SUMMARY: The gang splits up on Berserker Island to earn enough money to pay an unknown seamstress for fancy outfits to blend in to the auction. By the end of the day, however, Hiccup and Ruffnut fear their efforts might not help their group meet the target.


CHAPTER 25

When Hiccup, Fishlegs, Gustav, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Astrid, and Heather arrived on the scene to the middle of Beserker Island, they felt as if they were in the midst of a tornado.

Their dragons waited patiently in friendly stables offered by the Berserkian tribe, which all had no chains in sight, but plenty of fish-and boulders for Meatlug. The crew hopes their dragons could be patient enough for them until they got the riches they needed.

At every side of the Berserker Tribe's center were vendors, homely street performers, and children running, squealing, and weaving through finger-wagging Vikings. Feeling prompted to comment on the island where she was second-in-command alongside her brother Dagur, Heather announced. "welcome to the new island".

"It's way more crowded than it used to be, Heather," Fishlegs said. "How are we supposed to find a way to make some quick money now?"

"I have the best confidence in you, Fishlegs," said Heather. "With your smarts you could do anything."

Fishlegs smiled shyly, and Heather looked away with some warmth on her cheeks.

"Um, anyway," Astrid cut in. "listen up everybody: Don't do anything that will bring you too much attention. Who knows where Grimmel could be hiding. Even though we had our masks on last time, there is a possibility he could identify us by our voices. So lay low, choose wisely, and just get some coins in your pocket. With all of us together, we should have enough to pay for the costumes."

"And don't do anything you would regret," Hiccup said.

With that last send-off, everyone split into chosen pairings or by themselves to find some quick cash while they had the opportunity.

Tuffnut decided to paint passerbys for tips, once he found some spare painting slabs from a vendor. Astrid trailed behind Tuffnut, opting to find an old instrument in the market that she could use to entertain pedestrians.

Hiccup and Ruffnut spotted an etched flyer for a marksman contest, with the grand-prize being enough coins to buy a new personal boat-a hefty amount.

There was a long line for sign-ups, but Hiccup and Ruffnut took their last place in line, standing at a safe distance from one another. Ruffnut's heart raced with longing when she saw two competitors before them clasp their hands together and chuckle excitedly for the contest.

Fishlegs started on his own with hand-puppets from clothing scraps he found on the market grounds, and Heather joined him. Together, they attracted a small crowd of children, which continued to grow with each passing moment. Eventually, Heather collected some of her friends from the island to join in by creating skits, which delighted the children and their parents. Soon, their helmets were full to the brim with coins.

Snotlout and Gustav kept glimpsing the riders collecting more money as the hours went on, yet they hadn't found much to do besides grab a bite to eat. While at an alehouse, Snotlout finally grumbled in frustration.

"Well, I'm outta ideas. Are you actually good at anything, Gustav?" Snotlout said.

"I can eat really fast," Gustav replied. "Maybe there's some eating contest around."

"Tempting, but, this is no time to get a stomachache. We have to walk a long way to that seamstress lady." Snotlout's brow furrowed as his eyes lazily dragged behind Beserkians carrying pottery dishes to the alehouse's soup barrel.

Snotlout wished he was back home, where the Beserkian's ear-tickling music would have been drowned out by the heavy drinking songs of Berk. Snotlout loved to clap-along to them in lieu of singing, which Tuffnut enjoyed more.

Just then, a pin-up caught his eye: it invited anyone and everyone to share jokes at the alehouse at an afternoon competition, with the funniest contender winning a considerable amount of coins.

"There's something we could do," Snotlout pointed out. Gustav noticed the sign he gestured at, and felt an excited grin stretch on his face.

Elsewhere, Tuffnut carefully stroked a thin paintbrush on a slab of wood netted by cured fibers from weeds found in the sea. They were cheaper canvases, but unfortunately smaller, and required him to have more precise focus on his paint-strokes.

Tuffnut's subject, a bright-eyed little girl, sat poised with a toothy smile as her mother watched the scene. When Tuffnut was done, the mother gifted him more than what Tuffnut asked for, admiring the soft portrait of her daughter as they walked away.

Astrid admired it too, wishing she could look at it for longer. "Wow, Tuffnut, looks like you're beating my amount," Astrid noted. She counted her own coins again from playing sea songs on a tiny recorder, an instrument she hadn't forgotten how to play yet since before she started dragon training.

"With all credit taken, you sounded really beautiful. It gave me a lot of inspiration while I was painting. We make a great team."

Astrid chortled gently, gripping her recorder resolutely. "That's why we're the best, Tuffnut," she replied with a smile. "Now, what do you say we take a break and head over to that joke competition everyone keeps talking about?"

Tuffnut agreed wholeheartedly, gathering a dwindling stack of canvases and a satchel of paints and brushes he had bought for the day. Astrid's skin tingled when Tuffnut brushed his hand against hers, asking to hold it. She clasped his eagerly. Together, they made their way to a busy alehouse. The air buzzed with chatter and music as the two friends took a seat at the bar. A large crowd had gathered around a stage, where an announcer was hyping up the joke competition.

"Welcome everyone! Are you ready to laugh until your sides hurt?!" The audience cheered in response. "We've got some of Beserker Island's funniest locals here tonight, all competing for a grand prize of 500 coins!"

Tuffnut and Astrid ordered drinks and sat back, eagerly awaiting their chance to relax at some jokes. They watched as one performer after another went up on stage, each one trying to outdo the previous with raunchy punchlines or witty retorts.

Finally it was the next comedian's turn to take the stage, and to Tuffnut and Astrid's surprise, it was Snotlout.

Snotlout skipped onto the stage, puffing his chest out and grinning cockily. "What's up, suckers?!" he yelled at the audience. "I'm here to show you what a real man can do!"

Astrid rolled her eyes while Tuffnut snickered into his ale.

"So," Snotlout began, clearing his throat dramatically. "Why did the Viking...cross the ocean?"

The crowd murmured in anticipation as Snotlout paused for effect.

"To get to your mother's house!" he shouted triumphantly before breaking into raucous laughter at his own joke.

The audience roared immediately, and Astrid and Tuffnut let loose a string of slightly amused chuckles.

"I saw Hiccup and Toothless the other day," Snotlout lead on, "and I couldn't help but notice how much Toothless looks like your mom!" Again, Snotlout laughed uproariously at his own joke while the audience joined in, splitting their sides.

"No, but seriously," Snotlout went on. "So, he was flying on Toothless, yeah? And suddenly, they crashed into a tree! Hiccup looked at Toothless and said, 'What the hell was that?!' And Toothless replied, 'Sorry man. I thought it was your mom.'"

As the laughter slowly died down, Astrid couldn't help but feel shocked with Snotlout's performance. She had been hoping for something clever or at least a bit more sophisticated than his usual juvenile humor, but somehow all his jokes hit the right funny bone.

The audience cried tears in laughter as Snotlout bowed deeply before swaggering offstage to join Astrid and Tuffnut.

Astrid whispered to Snotlout, "you were great, you idiot."

"Wow, Hofferson. Looks like you're finally falling for me."

Astrid lightly pushed him. "I mean it. That was kind of funny. How much money did you get?"

"The audience decides that with their tips they put in each person's bag at the back," Snotlout explained. He was satisfied to see out of all the bags, his was currently the heaviest.

Tuffnut and Astrid gasped once they saw Gustav walk to the center of the stage, his wiry knees knocking together. He nervously fixed his ram-horn helmet and gulped. The crowd began to boo in boredom.

Snotlout gave him a thumbs up from his seat, making sign-language for the fourteen-year-old to 'go with the flow', wherever the jokes took hm. Gustav took the encouragement and took a deep breath.

"Uh, hello everyone. My name is Gustav and I have s-some-some jokes for you all," he said in a timid voice.

The crowd fell silent, intrigued by the shy newcomer on stage.

"W-why did Tuffnut's ch-chicken cross the road?" Gustav said.

Tuffnut sat up straighter with interest while Astrid rolled her eyes again.

Snotlout smirked from his seat - this was going to be hilarious or humiliating. Either way, it was pure entertainment to him.

"To prove she wasn't ch-chicken!" Gustav burst out laughing at his own joke before clapping a hand over his face in embarrassment.

The audience erupted into laughter at Gustav's innocent yet endearing joke. Gustav unhid his freckled face to see Vikings whistling and raising their beers to him. He blushed, and spotted his friends from the front row clapping for more.

"I've got another one," Gustav said, inviting some belly-cries from the men to 'let them have it'. "How come dragons are so bad at music?" Gustav paused until the audience asked him why. He giggled and said: "because they keep forgetting their scales."

A wave of laughter rushed through the alehouse at Gustav's innocent yet endearing joke. Astrid couldn't help but smile at the boy's efforts.

Emboldened by the positive reaction, Gustav continued with his rapid-fire jokes. Each one was met with increasing enthusiasm from the crowd and even a few chuckles from Snotlout himself.

As he delivered each punchline, Gustav gained more confidence in his abilities until he broke out of his shell entirely. He began to work the stage like an old pro - strutting back and forth while delivering his witty comebacks.

By this point, Astrid had been won over by Gustav's earnest charm and so had the audience. Snotlout's jaw dropped when he saw at then end that Gustav's tip-bag was overflowing. Gustav came to collect his as the alehouse emptied out for the afternoon, and his eyes shone at the appreciation the Beserkians had showed him.

"Great work, Gustav," Astrid said with a warrior's look in her eye. "Now all we have to do is find Fish, Heather, Hiccup, and Ruffnut and see if they came up with the other half of what we need. But I think we should split up. Again, Grimmel could be anywhere and if he hears our voices together, he'll know we're here, and there's no telling what he'd do.

Snotlout affirmed Astrid's suggestion. "That doesn't sound too fishy. Gustav and I will find us a room for the night, and you and Tuffnut can go together, like you know you want to."

Tuffnut stiffened. "What's that supposed t'mean?" He and Astrid unconsciously made some distance from each other, panicking that they had been caught holding hands earlier.

Snotlout sniggered. "Just get going."

At another section of the island's busy center, there was a healthy patch of acres that was mostly used as a place to soak up the sun. That day, an archery competition was being held for the highest prize being a sack of coins big enough to cover a new exploration boat, specially handcrafted by the best of Beserker Island's wood-smiths.

The meager competition had been stiff, but sure enough, Hiccup and Ruffnut, who had chosen to be a team of two instead of individuals, were left against a mysterious man in a helmet with a protective leather mask that hid his hair and face. All day he had shot his arrows with eerie precision and didn't seem to be slowing down his fight to win.

"Ready, set…!" The emcee of the competition shouted. A severe silence descended on the area out of respect for each archer's concentration.

Ruffnut stretched her given arrow until its tailfeather's kissed her cheekbones. With no hesitation, she let the delicate dagger fly to a challenging bulls-eye painted on a wooden stand nearly a mile away. The stand nocked once when it was speared extremely close to its center. Ruffnut smiled, feeling relieved. When she turned around to give Hiccup his turn, the mysterious competitor snorted quietly, a sound Ruffnut couldn't decipher the meaning of.

Ruffnut felt exhilarated she had apparently scared him even just a little bit, and thanked her father for teaching her ancient aiming tricks with bow and arrows, his favorite weaponry. Hiccup grasped the bow from Ruffnut and interlocked their handgrip as he looked warily in her eyes.

Both of their faces shone with a film of sweat from the unforgiving sun over the open arena, and their eyes were tired from notching new arrows and studying the distances from their arrowhead to all types of targets. The last target would be it, and if they lost, they would go home empty-handed, and that could cost them from getting the clothes supply the gang desperately needed to enter the auction.

"Easy, dragon-nut," Ruffnut whispered. "Just relax and take your time. I've got that old guy over there peeing his pants already."

"I'll try," Hiccup whispered back. "You were awesome."

Ruffnut shrugged, but her heated cheeks gave her flattered feelings away. "Papa taught me."

Hiccup remembered how his father used to rave sometimes that Mister Thorston was the best hunter-party leader Berk had ever seen, and now believed he was right. That also answered his question of why the goofy Thorston Twins had flown through archery lessons as kids in dragon-training while the other students had a steep learning curve.

When it was time for Hiccup to take his stance, Hiccup used his last sinews of arm strength to position an arrow to the heart of the last target of the contest, one that was yards away and looked like a speck.

Looking down the arrow's shaft, he remembered his childhood private lessons from Berk's general. Hiccup couldn't remember the man's face, but his assured, deep voice over his head he could. The man had always reminded him to off-center the arrow a hair from his target, and the direction of the flank would fly the arrow where it should land. Hiccup knew he shouldn't miss when he felt that he had tightened the arrow in a sweet spot.

Ruffnut studied Hiccup as he took longer than any other set to square on his target. Goosebumps lit her skin from his deathly focus, illustrated by his deeply glowing green eyes, folded brunette brows, and set, soft lips. She wondered how much Hiccup had been required to practice archery as the chief's son, and also thought archery might be another activity they could bond over.

"...fire!" The emcee's voice boomed from afar.

Hiccup's arrow jetted like a missile when Hiccup twitched his forefinger loose. The crowd gasped softly when the arrow pecked a millimeter closer to the target than Ruffnut's arrow.

Hiccup sighed in relief as the crowd's claps settled over him like a cool rain. He retreated to a shady spot with Ruffnut while the mystery man unshelled another bow from his quiver and took his place where Hiccup had been. As Hiccup passed him, he smelled the man's foreboding scent of salty seawater and earthy angelikarot herbs from an iron smoking pipe the man no doubt owned. Hiccup shuddered when they traded glances, as the man's amused, dark-brown eyes pierced him from within the shadow of his rusted helmet.

Hiccup and Ruffnut watched the man as he silently studied the faraway target, notching his arrow only when it had seemed he had checked himself for any errors in judgement. There was something wise about the way his veinous hands spidered around the arrow's grip and dart into a practiced position, as if shooting the arrow was as natural as curling to sleep at night. His eyes blinked calmly, and his expression looked annoyed, yet not irritated, at the distance he had to cross ahead of him.

Hiccup cursed, "bane of Balder!" under his breath. He looked away sharply, and Ruffnut turned to see Hiccup fuming quietly. They gazed at each other, and Hiccup returned to watch at her side from her silent encouragement. Ruffnut tried a gentle nudge of his hand with her pinkie, and her heart swelled when he gripped her hand strongly, like a talisman of luck. She squeezed his hand back, relishing in the feel of his flesh hugging her delicate bones.

"Fire!" the emcee commanded.


Words: 2724

A'N: Hi, thanks for reading! :) Please review and let me know what you think, anything will help me out. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I'm excited to bring Grimmel back soon. This is my only active story so I can devote more time to it. The hardest part about this chapter was coming up with the funny jokes, and the easiest part was writing about the archery competition.