Chapter 8: Crushing It
It was late at night on Dragon's Edge and everyone was fast asleep, but the sleeping arrangement was a bit different. Tonight, instead of sleeping in their own huts, the Dragon Riders and Dragons all congregated in the Clubhouse and were fast asleep.
Everyone, that is, except for one Snotlout Jorgenson
He was forced to stay awake for patrol, and the guard was not happy about that at all. "Why do we have to be the ones to stay up on Rumblehorn watch?" He complained to the dragon who was also staying awake with him, or so he thought. "Hookfang, I'm talking to you."
He turned to see the Monstrous Nightmare fast asleep and snoring. Clearly, he saw that his human was enough for the job.
Despite this, Snotlout continued on his rant. "We're never going to stop this crazy dragon from tearing this place up."
The Rumblehorn was a new species of dragon that the Dragon Riders discovered when they caught it wreaking havoc on the Edge. For days, they have been working to keep get rid of this dragon, but it only seemed to appear at night. So they decided to take turns to keep a look-out for the dragon and along with that Hiccup and Hicca planted some traps around the Edge so it would be easier to locate.
And it seems that one of the traps have been set off. All the traps have been rigged to Hookfang's horns so that if one gets set off, the Monstrous Nightmare will get a tug on his horn and will immediately give his rider a fiery wake-up call.
Just like right now.
"Aaah! Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" Snotlout shouted as he ran with his rear on fire once again. His shouts immediately waking up the others as he ran by. "Ow, ow, ow! That's the third time this week!" He finally jumped in a trough full of water. "Ahhh! Sweet relief."
The Haddock twins quickly used the design of their traps to locate their intruder. "The Rumblehorn! It's headed for the Eastern beach." Hiccup stated. "Come on, you guys!"
They wasted no time getting on their dragons and flying off to the location. When they arrived, they found the net, seeming to caught the Rumblehorn. "Finally. We got it! Everybody stay back!" Hicca warned.
Tuffnut approached their new prisoner. "I didn't think it would be so smelly."
"I didn't think it would be so hairy." Ruffnut said, joining her twin.
"You try shaving with a hook for an arm!" A surprisingly familiar voice retorted.
Tuffnut didn't seem to place it. "The Rumblehorn talks! Quick, smack it."
"Cut me down, you simpleton!" Gobber demanded from inside the trap.
"Gobber?" Hicca asked, surprised to see the dragon dentist/blacksmith come all the way from Berk to their place.
"And it's got a bad attitude." Ruffnut said.
"Eh, nevermind!" Gobber said. He used his hook to slice through the net, setting himself free.
"Gobber, what did you do with our Rumblehorn?" Tuffnut demanded.
"Rumblehorn? What's a Rumblehorn?" The older man questioned.
"A new dragon that's been trying to chase us off the island." Fishlegs explained.
"Yeah, us and everything else." Astrid added.
"We've been trying to catch it and relocate it." Hiccup continued.
"Yet we caught you. Yay, us." Snotlout grumbled.
"You're trying to catch a dragon with a net that can't hold a one-legged, one-armed Viking? Amateurs." Gobber said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, we didn't think that the dragon would have a hook hand to cut through the net." Raeda pointed out.
"Not too late to club him still." Tuffnut whispered his offer to the Haddock twins. "I can give him a little 'Ah! Uh!' You know, 'uh, uh, uh!'" He made some clubbing gestures for emphasis..
The auburn twins chose to ignore that. "Yeah, we should just get back and check on the dragon base."
The group headed back to the base, only to find it completely demolished.
"Oh come on! Not again." Hicca groaned.
"Eh. Well, let's see what you've done with the place." Gobber looked around the teens new home, not looking impressed one bit. "It looks very, well…"
"Trashed!" Astrid said in frustration.
"Your words, not mine." Gobber said.
"The Rumblehorn must have hit us while we were out chasing you." Hiccup sighed.
"We were only gone for a few minutes and we set all those other traps up." Raeda said.
"Last chance. I can still club him. Come on, club, club, club. Join the club." Tuffnut offered again.
"As much as I love a good clubbing, even my own, it will have to wait." Gobber said, to the auburn twins. "I need to talk to you two. I've come with disturbing news about your father."
"Is he all right?" Hiccup asked, he and his sister both concerned.
"Oh, he's fine." Gobber said.
"That's a relief." Hicca said, sighing.
"But, then again, not so fine."
The relief quickly vanished. "Gobber, you're killing us." Hiccup groaned.
"Is our father okay or not?" Hicca asked.
"Oh, he's as fit as a dragon." Gobber clarified. "Unfortunately, he's as ornery as one, too."
Toothless and Midnight growled, taking offense.
"No offense." Gobber said to the two dragons. "I've never seen him like this... angry, shouting at everyone."
"Actually, that sounds like vintage Stoick the Vast to me." Hiccup said, his sister nodding in agreement.
"You think I would have sailed in a boat by myself for a week if it were 'vintage' Stoick the Vast? He's driving the village crazy!" Gobber insisted.
"All right, I guess we'd better see what's going on with him." Hicca said.
"Good idea." Gobber agreed.
"You want to ride back with us?" She then offered.
"Actually, I think I might stay a while, help repair your wee dragon base." The older man suggested. "See if I can offer up some of my dragon-killing experience to help defend against that Rumblehorn. If there's time, I'll take Tuffnut up on that clubbing."
"It works with Ruffnut." Said boy chipped in.
"I get it. So basically, you're hiding out from our father." Hiccup inferred.
"One might look at it that way." Was all Gobber said.
"Well, guys, I guess the four of us are off to Berk." Hiccup said to the leaving group
"I'll come with you." Raeda said. "I need to drop of some orders to Berk. Just give me a few minutes to grab them."
Just because they were on a different island didn't mean Rae's Art Gallery had to go out of business. Raeda uses Terror Mail to receive orders from Berk and then makes arrangements with Johann to deliver the orders. Now she has a good opportunity to deliver some of those orders faster.
(Linebreak)
Once Raeda collected the orders she could carry with her on Sparkfire, the three teens and dragons took off for Berk.
After braving through the long flight and taking a few stops along the way, they finally reached Berk. Raeda and Sparkfire split up from the group to make their deliveries as well as see whether there were any new orders to take. This left the Haddock twins and the Night Furies to look for the chief.
"Hmm, it's quieter than usual." Hiccup commented as they surveyed the Plaza.
"Shoddy workmanship! That's what this is!" A familiar voice boomed.
"You were saying?" Hicca asked her brother, her eyebrows raised.
"Okay, follow the sound of the angry Viking." Hiccup decided.
They followed their fathers' voice and ended up at the armoury. They hesitated outside as they listened in on what their father was saying.
"I said I wanted these weapons arranged by deadliness! Swords!" Stoick exclaimed as Sven.
Suddenly, the auburn twins found themselves dodging weapons as they were being thrown out the armoury. They quickly took cover behind a nearby catapult. "Axes! Bludgeons! Then maces!" The last flew straight to Toothless, who used his wing as a shield, causing the mace to bounce off and hit the lever of the catapult sending a poor sheep, who was on the catapult, flying.
To the twins relief it stopped
"If I used them on you, you wouldn't forget how deadly they were!" Stoick yelled, storming out of the armoury. He was so focused on his anger, he didn't even noticed his children have arrived. "Gah! I can't believe it…"
Once the chief was gone, Sven noticed the Haddock twins outside. "Hiccup, Hicca, thank Thor you're here. You guys have got to help us. Your father has become unbearable!"
"Well, to be fair, Sven, you did have the weapons out of order." Hiccup reasoned.
"That's because yesterday he told me to arrange them by length!" Sven defended in exasperation. "The day before it was by pointiness! The day before that, it was by name! Did you know he gave each weapon its own nickname?"
"Well, I have to admit, that is really weird." Hiccup admitted. "Uh, alright, we'll go talk to him."
"I mean, seriously. Who names their mace Daisy?" Sven groaned as the group left him.
(Linebreak)
Back on the Edge, the rest of the Dragon Riders were working on repairing their base while discussing how to handle the Rumblehorn.
"These attacks are getting worse every time. Either that Rumblehorn's got to go, or we do." Astrid said, while cleaning up some of the mess.
"Hey, our boar pit survived!" Tuffnut discovered, to his and his twins' delight. "Cool! I like a pit, but I love a boar pit."
Gobber walked up and inspected the boar pit. "You call that a boar pit? Ha! I've dug my way out of shallow graves deeper than that."
"Would you look at these Rumblehorn tracks?" Fishlegs said, bringing everyone's attention to said tracks on the ground. "If you take into account the width and the depth of the footprints, and the distance between them, I calculate that this dragon is-"
"Hefty. One might even say beefy." Gobber interjected.
"Does somebody want to tell me why we're rebuilding this place? He's just going to crash through and wreck it again." Snotlout pointed out.
"He wouldn't if you could build a defensive wall properly." The blacksmith/dragon dentist said, picking up some bulks of wood. "Well, don't just stand there. If you want to learn, follow me."
Snotlout, Tuffnut and Fishlegs just looked at each other and followed the older man. None of them had a better idea.
(Linebreak)
Meanwhile, back on Berk, the Haddock twins have followed their father to one of the fields, deciding to just observe his new behaviour first before making their presence known. "For Thor's sake, you plow like an old woman!" Stoick exclaimed at Gothi, who for some reason was given the task to plough the field. "Hag. This is how you plow!" The chief then decided to do the job himself. "Oh, it's so simple! You can't even…"
Watching this scene, the Haddock twins were silently communicating with each other when Hiccup got pulled by the ear, by Gothi! The elderly noticed them as well and just like all the other villagers, was not happy with the chief right now. "Ah. Gothi! You know, personally, I don't know what he's talking about." Hiccup said quickly, noticing the elders glare as his twin joined them. "You are by far my favorite plower in all of Berk. That... That's some good plowing, yeah."
Still fuming, Gothi started scribbling in the ground. Hicca started reading it. "Uh, yes, I... we agree. He is totally out of control." Hicca said nodding. She continued to read. "Watch the language. He's still our father. We'll talk to him, promise." She reassured.
Deciding they had enough intel on what's been going on with their dad, the twins followed him to the Academy, planning to confront him there.
Outside they found Henry and his five dragons.
"Henry! Hey, there!" Hicca called getting the other boys attention.
The boy looked up and saw the twins and their dragons walking in his direction. "Hicca. Hiccup." He said curtly, before turning back to his dragon Lockjaw.
"Uh, Henry? You wouldn't happen to know where our dad is do you?" Hiccup asked
"Academy." Was all Henry said, not even looking at them.
"Great, come on, sis." Hiccup started walking towards the entrance, but stopped when he realised his twin wasn't following him.
"Is everything okay with Lockjaw?" Hicca asked, noting the worried look on Henrys' face.
"Yeah, he's just...feeling under the weather." Henry answered, but the way he said it made Hicca feel that he himself wasn't convinced of that.
"Are you sure? If you want, I can give him a check-up."
"Gothi already did and she didn't find anything, except that he was exhausted. She recommended a lot of rest for him."
"Hope Lockjaw feels better." Hiccup offered as he walked to them. He then turned to his sister. "As for us, we got other business to attend to."
Hicca then remembered the reason why they were on Berk. "Right. Come on."
The twins entered the Academy.
(Linebreak)
Inside the Academy, Stoick was venting out his anger with the by throwing some axe at a target. A curious Terrible Terror scaled down the wall on top of the target to see the human missing every shot. The chief was so focused on his anger he didn't noticed anyone entering the Academy, until he heard an 'Ahem'. Still feeling enraged, he turned around holding his axe high in the air, ready to strike at anyone who dared to approach him.
"Ah! Dad, please don't kill us!" Hiccup pleaded.
"It's your daughter and son!" Hicca exclaimed.
Stoick dropped his axe at the sight of his children. "Hicca! Hiccup!" He immediately trapped them both in a bear hug, his bad mood vanishing quickly.
"Oh! Good to see you too, Dad." Hiccup breathed out. "Now... Now if we could just, um, breathe?"
"Yeah, that would be greatly appreciated." Hicca squeaked out.
Their father immediately let them go. "Oh sorry! Just happy to see my kids!"
The twins tried to regain their breathing. "Well, that's great. Hicca and I and our cracked ribs are happy to see you, too."
"What are you doing all the way out at the academy?" The Haddock girl asked.
"Oh, well, I come up here for the peace and quiet, usually when Henry and his dragons are not here, which is quite a lot these days." Her father explained. "Tired of hearing people complaining... Stoick, you're being too tough. Stoick, you're being too picky. Stoick, you're cutting off my air supply."
The twins took a small step back as they watched their father vent. Their dad then went to a saddle mounted up and started polishing it. Hiccup then recognised the familiar saddle mounted up. "Hey, hey, is that Thornado's old saddle? Wow, Dad, you really kept it shiny."
Thornado is a blue Thunderdrum dragon who used to be Stoick partner-in-crime. After the a bumpy start, to say the least, the two formed a bond and became as close as the Haddock twins were to their dragons. Until one day when the Dragon Riders found three abandoned baby Thunderdrums. After quickly finding out that these three babies could not live on Berk, they brought them to Dragon Island, but could not leave them to fend off against the older, wilder dragons. With no other choice, Stoick set Thornado free to look after the baby Thunderdrums, with whom the older dragon had already grew fond off. To this day, the Thunderdrums remain on Dragon Island.
"Well, just because one dragon is gone doesn't mean I'm gonna let a valuable piece of equipment fall into disrepair." The Berkian chief said, although there was something in his tone that the twins noticed, but couldn't quite put their fingers on. "But enough about me. What brings my world-traveler son and daughter back to Berk?"
The twins looked at each other. That was an answer they didn't prepare. They didn't really know how to explain to their father that the reason was because his close friend travelled all the way to the Edge to tell them their father has been acting off. And it would not be any better if they tell him they agree.
That's when Sven cautiously came into the Academy. "Eh, Stoick, I don't mean to interrupt, but I've got those weapons arranged by deadliness, just like you wanted them."
That sentence seemed to snap the chief back into his bad mood. "And who said I wanted them that way? Does anyone around here listen?" He then picked up his axe again, looking ready to use it.
"Dad, Dad, Dad! I just had a great idea." Hiccup quickly intervened.
"If it involves me hurling an axe at Sven's head, let's hear it." Stoick gritted, keeping a tight grip on his weapon.
Behind his back, Hicca quietly signalled Sven to leave.
Sven immediately picked up on that. "Oh, I... I hear my sheep calling." He ran as fast as he could.
Hiccup then continued to diffuse his fathers anger. "I-I was thinking something a little more relaxing. Something to take the edge off?"
"Edge? What edge?" The chief demanded. His kids just gave him dead-panned looks and he realised he was still clutching onto his axe. He then loosened it. "Okay, I'm listening."
"Yeah, so Hicca and I were thinking, why don't you take a couple of days off, come with us to see the dragon base?" Hiccup offered.
"Yeah, you'd love that place. We based a lot of the designs on Berk." Hicca added.
"No, impossible. There's far too much to do around here." Their father dismissed.
The twins exchanged looks, before Hiccup got an idea. "Okay, Dad. Well, tell you what, if I'm being honest, the reason we're really here is that we've got a dragon problem back on the island."
"Dragon problem? What kind of a dragon problem?" Stoick asked, now intrigued.
"Well, you see, we're trying to relocate a new species of dragon and Hiccup and I thought we could handle it, but we could really use your help." Hicca explained, catching on to her brothers plan.
It seemed to work. "Well, I suppose I could spare a moment, if you really need me."
"Oh, we do. We really, really do." Hiccup insisted.
Their father then left the Academy to pack some supplies for the long trip.
Hiccup turned to his twin. "So glad that worked. And who knows this might actually help us with the Rumblehorn situation."
"Hope so." Hicca said turning to her brother. She then saw the entrance of the Academy behind her twin and saw Henry standing there, which reminded her of Lock-jaw. "Actually why don't you guys go ahead. I-uh just remembered I need to talk with Gothi about... some important medicine. Yep might as well do it now."
"We can come with you." Hiccup offered.
"No need! It's fine. We need to figure out the Rumblehorn situation as soon as possible. Besides, I think Gothi needs a break from our dad." Hicca insisted.
"Are you sure."
"Positive. I'll come back with Rae. And I've got Midnight here." She said, putting a hand on her dragons' head. "Come on girl." With that, Hiccup watched as his sister and her dragon ran out of the Academy.
(Linebreak)
Once outside, Hicca looked around, hoping to find Henry and his dragons. She did find Lockjaw, Sandstorm and Scout with him. She approached the two dragons.
"Hey guys." She greeted the two dragons, putting her hand out. Scout rubbed her snout on it without hesitation. All five dragons were always friendly to Hicca ever since she helped Wildstar. This works well for what Hicca needs right now. "Where are the others?" She asked, referring to Henry, Wildstar, Sandtrapper.
Scout answered by pointing her head to the sky.
'He must have went on a flight and left Sandstorm and Scout to look after Lockjaw.' Hicca guessed. Speaking of which, Lockjaw seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness. He was completely out of it. She then went to Lockjaw as Midnight started interacting with the other two dragons.
"Hey there, Lockjaw." She greeted softly. The dragon merely opened his eyes to look at her before closing them. "Heard you weren't feeling well. Just thought I would give you a check-up."
She started her check-up. Taking the dragons' temperature, checking his heartbeat, etc. In doing so, she noticed that his body temperature is starting to go lower than average, that he was shivering and that there was some unusual yellowish-orange spots forming on his body.
'But that's strange, I didn't see any of these spots a few minutes ago. And there's no way Henry could have miss this or the temperature. Neither would Gothi. What is going on?'
She took out her notebook and noted down the symptoms. They seem familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out the diagnosis..
"Come on, Midnight." The two made their way to Gothis' hut. Hoping to find answers.
(Linebreak)
At the Edge, the rest of the Dragon Riders, under Gobbers directions, were able to build a large wall made of stones with watchtowers at the side.
Astrid assessed their final work. "I have to admit, that's one impressive wall. It should stop the Rumblehorn, at least from the ground."
"I'm going to call her Greta, after my first love." Gobber announced. "Large, sturdy. Beefy, some would say."
Suddenly there was a loud roar hear in the distance. The teens knew exactly what dragon was making that sound.
"It's coming from the West! And it's getting closer!" Fishlegs warned in panic.
"Everybody, mount up!" Astrid ordered.
She and the rest of the teens immediately got on their dragons and took to the sky. Gobber, however, stayed on the ground, ready to give extra support to his wall.
"I'm not moving! The wall will hold." He said stubbornly. As the roars grew louder, the wall suddenly started to shake but it did not collapse. "Yah! Told you my Greta would hold." Gobber exclaimed triumphantly. However, he couldn't celebrate because the watchtowers surrounding the wall couldn't hold. They lost support and tumbled down, on Gobber! "Oh, Greta, how could you?"
THUD!
"Hurry up and move those logs!" Astrid frantically ordered as Stormfly and the other dragons moved the logs as fast as they could. Stormfly got the last log which was covering Gobber. "Gobber, are you alright?"
"Good morning, Mommy. Is it time for dragon-killing school?" Gobber asked in a daze. Looks like he'll need Hicca to check his head.
"Hey, at least this wall held. Of course, everything else got crushed." Snotlout said.
The group heard some more dragon growls from a distance. Thinking that it was the Rumblehorn again, the Thorston twins snapped into action and got on their dragon.
"Incoming! Yeah! Fire, fire!" Tuffnut commanded as he and his twin had Barf and Belch fire at the targets. Hookfang and Stormfly followed suit. "Use all weapons! Start blasting!"
The dragon started dodging the attacks and got closer, becoming more familiar to the group.
"Hey, it's us. Cut it out!" Hiccup demanded. The attacks immediately stopped.
"Oh, okay. Sorry about that." Tuffnut said. He then noticed the Berkian chief. "Nice to see you, Chief. You're looking very fit. Your hands seem to be rough... and well-worked. Anyway, welcome to Rumblehorn hell."
"Where are Hicca and Raeda?" Fishlegs asked.
"They stayed back to finish some errands." Hiccup answered. "They'll be joining us soon."
"You weren't kidding about having dragon problems." Stoick said, as he surveyed the damage caused by the rogue dragon.
"Is anybody hurt?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, sort of..." Astrid said tentatively, trying to figure out how to explain Gobber.
Looks like the blacksmith decided to do it for her. "Hello, lovies. Who'd like some figgy pudding?" He offered in a different voice while holding up one of his boot.
"What's wrong with him?" Stoick asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Well, Chief, you can start with the peg leg. And then you add in the hook and the bad breath, weird neck. I mean, look at his neck." Tuffnut listed off.
"He'll be fine. He got hit by a watchtower." Snotlout interjected.
Gobber then started laughing at Toothless for no reason. "Ah, you're killing me. Who knew you were such a card?"
Perplexed, the male Night Fury moved away from the derailed man.
"Hiccup, these Rumblehorn attacks are getting out of hand. We have to do something." Astrid said.
Stoick saw this as his cue to take charge. "Okay, then, first things first. We start with-"
"Astrid, you search the Eastern coastline." Hiccup instructed. "Ruff, Tuff, you have the West." The twins saluted at that. "My father and I will take the middle of the island. Fishlegs and Snotlout, you take care of Gobber and keep fixing the base."
"Got it." Fishlegs nodded.
Snotlout, however, didn't agree with the plan. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute there, dragon master."
"Hello, little fella." The dazed Gobber greeted putting an arm around Snotlout, which he shrugged off.
"How come I have to stay behind?" The Jorgenson boy demanded.
"I'm a dragon. Ya! Heh." Gobber growled, doing a poor imitation of a dragon.
"Okay, fine, you want to hunt the unstoppable, bloodthirsty dragon instead?" Hiccup offered rhetorically, knowing his cousin wouldn't choose that.
"Bloodthirsty dragon, huh?" Snotlout pondered.
"Ooh, look at my tail. Do dragons chase their tails or do they breathe fire on them? I don't know." Gobber babbled on to Snotlout
That' when the boy decided that as insane as the older man was acting, he was much more harmless than the Rumblehorn. "On second thought, I don't want to give you guys an unfair advantage. So I should probably stay behind and protect one of the archipelago's national treasures."
"The sun is a shiny potato covered in drawn butter." Gobber said, still in a daze.
"And the moon is a scoop of ice cream." Snotlout played along.
Hiccup shaked his head at both of them while Stoick was focusing more on his son and the way he gave out commands to the other teens. It was very, very familiar to him.
(Linebreak)
Back on Berk Hicca and Midnight went to Gothi's hut in the hopes of finding the healer herself.
"Hello, Gothi?" She called out as she entered the house. She looked around the place hoping to find her mentor, but found no signs of her.
'She must have stepped out.' Hicca thought to herself. Unable to wait for her mentor, Hicca went to the shelves, deciding to find the answer herself. Gothi did give the girl permission to borrow any book whenever she needed.
"It's got to be here, somewhere." Hicca said to Midnight.
"What's got to be there?" A voice asked, startling the girl and dragon.
"Oh, hey Rae." Hicca said, once she saw the source of the voice. "Done with business?"
"Yep." The ravenette answered. "I looked and happened to see you and Midnight heading to Gothi's hut so we followed you. I thought you guys would have headed back to the Edge by now."
"Hiccup, dad and Toothless have. We stayed because I need to find out about something." Hicca explained.
"Does it have to do with the Rumblehorn?"
"No, it's about another dragon." Hicca said. "And I'm worried it could be something serious."
That made Raeda concerned. "Which dragon and what's wrong?"
" I observed some symptoms which felt familiar to me, but I just can't place it. The dragon is Lockjaw.
"Lockjaw?" Raeda repeated trying to place the name. "Is that one of Henry's dragons."
"Yeah and I need to find my answer before it's too late."
Raeda nodded, before going to the shelf and grabbing another book. "What symptoms are we looking for?"
"Cold skin and involuntary shivering. Like you're getting a cold sensation even though the temperature is warm but no signs of sickness". Hicca said. "And yellowish orange spots."
The two girls then got to work.
(Linebreak)
Back on the Edge, the two Haddock men took to the air on Toothless to search for the Rumblehorn. Being in the air after such a long time gave Stoick a wave of nostalgia.
"Ah, it's good to be back up in the air again." He then looked down on the island where his children and the other teens have been living. "No wonder you and Hicca never come back to visit. This highland is spectacular."
"Thanks, Dad, but we're not gonna be able to keep any of it if we don't solve our Rumblehorn problem." Hiccup reminded his father.
"Right. When exactly did you start having trouble with it?" The Berkian chief asked.
"A few weeks ago. We didn't even know it was on the island, and then suddenly it was everywhere." Hiccup explained. "First is just went after wild dragons, then it started coming after us."
"And how many dragons has it killed?"
"None yet." Hiccup answered. "This dragon is more than strong. It's fast, it's smart and it's elusive. We've never even gotten a good look at it."
"This does seem like quite the challenge, doesn't it?" Stoick commented in contemplation.
"Yes, it does." Hiccup agreed.
Stoick then laughed. "Look at the two of us... two Viking men on the hunt, scheming to catch a wild beast."
"See? You're cheering up already, right?" Hiccup pointed out.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, son." Was all Stoick said.
Their conversation was then interrupted by a dragon roar.
"There!" Both father and son yelled pointing in the same direction. Toothless immediately flew down and when they landed they found an area clear of any Rumblehorn.
"You see what I mean? Everytime, we just miss it." Hiccup said, feeling very frustrated at again missing the dragon.
"Well, we didn't see it fly away, so it has to be on foot." Stoick pointed out. "But which way?"
Hiccup then surveyed the area, until something caught his eyes. "Over here. Check the direction of the trees he took down." He pointed to the line of wrecked trees.
"After you, son." The chief said putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "Ho ho, this is great."
They continued to follow along the trail, but didn't seem to be getting any closer to the rogue dragon. A few hours have passed and still no dragon.
"These footprints are fresh." Hiccup observed. "We should be right on top of it."
"It's like the beast can sense us coming, and then it changes direction." Stoick mused, stroking his beard. "A truly worthy adversary."
They followed the trail to a clearing.
"We have got to be getting close." Hiccup said, getting worn out from the walking.
Stoick noticed something. "Ah, I don't think so. We've been here before. Look at the broken branches on this side of the trail." He pointed to the trees Hiccup pointed out earlier. "The beast has doubled back on us."
"Wait, you think it knows we're hunting it?"
"No, I think it's hunting us."
"Oh, that's good! No, I prefer it much more the other way around." Hiccup said sarcastically, feeling more frustrated. His dad didn't respond and instead walked up to one of the larger logs. Hiccup recognised the silence as a sign that his father has an idea. "What are you thinking, Dad?
Stoick breaks a large branch off and turned to his son.
"I might have an idea on how we're going to catch this beast."
(Linebreak)
"Anything?" Hicca asked as she closed her third book.
Raeda, who was still going reading the first book she picked up, closed her eyes. "The only thing I'm learning from this is that I'm glad I'm not studying to be a healer." There was way too much information for her to process.
Hicca sighed in frustration. She knows they were working on a timer, she could feel it.
Raeda gave a yawn, stretching her arms out as well. In doing so, she accidentally knocked down Hicca's satchel, which was placed on the table. The contents of the bag fell out.
"Oops! Sorry!" Raeda said as she immediately got up and and started picking up the papers.
"It's fine." Hicca reassured, picking up her charcoal. Then something dawned on her. "Wait, give me that!" She snatched the papers out of Raeda's hands and started reading through them. "Of course! I can't believe I didn't realise this earlier!" She gave the papers back to Raeda. "Go find Gothi and show her this. I need to go find Henry!"
Hicca and Midnight immediately took off, while Raeda and Sparkfire flew off to find Gothi, the former reading the notes that Hicca just read.
They landed near the Academy and thankfully found the group at the same place, Henry was looking even more concerned, his hair looked like its been run through frantically.
Henry spotted Hicca and Midnight running towards them "Hicca, good your still here, Lockjaws' temperature-"
"I know. Move!" Without stopping she went to Lockjaw and gently opened one of his eyes.
"What are you-" Henry started to ask, before Hicca interrupted him.
"Just give me a second." She said, observing the eye, until she found what she was looking for, a red ring around the iris. "Just as I thought. We need to get him to Gothi, fast!"
None of them wasted any time.
(Linebreak)
Well, I've got my club
And I've got my rope
And I smell like a yak
'Cause I don't use soap.
I'm a Viking through and through!
Stoick sang as he stood alone in the clearing with the torn out branch in one hand and a rope in the other. He kept his eyes out for the Rumblehorn, practically inviting it to come after him.
The dragon took the invitation and appeared in front of the Berkian chief. Seeing the dragon for the very first time, Stoick took in the size of the dragon, it's clubbed-tail, jackhammer-like maw and armored neck.
"Well, you're magnificent!" He praised. The dragon responded with a loud roar which made Stoick cover his ears. "And you've got a lot to say, don't you?" Another roar from the dragon. "Now, let's see if you can back it up."
With that he gave a battle-cry and charged right at the dragon. The Rumblehorn did the same. Taking that as their cue, Hiccup and Toothless appeared with a net, ready to throw it at the dragon. Once they were close enough, Hiccup threw the net, but the Rumblehorn, seeing the net dodged it in time.
"Dad! Get out of there!" Hiccup yelled now that their plan failed.
But this was Stoick the Vast he was talking to. "Not a chance!" He yelled back as he and the dragon continue to charge at each other. Stoick used the rope still in his hands to lasso the Rumblehorn by its front horn. The larger dragon tried to break free of its new hold by pulling and knocking the chief around, but no luck. It then tried to fly away only for Stoick to pull it back down. "Oh, no, you don't!"
"Dad, let go of the rope!" Hiccup yelled, hoping his dad would listen for once.
The Rumblehorn tried once again to fly away, this time putting every ounce of strength into it, causing Stoick to lose his footing and hang on to the rope for dear life as they flew higher.
"Dad, don't let go of the rope!" Hiccup yelled as he watched his father get carried off.
Stoick held on to the rope as the dragon flew higher and higher into the air. Unfortunately for him, he lost his grip on the rope and was now free-falling. The Rumblehorn then dived after him.
Despite the situation, the Berkian chief was not afraid when the dragon was flying after him while he was falling. "Oh, you want a piece of me on the way down, do you?! Come and get some! Come on!" He challenged.
But the Rumblehorn didn't get a chance as Hiccup swooped in and rescued the chief.
"We'd better get back to Dragon's Edge for reinforcements." Hiccup said as his father climbed up to the saddle behind him. Toothless sped away as fast as possible
"Agreed." Stoick said before turning back to his opponent, who was still there. "This isn't over, Rumblehorn!"
(Linebreak)
Scrimgin's disease: a very rare but very dangerous disease that can affect both humans and dragons. If it discovered in its early stage and treated immediately, it is curable
That's what Lockjaw had.
And thankfully, Gothi had the supplies needed to treat this disease.
Now medicated, Lockjaw was asleep surrounded by his four dragon friends while Henry was at the side mentally berating himself.
'Scrimgins' disease.' He thought to himself. 'Of course, the signs were all there! How could I have possibly missed this. Dad made sure I-'
He immediately stopped his train of thought, otherwise it would bring back bad memories.
"Henry?" A voice caught his attention.
He turned to look at Hicca, the person who has saved two of his dragons already.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Y-yeah." He muttered. He then thought of something. "How did you already know about Lockjaws' cold temperature?"
"Well I… I know you told me it wasn't needed but I gave Lockjaw a quick check up while you weren't there and I found the symptoms." She explains rubbing the back of her neck.
"Huh? I didn't think you'd be bothered with that. You and your twin seemed to have other things in mind." He admitted.
What neither of them noticed was Raeda watching them from the side, waiting to ask Hicca about going back to the Edge.
"We did, but I have complete faith that Hiccup, my dad and the rest of our friends could handle that situation without us. Besides, you looked so worried for Lockjaw, I wanted to help." She said.
"Thanks." Was all he said, a small smile appearing on his face.
It was there when the two of them were silently looking at each other, when Raeda looked back and forth between them and a thought came to her.
'Oh my Thor! Is it possible? Are they? Does he? Does SHE?' She stepped back, putting her hand to her mouth. In all the years of friendship and sisterhood, she has never seen Hicca look at any other guy like that before. Right now it feels like she and the other dragons and Gothi should leave because it needs to be just Hicca and Henry in this moment. Is that how the two were viewing this moment right now?
"You see what I'm seeing, right girl?" Rae asked her dragon who was near her. "Who would have thought?"
"Well, with Lockjaw needing treatment and rest, we'll be staying here a little longer." Henry said, breaking the silence.
"Hey, who knows? Maybe Berk will start growing on you guys." Hicca said.
"Yeah, well, I should go check on Lockjaw." He said, walking towards his dragons.
Raeda decided to take that as her cue. "We should be heading back to the edge as well, Hicca. I'm sure Gothi can take care of the rest from here."
That's when Hicca remembered the Rumblehorn situation. "That's right we should go." She went to Midnight
Raeda thought about it for a moment. 'They could definitely work' She thought to herself.
"Rae?" Hicca called, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Coming." Rae said as she and Sparkfire followed.
(Linebreak)
Night set in when the Haddock men and Night Fury return to the base where the others were still working to keep their place fortified.
"Hicca and Raeda aren't back?" Hiccup asked, once he saw no signs of either girls.
"No." Astrid answered.
"Where's Gobber?" Stoick asked.
His answer came chasing after a boar. "Yoo-hoo! Come back, please."
"Boar pit?" Snotlout offered.
"Okay, Gobber accounted for." Hiccup said, dismayed as his mentor has yet to recover.
"Hiccup, did you find the Rumblehorn?" Astrid asked.
"More like he found us." The auburn boy answered.
Stoick chuckled as he remembered their encounter with the tough dragon. "Gave us a good run, that one."
"We're gonna resupply, and then we all need to go look for it." Hiccup ordered.
"Eh, I bet I can find him, like right now." Tuffnut stated, looking up at the sky.
"Oh, really." Snotlout scoffed, rolling his eyes. He was thinking that the Thorston boy would probably come up with a ridiculous plan to find the elusive dragon.
"Oh, yeah."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah."
"How's that?" The Jorgenson boy challenged.
"Wait for it." Tuffnut still kept his eyes on the sky and then he pointed. "Bing!"
The others looked to where he was pointing to find that the Rumblehorn had actually managed to locate them and was heading their way.
"What the... Ah!" Hiccup groaned, definitely wasn't prepared for round two so soon. "Hey, everybody? On your dragons! We need to draw him away from Dragon's Edge!" As the others got on their dragons, Hiccup looked up at the Rumblehorn. "It tracked us all the way here!"
"Impressive." Stoick praised.
"Dad, let's catch him first. Then we can admire him." Hiccup suggested as the group flew to the air. He then noticed the Night Terrors flying away from the island. "Where are all the Night Terrors going?"
"And why isn't the Rumblehorn following us?" Stoick wondered when he noticed the Rumblehorn not behind them.
"Because it's following him." Hiccup answered once he saw who the Rumblehorn was targeting.
The target was Gobber who was still in a hazy state and was still chasing after a boar. "Mr. Boar, come back, please. I just want to have a friendly chat."
Toothless dived down after the Rumblehorn, but didn't couldn't catch up to it fast enough.
"Let's get his attention, bud." Hiccup said to Toothless.
The Night Fury fired several plasma blasts, but the Rumblehorn dodged them all and kept going. It landed and gave out a loud roar, causing the remaining Night Terrors to fly away. It then charged at Gobber.
"Stormfly, spine shot!" Astrid commanded. The Nadder fired, but the Rumblehorn didn't bother to dodge as the spines bounced off its skin and continued on it's path.
The other dragons fired at the Rumblehorn as well but were also unsuccessful in stopping the dragon.
"For as powerful as that dragon is, he doesn't seem to have a real thirst for blood." Stoick noted.
"Not yet, but it's still going after Gobber." Hiccup argued. "I hate to do this, but it's the Rumblehorn or Gobber." He had Toothless fly closer to the Rumblehorn. "We may only get one shot at this, bud. Let's make it count!"
For the first time ever, there was a role reversal between father and son. Hiccup was ready to strike as soon as possible without a second thought. Stoick, on the other hand was wondering why the Rumblehorn was going after the most vulnerable and harmless target instead of the ones that were actually attacking it. "This doesn't make any sense. Unless... Hiccup, wait!" He managed to stop Toothless from firing.
"Dad, what are you doing?" Hiccup asked.
"Not so fast, you." The dazed Gobber said, stroking the boar who got tired by the chase. The Rumblehorn then came up to the two, causing the boar to run away. Gobber turned around to face the dragon who roared right in its face! "Oh, look, it's Pepe, my favorite pet yak. We didn't eat you on Snoggletog morning after all." He then hugged the perplexed Rumblehorn.
"If that dragon wanted to hurt people, he'd have done it by now." Stoick pointed out. "Something else is going on here."
"Like what?" Hiccup questioned.
"Only one way to find out. Put me down next to him."
Toothless landed right next to Gobber and the Rumblehorn, the former speaking in baby-talk to the latter.
"Stoick, you remember Pepe?" Gobber asked turning to his friend.
"Yes, yes, Gobber." Stoick said to the still-concussed blacksmith. "Pepe and I need to have a wee talk."
Gobber then went to Hiccup. "Hiccup, have you met Pepe?"
"Oh, God." Hiccup groaned.
Stoick walked up to the Rumblehorn, who gave out a growl but didn't attack the human. "What is it you really want, dragon?" The dragon looked out at the sea. Stoick turned to his son. "I think this dragon is trying to tell us something."
The Rumblehorn gave out another roar. All the dragons seemed to have understood and started flying higher into the air.
"What is happening, what is happening, what is happening?" Fishlegs said, panicking as Meatlug started flying on her own.
"I think you're right." Hiccup said to his dad.
The Rumblehorn then tossed the chief into the air and onto it's back.
"Dad!" Hiccup yelled as the Rumblehorn flew off with his dad. He immediately got on Toothless. "Go get 'em, bud!"
The group of four flew out into sea and something caught Stoicks' eyes that made him realise what the dragon was trying to tell them.
"Son, out there!"
Hiccup followed to where his dad was pointing and saw it as well. "The sea level... is it rising?"
They then flew to the others and told them what they discovered. "There's a giant wave headed for us. The Rumblehorn knew it and was trying to get us to leave." Hiccup informed. "He was trying to save us! That explains why he was chasing Gobber."
"I'm not buying it. Okay, guys, real quick… How long does it take to learn to swim?" Tuffnut asked.
"No one has to swim. We just need to block the wave from hitting the camp." Hiccup said.
"Isn't it a little late for that, Hiccup?" Snotlout questioned, as he saw the tide coming closer and closer.
"No! Gobber's rock wall... that's big enough to stop the wave." Astrid said. "We just need to reinforce it."
The group wasted no time getting to work on reinforcing the wall, using what they could find to make it taller and stronger.
Fishlegs kept his eyes out for the tide. "The wave's coming! Hurry! The wall's not going to be high enough to stop that wave!" He exclaimed.
"And it's cracking!" Astrid said.
Stoick then got an idea. "You handle the cracks, son! I've got an idea." He and the Rumblehorn flew off.
Hiccup knew better than to question the idea at this point. "You heard the man!"
"On it!" Astrid nodded. She directed Stormfly to some of the holes on the wall. "Stormfly, spine shot!" Stormfly spikes were able to plug the holes.
Fishlegs had Meatlug fired lava blasts at some parts of the wall to mold the rocks together and cover the cracks.
Stoick and the Rumblehorn flew to a large sea-stack that overlooked the island. The chief watched as the tide rapidly approached the island. "All right, then, let's finish what you started." The Rumblehorn was all too happy to comply. He charged at the large sea-stack. "Full speed, big fella!" With all its might, the dragon rammed right into the sea-stack, causing it to fall over and act as another barrier.
A second later the tide hit. Although it was strong, it was no match against the sea-stack and the wall and as a result, the tide got evenly distributed around the island, saving all of its inhabitants.
(Linebreak)
Hicca, Raeda, Sparkfire and Midnight finally made it back to the edge and met up with the others on the docks.
"Sis, Rae, glad to see you both. What happened on Berk?" Hiccup asked.
"There was a serious medical emergency that I was able to spot. It's kind of a long story." Hicca said.
'Yep, medical emergency. Only significant thing that happened back there.' Raeda thought to herself, looking at Hicca. She then turned to the others. "So what happened to the Rumblehorn? And why are there barriers on one side of the island?"
"It was amazing! If that Rumblehorn hadn't warned us, we would have been wiped out." Fishlegs said in awe of the turn of events. He and the others were at the docks and watched as Stoick and the Rumblehorn flew back towards them.
"What?" Both girls asked in confusion.
"Also long story. Basically, it turns out the Rumblehorn was not our enemy and dad has a new companion now." Hiccup explained.
They watched as Stoick and the Rumblehorn flew back to them, Hicca and Raeda both itching to know what they missed. "Look at this guy. He is amazing." Fishlegs said.
"Yes! You can say that again, Fishlegs." Stoick agreed, very much impressed with the strength his new friend displayed.
"You know, guys, this is a whole new class of dragon." Fishlegs noted. "We need a name."
"Well, it tracked us down. How about Tracker Class?" Hiccup suggested.
Snotlout scoffed at that. "Tracker Class? Yeah, right! That sounds like something I would come up with."
"Perfect."
"Tracker Class it is." Fishlegs agreed.
Snotlout was dismayed at that, because he actually was thinking of suggesting that. "What?! You like it?! Aw, come on!"
The finally recovered Gobber joined the group. "Gobber, I sure am glad you're back to normal."
"'Back to normal?' What happened to you, Gobber?" Hicca questioned.
"Yeah, not sure what all went on, but I'm sore in places I didn't know I had." The blacksmith said. He then got on his boat and set off for the long journey back to Berk.
"Well, kids, I'm glad I let you two insist I come here." Stoick said.
"Glad to see you looking happier." Hicca said, even though she doesn't know how it happened.
"You know, Dad, when we first came back to Berk, I thought you might be missing me and Hicca. But it was Thornado all along." Hiccup said, having put the pieces together. Really he should have realised when he saw the saddle.
"Aw, I do miss that magnificent beast. We had some connection, he and I." Stoick said as he thought of the blue Thunderdrum.
"Oh, I get it. No, I can't imagine what it would be like without Toothless." Hiccup said fully understanding.
"Or without Midnight." Hicca added.
"Well, Thornado will never be replaced, but this guy... we're a lot alike, he and I." Stoick said. "We're both protectors, we're both leaders."
"And you're both hard-headed." Gobber added, rolling his eyes.
"Hard-headed, you say? Skull-crushing's more like it." Stoick countered, before an idea came to him. "Wait, that's what we'll call you. Skullcrusher!" Satisfied with the name, he got on his new dragon, ready for the flight home. The Haddock twins were about to turn and leave the docks when their father called out to them.
"And by the way, kids? I do miss you two. A lot, in fact." He said, which caused his children to smile. The chief then looked back at his dragon. "Alright, big fella. Let's get back to Berk. I've got the perfect saddle waiting for you."
Once the pair took off, Hiccup turned to the others. "Alright, guys, we have a lot of work to do. So let's get to it."
"You need to tell us what happened." Hicca insisted to her brother.
"And don't you dare leave anything out." Raeda insisted.
"Well, dad and I reached back to the edge…"