'Ya know, maybe it wasn't the best idea to get up from a nice and comfy bed while several injured just to go walking aimlessly around a ship.' Sig muses to himself as he sits down in front of the door to the deck of the ship, staring forward as he waits for the spinning to stop.
It hadn't been long since he had opened the door and then slammed it shut, the fighting behind it had just stopped. He didn't really do anything though, as ever since he saw the dragon his world had started spinning. Great, another thing to add onto the horrible day.
Really, life was just slapping him in the face with a fish and making him want to die again. Then again, he would rather not. Dying wasn't very fun the first time around. He can't imagine suicide being any better.
After a while of him sitting there brooding, the room had finally stopped spinning, and he had managed to carefully push himself back up to his face. A small groan escaping him as his legs scream in rejection to these movements.
When Sig was able to steady himself he panted softly, before slowly pushing the door open again.
Oh god, what are you doing Sig? Stepping out onto a ship full of crazy people who plan on taking the world with dragons? Well, to answer your question by dear simpletons, the logic is quite simple. Something is stopping them from killing me for now.
They would have had ample opportunity to do so when he was unconscious, or perhaps when they were sealing the gaping hole in his arm. Then there was the fact that he had been thrown into an unlocked room, with a new set of clothes on.
So, they either wanted something from him or perhaps someone they were working with wanted something from him? After all, it was Grimmel's dragons that he had seen flying around after the Night Fury, and he was about sixty percent sure it was Grimmel he saw approaching him before he lost consciousness.
He thought he was pretty safe by that logic, so he took a chance and stepped outside onto the deck. He felt the playful wind softly blowing through his hair, causing it to flicker and wave through the air. He could hear the sounds of the serene ocean calmly flowing between the ships as well as the crew of the ship going about their business.
He looks around at the large ship, watching as several much bulkier men and women walk around going about their business. Sig couldn't really tell if it was more than one ship, or several connected to form a giant one, nor did he care at that moment.
Several of the crew had definitely noticed him standing there awkwardly, and he had even seen one run off, but otherwise, they left him alone. So the little Sig walked up to the railing that kept someone from stumbling off the ship and stared out into the ocean, taking in the sight of the world.
Sig had sadly never seen the ocean, in either of his lives. A mistake he was definitely regretting now, as, despite everything that happened to him, the ocean was beautiful.
Perhaps it was him just searching for something that wasn't awful, or trying to find his own coping mechanism. But something about the waters just made a smile slowly grow across his face as he leans against the railing and takes it all in.
"Never seen the ocean before, have you kid?" A gruff, smooth, younger, and most of all familiar voice spoke out behind him, causing him to jump slightly in surprise at the sudden arrival of someone else. Sig quickly turns, and startled as he was, entered the combat stance his father had taught him.
Standing before him was a much younger Grimmel, his arms crossed and an amused look on his face, Sig could see tell from the simple fact that only one person cuts a slender figure and has a shock of white hair, dresses from head to toe in black, scaly leather and is armed with a deadly crossbow.
This was a rather dangerous situation Sig has found himself in, as Grimmel was one of the most dangerous men he could possibly meet in this world. As our good friend, Eret once said "Nothing's accidental when it comes to old Grimmel. He lives for the hunt. To get inside the mind of his prey, to control its every choice. It's all a game to him." As by definition psychopath, and one of the most intelligent men in this day and age.
In the movie, he may have been a slouch, but he was also old, very old. The mind and body wither with age, and no matter how good he was, some of it must have faded away over time. Thus why Sig was already considering Grimmel as the biggest threat to him, as he was in his prime now and not likely to make mistakes.
So, after a few moments of staring at one of the most deadly men in the world, Sig let down his guard, and instead simply took a relaxed position leaning against the railing. "No, I have. I've just never seen it up close, close enough to smell the salt and feel the breeze." Sig responds to his question as he smiles softly, looking out to the ocean.
Grimmel is silent for several moments as he examines Sig, who does the same to him from the corner of his eyes. After a few moments, the hunter unfolds his arms and walks forward, before taking his place beside the "child," leaning forward and resting his arms and chest on the railing. "You're quite the intelligent child. Aren't you?" While it may have been framed as a question, it was more observation than anything.
Sig scoffs slightly at this, a small smile of amusement growing across his face as he gives a slow nod. It was time to put his past lives skills to good use. "And you're quite a dangerous man. Aren't you?" Was Sig's response as he glanced at the hunter, who started chuckling at this response.
"You're very interesting." Grimmel responds simply, as he watches with the Sig as the workers move a cage containing a Monstrous Nightmare across the deck. The men struggling with the weight of the creature and also fearful of the fire the dragon could spew at them any moment. Despite the fact it was most likely drugged.
"What's your name, child?" Grimmel asks after a moment of silent contemplation between the two.
"Sigeus. I prefer Sig, however, if you don't mind." Sig had to force a grin back as he spoke, everything seemed to be working so far.
"Well then, Sig, you and are quite similar," Grimmel responds as he smirks a little and turns to look at the young boy. Seeing Sig turn to give him a confused and slightly annoyed look.
"In what way?"
"Well, in the fact we are both killers of a Night Fury in a relatively similar fashion. You see, when I was a boy and I came upon a Night Fury, I killed it where it slept. That simple act of courage made me a hero in my village." Grimmel says as he makes a wide gesture, spreading his arms as if he was talking about the entire world. "In the same way that you killed that Night Fury." Grimmel says gesturing to Sig, as he goes back to leaning on the railing.
'There we go.' Sig thinks to himself as he smirks to himself mentally, he knew how Grimmel worked, so he knew how excited he must be to find someone like him. Even if Sig wasn't truly the same, Grimmel didn't need to know that. "So that's what that was then, a Night Fury?" Sig muses as he continues to watch as the Monstrous Nightmare is pushed to below the deck
"Yes, perhaps one of the most dangerous species out there." The hunter informs as he turns his back to the railing and looks down at Sig. "So, what do you intend to do now that you're no longer dying."
"What do you think I should do?" Sig responds with a small frown as he turns to meet the hunter's gaze.
"Well, as I see it. You have two options. Return to your village and live out your life as if nothing happened. Without your parents, of course." It took a lot of willpower for Sig not to react to that. Of course, someone as cunning as Grimmel would do his research. At least he learned something from this, his father was dead.
"Or?"
"Or you could stay here with me, and learn." Grimmel responds as he gestures around him, and then to the place his Deathgrippers were being held. "How to fight, how to hunt."
"How to kill you mean," Sig responds with a small glare being sent in his old man's direction.
"Killing implies they are the same as us, that they are human. Know this boy, they are just beasts." Grimmel responds smoothly and calmly, but Sig could catch the slight undertone of anger under his words, and almost smirked.
"So what? I become your apprentice? I learn how to hunt and kill dragons? Then what?"
"Then you do whatever you want. When I'm finished with you, you'll be as good, if not better than I am. At that point, there isn't much you can't do. Go out into the world, explore, hunt, become a bounty hunter if you want. Really, it's all up to you."
Sig hums softly as he considers this for a moment, biting his lip softly as his fingers grip the railing tightly. If he were to take the deal, he would grow stronger, he could learn to survive until the actual story starts. He would have to kill more dragons, however, and who knows what else Grimmel would have him do while under his wing?
After several minutes of Sig considering to himself on what he should do, he lets out a short nod. "Okay, deal then." Sig says as he shivers slightly, a small tingle going down his back. "But." He cuts in before Grimmel could say anything and start to boss him around. "I want the ability to veto anything you order me to do three times." He says with a slight smirk as he tilts his head, knowing he has Grimmel trapped.
He knew Grimmel would attempt to recruit him, from the moment he started talking about how similar they were. So he planned ahead, and he realized something. Grimmel desired someone like him, someone who shared his views and his intelligence. For he was a man who had always been alone, alone during his first kill, alone as a hero, and alone during all of his hunts. It's a simple fact that all humans, no matter who they are, desire interaction of any kind really. Grimmel, it seemed, was no different.
So he knew he could pretty much ask for most things, as long as they weren't too absurd or just plain stupid, and Grimmel would agree. Of course, that was all under the assumption his theory was correct, and that Grimmel was in fact lonely. If not, everything pretty much falls apart instantly.
Grimmel frowns slightly as he stares down at the child, his face stern as he stays silent for several moments. After a moment, a small smirk grows over his face and he gives a little nod. "Very well. We have a deal then." He says offering his hand to the child
Sig stares at the hand for a moment, a frown still on his face as he glances out to the ocean for a moment. He swears he could see his parents standing on the water watching him. He stares for a moment before shaking his head and facing the hand again. 'No going back now.'
Then, with a deep breath, he grabs the hand and gives it a firm shake.
-Days fly by-
After that, the next few days seemed to flow by, with Sig slowly finding a grove to follow around the ship. Which was mainly recovery for the first few days, as Grimmel didn't really see much Sig could do with one useless arm.
Turns out, he could do a lot.
The first thing Grimmel had him do was read the dragon manuals, all of the dragon manuals, of every island. What he didn't know, is that Sig was not born in this day and age, so he knew how to read. So he did. Every single book, within two days.
Now while you might think this was stupid and impossible, you underestimate how little they know about dragons. Pretty much all that was in the books was a very brief description of the dragon, its threat level, and all the best ways to kill it. That's it.
The only thing he really needed to read up on was the dragons he hadn't even heard about and the best ways to kill them. Though, he did find information about the dragon he had seen before he met Grimmel.
It was of the mystery class, interestingly enough. Indigenous to Rome, which explains why he had never seen it anywhere in the show or the movies. The Hypnolings. A shot limit of ten, attack twenty, speed thirteen, armor ten, venom ten, jaw strength four, and stealth twenty.
A race that one can assume is the distant cousin of the Changewing species, because of their camouflage ability. They stand around twenty feet tall, their breath is hot enough to melt steal easily. Which is over 1370 degrees C, which he knows thanks to the chemistry classes he took in his old life, he knew off the top of his head.
Interestingly enough, it had the ability to turn invisible, daze others with a wide range of colors, thus why it was called the Hypnoling. The ability to control the minds of weak-willed men, a rather dangerous dragon. Its threat level is approach only when in a group of at least ten trained Vikings.
Sig sighs a little to himself as he pushes the book away from him, rereading the same thing over and over again can give you a nasty headache.
Sig was currently in the room he had been provided, laying on his bed as he reads through the books he had been assigned. He had finished the daily tasks that Grimmel had given him, mainly learning about the dragons he'll be hunting in the future.
Not only that, recently Sig had been given enough trust to start spending time with the Deathgrippers. Feeding them and grooming them, making sure they don't go insane and murder everyone on the ships. You know, usual jobs.
This gave Sig another opportunity, however. So with a small sigh, Sig reaches over and pulls out a little vile, around twenty percent full of a purple liquid. Deathgripper venom.
With a small sigh and flinch, he stabs the vile into himself, injecting the venom into himself. I bet you're wondering what Sig could possibly be planing by injecting potentially deadly venom into himself?
Well, his idea is to grow an immunity to it. Every night, before he sleeps, he plans on injecting himself with it every night. Slowly growing the dosage until he simply isn't affected by a normal dosa. That way, if Grimmel every turns against him, he'll have more then one chance to escape.
The only problem with this, of course, is the headache injecting venom straight into his body causes. He's done this three times now, and every time the headache lasts just a little bit less. Today, by his estimate, it'll last around ten minutes.
Plenty of time to make his way to the where they keep the dragons. He was rather interested in whether or not Hiccup was right, that any dragon can be tamed. Even a captured and afraid one. It's a little bet he plans on making later. Which is cheating but still, money in it for him.
Sig is probably not thinking straight thanks to the venom, but he doesn't need to know that.
Anyways, after a few moments of allowing the drug to calm down, and not make every muscle in his body burn, he gets up and slowly makes his way out of his room. Stumbling slightly from the numbness effect.
He makes his way quickly through the ship, walking past a few guards who didn't pay him more than a glance. Grimmel had informed the warlords that Sig was to be his apprentice, and not to be harmed. The funny thing is, he informed them of this long before he woke up from his little coma. The clever old man.
One thing Sig had to admit, that despite everything, he could respect Grimmel. He was perhaps the smartest man alive right now, or at least, the most cunning. Sig would get in little debates with him over the proper dosage of venom for certain types of dragons.
He also was afraid of Grimmel, for the crew had recently captured his favorite bait, a Light Fury. Not long after he woke up actually, and the way Grimmel smiled when he heard about this. It actually sent a shiver down Sig's spine, it was so malicious. Deadly.
Since then, he's watched Grimmel planning for another hunt, and another Night Fury to kill. It was actually rather impressive, watching the men plan out every possible bath the Night Furies could take, and where they would most likely be. He knew what he was good at, and there were few who could even claim to be close.
So, Sig had made a mental note not to go near where the Light Furies cage was. He had seen how the one in the movie acted, and he would rather not be on the receiving end of a plasma blast to the face. Or any location on his body really.
He knows how to calm any other dragon, from the show at least. The Light Fury he might take the time to learn about, later at least. When it's not in a cage, and Grimmel isn't around.
The young killer soon reaches the large cage door thing above where the dragons are kept, he never did take the time to learn what that was called. After a few moments of finding the latch in the dark, he started to tug on it with his none injured arm.
After a few moments of lifting it, he was forced to drop it with a huff as he pants softly. It seemed that he wasn't able to open the door with just one hand available to him.
So he starts to look around for a moment and raises an eyebrow as he sees a rowing oar. "Well, that'll do. Don't see why they would need one of those on a ship this big, but whatever." He mumbles to himself as he picks it up, and latches it under the door.
He then heaves on the leaver, working to force the door open with a grunt. When the cage is wide enough, he quickly drops the oar and slides under the door just as it slams closed.
He pants heavily as he looks up at the door with a small frown, rubbing at his legs softly after they got scraped from the stairs. "I'm sure that'll be easier to open from the inside." He mumbles to himself as he looks down at where the stairs lead, a dim light shining through along with several growls and snarls being heard.
He snorts slightly at that, starting to make his way down the stairs as he mumbles to himself. "Oh, that's not ominous at all. Sure Sig, just walk right down into the pit of violent and feral dragons. This is truly your most brilliant idea yet. I blame the drugs." He grumbles to himself as he climbs down the last step and stares down the torch lit hall.
He stares down the torch lit hall with a small frown as he watches as fire is flung out of the catches and impacts the metal around their cages. Sig raises an eyebrow and starts to carefully make his way past the cages, ducking under and around the flames.
He stops however and looks through the cages before moving past them, mumbling the names of each as he passes. "Nadder, Nightmare, Terrible Terror, Light Fury." He mumbles, before yelping as he ducks back into cover. "And there's that plasma blast." He says before quickly rolling past the cage of the Fury, it firing another shot at him as he passes.
Finally, he comes off a seemingly empty cage, he stops however as he stares into it. Something was off about the inside of this one. He stares for a few moments, frowning as he moves a little closer to the cage walls. The moment he does, he catches a glowing building up and quickly doges to the right.
"Oh ya, Hypnoling. Forgot about that. Great." He mumbles, before dodging another one, and another after that. It seems the dragon was just firing blindly at this point, so Sig just keeps dodging.
"Seven, eight, nine, and you're all out." Sig says as he watches as the Hypno coughs and sputters on its own gas. It growling angerly as it slams its tail into the bars and glares at him.
It looked similar to a Changewing, its head was just a bit more rounded and it didn't have any horns. Its claws were long and razor sharp, its teeth being the only thing sharper. It had jet black scales that would shift color every few moments when Sig stared at them, and its tail was longer and whip-like. Strong muscles used for slamming into prey or fighting off a predator.
The dragon starts to pace back and forth as it lets out several little growls as it glares at him. Leftover gas dripping down from its jaws as it hisses at him. Sig just panting as he rubs his injured arm softly as he stares at the dragon.
"Well, aren't you just a big ray of sunshine?" He asks as he watches as the scales light up in a special pattern, the human quickly averting his eyes from them. He didn't think he was weak-willed by any means, but he wasn't willing to take that chance.
"Ya know thanks, rather not end up as your food." Sig mutters as he stands up and approaches the cage, well, next to the cage. That's where they usually kept the food for the dragons. However, there was no food for the Hypnoling. "Heh, guess you pissed someone off and they decided not to feed you. Not the smartest tool in the shed." Sig mumbles, ignoring the growl the dragon sent at him, and the tail that slammed into the cage bars.
He stares at the dragon, who stares back with a hungry and afraid look in his eyes. For a moment, Sig feels something in his heart, before he quickly looks away. "Well, can't leave you to starve to death." He mumbles to himself, now understanding the hole I looked into its eyes and saw myself. Except, it was different.
The feeling that came from looking into the Hypno's eyes was odd, it was similar to how one would feel when looking at something with pity. Except it was something more.
He sighs a little as he walks back to the Light Fury's cage and quickly rolls to the other side. "Sorry about this, I'm going to borrow some of your food." He says as he opens the latch of the holder, which was filled to the brim with fish. "Ya, that's disgusting." He mumbles as he grabs three large fish, before quickly making his way back to the Hypno, not getting shot this time. Oddly enough.
He walks back up to the dragon that was still growling at him, and he rolls his eyes a little. "Yes yes, I get it. You don't like me. You can stop growling now." He says as he tosses the fish into the cage, the dragon looking between him and the fish with a little snarl. Sig huffs a little and crosses his arms as he glares at the dragon. "Oh, what could I have possibly done to the fish?"
The dragon seems to deadpan and seems to make a stinging motion with its tail. "Oh, you think I put Deathgripper venom in the fish." The dragon nods a few times, causing Sig to sigh a little. That's actually a point he hadn't considered. There was a chance that Grimmel had planned to feed the venom to...Oh, wait he's being stupid again.
"Even if I had, it wouldn't do much. Venom needs to be injected into the blood, not through digestion." He groans as he facepalms, maybe drugging himself before coming here wasn't the best idea. "The fish are fine, just eat them, you overgrown reptile."
The dragon huffs and grumbles as it sniffs at the fish, before slowly sticking its tongue out and giving the fish an experimental lick. After a moment of looking between the human and the fish, it just dives right in and devours the fish in three quick gulps.
The human groans a little as he lays down next to the cage doors of the dragon, who huffs and walks away to the corner of its cell, its form soon vanishing as its scales change to match the colors around it. Sig sighs a little as he watches this happen. "Ya, should have seen that coming. See you later then." He says as he stands up and starts to walk away, only to hear an odd warbling sound from the cage.
"What is it now?" He asks turning to look at the dragon, who spreads its wings quickly as its scales flash and shine. Sig blinking a few times as spots start to fill his vision. The human starting to find himself being pulled to the dragon, even if nothing was pushing him.
His body stumbles a little as his vision starts to go dark, the last thing he sees would be him slipping through the bars and into the cell. Then, darkness.
-Reviews-
Calvin:You would be right...Partly.
