Venomous Veins

Chapter 6

"You have to admit that he's not so bad," Toothless pointed out, nudging Venom, reminding his seventeen-year-old brother of how angry he'd been when the boy had found them in the cove. Toothless waved his tail in front of his own face, checking out the artificial fin. "It's close to the real thing, but I need help to make it work apparently." Toothless frowned, remembering how he fell into the lake when there was no one to help keep the prosthetic open.

Venom held up his paws with a grin on his face. "Okay, okay, I will admit, I was wrong about him and he may not be as bad as the other Vikings are."

Toothless perked up one of his ears and extended it towards his older brother. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. I had some water still in my ears. What was that?" he grinned. Venom just rolled his eyes.

"I said he's not as bad as some are. Happy now?" Venom said with some rage in a voice before crossing his front legs. His brother gave him the same toothless grin from before.

"Very much. Thank you for asking." Toothless said.

"Today is about teamwork," Gobber told the teens gathered in the arena as the area filled with green gas. "Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky." The group split up, the girls heading one way, Hiccup and Fishlegs another, and Tuffnut and Snotlout went the other direction as the gas grew thicker, obscuring their vision. "It's your job to find out which is which."

"Razor sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion." Fishlegs muttered out facts about the Zippleback as he stood back to back with Hiccup with a bucket of water in hand. "Prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims in its..."

"Would you stop that?!" Hiccup hissed, turning to face him.

"If that dragon shows either of its faces," stated Snotlout to Tuffnut, "I'm gonna—" He cut off, noticing a large approaching shape through the fog. "There!" The two flung their buckets of water at it.

"Hey!" Astrid's voice snapped.

"It's us, idiots," Ruffnut said as the two girls stepped out of the fog, revealing them both to be soaked.

"Your butts are getting better. We thought you were a dragon," her twin mocked.

Snotlout looked at Astrid, trying to correct Tuffnut's words to make himself look good. "Not that there's anything wrong with a dragon-esque figure—" Astrid threw a punch into Snotlout's jaw, and Ruffnut flung her bucket at her brother.

He fell back a few feet, dizzy from the strike. He then vanished, something dragging him into the green fog. His sister stepped forward to help, hearing her brother's yelps of terror. "Wait," Astrid told her, holding her back. There was nothing but silence and the green gas that surrounded them. Then, something very large swept the girls off their feet.

Tuffnut soon came scrambling out from the fog. "Oh, I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!" he cried, running off.

"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now," said Fishlegs, his voice tight with fear. One Zippleback head emerged from the fog, approaching Fishlegs. He backed up a couple of feet before throwing his water at it. Gas rolled out of its mouth, and Fishlegs realized his mistake. "Oh, wrong head," he whimpered right before it shot gas straight at him.

"Fishlegs!" Gobber called out in concern as the boy ran past Hiccup.

"Five down, one to go!" Gobber shouted.

The other hand was revealed as the smoke cleared up. "Now, Hiccup!" Gobber ordered. Hiccup threw the water up to the dragon's head with all of his might...only for it to fall short and splash onto the ground.

"Oh, come on," Hiccup sighed, disappointed. The dragon bolted towards him, one head flinching with every spark that left its mouth, and Hiccup fell back to the ground.

"Hiccup!" Gobber shouted. The Zippleback leaned toward Hiccup, but when it sniffed him, it drew back. Everyone stared, transfixed as the dragon retreated, Hiccup slowly standing up and holding his hands out, as if controlling it.

"Back, back! Into your cage!" Hiccup ordered, slowly backing the dragons back into their cage. Once it was fully inside, Hiccup reached into his vest, and secretly took out a black and yellow eel. He tossed it in with the Zippleback, sending it back flat against the wall.

As Hiccup shut the large doors, closing in the dragon, he turned to see everyone staring at him. Fishlegs dropped his bucket in his shock.

"Okay! So, are we done? Because I've got something to, uh..." he trailed off as he started to make his way out of the arena. "Yep, see you tomorrow." He ran off, slipping past everyone, who still had shocked looks on their faces.