TAW Tales: How to Train Your Shifters (#1)

~ Chapter 41 ~

Bionic ducked as a blast of purple-blue plasma exploded over his head.

His armored men, realizing that they were facing a dragon which, by the way, was not in their signed contract, were dropping their weapons and scrambling along the hallway on both sides, trying to escape.

Meanwhile, Toothless burst out of the cell, Hiccup riding in the saddle, and flared his massive wings, knocking away a few men who had thrown their contract to the wind and tried to pin him down.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Fang and Max jerked their heads back sharply, tearing their chain leads out of the men's hands. Fang drew his lips back and growled as the man who had been holding his lead tried to yank it back. With a yelp of terror, the man jumped to his feet and ran down after his retreating colleagues.

"Come back, you fools!" Bionic yelled after them. "It's just one fire-spitting dragon with more teeth than a lion! You're all trained experts, you can take him!"

Then he froze as Toothless landed in front of him, lips drawn back in a fierce snarl.

Bionic tentatively looked upwards and Hiccup scowled down at him.

"Actually," Hiccup said smugly, leaning down a little. "He doesn't spit fire. He shoots plasma blasts. Would you like to see?"

"I've seen it enough, thank you!" Bionic yelled, scrambling underneath Toothless' belly.

The dragon seized him by the shoulders.

"What are you doing!? Put me down, you useless reptile!" Bionic screamed as Toothless lifted his head and blasted a hole in the roof.

"Will you guys be okay here?" Hiccup asked Fang and Max as they hounded the last few men down the corridor.

Fang frowned. Yeah. Why, where are you two going?

"To have a little chat to Dr Bionic," Hiccup replied casually.

Then, with Bionic still kicking and screaming in his grip, Toothless spread his wings and shot into the air, through the hole in the roof and out into the brilliant sunshine.

Bionic's shouts and screams where whipped away by the wind as Toothless flew higher and higher, his powerful wings propelling them straight up.

When they broke through the surface of the clouds, Toothless threw Bionic ahead, then caught him again by the shoulders. By now, he was too terrified to even scream or shout. He could only gaze at the landscape below; the beautiful lush rainforests and the sparkling lake over the trees. Oh, and at his lab, which was only a tiny pinprick down below.

Suddenly, he found his voice again.

"Get me down from here!" Bionic yelled at the top of his lungs.

"First, let me show you something," Hiccup told him, gently guiding Toothless higher and higher above the clouds, until they could see the whole city spread out beneath them.

The mountains rose in the distance like large, blue guards, watching over the pretty city below, and the waves of the sea lapped against the shore, sparkling and shimmering in the sunlight.

"You live in an amazing world, Dr Bionic," Hiccup began. "Just look at everything down there below you. Everything you have that I could never have in my own world-"

"Because your world shouldn't exist!" Bionic screamed.

Hiccup looked hopelessly at Toothless, who gave him in return a look that said, can I drop him now?

Hiccup shook his head and tried again.

"All your life, you've been capturing and torturing innocent animals." Despite the peaceful atmosphere, Hiccup could sense the anger building within him. He forced it down. "And for what? For enjoyment? For meaningless study?"

"For power!" Bionic yelled from Toothless' claws. "My power! Stolen from me by the descendants of those beast-loving, no-good-"

"No-good?" Hiccup repeated, surprised at how senseless Bionic was. "They've done so much good, from what I've-"

"You never met them!" shouted Bionic.

"I met one of them," Hiccup shot back, his anger rising even more. "And she was more than you said she was. I know how people are, Bionic, I know enough to be able to judge them. As for you-"

"You hardly know me!" Bionic screamed.

"-I know that you are a cruel, heartless man, not even worthy to call yourself a doctor," Hiccup snapped, his anger finally bubbling over. "You think I shouldn't exist? That I shouldn't be here? What about you? What's your purpose in this world? Why are you here?"

Bionic opened his mouth to reply, but Hiccup cut him off.

"You have amazing talents and gifts," Hiccup went on relentlessly, "But you won't do anything with them. Not like others have. Your gifts are wasted on acts of cruelty and viciousness."

"You're a Viking!" Bionic shrieked, struggling against Toothless' claws (and obviously forgetting about the drop beneath him). "You're brutish and bloodthirsty! You all kill other Vikings all the time, and you used to kill dragons too!"

Toothless gave Hiccup a pleading look, something like, alright, I know you're good at this sort of stuff, but can we just skip to the part where I get to let him go?

Hiccup took a deep breath and leaned over to look at Bionic.

"Do you want to go back now?"

"You fool!" Bionic spat, "I've wanted to go back the minute you flew through my expensive roof!"

Hiccup exchanged a knowing glance with Toothless, then shrugged back at Bionic. "Be careful what you wish for. Toothless, dive!"

Bionic's scream echoed through the hills as Toothless went into a full-on nose-dive, heading straight for the lake.

"Not like this!" Bionic shouted desperately. "Put me down, put me down!"

As they neared the lake, Toothless ducked his head to look at Bionic underneath him. Bionic scowled at him.

"What do you want?" Bionic shrieked. "Put me-!"

Toothless gave Bionic a toothless grin and let go.

Bionic plummeted the last five or so meters, landing with a loud splash into the lake. A family of picnickers, who had been enjoying a nice family picnic by the shore, stared in disbelief as Toothless soared over them.

"Look mummy, it's Toothless!" the little boy cried in delight, pointing upwards.

Toothless flashed another gummy smile, then flew off in the direction of Bionic's lab.

Meanwhile, Bionic's head broke through the surface of the water and he spat out a small fish. He looked up in time to see the boy and dragon flying over the trees.

"I will get your little friends one day!" Bionic shouted after him, treading the water. "Even if it's the last thing I do!"