School. That's all I'm going to say.
This chapter's dare comes from a certain HTTYDDUDE.
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Thor's Beach
The gang was on a little fishing trip, taking the day off from the Academy to relax after the hectic events of the Thorfest games. But they had only just walked onto Thor's Beach when they noticed that there was a rather… big surprise waiting for them.
"Hey there, Scauldy!" cried Ruffnut happily, dropping her fishing rod and running over to the monstrously large Scauldron. She hadn't expected to ever see the iridescent blue-green dragon again!
"Whoa, what's gotten Ruff so happy?" asked Tuffnut obliviously. "Barf's gas again?"
"You idiot, do you even see the thirty-foot long Scauldron with scales that shine like a beacon right in front of you?" Astrid retorted, whacking him over the head with her own fishing rod.
Tuff was indignant. "Yes!" he snapped, then suddenly paused. "Wait. What's a Scauldron again?"
Grunting with annoyance, Astrid whacked him again.
"Th-This is incredible!" exclaimed Hiccup. "Scauldy actually came back! And to think he actually showed up on Berk's shores!"
"I'm ninety percent sure that it was a total coincidence," Fishlegs spoke up.
"Coincidence or not, it certainly is nice to see Ruff and Scauldy reunited," said Snaketail, almost wistfully. She was still touched by how quickly the two had managed to bond – in the nick of time, in fact.
"I'm confused," Batwings told them. "I know that that's Tuffnut's line, but the fact still stands. I'm confused."
Said Thorston boy whipped around, positively livid. "Yeah!" he shouted. "I draw the line at people stealing my line!"
Snotlout was chuckling. "You don't even know what that is, do you?" he laughed.
"Yes I do!" cried Tuffnut, then paused a second time. "Hang on, let me think… alright. I'm confused."
By now, the entire group was chuckling at the male Thorston. For once, Ruffnut wasn't among them – she was too busy patting Scauldy's immense green head and murmuring to him. Scauldy was staring at her with wide eyes and a smile parting his pelican-like jaws.
"I'm still confused," Batwings muttered. "Just who is Scauldy?"
Hiccup started to reply in a voice tinged with his usual sarcastic tone (usually reserved for Tuff or Snotlout), when he remembered. "Oh, that's right," he said. "You've been gone from Berk for a while. Sorry, my mistake."
"I suppose that's my fault," Heather smirked, reaching out to hold Batwings' hand.
It didn't take long to explain to the two Sirens what was going on. Scauldy, as the name suggested, was a Scauldron the gang had met on Changewing Island a while back, after Batwings had left Berk. It had been injured badly enough so that it couldn't fly or swim, and had thusly been doomed to dry out and die in the sun. But thanks in no small part to Ruff, they had been able to improvise a splint for the Scauldron and set it free.
"I still don't know how Ruff got her hair to grow back so fast," Snotlout muttered. He would never admit it, but he thought that she had been pretty good-looking with short hair.
"Wait, Ruff cut her hair?!" exclaimed Batwings. "That's something I would love to have seen."
Making themselves comfortable on the beach, the group rapidly set down their fishing gear and sat on the sand under the shade of a cliff. They cast their lines and starting talking idly amongst themselves. Ruff cast her line as well, but stuck close to Scauldy and kept up her own one-sided conversation.
"It's remarkable to see how… nice she can be when she wants to," chirped Arachne, who was playing with a spare hook.
"Eh, I like her better when she's trying to beat me up," grunted Tuff, staring out at the water as he waited for a fish to get caught on his line.
Snotlout leaned back against a boulder and yawned. "Yeah, I do too," he agreed. "We need something to liven up this boring fishing trip. Why couldn't we have at least brought our dragons with us? Then we'd have plenty of dinner!"
Hiccup sighed. "Because," he explained wearily, "I thought that bringing the gang together for a nice, relaxing trip to Thor's Beach would be a fun thing to do after all the excitement of the past few days."
"Remember, we've been fishing without dragons all our lives," Snaketail added.
"But the old way is so boring!" complained Arachne, then hissed a curse as she cut her finger on the hook she was toying with.
"Don't let Mom hear you say that," Astrid warned her sister.
Batwings happened to glance up at the cliff just then. In a mildly unconcerned tone, he remarked, "Especially since she and the other adults are here as well."
With that remark thrown out to everyone's ears, their heads all shot up and twisted toward the cliff in alarm. Indeed, up at the top were Stoick, Gobber, Spitelout, and an assortment of other Vikings with fishing poles as well.
"I completely forgot that this was Dad's favorite fishing spot," muttered Snotlout, scooting further into the shade of the cliff.
"Why do you suppose they're here?" Heather murmured.
"I don't know," shivered Fishlegs. "I've been scared of my parents ever since they and everyone else saw me ride Meatlug during Thorfest! I know they're just waiting for me to do something else crazy so they can ship me off to Outcast Island and" –
"Calm down, Chicken-legs," Batwings reprimanded, swatting the husky boy on the arm. "In fact, maybe it's a good thing your parents are all here. Now's the perfect time for Astrid to dare someone."
Suddenly, everyone was looking a lot livelier than they were two minutes ago. "And here we go," muttered Hiccup in exasperation.
"I totally forgot about that," Astrid snickered, casting her gaze around to examine each of her friends. When she got to Fishlegs, he squeaked in a worriedly loud tone – but none of the adults below heard it, and continued talking amongst each other.
Finally, Astrid nodded to herself and pointed a finger at her victim. "I'm going to dare Ruffnut," she proclaimed. "Please tell me you're up for it."
It took Ruff a minute to glance up from her one-sided conversation with Scauldy and try and figure out what Astrid was talking about. But then her face split into a grin, and she exclaimed, "As if this day could get any more awesome! What's my dare?"
"Yeah Astrid, what's her dare?" demanded Tuff, an equally wide grin spreading across his face.
The Hofferson girl was smirking as a pretty good idea popped into her head. "Your dare," she told the other girl, "is to sing Scauldy another lullaby loud enough for the grown-ups to hear you."
Evidently, Ruffnut didn't exactly comprehend just how embarrassing the dare could be. Either that, or she didn't quite think singing was embarrassing. It was probably the latter – after all, she did some pretty stupid things with Tuff on a day-to-day basis, and took them all in stride.
"Great idea!" she told Astrid. "I've been wanting to sing to Scauldy again. I bet he missed my voice when he was alone in the ocean."
Beside her, the Scauldron warbled lowly and nodded his great head. And up above, the adults' conversation faltered as they faintly heard it as well.
"That is a good idea," mused Heather. "I've never heard Ruff sing before."
"That's 'cause she's not very good at it," chuckled Tuff.
Under ordinary circumstances, Ruff would have shoved him to the ground for saying that, but she ignored him this time. Instead, she climbed up onto a rock that sat just off the shore in the shallow water, stood up on it, and began to sing to Scauldy. Her voice carried across the beach as she sang the first verse, which went…
"Hush little Viking, don't you cry,
or the Berserkers will stab you in the eye.
Don't let the enemy see you afraid,
or he's gonna gut you with a rusty blade."
At the sound of her raspy voice trying to carry the tune, Tuff chuckled and Snotlout winced. Batwings, however, smiled, and Fishlegs moved his fingers in sync with her voice as if conducting an orchestra.
The chatter from above stopped completely, and Stoick looked over the edge of the cliff in confusion, the better to see what was going on.
Ruff continued to sing, moving on to the second verse…
"If that dragon hears your moans,
he's gonna mash up all your bones.
I promise, Scauldy, if you don't kill me,
my friends and I will get you out to sea."
Scauldy closed his eyes and rested his head on the beach contentedly. A rumbling, purring sound rose out from his throat as he made himself comfortable.
"I can't believe he actually likes that," Snotlout whispered.
"It isn't bad, actually," Batwings commented.
"Except for the gut you with a rusty blade part," said Heather. "That's a bit too violent for a lullaby, don't you think?"
"Remember who you're talking to?" replied Hiccup sarcastically, casting his arm around at the group.
"Hush little Viking, don't you cry,
or the Berserkers will stab you in the eye.
Don't let the enemy see you afraid,
or he's gonna gut you with a rusty blade."
Ruff just kept singing, oblivious to her friends' remarks – or the adults' stares of befuddlement as they gathered around the cliff to watch.
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"What in the name o' Thor's undies is she singin', Stoick?" asked Gobber amusedly. "I haven't heard a tune that bad since the time yeh" –
"Quiet, Gobber," the Chief ordered lightly, and listened to the song a little bit more. It only seemed to have two verses, but Vikings weren't renowned for their creativity.
Mulch raised an eyebrow. "So lemme get this straight, Stoick," he began. "Ya brought us all here so we could listen to 'em sing that badly? It's makin' Bucket's bucket tighten up!"
"My bucket isn't tightening!" whimpered Bucket. "It's just a little concussion from this mornin'!"
Stoick shook his head at the short Viking. "We came here because I suspected we would get a chance to observe more of the kids'… odd behavior," he explained. "They've been acting rather, well, more crazy than usual recently."
"I'll say," Gobber grunted. "Weirdest Thorfest I've seen in all me life."
"Well then, what do ya propose we do, Stoick?" asked Spitelout.
The Chief turned back to the cliff, where the Thorston girl was serenading the sea dragon. "I don't know," he replied, "but we'll think of something soon enough."
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So, readers, I've been thinking!
Specifically, I've been thinking of writing a brand-new, updated version of 'Legends are Born', based entirely on the TV series. However, I don't want the new fanfiction to be too much like the older one. Therefore, I've been wondering if I should do a crossover between HTTYD and either Guardians of Ga'Hoole or Monster Hunter. Or both!
Give me feedback if you want, but I think this is what I'm going to eventually do.
Anyway, dare suggestions are very much appreciated, and I'll see you next time!
Next chapter: Ruffnut dares Heather