HTTYD: Thor's Thunderbolt

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Hiccup and Toothless traveled so far up that the sky turned dark in the middle of day, without a cloud above them or around them.  They traveled so high that Hiccup started feeling confused, started breathing shallow and then started to lose consciousness.  As soon as Toothless felt Hiccup go slack on the stirrups, Toothless instinctively started a deep dive so that Hiccup could breath again.  But in its rush, Toothless did not check its speed.  Toothless flapped its powerful wings pushing the cold air behind it facing toward home, then it tucked its wings and legs.  Toothless felt the invisible winds punishing its head and chest, but it needed to get below in a hurry, so it didn't care how fast it was going.  Hiccup gained consciousness in the middle of this power dive, and found himself traveling so much faster than he had ever done before.

It was so hard for Hiccup to measure how fast he was going; the only thing he knew was that the clouds near him were rising incredibly fast in comparison to the horizon.  Suddenly, Hiccup saw Astrid and BlueFire flying below him, but he passed them as if he were dreaming, it was so unrealistically quick.  Hiccup started to decelerate.  The dragon's wings were shuddering in an unfamiliar way—they felt as if they would rip apart at any moment.  Hiccup felt an immense relief when they finally slowed down.  The island of Berk was still far below him.  He looked up and saw Astrid still far away.

Astrid and BlueFire finally caught up to Hiccup.  Her face was all ovals: her eyes took up half her face, mouth agape, eyebrows stabbing her hairline.  "You passed us in a blur and then I heard thunder!" she exclaimed.  "BlueFire and I have been descending for the past minute, but you got here in a few seconds… How fast were you going!?"… "the thunder came from you two as you passed us… it... it was as if Thor himself were riding that black dragon!"  

Hiccup's face was flushed and hot. The air was burning in his throat and lungs, but he was no longer dizzy or confused.  His mind was quickly measuring his observations of what had happened.   Of all the power dives he and Toothless had attempted, this one was by far the most powerful, the most violent, and the fastest.  The wind had rushed past Toothless as if it wanted to rip off its wings and its red tail.  Hiccup had been hugging Toothless neck, trying to make himself small, but the wind battered him so strongly, that it almost drove his head into his chest; his neck even started to hurt a little.  He started to slow down as soon as he passed Astrid, and yet, it took her a while to catch up with him.  Hiccup's mind was calmly evaluating what this all meant:  Something about climbing so high, then diving down, had increased their speed… but, what was that Astrid had said about Thunder?

"I guess it's going to rain—we better get below quickly, or the dragons are going to get cold" Hiccup answered Astrid. He wanted to hear more about the thunder, but he wanted her honest observations, he didn't want to guide her or bias her.  

"Hiccup—you know it's not going to rain right now—look at those wisps of a cloud!" she gestured above her.  The clouds looked like un-spooled threads of white wool; the blue sky was visible all around and above the saucer-like earth below them.  Hiccup waited impatiently; he looked above as if he didn't understand.   "HICCUP… you and toothless made the thunderclap!!"
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He knew he couldn't breathe up there, but he also knew that he only had to be up there a couple of minutes before he started descending again.  He tried inflated sheep bladders first.  The first time, he cut and sawed together four bladders into one air bag and tied it on the saddle in front of him.  The pain in his lower belly had been intense when the bag burst on the way up.  This happened twice before he realized that the bag was getting bigger as he and Toothless were flying higher.  

Hiccup tried it again with a six-bladder bag, but only half-filled with air.  He inserted a hollow reed softened in lye and tied shut with a string at the opening.  This time, Toothless, with his dragon lungs, was able to fly up to where the sky turned dark.  The contraption worked.  It inflated enormously but, to Hiccup's relief, it didn't burst.  Hiccup found that he could breathe and maintain himself alert, but the cold was intense on his skin, ears and eyes.  It was colder up here than the coldest Viking winter, so Hiccup started Toothless on the steep descent back to earth.  

This time, Hiccup was awake from the beginning of the dive.  He pressed his chest and head deep into Toothless' neck.  Hiccup's heart was jumping out of his chest, and the coldness of the air almost matched the coldness in his belly: Hiccup was scared… The airbag was almost empty now, so Hiccup pressed himself even closer to Toothless.  The wind seemed to have grown icy claws that were trying to rip him away from Toothless.  As the clouds raced upward, an invisible giant's hand was crushing Hiccup's head toward his chest.  Toothless' breathing and its heart, however, were beating as strongly and as slowly as usual, with the exception of happy grunts coming from the speedy dragon… Toothless was enjoying himself enormously.

Hiccup had been afraid of the effect of such enormous speeds and forces on Toothless' wings and tail but, to his surprise, Toothless' wings seemed to be growing stronger.  His airbag was re-usable so Hiccup and Toothless made two more ascents into the dark sky and two power dives before sunset.  However, Hiccup didn't hear anything that sounded like a thunderclap.  

These flights were not entirely missed by the Vikings of Berk.  At first, the villagers all looked at the sky and were puzzled at the thunder on a cloudless sky.  Then they looked at the cliffs, but the surf was calm.  It was the young riders flying in the sky looking for Hiccup, who finally stumbled upon the vapor whisps created by Hiccup and Toothless whenever they made the thunder.   It was they who got scared witless when Thor himself released a bolt out of the sky near them, but then realized it was Hiccup and Toothless falling as fast as the sunbeam far, far below them.

Hiccup knew that the Vikings of Berk were already in awe of them, but upon his return to the village he found that everyone was looking at him and Toothless with renewed interest.  People were going about their business as usual, but as they passed them, Hiccup could swear that people kept saying the words "Thor's Thunderbolt..."