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Hiccup tossed me another honeycomb. Stormfly grinned at me.

"You are officially a dragon," she said. Toothless smiled.

"Now you can expand the world with us," he said, his face full of fish.

I smirked. "For an Alpha, you sure have the manners of a three-year-old." Toothless stopped chewing suddenly, and gave Stormfly a sheepish glance. She laughed at him, and Cloudjumper simply grinned and shook his head, too proud a creature to laugh.

All of a sudden, a man ran up to us. He looked a little like Snotlout, but much older.

"Chief!," he panted. "Skullcrusher got into a fight with Hookfang! They won't stop, and I don't know what to do!"

"Hang on, Spitelout," Hiccup said.

Ah. Snotlout's father.

"We're coming. Come on, Toothless!" We ran after Spitelout down the hill to where a bloody dragonfight was ensuing. Skullcrusher, Stoick's former dragon and now Eret's, was attacking Snotlout's dragon, Hookfang. Hookfang had flamed up, and was trying to lock his jaws on Skullcrusher's heavily armored neck. Skullcrusher whacked Hookfang with his clubbed tail, and the Monstrous Nightmare screeched. Toothless jumped down in the fray.

"ENOUGH!!!!!," he roared. Skullcrusher let go of Hookfang's neck, and Hookfang put out the flames that were shooting from his scales. The two dragons backed down, each with blood on their teeth and on their scales. The crimson liquid dripped from each frothing mouth, and the dragons eyed each other with white-hot hatred.

"WHAT, exactly, is going on here?!," Toothless demanded fiercely.

Hookfang glared at Skullcrusher. "This rock-skulled fish-brain was--"

"Shut up!," Skullcrusher barked. He had a deep, raspy voice that sounded a little like Stoick's. "First of all, I didn't do anything! The fault was entirely yours! You lunged at me!"

"Shut your trap, Skullcrusher!," Toothless snapped. "Hookfang was speaking first! Now Hookfang, what happened from your point of view?"

Hookfang took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "I was simply protecting your place in the hierarchy, Toothless," he said.

"Oh?," Toothless asked, startled.

"Skullcrusher said that, 'cause of him being Stoick's former dragon, he should technically be the Alpha. He said, 'I'm the original chief's dragon, therefore, I should be Alpha, not the young Night Fury who single-handedly killed my master'," Hookfang finished.

Toothless lunged at Skullcrusher and pinned him down. "DON'T MAKE ANY REFERENCE TO THAT INCIDENT WHATSOEVER!!!!," he roared in Skullcrusher's ear. "You know perfectly well that it wasn't my fault! And second, you dare challenge my authority?! Who defeated the Bewilderbeast?! Who killed the Red Death six years ago?! Who is the dragon of the chief?! Who brought all the dragons together again and freed them from the Bewilderbeast?! Not you! ME!" Skullcrusher wriggled under Toothless.

"All I'm saying is fair is fair," he grunted. Toothless growled and brought his head dangerously close to Skullcrusher's. His spines and wings started to smoke and glow bright blue.

"Your lucky I have a soft spot for you, Skullcrusher," he said, his voice menacingly calm. "Otherwise I'd kill you with my own claws and fire. For now, I leave a fair warning: challenge my authority again, and I will throw you off the island." Toothless let Skullcrusher go, and the Rumblehorn flew off lopsidedly. Then Toothless turned to Hookfang. "Thank you for alerting me of this threat," he panted. "It was a good play on your part to hold him off like that."

Hookfang bowed his head. "You're welcome, Alpha," he said.

Toothless lifted his head high. "Go rest. You need it, Hookfang." Hookfang nodded and slithered off. Toothless drew in a deep breath and sulked up the hill past me and the others. Astrid gave Hiccup a questioning look. Hiccup shrugged.

As Toothless passed me, he gave me a tired glance. "See how hard it is to be a leader?"