Chapter 9; Beginning of the End

The following day at the arena, everyone was there and Stoick said to everyone. "Well, I can show my face in public again! If someone had told me that in a few short weeks. Hiccup would go from, well, being, uh, Hiccup to placing first in dragon training, I'd have tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad! And you know it! But here we are. And no one is more surprised or more proud than I am. Today, my boy became a Viking. Today, He becomes one of us!" The Vikings cheered and Hiccup heard the whole speech, because he was waiting by the entrance of the arena. With him was Flare, Astird, Spikeball, Eric, Knight, and Tera, who was still inside Eric's backpack. Astrid then said to Hiccup. "Be careful with that dragon."

"It's not the dragon I'm worried about." Hiccup said, looking at his father going to his seat. "What are you going to do?" Astrid said to Hiccup and Hiccup said to her. "Put an end to this. I have to try."

"For the record, I think this plan is stupid." Eric said to Hiccup, and Hiccup said to Eric. "Yeah, but it's the only one I got." Hiccup then turned to Astrid and said. "Astrid, if something goes wrong, just make sure they don't find Toothless."

"I will. Just promise me it won't go wrong." Astrid said and before Hiccup could say anything, Gobber appeared and said. "It's time, Hiccup. Knock them dead." Hiccup then put on his helmet and walked into the arena. Hiccup then grabbed a mace and a shield. The cage was then unlocked. After a few seconds, a Monstrous Nightmare, which was set ablaze, brusted out of the cage. It then flew around the arena, and breathed fire at the crowd. No one was hurt, and the Monstrous Nightmare wasn't on fire anymore. The Monstrous Nightmare then noticed Hiccup and Flare. As the Monstrous Nightmare got closer to them, Hiccup dropped his weapons and raised his hands to the Monstrous Nightmare. Stoick then said to Gobber. "What is he doing?"

"I have no idea." Gobber said as everyone was getting agitated. "Hey, it's ok. It's ok." Hiccup said to the Monstrous Nightmare. Hiccup then took off his helmet and said to the Monstrous Nightmare. "I'm not one of them." Hiccup then threw his helmet onto the ground. That caused everyone to gasp and Stoick said getting up from his seat. "Stop the fight."

"No! I need you all to see this. They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them." Hiccup said as he started to raise his hand. The Monstrous Nightmare got close to Hiccup's hand, and Stoick said as he hit the iron bar with a mace. "I said, stop the fight!" The sound of the mace hitting the bars triggered the Monstrous Nightmare fight or flight response. The Monstrous Nightmare chose to fight and started to attack Hiccup. Hiccup was able to keep his hand and started to run and scream.

Back at the cove, Toothless, Knack, and Honorstream heard Hiccup screams. Called into action, Knack flew out of the cove and flew to Hiccup. Toothless then roared at Honorstream to help him out of the cove. Honerstream knew what Toothless wanted to do, and while it would hurt Toothless, Honorstream help his friend. Honorstream blasted steam under Toothless wings. It did help Toothless out of the cove, but the heat from the stream gave Toothless some burns under Toothless wings. Once Toothless was out of the cove, Toothless and Honorstream started to make there way to the arena.

Back at the arena. Hiccup was still running from the Monstrous Nightmare. As Stoick and Sword Walker went through the crowd, Astrid, Eric, Spikeball, and Knight entered the arena. But Eric did leave Tera outside the arena. Inside the arena, Astird threw an axe at the Monstrous Nightmare, and Spikeball used Rollout on the Monstrous Nightmare. The spikes on Spikeball and the axe did cause the Monstrous Nightmare to flinch. And in that moment, Eric grabbed Hiccup and Flare and started to run to the next. The Monstrous Nightmare had recovered and noticed them all running from the next. Just as Astrid and Spikeball were throwing the gate, the Monstrous Nightmare had breathed fire at the gate's gears. The attack destroyed the gears, causing the gate to close with Hiccup, Eric, and their Pokemon trap in the arena. Tera saw all of it and left Eric's bag, but Spikeball stopped Tera. Just then Stoick and Sword Walker reached the gate, Knack appeared and tried to help.

As they tried to force open the gate, the Monstrous Nightmare had pinned Hiccup and Eric. Knight, Flare, and Knack tried to fight the Monstrous Nightmare of them. But Knight's only moves were Water Gun and Pound, Flare's only moves were Scratch and Ember, and Knack's only moves were Quick Attack, Wing Attack, and Double Team. However the only move that caused an ounce of damage to the Monstrous Nightmare was Knight's Water Gun and Knack's Quick Attack. The Monstrous Nightmare then used its tail to whip their Pokemon away.

And just before the Monstrous Nightmare could kill, Toothless and Honorstream appeared. Toothless blasts opened a hole into the arena and dived into the arena, followed by Honorstream. They both fought the Monstrous Nightmare, freeing Hiccup and Eric. Everyone was so surprised to see a Night Fury, that they didn't move.

As for the battle, Honorsteam was able to use his tail to knock the Monstrous Nightmare away. The Monstrous Nightmare then tried to breath fire at them, but Honorsteam blocked it by firing a stream of steam from his mouth. Both attacks stopped one another and Toothless fired a fireball at the Monstrous Nightmare. It hit the Monstrous Nightmare, and the damage from it and Honorstreams attack was enough for the Monstrous Nightmare to back off.

"Thanks for the save guy." Eric said to Toothless and Honorstream. Then the Viking grabbed their weapon and started to come in. Stoick and Sword Walker then charged at Toothless and Honorstream. "Dad, they won't you!" Hiccup said before Toothless and Honorstream charged at Stoick and Sword Walker. They thought Stoick and Sword Walker were going to attack Hiccup, Eric, and their Pokemon. "No, don't! You're only making it worse!" Hiccup said as they were attacking any Viking or Pokemon in their way. They both pounced onto Stoick and Sword Walker. As they charged up for an attack both Hiccup and Eric said. "No. No! Toothless, Honorstream, stop!" Both of them stopped and in that moment, the Vikings and Pokemon attacked them. They were able to force Toothless and Honorstream off of Stoick and Sword Walker. "Hey, let them go!" Eric said as he tried to fight the Vikings off of Toothless and Honorstream. That action caused the Vikings to attack Eric. "No, please don't hurt them." Hiccup said with Astrid holding him back, and Spikeball was comforting Flare and Knack. As Stoick and Sword Walker got up and looked at all of them, a male Viking gave him an axe. Stoick rejected it and said. "Lock up the outsider. And put those beasts with the others." As the Vikings had secured Eric and the dragons, Stoick and Hiccup went to the Great Hall. The only light inside the Great Hall was the sunlight from outside. Stoick then said to Hiccup, with great anger in his voice, as he pushed Hiccup inside. "I should have known. I should have seen the signs."

"Dad?"

"We had a deal!"

"I know we did. That was before… Aw, it's all so messed up."

"So everything in the ring, a trick? A lie?"

"I screwed up. I should have told you before now. I just… Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please, just don't hurt them."

"Outsider and those dragons? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed?"

"Eric was trying to save Honorstream. And they were protecting us! They're not dangerous."

"They've killed hundreds of us!"

"And we've killed thousands of them! They defend themselves, that's all! They raid us because they have to. If they don't bring enough food back, they're eaten themselves. There's something else on their island. It's a dragon like…"

"Their island? So you've been to the nest?"

"Did I say nest?"

"How did you find it?"

"What? No, we didn't. Toothless and Honorstream did. Only a dragon can find the island." Hiccup said and with that Stoick had an idea. Hiccup knew what Stoick was thinking and said. "Oh, no, no, no. No, Dad. No, please, it's not what you think. You don't know what you're up against. The Red Death is nothing you've seen." Stoick pushed Hiccup and started to leave. Hiccup kept speaking to Stoick. "Dad, please. I promise you, you can't win this one!" Stoick still didn't listen and Hiccup said as he grabbed Stoick's left arm. "For once in your life, would you please just listen to me?!" Stoick then threw Hiccup away, and said. "You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Viking. You're not my son." That broke Hiccup's heart and as Stoick left, Flare and Knack comforted him. Outside, Stoick realized what he had just said, and it broke his heart too, but now was a time for action, not broken hearts.

With the knowledge that a dragon was key to the nest, everyone, minus the elderly and children, were loading up ships with every weapon they had. On the flag ship, Toothless, who was bound with a muzzle that kept him from shooting fire at them, iron bars that kept him from flying, and a wooden collar with chains that kept him from leaving, was placed on the deck of the ship. Hiccup was watching this all happen on the cliff side overlooking the dock. Also on the flag ship were Stoick, Gobber, Sword Walker, and Coal. "Set sail!" Stoick said as the fleet took off. Stoick saw Hiccup, then turned to Toothless and said. "Lead us home, devil." A short while later, Hiccup was still on the cliff side. Flare and Knack were worried about Hiccup, then Astrid and Spikeball appeared. She walked up to Hiccup and said looking at the ocean. "It's a mess. You must feel horrible. You've lost everything: your father, your tribe, your best friends."

"Thank you for summing that up. Why couldn't I have killed that dragon when I found him in the woods? Would have been better for everyone."

"Yep. The rest of us would've done it. So why didn't you?" Astrid said and Hiccup didn't answer. "Why didn't you?" Astrid said as she looked right at Hiccup. Hiccup then turned away from her and said. "I don't know. I couldn't."

"That's not an answer."

"What is this so important to you all of a sudden?"

"Because I want to remember what you say right now."

"Oh, for the love of… I was a coward. I was weak. I wouldn't kill a dragon."

"You said "wouldn't" that time."

"Whatever! I wouldn't! Three hundred years and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon."

"First to ride one, though. So…?"

"I wouldn't kill him because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him and I saw myself."

"I bet he's really frightened now. What are you going to do about it?"

"Eh, probably something stupid."

"Good, but you've already done that."

"Then something crazy. I need to free Eric, can you get the others and take them to the arena?" Hiccup said and Astrid nodded yes. Hiccup then left for the village holding cell and Astrid said to Spikeball. "That's more like it."

Back with the fleet, they had reached the steam covering the island. "Sound your positions. Stay within earshot." Stoick said to everyone before they entered the steam cloud, forming a single line. As Stoick was keeping an eye out for dragons, Gobber said to Stoick. "Stoick, I was overhearing some of the men just now, and, well, some of them are wondering what it is we're up to here. Not me, of course. I know you're always the man with the plan. But some, not me, are wondering if there is, in fact, a plan at all and what it might be."

"Find the nest and take it."

"Oh, of course. Send them running. The old Viking fallback. Nice and simple." Gobber said as Toothless caught Stoick attention. Stoick noticed that Toothless was starting to show the way to the island. Stoick took control of the steering and followed where Toothless was pointing, they were able to dodge all of the rocks. After dodging all of the rocks, they reached the shores of Dragon Island. "We're here." Stoick said as he got off the boat, and the moment Stoick touched the shore, the Steam Whips making the steam stopped and started to swim away from the island. That did worry Stoick a little, but now wasn't the time to think about that. Now was time for the Viking to get ready for their final battle with the dragons.

Back on Berk, Hiccup had freed Eric and took them to the arena. Astrid had brought the others and said to Hiccup. "So what is the plan?"

"Trust me, you want to hear his plan in the air." Eric said as Hiccup released Honorstream. As Honorstream reunited with Eric, Hiccup then released the Monstrous Nightmare. As Hiccup guided the Monstrous Nightmare out of the cage, Snotlout picked up a broken spear. Astrid stopped him, and Hiccup took Snotlout's left hand. Snotlout then said as Hiccup moved his hand to the Monstrous Nightmare. "Wait! What are you…?"

"Shh! Relax. It's ok. It's ok." Hiccup said as he put Snotlout on the nose of the Monstrous Nightmare. After a few moments, Snotlout fear was replaced with laughter. Hiccup then left Snotlout and Snotlout said to Hiccup. "Where are you going?"

"You're gonna need something to help you hold on." Hiccup said as he pulled out some rope. Eric then released the Deadly Nadder, the Gronckle, and the Hideous Zippleback. As Honorstream kept the dragons in check, Eric said to the others. "So who's up next?"