Hey I'm back
Disclaimer: All rights to ROTG and HTTYD go to DreamWorks Animation.
Chapter 4
Stunned villagers could only watch as two flying teens streaked past. Jack and Sapphire flew through houses, fields and stalls full of animals and Vikings, ice and water covering everywhere they went. Spotting the Berk Dragon Training Academy, the two Guardians flew in through the north entrance.
"Well there goes the neighborhood. I bet the whole village saw us." Jack whistled as he lazily spun around his staff in circles.
"It's either we made a break for it or we got incinerated." Sapphire pointed out as they looked around the Academy.
"Does this look like an arena for dragon training?" she wondered. "Sure looks like it…" Jack mumbled as they passed by two cages.
The cages were covered up, save for a slit for fresh air and were shaking violently. As if two somethings were trying to get out.
Curious, the two Guardians stepped closer to them and let their hands touch the doors, feeling them jar with every shudder.
"You think dragons are in them?" Jack asked Sapphire.
The Guardian of Equality put her ear closer to the door. She heard heavy breathing and every once in a while, a soft growl. "I think so. Check the other one." She instructed the Guardian of Fun.
Tentatively, the winter spirit tipped his head closer to the door to hear. Sure enough, there was growling and heavy breathing.
"Why would they cage dragons when they're at peace with them?" he said in disbelief. Sapphire shrugged. "Don't know Jack. But they sound really mad. Obviously don't like being caged." She murmured.
"Let's get them out." Jack suggested.
Sapphire stared at him, shocked.
"Well we can't just leave them in those cages. They might be scared." The winter spirit informed her. Sapphire looked around the arena.
That's when she spotted the open space leading to the open sky.
Looking at the shaking cages and back to Jack, she sighed, "We do it fast. As soon as we unlock the doors, we hightail it out here."
Nodding, Jack and Sapphire grabbed some large nails and began to pick the large iron padlocks. The cages were now silent and still as the two Guardians worked on the locks.
What they didn't notice was the sign etched on a stone between the two cages. It was written in Norse runic so neither of them could read what it said.
'Warning: Extremely aggressive dragons!'
"What'd you mean you've got two dangerous dragons in the arena?! I thought all dragons here are nice?" Marina squawked as she kept up with Hiccup and Toothless in the air.
The Viking teens and Gobber were below them, running through the village.
"They were injured when we found them so we nursed them back to health! But it wasn't easy!" Astrid yelled up to her. "What do you mean 'wasn't easy'?" Angrid asked the others as they ran.
"Well those two dragons…Boy, did they put up a fight when we were trying to treat their wounds! They'd bite and snap at us every chance they got!" Gobber exclaimed.
"They're extremely aggressive. That's why we had to lock them up real good…But that was two weeks ago! Who knows if their cages could hold them in any longer! Those two dragons kept bashing themselves against the doors trying to escape! What if they're out now?! And what if those guys are at the arena now too?!" Fishlegs said nervously.
"Then it's gonna be so cool!" Ruffnut grinned. "You think they'll get some serious wounds?" Tuffnut asked eagerly.
"I swear if those dragons hurt the girl, wait till I send Hookfang after them!" Snotlout said angrily, grabbing a battle hammer as they passed by the forge. "Uh, hello? The white haired guy's her boyfriend, remember?" Angrid reminded him as they reached the arena.
Too late…
The padlocks had already been picked open.
"Oh Thor…" Fishlegs squeaked, turning pale as a sheet.
Toothless whined at Hiccup, worried for the two teens' safety.
Hiccup was worried too.
But he and his friends knew better than to rush into the arena and risk getting attacked as well.
"You know you really shouldn't lock dragons in these kinds of cages. They need sunlight and more fresh air." Jack said, noticing the Vikings.
"And you said dragons and Vikings were already learning how to co-exist with each other." Sapphire said, pointing an accusing finger at Hiccup.
"Hey watch your mouth or I'll watch it for you!" Astrid shouted, slamming one end of her axe at a metal railing in warning.
That's when the cage doors flew open…
And two loud roars echoed out of them, making everyone freeze.
"Uh…" Tuffnut whispered.
"Oh..." His twin sister finished for him.
"Nice going sis." Angrid snickered, making Astrid fume.
Jack and Sapphire didn't hear them. They were too busy staring at the dark spaces, wondering and fearing at the same time at what might come out.
Finally after what seemed like forever, two dragons came out.
One was a Scauldron, but it was small one. A lot smaller than a regular sized one with an aqua blue body and pale green underbelly. A huge horn was positioned on the snout and it had bright yellow eyes.
The Scauldron opened its mouth and Sapphire could see hundreds of razor sharp teeth, dripping with venom.
"Good conch…" the water spirit mumbled, paling at the sight.
The second dragon, on the other hand was a very unique one.
Unique, how?
It was a white Night Fury.
The dragon was the spitting image of Toothless, albeit it was smaller in size and had a pure, white body and eyes as icy blue as Jack's.
It opened its mouth in a growl, exposing two rows of sharp white teeth.
"Oh boy…" Jack murmured, feeling nervous.
They looked at the Vikings for guidance.
Hiccup spotted the opening at the back of the arena.
"Walk backwards to the other side. Slowly. And whatever you do…no sudden movements and don't make a sound." Hiccup quietly commanded them.
Sapphire and Jack obeyed. They slowly backed away while the dragons continued to growl at them but made no move to chase them.
Suddenly, Snotlout whispered to Angrid, "Okay so maybe I can't get pretty blue babe. What about you and me? You think we have a future together?"
Angrid was so engrossed in watching, his question startled her…and angered her at the same time.
"For Odin's sake would you just shut up?! There is no 'we'! And there is no 'future'!" she yelled, grabbing Snotlout's battle hammer and tried to hit him.
The Viking boy ducked in time and the hammer struck the metal railing.
And that sound was enough to make the two dragons go ballistic.
"Nice one sis." Astrid said coldly. Angrid just glared at her.
"Forget what Hiccup said! RUN!" Gobber yelled.
With a yelp, Jack and Sapphire turned around and ran as the dragons lunged!
"Ayayayayaiii!" Sapphire shrieked as the Scauldron tried to take her out with its giant wings.
"Yikes! Yipes!" Jack hollered as the white Night Fury chased him, its jaws nearly clamping onto the hem of his jacket.
"Go left!"
"No right!"
"Turn that way!"
"The other way!"
Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout shouted at the two Guardians as they scrambled around in circles.
"Like scared little rabbits." Angrid giggled watching them run. "Has watching other people's misery always been a pleasure for you?" Astrid asked her, annoyed.
"We're not really helping, are we?" Hiccup asked Jack and Sapphire as they ran past them.
"Ya think?!" both of them yelled at the same time.
Suddenly the dragons prepared to fire!
"Duck!" Hiccup yelled at the two Guardians.
Quickly Jack and Sapphire hit the floor as the dragons attacked.
The Scauldron blasted out hot water while the white Night Fury shot out an ice blast. Those things sailed over them and hit the walls with a burst of ice and steam.
"Whoa that's insane…" Jack remarked.
"You've got to be kidding me." Sapphire muttered before they stood up and ran again.
They ducked, dodged and skidded around as they avoided dragon tails, claws and mouths.
"They'll be lucky if they can fly out of there in one piece." Gobber said.
That gave Jack an idea.
"Fly for it, Saph!" he yelled. "Way ahead of you!" Sapphire squeaked, conjuring up some water from her staff.
The two teens lifted off the ground and frantically flew towards their first escape hole.
Suddenly the white Night Fury reared up and shot out an ice blast at the opening. The space was instantly sealed up with ice.
"Oh come on!" Jack whined.
"Hang on we'll get you two outta there!" Astrid shouted as she and the others opened a small gate below them.
"Let's get out of here!" Sapphire screamed.
The two of them shot for the exit.
But those two dragons were smart.
They blocked the exit, much to Jack and Sapphire's annoyance.
"Man these things are smarter than they look…" Sapphire murmured. "Should we attack?" Jack asked her.
"Strike at the ground! Maybe you could distract them!" Fishlegs shrieked.
The two Guardians launched ice and water at the floor, startling the two dragons giving them enough time to head for the exit. But the dragons quickly recovered and to everyone's horror, they swatted them with their tails!
"Gyyaahhh!" Sapphire and Jack screamed as their staffs were knocked out of their hands as they tumbled down to the ground, landing on the side of the arena they were originally trying to escape out of.
The dragons growled as they slowly advanced over…
"Oh we're dead." Jack moaned.
"We're doomed!" Sapphire squeaked.
The Vikings could only watch as the dragons readied to pounce…
The two Guardians meanwhile flattened themselves against the wall and shut their eyes.
The seconds passed…Followed by minutes…
But nothing happened.
"What're those dragons doing?" Snotlout wondered. "What about the pouncing and the attacking?" Ruffnut joined him.
The two dragons in the arena were just in crouching position but made no move to attack.
Tuffnut yawned "Ok. This is boring!"
Fishlegs was nervously shaking. "M-maybe they're just getting ready…" he stuttered.
Angrid then saw the two dragons pawing at the staffs in front of them.
Water was seeping out of Sapphire's orichalcum scepter while frost spread out onto the floor from Jack's crooked staff. The dragons curiously sniffed at them before they noticed the two owners backed up against the wall, their eyes closed.
The white Night Fury softly trilled at the Scauldron who growled a reply.
"Well I'll be…" Gobber said in awe as they gently pushed the staffs toward Jack and Sapphire, who were shaking like leaves.
The two Guardians opened their eyes when they felt something hit their toes. Looking down, they saw their staffs and hastily picked them up as the dragons went back to the other side of the arena. Unsure of what to do, Sapphire and Jack carefully moved away from the wall while the dragons just watched them.
Suddenly the Scauldron growled.
Sapphire's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
Jack knew what that look meant and so did Marina.
"You can understand what it's saying, don't you?" the winter spirit asked her. "Yup. Sure can." She replied.
"What'd it say?" Marina piped up. "Actually it is a girl. And she said that the two of us don't seem bad but they want to test us. Just to be safe on the safe side." Sapphire replied.
When she saw everyone's confused looks, she said. "Aside from controlling water, I can also talk to aquatic animals."
Again, everyone just stared.
"Huh?" Angrid said blankly.
"We'll explain later when we pass this 'test'." Jack sighed.
The Scauldron then motioned with her head to the two Guardians staffs while the white Night Fury then made drawing motions with its forepaw.
"Details, please?" Sapphire asked hopefully. The Scauldron growled a few times and the water spirit carefully listened.
Then the Scauldron opened her mouth and water gushed out, covering the floor. Sapphire then used her staff to make the water move as the Scauldron moved her head in different directions. The water spirit followed and in a few minutes, had created a tangled pattern of water on the floor with an open space in the very middle of the arena.
The white Night Fury then pointed a paw at Jack.
"Guess that's my cue." The winter spirit said, touching the water stream with his staff. The water instantly froze solid.
Now Hiccup realized what the dragons wanted.
Confused, Jack and Sapphire walked over to one part of the frozen web and stepped on one line. The dragons glanced sharply at them.
"Don't step on the lines! I've done this before with Toothless. Work your way around the lines until you reach the dragons. They want you to earn their trust." Hiccup instructed.
Following Hiccup's advice, the two teens stepped off the line and the dragons relaxed.
Jack and Sapphire carefully studied the web of frozen water and looked at the Scauldron and white Night Fury.
Finally, they took a step, over one line.
That's when Astrid shouted, "Hey look!"
Everyone watched as the two dragons both took a step from their side.
"What are they doing?" Angrid said in wonder.
Jack and Sapphire took another step…and another…and another.
And with every step, the dragons followed.
Carefully, the Scauldron and white Night Fury weaved their way through the lines along with Jack and Sapphire…until the four of them were standing back-to-back with each other.
Cautiously they turned around and faced each other. Hiccup then demonstrated that the two Guardians should extend their hands to the dragons and look away.
And let them decide whether to trust them or not.
The two Guardians looked at each other and nervously gulped. They carefully held their hands out, shut their eyes…and looked away.
For a few moments, the two dragons just stared, standing upright.
Then, to everyone's amazement, they both bowed their heads down low and softly growled to get Jack and Sapphire's attention.
The two Guardians opened their eyes and looked as they lowered their hands, allowing the Scauldron and white Night Fury to gently press their snouts to their palms.
"They've acknowledged them. They did it!" Fishlegs whooped along with the rest of the teens.
Hiccup looked at Gobber.
"Looks like we've got some new dragon trainers." The two limbed Viking chuckled.
Astrid smiled at Hiccup, who smiled as well as they looked at the four of them in the arena.
"Hey there…" Jack whispered to the white Night Fury.
"Nice to meet you…" Sapphire whispered as well to the Scauldron.
The two dragons softly cooed.
And the two Guardians, slowly smiled.
"No one got mauled?" Ruffnut asked as they joined the four in the arena. "That's so unfair!" Tuffnut groaned.
"You okay milady?" Snotlout asked Sapphire, taking her hand.
"Hey I call Astrid milady." Hiccup said, confused. "Oh…You do really?" Angrid said tauntingly. "Don't start." Astrid huffed.
Sapphire on the other hand, glared at Snotlout and blasted him with water. The stunned Viking boy flew backwards into Marina.
"Again, already has a boyfriend, Lout!" Marina just sighed, peeling the boy off her feathers.
"This is amazing! Nobody's ever tamed a Scauldron before! And a white Night Fury? That's a whole new kind of dragon species!" Fishlegs was beside himself with excitement as he gazed at the two dragons playing with Jack and Sapphire.
The white Night Fury was identified to be a male and was happily thumping his tail as Jack gave him a good, gentle scratch behind the ears.
"He's like a really cute, white puppy." Jack giggled before scratching his chin and the dragon fell on top of him, asleep.
"A really cute and heavy white puppy." The winter spirit groaned under the white dragon's weight.
Sapphire giggled as the Scauldron licked her. "I'm ticklish, girl. Stop it!" she laughed.
"I believe we Vikings haven't introduced ourselves! Call me Gobber." Gobber piped up.
Hiccup stepped forward. "My name's Hiccup. That's Astrid, Angrid, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Fishlegs and my cousin, Snotlout" he smiled as he pointed to each Viking.
"My name's Sapphire Aquamarie. This is my buddy Marina and…my boyfriend, Jack Frost." Sapphire said, blushing a little as she introduced Jack, who managed to wriggle out of underneath the white Night Fury's heavy body as it began to wake up.
"So who exactly are you guys?" Astrid asked them. "We're Guardians. Our job's to protect all the children in the world and as long as they believe in us, we'll always be there to keep them safe." Jack replied.
The Vikings were amazed.
"You two have to watch over every child in the world?" Tuffnut asked in awe. "All by your selves?" his sister piped up.
"No, there are six Guardians in our world. Jack and Sapphire are the last two Guardians chosen by Manny so far." Marina informed them.
"Manny?" Snotlout was confused. "That's what we call the Man in the Moon." Sapphire said, smiling a little.
"A man…In the moon?" Angrid asked. "It sounds a bit weird we know. But it's all true." Jack said as the Vikings tried to process all the info in their brains. (Well, Angrid, Astrid, Hiccup, Fishlegs and Gobber were. Snotlout and the twins…Not really)
"So you two and the other four Guardians were like, normal people before you all became Guardians?" Hiccup asked them.
"Yep. I was just a regular 16 year old surfer and Jack was a normal 18 year old from colonial times until we sacrificed ourselves to save our younger siblings. Both cases, we ended up drowning." Sapphire nodded.
Astrid cocked her head "When you become a Guardian, do you stop aging or something?" she asked curiously. "Mm-hm. Sapphire's only been immortal for a year. Me, before I got chosen, I'd been immortal for 300 years. Now it's already been 302." Jack replied.
"Whoa." Was all the Viking teens could say.
"And if you get chosen to be a Guardian you get all these cool powers?" Fishlegs asked eagerly. "Yup." Sapphire and Jack said in unison.
Snotlout raised a hand. "I've got a question. How in Thor's name did this giant duck start talking?" he asked. Marina began to peck him on the head until Sapphire calmed her down.
"Normally I'm the only one who can understand her. But my little sister Layla made a translator for her so everyone else can hear her. Oh and she's a swan Snotlout. A swan." The water spirit reminded him as Marina continued to glare daggers.
"Really? I thought she was a giant goose." Tuffnut managed to say before Marina pecked him in the butt.
"Anything else?" she said threateningly to Ruffnut. "Not anymore!" the long haired Viking girl squeaked. She did not want to be the next one pecked black and blue by her.
"Alright Marina. I think they've got your point." Sapphire said before the Scauldron nuzzled her with a gentle purr.
"Aww I think she's grown attached to you, Saph." Jack complimented before the white Night Fury started rubbing his head against him. "Looks he likes you too Jack." Astrid giggled.
Angrid's face perked up as an idea popped into her brain.
Noticing the ice covered part of the arena, she tapped Hiccup on the shoulder. "Shouldn't we thaw that hole out?" she piped up. "Oh yeah almost forgot. Toothless, Plasma Blast!" Hiccup ordered.
The Night Fury instantly blasted the ice away with one shot.
The white Night Fury growled in admiration and gave Toothless a grin, retracting his jaws. Toothless grinned back as well.
"Looks identical, has retractable teeth, white body, blue eyes, somewhat smaller in size and shoots out ice instead of fire. Yep, this is definitely a Northern relative of the Night Fury." Gobber remarked as the two Guardians sat on the dragons' backs.
"This feels pretty comfy." Sapphire remarked.
"I could get used to this." Jack said as he got the feel of it.
Angrid smiled deviously and suddenly whistled.
Thinking of this as a take-off command, the white Night Fury and Scauldron flew out of the arena, with Jack and Sapphire still on their backs!
"Ohhh noooo!" Jack hollered as they flew up higher into the air.
"Angrid when we get down, you are so going down!" Sapphire shrieked as they burst through the clouds.
The two dragons looked at each other.
Going down?
Suddenly they stopped flapping their wings and readied to power dive!
"Wait not too-… Jack managed to say before the dragons began to power dive down.
"Not too faaasssttt!" Sapphire screamed as she and the Scauldron dove into the ocean.
The Scauldron was a fast swimmer and swam quickly past other Scauldrons, Thunderdrums and schools of fish. But when she spotted an eel, the Scauldron immediately went up to the surface, a drenched Sapphire clinging onto her neck for dear life.
Jack, on the other hand, was nervously holding onto the white Night Fury as they flew past sea stacks rising out of the water.
"Oh my…Oh man…Oh boy…" Jack said breathlessly as he joined Sapphire and her Scauldron.
"Let's just please go back to the Academy!" Sapphire begged.
Obeying them, the two dragons changed course, flying through the village of Berk and circling around the arena before going back in the way the four of them went out.
The two Guardians were shocked speechless.
Jack's hood had gotten over his eyes when his dragon landed and his hands were shaking along with the rest of him as he pulled it down. Sapphire's wet blue hair was plastered to her head and it took a while for her to fix it since she was trembling so much.
"What were you thinking?!" Astrid yelled at her older sister. "I just thought they'd like to go for a spin." Angrid said innocently.
"I don't think they liked it." Fishlegs said as the two Guardians shakily got off their insane rides.
"Are you two ok?" Hiccup asked, concerned.
"That was crazy…" Jack mumbled, still in shock.
"It was insane…" Sapphire added in a slightly awed tone.
"Look we didn't mean any harm…" Hiccup began to apologize before both Guardians grinned.
"That was crazy cool!" Jack exclaimed.
"It was insanely awesome!" Sapphire whooped as well.
"I've never flown that fast or that high on my own before!" Jack said in amazement. "I never swam that fast before!" Sapphire agreed with him.
"Quite the contrary, they loved it." Marina chuckled.
"I'm next!" Ruffnut piped up. She was dying to experience the thrill. "Which one's yours? Cause I wanna try the white one!" Tuffnut said excitedly.
"No one's ever ridden a Scauldron before. They're usually too big and too heavy to fly so high. But this one's obviously been losing a lot of weight to do just that." Gobber remarked as he patted the Scauldron's head.
"You could learn a thing or two from her, Fishlegs." Snotlout snorted before the Scauldron spat hot water at his butt. "He deserved that." Fishlegs chuckled as he watched Snotlout ran to a trough full of ice blocks.
"She's considered small? To me, she's enormous! I think I'll call her…Tridacna. After the largest shell in the world, the Tridacna gigas." Sapphire said, spreading her arms wide.
Tridacna growled in response.
"She likes it." Marina grinned, since she could also understand aquatic creatures as well.
Hiccup then turned to Jack. "I'm thinking of calling him Blitz." The winter spirit grinned as Blitz gave him a lick.
"What about his species? I mean, you're the first one to ever bond with his kind so you should have the honor of naming Blitz's kind." Hiccup informed him.
"How about White Fury?"
"Or Ice!"
"Does Blizzard sound good?"
"Maybe Snow Fury!"
The Twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout all suggested these but Jack shook his head.
"They're all too obvious. Try something with a little more flair." Angrid advised.
"Well Blitz is a pretty high flier. I bet he could fly over Mt. Everest in no time." Jack said thoughtfully. "Mt. Everwhat?" Gobber asked confused.
"In our world, Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world. It's found in the highest mountain range on Earth, the Himalayas." Sapphire explained.
That made Jack's ears prick up.
"Himalayan Fury…Sapphire, that's perfect!" he said, smiling.
Then Angrid piped up. "Well you two have your own dragons now. So…what're you going to do now?"
Well, that made Jack, Sapphire's shoulders slump and Marina's wings hang limp.
"Now that's a problem." Marina said. "Considering the fact that we have no idea how we even got here." Jack mumbled.
Sapphire sighed and felt her hand slip into her pocket where she kept the dragon fang. Her fingers curled around the half tooth.
"Now I'm starting to feel homesick. I want to go home now." She mumbled.
Suddenly a portal opened up behind everyone, startling them.
"You guys going home?" Hiccup asked Sapphire and Jack.
Blitz and Tridacna gave the two Guardians begging whines.
"Sorry boy…But…we'll come back." Jack said comfortingly. "As much as I want to stay and have more fun, our friends in our world are probably already wondering where the three of us are now, girl. We'll be back soon. We promise." Sapphire cooed.
Finally the two dragons stopped whining and let the two teens and giant swan go near the portal.
"You sure you two will come back?" Astrid asked them.
"We just met! Why now?!" Snotlout said disappointedly. "Baby." Tuffnut teased. "Wuss." Ruffnut snickered.
"We have a feeling we will." Jack grinned. "Maybe not later. But probably tomorrow, tops." Sapphire said.
"In the meantime, maybe you can get Blitz's species documented in the Book of Dragons." Marina offered the suggestion to Gobber.
Then, the three of them stepped into the portal.
This was one of my personal favorites to write Finally Jack and Sapphire have their own dragons, Blitz the Himalayan Fury and Tridacna the Scauldron!
Read and review what you guys think ;)