A New World, Complicated

Chapter 4: The Terrible Twos (Hiccup)

 When you're riding a dragon, communication is key. You almost have to read each other's minds... or else. And you have to have an open mind, because sometimes, your dragon knows better than you.

Reign gripped onto me tightly as Toothless zoomed through the air. She was still getting used to the tricks that we did, and I'm not entirely sure she was too fond of them to begin with. After all, her first experience on Toothless involved him swooping and diving, and dangling her above the trees until she agreed to not reveal that he existed. That kind of thing likely scars a person at least a little.

"Low-level evasive maneuvers," I ordered Toothless. The others followed in suit behind, with Astrid right on our heels. "Come on, bud." We dodged around a few trees, then I shifted my foot, which fully opened Toothless' artificial tail fin. From below, I could hear Snotlout scream.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?" Hookfang roared, almost mocking his Rider. "We've gotta go back. I think you missed some branches..."

Astrid and I were neck-and-neck now, and I managed to catch a strange look she flashed Reign's way. The redhead on the back of my dragon chuckled.

"What are you planning?" I asked her, throwing up one of my eyebrows at her smirk.

"Oh, nothing," she answered innocently. I looked forward again to see Astrid barreling toward three trees that had fallen against each other.

"Stormfly, up!"

"Uh, Astrid, I think it's down..." Reign cried.

Astrid suddenly stood on the back of her Nadder, and just as it looked like she was about to smash into the trees, she jumped into the air, over the treetops, and landed on Stormfly's back perfectly, aside from the fact that she was screaming the whole time.

"You were right, Reign. It was down. I almost died."

"Almost died?" Snotlout scoffed. "I would have died." Reign laughed out loud at his appearance: plants and leaves were stuck in his helmet, while two small branches of pine needles stuck out from his nostrils.

"That's a good look for you," she commented teasingly.

"Hey, has anyone seen Fishlegs?"

"I saw him yesterday," Ruffnut responded. "Does that count?" I rolled my eyes and flew straight, going over the dense coverage of the forest, until I finally found Meatlug trapped in a tree with Fishlegs caught in one across from it.

"Whoa. There you are, Fishlegs." I landed Toothless and the two of us hopped off.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just... hanging out. It's not like I crashed or anything..." He wasn't even convincing himself. "Okay, I crashed. There, I said it." I shook my head and reached up, trying to pull Fishlegs down. However, I really only made things worse.

I'll spare you the details.

"Oops..." I muttered.

"And there goes my dignity..." I reached for Fishlegs' foot and pulled as hard as I could, but the Viking barely budged.

"Yeah, you're pretty stuck. I think I know how to get you down, but you have to stay perfectly still."

"Why? What are you gonna do?" His voice wavered nervously, but there weren't many other options left to get him down.

"Careful, bud. He's not wearing any pants."

"Hiccup..." Reign sighed, putting her head in her hands and shaking it violently.