I don't have much to say, other than...
ENJOY!
Chapter 11
Toothless was lying in front of Hiccup's house, with the same depressed look that he had when he first learned that he couldn't go with Hiccup. His facial expression never changed since then. Also adding to the mood, was the fact that he couldn't fly. The other kids tried to ride him, but everyone ended with a face plant into the ground, failing to even help him fly a good 100 yards. Toothless sighed and closed his eyes, trying to sleep the time away.
"Come on guys, we have to do something!" Fishlegs said earnestly, looking from the dragon arena down to where Toothless was laying.
"Uh, like what? We all know how well your last idea went" Ruffnut replied with an annoyed tone to her voice
"Yeah, my face still hurts from the crash I took, that was like…" Tuffnut counted his fingers "12 days ago."
"It actually makes me feel better!" Ruffnut chimed in with a smirk
Tuffnut grabbed her helmet and pushed down, having it cover her eyes, and then shoved her away, to which she tried to swing a punch at him.
"Ok, ok, that probably wasn't the best idea, but we have to try to take Toothless' mind off of Hiccup! I mean, we have no idea when they're coming back!" Fishlegs desperately pled
"Hmm" Snotlout greatly exaggerated to show everyone the he had an idea "What if we give him a Hiccup to take his mind off of Hiccup!"
"Uh…what?" Tuffnut said looking completely lost.
"What if we give Toothless a Hiccup doll? It'll probably be bigger than the real one anyways!" Snotlout said excitedly "It's perfect!"
The others thought about this and decided that it was the best idea that anyone could come up with, let alone the only idea.
Splitting up to get the resources needed to make a Hiccup doll, they left on their dragons agreeing to meet back in one hour.
Toothless looked up as he noticed the riders and their dragons fly away from the ring. With a loud groan, Toothless let his head drop onto the ground, not even caring what it landed on.
A short hour went by and the four met back at the arena.
"Everyone have what they were supposed to get?" Fishlegs said excitedly as he set a bunch of twigs on the ground.
"Yeah, I got the twine and the yak hair!" Snotlout said proudly, showing off in a manly way.
"And I got the cloth!" Tuffnut said dropping a role of greenish cloth on the ground.
"No, I got it!" Ruffnut said correcting her brother.
"No way, I was the one who found it!" he quickly replied, squaring himself to his sister.
"That's not true!" Ruffnut shouted, also turning to face her brother.
They began swinging and hitting each other
Ignoring them, because the fights usually last for a few seconds and then stop just as suddenly as it started, Fishlegs and Snotlout began bundling twigs together to make the torso of the doll. They did the same thing for the legs and arms.
Another hour went by and after many attempts and many arguments, the doll was finally complete.
"It looks just like him! Except maybe a little more buffer." Snotlout said observing the doll. It was just a little smaller than Snotlout
"Hmm yes, yes" Fishlegs agreed stroking his chin and slightly squinting his eyes at the doll "I think that it'll pass!"
"Come on" Ruffnut said picking up the doll "let's bring it to Toothless!"
Toothless was finally asleep until he heard Fishlegs call his name.
Annoyed that he was woken up, Toothless looked right at Fishlegs who was obviously holding something behind his back.
"Hey Toothless! We got you a present!" Fishlegs sang, trying to kill the excitement in his voice. Then knowing he had Toothless' attention he yelled "We brought you a…HICCUP DOLL!" swinging the doll around. Then trying to mimic Hiccup's voice said "Hey bud! How are you doing?"
Toothless' facial expression went from confused to annoyed, and then set his head back down and brought his tail around to cover his face.
"Huh, maybe he doesn't think it's Hiccup, or that it doesn't even look like him." Fishlegs said looking at the doll.
"I know what to do!" Snotlout loudly said "you just got to force it sometimes." Grabbing the doll from Fishlegs and walking right in front of Toothless, he yelled, in an almost angry tone "Toothless! It' Hiccup! Come on welcome him!"
Toothless raised his head and stared at Snotlout with the same expression he had before. Then with little effort, blew fire at the doll, which immediately took to flame.
Screaming in a panic Snotlout took off running, trying to find something cold for his hands which held onto the doll a moment too long.
"Hmm, I still think he doesn't like it" Fishlegs confirmed watching Snotlout run to the shore to douse his burnt hands. "Maybe we should just let him be and wait for Hiccup to come…"
"That was my idea in the first place" Tuffnut whined.
Dejected, they all mounted their dragons and took off, going back to the arena.
Snotlout just finished soothing his burnt hands in the cool ocean water; when Hookfang, his dragon, came walking behind him. Noticing that the others were going back to the arena and making sure the water did its job with his hands, he also climbed on his Monstrous Nightmare. Taking off, he went to follow the others, when something caught his eye. It was a ship! And what was even better, was that it was Stoick's ship! Too add to the excitement, it was close and getting more so every second!
"Come on Hookfang, let's get the others!" Snotlout laughed excitedly "This will be a real surprise for Toothless!"
Ukiah was sitting with Hiccup and Astrid, talking about different ways on how to fly and move while riding a dragon. There were many more flights that took place after the meeting with Ugo, all of which Ukiah showed greater improvement of riding every time. He and Hiccup already had a saddle designed for Kobaalt.
In return, Ukiah taught Astrid and Hiccup how to fight with a dagger. Astrid quickly picked up on the new content with her dagger that she bought in Thariin. Hiccup practiced with them because he had nothing else to do and he might as well do it with Astrid. His skill showed that he could use more practice, lots more of it actually.
"There's Berk Ukiah! Your new home!" Hiccup said holding out his hand towards Berk in a way that made it look like he was presenting it to him "What do you think!"
To be honest, Ukiah was a little disappointed. It was small, not that it mattered, but he thought that Berk was going to be a lot bigger for the stories he had heard from it. "I guess finding out who Hiccup was, was surprise of itself." The rock pillars shooting out of the water were a sight though, made the ones in Thariin seem like babies. "Looks amazing" Ukiah said half lying and half telling the truth.
"You sure you don't want to just fly over?" asked Astrid, hinting at the idea.
"Yes I'm very sure. I really don't want to introduce a different Night Fury to your tribe without Stoick, or you Hiccup." Ukiah said gesturing to Hiccup.
"Make sense" Hiccup said nodding in agreement "I can't wait for Toothless and Kobaalt to meet!"
"I just hope that they'll get along" muttered Ukiah to himself.
Looking at the shore, the group saw a Monstrous Nightmare take off and fly fairly quickly to the arena, set in a cliff.
"Looks like Snotlout" Astrid said with her eyes following the Monstrous Nightmare flying to the arena "I bet he saw us and went to get the others!"
"Do you still use your arena?" Ukiah asked, seeing the Nightmare fly into it.
"Well kind of, it's more of a place that we headquarter ourselves at. We train ourselves and our dragons to be better united." Hiccup said facing Ukiah "we stopped using it for killing dragons if that's what you meant."
Ukiah suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of excitement and nervousness. For the first time in his life, he was going to live in a community that he would be a part of. He already has friends that would look out for him, and Kobaalt is more like family. Then grimly thinking to himself "All the reason to win the coming war…"
Hiccup was equally, if not more excited than Ukiah. He couldn't wait to ride Toothless! It's been way to long for both of them to be apart from each other. "This is going to be the last trip I have not taking Toothless with me." He thought to himself.
The ship was getting ready to dock, which was already full of people ready to welcome back their chief.
"Oi! Stoick!" a voice called out "'bout time you showed up!" A big man then stood out of the crowd grabbing a tossed rope from the ship to tie it down.
"Aye, it's good to see you to Gobber," Stoick said with a hearty laugh which died down quickly "but I'm afraid I don't come with the news expected. I need to meet with the council, now." His last statement was just that, a statement that was expected to get done.
"Oh…oh…I see," Gobber replied with a look of seriousness on his face "Well, in that case I'll just go and grab the men; I'll meet you up there" He looked at Hiccup with a concerned look on his face as to ask 'what's going on?' To which Hiccup just shook his head indicating that it was bad news.
Ukiah didn't picture Gobber the way that he actually looked like, but he instantly liked him when he saw him. "Interesting looking guy" he said looking at Hiccup, smiling "you lose your leg the same way he lost his hand and foot?"
"Kind of, a dragon was involved in both cases, just his involved more teeth than mine did." Hiccup replied with a smile of his own.
Stoick's voice grabbed Ukiah's attention
"Ukiah, I want you to come to the council with me, considering you're the reason why I need to have it in the first place" Stoick said turning to Ukiah. "I need to not only tell them why, but I need to show them why we will be going to war."
"Of course I'll come, I mean you saved me, let me on your ship, denied the claims of Strogg, and you're going to let me live on your island. I don't really have a choice here!" laughed Ukiah. "As long as Kobaalt can come with me, I'll do what you ask."
"Yes he can come as well; he'll only help prove my case." Stoick replied, nodding his head "Hiccup, I don't need you right now, and I think that if I took you to the council, that you'd be no help; because all you would be thinking about is Toothless."
"Thanks dad! Honestly you're probably right." Hiccup gleefully said, almost floating off the ship onto the dock.
Following Stoick, Ukiah jumped off the ship with Kobaalt right behind him. Ukiah was getting a lot of quizzical stares from the local Berk Vikings as they began walking off the dock. Actually, it was Kobaalt who was getting most of the attention, with every Viking at the dock taking a step back as they passed by them.
Hiccup on the other hand, sprinted ahead of Ukiah and Stoick. He had to go find Toothless; it's been way too long. Ignoring the greetings from other Vikings, he was so wrapped up in the thought of Toothless that he didn't notice Astrid was running right behind him.
"In a hurry?" Astrid called behind him, laughing.
Surprised, Hiccup turned his head to face her but kept on running towards his house. "Yeah! I see that you are too!"
"Not anymore!" Astrid yelled as she looked up and saw Stormfly swoop down and stop in front of her. "Stormfly! I missed you so much!" Astrid laughed, almost tackling and then hugging Stormfly's head.
Smiling at the scene, but not stopping, Hiccup looked ahead where he was running to; just in time to see Toothless run and jump on top of him. Pinned to the ground, Hiccup laughed as Toothless licked his face and rubbed his head. "Oh Toothless, I'm so glad to see you bud!" he yelled out loud.
For a moment, nothing seemed to matter, nothing was wrong; they were together again, and it made anything that was going wrong, suddenly disappear.
"Come on bud! Get off of me and we'll go fly!" Hiccup laughed
Instantly Toothless jumped off of him and almost seemed giddy at the idea of flying.
Hiccup setting himself on Toothless, locked his leg in place, testing the artificial tail. Seeing that everything was smooth, Hiccup gave Toothless a sign that he was ready to go. Launching into the air Hiccup laughed! They climbed higher and higher at a height that Hiccup had missed visiting. Closing his eyes to absorb as much of the feeling that he could, Hiccup raised his hands above him and shouted with happiness, which was followed by Toothless roaring in agreement.
Then hearing a squawk like roar behind him, turning his head around, he saw Astrid following closely behind him.
"Can't let you have all the fun to yourself!" Astrid called out, urging Stormfly to move faster
"Hah! Good luck keeping up, Toothless has 2 months' worth of energy ready to burn!" He yelled back, accepting the challenge by laying low on Toothless and beginning a dive. Astrid and Stormfly were right behind them with a dive of their own. After diving for a good 10 seconds, they pulled up just in time to avoid crashing into the water. Hiccup and Toothless were travelling so fast at that point, that they were leaving a wake in the water that was just feet below them.
Astrid was taken back at the speed they were travelling at. Normally she and Stormfly were able to keep up, but this time she was having a hard time keeping the same distance. "I guess he does have some stored energy…" She huffed to herself. Having Stormfly keep the same speed that they were cruising at, all she could do was smile and watch Hiccup and Toothless climb back into the air spinning, celebrating that the long trip was over.
Ukiah was staring up at the sky with Kobaalt. He was amazed at how maneuverable and graceful Hiccup and Toothless were. Turning to Kobaalt, Ukiah said "Looks like we have a few more days of practice ahead of us!" Kobaalt turned and, understanding what Ukiah was saying, nodded in agreement.
Then seeing shadows fly over them, they both looked up to see three other dragons flying after Hiccup and Astrid. "Must be their crew…" Ukiah said staring off after them. He was wishing that he could have gone with Hiccup and Astrid to fly with them, but there were definitely more important matters at hand.
Following Stoick to the Great Hall, Ukiah was impressed with the size of the doors. Stoick opened one of the doors, letting in some of the men that followed them from the docks. "Looks like Gobber is still getting a few more" Stoick observed looking down the stairs and seeing Gobber talking to a group of men.
"So is this council to strategize for the war?" Ukiah asked curiously.
"Not exactly, it's more to officially set the terms of what will cause us to go to war. Remember, we're not exactly fighting each other yet, and I don't want to go and attack any Thariin ship that sails nearby, other tribes might not like that." Stoick stated.
"So it's more of a diplomatic move then?" Ukiah summed.
"Eh, sure for the lack of a better term, yes it is. If Strogg doesn't attack us then I'm alright with that, but chances are that he won't let this slide by. I just want to village men to know what's probably going to happen, this will let me see those who are with me and those who aren't" Stoick said walking into in the Great Hall.
By this time Gobber had just gathered the rest of the council and was proceeding to fill his mug that was attached to his hand.
"Hmm," Ukiah thought to himself "crafty one he is."
After a few minutes of talking, greeting and speculating what the meeting was about, and why a stranger of a boy and another Night Fury were there, the meeting began to proceed.
"Vikings of Berk, I come back with grave news." Stoick's voice echoed in the vast room "Our trip to Thariin was…eventful. We were able to meet with Strogg the Stone, however, his interests were not in our favor. Those who don't know Strogg, which is most of you, don't know what his passions are." Stoick paused at this moment, thinking of how to deliver his thought "I'll be very upfront with you. He enjoys killing, and death. Not just with animals or dragons, but other Vikings as well."
A mummer ran through the crowd at this news.
"So why are we having this meeting? There must be more to it than that!" A voice called out from the crowd of Vikings.
"Let me finish first," Stoick said impatiently "Strogg in the past was responsible for an entire annihilation of a tribe about twenty years ago, the Tribe of Crev." After a small pause, Stoick continued "You may not have heard of Crev, but it was a prosperous tribe, but now gone and only a memory for a few." Stoick said, then turning to Ukiah who was standing next to him, said a few words that directed all attention to Ukiah "except for this one, it's a life style."
"Are you saying that this boy is from Crev, which you said was destroyed a good two decades or so ago?" asked a man standing near Stoick.
"Yes, this is Ukiah, the last of the Tribe of Crev" thundered Stoick.
Making sure that the comment sank into the crowd he turned back to them, almost roaring this time "Strogg wants him dead! I will not let him do that! As we speak, Strogg is coming with the entire Thariin navy to get this boy." He was pointing straight at Ukiah, who at this time was standing with pride. "I asked you all to come here, so that we can discuss the limits that we will set on Strogg and his army! I want to know who will fight with me to save the last of the Crev!"
It was silent at first, which made Ukiah worried. Then one by one, every single Viking in the room shouted acceptance of the request. It was a beautiful sight. Every Viking shouted while drawing his weapon, and raised it into the air.
After the excitement died down, a voice came from the back, in almost a challenging way, saying: "Stoick, Stoick, Stoick, even though most don't know about the island of Crev, there are a few who still do." An older man stood out of the crowd, holding a cane like stick, which seemed to add to his age. "I remember Crev more than you probably do! If this boy is from Crev, how about he demonstrates how a Crev warrior fights!" The old man smirked, which told Ukiah that he didn't believe a word that Stoick was saying.
"Ukiah, you want to take this one?" Stoick asked, hinting strongly to do something to satisfy the needs of this man.
"What's your name elder?" Ukiah asked loudly, but respectfully.
"Murky, that's all you need to know boy." He spat back, with almost poison in his tone.
"Why is he so hostile to me?" Ukiah wondered; then speaking up said: "If you're asking for a demonstration of seeing my ancestor's power, I have to apologize now. I was a newborn when Crev was destroyed, my guardian Cella tried but couldn't get any of my family's history to teach me. Consequently, I do not know my ancestor's skill, let alone know of them!" Ukiah stated sharply, raising his voice slightly. This was a tender subject to him, if he had any type of record of his family he would have already been looking for it.
"As I suspected, nothing more than an imposter! No one has seen a Crev in years; if they have they all would have been older by now." Murky said in a tired and annoyed voice. "I know for a fact that this boy is not a Crev!"
This caused a disputation among all the Vikings there, some agreeing with Murky and some with Ukiah.
"That's enough Murky!" Stoick thundered, putting an end to the arguments.
"Wait Stoick, I have something to say" Gobber said, standing up and finishing his drink. "I think that it's fair to point out that Ukiah has an argument here. He said that he was only a newborn when the event happened, thus he would have no recollection of his family let alone his ancestors; which I don't know why that's important."
"Gobber, stop wasting our time!" Murky yelled in the most threatening way that an old man could.
"Aye Murky, I believe it was you who told Stoick that he wasn't the only one who has a knowledge of the Crev. It just so happens that I may know a bit here and there about them as well.
Defeated by this comment, Murky settled down.
Making sure he still had the spotlight, Gobber continued: "Murky on the other hand has a point too, how do we know that this…boy" Gobber tried to say it in a way that wouldn't diminish Ukiah "is a Crev? Is there any way you can prove to us that you're a Crev? I think it would be nice to find out before we go to war with the most powerful tribe!"
Ukiah thought for a minute, then nodding and not saying a word, he walked over to the fire that was lit in the center of the room. He grabbed a mug of, whatever it was, from a Viking sitting at a near table. Setting it down by the fire, Ukiah grabbed a charred stick and proceeded to step on it, breaking it into small, small pieces. After getting a small pile of charcoal, he began to smash it into finer dust.
Stoick knew exactly what Ukiah was doing, and if you weren't next to him, you never would have seen the small smile that grew on his face.
Running the fine dust through his hands, he grabbed the mug and poured its contents onto the pile of charcoal. Mixing the black paste, he spread it all over his hand, making sure it was layered thickly. Standing up, he faced himself to Murky, who was at this time staring right at him, daring Ukiah to show him. No one said a word; it was almost eerie with how quiet it was. Making sure everyone was watching, Ukiah slowly raised his hand to his face, and painted a black diagonal line, high left to low right.
"Well, we now have a chance of winning a potential war with a Crev on our side!" Gobber said smugly, re-filling his mug.