A/N: I realised burning the entire island was a tad excessive, and also I couldn't bring myself to destroy the cove. So I've dialled back the devastation from an 11 to an 8.
Chapter One - Rebuilding
The Berkians were accustomed to rebuilding after dragon raids, but never on such a scale as this. The destruction seemed absolute...but there was still hope. Not all of the forest had been burned; some trees on the far side of the island, and on the sea stacks around it, had been spared from the blaze. Logging would have to wait. The first order of business would be clearing away the massive spiked chunks of solid ice.
Molten rock, flaming spit and white hot sparks fell against the slick turquoise surface. Regular ice would have melted under such a barrage, but this did not. "We cannot melt this ice," Valka told her husband. "It can withstand the heat of a nest of dragons. We must smash it instead." She was getting better at speaking normally, he noticed.
"Change of plan! Val says the ice can smash, so we'll break it up" Stoick ordered, "and put the largest pieces to one side. We can use it for fresh water, since the well could be tainted, and to keep our stores of food fresh. Yes, I know we don't have a lot!" he snapped, cutting off their protests. "But there's still fish to be had, isn't there?"
Gobber declared "aye, we're not gonna starve! Things'll just be a bit lean for a while."
Stoick asked his wife, "can you tell the dragons what to do, love? They'll want to help, I'm sure, but we can't have 'em getting in the way" he explained. She smiled that beautiful smile of hers, and nodded. "Thank you. We'll need three teams of them - one to break apart the ice, one to clear away this ash, and one to catch some fish."
Valka organised the dragons, with a little help from Skullcrusher and Cloudjumper. She fit each breed to the tasks that would best suit them; Gronckles, Snafflefangs and Shovelhelms were set to pounding and ramming the ice. Nadders, Thunderclaws and the few sea dragons were sent fishing. Nightmares and Zipplebacks, with their large wings and long tails, swept away the ash with broad sweeps and mighty flaps.
They seemed to be getting on well enough, so the Berkians got on with their own work. Mothers ushered their children off to help with sewing and cooking, useful things to keep their minds and hands occupied. The men took axes and saws, and went to cut down timber. Valka stayed with the dragons, where she was confident.
She wasn't alone for long, however. Gobber joined her. "It's good to have ya back, Valka" he remarked. "Just a shame you had to come back to all o' this." He gestured with his hook at the destroyed village. "Fifty five years I've lived here, and I never thought I'd see Berk like this. Always kinda feared I would, one day" he admitted.
"I'm sorry" Valka murmured suddenly, "for not coming back. I just...thought there was nothing left for me here. I was wrong, I see that now" she admitted a bit sheepishly.
Gobber shrugged. "Ah, don't worry about it! No sense in dwelling on the past. The important thing is that you're home now" he declared. "I gotta tell ya, I haven't seen Stoick this happy since...hm. Actually, I haven't ever seen him this happy" he said.
Valka smiled, though it was brief and sad. "Who was it Spitelout went with?" she asked, deciding to indulge her curiosity. What had Hiccup called him… "Viggo?"
"Aye, that's Berk's spymaster and Hiccup's mentor," replied Gobber. "Second mentor, that is. He's bin training the lad in strategy, tactics - Maces n' Talons stuff, y'know?"
"Ah." Valka was a bit confused; since when did Berk need a spymaster? Though she supposed if they were dealing with trappers now, it would help to know ways to thwart enemy plans. "He's the man who rides a Skrill, isn't he," she realised. "With that - that scar." Her fingers brushed under her left eye, recalling the welted skin and blind eye.
Gobber nodded. "That's the one. Don't let him put you off; Viggo can be hard to get on with sometimes. Doesn't want folks to get too close. Except for Hiccup, that is" he remarked, massaging around the stump of his leg. "He dotes on the lad. Course, he'd sooner pull out his own teeth than admit it, but Viggo's fond o' Hiccup" he chuckled.
If this man cared about her son, perhaps...on second thoughts, she would reserve judgement until she actually met him. On the way here she had been too shy to leave Stoick's side, and Viggo hadn't made any effort to greet her. In front of her, a couple of Zipplebacks started bickering. "Excuse me" she said to Gobber, striding towards them. The rattle of her staff distracted the two-headed dragons from their squabble.
The men returned, storing logs down in the caverns. "This area is off-limits to all dragons!" Stoick ordered. "Last thing we need is them setting that wood on fire by mistake." Beside him, Skullcrusher snorted. "No offence, old boy, but it's the truth."
Cloudjumper flew in through the gaping mouth of the cavern, and Valka slipped off his back with catlike grace. Stoick hurried over to her. They'd only been apart for a few hours and yet he'd missed her just as fiercely as the twenty years before. "There you are" he beamed, leaning in to give her a kiss. "So, what d'you think?" he asked her.
She raised an eyebrow, and he clarified "the stables. What d'you think of the stables."
"Oh." Valka looked around at the caves, colourful support posts and painted murals on the walls. "It looks roomy enough. The dragons can come and go as they please, right?" she asked, eyeing the massive winches that framed each of the entrances.
"We don't cage dragons anymore, Val" he reassured her. "Those are for the storm doors that're shut to keep 'em dry. I'm surprised Bludvist didn't have his slaves burn everything in here whilst he was at it" Stoick grumbled, a scowl on his face. It soon vanished when Valka took his hand; he lifted her slender one and pressed a kiss to it.
She blushed, like they were young lovers again. He'd die a happy man for having had this second chance with her. Nobody paid them any mind; aside from a few curious dragons, but those were soon nudged on their way by Cloudjumper and Skullcrusher.
At least their dragons were getting along. "It's all so...unexpected" Valka murmured, "and wonderful. I never thought I'd see you, of all people, with a dragon my love."
Stoick chuckled. "Neither did I," he confessed. "If someone had told me five years ago that one day, we'd be brothers-in-arms and even family with the same beasts that raided and attacked us for three hundred years, I'd have shipped them off the island for fear they'd gone mad. Hiccup changed everything. I'm so proud of him."
Just then, a commotion arose from the dragons. Someone called "Chief! Hiccup and the riders are back!" He and Valka hurried outside to meet them. A peculiar sight met their eyes; four of the dragons were carrying a hut between them, suspended on long chains and ropes. Toothless and Hiccup guided them in; they lowered the hut down, very carefully, until it rested on the ground where the chief's house had once stood.
Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf-and-Belch and Meatlug dropped to the ground as soon as they were able. Their riders dismounted and began to give them rub-downs. Hiccup looked over at his parents, and declared, "I know we'd normally take weapons as spoils of war, but we just took Alvin's whole house instead. I'm sure he won't mind."
"I doubt it," Stoick remarked. "Good work, son. I can't believe you carried it here."
Snotlout stomped over. "He didn't! Our dragons did all the hard work, chief, whilst he and Toothless just bossed us around. Who died and put you in charge?" he glared.
Hiccup retorted "it's called delegating, Snotlout. And I already told you, Toothless can't hold onto the ropes like other dragons can. His limbs aren't long enough."
"His limbs aren't long enough" Snotlout mocked in a nasally voice. "Cry me a river!"
"That's enough!" Stoick thundered, before they could start arguing in earnest. "The fishing teams are coming back," he noted. "We'll have a rest and then send different riders to Out...to Victory Island. I don't expect you to uproot a whole village in a day."
His nephew huffed in acquiescence. Hiccup replied "okay. But y'know, dad, I was thinking. This is a great opportunity to expand the village; we can spread out to the plateaus, and attach stables to the sides of the houses to save room in the caverns. Wait, you guys haven't been throwing away all the ash, have you?" he asked, going on before he got an answer, "Viggo knows a way to make plaster from the stuff, and"-
Stoick put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Slow down, son. We'll get to all that, but right now our main priority is to make sure everyone is fed and warm this winter."
"Right, sorry" Hiccup winced, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess I got carried away. I do think making bricks is a good idea, though. Just think, dad, we can build fireproof houses and make sure something like this never happens again" he declared firmly.
His father beamed. "That's the spirit. C'mon, let's get something to eat." Stoick put his arms around Hiccup and Valka, steering them up the steps towards the Great Hall.
They still had to ration most of the food, but there was fish in abundance. Stoick saw Hiccup picking at the plate. "Okay, out with it. What's on your mind?" he prompted.
With a sigh, Hiccup explained "I'm just thinking about how everything's gone...mom, d'you remember that dragon toy you made for me? When I was a baby?" he asked her. She nodded, head tilted like a curious dragon. "I sorta lost it for a while" he said sheepishly, "but I got it back...I didn't have a chance to fetch it when we had to retreat from Berk. It was in my room in our old house, and now…" he shrugged helplessly.
His mother smiled and reached over to squeeze his hand. Hiccup smiled back. "I know I'm too old for stuffed toys" he went on, "but I was gonna keep it for my own kids, pass the memories on, y'know?" Astrid scooted closer to him on the bench, and he folded an arm around her. "You'll never guess where I found the toy again, mom."
Between them, he and Astrid (the other riders chimed in now and then) described the adventure they'd had on Breakneck Bog, trying to retrieve that chest. This in turn led to the reveal of Johann's treachery. Valka wasn't as shocked as they expected by the news. "He always seemed a bit too eager to take dragon parts off our hands when he came after a raid" she explained. "I didn't know what he was, but I never liked him."
"Me neither, Auntie Valka" said Snotlout. "You just can't trust folks who talk so much."
Tuffnut asked "what about Viggo? He doesn't talk much and you don't trust him."
Valka's brow furrowed in confusion. Was this the same man Gobber told her about? "That's different," Snotlout protested. "None of us trusted him - and for good reason!"
She couldn't help it; she had to ask. "Hiccup" murmured Valka, and her son turned to her at once. "I heard you...Gobber told me you have a new mentor" she commented, "and Berk has a spymaster. Are you talking about the same man?" she asked him.
Hiccup sighed. "Yeah. Viggo Grimborn was our enemy once; but he's changed, mom. He went from wanting me dead to risking everything to protect me. No matter what Snotlout thinks, I'm not going to hold his past against him. I hope you won't either."
Stoick gently added "it's true, Valka. Gods know I once hated that man, but he really has proven his change of heart. If it weren't for him our son wouldn't be here now."
After a long pause, Valka finally asked Hiccup, "this man. Do you really trust him?"
He gave a solemn nod. "With my life."
"Then I suppose..." she murmured, "I can try and trust him too. On one condition."
"Which is?"
Her expression darkened, hands tightening on her staff. "That he never betrays you."
The dragons continued to break away the ice, and teams were sent to dismantle and haul away the huts on Victory Island. Two days later, Spitelout and Viggo returned. Both of them looked around at the stolen huts in confusion. "Where did the buildings come from?" Viggo inquired of Hiccup when he and his parents came over to them.
"Well, the Outcasts weren't using 'em. How'd your mission go? Did you find Trygge?"
Viggo nodded. "Indeed. We explained what happened, and they're willing to give us as much timber as we need. They should be here in a week or so" he told Stoick.
Hiccup asked, "what's the catch?"
"My dear boy, why do you assume there's a catch?"
"Because I know you, now spill."
Viggo chuckled. "It's just a minor caveat," he assured them. "Trygge and his men want us to trade dragon scales for the timber; at least then they'll have something to sell when they get down south, and it's the only thing we really have in abundance."
"That's fair" Hiccup conceded, "right dad?"
"I suppose," the chief replied. "You did well," he told Viggo and Spitelout, "but next time you decide to go on an impromptu mission, how about you run it by me first?"
Spitelout protested "Oi! Don't blame me, Stoick, it was his idea!"
"Which you agreed to," Viggo shot back. "Next time I'll make sure that you're better informed, Chief. This time I just," his good eye flicked to Valka and back, "didn't want to interrupt." It was the first time he'd so much as glanced at her since he got back.
Stoick seized the opportunity. "I don't think you two have been introduced yet, have you?" he asked rhetorically. The other man stiffened. "Viggo, this is my wife, Valka. Dearest, this is Viggo Grimborn, our spymaster and Hiccup's mentor" he declared.
Viggo resisted the urge to glare daggers at the Chief and smoothed his features into a polite smile. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mrs Haddock," he replied.
"Yes…" she replied slowly. "Likewise. Hiccup's told me all about you."
He raised an eyebrow and turned to his apprentice. "Has he now?"
Hiccup replied "yep. I told her everything, including how you've saved my life at least three times. My mom knows I trust you, and she's willing to try and trust you too."
"What's the catch?"
The young man smirked. "It's just a minor caveat. You just have to not betray me."
Viggo sighed heavily. "Well, there go all my plans for the weekend."
"Hey!"
"Oh come on, I was kidding."
Her son laughed, and Valka relaxed a bit more. It was one thing to be told a former enemy could be trusted, and another to see how at ease Hiccup was around Viggo. Then his Skrill - a gorgeous dragon - nipped at him playfully, and the former hunter scratched under her jaw as she purred. Valka trusted the judgement of dragons, who could read body language and sense deceit as easily as breathing, above all else.
Even so, Valka got the impression he didn't like her for some reason, but it wasn't something she would dwell on. His opinion of her was incidental at best. Stoick declared "the only plan any of us should have is getting shelters ready before winter. Hiccup's been raving about this plaster of yours, Viggo. Can it be made over the winter, ready for spring?" he questioned. "We don't have time to be experimenting."
"It's not hard to make. All we need is fine ash, quicklime, sand and water" said Viggo.
And so the work continued. The rest of the Bewilderbeast's ice was cleared away, the dwellings from Victory Island were carted off, the extra dragons spread out to other islands. Those left on Berk were groomed thoroughly, their scales collected in sacks to trade with the loggers. Aid arrived from Berserker Island, as a fleet came to deliver a share of rations, what little they could spare. Little by little, Berk got back on its feet.
It didn't take long for Valka to notice that Viggo seemed to avoid her, and when he did speak to her it was polite yet curt. He wasn't rude, exactly, but she didn't know what to make of it. "Your mentor doesn't seem to like me much," she remarked to Hiccup.
"Who, Viggo? Don't take it personally, he's not good at being sociable. I'll talk to him."
She shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'd rather talk to him myself." With that in mind, one day Valka and Cloudjumper sought the man out on the cliffs where he lived. Valka knocked on the door of the hut he'd taken for himself and waited for it to open. Viggo didn't look too surprised to see her. He sighed in resignation and invited her inside.
"I figured you'd come eventually" he told her.
Before she could stop herself, Valka questioned, "do you have a problem with me?"
Viggo sighed heavily and replied "at the risk of sounding cliche, it's not you, it's me. I take it Hiccup hasn't told you…" He dragged a hand over his face. "My apologies. It's just hard to talk about this. I have been avoiding you, yes, but it's not because I don't like you. It's just that you're usually with your husband or son, and I'm...well, envious."
That was the last thing she'd expected. "You're envious...of me?" Valka inquired.
"Of Stoick. It's ridiculous, I know." He rubbed at the scars on his neck. "You happen to bear a - a passing resemblance to my late wife. Similar hair and eye colour, actually."
Just like that, it all became clear. "It hurts you," she observed, "to be reminded."
Viggo sighed. "Please don't think I'm holding it against you, or Stoick. You both deserve to be happy. It's just…" he shrugged. "Old habits die hard, I suppose."
She knew how that felt, at least. A slightly awkward silence fell between them. Valka finally declared, "thank you for telling me. I don't expect us to be close, but...well, if we're both going to be living on this island, we can't really avoid each other forever."
He gave a wry smile and replied "I know. It was...rather immature of me to shun your company just to keep from feeling uncomfortable; it's not your fault you remind me of what I've lost. After all, Hiccup…" Viggo paused, but then gathered himself and went on, "he reminds me of what could have been. Less than a year after my wife died, a sickness took my only son." He wasn't looking at her, but he still heard Valka gasp.
"My son and yours would've shared a birthday, and he was early-born…" Viggo paused and shook his head. "I swear, at times it feels like the gods are mocking me."
Valka hesitated. He likely didn't want pity, but if the problem was that she was always with her family, then… "Hiccup and Stoick aren't here now," she pointed out. "We could just...talk for a while, if you'd like. Get to know each other. There's nowhere I need to be; and if something happens in the village, Cloudjumper will alert us."
At first he was surprised by the offer, though he didn't show it. Why would she want to get to know him, of all people? His first instinct was to assume she didn't trust him, as was only fair. Viggo did have questions of his own, however, and what better time to ask? "I'd be honoured" he replied at last, sitting at the table. "Where shall we start?"
Minutes passed, then hours, as they traded questions and stories. Valka described her time living amongst the dragons of the Ice Nest, freeing dragons from Bludvist's trappers. Viggo awkwardly explained (and apologised for) the multiple times he'd almost gotten her son killed. The initial uneasiness between them gradually faded, and they lost track of time, so when there was a knock at the door it startled both.
"It's open" Viggo called. The door swung ajar and Hiccup stepped in, looking between them in swiftly masked confusion. "We were just talking about you. Are you alright?"
Hiccup blinked. "Yeah. Yeah, I just...Toothless and I saw Cloudjumper and wondered what mom was doing here, but it's nice to see you guys are getting along. Oh, and it's nearly time for dinner so, uh..." he trailed off and rubbed at his much stubbled cheek.
Sure enough, when they emerged the sun was well down towards the west horizon. Valka went straight to Cloudjumper, apologising for leaving him waiting for her, and deftly hooked her staff onto his offered claw for a lift onto his back. Hiccup watched them go and then asked with some uncertainty, "wait, so are you two friends now?"
"I wouldn't go that far. Your mother and I have just...come to a better understanding of each other" replied Viggo. "She has a better idea of how I've changed and I got to know her as - well, as her own person. Not just someone who reminds me of Sigrid. I was a fool to try and avoid her because of that. She's quite a fascinating person."
Hiccup said, "you don't have to be around her - us - if it makes you uncomfortable."
"I appreciate the thought, m'boy, but the truth is I can't spend the rest of my life trying to avoid the pain of losing Sigrid and Alvis. I have tried that, and it turned me cruel. Well, crueller than I might have been. Besides, I shouldn't just go around resenting every reminder of my loss, every man who has a wife and child, just because I no longer have mine. There are far more worthwhile things to hold a grudge about."
Brow furrowed, Hiccup asked "wouldn't it be better to just not hold grudges at all?"
"No, don't be ridiculous," he answered with a straight face. It lasted all of five seconds before they both chuckled. "We'd best get to the Hall before the good food is taken."
When they were grooming the dragons to collect scales for trade, Hiccup had told his friends to keep their own dragons' scales for his 'secret project'. He wouldn't tell them what it was, at first, until after the twins tried to spy on him. "Okay, fine. I wanted to make fireproof armour for all of us, maybe with wingsuits. Happy now?" he grumbled.
"No!" exclaimed Snotlout. "How could you plan to make a suit of armour for me and not ask me how badass I want it to look?" he demanded. "Fortunately I already have some ideas. It has to have a cape, but like a stiff one, spikes on the pauldrons and vambraces - and wait, horns on the helmet so it looks like Hookfang, and spikes on the boots. You are taking notes, right?" he asked Hiccup, who just rolled his eyes.
Fishlegs asked "do we really need fireproof armour? I mean, we're not fighting Drago and his armoured dragons anymore. We're not really fighting anyone" he pointed out.
Hiccup replied "yeah, but we're Vikings; we always end up fighting someone. As much as I like the peace, there are still trappers and hunters out there; we didn't wipe out all of Drago's men, just the ones he attacked us with. And besides, do we really need a reason to wear dragon scale armour? Just think of how impressive we'd look!"
The others agreed, and even Fishlegs came around. Since they were using their own dragons' scales, the suits would be designed to resemble Toothless, Stormfly and the others. Hiccup did insist on making them streamlined, at least, so that the extra bulk wouldn't be too much of a hindrance in battle. Of course, there was plenty to be doing in the meantime - caulking the houses, hunting game, tanning furs, making plaster...
This last was time consuming and messy. They burned the ash down further until it was white, and cooked limestone in a kiln to make quicklime, then mixed both with sand and water. The result was a greyish white sludge, which they smeared on a test piece of wood. Once it dried the plaster was waterproof, and mostly fireproof too. Fire still scorched it, but didn't spread or burn all the way through. It was a great success.
Without dragons, the Berkians would have struggled through the winter. As it was they could stock up on fish and game in a matter of days rather than weeks. They found and raided stores from Victory Island, which had probably been stolen in the first place. Between that and rations from the Berserkers they had enough food to last until spring. Afterwards was another matter entirely, but that would have to wait.
Best of all, this was one of the years that the dragons went to have their babies! It was rather lonely when they all flew off to the Rookery; with a few exceptions, of course. Toothless, Moonlight, Skullcrusher, Cloudjumper and Grump all stayed.
"It's a shame there aren't any of their own kind around" Hiccup remarked, sighing. "Do you think we'll ever find more?" he asked Viggo, whilst the two of them were playing Maces and Talons. "I expected there to be some in Drago's army at least."
Viggo shrugged. "As you've said, the armada we destroyed wasn't the whole sum of Bludvist's forces. There could be other Rumblehorns, Stormcutters, even Hotburples out there. Skrills and Night Furies too" he added, seeing Hiccup's expression twist. "It seems unlikely there aren't any; but Skrills are solitary and Furies could be as well."
"I hope so. That there are some out there, I mean. Viggo, what happened to the Night Furies?" he questioned, moving another piece. "Weren't they hunted to extinction?"
His mentor made a move and replied "from what I've gathered it's partly that they were hunted, and partly that they just...began to disappear. Migrating, perhaps, to find somewhere without humans. It's your move, by the way" he prompted, amused.
"Hey, don't rush me" Hiccup frowned. The conversation about Night Furies trailed off.
At long last, after several months of dark and cold, the sun returned to Berk. The winter projects had gone well; they had a surplus of wood and bricks to build new houses, and the dragon-suits were ready. The stands weren't rebuilt, but to keep spirits up Stoick hinted that a dragon race would be a great chance to show them off.
This one would be a little different than usual; Brunhild and the other farmers didn't want them tossing the sheep about, so they were going to catch wild boars instead.
Since they were in a celebratory mood, the riders invited their allies to Berk. Fishlegs and Heather were the first to arrive from Berserker Island. Inexplicably, Fishlegs was carrying a baby Gronckle in a pouch at his front. "His name is Fishmeat. He was the runt of the litter, I nursed him back to health and got attached...isn't he adorable?"
Him fawning over a hatchling, especially one of Meatlugs', didn't seem unusual. Not long after that, Minden arrived on Silverwing, much to Snotlout's delight. "Hey, babe! Welcome to Berk. How was your flight?" he asked, helping her out of the saddle.
"It was alright. Kinda boring, with nothing to look at. Literally. Hi, guys" Minden waved.
Tuffnut asked blithely, "uh, how is she looking at us? I thought she was blind!"
Ruffnut thumped him. "Shut up, idiot! Minden went blind, not deaf. She'll hear you!"
Minden giggled, and explained "it turns out I'm not completely blind. My vision isn't black, it's just...blurry. Really blurry, and grey. I can tell where you're all standing, but that's about it. I sure hope it's Snotlout I'm touching, or this would be really awkward."
They all chuckled. Viggo declared "actually, I have a gift for you, Minden. Hold your hands out." She did and he placed what felt like a smooth length of wood in them.
"A walking stick?" she asked, sliding her hand along to find the handle. It had a good grip, with a loop of leather dangling from it, to go around her wrist she supposed.
"More or less. There's a rolling sphere at the other end so you can just push it along, and if you bend the handle up like this", he showed her, "you can pull out a blade."
She smiled, grateful. "You've really put a lot of thought into this. Thank you, Viggo."
"You're welcome. It's nothing, really. You know, it was a long winter, I got bored…"
Before the race all eight riders put on their armour, and met up in the arena. For Minden's sake, they took turns describing the outfits they were wearing to her.
"Well, mine's black, obviously," said Hiccup, "except for the red Night Fury symbol on my left pauldron, and the red stripes on my helmet; which has a ridge going down the middle, by the way. It's to act as an extra stabiliser when I'm gliding" he explained.
Astrid teased "he hasn't mentioned how it's very fitted. But so is mine; and it's mostly blue of course, with tan and gold in places. Oh, and I kept the bird-skulls around my waist. The boots are capped with ridges to look like Nadder claws, and the helmet has spikes to look like Stormfly's nose horn and crown of spines" she elaborated.
"I was gonna have a cape, but somebody wouldn't let me," declared Snotlout. "So instead I've got this wide collar that looks like flames, and the vambraces? Crooked spikes, babe, just like Hookfang. Oh, and the helmet is awesome. I stuck some of his actual fangs onto the faceplate, and it's got these two realistic looking horns as well."
Tuffnut scoffed "who cares about horns? They're boring. My sister has them on her helmet, Minden" he told her, "but I have something way more impressive on mine. A tiny Belch! I made him myself. Agh!" he yelped when Ruff jabbed him with her 'horns'.
"Don't listen to him, Minden, it looks stupid. We've got these lobes on ours, y'know, like on a Zippleback" she explained. "And I don't know why you two told her what colour your armour is" she told Hiccup and Astrid. "Minden already knows you ride a black or blue dragon, duh!" Ruffnut had a point, and they both looked sheepish.
"Err, is it my turn?" Fishlegs wondered, as the twins bickered. "I tried to make my armour useful for more than fighting" he revealed. "So there's pockets for all my stuff, and a pouch for Fishmeat...oh yeah, and no wingsuit. I don't really need to be able to glide, and besides, we all know I'd just drop like a rock either way" he shrugged.
Heather kissed his cheek. "I kept my Razorwhip scale pauldrons and gauntlets, of course" she remarked, "but now it's got layers on my torso like Windshear's plates, and ridges on the boots like Astrid's do. My helmet has a ridge down the middle, like Hiccup's, except that mine tapers up to a sharp point, to look like my dragons' horn."
She looked at Viggo. "Mine's purple" he deadpanned. "Okay, okay. Let's see...there are hooked spikes on the gauntlets to match Moonlight's wing claws, the front is paler like her underbelly, and there's a stylised Skrill on the belt clasp. Oh, and my right pauldron resembles... Ryker's armour." He cleared his throat. "I did consider putting spikes on them both, like I used to, but...that's something from my old life, really."
Minden spoke before an awkward silence could descend. "It sounds like you all look very impressive. If I weren't already wearing scales I'd almost be envious" she joked.
"I gotta admit, Hiccup, you were right. We do look good" Astrid remarked with a smirk, admiring her betrotheds' outfit. Of course, he was also admiring hers, so it was fine. "But, wearing that armour is not going to stop me from destroying you in this race."
Minden remarked "well, I know who I'll be rooting for. Still, it's a shame I can't join in. I've always wanted to take part in a dragon race, it sounds exciting" she admitted.
"You can take my slot," offered Fishlegs. "No really, it's fine!" he insisted, as Minden tried to protest. "I've been in plenty of dragon races. Besides, all that flying back and forth and getting knocked into wouldn't be safe for little Fishmeat here." The Gronckle
hatchling seemed utterly oblivious to any potential danger from the dragon race.
Speaking of which, the other Berkians were starting to gather around the arena and on cliffs to watch the race. There were quite a few appreciative murmurs at the sight of their dragon-scale armour, and Snotlout began flexing, because of course he did.
The dragons were waiting ringed in a circle, with enough room to spread their wings for take off. The riders slipped on their helmets, mounted up and braced themselves as Stoick counted them down. "Five...four...three...two...one...RACE!" he bellowed.
Toothless launched them both into the air, cheers ringing in Hiccup's ears. They stopped climbing and peeled off to find a boar. Hiccup glimpsed a patch of brown fleeing between the houses and directed Toothless that way. They plunged in a steep dive to snatch the animal up - until a blur of purple wings cut Toothless off. "Viggo!"
"Nice try!" Viggo shouted, voice muffled by his helmet. Moonlight sped back to the arena. He looked over his shoulder to see if Toothless was following them, but missed Stormfly darting in from above. He was jolted by Moonlight's sudden halt; caught off guard, the squealing pig tumbled from her claws into Astrid's arms. She laughed and called out in a sing-song voice, "Nice try! Better luck next time, boys!"
Oh well; there were plenty of other boars. The dragons darted back and forth across the island, snatching the angry struggling targets and dropping them in large painted baskets that had been placed in the arena. The boars were hauled out to make room for the next and scurried into one of the pens as fast as their legs could carry them.
Stormfly snatched one up, only for Hookfang to ram into her, making her drop it.
"Oh I'm sorry, did you want this?" Snotlout mocked, gesturing to the pig in his arms. Astrid glared at him and Snotlout fled quickly. At his urging, Hookfang found Silverwing and he called "this one's for you, babe! Silver, here, take it!" He held the boar up. Silverwing rolled her eyes and plucked it from him with her long claws.
"Um, Snotlout, are you allowed to give me the boars?" Minden asked doubtfully.
"Hey, you're my princess! Whatever you want, you get!"
Thanks to his efforts, Minden had a pretty good lead, as did Astrid. In what seemed like no time at all, the horn blew - the black boar was in play! So all eight dragons converged on a spot above the village square where Gobber had just launched a painted pig with the catapult. Astrid leaned forwards. "Go, Stormfly! Up, up, up, up!"
Yet before Stormfly could grab the black boar, the twins came out of nowhere. "No!"
Barf-and-Belch dived to pick up speed and levelled out. "I'm totally winning!" Ruffnut crowed gleefully, clutching the black boar in her arms. "No one can stop me now!"
"Except for me. We're attached, genius!" Tuffnut sneered, grabbing at the boar. "Stop trying to steal all my glory!" he yelled as they tugged it back and forth. Their bickering gave Stormfly the perfect chance to fly up behind them; Astrid leapt off the saddle, ran along Belch's neck, somersaulted, grabbed the sheep and landed on it.
They were more than halfway to the finish line! Moonlight tried to cut them off, but Toothless cut her off - the two dragons snarled at each other - Stormfly dodged past Meatlug and dropped the boar into the blue and yellow basket. The crowd roared.
"That's fifteen!" Stoick bellowed at the top of his lungs. "Astrid takes the game!"
From all sides there were cheers, along with the disappointed groans of the losers. "That's not fair!" Snotlout complained. "The ten points extra thing is stupid, Minden should've won! She was in the lead!" he insisted wildly. "I demand a rematch!"
"She only had more because you kept giving them to her!"
"Shut up, Fishface!"
"Snotlout, it's fine, I don't mind coming in second!"