Review Responses on the Bottom.
Rating Poll is still up.
Well. I HOPE this will be the LAST time I have to give you such a delay. I sincerely do. Reason being is because I actually do plan on having a full story launched in this section after this one is done, but ugh. I had panned for this story to be done September. Now it looks more like November-December. =S.
I've also decided that I will only show the official storyline of How To Train Your Dragon Animation wise. This means no Defenders or Riders of Berk.
But it also means I will say yes to Gift of the Night Fury and Legend of the Bone Knapper references.
Give and Take~
On the upside that would mean my new story would come out on Christmas.
…
…
…
Fudge!
My lappy charger is missing! Good thing I have a backup,but it's a very delicate one. I need to find my real one, and fast. (Otherwise I'll have to buy one and I don't fancy doing that.)
Found it~. A friend had snatched it to use on a visit and hadn't had the courtesy to remember to return it.
Sometimes in this chapter I neglect to use my separator system to bring comments into the movie script. This is usually if only one comment is being made without any real need for setting and exposition. The character interaction is still regular as opposed to bold, so I believe you guys should be okay.
This chapter contains:
Lots of movie to make up for lost time.
Length. (Comparatively, and as an apology.)
DreamWorks Animation produced the How to Train Your Dragon movie, it was distributed by Paramount Pictures, and the original story this movie was based on was written by Cressida Cowell.
Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders & Will Davies were in charge of screenplay for How To Train Your Dragon. DeBlois and Sanders together wrote and drafted the movie script.
~C F Winchester, Finalage.
Bonds Under Ocean Waves
Chapter Ten: Lessons
Stoic's eyes continued to bug as he watched his wife cross the room and sit right next to the dragon. The dragon. The whole world had gone mad. He rose and waded his way through viking scrambling to take seats for the rest of the display, his eyes only for the figure of Valka, sitting quite complacently next to Toothless, whose head snaked about to sniff her coat before accepting her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Stoic and grunted. Valka looked up, curious before looking in the same direction.
||Huh...here he comes.
"How did you end up here...you're a long way from home Stoic..."
She smelled rather similar to Hiccup, like fire and wilderness, rough winds and dragon scent. Anyone who could carry dragon scent on them without the accompanying smell of blood and gore with fear and rage...well they obviously were friendly to his kind. Toothless ignored Valka's comment to herself as she watched Stoic approach.
||Just a little closer...a bit more...
Stoic approached Valka, but before he could speak, Toothless's tail had lashed out and bowled him over with a vicious swat and sent the man spinning. Valka turned and looked at Toothless in surprise. She hadn't been paying attention to him...
||What?
"Why?"
||Payback. He killed me and the one I care about. I've been waiting a long while to pay him back some.
She watched impassively as Toothless settled himself down on his haunches and Pulled Camicazi in to his side with a wing. The surprised girl stifled a yelp before being set up next to him in a practiced way that told her that this was usually Hiccup's spot. Stoic jumped back from the swat and dusted himself off.
||Wake me when they get to a good part, I know this part already.
Camicazi rose her eyebrows at that one, and felt comfortable at this point to hazard a light push at his shoulder. He grunted. Another swat of his tail sent Stoic spinning again like a top before his feet left from under him and he fell on his behind. He hadn't seen THAT one coming because he had been still dusting himself off.
"You sure about that? You might miss something."
Grumbling, the dragon arranged himself so that his face was still facing the screen, and he whipped Camicazi a little closer. Valka watched in amusement was Camicazi was shifted about and showed obvious discomfort. Stoic sprang up again into a crouch and eyed Toothless's tail.
||Don't push your luck, I need you for the warmth.
"This is Hiccup's spot isn't it?"
That got Valka's attention. As Stoic was standing and shaking off the hit from Toothless, the gears whirled into place. She pointed to Toothless. Toothless swung his tail out once more and Stoic jumped it, only to have the tail wrap him up instead of try an hit him. Toothless pulled his tail and sent Stoic unraveling to sit down, now officially dizzy from all the spinning.
"You're a friend of Hiccup...who?"
||Horrendous Haddock The Third, like he always says. According to the man over there however, he's no longer a Haddock."
The gears stopped spinning, having clicked into place.
"You're saying my husband killed my son and yourself...So. Hiccup took after me..."
She spun about as Stoic sprang back up from his sit down. He was still slightly dizzy, so he hadn't been paying attention to the exchange. Instead, he addressed his wife. He only got as far as "Valka" however before a straight punch to the side of his head from said woman knocked him down on the floor again.
||Good shot.
She was about to punch him again when Camicazi managed to grab her wrist. Valka turned to look at her in question. So did Toothless.
"It won't do any good to knock him out. He won't learn anything that way. He needs to see the rest of this...if you knock him out he won't have learned anything by the time he gets up."
||Well, look who wants to prolong his punishment now...I suppose you're right. It WOULD be far more satisfying to watch him learn exactly what he has done, and watch his own guilt crush him. I look forwards to it.
"Err...Not exactly what I was hoping for...I was hoping he'd learn from his mistakes..."
||I like my plan better...
o~||
INT. STOIC'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
Hiccup enters to see...
Stoic, seated on a thick slice of tree-trunk. He is slouched over the fire-pit, stirring the coals with his axe. Embers waft around his beard. Hiccup tries to sneak past, up the stairs to his room. Stoic seems none the wiser, when...
Stoic
"Hiccup."
Hiccup
(CAUGHT)
"Dad. Uh..."
Stoic stands, takes a deep breath.
Hiccup (CONT'D)
"I, uh... I have to talk to you, Dad."
Stoic
"I need to speak with you too, son."
Hiccup and Stoic STRAIGHTEN at the same moment.
Hiccup & Stoic at the same time:
"I've decided I don't want to fight dragons."
"I think it's time you learn to fight dragons."
o~||
||Well that is a wonderful example of exemplary communication skills.
Camicazi grinned at that, but made no comment, her eyes were still on the blade. He was missing his own show, Hiccup was.
o~||
(BEAT) (BEAT)
"What?"
"What?"
Stoic (CONT'D)
"You go first."
Hiccup
"No, you go first."
Stoic
"Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning."
Hiccup
(SCRAMBLING)
"Oh man, I should've gone first. Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread-making Vikings, or small home repair vikings-"
Stoic
"-You'll need this."
Stoic hands Hiccup his axe. Hiccup is weighed down by it for a moment before he adjusts himself.
Hiccup
"Dad; I don't want to fight dragons."
o~||
Valka looked sideways at Toothless.
"So he doesn't want to fight them does he?"
||No.
"Because of you?"
||In part, but I honestly think almost any dragon could have replaced me in that situation and he would still have not killed them...even a Terrible Terror.
o~||
Stoic
"Come on. Yes, you do."
Hiccup
"Rephrase. Dad I can't kill dragons."
Stoic
"But you will kill dragons."
Hiccup
"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't."
Stoic
"It's time Hiccup."
Hiccup
"Can you not hear me?"
o~||
"No."
||Yes, but he won't listen to you.
Since both of them had commented at the same time, girl and dragon looked at one another. Camicazi gave a sheepish grin.
"I'm not going to argue with a dragon. I'll just end up eaten."
||You exaggerate. I would only take a few bites. Maybe a leg or two, but in this case I'll spare you.
"I'm honored."
||You should be.
o~||
Stoic
"This is serious son!"
Stoic forces the axe into Hiccup's hands. Its weight drags him down. He looks up to see Stoic under-lit with firelight.
o~||
"See!? He can't lift an axe, like Gobber said!"
Almost everyone ignored Snotlout on principle by now, so his comment went largely un-noticed. Save for Gobber himself who smacked him upside the head.
o~|
Stoic (CONT'D)
"When you carry this axe... you carry all of us with you."
||That's quite a burden for such small shoulders.
"Which means you walk like us."
||You mean like hairy overfed penguins?
"You talk like us."
||Debatable.
"You think like us."
||Hardly.
"No more of..."
(GESTURING NON- specifically at Hiccup)
"... this."
Hiccup
"You just gestured to all of me."
||His face says it all for me.
Stoic
"Deal?"
Hiccup
"This conversation is feeling very one-sided."
Stoic
"DEAL?!"
Hiccup glances at the axe in his hands. It's a no-win
argument.
Hiccup
(RESIGNED)
"Deal."
Satisfied, Stoic grabs his helmet and duffel bag... and heads for the door.
Stoic
"Good. Train hard. I'll be back."
"Probably."
Hiccup
"And I'll be here. Maybe."
Stoic heads out the door, leaving Hiccup holding the axe.
o~||
"Both as stubborn as brass is bold."
Stoic had gotten himself in order by now, and was eying Toothless's tail again, which did him zero good as Toothless snapped open a wing and knocked the ma sideways like a renegade skittle before snatching him with same said tail and reeling him in. He didn't enjoy placing the big man next to him, but he would tolerate it. Camicazi looked over the winded Stoic before giving him a half smile, she tried to stop him from springing up again.
"I think Toothless want's you to see this..."
"The beast can do what it pleases. I have no dealing with dragons and she-devils like yourself."
He stood, but the tail wrapped his feet again and with a flip he was on his behind. Valka observed this impassively, somewhat torn to Stoic's dilemma. She repeated for his benefit once he managed to settle himself into a cautious seat.
"Stubborn as Brass is bold."
Gobber approached carefully, holding his hands up when Toothless turned on him. Toothless narrowed his eyes, but Gobber sat just beyond the range of his tail, so Toothless was again unable to do much. He growled for measure though, but Gobber held his hands up again.
"Easy. I only wanted to talk."
||There is nothing to talk about.
Both Valka and Camicazi repeated the sentence, and Gobber looked from one to the other.
"Oi. Ye mean to tell me you can understand the beast but I can't?"
||Until you stop thinking of me as a beast, no.
Valka scoffed at that comment. Like that would ever happen. She had tried for years herself and failed. Cami was kinder and repeated for Gobber as Toothless settled himself to gain a more firm grip on Stoic.
o~||
EXT. TRAINING GROUNDS - DAY
Gobber raises a massive iron gate at the entrance of a vast stone arena.
GOBBER
"Welcome to dragon training!"
The recruits file through the gate, and out onto the arena floor. They take it in like gladiators entering the Colosseum. The walls are covered in scorched silhouettes of blasted Vikings. It's a grim yet awe-inspiring place.
ASTRID
"No turning back."
TUFFNUT
"I hope I get some serious burns."
RUFFNUT
"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back."
ASTRID
"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it."
Hiccup (O.S.)
"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it."
The recruits turn to see Hiccup behind them. Groans all around.
TUFFNUT
"Oh great. Who let him in?"
GOBBER
"Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."
SNOTLOUT
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or...?"
The recruits LAUGH and chatter in the background.
TUFFNUT
"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?"
Gobber throws a supportive arm around Hiccup and ushers him along.
GOBBER
(cheery, in confidence)
"Don't worry. You're small and you're weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead."
o~||
Seriously, had they all been that bad to him? Astrid watched her own face which had been a study of veiled disgust during that entrance. Hiccup was obviously, as they all knew, not a well liked character at this point in time. He was probably the least liked...period. Astrid looked over to Toothless, Valka and Astrid, with a downed Stoic near them, looking grumpy and unwilling to even be there. Suddenly, her sister pipped up.
"Thanks a lot Gobber!"
Gobber looked around before settling on her, surprised. Her voice lowered, but was still audible...she had lost the burst of confidence; though outwardly the change in tone sounded more like a grumble of indignation.
"Well...someone has to say it...Hiccup isn't here to."
o~||
GOBBER stick him in line with the others and continues on toward five massive reinforced doors. Terrible ROARS and BELLOWS issue from within.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight."
Fishlegs bounces and giggles with excitement, barely able to contain himself.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"The Deadly Nadder."
FISHLEGS
(under his breath)
"Speed eight. Armor sixteen."
o~||
"Oh boy here we go."
Gobber buries his face in his hands and doesn't bother with the screen. He can remember what happens here. Vividly. Not only because Hiccup nearly died either. Fishleg's tirade had gotten on his nerves then, and it was getting on his nerves now.
o~||
GOBBER
"The Hideous Zippleback."
FISHLEGS
"Plus eleven stealth. Times two."
GOBBER
"The Monstrous Nightmare."
FISHLEGS
"Firepower fifteen."
GOBBER
"The Terrible Terror."
FISHLEGS
"Attack eight! Venom twelve!"
GOBBER
"CAN YOU STOP THAT?!"
(BEAT)
"And...the Gronckle."
FISHLEGS
(quietly; to himself)
"Jaw strength, eight."
Gobber pulls a lever, raising the cross beam on the last of the doors.
SNOTLOUT
"Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first!?"
GOBBER
"I believe in learning on the job."
BAM! A GRONCKLE thunders out of its cave, charging into the ring like an irate rhino. The recruits scramble in every direction. Except for Ruffnut and Tuffnut who rush toward it, like pumped-up rodeo clowns.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead. Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?"
Hiccup
"A doctor?"
o~||
||No doubt that would come in handy.
Camicazi nodded absentmindedly to that one, but she had time to mutter as Astrid rolled her eyes at the picture.
"Doctor or perhaps an undertaker."
||Even better!
o~||
FISHLEGS
"Plus five speed?"
||Where does he plan on getting that?
ASTRID
"A shield."
GOBBER
"Shields. Go."
The recruits scramble for shields, finding them scattered around the ring.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield."
Hiccup STRUGGLES to lift his. Gobber helps him and sends him running.
Ruff and Tuff stand amidst a dozen shields. But only one has a skull painted on it. They both grab it.
TUFFNUT
" Get your hands off my shield!"
o~||
"Yeah! Get off my shield!"
Ruffnut, not quite in the mood to maul her brother again, rolls her eyes.
"Oh grow up. There were like a million shields. "
o~||
RUFFNUT
"There are like a million shields!"
"Yeah!"
TUFFNUT
"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers."
Ruffnut uses the shield to BASH Tuffnut in the face. He doesn't let go.
RUFFNUT
"Ooops, now this one has blood on it."
The Gronckle takes aim at the distracted twins. Blam! The shield is blasted out of both of their hands. Tuff and Ruff SPIN like tops and go down.
GOBBER
"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!"
o~||
"That was your fault you know."
Ruffnut didn't argue with him. Instead, she grinned.
"It was fun though."
o~||
TUFFNUT
(DAZED)
" What?!"
RUFFNUT
(CONFUSED)
"What?!"
The Gronckle scoops up a pile of rocks and SWALLOWS them back. The teens gather on the far side of the ring.
GOBBER
"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim."
The kids scoop up weapons and begin hammering on their shields. The Gronckle shakes its head at the clatter.
GRONCKLE'S POV - The teens targets become blurry and scrambled. It's working.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?"
SNOTLOUT
"Five!"
FISHLEGS
"No, six."
GOBBER
"Correct, six. That's one for each of you!"
FISHLEGS
" I really don't think my parents would-"
BAM! Fishlegs has his shield blasted away.
GOBBER
"Fishlegs, out."
Gobber spots Hiccup hiding from the Gronckle's molten slugs.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"Hiccup, get in there!"
ON ASTRID bouncing on her heels, ready to dodge a blast. Snotlout appears, trying to hit on her.
SNOTLOUT
"So anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out-"
She cartwheels out of the way, allowing a shot to shoot past her and hit Snotlout's shield. He's blasted onto his back.
GOBBER
"Snotlout! You're done!"
Astrid ROLLS to a stop beside Hiccup, who stirs awkwardly, trying to look cool.
Hiccup
(VOICE BREAKING)
"So, I guess it's just you and me huh?"
ASTRID
"No. Just you."
Astrid ROLLS away. A split-second later a lava slug knocks Hiccup's shield clear off of his arm. Hiccup is exposed.
GOBBER
"One shot left!"
Hiccup panics and chases after his shield as it rolls across the ring. The sudden movement sends the Gronckle chasing after him, leaving Astrid in the clear.
o~||
Astrid sighs at Hiccup's attempt to talk. He looks just so...terrible there. Snotlout is one kind of bad, but Hiccup was another entirely. She shakes her head, but behind her, Camicazi has a little knowing smile. She again addresses Gobber.
"Oi! Meathead!"
"WHO YOU CALLIN' A MEATHEAD AGA-Oi, not you again."
"Hiccup should be out right now, you know that? Why did you keep him in?"
Gobber doesn't answer, but Camicazi repeats herself as Hiccup chases after his shield.
"Oi!"
"I don't know yah she-devil! I don't know what made meh do it!"
He looked down at the floor a little uncomfortably. Toothless looks at him questionably, as if trying to figure him out. Camicazi however, already had.
"It was your idea to let him in."
"Aye."
"It was also your hope Hiccup could prove himself and get out of the miserable place he was."
"..."
"Gobber?"
"Aye."
Toothless caught on, and he gave a croon.
||He wanted to give Hiccup that chance...because he so believed Hiccup could do it.
Stoic didn't say a word, but when Camicazi repeated the sentence, he felt like shriveling. He felt worse as the girl drove a nail into his coffin by turning to him.
"Not only did Gobber believe in him more than you did. I think Gobber also cared for him more. You know how to be chief...but you forgot how to be a father."
Odin's beard... that hurt.
o~||
GOBBER (CONT'D)
(WORRIED)
"Hiccup!"
The Gronckle drives straight toward Hiccup, pinning him against the wall. It opens its mouth and cocks its tail, ready to fire point-blank. Gobber lunges in and hooks the Gronckle's mouth at the last second, causing its head to jerk back and fire against the stone wall above Hiccup's head.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
(rattled, but masking it)
" And that's six!"
Gobber wrestles the irate Gronckle back into his pen.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance, don't you worry."
Slam! Lock. Gobber turns to the recruits.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"Remember... a dragon will always,
(with a stern look to Hiccup)
"...always go for the kill."
He hoists Hiccup to his feet and walks off. Hiccup looks overhead to see a steaming pit in the solid stone wall.
o~||
"Not quite right there..."
Toothless looked to Camicazi in question. She indicated him with a sweep of her eyes.
"You didn't. You could have fried him when he let you go."
||Well, we have minds just like you do. We aren't the animals he's teaching about...Hiccup showed me mercy, something no viking ever did before. In him I saw something I never thought I would see...so I didn't kill him...but I did warn him to leave me be. He didn't listen of course.
"Oh so that's what screeching his ears off meant. Nearly burst his head open you did."
o~||
EXT. WOODS/HIDDEN COVE - DUSK
Hiccup, battered after another disastrous day in the ring. He studies the remnants of the discarded bola... revealing that he's back at the scene of the crime.
o~||
"aaaand of course the boy goes back. Wonderful."
Camicazi grinned at Gobber's comment.
"Didn't you know he would?"
"A viking doesn't know fear!"
"Aye."
Snotlout was about to be appreciative of his father's input but of all people, it was Stoic, whom Toothless had let breathe a little even if he was still squished to his side; who popped their bubble.
"No. A viking knows fear. He conquers it, but he knows it."
Toothless let him loose just a hair more, but no more.
+~-1-~+
Hiccup stood on a barren wasteland. Armored bodies and discarded swords littered the land in front of him for as far as his eyes could see. The wind rippled through his hair and clothing, and slapped his wet face as a dark and stormy sky roiled on above him. Only Hiccup's face seemed to be wet. The rest of him was as dry as a bone. He took a step forwards and found that he couldn't. His entire body was covered in chains, blacker than even his blade was. He wasn't too bothered by this, he knew the drill by now.
This entire thing was nothing but a test. He had been trained, tested, trained some more, tested again, trained more...until he passed the test and got another one. The dragon struggling in its bonds, the man struggling along with it, in the depths of the water, under the ocean waves...being chained up in another person's body as he watched the man go through a life of war and death, pulling his companions into his darkness to fuel his desire for revenge.
He sought to look for a weak link in the chains. The darkness dredged off them in sheets like falling snow. Darkness, snow...like Berk.
Where winter lasts most of the year...hanging on tight with icy hands that just won't let go, like these chains.
What else hangs on tight? Hatred does, rage...
The chains seemed to shiver and fluctuate.
That was it then huh? So. Hiccup sighed, and wracked his brains. Memories of himself as a baby wouldn't help him here. He needed something...more powerful. Toothless. That seemed to be his draw for everything...something told him his friendship with Toothless wasn't going to be enough for this...
His infatuation for Astrid? No. Not enough. His nonexistent friendships? No.
He needed something like love, care, genuine concern.. but Astrid liked him now!
Liked.
Not loved. Not for himself.
His conscious laughed at him.
She liked him for his ability, for "taming" Toothless. Who loved him for himself?
Unexpectedly, an image of Gobber and the girl he had just met not even two days ago, rose to mind. Gobber was a gruff man who was his fathers best friend, but who had opened his forge and home to Hiccup, accepting him for who he was.
Sure he was the source of much embarrassment, or uncomfortable truths and biting, sometimes disgusting humor...but that in a way was like that weird uncle you always have. The one you love but wish was more...cool.
Yet he's your best friend and you can tell him anything, and expect him to listen. Listen...and understand.
Understand...like the girl who had lived her entire life in Niflheim for simply not being the strong one. The one who thought before she spoke, who analyzed quietly but who stood when she needed to. A friendly, patient face who was innocent and not so...
A friend who clicks with you the moment you see them. The kind of person you are too young to appreciate in a different light just yet, or maybe because your eyes are glued somewhere else...and the one who is willing to wait until you do.
Gobber was his source of inspiration, where his love of smithing came from. Where all of his inventions came from. Gobber was that uncle, that love. Cami was a friend, a friend who didn't care if he had Toothless or not...
The ability to see past Toothless to the support he had otherwise...
"Finally. I was wondering when you would stop showing me that dragon as your answer to eery problem I gave you."
Hiccup was free. He stood in front of the man he had been, who he had seen through his own eyes as he sacrificed soul after soul to contribute to the deterioration of his own. He stood in front of Wlyfred, his long, locked silver hair lightly floating about in the wind. He was fully armored and sported the same black blade that had started this mess. He held it casually in one hand.
"Hiccup. Such a joy to finally meet you."
Hiccup crossed his arms and observed the man he knew almost everything about, having lived through his eyes. He suddenly realized that he could not honestly return the greeting.
"I'm sorry to say I can't say likewise."
Wlyfred grinned.
"I thought you were no longer a whole soul. That you were nothing but power, soul long since destroyed."
"True. I am nothing but an echo...but and echo can still speak what the voice has said...and an echo can still move a continent, a tribe...or a single soul."
Hiccup narrowed his eyes.
"...and you plan to move mine."
Wlyfred nodded, then he gave a half smile with some dark humor thrown in. A spark of insanity danced there in his eyes.
"I had hoped to soften you up before I tried to move you and control you...but it seems my approach hasn't worked as well as I hoped...you even managed to heal instead of deteriorate."
"Excuse me?"
Wlyfred traced an armored finger across his neck, and Hiccup felt his throat thoughtfully. His whole, untarnished throat, a full neck attaching his head firmly to his shoulders. He suddenly remembered Heimdall's assurance that as long as Hiccup kept his wits about himself, the darkness would not be able to consume him.
"You can't consume me."
"Yes. I know...but I can't just simply let you own all of me either."
Hiccup sighed.
"What do you want?"
Wlyfred pointed to the ground. There in front of Hiccup was another blade of darkness.
"To test you again of course. Often you emphasize your brain. So tell me Hiccup...will you use my own moves against me? Do you think you can win that way?"
Hiccup gripped the blade and pulled it upwards as the other let loose a battle cry and charged.
+~-2-~+
Back in Asgard~
Hiccup
(MUTTERED)
"So...why didn't you?'
He drops the bola and presses on in the direction it flew off. He drops into a rocky crevice and follows it to an...ISOLATED COVE complete with a pristine spring pool. He scans the high stone walls... then notices a single black SCALE on the ground. He crouches and picks it up, studying it.
Hiccup (CONT'D)
"Well this was stupid."
SUDDENLY, the NIGHT FURY blasts past him. Hiccup recoils, watching the massive beast struggle to climb the walls. It flaps violently, then peels away to a rough landing. The dragon is trapped. Hiccup grins, excited to see it again, and slips closer. He watches as the dragon, exhausted and frustrated, leaps into the air, beating its wings furiously. Again and again, it rolls uncontrolled and CRASHES heavily. As if remembering to snap a photo, Hiccup pulls a leather-bound book and flips past drawings of weapons to a blank page. He sketches the dragon quickly, desperate to record the image.
o~||
"Wait...Useless can draw?"
Tuffnut and Ruffnut shrug, looking at each other.
"Never knew."
"No clue."
Snotlout seemed to think about it before denouncing the skill.
"Ahh it's still useless. What good is being able to draw? It serves no purpose. Anything to do with writing is useless. Vikings don't need to draw and write."
Astrid furrowed her brows, not exactly sure about that one, as she had read books that would be impossible without the skill, but she wasn't going to defend the skill yet when Snotlout had a fairly valid point, being that Vikings rarely used the skill and reading was more luxury than use...
"Stupid. What about books?"
Of course, it was Cami who had to pick up for them.
"Why read when you can just go and do it?"
Camicazi smirked some.
"I look forwards to seeing how well you do in your class with that attitude."
"Ha! I'm the best in the village!"
Even Tuffnut knew that was wrong. Fishlegs opened his mouth, but Tuff beat him to it.
"Wait...what? Didn't Hiccup beat you in the ring?"
"Ugh, Just shut up! He cheated! He tricked us! He wasn't beating anything!"
o~||
The Fury claws at the steep rock walls, trying climb out of the cove. It SLIPS and falls hard, crushing several saplings. The Fury rolls back to his feet and slowly crawls to the water's edge. He spots fish in the shallow water and snaps at them... but comes up empty. He lowers his head, looking weakened.
Hiccup (CONT'D)
(MUTTERED)
"Why don't you just...fly away?"
ON Hiccup as he spots the problem. He adjusts his drawing, carefully erasing one half of the dragon's tail. He accidentally drops the charcoal stick. It rolls off of the rock outcropping that hides him from view and bounces into the cove.
TINK. TINK. TINK.
The Night Fury raises his head, spotting Hiccup. They exchange a profound, unflinching stare.
o~||
"Excuse me for saying so, but it reeeeallly looks like you want to eat him at that moment."
||Well I was rather hungry, but that hunger wasn't directed at him. I was more...angry, and curious. I thought he had come to mock me.
"Hiccup? Mock you? He could hardly stand up straight when you roared at him."
||Well I hadn't stuck around to see that part.
o~||
INT. GREAT HALL - NIGHT
A storm is brewing outside. The great doors rattle on their hinges.
GOBBER (O.S.)
"Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?"
o~||
Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Snotlout smirk, remembering this particular event, and Fishlegs makes a face at it too. No one listened to him, and he hadn't even been able to defend books just now either.
But honestly he felt that if he did, they'd look at him as the next Hiccup.
And he couldn't have that.
o~||
The recruits are seated at a table, eating dinner by the glow of the fire pit.
ASTRID
"I mistimed my summersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble."
Eye rolls from the group. (In both movie and Asgard.)
RUFFNUT
(SARCASTIC)
" Yeah. We noticed."
SNOTLOUT
(grabbing Astrid's hand)
"No, no, you were great. That was so 'Astrid'."
GOBBER
"She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves."
CREAK. All eyes turn to Hiccup, entering the hall, sheepishly. Gobber glares at him.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
(glaring at Hiccup)
"Where did Hiccup go wrong?"
He tries to take a seat at the table...
RUFFNUT
"He showed up."
Ouch. Even Ruff herself felt the burn off that one.
TUFFNUT
"He didn't get eaten."
o~||
"Huh, and you guys wonder why he "betrayed" you all. He's better than me. I would have left you all to rot."
o~||
... but the recruits keep closing the gaps. Rolling his eyes, Hiccup sits at the vacant table next to them.
ASTRID
"He's never where he should be."
GOBBER
" Thank you, Astrid."
Gobber stands.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"You need to live and breathe this stuff."
Gobber lays a giant book in the center of the table.
(Obvious discrepancy between script and movie here. I'd call that book thin, or just simply book if I'm feeling generous...but giant? Maybe I read too much.)
GOBBER (CONT'D)
{The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of."
A RUMBLE of thunder shakes the hall. Rain pours down outside.
GOBBER (CONT'D)
"No attacks tonight. Study up."
Gobber EXITS into the storm, leaving the teens staring at the book.
TUFFNUT
(you've got to be kidding)
"Wait, you mean read?"
RUFFNUT
"While we're still alive?"
SNOTLOUT
"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?"
"Yeah! That's my point right there! Reading is useless, writing is useless!"
FISHLEGS
"Oh! I've read it like, seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week..."
The teens stare as Fishlegs goes on too long.
TUFFNUT
"Yeah, that sounds great. There was a chance I was going to read that..."
RUFFNUT
"...but now..."
Snotlout gets up to go.
SNOTLOUT
"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff."
The others follow, with Fishlegs in tow.
FISHLEGS
"Oh and there's this other one that has these spines that look like trees..."
Astrid is the last to go.
Hiccup
"So I guess we'll share-"
ASTRID
"Read it."
o~||
Astrid turns to see how this scene plays with Camicazi, but Cami makes no comment or indication it effects her. Point to Cami. Astrid swallows. Okay; maybe she could have been a tad bit kinder...
o~||
She pushes it toward him and leaves.
Hiccup
"All mine then. Wow, so okay. I'll see you-"
Slam.
Hiccup (CONT'D)
"Tomorrow."
o~||
"Yeah and you really want to tell me you paid attention to him before he started beating you in the ring."
Astrid whipped around, prepared to argue her case, but Camicazi had pointedly turned her face back the screen, and Astrid wasn't sure enough in herself to get up and go to the girl to argue the point.
o~||
SIGH.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. GREAT HALL - LATE NIGHT
ON Hiccup's HAND OPENING the massive (Debatable.) book. Thunder BOOMS outside. The hall is vacant and dark, but for the few candles he's pulled together. Hiccup pours through page after page of strange and frightening dragons.
Hiccup (V.O.)
"Dragon classifications. Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class."
o~||
||Huh...classifying us. A skill that needs the ability to draw and write, correct?"
"Right."
o~||
Hiccup turns the page.
Hiccup (V.O.) (CONT'D)
"Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools."
Hiccup (V.O.) (CONT'D)
"When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight."
||If you can.
Hiccup's eyes drift to a lurid illustration of decapitated Vikings. Another page, another dragon.
Hiccup (V.O.) (CONT'D)
"Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees...extremely dangerous. Kill on sight."
The illustrations seem to take on a life of their own, shifting and squirming in the candlelight.
Hiccup (V.O.) (CONT'D)
"Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous."
o~||
||Kill on sight right? Is this going to be the warning on every single one? I am certain we appreciate your attitude. After all, we reflect it. Vikings. Somewhat dangerous in numbers. Kill on sight.
"Don't get cocky mister. A buncha vikings is what got you killed."
Toothless lightly smacked her head with his tail.
||Fair enough. Moderately dangerous.
o~||
The storm outside rages against the shuttered windows. Hiccup is startled, but presses on.
Hiccup (CONT'D)
"Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."
He begins flipping through the pages. A blur of dragons...
Hiccup (CONT'D)
"Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death. Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside-out. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight..."
Hiccup finally lands upon the page he's been looking for.
Hiccup (V.O.) (CONT'D)
"Night Fury."
||You rang?
It's BLANK - no image, save for a few, sparse details.
||Nothing on me huh.
Hiccup (CONT'D)
"Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself."
o~||
"Very flattering."
||Why thank you.
Gobber looks over the dragon in front of him, trying to put him in the category of what the legends said. He couldn't see it. He dare not say it though...just in case. He looked at Stoic, to the dragon's side.
Any dragon that could whip Stoic the Vast was one worth fearing.
o~||
Hiccup (CONT'D)
"Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you."
Hiccup pulls his sketchbook out of his vest and opens it to his drawing of Toothless. He lays it over the book's blank page and considers it.
CLOSE ON the drawing of Toothless...
|So now it begins. Now I have a face to my name.
+~-E-~+
Glad I'm at least funny johnny.
Foxlight, I'm sorry to give you such a long in coming response, and no I have no heard form you earlier, welcome! I plan to keep writing, even when I get set back like this.
Guest turned curryboh, I am going to assume you meant when the struggling dragon was under the water? No that was Hiccup. As for the cool scar...ehh It's a scar, not sure bout cool. XD. It reminds me of...a pen. It has a point and a widening length very much like a pen does, and when you add the fact that it's branded on my dominant hand for writing and it resonates as a pen. The skin feels different on it even healed. Things get a kind of extra sensory feel about them while held. It's a jarring experience, but an interesting one.
As for not updating...he he...this shall end it! (Hopefully.)
Henry, I plan on giving Stoic a lot of grief. Very soon.
Darkpelt, you are right. However, this is not my first time to "The rodeo". I've been a registered writer for over eight years here, though much of my earlier stories were removed for the sole reason that I was silly enough not to put them in a recycle story like I do now, and I wished to get rid of them...
~C F Winchester.