How to Survive on Dragon Island (rewrite)
Hi everyone; most of this story is exactly the same with only sentence reconstructions to help it flow better. There are a few new bits but nothing that changes the story so far that you will need to read it again (unless you want too of course).
Although this is an original story, I felt that I could not just start it cold so the first few chapters consist of a lot of flashbacks and re-telling of major parts of the movie so the reader could hopefully follow what is happening even if they had never seen it before (but I recommend that you do). Once the lead up to Hiccup's "Accident" is done (the end of chapter 5), then it's all new story till chapter 29. I hope you do like some of my ideas about the childhoods of the Dragon Riders, I found them fun to write.
Thanks for reading, Marty.
1 Stoick's Battle
"HICCUP!" Stoick cried out "HICCUP... SON!"
The air was heavy and Stoick found it difficult to breath and harder to see, but this was not the same sea fog that usually hung over Dragon Island, this was thick smoke; the result of the biggest and most powerful explosion anyone from Berk had ever seen. Now Stoick searched intently for his son in that thick smoke, for Hiccup had not seen the explosion with all the others, no... he had been inside it.
Stoick the vast was a Viking. He was a Viking from the island of Berk and not only that, but he was also the chief of his tribe; a tribe that had been at war for the last three hundred years. This war had taken a heavy toll on the Chief and his people, for it was not a war against men and ships but against dragons.
The dragons had been ruthless for they would attack at night, burn his village, kill his people and steal their food and Stoick hated them; he hated them with a vengeance. He hated them for what they had done to his friends, he hated them for what they had done to his village but most of all he hated them for killing his wife and leaving him sad and alone to raise his son all by himself; the son who would grow up to betray his father and his tribe by siding with the murderous beasts. Indeed Stoick hated them so much, that he had become obsessed with tracking down the dragons home – their nest - so that he could destroy it and drive the dragons away forever, but he was beginning to believe that finding the nest would be next to impossible and so he had almost given up hope, until the day of his son's betrayal.
Stoicks boy Hiccup was almost fifteen, but not quite, and much to his father's shame was the weakest of all the trainees, even thought he was Gobber the Blacksmiths apprentice. Beating hot metal with a hammer usually put many layers of muscle on a young man but not Hiccup even though he was good at his work and tried very hard. Gobber believed that Hiccups problem was that he could not keep his mind on the job at hand; he was always working on intricate mechanisms instead of concentrating on the important things in life like swords, knives and axes, but then the day came when all that changed.
Both the Chief and the Blacksmith were delighted when the boy suddenly displayed a real knack in dealing with dragons; Stoick had been away on another fruitless search for the dragons nest and upon his return, found that the boy had finally become a true Viking. The Chief was particularly happy that he would soon witness his son's new found skills when he fought and killed a dragon in the ring, but instead Stoick discovered that the boy had tricked his father and he had betrayed his tribe. Instead of battling the dragon in a fight to the death, Hiccup had actually tried to make friends with the beast, and in front of the whole tribe too, but then to make things even worse, a second dragon had come to defend the boy not only from the other dragon, but from his own people as well; Hiccup was a traitor.
The Chief of Berk had no choice; he must disown his son and treat him like an enemy, but this was an enemy who had information that Stoick could use. Hiccup had travelled to the long sought after dragons nest and he had even mistakenly revealed to his father how it could be found by using a dragon to guide him and the Viking fleet straight to their island home. Ever since the day Stoick could first lift a battleaxe, he had devoted himself to the total annihilation of the dragons, and not even a warning from his son could sway him.
"No dad no; it's not what you think" the boy had warned Stoick "You don't know what you're up against; it's like nothing you've ever seen."
Stoick had not listened to his son because Hiccup was only fourteen and he had no idea what he was talking about; as man and boy, Stoick had seen his village destroyed time and time again. He had seen friends and family maimed and killed including his own beloved wife; the boy's mother had been carried off into the night by a Stormcutter dragon and never to be seen again. But what Stoick found on Dragon Island proved that his son was telling the truth and it shocked him to his very core.
It was a giant and it appeared to all who saw it like a moving mountain; the smallest of its claws was longer than Stoick was tall and the rocks from the catapult just bounced off its hide.
The plan was simple; attack the dragons and just keep on attacking them until they fled or were all dead, but when the giant dragon burst out of the mountain, Stoick instantly knew that his task was hopeless as with one breath, it set every ship in the Vikings armada ablaze. It had even picked up one Longship in its jaws and bit it in two, crushing it completely into splinters.
Stoick was convinced that he would die that day and so he decided that as chief, he had no other choice but to keep the giant dragon distracted by allowing it to hunt him for as long as he could stay alive, thus allowing his people some chance of escape to the other side of the island, however slim that chance might be; but then... his son had arrived. The boy that Stoick had disowned and abandoned back on Berk, arrived on the island with all his friends but to the surprise of every Viking present, they were all riding on the backs of dragons.
It all began with an explosion of flame that erupted behind the giants head as four dragons swooped around from behind it. Bringing up the rear of this group was a large bulbous dragon called a Gronckle being ridden, to Stoicks utter surprise, by a short bulbous Viking boy named Fishlegs Ingerman. Ahead of this incredible sight were two more dragons. To the right, a Monstrous Nightmare; a large red dragon with long thorn like spines along its back, tail and wings being ridden by a muscular young lad who went by the name of Snotlout Jorgenson. To the left was a Hideous Zippleback; a green twin headed dragon being ridden by twin slow headed Vikings named Ruffnut Thorston and her brother Tuffnut. Leading the group was a Deadly Nadder; a blue reptilian and birdlike dragon with a large round head and a tail covered with long spikes that could be hurled like throwing knives with, as its name suggested, deadly accuracy.
This dragon carried two riders; a small blonde girl named Astrid Hofferson and his own son Hiccup who lead the small band of... what? Dragon riders? What else could they be but Dragon riders? He could see the boy's arms waving and pointing as he shouted inaudible orders to the flying group who began their attack on the giant, while the dragon carrying Astrid and Hiccup suddenly swooped to the left and made for the burning longships.
The Night Fury! The Viking Chief suddenly remembered the dragon that he had chained to the bow of his flagship; the dragon that Hiccup had named Toothless. Stoick ran towards the ship as Hiccup dropped down onto the burning deck while Astrid and the Nadder flew off to assist the other Dragon Riders. Hiccup pulled the muzzle from the snout of the black, cat like Night Fury before he began to pull at the chains that bound the beast. So intent was the Chief to reach the ship that he failed to notice the success the other young Vikings were having in distracting the giant dragon; the angry beast twisted and turned in vain attempts to rid itself of the bothersome pests flying around its head causing it's huge, mace like tail to sweep across the burning ships before it's leg came crashing down on the bow of the flagship, breaking it off completely as the stern reared up from the water hurling the boy and his dragon overboard and into the icy water.
Stoick threw off his helmet and dove from the rocks into the cold subarctic sea where he could see, down on the sandy floor, Hiccup still pulling at the chains that kept the dragon a prisoner of both the Vikings and the water, but soon the boy's body reached the limit of his air supply and he floated slowly backwards limp and lifeless as several tiny air bubbles delicately made their way to the surface of the water about twenty five feet above him. Stoick grabbed the boy's collar and swam up desperately, until he finally broke the surface of the water. With no time to spare, he placed his son safely on the shore before turning back to dive once more into the cold deep.
The Night Fury thrashed about violently in a desperate attempt to escape its bonds when the Viking who had imprisoned it, suddenly appeared in front the trapped creature. The dragon ceased its struggle and stared deep into his captor's eyes. Stoick stared back at the dragon knowing that his time as chief was over and that his life was about to end. He knew that he had shown the black dragon nothing but hate and contempt since the time of its capture and so he felt sure that the black beast would surely kill him as soon as it was free.
The Viking Chief steeled himself for his coming death with the knowledge that after he was gone, the dragon would go to Hiccup; although it pained him to think about what would happen to his son as he hopelessly fought the giant beast. Surely his son would lose and surely he and his friends would die but the distraction that they provided would allow the rest of the tribe more time to flee to the far side of the island; much more time than Stoick and Gobber could ever dream of achieving by themselves. He felt so proud of the young man that his boy had turned into, and he felt so ashamed that he had called the boy a traitor. Hiccup was a true son of a chief; putting the lives and welfare of the tribe ahead of his own.
Stoick grabbed the side hinge of the stock collar with his huge calloused hands and strained his arms against the wood and metal struggling with all his might. The collar finally gave way with a jolt and the dragon was free and so, without hesitation the mighty beast leapt out of its bonds straight towards the man who had tormented it all the way from Berk to the island of dragons, but instead of killing him, the creature shot to the surface with Stoick held firmly but gently in its claws. With a loud splash the pair arced though the air and onto the shore. Again Stoick found himself in utter disbelief for not only had the beast spared his life, but moreover it had saved him from drowning.
The Viking Chiefs mind raced with the realisation that his son was right and dragons were not what Stoick had thought them to be. He pulled himself up onto to his feet and ran to where the boy and dragon were preparing to fly off into battle, and to what Stoick was sure would be their certain doom.
"Hiccup" he called as he grabbed the boys wrist "I'm sorry... f-for everything".
"Yeah me too" his son replied.
"You don't have to go up there"
"We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard"
"I'm proud... to call you my son". Stoick let go of the boy's wrist.
"Thanks Dad" the black dragon crouched down, looked up to the sky and shot into the air like a bolt from a crossbow.
So fast did the Night Fury climb into the sky that Stoick soon lost sight of it so he turned back to see the other Dragon Riders in their continuing battle with the giant dragon and his heart both leapt into his mouth and skipped a beat as his eyes took in what his mind refused to believe.
Only two of the four dragons that had flown to the rescue were still in the air, Astrid on her Deadly Nadder and the twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut on the necks of the Zippleback. Fishlegs dragon, the boulder like Gronckle, lay upside down on the pebble covered beach as the boy attempted to turn the brownish dragon back onto its feet, but the sight that Stoick was having the most difficulty in believing was that of Snotlout Jorgensen; the boy who had been riding the Monstrous Nightmare was now running across the head of the giant dragon. He ran as fast as one could manage under the circumstances while Ruffnut and Tuffnut guided their Zippleback in a wide arc around in front of the giant dragon and dove with a loud SWOOOOSSHH down towards the beast's snout. Just as Snotlout ran out of dragon head, he threw himself into the air and met the Zippleback flying the opposite way neatly at the point where its two necks joined its body. The long snake-like dragon looped once more around the massive head of the giant dragon, carrying its three passengers away to safety while Astrid brought up the rear to cover the escape.
Astrid had always taken her training as a warrior very seriously and as a result of the extra time she would regularly put in, she possessed the most incredible sense of balance. This skill now enabled the novice Dragon Rider to fly her dragon in a series of quick moves designed and intended to lead the monsters attention away from the fleeing trio on the overburdened Zippleback. Stoick had only recently discovered that his son had been training and riding a dragon several weeks and the inexperience of the other riders was obvious; even to someone who had never seen anybody ride a dragon before today, but Astrid's skill was truly something to behold as she leant her upper body to the left and right, guiding the Deadly Nadder in broad sweeping movements.
In such a short of time, she had formed a strong bond with her flying mount and the pair moved in perfect unison through the sky but the battle was about to take a turn that no amount of flying skill or experience could hope to avoid. Stoick noticed the giant dragon had been somewhat dazed and surprised by all the commotion that had been going on around it, but now the beast appeared to compose itself and set its sights on the one annoying little pest still within its reach; Astrid.
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