Chapter 12

"Two years ago you showed up out of the blue, looking more like a wet noodle then what you do right now." Colonel Underson said to Hiccup as the teen stood at attention in front of him. "And over those two years, you grew in your training so much that it is my please to present you with these." At that moment the Colonel pinned the USAF Special Operations pin on the left lapel of Hiccups dress uniform and the Night Fury programs pin right underneath it. The Night Fury Programs pin consisted of the Strike-class symbol with two grey M16's crisscrossed behind it with a red background and the words 'Night Fury Program' in gold Norse runes on a white background printed around the edge of the circle. After returning Hiccups salute, he backed away and Ragnar stepped in front of him.

"Congratulations Hiccup on finishing training," Ragnar said as he walked in front of the teen with something in his hand. "Now it's my pleasure to present you with these." At that time Ragnar revealed what was in his hand. It was two individual silver bar pins. Hiccup just stood still as Ragnar pinned them to his collar. It was at that time that the Colonel walked back up to the pair.

"Congratulations First Lieutenant Haddock." The Colonel said before giving him a salute.

"Thank you, sir." Hiccup replied as he returned the salute.

"At ease Hiccup, the ceremony is over. Now go have a good time and celebrate your graduation and commission with Ragnar and Toothless. Not only have you earned it but it's an order as well." Ben said to the teen as they both relaxed out of the salute.

"Yes sir, and sir?" Hiccup asked as the Colonel turned to leave.

"Yes Hiccup?" Ben responded as he stopped and turned back towards the teen

"Thank you, sir." Hiccup told him.

"What for? And you can stop with the sirs for now." Ben said, slightly annoyed with listening to the sirs after he had told Hiccup to go have fun.

"Yes sir," Hiccup said, to the annoyance of the Colonel, "Thank you for taking me in when I arrived. It was nice to find a place where I was wanted."

"You're welcome Hiccup, now go celebrate cause you sure as hell earned it. Oh, and when you are finished with that then Ragnar will show you around the local city." Ben said before he turned and walked out of the conference room in The Dragon's Edge.

"Come on Hiccup, let's go have some fun on base before going to Anchorage. Though if we drive anywhere, you're not driving!" Ragnar told him as they got into the elevator to go down to the "Jungle", the room where the dragon's stayed.

"Oh come on, why not? I'm not that bad at driving, am I?" Hiccup asked him.

"You're not bad, but you're not good either," Ragnar replied as they walked out of the elevator.

"What isn't Hiccup good at?" Toothless asked as both he and Wraith were waiting by the elevator doors for their riders.

"Driving." Came the response, which brought a laugh from the two dragons.

"Oh come on guys, I'm not bad at driving!" Hiccup said, still trying to defend his driving abilities.

"Right, and I have both of my tail fins. By Draco Hiccup, you're a horrid driver; don't you remember that day?" Toothless said to him.

-Start Flashback-

"What are we going to do today Ragnar?" Hiccup asked the boy as they walked out of The Dragons Edge with the dragons following behind them.

Ragnar stopped and turned to face the boy. "Well, Hiccup, today we will be learning a skill that will be not only beneficial but necessary to your life in the modern world."

"I say again, what are we doing today?" Hiccup said with sarcasm flying off the words like dragons away from eels.

"Well my friend," He slapped his hand on Hiccup's shoulder as he gestured to an HMMWV, or Humvee, sitting just outside the building. "Today I will be teaching you how to drive."

"About time! I didn't think you got all the hints I was dropping."

Ragnar cocked an eyebrow. "I caught that the other day when you almost took the wheel when I was driving. Nearly caused an accident. Not to mention all the sticky notes you left 'anonymously' in the dorm saying, 'teach your friend how to drive'. But anyways," He strolled over to the vehicle and opened the driver door. "Hop in."

"Wait wait wait, why does Hiccup need to know how to drive?" Toothless asked as Hiccup went to get into the driver's seat. Before Hiccup could get in, however, Toothless blocked him with his wing. "I demand an answer and I demand it now."

Hiccup patted him reassuringly.

"Hey, buddy, it'll be ok. What is this thing you have against driving anyway? Ever since I brought it up a while ago you've hardly spoken to me."

Toothless sat up, offended. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. I just don't see why you need to know how to drive when you have me."

"Because what if he is separated from you? Or he is in a place that you can't be? He will need to know how just in case." Ragnar told him

"Well, first of all, we should not be separated, and second of all, what would Hiccup be doing in a place that doesn't allow dragons? Unless he's trying to desert me."

"It's fine you big baby boo, I would never dream of deserting you. Now, remember, the outside world doesn't know about us and they can't, so you and Wraith have to stay hidden if we ever visit a city." Hiccup explained to him.

Toothless sighed dramatically and backed away from the car, allowing Hiccup to get inside, Ragnar joining him in the passenger seat. "Fiiiiiine..."

With Toothless finally out of the way and both the boys in the car, Ragnar began teaching Hiccup how to drive.

"Now, the first thing you'll do is to look at the floor. Do you see the pedals?"

Hiccup gave him another sarcastic glare. "Duh, of course, I see the pedals, do I look blind?"

"Don't get smart with me, now pay attention. Do you know which pedal does what?"

"Well one is the gas and the other is the brake. I mean, how hard could this be?"

Ragnar sighed. "Well, I see I have my work cut out for me."

Once he had finished explaining the basic operating procedures of the car, Ragnar said, "Alright, time for you to give her a spin. Feeling confident?"

"Psh, yeah. Should be a piece of cake." Hiccup said as he started the Humvee, causing the V8 Diesel engine to come roaring to life, sending toothless scurrying back a few feet.

"Good, now depressing the brake pedal and shift in drive," Ragnar instructed him, and Hiccup did as he was told. "Good, now shift your foot from the brake to the gas and give it some gas." Once again Hiccup did as instructed but instead of moving forward, all that happened was the engine revving up to around 4,000 RPM. The sudden roar of the engine sent Toothless flying back another 15 feet. Before Ragnar could say anything, Hiccup noticed his mistake.

"Oops, I put it in neutral, let me just shift into drive." He said as he shifted the gear before Ragnar could stop him. Once he let the shifter go and the gears engaged, the almost three-ton vehicle jumped forward, scaring everybody.

"BRAKE, BRAKE!" Ragnar shouted at Hiccup as he held onto anything he could find with his sweaty palms, heart pounding as the car started to fishtail out of control. Once Hiccup recovered from the jolt of the initial acceleration, he slammed his feet down on the brake pedal as hard as he could. This was the worst thing he could have done as it caused the wheels to lock up and reduce the amount of traction they had with the ground, causing the Humvee to start spinning. When it finally came to a stop, Hiccup's door was ripped off and said teen was dragged from the car by an overprotective Night Fury.

On the other side of the vehicle, Ragnar busted his own door open and proceeded to vomit on the pavement. Once the episode was over, he wiped his mouth and turned shakily towards Hiccup, all the while steadying himself on the car. He couldn't say a word. Meanwhile, Toothless had no problem in finding his voice. "SEE! I TOLD you it was a bad idea! Right from the start. But did anybody listen to me? I say again, did anybody even listen?!"

No response came from Hiccup as he turned to Ragnar, expecting to get the lecture of his life. Instead, Ragnar walked heavily towards him. Once he was face to face, he just shook his head slowly, his sunken eyes boring into the lad. After a long moment of silence, he spoke. "We're done for today. I'm not going through that again." And with that, he turned and walked away in the direction of the building. Once there, however, he paused, and leaning over a bush, he retched some more. That was the last time Hiccup and Ragnar went driving until much later; even then his driving skills left much to be desired so they made an agreement to let Ragnar do all the driving.

-End Flashback-

"Ok fine, I will admit I'm not as good of a driver as I thought I was." Hiccup said once they all finished thinking about that day.

"Thank you! About time you admitted it." Toothless said.

"Let's go flying, I want to show you some before we leave tomorrow," Ragnar said as he came up next to them on Wraith.

"Ok, let me get Toothless's gear on him." Hiccup said as he went to grab Toothless saddle and tailfin. Over the years it had changed a lot since the pair had arrived from Berk. First off, the leather that made up the tailfin was replaced with a matte black Aramid-Kevlar blended weave. That made the new tail stronger than the leather and allowed it to blend in with Toothless existing tailfin, making it seem that he wasn't missing one, as well as being fireproof. Secondly, all the iron was replaced with a strong-lightweight aluminum alloy and the rope for the tailfin with a high strength Kevlar rope. All of these changes made the rig not only lighter but stronger as well, allowing the pair to go faster, do more daring tricks and make tighter turns than before.

"Come on Hiccup, I want to go flying!" Toothless said as he waited impatiently for Hiccup to finish.

"Almost...there, I'm done you impatient lizard." Hiccup replied as he finished up before getting in the saddle. "Now where are we going, Ragnar?"

"Before we go there tomorrow, I want to take you on a flyover of Anchorage."

"Ok, then why are we still sitting here? I want to see how the world has come along with my own eyes instead of through a textbook." As soon as Hiccup said that they took off.

"You might want to settle in, this is going to take a while. It's about 350 miles so we should be there in about two and a half hours." Ragnar told Hiccup once they got to a cruising altitude before he settled into a comfortable long distance flying position. Hiccup copied him in getting into a position that would be more comfortable for both dragon and rider over long distances. On the way, their Hiccup kept pestering Ragnar with questions about what Anchorage was like to such a point that Ragnar threatened to make them turn around if he didn't stop asking him. Needless to say, Hiccup was quiet for the rest of the flight after that happened.

"Ok Hiccup, Toothless, when we get there I want you guys to follow me directly over the city then we will set down on the far side and rest up before you and me go in tomorrow," Ragnar said as they got closer to the city.

"Copy that Ragnar." Hiccup said a few seconds before the cleared the mountain range that surrounded the land side of the port city. When they passed over that range they saw the city with all its lights shining in the night. Hiccup was in a slight state of awe for finally being able to see it with his own eyes. It was a beautiful city due to its natural element in and around the city as well as the simplicity of the buildings.

"So what do you think about what you saw in the flyover?" Ragnar asked Hiccup once they had landed a few miles outside of the city.

"It was amazing. It's a lot more satisfying to see it in person then it is to see in it a book. I can't wait to see it from ground level." Came the reply from the teen as he got his sleeping bag out of his pack and rolled it out on Toothless's outstretched wing.

"Good to hear. Now, remember, when we go into town tomorrow your name is not Hiccup, it's Henry and we are just two Airmen on leave. We don't want anybody to ask any question. Now get some sleep."

"Yes, Sir." With that, they both fell to sleep in the warmth of their dragon's wings. The next day they both got up, though one was more excited than the other. They packed the sleeping bags back into its spot on the saddle and straightened their Air Force fatigues before telling the dragons to stay put and out of sight. They then walked into town on East Tudor Road for a few minutes with cars passing them.

"Now do you remember what I told you last night?" Ragnar asked him before they really got into town.

"Yes Sir, my name is Henry and you and I are just some Airmen from the local base out on a one-day pass. No talking about Toothless, Wraith, or anything of that manner." Came the reply from Hiccup.

"And it would be best if we spoke in English."

"Yes, Sir." And with that, they kept walking into town. They made into town and just walked around for a few minutes before crossing over Lake Otis Parkway and then Seward Highway. Hiccup was just taking in all he could. Even though Anchorage didn't have the same size, population and feel as a big city such as San Francisco or Los Angeles; it was enough for Hiccup who had never seen something like that before. They just walked around almost all day before deciding to leave. As they took a right off of C Street Hiccup accidentally ran into a teenager who was walking in the opposite direction of them, knocking both of them to the ground.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you coming around the corner." The young man said as Ragnar helped both of them up.

"Hey, it's alright. I should have been paying more attention as well." Hiccup replied. It was then that the boy looked up from collecting himself to see who it was that he had knocked into.

"Oh my gosh, I'm really sorry Sir. I had no idea you guys were around to corner." He said noticing they were both Air Force Officers.

"Don't worry about, I told you it was ok. Nothing hurt, see." Hiccup said as he spun around to show the teen that nothing had happened. "What's your name?"

"Dylan Sir." He replied. He looked a lot like Hiccup had before he had joined the Night Fury Program. Average height and on the skinny side of things and about the same age as well. He was now dwarfed by the two six foot tall men standing in front of him. While Hiccup had grown in height significantly, his body mass had only gone up in proportion to his height.

"You can stop with the Sirs, you're not a subordinate. My name is Henry and this here is Rex." Hiccup said, introducing the pair to Dylan before sticking his hand out for a handshake, which the boy returned.

"Are you guys from the local base?"

"Yes we are, we're just walking around the town," Ragnar responded to him. They then just stood there on the street corner and talked for the next couple of minutes about nice places around town and what it was like to be in the military.

"Well, I should really be going. I don't want to be late home." Dylan said.

"Oh then, by all means, don't let us keep you up, Dylan. See you around." Hiccup said to the teen they had been talking with.

"Bye!" Dylan shouted as he rushed passed them.

"Nice kid." Hiccup said after they had started walking back down East Tudor Road to where the dragons had hidden out for the day.

"Yes, he was, kind of reminded me of a younger you," Ragnar replied, hoping for a reaction from Hiccup.

"Yes, he does." Came the reply, but not the one Ragnar was expecting to hear as Hiccup had seen what he was doing. "Let's just get back to the dragons and get back to base. We can have our argument there."

"Fine, but I won't forget about it like last time!" Ragnar said as he realized what Hiccup was doing.

"Whatever you say, Sir." Hiccup replied with a smile, know what pushed Ragnar's buttons and him calling the man Sir was one of them.

"Why you, Get back here!" Came the reply as the took off running down the street to the dragons.

Done, finished, over. THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN FINISHED! Hurray! You all get magical internet cookies for being such patient readers. So how did you like the Hiccup learning to drive scene? We thought it would be funny to add in there and had planned it from chapter five I believe. So thoughts? Liked it, hated it, loved it, despised it? Please give us some feedback because we love hearing from you guys!

Now I know there are some of you wondering, next chapter will be another "Back to Berk" section as well as the longest time jump of the story. Just letting you know now, it's a full year. Ya, up till here it's been six months and now it's a year. There is a very good reason for it, so just wait and read. I guess until then,

Semper Fi,

Thearizona