Long Live The Leaders

Chapter 9: What Really Happened That Day

The Rescue Riders stared at Toothless as he glared at the slinkwings with his scales glowing bright blue.

"Leave. Do not return to Huttsgalor. Do not bother the Rescue Riders. And do not follow Hiccup and I. It would not be a fight that you'd win."

The slinkwing leader looked at Toothless smugly as he got closer to his face. "I doubt we'd lose."

"Want to challenge that?" Toothless threatened. The slinkwing shrunk back down in fear as he tried to cover it up with his act of unconvincing bravery. Toothless growled once more and the three dragons yelped and jumped into the air while yelling phrases such as "no problem!" and "whatever you say Alpha!".

Toothless puffed out smoke from his nostrils as he walked away from his position of watching the three skinny dragons fly away. He gestured for Hiccup to hop on his back, his friend complied. They walked past the Rescue Riders who were frozen in shock, fear and slight confusion. They followed the Alpha and Chief back to Huttsgalor. They arrived back in the village and made their way to the Roost since they noticed that the stars would soon begin to reveal themselves once again. Toothless had let Hiccup off once they had gotten there. Hiccup and the twins went upstairs while Toothless and the dragons went below deck. Hiccup was still confused on what happened between Toothless and the slinkwings but he decided to ask the twins once they had gotten back to the Roost.

"So... what did Toothless say to those dragons?" He asked. The twins looked at him then realised that he hardly understood anything during the argument. They explained everything.

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"So is everything that you said true? About Hiccup and his dad?" Burple asked the night fury.

"Every bit of it." Toothless agreed.

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"Wow. He really told it all." Hiccup said astounded at how much Toothless revealed, only to prove to a stranger dragon that he, a human, was innocent.

"What about your dad? Toothless said something about a dragon shooting at him?" Dak asked, desperately trying not to sound impolite or insensitive.

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"It was... um... It was me. I was... under control of a Bewilderbeast. The previous Alpha." Toothless answered hesitantly. "It was my fault..."

"But... but it wasn't. You didn't know what you were doing. It was an accident." Aggro protested.

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"That's what I keep saying. But Toothless still feels guilty for what he did." Hiccup explained.

"I'm sure by now Toothless knows that it's not his fault. Besides, he helped kill the Red Death, right? You did that together." Leyla recalled. 

"That's true. That's the day I lost my leg." Hiccup added as he gestured down towards his left leg.

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"How did he lose his leg anyway?" Cutter asked.

Toothless's guilt returned for a moment before he released a slight laugh. "Hiccup was falling down towards the fire below us and-"

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"-just before we reached the fire, Toothless grabs ahold of my leg with his teeth. He was-"

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"-afraid that I'd drop him so I bit down a bit to hard and-"

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"-my leg came clean off! Kind of payback for when I caused him to crash land and lose half his tail-fin, which was the first day we met." Hiccup laughed as he recalled the memory.

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After many more stories of their adventures and moments of bonding, Hiccup and the twins came down to Toothless and the dragons. They made jokes, told more stories and played games. They chose to have loads of fun before Hiccup and Toothless had to leave the next day. Toothless's tail was working enough for them to reach home, they had enough food and water to last the long journey and predictions of clear skies, warm weather and low chance of storms.

In the moment, no one wanted to stop. They all wanted to stay up the whole night and forget about everything else that was happening around them. Eventually, they all grew tired. Hiccup slept against Toothless, Dak slept against Winger and Leyla slept against Summer. The other dragons stayed warm next to the bright blazing fire.

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The next day, everyone was up just before lunchtime. They played their last game of fishing together, catching plenty of cod fish and salmon, perfect luck. They sat by a beautiful fire as it cooked the fish for Hiccup and the twins while the dragons ate their share of raw fish.

Once all the fish was eaten, Hiccup and Toothless prepared their food and water for their journey home. They looked to the Rescue Riders.

"Thanks for letting us stay on your island for the past few days. Glad we landed on this one rather than one with a bunch of crazy vikings wanting to kill us." Hiccup laughed.

"We're also glad you landed on our island. We got to learn so much from both of you and it made Dak and I even better dragon riders." Leyla thanked the Chief.

"And we learnt how to shoot better." Winger added.

"And be more agile." Summer noted. The swift wing and fastfin directed it over to Toothless. Toothless smiled.

"I enjoyed meeting all of you. You guys have potential, and I know you'll do great things." He said truthfully. The Rescue Riders all smiled excitedly.

"Hope we can see you in the future to show you how we improved." Aggro added.

"I'm sure you will. Maybe next time you can come to our islands, meet my children. You'd all be great role models." Toothless admitted, causing all the younger dragons to smile with glee. Hiccup stood next to Toothless.

"I guess it's time to go bud." He said as he scratched Toothless behind the ear. "It's been great knowing you all and I know we'll see you in the future." Hiccup aimed it to all of them as he and Toothless leaped into the air.

"See you soon, Chief!"

"Thanks for teaching us, Alpha!"

"It was an honour meeting you!"

"See you next time!" The Rescue Riders called out as Hiccup and Toothless flew away while waving back at them. 

A/N

Second last chapter!  

- Chalupa