The Lost World: The Isle of Berk
Full Summary: Sequel to Welcome to the Isle of Berk. Set two years after the incident at the Isle of Berk, Hiccup and Astrid have taken on Fishlegs as an intern and are successfully learning more about dragons than they could ever hope. Meanwhile Peter Ludlow of InGen's competitor company BioSyn has plans to move the dragons from the island back to the mainland as an attraction for the public. Now the dragontologists must travel to Site B to stop yet another InGen disaster.
Chapter One: The Haddock National Conservation Zoo
Peter Ludlow dialed the number for the Haddock National Conservation Zoo. "Hello, Mrs. Haddock? … Oh, oh! My apologies, Doctor Haddock. My name is Peter Ludlow and I represent BioSyn. I was hoping to speak with you about a new investment that could drive numbers of visitors up substantially," Ludlow adjusted his glasses on his nose before continuing. "You know that more visitors the Zoo receives the more revenue which means you could donate more to your conservation efforts."
He listened carefully to Dr. Haddock's response on the other line. "It would involve transporting several species of dragons from the failed InGen islands…yes, you heard me correctly, islands, plural. Anyway, we would transfer the mon—er animals over to your zoo. We would of course have to take a percentage. But we can hash out the exact numbers later. Whaddya say, Mrs. uh, sorry Dr. Haddock?"
Dr. Haddock replied, "I will have to think about it. I'm going to turn you over to one of my interns and he'll get your contact information. I will be in contact with you shortly."
"Good, good," Ludlow replied into the phone. "I look forward to doing business with you." He quickly gave his contact information to the intern on the other line. As he hung up the phone he turned to the young man sitting at the desk across from him. The man had a blue tattoo over his left eye and a scraggly auburn beard. He sat with his feet propped up on the desk and his arms crossed over his chest.
"All right, Mr. Tembo, assemble your team."
Tembo unfolded his arms in half-surprise. "What? What about the Haddocks?"
Peter Ludlow smiled. "Now, now, Mr. Tembo. You and I both know that 'animal conservationists' and 'dragontologists' make terrible bounty hunters. I expect to get a call in a few days declining my 'generous offer.' In the mean time you and your team will go onto Site B and wrangle up some dragons to bring back here. Once the Haddocks see the dragons in our small cages, their bleeding hearts will be dying to take the 'poor defenseless creatures' off our hands."
"Won't they just release them back out into the wild?"
Peter Ludlow shook his head. "Animals kept in captivity for too long seldom can be released back out."
"And just how long are you planning on keeping the dragons before showing them to the Haddock National Conservation Zoo?"
"Not long at all. But injured animals need treatments. So the Zoo will keep them for too long to release them back out to the wild," Peter replied.
Tembo laughed. "Oh, this is pure genius," to which Ludlow muttered his thanks. "Now about my fee. Don't worry about paying me. I just want a chance to hunt that Night Fury. Need to add its head to my collection of predators' heads on my wall."
"So you're in, then, Mr. Tembo?"
"Please, Peter. Call me Dagur."
The phone in Hammond's office let out an ear piercing ring. She picked it up, "Hello? Oh Dr. Haddock! What a pleasure to hear from you! How was your excursion to my Kenyan preserve last year? …What? …Oh, oh…who did you say it was? … Ludlow? God dammit! I really do hate that man," she muttered the last part under her breath.
Hammond ran her hand through grey hair and adjusted the phone against her ear. "I wonder. Dr. Haddock, would you mind coming in to see me? I will send a private chopper to pick you up. I fear that we may need some additional measures to stop BioSyn from taking the dragons off the islands and caging them up," Dr. Haddock gave her coordinates on the other end of the line for the chopper to pick her up. "Thank you, Dr. Haddock. I will be seeing you in a few hours. In the meantime I will assemble a small ground team to accompany you."
"Let's get one thing straight though, Joanna. Whoever else you assign to this mission to stop BioSyn, they need to know that we will not be tampering with the ecosystems on the islands. The best place for those animals is to stay isolated from mankind."
"Believe me, Dr. Haddock, I completely agree." After Joanna hung up, she pressed the intercom button, "Suzanne, get me Snotlout please. I need his alarmist expertise, stat."
Right away, ma'am, Suzanne said through the intercom.
Meanwhile, back on the Isle of Berk
Two years ago, the Night Fury tracked Hiccup and Astrid back to their dig site and the dragontologists made the decision to ask Hammond for permission to study the creatures on the island at close range. Hammond had eagerly agreed, hoping that their research and training of the dragons will allow InGen to reopen the park. This time, making it safer of course. Hammond did have two conditions, the group had to take the newly developed InGen satellite phones for communication emergencies. And they had to keep the dragons a secret until they had proven their training theories and had debunked all of their more dangerous characteristics. She didn't want to make the same mistakes as last time.
The group thought the satellite phones were a good idea, a good safety net to be exact, except that they were known for not always working fabulously. Even the top of the line phones didn't always pick up service.
Astrid and Hiccup had taken on Fishlegs as an intern two years ago, almost directly after the InGen incident at the park. Normally interns only stayed on for six months, but Fishlegs was such an asset to their new line of work that they couldn't afford to lose him. After the initial six months they crunched the numbers and figured out a way to hire Fishlegs full time to be the official data recorder. As they studied the dragons on the Isle of Berk, Fishlegs wrote down all of their discoveries. It was all very exciting, a dream come true for all parties involved, to be honest.
Fishlegs hoped that in the upcoming years they would be able to publish their findings, maybe even the entire Book of Dragons, as he had affectionately nicknamed his leather bound book. But for now, working with the two biggest names in dragontology and having his very own Gronckle was sufficient enough for him.
Hiccup and Fishlegs sat around their campsite, where Fishlegs was furiously writing in the Book of Dragons and Hiccup had his satellite phone in pieces, trying to fix it. "Why are you taking the phone apart again?"
"She won't pick up. I'm worried. I wish Hammond had supplied us with better phones, not just prototypes. What if something happened to her?"
"To her? Really? I'd be more worried about you with your aerial stunts. She's fine. I think the only person who would be better in this situation alone than her would be your mother. And that's only because she's studied wild African predators for a good chunk of her research. And then spent several years in the oceans by Australia studying sharks." Hiccup raised a curious eyebrow. "What? You guys were my idols in undergrad. I did a lot of my own research outside of class." Hiccup pursed his lips together and gave Fishlegs a small, awkward nod before returning his attention to the satellite phone in his lap.
Astrid trudged up on their campsite and crossed her arms—she was sopping wet. "What happened to you?" Fishlegs asked.
"Put down in the Book of Dragons that Nadders are afraid of eels. One breached the surface of the river while Stormfly was drinking and I couldn't get her to calm down. She threw me into the river," Astrid tossed her satellite phone next to Hiccup. "Might need to fix that one too."
"Oh, heh," Hiccup laughed nervously. "I guess that's why you didn't answer the phone."
"Yeah, why did Hammond insist on these?" she pointed to the bright yellow phones.
Hiccup responded as he put his phone back together. "They're an InGen prototype. She wanted us to test them so we could vouch for it. I guess it makes sense, she lost a lot of money in this island because she can't open it to the public." He paused, looking at the dismembered phone in his lap. "But yeah, they're a great idea in theory. Not so much in practice."
"And she's spent a ton more money trying to keep it a secret from prying eyes," Fishlegs added. "Keeping people silent is very expensive."
Hiccup looked up briefly from his work. "Yeah," he agreed before popping the battery back into the phone. He turned the phone back on and it slowly booted up. "We should probably test to see if all of the dragons are scared of eels or if it's just the Sharp class of dragons."
"Agreed. Let's just not do it while we're on the backs of our dragons." Astrid took her hair out of the braid and wrung it out quickly before re-doing it into a simpler side braid. She then grabbed chunks of her shirt and began to wring out the water from it as well. She kicked her sopping wet sneakers off and let them dry in the sun. Stormfly padded over to her rider and nudged her apologetically with her snout. Astrid turned to the dragon, "It's okay, girl, I didn't realize how scared you were of eels. If it has been a shark I would've reacted the same way."
"Whoa the fearless Dr. Astrid Hofferson is afraid of something?" Fishlegs commented. Astrid shot him a glare.
"If you must know, Fishlegs. I watched my Uncle Finn get attacked by a Great White shark when I was only eight. He lost his hand, his foot and part of his calf, but the people in the ER thought he was going to die because of how much blood he lost. He lived, thankfully. I was in the water with him when he was attacked. So yeah, sharks wig me out, okay?"
"Wow," Fishlegs replied.
"And my mother still wants you to get into the shark tank with her," Hiccup laughed.
Astrid eyed Hiccup curiously, "Didn't your Uncle Gobber lose his hand to one of the sharks while they were doing research?"
Hiccup shook his head. "Nah he lost his foot while they were in Antarctica to frost bite. And his hand, he, uh, told me a different story every Snoggletog of what kind of vicious beast took it."
"Hmm, I'll leave the studying sharks up to her," Astrid petted Stormfly affectionately. She added, sarcastically, "I prefer studying creatures that can burn my flesh off my bones."
"Yeah, because studying animals that can just bite you to kill you is so totally safe," Hiccup said equally sarcastically.
[a/n] I hope you liked the first chapter. And yeah I changed the Flightmare to a great white shark. ;)