Hello all! I am back! I thank all of you people who have reviewed my story. This chapter came out later than I wanted it to. But, internet died, parents took away my computer rights, etc etc etc. You guys probably don't care about that.
Now, back to the story, let us see if Snotlout's warning is making Hiccup paranoid. Probably not. Well, maybe a little.
Normal Speech
Thought speech/Griffin's thought speech
Emphasis/ Dragon speech
Auster's POV
It had been a week since Snotlout had threatened Hiccup about taking me to the village, and so far nothing had happened. Hiccup had put me in the Arena, but not in a cage. He came in every day to give me fish and talk to me, and I was starting to appreciate how he is such a caring person. He always put his people before himself, even the dragons, and did his best to be a good Chief. He is someone I would follow into battle without any hesitation.
But I also had my own Chief to follow. It was about two months until the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, and that was when I have to bring the majority of Berk to be destroyed by the Red Deaths. Before, I had no problem with the aspect of doing that, but now a tiny worm of doubt has found its way into my mind.
I was broken out of my thoughts by the clanging of the Arena door. Hiccup was walking through, along with Alpha, and the other people from before. But they also had dragons following them: a blue female Nadder, a brown Gronkle, a green Zippleback, and a red Monstrous Nightmare. I growled softly. That Nightmare was Snotlout's. I looked around, and spotted him looking down from above the dome cage top. Probably not allowed in here for mine and Hiccup's safety.
"Now, everyone, it's time we finally get this dragon in the Book," Hiccup said. I looked over to the group of people, and the big husky male was practically jumping in excitement. Was it really that interesting to find a new dragon species?
"Now onto the names. Astrid, do you have any ideas?" Hiccup asked, looking to the female with the blond braid. She thought a moment, then she opened her mouth, only to be interrupted by the husky one.
"OOH! How about 'Night Nadder'?" He said. The female glared at him, then before Hiccup could say anything, "How about we see the other things first, like the abilities, then think of a name?" She said.
"Astrid is always the one who stays on track" I jumped and looked to my right where the blue Nadder had spoken. They were quiet the whole time until now and I didn't think that they would speak. The others nodded in agreement. "Oh, now we get to see the good part," The Zippleback said. I turned and saw Hiccup walking toward me, along with the others more hesitantly. Alpha growled quietly in warning at my right. I took a step back from the group. What did they want from me?
Hiccup picked up a big book with a dragon on the cover and a charcoal pencil from a table and started writing something down. The husky male walked up and said things like, "No, its wings fold down around the stomach," and "Make sure you get the spines!" I looked at myself and realised that they were drawing me, probably to put in their book they were talking about. I looked up and saw the husky one walking towards me.
"Fishlegs," Hiccup said warningly. Fishlegs just shook his head and reached down towards my wings. I growled and stepped back, only to be drowned out by two other growls from the Gronkle and Alpha. "He isn't going to hurt you,"Alpha said. "He just wants to look at your wings" the Gronkle piped in. I relaxed and unfurled my wings, laying them on the ground so they had a clear view of them. Fishlegs gasped. I looked down and realised what he had seen. My wingspan covered almost all the way across the Arena. Fishlegs got out some rope and lined it on the edge of my wings, first one than the other. He casually called out "80 feet," but me and the other dragons could see that he was extremely excited.
Astrid walked up next, casually holding a double-bladed axe in her hands. The weapon said danger, but she had a relaxed posture and a friendly look to her. Hiccup seemed to like her, too, so I decided to trust her. She walked down towards my tail and tapped it with the tip of the axe, hearing the clink sound. Then she put the axe down and walked over to the table, picking up a piece of paper and shaking it in front of my face. It was annoying, so I swiped at it with my claws, leaving it in four strips of shredded paper. She whistled softly.
All of a sudden, I heard Hiccup and the Alpha say at the same time, "It's way too quiet." I looked in surprise. It was like they could read each other's minds!
Hiccup turned to the blond twins behind him. "Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you take over from here on firepower" They jumped up and ran past me to the other side of the Arena, grabbing some barrels with targets painted on them, and rolled them into a pyramid. Then they stood next to me, pointed to the targets, and at the same time, said "FIRE!" I shot a blast of fire at each barrel, either knocking them off the pyramid or setting them on fire. The Twins then decided to smash their helmets together at that, followed by the Zippleback doing the same. The Arena was temporarily filled with the sound of crackling fire, yelling people and smashing heads.
After a few minutes when it was all calm again, Hiccup looked up at the cloudy sky and said, "How about a race before the first storm comes?" Everyone nodded, and Hiccup opened the gate. As soon as it was big enough, a shrill whistle rang out and the Nightmare ran out, was jumped on by Snotlout, and flew off. Hiccup watched them for a few seconds, then shrugged and mounted Alpha.
"Three... two... one... GO!" I took off running, using my speed to get ahead of the others and jumped off the edge, followed by the other riders. Astrid was quickly behind me, Hiccup sped off in front of us, and the Twins ended up running into Fishlegs and made their dragons fall. I looked behind me. Astrid was gaining fast, and Hiccup was still ahead. Time to change tactics.
I flapped my wings hard and rose up into the clouds, gaining height with every beat. Once I came to a reasonably high place, I folded my wings down and started to dive, shooting out of the clouds and past Astrid, then Hiccup. I unfurled my wings and skimmed along the ocean before rising up to where Hiccup was. He glanced at me before smirking, then leaning down and whispering something to Alpha. Before I could do anything, they shot off again. Maybe I was faster than Alpha on land, but I couldn't beat him in the air.
Astrid quickly flew up next to me, us each gaining a little on each other before losing it again. We did this for a few minutes before Hiccup came back and said, "I win. Let's set down for a little bit." I grumbled and Astrid did a little pouty face before laughing and us heading down to a nearby island.
"Wow! That was a rush, wasn't it, Bud?" Hiccup asked, scratching Alpha behind the ear. He jumped off and grabbed Astrid's hand, both of them silently walking off. Alpha blew some fire at the grass and lay down on the ashes, while the Nadder walked off, chirping about finding fish.
"How long have Hiccup and Astrid been together?" I asked Alpha, gesturing to where the two walked off. He opened an eye, blinked, and shut it again. "Alpha?" I asked, earning a slight flinch from the latter. Did he not like being called that? I decided to take a risk. "Uh... Toothless?" I asked, using the name I heard Hiccup referring to him as. His head rose off his paws, and he stared at me for a moment before saying "Astrid first seemed to like Hiccup about 24 seasons ago. I don't mind her, and she makes Hiccup happy." He looked off to where they left, before plopping his head on his paws again. I decided not to push it and walked toward a large oak, wrapping my tail around a branch, pulling myself off the ground, curling my wings around myself and falling asleep.
Hiccup's POV
I glanced back at where the dragons were, slightly worried. We were on an unfirmiliar island, separating ourselves from our dragons, with at least Snotlout after me. You could say I was a tiny bit worried. Of course, we could use our dragon calls, but still...
I was broken out of my concentration by a punch to the arm. I winced, even though I put padding there since it happened so much. I turned to Astrid. She had a look that meant she was up to something.
"Let's play a game, Hiccup," she said, smiling.
"Since when were you one to play games?" I asked.
"Since you started to zone off. Now shush," she commanded, holding up a finger to my lips. "I know this is an old game, but deal with it. I'm going to hide. You wait thirty seconds, count them out loud, then come and try to find me. Got it?" she asked. I nodded. "Good" she kissed me on the cheek and ran off into the forest. I started to count.
"One, two three..." I was looking around myself for anyplace she could hide. "Four, five six..." I realised she wouldn't hide near me, and was probably deeper in the forest. "Seven, eight nine..." I was broken out of my search when I heard Astrid cry, "Hiccup!" then a Nadder call. I ran towards the sound.
I came into a small clearing with a huge hole in the ground with Astrid inside it. I crouched down. "Take my hand!" I said. I reached my hand down and grabbed hers, pulling her up with all my might.
"Hiccup! Behind you!" Astrid yelled. I started to turn before I felt someone kick me in the back and tumbled down into the pit on top of Astrid. I rolled off her and grabbed Inferno, Astrid gripping her axe. I looked up at the figure who kicked me. A burly figure with a smug smile and a curled helmet.
Snotlout. I should've know he would have followed us. He didn't say anything, just laughed and turned to look at something behind him. Another person walked up, holding a crossbow pointed at us. Stormfly might not have heard Astrid's call, but I know Toothless would almost never move. I called for him, waited a few seconds, and smiled when I heard his return call.
Ten seconds later Toothless came running through the trees, quickly followed by the other dragon and Stormfly a little bit behind. "Over here, Toothless!" I called. He saw me and started running, but was stopped by a thrown bola tangling his legs. Before any of us could react, five men jumped on him and muzzled him. I heard a squawk and saw Stormfly being done the same. I turned to the new dragon. She was standing still, staring at the man with the crossbow. Astrid took the chance of the distraction and threw her axe at him. He ducked just in time and shot the crossbow, hitting Astrid's boot and pinning it to the ground.
"Unless you want her and your dragons to die, you'll put your fancy fire sword away" the man said. I frowned and Toothless snarled. I turned to Astrid. She was holding her foot. The arrow must've nicked her. I turned Inferno off and clipped the sword to my side.
"Now," the man said, turning and picking something off the ground. A whip. "Let's see if your Alpha beats mine." I was surprised. Did this man have another Alpha? I don't think I would want to have another Bewilderbeast battle. The man uncurled the whip and cracked it into the ground. "A battle of Alphas, if you will. Take off the Fury's muzzle" he said, then looked to the new dragon and cracked the whip against the ground.
"Griffin," the dragons pupils narrowed to slits. "Attack Hiccup."
A battle between Alphas it is, then.
Tell me if you enjoyed, what you would like to see, and what you don't like.
