Author's note: Hey everybody! Thanks again for reading and thanks for all of the reviews/followers. In response to your comment, Dawnbreaker Dragon, yes, I am going to have more of the story of the 'man' in later chapters. Each chapter reveals a little more about him, until all the little details come together. That will happen in a later chapter though.

This chapter has two major clues from where the man comes from. One of the clues is pretty obvious but the other one you have to think about to understand.

Well, that's all I have to say.

Read, review, and enjoy chapter 3 of Watchful!


Hiccup jumped off Toothless' back, his prosthetic creaking as it landed on the soft, moss-covered forest floor.

"Did you happen to get the smell of that guy last night, but?" Hiccup asked hopefully. Toothless lowered his head slightly from disappointing his rider.

"It's okay, bud. We were both in a rush. I didn't really expect you to get a scent. He was too fast." Hiccup reassured his best friend.

"So, where do we start?" Hiccup looked around the forest.

"Hmm, he ran in the forest from over there," he pointed to the point in the forest closest to the village, "and he was running that way," moving his arm in the direction the man was running,"so if he kept going straight he would have ended up somewhere along this path." Toothless tilted his head to the left earning a giggle from Hiccup.

"Come on bud, this way. Let's just hope he kept moving straight." The duo started walking through the forest looking for any signs of the man: footprints, broken branches, or if Toothless found a different smell. Suddenly Toothless' ears perked up and he stiffened.

"What is it bud?" Hiccup stepped closer to Toothless and looked around to see what was catching Toothless' attention. Hiccup saw a trail of footprints on the ground.

"This way." Hiccup took off along the trail, Toothless closely following. They followed the trail of footprints to a tall hill in the forest, still covered with trees. Once again, Toothless' ears perked up and he stopped moving.

"Did you hear something?" Hiccup asked. He got the feeling they weren't alone. He looked around but saw no one.

Toothless started growling while looking around the woods for the same reason as Hiccup. He didn't smell or see anyone, but he still knew someone was watching them. He just knew. If only he could talk to his rider, he would warn him. But after looking at Hiccup he saw that his rider had the same feeling.

"Okay, Toothless, let's just go back to the—"

A small box came tumbling down the hill. A black box no bigger than Hiccup's head with a black clasp. Hiccup bent down to pick up the box. He recognized the material form somewhere but he couldn't quite remember where. He looked up the hill but saw nothing. No sign of anyone or anything that could have thrown the box down the hill. Toothless sniffed the box and quickly drew his head back while growling both at the box and up at the hill. He, too, was curious to where the box had come from. Hiccup started to go up the hill but he heard the distant roar of a Monstrous Nightmare which reminded him of his duties in the Academy.

"Come on, bud. We have to get to the Academy. I know, I want to know where this came from too, but I have duties as the head of the Academy. But let's keep this a secret, okay? At least until we can figure out how to open it and what's inside." With that, Hiccup jumped onto Toothless and they flew off to the Academy. He wanted desperately to know what was going on; with the man and now the box. But his Academy duties come before his extreme curiosity.


He ran up the hill, purposely leaving tracks for the boy to follow. He usually moves through woods leaving no sign that he had ever been through, but he needed to be followed. His plan had to play out perfectly. There was no room for even the slightest flaw. He had watched the boy for a while now, he knew how the boy would react to every move that he made. His boss also knew the boy and had information that proved to be very useful. He carried the small box in his pocket as he ran. If his plan played out correctly, which it should, then the boy will find the box when he drops it down the hill. He will try, and fail, to open the box until he figures out the rare specimen it is created from. He will go to the island which it originated to get the only thing that will break the clasp. Then comes phase two of his genius plan.

As he finally reached the top of the hill he went to the hiding spot he had found only days earlier. It was near a tree that would conceal himself from sight and his scent from that dragon. He got himself into his spot then waited. Eventually, he heard the sound of the boy's voice. He waited until the boy had found the bottom of the hill, where he had started to make his tracks invisible all but himself, and dropped the box. He did it too quickly for the boy to possibly notice his hand come out from the hiding spot. He had memorized the schedule of the boy's training classes and, right on schedule, he heard the distant roars of the dragons which will remind the boy of his classes. As expected, the boy and his dragon flew off to the classes.

That's right. Go off to your silly little dragon games. You talent will soon be in my hands.


"Where's Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked as he and the other teens, minus Hiccup, flew off to the Academy for their class.

"He should be here… He has been acting so strange lately. Could he be hiding something?" Astrid wondered out lout.

"Maybe he found a magical stone that can transport him to a faraway land full sliced bread and Tuff-cream!" Tuffnut suggested.

"It's called Ruff-cream!" Ruffnut argued.

"No! You told me that it is called Tuff-cream!"

"Ruff-cream!"

''Tuff-cream!"

"Guys! It doesn't matter what it is called because nobody will ever eat it!" Snotlout yelled at the twins.

The twins ignored Snotlout and began tackling each other to the ground. Just then the teens heard the roar of a Nightfury and Hiccup and Toothless flew into the Academy. Hiccup had tried to hide the box in Toothless' saddle bag but it was to big for the flap to completely cover it. Hiccup hoped that no one would notice it, though.

"Alright, everybody, let's get started." He instructed as he jumped down to the ground and walked over to his chalkboard. "Today we are going to do another quiz game. Split into your teams; the team with the most points at the end wins."

All of the teens grabbed a barrel for themselves and the teams went on separate sides of the clipboard; Astrid with Fishlegs, and Snotlout with Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

"I don't really think these teams are fair." Snotlout complained.

"If you want to switch with Fishlegs—" Hiccup started.

"No!" Astrid interrupted.

"No, I meant it's not fair for anyone else to be on Team Snotlout. Team Astrid needs all the help it can get against me." Snotlout finished, flexing his muscles and making Astrid gag. Hiccup sighed in annoyance.

"Okay first question, this is an easy one for Team Snotlout: Which dragon has the hottest fire?"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were too distracted to hear the answer. Ruffnut had noticed the black box in Hiccup's saddle bag. She elbowed Tuffnut in the ribs for him to look. She pointed to the saddle bag before he was able to hit her or tackle her to the ground.

"What is it?" Tuffnut asked.

"I'm not sure." Ruffnut answered.

They stared at it the entire class, fantasizing about what could be inside.

"Last question: Which dragon leurs its prey with the sweet smell of chocolate?" Hiccup looked at both teams and, knowing that this was the hardest question, he smiled. Fishlegs slapped his hand down on his barrel, the signal to answer the question.

"Team Astrid."

"Um, is it the Snaptrapper?"

"Correct! Point, Team Astrid. That makes the score fifty-three to zero." Hiccup concluded.

"Yeah! Team Astrid wins again! And Snotlout thought that we needed help." Astrid gloated, trying to get on Snotlout's nerves. But he was body listening to something that the twins were telling him.

"Do you think it could be treasure?" Snotlout whispered to the twins after they told him about the box.

"Maybe. I though it would be some stupid Hiccup contraption." Tuffnut answered.

"Well, where is it? I want to look inside of it." Snotlout asked.

"Over here." Ruffnut and Tuffnut led Snotlout over to Toothless and pointed into his saddle bag.

"Is that it?" Snotlout asked, disappointed at the size.

"Whatever it is that it is, that is it." Tuffnut responded.

"What does that even mean?" Snotlout asked him.

"It… uh… um… Even I don't know!" Tuffnut smiled stupidly.

"What are you guys looking at?" Hiccup came over behind the three and crossed his arms skeptically. They all immediately turned around and stiffened up.

"Nothing!" They said in unison. Hiccup looked over their shoulders and saw the black box.

"Were you snooping in my stuff?" Hiccup asked skeptically.

"No!" Snotlout defended himself.

"We just happened to look over into your saddle bag and we maybe wanted to know what it was!" Ruffnut lied, stupidly.

"Ya, our legs brought us here without our permission. Stupid legs!" Tuffnut added.

"You guys can't just go through my stuff like that." Hiccup said

"We would have to snoop around if you weren't so secretive." Snotlout criticized Hiccup.

"Me? You think I'm the problem here?"

"You are always the problem! You can't do anything right!" Snotlout yelled at him.

"Come on, Toothless." Hiccup and Toothless walked out of the Academy. Snotlout and the twins all had separate thought about how to find out what was in the box as Hiccup jumped onto Toothless.

"Hiccup? Where are you going?" Astrid called after him. "What did you say to him?!" She yelled at Snotlout.

"Nothing!"

Astrid gave Snotlout a death glare but Tuffnut answered her question.

"He was snooping in Hiccup's saddle bag and then he told Hiccup that he was the problem and that he was being to secretive."

"Ugh!" Astrid hopped onto Stormfly and went after Hiccup.


Hiccup landed Toothless at the forge. What Snotlout said hadn't really bothered him too much, he mostly wanted to get inside the box. He used his knife first, then a sword. When they didn't work he tried using anything else he could find. He had resorted to trying to pry the box open with a knife.

Hiccup suddenly heard a crash in the back of the forge. He placed the box down on the table in front of him and slowly stepped into the back. He silently turned around the corner, his heart racing, and saw a man in a black cloak. The man was completely still, his hood covering his face. He has his back turned to Hiccup and he was looking through some blueprints that Hiccup had drawn.

"You have great talent, boy." Hiccup froze in his tracks as the man turned to him.

"Soon that talent will be mine." With that he jumped out of the window. Hiccup ran up to the window and saw the man standing right outside.

"Let's keep this encounter a secret, shall we? Don't bother truing to figure out who I am, you will know soon enough." Hiccup watched as the man ran into the woods, completely undetected by any surrounding villagers.

"Hiccup?" The voice made him jump and squeal slightly. He calmed himself down when he realized the voice came from his father. He walked stiffly back into the main room of the forge. He saw his dad looking at the box and quickly snatched it up and hid it behind his back.

"What's that you've got there?" His dad stepped to the side to see what was behind his son's back.

"Nothing. I-I'm just gonna go back to the house now." Hiccup quickly ran over to Toothless and they took of.

"What is going on with you?" Stoik asked, mostly to himself. His son was being secretive, and now he finds Hiccup trying to open a strange box. His son wasn't usually like this… what was going on. And he was going to find out. He had to protect his only son, and he had a feeling this was not good. He was going to get to the bottom of this.


I used the reference of Tuff-cream/Ruff-cream from the latest episode of Dragons: Defenders of Berk; it is basically ice-cream. The Snaptrapper was one of the dragon featured in the short "The Book Of Dragons". Just wanted to make sure to give Dreamworks the credit- I defiantly didn't come up with either of those.