SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING EARLIER. See, I'm on a sort-of sick day, and have been in bed since 10 this morning. It's 8:30. Hmph.
This chapter will be the laughs (finally), so enjoy!
And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the reviews, likes, and follows. I was not expecting this to be this popular!
Enjoy Chapter 2!
Hiccup yawned, trying to get rid of the remnants of sleep. He hadn't gotten too much rest last night, trying to take advantage of the dragons' fire for his inventions before they were separated.
"You ready for today, bud?" he asked Toothless, who had insisted on sleeping on Hiccup's bed last night. The Night Fury now moaned, not wanting to embrace what was going to go down in just a few minutes.
Hiccup sighed and turned away. "Oh, come on, you useless reptile. The day's got to start sometime."
As Hiccup came over to the door, he heard Toothless jump from his bed and follow him. Hiccup took his dragon's mechanical tail he had propped up by the door and stepped outside.
Most of the other Riders were already waiting. The group included Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruff, and all of their dragons. Hiccup frowned. Where was Tuff? He could usually be found with his sister.
"You're finally up," said Astrid, shifting. She had been a little distant with him ever since his claim last afternoon.
Hiccup smiled faintly. "Sorry. I had to work on Toothless's mechanical tail last night and didn't get to bed till late… Ruff? Where's Tuff?"
Ruffnut crossed her arms. "Beats me. Maybe he decided he didn't want to do this or something."
"No! I'm- I'm here!" they heard Tuff pant, and saw him panting as he ran up. He held Chicken in his arms. "Just had to grab Chicken… with these dragons running around- untamed- who knows what they'll do…" He cast a suspicious look around at the Riders' dragons, stroking his pet.
"Uh. Tuff," said Fishlegs. "You do realize that our dragons are still domestic, even without-"
Tuff moved his hand to mime a mouth closing, cutting Fishlegs off. "Uh-uh! I can't risk my Chicken in the talons of these deceiving monsters."
Astrid, Fishlegs, and Hiccup exchanged glances.
"Erm… alright," Hiccup began. "So, we all know the rules. One day. No dragons. Each group gets one half of the island. And dragons, even if you see that your rider needs help on something, ignore them. If we were still at war with you guys, we'd have to do whatever we needed help with ourselves."
Snotlout snorted. "If we were still at war with dragons, we wouldn't even be here."
Everyone shot him a look.
Hiccup knelt down to face Toothless. "Bud, it's time for the tail. I don't want you to be stranded down here when you could be flying with the others. I know you don't like it, but come on- work with me."
Toothless huffed, backing away.
"Toothless… come here, or no haddock for the rest of the week."
Nothing.
"Toothless, bud. Do it for me."
Still rebellious.
"Toothless…"
Toothless whined and darted away from Hiccup's hands.
"TOOTHLESS!"
Upon hearing his rider's decided cry, Toothless slumped forward, submitting. Hiccup attached the mechanical tail before the Night Fury could change his mind. When Hiccup stepped back, Toothless looked like he wanted to smack it off.
"Can we go already?" sighed Snotlout. "This is getting boring. Well, not like it was ever interesting."
Hiccup nodded. "Yes, we can go now. Alright, team, we're going to have this half of the island with the base and everything we built. The dragons can run around the other side of the Edge. We'll meet up again in twenty-four hours." He glanced around. "Everyone ready?"
The Riders all looked set to go, so they called for their dragons to leave, then returned to Hiccup. Toothless hadn't flown off like the rest, instead choosing to pridefully saunter away on foot. Hiccup watched him go with a disappointed exhale.
"I'm a little hungry," said Astrid. "Let's go get some breakfast before we start the day. We always need to be energized."
"Ooh!" Fishlegs came in, looking excited. "Yesterday, my Meatlug and I found a tree that has some fruit on it! I identified it as a Freya fruit tree. So rare! I'd forgotten to tell you. But from what I've gathered from the papers of those who have seen Freya fruit, they taste very delightful! We should head there for breakfast. You know! Try something new."
Hiccup shrugged. "Why not? Lead the way, Fishlegs."
Fishlegs gradually showed them to a patch of trees near his relaxation spot. The vegetation got taller and taller as they walked. Snotlout began to grumble about how the Clubhouse would've taken much less time to get food from than this.
"Ah!" said Fishlegs as he stopped and gestured to the sky. "Here we are!"
The team looked up to where he was pointing and gaped.
The Freya fruit tree was thirty meters in height, proud and reaching towards the clouds. The Riders couldn't believe it.
Hiccup spied light pink and green fruit nestled in the branches. Fishlegs was right. They did look delicious. Hiccup wouldn't have minded having a piece himself. Well, except there was one tiny fact that stood in the way:
"How are we supposed to get the fruit down?" Snotlout broke the silence. He was correct. From how far up their breakfast was, it would be hard to bring it down.
Astrid, who had taken her axe with her, approached the tree. "I'll get it."
With a grunt, she tossed her weapon high in the air. Her aim was spot on and headed right towards the Freya fruit. But it never reached it. The tree was too high for something as heavy as Astrid's axe. It relented to gravity and began to fall. Astrid barely managed to jump out of the way in time before her weapon impaled the earth.
Astrid groaned at her failure. "Son of a nutcracker… gah… Stormfly, spine-" She froze, realizing her Nadder wasn't there to shoot it down for her.
Snotlout crossed his arms. "Well, that failed."
Astrid shot him her famous glare, and Snotlout held up his hands in response.
"You want the fruit? Fine, babe, whatever you want; I'll get it for you."
It was Snotlout's turn to advance the tree. With a last smirk, he turned to the trunk and reached for a branch. He easily pulled himself up. But the trouble came a minute later when he tried to find another foothold. All points were too high for him.
"Hookfang!" he barked. "Give me a boo-"
He, too, cut himself off, coming to the same conclusion as Astrid; their dragons weren't there to aid them, and they'd have to get through this themselves.
The Riders stared at the ground in silence. Hiccup felt embarrassed. He hadn't known they were this helpless.
"I'll try and get it," he offered. "I'm- uh- taller than you Snotlout, and may have more experience with climbing trees. Even with my prosthetic."
Before anyone could stop him, he ran up and began to ascend the bark. His nimble frame found footholds with simplicity, and he gained much more height than Snotlout ever could've.
"Show off," his cousin muttered.
Soon, he reached the fruit. With a grin, he plucked one from its stem. He looked down at his friends, and was startled to find them fairly small from his altitude.
"Milady!" he called to Astrid. "Catch!"
He tossed it down, and Astrid scrambled to snatch the Freya fruit. She caught it in the end, and everyone cheered at the delayed success.
"Who knew it would take that much to get some fruit?" Hiccup heard Tuff wonder.
While he was up here, he decided to get the rest of the Riders their breakfast. Everyone soon had the fruit in hand, and Hiccup knew it was time to go back to his friends.
And then he looked down.
He gulped.
He had known the tree was high… but this high? No. He hadn't expected this. And he didn't have Toothless to bring him down safely.
With another swallow, he tried to make his way back to the ground. It was a lot harder than going up, and he nearly slipped a few times. But he was making it. He smiled. It was okay. He didn't need Toothless for everything. It was all going to turn out-
"Woah!"
His prosthetic slipped off a branch, and a moment later, he was dangling from the tree by his mere arms.
He heard Astrid gasp, "Hiccup!"
The Dragon Conqueror held back a yelp as he tried to latch back onto the trunk. This was… not how he was expecting the day without dragons to play out.
He had been right, to his dismay.
The Riders really couldn't manage life by themselves.
KA-BOOM! TREE-HANGER! I FINALLY DID IT.
I hope you guys are liking the story, and once again THANK YOU, you amazing people for all of your support. I grin like an idiot when someone posts a review or likes or follows. And not many people can do that!
So can the Riders survive the rest of the day? What are the dragons up to? Can Hiccup even get down a tree?
Well, I guess you'll have to find out later!
Until next time, my readers. Thanks for viewing!
