New chapter time! This one has a lot of good stuff in it, I think, and I hope you enjoy. Really quick though, I am very excited that DreamWorks officially announced Seasons 3 and 4 of Dragons. However, I am a bit disappointed that it'll be Netflix only, as I enjoy having complete disk sets of things, and this all seems a bit deja vuy with Season 6 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars having been released in the same way, greatly decreasing chances for it being released on disk. And spring 2015?! I don't know if I'll be able to wait that long! Well, at least HTTYD2 comes out in about 15 days or so. Also, I will be at camp June 5th-10th, and thus unable to respond to any PMs you guys might send me, so just putting that out there that you might want to wait until I'm back if you have any questions or just want to say hey. Make sure to review!
The band struck up the moment the baby dragons arrived on Berk's shores. Within ten minutes, everyone was in the Great Hall celebrating. There were two things to celebrate that night; the arrival of new dragons and the return of old friends. Upon their invitation via Stoick the Vast himself, Alvin and the Outcast tribe arrived on Berk shortly before the baby dragons to celebrate the holiday. Inside, Hiccup went around the room and gave all of his friends their presents. For Fishlegs, Hiccup got him a book that read 'Book of Botany: by Fishlegs Ingerman' with blank pages on the inside to document all of the flowers he came across, not unlike the Book of Dragons. For Snotlout, Hiccup gave him customized footrests for Hookfang's saddle, as he had complained numerous times about his legs going numb when riding. For the Twins, he gave both of them their own stuffed yak (miniature, mind you) so they didn't have to share one. For Toothless, Hiccup gave him something that was starting to get annoying- sleigh bells.
Toothless bounded around the room as everyone partied and celebrated, his tail jingling left and right, surprisingly on beat with the band. Gobber jingled along with the Night Fury with his own set of bells, which had infatuated Toothless the previous year. Hiccup walked by a set of tables where his father, Alvin, and Spitelout were playing a drinking game. Spitelout had fallen out of his seat from leaning back too far, much to the amusement of the crowd. Alvin and Stoick put down their empty glasses at the same time and shook each other's hands; it was a draw. Hiccup walked around the room again in an attempt to find the last person he had to give a present to besides his father. In one area of the room, Tuffnut was leading a troop of Outcasts in a round of 'Hooligan, Come Out Tonight', while Mildew was on the other side serving Cabbage stew. Finally he located her in a corner of the room, sitting with Stormfly.
"There you are." Hiccup said as he sat down at the table.
"I saw your dad and Alvin just tie in the mead-drinking contest."
"Yeah, I think the only reason they tied is because they weren't competing with Gobber."
"I don't know, he may have played a round or two already." Astrid pointed behind Hiccup to where Gobber was being propped up with Toothless' head as he continued jingling away.
"Oh, Gobber." Hiccup said as he shook his head.
"So the bells were your idea?"
"Yeah. Toothless went nuts over Gobber's bells last year so I thought I'd give him his own set."
"I see. I also noticed the presents you gave to the others. That was really nice of you Hiccup, especially since we didn't get you anything."
"Nah, it's alright. Your friendship is all I need. I… couldn't ask for anything else." Hiccup's cheeks suddenly got slightly red. He cleared his throat. "But, that's actually why I came over here. I remembered how you said you wanted a new dagger when FIshlegs discovered Gronkle Iron and you never got one, so I made you this." Hiccup slid a parcel across the table to Astrid. After looking at it a moment, she opened it and saw a shiny new dagger. On the edges of the hilt were carvings of Deadly Nadders with 'Astrid' written down the side.
"You made this?"
"Well, all but the carvings on the hilt. Gobber made that, but the blade itself I made, yeah. Do you like it?"
"Yes, it's… wonderful. I love it. Thank you." Astrid quickly leaned over and pecked Hiccup on the cheek, leaving both of them slightly red. Hiccup scratched the back of his head.
"So, uh… I think that I may need to help Gobber home." Hiccup pointed to Gobber, who was now lying on the ground, tunelessly singing. "I'll… see you later then."
"Yeah, sounds good. Happy Snoggletog, Hiccup."
"Happy Snoggletog Astrid." Hiccup said as he walked away, before quickly running back and kissing Astrid on the cheek.
Hiccup slept soundly through the night. In the morning however, he was woken up to the sight of Toothless hovering above him.
"Gah! Do you have to do that?" Toothless laughed in response. "I guess you want to go flying, don't you? Alright c'mon." Hiccup jumped out of bed and slipped on his flight suit, putting his fur vest on over it. He mounted Toothless and the two jumped out the window… only to plummet to the ground, realizing that the bell tail was still attached. After a quick swap, the duo were in the air. Hiccup's stomach flipped as Toothless went into a downward spiral. Pulling on the reigns, Toothless' wings spread out into the air, causing them to glide through the air. With a big flap of wings, Hiccup and Toothless soared over a sea stack. Flipping around, Toothless fired at wooden targets contain bull's-eye marks. Each plasma blast hit the target in the middle, reducing each one to splinters.
"Great job, bud. No use getting sloppy even though we don't have to worry about the Outcasts and… Berserkers?" Hiccup said as he was interrupted by a sound that sounded like a combination of an earthquake and thunder. "What was that? It sounded like it was coming from the west."
Toothless turned to the west and started flying. After nearly an hour of flying toward the direction of the sound, Hiccup noticed debris floating in the water. Following the trail, Hiccup and Toothless found themselves upon a destroyed Viking longboat.
"Well, I don't see any cargo or people, so I guess it drifted out to sea and got smashed on some rocks. Although, I don't see any rocks anywhere. That still doesn't explain the noise though." Toothless started pointing them downward, hovering above the wreckage. "What are you doing, bud? There's nothing down- what?!" Hiccup stopped speaking, flabbergasted, at what he saw. Floating on a wooden plank from the ship was the unconscious form of Heather. Hiccup and Toothless raced home faster than Hiccup thought was possible. When Berk came into view, Hiccup plotted course for the plaza where he saw Gothi, Gobber, and his father talking.
"Son! Where have you been? You've been missing out on Snoggletog."
"This is why." Hiccup said as he landed, with Heather in his arms. "We found her drifting in the ocean." Gothi scratched something in the dirt.
"She says to come with her to her house so she can heal her, or she wants an ale. One or the other." Gothi whacked Gobber in the head and wrote something else in the dirt. "Yes, I'm sober. Why do you ask?"
"Never mind that. She needs help, and fast. Gothi, hop on Toothless with Hiccup, you can get there faster." Stoick said. "Hiccup, where did you find her?"
"About three or four miles west of here. We didn't see anyone else."
"Just the same, I'm sending some men to look for more shipwreckies. Now go." Toothless lifted off toward Gothi's house.
Hiccup paced back and forth in front of Gothi's house. Astrid mimicked his movements in the opposite direction, as she was nervous as well. All of the teens were nervous in fact. The last time Heather had been on Berk, it had all been a ruse to get Alvin the Book of Dragons. Even though she had only been doing it to save her parents, everyone was still a little wary about her showing up again. The question was though, why was she here?
"So do we know what we're going to do with her if she's just here to steal the book again?" FIshlegs asked.
"It doesn't make sense." Astrid murmured.
"No we don't Fishlegs. We still have to wait for her to wake up though, something may have actually happened." Hiccup said.
"I think something did happen."
"Why is that, Astrid?"
"It's Battle Strategy 101, never use the same strategy twice. Plus, Alvin is on our side now, it doesn't make sense for her to be here as a pawn of someone else."
"Alvin better be on our side, because if he's not, then I'll punch him so quick, I won't even see me. Or he won't even see me." Tuffnut said confused.
"I am on your side." Alvin said as he walked up. "Besides, if I wanted to steal the Book of Dragons, I would've done it myself. I am here, aren't I?"
"Exactly." Astrid said. "So the question is, how did she end up here?"
"Uh, didn't Hiccup bring her back? Isn't that how she got here?" Ruffnut asked.
"Yes, but what happened to her for us to need to bring her to Berk?"
"Uh, a shipwreck?" Tuffnut asked.
"Ugh, would you two shut up?! I'm trying to think here!" Astrid yelled at them.
"Well it's not my fault if the hen came back." Ruffnut said with an exaggerated smirk.
"Wait, what hen?" Tuffnut asked confused. "You always talk about chickens and stuff when Heather is here."
"It's because she's jealous you idiot!"
"I am not jealous! Why would I be jealous?"
"Uh, maybe it's because you like Hi-"
"Everyone! She's awake!" Gobber yelled from the front door, interrupting Ruffnut. Everyone rushed inside, but Hiccup held out his arm, stopping Astrid.
"Hey, what was Ruffnut talking about?"
"It's nothing." Astrid said quickly. "Let's go see Heather."
Inside, Gobber, Gothi, Stoick, Snotlout, Fishlegs, the Twins, Alvin, Hiccup, and Astrid gathered around the bed Heather was in. Gothi started pushing them back with her staff.
"We're crowding her, stand back." Stoick ordered. Gothi handed Heather a cask of water, which she drank eagerly, until she spotted Alvin. She dropped the cup and recoiled in fear.
"It's alright, Heather. Alvin is a changed man, he's not going to hurt you." Hiccup said. Heather coughed and looked at everyone.
"I guess I'm on Berk?" Heather managed to croak out.
"Yes. Toothless and I found you drifting out at sea. What happened?" Heather's facial expression changed from confused to recognition to horror.
"You all have to help me. My island has… has been destroyed."
Cliffhanger! Anyone want to guess on what destroyed her island? Let me know what you think in the review section!
P.S: Ok, I know that the Hiccup-gives-Astrid-a-dagger/weapon-for-Snoggletog thing has been done before, but it's cute every time, isn't it?