Guh, let's see if we can get to 4000 words this time in this chapter, also when you see the 火拳 sign, play the music above.
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"You know, I just happened to notice- The book had nothing on night furies!" hiccup gestured, holding a shield on his hand and a sword on his other. "Is there like another book or a sequel? May- Maybe like a night fury pamphlet-" a fire blasted just right beside the brunette before gobber was heard groaning. "Focus hiccup! You're not even trying!" he added, the aforementioned boy began running away from the dragon before the nadder had lost track of him in the maze.
"Today is all about attacks! Nadders are quick and light to their feet, your job is to be quicker and lighter!" gobber piped up while the nadder roars and shot her deadly spikes from her tail and towards fishlegs who managed to dodge it by his shield and screaming. "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" the chubbier viking cried out, running from the nadder before she too lost track of him in the maze. "Look for it's blind spot, every dragon has one! Find it, hide in it and strike it!" the elder blonde continued.
"Ugh, do you ever bathe?" ruffnut questioned her brother after having sniffed him standing from beside. Offended by this, tuffnut avoided the question; "If you don't like it then get your own blind spot!" But ruffnut did not like that, "How about I give you one?!" and the twins bickered, headbutting each other, but not too hard to the point they'd pass out then glaring at one another before the nadder had growled impatient then blasted a fire in front of them and the two barely escaping unscathed out of the attack.
"Blind spot yes, deaf spot, eh not so much." gobber remarked, followed by a chuckle before hiccup stared back up at gobber. "So uh how would one sneak up on a night fury?" he questioned the elder, but he was quick to his answers. "No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale, now GET IN THERE!!" he hollered, scaring hiccup, having him flinch backwards but he continued, "I- I know I know, but hypothetically..-" the brunette finally paused the moment astrid called out to him with a threatening glare meeting his eyes. Hiccup reluctantly followed the two, but thanking himself for such beefy arms he managed to fail sneaking by rolling his way from the nadder's sight. Alarmed, the dragon chased after hiccup but however it's attention shifted on both snotlout and astrid.
Snotlout proudly moved astrid over to get to the front to show off, his pride obviously taking over. "Watch out babe, I got this." he declared with pride, throwing the hammer at the nadder and miss horribly, which led her to growl in a snickering way. Astrid rolled her eyes and ran off, and snotlout began to excuse himself because of the sun getting into his eyes. Hiccup was found again talking to gobber.
".. Take the daytime off, like a cat? Has- Has anyone seen one napping? Or even play and summon fire from around it?" the brunette stuttered, while everything behind him gone in chaos. "Hiccup, dragons breathe fire." the elder blonde corrected, but hiccup shook his head. "No I mean, like, fire summoned from around it and- and from its body-"
"HICCUP!!" astrid hollered as the wall she stood atop fell and pinned the boy on the ground. Once the dust had cleared, the blonde girl had attempted to drag her axe off from the shield seeing it's sharp tip plunged onto the wood. "Ooh, love on the battlefield!" tuffnut cooed and ruffnut grinned, rolling her eyes. "She can do better."
"Let me- why- why don't you- ow!!" hiccup felt his stomach churn, as if he was stabbed because of astrid's knee before she got up. As soon as the nadder had began to rush over to the two, the angrier girl gasped before attempting to nudge the axe off and harshly this time but to no avail. Leaving her no choice, she dragged both her axe and shield stuck to it, stepping on hiccup's face in the process with a few 'ow' from the other and unknowingly hit the dragon by its blind spot (not quite), startling the blue nadder to give up and walk away from them.
Finally, the training was over.
Astrid grunted and turned back to face the brunette with burning anger. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?!" she bellowed at hiccup who had himself curled up in a ball for a brief moment because of the pain the girl's boots had forced on his face. He glanced up with discomfort, confused, and with one of his eyebrows furrowed. "Our parents' war is about to become ours!" she continued, angrier gaze continued to pierce through hiccup's stupid expressions. "Figure out which side are you on." astrid spat, before walking off, pissed.
.
Ace had been bored. And hungry.
The way he can survive is not to think of food because of how his narcolepsy had been setting in. But for the fucking record he hadn't been eating for three days, straight! He couldn't catch fish, afraid even with being a dragon, he couldn't swim, his wings would weaken before he could try to flap. But thanks to his dragon figure, ace could resist being hungry, shove off the thought from his head and boom, he's not hungry anymore, yes because unlike being a human, he's always hungry.
Suppose he could nap and nap to keep his narcolepsy in check. The doctors did say sleeping a lot can help him stop having his disorder from setting in a lot. Ace finally got comfortable, curled up in a ball on a rock but before his consciousness faded, his senses of hearing had him picked up rustling sounds. Somebody is here, carrying a wood metal whatever he could hear from it. Suppose he bet it's the brunette from the other day and yesterday. But again, what the hell does he want now? The freckled dragon grunted and hid behind the rocks, awaiting for the brunette to come on and attempt to find him.
Hiccup had a shield brought with him and a fish. But his shield got stuck on the entrance before he could even enter. Great, just what he needed. Hiccup had not anymore protection seeing how hardened it was stuck on between and blew a small raspberry. Suppose he can just go ahead but it's all the shield's fault if anything happened to him.
He thought.
. 火拳 .
Carefully walking out in the open, hiccup glanced around cautiously for the dragon to appear. Ace seemed to have noticed the food on the other's hand, having heard of the slimy texture of the object the boy carried. And for some reason, his dragon instincts had taken over, his wings spreading to inform the brunette he was just right behind. Of course he's a dragon, and fish was their favorite food! Nope, ace never knew that, his bad.
Hiccup's breath hitched as the night fury approached him cautiously, it's gaze focused on the fish and so he'll be glad to give the raw food. The brunette carefully reached out the fish, but ace reacted negatively ater having heard of the metal strapped on his belt. He's no longer is like fire, at least being in a dragon's body he isn't, but being vulnerable like this made ace shiver at the thought of anyone stabbing his back from behind or even his wings! So when he heard the dagger, the night fury growled cautiously. Hiccup understood and revealed his dagger, which only angered the dragon more the moment his hand approached the handle of his weapon. But carefully and quickly, the brunette dragged it from the belt and threw it on the ground. But ace wasn't fool, he eyed the weapon on the ground, except hiccup had already planned on picking it up by his boot and threw it to the pond.
Much to his surprise, the night fury relaxed, sitting down like a tamed cat and eyed him innocently. 'alright I'm being like this only so you can give me that fish.' his thoughts bubbled up internally. Only then the brunette reached out the fish and ace approached him, his teeth not in display unknowingly because of the instincts telling him the boy is harmless. "Toothless.. I could've sworn you had-" ace rolled his eyes and his teeth appeared, grabbing the fish and carefully to not bite off the hand and eat the food. Hey, the raw fish is quite good, at least as a dragon and a dragon's tastebuds. He licked his lips and heard the boy mutter the word teeth. The fire fist dragon approached the brunette, making him back off. "Uhuh- no no, I don't-" hiccup tripped and was forced to have his back lean on a rock. "I don't have anymore!" he admitted, more like whispering but ace didn't listen. He sniffed the boy and stared at him for a brief moment.
'Eh, he looked like he haven't eaten.' he thought. So he did what was best to do. Throw up a not so digested food from his stomach and it landed straight to the boy's hand.
Only then ace sat down, staring at hiccup and awaited for the other to eat it. Hiccup couldn't understand what the dragon was gesturing him to do, aside from the fish he threw up on his hand, but as soon as the night fury's gaze lowered to the fish and then back at him, only then the brunette understood.
Mentally preparing himself, hiccup glanced back up at the dragon still anticipating for the moment he'd eat it. 'eat it you ungrateful brat.' ace thought to himself as he watched the timid brunette muster up the courage and take a bite of the food before letting out a dry 'mm-hmm' to pretend he managed to eat it. Ace grinned smugly to himself, knowing making him do this is quite silly. Not buying his lies, the freckled dragon gulped, indicating the other has to swallow the piece of raw fish meat to his stomach. That ought to teach him a lesson for trying to kill him back then. Horrified at what the dragon was trying to tell him, hiccup couldn't believe he was being told what to do by a dragon, a night fury. And why was he doing this in the first place?
To earn his trust.
That's right. He felt sort of comfortable being around the dragon, he wanted to pet him by his snout, to hold him again but to get closer to him, he needed to earn his trust. Yes, hiccup finally came to a conclusion this dragon is a male.
Not that he didn't wanna assume their genders but sometimes it was hard determining their genders due to them looking the same. And just because the night fury is all black and dark doesn't mean this one is automatically a male.
But still. It's a he now. At least for hiccup.
Forced to swallow his raw and dragon saliva filled food, he disgruntled all in a moan before playfully glaring up at the dragon who didn't flinch at his expression. He still awaited his move. And so, hiccup swallowed, retched, gulped and shuddered. 'Lort.' he thought bitterly before looking back up at the night fury. He was, grinning, more like trying to grin without his teeth. Hiccup's bitter thoughts all faded and unknowingly smiled back, noticing how both of them had gotten comfortable with each other's presence for a while.
But that ended with hiccup having stared at the dragon for too long that he stood on his knees, attempting to hold his hand out to his snout. The fire fist as a dragon cautiously growled at what the brunette wanted to do and ran off, forgetting he couldn't fly for a moment and flapped his wings, only to land harshly on the ground. Ace grunted which was translated into a purr of discomfort, and began to make a nest of himself, shooting fire on the ground below him and sat on it, the warm sensation getting to him and relaxed, his dragon instincts making forget he's fire.
Ace heard a bird chirping from above, and curiously he glanced up at it, watching as how the mother bird flew off to find food. His gaze landed on hiccup sitting just beside him and gave him a deadpanned look before using his tail as a cover from the other. But the brunette scooted closer, as the freckled dragon could hear from his advanced senses of hearing. He shut his tailfin in time to see hiccup reaching out for his tail and then stand up in a panic and walk away. The boy is relentless, in ace's opinion, reminding him of his little brother.
Sunset is soon to come and ace had hanged his tail on a sturdy tree branch. Who knew hanging around being like a bat seemed like a nice feeling. He unwrapped himself and noticed the brunette had kept his distance from the dragon himself and began to draw.
Hiccup sketched toothless' head part, but widened his eyes the moment he felt the dragon's breathing and purring growl closer to him. Nonetheless the brunette continued drawing. Ace watched as the boy him sketched the dragon, him, so that's what he looked like from a human's point of view.
A low growl was heard from the dragon beside him, and the next thing he knew, the night fury was off to snap a tree into his mouth and began to copy him, to draw the words ASL and small sketches of his and his brothers' hats. Once done, he glanced at his drawing proudly. Hiccup on the other hand was confused, but he could notice the cool little details the dragon had added to his drawing. 'ASL'? What did that mean? The brunette stood up and stepped on a line that's connected to the dragon's drawing unaware. Alarmed, ace as a dragon snarled, pupils turning dangerous and that ought to make hiccup flinch and move his foot out of the way. Ace did not just went through moving around and draw- (it was supposed to be hiccup but it rather became scribbles with a bunch of hat shapes and the words ASL.) -his masterpiece just for it to be stepped on! It needed recognition! He was triggered once more, alarm overcoming his head when hiccup stepped on it again, to confirm something while he was observing the dragon. For the third time, he finally avoided the line, relieving the night fury and he watched as hiccup moved ahead, making sure to avoid stepping on the drawing, as if respecting it.
'Maybe he's not so bad after all.' ace thought, his eyes' pupils dilating as he observed the other. Maybe the said other just really wanted to be his friend.
But he'll test that out seeing how closer the brunette is coming from moving around avoiding the lines. Ace nodded approvingly, his breath exhaled in time hiccup had stood just in front of him. The night fury stared at hiccup. Curious, the brunette placed out a hand closer to his snout, wondering what would it feel like to touch a dragon properly, but ace glared, snarled even seeing the hand coming closer to his face. Hiccup came to a conclusion maybe he should stick out his palm up without seeing anything from his point of view, let the dragon come closer as a sign of trust.
The fire fist dragon stared at the palm briefly. Maybe the brunette was letting the other decide to lean his snout closer, trusting the dragon enough not to bite his hand off, so ace hummed and decided to come to him, leaning his snout closer to his palm, startling hiccup slightly but he realized his hand held him, the dragon had approached him willingly and let him hold him, he thought. The brunette smiled, in time to see the dragon pull from the hand and exhaled.
At least this time hiccup trusts him now, so ace did what he gotta do.
Tackle the boy and lick him all of a sudden. "Oh shoo- toothless!" he cried out with a side of chuckles before ace had abruptly stopped. 'toothless'? Seriously?
He gave the boy a deadpanned look. Hiccup stared back confused. "You- You don't like the name?" he stuttered slightly and to respond with that, the dragon nodded. "Oh." he said glumly, lowering his head. Despite his oh so great name thanks to his father, the brunette is not up and good with names, so he understood that even the night fury didn't like the name he thought of for him. But nonetheless ace approached the branch stick hiccup had in his hand back earlier and picked it up by his mouth, handing it to the brunette, nudging the hand by his snout more than two times.
"You want me to write something??" the brunette bubbled up a question as soon as he understood what the dragon had wanted him to do. He was fascinated that the night fury was intelligent and understandable to what hiccup was saying. But unfortunately for hiccup's side, he couldn't. The night fury nodded, confirming his question and sat down. Although having no clue where to start picking his name, ace noticed this and nudged the boy by his snout, pushing him to where he wrote ASL, (unbeknownst to him, ace can write and understand norse thank you very much,) tapping his tail on the letter A specifically. "Ah?" was hiccup's response even having tried so hard to try to understand the dragon's motives. Ace rolled his eyes. This was going to be harder than he thought.
Eventually he understood, and wrote the letter A. But mistook ASL for his name. Grunting in dragon language, ace rapidly moved his tail to wipe off the letter L. Suppose he shouldn't remove the letter S if it means for the other to get to pronounce his name correctly.
"Ah- Ah-hs.." hiccup trailed off, remembering a certain viking that had that start of her name. His head was fuzzy, he couldn't think straight and the only words that lingered in his head, ASL. "Asel..?" he clarified absent-mindedly, but it did had a nice ring, and hoped the name sounded a little better than toothless.
Eventually ace gave up, it was close but the brunette had really thought his name was ASL. His bad, maybe he should written ace instead. "Yeah I know, I'm so great at names am I right?" hiccup chirped up with obvious sarcasm in his tone followed by a nervous chuckle. Ace raised a brow. He approached the brunette and used his paw to attack the boy's face, (slapping) him. But before hiccup could even comprehend what the night fury was doing to him, ace collapsed, his disorder setting in. "A-Asel!!" hiccup called out frantic. He's been noticing the dragon dropping dead and it worried him if the dragon had some sort of sickness. The worried brunette nudged his dragon awake, only to no avail. "Come on bud you can't die on me now!" the brunette hollered, appalled. Eventually he reluctantly leaned his ear on the dragon's chest, his heart racing faster at the thought of his dragon dead right here and right now.
Lort, he thought as he sighed in relief after having heard of his dragon's faint heartbeat. Hiccup let out a grunt, staring at the night fury with a slight pout. "Thank you for worrying me, you stupid reptile." he hissed, pushing asel but it didn't budge the said dragon until he had awakened, yawning even. Hiccup rolled his eyes at it acting as if nothing happened before he gathered enough confidence to push the dragon playfully. Ultimately, ace understood and the two of them had gotten into a playful battle against each other before hiccup was thrown off the pond and swim back to shore to see the night fury snickering at him.
Eventually, that was enough interaction with the two of them supposedly, knowing hiccup has to go meet up with gobber and the rest of his students. He bid a temporary goodbye to 'asel' and promised he'd come back with a basket of fish.
Ace couldn't wait for the food.
.
"A downed dragon, is a dead dragon." gobber exclaimed and that's what made hiccup realize something. The missing tail fin on the left. It's the reason asel haven't been able to fly. Before gobber or anyone else can even leave, hiccup had already gone ahead and made his way to the blacksmith. He took a glance at his sketch of asel and redrew the tailfin, indicating he'll build it for him, staying up all night to make sure this invention is made from scratch to no fail.
A prosthetic tailfin for his dragon.
Dawn is already up and coming. Hiccup had gone off to a storehouse and gathered enough fish into the basket, or using the appropriate word, stealing loads of fish and a basket to hold onto and bring both along with him before heading to the cove. But what he just came across shocked him the most.
There was no night fury anywhere in the cove to call out for his name, rather, a man, and believe it or not he has no ounce of clothing on him whatsoever, just his pants that length to his knees accompanied with a unique belt, a green oddly shaped knife's sheathe strapped on the side, wearing an orange hat muttering to himself while scratching the back of his head before he noticed the brunette's presence, lazily looking up at the said boy. "Yo." he piped up grinning and hiccup just stood frozen.
"Who are you?"
Hiccup hadn't brought a weapon with him to prevent his dragon's trust all going downhill just when they bonded but he wished he brought one right now, because this is a strange man chilling in the cove and his dragon was missing.