Ok, I am sorry this such a small update, but I couldn't find a better place to stop without this being like 10 pages long, not that I think you guys would mind but I can't edit all that in any short amount of time. So, a small update it is. I am getting a lot of positive feedback, which is really exciting for me. BUT! I would like to hear what you guys want to happen. I can't guarantee I'll use it but I think it would be neat to hear. My muse is leaving me slowly, but I am trying to get back in gear, which is why I'm asking for your help. Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon.
Hiccup, battered after that disastrous day in the ring. He studies the remnants of the discarded bola... revealing that he's back at the scene of the crime.
"Oh Hiccup…" Stoick says exasperated at his sons idiocy in going to see the dragon on his own again.
HICCUP (MUTTERED)
So...why didn't you?
Several Vikings muttered their own agreements with this question, having wondered the same thing.
He drops the bola and presses on in the direction it flew off. The sprites begin to fly in front of him, trying to get him to go back.
"Will you quite it…" He growled and pushed right through them. He drops into a rocky crevice and follows it to an... isolated cove complete with a pristine spring pool. He scans the high stone walls... then notices a single black scale on the ground. He crouches and picks it up, studying it.
HICCUP (CONT'D)
Well this was stupid.
Suddenly, the night fury blasts past him. Hiccup recoils, watching the massive beast struggle to climb the walls. It flaps violently, then peels away to a rough landing. The dragon is trapped. Hiccup grins, excited to see it again, and slips closer. He watches as the dragon, exhausted and frustrated, leaps into the air, beating its wings furiously. Again and again, it rolls uncontrolled and crashes heavily. As if remembering to snap a photo, Hiccup pulls a leather- bound book and flips past drawings of weapons to a blank page. He sketches the dragon quickly, desperate to record the image.
The Fury claws at the steep rock walls, trying climb out of the cove. It slips and falls hard, crushing several saplings. The Fury rolls back to his feet and slowly crawls to the water's edge. He spots fish in the shallow water and snaps at them... but comes up empty. He lowers his head, looking weakened.
HICCUP (CONT'D) (MUTTERED)
Why don't you just...fly away?
"A downed dragon is a dead dragon…" Gobber mumbles under his breath. Fascinated at how his young apprentice had first met this creature that had worked so hard to save his young apprentices life, 'Though it failed…' His traitorous mind reminds him.
On Hiccup as he spots the problem. He adjusts his drawing, carefully erasing one half of the dragon's tail. Then he finally notices that several sprites are scratching at the beasts hide, aggravating it further.
"Oy! Get off him!" He yells, catching both the sprite and the Night Fury's attention. The sprites hiss at him, and the young man hisses back causing them to growl before flying away. He accidentally drops the charcoal stick. It rolls off of the rock outcropping that hides him from view and bounces into the cove. TINK. TINK. TINK. The Night Fury shakes his head and then almost seems to slum in relief at the sprites dismissal before raising his head .He looks straight at Hiccup. They exchange a profound, unflinching stare, the Night Fury's eyes full of confusion and gratefulness while Hiccup looks back full of curiosity.
The teen looks up at the sky, seeing the sprites that usually follow him hovering in the air. "I'm coming you banshee…" He grumbles as he turns and walks away. Standing under a fallen tree is the demoness herself.
"Hiccup… my sprites keep telling me that you command them to leave, why is that?" She asks, almost hissing at him.
"I don't need them for everything, I have to learn to deal with SOME things on my own." He says, his face a blank mask.
"You think you can fulfill your end of our deal… do you?" She asks, a mild curiosity in her voice. Hiccup walks past her, keeping his head held high. "You just keep to your end of the deal daemon." He snarls, before he is grabbed by the throat by a tentacle of darkness.
"You listen here you worthless mortal, I keep you and those ungrateful apes of yours safe. If you by SOME miracle you actually achieve the conditions of our ending agreement then you can call me whatever you like, BUT until then… you are mine. You're no better than the sprites I allow you control over. Do you understand?" She asks the last part in a sickeningly sweet tone, Hiccups face turning slowly red in front of her where she holds him with a tentacle that is coming out of her back.
"Ending agreement?" Astrid asks out loud. "Well, according to legend that's an agreement between a daemon and a contract holder that allows the contract holder out of the contract without any serious accomplishments, but usually it's a very risky thing to do because there are usually so many loopholes and conditions to follow." Mildew spoke up for the first time, legends being a past time not many knew he had.
"Y…yes… Mistress…" he says weakly, then he is thrown into a tree.
Stoick winces in sympathy for his son, his grip tightening once again on his arm rests.
"Good… I expect you at my grove tomorrow, I'll take my payment for saving your life and keeping your friends safe during training then…" She snarls, her face flickering for an instant into something hideous with fangs and snake like eyes before turning back into the picture of beauty. As she disappears into the shadows, rain begins to pour down.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. GREAT HALL - NIGHT
A storm is brewing outside. The great doors rattle on their hinges. High in the eaves of the building, sprites leap and growl at one another, fights breaking out every few minutes.
GOBBER (O.S.)
Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?
All the teens groan in amusement and annoyance.
The recruits are seated at a table, eating dinner by the glow of the fire pit.
ASTRID
I mistimed my summersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble.
Eye rolls from the group.
RUFFNUT (SARCASTIC)
Yeah. We noticed.
SNOTLOUT (grabbing Astrid's hand)
No, no, you were great. That was so 'Astrid'.
The girl punches him in the face, almost sending him off the bench.
GOBBER
She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves.
Creak. All eyes turn to Hiccup, entering the hall, sheepishly. Gobber glares at him. No one notices the slight limp or the bruise forming on his neck in the shadows of the great hall.
GOBBER (CONT'D) (glaring at Hiccup)
Where did Hiccup go wrong?
He tries to take a seat at the table...
RUFFNUT
He showed up.
TUFFNUT
He didn't get eaten.
... but the recruits keep closing the gaps. Rolling his eyes, Hiccup sits at the vacant table next to them.
Each of the guilty teens look down in shame. Seeing their actions from another perspective showed them just how mean they really were, even if they had only meant it in a teasing manner. Stoick scowled at the group of teens, he had known his son was picked on but for it to go this far, teens had died in dragon training when they weren't a part of the group. It was vital that strong bonds were formed during training to help keep the Vikings alive during dragon raids.
ASTRID
He's never where he should be.
GOBBER
Thank you, Astrid.
Gobber stands.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
You need to live and breathe this stuff.
Gobber lays a giant book in the center of the table.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of.
A rumble of thunder shakes the hall. Rain pours down outside. The sprites stir in excitement at the sound.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
No attacks tonight. Study up.
Gobber exits into the storm, leaving the teens staring at the book.
TUFFNUT
Wait, you mean read?
RUFFNUT
While we're still alive?
SNOTLOUT
Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?
FISHLEGS
Oh! I've read it like, seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week...
The teens stare as Fishlegs goes on too long. Their sprites snickering in the background as they mirror their looks.
TUFFNUT
Yeah, that sounds great. There was a chance I was going to read that...
RUFFNUT
...but now...
Snotlout gets up to go.
SNOTLOUT
You guys read, I'll go kill stuff.
The others follow, with Fishlegs in tow. Their sprites follow, snapping at each other.
All the teens parents groan as their sons and daughters leave.
"You do realize that information proved vital later… right…" Zyenna asks over the com system, making Fishlegs blush.
FISHLEGS
Oh and there's this other one that has these spines that look like trees...
Astrid is the last to go.
HICCUP
So I guess we'll share-
ASTRID
Read it.
She pushes it toward him and leaves.
HICCUP
All mine then. Wow, so okay. I'll see you-
Slam.
Astrid cringes, she hadn't meant to be so rude, but Snotlout had been irritating her all day and she had been at her limit.
HICCUP (CONT'D)
Tomorrow. SIGH.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. GREAT HALL - LATE NIGHT
On Hiccup's hand opening the massive book. Thunder booms outside. The hall is vacant and dark, but for the few candles he's pulled together. Hiccup pours through page after page of strange and frightening dragons.
HICCUP (V.O.)
Dragon classifications. Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class.
Hiccup turns the page. As he reads, the sprites begin sink into the pages, bring the images to life, almost seeming to pull the images off the page.
Everyone watches in horrid fascination at the moving images. "Do books do that all the time?" Tuffnut asks stupidly, making everyone give him weird looks.
HICCUP (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight.
Hiccup's eyes drift to a lurid illustration of decapitated Vikings, wincing as they seem to come to life. Another page, another dragon.
HICCUP (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees...extremely dangerous. Kill on sight.
The sprite images squirm and shift in the candlelight.
HICCUP (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous.
The storm outside rages against the shuttered windows. Hiccup is startled by the loud noise, but rolls his eyes in amusement as he sees the sprites that had slammed the door.
HICCUP (CONT'D)
Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight.
He begins flipping through the pages. A blur of dragons...
HICCUP (CONT'D)
Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death. Burns its victims. Buries itsvictims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside-out. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight...
Hiccup finally lands upon the page he's been looking for.
HICCUP (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Night Fury.
It's blank - no image, save for a few, sparse details. The sprites hiss in disappointment as they slink out of the pages.
HICCUP (CONT'D)
Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you.
Hiccup pulls his sketchbook out of his vest and opens it to his drawing of Toothless. He lays it over the book's blank page and considers it.
Close on the drawing of Toothless... the sprites circle slowly around the image.
All the Vikings can't help but shutter at the creepy image. They were impressed with the young Vikings for sitting through all that without so much as a peep.
MATCH CUT TO: EXT. HIGH SEAS - DAWN
A painted dragon, with a sword run through it. It's the billowing sail of Stoick's ship. Stoick hovers over the familiar nautical map - his eyes on the uncharted corner, swirling in mist and illustrations of dragons. Several sprites swirl around the map in anticipation of what is to come.
STOICK
I can almost smell them. They're close. Steady.
Stoick raises his gaze to... An epic fog bank, towering from sky to sea like a bruised, daunting curtain, beyond which nothing is visible. The three ships drift alongside it, skirting its solid edge, looking for an opening. On deck the crewmen mill nervously, all too aware of what Stoick is considering.
Stoick shakes his head at his past self's short sightedness. Now that he had some time to think about it, he had realized that even if the queen hadn't been there that the dragons would have more than likely moved on Berk.
STOICK (CONT'D)
Take us in.
The helmsman steers Stoick's ship into the fog. The men draw their weapons, prepping for the worst.
VIKING
Hard to port... for Helheim's gate.
The first ship disappears into the whiteout, followed by the other two. Suddenly a flash of light. A silhouette of a dragon. Hollers and hisses. Sounds of splitting and shattering wood. Plunges into the water. Another bright flash.
Many of the Vikings wince at the memory of the failed raid, still amazed that no one had died or been seriously injured.
"You guys have no idea the horror that you're about to witness…" Zyenna says ominously.
Well, I hope you guys liked this. I know, surprising that I got two chapters out in one day but I'm trying to get at least seven done by the end of this week, because after this week I think that I'm going to be very busy with school and I won't be able to publish as often.
Death Fury: I'm glad you like it. I am definitely going to add more scenes. I'm working on a special chapter right now, though I don't know when it will get added into the story. I am going to write in my own style for my added scenes instead of a script style that I use for the actual movie they are watching.
.1: I'm really glad that you enjoyed my story. I hope you liked this chapter as well.