Hiccup and his new Friend Razorre walked to the area where they had left the Skrill the previous night. He still couldn't believe he was finally free of his torment on Berk. He wondered what had happened to the Monstrous Nightmare after his flight. He hoped they didn't kill it. They may have given his honour to Astrid or Snotlout, and they would have killed it without a second thought. Or it would simply be kept locked up until the next set of recruits were ready for training.
"Hey, you okay?"
Hiccup refocused into the present as Razorre spoke to him.
"Yeah I'm fine. Just a little sleepy."
Razorre nodded. Suddenly, he stopped cold.
"Alright, C'mon out Rowana."
Slowly, and dejectedly, a girl emerged from behind a tree. She had long dark hair, green eyes, and an air of curiousity. she was half an inch shorter than Razorre.
"Allow me to introduce Rowana. She's Bolgard's daughter."
Rowana looked down at the ground.
"How long did you know I was following you?"
The corner of Razorre's lip twitched.
"Since we left town. Your not going to get the jump on me any time soon."
Rowana slumped.
"I suppose I have to go back to the village now right?"
"If you want. I really don't mind you tagging along. besides. I might be convinced to give you a few pointers on moving unnoticed."
Rowana looked up in surprise.
"Really? I really want to get a close look at that dragon! And getting up close with a Night Fury is too good a chance to miss!"
Razorre nodded.
"Just keep some distance. I have a feeling that the Skrill won't take kindly to having too many people crowded around it at once."
Rowana nodded, and the group continued forward.
Soon they we at the clearing. The Skrill was where they had left it yesterday. Razorre took a pack that he had been carrying and opened it. Inside was lots of mutton. taking out a piece of meat, he tossed it across the clearing to the Skrill, who snapped it out of the air. it licked it's lips in appretiation.
"Okay, lets begin."
Hiccup began to run through the basics,
"Training a dragon begins and ends with trust. You have to remain perfectly calm, and reach out your hand."
Razorre did as instructed, then waited for the Skrill to make the next move. The Skrill began to slowly move forward, sniffing his palm as he did so. Finally, he touched his nose to his hand. Smiling, Razorre gave him a little pat on the side of the Skrill's jaw. The Skrill made a humming sound in it's throat. Hiccup couldn't believe how well things were going.
"Okay, Next thing is flying."
Razorre slowly began to climb onto the Skrill's back. The Skrill made no attempts to prevent him from getting aboard. They had tied a rope aroun the Skrill's collarbond to help Razorre from hold on.
"Okay my friend, what say we go flying?"
The Skrill liked the sound of that. With a single beat of it's powerful wings, the two new friends were in the sky in no time. Hiccup joined them shortly after with Rowana sitting in the back.
"I think me and Thresher are off to a good start!" Razorre said with a grin.
"Good name!" Called Hiccup.
After several more minutes of flying, Razorre realized they had a problem.
"If me and Thresher are doing aerial combat with another dragon, one of the simplest things Thresher will do is use a thunder burst. To do that, he needs to draw lightning from the clouds. How can he do that with me on his back without frying me to a crisp?"
Hiccup thought for a minute as well as Razorre. Suddenly it struck them.
"If we can redirect the lightning around me, Razorre can draw it in as needed! I have a design idea for the redirection."
The group flew bacl to town where the villagers looked in awe as they descended from the skies.
"I can't believe you actually managed to tame that dragon!" Bolgard exclaimed. Razorre grinned.
"Thresher is quite the friend, I can tell you that. Now if you'll excuse us, we have a problem to work out."
Leading them to his personal workshop, Razorre showed Hiccup a design for an armor set.
"If we add a layer of padded leather and various cottons underneath the steel, the lightning won't be routed through me to Thresher! The metal will redirect it around my body to Thresher for Thunder bursts!"
Hiccup couldn't help but admire Razorre's creativity. The design was simple, yet effective.
"Alright, lets get going!"
It took them the better part of the week to forge the armor and add the layer beneath it, but the end result was outstanding. after testing it on various things, they decided to do a final test of Razorre as the test subject.
"Okay Thresher, start drawing it in!"
Lighting bolts struck the armor over and over, but none of them penetrated the armor's protective inner layer. After much expirimentation, they managed to forge a sword which could retain lightning along the blade for extended periods of time, as well as a ranged attack by swinging it to launch a blast of lightning at metal objects.
they also constructed a sword for Hiccup which could be lit on fire using a magnesium mixed with the steel as well as a trigger which sparked the weapon to life. Life took a rather pleasent turn for the Speartooth tribe during all those years of advance. However, That was all destined to come to a screeching halt.
It had been nearly five years since Hiccup had left Berk. And in those years, Stoick and the other teens who had known Hiccup in the arena had been searching high and low for Hiccup. In the end, they're searches had beared no fruit. So they returned home and began to plan for they're next search.
"There are only two places where we haven't looked for him. The southern isles, and Outcast island. We know he wouldn't have gone to Outcast island because Alvin would have mentioned that during out little run in's with him. That can only mean he's in the southern isles. Get a boat ready. We leave at first light tomorrow."
The teens were eager to find Hiccup. They all wanted the truth. Especially Astrid.
Astrid and Stoick were probably the most furious at what Hiccup had done. Astrid was furious at Hiccup for siding with the enemy, snatching the right to kill the Monstrous Nightmare in front of the entire village, and having the nerve to act like it was no big deal! Stoick was more angry about Hiccup keeping secrets from him. He also didn't like being left in the dark. He wanted the facts. Then he would judge what he saw fit.
The other teens were angry too, but mainly because they saw Hiccup's dragon thing to be cheating in the arena. they wanted to see him face the Monstrous Nightmare as punishment.
After two weeks at sea, they reached the southern isles. They began looking around. They didn't find any trace of Hiccup anywhere, but they did hear a rumor about a black dragon being spotted regularly near the island where the Speartooth tribe was situated. The group decided to look into it. after three more days on the sea, the island was within sight. They docked in port and went up to meet the chief.
"Greetings, and welcome to our village. I am Bolgard, chief of the Speartooth tribe."
"I am Stoick the Vast, chief of Berk. I am here looking for a boy who fled Berk. He broke the law, and we wish to question him about his actions before trying him for treason."
Bolgard nodded.
"I will see to it that you have proper lodging until you have completed your search."
Meanwhile from the shadows, Hiccup watched as his father and the teens went to drop their belongings off at their appointed housing. He had been dreading this for a long time. He had hoped they wouldn't come looking for him, but he hadn't bet on it. He had to remain hidden until they gave up. Turning around, he fled into the woods.
Several days later, the group was still searchin high and low. Fishlegs, and the twins asked around town about the mysterious dragon sightings, while Astrid, Snotlout, and Stoick searched the wilderness for Hiccup. After a long day of climbing treacherous rockfaces and exploring caves, Astrid came back to town for a break. She couldn't help but notice that a strange boy was always on the move, gathering parts for others, making tools at the forge, all sorts of tasks. and thoughout it all, he never removed the armor he wore. It was of foreign make to Astrid, but it look like something Hiccup would make. Curious, she decided to have take a look.
"Hello there!" Astrid called.
"Greetings! What brings you to my humbe establishment?" Astrid began to eye the weapons on the wall with a warrior's eye. She could see that they were of very high quality and were designed for all sorts of fighting styles.
"I just thought I'd pop in and see what you have for sale."
The boy nodded.
"Well, lets see what I have... may I ask what yout name is?"
"Astrid Hofferson. What's yours?"
"Razorre."
Astrid continued to eye the weapons until she came to a slim sword with a strange crossguard.
"Whats that?"
Following her gaze, Razorre removed the sword from it's shelf.
"This blade is designed for quick fast attacks, yet strong enough to withstand a blow from a war hammer. it can cut through flesh like butter, and it will not be chipped on armor or bone."
Astrid thought about it for a second.
"I'll take it. Ten gold coins then?"
"Perfect. pleasure doing business with you."
Astrid began to test out her new sword. like Razorre had said, it was light and fast, yet extremely durable. the blade's thinness allowed for better stabbing since it was not so bulky.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bush moving. Something had disturbed it. She decided to think nothing of it, and went back to her quarters.
The next day everyone met at the center of town to discuss they're next move.
"We still have to check the coasts. If Berk has all those secluded beaches, there could be some here."
Astrid looked off to the side and saw someonewalking past near the outskirts of the forest. he had brown hair and looked an awful lot like Hiccup. She met his eyes for a second, and noticed that they were exactly like Hiccup's. It WAS Hiccup! She quickly pointed him out to the others, who immediately began to give chase. Hiccup noticed this of course, and bolted into the forest. He had to play to the advantage he had here. Knowledge.
Razorre noticed the group taking off in pursuit of Hiccup, and knew that there must be trouble. Judging from the direction Hiccup was running in, Razorre figured out where he was headed. He had to slow the group down. Taking off in another direction, he began to circle around until he was ahead of them, passed Hiccup, and sent Snotlout sprawling to the side by holding his foot out.
The group saw him and realized that he was in league with Hiccup. The began to pursue him, intent on getting out of him where Hiccup was headed. as they chased him, they came to a massive cliff. Suddenly, Astrid remembered something.
"Razorre! You're friends with Hiccup?!"
Razorre stood his ground, taking up a defensive stance.
"Tell us where Hiccup is Going Razorre, and we'll let you go peacefully."
Razorre looked over his shoulder.
"Lets see... Betray my friend to his previous tormentors, or cast myself three hundred feet to a watery grave..."
Razorre crossed his arms, and tilted over the side.
Astrid went to grab for his hand, but he was already over the edge.
"He chose to die, rather than surrender Hiccup to us..."
"Nope! I'm not dead yet!"
To everyone's surprise, A massive beast flew up past them and looped around to hover in front of them. Atop this creature's back was Razorre, Brandishing a sword over his head. The dragon roared and lightning bolts began to be sucked into it's body, as well as Razorre's sword.
"He's riding a Skrill!" yelped Fishlegs.
Razorre let out a whooping war cry, and dove at them, determined to drive them away from his home by any means neccesary.
"Stop!"
Razorre held his dragon back as another voice ran through the cliff. Diving out of the clouds, Hiccup and Toothless flew between the group, and Razorre. Razorre nodded, then brought his dragon back up.
Turning to face everyone, he hung his head.
"I suppose I best start from the beginning."
And so, Hiccup told them Everything. From shooting Toothless out of the sky, to releasing him from the Bola, to his departure from Berk. Once he was done, he took a deep breath and waited.
"You have every right to be angry with me. I would be furious too. But I don't regret my actions, and will defend the life I built here to the last."
Stoick was silent for a long time. He seemed to be mulling things over in his head. Finally, he spoke.
"I don't understand why you befriended this beast? Why? What compelled you to go against everything that viking tradition has taught us?"
Hiccup thought about it.
"When I had the knife, I looked at him, and I saw fear in his eyes, followed by acceptance that he would die. I also saw part of myself in him. A reflection of me so to speak."
Stoick thought about it longer.
"I think I finally understand what you did Hiccup. And I believe that no sentence is neccesary."
"WHAT?! You can't be serious! your letting him off the hook?!" Snotlout was furious. He had been looking forward to seeing Hiccup be eaten by the Monstrous Nightmare. The twins just said darn, and began to head back to the village, before they realized they had know idea where they were. Razorre landed, and walked up to Snotlout.
"You might want to show a little more respect. you aren't on Berk anymore. Your on my territory. And my word goes a long way."
Snotlout attempted to punch him for that, but his fist was grabbed, yanked forward, spun, and pushed against his chest. Razorre then threw Snotlout over his head to the ground. Astrid looked pleased.
"I think I'm starting to like this place"