"Whaddya reckon, bud? Think we might find a few Timberjacks in those woods? The odd Whispering Death or two in the rocks? Who knows... maybe we'll finally track down another Night Fury. Wouldn't that be something?"
Fishlegs and Hiccup shared a bit of excitement at the thought of new dragons. All the time in the world could pass, but they'd still geek out when it came to dragons.
"So, whaddya say? Just keep going?" Toothless responded to his rider with a grumble, sounding almost as if he disagreed with the boy. Suddenly a cry was heard from behind; Astrid and her Nadder, Stormfly, land in the distance. The Night Fury runs over to greet his friend, and Astrid walks over towards Hiccup.
"Afternoon, m'lady...where have you been?"
"Oh, winning races- what else?"
Astrid cocked her head at the pet name she had acquired. M'lady? It definitely had "Hiccup flare" written all over it. Hiccup seemed equally bewildered by the choice, as well as how comfortable he had gotten when talking to her. Well, his dad hadn't called her his "future daughter-in-law" for nothing!
"The real question is, where have you been?" The blonde asked, sitting with her boyfriend as he dragged his charcoal across the map.
"Avoiding my dad." He bluntly replied.
"Oh no. What happened now?"
"Oh you're- you're gonna love this; I wake up. The sun is shining, Terrible Terrors are singing on the rooftop...I saunter down to breakfast thinking all is right with the world, and I get," he imitates Stoick the Vast to the best of his ability, "Son, we need to talk-"
"Not now, dad, I've got a whole day of goofing off to get started!" Astrid pulls her most nasally voice, butting in.
All six of the teens completely lose it.
"I do not sound like that!" Hiccup barely gets out through a fit of laughter.
"Y'know, cuz, I think she's got you down pat!"
Smiling despite themselves, they all return to watch the couple continue; each is very curious to see what Stoick could've said to drive him away. They had finally gotten close; were they really about to wreck that?
Hiccup regains his usual voice. "Okay, first of all, I-I don't sound like that, who- what is this character? And second... what is that thing you're going with my shoulders?" Astrid only mocks him further, earning laughs from the boy. "A very flattering impersonation...Anyway, he goes," he continues his imitation, "You're the pride of Berk, son! And I couldn't be prouder!"
"Thanks, dad! I'm pretty impressed with myself, too!" The girl flaps her hands around in exaggeration.
"When have I ever done that with my hands?!"
"You just did!"
"Okay, just- hold still! It's very serious..." Hiccup desperately attempts to calm his girlfriend. She pouts a bit, in an effort to straighten out her face into a more serious expression. Once again, the young Viking starts up with his impersonation of the chief.
"You're all grown up, and since no chief could ask for a better successor, I've decided-"
"To make you chief! Oh my gods, Hiccup that's amazing!" The excited blonde punches his chest, reopening his back fin.
Hiccup stares at the screen in shock. The others look his way, muttering a mix of congratulations and jealous slurs. Astrid, her fears confirmed, laces her fingers with his and gives his hand a squeeze. If she knew Hiccup (which, it seemed quite evident she did), then he would be less than thrilled by this proposition. He had never taken a shine to the position, whether his dad understood or not.
His head swirled m, and he felt like running away right there and then. Why wait five years?
Astrid pleaded silently with her future self. If she didnt come up with something quickly, he'd continue running from this forever.
Hiccup scolds Astrid in a very dorky manner, concerned about some of the calibrations in his flight suit. This was the least of his problems, though, as the playful dragons sped past. The two riders were flung to the ground in a heap.
"Yeah, so- this is what I'm dealing with..." Hiccup returns to the issue at hand.
"What did you tell him?"
"I didn't; by the time he turned around, I was gone."
"Huh, well, it's a lot of responsibility. The map will have to wait for sure, and I'll need to fly Toothless, since you'll be too busy..."
Astrid grimaced. Was she trying to help, or make it worse?! Hiccup felt any possibility of ever wanting to be chief leave him. He looked at the girl accusingly.
"I-It's not me, Astrid. All those speeches, and planning, and running the village... that's his thing." Hiccup's eyes filled with a shadow of worry.
"I think you're missing the point." Astrid grabs his hands and, though he now has passed her in height, bends to look him in the eyes.
Tuffnut, uninterested in Hiccup's plight, takes notice of the height difference.
"Since when was Hiccup taller than you, Astrid?"
The girl punches Hiccup in the arm.
"What?! You think I did it on purpose?" He managed to laugh out. "Why is it always a competition with you?"
"Just watch the stupid movie..."
Straightening up, and with an excited shine in her eyes, she further attempts to life her boyfriend's spirits.
"I mean, chief. What an honor. I'd be pretty excited!"
"I'm not like you. You know exactly who you are. You always have. I'm still looking. I know that I'm not my father... and I never met my mother... so, what does that make me?"
Astrid was horrified. She thought it was great how open he was with her in the future, but this kid had some heavy stuff going on inside his head!
"Do you really think like that?" She whispered, forgetting that they hadn't quite reached that kind of openness in their relationship yet.
"Uhm, I mean, I guess..." Honestly, he thought about this all the time. But he hadn't expected it to stick with him through the years!
"What you're searching for... isn't out there, Hiccup," she twists a braid into his hair, and a second braid is revealed to alreadybe in place.
Snotlout and the twins laugh, while Fishlegs looks toward the couple with wide eyes.
"Oh for gods sake, Astrid...braids, really?"
She joins the others in their laughing.
"It's cute!" Hiccup lets out a cry of frustration.
"Gagghhh..! For you, I'll leave it." Utterly defeated, he returns to the movie. Astrid is left wondering to herself if, possibly, they were already on their way to being so close.
She then pats the concerned Viking on the chest. "It's in here. Maybe you just don't see it yet."
She seals her words with a quick peck on the cheek. Unfortunately for her, though, his face is still coated in Night Fury saliva. Without hesitation she pulls away, utterly disgusted.
"Okay, eww." Ruffnut speaks up, the others nodding quickly in agreement.
"Thanks for killing the mood, bud..." Hiccup mumbles to no one in particular. He blushes as Astrid shoots him a look, one eyebrow raised.
"Maybe. But, y'know, there is something out there." Hiccup's eyes wander to something out of view. Astrid is exasperated by this point.
"Hiccup..." Without another word, he repositions her gaze by grabbing her chin. Her face melts into an expression of curiosity. Out in the distance is a large plume of smoke.
"Whatever your thinking, Hiccup, don't do it..." Fishlegs calls sheepishly from where he sits.
"It's not up to me, it's up to him" he gestures up to his older self on the screen. "But I will have you know, that if I was there now I'd totally check it out..." Hiccup quickly brings his arms down, realizing that he had indeed been gesturing wildly with them while talking.
"Smoke means fire, right? I'm with Hiccup, I'd totally check it out!" Tuffnut snorts from his chair.
"As long as you don't leave me behind, and I can keep an eye on you, I say go for it..." Astrid directs at her boyfriend. "Taller or not, you still need a babysitter."
Rolling his eyes, Hiccup returned his gaze to watch the couple on the screen.
The pair, now accompanied by their dragons, fly through the burning forests to find the source of the smoke. Reaching the ocean, they discover large chunks of ice spearing out in multiple directions. After Hiccup quickly informs Astrid to stay close, the two continue their investigation.
"What happened here?" The young man sounds mystified. Toothless lets out a sound of distress as they discover a ginormous, muddy footprint.
Hiccup subconsciously moves his hand toward his left leg. Was this another Red Death?
A net approaches the four in their confusion. Hiccup tells a warning, but Stormfly is captured. Falling from her dragon, Astrid calls for Hiccup's rescue. Toothless catches her, as a commotion begins down below. Some men on a broken fort begin attempting to trap Stormfly.
"Watch the tail! Ah! Tie those legs up!" One of the men directs to the others. His eyes catch sight of the Night Fury as Toothless flies by.
"Is that what I think it is...?"
"STOP!" Hiccup yells, coming down for a landing in front of the trappers.
Even amidst the panick she felt for her Nadder's well-being, Astrid is quite taken aback by Hiccup's outburst.
"Sure have found your voice, haven't you?"
"I wasn't aware I could even be that loud..." Hiccup mumbled, as if trying to make a point.
Soon, Hiccup pulls out his fiery blade, Inferno.
Writing more notes with his charcoal, the teen stares in awe at his older counterpart. A flaming sword! That's incredible!
"Back again? Soil my britches... that is a Night Fury. Thought they were all gone for good. Looks like our luck's had a turn for the better, lads! Don't think Drago has one of those in his dragon army." The strange trapper seemed fascinated at the arrival of the beast, and not a bit anxious.
"Dragon army?" Astrid questions.
"Look, we don't want any trouble." Adds the other rider.
The frustrated stranger taunts the pair with a forced laugh.
"Ha! You should've thought of that before you stole all of our dragons and blasted our fort to bits!"
"Wait, does he think you two did that?" Fishlegs turns to the couple in confusion. "What even is that, ice?"
"Y'know, I'm more of a 'fiery explosions' kind of guy, but that is some awesome destruction going on!" Ruffnut jokes, met with agreement from her brother.
"Whatever it is, it looks like we're in trouble for it..." Astrid kept her focus directed towards her older self and her (even in a crisis, she had to admit, pretty Thor-forsaken hot) boyfriend. This wasn't going to be good at all...
The dragon riders felt a wave of shock at the accusations they faced, questioning the man on his claims.
"Dragon trapping is hard enough work as it is, without do-gooder Dragon Riders sneaking in to rescue them."
Hiccup bolted up in an instant. The rest of the teens looked at him in confusion, fearing for his sanity at the sudden change in expression. Astrid poked his side to get his attention.
"Hiccup...?"
"There are others."
"Other whats?! Hiccup, do you know what caused all that-"
"Riders! No one on Berk could have done this, so it had to be another dragon rider!" The Hiccup on the screen reached the same
conclusion, though was much less enthusiastic given the circumstance.
"What do-gooder- there are other Dragon Riders?"
"You mean, other than your thieving friend from last night? You tell me. You may have an ice-spitting dragon on your side, but we still have a quota to fill. How do you suppose we explain this mess to Drago Bludvist?"
"Drago what-vist? Does anything you say make sense?"
As the trappers explain, providing visual evidence of Drago's temper, Hiccup sits and thinks. More dragon riders? And one with an ice-spitting dragon, no less! Maybe they could form an alliance; this Draggy-whoosyfoot sounded very intolerable, so it wouldn't be too bizarre. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, or whatever.
"Look, we don't know anything about a dragon thief, or an ice-spitting dragon..."
As Hiccup speaks, the leader of the trappers signals his men.
"...Or your lunatic boss and his dragon army, okay? Just give us back our dragon and we'll go, strange, hostile person whom we've never met."
Astrid rolls her eyes, laughing at her boyfriend (she still loved the way that sounded). Only he could keep up such a sarcastic tone in a situation like this.
"Oh, where are my manners? Ha. I'm Eret. Son of Eret. Finest dragon trapper alive. After all, it's not just anyone who can capture a Night Fury."
"And this is Toothless. He says we're going. Now."
"Heh. They all say that...Rush 'em, lads!"
Eret's men scurry to attack the riders, as Toothless fires a plasma blast at an icicle. When the men duck, Hiccup seizes the opportunity to use Inferno, freeing Stormfly. Astrid calls to the Nadder and just like that the four escape.
"You will never hold on to those dragons, you hear me?! Drago is coming for them all!"
Silence filled the room; not even Snotlout felt the need to comment. This meant trouble for Berk...
XxXxXxXxXxX
A/N Sorry I haven't updated anything in forever...! I've been busy and stuff, I guess, but I have been dying to get enough time to write (only been able to read, which in hindsight I could've just worked in bits in pieces during that time but oh well I'm not the sharpest). Next chapter will be getting a new format so that the commentary can be recorded a bit more quickly, and that means *drumroll please!* I can get to the Watching the Movie fic soon! It'll be after HTTYD 2 (for a bit of a twist) but I may do some weird time warpy stuff and maybe throw in a noncanon character...Not sure about this all, I'm a bit upset with the OC's I see all the time, having dragons that put Toothless to shame and that everyone loves and are perfect and it's just ew not my thing sorry. Ok I'm going to just get back to writing now before this note gets bigger than the actual chapter. Bye!