Defying The Rules

Picking their dragons

          Hiccup watched the dragon as it approached him. The scrawny boy then started slowly stepping back. The Monstrous Nightmare followed Hiccup, it's nose only a few inches away from his hand.

          Snotlout seemed to be getting nervous. His face had worry written all over it, and he looked around warily. He finally bent down and picked up a sharp piece of wood that was laying on the ground to defend himself.

          Thalos was about to do something, but Astrid hit Snotlout's arm and shook her head. Snotlout doubtfully set the wood back down on the ground. He fiddled with his hands as Hiccup got closer.

          Hiccup and the red dragon did not stop staring at each other. Hiccup continued stepping backwards, the dragon slowly following. Pretty soon, Hiccup stopped beside Snotlout.

          Not removing his eyes from the dragon, Hiccup reached for Snotlout's hand. Snotlout quickly ripped his hand out of Hiccup's grip. The Viking was nervous enough, just imagine how nervous he became when Hiccup grabbed his hand.

          "Wait! What are you—"

          "Relax. It's okay... it's okay." Hiccup said softly, cutting Snotlout off as he grabbed for his hand again.

          Snotlout moved his hand nervously, giving off a slight whine in concern. He wasn't thinking this was a good idea, at all. He bit his lip and closed his eyes, turning his head away.

          Hiccup soon placed Snotlout's hand on the dragon's snout and let go. The scared Viking flinched when his hand touched the dragon, but when he looked at it, a kind of grin crossed his face.

          He started to awkwardly laugh. Hiccup walked to the other dragon pens. Snotlout's face filled with panic.

          "Wait, where are you going?" He asked in a stressed tone.

          Hiccup opened the other dragon pens and trained the rest of the dragons fairly easily. This only took about five minutes. He then walked over to a wooden box of supplies. He grabbed some rope and spoke.

          "You're going to need something to help you hold on." He handed them each a rope.

          The teens looked at each other, slightly in doubt at Hiccup's plan. Hiccup led each of them over to a dragon. He led Astrid to the Deadly Nadder, Snotlout to the Monstrous Nightmare, Fishlegs to the Gronckle, Ruffnut to one Hideous Zippleback head, and Tuffnut to the other head.

          Thalos stood there and watched. Was Hiccup seriously planning on having EVERYONE ride a dragon? This was a plan that was screaming for disaster. He wasn't sure this was the best thing to do.

          Hiccup helped them all put ropes on their dragons and helped them gain the animals' trust. He then turned to Thalos and gave him the look of "you're next." Thalos scratched the back of his neck. He had gotten used to flying a little bit, but that didn't mean he wanted to get on again.

          Hiccup handed him a rope. "You've got your own dragon to ride." He said, walking over to Starclaw and petting his nose. "Come on, Thalos. You have already flown. It can't be that bad now."

          Thalos walked over to Starclaw and tied the rope around his neck. He made sure to keep it loose. The dragon didn't seem to mind it much, and that was a good thing. Thalos got onto Starclaw's neck and gripped the rope.

          Hiccup walked back over to the rest of the teens and helped them up on their dragons. All of them were pretty much hyped to ride a dragon. Fishlegs was horrified, and Snotlout was a bit nervous, but other than that, they were excited.

          "Make sure you and your dragons are calm." Hiccup said. "Once you both are calm, you can get on, but do it slowly and carefully."

          Astrid did as Hiccup instructed, and once her dragon was calm, she climbed on. "This feels really weird." She said, looking around her and watching her dragon carefully.

          Snotlout did as he was told as well. He was still pretty nervous, but luckily, his dragon was fairly calm. He held one of the Monstrous Nightmare's horns with one hand and held the rope with his other.

          The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut completely disregarded Hiccup's advice and just jumped onto their dragon. They each jumped on a head. This startled the two-headed dragon and the animal raised its heads quickly, roaring a bit in alarm. They swung their heads and the twins went flying off.

          They both hit the ground and groaned. Hiccup pulled them back up and walked them back to the dragon. He shook his head.

          "Wait till the dragon is calm and ready. Don't just jump on."

          "That was awesome!" Tuffnut exclaimed. "Let's do it again!"

          Hiccup sighed. "Just get in the dragon." He begged. "Do you not realize that the entire tribe is at stake?"

          Thalos got off of  Starclaw and walked over to Fishlegs. He decided he would try to help out since Hiccup was busy with the twins.

          The chunky Viking was horrified. The dragon he was supposed to ride was fairly calm, but Fishlegs was the one who wasn't calm. He was whining and giving off high pitched sounds. He held his arms close to his body and didn't remove his eyes from the dragon.

          "Relax, Fishlegs." Thalos said. If he was honest, he himself wasn't so trusting of all these dragons. Starclaw was one thing, but these dragons were different.

          "Relax? W-what are you talking about? I-I'm completely r-relaxed.." Fishlegs replied nervously. "I'm n-not nervous."

          Thalos sighed and put his hands on Fishlegs's shoulders. "Take a deep breath and breathe. If the dragon was going to eat you, wouldn't it have done it by now?"

          "I-I suppose so..."

          "You will be okay." Thalos said, partly convincing himself as well. "If anything happens, I'll be right here, and I'll keep you safe."

          Fishlegs looked at him with a disbelieving look, but he took a deep breath. When he felt he was as calm as was possible in the moment, he climbed onto the dragon. He squealed and gripped the dragon's ears.

          "See? Not so bad." Thalos said, the dragon looked calm, so that was good. He walked back over to his dragon and climbed back on.

          "Is everyone comfortable?" Hiccup asked, looking at everybody.

          "As comfortable as anyone can be on a fire-breathing reptile." Snotlout answered.

           "What are we doing now, Hiccup?" Astrid asked, holding onto the rope around her dragon's neck.

          "Now, we fly." He answered.

          "Yeah! I have always wanted to fly!" Tuffnut shouted in excitement.

          "Me too. I have also always wanted to see Tuffnut fall. That would be funny." Tuffnut added.

          Hiccup shook his head. "Pay attention, and don't get distracted. We don't exactly have time for you to have flying lessons. Hold on tight."no