Chapter 2 - Another Hunt:
A second passed, then WHAM!
A pained shriek of surprise and fury pierced his ears, as he saw the outline of the dragon black blur now falling down into the distance towards the forest, screeching at the top of its lungs, before once again, silence reigned.
"I…"
"I did it."
"I actually did it!"
He was just about to scream with joy and run towards his father, except a massive face and body of a Monstrous Nightmare suddenly climbed over the cliff, and stared at him.
It used one of its legs to flatten his bola launcher in one easy crunch.
"Oh…Thor."
Hiccup sprinted away as fast as he possibly could. Just as the dragon behind him reared up and prepared to fire.
He screamed and ran, as the dragon gave chase he managed to dodge a couple of fire blasts from the fuming dragon behind him. The dragon's bursts of fire repeatedly but narrowly missed, till Hiccup saw a tall and thick pole in front of him, and hid behind it.
The dragon fired at the pole from the other side, and the fire acted like lava. Its flaming liquidness dripped slowly down the sides of the pole.
He knew this was it, the dragon was going to k-
A massive figure of a Viking bounded out of nowhere and wrestled the dragon.
Hiccup leapt out of the way and saw his father tackling the dragon.
His father had a grip around its long neck, but eventually he released and stood up. The dragon stood up too and roared at the large Viking. The Monstrous Nightmare fired, but next to nothing came out, only a few drips of it.
"You're mine." His dad spoke menacingly.
The dragon looked wary and anxious. It's main defense gone.
Hiccup's dad charged at the dragon, kicked and punched it multiple times just before it fled away into the sky.
The flames burning on the pole had chewed the base of it out, and then the pole came crashing down. Hiccup saw that it was a flaming torch pole, the Vikings used them to see the dragons flying at night.
The metal container used to keep the wood for the fire at the tip of the pole came off its hinge, and went tumbling downhill.
As Hiccup turned around to watch, he noticed all the other villagers had come around him to see the commotion. He instinctively pulled his sleeve up to his hand and tucked his right hand into his pocket.
He watched the metal container going further and further downhill, destroying everything in its path. It went through a few houses and obliterated many pathways.
He noticed in the distance, a group of Vikings had some Deadly Nadders trapped in a net, but as the container came towards them, they fled to get out of its way. The Nadders got out of the net and flew away with the sheep they had captured prior.
Hiccup turned around and faced his father who was looking furious.
"Sorry…Dad."
Hiccups father, who is the chief of Berk named Stoick Haddock, Stoick-The-Vast being his nickname, just continued staring at him.
Hiccup looked around at all the Vikings, all of them had angry, irritated faces. He noticed Gobber in the crowd. He was shaking his head, looking frustrated, but also a little sympathetic.
"I caught a Night Fury Dad! I saw it go down towards the forest, let's take a search party out there-"
Many of the Vikings around laughed.
"Why weren't you in the forge?! I told you to go to the forge!" He interrupted. Looking thunderous. He saw Stoick look out of the corner of his eye to gaze at Gobber.
Hiccup approached his dad. "I was, but I left after a while-"
"You're not allowed out of the forge when the dragons are raiding…yet boy!" He countered.
Hiccup looked desperately up. "But I caught a Night Fury this time! I finally did! Let me take you to it, please?"
Stoick shook his head. He also lowered his voice so all the other villagers couldn't hear.
"Don't make up such nonsense. You can't do it yet, in a few years I might believe you. For now." He drew himself up to his fullest height, and spoke much louder.
"Every time you step outside, disaster falls. Can't you see I have bigger problems? Winter will be here soon, and I must find the means to feed the village!"
Hiccup eyed many of the Vikings around him.
"Between you and me, don't you think the village could do with a little less feeding dad?"
The crowd of Vikings muttered angry retorts, many comparing him to something small and insignificant, but Hiccup thought he heard a faint chuckle in the background from a certain blacksmith.
Stoick threw his fists down towards the ground.
"This ISN'T A JOKE! I'll deal with you later! Get back to your house." Stoick looked up, and motioned Gobber over.
He limped over as requested. "Make sure he gets there."
Gobber nodded.
"Now I've got to clean up all your mess, again." Stoick muttered. He walked off, his steps sending a chill up Hiccups spine with each he took. Most of the village followed him.
Gobber patted Hiccup gently on the head, "Come on lad."
He walked dejectedly back towards his house. One of the ones to escape damage from the raid.
"Quite the performance kid." Jeered Tuffnut, putting his arms out in front of him and indicating at Hiccup.
"I've honestly never seen anyone mess up that badly. You're going great kid. Nothing like some small entertainment, right guys?" Teased Snotlout. As he got the laughs from the twins and a chuckle from Fishlegs, he tripped Hiccup over.
He got back up, and was just about to turn around and face him…
"It's no use. Yeh'll get beaten up again. Come on, let's go." Supported Gobber.
He chanced a glance back behind him, and looked at Astrid. She was twisting her axe on the ground. Not even paying attention to the situation. As if none of it was worthy of her interest.
Feeling depressed once again, he slowly made his way back to his house.
"You know, I actually did hit one. I saw it fall down towards the forest." He mumbled, mainly talking to himself as he walked up the steps.
"Sure Hiccup." Gobber didn't sound legitimate. Hiccup could tell that he didn't believe him.
"He just doesn't listen, and when he seems like he actually is, he doesn't take anything of what I say in."
He heard a chuckle behind him so he turned and faced Gobber.
"What?!"
"And yeh are saying that yeh do?" He gave the most egotistical look.
All of Hiccup's body heat rushed to his face and ears. He imagined his face looking like it was a ripening tomato.
Gobber cackled.
Hiccup started walking back up the stairs briskly, till Gobber stopped him once he arrived at the door by putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Look Hiccup," he started, his tone going more sincere, "Stoick just wants to keep yeh safe. He knows yeh ain't ready to tackle a Night Fury. Yeh need to be stronger, and trained. It's not that much about what yeh look like, well… okay it is a little. But mainly it's what's inside that he can't stand for the moment."
…
"Thank you, for summing that up." Hiccup spoke plainly.
"Hey!" he once again stopped Hiccup from going inside. "The point is, stop trying to be something yeh can't be till yeh 'are older. Yeh'll get ya training soon."
"But it's taking forever! I just want to be one of you guys already!" Hiccup had enough, rushed inside and shut the door rather hard.
Gobber felt a little guilty, he sighed and walked down to the rest of the village to join Stoick.
When Gobber went down to the where the destruction lay from Hiccups mess, he found no one there. So he gathered they were up in the Great Hall.
He limped his way up there, and pushed open the doors.
Everyone was gathered around the roaring fire in the middle. He made his way through, listening to Stoick rambling on about something.
"If we don't finish off these devils, they'll finish us off eventually! That's how it's going to be!" He spoke, as always in his deep commanding voice.
And he went on for a further few minutes, having at last convinced everyone to go on one last search for the dragons nest before winter came and froze them all.
"We leave at first light tomorrow morning. Have some rest today and food before we depart. Dismissed." He spoke at last, everyone nodded and headed out to go back to their homes. Or what was left of them.
"What about all the damage Stoick?" Gobber asked, curious. "Yeh gonna leave that till we get back?"
"Yes. I think it wise to get the search done as soon as possible. When we come back, we'll fix the rest. A number of Vikings will be staying here while we're gone." He replied, now taking a seat next to Gobber.
Gobber grabbed a mug of mead, and passed it to his friend. He accepted with a word of thanks and then Gobber got one for himself.
Gobber took a large swig, wiped his mouth with his sleeve and stood up. "Right then, I'll go pack my left socks."
Stoick laughed. "Gobber you haven't got a left foot. And you're not coming with us on the search. I need you here to stay in command."
The blacksmith sat back down, disgruntled. "Thanks for reminding me." He muttered. "Maybe it'll grow back one day."
The chief chuckled again, knowing full well the blacksmith was trying to cheer him up. Stoick took a swig of mead himself, and gazed into the fire.
"I've been thinking…"
"Oh no. EVERYONE!" Gobber shouted. "STOICK'S BEEN THINKING!" He began waving his arms around trying to get people's attention. Then he realised he was alone with Stoick in the hall.
Stoick burst out laughing. "Oh Gobber you never change!"
The blacksmith sat back down happily, taking another gulp of the fantastic drink.
"But seriously, I was going ask if you could train some new recruits while we're gone. We could be over a week or two. If we come back."
"Yeh, not a problem." Gobber took another drink. Then got a thought. "Is that including yeh son?"
The chief tensed up straight away.
"No. You know he's too young." Though even Gobber thought that Stoick didn't look entirely convinced about that thought himself.
"Stoick… Yeh can't protect him forever."
The chief sighed, and took another drink.
"I know."
A few more minutes of silence passed.
"Do you think he's ready?"
"In all honesty, no. But, I do think he should start training now. He does need to bulk up, and learn to use weapons. The earlier he learns, the more prepared he is for the future." That was Gobber's honest opinion, and he knew Stoick would take it seriously.
"I just fear he'll get ripped to shreds before the first dragon even comes out of its cage."
"Oh yeh don't know that, he could suddenly be a natural."
"I doubt it. I just don't know what to do with him. He never listens, he has the attention span of a sparrow."
Gobber smiled. "Yeh know, he said almost the same thing to me earlier tonight. He said yeh never listen to him. I think it runs both ways."
The chief smiled slightly. "I suppose."
"Look Stoick," Gobber now turning very serious, "yeh can't stop him from trying. Look how trying stopping him has turned out. Let's just focus on preparing him. I know it may seem hopeless, but he will get out there again. For all we know he's probably out there now searching for the Night Fury that he thought he shot down."
Another minute of silence.
"You don't think he shot it down do you?" Stoick asked.
Gobber laughed. "Of course not. When I saw him running away from the Nightmare, I saw his bola launcher he made shattered. No way could he have done it."
"True. All right. I'll place him in training. Good luck teaching him, and the others. I want to hear how he goes when I come back." Stoick stood up, took one last swig of mead which emptied his mug.
"Find that retched nest." Gobber raised his glass, and drank it all in one too. He then stood up.
Stoick and Gobber hugged each other. "Good luck my friend. I'll watch yeh sail off tomorrow morning."
They released and shook hands, then departed the Great Hall.