and more and more humans will accept us."
"That's quite the speech but do you really think that siding with humans is our only way forward? Disregard what Hiccup wants and thinks, what do you think?" Skullcrusher asked. Toothless sighed.
"What I think is, humans are always striving to move forward. Always trying to create something better. We can't make things. That they can transform one thing into another will be our downfall. I think Hiccup's right when he told me that they'll eventually create something that we can't deal with no matter what. Weapons that can pierce our scales and skin with ease. A way to see through the fog of our home.
If we don't do anything we'll eventually be at their mercy, hoping they realize that we are no longer a threat, and are simply trying to live the way we always have.
But if we join the humans there will be those willing to work and create things for us. We'll be able to keep up and remain a threat to those who oppose us.
This deal we've made will be beyond tough in the beginning. But the further we go, the more we become a normal thing for them we will start to benefit.
I don't know if this is the right path for us. But it does seem like the reward at the end will be worth the effort." The dragons around him hummed and haad.
"Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, my alpha." Skullcrusher bowed. "Now get in there and show them we haven't fallen behind just yet."