Chronicles of the Dragoniters
"Normal Speech-Dragons included"/ "Telepathic Speech" / Thoughts
CotD: Vikings, Dragons and Elf-Faes
Chapter 1: Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon
Updated:
Edited: 14.05.2017
One night, only a few short weeks after the War ended, Aniu was in the kitchen of her house having a midnight snack of chocolate and a glass of milk when she heard a house being set on fire by a dragon. Aniu quickly put down her midnight snack and ran outside. Sneaka flew out after her and they were quickly joined by Arin, Fengo and Namara. They saw that Gobber's house had caught fire and Vikings and dragons alike were trying to put it out. "By the Gods, I thought all the dragons were getting better at not setting anything on fire." Fengo remarked. "There are still times when they make mistakes or forget, they are dragons after all." Namara replied. "The War was ended only a few weeks ago and that is not long enough for them to learn." Arin said. "There have been times when I have accidently set things on fire." Sneaka said. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let us help put this fire out!" Aniu exclaimed and the family of Elf-Faes and the Terrible Terror flew over to help by flying over Gobber's house and dousing the flames with jets of water from their hands. Lunastar joined them, water pouring out of her horn and hooves.
With the Dragoniters and the Vikings of Berk working together to put of the flames, Gobber's house was soon fireless. A team of Scauldrons had filled the Dragoniter's buckets of water so they would not have to fly to the nearest water source, in other words, the ocean. Stoick made sure the flames were fully extinguished from the outside. Hiccup on Toothless, Aniu and Nava landed around him. "Where is Gobber? Is he still inside?" Hiccup asked. "Is he okay? He would have gotten out in time, would not he?" Aniu inquired. "Where and when was he last seen?" Nava questioned. "Who could have done this? Any dragons?" Toothless asked. Thanks to the Soul-Bond Hiccup and Toothless shared, others were then able to understand what Toothless was saying when he opened 'links' from him to them. It had taken a while for Stoick to get used to it whenever Toothless wanted to speak him. Hiccup's training was progressing well. "I do not know and we cannot find him." Stoick told them.
"I am right here." Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw Gobber walking out of his forge, wheeling a cart full of weapons in front of him. "That beast will pay for this." He fumed. "Well, there is our missing Chief Blacksmith." Fengo sighed in relief. "Hush, dear. Let us hear what he has to say." Namara told her husband. "Gobber, what happened?' Stoick inquired. By then, a crowd of Vikings and dragons had gathered around. Aniu and Nava were with Hiccup, Toothless and Stoick while Arin, Fengo, Namara, Mira, Theo, Nala, Elenia, Lunastar and Solarfira stood close by. "What does it look like? A dragon set my home on fire!" Gobber yelled, anger radiating off him in waves. "What?" The Dragoniters asked, as did many of the villagers and dragons. Toothless's siblings, Chaya, Amaya, Kyran and Darkfang glanced at each other and shrugged. They had no idea who could have or would have done such a thing on purpose. "You pushed me too far this time, you ugly bag of bones!" Gobber shouted, waving his hook-hand at the sky. "Dad, what is he talking about? Our dragons do not do that anymore." Hiccup inquired. "It must have been an accident." Aniu said. "Or maybe some dragons still hate Berk and humans." Nava added.
"Not all dragons know that Berk is now at peace with dragons and there is an entire flock living here." Toothless said. "All three of you have good points." Hiccup said. "It could have been Hags-Fiends but I think we would have noticed any of those." Fengo said. "Or maybe we still have enemies that are not Hags-Fiends." Namara said. Stoick, however, had a pretty good idea on what Gobber was talking about. "I do not think Gobber means any of Berk's dragons. Gobber, for the last time, there is no such thing as a ..." He began."As a Boneknapper!" Gobber yelled. Many Vikings sighed, groaned and muttered to each other, obviously having heard about the believed-by-many-to-be-mythical Boneknapper. "I have read stories about Boneknappers but many people believe they don't exist." Nava said. "I think they do.;" Mira said innocently, clutching the stuffed Winged Unicorn toy Nala had made for her to her chest. "A what-knapper?" Tuffnut asked. "A disgusting, foul beast wearing a coat of stolen bones like a giant, flying skeleton." Gobber told him. "Ooh, the dragon manual said that the Boneknapper will stop at nothing to find the perfect bone to build its coat of armour. It is awesome." Fishlegs exclaimed. "Come on, it is a myth." Stoick said loudly. "It does not even exist."
"I'm telling you, they are real." Gobber argued. "I have been running from one for most of my entire life. He is the one who started this fire." A Viking walked up to them. "Stoick, we found a pair of Gobber's pants hanging by the stove. They must've started the fire." He held up a stick which had a pair of badly burnt trousers hanging from it. Everyone burst out laughing. "Still think it is the Boneknapper or just your pants?" Stoick chuckled."I don't think, I know!" Gobber cried out madly. "Somehow he found me again! This dragon is pure evil." He held out his hook for emphasis. "Gobber, it is late and we are too tired for your stories. Now get some rest." Stoick sighed. "You can rest with us tonight, Gobber." Hiccup said kindly. "As long as we stuff ear plugs in." Toothless said. "Yeah, Gobber, snores loud enough to wake the dead." Sharpshot agreed. "You lot rest! I am putting an end to this." Gobber snapped, snatching his pants away from the Viking. Everyone watched as Gobber walked to the docks. "Come on, Phil, let's go." He said to his pet sheep. "I don't need their help anyway." Hiccup stared after him and sighed. "I can't let him go by himself. Alright, Vikings, grab your shields.""Yes!" Aniu, Nava, Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut whooped in excitement except for Snotlout. "There's no way I'm getting on a boat to go after a fake dragon." He said stubbornly, crossing his arms. "Oh, yes you are."Nava told him, grinning."You are one of us so you have to come." Aniu added. When Snotlout glared at them, they smirked.
The very next morning, Hiccup, Astrid, Aniu, Nava, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut found themselves rowing a longship across the ocean with Gobber at the helm and Toothless, Elenia, Solarfira and two Grapple Grounders flying overhead. Hiccup, Aniu and Nava were tempted to join them in flight but they were needed to row with the other teens. Besides, Hiccup's flying skills were not that good yet. He still struggled with most of the basics. The female Grapple Grounder was named China while the male was named Serpent. China had ruby red scales, golden markings, eyes and black horns, spines and undersides. Serpent, however, had emerald green scales, sapphire blue markings, eyes and pure white horns, spines and undersides. Sharpshot, Talisa, Sneaka, Terrence, Ganodi, Scratcher, Puncher and Kicker were hovering over their humans and Elf-Faes. As the teens rowed, Gobber barked out orders.
"Come on! Put your backs into it, you lazy dogs! Stroke! You're not even trying! Stroke!" Gobber yelled at them. "How fun is this, right? We've got the team back together, another adventure...this is pretty cool, huh?"Hiccup asked optimistically. "Yep, nothing cooler than rowing until your hands bleed." Snotlout agreed. "Looking on the bright side is way better than being pessimistic." Aniu said. "You are right, Ni. Besides, it is too bad the others did not come along." Nava agreed. "I just want you kids to know that it touches my heart. You helping me slay the Boneknapper. True Vikings, Elf-Faes and Dragoniters you lot are." Gobber said, sniffling. "Wait, I thought we were not going to kill the Boneknapper." Toothless spoke up. "There must be a reason as to why this Boneknapper is targeting Gobber." Elenia said. "Gobber, are we there yet?" Ruffnut groaned impatiently. "Oh, you will know we are close when your ears explode from the piercing screams. Legend says this dragon's roar is so fierce, it can melt the flesh right off your bones." Fishlegs said. "Not so, Fishlegs. The Boneknapper has no roar at all. That is why he is terrifying. They are silent killers." Gobber told him, eyes widening dramatically.
"I actually think that the Boneknapper does have a roar." Nava said. "But you just never heard it so you naturally assume it has no roar." Aniu finished. "Wait. So if we do not hear anything, we are dead?" Ruffnut asked. The teens all fell silent. Only the sound of the water and the cries of seabirds could be heard. "I don't hear anything." Tuffnut whispered. The silence was broken when Phil the Sheep bleated loudly. The Dragoniters aboard the ship were so on edge that they screamed and spun around when they heard it."Ha, ha, ha. Good one, Phil." Gobber chuckled. "Did I ever tell about the first time I met the dreaded Boneknapper?" And so the story began:
According to Gobber, he was only a young lad sailing in a ship for Summer vacation with his mother and father. As they were passing past icebergs and glaciers, Gobber's parents decided to get off the ship so they could catch some fish and seals a short way from the ship. However, Gobber had a sudden need to...use the toilet...and a cave nearby was much closer than the ship. So, he quickly told his parents that he needed to poop and pee and ran into the cave to...do his business. Back then, Gobber still had all of his limbs and maintained the innocence of a young boy holding an axe. His father was cooking fish over the fire and his mother was sunning herself on a shiny shield. Gobber quickly did what he had to do and went to walk out of the cave but something within the ice caught his attention and Gobber stopped in his tracks with a gasp, running up to the wall. He saw a group of Vikings, frozen within the ice, mid-battle. Clutched in the frozen fingers of one of the closer Vikings was a small, golden, treasure chest. He had to have it. So, Gobber grabbed his axe and, pulling it back over his head, swung it forward and cut into the ice, creating a hole just big enough for him to reach in, grab the chest and pull it out.
Gobber's sky blue eyes widened in awe as he opened the chest to see what it had inside it. Suddenly, something grabbed his arm and startled yelling in a muffled voice. Gobber screamed in shock when he saw the hand of the frozen Viking clasped tightly around his arm. He tried to hit the frozen Viking but he redirected Gobber's fist into his own face, making Gobber continuously punch himself until one eye was blackened and a tooth had been knocked out. At that point, Aniu and Nava had to interrupt. Aniu said that the frozen Viking punching Gobber with his own fist did not make any sense and Nava said that if they were frozen, they would have already died from cold and or lack of air. Hiccup, Toothless, Sharpshot and Astrid were nodding in agreement and Gobber glared at Aniu and Nava for interrupting the story before he continued. According to him, the frozen Viking stopped punching Gobber in the face with his own fist and started pointing at something over Gobber's shoulder, yelling something that sounded like "Right behind you! Quick! Turn around!" and so Gobber turned around and his mouth dropped open in shock.
Flying right at him was a massive dragon covered in bones. Gobber had never heard it coming and right then, he knew what it was. A Boneknapper. Many believed Boneknappers were just myths but Gobber was one of those who believed in its existence. The Boneknapper flew at Gobber, its talons raised to strike. He dove out of the way in the nick of time and the Boneknapper crashed into the wall, shattering it and chunks of ice, many with frozen Vikings inside them, began to fall. Gobber ran for his life, trying to keep ahead of the avalanche and the Boneknapper but he accidently tripped and the treasure chest went flying into the water. Gobber scrambled to the edge and plunged his hand into the freezing cold water. He sighed in relief when his numb, tingling fingers closed around the chest and pulled it out only to find the frozen Viking with his hand around Gobber's arm. Again. And he also began punching Gobber in the face. Again. The frozen Viking continued hitting Gobber, giving him a black eye this time. The Boneknapper swooped in again and landed on the ice, flinging Gobber into the air. Both dragon and Viking grabbed the chest at the same time."The Boneknapper wanted that treasure, but I wanted it more!" Gobber regaled. "You know, the Boneknapper must have a reason as to why he wanted the chest." Aniu whispered to Nava, who nodded in agreement. The Boneknapper flew towards a crevice in an ice wall. Gobber pulled the chest free and shot through the crack, flew out the other side where an ice slide catapulted him back onto his parent's ship. By that time, they had already finished restocking the food supply and were ready to set sail again once their errant son came back. Luckily for Gobber, they had not heard, seen or otherwise anything out of the ordinary. "What took you so long?" His father snapped. Gobber looked at the chest in his hands, hid it behind his back and giggled nervously, showing the toothless gap in his mouth.
Present-day Gobber laughed as he finished the story while the Dragoniters stared at him. "You expect us to believe that a frozen Viking punched you in the face?" Snotlout asked skeptically. "Yeah, twice!" Gobber exclaimed cheerfully, holding up two fingers."Hey, it could happen." Hiccup said. "What do you mean it could happen? It did! But I outsmarted the silent beast." Gobber said proudly. "Um, Gobber. I hate to be a stickler for details but Boneknappers are not silent." Fishlegs spoke up. "Yeah, it is quite likely a dragon covered in bones would have made noise." Toothless agreed. "First, lads and lasses, I know what I did not hear. But I could feel it..." Fishlegs chose that moment to look at the ship's surroundings and saw giant, jagged rocks jutting out of the water. "Um, guys." He squeaked uneasily. "I can smell it." Gobber continued. "Taste the oncoming doom-whoa!"The boat chose that moment to crash onto a rock formation, tearing a huge hole in the hull and dumping everyone off their seats with screams. Aniu and Nava accidently fell on top of each other. "Sorry." They both groaned and untangled themselves but Aniu and Nava had to admit, they really liked being under and on top of each other. Looking around, they saw that Hiccup and Astrid plus surprisingly Snotlout and Ruffnut had fallen on top of each other. "Lovebirds." Both Elf-Faes taunted. "You're ones to talk!" Astrid yelled at them. "Whoa." Tuffnut snickered as he looked over the side of the shipwrecked ship. "Um, I am tasting rocks." Astrid said. "Ah, we are here." Gobber smirked at the island in front of them.
Aniu and Nava turned into their dragon forms and with Toothless, Elenia, China and Serpent, carried Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Gobber off the ship before it sunk below the water. "Oh, great. Now we are stuck in the middle of nowhere and no one even knows where we are." Ruffnut complained. Aniu, Nava, Elenia, Solarfira, Toothless, China and Serpent surveyed the bone and rock littered landscape. "There must be a possibility the Boneknapper is real. Remember the stories we heard about them." Aniu mused. "And most likely lives right here on this island. It is the perfect habitat for them." Nava added. "I believe you two are right." Solarfira said. "I sense we are not alone on this island." Elenia added. "I can smell scents of dragons we have never seen before." Toothless said. "You are not the only one." China said. "They are quite strong too." Serpent added. Boneknappers were rumoured to be very secretive and elusive. Many dragons did not like them much because they collected bones from dead dragons to build their coat of armour. "We should have let all of our dragons come with us." Hiccup muttered to Astrid nodded. "At least we would not have to worry about getting shipwrecked and getting killed by a mysterious dragon." She agreed.
"Um, the Boneknapper might know we are here. Legend says ..." Fishlegs mumbled. "Hey, you know what legend also says? Stop talking!" Snotlout interrupted. "Okay, just hold on one darn second."Fishlegs snapped, glaring at him. Having enough, Aniu and Nava marched up to them and covered their mouths with their hands. "Boys, I will greatly appreciate it if you two stopped arguing!" She snapped, glaring at Snotlout and Fishlegs who mumbled apologies and backed away. "Panicking never solves anything. We have to stay calm." Nava told them. "No need to panic, kids. I have been shipwrecked many times." Gobber said calmly. "Oh, well, that is comforting." Hiccup said sarcastically to Astrid, Aniu, Nava, Toothless and Sharpshot. "Ah, you never forget your first shipwreck." Gobber sighed as he sat down and began sharpening his hook-hand with a rock. And so another exaggerated story began:
A few years after his first encounter with the Boneknapper, Gobber stood on a small, low seas stack out in the middle of the ocean. One of his hands had already been replaced with a prosthetic. Instead of something handy and useful like an axe or a hammer or a hook, Gobber groaned when he realized a broom was attached to his prosthetic. Things only got worse when the Boneknapper arrived. It had never forgiven him for taking the treasure. Seeing Gobber, the Boneknapper swooped down and Gobber ducked. The Boneknapper's claws took out the only tree on the seas stack, leaving Gobber horribly exposed with no cover in sight. As the Boneknapper flew away, the clouds shifted and Gobber saw another sea stack bigger than the one he was on a short distance away. "There was another island, my only escape. But I was surrounded by bloodthirsty, hammerhead sharks." Gobber's eyes lit up but his smile vanished when black fins popped out of the water. Dozens of sharks lifted their heads out of the water and bared their fangs at him. Knowing he had no other choice, Gobber leapt off the tiny sea stack and started running to the other one, using the sharks themselves as stepping stones. "Take that! Watch it! Good night, fatty!" Gobber shouted, punching one on the snout. "Someone forgot to brush!" He laughed as another one leapt at him, he dodged its open jaws and used his broom to clean its teeth until they were squeaky clean. He punched it aside and continued on his way "I did not think I was going to make it! But then, from the depths of the ocean, leapt forward a giant, hammerhead whale!" As Gobber's feet touched the shore, the Boneknapper right behind him, a huge whale leapt out of the water, jaws open wide.
"Whoa! And the Hammerhead Whale ate the Boneknapper?" Fishlegs exclaimed in awe. He was the only one who was enjoying the story. Everyone else was staring at Gobber in disbelief. "This story is completely ridiculous." Nava muttered to Aniu, Hiccup and Astrid. "It does not make any sense." Aniu said. "Who knows, the Boneknapper could be real and this story most likely happened in a different way." Hiccup said. "If the Boneknapper is real and attacked Gobber, I will not believe it until Gobber gives us proof." Astrid said. "Almost, but he got away." Gobber replied in response to Fishlegs's question. "Years later, the dragon hunted me down again and chased me into the jungle..."
Gobber was running through a forest with the Boneknapper right behind him, proving itself to be as fast as it was on foot as it was on wing. He glanced at his prosthetic to see what he had that time and much to his relief, it was an eggbeater. Thinking fast, Gobber used it to plough through the jungle foliage in his way but the Boneknapper was still right behind him. Gobber slashed through some bamboo sprouts and continued on but stopped in front of a bush of flowers. "Mm, azaleas." He said picking one up and sniffing it. Gobber then dropped it and sprinted away as the Boneknapper got even closer. He ran up the side of a volcanp that was so steep he was almost horizontal with the Boneknapper close behind. When he reached the top, Gobber leapt across the lava filled crater without hesitation. That should be impossible for someone without any flying abilities. Hiccup, Aniu, Nava, Toothless and Sharpshot thought. The Boneknapper spread its bone armoured wings and flew after him. Suddenly, a yak burst out of the lava, one hoof inches away from the tip of the Boneknapper's tail.
"Okay, wait a minute. Now you are saying that a giant hammerhead yak leapt out of a fiery volcano and ate the Boneknapper?" Tuffnut said flatly before Gobber could continue. "Ha! You would have thought so, would you not but the Boneknapper got away again! I knew that bony scoundrel would keep coming after me. So, I set up a gauntlet of traps and waited for the beast." Gobber exclaimed. Some time later after the third encounter, Gobber went into a forest, set up Boneknapper sized traps and once he was finished, he sat down on a stool and began playing his guitar. "And when he was ready, the Boneknapper charged and then I ran like the wind but the traps failed!" Gobber regaled. The Boneknapper swooped in and ran at Gobber who got off his stool and ran for his life to the traps but when the Boneknapper ran through them, they failed to trap the bone covered dragon! Instead, they snapped shut on thin air.
Gobber looked back in horror and nearly ran off a cliff but stopped in time. He stared over the edge at the high drop. If he jumped, he would surely die, but if he did not, the Boneknapper would get him. Not knowing what to do, Gobber was helpless as the Boneknapper caught up and pinned him down under one its paws. "Then, captured, I did what any brave Viking would do." And that was to call for…"Help!" Gobber shrieked, terrified. "The gods must've heard my prayer! It was Thor!" The clouds parted and Thor himself appeared in all his muscular glory. He picked up a massive lightning bolt and threw it at the ground. "Ah, yah missed!" Gobber yelled up at him. "Wait for it!" Thor ordered. "Then from the centre of the earth, blasted forth the hammerhead yak riding the hammerhead whale!" Out of the hole in the ground, the Hammerhead Whale shot out with the Hammerhead Yak riding on it.
"Deploy the yak." The yak ordered. The whale blasted the yak off it using its blowhole and onto the cliff edge where it kung-fu punched and kicked the Boneknapper. The whale flew over with a roar and closed its jaws around not only the Boneknapper but a chunk of the cliff. Gobber looked over the side as the yak jumped back onto the whale. Both animals saluted at him. Gobber saluted back before jumping up and crying out in victory. There was a crack and he hunched over. "Oh, my back." He groaned.
Everyone kept staring at Gobber in disbelief. "Whoa-ho, and they saluted you?" Fishlegs gasped, the only one who seemed to be buying it. "Ha! Ha!" Gobber laughed. "Can you believe it? But the Boneknapper got away again. He found me on Berk and..." As Gobber kept talking, the teens started yelling at him. "Are you kidding? I don't believe any of this!" Snotlout shouted. "Yeah, you totally made everything up!" Tuffnut said. "We need to get out of here." Ruffnut sighed. "We need to go home." Snotlout frowned. "You don't even have any proof that that thing exists!" Tuffnut finished with the words that nearly all the teens had on their minds.
"Of course I have proof. I still have the treasure. This stunning belt buckle." Gobber lifted his shirt a bit, revealing a small, T-shaped bone serving as a belt buckle. "It was in the Viking's treasure chest. It has kept my pants up for years." He told them. "It is stunning." Fishlegs replied. Aniu and Nava glanced at each other and shrugged. They both believed the Boneknapper was real but they still didn't believe Gobber's story. Gobber was known for exaggerating his stories. But the other teens were still not convinced. Even though Gobber now had a small piece of evidence, they still had a hard time believing the story. For all they knew, Gobber could have simply found the bone somewhere and decided to use it as a belt buckle.
Astrid sighed and Hiccup forward, wanting him to talk some sense into his mentor. "Uh, listen, Gobber. Instead of chasing down an imaginary dragon maybe we should figure out how to get home." Hiccup said awkwardly. "Say no more." Gobber waved him off. "I hear you loud and clear plus I've got a plan. Alright, who will like to be dragon bait." He pointed cheerfully at Fishlegs, causing him to gasp. He knew out of all the teens, he was the one who resembled Gobber the most.
School holidays are over so updates will be slower.
14.05.2017: Happy Mother's Day.