Chapter 305

Hiccups POV:

It's been three weeks since I got back from my Hawaiian vacation and those weeks have been busy in so many ways, starting with the first two days which were spent sorting the treasures I got from Feredoon. Seriously, with all the stuff I got, I had to expand my armory, library and treasury while also needing to hold a big sale in town to get rid of a ton of the stuff I didn't need like various materials, clothes, farming equipment, leather and all sorts of other things from all over. As expected, I was sold out of items in less than an hour and although a lot of people walked away with new items, they also walked away with a few new wounds that they received after getting in the way of Viking women who saw new clothes they wanted. Of course, I let my family browse through the items first to see if there was anything they wanted and there were some items, but I was surprised when each of my wives picked out a piece of bejeweled clothing that I'm sure Feredoon stole from a brothel somewhere. When I asked them about it though, they just said they had use for it which I got to see that evening and I had to say, I was not complaining about the items they chose.

After my marketplace day, I got to work on drawing up plans to enhance the farming life for Berks farmers using the various methods I now knew of along with summoning my ninja masters back to show the new ninja techniques and training methods I had. They took them all in with a few questions asked here and there before they returned to Japan to share them with their clans and the knowledge of what improvements I expected to see the next time I visited. I then spent another week in the forge with Gobber, trying out the various blacksmithing techniques I now had knowledge of while discussing plans to enlarge the forge with Gobber who was all for it since he felt the place needed some expansion for all the new defenses Stoick wanted ready. A day later we were drawing up plans with my dad and a week after that the new forge was complete with more forges, molds, designs, racks and even a comfortable spot for Grump. Once the new forge was complete, my dad had me taken aside to discuss some new ideas he had for defenses, but I poked holes in almost all his ideas since they'd get in the way of our current defenses or turn the island into a prison for the people as we wouldn't be able to leave it. Eventually we were able to agree to have an emergency bunker made beneath New Berk along with a new offshore storehouse with supplies on a nearby island.

Besides that, I'd gotten back to testing out my ships new form by going after bounties again using it to hunt down pirates, bandits and all sorts of criminals. I had been bringing the kids along on some of these missions to help them get some combat experience and to help make sure none of the ones we were after escaped. It was after the first attack though that I learnt the majority of the bandits, criminals and other low lives of the archipelago had actually begun fearing me after what happened with the Marauding serpents which I was alright with since it meant less chances of Berk being attacked. Along with this, it also meant less people would be willing to try and kidnap my family members which helped lessen the weight I had on my shoulders. I hadn't just been attacking bandits on my ship though as I'd also been using it to loot some of the shipwrecks which I now new existed and the treasures I was able to gather were amazing to say the least and looked good in either my art works, treasury or just around the house.

As for the animals I'd released onto my island, I am happy to say that they've settled in with the camels now wondering the desert, the farm animals enjoying their new pens, the remaining boars that the wolves haven't taken are wondering the forest while the horses are wondering the Great Planes under the watch of Phlegon who has assumed the roll of the herds leader. Fortunately, all the horses were tamed horses and I'd been able to ride a few of them to figure out which ones were the strongest and which needed some training to help with their speed and strength.

Now though, I was sparring using a bo staff against a blindfolded Chara, while Brant was doing pullups and Egil was practicing his hand-to-hand techniques against a dummy. I blocked one of Chara's blows before twisting her arm and pulling her in as she grunted in pain with her arm held against my chest as I said.

"You're improving Chara, but you waste too much time between strikes trying to find me." She grunted.

"It's hard to know which noise is made by you when there are others making more noise." She used her head to gesture to her brothers.

"You need to learn how to block out all other distractions and focus on one-point Chara while opening your mind to all sounds around you and paint a picture in your mind of your surroundings." She nodded as I let her go so, we could try again before Astrid walked in holding Zephyr in her arms.

"Hiccup, I hate to break up your bonding time with our eldest daughter, but your dad wants you." I nodded.

"Where is he now?"

"Waiting in the entrance hall." I nodded before turning to Chara.

"Keep up your training with one of your brothers and we'll continue this lesson tomorrow." She nodded and walked off to talk with Brant who had dropped down from the bar to take a few breaths and enjoy some water while I turned back to Astrid and saw little Zephyr reaching out to me, making me smile as I took her from Astrid and gently bounced her. "Let's go see what your grandpa wants." She giggled as we left for the entrance hall which didn't take long to get to where my dad was waiting. "Hey dad, and what can I do for you today?" He looked down at me with a serious look.

"Son, we need to talk about those new farming methods you've been teaching the farmers." I raised an eyebrow.

"Is there something wrong with the methods cause from what I've seen they've been working well with the crops and the farmers seem to be having an easier time doing their jobs because of it." He chuckled.

"That they are, and they've made their gratitude clear from what I've been told." I rolled my eyes.

"You have no idea, it's why my food stores needed to go through an expansion." I shook my head. "So why are you bringing up the farming methods?"

"I was wondering if they'd be effective for growing herbs for our healers to use." I nodded.

"They should but it depends on what's being grown." He nodded.

"Well, I'd like to make use of that new plant pot of yours and your ships new plant house to collect a lot of herbs to help out our healers incase they're needed for illnesses or if we have another breakout of eel pox." I nodded remembering the last time we had an outbreak.

"I admit it would be helpful to have the majority of the ingredients on hand and save us all a bit of time so Toothless and I'll head out now unless you need me for something else." He smiled.

"No, but I've got a list of things we'll need from healers island and if you can bring back any willow bark trees then that'll also help as Gothi is running low on the stuff." I nodded as he gave me a long list of items needed before an idea popped into my head.

"If I'm going to get all this stuff than it would help if I had some help finding them." He raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you grab Skullcrusher and we can go together to find the ingredients faster and besides, when was the last time we took a trip together just to get some work done and have some time to chat." He smiled.

"Now that sounds like a grand idea, but I'll need to let everyone know that I'm going away for a few hours." I smiled.

"And I'll meet you up in the air on Toothless." He nodded before he left but when he was gone, I noticed a look Astrid was giving me. "What?" She just smiled as she took Zephyr back.

"I'm just enjoying the sight of you bonding with your father and maybe now you'll be able to discuss things with him about becoming chief and how you'll balance being chief with your travels, dealing with the dragons, your inventions, being a father and being a husband." I chuckled.

"One challenge at a time milady, one challenge at a time." With that said, I walked out to get Toothless who was no doubt, with his family's flock.

4 hours later

It's been four hours since me and my dad decided to begin gathering herbs for the farms so the healers would be able to have access to them in case of a shortage of supplies. That time has been spent on Toothless with my dad on Skullcrusher and while we flew, we just began talking, not only about New Berk and some ideas I had to help improve not only the defenses but life in the village. At some point we just began talking about our lives and how things are going with my dad letting me know that thanks to the things I've taught the villagers and new things I've brought to the village, things have been running smoother than ever. He did mention a few things he wanted me to look at though and see if there were any more ideas, I could come up with to help with the problems. I had to say though it made me feel warm inside since I could still remember when my dad hardly wanted anything to do with me and would pay absolutely no attention to any ideas, I had that would better Berk. Now if I have even a small idea that might prove useful to our people, he drops everything to listen to me and throws in his own ideas into the mix. I was brought out of my memories of my passed when my dad asked.

"Everything alright son?" I turned to see he was looking at me in concern as was Toothless and Skullcrusher.

"I'm fine, just thinking about how my life is now compared to when I was younger." I threw my body back and lay against the saddle. "When I was younger and before I met Toothless, I never would have even dreamed of doing half the stuff I do but then again, I don't think I could have dreamed of the creatures I've faced in my worst nightmares." My dad nodded while Toothless growled in agreement.

"Considering how some of those creatures looked, I can't blame you since they looked worse than any beast, we Vikings have in our legends or tales." I smirked.

"Clearly you haven't seen Gobber, walking into the forge before sunrise after only a few hours of sleep due to orders piling up and lack of iron." I shivered at the memory. "He looked like he'd just risen from the grave but when he took a cup of wastewater and drunk it down before spitting it out on himself, he looked even worse, and I didn't think that was possible."

"Is this the same time he was so tired he forgot to put on his underwear before leaving his hut with just his pants?" I shivered at the memory.

"If only he had remembered to wear his belt that day then I would not have needed to go into counseling or been unable to even look at him for a month."

"Wasn't that the month you begged me to take you with me on my chiefing duties." I nodded.

"That and I was actually just hoping to spend some time with you, without you giving me the disappointed glare you always gave whenever you looked at me back then." I didn't mean to say that last part out loud but from the look of guilt and sadness I saw on my dad's face, he heard it.

"Son, listen I know I wasn't the best father to you back then and for that I truly am sorry."

"I know dad, you've told me that enough times and despite what you may think I'm actually now grateful for that treatment." I don't think I've ever seen someone so shocked as I did my father at that moment.

"You're grateful I ignored you, publicly scolded you, ignored the torment you went through, didn't bother to remember your birthday and even more things that made me a horrible father." I nodded.

"As strange as it may sound, I am." He stared at me. "If you hadn't then I would never have been so determined to prove myself which led to me shooting down Toothless and if I hadn't shot Toothless down, I wouldn't have my own island, wouldn't have met my wives or have any of my kids and what's more, chances are the world would have been destroyed in some way." He chuckled.

"That's true so I guess one of the good things about being a bad father is you drive your child to prove you wrong." I chuckled.

"Or try to knock some sense into you." He chuckled before I turned ahead and smiled. "Healer's island dead ahead dad." He smiled and we flew faster.

"Let's gather all the herbs we can and head home." I nodded and we took off.

3 hours later

It's been three hours since we came to healer's island and since then we've been able to gather buckthorn root, willow bark trees, rock blossoms, patches of goatweed, wild dagga plants and a great deal of other herbs used for healing that only grew on Healers Island. All these things were taken into my plant pot and are now stored safely on my ship in the plant storage room where they would remain until we get back to New Berk and prepared a place for them in the farmlands. While we were gathering things though, we spotted smoke on the far side of the island and decided to investigate it to see if it was anything that could mean trouble.

This brings us to now, with me and my dad, hiding behind a large boulder on a cliff, looking down at a small camp that had a large ship docked on the beaches which had a fire pit, logs, weapons stabbed into the sand and multiple dragon proof cages with a few dragons, nadders, terrors and even some zipplebacks and nightmares in them. I recognized the cages as equipment used by the warlords to hold dragons meaning that chances are, these guys were escapees from the warlord's army and were now either capturing dragons for someone or doing it for themselves to try and create their own army. Either way, they needed to be taken down and brought in while their dragons are freed and taken back to New Berk where they'd be able to join the nests after a checkup for injuries. I turned to my dad and asked.

"So, how's about a little father son brawl bonding." He raised an eyebrow.

"Brawl bonding?" I smirked.

"We bond by beating some crooks." He smiled. "Did you bring the axe you got from my armory?" He walked over to Skullcrusher before pulling it from his saddlebag.

"Never leave home without it." I smiled as I released my own axe.

"Let's go kick some butt." We mounted our dragons and took off to begin our own attack on those who had imprisoned the dragons.

Nobodies POV:

The hunters were all sitting around their camp while doing their jobs such as preparing weapons, food, guarding the dragons, looking after the firepit and other things. It was then one of the men who was wearing yak fur with a red tunic and shaved head walked up to a bald man with long blond beard, wearing a bear fur cape that had ram horns hooked on his shoulder that held the cape with a helmet that had yak horns, a black tunic with a metal vest over it and an axe in his hand. The one who walked up to him and looked around with fear before turning back to him and said.

"We've got all the supplies we need sir, so can we leave the island now." The man who was now shown to be the one in charge turned to him.

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I'm just nervous sir, you remember what happened to the others who were trapping dragons." He growled in annoyance.

"Don't worry about that peace loving dragon rider, he and his tribe were driven off by the warlords months ago and haven't been seen since." He chuckled but the man in front of him shivered.

"But they still might be out there, and what if he summons those skeletons to attack us."

"Don't tell me you believe those stories some of our recruits have told you about how they were attacked by skeletons that broke out from the ground when they invaded the village."

"It's not just that, there are countless stories about him and the threats he's faced which make the warlords and Grimmel look like nothing in comparison." The leader just chuckled.

"Don't put too much thought into those stories, you know how gossip gets." He then smirked. "If he ever showed up, I'd take him down and make a nice chair from his night fury's hide."

Before the other could reply, one of the weapon racks they had set up on the beach exploded followed by their fire pit, surprising them all as shadows flew over them. They all looked up and saw Hiccup on Toothless and Stoick on Skullcrusher making the men all either run for their weapons or run for the ship hoping to use the catapults on it to take out their camps attackers. The leader growled while grabbing a man running past him and yelled.

"Grab the crossbows and shoot them out of the sky." He nodded and ran towards the weapons rack where the crossbows were and grabbed a few men along the way, but Hiccup spotted where they were going and had Toothless blast the rack, destroying the crossbows before Hiccup turned to his dad and said.

"Looks like they're trying to get some ranged weapons so why don't we show them how we fight close and personal?" He smiled.

"I can't think of any better way to spend an afternoon with my son." Hiccup smiled at his father as he unlatched his harness from the saddle.

"I'll meet you on the ground." He looked at Toothless. "Cover us from above bud."

He growled and nodded before Hiccup jumped over Toothless' head and forward off him, beginning to free fall until he spread his wings and began to glide down. Stoick just shook his head at his sons' antics as he steered Skullcrusher down so he could join his son in the battle against the men on the ground. As Stoick descended on Skullcrusher, Hiccup had begun closing in on the ground where multiple men who were armed with spears had gathered up, hoping to impale Hiccup when he was close enough. Hiccup saw this and smirked before he gave his wings a hard flap, throwing multiple feather blades at the men who took one look at the coming blades and scattered in fear. It didn't take long for a few to gather together once more as Hiccup got closer to the ground and got ready to charge at him which is when Hiccup released his axe and pulled his wings, causing him to free fall for a few seconds before he slammed his axe to the ground towards the men who had begun charging at him. This caused a shockwave that threw the men into the air and flying back, screaming while another man came at him from the side with a sword in hand. Hiccup turned to him as he brought his sword down on him, but Hiccup raised his axe blade to meet the blade and when the metals struck each other, Hiccup smirked as lightning shot down the swords blade and shocked its wielder who let out a scream and dropped his blade. As soon as he dropped the blade though, Hiccup delivered a hard punch to his face, knocking him out cold, allowing Hiccup to turn to the others who were going for weapons, running for the ship, trying to take the dragons out of the sky or charging at him. Hiccup let out a sigh of enjoyment as he said.

"The joy of bringing chaos to enemy camps." A man charged at Hiccup from behind but was slammed to the ground when Stoick jumped from Skullcrusher and landed on top of him, axe in hand while gaining the attention of Hiccup. "You certainly took your time." He smiled and raised his hand to strike a man charging at him from behind, hitting him in the face.

"Well not all of us have wings to slow our fall." He turned around and swung his axe at three men who were coming at him with their own axes, slicing through the handles and sending the blades to the ground before he lowered his hands on the handle to the bottom and swung it with one hand, hitting the men in the heads with the handle, knocking them out cold. "Still, I'm glad you left a few foes for me to take on." He punched the face of another man who tried to come at him with a sword while Hiccup grabbed a man who was trying to tackle him and throw him at another charging man. "Gets my Viking blood pumping." Hiccup nodded as he turned around and did a high sweep kick to another man's head, knocking him out cold.

"Yeah, I wish I could say the same, but these guys just don't get my blood pumping like it does yours." He backflipped over another man who swung his sword at him from behind before slamming the pommel of his axes hilt into his shoulder, making him fall to the ground out cold.

"I can't blame you Hiccup." Stoick slammed his axe into the sword of another foe, cutting through it as if it were nothing before punching him in the face. "The beasts and men you've faced make these men look like pests." Hiccup nodded and did a leg sweep tripping another man charging at him, sending him tumbling forward towards Stoick who slammed the pommel of his axe on his head, knocking him out.

"Yeah, but it's nice to fight alongside you again." It was then a boulder launched from one of the ships catapults came flying at Hiccup before a plasma blast from Toothless turned it into rubble. "THANKS BUD!" Hiccup then used his axe to make five balls of electrified ice balls and launched them at a group of five men who were fleeing for the ship, hitting them in the backs and shocking them until they fell unconscious. "Let's clean the rest of these guys up and head home since you know how Gothi gets when she's forced to wait for new herbs." Stoick nodded before hitting a man in the gut using the butt of his axe.

"True and I doubt either of us want to be on the receiving end of her glares and staff head." Hiccup nodded as he kicked up a discarded spear and threw it at the legs of two charging men, tangling their legs and making them fall to the ground before he noticed the ship had left the shore and there were no men left. "Looks like they're trying to run." Stoick nodded.

"Think we should go after them?" Hiccup shook his head.

"No, let's give them a small head start before going after them in my ship and while they flee, we'll take care of the men they left behind and free the dragons." Stoick nodded as Hiccup signaled Toothless down to ensure the dragons didn't try anything with the alpha present. "Let's get to work." Stoick nodded and while Stoick gathered up the downed men, Hiccup and Toothless freed the dragons and collected the loot into his spiderpack before he pulled their downed opponents into his shadow, all of which took a total of fifteen minutes. "Well that takes care of that." He walked over to the water and released his ship. "Let's go deal with the fleeing rats now." Stoick nodded and they boarded before going after the men on their ship which had gained a good amount of distance during the time the others were being gathered up.

1 hour later

Hiccups POV:

The prisoners were now in the ships cells along with those who had been in Hiccups shadow while their ship was in a bottle in the map room alongside the other ships, their ships stored supplies and weapons were now in storage and the dragons were in the dragons hold. As for me, I'd interrogated their captain and found out they weren't working for anyone and were hoping to sell the dragons at a dragon auction they were hoping to set up to make a fortune since dragons had become rare since my tribe had moved to New Berk and set up new nests. They'd also just stopped on Healers Island to just restock on supplies since dealing with dragons was dangerous work, even though they had experience since some of their men used to serve under the warlords. We then returned to Healers Island and hunted down the remaining hunters on the island and rook them back to my ship where they were put into cells. After that, I figured since we weren't so far from Berk, we could drop by just to see the old village and how it was since we were forced to abandon it before we drop the prisoner off on Outcast Island.

This brings us to now with me, my dad and our dragons on Berk, standing at the top of the stairs which lead to what used to be the tribes Great Hall with our dragons at our sides while we looked down at what used to be our village. The huts and other buildings had become ruins with moss and other plants growing on the wood, discarded weapons that had become rusted over time could be found on the ground, destroyed wagons lay overturned on the streets. As for the Great Hall, the walls were now filled with cracks, the floors covered in a thick layer of dust, the leftover furniture had fallen apart and some boars had begun nesting at the back. All in all, the once proud village we called home and generations of our people had given their lives to protect was nothing more than ruins but as I said when we first left, the village wasn't what made the island Berk, it was the people who had made it Berk. It was then I was brought out of my thoughts when my dad asked.

"Feels strange, doesn't it?" I just nodded.

"It's hard to believe this is the same village that I grew up in and the one I left so I could become stronger." I sighed. "Makes me realize just how far I've come from the awkward and weak little boy that I used to be back then." He put a hand on my shoulder.

"Either way, I'm proud of the man you've become, and I know when it comes time for me to retire and hand over the reins to you, I can do it with peace of mind knowing you'll be a good chief to our people." I smiled.

"Thanks dad." It was then some ideas I had that I'd been meaning to talk to him about came to mind. "Speaking of being chief, I have a few ideas I've been meaning to talk with you about that may benefit New Berk." He raised an eyebrow. "I'll tell you them on the way back to New Berk since although I'm the heir of Berk, I still need to get the approval of the chief before I can put them into action." He nodded before we mounted our dragons and took off towards my ship so we could go to our peoples on New Berk but as we flew over the village, I knew that this village was our peoples past and New Berk is our future.

Nightfall

Shortly after arriving back to New Berk, we got to work unloading the items we got from the ship of the men we captured while Toothless lead the dragons to the nests. The items we retrieved were weapons, food supplies and herbs which was to be expected so we sent the food supplies to the stores, weapons to Gobber to be melted down into nails or tools with the leftovers going to the hotburples and smothering smokebreaths while the herbs went to the healers. As for the plants we gathered, they were transferred to the plots of land that we set up for them and when the healers saw what we'd brought back, I thought their eyes would pop out of their heads. I couldn't blame them though since we were able to gather a lot, and this would help them prepare a lot of medicines and ointments for future injuries and illnesses. Still these new crops would take a lot of time to tend to and plenty of care, so we had begun making plans to assign certain farmers and cultivators to handle the care and harvest of the herbs. We spent most of our afternoon choosing those who would be doing the job with Hadasa being one of the people who would tend to the crops since plants were her specialty.

Now though, I was in my private study with a goblet of mead in my hand as I lay back in my chair and stared at the flames of the fire, constantly changing while thinking about the things I'd spoken to my father about on the way home. He gave the go ahead to most of my ideas but some he turned down with valid reasons that I didn't consider when I thought of the ideas. Most of these ideas were going to take a lot of time to prepare but it would benefit New Berk when they're complete and that is what would make it all worth it in the end. Still though, it was going to require a lot of materials, a lot of planning and a lot of training for my snake guardians who were able to take human form as they'd play a major part in one of the plans my father had agreed to. For now, though, I could only sit back and enjoy a quiet evening in and enjoy a little private time after a long day's work and time with my father.

AN: Another chapter done, and I can tell you all that I won't be able to write as much next week as I did this week since something big has happened at work in the form of RETRENCHMENT, so we lost a lot of workers, what's worse is we lost a big client, so more RETRENCHMENTS are coming. Now in addition to this making me worry about my job, it also means that I'll be taking all the computers to storage and since over 40 people lost their jobs, I'm going to busy with zero writing time so sorry for the possible long wait in advance. Anyway, have a nice day and review kindly.