Screw studying for exams. This is much more fun. Honestly, I never expected this chapter to be so long! Anyway, enjoy!
Sadly, I don't own any of the four franchises involved. If I did, a crossover would've been made a loooong time ago.
Chapter Three: New Target
North paced back and forth in his workshop, hand on his chin. He wracked his brain, in case he could come up with another way to cross the worlds. Bunny was in the room with him, leaning on the door, sharpening his boomerang while waiting. "What about that snow globe thingy, North? You know, the one that keeps making me want to hurl?"
"No, no, no," he answered. "The inspiration from that globe came from the Core Compass, but it can only transport us anywhere on Earth, not across dimensions."
Bunny growled under his breath. "Oh, what does that damned rotten Pitch want to go as far to sabotage the Compass? If he wanted to take revenge on Jack, he could've done it here in our world."
"Though Jack has us around now. Pitch would consider taking on all of us."
"But knowing Pitch, I'd say he could just manipulate Jack into going somewhere alone with him. Then he could extract his revenge. Jack told us about Pitch taking Baby Tooth hostage. That demon could do the same to Jamie."
It was then that North's eyes widened. "Maybe because Pitch's target isn't Jack." He paused. "This time, I feel it in my belly."
"Not Jack?" Bunny repeated. "Then who?" The door to the workshop opened, forcing Bunny to jump backwards just as Tooth came rushing in. One look at her panicked eyes and North could tell it was trouble.
"Man in Moon," said Tooth. "He's trying to tell us something." Gently pushing Bunny and Tooth aside, North quickly headed for the platform. At the plaques, Sandman was still there, a small image of the crescent moon above his head. He pointed onto the floor.
Following Sandy's fingers, North noticed a shadow in the moonlight. Slowly, it morphed into a silhouette of a skinny boy. North took account of the boy's left foot, and how it seemed irregularly shaped, as if it was a prosthetic.
Bunny ran up behind the old man. "So? What is it?"
North was quiet for a moment. "Just as I feared." He turned to face the Guardians. "Pitch is after ol' Grimbeard's heir." The remaining Guardians turned towards each other with curious faces before North continued his explanation.
"According to the soothsayer, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third would be a great viking hero. His courage and heart would outrank all the rest. His acts of kindness, the hopes in his heart and how he tries not to resort to violence. When faced with a downed dragon, the tradition of his tribe was to end it, and get respect from the tribe, which was something the boy wanted all his life. But he befriended it instead."
"So he valued life above what he wanted most?" Tooth clarified. North nodded. "But there are two sides to every person, and Grimbeard's heir will have the most drastic opposite. If Pitch manages to persuade him into joining Pitch and awaken his hidden darkness, there's no telling what will happen."
"Well then, what's worse case scenario?" Bunny asked. North turned to face him, a stern look in his eyes. "Then all our worlds will be wrapped in darkness for eternity."
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"Hiccup!"
Astrid's screamed echoed in the spacious arena. The dark horse simply snorted at her before pushing it's hoof harder onto the center of Hiccup's back. The young boy choked back a cry of pain.
"What is that thing?" spat out Fishlegs. Now that his friends were in danger, there was no way he was going to back down. Slowly, black dust poured almost as if infinitely out of the compass, taking shape as an ominous onyx horses. It's golden eyes flared.
"Nightmares, manifestations of fear. This is the work of Pitch," Jack quickly explained.
"Pitch?" Snotlout repeated. "You mean that creepy dude you thought you defeated from your story."
"That's him," said Jack, his staff still pointed at the Nightmare that pinned down his new friend. "But I don't understand." Beside Jack, Toothless growled. He only stood down because he was confused as to what was happening. But now he was certain that Hiccup was in danger, and was getting ready to pounce. "Hold on for a second." Jack held his hand in front of Toothless, telling him to wait for a moment.
The Guardian slightly lowered his weapon, his guard still unwavering. "Pitch is after me, isn't he?" Jack declared in a loud voice, earning the attention of Nightmares, humans and dragons. "Leave Hiccup out of this." Jack scoffed in his mind. 'Am I going to be abandoning the mission now?' He smirked. 'Forget it.'
Bringing up his staff, Jack shot a beam of bright blue ice towards the Nightmares. The moment he struck the first move, chaos erupted as the Nightmares screeched and charged. "Toothless, now!" Jack shouted, moving his hand away. Toothless shot forward and with a single hard slash of his tail, turned a nightmare to ashes.
Jack jumped, using his abilities to stay afloat. A wave of Nightmares started galloping upwards. Snotlout groaned. "They can fly too?"
"No time to complain!" Astrid sharply yelled. "Dragons, everyone." On signal, the viking teens climbed onto their companions. Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, breathed out a massive wall of fire. Slashing out it's tail in the air, Stormfly shot a flurry of spikes through the flames. As they were bathed in flames, the thorns dug themselves into the Nightmares. With loud squeals, they turned to dust.
The Nightmare on Hiccup pushed his hoof down harder, as if to keep the oxygen from coming into the boy's lungs. Hiccup began to feel his chest throb and ache above anything he'd ever experienced.
With a large flurry of orange, the Nightmare dispersed. Suddenly being able to breathe properly, Hiccup sucked in as much air as he could. His sides were nudged by whom he soon realized what Toothless. Hiccup sat up, sighing. "Thanks, bud."
"Whoa!" Jack ducked, forcing two of the Nightmares to crash into each other. The winter spirit flew out the arena. Looking back, Jack caught sight of furious eyes. Lashing out his staff, his created a stream of ice.
Shaking his head, Hiccup turned towards the sky, seeing Jack battle with the Nightmares. He turned to look at Astrid. "You go on ahead!" she answered. "We'll handle the ones down here." Green smoke started to cover the floor of the Academy, signaling that an explosion would be coming soon.
Hiccup nodded. "Thanks, Astrid." Throwing his leg over Toothless' back, Hiccup secured his metal foot on the stirrup with a solid click. "Let's go, bud." Toothless ran out the exit of the arena before taking off into the air.
Jack felt his breath hitch before hitting a Nightmare with his staff. A shadow of black sped past him, causing him to grin. With his wings spread out, with a single sweep through the air, many of the Nightmares were reduced to ashes. A laugh escaped Jack's lips when he heard Hiccup whooping. "Jack, duck!"
Quickly jerking downwards, a flurry of orange flew over his head, dispersing a Nightmare behind him. Jack heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks." His expression suddenly turned into one of panic. "Look out!"
A split second later, Hiccup exclaimed in pain as a Nightmare sped past him, slicing a cut onto his left arm. Clutching his arm with his right hand, Hiccup felt it was warm and slightly wet. He bit his lip before pushing the pain to the back of his mind. "Seriously, what on Earth are those creatures?"
Shooting a brilliant blue beam from his staff, Jack struck the Nightmare down with a single blow. "They're not just bad dreams anymore," said Jack. "They've become the embodiment of darkness itself."
"Oh well thank you, for summing that up." Hiccup pulled Toothless hard to the left as they narrowly avoided a Nightmare. Flying forward, Hiccup followed Jack as they flew into the direction of the village. Soon, brown roofs could be seen below them. Looking over their shoulders, the two boys saw the cloud of black coming after them.
"You take the ones on the left I'll take the ones on the right?" asked Jack.
"Sounds like a plan," Hiccup answered. The two split, the cloud also breaking apart. Hicucp leaned in slightly towards his dragon. "Let's show them what we can do, bud." His arm stung with pain but Hiccup ignored it. Toothless curled in the air for a second before sharply turning back towards the Nightmares. With consecutive three blasts, and a slice of his prosthetic tail, Toothless managed to get rid of all the Nightmares. Hiccup panted with exhaustion. "Good work, bud."
Looking down, Hiccup felt his heart sink. Jack ducked behind a house, causing a Nightmare to crash into it. Hiccup winced. The Winter Spirit leaped off a roof while misleading another Nightmare. In seconds the roof crumbled, earning shrieks and screams. Biting his lip, Hiccup turned Toothless into a dive towards the plaza. As some of the Nightmares changed targets, they galloped towards Hiccup and Toothless.
The Night Fury let out a blast of fire. A Nightmare sidestepped, allowing the blast to hit one of the large poles that supported a large container of fish for dragons, spilling it all over the plaza.
Freezing several Nightmares in the air, Jack crashed into another house. If that fall was enough to dent metal, then the wooden hut didn't stand a chance. Jack ran out, shielding his head from an angry viking woman. Running out, Jack found himself in the plaza where an unamused Hiccup stood.
Looking around, Jack noticed that there wasn't another Nightmare in the sky. "Hey, at least we got rid of all of them," he said. The door to the house at the top of the hill beside the plaza opened up, a large viking man stepping out. Hiccup didn't need to look behind him to figure out who it was. "Oh gods, show me mercy..."
The man, Stoick the Vast, loomed over the two boys. Hiccup braced himself.
"Hiccup!" Stoick's voice bellowed, fuming with anger. He looked at the destroyed houses and wrecked plaza. "What in the name of Thor is going on?"
"Uh..." Hiccup began, trying to find the words to explain. "Force of habit?" Stoick groaned. "Hiccup, you're my son. You're going to be chief one day. I thought you stopped destroying the village since the Dragon Raids!"
"I did, Dad! Just let me explain," said Hiccup hurriedly. Stoick looked past Hiccup at Jack for a moment. The Winter Spirit gave the viking chief a quick wave before Stoick turned away. Putting a hand on his son's back, the two turned towards their home. "That explanation of yours had better make sense."
Hiccup gulped. "I wouldn't be sure of that." Jack laughed as the door to Hiccup's house, the Haddock Household closed. But his expression suddenly darkened. The Nightmares didn't attack him. They attacked Hiccup. That must mean Pitch is after him. Jack started having second thoughts of asking Hiccup to join his team. But if he was left here on Berk, that doesn't mean the Nightmares won't come back.
Jack felt his heart sink. He had tried to help Man in Moon and the Guardians fight against Pitch. But in the process, he had just put his new friend's life in untold mortal danger.
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Well, that's it! Sorry if it's just RotG and HTTYD for now. Brave should become involved in 1 – 2 chapters. Look out for Chapter Four: Hunted.