Hiccup woke up to Natalia knocking on his walls. Toothless roared angrily at his waker, but quickly lost the hostility.
They walked out to the balcony where two dragons and two riders stood. Willow had taken all the trading bags and extensions off of her dragon, and Hiccup decided to quickly go back into his room and do the same. This way, in the race, they wouldn't be slowed down by all the extra weight. Toothless said he couldn't remember ever being that light.
"Morning, you two," Marina greeted them when they headed back outside.
"Come on, I'll take you to a place where you can freshen up."
Natalia and Goldstar led them to another tree that was home to a taller building. The roof seemed to be about four feet thick.
As it turned out, this building had running warm water. Hiccup had a quick shower while Toothless and Marina played around in the dragon bath.
He soon learned that there was a massive, Gronkle Iron tub built into the roof that collected rain water. Tree Terrors heated the water and gravity brought it down through Gronkle Iron pipes. Hiccup was extremely amazed at this technology.
Once Toothless was finished playing, Hiccup dried him off the best he could and reapplied his saddle, tail, and rigs.
Natalia had told them to meet her at the kitchen, so they walked around and asked some unwilling Tree Terrors to help. Eventually, they found the right tree and were greeted by the most delicious smelling food they had ever smelled.
Willow and Marina were already there, chowing down on fruit tarts and pastries. Marina even had a plate full of something Natalia called "fish cakes". Toothless got a plate of them too, and the best Hiccup could tell, they were just disks of batter with fish blended in. Although, according to Toothless, they were better then anything Hiccup had ever given him.
After they had breakfast, and Hiccup had complemented Natalia on her cooking skills, they had the Tree Terrors set up a clear race course through the rainforest. Hiccup checked all of Toothless's rigs to make sure nothing unnessisary was still attached.
Toothless was ready to go and they met Willow and Natalia at the starting point, which was a landing strip on the edges of the tree house. The Tree Terrors made it clear which way to go, and a green and yellow Tree Terror would start them.
"Get ready to be flattened, Natalia," Willow taunted. "You have no idea how fast these two are." she gestured to Toothless and Hiccup.
"Alright, but we've never met a dragon who's faster than Goldstar!"
The Tree Terror got their attention and told them, when they hear the squawk and the jet of green flame, they were free to go.
"Racers, take your mark," the Tree Terror spoke from above them.
All dragons leaned back, ready to shoot forward.
The Tree Terror let out a sharp squawk and green fire arched above them. They shot off like rockets. Toothless let out a roar of excitement. This was the first time he had flown without his trading bags in a while.
Marina and Willow quickly fell behind. Goldstar was easily twice as fast as Marina, and this surprised Hiccup. This Dragon and her rider was going to give them a run for their money. But they wern't done yet.
"C'mon, bud. Let's show 'em what we got!"
Hiccup clicked the tail into position and they pulled ahead of the Scuttleclaw. But not by much. As they made their way to the river, Natalia began to gain on them. They made it to the waterfall, neck to neck, but Goldstar was smaller, and the upward climb was easier.
Toothless shot over the ridge a split second after Goldstar did. He huffed in annoyance.
"I know bud, I'm working on it."
He clicked the tail once again, allowing them to shoot over the ridge like a sling shot. The added momentum allowed them to gain speed and shoot back up to their opponent.
They fought for first, blocking each other off and dipping under them. Soon, the next part of the race came up. The cave.
Hiccup smirked and Toothless did the same. They let Natalia and Goldstar pull ahead of them as they entered the dark tunnel.
"Alright. You know what to do now!"
Toothless roared, letting loose sound to help guide him through the dark. Not waiting a moment after, he dipped, spiraled, and came back up in front of Goldstar.
The shocked Scuttleclaw opened her wings to avoid crashing into the sudden object, but she needn't have worried. Toothless was gone.
The Night Fury sped forward, leaving Natalia and her Dragon in the dark. He knew the way out now. His path was iluminated with sound.
They shot into the open sky, now far ahead of their opponents. They followed the trail of Tree Terrors down into the trees, where they zipped along, twisting and doing barrel rolls to avoid the trunks.
The trail of Terrors led them back out of the canopy into open sky. They skimmed the tree tops, gaining altitude until the trees disapeared, exposing barren rock that climbed into the sky.
They soared upwards, twisting around the odd tower of rock, until they reached the top. They continued to fly up until they became stationary, before they flipped over and raced down the tower.
They located the finish line, which was on the landing strip above the canopy. They zipped over it at top speed, a ring of fog surrounding them.
It took the Tree Terrors a moment to realize that Goldstar and Natalia had just been beaten, but once they got over the shock, the sky filled with roars and green fire.
Toothless roared hapily as they did a quick flip to get rid of their momentum, then landed on the landing strip. He let loose three plasma blasts, startling the Tree Terrors.
Hiccup dismounted and began to praise his Dragon. "That was amazing, bud! I don't think we've ever flown that fast!"
"I know! It was amazing! We should take my trading bags off more often!" Toothless warbled as his rider scratched him, sending him into hog heaven.
It was about a minute before Goldstar appeared on the horizon. She climbed the tower and raced down it before zooming towards them and landing.
"Wow," Natalia said as she dismounted. "You guys are actually faster than us!"
"Well, Toothless is a Night Fury."
"So I've heard."
"Hold on, are you guys faster than a Monsterous Nightmare?"
Natalia looked at him, confused. "A what?"
"You know, big, fast, have this weird habit of setting them selves on fire?"
"Oh! You mean Sunspringers?"
"What? No."
"Yeah. And they have this gel that's really usful for lighting fires."
"That's Monsterous Nightmare Gel."
"No, it's Sunspringer Gel."
"They're the same thing!"
"Willow?"
"Hi. I took a short cut. Anyway, Monsterous Nightmares are Sunspringers."
"Oh, right!" Natalia exclaimed.
"What?" Hiccup was confused.
Natalia began to explain, "Down here, in the Southern Hemisphere, some of the Dragons have different names."
"The 'Sothern Hemishpere'?"
"Right. Nevermind, Hiccup. Natalia also believes in my theory. She means that around here there are dragons that go by a different speieces name than in the North."
"Oh. Then wait, does the Night Fury to by a different name?"
Willow shrugged, looking at Natalia.
"Well, it must, because the canvas in my room has a Night Fury in it."