MDM's Version of Riders of Berk
A/N: *dodges virtual axes* Okay, I'm sorry! Retract your weapons! Whew! Sorry it had taken so long to write this. If you want to blame someone or something, blame school. Finals are coming soon and homework is just piling up now. So I can almost never find time to write.
Also, there were other stories that I had been working on, but I'm not giving up on this. Hopefully, when summer comes, I will find more time to write at least three or four more chapters of this before autumn. Five at max.
Well, now that's taken care of, let's get on with one of my favorite episodes of this season! Roll it!
Chapter 3
Animal House
Snow was all over the ground. Winter was back on Berk. Or at least, heavy snow was back on the ground.
Here on Berk, we made peace with the dragons. We're finally living and working together... and it only took us three hundred years. There's one slight problem. We forgot to tell the animals.
A Monstrous Nightmare flew by a farm, scaring a flock of sheep, making them run into each other in an attempt to escape. The Nightmare was then about to fight a Deadly Nadder.
"Oh, not again." Mulch sighed when he and Bucket saw what was going on. "You go on now. You get! Get, shoo!"
The dragons growled at each other, but then flew off. Mulch sighed with relief, and then turned to the animals, who were coming out of hiding.
"Alright, everybody, time to earn your keep." He settled on a stool, ready to milk a yak.
Bucket went over to the chicken coop to start collecting eggs. But when he lifted one up, he got confused when he saw that there was nothing under the hen.
"Uh, it's chickens who lay eggs, right?" He asked Mulch.
"Do we really need to go over this again?" Mulch questioned, annoyed.
"No..." Bucket then lifted up a sheep.
He sighed. "Apparently, we do." Mulch said. "Pay attention, Bucket."
One by one, Mulch pointed to a sheep, a chicken, and then a yak. "Wool. Eggs. Milk. Now, that wasn't so hard."
But Bucket was still confused. "Observe." Mulch said. "You grab the udder, like so, and pull." He pulled the yak's udder, but there was no milk coming out.
Mulch tried again. "Pull." Still, nothing. "Pull!"
But that time, he had pulled a bit too hard, and the yak kicked him off his stool. "Uh-oh." Mulch said, sitting up. "I think we're empty. That's not good."
Meanwhile, up in the snow-covered mountains, the Misfit Trio were dragon-boarding with Astrid. She and Hiccup were in the lead, while Juno and Ragnar were trailing close behind them. The four friends twisted and turned through the wintery evergreen forest.
But suddenly, Stormfly sent some tail spines back towards the Trio. Luckily, they all dodged them.
"Hey! Astrid!" Hiccup called out to the blonde shieldmaiden.
"Oops!" She said a little too innocently. "Did I do that?"
"Oh, it's on, Astrid!" Juno shouted playfully to her.
Hiccup smirked, and then flew up beside Astrid. Toothless then stretched out a wing in front of her, blocking her view.
"Hey! Not fair!" Toothless pulled back his wing in time for Astrid to see a snow-covered branch hit her in the face.
She then wiped the white powder off her face. "So, it's gonna be like that, huh?" She challenged the auburn-haired Dragon Rider.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Hiccup replied with a devious grin.
"Ooh! Burn!" Ragnar teased.
Astrid rolled her eyes playfully, then signaled to Stormfly to shoot a fireball at a heap of snow. "Hey!" The Trio called out to her after they dodged more snow.
"It was her idea!" Astrid pretended to be innocent, gesturing to Stormfly. "But I approved!"
The Trio rolled their eyes with a smirk. Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound coming from behind them. Ragnar and Juno turned around and their faces went pale when they saw what it was.
"Uh, Hiccup?" They called to him.
Hiccup looked back and saw a large wave of snow falling rapidly towards them. He instinctively tried to pull Toothless up to get them airborne. But they fell back down to the ground. Hiccup turned back around to see the tailfin.
"The tail's frozen!" He shouted upon seeing the icy red tailfin.
"Oh, Thor!" Ragnar exclaimed.
Hiccup saw the avalanche coming closer. "Astrid!" He shouted to the shieldmaiden in front of him.
Astrid turned back and saw the masses of snow tumbling down towards them fast. Immediately, she and Stormfly took off into the air with Juno and Ragnar following. But Hiccup and Toothless fell back down again, screaming.
"Hiccup!" His friends yelled down to him. The lead Dragon Rider crawled over to Toothless' tail and tried to push down the prosthetic.
"Guys, problem up ahead!" Juno shouted, pointing.
Astrid and Ragnar looked where she was pointing and saw that the two were sliding towards an abyss. "Hold on!" Astrid called out to as she and the others swooped down.
"No, go back!" He ordered. But they ignored him.
Astrid grabbed Hiccup's hand and tried to pull him up while Ragnar and Juno flew in the front. Ragnar signaled to Fossil to lower his tail for Toothless to climb on. But the force of the avalanche sent everyone and their dragons falling and screaming down into the abyss, the snow burying them alive.
In the darkness, everyone could hear each other shivering. "Guys?" Hiccup called out. "Astrid? Ragnar? Juno?"
"Over here." Astrid answered.
"Everyone okay?" Ragnar asked.
"I guess so." Juno said.
"Hiccup, I'm freezing." Astrid shivered.
"Come here." There was shuffling as Astrid got closer to Hiccup.
"You too, Juno." Ragnar said, and more shuffling was heard as she complied and got closer to him.
"Where are the dragons?" Hiccup asked.
Suddenly, a plasma blast lit up the darkness with purple light as it hit the snow. "Toothless?"
Then, a stream of orange fire hit the snow. "Stormfly?"
A red ball of fire then appeared. "Fossil?"
Finally, there was a white pulse blast. "Coccinelle?"
All four dragons continued firing up at the snowy ceiling until they finally melted a hole in it. The Riders were in awe when they saw that their dragons were encircled around them, with their wings around them, blocking the snow.
Hiccup looked up. "I see daylight!"
Toothless and the others fired once more through the opening to keep the snow from collapsing in. "We're gonna get out of here!" Astrid exclaimed.
"Yes!" Ragnar and Juno cheered.
"Look at what they did." Hiccup said. They all looked up at their dragons who were looking down at their Riders with kind eyes.
"They saved our lives." Astrid replied.
She and Hiccup then noticed just how close they actually were with their arms wrapped around each other. Nervously, they immediately backed away, trying to be casual.
"So-so, so, so we're good now?" Hiccup asked, rubbing his head in embarrassment.
"G-Good as new." Astrid confirmed with a faint blush on her cheeks. In an attempt to bring some normalcy back, she playfully punched Hiccup's shoulder.
Ragnar and Juno stifled their giggles. But then, it became a lot easier when they realized that they were in a similar position as the other two were. Stuttering and blushing, they backed away, trying to pretend it didn't happen.
"We're not mentioning this to the others, right?" Ragnar asked, his face as red as Juno's fox-trim fur coat.
"Nope, we're not." Juno answered, her cheeks a bright shade of crimson.
"Agreed." Hiccup and Astrid answered as well.
Meanwhile, at Mulch and Bucket's farm, Gobber and Stoick were checking the yaks. Gobber crawled out from under one of the yaks.
"Just what I thought. She's not giving milk. None of them are."
"We know that, Gobber." Stoick said. "We want to know why."
"This reminds me of the time I moved my mother in with my goat." Gobber said. "She was mean, ornery, ate everything in sight. The goat was so scared of her, she couldn't give milk."
"So, what are you saying, Gobber?" Stoick asked.
"Mothers and goats don't mix. Same with farm animals and dragons." Gobber explained. "We stopped fighting the dragons, so now they're around all the time. The animals are spooked."
Just then, a Monstrous Nightmare flew by, roaring loudly. The farm animals scattered, and a flock of sheep even fainted in fright.
"Like I said, spooked." Gobber added in.
Suddenly, Bucket began groaning as he held his head in pain. Mulch went over to him.
"Uh-oh. Your bucket's not tightening up on ya, is it?" He asked.
"No, I'm just- FIIINNNE!" Bucket clutched his head in pain.
"When his bucket gets tight, it means a storm is coming." Mulch announced.
Bucket began panicking as he held his head, and Mulch started to comfort his friend. "If lightning strikes me bucket, I could end up less intelligent." Bucket whimpered. He then howled in pain.
Mulch lightly tapped his bucket with his hook. "Oh, ho-ho! That's one tight bucket!" He exclaimed. "And the tighter the bucket, the bigger the storm."
"But that's crazy." Stoick said. "Storms don't hit this early in the season."
"And besides, who ever heard of predicting the weather with a bucket?" Gobber asked. "That's what chicken bones and goose feet are for."
"If you recall, that bucket of his predicted the Blizzard of Olaf!" Mulch reminded.
"That was a bad one!" Bucket recalled. "It took us a week just to dig Mildew out."
"And the rest of our lives to wonder why we bothered." Mulch added.
He turned back to the Chief. "Trust the bucket, Stoick."
"You trust the bucket. I want a second opinion." Stoick said.
A few minutes later, Stoick and Gobber were at Gothi's hut. "Gothi, I've come for your council." Stoick said. "Is there going to be a storm?"
Gothi began scribbling in a dirt patch with her staff. "What's she saying, Gobber?" He asked.
When she was done, Gobber began to translate. "She said, 'What do you think'?"
He then raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
Gothi rolled her eyes and pointed to her house, which was all boarded up. "How can you be sure?" Stoick asked. "Was it the chicken bones? Or the goose feet?"
Gothi scribbled some more, and Gobber translated. "She says it's because she could hear Bucket's screaming from up here."
They both looked at each other. Looks like the bucket predicting the weather didn't sound so crazy after all.
During this, the Misfit Trio and Astrid were telling Fishlegs about their experience. "And then, the dragons used their wings to block the snow." Hiccup finished.
"I never heard of anything like that." Fishlegs said. "Not even in the Book of Dragons."
"I know!" Astrid exclaimed. "It was incredible! It was like their protective instincts just kicked in."
"Who would've thought it?" Hiccup asked, turning to the dragons behind them. "The dragons we had fought for so many years came to our rescue."
"Yeah." Astrid agreed. "Without them, we would've frozen to death."
"You know, you could've used your own bodies to keep each other warm." Fishlegs innocently suggested.
The four of them blinked with wide eyes. Hiccup and Astrid immediately glanced at each other, as did Ragnar and Juno. Then, both pairs nervously backed away from each other.
"Who would do that?" Hiccup asked nervously.
"That's crazy." Astrid said, rubbing her arm.
"We wouldn't do that unless it was absolutely necessary." Ragnar stated.
"Besides, I was sure it wasn't that cold." Juno added in.
"Hey, girls." Snotlout called out to them. "If you're still cold..." He held out his arms and made a kissy face.
Astrid and Juno glared at him, and then Astrid hit against a snow-filled catapult, causing some of the snow to fall on him. "Hey!" He cried out, muffled from underneath the snow.
Astrid smirked, while Juno was still a bit grossed out. "Why is he doing that to me now?" She asked, shuddering.
"Who knows?" Astrid replied.
"Hiccup. Ragnar." Tuffnut called them. "Your father's looking for you and Juno."
"He looked angry." Ruffnut added.
"He's looked angry since the day I was born." Hiccup said sarcastically. "But I'm sure there's no connection."
He hopped on Toothless and flew off to his house, with Juno and Ragnar following suit onboard Coccinelle and Fossil.
In the Haddock household, Stoick was explaining to the Trio about the upcoming blizzard. "With a bad storm coming, we could be locked in." He said. "We might not be able to hunt or fish for months."
"But it's too early for a storm." Hiccup said. "We're in the middle of winter. Devastating winter isn't due for another month."
"Not according to Gothi." Stoick said.
"Well, what do you want us to do?" Hiccup asked, gesturing to himself, Ragnar, and Juno. "We can't control the weather."
"No, but you can control dragons." Stoick explained. "If they don't stop scaring the animals, we won't have any provisions to live on."
The door then opened, and Mulch and Bucket entered with a real bucket. "Any luck?" Stoick asked them.
Mulch handed him the bucket. "Not a drop. And that's from yanking on that poor yak for three hours!" Everyone looked over at the Misfit Trio.
"Well, it's not like the dragons are trying to be scary." Juno said, patting Toothless' head.
"They don't even eat farm animals." Ragnar added. "They eat fish!"
"True." Gobber said. "But they're huge, they breathe fire, and now that we've made peace with them, they're everywhere. The animals are terrified of them."
Stoick then came beside him. "Here's where you three come in and say, 'We'll fix this'." He said.
"Okay. But how long do we have before the storm hits?" Hiccup asked.
"About a week." Mulch assured.
"No problem." Ragnar said. "That's more than enough time."
But then, Bucket started moaning in pain as he held onto his tightening bucket. "Correction. Three days, six hours." Mulch amended.
"Me and my big mouth." Ragnar muttered.
"You think?" Juno growled, annoyed that something always has to go wrong when they think they have something under control.
"Okay, less time might be more of a problem." Hiccup said, his confidence wavering slightly.
Soon, the Dragon Riders were gathered at the Academy with some farm animals, a Deadly Nadder, and a Monstrous Nightmare. "Come on, big boy!" Hiccup coaxed as he and Astrid tried to move a yak closer to the dragons. "You'll really like them if you get to know them."
Astrid then came beside the yak. "The dragons look scary, but they're just big, scaly reptiles." But the yak got out of their grip and quickly ran to the other side of the Academy.
"Okay, how about we try this from an animal's perspective?" Fishlegs suggested as he got down on all fours.
"Look at me! I'm a little sheep, doing sheep things." He then crawled up towards the Nightmare. "Oh, hello, Mr. Nightmare. You don't seem so scary."
It seemed to work until the Nightmare roared in Fishlegs' face and he scurried away to hide under Meatlug. "Sorry, but I'm siding with the sheep on this one." He said.
"Nice, Fishlegs." Ragnar said sarcastically.
"Okay, I've learned that once you had a positive experience with something you're afraid of, it isn't so scary anymore." Hiccup began to explain.
He then led some sheep over towards the Nightmare. "And that's what we'll do with these sheep. We gotta prove to them that they have nothing to fear-"
But he didn't even finish when the Nightmare suddenly sneezed, causing one sheep to catch fire and the others to scatter. Hiccup quickly patted out the flaming sheep that Astrid caught from running around.
"Oh, at this rate, we'll never get any milk or eggs." He groaned.
"How about we try something else?" Juno suggested before her friend would have a nervous breakdown.
Meanwhile, at a storehouse, Stoick and Gobber were checking out the supplies in one of the storehouses. The wind was howling, and there would sometimes be thunder in the distance. The storm was getting closer.
"Just as I feared." Stoick worried as he picked up a plank of wood. "We haven't had time to fully stock the food storehouse. If this storm is as has as I think it is, we're never going to survive."
Gobber handed him a hammer. "Not with this inventory." He muttered.
Stoick began nailing the plank to the doors. "We're going to need everything we can get from those chickens and yaks." He said.
"I'm not really comfortable putting my fate in the hands of a brainless bird and a big woolly beast that sleeps in its own dung." Gobber said.
"Well luckily, our fate isn't in their hands." Stoick replied. "It's in the Trio's."
Back at the Academy, it wasn't getting better. At last, the animals were relaxed enough to stop running around after Astrid and Juno backed the dragons away from them and towards the wall.
"Another way for the animals to overcome their fear is to show that dragons are afraid of things, too." Hiccup explained.
"Remember Magnus the Merciless?" Astrid gave an example. "He was a pretty scary guy."
Everyone shuddered at the mention of the man. "I was afraid of him until I learned that he was afraid of the dark." Astrid continued.
"So during the day, merciless." Tuffnut said.
"And during the night, Tuffnut." Ruffnut teased her brother, which resulted in a jab to the arm.
"Hey! That's a real problem." Tuffnut defended.
Astrid got them back on track. "I'm just saying, knowing that he was afraid of something made him less scary to me."
Hiccup went over to a basket and got out two eels. "Yes, so let's show these yaks that dragons are afraid of things, too."
He showed the eels to the Nightmare and Nadder, and they hissed and backed away in fear. Seeing the scene before them, the yaks bellowed and grunted to each other.
"I think it's working." Astrid said.
"Now we're getting somewhere." Ragnar grinned.
But then, an eel wiggled out of Hiccup's hand and slithered over to the Nightmare. It quickly recoiled, roared, and spun around fearfully. Its tail slammed into a sheep, sending it to the other side of the Academy and to the wall.
Hiccup groaned. "Don't worry." Astrid tried to reassure him.
"Worried?" He asked nervously. "I-I'm not worried! Do I look worried?"
"Hiccup, you're in denial." A dry Juno muttered.
At the Great Hall, everyone was bringing in belongings. By now, the storm had gotten closer, and the wind was more ferocious.
"Bring in everything you need!" Stoick shouted. "We don't know how long we'll be hunkered down!"
Mulch then came by, pushing a wheelbarrow with a writhing Bucket in it. "How is he?" Stoick asked.
"Look at him." Mulch worried over his partner, who was clutching his bucket in pain. "He usually loves a wheelbarrow ride."
"Mulch, I'll take care of Bucket." Stoick said, taking the handles. "You and Gobber go find the kids and bring them here."
Mulch nodded, then left with Gobber towards the Academy.
Meanwhile, everyone was finally getting both the animals and the dragons calmed down. Hiccup came up to Astrid with two clucking hens in his arms.
"You know what I'm learning from all this?" He said. "Chickens are really, well, chicken." He then put them back down.
"What if we show them how much they have in common with the dragons?" Fishlegs suggested.
Astrid and the Misfit Trio gave him confused looks. "They both lay eggs, right? A Terrible Terror laid one last week."
Fishlegs placed a large olive green egg with small black speckles on the ground. Curious, the hens got closer to it. One even got on top of it.
"Alright, see? An egg's an egg, right ladies?" Hiccup asked the hens.
But then suddenly, the egg began cracking, then explosively hatched, sending the hens running from the flames, squawking in fright. "Until it explodes." Hiccup finished dryly.
"Ragnar, why didn't you tell us that the egg was about to hatch?" Juno demanded the Iverson boy.
"I only know that they explode, not exactly when they do that!" Ragnar shouted back in a panic, his hands up in surrender.
As the other animals began to panic as well, Gobber and Mulch arrived. By now, snow was starting to fall rapidly.
"Everyone out!" Gobber ordered. "The storm is here!"
"Already?!" Ragnar yelled.
"Wait! We haven't made any progress with the animals!" Hiccup said over the howling wind.
Gobber scooped up a chicken with his hook arm. "Your father wants everyone in the Great Hall!" He shouted.
"Take the others." Hiccup replied. "I need to stay here and keep working with the animals. They're still afraid."
"Not without us!" Ragnar and Juno said, staying by his side.
"You can't get eggs from a frozen chicken!" Gobber shouted. "We've got to get the animals in the barn!"
A few minutes later, they arrived to a building buried under mounds of snow. "So much for the barn." Gobber grumbled.
"There's no other place to hold them!" Mulch shouted over the wind.
Hiccup then got an idea. "The Great Hall!"
"So we're gonna have the dragons and the animals under the roof?" Mulch asked. "They're still afraid."
"If anyone has a better idea, I'd like to hear it!" Ragnar yelled.
"We don't have a choice!" Juno ordered.
Everyone soon began to make their way to the Great Hall, trying to keep the animals together. Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck a tree, sending it crashing in front of Stormfly. Startled, her tail accidentally slapped Hookfang across the face. He angrily set himself on fire, scaring the animals and scattering them.
"Don't worry! I've got this under control!" Snotlout said just as he was ran over by some yaks. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Okay, everything hurts."
"I wish I could've seen that again." Ragnar said with a smirk.
The animals ran past Fishlegs in bursts of speed, making him dizzy as he spun around. Ruffnut tried to follow a flock of sheep, but then a chicken flew in her face, stopping her.
The Trio watched with a sigh as the animals disappeared into the forest. Hiccup then ran towards Toothless. "Where are you going?" Gobber asked.
"I'm going after them!" Hiccup answered.
"Forget it, Hiccup!" Gobber shouted. "We'll never get them rounded up in this storm!"
"With Toothless, I can!" Hiccup retorted back. "I have to try. If I don't, we starve to death."
"He's right." Juno added.
"No!" Gobber exclaimed. "Your father would kill me if I left you out here!" He said to Hiccup and Ragnar.
"Sorry, Gobber." The Trio said as their dragons took off with them.
"Kids, come back here!" Gobber turned to Astrid. "Astrid, would you talk some sense into-"
But then Astrid got on Stormfly. "Oh, not you, too!" He groaned when he saw the other teens hop on their dragons. "Get back here, all of you!" But the Riders all vanished into the blizzard.
At the Great Hall, the wind howled against its walls as Stoick was giving out orders. "Move those tables against the doors!" He pointed to the doors being blown off their hinges.
But before two Vikings can bar the doors, Gobber ran in. "Stoick!" He yelled. "The barn's been destroyed! The animals have scattered!"
Stoick came up to him. "Where are the kids?" He asked.
"I tried to stop them, Stoick." Gobber said. "They went after the animals."
As they were about to leave to search for the Riders, Bucket, no longer in pain, and Mulch came in with two yaks. "I caught these two." Mulch said. "I figured at least with these two, we'd be able to start a new herd."
"You might want to take another look, Mulch." Gobber said as he and Stoick left the Great Hall.
Mulch double-checked the yaks and saw his mistake. "Oh! Uh, never mind, boys." He said sheepishly.
Flying through the blinding blizzard, the Riders searched for the missing animals. It was dark now, so once in a while, Toothless would fire a plasma blast to give some light.
"You guys, grab as many as you can!" Hiccup ordered to the others. "We'll herd them back to the Great Hall."
"Can we swing by my house first?" Fishlegs asked, rubbing his arms. "I'd like to get my heavy coat."
"You could've thought of that sooner!" Juno shouted, wrapping her fox-trim coat tighter around her.
"Check it out!" Tuffnut called. "I'm so cold, I can't feel my face!" Ruffnut decided to test that, and slapped her brother across the face. "Didn't feel that!" Her brother taunted.
"That takes all the fun out of it!" She whined.
"There they are!" Hiccup shouted, seeing the animals up ahead. "Come on!"
"Yaks to the left!" Fishlegs yelled.
"Chickens to the right!" Snotlout called.
He tried to go over there, but accidently slammed into Fishlegs and Meatlug. "Hey! I'm flying here!"
He then began to try and gather the chickens. "Chickens!" He called. "Come this way! Follow me!"
Hookfang decided to have some fun and started to fly upwards. "Wait, where are you going?" Snotlout asked, and looked ahead to see a tree in their path. He screamed as Hookfang began flying like crazy.
Meanwhile, Fishlegs and Ragnar were trying to gather the sheep. "Sheep! Hey, sheep!" Fishlegs called as Meatlug started to catch up. "Hey, I think it's working!" But then, the sheep ran under an overturned tree, while Meatlug got herself and Fishlegs stuck under it.
Ragnar and Fossil flew by them, joined by Juno, Coccinelle, Astrid, and Stormfly. "Not to worry!" He shouted. "We got them!"
Stormfly flung some tail spines, circling the sheep, corralling them. "Yes!" Astrid shouted triumphantly.
However, it was short-lived when Hookfang dove down and knocked over the spines, letting the sheep loose. "Snotlout!" Juno yelled.
"What are you doing?" Astrid demanded.
"You're flying around like a maniac!" Ragnar shouted.
"You try herding chickens with a dragon that doesn't listen to you!" Snotlout retorted back.
The sheep then started to split off in different directions. "Hiccup, stray sheep!" Astrid called out to him.
Hiccup and Toothless flew in that direction, following that group of sheep to an icy ledge. The smallest of the three suddenly slipped and started falling, sliding off a cliff. But then, Toothless zoomed over and gently caught the sheep in his paws. He looked down at it and gave it a gummy smile.
When they got back on the ground, Toothless set the sheep down, and it ran back where the other two were. "Good job, bud." Hiccup said, patting the Night Fury on his head.
Ragnar, Juno, and Astrid then flew over to them. "Hiccup, the storm's getting worse!" Astrid shouted over the wind. "I can't see anything!"
"We can't stay out there much longer!" Ragnar yelled.
"We'll freeze to death!" Juno added.
"Come on, bud. Give us some light." Hiccup said to Toothless. T
he Night Fury fired a plasma blast into the sky, lighting the area and two figures in the distance. "Stray yaks, twelve o'clock!"
"I see them!" Tuffnut replied as he and Ruffnut guided Barf and Belch towards them. "And they are huge!"
Barf and Belch swooped over and grabbed them with their paws. "I got the yaks!" Tuffnut proclaimed.
"Put me down!" A familiar voice yelled. "Right now!"
The "yaks" turned out to be Stoick and Gobber. The twins looked at each other and shrugged. They then let go of them.
"Do I look like a yak to ya?!" Gobber demanded angrily, landing on all fours right next to a real yak, showing the ironic similarities between them.
"Do you really want us to answer that question?" Ragnar asked, stifling his building laughter.
Hiccup landed and came up to his father. "Dad, I'm sorry I let you down."
"It's not your fault, son." Stoick said. "You shouldn't be out here. I'm taking you back."
"Which way?" Gobber asked, standing up.
"Follow our tracks." Stoick replied, pointing. But there was nothing left now that the snow had covered them up.
"So much for that idea." Gobber groaned.
"Sir?" Fishlegs came up to Stoick with Snotlout and the twins. "What do we do now?"
Stoick looked over at the teens, who were all shivering. He held out his arms. "Everyone, come together."
Everyone huddled close together, trying to keep warm. Toothless saw them still shivering and roared to the other dragons. One by one, they all circled around the Vikings and spread out their wings around, shielding them from the icy wind.
"What are they doing?" Stoick asked in awe.
"They're protecting us." Hiccup answered.
"It's their natural instinct." Astrid added in wonder.
Fossil and Hookfang fired at the snow in extra attempts to keep everyone warm like a campfire would, as did Coccinelle, Meatlug, and Stormfly, making the snow sizzle and hiss.
Toothless looked around and saw the sheep visibly quaking in the snow. He walked over to them, and the two larger sheep ran a few yards away. But, the smaller one; the one Toothless had saved, stayed put. Toothless blocked the hail with his wing and gestured to the others with his head.
Despite being afraid, the little sheep began to move forward to the fire. Toothless ran back over to his position, making an opening for the sheep to walk through. The sheep looked around, amazed at the many kind faces looking at it. It then turned back and bleated over to the other animals, and one by one, they began to move towards the warm circle, taking comfort in it.
"Your dragons are really something, son." Stoick said in awe as he placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder.
"Yeah, they are." Hiccup said back with a soft smile.
As the morning sun started to rise a few hours later, the dragons shook the snow off their wings. Stoick gave the Misfit Trio a proud smile, and they returned it. Then, they started to lead the animals back to the Great Hall, now that the storm had ended.
When they arrived, the villagers cheered to see that they're okay. "They're back!" Mulch cried joyfully. "And they're all right, too!"
Bucket then saw some of them leading a couple of yaks inside. "The animals are alright, too!"
Mulch then saw the dragons entering. "Uh, oh. Here comes the dragons."
Hookfang roared as he entered the Great Hall, but everyone was surprised to see him crouch down and the sheep jumping off his back. "Well, would you look at that?" An amazed Mulch amazed.
"Hey, everyone!" Astrid called their attention. Hiccup came up with a hen in his arms. He then held up a single egg.
"The chickens are laying eggs again!" He announced, and everyone began cheering again.
"I was right." Bucket said. "Chickens do lay eggs." Mulch just rolled his eyes with a smile.
Winter in Berk is long and brutal, and the only way to survive it is if we're all in it together.
Everyone then began helping to bring the animals inside. The Misfit Trio all smiled when they saw everyone mingling peacefully, animals included.
We made our peace with the dragons when we saw that we could trust them. Turns out they actually have instincts to protect us. Life on Berk just got a little warmer.
The doors then closed, blocking out the cold once more.
A/N: Man! It's hard to write something long down when you have mountains of homework to do first. But, I hope this chapter was worth the wait, though.
And FYI, I won't make Snotlout flirt with both Astrid and Cosette as much, but he does sometimes gets his own ideas. And not very good ones at that.
Well, I'll see y'all in Chapter 4! Hopefully, it won't take so long. Please leave a review about what you think.
Got to fly! ;)