Third person view
The lone ship made it to the dock and a Viking on the boat threw a rope to the dock workers waiting.
The boat's sail was torn and ripped as well the large burn hole in it and there was a huge chuck on wood bitten out of the side.
They pulled the boat to the dock and warriors began getting off, a Viking on the dock helping them off. As Stoick was pulled up, he slapped the Viking on the shoulder as a thanks before he began walking down the dock.
Gobber and DJ were both standing further down the dock as Stoick walked to them with his basket under his arm.
"I trust ya found the nest at least?" Gobber said as the chief just walked past them.
"Not even close" he muttered a look of rage on his face.
"Ah excellent" Gobber muttered back
"Anyone not come back?" DJ asked as the two walked with Stoick.
"Only a few. But less than previous hunts" Stoick answered before he saw the damage around the village still being repaired.
"Did you have a raid?" He asked turning to DJ who nodded.
"Yeah, they got some of the food but not as much as they usually do. Either way, I got the hunting parties and fishermen out trying to restock" DJ answered as Stoick smiled at his son taking charge.
"Yer boy here even took down a Titan wing Nadder, dragging the fight out to distract the rest of the flock he did" Gobber said taking Stoick's basket as Stoick slapped the young man on his back.
"Well that's great, well done son. And dare I ask how Hiccup has been doing?" Stoick said dreading the answer until someone yelled from further up the dock.
"Congratulations Stoick. Everyone is so relieved" a woman said passing him as more Vikings were coming down to see their family or spouses and passing the chief in turn.
"Out with the old and in with the new, right?"
"No one will miss that old nuisance!"
"The village is throwing a party to celebrate!"
Stoick then turned to the blacksmith and acting chief confused. They should be more sad if everything they just said was true. Especially DJ.
"He's gone?" He asked barely above a whisper his eyes wide.
"Um... Yeah. Most afternoons but who can blame him, I mean the life of a celebrity is very rough. He can barely walk through the village without being swarmed by his new fans. DJ has even had to make guarding him from fans part of his duties" Gobber said walking forwards with DJ until a shocked Stoick grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.
"Hiccup?!" He asked shocked.
"Who would've thought it eh? He has this way with the beasts" Gobber said with a huge smile as Stoick began to match it.
"That's... That's wonderful to hear. Where is he?" Stoick asked.
"Not in the village. He spends a lot of his time in the woods. Try checking out his room in the forge after dark. He usually stays in there for a bit before heading to bed" DJ said as Stoick nodded.
"Right, well. Good job, son. I'll take over the duties and we'll discuss dragon training tomorrow" Stoick said before walking off with a proud smile on his face.
"So what'r you gonna do with yer days now that Hiccup doesn't need you to protect him from dragons or the villagers?" Gobber asked with a chuckle. DJ smiled and chuckled back before slowly the smile faded.
"I uh... I don't know..." DJ said before humming and walking up the dock. Gobber quickly frowned and followed.
"Hey, wait. Lad! I didn't mean it like that!" He called out.
High above the clouds, where nobody in the village could see them, Hiccup and Toothless soared. Albeit little shaky.
"Okay there bud, we're gonna take this nice and slow" Hiccup said patting Toothless' side before he looked down at the piece of paper that had the multiple tail positions.
"Here we go, here we go. Position... 3 no, 4!" He said before he moved his left foot and the tail opened wider.
They did a few turns and maneuvers and so far, the tail held.
"Alright, alright, it's go time" Hiccup muttered before Toothless dive bombed towards a cluster of sea stacks.
"Come on buddy, come on buddy!" Hiccup yelled over the wind. They went in between two stacks that had a roof formed in between them but was open from the sea up.
"Yes it worked!" Hiccup said looking down Toothless' body. However they soon crashed into a sea stack.
"Sorry!" Hiccup apologized only for it to happen immediately afterwards.
"That's my fault" he added before Toothless smacked him with his ear flap.
"Yeah, yeah I'm on it!" Hiccup said looking down at the paper again.
"Position 4- uh 3" he corrected again before the two began climbing into the air.
"Yeah! Go baby!" Hiccup celebrated as Toothless also smiled a dragon's smile with his tongue hanging out.
"Ah, this is amazing! The wind in my- chest sheet! Stop!" He yelled as the paper went flying from the clip on the saddle.
It flew past him and he tried to grab it while Toothless obeyed his command and stopped climbing. However since Hiccup wasn't focused on holding on, instead grabbing the sheet, the safety hooks came undone and he fell out of the saddle.
Seeing this Toothless also began panicking as he couldn't fly without the small human helping him and the two both began falling down towards the sea and land below.
"Oh gods! Oh gods!" Hiccup yelled before trying to get back into the saddle. Which wasn't easy since Toothless was panicking and spinning around like a mad dragon. Even smacking Hiccup across the face.
Finally he got back into the saddle and clipped back in before he saw just how close to the trees they were.
With the sheet in his mouth, he pulled back on Toothless who opened his wings to slow the fall. They flew above the trees thanks to that but were coming up on a cluster of sea stacks after the land met the water
Hiccup tried to look at the sheet but it was flapping in the wind too much for him to read. After a few quick back and forth, he threw the sheet away and went with his gut like his brother had always taught him to do.
He opened the tail and he and Toothless began expertly avoiding the stacks, Hiccup switching the tails position as needed and on time and leaning and weaving in the saddle with his dragon.
Soon enough, the two flew on the other side of the stacks to reveal the open ocean.
Hiccup panted before he raised his arms and cheered at what he had just done. Toothless was also happy and shot a blast in front of them to celebrate. However Hiccup then dropped his arms.
"Come on" he muttered as they flew through the large fireball.
It was now sunset and Hiccup's face had slight smoke marks while his hair was all blown back, both by the hot air and by the wind while flying.
He blinked a few times, the sight of the fire coming closer still, literally, burned in his mind.
Suddenly he heard retching from his right and turned just in time to see Toothless puke up a fish head, a large pile of whole fish in between his front legs as he sat behind Hiccup, allowing the boy to use him as a back rest.
"Uh, no thanks I'm good" he said gesturing to his own small fish which he was roasting on a stick over a fire.
Suddenly he heard several small chirp-like roars and saw a group of four Terrible Terrors flying towards the two. They landed and began scurrying their way forwards.
Hiccup looked scared for a second but realized he was with a Night Fury, who was roaring and pulling his fish closer.
One small dragon tried to snatch one but Toothless voiced his displeasure, making the dragon jump back. Another then snatched the fish head and pulled it back, Toothless letting that small piece go.
However another tried to steal it only to get growled at by the first before he shot a small stream of fire at the Challenger.
Suddenly one of Toothless' fish shot up and began moving out of the pile, soon to reveal it was a sneaky Terror doing this.
Toothless quickly grabbed the head of the fish while the little dragon pulled with all its might. However Toothless gave a small jerk of his head and easily pulled the fish from his grasp.
He then swallowed it and let out a bellowing laugh. The dragon took a stance and pawed at the ground with its front feet while Toothless gained a bored look.
The dragon then reared back and opened its mouth to fire. However Toothless shot a small blast into the mouth of the dragon, making the gas ignite inside him and making him puff up for a moment before he wandered around in a daze, all the fight having been blasted out of him.
"Heh, not so fireproof on the inside are ya? There you go" Hiccup said tossing the dragon his fish which it happily ate.
It then slowly and cautiously crept up to Hiccup before it went under his arm and curled up next to the boy, falling asleep.
"Everything we know about you guys, is wrong" Hiccup said as he gently pet the beast.
It was now after dark and Hiccup was in his little room in the forge. On the desk were drawings of Toothless, the tail rig and more of his inventions.
He had his head on the desk and flicked his pencil back and forth as his desk was on an angle so it came back to his finger.
He saw his father was home again and knew he was running out of time. Doing good in training thanks to the tricks he learned were starting to effect him negatively now.
'I have to make sure Astrid wins tomorrow. Sorry dad' he thought before hearing someone coming into the forge. He turned and saw the large frame of his father peaking into the doorway.
"Dad! You're back! Uh Gobber's not here so..." He said pulling blank papers over his drawings while his father squeezed in through the door.
"I know. I came looking for you" he said fixing his helmet as his brother also piled into the room, but a lot easier than their father.
"You- you did?" Hiccup asked closing his journal.
"You've been keeping secrets" Stoick said.
"Uh I- I have?" Hiccup asked, fear rising in his voice.
"Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?" Stoick asked narrowing his eyes at his youngest.
"I-I-I don't know what you-" he began but his father cut him off.
"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it. Even when I'm gone" he said.
"Oh?" Hiccup asked quickly darting to his brother who was standing with his arms crossed.
"So let's talk about that dragon" Stoick said stepping closer.
'Oh this is it! There is no grounding or lashings for this. It's either banishment or Blood Eagle' Hiccup thought.
"Oh Gods... Dad, DJ, I'm so, so sorry. I-I-I was going to tell you, both of you, I just didn't know how..." Hiccup trailed off as Stoick began laughing hard with Hiccup nervously joining in.
"You-You-... You're not upset?" Hiccup asked.
"What?!" Stoick yelled with a smile while stopping the laughter.
"I was hoping for this!" He added.
"Uh... You were?" Hiccup asked confused.
"And believe me, it only gets better! Just wait till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time. And mount your first Gronkle head on a spear. Or take off your first Nightmare's head like your brother did. What a feeling!" he said slapping Hiccup back into his chair before he was helped up by his brother.
"You really had me going there, son. All those years as the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough, I almost gave up on you but all the while you were holding back on me! Thor almighty!" He yelled before he pulled a chair underneath him.
"And with you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about" he added before the area drifted into silence.
Hiccup went to speak but found he had nothing to say. Stoick crept a little closer and took a breath before he realized he too had nothing to say as well so the smile disappeared from his face.
DJ looked in between the two and was about to speak up when he realized that he had already done that for many years already. Filling the silence moments like this.
'They need this' he thought to himself as there was a few more seconds of silence before Stoick spoke up.
"I uh, I brought you something, to keep you safe in the ring" he said reaching behind him and pulling out a Viking helmet with the standard two horns.
"Wow. Thanks" Hiccup said feeling the helmet.
"Ah, your mother would've wanted you to have it. There's a quarter of her breast plate mixed in there" Stoick said making Hiccup retract his hand.
"Matching set" Stoick said tapping his own helmet while DJ smiled and pulled his skinning knife and showed it off to Hiccup.
"Keeps her... Keeps her close" he added with a slight smile.
"Wear it proudly. You deserve it. You've held up your end of the deal" Stoick said. Hiccup mumbled a little, setting the helmet down, knowing if he agreed his brother and father would know he was lying.
So instead he yawned loudly and stretched his arms out.
"Well I should really get to bed" he said as Stoick nodded.
"Yes, alright, yeah. Good talk" he said as Hiccup agreed. The two then said more short sentences at the same time, Stoick banging his head off the roof before he stood tall and nodded at Hiccup.
"Goodnight" he simply said squeezing out of the room. Once out, he breathed a sigh of relief and smiled before he continued on his way but bumped into weapon racks, almost falling over but steadied himself and went on his way.
Hiccup also sighed once his father was out before realizing his brother was still in the room, looking down at the knife.
"You miss her don't you?" Hiccup said making DJ look up and nod.
"Every day. Some nights before I fall asleep I think about what I could've done differently. What I could've prevented" he said sheathing the knife again.
"DJ you were just a kid. And even though you're stronger than me, at that age I couldn't lift a knife for butter let alone for defending against a dragon" Hiccup said coming over and putting hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah but try living with that while there's stories about your father taking the head off a dragon when he was a baby" DJ said before nodding at Hiccup.
"Anyway, I'll let you go and do whatever you need to do before bed" he added before walking to the door as Hiccup nodded back.
"Sounds good" he said. As DJ got to the door however, he turned and looked at him for a few seconds without saying anything.
"You okay?" Hiccup then asked a little confused and concerned.
"Yeah just... Just something Gobber said... Ah, Goodnight" he quickly said before he too left the small room but a little more graciously than Stoick.
Hiccup was in the training area, once again up against the Gronkle and with a lot of Vikings up above cheering loudly. Now he had his helmet on and was taking cover behind a wooden platform as the dragon flew over him before Astrid joined him there.
However once she saw him there, she immediately frowned and pushed his shield to the ground, allowing her to lean in close.
"Stay outta my way. I'm winning this thing" she said firmly before rushing off.
"Good, please. By all means" Hiccup said standing up and turning to see his dad and brother standing there watching him.
Stoick gave Hiccup a thumbs up while Hiccup briefly smiled back before he turned towards the dragon who spotted him.
From up above, DJ and Stoick watched as Astrid rolled and jumped from cover to cover getting closer to the dragon.
"See what I mean? Even if she doesn't get chosen, I think she's ready for the battlefield" DJ said as Stoick nodded and hummed rubbing his chin.
Back in the arena, Astrid got as close as she wanted to before taking some deep breaths.
"This time, this time for sure" she said firmly before jumping over her cover and a few other platforms with a battlecry.
However all she saw was Hiccup standing in front of the dragon which was on its side, defeated. He was flinching but quickly threw on a nervous smile and held his hands out like he was offering her the dragon.
"No! No! Son of a half troll, rat-eating sludge bucket-!" she ranted swinging her axe around as Stoick noticed Gothi was tapping her staff against the ground.
"Wait! Wait!" He called out as Hiccup tried to slink away.
"So... Later" he said only to get hooked in the shirt by Gobber.
"Oh, not so fast" he said.
"Uh, I'm kinda late for-" he began before he was turned by Astrid using her axe before he found the dull top pressed against his neck.
"What?! Late for what, exactly?" She said seething with rage. She then looked up and saw DJ had taken one of his axes out and was making eye contact with her with a straight face, so she retracted her weapon.
"Okay, quiet down. The elder has decided" Stoick said as Gobber stood in between both teens who looked up at the woman.
Gobber put his hook over Astrid who stood tall and hoped. However the elder made a face and shook her head as the audience all groaned lightly as some knew how it was to get passed over in the final lesson.
Gobber then pointed with his other hand to Hiccup. The elder smiled and nodded at Hiccup who immediately grimaced while Astrid frowned with rage and the arena erupted into cheers.
"Ah, you've done it! You've done it! You get to kill the Nightmare!" Gobber said as Hiccup suddenly found himself hoisted into the air by his brother who had once again jumped down while the other teens, minus Astrid, gathered around and cheered.
"Yeah that's ma boy!" Stoick yelled as Hiccup laughed nervously and his brother carried him out of the arena also with a smile on his face.
"Yeah! Yes! I can't wait! I'm sooo-" Hiccup said.