Bloom and Brightfire are flying out over the ocean, no real destination in mind, when they come across a ship…with a familiar crest on its sails. The same crest that was on that old abandoned ship in the ship graveyard.
When she takes out a spyglass from her pouch to get a better look, what she sees is…disturbing. Barrels filled with arrows tipped with a poisonous-looking green substance of some sort, green-colored metal cages, and…catapults?
Then, one of the men down there spots them and his jaw drops.
Then, he's calling to the others.
The next thing Bloom knows, Brightfire's falling out of the sky with one of those arrows - deadly, she's sure of it, they just killed her best friend! - and a net from the closest catapult catches them. The landing on the ship is jarring, but Bloom's more focused on her best friend than the eventual soreness that's sure to follow.
"Brightfire! C'mon, do something, wake up!"
The net is thrown off them, and rough hands grab her - she swings her elbow back, and hears a satisfying crunching sound upon impact. From the swearing, she just broke somebody's nose.
When a dozen huge hands keep her still, though, there's not much she can do without using her magic - which she's keeping a secret for as long as possible, as Vikings don't have a very good opinion of it. Hence why she never told anyone in Berk about it.
She's dragged away kicking and screaming - literally - down to the lower hold before being tossed into a cell facing a wall and the door quickly shut and locked. Just before Bloom can get to her feet and try to punch one of the guards, unfortunately.
After they leave her alone, she hears a voice that can only belong to a dragon grumble "Now they're hunting down their own kind. Will these humans never stop?"
Bloom asks "Hello? Who are these people?"
"Can she just hear us talking?"
"You think she might've gotten hit over the head?"
"Who cares? Either way, its not like she can-"
Bloom interrupts the widespread conversation going on between all the dragons, saying "I can understand you. Who are these people, and why are you all locked up?"
There's a thick silence for a solid minute, and then one dragon asks "You can truly understand us? If so, tell us your name."
"Yes, I can understand you. Bloom, my name's Bloom."
"These humans call themselves the Dragon Hunters, Bloom. The name is self-explanatory, I should think. They shoot us out of the sky with their arrows that knock us out, with no regard for any consequences to us or possible hatchlings or mates, then chain us up and lock us in their ships. None have made it back to say what happens next."
"Have you seen my friend? She's a Light Fury, her name's Brightfire. She's got a saddle on her! One moment we're hovering near the clouds, the next she's falling out of the sky! Brightfire! Can you hear me? Say something! Anything!"
One of the guards yells "Quiet down there, you little nuisance!"
"As if I'm listening to you! I've truly had enough of big tough Vikings thinking they're the Gods' gift to the world! Go eat a few of your arrows, why don't you?"
Viggo listens from his office in the ship as a few guards start yelling, and Ryker says "That's likely the girl's doing, Viggo. She's a fighter, no mistake there. Took twelve of the Hunters to get her away from the Light Fury. And, even then, they came out worse for it."
Viggo smirks, and says "She's got a fire in her soul, it seems. I'm more interested in where she managed to acquire a Light Fury. They, and the Night Furies, are exceedingly rare these days."
Ryker raises an eyebrow, then growls in frustration as a clanging sound starts up with a girl's voice shouting. "I do hope you have some use for her, Viggo, if you aren't planning on killing her and dumping her body to be picked clean by the fishes. Because she's making enough of a racket to make my head hurt, and she hasn't been in there for twenty minutes."
Ryker eventually goes to the deck to deal with his mounting headache, after - very - unsuccessfully threatening Bloom into being quiet.
Three hours after they caught a girl riding a Light Fury, Viggo has Ryker bring her into his office - and gets met with a furious glare on a very pretty face. She's got a striking appearance, with flaming orange-red hair - that really does look like the Gods took a bit of fire, turned it into hair while keeping it colored the same, and put it on her head as her hair - flawless skin, a pale complexion, delicate features, and huge blue eyes that stand out even more in contrast to her hair and skin tone. The only thing that spoils it is the expression on her face - stone-cold furious, looking for all the world like she could really tear him apart with nothing but her fingernails if given the chance.
Viggo gives her an obvious once-over when Ryker practically tosses her into the chair, earning an unimpressed look from the red-head and her crossing her arms over her chest. After a minute, he leans back and asks "So, what's a girl like you doing riding on the back of a dragon?"
His only answer is a stony "She's my best friend, and dragons have been better to me than Vikings ever were."
Viggo blinks at the sheer venom and bitterness in her voice when she says the word 'vikings' before regaining his composure and saying "So you ran away, then."
She snorts derisively, and says "Not quite. They disowned me. Didn't give them the chance to banish me or kill me for daring to think there was a better way than the traditional Viking way of 'run forward with your weapon above your head yelling 'Die, dragon!''"
Ryker and Viggo share a look, a bit thrown by her cynical, jaded attitude since she's still only a teenager. Eventually, Ryker asks "Where'd you get the Light Fury, girl?"
She raises an eyebrow at him, then says "In the land of 'I'm not telling you shit' - that's just three degrees east of 'Not your business' and just south of 'screw off' if you were wondering."
The next instant, there's a sword pointed at her face - she doesn't even blink, she's either used to such an occurrence or she's got a lot of nerve and guts. Viggo's honestly very impressed by that, though he won't say it out loud.
Even more so when she says "Either kill me or put the sword away. I've been threatened all my life, for the most part. Getting a sword pointed at me hasn't worked for years now."
Viggo chuckles, then says "It seems a different approach is needed. If you don't lie to me, I won't lie to you. You have my word."
She stares at him for a minute, then says "Fine. I'll start. Who the Hel are you people and why did you shoot Brightfire and I out of the sky?"
Viggo chuckles again, and says "Straight to the point, I like that. My name is Viggo Grimborn, and this is my brother Ryker. Ryker, do put the sword down. Diplomacy works so much better when there isn't a sharp blade staring you in the eye."
Ryker sheathes the weapon, but says "She mouths off again, she won't be so lucky next time."
Viggo clears his throat to get his interesting prisoner's attention again, and says "You know our names, now what's yours?"
"Bloom." When he opens his mouth to specify that he was asking for her full name, she coldly says "Just Bloom. I was disowned a month ago, remember? Don't have a clan or family to call my own. So, no last name."
"Ah. Now to your second question. I'm the leader of an organization known as the Dragon Hunters. We shot your Light Fury down because she's exceedingly valuable. Nobody has seen a Fury of either type in about a decade or so. Finding the pair of you was a stroke of luck from the Gods themselves."
There's a roaring sound, and Bloom immediately jerks around yelling "Brightfire!"
Ryker groans, and mutters "Twice the noise, twice the headache. Wonderful."
Bloom jerks her head around, and asks "What are you planning on doing with her?"
"Any of a number of things, though I'll most likely auction her off. She'll go for an astronomical price, I can assure you."
Bloom sees red right then, and asks "You mean to tell me, your going to sell my long-time best friend? Its all about the money to you?"
Viggo nods, and says "Very astute of you. I assume you have a different view, seeing as you were riding her. I suppose she could be useful for travel-" He never gets any further, as Ryker suddenly tackles him to the ground - at least, that's what he thinks until they're both thrown with a large amount of force into the back wall. And then Viggo's desk lands on top of them both.
Viggo looks up in time to see her running out the door yelling "Change of plans, everyone! Jailbreak in session! We're getting out of here!" Something bursts from her hands, something that looks like an explosive ball of fire that hits a Dragon Hunter in the chest and sends him flying. She sees the lever that keeps all the cage doors shut, and yanks it down. All the dragons immediately jump out and break through the ceiling, even as the Light Fury gets out and Bloom shouts her name and jumps on while yelling to the other dragons to get out of here.
By the time Viggo and Ryker get to the deck, its in ruins - all the Dragon Root arrows are destroyed, the Catapults have been blown up, and all the dragons are flying around and destroying the ship.
And then there's Bloom, sitting atop her Light Fury looking a bit like a queen right then. Judging from the way she's glaring at him, she finds him one of the most loathsome, disgusting people she's ever met - and, that this is just the beginning. He gets the feeling he's just made a dangerous enemy in Bloom.
Ryker yells "This isn't over, Dragon Rider!"
Her voice is as cold as he's ever heard it - which isn't saying much, since he just met her today - but combined with her words it gives him the sinking feeling this is going to escalate and completely disrupt his business. "No, it most certainly isn't." She flicks her hand towards the mast, and it…it explodes. Sort of. Its more of a combination of blowing up and getting sliced in half.
Either way, she's just crippled the ship!
"Everyone, follow us! This way!"
They fly up into the clouds, getting well out of sight and making it impossible to track her.
A long minute after all the dragons they caught today are gone, Ryker asks "You saw that to, right? With her wrist and the mast? And what she did back in your office?"
Viggo nods, then asks "I'm assuming she's the reason you tackled me?"
"I didn't tackle you! She threw me into you with a wave of her hand!"
Viggo gets the feeling this is only going to end badly. Very, very badly.
Bloom and Brightfire land on the deck of the wrecked ship with the Dragon Hunter crest on it. After purposefully setting off a couple of traps, Bloom mutters "I'm already getting a bad feeling about this, Brightfire. But, this is probably the only spot where we can learn anything about these people. And I thought Berkians were bad, at least they just kill the dragons in an effort to survive. Not its not terrible that they can't just learn to get along with dragons now that they're free from the Red Death."
What they find is a cylinder that's stylized as a dragon that they decide to call the Dragon Eye, and the hundred or so traps littered throughout the ship.
And...bones.
Dragon bones.
AN: Hey, everyone! Another update for you all! I hope everyone's doing alright with the quarantine - I, personally, have finally unburied myself from a mountain of projects. Hooray!
At any rate, what do you all think of this version of Bloom? Tough, independent, and extremely attached to Brightfire. And, yes, she knows how to use her magic. She can't transform, but I've replaced that with something else. No spoilers, though. *grins* I will say she's not fond of Vikings, after her treatment on Berk.
Fair warning, I've had WAY too much free time on my hands, even with the homework and stuff, so I - predictably - got bombarded with ideas for stuff of all kinds. Not even just Winx Club crossovers...although, I have a few ideas for some more of those to. *Guilty look* Guild Wars 2, WinxXMerlin crossover, WinxXDragon Nest crossover, a few pure Winx stories, a Harry Potter story...yeah, its a lot. I may be going insane in my own unique way. Insanity by fanfiction writing. At any rate, I would appreciate some feedback on if they're any good...I say this, yet I had to write these stories down just to get them out of my head.
Harry Potter - FemHarry called Hailey. Creature Inheritances. Manipulative Dumbledore. Sane Tom. Lily was adopted and had a Naga Inheritance. Grey Hailey. Very far into it by necessity of staying sane and being able to focus on other stories. Also has a prequel, so things will make sense.
Guild Wars 2 - multiple stories, spawned by playing the game! Sylvari Commander, multiple Commanders...yes, I'm clearly into the game and I totally admit it.
WinxXMerlin - found this show, really into it...and Bloom gets sent back in time to help Merlin. She ends up taking the Great Dragon's(how ironic)place, since she can't die. Uther hates her.
WinxXDragon Nest - Bloom gets thrown into Dragon Nest world(Alteria or Legendia, I've seen it called both) by Valtor from Season 8, but Season 7 never happened. And she's a fighter after all the things she's been through. And the other characters are spin-off classes. Yes, I also think I might need help. This is getting serious.
Winx stories - two different ones. one where Valtor isn't evil...or even in control of his own body...or an adult. Another where its much the same with the Wizards of the Black Circle. These two hit me in the back of the head out of nowhere and refused to leave my head.
In fact, all of them did once I started playing the games and such. Any possibilities? Yes, I've been keeping myself entertained...with some consequences. Ta-da...