Authors Note:

I know, I know; I am a complete bitch for not updating. But with finals, clubs, graduation, and a very, verytall writers block standing in my way, I just haven't had the time!

I know you'd want me to update Unexpected Reunion or Solar Sun, but I am a HUGE - HUMONGOUS - How To Train Your Dragon fan! And when I saw the first 5 minutes of the new sequel, I fraking FLIPPED!

I just had to write about it!

Plus I'm watching the sequel TOMORROW! A DAY EARLY! SO FRIGGIN EXCITED!

By the way to understand this better, watch the video; watch?v=0JEh8-py4WA

Disclaimer: Oh PUH-lease! I would BEG to own How To Train Your Dragon. I mean, who wouldn't want their own Toothless? Who? Plus, have you seen the new Hiccup? Now that is some hot stuff. Oh, damn you DreamWorks!

"I jus' don' see wha' the big deal is."

Gobber was walking with his friend. His stubborn red-headed Chief of the village friend.

"So 'e misses some of the races-"

"Not 'some' of the races, Gobber," Stoick the Vast snapped. "He's missed all of them!"

"Okaay, so 'e misses all of the races. 'E's jus' busy wit' all the explorin' 'e does wit' Toothless."

"Be that as it may, but Hiccup has to be there to represent our family. If he's not-"

A roar interrupted the chief. Normally that wouldn't deter the viking, however he knew that roar. It was a specific roar; a roar that was one of it's kind. It was a roar that came from the offspring of lightning and death itself. It came from a Night Fury - a creature so monstrous that everyone feared it's power, Stoic included. And it's name was Toothless.

Gobber broke Stoic out of his irony-induced thoughts when he said, "Well, 'e certainly looks 'appy."

Stoick looked and found that his son was indeed smiling and talking to his dragon, laughing as if Toothless could talk.

He could never understand their relationship. Neither could he understand how Hiccup understood the dragon so well - more so than he and Thornado, that was for sure. However, that was a question for another day. Instead, he and his son needed to have a little talk.

Gobber, of course, knew what was going through his friends head and sighed at Stoick stubborn scowl. "You're going to ruining 'e's mood, aren'tcha?"

"Oh, most definitely."

"Well, just be sure you don' - oh, why do I bother?" Gobber asked, exasperated, when Stoick stalked away from him in the middle of Gobber's sentence.

Gobber threw his arm and hook up in the air before he limped away.

Hiccup and Toothless landed in front of his house with a soft "thump", enjoying the easiness off the day.

They tested out Hiccup's new design/invention, again, and actually got Hiccup gliding in the air like an actual dragon, instead of falling towards the ocean. Like the first couple of times.

A fact that made Toothless opposed to using the suit ever again, but...oh, well!

They also just marked another beautiful piece of land on their map, which shall now forever be known as The Isle of Itchy Armpit.

Which was actually what he and Toothless were talking about.

"Aww, come on! It's not that bad of a name!"

Toothless grunted and rolled his eyes.

"What? They can't all be amazing and interesting," Hiccup defended, as he climbed of his best friend's back, carrying his helmet with him. "Besides, you're the one who named it."

The black reptile glared his green eyes and slapped the young man on the back of his head with his tail.

"Of course you did! I asked you what we should call it, and your response was to scratch your armpit!" Hiccup shot back, smiling and at the same time rubbing his head.

Toothless made mocking noises with his throat and turned away while Hiccup laughed, and jumped to avoid Toothless' tail, making him laugh harder.

However, the bliss of the day finally snapped when Hiccup glanced back and saw his father walk towards him with a scowl. The you-did-something-wrong-Hiccup-and-now-we're-going-to-talk-about-it-and-you're-going-to-listen-to-me face. And, then, with a jolt of horror and realization what was wrong. He missed another dragon race.

Hiccup groaned and hung his head backwards, tilting it to the sky.

Toothless, who turned around at the sound of his riders sound of distress, started to croon and nudge his back with concern. What would cause such a change of mood?

Hiccup smiled and patted Toothless' head reassuringly before adding, "It's nothing, Bud. We just forgot to go to the race today."

Toothless watched with wide-eyed curiosity as the burly red-head came closer.

"DAD!" Hiccup greeted with fake cheerfulness. "How has your day been?"

"We had a dragon race earlier today," Stoick said dryly. "You weren't there."

"No kidding!" Hiccup said, smiling nervously, and ignoring the latter part of Stoick's point. "Who won? I bet it was Astrid. Am I right? Huh?"

"Inside. Now," Stoick ordered, before going into the house hiimself without waiting for a response.

Hiccup winced a little and drooped his shoulders of defeat as he gestured to the Night Fury to come into the house.

"Dad, relax," Hiccup said, while closing the large wooden door, "so I missed a few games-"

"Not a few, Hiccup." Stoick glared. "All."

"Not all," Hiccup said, defensively. "I played when we first started the games."

"You weren't playing," his father argued. "You were testing it out! Which brings up another point; you created the games, yet you don't participate!"

Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, but Stoick interrupted, "Hiccup, if you're going to be the next Chief of Berk, you need to start participating in the village events. Start showing your attributes! Show everyone your greatness and how talented a chief you could be!"

Hiccup stared at his father incredulously. "Dad, we can't do that! We're still finding so many lands with resources. The map I have is getting bigger and bigger each day! Toothless and I can't waste time playing games!"

Toothless slightly whined and shoved his head under Hiccups hand, uncomfortable that his rider was upset.

Stoick watched as Hiccup turned slightly to give his friend a scratch behind the ears before he turned back to him. He observed his son, as he stared right back at him.

Over the last 5 years, his son had changed so much. And not just his physical appearance, but his attitude towards people. He no longer added a higher pitch of uncertainty or the stutter when he spoke. He held his head high on his now broad shoulders. He looked people in the eye when he spoke and his tone never wavered. He walked with purpose and confidence and no longer need the approval of others. Not even him, his own father. Hiccup liked to keep people happy, but that wasn't the same as trying desperately to change himself for someone else.

And he saw at that moment that Hiccup was not going to budge. Stoick felt slightly proud.

He sighed and warily sat down.

"While, I like the fact that you're already thinking about the future of Berk, you still need to be with the village - with the people. And the best way for you to do that is to enter the dragon races. You have a responsibility now."

"What, so," Hiccup smiled, half amused, half sarcastic with an underlying layer of sincere curiosity, "I have a responsibility to win a race with my friends?"

Stoick stared hard at his son. "You have a responsibility to keep everyone's trust in you to be there when they need you."

Hiccup's face fell as he thought about what Stoick said. He knew what his father said was right. How could anyone depend on someone to come and rescue them if they didn't know where they were half the time? But that led to another question; how much time would that leave him and Toothless to explore?

They got so far now that they would have to leave early just to pass the newest discoveries from the day before. Add Berk's usual bad weather, they were luck to get 2 days of sun in a row. There was also no way they could explore new land at night. A night ride was different - they were Toothless' favorite - but into unknown skies? It was too dangerous: it was too easy to get lost, or, worst - into unfriendly territory.

Hiccup stroked Toothless' head, sadly. His best friend, in turn, purred and leaned into Hiccup's hand.

Stoick looked on with slight guilt and groaned inwardly.

"O.K., how 'bout a compromise?" Hiccup looked up with interest at his father. "If you win a game, you get to miss the very next one. But the one after that you have to attend, and if you win that one - well, you get the idea."

"And if I lose?" Hiccup asked, liking the idea so far.

"Then you just come to the next race, the next week."

Hiccup thought it over; it was a good compromise. Or, at least, as good as he would probably get from his father. But, just in case…

"What do you think, Toothless?" Hiccup asked, turning around to the reptile.

Toothless roared happily and jumped from the beams of the house, careful not to knock anything down. He then landed down just barely missing Hiccup, making the latter laugh again.

"Ok, Bud," Hiccup agreed before turning back to his father with a more camled and begrudging smile, "We'll be there for the next race."

"Thank you, son," Stoick sighed. He leaned back on his chair and drank from his mug, wariness finally catching up with the aged Viking.

"Hey, Toothless," Hiccup nudging the Night Fury, and pointed at the window, "Almost sunset."

Toothless perked up again and danced in a circle around Hiccup. He, then, sat in front of the door, wagging his tail and waited for his rider.

"O.K., Bud, I'm coming-" Hiccup stopped short before turning to Stoick. "Unless there's something else we have to talk about?"

Stoick rolled his eyes, "Go."

"Yes!" Hiccup and Toothless both ran to the door before racing out.

Stoick walked about to the door just in time to see Hiccup yell, "Come on Toothless! I bet I can run to the cliff before you do!"

Stoick chuckled at that, but then laughed a Viking belly-aching laugh at what he heard next; "Toothless! Put me down! Don't you dare drop me; I will cut off your fish supply! TOOTHLESS!"

The crowd roared, as the excitement and adrenaline rippled through the stands.

Another dragon race was happening, but this time there was a twist.

Hiccup was entering the game!

The Chief's strong and intelligent son with a legendary Night Fury! It would be an amazing match, a match they've wanted to see for a few years! Now it was happening, and the Vikings of Berk were never more excited.

However, not everyone was as excited.

Hiccup was glaring at the sky through the Dragon Training Area ceiling, while laying on his back on Toothless. Toothless was grumbling and ambling around - although careful not to make his rider fall off. The black dragon was just as upset that they weren't flying, but Hiccup needed to keep his promise and the end of his bargain. Which, of course, just made them both a little more irritable.

"Don't grumble, Toothless," Hiccup snapped, with no actual bite in his voice, "You agreed to this just as much as I did."

Like Hiccup, Toothless growled without any real anger.

"Well, Bud, I don't really want to be here either. So don't complain to me."

Toothless growled again, this time hitting Hiccup with his left ear.

"This is not my fault!"

Toothless hissed and made odd gurgle sounds at the back of his throat.

"I can't control that!"

During the entire "conversation", Astrid, Fishlegs and the rest of the gang were watching with bemused fascination. The teens were all painted with colorful paint on their face, clothing and dragons. Hiccup absolutely refused to wear any of it, and Toothless even more so. When someone even went near them with a bowl of paint, Toothless grabbed Hiccup with his teeth, dragged him off and knocked the bowl out of their hands with his tail in the process.

"Is it just me," Tuffnut whispered, "or do they remind you of-"

"Us?" Ruffnut finished.

Tuffnut nodded, as they watched the impressive pair start to wrestle.

"If he doesn't want to be here, then why is he?" Snotlout asked, almost nervously. He quickly realized his mistake though and added, "Not that it matters! Me and Hookfang will burn all you to the ground. Right, Hookfang?"

The dragon in question barely moved at the sound of his name.

Astrid ignored Snotlout grumbling - something that suspiciously like, "...stupid dragon..." - and replied to his earlier question.

"The Chief is making him. Something about responsibilities. Or, at least, that's what he told me; he didn't really explain."

"Because there's nothing to explain!"

Heads snapped back to Hiccup, who was now pinned down by Toothless. "My dad's just being stubborn!"

"Well, actually…" Fishlegs trailed off abruptly, seeing the identical green glares of both the dragon and human.

Before anyone else could talk, Gobber came limping in.

"You all ready?"

Everyone - except Hiccup and Toothless, of course - yelled with enthusiasm as they all climbed on their respective dragons.

Hiccup leaned into Toothless. "All we have to do, Toothless, is win this race and next week we'll be flying on our own."

Toothless perked his ears with excitement at the mention of him and Hiccup flying on their own, again. The Night Fury did not like to fly against other dragons. He did not have to prove himself to others - especially if those others were not Hiccup! Plus flying with Hiccup was Toothless' favorite thing to do. Well, the last couple of days weren't - watching his best friend fall through the sky was not something Toothless was comfortable with.

A new determination replaced former irritation for both rider and dragon as they flew to the starting place. They were going to win this, so they wouldn't have to win this again next week. (The irony was completely lost on them)

The crowd roared as they saw the teens flew closer. They screamed even louder as they saw a new dark figure amongst them. The black, predatory shape of a Night Fury landed softly on the ground in a crouch in between the Monstrous Nightmare and the Gronkle.

The flag was waved, and they all watched with shock as the crouched Night Fury turned into a black blur as it streaked across the island. Even the other riders froze in surprise before leaping off, as well. Nobody said anything, not even the Chief, as they watched sheep after sheep being piled into Hiccups net. The black blur was twisting and looping with impossible speed. People weren't even following the other riders any more; they were too caught up with following Toothless as they heard distant flaps of wings and a short cut off bleats from the sheep.

The other contestants just circled in almost trance-like circles around the village, and were just as entranced as the spectators. They were all too shocked to actually comprehend just how much they were losing.

They knew how great a dragon rider Hiccup was. The best in all of Berk, certainly. But they've never seen him and Toothless in an actual race of speed and agility before.

Everyone just stared at the black streak, still too shocked to move.

Soon, though, the silence was broken when Stoick nudged Gobber in the ribs.

"The black sheep, Gobber."

"Wha'?" Goober snapped out of his own daze as he looked at the Chief for a split second before looking back to the moving shadow.

"The black sheep?" Stoick repeated, also following Hiccup with concentration.

"Oh!" Gobber jumped with a subdued jolt of realization. He stomped his way to the catapult, barely registered the frightened bleats and he pulled the lever.

Just as soon as the sheep went up, it was enveloped into the dark shadow and dropped into the overflowing net of wool and bleats.

Everyone stared, mouths all wide open as the blur turned back into Hiccup and Toothless and landed onto the starting line. There was a moment of utter silence from the people, as Hiccup was staring calmly back at them. Then all Hel broke loose.

There was yelling - screeching, really - and jumping up and down on the stands. The Vikings of Berk were cat-calling and whistling for the Chiefs son. Up in the skies, the other teenagers were laughing with disbelief and even clapping appreciatively for their friend - even Snotlout.

Stoick was laughing with the people as well, feeling immensely proud of his son.

"HICCUP TAKES THE GAME!" Stoick bellowed, invoking even more cheering from Hiccup's new fans.

All through it, though, Hiccup just rolled his eyes (maybe even blushed a little) and sighed. Toothless looked back up at him with understanding. Both were thinking the same thing;

Can you believe we have to do this again in two weeks?

Authors Note:

Whew! What a ride or what!?

Yeah, so basically, Hiccup just KICKED ASS! God, I can't wait for tomorrow!

By the way - Hel is a Norse goddess. She is the Norse version of Hades, basically. (LOVE Greek Mythology!)

And I know that in the show, there was a race between Hiccup and Snotlout, but it didn't work well into it so I was just, like, nah! I hate when people forget facts like that, too, but it just works so well like this. :/ please forgive me!

So tell me what you think in the Review section below. I know it was a little jumbled, but there was just so many things I wanted to put in here!

It's too bad I don't have any ideas for my other stories - which I promise I am working on! ;)

PLEASE REVIEW!