Enpowera: The end of the first arc. Don't worry, there is more to come. To the guest reviewer: Dagur shall be making an appearance next chapter. He didn't appear in the movie, and so he didn't appear in the roleplay till post movie. For all readers, have Katy Perry's 'Roar' on standby to play towards the fight with the Red Death.
A day and a half later had Hiccup in the arena, Gothi checking to confirm if Hiccup was indeed bleeding. Sadly Hiccup wasn't, and so ready or not, it was time to face the Monstrous Nightmare. Luckily she had finished her battle outfit in time. The battle outfit consisted of a dragon scale/leather body suit, a dragon scale skirt, and a fur lined dragon scale cloak (with hood). The best part was that she could wear her tunic over the top of it.
~~~Flashback~~~
Hiccup was showing off the finished outfit to Toothless.
"Are you sure it'll work?" He was eyeing it with curiosity.
"Mind shooting a plasma blast at me to test it?"
"I don't know…."
"Please?" Hiccup pouted cutely.
"Okay…" Toothless transformed to dragon form and hesitantly fired a weak plasma blast at her, which the cape and armor easily blocked.
"Stronger this time!"
Toothless sent out a stronger blast, which was also blocked.
"I think it's a success!" Hiccup cheered, hugging Toothless.
Toothless roared happily. He was glad Hiccup wouldn't get barbecued.
~~~~End Flashback~~~
Hiccup took a deep breath to steady her nerves as she held up her shield in preparation for the dragon to be released. Gobber released it, sending a silent prayer to Odin for him to protect the girl. The large red beast stepped out of his cage, eyeing the young viking down, blaming her for his captivity. Hiccup gulped and in the seat of honor, Stoick held his breath, wanting to rush in and protect his princess from danger. Hiccup bravely reached out a hand holding some dragon nip towards the Monstrous Nightmare.
The dragon hesitantly moved forward, sniffing at her hand. He opened his mouth to give a hesitant roar, only for panic to set in…
"What is she doing!?" Stoick actually did rip off an armrest as he got to his feet. Is she trying to get eaten alive?!
Stoick pulled out his axe and rushed in to defend his daughter from the dragon. The Monstrous Nightmare reared back in fear, lighting up his body with intense heat.
"Dad, no! I can handle this…" Hiccup called, trying to stop everything from going to Helheim.
"He was going to eat your arm!" Stoick retorted as the dragon started firing shots.
"He was not, I had him right where I wanted him!" Hiccup had almost trained him. She rolled to avoid a blast, yelping as she landed on her bad wrist (the one that got hurt when she punched Snotlout).
That carried over to Toothless's ears, which prompted him to break his (kind of) promise to not go after her and went to the village in his dragon form.
"What do you mean!?" Stoick swung again and got the dragon at the side of the face.
"He was calm and relaxed and not ready to fight till you started making a ruckus," Hiccup scolded, "we'd be done by now if you just trusted me!" Hiccup lifted her cloak to protect herself from another fire blast. Luckily it did the trick.
Stoick ran over to her and was ready to defend her, which got them both in the line of fire for the dragon to kill 2 birds with one stone, if it wasn't for a certain Night Fury coming in and showing him who's boss.
Hiccup screamed as Toothless attacked the Monstrous Nightmare, "This is not happening..."
"Nightfury!" Everybody panicked, especially Stoick, who was quick to try and take down the smaller-by-comparison dragon while others worked on getting the Monstrous Nightmare back in its holding cell.
Hiccup ran to stop her father, "No! Leave him alone!"
Stoick shoved her off as gently as possible, which in the heat of the moment wasn't that gentle. Toothless struggled to try and get away from the viking chief and the other vikings in order to help Hiccup. She landed roughly on the ground, but got back up to run and attempt to save Toothless. Said dragon struggled to get to her too, but with no luck as the other Vikings overpowered him rather easily.
Hiccup started taking the blunt end of her sword and hitting people with it, stamina and fear giving her an adrenaline rush to protect her friend. Just the shock of Hiccup - she who wasn't the type to out-right attack another - hitting people got them to back up and off from Toothless. Not that it really helped, as he was already bounded by a good majority of the crowd managed to disperse.
Hiccup pulled out a dagger to cut the ropes off her friend, her wrath subsided in favor of worry for her friend. Stoick took advantage of that to grab her up by the scruff of her out, yanking her away. He signalled the other vikings to continue wrangling Toothless. Stoick started carrying his daughter off to talk in private, the closest place being the mead hall (which would be empty anyway since the whole village came to the arena).
"What was all of that about!?" Stoick demanded. "I thought you did what you did to try and kill dragons!"
"I can't kill dragons, but I can train them and befriend them! They aren't evil! They're just controlled by the queen at their island..."
"A queen!?" Stoick looked at her like she's lost it.
"I saw it when Toothless accidentally flew me to their island -"
"Flew you?" Stoick was even more confused. "What do you mean 'flew you!?'"
"I climbed on his back and we flew around."
"So not only have you been NOT killing them, but you've also been...been...gallivanting around with them!?" Steam might as well be coming from out of his ears.
"I'm trying to understand them, figure out why they raid us and I did! They have to feed the queen of the nest or she eats them instead!"
"And how do I know you're not lying just to save your skin and the scales of that beast you call a friend?!"
"It's the truth," Hiccup pleaded.
Stoick was silent for a moment. "You are to go near him no longer. Should you break this, I will disown you and send you off to fend for yourself!" Given how his final verdict reverberated through the hall, he was dead set on this. I won't lose you like I did her.
"Then disown me! He's my brother in all but blood and I won't abandon him!" Hiccup yelled back, "I've been taking care of myself anyway, you never cared about me! Just what I could be worth to another tribe! Toothless actually took the time to listen to me and cares."
Stoick, not wanting to show that her not taking his threat to heart actually surprised him and caught him off guard, hauled her up again and locked her up in their house. "And don't come out until I return with the head of the queen!"
"You'll die before that happens, she's big enough to eat all of us in one bite!" Hiccup warned, "You can't find the island anyway without a dragon!"
Stoick suddenly had an idea. "Your 'brother' shall live to take us to the queen." He then made his way to the docks, barking orders for everything needed to fight gathered up and brought to the boats.
Hiccup slid to the floor in defeat, tears of anguish filling her eyes. "I'm going to lose everyone..."
Soon, every adult with fighting experience was off to fight the queen, even Gobber since he insisted on watching out for Stoick.
Hiccup got over her self pity and was breaking down the door come Hel or High water... her shrieks could be easily heard, along with the occasional "Ow."
I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath
Scared to rock the boat and make a mess
So I sit quietly, agree politely
I guess that I forgot I had a choice
I let you push me past the breaking point
I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything
"Should we help her?" Fishlegs asked as he and the other teens passed by her house.
"Her dad locked her up for a reason." Ari stared at it with a thoughtful look on his face.
"I think she's trying to break out." Ruffnut observed from the shrieking.
"Hey Ruff, think you could break her door down faster than her?" Ari asked.
"You bet!" Ruffnut charged forward like a ram and used her head to try and break it down, literally.
"You totally said that on purpose, didn't you?" Fishlegs glanced over at Ari.
"Hey Tuff, bet you can't break down the door faster than your sister." Ari dared in a sing-song tone, nudging the male twin.
Tuffnut rammed at it too, yelling he could so too - and faster.
Hiccup heard them both and stood back as the door gave way after about five rams (she totally weakened the door though).
You held me down, but I got up (HEY!)
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder gonna shake the ground
You held me down, but I got up (HEY!)
Get ready 'cause I've had enough
I see it all, I see it now
Once the teens were brought together, Hiccup explained a plan, leading the group to the dragon fighting arena and releasing the dragons.
"We'll use these dragons to fly and catch up with the others in order to stop them."
"You're joking, right?" Snotlout killed dragons, not ride them like his cousin, "Just because you're willing to go berserk on vikings to protect a dragon doesn't mean the rest of us will."
It was general consensus Hiccup's freak out in the arena put Dagur the Deranged to shame
"Do you have any other ideas?" Ari questioned the shorter male viking, crossing his arms and giving him a 'Let's see you try' look.
"I-I think Hiccup's idea might work, i-it's worth a shot at least." Fishlegs mumbled.
Snotlout shrugged, "Fine, if everyone is just gonna be a tool."
After a montage of awkward training of both themselves and the dragons they bonded with, soon the group was mounted and headed to where the queen dragon was, courtesy of Hiccup as lead and Ari as her wingman/co-pilot.
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
You're gonna hear me roar
While they were doing that, Stoick was using Toothless to guide the boats through the mist and rocks and was currently setting up barricades for when they'd blow off a portion of the nest's gathering place to enter and slay them all.
"Gobber, I want you to fall back with some of the troops, should something go south during our fight." Stoick stated to his long-time friend as they prepared their catapult.
"No way, I'm stickin' with you until the end! Even all the way up in Valhalla."
Stoick felt something swell up in his chest at Gobber's words, was it… true bromance? "Very well then. LAUNCH THE CATAPULTS!"
The area they were shooting at crumbled away rather easily, Stoick being the first to charge forward to fight what dwelled within. However, what happened threw him off - he heard something so primal the ground beneath him shook...
The Red Death, queen of the dragons, roared loudly as she smelled all the vikings and felt the tremors of the catapults. This cause all the dragons in the mountain to flee, confusing the viking warriors greatly. The tidal wave of dragons flew right past them as they took this opportunity to escape the chance to be eaten. This resulted in a change of plans to have the efforts focused on the queen instead of what were now the small fry. And when the Red Death shot their ships, well it just continued to change plans all around… especially for Toothless, who thought he was just be stuck on the deck of one, but now found himself trying to escape his bonds before he drowned.
Speaking of flying, Hiccup and gang reached the Island. Hiccup saw what was happening to the ship Toothless was on and had Ari land on the ship. She rushed to attempt to free Toothless, sending Ari ahead.
"Distract them while I free Toothless!" She ordered.
Now I'm floating like a butterfly
Stinging like a bee I earned my stripes
I went from zero, to my own hero
"We're on it!" The twins chorused as they got up to the Red Death's face and started banging their shields. This resulted in their Zippleback, Belch and Barf (they thought two heads meant two names), to start wobbling due to the noise messing with their (possibly shared?) perception.
The Red Death just glared at them, not amused in the slightest. She opened her mouth and roared, releasing more flames.
Hiccup struggled to release the chains as the fire raged around princess paid no mind as the ship continued sinking. A loud crash signalled that the ship had given up on floating and staying whole. As the ship cracked apart, some of the chain Hiccup had managed to release wrapped around her ankle, sending both rider and dragon plummeting to the depths.
Toothless was silently pleading for her to leave him behind and go save herself. If this was his fate, so be it, but he wouldn't have a peaceful eternal rest knowing his sister was brought down with him!
Stoick saw what was happening and ran towards the water, diving in. He skilfully swam down and released the chain holding Hiccup. The girl refused to let go of Toothless though, forcing Stoick's hand for him to release the dragon as well. He carried both up to the surface of the ocean and onto land.
Toothless nudged Hiccup's face as he waited for her to wake up, a soft rumble of worry coming from his throat as he did so.
Hiccup groaned as she awoke, followed by gasping as she sucked in much needed breath fulls of air. It took but a few moments before she was on her feet.
You held me down, but I got up (HEY!)
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder gonna shake the ground
You held me down, but I got up (HEY!)
Get ready 'cause I've had enough
I see it all, I see it now
"Hiccup, I…" Stoick started.
"No time, dad, I have to stop her…" Hiccup interrupted, determination in her eyes.
"You can do it, I know you can." Stoick at least managed to put both his hands on her shoulders and spoke to her softly but truthfully as he said this.
Hiccup nodded and climbed aboard Toothless. Once in the air, the most terrifying battle anyone has ever seen started. Hiccup tease, poked, and prodded the Red Death, whilst the other teens helped. Smoke filled the air as the dragon became angrier and angrier.
"You have wings, let's see if you can fly!" Hiccup had Toothless fly up to tease the large dragon.
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
(You're gonna hear me roar)
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
(You'll hear me roar)
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
You're gonna hear me roar...
Ro-oar, ro-oar, ro-oar, ro-oar, ro-oar
The large dragon took flight, much to the amazing and horror of all watching. Large booms were heard as the two dragons fought. The sky quickly became too hazy for the battle to be seen clearly.
"Dragons are fireproof on the outside, but…" Hiccup recalled an instance of Toothless attacking a Terrible Terror by spitting a small plasma blast into its mouth. "The inside, not so much."
Toothless's mind seemed in sync with Hiccup as he understood the plan. The next time the dragon opened her mouth to blast them, he fired the largest plasma blast he could manage right down her gullet. It seemed to work, the dragon catching fire from the inside and going out in a blaze of not so much glory.
From the ground it looked like something from the myths of old, but if you were Hiccup and Toothless you were hoping it didn't lead becoming a myth of old down the line. Toothless found that he was pushing himself beyond his physical limits to try and get him and her out of the explosions and fire that came from the Red Death's demise. Sadly, he wasn't quite fast enough and the duo was hit by the Red Death's tail, sending them crashing towards the ground.
The island was covered by fog, making a search for the two heros difficult. Stoick's worry grew as each call of "Hiccup!" was met with silence. Not even Gobber's colorful commentary could ease the tension. The fog started to lift after what seemed like hours (really only about ten minutes) of searching, revealing the Night Fury guarding something under his wing.
"Hiccup!" Stoick's breath was still on seeing her, looking to not breathe… but one cough and groan from his child released the tension he had. He looked to Toothless with genuine thanks, which the Night Fury only nodded back to. "You managed to save her."
"Well, almost all of her…" Gobber commented on seeing the condition of one of her legs. Both men winced at the sight and, with help from the other viking teens and their dragons, made their way to Berk to celebrate victory/patch up Hiccup.
A few days later had Hiccup waking up in her own bed, feeling very disoriented.
That's when a black blur started nudging itself against her face while making familiar-sounding coos…
"Toothless? What happened? Did I drink too much mead?" Hiccup sat up weakly, then proceeded to wake up much more, "Wait. Why are you in my room?!"
He changed to his more human form to explain, "Your father said I could keep an eye on you until you woke up, since he couldn't stay home due to being your pack's alpha male."
"My dad knows you're here? Did I die?" Hiccup felt confused as she tried to climb out of bed, only to fall to the ground. "Nevermind, I hurt too much to be dead."
Toothless helped her at least sit down on her bed, "There was also something else that happened…" he looked at the floor, specifically around Hiccup's feet. Er, foot.
"Well it's only fun if you get a scar out of it," Hiccup joked to hide her mental anguish. There goes my hope of getting married.
Toothless could tell she was upset, but didn't comment on it. Instead he just gave her a hug and licked her forehead a few times.
"Can you help me outside to go see my father?" Hiccup asked. She also wanted to see if what she thought was happening was happening (vikings and dragons being friends).
He nodded and lifted her out of bed, bridal style, with ease. "...This is what you meant, right? I saw your father doing this when we landed."
"I'd rather you act as a crutch with my leaning on you instead. For the sake of my pride," Hiccup blushed.
"Right, sorry." Toothless carefully set her on her real foot and fake foot, something Gobber made during Hiccup's time out.
The friends managed to make it out of the house, only to be instantly swarmed by happy villagers. They all greeted Hiccup with pride and respect, making her finally feel like she belonged. All around them were dragons of every shape and size, working in harmony with the vikings.
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
You'll hear me roar!
Berk: Cold and miserable most of the year, the ground tough to live on and the people born on it tougher, but they have one thing that makes it worthwhile- Dragons.
