SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING EARLIER. I'm kind of under the weather right now, so writing is difficult!
This chapter will be the laughs, so enjoy!
And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the reviews, faves, and follows. I was not expecting this story to be this popular!
Enjoy Chapter 2!
Chapter 2
Hiccup yawned, trying to get rid of the remnants of sleep. He hadn't gotten too much rest last night, trying to take advantage of the dragons' fire for his inventions before they were separated.
"You ready for today, bud?" he asked Toothless, who had insisted on sleeping on Hiccup's bed last night. The Night Fury now moaned, not wanting to face what was going to go down in just a few minutes.
Hiccup sighed and turned away. "Oh, come on, you useless reptile. The day's got to start sometime."
As Hiccup came over to the door, Toothless jumped from his bed and followed him. Hiccup make sure to grab the mechanical dragon tail he had propped up by the door before stepping outside.
Most of the other Riders were already waiting. The group included Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruff, and all of their dragons. Hiccup frowned. Where was Tuff? He could usually be found with his sister.
"You're finally up," said Astrid, avoiding eye contact. She had been a little distant with him ever since his claim last afternoon.
Hiccup smiled faintly. "Sorry. I had to work on Toothless's mechanical tail last night and didn't get to bed till late… Ruff? Where's Tuff?"
Ruffnut crossed her arms. "Beats me. Maybe he decided he didn't want to do this or something."
"No! I'm—I'm here!"
Tuff ran up to the group, panting like crazy. Chicken was clutched securely in his arms.
"Just had to grab Chicken… with these dragons running around—untamed—who knows what they'll do…"
He cast a suspicious look at the Riders' dragons as he stroked his pet.
"Uh. Tuff," said Fishlegs. "You do realize that our dragons are still domesticated, even without—"
Tuff moved his hand to mime a mouth closing, cutting Fishlegs off. "Uh-uh! I can't risk leaving my Chicken in the talons of these deceiving monsters. Now that would be irresponsible."
Astrid, Fishlegs, and Hiccup exchanged glances.
"Erm… alright," Hiccup began. "So, we all know the rules. One day. No dragons. Each group gets one-half of the island. And dragons, even if you see that your rider needs help on something, ignore them. If we were still at war with you guys, we'd have to do whatever we needed help with ourselves."
Snotlout snorted. "If we were still at war with dragons, we wouldn't even be on this island."
Everyone shot him a look.
Hiccup knelt down to face Toothless. "Alright, bud, it's time for the tail. I don't want you to be stranded down here when you could be flying with the others. I know you don't like it, but come on—make this day a tiny bit easier on me."
Toothless huffed, backing away.
"Toothless… Come here, or no haddock for the rest of the week."
Nothing.
"Toothless, bud. You agreed to this yesterday!"
Still rebellious.
"Toothless…!"
Toothless whined and darted away from Hiccup's outstretched hands.
"TOOTHLESS!"
Upon hearing his rider's firm shout, Toothless slumped forward in submission. Hiccup attached the mechanical tail before the Night Fury could change his mind. When Hiccup stepped back, Toothless already looked like he wanted to smack it off.
"Can we go already?" sighed Snotlout. "This is getting boring. Well, not like it was ever interesting."
Hiccup nodded. "Yes, we can go now. Alright, team, we're going to have this half of the island with the base and everything we built. The dragons can run around the other side of the Edge. We'll meet up again in twenty-four hours." He glanced around. "Everyone ready?"
The Riders all looked set to go, so they ordered their dragons to leave. While the other dragons flew off, Toothless chose to instead pridefully saunter away on foot. Hiccup watched him go with a disappointed exhale.
"I'm a little hungry," said Astrid. "Let's go get some breakfast before we start the day. We need to stay energized."
"Ooh!" Fishlegs came in, looking excited. "Yesterday, my Meatlug and I found a tree that has some fruit on it! I identified it as a Freya fruit tree. So rare! And from what I've gathered from the papers of those who have seen Freya fruit, they taste very delightful! We should head there for breakfast. To try something new, you know?"
Hiccup shrugged. "Why not? Sounds like a good chance to prove our independence. Lead the way, Fishlegs."
Fishlegs gradually showed them to a patch of trees near his relaxation spot. The vegetation got taller and taller as they walked. Snotlout began to grumble about how the Clubhouse would've taken much less time to get food from than this.
"Ah!" said Fishlegs as he stopped and gestured to the sky. "Here we are!"
The team looked up to where he was pointing and gaped.
The Freya fruit tree was thirty meters in height, proud and reaching towards the clouds. The Riders couldn't believe it.
Hiccup spied light pink and green fruit nestled in the branches. Fishlegs was right; the fruit did look delicious. Hiccup wouldn't have minded having a piece himself. Well, except for the one tiny thing that stood in the way...
"How are we supposed to get the fruit down?"
Snotlout had broken the silence. And he was dead on. Their breakfast was way too far to reach by hand.
Astrid, who had taken her axe with her, approached the tree. "Don't worry—I've got this."
With a grunt, she tossed her weapon high in the air. Her aim was spot on and headed right towards the Freya fruit. But it never reached it. The tree was too high for something as heavy as Astrid's axe. It relented to gravity and began to fall. Astrid barely managed to jump out of the way in time before her weapon impaled the earth.
Astrid groaned, then kicked the ground. "Son of a nutcracker… gah! Stormfly, spine—" She froze, realizing her Nadder wasn't there to shoot it down for her.
"Well, that failed," Snotlout said, annoyed.
Astrid shot him her infamous glare, and Snotlout held up his hands in surrender.
"You want the fruit? Fine, babe, whatever you want; I'll get it for you."
It was Snotlout's turn to advance the tree. With a self-confident smirk, he turned to the trunk and reached for a branch. He easily pulled himself up. But the trouble came a minute later when he tried to find another foothold. All the other points were too high for him.
"Hookfang!" he barked. "Give me a boo—"
He, too, cut himself off, coming to the same conclusion as Astrid: their dragons weren't there to aid them.
The Riders stared at the ground in silence. Hiccup felt embarrassed. He hadn't known they were this helpless. If his father had been around to see the sorry sight of the Riders awkwardly standing around a tree, he would've been mortified.
"I'll try and get it," he offered. "I'm—uh—taller than you Snotlout, and may have more experience with climbing trees. Even with my prosthetic."
Before anyone could stop him, he began to ascend the trunk. His nimble frame found footholds with simplicity, and he gained much more height than Snotlout ever could've.
"Show off," his cousin muttered from below.
Before long, Hiccup had reached the fruit. With a grin, he plucked one from its stem. He looked down at his friends and was startled to find them fairly small from his altitude.
"Milady!" he called to Astrid. "Catch!"
He tossed the Freya Fruit down, and Astrid scrambled to snatch it. Everyone cheered at the success.
"Who knew it would take that much to get some fruit?" Tuff wondered aloud, still stroking Chicken.
"Unsurprising," said Ruff simply.
While he was up here, Hiccup decided to get the rest of the Riders their breakfast. Soon, everyone had a piece of fruit in hand, and Hiccup knew it was time to go back to his friends.
And then he looked down.
He gulped.
He had known the tree was high… but this high? No. He hadn't expected this. And he didn't have Toothless to bring him down safely.
With another uneasy swallow, he tried to make his way back to the ground. It was a lot harder than going up, and he nearly slipped a few times. But he was making it. He smiled. It was okay. He didn't need Toothless for everything. It was all going to turn out—
"Woah!"
His prosthetic slipped off a branch, and a moment later, he was dangling from the tree by his mere arms.
"Hiccup!" Astrid gasped.
The Dragon Conqueror held back a yelp as he tried to latch back onto the trunk. This was… not how he was expecting the day without dragons to play out.
To his dismay, he had been proved right. The Riders really couldn't manage life by themselves.
KA-BOOM! TREE-HANGER! I FINALLY DID IT.
I hope you guys are liking the story, and once again THANK YOU, you amazing people for all of your support. I grin like an idiot when someone posts a review or favorites or follows.
So, do you think the Riders can survive the rest of the day? What are the dragons up to? Can Hiccup even get down a tree?
Until next time, my readers. Thanks for viewing!