How a Viking and a NotViking Train a Dragon
Chapter 10
Well, I'm sorry for the delay, but I was at a loss as to what would come next. Please forgive me. I will try to update at a much closer together time period. There will be more deviations from the movie in this chapter than last.
Hiccup and Astrid walked to the training ground, getting ready for another lesson, when suddenly; Gobber grabbed them both and said, "Where have you two been? You're both facing the Nightmare."
"What?" Hiccup almost shouted. Astrid kept her calm outwardly, but was thinking the same thing.
"Well, you two are the top students, so you'll be facing the Monstrous Nightmare alone," Gobber replied slowly, trying to emphasize his point, "Well, come on, then."
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"What are we going to do, now, genius?" Astrid asked her companion as Stoick gave a speech to the Vikings gathered to watch, "I don't particularly want to kill the Nightmare anymore than you do."
"Just follow my lead, and bring your axe," Hiccup replied, "There shouldn't be a need to kill if nobody messes up the plan."
"Well, here's hoping," Astrid said, "As long as neither of us die we'll be fine."
As they finished their discussion, the gate separating them from the Kill Ring lifted, signaling them to get in. Once they were inside, the gate closed as they walked up to the weapons wall so Hiccup could get a dagger from the shelf. Once he was armed, the gate for the Nightmare was opened as it flew out of its cage, making a big show of flames as it attempted to escape.
Hiccup immediately tossed his dagger aside and turned to Astrid, saying, "Drop the axe. We need to make him comfortable."
Astrid, trusting him, tossed her axe away, noticing that people were getting concerned over what the pair had done. Hiccup then stuck out his hand, turning his head away, in order to show the dragon that he trusted it. Astrid, understanding what he was attempting did the same, a bit more cautious than her friend, mostly because of her not being as insane as may claimed Hiccup was.
The Nightmare was edging towards the pair of humans cautiously, trusting them. It was about to touch them with its snout, when it heard an aggressive human sound form outside the giant cage they were in. It must be from them, the Nightmare decided, and therefore began to growl aggressively, giving them warning to back away. The male did not seem to notice it, but the female threw them away from the dragon, which was enraged. It began to chase them threateningly, in order to tire them out in order to make them stop being threats.
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Meanwhile, at Raven's Point, Toothless heard the sound of his humans screaming, Hiccup louder than Astrid. Worried, he began to try to climb out of the canyon.
He fell.
He tried again, hearing them cry out again.
He fell yet again.
He was not going to fail them. He clawed higher and higher until he succeeded in getting himself over the cliff. Then, he began to glide to Hiccup and Astrid. His humans needed him.
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Hiccup and Astrid were separated as the Nightmare cornered Hiccup. By means of a threat, Astrid grabbed a hammer, and threw it with as much force as possible, noticing that the others were trying to get the gate open. The Nightmare still ignored her, intent on Hiccup.
Suddenly, there was a familiar high-pitched shriek in the sky. Toothless had arrived, and blasted open the gate. He then took a defensive stance in between the Nightmare and Hiccup. The Nightmare began hissing at Toothless, until Toothless returned some hisses, resulting in the Nightmare backing down and returning to its cage.
Unfortunately, that was when the Vikings finally got the gate open. Stoick engaged Toothless in combat, leading to Toothless pinning the man down, and growling, his teeth bared.
"Toothless, don"T!" Hiccup cried in panic. At that, Toothless got off of Stoick, the other Vikings blindsided him, much to Astrid and Hiccup's mutual horror. Then, as Toothless was bound and locked in one of the cages, Stoick grabbed Hiccup, dragging him back to their house. Astrid tried to go with them, but was held back by the crowd.
o/o
When the crowd cleared, Astrid was swarmed by her fellow teens, who wore concerned looks on their faces.
"What do you want?" she asked, bothered by her inability to find Hiccup anywhere, while the older Vikings had taken Toothless and strapped him to a boat, presumably to find the nest, as they had all boarded other boats and were geared for war.
"So, that's what you two were up to," Ruffnut stated, sounding oddly calm.
"Yes, we're friends with a Night Fury," she said, in her authoritative voice, "Now, are you going to help me find Hiccup, or are you just here to look at one of the 'traitors'?"
"We don't think you're traitors," Snotlout said, "we think that it's awesome that you guys ride a Night Fury."
"How did you…?" Astrid began.
"You know, saddles are a dead giveaway for people riding an animal," Tuffnut said.
"And, the device on the tail showed that the Night Fury would only have +3 Speed without a rider, and would fail to be airborne without a rider with +15 Experience in order to have its customary +6 Speed."
"Have any of you seen Hiccup?" Astrid asked again, ignoring what they said.
"He's been at the high point of the dock since he was banished," Snotlout said, "And, just so you know, whatever he's planning, we're in."
"I'll tell him that," she responded, hoping that Hiccup had a plan in mind to save Toothless.
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When she got up there, she saw him looking like he had lost everything, which he had. This wasn't the Hiccup that she knew. She was going to have to motivate him.
"Wow," she said, "You've lost everything, your home, your family, your other best friend…"
"Thank you for summing that up," he responded glumly, not tearing his gaze from the ships on the horizon, "Maybe I should have killed him. Anyone else would have done it and nothing would have changed."
"So why didn't you?" she pushed, noticing that spark that separated him from most other Vikings coming back.
"I couldn't," he responded simply.
"Why?" she pushed, fanning the flames of his Not-Vikingness in order to return him to himself.
"I wouldn't!" he responded.
"You said wouldn't," she said, seeing him begin to be himself again.
"I wouldn't," he replied, "Centuries of Vikings, and I'm the first to not ever want to kill a dragon."
"First to ride one, though," she said, seeing him become Hiccup again, "He's probably scared, right now. What are you going to do, now?"
"Probably something stupid," he replied.
"Alright, but you've already done that," she pressed.
"Then, something crazy," he amended, running off to fill a crazy idea.
"That's more like it," she said, chasing him to tell him about the promise the others had made. Her Hiccup was back.