Author's Note: Here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it. Please be sure to review as well.
I don't own How to Train Your Dragon, only Hicca (female Hiccup) and Asher (male Astrid).
"..." Human p.o.v.
"..." Dragon p.o.v.
'...' Human thought.
'...' Dragon thought.
On with the chapter.
Chapter 5: In Dragons We Trust
'As you fly through life it's always good to know who you can trust…and who you can't.'
"Nice catch, sweetie. A little close…" Hicca says patting her Night Fury's head after he caught her falling in the air.
'I know I can always count on my dragons. And it's important for them to know…that no matter what…they can count on me.'
Hicca then directs Toothless back up into the air where her other dragons, Bones and Serpentina, and the other dragon riders were hovering in the air.
"It's your turn. Jump!" Hicca says to Fishlegs.
"I don't want to jump! I-!" Fishlegs says nervously.
"You have to believe she's gonna catch you! It's a trust exercise." Hicca reminds the girl.
"I like to do my trusting on the ground, thank you, very much!" Fishlegs says.
"Like this, chicken-legs. WHOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!" Snotlout cheers and rolls off her saddle.
"So…should we mention something to Hookfang?" Tuffnut asks looking at the unmoving Monstrous Nightmare.
"Let me sleep on it." Ruffnut says looking at the dragon as well.
"Hookfang! Get her!" Asher shouts snapping Hookfang out of his daze.
"What?" Hookfang asks.
"You're rider as already jumped or more likely rolled off your saddle." Toothless says as Hookfang looks down to see his rider falling out of control towards the ground.
"Not feeling the trust!" Snotlout shouts.
"Oh no!" Hookfang yells and then shots through the air after his rider.
A few seconds latter Hookfang catches up with his falling rider and gets her back onto the saddle but unfortunately it wasn't quick enough.
"AH! COMIN' IN TOO HOT! AHH!" Snotlout screams.
Snotlout and Hookfang crash through Mildew's roof. For a few seconds they look around the inside of the house and then see an angry looking Mildew glaring at them.
"Mildew!" Snotlout says and then Hookfang flies back through the roof leaving another hole screaming at the top of her lungs.
"You'll pay for this!" Mildew shouts as a shingle hits him in the head.
"Oh, something tells me we're gonna hear about this…" Hicca says as they fly by the old man's house and head back to the village.
At Hicca's house Stoick places a shingle on the table as Hicca stares at it.
"Shingle again? Didn't we have roofing material for dinner last night?" Hicca asks nervously looking at her father angry face. "It was an accident, Dad. I'm sure Mildew's making it sound worse than it is." She says.
"A dragon and a huge, obnoxious girl crashed through his roof…twice!" Stoick says loudly.
"Well, sure, it sounds bad if you're gonna…stick to the facts." Hicca says looking away from her father's face.
"Of all the houses on the island, a dragon had to crash through Mildew's. You know he hates dragons more than anyone else!" Stoick says.
"I know. You might wanna talk to him about his attitude." Hicca suggests.
"Listen to me, Hicca. I gave you the responsibility of training those dragons. Everyone knows that. All eyes are upon you, dear. Whatever those beasts do reflects on you, and whatever you do reflects on me." Stoick says to his daughter.
"I'm sorry, daddy. You're right." Hicca says.
"You and your friends are gonna go back to Mildew's and fix that roof. Without your dragons!" Stoick says.
"Got a break there, sweetie." Hicca says petting Toothless.
"Lucky me." Toothless says leaning into the petting.
"Ah! Not so fast! Aren't you forgetting something? It's boot night! They need to be aired out." Stoick says handing his boots to his daughter.
"UGH! I think it's going to take more than…air." Hicca says gagging after catches a whiff of the stench before holding it away from her and in front of Toothless.
"Can't…breathe." Toothless says gagging as well.
Once outside Hicca says some of the other riders placing boots outside their houses too.
"Ugh. I hate boot night!" Fishlegs says trying not to hurl.
"Ugh, why is his left foot always so much smellier than his right?" Tuffnut asks shoving a boot in his sister's face as she does the same.
"Uhh…oh, no." Snotlout says almost throwing up right there as she tosses the boots outside.
During the night, a mysterious figure that can only be distinguished as something with large claws swipes away the boots, however leaving footprints in the snow.
As it turns morning, Stoick sets out to grab his boots to discover they're gone.
"Where are my boots?" Stoick asks as he looks up and sees Gobber, Bucket, and Mulch missing their boots as well. "Where are your boots?" He asks.
"They've all been stolen. Every last one." Gobber says.
"Oh, that explains why me feet are so cold." Bucket says.
"Who could have done such a thing?" Mulch asks.
"All I know is that they left a mighty big footprint." Mildew says pointing his staff at a footprint in the snow.
"Oh, those are Zippleback tracks. You can tell by the half moon-shaped arches. Well, that's Dragon 101, guys. I don't gotta fill you in on that." Fishlegs says.
"So a dragon walked through here. A Zippleback, according to my friend Fishlegs. But that doesn't mean he took everyone's boots." Hicca says.
"Well, there's just one way to find out. Follow the footprints." Mildew says seeing more footprints heading off in a certain direction.
The villagers follow the footprints to the Dragon Academy only to discover Barf and Belch laying in a pile of everyone's boots.
"So there's a bunch of boots piled around a Zippleback. That doesn't mean-yeah, okay, fine. He took the boots." Hicca says as her father holds up a chewed boot to her.
"No we didn't." Barf tells Hicca in confusion at seeing the boots around him and Belch.
"We were sleeping all night and when we woke up they were here." Belch says to Hicca.
"How are we supposed to do any work in this weather without our boots?" A Viking asks.
"This is outrageous!" Another Viking shouts in anger.
"Now, how long before something's done about these creatures, Stoick? How much more can we stand?" Mildew asks.
"Listen to yourselves. "My feet are cold." You're Vikings. Everything is cold! I'll fix your boots for ya. You'll be back to work in no time." Gobber says.
"You all heard Gobber. You'll be getting your boots back as good as new." Stoick says.
"That's it? No consequence for these dragons?" Mildew asks.
"They took our boots, Mildew. The world isn't coming to an end." Stoick says.
"Oh, don't be so sure. Dragons are wild beasts. There's no telling what else they'll do behind our sleeping backs." Mildew says.
"They don't destroy things on purpose. Barf and Belch say they didn't do this and I believe them." Hicca says rubbing Barf and Belch's heads.
"Bah…" Mildew says in disgust.
"But you do have a point, Mildew." Hicca says.
"Eh-what?" Mildew asks in confusion.
"They are wild animals, and they need us to keep an eye on them. And rest assured, we will do just that." Hicca says to the villagers around the ring. "Will you get out of there?" She asks Barf and Belch.
"Sorry." They both say together and walk out of the boot pile and left a deep footprint in a snow pile.
Hicca then notices something strange about the ones they followed and the one Barf and Belch just made.
Atop one pillar, the teens discuss how to keep the dragons under watch over the night.
"We're going on night patrol." Hicca says to the dragon riders.
"Night patrol? I love it! What is it?" Tuffnut asks.
"It's where we patrol. At night. To keep an eye on the dragons and make sure they don't get blamed for anything else." Hicca explains.
"Um…have you cleared this with our parents? Because some of us might not be allowed out after a certain hour." Fishlegs says.
"Not allowed…or afraid?" Snotlout asks while teasing the girl.
"Hey. Things happen after dark." Fishlegs says.
"Guys, we have to do this. You heard Mildew. He wants the Dragons banished." Hicca says.
"Permission to shoot first and ask questions later, Hicca?" Ruffnut asks her best friend.
"Permission to skip the question?" Tuffnut asks.
"We're just patrolling. Nobody is shooting anyone." Hicca says.
"I have a question. What's fun about that?" Tuffnut asks.
"It's not supposed to be fun. It's a Hicca idea." Asher says smiling before he smile disappears.
"Exactly. What?" Hicca asks as she glares at Asher feeling insulted.
"Sorry." Asher apologizes.
Later that night the dragon riders put their plan into action as Asher knocks on a random Viking's door.
"Hello, sir!" Asher says but fails to catch himself when he sees it's a woman who answers the door holding a mutton leg and a mug. "Ah, umm, ah-ma'am. My name is Asher, and I'm with the Dragon United Monitoring Brigade." He says feeling embarrassed.
"DUMB?" The Viking woman asks pointing a mutton leg at the sash.
"Yes. That is correct. Not my idea. But it is easy to remember. If you have any dragon-related problems, contact us. Just cup a hand on either side of your mouth, and at the top of your lungs yell…" Asher says as the woman closes the door in his face. "DUMB." He finishes.
Meanwhile Snotlout and Hookfang are on lookout when
"Halt! Who goes there?!" Snotlout asks spotting someone in the shadows.
"Take a wild guess." Gobber says walking into the lanterns light.
"I don't think I like your attitude." Snotlout says getting in Gobber's face.
"Right back at ya." Gobber says to the girl.
"Yeah. But I'm the one with the sash." Snotlout says showing off her sash unaware that Hookfang wanders off.
"Let me take a closer look at that." Gobber says lifting the girl up by her sash with his prosthetic hook. ""DUMB." Well, that suits you." He says with a snicker.
"Okay, I think we're done here." Snotlout says still being held in the air.
Meanwhile Fishlegs and Meatlug were wandering the dark village when they spot a large shadow.
"Oh! What was that?" Fishlegs asks.
The twins were so busy scary Fishlegs that they didn't notice Hookfang walk up behind that and cause Fishlegs and Meatlug to fly away scared.
"Whoa." Tuffnut says.
"Whoa." Ruffnut says.
"Did you see me scare him?" They both say together.
"No, I scared him." Ruffnut says.
"No, I scared him." Tuffnut says.
"No me!" Ruffnut yells pushing her brother.
"No, no, no, it was me!" Tuffnut yells pushing his sister back.
"I did!" Ruffnut yells butting heads with Tuffnut.
"No! Clearly me!" Tuffnut yells.
Meanwhile Hicca was flying on Toothless with Bones and Serpentina beside their brother.
"Well, Mildew will be happy to know what dragons do at night. They sleep like everyone else." Hicca says.
"True." The three dragons say.
Though still, a figure again creeps into the Great Hall and scratches, rips, and destroys some of the objects in it. This time the claw resembles a different Dragon species than the boot stealing one, seemingly another Dragon.
In the morning, the Vikings, noticing the defacement of the Great Hall's furnishing.
"Who could have done such a thing?" Stoick asks looking around the Great Hall.
"Oh. It looks like a dragon to me." Fishlegs says.
"We don't know for sure, Fishlegs." Hicca says trying to make Fishlegs shut up.
"Sure, we do. Look at these claw marks. It was obviously a Monstrous Nightmare. The spacing of the talons is dead-on." Fishlegs says missing Hicca's message.
"Once again, thank you, Fishlegs!" Hicca says sarcastically.
"Oh, stop, it's just basic stuff." Fishlegs says still not getting the message
"But how could this happen? We had every dragon accounted for at all times. Right, guys?" Asher asks.
"When you say at "all times" and "every dragon," what exactly do you mean?" Snotlout asks making Hicca face-palm.
"Okay, what happened, Snotlout?" Hicca asks.
"Well, I was detaining a suspect who wasn't showing sufficient respect to the sash." Snotlout says.
"I think I showed sufficient respect to a sash that says "DUMB." Gobber says.
"We've got to change that name." Asher says as Hicca giggles. "Wait you did that on purpose didn't?" He asks his crush.
"Maybe." Hicca says innocently while smiling.
"Anyways, as I was questioning said suspect, Hookfang may have-and I'm not saying he did-but it is possible he wandered off for a few…" Snotlout says.
"Seconds?" Ruffnut asks hopefully.
"Minutes?" Tuffnut asks hopefully as well.
"Hours." Snotlout says making everyone groan.
"Oh, that's way longer than minutes." Tuffnut says as Mildew enters the Great Hall.
"Oh, no! It's true. The Great Hall. So many memories. My three weddings. Their three funerals. Oh…the funerals!" Mildew says happily.
"A dragon must have gone on a rampage. I hate to say it, Stoick, but you're going to have to-" Gobber says.
"I know what has to be done, Gobber." Stoick says.
"So do I." Mildew says walking up to the chief.
"Starting tonight and every night, I want all the dragons put in the Academy under lock and key." Stoick says placing his hands on Hicca's shoulders.
"What? That's it? Look what they did!" Mildew says looking around the Great Hall.
"This just doesn't make any sense. A dragon wouldn't just come in here and destroy the place. I mean, none of the food was even touched." Hicca says pointing at the basket of fish.
"I don't know why dragons do what they do, but I'm not going to let them do any more damage." Stoick says.
Later that day Hicca and the other dragon riders were flying their dragons over Berk towards the Dragon Academy as Hicca looks down to her father with a sad face.
"You had to cage the Dragons, Stoick. You had no choice." Gobber says.
"I know. But to Hicca, when I punish them, I'm punishing her." Stoick says.
"Yeah, that girl thinks the dragons can do no wrong." Gobber says.
"I just hope she understands that when a father does what's best for his daughter, a Chief must do what's best for the village." Stoick says.
Once the dragon riders got their dragons into the Dragon Academy they were trying to get them to sleep.
"Sleep, little Meatlug in your bed, where yummy little boulders dance in your head." Fishlegs sings.
"Not now, Fishlegs." Meatlug says turning away from her rider.
"That usually works. Our whole bedtime routine is upset. She won't even lick my feet, thanks to-" Fishlegs begins.
"Watch it, Fishlegs. At least my dragon doesn't need a lullaby and a blankie." Snotlout says.
"Actually I wouldn't mind a lullaby every now and then." Hookfang says.
"Actually, it's your fault that all our dragons have to sleep in jail." Ruffnut says.
"Yeah. You don't see our dragon going on a rampage and wrecking stuff." Tuffnut says.
"Yeah." Barf and Belch say together as they step on a crate, destroying it. "Oops." They say.
"Well, not any good stuff." Tuffnut says.
"I don't think a dragon wrecked the Great Hall. Or stole the boots." Hicca says softly.
"None of us wants to believe it either, Hicca, but you saw the proof." Asher says.
"What proof? You saw the footprints, too. They were supposed to be made by a Zippleback, but they were no deeper than mine. Look at these! I could lie down in them!" Hicca says showing them the deep footprints in the snow pile.
"Well, there could be a lot of explanations why a dragon made shallow footprints." Fishlegs says.
"Like, hello! He was trying to be sneaky." Ruffnut says.
"All right, well, how do you explain the Great Hall?" Asher asks.
Just then Hookfang and Barf and Belch start fighting with each other.
"You know, this is your entire fault." Barf and Belch say to Monstrous Nightmare.
"Hey back off twin head." Hookfang says snapping at the Zippleback as he flames up.
"Snotlout, do something about him, please? We're trying to think over here." Hicca says.
"Yeah, I gave up thinking. Never been happier." Tuffnut says.
"I said back off." Hookfang roars still flamed up.
"Snotlout!" Hicca yells to the girl.
"I'm not the boss of him. He always does that when he gets angry!" Snotlout says as Hicca looks at the flaming Monstrous Nightmare as he leaves a scorch mark on the ground.
"Or goes on a rampage. That's how I can explain the Great Hall! I've got to tell my dad about this. Bones you stay here. Serpentina come with me and Toothless." Hicca says.
"Alright." Bones says as he lays down for a nap while Hicca hops on Toothless and takes off with Serpentina following behind.
A few minutes later Hicca was inside the Great Hall talking with her father while Toothless and Serpentina waited outside.
"Just hear me out, Daddy. When a Monstrous Nightmare gets mad, his whole body bursts into flames. Look at these walls. Not one single scorch mark." Hicca explains.
"Hicca, until I have solid proof that it was something else, the dragons stay where they are." Stoick says to his daughter.
Meanwhile Toothless and Serpentina were napping outside when a mysterious noise wakes Serpentina.
"What was that?" Serpentina asks as Toothless wakes up.
"What was what?" Toothless asks his sister but then hears the noise again coming from the armory.
"That. Come on." Serpentina says as she and Toothless walk towards the armory to investigate.
Once the two dragons reach the armory they see the door open but no one came out.
"That's weird." Toothless says as he and his sister enter unaware that a Viking is watching them from his house window.
As the two dragons look around they see no one inside but heard the window open and then hear a crackling sound.
"What's that noise?" Serpentina asks as she and Toothless look to their right and see fire that spread to a cylinder containing explosive fluids.
"Oh no! Run!" Toothless yells as he and Serpentina bolt out of the armory just before it explodes resulting it's destruction and the weapons as well.
"Let's tell Hicca." Serpentina suggests as they run towards the Great Hall but stop when they see villagers running towards the armory to put out the flames.
"Fire, fire!" The Vikings yell.
"The armory! Grab some buckets!" Stoick orders but then sees two dragons near the stairs. "Toothless? Serpentina?" He asks.
"It was them! They set the armory on fire!" The Viking who witnessed the two dragons enter the armory before it exploded says.
"How dare they?" A female Viking says.
"Toothless? Serpentina?" Hicca asks seeing her two dragons.
"Hicca, it wasn't us." Toothless says to his rider.
"Yes, someone else did this." Serpentina says.
"I believe you but what happened?" Hicca asks.
"I heard a strange sound so Toothless and I went to investigate." Serpentina says.
"When we go here the armory door flew open but nobody came out so we went in only to find no one there except an open window." Toothless says.
"That's when we heard the crackling sound of a fire lit and making its way to a barrel of explosive fluid so we bolted out before the armory exploded." Serpentina says.
After the villagers managed to put the fire out the whole armory building had burned down and all the weapons were ruined.
"Every one of our weapons…gone!" Stoick says.
"Prudence! My poor darling." Gobber says holding a bended ruined sword. "I'm so sorry. You should've had a long, bloodletting life." He says putting the sword in the ground and prays.
"She didn't have to die, Gobber. Hicca's dragons left us utterly defenseless." Mildew says.
"Daddy, you know Toothless and Serpentina wouldn't do this and neither would Bones." Hicca says to her father.
"Sure, listen to your girl, Stoick. That's what got us into this mess. See what happens when you leave your dragons all alone to wait outside?" Mildew says to Hicca shocking her.
"What did you say?" Hicca asks suspiciously.
"Sadie!" Gobber cries holding up a crumbled sword to Hicca's face. "Oh, I guess your throat-slicing days are over." He says.
"Ahh. These dragons have done too much damage. It's not longer safe to have them on Berk. I want them gone." Stoick says.
"WHAT?" Hicca says with wide eyes.
"Finally!" Mildew shouts happily.
"Round them up, and take them all to Dragon Island." Stoick says to his daughter before he address the rest of Berk. "By the end of the day tomorrow, there will be no more dragons on Berk!" Stoick shouts making the teenagers gasp in shock while Hicca lost the color in her face like she was about to faint.
"Oh, what a glorious day that will be." Mildew says as he inhales and exhales. "Party at my house!" He shouts.
"It's about time." A Viking says walking away.
"Don't forget, girl. Right after you drop off your dragons, you'll be fixing my roof." Mildew says.
"This is wrong." Hicca says.
"I know, it's horrible. It's the worst day of my life." Asher says.
"No, Asher. Something here doesn't add up." Hicca explains.
"All I know is I'm losing my dragon." Fishlegs says walking away.
"For now. Yeah. Okay. But I-I just need time to fix this." Hicca says.
"What are you talking about? It's over." Snotlout says walking away.
"Forget it, it's over. Sorry, Hicca." Ruffnut says placing a hand on her best friend's shoulder as she walks away.
"Yeah, forget it." Tuffnut says following his sister.
The next day the dragon riders were making their way to Dragon Island with a Berk ship following them.
"I'm gonna miss you." Asher says hugging Stormfly after removing her saddle.
"I'm gonna miss you too, Asher." Stormfly says sadly.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut hug the dragon's heads before switching to the other head not saying a word.
"Okay, Meatlug. There's plenty of rocks if you get hungry... and don't eat any limestone. You know it doesn't agree with you." Fishlegs says once she places a bunch of rocks in a pile and walks away.
"Whaaa…?" Meatlug asks in complete shock as she passes out on her side.
"Be strong, buddy. I know you're gonna miss me-" Snotlout says.
"Bird." Hookfang yells as he chases after it down the beach.
"Okay. He's crying. He's crying on the inside!" Snotlout says looking away.
"I'll be back for you. All of you. I promise." Hicca says crying.
"Hicca, please don't cry." Bones says nudging Hicca's face.
"Yes you're a smart girl. You'll figure something out." Serpentina says rubbing up against Hicca.
Hicca then turns to leave but Toothless follows her.
"No, sweetie! You've gotta stay here, and take care of the other dragons with Serpentina and Bones." Hicca says still crying.
"But I promised I'd always protect you." Toothless says.
"It's gonna be okay, Toothless. Trust me." Hicca says.
"I trust you." Toothless says as Hicca hugs him before setting her dragons' saddles down and walks towards the boat and sails away from the island.
"There's something Mildew said that I can't stop thinking about. He said, "See what happens when you leave your dragons to wait outside?" He knew Toothless and Serpentina weren't with me just before the armory fire." Hicca says leaning against the mast like Asher is doing.
"So...?" Asher asks.
"So he lives on the other side of the island. What was he doing in town? And how would he know where we were before the fire?" Hicca asks.
"You really think he set that fire?" Asher asks.
"I think he did all of it, and I think he did it so my dad would get rid of all the dragons." Hicca says.
"That's a pretty serious accusation. How are you gonna prove it?" Asher asks.
Later that day Hicca was at Mildew's fixing up his roof before she looks around to see if the old man was anywhere nearby. Once she deduces that Mildew is nowhere nearby she tosses a rope in his house and slides down it. As she enters the house she looks around and sees three shields with women's faces and a sheep on the fourth.
"Wife. Wife. Wife." Hicca says looking at the three paintings. "Hmm. Well, Mildew definitely has a type." She says as she shudders before she spots something behind a curtain.
Hicca finds a pair of Zippleback foot markers and a Monstrous Nightmare claw.
"What the…?" Hicca asks herself picking up one of the Zippleback feet and grabs the Monstrous Nightmare claw examining it.
Just then door starts clattering making Hicca gasp placing the feet and claw back and pulling the curtain shut as she climbs up the rope just before the door opens.
"I'm home, ladies!" Mildew says. "Oh! What's that you say? Nothing? Perfect." He says before he looks at the Zippleback feet and opens the curtain thinking someone was behind it but finds no one there. "Ahh, these served us well, didn't they, Fungus? Shame we have to get rid of them." He says picking the items off and walks out of his house.
Hicca watches from above and develops and angry look as she climbs up the rope and looks at the old man walking to the cliff edge from his roof. She then sees Mildew disposing of his Dragon-like recreations into the ocean.
Author's Note: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please be sure to review and tell me what you think. Stay tuned for Alvin and the Outcast in the next chapter.