Tunnel vision
It's been two weeks since we got back from Dragon Island and things have been surprisingly calm with no trouble from the Outcasts or Berserkers. Now some might think this is a good thing but for me it was just worrying that something bad was going to happen even though I was able to use my falcons to keep an eye on both my enemies. It didn't exactly help that the Outcasts have been spotted a few times recently as if they're checking on something. I just hoped I'd be able to handle whatever it was they were planning but in the meantime, I've been training both me and all my dragons harder than ever but made sure they rested and when we weren't training I got to enjoy watching the other teens clean out the barns with their bare hands which I believed was a well-deserved punishment which ended two days ago.
I was now flying over the village on Toothless with Sapphire, Angel and Coal at my sides as we chased Gobber down with my father chasing him on the ground. The reason for us chasing Gobber is because it was time for his bath but as always, he did his level best to avoid it claiming that his stench was how a Viking was supposed to smell and that it was a badge of honor. In all honesty he needed a bath more than anything since he smelt bad enough to knock a dragon off and I know this because a terror that hangs around the village took one whiff and passed out. I signaled Sapphire to launch some spines to cut him off which she was all too happy to do. Her spines flew into the ground in front of him as he turned around as we came in for a landing with coal and Sapphire on either side of me while Angel cloaked herself against a building while I signaled her to get behind him as he said.
"You were able to trick me into getting into a bath on your island Hiccup but you can't do it to me here in the village Hiccup." I had Toothless walk a few steps forward.
"It's for the good of both you and the village Gobber." I pulled out a small canteen. "I even brought some peach scented oils for your bath since you love them and brought Coal after filling him up with the ingredients for Gronkle iron so you could get it fresh and hot."
"I love eating peaches lad not smelling like them." He sighed. "Honestly what kind of Viking wants to smell like their favorite fruit?" I signaled Angel to get ready. "Besides it's going to take a whole lot more than a bit of gronkle iron to get me to willingly take a bath."
"COAL NOW!"
When Gobber turned to face Coal, I signaled Angel to get Gobber while he was distracted. She pushed her head underneath Gobbers legs and tossed him into the tub where he tried to get out but my dad pushed him back into the tub and ordered Bucket and Mulch to bring in the soap and water from the well. When they ran up Mulch tipped the bucket he was holding over Gobbers head only for a trickle of water to come down on him. I dismounted from Toothless and walked up to them before saying.
"We're going to need a whole lot more water if we're going to get rid of Gobbers stench men." Bucket looked down and said.
"But do we get more water Stoick since the well isn't giving any more of its water."
"What do you mean?" Mulch stepped forward.
"He means the wells gone dry Chief." My dad and I walked over to the well to investigate before my dad pulled a bucket out only to find it empty.
"We just dug that well two summers ago." I looked down the well.
"Something is definitely wrong."
"Hiccup it's just a dried up well!"
"No I checked it yesterday when I came by and got thirsty and then there was plenty of water which couldn't have just disappeared."
"We'll have to investigate that later but for now we need to ration our water which means-" Gobber walked up behind us and wrapped an arm around me.
"No more baths! Always a silver lining." I then made the mistake of breathing in through my nose and getting a whiff of Gobbers stench, which made me, lean on the well gagging and gasping for air for a few seconds before my dad put a hand on my shoulder.
"Hiccup are you alright." I turned to him.
"I am so tripling the amount of bath oils we're using on Gobber when we're able to bath him." He nodded.
"In do you think you could help supply some clean water to the village."
"I could but I'm more interested in investigating the disappearing water." He sighed before giving me a look, which I knew, meant he was about to say something I wasn't going to like.
"Hiccup for now I'm putting you in charge of putting the teens in positions to gather water for the village."
"Dad if you're asking me to let them ride my dragons then so help me I will personally-" He held up his hands to tell me to calm down.
"Hiccup listen I know you're not eager to let anyone ride your dragons but right now we need your help to gather water so please just let them use your dragons." Before I could answer he continued. "If they try anything I'll allow you to punish them however you want."
"Fine but my dragon will carry them in their claws and they keep an eye on the water being handed out."
"Why can't they just ride your dragons and why do they have to guard the water being handed out."
"Because if they are being carried it would make them think twice before angering my dragons and as for the guard duty I wouldn't put it past Snotlout to take advantage of thirsty people and selling the water he brings with my dragons." Both my father and Gobber nodded in agreement.
"Alright son you've got yourself a deal."
"Good!" I mounted Toothless as I looked down at them. "Tell them to get to the old dragon kill ring while I get some of my dragons to help out with collecting water and finding out what's happened."
They both nodded before we took off back to the island with my other dragons following.
When we returned I had Toothless with me of course along with Coal, Champ, Violet, Scorch, Diggs, Stonetooth, Gas and Flash and Venus, Flower, Chocolate and Sweetie. Coal was here to use his steady hovering to lower me down into the well while Champ was going to use his slim and flexible build to fly down to the bottom if something happens. Diggs and Stonetooth were here to help dig and build a new well with Diggs digging it and Stonetooth aiding in its construction. Violet, Gas and Flash, Venus, Flower, Chocolate and Sweetie were here to help transport the water. We made our way to the old dragon kill ring where the teens were waiting for us. I told them their jobs, with whom they'll be doing their jobs with and which dragons would be taking them as I strapped my dragons fishing baskets full of empty canteens on to their backs. The plan was for Snotlout and Astrid to go to the mountain streams with Violet and Scorch to fill up as many canteens as they can. The twins would be going to collect water using the washtub and empty canteens from Lars Lake with Gas and Flash, Venus, Flower, Chocolate and Sweetie. I was having my Snaptrapper go with them since I felt they should keep a close eye on the twins knowing them well enough to know they would most likely start fighting which would no doubt spill all the water everywhere and break multiple canteens. Fishleggs would be helping me check out the well and why it went dry all of a sudden. When I finished telling them the plan I got a bit of a laugh when Snotlout got a punch from Astrid after he said.
"Mountain Rivers! Pretty romantic aye Astrid?" She punched him to the ground after that before the Tuffnut said.
"I get our job Hiccup but the tub is pretty big! Heck it's bigger than Ruffs butt so it may take a while." He was then sucker punched in the face by his sister before she looked at me and asked.
"Hey Hiccup could I switch jobs with someone?"
"Who?"
"I'd like to swap jobs with Fishleggs."
"Why?" She ran up and wrapped her arms around my arm.
"I'd rather be spending my time with you!" I pushed her off.
"No changing your teammates or missions!" I saw Ruff and Tuff were about to argue but I just whistled to signal my dragons. "Let's get to work!"
Half an hour later
Coal was hovering above the well with a rope wrapped around him and me holding a lantern with the bottom wrapped around my waist as he slowly lowered me down the well with Toothless, Champ, Stonetooth, Diggs, my father and Gobber observing. As I was lowered down into the well I kept wondering what could have happened to all the water and if we had just not dug a deep enough well. I examined the walls looking for any clue as to what may of happened when I saw the wall was darker from one point down so I yelled up to Coal to stop for a moment. I checked the wall and saw that the water levels weren't so low and after feeling the darker part I found out the walls were still wet meaning something happened which drained the water out of the well. I pulled a small rock from the wall and dropped it into the darkness below to see if I could hear it splash into any water. When I heard it hit the ground I called out to Coal to lower me a bit more but unfortunately for me I failed to notice the sharp rock the rope that was holding me was scraping against before it was too late and it snapped. I screamed as I fell until I hit the ground, which fortunately didn't take long. When I landed Toothless and Champ soon followed down the hole. I quickly ran up to see if Toothless was okay since he landed hard while Champ was able to stop mid fall thanks to his slim figure. I simply got a quick lick from Toothless and Champ before I called up to my dad that I was going to investigate down here after telling him not to come down himself. We walked around the caves seeing more and more as we got in deeper before I said.
"These tunnels run right underneath the town but they seem familiar somehow." As I looked around at the tunnels I felt something crunch beneath my feet. "Huh!" I looked down and saw a large eggshell. "Dragon eggs?" Toothless leaned down and smelt the eggs before growling as I noticed a crate ahead of us and saw a crest on it. "That's the Outcasts crest." I then heard a growl ahead of me. "Toothless shine some light up ahead!" He fired a plasma blast lighting up the cave and showing the floor covered in dragon eggshells as we walked forward before I noticed tunnels in the walls. "Those are whispering Death tunnels." I snapped my fingers. "No wonder they looked familiar they match Diggs tunnels." I then looked at a ceiling and saw a much bigger tunnel. "I don't even want to know what dug this tunnel." I turned to Toothless and Champ. "Let's get out of here guys before the whispering deaths come back." I rubbed my chin. "If they're still young then maybe Diggs could help deal with them."
We then left the part of the cave where all the eggshells were found to try and find a way out of these caves so we could better prepare to deal with the whispering deaths. We made our way out of the small cavern where the eggshells were found. We eventually found the entrance to the caverns but unfortunately for us it had been blocked up with large boulders meaning we couldn't get out. It was at that moment my lantern went out much to my annoyance but I just had Toothless relight it but when he did I wish he hadn't. Right behind us in front of the entrance was a whispering death that was looking down at us and growling. It was at that moment I knew we were in serious trouble! Fortunately, Toothless hit it with a plasma blast allowing Champ the opportunity to wrap around its head sealing its mouth. It growled and shook its head trying to get Champ off while I mounted Toothless and said.
"Great job guys now let's get out of here!"
With that said we took off with Champ quickly followed us as we barely dodged some of the whispering Deaths spines. We flew through the twists and turns of the tunnels as I asked myself if young whispering deaths weren't capable of digging straight tunnels. I was quickly brought out of my thoughts when another whispering death burst out of the wall next to us. Fortunately, before it could get a bite out of Toothless and me Champ who was flying behind us hit the side of its head with a fireball. As Champ flew up next to us I gave him a smile and nod of thanks which he just growled before we flew into a large cavern where we were cut off by another whispering death and before we could turn around the two from before flew in from behind cutting off the way we came in. I looked around and counted three of them in total which fortunately left an opening in their ambush for us to escape through which we were all too happy to take. We flew through the tunnels twisting through the tunnels avoiding all the pillars, stalactites and stalagmites. As we flew I looked back and saw we weren't being followed. I had Toothless stop so we could go back and see why we weren't being followed. When we went back I saw some dust fall from above us and looked up to find a tunnel, which meant they were going up to Berk.
"Oh, this is bad!" Were the only words I could come up with at that moment before we flew up!
We kept flying up through the twisting and turning tunnels before we finally saw the light of day signaling the end of the tunnels. We breached the surface and much to my horror the whispering Deaths were tearing the village apart with my dad and Gobber trying to fight one of them off. It was at that moment I heard a roar behind me and I saw Violet, Scorch and Coal trying to chase down one of the whispering deaths while Gas and Flash, Venus, Flower, Chocolate and Sweetie were trying to cut it off. I realized this still left Diggs and Stonetooth along with the last whispering death unaccounted for. It was at that moment the ground behind me burst open with the missing whispering death coming out from it.
Diggs and Stonetooth soon followed out of the hole as I flew down towards one of the whispering deaths that had my father pinned to the ground as he used a wooden shield to hold it off. I signaled Champ to attack that whispering death which he was all too happy to do. After the whispering death was off my dad we flew down towards him and once we landed I helped him up before he asked.
"What in Odin's name is going on?"
"Adolescent whispering deaths but we'll go over that later since right now we have to deal with them."
"So, if they're still young does it mean they'll be easier to handle?" I shook my head.
"No! Young whispering deaths are even more dangerous than adults since they don't have control over their spines or jaw muscles." I unfolded my shield and used it to block some spines that were fired our way.
"How in the name of Thor do we get them out of the village and off Berk then?"
"They hate the sunlight in their eyes so I can use the sun light reflecting of my shield to drive them off."
"Well then get to it!"
I mounted Toothless before we took off to drive off the whispering deaths. We took off after them before I signaled all my dragons to try and surround them so I could use the light to drive them all off together. My dragons were able to accomplish this with a few flaming blasts and a few roars from Diggs to drive them together. Once they were all grouped up I used the reflection from my shield to shine light into their eyes making them roar in pain and flee from the village as we gave chase shining more light into their eyes. We didn't stop chasing after them till they were out of the forest and out of sight. My dragons gave roars of victory but I held up my hand and said.
"Don't celebrate yet guys!" I lowered my hand. "I have the feeling this isn't over yet." It was at that moment the ground began to shake like an earthquake as I growled. "It's times like these I hate being right."
Then a huge albino dragon with red eyes, a long snake-like body, multiple rows of teeth, red spikes on the head and spiny frill layers on the neck. I had read about this dragon from both the dragon eye and Borks notes and knew it was a dragon species known as a screaming death. Unfortunately, this also meant big trouble for us. It then let out a roar at us that disoriented my dragons before it flew passed us towards Berk. I signaled Toothless to hit it with a plasma blast which he was all too happy to do. The screaming death turned to face us and let out another roar before it launched some of its spines at us, which we were barely able to dodge. This also gave the screaming death enough time to make it into the village and attack a villager who was blowing the alarm horn. I signaled all my dragons to fire at the dragon before it could cause any more trouble. They were all too happy to do so but unfortunately the only thing this accomplished was making it angrier and want to attack us instead of the village.
It turned to us and let out a roar before it charged at us and shot some of its spines towards us, which we were barely able to dodge. I signaled all my dragons to hit it with their blast, which they all did, but the only thing it seemed to do was make it angrier and come after us. We flew away as I thought of everything I had ever read about the screaming death. I then heard a roar ahead of us before one of the whispering deaths from before fly out in front of us and shoot some of its spines towards us. We were all able to dodge them before I turned Toothless to the side towards the sea stacks hoping we'd be able to at least lead the fight away from Berk.
I'm glad to say we were successful in leading the fight away from the island and into the sea stacks with both the screaming death and all the whispering deaths. I signaled my dragons to split up so we could divide and conquer these wild dragons. I had Gas and flash and Venus, Flower, Chocolate and Sweetie lead one away along with Violet, Coal and Champ take another. Scorch and Stonetooth took the last one while Toothless, Diggs and me took care of the screaming death.
As I tried to think of a way to beat this thing and why it was following Toothless and me we had to dodge balls of fire and sharp spines. Unfortunately, I was brought out of my thoughts as we flew under a stone bridge and one of the screaming deaths blasts hit above us knocking us down onto the top of a sea stack in front of us. When we crashed I was thrown off Toothless but as I began to get up I saw the screaming death rising from in front of the sea stack ready to kill me but before it could do anything it was cut off by an all too familiar roar and looked down to see Glacia coming out of the water underneath us. She burst out of the water and was able to grab onto the screaming deaths tail stopping it from flying after us before it let out a roar and turned back to blast Glacia making her let go and roar in pain. Now this got me angry since I had raised Glacia from an egg and held a special bond with her. I didn't have much time to think it over though before Glacia took a swing at the screaming death with her tusks and was able to hit it into a sea stack. I saw this hurt its wing a bit but not enough to stop it. It turned to us and roared before charging at Toothless and me before I realized why it was after us. I had read that adolescent screaming deaths were attracted to light, which was currently reflecting off my armor. I knew with the sea stacks and the screaming deaths injured wing we could use this to our advantage. We began twisting through the sea stacks with the screaming death smashing through them to follow us, which I knew would only agitate its injury. Fortunately, I knew these sea stacks like the back of my hand since I used them to train my dragons. It is because of this I knew we were heading to a large sea stack that even Diggs had a tough time getting through so I was hoping the screaming death would have trouble breaking through it as well. I gave Toothless a pat on the back of the neck and said.
"Okay bud let's see if this screaming death can do what Diggs couldn't!"
He gave a growl before I gave Diggs a signal to circle around before we flew at top speed. As expected the screaming death gave chase as we went around the sea stacks with it continuously bashing through them. We took a sharp turn towards the large one and I had Toothless hover there for a few seconds before the screaming death began to charge at us. When it was closing in I had Toothless fly up as fast as he could making the screaming death smash into the stone making a large crater before he fell down onto a large ledge with some rubble falling on it as well which I'm sure only made the injury to its wing worse. It let out a roar, which brought the three whispering deaths to it, and I could tell they were there to help it but before they could do anything Glacia rose up from the water and I could tell she intended to finish them off. I couldn't let her do that however since they were still too young to understand anything and the last thing I wanted was for Glacia to become the next red death. I had Toothless land in front of the screaming and whispering deaths before I dismounted him and turned towards Glacia as I held my hands out. She stopped preparing her icy blast and looked down at me confused as I said.
"It's alright Glacia!" I lowered my arms. "I know you want to kill them to protect me but this isn't the way to go." She lowered her head as I smiled. "They're still young and don't know any better so right now I need you to just stay calm and not attack anyone. Okay?" She blew a gentle bit of frost into my hair making me chuckle before she lowered her head. "That's my sweet baby girl!"
I then let out my dragon call for Diggs hoping he would be able to help me talk to the whispering deaths who were staring up at Glacia while flying in what I could tell was a defensive fashion in front of the screaming death. It didn't take long for Diggs to come and when he did I signaled him to come down which he was all too happy to do. When he landed I walked up to him and gave him a gentle scratch underneath the chin making him purr before I signaled him towards the other whispering deaths. I knew he got what I wanted him to do so he slowly slithered up to them and let out some gentle growls and roars trying to tell them we didn't want to fight. They seemed to listen to him before he looked back at me and gave me a nod before I began approaching them but I kept eye contact with the screaming death as I said.
"We don't want to fight you!" He growled making me slow down my approach. "We know we hurt you but we were only trying to defend ourselves." I was five feet away now. "I know life must be scary now after hatching with no mother to help you adapt." I kneeled down. "We can help you if you give us a chance and we'll be more than happy to help tend to that wing of yours and I promise Glacia won't hurt you again as long as you don't try to hurt any of us." I then took the leap of faith and turned away as I closed my eyes and held out my hand. "You just need to give us a chance and trust us."
I waited for what felt like hours when it was really just two minutes before I felt the rough feeling of scales against my palm. I smiled and turned to see the screaming death pressing his nose against my palm before I felt the bond being formed. After that me and my dragons lead the screaming death and his siblings to my island and helped them settled down in the rockier terrain until we could help set them up with proper nests but for now I had to go check out the damage done to Berk. When me and Toothless arrived back in the village I saw the damage wasn't too bad with only a few holes that could easily be filled before my dad walked up and asked.
"Hiccup are you alright son?"
"I'm fine dad and don't worry about the dragons that attacked Berk. They're now on my island so I can take care of them." He looked at me as if I'd gone mad.
"You plan to train that red eyed demon?"
"That dragon is a screaming death and if I'm able to train it then I doubt any enemy will stand a chance."
"Hiccup I admit that having that thing trained and under control would come in handy but are you sure you can train it."
"With enough time, patience and trust any dragon can be trained." He stared down at me for a few seconds before he sighed.
"Alright I trust you Hiccup but we still need to deal with the water issue."
"That reminds me did Snotlout try to profit off the water?"
"He did but your nightmare took care of it by picking him up and tossing him into a wagon before stopping him from going anywhere near the water canteens." I chuckled.
"I'll remember to give him an extra helping of fish tonight." It was then Fishleggs who was at the well called us over and said.
"The well is filling up again." I looked down and saw he was right before I said.
"The whispering death tunnels must have opened up a new channel for the water and lead it to our well."
It was then Gobber tried to leave but my father stopped him which lead to him screaming for mercy as the twins gave him a scrub down. Long story short the things that came off him made me want to throw up and when I saw the things that came out from between his toes I shivered in disgust. I then looked out to the sun and thought of the new additions to my team and knew things were going to be very interesting these next few days.
AN: Hey all I hope you liked the chapter and will have kind reviews for it. Speaking of reviews here are a few things to answer the reviews of Guests. To the Guest who asked me to update more often all I can say is you can't rush these things so just be patient. For the guest who wants to know why Hiccup owns mythical animals it's because in a world of dragons why not throw in a few more mythical creatures. For those of you curious to know what episodes I will be putting in I will be doing A view to skrill parts 1 and 2 and Cast out part 1 and 2. I would do the others but they wouldn't have happened without the other riders to either help or cause the problems or in some cases easily solved with the dragons Hiccup has trained like the episode smoke gets in your eyes Hiccup can just have his smothering smokebreaths handle the ones raiding the village or in bing bam boom Hiccup can simply have Thunder deal with the Bing, Bam and Boom. Not to worry though since some of the episodes will be mentioned in future chapters. If you have any episodes you would like me to write then please just let me know and I will consider them but keep in mind the sooner I get season 2 done the sooner Hiccup goes back to seeing the world. That is all and please keep the reviews nice please.
