(A/N: As I promised, here's the second half to the episode "Crushing It". I can't wait to finish this because it is yet another episode I quite enjoy a lot (as many of them seem to be).
Without any further adieu, it's time for me to get back to work. I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter as much as you did the last one.)
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After leaving the dragon base, the three Haddocks, Toothless, and Ripwave flew over the forest to try to find the Rumblehorn. With any luck the gods may bless them with, they might be able to find it before it could attack Dragon's Edge again.
Ripwave was a surprisingly easy dragon to fly and she was able to keep up with Toothless, Ladok was glad that he had a lot of experience riding dragons. Toothless was happy that he didn't have to carry three people, meanwhile Stoick was content to be soaring through the air again. Hiccup kept his eyes looking down at the forest as he tried to see if he could find the Rumblehorn from above.
"Ah, it's great to be back up in the air again," Stoick smiled. "No wonder you never come back to visit, this island is spectacular!"
"Thanks, Dad," Ladok replied.
"But we're not gonna be able to keep any of it if we don't solve our Rumblehorn problem," Hiccup mentioned.
"Right, when exactly did you start having trouble with it?" he asked.
"A couple of weeks ago," Hiccup answered.
"We didn't even know it was on the island," Ladok chimed in.
"Then suddenly it was everywhere," Hiccup added. "First it went after wild dragons, then it started coming after us."
"And how many dragons has it killed?" he asked again.
"None, yet," his eldest son answered. "This dragon is more than strong, it's fast, it's smart, and it's elusive."
"We've never even gotten a good look at it," his younger son shrugged slightly.
"This does seem like quite the challenge, doesn't it?" he smiled.
"Yes, it does," Hiccup replied, also smiling. Ladok couldn't help but smile as well.
Stoick gave a hearty laugh, "Look at us, three Viking men on the hunt. Scheming to catch a wild beast."
"See? You're cheering up already, right?" Ladok asked playfully.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, son," he responded.
Suddenly, they all heard rustling in the trees and dragons growling. They watched as a trio of Deadly Nadders flew out into the open and flew away, escaping from something.
All at once, the three of them pointed where the Deadly Nadders were flying away from, and exclaimed in unison, "There!"
Toothless and Ripwave landed in a clearing where branches and other debris littered the ground. But, just as before, the Rumblehorn had already left before they arrived.
"You see what we mean?" Hiccup asked Stoick as they all dismounted from the two dragons. "Every time, we just miss it."
"Well we didn't see it fly away, so it has to be on foot, but which way?" Stoick questioned.
"Dad, Hiccup, over here," they heard Ladok call to them.
He was knelt down next to a broken tree, which led to a path of even more broken branches and debris. There were several tracks leading down where the path went.
He stood up and pointed in the direction of it, "Check the direction of the trees he took down."
Stoick gestured towards the path, "After you, boys." They walked down the path in front of him as he laughed to himself in glee, "Oh, this is great!"
They followed the path, finding more proof of the Rumblehorn's presence and its tracks. A little while into their search, the Haddock brothers knelt down to look at the tracks, discovering they were fresh. The Rumblehorn must have been close, they must have been getting close to it.
"These tracks are fresh," Ladok uttered, running his hand through the impressions of the toes and feet.
"I know. We should be right on top of it," the confusion in Hiccup's voice was clear.
"It's the beast can sense us coming and then it changes direction," Stoick assessed. "A truly worthy adversary."
The brothers exchanged looks between them before they stood up. They continued down the path, and unbeknownst to them, they were not alone.
They followed the tracks further down the path, hoping to eventually find the Rumblehorn. The sun seemed to fall quickly under the horizon, and Ladok was suddenly beginning to believe that they may have been walking in large circles.
"We have got to be getting close," Hiccup sounded as tired as he was frustrated.
"Ah, I don't think so," Stoick responded, "we've been here before, look at the broken branches on this side of the trail. The beast has doubled back on us."
"What? You think it knows we're hunting it?" he asked.
"No, I think it's hunting us," he stated.
"Oh, that's good!" The sarcasm in his voice was as clear as ever. "No, I prefer it much more the other way around."
Ladok rolled his eyes at his older brother, he was acting worse than Snotlout and the twins on a good day. This Rumblehorn was changing his brother, and he didn't like that.
He saw their father walking up to one of the trees the Rumblehorn damaged and asked, "What are you thinking, Dad?"
He broke off a branch from the tree, "I might have an idea on how we're going to catch this beast." His two sons exchanged looks with each other.
Stoick borrowed a bundle of rope from his children and took it out into the open with the branch. Much to the protest of his sons, he stood alone while they hid nearby and he began to sing as he created a rhythm by hitting the branch on the hard ground.
"Well, I've got my club
And I've got my rope
And I smell like yak
'Cause I don't use soap:
I am a Viking, through and through!"
He stopped his singing and clubbing when a growl suddenly rang out in the trees. Heavy feet stomped on the ground and another growl was heard as he and his sons finally laid eyes on the Rumblehorn for the first time.
Hiccup and Ladok had seen the prints of this dragon many times and already knew it was likely to be fairly large; those tracks did not do this dragon justice. It had a red, faintly flat head that was slightly triangular in shape with a robust lower jaw and a slightly curved nasal horn along with two more on top. The head led to a green armored neck and green body that curved upwards before traveling downward and ending with the tail, almost like a hill. It was undeniably an impressive dragon, but there was no time to admire it, it looked very angry by their presence.
Stoick grinned at the dragon, "Well, you're magnificent! And you've got a lot to say, don't you?" It roared at him, spreading its wings slightly. "Now let's see if you can back it up!"
He let out a roar of his own as he unleashed his battle cry and stormed towards the Rumblehorn. As he ran towards it, it ran towards him, seemingly accepting his challenge.
With the dragon no longer elusive, Hiccup and Ladok flew in to finally capture it. The Rumblehorn looked at them, snarling and glaring, understanding what they were doing. Hiccup took out a net and dropped it, but the Rumblehorn easily avoided it.
"Dad, get out there!" he yelled.
He shrugged off his eldest's worries, "Not a chance!"
He lassoed the Rumblehorn's nasal horn and jumped over it the moment before it reached him. By doing that, he tugged on the rope and forced the dragon to the ground when it tried to fly away.
"Oh, no you don't!" he gibed.
"Dad, let go of the rope!" Hiccup shouted.
Still, he didn't listen to his son's advice, he wasn't leaving. Unfortunately, that would end up becoming a mistake.
The Rumblehorn quickly stood up from the ground and took to the air. With Stoick still holding onto the rope, he went along with it, dangling in the air as it flew away.
"Dad, don't let go of the rope!" Ladok shouted.
This time, he listened to his children by heeding his youngest's advice. He held onto the rope as tightly as he could, he would not let go, lest he allowed himself to fall to his death.
He began to climb up the length of the rope, intending to bring down this dragon at any cost. The Rumblehorn flew directly upwards, gaining altitude and causing the air to roll down its body into strong gusts.
The gusts were powerful, even for Stoick to endure, he was losing his grip. He held on as tightly as humanly possible, the coarse fibers dug into his hand. Unfortunately, it would be in vain in the end.
The rising altitude and powerful gusts were a dangerous combination, and it wasn't long before he let go. The Rumblehorn took notice of the loss of the heavy weight that was Stoick and circled around to fly down after him.
Stoick clenched his fists, challenging the Rumblehorn, "Oh, you want a piece of me on the way down, do ya?!" It roared at him, seemingly accepting his challenge. "Come and get some!"
The Rumblehorn roared down at him again as it flew down after him. Stoick was plummeting fast to the ground, his two sons were flying up as quickly as they could to catch him.
"Come on!" Stoick yelled, still fully intending to challenge the dragon.
Before any battle between them could occur, he was finally caught by Hiccup and Toothless. They, Ladok, and Ripwave began to fly away from the Rumblehorn, who was also flying away from them.
'Maybe there really is strength in numbers,' Ladok mused.
"We'd better head back to Dragon's Edge for reinforcements," Hiccup told his father.
Stoick had no protests, "Agreed." As they began to fly back to the base, he shouted at the green dragon, "This isn't over, Rumblehorn!"
It watched as they all left, its eyes firmly focused on the large male, the one who had the courage and ambition to try challenging it. It could not deny that he was certainly strong and very bold, he was an odd human, odd and very brave.
The Rumblehorn landed on the edge of a beach and shook off the rope still on its horn. It took in deep breaths as it inhaled Stoick's scent embedded deep within the stringy, coarse fibers. Once it had his scent, it growled in readiness and anticipation.
It was night by the time they returned to Dragon's Edge. Hiccup and Stoick got off Toothless' saddle, while Ladok still sat on Ripwave. He didn't think he had to, he knew they were likely leaving again in a minute.
"Where's Gobber?" Stoick asked after noticing that his friend was nowhere to be seen.
"Yoo-hoo! Come back, please!" he laughed, still delusional from his concussion. His face was painted with blue and green stripes, he was chasing a boar that was squealing as it ran away from him.
Snotlout shrugged innocently, "Boar pit?"
"Okay, Gobber accounted for," Hiccup's voice was as monotonous as it normally was.
"Hiccup, did you find the Rumblehorn?" Astrid asked him.
"More like he found us," he replied.
Stoick gave a hearty laugh, "Gave us a good run, that one."
"Hey," Ladok heard someone speak, and looked to his side to see Helene.
"Oh, hi," he responded.
"Ripwave didn't give you too much trouble, did she?" she asked, somewhat playfully.
If he could, he figured his face would be as red as cherries. He was wholeheartedly grateful for his scales and their dark color.
He found it suddenly difficult to look into her eyes, "Uh, no, no. Not at all."
The said Shockjaw nudged her rider lovingly, happy to see and be with her again. She smiled at her dragon and scratched her pronounced lower jaw. Her fingers brushed through her tendrils, causing her to emit a soft and barely audible vocalization from her throat, similar to a purr.
Ladok was surprised by the interaction between the dragon and rider duo. It wasn't the first time he had seen such interaction - far from it in fact, he had seen it his whole life - but it was always amazing to see how his new friends and their dragons bonded so well together. It was as though they were completely in sync with each other.
"We're going to resupply, and then we all need to go look for it," Hiccup announced.
"Eh, I bet I can find him," Tuffnut claimed.
"Oh, really," Snotlout sounded doubtful.
"Oh, yeah," he replied.
"Oh, really?" he retorted.
"Yeah," he repeated his previous response.
"How's that?" he asked sarcastically.
"Wait for it." He pointed up at the starry sky, "Bing!"
As though on cue, they heard the familiar roar of the Rumblehorn. The dragon's robust body was a silhouette in the light of the moon, taking shape as it got closer to the base.
Hiccup couldn't believe what he was seeing, "What the… argh! Hey, everybody! On your dragons! We need to draw him away from Dragon's Edge. It tracked us all the way here!"
While his son was in disbelief, Stoick couldn't help but to admire the dragon, "Impressive."
"Dad! Let's catch it first, then admire it!" Hiccup yelled.
Everyone quickly went to their dragons and mounted them. Ladok moved to the back of Ripwave's saddle to give Helene room when she climbed on.
They all flew up to confront the Rumblehorn, hoping to end this reign of terror once and for all. The Rumblehorn roared, and suddenly all of the Night Terrors flew out of their usual hiding spots on the base, all screeching.
Toothless growled in frustration as he struggled to fly amidst the smaller dragons. Stoick grunted in annoyance as he swatted at them.
"Where are all of the Night Terrors going?" Hiccup inquired.
The Rumblehorn seemed to be flying towards them before it suddenly changed direction and flew downward, towards Dragon's Edge. What was it doing now?
"And why isn't the Rumblehorn following us?" Stoick also inquired.
Ladok looked down at the base and saw that the Rumblehorn seemed to be directing itself towards Gobber! In his current condition, he wouldn't survive the Rumblehorn, even without it purposefully attacking him.
"Because it's following him!" he shouted as he pointed down at Gobber. His throat suddenly felt scratchy from the panicked shout.
"Mr. Boar, please, come back! I just want to have a friendly chat," Gobber told the boar he was chasing with a smile.
"Let's get its attention, bud," Hiccup told Toothless.
Toothless tried to do so by firing a plasma blast at its armored back. Either it was undeterred or didn't notice, it only continued to fly down to the base.
The Rumblehorn landed on the ground and turned its head and roared, alarming more of the Night Terrors. It roared at Gobber, as though trying to get his attention, but that attempt was in vain in his current condition. It began galloping towards him like a wild horse.
"Ah ha ha!" Gobber laughed as continued to chase the boar, completely oblivious to the Rumblehorn behind him.
"Stormfly, spine shot!" Astrid commanded.
Stormfly's sharp spines on her tail extended and she fired them at the ground. Again, the Rumblehorn was undeterred and only continued towards Gobber, toppling the spines over as it ran over them.
Snotlout and the twins had Hookfang, Barf and Belch fire down at it. The Rumblehorn merely ran through the flames, as though they were not even there.
Ladok's lower jaw dropped slightly, 'What a dragon.'
He knew that flames were often enough to discourage a rampaging dragon, but not this one. This dragon was acting much differently from the others he had always seen and even had to handle himself.
He was beginning to think that this dragon may have different motivations for chasing off all of the wild dragons and trying to get them to move out of their base. Little did he know, his father was thinking similar thoughts.
"For as powerful as that dragon is, he doesn't seem to have a real thirst for blood," Stoick remarked.
Ladok nodded when he heard his father say that. Then, he thought he felt his heart drop into his stomach when he heard what Hiccup said.
"Not yet, but it's still going after Gobber. I hate to do this," his voice began to sound slightly wrenched, broken-hearted at the thought of harming any dragon, "but it's the Rumblehorn or Gobber. We may only get one shot at this, bud, let's make this count!" Toothless reluctantly began to prepare a plasma blast, the vivid purple glow in the back of his throat.
Helene suddenly felt Ladok's arms tighten around her waist. The muscles of his forearms and hard skin were almost crushing her stomach. She knew how he felt, she felt the same way, she tried to soothe his worries by caressing his arms.
He felt her fingers glide across his smooth, pebbled skin and realized how tight his hold was. He immediately lightened his tight hold on her, embarrassed that he had held her in such a way.
Stoick had trouble wrapping mind around everything the Rumblehorn had done and why, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to any of its actions. "This doesn't make any sense." Then, he turned his head back to the screeching Night Terrors and remembered how the Rumblehorn took the time to roar at them before chasing Gobber, and that was when something in his mind clicked, "Unless…" He then grabbed onto Hiccup's shoulders and pulled him back, just as Toothless was about to fire, "Hiccup, wait!"
Hiccup's hands were on Toothless' saddle and when Stoick pulled him back it caused him to pull on Toothless. The plasma blast he fired missed the Rumblehorn and hit the ground instead, allowing it to continue to run towards Gobber.
"Dad! What are you doing?!" he shouted.
Gobber was knelt down next to the boar, petting it, "Not so fast, you." The boar was scared away by the Rumblehorn and it stopped in front of him, roaring at him. With his concussion he didn't see a dragon and smiled at it, "Oh, look! It's Pepe, my favorite pet yak!" He nuzzled his face to the Rumblehorn, who was confused but not hostile, "We didn't eat you on Snoggletog morning after all. No…"
"If that dragon wanted to hurt people he would have done it by now. Something else is going on here," Stoick deduced.
"Like what?" he questioned.
"Only one way to find out. Put me down next to him," he adjured.
Gobber was talking to 'Pepe' in a way that one might speak to a baby with, when the others landed and Stoick walked up to the Rumblehorn, he turned and laughed, asking, "Stoick, you remember Pepe?"
"Yes, yes, Gobber. Pepe and I need to have a wee talk," he responded, walking up to the dragon.
"Hiccup, have you met Pepe?" Gobber asked.
Hiccup shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Oh, God." Ladok silently laughed to himself.
The Rumblehorn growled lowly at Stoick and roared, as if telling him something. Unsure what he might have been trying to say, Stoick asked, "What is it you really want, dragon?"
The Rumblehorn let out another low growl and looked out to the ocean. Stoick did the same, although he still didn't know what he was trying to tell him.
"I think this dragon is trying to tell us something," he assessed.
Suddenly, the green dragon growled and rammed his strong head into the hard ground. All at once, the other dragons growled, grunted, and roared as they all flew up and began to fly in a tight circle, with their surprised riders still on them.
"What is happening?! What is happening?! What is happening?!" Fishlegs cried in a panic.
Hiccup's jaw could have dropped at the sight, "I think you're right." A wave of guilt suddenly came rushing over him, guilt from the thought of almost killing a dragon that was simply trying to help them.
Ladok was having trouble holding onto Helene and Ripwave's saddle. She was flying quite frantically and he was still in shock from her suddenly flying up and in circles.
He wasn't sure how, but he suddenly found himself falling off the smooth material of the saddle. Toothless saw this and immediately moved to catch him.
He blinked in shock and remarked, "No kidding."
Out of nowhere, the Rumblehorn used his snout to throw Stoick upwards, much to the shock of his sons, who exclaimed in unison, "Dad!"
Stoick landed on the dragon's armored neck with a grunt, and held onto the horns when he suddenly began to fly, "Whoa, big fella! Hold on there!"
Hiccup immediately ran to Toothless and mounted him, "Go get 'em, bud!"
Ladok held onto his brother as Toothless flew after their father and the Rumblehorn. Briefly, he wondered why the other riders weren't with them.
"Boys, out there!" Stoick pointed outward.
They looked straight ahead and saw a strange sight. It looked as though more water was rising out of the ocean and coming towards them.
"The sea level… is it rising?" Hiccup asked, mainly to himself.
He thought such a claim was ridiculous, although there were so many things about the world that he was still yet to learn about. He decided to get a closer look to see what was happening.
When he did, all three of them discovered that it was actually a giant wave! They flew along the length of it, gazing up at the immense height in terror, before circling around and returning to the base with their father and the Rumblehorn.
Upon landing, Hiccup informed the other riders of the situation, "There's a giant wave headed for us! The Rumblehorn knew it, and was trying to get us to leave." Ladok thought he saw the said dragon give the slightest nod of approval to the explanation. "He was trying to save us! That explains why he was chasing Gobber."
"Eh, I'm not buying it. Okay, guys, real quick, how long does it take to learn to swim?" Tuffnut asked.
'More time than we have,' Ladok mentally remarked.
"No one has to swim. We just need to block the wave from hitting the camp," he stated.
"Isn't it a little late for that, Hiccup?" Snotlout retorted.
"No! Gobber's rock wall. That's big enough to stop the wave," Astrid claimed, "we just need to reinforce it."
'I hope you're right, Astrid,' Helene thought.
Everyone immediately got to work on finding more rocks and boulders for the wall. The dragons worked together in creating more height to the wall by adding more rocks and fusing them together with Meatlug's lava.
Fishlegs looked down at the rising ocean water and watched as the wave devoured a sea stack. At the rate the water was rising, they would be underwater before the wave could even reach them!
"The wall's not going to be strong enough to stop that wave!" he shouted.
"And it's cracking!" Astrid yelled.
The rising water was putting pressure on the outside of the wall, causing it to crack and sea water to seep in. The water was pouring into puddles on the inside of their base.
They had to figure out something quickly, or they would have to abandon the island and everything they worked hard to build would be destroyed. There was no way to stop the forces of nature, it was inevitable, but there had to be a way to prevent its cataclysmic path.
Stoick's eyes travelled down to the cracking wall and the rising ocean water. Then, for seemingly no reason, his eyes landed on a particularly large sea stack situated near Dragon's Edge.
"You two handle the cracks, boys," he told his sons. "I've got an idea."
They exchanged looks and Ladok only shrugged, unsure of exactly what to say. Hiccup then addressed the others, "You heard the man!"
"On it!" Astrid responded. She directly Stormfly close to the wall and instructed her, "Stormfly, spine shot!" The blue Deadly Nadder shot her spines at as many of the cracks as she could, blocking the flow of the seeping water.
"Meatlug, spew!" Fishlegs commanded. Meatlug fired her lava blasts at the wall, stabilizing it as the lava cooled and solidified.
Meanwhile, Hookfang, Barf and Belch were throwing boulders up at Toothless and Ripwave, both of whom caught them without missing a single one. They set the boulders on top of the wall, and wherever else they were needed.
Helene and Ripwave were busy planting a rock in a spot where the water was leaking through from, but Toothless, Hiccup and Ladok were at the top and saw how close the wave was to them; it was practically looming over them! Hiccup gasped while Ladok's jaw simply dropped, unable to make a sound.
Stoick stared at the large sea stack with clenched fists. Ready more than ever, he patted the Rumblehorn's head, "Alright then, let's finish what you started."
The Rumblehorn roared and shot three rather large fireballs at the sea stack. The fireballs were surprisingly very strong, strong enough to cause a crack that wrapped around more than half of the tall rock structure.
Stoick held onto the dragon's horns as he braced himself, "Full speed, big fella!"
The Rumblehorn did not need to be told twice, he flew towards it as quickly as he possibly could for his size. His head rammed into the sea stack with enough force to break it off from where it once stood.
The Haddock brothers stared at the approaching wave, frozen and seemingly in a trance. When the sea stack suddenly fell in front of them, they were both shocked and relieved. Shocked because it was unexpected, and relieved because it stopped the wave, Dragon's Edge was saved!
'Thor would envy that dragon!' Ladok thought as he grinned up at the dragon that carried his and Hiccup's father.
The sun was soon rising over the horizon, in the aftermath of a cataclysm that almost happened. Hiccup and Ladok watched as their father happily flew in the air with the Rumblehorn, spinning in circles and doing other tricks.
Fishlegs gasped as he watched them in the sky, "Look at this guy, he is amazing."
Stoick chuckled, "Yes, you can say that again, Fishlegs." Hiccup smiled and Ladok nodded.
"You know, you guys, this is a whole new class of dragon. We need a name!" he eagerly told everyone.
The brothers exchanged looks with each other and Ladok shrugged, telling Hiccup he could name it if he wanted to. He held his chin for a moment as he thought about it, "Well, it tracked us down. How about… Tracker Class?"
"Tracker Class?" Snotlout repeated. He laughed, "Yeah, right! That sounds like something I would come up with."
"Perfect," Hiccup claimed.
"Tracker Class it is!" Fishlegs happily declared.
"What?! You like it?! Ah, come on!" he shouted in anger and frustration, stomping away.
Ladok shook his head with a smile while Hiccup laughed. Neither one were the biggest fans of Snotlout and his obnoxious personality, but it was fun seeing him in misery.
Later that morning, they went down to the docks where Gobber's ship was docked. In the hours since the wave was stopped, Gobber's concussion had healed.
"Gobber, I sure am glad to see you back to normal," Hiccup smiled.
"Yeah, I'm not sure what all went on, but I'm sore in places I didn't know I had," he rolled his shoulder and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, boys, I'm glad I let you insist I come here," Stoick told his sons.
"You know, Dad, when we came back to Berk, I thought you might be missing us, but it was Thornado all along," Hiccup uttered.
"Oh, I do miss that magnificent beast. We had some connection, he and I," he replied.
'Me too,' Helene, who was standing on the dock with them, thought.
She missed Thornado almost as much as Stoick did, he was her introduction into the world of Tidal Class dragons. Without him, she probably wouldn't have been able to train Ripwave.
"Oh, I get it. I can't imagine what life would be like without Toothless," he scratched his dragon under his chin.
"Well, Thornado will never be replaced, but this guy," he scratched the Rumblehorn's lower jaw, "we're a lot alike, he and I. We're both protectors, we're both leaders."
"And you're both hard-headed," Gobber remarked while rolling his eyes as he sailed away from the island.
Stoick mounted the Rumblehorn, "Hard-headed, you say? Skull-crushing's more like it." He then paused for a moment, "Wait, that's what we'll call you, Skullcrusher!" The newly-named Rumblehorn growled happily. Just as his two children were about to walk away, he suddenly spoke to them, "And by the way, boys? I do miss you two, a lot in fact." Both of them watched as their father took to the air with his new dragon, "Alright, big fella, let's get you back to Berk. I've got the perfect saddle waiting for you."
They continued to watch them leave for a moment longer before Hiccup announced to the others, "Alright, guys, we have a lot to do-"
Ladok suddenly interjected and finished for him, "So let's get to it."
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(A/N: Whew! That's finally done! Another five thousand words, I'm happy with my decision to cut the episode in half. But I'm unhappy that it's another weekday update, but I wasn't going to put this off for another week when it was almost done.
I won't say what I'm going to be doing next, though. ;) :P Don't accuse me of not knowing what I'm doing, I know exactly what I'm doing. You'll just have to wait and see for it, won't you? Until then, see you next time in the next update.)