Riding Thunder
Chapter One - Thunder and Fire
Hiccup woke up in a crazed fashion, as always, when he heard the battle horn's deep thundering. He sighed deeply, and grabbed some supplies for the forge. Dragon raid.
The teenager started for the bottom floor of his home, before hearing a scream, and the occasional 'Baa' of a sheep being flown away in the talons of a Nadder or Zippleback.
'Well that's strange,' Hiccup thought. 'The dragon raid is earlier than usual.'
Hiccup stepped with light feet down the stairs. He dropped his pack near the base of the stairs, after hearing a familiar sound of an advancing dragon. He reluctantly openned the door, face to face with a Monstrous Nightmare.
It seemed as if the dragon hesitated for a split second, before it released its gelatinous kerosene flame gel thing. Hiccup shut the door quicker than ever, barely dodging a stray stream of gel that made it inside before he slammed the door shut.
The boy heard wings flapping a moment after, signaling the dragon had gone to collect some food - fish or sheep, he didn't really care, as long as he was alive.
The door was still scorching when Hiccup pulled it open and bursted through his house's boundaries.
The boy sprinted, dodging multiple Vikings, and in the adrenaline of the moment - forgetting his smithing materials.
Several of the passing Vikings told him to go back inside, even though that they ironically knew he couldn't stay still - even in sleep.
"What are you doing out?" yelled a running passerby, known as Hoark the Haggard.
"Get inside!" shouted a burly Viking with black marks near the bottom. He was Burnthair the Broad.
"Get back inside!" said a Viking woman wielding an axe, with the Vikings calling her 'Phlegma the Fierce'.
As Hiccup continued running, he noticed a certain Viking and smirks in amusement. Amidst all the other Vikings, running at dragons with their weapons, stood a silent Viking, known only as 'Ack'. He was picking his ear.
In his distraction, Hiccup started running into the path of a rampaging Nadder, only to be quickly pulled away from the dragon's path.
'Oh no,' Hiccup thought, as one burly man with a matted red beard eyed the scrawny Viking. His face was stern and serious. Hiccup shuddered and waited for the imminent yell about to come.
"HICCUP?!" He yelled with a scowl on his face. He was not happy - and 'not happy' was his usual mood, so Hiccup wasn't surprised. The Viking turned to the crowd before him and shouted, "What is he doing out again?"
The man - known as Stoick the Vast, Chief of the 'Hairy Hooligans' - turned to his son in feigned surprise. He shouted - his normal tone - to Hiccup, yelling, "What are you doing out? Get back inside!"
His beefy arms dropped Hiccup, leaving Hiccup to run to the forge. The skinny runt of a Viking received many angry glares on the way there.
Stoick looked at his son in disappointment from above. Oh, he would give to make that 'son' of his into a real, breathing, dragon-slaying Viking. An explosion from a Zippleback above him caused some adjacent Vikings to crouch down, but Stoick stood firm. He only brushed some debris from his shoulder plate. The Chief lifted his gaze unto one of his best Vikings, next to him.
"What have we got?" Stoick barked to the Viking. The man responds in a quick and hushed tone, like if he didn't speak fast enough, he would be brought to Helheim in an instant.
"Gronckles. Nadders. Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare."
The Chief merely nods in agreement, before turning around.
"Any Night Furies?"
"None so far."
"Good," Stoick replies in a slightly more relieved tone.
"A strong storm is brewing out there, though. Believe me, that means something, Chief," said the Viking whom Stoick had spoken too. The normally stern Chief's eyes widened.
"READY YOUR WEAPONS!" he yelled to all the Vikings. The Vikings drew their weapons if they hadn't already. The ones who had weapons, slew the dragons they were fighting and got a shield.
"A large storm is coming our way. And it's close," Stoick said to the confused Vikings. "A storm that large can only mean one thing: a Skrill."
Hiccup dropped into the forge as always, finding Gobber fixing a sword with a hammer and tongs appendage. Hiccup sighed and picked up the other appendages on the floor. The boy stood clear of all of their uses, especially the one with Gobber's hair stuck in it.
"Ah! Nice of you to join the party. I thought you'd been carried off," said Gobber, focused on repairing a damaged sword. Hiccup grabbed an apron from the wall and started helping around the forge with Gobber.
"Who, me? Nah, come on! I'm way to muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all... this," said Hiccup, as he struck a pose.
"They need toothpicks, don't they?" asked Gobber in a slightly sarcastic tone. By now, Vikings were crowding the counter, hoping for a quick fix for their damaged weapons.
"Oh, come on, Gobber!" Hiccup groaned in an annoyed voice. "Who's side are you on, the Vikings who hate me, or the ones that love me? 'Cause I could use some people on the latter."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gobber grumbled at him, barely audible. He was giving Hiccup a blade to sharpen.
Hiccup took the blade to the place where they sharpened weapons, a round stone that was rotating at fast speeds.
He sighed and positioned the blade onto the stone.
'One day, I'll get out there and kill my first dragon,' Hiccup thought while sharpening the already razor-sharp weapon.
Hiccup stopped sharpening it, and walked to the front counter to give it to the Viking who wielded the sword. The boy took a quick peek at the window.
"FIRE!" yelled a random Viking. Suddenly, the fire brigade ran to douse the fire.
'Their job is so much cooler,' thought Hiccup as they passed by the blacksmith. He started to run out of the forge to come with them, but Gobber hooked him before Hiccup could get out.
"Ah, come on. Let me out, please. I need to make my mark," Hiccup pleaded as he was dragged into the smith.
Gobber eyed him for a moment and set him down on the ground.
"Oh, you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places," Gobber told Hiccup as he handed the boy another weapon to sharpen.
"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date," Hiccup begged the man.
The smith gave him a sort-of annoyed look. "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these!"
Gobber was holding a bola, before a Viking snatched it and threw it at a Gronckle's legs. The Gronckle crashed to the ground in a small crater outside the forge.
"Okay, fine but," started Hiccup as he rushed to the back of the forge, pushing out another contraption of his. "This will do it for me."
The lid of the contraption springs open, barely missing Gobber and hitting an unsuspecting Viking near the counter.
"Aaargh!" yelled the Viking who was hit.
Gobber turned back to him, and gave him a stern face - or as stern as the man could make it.
"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about."
"Mild calibration issue," Hiccup muttered to no one in particular.
"Hiccup," Gobber said, easily getting the boy's full attention. "If you ever want to get out there and fight dragons, you need to stop all...," Gobber said as he gestured in Hiccup's direction.
"...this."
"But you just gestured to all of me."
"Yes, that's it! Stop being all of you!" Gobber said with a barely audible giggle.
"Ohhhhh...," Hiccup said, stressing the word out.
"Ohhhhh, yes," Gobber replied with a shake on Hiccup's shoulder.
"You, sir, are playing a very dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw...Vikingness, contained," said Hiccup, pointing at Gobber with a straight finger. "There will be consequences!"
"I'll take my chances," replied Gobber, not really focused on what Hiccup was saying. The smith turns around and looks at Hiccup, holding out a sword for his apprentice to take. "Sword. Sharpen. Now."
Hiccup sighs and mutters something to himself before taking the sword and begrudgingly lobbing it over his head, all the way to the grinding stone.
The boy's face masked the disappointment in his eyes. As the blade touched the speeding metal, Hiccup's eyes caught an explosion outside the forge. Forcing himself not to think about it, he just looked at the sword, blade, and ground, closing his eyes periodically. Soon, the boy's dangerous curiosity got the better of him, brewing up images of dragons while Hiccup closed his eyes.
The blade moves to the right, positioning it, so that only the tip would get sharpened. Hiccup didn't notice this change and went on while he closed his eyes, expecting a fully sharpened sword when he opened his eyes.
That was not what he got, however. When he did open his eyes, he got a barely sharp sword and a Gobber Viking staring at him.
"What in Thor's name were you thinking?" asked Gobber in a displeased tone. Hiccup instantly jolted up, holding the sword at Gobber. He looks at the sword, himself, then Hiccup, and laughs.
"Did I do anything humorous?" asked Hiccup. Gobber shakes his head, 'no', still laughing. After a minute, he slaps his legs and coughs before replying.
"For a second there," started Gobber, still giggling like crazy. "I thought you had sharpened this sword." Hiccup, naturally confused, looked at the sword. He frowned at his work. The tip was the only thing that was sharp, with the rest of the blade being dull and flat.
"Do you know any Viking who likes to stab instead of swipe?" asked Hiccup, hoping that there was. Gobber shook his head, signaling that he didn't. Hiccup headed back for the grinding stone, when an explosion rang its way into Hiccup's ears. Gobber's too.
They winced, shaking their heads.
"They found the sheep!" yelled a Viking who manned a catapult.
"Concentrate fire on the lower bank!" shouted Stoick, frustrated that their little resources were - once again - getting lost to the dragons who prowled all over Berk, and the ones they were firing at right now.
"Fire!" yelled the catapult's operator. The boulders are directed towards the corralled Nadders, who are caught in a net, normally used for fishing for crabs. As soon as the catapults need to be reloaded, a hidden dragon came up from its hiding spot to attack the helpless Vikings. A Monstrous Nightmare. The catapult team who were hastily trying to reload, didn't notice and quickly climbed back to safety, prepared to bombard another 'large rock of doom' onto the dragons below.
The dragon quickly sped toward it, lighting itself on fire. It sliced thoroughly through the thick wood that stabilized the catapult, and the weapon soon came crashing down, onto a few of some Vikings who tried vigorously to run away from their impending death.
The Nightmare became wary, knowing that the Vikings knew about him now. Other Vikings who manned the catapults were looking around warily, vainly searching for the dragon that would surely cause their doom.
The dragon decided to land on a catapult without any fire on his body. A man with a brown beard looked down on him, before he drew back his head.
"A Nightmare's down there, Chief!" yelled Bjorn the Bullseye, the person who spotted the dragon lurking on their catapult.
The dragon set himself on fire, ready for a fight, but completely revealing himself in the process.
"Reload. I'll take care of this," said Stoick. The Viking readied his hammer, smashing it in the dragon's face. The dragon swatted him with its tail and clawed the Chief in retaliation.
Suddenly, the dragon leapt from the tower, flying in the opposite direction. The Vikings looked skyward, vainly looking for a sign that the Nightmare wasn't scared away by pure chance.
The Chief heard a roar that sounded like a cross between lightning and thunder.
Lightning and thunder...
"JUMP!" Stoick yelled to his men before jumping down himself.
After a split second, the tower was engulfed in a constant blast of white fire, instantly destroying it, leaving behind a pile of ash and burnt wood. And boulders. Lots and lots of boulders.
"Man the fort, Hiccup, they need me out there!" yelled Gobber as he traded his hammer appendage for an axe appendage. As Gobber started to run out, he turned around and gave Hiccup a threatening glare. "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean," said Gobber before heading out into the fray, hollering.
'Well, how lucky of me," Hiccup thought, a smirk crossing his face. 'I have a chance to test it out.'
Hiccup ran to the back of the forge, coming outside with his bola launcher, which he dubbed 'The Mangler'. He started pushing his contraption towards the battle.
"Hiccup, where are you going!" yelled a Viking with a mace in his hand.
"Come back here!" shouted another Viking.
"I know! Be right back," replied Hiccup to the Vikings.
As Hiccup rushed through the ever-expanding crowd of Vikings, time slowed down in his eyes. He could see every detail and appreciate everything going on around him. Then time sped up again.
Hiccup reached the ledge and turned to look around, wary of any dragon that could kill him and saw Nadders being tied down by his father and some other Vikings around him.
The boy turned around again, looking hard into the dark clouds just overhead, trying to get a good look at anything to net.
Flash.
Hiccup turned to the spot of the flash in the clouds, looking for any other flash to indicate that it wasn't by chance that only that piece of sky had lit up.
Flash.
Hiccup took a blind shot at the area in between the two flashes, blindly hoping that there was a way that he hit something.
The next moment, he heard a growl like thunder and a great splash, indicating something had fallen into the ocean.
"Oh I hit something! Yes, I hit something! Did anybody see that?" said Hiccup, half-expecting a Viking to be behind him, dumbfounded. As Hiccup turned around, a Monstrous Nightmare silently crept up the rocks near Hiccup's ledge, landing just behind Hiccup.
The thin boy turned around, obviously frightened. "Except for you." said Hiccup, trying vainly to be sarcastic and make the dragon go away, like it was just some big dream, and the dragon was his dad.
"Aaaahhh!"
Stoick turned his head, expecting it to be a prank, instead finding a screaming Hiccup trying to run away from the immensely agile dragon right on his heels. The Chief face-palmed and sighed.
"DO NOT let the devil beasts escape!" yelled Stoick to the men who were still holding the Nadders down. However, with a gap in the hole without the Chief holding it down, the Nadders escaped almost instantaneously, using the net that had been used to capture them as snares for sheep they had to carry.
Hiccup ran down the plaza, dodging fatal blasts of fire produced from the mouth of the incredibly powerful dragon chasing him, seeing him as a weakling.
Stoick quickly knocked the dragon while it was about to kill Hiccup, hammering it with his hammer.
The dragon tried to retaliate with a glob of kerosene gel, but only produced a few drops and some smoke.
"You're all out," said Stoick to the dragon, taunting it. The dragon took to the skies seeking refuge in which the air gave the mighty beasts.
"Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know," said Hiccup nervously, awaiting the punishment that was sure to come. The brazier behind him collapsed, and the iron basket rolled and released a few trapped dragons. "Sorry, Dad."
The dragons were all in the sky, with a few - dozen - sheep in tow, and it was clear that the dragons had won this raid. It wasn't surprising or anything. It was a rare occasion when the Vikings won, defending their food successfully. It had only happened four times so far, in all of the history of Berk.
"Okay, but I think I hit a dragon," said Hiccup sheepishly, hoping against the odds that his father would listen to him for once in his entire lifetime.
Stoick turned to face the boy, rage in his eyes. He grabbed his son by the collar of his shirt and hauled him away from the plaza, full of embarrassment.
"It's not like that last few times, Dad. I mean, I actually hit something. You guys were busy, and I just so happened to land a shot. It went down into the ocean, near the underwater tunnel that gives Raven Point its water. Let's get a search party out there, before it-"
"Stop! Just... stop," replied Stoick, sick of Hiccup's excuses that he did something in his life. If he wasn't there to see it, it didn't happen. "Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!"
"Between you and me, I think the village could use a little less feeding," he replied jokingly to his father.
"This isn't a joke, Hiccup!" said Stoick, exasperated with his son's behavior. "Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"
"I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just... kill it," said Hiccup twisting his hands. "You know? It's who I am Dad."
"You are many things, Hiccup," he said, leaning in closer. "But a dragon killer, is not one of them." Hiccup looked around, seeing Vikings everywhere nod their heads in agreement to Stoick. "Now, get back to the house."
Hiccup walked up to his home, trying not to notice the several glares the fire brigade was giving him. Astrid's glare was hard not to dismiss, as it was dangerously fierce, like it could slice right through your soul, your inner being.
He quickly rushed inside the house, then back outside, leaving via the door on the back side of the house, near the woods, and completely unknown to anyone except Hiccup and his father.
He sprinted into the woods, running in the most familiar direction. Towards the cove.
"Woah."
There, in front of Hiccup was a Skrill, stuck in a cage.
Why was it stuck in a cage?
The cage was also on the water, just so that the Skrill's feet were submerged.
'Okay, Hiccup,' the boy thought to himself. 'Oh, forget that! What do you do, Hiccup?'
A/N: Okay, I hope you like this first chapter. I probably will be uploading sporadically, when I get the next chapter done, all the way to the end of the story. Yes, Hiccup will let the Skrill free, and they'll bond... I can't spill more of the story out though. Don't gimme names for the Skrill, I have one ready, and I kinda' made up a power here, but it's not that useful, and it will be a namesake, like Toothless. There'll be an interesting bit near the middle, so heads up for that. Just saying, if anyone is curious, I'll just take the first scene from the movie - this chapter - and twist it from there. Bet it will end up in a cool spot.
Language will all be K+, there'll be no swearing or inappropriate scenes in this FanFiction, although some chapters might be strictly Hiccstrid.
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD, I only own my OC's, this particular Skrill, my Plot, and this FanFiction. All rights are reserved to DreamWorks and Cressida Cowell.
If there's any typos, just PM me, I'll fix them.
Until next time,
- Dilo.