Chapter 265
Hiccups POV:
It's been four hours since we left the island and one hour since we arrived on the island where the dragon hunters base was located and, in that hour, I'd used my plant prosthetic to scout out the entire forest, surrounding the base by entering one of the trees. It is through this means that I was able to capture twenty-five guards who were patrolling the woods and transport them back to my ship and put them each in cells. I'd also captured three ships that had been circling the island at the time and although the ships were now in bottles, the crew members were in cells and the cargo in storage. Now, I was looking at the base with my eyes closed while Inazuma flew through the bases outer section and gave me an idea of what I'd be dealing with by allowing me to see through the eye of the dragon. It was then I had Inazuma return to my arm before Brant and Chara walked up to my sides as Brant asked.
"So, what's the plan?"
"Toothless and will do a fly over with Chara who will throw her purple kunai into each watchtower and release her knockout gas to take them out and while we do that, you'll deal with the two guards on the outside of the gate." Both nodded.
"And what about the men on the walls?"
"I'll take care of them myself and when the guards on the walls are dealt with, we'll deal with the men inside the base." Brant and Chara nodded. "Alright kids, let's get to work." With that said the attack on the dragon hunter base began.
Nobodies POV:
Chara sat on the back of Toothless who silently glided over the towers as she threw her purple shuriken down into them with each hitting their mark, releasing a small cloud of light purple gas that filled the tower, knocking out the men within them. Brant and Hiccup watched with proud smiles on their faces as Chara took out the last of the towers which gave them the opportunity to approach the base with less chances of being detected. With the towers out of commission both Hiccup and Brant rushed towards the base with Brant going towards the entrance and Hiccup going to the side of the right wall.
Brant reached his spot first and hid in the nearby bushes and looked at the two men guarding the gate before deciding it best to divide and conquer. He picked up a rock and threw it into a bush a little bit away from them drawing their attention to it before one guard went to go and check it out before he threw a rock into a bush that was a few feet to his left, drawing the attention of the other guard. The second he passed by the bush though was when Brant struck, silently climbing out from behind the bush he was behind and then using the pole of his spear to deliver a hard strike to the back of the guards' neck, sending him to the ground unconscious. Brant then quickly dragged the body into the bushes before any of the men on the wall could see him and turned to the other guard who had just returned to the gate and noticed his fellow guards' absence. It was easy to tell that he was about to call for help so Brant quickly rushed at him and slammed the pole of his spear into his head just as he turned around to call for help. He went down unconscious making Brant smile, knowing his job was done for now before he turned to the wall and wondered if his father had begun his attack yet.
What Brant didn't know was that Hiccup had already begun his attack when he was dragging the first guard into the bushes, using his mystic rope to get onto the top of the wall without making any noise and then using his blow pipe and white darts to paralyze the ones on the wall. Once they were dealt with, he was able to climb onto the wall unnoticed and deal with the other guards who were on the wall in the same way, before any of them could react. With his aim and the distance, the darts could be launched at though, it didn't take that long, nor was it that difficult to deal with the remaining wall guards.
Now Hiccup was looking down at the men who were walking around the base, all armed with one weapon or another and counted twenty of them making him smile as he released his golden arrow from his prosthetic. He held it up while mapping out where each of the men were located before, he let the arrow fly down at them and watched as it went through each one of them in under ten seconds before returning to his prosthetic hand and watched as all the men fell. With the outside guards dealt with Hiccup jumped from his place above the wall and opened the gate allowing Brant in who looked around before whistling in amazement and turning to Hiccup as he said.
"You have got to teach me how to do this some time." Hiccup just smiled at him and let out a loud whistle to call Toothless and Chara down.
"We need to begin gathering the hunters now before we go check out the cave." He nodded as Toothless and Chara came to land in front of them. "Help me collect all the bodies of all the downed hunters and we'll go take care of those in the cave afterwards."
They nodded before they got to work in gathering the hunters and once they were done, Hiccup pulled all the men into his shadow until he could send them to his ship. With the outside forces dealt with, they slowly made their way into the cave to see what was going on in the caves only to find it was in fact a large tunnel. Knowing he needed to ensure no hunters were able to escape, Hiccup turned to Toothless and said.
"Toothless guard the entrance and take out any hunters who try to escape." He growled and nodded but Hiccup could see the worry in his eyes and gently patted the dragons muzzle. "Don't worry bud, we'll be fine." He growled and nodded before Hiccup and the kids took off into the tunnels.
10 minutes later
It's been ten minutes since Hiccup and the kids entered the tunnels and in that time they'd encountered a few hunters who were quickly captured before they could set off an alarm. They'd also come across a few rooms and made mental notes on where they were so they could loot them of everything valuable within them since it wasn't going to be any good to the hunters where they were going at the end of this attack. Now they had reached a fork in the path with either way possessing hunters to deal with so Hiccup turned to the kids and said.
"Alright, you two go down the right path and I'll take the left." Brant asked.
"Are you sure we should go alone dad?"
"I have faith in the both of you and your capabilities to remain in the shadows when you're up against foes in such a large group that you can't win against." They nodded before Hiccup brought them both into a tight hug. "Be careful out there kids." They returned the hug before the family ended the hug and took off down the separate ways.
5 minutes later
With Brant and Chara
Brant and Chara silently ran down the tunnel encountering no hunters yet until they came to a corner with two hunters walking towards it before Chara signaled Brant to let her handle it. The second the men were a few feet away from the corner, Chara threw a purple kunai into the wall next to the hunters who stopped to see what hit the wall but the purple knockout gas sprayed out and right into their faces, knocking them out. Brant gave his little sister a smile before they walked up to the two unconscious hunters and leaned them up against the wall before continuing down the path.
They continued for two more minutes before they found another split with one leading towards a large cavern with a pit in it where six hunters were playing a card game. There were also two hunters leaning up against the wall beneath them and another three enjoying a talk on the other side of the pit, making a total of eleven men. Brant signaled Chara to deal with the three hunters on the other side of the room before he ran and jumped off the edge and landed right on the table in kneeling position making all the hunters sitting at it, stand up in shock. Before they could do anything else, Brant quickly extended his spears pole a little and rapidly spun it above his head once, after releasing the blade making it give shallow cuts into the surrounding hunters chest. Brant then pulled his spear back and stood back up while the hunters fell down paralyzed before Brant jumped at the two hunters against the wall who stared in shock, thrusting his spears pole forward with both hands, slamming it into their heads which slammed back into the wall, knocking them out.
It was then the other three hunters regained their senses and began to charge at Brant but before they could get past the table Chara ran and leapt from the edge towards them with a purple kunai in each hand. She slammed both her feet into the face of the one in the middle, throwing him back into the ground before she turned back to the remaining men and rushed forward at her top speed, cutting each hunter and then stopping in an instant. The second she did so though, the men collapsed to the ground unconscious due to the poison within Chara's kunai before she looked at her brother and gave an innocent smile but he couldn't help but shiver in a little fear at the demonstration of his sisters' skill. He walked up to her and gave a high-five before they gathered up all the men into the middle of the pit before using some rope Chara brought to tie them together.
Once the hunters were fully restrained, the kids took off out of the room to see what there was in the other tunnel, hoping to find more hunters to deal with as they saw this as a good training exercise. They took off down the tunnel with this in mind while also wondering how their adoptive father was doing, elsewhere in this large base of tunnels.
With Hiccup
Hiccup had been making his way down the tunnel, capturing every hunter he could find, using his weapons and other items at his disposal to take out the hunters before pulling them into his shadow. Currently Hiccup was hanging from the ceiling of the tunnel, using the legs of his spiderpack while waiting for a hunter that was making his way down the tunnel. When the hunter reached the point that he was right beneath him before releasing his bandage bands from his wrists and onto the hunter, with them quickly gagging his mouth while binding his arms to his sides as he was pulled up to Hiccup. Hiccup grabbed the hunter and slammed him into the ceiling where his shadow had expanded while severing the wrappings and then allowing the tendrils of his shadow to pull him in.
Once that hunter was dealt with, Hiccup dropped to the ground while looking at things within his coat through the eyes of the shadow wolf that was within his coat and saw a lot of them had given up hope and were just sitting in their cells while others were still trying to get out. Hiccup smirked at their attempts and continued to make his way down the tunnel until he reached an opening in the side wall and quickly pressed himself into the side while listening for anything within. He smiled when he heard a few men discussing the latest number of dragons they'd captured and how they'd go bring in a large crowd when they used them in the ring to restart the dragon fights. Hiccup pulled out a clear Loki ball and quickly loaded it with his knockout gas before whispering.
"As if I'd allow those fights to restart." He then tossed the ball into the crevice and a second later there were multiple coughs from within before a single hunter stumbled out with a small wisp of the gas following him as he gasped and then turned to see Hiccup before he said.
"You!"
Then he collapsed to the ground unconscious as Hiccup smirked and extended his shadow, pulling the hunter into it and made his way into the room and found a table with some scrolls on it and a few shelves against the walls with some scrolls and books on them. Hiccup shrugged and pulled the unconscious men into his shadow before he walked out of the cavern to continued his way down the tunnel while looking for more hunters. His walk didn't take long though as he quickly reached the end that had an opening which had two men on either side armed with spears that had dragon root covering the heads of them. Hiccup released his boomerang and threw it at them and smiled when it struck the backs of their necks, knocking them out before returning to his hand as the hunters fell to the ground unconscious. He made his way towards the entrance while pulling the hunters into his shadow with the others before allowing his own body to sink into the shadows as he made his way down the opening to see what was down the opening that was guarded.
For a few seconds he remained in the shadows before coming to a small cavern that had been done up a bit to look more like a room with wooden flooring, a few shelves against the walls, some wooden chests that were filled with gold coins, four large statues against the walls between the shelves, some small ones on the shelves and two guards on either side of the entrance and like the ones outside, armed with spears. In the center of the room was a desk with a man sitting at it going over a map and a chest of gold by it with him muttering a few things to himself. It was easy to tell that he was the one in charge of these hunters by his red vest that only the dragon hunter commanders wore, and it didn't hurt that he had a golden necklace around his neck. He chuckled as he said.
"Those scaly beasts definitely sell for good money." He then chuckled as Hiccup extended his shadow beneath the two guards. "And when we restart the dragon fights, I'll be making enough money to completely rebuild the dragon hunters and this time, we'll be keeping our business hidden from most people who don't have money so that darn dragon rider doesn't cause any more problems." Hiccup had the tendrils come out of his shadow and quickly gag the two guards while restraining their limbs before pulling them into the shadow as they struggled in vain to break free and get their commanders attention who was too focused on the map. "We'll have our army rebuilt in no time with the money we'll make after selling the dragons we've got caged, right boys?" When he didn't get a reply, he looked up and saw nobody was there. "Boys?" It was then Hiccup said from the entrance.
"They're not going to answer you." He walked into the room. "Did you honestly think you'd be able to keep this operation of yours a secret from me?" He stared at Hiccup in shock before glaring at him in anger and yelling.
"GUARDS!" Hiccup smiled and leaned against the wall as the commander glared before realizing his men weren't rushing in. "You've already took them out, didn't you?" Hiccup nodded.
"So, do you want to come peacefully, or would you rather fight a little?" He growled and pulled out a crossbow from behind his chair which he fired right at Hiccups head, but Hiccup quickly caught it, inches from his face as the hunter stared in shock. "I've picked up a few new tricks since I destroyed your tribe of hunters." He then unsealed his eyepatch to expose the eye of the dragon. "Here's another one of them." He focused the eye on the hunter who felt a tingle that was quickly spreading from his chest and looked down before he gasped in shock when he saw his body quickly turning to stone and looked up at Hiccup who simply smirked. "I always thought you hunters were rather stone hearted." This was the last thing he heard before his head turned to stone. "Well that takes care of the commander." He then pulled the statue into his shadow. "I wonder how the kids are handling things."
With Brant and Chara
Three minutes ago, both Brant and Chara entered a long cavern which served as the dragon holding facility which was lined with multiple openings in the walls that had large cage doors blocking their entrances and keeping all the dragons inhabiting them imprisoned. There were multiple breeds within the cages including, nadders, nightmares, gronkles, zipplebacks, windcutters, thunderclaws and speed stingers just to name some of the imprisoned dragons. These dragons were now being given a good show of their captors being beaten down by both Brant and Chara who were currently locked in a fight with a few hunters who were trying to surround their foes who were already surrounded by multiple unconscious foes. These downed foes had been taken down by a hard strike or cut from Brants spear or a single cut from the purple kunai Chara wielded against them.
Presently the two of them had split up to cover more ground and deal with more foes faster so they could ensure that nobody was able to escape. Now Brant was busy slamming the pole of his butt of his spear pole into another hunters gut before using it to hook the man and then lift his body up and throwing him over his shoulder and into another charging hunter. Two more came at him but they were stopped by a purple kunai striking each of them in their chests, making them tumble forward and then collapse to the ground unconscious while Brant gave his sister a smile who smiled back. Their moment was short-lived though when more hunters charged at them, to try and end the lives of the two intruders who had taken down their comrades.
While Brant charged at his coming foes, Chara simply turned to face the ones coming at her and examined their weapons before pulling out a purple kunai in her right hand and an orange in her left as she got into her fighting stance. One man holding an axe charged at her with his weapon held back before he swung it forward at her neck, intending to decapitate her but Chara tuck and rolled forward while slashing his leg with her purple kunai, making the man stumble forward and collapse. While he did this, the comrade who was following him and wielding a dragon proof sword came rushing forward as Chara kneeled down to stop her roll before bringing his blade down at her. Chara brought up her orange kunai to block the strike and the second the blades met, the orange kunai the blade heated up and began melting the metal of the hunter's sword, imbedding itself into the blade. When it reached the middle though Chara yanked it forward, pulling the hunter forward with it before she cut his arm with her purple kunai, making him fall down unconscious.
She looked around and after seeing no more hunters coming at her but didn't see any so she turned to her brother to see if he needed help finishing off his opponents. She saw he'd already dealt with the remaining hunters and this left the two of them alone with no more opponents to face and they knew it was time to move on to find any remaining hunters in the tunnels. As they went down though, they looked at the dragons and silently promised to come back for them and to release them as soon as they were done with the hunters.
1 hour later
It's been an hour since Brant and Chara finished off the hunters who were guarding the captured dragons and, in that time, both Hiccup and the kids had finished off the remaining hunters, capturing and transporting them to the ship where they were put in cells. Then there's the dragons who the hunters had captured, Toothless had to use his blue glow with alpha roar to keep them from attacking Hiccup and the kids along with some fish from the humans to show they could be trusted more than the hunters. Once they'd calmed the dragons down, they loaded them onto the ship and into the dragon pens where they could be kept until they got back to the island where they could be released into the nests. As for the base, Hiccup and the kids had looted it of everything of value such as books, maps, smaller base locations, treasures and other such things before destroying everything so it could never be used to harm dragons again. Now though, Hiccup was in the map room, looking down at the crystal map and the route they were taking which lead right to the nearest Dragon Hunters hunting ground where according to the maps they'd found in the bases, is where they'd set up small camps to hunt dragons they could bring to the base.
Looking at the map while going over the number of bases, Hiccup sighed and knew he needed to strike now before word got to the camps that their main base had been destroyed. Fortunately, there weren't that many of them since they kept moving around to avoid being noticed by anyone who might alert their foes like the defenders of the wing or Hiccup. Unfortunately for them, they continuously took the same roots to the same hunting grounds and they were scheduled to switch over to the other islands, meaning they could capture them using the ship and save them a bit of time. Hiccup sighed while looking at the map as the hunter's ship appeared on the map and said.
"I hope we'll be back to the island in time for breakfast." His mind then drifted to the kids who were asleep in the ship's bedrooms. "I'm just glad the kids are getting some rest after the night they've had." He then smiled. I'm so proud of them."
Early afternoon
The mornings sun had risen upon the island, showering it in light as Hiccups ship came into view with Hiccup standing at the front on the top deck with a smile on his face at the sight of his home while the kids were behind him, watching the ocean go by. Who could blame him though as he'd spent most of the night pulling ships, filled with dragon hunters and captured dragons into his ship, followed by a drop off on Outcast Island where he had to deal with an annoyed Alvin the Treacherous. Hiccup couldn't blame him for being annoyed though since it was the crack of dawn and the man had just been woken up from a sound sleep in which he was having a wonderful dream. Still though, he was happy to take the prisoners to fill the cells that had been empty for a while and just to be nice, Hiccup gave Alvin half of the treasures and supplies he looted from the base and the hunter's ships.
Now though Hiccup was standing on the top deck, at the front while smiling at the sight of his island that was approaching fast and he was looking forward to getting back after the night he had. He had missed out on almost a full night of sleep since he had to spend most of the night tending to the rescued dragons due to various wounds that needed to be tended and starved that needed to be fed. Now after spending the entire night working, he was looking forward to simply getting home, kissing his wives and catching up on the sleep after releasing the dragons into the bewilderbeast ice nest. For now, though, he'd have to wait since after he gets back, he's going to deal with his wives who are going to want the full story on how the kids first real mission went and also why it took all night.
1 hour later
Hiccups POV:
It's been an hour since we got back home and, in that time, I'd released all the dragons into the Bewilderbeast nest to let them settle into their new home before going to my own home to deal with the ship's new cargo and of course, talk to my wives. I decided to take care of my wives first who demanded every detail on what happened to the point that it would take us all night to handle what they believed to be one base. They weren't happy when I told them about how it had gone into an all-night hunt but they calmed down after I revealed it was just me pulling the hunters ships into my own. Still, when I told them about us splitting up in the base to deal with more hunters and they made their displeasure known in their own ways, Blanca giving me a disapproving look, Hadasa complaining and Astrid punching me in the arm before giving me a kiss.
Now I was sitting in the tea gardens gazebo once more, sitting across the from the Ancient One while discussing the kids actions during the mission against the hunters. I'd just finished informing him of how well they handled the infiltration and was now waiting for his reply as I sipped my tea to calm my nerves. He lowered hid his cup from his lips and asked.
"And how do you think your children performed on this mission?"
"I believe they performed well and surpassed my expectations when they were sent out to handle hunters on their own." He smiled.
"I am in full agreement with them performing well but just because they did well in this mission, it does not mean there is no room for improvement." I nodded. "For example, they could use a little work with their own skill hand to hand skill as they seem to rely too much on their weapons and not enough on pure hand to hand combat which could lead to trouble, should they ever find themselves disarmed." I nodded in agreement.
"I'll discuss upping their hand to hand combat training with the ninja."
"That would be wise and I believe young Chara is ready to begin learning nerve strikes." I raised an eyebrow.
"Do you really think so since that's pretty advanced stuff."
"She is ready, this mission has proved it and she does need to learn how to turn her hands to defeat her opponents." I nodded before we continued to drink our tea and enjoy the small talk.
2 days later
I was walking through the village with the Ancient One, enjoying a simple walk to the forge to help Gobber out in making saddles for the riders since some new people had signed up to be riders and Gobber needed some help keeping up with the orders. It was then I noticed the Ancient One had stopped walking and was staring blankly at something making me raise an eyebrow in confusion and walk back to him and follow his look only to see him staring at Gothi. It was then without blinking that he asked.
"Hiccup, who is that woman?"
"That's Gothi, our towns elder and best healer but she's also a mute so she communicates by writing with her staff."
"And why haven't I seen her before now?"
"She mostly stays in her hut on top of the mountain that the Great Hall is built into." He nodded.
"If that is the case, please excuse me while I go to meet the person who possibly maybe the woman of my dreams." I then watched as the Ancient One walked off and smiled while shaking my head as I went to help Gobber in the forge.
1 week later
It's been a week since the Ancient One first met Gothi and since then, they have mentally scarred me more times than I care to count with their antics around Berk. Honestly, they were acting like a teenage couple in the throws of love with them rarely leaving each other's sides, holding hands saying or in Gothi's case writing sweet things to each other and making out in hidden spots which sadly included the back room of the forge. Sadly, I walked in on them one time when the Ancient One's vest had been removed and it was something that would haunt my memories for months to come and I doubt I'd be able to look either of them in the eye for a few weeks.
Now however, I am happy but also a little sad to say that the Ancient One has decided it is time for him to return home which brings us to now with us in the bamboo forest, by the meditation shrine. My family has already said goodbye to him along with Gothi but when he said goodbye to Blanca, he was giving her a look I didn't understand as if he were urging her to do something. It was then the Ancient One bowed to me in respect as he said.
"Thankyou for your kindness and hospitality my friend." I bowed to him.
"It was my pleasure Ancient One and I thank you for helping enhance the skills of my children through training them."
"It was my pleasure and keep in mind, you cannot protect them forever so you must allow them more off island experiences like you did when you took them on the mission to capture the hunters." I nodded.
"I will Ancient One, but it won't be easy explaining that to my wives and living to take them on the mission." He chuckled.
"Women my friend, few beasts can be as ferocious when protecting their young." I nodded in agreement. "Till next we meet Hiccup Haddock." I then blinked and he was gone, making me chuckle.
"I really have to remember to ask him how he does that." I shrugged and took off to enjoy my day.
Nightfall
After the Ancient One left the island and since then not much has happened other than Brant coming to me with concerns about his spear feeling a bit different this morning and had been feeling as if it were changing since the mission against the hunters. I chalked it up to him just feeling a little bit of accomplishment thanks to his first truly successful mission, but I let him know to let me know if it continues to bother him and I'd check it out. I doubted that there was anything I could do though since it was a spear that had chosen my son as its wielder so I wouldn't be able to alter it in anyway.
Now though, the kids are in bed, the wolfwalkers were running through the forest in their wolf forms, Arachne was asleep in her nest, the animals were doing their own thing and my wives were in the bath. As for me, I was sitting in my private study with one of my favorite history books and in my favorite chair with the fire quietly crackling as I sipped my mead. This was a moment of peace I could truly enjoy since it was nice and quiet, and everyone knew that this room was off limits as it was the one room in the house that was mine and mine alone. It was then at that moment the sound of someone knocking at the door before the familiar voice of my sweet white serpent saying.
"Hiccup, can I come in?"
"You know the rules Blanca; this room is off limits to everyone but me."
"There's something important I need to talk to you about." I could hear that she was nervous in her voice and knew it best to see what was bothering her, so I closed my book and put it on the table alongside my drink.
"Alright Blanca, come in." I turned and watched her walk in wearing just the inner part of her kimono, showing she'd just come from the bath, closing the door behind her as she walked up and sat next to me while looking down. "Blanca, what's bothering you."
"Hiccup there is something I've been keeping from you for the past few weeks since I've been afraid as to how you'd react."
"Blanca, you know that you can tell me anything and I will do my best to remain calm and there's nothing you can say or do that'll change the love I have for you." She took a breath and looked up at me.
"I'm pregnant!" My eyes widened and for a second, my heart stopped out of pure shock.
"I understand you're shocked." She stood up. "I'll give you time to process this." As she walked away though what she said when she came in hit me.
"How long?" She turned to me.
"Excuse me?"
"How long have you known?"
"Just over a week."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was afraid of how you would feel." She looked down. "I know you have a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders and a new child would add to the burden but-"
"Blanca!" I gently tilted her head up to look at me as I caressed her cheek with my thumb. "A child born from our love will never be any sort of burden but it shall always be a blessing so don't be afraid." I gently pulled her into a hug. "Whatever challenges the future holds with this little blessing, we'll face it together with our family." I then pulled her into a gentle kiss before pulling away. "Now let's get to bed." She nodded and with that said, we left for the bedroom so we could get some rest.
AN: And there you have it, Blanca is pregnant and for those of you who are wondering when the child will be born, I intend to have it born in April, the same month as my niece is due to arrive since as strange as it may sound, I felt it would be a little poetic in a way. Anyway, I hope you guys will review kindly and actually review since the last one only got four votes and the one before that only got two so here's hoping this one will get more. Till next time guys, have a nice day and stay safe.
