Chapter 24

"Is this really necessary?" Hiccup asked uneasily, a manic looking Scorcher standing on the edge of a glacier in front of him. 

"Yes," his mother said firmly. 

"Don't worry, Hiccup," the Scorcher drawled, his voice smooth and snake-like. "It will be fine." 

Hiccup looked at the Scorcher skeptically. When his mother had first introduced him to David, he had two questions: 

One, why was his species called Scorchers? Almost every dragon shot fire, so the name seemed lazy. And two, who in the world would name a dragon David? And where would a dragon mother have heard the name?

He found the answer to his first question fairly quickly. When he inquired about his species' name, David responded by flying through the air and shooting fire out of his throat, tail, and even his stomach all at once. And not the kind of fire a Blaze Builder has when they ignite, the destructive kind that could take down entire buildings. 

"It's a very good defense mechanism," David had said after his demonstration, in response to Hiccup's horrified and intrigued look. 

To his name question, David had responded, "It's a family name," and provided no further explanation. 

"Good luck, Hiccup," Toothless said to him, looking at him worriedly. 

"Okay," Hiccup sighed, wincing as he retracted his wings and tail. "Let's get this over with." 

David chuckled manically, making Hiccup seriously reconsider his life choices as he climbed onto the Scorcher's back. 

"Now, you are not to shift," his mother ordered. "If we want to discover your powers, it will need to come from a place of absolute necessity." 

"Great," Hiccup said, finding the Scorcher's back far more uncomfortable than Toothless's. 

"Wonderful," David said with glee, before promptly shooting off the ice. 

Hiccup screamed as the dragon flew this way and that, clinging on for dear life as the Scorcher seemed to be trying to make him fall to the best of his abilities. David laughed in response to his wailing, and started to barrel roll and flip upside down at random as he flew even faster. 

"This is not funny!" Hiccup yelled as David turned sharply to the left, his back, and consequently Hiccup facing the outside of the turn. 

"I have no clue how you'd have that idea," the Scorcher replied cynically, "I am having the time of my life." 

"You know, this is really undermining my status as a Leader," Hiccup screamed, and would have bashed the horrible dragon on his head had he not been clinging to his neck. 

"Then it's a good thing you're not my Leader," David responded, beginning to buck up and down like a horse. 

Hiccup's lungs stopped working, not allowing him to scream any louder as he tried to stay on the crazed Scorcher. As a last ditch effort, he tried calling upon the magic rolling through his veins, trying to somehow channel it through himself in the way his mother had described. His power seemed to roll across his skin, trying to find another outlet as he ordered it not to make him shift. The magic wound its way to his hands, but as he couldn't see his hands wrapped around the Scorcher's neck, he didn't know if they were doing anything. He pushed more and more magic into his hands, feeling it develop, but it didn't seem to go anywhere. It was like it searched for something that it could be used on, but couldn't find anything. 

As Hiccup was scrambling to try and find a way to not fall into the ocean, his grip on the Scorcher's neck began to slip. With a scream, David threw Hiccup off his back, launching him up and into the clouds. His limbs flailed, his instincts screaming at him to shift. But his mother had said that she discovered her powers while falling from the sky, so why couldn't he? 

But the ocean was coming closer and closer, his attempts to reach for any powers he could possess staying firmly inside his palms. 

The ocean was close. Too close. He had to shift. If he didn't, he would die. 

Sorry, mom. 

Finally, he let go of the magic that was pooling into his hands. It snapped away from his fingertips, flying across his body feverishly until blue light engulfed him. The Moon Sweeper bolted out of his skin, and he snapped his wings open just before he crashed into the water. With a growl, Hiccup flicked his tail downwards, and began speeding up towards the sky. Quickly spotting the Scorcher hovering not too far from him, he shot towards the dragon like an arrow. 

"Sun God, help me," the dragon muttered, his eyes widening at the look on Hiccup's face.

Hiccup snarled, his eyes narrowing as he zoned in on the wretched Scorcher. Before the other dragon could react, Hiccup shot forward at full speed, his paws digging into the red dragon's sides. On instinct, David tried to shoot him with fire from his belly, but Hiccup had quickly anticipated that and spun the dragon around in his paws by force, now holding the Scorcher with his belly faced away from him. 

With David now securely in his grip, Hiccup began to flap his wings hard and fast into the sky. During the dragons' tyrannical flight, Hiccup had been examining the way he flew, and quickly noticed how the Scorcher never flew too high above the clouds. Hiccup considered the fact that going too high up may be due to a physical constraint, but he quickly pushed the thought away and turned his mind back to climbing higher. 

"Wait, wait!" David screeched, "Scorchers can't go too high! Our fire stops working and we can get sick if we don't get enough air!" 

"Well, then I suppose you'll have to take deeper breaths," Hiccup growled, his voice as smooth and dangerous as a knife. 

Not letting the change in emotion appear on his face, Hiccup kept climbing, now intending to not go as high as he had planned. So for a couple more seconds he continued flying higher, at least twice the height at which David had flown the highest during their horrid flight. 

"Please!" David screamed, his breath seeming ragged, "Just bring me back down!" 

"Really?" Hiccup cooed, his wings stopping their motions, "Okay." 

He let his wings fold into his sides, and they began to fall downwards. David screamed as the dived towards the sea, his struggling making it harder for Hiccup to keep them stable. But he kept his wings angled, making a whistle fill the air, and moved his tail slightly to adjust to the Scorcher's constant flailing. They approached the ocean quickly, though slower than Hiccup was used to because of David's lack of aerodynamics. 

"We're going to crash!" the Scorcher screamed, making Hiccup chuckle. 

"You know, you should really study up on Moon Sweepers," Hiccup said. 

"What?!" 

Just as they were about to hit the water, Hiccup snapped his wings wide open, using all of his strength to level them out. He heard David's feet scrape the water as they shot across the water's surface, and Hiccup barrel rolled, releasing David as he spun upside down before continuing his flight onward. He heard the Scorcher scream in alarm, and Hiccup turned tightly back around, his wing tip gracing the water. 

Hiccup laughed at David as he flailed in the air, flapping his wings wildly and trying to regain control, "Moon Sweepers never crash," he called out to him. 

David finally righted himself, looking frightened and dizzy, "N-Noted." 

With a flap of his wings, Hiccup soared around the Scorcher, slapping him on the head with his tail as he flew by. 

"Come on,"  Hiccup said, "Let's get back to the nest." 

Hesitantly, David flew after him, though decidedly stayed behind Hiccup at his side. 

"So, uhm, sorry," David said nervously, "I didn't mean to disrespect you or anything." 

"Oh, I don't blame you for flying like a maniac with me on your back," Hiccup said assuringly. "You were just following orders, that I can respect. I simply did that to remind you that in no world, under no circumstance, can you ever do anything like that to me again." 

The Scorcher gulped, "Alright, yeah." 

A moment of silence stretched between them. 

"But did you really have to do all that to give me a reminder?" 

Hiccup laughed, "It was the only thing that I could think of on the spot." 

"How did you know that Scorchers can't fly high?" David asked. 

"I didn't," Hiccup said amusedly. "I had merely observed the way that you flew, and noticed the aversion you had to flying too high." 

David gawked at him, "By the Sun God, they had told me you were smart. I didn't think you were that smart." 

"I'm observant," Hiccup said. "Fifteen years on a Viking island as a runt teaches you that being able to observe the way people react to things is a very important tool." 

"How?" David asked, "Dragons are aware of their surroundings, but I doubt that any dragon I've ever met could figure out my weaknesses just by watching my flight patterns." 

"Vikings are violent creatures," Hiccup said, "everyone knows that. They value brawn and the amount of violence you possess with a mace, neither of which I was blessed with as a human. So of course, they looked down on me. Tried at every opportunity to tell me that I was weak. I watched them, trying to become one of them, copying the way that they acted, the way that they fought. But I couldn't even raise an axe with one hand back then, so none of it mattered. Instead, I began observing how they acted in order to see how much insolence they would tolerate from me, and after a while, I was correct almost all of the time." 

"That's awful," David said, seeming uncomfortable but sympathetic. 

"It was," Hiccup agreed. "But it made me who I am." 

They reached the nest, landing on the same glacier they had taken off from in front of it. 

"That was certainly a spectacle," Hiccup's mother called out to them, standing up from where she was laying in her dragon form on the ice. "But I'm guessing that it did not gauge results?" 

"No," Hiccup said disappointedly. "I tried channeling my magic into something that wasn't shifting like you said, but I just couldn't get it to work." 

She hummed, "Well, then on to the next test." 

Hiccup groaned, making David chuckle with a slight craze to his tone. He seemed to be back to normal. 

"Good luck," the Scorcher said manically, and flew away into the nest. 

Hiccup sighed, turning to his mother, "So, what's next?" 

She gave him an apologetic smile, "You'll see. Just shift, and stay shifted." 

He nodded, shifting into his human form and feeling the comfortable weight of his wings disappear. A roar sounded to his right, and just as he turned to see who it was, he was lifted into the sky. 

"What the-!" Hiccup exclaimed, looking up at a green and yellow Sear Spine who now clutched him in his claws. 

"Sorry about this, Dragonborn," the Sear Spine said. "We really didn't want to do this, but the King's second ordered us to." 

"'We'?" Hiccup questioned.

The Sear Spine threw him across the sky, making him yelp as he received his answer. Around him was a family of Sear Spines, all with their claws outstretched as they fought to catch him. Hiccup groaned as he fell into a purple Sear Spine's claws, realizing that his mother had ordered a group of dragons to play hot potato with him.

* * * 

"Please tell me we can be done soon," Hiccup whined as he flopped onto the ground of his mother's den, making Toothless chuckle slightly from where he sat. 

"We can after we discover your abilities," she responded firmly. 

Hiccup glared at her, "For an entire day, I have been thrown, dropped, and launched into the sky in far too many ways. I think that we should just accept the fact that my powers will have to come their own way." 

She considered, though reluctant, "I suppose that could be possible. But I think we need to do one more test." 

"No," Hiccup insisted, "these "tests" are insulting and humiliating. I will not stand for doing another one." 

"Hiccup," Toothless said pleadingly, though he clearly didn't want Hiccup to have to go through another test anymore than he did, "just one more? Just so we know that you'll be as capable as you can be when we join the Dragon Hunters hunting parade." 

Hiccup sighed, "Fine. I will do one more. But only one." 

"I swear," his mother said. "If this test does not work, I will not make you do another one." 

"Okay," Hiccup said, nodding firmly as he stood. 

"Come," his mother said, and took off down into the King's chamber. As she flew, she called out in a roar, and Hiccup counted twenty dragons flying out of their dens in response. 

There were five Sear Spines, two Blaze Builders, an Acid Blender, three Lava Grubbers, a Beetle Horn, two Scale Changers, two Vapor Sparks, and three Blade Wings. It was an interesting array of dragons, and Hiccup wondered how his mother was going to have all twenty of them torture him at the same time. 

His mother led them out of the nest, landing on a very large glacier just outside of it. 

"Shift, and unsheathe Inferno," she told him, and he obliged, however reluctantly. 

"What are we doing?" Hiccup asked as he pulled his sword out of its scabbard. 

"You're fighting," she said. "And you aren't going to shift." 

"What?" Hiccup asked, bewildered. 

She led Toothless off of the glacier, flying up to the nest to watch them from one of the icy spikes. Hiccup looked around confusedly, and the color drained from his face. The twenty dragons now surrounded him, looking nervous and apologetic, but in battle stances. 

"Oh, come on," Hiccup groaned. 

"Sorry, Dragonborn," a Lava Grubber said sheepishly. "None of us mean disrespect, but-"

"You were ordered to," Hiccup sighed. "Yeah, I've heard this speech about a million times today. Let's just get it over with." 

He flicked Inferno downwards, letting the Blaze Builder gel flow through it before he hit the button on the hilt to ignite it. The sword burst into flames, surprising the dragons surrounding him. He took their surprise to his advantage, quickly spinning around in a circle to mark their positions before getting into his battle stance. It had been a lot harder to figure out how to fight as a human, but he felt like he was getting the hang of it. 

Hiccup waited patiently, using his ears to listen for the first dragon to step forward and face him. For moments there was silence, but then the sudden sound of lunging reached his ears. He whirled around, finding a Changing Scale lunging towards him. 

On instinct, Hiccup slashed his sword across the dragon's chest, the Lava Grubber iron cutting into her scales like butter. The Changing Scale jumped back in pain, the blade combined with the flame of Inferno leaving her with a nasty red wound on her chest. A growl sounded behind Hiccup, and he turned to see the other Changing Scale looking at him with murder in his eyes, his scales bright red. 

He came at Hiccup running, making Hiccup jump out of the way and slide his sword along the dragon's side as he ran by. The Changing Scale stumbled, standing unsteadily next to the other Changing Scale, who now wore matching red scales. If Hiccup had to guess, these two were either family or Mates. 

A fearsome roar ripped out of the female's throat, and she lunged forward, her head frill standing on end. Hiccup raised his arm, trying to stop her attack by putting his sword into her jaws. But just as she was about to bite onto the searing hot metal, she lunged to the side, biting down instead on Hiccup's arm. Hiccup screamed, punching the dragon in the eye. She yelped, jumping backwards.

A blinding pain expanded down Hiccup's back, and he turned to see a Blaze Builder snarling at him, having just speared his claws down his back. The other dragons took that as the signal to join the fight, and Hiccup was suddenly bombarded by pain. A Sear Spine shot a spine into his leg, making him cry out. An Acid Blender suddenly appeared out of thin air, spitting acid onto his sword arm, making him drop Inferno. A Lava Grubber flew at him, bludgeoning him with his tail and sending Hiccup flying onto the ground. 

With a grunt of agony, Hiccup pushed himself to his feet, fumbling for Inferno. A Vapor Spark came lunging at him, the right head catching his sword within his jaws as Hiccup attempted to strike, and the other biting down on his shoulder. Hiccup screamed, trying to reach for his magic. 

The blue light graced his palms again, and his eyes widened as he felt just a trickle of it being soaked up. His sword hand tingled, and Hiccup watched with amazement as the blue light folded across his palm, the burn from the Acid Blender healing in seconds. The only thing left of the injury were tiny white lines that spread over his palm like cobwebs. But it didn't even matter that it scarred, but that it was healed. Hiccup's mother had been putting him through all of these crazy tests, expecting him to have some destructive power that he could use in battle. But instead, here he was, with healing magic. 

Hiccup snatched Inferno from out of the Vapor Spark's jaws, turning it over and stabbing it into the other head's eye. The dragon screamed, giving Hiccup enough time to reach down and spread the blue light from his palms across his legs. In seconds, the wounds were healed, leaving only scars in their wake. Around him, the dragons were watching with wide eyes at his display. Using the time that offered, he placed his hands on his shoulder, healing the Vapor Spark bite and letting the magic flow down his back and heal the Blaze Builder scratch. 

"So, are we done here?" Hiccup asked, glancing around,"All we needed to do was figure out my magic, and I think we've discovered it."

"Okay, I guess that means we're done," a Blade Wing said uneasily, him and all the other dragons slowly coming out of their battle stances.  

"Great," Hiccup said brightly. "Anybody got any injuries that need healing?"