desperate."

"This has got to be a first," drawled Fishlegs, "but

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[Image: paper bit]

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[ KING DRAGONSand THEIR EGGS

THE MONSTROUS NIGHTMARE

' The Monstrous Nightmare is the largest and most terrifying ofthe domestic

dragons. Dazzling flyers, magnificent hunters, and fearsome fighters, they can be wild and difficult to train. By unofficial viking Law, only a chief or the son 0f a chief can own one.

STATISTICS

COLORS: Emerald green, brilliant scarlet, deepest purple.

ARMED WITH: Scary fangs, extra-extendable claws 9

DEFENSES:

Nightmares don't need defenses... 2

RADAR: None 0

POISON: Bite is slightly poisonous 3 HUNTING ABILITY: Amazing to watch 10

SPEED: Fast 7

FEAR AND FIGHT FACTOR:

Very, very scary 10]

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I'm with Gobber the Belch on this one. Why don't you just yell a bit louder?"

Hiccup ignored him.

"Okay, Toothless," said Hiccup to the little dragon, who was pretending to be asleep as he held on to Hiccup's leg. "For every, fish you catch me I will give you two more lobsters when you get home."

Toothless opened his eyes. "A-a-alive?" he said eagerly. "C'C-can Toothless kill them? P-p-please? Just this once?"

"No, Toothless," said Hiccup, firmly, "I keep on telling you, itisn't kind to torture creatures smaller than yourself."

Toothless closed his eyes again. "You're so b-b-boring," he said sulkily.

"You're such a clever, quick dragon, Toothless," Hiccup flattered, "I bet you could catch more fish than any of tie others on Thor'siiay. Thurshday if you wanted to."

Toothless opened his eyes to consider the matter. "T-t-twice as many," he said modestly. "But I don't w-w-want to."

This was unanswerable. Hiccup crossed

VANITY off his list.

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"You know that big red. Fireworm dragon who was so rude to you?" said Hiccup.

Toothless spat on the ground in indignation. "S-s-said I was a newt with wings. S-s-said I was an incontinent bunny r-r-rabbit. T-t-toothless going to T-t-toothless going to k-k-kiol her. Toothless going to s-s-scratch her to death. T-t-toothless going to --"

"Yes, yes,"said Hiccup hastily. "That Fire-woriji dragon and her master who looks like a pig think that Fireworm is going to catch more fish thatn anybody else at the Thor'sday Thursday celebrations. Think how stupid they are going to look if YOU win tie prize for Most Promising Dragon instead of her."

Toothless got off Hiccup's leg. "I W-W-WILL think about that," said Toothless. He waddled off a couple of feet and thought about it.

Five minutes later he was still thinking. He let out the odd chuckle every now and then, but every time Hiccup said, "So, how about it, then?" he just replied, "S-s-still thinking. Go away."

With a sigh, Hiccup put a line through REVENGE.

"Okay," said Fishlegs, looking over Hiccup's shoulder. "You've tried everything else. How about

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JOKES AND RIDDLING TALK? I assume you're desperate."

"Toothless," said Hiccup, "If you catch me a nice big mackerel you will be the cleverest, fastest dragon on Berk AND you will make that Fireworm dragon look like an idiot AND you will have all tie lobsters you can eat when we get horne AND I will tell you a really good joke."

Toothless turned around. "T-t-toothless loves jokes." He flapped on to Hiccup's arm again. "All right. Toothless helf you. B-b-but NOT because me being n-n-nice or anything yucky. ..."

"No, no," said Hiccup. "Of course not."

"Us d-d-dragons cruel and. mean. But we do love a j-j-joke. Tell me NOW."

Hiccup laughed. "No way.

AFTER you bring me a mackerel."

"Okay then," said Toothless. He jumped off Hiccup's arm into the air.

A dragon hunting is a very impressive sight, even a scrawny infant one like Toothless. He flew across the beach in his usual untidy, lopsided fashion, shrieking a few insults along the way at any cormorants that looked smaller than him. But as soon as he reached the

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sea, Toothless seemed to grow up a bit. The sea-salt awoke in him some ancestral memory of the great pedigree hunting monsters that were his forefathers. He spread out his wings like a kite and flew fairly swiftly over the surface of the choppy waves, keeping his body and wings steady as he searched for the movement of fish. He spotted something, and soared upward in circles until he was so high that Hiccup, craning his neck backward on the beach, could only just see him as a tiny speck. The speck was motionless for a second, and then Toothless dived, his wings folded by his sides, dropping like a stone out of the sky.

He disappeared into the water and was gone for quite a while. Dragons can stay under water for at least five minutes, if they want to, and Toothless got quite distracted under there, chasing one fish and then another, unable to decide which was the biggest.

Hiccup had gotten bored and was looking for oysters when Toothless came bursting triumphantly out of the sea carrying a small mackerel.

He dropped the mackerel at Hiccup's feet, did three somersaults in a row, and landed on Hiccup's head. He let out the dragon's cry of triumph, which is a bit like a rooster

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crowing but a lot louder and more self-satisfied.

Then he leaned over and stared into Hiccup's eyes, upside down.

"Now t-t-tell me a joke," said Toothless.

"Whimpering Wodens," said Hiccup. "He did it. He really did it."

"T-t-tell me a,JOKE," said Toothless again.

"What's black and white and red all over?" asked Hiccup.

Toothless didn't know.

"A sunburned penguin," replied Hiccup.

It was a very, very old joke, but apparently it hadn't made it to Wild Dragon Cliff. Toothless thought it was hysterically funny.

He flew off to catch more fish so he could hear more jokes.

It was an enjoyable afternoon. The rain stopped, the sun shone, and Toothless didn't do too badly at all with the hunting. He dropped a few fish and, at one point, wandered off entirely to chase rabbits on the clifftops. But he came back when Hiccup called, eventually, and by the end of a couple of hours he had caught six medium-sized mackerel and a dogfish.

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All in all, Hiccup was pretty satisfied.

"After all," he said to Fishlegs, "it's not like I'm expecting to win the prize for Most Promising Dragon or anything. All I need is to show that Toothless is basically under my control and for him to catch a few fish. We'll make fools of ourselves compared to Snotlout and his beastly Hunting Legend, but at least we'll have passed Initiation."

What was more, as Toothless dropped the last mackerel on the heap in front of Hiccup, Fishlegs noticed something sharp and gleaming in the dragon's lower jaw.

"Toothless has gotten his first tooth!" said Fishlegs.

It seemed a very good omen.

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As they staggered home they passed Old Wrinkly, who had been sitting on a rock watching them for the past couple of hours.

"Ve-ry impressive," wheezed Old Wrinkly as the boys showed him the fish wrapped up in Hiccup's cloak.

"We reckon Hiccup really might pass the Final Initiation Test on Thor'sday Thursday," said Fishlegs excitedly.

"So you're still worrying about that piddly little Test, are you, Hiccup?" asked Old Wrinkly. "There are larger concerns, you know. There's a gi-normous storm brewing up, for instance. It should hit us in about three days."