The next day and after a rather awkward conversation last night with Stoick, the two were at the arena for the final day where Gothi chooses who will fight the Monstrous Nightmare tomorrow.
They were against the Gronckle again and quickly went to take cover. Emily purposely made sure that she was out by getting hit by the Gronckle as she looked towards Hiccup who was nervous as heck while wearing the helmet his dad gave him last night.
Astrid had rolled over to where Hiccup was hiding and he tried to move away from her but she stopped him by pushing his shield down and glared at him.
"Stay out of my way! I'm winning this thing." Astrid warned him and Hiccup just gulped.
"Good. Please, by all means." Hiccup muttered quietly as he watched her leave much to his comfort.
He then stood up and looked up to see his dad watching him with a proud smile. He fixed the helmet on his head and forced out a smile but it only faltered. He saw Emily standing to the side who gave him an encouraging nod as he nodded back. He turned around as the Gronckle was flying towards him.
Astrid followed it from behind as she rolled from wall to wall as she was determined to get the honor. She was not gonna let that screw up and runt of the village tale her victory on the final exam tomorrow. Not even Winters would stop her.
"This time! This time, for sure!" Astrid told herself.
She then charged towards the Gronckle with a battle cry and an axe ready to be swung but what she saw was something that shocked her to the core. No! It was supposed to be her! It was supposed to be her victory! Not the runt!
Hiccup was standing just beside the already down Gronckle as he nervously gestured her towards it but her anger just got the best of her as she started to curse while swinging her axe around in anger.
"NO! NO! SON OF HALF-TROLL, RAT-EATING MUNGE BUCKET!" Astrid yelled out loudly in frustration as Emily just looked at her in confusion.
"She could beat a sailor with a mouth like hers." Emily whispered as Hiccup nodded.
"Wait! Wait!" Stoick called out.
Hiccup quickly thought of a way to get away and tried to walk away with Emily but was stopped by Gobber.
"So, later." Hiccup said.
"Not so fast, you two!" Gobber told the two as he caught them and put them back down.
"We're kinda late for-" Hiccup said as he was getting nervous but was cut off by a rather furious Astrid who put her axe against his throat threateningly.
"What?! Late for what, exactly?!" Astrid furiously asked him and he could hardly speak.
"Hey, back off, Hofferson! Leave him alone!" Emily decided to step in and pushed the back towards Astrid who was startled by that.
Emily glared at her dangerously while Hiccup hid behind her as he glanced around nervously to see the reaction of the villagers and saw they were all just stunned by that. Emily huffed and stood beside Hiccup to act as a barrier between him and Astrid.
"Anyway. Okay, quiet down. The Elder has decided." Stoick announced as the elder, Gothi, came forth.
It was an intense silence as Astrid stood up straight in a proud stance as Gobber pointed to her first but Gothi shook her head. Gobber then hesitantly pointed down towards Hiccup, who was praying desperately to any gods out there to not get picked as Gobber gave Gothi a 'are you sure' look. But sadly Hiccup's prayers were unanswered as the elder nodded towards Hiccup and the whole arena burst into cheers and Hiccup had to hide his face on Emily's arm since Astrid was sending him a death glare.
"You've done it! You've done it, Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" Gobber cheered happily as Hiccup eyed Astrid in slight fear.
Emily just stood there in shock and worry that Hiccup was chosen to kill the Monstrous Nightmare tomorrow. The teens came to Hiccup and picked him up as they all cheered but Hiccup was feeling sick to his stomach as he pretended to be excited.
"Ha, ha! That's my boy!" Stoick said proudly. Those were the words that Hiccup has always wanted to hear.
"Heh. Oh, yeah! Yes! I can't wait. I am so..." Hiccup trailed off sarcastically as his words faded as he was practically carried out of the arena and left both blonde girls.
Astrid was really furious that she threw her axe at Emily who dodged it quickly. Everyone around the arena was shocked at this. What in Thor's name is Astrid thinking?!
Astrid approached Emily as she punched her but the other blonde just caught her fist.
"Really, Hofferson? This fury and hate over just a loss?" Emily asked with stern eyes.
"It's not just a loss. It was supposed to be my victory and my win." Astrid told her in a dangerous tone and pulled her other fist back to punch Emily but someone intercepted the punch.
Everyone gasped in shock as Emily's eyes widened at this while Astrid stood frozen. Hiccup had intercepted the punch and his cheek was bruised from the force of the punch.
"Let's just go, Emily." Hiccup told her quietly as tears threatened to fall.
Emily just blinked but nodded as she escorted Hiccup out of the arena while putting her arms around the teen when he was about to collapse from crying. Everyone started to leave the arena and left Astrid to process what happened.
After calming Hiccup down from his breakdown, Hiccup told her that they're leaving Berk. She just nodded and started to help him pack but she had to ask before they left for the cove.
"Why?" She asked him suddenly.
"Hmm?" Hiccup hummed while putting his clothes in the basket.
"Why did you take the punch for me, Hic?" Emily asked again.
"I... I don't know honestly..." Hiccup answered. He didn't know why. Why did he take the punch for Emily?
He shook his head before telling her to not talk about it but the truth is he can't just let Astrid hurt someone he deeply cared for as a sister.
They both left the house and quickly made their way to the cove but they didn't notice that someone was there to confront them about the little trick they did at the arena.
"LEAVING! We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like the four of us are taking a little vacation, forever." Hiccup calls out to the dragons as Emily fixes her armor and checks if everything is on as she helped Hiccup put his things down.
"Ah, man..." He sighed and checked his basket to see if everything that he had was there while fixing his harness.
He happened to look up and was startled to see Astrid sitting there with a rock and using it to sharpen her axe.
"Aggh! What the- What are you doing here?" Hiccup quickly composed himself but was still scared since the punch she did still hurts even though Emily covered it up.
"I want to know what's going on." Astrid said before dropping the stone she had before she jumped down from the rock and started to advance to Hiccup for answers while he was looking around nervously as Emily stood between them with her staff.
"No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking! Are you training with someone?" Astrid started to interrogate as Hiccup became more nervous than ever.
"Uh... training?" Hiccup said nervously while glancing around.
"Like with Winters?" Astrid pointed out.
"E-Emily?" Hiccup asked nervously.
"What's wrong with the two of us training together?" Emily countered back.
"It better not involve this!" Astrid said as she yanked on Emily's dragon scale flight armor/clothes.
"I know this looks really bad, but you see... this is, uh..." Hiccup stammered but Astrid pushed him down when she heard some rustling and started to go to it.
Hiccup quickly got up to stop her from finding out about their two dragons.
"You're right! You're right! You're right. I'm through with the lies. We've been making... outfits. So, you got us. It's time everyone knew." Hiccup said as he tried to stop her by grabbing her arm.
"Drag me back. Go ahead. Here we go." Hiccup said but this only made Astrid angrier as she bent his arm back and Emily could hear an audible crack from his arm as he yelped in pain while forcing him down to the ground.
"OW! Why would you DO that?!" Hiccup winced while he was having enough of her hurting him as he tried to stand up but Astrid kicked him back down as he cried out in pain.
"That's for the lies." Astrid seethed before dropping the handle of her axe on his gut and hit him on the leg with a swift kick as he cried out in more pain.
"And THAT'S for everything else." Astrid said.
"Astrid Hofferson, I've just had enough of you!" Emily said as she tackled Astrid suddenly to start to fight back as they wrestle against each other.
"Oh, man." Hiccup groaned in pain as he sat up while holding his stomach.
Astrid kicked Emily off her, who was taken by surprise before something caught her eye and gasped in shock.
"Get down!" Astrid said while tackling Hiccup to the ground which caused him more pain.
Toothless, who has heard his precious human in pain, got protective that Optimus had to hold him back but the Night Fury got out of his grip and charged towards Astrid with intent to make her pay as Optimus tried to stop him.
"RUN! RUN!" Astrid yells for the two to run as the two dragons approach. She readies her axe to swing at the dragons.
"NO!" Hiccup cried out quickly and quickly ignored his body aching as he pushed the axe from her while Emily threw it at the tree as Optimus quickly grabbed Toothless like a kitten who struggled to get towards the girl that hurt Hiccup.
"No. It's okay! It's okay... she's a friend. It's okay." Hiccup told Toothless in a calming matter before he winced slightly.
Astrid just stared in shock as Emily picked up her staff while looking at her with a stern look as the two dragons just stared at the newcomer.
"I won't be calling her a friend after she gave you those new bruises." Emily told him.
"Don't remind me." Hiccup told her as he turned to Astrid.
"You just scared them." Hiccup said as Astrid was still in shock.
"I scared them?! Who is 'them'?" Astrid asked in confusion and betrayal. So much for keeping the dragons a secret.
"Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid." Hiccup introduced as Optimus set Toothless down.
"Astrid, meet Optimus. Optimus, meet Astrid." Emily blankly introduced while Toothless snarled at Astrid in warning.
Astrid glared at the two with a look that spells trouble and runs away to expose the two while they know they are so screwed.
"Da, da-da! We're dead!" Hiccup said sarcastically while watching the blonde leave.
Toothless just shrugs before leaving as the trio turn to him in surprise.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you think you're going?!" Hiccup asked the Night Fury.
Emily sighs and tells him to get on Toothless as she got on Optimus and the two dragons took off to chase after Astrid before she exposed them both.
The two quickly caught up to Astrid as Optimus caught her by the arm just as she jumped over a fallen tree and for most part, she started to scream in panic when she saw how high she was.
"AH! Oh, Great Odin's ghost! Oh, this is it!" Astrid exclaimed in panic and let out a terrified scream which made Hiccup and Toothless cringe at the shrill scream as Emily just rolled her eyes at the teen while mumbling something under her breath and Optimus looked like he wanted to get his ears fixed.
They reached a tall pine tree and Optimus dropped her on a branch and Toothless perched on the top, causing it to bend forward while Astrid held on for dear life before leveling her angry and terrified eyes at both Hiccup and Emily.
"Hiccup, Emily, both of you get me down from here!" Astrid demanded as Emily raised an eyebrow.
"I prefer if you think twice about that choice, Hofferson." Emily told her while Optimus warbled at her gently.
"You have to give us a chance to explain." Hiccup pleaded for her to cooperate but Astrid wasn't having none of it.
"I am not listening to ANYTHING you both have to say!" Astrid told him angrily while inching carefully to try and grabbed onto another branch to get.
"Then me and Emily won't speak. Just let me show you. Please, Astrid." Hiccup said as he looked at her pleadingly.
Astrid weighed her options and decided against it. She lifted herself up on the branch carefully and inched a little to the saddle but stopped when Toothless moved away from her slightly with a warning growl.
Hiccup offered his hand for her to hold on but she just swat it away and hoisted herself on the saddle hesitantly before looking down to the ground below as Optimus was hovering beside them.
"Now, get me down." Astrid said as she was slightly calming down.
"Toothless, down. Gently." Hiccup said as he wanted to make sure that gets down unharmed.
Toothless snorted while spreading his wings.
"See? Nothing to be afraid of." Hiccup reassured back to Astrid and missed the mischievous look on Toothless' face which Optimus and Emily quickly recognized as the one Miko would have.
With the help of the tree, Toothless was launched up to the sky with a screaming Astrid behind Hiccup who was holding onto the saddle as Optimus followed behind.
"Hope Astrid keeps her lunch in her stomach." Emily joked and held onto Optimus with her staff.
"WHOA!!! TOOTHLESS!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! BAD DRAGON!!!" Hiccup scolded over the wind as Astrid had to grab onto him so she wouldn't fall off the saddle.
"He's not usually like this." Hiccup tried to reassure Astrid and look to the side when Optimus and Emily flew past them to the clouds before Toothless suddenly folded his wings.
"Oh, no..." Hiccup can only say as Astrid let out another scream of fright.
"Toothless, what are you doing?! We need her to like us." Hiccup pleaded with Toothless after giving him and Astrid an unnecessary bath before he started to spin and made Astrid cry out in fear.
"And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile." Hiccup deadpan as he gave up on trying to make Toothless stop but Toothless isn't stopping until he gets Astrid to apologize for hurting Hiccup and Emily as he dove back down while spinning.
"Okay! I am sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off of this thing!" Astrid said in a scared voice while burying her face on Hiccup's back.
Finally getting the apology from the other blonde teen, Toothless stopped his aerial stunts and folded his wings and started a smooth and gentle flight. He then flew up into the clouds and met up with Emily and Optimus as Hiccup smiled at the sight before him as Optimus flew close to them as Emily smiled at him to which he returned.
Astrid opened her eyes slowly when she was feeling the wind blowing against her face and hair gently before she saw that they were surrounded by clouds high above the sky. She relaxed a little before lifting one of her hands towards the clouds and started to smile in wonder at the feeling of the clouds. Hiccup and Emily and Astrid as well as the dragons were enjoying themselves from the flight as Astrid lifted both of her hands towards the clouds to reach it.
They then flew through the clouds and were now flying through the night sky and it was lit up with stars and the Northern Lights. Emily smiled in wonder and amazement while relaxing on Optimus' back who purred at her gratitude for liking the sight. A cloud layer soon passed them and they were taken back in awe at the sight before them. Seeing Berk on the back of a dragon was breathtaking as the sight was just so beautiful. Astrid fully relaxed while wrapping her arms around Hiccup's torso gently and rested her chin on his shoulder.
Hiccup was taken by surprise at that and just couldn't help but smile a little as Emily just gave him a comforting smile while they enjoyed the moment.