Stoick and the rest of the Viking tribe that had come with him to destroy the dragon nest had finally returned, but with battered ships. And only one had come back as well.
Gobber greeted him as Stoick got off the ship, looking pretty pissed. "I trust you found the nest, at least?" He asked, Gobber hardly looking at him. "Not even close."
The blacksmith gave a shrug. "Eh, oh well." He said casually, picking up some more baskets from the ship. "I hope you had a little more success than me." Stoick grumbled, wondering if Hiccup was dead by now from being in the dragon arena. Gobber gave a little smile. "Well, if by success you mean that your parenting troubles are over with then, yes."
One villager that stayed came up to Stoick, her eyes looking excited. "Congratulations, Stoick! Everyone is so relieved!" She said in happiness.
Another one also looked just as joyful. "Out with the old, in with the new, right?" He chortled, his friend nodding. "No one will miss that old nuisance."
A third Viking pumped his fist. "The village is throwing a party to celebrate!"
Stoick was rather stunned, looking over to Gobber. "He's gone? And what about Brooklyn? Why isn't he keepin' him from running off?"
Gobber shrugs again. "Most afternoons they take off right after training. But it can be hard for them to walk through the village without being swarmed by their new fans." He said, waving his arm in the air. Stoick's face looked more shocked than ever. "Hiccup?"
The blacksmith smirked back at his friend. "Who would've thought that, eh? Who knew he had this way with the beasts." It made Stoick's shocked face melt a little into a look of pride, knowing now that somehow; Brooklyn had helped Hiccup step himself up in the ring.
...
In the open skies above the ocean, Hiccup and Toothless flew through the clouds alongside Brooklyn and his Skrill, Voltwing. This time, they were hopefully fully prepared for this test flight. Hiccup still had his cheat sheet on hand in case he forgot the moves he needed to use to control Toothless' tail fin.
Brooklyn took some unsteady breaths while the wind blew in his hair, holding onto Voltwing's saddle tight, wondering what this flight would be like. Hiccup petted the Night Fury on his head. "Ok there, bud, we're gonna take this nice and slow. I hope you're ready too Brook."
The former gargoyle grinned, nodding, trying to put on a brave face since he had flown before. But this time, it was more than just gliding. "As ready as I'll ever be, right boy?" He scratched Voltwing lightly along his scales, Voltwing giving his raspy purr. Hiccup looks down at his cheat sheet. "Position, 3 no 4! He exclaimed, pressing down on the pedals, making the makeshift fin turn in that direction, Brooklyn following close behind with Voltwing mostly to make sure Hiccup didn't fall off. But he was also distracted with his own enjoyment of flying the Skrill, smiling from the view of the ocean below.
"Alright, it's go time, it's go time..." Hiccup muttered, guiding Toothless down closer to the water. Brooklyn nudged Voltwing gently into following, Voltwing flapping his wings hard, making Brooklyn even more glad that he didn't have a prosthetic to worry about. Voltwing and Toothless both let loose little roars, Toothless' wing touching the water lightly. "Yeah, Voltwing! Let's go!" Called Brooklyn, the Skrill looking like he was smirking who twirled in the air, gliding just above the water now ahead of Toothless.
Hiccup couldn't help but smile teasingly, knowing now that Brooklyn wanted to race, Brooklyn tracing his hand through the water in awe, one rock tower arch coming close, the two flying right through the archway. Hiccup looked back once then kept going. "Yes it worked!" He got a bit over confident though, getting too close to another rock pillar. "Look out! Brooklyn yelled but too late as Toothless crashed into it, screeching irritatingly.
"Sorry..." Hiccup apologized, only to smash into another. "My fault." Toothless huffed, smacking his rider with his ear that made Brooklyn laugh aloud, now following his friends with Voltwing higher into the sky, both dragons tongues hanging out. "Yeah! Woo hoo!" Brooklyn cheered, getting brave enough to hold out his arms, letting the wind blow by them.
He saw Hiccup cheering too until to his horror; Hiccup's foot came out of the stirrup after nearly losing his cheat sheet, unhooking from the steering saddle, hovering in the air. "Oh no! No, no no!" Hiccup screamed, falling down along with Toothless who can't fly without him. Toothless screeched aloud, trying to reach his friend.
Brooklyn dive bombed Voltwing, but Toothless was too much in the way to get closer to Hiccup. "Have Toothless angle his saddle closer!" Brooklyn screamed, Hiccup doing his best to grab on. "I'm trying!"
After struggling for a few more minutes, before hitting the trees and rocks, Hiccup somehow managed to pull himself back onto the Night Fury, using the stirrup to open up Toothless' wings just in time, Brooklyn watching from above on Voltwing, not wanting to get anywhere near the rocks. To his surprise; he saw Hiccup throw away the cheat sheet and begin flying Toothless through the maze, looking unfazed and unafraid.
Flying above the maze close to the exit, Brooklyn waited expectantly, Voltwing rumbling in worry for his Night Fury friend, until they saw the duo arrive, Hiccup raising his arms in the air and cheering. "YEAH!" Brooklyn smiled in happiness. Their test flight was a success.
Hiccup then looked over to Brooklyn. "How about we test you guys flying in a storm?" Brooklyn swallowed at the thought but after witnessing Hiccup flying through a rock maze, a storm would be nothing.
He stroked Voltwing's head. "Care to give us a quick test flight storm buddy?" He asked, the Skrill huffing in agreement. Storms were his specialty after all.
Lightning forming under his wings, Voltwing charged straight up into the clouds, the clouds growing darker with the presence of the lightning. Brooklyn's hair stood up on end but mostly from excitement. He grinned big from all the storm clouds around them, seeing his Skrill riding on a lot of the lightning streaks, going faster than they did in normal speed. The former gargoyle gripped the stirrup tight, breathing heavily, grateful for his rubber/leather suit now, otherwise he would be barbecued.
After flying around in the storm for a few moments longer, enjoying the breathtaking lightning displays, Brooklyn nods down to Voltwing so they could meet up with Hiccup again. Voltwing growls, diving out of the storm and halting his lightning wings, soaring back over to Hiccup and Toothless hovering nearby. Hiccup's eyes were big in awe from their success. "Whoa, that was awesome!" The teen exclaimed, Brooklyn feeling rather pleased he was able to survive all of that somehow. "We should probably rest our dragons now, don't you think?"
Hiccup agrees, the two flying their dragons over to a small rocky island, landing on the ground. Brooklyn climbs off, still a little wobbly but not as bad as before. They managed to fly their dragons without ropes or dying!
Brooklyn sits down, Voltwing purring and curling up around him as Brooklyn pulled out a chicken leg for himself, tossing Voltwing some fish, Hiccup doing the same thing. "You earned it, boy." Brooklyn said, Voltwing nuzzling him, swallowing a fish whole. While Hiccup kindly refused a fish head from Toothless.
While the dragons ate however; a flock of Terrible Terrors had suddenly arrived, all squawking loudly. Brooklyn gulped, recalling what one did to Truffaut in the arena a few days ago, staying as close to his Skrill as possible while the Skrill hissed viciously, protecting his food as well as Toothless.
One green Terror snatched up a fish, eyeing the duo like how a bird would until a red Terror tried stealing it, the green one snarling, blasting fire at its rival, making Brooklyn chuckle a little bit. To be honest, these guys are kinda cute when not trying to bite your nose off. Toothless then noted one of his fish moving, eyes rounding, until the thief revealed itself, hissing dangerously though it hardly scared the Night Fury, grabbing the fish, yanking it away from the Terror after a tug of war. Toothless gave a rumbling laugh that Voltwing copied.
The Terror readied itself, fire glowing inside its mouth, rearing back to blast, Brooklyn tensing until Toothless shot a mini plasma blast right into its mouth, making the Terror squeak, collapsing. That was rather interesting to Brooklyn. So, they're not quite strong on the insides... he mused to himself.
"Huh, not so fireproof on the inside, are you? There you go." Hiccup offered, tossing the fish he had to the Terror who swallowed it gratefully. Brooklyn suddenly felt a purple Terror nudge him, squeaking, staring at his chicken. Sighing, giving a little smile, Brooklyn threw his chicken over which the Terror gratefully ate.
Then to Brooklyn's surprise the Terror began to snuggle in his lap while the green one curled up by Hiccup, both purring like cats. Brooklyn stroked the Terror, gazing at his friend as they both came to the same conclusion; dragons weren't the violent beasts they thought they were. Just like gargoyles... Brook thought, wondering what the future for him here with Voltwing was going to bring now.