Hello again! Another week, another chapter. Before we get started I want to talk about the soundtrack for HTTYD2. Marvelous. Now that I've had the chance to listen to it several times, I can certainly say it's as good as the original at the very least. There are certain different things I loved about it. First of all, I loved how "Dragon Racing" is basically the HTTYD soundtrack in a nutshell. I also loved hearing the familiar cues from the original film mixed in with the cues from the new one. Drago's theme was certainly very dark and villainous and fit his brooding character quite well. Valka's theme on the other hand is wonderful in the sense that it is very light and heartwarming. And let's not forget "For the Dancing and the Dreaming"! Gets me every time, especially Gobber's part. Probably my favorite new track is "Flying With Mother". For me, "Flying With Mother" is the "Forbidden Friendship" of the HTTYD2 soundtrack. "Where No One Goes" also topped "Sticks and Stones" in every way in my opinion. Still, the jury is still out on which soundtrack is the better one, but much like the film itself, HTTYD2 improved upon HTTYD greatly (and HTTYD was already so great!). Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. One last thing though; this will be the final chapter until the 19th of July as I will be on vacation and will be unable to update in my usual time frame, so sorry about that. Enjoy the chapter!
"How can that monstrosity be back? You blew it to bits; we saw it explode." Stoick said, unwilling to accept the fact that the beast that took Hiccup's foot could still be around.
"Yeah, that's the best explosion we've ever seen." Tuffnut said.
"And we've seen a lot of explosions." Ruffnut finished.
"Well I don't know how it could be back," Hiccup said, ignoring the Twins "but I need to get rid of it."
"You? You mean we, right?" Astrid asked.
"No, I mean me. Your dragons are fast, but there not as fast as Toothless. Even with his speed things didn't… turn out as well as I had hoped."
"What are you guys talking about?" Heather asked confused.
"We've come across this dragon before. Hiccup managed to defeat it, but he lost his foot in the process." Astrid answered.
"You've come across this dragon before?"
"Well, maybe not the same one, but possibly one of the same species." Fishlegs said.
"Wait, you think that there's more than one?" Stoick asked.
"It's the only thing that makes sense. How else could it come back?"
"I hate to say it, but I think Fishlegs is right." Hiccup said. "It's the only thing that makes sense about all of this. How could it come back when I essentialy blew it up? The only way that it's possible is if it's another dragon from the same species."
"Oh great. If we keep discovering all of these Red Deaths, I'm going to need a new set of skivvies." Gobber said. Fishlegs gagged at the thought.
"On that disturbing note, I think we need to start working on the rescue plan."
"Rescue plan?" Snotlout asked. "You don't actually want to train this thing do you? Look what it did to you the first time!"
"Didn't you hear Heather? Her village is holed up somewhere hiding from the Red Death, so we need to find them."
"I can take you to them." Heather said as she tried to get out of bed. Gothi pushed her back in and wrote something on the ground.
"Sorry, miss, but she says that you need your rest." Gobber translated.
"Well when can I leave?" Gothi scratched in the dirt again.
"The soonest you can leave is a day's time, depending on your condition."
"Good. That gives us time to come up with a plan." Stoick said. "Come on, we should leave her to her rest." Stoick started ushering people out. Everyone walked out, but Snotlout hung back. Gothi raised an eyebrow at him.
"What? Can't I help out?" Snotlout asked innocently. Knowing that it was just a ruse to try to talk to Heather, Gothi whacked Snotlout with her cane. Snotlout covered his head as Gothi continued to whack him until he left. When he had finally gone, Gothi scratched in the dirt. If Gobber had been there to read it, he would have seen that it read 'good riddance'.
Several hours later, a rescue plan had been laid out. While Hiccup went off to do battle with the Red Death, again, the teens would go to where the villagers were hiding out and make sure they were ok. When Hiccup was finished, the villagers would be granted temporary asylum on Berk while the island was being repaired and the village rebuilt. The only problem is that the entire plan rested on whether or not Heather was able to travel, and time was not on their side since the Red Death could start flying around and terrorize other islands, and the next day it was evident that Heather was still in no condition to travel.
"So what do we do now?" Fishlegs asked later that night as they were congregated in the Great Hall.
"Well, whether Heather is able to travel or not, we still need to take care of this beast." Stoick said.
"Agreed. I think we need to modify the plan a bit." Hiccup said.
"How so?"
"I think that while I go to fight the Red Death, you will go with the others to the island where the villagers are hiding."
"Uh, have you forgotten that he doesn't have a dragon anymore?" Snotlout asked.
"Yeah, I know. That's why he'll be taking Stormfly."
"Stormfly? If your dad is on Stormfly, then where am I going to be?" Astrid asked.
"You are going to be watching Heather."
"Why am I going to be watching Heather?"
"Because you're the only reason she managed to stay captured. Once we left for Outcast Island, she escaped."
"Well, it was Bucket who was in charge of her." Snotlout added.
"And wasn't it because we all left?" Tuffnut asked.
"You two aren't helping." Hiccup finally said. "Besides, we need our best warrior to make sure Heather stays put."
"Then why are you putting Astrid in charge of her? I'm obviously the best warrior here." Snotlout said. Stoick growled in Snotlout's direction. "With the exception of the chief."
"Oh really? You think you can take me on?" Astrid asked angrily.
"Any time, any day."
"How about right now?"
"Prepare to taste the wrath of Snotlout!" Snotlout got up from his end of the table and charged at Astrid, only to quickly be pinned on the ground.
"Ha ha, what a wimp. That would never happen to-" Tuffnut said as Astrid quickly flipped him. Ruffnut laughed at her brother's misfortune and was in turn flipped as well. Astrid popped her knuckles.
"Anyone else?"
"Nope, I'm good." Fishlegs said as he quickly scooted away.
"So that settles it then." Hiccup said.
"Uh, no it doesn't. There is no way I'm just going to sit here while you guys go out and do stuff."
"Hiccup's plan makes sense Astrid." Stoick said, attempting to reassure her.
"Well that would be a first." Snotlout said from the ground. Astrid quickly kicked him in response.
"Stay out of it."
"Astrid, please. The more time we spend arguing about this the more time the Red Death has to do… well whatever it wants to do! Eat an island; maybe obliterate some villages with its volcano mouth. Kill hundreds of people perhaps?" Hiccup said.
"Fine! I'm still not happy about it though."
"You don't have to be. You just need to follow orders." Stoick said. "Now comes the really difficult part. Convincing Heather to tell us where her island and people are while she stays behind. I don't think she'll like that very much."
"Would you?" Hiccup said as he got up from the table.
Later at Gothi's house, Stoick's prediction seemed to be proved right, as Heather was not very happy about having to stay behind.
"I'm fine! I can go with you! I can show you the-"A grunt of pain stopped Heather in mid-sentence as she attempted to get out of bed. Her head spun as she tried to stand. Gothi nudged her back into bed.
"You're not going anywhere." Gobber said for Gothi. "You're still severally dehydrated from three days at sea. The only place you're going is back to bed.
"See? She doesn't need me to watch after her." Astrid said defiantly.
"Yes she does Astrid. You think that'll stop her? Think if it were you." Hiccup said.
"No, it wouldn't stop me. I'll stay behind."
"Thank you."
"Which means that you need to tell us how to get where." Stoick said to Heather.
"Fine." Heather said reluctantly. "Get me a map." Fishlegs handed her a map of the archipelago. After studying it for a moment, she looked up. "I need something to draw with." Hiccup reached into his waistband and brought out his journal and pen. Now with pen in hand, Heather began drawing. When she was done, she turned the map back around and handed Hiccup his pen back. "Ok, these are our islands here. The big one is our main island where the dragon is likely to still be. These two smaller islands to the west are our fallback islands for when pirates and tropical storms arrive. They're covered in jungles and hills so it's easier to seek shelter and defend than the main island."
"Why not live there all the time then?" Astrid asked.
"There's not a very reliable food source and the water isn't that clean so we prefer to live on the bigger island."
"Alright then. Now let's get to our homes and get some rest. We're going to need it." Stoick said as he started ushering Hiccup and Astrid out of the shack. "We'll leave at dawn tomorrow, so you'd better say your goodbye's now."
"I'm sorry about this Astrid." Hiccup said when his father was gone. "I'd rather have you right there with us leading the charge but we can't risk having Heather stumble in and becoming a liability."
"It's ok, I understand."
"I'll make it up to you, I promise."
"You don't have to promise me that. Promise me that it won't go wrong though, ok?" Astrid asked as they reached the turning point for them to go their separate ways.
"I promise. Astrid I…" Oh come on, say it Hiccup! Hiccup thought to himself.
"Yes, Hiccup?"
"I'll see you later." Hiccup finally managed to croak out as he quickly turned and briskly walked back to his house, mentally kicking himself for not having the guts to say what he wanted to.
And there we have yet another chapter! What was Hiccup wanting to say to Astrid though? Sound off on what you think in the review section!
Quick Note: I know Toothless has been kinda absent in these last two chapters, but these really needed to be exposition heavy. Toothless will play a bigger role in the chapters to come, don't worry. I've got some interesting stuff planned for he and Hiccup to (mentally) wrestle over.