Defying The Rules

Hiccup and the Zippleback

Fishlegs started panicking as the snake-like green head slid across the ground towards him. He squealed and stepped back. The dragon made small, higher pitched than most dragon noises, gurgles and grunts as the it moved closer.

"Fishlegs, the water!" Thalos shouted, picking up the bucket that he had dropped when he had fallen. It was empty now, because all the water spilled out, but it could be used as some kind of weapon or something.

Fishlegs glanced at Thalos, then when the dragon's head was close, splashed his water on it. However, it just blinked a few times and started spewing green gas. Clearly, this was not the head that would have been affected by the water.

"Oh... Heh... wrong head.." Fishlegs said hesitantly. Irritated, the Hideous Zippleback head sprayed its green gas at the chubby Viking. Fishlegs screamed, threw his bucket in the air, and started running.

"Fishlegs!" Both Gobber and Thalos shouted. This wasn't good, for two reasons. One, the gas was poisonous, and breathing too much in wasn't good for you. Two, if that gas was sparked by the other head, anyone caught up in that gas would get stuck in an explosion.

Luckily, Fishlegs managed to get away. However, Hiccup had just stood there, and now the green dragon was heading for him. The previous head approached him, but out of the fog came the dragon's second head. The head made several sparks, almost teasing that it was going to blow the place up with the gas everywhere.

"Now Hiccup!" Gobber shouted, pretty much telling him to throw the bucket.

Hiccup stood there awkwardly and grunted as he lamely threw up the water in his bucket. But, despite the dragon's head only being a couple of feet away, the water really didn't go anywhere and kind of just fell to the ground. The second he threw the water up, he used the bucket to cover the top of his head, because it was such an amazing shield.

When the boy saw that his water didn't even splash the dragon, he sighed. "Oh come on..."

The Hideous Zippleback looked at the water, then at Hiccup. It roared and started sparking, trying to start an explosion. Hiccup yelped and fell to the ground as the dragon towered over him.

By now, everyone who had no water bucket was sitting out by Gobber, except for Thalos. Thalos's eyes widened. Hiccup was done for. He heard Gobber shout Hiccup's name in panic. Thalos was about to try to throw his water bucket at the dragon's head, but the Hideous Zippleback started backing up.

Thalos, Gobber, and the rest of the people started looking at the scene in confusion. Hiccup stood up and held his hands out. The green dragon had a scared look on its face. It backed up as Hiccup approached it making forward gestures with his hands.

"Back! Back! Back!" He said as he made the dragon go back into its cage. "Now, uh, don't you make me tell you again! Yes, that's right-back into your cage." He paused. "Now think about what you've done..."

The entire group of people watched in absolute awe as the dragon backed away from the scrawny Viking in fear. No one knew how he did it. Thalos saw Hiccup pull something out of his tunic-coat and throw it in the dragon's cage. The beast recoiled immediately and pressed itself against the wall.

Hiccup pushed the large doors closed and turned around, wiping his hands on his tunic. He turned around in shock, almost as if he had forgotten the Vikings were there. Everyone's face was full of bewilderment-even Gobber's.

Hiccup broke the silence and spoke. "Okay! So... are we done? 'Cause I've got some things I need to, uhh... Yup! I-I'll...see you tomorrow." With that, he ran out of the arena.

"Hey!" Thalos called. "Wait!" He ran after him. He had to, One: Ask him how he did that, and Two: Show him the Xeno'jiiva. He couldn't be running off.

Thalos followed Hiccup, catching up to him pretty quickly. Hiccup was about to go into the forest, but he stopped when he realized Thalos was following him.

"Uhh.. what are you doing?" Hiccup asked a bit nervously.

"How did you do that? How did you make the dragon listen to you like that?" Thalos asked.

"I uh.. I don't know what you are talking about." Hiccup stuttered.

"Oh please, Hiccup. Everyone saw it. The dragon was afraid of you. How did you do it? Did you touch it in a specific way?"

"I-I uh.. I used an eel." He finally admitted.

"An eel? What in Valhalla made you think to use that? Was it the Night Fury?" Thalos decided just to put that out there. The sooner Hiccup realized that Thalos knew about him not killing the dragon, the better Hiccup would act when he saw the Xeno'jiiva. Hiccup's face seemed to turn white.

"W-wha-What? I-I don't..." He started bursting into "laughter." "Pfft! Ah haha haha- What? The Night- What are you even..even talking about?"

Thalos looked at him blankly. Even if he didn't know about the dragon, he certainly would now based on how Hiccup was handling the situation. "Hiccup, first off, you are a terrible liar. Secondly, I saw you. I followed you and watched you go to the Night Fury and document it. Is that where you got the idea with the eel?"

"I still don't...don't know what you are talking about. I'm a Viking. I kill the dragons."

Thalos groaned and rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to tell anyone. If I was, I would have by now." He sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. I know that's the answer. Are all dragons afraid of eels like that?"

Hiccup still looked like he didn't know what to say. "Umm.. I don't know. I- You have to promise not to tell anyone about the Night Fury. They'll kill him." He said, obviously growing worried.

Thalos put both hands on Hiccup's shoulders. "Relax. I won't, I promise. Besides, I have something to show you, but you need to promise me something."

"What is it?" Hiccup asked confused, and a bit more worried than actually excited or curious.

"Promise me, Hiccup. If you tell anyone what I'm about to show you, I will tell everyone about your Night Fury." Yeah, blackmail was a little low, but he couldn't risk it.

Hiccup put his hands up and spoke quickly. "Okay okay okay. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Thalos looked at him a moment and nodded. "You might have your dragon, but I have one of my own, and I want you to meet it."