MDM's Version of How To Train Your Dragon
A/N: I'm back, fellow Dragon Riders! This chapter was a lot to get down. Also, this week was stressful. School is not easy, especially in high school. Now, you guys get to see what the surprise is. Or should I say, surprises?
Intrigued? Well, then let's get on with Chapter 15 of my version of HTTYD! Roll it!
Chapter 15
An Epiphany and New Friends
An hour later, the Misfit Trio and Toothless were resting on a secluded beach near the sea stacks, having a fish feast as celebration of the successful test flight. Hiccup's hair was singed and blown back. His, Ragnar, and Juno's faces all had ashes smeared over; the other two not that bad as the former's.
They heard a familiar retching sound and saw that Toothless had spit up a fish head for them. "Uh, no thanks. I'm good." Hiccup politely declined, holding up his own roasting fish.
"All yours, buddy." Ragnar agreed, cooling off his roasted cod.
"Go ahead." Juno said to the dragon after swallowing a bite of her cooked salmon.
Three chirps were then heard above them. The Misfit Trio and Toothless looked up ahead and saw three Terrible Terrors flying towards them; two green and one yellow. Toothless gave a low, protective growl.
One of the Terrors went to grab one of Toothless' fish, but he angrily snarled at it, carefully blocking his dinner with his paws. Another grabbed the fish head that he coughed up and began fighting with the third Terror for it, shooting fire.
Toothless then saw that the first Terror was trying to sneak away with one of his fish. He grabbed it with his teeth, and snatched it back. He quickly ate it and gave the Terror a draconic laugh.
The Terror angrily stomped its way closer towards the much bigger dragon, trying its best to look intimidating. The Misfit Trio gave each other a quick nervous glance, but Toothless didn't look too worried. He actually seemed rather smug about the tiny dragon threatening and challenging him.
The little Terror prepared to shoot fire at Toothless, but the Night Fury just fired a small plasma blast into the gases building up in its mouth, causing them to explode inside the little dragon and leaving the Terror bloated and dizzy. The Misfit Trio each stifled a chuckle.
"Not so fireproof on the inside, are you?" Hiccup asked. He then tossed the Terror one of his own fish. "Here you go."
The Terror happily gobbled up the small cod. Then, it gratefully cuddled up beside Hiccup and quickly fell asleep. He stared in awe as he gently petted the sleeping Terror.
"Everything we know about you guys is wrong." Ragnar and Juno only nodded, silently agreeing with him. If only Vikings got to understand these amazing creatures, the war would've ended centuries ago.
A rumbling sound was then heard, scaring the Terrors and they all flapped away. Toothless and the Misfit Trio saw a huge dragon flying towards them. It had pale olive green scales, but almost all of its body was covered in dirty ivory dragon bones, wearing it like armor. Toothless wrapped his tail around the Misfit Trio, shielding them and snarled protectively at the huge dragon.
"Ragnar, is that what I think it is?" Juno asked, clutching his arm and trying to hide behind him.
Ragnar nodded and gulped. "Yep. That's a Boneknapper."
"Didn't Gobber tell us stories about how he met a Boneknapper?" Hiccup whispered.
"Yeah." Juno confirmed. "Guess we should believe him more often."
The dragon opened up its bony jaw and out came... a tiny squeak. "Huh." Ragnar said. "No roar."
"That's... strange." Hiccup added.
Ragnar jumped over Toothless' tail and slowly began walking up to the Boneknapper. "Rag!" Juno hissed. "What are you doing?!"
Ragnar ignored her and continued his way cautiously up to the humongous dragon. The Boneknapper saw him approaching and stood there, wary of the human coming closer to it. Him, when Ragnar identified his gender.
As he got closer, he noticed an empty space in the Boneknapper's armor over his throat that was shaped almost like a T. "I wonder..." He thought aloud.
He reached into his satchel and pulled a small bone that was the same size and shape as the space in the Boneknapper's armor. "What's that, Ragnar?" Hiccup asked, still with Toothless and Juno.
"Gobber's belt buckle." said Ragnar. "Stole it this morning before he woke up."
"When will he realize that it's gone?" Cosette asked.
"He probably knows by now, or else his pants would've fallen down in the middle of town." Ragnar joked.
Hiccup and Cosette both shuddered visible with disgust. "That image is gonna give me nightmares." Hiccup remarked.
Ragnar got a little bit closer to the Boneknapper, to who gave him a low snarl. "Hey. It's okay, big guy." He whispered.
He then slowly held out the T-shaped bone, letting the dragon see it. "I think you may have been looking for this." He threw it up towards the dragon and the bone landed in the empty space.
The Boneknapper shook around for a bit, letting himself get adjusted to the new piece in his armor, and then let out an ear-piercing roar; so loud that everyone could even feel the sound waves. The Misfit Trio and Toothless covered their ears as best as they could.
When the ringing in their ears finally subsided, they slowly removed their hands, or paws in Toothless' case. The Boneknapper took a huge step towards Ragnar. He held his breath as the dragon lowered his head to Ragnar's level. A small nudge and a contented purr was heard as the Boneknapper kept gently nudging him in gratitude.
"Well, I'll be." Hiccup said in amazement.
Toothless lowered his tail down and joined Hiccup and Juno to meet their new friend. "Boneknappers will keep searching for the perfect bone to build its coat of armor." Ragnar informed.
"Huh." Juno said, impressed. "So, when they finish their armor, they get their roar."
"Interesting." Hiccup said.
He chuckled at Ragnar giving the Boneknapper scratches under his jaw. "Looks like we have a new friend."
"What will you name him?" Juno asked.
Ragnar observed his new dragon. "Well, you're like a living fossil." He said to him. "How about I call you Fossil?"
His response was another nudge to his chest, making him laugh. "Fossil it is."
"Mind if I ride with you back home?" Juno asked him with a curious smile.
Ragnar felt his face turning red again. The thought of her arms around his waist again made his brain halt in its tracks. He hoped she couldn't see the color of his face, turning scarlet now.
A nudge from Fossil and seeing Hiccup and Toothless' knowing looks from the corner of his eye got him to finally speak. "Uh, sure. Uh, why not?" He said, mentally cursing himself. He almost never stuttered around Juno.
Juno raised an eyebrow, but then just shrugged off his strange sudden shyness. "Great!" She said.
Ragnar ignored Hiccup's teasing smile that he caught as he hoisted himself onto Fossil's neck. He then held out a hand and pulled Juno up behind him. Hiccup got himself on Toothless and all of them began flying back home.
When the Misfit Trio, Toothless, and Fossil began nearing the cove, they heard a growl from down below. They peered down and saw a dragon snarling up at them. Toothless and Fossil quickly landed in the cove and growled back at the dragon.
It had a long snake-like body, its neck a third of the length. It had deep ruby colored scales with black spines and faint rosette spots. Its white horns on the back of its head shone in the disappearing lavender light.
"Ragnar?" Hiccup asked, whispering. "What is that?"
"It can't be." Ragnar whispered. "I've only seen pictures of it. That's... a Grapple Grounder."
"Grapple Grounder?" Juno asked, sounding intrigued.
"It's a rare Boulder Class dragon." Ragnar explained. "Hardly no one has ever seen one. Judging from what I could see, this one is a female."
Juno couldn't tear her eyes away from the beautiful dragon. She leapt off Fossil and slowly began to approach the Grapple Grounder.
"Juno, what are you doing?!" Ragnar hissed.
"Get back here!" Hiccup quietly yelled out to her.
The Grapple Grounder growled at the human girl who was coming closer to her. But Juno continued tiptoeing closer, whispering to her calmly.
"Hey, hey. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."
She then spotted something on the right side of the dragon's ribcage. It looked like a scar, or a brand. The harder she looked, the more it looked familiar. A scary kind of familiar.
When she tried to get closer with her hand slowly outstretching, the Grapple Grounder roared and started to attack. "Juno!" The boys cried out.
Juno dodged every charge and tail flip that the Grapple Grounder threw at her. She then jumped up and grabbed the dragon's horns. The Grapple Grounder tossed her head about, trying to make Juno go flying.
"Calm down!" Juno shouted, trying to hold on. "I just want to help you!"
Finally, with all her might, she brought the Grapple Grounder's head down to the ground, and got off. "There."
Suddenly, the Grapple Grounder got back up on her feet and glared down at Juno, who surprisingly returned it. The boys waited with bated breaths.
The dragon soon lowered her head down in respect. Juno was startled by that action, but then decided to try again. She slowly reached out her hand, and soon felt warm scales on her palm. The Grapple Grounder nuzzled her head into Juno's body. She giggled.
"Well, I'll be cursed by Odin." Ragnar said, stepping up towards her along with Hiccup, Toothless, and Fossil. "You trained a Grapple Grounder by wrestling with it."
"I guess you show strength, honor and respect by beating her in a wrestling match." Hiccup theorized. "So, what will you name her, Juno?" He asked.
Juno took a good look at her new dragon. "Well, her scales are really pretty. They remind me of a lady beetle with the red scales and the black spots and spines."
Then it hit her. "That could be your name." She said to the Grapple Grounder, petting her head. "Coccinelle."
"Coccinelle?" Hiccup asked.
"You remember when my mom was teaching us Latin?" Juno asked. "Coccinella is apparently 'lady beetle' in Latin. But to make it have more of a ring, I think Coccinelle works better."
"I like it." Ragnar said. Coccinelle nuzzled Juno, liking her name.
"Well, we gotta go, guys." Hiccup said. "We'll see the three of you tomorrow, with saddles for you two." He promised, looking over at Fossil and Coral.
Toothless wanted them to stay just a little bit more. He saw Juno's satchel and got an idea. He grabbed it and pushed it against her body.
Juno smiled at him, took her satchel, and pulled out her lute. "I think Toothless wants to hear my song again." She said.
Ragnar chuckled. "All right." He said, sitting down on the ground.
Hiccup then sat down himself, next to Toothless. "One song, bud." He said to him.
Fossil and Coccinelle looked at Toothless, confused. He just gave them a knowing glance, telling them to just watch. Juno strummed a couple of strings before beginning to play the song, singing along. Her beautiful voice rang out through the cove. Hiccup and Ragnar smiled at their friend, while the dragons were swaying their heads to the catchy beat.
When Juno finished her song, she and the boys packed up their things and said goodnight to their dragons. They then headed out of the cove and back home after such an eventful day.
A/N: Whew! That was long! So tell me in the reviews about what you thought of the surprises in here. I owe a big thanks to Rachel, who helped me figure out how Juno trains Coccinelle, and to a Guest reviewer and Sachsm082 for the idea of Coccinelle bearing a brand.
Two fast facts: Scientific names for all living organisms are all in Latin. And also, here in North America, we call those beetles "ladybugs". In the United Kingdom, they call them "ladybirds". Everywhere else, they just call them "lady beetles".
I think new posts are gonna take a while next time, because I need a new notebook to write chapters in now. Maybe I could just use one of the ones I have and just use that. I don't know.
But I'll see you guys in Chapter 16, where a problem is starting to arise that could threaten the Misfit Trio's secret.
Got to fly! ;)