Chapter 8

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Ow, ow ow. Ow. Everything hurts. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Toothless was right in front of me.
"Aagh!" I screamed, and he fell back.
"Roarghl!" He said, and I sat up, confused. I was supposed to understand them now, right?
"Wait, what?" I muttered, and looked at me. I saw a scrawny, human body.
"Whoa! What?" I shouted. I was human again!
"Roooom." Toothless whined. I put my hand on him.
"Wait. If I turned into a human, then maybe I can change back..." I trailed off, and shut my eyes. A familiar tingling feeling surrounded my body, and began to burn like fire. I felt scales surrounding my skin, claws and teeth growing, wings and a tail forming. My pupils sharpened to slits, and became black; I was a dragon again!
"Yes! Meet Blackout: half dragon, half human, all awesome!" Terror whooped.
"Yay, Blackout!" Toothless shouted, dancing around me.
"We thought we lost you." Hookfang said.
"Hey, guys! The humans didn't lose us!" Stormfly shouted, as arrows pinged around us. Nets soared from behind trees as Vikings came into the cove, axes drawn.
"C'mon, Blackout! Fly!" Toothless shouted, somewhere above me.
"R-right! Fly!" I repeated, but Gobber grabbed me before I could take off.
"Hey!" I roared, turning around. He was too strong for me, and I was in nets before I could react. The gaps were too big for a dragon, but a small human? I shut my eyes, and tried to change back. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and I almost lost hope, when I felt a tingling, all around my body! Yes! Slowly, I changed back into Hiccup. By now, we were at the top of the cove again, and Gobber was dragging me along. I realised that I still had my knife, from before. Slowly, I began cutting the ropes.
"What are you doing back there, dragon..." Gobber stared at me. I took the chance to jump out, and I began running.
"Catch that boy!" Stoick ordered. I was halfway through transforming when an axe hurtled past my head.
"Alive!" Stoick added. I was on all fours now, and a Night Fury. The cove was coming up. I jumped... And I was falling, down into the water, when the wind picked up, and I was soaring.
"We made it!" I shouted. The others were in front of me, but they were slowing to let me catch up.
"You're flying, Blackout!" Terror shouted. "On your own!" I realised there was no wind for me to glide on; I was flying on my own power! Suddenly, I heard a loud roaring.
"Stop." Stormfly whispered. I flapped my wings, staying up in the air. Suddenly, a large, sharp axe hurtled past my face, inches away from slicing it off.
"That human is determined." Meatlug said, and I looked down at them.
"Hey, I know her!" I exclaimed, swooping down into the forest, towards her. I changed back into my human form, and she raised her dagger.
"Hello, Astrid." I said calmly, backing away from her. This was a bad idea.
"Well, Haddock. You've got a lot of explaining to do." She said. I backed off a bit, and bumped into a tree.
"Well, erm, I'll probably go now, seeing as-" I couldn't finish, as she hurled the knife at me. I dodged, and it stuck itself into the tree.
"Ok then. Fine." I said. "But they won't be happy."
"Who won't be-" Suddenly, Hookfang landed behind me, hissing.
"I'm just going to go now." I muttered, changing. As I began flapping, Astrid suddenly launched herself at me. I took off with her on my back. She was screaming like a banshee, when she tugged on my ear.
"Hey!" I shouted. She suddenly looked very scared. Without warning, an orange streak blurred past me, carrying something in its claws. Another one passed, and then several more.
"What's going on?" I asked Meatlug.
"The Nest!" She hissed, and I noticed a large island up ahead. More dragons passed, and we landed on a smaller island, next to it.
"I'm going in there." I said, as Astrid slid off my back.
"What? Change back, I can't understand you."
"I said, I'm going in there." I repeated.
"Are you insane? There's dozens of dragons in there!" She shouted.
"Well, what if I changed? A Night Fury is one of the toughest dragons."
"You'll still need food to get in, probably. All the other dragons are carrying food." I thought about it for a moment, then looked at Astrid.
"Why are you looking at me?" She asked. "Wait, no! You can't be serious!"
"Too late." I thought, grabbing her and transforming.

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