The Friendship

Chapter One | An Early Night Flight

~HICCUP~

Thump! Thump! Thump! I woke up, feeling quite refreshed after sleeping mostly the whole day, only getting up from my deep slumber when my stomach started growling as loud as a dragon. Thump! Thump! Thump! Toothless was banging his tail against the roof, demanding a flight now that it was dusk. He had waited the whole day for a flight so I—his rider—could get some rest from my chiefly duties.

Berk was still under repair after Drago and his Bewilderbeast ripped the village apart with the dragon's icy breath. I had hardly had even six hours of sleep each night, but thankfully my girlfriend Astrid took the pressure off my shoulders for the day so I was able to rest up. The dragons were there to help with the reconstruction, but rebuilding most of the village was still a tedious process. In the meantime, the villagers whose homes were destroyed were taking shelter in the Great Hall.

Toothless poked his head through my window, motioning with his head for me to hurry. I pushed the covers off of myself, stretching my arms and attempting to pat down my bed head. Covering the walls of my room were diagrams, sketches, and all sorts of measurements of new ideas for inventions that had yet to become the final plans. Across the room was a wooden platform to serve as a bed for Toothless. Quickly I put my flight suit on, shoving my only foot into my right boot. Like a night owl, I swiftly and silently left the house, careful not to wake up my mother, Valka. "I'm up, I'm up!" I shouted in a whisper, catching the Night Fury's attention while trying not to wake the house's new resident, who had recently settled into bed.

"Finally! I was banging on the roof for seven minutes! What took you so long?" Toothless complained, hopping off the roof onto the icy ground.

"I needed to get dressed, unlike you. I don't just roll out of bed this way you know," I retorted, hoisting myself onto my sleek, ebony dragon and best friend. "And try not to wake up all of Berk next time, will you?" I added as an afterthought.

~ ~ ~

Some may wonder how I am able to speak to Toothless. The answer is simple: I can speak Dragonese. I'd tried to teach the tricky language to the other Riders, but all they heard was squawks, growls, roars, and what one can only describe as a dragon purr. I gave up, because it seemed only your dragon can teach you his or her complicated tongue, just like Toothless had taught me during the time we became acquainted with one another. I often don't speak in Dragonese, since dragons, being such intelligent creatures, understand Norse, only their vocal cords don't allow them to speak it themselves.

~ ~ ~

Toothless and I took off just as the sun dipped down behind the horizon. When I was up there, I didn't even feel the cold; I just felt ... free. "Time for a few tricks, bud?" I asked Toothless, who gave a slight toothless grin in response. "Let's go!"

Clicking Toothless' tail into position two, we dived down, heading straight down to the ocean below. The drop was so fast, my eyes started to water under my helmet, and I could only assume Toothless' bright yellow-green ones did as well. It was only a few hundred metres until we would smack into the angry water. Fifty metres ... forty metres ... thirty ... twenty ... ten ... WHOOSH! As one, the two of us pulled out of the dive, the Night Fury's prosthetic tail skimming the ocean. We had switched directions so fast that if I hadn't held on to Toothless so tightly I would have fallen off from the speed. A roar of delight came from Toothless as I shouted. "Yeah baby!" We fell and rose in the wind, spinning through the air, not having a care in the world.

It was as if the last five years had never happened. I wasn't Hiccup the Horrendous Haddock III, son of the late Stoick the Vast and new chief of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe. I was Hiccup, the scrawny boy who brought peace between Berkians and dragons, who befriended a Night Fury. I was Hiccup, the first known Dragon Rider.

High in the sky, we flew, soaring through the slight breeze. I could feel Toothless' powerful wings beat on either side of me.

"Want to try it again?" I asked my scaly friend.

"Ready when you are," Toothless replied, sounding more sure about their actions this time.

Once we had mastered the trick during the battle against Drago and his Alpha, there was no more risk in these attempts. Or, very little. I lifted myself from being parallel to Toothless, pulled the lever which locked up his tail, and slid sideways without hesitation off of Berk's only known Night Fury. I screamed in delight, dropping head first towards the black waters beneath. Toothless swiftly followed, mimicking me so we faced each other. "Woohoo!" I was ecstatic. There was no better feeling than flying with my best friend. Toothless returned my gaze, smiling toothlessly at me, his forked tongue flapping in the wind, and pawed me with his claw, spinning me slightly.

It was time to fly. I stuck my fists through the loops on my legs, pulling out my very own set of wings. Soon after, I pushed the button releasing the fin similar to a dragon's on my back. I looked back, and there was Toothless, following a few metres behind me. "This is amazing!" I exclaimed as Toothless shot plasma blasts below me so I would gain some height.

"For a Viking, you sure love to fly," the great reptile observed.

"For a Viking, the sky's the limit," I responded.

Starting to lose altitude, Toothless caught me, using the spikes protruding from his back to make those tight turns. Neither of us had noticed it earlier, but storm clouds were rolling in. Tonight, Thor was angry. "Let's get out of here, bud, before this storm gets too close."

"Not going to argue with you there," my flying partner voiced. We turned to head back for the night, but the wind carrying the dark clouds was faster than we were. Toothless could only go so fast for so long; he couldn't go on at the speed he was at forever. Soon the starry night was concealed by the dense water vapour.

Neither of us was comfortable in the sky any longer. "Can you go any faster?" I asked, trying not to put any pressure on my friend as hard raindrops came pelting down at us.

"Not possible," Toothless replied in the same worried tone that I spoke in. "Even if I fly at my maximum speed, it will hardly get us out of this storm and only tire me out."

"Okay, bud, just keep on going."

Crack! A bolt of lightning struck dangerously close to Toothless and I, and a massive roar of thunder soon sounded. Crack! It was even closer now, and again, a boom of thunder followed. Crack! The lightning struck us. No sound followed.

~ ~ ~

Hi everyone! It's DragonMaster1908 obviously. I'm just letting you know that I'll try to write a chapter every week or so. I'm not sure if that's too much but whenever I have any spare time away from school I'll try to do as much as I can. Please comment if a part of my writing doesn't make sense and feel free to ask any questions relating to it! I want constructive criticism from readers so I can make my writing and story better and so you can enjoy it! Thanks! Remember to comment, vote, and share!