Hello! I'm doing chapter 10 now! The kids receive their first strike today! Three strikes, and they're out (AKA banished.) I hope you weren't too disappointed with the last chapter; I came up with it while role-playing with my sister. Anyway, I'll make this chapter longer, and I'm going to include everyone's viewpoint today! Yay! That's Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, AND Snotlout! But not necessarily in that order.
CHAPTER 10 – STRIKE ONE: THE HUMBLE BEGINING
Toothless's POV
I shushed the dragons, wanting them to calm down so we could start the dragon meeting. We were gaining some recognition, as more dragons had come this time, than the last time. Dragons of all shapes and sizes were here. I looked around at them.
"Okay!" I called, "Settle down! Let's get this meeting over with! Who wants to start?"
"I do!" came the voice of Bones, the Bone Knapper. The giant dragon stepped forward. "My human, Gobber is worried about the little ones. He over heard the village head threatening them and he doesn't want to see them get banished."
"Yes! We must save our silly people!" I agreed, "Any ideas?"
As everyone murmured to themselves, I could hear something lumbering towards us. Suddenly, one really ugly dragon pushed his way through the crowd. His neck was skinny, but his body was fat. And his eyes were crossed. He smiled at us with an ugly smile.
"Serry em late," he said with a horrible slur, "I din know when this was goin on. New one tol' me."
"Um, who are you?" Stormfly asked.
"Ah! Where er me manners?" the ugly dragon said, "Me name's Precious Princess. Em Hazel's dragon. Nice te meets ya."
Now that I looked at him, I could tell he was a Confuzzled, a very confused, but dangerous dragon. They were big and stupid, but deadly accurate and its fire could burn through a mountain. So "Precious" was Hazel's dragon. Figures.
"Um, well Precious, we were just trying to think of ideas to keep our silly humans out of trouble," I told him, "The chief says three strikes and they're gone. Any ideas?"
I knew he probably wouldn't think of anything clever, if anything at all, but I thought I'd try to make him feel welcome. He didn't seem like a bad dragon, unlike his master.
Precious' eyes crossed even more with the effort of thinking. "Did ya try tellin' em ta knock it off?" He asked, helpfully.
I sighed. "No," I replied, "We'll keep it under consideration. Any other ideas?"
Precious smirked and raised his head, acting as though he was the cleverest dragon here. Stormfly rolled her eyes and inched away from him.
"Well, let's think," Sidewinder said, "What seems to be the biggest problem? Why do they keep getting in trouble?"
"Because they keep fighting," Horrorcow replied, "Especially the girls. That last one was horrible! Who brings out knives in a fist fight?"
"What were they fighting about in the first place?" Fireworm wondered.
"That's what we need to find out," I said, "All right. I think we should interrogate our little people. Until then, good-night everyone!"
Fishlegs's POV
I was praying to Thor that nothing would go wrong today. But life hates me, so of course something really bad happened. If I knew what that day held for us, I would've stayed in bed. Hazel was clever…
When I woke up that morning, Horrorcow was sitting on my bed, staring at me. "Good morning, boy!" she said, "How did you sleep?"
"I slept?" I asked. Yawning and stretching, I got out of bed and put my boots on. Horrorcow stared at me, smiling. "Do you mind?" I wondered.
"So, I was watching you sleep last night," she said, ignoring my comment, "And you were like a little angel! Except for your snoring, which was like KGRAWCK! SHKAAAW!"
I rolled my eyes and left my house, heading towards the mess hall with Horrorcow following me. When I got there, the other kids and their dragons were already eating. Ruffnut looked like she was still in pain from the fight, clutching her shoulder, and her ankle was crudely wrapped with bandages. Snotlout gestured me over and I went over and sat down next to him.
As we ate, we heard the high irritating familiar voice. "Hello everyone!" Hazel exclaimed, "How are you all today?"
Most of us groaned. Astrid and Ruffnut glared at her. She came over and sat across from Hiccup, as Astrid and I had already taken the spots next to him. She smiled at us with big creepy eyes.
"I got to ride my dragon yesterday," she told us.
"What kind of dragon is it?" I asked, trying to sound interested.
"It's a Confuzzled dragon," she replied, "His name is Precious Princess!"
"'His?'" Astrid repeated under her breath.
"Aren't Confuzzleds those really big, ugly, and stupid dragons who can't even fly in a straight line?" I wondered, "Those things are rare! But mostly because they keep accidentally killing themselves."
"Precious Princess is way smarter than any of your dragons!" Hazel snapped.
"No he's not," Horrorcow said to me, "We met him last night. He was dumber than a sack of bricks! He couldn't even talk right."
"Really?" I inquired.
"Yes. He talked with incorrect grammar. It drove me nuts." She shivered.
Hazel got up and stormed out of the hall. That was okay with us. We continued eating in silence, with the dragons stealing food off our plates. As soon as we were done, we all got up and went to the arena to train.
Hazel and Precious were already there when we got there. She was strapping him up with really frilly leather saddles and stirrups. And other riding stuff like that. She sneered at us as we entered, clearly proud at herself that she got here first.
As we saddled up, Gobber came in, holding a striped flag. "All right, little people, listen up," he said, "Today is a treat for ya. Today, we gonna have a race."
Everyone cheered except me. I already knew who wouldn't win. Horrorcow is lazy.
"The goal is to fly two times around the entire island, and then return here," Gobber explained, "Who ever does that the fastest wins. Got it?"
We all nodded. "Good! Mount your dragons!"
As our dragons had followed us to the arena, there was no need to call them. I clumsily got on Horrorcow's back. As soon as I did, the Gronkle, who had been standing, sat down. I groaned.
"Come on, Horrorcow!" I edged, "You have to get up! We're going to race!"
"Don't wanna," she insisted, stubbornly.
I sighed. I heard snickering, and didn't even have to turn to know it was Snotlout.
"Got some problems with your dragon?" he called.
I tried to ignore him. "If you just put some effort into this," I told my dragon, "I'll give you a big juicy steak!"
That perked her up in an instant. She stuck her rump up determinedly. "Come on, boy!" she growled, "Let's do this!"
I sighed with relief. This would go smoothly. I knew it would, I just knew it.
What a fool I was.
Astrid's POV
I mounted Stormfly and looked at Hiccup, next to me on Toothless. I smiled at him with a smile that said "Don't you dare go easy on me!" He nodded back and leaned forward, patting Toothless. Gobber walked out in front, holding a flag.
"All right," he called, "I wanna good race. So if ye were thinking of using cheap shots and dirty tricks, that'd be great!" Then he raised the flag to the air. "On your marks!" Stormfly crouched low to the ground. "Get set!" She raised her hindquarters. "Did I say go yet? I don't think so! In fact, forget it! The race is canceled! GO!"
And Stormfly and Toothless took off instantly. Toothless took the lead, but Stormfly and I were right behind him. I could hear Snotlout and Fireworm behind us, and when we turned a corner I saw the twins and Fishlegs. But I didn't see Hazel and her joke of a dragon anywhere.
Probably trying to find the starting line, I thought, giggling to myself.
Suddenly, I heard someone shout, "LOOK OUT!" And a huge fireball shot past us. I quickly glanced behind us to see whom I was going to kill for that, and saw Hazel and What's-its-face gaining on us. Oh, she was going down.
I pulled on Stormfly's reins to slow her down enough for Hazel to pass. As soon as she did, I had my dragon let out a breath of fire at Hazel, and then slam past her. Before she had time to rebalance, the others had passed her too.
"All right," I hissed, "Now time for Hiccup." The boy was going down. I turned Stormfly towards my silly boy friend, intending to swoop right past him. Sure Night Furies were some of the fastest dragons alive, but today, Stormfly would be the fastest.
Toothless, out of the corner of his eye, saw us coming and made a dive bomb to gain speed. A Night Fury's secret weapon. But Stormfly would not be taken down that easily. Folding her wings, she gained speed until she and Toothless were wing tip to wing tip. I winked at Hiccup, and just like that, we passed them.
We zoomed around a corner, passing the arena, marking our second lap. One lap to go, and victory would be mine. I turned my head to see what was happening behind me. Toothless was right on our tail, tongue sticking out in determination. Just behind Hiccup and Toothless, Snotlout and Fireworm had turned and were shooting fireballs at Sidewinder and Horrorcow. They dodged easily and retaliated by rushing past. Hazel and Precious were still way behind.
They were all quickly gaining.
"All right, Stormfly," I said to my dragon, "Time to kick it into high gear. Let's go!"
Stormfly nodded and started beating her wings to gain speed. She started to pull away from the others and take the lead. I heard Toothless growl, then he started flapping his powerful wings. He was determined to win. But so was I.
Suddenly, the arena came into view. We were all neck in neck, determined to win. Every dragon made a dive bomb for the arena. Gobber was standing outside, ready to see who won. As we all nearly crashed into the ground, we'll never know who won. At the very moment we landed, something strange happened. The roof above us started shaking and rumbling.
Stoic and the other adults had been building an extension to our little arena that towered over everything. It was still in the foundation phase, but it was mighty. However, everything was shaking and waving dangerously. Then, before any of us could react, the entire thing collapsed onto us. We all gasped as wood and stone fell, destroying all of our hard work. Our dragons tried to defend us from the falling rubble as best they could, but eventually they couldn't take it and we were all buried.
…
I could hear someone calling to us, but it was so far away. Everything was pitch black. Where was I? What happened? Why did it hurt to move?
Suddenly I remembered. The arena had collapsed. Hiccup, Toothless, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Sidewinder, Fishlegs, Horrorcow, Snotlout, Fireworm, Stormfly, me, we were all buried. But how? What made the arena collapse? Well, first things first, I needed to get out of this rubble.
All of a sudden, a giant piece of lumber that had been pinning me down lifted. Sunlight shone in my face and I saw Snotlout. He offered his hand to me and I gratefully took it. He helped me to my feet, then immediately turned to help his dragon, who was only half buried. I looked around for Stormfly, and saw her nearby, pushing timber and rocks off of her. I saw Tuffnut struggling to throw a wooden beam off of his sister who seemed to be unconscious. I was about to go help him, when Sidewinder appeared and flung the beam away. As Tuffnut pulled Ruffnut out from under the rubble, I heard her start coughing, and I sighed with relief. Fishlegs was brushing dirt off of Horrorcow who looked like she didn't have a scratch on her. Hazel and Precious were looking down at us from outside the arena. She hadn't even gotten buried. That just left two people. I looked around frantically.
"Where are Toothless and Hiccup?" I asked, worriedly. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around. We started calling out to him, when suddenly I saw movement under some rubble. "Over here!" I called.
Snotlout got there first and started digging. Toothless burst from the rubble, holding Hiccup in his arms protectively. I sighed with relief and rushed over to him.
"Hiccup! You're okay!" I called, embracing him and giving him a quick kiss.
"Yeah," he sighed, "I'm okay."
We heard a sound behind us and we all turned around. Stoic was standing next to Gobber and he looked really, really angry.
Hiccup's POV
My father had a reputation for having an extremely short temper, and I could tell just by looking at the redness of his face that he was about to blow.
"What happened here?" he asked in the most level voice as he possibly could.
"The arena collapsed on us," I explained, "We were having a race, and when we landed the roof just sort of fell. It wasn't our fault!"
Another thing about my father was, once he decided who he was going to blame for something, his mind didn't change easily. And his mind was made up.
"This is strike one, kids!" he growled, "Strike one for the six of ya! Two more and you're gone! You're out of here for good!" Then he stormed away before any of us could object, muttering, "All that hard work ruined."
We stared after him, amazed. He honestly thought that us racing brought this entire structure down? How could he think that? Besides, Gobber was the one who thought of the race!
No one said anything as we all climbed out of the rubble and out of the arena. Cringing, we all limped back home. None of us escaped without an injury. Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and I all supported each other as we slowly made our way home.
Late At Night
That night I lay awake staring at the ceiling. Ruff and Tuff were sleeping soundly and so was Toothless. The big dragon was asleep next to me on the bed, and was slowly nudging me off. Eventually, with one great push, he shoved me off, and I fell right on top of Ruffnut.
With a gasp, she woke up and stared at me with surprised eyes. We stared at each other for a long time, not knowing what to say to break this awkward situation. I could feel her heart beating rapidly beneath me, and she was gasping for breath. Our lips were nearly touching, for the fall had sent me right into her face.
"Um, Toothless shoved me off the bed," I muttered to her. I slowly rolled off of her as she stared at me.
"Yeah," she breathed, "Dragons will do that sometimes." She rolled over and turned her back on me, and I sighed. Toothless wasn't going to give me my bed back, I knew that, so I lay down and pressed myself against Ruffnut. I heard her take a sharp breath, but that was it.
Soon, I drifted off to sleep. I had a strange dream. The world was swirling around me and everything was blurry. I felt dizzy, and my head hurt. What was going on? Where was everyone? Suddenly, I felt as if I were falling into a deep dark abyss from which there was no escaping.
I woke with a gasp and found myself in my room on the floor. It was still nighttime. For a moment I forgot why I was on the floor, but the loud snoring of a certain dragon reminded me. Toothless had shoved me off the bed. I felt something next to me and looked. Ruffnut was gently grasping my shirt, pressing her forehead to my chest and sleeping soundly. I don't know why, but this comforted me, and I was able to fall back asleep.
Ruffnut's POV
When I woke the next morning I felt more refreshed than I ever had before. I had no idea why. When I opened my eyes, however, breath fell short again. Hiccup was still asleep next to me, sleeping soundly, and breathing softly. Holding my breath, I squirmed my way out of bed and got dressed. Then, trying not to disturb Hiccup or my dumb brother, I put on my boots and went outside.
It was a crisp, cool morning, and I took a deep breath to take it all in. The sun was just coming over the horizon, turning the sky deep pink. As I stared at the sky, I heard someone call my name and turned to see who it was.
Astrid was slowly coming towards me, her arms wrapped around herself to keep warm in the morning chill. She didn't speak until she was standing right next to me.
"Morning!" she greeted, "How'd you sleep last night?"
"Not bad," I admitted, "It was a little bit hard because Toothless shoved Hiccup off his bed and he landed right on top of me." I flinched a little when I said this. Why did I bring that up? Astrid didn't have to know about that! I made sure not to mention how close our lips had been to touching. My friendship with Astrid was already strained. I didn't want to strain it more.
But Astrid just nodded. "Yeah," she said, "I would have trouble sleeping too, if a boy fell on me." She smiled at me. "At least it wasn't Fishlegs or Snotlout who fell on you," she continued, "Otherwise I probably wouldn't be talking to you now."
I forced myself to relax and smile. "Yeah," I replied, "If that happened, I don't think I would be able to wake up."
We both laughed heartily. "So," I said, trying to switch topics, "You sleep well?"
Astrid sighed. "Well enough," she answered, "I couldn't stop thinking about how the arena collapsed on us yesterday. Almost as if it was deliberate."
Now that she mentioned it, it did seem rather odd. I also couldn't help noticing that Cake had not been there when it collapsed. "Maybe we should check it out," I suggested.
"Good idea," Astrid said, "Come on, let's go."
We turned away from the sun and headed towards the training arena. I tried not to look towards the spot where my house had once stood as we passed it. They were starting to rebuild it, but they had a long way to go, and I knew it would never be the same.
When we got to the arena we climbed down into the rubble and started searching for anything suspicious. We didn't bother searching through the rubble; we went immediately to the sides where the foundation was. After about twenty minutes of searching, Astrid called to me.
"I think I've found something!" she told me. I rushed over to where she was standing in front of a beam.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Look," she said, pointing at the beam. What looked to be a bite mark was torn out in a chunk on the beam. Like something had eaten it or something. Something big.
"That must've made the place collapse!" I gasped.
"Yeah," Astrid agreed, "These bite marks look familiar. I think I know them." She thought for a long moment. "I got it!" she exclaimed, "I've seen this bite mark in the Dragon Manuel! It belongs to the Conf-" She never got to finish her sentence, because at that moment we were both struck over the head with a plank of wood.
…
When I woke up, I was in Hiccup's house. My head hurt and I couldn't remember anything from that morning. How long had I been out? And why did my head hurt so badly? Why was Tuffnut staring at me as if I had been asleep all day?
"It's about time you woke up, lazy," he said, "It's the afternoon! You've been asleep all day!" He gave me an annoyed glare.
I gave him a blank stare. "I have?" I replied, "I feel like I hit my head on something. Are you sure I was asleep all day?"
"Well, when I woke early this morning you weren't in bed," he admitted, "But when I woke up a little later you were back asleep. I had to go to breakfast without you."
"Oh," I muttered, "Funny, I don't really remember waking up at all. All I know is that my head hurts. Real bad."
Sighing, he couched down beside me and felt the back of my head. He flinched. "Ouch," he hissed, "That's a pretty big bump you have. Maybe you did hit your head on something. Probably while you were out. Are you sure you can't remember anything?"
I nodded. "I can't remember it all," I replied.
Tuffnut shrugged. "Oh well," he said, "Probably no big deal. Here, I'll help you stand up." I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet and I nearly fell over with dizziness. Then, together we left the hut and went on our way.
Snotlout's POV
"What are you doing little person?" Fireworm asked me as I stuffed some of my clothes into a really big bag.
"What does it look I'm doing?" I replied, "I'm packing! This is my ready to go bag for when we get banished."
"How do you know you'll get banished?" my dragon wondered, "You still have two strikes left. The chief could cool down and revoke your first strike. You never know."
"I do know. That's our luck. And my cousin's. Especially my cousin's. And I bet that Hazel is behind all of this, too." I paused in my packing. "Maybe writing fake love letters to her wasn't such a good idea."
"You think?" Fireworm asked, boredly.
I was about to reply when there was a knock on my door. "It's open!" I called, trying to shove an entire roast chicken into one of the pouches. I was quite surprised when Hiccup came in. He had dark rings under his eyes, as if he hadn't gotten proper sleep last night.
"Dude, what's wrong with you," I asked, "You look like you died or something."
"I feel like I have," he muttered. He looked at my Ready-To-Go Bag. "What are you packing for?" he wondered.
"Um, nothing," I replied, trying in vain to zip it up. "So, uh, what to you want?"
He stared at me blankly and blinked at me several times. "I don't know," he answered, "Something just compelled me to come here. I don't know what it is, but there's something I need to get off my back."
"Is it a tick?" I asked.
He stared at me. "What?"
"Nothing. Continue."
"It's just, I've been having these really weird dreams lately," he told me, "I feel like they're trying to warn me about something. Something dangerous and evil. An evil we've seen before, but I don't know what." He sat down on my bed.
I sat down next to him. "You know Hiccup, it's at times like these that my dad tells me a special saying," I told him, "What doesn't kill you the first time, usually succeeds in a second attempt." He looked at me, confused.
"What the heck does that have to do with anything?" he wondered.
"Um… I don't know," I replied, "What were we talking about again?"
Hiccup sighed, frustrated, and stormed out of my room.
Tuffnut's POV
My weirdo sister was acting even weirder that day. She kept rubbing the back of her head and muttering something about a wooden beam. When I asked her about it, she told me she couldn't remember why it was so important. I dismissed this all until we saw Astrid.
She, too, was rubbing the back of her head, saying that she must've hit her head on something. When we were listening to Gobber, she would stumble sometimes as if she had suddenly grown dizzy and couldn't stand up. Eventually Gobber sent her back home and made me escort her.
"I don't know what's wrong with me," she muttered, "My head really hurts, like I hit it on something hard, yet I don't remember falling last night or anything. I'm also really dizzy all of a sudden." As if to empathize her point, her legs criss-crossed as she walked and she nearly fell over. I caught her just in time.
"That's strange," I said as she regained her balance, "My sister has been acting that way too. Did you go out this morning?"
"I think so," she replied.
"Can you remember anything?"
She shook her head. "No," she answered, "Nothing at all."
"That's odd. Just like Ruffnut," I muttered, "She was out this morning too, but she can't remember any of it. Maybe you two were together this morning, or something."
Astrid stopped. "Yeah," she breathed, "Wait, did she say anything about a wooden beam?" She looked me in the eye.
"She won't stop talking about it," I responded, "But whenever I ask her about it, she says she can't remember why she remembers it."
"It's the same with me," Astrid said, "Maybe we were together this morning. Wait, a little bit is coming back to me! We were doing something, somewhere, and while we were standing by this wooden beam, someone knocked us out from behind!"
"But who would do that?" I wondered, "And why? Unless this beam was important somehow. Can you think of anything else?"
She shook her head sadly. "No," she replied. "That's all I remember, sorry."
"That's okay," I said, "Not like I would be able to put anything together."
Finally, we got to her house. "Thank you for escorting me, Tuffnut," she said, "You're very sweet." Then she leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek before retreating into her house.
"Ew!" I muttered, rubbing my cheek where she had kissed me.
Finally! I'm done with this chapter! Sorry it took so long to update, but as you can see, this chapter was really long. Over 4,000 words! And while for some of you it may not take long to read, it takes a REALLY long time to write. Be that as it may, I have absolutely no ideas for my next chapter, so it may take a while to update again. But I'll tell you, I'll never write a chapter this long again!
Also, I would like to thank peppermintpretty for the idea of Toothless shoving Hiccup out of his bed and onto Ruffnut. That was a great idea to me! Thanks!
As always, Read and review, or I won't write!