Chapter 17: Dragon training part 3

The gang were gathered on a cliff near the sea shore on the opposite side of the island. They were all standing with their Dragons by their side. After spending the whole yesterday having fun, Hiccup had gathered them up for one last training session. The twins did cause some trouble but it wasn't much of a big deal while Snotlout had his backside burned by Hookfang at some certain occasions. Hiccup was standing in front of them with Toothless by his side.

"I hope you all had a good time yesterday." Hiccup began "Now today, you're all going to receive your final training."

"Wait what?" Astrid asked in shock.

"Today is your final training. You all have learnt everything you would need to become a Dragon rider. And after this one last training you will be completely ready." Hiccup said.

The gang cheered at this.

"So what's today's training?" Ruffnut excitedly asked.

Hiccup smiled and said,"It's what I call the 'Trust training'. In this you have to freefall from your Dragon in high altitude and have to trust your Dragon to catch you before you fall."

"What!?" They exclaimed.

"You heard me." Hiccup replied calmly, "From what I had seen, the problem most of the people face in flying with their Dragons is mostly because deep inside - they still didn't trust their Dragon." Hiccup took a deep breath and continued "So I want you to freefall, and then your dragon will catch you. This trust Exercise is important to deepen the bond you have with your dragon, and your dragon with you." He then pointed to the gang, "And while you all have been doing great flying with your dragons, doing this exercise wouldn't hurt." He then addressed them all seriously, "Besides, it's better for you to train your heart with freefalling here in a controlled situation, instead of falling in an uncontrolled situation like in a war or dangerous storm."

"Well, it sure would be scary to fall in a fight like that if we haven't experienced any fall yet." Astrid said in agreement "After all, if we haven't experienced what falling from our dragon's back is like, then we wouldn't be able to think clearly when we fell off later on." She mused.

She looked at Hiccup and said,"Alright I will try it.

"I guess that's true." Fishlegs said in agreement.

Slowly, but surely they all agreed to try. Hiccup gave them a demonstration. He flew up high with Toothless and slipped down from the saddle. As he was falling, Toothless chased behind him and soon caught up with him as he positioned himself under his rider with his back facing the said human. Hiccup grabbed onto the saddle and pulled himself back on Toothless as they flew back to the gang.

Astrid was the first to go. She flew up high with Stormfly, before jumping off of Stormfly's back. It seemed that Stormfly didn't get any warning, since she squawked in surprise, before diving to catch Astrid with her feet. Then, with an impressive manoeuvre, she threw Astrid up while making a loop, as Astrid managed to get on her back.

"Wow, that was one crazy move." Astrid exclaimed as she took deep breaths to calm her nerves as she and Stormfly flew back towards the gang.

"That was awesome, Astrid!" Ruffnut exclaimed in awe.

"Thanks. I was surprised when Stormfly suddenly threw me like that, but I knew that she wasn't going to let me get harmed in any way." Astrid said as her breathing became normal.

"And that's the trust." Hiccup said with a smug smirk "If you didn't trust Stormfly then you would've doubted her actions by now. But instead you knew that she didn't want to harm you".

Astrid heard all that in awe. Although she did trust Stormfly with her life, She was surprised to hear that, since she didn't think about it that way. She thought that Stormfly did it only so that she could get to Stormfly's back again.

Snotlout, hearing all this, immediately pulled Hookfang to fly higher. Then, when he thought that it was high enough, he slid off of Hookfang's back. Unfortunately for him, Hookfang was distracted because he happened to see some female Monstrous Nightmare flying nearby that time, so he wasn't aware that Snotlout wasn't on his back anymore.

"NOT FEELING THE TRUST!" Snotlout yelled out in fear when he saw that Hookfang wasn't coming for him.

Hearing Snotlout cry out snapped Hookfang's attention to the falling man, and he immediately dove to catch him and then slowly approached the group of Riders. Hookfang dropped him on the ground.

"Not feeling the trust." Snotlout repeated his words as he glared at Hiccup as he got back on his feet.

"Idiot." Toothless snorted at the Viking.

"Snotlout ..." Hiccup began as he sighed and made a calm down motion with his hand "You need to understand that Hookfang is easily distracted, just like you, when he is relaxing, you need to warn him first before you free falling, or he would become distracted by the time you slid off, like just now." He told his cousin gently "Beside to trust your Dragon, you also need to understand your Dragon. Hookfang is what you would say scatterbrained for a human. Sorry, Hookfang, but it's the truth." He added the last part since Hookfang was growling at him, making the Dragon huffed in defeat.

"He's scatterbrained, so he's easily distracted." Hiccup continued "In a bad situation, he would be on guard since anything could happen, thus he would be aware if you happen to fall off of his back. When he's relaxing like now though, you need to warn him before doing something, or else he might get distracted by something else".

"I see." Snotlout mumbled as his glare lessened as he looked down at Hookfang "Sorry for not realising that, Hookfang." He whispered to his dragon, since he was embarrassed to say it out loud.

Hookfang purred in response. After the incident with Snotlout, the rest of the Trust Exercise went well. The gang had deepened their bond with their Dragons. Toothless was proud of his human brother, and he made sure that Hiccup knew it by purring while giving his human his famous gummy smile. Hiccup grinned back at him, happiness and hope shining in his eyes.

(Some time later)

Astrid was playing fetch with Stormfly near the stream behind Hiccup's house. She threw the tree branch she was using to play with Stormfly as far as she could. Stormfly soon chased behind the tree branch which had seemingly disappeared from the view. Astrid smirked as she saw Stormfly trying to find it.

"Hey Astrid!" Someone called her.

Astrid looked at her side and saw it was Hiccup.

"Hey Hiccup." She greeted him as he approached her.

"Hey, I was wondering... would-would you like to go out with me?" Hiccup shyly asked her.

Astrid was stunned for a moment as she couldn't believe that her crush was asking her out.

"Is it a date?" She asked.

"Wha- no no, I mean yes, I mean- Ugh" Hiccup groaned as he struggled to form a sentence.

Astrid chuckled at this and said,"I would love to."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Where are we going?"

Hiccup smiled and said,"That's...a surprise. Be ready around noon. I will take you to the place."

And with that Hiccup left that place, leaving Astrid curious about the upcoming date.