Chapter 1-The Storm
Hiccup placed his prothesis, the replacement for his lost left foot in the battle with the Red Death, on to the tail-wing pad. He tested it out by shaking and moving it up and down, making the tail wing unfold.
Astrid, on her Deadly Nadder, walked closer to Toothless and Hiccup, ready to fly.
"You ready?" Hiccup asked, bending his head down a bit, to his loyal and best friend, Toothless.
"Arhm!" The Night Fury dragon replied, nodding.
Hiccup picked up his head and took a look around his new village, once viking-only, now a union of vikings and dragons living together.
This...is Berk. It snows nine months of the year and hails the other three.
Toothless and Nadder soon took off, flying around Berk, first over the houses.
Any food that grows here is tough and tasteless.
And then, Toothless and Nadder dove down to the ground and rose up at the last second, passing by the buildings.
The PEOPLE that grow here are even more so.
Toothless and Nadder then rose and passed through a hollow hole in a cliff and then dove down to the docks, rising up at the last second again. "Yeah!" Hiccup shouted, thrusting his fist in to the air, with the wind beating at his face.
The only UPSIDES...are the PETS.
Toothless and Nadder then flew back through the village, flying around again.
Well, other places might have...PONIES or...PARROTS.
Then, Fishlegs, on his Gronckle, Snotlout on his Monstrous Nightmare, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut on their Hideous Zippelback joined in the flight, right behind Astrid and Nadder, and Hiccup and Toothless. They all flew up in to the sky, reaching for the sun.
We have...Dragons!
-2 months later...-
Snowstorms were pretty common happenings in Berk (especially with it being winter), but halfway through, this one decided that it didn't like that, and switched to a rainstorm instead. The village had been asleep during this alteration, so it was the unexpected thunder that jolted Hiccup Haddock III into consciousness with a "Whoa! Ugh, what the-" before realizing the source of the noise.
Oh, just the thunder...and that nightmare again... Hiccup thought. He looked around to see Toothless still asleep. He envied his friend a bit, knowing that he himself wouldn't be able to do the same again that night. Especially with the storm adding unnecessary realism to the dreams he had had along with it. . He went downstairs to check on Stoick the Vast, the chief of Berk, and his father.
The smell and sounds of food being cooked told Hiccup his father was in the kitchen….making an omlette
"I see you woke up. Same nightmare?" Stoick confirmed without turning from the stove as Hiccup stepped into the room.
"Yeah." He muttered absentmindedly. The thought came to him to ask his father why he was cooking at all, let alone an omlette, at this time of night, but a second one told him to forget it. "I think I'll go take a walk." Hiccup added a little louder.
"In that storm?" Stoick asked, still focused on his food.
"Yeah." And without another word or sound, Hiccup opened the door and left the house, silently closing it behind him.
Almost all the lights were out in the village. The only sounds were the storm, and the rain pat, pat, patting against the ground.
As Hiccup passed by Central Square,his gaze drifted to the dock and his fish net he had set before going to bed, only about an hour ago, to find that it was already full.
Surprised and curious, Hiccup went to it and brought it up. Strange: for a net filled to the brim with fish, it sure was light...
Dragging the haul into one of the only covered lights to get a better look, he froze in shock at what he saw, giving a loud gasp of horror.
"Who-what the…?" Hiccup started to ask, but ended up trailing off, speechless . Instead of all of his previous catches, full of fresh fish, this one contained hardly anything other than pure skeletons. The few fish that were intact seemed to be…melting? No, the fish that are intact are rotten through!
The young, shocked Viking could do no more than gape stupidly for a moment before finally coming to his senses enough to cry. "Oh no! I got to get to Dad!" before turning back the way he had come, flying past the dock entrance, into Central Square before finally bursting through the door of his own house and slamming it back with a haphazard BANG!
Surprised at the sudden noise, Stoick looked up from his finished omlette at the table to find his son dripping in the doorway, hands on his knees and fighting hard to catch his breath. "Son! What is it?" He yelled over a fresh wave of thunder.
"The fish, they're all skeletons! Some are fresh, but they're all rotted!" Hiccup said, out of breath.
"WHAT?" The Chief gasped, rising sharply from his chair, "We must alert the entire village!" He boomed authoritatively at Hiccup's confirming nod. He was already to the doorway, but his son blocked his path, arms out to prevent him passing.
"Wait Dad!" Hiccup pleaded, "Think about it! Shouldn't we wait till morning? The catch is already no good, and we won't have a chance finding anything in this storm. What's the point of waking everyone up when we can't do anything now anyway?
Hiccup's father blinked, obviously thinking about the sense his son was talking. "You're right...let's get to bed." Stoick decided, emphasizing by turning to quickly gobble up the remains of the food on his plate before following his son up the stairs and back to bed.