Hello, readers! I'm Toa Aerrow, and welcome to a little one-shot I've cooked up!
Normally I'm bad at doing one-shots. I'm not bad at WRITING them, I'm just bad at getting myself to work on them. However, this is a time where I had a lucky break.
In my English class, we were given an assignment to write a feature article or a speech arguing a point of view on a particular issue. We had to take on the persona of someone arguing their point on this issue. It also didn't have to be an actual problem, i.e. it could be fictional, and Stoick the Vast from HTTYD came immediately to mind.
So, here it is, a little speech by Stoick the Vast convincing the Vikings of Berk to make one more attempt to find and destroy the dragons' nest.
I hope you enjoy, but if you don't it's fine. It's only an English assignment after all. ;)
Quiet down! All of you!
Over the years we have always faced the threat of dragons. They attack our homes, steal our food, and terrorise our animals. As you all know, we fight to defend our home, with many victories, and many dragon skulls to show for it. *cheers* We have come on top, as Vikings! *more cheers*
But alas, in all the recent dragons raids, I fear things are turning for the worse. I walked through the village to assess the damage caused, besides my son's… uhh… mess-up, and I found that the cliff-side barn has been destroyed. The paddocks have been rampaged, more houses than usual have been burnt down, despite our recruits' valiant efforts to prevent it.
There is a reason for this rise in destruction. Shieldmaiden Phlegma did the count during the raid this morning, and I'm afraid the hordes have grown again since the last one. Last time there were dozens of dragons. This time there were more than a hundred!
These raids are getting worse and worse by the week. Gobber and my son have difficulty making enough weapons as it is, but with more and more dragons attacking, more swords and axes get destroyed, and each time we are less and less prepared for the next raid.
The dragons took most of the sheep from the barn, and now the chickens and yaks have run off too. Bucket, Mulch, I need you two to head into the forest and gather up those you can find. The rest of you, I need your attentions.
This war against the dragons is costing us. We have less to eat, less furs to keep us warm, and the torch that was knocked over blocked off the mountain stream! I'm sure that one can be cleared up easily enough. But even then there are other problems.
The increasing rise in dragon raids has scared off most of the fish. Mulch reported to me last week after the last fishing trip after setting out with three large nets. He only came back with one, only having caught ten fish! Now, I'm not blaming him, for I couldn't just turn my back and set the blame on any of you here, my people. All of us have our jobs, and every single one of us do them valiantly, without fear, *cheers* or any lack of enthusiasm.
As for the other two nets, well I'm sure you remember the Scauldron attack of last month. Mulch reported a sighting again, on the north shore. Only when he set his boat to the south in an attempt to fish from shores away from the Dragons' Nest, he was attacked again. The Scauldron scared off almost all the fish he could've caught!
What's more, I'm sure you all know that two of our shoreline catapults are gone. That's not the worst of it. I'm afraid we cannot build them there again. My brother Spitelout went to assess the damage after the raid. The entire rock outcrop has been destroyed. The wooden frames of the towers have been shattered amongst the rubble. I know rumour has spread that they were destroyed by the Monstrous Nightmare I fought there. I'm afraid, and some of you already know, that the truth is far worse.
You all heard the tell-tale scream of the Night Fury. *gasps, mutterings*
We all know Bork never managed to document it beyond its terrible display of fire, how it can destroy an entire building with an explosion of flame. We lost our two catapults to it today. That dragon is one we can never face, never fight, only hide from. The only way we can get rid of it is to make it move home.
These dragons are causing problems beyond everything we can put against them. Our food, our defences, and our homes are being taken and destroyed by them. The dragons are not going to stop until we get rid of them. We know this. It's either we finish them, or they finish us!
We have to take the fight to them! We need to take the nest! It's the only way we'll be rid of them.
If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home! Somewhere there hide in the clouds of Helhiem's Gate. If we can navigate through the fog to their shores, taking everything we've got with us, we can destroy them once and for all!
Winter is coming, and the ice will freeze the shores and prevent us from sailing out, meaning we won't have another chance to make an attempt on them until summer. But they will keep raiding in the winter, and if they take more of our stock, we won't survive to see the summer again.
I propose one more search, before the ice sets in, otherwise we won't be around to try again! This is our last chance to stop them! I know it'll be dangerous, but that's what we do! We're Vikings! It's an occupational hazard to run into the dark of danger, knowing we may not come back out alive, but doing it anyway for our families, our home, and our friends. This is one of those times.
So who's with me?
There we go! Something nice and simple. The little bits in *…* is basically reactions from the other Vikings.
Right, so now I've finished with the shortest thing I'll upload here, it's time for me to say cheerio!
Those of you who are also following Big Hero Glitch, rest assured I AM still doing that, and I'm starting to work on chapter 9 today.
For those of you interested in HTTYD, this exact speech will likely end up in a future story of mind, one I'll be writing after finishing my Snow White and the Thirteen Dwarves trilogy. You'll see.
Also for HTTYD fans, once BHG is finished, I will be starting a brand new superhero series, as you may know from reading my profile, and it starts with Hiccup. You'll have to wait for more details I'm afraid!
So, without further ado, I must be off!
