Chapter 11

"So, you're saying that we can teach you how we fight in any way, shape, or form," Belch said, "and you wouldn't be mad about it?" 

"Yes, of course," Hiccup said, sitting before his Flight in his dragon form.

"Great, sounds amazing," Barf responded, smirking.

Mischievous glances passed between the dragons, except for Toothless, who gave Hiccup a concerned look.

"Are you sure that that is wise, Hiccup?" Toothless asked him carefully.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Hiccup asked confusedly. 

"I just don't think you'd want anything to get out of hand is all," Toothless said. 

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine." 

* * *

It did not indeed, turn out fine. 

Hiccup groaned as he plopped down in front of Toothless, who was the last one that needed to give him a fighting lesson. The problem with that, though, was that Hiccup wasn't sure that the other dragons had actually given him what could be called fighting lessons.

Meatlug had had him using his body in very painful ways, such as banging his tail against trees to knock them down, and flying full speed into boulders to move them. 

"My most powerful attribute is my strength," she had explained, but frowned when she saw him licking his aching tail. "But maybe it's not as important for Moon Sweepers." 

On the other hand, Sharpshot had him practicing his shooting accuracy. At first, it hadn't seemed very hard, as it came pretty naturally to him, but then the Singeing Singer began pushing his shot limit, not letting him have a rest between shooting plasma blast after plasma blast. 

"Can't I have a break for my gas to recharge?" Hiccup had asked after shooting 23 shots in a row, his throat hoarse.

"You don't get time to recharge in a fight," Sharpshot had responded matter-of-factly. "Now give me five more!" 

Then there was Barf and Belch, who literally just chased him across the island, doing their very best to catch him in one of their explosions. 

"Come on, you can get away from us faster than that!" both heads had yelled at him as they chased him around the mountain. 

Hookfang seemed to have a similar tactic to the Vapor Spark, setting himself on fire and chasing Hiccup through the trees, leaving smoldering foliage in his wake. 

"Come on, Captain," Hookfang had yelled at him tauntingly as they zoomed between the trees. "Dragons aren't afraid of fire, especially Dragonborn like you!"

Hiccup wasn't quite sure that the Blaze Builder's statement was true, seeing as he had spent most of his life as a human and could be burned by fire. 

But then it was Stormfly's turn, and just when Hiccup was hoping that she would be the first one to actually teach him something useful, she had him practicing his reflexes by trying to avoid her spines as she shot them at him relentlessly. 

"You always have to be on your toes in battle," she had explained to Hiccup, but she seemed to forget that her spines were venomous and could probably kill him. 

"Please tell me that you actually have something useful to teach me," Hiccup begged Toothless.

Toothless chuckled, "I tried to warn you." 

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," Hiccup grumbled as he forced himself to his feet. 

"Okay, let's start with battle stance," Toothless said.

Immediately, Toothless's body snapped into position, his legs wide and crouched, his ears pinned to his head, and his wings held tensely above his body. Hiccup flinched slightly when Toothless bared his teeth at him, letting out a growl. 

"Now you try," Toothless said. 

Hiccup studied the other Moon Sweepers position for a moment, before slowly trying to copy it. He bent his legs, widened his stance, held his wings loosely above him, and flattened his ears to his head. All in all, the position felt far from natural. 

Toothless hummed, "You're not tense enough. And you don't look very ready to fight. Or menacing at all for that matter." 

"Gee, thanks," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes but trying to follow Toothless's instructions. 

Still, Toothless didn't look very satisfied with Hiccup's stance, but apparently decided that it was good enough. 

"Now is when we start to circle each other," Toothless said, and started nimbly moving around Hiccup, like a panther before pouncing on its prey.

"Okay," Hiccup said uneasily, and then began to follow the other Moon Sweeper's motions, far less gracefully at that. 

"Now, usually dragons learn how to fight by play-fighting with their hatchmates, so I'm not entirely sure how to go about this," Toothless said. "But I think that it would be best to just see how much you know how to do instinctively."

"Okay," Hiccup said uneasily, "how do we do that?" 

Instead of answering, Toothless pounced forward before Hiccup could react, and batted him across the face. Hiccup stumbled, shocked at his brother's actions.

"Get back in the circle," Toothless growled. "If a dragon is able to get you out of your fighting position, you're dead."

Hiccup dumbly nodded and scrambled to find his footing again. Once he was safely circling with Toothless again, he let himself observe the other dragon's movements more closely, not wanting to get caught off guard again. 

Thankfully, his efforts paid off when Toothless moved to pounce again, and he was narrowly able to dodge the blow. 

Toothless nodded approvingly, "Good, now you have to try to hit me." 

Feeling slightly queasy, Hiccup nodded back. After a moment of observing Toothless's movements again, he tried to copy the move the other dragon had performed earlier, pouncing towards him and swinging at his maw. Predictably, Toothless dodged it easily. 

But before Hiccup could move back into position, Toothless grabbed his still extended front leg with his jaws. In one swift and practiced motion, Toothless pulled Hiccup's leg downwards before letting go of it and slamming his head to the ground with his front paws, effectively pinning him to the cold dirt. 

After a moment of stunned silence, Hiccup let out an annoyed whine, "Oh, come on. I thought you would be less painful and more helpful." 

"Sorry, Hiccup," Toothless said unapologetically and he released Hiccup. "But everything about fighting is painful." 

"Yeah, I think I've learned that too well today," Hiccup muttered. 

"Let's try again," Toothless said, and Hiccup groaned as they moved back into their circling movements. 

Until the sun was at its zenith, Hiccup miserably lost to Toothless over and over again in different dumb and annoying ways, all of which left Hiccup bruised and Toothless exasperated. 

"Well, we should probably get started on the competition now," Toothless said as he unpinned Hiccup for the twenty seventh time. Yeah, Hiccup counted. It was incredibly pathetic. 

"Good idea," Hiccup said, glad his pain was over. "We need to get it done before sunset. We'll miss Johann's ship if we don't." 

Toothless nodded in agreement, and the two launched into the air, heading back to the cave. 

"You okay there, Captain?" Sharpshot laughed as Hiccup limped in. 

"Oh, yeah," Hiccup winced, "just peachy." 

The dragons looked at him confusedly.

Hiccup sighed, "Don't worry about it. Let's just start the competition." 

With the other dragons roaring with excitement, Hiccup grabbed his hurriedly made sundial before leading his Flight out of the cave and to the top of the mountain, where they all stood waiting for his command. 

"So, at first I thought we would do the fighting competition first, and the flying second," Hiccup said, "but I am now realizing that it would be best to do the flying when none of us are hurt from the spars." 

"Sure, yeah, you're definitely worried about our wounds," Barf snickered. 

Hiccup glared at the Vapor Spark, who gave him two mischievous smirks. 

"So," Toothless interjected, "who's going to go first?" 

"Well, I thought that we could either go from dragons with the least amount of magic to the most, or the other way around," Hiccup said.

"Definitely least to most," Sharpshot said. "It's how most competitions work." 

Hiccup gave him a surprised look, "How often do you guys have competitions?"

"Oh, all the time," the small dragon responded. "We hold them for Celebrations, to determine new Leaders, to resolve quarrels, or even just for entertainment." 

"Interesting," Hiccup said. "And to think, humans think you're all mindless beasts." 

Toothless snorted, "Yeah, definitely interesting." 

"So, Meatlug," Hiccup said, turning to the dragon, "you're first?"

"Yes," the Lava Grubber sighed. "So where am I supposed to fly?" 

Hiccup turned to observe the landscape before him, and began mapping out a route in his brain. 

Shifting into his half dragon form, Hiccup began pointing at the course he had in mind,"You'll start by diving down alongside the waterfall, and then weave between those trees until you reach the ocean. Once you get there, you'll zoom across the water until you reach that large sea stack. Then, circle around the sea stack, and fly back down the ocean to the trees, weaving through the same trees as you did before. When you get to the mountain, you'll have to get back to the top by spiraling around it, making sure to go over those five different boulders." Hiccup pointed at the five large rocks he had spotted, so that all of the dragons would have to perform the same amount of spirals. 

"Okay," Meatlug said, "tell me when to start." 

Hiccup nodded, and turned to the sundial, "Go on three. One, two, three, go!"

Then Meatlug took her lift off, flying through the course at a relatively slow pace and making it back in five minutes. 

After Meatlug, Sharpshot got through the course at two and a half minutes, surprising Hiccup that such a small dragon could be so speedy. 

Then Barf and Belch went, losing a bit of time by setting off a couple of explosions, but still getting back in three minutes. 

Hookfang went next, flying through the course in two minutes, and after bragging about how amazing he was to have the lowest time, Stormfly tied his score, leaving smoke billowing out of the Blaze Builder's nostrils. 

"Okay, Toothless," Hiccup said, "you're up next."

Toothless smirked, smugly stretching out his wings before stepping up to the starting line, "Count me off, Captain." 

Hiccup rolled his eyes at the other Moon Sweeper's show, "Okay, one, two, three, go!" 

In a flash of black scales, Toothless launched himself down the mountain, leaving the other dragon's mouths agape. The Moon Sweeper whistle filled the air as he dove, and Hiccup heard the other dragons gasp as he pulled out of his steep dive just feet above the ground. Toothless weaved through the trees with practiced grace, and as he began shooting down the ocean, he left water spraying in his wake. Then without even slowing down, Toothless zoomed around the sea stack, and shot back down the ocean. After flying through his previous path, Toothless started spiraling up the mountain, practically brushing the marker boulders with his wings. 

Toothless skidded to a stop at the top of the mountain, and Hiccup marked his time. 

"So, how'd I do?" Toothless asked, not even out of breath.

"A minute and a half," Hiccup announced. 

"Wow," Hookfang said, begrudging admiration in his eyes. "Those stories really weren't kidding when they said that Moon Sweepers were fast." 

Hiccup chuckled, and shifted into his dragon form, "Toothless, I'm going to need you to time me this time."

Toothless gave him a confused look, "How do I do that?" 

"Here," Hiccup said, walking over to he sundial to demonstrate, "all you have to do is mark where the shadow is with your claw when I take off, and then mark where it is when I get back. I can do the calculations from there." Sundials weren't completely accurate, as the sun doesn't move that much in just minutes, but it gets the relative time.

"Sure, I guess I can do that," Toothless assented. 

"Great," Hiccup said, raising his wings and stepping up to the starting line, "count me off." 

"One, two, three, go!" 

Hiccup bolted, tasting the spray of the waterfall as he zoomed down the mountain, his whistle vibrating underneath his wings. Sighing contentedly, he pulled out of his dive and twisted and turned around tree after tree, sometimes doing barrel rolls to fly through the branches. When he reached the water, he let out a roar of excitement, and let his wings and tail fins widen. He breathed in the smell of the air as the ocean sprayed up at him, his speed leaving a wake in the water. There was no better feeling than freedom, and flying was freedom. 

Then he whirled around the sea stack, practically parallel with the stone as he tightly turned. Bolting down the ocean again, he flapped his wings harder, now riding the ocean breeze to speed himself up. Relishing in the speed, Hiccup weaved in and out of the trees once more, and then started spiraling up the mountain. He marked his ascent boulder after boulder, pushing himself to go faster and faster as he got higher and higher, before he finally skidded to a stop at the top. 

His eyes warm with giddy light, Hiccup turned to the dragons in his Flight, who were all looking at him with wide eyes and mouths agape. 

"Hiccup, I don't think I've ever seen you fly that fast," Toothless said, admiration clear in his eyes. 

"Yeah, who taught you how to do that?" Barf asked.

Hiccup shrugged, "It's always come naturally to me." 

Hookfang scoffed, "Oh, so you can fly better than any dragon here who has flown their whole lives without any problem, but you can't hold your own in a fight." Hiccup ignored the Blaze Builder's comment, earning a disapproving look from Toothless. 

Not caring why the other Moon Sweeper did like his response, Hiccup turned to see the marks Toothless had made on the sundial. Hiccup blinked at the marks, not quite believing his eyes. 

"I flew the course in a minute," Hiccup announced, unbelieving his own words.

"Yeah, I thought you flew faster than Toothless," Stormfly said thoughtfully, and Hiccup was surprised at how quickly the other dragons accepted the results. 

"Okay, so Hiccup came in first," Toothless recapped, "I'm second, Stormfly and Hookfang tie for third, Sharpshot is fourth, Barf and Belch are fifth, and Meatlug is sixth." 

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Hiccup said, filing away the results in his head. 

"Great, so now it's time for the fighting," Toothless said, and Hiccup winced slightly at the violent grins that were passed between the dragons. 

"We'll start with Meatlug and Sharpshot," Hiccup said, and directed the two dragons to hover above a large tree in the middle of the island. 

"Begin on my command," Hiccup said, and watched the two dragons tense. "Three, two, one, fight!" 

Meatlug shot a blast of lava at Sharpshot, who quickly flew out of the way. Then Meatlug began to chase the smaller dragon around the island, Sharpshot swiftly dodging all of her lava shots. Sharpshot then dove down into the tree line, landing on the ground and turning to face the Lava Grubber head on. 

The two dragons began circling, their snarls filling the air around them, and then Meatlug lunged forward, batting the Singeing Singer across the face before he could move away. But before Meatlug could move back, Sharpshot launched himself at the Lava Grubber's face, scratching her across the nose and shooting his hot fire into her eye. Letting out an enraged roar, Meatlug whipped her head towards he ground, sending the small dragon flying across the grass. 

Before Sharpshot could get back up, Meatlug pounced on Sharpshot, pinning him to the ground. 

"Yield," Meatlug snarled. 

"Alright, I yield," Sharpshot grumbled

Hiccup marked down Meatlug as the winner between her and Sharpshot in his notebook, and called up Barf and Belch and Hookfang. Surprising absolutely no one, Hookfang beat the Vapor Spark after the two heads had throughly exploded various parts of the island. 

Then Stormfly and Toothless went up against each other, and the two had fought swift and smart, Hiccup barely able to follow their movements before Toothless pinned Stormfly to the ground. 

"Okay," Hiccup sighed, ready to completely humiliate himself in front of his Flight, "Since I still haven't fought anybody yet, are there any volunteers who would like to?" 

Toothless looked at him concernedly, "Are you sure that you want someone to volunteer to fight you? Would't it be better to fight Meatlug, since she's the lowest magic ranking winner and you've never fought anyone before?" 

"Well, that's not fair to Meatlug," Hiccup said, "only those who volunteer should have to fight twice in one round." 

Then before Toothless could protest anymore, Hookfang stepped up. 

"I'd be happy to spar with you, Captain," the Blaze Builder said, a sinister smile on his face. 

Hiccup gulped, immediately regretting his decision to let any volunteer fight with him, but knew that he couldn't overrule his decision now. 

"Sure, Hookfang," Hiccup said, unconvincing confidence in his voice. "That'd be great." 

Flying up to the large tree, Hookfang and Hiccup hovered before each other, Hookfang looking bloodthirsty and Toothless looking nervous as he began to count them off.

"Three, two, one, fight!" 

Hookfang launched himself towards Hiccup, not even letting him have a moment to strategize. Now realizing how awful of an idea it had been, Hiccup shot upwards, narrowly missing Hookfang's horns by inches. Not deterred, Hookfang whirled back towards Hiccup, and let loose a billowing stream of fire. 

Yelping, Hiccup flew out of the way, and started climbing higher into the sky. Hiccup hadn't seen any of the other dragons fly higher into the sky to fight, and instead chose to fight on the ground, so he thought it would be a good way to throw the Blaze Builder off. Thankfully, his tactic worked, as Hiccup saw the confusion in Hookfangs eyes before the Blaze builder flew upwards to follow Hiccup. 

Hiccup wasn't entirely sure what exactly he was doing, but he knew that since he was lacking in the fighting department, he could use his wits instead. And as he climbed higher and higher, he smiled slightly when he noticed the dense white clouds meandering through the sky. Hiccup could remember something Toothless had offhandedly mentioned to him while they were still on Berk, something about Moon Sweepers having echolocation, since they often inhabited caves and never even came out during the day, and a plan began to formulate in his head.

Diving into the wispy clouds, Hiccup tried to remember if Toothless had actually explained echolocation to him, and how he could use it. But unfortunately, his mind came up empty. Nevertheless, he continued to fly through the clouds, turning back to see if Hookfang followed him. Surely enough, Hiccup heard a confused and angry growl somewhere in the clouds, and waited for a moment to arise. 

"Come on, Captain!" Hookfang roared into the clouds, "Don't be a coward!" 

Hiccup felt his eyes narrow in response, and he felt as a weird sensation began in the back of his throat. It wasn't quite a snarl, but it didn't feel like a plasma blast. But because of the reckless Dragonborn he was, he let the sensation build, until he released it into the clouds. A strange high pitch noise greeted his ears, and he felt his ear flaps stand on end when the sound seemed to fly back at him, and it was like he could see the outline of Hookfang in his minds eye. 

"I cannot believe that worked," Hiccup muttered under his breath, and gave his wings a mighty flap. Swift as a tiger, Hiccup dove towards Hookfang, hitting him between the wings with a powerful plasma blast. 

Hookfang roared out in pain as Hiccup zipped past him, whirling around to try and catch Hiccup. But Hiccup was too quick, and he quickly let out his high pitched scream again, easily locating Hookfang and blasting him again. Over and over Hiccup blasted the Blaze Builder, suddenly glad that Sharpshot had pushed his shot limit so hard. 

In a raging shower of fire, Hookfang wildly blasted the clouds around him, before finally spotting Hiccup and charging. Now filled with confidence, Hiccup dove out of the clouds, plummeting towards the ground. The Moon Sweeper whistle filled the air as Hiccup cut through the air, Hookfang roaring madly and diving down after him. Closer and closer they approached the ground, until at the last second Hiccup pulled out of his dive, flicking down his tail and soaring back upwards.

But Hookfang wasn't quite as lucky, as before he could even process what was happening, he slammed into the ground. Hiccup backflipped in the air, diving down once more to where the Blaze Buider was laying on the ground, dazed. Using the technique he had seen the other dragons use, Hiccup slammed into Hookfangs body, pinning him down to the ground. 

"Yield," Hiccup snarled, sounding far more menacing than he had ever dreamed possible.

"Alright, alright," Hookfang said, seemingly in shock. "I yield." 

Hiccup carefully stepped off of the Blaze Builder, before helping him stumble to his feet. He would have apologized for hurting him so badly, but he didn't think that Hookfang would appreciate it. 

Toothless and the other dragons flew over to where they were, all of them looking at him in awe.

"That was amazing," Barf said.

"Yeah, all of those explosions were awesome," Belch exclaimed. 

"How did you know how to do that, Hiccup?" Toothless asked him, "I don't think I ever taught you how to use echolocation." 

"You didn't," Hiccup said bluntly, holding his head high, "but you did tell me about it. All I had to do was to figure out how to do it." 

"Well, it certainly was a magnificent fight," Stormfly said, nodding her head approvingly.

"Yeah," Hookfang said, seeming to be out of his stupor. "Your an alright fighter, Captain." 

Hiccup smiled, "Thanks Hookfang." He looked to the other dragons, "Now let's get this competition finished."