Fall From Grace: Dart's Pain
Chapter 3: A Misadventure (Part 2)
Luna and the Defenders reached the volcano and saw Toothless and Hookfang already there. Hookfang using his saliva to melt large pieces of rock so Toothless could use them to block the path the lava was taking.
"Toothless! Where's Dart?" Luna ask worriedly.
"I don't know, but we have to stop the lava first! Dart wasn't calling for help when I arrived, so I assume he is safe for the time being," Toothless answered. Besides, as reckless as he is, he knows how to take care of himself... most of the time."
"You're right," Luna replied. "Then how do we stop the lava?"
"Hookfang and I were trying to block its path with rocks to slow it down. But if we don't hurry it will pollute the water with sulfur and make it undrinkable," Toothless said as he moved another boulder in front of the lava's path.
Luna looked at the lava flowing at a faster rate than she would have liked. Her mind racing, she got an idea that would stop the lava from contaminating the water.
"I have an idea! We need to dig a deep hole for the lava to fill. By the time its full the eruption should be over," Luna suggested.
"Good idea, but how will will we dig that in time? None of us can dig that fast," Toothless answered.
"I can take care of that, just keep blocking the path with rocks," Luna replied.
"Right!" Toothless said as he began placing more rocks in the lava's path.
Luna turned to the rest of the Defenders and started barking orders.
"All of you help Toothless and Hookfang stack rocks to block the lava. I'm going to find a Whispering Death," Luna stated as she took off. Whispering Deaths are great at hole digging since they make their dens underground. Luna kept flying until she saw one drinking some water from one of the streams that branched off from the main lake.
"Hello, Mr. Death, can you help me?" Luna asked hurriedly.
"What do you need?" The Whispering Death answered gruffly.
"The volcano is erupting and we need you to dig a hole to catch the lava and prevent it from contaminating the water," Luna explained.
"What do you mean contaminate the water?" The Whispering Death questioned.
"The lava contains sulfur, if the lava hardens to rock by the water, it will also contaminate the water with sulfur, making unsafe to drink," Luna answered, hoping for him to agree to help.
"Then what are we waiting for? I have a hole to dig," The Whispering Death responded.
"Follow me!" Luna replied taking off into flight.
The Whispering Death nodded and took off into flight after Luna.
Toothless and the rest of the Defenders had been busy building a blockade out of the rocks and boulders around the area when Luna returned with a Whispering Death.
"Luna! I see you found a Whispering Death. Did he agree to help?" Toothless asked.
Luna answered Toothless' question quickly, "Yes he did. Now we have to hurry; we don't have much time"
Toothless nodded his agreement. "Right, me and the Defenders have already built a rock wall. That should buy you and the Whispering Death some time to dig that hole."
"Good. Me, the Whispering Death and the rest of the Defenders will take care of this. Go look for Dart, we need to find him," Luna said as she lead the Whispering Death to the space cleared behind the rock wall.
Toothless nodded and took off to find Dart, while Luna and the Whispering Death reached the clearing made for the hole to be dug.
"Here is the spot, I'll leave you to it while I keep an eye on the lava. I will let you know when you are safe to leave," Luna said to the Whispering Death.
"Right," the Whispering Death replied as he started digging.
Toothless had been searching for Dart for about fifteen minutes when he decided to check anywhere the lava had surrounded just in case Dart was trapped and unable to fly for some reason. Flying toward the entrance of the volcano, he spotted a large rock and saw there was a perfect spot for a small dragon to hid in. Flying closer to it he picked up on Dart's scent knew he was either here or was very close by.
"Dart! Are you okay? Dart!" Toothless called out.
Dart had been hiding behind that rock for so long he didn't know just how long he had been there for. He was about to make an escape for home when we heard a dragon flying overhead. He kept his head down and hoped it would just fly by. Unfortunately for him it was his father and he heard him calling out for him. 'I'm dead either way, so at least if I go willingly it will be better for me in the long run,' Dart thought before climbing the rock to face his father.
"I'm fine, Dad," Came Dart's response.
"Thank goodness!" Toothless said, relieved his son was unharmed. His expression then turned to serious one."You had your mother worried sick, and you better have the best excuse of any dragon I've spoken with to get you out of this mess. From what I have been told, you were the cause of this. Am I correct?" He questioned his son.
Dart shifted on his paws, unable to look his father in the eyes. He knew lying would only make things worse. "Yes, Dad."
"We will discuss this more once we are home, Young Dragon. Now, we are going home," Toothless declared as he spread his wings.
Dart kept silent as he followed his father back home.
The pair reached home with Pouncer and Ruffrunner waiting at the entrance. When they saw Dart, their faces of worry turned to relief.
"You stay here with your siblings, I'm going to inform your mother that you are safe and back home," Toothless said. "And don't think your getting out of anything, when me are your mother get back we will have a long talk about the mess you've just caused."
"I know," Dart replied softly.
"I'll be back soon," Toothless stated and took off back the way he came.
The three Night-Lights watched their father leave. Once he was out of sight they entered back into the den. Dart hope that his siblings wouldn't yell at him, however he knew that would be too good to be true. Once they were back inside Ruffrunner and Pouncer turned to their brother with stern expressions of their own.
"What in the world where you thinking, Dart?!" Ruffrunner shouted at his brother. "Of all the careless and stupid things you could have done, you make a whole volcano erupt! This makes the whole sneaking into New Berk fiasco look like a good idea!"
"This was very reckless of you Dart, even by your standards," came Pouncer stern reply.
"I know- but I wasn't trying to make it this bad!" Dart tried to defend himself.
"You shouldn't have tried it at all!" Ruffrunner exclaimed.
"Ruffrunner's right, Dart, regardless of whether or not you intended for it to be this bad, you should not have done it in the first place," Pouncer scolded.
"You're right, okay!? Can we just leave it at that? You already know mom and dad are gonna kill me when they come back!" Dart stated angrily. He was not happy that he was getting scolded by his siblings, just to wait for his parents to come back and scold him some more.
"With how worried they were about you and how upset they seemed when they were told you could have been the cause, you'd be lucky if the only thing they did was kill you," Ruffrunner stated flatly.
"Oh thanks for that, Captain Obvious!" Dart snap at his brother.
"Enough! Both of you!" Pouncer yelled. She turned to Ruffrunner, "You are not helping. Dart already knows he is gonna get it, rubbing it in his face is just making him more angry."
"Come on Pouncer, he had it coming," Ruffrunner said, trying to withhold a laugh.
"For being the future Alpha you sure are being immature, aren't you Ruff?" Dart sneered. "Maybe someone else should be Alpha instead of you."
"Oh really? Like who? You can't even make a single smart choice!" Ruffrunner laughed.
Dart was only getting more fired up as the minutes past. Pouncer knew she had to break it up fast or her brothers were going to fight.
"That's enough! Both of you knock it off right now!" Pouncer shouted while getting between her brothers.
"You stay out of this Pouncer. This is between me and Dart!" Ruffrunner stated while glaring at his brother.
"Yeah. This is not something for a dragoness to get involved in!" Dart said with his eyes still locked on Ruffrunner.
"How dare both of you! When mom and dad get back you will be in trouble too Ruff. I hope you know that," Pouncer replied with some anger in her voice.
"At least I'll be better off than Sr. Stupid over here!" Ruffrunner mocked.
"That's it! you asked for it!" Dart shouted before shoving Pouncer out of the way, knocking her to the ground and charging at Ruffrunner.
Dart jumped and tackled Ruffrunner to the ground. Before long the two were caught up in a full on dragon fight. All Pouncer could do was watch as the two tore each other apart, thinking fast she decided enough was enough and flew out of the den to get their parents. She knew she might get in trouble for leaving the den while the volcano was still erupting, but the safety of her siblings came first and she knew her parents would understand.
Pouncer kept on flying until she saw the Defender, her parents and a Whispering Death all watching a hole fill up with lava. She quickly flew over to them and called out, "Mom! Dad! Come quick!"
Her parents looked up to her instantly.
"Pouncer? What are you doing? I told you to stay in the den," Toothless said as Pouncer landed in front them.
"I know, but Dart and Ruffrunner! They're fighting! You have to come quick and stop them! They're tearing each other apart!" Pouncer cried.
"What?!" her parents responded at the same time.
Toothless and Luna looked at each other before responding.
"Luna tell the Defenders to stay here and have the Whispering Death dig a second whole if needed. Then meet me back home," Toothless said quickly as he and Pouncer took off to their home.
"Right behind you," Luna answered as she went to inform the Defenders.
Dart and Ruffrunner had been going at it nonstop. They were one big dragon ball rolling all over the den floor as they beat the daylight out of each other.
"For being the future Alpha, maybe Dad should teach you how to fight! You're pathetic!" Dart yelled taking another shot at Ruffrunner.
"At least I fight better than you! The only thing you're good at is being useless to this family!" Ruffrunner shot back while dodging the swipe. "When I become Alpha, the first thing I'll do is banish you from the Hidden World! With how stupid you are, I'm surprised you haven't lead every Viking in existence to the Hidden World. Of all the dragons I could have had for a brother, I just had to get you!"
"You mean if I don't overthrow you before you become Alpha," Dart argued. "And maybe if you weren't so overly mature and had some fun every once in a while, you would like me as a brother."
"Fun?! You call causing chaos and getting into danger fun?! I don't know how I ended up related to you!" Ruffrunner yelled back at his brother.
Ruffrunner jumped and pinned Dart to the ground. "You've lost! Now give up!"
"You wish!" Dart then kicked Ruffrunner in the stomach and while he was stunned grabbed his tail in his mouth and threw him across the room. Ruffrunner hit the side of the wall and Dart jump and pinned him up against it. "Now who has lost?!" Dart shouted in his brothers face. Dart raised his paw ready to slap Ruffrunner across the face when Toothless and Pouncer ran in.