Author's Note: Yes I am alive. I found some free time and finally got this chapter done. I apologize for not updating but tests are a pain in the ass. Excuse my French but it must be said, I don't make rules, just enforce them. Hope you enjoy this chapter and sorry for making it so long since my last update.
"You're grounded for life. I'm taking your staff and knives off of you. You're staying with us until your parents return and you will only be allowed to the forge, home and the school. Anywhere else is under supervision of the highest regard and be glad you're keeping those dragons of yours" Tuff and Ruff scolded at Halburg.
All through the entire flight home was Tuffnut commenting on how big of an idiot Halburg was, not caring that Quake was alive. Heather, Eret and the other dragons stayed out of the way but Halburg could not as he was riding Barf while Tuff was on Belch.
The Devilish Dervish, Typhommerang, Smothering Smokebreath and Skrill, who were now named Crash, Spiral, Argon and Split-Wire respectively, were now owned by other Thorston family members and those on Halburg's other half of the family. His eleven dragons were back up at Halburg's house, eating their way while the Thorstons yelled inside.
"I mean we've done a lot of stupid things before when we were your age but this was a whole new level of stupidity" Tuffnut shouted. "Now hold on a minute, I didn't release a maniac Skrill from an ice block that nearly destroyed Berk, I didn't nearly let an entire flock of Fireworms burn down Dragons Edge or start a forest fire that also nearly destroyed Berk. If Hiccup wasn't there then you two wouldn't have managed anything" spat Halburg.
"That is beside the point; you left and nearly got killed under my mother's supervision. Imagine if you had died; imagine if Smoke and Spark or Blizzard or Twist or Arrow or any of them had died. All because of a hunch?!" snarled Ruffnut. "A hunch that paid off. Quake is alive and I don't care about anything else. I'm alive, the dragons are alive and I rescued both Quake and those other four dragons" Halburg pointed out.
Tuffnut and Ruffnut both glared at Halburg but the green haired Thorston then went defiant. "You know what, forget this. I'm going flying regardless of what you lot think" snarled Halburg and walked crossly to the door, snatching his staff, helmet, vest and knife-dagger along the way out the door.
He had just whistled for all his dragons when Tuffnut forced him to face him. "You are not going anywhere, you are staying here and suffering the consequences for your actions" he spoke. Halburg's dragons were obviously on Halburg's side so Twist, Belle and Frostbite all growled at the twins, causing them to back off. "I'll be back later, at my own house" spoke Halburg as he climbed onto Spine's back. Then, ten of the eleven left, leaving Tuffnut and Ruffnut alone with only Barf, Belch and Frill.
Frill snorted at the pair. "Oh what do you want" snapped Ruffnut. However, Barf and Belch seemed to be siding with the Hobblegrunt and also snorted at Ruff and Tuff. "Oh come on guys, you know he did a stupid thing" Ruff said. Belch shook his head and Barf made a gesture with his head and tail to tell the twins they were in the wrong. Tuff and Ruff looked at each other confused as the Zippleback and Hobblegrunt walked into Halburg's stables.
"I'll stay here, you go back home" said Ruffnut. "You sure?" asked Tuffnut. "Ya, he trusts me more so you just go home and tell mom what happened if Heather hasn't already" Ruffnut added and began to follow Frill and the Zippleback.
Halburg however, was furious. He rarely let his emotions take control of his actions and found being visibly angry to be a weakness. He however was mad that his cousins would dare tell him he was in the wrong after saving the life of both his dragon and four others. "Come on guys, let's go to the cove, I need time to think this development" he said to his dragon crew.
At the cove, Halburg was drawing into the dirt with the spear end of his staff while Frostbite and Quake remained alongside. Spines, Coral, Arrow, Belle, Blizzard, Smoke, Spark and Twist were engaged in a water fight, all trying to get the edge over the other. The Snaptrapper Sisters were basking in the sun, avoiding the 'battle' aswell as Halburg's bad mood, though it had been Bloom to decide on the last reason to be alone.
Quake nudged his rider gently to which the green haired Viking sighed. "Don't worry boy, I'm not going anywhere and nor am I mad at you" replied Halburg, petting the Whispering Death with his free hand. At this point, a familiar enough screech broke the silence in Halburg's mind, also eliminating the sound of splashing water and playful roaring. The sound of a dragon landing and a metallic clunk told Halburg, who had not cast his gaze to the individual, who it was.
"If you're here to lecture me Chief then save your breath, Ruff and Tuff beat you too it" spoke Halburg as Hiccup walked over to him, Toothless taking a spot by the Snaptrapper, clearly annoying the four but Rose told them to ignore him.
Hiccup took a seat on the rock beside Halburg and spoke "Actually, I came here to apologize". Halburg cast a confused look but let him talk; Hiccup spoke "Listen, I was wrong to say you shouldn't go out on that mission. I would have done the same if it was my dragon, even if it was an order. I will understand Ruff and Tuff's rage also; Dad always gave out to me when I disobeyed him, which was quite often".
"I suppose so, still though, they are mad at me and that is pure and utter fact" Halburg pointed out. "I will talk to them, go on a flight. I hear that a Thunder-Run Race tournament is going on at the Training Grounds" spoke Hiccup and he left the green-haired Thorston and his dragons on the back of Toothless.
Once both Chief and Nightfury were gone, Halburg looked to Quake and Frostbite. "Whats say we try out that areal tactic we've been working on?" smiled Halburg. Frostbite bowed his head to which Halburg got into his saddle. The other dragons spotted this and they flew off. "Alright boys and girls, let's try this" smiled the Thorston who stood up on Frostbite's back. A certain style wave of his staff was easily recognised by the reptiles.
The formation started with Halburg on Frostbite at the front. Arrow and Belle went behind him at either side. Coral then went behind and between them at the back. Spines, who would normally be with Frill and both directly above Arrow and Belle, now was in-between the two above them. Rose, Bloom, Petal and Stem went behind her, below her just above Coral. Smoke, Spark and Blizzard then went underneath and between Arrow, Belle and Coral. Quake was infront of the two. Twist then went infront of Spines, above the gap between Frostbite and Belle and Arrow.
"Alright, let's do this" smiled Halburg who then told Frostbite to dive down before going back up in a parabola fashion, the other dragons keeping in perfect time and maintaining their positions. The dragons then began to go behind one another in single file in a wide circle with the Snaptrapper sisters in the centre. The order was from start to end Frostbite, Belle, Arrow, Coral, Spines, Smoke and Spark, Blizzard, Quake and then Twist, with Halburg on Frostbite.
Halburg then stood up, crouched and jumped into the centre of the spinning circle of dragons and slid directly between the Snaptrapper's circling body that was going in the anti-clockwise direction to the other's clockwise. Halburg then placed his foot on his Staff's hook and the spear head sprung off back up to where Petal and Bloom caught the chain while still spinning, Halburg now quickly being coiled up and soon was standing on Petal's snout and the dragon's tail, his staff for balance.
The Snaptrapper then let off their acidic mist which fell down and spun in a spiral pattern which formed a flower like design almost. The dragons in the spinning circle then began to release their fire, with every second dragon going down and every other shooting up which formed a tornado like appearance, with flashes of browns, oranges, purples, yellows, greens and a red form mixed with green at the centre.
The fire then stopped flowing and, thanks to the mix of non-lit Zippleback gas, a spark from Spark blew the entire 'tornado' outwards in a super-nova effect. This was not the end to their performance as the ten dragons then sky bombed down to earth with Halburg springing from the Snaptrapper's snout onto both Coral and Belle's snout's, with his staff hooked onto Coral's crown to keep him standing, who now were at the centre and front of a near horizontal line of diving dragons that were further back each dragon from the centre, on Coral's left were (from Coral to furthest away) Frostbite, Arrow, Spines and the Zippleback at the end while on Belle's right were (from Belle to furthest away) Twist, Blizzard, Quake and the Snaptrapper. Both end dragons began to let out their gas while the two centre dragons let out their blue mist/water. The dove down and up again in perfect formation, leaving a trail of blue and green like a parade of jet fighters.
The dragons then all landed in a field with a fire blast from Arrow, Spines, Quake and Blizzard as they landed, the force causing Halburg to fall off but he did a clever flip and steadied himself with his staff, the spear-end digging into the earth and he onto one knee. "Finally, I think that went well guys" he smiled to which his female dragons all growled "And girls" added the boy to please them.
A clap was then heard along with a loud thump onto the ground. "Hay Gobber" smiled Halburg, still red-faced and panting from the previous action. "Hello Halburg, I saw it all and by Thor it was enjoyable. One question, how does Quake know what to do?" quizzed the old blacksmith. "Well, I had originally tried this when I only had Smoke, Spark, Blizzard, Quake, Spines, Belle and Frill so I guess he just remembered it" replied Halburg, who was then nudged by said Whispering Death to which Halburg petted, smiling all the while.
"Right then, are you going to that Thunder Run Race?" asked Gobber who added "I hear some of the juniors are trying to beat Smoke and Spark's record". "Well, we can't have that no can we" smiled Halburg who hopped on his noble Zippleback and flew off with the dragons to the race.
Several dragons were there but Halburg got a spot in the Zippleback races. Five other racers were there, all looking at the late-comer with disgust. Halburg was sixteen and about four of them were only thirteen/fourteen. One or two were his age or fifteen but looked at him with hatred. Everybody knew that Smoke and Spark were the fastest Zippleback and whenever other Zipplebacks entered a race against them, they never won.
(Author's Note: I am actually not joking. Every time I have raced Smoke and Spark against a Zippleback, we have never lost. I keep track in case you were wondering)
"This is for the young kids only old man" sneered a boy on a red Zippleback with black lining. "Pah, me an old man? I hope you lot like the look of Smoke and Spark's tails" retorted Halburg.
The race track in question was Forbidden Ice and the six Zipplebacks were eager to go. It seemed the other dragons had it also out for Smoke and Spark. Halburg cared little for his competitors but when he heard Hiccup call the crowd and racers, he was confused. "Attention racers, it would seem we have a late competitor for the Hideous Zippleback race so would Barf and Belch please enter the race track" called the Chief.
'Barf? And Belch? Oh Odin give me a break' thought Halburg. The one dragon that was always capable of beating Smoke and Spark were Barf and Belch. Not just because of them having had more training, rather because they were Smoke and Spark's father (From 'The Gift of the Nightfury', I imagined Smoke and Spark as one set of the offspring).
Ruff and Tuff with the Zippleback took centre line and both looked apologetically at their cousin. Halburg smiled but knew his dragon's reputation was on the line. Gothi walked out, flag in her hand and staff in the other. Her hand was raised and all Zipplebacks crouched down. As soon as it dropped, the seven Dragons took off in a rainbow of colours.
Smoke and Spark was an expert racer and Halburg was a third head for them. Soon, Halburg had the other dragons hanging behind his tail. The second corner came up and Halburg tore through the tight-narrow gap in the rock face that many used. He shot through and quickly cornered with Barf and Belch behind him and the other ones behind them.
A set red, blue, pink, black and white Zipplebacks trailed behind the Thorston's Zipplebacks but they then, once on the second long straight, started to fire their gas and sparks in the direction of the Thorstons. Halburg, Ruff and Tuff navigated the blasts easily and when Halburg shot through the second wall gap, Smoke blocked it with a gas cloud.
Barf and Belch avoided it but it caused a collision between the pink and white Zippleback. The race trailed on with Smoke and Spark keeping their lead. Ruff and Tuff wouldn't dare cheat or fire against him, no matter how mad they were at him.
Halburg, on the last lap, spotted the red Zippleback side-bashing Barf and Belch with the black one trying to 'sandwich' them as the blue one fired at them. Halburg growled and pulled up and flew behind the three dragons. Smoke and Spark shot down the blue one to the back of the race and then the same with the black one.
He flew up alongside the red one and both green and orange Zipplebacks sandwiched him together, making drop back to the very back. "Go on cous', take the win" smiled Tuffnut. Halburg smiled and darted on, coming in a straight first place without question.
Fortunately, the small battle had taken place in the canyon so nobody saw it and with Ruff and Tuff being teachers, the other Zippleback riders all had detentions without question from Hiccup, who secretly knew the reason.
Halburg landed where he found Frill had joined the group and was held up in the air by Spines and said Hobblegrunt. Smoke and Spark shot an explosion up with joy while some of Halburg's friends congratulated him. Others scowled but Halburg didn't mind. He hated being the centre of attention so was more than happy to find most people had flown home. Fishlegs walked up and Halburg, now panting while sitting on Spine's snout, asked him "So, how did we do?"
"For this track, ye beat your own record. As if you had a small boast" he said to which Halburg shook his head. Ruff and Tuff walked up to him, hands behind their backs. "Can we talk cous'?" asked Tuffnut. Halburg nodded and left the large group of friends, family and dragons.
"Listen about earlier, we wanted to say that we apologise for yelling and understand your reasoning" Ruff stated. "Hiccup talked to ye?" quizzed Halburg. "How did you know?" quizzed Tuffnut. "Lucky guess" Halburg drawled out sarcastically. "So, it's water under the bridge" smiled Halburg. "Nope, you will have a punishment, soon, but for now it is gone" stated Ruffnut.
"Really" said Halburg flatly. "You love us" laughed Ruffnut who ruffled his hair. "Not currently" he mumbled but he found himself with each twin had an arm around his furthest shoulder each. "Let's just enjoy your victory" smiled Tuffnut who added "You're welcome for the boast". Halburg chortled and joined his friends with the victory.
Author's note: Ok, probably my least exciting chapter but I found it fun to write. I will have another update sooner than this one I promise. Trust me; Blizzard is threatening me about this. Also there is a future in this story with past villains so stay tuned.