Chapter 226

Hiccups POV:

It's been two weeks since I got back from my first trip to India and in that time a lot has happened, starting with me placing the crown Sahil wore and the dagger Hunar stabbed me with are now in my trophy room on their own pedestals while the snake tapestries were hung outside the bedroom doors of my family members. Along with this I was able to check on Brant's training and found he'd improved a lot since I last tested him and I had to say, he'd definitely be able to take on any opponent in his age group. I knew this to be true since I'd taken him into my training mirror for a test to see if he was ready to take his training to the next level and I am happy to say he passed with flying colors so I was able to begin teaching him some new moves. Speaking of training, I'd been spending some time in my training mirror, practicing with my chakram and scarf and learnt that when my Chakram form a cage, it could float with those in them and the scarf could actually wrap around opponents to grab them.

Besides that, I'd also been working with Kanan and Ahana, mostly just feeding the two along with leading them around their respective pens to help them get a feel for their respective environment. I'd also been doing some work in the forge alongside Brant, making the usual weapons for the armory, but we'd also been working on some new weapons like chakram and other weapons from India. Brant was happy about this since he liked to learn how to make some new things other than the usual Viking weapons and armor. It was a good thing to since Gobber needed the extra weapons for his shop since the holiday season was right around the corner meaning his shop was very busy. Because of this I gave him half of the items in my armory to sell to his customers while also giving me and Brant more to work to do together.

Of course, he wasn't the only one I'd been spending time with since I didn't want to neglect my little girl but of course I didn't spend time with her in the forge. No, she spent time with me, enjoying the view of our new island section or the bazaar from my shoulders as I carried her around and listened to her giggle from above. I'd also spend time with her in the library to help her study the books, playing with her in the Celtic fields, building sandcastles on the beach and of course giving her rides on Toothless. Sometimes when we're reading on the couch in the library with her on my lap, she'd fall asleep and I'd take her to bed to tuck her in for either a nap or for her bedtime.

Then there are the times when we'd all spend time together as a family whether it be enjoying time at the pool, having snowball fights in the icy region, riding the dragons together or simply cleaning Toothless up after another failed attempt at flirting. I had to admit, after my near-death experience in India it was nice to enjoy this down time with my family and not be a hero who needed to save people but just be a loving father and husband to my family. These were the times that I truly enjoyed since people always had these high expectations of me which put a lot of pressure on me but when I was with my family, I felt no pressure and was able to truly relax.

Sadly, as much as I enjoyed spending time with my family on my island, I'd also been forced to spend a lot of time with Gothi on Berk using my healing water statue to help her patients. I'd spend hours with her going through the various injuries people had gotten somehow during their daily lives and sadly with devastating winter coming, injuries were plenty as people were doing a lot of work to prepare for it. Fortunately, with my healing water statue their wounds were quickly taken care of and they were back to their normal jobs in no time so preparations kept up at their usual speed but thanks to the number of people I still spent at least two hours with Gothi. I honestly have nothing against her since during my years before Toothless, she was always kind enough to tend to my wounds after a beating from Snotlout and the twins but I prefer the company of my wives to hers.

Now it was nightfall and I was laying down in bed while staring up at the ceiling and doing some thinking about what I should do tomorrow since I admit, I love my island but there are times when I needed to get away from it and do some exploring. The problem is I didn't want to go anywhere too far from my island since I wanted it to simply be a one-day trip, but the thing is I didn't know where I'd go or what I'd do. It was then a hand gently caressed my face and I looked down to see Astrid was the one doing it as she asked.

"And what's bothering you tonight my dear husband?" I raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you think something's bothering me?" It was Blanca who answered.

"Hiccup, it is clear that there is something bothering you." I sighed and threw my head back into the cushion, but I smiled.

"Why do I even bother trying to hide anything from the both of you?" They both just giggled before Astrid said.

"Alright, now tell us what's bothering you."

"Well, you girls know how I don't like sticking to one place for too long." They both nodded. "I've been thinking of going on another trip." They both glared and simultaneously replied.

"No!" I raised an eyebrow as Astrid explained.

"You only got back from your latest nearly getting killed to stop some sort of evil only three weeks ago and you expect us to let you go on another trip so soon." I chuckled.

"Don't worry, this trip will be in the archipelago and it'll only be to check out some of the unexplored islands to draw up that map my dad's been asking me for so he can hang it up in the great hall." Blanca then said.

"That does not sound so dangerous." Astrid then said.

"And it might be nice if all of us went with you as a family outing since it would give the kids time to see a bit more of the world around them instead of those distant places you go to."

"So, in other words, make it a nice family outing where you two will be able to make sure I don't get into any more trouble." They both just smiled at me confirming my suspicions and making me chuckle. "I'm not going to be allowed to say no, am I?" They both nodded before snuggling into my shoulders.

"Just think of it as a good way for you to spend some quality time with your loved ones." I nodded.

"Now that I can agree to." Blanca then said.

"Get some sleep beloved for tomorrow may bring new challenges for all of us to face." I nodded and then let sleep take over me.

Morning

I was standing on the front deck of my ship with Chara being held in my arms as I looked at the island known as the Sundering Wastes which is the first island on our list of places to go. The reason for this is it hadn't been fully mapped before due to the fact that this island suffered from a near constant rainfall which has made this island very fragile so nobody goes there in fear of causing it to fall apart with them stuck in the mud. Still despite this my dad wanted it on the map he had assigned me to make for the Great Hall since it was one of the islands nearest to Berk. As we got closer Brant ran up to the ships railing next to me and asked.

"Is that the first island we're stopping at?" I nodded.

"Yeah, that's the Sundering Wastes islands son, the first stop on our trip but we won't be stay on the land for long since we'd get stuck in the mud." He nodded as I looked to the sky. "And we better get the information we need fast since it looks like the rain this island so well known for is coming and when it does, we better be gone." Chara then asked.

"Will there be any dragons on the island daddy?"

"I think we might find a few raincutter dragons here sweetie, it is said that the constant rain makes it easy for them to get a constant supply of their favorite food which is worms." She made a disgusted look that made me chuckle. "It may be gross to us but to them it's as tasty as a slice of your mama Blanca's biscuits." She smiled and licked her lips at this since they were her favorite treat before Brant asked.

"Will we be allowed to explore the island a bit?" I turned to him.

"Only the inner parts of the island since the outer rims are too unstable and you could end up collapsing them and falling into the ocean." He nodded as my ship came to hover over the island. "Alright, let's begin exploring and mapping." I turned to Brant. "Go let your mothers know we've arrived." He nodded and ran off to get the girls so we could begin our exploration.

1 hour later

We'd done a full sweep of the entire island and hadn't found much on it other than a few pieces of the island that looked about ready to fall into the ocean. We did see the occasional raincutter but they were just minding their own business, digging up and munching on worms like the ones in the nests back home. The thing is I was, another reason I was here is I was secretly hoping to add a few new dragons to my private dragon stable and although there were more than plenty dragon species in the nests that aren't in my private stables. The reason I don't just take one of them is I really have a connection with any of them like the one I have with my other dragons and I'm guessing it's because I met them in some unique adventure after tracking their species down.

Now I was standing in the middle of the island where the ground was a little more solid but still pretty squishy and in front of me was a large table with the map I'd been working on. I looked up from the map and smiled at the sight of Chara and Brant splashing around the puddles while chasing Twilight and Garf under the watchful eyes of the girls and their dragons. It was then a croon caught my attention and turned to Toothless who was looking up at me in curiosity making me smile and gently rub his head as I turned back to the kids playing and said.

"Enjoy it while you can bud, next thing you know our little ones will be all grown up and finding their own adventures in the world." He growled and nodded as little Twilight slid across the muddy terrain making me chuckle. "She's going to be messier than you after you try flirting with Flora." He growled and slapped me with his ear flap as I chuckled. "Come on bud, I'm just kidding but seriously she will be needing a bath when we're back on the ship."

He growled and nodded as I got back to work on the map until the sound of a familiar sounding roar of distress echoed through the area making all of us stop what we were doing and turn to see a purple scuttleclaw with lighter spines and blue patterned wings running towards Toothless. I'm guessing it new Toothless was the alpha since it bowed to him before it began roaring and squawking while gesturing towards a mountain. I'm guessing it was something serious since Toothless began running around in some sort of panic before running up to me and gesturing towards the mountain. Toothless ran up to me and began warbling trying to tell me something before I placed my hand on his head to calm him down as I asked.

"What is it bud?" He gestured to the mountain. "Something's happened at the mountain?" He growled and nodded before I quickly mounted him and turned to the girls. "Something's happened at the mountain, we're just going to check it out."

The girls nodded as we took off with the scuttleclaw leading the way until we came to the side of the mountain where it looked like a part had collapsed. The scuttleclaw immediately ran up to this section and began digging at it while squawking so it wasn't hard to figure out that it was trying to tell us that something was buried beneath the dirt. I pulled out my mystic spade and began digging so we could see what had the scuttleclaw so destressed but the more I dug the easier it was to figure out that the landslide had blocked up a cave and from the sounds of things, there was something in there. This of course only made me speed up my digging until we broke through and what I saw made my heart ache since it was a raincutter dragon with a wing trapped beneath some rubble. It took one look at me and immediately began to struggle so I signaled Toothless forward before he gave a growl and the raincutter stopped making me smile as I turned to him and said.

"Thanks bud." I then turned to the raincutter who I now saw had grey scales with greyish red splotches on its wings and back. "Now let's get you out of here." We then began remove the rubble while the scuttleclaw gently warbled at the crying raincutter showing that they were close. "Don't worry, we'll have your friend free in a few moments." I then picked up the last of the rubble and tossed it off as I let out a sigh. "There now." I turned to the raincutter. "You're free to go big guy." The raincutter crooned and slowly raised its wing that was originally pinned before letting out a screech of pain and I knew it was broken in at least two places, so I brought out my healing water statue. "Don't worry big guy, it's an easy fix." I gently placed my prosthetic on the broken wing while holding my statue in the other before allowing the water to flow onto the wing to heal the wing. "You'll be back up in the air in no time at all."

1 hour later

I was back with my family and putting the finishing touches onto the map but now I also had the raincutter sitting next to me and watching as I worked while the scuttleclaw played with the kids, Garf and Twilight. I admit it was a pretty cute scene but then there's the raincutter which I knew would be joining us on this trip since my mom told me that they become fiercely loyal to those who save them so chances are he's going to want to stay with me. It was also obvious where he went the scuttleclaw followed meaning I'd just picked up two new dragons and I could feel a bond with them, so they'd be staying in my personal stable. I figure the raincutter can help water the crops with my scauldrons while it was clear the scuttleclaw would make a good playmate for the kids.

With these thoughts in mind, I put on the finishing touches to the map and looked to see the kids still happily playing with the dragons while the girls watched. I hated to ruin their fun, but it was easy to tell from the clouds in the sky that the rain was coming so it would be better for all of us to get back to the ship. I rolled up the map and placed the table into my spiderpack before making my way towards the kids with Toothless and the raincutter following. When we were near, I clapped my hands to get everyone's attention before I said.

"Alright everyone, I hate to ruin your fun, but we need to get back to the ship before the storm comes." The kids groaned while the dragons growled in sadness. "Sorry guys but we need to get going before the rain comes in since the island isn't stable during storms." The kids glumly nodded as I released my ship and allowed it to hover above us as I mounted Toothless while Blanca took Chara onto Liánhuā and Astrid took Brant onto Stormfly. "Let's get back to the ship." We took off with the raincutter and scuttleclaw following us up and joining us when we landed on the deck before I dismounted Toothless as I looked at the storm cutter and scuttleclaw and smiled knowingly. "I'm guessing you want to come with us." The raincutter leaned in and nuzzled me making me chuckle as I rubbed its head. "I'll take that as a yes." I then rubbed my chin in thought. "How's about we call you, Hurricane since your kind are powerful rain lovers and hurricanes are strong storms." He growled and nodded before I rubbed his head and turned to the scuttleclaw. "Now to think of a name for your friend." Before I could begin thinking though, Chara said.

"Clawla!" We all turned to her, but she just tilted her head. "She looks like a Clawla to me." I smiled and shrugged. "Clawla it is then." I clapped my hands. "Alright then, I'll get our new friends down to the dragon nest." Blanca then picked up Chara from behind.

"And while you do that, we will be giving these little ones a bath to scrub off all the mud they have gathered." I smiled and watched as the kids were led away before I myself began leading the dragons down to the ships dragon nest while thinking about our next destination.

2 hours later

It's been two hours since we recruited Hurricane and Clawla and in that time not much has happened other than me being able to map out four more islands. One of these islands happened to be the one I was brought to when I was kidnapped by Krogan and to be handed over to Ryker that time Viggo put a bounty on my head. (AN: Chapter 82) This time though I took the liberty of rounding up the sheep on the island and taking them onto my ship since they'd make a good addition to the livestock on my island. Anyway, after I gathered up all the sheep on the island with the help of Toothless, I got to mapping it and then we took off to the next island.

Now we were on an island that was covered in large meadows of flowers which the kids were now happily playing in alongside the dragons while their mothers were watching them. Ion the other hand was enjoying the shade of the forested area took a deep breath through my nose and enjoyed the smell of the flowers and let out a sigh of content since this place was truly nice and I had to admit, I wouldn't mind a painting of my kids in the flowers. I smiled before returning my attention to my map as I continued to sketch out the island but as I did, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched. I turned to Toothless who was on my right-side watching Twilight jump around in the flowers as I asked.

"You get the feeling we're being watched bud?" He turned to me and crooned before I turned to Hurricane. "How's about you big guy?" He growled and shook his head making me sigh. "I guess I'm just being a little paranoid."

It was then the sound of Chara's screaming caught my attention and I looked up to see her running from three wild boars and I growled but before I could react a dragon flew out from the trees behind me and got between Chara and the boars. The dragon I recognized as a thornridge dragon let out a roar at the boars who quickly ran back into the forest in fear as all eyes turned to the thornridge. I could tell it was getting ready to run back into the woods but before it could, Toothless let out a dominant growl that stopped the thornridge who then walked up and bowed to Toothless. I smiled before I reached into my coat and had my spiderpack put a fish into it which I then pulled out and offered to the thornridge as I said.

"Thanks for saving my daughter." The dragon looked hesitant but a reassuring croon from Toothless was all it took for the dragon to take the fish and began chowing down while growling in delight. "See now, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to thank you for saving my little girl." Chara then walked up and looked up at the dragon while smiling.

"Thank you for saving me."

The dragon just crooned and gently nuzzled her making her giggle and I knew it wasn't going to hurt her since I remember my mother telling me that the thornridge is one of the most gentle and docile dragon breeds there is unless threatened. I then watched as Chara lead the thornridge towards Brant, Garf and Clawla to join in their game and although I was tempted to stop her since it was still a wild dragon, I could tell it didn't mean them any harm so I let it slide but I'd be keeping a close eye on them.

3 hours later

Three hours have passed since our encounter with the thornridge and half an hour after meeting it, it came time to leave the island but when that time came, Chara begged me to let us take the male thornridge with yellow scales that had dark green lining and red horns with us. I couldn't say no to her since in addition to being a good guard for the kids, he also made a good playmate in addition to Garf and Clawla, plus Chara was giving me the puppy dog eyes and I could not say no to that. With all of this in mind I trained the thornridge while Chara gave it the name Thorny before we were off with a new dragon in the ships nest and a new addition to the map so all was pretty good.

Now we were on an island that was full of trees and while the children played hide and seek with Thornyhiding and the others doing the seeking. Toothless and Hurricane were at my sides, keeping me company while I drew up the island on my map while I enjoyed the peace and quiet. I smiled as the sound of birds singing floated by along the sound of the wind with the gentle scent of the forest and I had to say it was times like these I truly realized how peaceful life could be. This is not something I get to enjoy often since I'm normally so busy tending to my island and its inhabitants, chief training with my dad, working on my projects or on some crazy adventure to save the world. I smiled and felt at peace but sadly my moment of quiet peace was ruined by the sweet angelic voice of my little Chara screaming.

"DADDY!" I quickly looked up to see her running towards me with Garf and I rushed to meet her before kneeling down.

"What's wrong Chara, did something happen to your brother." She shook her head.

"We found a dragon stuck in a net." I raised an eyebrow before Astrid flew in and landed next to us.

"Sounds like a dragon got caught in an old netter trap." I nodded before signaling Toothless over as I gently picked Chara up and placing her on the saddle and joining her. "Show us where you guys found it."

When that was said we all took off to where the kids found the netted dragon and found Brant with Clawla and Twilight, all looking up at a net that clearly belonged to an old netter trap and within it was a dragon that was struggling to get out. We all came to land by the kids before I helped Chara off Toothless and walked up to the net before examining it and smiled as I placed a hand on Brants shoulder. He looked up at me as I said.

"Son, when we get home remind me to give you a crash course on the different dragon traps that we used to use during the war and how to disarm them." He looked at me as I signaled Toothless who lowered his head before I ran up to him and jumped onto his head as he quickly lifted it up, throwing me up to the net that held the dragon. "Don't worry, we'll have you out of this thing in no time at all."

I climbed up to the mechanism and went through the motions before the net was released causing both it and the dragon to fall to the ground. I quickly dropped from the rope, holding the mechanism to examine the dragon that was shaking its head to clear it from the drop and saw it was a windwalker dragon that had red scales with a yellow underbelly. When its eyes landed on my family it growled and slowly backed away towards the tree while I brought my calming flute and began to play to calm the windwalker down before it could lash out at anyone. As the gentle tune I played on my flute was carried on the wind I saw the windwalker visibly relax which is when I got in front of it and prepared to train it. I slowly pulled my flute away from my lips and slowly raised my real hand and turned away, waiting to see if the windwalker would accept my hand and it wasn't long before I felt a scaled muzzle against my hand and I smiled knowing I'd just trained another dragon.

Nightfall

It's been five hours since we met the windwalker who Chara had named Winda and, in that time, we'd gone to the remaining islands and mapped them out with no problems. When that was done, I started off by dropping off the new dragons in the stable since unlike the dragons of their species in the nest, I was able to form a connection with them. When that was done, I took the liberty of unloading the sheep into their new pen and then went to my library and did one last look over the map while my family did their own business around the island. Now we were on Berk, eating dinner in the great hall while my father went over the map I'd drawn up and watched as he nodded as he went over the different parts of the map. I'd just lowered my goblet after having a sip of my mead as he turned to me and nodded while saying.

"This is perfect, you did a great job son." I nodded in thanks.

"If you don't mind me asking dad, why did you want this map made to begin with."

"It's to help us know the islands surrounding Berk, so if we're ever at war we'll know the best places to set up bases and where enemies might have set up their own bases." I nodded as my mom then said.

"It'll also help us give people an idea of what to look out for when visiting these islands." I nodded.

"That makes sense." I then smiled as I looked at my family. "And it did give me the opportunity for a family outing where I got to train some new dragons for my private stable." I then turned back to my father. "Do you still plan on having it hung up here in the great hall." He smiled and nodded.

"As soon as it can be framed." I nodded and took a bit out of my chicken leg. "So now that this is out of the way do you have any plans for any future trips." I took a sip of my drink while taking note of the looks my wives were giving me and knew if I didn't give an answer, they liked then I'd be spending my night on the couch in my private study.

"I'm thinking of taking a break from travelling actually." He raised an eyebrow. "I want to spend some time relaxing on my island, catching up on my projects, drawing up some new designs and of course spending some time with my family." He smiled.

"It's good to hear you're going to give travelling a rest son since you've fallen behind on your chief training." I rolled my eyes as Astrid said.

"Suits me since I've noticed some of the riders have gotten a little lazy in their training and I hear the Berk guard could use a bit of help." Blanca then said

"Verta has told me that she could use a little more help in training the other snake guardians who are close to being able to take human form." I smiled hearing them.

"Berk gets stronger and the more snake guardians who can take human form, the more forces I'll be able to send out into cities when doing reconnaissance on possible problems without being noticed." They nodded. "For now, though let's just enjoy the quiet of the evening." Everyone raised their goblet at this before we continued with dinner.

AN: Hey guys, now before you say anything yes, I know it's short and yes, I know it's late but coming up with ideas for these kinds of chapters are not easy which is why it's short. As for the reason it's late, my family was away for the weekend out in the country where I'm lucky to get a signal for a few seconds on my cellphone so as you can guess posting was not possible. Anyway I hope you all remember to review and had a happy Easter so until next time enjoy your day.