Chosen of the Wind (Version 2)

[I do not own Moana or How to Train Your Dragon.]

CONTENT NOTES

It's a mistake to underestimate Hiccup the Observant.

FORMAT NOTES

Hiccup and Toothless' will share paragraphs when there's company, and have separate ones when they're alone.

MY NOTES

Don't forget to let me know you want more via Reviews! Pleeeease! -artisticRadifyer

Extended Summary:

After fighting the Red Death and a murderous tyrant by the name of Drago Bludvist, Hiccup wouldn't think he would have any more outstanding adventures as big as those. Yet, he must set off to try and stop this 'Darkness' that is spreading across the Barbaric Archipelago to save his village. Njord chose just him, a runaway heiress, and the demigod that triggered the decay, to fix things. But there is no 'team' in 'chosen,' and the mentally challenged chicken that might be food, can't change that.

Chapter 5.2 - Shoddy Team Building

Hiccup was greeted with instant comfort when he woke. His racing breaths eased quickly with the scales that urged him up; nudging and rubbing in familiar ways. Toothless, now that Hiccup was actually awake, gave a concerned chuff with a haunted look. The young man returned the look. "You too?"

"'[Me] too,' what?" a still awake Maui asked.

Hiccup stood up fully to stretch and glanced at the man. "I'm hungry. You too?"

"There's some food in the compartment by Curly."

Hiccup hummed back an acknowledgment and was careful to avoid disturbing Moana. He pulled out a banana, and quietly gushed. "Hah! I saw them eating this earlier! I've only ever seen these at Things!" He peeled it and pulled off a small piece as he returned to Toothless's side. "Look, Bud! Do you want to try?" The dragon sniffed a few times and gave a small lick, but decided not to eat it in the end. Hiccup ate as he checked the saddle, and asked Maui how far their destination was.

"Should be pretty close." Maui checked the just dawned sun. "Looks like we'll arrive a little before the middle of the day."

Hiccup flipped open a flap to check the compass inside his right bracer, and took note of the direction. "So I should get there pretty quickly."

"Why would you go ahead? You can't get past the door."

"Going to clean up the saddle and such." Hiccup clipped himself into his seat. "Salt water really isn't all that good for metal and leather. Bye." He pulled his helmet over his head, and they left.

"You're lucky there isn't security to get past!" Maui took no heed of possibly waking up Moana to get the offended, 'you-should-be-grateful' message to the airborne duo.

Hiccup waved in response, but rolled his eyes upon returning his attention forward. He figured a whole night to contemplate a fifteen year old and his dragon defeating a monster would have earned both of them some respect, or at least the acknowledgement that they could handle themselves, but maybe the man thought the viking had embellished on the events that caused the loss of his limb. "Wouldn't be the first."

Toothless took that moment to dive for a few skimming fish, which drenched Hiccup with seawater in the process. The dragon ate in-flight this morning by ascending, dropping the catch, and snapping up the pieces by hawk-bombing them.

This routine happened a few more times before Hiccup spotted a lone, stone sea stack he presumed to be the entrance to the 'Lair of Tamatoa' Maui mentioned before. While still high up, they checked for any signs of enemies despite the information the demigod had shouted after them, and the two descended quickly once sure that the coast was clear. Toothless circled the stack and landed on the base of the natural structure. The small shore around them consisted of more pebbles than sand, and sparse vegetation.

Toothless rounded on Hiccup once the man had gotten his saddle completely off, and an expectant look stopped the man short.

Hiccup sighed and continued to pull out a rag to clean the saddle with and the supplies to make clean water. He collected his thoughts as he set up the ensemble.

Toothless already knew this process, and simmered the plants and rocks that sat beneath the pot. The dragon watched his handiwork for a moment to assess the need for further fire and, upon no need found, he raced into the water to wait for Hiccup.

Hiccup, now that drinkable water was being made, pulled out his waterskin to refill later and placed it on a rock. He pulled out another set of clothes to change into, a bar of soap, and made sure he had anything else he needed before finally removing his leg. He crawled over stone and sparse moss to join Toothless, and finally began to talk out last night's vision, "You had the dream too, right?"

Toothless snorted at the surface of the water hard enough to splash the man's face.

"Yeah," Hiccup swiped some salt water out of his eyes, "but, what does it mean? Are the Gods reminding us we're on a time limit? Or do they show us a–a, a demonstration of this Darkness, to, to know what we're facing. …To fear what we're facing?"

He saw the same bundle of worry in his other's eyes. There were lives that depended on them, despite outsiders' assumptions. They were each on the smaller side of their kind, and were regularly underestimated at their lack of brute strength. Resourceful tactics helped them achieve the feats they strived to emulate, and they proved to be just as capable in the face of those who doubted them.

"Am I supposed to be getting a message back to them? Astrid and Gobber, I mean. They looked like they were waiting for orders… But I don't have any way to do that..."

Despite a message being the only truly actionable conclusion Hiccup could come to, he wasn't able to think of a way to contact his village without a bird, a Terrible Terror, or even more divine intervention.

"Guess we keep going. Fishlegs said they could last at least a month or so, and we've been out for just a little less than a week. We do this in time and they won't have to take too much stock down."

Toothless helped Hiccup out of the water, and reheated the spot under the water pot once Hiccup had reset it. The sent of the soap his human half used to clean with, gnawed at his sensitive nose, and he persistently marked the man with many small, informative, and possessive licks on forearms, hands, and, with the absence of normal company, even managed to get a good swipe in his hair and across Hiccup's back.

Hiccup knew the licks were coming, but had given up trying to stop them a long time ago. He was used to Toothless grooming him on occasion for cleanliness, expression, and play, but after baths the dragon got insistent with them. Resistance to those got a bit intense in the past, and he eventually reached an equilibrium with his other that seemed to work well.

He went after the bit of clean water he had acquired during the bath, and dipped the rag he had pulled out into it. He carefully went through the process of cleaning the complex of pieces and moved onto his armor and prosthetic after that. He changed out the water pot one more time before pulling his clothes to himself and gauging just how dirty they were. He exchanged what he thought was nasty and redressed.

Toothless alternatingly sunbathed, explored the small area, and played with Hiccup as the morning hours went by.

Hiccup likewise either played with Toothless or drew in a blank book he took for this journey. He drew the landscape he was on, the Kakamora, the raft, and the two upon it. He made separate pages for both people, leaving blank pages between them to write in as he learned about them. He wrote about how hot it was, how the 'Wind and Sea,' as the other two called Njord, helped in limited ways while being much more obvious about it than he had ever seen.

It was late mid-morning when Toothless spotted their companions on the horizon, and he urged his rider to equip him with the saddle and pack. He barked at Hiccup when the boat was within shouting distance, and began to hop along in front of Hiccup as they made their way to the spot the raft was aiming to moor. Hiccup helped tie the raft to the sea stack and listened as the other humans talked about their next plan of action.

"Tamatoa? Oh, he'll have it. He's a scavenger; collects stuff. Thinks it makes him look cool. Ahhh!"

The last sound Maui made at the chicken left Hiccup wondering if the animal really was a pet or not. He watched the man force the chicken to eat and he found he needed to refocus himself to begin listening again.

"And for Tamatoa--trust me--my Hook is the coolest collectable."

"And he lives...up there?" Moana's stare indicated the top of the sea stack.

Hiccup took a glance for himself, but wanted a bit more information out of Maui. "Is your Hook like Thor's Hammer, Mjöllnir? If someone else has it, it's gonna be a lot of work to get something so powerful back."

"Tamatoa is a hermit and doesn't give up anything he likes; so we will probably fight. Up there is just the entrance to, um…" Maui paused in answering Moana's question for suspense, "Lalotai."

"Lalotai? Realm of Monsters?" Moana cleared her throat to calm down her voice. "We're going to the Realm of Monsters?"

Hiccup frowned as he found the location's name they were going to wasn't translating over like he had gotten used to. He almost stopped the others to ask for clarification but with Maui's next words already denying their accompaniment, he didn't believe he'd get very far.

Maui chuckled. "'We?' No. Me. You are gonna stay here with the other chicken. Poet, you can tell Chicken some of your stories. Bcaaak!" Maui laughed to himself and offered a high five to Tattoo Maui. "That's what I'm talkin' about! Gimmie some…!" The tattoo refuses to cooperate. "Come on! That was a good one! How do you not get it? I called her a 'chicken,' there's a chicken on the boat… I know she's human, but that's not the--" Maui started to climb. "You know what? Forget it. Forget it! I'm not explaining it to you… Wha-- 'Cause then it's not funny!"

"Moana," Hiccup spoke up, "would you like a ride up?"

The girl shook her head. "I've gotta do this right; no point coming all this way and not doing anything." She started to climb after Maui, and almost fell when she twisted to belatedly thank him for the offer.

"No problem. I'll see you both up top, then." Hiccup and Toothless flew passed both of the southerners to land up top. Hiccup sat on the edge the two would reach and listened to their echoing voices.

Maui began to browbeat information out of the climbing Moana. "So, 'Daughter of the Chief,' I thought you stayed in the village. You know, kissing babies and things. ...Hey! I'm just tryin' to understand why out of all the people on your island, the only one who came was... How do I phrase this...: you."

"My people...wouldn't listen to me; wouldn't go against my father. And the Ocean," Moana grunted as she climbed, "chose me."

"The Ocean? Makes sense. You're, what: eight? Can't sail? Obvious choice."

"It chose me for a reason."

"If the Ocean's so smart, why didn't it just take the Heart back to Te Fiti itself? Or bring me my Hook? ...The Ocean's straight up kooky-dooks. ...But, I'm sure it's not wrong about you. You're a 'Chosen One!'"

The rest of their climb was silent and Hiccup took time to inspect what Maui said to Toothless quietly. "He's team building. He's not doing a very good job, granted, but he doesn't want to do this anyway; he's not trying. He could bail on us after he gets this Hook… We need to watch him closely, Bud." Toothless rumbled in agreement.

Moana was the first to the top of the sea stack, and she allowed Hiccup to help her up the last haul to stand. She thanked him and then looked over the view from their new position. "The Ocean chose you for a reason."

Maui had gotten to the top without the other two realizing it. "If you start singing, I'm gonna throw up."

"Well, aren't you rude." Hiccup defended Moana. "I bet she's better than you."

"I already gave her a song; she hasn't given one back yet."

"Well, insulting her won't help you."

"SO," Moana interrupted, "not seeing an entrance."

"Yes," Maui ominously answered, "because it only appears after a human sacrifice."

Hiccup didn't believe him. "If that's the case: Maui should be the offering for being so rude to you, Moana."

Moana was taking the threat seriously, but a humored Maui overrode whatever she was going to say:

"I'm just kidding! You're both so serious!" He released a breath while turning a complete circle to blow the sand away from the ground to reveal a carved face in the stone. He bellowed and danced an angry chant of some sort, before he jumped high and slammed the small mound he was on into the ground further. This must have been a 'key,' for the face's mouth opened slowly to reveal a deep well. Maui waited until the face stopped moving to speak again. "Don't worry: It's a lot farther down than it looks."

The three others watched as the man yelled and jumped into the entrance to Lalotai. A moment into the fall and a far away sentence floated up: "I am STILL FALLING!" and then a small splash.

All Hiccup heard next was a small mutter before Moana disappeared, falling down after the demigod. "She would have said 'no' to a ride this time too." Hiccup and Toothless came together at the lip of the well-like entrance. "Ready, Bud?" They jumped into the mouth of an unknown home of the hoarder they planned to fight.