Chapter 12; A Holiday Surprise
On Berk, while it was freezing and covered in snow, everyone was happy and getting ready for their only holiday, Snoggletog. While the name was unique, this year's Snoggletog would be the best because the war was over and the dragons living among them. So this year's Snoggletog was going to be one to remember.
At Hiccup's house, Hiccup, Flare, and Knack were asleep, but Toothless, who was on the roof, woke them up. "Okay, okay." Hiccup said as he got out of bed and put on his helmet. "Morning mister bossy." Hiccup said to Toothless the moment they met outside. Toothless did a playful roar to them and they did the same to him. Hiccup then said to Toothless. "Do you always have to wake us up early, so we can go flying!" Hiccup then slipped on some ice, and Toothless caught him. "Stupid leg." Hiccup said, looking at his prosthetic leg. Everyone was worried for Hiccup and Hiccup said to them. "I'm ok, guys. We can go flying now." Then they started to fly around and were working on new moves.
In the town square, everyone was getting ready. "Like this Gobber?" Eric said as he, Knight, Tera and Honorstream were placed decorations. Gobber then said to Eric, as Coal was keeping some kids warm. "That's the spot." Then Honorstream landed and Eric, Knight, and Tera got off. Stoick and Sword Walker then appeared behind Gobber. Elsewhere, Fishlegs Gronckle was playing with a child that was dressed like a Gronckle. "Attaboy, Meatlug."
"You ready, girl?" Astrid said to Nadder she bonded with. Stormfly then got ready to fire her quills and Astrid threw shields at green wood that was shaped like a tree. As Stoick, Sword Walker, Gobber, and Coal were walking around. "By Odin's beard, Gobber. Viking's spending the winter holiday with dragons. What would our fathers say?"
"They think we lost our minds." Gobber said and then Stoick laughed. Stoick then said to everyone. "Well done. Well done, all of you. I never thought I lived to see this day. Peace on the island of Berk. This will be the greatest holiday ever." Everyone cheered, but stopped when a lot of dragons started to fly overhead, and gave a roar to the ones on the ground. "What in Thor's name?" Gobber said as the dragons on the ground then took to the air. "Hookfang!" Snotlout said as his Monstrous Nightmare took off. "Barf! Belch!" The twins said as their Zippleback took off too. "Stormfly." Astird said as her Nadder also took off. "Honorstream!" Eric said as even Honorstream took off. "Where's Hiccup?" Astrid said as she started to look for Hiccup.
As for where Hiccup was. He was still flying over the Berk. "What do you say bud, you want to go again?" Hiccup said to Toothless. Before Toothless could respond, Hiccup, Toothless Flare, and Knack noticed the stampede of dragons. They did their best, and were able to dodge the dragons, but one of the dragons did knock off Hiccup's helmet. Toothless divided after it, but before Toothless could grab it, Hiccup stopped him. As Knack joined them, Hiccup said to Toothless. "We'll get it later, bud. We need to get back and find out what's going on." Toothless took one last look of the area the helmet fell into and then they flew back to Berk. Once they landed, Hiccup got off Toothless and said. "Astrid, Eric!"
"Hiccup, what's going on? Where are they going?" Astird said as she and Eric ran up to him. Before Hiccup could say anything, everyone rushed to Hiccup and started to bombard him with questions. Hiccup was getting a little overwhelmed, and they all stopped when Stoick yelled. "Calm down! Give him a chance to speak!" Stoick then made his way through the crowd, and said to Hiccup. "Hiccup, where are all of our dragons going?"
"Dad. I don't know." Hiccup said, causing everyone to panic. Stoick then ordered everyone to the great hall. Inside, everyone was feeling like the holiday was ruined, and Stoick said to everyone. "Snoggletog isn't ruined. We're Vikings. We've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations. And there is no reason we can't do it again. Now we don't know where they've gone off too, but we have to have fate that they'll be back soon. Am I right?"
"You're right. We are Vikings. We're taught!" Gobber said as he was all set and ready to go to celebrate Snoggletog. Gobber then realized what he had on and said. "Most of the time." As Gobber tried to do some Snoggletog carols, the Dragon Riders left. As they walked through the town's squad, Ruffnut said to the others. "That was depressing."
"I know. I was looking forward to spending the holiday with Stormfly." Astrid said and then Tuffnut noticed that Fishlegs was happy, not sad. "What are you so happy about? Don't you miss Meatlug?"
"Me? Oh, yeah." Fishlegs said before he started to cry. "I miss him so much." Fishlegs said as everyone looked at him. "Well, goodnight." Fishlegs said as he quickly left the others. Eric then said to them. "What is he up to?"
"Maybe he has a special Snoggletog tradition, or something?" Snotlout said and that gave Astrid an idea. She then said to everyone. "That's it. Let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions. You know, to bury the sadness." No one was all for it, but Hiccup said to the others. "Actually, Astrid might be on to something."
"Easy for you to say. Your dragon can't go anywhere without you." Tuffnut said pointing to Toothless, who was watching the ocean on a cliff side. As the others started to go home, Ruffnut said to Hiccup. "Must be nice." Those words caused Hiccup to get an idea, and instead of going home he went to the Blacksmith Shop.
The following day, some of the Vikings, mostly the kids, were still sad that their dragons were gone. Astrid was trying to cheer people up with her creation, a version of eggnog called yaknog. No one was taking the yaknog and when she found the other Dragon Riders, minus Hiccup and Fishlegs. She ran up to them and said. "Hey, you guys. Try this tasty new beverage I made for the holiday."
"Ugh, what's that smile? Is it you?" Tuffnut said before pushing his sister away. Astrid then poured a cup and said. "It's yaknog."
"Looks yummy…" Eric said, and it didn't look anything close to yummy. "Yummy? If I drink that, I'll yaknog all over the place." Tuffnut said and then Astrid said. "Maybe you'd rather take a punch to the face?"
"Astird, it sounds lovely. I would love a mug." Snotlout said as he took a mug and started to drink the yaknog. The favor was so bad, but not wanting to get hurt by Astrid, Snotlout swallowed it and said as he placed the mug back onto the try. "You can really taste the yak."
"Oh, what is that?" Fishlegs said as he and Sparky joined them and saw the pitcher and mugs. Astrid then said to Fishlegs. "Oh, you want to try some. It's my new traditional drink." Behind her, Snotlout and Eric silently told him not to drink the yaknog. Fishlegs understood them and said. "Oh, you know um…I have suddenly and indispensable changed my mind."
"Well, you don't know what you're missing. I bet Hiccup will love this." Astrid said as she went to find Hiccup. Eric, Knight, and Tera followed, fearing for Hiccup's safety. "Hiccup?" Astrid said as they entered the Blacksmith Shop. Hiccup said after he got tools and was returning to the forge. "I'm over here, Astrid."
"Here, happy holidays, from me to you." Astrid said as she gave a mug to Hiccup. "Thank you Astrid." Hiccup said as he took that mug. As Astrid looked at Hiccup's latest invention, Eric took the mug out of Hiccup's hand and threw it into the forger's fire. Hiccup was going to ask why he did that, but didn't need to when he saw that the yaknog didn't put out the fire, but instead made it bigger and hotter. Astrid didn't see that and said to Hiccup. "So what are you working on?"
"You're going to think I'm crazy. I just couldn't stop thinking about what Tuffnut said last night. Toothless can't come and go like other dragons, and that's not far. I was up all night and I think I found a way to fix that."
"No way you build him a new tail?" Astrid said before Eric said. "And this one that doesn't need you to help him fly. What a great gift."
"But what if he never comes back?" Astrid said and Hiccup didn't know how to respond. Astrid then said, trying to cheer Hiccup up. "What am I say? Of course he will. Well, I'm going to spread some more holiday cheer. You're amazing." Astrid and Spikeball then left and Eric chose to follow Astrid again, to keep the damage of Astrid's yaknog to a medium.
Back at Hiccup's house, Toothless was ready to fly and was trying to wake up Hiccup, not knowing the Hiccup was already up and was outside of the house. "Toothless, come on down bud. I got something for you." Hiccup said and Toothless came down. Toothless sniffed his new tail and Hiccup then put on the new tail. "You are going to love this." Hiccup said as he finished putting on the new tail fin. Toothless wasn't happy with it at first, and tried to shake it off. But then the new tail fin started to work. Toothless stopped and was very surprised as it did what Toothless wanted. Toothless then took on the last shift and Hiccup and flew into the air. Hiccup, Flare, and Knack watched as Toothless disappeared behind the mountain.
Three days later, and in the morning, Hiccup was lying in bed, because he missed the sound of Toothless waking them up to go flying. But the moment Hiccup heard bang, he jumped out of bed and ran out the door, with Flare and Knack following him. "Toothless! I knew you came back!" Hiccup said as he ran out the door, and slipped on the ice, again. But this time, Toothless didn't catch him. As Flare and Knack checked on Hiccup, Hiccup looked at the roof and saw that it was just Stoick and Sword Walker placing decorations. Stoick heard Hiccup fall and turned to him. Stoick then said to Hiccup. "Morning son."
"Oh, hey Dad." Hiccup said as he got up. Once Hiccup was up, Stoick said to him. "Glad you're up. I was looking for your helmet."
"My… My helmet?"
"Odin nears a place to put your goodes."
"Yeah, all right. I'll get on that." Hiccup said as he started to walk away, feeling disappointed that the banging wasn't Toothless. Stoick noticed the disappointment on Hiccup's face and came off the roof. Stoick then reached Hiccup and said. "Alright, come on? What's on your mind? Out with it."
"It's been three days, Dad. I just thought Toothless would have been back by now."
"Oh, I'm sure he's with the other dragons."
"Oh, yeah? I wish I could be that sure."
"Listin. I know what it's like to miss someone you love this time of year. But what do we do when they can't be here for the holiday? We celebrate them. And I imagine that's what Toothless would want you to do too, right?"
"You're right."
"Good, now go get that helmet, we've had enough disappointment around here." Stoick said as he went to work on the decorations again. Hiccup, Flare, and Knack were traveling through the village. Everyone was trying to have the best holiday they could have, but the air was still full of sadness and disappointment. As they were walking, they ran into Fishlegs, who was holding a big basket of fish, and Sparky. Fishlegs chuckled a little and Hiccup said to Fishlegs. "Oh, Fishlegs, are you and Sparky hungary? That's enough fish to feed a dragon."
"Oh, a dragon…" Fishlegs said with a laugh, before he and Sparky ran away. Hiccup, Flare, and Knack followed behind Fishlegs and Sparky to a barn. When Fishlegs and Sparky entered the barn, they had a big basket of fish. When they left a few moments later, they didn't have the big basket of fish. Once Fishlegs and Sparky were gone, Hiccup, Flare, and Knack went to the barn door and opened it. Inside, Hiccup, Flare, and Knack saw a Meatlug chained to a pillar, or was chained to a pillar. The moment Hiccup opened the barn door, Meatlug flew towards the door, and the chain broke. Meatlug then ramped into Hiccup and Flare. They were fine, but they were going where Meatlug was trying to get too. As they passed over Astrid, Spikeball, Eric, Knight, and Tera, Astrid said to Hiccup. "Hiccup?! Where are you going?!"
"I have no idea!" Hiccup said as Knack joined them and they all disappeared. "Hey, Meatlug! What about presents?!" Fishlegs said to Meatlug. Then the Dragon Riders all met at the barn, and Eric said to Fishlegs. "Let me get this straight. While everyone else was losing their dragons, you trapped your dragon in this barn?"
"Yeah, I can't believe him." Fishlegs said before Astrid said. "You can't believe him?! You kidnapped your dragon!"
"That makes it sound so mean." Fishlegs said as the twins and their Pokemon were looking through the stack of hay. The twins then found something inside and said to the others. "Hey guys."
"He flew away the second the chain broke." Astrid said and Fishlegs said. "I'm 72% sure that he wants to stay."
"And I'm 100% sure he wanted to go with other dragons. And because of your actions, Hiccup, Flare, and Knack are who knows where!" Eric said before Tuffnut said. "Guys!" Everyone turned to the stack of hay and inside there were a bunch of light blue rock-like objects. "Whoa. Meatlug barfed up a pile of rocks."
"I don't think these are rocks." Eric said as he checked them out. Eric then put on close to his ear and heard a heartbeat. "These are eggs. Fishlegs, Meatlug lead eggs." Eric said as he put the egg down gently. Fishlegs then said. "But boy dragons don't lay eggs."
"Yeah, your boy dragon is a girl dragon." Ruffnut said to Fishlegs, and that cleared up a few things for Fishlegs. Astrid then picked up one of the eggs and said. "I bet that's why all the dragons left. To lay their eggs"
"Make sense. They must have an island where they are able to lay eggs safely, get food for the babies quickly, and are still able to protect them from predators." Eric said before Astrid said as she got up. "Hey! Everyone is missing their dragons, right?"
"Oh, here it's come." Snotlout said before Astrid said as she wrapped the egg in a red bow. "I've got an idea. It will be another new Snoggletog tradition."
"Wait, you want to give Meatlug's eggs away to the other Vikings?" Eric said before Astraid said. "Yes. Now help me decorate them." Everyone helped and soon they secretly placed a decorated egg inside the helmets.
As for Hiccup, Flare, and Knack, they flew far to the east. "Meatlug, where are you going?" Hiccup said before Hiccup was able to steer Meatlug out of the way of an old, half broken, Viking shipwreck. After a few more minutes of flying, Meatlug took them to an atoll island that had a bunch of small pools.
Once Meatlug landed, Hiccup and Flare got off Meatlug, and Knack landed on Hiccup's right shoulder, and they started to walk around. As they walked around, they saw all the dragons with baby versions of dragons. "You guys come here to have babies." Hiccup said as he saw a Nadder feed her babies. Flare tugged on Hiccup's pants and Hiccup turned to him. Flare then pointed to a Gronckle pushing her eggs into a pool. Hiccup got closer and inside the pool, the eggs let out a small burst and out of the water came some baby Gronckle. Hiccup then noticed that the Gronckle missed an egg, and said moving closer to it. "Hey, look over here? You missed one?" Flare and Knack then noticed that every dragon, even the Gronckle that laid that egg, took cover. Hiccup didn't notice, but the moment he got close to the egg, it exploded with great force that knocked Hiccup back. As Flare and Knack check on Hiccup, the baby Gronckle lands on the ground. The baby Gronckle was fine, in fact the baby acted like it just woke up from a long nap. "Man it's a good thing those don't hatch on Berk." Hiccup said as Flare and Knack agreed, but not one of them had any knowledge that Meatlug was female and had already laid her eggs back on Berk.
Back on the island as the sun started to set, Astrid and the others had finished placing all of Meatlug's eggs in some of the Vikings homes. Astrid said to everyone. "Wasn't this a great idea?"
"Everyone is going to be so surprised." Fishlegs said before the first egg started to hatch, and by hatch I mean explode. The baby burst out of the home, destroying it, and the baby hit Fishlegs. "Surprised!" Snotlout said before the baby Gronckle landed on Fishlegs. As all of them were captured by the baby Gronckle cuteness, Astrid said as she and Eric realized what they had just done. "The eggs exploded."
"And we place them mostly everywhere." Eric said before each egg started to hatch, one by one. Everyone started to panic as the eggs hatching caused mass damage to their homes, and a few other locations, depending where the baby Gronckle landed when they were still on fire. As for the Dragon Riders. Snotlout and the Twins were amazing with the explosion, Fishlegs and Eric were getting uneasy with the damage they had caused, and Astrid? Well she was freaking out, after all this was her idea. "This is your best idea yet." Snotlout said to Astrid as the baby Gronckles had set the centerpiece of fire when they were still balls of fire. As Stoick and Sword Walker appeared, they saw the destruction and turned to the Dragon Riders and said. "What in Thor's name is going on?!"
"Well…" Eric said before another egg exploded. Astrid and Eric then laughed in fear as Stoick was staring at them with great anger.
Back on the island, the sun started to set. Hiccup, Flare, and Knack had walked all over the island, but they hadn't seen or heard Toothless anywhere. But after walking for a while, he found a spot where all of the other Dragon Riders dragons were, with their little ones. "Honorstream, Hookfang, Stormfly, Barf, Belch! Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to see you guys." Hiccup said as he got closer to them. Flare and Knack joined them, and the baby dragons surrounded them. As the babies started to play with Flare and Knack, Hiccup said. "And you have babies. Aw, look at you guys all happy and together. Who knew you were leaving to celebrate your own sort of holiday. Well, Flare, Knack and I should get back to our own holiday. Honorstream, care to give us a ride back home?"
Honorstream agreed and Hiccup got onto Honorstream's saddle. Flare and Knack were able to get away from the babies and after Flare got on, Honorstream took off. In the air, Hiccup said to the others. "I'll see you all back on Berk, when you are good and ready. Ok gang?" However not long after Honorstream was in the air, every other dragon started to take to the air too. "I think I just started the return migration, guys?" Hiccup said to Flare and Knack. The both nodded yes and the babies tried to leave. The babies tried to fly with the adult dragons, but it wasn't working. The babies were able to fly, but they were so small that they couldn't stand up to the wind. These created a problem. The babies weren't able to leave the island and the return migration wasn't going to stop. Hiccup thought about it and came with a very smart idea.
On Berk, Meatlug's babies were all resting together in a small area that wasn't wrecked, and everyone was trying to repair the damage. Luckily they had years of experience of fixing broken huts, so they would be able to fix, but not any time soon. Walking through this mess was Stoick, who said to Sword Walker, Gobber, and Coal as they were following him. "Gobber, this is a disaster."
"Oh, it's not that bad."
"Not that bad? The village is destroyed, the dragons have gone and left us. Let's face it, this…" Stoick said but stopped when he noticed that everyone had stopped working on repairs. "What are these people looking at?" Stoick said as everyone saw the dragons returning, and some of them were carrying the wreck ship, by using old rope that was found on the ship. Once they noticed it was Hiccup and their dragons, everyone cheered. Hiccup then had the dragons place the ship on the ground, then the baby dragon come off the shipwreck. Hiccup then landed Honorstream, and after Hiccup and Flare got off, Honorstream went to find Eric. Everyone was happy to see their dragons and very surprised to see their babies. Stoick went up to Hiccup and said giving Hiccup a bear hug. "Well done, son."
"Thanks, Dad."
"Everyone! Grab your dragons, then move to the great hall. We finally have something to celebrate." Stoick said to everyone after he let Hiccup go. Everyone then went to the great hall and had an awesome time. The only one kind of sad was Hiccup, because Toothless was now the only dragon still missing. "Hiccup? I know this must be really hard for you. Seeing everyone with they're dragons, but you did a wonderful thing." Astrid said as she and Spikeball joined Hiccup, Flare and Knack. Astrid then gave Hiccup a kiss and then a hug. As Hiccup returned the hug, he said to Astrid. "Astrid, where did Toothless go?"
"I don't know." Astrid said as Toothless entered the great hall, with something in his mouth. Hiccup didn't notice, unlike the others, and Astird said, breaking the hug and keeping Hiccup's attention on her. "Man, I won't want to be you right now. I mean you brought back everyone's dragon, except yours."
"Yeah. You know, this isn't helping at all." Hiccup said before turning Hiccup around. Hiccup then saw Toothless, and Toothless ran to Hiccup. "Toothless!" Hiccup said as he ran to Toothless. Hiccup gave Toothless a hug and so did the others. Everyone was happy to see Hiccup, Toothless and their Pokemon back together again, and after the hug was broken, Hiccup said to Toothless. "Bad dragon, very bad dragon. You scared me to death. Don't ever stay that long again. And what is in your mouth?" Toothless placed the object on Hiccup's head, and covered Hiccup's head in saliva. It did gross a few, but the object in Toothless mouth was Hiccup's helmet. "Yeah, you found my helmet." Hiccup said as he was trying to get the saliva off his face. But then Hiccup realized what Toothless had found and said. "You Hey, you found my helmet! That's where you've been. Bub, you are amazing." Hiccup then gave Toothless another hug, and they all had a very fun night.
The following day, Hiccup was woken up to the sound of Toothless banging on the roof again. Everyone kind of missed that, and they all went outside. "We're going Toothless." Hiccup said as they exited their house. When they reached the left side of the house, they saw Toothless with his old tail and Hiccup's saddle. Hiccup said as he, Flare, and Knack walked cover to him. "Toothless, why'd you pull this out? You don't need it anymore." Hiccup then kicked away the old tail and tried to get on Toothless. Toothless didn't want Hiccup to get on, not without the old tail put back on. Hiccup didn't understand, until Toothless started to beat the tail into the ground. Once it was off, Toothless threw it away. Hiccup understood, while Toothless was happy with the tail so he could find Hiccup's helmet, flying without Hiccup, Flare, and Knack it felt empty. After the tail and saddle was put on again they then took off to the sky and the four of them traveled through the sky. They all had the best time. Because while they had given one one another a great gift, the gift of spending time with one another was even better than those gifts.