Hiccup was falling. That's always a good way to start the day off, isn't it? I'm not messing around, he was falling and we weren't going to do anything about it. We were only watching.
How many of you freaked out when I said that? The only reason that we weren't doing anything is because Toothless had rushed to catch him and succeeded. You see, it's a trust exercize that Hiccup and I are trying out with the others and their dragons.
Hiccup just flew up next to everyone again after getting situated on Toothless after he had caught him. "Okay, who's next? Al, you wanna have a go at it?"
I didn't say anything in response. I only stood up on Shadow's back and leapt off the side. I shut my eyes and waited to hit leathery hide that I knew would be there within seconds, of course, there it was. I grabbed onto him and we bolted back up next to the others.
"All right." I grinned. "Fishlegs, your turn."
"I'm not gonna jump." He said.
"It's a trust exersize, you have to believe that she's going to catch you." Hiccup said.
"I'd rather do my trusting on the ground, thank you." Fishlegs said and stubbornly turned his head away from Hiccup and I.
"Like this, Chickenlegs." Snotlout teased then slid off of Hookfang with a 'Whoo-hoo!'
But Hookfang kept flying casually, he must have either not have noticed or just didn't care. All of us exchanged glances and looked back at the Nightmare.
"Should we mention something to Hookfang?" Tuffnut asked.
"Let me sleep on it." Ruffnut responded and lolled her head slightly.
"Considering the part of the island that we're near, I'd say so." I said cautiously, knowing exactly where we were.
"Hookfang, get him." Astrid said and got his attention, he looked at her then Toothless gave a soft growl and that made the Nightmare finally look down with wide eyes. He saw Snotlout and flew after him but even though he went after his rider, Snotlout said "Not feeling the trust!"
I was on the edge of Shadow's saddle and watched Snotlout get on Hookfang's back then crash into Mildew's house, making a huge hole in the roof. I face-palmed and looked over at Hiccup, "Am I the only one that knows that we're going to hear about this later?"
"Something tells me no. Oh man, let's get going." He sighed, knowing that as soon as we got back that Stoic would get after us both.
"Shingle again? Didn't we have roofing material for dinner last night?" Hiccup joked with a soft laugh at the end. Stoic's face was unamused and Hiccup's nervous grin died down as he stared both of us down. I took a deep breath, already knowing that he was going to start up.
"It was an accident, sir." I said.
"She's right. Mildew is probably making it sound worse than it is."
"A dragon and a huge, obnoxious boy crashed through his roof, twice." He explained. Hiccup and I exchanged a glance, I rested my head against my hand as Hiccup said "Sure it sounds bad if you're gonna stick to the facts."
"Out of all the houses on the island, a dragon had to crash through Mildew's?" Stoic asked.
"Yeah, you might want to talk to him about his attitude." Hiccup suggested.
"Either that or a good can of whoop-hide." I crossed one leg over the other and did a small hair flip.
"I gave you two the responsibility of training the dragons, everyone knows that. All eyes are upon the both of you. Whatever those beasts do reflects on you and whatever you two do reflects on me." He said.
"Okay, I apologize." I said.
"Sorry, dad." Hiccup said.
"You two are going to go back to Mildew's and fix that roof, without the dragons." He explained.
Hiccup and I exchanged a grin, "The dragons sure caught a break, didn't they?" I said, making the two of us snicker quietly.
"Eh, not so fast!" Stoic caught our attention once again. "Aren't you forgettin' something?" He grunted then his boots came up and were handed to Hiccup. "It's boot night!" Hiccup took them with a groan of disgust and held them away, sadly put them next to the dragons' sensitive nostrils. They weren't pleased with the smell in the least.
"Al, you should consider yourself lucky." Hiccup said.
"Why's that?"
"Because... you get to help me this time." He said and tossed a boot at me. It landed in my hands right below my face, the stench going straight up into my nostrils and I pulled it away quickly, "Why?" I asked and Hiccup kicked the chair lightly, "Doesn't matter why, get up."
I got up and held the nasty boot a considerable distance away from me. "I hate you." I said. "You only wish that you could hate all of this." He gestured to himself.
"But you just gestured to all of you." I said, already knowing what he was getting at but it was just a game that we played. We put the nasty boots outside and hurriedly went back inside, "I think that that's enough... excitement for one day." Hiccup said, not quite finding the right word.
I nodded in agreement, "You're telling me. Today was rough." Then turned my attention to Shadow that had his nose wrinkled up from the boot's scent. "Well, Shadow, good night." I said and pet across his head. "Oh, and sweet dreams, Hic."
"Sweet dreams, Al." He yawned.
"Where are my boots?" Hiccup and I heard Stoic ask as we were eating an early breakfast.
"What's that about?" Hiccup asked. "Well, breakfast is done. Let's go and find out." I said then put away our dishes.
"Where are your boots?" Stoic asked, I guess there were people outside that he was talking to.
"They've all been stolen. Every last one!" Gobber said.
"That explains why me feet are so cold." I heard Bucket from outside.
"Who could have done such a thing?" Mulch asked.
Oh, and make way for the one and only Mildew. Ugh, what now?
"All I know is that they left a mighty big footprint." He used his staff to point at Zippleback prints in the snow but there was something kind of... off about them. They didn't seem right.
"Oh, those are Zippleback tracks." Fishlegs pointed out. "You can tell by the half-moon shaped archs but that's dragon 101, I don't need to fill you guys in on that."
"So a dragon walked through here; a Zippleback, according to my friend Fishlegs, but that doesn't mean that he took everyone's boots." Hiccup attempted to reason but nooo.
"There's only one way to find out; follow the tracks." Mildew smirked. The scaly spines on Shadow's back rose up and his ears laid low. "Shadow, calm down. It'll be fine." I said. He shook himself and huffed in Mildew's direction.
"Fine, let's go wherever the Zippleback tracks take us." I said.
The footprints stopped inside of the academy where a Zippleback laid snoring and resting quite peacefully next to a large pile of torn boots.
"So it's a bunch of boots piled around a Zippleback. That doesn't mean-" Hiccup spoke but was cut off when Stoic held a torn boot only a foot from his face. "Okay, fine, he took the boots."
"How are we supposed to do any work in this weather without our boots?!" One Viking demanded. "This is outragous!" Another shouted.
"How long before something's done about this, Stoic?" Mildew asked with his usual, crotchety, know-it-all tone. "How much more can we stand?!" His voice rose and I curled my lips back in disgust with the old man as many of the other Vikings cheered in encouragement for some sort of punishment.
Gobber glared at the other Vikings then cut in, mocking them. "Listen to yourselves; 'My feet are cold!' We're Vikings! Everything is cold!" He put his back towards them a little, "I'll fix your boots for ya, you'll be back to work in no time."
"You all heard Gobber," Stoic said. "You'll be getting your boots back as good as new."
"That's it? No consequence for these dragons?" Mildew asked.
"Mildew, it's only boots." I said sharply, "Get over yourself."
Stoic gave a firm stare to me then looked back at Mildew. "She's right. The world isn't coming to an end."
But of course, Mildew has to get yet another word in. "Oh, don't be so sure. Dragons are wild beasts and there's no telling what else they'll do behind our sleeping backs."
"They don't destroy things on purpose." I said and Mildew dragged out a sigh, hearing that already many times before.
"No, but he does have a point." Hiccup said, stumping Mildew for a brief moment and making him stutter out a 'what?'
Hiccup continued, "Dragons are wild animals, and they need us to keep an eye on them." I knelt and patted one of the Zippleback's heads, "Come on, get going." I said softly and making them head out of the academy.
"Rest assured, we will do just that." Hiccup stated proudly.
"We're going on night patrol." Hiccup said, Tuffnut showed immediate excitement. "Night patrol!? I love it! Question; what is it?"
Hiccup made a gesture for me to take this one and I sighed softly, "Well, we patrol... at night. To keep an eye on the dragons and make sure that the poor dears aren't blamed for anything else." Shadow warbled softly and I grinned at him, "That's pretty much it." I finished with a shrug.
"Have either of you cleared this with our parents? Because some of us may not be allowed out after a certain hour." Fishlegs twiddled with his fingers and Snotlout took the opprotunity to pick on Fishlegs once again. "Now allowed or afraid?"
I rolled my eyes, "Seriously, Snotlout, one day there's going to be a day when someone smacks some sense into you. Besides, you really need it." I commented, earning a glare to which a reponded to with a cheeky grin.
"Well, things happen after dark." Fishlegs whispered dramatically.
"Yes, like Night Furies are very prone to become more active at dark. Sometimes even swooping up snotfaced-punks at feeding them to their young." I said flatly towards Snotlout, earning another glare. Shadow's eyelids drooped when he saw the glare being given to me and fired a small plasma blast at Snotlout's chest, knocking him off of the small tower.
"Thank you, Shadow." I grinned and pet his head, making him purr quietly.
"Guys, seriously, you heard Mildew. He wants the dragons banished." Hiccup cut in.
"Permission to shoot first and ask questions later." Ruffnut requested.
"Permission to skip the question." Tuffnut requested, attempting to top off Ruffnut once again.
"We're just patrolling. No one is shooting anyone." Hiccup said.
"I have a question; what's fun about that?" Tuffnut asked, irritated that it wouldn't be 'fun'. I banged my head against the side of one of the posts and said "It's not supposed to be fun."
"Yeah, it's a Hiccup idea." Astrid followed suite. "Exactly." Hiccup said then realized what he just agreed to, "Wait, what?"
"Shadow, you know what? You, Hiccup, Toothless and I have got this in the bag. The night is practically our realm." I said confidently, Shadow strutting by my side. He sure was happy to be active in the night once again.
"I would say that we should go and scare the willies out of Snotlout but in the dark, he might soil himself. Besides, you and I are probably going to have to work overtime because knowing the twins, they'll be out screwing around."
Shadow lowered himself with a growl and then we saw Hookfang pass by in front of the great hall. I face-palmed, "Snotlout can't even watch his own dragon, let alone himself." I muttered and Shadow gave a soft laugh since he knows it's true.
"Hookfang." I said quietly, making the Nightmare look over at me. "Come here, Hookfang." He walked towards me and gave me soft eyes similar to a puppy's. "What'cha doing out and about? Knowing Snotlout, he probably wasn't keeping a good eye on you."
"I heard that!" He called as he passed between two houses. "What are you doing with my dragon?"
"Why weren't you watching him? Who knows what could have happened?" I asked.
"Listen up because I'm going to tell you once, Hookfang and me, we're warriors. We can take care of ourselves without your prissy insight." Snotlout mocked.
"Oh, so we're really going to start calling each other names now? Normally, I would be above such a childish act but I'll make an exception this time." I said, "You, Snotlout; are one obnoxious, rude, difficult, absolutely infuriating-" Shadow began to push me away from him with a soft growl, I knew what he was trying to tell me. I almost always tell it to him and this time it was his turn to tell it to me so I nodded in understanding. "You're right, bud. It isn't worth it."
"I should tell Hookfang that I'm sorry about that but now isn't the time. We still have this night duty to perform." Shadow warbled and looked to the sky, his eyes grew soft when Toothless and Hiccup began to fly next to us.
"You guys see anything?" Hiccup asked and I shook my head, "Not much. Nothing at all, really."
"Well, Mildew will be glad to know what dragons do at night; they sleep like everyone else." Hiccup said. "Technically, Night Furies are pretty much supposed to be out and about at night." I said and Hiccup landed Toothless, "I know, Al. I know."
"Well, this is just great." I said with sarcasm as I looked at the claw marks on pilliars through the great hall. "Who could've done such a thing?" Stoic asked.
"Well, it looks like a dragon to me." Fishlegs said. I shook my head with a disappointed scowl at him, he didn't notice, though.
"We don't know that for sure, Fishlegs." Hiccup said, emphasizing so that way Fishlegs might catch on but as usual, nope. Fishlegs had to keep explaining.
"Sure we do." He said. "These clawmarks were obviously a Monstrous Nightmare. The spacing of the talons is dead-on." He ran a finger over them.
I face-palmed and said in unison with Hiccup, "Once again, thank you, Fishlegs."
It's normal for Hiccup and I to say things in unison, most often the things that we say aloud are sarcasm which is pretty easy to catch on to. Hiccup and I were startled the first few times that we both shared the same thought but over all of the years, we've gotten used to it.
"Oh, stop. This is basic stuff." Fishlegs said, flattered.
"How could this happen? We had every dragon accounted for at all times." Astrid said then my gaze shifted over to Snotlout with a harsh scowl. "Right, guys?" Snotlout spoke up, "When you say 'At all times' and 'every dragon' what exactly do you mean?"
Hiccup face-palmed. "Okay, what happened, Snotlout?" He grinned nervously, not really wanting to know the answer.
"Well, I was detaining a suspect who wasn't showing sufficient respect to the sash." He pointed a thumb proudly to his 'DUMB' sash. (Dragon United Monitoring Brigade.)
Gobber came up to him, "I think I showed sufficient respect to a sash that says 'DUMB'."
"We've gotta change that name." Astrid said quietly.
"Anyways, as I was questioning said suspect, Hookfang may have and I'm not saying he did, but it is possible he may have wandered off for a few..."
"Seconds?" Ruffnut asked and was pushed to the side by Tuffnut. "Minutes?" He asked.
Snotlout kept silent for a moment then finally said, "Hours." That made everyone groan. "That's way longer than minutes." Tuffnut groaned.
"Hold on a minute, before I found your dragon, he was gone for hours?" I asked then wanted to slap myself for saying that I found him.
"Wait, Al, you found him?" Astrid asked. "Where?" I kicked at the floor, not making eye contact with anyone. "Near the great hall." I said quietly, making the teens groan again.
Oh, and of course, guess who? It's Mildew, right on time!
"Oh, it's true!" He said, "The great hall. So many memories, my three weddings, their three funerals. Oh, the funerals." He sighed the last part happily.
"The dragon must have gone on a rampage." Gobber said. "Hate to say it, Stoic, but you're gonna have to-"
"I know what has to be done." Stoic cut him off. Mildew jumped in, "So do I." Stoic turned to Hiccup and I, "Starting tonight, every night; I want all the dragons put in the academy under lock and key." He said.
"That's it?" Mildew asked again, "Look what they did!"
"Stoic, sir, this doesn't make any sense. None of the food was touched, and dragons don't just destroy things for good reason." I said.
"I don't know why dragons do what they do but I'm not gonna let them do any more damage." Stoic said and began to walk away with Gobber and Mildew. I rolled my eyes and grumbled softly, "This is such rubbish."