Chapter 188

Hiccups POV:

It's been nine weeks since I began training new riders and in that time, things had been pretty busy for me and the girls as we'd been running all the riders through dragon studies and training them to ride their dragons that they received a week after their training began. The twins got a male hideous zippleback they named Barf for the gas head and Belch for the spark head with Ruff and Tuff each riding the respective head. Fishleggs on the other hand took a female gronkle he named Meatlug who was affectionate with him making her the perfect dragon for a sensitive guy like him. Snotlout on the other hand preferred a Monstrous Nightmare he named Hookfang and in my eyes he was the perfect dragon for Snotlout as he was always happy to put him in place when he stepped out of line and normally did this by flaming up while Snotlout was on him. Everyone else also got their own dragons with most sticking to the dragons that are native to our territory like monstrous nightmares, deadly nadders, gronkles and hideous zippleback.

There were some who chose other dragons like Shovelhelms, Snifflehunches, windgnashers or other dragons that are common in the nests and when I saw who their riders were, I understood why they chose these dragons. They were riders who asked me about which dragons would be able to help out with things other than patrolling and attacking or would be friendly towards kids. Most of them had jobs outside of the Berk guard or chores that they needed help with while others had families with little kids who'd love to play with a dragon.

Their training was slow at first with most of them ending up injured but nothing serious, just a few cuts, bruises and the occasional broken or bruised ribs. After two weeks they were finally ready to see one of the easier obstacle courses I'd made in the forest and after a quick demonstration I let them give it a try thinking they might be ready. That was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in their training since it looked like an armada wreck when one ship smashes into another causing a multiple ship pileup. In other words, it was a disaster with not one of them getting past even the first half for one reason or another, but it all looked horrible with the riders needing medical attention.

It didn't continue this way though as after three more weeks of training they were able to actually make it through the entire obstacle course with no problem. Once this was done, I was confident enough to allow them to learn how to fly in the different formations and how to fly in sink up in the sky above the ocean just to be safe. Learning how to do this took another week before I was confident enough to allow them to go free flying and after watching them for a week I saw they truly were ready, I assigned them to their different posts after their teams were set up. Setting up the teams and picking the leaders was not an easy thing to do though, especially with the Jorgensons trying to muscle their ways into the spot claiming they were the most fit.

Fortunately, I didn't have to deal with them alone as my parents and the captains of the Berk guard wanted to have a say in who was in which team and leading them and I couldn't blame them. Picking out the team selections took an entire day which wasn't surprising since we needed to take into account not only who worked well together but which dragon species worked well together. They were curious to know why I thought the riders were ready though since I'd just trained them in the basics but I told them that the basics was all I was willing to teach them as they needed to form their own style of riding on their own which the men accepted.

After that day long meeting, I went home and relaxed in the boiling hot waters of a bath with some special bath salts I'd bought in Rome to help relax me a bit after a stressful day. It was during this time when I was leaning up against the wall of the bath that I began thinking about the benefits that came with the new riders and the unexpected bonus of being able to discipline the Jorgensons using my army commander voice. This voice did come with an extra benefit that I hadn't been expecting in the form of both Astrid and Blanca finding this forceful side of me incredibly hot. It was when I was thinking of this that Blanca walked in with her sleeves rolled up and began massaging my shoulders making me moan in pleasure. I wasn't surprised by her actions though since this wasn't the first time, she had done this when I was taking a bath after a stressful day and like the other times, she listened to me rant about what a day I had. When I finished, she let me know she admired my determination to ensure Berk only had the best defenses to protect it while I was away from it from one reason or another.

It was then she surprised me by telling me that seeing all the new riders made her begin thinking about what it would be like to have her own dragon and how much she enjoyed being up in the air when we fly together on Toothless. She then went onto explain that she herself wanted a dragon of her own since she already had one picked out and was hoping that I'd be willing to help her train it. When she said this, I told her I'd be more than happy to help her train her own dragon since it would help her out if Berk or the island was ever attacked. She then began telling me about the dragon she wished to train which is a ying-long dragon that I'd seen her watching from the gazebo on the lake whenever we had tea there.

When Blanca showed me the ying-long I saw it was a female of the species and like all females she has a few differences in appearance to the males of the species like how they are slightly smaller, lack of hooks on their wings and have no ying-long's scale and wing color were a light Violet mixed with white with the eyes taking on the color of a light yellow with a tint of silver in the mix while the feet were a light almost white pink and the horns were a light tan color. It was because of this I noticed that Blanca wasn't the only one who had an eye for this dragon's beauty but while she wanted the dragon as a friend and mount the others who had an eye on her wanted something else. The owner of these eyes were a few of the single ying-long who surprisingly included my own personal ying-long, Fēng who had been doing battle with the others to show who was stronger and worthy to call the female their mate.

I didn't get between them though knowing it was just something these dragons did as it was a part of their nature but that didn't stop me from tending to the wounds of the defeated. While they all did battle however me and Blanca were able to train the ying-long easily as she already knew Blanca was a capable warrior, worthy of being her rider. Once the training was done Blanca gave her new dragon the name Liánhuā and after two weeks of training she matched the other dragon riders in skill, but she still had a long way to go before she matched me and Astrid in skill. Shortly after she took Blanca as her rider the fighting for the right to be her mate finally ended with Fēng being the victor who had the right to try and take her as a mate. After that whenever I went flying with Blanca, Fēng insisted he be the one I ride instead of Toothless since he wanted to spend some time with Liánhuā to try and charm her as the fight for the right was only the first part of getting a mate like her. The relationship they had reminded me of the one I used to have with Astrid in which I would ogle her, and she'd ignore me while I tried to get her attention.

Now I was standing in my art gallery wearing my regular, non-magic armor, walking past the various pieces I'd collected over the years and just enjoying their beauty. It was then my eyes landed on my Mayan calendar and my mind flashed back to the first time I saw a Mayan city and how the culture, architecture and everything else was so fascinating to me as it was the first foreign culture I'd ever seen. I smiled at the memories of all I'd learnt from the people there such as their culture, their recipes, their fighting style and so much more all after I brought Gaya, the daughter of the city's emperor, Gukumatz home when she landed on my ship by chance. The smile left my face as quick as it came since I couldn't help but begin thinking about how long it's been since I last went to visit Gukumtatz in his city or the jungle itself. It was then a hand landed on my shoulder before the familiar voice of my wife asked.

"Hiccup, is something wrong?" I sighed as I turned to her.

"I was just thinking of my first time in the Mayan culture and it's been so long since I was last in the city ruled by my friend Gukumatz rules or the city of gold El Dorado."

"You miss the jungles and friends you made, don't you?" I nodded.

"I've been meaning to go back but something always comes up, so I put it off." She nodded.

"Well I think things are handled on Berk and the island now." I turned to her.

"So, you're saying now might be the time to go pay my old friends and the cities in the jungle a visit?" She smiled and caressed my face.

"Hiccup, you have been working so hard these past few weeks, I think you have earned a small vacation." I smiled and wrapped my arms around her.

"I think you mean, earned a small vacation with my wife." She giggled before I pulled her into a kiss and when I pulled away, I looked into her eyes. "What did I do to deserve such a wonderful woman in my life?" She giggled again and answered.

"You were too stubborn to give up on me." I chuckled.

"Could you blame me?" I gently caressed her face. "You were and still are too beautiful to let go." She smiled. "Now let's get to work on telling everyone what's happening." I pulled away and made my way towards the door but before I could get there a familiar white scaled tail wrapped around my torso making me turn to see Blanca in her half snake form, smiling at me.

"We can do that later, for now I think it better you get some rest in the islands Mayan temple to prepare for this trip." I saw the twinkle in her eyes and knew relaxing wasn't exactly on her mind, but I wasn't complaining as I was pulled out of the room.

Morning

Me, Blanca and Astrid were in the room between portals standing in front of the one that lead out into the streets of the Mayan city ruled by Gukumatz with our dragons standing behind us. Astrid was here because she asked if she could come along as she had been wanting to actually see the city with her own eyes since the illusions were impressive, but they were never something that could measure up to the real thing. With this in mind I took the hands of the girls as they each placed a hand on their respective dragons before I closed my eyes and we began making our way through before the familiar feeling of passing through water covered my body. When I took a deep breath through my nose and enjoyed the familiar smell of the jungle since although I had my own jungle it just wasn't the same since although the differences were minor, they were there.

I opened my eyes to look around expecting to see a small crowd of people beginning to form like it normally does but I was surprised to only see a handful of guards surrounding us while some ran away. The silence only lasted a few seconds before the guards all bowed to me as a familiar voice cried out my name in Mayan and I turned to see Gukumatz approaching us with his daughter Gaya and a few guards. His smile was so wide I was afraid his face would split his face as he ran up and picked me up in a tight hug before he put me down and kept his hands on my shoulders as he said.

"It's been a long time my friend." A look of confusion then formed on his face. "What happened to your eye?" He then noticed Blanca and Astrid. "And who are these two women you have brought with you?" I smiled at him.

"I lost my eye in a battle against a demon lord in Japan but that's a story for another time." I then gestured to the girls. "As for the girls, they can introduce themselves." Astrid stepped forward.

"My name is Astrid Hofferson and I am Hiccups girlfriend." Blanca then stepped forward and bowed.

"And I am Blanca, Hiccups wife." His eyes widened but before he could reply with questions Blanca continued. "I know Astrid being Hiccups girlfriend while he's married to me may seem odd but in the culture of my people it is not unusual for a man to take on more than one wife if they are able to support them and Hiccup is more than capable of doing so." He nodded before he turned to me.

"You don't seem the type to take more than one girl my friend."

"I love them both and I know they love me, so I figured I'd give it a chance." He nodded as I looked around and asked.

"So where is everyone, normally by this time I'd be swarmed by a crowd of locals." He frowned before he looked around.

"Not out here in the open my friend." He then began to walk away with me, the girls and our dragons following.

Five minutes later

We were standing in front of Gukumatz in his throne room while Gukumatz himself sat down on his throne with Gaya next to him and two guards on either side. We were waiting to hear from him what was happening and from the look of worry he had on his face it was not good in any way since it was most likely something I'd have to help with. Gukumatz sighed and looked at me as he said.

"Hiccup after you left the last time you visited; things were peaceful with no real issues, but recently strange things have been happening." I raised an eyebrow.

"And what do you mean by strange?"

"About a month ago many of my people including myself began waking up but the thing is we always woke up completely exhausted as if we'd been working the entire night but none of us had any memory of doing any work." He then sighed and looked down. "Starting a week ago though many of my people began disappearing with some of our ships, livestock, supplies and other things." I raised an eyebrow.

"And you aren't sure that those who left didn't just decide to leave the city for one reason or another?" He shook his head.

"Some of those people were my most loyal subjects, people I considered family and I know they wouldn't just leave without telling me." I nodded.

"Alright so there's definitely something going on here, but the question is what."

"I'm not the only leader who would like to know the answer to that question." I raised an eyebrow. "I've contacted a few of my allies in other cities and they have suffered some disappearances as well while suffering from the same problems." Astrid then asked.

"Do you know when these disappearances happen?" Gukumatz turned to her as he rubbed his chin.

"They all happen under the cover of night." We nodded as I said.

"If that's the case me and the girls will patrol the streets at night to see what's going on." Gukumatz smiled at us.

"Thank you to all of you but until nightfall comes I think it best we all rest although I would love to know what has happened to you my friend including the battle that cost you your eye." I smiled at him.

"Trust me my friend, the loss of my eye isn't the only thing that's happened to me over the time we've been apart." He chuckled.

"And I want to hear all about it my friend but first I'd like to know what's happening to my people."

Nightfall

I was above the city on the back of Toothless looking down at the quiet city with the only form of life being the guards who were patrolling the streets for any threats. I met up with the girls in the middle of the city and dismounted Toothless as I asked.

"Did you girls see anything off?" They both shook their heads before Astrid said.

"As far as I can tell everything seems quiet." Blanca replied.

"It seems like there is nothing strange going on tonight." Before I could reply a shrieking sound that was so silent that if it weren't for my ninja training enhancing my hearing and other senses, I never would have heard it.

"What is that sound?" The girls looked at me as I looked around before Astrid asked.

"What sound?" Before I could reply the sound of wood hitting the ground caught our attention and we turned to see all the guards dropping their spears as people opened their doors and began walking out of their houses. "What in the world is going on?" I watched as people began collecting supplies and heading towards the boats.

"I don't know but for now it best we find out what's going on." I walked up to one of the guards and saw his eyes were glazed over. "They're in some sort of trance." Blanca then said.

"We shouldn't try to break them out as it may cause some damage to their minds." We nodded. "Perhaps it better that we follow them and see where they're going." The girls began mounting their dragons, but I held up my hand stopping them.

"No, this calls for reconnaissance and since we don't know what we're up against stealth would be best." I then gestured to their dragons. "Because of this I don't think going in on dragon back would be wise." Astrid then asked.

"So, what do you recommend?" I willed my grootslang coat into its ninja outfit form.

"I'll use my ninja training to follow the ships down the river and report back to you girls what's happening through my wedding ring." I could see the hesitance in their eyes, so I continued with. "Don't worry, I'll be fine after all I doubt what's responsible for this is worse than anything else, I've faced." They nodded before Blanca said.

"Just be careful Hiccup." I smiled at her.

"When am I not careful?" Both girls replied.

"Whenever you go on an adventure." They paused and looked at each other before giggling as I just rolled my eyes as Toothless crooned, but I just rubbed his head and said.

"Sorry bud, but there's a chance whatever's doing this might see you coming so I need you to stay here and keep an eye on the girls." He crooned as I rubbed his head. "Don't worry bud, I'll be fine." With that said I turned to one of the buildings by the river and climbed onto the roof before I took off.

One hour later

It's been an hour since I began tailing the boats full of hypnotized people and in that time, I'd been hopping from tree to tree using my ninja skills following the boats on the river. About half an hour ago a few more boats joined the ones from the city, all carrying people along with various other things like livestock, food, weapons and treasures. It was also during this time I saw some weird creatures in the sky that looked like giant bats that human torsos and legs while the rest was all bat and ugly ones at that. Fortunately, none of them saw me when I was following the ships, but I had a feeling that they were connected to the one responsible for what's going on.

It was then I was brought out of my thoughts by the sight of people docking the ships on the side of the river with a large waterfall up ahead with a lot of those bat creatures flying in the air. I raised an eyebrow when I saw the people disembark their ships and collect the stuff before walking towards the cliffside and behind the waterfall. I used all my ninja stealth skills to completely blend in the shadows and remain as quiet as possible since the last thing I wanted was for those bat things to know I'm here as there's no telling what they'll do.

I silently followed the people behind the waterfall through a hidden tunnel always doing my best to remain hidden in the shadows as they mindlessly carried the treasures and supplies or lead the livestock down the tunnel. It was then the tunnel split off with the people bringing livestock going down one tunnel, the ones bringing the treasures down another and the ones bringing the supplies going down another. I decided for now it best to follow the ones who were carrying the treasure last since I needed to see what they'd need all the livestock and supplies for since there were a lot of those items, too much for the amount of bat creatures I saw.

I started with those with the livestock and followed them down the tunnel remaining in the shadows as silent as possible, but I highly doubt anyone could blame me since those bat creatures were hanging from the ceiling. It was then we entered a large cavern and were standing on top of a large balcony with a slope on the side leading down into the caverns floor that had multiple pens all housing lamas, alpacas and chickens. There was more than enough here to supply an army, but the question was why they were all here since I admit there were more than a few bat creatures, but I doubt they'd be able to use all these animals. I would have done a little more reconnaissance such as what was down the tunnel some of them were being led down but before I did I noticed the bat creatures covering the ceiling and knew if I spooked one of the animals they would notice something was up. Knowing there was no possible way for me to get into that cave without me being seen and setting off the alarm that would let every bat creature in the cave know I was here and give me trouble.

10 minutes later

I've just finished my exploration of the cave that the supplies were taken down and to say I was shocked would be an understatement considering the things I'd found. I found an armory that was filled tons of different types of weapons and there were enough of each weapon on the racks to supply an army with each type of weapon. Along with this there was a separate section that was filled with supplies of food, herbs and multiple other things but it was everything someone needed to start their own city or supply an army. I had seen enough in my life to know it was more than likely the latter since a guy who was using some sort of mind control was definitely bad news.

Now I was making my way down the final cave where the people had taken the treasure and to where all the people went after they had dropped off the supplies and livestock. I remained in the shadows though since there were still a lot of those bat things hanging around the caves no doubt keeping guard for anything out of the ordinary for their lair. It was then I came to the end of the tunnel and quickly hid behind the corner of the entrance to the cavern and peeked at the inside of the cavern and my eyes widened at what I saw. Just outside the entrance was a cliff that had a slope leading down into a giant cove like the one the livestock was kept in but this one was a whole lot bigger.

In the middle of this cavern was a small temple that looked as if it had been carved from the ground itself and had the inscriptions on the walls inscribed with gold. Speaking of gold there were four giant gold statues of bats with the four of them being near the top of the temple with one on each of the four sides, their wings spread out connecting them to each other. Right above them on the ceiling of the cavern was a gold image of the sun that shone right above the top of the golden bats making me wonder what it was for and what the temples for. Along with all this surrounding this temple was multiple piles of treasures that multiple people were sorting through them as if they were looking for something.

I then turned my attention to the back of the cavern where multiple people were bowing to something and when I looked up towards it I saw a tall stairway leading up to a golden throne that was shaped like a bat with its wings spread out wide. Lounging around this throne was multiple beautiful young women which included the healer girl named Eme who tried to steal a kiss from me after my fight with Ichik and my former stalker Noonsa, both of which had grown into lovely women. (AN: Chapter 7 guys.) It was then my eyes landed on the figure who was sitting on the throne who looked to be the one behind all this madness happening to the Mayans.

He looked to be six or five feet in height. with long black hair tied back in in a shoulder length ponytail while his skin was a very light shade of brown as if her were a corpse, but he still had a slightly muscular body. His eyes however were plain black in color with no white whatsoever in them while his ears were pointy like those of a bat meaning he was not normal. As for attire, he was wearing pure black knee length Mayan warrior pelt around his waist with a jade bats head in the middle of his belt. It was then he stood up pushing some of the girls who were holding onto his thighs off as he looked down at the temple and said in a deep voice that echoed through out the cave.

"My temple is almost complete and then all shall be ready for me to take my revenge against those who wronged me." He then smiled. "Not bad for twenty years of work and planning wouldn't you agree," He then looked directly at me. "Hiccup?" My eyes widened hearing him say my name. "You shouldn't lurk in the shadows like that, it won't do you any good as I knew you were here the minute you began stalking through my tunnels." I stepped out of the shadows.

"You know who I am, but I don't know who you are nor do I know how you're controlling these people or what this revenge is about." I saw him smirk.

"I am Xpiayoc, son of the god Camazotz." I had to hold back a gasp hearing how he was the son of the Mayan god of bats, but I quickly recovered and asked.

"What do you want?" He looked me right in the eye and bared his teeth that I could now see were fangs at me.

"I want revenge on those who wronged me." He then clenched his fists. "The father who ignored me, the mother who abandoned me, the people who shunned me and the sun that torments me." He took a breath and began walking down the steps. "You see Hiccup my mother was actually raped by my father and then left for dead, but she lived long enough to birth me and then abandon me for dead in these caves." He growled. "For years the bats that inhabited it cared for me and when I could leave the cave the sun burnt my skin like a raging fire and any human who saw me ran away in fear while calling me a monster." He looked down sadly before a dark smile grew on his face. "As I grew though so did both my hatred for humans and my father but so did my power." He then gestured to the bat creatures littering the caves ceiling. "I was able to infuse my minions with my power giving them the forms you see them in now and with their new forms comes new abilities that are formed by their original abilities." It was then I realized how he was controlling the people.

"You're using their sonic calls to hypnotize the people, aren't you?" He chuckled.

"I'd been told you're a smart man and it seems the information was right." He then shrugged. "It matters not though as all the preparations are complete and soon after all these years, my plan shall come to bare the fruits I have longed for so many years." He then turned to the temple. "When the sun rises I shall drain it of its power and infuse it into my body allowing me to turn my greatest weakness into my greatest power allowing me to take my revenge upon my father and then make this world my own."

"Do you honestly think I'll allow you to do that?" He looked up at me.

"Your raise a good point." He then smirked. "But why waste my forces when I can simply have those I know you won't hurt deal with you for me." He then let out an inhuman screech and all the humans who were in the room stood up with their expressions blank. "SEIZE HIM SLAVES!" As soon as the final word left his mouth all the people charged at me as I sighed and shook my head.

"How annoying." I reached into my coats sides and pulled out two bombs full of knockout gas in each hand and pulled the pins before tossing the bombs down the stairs at the charging crowd that was quickly blanketed in the gas that cleared after a few seconds to reveal all the people unconscious as Xpiayoc stared in shock before turning to me as I shrugged. "This isn't the first time I've dealt with villains using mind control techniques to have innocent victims as a way to try and beat me knowing I would never hurt them so I come prepared." He growled.

"Well it doesn't matter, I have other forces to deal with you." He then let out another screech before all the bat creatures let out their own screeches and flew down from their places on the ceiling and began hovering above the temple until Xpiayoc pointed at me. "DRINK HIS BLOOD AND BRING ME HIS SKULL!" The bat creatures screeched and turned to me as I sighed.

"The girls are going to kill me." I then looked up at the bat creatures. "Time to go to work." And with that said they swooped down at me as I got ready for the coming fight.

AN: Yeah, I know it's another cliffhanger but if I didn't end it here then I wouldn't have anything for the next chapter and to add to this I wouldn't be able to update till next week. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and looking forward to some battle scenes next chapter but until then please be patient and review kindly. By the way if you are wondering why I chose the Mayans this time it's because it's been a long time since Hiccup was last here so I figured it would be nice to come back here. Also thanks to my companion Red dragon emperor, I now have some great things to add onto Hiccups arsenal but what they are is something you will have to wait and see. Now onto questions.

AdvancedNSeven:

He's never been to India, he's been to Arabia but he will visit India in the future.

Who's Atalanta again?

Well until next time stay safe and review kindly.