Chapter 11: A New Tail
Later that night, Gobber and the teens were roasting food on the watch tower. "And with one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole! And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious. He must've passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg." Gobber explained, telling the story of how he lost his arm and leg to Dragons. But Hiccup, Hicca and the Styrkarssons hardly paid any attention as they cooked their food. "Isn't weird to think that your hand was in a Dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could've killed the Dragon from inside by…crushing its heart or something." Fishlegs said. "I swear, I'm so angry right now! I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every Dragon I fight. With my face!" Snotlout exclaimed. "Uh-uh. It's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed Dragon is a dead Dragon." Gobber said. That got Hiccup, Hicca and the Styrkarssons to start thinking.
"Alright. I'm off to bed. You should be too. Tomorrow, we get to the big boys. Slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who will have the honor of killing it?" Gobber asked, getting everyone's hopes up. "It's gonna be me! It's my destiny. See?" Tuffnut said, showing an unseen sight. But as they talked, Astrid noticed that Hiccup, Hicca and the Styrkarssons were gone. "Your mom let you get a tattoo?" Fishlegs asked. "It's not a tattoo. It's a birthmark." Tuffnut said. "Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before." Ruffnut said. "Yes, it was. You've just never seen me from the left side before." Tuffnut said. Astrid looked and saw Hiccup, Hicca and the Styrkarssons walking down the watch tower, wondering what they were up to.
Later, in the workshop, Hiccup got his sketch book, opened it to the Night Fury and drew a new fin. Hicca drew up a blueprint for their next latest invention in a few minutes. With help from the Styrkarssons, Hiccup and Hicca heated up a piece of metal in the forge before hammering it into a rod, cooling it down in a bucket of ice water. They then used pliers to pull out metal nuts from a shield, heated them up and hammered them into a rounder shape. They measured them on a scale, connected them with the rod, and applied some leather onto the whole thing. As they finished it, Hiccup held it up in his hands. "You really think this will work?" Hylli asked. "We know it will work." Hiccup said, closing it.
The next morning, Hiccup, Hicca and the Styrkarssons woke up and prepared to head out to the cove. "Hey, Hiccup." Astrid greeted as she walked up to them. "Oh, hey, Astrid." Hiccup said, feeling shy again. "Listen, I wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday about figuring out whose side you're on. That was out of line." Astrid said, feeling bad for what she said. Hiccup, Hicca and the Styrkarssons were surprised by this. Astrid Hofferson, the toughest Viking teen in the whole village, was apologizing to them. "It's okay, Astrid." Hiccup said. "Whatcha got there?" Astrid asked, noticing the invention in Hiccup's arms. "Oh, it's something we've been working on. Anyway, we gotta get going. See you at the arena later." Hiccup said as he, Hicca and the Styrkarssons went off. Astrid watched them leave, wondering what they were up to.
An hour later, they arrived at the cove. "Hey, Toothless. We brought breakfast." Hiccup called as they approached the sleeping Furies, who woke up with big yawns. "Good morning, uh…I never got your name or those of your friends." The Night Fury, whom Hiccup named Toothless, said. "I'm Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. And this is my sister, Hicca, and our 4 friends, Oflugin, Hylli, Blóm and Sál, the Styrkarsson Quadruplets." Hiccup introduced. "Interesting names. But…why call me Toothless? I do have teeth, you know." Toothless said. "Well, I have to call you something. I can't keep calling you Dragon or Night Fury, can I?" Hiccup said. "Guess not. I like it, actually. So, you said you brought breakfast?" Toothless asked. "You bet. We figured you were hungry." Hiccup said as Blóm brought a large case. "Hope you guys are hungry." Hicca said as she kicked the case, spilling its content of fish. "Okay, that's just disgusting." Sál said. "Mmm. What have we here?" Toothless asked as he and his friends sniffed the fish. "Okay, we've got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel." Hiccup said. "Wait, a what?!" Toothless asked in shock as he and the other Furies let out loud growls. Hiccup pulled out the eel from the pile. The Furies roared as they backed away. "Dude, get that thing away from us!" Toothless exclaimed. "No! No, no, no! No! It's okay!" Hiccup assured, tossing the eel away. The Furies sighed in relief. "Thank you. We Dragons aren't exactly fans of eels. They're very poisonous to us." Toothless said. "Yeah, we don't like eel much either." Hiccup said. "Well, dig in, guys." Toothless said as he and the Furies started eating. As they ate, Hiccup, Hicca and the Styrkarssons started sneaking around to Toothless' tail. "That's it. Don't you mind us. We'll just be back here, minding our own business." Hiccup said. "Now let's take a look at that tail." Hicca said. But as they tried to attach the prosthetic, Toothless just kept moving his tail away. "Squirmy little tail, isn't it?" Hylli asked in amusement. As Toothless stuck his head in the basket, Hiccup got on top of the tail and started strapping on the prosthetic. Toothless felt him touching his tail, wondering what he was up to. He moved his tail until he felt something that he hadn't felt in a while, making his eyes widen and his jaw drop.
Hiccup, Hicca and the Styrkarssons tightened the straps on the prosthetic, unaware that Toothless had just spread his wings. "Looks good, Hiccup." Sál said. "It just might-" Hiccup started to say, but then Toothless took off with him still attached to the tail. Hicca and the Styrkarssons were blown back by the force of the takeoff. "Hiccup!" Hicca cried. Hiccup screamed before he heard a flapping noise. The prosthetic wasn't staying open. "Not again!" Toothless exclaimed as he started to fall again. "They're going down!" Oflugin said with worry. The Furies watched with worry for Toothless. Hiccup grabbed the prosthetic and opened it, helping Toothless fly back up. Hicca, the Styrkarssons and the other Furies watched in awe as they flew up. "Oh my…it's working!" Hiccup cheered as he helped Toothless turn. Toothless then dove back down towards the cove and flew over the lake. "Yes! Yes! I did it!" Hiccup cheered. "Huh? Is something on my tail?" Toothless asked, not seeing Hiccup on his tail, thinking it was something else. He whipped Hiccup off his tail, sending him into the lake. "Hiccup!" Hicca cried. "Hey! What's going on?!" Toothless exclaimed, feeling the prosthetic close up again before he fell into the lake. "Are you guys okay?" Hylli called as Hiccup and Toothless surfaced. "YEAH!" Hiccup cheered. "Oh yeah. They're okay." Hicca said, knowing her brother.
Wasn't that exciting?! After listening to Gobber's story about downed Dragons being dead Dragons, Hiccup, Hicca and the Styrkarssons constructed a new tail for Toothless. After a successful test of the new tail fin, Toothless still ended up falling back into the cove's lake. The Haddock Twins and the Styrkarsson Quadruplets still have some work to do. Will they be able to help Toothless get airborne again? Will they uncover more secrets behind Hiccup's powers and the crystal necklace? Leave a review if you want.