Author's Note:
Hello and welcome to chapter three. There's not many changes in this one from the original but I think it was okay as it was. This time we see what happened to Hiccup and the other riders make their entrance. I hope you enjoy the chapter.
I do not own any aspect of How to Train Your Dragon.
Separation and Search
Hiccup hadn't even realised that Snotlout and Toothless had gone down.
The Typhoomerang had actually forced him and Hookfang to retreat out to sea and it pursued them with a single-minded determination. This meant he hadn't seen his cousin and dragon crash on the island he'd left behind and he thought the other boy was following them.
Hiccup expected the angry dragon to eventually give up but it was determined to catch the Nightmare which had fire blasted it. The chase continued with the pair occasionally avoiding a fire jet from their foe and Hiccup could see and feel Hookfang tiring as the day wore on, he knew they had to come up with a way to deal with the Typhoomerang soon or Hookfang would simply fall out of the sky from exhaustion. He then realised that Snotlout and Toothless hadn't caught up to them yet and he looked back to see if they were behind them but they only thing there was the other dragon. Hiccup frantically turned his head from side to side searching for his cousin and friend but there was no sign of them. Another jet of flame from the Typhoomerang forced him to refocus on their current problem. Hookfang was now panting and would have to stop soon so Hiccup desperately scanned the sea below.
Like a miracle he spotted a large sea stack with a small cave in its side, its entrance was small with a sort of natural fire barrier in front of it being formed by the surrounding stone. It was too small for the Typhoomerang but Hookfang could fit through it though it would be an exceptionally close fit, Hiccup leaned closer towards the Nightmare beneath him and muttered quietly, "Okay Hookfang I need you to trust me."
He got a grunt of agreement from the dragon so he guided him towards the cave mouth, Hookfang soon cottoned on to Hiccup's plan and used the last of his strength to power himself towards their target. Hiccup flattened himself as much as he could against the Nightmare's neck and braced himself.
They rapidly approached the small entrance and with one last mighty beat of his wings Hookfang threw himself towards it, quickly wrapping his wings around himself as tightly as he could at the last second. The momentum carried them through the gap with inches to spare and they landed hard on the cave floor as the Typhoomerang roared in frustration. There was a scrabbling sound as the larger dragon tried to cling onto the stone wall around their safe haven only to slip down the smooth rock. The dragon gave another roar and fired several shots at the rock but they did little to the cave's defences, the Typhoomerang couldn't get into a decent position to fire directly into the small gap and it circled the entrance for awhile before flying up and settling on top of the sea stack to wait for its quarry to appear.
Inside the cave Hiccup dismounted from Hookfang's neck feeling relieved that he had managed to hold on during the rough landing. The Nightmare awkwardly turned in the small space and Hiccup patted the dragon's head, "You did great Hookfang! Now we just have to wait until he goes away."
His cousin's dragon snorted in response and Hiccup sat on the stone floor as his companion managed to curl around him. He absently stroked the Nightmare's neck as he wondered what had happened to Snotlout and Toothless, it wasn't like either of them to abandon him and he was worried about what would have stopped them following them. As far as he knew they were with them when the Typhoomerang first appeared but he couldn't remember them being with them while it chased him and Hookfang, maybe they had somehow been separated and decided to head to Berk for back up. Hiccup hoped that was the case but he had a gnawing feeling that it wasn't.
Soon night had fallen and they were still stuck in their hidey-hole.
At about midnight Hiccup decided to see if the Typhoomerang was still there and Hookfang tentatively poked his head out into the open. He rapidly withdrew it when a blast of fire announced that their foe was still there and still watching and the pair prepared for another long wait. Eventually they both gave into tiredness and drifted off to sleep until a huge ruckus woke them.
Hiccup sat bolt upright and his sleep-befuddled brain eventually registered the sounds or roaring and fire blasts outside. Hookfang was on the alert and growling softly at the entrance, the light coming in from it indicated that it was morning and suddenly there was silence from outside. The pair listened carefully and a soft scrabbling sound alerted them to something trying to enter their cave, Hookfang placed one wing in front of Hiccup protectively and prepared to fight the intruder. Suddenly there was a yelp followed by a thunk as something tumbled into a cave.
"I'm okay!"
Hiccup recognised the voice and called out happily, "Fishlegs!"
"Hiccup?"
He hurried over to help the other teen up as Meatlug went the way of her rider and tumbled in as well narrowly avoiding landing on them. "How did you find us?" Hiccup asked as he hauled his friend up.
"It was more luck than anything else." Fishlegs answered, "When you guys didn't arrive home last night your father sent us out to find you. We just happened to pass here on our way to search the next island when a Typhoomerang attacked us. After we chased it off Meatlug became really determined to look in this cave, I guess she picked up your scent because I've been training her to track things."
"Fishlegs are you okay?" Astrid's voice came floating in from outside.
Hiccup answered, "We're good Astrid."
"Is that you Hiccup?"
"Yeah, just hang on and we'll be out in a minute."
Soon they were outside and perched on top of the sea stack and Hiccup was concerned to see that someone was still missing, "Isn't Snotlout and Toothless with you guys."
Astrid looked at him in confusion, "We thought they were with you." She stared at Hiccup's current dragon, "Why are you riding Hookfang?"
"We swapped dragons for the day yesterday."
Tuffnut cut in, "That's an awesome idea!" He looked at Ruffnut, "Hey sis maybe we should swap dragons as well!"
She answered, "Yeah that would be so cool!"
Hiccup sighed, "Guys you both ride the same dragon."
"That's what you think." Tuffnut declared, "How do you know that Barf and Belch are the same dragon?"
"Yeah." His sister agreed, "How do you know?"
Hiccup shook his head and turned back to Astrid and Fishlegs, "If Snotlout and Toothless are still missing then we need to find them."
Without any more words he took off on Hookfang and the others were quick to follow. Soon they were back in the air and heading towards where Hiccup and Snotlout had been attacked by the Typhoomerang the day before, as they flew Hiccup related to the others what had happened, "…and me and Hookfang were stuck in that cave until you guys chased the Typhoomerang off."
Astrid frowned in concern, "So why do you think Snotlout and Toothless didn't follow you?"
"Can't say for certain but I can think of one likely reason."
"You think Toothless' tailfin is damaged?"
"It's the most likely reason; I just hope that if it that's what happened they landed on the island safely."
"I'm sure they're fine Hiccup." Astrid said reassuringly.
"Yeah, I'm sure they are." Hiccup answered not sounding convinced.
Eventually they reached the island and Hiccup quickly ordered the other teens to spread out and search for any sign of Snotlout and Toothless. He took one third, Astrid took the second and Fishlegs and the twins took the final section.
He flew low over the island scanning for anything that might tell him where his cousin and friend were and as his search took him over a large patch of open land something caught his eye and he quickly got Hookfang to land nearby, he ran over to what he spotted eager to know what it was.
It was Toothless' tailfin.
The canvas was largely intact but the metal supports were snapped, further more the straps used to bind it to Toothless' tail were also broken making it a major repair job. The fin confirmed Hiccup's suspicions but it didn't alleviate Hiccup's worry. He tried to boost his confidence by telling himself that if the fin was here then Snotlout and Toothless couldn't be far away and one of the others would find them. The sound of flapping wings caught his attention and he saw the other riders landing, "Found anything?"
Astrid answered him as she dismounted Stormfly, "Found several campsites in the forest but there's no way of knowing who built them."
Fishlegs reported next, "Nothing on our part of the island I had Meatlug try and track them but she couldn't find anything. It was mostly rocky, unsheltered beaches so it's unlikely they stayed there overnight."
Astrid walked over to him, "What about you?"
Hiccup showed her the tailfin, "I found this so they must be somewhere on this island."
She took the fin and stared at it thoughtfully, "Maybe they found some other way off the island."
"Maybe." Hiccup took back the fin and thought for a minute before speaking commandingly, "Okay lets check those campsites Astrid saw there might be some clue there as to where they've gone."
He and Astrid quickly remounted their dragons and headed for the nearest campsite. When they got there Fishlegs immediately got Meatlug to search for a scent using Toothless' artificial fin while the others scoured the area looking for any indication as to who used it. When their search turned up nothing they moved onto the next one, and then the next one, and then the next one. It wasn't until they reached one near a stream did they find anything.
At first it seemed as fruitless as the others but Meatlug suddenly perked up and began excitedly running away from the site into the forest with Fishlegs calling to the others as he followed her, "Guys I think Meatlug's found something!"
Instantly the other pursued the dragon as she hurried through the trees with her nose to the ground like a sniffer dog. They charged on through the forest and onto a beach, it wasn't until she reached the sea that Meatlug stopped and then looked at her rider indicating that she'd lost the scent. While Fishlegs patted his dragon and congratulated her the others gazed out over the waters.
"So…now what?" Tuffnut asked.
"Uh duh…we head out to sea moron." Ruffnut answered.
As the twins began another one of their fights Hiccup looked at Astrid in confusion, "I don't understand. How did they manage to head out over the ocean if Toothless couldn't fly, they couldn't possibly have tried swimming?"
Astrid shrugged, "Maybe they built a raft or found an abandoned boat."
Hiccup shook his head, "Well I guess we have to continue the search out there."
He made to remount Hookfang but Astrid stopped him, "Hiccup it's nearly dark, we have to stop for the night."
Hiccup looked up and noticed that the sun was indeed setting he made to answer but Astrid pre-empted his protest, "You and Hookfang haven't eaten since yesterday and we wont find them in the middle of the ocean at night. We need to rest and continue tomorrow morning."
"But Astrid I…"
She placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know Hiccup but we need to make sure we're fit to help him. We're no use to either of them if we're exhausted and starving." Hiccup gazed out over the ocean worriedly and she squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, "They're both capable Hiccup so I'm sure they're fine. They're probably resting for the night as we speak and you know they won't let anything happen to each other without some form of resistance, we'll find them."
Hiccup still wanted to ignore her and press on but his sensible brain was telling him that she was right and after some thought he sighed, "Okay we'll stop here for tonight."
Astrid nodded her approval and then headed off to collect some food from the supplies they'd sensibly brought from Berk the previous day. Hiccup looked out to sea again and Hookfang nudged his hand and made a mournful sound, turning to the dragon he began to gently pet his snout, "I know Hookfang, I'm worried too but as Astrid said we'll find them, I promise."
The Nightmare rumbled sadly and looked out over the sea where his rider and fellow dragon had apparently gone.
PS-So Hiccup and the others are now searching the seas for their missing members. Please let me know what you thought and I hope to update soon.
