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Post by Varðr on Aug 10, 2011 3:10:02 GMT -5
Again, Good chapter!!! : >
That nightmare........ I have a bad feeling about this...... in a good way... ; D
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Aug 12, 2011 22:30:45 GMT -5
Glad you enjoyed it! Here's another!
Chapter 4
Getting Toothless onto the ship was not hard at all; it was the Monstrous Nightmare that proved to be a challenge. The dragon was not accustomed to traveling on a boat. The size of the dragon also proved to be challenging; the dragon would have to travel on a different ship because there was no room for two dragons on just one. A ship, at the very least, must have at least eight Vikings to paddle the boats in case they experienced a lack of wind. It also had to have a Viking to steer the boat and one to be the lookout and/or give the commands as to where to steer the ship. To get a dragon on board took up almost all of the remaining space, especially one the size of a Monstrous Nightmare.
They had three ships ready to make the journey, and the time to set sail had finally come. With the rough seas that they were about to travel, Stoick expected to arrive at the Killagain tribe’s village by sunrise. It would have been wiser to leave at sun-rise instead of mid-day, but having spent all night defending the village from the dragons, he thought it better to allow the young Vikings to rest before making the journey.
“Do what you can to ration what food we’ve got left til we return. With Odin's blessing, we’ll be back with help, building materials, and some spare food.” Stoick told his brother, Spitelout. “If the dragons return, your priority is to protect the food supply and the livestock.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine til you return.”
“We’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Stoick made his way onto the ship with Toothless, Gobber, Hiccup and his friends. They would be the lead ship in the convoy. After he was safely on board, the ships departed for what would be a very long journey.
* * * *
The journey started very smoothly. The rowers were not needed because the wind seemed to favor their travel. It seemed like Odin and the gods were showing them good fortune during this dire and perilous times. What hiccup found most surprising was that Toothless was enjoying the ride. Hiccup feared that his last experience on a Viking ship, being chained and yoked by his father, would cause him to be very tense on the ship. That did not turn out to be the case; on the contrary, he was bouncing around and pushing Vikings out of the way to stick his neck past the edge of the boat. Of course, some of Vikings were starting to get a little testy about being pushed around by the over-enthused Night Fury.
As Toothless gazed out into the vastness of the blue, ocean’s water, a school of jumping fish started skipping over the water’s surface like tiny dolphins. The Night Fury’s eyes watched, fascinated by the sight of leaping fishes. As the school of fish skipped beside the boat, the dragon became delighted.
Licking his lips, he lowered his neck over the edge of the boat and snapped at the fish, hoping to catch himself a nice mid-day snack. When his mouth came up empty, he snapped a few more times, but still was unable to catch anything. Almost in mocking fashion, a lone fish leaped out of the water and ended up slapping Toothless across the face. The dragon shook his head and looked around in bewilderment.
Hiccup chuckled as he looked around at the others on the boat. His father was taking his turn steering the ship while Gobber was sitting on the ground, fidgeting with his stone tooth. Elsewhere on the ship, Astrid and Ruffnut were keeping to themselves; it appeared that Astid was still not in a talking mood. Bitwolf was keeping to himself, clearly still brooding over this trip back home. Tuffnut and Snotlout were laughing at some joke that one of them had told. Fishlegs… he had no idea what he was doing. He was at the bow of the ship and had been there for quite awhile.
Curiosity got the better of him, and he walked towards the front of this ship. “Hey Fishlegs, you okay over here?”
The young Viking turned towards him and Hiccup had to take a step back. His face was turning green before his very eyes. “Chances of… regurgitation… a hundred percent.” Fishlegs quickly leaned over the side of the ship and unleashed the contents of his stomach.
“I’ll check up on you… later,” Hiccup said, doing everything he could not to get sick to his stomach.
A loud moan disturbed the peaceful sounds of the soft splashing of water up againt the sides of the boat. Everyone was back on their feet, having heard the noise. Stoick handed the wheel back to Gobber as he stepped towards the front of the boat. “Hiccup, did you hear that?”
“Perhaps it was just the creaking of the wood?”
“No,” Stoick replied. “I know every crick that this ship makes and every crack in its hull. We’re not alone out here.”
Another loud moan came from underneath them, but this time it ended with a high-pitched squeal. There was no mistaking that noise; there was something gigantic beneath them.
Springing out of the water, near their ship, was a massive silver-scaled dragon which looked more like a giant sea serpant with a dragon head. It had crystal blue eyes, horns all around the neck, and giant fangs. It looked directly down at them and let out a fierce roar. Two more creatures appeared between the three boats.
Bitwolf growled in frustration; he knew this was going to happen. These seas were full of unimaginable terrors. “They’re Sea Devils. Part sea serpent and part dragon. They always attack in packs.”
“Everyone, grab your weapons!” Stoick shouted.
As everyone went for their axes and hammers, Hiccup ran up to Snotlout. “Hop on with me; I’ll take you over to the other ship so you can hop on Blue.”
The two young Vikings rushed through all the chaos on the boats to get to Toothless. The dragon was looking up at the menacing dragons that towering over the ships, and he was ready for battle. Hiccup leaped onto the saddle and clamped his artificial foot into the specially designed pedal. He then reached down and helped Snotlout up. “Hold on!”
Toothless leaped off the ship and flapped his wings to pull himself up into the air. The closest Sea Dragon saw the Night Fury taking to the sky and perceived him as an imminent threat. Letting out a threatening shrill, the Sea Devil lunged at black dragon.
“Wh—wh—whoa!” Snotloug yelped and held onto Hiccup tightly as he directed Toothless to make a sharp turn to avoid the lunging dragon. They narrowly avoided the Sea Dragon as it dived past them and back into the water until it was completely submerged.
The Monstrous Nightmare was on the next ship, but there were two Sea Devils in their way and at least one swimming underneath the water. The one, or ones, underneath the water were the least of his concern at that moment. His focus was on getting around the two dragons and getting Snotlout onto the other boat with the Monstrous Nightmare.
The only problem was that this Monstrous Nightmare was not Snotlout's. Hiccup had given the name ‘Blue’ to this dragon, because of its abnormal shades of blue scales rather than red and orange. However, he had full confidence in Snotlout’s ability to control the dragon.
The two remaining Sea Dragons turned their attention towards them. If Hiccup did not know better, he would have sworn that they knew what they were trying to do and were determined to stop them. “Hold on tight, and get ready for some fancy flying.”
“I don’t know if my stomach can handle any more of your kind of flying!” Snotlout protested.
There was no time to reply, the closest Sea Devil turned to face them, and they had to make a move now. With a soft pat on Toothless’ neck, Hiccup signaled him to attack the approaching dragon with a fiery puff. Toothless breathed in deeply and unleashed the bluish puff of flames directly into the face of the Sea Devil.
The dragon squealed in agony, clearly having a low tolerance for fire, especially blue flames. The attack provided ample distraction to allow Toothless to, aggressively, fly around the head of the stunned Sea Devil. The second Sea Devil hissed in anger. By the reaction of this third dragon, Hiccup surmised that this was the alpha dragon.
Hiccup flew Toothless straight at the alpha dragon, lining the other Sea Devil directly behind them. The alpha dragon lunged towards them, taking the bait that Hiccup had laid out for it. “Hard right, Toothless!”
Toothless pulled hard right and the alpha dragon collided into the other. With the two dragons dazed from the collision, Hiccup had enough time to fly down to the ship. Toothless hovered low enough to allow Snotlout to jump off.
“Try to get Blue up quickly. If he becomes stingy, you know how to earn his trust.”
There was loud screaming coming from the third boat. The third Sea Devil had reemerged and began to coil itself around the ship. The sail was destroyed and came crashing down onto the side of the boat before tipping over the edge. It sank to the bottom of the sea as the dragon began its strangle hold on the boat. All the Vikings on the boat were throwing everything they had at it; swinging their axes and hammers at the body of the dragon. Unfortunately, the dragon’s body had a very thick layer of scales, making it impossible for their weapons to penetrate.
The dragon continued to strangle the ship until it started to crack. “Abandon ship!”
The Vikings on the ship followed their orders. They ceased their attack on the dragon, and jumped out of the ship and into the cold water. As the final few were evacuating, the ship gave under the stress, causing it to split into half. Both halves began to sink to the bottom of sea.
“Snotlout, you get the Vikings out of the water and onto the other ships. I’ll distract the dragons.”
Hiccup did not bother waiting for a response; he had to go after that dragon before it had the chance to attack any of the Vikings in the water. Hiccup gave Toothless the signal, and Toothless fired a very strong puff of flames at the dragon’s neck. The dragon, again, swung his head wildly at the intense pain. The Sea Devil turned its focus upon them, not willing to give up so easily this time.
Hiccup and Toothless swooped across the dragon’s line of vision, and as they had hoped, the dragon followed after them, forgetting about the Vikings in the water. Hiccup looked back and around the pursuing dragon to see Snotlout and Blue already busy at work; helping the Vikings out of the water. The blue Monstrous Nightmare was able to grab two Vikings at a time and fly them over to one of the two remaining ships.
“Okay Toothless, you know what to do.”
Toothless grunted, knowing exactly what they were about to do. This was a move that they had perfected against the dragon queen, and with these dragons sensitive to fire, there was no doubt that the attack would work. Toothless slowed down to allow the Sea Devil to catch up. Before it had the chance to lunge, Toothless spun around and spat a puff of blue flames into the mouth of the dragon.
The silver dragon let out a loud shriek; it was devastated by the attack. It either raced back into the water, or collapsed; Hiccup could not tell, but he was more than certain that the dragon had no intention of entering the fight again.
Hiccup looked back at the other two Sea Devils. The alpha Sea Devil was attacking his father’s ship. The dragon was taking a different approach and was attacking the Vikings directly. He could see Astrid swinging her ax whenever the dragon’s giant fangs got too close to her. Bitwolf, like always, was becoming over aggressive. During one of the lunges, He had managed to get onto the dragon’s body. He crawled up to the head of the dragon where he stood up and was about to bring the blade of the ax down on the skull of the dragon.
The dragon felt his presence on top of his head and shook it. Bitwolf lost his footing and his weapon, which dropped all the way into the water and sank. As he started to slide off the dragon, he managed to grab hold of a horn underneath the dragon’s right ear.
“Come on Toothless, we’ve got to go get him before he kills himself,” Hiccup said.
Toothless groaned in protest. The dragon did not like Bitwolf. He had not forgiven him for his past sins against Berk and its dragons. Unfortunately for Bitwolf, a Night Fury’s memory was very long lasting. He reluctantly pushed himself as fast as he could go towards the Sea Devil.
Bitwolf lost his grip on the horn and fell towards the water. Hiccup used his weight to lean right, which in turn, told Toothless to glide sideways. They glided in speedily, and Toothless pulled back at the last second to reach out with his claws and grab Bitwolf in mid-air.
Toothless returned to flying normally, but the alpha dragon saw the rescue of Bitwolf and also saw an opportunity to attack. The dragon lunged for the Night Fury. On the ship, Astrid saw that Hiccup and Toothless did not see the danger that they were in. She raised her ax above her head, knowing that she was about to lose the weapon forever. The ax was a family heirloom and had special meaning to her. She was ready to give it up if it meant saving Hiccup.
Before she had the chance to throw her weapon, Stoick stepped up next to her holding a large stone hammer over his head, and chucked it at the lunging dragon. The hammer spiraled all the way to its target, where it smacked into the side of the Sea Devil’s head, causing it to fall sideways into the water.
Hiccup turned Toothless around to make his way to the ship to put Bitwolf safely onboard, when he saw the other remaining Sea Devil in the process of a diving attack on the ship. Tapping Toothless on his scales, the dragon fired a massive fiery shockwave at the dragon, which threw the dragon backwards into the water.
As toothless descended towards the ship, Hiccup quickly noticed the shadows of all the Sea Devils under water fleeing the area. They were giving up on what they thought should have been an easy prey, but the dragons had not counted on countering fire-breathing dragons being on bored these ships. For now, the threat seemed to be over.
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Aug 18, 2011 3:49:56 GMT -5
Chapter 5
The Sea Devils were not coming back. Things were starting to calm down, which give Stoick time to assess the damage. One ship was lost, and a good number of their weapons was gone. Luckily, there were no injuries or fatalities.
“We’re down one ship. Should we head back home and pick up another?” One of the Vikings asked.
“No,” Stoick responded quickly. “We move on. We can’t let this stop us; Berk is counting on us.”
“It’s gonna get a little cramped on both ships, especially on the other with Blue,” Gobber said.
“Blue is a very restless dragon. He doesn’t seem to like being cramped up for long periods of time,” Hiccup added.
“Then someone onboard that ship will have to fly him, every so often. We’ll have to make do with what we have. Now, let’s set sail before those beasts do decide to come back.”
“This is a mistake,” Bitwolf spoke out, before Hiccup could stop him. “Sea Devils are nothing compared to what's out there. It’s foolish to attempt such a journey with just two boats.”
Stoick’s eyes narrowed towards the young Viking. “Boy, you better learn your place when you’re on my ship.”
When Bitwolf did not back down, Hiccup had no choice but to step between them and intervene. His father still did not trust Bitwolf and had questioned the decision to bring him along. Being responsible for Bitwolf, Hiccup had to cool things down between them.
“Uh, Sorry, Dad. He didn’t mean to question your authority, especially in front of the other Vikings,” Hiccup looked back at Bitwolf with an angry look painted across his face. It was a look that said to drop this argument, immediately!
Stoick grunted as he turned away to prepare the ship to commence the journey.
* * * *
Night had fallen, and the ships used the light from the giant-sized full moon in the sky to direct their way. There was a gentle cool breeze that brought a slight chill to the night. There was just something so soothing and peaceful about the sight of a full moon along with the sound of the calm sea splashing against the sides of their ship.
Hiccup was sitting up against the side of the boat, with his arms wrapped around his knees, caught up in the mesmerizing sight and sound. It was only the voice of Astrid, who was able to break him out of it. “Big moon out tonight.”
“Yeah. Maybe this means smooth sailing the rest of the way.”
“Odin willing.” Astrid sat down on the ground next to Hiccup. “Listen, I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. I really didn’t mean to take my frustration out on you or Bitwolf, for that matter.”
“You don’t need to apologize. Losing your dragon can’t be easy.”
“That’s just it,” Astrid replied. “I’m not angry about my dragon dying. Like I said, I didn't have a strong bond with it.”
“What do you mean?” Hiccup asked.
“Everyone else has begun to forge a bond with their dragons; they’ve even given their dragons names. I've never had that kind of partnership with my dragon.”
Hiccup was starting to get the picture. He did notice more and more Vikings were giving names to dragons and bonding with them. Fireworm, the Monstrous Nightmare, was Snotlout’s dragon, and their mannerisms were nearly identicle. Fishlegs had the same rapport with his Gronkle, Horrorcow. Even more recently, His father had come to grow close to two dragons: a Gronkle named Newtsbreath, and a Monstrous Nightmare named Hookfang. Ruffnut and Tuffnut still had to name their’s; they were always fighting about what to name their Hideous Zippleback. Bitwolf was not yet ready to have his own Dragon. Hiccup was not ready to put him in charge over any one dragon’s care.
“I’m sure that when we get back, we can find a dragon that you can relate to… and bond with.”
“I don’t want just any dragon,” Astrid said, shaking her head. “Let’s face it; most of our dragons at Berk are not that bright. They’ll be friends with whoever gives them a fish. I want a dragon that can understand me. I want to share the same kind of bond with a dragon as you share with Toothless.” Astrid scooted up right next to him and laid her head on his shoulder as she staired up at the moon.
Hiccup could understand why she felt the way she did. She was a very aggressive girl, who really only sought to prove herself to all the men that she belonged. In a way, she was very much like Hiccup. While he was shy and timid in his approach to loneliness, she was strong and bold in her approach. They were two different approaches, but for them, they both had led them down a path of seclusion. Maybe that was why the two of them hit it off so well. Most people would look at them and see polar opposites, but the way Hiccup saw it, they were kindred spirits, but just in different disguises.
“I—I’m sure that somewhere, out there, there’s a dragon flying around waiting for a friend like you.”
When Astrid did not reply, he gently turned his head to see that she had fallen asleep with her head still on his shoulder. She had been more exhausted than she appeared, but that was probably the case for most of the Vikings here.
With Astrid fast asleep, Hiccup returned his gaze to the moon until he had dozed off, as well.
* * * *
A loud crackle of thunder startled Hiccup awake. He sat up, to see that he was drenched to the bone as the clouds unleashed their fury upon them. The waves were rocking the boat violently. He realized how tired he must have been to be able to sleep part-way through a massive storm like this.
He jumped up to the feet just as the boat began to be lifted by a giant waved. The angle the boat took caused him to stumble back into the side of the boat. His artificial foot was making it near impossible to stay on his foot when the boat was unsteady. He found himself needing the support of the rim to stay on his feet.
All the Vikings were franticly trying to hunker down to keep the high winds from destroying the central mast sail. All paddles were drawn into the ship so not to have them ripped away by the sea. At the other end of the ship, Toothless was unnerved by the violent storm. He was trying to stay out of everyone’s way, but the dragon main focus were on all the streaks of lighting in the sky.
Hiccup used the ship’s rim to aid him as he fought against almost everything to get towards his father. He was getting in the way of a few Vikings, who were busy trying to keep the ship afloat, but under the circumstances, no one was going to complain about it. “Dad, what’s going on?”
“The fury of Helheim is against us. This storm came out no where.”
A wave pounded against the side of the boat, further drenching Hiccup in a large splash of water. The water knocked him off his feet and unto his knees.
As busy as Stoick was, he could see that his son was having trouble staying on his feet. The boy had never been on a ship during a severe storm with his artificial foot. “Hiccup, stay low or you’ll be washed overboard!”
“I can still help!” Hiccup pulled himself to his feet, and ran to help Snotlout and Bitwolf with one of the ropes attached to the central mast to keep it from breaking. It was taking three ropes just to keep it steady. On one of the other ropes, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were helping two adult Vikings.
“Daisy? That’s a stupid name! I don’t want my dragon given a girly name. Besides, the dragon’s a boy!” Tuffnut scowled.
“No she’s not, and you’re an idiot!” Ruffnut replied.
“Ah, show’s what you know! Everyone knows that I’m the smart one!”
“You don’t even know what sex our dragon is!”
Hiccup shook his head, even will all Helheim breaking loose around them, the twins always had time to fight. The boat started to climb over another big wave. As the front of the boat started to rise, Hiccup lost his footing and his grip on the rope.
Hiccup slid towards the back of the boat where the angle of the boat had become so steep, he was heading right towards the water. He scratched and clawed for something to grab hold of, but his fingers could find nothing. “Whoa!”
“Hiccup!” Astrid ran for Hiccup as Bitwolf instinctually prepared the rope for Astrid, knowing what she was going to attempt to do. She ran past Bitwolf, grabbing the rope as she went by, then leaped onto her chest. She slid down the soaked wood-planked floor, sloshing in the water on the way down. Snapping her left arm out, her hands clasped onto his. Seeing that she had him, Bitwolf tightened the rope, and Astrid felt her body swing around violently, but she managed to keep her hold of the rope. The two young Vikings dangled there until the ship made it over the wave.
Stoick was quick to get over to Hiccup and Astrid and help them back onto their feet. “You two okay?”
“Yeah, that was a little too close,” Hiccup replied.
“Uh, Stoick, we’ve got a wee bit of a problem!” Gobber said.
He looked out to see that the last wave had turned them sideways, and now an even bigger wave was coming at them that could easily tip them over. “Rowers to port side; turn us starboard!”
Four Vikings went to the port side of the ship and stuck their paddles out of the holes in the side of the ship. They fought against the water and gave it their all to get the ship to face towards the coming wave.
They managed to get the ship diagonal to the wave when it came crashing down on them. All the Vikings held on with all of their might. Astrid held on to boat as tightly as she could, but the wave of water proved to be too much. She bellowed out a scream as the water picked her up and threw her overboard.
"Astrid!" Hiccup screamed.
As the wave had cleared, Hiccup ran to the side of the boat to see Astrid struggling to keep afloat in the deadly ocean water. She would not be able to stay afloat for very long; these waves would quickly crash down on her and drown her. Without thinking, he climbed up onto the side of the boat.
"Hiccup, don't!" Stoick shouted.
Hiccup leapt into the ocean. Nothing more was important, at that very moment, than to save Astrid. He was not about to leave her in the water to drown. He swam against the wind and the waves to get to Astrid. When he reached her, he realized that jumping into the water was not the best idea he ever had.
“Are you *gasp* crazy? What were *gasp* you thinking?”
“Seemed like *gasp* a good idea *gasp* at the time.”
Toothless was going frantic. To see Hiccup in danger, and being helpless to do anything about, was causing the dragon to become uncontrollable. Never in his life did the dragon feel so helpless.
The waves were pulling the two young Vikings away from the ship, and Stoick knew that it would be impossible to get the ship to them in this weather. “Who here can ride the Night Fury?”
Bitwolf grumbled, cursing this whole journey under his breath. He ran over to the dragon, but the second he approached, Toothless growled threateningly at him. The dragon was not about to let him on his back. Bitwolf had no choice but raise his hands in surrender and back away.
“I can do it,” Snotlout said, stepping up to the Night Fury.
Toothless was at ease with Snotlout, and allowed him to climb onto his back. When on top, Snotlout found it very weird to be riding on a saddle. Getting his foot into the pedal that was specifically designed for Hiccup’s artificial foot was awkward, but he was sure he could get a handle on it. He managed to get the artificial fin to expand and then Toothless took it from there.
The dragon did not need commands or directions; he already knew what had to be done, and how to do it; all he needed was someone to ride on his back and keep the artificial tail fin from collapsing.
Toothless leapt into the sky and fought against the wind to reach the two young Vikings in distress. Like any other dragons, he was stronger than he appeared; and though flying against the wind proved challenging, his determination gave him the strength to reach them. He swooped down aggressively and scooped them out of the water. After gaining enough distance from the water, he rode the wind all the way back to the ship. After gently placing the young Vikings onto the deck, he flew to the other side of the mass to land.
Helping Snotlout off the back were Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Stoick ran to his son and helped him and Astrid to the feet. “The storm’s getting worse. You may want to stay close to Toothless, seeing that he is adequate in maneuvering above and below water.”
“Hey Stoick, you should take a look at this!” Gobber called out to him, shouting over the loud whooshing of the wind and the sizzle-like sound of the rain coming down.
Stoick pushed his way over to Gobber who was at the starboard bow of the ship. “What do you see?”
“Land! There’s a giant island directly ahead!”
It was so dark outside, that it was impossible to see anything. It was only for a split second, during a bright flash of lightning, was he able to see an outline of the island with a giant mountain at the very heart of it. It looked very much like a volcano, which quickly told him that this was not the island they were looking for. “That’s not our destination.”
“No, but it’s our salvation! We’ve got to get to shore and take shelter. We’ve not seen the worse of this storm, yet; and I don’t think we want to, either.”
Stoick knew that he was right; if they stayed out on the sea for much longer, none of them were going to survive. They had to head towards the shore and take shelter for the night; the journey could wait until the storm passed. “Set sail for that island. All men to their stations and row as hard as you’re capable of. All weak swimmers, head towards the Night Fury and my son, in case we capsize.”
Astrid was not a weak swimmer, but she joined Hiccup over by Toothless to help him with anyone who may need it. It turned out that the only one that came over was Fishlegs, which came to no surprise to anyone.
Stoick looked back to look for the second ship, but he could not see them through the rain. “Gobber, do you see the other ship?”
“A Monstrous Strangulator can see better than I can right now,” Gobber shrugged.
“Hiccup! Have Toothless fire up puffs of flames up into the sky. I need them to know about our change of course.”
Hiccup nodded and walked around to the dragons neck. “Toothless, let’s shoot some fire up in that direction!” Hiccup pointed up where he wanted the shots to be fired.
Toothless understood and looked in the direction that Hiccup had pointed. When Hiccup tapped him on the side of his neck, Toothless spat out a strong puff of blue flames. Hiccup had Toothless do it again one minute later, and then one final time a minute after that.
“Good, now hold on tight. It’s going to be a rough ride to shore,” Stoick said.
The waves continued to pound on the ship as the Vikings fought against nature to reach the shore. They were making good progress, and the island was growing closer and closer. Hiccup had a good feeling that they were going to make it through this after all.
“Hey look!” Astrid called out.
Everyone looked up to the sky to see Blue flying past them over their heads. As he passed them, he unleashed a breath of flames. Hiccup could see the shadow of a Viking on the dragon’s back; the other ship was acknowledging the course adjustment.
“Good, they got the message, and they’re sending someone out to scout the shore.” Stoick said, feeling better now that he knew that the other ship was still following them.
“Rock!” One of the Vikings yelled from the front of the boat. The Viking came running up to Gobber and Stoick in sheer terror. “We’re heading straight for a rock!”
Shielding his eyes from the rain that was coming in at his face, he made his way to the front of the ship and looked out. As soon as another lightning flash lit up the sky, he could see the giant boulder that was sticking out of the sea. And they were on a collision course right for it. “Hard to port side!”
All the rowers on the starboard side ceased rowing as the rowers on port side paddled as hard as they could. They were able to point the ship to the left of the boulder, but the waves continued to push them straight for it anyway.
The sea threw their starboard side right into the rock. It ripped the side of the boat to shreds, and ripped up planks from the hull. The ship immediately began to take on water.
There was no way around this kind of damage; they had less than a minute before the boat would be completely submerged. The ship was already ripping apart. “Abandon ship! Everyone, swim for the shore!”
“But, but, but… I can’t swim!” Fishlegs said franticly, watching the water climb up to his ankles.
“Get on, quick!” Hiccup said, pushing him towards the saddle on Toothless’ back. “Toothless is a good swimmer. He’ll get you to the shore. Just hold on tight.” Hiccup helped his chubby friend climb onto the saddle, and he showed him where to hold on to.
“How about you, Hiccup? With your foot, you’re not the best swimmer either, especially in this.” Astrid asked.
“We'll both need to hold onto the straps of the saddle. We should be able to make it,” Hiccup replied. The water was already up to their knees and rising. “Okay Toothless, we’re depending on you. Let’s jump!”
Astrid and Hiccup jumped out of the sinking boat first followed by Toothless. “Whoa!” Fishlegs yowled as the dragon leaped head-first into the water.
Astrid and Hiccup were able to tread water until Toothless’ head reemerged from the water. When he did, they swam to the dragon and felt for a strap until they could find it.
“Go on, Toothless! Everybody, hold your breath!”
Toothless grunted as he dived into the water. Under the sea, he swam with amazing speed and agility. He swam almost like a serpent, but with his claws paddling wildly. Occasionally, Toothless came up for air; not necessarily for him, but for the three young Vikings who had smaller lungs and were unable to hold their breaths for long periods of time.
It was not long before the water became shallow enough for them to walk on. Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs went by foot the rest of way onto the shore. As soon as they stepped foot onto the sandy beach, the young Vikings collapsed with exhaustion. They watched as one by one, Vikings started to swim on shore.
All the young Vikings were among the first to arrive on shore, which put Hiccup’s mind at ease. Further calming his nerves was when his father and Gobber came on shore. Hiccup was not sure if Gobber would be a good swimmer, but seeing him coming onto the shore told him otherwise. Perhaps some time, he could ask him to help him become a better swimmer.
The rain started to subside as more Vikings came on shore. The clouds were evaporating before their very eyes at an unreal pace. Hiccup had to question if there was more to this storm than they realized.
Hiccup was not the only one who noticed the sudden change in the weather. Stoick was puzzled to see the full moon starting to peek through the clouds. “What in Odin’s name?”
“Crazy weather we’re having,” Gobber commented.
Stoick was really curious about the weather, but there were more important to worry about first. “Okay, we have to set up camp for the night. We need two camps; one for the men and one for the women. The priority is to get some fires going and getting dry.”
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Post by Varðr on Aug 18, 2011 8:01:10 GMT -5
hmmm.... The Berk's Vikings must have angered the gods..... or someone else is behind this.......maybe one, which has a power to summon thunderstorms...... a witch??
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Aug 19, 2011 23:51:15 GMT -5
Part of the equasion of who's behind this is about to be revealed
Chapter 6
Two camps were set up near the edge of the forest. The first camp was for the three female Vikings, who had come on this journey. They had their own firepit and the men had even constructed a divider to separate the camps using thick tree branches and large palm leaves.
On the other side of the divider was the larger of the camps. There were three fire pits that were going, since there were many male Vikings that needed to keep warm and dry. Each camp had constructed clotheslines near the fire pits so their outer garments could be dried by the fire. Everyone was instructed to strip down to their undergarments so that their clothes could be dried, and the chances of illness were minimalized.
It took awhile for all this to be completed, but fueled by their determination, they were able to get it done and relax around the fire before going to sleep. Hiccup sat by the fire along with Bitwolf, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Tuffnut. He was checking out the condition of his artificial foot and lower-leg. Most of it was wood, so he knew that he would need a replacement as soon as possible. It would not be long before it became moldy and would cause an infection.
“Well, this is fun,” Snotlout said, mildly sarcastically. “Sitting around a fire, in our undies, and roasting fish on a stick on a strange island.”
“Chances of survival are currently sixty percent,” Fishlegs commented, turning his fish around to allow the other side to cook. “Even by me, those are good odds.”
“I knew this was gonna happen. I tried to warn you all,” Bitwolf grumbled. "No one here understands this side of the Barbaric Archipelago."
“Actually, getting shipwrecked is common for us Berk Vikings,” Hiccup replied. “I don’t think we've got anything to worry about.”
Hiccup looked over at the palm leaf barrier. Toothless was keeping guard over the ladies while the males had Blue. Hiccup did not say it out loud, but he wanted Toothless with the girls mostly because he was the only dragon Hiccup trusted well enough to protect Astrid. If she had known this, however, she would have probably given him a black eye.
* * * *
Hiccup was scavenging the woods with his knife, determined to find his prize. No one believed him that he shot down a Night Fury, but he was determined to show them otherwise. After he showed his father what he did, perhaps then he would think better of him. He knew he hit the Night Fury last night with his Bola launcher. Yes, it may have been a lucky shot, but he was certain that it was a gift from the gods to finally start his quest to become a Viking warrior.
As he spent the morning searching for the dragon, he continued to come up empty. “Oh, the gods hate me! Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me! I managed to lose an entire dragon!”
Out of frustration, he swung at a branch that appeared in front of his face, but instead of breaking off, it swung back and hit him across the face. “Ow!”
Hiccup was ready to curse the gods, but he noticed all the broken branches and the dug up dirt. Something had crashed right here and slide over the ridge right up ahead. Could this be the Night Fury that he was looking for?
He took a step towards the ridge when a giant black dragon started to rise from the other side of the ridge. This was not a Night Fury that was approaching. This dragon was almost twice the size and had a much more defined snout. He was face-to-face with a Shadow Lord.
"Uh--you're not the Night Fury! ”
The dragon shook his head and let out a nerve chilling roar. When the dragon returned his gaze down on him, Hiccup took notice of an old woman, with an extremely wrinkled face standing on the dragon’s head. He could not shake the feeling that he had seen this woman countless of times before. Despite her familiarity, he could not put a name to the face.
The Shadow Lord took a deep breath as he could see the flames rolling around in the back of the dragon’s mouth. Hiccup knew he needed to run for his life, but his legs would not cooperate with him out of sheer terror. He remained frozen in place as the dragon unleashed a massive stream of flames.
* * * *
“No!” Hiccup sat up, barely able to keep his breath. The nightmares continued to get worse. All he wanted was a peaceful night of sleep, but it appeared that the gods were going to continue to make him suffer.
Seeing that he was not going to get anymore sleep for the night, he decided to get away and spend some time alone. He reached for his clothes, and found them still a little damp, but well on the way of becoming dry. It was good enough, for now. After getting dressed, he made his way to the shore.
Sitting down on the sandy beach, he looked up and gazed at the full moon. As much as he wanted to forget about the dreams he had been having, his thoughts kept on dwelling on the last few he had as of late. They all had the same, old woman in them, and they all had some dragon coming after him. Had the gods unleashed Loki to torment him in his dreams?
“Hiccup?” Astrid voice broke him out of thoughts. He looked up to see her standing behind beside him, buckling her belt of skull heads around her waist. "Are you okay?"
“Who… me? Why wouldn’t I be? I just don’t feel like sleeping. That's all.”
“Hiccup, I heard you scream. I’m surprised none of the other men in your cam woke up.”
“It’s nothing; I assure you.”
“Hiccup, you are beyond exhausted. I can see the rings under your eyes. It looks like you’ve not slept in over a week. Tell me what’s going on with you? Am I gonna get the truth from you, or am I gonna have to beat it out of you?”
“It’s nothing, I promise you,” Hiccup assured her. “I’ve just that I've been having a lot of nightmares lately.”
“Nightmares? How long has this been going on?”
“A week or two,” Hiccup shrugged.
“Does your father know?” Astrid could not believe that he was hiding something like this from everyone. He was wearing himself down, and if things did not improve, he could end up killing himself.
“No, and we’re not gonna tell him.” Hiccup stressed.
“Why?”
“Cause I don’t want him to think that I can’t handle the authority he’s given me. You’ve got to promise me… you won’t tell him. I’ll work things out on my own.”
Astrid gave him a questionable look. She did not want to see him continue torturing himself. If there was a problem, she much rather have it out in the open, so he could deal with it; However, she understood why he did not want to tell his father. He wanted to prove himself as the future Viking chief of the tribe of Berk. “Okay, I won’t say anything.”
Hiccup smiled and stood up onto his feet. Astrid did the same, happy to see him willing to try again to get some sleep. “I won’t say anything, but you better work this out soon.”
She gently shoved Hiccup, but due to the instability of sand, his artificial foot sunk into the sand, causing him to stumble. Unable to regain his footing, he fell onto the sand.
Astrid had a brief micro expression of concern, having not meant to knock him over, but knowing that he was not hurt, she put on a devilish smile. She turned and slowly walked back to her camp, very much in a flaunting manner.
* * * *
The old women observed the conversation of the two young Vikings from among the shadows of the forest. Leaning on her walking stick, she began her task to study and learn everything she could about the boy named Hiccup the Horrendous for the next few days. She had successfully lured Berk’s Vikings to the island, and disposed of two of their three ships. They were as good as stranded, and if all continued to go as planned, a good number of the adult Vikings will be sent away, further decreasing their numbers. The only Viking who mattered was the Viking Chief’s son.
Studying this interaction, she knew that this little Viking girl was close to him. She determined that she was either betrothed to the young Viking prince or his girlfriend, depending on the traditions of their tribe. Knowing this would come in very handy to bring the boy down to his knees.
* * * *
Hiccup was the last one to wake up; and when he did, his body strongly protested. The few hours of sleep he did get did nothing to help ease the fatigue he was feeling. He could still feel the effects of last night’s nightmare.
Everyone was up and about at the camps. His friends were surrounding his father and Gobber who had pulled out a map to determine where they could be. Hiccup went to join them. As he approached, Astrid gave him another concerned look as to tell him that this was, yet, another reason why he should tell his father.
“From what I can tell, this was where we were when the storm hit us. If I’m correct, we can only be on one of these two islands. The Killagain tribe is on the Island on the West, just East of the Visitnug Territory.”
“This is not that island,” Bitwolf said. He knew this island better than anyone since the Killagain tribe had been his home up to a season ago. “Our island does not have a volcano.”
Stoick glanced up at the mountain top over the tree tops of the forest. The mountain was a good distance away, but it still had a very ill-favored look to it. “Then that leaves only one possibility.” Stoick tapped his thick index finger on the map. “We’re on this island: The Outcast Lands.”
“The Outcast Lands?” Gobber’s eyes filled with fear upon hearing those words. “We can’t stay here; we’ve got to leave immediately! I’ve heard stories about this island that will scare your socks off.”
Stocik sighed and shook his head. He knew he was going to regret asking him this next question. “What stories?”
“This island is cursed! Few Viking who dare set foot here ever left alive. Loki, himself, wouldn’t dare set foot here; this island is haunted.”
“And here we go again,” Tuffnut rolled his eyes. Hiccup had talked all of them to go with Gobber on his quest to find a Boneknapper dragon. During that journey, he showered them with these ridiculous and farfetched stories of all of his previous encounters with the dragon. He seemed to have a flair for the dramatic and exaggerating the truth. It looked like he was about to embark on another one of these annoying stories, something Tuffnut really wanted to avoid. "Haunted?" Stoick tried his best not to laugh and mock his old friend, despite how hilarious his comments actually were. "There's no such thing as spooks, or demons. This Island is not haunted."
"Oh really?" Gobber said with a challenging tone to his voice. "There's no such thing as spooks just like there’s no such thing as a Boneknapper dragon, huh? Think about it: the dragons’ strange behavior and the crazy storm from nowhere. We’ve been bewitched!"
Stoick turned towards Bitwolf, hoping to get some sanity back into this conversation. “Your tribe probably knows more about this island than we do. What do you think?”
Bitwolf folded his arms in front of him, clearly not happy about the turn of events as of late. “We knew enough to stay away from this island. Too many strange occurrences happen near here. The Killagain tribe has lost several ships and crews simply by sailing too close to the island.
“Stranded on a haunted island? Our chances of survival just went down to forty-five percent,” Fishlegs commented, with a sheer look of panic on his face.
“What is up with all these arbitrary numbers of yours?” Bitwolf snapped.
“Okay, enough of this superstitious talk,” Stoick had to regain control of this conference before they further got off topic. “We have only one ship remaining, and we have two dragons and nearly fifty Vikings present. We cannot leave this island with just one ship. I want the crew of the last ship to set sail West for the Killagain tribe, and bring the Monstrous Nightmare with you. The rest of us will remain here until you're able to bring a rescue party. As for those of us staying on this Island, Hiccup, Gobber, and I will be exploring the island to see if we can find help. With Odin’s blessing, we may discover another Viking tribe that’ll be willing to help. Everyone else will remain here and wait for the rescue party.”
“Perhaps I should stay here at the camp, and make sure everything remains in tip-top shape!” Gobber suggested.
“You’re coming with us,” Stoick replied dryly.
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Post by Varðr on Aug 20, 2011 5:48:21 GMT -5
This is getting more and more interesting!!
Poor Gobber, Stoick didin't believe him..... (hehehehehehe)
: >
Well, that's gotta be a one mean island if even Loki wouldn't dare to go there ; D
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MozartMeerkitten
Viking
My avatar is a Nightfury, which is why its invisible.
Posts: 61
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Post by MozartMeerkitten on Aug 20, 2011 22:04:34 GMT -5
Its the Viking version of the Bermuda triangle. xD And: "Never tell me the odds." lol I am very much hooked on this story, just to let you know. I've been quietly reading it up till now but with this update I could be silent no longer.
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Aug 22, 2011 0:11:15 GMT -5
Thank you everyone. I'm glad everyone is enjoying this story. Starting next chapter, we get into the meat of the story.
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Post by toothless11 on Aug 22, 2011 0:17:47 GMT -5
Meat? Will it be delicious?? XD JK. Can't wait for it! ^^
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Aug 24, 2011 1:22:37 GMT -5
Chapter 7
With their only ship now on the way to the Killagain tribe, Stoick and Hiccup lead the journey through the thick jungles of the Outcast Lands. Toothless was enjoying the journey more than anyone; he always had been an inquisitive dragon.
Gobber was with the group, but he was anything but thrilled about exploring this ‘forsaken land’. He also seemed to have gotten Fishlegs all wound up tight in nervousness. The young Viking was always quick to believe what anyone says to him, and that had a tendency to be just as annoying as Gobber’s tall tales. Easily provoked by his comments was Bitwolf. It was not that he did not like Fishlegs; he just didn’t like cowards. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were too busy finding new ways to start a fight between themselves to care about anything else around them. Astrid, on a very thin fuse as of late, was doing her best not to snap at any of them, especially Bitwolf. There was a part of her that had trouble letting go of the things he did to her and her friends. She seemed more in control as long as Hiccup was nearby.
Snotlout seemed more excited about exploring the island than everyone else. He and Tuffnut were the ones that least believed in Gobber’s superstitious stories. Together, they usually found trouble; either that, or trouble found them. “I was hoping to see some exciting new dragons on this island. Where are they all?”
“They’re probably hiding from your ugly face,” Tuffnut chuckled, poking his sister with his elbow.
She did not dignify him with an angry glare. Instead, her arm sprung out and delivered a painful jab into his jaw. “Umph!” Tuffnut grumbled under his breath as he rubbed his jaw.
“You know, there’s a story that all the dragons on this island were killed off by some horrific monster that no one has ever seen,” Gobber commented.
Fishlegs eyes were filled with terror. He snapped a look all around him to make sure that there was nothing hiding around them. “Ma—ma- *gulp* monstrer?”
“Perhaps the island’s deserted?” Astrid suggested, ignoring this crazy talk. She was not going to give any credence to Gobber’s crazy ghost stories.
“I would have to say no, it’s not,” Stoick replied, as he stopped walking. In front of him, there was a pole sticking up from the ground. Hanging on the pole was a human skull wearing a Viking hat.
“Wow, freaky!” Ruffnut said.
“It’s a sign,” Gobber replied. “It’s a warning not to proceed any farther cause this island is cursed!”
“That’s enough of that kind of talk,” Stoick interrupted. “This is a sign,but only that there are others people on this island.”
“Yeah, but are they the kind that we want to meet,” Hiccup added. “Gobber is right about one thing; this is a warning for us to stay out.”
“But is it because the natives are unfriendly, or because we’re entering a deadly part of the island?” Astrid added.
“Maybe it’s because there’s a fierce dragon living around here?” Snotlout added. “We should check it out.”
“Stranded on a mysterious, haunted island with a warning to keep out. Chances of survival now down to forty percent, if anyone cares.” Fishlegs commented.
“There’s nothing more to discuss,” Stock said firmly. These ghost stories of Gobber were making everyone crazy. They were making everyone forget that they had a mission to save Berk. For him, his immediate mission was to save and keep his people alive. The problem was that he was leading a group of young kids, who were starting to drive him crazy. Gobber was not helping things any by acting like a kid, himself. He could hardly wait until he was around grownups again. “We’re going on; end of discussion.”
Hiccup shrugged. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
* * * *
As they journeyed beyond the skull, they ended up entering a foggy marsh land. It was an odd place to find for a swamp, and Stoick had to put his foot down, immediately, about any further talk on this haunted island business. However, that did not stop Fishlegs from giving his danger outlook report. “Poor visibility on a haunted island: I’d say our chances of survival are currently at ten percent.”
“Will you cut it out with that!” Bitwolf snapped.
“I hate to admit it, but I don’t like this either,” Astrid admitted. “Who knows what dragons may be lurking in here.”
“That’s why we have Toothless. He can smell danger before we run into it.” Hiccup replied, patting the dragon on the neck. Toothless rawred chipperly in reply.
“Caaaamiiiicaaaaaziiiii!” A soft feminine whispered gently tickled through the fog. It was not an intimidating voice; on the contrary, it sounded like the owner of voice was searching for this person named Camicazi.
“What was that?” Astrid asked.
Stoick held up his hand to signal the group to stop where they were. “Is someone out there? Show yourself!”
“Camicazi?” The female voice responded. It was a very awkward response to Stoick’s question, if it even was a reply. “Caaaamiiiicaaaaaziiiii!”
“I’m officially creeped out now!” Fishlegs said, hunching his back slightly as he looked all around him, expecting something to attack them at any moment.
Toothless sniffed the air and growled, but even he had trouble pinpointing the location of the voice. The swamped just took this strange voice and echoed it in all directions. It could be coming from behind them, for all they knew.
“Uh— hello? Can you understand me?” Hiccup tried his turn to talk to the voice, hoping a softer tone voice would get better results.
There was a long period of silence in there air before the voice returned. “Camicazi! Camicazi! Camicazi!”
“I keep telling you, this island is haunted! We’re being bewitched!” Gobber said. Here was, yet, another sign that he was telling the truth, about this island. What would it take to convince Stoick that this island was pure evil?
“This is really creepy,” Tuffnut said.
“Ignore it,” Stoick told the young Vikings. “Let’s work our way out of here.” Stoick continued to trek through the swamp. Everyone else followed as none of them wanted to stay there as long as they had to.
Astrid leaned to her left to whisper something to Hiccup. “You don’t suppose that Gobber may be… right… about this island?”
Hiccup hated to put Gobber down; he respected him greatly. When everyone thought Gobber was crazy when he believed that a Boneknapper was trying to kill him, Hiccup stood by him. The elder Viking had done so much for him, that he hated to turn his back on him, but he just could not believe that this island was haunted by ghosts. “Uh… it’s possible that someone might want us to think so, but I think there a logical explanation for all of this.”
* * * *
The old witch stood on a ridge, overlooking the foggy marsh lands. She did not need her eyes to see where they were and what they were doing. They were doing exactly as she had expected and wanted. The chief had sent out a ship from the island, limiting the number of Vikings on the island. Further limiting the numbers, he took a small group to explore the island. She did not care about anyone in this group except for the chief’s son. She had no doubt that he would bring him along, as well as the Night Fury.
However, there was, now, one unforeseen circumstance that had developed. ‘She’ had found the Vikings and was following them. The witch had not expected her to be so bold to follow strange new Vikings whom she had never seen before. As unforeseen as this was, it could prove to be a much welcomed surprise for her son. Hiccup could end up becoming the key to bringing ‘her’ back to the village to meet her fate. She could end up becoming a very tasty treat for the Furious. The witch would have to see how things continued to unfold, but this was turning out better than she had hopes; praise be to the giants for their favor upon her.
* * * *
They made it through the other side of the marsh. That eerie voice had not been heard from again since the first time they heard it. Now that their visibility had returned, everyone’s nerves were returning to normal. Stoick even afford them time to sit down and rest.
Fishlegs sat on the trunk of a fallen tree. Breathing heavily, he was happy to be able to sit down and catch a breather. “Okay, our chances are now…”
“Finish that sentence, and I’m gonna hurt you!” Bitwolf growled, waving a fist in his face.
His eyes followed the movement of Bitwolf’s fist. “Fifty-five.” He managed to blurt out despite the threat.
“This is crazy! We’ve not run into any dragon since arriving to this island,” Snotlout complained, as he sat on the ground and leaned back into a tree trunk.
“Yeah, there hasn’t been as much as a single Terrible Terror. What kind of island is this?” Tuffnut agreed.
“They’ve got a point,” Astrid added. “This island is easily capable of sustaining life. So why haven’t we come across any?”
“Caaaaamiiiiicaaaazeeee!” The eerie voice returned to taunt them and to test their nerves.
“It’s baaaaack,” Ruffnut said, matching the ghostly tone of the voice.
“Ugh, I’m getting too old for this. My heart can’t handle much more of this,” Gobber complained.
Stoick held his new hammer up in front of him. After losing his hammer in the fight against the Sea Devils, he grabbed a new one from the last reaming ship, before it took off to the Killagain tribe. “Show yourself!”
The voice let out a soft, playful giggle. “Camicazi!”
“Grrrr! That’s really starting to get on my nerves!” Astrid growled.
Toothless let out a curious moan as he took a step forward. Hiccup noticed him staring at something up the hill ahead. The Night Fury was not the only one to see something. “Hey, look!” Snotlout announced.
Everyone looked up to see something standing there looking at them and hiding in the cover of shadow. There was no mistaking the shape of the figure; it was a small dragon that was looking curiously down at them. If Hiccup had to guess, it appeared about the same size as Toothless.
“What is it?” Tuffnut asked. Some dragon breeds were easily identified by the shapes of their body, but he could not identify this one as easily. He had never seen this type of dragon before.
“Do you suppose it’s aggressive?” Bitwolf asked, hoping to finally be able to see some combat action.
“I don’t think so,” Hiccup replied. “It would’ve attacked us by now. I think it’s just curious?”
Hiccup cautiously started to walk up the hill, showing the palms of his hands to show that he had no weapons in hand. The dragon instantly grew nervous and disappeared before he was able to get close. It happened so fast, he could not tell if the dragon had run or flown off. Disappointed, Hiccup could only look back at everyone and shrug.
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Post by Varðr on Aug 24, 2011 11:55:32 GMT -5
ITS THE SHADOW LORD DRAGON!!!! : S:S:S:S:S:S:S:S:S
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MozartMeerkitten
Viking
My avatar is a Nightfury, which is why its invisible.
Posts: 61
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Post by MozartMeerkitten on Aug 24, 2011 21:13:34 GMT -5
If people had turned back every time they saw a skull on a stick we would have gotten nowhere in life. xD And what does Camicazi have to do with this? O.o And what's with this new dragon? Hmm, sooooo maaaaaaaany quuuuuuueeeestionssss. xD
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Aug 28, 2011 3:27:16 GMT -5
Those answers and more will be answered as the story commences.
Chapter 8
The witch observed things unfold from a safe distance. She was curious to see that the dragon had yet to make contact with the Vikings. Perhaps, there was still a level of distrust in the dragon than she had supposed. However, the dragon’s distrust was not enough to resolve her curiosity.
A large male Viking hid in the shadows as he approached the witch. “How's our guests doing?”
“They’re well on their way, but we have an interesting development.”
“What is it, old woman?”
“The dragon is watching them. She seems to be... curious... about the strangers.”
“You mean… ”
“Yes, it’s her. She seems to be overcoming her fear to study these Vikings.”
“It’s probably because of the boy. Hiccup the Horrendous has a way with dragons,” The Viking replied. “Let’s see if we can get the dragon to reveal itself to them.”
The witch knew what he wanted from her; he was her son, after all, even if he refused to accept the fact. Her son did not believe much of anything, whether it be in the gods, or in the giants, whom she served. He held to no spiritual beliefs whatsoever; only hatred for the Roman Empire kept him going. Hiccup the Horrendous and the Vikings of the Berk were the key to bringing the Romans to their knees.
She raised her walking sticks into the air and began her chant. The large Viking stepped in front of her, interrupting her spell before she could get too far. “Oh, and I don’t need to remind you that I don’t want Hiccup the Horrendous harmed. The others are… expendable.”
* * * *
“Okay, everyone on your feet; rest time’s over!” Stoick announced.
All the young Vikings stood to their feet. It was a little harder for Hiccup with his artificial foot to get up. The moment he tried to stand up, the wooden frame cracked. “Just great!” He was hoping that the leg would hold up until he got back home to Berk, but that was not going to happen.
Astrid saw the situation with his leg and offered him her hand. “Need a hand?”
“Thanks,” He said, taking her hand.
She helped him up onto his feet, releasing the strain on wooden frame. “Are you gonna be able to walk?”
“It should be fine to walk on, for now,” Hiccup replied, trying to convince himself more than her. In actuality, he had no idea how much more it was going to be able to last.
Toothless stood up, when he saw everyone else standing up. An unexpected noise caused his ears to twitch. The dragon sniffed the air and smelt danger coming towards them at an alarming rate. He stiffened his body, bore his teeth, and growled in the direction the smell was coming from.
“What’s wrong with him? Tuffnut asked.
“There’s danger nearby?” Hiccup scouted the area intently, knowing that Toothless was never wrong about these kinds of things. The dragon had a very sharp sense of smell.
Stoick already had his ax in hand, knowing Toothless almost as well as his son. He knew this was a possibility, but after having that long stretch of calmness, he had hoped it would have stayed that way. Yes, these kids had proven themselves in grave situations, but they did not have their dragons this time. They still needed much more practice when it came to handling weapons. Astrid and Bitwolf were probably the only ones who were competent enough to use their weapons. As for Hiccup… that went without saying.
Stoick stepped out and focused his vision through the forest, trying to see anything that could be lurking. Lunging at him from a bush was a wild beast, unlike anything he had ever seen. He used the handle of his ax to hold the beast back by pressing it into its throat. The beast snapped wildly at his face. It had large jagged teeth and a lizard-like forked tongue. The creepy thing was: the beast had no eyes.
Stoick gritted his teeth as he used the handle of his ax to throw the four-legged creature to the ground. Now, with a better view of the monster, he could see that it was a dragon class creature, but with no wings. Its lower jaw and belly were black while the rest of his scaly-hide was purple. Tiny horns went down from its head all the way down to the tip of its tail. Four more of these creatures came out of the forest, and pranced around the group of Viking.
“Skullions!” Bitwolf snarled as he kept his doubled-headed ax in front of him. “These pack animals are predators through-and-through. They cannot see or hear, but they've got a very keen sense of smell. They have one extended claw on both of their front paws which they use to slash the tendons in the legs of their prey. Once they fall to the ground, they eat them alive.”
“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Fishlegs moaned.
A Skullion lunged at Toothless, but the dragon swung his tale, hitting the beast several feet away. Another one ventured to stalk him, but all he had to do to make the creature reconsider was to breathe a puff of flames in its direction.
“Let’s do this, Toothless,” Hiccup said reaching for the saddle.
Before he had the chance to climb up, a Skullion pounced on top of him, pinning his shoulders to the ground. Its extended claw on each foot came within inches of both of his ears. Hiccup looked up into the creature face. It's drool dripped from between its pointy teeth. Since it was unable to see, it smelled him to confirm that it had its pray pinned to the ground.
Before it had the chance to begin feeding, Toothless grabbed the nap of its neck with his jaws; his muffled, furious growls made it abundantly clear that he was enraged. With the snap of his neck, the Night Fury slammed the Skullion into the trunk of a tree. It let out a loud yelp, and desperately crawled away from the dragon.
Snotlout was keeping the monsters away with a large hammer. Any Skullion that dared tried for his ankles got a whack in the head. Bitwolf screamed like a rabid dragon as he charged at one of the beasts. He swung his ax wildly, that no creature would dare to consider a frontal assault on him.
A lone Skullion came leaping out of the forest, behind the Vikings. Astrid barley had the time to duck under the lunge, but the creature ended up knocking the ax out of her hands and out of her reach. She had no choice but to risk breaking from the group and retrieve her weapon.
The only advantage they had over the pack of Skullions was that they were keeping together. While grouped together, it made it difficult for predators to kill them. That was why beasts like the Skullions tended to try to disperse them, so they could pick-off a weaker, more susceptible prey. Of course, without a weapon to defend herself with, she was already in grave danger.
She took off for her weapon, hoping to get it and get back before they caught her. It was only after she gotten her weapon back in hand, that she realized the beasts had done this all intentionally; she had fallen for a trap. Five new beasts leaped from their hiding places, nearly knocking Hiccup and Snotlout to the ground in the process, and attacked Astrid.
“Hiya!” Astrid swung her ax, aggressively, in front of her. The attack only served as a delay attack, and it even made things worse for her, causing them to start to spread around her. She could not let them completely surround her, or she was as good as dead.
She ran into the forest as fast as she could, as the five Skullions chased after her. “Astrid!” Hiccup shouted, wanting to come to her rescue, but it was taking. Toothless everything he had to keep him safe. The monsters were doing everything to prevent him from having the time to climb up onto his dragon's back. More Skullions had joined the fight, and there were now eight of them encircling the group of Vikings.
Astrid dashed through the woods, dodging trees until she accidentally tripped on a rock sticking out of the ground. She rushed to get back onto her feet, but by then, it was already too late. The beasts had fully surrounded her.
They circled around her, preparing themselves for the kill. With Astrid’s nerves on full alert, she kept the blade of her ax in front her, looking in all directions for the first beast to make its move. She was ready to go down fighting; if she had to die, she was going to take as many of them with her as she could. Yet, there was still a tiny part of her that prayed to Odin or Thor to help her survive this.
The dragon-like monsters could wait no longer. The first Skullion lunged for her only to have a dragon come out of nowhere and stomp him into the ground. The dark-blue dragon lifted her paw and swatted the struggling beast away. From that point on, the dragon had the full attention of five of the lizard-beasts.
Astrid stood there, frozen in-place with confusion and terror. She had no idea what this dragon’s intentions were, or where it came from; but there was always the possibility that it may be coming for her next. She watched as the dragon, which looked slightly bigger than Toothless, take on all five creatures.
A Skullion leaped for the dragon’s throat, but it raised its right, sharp claw and not only swatted it way, but left deep gashes down its rib cage. The dragon stared down at the beasts with curled lips and bared fangs. It let out a terrifying roar out of extreme anger.
The dragon unleashed a massive blanket of flames at the smaller beasts, causing them to scatter to a safe distance. One of them managed to sneak close to the dragon’s left ankle, and it used one of its extended claw to slash it.
The dragon roared in pain, and reacted violently towards the foolish beast who slashed at its ankle. It snapped at the Skullion, grabbing it by the back, wither her teeth. It hoisted its neck up and lifted the defenseless beast high off the ground. With a whip of its long, extended neck, it threw the beast deep within the forest.
One of the Skullions made a defeated sounding howl. The four others heard the cry of their alpha, and obeyed. They retreated into the forest, in search for easier pray.
The dragon posed ready for more battle if the call of retreat proved to be a trick. When the beasts disappeared within the forest, it realized that this was no trick; they had given up. The dragon turned to face Astrid, still growling as it stepped towards her.
Astrid was terrified, and did not know what to do. The very dragon that took on five Skullions was now setting its sight on her. She contemplated whether it was sound strategy to attack first or let the dragon make its move. A year ago, she would not think twice about attacking first, but she had come to learn a lot about dragons, thanks to Hiccup.
Deciding not to provoke the dragon, she waited to see what the it would do. It came up to her cautiously until it was at lunging distance. Instead of attacking, she closed her mouth, sat on its hind legs and tilted its head curiously. The dragon smacked her mouth around as if it had a bad taste in her mouth. When on all fours, the dragon was only a little bigger than Toothless, but sitting on its hind legs, the dragon appeared very tall; she, barley, came up to its chest. The structure of the dragon’s face made it almost obvious that the dragon was female.
Before her very eyes, the dragon’s scales began to change colors from a dark blue to a golden-yellow. The dragon looked down at her with a friendly curiosity. What kind of dragon was this?
* * * *
At one second, Hiccup and the others were fighting for their lives, and in the next, the Skullions were retreating back into the forest. All the Vikings were looking at each other with bewilderment, but Hiccup was more worried about Astrid.
“Astrid!” Hiccup ran in the direction where he had seen Astrid run; Toothless followed closely behind.
“Hiccup?” He could hear his father’s concern for his running from the group, but the only thing that mattered to him was to find Astrid and help if there was still time.
“Astrid?” Hiccup called out, praying to the gods that she was still alive.
“Over here,” her voice answered back, not too far up ahead.
A heavy burden instantly lifted from his shoulders the moment that he heard her voice; she was still alive. He ran in the direction her voice had been, and found her standing there with her ax on the ground. Sitting there in front of her was a good-sized golden dragon. “Uh— what’s this?”
“I think she’s friendly,” Astrid replied, still not willing to take the chance and go to pet the dragon, yet.
Toothless stood beside Hiccup and became immediately curious about the dragon. The fact that he had not growled or sensed danger told him that the dragon did seem to be friendly. When the other Vikings caught up to Hiccup and Toothless, they were quickly entranced by the docile dragon sitting in front of Astrid, as well. The dragon looked at all of them, including Toothless, and remained passive, as if it already knew that it could trust all of them.
“What kind of dragon is that?” Snotlout asked, not expecting anyone to really know.
“I’ve never seen a dragon like this before,” Bitwolf replied, perplexed by this beautiful dragon in front of them.
“I’m a Mood dragon.”
The shock and awe on everyone’s faces could not be any more apparent. That feminine voice came from the dragon’s mouth. “Did that dragon just talk?” Tuffnut finally managed to speak first through the shock he was experiencing.
The golden dragon stood up on all four legs and looked directly at Tuffnut, who had asked the question. “Yes, I can speak Norse as well as Dragoneese.” The dragon looked towards Astrid. “I’m Stormfly.”
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MozartMeerkitten
Viking
My avatar is a Nightfury, which is why its invisible.
Posts: 61
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Post by MozartMeerkitten on Aug 28, 2011 8:30:48 GMT -5
Well this is turning out to be interesting. Stormfly explains some things though. And Skullions. o.o Didn't expect them. This island is full of suprises!
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Post by Varðr on Aug 29, 2011 1:14:50 GMT -5
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