Suggestion by: Professor Evans
Meatlug flinched guiltily in her stable as half the large, wooden, draught-proof doors were blown clean off their hinges.
It wasn't so much from the sudden blast of heat and light, or the Thor-worthy KA-BOOM.
Rather, it was because of the fact that in less than two seconds flat, a good portion of the Ingerman house had quite literally disappeared into thin air.
The smoke cleared, ashes falling around the ruined house lazily like a dark parody of the beautiful Berkian snowfall.
Four figures were left standing in the ashes, blackened like bizarre, walking Night Furies. Two of them gestured wildly at the others, and so Meatlug took the opportunity to buzz off quietly.
When Meatlug slipped through the doorway of the Communal Stable, she expected many things, but THIS wasn't one of them.
"Oh. My. Freya. That was absolutely AWESOME!" Barf and Belched gushed in union.
"Thor, 'Lug, looks like my girl's all grown up!" Stormfly beamed proudly, reminding her oddly of her mother.
"You needa do that again sometime! Who knew babies could be so cool?" Hookfang enthused, drawing a rivulet of chortles from Toothless.
"Yeah, man! I bet her dare's gonna be absolutely wicked!" Toothless composed himself.
"C'mon, Meatlug, dish the dirt!" Belch cackled, a little too evilly.
Meatlug stopped.
A red-hot prickle crept up her neck. Of all things, she'd forgotten to come up with a decent dare!
Thor-damnit! Just when she thought the Baby-Gronckle Incident had passed long enough for her to rebuild her reputation, she'd forgotten to come up with a dare, of all things!
She hovered there for a second, mentally cursing herself.
"I—uh—I dare..." Green Gronckle eyes searched the room for the first name that came to mind. "...I dare Hookfang...to...to..." Meatlug grasped for words like how she'd imagine a drowning Human to grasp at proffered hands, "...to walk around for the whole day—ON FIRE!"
"Oh, come on, do you know how tiring that's going to be?! I have a shot limit too, even if its infinitely higher than yours!" Hookfang whined.
Toothless pretended to look shocked. "Well then. Looks like the almighty, forest-levelling, sea-taming, bone-melting MONSTROUS NIGHTMARE'S out of the—"
"SHUT UP! Fine, okay?" Hookfang snapped. "Can I at least start tomorrow morning? I mean, I'm gonna, like, be on FIRE, and it's a pretty big whoop, so more people will be awake to see that in the morning. Besides, I might kill a sleeping Human."
"Accepted," Meatlug confirmed. "Hey, is anyone spending the night here? I don't...think it's safe for me to go back yet. Plus it's late. "
"Yeah, I'll stay with you!"
"Me too. Hiccup's probably asleep already, and I may wake him up."
"I am!"
"We are, if everyone else is!"
And so, after a brief buzz of Dragon Gossip, our little unplanned sleepover party dissolved into deep, dragon slumber.
Dawn came quickly, gold and red splattered against the vast Berk sky. Daylight came quickly as the golden chariot of Sol herself charged over the sea. The sight was majestic, as every shade of red, yellow and violet was splayed out over the sky. Yet in this display of strength, there was a small, subtle beauty. One would think that in a rough-and-tumble place like Berk, such peaceful charm was impossible, but, well, there it was.
The village was slowly roused to life by years of routine. The small yawns of Viking children, the squeaking of wheelbarrow wheels, the ear-shattering SKREEEEEEE of axes being sharpened, the incessant THUNK of maces in combat training, the chittering and chirping of tiny Terrible Terrors, the pleasant crackling of cod and flatbread cooking over the hot coals, the idyllic—
"LOOK AT ME! I'M ON FI-YAAAAAAAHH!"
A great, hulking mass of red and black Dragon stood atop the roof of a house and crowed with strength nearly comparable to that of the almighty Odin himself.
Every pair of eyes, both human and dragon (and even some sheep), turned to stare at the sizeable Monstrous Nightmare currently perched on Mildew's roof.
Great tongues of orange and red flailed around Hookfang, from top to toe. It would have been cool, really—except for the fact that said tongues of orange and red were now licking their way ALL OVER MILDEW'S BRAND-NEW ROOF.
"Serves him right," he snickered to himself, ignoring the old man's hysterical, unintelligible raving.
Hookfang shot up from his perch like a stone from a catapult. Time for the REAL show to begin.
He soared into the brilliant blue sky, etching a series of smoking loops, corkscrews and nerve-shredding dives across the cyan canvas, roaring an impressive show-off-to-you-all Dragon Roar.
Well, if you have to do a dare, might as well have some fun, right?
Hookfang rocketed across the sky, adrenalin raging through his veins.
Oh, Thor almighty, this was awesome! His Rider must be so proud of him! He was the BEST! His Rider probably thought he was stellar, magnificent, brilliant, awesome! He could just HEAR him saying to all the puny Humans, "Look at my dragon! He's absolutely—"
"Crazy. Yup, Hookfang's lost it," Snotlout commented to Tuffnut.
The six teens watched Snotlout's nutcase of a dragon drunkenly loop-dee-looped across the sky.
"Dude, that's worse than when we fed Thornado all the mead!" Tuffnut chortled. Snotlout fist-bumped him.
"What?!" Hiccup whipped around.
"Uh...nothing."
Hookfang landed with a backflip, in the middle of the very shocked crowd. Oh yes, they were screaming alright! His adoring fans...
Wait, why were they screaming?
The crowd shattered into chunks of frantic Vikings, all screaming their heads off and running from Hookfang.
Hookfang then remembered that he was on fire. Hey, sometimes that fireproof hide of his made him a little less self-aware. As far as Hookfang knew, he never saw it as a problem.
Well, despite the fact that they were probably not screaming in ADORATION, well, screams of terror would do in a pinch too.
Well, he wasn't called the Monstrous NIGHTMARE for nothing! Might as well enjoy his day of awesome Dragon Fame.
The whole village was in chaos.
No one could take five steps before finding themselves face-to-face with a crazy, grinning, flaming Monstrous Nightmare. Carts were overturned, bulky Viking men ran screaming like little girls, houses were destroyed, watchtowers toppled like felled trees, livestock were chased everywhere and the Great Hall was set alight.
It was as if every single dragon raid prevented by killing the Red Death had come back to bite them in the butt all at once.
It was so bad that Stoick came close to declaring an islandwide State of Emergency. Heck, the only one that seemed to be having fun was Hookfang himself.
"How the Hel do we turn it off?!" Snotlout whispered urgently.
"Guys, I'm getting really scared..." Fishlegs said tremulously.
"Hiccup, I really hope you can cure Hookfang of his Crazy..." Tuff demanded in a low whisper.
"Why the Hel do you guys always expect me to know?!" Hiccup snapped. The four boys were crammed awkwardly in a tiny toolshed for "safety", and the heat, humidity, cramped-ness and sheer thought of being stuck with his cousin was REALLY starting to eat at Hiccup's mood.
"I thought—"
"SHH!" Snotlout shushed Tuff, who opened his mouth to shush him right back.
For suddenly, deep, heavy tremors rocked the small ramshackle toolshed.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Tuffnut closed his mouth.
"He's coming! Guys! I think I'm freaking out!" Fishlegs panicked.
"Ugh, I'm outta here. What are we even doing? Hiding like a bunch of sissy Celts or something?" Snotlout began to take a tone of disgust. "I'm gonna face that thing, like a REAL VIKING!"
"O-oh boy," Hiccup moaned as Snotlout heroically threw opened the toolshed door.
"HEY! HOOKFANG! BUDDY! OVER HERE!"
Rocks pelted the red Nightmare's back. He turned around to see his Rider looking fairly hysterical.
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, BUT YOU'VE GOTTA TURN THE FIRE OFF!"
More rocks.
"YOU HEAR ME? TURN IT OFF, BUDDY!" Snotlout yelled.
He turned to Hiccup, Fishlegs and Tuffnut. "I THINK IT'S WORKING, GUYS!"
"Uh, I don't think he speaks Rock!" Hiccup called back.
Truth be told, Hookfang did. In a way. He knew exactly what his Rider was trying to get him to do, even if his understanding of Humanese was a little rusty. But everyone knew that the Vikings of Berk had stubbornness issues— and apparently so did their dragons.
And so Hookfang just stared at his Rider stupidly.
"Try water, dude!" Tuffnut yelled brightly.
"Yeah! Good one, Tuff!" Snotlout replied as he ran off, reappearing seconds later with a bucket.
Snotlout swung the bucket back, and with a mighty war-cry worthy of Berk's most fearsome Vikings, doused his demented red dragon.
It worked.
It worked.
The flames died down, and Hookfang turned back into his usual dull red.
"Yeah, man! You're the VIKING!" Fishlegs whooped after a long, stunned silence.
"Who's awesome? ME! Did you guys see that? I was all, FOR THE GLORYYYYYYEEEEAAAGGGHHHH and totally DUNKED him, man!" Snotlout did a little victory dance. The three boys squeezed themselves out of the toolshed...
Only to scramble right back in.
"Wha—what's happening? Guys?"
Snotlout turned around very, very slowly, finally figuring out that something was up.
"Oh. "
For Hookfang had flamed himself right back up, and looked nastier than ever.
"So...who's the Viking again?" Hiccup commented drily.
"Shut up," Snotlout said into the cramped darkness of the toolshed.
Yep, that's it for chapter 8! Do keep the suggestions rolling!
