Chapter 3: Grounded

Thunder roared out over the Isle of Berk. Rain dumped buckets upon the land, turning it into a giant, brown-green sponge. Berk was no stranger to bad weather. Blizzards swept and swirled overhead for nine months before spring and summer came, and the flakes turned to balls of ice.

But this was a truly terrible storm. The gales of wind ripped through the village streets, whooshing this way and that, making it impossible to walk or even fly for that matter. A few seconds in the rain, and you were soaked through to the skin.

"Whew! Thor's havin' a bit o' a tantrum," Gobber remarked to Stoick as another clap of thunder reverberated outside the great hall.

"Heh, you're telling me," Tuffnut scoffed, flicking the excess water that clung to his arms and hands. He huffed frustratedly when his ash-blonde hair drooped limply and wetly in front of his eyes. "I feel like a wet yak."

"Yeah, you look like one, too!" Ruffnut guffawed.

Astrid shivered and wrung out her braid which had soaked up the rain like a blonde sponge. "I don't think anyone's gonna be flying anytime soon in this weather. Stormfly could barely keep steady in the wind alone, and that was before the strikes. But we got everyone into their homes," she added to Stoick.

"Except us," Fishlegs remarked dolefully. "Guess we're stuck here tonight. Or until the rain lets up some."

"What?! I'm trapped here with these two twidiots?!" Snotlout exclaimed, shaking an outraged finger at Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

Ruffnut placed her hands on her hips and scowled. "Hey, this is no day at the beach for us either! You think we wanna be around here with you? You're not exactly great at contributing to intelligent conversation."

"What makes you think," Snotlout snorted in contempt, "anything you say is intelligent?"

Throughout the entirety of this conversation, Stoick had kept his eyes lowered in complete silence, a behavior he did not exhibit too frequently. He was beginning to wonder whether he had been wise to let his own son fly in this weather, and to an island so far across the ocean, at that?

"Y'alright, Stoick? Yeh're not yer usual, confident self," came Gobber's voice to the side of him.

Stoick glanced at his friend. "Just worried about Hiccup."

"Ah, c'mon, tha' boy's smart as a whip," Gobber reassured Stoick, waving his hand in a flippant manner. "He'll be alright."

"Yeah, he'll be fine." Astrid approached with a smile. "I mean, he's the best rider there is, and he's got luck on his side."

"Yeah, no kidding," Fishlegs laughed, shaking his head to the side in disbelief. "I have never seen anyone with as much luck as Hiccup does. It's unbelievable."

"Yes, but he also gets into trouble. Or trouble finds him, not sure which." Stoick heaved a sigh as he rose up. Despite being hunched over slightly in his anxious state, he still towered like a vast pillar over all in the room. "Why did I let him go? I could've flown instead, made the trip in his place-"

"Stoick-" Gobber clapped his hand on the chief's beefy shoulder. "He was only tryin' to help ya, it's not yer fault. Besides, nothing'll happen to Hiccup while tha' Night Fury's around. I mean, it's a Night Fury!" he finished with emphasis.

"Everything you've said is true, old friend." Stoick nodded his solemn, bowed head slowly. His eyes fell on the massive doors of the great hall as another rumble of thunder rattled them. The call reverberated and roared, almost sounding like a long, drawn-out grumble of "DOOOOOOM!"

"Which is why I can't help but worry," Stoick continued, "what might happen to Hiccup if that dragon's not around to protect him."

. . .

Hiccup's eyes flew open as he gasped in air as he had been suffocating. Then he winced as he felt a sharp stab in his left side. His finger gingerly reached over to inspect the place of the residing pain and immediately pulled his hand back with a pained whimper.

Yep. His ribs were severely bruised -it was a miracle they were not broken-, which explained why it hurt to breathe, and to make matters better, he had stinging scratches and cuts on his arms and face. While trying to steady his breathing, his eyes swiveled left and right at the canopy above him through which came the gentle drizzles of rain. How did he get here? Where was here?

In a snap, it all rushed into his head. The crash, the falling thought the trees…

Toothless. Where was he? Hiccup looked left and right, but the dragon was nowhere to be found.

"Toothless?" Hiccup called.

No answer.

Wincing in pain, Hiccup pushed himself up and found his prosthetic looked funny. He lifted his left leg and found the wet metal had been bent sideways. Perfect. Carefully, he got to his feet and put his weight on it. Although he swayed a bit on the marshy forest floor, he could stand and walk with it at least, so that was something. Nonetheless, it was something to fix before he got into the air. With one arm wrapped around his injured side, Hiccup looked around. Then in a bush, he saw a rustle.

"Toothless?" he asked.

But there was no answer. Why would he not respond?

Then, an alarm went off in his brain. Maybe Toothless could not respond because he was hurt. Maybe he needed help.

Hiccup stumbled a bit closer towards the bush to inspect. It rustled again, its wet leaves spraying little droplets.

"Toothless, it's me," he called, only to have a heart-stopping, terrifyingly familiar chitter as his response.

Then, a scaly, blood-red silhouette gradually materialized seemingly out of thin air, and Hiccup soon found himself staring into a pair of lurid, beady amber eyes.

It was not Toothless, just a massive and ferocious Changewing. Now, wasn't that just Hiccup's luck.

"Uh, hey, there. Didn't mean to disturb ya," Hiccup gulped, taking a few retreating steps backwards. He held his hands out to try to calm the predator, but the dragon only began to slink towards him, leering at him through squinted eyes. "I hope you're not angry. Or hungry."

The Changewing chittered long and low, its teeth sheathed bloodthirstily. If it was not hungry, it was most definitely irritated, irritated like a hornet when its nest is disturbed. Hiccup was in deep trouble now. His eyes shifted left and right, looking for a possible escape route.

But his feet stopped when another thought popped into his head. Perhaps he could tame the Changewing. No one had attempted to do so before, but then again, no one had tried to train a Night Fury until him. Plus, there was a first time for everything, and he had to at least try.

He took a deep breath. He turned his head, closed his eyes, and slowly, calmly, began reaching out his left hand.

"It's okay," he whispered, trying to sound calm although deep, deep on the inside, he felt absolutely terrified. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

For a while, the Changewing did nothing. It made no attack, no sound of protest. Hiccup reached a little further, his heart beginning to be hopeful. I can't believe this is working, he thought jubilantly.

However, his optimism was cut short when he heard a small snarl. His head twisted forward just in time to see the Changewing's mouth agape, a lime-green glow coming from its throat.

The Changewing spewed scalding, bubbling acid at him, but Hiccup took a dive to the left and ungracefully landed on his stomach. He immediately regretted this action and let out a gasp of pain from the ground striking against his already smarting ribs. Struggling against the pain, he pushed himself up and noticed the thick, drenched oak branch lying on the ground directly in front of him.

The Changewing snarled ferociously and lunged towards him, jaws open wide like death itself. Hiccup wasted no time and seized the limb. He swung it with as much force as he could muster in his attacker's direction, managing by sheer, dumb luck to trap the oak branch vertically in the Changewing's mouth. Recoiling, the blood-red dragon shrieked and growled in surprise and agony and began to shake its head vigorously to try to dislodge the wooden spike stabbing the roof of its mouth. Then it began to bash its head against the trunk of a yew tree, sending a rain of splinters in the process.

Hiccup could not help but feel sorry for the ravenous creature, but he then remembered that it had also tried to eat him and felt slightly better. He wasted no time in scrambling feet and limped as fast as he could into the forest. He had only gotten a few paces away before another shriek drew his attention over his shoulder, and he saw the Changewing looming towards him. It had successfully rid itself of the pesky branch and was now in hot pursuit towards its prey, who was trying to quicken his pace while his ribs were burning in protest and he barely had a leg to stand, let alone run on.

Hiccup's heart hammered furiously against his chest wall as if it were trying to break out and shoot ahead of him. He staggered through the dripping, dense forest, hoping to Valhalla that he could lose his pursuer. Of course, that is easier said than done when you are stuck in a thick, grey, and mist-shrouded forest that you have never encountered before. Hiccup's eyes darted left and right, his mind repeating over and over, Where is Toothless? Where is Toothless? Where is Toothless?

Hiccup yelped in surprise when a glowing, emerald shot of acid zoomed towards his shoulder. Luckily, he managed to duck and it overshot and splattered itself onto a young sycamore. The Changewing was getting closer and closer. Its jaws were spreading out like a crocodile ready to devour a poor little fish.

Hiccup thought for sure that he was lunch when without warning, his feet slipped underneath him and the next thing he knew, he was sliding down the muddy, steep side of a ravine, dragging down fallen leaves and clumps of moist earth along with him. The slick earth cut short, and soon, Hiccup found himself plummeting towards a river below. He scarcely had time to scream or take a breath before he plunged feet first into the freezing water.

Poor Hiccup, he can't seem to catch a break. I feel like a bit of a jerk...

Stay tuned for the next chapter!