Chapter Twenty: Lightning Strikes Twice
BRACE YOURSELVES!
Just as the Screaming Death, Dagur, made his dive, Hiccup and Astrid rolled out of the way in time to avoid being devoured, but it still allowed Dagur to dive into the earth and start tunneling Hiccup and Astrid got back on their feet. Hiccup got his mask back on and told Astrid: "I need you and Whoshadow to go on and get Dagur out of the ground, and don't tell anyone that it's me, as I know that vengeance is a good motivator for war, and announcing that I'm alive will distract the people. It's great to see you again, Astrid."
"What will you be doing?" She asked.
"Toothless still has his saddle on him, right?"
"Yeah, we put it on him in case somebody needed a ride." Astrid replied.
"Great, once I find him, I'll be joining you." Hiccup told her, and he ran off.
No one, other than Astrid and Dagur, saw Hiccup's face. Like Astrid, they all thought that Hiccup was actually Loki. It was actually pretty convincing to not believe that the odd figure would be him rather than Hiccup because he was wearing a pair of boots rather than one boot and a prosthetic. It turned out that the gods gave Hiccup a boot that could secure to his prosthetic, which made it look like a real foot enough to fool the Vikings.
Hiccup ran across the village, and found Toothless battling it out with one of the Black Typhoon's Timberjacks. He aided his faithful Night Fury by chasing the Timberjack away by producing an orb of fire and throwing it at the Timberjack's head, and Toothless pinned the beast to the ground, giving it a viscous bite to the tail before he left it.
Toothless locked eyes with Hiccup, of course he didn't recognize that it was Hiccup though; the eyes, left leg, uniform, and the fact that Hiccup was supposed to be dead were the reasons for that. Still, this man helped Toothless immobilize the Timberjack. So Toothless pressed his nose into his outstretched hand, and allowed the 'stranger' on his back. Together, they flew into Dagur's tunnels.
Like Toothless, Whoshadow could navigate the tunnels through echolocation, and she was gaining on Dagur. She discharged a shot of lightning once she had him in her sights, and she kept discharging small shots at the Screaming Death. Eventually, Dagur got the notion, and tunneled upwards and back into the air.
To Whoshadow's luck, another thunderstorm was rolling in, with plenty of lightning to be harnessed; to Berk's luck, the Berserkers finally decided to drop the fight on the ground and it was time for Goosefoot and his round robin to make good on their mutiny.
As the round robin called over their dragons, Goosefoot had already called over Vengeance and saddled up; and Vengeance took to the sky sparking and roaring as Goosefoot flew over to find Stoick and Alvin. He was just grateful that he found the two Chiefs, and Valka, taking shots at the Thunder Queen's face.
"Stoick! Alvin! Forget about that dragon, Dagur has been turned into a massive … I've never seen one of them before, but it reminds me of a Whispering Death!" Goosefoot called out. As he got their attention, they heard the roar of a Screaming Death sounding, and they took off to find it; but it was hard to miss a Screaming Death. Heck, by the time they reached it, Snotlout, the twins, Helga, Eret, Fishlegs, Astrid, and Claudette were already on the job; but there was something else that caught their attention. Toothless was among them, and he had a rider on his back donning armor that bore Loki's symbols!
"Is that really Loki?" Alvin asked.
"It sure looks like him." Valka replied.
Now they had joined the gang and began their attack. As they took their shots, the Thunder Queen began taking command over her dragons to protect Dagur. She gave them a furious blast of her wings, and scattered the attacking dragons all over the place!
In an effort to escape the attacking crew, Dagur dove, but the Skrills were at his tail! As he leveled off at the plaza, his tail struck a fruit stand full of pears, it sent the sweet fruit, and some of them struck Whoshadow, and one even went into her mouth and down her throat. Apparently, pears don't settle too well with Skrills like bananas do. Whoshadow's eyes went wide, she threw Astrid off of her back in order to pursue after the Screaming Death at a furious pace, she was sparking like crazy until her scales started glowing, her eyes turned red, and she was flying faster than any Skrill had ever flown before! She was now a living bolt of lightning!
'Loki' and Toothless swooped down, and collected Astrid, as she was placed on the saddle behind 'Loki', she told him: "Whoshadow's gone insane for vengeance."
"I don't blame her; Dagur just fed her a pear, and they taste almost as foul as eels to dragons, they just don't have any side effects." Toothless stated, although Astrid couldn't understand him.
The Thunder Queen eventually caught up to Dagur, and she fired a plasma blast at Whoshadow, knocking her to the ground.
Vengeance saw what happened to the beautiful Skrill and knew that it couldn't be tolerated. So he, his rider, and the round robin gathered; it was time for them to immobilize the Thunder Queen.
"Riders on Timberjacks, start tearing into that dragon's wings and tail, we need to ground her. Those of you on Monstrous Nightmares, I need you to get to the dragon's head and slow her down." Goosefoot called out.
So on they went, the Monstrous Nightmares fired into the Thunder Queen's face and the Timberjacks made enough tears in her wings so she could barely catch the air in them, and she crash landed in an abandoned cabbage field.
"Good work, Berserkers, now we help take care of Dagur!" Goosefoot declared, and his round robin turned and headed for the Screaming Death.
Said Screaming Death had just figured out how to breathe fire and to shoot his spines.
'Loki' had noticed that the extra weight of having two riders was actually hindering Toothless' maneuverability, and once he'd taken one of Dagur's spines to the leg, 'Loki' decided that someone had to jump.
Loki told me that now I don't have to wait in order to change forms anymore. I'll have to make the jump. Hiccup thought to himself. He forced Astrid's hands to let go of his waist, turned to look at her, gave her a wink, and he jumped! Toothless was about to dive after the rider, but he watched him as the rider spiraled into his descent as his Dragonstone's power kicked in, and shaped the rider into the blue Night Fury once again. Of course, Toothless didn't know that the rider had a Dragonstone on him.
How did he do that? I saw him turn from dragon to human already today. That trick shouldn't have worked for another three days. Astrid thought.
Hiccup pulled higher into the air, locked eyes with Dagur, and fired a powerful lightning-charged plasma blast right at Dagur's face!The blast caused him to reel back in pain, and he emitted the trademark scream of the Screaming Death. The shriek was so loud and so intense, it shook up Hiccup's flight pattern, and it messed with his sights! It messed with the sights of all dragons flying around Dagur. However, Whoshadow seemed to have the ability to tune the scream out. She flew past Dagur's head, about-faced, and started shrieking: "VENGEANCE IS MINE! AND I HATE PEARS!"
The living bolt of lightning that was the crazed, vengeful, Skrill locked eyes with Dagur; and with exposed claws, Whoshadow dove in for Dagur's face, and sunk them into his flesh. With claws digging into Dagur's skin, she began tearing away Dagur's flesh with her teeth as well as those talons!
"Holy shit! I knew she wanted revenge, but who would've thought that Whoshadow would've gotten this gruesome?" Claudette told Astrid and Fishlegs.
"I hate to break it to you, but she's gone insane, she even threw me off." Astrid told her. Toothless fired at Dagur again.
"I saw we help her out. It is time to end Dagur!" Fishlegs declared.
"What grudge do you have against him?" Claudette asked.
"He made me eat rotten cod heads!" Fishlegs replied. Meatlug fired at the Screaming Death too.
Finally, the dragon riders, and Sapphire, went in to start mauling Dagur, but all they managed to inflict on him were scratches before Whoshadow ordered them to move away from Dagur. By now she had effectively torn away the top-left quarter of Dagur's face. Once the other dragons were clear, Whoshadow drew in a couple more bolts of lightning from the thunderstorm, and discharged the lightning into Dagur, and he screamed.
Oh shut UP, Dagur! Hiccup thought. Then he heard Toothless roar out the orders to get ready… aim… FIRE! The dragons all fired at once at Dagur, and how this happened was anyone's guess, but there was one last shriek from Dagur, and the resulting blast turned him back into a human, but with a ripped-up face, and his Dragonstone had been dislodged from his belt, leaving it to be caught by Shadowrath and Stoick this time.
As Dagur tumbled downward, 'Loki' dove, caught him, set him on the ground, and assumed his human form again with his sword drawn. 'Loki' debated on killing him in the sky but thought that it would be fair to give him the chance to surrender. It was a similar thing to cats giving their prey a chance to escape.
The human Dagur locked eyes with 'Loki', and looked to flee; but the Thunder Queen had made her way to the part of the island where they landed, by hiking her way through the trees and the village to get there, and she blocked his route of escape telling him: "No, you must fight and prove your dominance or you forfeit your land!" She had no idea that 'Loki' was the true Alpha to this island. All she knew was that Dagur had given her this beautiful home for her nest and she didn't want them to lose it.
He was hesitant, but Dagur turned to face 'Loki' and the onlookers waiting eagerly to see what would happen in the duel to come. By now the dragon riders had landed, and Dagur felt a rage to find that his Berserkers weren't fighting. Now he focused on 'Loki', drew his sword, and attacked.
Their blades met and they began a furious fight, but there was one thing that Dagur didn't notice before, 'Loki' had grown taller and leaner over the years of his imprisonment. He had the upper hand in strength, but it wasn't by much.
"You're not even a Viking! You're a monster!" Dagur snarled, looking into Hiccup's burning acid eyes.
"Is that what you think? Look at yourself, Dagur, and look around you. There is only one monster on this island. It has no soul, thrives on putting peaceful people in danger, and it kills magnificent beasts for pleasure. I'm no monster, Dagur, but you with a black soul, are a monster." Hiccup replied.
Still, with sheer rage and brute strength, Dagur managed to disarm 'Loki' and collect his weapon. 'Loki' was forced to retreat, but as he was running, he drew a small dagger from his belt, and he knew that he would have to end Dagur where he stood. He turned around to see Dagur pursuing after him, he held the dagger back, took aim at his chest, and threw the blade!
He missed Dagur's torso entirely. Rather than hitting Dagur in the chest, the blade hit him in a lower region, which severed his phallus and planted itself in his balls. Dagur wailed and screamed in utter agony, and collapsed to the ground. The crowd of Vikings around him cringed and gasped as a reflex for the stunt 'Loki' pulled on Dagur.
"Well… He had it coming, but that was the most barbaric trick I've ever seen." Gobber spoke to himself.
Suddenly, Astrid ran out to the dueling field with her axe raised and she was screaming a battle cry before she brought the axe down, and hacked off his left arm at the elbow.
"THAT WAS FOR HICCUP AND FOR CALLING ME A WHORE YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING M*****F*****!" Astrid hollered.
The battle was over now, and Dagur had lost. Now Stoick, Alvin, and Goosefoot approached him and stood with 'Loki' and Astrid standing beside Stoick. Now, Alvin pulled out a scroll and read Dagur his criminal charges:
"Dagur the Deranged has been found convicted of the following acts against both the Hooligan and Outcast tribes: violation of peace treaties, betraying alliances, the kidnapping of Chief Stoick the Vast, the attempted assassination of Alvin the Treacherous, escaping imprisonment, stealing an Outcast ship, treason, attempted murder of Astrid Haddock, and the assassination of Chief Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Stoick, as this is your island, you pronounce sentencing."
"I can't, Loki has power over me on this island. He shall pronounce sentencing." Stoick replied. The list of charges had alarmed the Thunder Queen. She gave him her trust, but it turned out that he was a monster who was abusing her powers.
Astrid had locked eyes with 'Loki' as Alvin was reading the charges, and 'Loki' knew that she wanted Dagur gone.
"He shall be executed, by dragons." Hiccup stated in an imitation of the voice of the real Loki through his mask. He made sure to reclaim his weapons right after saying that, and Dagur yelped after the dagger was torn out of him.
"Execution by dragons it is!" Alvin called out and the people, especially the Berserkers, cheered loudly.
Whoshadow, Cloudjumper, Hookfang, Barf and Belch, Skullcrusher, Shadowrath, Stormfly, and Toothless took to the skies with Dagur in Whoshadow's claws. The Skrill charged herself until her scales were glowing brighter than a Flightmare as she brought Dagur up high, and the other dragons formed a ring below her.
When Whoshadow noticed that the Chiefs, 'Loki', and Astrid had rejoined the crowd, and that the other dragons were powered up to deliver their strongest shots ever, she dropped Dagur when she was hovering above the center of the ring.
Dagur screamed all the way down until all dragons took their shots simultaneously, and the result was a spectacular explosion with amazing flames, sparkles, and millions of bits and pieces of Dagur the Deranged cascading ever so gracefully all over Berk. The Terrible Terrors gobbled some of these pieces up right away.
"Now that's what I call a finale!" Snotlout declared with Helga and the twins nodding in agreement. The Berserkers were applauding for the show.
"If only Hiccup could've seen that." Eret stated.
"Loki." Stoick spoke. 'Loki' stepped a couple paces forward and turned around to face Stoick, taking note that Toothless was standing between his parents now with Midnightfire perched on his back.
"Loki, I know that we don't do much in the way of praising you, but we thank you for the help that you've given us." Stoick stated.
'Loki' quickly removed his flight mask as he asked: "Who are you calling 'Loki', Dad?"
Stoick and Valka only had a fraction of a second to see their son's face before the black mass that was known as Toothless tackled Hiccup to the ground and began nuzzling him like crazy.
"HICCUP!" His family exclaimed joyously. Toothless nuzzled him again before letting him up. Stoick took his hand and got him up to his feet, but Valka embraced Hiccup before he could. When she pulled away, Valka had tears of joy rolling down her face as she looked upon the son she thought she'd lost with a smile; but then she noticed something different about him.
"Hiccup, your eyes!" She exclaimed.
"My eyes, what about them?" He asked with genuine confusion. He glanced over to Astrid, who'd pulled out a pocket mirror she kept on her person, and handed it to Hiccup; now, she, Gobber, Stoick, and their friends had noticed it too.
"SON OF LOKI!" Hiccup exclaimed. In the mirror, he saw that his vivid green eyes were now the eyes of a Night Fury with a little bit of the whites remaining, they were bright green but several shades darker than Toothless'. When he looked into the mirror he also saw his pupils narrow into slits. He looked back up to Astrid with his cheeks turning slightly red.
"There's no need to be embarrassed, Hiccup, they're rather pretty eyes, and they are fitting for the Dragon Chief." Astrid told him.
"MY SON IS BACK, THE ENEMY IS DEFEATED, SO NOW IT IS TIME FOR US TO CELEBRATE!" Stoick boomed, and he was about ready to jump for joy. The Vikings and dragons cheered, and then Stoick turned around to hug Hiccup.
Gobber was next to embrace Hiccup, telling him: "Don't you ever do that to us again! I missed you, lad."
"It's good to be back, Gobber." He replied.
"Everyone, to the Great Hall!" Stoick declared. With uproarious cheers, the Vikings cleared out of the battlefield, but not without raiding their food supplies first. If they were going to celebrate, then they must have the proper food and drink.
Well I hoped that satisfied you bloodthirsty savages!
Special Thanks to:
Rouge Deity Master: For suggesting the part where Hiccup and Dagur were calling each other monsters.
Mikowmer: For suggesting this chapter's duel. I hope you enjoyed it.