NFF Hiccup's encounter with the god of night.
A/N
Really hope you enjoy reading this, PM/Review if you saw something I could improve or have an idea for the generation of future chapters. It is appreciated, and even small comments can improve the story a lot.
There are items in the chapter which are a result of me and Night fury fanfic's correspondence.
Full version, now you should be able to see why there was such a sudden plot leap beforehand. Credit goes to my weird chapter 12 for reminding me to check my stories.
End A/N
Hiccup threw off his bed's sheets with the day of battle dawning. He put on his sleek, strong armour as well as a multitude of weapons. A stretching session followed, going as far as to stretch his wings, just in case. He sighed in inevitability. For this battle he would try negotiations, but it was almost guaranteed to go badly. His abilities should protect him from any surprise attack, hopefully. Astrid had already apologised, but he still urged her to stay with the crew. He himself left his bedroom for a quiet place to form a strategy.
Astrid was up and swinging, literally. She always had been one to practise her axe technique and this battle was no different. She had fashioned practise targets and even practised taking out flying projectiles with well timed swings. She stopped after a long session, her axe needed sharpening, so she went over to see if Hiccup was able to do so. Astrid knew about her ongoing punishment but thought that.
Hiccup was still mulling over his words; the god of night made another surprise appearance. Hiccup looked at the god with confusion.
"Why are you here? We're about to go into battle."
The god of night nodded in respect to his plans. He responded calmly
"I was wondering about your plan for battle. As a god that looks out for the legendary night fury I would like to know about your battle plan."
Hiccup was taken aback, of course he had been thinking about the effect of the battle on Shadewrath and Toothless, but he was reminded he wasn't the only one. His plans were still fraught with risks if Viggo didn't accept his peace offer. The god of night, surprisingly, helped in this manner.
"I can keep both night furies from harm, however, Unfortunately I can't do the same for you, there is too much effort required just to keep two night furies safe from all harm, I hope you understand."
Hiccup nodded uncertainly, he was glad for the protection of his best friends but now felt increasingly vulnerable to attacks himself. On this side the god of night could only slightly reassure him.
"Don't worry too much, most of the danger; the archers, should be unable to penetrate your hardened scales, even at close range. I would only worry about the ballistae, those have an unbelievable amount of power."
Hiccup was yet again fundamentally strung from two contrasting feelings, relief that a certain thing couldn't harm him and an awareness of that which could.
The god of night lingered for a while, seeming to think of another way to comfort him, finding none he disappeared into the ethereal air from which he had come.
Hiccup now needed to take care of Shadewrath and Toothless. Even though the god of night said he would protect the two precious dragons, Hiccup wanted to make sure they could still fight effectively, if the situation arose, he also added some extra gear to help in battle including two ranged weapons.. Finished with this task Hiccup went off to try talking to Viggo.
He strode forward, extending his wings and tail before extending them into the headwind. The membrane flexed, catching the air. Hiccup rose into the air before banking.
He was on his way to decide the course of a battle.
Viggo was furious with his men, instead of the early start he had in mind his men were still sleeping. He couldn't take this annoyance anymore
"Wake up you miserable men, we don't have all day to take down Berk!"
His men groggily got up. Viggo groaned in exasperation, his men would take at least an hour to get properly prepared. In the meantime, he would survey the area from the pride of his ship. He strode up the gangplank with the light reflected from the water dancing on his smooth face. He did not see the young, determined boy streaking at low altitude towards him. The first sign Viggo got of Hiccup was that very whistle, before a large outline rocketed into the air in front of him.
Viggo was on high alert, he ordered the men to shoot but there was no one there. Uncontested, Hiccup descended slowly on his fully outstretched wings, his time for surprise over. Viggo watched in fascination as the strange human-dragon landed, with the barest creak of wood, on his deck. The figure he now knew as Hiccup raised his head from the landing and stared straight into Viggo's soul.
Hiccup was having a panic attack on the inside, he hoped the man would be scared would be scared into stiffness by his large silhouette. Viggo stumbled back in shock, he took a few panicked breaths before he could finally vocalise.
"What are you doing here? Stay off my ship or I'll have my archers shoot you."
Viggo's little trick was shot down by Hiccup's observations.
"What archers? All your men are still inside sleeping."
Viggo gasped at Hiccup's casual destruction of a carefully hidden secret.
"How would you know about that? [turning more serious] how do you know there aren't any hiding in the woods?"
Hiccup casually brushed some sea spray off his Armor, this man did not know the full extent of abilities brought on by his integration into a hybrid.
"I can hear your men sleeping. I have come to talk about peace."
Unknowingly, Hiccup had triggered a habitual response; Viggo would not have the shameful acknowledgement of 'defeat' they would only have Justice through war, isn't that why he had built this ship in the first place?
Viggo was now intensely aware of this humiliation, he shouted a quick
"Never, Hiccup son of Stoick!"
Before hurtling towards the boy with his weapon drawn.
Hiccup merely sighed at first, he could have had peace if the violent bald man would just let it happen. Grumbling he prepared his sword for a parry. Viggo struck the boy as hard as he could, surprised when the boy took the blow easily. Hiccup threw off the blade and resumed a defensive stance before responding to his earlier statement
"To my enemies it's Midnight, you should have accepted peace."
Viggo was outraged that the boy had defended a strong shot with mocking ease, he charged again, determined to hit stronger. Hiccup charged up a plasma blast to knock the man back, releasing the powerful bolt. Viggo got lucky, his axe slicing through the plasma, splattering the superheated, exploding liquid to his sides. Hiccup realised the problem and parried again.
Edward was wide awake, early with an improvised tea held in a makeshift cup, having heated the steaming broth with Hiccup's plasma blast, a fact that intrigued him greatly. Suddenly the sound of far off battle caught his attention. he looked through his telescope to see Hiccup fighting an unknown man on an enemy ship. He then remembered to observe the ship. A sight to behold, a ship of strange design; Viking like hull covered in metal and ballistae turrets?
Edward knew Hiccup would need help, he shouted loudly to his crew to wake up. The crew, having slept on board for lack of beds in the main camp, groggily started making their way towards battle stations. Edward himself started unrolling the sails and raising the anchor.
Viggo had tried over 50 attack runs on the strangely powerful boy. He strayed out of attack range of the boy to plan his next move. On his observation, while Hiccup watched him carefully, he caught sight of movement behind 'Midnight'. he was shocked to see a massive ship slowly gaining speed towards him. Hiccup picked up on his shock, somersaulting off the ship before deploying his wings and flying quickly towards the iconic ship. Viggo recovered only to realise his target had escaped. He angrily shouted at his men, who had gathered to watch the fight, his men quickly jumped into action for fear of retaliation.
Edward sighed in relief when Hiccup disengaged, he hadn't known about Hiccup's strength and assumed he was close to defeat. He watched the hybrid as he cruised above the choppy waters. As Hiccup came closer he pitched up to meet Edward on the deck. Edward rushed to meet him and find out if there were any wounds, he was surprised that Hiccup was neither harmed or even out of breath, but Edward was curious that he still decided to duel with Viggo.
"Why were you on that ship? The owners are quite protective, from what I've seen."
Hiccup agreed with the latter and contributed his story.
"I went on that ship to ask for peace, as I did for you. Viggo didn't accept the peace."
Edward let the new information sink in, their enemy leader was now known as Viggo and he had an impressive ship, compared to normal Viking ships. Nevertheless, Edward walked away from Hiccup to look at the enemy flagship in contempt.
"If they don't like peace, they should get ready for our cannons."
Nearby, his crew members smiled, today was a chance to finally fire their live ammunition, as well as the fact they could also test Hiccup's explosive armaments. The flagship, business mark, slowly turned out to meet them in a heavily unbalanced battle
Astrid still flying to the battlefield. She was determined to show her worth in the battle she expected, no more waiting around on the side-lines, today was the time to promote her family name.
Hiccup resumed his aerial supervision of the battlefield. He wasn't going to start an attack run unless entirely necessary, since his job would be to pull any crew members from sinking ships. He had quietly promised Stoick that he would ensure the wellbeing of all the enemy sailors; Viggo had decided their fates for them after all. It had been a strange decision, outlined by the other rider's reactions after his confession.
His normal role was first strike, using the night fury's power and speed to disable fortifications, ironically the same role that Toothless had during the dragon raids, but it made sense, using the Night fury's best strengths in combat.
The decision to act as medic effectively made him an ideal target, not the best position when the god of night had warned him that he could still be hit, but it was better than letting people drown.
He hoped that Toothless and Shadewrath could safely break the enemy's ballistae, meaning he could tell Edward to hold his cannon fire; the cannons were too effective, they would only be used if the enemy could not be defeated otherwise; the same, sadly for Hiccup's genius, would go for the plasma weaponry.
After this brief consideration of battle ethics, Hiccup ignited a long range shot and fired it over their base; this would be the signal for all dragons and riders (except Hiccup of course) to begin a targeted assault.
The first off were the night furies who didn't have to worry about their riders getting ready. After a few minutes Fishlegs and came out, because they were basically inseparable anyway. Then, surprisingly, came the twins before, finally, Hookfang and Snotlout came out and now he could see why the twins had exited beforehand; Hookfang had been painted green. A quick check was obviously required, and so Hiccup rolled, dove, and eventually came close behind Hookfang.
He was going to talk casually but remembered that Snotlout probably wouldn't believe a talking dragon, thus he began creating an illusion of human Hiccup on top of himself; to keep Snotlout from surprise while still flying. The illusion 'Hiccup' spoke to Snotlout, "I assume the twins did this to your dragon?"
Snotlout nodded grimly, "they were just arguing about something and then they decided to throw paint on poor Hookfang! He can't even burn it off because it isn't flammable."
Hiccup gave a quiet incantation to clean Hookfang, drops of paint went flying as his instinctively understood spell was completed, startling both Snotlout and Hookfang, "DEAR ODIN! Hiccup, what was that?!"
Hiccup, although surprised himself at the spell's potency, had to neutralise his emotions to prevent his illusion 'Hiccup' breaking apart, "just a spell, I am not sure how I knew it, but it seems it was helpful."
Snotlout, gradually letting surprise fade into a twinge of admiration, thanked Hiccup but warned him that the twins needed punishment. Hiccup agreed quickly, before banking away and climbing quickly to resume his earlier position.
By now, Toothless and Shadewrath had come to their dive positions and were observing their targets from above. Each had their own strategy, such was the nature of solitary dragons, Shadewrath almost completely ignored his counterpart in favour for concentration on the battle while Toothless, used to the teamwork of human strategy, wondered why Shadewrath hadn't talked to him once since they took off.
Even while Toothless was distracted, Shadewrath had decided to lead the attack; His wings tucked in as he prepared to dive. Toothless, reluctantly, prepared to follow up Shadewrath's attack, since he wasn't sure what he would do, hovering stationary as the other dragon darted straight towards the ship.
Giving very slight changes in direction, Shadewrath expertly dodged projectiles coming towards him. Eventually, Toothless could see a soft blue glow on Shadewrath's neck; signs of a shot.
Shadewrath was wondering why Toothless hadn't started diving, even as he himself was performing an attack run. His lack of focus was unpunished at the highest parts of his dive; his reflexes were enough to avoid the projectiles and the ones that would have caused him alarm suspiciously changed course.
He gave slight notice to this fact, but he reasoned he could ask Hiccup or Toothless later, before he realised what relationship he and the rider pair must be at for him to think like that… 'damnit,' he could feel an instinctual rage at his domestication, but that wouldn't help now, it was better to stay on task. He quit his pondering to prepare a shot; one that, he hoped, would show them that he was far more than a simple pet; a long projectile formed in Shadewrath's mouth as he played with one of his most primitive, powerful magic. The shot glowed bluer than usual and sparks could be seen.
On the Deck Viggo watched with a shocked expression as the Night fury came closer. The simple fact that none of the projectiles could actually hit the Night Fury was his biggest cause of concern. The beast came closer and closer until the dreaded opening of the mouth, the blue glow, and the release of the shot. Viggo's world was consumed with light as the shot impacted before he blacked out, his muscles spasming as the shot's magic consumed all people that were on the top deck.
Edward, standing behind the steering wheel of his ship as his normal navigator rested, watched the impact.
He had been looking past the sails of his warship as the first black dragon attacked. He was expecting some damage to be done to the ship, but he wasn't prepared to see the lightning strike in broad daylight. The lightning completely engulfed the ship and gave worrying sparks from the metal sides where it impacted, which Edward had no doubt were electrified.
Toothless had been watching with slight curiosity as Shadewrath approached, curious at what shot he would attempt, but after the bolt hit and lightning struck, Toothless was filled with dread. Night Fury lightning was powerful, but primitive for a reason. Only those who have gotten used to the magic are immune to its psychological effects; increased feral behaviour. Toothless' fears were realised when he saw Shadewrath's form gain a gaseous trail; obviously Shadewrath hadn't practised lightning magic enough, the lack of control over his Fury gas a poor indicator to just how much Shadewrath's mind had changed.
Toothless banked and chased after the errant night fury, ready to subdue him before he did serious damage to other dragons, their riders, or even Toothless himself; since night furies are typically violent towards their own kinds in fits of uncontrollable rage, depths of emotion only accessible if one used the prohibited magic.
Hiccup had been intensely observing the fallout from the first strike, he was surprised but thankful that the first hit hadn't been explosive, therefore no crew members were in the water. His appreciation was cut short when he, like Toothless, spotted the strange behaviour of Shadewrath's very body. Hiccup now had two problems to deal with, now that the business mark, although stunned for a moment, began to refresh its crew from those underneath the main deck; there was no leader for the confused crew coming up from below, but they could still take control of the weapons.
To make matters worse, he caught sight of a rebellious Astrid making straight for the ship. The other dragon riders were, thankfully, hovering still after the strange showing of electric magic. Hiccup now had to get Astrid out of the fight, before she either unleashes Stormfly's fire onto the unsuspecting crew or the new crew shoots out the pair with sheer firepower.
To prevent this scenario, he decided to take Astrid out of the fight, again. He checked that there weren't any other serious hazards before rolling upside-down gracefully and falling out of the sky.
Breaking out of the swift fall with an exaggerated flare of his wings, Hiccup used his momentum to catch up to the pair, ducking underneath view once he was close enough. Once underneath the unsuspecting duo, he decided that getting Astrid off Stormfly would be the best option, lest Stormfly help Astrid to escape. He gave a short dive then immediately gained altitude; headbutting Stormfly in the chest. His original plan to distract Stormfly worked a bit too well; Astrid was tossed from her mount by the sudden movement, causing Hiccup to turn sharply to catch her.
He caught her with his talons and started gaining altitude. Astrid, unaware of the fact she had switched dragons, decided to compliment Stormfly, "Good job girl, that was quite some jolt. I'm lucky that you were so alert, or I would…" she eventually looked up to see a night fury head instead of her own Deadly Nadder. Her brief shock was overturned immediately. She now knew that the jolt was a trick and now, in the custody of Hiccup, she would receive a very irritated lecture.
Hiccup kept flying, an irritated Astrid clutched in his claws and a confused Stormfly following closely behind. He knew his troubles weren't over yet. Once he had dropped off the misbehaving teenager, he would have to return safeguarding every warrior's life. Hiccup smiled ruefully, the gods never let him have a moments rest.
Meanwhile the ships of Edward, accompanied by the dragon riders, came closer to fighting with the proudest ship that Viggo had to offer.