The pair were happily dealing away until a gruff voice started to call out to Hiccup. They ignored the voice as much as they could until it was so close it could touch Hiccup.
"Son?" Stoick shook Hiccup's leg. "It's time to get up. Those ships are in sight and the dragons are starting to panic." He shook Hiccup's leg again. Hiccup opened his eyes and sighed.
"They couldn't have given us a bit more time? The sun's not even shining through the holes in the rock yet." Hiccup complained.
"Well son I don't think they care much whether or not the sun's out. Or if you're ready."
"That's very inconsiderate of them." Hiccup sat up and stretched. After a brief pause he stood up and shook Toothless awake fully. "Come on big guy, you too." Toothless yawned and smacked his lips.
"Fine." The dragon sighed. Hiccup moved over to the little table he'd placed the new device that he'd made and grabbed it.
"Let's head up top and see what's going on." Hiccup climbed onto Toothless' back. "Meet you up there." He smiled at his dad as Toothless took off. As the pair exited the mountain they were greeted with a number of dragons all piled together, looking out at the clearly visible set of ships.
"Hiccup, Toothless what do you plan to do?" Care asked them.
"There's no need to worry." Hiccup soothed. "We already made a plan and it's just about to start."
"And that plan is?" The leader of the Nadders asked.
"We're sending my dad out to speak with them. He'll have a way to signal to us. That'll determine whether or not we attack. Not to kill mind you, but drive them off."
"You think that'll work? The head of the Nightmares wondered. "Humans they're…" He paused and looked to the group looking out, and just as anxious as the rest of them. "Most humans aren't as accepting as you, or those ones. Is this really the right choice?" They asked calmly "I'm behind you but…"
"I know that it's hard to believe that humans are our way forward. I know that for hundred and hundred, and hundreds of years, your kind, all of you, have been at the top. You're big, dangerous, and mean. When humans see you they tend to turn tail and run. The sight of any one of you makes them think twice about whatever they're doing. But the reality is that the world is changing. And while a human will never alone be able to fight you head on, they will find a way to at least try. And eventually they'll just make things that will kill us without us even noticing, or be able to fight against. And that's just because humans have two things that most other species don't. The ability to create, and the ability to understand somethings basic qualities so that it can be used in multiple ways. There will come a time where our home doesn't truly protect us. Where our scales and teeth and fire won't protect us.
Your age. Our age is coming to an end. It's quite over yet but there isn't a whole ton of time left for dragons being the apex species.
So as the weird bridge between the two, I want us to be able to move forward with them. So that at least our kind won't be so in danger in the future. And I want you all to know, and tell everyone else as well. When we begin to integrate with them, I am not going to force you to integrate. If you wish to live the same way you always have, don't hesitate to do so. What all this is, what I'm striving for with this, is the choice. To be that friend of a human, to have that security, but if you don't want that or don't feel it necessary then you don't have to do it.
All I ask is that when it is time to choose, that you'll at least consider it.
I just… I don't want us to be hunted to extinction because we couldn't find a future that wasn't constantly fighting. I want us, and more importantly our children to be born into a world where they're safe. If we figure that out now, we won't have to do something drastic later."
Murmuring began in the group as Stoick finally joined them.
"Chatty today aren't they?" Stoick joked.
"They're deciding on their futures right now." Hiccup walked to the edge and looked at the ships sailing towards them.
"Don't worry son." Stoick placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "I can be very persuasive when I need to be."
"I don't doubt that. But you're trying to convince vikings that dragons aren't their enemies."
"Worked on me." Stoick smiled.
"You came here with an open mind and knowledge of your safety. They're not."
"That's true but they also haven't been attacked at all. They're expecting aggression but aren't going to be getting any."
"Not yet." Hiccup corrected. "I still have a duty to my people. If this doesn't work out, I may not be able to justify holding out. My people have put more trust in me than they really should and this has to be something that I must make a decision on. If they hurt you, I'm going to have to drive them away at least. And I can't promise no one will die."
"I wish your mother could see you." Hiccup watched his father clench his jaw and sigh. "She always knew you'd become something more." He turned and smiled. "No chance she'd expect my involvement though." He laughed. Stoick sighed again. "Guess it's time to get this started, yeah?"
Hiccup snapped his fingers. "One sec." he turned to Toothless. "Would you kindly?" he held up the device to Toothless' mouth. Toothless stuck his tongue out and Hiccup harvested the saliva off it and into the device. He quickly assembled the whole thing and handed it to Stoick. "Okay so I made this last night and it's how you're going to signal to us."
Stoick looked it over. "Okay?"
"How it works is that wick is saturated with Toothless Saliva and there's a chamber in there that holding a bunch too. Then there's a wood ball soaked in it too. When you ignite the wick the whole thing is going to build pressure and explode out of this end." Hiccup pointed to it. "It's just a piece of thin wood that should let go once there's enough pressure and the ball should shoot out, and we'll be able to see that from here. But that's if things are going bad. If things are going okay, just have them take down their flags and we'll know it's safe, okay?" Hiccup asked.
"Uh sure son, but how am I supposed to light this?"
"You're not going to have much trouble. I'm sure if you looked at it wrong it would light it right now. Just any spark or source of heat should set it right up. Uhm, just strike your knife on the bottom to create some sparks. Any errant spark should work. Trust me it's very sensitive."