How To Train Your Dragon: Scars

The Storm

Toothless flew fast through the air. Hiccup held his eye; the pain was beginning to dying down and the bleeding had stopped a while ago. A distant thunder caught his attention. Hiccup glanced back to see a massive thunderstorm rolling its way across the sky. "Looks like that storm is heading right for Berk," Hiccup guessed," And it looks pretty bad too."

'I'm not fond of thunder or lightning,' Toothless admitted, 'How's the eye?'

"Doing better," Hiccup closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Are you sure that we need to go to a village?"

'Yes!' Toothless almost shouted, 'That dragon hit you pretty hard. It could get infected and you could die. I don't want that.'

"Well, we can't go to the Berserkers, the Outcasts, or the Meadheads," Hiccup thought out loud," They're gonna know that something is up if I randomly show up without a boat."

'It doesn't have to be a viking village,' Toothless asked.

"Wait...are you suggesting that we leave the Archipelago?" the thought never crossed Hiccup's mind.

'I don't know how big it really is,' Toothless explained, 'but there might be a non-viking village somewhere.'

"I dunno," The thought of leaving the entire Archipelago made Hiccup feel uneasy. He was fine with leaving Berk, but this...he unsure about it. He leaned over and looked at his reflection on the waters surface. The wound seemed to be healing on its own. Hiccup sighed," First off, how will you know when we're out of the Archipelago? And secondly, even if we do leave...who's to say that they're not vikings too?"

'We'll just have to pray that they're not,' Toothless took a deep breath,' And...I...just know.'

"How?"

'I...just do...'

"Well, when we do find a village let's wait 'til nightfall," Hiccup said as he gazed back at the distant angry storm.

O

It was nightfall. Hiccup and Toothless had left the boundaries of the Archipelago hours ago but didn't find a new village-or any human civilization! They had been flying for two days now and it seemed as if that storm that was heading for Berk was now following them. Low thunder rumbled almost directly above them. Toothless started at the blackening sky; a small hint of fear rising up. Lightning made him feel uneasy. Why? He knew why. Her...should...should I tell Hiccup about Her? Toothless debated on the thought. He settled on not saying anything. It wasn't important. What was important was that he wanted to get as far from this storm as he could.

'Hiccup...' Toothless turned towards his human friend but kept his eyes on the storm,' Uh...find any food?'

Hiccup, who was sitting on the ground and facing away from Toothless, checked over the few fruit that he had. Angrily, he chucked an apple and it landed yards away. "All this rotten," He sighed," What kind of non inhabitable island has rotten food!?"

Toothless walked up to him; forgetting about the storm,' Dunno...drought?'

"Lets just go," Hiccup stood up and stretched before climbing onto his dragon," Lets far from this storm."

'I second that motion,' Toothless took no time and shot straight up. He did a mid-air flip just before he touched the grey clouds and flew as fast as he could.

"Why are you so scared of storms Toothless?" Hiccup asked.

'Uh...I just am.'

"But...there's always a reason." Hiccup couldn't understand why a dragon like Toothless would be scared of a little thunder and lightning. Then again...Thor was the God of it. "Nevermind," Hiccup decided that it wasn't important.

O

Hiccup and Toothless were still flying when the storm had caught up to them. It let loose on them; as if it had some grudge against the two that it wanted to be settled. "Ugh...I can't see a thing!" Hiccup screamed over the roaring wind as he shielded his eyes, "Can you!?"

'Barely!' The black dragon couldn't tell what was sky and what was ocean. A low grumble traveled up his throat and he let it. A high pitched, purple light raced quickly from them.

"Who who...what was that?" Hiccup stared at his dragon.

'It's Echolocation.' Toothless explained.

"Echo-what!?"

'Echoloc-' Toothless was cut off when a sudden lightning strike zapped his fake tail fin. They plunged into the raging ocean; Hiccup swam up to the surface. "Toothless!?" He scanned every which way. But there was no sign of his dragon. Hiccup took a big breath and dove back underwater, his visibility was limited.

'Hicc...up!'

Hiccup turned to his left and saw Toothless struggling to swim. All of his limbs-both wings and legs-were flapping wildly. Hiccup swam over to his friend. He grabbed Toothless' saddle and pulled as hard as he could. Suddenly he started to feel light headed, Hiccup needed air. But he has to save Toothless. Without this second tail fin he couldn't fly or swim. They both managed to breach the surface. Hiccup coughed and gagged. The salty water stung in his wound. He held onto the strapped around Toothless' throat. His feet kicked furiously and he used all of his arm strength to keep Toothless' head above water.

'Hiccup,' Toothless coughed,'the lightning...it zapped my connection rod! I-I can't fly!' The dragon's front paws slapped the water and his hind legs kicked.

Hiccup's heart pounded hard. His breathing danced between coughing and sucking in as much air as he could. This can't be it! This can't be it! Then his arms began to shake, he was getting tired. Slowly his head started the dip below the surface. And everything faded into black.

O

"Hey...hey boy...can you hear me?"

Hiccup groaned. His head ached-actually, his whole body ached. Hiccup slowly opened his eyes. Pain shot through his left one. As his vision cleared he saw a man staring back at him. "Uhh...where...where am I?" Hiccup shook his head. Once he got his barrings, Hiccup realized that he was in a cage.