I woke up in my hut to the sun coming through the window. I got up, walked to my desk, and started drawing a bit. I was designing a new piece of equipment that would make our fight easier. I had just finished the prototype drawing when I realized everyone was probably eating in the clubhouse. I put the blueprints away when a small piece of paper fell from my desk. It was the original design of my hut. I took a look around my hut, and decided to frame the drawing layout I had made, a reminder.
I still had the old design with me, even though it was completely built. I liked keeping it around. I walked outside and shifted into a Nadder to fly up to the clubhouse. As I neared, the smell of breakfast filled the air. I arrived to everyone doing their own thing. Hiccup was at the middle table with Fishlegs, working on something. Snotlout and Ruffnut were playing Maces and Talons while Tuff was watching, and Astrid was nowhere to be found.
"Hey guys. I got next." I said to Ruff, who was obviously going to win.
"Good morning." Hiccup said, looking up from what I could now identify as the Dragon Eye. "Help yourself to some pork, eggs, and bread." I grabbed a few pieces of the food and sat down at the middle table.
"You know, we need a new name for cooked bread. It's bread, but we cook it with our fire and it becomes crispy, and so delicious, especially with yak butter." Tuff said in his 'sophisticated' voice.
"Ah, yes brother nut." Ruff joined in, getting up from Maces and Talons, allowing Snotlout to quickly turn the game board around. He isn't smart, but he's crafty, I'll give him that.
"What shall we call it?" Tuff continued.
"Ok, what's going on here? Why are they-?" I questioned, but Fishlegs waved it off.
"I don't know, just, don't question it." He said. The nuts continued to be weird while I tried to converse with Hiccup and Fishlegs which, as everyone knows, is a dangerous task when they are studying something.
"So, where's Astrid?"
"On patrol. Fishlegs, maybe try the Terrible Terror with the Night Terror." Hiccup said.
"What are you guys working on?" I asked.
"Well, we are trying to see what combinations of dragons and different dragon fire changes the projection in the Dragon Eye, and how those different projections are changed by different lenses." Fishlegs said.
"Cool! Anything yet?"
"No."
"If you guys need any dragon fire, just-"
"Toast! You toast the bread over fire! Call it toast!" Tuffnut yelled.
"Ridiculous. You don't call a cooked meat cook!" Ruff spatted back.
"Ruff, Tuff, it's about time for your guard duty. I'll send Astrid to get you when she's done patrolling." Hiccup said.
"Ugh. Fine." They walked to Barf and Belch and flew away.
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"Hey! Guys! You are officially relieved from guard duty!" Astrid yelled from the back of Stormfly at the watch tower overlooking the Southern side of the island. She called again when no response was given. "Guys! Ugh. Stormfly, get me in close, would ya?" Stormfly flew them in and they landed on the watchtower. "Why do we have to go through this every single time? No sleeping on guard duty-" Astrid stopped when she saw the twins were not actually present. In their place stood two dummies, vaguely resembling Ruff and Tuff. "Are you kidding me?" Astrid groaned as she grabbed their helmets and flew back to the edge.
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I ran after Hiccup after he and Fishlegs finished their studies. "Hey, Hiccup!" I called after him.
"Hey Jackson, sorry I was busy earlier." He said turning around. I caught up and we walked together.
"No, it's fine. I just, well… I don't know, I feel like the team has been together for so long and I'm new...I can't seem to find my place, I guess."
"Jackson, you are new, but I'm sure you will fit in perfectly here."
"I know, I just feel I could be doing more. With what I can do, and my enthusiasm for dragons…"
"Yeah, and you're right. I'll try to include you more."
"Thanks." I said as we arrived at Hiccup's hut. "Speaking of, I had some ideas for improvements to the base, dragon saddles, weapons, and the Dragon Eye." I said pulling out some parchments I had. "The first thing I was thinking about was the flight suit you're working on. If you simplify the design and maybe decrease the folds, it would decrease overall turning capabilities, but increase your flight time and your speed. Try making the suit fold into-" "HICCUP!" Astrid yelled from Stormfly as she landed near us.
"Hiccup, Ruffnut and Tuffnut skipped out on guard duty again." She said.
"Oh, hold on Jackson. Those are good ideas, I need to handle this. Astrid what?" Hiccup started a conversation with Astrid.
"They didn't stand their watch Hiccup. Those dummies left two dummies in their place." Astrid continued.
"Ok then. I'll be going." I said to myself as I jumped off the gangplank. I flew down to my hut and kept trying to build a new design I was working on.
It had been about half an hour when the Twins came to my door.
"Where have you been? Everyone's at the stables. Come on!" Tuff said.
"What!? Me!? No one told me!" I rushed up and shifted into a Night Fury and flew to the stables.
"Jackson! Good you're here. Johann sent us a terror mail and he needs our help." Hiccup said as he and Snotlout were putting on their dragon's armor.
"What happened?" I asked as I shifted into myself.
"Dragon Hunters." I shivered. "Me, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and you are going to go help him out. Snotlout and I have the only working dragon armor, you can borrow an extra set as a Night Fury, and Meatlug is immune to the Hunter's arrows." Hiccup said.
"You are not leaving me with these two muttonheads." Astrid said.
"She knows we're standing right here, right? Tuff responded.
"Astrid you need to stay here and hold down the Edge. And make sure nothing happens to the Dragon Eye." He said, giving her the device.
"I can't believe what's happening!" She said, throwing her arms up in frustration.
"It just makes sense for us to be the ones to go, you of all people should understand that."
"Hiccup, please! For all that is sacred in Thor's world, you cannot leave me alone with these to-"
"Whattyagonnasay?" Tuff interrupted. "Simpleton? Blockhead? Ergi? Arger?"
"Woah guys, that's unnecessary." I said.
"I was always partial to dimwit myself. It rolls trippingly off the tongue." Ruffnut said, rolling her r's.
"Oh, yeah. Watch this. 'What wit dim, would the twins dim wit, if dim wits could wit dim?'" Tuff said laughing. Everyone just stared in silence.
"I'll stay." I sighed. "Someone has to help out and make sure these guys don't kill each other."
"Thank you." Hiccup sighed a relief. " We'll be back by tomorrow at the latest. If we do not, wait another day then come look for us."
Everyone took off.
"Bye! We'll miss you! Write home often!" Tuff shouted. "Okay, I think the first team building exercise we should perform is that of going back to sleep. I mean as a team, of course." I raised an eyebrow at the statement.
"Couldn't agree more. What say you guys?"
"I have to go hide this. And when I get back, I expect both of you to be sweating profusely from hard work." Astrid said walking off.
I went after Astrid, to help hide the Dragon Eye. I caught up just as she was placing it in a tree branch just behind Fishlegs hut.
"Wait, Astrid. I have a better spot!" I said.
"What? Oh. Alright, where?" She said getting down. I pulled out a project I was working on.
"Here. I carved out the underside of this rock." I place the Dragon Eye on the ground and the rock over it. It looked just like any rock.
"That's brilliant Jackson! Go place that up against another boulder then meet me at the Eastern towers."
"Alright."
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I brought back probably my fifth log to see Ruff, Tuff, Barf, and Belch carrying some logs towards a stack near the edge of the cliff.
"Real mature guys." Astrid was saying.
Tuff noticed the other logs. "We've done all of these already? Man we are kicking some serious as-" "No no no, that's your first one. All of the others me and Jackson did by ourselves. Go team." Astrid said. The twins threw their log onto the stack, causing it to collapse, sending the logs rolling off the cliff. I attempted to dive to catch some, but they all shattered before I got there. I flew back up, dropped my one log and shifted into me. Barf and Belch copied their incompetent masters and threw their log off the cliff.
"Guys? Not helping." I said.
Astrid sighed. 'You know what? I'll get the rest of the lumber myself. You two start lashing together some poles for the first level of stairs. Do you think you can handle that?" She said rhetorically, walking off.
"Wait, what do I do…" I said. She was gone. "Well, you two enjoy that. I'm going to go...do...something, uh...yeah see ya." I said flying off.
As a Monstrous Nightmare, I heated up the metal and bent it around the dome, completing my task of reinforcing it. I headed back the lower docks to work on better structure when I saw Ruff and Tuff begin to slide down a zip-line.
"Oh boy. This cannot be good." I said as I took off as a Night Fury. Arriving, I saw the twins fall off their zip-line onto the pile of logs.
"Guys, you should've put the connecting piece at the top of the tower, that way you swing into the tower, not into the tower." I said flying above them.
"It doesn't matter Jackosn, they're not doing anything they are supposed to, I can't-" Astrid started but stopped when the logs began to roll off the cliff.
"Hold on! I got it!" I said, diving underneath the logs.
"Jackson no! Those aren't the Willow logs, they're the Birch logs!" Astrid yelled. Willow logs are very light and I could've caught all of them with ease but Birch logs are much heavier. I quickly tried to get out of the way, but the logs slammed into my back, sending me and the logs crashing onto the ground.
Astrid flew down on Stormfly followed by Ruff and Tuff on Barf and Belch. She landed in front of me and jumped off Stormfly, "Jackson! Are you alright?" She started pulling logs off my back. I shifted back into myself, which helped Astrid pull me out from underneath.
"Ouch." I groaned. My 'wing' was definitely broken. Meaning my right arm was useless, and when I shift, the Dragon's wing would be broken.
"Jackson, we're sorry. We didn't mean to, we were just trying out our zip-line. It just didn't go very well this time. I do think this system can be useful, in the right situations. " Ruffnut said.
"Oh really?" Astrid said, turning around. She was mad. "And what situations would those be exactly?"
"Astrid, you don't have to-" I started.
She continued on ignoring me. "Didn't think so. And do you know why? Because the two of you don't think. You don't plan. You just come up with these Thor-forsaken ideas, and you forge ahead, with no regard to logic, or what you actually should be doing. Seriously. You guys are the most irresponsible, idiotic menmebers of the team. What am I supposed to do with you guys?" She yelled.
"Well, you can start by being kind. Oh wait, you can't do that because kindness is nowhere in that scrawny little body of yours." Ruffnut said.
"What?!"
"We were just trying to help, and I am so sorry Jackson got hurt, but you cannot treat members of the team like that."
"You are insane."
"Oh, I know that, however your problem is much worse."
"My problem? Are you serious?"
"Allow me to lay it out for you. You have no respect for the people around you who are just trying to help and be a part of the team. You have no respect for Fishlegs, certainly none for Snotlout, and you couldn't have less for the two of us! You don't even have respect for Jackson, who is just trying to fit in." Ruff said, guetsering to me before storming off. I got up from the ground.
"She's wrong, you know. I...do. I… respect you guys." She said.
"Oh please. You can barely even say it." Tuff said before following his sister.
"You didn't have to do that, you know." I said walking up beside Astrid.
"Well, they were being irresponsible."
"Astrid, it was my choice to try to catch the logs. That was my fault." I said. I turned back before leaving, "She kinda has a point though. I mean, not entirely, but a little respect can go a long way. If you show them they have your respect, they will respect you even more, and probably be on task more." I walked back towards the Edge.
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I caught up with Ruffnut in the back forest around sunset.
"Hey. Just wanted to thank you." I said walking beside her.
She scoffed, "for what? We practically dropped a forest on you."
"No, that was my decision, and I'm thanking you for sticking up for me."
"Oh. Well, sure."
"Look, Astrid can get bossy, but she does what she does because she wants respect. Respect is the most important thing to have in a team. It goes both ways. Respect is earned. If you respect Astrid and listen to her, she'll respect you more."
"Hmm. You're right. I overreacted." she said.
"Great! Now let's go back to base and finish up, dinner is soon, plus this forest gives me the hebejebes." I said.
"Oh, there's a reason for that." We both turned around to see Dragon Hunters coming out of the bushes.
"Run!" I yelled. We took off, running towards the base. A Hunter threw a bola at me, but I ran behind a tree to avoid it. They continued gaining. Several arrows and bolas came very close to both of us. We reached a cliff and were cornered.
"Oh great. A cliff. There's always a cliff." I said. The Hunters closed in. One grabbed Ruffnut and tied her up. I continued backing up. My heel went over the ledge. I looked down at the crashing waves below.
"Nowhere to go. And no flying out either." A Hunter laughed while walking towards me. I looked at Ruffnut.
"I'll be back." I said.
"Wait, what are you go-" She started. I didn't hear the rest, mainly because I jumped off the cliff.