How to Deal With Amnesia

Chapter 20: Good Night

Hiccup sighed. He was hoping so much to just go back home, lay on his bed and just sleep until noon on the next day... Of course he could count on someone to ruin everything....

"Hey, Dogsbreath..."

"What's your trick, Useless?"

"What are you talking about?"

"How do you control these beasts, like the one next to you."

Hiccup huffed.

"Look, I don't care you calling me names, but as I said before, dragons don't like being called 'beasts'. And his name is Toothless. Are you so stupid you can't remember a single name? If that's the case, can't you just call him a 'he'?"

"What if I don't want to call it like that? He's just a mindless beast and I'll be happy when he turns on you and kills you."

"Yeah, he's just a stupid beast!" Warthog yelled behind his cousin.

"Toothless is more reliable than some people. I know I can count him for anything, he's not a mindless beast that's gonna kill me in my sleep. Though I wouldn't be surprised if that happened to you, since you're so annoying..." He rolled his eyes.

"Oh, really?" Dogsbreath asked over confident, slowly approaching before he suddenly shoved the boy to the floor. It was already difficult for Hiccup to keep standing up, so Dogsbreath didn't need much effort to do this, but he used a lot of strength anyway. "And what are you gonna do, Useless? What if I still call that beast a 'beast'?" Toothless growled, jumping forward, ready to defend his human.

"I'm not gonna repeat myself. You can tease me and call me names, but do not do this with Toothless!"

"Don't worry, I'm still gonna do that with you, Useless. As soon as you tell me what's your trick."

"There's no trick."

"Of course there is! Otherwise, how could a scrawny little loser like you control an angry Monstrous Nightmare?"

"With kindness, didn't you pay attention? And I wasn't controlling him!"

"Stop trying to mock me, Useless!" Dogsbreath was starting to get angry and so he stomped on his prosthetic again, just like he had done the previous night.

Hiccup realized what he was doing too little too late to move or to protect his already sore spot. He grunted in pain and had to take deep breaths to recompose himself, and he barely managed to raise his hand in front of the Night Fury saying "Toothless, no!" in a hoarse pained voice as he saw the dragon ready to attack the Visithug heir.

"See? You do control them!" He crossed his arms. "And I wanna know how, so I can do the same."

"That's the thing, you can't. You don't have what it takes."

That made him mad and Dogsbreath kicked the boy on the floor. Toothless's eyes turned to scary slits and his growls turned even more menacing, he didn't attack, but he didn't quite understand why his human was protecting his aggressor.

"Oh, the beast seems angry..." He teased. "What are people gonna say when he attacks me? 'Dragons are so dangerous, I was only trying to help poor Useless up and he attacked me'." He said the last part in an acute pretending tone.

"Do you think I'm stupid? I know you want to smear dragon's reputation. I'm not gonna let that happen, even tough I'd love to see you after a Night Fury's beating."

"Then let's see how far your control over them can go." Dogsbreath lifted his food again to kick Hiccup, and the boy just closed his eyes and kept his hand in front of Toothless to prevent the dragon from attacking. Hiccup knew that few people outside Berk trusted dragons, it didn't matter the reasons why Toothless would have attacked him, no one would care, they'd only see that a dragon attacked a boy.