"Toothless, echolocation," Hiccup says.
Toothless roars down the rocky cave and begins to 'see' the pathway and starts to follow it. Repeatedly roaring and trying to 'see'.
"So Hiccup, what is the plan?" Kettil asks.
"We are getting the dragons here as well," Hiccup informs.
"That's more of a point than a plan," Kettil points out.
"The plan is to save your tribe. More dragons mean more to help get them out of harm's way. Besides, you wanted to learn how to ride dragons, didn't you?" Hiccup asks.
"Yes. But not in a volcano," Kettil says looking around at the small dark cave.
Hiccup smirks as they kept flying before coming out into a well-lit location over a magma pool where there were flying around. Spires of rock where dragons rested and rivers of magma flow below. "Take your pick. Which dragon do you fancy?" Hiccup asks.
Kettil hums as he looks around. Trying to spot any dragons that look good to him. Hiccup gets Toothless to circle around so he could get a good look. "That one," he says, pointing to a nadder.
"Toothless, take us down," Hiccup instructs.
Toothless growls softly and glides down to the pillar and land in front of the naddar sleeping away.
"Alright, let's get started," Hiccup says dismounting and starts getting into the saddle bags and starts pulling out food and some grass. "Come with me."
Kettil looks at him curiously as he gets off and starts to follow. "I don't think grass will work here. They are dragons. They eat meat."
"Watch and learn," Hiccup says before taking a handful of the grass and rips it up and soon sleeping dragons' heads started to raise.
"Whoa…what kind of grass is that?" Kettil asks in surprise.
"It is what we call dragon nip. Now your hand," Hiccup instructs starting to sprinkle the grass around the surface they were walking on. Kettil reluctantly at first gives him his hand and Hiccup takes the food and sets it in his palm before leading him towards the nadder that was now awake. "Now keep your hand out like this and let him her come to you," Hiccup instructs stopping a bit away and starts to wait.
The nadder sniffs the food before slurping it down and then putting her head under his hand and lets him stroke her head. Purring softly.
"Now scratch her head and, after a bit, under the chin," Hiccup instructs.
Kettil starts to do as said and even use his other hand, making the nadder growl happily and move her head around for more areas to scratch.
"Good. Now proceed to scratch from the head down to the tail and at the tail stroke her spines down," Hiccup instructs as dragons started to land near them, drawn by the nip.
Toothless smirks as the boy nervously kept scratching. Afraid that if he stopped for any reason, the dragons might kill him. 'Humans. And I got one that would rather live in a nest than a human home,' she thinks happily as the dragons notice Hiccup and curiously poke his side.
"Ok girl. Time to get them to side with us," Hiccup says walking over to Toothless.
Toothless growls and gets up again, starting to speak to the dragons as they all look bewildered one way or another. Eventually nodding along and starts to spread their wings to take off.
"Kettil, time to go," Hiccup calls mounting up as another rumble was felt.
Kettil looks around and rushes back to him but then gets grabbed by the back of his shirt and placed into the crook of the nadder's neck.
"You're riding your new dragon," Hiccup informs before whistling and Toothless gives a roar and takes off.
The dragons around them start to flap their wings and flap off the ground after them.
"Let's go girl. We have a tribe to evacuate," Hiccup says before Toothless started to lead the way.
Hiccup flew in with the wild pack of dragons and saw that most of the village was already being lifted off in sleds tied to dragons or on dragons themselves. "We brought back a few more," Hiccup calls as Ymir started to rumble again, this time starting to leak lava.
"Great. We just got most of this going along. Course we could only get so far on land," Thorve says flying towards him.
"Start getting them onto these dragons and we will start moving," Hiccup instructs.
Thorve nods and flies back down. Grabbing the prepared ropes and then slinging them up to the dragons for them to hold. The other riders doing the same as they start to lift the ropes and sleds into the air.
"Alright, is that everyone?" Hiccup asks.
"Should be. We checked that village twice," Thorve says coming back and looking to the volcano erupting behind them.
"Well, either way, this is all we can do. What is left behind will be lost," Hiccup says as they started to fly away.
"Well, I am back with meeting with my dad," Hiccup says getting off Toothless. Looking around to the village under construction.
"And construction is going well…well enough with a fiery mountain of doom in the background," Astrid adds with a slight chuckle as she looks over one of the plans Throve drew up.
"Well dad has said that the Hooligans will support our allies in this time of need and will talk to the rest of the alliance if they will help as well," Hiccup informs.
"How much time?" Astrid asks bluntly, taking out another plan.
"That is hard to say, but I am here to help while he does this," Hiccup says.
"Well, they can use some dragon lifting help. Stormfly is able to help on her own so I am here being the leader in the crew…I don't know how you and Thorve do this," Astrid admits, looking to him.
"The problem with that is Stormfly still back at Berk with all the other baby dragons…except for Arrowback here," Hiccup says uncovering the baby whispering death from under the table and it croons at him.
Astrid smiles and turns toward him. "You always destroy other people's fun?"
"You did request all the eggs," Hiccup reminds smirking.
Astrid pokes his forehead and pushes slightly. "And you requested us. Who loses?"
"Arrowback, you want to field this one?" Hiccup asks smirking.
Arrowback growls and curls his tail around both their arms and pulls them together.
"I think that is our answer," Hiccup says smirking.
Astrid chuckles as she wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him closer while Arrowback sees a large moth and goes to snap and chase it. "I know you want Thorve in this little circle."
"Also, Thorve told me she wanted help with the Ymir so I bought some immediate help. Where is she?" Hiccup asks.
Astrid nods her head over to Thorve standing by many pots and cauldrons and leaning into it, seemingly checking on something. "Good looking…isn't she?" Astrid asks smiling.
"Hey Thorve!" Hiccup called.
Thorve shrieks and falls over with the pot splashing something over her. She groans and turns a glare towards him. "You are so getting payback for this."
"No, but I brought you some help for your plan with Ymir," Hiccup says before pointing up to the whispering deaths flying around above them.
Thorve groans as she stands and flicks the gel off of her as she looks up at the dragons. "Good. Get them ready to start digging. And with hot lava nearby or in it for a while too. Astrid, those flyers, now we can use them for this moment," Thorve orders, still cleaning herself off. "I forgot how sticky this is."
"I even managed to get the big guy," Hiccup says as Thorve caught sight of something white.
Thorve turns her view upward and tries to measure the size in her head, but could only see it was close to twice the size of the dragons around him. "Oh wow…"
"He is still young too," Hiccup says.
Astrid chuckles as she walks over and snatches the soaked vest off of her. "Nightmare gel…in case you couldn't find a dragon who can go through lava," she says sniffing it. "Brain of two Hiccups."
'Not far off,' Hiccup thinks smiling as the dragons start to grab pot after pot of the gel.
"So did I do good?" Hiccup asks Thorve with a smirk.
"Clean me off after this and I will consider it," Thorve challenges, smirking back.
"Alright," Hiccup says as the big guy seemed to be getting antsy.
Thorve blinks. "Wait, you're serious?" she asks, Toothless getting up behind them and ready to take off.
Hiccup shrugs. "Why not? We all need a good break after this," he says before grabbing her hand and leading her onto Toothless. Astrid smiling as she watches them take off.
"So how did you get this idea?" Hiccup asks, trying to rack his brain on how volcanoes work.
Thorve smiles as she sat in front of him. "Workshop. Left an almost empty bottle near a fire again…except it was corked. And then when we set out and saw Yamir…I remembered it and this time tried cracking a shard off and made it work. But the challenging part is redirecting the lava someplace safe," she notes, looking around the surrounding area and points to the steep cliffside. "You think they will ever build on that side?"
"I thought of the same thing. That is why I borrowed these from Alvin," Hiccup says.
Thorve sighs. "You thought of this and was planning to do the same…weren't you?"
"I thought of this and thought you would come up with the same thing," Hiccup says smiling as Arrowback flew past them.
"Still…you were planning to do it. Heh. Looks like I got beaten for once," Thorve laughs off as she reaches out and pets Arrowback.
"So how have the new species been?" Hiccup asks.
Thorve smiles at him. "Really great to learn. I never thought I would be able to study a dragon like these. Maybe even turn those loose teeth that falls out into something. Or something based on it."
"Slow down dragon princess," Hiccup jokes as he playfully wraps his arms around her and hugs her.
Thorve sticks her tongue out at him as all the dragons approach the other side of the volcano.
"You have been studying this the most, where to start?" Hiccup asks.
Thorve now smirks. "So you haven't come up with a plan. Then my record is unblemished," she says proudly before whistling and points to the top as she looks to the whispering deaths who screech and immediately dive into the rock face in separate spots. Sounds of rock crumbling and screeching abound. "You owe me two baths for scaring me," she says playfully at him.
"I asked where to start because you had been looking at the problem in person as I have been off getting support and the dragons you needed," Hiccup corrects.
Thorve slaps her good arm against his chest and makes him cough. "Astrid taught me that so you don't ruin my moment. And it was where it was less likely to ever be built in the history of the entire island."
"So we going to be spending a while here to tame, observe, and learn about the new dragon species?" Hiccup asks.
"The only way to get down every information about them. We would take…about a month. And then finding a secondary island to put them in just in case…" Thorve lists off as she kept going. While still leading the dragons in where and how much in their digging and placing of the gel.
"How many do we have? I was not able to get a good count when we caught them," Hiccup inquires, watching the whispering deaths and screaming death dig.
"At present…three. The rest are possibly still hiding away," Thorve informs.
"Any tests so far like dragon nip?" Hiccup asks.
"That's the strangest bit. The nip doesn't affect them. They just…paw at it like regular grass," Thorve says a bit confused.
"Hmm…interesting. This requires a different approach then," Hiccup says.
"We can come up with a way another time," Thorve says, going back to redirecting the dragons fully.
"…I may redirect many of these dragons to this tribe," Hiccup mutters to himself.
"You say something?" Thorve asks, smiling at the result of the large cracks that have enough rock between the lava from spilling out.
"The whispering death dragons might be ideal for mining settlements," Hiccup informs.
"Just don't dig under them," Thorve reminds as the last of the jars of nightmare gel is placed inside the cracks.
"Speaking of which, we got the outcasts talking and learned that under Berk are tunnels where they planned to unleash the whispering death one on us when we were still at war with them. I took a look and I say we found a good area for stables that cannot be burnt down," Hiccup informs.
"And you already got plans on how to make them," Thorve guesses as she grabs a small hand stinger and a small arrow.
"I asked dad to have the tunnels surveyed for us and then when we get back we work on them together," Hiccup says holding her now.
Thorve jumps a little when he did and sighs. "You just keep scaring me like that," she notes. Then grabbing a pot of nightmare gel and dips the arrow in it. "Care to light it up for me?" she asks chuckling as he grabs some sparking rocks and burst the arrow into flames. She smiles and fires off the arrow into the gel which starts to send flames into the placed jars which explode bit by bit until it reaches the bottom where it causes a massive explosion that blew a large chunk out. Hiccup raised an eyebrow as they watch just the rocks crumble now and some lava leaking.
"I think we need more," Hiccup says, wrapping his arms around her again.
"Nope," Thorve says before another heavy rumble and the large eaten chunk starts to fall out and to the side. Thorve smirks back to him as the lava starts to roll out down the side of the mountain and into the ocean. "That should save some heat as well. Now it won't melt as much."
"Still, we should go see the chief and elder about when it does melt," Hiccup says as the whispering deaths and the screaming death get out of the lava area.
Thorve hums as she turns to watch the lava flow into the water and melt down any ice and snow in its way. "This should save them more time."
"Still, we need to talk to them," Hiccup says before Toothless started leading all the dragons back to the village under construction.
"So where are we right now on construction anyway?" Thorve asks as they sat in the great hall, waiting for the rest of the leaders to show up.
"Right now everything is being made," Hiccup says as Smulder, the new chieftess, arrived.
"And the most important building, the storehouses?" Thorve questions, idly drawing in her book.
"Ah, chieftess. That is what we need to talk to you about," Hiccup says.
Smulder hums and crosses her arms. "The storehouses? What about them?"
"The melting of the snow constantly with the volcano acting like it has the distinct possibility of melting the snow constantly over the years and then the water freezing back over. So the storehouse should be on a higher elevation," Hiccup says, talking to her like an equal.
Smulder nods at that. "Can we take it that you returned so soon that Stoick is sending help?" Gobber asks.
"He is. He is also trying to get support from the other members of the alliance as well," Hiccup says.
"Count yourself lucky," Thorve says smiling. "Most can stand up on their own, but it takes great strength to accept those who help you."
"Either way, now that we have done that. Not much else I can do to help personally," Hiccup informs.
"Other than picking up a hammer and nails," Thorve suggested.
"We have dragons to train. After all, those are still wild dragons and we have an unknown species of a dragon to study," Hiccup reminds.
"The problem is numbers…for all we know…there could be dragon poachers for their tusks," Thorve sighs and closes her book.
"That is why they belong to us now. Gobber," Hiccup addresses with full seriousness in his eyes. "Make sure none of them come to harm, ok?"
"That includes maiming?" Gobber asks, holding his prosthetic ax.
Thorve clears her throat as she packs up her bags.
"No damage at all to the dragons," Hiccup informs.
Thorve clears her throat again.
Hiccup sighs. "And keep those poachers alive to talk to so we know if they will send more."
"Alright," Gobber says.
"We should also talk about the trade route for the ore," Hiccup adds.
"Any luck?" Hiccup asks having come from training some of the wild dragons.
Thorve sighs. "Trying to get all this to work. And then there is trying to the suitable island…"
"I mean any luck training them," Hiccup says.
"Eh…define training," Thorve requests, trying to smile.
"Have you made any progress in getting them to like you?" Hiccup asks.
"One does…I think. They are stubborn as Stoick," Thorve tries to describe.
"Take me to them. Let's see if we can't make some progress together," Hiccup says.
Thorve smiles and takes his hand before leading him to where the dragons were lounging around. Growling, they sit up when they notice the two viking approaching. "How do you deal with a stubborn Stoick anyway?"
"Watch," Hiccup says before walking up to the one she had pointed out, looking it right in the eye the whole time.
The dragon growls in its throat as it stares back, scratching the ground as a warning.
"Sit down. We feed you, so the least you can do is let us take care of you," Hiccup informs sternly.
The dragon huffs as it keeps staring before breaking eye contact and lays down on the ground, not wanting to look at him again. Hiccup looking to the other dragons and they lay their heads down as well.
"Good boy, now have you been fed yet?" Hiccup asks.
The dragon puffs up smoke as he kept his gaze away from the two.
"Thorve, go get them food, ok?" Hiccup asks.
"Already here," Thorve says holding a piece of boar meat.
"Give it here," Hiccup says before moving closer to the dragon.
Thorve smiles as she gives him the meat and watches the dragon carefully.
"Here," Hiccup says giving the food to the dragon.
The dragon turns its gaze at him before snapping up the meat and chewing on it.
"Good boy," Hiccup says starting to scratch on its neck.
The dragon growls as it gnaws on the meat, eyeing Thorve now.
"Thorve, have you tried the honey yet?" Hiccup asks.
"Do you have any?" Thorve asks, looking over what they have.
"We should," Hiccup says.
"A little help then. I can't find it," Thorve says, now digging into a crate. "We should probably have one of the riders keep watch over these guys."
"I will be right back," Hiccup informs going to help.
Thorve hums as she keeps digging around while the dragons start to get curious around her now that her mate is gone and it's obvious she would be of the same stubbornness. "Oh. One jar," she says bringing up a small one and opens it up. She hums as she sniffs it before hearing sniffs and looks around to see them almost drooling at the smell of honey.