The villagers watched eagerly as Hiccup flew from island to island, gathering draconic troops. The monstrous nightmares and zipplebacks still jangled everyone's nerves, especially when Hiccup got close enough to perform the first act of training, touching their snouts. The zipplebacks were especially tricky, since you had to please both heads at the same time. And with the nightmares' there was always the possibility that one would flame up while Hiccup was still touching it. The Vikings didn't want to think about what that could do to the boy, especially Stoic, because this was his son, and Gobber because he knew how much the boy worked with his hands. But despite these risks and difficulties, Hiccup got a fair few of these two species into his ranks.
Of course, their numbers were nothing compared to the nadders and gronkles. The women very hghly approved of his approach to the vainest dragon alive. In fact, if he used those tactics on almost any girl in the village, he was sure to have quite a few women after that heart of his. Although, the Viking Wives didn't see just how closely their husbands were watching Hiccup's work. But they would be certain to know after a few days of such treatment.
But with the gronkles, it was a flipside of the coin. Oh, that tactic of rewarding a job well done with a scratch stirred up so many ideas in the women's heads that the male population was going to be very busy giving out compliments and doing extra jobs around the house because of the promised rewards from their ladies. As it turned out, dragons and Vikings really weren't so different.
The fruits of these tactics paid very well, Gobber thought, with the number of verbal and whistled commands these two species learned. It made him question his own 'sink or swim' methods. The nightmare was a large incentive, of course, but perhaps he could teach more specifics using these different methods. He even managed to teach the zipplebacks a few things this way, although he gave up on the nightmares from the beginning, a wise choice in Gobber's opinion. It was rather like how he only taught the twins the essentials, because their attention span wasn't longer for anything else, and tried but failed to curtail Snotlout's pride. He wondered, what would happen if you put the twins on zipplebacks and left Snotlout with a nightmare? They might just teach each other a thing or two about learning and following orders. Or it could make the problem worse. He shivered at the thought.
They watched with delighted laughter as one of the wild nightmares tried to get fresh with Hiccup and was immediately surrounded from all the bigger dragons from the ring. Hiccup had qute the dragon fan club now. But the laughter grew louder when Toothless shot a glance and the nightmare who dared to lay the edge of his wing on Hiccup's shoulder. They could almost hear him snarling "my rider."
But, as the dragon training sequence finished up and the mood in the film changed, so did the mood in the Hall. The traiing had taken less than a week, and Hiccup had said that he wanted Vikings and dragons to work together to defeat the Red Death. So what had happened? Why wasn't he back yet? Had he gone after the Red Death with just dragons? Had he been hurt?
Had he been killed?
But their thoughts were jerked out of their rather depressing turn when Hiccup began thinking strategy. Just like his previous experiences with Toothless and the dragons in the ring, Hiccup started to apply his knowledge of dragons to the Red Death. The first plan, to use the dragon's own fire against it, seemed brilliant to the Vikings. The twins comment made everyone laugh, and the ones mentioned glow with pride. In fact, the Vikings were just about yelling at Hiccup to go with that plan right away, but that was before he started poking holes in it.
There were dragons that spewed things besides fire in defense, and there was no guarantee that this dragon was also vulnerable to fire on the inside. As Hiccup listed off the things that could go wrong, Stoic ached in sympathy for his son. He knew how that felt, to have to plan around unknowns, Hiccup himself usually being one of them. It was one of the burdens of a chief, to make such decisions. But when Hiccup ran his audience through his alternative plan, they gasped at the genius of it.
A cage of molten rock.
Indeed, why not trap the beast in its own lair? It matched his forces perfectly, with breath and fire attacks that could melt the mountain on top of the monstrous dragon. Although, starving wasn't a death a Viking would wish on anyone. They knew too much about it from those hard winters.
But this plan also had flaws. More, actually, than the gas explosion plan. The chief knew that feeling all too well, of having to weigh the costs of one dangerous option against the other. It was one of the things he disliked most about chiefing, knowing that what he decided would affect the whole village, and that any errors in judgment would be on his head. He just wished Hiccup hadn't had to learn that feeling so early on in his life. Then the words, Hiccup's thoughts, echoed through the Hall and left his father slightly breathless.
Was this how his father felt, when he had to make the big decisions for the tribe? Did he debate one solution over the other, trying to find an option where the benefits outweighed the risks? And what part had he played in those balancing acts? He was always messing up everything with his inventions, well-meaning or not. Several plans and options had probably been discarded because, while they were the best option, throw a Hiccup into the mix and they suddenly became that much riskier, that much more dangerous. No wonder his father had always been angry with him.
The others in the Hall turned to look at their Chief as the man sat on the bench, jaw dropped slightly and hands limp on the table. Was what Hiccup said true; was this the kind of mental and emotional strife the man endured every time he had to make a major decision? For a man under so much pressure, he did an amazing job. And maybe, just maybe, by the time Stoic finished making all the tough decisions, he didn't really have room anymore in his head for a plan wrecker like his son. It didn't eliminate his actions, but it did ease their severity. If Hiccup realized this and gave his father leeway because of it, who were they to hold past decisions against the man?
The gas plan, with less risks and more facts to back it up, won in the end, with Toothless, of course, taking on the most difficult task. Stoic smiled. Now that was the decision he expected from a future chief. The fact that the black dragon already had the necessary experience just added merit.
The thought Hiccup went to sleep with, that after this he could go back to Berk and help his Viking family discover the joys of dragons, heartened everyone in the room, but also made them worry. If it didn't work, well it wouldn't matter, because he would be dead. Hiccup wasn't back to Berk yet.
So what did it mean?
And here we go, another reaction chapter. I couldn't resist the first two bits about comparing dragons to Vikings. Did you enjoy them?
I read the 11th Hiccup book today, and now I want to punch Cressida for that ending. How could she let Alvin get it?! I was screaming at the book!
We are a measly 6,000 views away from 100,000 views. Help me get there, people!
By the way, I'm planning on flipping another popular story on its head, by doing the insanely popular Big Four Hogwarts story, but in a way no one expected. Intrigued? Feel free to PM!