Easter is coming, everyone! I just love this holiday, don't you? The air is getting warm, the sun is shining, the flowers are in bloom, you wake up on Easter morning to find the basket the Easter bunny has left behind – a basket full of colorful eggs, chocolate bunnies and all kinds of goodies!
And speaking of chocolate, this month's Dragon story will be focusing on one of the dragons that I've always wanted to see have a bigger role, a dragon that lures its prey with its chocolate-like breath…the Snaptrapper!
The Snaptrapper is briefly seen and discussed in that Dragons short The Book of Dragons and I was sorely disappointed that the series never even released and episode focusing on it.
But luckily, I'm around to make up my own Snaptrapper story so here we go!
Title: The Snaptrapper
Takes Place: In the middle of Riders of Berk (Thornado's in it)
Summary: Although it's the middle of spring in Berk, Stoick insists that everyone prepares for next winter. Luckily, Hiccup is willing to gather all the Dragon Riders together to help with that. But their preparations are interrupted when a Snaptrapper arrives and fools everyone with its sweet chocolate-smelling breath.
…
Toothless peeked out the window in Hiccup's bedroom and took a deep breath. It was a beautiful day in the very middle of spring. The sun was shining, the air felt warm, colorful wildflowers were growing everywhere in sight. It was a good day to be outdoors. Toothless looked over at Hiccup who was sweeping the bedroom floor with a broom and growled eagerly. Hiccup looked up from his sweeping and at the Night Fury. Toothless let out another eager roar and tilted his head at the gorgeous day just outside the window.
Hiccup chuckled. "We'll go outside in just a few minutes, bud. First I have to finish sweeping. This floor isn't gonna clean itself you know."
Toothless grumbled disappointedly. He didn't want to wait until Hiccup was finished. He wanted to play now! He picked up a small leather ball in his round-sharp teeth and nudged Hiccup in the elbow.
"I said in a minute, Toothless," Hiccup said a little more firmly this time and went back to the business of sweeping his bedroom floor.
Toothless glared at his scrawny human friend but he was not ready to give up. With a sneaky smile, he placed the ball down on the floor and then…he used his teeth to snatch the broom right out of Hiccup's hands.
"Wha-? Toothless!"
Toothless chortled and backed away as Hiccup tried to take the broom back.
"Give me back the broom, Toothless!"
Toothless leapt away all around the bedroom as Hiccup chased after him.
"Toothless, this isn't funny! Give me back the broom!"
But Toothless wouldn't give the broom back. He just bolted all the way down the stairs with the broom still tucked between his teeth.
"Toothless!" Hiccup called as he ran down the stairs after him. "I mean it Toothless! Give it back!"
Toothless continued to prance all over the first floor – jumping over the fireplace and knocking over chairs.
"Toothless, you're gonna make an even bigger mess if you don't give me the broom back!" Hiccup scolded.
Finally Toothless stopped prancing and turned around to face Hiccup. Now the two friends were standing just a few feet away from each other, their eyes fixed on each other just like two components ready to challenge each other in a match.
"All right, Toothless, you've had your fun now hand over the broom," Hiccup ordered softly and slowly, holding out his hands.
Then suddenly Toothless lowered himself the ground ready to pounce. Hiccup gasped, realizing what the Night Fury was about to do and tried to dodge out of the way but it was too late. He was knocked down to the floor, pinned by Toothless' front paws. Then the black dragon opened retracted his teeth deep into his gums, allowing the drool-covered broom to land on his chest.
"Aaaggh! Disgusting!" Hiccup complained.
Toothless just laughed his dragon laugh and soon Hiccup cracked a smile and began to laugh too. But their laughing instantly stopped when the door opened and Stoick the Vast stepped inside. He looked pretty cross and he was holding something in both of his hands.
"Hiccup, what's going on here?" he asked grumpily. "I could hear the noise all the way to the house. I thought an earthquake was going on in there."
"Uh, no earthquake in here, Dad," Hiccup reassured. "Just me and Toothless sweeping the floor." He held up the broom and awkwardly looked at the slimy dragon drool dripping down from it.
"Well, would you kindly sweep a little more quietly?" Stoick asked, still grumpily.
"Oh, boy, Dad's in one of his moods," Hiccup whispered to Toohless. "I wonder what happened this time?"
"I'm right here and I can hear you, you know," Stoick pointed out.
Hiccup and Toothless grinned sheepishly.
"And what happened this time is that someone or something has been sneaking food from the storehouse," Stoick continued.
"How did you know?" Hiccup asked.
"Because yesterday, I counted each supply in there extra carefully and double-checked just before I left it," Stoick explained. "I've just been in there now just to count them again and that's when I noticed these."
He held up what he had been holding: two apple cores.
"Not only that but half a barrel of pickled fish had been emptied and I noticed that some rack of lamb were missing as well," Stoick continued.
"Do you have any clue who or what did it?" Hiccup asked.
"No, but I'll find them soon enough," Stoick said.
Just then, Gobber burst into the house.
"Stoick, come quick! I saw smoke coming from deep within the forest! I think it's on fire!" he cried urgently.
"What?!" Stoick asked. "Show me where you see the smoke, Gobber!"
Hiccup, Toothless and Stoick followed Gobber out the door. As they hurried to the backside of the house, they passed by Thornado the Thunderdrum who was resting under the sunlight. The blue Tidal Class dragon lazily opened his yellow eyes and looked up at the three humans and Night Fury who had just ran right past him. Gobber pointed with his (only) index finger at a small, thin stream of light gray smoke coming from within the trees.
"There it is!" Gobber said.
"I see it," Stoick said.
"Me too," Hiccup said, nodding.
"Gobber, you and I had better check this out," Stoick said. "Thornado, come!"
The Thunderdrum got to his scrawny feet and bounded over to the Chief and blacksmith.
"I'm coming too," Hiccup offered, mounting Toothless.
The two dragons took off into the air and headed for the stream of smoke. As they got closer, Toothless sniffed the air and licked his chops. Hiccup sniffed the air too.
"I can smell burning wood but I smell something else too, Dad," Hiccup said.
"I can smell it too," Gobber said. "Smells good actually, like…like…"
"Rack of lamb!" Stoick growled.
"The thieves must have brought it all the way out into the woods so no one would find them," Hiccup said. "Let's catch 'em, Toothless!"
"Thornado, take us down there!" Stoick ordered.
Thornado and Toothless flew all the way down to the woods and when they landed they discovered the most unsurprising spectacle: Ruffnut and Tuffnut were sitting around a campfire and both were holding up a separate rack of lamb stuck into some roasting sticks over the golden flames. Ruffnut stuck a wooden spoon into a jar of gravy beside her and poured the creamy brown sauce over her rack of lamb. Not far from them, Barf and Belch rested against the trees.
"So!" Stoick shouted, so loudly that the twins looked up with "oh-crap-we're-busted" looks.
"I should've known it was you two!" Stoick continued, marching towards the twins with Hiccup, Gobber and the dragons close behind.
"Hey, Chief," Tuffnut greeted, smiling sheepishly. "The sister and I were just having a mid-morning snack. Want some?" He held up his rack of lamb.
"That mid-morning snack you're having happens to belong to our storehouse," Stoick said, still angry. "And I'll bet you're the ones who got into these apples as well." He pulled out the two apple cores from behind his back and held them out.
"Those?" Ruffnut asked, pretending to look innocent. "Nope, don't know anything about those apples."
"And I suppose you're gonna tell my dad your dragon didn't eat half the fish in one of the barrels either," Hiccup said, pointing to a pile of freshly-peeled fishbones resting at Barf and Belch's feet.
The green Zippleback nervously placed his front paws on top of the pile.
"We're supposed to be saving some of the storehouse's food for winter," Stoick insisted.
"But wasn't it winter just a few weeks ago?" Tuffnut pointed out.
"Yeah, this looks like the middle of spring to me," Ruffnut added.
"Come on, guys, you know how my dad is," Hiccup said reasonably. "As soon as one winter ends, he insists on preparing for the next one."
"And one of said preparations is filling the storehouse with enough food for everyone on this island – dragon and Viking alike," Stoick said seriously.
"So we can't eat anything all spring and summer along until winter?" Ruffnut asked. "This really bites."
"No, no, no, you can still eat all spring and summer long," Gobber said. "Just don't eat out of the winter stash."
"That's right," said Stoick firmly. "In the twenty-five years I've been Chief, I've never let this tribe starve a single winter not even when the dragons used to raid us and I'm not going to let anyone starve next winter!"
"We're not gonna starve next winter," Ruffnut insisted.
"Yeah, and what's the big deal if some of us eat out of the winter stash anyways?" Tuffnut added. "The merchants and traders are always coming here and bringing us food and supplies from all over this pancake of a world."
"We can't always rely on the merchants and traders with our provisions," Gobber said. "There are some things you need to do on your own like planting, fishing and hunting."
"And putting out that campfire of yours before it catches onto the trees and burns the entire island to the ground," Stoick added, pointing to the twins' still-lit fire.
The twins looked over at the campfire and then back at their Chief with blank expressions.
"And how do we put out the fire, Chief?" Tuffnut asked.
"So you two are smart enough to sneak into the storehouse, steal food from it and bring it all the way out into the forest without being seen but you don't even think to bring a bucket of water with you to put out a fire?!" Stoick said incredulously. He threw up his hands. "Unbelievable."
"Don't worry, dad," Hiccup reassured. "The cove's not too far from here. We can grab some water from its pond."
Stoick sighed heavily and mounted Thornado once again. "Very well, son. Gobber, keep an eye on the thieves until Hiccup and I return with some water."
"Sir, yes, sir!" Gobber said importantly, saluting.
The twins pouted.
Hiccup and Stoick mounted their respective dragons and took off into the air. Hiccup steered Toothless towards the place where they first became friends with his father and the Thunderdrum close behind. Soon they were hovering over the cove's rocky walls with its grassy field and its sparkling pond.
"There it is," Hiccup said, pointing down. "Okay, Toothless, lap up that pond but don't swallow."
Toothless grunted in reply and dove down towards the cove's pond. The Night Fury collected a mouthful of water from the pond before taking off into the air. Thornado mimicked the Night Fury's moves, diving towards the pond and gathering enough water to fill his enormous, gaping mouth.
"That sure is a lovely place to start a bond with a dragon," Stoick told his son, recalling the time Hiccup first showed him the place.
"Sure is," Hiccup said passionately, reminiscing over the time he had earned Toothless' trust.
Toothless purred in agreement.
Hiccup, Stoick and their dragons arrived back at the twins' clearing where they were still standing beside Barf and Belch and Gobber who was keeping his eyes on them. Toothless landed beside the twins' campfire.
"Toothless, spray," Hiccup ordered gently, patting his friends' head.
Toothless sprayed his mouthful of water at the campfire and the flames were extinguished within seconds and now there was nothing left on the charred sticks but a stream of smoke. For some reason, Thornado didn't join in the spraying of the fire. Instead he was standing in front of the twins.
"Thornado, spray!" Stoick ordered, pointing at Ruff and Tuff.
And the blue Thunderdrum sprayed out a large stream of water out of his wide mouth right at Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The brother and sister held out their arms, yelled and sputtered as they were doused with the heavy spray of water from head to toe.
"Serves you whippersnappers right," Gobber said with a nod.
Suddenly, an idea popped into Hiccup's head.
"And your punishment has just given me an idea of how we can help prepare for winter," he said.
"What?" the twins asked, surprised and dripping.
"Hey, Dad, why don't the other Riders and I help out with watering the crops?" Hiccup
"That would be wonderful, son," Stoick said. "It hasn't rained for a few days and we really could use some help with the watering."
"All right, then, you two come with me and help me gather some of the others," Hiccup ordered, turning to the twins.
Pouting, Ruff and Tuff mounted their dragon's two heads and took off into the air with Hiccup and Toothless close behind.
"Good of my son to help deal with those two troublemakers," Stoick said proudly.
"Aye," Gobber agreed. "Seems only yesterday when they were teasing him and he'd walk away crying."
…..
So the Dragon Riders flew over the garden patches on the island and sprayed water over the growing fruits and vegetables and even the wildflowers that had grown or were still growing. Or at least some of the riders and dragons watered the crops. Snotlout kept going back for more water because Hookfang kept swallowing his own mouthfuls. Not because he was thirsty but because he just liked annoying his rider.
After all the watering was done, the riders and their dragons headed to the Ring and spent the rest of the day playing with Toothless' leather ball (the one he had tried to get Hiccup to play with earlier).
"Feels good to have a little playtime after a long day of work," Fishlegs said, throwing the ball to Meatlug who caught it with her teeth.
"Yeah, no thanks to two certain somebodies who robbed from the storehouse and shall not be named," Astrid said, shooting a nasty look at the twins.
"Hey, we were hungry," Ruffnut protested.
"If you were hungry, you should've eaten the food you had in your own house and not from the storehouse," Astrid pointed out.
"But the food in the storehouse taste so much fresher than the food we have back at our house," Tuffnut said.
"If you keep getting into the storehouse, the food won't stay fresh and we'll have nothing to eat but rotting produce and soiled meat all winter," Fishlegs said, annoyed.
"Yeah, and if that happened, some of us wouldn't be well-muscled and handsome without the help of nutritious foods anymore," Snotlout added, twirling up the ball on his fingertip. "We'd end up becoming nothing but skin and bones like Hiccup."
"Hey!" Hiccup snapped.
"Sorry, pal, but it had to be said," Snotlout said, still twirling the ball which Hookfang snatched away. "Hey!"
"Ah, Johann and all the other merchants and sellers who come here will take care of that," Tuff insisted.
"Yeah, we all know they come here with enough stuff to feed three villages," Ruff added.
"You heard what Gobber said: we can't always rely on the merchants for food," Hiccup reminded them. "We still have to plant, fish and hunt our own food."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we heard him, we're not…uh, what's that thing called where you can't hear at all?" Ruff asked.
"Deaf," Fishlegs answered.
"Just the same, I'm still looking forward to all those foods we never have here," Tuffnut said.
"Yeah, all the good stuff like…cocoa beans," Ruffnut said dreamily.
"Oh, yes, the cocoa beans," Fishlegs said dreamily. "Mix it with a little sugar and milk and you get the most wonderful chocolate you've ever tasted."
"Yeah, chocolate," Tuffnut sighed.
"Chocolate!" Ruffnut squealed.
"Yyyyuck!" Snotlout exclaimed.
"What do you mean 'yuck'?" Fishlegs asked, snapping out of his daydreams and turning to glare at Snotlout.
"I can't believe you guys are going all gushy over chocolate," Snotlout complained. "Do you have any idea what that stuff does to you?"
"Makes you feel all warm inside?" Fishlegs asked, sounding dreamily again.
"Gives your energy a boost?" Astrid asked, doing a self-defense pose.
"Turns muscle into flab!" Snotlout announced, patting his muscled arm. "That's why I never touch the stuff."
"A little chocolate never hurt anyone as long as you don't eat it all the time," Hiccup pointed out.
"That's right, Snotlout," Fishlegs said. "Everything in moderation."
"Easy for you to say," Snotlout muttered, eyeing Fishleg's chubby belly. "Moderation or not, I've never eaten chocolate and I never will."
"Maybe you do eat chocolate when we're not looking," Astrid teased.
"Oh, yeah, I'll bet you've got a stash of chocolate hidden in your house," Tuffnut teased.
"No, I don't!" Snotlout snapped. "Just leave me alone!"
"Speaking of chocolate, I think I smell some," Fishlegs said, sniffing the air.
"Now that you mentioned it, I'm starting to smell something too," Hiccup said, also sniffing.
"I can smell it too," Astrid said.
Even the dragons had stopped playing with ball and started to lift their noses up in the air, curious to know what the wonderful aroma was and where it was coming from. Snotlout didn't bother to sniff the air. He just glared at everyone as if they were the most stupid living things in the world.
"I wonder where it's coming from," Astrid said.
"Probably somebody's kitchen," Ruff said.
"Yeah, somebody must've heard our talk of chocolate and decided to make it for us," Tuff added.
"Don't be silly," Astrid pointed out. "No one could've heard us talk and head for their house and make chocolate that fast,"
"Yeah, and besides no one on the island has any cocoa beans, at least not yet," Hiccup added. "And even though it smells similar to chocolate, it couldn't possibly be chocolate."
"Well, whatever it is, it's the most wonderful smell I ever smelled," Fishlegs sighed.
"Oh, come on!" Snotlout said incredulously. "Look at you, getting crazy over some sweet-smelling stench!"
"For once, Snotlout's right," Astrid said, picking up the ball. "We've got a game to finish."
She threw the ball right over the other side of the ring. Barf and Belch tried to catch it but ended up getting their necks twisted together. And so the ball landed right between Toothless' gums and the Night Fury looked mighty proud of himself.
…
As Hiccup and Toothless flew away from the Ring and towards their house, they couldn't help but notice the village looked practically empty. Only a handful of people were around. Hiccup noticed his dad was among them. Hiccup patted the side of Toothless' neck and the black dragon landed in the middle of the town square.
"Hey, Dad, where is everybody?" Hiccup asked as he dismounted Toothless.
"That's what I'd like to know," Stoick replied grumpily. "A lot of people have run off to Thor knows where without even informing me."
"Hey, look, here they come now," Hiccup said, pointing to a group of people heading for the village square.
Stoick looked over to where his son was pointing. "Good. Now I can give them a piece of my mind."
Hiccup followed his dad with Toothless right behind him. As they got closer to the group, he saw that Bucket, Mulch and Gobber were among them.
"So here you all are!" Stoick announced angrily.
The group looked surprised and recoiled a bit in front of their angry Chief.
"And where did you all wander off to when we have an upcoming winter to prepare for?!"
"We apologize, Stoick," Gobber started. "But a lot of us were searching around the island for…for…"
"For what, Gobber?" Stoick asked, his voice soft but dangerous.
"For chocolate!" Bucket announced.
"Chocolate?!" Stoick echoed incredulously.
"Yes, yes, Mulch and I could smell it so we went looking for it!" Bucket said, nodding.
"Apparently the rest of us smelled that wonderful scent as well and we were so entranced by it we just went looking for wherever it was coming from," Gobber added. "It was like it was pulling us away no matter how hard we resisted."
"But no matter where we looked, we just couldn't find any chocolate," Mulch said sadly.
"And we looked high and low," a woman among the crowd answered.
"I don't believe this!" Stoick said exasperatedly. "Fish need to be caught, crops need to be cared for and all of you drop your businesses to look for some…some…CHOCOLATE?! And we haven't even received any cocoa beans from the merchants!"
"Yet," Gobber corrected. "But we will soon enough."
"And until we do, I suggest you all go back to your important tasks of preparing for next winter!" Stoick ordered. "Just because I'm the Chief, doesn't mean I have to do everything myself!"
Recoiling again, the crowd headed back to their respective jobs or homes.
"But that chocolate has got to be around here somewhere!" Bucket protested. "Can't you smell it, Stoick?!"
Stoick sniffed the air then glared at the pail-headed man. "No. Don't smell a thing."
"Come on, Bucket, let's get back to work," Mulch encouraged, dragging his friend away.
Hiccup turned to Toothless. "Looks like we weren't the only ones who smelled that so-called chocolate, bud."
Toothless nodded in agreement.
"Like I said, it can't possibly be chocolate that everyone smells. It's got to be something else. But what?"
An audible exasperated sigh from his dad drew Hiccup away from his thoughts.
"Fishlegs says that chocolate makes you feel all warm inside," Hiccup said to Toothless. "If anyone needs chocolate to feel all warm inside, it's my dad."
….
In his bedroom, Snotlout tossed and turned for hours. No matter how hard he tried to sleep, he couldn't. Why? Because he kept smelling that strange but sweet aroma. He had been smelling it all day and he had no idea where it was coming from. Wherever it was, whatever it was, it sure smelled good.
Snotlout didn't want to admit it (actually, he didn't like to admit anything) but he had tasted chocolate a few times before when no one was looking of course. And he loved it. If anyone, especially the Dragon Riders found out about it, he'd never hear the end of it. So he made it seem like he ate absolutely nothing but healthy foods.
Craning his neck to his bedroom window, Snotlout inhaled deeply and that beautiful scent filled his nostrils. Finally, he threw back the covers, hopped out of bed, grabbed his helmet off the bedpost and headed downstairs. When he reached outside, he approached Hookfang who was lying down on the grass. The red Monstrous Nightmare looked up curiously at his Rider.
"I take it anymore, Hookfang," Snotlout whispered. "I gotta find out where that chocolate's coming from once and for all." He climbed onto his dragon's long neck. "Follow that smell!" he ordered, pointing.
And with that, Hookfang began crawling towards the woods. As they got closer, they noticed a golden light coming from the direction of the Haddock house (it was the only house in the village that was closest to the edge of the woods). It was a small light but it was still enough to illuminate the figures that Snotlout instantly recognized. The light was coming from a glass lantern that was being carried by Hiccup who was riding on Toothless' back. The Night Fury was also walking towards the woods.
"So, Hiccup has decided to steal my chocolate, has he?" Snotlout whispered to Hookfang in an annoyed tone. "Well, too bad for him 'cause I'm getting dibs. Come on, let's try to get ahead of him."
Hookfang nodded and picked up the speed as they headed deeper and deeper into the woods.
….
Hiccup kept his feet (both his good one and his fake one) hooked firmly on the foot pedals of Toothless' saddle as the Night Fury walked farther and farther into the woods. Wherever that strange, sweet aroma was coming from, he had to find out once and for all. If not, then everyone would stop doing their jobs and try to find it themselves and if that happened, Stoick would throw another gasket and Hiccup couldn't let that happen (not that Stoick had thrown enough gaskets in the past).
Then he heard some rustling in the bushes. Toothless' ears perked up as he turned towards the sound.
"Shh, quiet, bud," Hiccup whispered. "It might be what's making the chocolate smell."
Toothless growled softly as the rustling grew louder.
"Slowly, slowly," Hiccup whispered.
Toothless stalked threw the forest ferns slowly like a panther getting ready to attack. The rustling grew closer towards them and Toothless pounced over a grove of ferns and landed right in front of the source of the rustling.
"AHA!" Hiccup shouted as he held up his lantern in front of…
Snotlout and Hookfang!
The red Monstrous Nightmare let out a surprised shriek.
"AAH! Turn that light off, it's hurting my eyes!" Snotlout exclaimed, annoyed and shielding his eyes with his arms.
"Snotlout?!" Hiccup exclaimed. "What are you doing out here?!"
"What am I doing out here?! What are you doing out here?!" Snotlout asked, still annoyed and unshielding his eyes.
"I'm looking for whatever's making that strange odor," Hiccup answered. "If I don't, everybody and their brother are gonna start looking for it again and my dad's gonna be annoyed that they're not preparing for next winter like he wants. Now I ask you again, what are you doing out here?"
"I, uh…" Snotlout stammered slowly. "Hookfang and I couldn't sleep so we decided to help you find the chocolate."
"I don't think its chocolate, Snotlout, although it does smell somewhat similar," Hiccup said.
"Well, I'd still like to help you find it whether it's chocolate or not," Snotlout said.
"Why do you want to help me anyway?" Hiccup asked.
"Because…uh…because I just want to, that's why," Snotlout insisted.
Hiccup had a feeling Snotlout was not being totally honest so he smiled deviously. "Are you sure? Because I have a feeling that maybe you think it's chocolate and the real reason you want to find it is so that you can eat some."
"What?! Why would you think of something stupid like that?! I told you, I never touch the stuff. Never had, never will."
"And yet, here you are out in the middle of the woods following a wonderful aroma and offering to help me on a quest to find out what it is."
"Because I want to help you not because I want to eat some stupid chocolate! So just leave me alone!"
"Okay, okay," Hiccup said, holding out his hands in defense.
Suddenly there was more rustling in the bushes.
"Shh," Hiccup hissed. "It might be whatever's making the smell."
"Or maybe it's a bunch of thieves who want to steal the chocolate," Snotlout hissed back.
"I told you, it can't be chocolate."
"Whatever it is, I'm not gonna let them steal it. Let's get 'em, Hookfang."
And with that, Hookfang crawled towards the direction of the rustling.
"Snotlout, no!" Hiccup shouted but it was too late. "Follow him, Toothless!"
Toothless cantered after the Nightmare who stopped in front of something…or someone.
"Hold it right there!" they heard Snotlout shout. "You're not getting any of my chocolate!"
As Toothless sauntered up to Hookfang, Hiccup lifted his lantern up high and there, standing in front of Snotlout and Hookfang were…Astrid and Stormfly, Fishlegs and Meatlug, Ruff and Tuff and Barf and Belch. All of them had stunned expressions.
"Guys, what are you all doing out here?" Hiccup asked.
"What are we doing out here? What are you doing out here?" Astrid demanded.
"I'm looking for whatever is making that strange smell," Hiccup answered.
"And I'm helping him," Snotlout said proudly.
"Meatlug and I are off to find it too," Fishlegs answered excitedly. "We couldn't sleep because of the smell. Oh, it's one of the most wonderful smells we've ever smelled we just had to find it."
"I admit that I was attracted to the smell and wanted to find whatever was making it too," Astrid admitted.
"So are we," Tuff said.
"Speaking of," Ruff started. "Am I going "deef" or did I hear you say earlier, 'you're not getting any of my chocolate'?"
Snotlout looked horrified at first but then he glared at the girl twin. "No, I didn't. You are going "deef".
"That's 'deaf', Snotlout and I believe I heard you say that too," Fishlegs pointed out.
"Then maybe you're going deaf too," Snotlout accused.
"I heard you too, Snotlout," Astrid said, smiling deviously. "Maybe you do like chocolate after all."
"Snotlout does love chocolate? I knew it," Tuff said.
"No, I do not! Will you all just stop teasing me?!"
Suddenly, Toothless let out a very loud roar and everyone was silenced.
"Thanks, bud," Hiccup said in relief. "All right, everyone, let's all calm down and find the source of the smell. The sooner we find it, the better."
The Riders murmured in agreement.
"Toothless, follow the smell," Hiccup ordered gently.
Toothless nodded and sniffed the air. His green eyes lighting up, he headed deeper in the woods. The other dragons and their Riders close behind. The farther Toothless walked, the stronger the smell became.
"We're getting close," Hiccup announced.
"Oh, I can almost taste that chocolate already, can you Snotlout?" Tuffnut asked dreamily.
"I'm not tasting anything," Snotlout grumbled.
Finally, Toothless stopped and the rest of the dragons stopped behind him. Toothless let out a soft growl and his ears pricked backwards in defense. Hiccup held his lantern up towards the woods but it was still so dark out all he could make out where a grove of ferns.
Wait. He did see something else within the ferns. It looked like…
It kind of looked like a strange-looking large flower with red petals. Small thorns were aligning the edges of the petals and three pink anthers were sticking out in the center of them.
"You guys can see that flower can you?" Hiccup asked.
"I do," Astrid announced.
"So do I," Fishlegs added.
"This flower must be what's giving off that smell," Hiccup said.
Tuffnut hopped off Belch's head. "All right! Chocolate time! I'm gonna go pick it and eat it. Oh, I'll bet the petals taste like chocolate just like they smell like chocolate."
Hiccup reached out and grabbed hold of his friend's arm.
"What are you doing? I'm trying to get to the chocolate flower!" Tuff protested.
"We don't know anything about that flower, Tuff," Hiccup said. "It could be dangerous."
"It is dangerous," Fishlegs announced, suddenly horrified.
"It is?" Hiccup asked, turning to the chubby Rider who was now looking horrified.
"I just realized something just now," Fishlegs continued, his voice shaking with fear.
"What do you realize now?" Astrid asked.
"It may look like a flower, but it's not a flower," Fishlegs announced.
While Fishlegs spoke, Hiccup noticed that the flower's large petals were suddenly folding up and he saw something new above the "petals"…
A large pair of yellow eyes.
"It's a…it's a…" Fishlegs was saying while Hiccup noticed the eyes.
"DRAGON!" Hiccup screamed.
After he screamed this, the dragon head lunged forward but Toothless launched a plasma blast at its long neck and it was knocked back into the ferns. Suddenly another head popped out of the ferns…and then…a second head appeared…and then a third!
This dragon had not one head but FOUR!
"Let's get out of here!" Hiccup shouted.
Hiccup mounted Toothless and Belch helped Tuffnut back onto his neck. The dragons and their riders flew off with the four-headed dragon right behind them.
"Toothless, plasma blast!" Hiccup shouted.
"Stormfly, spine shots!" Astrid shouted at the same time.
Toothless let out a violet fireball at the four-headed dragon and Stormfly whipped her tail realeasing small sharp spikes. The dragon managed to avoid the spine shots but got struck in the chest by the plasma blast and this caused them to go falling back down to the trees.
"That should delay them for a bit," Hiccup said as the dragons and riders flew back to the village.
…..
The Dragon Riders sat on a long table in the Great Hall while their dragons rested nearby. Fishlegs was flipping through the pages of the Book of Dragons until he found what he was looking for: pages with sketches and information on the four-headed dragon that attacked them.
"Here it is," Fishlegs announced. "The Snaptrapper. It produces a sweet smell from its four mouths to lure its prey."
"So that was the source of the strange smell," Hiccup concluded.
"No chocolate?" Tuff asked disappointedly.
"No chocolate," Fishlegs replied.
"Great, no chocolate," Tuff grumbled.
"Just a dragon who smells like chocolate," Ruff muttered.
"And tricks people into thinking its chocolate," Snotlout added.
"And everyone around here will continue thinking there's chocolate on the island if we don't do something about it," Hiccup said. He scooted over to take a look at the Snaptrapper pages. "It says here that Snaptrappers love rain. So the next time it rains, it'll be able to calm down and leave everyone alone."
"But we don't even know when the next rainstorm will come," Astrid pointed out, frowning.
Hiccup also frowned. "You're right." Then he smiled. "But maybe we can still bring them rain."
"How?" everyone asked.
"By doing what we did to water the crops," Hiccup answered. "We'll fill a few buckets full of water and our dragons can swallow mouthfuls and spray it onto them."
"We can also gather some of the other dragons in the village to help with the watering," Fishlegs suggested. "I'll gather some of the Gronckles."
"And I'll gather the Nadders," Astrid offered.
"And Snotlout, you and Hookfang had better keep watch and make sure nobody gets attracted by the Snaptrapper's scent again," Hiccup instructed.
"No problem," Snotlout said. "Now that I know that there's no chocolate on the island, I can have better things to do than crave it."
"So you admit to liking chocolate," Astrid teased.
"Shut up," Snotlout muttered.
….
All throughout the following morning, Snotlout sat upon Hookfang's neck as they stood at the foot of the Great Hall's steps and being on the lookout for everyone who might wander into the woods to find the so-called chocolate. So far nobody seemed to have any interest in looking for the source of the smell, thanks to Stoick's outburst from yesterday.
Speaking of Stoick, he was just approaching them right now.
"Snotlout, have you seen Hiccup?" he asked. "I thought he had offered to help with the crops."
"He is," Snotlout said. "He's out watering them right now." Or at least he's watering the dragon that deceived me, he thought in his head.
"But the garden patches are right here in the village and there's no sign of him or the other riders anywhere."
"Oh, they're just collecting enough water to keep the plants alive until the rains come," Snotlout said. "It's not like they're doing anything stupid like looking for chocolate that doesn't exist."
"I hope not," Stoick said, nodding. "I'm glad to see that everyone seemed to have lost their interest in searching for chocolate." Then he turned to a bunch of dark clouds heading towards the island. "And it looks like the rains will be coming sooner than we thought."
…..
Meanwhile, Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruff and Tuff and their respective dragons along with small herds of Deadly Nadders and Gronckles that they had gathered flew above the woods, following the Snaptrapper's aroma. Each dragon had a mouthful of water and the Riders had two full buckets of water hanging from each arm.
"There it is," Fishlegs announced, pointing down.
Sure enough, there was the large green four-headed dragon within a small clearing. Its four mouths were wide open and the sweet aroma emitting from each mouth was as strong as ever.
"All right, everyone, let's let it rain," Hiccup called.
Flying in a circle, Toothless sprayed out his mouthful of water and Hiccup poured both of his buckets down onto the clearing. As the water fell down around them, the Snaptrapper closed its four mouths and its four pairs of eyes lit with excitement. With a squeal, it pranced around the clearing.
"It's working!" Hiccup said happily. "Let's keep that water pouring!"
"I'm on it," Astrid said.
"Me too," Fishlegs said.
Stormfly and Meatlug swooped down and sprayed out their own water down at the Snaptrapper and Astrid and Fishlegs poured their buckets down as well. Stormfly squawked at the other Nadders and the spike-headed dragons flew in a circle above the Snaptrapper and sprayed as well. The Gronckle herd mimicked the Nadders' spraying.
"Light the sky with lightning, Thor, 'cause it's starting to rain!" Tuffnut shouted as he and Ruff poured down their buckets of water.
The Snaptrapper opened its mouths gulping up the falling drops of water around them.
"We'll head back for some more water," Astrid called as Stormfly flew off.
Stormfly squawked again and the Nadders followed her.
Down below, the Snaptrapper was hopping around on the muddy ground.
"It sure loves playing in the mud," Fishlegs commented.
"Yeah, it does," Hiccup said, nodding.
Barf and Belch swooped down onto the ground beside the Snaptrapper and started to hop around too.
"So does our dragon, apparently," Tuffnut called.
Suddenly without warning, Toothless dove down towards the ground as well.
"Woah, Toothless!" Hiccup called.
Then Meatlug swooped down after them.
"Meatlug!" Fishlegs cried.
Toothless landed on the ground and began prancing around the muddy ground with the Snaptrapper and the Zippleback. As Meatlug landed on the ground, she began to tilt to one side and Fishlegs had to climb off her back, slipping in the mud in the process. Meatlug rolled around in the mud, her tongue hanging out of her mouth.
"Meatlug, look at yourself!" Fishlegs scolded.
"She's not the only one getting dirty," Hiccup said, climbing off Toothless and looking down at the black dragon's muddy paws.
Toothless looked at his muddy paws then looked at Hiccup who shook his head at him. Then Toothless stood on his hind legs and pressed his front paws against Hiccup's chest. Now there were two muddy dragon footprints on the top of Hiccup's light green tunic.
"Toothless!" Hiccup complained.
The twins burst into laughter and Fishlegs had to clamp his hands on his mouth to keep from joining them. Right behind Fishlegs, Meatlug stood on her hind legs and pressed her paws on her Rider's shoulders.
"Meatlug!" Fishlegs exclaimed.
The twins and Hiccup laughed loudly.
"Oh yeah?" Fishlegs said, as he playfully kicked some mud towards Hiccup's direction.
Hiccup slid on his metal leg to avoid the mud and then he kicked some mud at Fishlegs with his good one. The twins picked up handfuls of mud and threw them like snowballs at each other. Suddenly, everyone was doused by a wave of mud, shocking them both. They looked up to see that the Snaptrapper was kicking mud with its paws all over the place. Hiccup, the twins and Fishlegs looked at each other and after a moment of silence, they laughed too.
At that moment, Astrid and Stormfly and the Nadder herd returned.
"I see you've decided to join the Snaptrapper with its fun in the rain," Astrid said with a smirk as she looked down at her muddy friends.
"Why don't you come down, Astrid?" Tuffnut suggested, holding up a big handful of mud. "I saved this mudball just for you."
"No, thank you," Astrid said. "Now why don't you guys take a break from playing with Snappy here and help me keep him wet and muddy? Stormfly and I can't do that all by ourselves you know."
"Okay, Astrid," Hiccup said, mounting Toothless again.
Dripping with water and mud, the Riders also mounted their dragons and headed to various watering places off to refill their buckets. After they did, they poured their new water over the Snaptrapper who gulped up four good mouthfuls of "raindrops" and resumed rolling in the mud.
Fishlegs smiled down at the playing Snaptrapper but then sighed and turned to Hiccup. "We can't keep making it rain much longer, Hiccup."
"You're right, we can't," Hiccup said, nodding. Then he looked toward some dark clouds heading their way. "Hopefully, those clouds out there will finish the job for us."
"Yeah, but they're taking their time coming here," Astrid said.
"Then we'll just have to keep making fake rain until the real rain gets here," Hiccup said.
"I hope the real rain gets here soon 'cause more rain means more mud," Tuffnut said excitedly.
"Yeah, we'll have a whole sea of mud to play in compared to that puddle down there," Ruffnut added.
"What a minute, look at its eyes," Fishlegs said, alarmed and pointing down at the Snaptrapper.
Sure enough, the four-headed green dragon had stopped playing in the mud and was standing still. Its eight eyes were wide open, unblinking and its four snouts sniffed the air. Suddenly, its eyes narrowed and their four lips curled into a snarl and the green dragon charged away from its muddy play area and through the trees.
"Where is it going?" Astrid asked.
"Let's follow it," Hiccup said.
The riders and their dragons took off after the Snaptrapper. Keeping a safe distance over the Snaptrapper, Hiccup kept his eyes forward to see what was luring the dragon away from the mud. Then he saw four rabbits running away.
"Look, it's chasing those rabbits," Hiccup announced, pointing at the rabbits.
"Isn't that cute?" Ruffnut complimented. "It likes playing in the mud and it likes playing with bunny rabbits."
"Actually, it doesn't want to play with them, it wants to eat them," Fishlegs corrected. "Snaptrappers are known for eating small animals."
"The trouble is its chasing the rabbits right towards the town!" Hiccup pointed out.
"And once it gets close enough, the people are gonna smell its scent and think its actual chocolate again," Astrid added.
"And then there will be trouble," Fishlegs said dreadfully.
"Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruff, Tuff, you head back to the watering places and refill your buckets," Hiccup instructed. "I'll get ahead of it and warn my dad and everyone. And then I'll try to distract it."
"You heard the man, let's get more rain," Astrid ordered.
"Right-o!" Fishlegs said.
"All right, more rain, more mud," Tuffnut said excitedly.
As his friends turned around to head for the watering places, Hiccup patted the side of Toothless' neck.
"All right, bud, let's get ahead of this guy."
With a growl, Toothless picked up the speed, well ahead of the Snaptrapper. They made it to the edge of town just in time to see a bunch of people heading towards the forest. Hiccup knew that once again, the scent of the Snaptrapper had them fooled and were off to find something sweet as well as non-existent.
"We've got to help stop them, Toothless," Hiccup said.
Toothless nodded, swooped down and stood in front of the crowd, blocking their way.
"Stop, everybody!" Hiccup shouted, holding out his hands.
"Stop?" Bucket echoed. "But there's chocolate out in the woods and I really want some. I haven't had chocolate in ages."
"So do the rest of us," a black-bearded man said in agreement.
"Might as well find where it's coming from before having to wait for the merchants to get here with their cocoa beans," a ginger-haired woman added.
"Hey, everybody!" came Stoick's angry voice.
Everyone looked up to see the Chief coming their way.
"What do you all think you're doing wondering off like that again?!" Stoick asked angrily and then he turned to Hiccup. "Hiccup, where have you been and why are you all muddy?"
"No time to explain, Dad," Hiccup replied. "There's something out in the woods."
"Hiccup's right and it's chocolate!" Bucket said excitedly.
"Not again with the chocolate nonsense!" Stoick groaned.
"It's not chocolate that everyone smells," Hiccup said. "It's actually a…"
"DRAGON!" the ginger-haired woman screamed, pointing at something.
Hiccup turned around and sure enough the Snaptrapper was charging their way, still chasing the four rabbits in front of them.
"EVERYONE OUT OF THE WAY!" Hiccup yelled as Toothless took off into the air.
Screaming, the people of the crowd scattered in different directions as the Snaptrapper made its way right past them. It paused to look around for the rabbits that had also scattered. Its four heads looked in all directions and tried to pull its single body towards one direction but the other heads kept trying to pull itself in the other directions. Finally, the dragon tumbled down the hill, smashing into a sheep pen. This allowed the frightened sheep to run out of the new opening in an effort to escape this new monster.
"What is that thing?!" Stoick demanded as Hiccup and Toothless landed beside him.
"It's a Snaptrapper Dragon," Hiccup explained. "And it's also the source of the sweet smell that was luring everyone away."
"So I've noticed," Stoick said. "We've got to do something about it."
"The most important thing is to keep it wet and make the ground muddy enough for it," Hiccup said. "Have everybody bring as many buckets full of water they can carry and splash it all over the Snaptrapper and on the ground to keep it muddy. And we gotta keep doing that until those clouds make real rain…hopefully."
"Right," Stoick said, running off.
"Come on, Toothless, you and I will keep it busy until everyone comes with their water," Hiccup told his friend. "Remember when you took the broom from me and I had to chase you around to get it? Well, we're gonna do something similar. Come on, let's find one of those rabbits it was chasing."
Toothless nodded and glided through the town searching for the rabbits.
"There's one!" Hiccup said, pointing to a rabbit hiding behind a barrel of apples. "Now be careful not to hurt it."
Toothless nodded and picked up the skittish, squirming creature in his front paws.
"Sorry to do this little fella," Hiccup said to the rabbit. "But we need you to help us keep that monster busy."
Hiccup steered Toothless past the houses until it spotted the Snaptrapper still searching for its prey. Hiccup brought his fingers to his lips and whistled.
"Hey, Snappy!" he called. "We've got dinner here for you!"
The Snaptrapper's eight eyes grew wide at the sight of the rabbit in Toothless' paws and charged towards them. Toothless flew upwards and the Snaptrapper skidded to a stop once it realized he got out of the way. The green dragon glared at the Night Fury and flapped its large wings right after them.
"Go, Toothless!" Hiccup shouted.
Toothless flew away with the rabbit still clutched in his paws. The Snaptrapper stretched its four necks in all directions around the Night Fury snapped its petal-like mouths at him.
"Watch it!" Hiccup shouted.
"Hiccup, over here!"
Hiccup looked up to see Hookfang flying towards them. On his back, Snotlout was holding a bucket of water.
"Perfect timing," Hiccup smiled.
Hookfang flew up to the Snaptrapper and Snotlout tipped his bucket over the Snaptrapper's third head and poured water right on top of it. The third head purred contentedly and shook itself.
"That was for fooling me with your stupid chocolate smell trick!" Snotlout shouted.
The third head looked up at Snotlout obviously expecting for more water. The first, second and fourth heads looked at him expectedly too.
"You're gonna need a lot more water than that, Snotlout," Hiccup said. "Hey, Snappy, you want your rabbit?"
The Snaptrapper turned to Hiccup and Toothless held up the squirming rabbit. The Snaptrapper's eyes widened and charged.
"Go, Toothless!"
Toothless flew off with the Snaptrapper right behind him.
"Hiccup!" came Astrid's voice.
Hiccup looked up to see Astrid and Stormfly and the other riders along with the Nadders and Gronckles heading their way.
"Dad and the others are coming with their own waters," Hiccup called to Astrid. "We gotta keep him sprayed until then."
"Shouldn't take too long, the rainclouds are almost here," Fishlegs observed.
Hiccup looked toward the dark gray clouds. They were getting really close now and he could hear the soft but audible rumble of thunder.
"Excellent," Hiccup said. "All right, guys. Let it rain!"
Stormfly, Meatlug, Barf and Belch, the Nadder herd and the Gronckle herd all swarmed around the angry Snaptrapper and sprayed mouthfuls of water all over its green body. The Snaptrapper's eyes lit up in delight squealed, its anger quickly fading away.
"Son, down here!" Stoick called from down below.
He was leading a large group of people, all carrying buckets heavy with water.
"Great, Dad!" Hiccup called back. "Soak up the ground and hopefully, it'll start playing in the mud."
"All right, everyone, let's get this ground nice and muddy," Stoick said to the group.
Everyone nodded and poured water from their buckets in various areas on the ground below them. Within seconds, the water seeped through the grass and soaked up the dirt underneath making it moist and slick.
"Follow me, Snappy," Hiccup called as Toothless swooped down towards to the newly muddy ground still carrying the rabbit.
The Snaptrapper followed the Night Fury and the two dragons landed on the ground. Feeling the mud underneath its feet, the Snaptrapper hopped up and down and squealed happily.
A loud crack of thunder rattled the dark sky and raindrops rapidly began to fall from the sky. The Snaptrapper opened its mouths and gulped up the fresh rain. Then it began to prance around and kicking fresh mud everywhere as well as on everyone. The people covered their faces with their arms, shielding themselves from the mud and exclaiming in disgust.
While the Snaptrapper was distracted, Hiccup turned to Toothless.
"Okay, bud. I think it's time we let Mr. Bunny Rabbit go before Snappy here tries to go after him again."
Toothless nodded and gently placed the rabbit back down the ground and the critter raced off towards the forest. Stormfly landed beside Hiccup and Toothless with Astrid still on her back.
"Well, we finally got our rain," Astrid said to Hiccup.
"Yeah, enough to help the crops keep growing," Hiccup said.
"And enough to keep the Snaptrapper happy," Astrid added.
"Well, do you think you can keep him happy somewhere else?" Stoick asked, approaching. "He's getting mud on everything and everyone."
Sure enough, the Snaptrapper was still prancing around, splashing mud all over and gulping down mouthfuls of rainwater.
"Well, I know of an island where we could bring it to," Hiccup said. "But we need something to lure it to said island."
"And what do you need?" Stoick asked.
"Well…" Hiccup said slowly. "Is there any cured rabbit meat in the storehouse?"
….
About three hours later, the Dragon Riders had successfully brought the Snaptrapper to a small island lush with tall trees, a pond and a lovely meadow full of wildflowers. The meadow was completely damp and muddy by the still-pounding raindrops and the pond was practically overflowing by the time they arrived.
Just as they had done with the live rabbit, Hiccup and Toothless had lured the Snaptrapper all the way to the island with freshly cured rabbit meat from Berk's storehouse. Stoick wasn't too happy that yet another source of food was removed from the winter stash but Hiccup had convinced him that it was the only way to get the Snaptrapper away from the villagers and his dad had reluctantly agreed.
Once the dragons had landed on the island, Hiccup threw the rabbit meat into a muddy puddle and the Snaptrapper tore it to shreds so that all four mouths would have a share. After it had eaten, the Venus flytrap-like dragon opened its mouths, filling it with enough rainwater to wash down its meal and then it resumed prancing around in the muddy puddles.
Toothless, Stormfly, Barf and Belch, Hookfang and Meatlug also began to prance around and rolled around in the mud.
"Well, when in Rome," Ruffnut said and she scooped up some mud in her hands and threw it at her brother.
"Hey!" Tuff exclaimed, glaring at his sister.
Then smiling wickedly, he scooped up some mud and threw it at her. Ruff ducked down and the mud splattered all over Snotlout.
"Grrrr!" Snotlout growled and he picked up some mud and threw it at Tuffnut.
Now the twins and Snotlout were throwing mudballs at each other. Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs looked at each other, smiled and shrugged.
"Well, if we weren't muddy enough already, we're definitely going to be completely muddy now," Fishlegs said.
Then they too began to scoop up some mud and playfully threw it at each other. The Riders and dragons all laughed as they played in the mud with their Snaptrapper friend.
….
Three Weeks Later
Three weeks had passed since the incident with the Snaptrapper. By then, the crops that had been watered by the Dragon Riders and the rains were half-grown and at the same time, the traders and merchants had arrived with ships loaded with more than provisions including the exotic cocoa beans.
To celebrate the arrival of the cocoa beans as well as being safe from the Snaptrapper, Gobber had used up some of the cocoa beans to make a chocolate fondue.
"It's my grandmother's recipe," he had said.
Now everyone was gathered in the Great Hall and dipping small blocks of cheese and pieces of bread and fruit into a pot full of sweet-smelling, melted dark chocolate.
Hiccup dipped a trout attached to a stick into the chocolate mixture and held it out to Toothless. Toothless sniffed the chocolate covered fish and carefully licked it. His lime-green eyes lighting up and smiling toothlessly, he gobbled up the rest of the fish off the stick, swallowed and licked his chops.
As for Fishlegs, he was dipping some small rocks and pebbles into the pot of melted chocolate and tossing them to Meatlug and she happily gobbled them all up.
Stoick approached Hiccup with a proud smile and patted him on the shoulder.
"Well, son, all of the crops on the island are half-way grown thanks to you and your friends," he said.
"Thanks, Dad," Hiccup said. "Good to see you in a good mood."
"Yes," Stoick agreed. "Must be because of Gobber's fondue."
"Well, Fishlegs did say that chocolate makes you feel all warm inside," Hiccup said.
"And after a few stressful weeks, I deserved some warming up," Stoick said, and he walked away.
"You're not the only one who deserves some warming up," Hiccup said looking over at Snotlout who was poking a stick into some cheese blocks and berries like a shish kebab, dipping them into the chocolate pot and practically inhaling them.
"This is so good," Snotlout said with his mouthful.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr. So-Called Chocolate Hater," Ruffnut teased, as she muched on some chocolate-covered berries off her stick.
Snotlout glared at her and swallowed. "I do hate chocolate."
"Then how come you've got a stick full of chocolate-covered cheeses and berries here?" Tuff asked.
"Because I'm just testing them to see if this chocolate is not poisoned," Snotlout fibbed. "And I'm doing it out of concern for everybody here. If they all died of poisoned chocolate, it would be their own faults."
"Are you sure it has nothing to do with the fact that you secretly like chocolate?" Ruff asked.
"Just as we suspected you did?" Tuff added.
"Of course not," Snotlout denied.
"Snotlout loves chocolate, Snotlout loves chocolate," the twins sang.
"Cut it out!" Snotlout snapped. "I hate chocolate! Chocolate is the worst thing that's ever happened to this world!"
Astrid approached Hiccup munching on a chocolate-covered carrot stick.
"I guess Snotlout really likes chocolate after all," she said. "And who can blame him? Chocolate really is sweet."
"Yeah, but if there's one thing that's sweeter than chocolate, it's friends," Hiccup said, smiling at Astrid. "Especially if its friends like you."
Smiling and blushing, Astrid affectionately nudged her elbow against Hiccup's arm. "And you."
Toothless slid his head under Hiccup's arm and gurgled, demanding affection.
Hiccup smiled at rubbed Toothless' head. "And you too, bud."
…..
And that's my Snaptrapper story. Hope you enjoyed it.
Next drabble will be updated on Mother's Day. Why Mother's Day? Because that drabble will be about Meatlug first became a mother to Fishmeat, the adorable baby Gronckle in HTTYD 3!