mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on May 19, 2012 18:12:45 GMT -5
Chapter 22: Outcast Chaos
The witch was well hidden from the action. That had to change. Toothless knew what their target was, and he was pushing himself, as hard as he could, towards the witch. Unfortunately, they failed to achieve the surprise Hiccup was looking for. Seeing them come after her, the witch changed her chant. The Furious responded by putting himself between them and the witch. If there had been any doubt of the old woman’s control over the massive dragon; it had all just been laid to rest.
“Whoa!” Hiccup yelped as Toothless had to make a quick swerve to avoid flying into the mouth of the roaring, giant dragon. With his attack aborted, his mission was now to keep the giant dragon’s attention on him; perhaps Astrid will have better luck getting through than he did.
He tried to fly Toothless in small pattern, staying in the line of sight of the Furious. The dragon was easy to distract, but the problem was that the witch wasn’t. Coming in at different angle, Astrid and Stormfly made their attempt on the witch. The furious swung his head in their direction and attacked back with a missive cloud of flames. They had to cease their attack or risk being incinerated.
So much for ‘going after the puppet master’. The witch knew that a weakness had been spotted and that he and Astrid were figuring out a way to exploit it. Like a turtle, she had sucked herself into an impenetrable ‘shell’, and now getting to her was going to be much harder. What in Odin’s name were they going to do now?
Odin had to have been listening, for the moment that mental prayer entered Hiccup’s mind, he noticed something overhead severely blocking the light of the sun. He looked up to see a heard of dragons on approach. All the familiar dragon species were there present including Monstrous Nightmares, Terrible Terrors, Gronkles, and, Deadly Naders, both one-headed and two-headed Zipplebacks. There was no mistaking it: these were Berk’s dragons! He had no idea how, or why, but they had come all the way from back home to come to their rescue. The herd of dragons went right to work, harassing the Furious and flying circles around its massive head.
* * * *
“What in Thor’s name?” As first, Stoick feared that Alvin had summoned more dragons to fight back with. There was no other explanation. However, that fear quickly subsided when a handful of dragons departed from the heard, carrying Spitelout and other Berk Vikings, including the ones that were left behind on the Island’s shore.
As soon as his dragon touched ground, Spitelout jumped off to meet with his older brother and Gobber. Stoick was still getting over his shock. “What... how...?”
“You sent a ship to find Ivar? Well, somehow, a storm got them all turned around and they found their way back to Berk. After hearing their stories, and fearing the worse, I came here with our dragons. It appears that it was a good thing we came we did.”
“Aye,” Stoick replied. Beside him, Hiccup’s friends were ecstatic to be reunited with their dragons.
“Heeeeey, Fireworm!” Snotlout greeted his dragon with a stern scratching of the neck. The Monstrous Nightmare had an affinity for having his neck scratched. That was the first thing the dragon wanted as the two of them were reunited.
Fishlegs was just as excited to see his Gronkle, Horrorcow. The moment the dragon spotted him, he flew almost like an arrow shot from a bow. Unfortunately, the dragon had always had a hard time stopping, and this time was no different. Horrorcow collided, face first, into Fishlegs. “Horrorc—Umph!”
“Awesome!” Tuffnut cheered as he and his sister were greeted by their Hideous Zippleback. The dragon’s two necks weaved and swerved in joyous celebration to see their masters again.
* * * *
This was the witches fault! Her incompetence was costing Alvin everything. With all of Berk’s dragons coming to village, all of his plans were falling apart. He couldn’t comprehend how this could have happened. He heard all the stories, and made doubly sure he did not underestimate Hiccup and his friends. Yet here he was, amidst another rally, but this time at his expense.
No! Defeat was not an option. He was not going to let the little runt get away this easily. No matter what the result of all this was, that boy was going to die, even if he had to do the act himself.
* * * *
Bitwolf had no dragon to fly. While the others took to the air to help Hiccup and Astrid with the Furious, he was left alone. With the reinforcement of adult Vikings, he was kind of lost in the shuffle. This was good, because he was about to attempt something he knew everyone would have objected to. He decided to go after the old woman.
With all the commotion going on, he ran towards then around the closest hut. After making sure that no one saw him, he followed the back walls of the last two huts in the village. That was where the witch had anchored herself down. As he was coming to the end the second to last hut, he could see back of the old woman facing him. Her attention was up in the sky with all the dragons flying around.
All he had to do was walk beside one more hut for she was in striking distance. With a hammer in hand, which he taken from one of disarmed Outcast Vikings, he quietly stepped towards the old witch. Just a few more steps and he would have a clear shot at taking her out of the equation. If all went right with his plans, the Furious would no longer be a threat to them.
He raised the hammer over his shoulder, ready to strike the first opportunity he got. He only got two steps when an unseen hand grabbed hold of his hammer and pulled it out of his. Bitwolf spun around to see Viggor standing there with a grin on his face. “Now, what were you thinking in that dense little brain of yours?”
* * * *
There were too many dragons in the air for the Furious to handle. Now that Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins were in the air with their dragons, they were able to coordinate the dragons better. Hiccup could see the strain that the number of dragons were putting on the witch’s magic. It wouldn’t take much more to, completely, sever the connection between her and the Furious. All he and his friends had to do was step up the effort just a little more.
“Hiccup, look out!” Astrid’s voice called. In all the confusion of the moment, he was unable to identify where she was or where the danger was coming from.
He had no idea if Toothless was responding to Astrid’s vocal warning, or his dragon instincts were on full alert, but the dragon reacted with a slight dive to his right to narrowly avoid the talons of a Timberjack. Everything was a blur for a few seconds after that initial attack, but once Toothless leveled out and after Hiccup could spend a few seconds to refocus, he turned to see Alvin the Treacherous riding on the attacking Timberjack. There was no mistaking it; that was one of the two dragons that had attacked Berk.
Behind the Alvin and his TImberjack, Astrid and Stormfly were racing to catch up to try to help Hiccup. Unfortunately, the second Timberjack came flying out of the forest an immediately went after them with a fierce vengeance. The attack forced them to pull away and lead the new Timberjack away from Hiccup and Toothless.
Now that he only had to worry about Alvin and his Timberjack, it was time to test the Outcast chief in how versatile of a dragon rider he was. Hiccup remembered reading about this breed in the Book of Dragons. Their wings were so sharp, that they could cut through tree trunks when it glides. Under most circumstances, it was wiser to confront this dragon up in the air rather than through the forest, but Hiccup was more than confident that Toothless can out run the dragon while dodging tree trunks. If he was wrong, though, they would be in danger of being crushed by falling tree tops. “Toothless, let’s see how fast that Timberjack can go through the Forest.”
* * * *
Astrid and Stormfly were successful in getting the second Timberjack to chase after them. Now the issue was to find a way to take the dragon out of the fight. Clearly, Alvin deemed the two Timberjacks as his personal dragons; taking one of them out of the fight could deliver a crippling blow to the Viking chief.
“We got the dragon to follow us, now what?” Stormfly asked. Astrid picked up on slight sound of hesitation in her voice. Her whole body was dark blue during this whole battle, but the moment the Timberjack started to follow her, the dark blue started to fade into a light green. Stormfly was nervous. Perhaps she was uncertain in her abilities to take on a Timberjack, or maybe it was the fact that the persuing dragon belonged to Alvin, himself. She could be fighting her inner fear of Alvin, in a desperate move to save Astrid and her friends.
“I think I’ve got an idea. Swing around and head back.”
* * * *
As quickly as Viggor had taken it away, he had the ax poised underneath Bitwolf’s chin. His smirk was glowing brightly as if to brag of his premature victory. “You think I’m dumb, boy? I know who you are, and more importantly, I know who your father was. Wolfbane was a good friend of mine. What I don’t understand is why you disgrace the memory of your father like this.”
Bitwolf knew what Viggor was trying to do. Viggor was going to try to talk reason him into joining Alvin’s cause. Bitwolf was no dummy; he long suspected his father might have been hiding something like this from him. Back then, he cared less about any secrets his father was keeping.
Having spent the past months with Berk, it was like having blinders taken of him when he never knew he was in the dark. His first few months were not easy on him or Hiccup and his father. Bitwolf was far from responsive to what they were trying to do for him, and even less appreciative of it. He had intentionally came to close to insubordination a handful of times, in hopes of being kicked out of Berk. He had no such luck. His father, Stoick, was easily enough provoked to anger, but Hiccup was completely the opposite. Every time his father was ready to kick him off the island, Hiccup would stop him. There was no getting that young Viking angry. It was that long-suffering personality that really broke through Bitwolf’s hard exterior.
So now Viggor was probably sent by Alvin to try to undo all the ‘damage’ that’s been done to him. They’re going to be sourly disappointed with his answer. “So, my father did have ties with Alvin the Treacherous. I can’t say I’m surprised. I suppose there was some filth that my father was too embarrassed to tell me about.”
“It’s a shame, really,” Viggor grunted. “You had great potential, but now you’re gonna have to be disposed of just like your friends.”
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Jun 3, 2012 19:02:10 GMT -5
Chapter 23: Freedom for Furious
Bitwolf barely dodged the blade of the ax. Viggor proved to be surprisingly fast for someone of his weight. He wasn’t being direct with his attacks either, which meant this was not necessarily about killing him; it was about attracting attention. It worked like a charm; the witch was now keeping a cautious on them; she was now fully aware of his intentions. He had lost the only advantage he had in trying to free Furious from her control. Now, he was in a fight for his lift with everyone too busy to lend him a hand.
He dodged another swing of the ax, but as he did, his foot got caught-up on a tree root sticking out of the ground. Had that tree root always been there or was this more magic of the witch? It didn’t really matter to him at that moment, as he staggered towards the back wall of one of the wooden huts. Fighting the weight of his body and gravity, he struggled to stay on his feet, and hoped to reach the hut to balance himself before he fell flat on his face.
He was successful, and he placed the palm of his left hand onto the wall to steady himself, but a flash of instant regret hit him as if Thor, himself, shot a lightning bolt at his brain. It dawned on him that he just made a deadly mistake; he allowed himself to get pushed up against the wall, giving the Outcast Viking the chance to finish himself off. There was no room to escape; only the gods could save him now. Realizing victory was at hand, Viggor pressed in, blocking all possible escapes routs. Pinned, with his back to the wall, Bitwolf he could lift up a prayer to Odin as the hefty Outcast Viking raised his ax over his head.
A loud crash echoed through the forest behind Viggor. The noise was close enough to draw his attention behind him. It sounded like several giant trees falling to the earth, with the loud ripple of braches and leaves. The trees were shakings as if in fear.
“What in...” Viggor had no time to access what was happening or what was coming their way. A fireball shot out of the blackness towards them.
* * * *
Viggor and Bitwolf barely had enough time to run and escape the flames, as it collided into the hut, catching the whole structure on fire. The witch’s attention was nearly complete towards this new development, sensing that this was not going to go in her favor. Her feelings proved to be correct, as Astrid and Stormfly came out of the forest, and made a sharp turn towards her.
The Mood dragon prepared to launch an attack on her, so she had no choice but to refocus Furious’ attention. The giant beast swung his head around towards the attacking dragon and lunged forward to try to catch her and her rider in his jaws.
* * * *
“Alright, Stormfly, let’s do it... NOW!” Astrid said loudly. She was inexperienced in flight maneuvers compared to Hiccup, so she prayed to Odin and the gods that this worked or she would be dragon food.
Stormfly peeled off, sharply, heading back into the forest. Zipping out of the Forrest in hot persute of them was the Timberjack. The dragon failed to see them reenter the forest, and even more devastating for the dragon, it failed to see the trap that had been set until it was far too late. The jaws of Furious clamped down, and instead of catching Astrid and Stormfly, he caught the left wing of the Timberjack, who wailed in terror, flapping its right wing franticly. Annoyed by the turn of events, Furious angrily swung his neck, and threw the Timberjack into the side of the mountain. He bellowed out an ear-deafening roar as he turned to look back into the woods.
Furious knew that the Mood dragon went to hide in the thick forest. He was deciding whether he should wait it out or continue his reign of destruction. His decision was made for him as a ball of red flames shot out from the darkness of the woods, and hit him in his giant nostrils. His shook his head and snorted, as the flames tickled his nostrils. Another fire ball came at him, this time hitting him in the forehead between his right set of eyes and his left. Now, he was angry. Annoyed by these cowardly attacks, the giant monster raise his head and pulled back his neck, as he took a deep breath. All six of his eyes widened as a large mass of dark, flammable gas gathered at the back of his throat.
* * * *
“No, no, no!” The witch screamed. The dragon had allowed his anger to get the best of him, and now he was about to launch a massive fiery assault. The problem was that she was directly in the line of fire. There was nothing she could do to stop it; once a dragon had gathered that much flammable gas in their mouths, they had to expel it or risk serious injury to itself.
If she tried to keep control of the dragon, she would perish in flames. She had no choice but to surrender her power over the beast and run for her life, and that’s exactly what she did.
Furious unleashed his massive river of flames, and all the trees and huts, near and in it, caught ablaze. It was an attack of apocalyptic proportions. The billowy flames went almost as tall as the dragon, himself, and it left death and destruction in its wake. The flames would only be the beginning, as the forest surrounding the village began to catch fire.
* * * * The fire gave Astrid and Stormfly no choice but to abandon their hiding place. However, they had another option than flying towards the giant beast. They raced against the flames towards the tree tops. They plowed through the branches and leaves and punctured their way out and into the sky. A fresh sensation of relief swept over Astrid as they left the intense heat of the burning forest to be greeted by the cool, crisp, breeze of the sky.
Far from the reaches of Furious, she looked down to see if their little worked. It was hard to see through the flames that were starting to spread, but the witch was nowhere to be seen. Turning her to Furious, she noticed that the dragon was moving erratically, as if he had just woken up to found himself in the middle of sleep walking. He looked around, dazed and confused.
“Hold on to my neck, tightly!” Stormfly said as her scales changed colors from dark-blue to her normal golden-yellow.
“What are you gonna Dooooo!” The Mood dragon flew down steeply towards Furious. Astrid leaned forwards as far she could and help tightly to her neck. She anticipated that Stormfly was about to go on the attack again, but instead, the Mood dragon growled loudly followed by a series of grunts and groans. Was she TRYING to reveal their location to Furious? Wouldn’t it wiser to keep the element of surprise on their side?
The giant monster tilted his head to peer up to them with his right three eyes, and then replied with a series of roars and grunts of his own. That’s what Stormfly was doing... she was talking to him. “What ‘s going on? What did he say?”
“He’s a little disconcerted, not quite sure what’s going on,” Stormfly responded. “He’s also angry with the dark-skinned old woman who was able to force him to do her will. He is grateful for our assistance in freeing him.”
Furious turned his back towards the village and stepped back down into the small pit as he made his way back into the cave on the foot of the giant volcano. Stormfly was right; the monster was nothing like the dragon queen at Dragon Island. He had no interest in the destruction that the witched forced him to cause. All he wanted was to be left alone.
* * * *
Bitwolf was astonished to watch the giant monster depart from the village. The gods have indeed answered their prayers; the spell was broken, and the dragon turned out not to be as violent as the one on Dragon Island. The tide had finally turned, and it was only a matter of time before Alvin, and those faithful to him, would be apprehended.
Three times now, have Hiccup and the Vikings of Berks overcome impossible odds to not only just to survive, but thrive. One time, it could have been just luck, two... it could have been a coincidence, but three times? It was almost as if Hiccup had been anointed by the gods, themselves, and destined to greatness. Up to this point, the gods had been nothing more than just stories to him, but it was near impossible to say that now. Perhaps they were not as fictional as he had assumed.
“Arrgh!” an angry cry came from his left.
Bitwolf turned to see Viggor charging at him with the rage of an angry bull. The ax, which he stole from Bitwolf, was raised over his head and ready to take to be used to snuff out the young viking’s life. An angry grunt came from his right. Landing there was Stormfly with Astrid on her back. He knew exactly what to do.
He dropped to the ground, landing on his chest, as the Mood dragon spun around and whipped her tail. Viggor was slapped across his chest, sending him stumbling, backwards. He ended up tripping over his own feet, and fell onto his back.
“Bitwolf, I need another pair of eyes with me in the sky to find Hiccup and Toothless. We have to help Them!”
He was honored beyond words that she had come to him for help over everyone else. Even though there was a peace between them, trust had not been established as of yet. While working with his father against the Vikings of Berk, he had tried to woo her away from Hiccup. When she found out what he and his father were trying to do, she knocked him out cold. He was afraid that she would never forgive him after that. This was the first time she had actually addressed him directly, or let alone ask him for help, in the one or two seasons he’s been stuck on Berk.
He smiled up at her as he accepted her hand and help up onto the mood dragon’s back. “Are you strong enough for two of us on your back?” He asked the mood dragon. Stormfly was not a large dragon, by far, and she did not appear to be as strong as Toothless.
“You just watch me” Stormfly said with a grin on her face.
She leaped up, showing more strength than a dragon of her stature should have. With her wings working hard, she began to ascend to the sky. Viggor, was back on his feet and was now charging at them with his ax. Out of desperation, he swung his weapon in hopes of getting them before they made it to the sky, but the blade of his ax narrowly missed the dragon’s abdomen. The dragon had just barely gained enough height to avoid the attack.
“No!” he growled bitterly.
He had failed to even dispose of a single, young Viking, and he could only imagine the fury Alvin would have towards him. He had to find some way to make up for his failure; he could not let things stand the way they were. He turned to head back to the heart of the village. If he could not dispose of that young, traitorous Viking, he could at least dispose of this Gobber. It would be great to be the one to kill him after putting up with him for the past day or two.
Before he knew what was coming, a small stone hammer, came pounding on his helmet with such force, his eyes rolled upward and he collapsed forward into unconsciousness. Standing triumphantly over him was Gobber, with the blacksmith hammer attachment connected to his prosthesis. “Hehehe, I’ve been waiting to do that for a long time!”
As much as he wanted to, he could not spend any time enjoying the moment and gloat, there were other Vikings had to be taken care of, and huts to evacuate. “Hiya!” He bellowed out his war cry as he ran into the heart of battle.
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Jun 14, 2012 20:23:11 GMT -5
The story is just about done! I have decided to work on one last story before ending my fan fiction writting. It will not be a squeal to my stories, it'll actually be a prequeal to the movie. It'll be a story strictly about Toothless. It will be the story of the dragon's backstory from birth to the start of HTTYD the movie. I'll work on it starting after this story, and will try to update at least once every other week.
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Jun 18, 2012 18:22:18 GMT -5
Chapter 24: Alvin’s Demise
Dodging another flame attack from Alvin’s Timberjack, Toothless managed to twist in such a way to allow Hiccup to notice the forest catching on fire. It was spreading rapidly, threatening to wrap around the entire village. Having flown near the volcano, the stench of sulfur was becoming stronger; the mountain was on the verge of eruption. If the flames were allowed to surround the village, there would be no escaping the mountain’s wrath.
“We’ve got to stop those flames from spreading,” Hiccup said to Toothless. He had no idea what the Night Fury could understand and what he couldn’t. It really didn’t matter all that much; he thought of Toothless more as a friend than a dragon. Somehow, communication between them had never been much of a problem. “You know what to do.”
Toothless grunted. If there was anything dragons were experts in, it’s fire. Every fire breathing dragon knew how to start fire, but only the most intelligent knew how to extinguish them, and Toothless was one of those super intelligent dragons.
Toothless pushed himself to fly faster, racing against not just Alvin and his Timberjack, but against the flames that were trying to surround the village. Taking a deep breath inward, the Night Fury built up as much ignitable gas as his throat could handle. When his lungs could not withstand the pressure any longer, he unleashed a flurry of blue, fiery puffs. The series of puffs ripped through the forest, leaving a large patch of scorched earth and burnt trees.
When the fire reaches the scorched earth, the fire would have nothing new to feed on, forcing it to find another path. It would slow the wild fire down, but not much time unless he could feed it where it has already feasted. Hiccup looked back to see if Alvin and his dragon were still following. When he saw that he was, he pressed softly on the pedal, and he and Toothless made a sharp U-turn and flew towards the flames. The Timberjack followed pursuit.
Whether Alvin the Treacherous knew what he was doing, or he if he was acting on an uncontrollable impulse to destroy him, Hiccup could not tell. It really didn’t matter either. Enduring the extreme heat of the flames all around them, Hiccup looked back to see the Alvin and his dragon still hot on their trail. The wings of the Timberjack sliced through the burning trunks, severing the tree tops, and dropping them into the flames. That should give the fire something to consume to slow the fire down.
Hiccup gave another look behind, to confirm Alvin was still cooperating, but he found himself surprised when he saw that they had cut off the chase and were nowhere to be seen. Had the fire been too much for them, or did Alvin have something more sinister in mind? He had no idea what to expect from him now. The only thing for certain, now, was that fire had to be the last of his concerns. It provided too much advantage for Alvin to sneak up on him. With the searing heat starting to become suffocating, Hiccup knew that they had to get out of the burning forest.
“We’ve lost them. Let’s head back to the village and get further up to give us a better view around us.”
Toothless understood and grunted. Feeling Hiccups prodding, he took that as a sign that said that he was ready to break through the flames. The Night Fury cut through the walls of flames as quickly as he could and dodged through a few rows of trees before reaching the openness of the village.
Hiccup felt the wall of cool air hit him with fervor intensity. The sudden change of temperature was very disorienting; it took a few seconds to gather his wits.
When the cobwebs cleared in his mind, he noticed all the chaos that had taken the village hostage. There were Vikings running all over the place. Some were Vikings who were fleeing the village after being rescued by Berk’s Vikings. Others were Outcast Tribe Vikings running away from a pursuing Dragon. There was Ruffnut and Tuffnut, chasing and Outcast Viking on their Zippleback. The twin Vikings were busy heckling the Viking while chasing him down. “Hey, come back here! I want you to meet our dragon!”
Elsewhere in the village, there was Snotlout on his Monstrous Nightmare also chasing down an enemy Viking. Like the twins, he found great pleasure in the way things have turned to their favor. Hiccup still wished that they would cool it with the bragging just a bit. “Hehe! Now who’s the bad Viking around here?”
Fishlegs did not have one mean bone in his body, so he wasn’t surprised to see that he wasn’t gloating about the turn of events, nor was he surprised to see His Gronkle running amuck and flying so crazily, that the young Viking was barely able to hold on. There was so much going on, that dragon had no idea what to do or who to chase. “Wa—wa—wa-whoa!
Looking around, he had no idea where Astrid and Stormfly were. As they put more distance between them and the ground, he still could not find them. Even more worrisome was the disappearance of Furious. Where had that monster gone? A fear began to swell up inside of him; something told him that they had taken on the beast, themselves.
Before his brain could formulate on his next course of action, he felt the rays of the sun, shinning down on the nap of his neck, being blocked. The coolness of a large shadow took the place of the warm sun. He had no time to turn to see what was blocking the sun; a large claw grasped his right shoulder and most of his chest and upper body. A sudden pull and the iron foot-clamp was ripped out of his wooden, artificial limb.
“No—no—no—no!” He screamed as the Timberjack hoisted him away towards the volcano.
With no pilot to control his artificial tail-fin, Toothless squealed out of shier freight as he spiraled down towards the ground. The Night Fury tried everything to fly on his own power, but with only half a tail-fin, it was impossible to regain flight. He fell all the way down before crashing through the roof of an abandoned hut. The impact was painful, to say the least, and it knocked the wind out of Toothless. He laid there, in the wreckage, for a minute, and shook his head to clear away the stars dancing around his eyes. He couldn’t be sure what had just happened.
Being carted off by the Timberjack towards the volcano, falling down to his death was the last thing on Hiccup’s mind as he futilely struggled to break free. He could only imagine what Alvin was planning, and he knew he had to find a way to escape this mess quickly. As the Timberjack weaved through a sea of dragons to get to the mountain, his instincts were to grab hold of something to hold himself steady, but he could not access his arms while in the dragon’s grip.
As they approached the mountain, the smell of sulfur became almost overwhelming. As they approached the lip of the mountain, fear began to take hold of him. Was Alvin just going to drop into the burning lava that was building up in the volcano? Had Alvin finished playing games and going to end this right here and right now?
His heart raced in terror as the Timberjack released him. Expecting to see the gods at any second, he was surprised when he landed on the edge of the mountain. His body was shaking, still not convinced that he was still alive. Still sensing that his life was in great danger, he managed to climb onto his hands and knees where he dared to take a brief glimpse down the throat of the volcano. The bubbling magma was high up the mountain’s walls; he could almost feel the gurgling of the mountain’s stomach; a sure sign that it was getting ready to erupt.
The Timberjack hovered above the edge of the mountain long enough for Alvin to dismount; in his hand, he wielded a giant double-edged ax. “Now, young Viking, we finish this!”
He charged at him with fierce Viking ferocity, with his ax poised over his head. Hiccup struggled to climb to his feet, but his broken prosthesis made it near impossible. He was barely able to stumble out of the ax’s reach. Alvin swung his weapon a couple more times, but Hiccup stumbled under and around those swings as well. After the last swing, his stumble led into a trip, and before he knew it, he was tipping stumbling over the edge. How he did it, he had no idea, but his instincts to survive allowed him to reach up and grab the ledge, temporarily saving himself from death.
Alvin laughed at the turn of events. With victory at hand, he stood over him gloatingly. He intentionally placed the toes of his feet inches from Hiccup’s finger tips, the only things that kept him falling into his oblivion. “Isn’t this ironic? Just like you, everything you’ve accomplished is about to go up in flames. The Vikings will go to war with Roman Empire and will be wiped out. They will pay for everything they’ve done to me, and the only one who could’ve stopped me is about to be dropped into a volcano. Prepare to spend eternity in Helheim!”
The heat was excruciating, and was quickly eating away at his strength. The lava below him was inviting him to a quick, painless death instead of an agonizing one at the hands of Alvin’s ax. Neither choice appealed to him, but it was an impossible choice that he was now being forced to make. The time to make that choice was now over; Alvin raised his ax over his head.
An unusual breeze tickled the back of his neck, distracting the Viking chief from claiming his victory. A repeating whooshing sound put his senses on alert, as he slowly turned around. Right there, in his face, was Stormfly. Not giving him the chance to use his already elevated ax, she unleashed a stream of fire.
The moment of desperation would be his downfall. The fire coming for his face made him forget where he was. Instincts took control, and he stepped backwards to avoid the flames, only to slip over the ledge. “No!” he screamed, waving his arms as he fell past Hiccup and down towards the lava.
Piercing through the liquid fire, Furious shot his head out and opened his jaws. There was nothing he could do; he fell right into his mouth and the massive jaw slammed shut with violent SNAP. As quickly as he appeared, the dragon pulled his head back down underneath the lava.
Hiccup couldn’t be sure what just happened. The dragon apparently swallowed Alvin, but why didn’t it come after him as well? With six eyes, how could the dragon not have seen him? All it would have taken was a hardy jump. Whatever the reason, he was glad that to be ignored, for once in his life.
He looked up to see Stormfly hovering overhead. After some dangerous maneuvers and rescue preparations, Bitwolf was now dangling upside-down and underneath Stormfly; the dragon was using her claws to grab him by his feet. If he wasn’t busy fighting his own weight and holding on to the ledge with every ounce of strength he had, he would have been more amazed by the maneuver.
Stormfly carefully hovered downward, lowering Bitwolf closer to the ledge of the mountain. “Grab my hand!”
“I can’t!” Hiccup protested. He was barley capable of hanging on with two hands, let alone one. He could feet the dirt weakening underneath his hands. The dirt was about to give way and dump him to his fiery grave.
“Get me lower!” Bitwolf shouted up towards Astrid, forgetting that Stormfly could speak and understand Norse. It was the dragon that was doing the flying. The dragon didn’t notice the unintentional lack of respect and commenced lowering herself ever further.
The dirt ledge crumbled, no longer capable of sustaining the weight that Hiccup was applying on top of the increasing heat that the rising lava was producing. Hiccup didn’t have the chance to fall very far, for as soon as the dirt gave way, he felt Bitwolf’s hand grab hold of his wrist. “I got him! Let’s go!”
Astrid, watching the whole thing while sitting on Stormfly’s back, felt her heart almost shatter when the dirt began to give way. It was only by the blessing of the gods that Bitwolf had luckily grabbed hold of Hiccups wrist when he did. A wave of relief came over her the moment she heard Bitwolf say those words. “Back to the village, Stormfly!”
The dragon was more than happy to get away from this mountain. The stench of Sulfur was nauseating and her head was starting to swim. She flapped her wings harder now to ascend higher to pull Bitwolf and Hiccup out of the raging mountain. Dangling uncomfortably by one arm, Hiccup looked down, and felt a surge of relief to see the mouth of the volcano getting farther away.
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Post by toothless11 on Jun 18, 2012 18:35:44 GMT -5
Ok didnt see your previous post before this one. That idea sounds great! I look forward to reading it But why is it the last one you'll be making? :/. Well seems like this story is ending just in time...I'm officially o vacation this Friday Reading all the chapters I missed is definitely something I have planned to do during the summer xD
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Sept 6, 2012 13:53:14 GMT -5
Chapter 25: Escape from Outcast Island
Hiccup could not be any more relieved to be on the ground than he was right then. Has he was softly lowered to the ground, he stumbled onto his one good knee, as the clamp part of his prosthesis was missing. As he struggled to find the balance he needed to stand on one good foot and his wooden peg-leg, Stormfly gently lowered Bitwolf to the ground. As soon his hands were on the ground, the young Viking rolled himself backwards onto his back before climbing to his feet.
By this time, Stoick, and all of Berk’s and the friendly outcast Vikings were gathering around them, leaving just enough room for the Mood dragon to land so Astrid could dismount. Hiccup had just managed to find the perfect amount of his body weight to distribute to allow him to stay standing when Toothless plowed through the crowd of Vikings, and hopped his way towards him. The sight of his dragon hopping towards him was enough for him to lose his concentration on standing up, and he nearly toppled forward.
“Whoa!” Toothless arrived just in time to lower his head to prevent him from falling to the ground and to give him the support he needed to stand. “Thanks, buddy!”
“You’re alright, son?” Stoick asked, relieved to his son safe and sound.
“Yeah,” Hiccup replied, looking down at his damaged prosthesis. “But I’ll have to find a way to build a stronger leg.”
Gobber chuckled in his usual quirky manner. “Well, with our reinforcements arriving, we pretty much have everything under control. Victory is ours!”
Alvin’s Vikings were the last thing they needed to worry about. “Uh, the danger is not over! We have to evacuate the village immediately! The mountain’s about to...”
The ground began to rumble and shake. Fighting the Earth to stay on their feet, all the Vikings looked up at the volcano to see black dust shooting up into the air. The mountain had blown its stack as a large black mushroom cloud quickly expanded in the sky, blocking the sun and not only pouring darkness over the village, but releasing a light drizzle of ash onto the island.
“...blow,” Hiccup finished his sentence with a sarcastic tone.
“Stoick, our boats are docks to the south; they’re just a half day’s journey from here,” Spitelout announced.
A large piece of ash danced its way down only to land on Stoick’s nose. He wiped it off, only to have it leave a gray streak across the bridge of his nose. He looked up at the top of the mountain to see lava starting to drool down the mountain. “Evacuate everyone in the city; get as many Vikings onto the backs of dragons as we possibly can. There’s no telling how long we have before the full eruption. We have to fit everyone on the boats and get as far away from the Island as fast as possible.”
Chaos immediately ensued. There was a mass rush out of the village, in the direction of the ships. At the same time, any dragons that did not have a rider on them were coming to the grown to get one. In all the rush, Astrid lost Hiccup for a brief moment. When she found him, he was helping several young Viking children on top of Toothless. “Hiccup, what are you doing?”
“Toothless and I are grounded with my broken prosthesis, besides, we need to get the children to safety pronto.”
“But what about you? You can’t possibly outrun the lava with only one good leg!”
Toothless moaned, as to agree with Astrid. The dragon was not thrilled about the idea of leaving Hiccup behind like this. They may not be able to fly, but he was lightning quick running on the ground as he was flying in the air.
“Don’t worry about me; I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about the children. In all the confusion, we can’t afford to accidently leave any of them behind,” Hiccup replied helping a young Viking girl up onto the saddle, along with the other two children that had already been mounted. “Toothless, you have to get these children to safety. You can always come back for me after you get them to the ships.”
Astrid let out a frustrated moan before she commenced helping the last two remaining children in the group loaded onto Stormfly’s back. “Stormfly, you do the same!”
“I will, Camicazi!” The dragon replied.
Hiccup gave her a puzzled look, as if to say, ‘What are you doing?’ He didn’t have to say anything for her to know that he wanted to protest her decision, but he knew better than to try and stop her. “I’m not leaving you behind.”
* * * *
There was a large exodus of Vikings pushing their way towards the shore. They were not racing against the lava, lava was always easy to outrun. They were up against a full eruption which may or may not occur. If the eruption happened, a large, black mass of searing, hot smoke would quickly engulf half of the island at the speed of a blink-of-an-eye. They had to be well away from the island before the eruption; there was no outrunning a volcanic eruption.
Everyone, who went by foot, was keeping a fast, steady pace. The falling ash was already starting to affect everyone’s breathing, causing occasional coughs and grunts. The ash could be just as deadly as the eruption itself. Breathe too much of it in, and you would suffocate.
To the sky, some Vikings were on the backs of Berk’s dragons as they sped past them, on their way to the boats. Even the wild dragons on the Island were fleeing in the same direction, to escape the pending doom. Bitwolf wish he had a dragon he could ride right now. Since joining the Berk tribe, he had not really clicked with any one dragon on the Island. Perhaps they were all disgruntled by his actions several months earlier. The dragons were not willing to forget very quickly. Right now, though, having a dragon to ride would make this trek a whole lot easier.
This journey to the shore was proving to be more treacherous than they had hopes. Trees tops were slowly catching on fire from the increasing heat, and a lot of fallen tree tops on the ground was forcing them to do some strenuous climbing. Bitwolf had just finished climbing a large tree trunk when he noticed movement to a small distance off the trail.
Curiosity got the better of him, as he cautiously weaved through the trees to see what the movement was. He didn’t have to go very far off the trail to see that the movement was from a dragon. One of Alvin’s Timberjack’s had somehow gotten itself in a bind. Perhaps the chaos of the volcanic eruption had caused the dragon to get confused and get himself in this strange predicament. The chopped off tree tops had made that spot in the forest so thick, and somehow the dragon had gotten himself entangled in that small area, unable to extend his wings to escape.
“That must be one of Alvin’s beasts,” Gobber said as he walked up to join Bitwolf.
“We can’t leave it here to die; we have to help it.”
Bitwolf was surprised when Gobber hesitated. “That beast is too wild; there’s no telling what Alvin did to the beast. If that dragon gets his wings free, he could just as well use them to cut you in half.”
It was true, he didn’t know if the dragon was under the same kind of spell as the Furious was, and would return his act of kindness with a quick and violent death. A few months ago, he wouldn’t have considered helping and would have allowed the mountain to have the dragon. Somewhere down the line, he had become a new Viking. Given the chance again, he would not go along with his father’s plan to rule over all the tribes.
The past was the past, and who he was and what he did no longer mattered; what mattered was who he was, now. He was not the type of person to let a helpless dragon burn to death; he didn’t wish that kind of ending on anyone. “I’m helping him.”
Before Gobber had the chance to stop him, he raced towards the closest tree trunk. If he studied the pile up correctly, this one trunk was the sole culprit of this dragon’s predicament. If he could move this one trunk far enough, it may give the beast enough space to be able to break itself free. He first tried to push it with his two hands out in front, but it wouldn’t budge.
Gobber watched the young Viking struggle for a minute before he sighed and shook his head. “Oy, you’re doing it all wrong, lad! You gotta’ put your back into it!”He stumbled to the trunk, placing his back up against it, besides Bitwolf. The young Viking did the same. “Now push!”
Together, they used their legs to push their backs into the trunk. Gobber, having a peg leg, stumbled slightly, but he managed to put enough weight on his peg to dig it into the ground a bit; it was just enough to give him the strength he needed. With their combined strength, the tree trunk started to budge.
It didn’t have to move much; the slight movement was enough for the dragon to wiggle itself free from his trap. The Timberjack swung his neck throwing all the trunks behind him. Now free, the dragon spread out his razor sharp wings. Two Vikings had duck to avoid being sliced in half by the dragon’s wings. After enjoying the sensation of stretching every muscle it had in his wings, he swung his neck towards the Vikings.
The dragon growled, baring its teeth, as it fixed its moon-slit eyes on the two Viking. Neither of them made any sudden movements; at t his close range, there was no fending off an angry dragon. This was the moment of truth; was the dragon intelligent enough to recognize what they did for him and return their gesture by not killing them? Gobber was already formulating a plan to get Bitwolf out of the way if the Timberjack decided to attack. He had full intention of distracting the dragon long enough to keep the young Viking safe.
The dragon stared at them with murder in his eyes. It let out a few snorts, before whipping its neck away from them. With a solid flap of its wings, it hoisted itself upward and punctured through the flaming tree tops to the open sky above. As the dragon broke through the tree tops, it sent large, burning branches falling to the ground.
“Whoops! Time to go!”
* * * *
Astid used herself to help Hiccup walk. With his arm wrapped around her neck, they had synchronized their walking to be able to keep a steady pace ahead of the lava, which has already engulfed the village. The heat from the fire around them was suffocating. The sweat, from their brows, were irritating their eyes and causing them to turn red.
They had no idea how far behind everyone else they were or how close to the shore they were. For all they knew, the chaos could have had them turned around and heading in the wrong direction. Neither of them would listen to their doubts and continued to press forward, anyway.
Almost as soon as they put those feelings aside, they came across a large blockade of stacked tree trunks in their path. With the lava fresh on their heels, there was no walking around this mess. They had no choice but to climb.
The look on Astrid’s face told Hiccup that she was thinking the same thing. There was no way was going to be able to help him climb this mess; he was on his own. “So what now?”
Hiccup shrugged, as if there was nothing to be concerned about. He could sense that she was thinking about his ability to climb this pile with his damaged prosthesis. Truth be told, he had his doubt that he could climb it, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. “We climb.”
Astrid prepared to climb when she gave him one last look. “I’ll be fine, go!”
She started her climb without any further hesitation. She made quick work over the first two three trunks before checking up on him again. He was not able to make climbing those trunks look as easy as she did, but he was still making progress, even with only one good leg. Seeing his progress, she commenced climbing.
Even he had to be happy with the progress he was making. Having a pegged leg, mountaineering over these thick, tree trunks was not easy at all; there was nothing for his pegged leg to grab hold of for him to put his weight on and push himself up. He was relying mostly on his sub-par upper body strength. He never had very much arm strength in his life; it was only after he lost his leg when he started depending on his arm strength more. It had done wonders in increasing his physical strength, but it was still a far cry in comparison to your typical Viking. He was still the scrawny weakling of the tribe.
Astrid had raced all the way to the top of the pile as if this had been a race to the top. Hiccup had only managed to make it half-way when she stood up on the top of the pile, looking down towards him. That only added more pressure to him to make it all the way up on his own strength.
His muscles began to ach, protesting under great strain. His good knee was beginning to buckle, fatigued from overuse and abuse. A cold sweat began to drench his face as he realized that he was probably not going to be able to reach the top. His muscles were tightening up, getting ready to give up on him.
Astrid could see it in his eyes... he was in trouble. Sensing the situation, she knelt down onto her knees and reached down. “Grab my hand!”
He pleaded with his body to cooperate just a little longer. A few more steps and he would be close enough for her to grab his wrist. He gave everything he had in getting just a bit further up that pile. Finally, he was one step up away, but the step had to be taken with his pegged leg. As he took that final step, all of his strength in that leg gave out and his wooden stump slipped.
“Whoa!” Hiccup yelped as all the progress he had made had suddenly vanished. He found himself back down at the bottom, without the strength or time to try again. The lava flow was pushing its way towards him, as if it could smell blood for the taking. His muscles were spent; there was no way he could make another go at climbing the large pile. The time to find another rout around the pile had already expired; he now found himself trapped with no way of escape.
“Hiccup!” Astrid called down to him from on top of the pile. “Hurry up and climb!”
He looked up at her, and prayed that she was not going to be stubborn enough to listen to him. “Go on without me, I’ll find another way around.”
She didn’t believe him, and she was THAT stubborn, to top it off. Before he could protest, she was already racing back down the pile and leaping down to the ground when she was about the half-way mark. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Hiccup looked over to see the lava-flow inching its way towards them; it had both of them trapped with no way of escape. “Uh, maybe you might want to rethink that.”
A deafening roar startled both young Vikings. The ground shook, and Hiccup first feared that the mountain was already about to erupt. When the series of shaking kept to a steady rhythm, he realized that it wasn’t the mountain causing the ground to shake... it was something alive and very, big.
Furious came plowing through the burning forest, unaffected by the intense heat of the flames around him. Hiccup and Astrid stumbled away from the pile of tree trunks as the gigantic dragon pushed his way between them and their roadblock.
As if their circumstances had not been bad enough, now they had a giant dragon to deal with. With the lava closing in, they had very little hope of getting away if the dragon chose to attack. Perhaps that was what it was thinking, as well. He and Astrid were easy prey; the dragon was never going to get another opportunity like this again.
Furious looked down with his tiny eyes. As he swung his head, Hiccup and Astrid flinched, expecting the attack, but instead, the dragon used his head as a battering ram towards the stack. With one swing of its head, most of the fallen tree trunks had been thrown aside. The dragon roard as he departed as quickly as he came. However, as he left, he used his one of his hind legs to stomp upon the last remaining fallen tree on the path, completely crushing it into splinters.
The two young Vikings were left there, watching as the gigantic dragon stomped off. “Did he just help us?”
* * * *
Stoick was directing all the Vikings onto the boats, taking charge like any good Viking chief would. However, the main reason that he was still not on one of those boats was his concern for Hiccup. No one has seen him, and yet his dragon was already here at the shore. The fact that Hiccup was not with his dragon concerned him greatly. The fact that nearly everyone was now present and accounted for was only concerning him more.
When the flow of panicked Vikings ceased, that was his confirmation that something was wrong. He turned around and grabbed his brother, Spitelout, by the shoulder. “See if you and a few other Vikings can get Toothless onto the boat. I’m gonna look for my son.
“Right,” he replied.
Stoick didn’t have to move at all; the moment he took his first steps towards the forest, Hiccup and Astrid came stumbling out. “Thank Odin!” Stoick muttered under his breath.
Astrid helped Hiccup hobble along as fast as they could towards the boats. An eerie red glow swallowed the shadows of the forest as the lava flow and the flames were approaching the shore. Stoick waved his arm, urgently encouraging his son and Astrid to speed it up. “Let’s move it! Let’s get off this forsaken island!”
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Sept 6, 2012 13:56:28 GMT -5
Chapter 26: New Friends
The Volcanic eruption was a spectacular sight to behold from a distance. All the ships and dragons were far enough way when the mountain blew and the ash cloud spread across the island. All the Vikings watch the spectacular sight, safely away from the island. Most of the Vikings that were flying on the backs of dragons only managed to stay and watch for a few minutes before they headed off for Berk. They didn’t want to wear out the dragons before taking the flight home.
Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout all were among the Vikings flying on ahead home, having no room for all of their dragons on the boats. The only dragons that was on the boat, for obvious reasons, was Toothless and Stormfly. Hiccup, Astrid, and Bitwolf were all on the leading ship, more than enjoying their relaxation after their ordeal on the island.
Stoick could relate; all he wanted to do now was go home and sleep. Unfortunatly, his only rest was going to come during this voyage home; the moment he stepped foot in Berk, the chaos of trying to find food and shelter for his tribe was going to keep him busy for a very long time.
“Stoick, what are we gonna do with these Outcast Vikings?” Spitelout asked.
“All of Alvin’s men have run off. These Vikings were victims of his schemes. They’re free to live with us and join our tribe if they so chose.”
Astrid overhead the conversation and it got her thinking. She walked to Stormfly, who was talking with Lanell. “How about you, Stormfly? Why don’t you come live with us in Berk. It’s a great place to live!”
The scales of the Mood Dragon changed colors to a light green. Astid had no idea what mood that color represented, but she knew it wasn’t her excited, happy colors. “I—I—I can’t,” The dragon said mournfully. “Th—this is my home. I can’t leave. I have to back.”
“But the island’s on fire!” Astrid replied, sad to hear that she did not want to come back to Berk with them. After everything that had happened, she thought the two of them worked very well together. “In Berk, you’d be surrounded by friends.”
The mood dragon could not look her in the eyes; she looked to the said to avoid her gaze. “I can’t. I have to go.”
“If you’re taking off, then perhaps you’ll be kind enough to give me a lift,” the old woman asked, placing a hand on Stormfly’s neck.
The dragon agreed, albeit hesitantly. Stoick walked up to Lanel, wanting to bid her farewell, but also extend an invitation to her. He didn’t want her to go out of the feeling that she wasn’t welcomed to Berk. “You can come live with us, in Berk, if you want. It’s the least we can do after everything you’ve done for us.”
“Oh, you don’t need another old woman to worry about, though I will come for a visit. Right now, though, I have some important errands to attend to.”
Stormfly knelt down to aid the elderly woman’s attempt to climb onto her back. It was a little challenging for her, but after a few stumbles, she finally made it up. “Well, so long, everyone. I hope you have a safe journey home.”
Everyone on board this ship waved farewell as they watched Stormfly take to the sky. As the two of them flew off, Hiccup’s attention was more on Astrid. He could sense her heart breaking as she watched them fly away. He couldn’t help but wonder about what the two of them were talking about before Astrid asked Stormfly to stay. At first, he paid it no mind; but now, after watching them fly off, he couldn’t help but suspect that this departure was planned.
* * * *
A week had passed since the eruption; now the island began its process of healing. Three quarters of the entire island has been scorched, and about a quarter of that was blankets in hardened lava. The dark clouds had departed, and sunlight was once again allowed to shine down on the island to act like medicine for the sick. Already, some of the scorched trees showed signs of life with little sprouts of green here and there. No, the island wasn’t dead by any sense of the word; this was merely the circle of life.
A shadow walked through the fragile forest. He walked with taste of defeat and incompleteness, with a tinge of defiance and determination. This defeat had been a costly one; it cost him his right hand...literately. The loss of his village, his Vikings, and his dragons were nothing to him, but the loss of his limb was an unacceptable loss; it was a loss that demanded retribution.
After everything he had gone through, Alvin should have been glad that was all he had lost. Being gobbled up by a dragon was not pleasant in the least. He should not have survived, and a part of him wishes he hadn’t. The whole experience would forever haunt his dreams. He had waited for death to take him, but the blasted dragon had other intentions in mind.
Haven been freed from his spell, the Furious was more soft hearted than he originally believed. Whether it knew what he had to it or not, it saved him from being burnt up by the lava by holding him in his mouth. The moment it found land that would be safe from the eruption, it released him. He should have known that the dragon’s gentle nature would cause him problems.
So now, he was a Viking chief without a tribe and a village. How could things possibly get worse?
Fate was determined to prove him wrong, yet again, as multi-colored vortex swirled around him like a small funnel. A pain seared through his whole body as it began to shrink. His whole body began to change. In a magical blink of an eye, he had gone from a husky, muscular Viking man to a scrawny, Viking teenager. This could mean only one thing... his mother had reversed her spell over him; she was abandoning him and his quest.
His first reaction was that of anger, but it didn’t take long for that to change. There was a hidden advantage to this. Yes, returning to his natural form, this could be just what he needed to be able to get revenge on Hiccup the Horrendous. Yes, this would do quite nicely, in fact.
* * * *
Berk was on a slow road to recovery. Construction of the village was well on the way, with several of the buildings nearing completion. The food level was so low, however, that it would not be long until starvation started settling in. The good news was that Ivar the Fearsome had gotten word of Berk’s needs, and was on their way to the island, right now, with large amount of food, building materials, and Vikings to help the rebuilding process.
The mood in Berk had greatly improved... for the most part, that was. Since returning to Berk, Astrid had not been her normal self. She had been uncharacteristically down and depressed. Even when Snotlout was being annoying, she wouldn’t even raise up a fist. She had become more reclusive than Hiccup had ever seen her; she didn’t like hanging out with the gang at all. She spent more time cooped up in her room than anything else. The only reason she was out and about now, was that Stoick had ordered her out.
When Hiccup found her, she was sitting on a giant stone, near the ledge of the mountain, throwing tiny rocks. Hiccup dodged through the hustle and bustle of busy-at-work Vikings to join her. As he arrived, she knew he was there, but she didn’t bother looking up. Not knowing what to say or how to start a conversation with her, as of late, he decide just to throw out a useless fact. “Ivar the Fearsome should be here shortly. We’ll finally be able to have a decent meal for once.”
“Great,” she replied with a lack of enthusiasm. She had no interest in hearing good news, or any news for that matter. She was determined to continue to sulk. She had always been the most stubborn young Viking Hiccup had ever known.
Risking in evoking her wrath, he gave one last try to console her. “Listen, it may take some time, but things will return to normal.”
“Yea, normal,” Astrid muttered as she threw another stone out towards the ocean. She was not going to be cheered up for anything; at least, that’s what she though.
Before Hiccup had the chance to try something else to cheer her up, a familiar voice awoken Astrid from the dark cloud that hung over her head. “Caaaaamiiiicaaaaaziiiii!”
“Stormfly?” Astrid jumped to her feet and spun around to see Stormfly landing in the heart of the village. Riding on her back, the old woman that they met in the Outcast Lands, Lanell, waved an enthused greeting to all the Vikings. All the Vikings in the village started to gather around their unexpected visitors; the young Vikings were there quicker than the adults. Astrid ran straight for Stormfly, excited to see the dragon again. As everyone surrounded the visitors, Hiccup took the opportunity to sneak off.
Astrid’s gloomy mood had instantly vanished as she greeted the Mood dragon by rubbing her chin. “Stormfly, you came!”
“I couldn’t stay away from my Camicazi!” the dragon replied.
“There was a good reason why she couldn’t come to Berk with you,” Lanell commented. “It appears that when my sister put the spell on her, giving her the ability to speak, there was a limitation on the spell. She would have lost her ability to speak if she left the island.”
“Uh, but she’s speaking now, ain’t she?” Snotlout pointed out, partially to show off for Gertrude, the young Viking girl he had taken a liken too.
“It took a bit longer than I had hoped, but I was able to reverse that limitation. Stormfly now has the permanent ability to speak,” the old woman replied.
“Does this mean that you’re staying!” Astrid felt her hopes rise.
The Mood didn’t have lips, but if she did, Astrid would have sworn that the dragon was smiling. “Where Camicazi goes, I will go.” Overflowing with joy, Astrid couldn’t contain herself, and she hugged Stormfly’s neck.
Stoick pushed his way through the crowd to greet Lanell to Berk. “Welcome to our home. The offer still stands if you want to stay.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m just visiting. I’m here to report that Ivar the Fearsome and his tribe will be arriving any moment.”
Upon the mention of Ivar, Astrid turned and looked for Hiccup who had mysteriously disappeared. “Where’d Hiccup go?”
“Over hear!” his raspy voice called out from somewhere amongst the sea of giant Vikings. It took a few seconds, but the young Viking managed to wither through the massive group of bodies like a snake slithering through a pile of rocks. “I had a feeling that we hadn’t seen the last of Stormfly, so I took the liberty and made you this.”
Hiccup held up a large, brown, leather saddle, similar to the one he had on Toothless. Astrid lit up at the gift. “A saddle! You made me a... wait a minute! You knew Stormfly was going to come to Berk?”
“When I saw the way Stormfly took off, I had a strong feeling that she wanted to come to Berk with you. I guessed that she had some unresolved issues to take care of, and so I made you this saddle for whenever she did show up.”
Astrid smiled as she walked over to Hiccup to accept his gift. She gave him a gift of his own, a soft, gentle kiss which drew a round of snickering and ‘Aww’s’. “That’s the for the saddle.” The next part of her gift to him involved a hard jab to his shoulder. “And that’s for everything else!”Everyone laughed as Hiccup rubbed his sore elbow, but managed a grin of his own.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut were there and present for everything. Both of them were glad to see Stormfly coming to make her new home at Berk. “It’s time to celebrate! We all have dragons again!”
Ruffnut gave her twin brother a hard jab in the shoulder. When he gave her that ‘What did I do?’ look, she used her head to point towards Bitwolf. “Oh,” he grunted, realizing his insensitive mistake.
A dark shadow flew overhead, causing a panic to surge through the gathered Vikings. The situation was so eerily similar, they all knew what was happening. “The Timberjack is back!” Spitelout shouted out an alarm.
“Quick, everyone grab your weapons!” Gobber cried out, stretching out his hammer prosthesis up in the air.
“No wait!” Lanell urged. “The dragon has not come here to cause trouble.”
The old woman had earned the respect of this entire tribe... enough so as to trust her judgment and halt any hostile moves that might provoke the large dragon. The Timberjack hovered over the Vikings, causing all of them to spread out. When they had spread out far enough, the dragon landed.
All the Vikings were itching to attack the dragon, after what it had done to their village. When the dragon looked at them with its menacing eyes, that urge nearly became overwhelming. It quickly came apparent that it was looking for someone or something, but what?
The dragon used his nose to sniff the around. He followed the scent in awkward, uncoordinated patterns. Every time it came too close to a Viking, the Viking would back away. His search finally brought him to Bitwolf, and after a quick sniff, he tilted his head and moaned.
“Isn’t this one of Alvin’s dragons?” Stoick asked. “Did you manage to free this dragon as well?”
“I didn’t have to.” Lanell turned to look at Bitwolf. “It was your act of kindness on the Island that has earned you his loyalty and respect. Congratulations, young man, you have yourself a dragon.”
Bitwolf couldn’t believe it; at long last, he had a dragon of his own. He scratched the Timberjack underneath his lower jaw. The dragon stretched out his neck to give him easy access. The scratching felt so good, that the dragon closed its eyes and gurgled in delight.
“What are we waiting for?” Snotlout shouted. “Let’s fly!”
It didn’t take long for the young Vikings to prepare. Astrid mounted Stormfly with the new saddle, and climbed on top. The young Vikings found their dragons and climbed on their backs. Within a minute, they were soaring high above Berk in a straight-line formation. As they came to the ocean, they descended slightly.
It wasn’t taking Bitwolf and the Timberjack very long at all to learn to work together. It was as if they had been together for months. They were able to keep in formation, and all the other dragons took to instantly trusting this new dragon. They welcomed the larger dragon to their little circle, and showed complete trust for one another.
As they flew over the rough waters of the ocean, they saw Ivar’s five ships approaching Berk’s docking bay. The legendary Viking chief looked up and waved at the young Vikings in the sky. Hiccup, the leader of their group, and the future Viking chief of Berk waved back in response. Things were looking up for them, and as long as they had their dragons by their sides, Hiccup knew that they would be able to weather any storm that was thrown their way.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE OUTCAST LANDS
COMING SOON: Read the story of the events that took place before the first movie. It’s the story of Toothless’ origins and the events that led up to the unlikely, fateful friendship between a Night Fury and an awkward, scrawny Viking.
Be on the Lookout for...
How to Train Your Dragon: Journey of the Night Fury
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Post by toothless11 on Sept 6, 2012 16:05:47 GMT -5
Ok now I REALLY need to read this Couldn't read all of the chapters I had missed during summer, so I'll try an read them when I find I have time. And I can't wait for your next story! XD
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Sept 12, 2012 19:20:59 GMT -5
Just thought I'd point out: Alvin the Trecherous will make his HTTYD debut in Riders of Berk in Episode 6 entitled: Alvin and the Outcasts.
It's be curious to see how they'll do him. He'll probably be a scrawny young boy.
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Post by toothless11 on Sept 13, 2012 7:59:59 GMT -5
Yup, know that already XD The next two episode are gonna be really interesting
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mrjop2
Caught Dragon
Posts: 130
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Post by mrjop2 on Sept 17, 2012 2:31:19 GMT -5
Wow! This I didn't know! Providing the voice for Alvin the Trecherous will be none other than Luke Skywalker, himself, Mark Hamill. Now I definetly can't wait!
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