Later that night at the forge, both Hiccup and Emily were starting to make the saddle for Toothless with Hiccup helping Emily with making her staff. Emily was able to design Hiccup's saddle drawing while adding some symbols on the side of it. Hiccup sewed it all together and lay it down as he admired his work before helping Emily with finishing the staff. They both admired their masterpiece before heading back to Hiccup's house for the night.
The next day, they both didn't have training and they eagerly got their stuff with something to eat for them and the dragons along with the saddle and staff and went to the cove. Hiccup eagerly showed Toothless the saddle as Emily let Optimus examine the staff.
Hiccup neared Toothless to put it on him but the Night Fury had other ideas and playfully ran away from him.
"Hey!" Hiccup exclaimed in surprise yet amusement as he chased after him.
The Viking teen chased the dragon around the cove while Emily was experimenting with the staff to see if it's not gonna break and it worked. She turned around just in time to see Hiccup caught up to Toothless who decided to let Hiccup put the saddle on him. Emily then took out the rope that she brought and gave it to Hiccup who thankfully smiled at her before tying it to the fin before getting on the saddle.
Hiccup tugged the rope a little and it caused the fin to open. Toothless took a running start and caused Hiccup to hold onto the saddle as Toothless then took off. Hiccup made sure to keep the tailfin open as they were gliding above the pond. It was a rocky start but the flight was fine as Emily and Optimus were flying beside them in case they fell down. Hiccup decided to make a turn and tugged on the rope only for Toothless to go hard right.
"Whoa!" Hiccup cried out in surprise.
Toothless was sent to the right while Hiccup was flying down to the pond but Emily was able to jump from Optimus' back and caught him as Optimus went after Toothless and caught him before he fell in the lake.
Later at the forge at night time, Emily suggested that he should build a harness to keep himself from falling from the saddle. Hiccup quickly got to work with Emily's help. He tested the loop and hook that he attached to the saddle and gave it a few tugs and smiled when it didn't come off.
"The flying gear will be done soon. I'm sure of it." Emily said as she was fixing something on her staff.
"I sure hope I don't fall on the water again." Hiccup grumbled.
"Don't jinx yourself, Hic." Emily told him with a grin which he returned
The two of them went to Hiccup's house that night to rest up but around midnight Hiccup woke up to Emily tossing and turning on her hammock. He became concerned and woke her up but she sat up screaming as she breathed heavily in cold sweat.
Hiccup asked if she was okay but she told him that she wasn't. She told him about her nightmare where she was being controlled by something and that she was scared that it might happen again even though she got over her fear. (AN: Go to A Spark's Life That Shines: Overcoming Darkness Chapter.)
Hiccup reassured her that she would be okay as she calmed down slightly. She apologized for waking him but he told her that it was no problem as they went back to sleep without any more interruptions.
The next day, they both got up early and ate breakfast before doing a small spar for Hiccup to get a little bit of muscle before they both went to the cove with the flying gear.
Hiccup put the harness on and put the saddle on Toothless as he was waiting excitedly as Emily strapped the prosthetic tail fin on his tail. Hiccup decided to tie the rope to his foot since he needs to hold onto the saddle. Emily climbed on Optimus' back as Hiccup climbed on the saddle.
The two dragons soon took off as Emily and Optimus flew a little closer to make sure they didn't get hurt. It was a rocky flight but it was going alright until Hiccup started having a hard time keeping the tailfin open. They were flying towards a grass patch of tall grass as Toothless crashed but it caused Hiccup to be unlatched from the saddle and was sent flying a few feet.
Emily had Optimus land before she jumped off and ran to where he was.
"You alright, Hiccup?" Emily asked as she checked him for injuries but was relieved to find none minus a small cut from the grass.
"I-I'm fine but we better check on Toothless to see if he's okay." Hiccup reassured her as they both went to where the dragons were before they heard something.
"You hear that?" Emily whispered as they crept closer.
The two walked through the glass before they stumbled upon a rather cute sight in front of hen. Toothless was rolling around in the grass while purring loudly like a kitten. Optimus seemed to have been affected by the grass as well as he was rubbing his body on it in contentment. The two teens couldn't contain themselves from laughing as they held their sides.
They eventually calm down and were able to get the two dragons away from the grass and back to the cove after Hiccup picked up a small handful of it while Emily was trying to comfort a rather sulking Stormcutter Predacon Prime from being caught in such a rather embarrassing matter.
The next day, the two and the other teens are against the Gronckle while Hiccup looks at the grass that he still has. Emily was just standing beside him with a shield and no weapons while she and Hiccup look up just in time to see the Gronckle take someone out before making a bee-line towards the two. Emily raised the shield a little while Hiccup quickly held out his hand with the grass in front of him.
The Gronckle got a few whiff of the scent when it skidded to a halt and its eyes became like the ones with Toothless. Emily nudged Hiccup who smiled and rubbed the grass on its nose as it let out a content and happy sound while falling to the side while wagging its tail.
He and Emily high five each other at the strategy that they came up with on not to hurt the dragons when training was over. While the two were walking back to the village talking about some stuff about what they need to do, the two started to get a little famous from their achievement mostly Hiccup as he was being bombarded with questions from the other teens while Emily made sure to keep an eye on them but mostly Astrid.
"What was that? Some kind of trick? What did you do?" Fishlegs question excitedly.
"How'd you do that?" Tuffnut asked curiously.
"It was really cool." Ruffnut said.
"Hey, Hiccup!" Fishlegs said as he tried to get his attention.
"Hey, Hiccup, Winters, I've never seen a Gronckle do that before!" Snotlout said as he wanted an explanation.
Hiccup tried to come up with an excuse so he and Emily could get back to the forge but thankfully the platinum blonde helped him out as she grabbed his hand and started to lead him away.
"We left our weapons back in the ring. You guys go on ahead. We'll catch up with you." Emily said as she let his hand go.
They almost bumped into Astrid but they quickly avoided her and they started to head in the direction of the arena while making a long way to get to the forge while missing the suspicious glare Astrid was sending their way.
The two returned to the cove to spend the day with their two scaly friends. Toothless was happy to see his human as he bounded up to him and made Hiccup laugh and patted him on the head before moving his hand behind Toothless' frill-like ears and scratching him there and getting a purr from the Night Fury.
He started to scratch him more and was earning loud and content purrs from Toothless and Emily saw that after cleaning Optimus' scales and couldn't help but comment that Toothless is like a cat.
Hiccup was about to ask her what a cat is when he suddenly scratched a particular spot under Toothless' chin and it quickly put the Night Fury to sleep with content purrs. Emily thought about this before giving Optimus a scratch under the chin which caught him by surprise but he couldn't help but purr before she was scratching the same spot somewhere behind his frills that he was instantly knocked out with a purr.
The two teens burst out laughing at this as Emily giggled while trying to wake Optimus up with head rubs which only made him purr more in content. The two talked about their training with the Nadder the next day and Emily suggested that he should use the same trick as well. The two dragons woke up when it was sunset as Emily just pets Optimus on the head to keep him from sulking before she and Hiccup went back to the village.
The next day, the two arrived at the arena as Emily was out with the rest of the teens and only Hiccup and Astrid remained. Astrid threw her axe at the Nadder but the dragon just blocked it with its horn on the nose. Astrid quickly got out of the way as the Nadder made a bee-line towards Hiccup. He quickly dropped the weapon he was holding and backed away a little as the Nadder stopped and looked at him curiously.
They both soon heard a war cry and saw that Astrid was charging right for the Nadder with her axe raised. Emily panicked and whistled for him to do the trick now to which he did as he started to scratch the Nadderon the neck as it froze up in surprise but started to relax and instantly fell asleep when Hiccup scratched the particular spot.
Astrid stopped a few yards from them as she stared at the dragon and Hiccup with a dumbfounded look. It was night time and the two were heading to the Great Hall to eat at their usual table but almost instantly after they sat down, everyone started to gather around them asking and talking about some stuff.
Astrid watched them as she was seething with anger and jealousy from Hiccup and Winters beating her at training. She slammed the mug on the table in frustration with a huff and left the hall while Emily watched her from the corner of her eye.
The next day, Hiccup and Emily started to spar again before they went to the cove and surprisingly, Hiccup was a fast learner. They then went to the cove with Hiccup bringing his toolkit. Emily was helping Hiccup with making modifications on the flying gear before she noticed something that made her grin. Hiccup was busy tightening a loose screw on tailfin before Emily interrupted him. He looked at her in confusion before he followed where she was pointing and saw that Toothless was trying to reach for the dot of light.
Emily pointed to his hammer and he suddenly got an idea. He moved behind the rock and started to move the hammer and made the dot of light move and Toothless started to chase it. But when Toothless realized that Hiccup is playing him, he got a rather slobbery shower from the resident Night Fury which made Emily laugh until she fell backwards as Optimus helped her up but he couldn't help but made a rumbling sound like a chuckle.
The next day at the arena, the teens were all lined in front of the cage as Gobber started to let the dragon out.
"Meet the Terrible Terror." Gobber announced.
The beams of the gate were rising open before they noticed that what looked like a panel was swinging back and forth and in front of them was the Terrible Terror. Emily expected that the dragon was gonna be like the others but the size of the dragon was the same size as a chihuahua. The teens laugh at the tiny dragon as Tuffnut made fun of its size.
"Ha! That's like the size of my-" Tuffnut laughed but was cut off when the dragon jumped on his face and started to chew his nose off.
The other teens could only watch as Emily tried so hard not to laugh with Hiccup.
"Now we know why it's called the Terrible Terror." Emily said quietly as he nodded.
"AH! GET IT OFF!" Tuffnut screamed in pain.
As much as Hiccup and Emily enjoyed this, they knew they had to stop the dragon before it hurts Tuffnut even more. Emily took out a mirror that she had hidden in her pouch and angled it against the sunlight. The Terrible Terror saw the dot of light and quickly got off Tuffnut's face and started to chase it, leaving the male Thorston twin holding his nose in pain.
"OH, I'M HURT! I AM VERY MUCH HURT!" Tuffnut screamed.
Emily lured the Terrible Terror back to its cage as it stopped by the slot before looking at Emily who offered a smile before it scampered inside and Hiccup put his foot against it to keep it close.
"Wow, she's better than you ever were." Tuffnut said as he and the other teens watched that but Astrid sent him a glare while Emily and Hiccup looked at them sheepishly.
Later that afternoon in the forest, Astrid was throwing her axe against some trees to relieve some frustration and anger. She took it off another tree and was about to throw it at another before she stopped and was surprised to see Hiccup holding a harness and Emily holding a rather strange looking staff. The three of them were staring at each other before Emily quickly grabbed Hiccup's hand and started to run.
Astrid decided to follow him to see how he was so good at training with Winters. The two teens rounded a boulder and Astrid quickly got on top of it and looked over it to see where they had gone but didn't spot the two anywhere. She slammed her fist against the boulder before going back to the village.
Unknown to her, Emily was using the mirror she had to watch Astrid before they both sigh in relief since they were hiding behind the boulder. They quickly make their way to the cove while talking about it and quickly get to work on strapping the saddle on Toothless as Emily was putting on some type of dragon scale armor from Optimus' scales.
"That was way too close for comfort." Hiccup said
"You can say that again. If she finds out, we're both in big trouble once your dad gets back from his time at the seas." Emily said as she finished putting on her armor flight suit.
"Don't remind me..." Hiccup groaned.
They got out of the cove together and went to the cliffside where Emily finished listing down the flying gear that she has on the list and all that was left was the test flight.
She tied a rope to the harness and gave it a few tugs before giving him a thumbs up while he hopped on. Emily quickly went to the side where Optimus is as the wind started to pick up. Hiccup moved the stirrup and looked up back as Toothless spread his wings while the tailfin opened and they looked like a giant kite. Hiccup pushed it down and the tailfin made Toothless land while he wrote a note on it. The wind suddenly picked up but it got stronger causing the rope to snap and sending both rider and dragon in the forest while they screamed and roared in surprise.
Emily and Optimus quickly went after them to see if they're okay. Toothless rolled back over but he somehow caused Hiccup to get dragged with him and made him cry out in surprise. Emily quickly checked what's wrong and saw the problem as she gave the rope a few tugs but he's stuck.
"You're as good as stuck." Emily said as she tried to pull on it only to get sent flying to Optimus who caught her with his wings as she groaned in discomfort.
"Oh, great. That means we'll have to sneak Toothless back to the village. But what about Optimus?" Hiccup asked in concern as Emily stood up and looked at the Stormcutter Predacon.
"He'll have to stay in the cove for now though. Is that okay with you?" Emily said as she turned to Optimus who nudged her hand as an okay.
By the time they got back to the village, it was already night time. They made sure to stay in the shadows. Hiccup noticed a viking was patrolling and quickly ushered Toothless to stay hidden as he leaned against the house to act casually as Emily was pretending to check her staff.
"Kids." The Viking noticed the two and greeted the two with a nod.
Emily greeted back with a nod while not taking her eyes off her staff while Hiccup waved with a smile. They waited until the Viking left their line of sight before sighing in relief. Toothless came out who was curious about the village but Hiccup tugged on the rope as he led the dragon to the forge with Emily behind them to make sure they weren't followed.
While entering the forge, Toothless spotted a bucket and sticks his head into it, thinking there was fish in it but there wasn't and throws it to the side and making noises and it caused Hiccup to winced while Emily stiffened as she gestured for Toothless to be quiet.
Unknown to them, Astrid was just heading home when she heard the commotion in the forge and went to check it out. Hiccup was searching through the forge while Emily was on the lookout. Hiccup finally found what he was looking for and started to unlatch himself from the saddle. Emily sensed that someone was approaching and shook her staff and it made some rattling sounds as Hiccup stiffened at this before the voice of his former crush was heard.
"Hiccup? Are you in there?" Astrid called out.
Emily looked at Hiccup who looked scared out of his wits. She quickly jumps down from where she's hiding and in front of Astrid to give him some time to get himself unstuck.
"Astrid." Emily greeted him while holding her staff.
The other blonde jumped in surprise by her sudden appearance but calmed but looked at Emily's clothes in confusion. Was Winters wearing clothes made out of dragon scales?
"Where's Hiccup, Winters?" Astrid questioned but Emily just gave her a blank stare.
"Why do you care what Hiccup is doing all of a sudden?" Emily asked her sternly and this caused Astrid to step back in surprise and caused Emily to scoff.
"First; you didn't care about him when he was bullied, second; you hurt him more than what I've been through and lastly; you suddenly started caring about what he's doing." Emily told her as Astrid's eyes widened at that but she shook her head and leveled her eyes in suspicion.
"I normally don't care what people do, but you and Hiccup are acting weird. Well, weirder." Astrid said
"Me and Hiccup being weird? Weren't we ever weird before dragon training even started?" Emily asked as Astrid sputtered in surprise and her eyes widened when she saw Emily's eyes start to glow a little brighter.
"I... I... I..." Astrid stammered before huffing and stomped off while fuming from what happened.
Emily watched her leave before sighing as Hiccup and Toothless peeked from the door. Emily looked at them as she shrugged.
"Never seen Astrid get that speechless before. Ever." Hiccup said as he came out and stood beside her.
"I've experienced something like this before and you don't wanna know." Emily told him as he nodded.
"Let's get Toothless back to the cove before morning arrives and I'm having a feeling that your Dad will be back too." Emily noticed the slight nervous tone in his tone and she put an arm around him in comfort.
They'll get through it together eventually.