Freedom in its Richest Form

Gobber, Meet Toothless(10)

I slowly turn around to see Toothless crouched in a defensive position. "Hiccup, what're you doing!? That's a Viking! He'll kill you!"

"No no no, it's okay, he's actually surprisingly cool with it!" I retort frantically, running up to Toothless.

"...Fine. But if he tries anything at all, he gets it," he says, straightening up and maintaining a suspicious glare.

I sigh in exasperation. "Thank you, even though I have no idea what it is."

Gobber clears his throat behind me. "So... I'm assuming this is the... talking to dragons thing you were tellin' me about." I nod. "...And this is the Toothless?" Another nod. "...Y'know, I thought he'd be bigger...more scary-lookin'," he says.

Toothless's eyes go comically big in shock. "More scary-looking!? Oh, I'll show you more scary-looking," he growls, stalking towards Gobber.

"Oh-For the love of- Gobber is not here to kill you, so would you stop trying to kill him!?" I shout, accidentally instigating a flash of fire to spread briefly up my arms a short ways from my hands. "Oops..."

"Sheesh, fine. No need to get so heated about it," he says, garnering a loud groan and facepalm from me and sending himself into a fit of laughter.

"What? What'd he say?" Gobber asks, looking thoroughly lost.

I give him a sidelong look. "You do not want to know."

"Well in any case, I did come here for a reason," he says. "Dragon, Hiccup needs to learn how to fight, and that's what we're gonna teach 'im."

Wait, what?

"Learn how to fight?" Toothless starts. "That should be instinct to him."

"What'd he say?" Gobber asks me. So now I'm a translator. Yippee. But I tell him anyways.

"Well, by the way he was movin' through the trees on the way here, I don't doubt it, but tell that to the gronkle that crushed 'im earlier," Gobber responds.

"Y-you were beaten by a-a gronkle!?" Toothless asks, to which I nod, and he bursts into hysterical laughter, dropping to the ground.

"Yeah, yeah, big bad night fury hybrid couldn't beat a gronkle, I get it. Can we proceed now?" I ask, ears flat against my head in annoyance.

"Okay, okay, I'm calm now," he says. "And I think I know what happened. You need to keep a clear head when you fight, and from what your large, bumbling friend is saying ("I have the distant feeling that I should be offended."), you were pretty panicked."

"Oh, that makes sense. Just don't panic when a two-ton dragon is barreling straight toward me," I say, sarcasm gushing from my voice.

"Well, it's not so much 'don't panic' as it is to stay focused. Whenever you have to fight, which you will, it's important to recognize your panic and put it to the side because it'll do nothing for you in the end," Toothless responds. "Fight like you run through the trees. Now tell your Viking friend to fight you."

"What!?"

"You heard me."

"No stance training or-or stretching? What about stretching?" I ask frantically.

"Stop stalling, Hiccup, all that stuff should come naturally. Just focus. Besides," he says, looking smug. "I believe in learning on the job."

I freeze. Talk about deja vu. Well, no getting out of it. I turn to Gobber. "He wants you to fight me."

Gobber looks a little unsure. "Ya sure about that, Dragon?" He asks, to which Toothless nods firmly. "Alrighty, then. HYAAAA!" He shouts, pulling out his axe hand from Thor knows where.

"Yah!" I yelp, shooting into the air.

"Come on, Hiccup! No wings. Get down here right now before I get you down. And focus!" Toothless shouts up, and I begrudgingly touch down, dissipating my wings once again.

I take in a deep breath and set my eyes on Gobber once again as he charges. Just like with the trees, my senses bring the world into a striking clarity, and everything seems to move in slow motion.

As Gobber approaches, I swiftly step to the side, removing his axe from his person as I do so and flinging it into the cove wall with such force that it becomes deeply lodged into the smooth rock.

We all stare. Gobber at his axe, Toothless at me, and me at my hands. "Welp," Gobber starts, "glad that problem's solved, but you owe me a new axe, laddie."

Hey! I can't believe I got another chapter up so fast. Love reviews and constructive criticism!

~Dj Z3nyth