Okay, this is my SECOND update today on this story. I am beginning to find this piece very very interesting. It has sort of a creepy hint to it, and I like that. Plus it takes place around Halloween, and Halloween is literally just around the corner, so...yep. Shout-outs:
Wanli8970: Well, glad you approve of it so far! It is spoooooooooooky. Okay, you don't like fabulous? How about...awesome! :) The Incliciar Dragon, though...I can't wait! :)
toothflyhiccstrid4eva: Cweepy Stowy...cweepy settings...cweepy evowything! :) BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!
AnimeAngel: DUN DUN DUN DUN...DUN DUN DUN DUN...DUN DUN DUN DUN...DUN DUN DUN...Ooooh, is that a snickers!? YAY! (sorry, that was awkward). Have a snickers! *tosses candy out to you*
CHAPTER 2: LEGEND OR NOT, HERE I COME
They met at the academy later than expected, more like, around noon than eight.
Everyone had pondered what Snotlout had told them the night before; the story of the Incliciar dragon, or... "Ghost Dragon", as legend referred, hadn't exactly been giving the young Dragon Riders any time to think about anything else.
Hiccup and Astrid met up at the Great Hall before heading to the academy. They were silent as Hiccup sketched and Astrid sharpened her axe with a stone. Today would be the day the Incliciar would show up, if it showed up at all.
"Strange how a legend can change a mood so quickly," Astrid said.
Hiccup jumped and locked eyes with her before smiling. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," he said, turning back to the whatever-it-was he was doodling. "I've just been thinking..."
"You're always thinking, Hiccup," said Astrid.
"You know what I mean," said Hiccup. "All this..." He closed his notebook and put his charcoal pencil behind his ear, "...it lines up with history."
"What are you talking about?" asked Astrid.
"Twenty years ago," said Hiccup, "there was a disappearance. A Berkian just vanished."
"And you know this...how?" asked Astrid.
Hiccup shrugged. "Research!" he said enthusiastically. "Anyways," he continued, his voice serious once more, his fingers drumming on the table as he spoke, "he disappeared today, twenty years ago. I also did some research on the Incliciar while I was at it...it attacks every twenty years."
"What else did you learn from your research?" asked Astrid.
"It has a nose for blood," said Hiccup. "They say it can smell a single drop of it from miles and miles away. Also that the Incliciar is known to most people as the 'Ghost Dragon,'" Hiccup went on, "because they were sure it had been killed."
"Well, obviously it hadn't," said Astrid, "if what you're saying is really true."
Hiccup nodded. "I hope it isn't," he said, "but if it is...and it takes Berkians each time it comes here-"
"Then we have a major problem," said Astrid.
Hiccup sighed and nodded. "But who knows?" he said. "It could just be one of those stories that people just make up to scare someone."
"Or...not," said Astrid matter-of-factly.
Hiccup groaned. "I really wish you wouldn't!" he facepalmed as he spoke.
"Fine," said Astrid. "Let's go see if the others are at the academy. And let's just hope no one else did any 'research'. I've already heard enough about this Incliciar."
Hiccup and her stood up and exited the Great Hall, meeting and mounting their dragons after walking outside. They took to the air and headed to the academy.
...
The rest of the riders were already there, including Dahlia. Hiccup and Astrid dismounted their dragons and eyed the group with confused looks. Snotlout, the twins and Fishlegs were staring at them as if trying to decide which outfit to wear.
"What?" asked Hiccup and Astrid in unison.
"The Incliciar is coming tonight," said Snotlout.
"Well, do much for not hearing about it," Hiccup said under his breath. "Guys, you and I all know that the Incliciar dragon is nothing but an old myth! A legend, just told for laughs!"
"Like the legend of the Boneknapper?" said Fishlegs suspiciously. "Everyone thought that was a legend, too."
"But that was different!" said Hiccup. "The Boneknapper isn't a Ghost Dragon, like people are calling the Incliciar."
"Well, it did have an armor of bones..." Fishlegs stated nervously.
"You're missing the point!" said Hiccup. He sighed. "We need to have a meeting," he stated simply. "Meet us at the Great Hall, okay?"
He turned and mounted Toothless again.
Back to the Great Hall, then.
...
Snotlout and the twins sat on one side of the table while Astrid, Hiccup, Fishlegs and Dahlia sat on the other.
"I say we go out and look for the Incliciar!" said Snotlout with determination. "Destroy it before it even gets here."
"We don't even know if the dragon exists," said Astrid.
"But what if it does?" said Hiccup. "What if the Incliciar really is an actual dragon, like the Boneknapper was? We doubted the Boneknapper's existance, but we were wrong. There is such thing as the Boneknapper. I don't want to take any chances with this Incliciar. But if what I read about it is true, then we certainly are not going to go out and look for it."
"But it would be awesome!" shouted Tuffnut. "Besides, I thought you liked dragons!"
Hiccup twiddled his charcoal nervously the way he did when his inner Dragon Trainer and inner son of a Chief were battling for claim over his thought process. "I just don't think it's a good idea," he said, tapping the charcoal pencil against the table. "I mean...someone could get hurt."
"Guys, come on!" said Snotlout. "We're Dragon Trainers! Danger's what we do best!"
"But stupidity is not," said Hiccup. "This whole plan to do out and look for this dragon is...unreasonable. It's insane, and crazy-"
"And awesome!" shouted Ruffnut.
"Okay, not helping," said Hiccup.
"Hiccup, this is a chance of a lifetime!" said Ruffnut with enthusiasm. "Who knows when we'll get another chance like this?"
"Another chance to do something completely and utterly ignorant?" said Hiccup.
"But what if the Incliciar does exist?" said Astrid. "If we don't go after it, it might come here, to Berk, and destroy the village."
Hiccup's eyes lit up.
"Well...we can't let that happen," he said. He sighed and groaned heavily. "FINE!" he said in defeat and frustration. "I'll do it...but I won't like it."
"YES!" the others fistpumped, besides Astrid.
Hiccup groaned again. "You guys are hopeless," he mumbled. "Every single one of you." He sighed. "Maybe you get it from me."
"So, when do we start?" asked Snotlout.
"We'll head up to Raven Point, and just see what we can find tonight," said Hiccup.
"Why wait until dark?" asked Ruffnut. "Why not just go now?"
"Because," said Hiccup, "it comes at night."