An outcast among Outcasts ch 9
Sorry I didn't get this written up faster, school is murder and I only got time because I got sick.
On the positive side I finally got a dragon picked. If it isn't the one you wanted I'm sorry but I went with majority vote. And I do have some ideas to include the dragons that didn't make it. ;) Anyway here's the story.
Revised
Chapter 9: a dragon for Rue.
Akiran walked along the streets of Berk. Everything was the same and yet very different. For one thing many of the kids that had been babies when he left had grown so much he barely recognized them. Another thing would be the dragons roaming the streets. Most dragons he didn't mind, but when a zippleback snuck up behind him and gave a playful nudge, he couldn't help but give a yelp of shock.
"You alright there lad?" A Viking who had been passing by asked.
"Yeah, just a bit startled that's all." Akiran answered and kept walking.
He headed for the killing arena, well now the dragon academy, to try and catch his friends. They where flying above the academy, he suppressed a shudder when he spotted the Zippleback.
It appeared Rue was learning to navigate the Nadder now. She seemed to be doing ok until the Nadder gave a small start and went into a dive. Akiran gasped but relaxed as a yell of happiness came from Rue. The Nadder landed gracefully and Rue hopped down, giving the dragon a scratch under its jaw.
"Thank you for the ride Stormfly." She said softly to the creature. Stormfly replied with a happy chir.
"Nicely done Rue." Hiccup said landing next to them. He and Astrid dismounted from Toothless, the others still landing dismounted too.
"Thanks. So I guess that only leaves the… *gulp*… Monsterous Nightmare." She said hesitantly.
"Wahoo my turn!" Snotlout cheered, then quickly clearing his throat he took on a professional air, "come this way, please."
Rue hesitantly walked over next to Snotlout, right in front of Hookfang.
"Ok first things first, you need to show him who's boss." Snotlout said as he lunged at Hookfang and ruffly pulled his head down onto the ground. Hookfang amazingly seemed to like this and let out a soft growl of pleasure. Snotlout got up and stepped back.
"Alright your turn." He said.
"You're kidding right?" Rue asked, staring with terror as Hookfang turned toward her. He let out a hiss of warning as she approached him. She hesitated and was about to leap at the dragon when a roar was heard from the direction of the village, followed by screaming.
"Sounds like something's attacking Berk." Hiccup cried, "everyone, lets go!"
Akiran whistled for Nightshade, who had been flying overhead. Rue hopped up behind Hiccup and everyone flew to where smoke was rising from a cluster of homes.
"Um… Hiccup I don't see anything attacking." Rue said from behind him.
"Must be changewings then." He mumbled over his shoulder. Sure enough a spurt of green acid sped past them, barley missing Toothless's false tail. The others took to evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit as more acid spurts launched from the ground. The attack stopped as soon as it started.
"Everyone keep an eye out for it." Hiccup said as they landed. Rue walked around, scanning the area carefully, Akiran followed her lead as they searched. The area was clear as far as they could see.
"Looks like its gone." Fishlegs said once the group had regrouped.
"You sure?" Akiran asked, he had this nagging feeling something was watching him, but he couldn't pinpoint it.
"Hiccup!" Stoick called over to them, jogging up next to his son.
"What's the damage?" Hiccup asked as soon as Stoick had caught his breath.
"Couple of homes took some damage but no one got hurt, thank Odin. I'm going to need you all to help look for the dragon that did this." He said.
"Where is everyone else? Why can't they do it?" Tuffnut whined.
"Their looking for the changewing, it's strange. Most of the time changewings stay on their island, unless someone stole their eggs again." At the last remark everyone turned to look at Snotlout. A very ferocious look crept onto Fishlegs face.
"Hey, don't look at me. I haven't gone near that place." Snotlout said, holding his hands up in a defensive manner.
"You better not have." Fishlegs growled.
Akiran was shocked to see this side of Fishlegs, he use to be such a timid and nervous fellow. Now he seemed more berserker-ish.
"Any way, Gobber's waiting for you by the blacksmith hut with your area assignments. Good luck." He said and flew off on Thornado.
"Akiran, maybe you should take Rue back to my house." Hiccup said as they all mounted their dragons.
"I want to help though." Rue complained.
"It'll be hard for you, you don't have a dragon yet." Hiccup explained.
"Oh fine." She sighed, knowing he was right. The others flew off, leaving Akiran and her behind.
"Come on, let's go." He said and mounted Nightshade.
She moved to get on behind him but stopped as the dragon gave a low growl. An idea struck her and she seceded to give it a try.
"May I?" She asked the dragon, while giving him a bow. Nightshade smirked and nodded his head. She got on and Akiran directed them back to Hiccup's home, chuckling the whole way.
"What's so funny?" Rue finally asked him.
"Oh, nothin." He said barely holding back another chuckle. They arrived and entered the house, Nightshade curling up in the shade outside.
"I think I'm going to go to the cliff and do some sketching." Rue said, grabbing her newly repaired book, a gift from Hiccup, and her dragon whistle.
"I'll come too, there's not that much to do here." Akiran certainly looked bored, he was probably use to doing all sorts of things on Trader Yohan's ship. They left the house and Nightshade followed them as they all walked over to the cliffs.
Akiran laid down on his back, his hands behind his head and Nightshade plopped down behind him, acting as a bit of a headrest.
Rue started sketching the horizon, but soon grew bored of that. She felt a strange prickling sensation along her spine, as if someone was watching her. She turned to see a sheep wandering by, it turned to her and let out a small "baa" and continued on its way. Rue shrugged and pulled out her dragon whistle. It was a simple flute really but it had been a gift from Rocktooth when she was younger, he had hand carved it and even make it look like a dragon head at the end.
She sat for a moment, listening to the sounds around her, the steady beat of the waves against the cliff, the wind blowing across the grass, and the chirr of insects in the grass. She finally began to play, it was a soft sweat melody that flowed on the wind, as gentle as a lullaby.
Akiran sighed in content. The sky above him was a brilliant blue, and the waves where a soothing sound, especially to someone who had spent a good portion of his life on a boat. Akiran started to nod off, smiling at the sweet tune. Nightshade let out a content sigh too. The melody suddenly stopped and Rue let out a small shrill squeak. Akiran opened his eyes to see a red dragon with weird vine like things coming out of its head. It appeared to be studying Rue with an curious gaze. Rue was sitting perfectly still, so as not to provoke the dragon into attacking her.
"Help me." She whispered over to Akiran.
The dragon, by now Akiran guessed it was a changewing, looked at the flute then to Rue then back to the flute.
"I think it just wants to hear you play." He said, calmly scooting close to Rue, a hand reaching for his sword, but not drawing it just yet. Shakily Rue began to play again. The changewing watched her intently, edging a bit closer to her to get a better look.
Since it didn't look like it was about to attack Akiran simply watched the dragon. It was bobbing its head slightly with the tune, and seemed to be growing drowsy. Guessing form its smallish size it was either a runt or young. Inspecting its claws Akiran noticed a small piece of metal protruding from its front leg. He discreetly pointed at it and Rue nodded, showing that she saw it too.
The changewing edged closer to Rue and placed its head down, it's eyes narrowing but not closing fully. Rue kept playing with one hand and gently stroked its head. The changewing shifted slightly and pushed its head up into her hand. Rue smiled and kept stroking its head. She slowly moved her hand to its leg and gripped the metal. In a quick jerked it was out and the changewing was roaring in her face. Akiran drew his sword but stopped as the dragon licked Rue, instead of biting her like what he thought it was going to do. Rue giggled as it began to churr and nudge her with its head affectionately.
"You're a good boy, aren't you?." She giggled as she scratched under its chin.
"How can you tell it's a boy?" Akiran asked, sheathing his sword.
"Because if he was a girl then he would have bitten my face off, or at least not have forgiven me so quickly." Was her reply.
The changewing's head shot up suddenly and looked behind it, then it quickly hid behind Rue and camouflaged into the grass. The others where arriving now, probably heard the dragon roar and came to check it out.
"Rue, don't move, there's a changewing right behind you." Tuffnut unnesasarily said as they landed.
"We know that Tuff." Hiccup rolled his eyes at him. He slowly got off of Toothless and held his hand out to the dragon.
"It's ok Hiccup, Rue trained it already." Akiran said as he realized what Hiccup was trying to do.
"What?" The others exclaimed in unison.
"We were just out here, I was playing my dragon whistle and I guess he just got curious and came over to see what I was doing." Rue said as she gently touched its head. It de-camouflaged at her touch and lifted its head up to look at the others curiously.
"So he's the one who wrecked the village? The only question now is why did he?" Fishlegs remarked. The changewing lowered its head almost sheepishly.
"I think he just got this stake in his foot and was trying to get it out. When the others Vikings heard him and went to investigate he acted defensively." Akiran said lifting up the sharp stake that still had blood on it.
"Makes sense," Astrid commented, walking up next to Rue, "so I guess you got your own dragon now huh?"
"Yeah I guess I do." Rue smiled at her new friend.
"What are you gonna name him?" Asked Ruffnut.
"How about Shift?" She said, the dragon churred happily at his new name.
