Chapter 2 - The Prank

Back to me:

Once we left the arena we went into the village and hung around for a bit, battling with dragons etc, I got to sit on both heads on the twins' dragon! Then I had an idea. I spotted Chief Stoick the Vast and called, "Hey Chief!"

He turned round and said, "What is it, Astrid, I..." then saw it was me and rubbed his eyes in disbelief, much like everyone else had. "Ingrid? No, it's not possible..." he walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "It is you! You're not dead!"

I was so tempted to say something witty like 'Oh well done genius' but it's the Chief and I'd probably get in major trouble for saying something like that. Instead I said, "Yep. Very much alive."

Then, to my surprise, he actually hugged me. "It's so amazing to see you, where did you go?"

When he let go of me I said, "Well, we're having a campfire night tonight, so I'll get Hiccup to explain afterwards."

"Ah yes, the Pride of Berk. Heir to the Throne. Where is he, anyway? I need to speak to him."

I had to fight the urge to crack up laughing, "That's just it. He's over at the arena with Astrid..."

"I'll speak to him later then..." the Chief started to walk away.

"Wait! Don't you want an excuse to embarrass your son?"

He had to think about that for a second then he said, "Oh go on then." with a smile.

So we walked to the arena, we took the twins with us cos Snotlout obviously couldn't face it and Fishlegs didn't want to get involved. We walked up the stairs and around to the top of the arena very quietly and slowly. When we could get a good view of the two lovebirds we hid from them (even the twins were being quiet) and I whispered to the Chief, "Right so you want to speak to him?"

"Yes."

"So when I say, and I don't mean for this to sound like I'm ordering you around or anything, you yell his name at the top of your lungs like you do when he's in trouble." The twins struggled to contain their laughing fits.

"Why?"

"Because I want to wind them up."

The Chief smiled, "I guess a little winding up now and again is alright."

"No, I want to gain a reputation for winding people up so people come to think it as normal."

Then Stoick just laughed. Luckily we weren't heard. I popped my head over the top and only just heard, as it was spoken very softly, "Well Ingrid is a bit of an idiot then, isn't she?" and then they went into a kiss. Perfect opportunity. I nodded to Stoick and he stood up and at the top of his lungs bellowed, "HICCUP!" (at this point the twins collapsed with laughter)

I stood up next to the Chief as they both turned slowly around to see us stood there. As soon as Hiccup saw his dad stood there with a look of [mock] disapproval on his face he slowly turned bright red and muttered, "Oh Thor help me..."

I then shouted, trying not to laugh, "Who are you calling an idiot?" with a big smile on my face.

Astrid turned red as well and yelled, "RIGHT THAT'S IT YOU ARE SO DEAD!" and she started running up the stairs towards me. Hiccup was still stood staring at us, and so got confused when his girlfriend suddenly disappeared. When he spotted her running up the stairs he shook away the confusion and called, "Wait, Astrid, I'm coming with you!" Exactly the reaction I was hoping for. So predictable. The twins (who got ignored, by the way) were laughing so much they were literally paralyzed and crying with laughter. I was trying not to do the same. As the angry couple got closer to me, I called Ninja and she swooped down and picked me up. Astrid was left there seething and in the end she called for Stormfly. Hiccup tried to call Toothless but his dad stopped him and said, "No, you're coming with me, son." As if he really was in trouble. The Chief looked back at me and called, "You're welcome to stay as long as you like, Ingrid. I always liked you!"

I replied, "Cheers, Chief!" and gave him a thumbs-up as he walked away with his very embarrassed son.

But then I still had my angry sister to contend with. Ninja soared up into the sky and I yelled, just to be annoying, in a singsong kind of voice, "You can't catch me!"

"I think you'll find I can!" Astrid yelled back and raced after me. I zipped in and out of the sea stacks at high speed, surprisingly with Astrid hot on my tail. I flattened myself out and urged Ninja into a barrel roll, so we gained extra speed and increased the distance between us and Astrid. I heard her curse and she leaned forward to make herself more streamlined and sped forwards towards us. She was gaining on us fast. "Oh Thor..." I muttered under my breath and as I did another spin to try and increase the distance, I came face to face (upside-down) with another Night Fury and stopped short. Toothless. Which meant that I wasn't just being chased by my angry sister, I was now being chased by my angry sister and my angry sister's angry boyfriend, who just happened to be the son of the Chief! The next thing I heard was, "You're not going anywhere." I looked up to see Hiccup with his arms folded, he looked ANGRY. I was actually scared, but I wasn't going to let on. 'Quick, think of something witty or annoying to say...' I thought over and over at high speed until eventually I came up with "You might wanna rethink that." And zipped vertically skywards on Ninja.

I heard him call, "Oh, two can play at that game. I'll show you what this artificial tail can do." Then to Astrid, "Don't worry milady, I've got this." And then he opened Toothless' tail and soared towards us at a higher speed than we had got up. "Oh Thor..." I muttered again and before I knew it I was cornered against a sea stack, hovering in midair, by both of them.

"One word. Why?" Astrid was clearly trying not to strangle me again.

I smiled. "Because I wanted to embarrass you. Both of you."

"Well thanks to you, my dad is not going to shut up about it for weeks." Hiccup chipped in, "I'm not going to hear the end of it..."

I laughed, "Exactly what I wanted to happen! Aww, it was so CUTE though...I think the persuasion worked..." I smiled and winked.

"You've only just got here and I already want to kill you..." Astrid stated.

"Ah, but you couldn't possibly kill me. I'm family..."

"You wanna bet?" Astrid said but she knew I was right. "Anyway if you're going to wind up ANYONE can you at least let me in on it?" when she said this she smiled and nodded towards her boyfriend and I knew I was forgiven. For now.

"Depends who I'm winding up." I said and winked at her, smiling.

"But if you're winding Astrid up can you please let me in on it?" Hiccup sounded a little left out.

"Possibly. What if I'm winding you both up?"

"You won't!" they both said at the same time.

"Believe me, this was just a warm-up. I'm just getting started." I said, and indicated to Ninja to fire a plasma blast so they cleared out of the way and so I could zip through and get away. It worked. As I flew away I laughed, "Wow! I can't believe you fell for that!"

After I left:

Hiccup was just about to come after me, he was still seething. But Astrid stopped him by flying in front of Toothless. "Babe, let her be. You'll only make things worse for yourself."

"She just has this way of winding you up so much you want to strangle her..." as he said this he made his hands into fists, as if imagining my neck was between them.

"That's exactly the reaction she wants. Just leave her. If you don't react she'll get bored."

"Will she?"

"Yeah. Eventually. Can't say how long it will take though. We'll just have to deal with her. She is my sister, after all."

"Okay. Come, milady, we have a campfire to be going to." Hiccup smiled as he motioned for Astrid to fly with him as the sun started to go down on my first day back on Berk.

And there's the prank. I love it, it's so hilarious, I was crying with laughter just writing it. See you soon!