Happy Fourth of July, HTTYD fans! While we wait for those fireworks, let's pass the time splashing around in the pool or the beach, barbecue hot dogs and read this month's Dragon Drabble!
Like the Snaptrapper (you can find its' story on Chapter 5 from April), the Timberjack is another dragon I would've loved to see have a larger role in the Dreamworks' Dragons franchise. They have have cameos in the Book of Dragons special, HTTYD 2 (in the beginning when Hiccup tests his flightsuit…again) and HTTYD 3 (during the Hidden World sequence) but it wasn't enough for me. Luckily I'm around to make up my own story on the tree-chopping dragon.
According to the Book of Dragons special (2011), a Timberjack will be your friend forever if you give his back a scratch. So I thought an episode of the Dragon Riders befriending and helping an itchy Timberjack would make a good one.
Enjoy!
Title: Timberjacks and Teamwork
Takes Place: In between the Defenders of Berk episodes, Free Scauldy and Frozen
Summary: While the Dragon Riders witness a herd of migrating Timberjacks, Ruffnut and Tuffnut make a bet to see if they can go through three whole days without fighting. And when one Timberjack draws away from its herd and acts strangely, teamwork just might be the key to helping the agitated dragon before Berk's forests gets chopped down.
…
A large bubble landed on top of Toothless' nose.
Toothless stared curiously at the rainbow-colored sphere sitting on top of his nose before it popped causing him to shake his ears and head. He groaned sadly over the disappearance of the bubble until another one drifted past him.
Then another.
And another.
Toothless looked up and smiled toothlessly at the new bubbles floating in the air.
Where were they coming from?
Following the trail of bubbles in the air, Toothless swatted at them with his paw. Any bubble he touched went pop while the others floated against his sides, tickling his skin with their soft, watery goodness.
It wasn't long before he arrived in a small clearing in the village where some ladies were standing around a large washtub and doing the laundry. They were scrubbing clothing and fabrics against the tops of the washboards sticking out of the soapy water – the source of the bubbles.
Growling playfully, Toothless pranced around the washtub and swatted at the floating, colorful bubbles. Some of the washwomen laughed while others looked a little worn out. This obviously wasn't the first time they watched someone playing with the bubbles while they worked.
"Toothless, please, we're trying to do our laundry," one of the ladies said.
A whistle rang through the air which made Toothless pause from his playing.
"Hey, Toothless!" Hiccup called out, amused. "Quit fooling around! We're gonna be late!"
Toothless groaned sadly at having to leave the bubbles. But he knew that he, Hiccup and all the other Riders and their dragons had something very important to do today so he approached his Rider and best friend.
"Come on, I told everyone to meet us at the southern seastacks," Hiccup said, as he hopped onto Toothless' saddle.
Once his artificial tail fin was opened, Toothless took flight from the town, over the forests and the sea until they were headed for the southern sea stacks.
As they neared the top of one of those stacks, they could see that Astrid, Stormfly, Snotlout, Hookfang, Fishlegs and Meatlug were already perched.
"Late as usual," Hiccup murmured to himself, shaking his head.
He was referring to the twins. No matter how many times he had advised them to be on time for a certain mission, they always arrived later than they had promised.
Once Toothless landed in front of the Riders and dragons, Hiccup said, "Well, I'm glad some of us are here."
"Unlike some," Astrid muttered grumpily.
Hiccup knew she was also referring to the twins.
"Well, when the twins get here…" Hiccup started.
"You mean if the twins get here," Snotlout interrupted, also annoyed.
"I know they'll be here, Snotlout," Hiccup said glaring at his friend for the interruption. "And when they do, we'll head over to witness the Timberjack migration."
Fishlegs was practically bouncing with excitement on Meatlug's back. "Oooh, I don't think I can wait another minute," he squealed. "I can't wait to see all those Timberjacks!"
Snotlout groaned over the chubby blonde boy's enthusiasm. "Remind me why we're going off to watch a bunch of dragons flying in the sky when we could be watching something a little more exciting like a bludgeon duel?"
"For the hundredth time, Snotlout," Hiccup said, "While the Timberjacks are headed south for the winter, we need to make sure there are no disruptions in their travels."
"What could possibly disrupt their travels?" Snotlout asked, not at all interested.
"Berserkers and Outcasts wanting to capture them," Astrid answered.
"The Screaming Death wanting to eat them," Fishlegs whispered, shuddering.
"All of the above," Hiccup added.
"Speaking of the Screaming Death, where the heck is he?" Snotlout asked. "You keep us out on patrol for him day after day and we still haven't seen any sign of him."
"And a good thing too," Fishlegs said. "The longer he stays away from Berk, the better."
"True but it doesn't hurt to keep an eye out for him," Hiccup insisted.
"Well, I've got my eye out for something else," Astrid said, pointing to something from behind Hiccup. "A pair of quarreling twins."
Even before Hiccup looked from behind him, he could hear the sounds of shouting. Sure enough, flying towards the southern seastacks were Barf and Belch, their heads were twisting and zigzagging as Ruff and Tuff shouted and tried to assault one another even on the Zipplebacks' long necks.
"Now what are they fighting about?" Astrid groaned.
"When it comes to the twins, it's everything," Hiccup said.
As the Zippleback got closer, the twins' shoutings became much more coherent.
"It's gonna be your own fault if one of us goes hungry during this Timberjack we have to see today!" Ruffnut was saying angrily.
"Well, if you wanted them today so badly, you should've hidden them in a place where I couldn't find them!" Tuffnut retorted.
"With you, I can't hide anything!" Ruffnut snapped. "No matter where I hide something, you always end up finding it. And you find everything! My stash of fresh lingonberries, my conchshell comb, my helmet-shining kit, my…"
"Well, you're always finding things that I always try to hide from you!" Tuffnut shot back. "Like my bucket of water I collected from Lars Lake which happens to have the coolest and crystal clearest water on the whole island!"
"Toothless, you wanna break them up?" Hiccup whispered to Toothless and patting the side of his neck.
Toothless nodded, lifted his head up and released a plasma blast into the air. The loud blast of the exploding violet fireball silenced the always quarreling twins and they looked up with stunned looks.
"That's better," Hiccup said. "Now what's all the fuss about?"
"For your information," Ruffnut started, "Last night, there were only two freshest, juiciest, reddest apples left in our fruit bowl – one for each of us and we were supposed to save them to munch on while watching the Timberjack migration or whatever it is we're going to see to today and HE ate them both for breakfast this morning!" She pointed to Tuffnut accusingly as she said this last part.
"Well, like I said earlier, I wouldn't have eaten them if you had hidden them from me," Tuffnut retorted.
"And like I said earlier, I can never hide anything from you!" Ruffnut snapped.
"Again, Toothless, please?" Hiccup whispered to his friend.
Again the Night Fury lifted his head and released another loud plasma blast, silencing the twins once again.
"Must you two fight about everything?" Hiccup asked.
"What's wrong with us fighting about everything?" Tuff asked.
"Yeah, that's what twins do best," Ruff added.
"Well, sometimes your fights can go a little too far," Astrid said.
"And sometimes they can go more than a little too far," Snotlout added.
"Look, it's very important that we patrol the Timberjacks' migration without a problem," Hiccup said, with a pleading expression and tone. "So do you think you can go through just one day without fighting about anything? Just one?"
"One?" Ruffnut laughed. "I'll bet we could go through two days without fighting."
"Make that three!" Tuffnut blurted.
Ruff smiled sneakily at her brother. "You want three? You got three!"
The twins lifted their right hands, spat on them and shook.
"Well, I guess three days is good enough," Hiccup admitted.
"It'll be more than good enough," Astrid said.
"I'll bet it won't last," Snotlout snickered.
"Oh, it'll last all right," Tuff shot back. "Just wait and see."
"All right, gang, let's get going," Hiccup declared. "The Timberjacks will be heading this way any minute and I really don't want to be late."
"You and me both, Hiccup," Fishlegs said excitedly.
And so the dragons and their riders took off from the seastack and glided further and further south.
"Hey, Ruffnut, nice to see your beautiful, blonde hair so long again," Fishlegs complimented.
Some weeks ago, the Riders had rescued a Scauldron named Scauldy who had been washed up on Changewing Island. His wing had been injured and needed to wear a splint in order to recover so Ruffnut had cut her long braids off to hold the sprint together. This left her with a really short hair-do. But as the weeks went by, her hair was rapidly growing back.
"I'm glad you think so, Fishlegs," Ruffnut smiled. "Unlike some." She sent a sideways glare at her brother.
"Well, actually, Ruff, I take back all of my insults and taunting of your short hair," Tuffnut said politely. "It's like people always say: beauty is in the eye of the behind."
"You mean 'beholder'," Fishlegs corrected. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
"Whatever," Tuffnut said. "What I'm trying to say is I think you look beautiful with short hair or long hair."
"Hold your applause 'til it's back to its normal length," Ruffnut said. "And hopefully it'll be back to its normal length by the name the next freeze arrives."
"Oh, hold on, I think I see something!" Fishlegs squealed, pointing.
The dragons paused, still hovering about the seawater to see what Fishlegs was pointing at.
Sure enough, everyone could see tiny several red specks in the distance.
Hiccup pulled out his spyglass from his vest and lifted it to his left eye.
Through the spyglass, the tiny red specks no longer looked like tiny red specks, but large red dragons with wide, spiked wings.
"It's them!" he exclaimed. "It's the Timberjacks! Everyone, let's lower down a bit. We don't want to startle them."
The Riders steered their dragons further down towards the seawater – just low enough for the fastly approaching Timberjack herd to glide above them.
"Oooh, they just can't come any closer," Fishlegs squealed.
"Sheesh, keep your boots on, pal," Snotlout grumbled.
But it wasn't long before the Timberjacks were gliding above them, their large wings stretched on either side of their long, snake-like bodies.
"Look at their wings," Fishlegs said. "They must have the longest wings in the world."
"Not to mention the sharpest," Astrid added, impressed.
"Yeah," Hiccup nodded. "According to the Book of Dragons, their wings are long and sharp enough to cut down the tallest of trees."
"Cool," Ruffnut breathed.
"All right, another dragon that causes destruction," Tuffnut said.
"Timberjacks don't mean to cause destruction," Fishlegs pointed out. "They just don't know their own strength."
"Kind of like us," Tuffnut said proudly.
Toothless fidgeted and flapped higher up towards the red Timberjacks.
"Woah, Toothless!" Hiccup laughed. "All right, bud, we'll go a little higher."
With Hiccup's help, Toothless glided higher and higher until they were within the Timberjacks' height. The two friends looked around at the giant red dragons. Some of the Timberjacks lifted their heads up at them. Some looked surprised to see another species of dragon with a human on its back and others didn't look like they cared. They just kept to the business of traveling where they needed to go before the weather got any colder.
Well, one such Timberjack seemed a little fidgety. He was squirming constantly while trying to fly at the same time. Hiccup noticed that it had a white scar across its snout.
"Come on, bud, we'd better give this one some space," Hiccup said, patting Toothless' side.
Toothless nodded and flew back down towards the Riders.
"I've counted them carefully, Hiccup," Fishlegs announced. "This herd is made up of exactly thirty-five."
"Excellent, Fishlegs," Hiccup said happily. And so far, there's no sign of any Outcasts or Berserkers or even the Screaming Death. Well, let's head on home, you guys."
And so the dragons carried their Riders all the way back to Berk.
When they landed in the town square and Hiccup hopped off Toothless, the Night Fury groaned uncomfortably and rolled onto his back. He began to rub his back roughly against the grass.
"Aw, looks like someone's having an itch attack," Hiccup said.
As soon as Toothless got to his feet again, Hiccup pressed his fingertips against the itchy spot and began to scratch for him. Toothless purred relaxingly, hanging his large, pink tongue out of his mouth.
Meatlug nudged Fishlegs' arm and grunted pleadingly.
"All right, girl, I'll give you a scratching too," Fishlegs said kindly, digging his fingertips onto the Gronckle's back and scratching her too.
"I'll bet you could use a scratching too, Stormfly," Astrid said, also beginning to scratch Stormfly's back.
The Nadder crooned relaxingly.
Hookfang nudged Snotlout roughly and growled demandingly.
"What?" Snotout retorted. "You've got your own claws. Scratch your own back."
Hookfang nudged Snotlout a little more roughly than he did the first time.
"Ugh, fine," Snotlout sighed, giving in and scratching his Nightmare's back.
"Well, as long as everyone else is scratching their dragons, dear sister, we might as well do the same with ours," Tuffnut said politely.
"Good idea, dear brother," Ruffnut said.
So Ruffnut scratched the back of Barf's neck while Tuffnut scratched Belch's neck.
"Tuffnut, all these scratching these dragons' back is making my own back itch," Ruffnut said. "Would you please do something about it."
"No problem, Ruffnut," Tuff said, still politely. "And then will you scratch my back?"
"Why certainly, baby brother," Ruff said, as Tuff scratched her back. "Ah!"
…
Later that evening, the Riders and their dragons ate dinner in the Great Hall. All through that time, the twins continued to be nice to each other. Not once did they fight over who gets the last of the main course or try to stab each other's eyes out with their forks. They didn't even have their usual who-can-burp-the-loudest-and-longest contest.
"That was a wonderful meal," Tuffnut declared. "And to finish it off, I could use a nice slice of fresh lingonberry pie."
"Me too," Ruffnut said.
The twins headed over to the dessert table and to their horror, there was only one slice of ligonberry pie left in the whole dish.
"Oh, no, there's only once slice left!" Tuffnut declared.
"Just one?!" Ruffnut complained.
At their table, the Riders looked at one another, dreading the worst minus Snotlout who was certain they were gonna resume their bickering despite their bet.
"You know, it does look large enough to be split in half," Tuffnut observed, looking at the last slice carefully and picking up a knife.
"That's a wonderful idea, we'll split it," Ruff said.
"What?!" Snotlout exclaimed, shocked.
The rest of the Riders sighed with relief as they watched Tuffnut carefully slice the last slice so that there would be two slivers – one for him and one for Ruffnut.
"You know, I could get used to the twins work together for once," Astrid said to Hiccup.
"Me too," Hiccup agreed.
"Don't get too comfortable," Snotlout warned. "It's only for three days or less if something comes up and something will come up, mark my words."
"I hope not," Fishlegs said.
…
In the early hours of the morning, Hiccup was still in a deep slumber on his wooden bed as was Toothless on his stone slab. But the two friends were instantly awakened by the distant sound of something heavy crashing and the feeling of the ground shaking beneath them. Toothless instantaneously bolted upright, growling startlingly. Hiccup sat upright a little more slowly than Toothless, stunned by the distant crashing and shaking.
"What was that?" he asked aloud.
The only thing that answered his question was another crashing sound and some more earth-rumbling.
Was an earthquake happening?
Apparently, the whole village was wondering the same thing because the next sounds that came were people screaming and shouting, "EARTHQUAKE!"
"Come on, Toothless!" Hiccup yelled, hopping out of bed and hurrying down the stairs with Toothless scampering behind him.
Flinging open the front door, Hiccup was greeted to the sight of people running around in a panic similar to how everyone reacted from the old dragon raids. Only this time it was because of a supposed earthquake.
"EARTHQUAKE! EARTHQUAKE!" a lot of people were shouting.
In the midst of the commotion, Stoick was going this way and that way, trying to calm down the panicked villagers.
"CALM DOWN, EVERYONE! PLEASE!" Hiccup heard him pleading.
"All right, Toothless, I think we'd better help Dad out here," Hiccup said to his friend.
The Night Fury nodded, lifted his head and shot a plasma blast into the air. The loud blast in the air caused everyone to pause and look towards the black dragon. Toothless grunted an order and everyone stood erect. Toothless nodded, grunting once more.
Stoick sighed with relief. "Thank you, son. I couldn't get everyone to calm down fast enough."
"How can we calm down when there's an earthquake going on?!" Bucket said frantically.
"Whatever's causing all that crashing out there, I'm sure it's not an earthquake," Hiccup said calmly, climbing onto Toothless' back. "I'll gather the other Dragon Riders and we'll go find out what's making all that commotion."
"Thank you, son," Stoick said gratefully. "And try to make it quick before everyone else panics again."
Hiccup nodded and flew off through town towards the twins' house, expecting it to find it empty.
"It's probably just the twins," Hiccup said to himself. "They've probably given up on their bet and are back to bickering, destroying everything in their path in the process."
As he got closer to the Thorston residence, he was surprised to find the twins stepping out the front door with uncharacteristically cheerful smiles. So it wasn't the twins causing all those crashings and rumblings. Then what was it?
"Hey, guys," Hiccup greeted.
"Good morning, Hiccup, our dear leader," Tuff greeted back.
"Uh, did you buy any chance hear all that crashing just now?" Hiccup asked.
"Certainly, old friend," Tuff answered. "Although Ruff and I have two days left of our truce, we still enjoy the sounds of heavy objects crashing and making the ground tremble beneath our feet."
"Yeah, it's like music to our ears," Ruff said admirably.
"Well, it's not music to everyone else's ears," Hiccup said. "They think it's an earthquake."
"Is it?" the twins asked, excitement lighting up in their eyes.
"That's what we're gonna find out," Hiccup replied. "Now let's get the others."
…
Before long, all six Dragon Riders and their five dragons were gliding over the forest. It was then that Hiccup noticed some fallen trees in the distance.
"Let's go check it out," he told his friends.
Hiccup and Toothless led their friends towards the spot and everyone landed a few feet away from the fallen trees.
"What could have caused this?" Astrid wondered aloud.
"Earthquake!" the twins answered.
"Is that your answer for everything?" Snotlout asked.
"Yep!" chirped the twins.
"We don't know for sure if an earthquake did this," Hiccup said. "Let's go check it out."
The Riders and the dragons approached the fallen trees. As they did, it was then that Fishlegs noticed that while the upper halves of the trees had fallen, their bottom stumps still remained rooted to the ground.
"Good, an earthquake didn't cause it," Fishlegs said in relief. "Thank Thor."
"No earthquake?" Ruff asked disappointedly.
"No earthquake," Fishlegs said.
"How can you tell?" Tuff asked.
"Because if there had been an earthquake, there would be cracks all over the ground," Fishlegs replied.
"And there are no cracks," Hiccup added, gesturing all around them.
"And when trees fall during earthquakes, their roots get pulled completely out of the ground," Fishlegs continued. "And as you can see, their stumps are still rooted to the spot."
"Then these trees had been cut down," Astrid concluded.
"And the question is how have they been cut down?" Hiccup said. "Let's take a closer look at the stumps."
The six Riders gathered around one of the circular stump, studying it.
"It couldn't have been a person," Astrid said. "No axe could chop a tree down that fast or that straight."
"There's only one creature in the world who could cut down trees that fast and that straight," Hiccup said.
He turned to Fishlegs and they said in unison, "Timberjack."
And right at that moment, there was a distant cracking sound followed by a loud, thudding crash. The Riders and dragons struggled to keep their balance as the ground shook violently beneath their feet.
"It's coming from that way!" Astrid said, pointing.
"Let's check it out!" Hiccup said.
The Riders mounted their dragons and flew off towards the direction the cracking and thudding had come from. There was another cracking sound and the Riders could see a large pine tree following down. The falling pine revealed a large red Timberjack straight ahead.
"There it is!" Hiccup said. "Let's get a little higher to avoid any more falling trees."
The dragons flew straight up above the tree levels and everyone had a good view of the Timberjack below them. They watched as the large red dragon rubbed its back against roughly against a tree trunk. As it grunted and squirmed, it's large, outstretched wings cut through the trees on either side of it, causing them to hit the ground hard.
Hiccup couldn't help but notice how familiar the Timberjack looked. He had a hunch he had seen it before and there was only one way to find out. Pulling his spyglass from his vest, he pressed it to his eye. He got himself a good close-up of the Timberjack's yellow eyes, the long, curved horns on the top of its head and the white scar across its snout.
White scar?
Yes! He thought he recognized this dragon! This was the fidgety Timberjack from the herd they observed yesterday.
"I know that Timberjack!" Hiccup announced.
"You do?" Ruff asked.
"How could you possibly know him when you just met him?" Tuff added.
"Well, actually, I met him just yesterday," Hiccup explained. "As Toothless and I were flying alongside the herd of Timberjacks yesterday, I noticed that this one was acting a little fidgety. At first I thought he was just agitated over a human and a Night Fury flying in the middle of its group but now I'm thinking it's something else."
"Like what?" Astrid asked.
"And why would he wonder away and settle here instead of continuing his journey to where his herd were going?" Fishlegs added.
"Maybe he just likes the feel of hard, rough tree bark against his skin," Tuffnut guessed.
Wrapping its snake-like body in its large, red wings, the Timberjack slithered away from the tree, landed on its back against the grass and began to squirm uncontrollably.
"He also seems to like the feel of nice, soft grass too," Ruffnut added.
Hiccup ignored Ruffnut's comment and watched carefully at the squirming Timberjack. He also recognized that movement. It looked similar to the way Toothless rubbed his back against the grass when he was itchy yesterday.
"No, I think it's just because he's itchy," Hiccup theorized.
"How do you know he's itchy?" Tuffnut asked.
"Just look at the way he's squirming against the grass," Hiccup replied, pointing. "That's exactly what Toothless did when he felt itchy, yesterday."
"The rest of our dragons also squirm against the grass or tree trunks whenever they're feeling itchy," Astrid said.
"And this poor fellow is unable to reach his back with those large, sharp wings," Fishlegs said sympathetically.
"Then maybe we should scratch his back for him," Hiccup said.
"Do you really think he'll let us scratch his back?" Fishlegs asked anxiously.
"If we're slow and gentle enough around him," Hiccup said. "Luckily I've got some dragon-nip in Toothless' saddle bag. I could use it to keep the Timberjack busy while one of you can get from behind him and scratch his back. Any volunteers?"
So far nobody raised their hands. Astrid just rolled her eyes irritably, Snotlout crossed his arms and looked away with a stubborn look on his face and Fishlegs shuddered and crouched lower onto Meatlug's back.
"What about you guys?" Hiccup asked, turning to the twins.
"Why us?" Tuff asked.
"Well, you're in the middle of a truce, right?" Hiccup pointed out.
"Right," the twins replied.
"A short truce," Snotlout reminded.
"And you guys like scratching any itch that Barf and Belch might have, right?" Hiccup continued.
"Right," the twins said again.
"Scratching a Zippleback's back is fun, right?" Hiccup asked.
"Right," the twins said a third time.
"Then maybe scratching a Timberjack's back is twice as fun," Hiccup said. "And besides, I think a little teamwork just might be the key to helping a dragon in distress."
"Or it might be the key to have you guys start fighting again," Snotlout taunted.
Astrid side-kicked Snotlout's hip.
"Ow!" Snotlout complained.
"Well," Ruff said, turning to her brother. "It is fun to scratch Barf and Belch's back."
"And if Hiccup's right and scratching a Timberjack's back is twice as fun, then…" Tuff said.
"We'll do it!" the twins chirped.
Hiccup sighed. "I can't tell you guys how glad I am to hear it." Then aside to Toothless, he added, "And hopefully nothing goes wrong and they will succeed in using some teamwork."
Toothless growled in agreement.
"Okay, Ruff and Tuff, let's get down to the ground," Hiccup said aloud.
Hiccup and the twins steered Toothless and Barf and Belch respectively down to the ground. Hopping off Toothless' back, Hiccup opened the bag attached to the Night Fury's saddle and pulled out a handful of dragon-nip. Toothless purred relaxingly as he craned his neck to sniff the sweet-smelling grass-like plant.
Hiccup reluctantly pulled the handful of nip away from his friend. "Sorry, bud, but this fellow needs it more than you do." He turned to the twins. "Now remember, while I'm feed the Timberjack this dragon-nip, you get behind it and scratch its back."
"Right," the twins whispered.
Hiccup, Toothless, Ruff and Tuff walked slowly and quietly towards the Timberjack who was still squirming on his back against the grass, his body still swaddled in his wings. As they got closer, the Timberjack stopped squirming and looked up, noticing them for the first time. Narrowing his yellow eyes, he let out a hiss which made Toothless hiss back.
"Shh, it's okay, bud," Hiccup whispered, patting Toothless' head. He turned to the Timberjack and said softly, "Don't be scared, big guy. We're here to help you."
Despite Hiccup's kind and gentle tone, the Timberjack continued to eye the strangers suspiciously. Hiccup held out the dragon-nip and the Timberjack's gaze softened slightly. As Hiccup approached closer, the Timberjack slithered towards him, craning his neck at the plant.
"Okay, guys, now's a good time to get behind it," Hiccup said.
"Right," the twins said, walking away from Hiccup and approaching the Timberjack from behind on either side – Ruff on the right and Tuff on the left.
"Here you go," Hiccup continued, holding out the dragon-nip further. "This will make you feel better."
The Timberjack sniffed at grassy dragon-nip then cautiously lapped it up with his long, forked tongue, making Hiccup giggle. The dragon chewed the nip carefully and then it exhaled deeply.
"It's working," Hiccup said happily. "Now, guys."
And so the twins scratched Timberjack's back – starting at the top and making their way to the bottom. The Timberjack exhaled deeply again, laid his chin agains the ground and closed his eyes as though falling into a deep sleep.
"How'd we do, Hiccup?" Ruff asked.
"You guys did amazing," Hiccup complimented. "Especially for two somebodies who fight all the time."
"Yeah," Tuffnut said. "You know, sis, this whole working together isn't so bad."
"Yeah, maybe we could do this all the time," Ruffnut agreed.
"I sure hope so," Hiccup said. "Now let's give this big guy some privacy. Now that he's not so itchy anymore, he'll have a good rest before he has to catch up with the rest of his herd, wherever they are."
"Right," the twins nodded as they tip-toed back to Barf and Belch and Hiccup climbed onto Toothless.
They rejoined the other Dragon Riders and all of them took off from the ground and were gliding over the treetops. They were just half-way towards the village when…
CRACK!
THUD!
The slicing and crashing sounds caused the dragons to stop in surprise.
Hiccup turned his head towards the direction they came from and watched as more trees in the distance fell to the ground with another loud thud.
"Again?" he said flabbergasted.
"Wow, this Timberjack must have the itchiest back in the world," Tuffnut said.
"There must be another reason why he's gone back to itching himself…and knocking down more trees," Hiccup said. "Come on, gang, we're going back."
"Here we go again," Snotlout groaned.
The other Riders and dragons followed Hiccup and Toothless back towards the Timberjack's spot somewhat reluctantly. Sure enough, from up above, they could see the Timberjack rubbing his back against a tree truck, its wings outstretched wide enough to slice through the trees on either side of it. This time, he was squirming more irritably than he had the first time around.
"Looks like it might take a little more teamwork to help this Timberjack," Hiccup said. "Does anyone have some more dragon-nip?"
Everyone reached into their saddle bags and pulled out handfuls of the green grass-like nip.
"Excellent, Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout, you'll help me to feed the Timberjack while Ruff and Tuff will scratch his back again," Hiccup said.
"Right!" everyone said.
"All right, let's do this," Hiccup said.
Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout approached the Timberjack slowly while Ruff and Tuff walked around to get to his back.
"Hey, big guy, we're back," Hiccup said softly. "And look, we've brought your favorite."
The Timberjack groaned and hissed at them, obviously not in the mood for more dragon-nip.
"Uh, Hiccup, as much as I'd like to help the Timberjack, he doesn't seem to want us near him," Fishlegs said uneasily.
"Maybe, but we still have to try," Hiccup said determinedly. To the Timberjack, he added, "It's all right, big guy. We want to help you."
He held out the nip once more and this time, the dragon seemed to be entranced by it though not as much as he was the first time.
"Okay, Ruff and Tuff, he's going for it," Hiccup called softly. "Commence scratching."
"Right," the twins said, getting down to the business of scratching the Timberjack's back from top to bottom.
The Timberjack sighed as his back was scratched and his mouth was filled with nip. Once Hiccup's nip had run out, Astrid fed the Timberjack her handful of nip, followed by Fishlegs and then Snotlout. All that time, the twins kept right on scratching his long, skinny back.
Just as it seemed the Timberjack was feeling better at last, the twins started to mount their draogns when the Timberjack got up again and resumed squirming against the grass with his body covered up by his large wings.
"This is more serious than I thought," Hiccup said anxiously. "We'd better bring him to Gothi. She'll know what's wrong with him."
"But how are we gonna get him all the way to Gothi's?" Fishlegs asked.
"We'll have to lure him to town with more dragon nip," Hiccup suggested.
"But we've used up all of our dragon nip!" Astrid pointed.
"I know a field where it grows," Hiccup said. "I could head over there while the rest of you try to keep it calm."
"Let Ruff and me join you, Hiccup," Tuff offered. "I'm all scratched out from scratching that Timberjack's constantly itchy back."
"Not me," Ruffnut said. "I'd rather stay and continue scratching his back."
"Fine, then you stay and I'll go with Hiccup," Tuffnut retorted.
"No, you stay and I'll go with Hiccup," Ruffnut said.
"No you stay, I'll go," Tuff snapped.
"No, you stay, I'll go," Ruff yelled.
"No, you…" Tuffnut started, then stopped and looked shocked.
Even Ruffnut looked shocked.
"Uh-oh," the twins said at the same time.
"We've gone back to fighting," Tuff said.
"And the three days of our bet aren't even up yet," Ruff said.
"Ha, I knew something would come up that would make you two start fighting again," Snotlout taunted.
This remark of Snotlout's caused Astrid to side-kick his hip again.
"Ow!" Snotlout muttered.
"I actually have an idea of how we can keep you guys working together," Hiccup said.
"What?" the twins asked.
"Why don't you both come with me to fetch more dragon nip?" Hiccup suggested.
The twins' eyes lit up and they grinned widely.
"Now that is a really great idea," Tuff said.
"Yeah, it just might work," Ruff added.
"Or not," Snotlout remarked out loud.
Another side-kick from Astrid.
"Ow! Would you cut it out?!" Snotlout complained.
"Only if you stop making those remarks," Astrid replied with a smug smile.
"All right, Astrid, Legs and Lout, you guys keep the Timberjack under control and the twins and I will be right back," Hiccup said.
"We'll do our best," Astrid said determinedly.
And with that, Hiccup, Toothless, Ruff, Tuff, Barf and Belch took off into the air. As they did, Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout carefully approached the squirming, groaning dragon.
"Now we just have to try to scratch his back until they return," Astrid said.
"Stay back, sweetheart, I'll do it," Snotlout offered, picking up a tree branch and using it to scratch the Timberjack's back.
The Timberjack stopped squirming and was now crooning relaxingly.
"It's working!" Fishlegs squealed.
"I knew it would," Snotlout said proudly.
No sooner did Snotlout say that than the branch snapped in half.
"Uh-oh," Snotlout muttered.
The Timberjack stopped groaning, his eyes widened before narrowing and he resumed his squirming. This time he was rolling all around.
"Out of the way!" Fishlegs screeched.
The three Dragon Riders scattered all around, trying to steer clear of the rolling Timberjack.
Suddenly, once it was onto his belly again, Meatlug hopped onto his back and began to move her four feet up and down, scratching the Timberjack's back with her claws. Instantly, the Timberjack remained still and was purring contentedly once more.
"Good girl, Meatlug!" Fishlegs said.
Then Stormfly hopped onto the Timberjack's back and she too scratched the dragon's back with her clawed feet.
"Attagirl, Stormfly!" Astrid congratulated.
"Hey, Hookfang, pull your own weight and help with scratching Mr. Itchypants here?" Snotlout demanded.
Hookfang replied by knocking his Rider down with his spiked tail.
"Maybe you should try pulling your own weight," Astrid said. "Come and help our dragons with the scratching."
Snotlout got to his feet, muttering irritably and approached the Timberjack with Astrid and Fishlegs and they too scratched the Timberjack's back.
…
While Astrid, Snotlout and Fishlegs were helping the Timberjack, Hiccup and the twins arrived at the dragon-nip field. Toothless and Barf and Belch rubbed their sides against the tall, soft blades, their tongues hanging out lazily.
"Let's pick more than enough blades to keep the Timberjack happy," Hiccup said, getting to work on pulling some of the blades out.
"I'll pick the blades over here and you, Ruff will pick the blades over there," Tuff instructed.
"But I wanna pick the blades over here," Ruff insisted.
Tuff started to open his mouth to protest but then he closed it and thought for a moment. "Then let's both pick the blades over here."
"Good idea," Ruff said.
And so the twins proceeded to pick lots and lots of dragon nip blades on the side they wanted to pick them from.
"All right, we've picked enough blades," Hiccup said, standing up with an armful of dragon nip. "Let's get all this back to the Timberjack."
"Right," the twins said, standing up with their own armfuls.
"Now we just need to work on waking up our dragons," Hiccup said, approaching Toothless. "Come on, bud, snap out of it."
He nudged the side of Toothless' head gently but firmly and Toothless shook his head, snapping out of his dragon-nip trance. The twins also nudged the side of Barf and Belch's head but a little more roughly than Hiccup did but it still woke the two-headed dragon up.
The three teens mounted their respective dragon and flew all the way back to the Timberjack's clearing and Hiccup was glad to see that Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout and their dragons (minus Hookfang) were scratching the Timberjack's back.
"We've got the dragon nip!" Hiccup announced as they landed beside the Timberjack.
"Thank Thor," Fishlegs said in relief.
"Ditto to that," Snotlout said. "My fingernails are all scratched out."
"Now we can get him to follow us back to the village," Hiccup said. He held out his handful of dragon-nip. "Come here, big guy, I've got your favorite."
The Timberjack lifted his upper body, his lower half all curled up on the ground like a snake's. He sniffed at the dragon nip and tried to bite some but Hiccup quickly pulled it away.
"First you have to follow us," Hiccup said. "All right, Toothless, next stop: Gothi's place."
Toothless nodded and took off from the ground. Slowly, the Timberjack lifted his lower body off the ground and began to flap his large wings. The other Riders and their dragons also took off and together the whole group took off into the air.
"We gotta keep him above the trees!" Hiccup yelled.
Toothless flapped higher and higher as did the Timberjack until they were well above the trees so the Timberjack wouldn't knock any down.
"You want this, big guy?" Hiccup asked, holding out the dragon nip once again.
The Timberjack nodded.
"Then come and get it!"
He steered Toothless towards the direction of the village and the Timberjack followed along with the other riders and dragons. The Timberjack fidgeted as he followed Hiccup and Toothless but he kept his focus more on the dragon-nip and less on his itchy back.
As the group flew above the forest, the Timberjack's enormous shadow seemed to make it look like nighttime over the forest. And before long that large shadow was hovering over the houses and shops of the village. From up in the air, the group could hear the sounds of the villagers oohing and ahhing as they watched the giant, red dragon glide above them.
The Timberjack remained behind Toothless as Hiccup steered him towards Gothi's elevated house. Sure enough, he found the village elder mixing some elixirs on the table outside her domain.
"Hey, Gothi, we have a patient for you!" Hiccup called.
The short old woman looked up from her work and her eyes widened in shock at the large Timberjack flapping so close to her house.
"Don't worry, he's perfectly harmless," Hiccup reassured as Toothless landed on the platform. "He just has an uncontrollable itch and we were wondering if you could fix it for him."
Eyes still wide, Gothi nodded, grabbed her long staff and seated herself on Toothless' back behind Hiccup. Hiccup steered Toothless off the platform and all the way down to the ground. He and Gothi got off and just as Hiccup handed out the dragon-nip to the Timberjack, Stoick and Gobber came rushing forward.
"Hiccup, what in Thor's name?!" Stoick exclaimed, demanding an answer.
"Dad, Gobber, meet our new friend, the Timberjack," Hiccup said as the dragon lifted his head down and lapped up the nip, making him laugh. "He's the source of the quote-on-quote 'earthquakes'". He wagged index and middle finger with his free hand on the last word.
"So I've noticed," Stoick said, not taking his eyes off the feeding dragon.
"I've seen many Timberjacks in my time but this one has got to be the biggest one I've ever seen," Gobber complimented.
"Don't forget itchiest, Gobber," Tuff announced. "He's so itchy, he was scratching himself against our trees."
"And knocking them down," Fishlegs added.
"And Gothi here is going to treat that itch," Hiccup said, gesturing to Gothi.
Gothi scribbed some runes in the dirt with her staff.
"'First I need to see what's causing this dragon's itch before I can treat it'," Gobber translated.
"Let's keep him very still then," Hiccup said, feeding the Timberjack more nip.
This gave Gothi the chance to examine his back. She ran her wizened hands against the dragon's back from top to bottom, her eyes narrowed. Finally, she stopped moving her hands at the middle of the dragon's back and her eyes widened.
"What is it, Gothi?" Stoick asked.
In response, Gothi scribbled in the dirt again.
"'Just as I thought'," Gobber translated. "'This dragon has a nasty rat'."
"A rat?" everyone echoed.
Gothi whacked Gobber's forehead with the top of her staff, almost knocking off his helmet.
"Ow!" Gobber muttered, putting his hand on his now-bruised forehead. "I mean rash. This Timberjack has a rash."
"Is there any way you can make that rash go away, Gothi?" Fishlegs asked.
Gothi replied by more scribbling.
"'There's a dark-green bottle full of rash ointment in my house'," Gobber read. " 'If it works on people, it's sure to work on dragons as well'."
"Ruff, Tuff, you feed our friend here some more nip while Gothi and I get the ointment," Hiccup instructed. "And the rest of you, keep his back nice and scratched."
"With pleasure," Tuff said proudly as he and Ruff handed out their handfuls of dragon-nip.
The Timberjack ate the nip gratefully while the rest of the humans gathered around and scratched his back. Hiccup, Toothless and Gothi quickly went back up towards the elevated house and were back two minutes later with a dark-green bottle clutched in Gothi's hand.
Gothi gestured for everyone to stand back as she approached the Timberjack. She pulled the cork off the top of the dark-green bottle and slowly and carefully poured a clear, creamy liquid onto the Timberjack's back where the rash was and used her free hand to spread it along. All that time, the twins kept right on feeding him until all their dragon-nip had run out.
"And now we wait," Hiccup said once Gothi was finished with the treatment.
For about a minute, the Timberjack remained still until it lifted its upper body. Everyone looked at it, nervous that it might squirm on the ground again or fly to the trees to rub his body against them and knock more trees down in the process.
But instead the Timberjack just opened his wide mouth and let out a yawn and smacked his lips. Then he stretched his great wings, flapped them and took off from the ground. He hovered a little more higher, turned back towards the humans and let out a thank-you roar before flying off over the ocean.
"Now our friend is feeling all better, he's heading south to rejoin his herd," Hiccup said.
"Now everyone can finally calm down and stop panicking about earthquakes," Stoick said, sighing.
"So long, Mr. Timberjack!" Ruffnut called, waving to the departing dragon.
"Come back anytime!" Tuffnut called, also waving.
The Timberjack seemed to hear their farewells even from a great distance because he let out another roar. The Berkian dragons' let out their own farewell roars.
….
One Week Later
It was a warm evening as the Riders and their dragons were hanging out in the town square. Hiccup leaned against Toothless' belly as he sketched a drawing of the twins scratching the Timberjack's back. A whole week had passed since the encounter with the itchy Timberjack and he still couldn't stop thinking about it.
And neither could Fishlegs.
"Do you think that Timberjack is doing fine wherever he is, Hiccup?" he asked. "I mean hopefully he managed to get back to his herd safe and sound without having to run into that awful Screaming Death and his back doesn't' itch anymore."
"Relax, Fishlegs," Hiccup said reassuringly. "He's a full grown dragon who can take care of himself. Gothi's ointment worked on him, he was heading south just like the other Timberjacks and there was no sign of the Screaming Death anywhere."
"You're right, you're right," Fishlegs said a little more confidently. "I'm sure he's doing fine."
"And I'll tell you who's not doing fine," Snotlout said, gesturing towards the twins who were shouting at each other.
Now that their three days of not fighting were up, they were back to bickering like two grouchy, hissy cats.
"It was my turn to groom our stuffed yak today, Tuff!" Ruff shouted. "You know Tuesdays are my day of grooming Mr. Yak!"
"I just thought I'd save you the trouble and groom him myself!" Tuff shouted back. "The least you could do is thank me!"
"I do thank you," Ruff said politely before resumed shouting. "FOR STEALING MY TURN AND MY DAY OF MR. YAK'S GROOMING!"
Astrid sat down beside Toothless, joining Hiccup and shaking her head good-naturedly.
"I guess they're always gonna fight over everything even when they become as old as Gothi," she said with a smile.
"Yeah," Hiccup said, also smiling good-naturedly. "But at least they got along for three days."
….
Hoped you liked it! Keep your eyes peeled for the next drabble in August!