A/N-Longer chapter this time, bear with me as it covers a lot. The next couple should be fun chapters too, so as always, read, review, and enjoy!
P.S.-Apologies for the longer-than usual update break, school is a lot right now and I've been busy. But there will be a few chapters up rapidly the next couple days.
Chapter 20: Party Time
The first tribes (or clans as some of them liked to call themselves) began arriving late the next day, two days before the festival actually began. I kept a low profile, trying to keep from being seen until the banquet on the first day. Good thing Hiccup didn't have a problem with me borrowing clothes every now and then (I actually look good in vests, who knew?) and I kept under the radar for the most part. Unfortunately, one of the first tribes to arrive as they were one of the closest, was the Bog Burglars. When I saw their ship arrive in the port, I instantly sharpened my senses and kept to the back of the village. I knew it wouldn't be long before their cunning heir would be on the loose.
Sure enough, it was only about a half hour later before the telltale sound of soft, clanking metal began approaching. The footsteps were slow and she was trying to keep her weapons from making noise, so I pretended not to hear her until she was about 5 feet away. Just as she was about to tackle me….
"Hey, Cami." "WWHHAAAA?!" I smiled and spun around just in time to see Camicazi lose her balance and fall over in surprise. I laughed and took out my sword, readying myself for the sparring I knew she would force me to have. She got up and pulled her sword out too, but just stared at me for a second. "How in the world did you hear me?" she asked. "I'm famous for my stealth, and how did you even know it was me?" I chuckled and twirled my sword. "Don't tell me you forgot already. It's only been a couple weeks," I replied, letting my eyes slowly swirl into a bright yellow color, resembling Nightmare eyes. Cami nodded, seemingly a bit disappointed. "Right, dragon senses." She lifted her sword up and pointed it at me. "So, scale-butt, ready for that match you promised?" she teased. I smirked and twirled my sword again. "Why not? I'll go easy on you since I don't want that much attention just yet. Defeating the infamous Camicazi will put the spotlight on me in a heartbeat." Cami laughed this time. "Beat me?" she laughed. "You know that's not possible, lizard-lips!" "Oh, now you're just asking for it." "Bring it on then!"
It didn't take long for Cami to realize I had gotten better since she had last seen me, as I nearly bested her within thirty seconds of the first round. Of course, however, I let her get the upper hand eventually, and after lasting over 10 minutes against her, I was already drawing a crowd. I sighed and gave Camicazi a warning nod toward the audience. She shrugged and snickered. "I'm not letting you out that easily!"
The spar lasted about 20 minutes, a long time for a friendly practice round, but in the end, we both got stuck in a lockdown. She couldn't hurt me if she wanted to (dragon scales, some are hard enough so as to be like rocks) and I had no intention of hurting her, so we called it a draw. "Good fight," Camicazi said. "You have gotten better. Though I'm still the best." I smirked. "Still as prideful as ever, too. Don't let it get the best of you, though, because that can end up hurting." Her smile faltered as she gave me an exasperated look. I shrugged and smiled, turning to go and find the rest of the teens.
As it turned out, unsurprisingly, Hiccup was in the forge, working at a constant fast pace, since a lot of things tended to get broken during big preparations like this. "Hey, Hawken!" he called when he saw us walking up. "I see you found Cami already!" I laughed. "More like I made her find me," I replied. That earned a few chuckles. As those two got reacquainted, Toothless and I discussed the remaining details of the festivities to come.
As the sun sank below the horizon, more and more ships began to appear, even though the festival wasn't actually starting for a couple days. Camicazi, being the constant pain-in-the-butt that she is, was constantly trying to steal things, while Hiccup and I ran intervention. Typical her, she ended up succeeding, only to find me standing behind her with my hand outstretched. "You're no fun," she said. I shrugged. "Just trying to keep the peace until the festival actually starts, thank you." I also got to hear some of Hiccup's childhood stories with Cami, and apparently they're pretty well known for having been a nightmare for the villagers, though some were rather entertaining. Once Hiccup even helped Cami get away with stealing Stoick's underpants! Cami was the one having fun telling that story, while Hiccup just turned beet red at the memory. The look was priceless. No wonder Stoick was so uptight whenever the Bog Burglars visited.
As I was listening to the stories however, and the other teens joined us up on top of the watchtower, I heard a rustling behind me, and I turned to find Camicazi rummaging through my pack. "Ooohh, what's this?" she exclaimed, bringing something out of my bag. I was one of the surprises I had brought for the opening night: a firework. Yeah, I know, kind of pointless with dragons around, but still, something they hadn't seen yet. "Hey!" I yelled, lunging for her, "give that back, that's for opening night!" Cami just laughed and jumped out of the way. "You'll have to tell me what it is first!" she jeered back. I frowned, knowing my options were limited on a highly noticeable watchtower, but an idea came up as Cami continued to run in circles around the platform. I smirked. "No, I don't think so," I said, "you'll be giving it back right… about…now!"
I jumped in front of her, making her slow in order to turn the other way, and I uncoiled my whip and lashed it out beneath her, tripping her and making the fountain fly out of her hand. I spun and whipped the rope out again and wrapped it around the stray firework and yanked it back, letting it fall straight into my hand. I smiled as I wrapped up the whip and slipped it back onto my shoulder. Cami stared at me, a bit out of sorts, as Astrid began snickering and clapping. "Bravo, you got the best of her," she teased. "Oh, ha ha," Cami retorted, sticking her tongue out and standing up. Those two always enjoyed picking on each other (probably because of Hiccup's and Cami's long, long friendship, but Astrid being the one holding Hiccup's hand).
Cami brushed off her pants and crossed her arms. "Alright, I'll admit it, I should have seen that one coming," she said, "but can you at least let us in on what that thing is?" "Yeah, looks like something that belongs in my sister's room," Tuffnut snickered, right before Ruff punched him. "Ow, I am hurt, I am very much hurt!" I shook my head at him, and then turned back to Cami. "Are you going to stop stealing my stuff?" I asked. She groaned, but nodded. "Good. This is a firework, an Asian invention. They won't be common around here for a few more years." "Oh, I've heard of those!" Fishlegs exclaimed. "They're like decorative bombs, used for celebrations and stuff!" I smirked. "I'm not surprised you'd know about them. But yes, they're for celebration, so I'm going to set off a few tomorrow, after just about everyone's here." Hiccup raised his hand and started to speak, but I cut him off. "Yes, Hiccup, I've already talked to your father about it, and he agreed. Actually, he nearly had me set them off now and bring more later. But anyway, I'll be setting them off from the cliff above the Mead Hall, so that should give a fairly good view." Are you serious?" Ruffnut said. I nodded. "Cool. Can we blow something up while we're at it?" "NO!" was everyone's simultaneous reply.
True to my word, the next might, after all but one tribe had arrived, I snuck up to the Mead Hall cliff and set out my array of fountains and mortar shells. Once the sun went down, I started lighting them. As the shells exploded above the village and fountains splayed color across the hill, the villagers gathered below in awe. I smiled. This was a great idea, and what a way to start off everything! Funny thing is, I heard the most cheers when I set off the extra large fountains, rather than the exploding shells. I guess years of fighting dragons kind of puts a damper on seeing fire blowing up above your head. Heh, heh. Maybe they just have a secret appreciation for beauty. However, I think it would have ended better had Toothless not tried to steal the show, blasting off his own fireballs above my head. In any case, I heard a lot of questions floating around between the Vikings as I came down, wondering who had such amazing "weapons", and whether or not they would be doing it again the next night. Good thing the only ones who knew who it was were the Hooligans. Too much attention for my taste.
Hiccup pulled me off to the side after I came back into the village. I guess there were a few things I still didn't know about. "Do you know who Thuggory is?" he asked. I raised an eyebrow. "Who?" "Thuggory." "Oh, him. Yeah, I think I remember who that was. Friend of yours and Cami's right?" He nodded. I shrugged. "Well, what about him?" "He's coming in tomorrow, and I need to make sure he doesn't freak out when he meets you," Hiccup explained. "Is there something we can do to break the news to him? Meatheads are not known for being thinkers." I stood there for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, I think I know what we can do. What I'm worried about is the honors ceremony tomorrow. I'm sure your father's going to drag me into showing everyone." Hiccup smiled. "Well, we'll wait until tomorrow to worry about that." I nodded, then realizing what time it was, I bid my farewells for the night and headed home, mulling over the problem with Thuggory. Thuggory is the heir to the chiefdom in the Meathead tribe (named for their habit of clubbing first, asking questions later, more than most. That, and most of them have rather beefy profiles, especially their heads). I shrugged it off as I reached the forest, and after looking around to see if anyone was nearby, spread a pair of wings and glided home.
Like the few days before, I woke up early, grabbed my usual things, and headed straight to Berk. This time, I was glad to see none of the teens were slacking off in the cove like I knew they liked to do, which meant everyone was in the village. I nearly flew all the way into town, then remembered that I was trying to keep a low profile, so I landed in the outskirts of the town and started to walk in.
"Hey, Hawken! Up here!" I stopped, and turned around to see Hiccup and Toothless standing at the top of a small hill. ::We've been waiting for a while,:: Toothless said. ::Hiccup's friend arrived rather early this morning.:: I sauntered up to them. "Oh did he?" I replied casually. "Uh, who are you-oh, right, never mind," Hiccup said, temporarily forgetting about my speaking terms with the dragons. I laughed. "Don't worry, at least you know the situation. Most people would just look at me like I was insane." He nodded, then waved me to follow him.
We walked down to the base of the hill and cut around behind the village, walking up toward Hiccup's house. Stoick was already out and about, so it was just us teens. "So, just to make sure I have all the facts straight," I said, "Thuggory is the heir in the Meathead tribe, right?" Hiccup nodded. I smiled. "Good. That would be embarrassing, acting like I knew who he was and then forgetting all the facts." "It may be a bit awkward anyway," Hiccup said. "Yeah, well, my superpower is being awkward." We both laughed as Toothless just shook his head behind us.
We reached the back door of Hiccup's house, and Hiccup opened the door, letting first Toothless, then me and lastly him inside. All of the teens were lazing around in chairs around the room, and there was one slightly older looking kid at the other end who I didn't recognize. Hiccup walked over next to him and the boy stood up and shook his hand. "Good to see you, Hiccup," he said. "Same for you, Thuggory. Now, before we start reminiscing, I'd like you to meet my new friend, Hawken." Hiccup held his hand out toward me. I nodded politely as Thuggory stepped up to me. "Well hello then. It's always nice to meet Hiccup's friends, always an interesting bunch. I'm-" he started to say, but I held up my hand and smiled. "No need, believe me. As Hiccup said, I am Hawken, and you are his friend, Thuggory. Heir to the Meathead chiefdom, childhood comrade in arms to him and Cami, so on, so forth." Thuggory raised an eyebrow, then looked at Hiccup. "You already told him all about me?" Hiccup smiled and shook his head, while I heard Cami hold back a snort. "Pleasure to meet you, by the way," I interjected. The twins began to snicker as the rest of the gang held back smiles. Thuggory looked around. "Okay, what am I missing here?" he asked, spreading his hands apart in questioning. Cami laughed and hung her arm around the much taller teen. "Don't worry you'll find out soon enough. Hawken's not from around here, and he's a bit, uh, different." "Meaning?" Thuggory asked. "He already knew about us long before we knew anything about him," Hiccup explained, explaining very little. Thuggory sighed in exasperation. "Okay, seriously, what do you guys mean?" he said. Hiccup gestured to a chair. "It'll take a while, you might as well sit down."
I took a seat across from Thuggory, who gave me the fisheye, but didn't say anything yet. "When we say Hawken's not from around here," Hiccup began, "we really mean it." I nodded. "I'm a local friend, but my home is not Berk." "Where are you from, then?" Thuggory asked. I shrugged. "Another world."
There was silence for a minute before Thuggory burst out laughing. "Okay, very funny, but seriously, where are you from? A tribe from the south? You have that look about you." I shook my head. "No, seriously, I'm from another world. There's an entrance to my home off in the forest, maybe Hiccup and I will show you sometime." Thuggory fell silent for a minute as he thought this over. "Then… how do you get here?" he asked. I shrugged again. 'Don't really know. Something powerful opened a doorway between our two worlds." "Like I said, he's not exactly typical," Hiccup said. "You can say that again," Ruffnut laughed. I smiled. "Well, there's also one special thing I received from here, too." "More special that being from a different earth?" Thuggory questioned perplexedly. I nodded. "Can he keep a secret?" I asked Hiccup. "At least until tonight?" He nodded, and I let out a breath. "Okay, Thuggory, watch closely," I said, and opened my eyes as wide as I could. Thuggory raised an eyebrow, but kept watching.
In a flash, my eyes went from normal bluish green to the bright yellow-green of a Night Fury, and my pupils changed to the oval shape. Thuggory yelped and fell backward. "Boo!" I said, and laughed, then made the next change: black scales formed and flowed down my face and neck, then down my arms. Thuggory almost bolted out the door, but Hiccup and Astrid held him in place. They were both trying to hold back laughs. I smiled. "Like we said, I'm not like the rest."
It was silent for a couple seconds, then everyone started laughing, save for Thuggory of course. "What-what is so funny?" he yelled. "He's turning into a dragon!" Camicazi nodded. "Now you know what I was so shocked about when you last saw me. He says it's a gift he got from someone in our world." Thuggory looked at me again. "Who are you?" he asked. I shrugged and acted exasperated. "I thought we went over this before, but alright: Hi, Thuggory, my name is Hawken, nice to meet you." I extended a black hand out in greeting. Chuckles echoed around the room again.
Just like Cami and everyone else, it took about an hour to lay the story straight. Admittedly, it was a few hours before he was comfortable around me, and it took nearly everyone sitting right up against me to get him to figure I wasn't dangerous (unless I got hurt, but that's a different story), and he simply decided that if Cami and Hiccup could be my friends, so could he. If there's one constant with Thuggory you can be sure of, it's that he will never take being shown up by a girl in anything. The rest of the day was better: more stories about everyone's childhood adventures, jokes and small pranks, and even eating lunch as a group. Eventually, however, late afternoon rolled around, which meant the Berkian gang had a job to do: show off.
"Alright guys," Hiccup started, "time to saddle up! My dad will be expecting us to be in the air any minute now." A couple whoops went up, and everyone called their dragons down as we stepped into the village square. I walked over to Toothless and Hiccup and tapped the teen on the shoulder. "Try not to overdo it, will you? And that includes you too, Toothless," I said. Hiccup laughed as Toothless glared at me. "Don't worry," Hiccup replied, "we'll try to keep injuries to a minimum." I smiled as Toothless whispered, ::I'll keep him from embarrassing himself.:: I gave him a scratch on the head, and turned to look up at Fireworm. "And you try listening to Snotlout for once, will you?" She groaned, but nodded. ::Fine, but if he does anything stupid, I'll be in charge.:: I shook my head in amusement, then floated to the back of the group as they headed for the highest part of the square, and readied for takeoff. As they saddled up, everyone waited for Hiccup to give the signal as Thuggory and Cami stood next to me.
"GO!"
They launched into the air, simultaneously looping around and shooting straight up along a cliff and out over the village in formation. Above the docks, they split up and dove, almost scraping down the sides of the walkways and out over the water, climbing again and looping around the sea stacks and back toward the village. I watched Hiccup give another signal, and they all began spiraling upward and toward the bare mountain behind the village. Starting with Toothless, one by one each of them dove, Toothless looping around back, and they fired one after another at the cliff, setting it ablaze, and split off and flew out to the sides. Lastly, Toothless fired, sending an indigo ball at subsonic speed toward the inferno on the cliff-side. The fireball exploded, sending a shockwave across the blaze and putting it out, while simultaneously creating a ring of blue around the whole gang.
The gang looped back around and glided slowly toward the village, the dragons flaring their wings and landing together in the village square. As the teens dismounted, the villagers and visitors began gathering around and applauding and cheering. Typical boisterous Vikings, but it still made me cover my ears. I smiled and I and the other two teens walked up to the gang.
"Not bad," I said, putting my arm around Hiccup and giving him a pat on the back. "Keep this up, and you may end up famous." "Aren't we already?" Snotlout boasted. I rolled my eyes and laughed. "Okay, fine, famous for more than the Red Death." I looked back at Hiccup and Toothless. "I think your destinies in halls of fame are un-doubtable now." Hiccup somehow beamed and blushed at the same time, while Toothless got a smug smile on his face. At that point, a large crowd swarmed in, so I excused myself and kept off to the side.
Vikings are big on boasting achievements, so congratulating and storytelling continued after the performance for a few hours, and many of the boisterous Vikings became drunk Vikings (mead is a potent thing). They have a tendency to toast to everything. Hours go by fast, and soon the sun was beginning to set. Stoick announced that it was time for the opening banquet, and so everyone filed into the Mead Hall. Now I know why it was made so big (it's carved into a cave in the side of a mountain, for pete's sake).
When a Viking says a banquet, it's usually by their terms. At least 20 tables were filled with just about everything the Hooligans could put together: fish prepared in about 30 different ways, beef, mutton, fruits from trades and the local gardens, plates and plates of breads and desserts, and, of course, barrels of mead. The banquet lasted for a couple of hours, Vikings stuffing themselves to exploding (most of the teens were a bit more modest) and getting drunk over and over again (a very entertaining sight, really, all these big, hulking men and women dancing around like unbalanced ballerinas and belting out like opera singers with sore throats), and then, almost all at once, all the plates and extra food were cleared away, and we all faced toward the huge fire pit in the center, where Stoick was standing. The honors ceremony was about to actually begin, and everyone seemed to be taking it very seriously.
As Stoick began announcing the beginning of the awards and festivities, all the teens from the different tribes were gathered along one bench, and for anyone who had dragons, the reptiles could be seen lazing in the rafters high above us, save for Toothless who sat alongside Hiccup. I looked to Astrid and Cami, who were closest to me. "Exactly why are we all here?" I asked. Cami chuckled. "The honors ceremony is partly a sort of 'coming of age' ceremony," she explained, "so all of the teens here are getting their title." "Title?" "Oh, come on, Hawken, think for a moment. You know, like Stoick the Vast, or my mom, Big Boobied Bertha? Our descriptive title, what we're remembered by. I know you're not that dense," she teased. I just deadpanned her. "Gee, thanks." I looked around. "What about Thuggory? He's not over here." "He's already 18," Tuffnut whispered from along the bench. "His ceremony was last year. And no, I don't know why the ceremony is at 17 instead of 16 or 18 like other people," he said, seemingly knowing my next question. I shrugged and turned back to face Stoick.
All the other parts of the ceremony went before the coming of age, which kind of makes sense, I guess, but that meant we were all sitting on the bench for about 2 hours. It was getting late, and I could see some uninterested people in the way back of the crowd nodding off. Many toasts were shared and different tribes were honored, one after the other in each part. As it turned out, in the decided order of recognition, the Bog Burglars came only just before the Hooligans, so anything Cami would be recognized for, we would be just after. Finally, however, it was time for the "Coming of Age" part, and the teens from the other tribes went up and got their titles.
Cami was the last of her tribe to be recognized, being the heir, and so we all kind of zoned out until that point. "The last Bog Burglar we have to honor," Stoick bellowed, snapping me out of my state, "has been well known by many of us for a great number of years. She is known to be an amazingly slippery lass, a perfect spy and escape artist,-" there were a few chuckles at this, "-and has become one of the best young warriors I have ever seen." He motioned for Cami to step up next to him, which she did. "Her title has been chosen, and I give you…." There was a pause for a moment of anticipation.
"Camicazi the Stealthy!" Stoick bellowed. Thunderous applause rumbled through the building, and many cheers of approval were heard. "Good going Cami!" "No surprise she'd get a title like that!" etc. Naturally, Cami loved all the attention, and stood there bowing for a while before she sauntered back to sit down with us again. I smirked and leaned over to her to say, "Congrats, the name definitely fits you!" She laughed. "I've always been hard to hold, so now the whole world can know it!" She grinned as we faced Stoick again.
"Now it is time for our very own teens here on Berk to receive their titles," Stoick said. "First, we have….."
Some of the kids I didn't' know went up first, then the first of our group, Fishlegs, was called up. "This boy's title will now be: Fishlegs the Wise!" Then we had "Tuffnut the Berserk!" and "Ruffnut the Unyielding!" Those two names seemed to go together, so it fit the twins. Tuffnut's title especially fit him. Snotlout became "Snotlout the Reckless!", which we all decided was absolutely perfect. He was the only one who actually set foot on the Red death in that fight, and everyone was well aware of his brash decisions. He ignored our smirks though.
"We only have a few more people to recognize," Stoick said, quieting down the crowd, "and our next lass has shown a great deal of skill and agility, equal to that of Camicazi, and deadly competence with weapons. Being our second best with dragons, she is also now our second-in-command in our training classes!" He motioned for said teen to stand up. "I now give you…..Astrid the Untouchable!"
The cheers rose up, and all of us applauded for her. As she came back to sit down, I leaned over and said, "They couldn't have found a better name for you!" She smiled. Thanks!" she said, and turned to Hiccup, and they shared a kiss. I smirked. "Nice." Toothless nudged her, breaking up the romance. ::Congratulations for such an insurmountable title. You deserve it.:: Astrid looked at me. "He said you deserve the name." She laughed and bent down, giving Toothless a hug and a scratch on the neck. Hiccup opened his mouth, probably to give her a compliment of his own, but before he could say anything….
"And now, we arrive to our last official member of the Hairy Hooligan tribe to honor tonight," Stoick boomed out again from on the fire place pedestal. "This teen holds many records to his name. He was the first of any of us to break the three-century war and tame, as well as befriend, a dragon. He also ended the war for all of us with the Slaying of the Red Death, losing only half a leg in the process!" Loud cheers and whoops echoed through the hall, and Hiccup only shook his head and blushed. I gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder. "You know they have to stretch it out. They're Vikings!" Hiccup nodded and began to say something, but was cut off again. "That boy is now the head of our dragon academy, and is the handler of all issues related to our new allies. Last, but not least, he is my son, and next in line for the Chiefdom of Berk!" Hiccup sighed and stood up, Toothless right behind him, and headed toward the pedestal. Stoick looked at him and smiled warmly, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I now present before all, my son, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, now to be known as….. Hiccup the Great!" At that, the cheers and applause reached overpowering levels, nearly making me cover my ears, but I had to cheer for my friend as well. Then, I stopped and thought about the title he was just given. "The Great?! That is so cliché!" I laughed, unable to clap, for a good two minutes. Then, Stoick's voice quieted the crowds again, announcing an unexpected honor. "Now, quiet down, I have discussed with my council, and we have decided there is another honor to be given. This is for Hiccup's best friend, who has helped us more times than I care to count. It is a bit unorthodox, but he has proven himself to be a part of our tribe, just as much as we Vikings are."
I raised my eyebrow. Who is he talking about? Me? But no, the next move he made was not toward me, but the dragon at Hiccup's side. "Toothless, you have been voted to become an honorary part of our tribe, so we now name you: Toothless the Magnificent!" my eyebrows went up at that. "Honorary Viking, huh?" Astrid, who was sitting next to me now, nodded and clapped. I shrugged. Not that he needs the ego boost, but it fits the reptile, I guess. Toothless, being Toothless, strutted around the room with Hiccup on his back, practically bathing in all the attention the two were getting. I felt rather sorry for Hiccup, as he wasn't really a person who liked being in the spotlight, but he took it well. Finally, Toothless brought his rider back over to us, where Astrid grabbed Hiccup and kissed him again, long and hard. When they broke apart, I smirked and gave a loud whistle, causing the rest of the teens to break out laughing. Astrid gave me a death glare, but after a few seconds, her frown turned into a smile and she started laughing too. But before we could leave the Fest Hall, it was my turn.
"Alright, alright, quiet down now!" Stoick yelled, making the crowd turn toward him, wondering what was going on now. They had already gone through all of their recognitions, right? "Now, we have one more person my council has voted to recognize tonight. This boy is not a Viking, but in a way in the same sense as my son is. He is not from around here, not really like us at all, but we here in Berk have come to see this person as a great friend and powerful ally, and we have given him the respect worthy of our own warriors." I nearly choked at that. What? Come on, I haven't done that much, have I? "Even though I said he is no Viking, we have already made one honorary tribe member tonight, and shall make another. This teenager-yes, I said he is a teenager- once saved my son from certain doom, at a point when no one else could have prevented it. He also played a major role in ending the feud with the Clobbering Clubswingers, letting all of us make allies of them once again!" A great cheer went up as I groaned. As it died down, Stoick motioned for me to come up. I walked up toward the pedestal, and stood tall next to Stoick (though near him, tall is a relative term). "I now present this ally, and our second honorary Viking ever…" here he paused for effect, "-Hawken the Powerful!"
Many cheers went up just because Vikings like to make noise, but among all the congratulations, I heard a mocking laughter. As the cheering died down after people started noticing the laughter, everyone turned to see a group of rather sturdy Vikings cracking up in the back. "Powerful?!" one guffawed. "You call him Powerful? He's scrawnier than Hiccup!" They all cracked up again at that. I glared at them. "Right. About that," I drawled, gesturing toward a spare log for the fire, "Stoick, mind if I borrow that?" Stoick shook his head. "Not at all. Here," he said, handing it to me. I grasped it, then took off my whip and pack, tossing them to Astrid who caught them. Then, I stepped up onto the stone rim of the fire pit, garnering the attention of everyone, even the still snickering blockheads in back. I grinned, then threw the log up above my head, pulling my swords out (I had made it a point to get a secondary one after I had discovered Berk). As the log began to fall, I leapt upward, spinning the swords together toward the log, slicing it in two. As I landed, I brought the swords apart and into both halves of the log, slicing it into four equal pieces. They clattered to the ground as I sheathed the weapons, and a number of mugs were heard to do the same.
I looked to the back of the crowd, smirking when I saw the shocked look on the previously snickering men, mouths open wide as a Thunderdrum's. I stepped off the rim and over to Astrid, who handed me my other belongings, then uncoiled the whip and made it crack like a gunshot as a last point. Then, I turned to the group. "You were saying?" I said smugly, coiling the whip again.
At first, there was just a cough, then someone began clapping. It got louder and louder until once again, nearly the entire crowd was cheering. Stoick laughed and clapped a hand on my shoulder. "I don't think they'll be questioning ye again," he said, "but I would also prefer not to keep secrets from our brethren here." I froze, and looked up at him. "What are you suggesting?" He shrugged. "It's time they know about yer gift, as ye call it. Else they'll be thinkin' you're some sort of sorcerer in the competitions later and such." I shook my head. "I don't think that's a good idea. Something like that needs to be done grad-" "It'll be fine, I assure you. I trust all of their leaders here, and if anyone has a problem, they'll come to me first. Besides," he added, smirking, "I doubt you'd have a problem handling it." I sighed and held up a finger. "One second then."
I turned and walked over to Hiccup. "Mind holding these for me, make sure no one makes off with them, especially that one?" I said, holding out my weapons and pack, and gesturing to Camicazi. Hiccup took them from me, but gave me a questioning look. "What are you going to do?" I groaned. "Your father suggested I show everyone." Hiccup nearly choked at that. "What? This is the same guy who decided some stranger from another world should watch over his son! No offense," he added, but I only smiled. "Eh, I think he knows what he's doing. Besides, if anything blows up, figuratively or literally, he's the one responsible." Hiccup sighed and nodded as I walked back over to the fire pit rim. "To end the honors ceremony-," Stoick bellowed, calling everyone to attention again, all of them putting on slightly annoyed faces at the third unexpected addition. I'd later find out additional honors weren't uncommon, but this was the third time tonight!. "What is it now?" Someone muttered, and I found myself nearly agreeing with his sentiments. Stoick cleared his throat and spoke again. "We have decided to finish up with a demonstration of our newest ally's source of power." He paused for a second, then continued. "This, eh, ability o' his is unlike anything any of us have ever seen, so don't overreact, and," he chuckled, "you'll see why I am glad he is a friend. Also, as a warning, if anyone has any reservations against Hawken, may deal with me about it. Deal?" The unanimous "Deal!" was enough to calm my nerves somewhat, but still, these were Vikings we were talking about. I looked to Stoick, who nodded.
I cast a glance at the teens. "Any suggestions?" I asked, to which I got a unanimous "Night Fury!" I laughed and nodded. "Alright, everyone, I need some room here!" I yelled, and the crowd began to move back until I had a very large, open space around me. I decided to make the change slowly, starting by changing my eyes. They grew in size and changed to the nearly luminescent bright green like Toothless', and I heard some of the nearest Vikings suck in a breath. Black scales formed on the tops of my hands, and flowed around and up my arms, then covering my face. My fingers fused together, forming paws with long claws on the ends, and my feet followed. The room went completely silent, save for the Hooligans who were laughing their heads of at everyone's reactions. I smiled. "You haven't seen anything yet," I said, and began increasing my size. I fell to all fours and a tail sprouted behind me, the swept-back fins unique to me appearing in Fury form. Down my back, I felt the crests form, and I flexed them for effect, and last of all, a pair of black, massive wings sprouted, and I spread them up and out like a pair of fans. I wasn't done yet, however, and continued to increase my size until I was twice the size of a normal Fury, 40 feet in length, and a wingspan of nearly 80.
Every mug in the room clattered to the floor, and there was silence for a couple minutes. I smirked. "What? Dragon got your tongue?" The teens behind me burst out laughing as they came to stand next to me. "What're ye laughing at?" someone yelled. "This is not funny; it's one of Loki's tricks!" I snorted and shrank back down to normal Night Fury length. "No, I assure you your reaction is quite hilarious. And I've never met Loki, so I can't be a trick of his." Another chief stepped forward and pointed at me. "Then how did ye do that? It's not natural, and something like you could be a danger to us all!" There were mumbles of agreement in the crowd. "I am no danger to anyone here, unless you are crazy enough to try to attack me or my friends here on Berk, though the latter is less likely to happen. I am here as a friend, though I doubt many friends can make such a mood shift happen in a crowd like this."
"Maybe it's just an illusion," a man in the crowd muttered. I turned to face him, and walked over. Everyone began backing up as I did, save for the man I was focusing on. He seemed to be rooted in place in surprise. I smiled gently and extended a wing toward him. After he didn't move, I tried lightening the mood. "Really, I don't bite. Unless you bite me first." I heard Cami and Ruffnut start to giggle, as they would bite. Finally, he reached out and gingerly touched my wing. He held his hand there for a second, then stumbled back. "He's real!" the man said. "Well, obviously, I wouldn't be standing here otherwise," I retorted, then turned back to the crowd. "And to answer an earlier question, no, my abilities are not natural, they are supernatural." I began shifting to a new shape, mimicking that of the first dragon I met.
"When I first came to this island, the first creature I encountered was a dragon like this," I said, spreading all four of my main wings. "She is the one who passed the gift on to me. However, my having the power to shift between two races is a bit more dramatic than a dragon with the same ability." There was a gasp in the back of the crowd, and they all looked back at a woman. "I've heard of that dragon," she said. "Tales tell of it bein' able to become an enchanting woman." I nodded and smiled. "The tales are true. She was a sort of translator between groups, sent to make peace with humans and dragons. However, as we all know, she was not the one to end war here," I added, looking at Hiccup, who only blushed. "This 'Mystique,' as the dragons call this species, had the gift in reverse, only able to turn human. These abilities, from what I gather, are passed from one bearer to another over generations, and were started off by a being more powerful than any of us could imagine." "What being?" someone asked. I grimaced. "I'd rather not get into that right now, it's a bit of a religious affair that me and the dragons have in common. I don't want to start another argument here on that subject."
I began shifting shapes again, to the form I found myself in when I woke up in the so-called "Kill Ring," and focused out over the entire crowd. When I finished, I spread out my grayish wings and tail, and said, "This is the form I will be seen in most around here. I know, it's going to startle everyone for a while, but we all might as well get used to it now that everyone knows". I glanced at Stoick. "Thought I'm still not sure how well that's panning out." As if to prove my point, Mogadon, the chief of the Meatheads, stepped forward. "How can we be sure ye will do as ye say?" he asked suspiciously. "There has never been anythin' like this here before, how do we know you're not goin' te be a backstabber like that Alvin fellow?" For anyone not familiar with the HTTYD world, that's Alvin the Treacherous. I focused on him and held out my hands. "I am as clean as the hands I show you now. I hold honors from where I come from that are considered highly respectable and trustworthy, and I saved Hiccup once, did I not?" There were murmurs of agreement around the room. I huffed, and continued. "I am a trusted friend here in Berk, and I can be a friend to everyone here. All I need is your approval. I do not start fights, I do not continue them unless necessary. And, if I can be of assistance in any problem, go to anyone of this village, and they can find me. Can I have your agreement on that?"
There was silence about this room for a few minutes, and the tension seemed to rise. Then, Bertha of the Bog Burglars stepped forward. "I'll take you up on that offer," she said, and held out her hand. "A friend of Stoick's is a friend of mine." I smiled in relief and shook her hand. Instantly, not to be outdone by a woman, no matter how intimidating she was, the other chiefs and appointed officials came flooding upward to take the agreement, and the Hooligans started up a rolling thunder of applauses. I sighed in relief and the end result of the ceremony. It could have gone so much worse.
I ended up stuck in the Hall for a good extra hour, people wanting to ask me this question or tell me about that idea I could try, and it began to get overwhelming. Only when almost every one of them ended up drunk as a skunk was I able to escape. To my surprise, the rest of the teens were already out there, along with the dragons. "What, not much for festivities?" I asked, smiling. Snotlout began to speak, but Astrid cut him off. "We're not much for getting drunk silly. Or at least most of us are, but we're keeping Snotlout and Tuffnut from ending up like they were a couple weeks ago." She shot them a glare, and they both shrank back. "Do I even want to ask?" I said. She shook her head. I looked up at the dragons sitting on the statues. "And I'm guessing it's the same story for you guys?" ::You don't want to see a dragon drunk,:: Fireworm said (Fireworm is Snotlout's dragon, just to make sure that's clear). I smirked. "Right. Anyway, it's about time I got out of there. Any longer and I would have gone nuts!" Cami nodded. "Yeah, Vikings can do that. However, the looks on their faces when you turned into a reptile was priceless!" "The talks that always follow are less so," I countered. ::I don't think they'll look at dragons the same way ever again, though,:: Horrorcow commented. I nodded "True, dragons will be different from now on to them," I replied. "Problem is, every time the Hooligans visit any other tribe, and I'm not in plain sight, they'll start trying to figure out which one of you guys is me." I pantomimed one of the Vikings from another tribe. "'Is that him?' 'No, no, that's him, in back.' 'No, you doofus, he's not here, he's staying out of the way up on the hill!'" As the rest of them laughed, I groaned. "It's not really funny, it's going to be a pain in the rear." Ruffnut just chuckled again and replied, "It's funny because it's not us that it'll be happening to." I gave her a deadpan glare. "Thank you, for that vote of confidence."
As they wore themselves out, I looked up to see the moon already high in the sky and groaned again. "Oh, great, I'm late. My mom's going to kill me!" I gave an apologetic look as I moved down the steps of the hall. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, alright?" They all replied in a unanimous "See ya!" and waved. I waved back, then jumped up into the air, powering up with my wings, and aimed for the cove.
The flight back to the portal was quiet and uneventful, but when I landed and walked through, I was met with a different story.
"Where have you been?" My mom snapped from the steps of the back deck. "I had half a mind to come and find you just now! I said come home in the evenings, not at 11:00 at night." I sighed and stepped up on the deck. "The ceremony took a lot longer than I had expected," I explained. "Vikings have a thing for making merry and dragging things out, you know." "No, I don't know," my mom said, "and I wish you had told me, so I could have at least expected something like this." "Sorry," I muttered. My mom just shook her head as we stepped into the house. My dad was sitting on the couch, and gave me a look as I walked in. "It's alright, I already talked to him," my mom said, then she turned back to me. "Since it took so long, how did the ceremony go?" I shrugged. "The tribes all did their typical honors, you know, bravery, special recognitions, giving of titles, that sort of thing." "Titles?" I sighed. "You know, like Stoick the Vast, or Gobber the Belch? Their honorary title." "Oh," my mom replied. "Anyways," I continued, "Toothless and I were made honorary members of Berk's tribe, meaning we got titles along with the rest of the teens."
I could see a smile playing along the edges of my mom's lips. She was going to tease me about something, I knew it. "So what titles were you given?" I fidgeted a bit. "Well, uh, Hiccup is now Hiccup the Great, and there's Astrid the Untouchable, Toothless became Toothless the Magnificent-which kind of fits him, at least-and I was dubbed, uh, Hawken the, uh, Powerful."
I was right. As soon as I said what they had labeled me, she started laughing. "I can see why they might call Hiccup what they did," she snickered, "but they gave you a title like that?" She laughed again. I sighed. "Yes, I know, they're pathetically cliché names, but it's not like we get to select our titles. Besides, there's a pretty good reason they called me what they did," I said, spreading the pair of wings I still hadn't gotten rid of. My mom's laughter died down to a few chuckles, but she was still grinning. "Alright, fine, I'll stop. Anything else happen?" I nodded and scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, uh, you can blame Stoick as it was his idea, but the rest of the tribes know about my, uh, abilities."
The mood changed very fast. My dad looked over from the couch and asked. "How'd they take it?" "Better than I had hoped," I said, "which is saying something. But I fear there may still be some suspicions." "Gee, I wonder why," my dad replied. I shrugged. "They were apprehensive at first, but we managed to talk them into tolerating me at the least." There was silence for a minute, then my mom looked back at me. "Any idea how to break the news here?"
"What?" she shrugged. "I mean, it's going to happen at some point right?" she said. "You'll be going back to school in about a month or so." I groaned. "Don't say the "s" word, please. And I can control the abilities, if that's what you mean. I don't randomly morph on chance. Plus, I want to try to keep myself out of the spotlight for as long as possible, so that's my plan: someone will find out, but I'm hoping for a gradual introduction to the world." My mom didn't like that idea much, but she waved it off for now. "We can deal with it when the time comes, I guess. Get some sleep, as I'm betting you'll be having a busy day tomorrow." I nodded as I moved toward the back of the house. "Yeah, tomorrow's mostly trading, but there's supposed to be some competitions, and I'm sure the teens are expecting me to be there." My mom nodded. "Well, good night!" I smiled. "Good night."
I had no doubt that at least Astrid and Camicazi were expecting me to participate tomorrow, and I wasn't expecting to let them down, but I wasn't certain if I really wanted to express what I could do like that. I shrugged and headed off to bed. Tomorrow I would find out just how Vikings performed tournaments, and just how hard it is to keep up sometimes.